Never A Dull Moment with Larry Aubry There was never, ever a dull moment when Mr. Larry Aubry walked through the doors of the Los Angeles Sentinel to deliver his powerful weekly column. Anticipation was always in the air. From my office, just short of the rear of the building, I could hear Larry greeting every Sentinel staffer, smiling and joking as he slowly worked his way down the long hallway to see me. It was deadline day. When he entered the office, he had my full attention. Wed shoot the breeze about what was really going on in the community, because if anyone knew, it was Larry. ADVERTISEMENT I dont think there was an important meeting to the community that he didnt attend. I didnt get a chance to get out of the office as much, so Larry always brought a brilliant and on-point perspective. Despite my lack of experience, our conversations made me a better managing editor. I worked with Larry since joining the Sentinel as a reporter in 1991, covering the community in the aftermath of the civil unrest sparked by the acquittals of the LAPD officers videotaped beating Rodney King. Over the next decade, he became someone I looked up to in the industry. I have great respect for Larry for never backing down on an issue of importance to the Black community. Every week, he addressed some extremely uncomfortable topics in his columns, even if it was us in the wrong. You never wanted to get on Larrys bad list. It didnt matter whether you were Black, White, an elected official, or dirty police officer, hed call you out in hot minute. But Larry would never call you out without speaking to you first. I had my run-ins with him too. ADVERTISEMENT I recall a time when I questioned Larry about a possible imbalance of information he was providing in one of his columns. Oh boy, did I regret that. I got schooled for the next hour. You see, Larry knew the key issues affecting our community, because he lived and experienced the things he wrote about. Larry was the real deal, a walking handbook of Black history. I will personally remember him as a fearless columnist and respected activist and leader, who did not always give the Black community what they wanted to hear, rather, hed share with them what they needed to know. Rest in peace brother. James Bolden is a former journalist who now serves as a Public Information Officer for the County of Los Angeles. In a makeshift bunker of sacks of rice beneath a tree, heavily-armed Togolese soldiers keep watch over villagers coming and going on foot or bike across the border with Burkina Faso. Just a dried-out river bed separates the two West African countries. In surrounding fields, peasant farmers are bent silhouettes, watering the sorghum and maize seeds sown before the arrival of the first rains. Soon, clouds will chase away the fine dust of the harmattan, the desert wind that each year sweeps off the Sahara southwards to the coast and chokes the air. Nothing dramatic, or so it would seem, ever happens at Yemboate, in Togo's far north. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border in eastern Burkina Faso, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. Those policemen, doctors and teachers who have not fled are being hunted down and butchered. "When I was small, we spent our time swimming in the river," says farmer Abdoulaye Mossi, leaning on his bike with a hoe, speaking to AFP before the coronavirus pandemic. The arid channel separates his peaceful village of cob huts from a Burkinabe village on the other side. "Fear rules today," the farmer says. But fear does not stop people crossing between the two countries, especially on Tuesday's market day, when they sell crops and cattle. "They're never far away," he says, of the armed movements. "They often come to have their motorbikes repaired. They will never tell you who the jihadists are, but we know," says Mossi, part of whose family lives in Burkina Faso. The Togolese soldiers mount checkpoints and mobile patrols of the countless cross-border tracks through the bush that enable jihadists on motorbikes to blend into the civilian population. - Expansion south? - After the fall of Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore in 2014, Togo's northern neighbour fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali, fanned by the collapse of Libya. Today, jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as well as Togo. A year ago Benin witnessed the kidnapping of two French tourists and the murder of their guide in the Pendjari National Park. In February, jihadists also attacked a police station near the border with Burkina Faso. In Ivory Coast, jihadist gunmen attacked the Grand-Bassam beach resort in 2016, leaving 19 people dead. Another jihadist group has been holing up in the Comoe national park in northern Ivory Coast for the past eight months after being pursued by Burkinabe troops. The coronavirus pandemic has inspired no ceasefires. In Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the number of clashes and attacks reached unprecedented levels last year. According to local and foreign security sources, many parts of rural Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin have seen the awakening of "sleeper cells" -- people indoctrinated and trained to encourage ever more radical peaching in mosques and Koranic schools. - Togo's fears - "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong? we feel it a little more with each day," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February, while campaigning for re-election in Dapaong, the main northern town. Flying by helicopter from the capital Lome, 650 km to the south, the head of state touched down in what has become a "red zone" for tourists, missionaries and foreign aid personnel, whose work was cut short by a Spanish priest's murder at a Burkinabe customs post. Togo has been spared big attacks so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst. According to confidential military documents seen by AFP, almost 700 Togolese soldiers are deployed in the northernmost Savanes region on the border with Burkina Faso, engaged in Operation Koundjoare launched in 2018. They keep guard at an invisible border of around 100 km, with Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. The territory serves smugglers, highway robbers and all sorts of contraband -- ivory, weapons, drugs and, above all, gold, one of the main resources of the region. In these remote areas far from coastal towns and economically developed zones, the trappings of state are mostly absent, so wildlife parks and dense forests have become a sanctuary for the jihadists. Less than 30 km from the border, a much feared group has seized control in Burkina Faso's Pama forest reserve. For two years, it has launched violent raids against travellers and security forces alike. The fighters -- linked to the Ansaroul Islam movement accused of terrorising northern Burkina Faso and central Mali -- are behind the kidnapping of several Westerners in recent years, according to French security forces. "The north of Togo can allow jihadists to rest up after long campaigns, or to fall back by merging into the population when pressure from the other side is too strong," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. - 'Culture of distrust' - Where deep poverty prevails, winning villagers' goodwill is indispensable in the fight against jihadists. The army provides free medical consultations, repairs damaged schools and builds wells. "Our passage must be visible," Gnassingbe declared in Dapaong, warning the military against both "bullying" and "petty corruption". Elected mayors and district administrators work hand in hand with religious leaders and traditional chiefs to obtain and pass on information. Togolese authorities count on intelligence services equipped and trained by powers such as Israel, with whom Gnassingbe Eyadema, the president's father and political predecessor who ruled for 38 years, nurtured close ties. An intelligence network intercepting communications and putting spies on buses has helped to "dismantle" several "terrorist cells", with dozens of arrests, according to the government. Authorities claim that all those picked up are foreigners, mostly Burkinabes, who are extradited to their countries of origin. The armed forces of Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast and Ghana have taken part in joint military operations with Burkina Faso since 2017. "Cooperation is undermined by a culture of distrust between states," says Antonin Tisseron, an associate researcher with the Institut Thomas More, a conservative think tank. - 'Money and motorbikes' - Togo relies on an experienced army, which has taken part in several United Nations peacekeeping operations. Most recruits are from the Kabye ethnic group in the north, which has served the ruling dynasty for more than half a century. However, many people fear that the "struggle against terrorism" will also serve to silence critics of 53-year-old Faure Gnassingbe. In power since 2005, the president has solid support from international partners led by France, despite criticism by human rights organisations of repeated abuse of political foes and activists. Togo came through a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018, with mass demonstrations calling on Gnassingbe to resign, particularly from the predominantly Muslim centre of the country. Security forces cracked down hard. "The countries of the Gulf of Guinea present many internal weaknesses," Tisseron told AFP. "Poverty, the absence of jobs and prospects, the repression of all forms of social protest and the stigmatisation of Muslims create a breeding ground where jihadists can thrive." Jihadists tend to infiltrate communities in stages, starting with charitable works financed by Islamic organisations abroad. The newcomers preach a more radical form of Islam than the reputedly moderate faith long practised by about a quarter of the Togolese population and strictly monitored by the state. "It begins with 'raising awareness' among the masses, without open confrontation with the authorities," said a Western security source. "Once they feel strong enough, they kill the moderate preachers and then they attack police and gendarmerie posts." Last year, a non-governmental organisation unknown to local Muslim authorities appeared in Dapaong, where Maman Amadou, the imam of the central mosque, is one of the rare religious leaders openly to challenge extremism. "They started to preach radical Islam in about 15 villages and to build mosques," he told AFP. "They even handed out money and motorbikes to young people. The people listened to them." "We didn't know them and they answered none of our summons. We ended up alerting the authorities," Amadou said. Under pressure, the organisation left town, added the imam, saying he had no more idea where they went than where they came from. "We never heard any more of them." Togo is on the front line after its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali Nothing dramatic ever seems to happen in Yemboate, the northern Togo border post with Burkina Faso. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law Map locating Ghana, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso in Africa "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong? ," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February Togo has been spared big attacks by jihadists so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst Jihadists threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, as well as Togo Fear does not stop people crossing between Togo and Burkina Faso, especially on market day When will 2020 just stop? It's a genuine question because at this point, it honestly feels personal. The entire year has been a sh*t show, starting off with the wildfires in Australia and of course the threat of World War 3. And, we've been under lockdown for months now because of a freaking pandemic and we don't know when things will go back to how they were. Probably never. And as if we needed anything else, the year is an unending thread of new horrors and the new thing of the week is locusts. A huge infestation has started expanding through various countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Countries like Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are facing the worst locust infestation in years and there's a similar scene in Yemen, Iran, Pakistan and India. The short-horned grasshoppers have already devoured all the crops in some places and the swarms of insects are travelling far in search of food. Reportedly, the insects crossed into Rajasthan from Pakistan and have reached Bundi, Sikar, Pratapgarh and Chittorgarh districts. There's a similar thing happening in Madhya Pradesh as the swarms have reached over 10 districts. The videos of the entire ordeal are terrifying, to say the least. Footage of a recent locust storm in southern #Iran Eight provinces ranging from southwest to southeast and eastern Iran are reporting locus storms. Locals say authorities are not taking any actions to help those in need, especially farmers who are losing their harvests. pic.twitter.com/NUxqX5uQ2z Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) May 17, 2020 Multan under locust attack. pic.twitter.com/KdNpUKBvkX Kasim Gilani (@KasimGillani) May 18, 2020 It's basically kicking someone when they're already down. So many people lost so much with the arrival of covid. I pray that God restores 20 fold what the locust has eaten. Tweety Bird (@PurpletweetyB) May 18, 2020 Different coloured road markings and a line in the tarmac mark the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland in Bridgend Northern Ireland By Elizabeth Piper and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it saw no need for new customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland but checks would be made on some goods heading to the province from the mainland in its proposals for how the border will work from next year. Britain left the EU in January and has until the end of this year to negotiate an agreement on future ties or start 2021 without a trade agreement, which some businesses say could cause costly delays and confusion at borders. Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom but shares a land border with EU member Ireland, hampered any agreement between Britain and the bloc until late last year when Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to a so-called protocol. The EU says the protocol requires strict customs checks and tariffs on some goods coming from mainland Britain into the province in case they are headed onwards into Ireland and the bloc's single market. But before December's election, Johnson told businesses in Northern Ireland there would be no barriers in the Irish Sea and they could put any customs declarations "in the bin". In its proposals for how the protocol would operate, Britain said Northern Ireland would remain part of its customs territory and businesses would have unfettered access to the rest of the United Kingdom. However, the government added traders would face "some limited additional process on goods arriving in Northern Ireland" from mainland Britain. There will be tariffs levied on goods entering the province from the rest of the United Kingdom but only if they were destined for Ireland or beyond or "at clear and substantial risk of doing so", the protocol plans said. It said there would be no new customs infrastructure while accepting some existing checkpoints for agrifoods would need to be expanded. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said such checks would be "as light touch as possible". The aim of the protocol was to ensure no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, seen as key to avoiding an undermining of a 1998 peace accord which largely ended three decades of sectarian and political conflict. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison and Angus MacSwan) The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says any attempt by the Electoral Commission (EC) to embark on the planned voter registration exercise may escalate the COVID-19 cases in the country. The Electoral Commission's decision to compile a new electoral roll has been met with mixed reactions from the political front. Although the exercise is currently on hold following the COVID-19 pandemic, the EC says it will observe the necessary safety protocols if the time comes for the registration exercise to commence. But addressing the media at the NDCs headquarters in Accra on Thursday, Director of Elections for the party, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah was sceptical about the safety measures put in place by the EC. The National Identification Authority stopped registration when we had 200 cases and now you want to register 17 to 18 million people in forty days. My brothers and sisters, lets be honest here and put NDC, NPP aside and ask if this is realistic? Is this sound? Are they going to determine how many people will come from their homes to register? So people will be outside the registration centre and their people (EC Officials) will be in PPE? What about the citizens? Will they give everyone PPE? And how will they determine if someone has COVID-19 or not? These are practical commonsensical issues that we want Ghanaians to think of. Wont they escalate the positive cases in the country? EC assures of adequate consultation on voter registration exercise The Electoral Commission has assured that it will not leave stakeholders in the dark on its plans for the voter registration exercise. Madam Sylvia Annor , the Commission's Head of Public Affairs, in a Citi News interview said We will come out with all those details later; as soon as practicable. We will definitely have to communicate with the public, particularly our stakeholders, on how we are going to go about it. I can assure you that we will make the general public aware of our plans and projections so that they actively participate in the process, she assured. EC releases safety protocols for voter registration exercise The Electoral Commission (EC) has published safety advisories it intends to observe during the registration exercise. Among other things, it will be mandatory to wear face masks at the registration centres, people's temperature will be checked before one is allowed into the registration centre and there will be running water available for handwashing, according to an artwork posted on the Commission's social media pages. Queues are to have one-metre gaps between persons lining up to register, the scanners will be sanitised and persons who complete the registration process will also be provided with hand sanitiser before they leave the centre. ---citinewsroom Sorry! This content is not available in your region The Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, in Kano, on Thursday, announced that 40 out of 50 doctors and health workers that got infected with COVID-19 in the hospital have recovered and been discharged. The spokesperson of the hospital, Hauwa Abdullahi, in a statement, said the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Abdurrahman Sheshe, disclosed this while receiving donations of some hospital consumables and food items from the Orange Drugs Limited. Mr Sheshe, a professor, said, it is really a thing of joy to share with (you) the review on the test of those workers who were infected by COVID-19 some weeks ago and put on Isolation. I am just (being) notified that forty of them tested negative, and no death was recorded and no condition attached with their discharge, Mr Sheshe added. The official added further that the remaining ten staff who are still on Isolation are doing well and would probably be discharged before Eid Fitr, as disclosed by their caregivers. PREMIUM TIMES had reported how dozens of health workers tested positive to coronavirus in Kano while discharging their official responsibilities. The Kano State Ministry of Health, on Wednesday, announced that two more patients were discharged, which brings the total discharged to 121 with 36 fatalities in the state. The ministry also announced that the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kano has now reached 847, second only to Lagos, Nigerias epicentre of coronavirus. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:20:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KAMPALA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Eight people have been confirmed dead and over 2,000 displaced after River Ihubiriha burst its banks, resulting into flooding in the western Ugandan district of Kasese, a humanitarian official said here on Thursday. Primrose Natukunda, the coordinator of Uganda Redcross Society in Kasese, told Xinhua by telephone that four family members were swept away by the floods. A soldier, who was on patrol and three other people were also swept away by the floods. Natukunda said more than 2,000 people have been displaced and about 400 houses washed away. She said the displaced people were now moving to settle in schools and churches. "For now it is the usual basic needs of shelter, food and medicine that the people need here," Natukunda said. Early this month, thousands of people were displaced after several rivers flooded in the same district. A number of roads were washed away while a hospital was partially destroyed. According to the weather department, several parts of the country especially western and eastern regions, are currently experiencing normal to above-normal rainfall, with destructive effects. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: I hope that within a maximum of two years the state will provide homes to all martyr families, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in his interview with Azerbaijan Television after viewing the DOST center No3 of the Sustainable and Operative Social Security Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population in Nizami district, Baku, Trend reports. This is an area that is always in the spotlight. To date, the state has provided 7,600 martyr families with houses and apartments. The number of apartments and houses provided to the families of martyrs this year has reached a record high houses and apartments will be provided to 1,500 families of martyrs. Thus the number of registered martyr families will be less than 2,000. I hope that within a maximum of two years the state will provide homes to all martyr families. At the same time, we also provide cars both to the families of martyrs and to veterans of the Karabakh war, said President Ilham Aliyev. He noted that to date, more than 6,000 cars have been provided and there are plans to provide 400 cars this year. I can say that Azerbaijan is also a leader in this area. In many parts of the world there were wars, conflicts, human loss. Of course, I would not like to compare Azerbaijan with any country, but the truth is that state support for families affected by the war, those who have lost their loved ones, is, as it seems to me, at the highest level in Azerbaijan. I want to say again: I do not want to compare Azerbaijan with anyone else, but just have a look there were those killed in the war in Armenia. Are their families provided with apartments? Cars? No! They are spending money on erecting monuments to the Nazis. We are doing this work and must continue doing it. This is our moral duty. My numerous meetings with martyr families, of course, are very important for society and for martyr families. We bow our heads to the memory of martyrs and must support our words with deeds. Therefore, the houses that have already been provided to 7,600 martyr families this year their number will reach 9,000 are an excellent result of our tangible work, said President Ilham Aliyev. Here are a few things to know about the days nonvirus news: - 2 arrested after a domestic disturbance in south Moorhead Two men have now been arrested after police surrounded a southside home around 5:30 Wednesday night. Police received a call from someone who said a man had pointed a gun at them at a home in South Moorhead. 31-year-old Courtney Smith was arrested for domestic assault. 21-year-old Travon Spears was arrested for assault and possession of the stolen property in relation to the threat involving the firearm. -Man arrested for DUI after rollover crash in Fargo A Fargo man was arrested for DUI after an overnight rollover crash. Thursday. Police arrested Stephen Colbert, 36, Fargo, for DUI and DUI Refusal. The driver of the other vehicle involved was also cited for speed care required. - Minot Police investigating fatal hit-and-run Minot police are investigating a fatal hit and run, Thursday morning. The incident happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday night near the intersection of Broadway and 17th ave, SW., that's between the Taco Bell and China Star restaurants. Officials say they're looking for a burgundy or dark red pick-up truck, but no other information has been released. If you have any information about the incident or the vehicle you're urged to call officials at (701) 852-0111 National & International - A powerful cyclone rips through densely populated coastal India and Bangladesh, blowing off roofs and whipping up waves that swallowed embankments and bridges, killing dozens. - A hydroelectric dam that failed to hold back floodwaters this week in Michigan was the target of lengthy investigations by federal regulators. [May 21, 2020] New Playbook Reveals How Grocers Can Reclaim Online Revenue From Delivery Providers Mercatus, a leading provider of digital commerce solutions for grocery and other retail verticals, today released its seven-part guide for grocers, The Modern Grocer's Guide to Winning at eCommerce. This free eBook maps out the steps grocery retailers can take to win back control of the online shopping experience and recoup lost margins from third-party delivery marketplaces. Grocers have worked hard to build their individual grocery brands, heavily investing in brick and mortar over decades, and more recently, taking their brands online to cater to a growing consumer preference for digital convenience. To do so, many retailers have opted to outsource their online business to third-party marketplace providers. In the process, they have opened themselves up to significant risk. They have not only lost control of their customer and vendor relationships, but also lost significant valuable shopper data and profitable vendor allowances. As digital grocery momentum continues to grow as a result of COVID-19 and its lasting effects, there's mounting evidence consumers have changed their shopping behavior and will continue to rely heavily on online shopping. With this comes a renewed focus by grocery retailers to look at opportunities to directly engage their shoppers more effectively and grow their long-term business. Taking a step-by-step approach, this guide offers retailers ways to break the dependency on third-party delivery providers. Seven-Step Guide to Getting Back in Control From analyzing current eCommerce offerings, to developing new strategies, implementing new solutions and beyond, The Modern Grocer's Guide to Winning at eCommerce offers comprehensive advice to enable grocers to own their own eCommerce experience. In the guide, Mercatus walks grocers through the steps neessary to reach this freedom: Take control of shopper data and loyalty; Develop an effective customer-centric eCommerce strategy; Align the key players in your organization; Evaluate and find the perfect eCommerce provider; Prepare for a discovery meeting with your new eCommerce provider; Plan for a successful implementation; Evolve and expand your eCommerce experience to keep pace with change and maximize success. The guide also touches on the importance of owning and protecting customer data. Third-party delivery providers act as intermediaries, coming between the retailer brand and their shopper. By co-opting the customer experience, rather than allowing grocers to maintain and foster these hard-earned relationships, marketplace providers weaken shopper loyalty and dilute what makes grocery retailers unique. Throughout the guide, Mercatus asks questions and provides guidance to ensure grocers prioritize ownership of shopper data and protection of the shopper journey when choosing a provider. A Game Plan for Long Term Success In the guide, Mercatus offers key metrics and resources for continued eCommerce success. This includes detailed checklists and questions for grocers to assess throughout the implementation process, including: 10 questions to ask their current delivery-provider marketplace How to evaluate a prospective solution provider Commerce website launch checklist for implementation Additionally, the guide provides invaluable KPIs and industry benchmarks to monitor throughout the process, such as CLTV (customer lifetime value), which is often overlooked by grocers, but has enormous value, particularly as they move into the online world. It also recommends that grocers pay attention to data such as how many new online shoppers they are gaining, shopping cart abandon rate, typical online basket size compared to in-store basket size and trends in purchase behavior such as items bought and timing of online orders. This meticulous analysis of internal and industry-wide trends is essential to adopting a new, successful eCommerce platform. "Even if a grocer is currently working with a marketplace provider, it's never too late to add to your own eCommerce offering, and even work towards reducing dependence on marketplace sales by embracing your own eCommerce solution exclusively," said Sylvain Perrier, president and CEO, Mercatus. "With a brand-owned online shopping solution in place, retailers can take back margin lost to delivery providers, keeping up to 16% or more of their revenue on a typical online order." To learn more about how grocery retailers can take back charge of their eCommerce experience, visit www.mercatus.com and download The Modern Grocer's Guide to Winning at eCommerce here. About Mercatus Mercatus is the authoritative voice for food retailers who want to strengthen their relationship with shoppers in a digital space. Mercatus helps leading grocers get back in charge of their eCommerce experience, empowering them to deliver exceptional branded omnichannel shopping experiences end-to-end, from store-to-door. Our expansive network of more than 50 integration partners allows grocers to work with their partners of choice, on their terms. Together, we help clients create authentic digital shopping experiences with solutions to drive shopper engagement, grow share of wallet and profitability, and quickly adapt to changes in consumer behavior. The Mercatus Integrated Commerce platform is used by leading North American retailers, including Weis Markets, Save Mart brands, Brookshire's Grocery Company brands, WinCo Foods, Smart & Final and others. Mercatus is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005089/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has appointed Ernest Kofi Abotsi Esq. as Dean of its Faculty of Law. The University disclosed this on its website on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. It said The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) is delighted to announce the appointment of Ernest Kofi Abotsi as Dean of its Faculty of Law. Dean Abotsi joins the University at an important time in its history, and during a period when the institution seeks to leverage on its innovation and creativity to maintain a leadership niche in training and education. Ernest Abotsi Esq. served as a Dean of the GIMPA Law School between 2014-2018. The University further touted the achievements of Kofi Abotsi and what he brings to the table. With a distinguished record in management at the highest level of legal academia, Dean Abotsi brings to the UPSA and the Faculty of Law, a wealth of value and insights in tandem with the Faculty's pursuit of a mission of leading cutting-edge teaching, learning and research in Africa and the world in the short to medium terms. Having served as Dean of the GIMPA Law School between 2014-2018, Dean Abotsi is an accomplished academic with an intimate understanding of running a law school in a globalized setting anchored on delivering the ultimate student experience and faculty development. Kofi Abotsi has written extensively in leading peer-review journals across the world and he is vested in the fields of constitutional law, corporate law, international trade, and investment law, international criminal justice, and environmental law. He recently served as the Secretary to the Justice Emile Short Commission that probed the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence. About Ernest Kofi Abotsi Ernest Kofi Abotsi Esq. is a graduate of the University of Ghana, Legon, the Ghana School of Law, and the Harvard Law School in the United States. He is the Managing Partner of Axis Legal and has over thirteen years standing at the Bar. Abotsi among others holds a Master of Law (LL. M) Degree from the Harvard Law School in the United States. He is also a former Dean of the Faculty of Law, GIMPA. ---citinewsroom Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose delegates staged a raucous rebellion against Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic convention, is trying to engineer a different outcome this year - by turning down the volume on his social media-driven army of 2020 delegates. The Vermont senator's campaign has told some supporters picked to represent him this year to sign agreements barring attacks on other candidates or party leaders, combative confrontations on social media or talking to reporters without approval. The move, which carried a threat of being removed as a delegate, has the effect of blunting one of the most powerful if divisive tools of Sanders' movement - its unrestrained online presence and tendency to stoke controversy through other media, which has at times spiraled into abuse of his opponents, perceived and real. "Refrain from making negative statements about other candidates, party leaders, Campaigns, Campaign staffers, supporters, news organizations or journalists. This Campaign is about the issues and finding solutions to America's problems," said the social media policy sent to some delegates. "Our job is to differentiate the senator from his opponents on the issues - not through personal attacks." "Do your best to avoid online arguments or confrontations," the policy said. "If engaging in an adversarial conversation, be respectful when addressing opposing viewpoints or commenting on the opposition." The agreements angered some Sanders delegates, and the campaign is now working with delegates to adjust its demands. Chris Liquori, a Sanders delegate from New Hampshire, said he heard about the documents on a conference call this week that left him with the impression that delegates in multiple states had received them. "I think the campaign is trying to avoid, you know, a walkout or some really bad optics a la 2016," Liquori said. The rules, which were obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed by the Sanders campaign, were sent to some delegates last week. It was not known how broadly the rules were dispersed or who ordered them, but they included a social media policy, a nondisclosure agreement and a delegate code of conduct. The campaign declined to say what revisions it was planning. "When delegates attend the Democratic convention, they will be representing Sen. Sanders, the ideas he ran on and the millions of working people who supported his campaign," Sanders campaign spokesman Mike Casca said in a statement. "That is a serious responsibility and we're asking them to follow a basic code of conduct while carrying out that duty." The stipulations come as presumptive nominee Joe Biden and his allies are eager to head off a repeat of the revolts of four years ago that many Democrats felt undermined Clinton's campaign against President Donald Trump. At the same time, the Sanders movement is grappling with its future now that its candidate has been eliminated and is supporting Biden. Sanders' supporters are known for their blunt and impassioned advocacy for his left-wing political revolution, and many have expressed vehement disdain for Biden and the Democratic establishment. The senator - who associates say is closer with Biden than he ever was with Clinton - is seeking to forge a unified front with the former vice president heading into the general election. The two have formed policy working groups and frequently compliment each other. The agreements distributed by the Sanders campaign represent some of the most aggressive attempts yet to achieve harmony. Delegates were told they "are expected to follow" the guidelines and that "failure to do so may result in disciplinary action, including but not limited to your removal from the delegation." Representatives for Biden's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Key parts of the five-page orders appeared designed to prevent unflattering news reports about disagreements in the party. "Social media postings have the potential to generate media coverage," the document warned, before instructing delegates how to address a press inquiry. "If a member of the media contacts you about a posting of any kind: do not respond," it said. Instead, it continues, contact the Sanders press office. "Before tweeting or posting from your personal social media accounts, ask yourself these questions: If this appeared on the front page of the New York Times, would it compromise Bernie Sanders' message, credibility, or reputation? Could it potentially risk your standing as a delegate? When retweeting or sharing information from others, are you applying necessary skepticism?" the social media policy said. The nondisclosure agreement banning delegates from divulging confidential information said they may not "author or create a book, article, academic study, video, movie, or other content" without written approval from the Sanders campaign. The punitive measures listed if the rules were broken spurred objections from delegates. "Some of the intent and some of the wording was really not agreeable to some of our Colorado delegation," said Lori Boydston, a Sanders delegate from Colorado. She said that a committee discussed changes they proposed to the Sanders campaign, which the campaign accepted. "All is good," she added. But Boydston said she was unsure what the full scope of the changes would be. "Some of the wording was really stifling what to say," she said, adding, "What we really want to do is make sure we're still talking about issues." Delegate slates are still being formalized in many states, and not all confirmed Sanders delegates received the initial agreements. Heather Stockwell, a Sanders delegate from New Hampshire, said she had not seen or received the rules but had learned about them from associates. "I did hear about it from other delegates in other states that they were trying to work with the campaign to change some of the wording because it was kind of offensive," Stockwell said. "Some people were really upset." Zach Thomas, a Sanders delegate in Utah who received the documents, said he was not alarmed by them, but "I could definitely see how others could take it a different way if they are still supporting Senator Sanders and kind of more that movement instead of the party itself." The stipulations would stand to benefit Biden in stemming public disagreement with his campaign by liberal members of his own party and a repeat of the spectacle, if there is a physical gathering, of the convention disruptions Clinton faced from Sanders supporters in 2016 in Philadelphia. Just as the last convention was about to start, Sanders addressed his delegates and urged them to get behind Clinton. Many disagreed, booing loudly as TV cameras captured the dissent, which continued on the convention floor and stoked anger inside Clinton's campaign. Amid concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus, it's unclear whether Democrats will convene in Milwaukee as planned. Originally scheduled for July, the convention has been pushed back to mid-August in hopes that health conditions will improve by then. But Democrats also have begun changing their rules to accommodate a scaled-back or virtual meeting. (Republicans are still publicly planning an in-person convention at the end of August in Charlotte, North Carolina.) If virtual conventions replace the traditional variety, interviews with reporters and postings on social media and other online platforms could emerge as the main venues for delegates to express themselves. Sanders supporters have gained a reputation for attacking critics and rivals online more aggressively than backers of other politicians. In the past, the senator has faced pressure from Democrats who have felt he did not go far enough to compel his followers to ease hostilities, particularly in the online sphere. At times, Sanders simply has distanced himself from the attacks. Sanders suspended his campaign on April 8 after concluding that he had no feasible path to victory against Biden and didn't wish to extend his run in the midst of a pandemic. He soon endorsed Biden, but said he wished to remain on the ballots in the states yet to vote so that he could add to his delegate total at the convention. The point, Sanders and his supporters have said, is to gain leverage over the party platform and other important decisions. While Sanders has lined up behind Biden more quickly than he backed Clinton, some of his supporters and former staffers have refused to fall in line and continue to criticize the former vice president. The personal dynamic between Biden and Sanders, coupled with an urgency to defeat Trump, has given Democrats hope for smoother relations in the party as the November election draws near. One encouraging indicator they have pointed to was Biden's adoption of policies that moved him closer to Sanders. Sanders has voiced confidence about the prospect of unity, citing the imperative in the party to defeat Trump as a reason he thinks his supporters will rally behind Biden. "I think at the end of the day, the vast majority of the people who voted for me, who supported me, will understand and do understand that Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country," Sanders said in a recent interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "And I think, at the end of day, they will be voting for Joe Biden." - - - The Washington Post's David Weigel and Alice Crites contributed to this report. This Page Is Under Construction - Coming Soon! Why am I seeing this 'Under Construction' page? KMT not good at being in opposition, still finding its way: chairman ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 05:20 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The newly elected chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) said the party is still learning how to be an opposition party, "an unfamiliar role" for an organization that has spent most of the past 70 years in a position of power in Taiwan. In an interview with CNA, Chiang Chi-chen (), who is also a legislator, said the 126-year-old party was once Taiwan's only party and has governed the country for a long period of time. It was not until 2016 that the party found itself completely in opposition, having lost the presidential election and not being in the majority in the Legislature, Chiang said. What the KMT quickly learned is that "we are definitely not good at being an opposition party," Chiang admitted. In fact, the first two years after its 2016 defeat were the most difficult for the KMT in adjusting to its new role, Chiang said, describing the process as "learning (to be an opposition) by doing it." Asked how he envisions the KMT's role as an opposition party, Chiang told CNA it needs to learn to take the initiative in following issues that are of greatest concern to Taiwan's people. The KMT has in the past focused only on the bigger picture and paid little attention to social issues that are of concern to specific groups of people in Taiwan, he noted. "Being an opposition party means we are in the minority, so issues that are important to groups in the minority should be among our top priorities," he said. Chiang said the party should engage in dialogue with more civil groups and be more open to dialogue so that it can have a better grasp of social issues that have long being ignored by the KMT. The 48-year-old Chiang is the youngest party chairman in KMT history after winning the seat in March's by-election following the resignation of his predecessor Wu Den-yih (). Wu stepped down four days after the party suffered sizable defeats in Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, having squandered a big victory in November 2018 elections for local offices. As a younger generation KMT member, the Taichung native admitted that the party was carrying "too much of a burden" because of its culture, compared with younger political parties, making it challenging for the KMT to launch comprehensive reforms. "But this does not mean we are not capable of reforms," he said, adding that pushing through reforms will be his main focus during the remainder of his time on the job as he finishes out what would have been the last year of Wu's term before new chairman elections are held. Most urgent is changing the KMT's image as being out of touch with younger voters, one of the main reasons it was soundly defeated in the January polls. Chiang recently hired a number of younger people to work in the party system to improve its ability to speak the language of the younger generation. It recently recruited Chien Ching-yu () as the KMT's new internet strategist. Chien is the founder of DCard, a major online forum for younger Taiwanese internet users. "I don't think younger people choose to vote for a certain party solely based on their deep-rooted ideology. I believe they vote for a party because they believe a certain argument that a party proposes on a certain issue," Chiang said. He also said the party should visit campuses more to interact with the younger generation. "It may take time but more frequent exchanges with younger people may help them change some of the biases and stereotypes targeting the KMT," he said. (By Liu Kuang-ting, Yu Hsiang and Joseph Yeh) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Firhad Hakim, Administrator of the state's largest civic body, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said, We are keeping a close watch on the situation. The storm has caused some trees getting uprooted and power failure in various parts of the city. We have shifted a number of people from old dilapidated buildings in Kolkata to temporary rescue centres. Some of them have, however, refused to get relocated. Our officials are monitoring the situation on an hourly basis". (Image: News18) Our Divisions Copyright 2021-22 DB Corp ltd., All Rights Reserved This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics. Senior care homes in Oregon continued to report dozens of new COVID-19 cases and deaths in the last week, according to an Oregonian/OregonLive analysis of state data. At least 83 of the states 140 coronavirus deaths or nearly six in 10 are now associated with senior care facilities, up from 78 the week before. Cases grew by about 13 percent during that time, from 480 to 545. Most of the deaths appear to be residents, though state officials have not released that information for all facilities. Prestige Senior Living Orchard Heights in Salem reported three of the five new deaths linked to senior care homes, according to figures provided by the Oregon Health Authority. Another was associated with Prestige Senior Living Riverwood in Tualatin. Additionally, the Edward C. Allworth Veterans Home in Lebanon said that a 69-year-old resident who tested positive for coronavirus on April 7 died there Sunday. The man became the homes eighth resident to die of COVID-19 complications since March 22. Only one other senior home in Oregon, Healthcare at Foster Creek in Southeast Portland, has had more coronavirus deaths with 29. Homes for the elderly continue to be over-represented in Oregons total death toll. Only about 15 percent of all Oregon coronavirus cases are associated with senior care homes, or 545 cases, compared to 60 percent of deaths. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632 Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories Mishel Karen has taken a trip down memory lane. This week, the Married At First Sight star shared a number of throwback photos from her younger years. In the first few photos, the 49-year-old is pictured as a teenage beauty queen back in 1988. Blonde beauty: Married At First Sight's Mishel Karen has shared some stunning throwback photos from her first wedding (pictured) The reality star was just crowned Miss Macedonia in the photos, and is captured posing in her sash and crown alongside her late father. 'Dad was so proud when I was named Miss Macedonia 1988,' she wrote. 'It is possible that I could of been the only girl that entered,' she continued. Before and after: The 49-year-old shared some throwback photos to Instagram this week. (Pictured, left, in 1988, and right, in 2019) Timeless: In the first few photos, Mishel is pictured as a teenage beauty queen back in 1988 'I went on to [do] a few more pageants with my Dad as my number 1 fan! You can see my Dads grin he was so proud of me that is such a beautiful memory.' The reality star then shared several photos from her first wedding. On her big day, Mishel appeared to channel a young Anna Nicole Smith with bleached, yellow-blonde hair and a lace wedding gown. The former beauty queen has recently returned to her modelling days, this time as an Instagram model. Blonde ambition: With her lace wedding dress and blonde hair, Mishel resembled Anna Nicole Smith and Madonna While many of her former co-stars have struggled to capitalise on their fifteen minutes of fame, Mishel has been snapped up by a major PR agency and has effortlessly transitioned into a new job as a social media influencer. The QLD police worker has already shared sponsored posts for fashion and skincare brands with her 100,000 followers. In an Instagram post, Mishel said: 'Yes! I signed with a PR agency. Why? Simple... I don't know what I'm doing!' Ageless: The former model has barely aged a day since her first wedding to her TV wedding on Married At First Sight The owners of Modern Currency also issued a statement on social media. 'We're so excited to be representing the beautiful and incredible powerhouse that is Mishel,' they wrote. Mishel has also been working with a stylist and doing interviews on podcasts and with other influencers, proving that she's well and truly ready to take her celebrity career to the next level. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia Thu, May 21, 2020 22:39 608 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd980e16 4 Inforial Free The regional immigration office of Blitar, East Java, has arrested a Bangladeshi man for falsifying information in applying for an Indonesian passport. MilonHossain, 42, was arrested on Feb. 12 for allegedly attempting to deceive immigration officials in the hope of obtaining an Indonesian passport. The head of the Blitar Immigration Office, AndikaPanduKurniawan, said that the suspect had deliberately used the name Muhammad Main Uddin to falsify the identity documents required to apply for an Indonesian passport, including his Identity Card (KTP), Family Card (KK) and Marriage Certificate. Immigration officers grew suspicious of the authenticity of the documents after they met Hossain during the interview stage of the application process. . (Credit: Blitar Immigration Office/.) The interviewer suspected that Hossain was not Indonesian because he did not speak fluent Indonesian. "During the interview, our officer noticed something strange about [Hossains] accent. It sounded like a Malay dialect or like [the accent] of people in Malaysia or Singapore. The suspect was [reinterviewed] and grilled further," said Pandu. The subsequent examination revealed that Hossain had married an Indonesian woman in Blitar and had visited Indonesia several times to see his wife. As a foreigner [who] falsified his personal data to apply for an Indonesian passport, the suspect is liable to five years in prison and a fine of Rp 500 million (US$33,979)," said Pandu. The suspect has been charged with violating Article 126(c) of Law No. 6/2011 on immigration for deliberately providing invalid or incorrect information in applying for an Indonesia passport and is in detention at the Blitar District Prosecutor's Office. The number of unaccompanied young migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain has spiked during the coronavirus outbreak, as travel restrictions force them onto boats rather than trucks. Kent County Council in southeast England, which includes the major port of Dover, was dealing with "230 to 250" young migrants a year ago, its chief executive, Roger Gough, said. "But that number has pretty much doubled. It's now nearly 470 and new arrivals are coming in all the time," he told AFP. Channel crossing attempts have increased since the end of 2018, despite the danger of heavy maritime traffic, strong currents and low water temperatures. In 2019, 2,758 migrants were rescued by the French and British authorities while trying to cross the strait -- four times more than in 2018, according to French officials. The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the trend, with the reduced number of trucks going through the Channel Tunnel leading migrants to make the crossing in small boats instead. "We used to see these young people crossing in trucks. This was the typical route," Gough said. "Now what we're seeing is these unaccompanied young people are in the boats." Francois Guennoc, vice-president of the Auberge des Migrants aid group in Calais, said the vast majority of foreign nationals seeking refuge in the region were male, aged 16 to 30. He said milder weather and calmer seas since the beginning of April may have contributed to the increase in crossing attempts. "The success rate has increased from around 60 to 80 percent, which also attracts migrants to Calais," he said. A police source in Calais said stay-at-home restrictions to curb the coronavirus spread could also have contributed. "With lockdown, beaches were closed and migrants have indirectly taken advantage of the fact that many local people who used to let us know about attempted crossings weren't able to do so," the source added. - 1,000 since lockdown - At least 1,000 migrants have arrived in Britain by small boats since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced virus lockdown measures on March 23, according to a count by the domestic Press Association news agency. At least 145 arrived on May 8, it added. Of those, 17 were unaccompanied minors. Another three arrived the same weekend, said Gough. Most were Iranians, Iraqis and Afghans. Kent officials face the tough task of dealing with the influx while social distancing measures are in place that have added financial pressures to local budgets. The county, which used to have only one migrant reception centre, now has three. In addition to caring for 469 minors, it is also responsible for supporting 932 young migrants between the ages of 18 and 25 who have left the care system. The Home Office did not respond to a request for the official number of arrivals. But it said the government "takes the welfare of unaccompanied children very seriously and provides funding to local authorities, including Kent, as a contribution to the cost of supporting unaccompanied children and those who leave care". The police made 418 arrests for immigration offences last year, and 111 smugglers received prison sentences. More than 10 smugglers have been convicted and imprisoned since the beginning of the year. "These ruthless criminal gangs put people's lives in grave danger and we are working closely with all our partners to dismantle this illegal trade and bring people smugglers to justice," the Home Office said. Britain is working with France to send back more migrants who arrive by boat in an attempt to deter those thinking of making the dangerous journey. In the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France, police have recorded 230 attempted crossings this year -- 128 of which were intercepted by the French border force, and 102 by their British counterparts. April was the busiest month, with French officials intercepting 38 attempted crossings. British authorities stopped 41, it added. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK MUSKEGON, MI - More than two months after the COVID-19 outbreak took hold in Michigan, several military museums in the area will honor front-line responders. At 1 p.m. on Friday, a Masters Salute will sound from aboard the USS LST 393, a World War II landing ship that serves as a history museum off the Mart Dock on Muskegon Lake, 560 Mart St. At the same time, the USS Silversides, a submarine that was also a part of World War II, will sound its diving klaxon. Across the country, other military watercraft will participate in this salute, organized by the Historic Naval Ships Association. The Muskegon event will also be streamed on Facebook. West Michigan heroes on the front lines fighting the coronavirus pandemic dont toot their own horns, so Muskegons USS LST 393 will do it for them, reads a press release from the USS LST 393 Veterans Museum, which would typically be open for museum visitors by this time of year. USS Silversides, 1346 Bluff St., is also closed to visitors as the statewide stay-at-home order continues during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A Master Salute is a formal salute, sounded by a watercraft during special occasions. Those within range of the Veterans Museum will hear three long whistle blasts, followed by two short blasts, throughout the downtown area, according to the press release. The 78-year-old USS LST 393 was at Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. USS Silversides was commissioned shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and served with the Pacific Fleet in the East China Sea. The event will both honor the frontline workers, as well as ordinary people who have given things up during the coronavirus outbreak, as evidenced by the fact that these military museums are closed for safety reasons, said William Cogar, the Historic Naval Ships Association's executive director. Read more on MLive: Heres whats on the ballot in Muskegon Countys Aug. 4 primary election Norton Shores movie theater announces reopening plan Meijer Gardens cancels this years summer concert series due to coronavirus crisis Muskegon County has successfully flattened the curve for coronavirus, health director says Over nine lakh stranded migrant workers had been sent back to their home states from Gujarat in special Shramik trains, an official said on Thursday. At least 633 Shramik trains carrying migrants, who were stranded due to the COVID-19 lockdown, had left for other states from Gujarat, said Ashwani Kumar, secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Of 2,023 Shramik special trains run by the Railways so far, 633 had originated from Gujarat until Wednesday midnight and had ferried 9.18 lakh migrant workers to their home states, he said. The highest number of Shramik trains had originated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra (371) and Punjab (247), he added. Stranded workers were ferried to states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan among others, the official said. As many as 64 trains will depart from Gujarat with 1.01 lakh migrants on Thursday, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Questioning the style of function in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime with the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) dominating the decision-making process, former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said the Indian economy would be a shadow of its former self if the government didnt announce further measures. Im very worried about the extent of the catastrophe were facing the government must consult Opposition talent it cant all be done by the PMO we must pull out all stops if more is not ... Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Working from home isnt for everybody. But with the country only gradually reopening and COVID-19 still a threat to both public health and the economy, mortgage companies will be forced to consider keeping their work-from-home structures in place for the foreseeable future. For brokers used to working from a home office, the last two months have likely meant little change to their day-to-day routines or those routines impact on their families lives. But for admin staff, managers, analysts and other employees used to working in an office environment, working from home can create new anxieties that take away from the purported increase in productivity some workers experience after relocating their laptops from the office to the ottoman. People have been asked to do more than theyre used to, says Pivotal Consultings Heide Garrigan, referring to the increased burdens of child care, home schooling and even parental care COVID-19 has thrust on millions of Canadian families, plus theyre working from home. And theyre trying to do it all. International Corporate Communications E-mail: public.relations@fujitsu.com MUNICH, May 21, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Transforming business performance with new digital processes became easier and faster today with the launch of the latest DigitalSuite ProcessModeler from Fujitsu RunMyProcess.The upgraded business process automation tool streamlines application design, greatly reducing the amount of time to design application flows. It achieves this by following industry-standard business process modelling notation (BPMN) to improve the usability and user interface of RunMyProcess DigitalSuite(1), the digital transformation cloud platform.The new DigitalSuite ProcessModeler release also enhances the capabilities for customers to improve the testing, deployment and scalability of digital business processes, both quickly and securely. On top of its rapid process design, the device-independent ProcessModeler tool helps reduce the risk of in-use service failures and other system errors through the addition of easier testing and reconfiguration of an applications' business logic across the cloud, on-premises and mobile environments.Major features in new ProcessModeler include design automation and simplification as well as more structured and more intuitive settings controls. By making these enhancements, Fujitsu underlines its investment commitment to the RunMyProcess DigitalSuite, further extending the capabilities of ProcessModeler and continuing the progress achieved with the 2019 releases of DigitalSuite WebModeler and EnterpriseConnect.Angie Lorena Peraza, IT Delivery Leader at Opensky, a long-term solution partner and RunMyProcess DigitalSuite reseller, comments: "Fujitsu RunMyProcess has done an exhaustive and flawless job with this new release. The new ProcessModeler module is a substantial step up for app designers, who can expect to see significant productivity gains. It is simpler to use and all the options and functionalities are easy to learn and operate. It looks great too."Hiroshi Yazawa, CEO at Fujitsu RunMyProcess, says: "By now, there can't be many corners of the economy where someone, somewhere isn't working towards digital transformation with better ways to provide products or services using digital processes. Whether you see that as an opportunity or a threat, DigitalSuite ProcessModeler makes it easier, faster and more secure to build, test and launch digitally transformed processes. The software upgrade is the latest investment by Fujitsu towards developing and enhancing the RunMyProcess DigitalSuite platform as the most comprehensive and accessible digital transformation platform on the market."AvailabilityAvailable to customers worldwide, the new module is an integral part of the DigitalSuite platform provided by Fujitsu RunMyProcess.Notes to editors(1) RunMyProcess DigitalSuite allows organizations to quickly and securely build, test, deploy and scale device-independent applications that connect digital business processes across cloud, on-premises and mobile environments. With RunMyProcess, organizations can model and streamline even the most complex business processes while also integrating existing systems and services -- whether cloud services like Office 365 or on-premises solutions such as SAP -- with smartphones, tablets, PCs, wearable technology and other mobile devices. As a result, users enjoy a seamless experience -- anywhere, anytime. The platform's pre-built connectors allow customers to develop connected applications faster, deploying them within days rather than months, as well as quickly scaling to thousands of users.Online Resources:Learn more about Fujitsu RunMyProcess: https://www.runmyprocess.comFollow RunMyProcess on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/runmyprocess/Read the Fujitsu blog: https://blog.global.fujitsu.com/Follow Fujitsu on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Fujitsu_GlobalFollow us on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/fujitsuFind Fujitsu on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FujitsuICTFujitsu pictures and media server: http://mediaportal.ts.fujitsu.com/pages/portal.phpAbout FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 130,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.9 trillion yen (US$35 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. It is a remarkable achievement that millennials now growing up in Northern Ireland, the 'Good Friday Generation', have known only times of peace. Unlike their parents, they can go about their lives without the fear of enduring violence, and with the reassurance that across all communities people are working together to keep it that way. And Belfast Telegraph readers were of course there from the beginning. Back in 1998, many of you will have voted in the historic referendum to ratify the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, which has contributed to the new spirit of reconciliation and collaboration, and helped promote shared ambitions of a more successful future for all. Read More Twenty-two years later, the Agreement remains pivotal to Northern Ireland's economy, society and communities. And the Government is determined that future generations will also benefit from the gains of the peace process as a new chapter opens in the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union. This fundamental first principle - so crucial to people's lives, hopes and aspirations - is at the heart of the Government's proposals for implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol. And yesterday we published a paper setting out, for the first time in detail, the UK Government's approach. The Protocol is a crucial element of the wider Withdrawal Agreement the UK Government signed with the EU in October last year. It paves the way for a practical solution which avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, acknowledging Northern Ireland's integral place within the United Kingdom but also its unique position as the only part of our Union to share a land border with the EU. The Protocol also places duties on both the UK and the EU to respect and protect these unique circumstances, recognising Northern Ireland's integral place in the UK's customs territory and our internal market. Critically, any arrangements for implementing the Protocol will only be able to last as long as they command the support of democratically-elected local politicians. The future is firmly in Northern Ireland's hands. For the Protocol to work, it must respect the needs of all Northern Ireland's people, respect the fact that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the customs territory of the United Kingdom, and respect the need to bear as lightly as possible on the everyday life of those in Northern Ireland. Our proposals achieve all three. We hope that people, businesses and communities across Northern Ireland are reassured to know that, as we have promised, our proposals will deliver unfettered access for Northern Ireland businesses to the whole of the UK market. They will ensure there are no tariffs on goods remaining within the UK customs territory. And they will ensure there is no need for any new customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland. We will also guarantee that Northern Ireland businesses benefit from the lower tariffs we deliver through our new Free Trade Agreements with third countries. Although there will need to be some new administrative requirements around the movement of some goods, these processes will be electronic, streamlined and simplified as much as possible. And while on agrifood and live animal movements it makes sense to protect supply chains and the disease-free status on the island of Ireland, we will build on what already happens at ports like Larne and Belfast. There will be some expansion of existing infrastructure to accommodate additional new processes but we will work closely with the EU to keep checks to a minimum, reflecting the high standards we see right across the UK. Overall, it is an approach which chimes with that of the European Commission's own negotiator, Michel Barnier, who said that the Protocol's procedures must be "as easy as possible, and not too burdensome, in particular for smaller businesses". The economy of Northern Ireland is heavily dependent on small and medium-sized enterprises. Subjecting traders to unnecessary and disproportionate burdens - particularly as they wrestle with the economic consequences of coronavirus - would serve neither the interests of Northern Ireland nor the spirit of the Protocol text, which states that implementation "should impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities". That is why our proposals will implement the Protocol in a proportionate and pragmatic way - while protecting the interests of both the whole of the UK and the EU. If some of the Protocol text sounds complicated, our aim for its implementation is simple: a commitment to prosperity and opportunity for all communities, and an understanding of their needs on both sides of the border. Our goal - one we trust the EU shares - is to command the broadest possible cross-community support. From the Good Friday Generation, and from their parents and grandparents too. Because we know that this is the approach that will offer the best protection for the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and its legacy; supporting businesses and the economy, and ensuring a positive new chapter for Northern Ireland and all its people. Brandon Lewis is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Michael Gove is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster HOUSTON (AP) Prosecutors in Houston said Wednesday that the girlfriend of former Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was arrested on charges of injuring the longtime Republican officeholder in an alleged attack that broke two of his ribs. Dewhurst, 74, called police Tuesday when X-rays confirmed his injuries, said Mary McFaden, the division chief of family criminal law at the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Leslie Ann Caron, 40, was charged with injury to an elderly person, a third-degree felony in Texas. UT RETURNS: University of Texas students to return to campus this fall Caron was booked on $10,000 bond. It was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney. Attempts to reach Dewhurst or his representatives were not immediately successful. Approached by Houston television station KTRK on Wednesday, Dewhurst said he was doing OK but declined further comment. Dewhurst served 12 years as lieutenant before losing his bid for a fourth term in 2014. He also ran for U.S. Senate in 2012 but lost in a primary runoff to Ted Cruz. Dewhurst was a powerful ally of Rick Perry, who was then the Texas governor. Together they pushed through a business-friendly agenda in the Legislature that they claimed drove a booming Texas economy, laying the groundwork for Perry's failed campaigns for the White House. COVID CONGREGATION: Houston church recloses after leaders, congregants get COVID-19 Caron allegedly kicked Dewhurst on May 13 during an argument over him not calling a business partner, and allegedly scratched and bit him during another argument a few days later, according to prosecutors. McFaden said the charges might have been a misdemeanor if Dewhurst had been under the age of 65, but that the charges were elevated to a felony because of the age of the alleged victim. Caron made accusations that Dewhurst had physically hurt her in the past but police could not substantiate those claims, said Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the district attorney's office. A court hearing was scheduled for Thursday. DALLAS and SAN DIEGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AMN Healthcare (NYSE: AMN), the leader and innovator in healthcare total talent services to facilities across the nation, announced today that Bernard Godley, MD, PhD, has been appointed as Lead Physician Executive for the company's Leadership & Search Solutions Division. Dr. Godley comes to AMN from Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting firm, where he was a Senior Client Partner representing its Academic Health Center Practice. Prior to Korn Ferry, he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. Dr. Godley is credited with the rapid turnaround of the department -- significantly improving patient satisfaction, operational efficiency, and growth in faculty and services. "We are thrilled to have Dr. Godley join AMN Leadership Solutions. His background as a physician and healthcare leader, in addition to his experience in executive search, will be instrumental as we continue to expand our physician leadership in healthcare," said Kelly Rakowski, Group President and Chief Operating Officer, Strategic Talent Solutions for AMN Healthcare. "This is an exciting time of growth and change in the healthcare industry and we are happy to have Bernard supporting our clients." Dr. Godley earned a bachelor's degree at Brown University and completed the combined MD and PhD program at Harvard Medical School and MIT. After completing his medical internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, he did an ophthalmology residency at the University of Iowa, followed by a medical retina fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University of London, and the Retina Institute of Maryland. Dr. Godley earned an MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, where he focused on leadership and finance. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American College of Surgeons. About AMN Healthcare AMN Healthcare is the leader and innovator in total talent solutions for healthcare organizations across the nation. The Company provides access to the most comprehensive network of quality healthcare professionals through its innovative recruitment strategies and breadth of career opportunities. With insights and expertise, AMN Healthcare helps providers optimize their workforce to successfully reduce complexity, increase efficiency and improve patient outcomes. AMN total talent solutions include managed services programs, clinical and interim healthcare leaders, temporary staffing, executive search solutions, vendor management systems, recruitment process outsourcing, predictive modeling, language interpretation services, revenue cycle solutions, credentialing and other services. Clients include acute-care hospitals, community health centers and clinics, physician practice groups, retail and urgent care centers, home health facilities, schools and many other healthcare settings. AMN Healthcare is committed to fostering and maintaining a diverse team that reflects the communities we serve. Our commitment to the inclusion of many different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives enables our innovation and leadership in the healthcare services industry. For more information about AMN Healthcare, visit www.amnhealthcare.com Media Contact Jim Gogek Corporate Communications AMN Healthcare (858) 350-3209 [email protected] Investor Contact Randle Reece Director, Investor Relations AMN Healthcare (866) 861-3229 [email protected] SOURCE AMN Healthcare Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.amnhealthcare.com The Scottish parliament has voted to ban companies which are based in tax havens from using millions of pounds' worth of coronavirus relief funding. MSPs approved the move on Wednesday night after measures were put forward by the Scottish Greens. It means firms or individuals who are registered in tax havens, or are a subsidiary of an offshore company, will not be able to get support grants. The measures could prevent such firms from applying to a 120million fund for small and medium-sized businesses and a 30million fund for firms in the creative, tourism and hospitality industries which cannot get business rate relief. The Scottish parliament has voted to ban companies which are based in tax havens from using millions of pounds' worth of coronavirus relief funding. Pictured: The British Crown dependency of Jersey, a popular destination for businesses seeking to avoid paying tax The legislation follows a similar move by the Welsh government last week and several EU member states, including Denmark, France and Poland, in April. The measures were backed by the Conservatives and the governing Scottish National Party. Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party co-leader, told The Guardian: 'Any company which avoids its responsibility to contribute to society should not be getting handouts when things go wrong. That's why many European nations and Wales have already made this commitment. 'I'm delighted that ministers finally saw sense on this basic issue of fairness. 'This move isn't the final word, but it marks the beginning of a new approach to tackling the companies which shamelessly avoid paying tax, and we will continue to build on what's been achieved today.' MSPs approved the move on Wednesday night after measures were put forward by the Scottish Greens. Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party co-leader, said any firm which 'avoids its responsibility to contribute to society' should not be 'getting handouts when things go wrong' On May 15, the Welsh government blocked companies whose headquarters were based in tax havens from accessing its 500m fund for firms affected by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. It followed a move by the French government in April to ban companies either registered or with controlling subsidiaries in tax havens from benefiting from a 110 billion rescue package. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire old France Info radio, 'It goes without saying that if a company has its tax headquarters or subsidiaries in a tax haven, I want to say with great force, it will not be able to benefit from state financial aid. Le Maire added: 'There are rules that must be followed. If you have benefited from the state treasury, you cannot pay dividends and you cannot buy back shares.' 'And if your head office is located in a tax haven, it is obvious that you cannot benefit from public support.' The UK, along with the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg has provisions making it attractive to businesses that also allow them to be registered offshore. The legislation means firms or individuals who are registered in tax havens, or are a subsidiary of an offshore company, will not be able to get support grants. Pictured: The British Virgin Islands, a popular tax haven Last year, the UK was branded the world's biggest sponsor of tax avoidance by pressure group the Tax Justice Network. They 64 countries based on how much tax avoidance they enabled, taking into account the size of their economies. Topping the list was the British Virgin Islands, followed by Bermuda and the Cayman Islands all British overseas territories. Jersey, a Crown dependency, was seventh. The UK itself was ranked 13th. The index scores each country's system based on the degree to which it enables corporate tax avoidance combined with the scale of its corporate activity to determine the share of global corporate activity put at risk of tax avoidance by the country. The network said that through its network of satellite jurisdictions, the UK bears the lion's share of responsibility for the 'breakdown of the global corporate tax system'. It added: 'The UK with its corporate tax haven network is by far the world's greatest enabler of corporate tax avoidance and has single-handedly done the most to break down the global corporate tax system, accounting for over a third of the world's corporate tax avoidance risks. 'That's four times more than the next greatest contributor of corporate tax avoidance risks, the Netherlands, which accounts for less than seven per cent.' As soon as Teich left office on Friday, an interim minister immediately took his place. Much like other officials in the current administration, the new proxy had a history of working in the military. Both the former ministers were trained doctors. It is widely believed among the media that Teich was not able to fully do his job because of the lack of experts and the appointment of military personnel in the health ministry. Former Health Minister Teich against hydroxychloroquine Teich specified no particular reason for his resignation. On an interview, he merely said that life was "full of decisions". However, he frequently disagreed with Bolsonaro. The president not only strongly opposed lockdown measures but also rallied with the conviction that the coronavirus was a myth designed by the media and China to bring him down. This was not the only thing they had arguments about. Teich was careful to warn the public against misuse of hydroxychloroquine, which had ill side effects on top of being an experimental drug. A day before he resigned, Bolsonaro announced he would let healthcare institutions prescribe hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Executive director of the national Institute for Health Policy Studies Miguel Lago claimed that during the few weeks Teich was Health Minister, he did not have his own team. Lago attributed this to certain limitations, such as Teich's lack of political connections and careful compliance to scientific recommendations. Analyst from the risk consultancy Eurasia Group Filipe Gruppelli Carvalho said that the job of the Ministry of Health was as detrimental to responding to the pandemic as much as local authorities. He added that the capacity of the government to coordinate between states was gone as soon as Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired. Carvalho said that Teich's resignation would only magnify the increasing risks of Bolsonaro's poor response to the coronavirus, right from the outbreak up to the global spread. This would suggest his more sensible supporters would start to question his leadership. Check these out! Hydroxychloroquine questionable In an interview, Bolsonaro declared that Pazuello, still an active duty army general with no previous experience in the healthcare system, would sign the new hydroxychloroquine guidelines after the administration approved on Wednesday the anti-malarial drug as a treatment for COVID-19 patients. Prior to this, the Health Ministry allowed the use of hydroxychloroquine for patients who were suffering from severe health conditions due to the coronavirus. Because of Bolsonaro's touting, Brazil's Army Chemical and Pharmaceutical Laboratory increased the production of hydroxychloroquine in late March. In researches conducted the month prior, analysis have shown that use of the drug in U.S. hospitals for veterans raised no significant or definitive changes. Similarly, scientists in Brazil halted a study of hydroxychloroquine last month when they observed heart rhythm problems in a quarter of the participants when given higher doses during drug tests. As of Monday, Brazil has the third-highest number of positive cases of the coronavirus, following Russia and the United States. People walk with umbrellas in the rain ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall, at Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo More than 2.6 million people had to be evacuated from India and Bangladesh after a cyclone ravaged the coasts of both countries, The Associated Press reported. The cyclone impacted some of the most vulnerable communities including Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The devastation comes as both countries are still under lockdown and trying to control their coronavirus outbreaks. At least seven people have died, but the complete toll of the devastation is not apparent yet. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A powerful cyclone made its way onto mainland India and Bangladesh after more than 2.6 million people frantically fled to shelters on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The cyclone, dubbed "Amphan," was equal to a category 3 hurricane. Business Insider previously reported that the cyclone was "carrying extremely heavy rains and wind speeds that could reach up to around 105 miles per hour when it hits the land." According to The New York Times, authorities are waiting until Thursday to get a clearer idea of the amount of devastation from the cyclone. "The next 24 hours are very crucial," Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, India's chief meteorologist told the AP. "This is a long haul." While the storm was expected to be weaker as it made its way towards Bangladesh, "authorities warned of extensive damage to flimsy houses and storm surges pushing seawater" around 15 miles inland. Cities including Kolkata were flooded. Additionally, the storm left many areas without electricity or phone service and wiped away bridges between India's islands and it's mainland. The cyclone came at a time when India was anticipating its peak of coronavirus cases. A man covers himself with a plastic sheet and walks in the rain ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall, at Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo "We are facing three crises: the coronavirus, the thousands of migrants who are returning home and now the cyclone," Banerjee, who is an opposition leader and one of the fiercest critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said according to the AP. Story continues Source: AP, Business Insider Both India and Bangladesh are still under coronavirus lockdown. A man walks in the rain ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall, at Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo According to The Times, many of the people living along the swampy coasts of both countries were worried about going into crowded shelters and risking coronavirus infection. India had been turning emergency shelters into COVID-19 quarantine centers, before the cyclone. A boat stands anchored as it rains ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall, at Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Wednesday, May 20, 202 AP Photo India has reported more than 100,000 coronavirus infections. According to The Times, because, the country repurposed their emergency shelters, they had few left when the cyclone hit. Port operations in West Bengal were halted on Tuesday. Boats are anchored at a fishing harbor at Paradeep, on the Bay of Bengal coast in Orissa, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020 AP Photo People began to be evacuated from the coast on Tuesday morning, The Times of India reported. The cyclone could also hinder India's efforts to control the spread of coronavirus. A man covers him head with a box and walks in the rain ahead of Cyclone Amphan landfall, at Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo According to the AP, the country's fight against the virus would be made more difficult now that supply lines are cut, roads are destroyed, and lockdown measures are slowing relief work. Tuhin Ghosh, director of the School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University, told the AP that the pandemic's lockdown has already sapped people's resilience. "Because they are economically down, they are not getting enough food. ... When another disaster comes, then it's a double impact," he said. Amphan is being called one of the most powerful cyclones in decades. A small ship moored on the swollen Hooghly River due to a cyclonic storm in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo/Bikas Das Source: The New York Times Some of the most vulnerable communities in the region were in its path. Rain clouds hover over the Hooghly River in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. AP Photo/Bikas Das According to the AP, the region has around 58 million people including poor fishing communities in the Sunderbans and over a million Rohingya refugees in the crowded camps of Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar. The cyclone has already resulted in seven deaths. Trucks are stranded on a bridge across River Mahanadi at Paradeep, on the Bay of Bengal coast in Orissa, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. AP Photo One woman was crushed by a tree in India, and a cyclone preparedness team volunteer drowned when a boat capsized in a canal, the AP reported. According to the New York Times, a child died after a mud wall collapsed on him. Some are worried that the impact of the cyclone mixed with the pandemic will cause a "new humanitarian crisis." Evacuated children wearing masks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus stand at a relief camp at Paradeep, on the Bay of Bengal coast in Orissa, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020 AP Photo "We know that if people are forced to seek communal shelter, they'll be unable to maintain physical distancing and run the risk of contracting or transmitting the virus," Manuel Pereira, deputy chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration in Bangladesh told the AP. 2.4 million people were evacuated in Bangladesh. Commuters take shelter in an empty taxi stand at Howrah railway station as it rains in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 AP Photo/Bikas Das Another approximately 300,000 people were evacuated from India's West Bengal state, and Odisha state evacuated 148,486, according to the AP. Many were afraid of heading to shelters over fear of catching the virus, even as officials try not to fill shelters that could fit thousands to capacity. A man struggles to hold his umbrella and walk against high wind in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. AP Photo/Bikas Das According to The Times, some of the shelters are only kept at half capacity. However, others told the AP, that in some of the shelters were crowded, specifically those closes to Sunderbans. Sobrato Das, a fisherman on Mousuni Island in India, also told the AP that not everyone was wearing a mask, children were crying and women were desperately trying "to cover their faces with their saris while trying to maintain some distance from each other." Read the original article on Business Insider It conjures images of the Great Depression tent cities, the Dust Bowl migration camps and even post-apocalyptic movies of bare survival. It is the prospect of thousands of men, women and children being forced from their homes to live on the street or in overcrowded rooms and shelters exposed to and exposing others to the new coronavirus. That is the hellish landscape Houston must avoid in the coming days and weeks as the first of Americas largest cities to confront possible widespread evictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis moved into a new stage last week when the Texas Supreme Court lifted its temporary ban on evictions and debt collection, putting thousands of residents in the Houston region and across the state at risk of losing their homes. Eviction hearings were allowed to resume Tuesday with possible removal coming as early as May 26. Harris County justices of the peace say they will not begin hearings before June 1 and will start with cases filed in February and early March before the pandemic shutdowns began. It will be the post-shutdown cases that represent the greatest suffering. Without jobs, income or access to resources, many residents confront a cruel reality that could not only damage families for generations but make it harder to contain the virus now and cripple efforts for a speedy economic recovery in the months and years ahead. It is about people on the margins being pushed too far behind to ever catch up. No one wants to see that happen, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told the editorial board. No one. Local officials, including those in the court system, must do everything they can to limit the immediate and long-term damage that widespread evictions will do to our community. That includes justices of the peace giving careful consideration to those who have been unable to work for months because of closed businesses and stay-at-home orders. It includes putting more financial assistance into the system to help renters and landlords who face their own mortgages, overhead and property tax burdens. Renters who live in properties that receive federal subsidies, an estimated 25 percent of the market in Harris County, are protected from eviction through July 25 under the federal CARES Act. All renters should know their rights before going to court. For more information, visit TexasLawHelp.org and search eviction. We applaud Harris County Commissioners Court for doubling its COVID-19 relief fund from $15 million to $30 million to help the neediest residents pay for housing, utilities, food and health care. The question is how far that money will go after a $15 million City of Houston rental assistance fund was drained by applicants in 90 minutes last week. The need is only growing as more people remain out of work and savings are exhausted. This is why the U.S. Senate should take up a bill already passed by the House that sends more aid to cities and states. The Metropolitan Organization, a citizens advocacy and empowerment group, says that a crucial parallel step would be to extend a moratorium on evictions until at least mid-June to give people a chance to get back on their feet. The organization sent a letter this week to Hidalgo and commissioners calling on them to direct the justices of the peace of Harris County to delay holding eviction hearings for non-payment of rent. But Hidalgo said her hands are tied by Gov. Greg Abbotts superseding state emergency order and that while she hopes the JPs will delay the eviction process, she cant order them to do so. Robert Soard, the first assistant attorney for Harris County, told the editorial board that his office is working with other counties to find solutions but that its a potential separation of powers issue in which county government cant order the judiciary to do its bidding. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced Monday that eviction cases filed there after March 10 would not be set for a hearing before June 15 by agreement of the justices of the peace. We urge Harris County JPs to agree to take similar steps as a group. That hasnt happened yet. But Justice of the Peace Jeremy Brown said he believes he and his colleagues will do everything in our power to look at these circumstances and chaotic times in dealing with the eviction caseload. Harris County Justice of the Peace David Patronella agreed that the JPs have discretion and will be proactive in guiding the parties to resources with the goal of avoiding eviction where possible. That should be the posture for all 16 Harris County JPs. Renters and landlords both deserve justice but this is not business as usual. No one wants to see what mass evictions would do to this community. The collapse of two Michigan dams on Tuesday following heavy rainfall has triggered concerns over how precarious dam infrastructure in the U.S. is inadequate to handle severe weather. Aging dams will increasingly fail as climate change makes extreme precipitation and storms more frequent and intense, scientists warn. "A lot of the country's infrastructure systems were built during a time when these kind of weather events were considered rare and didn't present a significant threat," said Hiba Baroud, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. "But things have changed. The climate has changed. These dams are aging and need to be maintained, upgraded and in the most extreme cases, the entire design must be revisited," Baroud continued. "Otherwise, the situation like in Michigan will become more frequent in the future." The Edenville dam is seen after breaking in Edenville, Michigan, U.S., on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Sean Procter | Bloomberg | Getty Images The 91,000 dams in the U.S. earned a "D" for safety in a 2017 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The ASCE estimated the cost of fixing up the dams whose failure would threaten lives at roughly $45 billion, and the cost of fixing all aging dams at over $64 billion. In Michigan, which is under a state of emergency after the two dam breaches, the average age of the state's total 1,059 dams is 74 years old, older than the typical 50-year designed life span. Just over 170 of those dams are labeled as high hazard potential meaning a collapse will result in a loss of life. "The combination of aging infrastructure, older design guidelines and an increasing probability of extreme events from global warming is increasing the overall risk of these events," said Noah Diffenbaugh, a Stanford University climate scientist. A man walks across a washed out West Saginaw Road in Sanford, Michigan, on May 21,2020, after the area saw heavy flooding and damage from heavy rains throughout central Michigan. Seth Herald | AFP | Getty Images The most common form of dam failure is over-topping of inadequate spillway design, which accounts for roughly 34% of all dam failures. The water levels behind the dam become too high and break through the entire structure rather than passing through the spillway. Regarding the two dams that broke on Tuesday, the Edenville Dam that was built in 1924 was rated in unsatisfactory condition in 2018 by the state. And the Sanford Dam that was built a year later was rated in fair condition. Federal regulators since 2014 were warning the Edenville Dam's owner, Boyce Hydro Power, that the dam could not handle a "probable" heavy flooding event. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission eventually revoked the dam's license in 2018 due to a failure to increase the dam's spillway capacity to safely allow flood water to pass through. Residents in boats inspect the floodwaters flowing from the Tittabawassee River into the lower part of downtown on May 20, 2020 in Midland, Michigan. Gregory Shamus | Getty Images The commission on Wednesday ordered the company, which also owns Sanford Dam, to investigate the Michigan dam failures. The last inspections of the two dams were done in June 2018. "There must be investigations to understand what measures need to be taken to fix the dams," Baroud said. Regular inspections of the dams could have provided warning signs of maintenance and upkeep that needed to be completed to avoid a failure, according to Baroud. "If it costs a lot of money and you can't fix it now, the dam should be operated at a lower than normal level to provide a buffer to allow for a great influx of water during heavy precipitation," she said. Operating a dam at a lower level can be done through conducting a reservoir drawdown, where the water level in the dam is slowly drained through gated openings or valves to avoid future flooding during an emergency. The World Health Organisation has advised countries that COVID-19 vaccines should be classified as a global public good. The Director General of the UN health agency, Tedros Ghebreyesus, on the organisations website said classification of the vaccine as public good for health is in order to bring the pandemic to an end. COVID-19 vaccines should be classified as a global public good for health in order to bring the pandemic to an end, he said, adding that this is one of the four critical points from the resolution by World Health Assembly. Mr Ghebreyesus said the resolution by the World Health Assembly on Tuesday sets out a clear roadmap of the critical activities and actions that must be taken to sustain and accelerate the response at the national and international levels. It assigns responsibilities for both the WHO and its member states, and captures the comprehensive whole of government and whole of society approach we have been calling for since the beginning of the outbreak, he said. The WHO chief said if the resolution is implemented, it would ensure a more coherent, coordinated and fairer response that saves both lives and livelihoods. The landmark resolution underlines WHOs key role in promoting access to safe, effective health technologies to fight the pandemic, he said. Long road to freedom WHO reports that in the last 24 hours, there have been 106,000 cases reported, the most in a single day since the outbreak began. But two thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries, Mr Ghebreyesus said. Mr Ghebreyesus commended the Republic of South Korea for building on their experience of MERS to quickly implement a comprehensive strategy. Also, to find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace every contact. This was critical to the Republic of Korea curtailing the first wave and now quickly identifying and containing new outbreaks, he said. However, Mr Ghebreyesus is concerned about the rising numbers of cases in low- and middle-income countries. Support to member states WHO is supporting Member States to ensure supply chains remain open and medical supplies reach health workers and patients, he said. He recognised the risk to life from any suspension of essential services, like child immunisation while battling COVID-19, and ensuring health systems continue to function is an equally high priority. The climate crisis is causing increasingly strong storms, abnormal weather patterns and catastrophic shocks, the WHO chief said. READ ALSO: Super cyclone Amphan is one of the biggest in years and is currently bearing down on Bangladesh and India. Our thoughts are with those affected and we recognize that like with COVID-19 there is a serious threat to life, particularly the poorest and most marginalized communities, he added . WHO says it continues to offer support to Bangladesh and India to tackle both COVID-19 and the effects of the super cyclone. Oregon man caught in Lyon County with $760,000 of marijuana A black cab driver died from Covid-19 after he was spat at by a passenger who told him 'I've got the coronavirus and now you've got it, too' when he refused to pay a 9 fare, his family have revealed. Trevor Belle, 61, died last month after falling ill after the incident, and passed away alone on the Royal London Hospital's covid wards. No more than 20 people were allowed to attend his funeral at the City of London Cemetery at Manor Park, due to social distancing rules. Trevor Belle, 61, died last month of coronavirus after being spat at by a passenger claiming to have covid in his black taxi. The father-of-three challenged the customer over a 9 fare Kelly Esqulant, his long-term partner of 28 years and mother of his three children, has revealed her heartache over the loss of the 61-year-old. 'I still can't understand how somebody could do that to another person,' she told The Daily Telegraph. Trevor, who had taken fares up until the day of the attack on March 22 and was widely acknowledged for having one of the cleanest cabs on the rank, had taken every health precaution while working before the incident on West Ham Lane in Stratford. The traveller, who Trevor said spoke with an Irish accent and described as white, leapt out of the car and ran off after the attack. Trevor reported the incident to a nearby police van, and he was told the case was not pursuing over a 9 fare. Trevor's partner, Kelly Esqulant (right), has revealed her family's heartache at the loss Only 20 mourners were allowed to attend his funeral at the City of London Cemetary Trevor did not work after the attack, and four days later started to suffer coronavirus symptoms. Over the course of a few days, his condition worsened and he struggled to breathe. He was later taken away by paramedics, which was the last time Kelly saw him alive. The next day, he had been put into an induced coma and the family received little information and no access to Trevor. A research team asked Kelly whether Trevor would like to donate blood in order to help find a cure. 'I know my Trevor, and he would have said if you can use that to do something that could help millions in the future, then do it,' she told The Daily Telegraph. Trevor died on April 18, a few days after his 61st birthday. His story is alike to the tragic death of Belly Mujinga, 47, a railway ticket officer who died after being spat on by an individual while working at London Victoria. That individual also said he had coronavirus and she fell ill just days later. Last weekend, British Transport Police questioned a 57-year-old man in relation to the attack on the mother-of-one. Since the outbreak, police in England and Wales have been dealing with around 200 cases a week of people coughing and spitting at officers, with the virus being weaponised by members of the public. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:35:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SINGAPORE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization process for many companies, and some will emerge as leaders in the future while others will be left behind, business leaders said in an online webinar on Thursday. Themed "The next normal: Harnessing innovative deep technology for Post-COVID-19 businesses," the first session of a new webinar series included panelists Lien Choong Luen, general manager of ride-hailing start-up Gojek Singapore; Sandra Ng, group vice president of IDC Asia/Pacific's practice group; Wu Fei, vice president of Tencent Cloud and vice general manager of Tencent International Business Group; and Zhao Liwei, senior vice president of Chinese tech company Megvii. The speakers said COVID-19 has disrupted every industry and going forward companies must be prepared for a fundamental shift towards digitization. Already, COVID-19 has changed attitudes toward the adoption of technology and the future of work may see more working from home and innovative new models springing up. For instance, Tencent has developed a QR code system on WeChat, which has been used by over 3 billion people in China, as well as smart cloud classrooms for students to continue to learn, said Wu of Tencent. In this new future, retail may move towards more cloud computing and digitised tools so that stores can be self-operated online and offline, while smart hospitals and assistive technology to reduce the workload of healthcare professionals may be the norm, he said. Government agencies may also focus on building data platforms to promote more open sharing and promote smart cities and villages, for instance. Zhao of Megvii said he has observed changing attitudes in China. Its massive manufacturing sector experienced major disruptions when factories were shut during lockdown and had turn to new technology and automation. Going forward, there is the potential to use artificial intelligence to perform quality control, rather than the traditional methods of people having to check the products manually, he said. Building security can also be done through smart surveillance. The next six months will be critical to shape the future of work, said Ng of IDC Asia/Pacific. "If the productivity levels and effectiveness go up and the returns are there, then our predictions is that in this new normal, a higher proportion of workforce will be working from home." But in this race to transform and digitize, you "either have super big winners or super big losers," especially when it comes to asset-heavy industries, said Gojek's Lien. For Gojek, it has had to shift to a contactless model for its food delivery riders during COVID-19, for instance. Digital transformation does not include just ramping up infrastructure, but having a change in culture, people and processes to become a more resilient, agile business, said Ng. Finally, the speakers concluded that online channels cannot completely replace offline channels. Launched by Business China, the series will see prominent business leaders, professionals, think tanks and experts share their insights about the evolving business environment, especially during this volatile COVID-19 situation. Enditem "Have they given us alternative figures and facts? I thought a technical team made up of experts was set up; have they not brought alternative figures so that we can interrogate?" Kweku Baako asked. The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper was reacting to some skeptics who questioned the COVID-19 recovery figures put out by the Ghana Health Service (GHS). The doubting Thomases who popped up following news of the over 700 COVID-19 recoveries, included Special aide to former President John Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, who reportedly called for "strict proof". In a tweet she wrote: How the hell did 790 more people recover overnight!! . . . We need to put these numbers to strict proof!! This generated intense debate, especially on social media and in the political arena as critics felt Madam Mogtari should rather be happy with the number of recoveries. Kweku Baako, speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, said until there are alternative facts and figures, he will stick to the numbers from the official sources. "I have not heard alternative figures coming from well-groomed experts. The experts in the NDC communication team;so that we can interrogate. This whole skepticism and casting doubt (on figures) coming from official sources, you counter it and give alternative figures then we can interrogate instead of doubting and extending an invitation to join where we are all skeptical; I think it is not worth itit drags this whole process somewhere else," he said. Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service has denied falsifying figures insisting that the figures put out are a true representation of what is happening on the ground.The Director-General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye speaking at a press briefing, Tuesday May 19, 2020 said; When it comes to recoveries as Ive been saying when someone is ill, if you do not dieat the end of the disease, within three weeks youll recover and Im sure some of us have the experienceso from the beginning when we had one, two, three, we were not expecting major recoveries in the first one month of which theyll come but as you have more cases, through data, you should expect more cases recovering. Thats why were having an exponential increase in the number of cases. Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video W earing face coverings could reduce the spread of Covid-19 significantly, a new study has found. The University of Edinburghs research found that wearing a mask can reduce the forward distance of an exhaled breath by more than 90 per cent. As the breath could contain small droplets of water, some of which may contain traces of the virus, experts said covering up the mouth and nose could help combat the illness. Scientists testing the effectiveness of seven different types of face coverings, including medical grade and home made masks, said they could all potentially limit the spread of coronavirus. The Scottish Government advised people on April 28 to wear face masks while out of the home, with the UK Government making the recommendation on May 11. Neither have made the policy mandatory. Dr Felicity Mehendale, a surgeon at the Centre for Global Health at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute, said: "It was reassuring to see the handmade mask worked just as well as the surgical mask to stop the wearer's breath flowing directly forwards. "This suggests that some handmade masks can help to prevent the wearer from infecting the public." But a team lead by engineers at the university found some masks enabled strong jets of air to escape from the back and sides. Surgical masks and the tested handmade masks were found to limit the forward flow of a breath out but also generate far-reaching leakage jets to the side, behind, above and below. Heavy breathing and coughing, in particular, were shown to generate intense backward jets. Only masks that form a tight seal with the face were found to prevent the escape of virus-laden fluid particles, the team said. Dr Ignazio Maria Viola, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who co-ordinated the project, said: "I have generally been impressed by the effectiveness of all the face coverings we tested. "However, we discovered that some face coverings allow the emergence of downward or backward jets that people are not aware of and that could be a major hazard to others around them." Dr Mehendale added: "The strong backward jets mean you need to think twice before turning your head if you cough while wearing a mask and be careful if you stand behind or beside someone wearing a mask." Republicans must prevent President Donald Trumps reelection and vote for former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump's immoral character, incompetence, and mental instability has harmed our nation in ways too numerous to detail here. Well highlight some. Trump's incompetence in the face of a pandemic has contributed to tens of thousands of deaths. He treated the coronavirus as a campaign crisis and dithered away ten weeks that could've been used to slow the spread of the disease. He still hems and haws, downplaying the threat and the ongoing bungling of the governments response, and pushing for unsafe behavior. As of this writing, at least 1.5 million Americans have the virus and more than 91,000 have died from it. COVID now leads all other causes of death in the United States. The economy is in tatters, and more than 36 million people have become jobless this spring. COVID-19 isn't Trump's fault, but his ineptitude expanded the lethality of the virus and the economic devastation beyond what it would have been with even a minimally qualified leader. Trumps race-baiting has energized white supremacist movements in the United States. Fine people marched alongside the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville in August 2017. We saw these same types of low travelers proudly waving their Confederate flags and assault rifles, along with their Trump merchandise, at the Capitol in Lansing twice during the past month. We can expect to see them in Lansing again this week and next. Trump's xenophobia separated kids from their families and effectively shut down the refugee program that had aided many fleeing religious and political persecution. Trump intentionally pursued these cruel policies to deter immigration. At least seven children died in border patrol detention in a single year as a result of this policy. Trump's witlessness makes him easily duped by our geopolitical foes. Putin has expanded his influence in Ukraine and Syria, thanks in part to Trump. Kim Jong-un's pursuit of nuclear missiles continues while Trump claims, "he's a man of his word." Trump's narcissism leads him to equate his desires with the national interest. He uses presidential authority for personal gain rather than the needs of the U.S. He tried to extort the president of Ukraine to make a public statement to hurt Biden. A whistleblower foiled that attempt with a complaint, leading to his impeachment. On April 3, he fired Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who delivered the whistleblower complaint to Congress. Other inspectors general have been fired since. Plus, Attorney General Bill Barr has indicated a desire to prosecute Trump's perceived enemies in the intelligence community. Given the willingness of Senate Republicans to protect him, Trump's use of government power to shield himself from oversight and target political foes will undoubtedly continue. If given a second term, Trump's authoritarian impulses would find full fruition. We at the Lincoln Project are conservatives and have been leaders in the Republican Party for decades. As such, Joe Biden would typically not be our first choice. There will be many battles between the Trumpists and actual conservatives in the Republican Party in the years ahead. The Lincoln Project looks forward to these fights. But first, Trump must be defeated at the ballot box. Like chemo for cancer cells, this is a painful but necessary step toward recovery for both conservatism and the GOP. Our call, however, is not primarily about the future of conservatives and Republicans, but a much higher, more critical mission: the future of our great country. A Joe Biden presidency would steady our path, restore our equilibrium, and stabilize our relations around the world. For the Lincoln Project, that means we would work with him on areas of common ground, oppose him where we disagree, and continue to fight for what is best for America. But before we can even look that far ahead, we must deal with the immediate threat of the mad king. Vice President Joe Biden will not be perfect. Still, well sleep better at night, without worrying about caged kids, mobilized neo-Nazis, corrupted justice, empowered dictators, and feeble crisis management. We will undoubtedly sleep better than Donald Trump does most nights as he rage tweets about The Lincoln Project, and others, in the wee hours of the mornings. As former Republican leaders who care about our nation above our party, we are voting for Joe Biden and encourage our fellow Republicans to do the same. Jennifer Horn is co-founder of the Lincoln Project and the former Chairman of the NH Republican Party. Jeff Timmer is and advisor to the Lincoln Project, the former Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party, and has spent 30 years getting Republicans elected. EU States Endorse Accords Making Travel For Belarusians Easier By Rikard Jozwiak May 20, 2020 Ambassadors of the 27 European Union member states have endorsed two agreements that will make it easier and cheaper for Belarusian citizens to enter most EU countries. The May 20 decision will be officially rubber-stamped on May 26 by the European Council, consisting of the governments of all EU member states, with the agreements expected to enter into force in July at the earliest. Brussels and Minsk signed the two agreements in January and Belarus's National Assembly adopted them last month, while the European Parliament gave its green light earlier this week. Once they enter into force, visa fees will be reduced to 35 euros ($38) from 80 euros ($87), while the deadline for consulates to make a decision on a visa application will be shortened. Several categories of travelers -- such as journalists and students -- will also be able to get multiple-entry visas with longer validity. Visa facilitation is the first step before potentially granting the complete visa-liberalization regime currently enjoyed by the citizens of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. It applies to all EU countries apart from Ireland, as well as non-EU states Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-states-endorse -accords-making-travel-for-belarusians -easier/30623831.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ector County has 11 more confirmed cases than Midland County, but both counties appear to be behind the norm for a county with their respective populations. The Midland Health Department website reported 123 confirmed cases. Heading into Thursday, Midland County ranked tied for 48th of all the counties in the state in terms of confirmed cases, according to the Department of State Health Services. A Census Bureau estimate in 2018 reported Midland had the 26th largest population of any county in the state. No mutual trust across Taiwan Strait: China scholars ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 10:20 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Commenting on Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen's () inaugural speech Wednesday, Chinese scholars said there still is a lack of mutual trust between Taiwan and China. The "cold confrontation" between the two sides is likely to continue, the scholars said, after Tsai reiterated that her administration "will not accept the Beijing authorities' use of 'one country, two systems' to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo." She also said her administration will handle cross-Taiwan Strait affairs in accordance with the Constitution and guided by the basic principles "peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue." Commenting on Tsai's speech, Shi Yinhong (), a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said Beijing will not soften its stance on Taiwan unless Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party government publicly recognizes the "1992 consensus," which upholds the "one China" principle. Over the past four years, the relationship between Taiwan and China has been characterized by a lack of mutual trust and "cold confrontation," Shi said in phone interview with CNA. As Tsai enters her second term, the situation is unlikely to improve, and instead could deteriorate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Shi said. Expressing similar views, Jei Dalei (), an associate professor at Peking University School of International Studies, said Tsai did not address the historic reality of the 1992 consensus or the territorial disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea, which was a disappointment to Chinese authorities. Tsai's speech, however, was not as "provocative" as in past years, Jei told CNA. Regarding Tsai's proposal for the establishment of a constitutional reform committee in the Legislature, Shi said that was a sensitive issue China will watching closely, as it would involve changes to Taiwan's status quo. Meanwhile, Ma Xiaoguang (), spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, said China's goal of peaceful reunification with Taiwan under a "one country, two systems" framework remains unchanged. The DPP government, however, had refused to recognize the "1992 consensus," which has undermined cross-strait relations, Ma said. Any move by the Taiwan government to pursue constitutional reform and hold referendums aimed at pushing for de jure independence will hurt the welfare of the Taiwan people and threaten the peace and stability across the strait, Ma said. In Taiwan, Chao Chun-shan (), an honorary professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of China Studies, said Tsai had offered an olive branch to China in her speech. She clearly indicated openness toward resolving the issues across the strait and urged the leader on the other side to do likewise, Chao said. Tsai also expressed the hope that both sides would able to sit to talks on cross-strait peace and stability, he said. (By Miu Tsau-han and Frances Huang) Enditem/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Chinese tracking vessel Yuanwang 6 sails to Pacific Ocean for multiple monitoring missions PLA Daily Source: Xinhuanet Editor: Chen Zhuo 2020-05-20 15:10:59 NANJING -- China's upgraded tracking vessel Yuanwang 6 is sailing to the Pacific Ocean from a port in East China's Jiangsu province Wednesday for multiple maritime missions of spacecraft monitoring. The vessel's last voyage to the Pacific was 22 months ago. Yuanwang-6, commissioned in April 2008, represents the third generation of the country's Yuanwang space-tracking ships. After completing a monitoring mission of the Chang'e 4 relay satellite in July 2018, the vessel has undergone maintenance and maritime calibration tests. Yang Bianjiao, captain of Yuanwang 6, said the upcoming mission will test the vessel's new equipment and improvement in measuring and controlling operation, laying foundations for future missions including the Mars exploration and Chang'e 5 lunar probe launch. Crew members have examined facilities and conducted a series of training programs and tests before the voyage to improve their emergency response capabilities. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Board of Airline Representatives in Germany (BARIG), the joint representation of interests of more than 100 German, European and global airlines, welcomed the German Federal Government's exchange with the EU member states in order to reopen further external borders presumably as of June 15, and to remove routine-based quarantine measures at entry, as most recently decided today by the Hessian government. A significant initiative, the opening of borders and the gradual removal of travel warnings will lead to the resumption of important transport routes by land, sea, and air, which will not only make a considerable contribution to improving the international movement of goods but also allows for people to reunite across national borders within the EU: families, friends, or even business partners can then again plan and undertake their journeys with confidence. BARIG Secretary General Michael Hoppe commented: "We will regain an essential part of quality of life and mobility when travel between closely related countries will be possible again after the long weeks of pandemic restrictions. The flow of goods and the free movement of people are at the core of good international relations between nations and citizens. We therefore appreciate steps taken by the Federal Government to take initiatives, also with important partner countries outside the EU, to enable people to travel safely. In addition to many further countries around the world, these include, for instance, Turkey and other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Top priority these days is the health of people. In this context, flying is one of the safest modes of transport. Comprehensive hygiene concepts and measures implemented both by airlines and airport operators, including adequate social distancing, the wearing of mouth-nose-protection, and intensified cleaning routines in the aircraft cabins, all contribute to this goal. In addition to that, special air conditioning systems in aircraft provide de facto extraordinarily clean air, comparable to the air in hospital operating rooms: through vertical airflow, the use of sensitive high-efficiency particulate air filters, and the resulting recirculation of cabin air up to every three minutes, almost 100 per cent of all particles, bacteria, and viruses are filtered out. "The foundations for safe flying in terms of health and hygiene have been laid," explained Hoppe. "In addition, agreements between countries may ensure that passengers can rely on certain coordinated health and hygiene standards and therefore start their journey without concerns. The airlines are pleased to be able to carry more passengers again, thus contribute to enhancing the quality of life and mobility." - TradeArabia News Service Cybersecurity researchers uncovered an Iranian cyber espionage campaign conducted by Chafer APT and aimed at critical infrastructures in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Cybersecurity researchers from Bitdefender published a detailed report on an Iranian cyber espionage campaign directed against critical infrastructures in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The cyber espionage campaigns were carried out by Iran-linked Chafer APT (also known as APT39 or Remix Kitten). The Chafer APT group has distributed data stealer malware since at least mid-2014, it was focused on surveillance operations and the tracking of individuals. The APT group targets telecommunication and travel industries in the Middle East to gather intelligence on Irans geopolitical interests. Victims of the analyzed campaigns fit into the pattern preferred by this actor, such as air transport and government sectors in the Middle East, reads the researcher paper published by the experts. Some traces indicate that the goal of the attack was data exploration and exfiltration (on some of the victims tools such as Navicat, Winscp, found in an unusual location, namely %WINDOWS%\ime\en-us-ime, or SmartFtpPasswordDecryptor were present on their systems). The attackers used several tools, including living off the land tools, making it hard to attribute the attack to specific threat actors, as well as a custom-built backdoor. The attacks against entities in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have multiple similarities and shares some common stages, but experts noticed that the attacks seem more focused and sophisticated on victims from Kuwait. Chafer APT launched spear-phishing attacks, the messages were used to deliver multiple backdoors that allowed them to gain a foothold, elevate their privileges, conduct internal reconnaissance, and establish persistence in the victim environment. Once the victims were compromised, attackers started to bring reconnaissance tools for network scanning (xnet.exe, shareo.exe) and credential gathering (as mnl.exe or mimi32.exe) or tools with multiple functionalities, such as CrackMapExec (for users enumeration, share listing, credentials harvesting and so on). continues the report. During our investigation, on some of the compromised stations we observed some unusual behavior performed under a certain user account, leading us to believe the attackers managed to create a user account on the victims machine and performed several malicious actions inside the network, using that account. The attacks against entities in Kuwait appeared more sophisticated, attackers were creating a user account on the compromised machines and performed malicious actions inside the network, including credential harvesting with Mimikatz and lateral movements using multiple hacking tools from their arsenal. Most of the hacking activity occurs on Friday and Saturday, coinciding with the weekend in the Middle East. The campaign against a Saudi Arabian entity was characterized by the large use of social engineering attacks to trick the victim into executing a remote administration tool (RAT), The RAT employed in the attacks shares similarities with those used against Kuwait and Turkey. The case investigated in Saudi Arabia was not as elaborate, either because the attackers did not manage to further exploit the victim, or because the reconnaissance revealed no information of interest. continues the report. While this attack was not as extensive as the one in Kuwait, some forensic evidence suggests that the same attackers might have orchestrated it. Despite the evidence for network discovery, we were not able to find any traces for lateral movement, most probably because threat actors were not able to find any vulnerable machines. The campaigns against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia demonstrate the intense cyberespionage activity carried out by Iran-linked APT groups in the Middle East. Anyway we cannot underestimate that these hacking groups are extending their range of action targeting government and organizations worldwide. Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs Chafer APT, hacking) Samsung has announced the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition (TE), which is a version of its flagship smartphone designed for the US army. According to Samsung, it features highly customised software features, meaning it is designed to support the various rigorous requirements of military operations. The development of this solution is a result of coordination and feedback received from our Department of Defense customers and partners, said Samsung Electronics America mobile B2B head Taher Behbehani. The Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition provides the warfighter with the technology that will give them an edge in the field, while providing their IT teams with an easy-to-deploy, highly secure solution that meets the demands of their regulated environment. Features The Galaxy S20 TE packs a variety of features designed to improve functionality in a military environment. The device is engineered to connect to tactical radios and mission systems easily straight out of the box due to its multi-Ethernet capabilities. It also supports Private SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and CBRS so that a connection can be made across a variety of environments. Various other features also prepare the Galaxy S20 TE for use in covert operations, including a mode which allows the user to turn the smartphones display on or off when wearing night-vision goggles. Stealth mode functions as a more rigorous aeroplane mode, as it disables LTE and mutes all RF broadcasting. Importantly, Samsung said the Galaxy S20 TE offers enough performance to run numerous mission applications while in the field so that operators can access all necessary intelligence without being bottlenecked by the smartphone. The Galaxy S20 TE uses Samsung Knox, which is Samsungs defence-grade mobile security platform, while DualDAR architecture offers additional security with two layers of encryption even when the device is powered off or unauthenticated. Launch date and specifications The Samsung Galaxy S2o TE will be available in the third quarter of 2020 through select IT channel partners, the company said. Specifications and images of the Galaxy S20 TE are below. Samsung Galaxy S20 TE The Indian plastic pipe industry is likely to clock 10 percent CAGR over FY20-25E to reach Rs 50,000 billion by FY25E from Rs30,000 crore currently, driven by governments initiatives like Housing for All by 2022, Nal se Jal by 2024, project AMRUT & Swachh Bharat Mission, Reliance Securities said in a note. The stimulus package for Agri and Housing sector announced by the Finance Minister recently is likely to benefit the PVC Pipes segment. The government has announced stimulus packages in V tranches to fight against disruption of COVID19. We believe package III is likely to benefit Farmers and Housing sector, said the note. Reliance Securities initiates coverage with a buy rating on Finolex Industries, and Astral Poly with a 2-year investment horizon. The domestic brokerage house initiates a buy rating on Finolex Industries with a 2-year target price of Rs 492 while Astral Poly is also a buy with a 2-year target price of Rs 1081. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The note further added that the impact of COVID-led disruption was limited in 4QFY20 and significant in 1QFY21. As 1Q has historically been a lean quarter with low volume, Reliance Securities expects meaningful demand recovery in 2QFY21E. Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD) on CPVC resin/compound: The Government has imposed anti-dumping duty (ADD) on imports of CPVC resin/ compound from China and Korea for five years (February 2020-2025). Earlier, the ADD was imposed on a provisional basis for six months since August 2019. The share of imports from China and South Korea declined by 6 percent during the Sept-Dec19 period, which benefitted the larger players with strong margin expansion owing to low-cost inventory, especially in 3QFY20. We believe this high margin is unlikely to sustain, going forward due to price hike of CPVC resin in the near-term, said the note. Initiate Coverage with BUY Recommendation: Finolex Industries (Finolex): The city of Northampton was expected to get an influx of revenue earlier this year after residents, by a substantial margin, passed a $2.5 million property tax overhaul on March 3. Just a week later, though, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. Following the declaration, schools, select government buildings and non-essential businesses were closed, and municipal as well as state economies entered what some call a medically induced coma to stave off transmission of the viral respiratory infection, according to Mayor David Narkewicz. Many Northampton residents have been furloughed or laid off from jobs, and unemployment nationwide has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression, Narkewicz said in his most recent fiscal year 2021 budget proposal. The pandemic has plunged our economy into a recession that may take years to recover from. The mayors newly introduced budget, which he sent to the Northampton City Council on Monday, calls for a 0.03% decrease from the FY 2020 budget. It also proposes eliminating the equivalent of 17.25 full-time jobs across a number of city departments, including information technology services, public works, parking enforcement, senior services, the citys treasurers office and others. Noting that he must lead by example, Narkewicz said his office will shoulder some of these difficult reductions by eliminating one staff position as well. The mayor did not disclose which person in his office would be laid off. Some layoffs have already been implemented. Other reductions mean cutting jobs left vacant by promotions, transfers or retirements. Those eliminations are expected to net the city around $614,000 in expenditure reductions to balance its budget, the mayor said. The news about the decreased budget comes after Narkewiczs announcement in mid-April that he would forgo implementing the Proposition 2 tax increase due to the severe economic stress facing Northampton residents and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tax override was expected to go into effect later this summer, but the overhaul will now be implemented as early as July 1, 2021, according to the mayor. While I feel strongly that we cannot in good conscience implement the tax increase during a combined public health and economic crisis, this decision will put additional stress on an already dire revenue picture, Narkewicz said in his budget proposal. The proposed FY 2021 budget includes roughly $101 million in general fund expenditures as well as $6.9 million dedicated to water services, nearly $6.2 million for sewer, close to $800,000 for solid waste and $1.9 million for stormwater and flood control. The Northampton Health Department and frontline public safety departments - including police, fire rescue and emergency dispatch - are exempt from the staffing reductions as they are critical to the citys ongoing response to the coronavirus public health crisis, according to the mayor. The city worked to ensure its public schools avoided any programming or personnel cuts as well, Narkewicz said. Although educational services will not being receiving the same level of expenditure increases the mayors office anticipated with the overrides passage, Northamptons two public school districts will still get substantial appropriation increases, according to Narkewicz. The two largest expenditure increases in this proposed budget include $1.1 million for Northampton Public Schools and another $646,747 for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, he said. The education and social and emotional well-being of our citys children have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown, Narkewicz said. We know this will require its own recovery process. The mayor noted the FY 2021 budget he proposed is not the one he envisioned drafting in early March after the Proposition 2 override passed. In an interview with MassLive last week, as he was working to finish the draft of his budget, Narkewicz said the proposal was going to look austere. It was grim by many estimates," he said. Suffice it to say, its going to be a very austere budget, and theres going to be cuts, and theres going to be positions eliminated. The community is not only dealing with the lack of funds coming in from the property tax overhaul, but also lost local revenue. Some of the citys major sources of local revenue - such as parking, building permits and taxes on hotels as well as recreational marijuana - have dropped significantly, the mayor said. His office is projecting a budget shortfall of up to $1.85 million in the last quarter of FY 2020 and a potential shortfall of $2 million in the first quarter of FY 2021. Un-budgeted expenses are also hitting the city due to the need to undergo public health and safety responses to the ongoing pandemic, according to Narkewicz. Municipal government has not been spared from the economic impacts of COVID-19, Narkewicz said in his budget. Another layer of uncertainty clouding Northamptons budgeting process is the lack of clarity surrounding state aid. In a normal year, both Gov. Charlie Baker and the Massachusetts House of Representative would have completed their respective versions of the budget at this point in the year and the state Senate would have begun working on its version. Those timelines have been altered by the public health crisis, and when exactly a state budget will be finalized remains to be seen. As I submit this message, we have no updated information on the still pending fiscal year 2021 Massachusetts state budget which in fiscal year 2020 provided 16.63% of the revenue used to fund the citys budget, Narkewicz said in his budget proposal. He added, "With no clear timetable for if and when a state budget will be enacted, we are building our city budget with very conservative state aid estimates knowing that we may need to revisit them later in the fiscal year. Related Content: Tiara Show went to the mall last week in search of summer clothes - and a distraction from the pandemic that has kept her homebound since March. But there were coronavirus reminders everywhere: A greeter at American Eagle told her masks were mandatory and offered her a disposable one. Inside, shelves had been pared down and rearranged, with jeans in one area, shirts in another. Every other fitting room was closed. After paying for her purchase - shirts, shorts and earrings - through a plexiglass divider, Show tore the receipt from the printer herself. "Everything was so different," said the 23-year-old from Missoula, Montana. "If anything, it made the virus feel more real." Stores across the country are reopening to a changed reality. Retailers that have spent years trying to get customers to linger, in hopes they'll buy more than they need, are reimagining their stores for a grab-and-go future filled with deliberate purchases. Gone, they say, are the days of trying on makeup or playing with toys in the aisles. The focus now is on making shopping faster, easier and safer amid long-term shifts in consumer expectations and habits. Apple is checking shoppers' temperatures at the door. Best Buy is asking customers to shop by appointment. Macy's and Nordstrom are doing away with beauty consultations and alteration services, while the Gap is closing off bathrooms and fitting rooms. Cosmetics giant Sephora won't allow shoppers to test products anymore. Others are quarantining returns for as long as 72 hours before putting merchandise back on shelves. American Eagle Outfitters, meanwhile, is reimagining every part of the shopping experience. It has invested in curbside pickup and infrared machines that measure customers' temperatures as they walk by. Entryway displays once piled high with apparel have become "welcome tables" with bottles of hand sanitizer, disposable masks and sticky blue mats that clean shoe soles. Clothes are even folded differently, to encourage hands-off browsing. The new protocols, which already have been rolled out at 435, or nearly half, of its U.S. stores, offer a glimpse of how even the most innocuous interactions might be tempered. "From the moment you walk into our store, we want you to see something that's new," said Andrew McLean, the company's chief commercial officer. "The sticky mat, the welcome table - they're all triggers in the customer's mind that things are different now." The retailer, which now limits the number of people in stores, is using a mobile app to notify customers when it's their turn to shop. And it has spelled out its new protocols in a 65-page employee handbook, including how to fold jeans and T-shirts to allow shoppers to examine them in detail without touching them. The efforts illustrate the lengths to which retailers are going to reassure skittish consumers that it's safe to shop in person again, even as U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 92,000. The already bruised industry has been hit hard during the pandemic, as weeks-long shutdowns ushered the broader economy into recession. Four major chains - J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Stage Stores and J.C. Penney - have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month, and a fifth, Pier 1, is headed toward extinction. And analysts say many more retailers are teetering toward bankruptcy, raising the stakes on their public health response. "Experience has shown us that loosening restrictions and shelter-in-place orders means a resurgence of disease," said Robert Bednarczyk, a professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. "Masks, temperature checks, hand hygiene - they're all important as stores reopen, but there are still risks for increased transmission." Retailers have spent years adding interactive displays, sample stations, even rock-climbing walls and full-service bars to their stores in hopes of offering shoppers an experience they can't get online. But analysts say many of those efforts have been deemed impractical or unsafe, requiring an overhaul that could ultimately make the shopping experience less enjoyable and further cut into an already weak retail environment. Many of the changes, they say, are as much about being overtly reassuring as they are pragmatic: If someone asks for a fitting room at American Eagle, for example, employees must disinfect door handles and fixtures in clear view of the shopper before allowing them in. "Retailers are starting to consider more than just the cleanliness of their stores," said Wendy Liebmann, chief executive of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based consulting firm. "They're thinking about merchandising, about where things go. How can they make it easier for people to shop? This pandemic isn't going to level off. It's going to be a long roller coaster." At Child's Play, an independent toy store in Washington, D.C., owner Steven Aarons is preparing for fewer impulse buys - and fewer children. He is removing play tables and replacing Pokemon cards and jacks with bigger-ticket items - such as 1,000-piece puzzles and scooters - that parents can quickly pick up. "It feels like we're starting a whole new business," said Aarons, who opened the store 34 years ago. "It's painful to say we're going to take away the play tables and not let kids run around the store anymore, but it's also the right thing to do." It could be years, he says, before customers feel comfortable spending hours browsing aisles with their children. In the meantime, he has built up the company's website and added a delivery service that has been in high demand since the pandemic shutdowns began. Employees drop off about 60 orders a day from the company's Chevy Chase store, though overall sales are down about 50%. Pandora, a Danish jeweler that operates 375 stores in the United States, has moved its jewelry-cleaning machines from backrooms to the selling floor so that employees can sanitize each piece after it's been tried on, in full view of customers. Trying on jewelry comes with its own precautions. The retailer has created an elaborate system to ensure customers and employees don't come into physical contact. Customers are instructed to stand three feet from store counters. If someone wants to try on jewelry, the employee takes the item out of the case and places it on a tray on the counter. "The customer steps forward as the employee steps backward, so there's always that six-foot space," said Sid Keswani, president of the company's North American operations. The company also is limiting customers to five at a time and is developing new safety measures for the busy holiday season, which accounts for about 40% of its sales. "We feel it's a pretty safe journey," Keswani said. "But I say pretty safe because, as you know, there are no guarantees right now." Data show a steady increase in foot traffic since malls began reopening this month. An analysis of eight shopping centers that opened May 1, including in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia, shows that it went from a trickle - about one-fifth the number of shoppers a year earlier - to a quick acceleration that in some cases exceeded average daily rates a year earlier. By May 6, Midland Park Mall in Texas reported a 79% jump from the day before, according to Placer.ai, which analyzes foot traffic patterns using location data from 30 million devices. Macy's stores in South Carolina, meanwhile, saw traffic jump 9% from a year earlier. It's been a similar story at American Eagle, where shoppers returned cautiously at first, then with more gusto. Sales also are on the rise: Many reopened stores are selling as much merchandise as they were a year ago, according to Jay Schottenstein, the company's chairman and chief executive. "The customers who come in are coming in to buy," he said. "They are not coming in to look." American Eagle closed all 980 of its U.S. stores in March and furloughed the majority of its 40,000 workers. Reopenings began May 1, with a host of new guidelines created with help from doctors: Employees must wash their hands for 20 seconds at the beginning of each shift, then disinfect a store thermometer before taking their own temperature. Alongside new protocols are more open-ended considerations. Employees are encouraged to smile from behind their masks and pay attention to nonverbal cues. "With masks on, you may feel a bit awkward at first, but don't let that hold you up!" the employee manual says. "We don't want this to feel like a sterile or clinical interaction. Even though you may be 6 feet apart - it's your job to still create a connection!" There are tutorials for do-it-yourself face masks, and a guide to creating badges that include a smiling picture of each employee. The goal, executives say, is to reassure customers in an era of pandemic shopping. "This has been a two-month process of figuring out what it's going to take to make people feel secure," Schottenstein said. "It's a new reality: Customers want to come back in, but they want to come back where they feel safe." BALA CYNWYD, Pa., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) is donating one million dollars to organizations and community relief funds leading response and recovery efforts for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The contribution will go to organizations across the country addressing food and economic insecurity and those delivering critical medical and social services. "We are directing our funding to support those most vulnerable to the economic and health-related impacts caused by the pandemic," said Chairman and CEO Bob O'Leary. "So many people, social service providers, and businesses need help now more than ever. As this virus continues to spread globally, the needs of communities and responders are growing, and we want to do as much as we can to address the evolving needs." Tokio Marine Group, PHLY's parent company, will provide a 50% match and contribute an additional $500,000 donation bringing the total to $1.5 million. PHLY will also continue to match employee donations to charities. To learn more about PHLY's response to COVID-19, please visit the coronavirus information page on PHLY.com. About Philadelphia Insurance Companies Philadelphia Insurance Companies designs, markets, and underwrites commercial property/casualty and professional liability insurance products incorporating value added coverages and services for select industries. The Company is rated "A++" (Superior) by AM Best Company and "A+" for counterparty credit and financial strength by Standard & Poor's. In business for over 50 years, PHLY is nationally recognized as a member of Ward's Top 50, one of the Best Places to Work in Insurance, and one of the Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America. The organization has more than 50 offices strategically located across the United States to provide superior service. For more information, please visit www.PHLY.com. SOURCE Philadelphia Insurance Companies Related Links www.phly.com Source: McAlinden Research for Streetwise Reports (5/21/20) Though gasoline demand remains historically weak, commuters are beginning to head back to their offices, opting for the isolation of their personal vehicles and abandoning public transit, reports McAlinden Research. Saudi Arabia enhanced their commitment to OPEC+ supply cuts as the Kingdom said they'd shut production of additional 1 million barrels of crude oil per day next month. Most of the OPEC+ countries have already come close to compliance with the deal that took effect this month and cuts from non-member states like Norway, Brazil, Canada, and the US are compounding the already steep curbs on production. Though gasoline demand remains historically weak, commuters are beginning to head back to their offices, opting for the isolation of their personal vehicles and abandoning public transit. Crude Cuts Continue to Deepen As part of its latest efforts to reign in the global glut of crude oil, Saudi Arabia's energy ministry ordered the Kingdom's oil giant Aramco to reduce its crude oil production in June "by an extra voluntary amount of one million barrels per day (bpd), in addition to the reduction committed by the Kingdom in the latest OPEC+ agreement," the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The 23-country OPEC/non-OPEC coalition known as OPEC+ agreed to cut output by 9.7 million bpd for two months from an agreed baseline level starting May 1. These countries will also cut 7.7 million bpd between July and December and 5.8 million bpd from January 2021 to April 2022. Under this OPEC+ deal, Saudi Arabia has pledged to cut its oil production to 8.5 million bpd, beginning this month. With the voluntary additional reduction in June, the Saudis would produce 7.492 million bpd next month, down from more than 12 million bpd in April. Russia, also committed to the OPEC+ syndicate, saw oil output fall to 8.75 million bpd in the first 5 days of May, just shy of the 8.5 million bpd target set for this month and next. However, as executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Faith Birol recently stated, non-OPEC+ reductions in output "may well be similar to reductions that will be coming from OPEC+ throughout the year We are not yet there but we seeing some [production cuts] already." Cuts from non-OPEC+ partners industries, such as Brazil, Norway, Canada and the United States, the total reduction in supply could double global output curbs to around 20 million bpd when fully-implemented. Norway, Europe's largest oil producer, said it would cut production by 250,000 bpd in June and by 134,000 bpd in the second half of the year. Brazil's Petrobras initially reduced output by 200,000 bpd, which accounts for 20% of Brazil oil exports, after shutting down production at 62 offshore platforms last month. However, those cuts have been partially reversed. The most significant non-OPEC market to watch, however, is North America where crude oil output is set to fall by 1.7 million bpd in June, which would mark a decrease of about 10% from its all-time high in March. Analysts have estimated Canada may need to shut-in about 1 million to 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, from an average daily production of about 4 million bpd in 2019. Given the lack of crude demand coupled with low Canadian pricing and little in the way of extra storage capacity, "it is hard for us to fathom how Western Canadian crude production can avoid a ~1 million+ bbl/d drop in output in the coming weeks," Stifel FirstEnergy analyst Michael Dunn told clients in a note. US Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in April that the department expected US production to drop by 2 to 3 million bpd by year-end without any government-enforced cuts. The number of active oil rigs decreased last week by 33 rigs, according to Baker Hughes data, bringing the total to 292 a 513-rig loss year over year. It is the fewest number of active oil rigs since late 2009. The heaviest reductions are coming from Texas, the largest US producing-state, with 5 million bpd of output. Texas output is likely to drop by 20%, or 1 million barrels, by the end of May, Karr Ingham, executive vice president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, told Reuters. "Operators are shutting in anywhere from 20% to 50%, and some more than that, based on what they think they can get to market," Ingham said. Signs of Life While positive stories in crude markets have been few and far between, glimmers of hope have begun popping up around the world. Crude inventories in China, the world's largest buyer of oil, have shrunk in recent weeks after rising to record levels, according to analysts and satellite observations. "The trend in April was a net withdrawal driven by higher refinery runs and lucrative margins," said Yao Li, chief executive officer of consultancy SIA Energy, which estimated inventories fell by 9.5 million barrels in April after growing by 161 million in the first quarter. Though inventories have yet to enter a decline, the actual increases in storage have certainly begun to slow. Crude builds peaked in mid-April at more than 19 million barrels, but have since fallen to just 4.6 million barrels in the most recent week. Shrinking inventories are even more critical than production cuts in today's oil industry. Inventory numbers will be the primary evidence for the effectiveness of the cuts by illustrating an increasing or decreasing balance of supply and demand. The main catalyst in April's unprecedented oil collapse that sent prices into negative territory for the first time ever was actually lack of storage above all else. At the time, MRP wrote that the negative pricing could be more so chalked up to a short-term inefficiency in the rolling over of the May WTI contract on the crude futures market, resulting in the United States Oil Fund LP (USO), who owned 25% of all outstanding shares in the contract, not actually having facilities to accept or store physical barrels of crude as any other crude processing or storage facility were already overflowing. Therefore, the only way for the USO to rid themselves of their newfound oil barrels was to offer compensation to take it off their hands. One of the most positive demand-side developments has been the increasing use of cars, as opposed to public transit, in the age of COVID. Subway ridership remained about 50% below pre-virus levels in Beijing and about 30% below in Shanghai, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF, as fears of large crowds push commuters toward the relative isolation of cars. Bloomberg writes that this pattern can be observed across the world: In Berlin, among the first European cities to relax its lockdown, public transit use remains down 61% while the number of people driving has recovered to 28% below normal, according to data from Apple Inc., which tracks request for directions on its popular Maps app. In Madrid, driving is only 68% below normal levels, up from about 80% in April, while use of public transport remains down 87%, largely the same level as last month. The same is occurring in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, where driving directions on the app have recovered to 40% of normal levels, up from a decline of 60% in April, while directions for mass transit remain flat from April at 80% below normal levels. Apple Maps data for 27 world cities shows that driving directions are recovering more quickly than directions for mass transit. In the U.S., gasoline consumption is clawing back from record lows, rising by 400,000 barrels a day during the week ended May 1. Cities in Florida, one of the first American states to re-open, has seen fuel sales rebound to 30% below normal levels, from 50% weeks ago, according to the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association. Oil demand will certainly not be what it was in prior years for some time, but the use of automobiles could play a significant role in drawing down gasoline inventories and allowing refiners to start processing new crude oil orders. The amount of total motor gasoline in storage, per EIA data, accounts for the largest share of finished crude and petroleum product inventories, roughly 6.5 times the size of outstanding jet fuel stocks. Long-Term Supply Shortage? Some may say it's a bit early to be thinking about the long-term implications of all of these production shutdowns, but it is important to note that there are undoubtedly going to be some negative side effects to such a cataclysmic disruption. Though Goldman Sachs is predicting a V-shaped bounce back in oil demand, supply will exhibit an L shaped recovery. Effectively, the Investment Bank expects supply to be suppressed for some time as, not only does shutting in oil wells damage their output capacity and take work to get them back online, but declines in capital expenditure and access to capital will suppress new exploration and drilling for some time. A combination of poor returns means people are unlikely to line up capital to work in this space, according to Goldman's head of global commodities research, Jeff Currie. "Now investors do not want to hear anything about oil. They have been beaten up they are done with this space, it is going to take a lot for them to come back." Oilprice.com writes that investments in exploration and new production are set to be delayed because companies are looking to preserve cash and avoid cutting dividendssomething oil majors Equinor and Shell just did. So, global investments and project sanctioning activity are already drying up this year. Due to the oil price crash, Rystad Energy expected at the end of March that exploration and production (E&P) companies were likely to reduce project sanctioning by up to $131 billion, or down about 68% on the year, compared to $192 billion in projects approved in 2019. Muted investment levels and new project activity will combine with the rebound in global oil demand once the coronavirus crisis is over to swing the global oil market into a potential oil supply deficit of some 5 million bpd, according to Rystad Energy's latest estimates. Oil prices would top $68 a barrel to balance the market, the consultancy said. MRP continues to believe these early supply-side measures taken by oil producing nations are a sign of more measures to come, holding the market over until sufficient demand can return. We also believe that the most well-positioned firms to withstand the intermediate period will be large-scale operators with diversified, productive assets. We will continue to track these themes with the United States Oil Fund, LP (USO) and Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE). Since we launched the theme on April 7, the USO is has unsurprisingly declined a steep 48%. However, the XLE has actually garnered a 19% return over the same period, outperforming the S&P 500's 10% gain. This content was delivered to McAlinden Research Partners clients on May 12. To receive all of MRP's insights in your inbox Monday - Friday, follow this link for a free 30-day trial. McAlinden Research Partners (MRP) provides independent investment strategy research to investors worldwide. The firm's mission is to identify alpha-generating investment themes early in their unfolding and bring them to its clients' attention. MRP's research process reflects founder Joe McAlinden's 50 years of experience on Wall Street. The methodologies he developed as chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he oversaw more than $400 billion in assets, provide the foundation for the strategy research MRP now brings to hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other asset managers around the globe. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) McAlinden Research Partners disclosures are below. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 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McAlinden Research Partners is a division of Catalpa Capital Advisors, LLC (CCA), a Registered Investment Advisor. References to specific securities, asset classes and financial markets discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell such securities. CCA, MRP, employees and direct affiliates of the firm may or may not own any of the securities mentioned in the report at the time of publication. WASHINGTON Ford executives encouraged President Donald Trump to don a face mask during his visit to one of its factories Thursday, but he said he chose not to wear it near photographers because he "didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it." Trump, who was seen holding a navy blue mask with the presidential seal but not wearing it, said he put it on earlier in the tour. Ford officials accompanying the president were seen wearing face masks, according to reporters traveling with the president. The president has come under scrutiny in the past for largely ignoring recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends Americans wear masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, who notes the CDC advice is not mandatory, has described the decision as a "personal choice." William Clay Ford Jr., the executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., encouraged Trump to wear the mask when he arrived at the factory, which has been manufacturing ventilators, according to a company statement issued minutes after the president departed the facility. Ford is the great grandson of company founder Henry Ford. President Donald Trump holds a mask as he speaks during a tour of the Ford Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 21, 2020. "Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived," the company said in the statement. "He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit." Trump visited Michigan, a presidential battleground, to highlight the effort Ford has made in producing ventilators to confront the pandemic. Michigan has the fourth highest number of coronavirus deaths in the USA and thousands of the state's residents were ordered to evacuate this week over dam failures that triggered record flooding. The president was asked about not wearing a mask as he approached reporters traveling with him in the state. Trump said he wore one in another area "where they preferred it." Asked why he declined to wear one in front of the cameras, Trump said that he didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it. Story continues The White House recently implemented new safety measures after two aides tested positive for the coronavirus and three members of the coronavirus task force entered quarantine after being close to someone who tested positive for the disease. The West Wing has mandated that anyone who is in close proximity to the president be tested daily and aides are required to wear masks when they are not at their desks. Trump faced similar questions during visits this month to a Honeywell facility that produces N-95 masks in Phoenix and a medical distributor factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania. During the Phoenix visit, he was not wearing a mask but later told reporters he wore a mask "backstage" before he was told it was not necessary. Asked about Ford executives who were wearing masks, Trump said it was "their choice." Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, issued an open letter on Wednesday calling on the president to protect Ford employees by wearing a mask. "While my Department will not act to prevent you from touring Fords plant, I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford and across this State by wearing a facial covering," she wrote. "It is not just the policy of Ford, by virtue of the Governors Executive Orders. It is currently the law of this State." Nessel told CNN on Thursday that if Trump failed to wear a mask, "he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facilities inside our state." She also warned that she might take action against any company that allows him inside facilities without a mask. "We simply can't afford it here in our state," she said. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ford 'encouraged' Trump to wear a mask while touring Michigan factory New Delhi, May 21 : The Centre has set new safety procedures along with price points for the recommencement of India's domestic passenger flight services from Monday (May 25). The expansive guidelines, notifications and circulars not just outline the safety standards of social distancing, but also thermal screening, passenger and air crew behaviours. Besides, the domestic passenger flight services will also have a fixed minimum and maximum fare structure for different routes. Detailing the plans for recommencement of flight services on Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the step to fix the fare bands has been taken under the special prevailing circumstances that have come about due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the new fare structure, air routes have divided into seven sections based on travel time. Each such section has its minimum and maximum fare. As per the details, the seven price bands are based on the duration of the flights with 'A' being the shortest and 'G' being the longest. The price bands have been instituted for three months, from May 25 to August 24. Based on the circular, sector 'A' has routes with travel time of less than 40 minutes; the airlines will offer tickets in the band of Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,000 for such flights. This sector includes routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh, Jammu-Srinagar and Patna-Ranchi, among others. Similarly, sector 'B' has flights with duration of more than 40 minutes up to 60 minutes. Flights under this sector include Delhi-Bhopal and Delhi-Lucknow, among others, and tickets for these flights will be priced from Rs 2,500 to Rs 7,500. Subsequently, sector 'C' has a price band of Rs 3,000 to Rs 9,000, whereas sector 'D' flight tickets will be priced from Rs 3, 500 to Rs 10,000. Sector 'D' includes routes like Delhi-Mumbai, among others. Sector 'E' has a price band of Rs 4,500 Rs 13,000, while sector 'F' tickets will cost between Rs 5,500 and Rs 15,700. For the longest duration segment - 'G' -- tickets will cost between Rs 6,500 and Rs 18,600. This sector includes routes like Delhi-Port Blair. Puri also said that limited passenger flight operations of about one-third capacity of the summer schedule would be permitted to operate between metro cities from May 25. This capacity might be ramped up in the subsequent time period. During the briefing, it was disclosed that there are no quarantine requirements for the air crew operating the domestic flights due to shorter duration of these operations. The briefing was held after the Ministry of Civil Aviation came out with detailed guideline for airlines and passengers. As per the guidelines, "Vulnerable" persons, such as very elderly, pregnant ladies and passengers with health issues, should avoid air travel. It further said that no physical check-in counters would be allowed at the airports. "Only those passengers with confirmed web check-in shall be allowed to enter the airports," the guidelines said. Additionally, the guidelines said that passengers would be required to certify their status in terms of coronavirus infection through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form. "Passengers shall not travel if they are staying in a containment zone. Also, they should not travel if they have tested positive for Covid-19. The passengers are expected to certify the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form," the guidelines said. If a passenger, who is not permitted to fly, undertakes an air journey, he or she shall be liable for penal action, as per the guidelines. Further, passengers will have to wear protective gear, or a face mask, before entering the terminal as per the prevailing requirement and he/she will continue to wear the mask throughout the journey. During transit to airports, passengers should take all precautions to prevent infection. On the luggage part, passengers would be entitled to carry a maximum of one hand baggage and one check-in baggage. In addition, the state-run Airports Authority of India has advised passengers to reach the airport 2 hours prior to departure. The standard operating procedures (SoPs) also advised passengers to install the Aarogya Setu mobile app. All passengers will be required to go in for a thermal check-up before entering the terminal, the SoP said. India has allowed airlines to recommence domestic passenger flight operations in a calibrated manner from May 25. Passenger air services were suspended for both scheduled domestic and international flights since March 25, due to the imposition of the nationwide lock down in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Airlines and the travel industry have welcomed the move and the new guidelines. "Aviation is a growth engine for the economy and resumption of air travel will give great impetus to the government's overall efforts in helping the country eventually return to normalcy," said Vistara CEO Leslie Thng. "We will support the government's initiatives and maintain the highest level of safety, hygiene and security in our operations to provide a flying experience to passengers that they can continue to trust," Thng added. Bird Group's Executive Director Ankur Bhatia said: "Even though the capacity will be limited to begin with, it is a step in the right direction as many stranded people will be able to travel by air. "The fare cap might be challenging and impact the airline yields but these are extraordinary times and such measures are required. Three months are the right period to see how the demand plays out with fare caps in place. Eventually, the industry will bounce back as reform measures are afoot." According to Rajesh Magow, Co-founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip: "The resumption of domestic air travel after a shutdown of 60 days is an important step that will provide access to thousands of people via the quickest means possible. It will also go a long way in helping kick-start economic activities as businesses reopen. "Safety of travellers is paramount to us and as domestic skies open up, we will continue to work closely with our airline partners to ensure safe and convenient travel experience, adhering to the new protocols announced by the ministry." : The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notice to the Tamil Nadu government on a PIL from CPI-M seeking to restrain the authorities from converting slum clearance board apartments into COVID-19 isolation wards. A Special Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice PT Asha also directed the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board not to cancel the allotment orders issued to 1,500 families in the city. According to central Chennai secretary of the party G Selva, as the flats which are 45 years old are under re- development as they have become completely unsafe to occupy in 2018. While the affordable lot has rented houses in the nearby areas, around 200 families are staying in makeshift houses near the apartment complex without power, water and sewerage connections. The re-development has been completed and the beneficiaries were waiting for allotment as per orders already issued by the board. "But we were told that the government is considering converting the entire apartment complex into COVID-19 isolation wards," advocate R Thirumoorthy said. The flats were already allotted to the beneficiaries who are without a proper place to live in. Therefore, the action of the authorities is unacceptable. Moreover, the place in KP Park chosen by the authorities is not fit for establishing COVID-19 special ward in the light of the guidelines issued by the National Centre for Disease Control, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) It was January when I received my graduation certificate and after completing all formalities, I booked a flight of January 29 to get back to my home country Pakistan. Being the first girl in my family to achieve a doctorate degree, especially from a well-reputed university in China, was something worth celebrating with my family. As it was my birthday on January 30, my family had planned a big party to celebrate my birthday and my PhD on my return from Wuhan, central Chinas Hubei province. But all of a sudden, there were announcements of locking down Wuhan city. Through all possible communication means I had: my supervisor, International Students Office, friends, news pages on WeChat and even my telecommunication company reminding me to stock essential items, I learnt that the entire city was going to be shut down in two hours. Those two hours were too short for me because my visa would get expired by the end of January. At that time the Hubei provincial government and my school Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, stood by my side and provided me with all the possible assistance one could expect. My visa got automatically renewed for 60 days without any fee and my ticket was fully refunded too. I couldnt stop praising the efficiency of the Chinese government. They had an emergency plan for residents of Wuhan before announcing quarantine for the city. The next step was to compromise with the situation and to make my family understand that staying in Wuhan was the best choice. They got worried about my health and food. So I showed them all the food I had stocked and later showed them my life here via video calls. They could see how I wore the mask, gloves, thick jacket, scarf and how the security guard checked my body temperature before my friends and I went to the market for shopping together. We were also provided with masks, fresh vegetables and fish by our teachers as a caring gesture. Our health status was recorded daily as well, so my family got relieved for I was safe and under good care here. Muslim community in Wuhan also gifted us fresh vegetables, halal meat, rice and wheat flour as a unity gesture. Community shopping was a wonderful experience on its own and staff members tried their best to provide what we needed. When situation got eased, we eight international students were divided into two groups. Each group could go shopping once a week to buy necessities for us all. During quarantine, the government of Pakistan advised all students to stand by China in this hard time and cooperate with local health authorities. The two countries are iron friends since long. I chose to spend the memorable time by witnessing a strong nation fighting with this epidemic. I witnessed Chinese army and paramedical staff coming from different parts of China to assist Wuhan. I witnessed my country proudly supporting China. I witnessed tired yet determined faces of health workers and the marks on their faces. I witnessed research centers working hard to develop remedies against this virus. I witnessed transparency of the data shared by China. I myself donated money to buy protective gears for frontline workers and witnessed a boy silently leaving boxes of masks to the policemen. I witnessed people performing their duties even in the snow. I saw my supervisor, Professor Xie Shouqi, dragging a cart and distributing vegetables among community members. I celebrated my birthday all alone in the room singing birthday songs to myself, which was a unique experience. I recorded a video in Urdu language for my country mates on basic preventive measures against COVID-19 that I practiced during the lockdown, so that my experience could help them. It was watched on social media and well appreciated among the Pakistani community. Noor-ul-Huda holds a banner of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Photo: Courtesy of Noor-ul-Huda My friends and I also started making meaningful public service slogans about COVID-19 and the importance of quarantine, especially self-quarantine at home, in English and Urdu. We circulated it among all friends, family, teachers in both countries so that they could save themselves and others. The slogans were: Quarantine is not a prison; it is for greater good. and Quarantine is not a curse. This isolation will save you and the whole nation. Apart from raising public awareness, another reason of making these slogans was to condemn the discriminatory behaviors we were facing from different parts of the world. People should understand that virus respects no geographical boundaries and gender. Mass gatherings could be the main source of its spreading; quarantining Wuhan and social distancing was the best possible solutions to contain it, and working on its remedy is the best practice. These were the footprints China offered the world to follow, and were the best answer to all the fabricated "truths" and false propaganda. When others were busy in passing the buck, China was busy in constructing two hospitals in record time. I had full confidence in the Chinese governments efficiency and its health facilities. I also believed that the situation would be better soon and Chinese economy would roar again. The special period proved China as a role model to other nations. Now Wuhan is back to life, China has almost been healed, and the country is helping other nations by all possible means. When I look back, I sum up my experience during the lockdown as roller coaster of emotions as homesickness, increased number of cases, decreased number of deaths and suspected cases, possible cure for COVID-19, caring gestures from the community, motivational words from teachers, family and friends used to bring multiple mood swings within a day. Death is not just a human body loss but is actually the loss of an entire source of expertise, and those gaps are hard to fill. I would like to pay homage to all people in the world who lost their lives in the pandemic. A screenshot of Noor-ul-Hudas social media post with captions reading A birthday in quarantine and Come on, Wuhan. Photo: Courtesy of Noor-ul-Huda Photography and sightseeing are my hobbies. I once won photography competitions in my institute. Moreover, I am Belt and Road Tourism Ambassador appointed by Belt and Road Travelers Alliance to promote the charms of Hubei and Wuhan to the world. I learnt to sing Huangmei opera during my Chinese language class and have sung it on various events. I always feel good when I get praise from Chinese people for performing the opera, though I am far from perfection. I got an opportunity to publish my experience with Chinese culture and Huangmei opera as an expat in the Changjiang Weekly. Such cultural exchanges will always connect me with Wuhan. During the lockdown, I seldom went for running or took pictures of spring inside the institute to freshen up. I got plenty of me time in my room which served as my space for self-realization. I got time to relax after graduation, and to know my strengths and tolerance range under stressful circumstances. I call Wuhan my second home and I would like to express my sincere wishes to the Chinese people. I wish Wuhan prosperity by leaps and bounds. On Monday, a Front-Yard-A-Cue front yard cookout will be held in the village. The village is encouraging residents to plan their typical Memorial Day weekend cookouts, but move their grills and the picnic tables to the front yard from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday as a way to show community togetherness on Memorial Day. Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar and Israel's Ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lion have discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported. According to the report, a phone call between the two diplomats took place amid the swearing-in of the new Israeli government. "On May 20, Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Vasyl Bodnar received Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine Joel Lion. The parties discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation, including prospects for the development of the political and economic dialogue with the newly appointed Israeli government, support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, and the situation in the Middle East," the report reads. In this context, the parties agreed to hold another round of political consultations between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Israel in the near future. The sides paid special attention to the issue of crimes against humanity - the Holocaust and the Holodomor. The Ukrainian side expressed hope that the new Israeli parliament would recognize the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people. Bodnar also expressed hope that Israel would maintain its position in support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of ongoing Russian aggression. The new government of Israel took office on May 17, 2020. The last round of political consultations between the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Israel took place in Jerusalem on April 29-30, 2019. The Israeli delegation consistently voted in favor of UN General Assembly resolutions "The situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" in 2016-2019 and "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov" in 2018 and 2019. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid an official visit to Ukraine in August 2019, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a working visit to Israel on January 23-24, 2020. op The European Union is aiming to cut pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030 as part of a new environmentally-friendlier 'farm to fork' strategy. The European Commission presented the food and farming plans on Wednesday (20 May) as part of the bloc's wider European Green Deal policy. The strategy set out targets to transform the EU's food system, including a target to reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. The Commission wants to reduce the use of fertilisers by at least 20%, and slash the sales of antimicrobials used for farmed animals by half. It also proposed measures to improve labelling to better meet consumers' information needs on healthy, sustainable foods. The strategy includes 27 key actions, and aims "to reconcile our food systems with our planet's health, to ensure food security and meet the aspirations of Europeans for healthy, equitable and eco-friendly food," EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said. However, it faced opposition from the European People's Party (EPP) - the largest in the EU legislature - who stated that the strategy could backfire for farmers. EPP agriculture spokesman Herbert Dorfmann said: "We regret that the European Commission is hurrying its 'farm to fork' strategy now when farmers all over Europe are facing huge insecurity over their future." EU agri-cooperative Copa and Cogeca questioned if food prices would rise under the new plans. "It is really important to reflect what are the expectations among consumers and citizens to pay more for the food in return for these additional requirements," said Pekka Pesonen, secretary-general of the co-op. He also said that the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis could see a significant fall in EU citizens' purchasing power. More than 5 million around the world have now been confirmed to have Covid-19. The World Health Organisation reported 106,000 cases globally, the highest in a single day yet, raising concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in poor nations. For the World Health Organisation (WHO), hitting over 5 million confirmed Covid-19 cases is a tragic milestone. The WHO said that Wednesday recorded 106,000 coronavirus confirmed cases globally, the most in a single day since the start of the outbreak in Chinas Wuhan province in December 2019. "We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. "We are very concerned about rising cases in low and middle income countries." The infection rate has been growing rapidly in Latin America, with Brazil becoming the country with the third most confirmed cases, after the United States and Russia. Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections. Although in the infection rate is fast spreading in Brazil, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a "little flu. Bolsonaro has refused to accept experts' advice, pressing regional governors to end stay-at-home measures. And like United States President Donald Trump, he has promoted the use of anti-malaria drugs against the virus. The US President has said he is taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection despite studies showing they have no benefit and could have dangerous side effects. Trump threatens WHO Meanwhile, Trump accused the WHO of having mishandled the outbreak and of favouring China, where the virus is believed to have emerged late last year. This week Trump threatened to withdraw from the WHO and permanently withhold funding. We have of course received the letter and we are looking into it, Tedros said. Story continues Dr. Michael Ryan, head of WHO's emergencies programme, expressed concern about any such funding cuts He said US. funding towards the WHO emergencies program was on the order of 100 million dollars a year and much goes to humanitarian health operations all over the world, in all sorts of fragile and difficult settings. This is going to be a major implication for delivering essential health services to some of the most vulnerable people in the world, Ryan declared. Tedros said he had long been looking for other sources of funding for the WHO, saying its 2.3 billion dollar budget was "very, very small" for a global agency, around that of a medium sized hospital in the developed world. The Trump administration demanded a review of the WHO's actions. Tedros said he was committed to accountability and would carry out a review into the response to the pandemic. On Tuesday, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution that included, among other things, a call for Tedros to start an impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation of the WHOs performance in responding to the pandemic at the earliest appropriate moment. The ministers of Health also for equitable access to and fair distribution of all essential health technologies and products to combat the virus. Brazil fisheries plea for government aid amid coronavirus pandemic by Ana Mano May 21,2020 | Source: Reuters Brazilian fish processors are asking the government for tax breaks, subsidized credit and emergency loan guarantees, saying they need oxygen as the coronavirus crisis dents demand and leaves a sector employing 1 million Brazilians struggling badly. Economy Minister Paulo Guedes told sector representatives in a meeting that government aid measures will be announced this week, according to Eduardo Lobo, president of industry group Abipesca, who participated in the meeting. After restaurants closed and people began to shelter at home to slow the spread of coronavirus, fish sales fell 50% in Brazil and boats in the countrys northeast have nowhere to sell their catch, Abipesca and boat owners said. Brazils response to defend the sector has lagged, while competing fishing nations are protected, Lobo said. With relatively low fish production despite its about 7,500-km (4,600-mile) coastline, Brazil is regarded as a sleeping seafood giant. Brazil only produces 1.3 million tonnes of fish per year, with 700,000 tonnes coming from capture fisheries and 600,000 tonnes from aquaculture fisheries, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The countrys fish exports totaled $300 million and imports were $1.1 billion in 2019, FAO says. Gabriel de Araujo, president of a fishermens union, told Reuters after the pandemic hit, boats in the northeast have stopped fishing in deep waters because there is no market for specialty tuna. Cancellation of flights to the United States severely constrained exports, he said. Northeastern boats catch about 26,000 tonnes of big-eye and yellowfin tuna every year, with much of that going to Sao Paulo and U.S. sushi restaurants, Araujo said. Thiago De Luca, director at family-owned fish processor Frescatto, said without government help, there will be more pain and inevitable job cuts. This crisis is different from the other crises, De Luca said. Reuters Theme(s): Others. When I read in the Mail this week of the main teaching union's disgraceful tactics to thwart the reopening of classrooms, my heart sank. And I dare say I was not alone. As the father of three state-educated children one of them aged seven I find it difficult to forgive Mary Bousted, the charmless joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), for dismissing younger children as 'mucky' spreaders of germs who 'cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress'. Yes Dr Bousted, they do that and worse, but a parent, carer or anyone with the slightest interest in children sees beyond that. Her fellow union leader, Kevin Courtney, reserved his distaste for wicked headteachers who worry deeply about the months of enforced educational deprivation being inflicted on children by their absence from full-time education. I find it difficult to forgive Mary Bousted, the charmless joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), for dismissing younger children as 'mucky' spreaders of germs who 'cry, who wipe their snot on your trousers or on your dress', writes STEPHEN ROBINSON Rather than support these senior teachers in making important and nuanced decisions about risk, Mr Courtney seemed intent on blackmailing them into keeping classrooms empty to score political points against a Government he appears to despise. His response to the greatest educational challenge in our history was to rally union members to whip up fear and hatred on social media about those who plan to open schools, going on to boast: 'We will be threatening heads with that.' How on earth do people who describe young children in these terms end up being connected in any way to the teaching profession? Her fellow union leader, Kevin Courtney, reserved his distaste for wicked headteachers who worry deeply about the months of enforced educational deprivation being inflicted on children by their absence from full-time education Education ministers heard recently that reopening schools in 22 European countries has not led to any significant increase in coronavirus infections among children, parents or staff. Yet Britain's children are being left behind. Robert Halfon, chairman of the education committee, is right to warn of a 'potential cascade of mounting social injustice that could last a decade'. In the face of this and other stark warnings, the response of several mostly Labour-controlled local authorities including Liverpool, Gateshead, and Brighton and Hove has been to refuse even to consider the Government's June 1 target for a partial return of primary schools. Of course teachers' welfare matters. And no one is suggesting vulnerable staff members should be forced into the classroom. Education ministers heard recently that reopening schools in 22 European countries has not led to any significant increase in coronavirus infections among children, parents or staff. Pictured: Charlotte Beyazian head teacher of La Petite Ecole Bilingue in North London, prepares her school for reopening But when the hard-Left Dr Bousted crows that her union has 'made the running in this crisis' and privately admits to members that the NEU's opposition to a June 1 opening is a 'negotiating position', anyone can see that it is not welfare that matters to these people it is politics and how best to exploit the pandemic for their own ends. The school closures have been hideous for children, particularly the youngest and most disadvantaged. Our three, aged seven, 12 and 15, attend different state schools in London. They are lucky: Their schools are well-run with fine teachers who achieve excellent results. Yet it seems unlikely that either of our secondary-age children will return to school until September. By then, they will have been out of their classrooms for almost six months: A lifetime for a child. Unlike the 700,000 children who, disastrously, are not participating in any learning by email whatsoever, ours are doing classwork and homework set by the teachers. But it is not enough. Children across the country are painfully isolated, craving contact with their friends. Our 15-year-old daughter and her friends have taken to sending postcards with poems they enjoyed in class and declarations of how much they miss one another. The head of maths at Radley, a 40,000-a-year public school in Oxfordshire, noted this week that after an Easter holiday devoted to staff training, every timetabled maths lesson in the senior school had gone ahead this term via virtual-classroom technology. From this, the teacher drew what to me was a painful conclusion: That his students, freed of the distractions of school life, were 'in an academically stronger position than would have been the case had we not had the school closure'. Yet Britain's children are being left behind. Robert Halfon, chairman of the education committee, is right to warn of a 'potential cascade of mounting social injustice that could last a decade'. Pictured: Staff La Petite Ecole Bilingue in North London Thus, the advantages enjoyed by privileged children have been only multiplied in the shutdown. Three-quarters of pupils at fee-paying schools have attended online lessons via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, compared with just 6 per cent of state-educated children. No prizes, then, for guessing who will be bagging the best university places in a few years. Yet, incredibly, the teaching unions continue to oppose online lessons. The NEU's new guidelines make for shocking reading. While private school teachers many on reduced salaries have repurposed their teaching methods, state-school teachers at home on full pay are encouraged by the NEU barely to engage. Online lessons, declares the union, should be kept 'to a minimum' and only take place 'in exceptional circumstances'. Well, if this crisis doesn't count as 'exceptional circumstances', what on earth does? The NEU claims 'online lessons are not desirable for primary children as the teacher-pupil interaction is not easily replicated'. There was a time when the likes of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, two of the Prime Minister's closest allies, plotted to destroy what they called the education 'Blob' That may be partly true, but it is scarcely a reason for not even trying. Rather than attempt to match the curriculum, teachers are instead urged to resort to 'bite-sized chunks of work'. In secondary schools, again teachers should only live-stream lessons from their homes or engage in video-calling in 'exceptional circumstances', partly due to the supposed danger that a screengrab might be taken of a staff member. It is difficult for headteachers to resist the irrational demand that every hypothetical risk be eliminated. If things go wrong, they are ultimately responsible, and they cannot always rely on support from town halls. A bigger mystery is why Boris Johnson appears so overcome by this obduracy. There was a time when the likes of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, two of the Prime Minister's closest allies, plotted to destroy what they called the education 'Blob'. By the Blob, they meant the combined dead hand of the teaching unions, academic 'educationists' and civil servants imposing reactionary socialist ideology in schools. Yet this Government now seems suddenly cowed while the unions, backed by the new Labour leadership of Sir Keir Starmer, spread alarm about a virus which barely affects children. This Government now seems suddenly cowed while the unions, backed by the new Labour leadership of Sir Keir Starmer, spread alarm about a virus which barely affects children Everyone likes to say the world has changed irrevocably because of Covid-19, and that may turn out to be so. But new Tory voters, especially those in the north who in December's election were attracted by Boris Johnson's 'boosterism' and uniquely daring leadership style, will desert him if he embraces the failed politically correct ideology that made them defect from Labour in the first place. The Blob is back, and senses great opportunities amid the economic carnage and social upheaval of Covid-19. Unless Mr Johnson defeats it, voters will desert him and I will never forget how the teaching unions exploited the pandemic and blighted the chances of my own three children. A cross with flowers and a letter A sits at the entrance to the Satilla Shores neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed May 7, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia. Sean Rayford/Getty Images All 14 members of Georgia's congressional delegation signed a letter to Attorney General William Barr asking for federal resources to be used in helping with the investigation into the Ahmaud Arbery case. Arbery was killed on February 23 but his assailants, a white father and son duo were not arrested till earlier this month. The case had been riddled with potential conflicts of interest and the initial prosecutors on the case eventually recused themselves, one was fired. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Members of Georgia's Congressional Delegation signed a letter to Attorney General William Barr and Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband asking for the use of "all possible Federal resources to achieve full justice, transparency, and accountability in the case of Mr. Ahmaud Arbery." The letter was signed by a bipartisan group of Georgia's delegation. They argued that "a full investigation, with robust Federal support, is warranted," because the case was neglected for months. "For months, Mr. Arbery's family and the community endured their loss without the answers they are entitled to under the law. Across our state, our constituents are increasingly alarmed as we learn additional details about the case and its handling," the letter stated. Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was killed on February 23, after being followed by a white father and son duo who told police they suspected him of being a burglar. Arbery's family said he was out on a jog. After spotting Arbery jogging, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis grabbed two guns and pursued him in their pick up truck, according to a police report. Arbery was shot during an altercation with the pair and died at the scene. Story continues Business Insider previously reported that the McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault earlier this month, more than two months after Arbery was shot. "The truth will reveal this is not just another act of violent racism," Gregory McMicahel's defense attorney Frank Hogue said last week. "Gregory McMichael did not commit murder. Gregory McMichael is not a party to the crime of murder." Attorneys for Travis McMichael, Robert Rubin and Jason B. Sheffield, wrote that he has been "vilified before his voice could even be heard." The day before their arrest by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Ben Crump the lawyer representing Ahmaud's father Marcus Arbery spoke to Insider and called for their swift arrest, citing a video of the killing that was leaked earlier this month. "We have every right to expect an arrest immediately based on the ocular proof presented in that video of his execution," Crump said. Initial prosecutors on the case had recused themselves due to conflicts of interest stemming from the elder McMichael's previous role in law enforcement. By May 11, a fourth prosecutor, Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holme was brought on to the case, at Arbery's family's request, Business Insider previously reported. Georgia's Attorney General Chris Carr announced that he had asked the Department of Justice to conduct a "complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset," according to Reuters. Now, Rep. John Lewis and other members of Congress from Georgia are asking for additional federal help in the investigation. "In particular, we encourage you to honor Georgia Attorney General Carr's efforts and actions, and we hope the Department will provide strong assistance to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's (GBI) inquiries regarding the criminal investigation and possible misconduct," their letter wrote. The case has garnered outrage across the US. Public figures from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to Lebron James have condemned the killing. Read the original article on Business Insider Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:23:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOGADISHU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Somali Health Ministry on Thursday confirmed 21 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total tally of infections to 1,594. Fawziya Abikar, the Health Minister said the new patients are from Banadir which was the most affected region with 19 cases and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland which has two following samples tested in the last 24 hours. Abikar said 16 people recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of people who have been discharged from hospitals to 204. The minister said no patient succumbed to the deadly respiratory disease and the total number of deaths since the pandemic was reported in the country remains at 61. She said 14 of the latest cases are male while seven others are female amid concern from the UN that the cases are largely due to community transmission. Enditem The grief was immediate and potent, pouring forth mostly on Instagram, where, to many Elizabeth Suzann customers, the brand wasnt just a brand. They had found their people through the clothes, building networks to sell or trade purchases, or road-tripping to the companys Nashville factory for sample sales. (The online sample sales were consistently cleared out within minutes, if not seconds; full prices for tops, bottoms and dresses typically ranged between $100 and $300.) I was able to form really genuine friendships because of this clothing brand, said Emi Ito, an educator in the Bay Area. Now were supporting one another through this global pandemic. It goes so much deeper than clothes. Elizabeth Suzann was founded in 2013 by Liz Pape, a designer who was then selling her handmade basics on Etsy. By 2017, she employed more than 30 people and pulled in about $3.3 million in sales for the year. The company continued to grow with no outside investors. But at the end of April, Ms. Pape wrote, in the statement announcing the closing, that the financial hit from the coronavirus was too severe for us to recover from in a healthy and responsible way. It was a complicated situation, she wrote, but most simply our current sales are not sufficient to sustain the overhead and payroll of a team of any size. (She declined to be interviewed about the situation.) In the fall, she intends to return to being a one-woman production, eventually offering sewing patterns and kits so that this business relies less on consumption and more on skill sharing and teaching. Memorial Day will be taking on a different look this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The states stay-at-home order will curtail picnics and other large gatherings. And parades and observances honoring the fallen have been canceled or scaled back. In some cases towns, communities and organizations will hold virtual ceremonies or observances. Here is a list of some activities that will take place on Monday or over the weekend. Maria has not kissed or hugged her children since March 28. It was around then that she started to develop shortness of breath, chest pressure, and a scratchy throat. Maybe, she thought, it was strep, so she ventured to a local urgent care to get tested. It came back negative. Maria went home, where her chest pressure persisted into the night. It was too much, and she went to the emergency room at the hospital in metro Detroit where she works in nursing. There, she was told to assume that she had contracted SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and to go home. She burst into tears. I told [the doctor] I have a young baby at home, she said. I need to know what my status is, if I should be quarantining. I need to know what I need to do. So they swabbed me, just to be nice, I guess. (Maria asked that her name be changed because of fear of employer retaliation.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The swab grazed the inside of Marias nose. She told the clinician administering the test that shed heard this procedure was painful. This didnt hurt. She questioned if she was being tested properly. But the clinician reassured Maria that everything was fine. Four days later, her results came back negative, which was enough for her employer to insist she come back to work. Within two weeks, Marias shortness of breath had disappeared, but she started to experience diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and chills in its place. Soon, she lost her ability to smell. But, still, no fever. So her employer wasnt hearing her out when she asked for time off. Six days after the loss of smell presented itself, a friend of Marias encouraged her to visit her local health department for a test. It was a completely different experience. The test used to identify the presence of the coronavirus is unpleasant at best. A six-inch swab is inserted deep into the cavity between the nose and mouth where it is rotated several times for about 15 seconds. This time, Maria said, it was distressing. Advertisement Advertisement On April 18, her test came back positive. Marias situationfacing resistance and uncertainty about access to care and testing, even while working an essential and risky jobis a study in how the Black community is being pummeled by the coronavirus. Data from across the country show that Black Americans are more likely to contract COVID-19 and are disproportionately dying, often younger, from complications of the virus. In conversations with Slate, multiple Black women described their frustrations about them, or someone they loved, not being able to receive a test for COVID-19 even though they were frightfully sick. One woman lost her stepmother. Another was almost discouraged by a paramedic from going to the hospital even though she was gasping for breath. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The medical catastrophe of the pandemic has met the slow-motion disaster of everyday health disparities. Inadequate testing has been a marquee issue throughout the crisis, and that failure is exacerbated in Black neighborhoods where a lack of testing sites is inflamed by residential segregation. Black folks are overrepresented among populations that cannot practice proper physical distancing, that live in densely populated areas or multigenerational homes, work an essential job, suffer from food apartheid, or have an illness that worsens outcomes should they contract the coronavirus. They are also more likely to be poor, which can further cause disparate health outcomes. But this doesnt have to be fatal. There are initiatives that could be taken up on a local, state, and federal level to mitigate the impact and increase the possibility that people who are infected survive. Several experts mentioned four planks that could, and should, be addressed: reducing exposure, adequate testing and contract tracing, getting reliable information out to Black communities and combating the flow of medical advice through the grapevine, and forming a coordinated response to address preexisting inequities. The first two are the most amenable to policy and could be accelerated initiatives. Advertisement Advertisement We live shorter, sicker lives, and we die prematurely, said Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, a social epidemiologist at Ohio State University. That is tied to the history of this group in this country. Advertisement Advertisement Black folks have been in this country for just over 400 years and more than 85 percent of that history came before the civil rights era, setting the patterns for the poor health and inadequate medical care experienced by Black Americans. Black patients are often underprescribed pain medication or not offered an opportunity to join experimental drug trials that could aid in managing their illness. Or, like Maria, theyre refused certain medical procedures or more likely to be candidates for destructive ones. Advertisement Individual Black patients, generally, may not be able to concretely prove that their concerns were dismissed because of their race, but they often have a hunch that they werent treated the way they should have been following an experience with a physician. Advertisement If something were done about this, Sealy-Jefferson said, the impact of the coronavirus could potentially be mitigated. If we are serious about decreasing the disparities by race and ethnicity and class and multiple systems of oppression, if we are committed to doing something about the ways in which these systems have been set up to disproportionately impact communities, we have to do something about racism. That is the fundamental cause of the disparities in health that weve seen. From the beginning, Sophia Caldwells experience at Mizell Memorial Hospital in Opp, Alabama, was unsettling. She took the seven-minute trip to the emergency room from her home in Elba early on the morning of April 23. She had chills and a high feveranother worried addition to the wheezing and shortness of breath that began the day before, a stark progression from what had been a little cough on April 21. Advertisement Caldwell was initially treated outside in the parking lot, which didnt sit right with her, before being wheeled into a narrow hospital hallway for chest X-rays. The doctors and the technician barely acknowledged her, she said, much less explained what they thought was going on. They simply looked at her scans, said theyd seen all they needed to see, and sent her back to her car. Neither one said anything was in my lungs, said Caldwell. He sent me back to my car and then he told me that I had bronchitis. He said, Step back outside and then well discuss some things. Advertisement Advertisement Mizell has not responded to requests for comment. Caldwell, a certified nursing assistant of 17 years who has worked in nursing homes, was insistent that whatever she was feeling wasnt bronchitis. I told my husband that I wasnt crazy. I said This is not bronchitis. Ive got all the classic symptoms of COVID, she said. I know what bronchitis does. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The clinicians didnt listen. Caldwell wasnt tested for the coronavirus, despite her symptoms and tests for flu and strep coming back negative. She was prescribed Norco to treat the cough and told to get some Delsym to suppress it. The doctor also wrote her a prescription for a Z-Pak. She took a double dose from the Z-Pak while sitting in the hospital parking lot, and then she took another double when she got her prescription filled later that day. But her symptoms worsened. On Sunday morning, she woke up shaky. My legs didnt want to carry me, said Caldwell. She went to an urgent care clinic in Troy, 45 minutes away, bypassing Mizell since she didnt want to risk being dismissed a second time. On the ride over, Caldwell was terrified. Not once was she able to catch her breath. Advertisement I honestly think if I had gone to bed on the 26th, she said, I would have been dead on the 27th. Her experience in Troy was completely different. She was allowed into the urgent care clinic, and the staff didnt act as if they were afraid to touch her. Caldwell learned that her airways were indeed restricted, and doctors asked if she wanted to be tested for the coronavirus. She begged them to do so. Her test came back positive two days later on April 28. When I got there, urgent care treated me like somebody, said Caldwell. You treated like just something horrible down at Opp. I can understand their fear, but they gotta understand that were the sick ones. We need to be made to feel comfortable, too. Advertisement Advertisement During the 1700s and 1800s, enslavers did anything they could to put off allowing a physician to assess the health of an enslaved African. Often, they accused sick people of malingering, or feigning an illness in order to get out of work. But in the event that a doctor was paged, they operated as enthusiastic agents of the systemic mistreatment of the enslaved. In Medical Apartheid, Harriet Washington recounts an instance where a physician began his evaluation of an enslaved man with remembering simulation was a characteristic of his race. Doctors, Washington explained, would share notes detailing ploys used to get enslaved Africans back into the fields as quickly as possible. Violent medical tactics or blatant physical abuse were cited as most effective. Advertisement Malingering became a maxim of medical racism, and the clinical experimentation to which enslaved Africans were subjected aided in building the institution of Western medicine. The legacy of that abuse is a primary cause of iatrophobia, the fear and disdain many Black folks still have toward medical institutions, according to Washington. Poor health outcomes were treated as a deficiency inherent to Black people instead of the result of economic disparity, poor housing, abhorrent work conditions, and extreme levels of stress. Clinical beliefs formulated during enslavement are why physicians still believe that Black patients are more difficult to deal with, feel less pain, have thicker skin, or exaggerate symptomsbeliefs that provided a convenient excuse for the continuation of enslavement. Political institutions have allowed for the severe socioeconomic gaps between Black Americans and their white peers to persist so Black populations remain at higher risk of being in poor health and increased risk of mortality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the coronavirus pandemic, these factors collided and resulted in a painfully high infection rate: 27 percent of cases based on incomplete data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, within a demographic that makes up just over 13 percent of the U.S. population. Advertisement Sealy-Jefferson, the social epidemiologist, stressed the importance of telling the truth about this history in order to put forth any viable solutions. Its not about behavior, its not about some genetic susceptibility to poor health and mortality, she said. A lot of published research, even in 2020, is based in eugenics, this false narrative that genetics predispose people to poor health. A number of stories that focus on the disproportionate number of Black folks contracting COVID-19 have leaned into the notion that theres something wrong with Black peoplewhether it be admonishing them about food choices or not properly distancing. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams chided Black Americans, and others of color, singling them out in a call to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs for their abuela, granddaddy, Big Mama, and Pop-Pop. Advertisement Not as much energy has been dedicated to addressing white Americans or the root cause of any health disparities. If we dont tell the truth about how racism is structuring our society and how racism is privileging some people and disadvantages other people, we arent going to make any headway into mitigating disparity, said Sealy-Jefferson. Health providers who took an oath to do no harm, should take that seriously and understand all of the ways the implicit biases are playing out in their care. Around the time she got sick, Marias hospital started to receive its first COVID-positive patients. It was early in the upward swing of Michigans infections and the hospital was still tinkering with the procedures. Maria said she and her colleagues were not wearing proper personal protective equipment. They were given surgical masks instead of the N95s the CDC recommends when caring for patients infected with the coronavirus, which were being reused for six days then cleaned under a UV light. Maria and others started questioning whether staff should be masking in the hallways but were discouraged by administrators. Advertisement Advertisement We were just kind of flying by the seat of our pants, she said. Caldwell thinks she contracted the coronavirus while providing in-home care for an elderly woman whose son was a truck driver. She didnt think to take any extra precautions since she and another person who cared for the elderly patient were already practicing physical distancing in order to protect the woman receiving care. Soon, the woman developed a nasty cough and high fever, and she eventually passed away. It was not confirmed if she had contracted COVID-19, but Caldwell said her co-worker also tested positive around this time. Advertisement Advertisement Providing essential workersanyone from health care professionals to janitors or in-home care providerswith adequate personal protective equipment as a condition of being at work would be a great start toward tempering the effects of the pandemic, said Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist from Harvard. Workers, particularly those outside of the health services field, should also be trained on how to properly use and dispose of it. This will help decrease exposure in the workplace. Advertisement Further interruption of an outbreak lies in identifying people who are infected and preventing them from spreading it. This is more complicated, but it is amenable to policy. Isolation wards can be set up for those who live in crowded households. For example, officials in New York, Chicago, Seattle, and California have leased hotel rooms for COVID-19 patients who cannot physically isolate themselves at home. The thing that can absolutely be mitigated is the risk of exposure, said Krieger. Its going to get trickier once people are exposed. There may be differentials in the mortality because of preexisting health injustices and thats not going to be as simple. Thats why the primary prevention is key. Advertisement A lack of testing, however, could pose a problem to the efforts to contain exposure. But right now officials in states that have not been overwhelmed by the coronavirus have an opportunity to acquire enough tests and prioritize who gets tested based on where their disparities are. They can look at whos died from COVID, whos had severe cases of COVID and you can map that out based on geography, explained Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, a medical epidemiologist and infectious diseases physician from George Washington University. Where do these people live, where have they been, where did they work? Advertisement Advertisement People who live in congregate settings like nursing homes, incarcerated populations, people who live in public housing, and others who are unable to physically distance should be at the top of the list when it comes to providing robust access to testing. Once positive cases are determined, officials can begin contact tracing and prompt anyone whos been in contact with someone infected to get tested. If you send somebody home whos tested positive, youve basically ensured that at least some of the family members are also going to get sick, said Maureen Miller, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia University, reiterating the need for more tests and feasible isolation initiatives. Its been nearly eight weeks since Marias children have seen her bare, unmasked face. At times, her oldest child will run in the opposite direction if shes seen her mother from an angle where she doesnt appear to be wearing it. For the first seven days, she quarantined in her basement, away from her husband and children. But she hasnt been able to get retested, and she isnt willing to risk the health of her family. I was just fearful for every contact that I had with my own children, she said. Ive heard stories of people that have been positive for 4550 days. And you dont know if theyre still contagious or just shedding viral particles, but still I cant take the chance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Caldwell has been left with a nagging cough. Shes no longer short of breath and her legs have quit shaking. The chills and fever are gone, but she still feels off. I can tell that Im better, she said. But I can also tell that Im not wellif that makes any sense. She was able to get retested in early May, but her results came back positive. Her third test was originally scheduled for Monday, but she pushed it back until Friday. She wanted to be absolutely certain the virus was out of her system, and since the test for COVID-19 is so painful, she doesnt want to come back in for another. Caldwell was angry because she has family members who could have been infected. An urgent care doctor in Troy told her to act as if she was infectedeven though her initial results hadnt come back in. She isolated herself from her family, keeps her mask on, and sprays anything she touches with disinfectant. Doctors at Mizell never told her to assume she was infected in order to protect her family, just in case. And that bugs me because I could have hurt somebody that I care about, she said, her voice cracking. I just think about how I could have hurt somebody that means a lot to me because they were too stupid to even offer the freaking test. Ive been an emotional mess through this whole thing. I just thank God I feel better, she continued. Im just ready for it to be out of my system and I know God is going to heal me because it could have been so much worse. My children could have been with me and Im justI just thank God Im still here. .As and when the lockdown is further relaxed, the DMRC shall also be permitted to operate the Metro Rail in terms of the directions that may be issued subsequently The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Rail Corporation (DMRC) to take adequate steps to maintain social distancing once the metro services resume. The court said that the compartments are packed to the gills, which can be dangerous in the current COVID-19 pandemic situation. With these directions, the court disposed of the petition filed by Shreesh Chadha seeking direction to operate all the public transport in all districts and further to frame guidelines for the hygiene of commuters and public transport operators. The Delhi Government told a Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and S Prasad that as of now, there is adequate public transport that has been permitted to meet the requirement of the public at large. As and when the lockdown is further relaxed, the DMRC shall also be permitted to operate the Metro Rail in terms of the directions that may be issued by the respondents subsequently, the government said. The DMRC also told the court about the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) formulated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for train operation after the restoration of the metro services. Maninder Acharya, ASG appearing for Union of India and Advocate Shadan Parashar, counsel for the state government said that the grievance of the petitioner has been adequately addressed. The government also told the court that the intra-state movement of DTC, as well as cluster buses, has been permitted with a condition that not more than 20 passengers shall be allowed at one time inside the bus and the Transport Department has been directed to deploy the adequate number of buses to ensure social distancing inside the bus. Parashar, counsel for the GNCTD, submits that although private offices and government offices have been permitted to function at full strength, directions have been issued for private offices that as far as practical, persons should work from home. Similarly, though, all shops and market complexes have been permitted to remain open, the directions issued are that they should remain open on an odd and even basis. The public interest litigation was filed by Chadha through advocate Prashant Vaxish, who sought an appropriate direction to the respondent to frame guidelines to ensure safety and hygiene of the passengers and public transport operators. A Division Bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal had asked Centre, Delhi Government, Delhi Transport Corporation and DMRC, to file reply on the plea and listed it for May 20. The plea had also sought a direction to set up thermal scanning units, and other necessary equipment to ensure that only passengers who are testing negative for COVID-19 and are utilising the service for commuting for the purposes of the permitted activity are allowed to board. The petitioner told the court that as per revised guidelines of lockdown, the government provided relief to private establishments by allowing them to operate. The petition stated that a large population of the national capital do not own private vehicles, and rely solely on the well-established and highly utilised public transport system and auto/cycle rickshaws to reach their places of work. "On average, lakhs of people make the journey from their home to their place of work and back, daily. Therefore, by allowing establishments and offices to operate, without the operation of public transport, the Government of India has failed to take this part of NCT Delhi's working population. This leaves a large portion of the working population without the means to reach their workplaces when now they are explicitly required to by their owners/employers," the plea said. The plea said that no buses, metro trains or rickshaws are available to the marginalised section of the working population and the entire working population that relied on public transport systems to commute to their places of work. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New moderate income housing program could be on the way to Long Beach Former Arts Minister Don Harwin is seeking legal advice to appeal the $1000 fine for breaching COVID-19 restrictions which ended his ministerial career. The fine was the trigger for Mr Harwin's resignation from cabinet in April, after it emerged that he had been commuting between his Sydney residence and his Pearl Beach holiday home on the central coast. His resignation was designed to end the controversy, but the issue resurfaced last week in a procedural process in the NSW Legislative Council, known as a call for papers. Former NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin quit cabinet last month after he was fined $1000 for breaching COVID-19 restrictions after he travelled between his holiday home and Sydney residence. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Greens MLC David Shoebridge moved a motion in the chamber ordering the government to produce all documents relating to potential breaches of the COVID-19 restrictions by Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Mr Harwin. Ten inmates in the Tema metropolis have tested positive for the COVID-19 disease. Tema Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Edward Johnson Akrofi-Oyirifi, made the disclosure on the sidelines of a disinfection and fumigation exercise which took place in the regional command on Thursday (May 21, 2020). According to him, of the ten COVID-19 inmates, nine were from Ashaiman cells while one was recorded in a cell in Kpone. However, he said none of the police personnel in Tema has tested positive for the disease so far. "Thankfully, all the other inmates who were in the cells with these Covid-19 inmates have tested negative, and have thus been transported to the Ankaful Prisons," the regional commander revealed. DCOP Akrofi-Oyirifi further indicated that to ensure the safety of these Covid-19 inmates, his outfit has moved motions at the courts for them to be isolated and treated. On social/physical distancing in the cells, he stated that the inmates were more protected in the cells. This, he said, was because by confining them in the cells they were not exposed to the rest of the population. "So I think that even they being in the cells was better for them because then they are isolated and qurantined from the rest of the Ghanaian population," he opined. The Tema regional police commander used the opportunity to praise his officers who were deployed during the partial lockdown. "Our personnel in the deployment during the partial lockdown were always brave to educate people who were commuting to Tema and its environs. And, I must say that they were professional in dealing with the lockdown directives," he gladly expressed. In this regard, DCOP Akrofi-Oyirifi gave an assurance that his officers remained resolute in the fight against the global pandemic. The Regional Security Council was collaborating with the metropolitan assemblies to enforce the "No Face Mask, No Entry" directive in Tema to ensure that the virus is contained, he said. "We also have officers who regularly patrol the region to make sure that residents, factories, pharmacy shops among others were strictly adhering to the Covid-19 preventive protocols," he added. According to him, the exercise, which is a collaboration between the Ghana Police Service and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, will cover four divisions and fourteen districts in the Tema enclave. He said it will include the disinfection of police stations, cells, offices and barracks under the above jurisdictions. "They have started with the regional headquarters and from here they will be moving to the various divisions," he noted. Zoomlion Regional Manager, Tema, Seth Appiah, explained that the exercise was a collaboration between his outfit and the Ghana Police Service. According to him, the Tema police have been very cooperative in the discharge of their work. For the disinfection and fumigation of Tema police facilities, he disclose that they have deployed twenty workers for the exercise. Source: Peacefmonline/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A highly regarded Broadway set designer who spent five weeks in a medically induced coma after contracting COVID-19 made history as the first American to receive a breakthrough treatment using cells from a placenta. Edward Pierce, 49, is recovering at home after a harrowing 46-day hospitalization at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, where doctors said he was experiencing organ failure. Pierce is the associate scenic designer for the original Broadway production of Wicked. His other credits include Angels in America, Billy Elliott, Amazing Grace, and Bright Star. Pierce fell ill sometime around March 9, when the severity of the pandemic was becoming more acute in the US. Edward Pierce, 49, is seen above after he was discharged from Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey, on May 1. He is seen left with his wife, Pixie Pierce spent nearly seven weeks in the hospital. His condition deteriorated to the point where he was suffering from organ failure Initially, he thought he had the flu, so his doctor prescribed him some medicine and told him to stay home. But his condition did not improve, and he was admitted to hospital. My oxygen level was dangerously low, Pierce said. They admitted me instantly. Its been quite a journey. Four days after he was admitted, doctors put Pierce on a ventilator. At one point during his stay, doctors needed to restart Pierces heart, which stopped for about 15 seconds after he pulled out his breathing tube. I was pretty scared, Pierce told The Daily Beast. I dont like not being in control of what is going on. [My wife] Pixie was with me until the moment the doctors put the mask on my face and asked me to count backwards from 10. I am quite certain that she said she loved me, and that I said it back to her. Pierce is the associate scenic designer for the original Broadway production of Wicked. His other credits include Angels in America, Billy Elliott, Amazing Grace, and Bright Star. The image above shows an October 2013 showing of Wicked in New York's Gershwin Theatre Those were my parting words. Pierce continued: The next thing I know, I had woken up and it was five weeks later. What had happened in those five weeks without me knowing was one step forward, two steps back, treatments not being successful, my lungs not clearing out, them trying me out in new positions to get my lungs cleared. I I had pneumonia. I was having some kind of kidney failure. There was talk of dialysis, though I didnt have to have that, luckily. I had staph infections from tubes being down my throat for so long, and there was a moment I had pulled out my breathing tube in a state of frustration even though I was fully sedated. My heart stopped for 15 seconds. They had to restart that. His wife, Pixie, started to contemplate what life would be like if her husband didnt make it. She said she received regular updates from the doctors. I would wait for the phone call from the hospital, she said. Sometimes the news was good, sometimes it was not so good. Pixie said that the doctors treating her husband had nearly run out of options. So they asked her to authorize an as-yet-untested treatment that involved extracting stem cells from a human placenta. Pierce is the first American to receive a potentially groundbreaking treatment using cells extracted from a placenta. The above image is a stock photo of a freshly removed placenta after a C-section in an Indian hospital The treatment was pioneered by an Israeli company, Pluristem Therapeutics, which says that seventy-five percent of COVID-19 patients who were given placental cells had been taken off ventilators, according to The Jerusalem Post. The company was given permission by the Food and Drug Administration to offer the treatment on a case-by-case basis to patients under compassionate use. Compassionate use is the use of a new, unapproved treatment for a seriously ill patient whose condition has not improved after every other option has been exhausted. I know some people would have trouble with us using placental cells, his wife, Pixie, said. I would have said yes to anything they wanted to try. This was his best chance. It was basically a Hail Mary treatment for him. He was not in a good place. They did not know what they could possibly do for him. After she granted permission for the treatment to go ahead, Pierce received an injection of large, fresh placenta cells in approximately 15 locations of his body. Doctors had used a fresh placenta that was delivered to New Jersey that same day after a woman gave birth in Maryland. The proposed treatment includes intra-muscular administration of the companys PLX-PAD, which uses cells derived from the placenta, for severe pneumonia resulting from COVID-19 and preventing the deterioration of patients towards Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis. Within a relatively short time frame, Pierces condition began to improve. Within 10 days, he was taken off a ventilator and started to breathe on his own. Doctors also gradually began to wean him off of sedatives. Three days after Pierce woke up, he had all of his breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and catheters removed. Pierce was then administered physical and speech therapy. He also started to properly eat food. On May 1, he was discharged from the hospital after nearly seven weeks of treatment. Pierce was then sent to a rehabilitation center to rebuild his unused muscles and regain his strength. For the past two weeks, he has been home recuperating. If I have provided any inspiration for the medical community as they have helped so many of us in our communities, then that makes me happy, Pierce told The Daily Beast. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are no approved drugs that are specifically engineered to treat COVID-19. Scientists last month announced the first effective treatment against the coronavirus an experimental drug that can speed the recovery of COVID-19 patients in a major medical advance. The US government said it is working to make the antiviral medication remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible. 'What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious-disease expert. 'This will be the standard of care.' California-based biotech company Gilead Sciences and the US government reported that in a major study, remdesivir shortened the time it takes for COVID-19 patients to recover by four days on average from 15 days to 11. Also, a trend toward fewer deaths was seen among those on the drug, Fauci said. The study was run by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and involved 1,063 hospitalized coronavirus patients around the world. An effective treatment could have a profound effect on the outbreak, since a vaccine is probably a year or more away. New Delhi, May 21 : China, in a bid to divert the worlds focus and growing global resentment against Xi Jingpings regime and its handling of the Covid 19 pandemic, is now resorting to escalation of border disputes both on land as well as sea, senior Indian intelligence agency officials said on Friday. "Unlike India, which has the world's highest massifs as natural boundaries to its north and east, flood plains and deserts to its west and a vast expanse of ocean to its south, China has a geography problem and it is now resorting to aggressive approach for twin reasons - to flex muscle against those criticizing its role in spreading the deadly virus and to create conflict in peaceful areas so that international media and forums' attention is quietly moved away from the pandemic," said a senior government officer. It is well-known fact that hemmed in by Japan and South Korea to the east, India to the west, Taiwan and ASEAN countries to the south, China has naturally developed a tendency to push its boundaries, both on land and at sea. This is evidenced by irredentist claims of China in the South China Sea and border disputes with nearly all its neighbours, mostly for economic reasons, which has not taken a politico-military colour. In the specific case of India, China's recent protestations along border areas of Ladakh and North Sikkim are perplexing since these areas are amongst the most desolate and inhospitable regions in the world. "Differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are normally 'settled' at the level of junior officers and should not require pompous statements from Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government," said the officer further adding that to understand the complex relationship, it is important to turn the pages of the history. Past Parallels Home to the two greatest ancient civilizations, Indus Valley and Yangtze Basin, India and China are inexorably bound by history and geography. The name 'China' also comes from the Sanskrit 'Cina', derived from the name of the Chinese Qin Dynasty, and was popularized by the ancient Silk Road. Famous Chinese travellers Faxian (400 AD) and Hsuan Tsang (600 AD) also traversed through the length and breadth of ancient India, centuries after Buddhist monks from India introduced Buddhism to the Han dynasty. India and China also share a common history, from ancient warring kingdoms to the yoke of colonialism. Both countries re-emerged into global consciousness after the Second World War, an impoverished but intrepid people. Experimentation with socialism laid the foundations of the nations and acceptance of the open-market system has propelled both these countries onto the world centrestage today. Economic Growth While China's growth has boosted its position to the world's second largest economy, India is presently fifth. Bilateral trade between these two Asian powerhouses has also touched $100 billion, although skewed in China's favour (India has a $63 billion trade deficit). Both countries are among the largest in the world in terms of land area, human capital and resources, with a combined population so large that nearly every second person on our planet is either an Indian or a Chinese. In this civilisational and economic context, India stands out as a steadfast neighbour, often placing the combined interests of both countries above its own. Despite China's expansionist approach India has consistently supported the 'One China' policy, even though this was not reciprocated on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. "Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi vociferously supported China's claim for the UN Security Council seat in 1971, while China has repeatedly blocked Masood Azhar being listed as a global terrorist," the officer explained. Conscious of sensitivities of the Chinese government, India kept the issue of Tibet, exiled Dalai Lama and Tibetan refugees on the backburner, only to have the Chinese government pronounce Jammu & Kashmir as a 'disputed' region. Further, the Chinese government is well aware that their investments and infrastructure development in the Union Territory of Ladakh's Gilgit-Baltistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infringe on core sovereignty issues of India. India chose the path of a liberal, vibrant democratic polity while China chose communism albeit with 'Chinese characteristics'; however, it is a fact that India has never questioned the freedom of the Chinese people to choose their form of governance. Being a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society, India too has faced challenges within its social fabric, but has never judged China on these issues, be it the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province, alleged human rights violations, 'one child policy', lack of privacy, restrictions on religion. Chinese incitements and support of terror, China's open support to Pakistan, its 'Iron Brother', in terms of missile and nuclear proliferation, military support and collusive agenda against India, is also a thorn in the bilateral relationship. It is a known fact that China has been covering Pakistan's terror factories on international fora and even defended dreaded terrorists like Masood Azhar. It is a Chinese ploy to endorse and support Pakistan's use of proxies to inflict serious damage on India. Even in the face of these incitements from the Chinese, successive Indian governments have adopted a policy of mutual reconciliation and dialogue. High-level visits, informal summits, meetings of special representatives on border issues and such other mechanisms have been put in place over the years and are being pursued by the Indian side, which always believed in resolving issues through dialogue. The Doklam crisis, which unfolded over nearly three months in the summer of 2017, stands out as an example of the efficacy of the bilateral dialogue mechanisms, even for highly vexed issues. Glorious future China and India, ancient global powerhouses, have been unshackled from their past and are gazing upon a glorious future. Come 2021, China will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China while India will celebrate its 75th independence day. In the run-up to this seminal event for both nations, Chinese policymakers should reassess their relations with India, which could be summarised by the ancient Chinese adage "A Close Neighbour is better than a Distant Relative. China must recalibrate its strategy and resolve the issues through dialogue as 'wolf warrior' diplomacy and border aggression will not work amidst India's growing stature in world politics. (Sumit Kumar Singh can be reached at sumit.k@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Jordan Espinosa doesnt know where, but he knows when. Espinosa, an Albuquerque MMA fighter, has accepted a bantamweight fight against Mark De La Rosa of Fort Worth, Texas, on a UFC Fight Night card scheduled for June 13. No site has been determined. The UFC, which staged three cards in eight days recently in Jacksonville, Florida, is still figuring things out amid coronavirus restrictions. Espinosa (14-7) will be seeking to snap a two-fight losing streak, having lost to Matt Schnell (first-round submission, triangle choke) and to Alex Perez (second-round submission, arm triangle choke). After earning a UFC contract with a victory over Riley Dutro (third-round TKO), he made his official UFC debut with a win by unanimous decision over Eric Shelton. De La Rosa (11-4) last fought on the UFC Fight Night card on Feb. 15 at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho losing to Raulian Paiva by second-round TKO. De La Rosa will be seeking to snap a three-fight losing streak. Ive been working really hard throughout this lockdown and I expect nothing less than domination, Espinosa posted on Facebook. I honestly cant wait. Its gonna be a fun one! Vodafone Idea, one of Indias big three operators, is reportedly planning a new operational model to improve efficiency, sparking speculation that it still has long-term plans for the Indian market despite enormous financial pressures. The Department of Telecommunications has divided India into over 20 telecom circles or service areas. Vodafone Idea has proposed compressing its circles, at least for operational purposes, into what it calls 10 clusters. It seems that, while honouring regulatory requirements for the existing circle system, the 10 large clusters will inform a new approach to business operations. Vodafone Idea has been quoted as saying that the cluster business heads will be based at cluster headquarters and will report to respective operations directors. The company says that these cluster heads will focus on revenue market share growth, customer market share maximization, experience excellence across touch points, channel productivity and spend optimization. While precise detail is limited, it seems likely that this cluster-based approach will allow some streamlining of organizational structures and some employee restructuring or reduction. As a number of reports in the Indian press point out, this is happening just as the integration exercise following the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular Limited in September 2018 comes to a close. The expected completion date is June 2020. Vodafone Idea has been quoted as calling this a new operating model, which is leaner, agile and more cost-efficient to address customer needs, and has argued that it will lead to stronger competitive positioning for the company in the marketplace. This in turn has sparked speculation that, despite its financial challenges, the operator still sees itself as a long-term player in the Indian market. Certainly, it would appear that this new system could offer Vodafone Idea the chance to reduce costs. Nevertheless, hanging over the company there is still the issue of the AGR-based dues it is required to pay the government, which, if government estimates hold, come to a startling $7.7 billion at current exchange rates, of which Vodafone Idea has paid less than $1 billion. OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- One look at the meat counter inside the new 4 Bulls butchery in Ocean Springs is enough to make the mouth water. Huge cuts of Angus beef -- sirloins, ribeyes, filets, and the famed Wagyu beef, along with assorted roasts, briskets, kabobs, pepper jack burger patties made from top-quality ground beef, beef ribs and an assortment of other items, including some seafood -- have already made the new butchery a hot spot just days after its Monday opening. The new meat shop is the creation of partners Steven Roy McKenzie, a Picayune native, and Ocean Springs native Gerri Clark Leggett. The two coast natives met in North Dakota more than eight years ago when Leggett arrived there to work as a foundation director for a nursing home. McKenzie was already there, working in the meat business. Hes spent over 40 years in the business, with 27 of those years spent as the meat and seafood director for more than 600 Albertsons grocery stores. Last year, the two decided to return to the coast to be near family and to fulfill McKenzies long-held dream of opening a top-quality butchery. Hes been planning this for a while, but we finally decided to do it in October, Leggett said. McKenzie said opening the shop was something of a retirement dream. This has always been my passion and my dream, he said, to open a butchery shop and cater to an area where I felt like it would be a good fit and meet the needs of the community. The name 4 Bulls is a nod to four national butchery awards McKenzie has won in his career. Each time, he was presented with an iron bull trophy. In just four days of operation, the response has been overwhelming. The reaction has been absolutely wonderful, Leggett said. Everyones excited for us to be here, excited to have an actual meat shop, where they can order their own cuts of meat. The reactions been very very good. Weve been busy every day since we opened. Huge, McKenzie said of the response. Someone sent me a message this morning asking me if I knew we already had 2,400 Facebook followers. I try and answer customers questions (on Facebook) every night before I go to bed, but I hadnt noticed the numbers. And that response has come without any advertising outside of the 4 Bulls Facebook page and word of mouth. McKenzie said his first real advertising isnt scheduled until June. Perhaps even more surprising than the early response has been the emergence of the butcherys most popular item -- Wagyu beef. Despite its price -- ranging from $21.99 to $31.99 per pound, depending on the cut -- theyve barely been able to keep up with demand. I cant keep it on the shelf, McKenzie said. Im waiting on a delivery right now. I order it from Colorado daily. They overnight it and I get it the next day. It usually comes in about midday and Im out by the end of the day. People just love it, Leggett said of the Wagyu. They say it just melts in your mouth. Its been a really big item. People are ordering it by phone and coming in to buy it. Whether its Wagyu or any other cut of meat, 4 Bulls can provide it. I can get basically anything a customer needs with a days notice, cut to their needs, McKenzie said. 4 Bulls also offers a variety of specialty rubs and sauces and even offers boiled crawfish and shrimp, along with cuts of fresh tuna. And, in the coming weeks, a deli will open inside the butchery where customers can order fresh-made sandwiches with top quality meats and cheeses, along with salads and low-carb items, all available for takeout or dining in. And 4 Bulls will deliver, too, within a three-mile radius of the store, located in The Inlet commercial development on U.S. 90 west. Theres a $25 minimum order required for delivery, with a $3 delivery fee. Theres no fee on orders of $50 or more. The shop is also offering a 15 percent discount for all first responders, military, doctors and nurses, and teachers. Catering services are also available. Visit the 4 Bulls website for more information or call 228-334-5215. An Italian woman has won a Pablo Picasso oil painting worth 1m (897,000) in a charity raffle. Claudia Borgognos son, Lorenzo Naso, bought two tickets in the charity draw, costing 100 each. The winning ticket, belonging to Borgogno, was picked out in an electronic draw by Paris auction house Christies. I have never won anything before, said Borgogno, 58, who works as an accountant in Ventimiglia, Italy. Naso called his purchasing of two tickets maybe the best decision in my life. 51,140 tickets were sold in the draw, with proceeds going to provide water for villagers in Madagascar and Cameroon. Oganisers valued the 1921 painting, Nature Morte, or Still Life, as being worth $1.1m. The billionaire art collector who provided it, David Nahmad, said the work was worth at least two or three times that. Naso said that he and his mother had been in lockdown together amid Italys coronavirus battle, adding that the win was great news in an awful period of time. Additional reporting by Associated Press. Portland hotel rooms have all but emptied out this spring, drying up businesses downstream as the coronavirus crisis continues to take its toll on the local tourism industry. Hotel occupancy in Portland fell to 14% in April, according to data released Wednesday by Travel Portland, following an 85% drop in demand. Those numbers bounced back slightly during the first part of May, with occupancy increasing to 17% from May 10-16. The impact on Portlands tourism industry has already been severe. The citys biggest tourist attractions and its smallest have been affected alike, as hotel rooms sit empty, restaurants remain closed and local tourism organizations continue to struggle. Travel Portland and Travel Oregon, separate tourism agencies funded by taxes on hotel rooms and short-term rentals, have both responded with layoffs. In April, Travel Portland laid off 40% of its staff and cut salary for the remaining employees. Travel Oregon laid off or furloughed a third of its workers and cut pay for the rest, including the executives and managers whose large salaries were called out in an audit earlier this year. Were clearly in sort of devastating times, Jeff Miller, CEO of Travel Portland, said. Our opportunity for the future will hinge on how we will support all these sorts of jobs. That includes jobs at Portlands hotels, museums, tourist attractions and restaurants, all of which have been shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic. That struggle has been especially acute for small attractions like the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium. One of few remaining landmarks of the weird Portland era, the small tourist attraction was in the midst of expanding into a new storefront when the coronavirus pandemic hit, throwing the business into turmoil. Were dead in the water, said Mike Wellins, who co-owns the Peculiarium with Lisa Freeman. Were out of money already, and on credit, so it's an unfortunate game of attrition. In December, Wellins and Freeman announced they were moving from their location on Northwest Thurman Street to a new storefront on Southeast Stark Street. They opened a gift shop at the new space in January and planned to open the new Peculiarium there March 31. On March 23, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued her stay-home order that banned public gatherings and shut down all nonessential businesses across the state, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Both Peculiairum locations closed to the public, and all staff were laid off, Wellins said. They applied for aid from the Small Business Associations Paycheck Protection Program, but heard nothing back. At this point, it will be impossible to open their new location in Southeast Portland, Wellins said. They may be able to keep the older location, if things return to normal sooner rather than later, but honestly, he said, theyre not sure how long they can afford to keep the business. The financial hit was complete, Wellins said. No income, no customers. The Jupiter Hotel will donate all 81 of its rooms at its original location on East Burnside to house homeless people who were in shelters but have respiratory infections or other symptoms of COVID-19 but not a positive test.Molly Harbarger/The Oregonian Its a bitter pill to swallow for an industry that has seen substantial growth over the past decade. In 2019, visitors to Portland generated $5.6 billion in spending, according to Travel Portland, supporting nearly 37,000 jobs and raising $277.8 million in tax revenue. That growth has supported a vibrant small business community and fostered creative innovation the city has become known for. Caravan, a tiny house hotel in Northeast Portland, opened in 2013, riding both the tiny house and boutique hotel trends to create what owners say was the first of its kind in the world. It became beloved for its concept of small lodging and shared community spaces, aspects that made it especially vulnerable when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Within a span of two weeks, all of our reservations were toast, said Deb Delman, who co-owns Caravan with her husband, Kol Peterson. Weve tried to be innovative and thoughtful about how we can shift our model, about operating to keep our doors open and serve our community. After losing their reservations, Delman and Peterson decided to turn Caravans tiny house hotel rooms into short-term rentals for health care workers and those in need of emergency housing. Instead of charging $145 to $185 per night, like they did for tourists, theyve been charging only around $40 per night for their new customers. Caravan, a tiny house hotel in Northeast Portland, has shifted to short-term rentals for health care workers and those in need of emergency housing during the coronavirus pandemic.Michael Lloyd/staff/file The Jupiter Hotel on East Burnside Street made a similar move. In March, the boutique hotel opened 81 rooms to people who are already in publicly funded shelters and have respiratory issues or other underlying conditions that put them in a high risk category but have not tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Delman said its felt good to help support the community, though operating like this doesnt help the hotel in the long run. Some cancellations from this spring and summer have accepted credit for future stays instead of refunds, which helps Caravan stay afloat but doesnt necessarily bode well for the future. Although people are willing to take a credit, a very small handful of people have booked a date in the fall, she said. Well see what happens, but its so hard to imagine that people are going to be coming to Portland. The economic struggle has also extended to what are arguably Portlands most popular tourist spots: Powells Books and Voodoo Doughnut. Voodoo Doughnut, one of Portland's most iconic tourist attractions, has shifted to a take-out model during the coronavirus pandemic. LC- The Oregonian Powells recently heralded as the Eiffel Tower of Portland laid off more than 300 staff after closing its five Portland-area bookstores. The business has remained active with online sales, but on Wednesday CEO Emily Powell said it may be a while before stores reopen and business resumes as it once did. Voodoo Doughnut, which in recent years has expanded to locations in Eugene, Texas, Denver and Universal Studios in Hollywood and Orlando, laid off an undisclosed number of workers in March, according to a report in the Portland Mercury, resulting in a unionization effort by some employees. Four of the companys shops have since shifted to offering take-out orders, including its original Old Town Portland location. Portlands biggest landmarks might be able to weather the storm, but the citys smallest attractions are the ones in the most danger, Travel Portland said. The tourism agency is already brainstorming ways to help support small businesses in Portland, including a strategy that shifts its pitch from tourists to locals. Weve made a concerted effort to pivot local first, Miller said. Itll resonate for a while, because for at least a year people will hopefully feel a need to support local businesses. Though 33 Oregon counties have won approval to enter Phase 1 of reopening, Multnomah County has yet to apply to reopen. Clackamas County officials await approval of the reopening plan they submitted Wednesday, and Washington County plans to apply Friday. As local businesses begin to reopen, Travel Portland said it will encourage Portlanders to go out and support them. Until then, the agency is encouraging support through its #PortlandTogether campaign, with lists of restaurants offering take-out and delivery, and shops selling gift cards during the pandemic. For local businesses that have relied on tourism to stay alive, a sense of security can feel a long way off. That makes it more important to support them now, Travel Portland said, as everybody hunkers down closer to home. I think were all as a community trying to figure out how we support smaller businesses, Miller said. We certainly hope they can survive this and that theres a path forward for us all to go back to these small businesses and find ways to help keep them opened. --Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The Virginia-based Financial Institution Seeks to Fill a Critical Need in Response to COVID-19 MARTINSVILLE, VA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / In alignment with its tradition of care, Carter Bank & Trust is donating $72,000 to food banks in communities throughout Virginia and North Carolina. This donation was allocated to fill a critical need for funding organizations focused on food security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $72,000 disbursement will benefit nine food banks including: Feeding Southwest Virginia, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Inc., Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, Feed More, Capital Area Food Bank, Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC, Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast NC, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC. "At Carter Bank &Trust, we take great pride in caring for the customers and communities we serve. All of our communities have been severely impacted as a result of the COVID-19 virus, and these donations are an example of us doing what we do best - caring," says Litz H. Van Dyke, Chief Executive Officer, Carter Bank & Trust. This significant charitable contribution is only a portion of a larger plan to give back to the communities that Carter Bank & Trust has the honor of serving. The funds will support each organization's COVID-19 response and the specific food security gaps that exist in each community. "We are so grateful to Carter Bank & Trust for their commitment to the communities we serve," says Pamela Irvine, President and CEO of Feeding Southwest Virginia - the first organization to receive the donation. "The funds come at an integral time as we deal with increased need and will allow us to serve more families throughout the duration of this pandemic." About Carter Bank & Trust Headquartered in Martinsville, VA, Carter Bank & Trust is a $4.0 billion state-chartered community bank with branches in Virginia and North Carolina. Since 1974, Carter Bank & Trust has built a reputation upon their tradition of care for the communities they serve through convenience, local service and custom solutions for all customers. Additional information about Carter Bank & Trust is available at www.CBTCares.com Story continues ### CONTACT: Donna Flora Community Outreach & Marketing Officer Donna.Flora@CBTCares.com 276-336-4383 SOURCE: Carter Bank & Trust View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/590956/Carter-Bank-Trust-Donates-Over-72000-to-Community-Food-Banks-Throughout-Virginia-and-North-Carolina ANDOVER, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As hospitals confront the COVID-19 pandemic, caregivers need tools to help them manage a large and dispersed population of ventilated patients safely and effectively. To that end, Capsule Technologies offered the Ventilated Patient Surveillance (VPS) workstation providing present users of the company's Medical Device Information Platform centralized remote observation of patients' ventilator data and clinically actionable emergent events. Assisting frontline providers in identifying patients in severe respiratory distress increases the likelihood of survival and reduces the burden on already-stressed care providers. The VPS workstation extends the reach of intensive care unit (ICU) staff over the full range of critical care patients, whether these patients receive care in the traditional ICU, other dedicated areas of the hospital, or non-traditional care settings. Viewing real-time and trended clinical respiratory measurements and annunciated clinically actionable emergent events from a VPS workstation in a centralized, remote location allows staff to manage patients closely, without having to be physically close. Reducing bedside visits for non-actionable events limits the caregivers' exposure to infection and reduces their consumption of personal protective equipment (PPE), which saves time, money and the equipment itself, another valuable resource in short supply. Care providers have greater availability for actual clinically actionable events, leading to shortened response times, which can improve patient safety and outcomes. Ventilated patient surveillance leverages the ventilator connectivity of the Capsule Medical Device Information Platform, which is already being used in over 2,000 hospitals in the U.S. The VPS workstation is a tailored configuration of the company's Capsule Surveillance solution, which integrates a wide range of patient monitoring and therapy devices, in addition to ventilators. Capsule is offering the VPS workstation to its customers in the U.S., where Capsule Surveillance has FDA clearance. Supporting Frontline Clinicians The Capsule VPS workstation is already in use by several leading healthcare organizations, including the University of Miami Health System. "Implementation went quickly and smoothly, which was helpful during the rush of coronavirus cases," said Mary Stein-Ferrer, director of clinical informatics for University of Miami Health System. "We have used ventilated patient surveillance to identify clinically actionable emergent events. Viewing and assessing comprehensive ventilation data on the workstation before entering a patient room reduces the amount of time that our nurses and respiratory therapists spend in that potentially infectious environment." Other hospitals and health systems that have successfully implemented the Ventilated Patient Surveillance workstation include Massachusetts General Hospital, Nebraska Medicine, Virginia Hospital Center, Middlesex Health and Capsule's initial launch partner for the VPS workstation, Yale New Haven Health. "For our existing clients, adding ventilated patient surveillance is a simple, yet impactful, way to extend the utility of their Capsule installations," said Hemant Goel, chief executive officer of Capsule Technologies. "Technology is a key enabler, and we are directing all resources to support our clients' urgent needs to reduce risks, increase efficiencies and extend the reach and availability of resources. Our Ventilated Patient Surveillance workstation offers remote, continuous visibility on critical, respiratory-compromised COVID-19 patients while supporting clinical decisions and helping staff limit their exposure." Designed for Rapid and Remote Deployment in Hospitals Recognizing that the pandemic has made travel and going on-site at hospitals difficult, Capsule engineers designed the VPS workstation so that the entire solution can be implemented remotely in a matter of hours, with support from the hospital's IT staff. For more information, visit capsuletech.com, or contact Capsule Technologies at 1-800-260-9531 or [email protected]. About Capsule Technologies Capsule Technologies is a leading global provider of medical data technologies for hospitals and healthcare organizations. Our Medical Device Information Platform comprised of device integration, vital signs monitoring, and clinical surveillance solutions captures streaming clinical data from connected systems and transforms it into context-rich information for clinical documentation, alarm management, patient surveillance, decision support, predictive analytics, clinical research and more. End-to-end data management and connectivity supports better collaboration and communication between clinicians and departments. More than 2,800 global clients leverage our platform to improve patient safety, simplify workflows and raise overall satisfaction throughout the hospital and across care settings. Learn more at www.capsuletech.com. Media contact: Philip Anast Amendola Communications for Capsule Technologies, Inc. (312) 576-6990 [email protected] SOURCE Capsule Technologies Related Links http://www.capsuletech.com Prince William and Kate Middleton just had a major update in their social media profiles for the first time in five years. The couples' official Instagram and Twitter account changed their names on social media and used their royal titles "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge" from their previous "Kensington Palace," though their social media handle remains as @KensingtonRoyal. Earlier this month, the royal couple also gave a new look to their social media platforms with a new profile photo. Duchess Kate and Prince William opted for a family photo taken during the "Clap for our Carers" or Clap for Key Workers campaign which was launched last March. The royal couple posed outside their front door at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, England together with their three kids -- Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 5, and youngest son Prince Louis, 2 -- while they wore coordinating blue outfits. Prince William, Duchess Kate Following The Lead Of The Sussexes? With all these modifications in their social media, a royal expert claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is following the lead of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who found success reaching a younger audience with their social media. Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told Express.co.uk that it reflects how Prince William and Kate wanted to be easily identified by carrying out their titles. "It makes sense for younger royals to personalize social media so Twitter is immediately identified with individuals who are known to be royal rather than carry the name of a royal palace," Fitzwilliams said. Fitzwilliams added that the Cambridges wanted their platforms to be more accessible and "approachable" to youth. "They are aiming specifically for a younger audience, they have nearly 12 million followers on Instagram and nearly 2 million on Twitter and must have been advised that this was a good idea and made their accounts sound more approachable." Royal No More The Sussexes' inactive Instagram account had more than 11 million followers during their time as senior royals. Unfortunately, Prince Harry and Meghan had to give up their Sussex Royal account following their resignation as working royals. This was after the Queen banned the couple to use the word "royal" in their "branding." With that, the couple has decided to follow Her Majesty's order and announced that they will not associate their title for their brands "in any territory post-spring 2020." "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use 'SussexRoyal' in any territory post Spring 2020. The trademark applications that were filed as protective measures, acting on advice from and following the same model for The Royal Foundation, have been removed," their official statement reads. It was previously reported that the former royals spent "tens of thousands of pounds" on their new Sussex Royal website, as well as their hugely popular Instagram account. Moreover, the controversial couple had already sought to register the lucrative Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items such as stationery, books, clothing, and teaching materials. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked calls for the early release of non-violent inmates from crowded county jails in Los Angeles and elsewhere. But that appeal did not have the same effect on all the sheriffs in the region. The sheriffs in the most populous counties, L.A. and Orange, agreed that it made sense to let some inmates out early in an attempt to create more space for social distancing behind bars. But in Riverside and San Bernardino, local law enforcement rejected the idea. "We had to think big and be a little bold" when it came to addressing the challenges posed by the coronavirus, said L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who oversees the largest local jail system in the nation. L.A. jails now hold nearly 5,000 fewer inmates, a drop of 30%, in part because of Villanueva's early releases. Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes followed suit. When you have people "stacked on top of each other, and you get one person infected, it spreads like fire," said Commander Joe Balicki, who oversees Orange County's jails. OC lockups now hold more than 2,200 fewer people, a 44% drop. 'IF YOU DON'T WANT TO CATCH THIS VIRUS...DON'T BREAK THE LAW' It's a different story in the more conservative Inland Empire. Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco has refused to release inmates early. When asked if his policy threatens inmates' health, he had a blunt response. "If you don't want to catch this virus while you're in custody, don't break the law," he told us. San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon has taken a similar approach. While it's understandable to be concerned about infections, "people who are in custody made choices to commit crimes," said San Bernardino District Attorney Jason Anderson. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Of course it's important to remember that more than half of all jail inmates in California are awaiting trial -- they're innocent until proven guilty but can't afford bail. Sheriffs' release policies are just one factor contributing to the drop in jail populations. Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes. (Chris Carlson/AP) Crime is down during the pandemic. Police are choosing to release more people. And the state's Judicial Council eliminated bail for most misdemeanors and low-level felonies. Prisoner advocates say releasing more non-violent inmates is an obvious way to drastically reduce overcrowding, arguing that jails by their very nature are extremely dangerous during a public health crisis like this. "So many people housed in the jails live in dorm settings, in these congregate units, and that in the current pandemic is a recipe for disaster," said attorney Sara Norman of the Prison Law Office. Norman's organization has sued Riverside County, while other groups have sued L.A. and Orange counties, accusing sheriffs of endangering inmates by not releasing more of them. An ACLU lawsuit against Orange County demands the release of elderly inmates and those with pre-existing health conditions -- about 500 people in all, said Jacob Reisberg, one of the group's lawyers. IT'S HARD TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE POLICIES "Those vulnerabilities make it imperative they be released immediately," he said. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. (Riverside County Sheriff's Department) The relationship between release policies and COVID-19 cases inside jails is unclear. San Bernardino, with its no early release policy, has had just three cases as of the beginning of this week, while L.A., which cut its population by nearly one-third, has had more than 640. Orange County has had 364 cases; Riverside has had 190 cases and the only two coronavirus-related inmate deaths reported in the four counties. Bianco believes one of the two Riverside sheriff's deputies who died may have contracted the virus from a prisoner he had escorted to the Riverside University Health System. But we can't draw conclusions based on those numbers -- for example, San Bernardino has only tested about 1% of its inmates, while L.A. has tested nearly 12%. For its part, Riverside has not released data on how many inmates it has tested. Sheriffs across the region say they're providing inmates soap and other cleaning supplies to fight the virus, and are screening staff. They're also isolating the sick and quarantining those who come into contact with them. L.A. has placed nearly half its jail population under quarantine. But Heather Harris of the Public Policy Institute of California says achieving social distancing remains a challenge in any jail. FURTHERING A POLITICAL AGENDA? Another important factor is capacity. Only San Bernardino was below capacity when the pandemic hit. LA, Orange and Riverside were all overcrowded. "Some jails might have pods where you are housed with multiple people," she said. "Sometimes they might have cells where maybe you could be alone in a cell, but that cell might be exposed to a hallway." San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon. (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department) Villanueva has partly explained his large number of cases by making an unusual accusation -- he's claimed some inmates infected each other on purpose to try to get out of jail. Villanueva has dismissed the idea of releasing any more inmates. "There is no way we could release that many inmates to have the social distancing recommended by the CDC," he said. "You'd be putting out on the street people that you would not want to see out on the street." Riverside Sheriff Bianco suggested the push to release inmates has nothing to do with public health. "The last thing we need is for this crisis to be used to further a political agenda of decriminalization, anti-incarceration and regulations that undermine and compromise the safety of the public," he said. In a video released last month, Bianco called on Riverside residents to lobby their elected leaders to block the implementation of the zero bail policy instituted by the Judicial Council. Inmate advocates argue it's the sheriffs who resist releasing non-violent inmates who are more interested in politics than the well-being of the people in their jails. New York Stock Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher donated $1million to pro-Trump group America First Action on April 29 The husband of Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler has donated $1 million to a Trump Super Pac after she offloaded stock shortly after a coronavirus briefing. A report with the Federal Election Committee shows that New York Stock Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher donated to America First Action on April 29. It comes after Loeffler and her husband faced criticism for offloading stock shortly after a coronavirus briefing. A report with the Federal Election Committee shows that New York Stock Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher donated to America First Action on April 29 (Senator Kelly Loeffler and husband Jeff Sprecher pictured together) Loeffler (left) and her husband faced criticism for offloading stock shortly after a coronavirus briefing Loeffler and Sprecher sold stocks valued up to $3.1 million in the weeks after the briefing, which had been invested in companies whose values later dipped significantly as markets plunged The donation from Sprecher, Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, was filed by the Election Committee on Wednesday evening. Loeffler turned over personal documents to federal law enforcement and financial authorities regarding the sales of millions of dollars of stock she and her husband off-loaded in the wake of a classified coronavirus briefing in January. Loeffler and Sprecher sold stocks valued up to $3.1 million in the weeks after the briefing, which had been invested in companies whose values later dipped significantly as markets plunged. The couple also purchased between $450,000 and $1 million worth of shares in a popular teleconferencing company whose stock has soared since businesses have moved to working-from-home models nationwide amid lockdown orders. A spokesperson for Loeffler said last Thursday night the Republican has 'forwarded documents and information' to the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee 'establishing that she and her husband acted entirely appropriately and observed both the letter and the spirit of the law.' Loeffler has turned over personal stock documents to federal law enforcement and financial authorities regarding the sales of millions of dollars of stock she and her husband off-loaded in the wake of a classified coronavirus briefing in January 'The documents and information demonstrated her and her husband's lack of involvement in their managed accounts, as well the details of those accounts,' the spokesperson continued. 'Senator Loeffler has welcomed and responded to any questions from day one.' Loeffler's office failed to specify whether the Georgian Senator had corresponded directly with law enforcement officials. 'No search warrant has been served on Sen. Loeffler. She has followed both the letter and spirit of the law and will continue to do so,' the spokesperson added. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Clean Air Metals Inc. (TSXV: RAU.H) (formerly Regency Gold Corp.) ("Clean Air" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its press releases of May 7, 2020 and May 14, 2020, Clean Air has received final approval from the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") in respect of its previously announced reverse takeover transaction (the "Transaction"), which was completed on May 14, 2020, and its application for listing its common shares on the TSXV. The Final Exchange Bulletin of the TSXV in respect of the Transaction was published on May 20, 2020. Trading in the common shares of Clean Air will resume effective at the open on May 22, 2020 under the symbol "AIR", and Clean Air will be listed as a Tier 2 "Mining Issuer" (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSXV). ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "Abraham Drost" Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals Inc. For further information, please contact: Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals Inc. Phone: 807-252-7800 Email: adrost@cleanairmetals.ca Website: www.cleanairmetals.ca Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to the TSXV listing, risk related to the failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections. NOT FOR DISSEMINATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56282 ST. LOUIS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameren Corporation (NYSE:AEE) is collaborating with the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Incubatenergy Labs startup challenge to demonstrate and explore today's and tomorrow's technologies, products and services that have the potential to benefit Ameren's customers. Ameren and EPRI, and 12 other utilities, are hosting a set of accelerated technology demonstrations with 10 startup companies that may provide utility customers with effective energy management solutions, and Ameren with new tools to maintain system quality, reliability and efficiency using sustainable methods. The collaborative effort is a core program in the Ameren Accelerator, which teams with public universities, private companies and industry associations to invest, mentor and host pilot projects with energy technology startups. "Ameren Accelerator 2020 evolves our successful energy innovation model to incorporate more energy technology demonstrations," said Warner Baxter, chairman, president and CEO, Ameren Corporation. "We have confidence that our engagement with these promising startup companies will help us deliver the kinds of clean, reliable and affordable energy solutions our customers are looking for." Ameren will host the following companies for technology demonstrations: ev.energy ( Palo Alto, Calif. ) Wireless platform that optimizes electric vehicle charging to save customers money, fully utilize renewable energy and delivers flexibility services to the grid. ) Wireless platform that optimizes electric vehicle charging to save customers money, fully utilize renewable energy and delivers flexibility services to the grid. IND Technology, Inc. ( New York, N.Y. ) Technology that remotely detects and locates electrical faults before they occur, which could prevent power losses, wildfires and other consequences. ) Technology that remotely detects and locates electrical faults before they occur, which could prevent power losses, wildfires and other consequences. PingThings ( El Segundo, Calif. ) Artificial intelligence platform that processes, stores and uses high-definition sensor data in real time, at grid scale. ) Artificial intelligence platform that processes, stores and uses high-definition sensor data in real time, at grid scale. Recurve ( Mill Valley, Calif. ) Software as a service tool that analyzes how to use energy more efficiently and effectively in response to cost, carbon reduction and other customer goals. Ameren also is supporting startup companies who are demonstrating their technology with the other utilities, and Ameren customers may also benefit from their innovations. Those companies include: Grid Fruit ( Pittsburgh, Pa. ) Grid-responsive scheduling of machine cycles to provide demand management and flexibility from commercial foodservice refrigeration systems. ) Grid-responsive scheduling of machine cycles to provide demand management and flexibility from commercial foodservice refrigeration systems. Kognitiv Spark ( Fredericton, NB ., Canada ) Augmented reality-enabled tool to help utility workers and supervisors solve problems and learn new skills on the job. ., ) Augmented reality-enabled tool to help utility workers and supervisors solve problems and learn new skills on the job. LineVision ( Somerville, Mass. ) Non-contact, overhead line sensor technology that provides situational awareness, asset health monitoring and increases capacity. ) Non-contact, overhead line sensor technology that provides situational awareness, asset health monitoring and increases capacity. RWI Synthetics ( Edmonton, AB , Canada ) AI-driven intelligent systems modeling tool to help grid planners with scenario planning and distributed energy resource integration. , ) AI-driven intelligent systems modeling tool to help grid planners with scenario planning and distributed energy resource integration. Sharc Energy Systems ( Port Coquitlam, BC , Canada ) Multifamily building wastewater heat recovery systems. , ) Multifamily building wastewater heat recovery systems. Switched Source ( Vestal, N.Y. ) An alum of the 2017 Ameren Accelerator, Switched Source has continued to develop its power electronics-based distribution-automation solutions to help manage distribution system load and improve power quality. The demonstrations will begin remotely over the next several weeks. Results of the projects will be presented at the Ameren Accelerator Demo Day in St. Louis this October. About Ameren Corporation St. Louis-based Ameren Corporation powers the quality of life for 2.4 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural gas customers in a 64,000-square-mile area through its Ameren Missouri and Ameren Illinois rate-regulated utility subsidiaries. Ameren Illinois provides electric distribution and transmission service, as well as natural gas distribution service, while Ameren Missouri provides vertically integrated electric service, with generating capacity of nearly 10,300 megawatts, and natural gas distribution service. Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois develops regional electric transmission projects. For more information, visit Ameren.com, or follow us on Twitter at @AmerenCorp, Facebook.com/AmerenCorp, or LinkedIn.com/company/Ameren. SOURCE Ameren Corporation Related Links http://www.ameren.com The small eastern Mediterranean nation of just six million people is in the throes of an economic meltdown. Beirut, Lebanon Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Thursday marked 100 days in office by touting his governments achievements during a speech at the Grand Serail the seat of government power in Beirut. But a few blocks away, the mood was decidedly uncelebratory, as protesters once again took to the streets to vent their frustrations with a broken apparatus of a state that is not reforming fast enough to quell their anger. Comparing Lebanon to a rapidly-sinking ship that his three-month-old government is saving against all odds, Diab emphasised his governments push for anti-corruption legislation, as well as its attempts to secure more than $20bn in aid from the international community to rescue Lebanons crisis-ridden economy. One hundred days ago, the ship was being rocked by incoming waves, and water was entering it from many big holes. The fuel tanks were empty, the motors powerless, Diab said. The ship was sinking rapidly, and the lifeboats were either missing or of no use. One hundred days ago we had no other choice but to take over command of the ship. A few adventurers stood on the deck of the boat in front of scared and worried eyes. They told the passengers, Let us attempt rescue,' Diab went on. Each of those adventures went about closing the holes and fixing the malfunctions. They used their bodies as sails and held the helm, and the voyage began. As Diab festooned his government in heroic metaphors, outside protesters were storming the countrys energy ministry to express anger with chronic power cuts that have become more frequent over the past week. The countrys dilapidated and inefficient power sector, which sucks some $2bn in state funds each year, is a constant reminder to the Lebanese of the corruption and political sclerosis that spawned nationwide anti-establishment protests last year that toppled the government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, paving the way for Diab to ascend to power. But the challenges facing Diab and his cabinet are profound. The small eastern Mediterranean nation of just six million people is in the throes of an economic meltdown that has crushed businesses, thrown tens of thousands of people out of work and led the currency to dramatically depreciate. Those hardships have only intensified in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Since last summer, the Lebanese pound has lost some 60 percent of its value against the United States dollar. Diabs government was officially formed on February 11 under a cloud of controversy as thousands of protesters attempted to block a confidence vote in parliament that ultimately approved Diabs cabinet. The anti-establishment uprising sought to rid the country of its old political class that eventually chose Diab as prime minister, and protesters do not regard him or his government as the change agents the country needs. Still, Diab is linking his credibility to the uprising and trying to spin his government as a natural outgrowth of it. On Tuesday, a video was posted to his social media account that splices scenes of squares packed with flag-waving demonstrators with shots of him walking the halls of power. 97 percent success Soon after he took office, Diab said he had found the state treasury empty, and wasted no time declaring that Lebanon would default on foreign debt repayments, which it did in March for the first time ever. The heavily indebted nation has since begun bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund as part of a drive to secure more than $20bn from international donors and lenders. Diab seized upon his 100-day mark to tick off his achievements, including a financial rescue plan approved by parliament that includes a long-overdue assessment of losses in the banking sector; corruption-fighting legislation and a national anti-corruption strategy; and severing government contracts with the current operators of Lebanons telecoms duopoly to cut costs. Things are worse than they were 100 days ago ... We can't even afford groceries anymore. Anis Tabet, a Lebanese film critic Though many of the laws Diab mentioned during his 100-day victory lap are in the process of being drafted or have been completed, most have yet to be ratified by parliament. Diab also noted that the government has launched an audit of the accounts of the central bank, the Banque du Liban, for the first time ever and has asked nations that previously donated money to Lebanon to inform the government of any funds that had been unlawfully plundered. He has also called for an investigation into billions of dollars transferred abroad despite informal capital controls being in place since November. Though Diab said that his government has made good on 97 percent of the pledges made since he took office, patience is an increasingly rare commodity on the streets. And while few dispute his governments handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, a delayed rollout of its coronavirus aid programme saw the value of earmarked cash handouts plummet along with the national currencys value. Diabs government has also failed to implement formal capital controls and has yet to fill key posts at the central bank, including key oversight positions, due to political infighting among the countrys famously fractured parties. The vast majority of Lebanese have seen their living standards slip to the point where many can no longer afford basic goods. Chants for accountability and justice that rose from a chorus of crowds months ago have mostly been replaced by angered cries of pain and hunger. Things are worse than they were 100 days ago, Anis Tabet, a Lebanese film critic, said on Twitter. [Im] not blaming the new government but bragging about nonexistent achievements is ridiculous. We cant even afford groceries anymore. Billions spent, no electricity No single sector in Lebanon spells out the failure of successive governments more than the electricity sector and power cuts are only getting worse. Lebanon only produces a maximum of around 2,000 megawatts of electricity, but peak summer demand is in excess of 3,500 megawatts. This week, fuel barges experienced delays in offloading their cargo, causing electricity output to plummet. State-run power giant Electricite du Liban (EDL) blamed foreign banks for the fuel supply disruptions. For the past three days, protesters have taken out their anger against EDL, with some breaking into the state power companys branches from Tripoli in the north to Nabatieh in the south and in central Beirut. On Wednesday, as Diab was speaking, activists burst into the energy ministry and held a sit-in until they were removed by riot police. We came to the energy ministry to say all energy ministers are criminals, prominent activist Wasef al Harakeh said in a video posted online. Tens of billions of dollars spent and there is no electricity, our people are sleeping without electricity. Our people are sleeping without food. Though Energy Minister Raymond Ghajar has only been in office for 110 days, he was appointed by the same party that has held the ministry for over a decade and is facing the same street-level anger as his predecessors. Thief, thief, Raymond Ghajar is a thief, the protesters chanted. Opelika Police Department >Second-degree theft of property occurred in the 100 block of Chester Avenue. >David Lee White, 50, of London, Kentucky, was arrested and charged with fraudulent use of credit/debit card and first-degree theft of property. >Victor Joel Niz Santos, 21, of Opelika, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. Valley Police Department >Quintez Trayvone Sanchez Jackson, 24, of Valley, was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, public intoxication and resisting arrest. Tallapoosa County Sheriffs Department >First-degree identity theft was reported by a resident of Daviston. Chambers County Sheriffs Office >Brandon D. Carwell, 28, of Lanett, was arrested and charged with failure to appear (child support), possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, reckless driving, attempt to elude and pistol (certain persons forbidden to carry). Queensland's Premier and Chief Health Officer have hit out at further criticism of a prolonged border closure, as the tourism sector pleads for a midyear reopening and threats of a constitutional challenge arise. The state has become a flashpoint in the debate around easing interstate travel restrictions, with tourism operators, politicians and other top medicos weighing in since warnings the shutdown could last until September came this week. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian have fought a war of words over state borders this week. Credit:AAP and Peter Braig NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been one vocal critic of the closure, saying on Thursday morning she did not think it was "logical" to maintain border closures while attempting to reboot economies around the country. In response, Ms Palaszczuk said NSW, with almost half the national total of COVID-19 cases and a number of significant community outbreaks, was not in a position to advise Queensland. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. About 40 percent of Americans say theyve ordered restaurant takeout more often during the coronavirus pandemic than they did before, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence survey. And for many, those meals have been arriving courtesy of a food courier service app, such as DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, or Uber Eats. These services are called third-party platforms because they act as an intermediary between the customer and the restaurant. The advantage to consumers for using them is that the apps provide access to a seemingly endless number of restaurant options that you can order from with just a few clicks. Restaurants can benefit too, potentially adding to their takeout business during the pandemic when many across the country were (and still are in many places) closed to in-house dining. The arrangement sounds like a good deal for both sides. But these third-party platforms have recently come under increasing scrutiny for the prices theyve been charging both consumers and the restaurants they work with. In April, a group of consumers filed suit against some of these businesses for charging exorbitant fees that drive up costs for consumers and restaurants. And several cities across the U.S. are either considering or have already implemented caps on the commission fees that these apps charge restaurants on food sold via their platforms. But just how good is the service you receive when you use a food delivery app? CR decided to evaluate consumers experiences with four major players in this marketDoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eatsto see just how well they performed. We also reached out to all four companies with specific questions about their services and about the issues we identified. We investigated four areas: How easy the apps were to use. Whether customers were kept informed of their order status. Whether the right order arrived in the time frame promised. Whether drivers followed instructions for contactless delivery. Story continues Although the consumer experiences with these four brands were more favorable than not, we did find some common problems, says Charu Ahuja, who directs CRs consumer experience program. What Our Evaluation Found To conduct our evaluation, we drafted 24 longtime users of at least one of the four services we looked at, using an online research tool that allowed CRs experts to collect real-time data as the participants ordered their food. We asked each user to order two meals over the course of a week (for a total of 48 takeout orders) from the service they used most often and answer a detailed, standardized set of questions about highlights and problems they experienced. This allows us to collect objective results and capture important details about the consumer's experience with the service in a rigorous way," Ahuja says. The participants had all used these services before the pandemic hit, and the majority of them said they relied on them more now that restaurants in their areas were closed. Everyone said theyd recommend the service they used most often to others during this time, but some issues did surface over the course of the study. Menu confusion. Restaurant menu offerings on the delivery app didnt always match the menu on a restaurants website. In one instance, a Postmates user, Tim Y. in San Diego, ordered six tacosfour of one type, and two of another. (Were only using first names and last initials to protect our participants privacy.) Just the latter two arrived. He wasnt charged for the missing four, but Postmates didnt let him know there was a problem, and, he said, my kids had nothing to eat for lunch. He later checked the restaurants website and found that the type of taco he ordered for his kids was no longer on the menu, a change that wasnt reflected when he was ordering via the Postmates app. Other users reported frustration about not being able to specify special requests or customizations on some menu items. Mistimed deliveries. A handful of deliveries were delayed by anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Out of the 48 total orders, 6 arrived later than the predicted delivery time, and one was canceled altogether. The canceled order caused particular ire for Nicole J., of Portland, an Uber Eats customer. I'm feeling frustrated and I wish the notification would have come through quicker, because now we're trying to time it. We need dinner, we need to put the baby downthat sort of thing, she said. On the other hand, 20 orders were delivered ahead of the predicted arrival time. Some of our study participants saw this as a boon. But for people who must buzz delivery people into an apartment building, rather than just having the food left on their doorstep, we could see how early delivery might cause a headache. It could be an inconvenience for someone who was using that time to feed the baby, take a shower, or do something else where answering the door might not be possible, Ahuja says. Grubhub users experienced most of the delays, but that service also tied with DoorDash for the most on-time deliveries (Grubhub told us drivers sometimes encounter unavoidable delays, such as traffic and longer-than-expected food prep time at restaurants). All 12 Postmates deliveries arrived ahead of schedule. Communication difficulties. In a few cases, our participants reported that they had trouble contacting delivery drivers or keeping an eye on where their order was. Each of the services offered ways to track an order, but the tracking feature didnt work in some cases. I would like to have more contact when it comes to knowing what part of the process my order is at, noted Ashley A., one of our study participants and a Grubhub user in Los Angeles. It has a tracking option, but for the entire time it basically says the order is being worked [on], and then randomly I get a call saying the delivery person is here. And one DoorDash user reported trying to call a phone number provided for checking on the order, but receiving a message that the number was no longer in service. Another DoorDash user said the app repeatedly crashed, and suspected this was due to overloaded serverspossibly due to more use during the pandemic. The stability of the app has definitely decreased since COVID has hit, said DoorDash user Akash L. in North Kansas City, Missouri. I think we've had about three orders [in the past few weeks] where . . . the app has gone down or we were trying to place an order and it just wouldn't go through and the app wouldn't open. When we reached out to ask about this, DoorDash said it couldnt comment on any outage problems, but said it has made platform stability a priority. Contactless delivery instructions not followed. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery apps have put in place protocols for contactless delivery, so that you and the delivery person wont come face to face, therefore reducing the risk of transmitting the virus. DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats told CR that contactless delivery was the default option in their apps. Postmates didnt respond to our interview requests, but its website notes that contact-free delivery is now an option for customers. But in our study, things didnt always go as planned. It appears that some drivers don't have the required training or a consistent understanding of what contactless delivery means, Ahjua says. For example, Natasha R., an Uber Eats user in East Haven, Connecticut, said, My husband was outside at the time so [the driver] tried to hand [our order] to him." In other cases, the drivers seemed to not follow instructions for where to leave the package, for example leaving it at the front of the building door rather than the customers apartment door. More on the Fees You're Charged Most people realize that using a delivery app has a cost, and in general the participants in our study were accepting of the fact that they were being charged service and delivery fees. "It's OK with me to pay extra for convenience," said Heather D., 32, from Brooklyn, N.Y., a GrubHub user. But that didnt mean that they didnt do some price comparisons among the different services in their area. I think some friendly competition is good but I like to keep the prices of delivery down because [these services] are basically like the middleman, said Antonieta S., 29, of Boston, a GrubHub user who said she looked at the fees charged by different services. When we analyzed the receipts for our test participants orders, we saw that delivery fees, for example, ranged from $0 to $5.99. Grubhub and DoorDash told us that service fees and delivery fees go toward operating costs, such as driver background checks, insurance, maintaining and updating the delivery app technology, and more. (When we asked about the differences between service and delivery fees, we didnt get any clear answers from the companies we talked to.) What many were not aware of, however, is that prices for dishes on the menu are often higher when you use a third-party platform than they might be if you ordered directly from the restaurant. We were able to compare the prices charged on the apps to the prices listed on menus posted on restaurants websites for 46 out of 74 of the items our testers ordered. For 25 of those items, the price was the same. But for 14 items, the price listed in the app the participant used was higher than the restaurants price on their website. This discrepancy confused some of our participants. I don't understand the upcharge when there is already a service fee, noted Michelle L. of Glendale, Calif., a Postmates user. Still, a few participants got a deal: Seven items sold for less via the delivery app than the price listed on the restaurants website. The price differences may be a result of the restaurant trying to offset the commission its being charged by the delivery service, according to Brian Casey, owner of Oak Hill Tavern in Rhode Island and vice chair of the National Restaurant Association. None of the apps we reached out to told us what their typical commission charges arethey all said that these fees can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. However, Eli Wilson, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the department of sociology, who studies restaurant labor, told CR that those commissions might in some cases be about 25 to 30 percent. Tipping was also a sore spot for many of our participants. Its not that they objected to tipping, but that they wanted more control over it and to be asked after seeing how the service fared. The primary complaint was having to add a tip before the delivery was complete. I don't like the default tip amount, said Baltimore Grubhub user Steve P. I prefer to tip after the service is provided." Dallas DoorDash user Mara M. had a different concern: Typically I use cash for the tip because I've heard they don't actually give it to the driver." To address that worry, we asked each of the companies to tell us more about where each type of added feetip, service fee, and delivery feegoes. All four services say that 100 percent of the tip goes to the driver that delivered your food. Tips for Ordering Takeout and Delivery For consumers searching for the best prices on food, note that many of these services are offering various introductory deals for first-time users or other types of discounts right now, such as free delivery. This means that comparing the services' offerings might help you find good deals on a variety of restaurants. Participants in our study noted these offers as a plus for them. I do like the little specials they run, like free delivery or or $10-off coupons, things like that," said Steve P., the Baltimore Grubhub user. If youre concerned about your favorite local restaurant surviving the shutdowns necessitated by the pandemic, you may be wondering if there are things you can do, aside from simply buying food from the restaurant, to help them survive. One clear way to help out a restaurant, Casey says, is to order directly from the establishment itself, rather than going through a third-party app. That allows the restaurant to avoid paying the commission to the app, meaning more of your money will go directly to the restaurant. And, as noted above, it might also mean you end up paying less for your food. Some restaurants have their own online ordering platforms and delivery drivers, though you may also need to phone the restaurant itself and pick up your food yourself. Ask about curbside or contactless pickup when you call. But you can enjoy the convenience of a third-party app and still support your favorite eateries. One option, if youre able and feel comfortable doing so, is to order your food to pick up, rather than for delivery, Wilson advises. Thats because some apps may charge restaurants a lower commission for orders placed via their platform for pickup rather than delivery. DoorDash, for instance, told us its not charging restaurants any commission fees on pickup orders right now. Other suggestions: Consider ordering more than one meals worth of food. For example, buy not only tonights dinner, but also tomorrows lunch, as some of our participants did. This has two advantages: first, the restaurants revenue from your order is higher. But second, you can also save a little money, because youll be paying only one delivery and service fee. Or, coordinate with your neighbors to place one order for several households (if its possible to do so while maintaining social distancing). According to the Postmates website, the company actually facilitates a version of this, called Postmates Party, which shows you restaurants that people near you are ordering fromand then waives the delivery charge on your order if it costs more than $10. Tip your delivery driver the same proportion you would your serverat least 20 percent. Unfortunately, notes Wilson, front-of-house restaurant workers such as servers, hosts, bartenders, and others arent helped by takeout and delivery, because they dont play a role in that part of the restaurants business. But that doesn't mean you shouldnt tip the people who are involvedespecially your delivery driver, Wilson says. Think of them as mobile servers, he says. Consider tipping the restaurant, too. Some services, notably Uber Eats, are offering consumers the opportunity to do this. Several of our study participants who had this option said they appreciated being able to do this and give the restaurant itself another little boost. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2020, Consumer Reports, Inc. KUWAIT CITY, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Markets, a leading market research company set in Kuwait, has launched a version of its Umbrella intelligence platform dedicated to the impact of Coronavirus in Kuwait. The special platform measures the effect of Coronavirus spread on the different businesses and industries. Global Markets' strength in estimating performances and developing market snapshots is of crucial importance that the company decided to develop it and share it for free with the business community in Kuwait. The platform features detailed quantitative and qualitative estimates on fashion, foodservice, fast moving consumers goods (FMCG), and electronics retail industries in Kuwait from February onwards. The platform features interactive maps and graphs that are linked to local events along with their impact on the different industries. Additionally, detailed analysis of the different industries with insights and action plans are also included. Global Markets is also featuring a free version of its Umbrella map element to showcase the impact of the Coronavirus on the different governorates. The Coronavirus edition of the platform also includes information on government stimulus package comparison by GCC country. The stimulus package comparison compares the different fiscal and monetary steps taken by each GCC country and the value of such stimulus packages relative to their Gross Domestic Product. Additionally, the platform includes a news tracker component, enabling business owners to compare and see the different preventive steps taken by each GCC country. The news are classified as business restrictions, government restrictions, religious restrictions, reopening measures, etc. The special edition Coronavirus platform is built on Global Markets' Umbrella platform which launched in 2018. Umbrella is a user-friendly business intelligence platform with comprehensive data about businesses in the region. The subscription-based service boasts a user-friendly platform, designed to focus on quantifying business locations and connecting their operational and performance characteristics. Umbrella is developed around 4 elements; people, companies, brands, and locations. Each element includes geographical locations of outlets, contact information (social media, email, and phone numbers), subsidiaries, business affiliates, estimated sales. The service can be accessed on https://umbrella.global. Global Markets has set striding steps in transforming the business data and information grounds in the GCC for ten years and has recently launched a business intelligence game changer. Businesses have long been lacking the credible information and data sources in the industries they compete in the region. The research methodology undertaken by Global Markets has proven reliable and trustworthy by many conglomerates. Conducting intensive primary research with 100% sample coverage is key in reducing the margin of error and developing more micro level understanding of market dynamics. About Global Markets Global Markets is a market research and a business intelligence company that was established in 2010 in Kuwait. The company estimates market sizes and shares by conducting on-site primary and secondary research. The detailed and micro study of businesses and brands is the key differentiator factor for Global Markets' businesses model. The company's strength in linking information from business owners to their operating branches is valuable to better understand market conditions. Contact: Global Markets +965-22419788 [email protected] SOURCE Global Markets Related Links http://globalmarkets.com.kw The oil and gas lease sale that was supposed to be held on Wednesday and Thursday has been postponed without explanation and without fanfare, according to a brief notice posted on the Bureau of Land Management website. The oil and gas lease sale scheduled for May 20-21, 2020 has been postponed, the blm.gov notice read in its entirety. The federal lease sale was supposed to auction off 95 parcels covering more than 45,000 acres in New Mexico and Texas, in and around the U.S. shales claim to fame, the Permian basin. The abrupt postponement for the federal lease sale is highly unusual, and has likely caused prospective bidders consternation because buyers must plan ahead to get cash around to pay for any winning bids on the same day. The BLM also has multiple federal lease sales scheduled for June, which as of now are still listed as active, including in Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and Mississippi. These auctions will all go through EnergyNet.com. As for the reason for the postponement, EnergyNet.com referred Oilprice.com to the BLM. Theyre just postponed, JulieAnn Serrano, Lease Sale Supervisor and Supervisory Land Law Examiner for the Bureau of Land Managements New Mexico State Office told Oilprice.com when asked for a reason for the postponement. The lease salelike every oil and gas lease sale in the United Stateshas drawn criticism from environmental groups who have alleged, among other things, that the BLM denied a request to suspend the comment period during the coronavirus pandemic. Texas may be the largest oil producing state in America, but New Mexico comes in at a not-too-shabby third place. Raking in $3.1 billion in oil and gas revenues in 2019, New Mexicos oil and gas industry provides about one-third of all public school funds in the stateabout $1.4 billion, according to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The FTSE 100 has ended on a lower note this afternoon, closing down 0.86 per cent or 51.91 points to 6,015.25. Earlier today, markets in Asia also showed mixed results as trade tensions between China, the USA and Australia intensified. Easyjet will resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15. The low-cost carrier announced it will restart flights on mainly domestic routes between 22 European airports, including Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh. The chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association Emma McClarkin says that only 20 per cent of pubs will be able to remain open if the government does not relax its two-metre social distancing rule. Premier Inn owner Whitbread has set out plans to raise 1billion through a rights issue as it looks to bolster its balance sheet amid the coronavirus crisis, which caused a 28 per cent plunge in annual earnings. Car dealer and distributor Inchcape Plc posted a 76 per cent fall in its April revenue today and said the global economic impact of coronavirus-induced lockdowns would be felt until 2021. It has also cancelled a 70million dividend. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called President Donald Trump's threat to with hold federal funding from her state 'scary' and 'ridiculous' after more than 10,000 residents were evacuated and two dams burst due to heavy flooding. 'We've got to evacuate tens of thousands of people who are worried and scared. On top of this global pandemic. And to have this kind of distraction is just ridiculous to be honest. It's - threatening to take money away from a state that is hurting as bad as we are right now is just scary. And I think something that is unacceptable,' Whitmer told CBS' 'This Morning' on Thursday ahead of the president's visit to the state. Trump will visit a Ford Motor Co plant in Ypsilanti, which has been recast to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus. The company plans to produce 100,000 ventilators by July 4, working with GE Healthcare on the project. He will also hold a meeting with African-American leaders to discuss vulnerable populations affected by the disease. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer called President Donald Trump's threat to with hold federal funding from her state 'scary' An aerial photo shows floodwaters from the Tittabawassee River in the downtown area of Midland, Michigan An aerial photo made with a drone shows damage to a road and bridge after the Edenville dam was breached near Edenville The flooded Tittabawassee River around the areas in Midland "To have this kind of distraction is just ridiculous to be honest... threatening to take money away from a state that is hurting as bad as we are right now is just scary, and I think something that is unacceptable." @GovWhitmer on POTUS' threat to withhold funds to Michigan pic.twitter.com/hKxbPklwNF CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) May 21, 2020 The governor declared Midland County, the site of the breached dams, a disaster area after it was hit hard by heavy rain fall in recent days. It's about two hours north of the Detroit area, where Trump will be. Officials said the Tittabawassee River that flows through Midland has reached 35 feet, which is above the flood stage and one foot higher than the previous record level set in 1986. It's expected to rise another three feet before cresting. Whitmer, who's being talked about as a running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, said she hopes the president uses his time to focus on what is important. 'My hope is that today he will be in Michigan, he will see we are hard working, good Americans, we need the support of our federal government as much as anybody else, if not more right now because of this added challenge. And that I'm hopeful that he comes away knowing that that's what's most important. No petty political stuff that he had going with the secretary of state yesterday. We've got to be focused on doing the right thing right now on behalf of the people,' she said. Whitmer wrote to Trump on Wednesday to ask for federal funds for Midland county. She said she and Trump don't plan to meet when he's in the state Thursday afternoon. 'We do not have plans to meet. I did speak with him yesterday on the phone. I made the case that, you know, we all have to be on the same page here. We've got to stop demonizing one another and really focus on the fact that the common enemy is the virus. And now it's a natural disaster,' she told CBS News. It's unclear if President Trump will wear a face mask when he tours the Rawsonville Components Plant. He has not been seen wearing one when he visited factories in Arizona and Pennsylvania over the past two weeks but he claimed he donned one for a few minutes backstage while at the Honeywell plant in Phoenix on May 5. Ford has a policy that all visitors must wear personal protective equipment but the company said the White House has its own protective procedures and will make its own determinations about whether masks will be worn. Trump arrives in the state after long-simmering feuds with Whitmer, who criticized his administration for not sending enough supplies to help combat the coronavirus. The president, in return, cheered on protesters who gathered outside the state capital in Lansing to demand Whitmer lift her stay-at-home order. President Trump will be in Michigan on Thursday to visit a Ford Motor plant converted to make ventilators President Trump on Wednesday threatened to with hold unspecified federal funds from Michigan after the secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. The state is crucial to the president's re-election effort. He won it by less than one point in the 2016 election. Trump declined to specify on Wednesday what laws he said Michigan was breaking when Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson mailed out the applications. Republicans have argued without proof that mail-in ballots increase voter fraud. Democrats claim Republicans are against it because it benefits voting blocs that tend to vote Democratic. 'Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing they're they're subject of massive fraud,' Trump said at an event at the White House with the governors of Kansas and Arkansas. Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.' Trump on Wednesday pointed out his administration is helping the state as it deals with the devastating floods. 'We've sent the FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers out, and they're very good at dams, they're probably better at that anybody you can think of, right? The Army Corps of Engineers have done a fantastic job,' he said. But that defense came after he issued his threat to the state. 'Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!,' he wrote on Twitter Wednesday. His tweet was a threat to use his executive power against states that don't bend to his political will. The Republican Party has launched a $20 million effort to battle mail-in voting as more states look at it as an option for November in order to cut down on crowding and lines at polling places during the coronavirus pandemic. Scroll down for video Ryan Stadelmaier, 16, gives a piggyback ride to his sister Rachel Stadelmaier, 27, as they cross Walden Woods Drive while helping residents tend to their flooded homes in Midland Officials are investigating why two dams in Michigan failed and caused historic flooding and forced thousands of residents to evacuate Hunter Klich, 14, maneuvers a kayak down the middle of Walden Woods Drive in Midland as residents coped with flooding A Michigan National Guard hands a pet to the owner after they were evacuated to an emergency shelter during the flooding along the Tittabawassee River President Donald Trump threatened to with hold federal funds from Michigan in revenge for the state sending absentee ballot applications to all voters 'By mailing applications we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,' Benson (left) said. Her decision is expected to face legal challenges. Trump's threat to with hold federal funds comes as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (right) declared a state of emergency in parts of Michigan due to flooding Trump's tweet comes at a time when Michigan officials are dealing with two crises: the coronavirus pandemic and severe flooding due to the failure of two dams (Sanford Dam pictured) Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday all registered voters - there are 7.7 million of them - will receive applications for absentee ballots, meaning voters would still have to request an actual ballot to vote. 'By mailing applications we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,' Benson, a Democrat, said. Her decision is expected to face legal challenges. And she tweeted a response to President Trump: 'Hi! I also have a name, it's Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.' Benson also noted the mail-in vote option is legal in Michigan. 'Every Michigan citizen has a right to vote by mail. It's a right that was enshrined in our state constitution by our voters in November of 2018. And so I have a responsibility, as the chief election officer for the state of Michigan, to ensure everyone knows how to exercise their right to vote and all the options available -- available to them to ensure that happens,' she told MSNBC on Wednesday. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions on what was illegal about Michigan's sending out mail-in ballot applications. 'Illegality and legality of it, that's a question for the campaign,' she said at her press briefing on Wednesday. She noted the president's tweets were meant to alert Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and OMB Chief Russell Vought 'about his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states and his noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail- in voting.' The Trump campaign said Michigan law requires voters to request an absentee ballot application be mailed to them. 'President Trump is correct. There is no statutory authority for the secretary of state in Michigan to send absentee ballot applications to all voters. Existing case law in Michigan supports that conclusion as well,' a campaign spokesperson said. Michigan stayed in president's thoughts throughout Wednesday as the state popped up repeatedly in his tweet during the day, including a promise from him to help with the flooding. 'My team is closely monitoring the flooding in Central Michigan Stay SAFE and listen to local officials. Our brave First Responders are once again stepping up to serve their fellow citizens, THANK YOU!,' he wrote. He also argued Gov. Whitmer, a Democrat, should ease up on the state's coronavirus lock down so people can help with the flooding. 'We have sent our best Military & @FEMA Teams, already there. Governor must now 'set you free' to help. Will be with you soon!,' Trump added. Whitmer issued a stay-at-home order for the state until May 28 but she announced this week she will start easing up on it in parts of Michigan on Friday. Protesters have stormed the state capitol in Lansing to protest Whitmer's stay-at-home order. Many states, Michigan included, are feeling a budget crunch after the coronavirus shuttered businesses - causing a decline in state revenue while more money was needed to fight the disease. Trump and Whitmer, a Democrat, have already feuded over the virus. Whitmer accused his administration of not doing enough to send medical supplies and protective equipment to states in need. For the duration of the COVID-19 crisis, Please Explain is coming to you five days a week. Business groups and economists are asking unions jostling to secure a higher minimum wage to "read the room" leaving many questioning whether they'll ever see a pay rise. In today's episode, economics correspondent Jennifer Duke joins national editor Tory Maguire to discuss the impact of coronavirus on wage growth in Australia. Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage. Becoming a subscriber also gets you exclusive behind-the-scenes content and invitations to special events. Click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald. Panaji, May 21 : Six trains carrying migrant workers are expected to leave Goa for the Ballia district in UP on Friday, according to state Information and Publicity Secretary Sanjay Kumar, here on Thursday. "We will be conducting the largest evacuation with departure of trains from Goa tomorrow (Friday). Six trains will leave for the Ballia district," Kumar said. In all, 1.25 lakh migrant workers registered on the state government's portal for leaving Goa. Of this, 36,000 have left in trains and buses arranged by the governments of Goa and the destination state. Most exiting migrant workers hail from Karnataka, UP and Bihar. On Thursday, three trains left for Ballia and Varanasi (both in UP) ferrying nearly 3,000 passengers. One train is scheduled to leave for Manipur and Tripura with 817 passengers. On the number of Covid-19 cases, Kumar said a couple who had travelled by train from Mumbai to Goa tested coronavirus positive on Thursday, taking the state's tally of active cases to 45. A group of Dublin pubs co-owned and run by a former Leinster rugby star have taken High Court action against insurer FBD. Pressure is mounting on insurance companies from businesses in the hospitality sector as restaurants and pubs prepare for the big battle ahead as they look to recover losses suffered due to the coronavirus. Hyper Trust Ltd, trading as the Leopardstown Inn, is the latest to initiate proceedings. However, its understood these proceedings have been taken on behalf of the entire Loyola Group - which includes well-known pubs such as The Bath, The Landmark, The Leopardstown Inn, The Jar and Bakers Corner. The group is owned and run by former Leinster star Eoin OMalley, along with his brother Brian, and group director Stephen Cooney. The action relates to FBD's refusal to pay out for business interruption claims during the Covid crisis. Another popular Dublin sports bar also launched proceedings this week. Kelly's Aberken Ltd, which trades as Sinnotts Bar, a sports bar near St Stephen's Green, has also launched proceedings against FBD. The pub is run by well-known Dublin publican Chris Kelly, who owns a number of pubs across the city including The Black Lion in Inchicore and The Gate Bar in Crumlin. The number of bars taking action against the insurer is now beginning to mount. Last week Lemon & Duke, which is co-owned by managing director Noel Anderson and Ireland rugby stars Jamie Heaslip, Sean OBrien and Rob and Dave Kearney, also took action against FBD. Expand Close Lemon & Duke is also taking action against FBD. (L-R) Rob Kearney, Sean O'Brien, Noel Anderson, Jamie Heaslip and Dave Kearney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lemon & Duke is also taking action against FBD. (L-R) Rob Kearney, Sean O'Brien, Noel Anderson, Jamie Heaslip and Dave Kearney The basis of the claim is that FBD allegedly did a u-turn on written correspondence which guaranteed the pub would be covered for business interruption caused by the coronavirus. In an email to Anderson in March, FBD said Lemon & Dukes policy would cover the coronavirus but is now refusing to pay out for losses incurred by Covid-19. Expand Close The Bath pub in Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Bath pub in Dublin Sean's Bar in Athlone, Co Westmeath, which is considered one of Europe's oldest pubs, is also taking High Court action against FBD. The Alliance for Insurance Reform said the action by insurers will undermine the recovery of the Irish economy and the reputation of the insurance industry. All we have encountered is delaying tactics and a blanket rejection of business interruption claims by insurers, not just FBD, said Peter Boland, director of the Alliance for Insurance Reform. It appears at this stage that insurers are happy to drag claims out over years of arbitration and court cases rather than pay up on valid claims. The industrys determination to protect profits and push business interruption costs on to the State through subsidies and unemployment benefits will undermine the recovery of the Irish economy from Covid-19 and the reputation of the insurance industry. We call on the Central Bank, the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, the CCPC and the Minister for Finance to get stuck in and force a resolution of this issue before those with valid claims are forced to close. A number of businesses in the restaurant sector are also considering taking action against insurers after obtaining legal advice. Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI), said a third of the RAIs 2,500 members have a strong case. If they go to court, we feel that one third of our members will be in a very good position and the law will be on the side of the claimant, he told Independent.ie. Our members are covered by a wide ranging number of insurance companies and have different types of policies, and some of them have a big case to answer. We are guiding our members towards the courts. It will be up to each individual whether they proceed to the next stage. Based on what we have worked on with our legal team, let's just say we are going to park the tanks in the front lawn of the insurance companies, we are ready for the battle. Some insurers are arguing that businesses are closed only because of social distancing restrictions and not due to the coronavirus. However, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe yesterday told the Dail that there should be no room for ambiguity. My message to the insurance sector is there is no difference at all between advice that the government gave for companies to consider trading for public health grounds and a mandate for them to close. We were very clear that the guidance was the same, he said. Pub and restaurant owners have been submitting complaints to the financial ombudsman over the actions of insurers. Patrick and Aileen Hanley, who run the Strand Cahore, in Cahore Point, Co Wexford, received legal advice that their policy is rock solid and should entitle them to compensation. FBD refused to pay out on their business interruption claim despite their policy explicitly covering infectious diseases. Speaking to Independent.ie, Mr Hanley said FBD informed him it would be unreasonable to expect the company to pay out on business interruption claims regarding Covid-19. The bizarre thing is they have exclusions in their policies, such as you cant claim in the event of a terrorist attack or a sonic boom, but there is no mention of a pandemic which I would have thought was far more likely than a sonic boom. We paid our premium, its in our policy that were covered and yet were told were being unreasonable. They are saying we are closed due to social distancing and not Covid-19. Social distancing is a knock-on effect of Covid-19, not the cause of the closure. A man who was imprisoned for more than two decades for a murder he did not commit is now suing law enforcement officials in New Jersey who helped secure his wrongful conviction. Jean Dorval, 47, on Monday filed a complaint in federal court seeking $1.2million in damages, which names Elizabeth police officer Thomas Koczur, former Union County Prosecutors Office detective John Furda and the state Treasury Department as defendants. 'During the decades of my wrongful incarceration, I suffered greatly. I was deprived of the companionship of my family and other loved ones... I was also deprived of the right to pursue my education, or to learn a vocation or trade,' the complaint states. 'I have suffered emotional distress, including nightmares and terrors.' Jean Dorval, who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to 70 years, is suing investigators in federal court two years after his release In March 1994, Dorval and his friend Duquene Pierre were driving to Florida when 19-year-old Richard Jerry Myers was killed during a robbery in Elizabeth, New Jersey, some 750 miles away, reported NJ.com. Despite having proof that he and Pierre were on a road trip during the commission of Myers' murder, both men were arrested, tried and convicted. Dorval was sentenced to 70 years in prison, while his co-defendant was handed a 60-year term. Dorval's friend and co-defendant Duquene Pierre was freed in 2016 after being acquitted during a retrial But in December 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Pierres attorney failed to present evidence that the pair were in a car ticketed in South Carolina hours before the homicide. After key witnesses recanted their identifications, Pierre was acquitted and freed in July 2016. Two years later, prosecutors announced that the same circumstances apply to Dorval, who previously wouldnt have been eligible for parole until 2034. All charges against Dorval were dropped and he was freed in April 2018, after serving 24 years in a Rahway prison. Dorval's federal lawsuit details the facts of the case, including evidence proving that he and Pierre could not have committed the crime in New Jersey because they were hundreds of miles away at the time. Four hours before Myers was shot and killed during a robbery in Elizabeth on March 20, 1994, the two friends were pulled over in their black Acura Legend for speeding in Yemasee, South Carolina, and issued a ticket for doing 81mph in a 65mph speed zone. At around 1.30am, Dorval and Pierre were filling out a motel registration card in Savannah, Georgia, and had checked out later that morning, according to the civil complaint. In the course of the road trip, Pierre called collect to his girlfriend eight times, including once in South Carolina just two hours before the fatal shooting in New Jersey. Dorval (pictured at the time of his release from prison in 2018) served 24 of his 70-year sentence for the 1994 murder of a 19-year-old man in New Jersey Dorval (3rd left, pictured with state senators) argued that he was Pierre were driving to Florida at the time of the killing in Elizabeth, and they had evidence to prove it When Dorval and Pierre returned to Elizabeth from their trip, they were arrested in connection with Myers' murder because they matched the profile of suspects based on the accounts of eyewitnesses, who reported seeing two Haitian men driving a black Acura Legend at the scene. Prosecutors argued that it was Pierre's brother who was driving to Florida in his car and with his license at the time of the killing, even though the speeding ticket from South Carolina listed Pierre as the driver. The lawsuit accuses officer Koczur and detective Furda of engaging in coercion of witnesses, failing to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense and allowing false identifications from unreliable witnesses at trial. The complaint specifically claims that the investigators extracted false witness statements through 'improper and unconstitutional means' from Maguan Romelus, who was subsequently convicted of Myers' murder, along with another man, John Louis. Both remain in prison. During Pierre's retrial in 2015, two witnesses who placed him and Dorval at the scene of the crime in 1994 admitted that they could not positively identify either man. According to his lawsuit, from the time of his release, Dorval has been living with his family and has struggled to find a well-paying job to support himself. Dorval is seeking $1.2million in damages, saying that he has struggled to get back on his feet from the time of his release two years ago Under the New Jersey False Imprisonment Act, Dorval could receive $50,000 a year for every year he spent behind bars, but his eligibility has yet to be determined. Pierre also has a civil lawsuit pending naming Koczur, his defense lawyers and the state Treasury Department. A spokesperson for the City of Elizabeth released a statement on behalf of officer Koczur, saying he did nothing wrong. The Union County Prosecutor's Office did not comment on Dorval's lawsuit. Rene Buch, a co-founder and the artistic director of Repertorio Espanol, a repertory theater in Manhattan devoted to presenting Spanish-language works in a city that was increasingly Spanish-speaking, died on April 19 at his home in Manhattan. He was 94. Robert Federico, the theaters executive producer, said the cause was respiratory failure. Since 1968, Repertorio Espanol has reimagined Spanish classics and offered contemporary work by Latin and Latin American playwrights, always in Spanish, performed repertory-style a rare phenomenon in this country. Maintaining a repertory theater, with a nearly permanent corps of actors performing a different work every night and at matinees, is a financial and artistic challenge. But Mr. Buch was always passionate about the form. And he liked to say that the playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age Cervantes et al. should be as well known here as Shakespeare. In the beginning, he kept the operation afloat with a day job as a Spanish-language copywriter at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, while his co-founder, Gilberto Zaldivar, who like Mr. Buch was born in Cuba, was an executive at Diners Club, the credit card company. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Photo: Chung Chow/Business in Vancouver In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, panic buying and hoarding led to shortages of, all things, toilet paper. Politicians urged calm and assured citizens that supply chains were intact and that they would not run out of food or other essentials. That remains largely true, although Canadians may already be paying more for beef, now that so many slaughterhouses in North America have had to shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. On the other hand, so many restaurants have closed that the lower demand could offset a sudden decrease in meat production in North America. But link by intricate link, the global food supply chain is being stretched in myriad ways. As economies begin to reopen, it is hoped that the damage will be short-lived and quickly repaired. One expert thinks it will be three months before the full effect of the current supply chain interruptions are fully known and felt. I think were at the tip of the iceberg on this, said Kevin Kenny, chief operating officer of Decernis, a global food supply chain intelligence firm. You have all kinds of problems that are going to start bubbling up, depending on how long this goes on. Those supply chain things take a while to work their way through the system. So, ironically, things could be completely back to normal three months from now I dont think they will be and thats when the supply chain issues are really going to get in full force. Its still 90 days off yet before the real problems start hitting. Those problems could include food fraud, shortages of some types of food, spices and coffee and increasing prices. There is generally about three to four months of inventory in the food supply chain, which is why the impacts may not be felt for about three months, said Harish Krishnan, professor of operations and logistics division at the University of BCs Sauder School of Business. Definitely I think theres going to be disruptions, he said. I think theres definitely going to be increases in prices, and I think that for people on lower incomes, theyre going to face challenges. "I think we will see some of those disruptions on the fresh (produce) side. Disruptions will arise because of breakdowns in farmers being able to pick fruit or harvest crops in other ways. I don't want to be alarmist about it, because I think there are ways in which people will adapt." Indonesia is a mess right now, so if youre used to Indonesian or Sumatra coffee, Id stock up if I were you, Kenny said. And that virgin olive oil you buy a few months from now may not be as virgin as you think. Because Spain is a major producer of olives for Italian olive oil and because it has been hit so hard by the COVID-19 virus, Kenny expects some producers may substitute canola or other oils. The same might go for honey. But less-than-pure olive oil and a sudden shortage of Sumatran coffee are very First World problems. For the Third World, famine is a real threat not necessarily due to a lack of global food production, but because of breaks in the supply chain. Factors affecting supply, demand, production and logistics in the global food supply chain include: a decrease in labour at meat processing plants due to COVID-19 outbreaks; a sharp drop in demand for food from the widespread closure of restaurants and hotels; decreased air cargo from curtailed civilian air travel; travel restrictions limiting availability of migrant farm workers in North America and Europe; global recession and unemployment reducing consumer buying power; and domestic food supply protectionism That all adds up to a lot of sand in the cogs of the highly complex machine that is the global food supply chain. All through the supply chain right now, particularly when you are trying to import something into Canada or import something in to the United States, youve had challenges along the way with air freight, Kenny said. The cost of it has gone crazy because theres not the civilian flights that normally take place. All shipping has gotten to be a little bit more expensive, and youve had a fair amount of problems with things coming through customs, simply because there were not enough customs people. He added that eastern European grain-producing countries are already pulling up drawbridges in the name of domestic food security, which could reduce the availability of flour to countries like Italy. There is a real possibility that the virus containment measures will kill more people through starvation than the virus will, according to some experts. David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, is warning that 300,000 people could starve to death every day over a three-month period in some poor counties, as a result of the pandemic and its impact on economies and supply chains. A lot depends on how quickly economies restart and normal trade resumes. It also depends on how deep and long a global recession lasts and whether there is a sequel to the current pandemic. A worst-case scenario would be a second wave that forces another global lockdown. Then youre really in for something really, really bad, said Mahesh Nagarajan, professor and chairman of the operations and logistics division of the University of British Columbias Sauder School of Business That is just not likely to happen, I think. Right now, my sense is that the risk is not imminent of something like that happening. I dont see an immediate impact on the food supply chain here. Yes, there are shocks that happen, like the Cargill meat plant. Those are temporary shocks that are going to keep happening. Those will get smoothed out. Those are not long-term effects that would cause dramatic food shortages in the West. If it [COVID-19] starts spiking up again, dramatically, then we are looking at new policies that would severely restrict the capacity of global supply chains. Theres going to be a lot of impacts. Currently, one of the biggest effects has been on the demand side of the equation. With so many restaurants closed, there is sharply reduced demand for many farm products. Millions of gallons of milk are being dumped daily, animals are being slaughtered and landfilled, and crops plowed under. You guys already have a problem with potatoes, in a big way, Kenny said. If all these restaurants and hotel services are closed, youve got a million potatoes that arent going to get converted into French fries. This is really tragic because, on the one hand were seeing more people line up at food banks, but were also seeing cases where farmers are forced to destroy tens of millions of pounds of fresh food that they can no longer sell, Aurelie Harou, a food security expert at McGill University, said at a recent food security talk sponsored by the institutions Max Bell School of Public Policy. Canadian ranchers and farmers produce a lot of products that are exported and face a sudden decreased demand. Harou said the World Trade Organization is forecasting a 13% to 32% decline in global trade. Of course this is also going to affect the food supply both internationally, globally and within Canada, she said. Added Kenny: Youre going to see, for sure, pain, but its probably still three months off, on fruits, on vegetables. Of course, weve seen things that are missing in supermarkets right now, but thats really people going out and hoarding things. Its not so much supply related. The supply-related issues I still see as coming. The 2020 regular session of the Missouri legislature is one we will remember for many years. The greatest pandemic in a century flared up just as we reached the heart of the schedule, where most of the hard work on legislation gets done. Once the legislature reconvened from an extended COVID-19 recess, some important items ended up on the chopping block in the scramble to the finish. Property rights are as important to farming as any legal protection. This fundamental right has been under assault in northern Missouri for several years. A private, investor-owned company has sought the governmental power of eminent domain to take away land from citizens. The company plans to build a for-profit wind energy transmission line called the Grain Belt Express. Thousands of Missourians have fought against this companys effort to take land by force at cut rates. They contend, and we agree, that private merchant transmission lines should have to negotiate with landowners and buy easements at freely negotiated rates. This would simply mirror what is done for owners of the land on which the wind turbines sit that actually generate the lines electricity. The House passed property rights protections early in session. Unfortunately, in the final weeks of session, a handful of Senators prevented the bill language from coming to a final vote. These actions are very disappointing to Missourians who expect their elected representatives to fight for their rights. Allowing eminent domain to be used in this way sets a very dangerous precedent for our state. It was also disappointing to see the legislature again fail to pass a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). This session supporters and detractors appeared to have found a compromise to allow the bill to move forward. Yet the bill ultimately died as a victim of political positioning in the final week. This leaves Missouri as the only state in the union without this tool to fight the opioid crisis. Some of Missouri Farm Bureaus other priority issues saw more success. Broadband internet access has never looked more essential than the past two months. All Missourians need affordable, reliable access to the information age now. Progress toward this goal received a boost with the passage of HB 1768. This bill will extend the Missouri Broadband Grant Program and allow the States economic development tools to facilitate broadband access. The legislature approved a ballot proposal to restore fairness to the redistricting process. If voters approve, the plan would draw concise and contiguous districts while keeping communities of interest together. Rural and urban communities should each have their own distinct voices. They should not be divided and silenced for the benefit of partisan politics. The sharp drop in tax revenue caused by this Springs economic contraction forced legislators to cut $700 million from the budget. We appreciate the legislature being mindful of the needs of agriculture throughout the process. The approved budget included $20 million in CARES Act funding to support meat processing facilities. Governor Parson, his administration and the legislature all rose to the occasion to address the impacts of COVID-19. As we move forward, Missouri Farm Bureau will continue to fight for the unresolved issues in any special sessions and the 2021 regular session. Eric Bohl, of Columbia, Missouri, is director of public affairs for Missouri Farm Bureau, the states largest farm organization. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a news conference on April 29, 2020. DETROIT A judge has tossed a lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers that challenged Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's use of emergency powers to lockdown the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens sided with the governor, a Democrat, in an opinion issued Thursday that ends the lawsuit. Legal experts had said such an outcome was likely. Republicans vowed to appeal the judge's ruling. The lawsuit, filed May 7 by the Republican-controlled state House and Senate, argued that Whitmer's emergency orders, including the stay-at-home order that runs through May 28, were invalid because of a lack of statutory authority. Gretchen Whitmer: Michigan lawmakers sue governor over emergency powers The judge declared that Whitmer's actions were within her authority under the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945 and that the orders and restrictions on movement and commerce can stand. The judge did side with the Republicans' legal argument that Whitmer overstepped her power when citing a 1976 law, the Emergency Management Act, to re-declare a state of emergency in late April without support from the legislature. Whitmer went too far, the judge said, because the 1976 law has a 28-day limit on how long a governor can act independently from the legislature. But Whitmer ultimately still had authority and emergency powers under the 1945 law, the judge's opinion says, so her executive orders for a lockdown still stand. The older law sets no time limit on a state of emergency and makes no provision for legislative review. The judge rejected Republicans' arguments that the 1945 law should apply to local or regional emergencies and not statewide emergencies. Whitmer has since eased up on some lockdown restrictions, although businesses including bars, sit-down restaurants, gyms, theaters and barbershops in most parts of the state must remain closed until at least May 29. "Todays decision recognizes that the governors actions to save lives are lawful and her orders remain in place," Whitmer said in a statement. "She will continue to do what shes always done: take careful, decisive actions to protect Michiganders from this unprecedented, global pandemic." Follow JC Reindlat on Twitter: @jcreindl. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer: Judge tosses GOP lawmakers suit against Michigan governor Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy No one in the restaurant industry is exactly thriving right now. However, California restaurants, considered essential, can still sell take-out meals; bars with kitchens can even sell to-go cocktails, thanks to some relaxing of the rules by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. But as for bars that are just bars? The situation is much bleaker. As some counties across California begin to gradually reopen dine-in restaurants, bars remain closed with no end in sight. If they don't sell food, they're not allowed to sell to-go cocktails - so their only option for drumming up business right now is to sell manufacturer-sealed bottles of alcohol. The Page, a neighborhood bar on San Francisco's Divisadero Street, has been completely closed since March 16, save for a few days early on when they tried selling some to-go drinks. Seoul and Tokyo should resolve historical disputes The coronavirus pandemic is bringing a significant change to our way of thinking and way of life, turning what was seen as impossible into possible. But if there is one thing we still cannot change, that could be relations between South Korea and Japan. Some pundits suggest that Seoul and Tokyo step up cooperation in their response to COVID-19. They believe collaboration could set the stage for the two neighbors to mend their soured ties which have hit rock bottom mainly due to history-related issues. However, leaders of the two countries have yet to make any meaningful efforts to work together in the face of the global public health crisis and its devastating economic consequences. They are certainly not ready to turn the crisis into an opportunity by making joint efforts to contain the virus and avoid a looming economic recession. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to be overly pessimistic. We have to look for a silver lining in the diplomatic and trade row. Japan's latest annual diplomatic book seems to signal a change in its attitude toward South Korea, although Tokyo repeated its territorial claims to our easternmost islets of Dokdo. The Japanese government referred to South Korea as an "important neighbor" in the book. The favorable expression came after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used a similar phrase in parliamentary sessions last October and early this year. Such an expression, however, cannot be interpreted as a sign of Japan easing its hardline stance on Korea. Yet it can be hoped that the conciliatory term will be translated into action. In the 2017 diplomatic book, the Asian giant touted Korea as a country that "shares strategic interests." But the nationalist Abe administration deleted this phrase in 2018 and 2019 amid its tilting further toward the right and its stalled ties with Korea's liberal government under President Moon Jae-in. The Moon administration, which was inaugurated in May 2017, virtually nullified the 2015 Seoul-Tokyo deal aimed at resolving the wartime sex slavery issue, calling for Japan's sincere apology and proper legal compensation. In 2018, the Korean Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to pay compensation to surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor. The ruling has also strained relations between the two countries, leading to Japan's export restrictions on key industrial materials essential for Korean firms to make semiconductors and display panels last July. Tokyo also excluded Korea from a list of favored trading partners, further worsening bilateral ties. Now both sides should try to find an exit from the ever-escalating confrontation. There will be no winners in this tit for tat. More than anything else, Seoul and Tokyo must work together to resolve history-based conflicts and forge a future-oriented partnership. Moon and Abe need to exercise their leadership to narrow differences between the two countries and take realistic steps toward reconciliation, friendship and co-prosperity. People sit and drink at Shenannigans Restaurant Bar on Mitchell St in Darwin, Australia on May 15, 2020 . (Shane Eecen/Getty Images) Border Push as Northern Territory Declared COVID-19 Free There are no active cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Territory after the remaining patient was cleared of the virus. The Northern Territory is facing calls to open its borders or at least set a date for doing so as it was declared free of the (Chinese Communist Party) CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. An Australian Defence Force member who contracted COVID-19 with several colleagues while on deployment in the Middle East had been the only remaining patient, but was cleared overnight. It has been more than six weeks since there was a locally diagnosed case, and there has been no deaths or community transmission, with all of the Territorys 30 COVID-19 cases connected to interstate or overseas travel. The NT recorded its first case 78 days ago on March 4. However, the NT government is resisting pressure from the Country Liberal opposition and industry to commit to a date to reopen borders, as it has in easing other COVID-19 restrictions. The loss of tourists is having a damaging effect on an already sluggish NT economy, which is more visible now restaurants and cafes have reopened and there are only locals to fill seats. Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said holding a hard line on borders did not give business confidence. Businesses are really making some very extraordinary and difficult decisions, the next stage is critical to them being able to plan ahead on whats to come, she told reporters. Chamber of Commerce NT chief executive Greg Ireland understood the governments caution, but said businesses should be able to map out their futures. He said if any state or overseas jurisdiction was free of the virus, then people from those regions should be allowed in as long as prevention measures were taken. There are methodologies we can adopt Potentially the COVIDSafe app as a compulsory requirement, temperature testing and monitoring for a few days, he told Mix Radio. There is a flow-on effect from tourism to the rest of the communitypeople utilise restaurants, pubs and other activities and that in turn creates a service industry. The extended time away from family and friends is also difficult. NT Tourism Rebound Taskforce Chair Michael Bridge would like borders re-opened by August 1. He said industry needed a date, as it could not begin operating without first generating demand. About 69 percent of NT tourism came from interstate or overseas, he said. Health Minister Natasha Fyles said she was aware of the economic and business impact of COVID-19, but added we have to put health and safety and lives of Territorians first. The government wanted to know how the virus behaved in southern states after they eased their harsher restrictions, as that had led to second waves overseas, Fyles said. Clinical professionals were advising me in March we could see a catastrophic impact with hundreds of ICU beds needed and potentially hundreds of deathsvery scary figures to be presented with. By Greg Roberts Microsoft is plowing ahead with the development of C# 9.0, an upgrade to the companys type-safe, object-oriented language that will include new capabilities such as records and value-based equality. C# 9.0 is due to be part of the .NET 5 development platform, set to arrive in November. C# 8.0 arrived last September. The new features in C# 9.0, detailed at Build this week by C# lead designer Mads Torgersen, include the following: This aerial view is of Sansha City on Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province, July 27, 2012. Chinas navy recently harvested 1.5 tons of vegetables on its biggest military base and civilian center in the Paracel Islands, in what state media portrayed Wednesday as vindication of Beijings position that disputed land features it claims in the South China Sea can sustain human life. The navy has completed a sand-to-soil cultivation project on Woody Island in collaboration with a top-tier Chinese research university, potentially paving the way for self-sufficient farming on Chinas other occupied reefs and rocks in the South China Sea, the Global Times reported. Peoples Liberation Army Navy troops garrisoned on Woody Island, which is Chinas main administrative center in the South China Sea, had harvested vegetables from a beach that had been tested with an experimental treatment that turns sand into fertile soil. The project had been set up by a research team from Chongqing Jiaotong University. Controversially, China has undertaken massive land reclamation works on disputed features in the Paracels and Spratly Islands in recent years to establish bases and advance its sweeping sovereignty claims over the South China Sea, which are contested by five other governments. The Global Times cited Chen Xiangmiao, an assistant research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, as saying that the vegetable harvest on Woody Island countered international theories, including those in a 2016 arbitration case between the Philippines and China, that islands in the South China Sea could not support communities of their own. "Now China's capability of being able to support civilians on these islands would allow more people to live on the islands," Chen was quoted as saying. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), features must be capable of sustaining human habitation and an independent economy not reliant on imports of supplies from elsewhere to qualify as islands. Such features generate an exclusive economic zone around the island for the occupying state. None of Chinas military bases and artificial islands in the South China Sea currently meet this standard, and as such they were ruled to be rocks or other non-island features in the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling. Making artificial islands and reclaimed reefs in the South China Sea habitable for human life has been a perennial problem for China, as the settlements China has built there lack freshwater and any soil to grow things in. Previous attempts to build greenhouses and import fertile soil from the mainland failed to provide enough food for the garrisons maintained on bases like Woody Island in the Paracels and Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys. Zachary Haver, a Washington, D.C.-based China analyst, said Sansha City the prefecture-level city set up on Woody Island -- is still reliant on regular deliveries of supplies from Hainan, although it is the hallmark of Chinas reclamation efforts in the South China Sea. This being said, Woody Island is increasingly self-sufficient, at least in some respects, with robust electricity generation and seawater desalination capabilities, Haver explained. According to him, local government officials in Sansha City have also deployed a range of incentives such as subsidies and public housing schemes to attract civilians to come live on the island. The construction of bases and buildings on reefs and rocks has also degraded their foundations in recent years due to the tropical climate, as highlighted by Chinese researchers from the National University of Defense Technology in 2018. While the members of the research team that set up the sand-to-soil project on Woody Island go unnamed, Chongqing Jiaotong University has previously experimented with the same methods to great success in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and in a partnership with the United Arab Emirates. Both of those projects teams were overseen by Professor Yi Zhijian, Chongqing Jiaotong Universitys Vice President. China has well-recorded problems with desertification, owing to poor farming practices and a lack of groundwater. Roughly 20% of the country is desert, lending urgency to scientific efforts to reverse the deserts encroachment on fertile land. Professor Yi Zhijian developed and pioneered a ground-breaking cellular paste that can turn sand into fertile soil, publishing his work with it in 2016. That paste was then used on April 4 for the cultivation project on Woody Island, according to the PLA Navy. This project could potentially have applications across other Chinese-occupied features in the South China Sea even if it doesnt strengthen Chinas claim to sovereignty over features in the first place. China bases those claims on a notion of historic rights unsupported by international law. The development of Woody Island is often seen as the blueprint for the development of other features in the South China Sea, Haver said. This is currently most noticeable on Tree Island in the Paracel Islands. The Woody Island model will likely be (or is already being) expanded to China's artificial island bases in the Spratly Islands. China is not the only claimant in the South China Sea to insist its occupied features are islands, and experiment with ways to make them habitable under the provisions of UNCLOS. Taiwan currently occupies the largest feature in the Spratlys, called Taiping Island, which was also ruled as a rock under the 2016 arbitral ruling. The Taiwanese military claimed the existence of fresh water on Taiping back in 2019. This would further Taiwans argument that Taiping is a legally valid island, as a lack of a freshwater supply was cited by the Permanent Court of Arbitration as a reason Taiping could not be considered so. Taiwan has also reportedly grown various vegetation on Taiping, including bananas, coconuts, and squash, without importing soil or using the same sand-to-soil methods as China. The Philippines has also attempted to grow a sustainable food source on Thitu Island, a feature it occupies in the South China Sea, but with less urgency and success. Desalination plants to turn sea water into freshwater are planned to be built on the island this year, Philippine media have reported. The Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB), who manages the Caspian countrys destination brand, has developed a four-phase plan designed to get the tourism sector back on track after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, Caspian News writes in the article Azerbaijan Unveils Plan to Revive Tourism Post-Coronavirus. ATB CEO Florian Sengstschmid said the first phase focuses on utilizing the ongoing lockdown period to connect with stakeholders and partners virtually and create digital content. The second phase will be focused on domestic tourism, which we are in the process of rolling out as soon as the special quarantine regime will be lifted, Sengstschmid said in an article published by BW Hotelier. The third phase will be when a few travel restrictions are lifted and borders reopen; we will use a staggered approach to roll out communications in our operational markets and restore key campaigns," he explained. The fourth phase, according to him, will be when the world shifts to a new normal in a post-COVID-19 era that will comprise of new experiences and campaigns tailored to a different type of global traveler. Tourism is among Azerbaijan's key sectors impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. In March, the country's borders were closed, while incoming and outgoing passenger flights have also been suspended under government-led measures to curb the spread of the virus. The restrictions will remain in force until May 31, when the lockdown in the country is expected to end. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in Azerbaijan, momentum behind the country's tourism sector was growing. In January and February of this year, 426,000 tourists from 149 countries traveled to the country, accounting for 17 percent year-over-year growth. However, tourist numbers plummeted in April, when the novel coronavirus began to spread more rapidly. The overall number of international visitors to Azerbaijan decreased by 92 percent. The Azerbaijani government adopted a series of measures to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on various industries, including tourism. It has allocated 2.5 billion AZN (1.35 billion) or 3 percent of the GDP to contain the negative effects of the virus on the national economy. Hotels, travel agencies and tour operators have begun receiving support under an entrepreneurship relief package launched by the government. The package includes payroll support, a financial support program for individual (micro-) entrepreneurs, tax holidays, rebates and exemptions program and a credit support program. Sengstschmid noted that ATB is preparing for the post-quarantine period in Azerbaijan with the first target being reviving domestic tourism. We are in the process of launching a domestic tourism campaign, in the framework of which we collaborate with local hotels and tourism agencies in order to provide various tour packages to people traveling within Azerbaijan, he said. He went on to add that once international travel restrictions are lifted, travelers will be back on track, and Azerbaijan will continue offering unique experiences and opportunities under the national Take Another Look slogan. Once travel restrictions are lifted, I believe people will be eager to travel to less crowded places and discover hidden gems. In this context, Azerbaijan has so much to offer, with its diverse landscapes, 9 out of 11 climatic zones, dozens of unique languages, and people who have lived here for thousands of years, he said. ATB has re-launched its 2 websites tourismboard.az (B2B) and Azerbaijan.travel (B2C) alongside a new innovative health & safety program, called SAHMAN (Sanitation and Hygiene Methods and Norms), for local industry players to improve the standards of hygiene and sanitation. ATB launched SAHMAN project in cooperation with the State Tourism Agency (STA) of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (AQTA) in April of this year. SAHMAN, meaning immaculateness in Azerbaijani, is a nationwide campaign aiming to simultaneously maintain Azerbaijan as a high-quality destination for tourism and business, and promote existing health, safety, and hygiene standards. Supported by the World Tourism Organization, it focuses on three key aspects of the tourism value chain - accommodation, food & beverage, and touristic transportation providers, inviting stakeholders in Azerbaijan to pursue even better healthcare practices in their businesses for the sake of safeguarding public health and supporting the regrowth of the industry. Spokesman to the State Tourism Agency, Kanan Guluzade said if the government approves the end of the lockdown on May 31, the new tourism season in Azerbaijan will be launched on June 1. However, ATB officials expects the country to see a mass influx of tourists to the country by the end of this year. cMeanwhile, officials at the Operative Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers, announced that the government is developing a set of instructions for hotels and recreation centers that will outline their activities in the post-quarantine regime. One of the requirements is the allocation of a special room at the hotels for dealing with suspected COVID-19 cases. Sure, it might be warm Wednesday, but what about the rest of the week? Bigg Boss 13 finalist Shehnaaz Gill's father Santok Singh Sukh has been accused of rape at gunpoint by a Punjab woman. According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, the woman has filed charges against Singh saying that he sexually assaulted her at gunpoint in his car in Beas City, Amritsar. The women told police that she had gone to his residence to meet her boyfriend and had been offered a ride by Singh. Shehnaaz Gill is yet to talk about the rumours but her brother Shehbaz, who was also seen in Mujhse Shaadi Karoge, came to his father's defense. "Yes, there has been a case registered with the Punjab police but these are completely false allegations. The lady in question is trying to defame my father. We are surely disturbed at the moment but we also know nothing is going to happen as we have enough proofs that the lady is lying. The mentioned place where the incident according to her happened is under CCTV survillience and we have arranged for recording of it," he told SpotboyE. "I really don't know her as Shehnaaz and I have shifted to Mumbai from quite sometime now. But all what we know is my father is not wrong and justice will be served to him soon," he further added. Shehbaz also said that Santok Singh will soon address the issue. Follow @News18Movies for more Ukrzaliznytsia ready to resume passenger traffic from June 1 infrastructure ministry 15:40, 21.05.20 10130 On May 20, Ukraine's government approved a schedule for relaunching the transport system in the country. San Francisco supervisors passed an emergency ordinance Tuesday aimed at protecting residents of single-room occupancy hotels from further spread of the potentially deadly coronavirus as cases spike in the hotels close quarters. The ordinance, passed unanimously, would create guidelines for isolating SRO residents who test positive, tracing their contacts, testing others in the building and reporting case counts to the public. Cases among SRO residents and staff have increased by 1,888% since April 1, when nine residents at eight SROs had tested positive for the coronavirus. As of Monday, there were at least 179 cases among residents and staff at 60 residential hotels, according to an SRO report provided to The Chronicle. The citys overall case count increased by 306% during that same time period. Frankly, the vulnerabilities with this population are not a secret, and there should have been protocols in place months ago to address the spread of COVID in SROs and outlining the citys response, said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who sponsored the ordinance, during a board meeting. The hardest-hit SRO is the Albert Hotel on Mission Street where 37 residents have tested positive, according to the citys report. The second biggest outbreak among residential hotels is at Casa Quezada, an SRO in the Mission, where 26 people tested positive. A dozen SROs in the city have more than two cases. In mid-April, the first SRO resident died from COVID-19, according to the Chinatown Community Development Center. Since then, public health officials have not confirmed how many SRO residents have died. More than 19,000 San Franciscans live in 500 SROs across the city, many of them older or with chronic health conditions, putting them at high-risk for severe cases of COVID-19. Communal bathrooms and kitchens, a common feature in the hotels, make it difficult or impossible for residents to social distance or self-isolate. The ordinance would require the citys Department of Public Health to notify hotel operators when a resident tests positive, offer residents isolation and quarantine hotel rooms if they meet criteria established by county health officials and offer testing and contact tracing investigations. Public health officials said in a statement that they will continue working with residents and owners of SROs on prevention, cleaning and testing measures. This legislation builds on that work and echoes DPH's concern for the people most vulnerable to severe complications from COVID-19, the statement said. Some community advocates, however, have said the citys response to some known cases at SROs has been slow and testing efforts have been delayed. The ordinance would require that within 48 hours of a confirmed case, public health officials would be mandated to contact all residents of the building to offer a coronavirus test or facilitate testing at a site in the neighborhood. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. In addition, health officials would be required to create a phone line that SRO residents could call to ask questions. They would also have to establish a protocol for health care workers to identify SRO residents who may be unable to self-isolate. The ordinance, which becomes law in 10 days, also calls on public health officials to report daily aggregate data showing the number of cases, deaths and impacted hotels. Sunny Angulo, Peskins chief of staff, said the city needs to have procedures in place to address coronavirus outbreaks and public data to monitor the situation, especially as the city gradually lifts restrictions. Its just not responsible for us to do anything short of prioritizing that, Angulo said. That is where transmission is happening right now. Chronicle reporter Trisha Thadani contributed to this report. Anna Bauman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.bauman@sfchronicle.com The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a "Schools Decision Tool" this week with recommendations for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents are reacting strongly either in relief or in outrage at the changes the recommended CDC guidelines for reopening schools would cause. While alarmist posts on social media about the recommendations have upset many, the reality of the CDC guidelines is not so black-and-white. The new CDC guidelines aim to help school administrators figure out how to safely open schools in the fall. (CDC) The CDC tool offers specific suggestions for how to ensure the safety of students and faculty and staff if schools reopen in the fall. These include detailed recommendations for hygiene and face coverings, cleaning and disinfecting, classroom layouts and lunchtime procedures, and class and bus schedules. It's not a simple checklist. The CDC states each school "should be guided by what is feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community." After the CDC released the guidelines, some of their recommendations were paraphrased in memes that went viral on social media. In simplifying the recommendations into memes, a few essential words were left out, making them seem like rules instead of suggestions. For instance, the CDC recommends that schools "teach and reinforce use of cloth face coverings," while acknowledging that "face coverings may be challenging for students (especially younger students) to wear in all-day settings." So the CDC advises that staff and students should wear masks "as feasible," especially when physical distancing is hard to do. It says that children younger than 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or anyone who would be unable to remove the face covering without help should not wear them. But the memes paraphrasing the guidelines just state, "Wear face masks if over the age of 2." Although the meme says things like "No field trips, assemblies, or external organizations," the actual recommendation from the CDC is to "limit" these activities or pursue alternatives "as possible." It recommends the same for areas like playground equipment: "Clean and disinfect as much as possible." Story continues Memes paraphrasing the CDC guidelines for reopening schools spread over social media. In the translation, though, a few important words were left out that made the guidelines seem like absolute rules instead of suggestions. (www.KidsActivities.com) Parents have mixed feelings about what the CDC guidelines might mean for their children. Juliana Bloom, a mother of two children ages 8 and 10 in Maitland, Florida, told TODAY Parents she believes the CDC's recommendations are reasonable, but the memes spreading around social media make them seem like they are not. "Masks are not required, they are to be 'taught' and 'encouraged,' especially when kids have to be close to one another," she noted. "Limiting class size and movement around the campus to avoid spread of the disease is reasonable too. No, its not ideal, but theres a global pandemic." If schools don't implement measures like these, Bloom said, "We will end up back on full lockdown again as outbreaks spread through schools. Id rather my kids be able to attend school and have some social interaction than none at all." The CDC recommendations are necessary to save lives, Dr. Celine Gounder told TODAY Parents. Gounder is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine & Infectious Diseases at NYU School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital and hosts the podcasts "AMERICAN DIAGNOSIS" and "EPIDEMIC." "We have to get used to the fact that we're looking at a new normal for the next year or so," said Gounder. "If we want to minimize the damage to our economy and social lives during that new normal, it will mean having to make some compromises." This includes masks and distancing for children at school, she said. "Wearing a mask and abiding by six-feet rules have become political statements when they are in fact evidence-based public health measures." Until there is a vaccine, Gounder said, these basic public health measures will be our only defense to suppress a resurgence of the virus without more shelter-in-place orders. Download the TODAY app for the latest coverage on the coronavirus outbreak. "Am I excited and happy about all these restrictions? No, of course not," New Jersey mom Vera Hough told TODAY Parents. Hough's daughter Maggie, 18, is heading to Bard College in the fall. Her son Thomas, 11, suffered a brain injury after contracting meningitis as a newborn in the NICU. He is blind, non-verbal and non-ambulatory. Hough noted she is not an expert in public health. "But I am kind of an expert on what you do when life happens and you were busy making other plans. You make the best of it," she said. "Why would I boycott school just because it doesn't look the way it used to, the way we expected it to? My son's life which, by the way, was nearly ruined by a microbe that ravaged his body in a sterilized hospital environment doesn't look the way we expected. So we found a school for him that isn't spooked and does their best, day after day, to make his life better. When they are permitted to open their doors, whatever the conditions are, I will be there with bells on," Hough said. Blogger Meredith Ethington wrote a post on Facebook voicing her concerns about the new guidelines. "I'm thinking out loud and throwing worst case scenarios out there, of course," Ethington wrote. "I know there are good people putting a lot of time and energy and thought into this. But, I know there are a lot of people that will take these recommendations as gospel, and that worries me. "I don't want my kid sitting alone in a square on the playground shouting to his friends through a muffled sounding mask," she wrote. Some parents may opt out. Alisen Prida, a Longwood, Florida, mother of three boys ages 7, 11, and 13, told TODAY Parents that she would rather join a homeschool co-op before sending her children back to a school with the current CDC guidelines. Coming from a family of educators, Prida said, "I believe I could give my children the education they need and the social interaction that would be better for both their educational AND psychological growth than the public school could provide if it were to change like these guidelines state." Related video: India's COVID-19 tally reached 1.13 lakh on Thursday with half of those getting reported in just about a fortnight amid large-scale movement of migrants in special trains and arrival of stranded Indians and expatriates from abroad. The government, however, stressed that the mortality rate in India has remained less than half of the global average of 6.65 per cent. Authorities also announced detailed guidelines for resumption of domestic flights after a gap of two months, while business activities and public movement gained further momentum on the fourth day of the much-relaxed fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown that has been in place since March 25. At the same time, the Centre asked all states to ensure strict implementation of the existing lockdown conditions, including a night curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM, saying it has noticed violation of the restrictions at several places. In a directive to all states and union territories, the Union Home Ministry sought strict adherence to its guidelines, including for wearing of face covers, ensuring social distancing at work, transport and in public places, maintaining hygiene and sanitation etc, for containing the spread of COVID-19. The nationwide death toll due to the deadly virus infection has crossed 3,400 with a mortality rate of 3.06 per cent, while close to 46,000 patients have recovered. At least 15 other countries have recorded more deaths than India so far. However, India's tally of active cases at over 63,000 is now the fifth largest in the world after the US, Russia, Brazil and France. While India is the 11th worst-hit in terms of the number of overall cases detected so far, some of the ten most affected countries now have fewer active cases than India and those include Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Iran. In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 3,435 and the number of confirmed cases to 1,12,359 in the country, registering an increase of 132 deaths and 5,609 cases in the last 24 hours. It put the number of active cases at 63,624 and recoveries at over 45,000. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 6.55 PM, showed a higher number of confirmed cases at 1,13,136 and recoveries at over 46,000. Half of this cumulative number of confirmed cases have been reported since May 8 -- the day when the morning update by the Union Health Ministry had put the number of confirmed cases at 56,342. India reported its first COVID-19 case on January 30, while the 100-mark was reached 45 days later on March 15. However, the 1,000-mark was reached much faster on March 29 and the 10,000-mark was breached on April 13. The 50,000-mark was breached on May 6, while it took less than two weeks for the next 50,000 cases with the one-lakh mark being reached on May 18. Globally, more than 50 lakh people have tested positive for the deadly virus infection since its emergence in China last December, while nearly 3.3 lakh have lost their lives. More than 19 lakh people have recovered so far. The government officials have said that the time taken in India for the case count to move from 100 to one lakh has been much better at 64 days, which was better than many other badly-hit countries and actually double the time taken in the US and Spain. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said timely case identification and proper clinical management have helped India keep its mortality rate lower. It also said that more than 3,000 people have been cured in the last 24 hours itself and the overall recovery rate is improving continuously and has crossed 40 per cent now. The Ministry said all patients are under active medical supervision, while around 2.94 per cent of all active cases in ICU. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said there has been a 1000-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 tests done per day in the last two months. More than 25 lakh tests have been done so far. A noted public health expert and epidemiologist, however, cautioned that India may witness COVID-19 cases peaking in mid-July if the current lockdown is lifted this month-end, but also hoped that there could be a "lower surge" in the wake of strong containment measures taken in the past two months. "If the lockdown is lifted on May 30, then we will have peak around mid-July because if you take three incubations period, which is one-and-half months, that will be enough for you to know how the disease spreads when nothing is controlled," Giridhara R Babu, Professor and Head of Life Course Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, told PTI. Several states and UTs continued to report new cases, with the national capital itself recording the highest single-day spike of 571 fresh cases to take its total to 11,659. This was the third consecutive day when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. Gujarat reported 371 new cases to take its tally to 12,910, while 233 fresh cases were found in Ahmedabad itself. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched a week-long campaign to educate citizens on issues related to COVID-19 and said that people should learn to live with coronavirus while fighting against it. Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in India, recorded 2,345 new cases, taking the tally in the state to 41,642. This was the fifth consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases. New cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well, among other states. In many of these states, the new cases largely included people having returned from other states or in some cases from abroad. Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that migrant workers coming from other states are being monitored by health workers and a number of them have tested positive. "Over 5.42 lakh migrant workers were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," he said. In Barabanki itself, 245 samples were sent for testing on May 15-16, out of which 95 have been found positive for the virus infection. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, while the remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with six infected persons and had been kept in isolation, district administration officials said. In Bihar also, detection of more than 1,000 cases in the last three weeks has been mainly attributed to the large-scale influx of people who have been returning to the state from places they had been stuck in during the lockdown. A similar trend has been seen across various states after special trains began operating on May 1 to ferry migrant workers back to their native places, while there have also been cases, including in Goa and Kerala, of those people testing positive who were brought back from abroad in special flights. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Related Trump says US pulling out of Open Skies surveillance treaty The US withdrawal from the Open Skies treaty will affect the interests of all of its participants, who are also members of NATO, RIA state news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Thursday. Russia has not violated the treaty and nothing prevents the continuation of talks on technical issues that the US says are the violations by the Russian side, Grushko said. The United States announced its intention on Thursday to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, the Trump administration's latest move to pull the country from a major global treaty. Search Keywords: Short link: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has today issued new guidelines on the loss and deprivation of nationality. The guidance is intended to assist governments and policy makers in interpreting relevant international law. Decisions to deprive people of nationality have grave and far-reaching consequences not just for the individuals themselves but also for the broader community. It is by no means ideal nor in anyone or any States interest for people to be left stateless and on the margins of society, said UNHCRs Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs. While this is a practice that is increasingly being resorted to in most cases as a punitive measure, we hope this guidance will promote a principled and consistent approach to decision making, mitigating the risk of statelessness arising, in accordance with the law. The guidelines contain interpretive guidance on the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, one of two key statelessness treaties which together with the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, provide the legal framework to prevent statelessness from occurring and to protect people who are already stateless. They also contain guidance on complementary international human rights law relevant to deprivation of nationality. The loss of nationality refers to circumstances where an individuals nationality may be automatically withdrawn by the operation of the law, for example where national law provides that nationality will be lost in situations of prolonged residence abroad. Deprivation refers to situations where a State actively takes nationality away from its citizens. With the right to a nationality widely recognized as a fundamental human right, international law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, including on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds. As a general rule, the 1961 Convention also prohibits the deprivation of nationality where it would leave a person stateless. There are very limited exceptions to this rule, including where nationality has been acquired though misrepresentation or fraud. In specific circumstances, where countries expressly retained their right to do so when joining the Convention and provisions already exist in national law, behavior inconsistent with the duty of loyalty to the State may also be grounds for exception to the prohibition where, for example, it is seriously prejudicial to a States vital interests. However, governments would still have a duty to determine whether decisions to deprive an individual of nationality would result in statelessness, as well as to ensure that procedural safeguards, such as the right to a fair hearing, are met. In accordance with its mandate on statelessness, UNHCR provides guidance on relevant international law. The Guidelines on Loss and Deprivation of Nationality are the fifth in a series of guidelines on statelessness issued by the agency. The full guidelines are available here. For more information on this topic, please contact: BGR Our Sun isnt quite as old as other stars out there. However, scientists are already trying to pinpoint exactly when the Sun will die. Of course, it isnt as simple as throwing out a date. After all, were working with a massive ball of energy that weve still barely managed to scratch the surface of The post Scientists think they figured out when the Sun will explode and kill us all appeared first on BGR. WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA is inviting the public to help celebrate a historic milestone in human spaceflight as it prepares for #LaunchAmerica the first flight into orbit of American astronauts on American rockets from American soil since the end of the space shuttle era in 2011. Known as NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 test flight, which is targeted for lift off at 4:33 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 27, this mission will send NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Members of the public can attend the launch virtually, receiving mission updates and opportunities normally received by on-site guests. "Through NASA's virtual launch experience, we make it possible for more people than ever to watch the beginning of this new era in human spaceflight," said Bettina Inclan, NASA's associate administrator for Communications. "We're already seeing people participate online with the #LaunchAmerica hashtag and helping build the excitement for this historic moment." To participate, members of the public can register to find a calendar of mission information, mission highlights, and virtual tours. To find out more, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/beourguest Demo-2 will be SpaceX's second spaceflight test of its Crew Dragon craft and its first test with astronauts aboard. This final test flight prior to NASA certification and will provide data on the performance of the Falcon 9 rocket, the Crew Dragon and ground systems, as well as in-orbit, docking, and landing operations. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But, the excitement will be felt across the country and around the world, with virtual launch parties and other events to help usher in this new era of spaceflight as NASA and its commercial partners take the next bold step toward to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024 as part of the agency's Artemis program. Live video coverage and countdown commentary begins at 12:15 p.m. May 27. Watch the launch and all prelaunch activities on NASA TV, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. You also can share reasons you are excited for the launch on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #LaunchAmerica for a chance to be shared on our social media channels. But, before then, there are a lot of other ways people can get involved with this historic mission now. The virtual events taking place include: Virtual NASA Social For the first time ever, NASA is hosting a global "NASA Social," an opportunity for social media users to get a behind the scenes view of the launch virtually and a unique way the public can celebrate the return of human spaceflight to American soil. The #LaunchAmerica NASA Social is taking the form of a Facebook group that any social media user can request permission to join by answering a few simple questions and agreeing to adhere to the guidelines of the group. In addition to connecting virtually with a community of people excited about the #LaunchAmerica mission, participants will be able to virtually tour NASA facilities at Kennedy and interact with NASA representatives in real time, as well as virtually view a launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. For more information and to register, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/social/launchamerica NASA STEM Engagement No matter where you are, you can celebrate this historic milestone with other members of the Artemis Generation. Students can share their excitement with webinars, virtual reality experiences and activities specifically designed for grades K-4 and grades 5-12. These and other exciting resources are available at: https://go.nasa.gov/CCPLaunchKit NASA Television Coverage In addition to social media coverage, NASA Television will air a number of events leading up to, including, and following the historic launch. Continuous coverage of the mission on all NASA TV channels begins at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 and continue through Crew Dragon's arrival at the International Space Station on Thursday, May 28, including the subsequent hatch opening and welcoming ceremony. The following events currently are scheduled to air live (all times Eastern). Please check the NASA TV schedule for the latest updates: Wednesday, May 20 4 p.m. NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 Mission astronaut arrival at Kennedy Space Center media question-and-answer session Thursday, May 21 No earlier than 6 p.m. Demo-2 post-Flight Readiness Review news conference Friday, May 22 2:15 p.m. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley virtual media question-and-answer session Monday, May 25 No earlier than 6 p.m. Demo-2 prelaunch news conference Tuesday, May 26 10 a.m. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine media availability at Kennedy's Countdown Clock Wednesday, May 27 Noon Live views of the SpaceX/Falcon 9 rocket on Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center 12:15 p.m. Live countdown coverage of NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station (launch scheduled at 4:33 p.m.) 6 p.m. Demo-2 postlaunch news conference Thursday, May 28 11:39 a.m. Docking of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station 1:55 p.m. SpaceX Crew Dragon hatch opening to the International Space Station 2:25 p.m. SpaceX Crew Dragon and International Space Station crew media event aboard the space station Friday, May 29 11:05 a.m. International Space Station Expedition 63 crew news conference with space station Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA and NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley 12:50 p.m. International Space Station Expedition 63 in-flight event for SpaceX to mark the arrival of the Demo-2 crew The Demo-2 mission will be the final major step before NASA's Commercial Crew Program certifies Crew Dragon for operational, long-duration missions to the space station. This certification and regular operation of Crew Dragon will enable NASA to continue the important research and technology investigations taking place onboard the station, which benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agency's Artemis program. Learn more about Artemis and NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach at: https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars SOURCE NASA Related Links http://www.nasa.gov The post-coronavirus world provides a window of opportunity to India as countries are looking to diversify their supply chains, a senior American diplomat said on Wednesday. Alice G Wells, US State Departments top official for Central and South Asia, however, said India needs to open up as it is still a protected market, which sometimes denies a level playing field to foreign companies. For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here In the post-pandemic environment, countries are looking at a little bit of de-globalisation and onshoring of the critical production. And at the same time, there's a very vigorous effort to diversify supply chains, Wells said during a conference call with reporters. And this is a real moment of opportunity for India by adopting a more open and welcoming policies by reducing tariffs that allow manufacturing companies inside India to be part of the global supply chain, Wells added, stressing on building trusted supply chain relationships. CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH Wells said as India is the world's foremost producer of generic drugs and vaccinations, it is going to be play a critical role. So, it will really be an opportunity for us to focus on trade ties and bring together entrepreneurs for greater growth and prosperity of people, she stressed. Responding to a question, Wells said trade is very important part of India-US relationship and the two countries continue to work towards a deal as the bilateral trade between both touched almost USD 150 billion last year. I can't predict whether a deal will be reached this year, but the impetus for achieving a trade deal is very much present, Wells said, adding that India is a critical actor, not just for Americas South Asia strategy, but also for the vision of the Pacific region that president Trump put forward in November 2017. Read: Coronavirus Worldometer | 15 countries with the highest number of cases, deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic The US has welcomed India's emergence as a leading global power and is a net security provider in the region and the Trump administration has committed the United States to deepening the US-India strategic partnership. Thanks to the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue & @POTUS historic trip to India, Im confident that the extraordinary trajectory of the US-India relationship will continue. State_SCA (@State_SCA) May 20, 2020 We're working more closely together than ever before to advance shared ambitions, she said. The visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US in 2017 and 2019 and President Trump's visit to India this February really showcase the closeness between the two leaders and the two countries, Wells asserted. The Head Pastor of the International God's Way Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim is still in police custody two days after he was granted bail. He is yet to meet his bail conditions. He was arrested on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, and charged with the offences of publication of false news and forging of document contrary to the Criminal and Other Offences Act. Obinim was subsequently granted bail in the sum of GHS100,000 with three sureties by an Accra Magistrate Court. According to the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, Obinim is expected to reappear in court on June 1, 2020, while being investigated for other offences levelled against him. The police also clarified that this arrest has nothing to do with a video that was circulating on social media on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. Earlier reports had suggested that the pastor had been arrested by the police due to a complaint by Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong. The Police, however, indicated that those reports were false. ---citinewsroom Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. ORRVILLE, Ohio, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE: SJM) today announced the nominations of Susan E. Chapman-Hughes and Jodi L. Taylor to its Board of Directors. The elections will take place at the Company's Annual Shareholder Meeting on August 19, 2020. Current Board Members Kathryn Dindo and Gary Oatey have informed the Company of their intention to not stand for re-election at this year's Annual Meeting. "The entire Board feels strongly that both Susan and Jodi offer extensive expertise in critical areas that complement the experience of our current Board members," said Alex Shumate, Lead Director and Chair of the Nominating, Governance, and Corporate Responsibility Committee, The J. M. Smucker Company. "Susan brings tremendous knowledge of the consumer digital space, a critical growth area for the Company, while Jodi offers exceptional intelligence about consumer and market trends, which will support the Company's commitment to its growth imperatives." Chapman-Hughes is currently Executive Vice President and Global Head, Digital Capabilities, Transformation and Operations, Global Commercial Services for American Express Company. In this role she oversees the end to end customer digital experience for commercial customers. Prior to joining American Express Company, Chapman-Hughes served as Chief Administrative Officer for Citi Realty Services at Citigroup. Inc. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Potbelly Corporation and on the Board of Trustees for Girls Inc. and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Chapman-Hughes' experience will enable her to provide valuable insights to the Board, particularly in the areas of sales, strategy, digital capabilities and technology, innovation, change management, executive compensation and environmental, social, and governance matters. Taylor is Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary for The Container Store Group, Inc. Prior to joining The Container Store Group, Inc., she served as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Harold's Stores, Inc. and Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of Baby Superstore, Inc., which merged with Toys "R" Us, Inc. under her leadership. Taylor also served on the Board of Directors for Baby Superstore, Inc. She has been a certified public accountant since 1984, starting with an accounting role with Deloitte. Taylor brings a wealth of expertise in strategy, compliance, risk management and human resources, as well as experience overseeing financial and environmental, social and governance strategies. "I thank Kathryn and Gary for their years of dedicated service and the critical oversight they provided during a period of tremendous growth for the Company," added Shumate. "Both have made invaluable strategic contributions in addition to the leadership they provided as part of our Audit and Nominating, Governance, and Corporate Responsibility Committees." About The J. M. Smucker Company Inspired by more than 120 years of business success and five generations of family leadership, The J. M. Smucker Company makes food that people and pets love. The Company's portfolio of 40+ brands, which are found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants, include iconic products consumers have always loved such as Folgers, Jif and Milk-Bone plus new favorites like Cafe Bustelo, Smucker's Uncrustables and Rachael Ray Nutrish. Over the past two decades, the Company has grown rapidly by thoughtfully acquiring leading and emerging brands, while ensuring the business has a positive impact on its 7,000+ employees, the communities it is a part of and the planet. For more information about The J. M. Smucker Company, visit jmsmucker.com. The J. M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks referenced herein except for Rachael Ray, a registered trademark of Ray Marks II LLC, which is used under license. SOURCE The J. M. Smucker Company Related Links http://www.jmsmucker.com 21.05.2020 LISTEN In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, states have had to resort to all manner of measures in fighting the virus and Ghana does not stand as an exception to this. There has been the need to activate and make laws with some speed in this regard. Quintessential of such laws newly made is the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012) and the Establishment of Emergency communications instrument, 2020 (E.I. 63). In the case of E.I 63, the state through this law seeks to establish an emergency communications system with the particular aim of contact-tracing all persons who may potentially be infected through contact with an infected person. The preamble of the instrument reads in part as; Whereas there is an urgent need to establish an emergency communications system to trace all contacts of persons suspected or actually affected by a public health emergency and identify the places visited by persons suspected of or actually affected by a public health emergency; Although well-intentioned and a shot in the arm in the government's fight against the pandemic and any other health emergency after the COVID-19 pandemic, this instrument is wrongly planted. It has no legal basis. It is ultra vires of its mother law. It is thus an illegality. The danger with this illegality is that it is incursive of the right to privacy of all Ghanaians. The task to be delivered by this article will, therefore, be to identify the source of power of the instrument, establish the illegality so claimed and prescribe a cure for same. Source of Power Article 18(2) of the 1992 constitution provides for the right to privacy of correspondence or communication. In a harmonious fashion with article 12(2), the provision allows for clawbacks in accordance with law and as may be necessary in a free and democratic society for public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the protection of health or morals, for the prevention of disorder or crime for the protection of the rights or freedoms of others [Emphasis mine]. A restriction under Article 18(2) cannot, therefore, be in vacuum. There ought to be a legal framework prescribing the means and extent by which such a restriction can be validly made. With inspiration from this provision, article 18(2) of the 1992 constitution, parliament in 2008 passed the Electronic Communications Act, (Act 775). Section 100 of the Act empowers the President by way of an executive instrument to make written orders to operators or providers of electronic communications network or services requiring them to intercept communications, provide any user information or otherwise in the aid of law enforcement or national security. The preamble to E.I 63, therefore, points to its powers under section 100 of Act 775. A careful reading of the law-making requirement under article 18(2) and the grounds for incursions provided in section 100 of Act 775, that is, law enforcement or national security gives no legs for E.I 63 to stand on. The range of information permissible under section 100 makes E.I 63 an overreach of powers therein conferred. Herein lie the illegality and danger it portends for privacy to correspondence or communication. Illegality of E. I 63 Nonexistent grounds The grounds for an order by the president under section 100 of the Electronic Communication Act is dual; law enforcement or national security. It does not mention public health emergency. Law enforcement and national security cannot be deemed to encapsulate a public health emergency. Act 775 does not offer any interpretation to law enforcement or national security. Recourse can safely be had to the Interpretation Act 2009, (Act 792) which points in section 10 to external sources for interpretation. Law enforcement according to Black's Law Dictionary mainly refers to the enforcement of criminal laws. National security from the meaning of security at page 1084 of the dictionary is the state of being secure especially from danger or attack. The canon of interpretation section 100 lends itself to is expressio unius exclusio alterius. The express mention of law enforcement and national security as grounds for the issuance of an executive instrument implies the exclusion of all other grounds permissible under article 18(2) of the 1992 constitution. How then does an order issued on grounds of public health emergency purport to have a grounding in section 100 of Act 775? Overreach of powers/range of information Section 100 of the Electronic Communication Act allows the president to order for the interception of communication or provision of user information. Not information of all users. Paragraph 1(2) of the Establishment of Emergency Communication Instrument, 2020, however, requires that a service provider provides to the government all caller and called numbers among others. This cannot be congruent with section 100 of Act 775. Section 100 suggests that upon law enforcement or national security grounds, a criminal or criminal syndicate's communication or information can be intercepted or provided or that of an individual, group or groups of individuals can have their information provided or communication intercepted. It does not allow same for all individuals in one fell swoop. It is therefore not in the power of the president under E.I 63 to demand this gamut of information from service providers. The Danger The danger of the instrument in its present form is that it places our privacy in the hands of the president; both affected, suspected to be affected by the public health emergency and the non-affected. The instrument empties our rights as provided under Article 18(2), specifical privacy of communication or correspondence. Indeed, it is a reincarnate of the much-criticized Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages Bill, otherwise called the Spy Bill. All the information of subscribers lodged with telecom operators and any other information requested by the minister of communication are at the disposal of the government. The obvious and potential abuse existing under such circumstances is anybody's guess. The Cure The cure will be an amendment of section 100 of Act 775 to accommodate a public health emergency. Article 18(2) allows for the restriction of the right to privacy of communication or correspondence under public health grounds. This ground should be just added to grounds as found in section 100 of Act 775. Additionally, the range of information allowable under the E.I 63 should be same as permissible under the Act. The gamut of information of telecom operators as identified in E.I 63 cannot be at the disposal of the state. That of specific individuals and groups on grounds as mentioned supra can be so made available as and when needed and not the reverse. Privacy rights are negative rights which require protection from the state. E.I 63 dangerously provides a fertile ground for its breach and removal of the cover of protection against the state. Conclusion This article has abundantly made demonstration of the illegality of the Establishment of Emergency Communications Instrument, 2020 (E.I. 63). The portents to human rights abuse relative to the privacy of communication has been identified. The fight against COVID-19 and any other public health emergency will not suffer damage if the law in its present form is altered to attain symmetry with section 10 of the Electronic Communication Act, (Act 775). The illegality, therefore, has to be cured to safeguard the rights to privacy of communication of all. ---citinewsroom Nirupama Viswanathan By Express News Service CHENNAI: The Chengalpattu district administration, on its Facebook page on Wednesday, posted a map of COVID-19 patients there. While the initiative has been welcomed, it was found that the map also gave away the phone numbers of patients and, in some cases, their source of infection including from the Delhi conference. The customised Google map has details of patients up to May 19 when it was created and was published on the district administrations Facebook page on Wednesday. After The New Indian Express spoke to the district administration, the Facebook post has since been taken down but the Google map carrying the patients' personal details continues to remain accessible to those who have saved the link. When you click on a pin, the patients gender, address and phone number are revealed, among other details. When contacted, a 29-year-old vegetable vendor who is suspected to have contracted the virus from Koyambedu, said that he was not contacted for permission before his phone number was uploaded. I was not aware of this. But they should take the personal details down. We are already being stigmatised by neighbours, he said. In another problematic move, in the case of the Tablighi Jamaat attendees and their contacts, the map, along with the patients phone numbers and addresses, mentions that they belong to the Jamaat cluster. In the case of a 30-year-old man from Asthinapuram, for instance, the map says Contact of positive Delhi Tabliq Conference. It has been 20 days since we were discharged from the hospital. After listening to demeaning comments made even by people we know, it was only now that things were settling down for us. Now the government itself is giving a chance for us to be attacked again, he said. What I would like to know is who is this going to benefit? What are people going to get from knowing where we got the virus from? That too now that we have recovered and are healthy, he added. The Centres Arogya Setu app, for instance, uses geotagging to inform users of their proximity to someone who has tested COVID-19 positive or high risk patients. It also gives information on how many people may have tested positive in a 500-metre or one kilometre radius. However, details of the patients are not made public. Similarly, in the Chennai Corporations Corona Monitoring app, the street in which a patient tests positive is visible along with other containment zones. We dont give out patient-related information due to privacy issues. Only the street name is shown, said MP Azhagu Pandia Raja who created the app for the city corporation. Chengalpattu district collector John Louis said that according to protocol, only the name has to be withheld. This is being done at the state level and we have given out such details to ensure that people know if their neighbours or someone they know have been affected. The source of infection is also supposed to be mentioned as per protocol, he said. People need not worry (that their personal details are out). They should understand that this is not something to be stigmatised. People are being treated and are recovering quickly, he added. The issue has also been brought to the notice of Health Secretary Beela Rajesh. BEDFORD, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Waltzing Matilda Aviation LLC (WMA) has seen a substantial pick up in business in the past week after, much like all in the industry, experiencing a quiet April, first half of May. WMA CEO John Thomas said: "We are now fielding up to 50 jet charter enquiries a day up from 5-10 only 2 weeks ago. Further with a massive imbalance in clients wanting to fly from Florida to the North East we are seeing unbelievably low pricing for one way southbound flights for as low as $6,500. But we don't expect this imbalance will last for more than a couple of weeks after which southbound pricing will rise to their more normal levels." Based on WMA's level of activity at its home base at Bedford (BED), MA, it believes its business is coming back faster than some of the bigger national players who were forced to furlough crews during the downturn. WMA was able to maintain its full staffing levels throughout the downturn and is therefore better able to respond faster to the recovery than many operators some of whom have had aircraft idle for the past 2 months. WMA has used some of this idle time to invest in new systems and further enhance its website www.waltzingmatildaaviation.org with a new online booking portal. Thomas added: "With the FET holiday through to the end of December as well as low fuel prices, now is one of the cheapest times to fly privately. Further we have picked up a number of new corporate customers who have already made the decision not to allow their staff to fly commercially for the foreseeable future and therefore see private aviation as the only viable option." Contact: John Thomas, CEO (617) 763 3434 [email protected] About WMA WMA is a Boston based FAA Part 135 jet charter operator (Certificate number 6WZA614N). WMA began private (Part 91) operations in June 2008 and has operated thousands of hours of safe and reliable flying with a focus on delivering superior customer service. WMA owns and operates both its own aircraft as well as managed aircraft. WMA brings together a group of aviation professionals, many of whom have been involved in jet charter operations in the Boston area for over 20 years. WMA is passionate about flying and dedicated to providing a high quality of service. WMA was co-founded by John Thomas. John has been actively involved in the aviation industry for the past 35 years, both as a senior operating executive as Group Executive at Virgin Australia Airlines and as a strategic advisor to the global aviation industry. He advised major airlines around the world as well as OEMs, Business & General Aviation, FBOs, airports, and ANSPs. In addition to actively managing WMA, John sits on the Board of Skyservice, the largest Corporate aviation service provider in Canada, as well as the Board of Icelandair, and continues to provide advisory services to the broader aviation industry. SOURCE Waltzing Matilda Aviation LLC Related Links www.waltzingmatildaaviation.org One Costco shoppers Gotcha moment ended up costing him his cart. The unidentified shopper recorded an interaction with a Costco employee identified as Tison, in which he was informed of the companys policy that all shoppers must wear masks in order to shop at the store. When Tison is informed that the video is being broadcast to the shoppers 3,000-follower Instagram feed, he gives a polite wave and shares exactly what he is doing and why. When the shopper responds, And Im not doing it because I woke up in a free country, Tison brings a swift end to the exchange by walking off with the cart, which prompted a futile last-ditch attempt to save his items as Tison walks away. This isnt the first dust-up between customers and store employees trying to enforce their company policies as Covid-19 tensions escalate. It also wont be the last, but Tison probably deserves to be featured in a Costco instructional video for how to stay cool and in charge when confrontations like these start to escalate. Take a look at the video below and please note that it does contain profanity. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Ask Syracuse.com: When can we visit the parents? When will the DMV, gyms reopen? Syracuse University announces fall return date and adjusted academic schedule Central NY coronavirus hospitalizations at all-time high, Cuomo not concerned yet Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Ortega has apologized to the city staff at least twice, once during a call later that day and again during a town hall this week. He said that he did hear from employees, including one who sent him an email outlining why paying for parking is a concern. I responded and apologized and outlined my frustration when dealing with larger issues. It also sensitized me to the importance of some of these issues, he told the Star. He said he was venting frustration that the parking questions came just after he finished a talk about potential furloughs and layoffs of employees. He said that hes been laser-focused on dealing with the budget as a whole as the city tries to absorb the effects of the coronavirus, including a drop in sales tax revenues. My frustration showed in a way that I apologize, he said. No disrespect was intended. Conflicting signals on malaria drug President Trump stirred up health experts Tuesday when he announced that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine in hopes of staving off the coronavirus, despite warnings about potentially deadly side effects from the unproven treatment. WATERLOO Out of the more than 7,000 people that have been tested for coronavirus so far in Black Hawk County, less than 12% have been from the Test Iowa site in Waterloo, one of eight such sites around the state Gov. Kim Reynolds has opened to increase the number of people tested. Just 837 out of the countys 7,074 tests have been done since the Test Iowa site at Crossroads Mall in Waterloo opened April 29, according to Lorie Glover, Black Hawk Countys emergency manager, who released the numbers Tuesday. Of that number, seven tests in Black Hawk County have come back inconclusive, for an error rate of 0.8% not much, but higher than the 0.2% error rate of all other coronavirus testing in the county, officials said. One of those was Joe Sevcik of Cedar Falls, who was approved to get tested at the Test Iowa Waterloo site at Crossroads Center on April 29, the first day it opened to the public. On May 3, Sevcik was told his test sample had been received, and hed receive his results in 72 hours. But it wasnt until May 13 15 days after his test that Sevcik got an email letting him know that his test kit was among those that were damaged and unusable. He was advised to retake the entire assessment at TestIowa.com, which he did, and then was told to watch for follow up communication about whether hed get retested. As of Wednesday, he still hadnt heard back. It has been over two weeks since they (very painfully) took my sample, Sevcik wrote in an email to The Courier. I am just flailing in the wind, and nobody at the state appears to care. When the state entered a partnership with Nomi Health, paying the Utah company $26 million funded in part through federal block grant dollars from the CARES Act Gov. Kim Reynolds said it meant the state would have the ability to test an additional 3,000 Iowans per day. And Black Hawk County which at the time had an outbreak at Tyson Fresh Meats was exactly the kind of hot spot officials were looking to get more information on. The information collected is critical to better understand the virus activity across the state, Reynolds said. But the vast majority of those filling out the Test Iowa assessment are found to be not eligible for testing: Only 5.9% of all the county residents taking the assessment were sent to the Test Iowa Waterloo site. Thats largely by design, as Reynolds has noted she wanted to prioritize essential personnel like health care workers, as well as those with direct contacts to those testing positive. But the governor also said shes looking to get the states positivity rate, or the percentage of people testing positive, down the state was at 14.1% Wednesday. The World Health Organization has said a rate of 10% or less indicates an appropriate level of testing. U.S. Reps. Abby Finkenauer, Cindy Axne and Dave Loebsack, all Democrats, pressed the Republican governor about the capability and expansion plans of the Test Iowa coronavirus testing program in a letter to the governors office Tuesday. We are concerned that Test Iowa still has not yielded 3,000 tests per day several weeks after its launch, nor are there Test Iowa locations in hotspot areas, the legislators wrote. As our economy has begun to reopen, we know that Iowans will feel safer if they can access a test quickly and within their communities. We need to ensure that essential workers, nursing homes, and those who believe they have been exposed can get tests right away. The Test Iowa Waterloo site saw decent numbers when it first opened up 113 people were tested April 29, 135 on April 30 and 116 on May 1, taking some of the burden off of clinics just as cases were peaking in Black Hawk County. But cases dropped off sharply after that, hitting a low of just eight people driving through for a test on May 8, before rebounding into the 30s and 40s. In recent days, the site appears to be testing more individuals 55 on May 14, 73 on May 15 and 125 on May 18. To qualify for a test, residents have to fill out a TestIowa.com assessment, which mandates users provide their full name and address, date of birth, height in inches, weight, an email address and a cellphone number. The questionnaire then asks people if they have symptoms of coronavirus, if theyve been around someone who tested positive or have had respiratory symptoms in the last two weeks, if they have any underlying medical conditions, how many people of what ages live in their home, if theyve been practicing social distancing and in what industry they work. Those who qualify to be tested would then be emailed a QR code they can take to a mobile testing site. Black Hawk County health director Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye said when Test Iowa was unveiled, she was worried the process leaves out a lot of low-income individuals who may not have an email address or even the internet at home. Individuals who dont want to share private medical information, those who dont speak English or undocumented people also may be uncomfortable or unwilling to answer invasive questions. The method in which theyve communicated theyd do the testing is not really conducive for our community, she said. An individual would have to go online to answer a questionnaire and use a QR code, and some of our people dont even have smartphones. You have to understand the community. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 A policeman in Ebonyi state has been dismissed from the force after going through an orderly room trial for defiling a 14 year-old girl. Ebonyi state Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Okorie Christopher Onyekachi who commended the states police command for not shielding the policeman, said they are working hard to ensure that the ex police man who is in his 30s is prosecuted. Christopher said; One police officer has been sacked after undergoing an orderly room trial and we are also moving for his court trial but he has gone through police orderly room trial; police internal disciplinary action which led to his dismissal. We are now moving for his trial in the court. He was accused of defiling a minor, the child is about 14 years while the policeman is in his early 30s. We are grateful to the state commissioner of police who has been very helpful to us. He understands what humanity is all about. Once a petition from the National Human Rights Commission is sent to him, the following morning, we will get a call that it has been assigned. He usually tells us to deal with him directly, that he doesnt want the image of the police to be dented. So, he has helped us in so many ways. In 2019, we handled like 45 cases and 12 cases this year. Four of the 2019 cases had to do with Gender-Based se.xual Violence and these are all minors. Pitiably, a man molested a three-year- old girl. The issue of violating minors is on the increase but under-reported. The only time the cases are reported is when there is an underlying conflict among the families involved. Domestic violence is on the increase even though under-reported. Under-reporting is the problem we are having on this issue of domestic violence. If you see the culture of Igbo land; the culture changes because of the influence of external cultures too. What happens here is that most families are not literate, our culture has not been given the necessary push or change it deserves to really give us the good result that we need. In that aspect, there is a low percentage of reporting cases of violence because of the culture; it is actually considered normal for a woman to be beaten by her husband. When it is so, a woman is indoctrinated to believe it that way. Women should know that they are human beings and being a human being, nobody has a right to infringe upon your own rights because the persons rights start where your own start. Marriage does not reduce your personal rights. So, the person you are marrying should respect your rights. Male/IBNS: Maldives has said that it is against singling out India for Islamophobia among the South Asian nations after the Pakistan Ambassador to the UN targeted India over the issue in a recent virtual meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). According to Maldives Voice, in a recently organized virtual meeting of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ambassadors to the United Nations (UN), the issue of growing Islamophobia in South Asia was discussed. During the meeting, Pakistans Ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram proposed that India is actively promoting Islamophobic agenda, but Maldives in its statement at the virtual meeting said singling out India, the largest democracy in the world and a multicultural society, which is home to over 200 Million Muslims, on Islamophobia would be factually incorrect and detrimental to religious harmony in South Asia. It was also asserted during the discussion that disinformation campaigns on social media should not be constructed as representative of the feeling of 1.3 Million people, Maldives Voice reported. India has strengthened its ties with several Islamic countries in recent years though it got some bad press over some communal riots or affirmative steps of the Modi government. Countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Afghanistan, Russia, Palestine, Mauritius etc. have conferred the Indian Prime Minister with their highest civilian awards. The fining of a Chinese internet user by authorities in the northern province of Shaanxi for using software to circumvent the Great Firewall has sparked a rare public backlash online. The Hanbin district police department in Shaanxi's Ankang city said on that it had fined a local man 500 yuan for scaling the Great Firewall, a complex systems of blocks, filters and human censorship that limits what Chinese users can see online. China outlawed the use of VPNs (virtual private networks) -- the most common form of circumvention tool -- in 2018, and typically charges those caught using them with "accessing the international internet through illegal channels." But government-approved bodies and organizations are able to apply for exemption from the ban. The fining of the man, whose surname is Yang but whose given name was withheld, led to a flurry of online criticism, including from Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the nationalistic tabloid Global Times newspaper. Many comments said the use of a VPN couldn't be illegal, as the Chinese foreign ministry frequently takes to Twitter, which is outside the Great Firewall, to make statements and comments. Hu posted to the social media platform Weibo this week objecting to the punishment, and that there was nothing illegal about scaling the Great Firewall for information. He said the law should be administered "flexibly," and that it was necessary in some cases to circumvent internet controls, especially during such "unusual times." 'Just rubbish' Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, said Hu's comments were hypocritical and the fine was in breach of the constitution of the People's Republic of China. "For the Global Times to say that many things need to be dealt with in a flexible manner is just rubbish," Yang said. "There is no flexibility." "It isn't illegal for anyone, official agencies or anyone else, to browse the internet, whether they use a circumvention tool or not," he said. "Anyone can do it." Shanghai-based internet user Ma Yalian said the 500 yuan punishment was rather light. "This is an example of their going easy on the internet right now," Ma said. "Obviously, this policy of partial opening of the internet will also send mixed messages." "It would have been worse if they had detained him ... which if they use administrative detention they can do for 15, even as long as 30, days," he said. Ma said the Global Times' objection to the fine likely had to do with the fear that they too could be targeted by "dumb" cops. "It's a newspaper, so a lot of their employees are going to be scaling the wall. What if [the cops] started going after them?" he said. The Hanbin police department later deleted the original post about Yang's fine once the controversy blew up online. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:07:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MANILA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has recently reported a net loss of 10.31 billion pesos (203 million U.S. dollars) in 2019 on account of high expenses. In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, PAL Holdings Inc. said its net loss attributable to equity holders ballooned by 138 percent to 10.31 billion pesos from 4.33 billion pesos (85.4 million U.S. dollars) in 2018. Net loss in 2017 totaled 7.33 billion pesos (144.6 million U.S. dollars). The Philippines' largest airline blamed the losses over the last three years on "stiff competition, matched with ever-increasing costs". Despite the losses, PAL President Gilbert Santa Maria said PAL is safe from immediate bankruptcy. PAL said on February 28 that it has laid off 300 ground staff as part of a business restructuring plan to manage the company losses sustained from travel restrictions to coronavirus-stricken destinations. The Philippines imposed in mid-March a lockdown in the entire main island of Luzon to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. Some other provinces in the central and southern Philippines also imposed a lockdown. The lockdown, which runs until May 31, forced airport closures leading to the suspensions of all incoming and outgoing flights, except for international and domestic charter flights to repatriate foreigners out of the Philippines and to bring in Filipinos from abroad. Enditem "We're ecstatic Colm and Robert are moving to Shook. With their addition, Shook is deepening its foundation in the Los Angeles legal market by adding two incredibly skilled litigators," said Shook Los Angeles Managing Partner Michael Mallow, a nationally recognized litigator who focuses on commercial and class action litigation in the automotive sector and who worked with both Moran and Feyder from 1998 to 2006 at another firm. "Shook already has a preeminent automotive practice, particularly defending automotive class actions. But adding Colm's franchise knowledge greatly expands the services we can provide to our auto clients. Robert also strengthens our commercial litigation bench in this challenging time for clients. In addition to defending motor vehicle manufacturers against claims brought by dealers and providing advice and counsel on a wide variety of state motor vehicle franchise law issues, Robert has over three decades of experience representing companies in challenging economic cycles." Moran has handled litigation through trial for motor vehicle manufacturers in more than 25 jurisdictions. His industry knowledge covers state motor vehicle franchise laws in all 50 states. He has also represented motor vehicle manufacturers in international arbitration, with a particular focus on disputes in the Middle East. Moran is one of only a small handful of lawyers the automotive industry regularly turns to for dealer franchise issues. "We were attracted to Shook for a couple of reasons, foremost among them, their trial reputation," said Moran. "Shook is not afraid to try very contentious cases for a sophisticated client base, achieving results that align with their business goals. It's where we want to be." Shook's automotive team represents most of the world's leading auto manufacturers handling just about every type of automotive claim. A differentiator is Shook's commitment to science and technology, which includes an industry group focusing on highly autonomous vehicles. Researchers and analysts with advanced degrees in engineering and technology round out the team, which stretches from D.C, for regulatory guidance, to its three offices in California for industry knowledge and litigation prowess. "Adding Colm and Robert brings a new dimension to Shook's automotive industry practice," said Partner Amir Nassihi who co-chairs Shook's Automotive Industry Group and is a class action litigator. "We're excited about the experience and value they will bring to our clients, specifically in matters involving franchise and automotive dealership matters." "Colm is one of the preeminent lawyers representing automobile companies on all aspects of automotive dealer litigation and consulting, including warranty and incentive fraud, franchise terminations, dealer bankruptcies and the interpretation of state franchise statutes," said Partner Janet Hickson, who co-chairs the industry group from her Orange County office. "We're glad they are on our team." Shook currently has California offices in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco. About Shook, Hardy & Bacon Founded in 1889, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. has 15 offices in the United States and London, with attorneys and professional staff serving clients in the health, science and technology sectors in areas ranging from product liability defense and commercial litigation to intellectual property prosecution and litigation, environmental and toxic tort, privacy and data security and regulatory counseling. SOURCE Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. Related Links https://www.shb.com/ For in stark contrast to then, the American and Chinese systems are far more intertwined economically, technologically, even socially. In some quarters, there is talk of decoupling the two economies, of bringing all production back home, as if all it takes is to fill a few pickups and drive home. But with deeply integrated markets and supply chains, separating the two economies will be wrenching and costly for all. Dori Ivzori has been the CEO of Amiad Water Systems Ltd. (LON:AFS) since 2016. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This method should give us information to assess how appropriately the company pays the CEO. Check out our latest analysis for Amiad Water Systems How Does Dori Ivzori's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing, our data says that Amiad Water Systems Ltd. has a market cap of UK74m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of US$397k for the year to December 2018. We think total compensation is more important but we note that the CEO salary is lower, at US$364k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under US$200m, and the median CEO total compensation was US$337k. Next, let's break down remuneration compositions to understand how the industry and company compare with each other. Talking in terms of the sector, salary represented approximately 48% of total compensation out of all the companies we analysed, while other remuneration made up 52% of the pie. Amiad Water Systems is paying a higher share of its remuneration through a salary in comparison to the overall industry. So Dori Ivzori is paid around the average of the companies we looked at. Although this fact alone doesn't tell us a great deal, it becomes more relevant when considered against the business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Amiad Water Systems, below. AIM:AFS CEO Compensation May 21st 2020 Is Amiad Water Systems Ltd. Growing? Amiad Water Systems Ltd. has reduced its earnings per share by an average of 47% a year, over the last three years (measured with a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 1.5% over the last year. Unfortunately, earnings per share have trended lower over the last three years. The fairly low revenue growth fails to impress given that the earnings per share is down. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings. Story continues Has Amiad Water Systems Ltd. Been A Good Investment? I think that the total shareholder return of 105%, over three years, would leave most Amiad Water Systems Ltd. shareholders smiling. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size. In Summary... Dori Ivzori is paid around the same as most CEOs of similar size companies. We're not seeing great strides in earnings per share, but the company has clearly pleased some investors, given the returns over the last three years. So we think most shareholders wouldn't be too worried about CEO compensation, which is close to the median for similar sized companies. On another note, Amiad Water Systems has 3 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about. Important note: Amiad Water Systems may not be the best stock to buy. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. Zak Brown says it would be "unfortunate" if Britain counts itself out of Formula 1's attempt to get back up and racing in 2020. Seven of the ten F1 teams, including Brown-led McLaren, are based in the UK. But the British government's 14-day quarantine rule could rule out Silverstone as the host of the next 'ghost races' after Austria in July. Not only that, the quarantine rule could also mean British-based race teams need to stay out of the country while races take place elsewhere in Europe. "It throws a wrench in the plan for Silverstone, because there are options to just race in Europe and maybe not come back so often," McLaren supremo Brown told the Evening Standard. "It would be a shame to miss the British GP but, if all the other countries are ready to go, we can't let any one country stop F1 from happening if the rest of the world is ready for us," he added. "If we get restricted in our homeland, that's going to make manoeuvring around a big challenge." It appears that Hockenheim, the former German GP venue, could step in to fill the hole left by Silverstone. "In a year in which we must cope with massive sales losses, our goal must be to generate income with Formula 1 as well," Hockenheim boss Jorn Teske told Kolner Express newspaper. "Further discussions should show whether and how this can be achieved," he added. The head of Motorsport UK, former team boss David Richards, told the Daily Telegraph that the British government's stance could affect the F1 industry. "People forget that there is probably not one other sport that has such a big economic impact on this country as Formula 1, in terms of the number of people employed here, either directly or indirectly," he said. "With the right precautions, we must be able to find a sensible way to protect the community locally and to handle this professionally for the teams. I can't see why that shouldn't happen." (GMM) [May 21, 2020] Tilson Joins Ericsson Industry 4.0 Partner Program to Advance Wireless Connectivity for Industrial Customers PORTLAND, Maine, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tilson, a national network development and information infrastructure professional services firm, has entered into an agreement to collaborate with Ericsson as a System Integrator Partner within the Ericsson Industry 4.0 partner program, delivering end-to-end private LTE technology and innovative 5G network solutions for Industry 4.0 and industrial customers. Tilson's capabilities in systems integration aim to simplify operations and increase the efficiency and productivity for service providers and smart factories. The partnership leverages Tilson's network engineering, construction and operational service capabilities, together with Tilson's growing infrastructure affiliate who develops, owns, and leases back neutral host indoor and outdoor wireless networks. "We are thrilled to partner with Ericsson for this Industry 4.0 initiative to deliver unique, cstom and cost-effective solutions for clients as they navigate real time operations," said Alda Licis, VP of Infrastructure. "Tilson's ability to finance the infrastructure development creates value for manufacturing and industry customers by providing flexible lease back assets on extended payment terms." Purpose-built for industrial environments, Ericsson Industry Connect is a dedicated wireless cellular network that provides secure, reliable coverage, high device density, and predictable latency. Leveraging this connectivity solution, enterprises can gain full visibility of machines, processes and data, using 4G/LTE now with a clear path to 5G. "Adopting cellular connectivity solutions based on Ericsson technology allows Tilson to offer industrial customers a solution that increases productivity," said Thomas Noren, Head of Dedicated Networks at Ericsson. "By becoming a member of the Ericsson Industry 4.0 partner program, Tilson is ready to play a pivotal role in improving business outcomes for customers. About Tilson: Tilson is on a mission to build America's information infrastructure. Recognized nine consecutive years on the Inc. 5000, Tilson provides network deployment and information system professional services to telecom, construction, utility and government clients. As a leading network design, build, and operating firm, Tilson builds high-performing technology project teams who take on the largest and most impactful information infrastructure projects in the country. For more information: www.tilsontech.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tilson-joins-ericsson-industry-4-0-partner-program-to-advance-wireless-connectivity-for-industrial-customers-301063762.html SOURCE Tilson News Washington, DC - Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State: "On behalf of the United States, I congratulate the people of the Republic of Cameroon as you celebrate your 48th National Unity Day. "The United States looks forward to continuing to work with Cameroon to promote peace, human rights, and good governance. We remain engaged to improve global health through achieving HIV/AIDS epidemic control, and by fighting malaria and the global COVID-19 pandemic. We also seek to promote increased trade and investment between our two countries, and to empower the talented young people of Cameroon through programs like the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. "I offer best wishes to all Cameroonians on the anniversary of your national day." Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:55:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RABAT, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Moroccan Health Ministry on Thursday announced 78 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 7,211. The majority of the new cases were found at a new virus hotspots in Casablanca, Mohamed El Youbi, director of epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, said at his daily briefing. The number of the recovered cases rose by 182 to 4,280. Meanwhile, 196 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in Morocco so far after two new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, El Youbi added. The official underlined the stability of the coronavirus mortality rate in Morocco, which stands at 2.7 percent, noting that the recovery rate rose to 59.4 percent. Casablanca remains the worst-hit region in the country with 2,240 confirmed cases of COVID-19, followed by Marrakech-Safi, with 1,307 cases. Morocco on Tuesday extended the state of health emergency across the country until June 10. Morocco recently received a medical donation from the China Development Bank to help the North African country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation including respirators and medical protective masks, arrived on May 14 at Casablanca airport from China's capital Beijing. Enditem DENVER (AP) A man is accused of shooting and wounding a Waffle House employee in suburban Denver the night after being asked to wear a face covering inside the restaurant, authorities said. Police in Aurora arrested Kelvin Watson, 27, on Monday on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, KDVR reported. Court records show Watson is represented by the Arapahoe County public defenders office, which did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Tuesday. COVID CONGREGATION: Houston church recloses after leaders, congregants get COVID-19 According to an arrest affidavit, employees told investigators Watson came to the restaurant shortly after midnight Thursday, and a waitress told him he needed to wear a mask to be served. The restaurant was only offering carry-out service. Watson allegedly returned with a mask that he was not wearing and was again told he could not be served. Witnesses said he put a small gun on the counter before telling the cook he could blow your brains out, according to the affidavit. The following night, just after midnight Friday, police said Watson returned and slapped the cook across the face when he was told again he was not going to be served. Watson is accused of shooting the cook in the chest or abdomen outside of the restaurant as the cook ran to get away. The cook was released from a hospital Friday afternoon. BREWERY ROBBERY: Crew wanted for heist inside east Houston brewery We are deeply saddened and regret that this senseless act of violence occurred, Waffle House spokesperson Njeri Boss said. Aurora does not require masks or face coverings in public places like some other communities in metro Denver. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. Zelensky signs into law IMF-required bill on banks 19:10, 21.05.20 3498 Legislation lays out a set of changes aimed at enhancing banking operations, including by strengthening corporate governance and regulating the specifics of litigation on banks' withdrawal from the market. driven by a compounded growth of 4%. Silicon Wafers, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 3. 3%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. New York, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Industry" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05896478/?utm_source=GNW Poised to reach over US$12.7 Billion by the year 2025, Silicon Wafers will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth. - Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 4.7% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$454.1 Million to the regions size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$366.4 Million worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, Silicon Wafers will reach a market size of US$1.1 Billion by the close of the analysis period. As the worlds second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 3.8% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$1.4 Billion in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders. Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific. All research viewpoints presented are based on validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other research methodologies. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05896478/?utm_source=GNW SEMICONDUCTOR FABRICATION MATERIALS MCP-1 MARKET ANALYSIS, TRENDS, AND FORECASTS, MAY 2 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. MARKET OVERVIEW Recent Market Activity Semiconductors Market: A Preview Supply Chain in the Semiconductor (IC) Industry Semiconductor Fabrication Material: An Introductory Prelude Current State of the Economy: A Key Growth Indicator Global Competitor Market Shares Semiconductor Fabrication Material Competitor Market Share Scenario Worldwide (in %): 2020 & 2029 Impact of Covid-19 and a Looming Global Recession 2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS Air Liquide SA (France) Avantor Performance Materials (USA) BASF SE (Germany) Cabot Microelectronics Corp. (USA) Dow Chemical Company (USA) Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation (USA) Hitachi Chemical Company Limited (Japan) JSR Corporation (Japan) Kanto Chemical Co., Inc. (Japan) KMG Chemicals Inc. (USA) Linde AG (Germany) Merck KgaA (Germany) Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Japan) Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company (Japan) Pibond Oy (Finland) Praxair, Inc. (USA) Sachem Inc. (USA) Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (Japan) Showa Denko KK (Japan) SUMCO Corporation (Japan) Sumitomo Chemical Company Limited (Japan) Taiyo Nippon Sanso (Japan) Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Japan) Versum Materials, Inc. (USA) Wacker Chemie AG (Germany) Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Japan) 3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS Shift Towards Digital ICs to Foster Growth Transition to 450mm Silicon Wafers to Benefit Demand for Reclaimed Test/Monitor Wafers Increased Outsourcing by Fabless Companies to Boost Semiconductor Foundry Industry - A Boon for Fabrication Materials Market Electronic Device Markets: Critical to Semiconductor Fabrication Material Growing Proliferation of Consumer Electronic Devices to Drive Demand for IC Fabrication Material Opportunity Indicators Increased Use in LCD TVs Drives Demand Computing Devices - A Key Growth Driver Automotive Electronics Add to the Demand Robust Growth in Mobile Phone Subscriptions Augurs Well for the Market Smartphones Sales Growth Bodes Well for IC Fabrication Material Market Manufacturers Look for Alternative Source of Supply of Rare Earth Elements Industry Seeks Investment in New Fabrication Material Product Innovations & Technology Developments - Critical to Survival for Suppliers A Look into Product Markets Silicon Wafers - The Traditional Revenue Contributor CMP Slurry Market Positioned for Strong Growth Technological Developments Drive Expansion in CMP Slurries Technological Developments Drive Expansion in CMP Slurries Arsenic Sustains Applications in Electronics Amid Hazardous Health Effects Steady Demand for Photoresists Wet Chemicals SI GaAs Bulk Substrates - Witness Growing Demand Developing Markets - The Linchpin for Growth Migration of Fabrication Material Production to Low Cost Countries: An Ongoing Trend Taiwan: A Hot Spot for Semiconductors & A Major Market for Semiconductor Fabrication Material 4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE Table 1: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Global Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 2: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Global Retrospective Market Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 3: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Shift across Key Geographies Worldwide: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 4: Silicon Wafers (Product Segment) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 5: Silicon Wafers (Product Segment) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 6: Silicon Wafers (Product Segment) Market Share Breakdown of Worldwide Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 7: Photoresists & Adjuncts (Product Segment) Potential Growth Markets Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 8: Photoresists & Adjuncts (Product Segment) Historic Market Perspective by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 9: Photoresists & Adjuncts (Product Segment) Market Sales Breakdown by Region/Country in Percentage: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 10: Electronic Gases (Product Segment) Geographic Market Spread Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 11: Electronic Gases (Product Segment) Region Wise Breakdown of Global Historic Demand in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 12: Electronic Gases (Product Segment) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 13: CMP Materials (Product Segment) World Market Estimates and Forecasts by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2 to 2027 Table 14: CMP Materials (Product Segment) Market Historic Review by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 15: CMP Materials (Product Segment) Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 16: Other Product Segments (Product Segment) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 17: Other Product Segments (Product Segment) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 18: Other Product Segments (Product Segment) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 III. MARKET ANALYSIS GEOGRAPHIC MARKET ANALYSIS UNITED STATES Market Facts & Figures US Semiconductor Fabrication Material Market Share (in %) by Company: 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 19: United States Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020 to 2027 Table 20: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in the United States by Product Segment: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 21: United States Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CANADA Table 22: Canadian Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2 to 2027 Table 23: Canadian Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Review by Product Segment in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 24: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Canada: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Segment for 2012, 2020, and 2027 JAPAN Table 25: Japanese Market for Semiconductor Fabrication Materials: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 26: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Japan: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2012-2019 Table 27: Japanese Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CHINA Table 28: Chinese Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 29: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Analysis in China in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 30: Chinese Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market by Product Segment: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 EUROPE Market Facts & Figures European Semiconductor Fabrication Material Market: Competitor Market Share Scenario (in %) for 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 31: European Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Demand Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 32: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Europe: A Historic Market Perspective in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 33: European Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Shift by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 34: European Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020-2027 Table 35: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Europe in US$ Million by Product Segment: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 36: European Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 FRANCE Table 37: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in France by Product Segment: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 38: French Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 39: French Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 GERMANY Table 40: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Germany: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 41: German Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 42: German Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ITALY Table 43: Italian Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 44: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Analysis in Italy in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 45: Italian Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market by Product Segment: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 UNITED KINGDOM Table 46: United Kingdom Market for Semiconductor Fabrication Materials: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 47: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in the United Kingdom: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2012-2019 Table 48: United Kingdom Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF EUROPE Table 49: Rest of Europe Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020-2027 Table 50: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Rest of Europe in US$ Million by Product Segment: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 51: Rest of Europe Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ASIA-PACIFIC Table 52: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Asia-Pacific by Product Segment: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 53: Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 54: Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF WORLD Table 55: Rest of World Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020 to 2027 Table 56: Rest of World Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Historic Market Review by Product Segment in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 57: Semiconductor Fabrication Materials Market in Rest of World: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Segment for 2012, 2020, and 2027 IV. COMPETITION Total Companies Profiled: 86 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05896478/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 By Express News Service SHIVAMOGGA: An FIR has been registered against AICC president Sonia Gandhi at Sagar town police station in Shivamogga district for a tweet that was put out by the official handle of the Congress party. Advocate Praveen K V stated in his complaint lodged on Wednesday that the INC India handle posted a tweet on May 11, making false allegations against the Prime Minister and Union government. The tweets alleged that PM Care funds are being misused and not being spent for the welfare of the poor. The advocate claimed that the tweets have led to mistrust and provoked people. The police registered the case under IPC sections 153 and 505(1)(B). The total number of COVID-19 cases in Bihar soared to 1,987 on Thursday, when 211 people tested positive for the coronavirus, as the health department declared a 55-year-old man, who died at a hospital two days ago, as the state's tenth fatality due to the disease. According to State Epidemiologist Ragini Mishra, the deceased belonged to Khagaria district and died at the Sadar hospital in Begusarai. "His test reports came late Wednesday night, confirming he was infected with the coronavirus," she said. The district's health society programme convenor Shailesh Chandra said the cause of the death was cardiac arrest. The state has previously witnessed deaths of nine COVID 19 patients two each from Patna and Vaishali and one each from Munger, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Rohtas and Khagaria. Meanwhile, the state health department said 211 people tested positive on Thursday, raising the state's total to 1,978. The central Bihar district of Jehanabad reported the highest 50 cases, six of them females. Two girls aged 8 years and a 10-year-old boy were the youngest patients. The district's tally has now risen to 108. Other districts reporting a significant number of cases were Samastipur (25), Katihar (19), Rohtas and Gopalganj (17 each), Gopalganj (16), Sheikhpura (13) and Buxar and East Champaran (11 each). All the 38 districts in the state have reported COVID-19 cases and Patna, Munger, Rohtas, Jehanabad and Begusarai happen to be the worst affected, all of them having respective tallies in three digits. The number of COVID-19 patients who have been discharged, upon full recovery, from isolation wards is 593, the state health department said. More than 1,500 cases have been reported in the state since the beginning of this month, which has been attributed mainly to the large-scale influx of migrants who have been returning to Bihar in droves by Shramik Special trains and every other mode of transport available, many of them even on bicycles and on foot, much to the consternation of the government. Till date, 999 migrants have tested positive for COVID 19, the state health department said, adding that most infected returnees have come from Delhi (296), Maharashtra (253), Gujarat (180), Haryana (66), West Bengal (58) and Rajasthan (34). The number of samples tested so far is 55,692, an addition of more than 2,000 since the previous day. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been insistent upon raising the number of samples tested every day to 10,000 as Bihar braces for more arrivals of migrants. More than seven lakh migrants are currently lodged at thousands of quarantine centres set up across the state at district, block and panchayat levels, said state Information and Public Relations Department secretary Anupam Kumar. He also said that 85 special trains, carrying close to 1.40 lakh migrants, reached Bihar on the day and another 1.43 lakh are scheduled to arrive on Friday by 87 Shramik Specials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ex-head of the Inter TV channel, general director of the Atlantic Group holding Serhiy Starytsky was shot dead in the house of Kozhara and his wife outside Kyiv in February 2020. Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, who was charged with the murder of businessman Serhiy Starytsky and was remanded in custody, has been released on bail. "Kozhara posted bail and was released," Starytsky's daughter wrote on Facebook. Read alsoBusinessman reportedly shot dead in ex-Foreign Minister Kozhara's house outside Kyiv media As UNIAN reported earlier, ex-head of the Inter TV channel, general director of the Atlantic Group holding Serhiy Starytsky was shot dead in the house of Kozhara and his wife, Maryna Kozerod, in the village of Chaiky outside Kyiv on February 21, 2020. The incident was reported to the police by Kozerod. The preliminary theory was that the victim committed suicide while Kozhara and his wife were in other rooms of the house. Police at the scene seized a firearm, cartridges and a cartridge case. Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code (intentional homicide) while "suicide" remained a major theory. On February 22, the police reported that the criminal proceedings had been re-qualified from suicide to intentional homicide. On March 4, an investigative experiment took place as part of the case, but its conclusions are not to be disclosed being confidential while the pretrial investigation is under way. On March 25, the ex-minister was detained by police. The prosecutor demanded that the suspect be remanded in custody for 60 days. On March 27, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district court chose a preventive measure for Kozhara. He was remanded in custody until May 25 with an alternative of UAH 14.083 million (US$529,635) bail. At the court session, Kozhara's lawyers claimed that his wife had allegedly accidentally shot Starytsky when the latter was trying to commit suicide with a gun belonging to her husband. Kenneth S. Goodman, whose influential theories of reading dominated the teaching of reading in grade school classrooms in the 1980s and early 1990s, died in his Tucson, Ariz., home March 12. He was 92. The cause of death was several underlying health issues, not COVID-19, said Yetta Goodman, his wife of 67 years and frequent research collaborator. Whole language instruction emphasized that students learn to read through immersion in books and eschewed traditional systematic teaching of phonics and spelling. During its heyday, it dominated U.S. teacher-preparation programs and curriculum guidelines alike. The philosophy was also extremely popular in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom. His greater legacy is undeniable. I bet you that in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s theres hardly a teacher who went through a teacher education program anywhere in the country who didnt encounter Goodmans work, said P. David Pearson, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. One reason whole language became so popular among teachers was because it emphasized teachers knowledge and skill in responding to student needs, rather than scripted programs and curriculaan appealing refuge during a period, beginning with the 1983 publication of A Nation at Risk, in which policymakers tended to look skeptically at teachers work. Whole language was also one of the clearest expressions of longstanding progressive education thinking in its embrace of the idea that learning should be student-centered rather than teacher directed. Ken was kind of an incurable progressive who thought that, left to their own devices, kids would do good things, and would seek meaning in everything they did, Pearson said. The successive 50 years of literacy research following on the heels of Goodmans early work, based on experimental studies and cognitive science research, has concluded that, contrary to Goodmans ideas, skilled readers rely more heavily on knowledge of letter-sound correspondences than context clues when learning new words. For many students, that body of work notes, the alphabetic code must be explicitly taught, not incidentally discovered. Still, even Goodmans critics acknowledge that much of that research was directly inspired by his work. He was a scholar who thought the world worked a certain way, came up with a theory that was hugely influential that drove a heck of a lot of science because folks had to do studies testing whether he was right or wrong, said Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. And as often happens in science, a theory that drives a lot of work doesnt turn out to be correct. A Major Influence Born in Chicago in 1927, Goodman earned a bachelors degree in economics at the University of Michigan and eventually found his way to California. He was active in progressive causes in both states, something that would mark his career for the rest of his life. The activism made securing a public school teaching job in the 1950s somewhat precarious, which led to his teaching in private schools, and ultimately a decision to pursue graduate study. He completed both his masters degree and doctoral degree in education at the University of California Los Angeles. Returning to Michigan to teach at Wayne State University, he turned his attention to reading while working with students in the Detroit district. He was influenced by the linguistic theories of Noam Chomsky, Lev Vygotsky, and Jean Piaget, as well as by a novel teaching approach, called language experience, he had seen in San Diego, according to Yetta Goodman. We were excited about language experience because it was focused on having kids writing about their experiences, not just having kids write 500 Ss on a page. Thats what people were doing in those days, she said. Goodmans classroom-based analyses of students oral reading, and how they retold the stories theyd read, grounded most of his own research. Students errors, or miscues, he believed, provided insight into the reading strategies each student was using. Miscue analysis suggested that even young students were inferring things about language systems: For example, they often would substitute articles with other articles or determiners with determiners. And the miscues showed they were always engaged in meaning-making, not just identifying new words. In all, he theorized, readers relied on a system of cues to read: syntactic cues, or the function of words in a sentence; semantic cues, or word meanings and symbols; and graphophonic cues, or how letters looked and sounded. Those ideas were laid out in a number of papers, most notably in a 1967 article he wrote for the Journal of Reading Specialist, in which he called reading a psycholinguistic guessing game. Efficient readers, he said, engage in a complex process of sampling, predicting, and refining information using the cueing systems, not by attending to precise patterns, spellings, and syntax of words. The theory almost immediately revolutionized how educators thought about the reading process, said Pearson, who first encountered Goodmans ideas as a young graduate student. I realized at that time that the old model Id been reared on in graduate schoolthat reading was a sum total of all the parts that you accumulate on an assembly line of skillswas doomed, he said. Underpinning these ideas was the idea that, just as oral language develops naturally, young readers were naturally wired to learn to engage in systems of print and make meaning out of what they read. His ideas would soon give way to an emerging discipline under the moniker whole languagea term Goodman did not inventalongside scholars such as Frank Smith, Dorothy Watkins, among many others. His exact contemporary, New Zealand psychologist Marie Clay, would develop similar ideas and go on to found a popular reading-intervention program, Reading Recovery. Many of the implications of reading instruction came into focus: Since students were innately wired to read, they should be given access to many kinds of books, encouraged to write daily about their interests and experiences, and teachers should respond to students individual needs rather than engaging in traditional worksheets and sound drills. Not Dismissive of Phonics Goodman was not, as is often asserted, wholly dismissive of phonics, a view more accurately ascribed to fellow whole-language theorist Frank Smith. He believed readers did use knowledge of sound-letter systems when reading, but relied on them less as they grew more efficient. But he insisted that phonics should be taught only incidentallya teacher might, for example, call students attention to certain sound-letter patterns when students encountered them. In 1975, Goodman moved to Tucson to teach at the University of Arizona, where he would work for the rest of his life, ultimately becoming an emeritus professor of education. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Goodman was a much requested speaker at professional conferences for English/language arts teachers. He served as president of the International Reading Association (now the International Literacy Association) from 1980 to 1981 and as a board member from 1976 to 1979, and helped establish the Whole Language Umbrella subgroup (now Literacies and Languages for All) within the National Council of Teachers of English. In a sense, the evolution of whole language into a broad philosophy for teaching rather than a series of agreed-upon teaching protocols also proved to be its Achilles heel. One 1990 article concluded : One cannot draw from the literature a concise definition for whole language because no such definition exists. Whole language represents many things to many people and has been used to define many different elements of classroom reading instruction. And some of the hallmarks of the whole language classroom, including invented spellings, flexible lesson plans, sustained silent reading, and generally a lack of systematic grammar instruction, made whole language an easier target for critics, who deplored what was sometimes described as an anything goes approach to teaching. Goodman himself generally stayed away from the curriculum applications of his work. A lifelong skepticism of traditional textbook reading programs, his one experience writing curriculum does not appear to have been a happy one. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked on a Scott Foresman reading series based on his theories, which proved unpopular. For schools and teachers, it was a bridge too far, and there were too many choices to make and not enough direction to make teaching simple, and it fell flat in terms of its receptivity, Pearson recalled. And although Goodman insisted that the cueing systems were not directly applicable as an instructional method , teachers and professional-development providers implemented them in ways that some scholars found troubling. In a 1998 article, Marilyn Jager Adams, now a research professor at Brown University, found that many teachers were encouraging students to learn new words by relying on simplistic prompts, (Does it look right? Does it sound right?) based on the cueing systemsand they were often resistant to using phonics to help students identify new words. If the intended message of the three-cueing system was originally that teachers should take care not to overemphasize phonics to the neglect of comprehension, she wrote in that essay, Its received message has broadly become that teachers should minimize attention to phonics lest it compete with comprehension. (A recent Education Week survey found that the cueing ideas continue to be widely used by teachers and teacher-educators, and that they are the basis of some of the most popular early literacy curriculum materials on the market.) More damaging still to whole language was a new wave of empirical research beginning in the late 1970s. Skilled readers, those studies found, depended most on the sound-letter code to learn new words, not on context, as Goodman had theorized. Cognitive scientists, meanwhile, found that learning to read was not an innate process like learning to speak, but rather something that in fact needed to be hardwired into the brainand for many though not all, students, explicitly taught. Research reviews in the United States and in other countries have concluded that students do need to be taught phonemic awareness and phonics systematically and explicitly. My Science Is Different The ongoing reading wars pitting whole language and its successor, balanced literacy, against more traditional kinds of early reading instruction also represent one of the clearest examples of an ongoing split in K-12 education research, which often divides ethnographic, classroom-based, qualitative methods prioritizing observation and the craft knowledge of teachers from the quantitative, experimental research conducted by psychologists, cognitive scientists, and economists. As has been pointed out numerous times, researchers subscribing to those various approaches tend to work in different departments far across campus, attend different conferences, and publish in different journals. It was hard for Ken to argue with the psychologists in particular and people like Marilyn [Adams] ... on their own terms, Pearson said. He had a different way of doing research, and what he called evidence to counter their claims, they would not agree constituted credible evidence. In a 2019 interview with journalist Emily Hanford , who pressed him to respond to the body of cognitive research, Goodman alluded to those fundamental differences. My science is different, he said. In later years, Goodman was sometimes put in the role of defending whole language, as well as criticizing the movement in the early 1990s and 2000s towards standards and accountability. A frequent commentator and writer of letters to the editor to Education Week and other publications, as well as a source for reporters, he responded to a wide range of critics. Yetta Goodman, though, noted that her husband was a generous, funny man who liked a good joke, and whose sense of humor and graciousness permeated his interactions with students and colleagues. He enjoyed cooking, often holding elaborate feasts for graduate students after theyd finished their dissertations. And despite some well-publicized spats with other literacy researchers, he maintained good relationships even with those with whom he disagreed. I have this wonderful picture in my head which Ill never forget, she said, describing an IRA conference in the early 1980s. He and Jeanne [Chall, a Harvard professor who endorsed systematic literacy teaching], were asked to do a phonics and whole language thing together, and Jeanne came up to Ken and said, Lets walk inside together, arm in arm, so people know were good friends even if we disagree with each other. And they did. Some of the ideas that Goodman fought passionately for are now broad staples of ELA classrooms, including the importance of childrens literature, immersing new readers in books, and creating print-rich environments for students. And the last few years of policy has resuscitated the importance of comprehensionnot merely word identificationas a goal of reading programs, particularly in relationship to the background knowledge students need to understand what they read. Goodmans insistence that writing is a powerful complement to reading rich texts lives on in both the Common Core State Standards, and is a key notion in the current interest in improving elementary and middle-school curricula programs. In addition to his wife, Goodman is survived by three daughters, all of whom work in education, seven grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren. Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has appointed retired general Ajibola Kunle Togun as the Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, code-named Amotekun. A statement signed by Moses Alao, Special Assistant to Makinde on Print Media, also indicated that a retired colonel, Olayanju Olayinka, was appointed as the commandant of the security outfit. According to the statement, the two retired military officers will oversee the state security network which was put in place to check insecurity in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Mr Makinde on March 10, signed the State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) Bill, 2020 into law. The governor remarked that the initiative was purely to complement the existing security agencies in tackling security challenges and not a replacement for the existing ones. Vehicles and other equipment for use by the security outfit have been procured and it is expected that the appointment of the Chairman and Commandant for the outfit would pave way for its operations in the state. The statement further reads, The new chairman of the outfit, Gen. Togun, retired from the military having served as Director of Military Intelligence and former Deputy Director-General of the State Security Service. Togun, who attended the Government College, Ibadan, and Mount Olivet High School, Oyo, studied Zoology at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, between 1964 and 1968, before joining the Nigerian Army in 1968, where he served in the Awka Sector during the Nigerian Civil War. He was the first non-American Army Officer to score 100 percent in a military subject at the aptitude level. He served in various positions in the Army, including Presidential Guards, Dodan Barracks, Lagos; Defence Adviser in the Nigerian Embassy, Cotonou in 1979; Battalion Commander; Brigade Commander, Director of Military Intelligence. Similarly, the newly appointed Commandant of the Oyo State Amotekun outfit, Col. Olayinka (rtd), has several years of experience in the military, having served as Assistant Director, British Military Advisory Training Team, Defense Headquarters, Abuja; Deputy Chief of Staff (Logistics), Headquarters 2 Div, Nigerian Army, Ibadan and Sector Commander, Operation Safe Haven, Plateau State, among others. He began his military training at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Nigeria, in 1993, and holds a Higher Defense Management and National Security certification from the National Defense College, Abuja. He also holds a Masters of Strategic Studies certificate from the University of Ibadan, as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Criminology and Security Studies from the National Open University, Abuja. He also holds a Professional Diploma in Safety and Security Management from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, among other educational and professional certificates. (NAN) 21.05.2020 LISTEN Ghana emerged from British colonial rule in 1957 with great hope and admiration by many nations, as the Black Star of Africa. A few mistakes in global political-ideological alignment aside, Ghana has undergone a painful experience of four military adventures, and four Constitutions, the last one having lasted for 28 years despite one major flaw! The centralized power of the President in the Ghana constitution has hurt the nation more than any outsider can see. Dictators have been created who give the good speeches but appoint more than 3,000 Ministers, Deputies, Regional, District and City and town executives, many key positions to family and clan members, and hence make a mockery of democracy! The world bodies and financial institutions loaning so much money to Ghana must be alerted. Loaning money to an elected dictator with unlimited powers does not guarantee the intended use of money loaned. With no accountability billions of dollars in loans could be odious debts! Good News and the Irony: Ghana has created more Scientists, Medical Doctors, Engineers, and other professionals scattered around the world than most countries! And yet their voices do not count in their nation even as Ghana flounders and is unable or unwilling to create sound policies, simple data and revenue collection, and administrative management systems, and cannot even have a reliable supply of water and electricity. It is a disgrace! It is time for a change! 1957 seems like a long time ago, and the black star seems to have lost her shine! Ghana keeps falling with national debts piling up after every administration, and public theft climbing but unpunished. Greedy and selfish leadership in the last half-century, seem ready and dont care to sell off Ghana to the Chinese. Ghana is dominated by two political parties: the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a continuity of the former 11-year military junta called PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) led by Flt. Lt. Jerry J. Rawlings, and the National Patriotic Party (NPP), a resurrection of the old opposition to Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP in 1957-1966. In the last 28 years after the 1992 Constitution came into force, the NDC and the NPP seem to compete not for achievement in the public service but in beating each other in the limits and type of large loans procured, public corruption, and exercise of centralized elected dictatorial powers shown by increasing the size of Government and Ministers. For Ghana to survive it is time for Ghanaian youth and the sinking middle class to coalesce around an Independent Political Platform of honest dedicated Ghanaians willing and ready to sacrifice to serve their nation. They have to stand toe to toe against the corrupt politicians and their deceptive vote-buying bribery tactics. The time is now! A Review of the Recent History of Ghana: In the early 1960s a University graduate or any Professional could afford to rent an apartment or house and own a car on installment payments. In fact in most of the top high schools like Prempeh College, this writers high school, there were only one or two teachers out of about 20 who did not own a car. Today, half a century after first Premier Nkrumah was overthrown, fake revolution leaders and those who opposed Nkrumahs first Government have colluded in what appears like a mass public theft of two parties. More than half the University graduates cannot find a job; and even if they did they cannot afford a decent apartment in a good part of the city, let alone a car. More than $7 Billion in loans for public water, roads, Housing, and electricity projects have been squandered. Homes in affluent suburbs of the capital are still on water and power rationing with poly tank reservoirs and Generators now standard items in a home. In rural Ghana people still drink from river waters that are constantly being polluted by illegal surface mining dominated by Chinese immigrants allowed into Ghana by politicians and supported by local Chiefs. The time to change Ghana is now, in 2020. And this can be done by voting into power Parliamentary and Presidential Candidates on an Independent platform. Let politicians prove their worth in debates instead of buying their way to power through one of the NPP or NDC clubs. Problems have Solutions: The problems of Ghana are not insurmountable as Ghana is one of the most blessed nations with both material resources of gold, diamonds, minerals, and oil, as well as trained human resources, albeit scattered around the globe but most ready to return home. A few examples: - Technology: - No nation can be modern without the application of science and technology. The base of most Economic development and job creation, is the application of technology to improve the living conditions of man. This is the basis of financial growth! Ghana has missed the boat and we need a new direction. We must learn to participate in the production of solutions as we also consume. - Housing: - Despite low delivery on Housing, with an estimated shortage of about 2 million homes in 2019, Ghana Government has been spending Ghs 10-15 billion per year under the NDC, and then Ghs 30-31 Billion in 2018-2019 under the NPP on government payroll and expenditure alone out of the estimated Ghs 66 Billion GDP. Half this money expenditure could have gone into Mortgage Finance for Homes and would have created more than a million jobs. Instead the NPP government is spending $600 million to pay 100,000 University graduates a paltry Ghs 700 ($120) per month for three years under a program called NABCO- Nations Builders Corp. We can do better as a people. - Infrastructure: - Despite some small gains such as a new International Airport completed in 2019, most major projects - A Major 617 bed Hospital at Legon with an Israeli loan of $500 million, a 5,000 Homes Community in Saglemi for $200 million, and many school buildings started by the NDC were abandoned for more than 3 years by the NPP. The answer is that the NDC had also not continued major highway and housing projects started by the NPP in the 2000s. None of them think of the state losing tens of millions of dollars in wasted capital and interest payments on the loans. The public expenditure burden has jumped from around Ghs 10 billion in 2012-2016 to around Ghs 30 Billion by 2018-2019. -Agriculture: The effort by the current administration to boost up farming is in the right direction. However, in typical fashion of the partisanship, there has been little openness to the public about the financing and nobody will provide public accountability. The Solution: These example simply illustrates the need for a new direction by a new set of leadership in a new generation. The message has still not gotten to the NPP and the NDC leadership that Ghana belongs to all the people of Ghana, domestic and Diaspora, and that we as a people cannot survive unless and until we learn to work together towards a common purpose for all, instill discipline, manage our resources and nation according to our endowment, and be accountable to the people. Please join us in this bold step. Dr. Kwaku A. Danso, USA. Co-Founder/President, Ghana Leadership Union (GLU) Email: [email protected] Jeorge Wilson Kingson, Secretary Ghana Leadership Union Email: [email protected] and Justification. Prosecutors have identified another 91 cases that they believe should be dismissed because of the role disgraced former Houston police officer Gerald Goines played in the convictions. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Wednesday that her prosecutors have begun filing requests to judges to begin the process of getting each case dismissed. Prosecutors made a similar request to judges in February, citing about 70 cases between 2008 and 2019 in which defendants were convicted solely on Goines casework. Ogg said Wednesdays court action came in part because of the accusations against Goines in the operation that claimed the lives of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas namely that Goines lied on the search warrant used to raid their home. Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle would be alive if a municipal judge had not signed a falsified warrant, Ogg said. If that magistrate had known Goines had lied on previous warrants, then I believe he would not have signed the warrant that led to their deaths. WRONG DOOR: Botched Houston drug raid was not the first The entire list of cases under scrutiny has now grown to more than 160 an unprecedented number to be overturned by one officer, courthouse veterans said, and reflective of more serious recent scrutiny of police officers. This is not a matter that should be shrugged off, said Gene Wu, a state representative from Houston and a former prosecutor who has called on Chief Art Acevedo to provide more information about the narcotics division.. Its a serious indictment of the Houston Police Departments special investigations units. It will take a serious amount of work to rebuild the public trust for these types of cases. All of the defendants are people of color, prosecutors said. Prosecutors did not investigate the facts of each case but are asking judges to appoint each defendant a defense attorney who can work to get each case dismissed. Chief Public Defender Alex Bunin said that lawyers will now begin the long process of investigating each case, contacting individual defendants and filing writs on their behalf. Judges would then recommend to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals whether they believed individual cases should be overturned. If the appellate courts judges agree, the cases would return to Harris County, where prosecutors said they woulddismiss each case. For a single officer to cause this many convictions to be overturned, Bunin said, its unprecedented in Harris County. Goines is charged with murder in the Jan. 28, 2019, raid that ended in Tuttle and Nicholas deaths and with four officers getting shot. In addition to the state court murder charges, Goines is charged with civil rights violations in federal court. As investigators pursued their case against him, allegations of lying in past casework came to light. In February, judges overturned convictions of two brothers Goines said he bought drugs from in 2008 and recommended the states highest criminal appeals court find both men actually innocent. Ogg then said defendants in nearly 70 cases dating from 2008 to 2019 in cases in which Goines played a substantial role would be entitled to a presumption that the former narcotics officer lied to secure their convictions. In April, another judge overturned a third conviction one in which Goines said he purchased $10 of crack cocaine from a homeless woman and paid her with money for beer. QUESTIONABLE CASEWORK: Key Houston police narcotics officers at center of fatal Harding Street drug raid tallied few arrests, low-level busts With the new cases, prosecutors looked at all convictions during the period in which Goines signed the search warrant used in the case. They did not investigate the facts of each conviction, said Josh Reiss, post-conviction division chief at the district attorneys office. Instead, the list reflects cases in which Goines signed affidavits used to obtain search warrants used in each defendants conviction. Others said more defendants were likely victims of Goines alleged misconduct. I have no doubt there are more people out there who are sitting in prison based on false testimony or just sloppy police work, said Jonathan Landers, a local defense attorney who represented one Goines defendant whose case was overturned earlier this year. Its a sad situation, quite frankly. Goines defense attorney, Nicole DeBorde, criticized the DAs actions, which she said said were a self-serving effort to bolster prosecutors criminal case against her client. They have absolutely no new or independent evidence to suggest there is anything wrong with those cases, she said. They certainly do not treat any other cases the same way. I expect to see more and more of these as we approach election time. But Geoffrey Corn, a law professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston, said the action sends a clear message to law enforcement. Theres nothing more corrosive to the rule of law than breaking the law in pursuit of enforcing the law, he said. CASE OVERTURNED: Conviction for $10 crack buy, based on casework of disgraced ex-HPD cop Goines, is overturned Many of the cases now under review may have involved court cases where narcotics officers did find drug contraband. Does it mean some people who were actually guilty may go free? Yes, Corn said. But theyre not going free because theres something wrong with the law. Theyre going free because theres something wrong with public officials entrusted to enforce the law. Prosecutors declined to provide a list of all the new cases they believe should be reviewed but said defendants were convicted of minor misdemeanors as well as serious felonies that netted defendants double-digit jail sentences. The vast majority of cases were state jail felonies. The cases and new court filings are an indictment of the countys strategy fighting drug crime and raise other hard questions, said James Douglas, president of the Houston chapter of the NAACP. If youre an African-American male and youre accused of a crime, theres a tendency on societys part to not believe you, he said. If you say you didnt commit the crime, theres a tendency to believe policemen no matter what the facts indicate. st.john.smith@chron.com China to watch proposed constitutional amendment committee: scholar ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 04:49 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The Chinese authorities will closely follow President Tsai Ing-wen's () proposal Wednesday to create a constitutional amendment committee, given its potential to alter Taiwan's national status, according to a prominent scholar of cross-Taiwan Strait affairs. In her second-term inaugural address, Tsai announced plans to establish a constitutional amendment committee in the Legislative Yuan, which she said would serve as a platform for discussing "constitutional reforms pertaining to government systems and people's rights." Tsai said the committee's first priority would be to lower Taiwan's voting age from 20 to 18 -- an issue on which there is broad bipartisan consensus. In Beijing, however, the proposed committee will likely draw attention for other reasons, Chao Chun-shan (), an honorary professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of China Studies, told CNA Wednesday. The Chinese leadership will be monitoring "whether the committee makes any changes to (Taiwan's) national status or territory," Chao said. Aside from the proposed committee, Chao said, Tsai's speech was largely in line with her "no provocation" approach to cross-strait relations, and even contained an olive branch of sorts in its direct address to Chinese President Xi Jin-ping (). In her speech, Tsai referred to Xi as "the leader on the other side of the strait" and said she hoped he will work with Taiwan "to jointly stabilize the long-term development of cross-strait relations." In contrast, in her 2016 inaugural address, Tsai referred only to "cross-strait relations," while in her Jan. 11 re-election speech she made mention of "Beijing authorities" and "sides" of the Taiwan Strait. Already on Wednesday, a coalition of 14 civic groups, including the Taiwan Citizen Front and the Economic Democracy Union, held a press conference calling on Tsai to draft an entirely new constitution. Chiou Wen-tsong (), a researcher at Academia Sinica's Institute of Jurisprudence, argued that the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution's references to "national unification" and the "Chinese mainland area" have provided grounds for "dangerous" policies such as the opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) 1992 consensus of "one China with different interpretations" and the "one country, two systems" policy espoused by China. "What we need is not to amend the constitution, but to draw up a new one," the groups argued. Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Chiang Chi-chen () pointed out that the right to establish a constitutional amendment committee resides solely with the Legislature and cannot be carried out via presidential directive. According to the Constitution, a constitutional amendment must be initiated by 25 percent of the Legislative Yuan, and must be passed by at least 75 percent of the Legislature, with at least 75 percent of the members attending. Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party caucus currently controls 63 of the Legislature's 113 seats, meaning that they would need some opposition support to pass any kind of constitutional amendment. (By Lai Yen-hsi, Chen Chun-hua and Matthew Mazzetta) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address TORONTO and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the last two months, Canadians have shown incredible determination to keep our communities safe. Canadians have unquestionably understood that public health is a shared responsibility. As life gradually returns to normal, we urge Canadians to renew their participation in public safety. The COVID-19 crisis offers a unique opportunity to make our communities even safer. Every year, thousands of Canadians are victims of violent crime, such as murders and sexual assaults. In 2018 alone, 651 Canadians were murdered. While the majority of violent crimes result in arrests by our police services, thousands of warrants for violent suspects remain outstanding across the country. Dangerous fugitives pose a threat to our communities, and they must face justice. Since 2018, the Bolo Program and its Crime Stoppers and law enforcement partners have deployed unprecedented efforts to encourage Canadians to be on the lookout for dangerous fugitives. Millions of Canadians have been reached, hundreds of tips have been gathered, and arrests made. The Bolo Program has even offered rewards of up to $100,000 for any information leading to the arrest of some fugitives. But many of Canadas most wanted fugitives remain at large. And the COVID-19 crisis has not spared them. Standing in line and facing security checks to enter stores makes fugitives very uncomfortable, even if wearing a mask. Criminal activity, such as drug dealing, has been seriously disrupted, leaving them with very few options to sustain themselves. And frequently changing locations to evade justice is no longer sustainable, making them even more nervous. In short, their already rather complicated lives have become more so. Together, we stand a better chance of locating them. To fugitives, we want to say: Everyone is on the lookout for you, so just do the right thing. Call a lawyer and turn yourself in. To those harboring fugitives: Theres only one right thing to do, for you, the fugitive and your community. The next time you are alone and in a safe place, call the police or Crime Stoppers. To victims of violent crime and their families: We stand with you and will stay the course to keep our communities safe and bring you closure. To our law enforcement officers: We all recognize the opportunity for fugitive investigations the current crisis offers. Investigative actions that did not bring results two months ago may be highly conclusive now. The Bolo Program and Crime Stoppers are here to help you seize these opportunities. To our fellow Canadians: There are no bad tips. If you think you know something about the whereabouts of a fugitive, call the police, or Crime Stoppers if you want to remain anonymous. Let us all be on the lookout together for Canadas most wanted, now more than ever, to bring our police officers more tips, to bring victims the closure they and their families deserve, and to keep our communities safe. And if you are wondering how to be on the lookout with more and more people wearing face masks, go to boloprogram.org to find out. Linda Annis, Executive Director, Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers Max Langlois, Director, Bolo Program Sean Sportun, Chair, Toronto Crime Stoppers Media contacts Bolo Program Jennifer Lee PELICAN PR 416-276-4425 Media@rppelican.ca Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers Trevor Pancoust Pace Group 778.386.0843 tpancoust@pacegroup.com Toronto Crime Stoppers Sean Sportun, ICPS 416-904-3805 sean.sportun@gmail.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7c6a2ba4-1e1e-4cdf-80ed-648624f69ce8 In announcing the vetoes, Northams office issued a statement suggesting that the measures could have undermined the ACA by providing an alternative to buying coverage on the insurance exchange, which could lead to higher costs for those who remained. Northam won office in 2017 on a promise to expand Medicaid under the ACA, which has allowed more than 420,000 uninsured Virginians to get health coverage. Jill Karnicki/Staff photographer This account spanning three months at the Harris County Jail before and during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic is the result of on-site reporting, interviews and correspondence with nearly 100 inmates and employees at the jail complex in downtown Houston. We spoke to and exchanged correspondence with members of the jails medical team, detention staff and front office employees along with lawyers, city public health staff and pretrial services personnel at the Joint Processing Center. Reporters obtained internal emails and jail records and spoke with past employees to get a behind-the-scenes look at daily jail operations. QASR AL-MIHRAB, Iraq - He was burly, with piercing blue eyes, and it was clear he was in charge when he entered the Galaxy, a wedding hall-turned-slave pen in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Dozens of Yazidi women and girls huddled on the floor, newly abducted by Islamic State group militants. He walked among them, beating them at the slightest sign of resistance. At one point, he dragged a girl out of the hall by her hair, clearly picking her for himself, a Yazidi woman who was 14 when the incident occurred in 2014 recounted to The Associated Press. This was Hajji Abdullah, a religious judge at the time and labeled one of the architects of the militant groups enslavement of Iraqs Yazidi religious minority, who rose to become deputy to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Hes believed to be the late al-Baghdadis successor, identified only by the pseudonym Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. A group of investigators with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability is amassing evidence, hoping to prosecute IS figures for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide including Hajji Abdullah. Hajji Abdullah was previously accused of involvement in the slave trade, most notably in a wanted poster circulated by the U.S. setting a $5 million (U.S.) bounty on his head. But his prominence in the creation and oversight of the slave trade has never been spotlighted. IS fighters didnt take it upon themselves to rape these women and girls. There was a carefully executed plan to enslave, sell, and rape Yazidi women presided over by the highest levels of the IS leadership, said Bill Wiley, executive director and founder of CIJA. And in doing so, they were going to eradicate the Yazidi group by ensuring there were no more Yazidi children born. CIJA shared some of its findings with The Associated Press. The group, through IS documents and interviews with survivors and insiders, identified 49 prominent IS figures who built and managed the slave trade, as well as nearly 170 slave owners, including Western, Asian, African and Arab fighters. These also include top financiers, military commanders, local governors and women traders, many of them from the region neighbouring the Yazidi communitys villages. The AP also put together findings from ISs own literature, along with interviews with IS members, former slaves and rescuers, to establish how slavery was strictly mapped out from the earliest days, devolving into a free-for-all with fighters enriching themselves by selling Yazidi women as the groups power began to disintegrate. CIJAs focus now is to build cases that courts can use to try IS members for crimes against humanity or genocide. Countries can prosecute militants for individual rapes or torture or for membership in a terrorist group. But to prove higher charges, they would need the contextual evidence that CIJA provides, showing the crimes were part of a greater structure. Practically every Daesh prosecution that has ever happened anywhere in the world is a material support case, a membership case, Wiley said, using an Arabic name for the group. Prosecuting high crimes could serve as a counter-radicalization tool for IS supporters. In the first prosecution on charges of genocide against the Yazidis last month, a German court brought an Iraqi national to trial for enslaving a Yazidi woman and her five-year-old, who was chained and left to die of thirst. Meanwhile, a UN investigative team said it has collected evidence from Iraq, including two million call records, that can strengthen cases of prosecution for crimes against the Yazidis. CIJA is sharing its findings from Iraq with the UN team and is pursuing more evidence from Syria, where IS made its last stand. The Syrian Kurdish authority holds perhaps the largest trove of material from the group, as well as some 10,000 of its members, including 2,000 foreign fighters, in detention. Investigators steep challenge: documenting crimes committed over the course of four years against millions of people in different countries, while many IS members remain at large. In the Iraqi city of Mosul, for instance, the crimes took place among a population of nearly two million people over three years, including enslavement, attacks on dissidents, destruction of cultural and religious sites and training children in jihad. The Islamic State groups narrative is that slavery is a justifiable consequence of battle during its brutal capture of Sinjar, a region west of Mosul, as part of its attempt to establish a so-called caliphate. But the AP determined, based on CIJAs investigation and its own reporting, that the highest levels of leadership were directly involved in organizing an enslavement machine that became central to the groups structure and identity. Governing institutions were enlisted, from the IS cabinet that constructed the slave system, the security agencies that enforced it, the bureaucrats and Islamic courts that supervised it, and propaganda arms that justified it. Even as their caliphate collapsed around them, the militants made keeping their grip on slaves a priority. When slave markets proliferated out of the leaderships reach, internal documents show IS officials struggled to impose control with a stream of edicts that were widely ignored. A SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS launched its attack on the heartland of the Yazidi community at the foot of Sinjar Mountain in August 2014. Its unclear if Sinjar was attacked for its strategic location between IS holdings in Iraq and in Syria or with the specific aim of subjugating the Yazidis, an ancient sect considered heretics by the militants. In any case, the results were devastating: During the week-long assault, IS killed hundreds of Yazidis and abducted 6,417, more than half of them women and girls. Most of the captured adult men were likely eventually killed. Hajji Abdullah, an ethnic Turkman from Tal Afar, an area near Sinjar, was believed to be the highest IS judicial official in the area and so stepped in to play a key role in distributing slaves. The women and children their husbands and fathers butchered or missing had to learn to navigate the perverse rules of a world where they were considered commodities for rape and servitude. For five years I lived with them. They beat me and sold me and did everything to me, said the woman who witnessed Hajji Abdullahs casual cruelty in the Galaxy wedding hall. She dug her nails into her arms as she spoke, her skinny frame carrying more memories than her years are meant to handle. The AP is not identifying her because she was a victim of rape. Now 19, she said she was raped by nearly a dozen owners, including al-Baghdadi, who owned her for months before he gifted her to one of his aides. The woman was rescued in a U.S-led operation in May 2019. She spoke to the AP in a northern Iraqi town full of Yazidi refugees, including freed women and girls who underwent similar horrors. When Yazidis were seized, top IS commanders registered them, photographed the women and children and categorized them into married, unmarried and girls. Initially, the thousands of captured women and children were handed out as gifts to fighters who took part in the Sinjar offensive, in line with the groups policy on the spoils of war. Under early IS rules, war booty was distributed equally among the soldiers after the state took 20 per cent, known as the khums. According to survivors and CIJA, some fighters came to detention centres with pieces of paper signed by Hajji Abdullah confirming their participation in the Sinjar attack and entitling them to a slave. Women and girls also would be picked out to be raped by fighters, then returned to detention. By early 2015, the remaining women were transferred to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the caliphates capital, and then distributed across IS-controlled areas, CIJA and survivors of slavery accounts showed. The IS propaganda machine was mobilized to justify its revival of slavery. Articles, sermons and fatwas interpreting Islamic law were issued outlining how taking slaves was in accordance with Islam. Islamic Shariah law traditionally allowed and regulated slavery, just as many societies did throughout history, but almost all Muslim clerics now say slavery is no longer permissible. IS operated centralized slave markets in Mosul, Raqqa and other cities. At the market in the Syrian city of Palmyra, women walked a runway for IS members to bid on. Others, like the one in al-Shadadi, distributed women to militants by lottery. A June 2015 notification reviewed by the AP called on IS fighters in Syrias Homs province to register for an upcoming slave market, or Souk al-Nakhassa, giving those on the front lines a 10 day-notice to attend. Participants were told to enter bids in a sealed envelope. The Soldiers Department, or Diwan al-Jund, recorded fighters who owned slaves, usually referred to by the Arabic word sabaya. For a time, IS paid fighters a stipend of about $50 (U.S.) per slave and $35 per child equivalent to the stipend for a wife. The stipend eventually stopped, apparently because military defeats hurt revenues and because owning a sabaya became a sign of wealth and privilege. Managing the robust system turned out to be more complicated than the leadership planned. And chaos abounded. Slaves meant to be a reward to fighters were resold for personal profit, and some IS members made tens of thousands of dollars ransoming captives back to their families. Violence and abuse by owners led to rising reports of suicides and escapes among captives. That prompted a flurry of regulations on ownership and sales, uncovered by CIJA and Syria expert and independent researcher Aymenn Tamimi. As early as March 2015, IS officials in Syrias Aleppo province banned posting pictures of Yazidi women on social media, trying to crack down on electronic markets that rescuers and smugglers often infiltrated to extract captives. The CIJA archive contains a copy of an edict by the Department of War Spoils that banned separating enslaved women from their children, with a handwritten note ordering it distributed to all departments and provinces a signal that earlier decrees had failed to stop the practice. In July 2015, the Delegated Committee effectively the cabinet ordered all slave sales to be registered by Islamic courts, seeking to end sales among fighters. It also required the finance minister of each IS province to keep track of women between transactions. The rules only got tighter as the leaderships frustration over violations grew. One directive set punishments for selling Yazidis to commoners anyone not a fighter or senior IS official and for ransoming them to their families. CIJA documented cases of senior officials dismissed from their jobs or punished with lashes for making exorbitant sums by flouting the rules. Another document explained that only al-Baghdadi was in charge of setting policy on slaves and their distribution. A February 2016 edict required the Delegated Committees approval for any senior figure to own slaves a suggestion that even top officials were abusing the sales process. Captured IS militants offered a glimpse into the resistance the leadership faced in enforcing its rules. In the eyes of some in the rank-and-file, what they saw as their right under Islamic law could not be restricted. Abu Hareth, an Iraqi IS preacher held in a Baghdad prison, told the AP that many fighters didnt feel compelled to register sales in courts. You have a product and you are allowed to trade in it, he said. Abdul-Rahman al-Shmary, a 24-year old Saudi who traded in slaves and is held in a Syrian Kurdish-run prison, dismissed the rules as rooted not in Islamic law but in the leaderships need for control. It was about power and not for Gods sake, he said. Abu Adel al-Jazrawi, a Saudi who worked in the groups War Spoils department and is now imprisoned in eastern Syria, put it bluntly: Slaves were just the means for high officials to get rich. TALOOS JOURNEY Laila Taloos 2 1/2-year ordeal in captivity underscores how IS members continually ignored the rules. They explained everything as permissible. They called it Islamic law. They raped women, even young girls, said the 33-year old Taloo, who was owned by eight men, all of whom raped her. She asked that her name be used because she is publicly campaigning for justice for Yazidis. After Taloo, her husband, young son and newborn daughter were abducted in 2014 and she and her husband were forced to convert to Islam, which should have spared them from being enslaved or killed. But conversion meant nothing. What is this all for? They never had a second thought about killing or slaughtering or taking women, Taloo said. The family was taken to the Iraqi village of Qasr Mihrab, along with nearly 2,000 other converted Yazidis. At one point, the militants gathered all the adult men and took them away. Their bodies were never found but are believed to have been thrown into a nearby sinkhole, where bones still can be seen. CIJA found that Hajji Abdullah was among the senior IS officials involved in the execution of the men. Taloo was first sold to an Iraqi doctor, who three days later gifted her to a friend. Despite the rules mandating sales through courts, she was thrown into a world of informal slave markets run out of homes. Her third owner, an Iraqi surgeon, woke her one night and had her dress and put on makeup so four Saudi men could inspect her. One didnt like her ankles; another, a member of the IS religious police, paid nearly $6,000 (U.S.) for her. That owner posted pictures of his slaves online and, every day, they were paraded before potential buyers. It was like a fashion show. We would walk up and down a room filled with men who are checking us out, Taloo said. With each owner, she fought to keep her children safe. One man took photos of her then-two-year-old daughter, threatening to sell her to an Iraqi woman who couldnt have children. IS was known to separate children from their mothers, using them as household slaves or child soldiers, changing their names and forcing them to convert to Islam. One owner forced Taloo to have a baby then changed his mind and forced her to have an abortion. He also forced her to remove a tattoo she engraved on her skin carrying her husbands name. Another owner forced her to use contraceptives. A third owner got her pregnant and she forced her own abortion. Eventually, to free a relative, Taloo married a militant who turned out to be a senior IS operative. His long stints on the battlefield enabled her to escape: She paid a smuggler $19,500 she got from her family for passage out of IS-held territory with her children and sister-in-law. Today, Taloo still visits the sinkhole where her husband is believed to be buried, and for the first time last year she visited the house in Qasr al-Mihrab, where her family was held captive. The house owners, who had fled the IS takeover, have now returned, unknowingly living among Taloos cherished memories of her family that was. THE RESCUERS As their territory steadily diminished and defeat loomed, IS continued to crack down on members who, desperate for money, sought to sell slaves back to their families for large sums. Some fighters who did so were reportedly killed, survivors of IS slavery said. Some 3,500 slaves have been freed from IS clutches in recent years, most of them ransomed by their families. But more than 2,900 Yazidis remain unaccounted for, including some 1,300 women and children, according to the Yazidi abductees office in Iraqs Kurdish autonomous region. Most are believed dead, but hundreds of women and children likely remain held by militants, said Bahzad Farhan and Ali Khanasouri, two Yazidis who work as rescuers tracking down the enslaved. For years, the two have followed slave markets on social media, contacting smugglers and searching out IS militants willing to ransom their captives to their families. Working separately, they have secured freedom for dozens of women and children. Sitting under the shade of a tree at Lalish, the holiest Yazidi shrine in Iraqs Dohuk province, Khanasouri recounted how he managed to escape after being among about 250 people kidnapped by IS in his hometown five years ago. With the help of a Tunisian IS member he encountered in captivity, he has developed a network of insiders and confederates in his quest to rescue as many fellow Yazidis as possible. As IS crumbled, the rescue business was brisk as captors scrambled for money, looking for buyers, Khanasouri said. Now, with militants scattered some hiding in deserts and caves or in sleeper cells finding sellers is harder. Wielding his phone, Khanasouri shows maps of likely locations of IS safehouses in Iraqs western deserts, where he is certain surviving women are still held. Other women are hiding, either by choice or coercion, among IS families housed at the al-Hol camp in Syria, run by Syrian Kurdish fighters. Some captives have accepted their new identities, particularly Yazidi children who grew up under IS, Farhan said. Some women with children born to IS fathers dont want to return home because their Yazidi community has shunned the newborns. Khanasouri and Farhan have extended their search beyond the areas that IS once controlled, finding traces of women and children smuggled out by their captors who fled as far afield as Iran and Turkey. A Yazidi freed slave lost custody in a Turkish court of her nephew and niece who were found in an orphanage in Turkey. At times, they said, Syrian opposition fighters have refused to return enslaved girls they come across in their territory. One Yazidi girl, forced to convert to Islam and six months pregnant, was found in the northwest Syrian town of Azaz when fighters captured a Saudi IS militant transporting her. One of Farhans contacts, an opposition fighter, offered to bring the girl back to her family. But his commanders stopped the transfer. They said, 'She is now a Muslim girl, why are you sending her back to the infidels? Farhan said. A burglar has been jailed after being intercepted on a Romanian motorway while attempting to make off with a host of stolen goods, picked up across southern England. A vast collection of goods were found in the packed car, including silverware, jewellery and priceless war medals. Claudiu Popa, 23, operated within a professional criminal network of thieves who specifically targeted homes in Britain and plotted break-in operations. Claudiu Popa, 23, was jailed for three years and ten months at Taunton Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to commit burglaries Popa was initially stopped for a traffic offence in Romania on February 3, with police officers then going on to discover a haul of silverware, medals and jewellery in the back of his vehicle. He fled the country after being released on bail but police filed an intelligence report to officers in the UK, who were investigating a series of burglaries. DNA evidence linked the UK offences to Popa, who was arrested after being tracked to a hotel in Scotland where he had been working. Avon and Somerset Police said Popa was jailed for three years and 10 months at Taunton Crown Court on Friday, after admitting conspiracy to commit burglaries. The charges related to offences committed in Tickenham, Nailsea, Dyrham, Chilton Polden, Wedmore and Glastonbury between January 20 and 28 this year. Pc Mark Pollock said: 'Popa was one of a professional gang of burglars who carried out a series of offences in our force area. 'They would smash windows at the homes they were targeting and steal silverware, jewellery, and in some cases war medals. 'The crime group would courier the stolen property out of the country and into mainland Europe. Popa was initially stopped for a traffic offence in Romania on February 3 when a haul of stolen items was then discovered in the packed boot of his vehicle One bag taken from Popa showed a collection of silverware taken from UK homes 'We recovered DNA evidence at some of our burglary scenes and this evidence directly led to the arrest of Claudiu Popa in Scotland, where he was working at a hotel after fleeing Romania. 'In interview, Popa admitted his involvement in multiple burglary offences and said items found in his car had been stolen from homes within our force area. 'We're now in the process of working with officers in Romania to obtain photographs of all the recovered items and reunite as many as we can with their rightful owners, but this is going to be a complex and painstaking process.' Pc Pollock said there are other suspects linked to the case - two have been arrested for other offences in Switzerland and one is believed to be at large in Romania. He thanked the National Crime Agency, Interpol, Police Scotland and the Metropolitan Police for their help in the investigation. 'Criminals don't respect borders and in this case it's needed a Europe-wide effort to bring this offender to justice,' he said. Popa's red estate car was seized and the arrest helped police trace him back to the crimes The medals recovered from Popa's vehicle are believed to belong to 86-year-old Roy Bowden, who in January spoke of his heartache after realising his priceless family heirlooms had been taken. 'I'm gutted really. I was planning on passing down the medals down to my children and grandchildren,' Mr Bowden told BristolLive in January. 'My aunt's passed down these medals to me and I really wanted to pass them on to my own children and grandchildren.' The valuables stolen from retired Royal Mail worker Mr Bowden included medals received by two of his relatives including his great-great-uncle and grandfather. The priceless haul comprised items such as two Victorian naval silver long service medals and an Egypt medal bar - dated 1881. Speaking today, Mr Bowden thanked the efforts of police and said: 'I had resigned myself to never seeing my war medals again. 'It might be a bit of a waiting game to get them all back but hopefully the war medals will be returned to me in good time.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 05:20:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's COVID-19 cases on Wednesday exceeded 152,000 as the daily number of new infections dropped below 1,000. Meanwhile, Iran witnessed a higher surge of coronavirus cases with the tally approaching 127,000. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, climbed to 152,587 after 972 new infections were reported, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. The death toll from the coronavirus in the country rose to 4,222 after 23 more fatalities were added in the past 24 hours, he said. In Iran, 2,346 new cases of the novel coronavirus were registered, bringing the tally to 126,949. The country also reported 64 new deaths from the virus on Wednesday, raising the death toll to 7,183. A total of 98,808 coronavirus patients have recovered, with 2,673 still in critical condition. On the same day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that his country has got closer to the containment of the coronavirus pandemic in Iran. "During these three months, we have been advancing step by step without a retreat. In general, we've made good progress in the face of this dangerous virus and are almost on the verge of containment," he said. Saudi Arabia announced 2,691 new cases and 10 more deaths, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 62,545 and the death toll to 339. The kingdom also reported 1,844 more recovered patients, taking the total recoveries to 33,478. In Qatar, 1,491 new cases of coronavirus infections were detected, bringing the total number to 37,097, of whom 16 have died and 6,600 recovered. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 941 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 26,004 and the death toll to 233. Kuwait reported 804 new cases, bringing the country's total number of infections to 17,568, of whom 124 have died and 4,885 recovered. The total number of recoveries from the virus in the UAE increased to 11,809 after 1,018 more fully recovered. Israel reported six new COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day rise in the country since March 7, bringing the tally of coronavirus infections to 16,665. The deaths from the virus in Israel increased from 278 to 279 while the recoveries rose by 139 to 13,574. It is worth noting that the number of active cases in the country dropped to 2,812, the lowest since March 26. Earlier on the day, beaches and places of worship were reopened in Israel, under distance restrictions and hygiene measures. Egypt's coronavirus cases continued the surging trend to reach 14,229 after a daily record of 745 new infections were added. The Egyptian Health Ministry also reported 21 more deaths and 252 cases of recoveries, increasing the death toll to 680 and the total recoveries to 3,994. The North African country has received three batches of medical aid from the Chinese government to help its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In Morocco, the tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 7,133 after 110 new cases were added, which included 194 fatalities and 4,098 recoveries. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the European Union and Morocco have signed a finance agreement wroth 100 million euros (110 million U.S. dollars) to upgrade the North African country's health system. Oman's Ministry of Health announced 372 new cases of infections, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 6,043, including 29 deaths and 1,661 recoveries. Iraq confirmed 113 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections to 3,724, of whom 134 have died and 2,438 recovered. The country has received batches of medical aid from China and the support from a team of Chinese medical experts during their 50-day stay. In Lebanon, the number of COVID-19 infections increased by seven to 961, while the death toll remained unchanged at 26. In Jordan, a total lockdown will be imposed during Eid al-Fitr amid the unprecedented increase in the number of coronavirus cases over the past few days. The country registered 23 more infections on Wednesday, bringing the total coronavirus cases to 672, including nine deaths and 446 recoveries. Meanwhile, Yemen's health authorities recorded 13 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total confirmed cases in the war-ravaged Arab country to 180. The death toll of the pandemic climbed to 29 in different areas of the government-controlled provinces, including the southern port city of Aden. So far, the pro-government health authorities have recorded five recoveries. In addition, health authorities in the Yemeni Houthi rebel-held capital Sanaa has declared earlier a total number of four infections in northern Yemen, including one death. Enditem Joe Biden has warned that those tasked with enforcing the law are abusing their powers, offering a measured critique of the Trump administration a day after he declined to respond to President Donald Trump's attacks directly. Speaking on Wednesday to Columbia University Law School graduates via video, Biden urged them to protect the very foundations of democracy. "Trust in self-governance. Because right now, it's under attack," the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said. "The very people tasked with enforcing the rule of law are abusing their powers, protecting their friends, weakening the very principles that make our country work." His comments come amid escalating rhetoric from Trump and his allies pushing conspiracy theories and alleging improper behaviour during the Obama administration. Asked on Tuesday night how he'd respond to the allegations, Biden said, "I don't want to get down in the mud with these guys." Speaking at a Yahoo virtual town hall on Tuesday, Biden said Trump was trying to distract voters from his inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 90,000 Americans. Trump has said the virus will disappear "like a miracle". Broadly dubbing his allegations "Obamagate", Trump has pointed to the legal case of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, suggesting that the "unmasking" of Flynn's name as part of legal US surveillance of foreign targets was criminal and motivated by partisan There is no evidence of that, and Trump's accusations misrepresent the facts of the case. The "unmasking" of people in surveillance reports is a routine, legal activity in government - the Trump administration made 10,012 such requests in 2019. But they don't often become public, and in the Flynn case, Trump supporters point to it as evidence that Obama loyalists were out to undermine Trump from the start. The president himself has called it the "biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA". "This is his pattern. Diversion, diversion, diversion, diversion," Biden said on Tuesday. "The greatest crime? I mean, my Lord. Trump's cries of scandal come as the president and many top Republicans have used increasingly harsh rhetoric against Biden - hoping to foment doubt in voters' minds as election season beings to heat up. On Wednesday, a Senate committee led by Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson will vote on whether to issue a subpoena as part of an investigation into Biden's son Hunter and his work for a Ukrainian natural gas company that grew out of Trump's impeachment earlier this year. Over the weekend, Trump's two adult sons appeared to spread baseless, online conspiracy theories suggesting other criminal activity by Biden. Asked about that Tuesday, Biden called online posts about the matter sick." People know me. The good is the bad They know me. They know my faults, they know my talents, Biden said. Pointing to his decades in the Senate and eight years as vice president, he continued, "It's hard to lay on me some of the things that are just totally out of sync with anything in my whole life that anyone has ever said about me." Also on Tuesday, Biden was asked about Trump's firing of Steve Linick as the State Department's inspector general. Some Republicans have defended the move, arguing that it was within the president's rights, but Biden and other Democrats say it is part of a larger White House effort to undermine government oversight. Biden promised not to fire any inspector general should he be elected, saying those positions were "designed to make government honest". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The field of film and television in India has lost a number of gems in the past few days. In another setback, revered Bollywood scribe Manohar S Desai popularly known and referred to as ''MSM Desai'' breathed his last on Thursday, May 21, 2020 in Thane. The journalist who chronicled Bollywood from 1959 onwards, passed away after battling dementia and kidney-related issues for a prolonged period of time. A family member said that Desai who was 86 and succumbed to his ailments at 2.30 pm at his Dombivali residence. He is survived by his wife Janaki. For the unversed, Manohar S. Desai was born at Athani Taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka in the year 1934. He initially played roles in Kannada dramas for the All India Radio and began his writing journey as the (then) Bombay correspondent of Deccan Herald newspaper of Mysore. In his long and illustrious career as a scribe, MSM worked for many leading publications including the famed film Bollywood newspaper the Screen of The Indian Express Group. He covered many leading film events in the country and also international film festivals in Moscow, Tashkent, Berlin, London and Paris. A recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy in 2008, Desai, over the years had formed a personal rapport with many industry legends such as late Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Meena Kumari, B.R. Chopra, and many other celebs. Our prayers are with Manohar's family in these trying times. May his soul rest in peace. ALSO READ: Veteran Doordarshan Anchor Malvika Marathe Passes Away At 53 Due To Brain Cancer ALSO READ: Crime Patrol Fame Actor Shafique Ansari Passes Away After Battling Cancer, In Mumbai YEREVAN. So far, 2.4 billion drams have been spent in Armenia on measures related to the coronavirus disease, and the amount collected is 4 billion 540 million drams. The Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan, said this during a press conference Thursday. "So far, about 1 billion 98 million drams have been transferred to the special [bank] account on the coronavirus, 2 billion 15 million drams have been received from the state budget, another 1 billion 420 million drams will soon be received from the state budget; a total of 4 billion 540 million drams. The actual expenditure that came out of the [bank] account number was 2.4 billion drams. I consider this a very small number for such a large-scale measure. It is a catastrophically small number because according to various estimates, our country will need about 300 million [US] dollars by the end of the year for these actions," the minister said. According to him, 464 million drams were spent on the construction of relevant medical facilities, cost of the construction done so far has totaled 752 million drams, and 464 million drams have already been paid. Also, as per Torosyan, 1.6 billion drams have been or will be spentalso from other sources: loans, donationson medical devices. "Supplied492 million drams, waiting970 million drams, and in the tender stages164 million drams," he added. Almost two months after it docked in Guam amid a spiraling outbreak of coronavirus, the Theodore Roosevelt set sail, returning to the Philippine Sea to prepare the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to resume its mission, the Navy said. The ship left the island on Thursday morning Guam time to conduct carrier qualification flights. It was the first time the warship left the island since it arrived in Guam on March 27 under dire conditions. It feels great to be back at sea, said Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander of the Carrier Strike Group 9. Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew. The ship returned to sea despite a reported 13 sailors testing positive a second time after serving at least a 14-day quarantine and testing negative twice. The stubborn virus infected more than 1,000 of the sailors, killing one and hospitalizing several more. The plight of the Roosevelt garnered national headlines after The Chronicle published the desperate letter from former commanding officer Capt. Brett Crozier, who called for a speedy evacuation of the ship to prevent sailors from dying. His efforts, after becoming public, led to his removal from the ship. Shortly thereafter, the then-acting Navy secretary resigned after a controversial speech to the crew in which he bad-mouthed Crozier. Almost 4,000 of the crew were pulled off the ship and quarantined in the naval base or in individual hotel rooms on Guam. Meanwhile, a skeleton crew remained on the ship and cleaned and sanitized it from bow to stern. The Navy is investigating and expects to finish its probe and possibly reinstate Crozier. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also teamed up with the Navy to conduct a health study on the incident, which is also ongoing. The carrier originally departed San Diego on Jan. 17 for an Indo-Pacific deployment. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The smaller crew heading to sea on Thursday passed rigorous return-to-work criteria, the Navy said. We are scaling our manning on board based on our mission requirement, said Capt. Carlos Sardiello, Theodore Roosevelts commanding officer. Carrier qualification requires fewer personnel than other missions, and bringing fewer sailors on board will enable enhanced social distancing while underway. The sailors will try to adhere to social distancing on the cramped vessel, the Navy said, and practiced during simulations this week. New on-board standards include wearing masks, medical surveillance of the crew, adjusted meal hours, minimizing in-person meetings and sanitizing spaces. It was an unprecedented challenge to get to this point and Im proud of the Rough Rider Teams tenacity and resiliency in the face of uncertainty, said Sardiello. We are extremely thankful for the dedicated support and hospitality of Gov. Leon Guerrero, her staff and the people of Guam. They have been steadfast and proactive partners throughout. Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni The cars pulled in slowly to South Albany High School, unable to stop very long in the rain. There should have been grandstands. There should have been a band. There should have been balloons, gowns, pomp and circumstance. But on Wednesday as seniors pulled into the parking lot of the high school, all that greeted them was rain and love under a banner with their senior quote: "I am not afraid of the storms for I am learning to sail my ship." The 315 seniors at South Albany High School have weathered quite a storm along with seniors around the state as COVID-19 robbed them of the last few months between childhood and the rest of their lives. Schools around Oregon closed for good in April, ending classes through the remainder of the academic year. Seniors who were in good standing at the time of the closure were given passing marks for the semester but little hope of walking across the stage in June. "There's still a hope we can do something in August," said Principal Nate Munoz, who supervised Wednesday's cap and gown pickup. Students all received a class photo and a package of cookies as well, with teachers cheering them on. Textbooks had already been returned in a similar drive-through fashion in April. At the time, senior Grace Sitton described the feeling of visiting the school she never got to say a proper goodbye to. "The feeling I had pulling up to the parking lot was like nothing else," she said. "It really hit me that this is how it's going to end. The past 12 years of hard work we've all put in doesn't get to be celebrated the normal way. All the end-of-year traditions, such as dances, senior pranks, senior breakfast, senior all night party." Wednesday's gathering wasn't in lieu of graduation but a chance to celebrate seniors, Munoz said. "We could have kept it simple, but we figured we can do two things at once and really love on them and let them know we're still thinking of them." And while he might not see his seniors again until late summer, he hopes they'll keep his advice close. "One of the things I tell seniors is tough moments make tough people, and that's true right now." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Felicien Kabuga, indicted on charges of genocide in the 1994 Rwandan massacre of 800,000 people, appeared before a French court yesterday, four days after his arrest following a quarter of a century on the run. In his first appearance in public in more than two decades, the octogenarian was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, dressed in jeans and a blue jumper and wearing a face mask. Mr Kabuga is accused of bankrolling and arming the ethnic Hutu militias which waged the 100-day killing spree against Rwanda's Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Rwanda's most wanted fugitive, he was arrested on Saturday in a Paris suburb. His lawyers said in a statement ahead of the hearing that Mr Kabuga had the right to be presumed innocent and opposed being transferred from France to a UN tribunal which handles crimes against humanity, based in Tanzania. Defence lawyer Laurent Bayon said Mr Kabuga wished to be tried in France. The court will decide whether to hand Mr Kabuga to the UN international residual mechanism for criminal tribunals. The international court is based in The Hague, Netherlands and Arusha, Tanzania. The international court's chief prosecutor said it had already requested Mr Kabuga be transferred to UN custody. Mr Kabuga's voice was weak but audible as he confirmed through an interpreter his identity and parents' names. He gave his date of birth as March 1, 1933. Mr Kabuga's arrest marked the end of a more than two-decade hunt that spanned Africa and Europe. A one-time tea and coffee tycoon, he is accused of being a main financier of the genocide, paying for the militias which carried out the massacres, as well as importing huge numbers of machetes, according to the UN tribunal's indictment. He also co-owned a radio station which broadcast anti-Tutsi messages that fanned the ethnic hatred, the indictment said. The United States had placed a $5m bounty on his head. The French court granted a request by the defence to defer the hearing and set the next date for May 27. Leaving the courtroom, Mr Kabuga raised his fist as several relatives, including one son, voiced encouragement. It emerged Mr Kabuga could be held initially in The Hague rather than Africa due to coronavirus travel restrictions after war crimes investigators requested his transfer into UN custody from France. He was the most high-profile fugitive of the UN tribunal in Tanzania which tried suspects related to the 1994 massacre of 800,000 people. That tribunal closed years ago, but a successor body still operates there and in the Netherlands. "We already requested his transfer," prosecutor Serge Brammertz said as Mr Kabuga appeared in court. It "is definitely an option" for a first legal phase to be heard in The Hague, Mr Brammertz said. Mr Kabuga faces five counts of genocide for having allegedly been one of the chief financiers of the Rwandan genocide, suspected of bankrolling and arming the militias that slaughtered ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Travel to Africa could be difficult amid lockdowns to combat the spread of Covid-19, but Kabuga could be held at a UN detention facility in the Netherlands where there are also courtrooms which have been used to hold and prosecute key suspects of the Yugoslav wars. Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah think there is at least one more story to tell in a potential fourth outing for Will Smith and Martin Lawrences Miami cops. Smith and Lawrence reprised their lead roles in what remains the highest-grossing movie of 2020 with its $419m (342m) global haul 17 years after Bad Boys II. Adil told Yahoo Movies UK that he would be keen for a sequel to explore the world of the highly-trained AMMO team, which plays a key role in assisting Mike and Marcus with the third movies investigation. Read more: Bad Boys actors reveal surprising original stars The 31-year-old filmmaker said it would be a pleasure to helm another Bad Boys story. He added: We fell in love with those characters and also the experience of making the movie. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in 'Bad Boys For Life'. (Credit: Sony) We feel like you can do even a little bit more and you can also do a bit more with the AMMO team. I think theyre really cool characters. I think theres at least one more story to tell. One last, last time. Bilall said the duo is liaising with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Chris Bremner on the super exciting fourth movie, with a script on the way soon. Read more: Bruckheimer unsure if Johnny Depp will return to Pirates Adil and Bilall are also attached to the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop movie, which will see Eddie Murphy return to the role of Axel Foley for Netflix. Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in 'Beverly Hills Cop'. (Credit: Paramount) When I was a kid, Beverly Hills Cop II was my favourite movie, said Adil. He added: I watched it all the time and it triggered me to become a super big Eddie Murphy fan. Obviously after Bad Boys came out, it was a very Beverly Hills Cop kind of movie. It was the first job that we got. Eventually it didnt pan out and thats why we eventually did Bad Boys. Read more: Murphy hints movie career will soon be over Adil confirmed the Beverly Hills Cop project is still in their future, stating that a script is currently in the works. Read the full interview with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah about making Bad Boys for Life, Michael Bays unsurprisingly foul-mouthed advice and why they actually listen to what film critics say... Story continues Yahoo Movies UK: One of the craziest things about this film is that, as we speak, its the highest-grossing film of 2020. Whats that like for you guys? Adil El Arbi: Well, its by default! Its a big honour. In the pre-corona time, we were wondering how long wed stay as the most successful movie of 2020. It was like a funny joke to say that maybe wed be the most successful for a week or two weeks. And now, its for months and months. Its a big honour, but its also by default in extraordinary circumstances. The fans have been waiting so long for a Bad Boys sequel, with lots of delays and different people being involved. Did you guys feel the pressure of living up to the expectations of those fans? Bilall Fallah: Most definitely. I couldnt sleep every night. Youre dreaming of making the movie and then, one day, youve got the job and it becomes the real deal. The pressure was on from day one. But we had, of course, Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and Jerry Bruckheimer next to us. Having them and their trust and their confidence in us helped us a lot to go through it and to really do our best job. No one knows these characters like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Did they just slip back into it on day one? Was it easy for them? BF: It was just like that. From the first shot on the first day, it was like oh s***, its Mike and Marcus. The chemistry was there. Thats something magical. I cant explain it. 'Bad Boys For Life'. (Credit: Sony) Does that make your job a lot easier, if the actors are just on point from the first shot? AEA: Yeah. If you work with huge stars that have so much experience and were just like newbies who were kids when they made those movies then its very comfortable to have people that are so professional. Theres something magical that happens when you put these two actors together. You put the camera on and the chemistry is there instantly. You barely have to direct them. The direction of the Bad Boys films is such a big part of it because youre coming off the back of a Michael Bay film and he has such a specific style. Was it difficult for you to come in and put your own stamp on it? AEA: In the beginning, we wanted obviously to make a Michael Bay homage and an homage to the two movies. The first one and the second one are very different from each other and the first is a much smaller kind of movie. Read more: Ben Hardy says Bay is a Marmite filmmaker But only Michael Bay can do Michael Bay. You can try to emulate and try to do homages, but theres only one man who can really do his style. With the help of Jerry Bruckheimer, of course, we tried to blend a little of his style into the movie so there was something consistent. But at the same time, we had our strength and our style that we put into it and thanks to the producers, there was really a nice balance at the end of the day. And how important was he? Was he there to help you through it? As well as his little cameo appearance. BF: Well he was making his movie, 6 Underground, so he was in a total focus. The first day we met him was on the shooting day itself [for his cameo] and we were kind of scared. You know Michael Bay as a hardcore director and he yells, so we were scared but when we met him, he was super nice. He directed his own shot himself. The only thing he said is dont f*** up my baby. Michael Bay attends the press conference for the world premiere of Netflix's '6 Underground' on December 02, 2019. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage) You guys came off smaller films right into this blockbuster franchise that people love and youre working with some of the biggest stars on the planet. How did you get that straight in your head that you were making this movie with a lot riding on it? AEA: When we were shooting the movie, sometimes it was very surreal to imagine. It was like a dream we had. You had Will, you had Martin, you had Jerry Bruckheimer, you had huge sets, you had Bad Boys For Life on the clapperboard and our names on there. It was like it was a dream and like we dont belong there or fit there. You start to really freak out because youre working with all of these superstars and, as a kid, you were fans of them. You dont let it go too long because youve got to focus and do your job. Once in a while, we would freak out like fanboys and then we would just go to work because otherwise we would not be able to complete the movie. There are lots of really bold choices here as far as the storytelling goes that I think will surprise fans. Were there any restrictions put upon you, or were you allowed to just go for it? BF: There was already a script when we got the job, so a lot of those elements you see in the movie were already in the script. The reason we thought this was the perfect Bad Boys For Life and the perfect third instalment was that it goes deeper into the characters and its more emotional. Read more: Joe Carnahan quit Bad Boys over Will Smith rift The producers and Will and Martin wanted us to do our thing too. We had the freedom of really going for our stuff, but still respecting and having a balance with what is in the DNA of the previous two movies. Its always a balance. Bilall Fallah and Adil Er Arbi attend the "Bad Boys For Life" Miami After Party on January 12, 2020. (Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Entertainment) Jerry Bruckheimer has said in the last week or so that theres a script being written for a Bad Boys 4. Is that something you are involved with, or would like to be involved with? AEA: Sure, it would be a pleasure. We fell in love with those characters and also the experience of making the movie. We feel like you can do even a little bit more and you can also do a bit more with the AMMO team. I think theyre really cool characters. I think theres at least one more story to tell. One last, last time. As far as you guys know, where are you with it? Are you attached or is it still happening far away from you? BF: No, weve been talking with Jerry and with the writer, Chris Bremner. Weve been talking and giving some ideas for the fourth movie and now were waiting on a treatment or a script. Its super exciting. Another project youve been talked about for is the Beverly Hills Cop movie. I dont know how much you can tell me about where that is and what an honour it would be to work with another icon like Eddie Murphy? AEA: Well, when I was a kid, Beverly Hills Cop II was my favourite movie. I watched it all the time and it triggered me to become a super big Eddie Murphy fan. Obviously after Bad Boys came out, it was a very Beverly Hills Cop kind of movie. It was the first job that we got. Eventually it didnt pan out and thats why we eventually did Bad Boys. Read more: Vintage footage from Beverly Hills Cop But to be able to work with Eddie. The way we look at Will, like oh my God, this is Will Smith, he looks at Eddie Murphy the same way. How far down the process are you with that? Is it written? AEA: Theyre still working on a script. Eddie Murphy played detective Axel Foley in the 'Beverly Hills Cop' trilogy. (Credit: Paramount) Well Im really excited to see how that turns out. As a final question, did you guys ever imagine this Bad Boys movie would go down as well as it has, not only with fans but with critics as well? AEA: No. We thought wed be commercially pretty successful not the huge success it eventually had but with the critics, we were sure we were gonna get massacred. So that was a big surprise. And were you afraid of what critics would say? Does it bother you? AEA: As filmmakers, we would also consider ourselves film students. So we read all of the critics and we enjoy reading even the bad reviews because we feel like were learning something. We try to become better. But we did not expect that it would be so well-received. Its an action-comedy, its a commercial movie, its not a critics movie. But it was nice to see that. We made a lot of mistakes and some critics were right, but it only motivates us to do an even better job in the future. It has been absolutely wonderful to speak to you guys and Ill see you on Bad Boys 4! Bad Boys For Life is available to download and keep now and on Blu-ray and DVD from 25 May. Advertisement President Donald Trump defied Michigan's mandatory face covering policy on Thursday and toured a Ford Motor factory with no mask even though the company's executive chairman asked him to put one on. President Trump said he wore a face mask while in the back area of the factory - and showed off the navy blue covering with the seal of the president on it - but added he didn't want to give the media the 'pleasure' of seeing him wear one. 'I wore one in this back area. I didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,' Trump said during his tour of the Rawsonville Components Plant. 'I had the googles and the mask.' President Trump has been reluctant to be photographed wearing a face covering and is reported to have said it would send the wrong message as he pushes to get the country focused on reopening from the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 1.58 million Americans and killed almost 100,000. He came close to being photographed wearing a face covering when he was pictured holding up a clear, plastic face shield during his tour of the factory, which was converted to making ventilators to help fight the coronavirus. But he didn't wear a mask over his nose and mouth even after Michigan's attorney general said she would ask him not to return to the state if he defied the governor's executive order mandating face coverings when in public enclosed spaces. After the tour, Ford Motor Company put out a statement from its executive chairman, saying the president was asked to wear a mask. The state attorney general also has threatened legal action against Ford if Trump did not wear a face covering during his tour. 'Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit,' the company said. Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel told CNN: 'He is a petulant child who refuses to follow the rules. This is not a joke.' President Trump defied Michigan's mandatory face mask policy on Thursday and toured a Ford Motor factory with no covering The navy blue mask has the seal of the president of the United States on it President Trump was pictured holding up a plastic face covering President Trump showed off the mask and said it 'looked very nice' when he had it on backstage I won't put it on: Trump played with the personalized mask but said he would not wear it in public President Trump said it was his choice whether to wear the mask or not Ford executives giving President Trump the tour wore face masks President Trump carries a face mask crumbled in his hand during his factory tour Michigan requires people to wear some type of face covering in public enclosed spaces thanks to an executive order signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the end of April. There are no fines for violating the order but stores can refuse to serve those without the coverings. 'Honestly, if he fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facility inside our state,' Dana Nessel, a Democrat, had told CNN before he went there. She returned to the network after his public defiance and said: 'This is no joke. He is in a county right now where over 100 people died. He is conveying the worst possible message to people who cannot afford to be on the receiving end of misinformation. Nessel said she would consider bringing charges against Ford for failing to get him to cover up, although she spoke before the backstage picture leaked out. 'We're going to have to have a very serious conversation with Ford in the event that they let the president in publicly-enclosed spaces defy that order,' she said. 'The last thing we want to see is for this plant to close its doors again because somebody was infected by the president.' President Trump said he didn't have to wear a mask because he's been tested for the coronavirus and was tested again that morning. The mask prevents someone with the illness from transmitting it. He did say the mask looked good on him when he wore it backstage. 'It was very nice. It looked very nice,' he said of his wearing the mask out of public view. He said he didn't wear one during the public portion of his factory tour - despite Michigan's requirement - because 'I was given a choice.' The Ford Motor Company executives guiding him through the factory wore masks. Bill Ford, the Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company, who accompanied Trump on the tour, told the reporters traveling with Trump that it was the president's 'choice' to wear a mask or not. Asked if he should be wearing a mask to set an example, Trump said: 'I think it sets an example both ways. As they say, I did have it on.' During the visit, Trump touted his administration's efforts to fight the coronavirus in the state. President Trump nor his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows wore a mask but Housing Secretary Ben Carson and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner wore them President Trump answered questions from the press during the factory tour Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett (left) speaks with President Donald Trump during the factory tour President Trump did try on a plastic face shield during the tour, the face shields are made in the plant The Rawsonville Components plant makes protective gear and ventilators to help battle the coronavirus In his remarks, Trump told factory workers they were a 'national treasure' President Trump spoke among automobiles at the Rawsonville Components factory Workers wear face masks when they listened to the president's remarks We don't wear them either: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and chief of staff Mark Meadows also defied Ford's request to cover up 'We have done a tremendous job in the state of Michigan, not only in terms of bringing autos back - auto productions - back but also in terms of fighting the virus,' the president said at a roundtable with African American leaders on how the disease has infected disenfranchised communities. The group was seated five feet apart at a long table in a closed off area of the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The area was closed off by blue drapes. Behind Trump was a backdrop that read 'Transition to Greatness,' the president's new slogan. 'You'll notice at this table we are socially distanced,' Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who traveled with Trump to Michigan, pointed out. Also at the event were Republican Senate candidate John James and State Representative Karen Whitsett. James wore a mask during the roundtable. Trump touted Whitsett's story after she appeared on Fox News to describe how she took hydroxychloroquine and was cured of COVID-19. She's also met with the president at the White House during an event with people who survived the coronavirus. Also at the event, Robin Barnes, a real estate agent, said hydroxychloroquine cured her when she had COVID-19. She told Trump she heard him talking about the anti-malaria drug on television. 'I was able to call my doctor and say listen hey let's try this because, you know, this must be what's going on,' Barnes noted. She said got a prescription for it and the antibiotic azithromycin, also known as z-pack. 'I took it at 9:30 in the morning. By four or five o'clock I was breathing good. So it works,' she said. 'Thank you for that,' Trump told her. State Representative Karen Whitsett joined President Trump at a roundtable meeting; Trump has touted her story of how taking hydroxychloroquine cured her of the coronavirus Real estate agent Robin Barnes told President Trump she took hydroxychloroquine after seeing him talk about it on television and it cured her case of COVID-1 The president is taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against exposure to the coronavirus. He said he is finishing up his course of it this week. Trump's defiance of the face mask requirement during Thursday's factorcomes after Michigan's attorney general said he would be told not to come back if he refuses to wear a face mask. Michigan requires people to wear some type of face covering in public enclosed spaces thanks to an executive order signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the end of April. There are no fines for violating the order but stores can refuse to serve those without the coverings. 'Honestly, if he fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facility inside our state,' Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told CNN. Michigan requires people to wear some type of face covering in public enclosed spaces thanks to an executive order signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the end of April. There are no fines for violating the order but stores can refuse to serve those without the coverings. Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said President Donald Trump will be told not to come back if he refuses to wear a face mask when he tours a Ford Motor plant President Trump will visit a Ford Motor Company plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which has been recast to produce ventilators Ford Motor Co., line workers put together ventilators that the automaker is assembling at its Rawsonville plant During the roundtable, Trump offered his support to the state, which is suffering from heavy flooding in the north. He did not address his previous threat to with hold federal funding after the Michigan secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. 'Im not going to discuss that. There are so many forms of funding. What we want is good, straight, honest voting,' he said. Trump and other Republicans have claimed, without evidence, that mail in voting increases the chances for voter fraud. The president made that argument again on Thursday and explained why he, himself, votes absentee. 'Now, if you're president of the United States and if you vote in Florida, and you can't be there, you should be able to send in a ballot. If you're not well, you're feeling terrible, you're sick, you have a reasonable excuse - just a reasonable excuse - you should be able to vote by mail in,' he said. Trump has never been photographed wearing a face mask. He was not seen wearing a mask when he visited factories in Arizona and Pennsylvania over the past two weeks but he claimed he donned one for a few minutes backstage while at the Honeywell plant in Phoenix on May 5. Ford has a policy that all visitors must wear personal protective equipment and originally indicated Trump would wear one. But the company later backed down and said the White House has its own protective procedures and will make its own determinations about whether masks will be worn. Nessel threatened to take legal action against Ford Motors if the president doesn't wear a face covering. 'I know that Ford has asked him to do the same thing, but if we know that he's coming to our state, and we know he's not going to follow the law, I think we're going to have to take action against any company or any facility that allows him inside those facilities and puts our workers at risk. We simply can't afford it here in our state,' she said. 'We are just asking that President Trump comply with the law in our state, just as we would make the same request of anyone else in those plants,' she added, pointing out that an agreement that allowed auto workers to return to the plant included a provision that everyone will wear a mask and observe social distancing policies. She implored President Trump to think about the cost and work that would go into disinfecting the Rawsonville Components Plant after his visit. 'We're asking if President Trump doesn't care about his own health, doesn't care about the health and the safety of people who work in those facilities, at least care about the economic situation of, you know, costing these facilities so much money by having to close down and disinfect the plant after he leaves,' she said. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Ford said the company shared its safety policy, which includes a requirement to wear masks, with the White House. But the company backed down from saying Trump would be required to don a facial covering. 'The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination' about whether Trump and White House officials will wear masks during the visit,' a spokesperson said. Trump said Tuesday he'd consider wearing a mask if the situation warranted it. 'I don't know, I haven't even thought of it,' Trump said. 'It depends, in certain areas I would, in certain areas I don't, but, I will certainly look at it. It depends on what situation. Am I standing right next to everybody, or am I spread out. Is something a hospital, is it a ward, what is it exactly? I'm going to a plant.' 'So we'll see,' Trump said. 'Where it's appropriate, I would do it, certainly.' Michigan has had more than 52,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 5,000 deaths. Nessel wrote an open letter to Trump on Wednesday, asking him to wear a face mask during his visit, arguing he has a 'social and moral' responsibility to do so. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order requiring people to wear face masks in public enclosed places Protestors chant on the steps of the state Capitol in Lansing Don Richardson assembles a ventilator at the Ford Rawsonville plant that Trump will visit Whitmer has instigated tough measures to try and combat the pandemic. In addition to the face covering policy, she instituted a stay-at-home requirement that remains in effect. Restrictions will start to ease in parts of the state on Friday. Protesters, however, swarmed the state Capitol in Lansing to object to the shut down. President Trump has cheered them on. On Wednesday, the president argued the stay-at-home order should be lifted so residences can help out with flooding in the northern part of the state that has led to two burst dams and 10,000 people being evacuated. 'We have sent our best Military & @FEMA Teams, already there. Governor must now 'set you free' to help. Will be with you soon!,' he tweeted. President Trump on Wednesday threatened to with hold unspecified federal funds from Michigan after the secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. The state is crucial to the president's re-election effort. He won it by less than one point in the 2016 election. Trump declined to specify on Wednesday what laws he said Michigan was breaking when Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson mailed out the applications. Republicans have argued without proof that mail-in ballots increase voter fraud. Democrats claim Republicans are against it because it benefits voting blocs that tend to vote Democratic. 'Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing they're they're subject of massive fraud,' Trump said at an event at the White House with the governors of Kansas and Arkansas. Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.' Whitmer called the threat 'scary' and 'ridiculous' given the heavy flooding in Midlands county. 'We've got to evacuate tens of thousands of people who are worried and scared. On top of this global pandemic. And to have this kind of distraction is just ridiculous to be honest. It's - threatening to take money away from a state that is hurting as bad as we are right now is just scary. And I think something that is unacceptable,' Whitmer told CBS' 'This Morning' on Thursday ahead of the president's visit. MAY 5: President Trump did not wear a mask to a Honeywell mask plant, but did wear protective safety goggles MAY 14: The president also didn't wear a mask nor gloves when he toured a medical supply company in Allentown, Pennsylvania So far the president hasn't been photographed wearing a face mask. He told reporters that he put one on 'backstage' when visiting a Honeywell plant on May 5 in Arizona that was producing N95 masks to help deal with a nationwide PPE shortage due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump did not wear a mask when cameras were focused on him. He did wear safety goggles. He also didn't wear a mask when touring a Allentown, Pennsylvania factory last week that was a distribution center for medical supplies and protective gear. A naval air station in Texas went on lockdown Thursday morning after an active shooter was reported near one of the facility's gates. Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi said the shooter was neutralized and all gates remained closed. There were no immediate reports of what happened to the shooter or other injuries. The station had a similar lockdown last December. In another incident at the base last year, a man pleaded guilty to destruction of US government property and possession of a stolen firearm for ramming his truck into a barricade at the Corpus Christi station. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A state-controlled Chinese newspaper has warned 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy'. The chilling threat appeared in a Global Times article after China changed customs rules for iron-ore, Australia's biggest export. About one third of Australia's total exports - including iron ore, gas, coal and food - go to China, bringing in around $135billion per year and providing thousands of jobs. Recent tensions have raised concerns that Australian exporters are too reliant on China and should target other markets such as India and Indonesia. China's President Xi Jinping is pictured addressing the World Health Assembly last week However, the Global Times article said the new iron-ore rules were not designed to target Australia and that China had no desire for a trade war. 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy but won't fire the first shot in a trade war,' the publication wrote. 'In view of past experience, China won't be the one to take the first provocative step.' Last week China introduced an 80 per cent tariff on Australia barley and banned beef imports in apparent revenge for Australia's calls for an inquiry into coronavirus, which the The Global Times called 'malicious'. On Thursday China changed customs rules for iron-ore. They appear to make trade easier because mandatory inspections for every batch have been replaced by optional checks at the request of the importer. But analysts said the new system leaves the door open for Australian exporters to be targeted for extra checks compared with competitors. A haulage truck and an autonomous drilling rig at the Rio Tinto West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of West Australia Yu Lei of Liaocheng University told the Global Times: 'This is another implicit warning to Australia. 'It is associated with how Australia has acted and a general decline in demand for steel on the global level.' Iron ore is Australia's biggest export to China, bringing in $63billion in 2019. The new rules, which come into effect on June 1, state that customs officers can conduct safety checks for toxic elements 'if necessary'. The General Administration of Customs said the changes are meant to 'streamline' the process and 'facilitate trade'. This is a warning to Australia Yu Lei of Liaocheng University One trader at Lianyungang Port told the Global Times the changes would not be used to punish Australia. 'I see it as a value-added service that will improve efficiency and inventory turnover at ports,' he said. But iron-ore analyst Du Hongfeng told the AFR the new system could target Australian exporters. 'Australia asked for a groundless investigation [into coronavirus] by following a certain country (the US). Therefore the market will link this to other things,' he said. A source familiar with the situation told Daily Mail Australia it would not be surprising if Brazilian exporter Vale was prioritised over Australian exporters for streamlined customs processing. China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 66 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil. Analysts have predicted an increased demand for Australian iron-ore this year as China embarks on more infrastructure projects and Brazilian suppliers suffer from the country's coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes on the first day of the annual meeting of The National People's Congress, which will discuss China's economic recovery. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Daily Mail Australia: 'We welcome any improvements in administrative arrangements that could streamline the customs clearance of iron ore imports.' China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 66 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil Last week China introduced an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley after suspending imports from four Australian beef suppliers for 30 days over alleged labelling issues. Critics including Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have said China is seeking to punish Australia for calling for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has denied this and said the barley tariff is due to concerns that Australia was 'dumping' the grain at unfairly low prices, which Australia rejects. The Global Times said relations between the two countries have 'ebbed because of Canberra's incessant efforts to spearhead an independent probe of the Covid-19 outbreak in China in order to stigmatize the country.' Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an independent inquiry into the deadly respiratory virus and the World Health Organisation 's handling of the crisis Last month the Chinese Embassy called Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton 'pitiful,' 'ignorant' and a US 'parrot' after he told China to 'answer questions' about how coronavirus started. On April 26 Chinese Ambassador to Australia Jingye Cheng warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products in revenge. 'Maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef,' he told the AFR. The dispute comes after a torrid year for Australia-China relations saw clashes over political interference, human rights abuses in western China and Huawei 5G equipment. Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby told Daily Mail Australia that diplomatic relations are 'at their lowest point since they began 46 years ago'. Beijing has a track record of putting pressure on exporters during political disagreements. It includes encouraging a boycott of South Korean cars after the country deployed a US missile shield in 2017 and a ban on Norwegian salmon after Chinese rebel Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo that same year. 'Trade should be independent from politics, but it's hard to completely divide them in reality,' Mr Yu told the Global Times. Australia and China have had a free trade agreement since 2015 but some exporters have still run into difficulties as relations have soured. In 2018 Beijing imposed new customs regulations on Australian wine resulting in shipments being held up in Shanghai. And last year - after Canberra stripped Chinese businessman Xiangmo Huang of his visa - major ports prolonged clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days, claiming the delay was due to 'normal' safety checks. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. A gunman was stopped early Thursday at a gate of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, officials said. At about 7 a.m. local time, the base announced it was in a lockdown status on its Facebook page. If you are in or near the North Gate get out and away to safety, the statement said. Execute lockdown procedures remain indoors and away from windows. Naval Security Forces at the base responded to the gunman about 6:15 a.m., officials said in a later statement. Francoise Kieschnick, a spokeswoman at the base, said in an email that the shooter has been neutralized. Navy officials did not immediately say how the gunman had been stopped and referred questions about the gunmans status to the FBI, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One member of the security force, a sailor, was injured, said Ensign Mohammad Issa, a navy spokesman. The sailor is in good condition and is expected to be released later today, Issa said. All gates at the base remained closed Thursday morning. Police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service were at the scene along with emergency personnel, authorities said. Her full-time staff includes three clerks and herself, but because of the deluge of ballot applications requests and ballots, she added eight part-time employees who work in two shifts from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Groups representing childcare providers say their members need guidance around how the sector will operate ahead of their scheduled re-opening at the end of June. Yesterday it emerged there will be a reduction in the number of children providers can take care of and it's also expected children will be placed in small groups to limit contact with other children and providers. Crews in Satkhira district in Southwestern Bangladesh clear trees knocked over by Cyclone Amphan, May 21, 2020. Cyclone Amphan killed dozens of people and devastated parts of Indias West Bengal state and neighboring Bangladesh, authorities on both sides of the border said Thursday, as the region began to recover from the storm. Amphan, which Bangladeshs national weather service called the strongest cyclone in the 21st century over the Bay of Bengal, leveled tens of thousands of homes, destroyed roads, and downed utility lines before churning away from the region Thursday morning, officials said. Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal with a population of more than 14 million people, lay in the cyclones path as it made landfall along the India-Bangladesh frontier on Wednesday night. I have never seen such devastation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told a news conference in Kolkata as she reported that at least 72 people in her state were killed during the storm. The states meteorological office said Amphan generated maximum wind speeds of 185 kph (115 mph) while the average speed was between 155 kph (96 mph) and 165 kph (102 mph). The wind speed was 133 kph (82 mph) when it struck Kolkata on Wednesday evening. Chabbish Pargona is the worst affected district in West Bengal. The district has been devastated, Banerjee said, adding, the communication link is severed in many places and electricity has not been restored. She said her state government needed time to determine the scale of the damage. 17 districts hit in Bangladesh Across the border in Bangladesh, officials reported that as many as 16 people were killed, including six in an inland district that had not expected to be hit by the cyclone. The storm caused an estimated U.S. $130 million in damage in 17 southern and southwestern districts, officials said. The Bangladeshi health ministry said that 12 people were killed by Amphan three in Pirojpur, two in Patuakhali, two in Bhola, two in Jashore, one in Jhenaidah, one in Satkhira and one in Chittagong. However, the deputy commissioner of Jashore, an inland district, said the death toll was higher. We are updating the figures of the death toll from Cyclone Amphan. So far we have confirmation that six people three men, two women and one girl age 14 died when a tree fell on them, Mohammad Shafiul Arif told BenarNews. We have sent the updated figure to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief for inclusion in the official list. In the 17 districts, the storm destroyed nearly 56,000 houses and damaged more than 162,000 others, said Dr. Aminur Rahman, the state minister for disaster management. Worst hit were the districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat and Patuakhali. Nearly 11,000 km (6,800 miles) of paved roads have been damaged while 150 km (93 miles) of embankment got washed away. Electricity and mobile phone networks have yet to be restored in many places and innumerable trees were uprooted, Rahman told BenarNews. A resident of Satkhira, a coastal distict, described what he had lived through overnight. I have never seen such a cyclone in my life. It seemed like the end of the world, Azgar Ali, 49, told Reuters news service. All I could do was to pray ... Almighty Allah saved us. Meanwhile, Save the Children, a Britain-based NGO, said it had received reports that more than 5 million people were left without power in Bangladesh, while the Associated Press set the number at 10 million. Our biggest responsibility now is making sure that displaced children and their families can return to their homes, while complying with social distancing guidelines to protect people from COVID-19, said Mostak Hussain, the NGOs humanitarian director in Bangladesh said in a news release. Save the Children is responding to the needs of the people in the most affected areas, supporting the Bangladesh governments relief efforts, he said. As Amphan headed toward the region, Bangladeshi authorities moved 2.4 million people to 14,600 costal emergency centers. The cyclone crossed into Bangladesh around 7 p.m. Wednesday after first striking the Kolkata area. It later shifted direction, hitting landlocked districts in the southwestern and northwestern regions. You see, six people died in landlocked Jashore where the cyclone was not supposed to hit. There was no cyclone shelter in Jashore as it is not a coastal district, Abdul Latif, a disaster management consultant working with the government, told BenarNews. People in the district are not used to cyclones, he said, pointing out that the victims were struck by a falling tree. In addition, farmers in the northwestern Rajshahi region suffered huge crop losses from the storm because they had not prepared for Amphan, he said. Residents of Satkhira district in southwestern Bangladesh repair a dam damaged by Cyclone Amphan, May 21, 2020. [BenarNews] Rohingya survive Amphan Officials also blamed the cyclone for damage in Coxs Bazar, a southeastern district that is home to camps housing close to 1 million Rohingya refugees. The cyclone Amphan damaged more than 100 houses for the Rohingya refugees at camps in Ukhia, rendering nearly 400 people homeless. They have been staying with relatives, said Mohammed Sajjad Hossain, a spokesman in Coxs Bazar for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. In addition, more than 100 houses at other camps have been damaged. Repair of the houses has begun and the Rohingya have been provided with humanitarian assistance, he told BenarNews. Bhashan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal that recently became home to about 300 of the stateless refugees from Myanmar, survived without damage to structures built by the government to house thousands of the refugees, said Rahman, the state minister for disaster management. This island is highly protected, he told BenarNews. Despite the positive report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement calling on the Bangladesh government to transfer the Rohingya from Bhashan Char to the Coxs Bazar camps. The Bangladesh government properly brought Rohingya refugees stranded at sea ashore, but holding them on a tiny island during a cyclone is dangerous and inhumane, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Our fear that Bhashan Char would become a floating detention center has now turned into a fear of a submerged one. HRW said it had interviewed 25 Rohingya, including some who are on the island and family members in Coxs Bazar. Those on the island said they were being confined in prison-like conditions without freedom of movement or adequate access to food, water, or medical care and some alleged they were beaten by security forces, according to the global rights watchdog. The cyclone marks the beginning of monsoon season, adding further dangers for refugees who spent months on a crowded boat, starving and floating at sea, and now have been detained and beaten on Bhashan Char, Adams said. Shahriar Alam, the Bangladesh deputy foreign affairs minister, responded by calling the HRW allegations baseless and ill-motivated, Agence France-Presse reported. In addition, a navy spokesman said the Rohingya were being treated very well. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Meralco will shoulder the convenience fee charged to customers who settled their electric bills online during the two-month enhanced community quarantine period. The 47 transaction fee from March 16 to May 15 for those who have been paying their electricity bills using the Meralco app will be refunded. The service provider explained the additional charges. It said the charging of a convenience fee by a payment gateway provider is a common commercial practice in the online payment service industry, emphasizing the fees do not go to Meralco. Meralco apologized after the Department of Energy flagged numerous complaints received by its consumer welfare and promotion office regarding the convenience fees. "Perhaps what MERALCO should have done during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) period March 16 to May 15 was to shoulder the Convenience Fee charged by the payment gateway provider considering that the MERALCO Business Offices and Bayad Center branches and partner outlets were closed during that time. I sincerely apologize for this lapse," Meralco President and CEO Ray Espinosa explained to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi in a written explanation. Meanwhile, a group of lawmakers called on the House of Representatives to investigate the sudden spike in electricity bills imposed by Meralco while Luzon is under the community quarantine. Meralco last week explained that electricity bill received in May, which is based on actual kilowatt per hour consumption from current meter reading, may be significantly steeper compared to those from the past months. It said the March and April bills were estimated based on the average daily consumption from December 2019, January 2020, and February 2020 when customers typically consumed less electricity as the weather was significantly cooler. It attributed the increased May consumption to stay-at-home rules under community quarantine and increased use of cooling devices amid the scorching heat. SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Entravision Communications Corporation, (NYSE: EVC), a leading global media and marketing technology company that engages consumers, announced today it has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2020 honor by The Denver Post. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage , LLC. The anonymous survey uniquely measures 15 drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few. Entravision is a leader in the Colorado market, receiving numerous recognitions in the past, including 24 Emmy awards in 13 categories in 2019. This is the first time Entravision has been named to The Denver Post's Top Workplaces 2020 list. The specific rankings of companies and how they are placed in three categories, small, mid-size and large, will be announced at a special awards celebration to be held later this year. "We are extremely proud and honored to be recognized by The Denver Post as a top workplace in the state of Colorado," said Don Daboub, Senior Vice President of Entravision Colorado. "This is a testament to the hard work and effort put forth by all our employees and the Company as a whole. It is truly impressive to witness the commitment in delivering unparalleled content to our audiences and unique opportunities for our advertisers, all while maintaining an exciting, enjoyable and rewarding workplace. We are pleased to accept this award and congratulate all the other winners." "For more than a decade, the Top Workplaces award has helped organizations stand out among their competitors to attract talent," said Eric Rubino, CEO of Energage. "This differentiation is more important than ever in today's tight labor market. Establishing a continuous conversation with employees so you have a deep understanding of your unique culture is proven to help achieve higher referral rates, lower employee turnover, and double the employee engagement levels. No longer is recognition simply a much-deserved cause for celebration, but it's fast becoming mission-critical to establish a competitive advantage for recruitment and retention." About Entravision Communications Corporation Entravision is a diversified global media, and marketing technology company that reaches and engages consumers in the U.S. and other markets primarily including Mexico, Latin America and Spain. The Company's portfolio includes Entravision Digital, a digital media and advertising technology platform that delivers performance-based solutions and data insights, along with 55 television stations and 49 radio stations. Entravision is the largest affiliate group of both the Univision and UniMas television networks, and its Spanish-language radio stations feature its nationally recognized talent. Entravision shares of Class A Common Stock are traded on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol: EVC. Learn more at: www.entravision.com. About Energage Energage, a certified B-corporation, offers web-based solutions and advisory services that help organizations recruit and retain the right talent. Home of Top Workplaces research, Energage offers solutions that collect, understand and amplify the voice of the employee, enabling organizations to reduce unwanted turnover, lower recruiting costs and increase retention. Based on more than 13 years of culture research, advanced comparative analytics, and patented algorithms trained on more than 20 million employees at 58,000 companies, Energage has isolated the 15 drivers of engaged cultures that are critical to the success of any organization. For more information, please visit energage.com. SOURCE Entravision Communications Corporation Related Links https://www.entravision.com/ Once the formation of a choir is vetted, friction flares between the older, more uptight Kate and the earthier ladies, headed up by Horgans character (Lisa). Kate advocates a light classical repertoire, while Lisa and company return to their youth with selections from Yaz and Tears for Fears. Kate turns up her nose at such sober karaoke, but poptimism carries the day. While the choir was never intended as a public-performing unit, a commander likes what he hears and beckons the group to Royal Albert Hall. (The movie was inspired by a number of such real-life groups across Britain, and the BBC reality series The Choir had a season devoted to the formation of such a unit.) The director Billy Wilder, while filming a pet monkeys funeral in Sunset Boulevard, apparently told the cinematographer John Seitz, Johnny, its the usual dead chimpanzee setup. This movie climaxes with the usual car-speeding-to-Albert-Hall setup, and similar staples. Military Wives Rated PG-13 for occasional earthiness in dialogue. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, and other streaming platforms and pay-TV operators, or stream on Hulu. [May 20, 2020] Berger Montague: Great Lakes, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian Sued for Damaging Millions of Student Loan Borrowers' Credit, Mishandling Pandemic Relief SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, individuals representing a class of millions of student loan borrowers sued five of the nation's largest financial companies for illegally damaging borrowers' credit and mishandling CARES Act pandemic relief. This lawsuit, Sass et al. v. Great Lakes et. al., was filed against Great Lakes Education Loan Services Inc., a subsidiary of student loan company Nelnet Corporation (NYSE: NNI), along with national consumer reporting agencies Equifax (NYSE: EFX), TransUnion (NYSE: TRU), Experian (LON: EXPN), and the consumer reporting agencies' jointly owned subsidiary Vantage Score Solutions, LLC. The plaintiffs are represented by Towards Justice, a non-profit economic justice law firm, and Berger Montague, with support from the Student Borrower Protection Center. In March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which suspended borrowers' payment obligations and waived interest charges for most federal student loan borrowers, including millions of Great Lakes' customers. Today's lawsuit alleges that Great Lakes, which services the loans of more than 8 million federal student loan borrowers, mishandled the implementation of this relief by illegally providing inaccurate information about millions of its customers to Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, each of which in turn illegally reported this information to third parties. Further, each of these companies, in their capacities as the joint owners of VantageScore Solutions, LLC, which was also named in the complaint, treated this inaccurate information as derogatory and sold borrowers' improperly damaged credit scores to third parties. The complaint, Sass et al. v. Great Lakes et al., is available here: https://protectborrowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/sass_v_great_lakes-1.pdf "During a national pandemic, these companies illegally damaged the credit of millions of people," said SBPC Executive Director Seth Frotman. "For too long, the student loan system has crushed borrowers when they slip up, while industry has received a free pass when it harms millions. Borrowers deserve justice." "Student loan borrowers should have been able to breathe a sigh of relief that their payment obligations were automatically suspended by the CARES Act," said Berger Montague Attorney E. Michelle Drake. "Instead, they panicked as they saw their credit scores plummet. Defendants' business-as-usual approach to credit reporting in the wake of the CARES Act is inexcusable. Congress cared enough to change the law and spend billions of dollars. Defendants should have cared enough to change a couple lines of computer code." "These companies have admitted they made a mistake harming millions of student loan borrowers," said Towards Justice Director David Seligman. "They say they'll fix it soon, but for many the damage has been done, and the millions of Americans crushed by unforgiving student loan debt know too well that large financial institutions like the defendants here rarely allow borrowers the kind of lenience they seem to be expecting from the American public now." Plaintiff Cody Hounanian, the Program Director at the nonprofit Student Debt Crisis , discovered that his credit score had suddenly declined as he was shopping for a mortgage to purchase a new home. Through no fault of his own, Great Lakes inaccurately reported that his federal student loans had been "deferred" and this bad information then appeared on is credit reports and caused his credit score to plummet. As a result of his damaged credit, Mr. Hounanian chose to abandon his home search for the remainder of the pandemic and instead will have to move into his parents' house and place his belongings in storage. Today's lawsuit alleges that illegal practices by the companies named in the suit resulted in a measurable, immediate financial loss to Mr. Hounanian. "After years of fighting to protect student loan borrowers from industry abuse, I now find myself a victim of illegal business practices by companies across the financial services industry," said plaintiff Cody Hounanian. "These actions have not only harmed my ability to purchase a home, but it has also limited my financial opportunities in the midst of historic health and economic crisis. Today, I am continuing to fight to protect borrowers - not as an advocate - but as a plaintiff in this important case." The CARES Act suspends student loan payment obligations through September 30, 2020. During that time, borrowers' credit reports are supposed to reflect the loans as if there was "a regularly scheduled payment made by a borrower." This requirement is also reflected on Experian's own website , which explained in a blog post that "the Department of Education will report suspended payments to the national credit bureaus as though they were on-time payments." Despite requirements under the law, public complaints from borrowers like lead plaintiff Mr. Hounanian reveal widespread, improper furnishing and credit reporting. Specifically, borrowers whose loans are serviced by Great Lakes complain of their damaged credit caused by no fault of their own. Following borrower complaints, Great Lakes has publicly acknowledged its error. Great Lakes is the government student loan contractor that handles loans for more than 8 million customers and is the largest servicer of borrowers with federally held loans. Today's lawsuit demands Great Lakes immediately cease violating the California Consumer Reporting Agencies Act. Today's lawsuit also demands Experian, TransUnion, Equifax and VantageScore Solutions LLC immediately cease violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the California Consumer Reporting Agencies Act, and California's Unfair Competition Law. Earlier this week, Maryand's Office of the Commissioner of Financial Regulation issued an advisory to the student loan servicing and consumer reporting industries, warning of the risks posed to consumers by the illegal practices alleged in today's lawsuit. This lawsuit comes as industry and the Trump Administration face other allegations of misconduct related to the implementation of protections for student loan borrowers under the CARES Act. Three weeks ago, the Student Borrower Protection Center, in partnership with National Consumer Law Center and Student Defense , brought a different lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for unlawfully garnishing wages of student loan borrowers in default, in violation of another provision of the CARES Act. CONSUMER ALERT Federal student loan borrowers who have loans serviced by Great Lakes Education Loan Services, Inc. may have been impacted by this illegal credit reporting. This can negatively impact borrower's access to and how much they pay for credit. Credit reports are also routinely used by employers, landlords and others as a measure of borrowers' personal responsibility and damaged credit can cause borrowers to miss out on employment and housing opportunities. Affected borrowers should: Immediately download and save copies of each free credit report from annualcreditreport.com in order to preserve an accurate record of their current credit information. If they have experienced a change in their credit on or after March 13, 2020 (the date of the start of the Covid19 national emergency) and believe it was due to incorrect information provided by Great Lakes, contact the Student Borrower Protection Center by completing this form: https://protectborrowers.org/credit/ The Student Borrower Protection Center is a nonprofit organization focused on alleviating the burden of student debt for millions of Americans. SBPC engages in advocacy, policymaking, and litigation strategy to rein in industry abuses, protect borrowers' rights, and advance economic opportunity for the next generation of students. Towards Justice is a nonprofit law firm that seeks to advance economic justice through impact litigation, strategic policy advocacy, and capacity building. We were founded in response to the high volume of wage theft complaints that were not being addressed in Colorado, but quickly broadened our scope to take on cases that dismantle the power imbalances that undermine the value of work and diminish worker rights. Berger Montague is a national plaintiffs' class action and complex litigation law firm headquartered in Philadelphia with offices in San Diego, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. Berger Montague litigates complex civil cases and class actions in federal and state courts throughout the United States. In its 50 years of operation, the Firm has pioneered the use of class actions in America and recovered well over $36 billion for its clients and the class members it has represented. Please Contact: Michael Justin Pierce Policy Director & Managing Counsel Student Borrower Protection Center [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/berger-montague-great-lakes-equifax-transunion-and-experian-sued-for-damaging-millions-of-student-loan-borrowers-credit-mishandling-pandemic-relief-301063292.html SOURCE Berger Montague [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] UPDATED at 4:45 P.M. EDT on 2020-05-21 China on said it was gearing up to "perfect the legal system" of Hong Kong with national security legislation that will outlaw speech and actions considered subversive, pro-independence or part of "foreign interference" in the city. "The ... National People's Congress (NPC) will consider a draft decision on ... perfecting Hong Kong's legal system and law enforcement mechanisms ... with regard to national security," state news agency Xinhua reported, citing NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui. The announcement follows media reports that the ruling Chinese Communist Party could be gearing up to insert the new law directly onto Hong Kong's statute book without tabling it in the city's legislature. In Washington, where policymakers are weighing changes to Hong Kong's trade status if Beijing undermines the city's autonomy, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House: If it happens well address that issue very strongly, Reuters news agency reported. The draft law will ban "seditious" and "subversive" activities deemed to be aimed at toppling the central government, as well as external interference in Hong Kongs affairs, as well as "acts of terrorism," a phrase that has been increasingly used by the city government to describe pro-democracy protests, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. In mainland China, peaceful critics are often targeted with national security charges, including "subversion" and "incitement to subvert state power." The SCMP quoted a Chinese official source as saying that the opposition in Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) to recent attempts to pass a law banning "insults" to China's national anthem had led Beijing to conclude that it should find another way to enact the unpopular legislation. "We can no longer allow acts like desecrating national flags or defacing of the national emblem in Hong Kong," the source was quoted as saying, in a reference to the actions of protesters outside Beijing's Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong last summer. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam arrived in Beijing on ahead of the NPC's deliberations, slated for , the paper said. The government-leaning news site HK01.com also carried a story suggesting Beijing is gearing up to bypass LegCo and unilaterally enact the hugely unpopular Article 23 legislation that was shelved for nearly two decades after the last attempt to table it sparked mass street protests. Beijing breaks promise Government broadcaster RTHK also reported that "Beijing would be introducing its own national security legislation for Hong Kong and doing away with the need for [Hong Kong] to enact laws under Article 23." It said the likelihood of a strong performance by pro-democracy candidates in September's LegCo elections following months of mass pro-democracy protests could have been a factor behind the decision. Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said the move shows Beijing is abolishing its promise that Hong Kong would continue to function as a separate jurisdiction under its "one country, two systems" formula after the 1997 handover. "On the eve of HK's Tiananmen massacre vigil, Beijing is now scrapping its promise of #1country2systems by circumventing HKs legislature and directly imposing the most controversial national security law #article23 upon Hong Kong," Wong tweeted on . "This disputable legislation [will be] promulgated without any legislative scrutiny, just by the direct promulgation by #Beijing authority," Wong wrote, saying Beijing would create a "new mechanism" for directly enacting laws in Hong Kong. "Beijings move is a direct retaliation on #hongkongers efforts to arouse awareness over the past one year. Beijing is attempting to silence #Hongkongers critical voices with force and fear," he said. Hong Kong political commentator Liu Ruishao said he believes Beijing is trying to find a quick and effective way to end months of unrest in Hong Kong amid the coronavirus epidemic. "Beijing still believes that foreign governments and overseas forces are stepping up their operations in Hong Kong," Liu said. "They believe that this is a threat to national security." 'This is very unwise' This will really signal the formal end of the one country, two systems promises. By taking up this move, theyre just imposing something on the Hong Kong population without even going formally through the legislative council, University of Notre Dame political science professor Victoria Hui told RFA. Pro-democracy lawmaker Tanya Chan said the move also shows that Beijing hasn't learned from the mass public opposition to Carrie Lam's proposed extradition law, and to Article 23 legislation dating as far back as 2003. "Back in 2003, they shelved national security legislation under Article 23, at a time of huge public concern," Chan said. "Now, they are forcing that legislation on Hong Kong with no public consultation whatsoever." "This is very unwise," she said. The state-run China Daily said there are limited options under current Hong Kong law for prosecuting people for subversion and sedition. "What has happened in Hong Kong since June last year indicates that the legal system in the SAR is not only weak with regard to national security, as its limited number of relevant articles are scattered among various laws and regulations, some of which date back to British rule and many of which have been left in a state of dormancy since then, but also frail in its law enforcement power which has been unable to quell the unrest," the paper said in an opinion piece on . The HK01 report said the new law would be immediately enforceable in Hong Kong once it had been added to Annexe 3 of the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law. Such a mechanism could be re-used to pass any future legislation that was likely to meet with significant public opposition, whether in LegCo or on the streets. The move comes as Washington reviews the city's separate trading status under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, passed in . The separate status was based on China's promises that the city would maintain "a high degree of autonomy" and a separate legal jurisdiction for 50 years after the handover. Morgan Ortagus, Spokesperson for the Department of State, said the NPC statement and other reported plans were a violation of Chinese commitments and would be highly destabilizing, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community. She noted that Pompeo recently said the State Department is delaying the submission of our annual Hong Kong Policy Act Report to Congress to allow us to account for any additional actions that Beijing may be contemplating in the run-up to and during the National People's Congress that would further undermine Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy. Ortagus said that Chinas handover commitments that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy and that people there will enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms are key to preserving Hong Kong's special status in international affairs, and, consistent with U.S. law, the United States current treatment of Hong Kong. Sen. Ted Cruz, a member the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Beijings plans are unacceptable and will require a reevaluation of U.S. policy if it is not immediately reversed. As Ive long said, Hong Kong is the new Berlin, and now the U.S. must stand strong with our allies and hold the line against the spread of communism, he said in a written statement. Last year's protests escalated in June amid mass public opposition to plans to allow extradition to mainland China, before broadening to include demands for fully democratic elections, as well as accountability for police violence and an amnesty for protesters. The movement enjoyed widespread popular support, culminating in a landslide victory for pro-democracy candidates in November's District Council elections. Reported by Gao Feng and Rita Cheng for RFA's Cantonese and Mandarin Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Will Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman really die in 'Death of the Justice League'? Are the world's most iconic superheroes really going to die in 'Death of the Justice League'? Depends on how you mean A businessman has filed a High Court challenge against the Covid-19 lockdown rules in England - describing them as 'some of the most extreme restrictions imposed on fundamental freedoms in the modern era'. Simon Dolan, who according to the Sunday Times Rich List is worth 200 million, is bringing a claim against Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson over the regulations. Mr Dolan is seeking a judicial review of the regulations, which he claims are costing the economy 2.5 billion a day and are a 'disproportionate' breach of certain freedoms protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. His legal action, for which he has raised 125,000 from around 4,000 individuals so far through crowdfunding, is also challenging the decision to close schools and asks for disclosure of minutes from all Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) meetings since the beginning of the year. British businessman Simon Dolan is seeking a judicial review over coronavirus lockdown In papers lodged with the court by his legal team, his barrister, Philip Havers QC, argues that the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 are unlawful and beyond the Government's powers. Mr Havers says: 'The above measures are the some of the most extreme restrictions imposed on fundamental freedoms in the modern era. 'They confine every person in England to their homes save for limited purposes permitted by the state. Millionaire aviation tycoon Simon Dolan, pictured in 2011 with his wife Sabrina Simon Mr Dolan is bringing claims against Cabinet Ministers Matt Hancock and Gavin Williamson and is seeking a judicial review into the regulations put forward by the government He has raised 125,000 to his bid through crowd funding contributions from 4,000 people 'Parents may not see their children, nor grandparents their grandchildren. Worshippers may not attend their services, nor children their schools. 'Businesses must close, thousands will fail and millions of people will lose their jobs. Who is Simon Dolan? Monaco based aviation tycoon is worth 200m according to Sunday Times Rich List Simon Dolan is a businessman from Essex, where he was born in 1969. From the age of 13, he would sell scratch cards at school, a sign of his entrepreneurial flair. The tycoon left school at 16 and started doing people's accounts after putting an advert in a local paper. He founded SJD Accountancy, which was one of the first accounting firms to offer a money back guarantee. He sold the firm in 2014. In 2010, Dolan invested in new start-up companies on Twitter, initially offering a 5 million investment scheme for successful business pitches. He was then known as 'Twitter Dragon'. Aside from accountancy, he has invested in PHA Group Ltd, Oneserve, Jota Aviation, BajaBoard, Coast Autonomous and Jota Sport. In 2010, Dolan and his racing team were stars of the documentary 'Journey to Le Mans'. Mr Dolan is based in Monaco with his wife Sabrina and sons Enzo and Bowie. Advertisement 'And all political meetings and public demonstrations are, without exception, proscribed by law.' He also says Mr Dolan contends it was 'irrational and disproportionate' to impose lockdown rules 'on the entire country for a virus that was known to pose little risk of mortality or serious illness to the healthy working population, while posing much greater risks to those with pre-existing health conditions and, particularly, those over 70 years old'. Mr Dolan claims that only 253 people under the age of 60 with no pre-existing health conditions have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. Mr Dolan is described in the court papers as 'an entrepreneur who fully or partially owns a number of UK businesses which combined employ a total of around 600 people'. Mr Havers adds: 'His company, Jota Aviation Ltd, has in recent weeks made numerous flights to transport vital PPE equipment for NHS healthcare professionals and to repatriate British people stranded abroad, as well as flying daily for the Italian Post Office to help keep their goods moving. 'While he lives abroad, he is a British citizen with both parents living in England who may not visit them or his friends living in England, he may not attend demonstrations against the 'lockdown' policies that he would but for the fact that they are proscribed by the regulations.' The High Court will decide, based on the papers, whether Mr Dolan's claim can go ahead and, if he is unsuccessful at that stage, he will have the opportunity to argue at a court hearing why the case should proceed to a full judicial review. The Government has indicated it intends to oppose the claim, having responded to a letter outlining Mr Dolan's proposed action by saying his case is not open to legal challenge. Simon Dolan with his wife Sabrina and their children Enzo and Bowie at their family home near Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, in 2011 The tycoon, pictured at his Buckinhamshire home with wife Sabrina in 2011, claims regulations are costing 2.5bn a day MCLEAN, Va., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- KETTLER, leading Real Estate Services company, is proud to announce the redesign of their company website: www.kettler.com. The site is designed by San Diego based digital marketing firm, Lease Labs; and offers a clean, modern design, and easy navigation to help users get a glimpse into the company's history, career opportunities, partnerships, and more. The launch of the new website comes as an exciting addition to the company's innovative platform, and enhances its digital footprint. Kettler.com leverages responsive design and includes multimedia to help bring the company to life. The addition of extended visual capabilities such as dynamic and short form video, will allow KETTLER an opportunity to give audiences a value-driven user experience. "We believe our new website captures the KETTLER brand in a reimagined, intentional, and inspirational way," says Cindy Fisher, President of KETTLER. "It reflects our ability to tell our story through the core values, culture, and family foundation that makes KETTLER stand out in the marketplace." Notable changes on Kettler.com encourage customers of all types to take action From the Vendor Portal to real Resident Testimonials, the website is designed so users can become fully immersed in the brand and its expansive portfolio. "We see the company website as the front door to our business," says Daryl Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at KETTLER. "The design of the site allows us to welcome customers into our home, and our KETTLER family, by engaging them with interactive content, and leveraging who we are and what we are positioned to offer. Whether you are coming to us for a new home, or a new career, we are here to serve." The site will allow KETTLER to further position itself in the marketplace as a visionary leader equally in Multifamily Development, Asset Management, Acquisitions, Land, and Property Management. KETTLER hopes website will underscore company's excellence, and help educate prospective residents, property managers, and partners to come. For more information about KETTLER, visit www.kettler.com. About KETTLER KETTLER is an award-winning, multifamily developer, real estate investment, and property management company. Founded in 1977, the company has developed over 25,000 multifamily units, 5 million square feet of commercial space, more than 71,000 homes in 25 master-planned communities, and many of the D.C. Region's premier mixed-use communities. Headquartered in McLean, Va., the company manages approximately 20,000 apartments in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions. For more information, visit www.kettler.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Melissa Fasano, 703-852-5774, [email protected] SOURCE KETTLER Related Links www.kettler.com " " A buyer looks over a KAWS x Air Jordan IV sneakers during a sale at Overkill sneakers store in Berlin, Germany. Several dozen die-hard sneakers fans waited in line five days to get these limited-production shoes. So, how do you keep them looking new? Maja Hitij/Getty Images Refer to sneakers as "just shoes" to anyone with a closetful of Jordans and you'll likely get a searing case of side-eye, followed by a complete redux as to why sneakers are an integral nay, mandatory part of modern day fashion. But even if you don't drop big bucks on your kicks, chances are you don't want to walk around looking shabby, either. We talked to custom sneaker design and restoration expert Richard Brown, founder of Ohio-based Proof Culture to find out the best tips for keeping sneakers looking so fresh and so clean, clean. Those of you wondering why go to the trouble of cleaning shoes when you can just get another pair off the discount rack don't know the half of it. For many, sneakers come with major emotional attachments. "Every shoe has a story; I believe that at its core," Brown says. "I have shoes and I remember where and when I bought them, what was going on at that point in my life that made me excited enough to buy them." Of course, there's also the issue of value, as some sneakers are rare, limited-edition versions. The hottest models can even fetch big bucks decades later. For example, a pair of 1985 Nike Air Jordan 1s, worn by Michael Jordan, sold in May for $560,000 via Sotheby's auction site! (The estimated value was $100,000 to $150,000.) The vast majority of sneaks won't fetch that kind of moolah, though and it doesn't matter. "Most of the time there's a sentimental reason why someone wants to bring them back to life," Brown says. So here are five tips on how to clean your sneakers correctly: Advertisement 1. Get to Know Your Shoe " " Proof Culture restored these Adidas sneakers to almost new. Proof Culture Think of sneakers like laundry. You don't toss polyester and silk in the wash together, so don't treat your shoes the same, either. Sneakers need just as much care and consideration because they can be made from a bunch of different materials, like suede, leather and canvas. Plus, the cleaning method also depends on how old the shoes are. "It's a really exploratory process to understand how to deal with each shoe in its own way," Brown notes, adding that most canvas and leather shoes can be tossed in the washing machine for a quick refresh, unless they're really old the sneaker glue starts to deteriorate after about seven years. But be warned: "If you throw a pair of suede sneakers in the wash, rest in peace," he says. Not sure what the sneakers in question are made of? Look up the brand and style online for a product description. Advertisement 2. Do a Sink Scrub If you're skittish about tossing your beloved kicks in the wash, opt instead for a basic hand-cleaning. Brown advises putting a little bit of dish detergent (he suggests Ivory) in the sink. Then fill it up with cold water until it's good and bubbly. (Do NOT put soap directly on the shoe or brush because the detergent dye could affect the shoe's color.) Then, use a medium-bristled brush to gently scrub the shoe. "Avoid flat-out submerging the shoe into water," Brown says, noting that if the shoe doesn't dry properly it'll develop different problems, like mold and sole separation. Visual learners can check out this video by Proof Culture restoration artist Mone, who uses basic household supplies to get the job done. Advertisement 3. Paint With Care and Caution Chances are your local big-box retailer has an aisle full of shoe whiteners that promise sparkling results. However, Brown cautions against these discount products. "The problem with the shoe white is it almost never matches [the color of] whatever shoe you're going to use it on. A lot of shoes are some variation of white, not pure white," he says. Also, the whiteners are not designed for different types of leather. The end result he says, "looks really bad." If you don't want to spring for professional help and have a steady artist's hand, Brown recommends a brand of paints specifically made for leather, called Angelus. This line is of special interest to Jordan owners, as the company has created paints and colors to match specific models. "You don't have to mix the colors," Brown says, adding that the product quality allows the user to have confidence that it'll be absorbed by the leather instead of just sitting on top of it. Advertisement 4. Use Leather Conditioner "A lot of people don't take time to think that leather is just skin. Our skin gets dry and starts to crack," Brown says. "Same happens with shoes." Occasional leather conditioning can bring back the shine and prevent cracking. Do this a couple of times a year or whenever the leather starts to look dry. When it comes to leather conditioner, less is more. "A dab'll do ya," Brown says. Put a little bit on a white microfiber cloth. Rub it on the leather, then allow to sit for three minutes. Use a dry part of the cloth to buff it out. Brown's brand of choice is Lexol, originally made to use on car leather. Advertisement 5. Use a Shoe Tree for Storage A common problem in the sneaker-collector community is that people often buy shoes that are too big for them because they're so rare that people can't find them in their own size, Brown says. This oversizing leads to creasing in the shoe toes. "Shoe trees will not only help keep shoes from creasing, it'll also reshape your shoes if they're starting to turn up," he says. "If they have moisture or an odor a shoe tree will help absorb it." Now That's Cool Laces need some love, too! To breathe new life into laces grab a small bowl of water and work up some suds using a mild dish detergent. "Pop the laces in there and take your hands and rub them together. Do that, rinse and repeat two or three times," Brown suggests. Tackle any fraying or loose ends with the help of a heat gun or hair dryer. "Apply heat to the laces carefully and it'll make them look new again," he says. On May 18 th , Elsworth Warner, the Manager of the Robert Lewellyn Bradshaw (RLB) International Airport, said that, before the pandemic, they expected visitor arrivals to have continued their upward trajectory as observed in recent years. This motivated infrastructural upgrades and increased operational standards for a more comfortable welcome of guests. The small Caribbean twin-island nation had also hit the 1-million cruise passenger milestone over two consecutive years. The recently upgraded port facilities increased vessel capacity, using funds from the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. Last month, PM Harris told Sky News that educating the public is one of the reasons that the country registered no deaths and only 15 cases, which have now fully recovered, according to Foreign Minister Mark Brantley. "I want to commend our health planners, who, very early, saw the pandemic evolving and took steps, set structures in place [and] began an effective public education programme, the results of which we are now able to see," PM Harris said in the interview. Adam Boulton, Editor-at-large at Sky News asked if the pandemic is having a "severe economic impact," given the importance of tourism to St Kitts and Nevis and to others in the Caribbean. PM Harris confirmed, adding that "tourism-dependent countries are most significantly disadvantaged." However, he said that the government "responded very quickly with a stimulus package that has provided income support for those persons who have been engaged in the tourism and other sectors impacted." On when St Kitts and Nevis might welcome tourists again, the PM said at the end of April that this was a "moving target" and that people's safety "must come first". He said that the months leading up to the reopening of global borders gives time "to deal with the health imperatives of a new brand of tourism product which we now have to offer." This will address managing "where tourists go, [] the kind of contact that one would have, [] how we protect those workers in our hotel industry who are going to be very close, [] how we ensure that the natural assets that we have in our country are marketed appropriately and [that] those become some of the principal destinations." To assist in materialising more sustainable socio-economic initiatives on the islands, the government welcomes reputable foreign investors to become 'economic citizens' in exchange for a financial contribution. After passing a thorough due diligence examination, investors can obtain second citizenship from St Kitts and Nevis by contributing at least US$150,000 to a government fund. The programme has been in place since 1984, but its most recent investment channel the Sustainable Growth Fund was specifically designed as the safest and fastest option for second citizenship, particularly suitable for families. Though small, St Kitts and Nevis has extensive diplomatic relations and visa waiver agreements with two-thirds of the world's countries. It is known for prudent fiscal management, strong rule of law, and a business- and family-friendly environment. Contact: [email protected], www.csglobalpartners.com SOURCE CS Global Partners Related Links http://www.csglobalpartners.com The Jharkhand government has requested Ministry of Home Affairs for permission to bring stranded migrant workers from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Ladakh and the North-East by charter flights as they could not be ferried by buses or trains from these difficult places. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for flight permission on May 12, again urged him for permission to bring back the migrant workers by charter planes, an official release said on Thursday. Chief Minister Hemant Soren has requested Amit Shah, Union Home Minister, to give permission to bring back the migrant workers who are stranded in Andaman & Nicobar, Ladakh and North-Eastern states by chartered planes as there are no other means to transport stranded workers, it said. It referred to how Prime Minister Narendra Modis permission for movement of stranded people of Jharkhand by special trains helped bring back about 1.5 lakh migrant workers, students and other people of the state so far. In his request, Soren informed that about 200 workers in Ladakh and 450 workers in the North-Eastern states were still stuck and it was not possible to bring them back by trains and buses, so flight permission be sanctioned to bring them back safely, it said. The first transport of migrant was allowed when a shramik special from Telengana reached Hatia railway station on May one- paving way for running of such trains across the states during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Passengers will have to report two hours in advance and only those who have a departure scheduled in the next four hours will be allowed to enter the terminal building, the Airport Authority of Indias fresh guidelines on domestic air travel state. However, the civil aviation ministry has categorically stated this will not be the final standard operating procedure (SOP) on domestic air travel. The ministry has said the final guidelines on the resumption of air travel will be issued by the ministry later in the day. The AAI will have to follow the guidelines decided by the civil aviation ministry and the DGCA, a senior government official said. India will resume domestic flights beginning May 25, the government said on Wednesday, announcing a gradual reboot of air travel that was halted two months ago on the account of the lockdown imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the civil aviation ministry, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri tweeted. According to the AAIs guidelines, all passengers will have to compulsorily register on the Aarogya Setu app and the same will be verified by CISF security at the airport. However, Aarogya Setu is not mandatory for children below 14 years of age. State governments and local administrations will have to ensure the availability of public transport and private cabs for providing connectivity to the airport for passengers, the AAI has said. For commuting to and from the airport, both by staff and passengers, only the personal vehicles or select authorised taxi services/transport services with restricted seating to be permitted, it said. Upon arrival, an announcement will be made in the aircraft by the airline on for deplaning passengers in batches sequentially to maintain social distancing norms. At each point of interaction with the passengers, the airport operator should try to provide a glass shield or any other transparent separation as far as practically possible, for additional protection of airport personnel and passengers, it said. Inside planes, middle seats might not be left vacant, although such a proposal was initially on the table, said an official who also informed that measures will be taken to maintain social distancing at airports. On the completion of travel, passengers will have to abide by the guidelines laid down by the destination state. Passengers may also have to quarantine upon reaching their destination depending on the norms decided by the states. On arrival at the destination airport, passengers will have to adhere to such health protocols as prescribed by the destination states/ UTs, the guidelines added. Domestic flight services have been put on hold since March 25, when the nationwide lockdown was first imposed. International flights have not arrived in India since March 22. Cargo flights and those evacuating foreign nationals have been operating though. Resuming domestic flight services is seen as yet another step by the government in the direction of a graded exit from the lockdown which has been extended till the end of this month. The curbs have taken a toll on the Indian economy, stalling activities across sectors, including the aviation industry. Lufthansa on Thursday confirmed it was in talks with the German government over a nine-billion-euro ($10 billion) rescue that will see Berlin take a massive stake in the coronavirus-stricken airline. "The concept, which has not yet been finalised, provides for stabilisation measures in the amount of up to nine billion euros, of which three billion euros is in the form of a loan" from public investment bank KfW, the German aviation giant said in a statement. Under the plans mooted with the federal government's economic stabilisation fund (WSF), launched to cushion the impact of the virus pandemic, the WSF would acquire a stake of 20 percent in the airline group, as well as a convertible bond worth "a further five percent plus one share" in the company. The bond "can be exchanged... in the event of a public takeover offer by a third party," giving Berlin a blocking minority. If agreed, the solution would close weeks of wrangling over Lufthansa between Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU conservatives and their centre-left junior partners the SPD. Pro-business politicians among Merkel's ranks have long rejected excessive state involvement in Lufthansa, saying business decisions should be left up to managers. But the SPD has held out for a bigger stake that would allow Berlin to influence bosses over potential job cuts or environmental targets. Some of the centre-left's goals will be met with two state-appointed seats on the Lufthansa supervisory board, as well as "expected conditions" specifying "the waiver of future dividend payments and restrictions on management remuneration". Business daily Handelsblatt had earlier reported that the people nominated to the board posts would "not be politicians or civil servants", but rather businesspeople in a similar model to pan-European aircraft maker Airbus. Lufthansa said that an extraordinary shareholder meeting would have to decide on the required capital increase, which would dilute the value of existing shareholders' stakes. In its role as competition watchdog, the European Commission must also give its blessing to the rescue before it can go ahead. - Million euros an hour - Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said earlier in May that Lufthansa was part of Germany's "family silver" and that Berlin aimed to avoid a "fire sale" of valuable firms. If plans go ahead, it would be the first time the government has held a stake in the former flag carrier since 1997. But around 700 of Lufthansa's 760 aircraft are currently parked at airports and more than 80,000 of its 130,000 staff are on part-time work schemes. In April, the group was carrying fewer than 3,000 passengers daily compared with a pre-pandemic average of around 350,000 a day. Chief executive Carsten Spohr has said Lufthansa -- which also includes subsidiaries Austrian and Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss -- is bleeding "about a million euros in liquidity reserves per hour. Day and night. Week by week." The group's woes did not prevent the SPD attempting to play hardball in talks to try to secure influence. "The state is not some idiot that will just hand over money and have no say after that," SPD deputy Carsten Schneider told the daily Die Welt earlier this month. But bosses responded by warning that without state aid they could declare insolvency to benefit from a grace period during which they could try to sort out Lufthansa's finances. Such a step could mean painful job cuts, especially as Spohr has said there are now 10,000 too many staff given the state of Lufthansa's operations. Like many other airlines, most of Lufthansa's fleet is grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more In what could be a trial run for more of the same, Red Hat last week held a first-ever virtual technical summit to spread the word about its latest cloud tech offerings. CEO Paul Cormier welcomed online viewers to the conference, which attracted more than 80,000 virtual attendees. The company made several key announcements during the online gathering and highlighted customer innovations around Kubernetes, hybrid cloud and next-generation computing. As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, numerous tech events around the world have been canceled, postponed or turned into online-only events. This years Red Hat Summit was the biggest yet, according to Cormier. Cormiers keynote focused on the history of open source, virtualization, and hybrid and cloud technologies. While all of those concepts began as ideas, they now are integrated deeply into our daily lives, he said, especially hybrid cloud. One of his prevailing themes was the role innovation plays in the operations of tech companies. Cormier emphasized Red Hats pursuit of innovation in the use of hybrid technology, which he said is essential in order to scale. To that end, he detailed the growing partnerships with industry leaders including Ford Motor Company, Verizon, Intel, Microsoft and Credit Suisse. Hybrid requires a common development, operations, security and automation environment. This is essential in order to scale. Hybrid isnt a trend. Its a strategic imperative, he said. Innovation Is Key Red Hat made three major announcements during a virtual panel discussion: the companys latest OpenShift 4.4 release, Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, and OpenShift virtualization. All three announcements focused primarily on hybrid cloud, which garners about 31 percent of Red Hats customer base. OpenShift 4.4 is the latest release of Red Hats enterprise Kubernetes platform. Based on Kubernetes 1.17, it features a developer-focused view of platform metrics and monitoring for application workloads. It also provides monitoring integration for Red Hat operators along with cost management for financial planning associated with specific applications in the hybrid cloud. OpenShift 4.4 brings new capabilities that include pipeline support, new infrastructure functionality on HAProxy and DNS, and improved developer experience use cases, according to Matt Hicks, executive vice president of product and technologies at Red Hat. The new features enable serverless use, and the general path and foundation Red Hat is building on with Linux and Kubernetes. Red Hat announced its Advanced Cluster Management platform for Kubernetes to make it easier to run cloud-native applications at a large scale. The platform enables organizations to manage their Kubernetes clusters with consistency across the hybrid cloud. It works with Red Hat OpenShift deployed on-premises, on bare metal, and on major public cloud providers to native clusters from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Red Hats third opening day announcement was the availability of OpenShift virtualization a new feature built from the KubeVirt community project. The virtualization feature enables IT organizations to bring standard VM-based workloads to Kubernetes, helping eliminate the workflow and development silos that typically exist between traditional and cloud-native application stacks, explained Joe Fernandes, Red Hats vice president for products, in the cloud platforms business unit. OpenShift virtualization makes it easier to migrate and modernize existing applications and services on the industrys most comprehensive enterprise Kubernetes platform, he added. Broader Demographic Reached Moving the event from physical to virtual was a success, said Leigh Day, vice president for marketing communications and brand at Red Hat. It allowed event organizers to reach a much broader demographic than ever before. By the end of the event, we had more than 82,000 people registered and 56,000 attendees, she told TechNewsWorld. Without the usual travel costs and time constraints, the conference opened up a lot of opportunities for creative interaction between attendees and Red Hatters from around the globe. The virtual event also drew more customers and partners to viewing sessions than ever before because there were no physical space limitations. Furthermore, with an increase in attendees, Red Hat was able to gather more feedback so it can build even stronger events in the future, Day noted. Door-Opening Feat To say that the virtual summit was a huge success could be an understatement. Turning a physical event with an expected 10,000 attendees to a virtual event in less than two months was not easy, said Day. The engagement within the environment has to be one of the most notable successes of the Red Hat Virtual Summit 2020, she said. The virtual event had more than 64,000 unique visitors to the Ask the Expert and Chat sessions. It drew 118,000 unique total views to the General Sessions and more than 322,000 unique visitors to all the session content. One really unique thing we did was running virtual labs, noted Day. This is something that has never been done before, and we were able to deploy more than 1,500 labs for customers successfully. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Good Overtook Bad With any big event, you are going to expect to see some hiccups. Red Hats first virtual conference was not the exception. The problems ranged from speakers going over their allotted time to Internet outages in attendees homes. Still, most of the glitches were minor, and the event staff was ready to handle them, Day said. The bottom line is that Red Hat is not rejecting the notion of holding more virtual events. This will open the door for more hands-on experiences to be offered more broadly, Day said. Announcement Summaries During the second day of the summit conferences, Red Hat provided details about its ongoing developments in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the course of the changing data center, the open hybrid cloud, and the importance of edge computing. The running theme reinforced Red Hats belief in the role open source technologies and the communities behind them play in driving new innovations. The role of data in our lives is evolving rapidly to fit the unique challenges tech companies face today, noted Chris Wright, Red Hats chief technology officer. The amount of amassed data has resulted in rapid changes to the concept of the data center. Managing the cost and complexity of this new architecture at scale is a challenge for any business. It is not just about the quantity of data, but the quality of information derived from it, he said. Red Hat believes an open hybrid cloud is the best way to handle all this data into the future. Similarly, edge computing is vital to delivering the compute and data-intensive parts of the rendering pipeline offloaded to the cloud. To that end, Red Hat is working with the open source community, customers and partners to help organizations looking to accelerate their edge computing strategies. The company also has been working closely with members of its Open Data Hub community in developing a blueprint for building an AI as a Service platform on OpenShift and Red Hat Ceph Storage. Beyond Upstream First Perhaps one of the most significant announcements from Red Hat involved its heightened efforts to go beyond upstream first performance. An open hybrid cloud can meet the needs to bring operational models of a cloud. However, no upstream equivalent currently exists for operations. Red Had introduced the Operate First program to assist open source communities and its own cloud products with building operational knowledge directly into software. It hopes to leverage tools such as Ansible and the Operator SDK to glean insights into operational needs as a part of the software development cycle. When we operate first, we share operational knowledge, which can be as important as the code itself, said Wright. Also, Red Hat last week announced that Vodafone Idea Limited won the Innovator of the Year award. Vodafone Idea builds a Universal Network Cloud that reduces deployment times. Red Hat also announced other 2020 Red Hat Innovation Awards winners: BMW Group, Edenor, Ford and the Argentine Ministry of Health and Social Development. Unproven Path It is not yet a given how the tech industry in general will respond with future conferences. The actual effectiveness of virtual gatherings is still an uncharted course, suggested Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. In order of effectiveness, tech conferences have three primary values: They develop personal networks that are helpful with projects and careers. They allow sales to initiate and close deals. They convey information on products, services, and capabilities for both the companies that hold them and the companies that showcase at them. Virtual conferences, so far, dont help with personal networks. Nor are they good at closing sales, but they can be used to generate leads, Enderle told TechNewsWorld. Conferences also convey information well if the presentations can attract and hold an audience. That result depends a lot on the presenters execution. The majority of folks dont know how to do virtual conferences well, Enderle noted. Unless conference organizers can find a better way to meet all three critical requirements, the tech industry will go back to physical conferences once it is safe to do so, he predicted. That gives the industry around a year and a half to fix virtual conferences. Now, given we have no choice at the moment, there is a reasonably good chance someone may figure out how to do this right by the time the mandatory aspect of these things expires, Enderle concluded. Whats Next for Red Hat? At this point, company officials do not want to make any predictions for next year. It is still too early to say. However, Red Hat is considering how to leverage what officials learned from this experience to make 2021 even better, Day said. The future could bring a hybrid sort of model that combines digital components with in-person events and meetings. We know that face-to-face interaction is still so important for customer and partner engagement, said Day. But we are also learning a lot about the appetite for content and the desire for connection from an expanded global audience. We will want to continue expanding on that in the future. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly five million cases and over 327,000 deaths worldwide. The signs and symptoms of this disease are varied, although there are typical features which assist diagnosis. In Madrid, Spain, there have been over 66,000 reported cases, with over 40,000 hospital admissions until the first week of May. In most cases, symptoms are mild or nil. Another smaller set of patients manifests moderate sickness, while about 5 percent develop life-threatening complications, apparently due to an overactive immune response. Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (purple), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID Reason for exploring links between COVID-19 and rheumatic disease Researchers have noted that COVID-19 has a higher case rate and severity in patients who have risk factors like being older or having underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and prior history of lung disease. The effect of a history of rheumatic disease on the risk for COVID-19 is not apparent, neither is it known if this predisposes COVID-19 patients to the risk of more severe infection or a worse outcome. This is not the case with previous outbreaks of coronavirus-caused respiratory illnesses such as SARS or MERS. Early studies on COVID-19 patients show that the presence of chronic rheumatic conditions or treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) do not confer increased risk for respiratory or fatal complications as compared to the general risk. Now, a new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* explores the risk factors for hospital admission in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD) and COVID-19. How was the IRD-COVID-19 risk factor study carried out? The study was carried out from March 1, 2020, to April 24, 2020, at a tertiary hospital in Madrid. All patients who attended the rheumatology outpatient clinic during this period were enrolled in the study, if they were over 16 years of age, were diagnosed with IRD, and had symptomatic COVID-19, either by clinical criteria or by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. The data collected from these patients included sociodemographic characteristics, the type of inflammatory rheumatic disease, and the incidence of other diseases at baseline, such as lung or liver disease, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, kidney disease, and hyperlipidemias. Thyroid, heart and vascular disease were also noted. The researchers also included any treatment for IRD and the type, if so. Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) had to begin a month or more before the study, continue through March 21 or longer, or until admission or the end of the study. The hospital admissions were reviewed to make sure that all were related to COVID-19 rather than other conditions. There were 123 IRD patients with symptoms of COVID-19, mostly women aged 60 years, on average, with the disease having evolved over 10.7 years on average. The primary diagnosis was rheumatoid arthritis, in 41%, followed by axial spondyloarthritis in 15% of patients. Many patients also had one or more additional conditions, mostly high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and lung disease. Most patients were on conventional synthetic DMARDs at the start of the study, half on glucocorticoids and a quarter on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). A fifth was on biologic DMARDs, with 6.5% on Adalimumab and 4% on Rituximab. About 15% of patients on biologics were also on synthetic DMARDs. Among these 123 patients, 54 needed hospitalization due to COVID-19. About 60% were women, and the mean age was 70 years, with the median duration from the first symptom to admission being five days. The duration of stay was a median of 9 days. Most patients (86%) were put on hydroxychloroquine, and 52% were treated with corticosteroids. Another 18 were on antivirals and 3 on the anti-IL-6 drug tocilizumab. About 20 patients developed complications while in hospital, most commonly myocarditis, thrombosis, and kidney failure. Only 2 required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. What did the researchers conclude? The analysis showed that being elderly, as well as having any of the following medical conditions, increased the risk of hospital admission: chronic inflammatory arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease. The use of NSAIDs or biologics targeting TNF had a smaller association. Glucocorticoids tended to increase the risk, while antimalarials lowered the risk. Multivariate analysis failed to confirm a statistical difference between different types of DMARDs. The only risk factors were older age and the presence of systemic autoimmune conditions. Glucocorticoids, any of the diseases listed below, and the female sex, also showed a trend towards higher risk for admission. However, this was not statistically significant - diabetes mellitus, pulmonary disease, ischemic vascular disease, hypertension, venous thrombosis/lung embolism, lung disease, and or liver disease. Flow chart for COVID-19 patient hospital admission The median age among admitted patients was a good 15 years older than that of non-admitted patients, while that of fatalities was over 80 years. This is in keeping with the mortality trend in the general population, where over half of all deaths were in the age group of 80 or older, and 95% in those over 60 years. Diabetes was found to be an independent risk factor for COVID-19, admission to the ICU, and death due to this disease. The higher the number of coexisting medical conditions, the worse the clinical outcome, beginning from single comorbidity. The study shows that about 44% of patients with IRD and COVID-19 will need hospital admission, most of this subgroup being elderly patients with other medical conditions and systemic autoimmune disease. However, it supports earlier evidence that DMARDs do not increase the risk of hospital admission for COVID-19 related symptoms and signs. Females did not have a higher risk for admission despite being at an increased risk for rheumatic disease. Systemic autoimmune diseases were associated with the highest risk of admission. The observational nature of the study, and the recording of data in a standard heavy workload environment, makes it likely that much of the information was incomplete. Many patients may have been lost for follow up in the non-hospitalized group. About a fifth of cases did not have the diagnosis confirmed by RT-PCR. Also, ethnic diversity in relation to the difference in the severity of COVID-19 was not studied. Nonetheless, the study identifies some possible risk factors that may help inform patients with IRD about minimizing risk and predicting increased risk for hospitalization among these patients. *Important Notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. By Akbar Mammadov Head of Nagorno-Karabakhs Azerbaijani community Tural Ganjaliyev has described as a provocation the holding of so called inauguration" ceremony in occupied Shusha on May 21 following the illegal elections held in Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. In an interview with Trend news agency, Ganjaliyev stressed that this so-called ceremony is a provocation act aimed at disrupting the negotiations process. The Armenian government regularly commits such provocative acts, and the selection of the occupied city of Shusha for this so-called event clearly demonstrates it, he added. In addition, the head of the Azerbaijani community touched upon the illegal visit of Armenian Prime Minister to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on 9 May. As if all this were not enough, Armenian Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyans illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and his personal participation in this provocation, which damages the negotiations, shows that the Armenian leadership's talk of peace is just hypocrisy, Ganjaliyev said. He also noted that this step taken by Armenia is an insult to the Azerbaijani IDPs who have been subjected to ethnic cleansing from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. It is a blow to the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict and completely contradicts the intention to "prepare the peoples for peace" stated at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in January 2019, Ganjaliyev added. He reminded that Azerbaijan is taking ongoing and constructive steps towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict while Armenia resorts to provocations in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan arising anger and disgust. Furthermore, Ganjaliyev emphasized that this provocation gives grounds to say that the Armenian government is not interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict and serves to aggravate the situation in the region. Ganjaliyev urged the OSCE Minsk Groups co-chairs to condemn Armenias provocation. He reminded that the illegal elections held in Nagorno-Karabakh on March 31 have been condemned by the entire international community and its results have no legitimacy. He also reiterated Azerbaijans position that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can be resolved by the withdrawal of the occupying Armenian army from Azerbaijani territories, the dignified return of all Azerbaijani IDPs to their ancestral lands and in the framework of the internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Anunt de selectare a participantilor si participantelor la cel de-al doilea curs de instruire din cadrul Programului educational pentru dezvoltarea competentelor lucratorilor de tineret NIH head Francis Collins wins $1.3M Templeton Prize for his witness to faith and science Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment U.S. National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, a devout Christian geneticist, is the 2020 winner of the Templeton Prize, a financial award of $1.3 million that honors his storied career of using science to advocate for the integration of faith and reason. It is a distinct honor, and one which is particularly appropriate in these challenging times, to announce the winner of the 2020 Templeton Prize, Dr. Francis Collins geneticist, physician, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and one of the most prominent and respected scientists in the world, Heather Templeton Dill, president of the John Templeton Foundation and granddaughter of the late philanthropist Sir John Templeton, said in a statement Wednesday. Throughout his long career, Dr. Collins has advocated for the integration of faith and reason, demonstrating how religious faith can inform and inspire a rigorous quest for knowledge of the natural world through the sciences. The Templeton Prize is one of the worlds largest annual individual awards. The award honors individuals whose exemplary achievements advance Templetons philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankinds place and purpose within it. Collins, 70, has advanced that vision throughout his career as he led the Human Genome Project to its successful completion in 2003. The project resulted in the mapping and sequencing of the 3 billion DNA letters that make up the human genetic instruction book. Before his work at the NIH, he also served as a professor of internal medicine and human genetics at the University of Michigan. At the university, he was known as the gene hunter for pioneering the technique of positional cloning to pinpoint disease-related genes the foundation noted. His research helped lead to the discovery of the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis and neurofibromatosis. Motivated by his own sincere Christian belief, Dr. Collins regards his scientific vocation as a geneticist not only as a means to decipher what he calls the language of God, but also as an act of worship of the divine, Templeton Dill said. Francis Collins embodies the ideals and core convictions that inspired my grandfather, Sir John Templeton, to establish the Templeton Prize in 1972: that rigorous research, especially in the sciences, can help humanity confront the deepest and most challenging questions of existence. Born April 14, 1950 in Staunton, Virginia to secular parents, Collins is the youngest of four sons, according to a fact sheet on Collins provided by the foundation. In 1966 after he graduated high school at age 16, Collins enrolled at the University of Virginia where his rather superficial personal exploration of various religions led him to find comfort in the noncommittal nature of agnosticism. After he graduated from the University of Virginia in 1970, however, he began a Ph.D. program in physical chemistry at Yale University, where he became an unapologetic atheist. Collins, at the time, equated belief in God with intellectual suicide, according to the foundation. His turning point with God came in 1976 while he was a third-year medical student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Collins found himself deeply touched by how often his patients looked to their faiths to provide solace in the face of death. He began searching for God after one of his patients asked him about his faith and he was unable to give an honest answer despite his atheism. A Methodist minister, who was also his neighbor, would later loan him a book called Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis during a visit. Seeing the faith through the lens of a former atheist like Lewis helped shape Collins journey to Christianity over the next several decades. When I transitioned from quantum mechanics to medical school, I found these questions hard to ignore while sitting next to the beds of the sick and dying, and science wasnt much use in tackling them," Collins explained in a statement. "People of faith seemed to claim wisdom in that domain, but I assumed those insights were based on superstition and fundamental misunderstanding of nature. Seeking to dismiss the faith perspective, I was stunned to discover a rich vein of philosophical and theological thinking." Atheism, the denial of the possibility of anything that science couldnt measure, emerged as the most irrational and impoverished worldview," Collins added. "And to my amazement, pointers to a Creator began to appear in all sorts of places, even including scientific observations about the universe. Most importantly, the person of Jesus emerged as the most profound truth-teller I had ever encountered, and called on me to make a decision about my own belief. I held off the Hound of Heaven as long as I could, but ultimately resistance was impossible. Collins wrote his 2006 New York Times bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, to recount his journey from agnosticism to atheism to Christian belief. The book explains why science is not in conflict with the Bible. The book also outlines how modern science and robust personal faith can intersect. It became an instant New York Times bestseller and stayed on the bestseller list for 16 weeks. A year later, inspired by the response to his book and seeing the need to create a platform for further dialogue about science and religion, Collins and his wife founded the non-profit BioLogos. BioLogos exists to foster discussions about the harmony between science and biblical faith. That same year, 2007, Collins was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, by President George W. Bush. In addition to being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 16th director of the NIH in 2009, he went on to receive numerous other awards for his work as he continued writing. I certainly never expected to have a leading voice in the science-faith debates, Collins said in his statement. But to his surprise, The Language of God seems to have found a resonance with many seekers. It is truly gratifying to see and celebrate the community of scientists and believers that have rallied around this joyful synthesis, he said. In Matthew 22:36-37, Jesus is asked by the disciples to name the greatest commandment in the Law. He responded, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. Our minds were supposed to be involved in this! That means that science is not only a stimulating intellectual exercise, not only an amazing detective story it can also be a form of worship. Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned Wednesday that using the name 'Operation Warp Speed' to prioritize the initiative to get a vaccine approved for coronavirus could embolden the anti-vaccine movement. 'People don't understand that, because when they hear 'Operation Warp Speed,' they think, 'Oh, my God, they're jumping over all these steps and they're going to put us at risk,' the federal government's top immunologist told The Washington Post told The Washington Post. While Fauci did admit that the process to get a vaccine to the marketplace in the midst of the still-growing pandemic is more expedited than usual, he asserted it would still be just as safe and that no steps would be skipped. 'You're doing things in a totally unprecedented way, and you're going really fast but not compromising safety because you haven't cut out any of the steps you would have done had you done it the traditional way,' Fauci continued. The comments come as Fauci, who is on the White House coronavirus task force, has virtually disappeared from television appearances over the last two weeks. Faci gave his last television interview on May 4 with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and prior to his absence, he was regularly appearing on national news programs to provide updates on the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned in an interview Wednesday that calling the effort to get a vaccination on the market 'Operation Warp Speed' could fuel anti-vaxxers who are already vehemently against vaccinations Anti-vaxxers seized on the name of the initiative and have been protesting against the development of a vaccine Earlier this month, the White House announced that Facui was going on a 'modified quarantine' after he was potentially exposed to the virus. However, the doctor has still been present at the White House and he attended President Donald Trump's 'Operation Warp Speed' briefing on Friday. As the presidential detailed what the plan would look like to roll out the vaccine once it was developed and approved, FAuci stood behind him wearing a mask, but did not make any comments. At other briefings, Fauci was a cornerstone appearing front and center and delivering remarks and taking questions on the federal government response from an immunologist's perspective. The leading expert on infectious diseases at the National Institute of Health added that preparing for the rollout of the vaccine would include significantly scaling up the volume of potential doses. He added, however, that he has growing concerns that the name of the initiative has led to misconceptions about what is being done to speed up the effort. Fauci asserts that only financial investments are being sacrificed, and the standards for effectiveness of the vaccine and the 'integrity of the study' is in tact. 'We're looking to get it by the end of the year if we can,' Trump said Friday as he rolled out 'Operation Warp Speed.' Anti-vaccination advocates, more commonly known as anti-vaxxers, seized on the initiative on social media. Even some that likely wouldn't consider themselves part of the anti-vaccination movement claim they would not take one if a coronavirus vaccination became available. 'Although I have been vaccinated myself and vaccinated my kids for the typical childhood diseases (and have no issue with that) the thought of a vaccine being rushed through trial and forced on us makes me very nervous,' a Facebook user part of a group urging Arizona to end lockdown orders wrote. Several other pages about ending lockdown orders, like one targeted at Pennsylvania, echoed the same sentiments. Anti-vaxxers have a large online presence, using social media to their advantage where most Facebook pages dedicated to the cause garner a six-figure user following. Fauci has not appear on television for an interview since May 4, or since Moderna, a biotech company, released promising results for a vaccine they are developing with National Institute of Health, Fauci's employer Moderna, a biotech company, released early results regarding a vaccine they are developing in partnership with Fauci's employer, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH. Despite his institute's role in helping develop a vaccine, Fauci did not appear for interviews to comment or tout the promising results. Peter Hotez, a dean at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told the Post that the ideals anti-vaxxers abide by are played out in the 'Operation Warp Speed' initiative. Central tenets of the anti-vaccination movement, he noted, include claims that vaccinations cause autism, that they are rush, not adequately tested for safety and that there is an alliance between the government and pharmaceutical companies. Water continues to recede following historic flooding in Midland County in the aftermath of the breach of the Edenville Dam and failure of the Sanford Dam upstream from the city of Midland. Midland County remained under a flood warning through 7 p.m. Thursday and officials urged people to use caution and avoid flooded areas. More on current water levels: Tittabawassee receding Thursday. The destruction was clear in Sanford, where the downtown was under water. The damage is unimaginable: Downtown Sanford businesses destroyed. Mark Juengel knows that three words will support him and his family through this: "Faith, family and friends." See how he and other Wixom Lake residents rely on each other. "It is still really important to not drive around barricades even if the water level looks like you can drive through it," a post on the Midland County 911 Facebook said Thursday morning. "The structural integrity of roads and bridges must be inspected to make sure they are safe to pass over." The flooding started after days of rain entered local waterways that feed into the local network of lakes and the river. The Edenville Dam forms Wixom Lake, and when it breached, it sent water flowing into Sanford Lake, which is formed by the Sanford Dam. The Sanford Dam became overrun with water, flooding the Tittabawassee River as it makes its way to Sanford, Midland, Freeland and downstream to join the Saginaw River on its way to Saginaw Bay. Timeline: Midland floods after dams fail The Tittabawassee River in Midland reached an historic high of 35.05 feet on Wednesday, topping the 33.89-foot flood of 1986 and 32.15-foot flood of 2017. Both of those floods left a path of devastation, from properties destroyed by the river to sewer backups in Midland homes. In the aftermath of the current flood, communities today are assessing damage, from flooded homes and businesses to debris left on lake beds that now remain just a small flow of a river. Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said it will take days for the water to recede. Midland residents whose homes have not had flood water have been allowed to return, Midland County administrator/controller Bridgette Gransden said in an update from the city and county Thursday evening. Also see: City asks some Midlanders to not use appliances using water. We've learned that President Donald J. Trump will not be making a stop in Midland Thursday. A spokesman said Trump doesnt want to have any resources taken away from the response efforts to focus on presidential movements in the area. Trump did declare an emergency exists in the State of Michigan and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts. Want to know more about floods? Read this Flood FAQ from the National Weather Service.. You can see the impact of the floods in photos captured from the scenes: Photos: Wixom Lake destruction Photos: Downtown Midland flood level, Thursday morning Aerial photos show flood aftermath following dam failure Photos: West Curtis Road Bridge in Edenville destroyed by flood Photos: Downtown Midland flood level, Wednesday evening A kayaker's view of Sanford as lake spills over into the village Photos: Midland flooding, as seen from a kayak Video shows Midland flooding from above Gov. Gretchen Whitmer toured the damage on Wednesday after declaring a state of emergency for Midland County on Tuesday night. She called the damage she witnessed "devastating" but highlighted that no casualties have been reported as part of the disaster, which led to 11,000 people evacuating their homes. Read more from her visit: Whitmer in Midland: This is a '500-year event'. Battalion Chief Tom Hernden of Midland Fire Department, who was on duty when the Edenville dam broke Tuesday, pulled together evacuation plans to get the word out quickly to about 10,000 city residents. He said that included getting help immediately from fire crews outside of Midland County. Read more: City fire battalion chief talks about flood evacuation. Dow Inc.'s focus has shifted into a clean-up and recovery mode at its site in Midland, it was announced Thursday. How to help On a positive note, people are continuing to step up to help each other through this crisis. United Way of Midland County and the Midland Area Community Foundation are coordinating volunteer efforts. People and businesses donated supplies for those in need at one of the local shelter. On Thursday, The City of Midland stated that donations of items should not be delivered directly to shelters or organizations at this time. All relief efforts, including the donations of supplies, food, water, and monetary funds, must be coordinated through 211 Northeast Michigan and the United Way of Midland County. Individuals and organizations who wish to donate supplies should visit www.reliefmidland.org and register their available items for coordination by emergency response staff. Individuals wishing to sign up for volunteer opportunities related to flooding events should also register at this website. Shelters City of Midland Community Affairs Director Selina Tisdale cautioned Wednesday that Midland residents who have evacuated their homes amid the flooding need to be patient before trying to get back home. Residents who do not have a safe place to stay should come to one of the following shelters: West Midland Family Center - 4011 W. Isabella Road Midland High School - 1301 Eastlawn Drive Bullock Creek High School - 1420 S. Badour Road (pet friendly) Coleman High School - 4951 N. Lewis Road North Midland Family Center - 2601 E. Shearer Road (pet friendly) Please do not call 911 to inquire about the status of a residence or if it is safe to return home. Roads Many roads in Midland County and the City of Midland remain closed due to flooded conditions. Due to the rapidly-changing nature of this event, additional road closures may be in effect since this release was issued. Residents can visit this a map containing current road closures and other information. Residents are advised to obey all road closure signs and to stay clear of standing water, flooded areas and floating debris. Do not attempt to drive or walk through any standing water. Residents should take extra precaution where electrical items may be submerged. Get more information on roads: Maps: Find a route around Midland County road closures. Water safety Midland County residents whose residence have groundwater wells that have been submerged by flood waters are advised not to consume their drinking water until it has been disinfected and tested. Visit http://co.midland.mi.us/health for more information. A boil water advisory has been implemented for residents in Water District 1 in Hope and Edenville townships due to proximity to the Edenville Dam failure. City of Midland residents and township customers who receive water service from the City of Midland Water Treatment Plant are not impacted and may continue to consume drinking water. City facilities The Grace A. Dow Memorial Library has received flooding in its lower level, which includes Midland Community Television (MCTV), due to flooding of the Snake Creek. Damage mitigation efforts are currently underway by city staff. More updates will be provided as additional details are made available. Evacuations of all residents of the City of Midlands Riverside Place senior living community were completed around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. Most residents have taken shelter with family members, while those without local family members are being sheltered at Midland High School. Riverside Place was taking on water in its lower level due to flooding of the Tittabawassee River. Medical facilities As a result of the ongoing Midland County Flash Flood Warning, MidMichigan Medical Center Midland has implemented its incident command team to make plans to ensure the safety of all patients and staff. We have been working alongside local agencies, watching closely the rapid changes that have been occurring due to the flooding, stated Greg Rogers, president, MidMichigan Medical Center Midland, in a news release. We have transferred a few patients that were identified by their physician and have no plans for evacuation of the Medical Center. More info: Here's what you need to know if you need medical help More information Midland Public Schools Superintendent Michael Sharrow said all classes are canceled for Thursday and Friday because of the state of emergency, but MPS will resume meal service Friday, May 22. Read about the man whose vision was to harness the power of local rivers and create a recreation area for the community: Dam history: Man's dream from century ago results in natural disaster today Resources Official information will be shared via the following channels: www.midland911.org www.cityofmidlandmi.gov Facebook channels for the following entities: Midland County Emergency Management (MI), Midland County 911 and City of Midland, Michigan Municipal Government. Twitter: @CityofMidlandMI Twitter: @MidlandCountyMI Call 2-1-1 Emergency text and email alerts through Nixle.com. Past coverage Wednesday: Midland floods after dams fail, record water level recorded Tuesday: Sanford Dam failure imminent; Midland residents evacuating Tuesday: Edenville Dam structure breaks; evacuate immediately CHICAGO, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WEBS - Americas Yarn Store today reveals how it has, since 2011, been leveraging PowerReviews technologies to deliver social proof, increase social media engagement and generate more online sales. Since partnering with PowerReviews, WEBS has natively solicited and showcased over 4,000 customer-generated images on its site. In just a few months of using PowerReviews social media solution, the organization was also able to showcase hundreds of images from Instagram by tapping into the large pool of visual content many customers were already creating and sharing. This visual content, along with over 54,000 reviews with an average star rating of 4.5 across multiple product categories, gives customers the information they need to make an informed purchasing decision for products that are traditionally more suited to an in-person sale. Dena Childs, Ecommerce Manager at WEBS - Americas Yarn Store, says: Reviews and visual content are critical in helping our audience understand how our yarn will look and feel before they buy online. The ability to display content from other customers who have first-hand experience in our products has been vital in facilitating the shoppers decision making process. You never want a customer to leave your website, hoping to find the information they need somewhere else. Customer content builds confidence, and PowerReviews has allowed us to showcase that social proof on our site, facilitating the path to purchase for our customers. Saarah Shaikh, Senior Director of Customer Success at PowerReviews, says: "We are delighted that WEBS is clearly gaining so much value from our solutions. We know high volumes of authentic reviews deliver exceptional social proof that lead to conversions. This is even more important for products that customers need extra information about before purchasing." This information is taken from a newly-published case study, which can be accessed on the PowerReviews website here . For more information, contact Andrew Smith at Andrew.smith@powerreviews.com . ABOUT POWERREVIEWS PowerReviews ( PowerReviews.com ) is a software and data company that works with 1000+ leading brands and retailers to bring authenticity and transparency to commerce. The PowerReviews Customer Content Platform has three solutions that help our customers collect and manage customer-generated content to improve the product and customer experience across the customer journey. We help clients meet the evolving need for social proof, accelerating the path to purchase and brand advocacy. PowerReviews is known for innovation, consultative partnership, and actionable insights, supported by our open platform and approach. Our dedicated team of experts provides thoughtful analysis and turn-key service. PowerReviews is headquartered in Chicago, IL, USA. Connecticut became the final state to reopen on May 20, so Stacker compiled a list of where each state stands on reopening. Phased plans, and whats included in each phase, varies greatly by state, as does progress through each step. This article was first published on Stacker The significant inflows arrived at into LME-approved sheds at Port Klang, Malaysia and Toledo in the United States, with 21,500 tonnes put into warehouses at Port Klang and 5,000 tonnes arriving in Toledo. In Malaysia, a 4,400-tonne outflow from Port Klang and Johor failed to temper the impact of the inflows on LME aluminium futures, which closed below $1,500 per tonne at around $1,492 per tonne this afternoon, the only LME base metal to close down on the day. Likewise, the fresh cancelation of 6,075 at Port Klang failed to buoy the three-month aluminium contract despite... ROCKFORD, MI The Corner Bar announced Thursday that its temporarily closing for cleaning and continued staff health screening after an employee tested positive for coronavirus. The bar and restaurant, in the May 21 post on its Facebook page, said an employee contracted the virus through a family member and voluntarily got tested before showing any symptoms. He has not worked since the positive test was confirmed in his household, so we do believe his exposure risk is very minimal to our staff and he does not have contact with patrons, the bar said in its Facebook post. The bar is located at 31 N Main St. in downtown Rockford. According to the Facebook post, owners hoped to reopen soon. The post also said they were in contact with the health department to determine a plan moving forward. The health and safety of our staff and patrons remains the most important thing to us and we want to make sure we reopen safely with their guidance, the Facebook post said. Businesses are not required to tell the Kent County Health Department if an employee tests positive for coronavirus, said Brian Hartl, an epidemiologist at the health department. If we are notified of a case or if, during our contact investigations, we identify an employee of a facility, we try to reach out to the employers to assist them with messaging and work to ensure that they are taking appropriate precautions to protect their employees, he said in an April email to MLive about requirements and procedures if an employee is confirmed for COVID-19. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. Read more: Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order Reopening day: Northern Michigan restaurants expect surge, as hotels fill fast With non-essential health care reopening, expert tells concerned Michigan residents: Call your doctor Chinese defense minister holds phone talk with Philippine counterpart PLA Daily Source: Xinhuanet Editor: Chen Zhuo 2020-05-21 01:14:03 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Wednesday spoke over the phone with Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on COVID-19 prevention and control. Noting that China has brought the epidemic situation under control and safeguarded people's safety and health through arduous efforts, Wei said the country will stay committed to the vision of building a global community of health for all and work with the international community to curb the spread of the epidemic. Wei called on the two militaries to promote their communication and cooperation and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. Lorenzana spoke highly of China's achievements in fighting the epidemic and expressed gratitude to China for its support and assistance in epidemic prevention. The Philippines is willing to work with China to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries and make joint efforts to maintain stability in the South China Sea, Lorenzana said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senator Portman: We Must Prevent IP Theft by the Chinese Communist Party Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) outlined how his new legislation will help prevent intellectual property theft by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which he said, has been overlooked far too long. Portman, along with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the ranking member of the permanent subcommittee on investigations (PSI), and other colleagues, are introducing the Safeguarding American Innovation Act to prevent such theft. The Republican Senator said the CCP has been taking advantage of the openness of American Universities, with strategies like the Thousand Talents Program. This program has been allowed to systematically target promising research in the United States. They pay these people to take their research that theyre doing here, that is taxpayer-fundedthe Chinese government has systematically targeted the most promising U.S. researchers. He said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI are beginning to crack down on such IP theft, because of an investigation conducted by PSI. PSIs probe culminated in a surprising bipartisan report that documented how taxpayer dollars have been, unbeknownst to federal agencies and the public alike, funding the rise of Chinas economy and military over the last twenty years. China and the Chinese Communist Party has not played by the rules and thats with regard to obtaining our intellectual property, our innovation, our research, said Portman from the floor of the Senate Wednesday. The legislation he will be introducing, builds on PSIs recommendations to promote an open and transparent research enterprise in the United States and crack down on the theft of American taxpayer-funded research and IP, while also empowering the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigations to directly punish those who seek to steal Americas research to benefit our rivals. He said that each year federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy, and their National Labs, the National Science Foundation, among others, awards more than $150 billion in U.S. taxpayer funds for research. Chinas made it no secret that its goal is to surpass the United States as the world leader in scientific research and theyve seen an opportunity to get ahead by exploiting this system of taxpayer-funded grants and the open and collaborative research enterprise that we have in this country, Portman said. The Chinese Communist Party has declared the Chinese university system to be on the front line of military-civilian fusion efforts for technology acquisition. So, theres a clear link here between the research going to these Chinese university labs and that same research being used to allow China to effectively leapfrog us in terms of their military improvements and their economic growth, he added. There has been a list of cases this year, where American University Professors, using taxpayer money, willingly gave the CCP their research to further the regimes plans for military dominance. In January, a Harvard professor named Dr. Charles Lieber, Chair of Harvard Universitys chemistry department, was charged with secretly taking money from China and sharing his research with the Chinese government. In March, there was an arrest of a professor who used to work at West Virginia University who participated in the Thousand Talents Program. He applied for paid parental leave while he went to China to work at a university there, giving them the benefits of his research. This week, an Ohio professor who was previously affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic was arrested for covering up his Chinese government-funded research and deanship at a Wuhan University, directly overlapping with $3.6 million in NIH funding for his research. Portman said while the arrests of these professors are a step in the right direction, the criminal charges in their cases do not address the Thousand Talents Program, or even that theyre secretly working for the Chinese government. Were going to need targeted legislation that will take direct action against this practice and thats exactly what we have done. First and foremost, our bill is going to help the Department of Justice go after Thousand Talents participants by allowing DOJ to hold federal grant recipients accountable for failing to disclose their foreign ties on federal grant applications, Portman said. It will require the Office of Management and Budget to coordinate grant-making between these federal agencies so theres needed accountability and transparency. The legislation will authorize the State Department to deny visas to foreign researchers who are trying to access sensitive U.S. research when there is a threat to our economic or our national security. The bill would require universities to prohibit unauthorized access to sensitive research and require universities to report any foreign gift of $50,000. The coronavirus crisis is a top priority, Portman concluded, But I got to tell you, in the context of this crisis, weve also got to reevaluate how we do business with China. Weve got to look at this with fresh eyes and realize that in many areas, China has not been playing by the same set of rules as the rest of the world. A Tory rebellion erupted today with warnings that the Government looks mean-spirited and petty for hiking a 400 fee charged to health and care workers from non-EU countries. Three Conservative chairmen of Commons select committees and a string of backbenchers called on Boris Johnson to think again about the fee which is due to soar to 624 in October. Public administration and constitutional affairs committee chairman William Wragg said now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. Bob Neill, chairman of the justice select committee and MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, said: My family have had direct experience of the work they do, as you can imagine. "They make a vital contribution and we should show some generosity of spirit as a nation and also demonstrate to them that they are genuinely valued. Its a small sum in the overall scheme of things. Education committee chairman Robert Halfon said: I hope the Government thinks again on this surcharge, or, at the very least, comes up with a payment scheme to ensure that all those NHS workers who are on low pay have higher wages and a better standard of living. Former Conservative Party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale who warned that not to waive the current surcharge would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty. Clap for our Carers during lockdown: Thursday 14th May 2020 1 /29 Clap for our Carers during lockdown: Thursday 14th May 2020 Clap for Carers: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds stand in Downing Street PA Neighbours Seamus O'Sullivan, playing his accordion, and Ian Taylor, playing his guitar, in their street in Glasgow, as they join in the applause to salute local heroes during Thursday's nationwide Clap for Carers to recognise and support NHS workers and carers fighting the coronavirus pandemic PA Members of the public protest around lockdown lifting measures outside King's College Hospital in Camberwell, south London PA Nurses across the country joined in PA Drummers outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, PA People outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham PA Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria joined the applause PA NHS staff outside King's College Hospital in Camberwell, south London PA NHS workers react at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA Former Conservative Party chairman Lord Patten has told 5Live it was immoral and monstrous that foreign NHS workers should be charged for healthcare. Its appalling, its immoral, he told Emma Barnett. We depend in our care homes on people who come from other countries. I think this is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances arent treated properly. Theres a basic sense of fair play in this country which I hope Mr Johnson will recognise. It would be madness and wickedness not to recognise the contribution which these people are making. It would be awful if we were to make people pay more when they are making such a big contribution to the well-being of older people in society. The uprising comes a day after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer highlighted the burden placed on low-paid NHS and care staff by the charge in the Commons and announced he will table an amendment to the controversial Immigration Bill to exempt the care sectors. Sir Keir said today: It is grossly hypocritical to clap our carers one day and then charge them to use the NHS the next. Labour is calling for an end to this injustice and we would urge all Tory MPs who agree with us to back us. Doctors and nurses do not have to pay the charge, but lower-skilled NHS staff do, as do care home staff. Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary, opened a second front for the Prime Minister by linking the row with the Governments Immigration Bill, which will restrict the numbers of lower-skilled workers from abroad available to care homes. What this shows is how dependent the health and social care sectors are on frontline workers from abroad, he said. Given the new immigration policy is going to make it harder for low-paid immigrants to come and help our health and social care sectors, it shows we need more than ever a 10-year plan for the social care sector, just as we have for the NHS. Mr Hunt, chairman of the health select committee, is not expected to back Labours amendment but is understood to have concerns about the affordability of the NHS charge for low-paid health workers. Jeremy Hunt / Parliament TV Labour produced House of Commons library analysis which they said showed Mr Johnson got his figures wrong in the Commons by presenting 900 million as the annual revenue from the charge. The research said it was in line with four years lumped together. The portion paid by NHS and care staff is thought by Labour to be less than 100 million. No 10 said the Prime Minster had explained his position in the Commons yesterday, where he said: I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and, like him [Starmer], Ive been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life. Loading.... On the other hand we must look at the realities this is a great national service, its a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900 million, and its very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. So, with great respect to the point he makes, I do think that is the right way forward. Security minister James Brokenshire said Mr Johnson was right to reject the calls on Wednesday as the issue is complicated. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The situation in relation to those people working within different functions in the NHS is more complicated because of the visa and immigration system that they are likely to be within. Listen to The Leader: Coronavirus Daily podcast Loading.... In other words, if you are a doctor and nurse then you are on a specific visa when we have that direct contact with the NHS trust. For those in social care, it is more disparate, which makes it more complicated and more challenging in terms of the situation. He added that the Government continue to keep this under review. BEIJING China signaled on Thursday it would move forward with laws that would take aim at antigovernment protests and other dissent in Hong Kong. It is the clearest message yet that the Communist Party is moving to undermine the civil liberties the semiautonomous territory has known since the 1997 British handoff. The proposal to enact new security laws affecting Hong Kong was announced ahead of the annual meeting of Chinas legislature, which is expected to approve a broad outline of the plan. While specifics of the proposal were not immediately disclosed, the rules could be harsher than anything Hong Kongs pro-Beijing government has done to curb opposition to the mainland. The freedoms that have distinguished Hong Kong from the mainland, like an unfettered judiciary and freedom of assembly, have helped the former British colony prosper as a global city of commerce and capital. But the proposal raised the possibility that the Beijing government would damage the one country, two systems policy that has ensured such liberties since the territory was reclaimed by China. The plan also revives the threat of violent demonstrations that convulsed the city for months, and risks worsening Chinas deteriorating relationship with the Trump administration, which said the United States would respond strongly to any crackdown in Hong Kong. MIDLAND, MI The Tittabawassee River at M-46 in Saginaw County crested overnight and has begun to recede while water levels on the Saginaw River have continued to slowly rise and are just under 22 feet as of Thursday, May 21. On Saturday, a storm system moved through Michigan, resulting in six to eight inches of rain over a 48-hour period in some areas. Gladwin and Midland counties declared local States of Emergency on Monday, followed by the counties of Saginaw and Arenac on Tuesday. Due to the heavy rainfall, the Edenville Dam and subsequently the Sanford Dam were breached on Tuesday, which required over 10,000 Midland County residents to evacuate their homes due to the imminent danger from this 500-year flood event. Northwood University has completely evacuated and closed its Midland campus. As a safety measure, no one will be permitted on campus for any reason. However, online classes that were already underway prior to the flooding will continue. Some areas of Midland are currently experiencing a temporary disruption in sanitary sewer service disruption because of ongoing flooding conditions in the city. Five sanitary sewer pump stations operated by the City of Midland Wastewater Treatment Plant have been overtaken by flood waters. These pump stations are: Currie Towsley Emerson Moorland Valley Residents within these service areas may receive sewer back-ups containing both stormwater and sanitary wastewater. Residents in these areas will not be able to return to their homes until service at the stations has been restored. The City anticipates that pumps will return to service within a short period, following a thorough inspection of the pump stations conditions, after floodwaters near the stations subside. On Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a State of Emergency in Midland County and issued a statement about the flooding in Midland. Despite our efforts, local and state resources have been insufficient to respond to the situation. The availability of equipment and personnel is further limited due to the ongoing effects and response requirements of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Gov. Whitmer continued. Therefore, additional federal assistance is required to protect public health, safety, and property, and to lessen or avert the threat of more severe and persisting impacts to the community. Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, issued the following statement also issued a statement. I am brokenhearted to see what is happening in my hometown of Midland and to communities in my Senate district, Stamas said. My prayers go out to the thousands impacted by this tragedy. And my appreciation goes out to the many first responders guiding people to safety and shelter. Without question, their actions have saved lives. While residents in Midland are dealing with the after-effects of the flood, Saginaw County residents are bracing. The Saginaw River is predicted to crest at just over 22 feet, resulting in some flooding. Residents and businesses along the Saginaw River should continue to monitor conditions and be prepared to take action should floodwaters threaten, officials say. A flood warning issued by the National Weather Service for the Saginaw River is in place until May 26 with the waterway expected to crest around 22.3 feet -- 5.3 feet above flood stage -- by Friday morning before it starts to recede. Saginaw County residents, heres a map identifying areas most at risk of flooding from the Saginaw Area GIS Authority. Click Here The overflowing Tittabawassee River also flooded a large area of Shields, an unincorporated Saginaw County community about six miles west of Saginaw. The Gratiot and River Road intersection was closed on Wednesday, May 20, with a large chunk of the surrounding area flooded. Many businesses are partially flooded or surrounded by water. United Way of Midland County is collaborating with the community to lead the coordination of volunteer efforts in response to the recent flood impacting the Great Lakes Bay Region. Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to visit the organizations online volunteer portal at eportal.unitedway.org/2020flood. People can sign up for individual volunteer opportunities, as well as register to receive new volunteer alerts and information as it becomes available. More on the flooding in Michigan: Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge prepares to take on floodwater Officials work to dispel rumors amid record-breaking Michigan flooding Officials warn of impact to Saginaw County residents if Sanford Dam fails Bay County not expecting worst-case flooding scenario after dam break in Midland County Gov. Whitmer addresses flooding in Midland Flooding is widespread in Saginaw County after heavy rains, county officials say Officials report flooded roadways, evacuations and dams unable to control water in mid-Michigan Everyone wants answers. That was the message from state legislative leaders Wednesday, in the wake of growing questions into the states failures and missteps in stemming the deadly spread of the coronavirus in New Jerseys nursing homes that has killed 1 in 13 residents. This is a human tragedy that becomes even more disturbing as we learn about the apparent failure to respond quickly or to take preventive steps, said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, in the wake of an NJ Advance Media investigation into the states response to an outbreak that as of Wednesday has so far taken 5,410 lives. It is heartbreaking that this vulnerable population of residents suffered this fate and that their families were left helpless to protect them. Sweeney added: we have a moral obligation as a society and a responsibility as a government to determine what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. That is why a Senate committee will be conducting hearings to look into this. Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, who will be heading those hearings as chairman of the state Senate health committee, said the Legislature will open its investigation in the coming weeks after consultants hired earlier this month by Gov. Phil Murphy finish an analysis of the states response. Manatt Health, a national health advisory practice, was retained to make recommendations to the state on systemic reform related to long-term care facilities in the state. The review is being led by Cindy Mann, a former Obama administration official who served as deputy administrator at the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services I think everyone wants answers and the answers might be unpleasant. Was some of this avoidable? We will see, Vitale said. On an appearance Thursday on MSNBCs Morning Joe, Murphy was asked repeatedly about the administrations response to what had happened in New Jerseys nursing homes. No state was prepared. No long-term care facility infrastructure, as an industry matter, was prepared. The performance was incredibly uneven. Were looking at it every which way, said the governor. He offered no other assessments on the states own performance, and no specifics on what changes, if any, he might be considering to make to better safeguard nursing home residents. I dont want to jump the gun. I would hope in the next couple of weeks, were gonna go live with steps not just on what we should do going forward, but what we should have done," Murphy said. "And I will wait until then to make any statements on what may or may not have been done that was either aggressive or not sufficiently in front of this. The Senates fact-finding hearing will not only evaluate how the state performed, but will also come up with recommendations to health and emergency management officials on handling a possible second wave of COVID-19 infections in the fall, as many public health experts have predicted, Vitale said. Are we going to be prepared for that? asked Vitale, chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. Separately, Republicans instead called for a special prosecutor to investigate what happened in the nursing homes. This issue is too important for Gov. Murphy to whitewash, said State GOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt, citing the shocking investigation by NJ Advance Media." He said the governors own consultants and the states Attorney General were not sufficiently neutral to ensure justice and transparency to the families who lost loved ones at New Jerseys more than 600 long-term care facilities. READ THE NJ ADVANCE MEDIA INVESTIGATION INTO THE STATES NURSING HOME CRISIS Vitale said the spiraling death toll at the nursing homes, and what he has learned about how the state reacted to what was happening, did not shake his trust in Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. Noting her long career as a nurse and the former CEO of CHE Trinity Health, which at the time was one of the largest hospital chains in the country, Vitale said he has confidence in her leadership. He also promised to grill not only state officials, but nursing home officials as well. Vitale argued operators should have been better prepared for what happened, in light of an earlier viral outbreak at the Wanaque Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Passaic County two years ago, when 11 children died from adenovirus. "The (long-term care) industry knew full well they needed to be prepared for the next thing, he said, calling the outbreak at the pediatric nursing home in Passaic County a tragic fire drill. Vitale sponsored legislation that Murphy signed into law that required nursing home operators to prepare outbreak response plans. On his agenda, he expects the upcoming hearings will examine some of the historical problems with nursing homes, such as the absurdly low wages that operators pay certified nurse assistants or CNAs the workers who bathe, dress and feed nursing home residents. CNAs often work multiple jobs to make ends meet and many experts believe they likely spread COVID-19, as they went from nursing home to nursing home. If you had enough CNAs earning a living wage, you could mitigate the spread of this thats a piece of the puzzle, Vitale said. Sen. Joseph Vitale, (r.), talks to Senate President Stephen Sweeney at the Statehouse annex room in Trenton in this file photo.NJ Advance Media for NJ.com The investigation by NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, based on internal department records and statements by officials, as well as interviews with families, advocates, workers and players behind the scenes, found that New Jersey failed to react fast enough or take forceful, aggressive actions to slow the deadly rampage in nursing homes as the virus preyed on the states most vulnerable patients. Knowing that nursing home residents were at grave risk, state inspectors did not begin making on-site inspections inside facilities until April 16, according to officials 36 days after New Jersey reported its first death, and not until reports surfaced that one nursing home was storing 17 bodies in a makeshift morgue. Asked why teams were not sent earlier, Persichilli said in mid-April they did not have proper-fitting masks. She later said the state gave hospitals first dibs on protective equipment, leaving a short supply of ill-fitting masks for nursing home inspectors. Nursing homes were also short-changed for weeks on deliveries of protective masks and other equipment, known as PPE, which state and nursing home officials concede remains in critically short supply at dozens of facilities increasing the chances of viral spread from resident to resident, according to nursing home operators and industry officials. Long-term care was left out of the equation, a member of the states pandemic response team told NJ Advance Media. Speaking on condition of anonymity and asking not to be identified over fear of retaliation, the official who shared internal staff reports and data analysis not subject to public disclosure said everyone knew the nursing homes were vulnerable, but the administration took too long to respond. The NJ Advance Media report also noted that the state had issued a controversial order which health experts and nursing home administrators believe significantly contributed to the spread of the disease. Beginning March 31, nursing homes were required to accept non-critically ill residents who had been discharged from the hospital, but who were still recovering from the coronavirus. The rule was designed to help hospitals, seeking to make room for a surge of critically ill patients. But the decision compounded problems inside nursing facilities, which lacked protective equipment and ample staff, operators said. State Sen. Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, said he had objected the moving of COVID-positive patients from hospitals back to nursing homes before the state acted, over concerns of cross-infection. Somehow, we have got to get to the bottom of this, he said. There could have been a lot different outcome. He and other Republicans are pushing for a joint legislative investigative committee with subpoena power. We got to keep pushing this. God forbid this happens again, Oroho said. Brian Lee, executive director for Families for Better Care, a nationwide watchdog organization for the long-term care industry, said any post-mortem at this point must focus on the need to ramp up regular testing of residents and employees. The state could use money the federal government collects in fines against nursing homes to buy rapid testing equipment. New Jersey has about $3 million in such a fund, he said. Visits with families could resume if nursing homes knew who was infected and who wasnt he said, adding, We could restore the relationships fractured by the coronavirus if we just purchased the testing machines. In a press briefing on Tuesday, the governor even before the story by NJ Advance Media noted that much has changed in regard to many things and long-term care in particular as a result of the pandemic. Theres a reality around long-term care. I dont know whether its testing, I dont know whether its visitation. I dont know whether its testing of staff, the heroic staff that go in there every day, said Murphy. The reality around long-term care, I believe, will never be the same. Local journalism needs your support. Subscribe at nj.com/supporter. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. The general insurance companies, which collect an estimated gross premium of Rs 10,000 crore in West Bengal every year, are staring at heavy losses in property, motor and crop insurance policies. The claims amount could go well beyond the total premium collected as the cyclone Amphan has created a havoc in the state with huge losses to properties, business instalation and agriculture etc. "The claims are currently getting reported from different districts. The estimate of losses would be known only after two-three days," says a private sector insurer. The West Bengal market is not very big for general insurance industry. The insurance officials say the premium from eastern market is very low compared to Southern or the West market. "The industrialisation is also not much in the eastern region," they say. As per estimates, West Bengal contributes around 5 per cent to the total gross premium of the industry. The premium share comes out to be roughly Rs 10,000 crore. The losses in insurance business are generally in multiple times of the premium collected. However, experts suggest the entire premium gets distributed in wide variety of products from property, marine, engineering, motor, health, crop and personal accident etc. The biggest hit to insurance companies would come from property or the industrial all-risk policies. The property policy comes with heavy discounting. The premium rates are very low. In addition, the companies generally don't go for higher reinsurance or protection from the losses. When the premium is retained within the company, the chances of losses are higher in case of abnormal claims that happen in a natural calamity. The next biggest hit would come from motor and crop. While companies retain bulk of the premium in motor, the crop insurance typically sees substantial reinsurance because of the unpredictable nature. "Calamities are becoming a regular phenomenon in India. Every alternate year or once in two-three years , the natural calamities are hitting us," says a private sector insurer. The National Insurance Company has the biggest presence in Kolkata. The private sector players such as Bajaj Allianz, ICICI Lombard, HDFC Ergo and SBI General Insurance are also present in the eastern market. Also Read: Cyclone Amphan: PM Modi expresses solidarity with West Bengal, Odisha Also Read: Mamata Banerjee calls Cyclone Amphan bigger disaster than coronavirus; cites damages worth Rs 1 lakh crore For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire. Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever. Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation. View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union. Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history. Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words. The Magee campus story dates back over 150 years with a campaign to establish it as Northern Irelands second university beginning in the 1960s. Since then various groups have fought for a meaningful expansion of the Derry campus. Guarantees of expansion to 10,000 students have been repeatedly pushed back, the latest target set by the council and Ulster University is 9,400 places (6,000 full-time) by 2030. The Derry News has taken a closer look at the journey since plans for a Medical School were first mooted in the early 2000s. In March 2003 Ulster University (UU) officially announces plans to build a post-graduate Medical School, however, it had been discussed for years already at this stage. Also in 2003, UU agreed to acquire several acres of lands for expansion at Foyle College on the Duncreggan Road. Those plans would not come to fruition for many years. By 2010/11 plans were raised to build a major 250m Health Sciences facility in Derry as part of Magee expansion, to help increase numbers from around 4,000 students (3,000 full-time) to 10,000. This expansion was shelved in tandem with the announcement that UU would be building an entirely new Stormont-backed Belfast campus initially expected to cost 254m. As part of 2011s multi-agency Derry One Plan UU committed itself to having 10,000 full-time students at Magee by 2020. In February 2015, the Minister with responsibility for Higher Education, Stephen Farry, postponed any expansion. He said the Stormont Programme for Government did not contain a commitment to deliver expansion as outlined in the One Plan. In 2016 UU submits plans for the Medical School and applies to the General Medical Council (GMC) to train doctors in the North West. May 2016, First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness reaffirm their commitment to Magee expansion in a draft framework for government. January 2017 Stormont collapses after Martin McGuinness resigns in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal. March 2018, UU works on a number of recommendations made by the Department of Health (DoH) - including how the school would be funded - but UU says the school remains on track. Professor Louise Dubras is appointed to oversee the delivery of the Medical School. In May 2018, UU appoints Prof Louise Dubras as Foundation Dean of the School of Medicine. In June 2018, the DoH says UU had yet to meet criteria to demonstrate need and value for money for a new medical school. November 2018, Ulster University vice chancellor Prof Paddy Nixon confirms the planned 2019 opening cannot go ahead because there is no devolved government. In January 2019 the lands at Foyle College are eventually purchased after drawn-out negotiations. Ambitions for these lands have not be shared. May 2019, a 105 City Deal is announced for Derry and Strabane. It later emerges that UU will receive 85m for the Medical School and other projects. November 2019, plans are once again abandoned to open the Medical School and a new target is set for student intake in September 2021 - the absence of a government is blamed. Throughout 2019 Derry councillors express their anger at ongoing delays, demand expansion and call on the council to attach conditions to City Deal funding granted to UU. January 11, 2020, devolved government is restored in NI after three years of deadlock. The New Decade, New Approach document which secured that deal vowed to expand university provision at Magee in line with commitments made by the previous Executive, including through the establishment of a Graduate Entry Medical School. On January 29, 2020, a senior official at the Department for the Economy says the business case for overall Magee expansion doesnt stack up and is very out of date. She explains that the department doesnt have money for Magee expansion while simultaneously announcing plans to grant UU a 126m bailout for its vastly over-budget Belfast campus. April 30, 2020, Ulster University confirms that government sign-off is needed if the Medical School is to open as planned in September 2021. At the beginning of May 2020, the DoH states that the business case requires significant work and any decision must have Executive agreement. May 4, Derry City Deal match funding confirmed bringing the total to 210m. There is renewed optimism that a Medical School will be delivered. On May 7 The Executive Office assumes responsibility for delivering the Medical School. And on May 18 Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill announces that the Medical School has been approved with a view to opening in September 2021. Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security advisor, leaves federal court in Washington following a status conference with Judge Emmet Sullivan on Sept. 10, 2019. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press) The Trump administration which has made a signature achievement of eluding accountability for all manner of lawless and corrupt conduct is headed for a high-stakes showdown with a federal judge who has some very powerful cards to play. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan presides over the case of President Trumps fired national security advisor Michael Flynn. Sullivan has signaled that he is, at a minimum, skeptical about the motion from the Department of Justice to dismiss the charges against Flynn, who has twice pleaded guilty to lying to federal officers about his contacts with Russian officials. And no wonder Sullivan has doubts. The motion to dismiss was a naked political move and a betrayal of the Justice Departments solemn obligation to pursue impartial justice. It has drawn outrage from almost all legal quarters, including from more than 2,000 former DOJ prosecutors who signed a letter saying the motion assaulted the rule of law." Sullivan has already responded to the motion with a strong countermove that shows he is not going to permit the dismissal without at least a hard look at the law and the facts. He has appointed a highly respected former federal judge, John Gleeson, to step in and argue against it in a "friend of the court" brief due June 10. The DOJ might not have bargained for Sullivan's resistance. More likely, it calculated that, even if Sullivan wasn't happy about it, he would grant the dismissal. The law requires the department to secure the leave of the court for such a motion. That sounds like a grant of open-ended judicial discretion, but courts have interpreted it as providing judges very little leeway to reject the governments decisions to dismiss charges in a criminal case. Still, Sullivan doesn't have to deny the motion to make trouble for the department. He could order an evidentiary hearing to evaluate the motions chief contentions, and that would not be a pretty day for the department. It could result in making public the transcripts of the calls between Flynn and the Russians. The department claims the conversations were innocuous and pro forma; the smart money suggests otherwise. Story continues Sullivan has far more potent options, though if he deploys them, he can expect the Justice Department to fight him tooth and nail. He could simply deny the governments motion and proceed to sentence Flynn, which would have been the next step in the case if the government hadn't dropped its dismissal bomb. That, however, would go against the grain of federal court rulings, in particular from Sullivan's own D.C. Court of Appeals, which specify that dismissing criminal charges "lie[s] squarely within the ken of prosecutorial discretion. But Sullivan neednt deny or attack the principle of prosecutorial discretion; he can simply deny the motion on the grounds that the government's arguments don't hold water. The DOJ claims there is new evidence that supports dismissal, but none has been cited. It says there was no basis for questioning Flynn in the first place, but the predicate for suspecting Flynn is clear the intercepted phone calls as the departments own inspector general expressly found. Most importantly, the department claims Flynns lies aren't material, or important. But materiality is something the judge determines, and it's manifest here because the lies were about patently serious matters of state. It is alleged that Flynn told the Russians to ignore Obama administration sanctions imposed on them in retaliation for their interference in the 2016 election, indicating Trump would later undo them. He also urged Russia to vote against a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements, according to the criminal complaint. Then Flynn denied those conversations to the FBI. His rogue diplomacy with the U.S chief geopolitical adversary was flagrantly improper, and his lies exposed him to blackmail by Russians who could prove his dishonesty. Sullivans final hole card is potentially the strongest. He has asked Gleeson to address whether Flynn should be held in criminal contempt for perjury. That is an action a federal judge can initiate without the involvement of prosecutors from the Department of Justice, and there is plenty to support it in this case. Flynn filed a 50-page motion in January, attaching a personal declaration stating that he was innocent, had not lied to the agents and didnt remember if he and Russian envoy Sergey Kislyak had discussed sanctions of the U.N. vote. The exact opposite, in other words, of what he had previously sworn to in elaborate detail twice before Sullivan. The Justice Department will no doubt respond ferociously if Sullivan moves to sentence Flynn or to prosecute him for perjury. We can expect a motion to force the judge to recuse himself, or motions to mandamus him, that is, to put his rulings immediately before the Court of Appeals. And the president always has the ultimate trump card of a Flynn pardon, but presumably a chief reason for the departments motion was to keep Trump from having to deploy that politically costly gesture in an election year. As time drags on with evidentiary hearings or appeals, the pressure increases on the president. If he elects to use the the power at his disposal, one judge could accomplish what Congress, multiple inspectors general, and a majority of the electorate have not been able to do hold the president and his allies accountable for their contemptuous disregard for the rule of law. Harry Litman is a former U.S. attorney. @harrylitman 320 Ukrainians arrived in Boryspil Airport by two evacuation flights from Azerbaijan and Israel as the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported. All passengers passed the temperature screening; they installed Diya app and obliged to stay in self-isolation. Totally, 18,400 people crossed the Ukrainian border in 24 hours. As we reported, Ukraine is opening all international checkpoints, except ones with the Russian Federation and Belarus, which is caused by the difficult epidemiological situation in these countries. Earlier, Ukraines Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that Ukraine is liberal-minded toward the opening of the borders but it will consider the experience of partners and real situation with the pandemic in the territory of Ukraine Over the past 24 hours, 476 new cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded in Ukraine: 19,706 people have become infected since the beginning of the pandemic in the country. 579 deaths were recorded in Ukraine, and 6,227 patients recovered. [May 21, 2020] Peeks Social Deploys New Web User Interface TORONTO, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Peeks Social Ltd. (TSX.V: PEEK) (OTCQB: PKSLF) (the Company or Peeks is pleased to announce the launch of its new user interface. Peeks new user interface is designed to increase engagement, increase sales, increase app downloads, and improve user satisfaction. The new user interface allows users of the Peeks website and mobile website to glean important buying information such as stream duration, number of views and streamer ratings. Peeks website users and mobile web users now represent the majority of Peeks users. In addition, the new user interface also displays animations of user tipping. The public display of tipping in concert with the visual stimulation associated with the animations is designed to increase and encourage tipping. Peeks has also added a floating action button (FAB) that allows users to upload content directly from the Peeks website. The new user interface will be added to the Peeks mobile apps in the upcoming weeks. p align="justify">Upcoming improvements to the Peeks service will include tools that allow users to live stream directly from the Peeks web site and mobile website. Currently users of the Peeks website are required to download third party software to livestream. Users of the Peeks mobile web are required to download the Peeks mobile apps to livestream. Although cumbersome and confusing, downloading third party software in order to livestream is an industry standard process, for web-based livestreaming services such as Twitch. The upcoming Peeks improvements will provide Peeks users an industry leading, easy to use livestreaming experience for its web-based streaming services. Both the Peeks Social and Mii.TV mobile apps are available for download in the Apple Appstore and Google Play store. The websites are available online at www.peeks.com and www.mii.tv respectively. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release. For further information, please contact: Peeks Social Ltd. Mark Itwaru Chairman & Chief Executive Officer 416-815-7000 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Walter Barton, 64, was executed Tuesday by lethal injection in the state of Missouri despite new evidence that has made jurors question his murder conviction which had been repeatedly overturned. This marked the first execution since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the declarations of states of emergency which brought non-essential activity to a halt. To the end, Barton maintained he was innocent in the October 9, 1991, sexual assault and stabbing death of Gladys Kuehler, 81. I, Walter Arkie Barton, am innocent and they are executing an innocent man!! the condemned man wrote by hand in a Last Statement form provided him by the Missouri Department of Corrections. Walter Barton in 2014 (Missouri Department of Corrections via AP, File) The United States Supreme Court had turned down a request to the delay the execution two hours before Barton was killed. Missouri Republican Governor Mike Parson astonishingly told the media he had heard nothing that would cause him to change his mind, and in mechanical bureaucratic-speak said the execution would move forward as scheduled. Barton breathed heavily five times after the lethal drug entered his body, then suddenly stopped. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m., the Missouri Department of Corrections said in a statement for the press. Since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court, more than 7,800 people have been sentenced to death and 1,518 executed in the US. Barton was the ninetieth person executed in Missouri since that time. In a dark irony apparently lost on the media, Barton was executed at a prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, about 60 miles south of St. Louis, where CBS News reported that Strict protocols were in place to protect workers and visitors from exposure to the coronavirus. Presumably, measures were also taken to ensure that Barton made it to the death chamber without contracting and dying prematurely from coronavirus. Prisons and jails across the country have been one of the main vectors for the spread of the deadly virus. With extremely limited testing, there are already 89 confirmed COVID-19 infections among prisoners, guards and staff in Missouris prison system. The state murder of Barton is an example of deep contempt the likes of Parson and the court system have for the most basic ideas of justice. Todays execution is a dark and tragic reminder that Missouris criminal justice system is unabashedly flawed and rife with misplaced priorities, Sara Baker, legislative and policy director for the ACLU of Missouri, said in a statement to the Kansas City Star . Between 1993 and 2006, Barton was tried a total of five times with the prosecutions case hinging on blood spatter evidence and an incentivized jailhouse informant. Bartons first trial ended in a mistrial in 1993, followed that same year by a deadlocked jury. He was convicted in 1994, and sentenced to die before the conviction was overturned, as was another in 1998. A fifth trial secured a final conviction that led to Bartons execution this week. It is worth considering this Associated Press summary of the case against Barton and his defense: Police noticed what appeared to be blood stains on Bartons clothing, and DNA tests confirmed it was Kuehlers. Barton said the stains must have occurred when he pulled Kuehlers granddaughter away from the body. The granddaughter first confirmed that account, but testified that Barton never came into the bedroom. A blood spatter expert at Bartons trial said the three small stains likely resulted from the impact of the knife [but] the findings of Lawrence Renner, who examined Bartons clothing and boots, concluded the killer would have had far more blood stains. (Emphasis added) Barton, with three small spots of blood on his shirt, was convicted of the first-degree murder of a victim who had her throat cut and was stabbed more than 50 times! The defense also produced affidavits from three jurors who said the evidence presented by Renner was compelling and that it would have affected their deliberations, and a jury foreman said the additional evidence would have made him uncomfortable to recommend the death penalty. Bartons attorneys also argued that a female jailhouse informantwho claimed Barton talked of killing her like he had killed the old ladyhad 29 prior convictions, was unreliable, and had criminal charges dropped in exchange for her testimony. The American Bar Association called on Parson to halt the execution, while the Innocence Project demanded a board of inquiry to investigate Bartons conviction and sentence. Bartons attorney, Fred Duchardt Jr., had also argued that the COVID-19 pandemic had made it virtually impossible to conduct investigations, secure records or conduct interviews for clemency petitions. Walter Bartons conviction relies solely upon two of the known leading causes of wrongful convictionstestimony from a jailhouse informant and flawed forensic science, in this case faulty blood pattern analysis, Vanessa Potkin, the Innocence Projects post-conviction litigation director, said in a statement prior to the execution. There is simply no reliable evidence left to sustain his conviction. But convict and execute the state did, evidence be damned. The next execution in the US is set for June 16 in Texas even while the pandemic is expected to continue to spread inside and outside of prison walls. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel said screening of witnesses and press will involve questions based on potential exposure to the coronavirus and health inquiries. The Texas death chamber is not a heavy traffic area and is isolated from all parts of the prison in Huntsville, and it is constantly cleaned, Desel reassured CBS News. Scientists have made a shocking discovery the Earth's magnetic field is weakening. The magnetic field is vital for life on our planet, as it shields us from cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted from the sun. A large region of reduced magnetic intensity has been observed between Africa and South America, called the South Atlantic Anomaly, and it has formed a center of minimum intensity in just five years. Researchers are speculating that the weakening is a sign that Earth is heading to a pole reversal, which is when the north and south poles switch places - and the last time this occurred was 780,000 years ago. The anomaly is wreaking havoc on satellites and other spacecraft flying through the area, as many are experiencing technical malfunctions. Scroll down for videos A large region of reduced magnetic intensity has been observed between Africa and South America, called the South Atlantic Anomaly (blue), and it has formed a center of minimum intensity in just five years The discovery was made by a team at the European Space Agency (ESA) who pulled data from the agency's Swarm constellation, which is a cluster of satellites. The satellites are specifically designed to identify and measure the different magnetic signals that make up Earth's magnetic field, allow experts to spot areas that have weakened. ESA has been studying the magnetic field since the end of 2013. The mission is comprised of three identical satellites that provide high quality measurements of field in three different orbital planes. The weakened field has been on the radar of experts for years - they know that it has lost nine percent of its intensity over the last 200 years. However, an even larger area of weakness has recently developed between Africa and South America Jurgen Matzka, from the German Research Center for Geosciences, said: 'The new, eastern minimum of the South Atlantic Anomaly has appeared over the last decade and in recent years is developing vigorously. 'We are very lucky to have the Swarm satellites in orbit to investigate the development of the South Atlantic Anomaly. 'The challenge now is to understand the processes in Earth's core driving these changes.' The weakened field has been on the radar of experts for years - they know that it has lost nine percent of its intensity over the last 200 years. However, an even larger area of weakness has recently developed between Africa and South America. ESA says this isn't a cause for alarm, adding that 'the intensity dip in the South Atlantic occurring now is well within what is considered normal levels of fluctuations.' After analyzing data collected by Swarm, the team found that between 1970 and 2020, the strength in this region has depleted from around 24 000 nanoteslas to 22 000. However, what is more puzzling is that is that the anomaly has grown and moved westward at a pace of around 12 mph. A reversing magnetic field could lead problems for turtles, birds and the compass The Earth's magnetic field regularly flips poles every few hundred thousand years. The exact impact of this flip isn't known as it hasn't happened in 780,000 years, however geologists and astronomers do have some idea. One of the biggest impacts will be on animals that use the magnetic field for navigation - such as turtles and birds. North on the compass will also point to Antarctica rather than Canada. In terms of the impact on human life - the biggest risk depends on how weak the field gets during its transition. According to a NASA study theres no evidence it will disappear completely as 'it never has before'. However, there is a risk the field will weaken more than usual - it is variable already - during the change. If it gets too weak more radiation will get to the Earth's surface and could cause cancers and other issues. However, as it will happen over a few thousand years humanity will have time to prepare for any weakening magnetic field. The only other notable impact of a weakening magnetic field would be auroras at lower latitudes. Advertisement In addition, the team found that in just the last five years a center of minimum intensity has formed southwest of Africa, suggesting the South Atlantic Anomaly could split into two separate cells. The shift doesn't happen just overnight, but slowly occurs over the course of a few hundred or even thousand years. And when this happens, multiple north and south magnetic poles pop up all around the Earth. One theory for the weakened field is that the Earth may be heading into a pole reversal, which has happened in the past and the researchers say 'we are long overdue,' as it takes place 'roughly every 250,000 years.' The last time the poles reversed was some 780,000 years ago and then the event nearly happened 40,000 years back. If the poles are in the process of reversing it will happen over several thousand years, according to scientists, who say it's unlikely the field will disappear completely. The biggest impact of a magnetic field reversal will be on birds, turtles and other creatures that use the field to navigate. North on a compass will also point to Antarctica rather than Canada. According to the researchers, one of the reasons scientists don't know much about the magnetic history of the South Atlantic Anomaly region of Earth is because they don't have enough archeomagnetic data - physical evidence of magnetism in Earth's past, preserved in rocks. However, the team is saying the anomaly is not a reason to sound the alarm, but satellites and spacecraft flying in the weakened area can experience technical malfunctions. The speculation of a pole reversal has recently been spotted by researchers from the UK and Denmark. The team found that the north pole has been moving closer to Siberia at a frantic pace due to two writhing lobes of magnetic force in the Earth's core, research has suggested. It went from shifting nine miles at most to as much as 37 miles in a year from 1999 to 2005, suggests the study that was published this month. The magnetic field is vital for life on our planet, as it shields us from cosmic radiation and charged particles emitted from the sun. The anomaly is wreaking havoc on satellites and other spacecraft flying through the area, as many are experiencing technical malfunctions Lead researcher Phil Livermore, an associate professor of geophysics at the University of Leeds, said: 'We've never seen anything like this before. 'Our predictions are that the pole will continue to move towards Siberia, but forecasting the future is challenging and we cannot be sure,' he told Live Science. The authors wrote: 'Over the last two decades the position of the north magnetic pole has been largely determined by two large-scale lobes of negative magnetic flux on the coremantle boundary under Canada and Siberia.' 'The magnetic North Pole wandered slowly around northern Canada from 1590 to around 1990 and then accelerated over the past 20 years moving from around 10 km (6.2 miles) per year to over 50 km (31 miles) per year,' Ciaran Beggan of the British Geological Survey told MailOnline. 'In contrast, the south magnetic pole has barely moved much in the past 100 years as the flow of the outer core there is much more sedate.' Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Bianca Ortiz Wertheim, chief of staff under U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, is set to take over New Mexicos homeland security agency as the state battles the coronavirus pandemic. Her appointment was announced Thursday by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Ortiz will take over the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Her appointment is subject to Senate confirmation, though she can begin work right away. The previous secretary, Jackie Lindsey, stepped down in late November. Our states greatest asset is its people, Ortiz Wertheim said in a written statement, and I will devote myself to doing everything I can to protect their safety and wellbeing. Ortiz Wertheim has worked as chief of staff under Udall and then-Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. She also served in Gov. Bill Richardsons administration and as a strategic manager for the American Cancer Society. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has two other Cabinet positions to fill appointments to lead the departments of Higher Education and Finance and Administration. Kate ONeill, who led the state Higher Education Department, resigned in March to address an out-of-state family matter, a spokeswoman said last month. And Olivia Padilla-Jackson of the Department of Finance and Administration has said she plans to leave at the end of May for a job at the Central New Mexico Community College. Ortiz Wertheim will make the standard salary for Cabinet secretaries, $150,000 to $156,000 a year. Will Smith and Kevin Hart pose backstage at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros. Studios on April 9, 2016 in Burbank, California. Xiaoyin Qu never predicted how relevant her app would become in a pandemic. The former Facebook employee originally set up Run The World, an online events platform, to reduce the barriers involved in attending big in-person conferences. She caught a glimpse of the sudden surge in demand for virtual events back in February, as health fears around the coronavirus outbreak resulted in the cancellation of several big conferences. Around that time, Run The World managed to bag over $4 million in seed funding in a round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Now, Andreessen Horowitz has returned to back a $10.8 million Series A round in the California-based company, co-led with Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. But some of its new investors aren't your typical venture capitalists. Run The World also grabbed the attention of celebrity investors, with the venture funds of American actor Will Smith and comedian Kevin Hart joining as new backers in the firm. Qu told CNBC she was connected with Smith and Hart through her existing investors. "They are passionate about the mission of using online events to connect people and build communities," she said. "Both Will and Kevin are visionaries that create content that engages and resonates with people." "We believe their guidance can be very critical for Run The World to create this new category of engaging online events that the world is seeing for the first time," Qu added. She said the pandemic, though a source of great economic uncertainty, was helping to accelerate a shift toward online events. EDWARDSVILLE Madison County may delay the delinquency date on the first installment of this years property taxes. A special Madison County Board meeting is planned at 1 p.m. Friday to consider delaying the delinquency date in an attempt to provide some relief during the current coronavirus pandemic. The continued shutdown of the economy has created widespread economic dislocation. While official unemployment rates have not been released, it has been estimated that state and national rates could be as high as 30 percent or more. Fridays meeting will be via teleconference. To listen visit www.co.madison.il.us/public and follow the instructions. The proposed resolution would allow the county to postpone, until Sept. 9, interest on the first payment only of property taxes due July 9. It applies to individual property tax payments, but not escrow account payments. Payments made after Sept. 9 would include the full interest and penalties. The resolution came out of a May 13 Real Estate Tax Cycle Committee meeting. Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser said tax bills are expected to be sent out next week, with residents receiving them the first week in June. Madison County collects property taxes in four installments. Slusser said he has been in contact with a number of taxing districts to explain what is happening. Theyre going to be getting their money, he said. Some of its just going to be delayed for a few months. At Wednesdays meeting, county board members also were asked by board member Kristen Novacich-Koberna, D-Granite City,to consider a resolution supporting a new federal coronavirus stimulus bill, HR 6800, also known as the Heroes Act. She had also asked the resolution to be sent to the Public Safety Committee, but Board Member Michael Walters, R-Granite City, said it should go to the Government Relations Committee. Chairman Kurt Prenzler said he would make a decision on which committee to place it in later. It is unusual for the county board to consider action on a federal bill. The last such resolution was last year in support of making Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site part of the National Park Service. Novacich-Koberna also read the resolution Wednesday, which normally does not occur. The $3 trillion stimulus bill would provide money for local and state governments, extend increased unemployment, and provide a second round of stimulus checks. It was developed by Democratic House members with no input from Republicans. The bill passed in the U.S. House on a 208-199 vote, mostly along party lines with 14 Democrats opposing it. U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis, Mike Bost and John Shimkus all voted against it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Kentucky, has called the bill dead on arrival in the Senate. After Novacich-Koberna introduced the resolution, the Madison County Democratic Party sent out a press release supporting it and HR 6800. Based on the search data, Google has assessed the change of the travel trend in Vietnam due to the impact of Covid-19 epidemic. The form of sea and island tourism has received the biggest attention of Vietnamese tourists. A representative from Google Asia-Pacific, Vietnam is making efforts to recover the tourism industry after the epidemic wascontrolled in the country. According to Google, the travel demand to Asia-Pacific countries has reduced 8.6% over the same period last year. However, Vietnam's relentless efforts in the fight against Covid-19 has resulted the first signs of recovery in tourism since mid-April, mainly from domestic travel demand. Googles reported showed that over past month, the search result related to domestic flights in Vietnam has increased 85% compared to the same period last year. The destinations that visitors have looked for most are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Da Lat, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Hue and Quy Nhon. The form of Sea and island tourism has received the biggest attention of domestic tourists, with searches doubling over the past six weeks. In addition, Vietnamese people have also been interested in parks such as Ba Vi National Park in Hanoi, Phong Nha Ke Bang and Son Doong cave in Quang Binh and Cuc Phuong in Ninh Binh. Notably, Vietnamese tourists have paid special attention to discounts of air tickets and hotels services, which has showed the positive signals in the recovery of domestic tourism in the country. Nhan Dan Lawsuit seeks to delay enforcing Noem's new abortion pill ban Planned Parenthood and ACLU of South Dakota are suing Noem and the Department of Health in enforcing a new abortion pill ban. We are working on a number of large projects, Kouplen said. If (the exemption) goes away, those companies may decide to leave. The incentive allows certain businesses, including manufacturers, distributors and high-tech enterprises, to claim property tax exemptions on qualifying capital improvements for up to five years. The taxes foregone are reimbursed by the state to the counties in which the businesses are located, with most of that money going to schools. The cost of the program to the state doubled, from $37.8 million to $80.2 million, between 2012 to 2016, and doubled again, to $161.2 million for 2020. Most of that growth is attributable to two participants: wind energy and Google. The incentive was among the factors driving proliferation of wind farms, particularly in western Oklahoma, during the 2010s. By 2013, wind energy accounted for half of all ad valorem reimbursements. The share dwindled thereafter but the value of reimbursements continued to climb, peaking at $60.5 million in 2018. New wind turbines are no longer eligible for the exemption. The powerful financial regulator has signalled to investors it will not require dilutive equity raisings if lenders run down their capital buffers in months ahead, declaring now is the time for banks to act as economic shock absorbers. Chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Wayne Byres, on Thursday also urged bank boards to remain prudent with their dividends, as he signalled regulators would seek to avoid a financial "cliff" when massive government subsidies are withdrawn later this year. APRA chairman Wayne Byres says now is the time for banks to dip into their capital buffers. Credit:Renee Nowtarger Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe called on banks to use their buffers to support the economy through a once-in-a-century shock, saying the central bank did not expect capital ratios to be maintained. Bank capital, a crucial gauge of strength, has been thrown into the spotlight by the COVID-19 crisis, as lenders have been called upon to extend credit to stricken firms and defer payments on hundreds of thousands of loans. Crude oil prices have been incredibly volatile this year. WTI, the main U.S. oil price benchmark, started 2020 right around $60 a barrel. However, dual shockwaves from the collapse of Russia's oil support agreement with OPEC and the COVID-19 outbreak caused crude to crash. At one point, the May expiration for WTI oil futures contracts cratered to a negative $40.32 per barrel. WTI has since gone on an epic run, rallying over 250% in the past month to its recent level of around $32 a barrel. One way many oil market speculators have played oil's wild ride is through the United States Oil Fund (NYSEMKT:USO). While that oil ETF has rallied along with crude prices over the past couple of weeks, it hasn't done a good job matching the daily price movements of WTI. Because of that, oil traders face the dilemma of whether USO stock is the right way to play the rebound in the oil market. An imperfect vehicle The stated objective of the U.S. Oil Fund is to track the daily price movements of WTI. However, instead of holding physical oil, this ETF trades in oil futures contracts. Historically, it primarily bought those with the nearest expiration. However, given all the volatility in the oil market this year, the fund adjusted its investment strategy. One of the issues with its game plan is that it often needs to pay a higher price to roll contracts into new ones before expiration. That price can be quite steep when oil futures are in contango, meaning the contract value in future months is higher than those expiring in the near term. This constant rolling has eaten into USO's returns over the long term. For example, from January of 2016 through the end of last year, WTI rallied 60%. However, USO stock only gained 16.5%, because of the impact of rolling and the fees it charges investors to manage the fund. This underperformance has only gotten worse this year because of all the volatility in the oil market. Due to tracking issues, USO shares lost about 30% of their value over the past month, even though crude oil has gone on an epic run. Furthermore, because of the tracking problem, USO stock didn't hit bottom until April 28, a full week after WTI. Even from that later bottom, USO has only rebounded by about 40%, while WTI has zoomed 158% during that time frame. Plenty of room to run? USO's tracking issues aside, traders buy this oil ETF to profit from a rally in the oil market. If timed right, it can deliver on that objective even if it doesn't match oil's run perfectly. Thus, traders who hold the view that WTI still has ample upside ahead are likely contemplating buying USO to try to profit from that thesis. On the one hand, it's not a stretch to think that oil could have further to run. OPEC and its partners just started shutting in some of their oil output as part of a historic supply reduction agreement that lasts until 2022. Meanwhile, many U.S. producers are also shutting in production to combat lower prices. At the same time, demand has started rebounding as governments lift travel restrictions and allow nonessential businesses to reopen. China's oil demand has already bounced back to where it was before the COVID-19 outbreak. With supplies coming down and consumption beginning to rev back up, crude oil prices could continue rising over the coming months. This thesis suggests that an investor could make some money buying USO. However, there's also the risk that crude prices could take a long breather or, worse yet, sell off in the near term. Several potential factors could cause a wave of selling in the oil market. For example, a second spike in COVID-19 cases could cause governments to reimpose travel restrictions. Meanwhile, oil companies might soon turn their pumps back on and resume their drilling activities, which would unleash a gusher of new oil that could weigh on prices. Add that to USO's underperformance issues, and speculators could quickly lose money on their oil bets if crude doesn't cooperate. Get out or stay out If you were lucky enough to time a USO gamble perfectly so that it's profitable, you might want to consider selling before that gain evaporates, via USO's tracking issues or a sell-off in the oil market. Meanwhile, if you're considering buying USO on the belief that oil could continue rallying, you might want to rethink that. A better option would be to consider investing in a high-quality oil stock instead of this highly flawed trading vehicle. Unions have warned headteachers they could face legal action if staff catch coronavirus as they launch the latest bid to block the reopening of classrooms on June 1. A letter, seen by Schools Week, has been sent by the National Education Union, Unite, Unison and GMB to headteachers reminding them of their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It said: 'We believe it is important you fully understand the potential liability you are exposing yourself to by following the current deeply flawed guidance.' The letter also says that unions will be advising members of their 'legal rights should any member contract Covid-19 upon returning to school'. A review of the scientific evidence into the risks presented by re-opening schools amid the coronavirus crisis has concluded that doing so is unlikely to spread the disease among children or adults. Pictured: Children of essential workers socially distance whilst in lesson at Kempsey Primary School in Worcester The Government and unions have been at loggerheads since Boris Johnson announced plans to reopen schools on June 1. A number of councils have also expressed concerns about the high level of Covid-19 cases in their areas. Liverpool City Council and Sunderland City Council are just two who do not expect schools to be open at the start of next month. Sunderland City Council leader, Graeme Millar, told the Guardian: 'Our stance is clear, we cannot expect teachers or children to be in a school environment in Sunderland unless they know that it is safe for them, and there are serious question marks about that presently, based on the localised health picture in the north-east.' Unions are opposing a move to reopen schools from June 1, despite social distancing measures, pictured Head teacher Charlotte Beyazian arranges the classrooms to help provide a teaching environment safe from Coronavirus for pupils and teachers at La Petite Ecole Bilingue at Kentish Town, north London It comes just days after video footage showed leaders of the National Education Union discussing how to 'threaten' headmasters who tried to get their staff back to work. The officials told their members they should refuse to engage if they were asked to return on June 1. In a further sign of their hardline approach, they described their opposition to the date as a 'negotiating position'. Mary Bousted, the NEU's joint general secretary, was even shown accusing children of being 'mucky', spreading germs and 'wiping their snot on your trousers or on your dress'. Just one in 20 teachers believe it is safe to return to school, claims union A poll from teachers' union NASUWT suggested that only 5% of teachers think it will be safe for more pupils to return to school next month. In a letter to the Education Secretary, Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said the union remains 'unconvinced' that wider reopening of schools from June 1 is 'appropriate or practicable'. The survey, of nearly 29,000 NASUWT members across England, found that around nine in 10 teachers believe that social distancing will be impossible, or will present major issues and a similar proportion are not confident that the proposed measures will protect their health or the health of pupils. It also found that 87% of teachers believe that PPE is essential to protect staff against the virus. Advertisement The remarks were made in Zoom meetings for thousands of NEU members, recorded on May 14 and posted on the union's open Youtube account. Ministers are also facing a nationwide rebellion against reopening from councils. Mr Williamson is pushing for the reopening of primary schools for reception classes and Years 1 and 6 on June 1. Officials accept that some local authorities will refuse, but believe that academy schools could reopen and form a 'bridgehead' to show parents that classes can operate safely. But some senior figures in government are reluctant to press ahead if the reopening is likely to be boycotted by a large proportion of schools and parents. Downing Street indicated that Boris Johnson was not wedded to the June 1 deadline. Experts have repeatedly warned that the pause in education will affect disadvantaged children the most. And 22 European Union states have partially reopened schools without any evidence of an increase in infections. The Zoom recordings shine a light on the strength of the NEU's opposition. In one of the videos, Kevin Courtney, its joint general secretary, was shown briefing teachers on how to pressure schools that tried to reopen. He said the aim was to 'back heads away' from reopening on June 1 by suggesting they could be 'putting lives at risk'. The tactics could involve multiple complaints by union members with hostile social media campaigns. The appointment process for the next Diector-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) would formally commence on June 8, WTO General Council Chair David Walker informed members on Wednesday. "The appointment process for the next Director-General would formally commence on 8 June with nominations accepted from that date until 8 July," said the Ambassador of New Zealand, cited in a press release. WTO members thus established a month-long period in which candidates seeking to succeed Roberto Azevedo as director-general may submit their nomination bids. On May 14, Azevedo informed members at an informal Heads of Delegation meeting that he intended to step down on Aug. 31, a year before his term expires. At that same meeting, Walker announced that he would immediately begin consulting with members on an expedited process of appointment. Under WTO director-general appointment guidelines, nominations can only be submitted by WTO members and only on behalf of "their own nationals". After July 8, Walker will issue to members a consolidated list of all candidates. Shortly after the nomination period has closed, candidates will be invited to meet with members at a special General Council meeting, present their views and take questions from the membership. TORRINGTON Bachis patio was a happy place to be Wednesday afternoon. Were extra happy to reopen, said owner Bachi Prevalla. Behind him, waitresses bustled back and forth from the patio area, while others answered the continuously ringing phone for takeout orders. All the staff were wearing masks, but not all the customers. People are excited to come out. My employees are happy to be working. And Im thankful to my loyal customers, Prevalla said. On the patio, the Alfano family, including Mike and Linda Alfano, their daughter Brittany Cocchioa, her husband Dan and their two small children, Levi and Lily, were eating dinner. We feel free, Linda Alfano said. And were having a great meal. Its heaven to be outside. Jim Rinaldi of Wolcott and Bill Stajos were munching hors doeuvres and sipping beer. Of course were happy the place is open, Rinaldi said. Its about time. If Walmart can be packed with people, theres no reason other legitimate businesses shouldnt be open too. We came to support our friend Bachi, Stajos said. Val and Mark Teggi were also happy to be sitting at a table with food and wine. This is awesome, Val Teggi said. Weve been coming here for 20 years, and its so nice to be outside. I got dressed up. Im sick of wearing sweats every day. In a corner table, girlfriends Lauren Kirchner and Natatlie Wilcox of Harwinton and Catie Alexson of Norfolk said they were glad to be back at their mutual meeting place. Were celebrating, Kirchner said. Natatlie just got a new job. Next door at the Venetian Restaurant, the owners set up a big tent in the rear parking, with cafe tables spread 6 feet apart underneath. Take-out business has been brisk, said Marilena DiLullo-Gillette, restaurant manager and co-owner, who arrived wearing a face mask. All the waitstaff were also wearing masks, and gloves in some cases. I was excited about opening, but nervous too, because we dont know whats going to happen, DiLullo-Gillette said People were very happy to come for dinner, and weve been taking reservations. Opening like this, its baby steps, she said. Im just glad to see customers enjoying their food. Some of those customers included Jim Upton and Marlene Newman. Weve been craving a night out, Newman said, sipping a glass of red wine. They should have been allowed to open up sooner, Upton said. Im disappointed the gyms havent opened yet. In Winsted, ABC Pizza House owner Ted Sidiropoulos said his takeout business has always been solid. Were very lucky that way, he said. I feel bad for other restaurant owners who have families, who havent been able to open until now. Outside the pizza restaurant, four tables with umbrellas were ready for evening dinner guests, and a single diner was enjoying the late afternoon sun. When asked if he thought the slow process of reopening the state was a good idea, Sidiropoulos shook his head. Im sure the state doesnt know what theyre doing, he said. Well see what happens. Little Red Barn Brewers have been selling beer to go since the shutdown in March, and co-owners Nils Johnson and Nate Day were busy at the bar. They plan to open for Memorial Day weekend with picnic tables on their outdoor patio. Beer sales are going well. Weve been able to cover our monthly bills, Johnson said. Unfortunately, we had to lay off seven employees, but were bringing people back to work now. We dont know what to expect, really. In addition to restaurants, retail stores, malls and museums were on the Phase 1 reopening list. Hair salons were initially on the list, but their reopening date was changed to June 2. The Queen 'always hits the right mark' with 'impeccable judgement' as she leads the royal family's response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to experts. Her Majesty, 94, who has put all her public engagements on hold, is currently in quarantine at Windsor Castle where she is residing with her husband Prince Philip, 98. It is believed to be the 94-year-old monarch's longest absence from her official duties in her 68 year reign, with her schedule not expected to resume until into the autumn at the earliest. But royal experts have praised the Queen for her response to the coronavirus pandemic, with biographer Robert Lacey telling People magazine: 'She has always had this historical perspective about life, and now she embodies history.' The Queen, 94, has 'impeccable judgement' and an ability to 'always hit the mark' when it comes to royal duty, according to experts Since the start of Britain's lockdown in mid-March, the Queen has addressed the nation twice in historic television addresses. Experts have praised Her Majesty for the speeches, with one source saying her recent television addresses 'carefully captured the mood of the world'. One source explained how her 'impeccable judgement' meant the royal 'always hits the right mark' when it comes to her duty. The royal's friend Lady Carnarvon explained: 'She is of the generation dedicated to duty and what you can do for others.' Royal biographer Robert Lacey said the Queen 'embodies history', while others praised her for her dedication to royal duty The comments come after sources revealed the Queen plans to return to public duty 'as soon as she possibly can' and plans to 'work harder than ever' after quarantining in Windsor Castle. Sources close to the royal told Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl that after a turbulent start to the year, the Queen is keen for the royal family to show a united front and has been relying on what she calls her 'substitutes', including Prince Charles, 71, Camilla, 72, Prince William, 37, and Kate Middleton, 38. According to one source, while the Queen wouldn't be seen to go against government advice, she has been 'looking forward to getting back to normal' during the coronavirus crisis. The royal feels it is 'a delicate line', the source added, before explaining: 'I think we will see her doing private audiences again and more of the work we are used to seeing her do in public at some point in the future.' It comes after sources revealed how the Queen is 'making the most of her time in quarantine' by riding daily on the Windsor Castle estate Meanwhile they went on to explain how the royal is still receiving her red Government boxes and having a weekly audience with the Prime Minister. The source added that she was 'very much fulfilling her duties as head of state.' Meanwhile the royal is also said to have been 'frustrated' that spring and summer events, such as Trooping the Colour, have been cancelled. But, having left Buckingham Palace in March, she plans to return to her London residence as soon as it is safe to do so. Sources said the royal was enjoying time with Prince Philip while quarantining together at Windsor Castle And while spring and summer events may have been cancelled, it is understood that events have been planned for the Queen in autumn. A second source said that there is 'a keenness' from the Queen to return to the sort of work she has always done. The source explained: 'The Queen is planning to come back to work and when she does I think well see her work harder than ever.' Despite her determination to return to normality, the Queen is said to be making the most of her time at Windsor Castle with Prince Philip. The Queen and Prince Philip are currently isolating together at Windsor Castle during the coronavirus pandemic A friend added that one of the 'nicest things' for the Queen was spending more time with her husband, who usually resides at Sandringham. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been isolated there with a reduced household since March 19. The monarch usually returns from Windsor to her central London residence in May before her annual break at Balmoral in July, which is also expected not to go ahead. Michigan's attorney general said President Donald Trump will be told not to come back if he refuses to wear a face mask when he tours a Ford Motor plant outside of Detroit Thursday afternoon. 'Honestly, if he fails to wear a mask, he's going to be asked not to return to any enclosed facility inside our state,' Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told CNN. Michigan requires people to wear some type of face covering in public enclosed spaces thanks to an executive order signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the end of April. There are no fines for violating the order but stores can refuse to serve those without the coverings. Trump will visit a Ford Motor Company plant in Ypsilanti, which has been recast to produce ventilators and personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus. Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said President Donald Trump will be told not to come back if he refuses to wear a face mask when he tours a Ford Motor plant President Trump will visit a Ford Motor Company plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which has been recast to produce ventilators Ford Motor Co., line workers put together ventilators that the automaker is assembling at its Rawsonville plant It's unclear if President Trump will wear a face mask when he tours the Rawsonville Components Plant. He has not been seen wearing one when he visited factories in Arizona and Pennsylvania over the past two weeks but he claimed he donned one for a few minutes backstage while at the Honeywell plant in Phoenix on May 5. Ford has a policy that all visitors must wear personal protective equipment and originally indicated Trump would wear one. But the company later backed down and said the White House has its own protective procedures and will make its own determinations about whether masks will be worn. Nessel threatened to take legal action against Ford Motors if the president doesn't wear a face covering. 'I know that Ford has asked him to do the same thing, but if we know that he's coming to our state, and we know he's not going to follow the law, I think we're going to have to take action against any company or any facility that allows him inside those facilities and puts our workers at risk. We simply can't afford it here in our state,' she said. 'We are just asking that President Trump comply with the law in our state, just as we would make the same request of anyone else in those plants,' she added, pointing out that an agreement that allowed auto workers to return to the plant included a provision that everyone will wear a mask and observe social distancing policies. She implored President Trump to think about the cost and work that would go into disinfecting the Rawsonville Components Plant after his visit. 'We're asking if President Trump doesn't care about his own health, doesn't care about the health and the safety of people who work in those facilities, at least care about the economic situation of, you know, costing these facilities so much money by having to close down and disinfect the plant after he leaves,' she said. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Ford said the company shared its safety policy, which includes a requirement to wear masks, with the White House. But the company backed down from saying Trump would be required to don a facial covering. 'The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination' about whether Trump and White House officials will wear masks during the visit,' a spokesperson said. Trump said Tuesday he'd consider wearing a mask if the situation warranted it. 'I don't know, I haven't even thought of it,' Trump said. 'It depends, in certain areas I would, in certain areas I don't, but, I will certainly look at it. It depends on what situation. Am I standing right next to everybody, or am I spread out. Is something a hospital, is it a ward, what is it exactly? I'm going to a plant.' 'So we'll see,' Trump said. 'Where it's appropriate, I would do it, certainly.' Michigan has had more than 52,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 5,000 deaths. Nessel wrote an open letter to Trump on Wednesday, asking him to wear a face mask during his visit, arguing he has a 'social and moral' responsibility to do so. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order requiring people to wear face masks in public enclosed places Protestors chant on the steps of the state Capitol in Lansing Don Richardson assembles a ventilator at the Ford Rawsonville plant that Trump will visit Whitmer has instigated tough measures to try and combat the pandemic. In addition to the face covering policy, she instituted a stay-at-home requirement that remains in effect. Restrictions will start to ease in parts of the state on Friday. Protesters, however, swarmed the state Capitol in Lansing to object to the shut down. President Trump has cheered them on. On Wednesday, the president argued the stay-at-home order should be lifted so residences can help out with flooding in the northern part of the state that has led to two burst dams and 10,000 people being evacuated. 'We have sent our best Military & @FEMA Teams, already there. Governor must now 'set you free' to help. Will be with you soon!,' he tweeted. President Trump on Wednesday threatened to with hold unspecified federal funds from Michigan after the secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. The state is crucial to the president's re-election effort. He won it by less than one point in the 2016 election. Trump declined to specify on Wednesday what laws he said Michigan was breaking when Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson mailed out the applications. Republicans have argued without proof that mail-in ballots increase voter fraud. Democrats claim Republicans are against it because it benefits voting blocs that tend to vote Democratic. 'Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing they're they're subject of massive fraud,' Trump said at an event at the White House with the governors of Kansas and Arkansas. Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.' Whitmer called the threat 'scary' and 'ridiculous' given the heavy flooding in Midlands county. 'We've got to evacuate tens of thousands of people who are worried and scared. On top of this global pandemic. And to have this kind of distraction is just ridiculous to be honest. It's - threatening to take money away from a state that is hurting as bad as we are right now is just scary. And I think something that is unacceptable,' Whitmer told CBS' 'This Morning' on Thursday ahead of the president's visit. MAY 5: President Trump did not wear a mask to a Honeywell mask plant, but did wear protective safety goggles MAY 14: The president also didn't wear a mask nor gloves when he toured a medical supply company in Allentown, Pennsylvania So far the president hasn't been photographed wearing a face mask. He told reporters that he put one on 'backstage' when visiting a Honeywell plant on May 5 in Arizona that was producing N95 masks to help deal with a nationwide PPE shortage due to the coronavirus pandemic. Trump did not wear a mask when cameras were focused on him. He did wear safety goggles. He also didn't wear a mask when touring a Allentown, Pennsylvania factory last week that was a distribution center for medical supplies and protective gear. An IT security company, Kougar Solutions and Allied Services Limited has donated a thermal & artificial intelligence system to the Federal Capital Territory Administration to help curb the spread of the covid-19 pandemic in the FCT. Group Managing Director, Mr Rony Melhem who made the presentation to the FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, said the company partnered with HIKVISION in making the donation. Speaking at the event, the minister said the FCTA appreciates such gesture exhibited by KOUGAR in helping curb the spread of the pandemic and emphasized the need for every one to ensure that the comply with the directives issued by the FCTA, NCDC as well as the Federal Government to ensure that there are minimal contact between persons so as to reduce the spread of this virus. Reiterating what the FCTA Minister said, the GMD, Mr Melhem, stated that as specialists in the issues of IT Security, Kougar is interested in helping the FCT curb spread of the virus, hence the introduction of this intelligence system through their partner HIKVISION. He said the company is hopeful that this will be a giant stride in helping curb the spread of the covid-19. SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A study published today in Health Affairs and conducted by Sutter Healths Advancing Health Equity team revealed that African American COVID-19 patients in Northern California are 2.7 times more likely to be hospitalized than Non-Hispanic White patients and they tend to arrive at Sutters healthcare facilities sicker and with more severe symptoms. Despite having health coverage, African American COVID-19 patients may not seek testing and care until it is an emergency requiring hospitalization. The COVID-19 pandemic has ripped a Band-Aid off of the structural inequities that exist within our society. We must address these disparities right away because the cost of not addressing them is measured in human life, said Stephen Lockhart, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer at Sutter Health. With lives on the line, we as a state can and should do better in connecting minority patients to culturally competent care. That is why Sutter Health has committed to advancing health equity and this study is just one part of our mission and work. We have a moral obligation to do so and must work together to meet this moment and lean into the opportunity to advance health equity for generations to come. The study, Disparities In Outcomes Among COVID-19 Patients In A Large Health Care System In California, was conducted using the health systems electronic health record (EHR) data to characterize COVID-19 tested and confirmed cases by key sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, including self-reported race and ethnicity, across the 22 counties served by the Sutter Health network. Among the 1,052 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within Sutters network from Jan. 1, 2020 April 8, 2020, the study found that African American patients had nearly triple (2.7 times) the odds of hospitalization than their Non-Hispanic White counterparts after adjusting for age, sex, income and underlying conditions (comorbidities). These findings highlight the fact that race and ethnicity still play a pivotal role in determining how and when care is accessed, Coverage Alone Will Not Eliminate Healthcare Disparities California is a Medicaid expansion state, where 92.8% of residents are insured under either private or public (government) health plans. Since only about 7% of California residents lack healthcare coverage a coverage rate unique to California as compared with other states around the country researchers can evaluate factors beyond insurance coverage that may be perpetuating outcome disparities during this pandemic. Coverage is not the same as access, and the higher hospital admissions and mortality rates for African American COVID-19 patients in California underscores that expanded healthcare coverage alone does not resolve health disparities. In California, African Americans are about 6% of the population, but make up 10.3% of COVID-19 deaths where race/ethnicity is documented. The real value of the study lies not in the disparities it reveals but in its utility to inform our work to develop solutions that will address the equity gaps we are seeing with programs such as community outreach and engagement in at-risk neighborhoods, said Kristen M.J. Azar, R.N., MSN/MPH, Sutter Healths lead author for the study and research scientist within the Sutter Health Center for Health Systems Research. This pandemic underscores the need to develop innovative solutions that are specifically tailored to address the unmet needs of those at highest risk. Sutter Health Uniquely Positioned to Offer New Insights As an integrated healthcare delivery network serving more than 3.5 million patients across 22 Northern California counties, Sutter Health had been studying healthcare disparities for close to three years when it became one of the first healthcare systems in the nation to begin treating COVID-19 patients. Four factors positioned Sutter to offer unique early insights into the reasons for the disparities in health outcomes that have been noted nationally: Sutter Healths network is located in the region of the country where community spread of COVID-19 was first documented in the United States. Its integrated system-wide EHR includes race/ethnicity data for one of the most diverse regions of the country. As of 2019, the patients across the Sutter network self-identified as 45.9% white, 15.6% Hispanic, 15.8% Asian, 4.9% Black/African American and 17.8% Other. Sutter Health operates in an environment that is one of the closest to universal healthcare coverage of any state in the country, mitigating one of the known causes of healthcare disparities, unequal rates of medical coverage, and making other factors driving disparities more visible. The health system has extensive prior experience looking for and analyzing disparities both within its own network, and within other organizations and geographic regions. Provider organizations like Sutter Health are on the front lines and, while not able to address all of the complex societal factors at issue, can play a unique role in developing solutions. As part of its commitment to advancing health equity, Sutter Health developed a novel metric, the Health Equity Index (HEI), to identify and quantify disparities in outcomes across patient groups and develop targeted interventions to enhance equity. Through the HEI, Sutters Advancing Health Equity team is taking major steps to build on the benefits of Sutters integrated network of care to further health equity within the Sutter system and across the country. The full study and associated data can be accessed for free on the Health Affairs website: healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00598 To find out more about Sutter Healths work to advance health equity please visit: sutterhealth.org/about/health-equity ### Sutter Health is more than 60,000 people strong thanks to its integrated network of clinicians, employees and volunteers. Headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., Sutter Health provides access to high quality, affordable care for more than 3 million Northern Californians through its network of hospitals, medical foundations, urgent and walk-in care centers, home health and hospice services. For more information about the Sutter Health network visit: sutterhealth.org | facebook.com/sutterhealth | youtube.com/sutterhealth | twitter.com/sutterhealth. Attachment The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service says it has initiated an investigation into a radio comment by the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen which is said to be a breach of peace. He is said to have made a comment during a radio interview on Accra based Okay FM on May 15, 2020, which is said to be in relation to the offence of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of the peace contrary to section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). A statement signed and issued by Ms Juliana Obeng, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Head of Public Affairs at the CID said the investigation was ongoing. Meanwhile, Major (rtd) Kojo Boakye-Djan has also been charged with breach of peace. The CID in the same statement has been explaining why Major (Rtd) Kojo Boakye Djan was arrested on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 in his hometown, Bebianiha in the Bono Region. He also made a comment in a radio interview on the same Accra based Okay FM on May 14, 2020. The statement explained that Major (rtd) Boakye-Djan has been charged with the offence of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of the peace contrary to section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). He has since been granted a police enquiry bail to be reporting once a week to the police. Meanwhile, investigations continue and the public is assured that due process will be followed, the statement added. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The driver of a station wagon that crashed into a Sydney hijab shop, injuring 14 people, has been released from police custody. Police say the 51-year-old was taken to Liverpool Hospital and underwent mandatory testing before being taken to Bankstown Police Station. He was interviewed by officers from the crash investigation unit and later released, police said in a statement early on Friday. The 51-year-old driver who crashed into a a Sydney hijab store has been released from police custody. Source: AAP Security footage showed the wagon rear-end another car at traffic lights in Greenacre before racing through a busy intersection into Hijab House. The incident happened about 3.10pm on Thursday, days out from the end of Ramadan. At least two people inside the shop suffered broken bones. Police said 14 people in total, including a 13-year-old girl, were treated at the scene. They were taken to different hospitals with a range of injuries, none of them life-threatening. A man whose car was rammed out of the way before the vehicle smashed into a womens clothing shop spoke out about how the terrifying incident unfolded. I was honking on the horn and smacking the brakes...then I couldnt do anything more, he (the other driver) just went off, the driver recalled. I locked my brakes and he just kept pushing and pushing. Then all of a sudden I ended up on that side of the road ... and he ends up in the shop. Most of the injured were women aged between 18 and 36. A car is seen in a shop after it crashed through the front windows in Greenacre in Sydney's west on Thursday. Source: AAP The reason for the crash remains under investigation and police are seeking witnesses. They said the man was known for traffic matters, and there was no indication the crash was terror-related. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. San Francisco, May 21 : In the ongoing COVID-19 information war on Twitter which is often fought with the launch of new conspiracy theories, China has now gone on the offensive with about 90,000 tweets since the start of April. Twitter is blocked in China so most of the tweets are churned out by diplomatic accounts as well as state media accounts. According to a report in NBC News on Wednesday, the number of tweets from China's official handles on the microblogging platform has almost doubled since January. Similarly, there has been a huge surge in the number of China's diplomatic Twitter accounts. From just 40 such accounts a year ago, their numbers have now reached to 135, said the report on the basis of an analysis by Bret Schafer, the digital disinformation fellow at Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The alliance in late March announced the expansion of the Hamilton 2.0 dashboard to include the tracking of Chinese government-backed information operations on social media, state-sponsored information websites, YouTube, and via official diplomatic channels. Collecting data since November 2019, the China section of the dashboard has captured official government messaging on topics like the Hong Kong protests, Xinjiang, the trade war with the United States, the implementation of Huawei technology in Europe, and, most notably, the global outbreak of COVID-19. In recent days, China has used Twitter to spread a conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 leaked from a US government lab, the NBC News report said. "The #US keeps calling for transparency & investigation. Why not open up Fort Detrick & other bio-labs for international review? Why not invite #WHO & int'l experts to the US to look into #COVI19 source & response?" the spokesperson for China's Foreign Affairs Ministry wrote in a tweet on May 8. The tweet refers to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland. In fact, China has been pushing this conspiracy theory for quite some time now, said the report. According to the Alliance for Securing Democracy, official Chinese diplomatic and state-run media accounts tweeted the Fort Detrick conspiracy theory more than 30 times in the past two months. China's more confrontational posture on COVID-19 represents a clear departure from its past behaviour, according to an analysis by the alliance. In the early stages of the outbreak, official Chinese messaging largely focused on human-interest stories and reporting on the Chinese government's efforts to control the virus. But from February 27, as the virus spread rapidly to Europe and the US, website data indicates that four of the top 10 most engaged articles on Facebook from Chinese state media outlets featured content that was critical of the Trump administration's response to COVID-19, the analysis showed. On Twitter, Chinese diplomatic and embassy accounts promoted conspiracy theories from fringe websites, it added. U.S. Navy Security Forces, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Texas Department of Safety personnel discuss details of an investigation after a vehicle unlawfully entered the base, Feb. 14, 2019 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. WASHINGTON The FBI said the Thursday morning shooting at U.S. Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas, was linked to terrorism and a second suspect could still be at large. "We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi is terrorism-related," FBI Senior Supervisory Special Agent Leah Greeves told reporters during a news conference. Greeves did not offer any other details but added that a potential person of interest remained at large in the community. The FBI said the shooter who opened fire on the U.S. Navy installation was dead. The sole U.S. Navy sailor that was admitted to a hospital following the incident was released with only minor injuries, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. The service also said in a statement that the installation was no longer under lockdown and that the shooter was "no longer a threat." Late last year, a Saudi gunman killed three U.S. Navy sailors in an attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida, just days after a U.S. Navy sailor shot three civilians, killing two of them, at the U.S. Navy's military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During a news conference in January, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said that the shooting at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida was "an act of terrorism." "The evidence showed that the shooter was motivated by jihadist ideology. During the course of the investigation, we learned that the shooter posted a message on Sept. 11 of this year stating, 'The countdown has begun,'" Barr said. Australian coal exporters are facing the risk of tougher restrictions selling into China as government authorities in Beijing direct state-owned power plants to purchase domestic product instead. The move threatens to add to escalating tensions between Australia and its largest trading partner and follows new customs reforms that analysts fear could lead China to delay cargoes of Australia's most lucrative export, iron ore. Australia is a major exporter of thermal coal to China. Credit:Nic Walker Analysts and industry insiders told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that the Chinese government has begun warning state-owned power utilities not to buy new cargoes of Australian thermal coal Australia's second top commodity export and to purchase domestic coal instead. News of the government directive on thermal coal - the kind of coal used to generate energy - has been circulating among traders following a meeting of China's National Development and Reform Commission. On Thursday, those authorities announced the most sweeping step yet, with proposed security laws that could effectively subvert Hong Kongs remaining freedoms and bring it under full Chinese control. Here are some basic questions and answers on Chinas action and the possible repercussions: What, precisely, China announced. Chinese officials in Beijing said the National Peoples Congress, Chinas Legislature, would review a plan to establish new laws and an enforcement mechanism for protecting national security in Hong Kong. The announcement provided no details but signaled that the new legislation would allow Chinas central government more legal justification to directly respond to the large anti-Beijing protests that upended Hong Kong for much of the past year. China has long implicitly maintained it has the right to take action in Hong Kong to protect national security, starting with the deployment of an army garrison in the territory that replaced the departing British forces. Last year, Chinas military also made a point of conducting maneuvers in neighboring Shenzhen during the protests, which democracy activists regarded as a message. But security laws enacted in Beijing that provide a justification for intervention in Hong Kong would be something new. Why China did this now. President Xi Jinping, the countrys most authoritarian leader since the Mao era, has viewed the Hong Kong unrest with impatience and exasperation, seeing it as a direct challenge to Communist Party primacy and legitimacy. Chinese government propaganda, under Mr. Xis direct control, has increasingly indicated the challenge would be crushed. One possible catalyst for Chinas announcement was the reluctance of Hong Kongs own Legislature to enact toughened security laws under a provision of the territorys basic law known as Article 23 fearing such a move could incite even bigger anti-Beijing protests. The legislation that Beijing has proposed would allow it to bypass Hong Kongs own legal structure for dealing with what are regarded as security threats. Kolkata, May 21 : Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport recommenced operations from Thursday afternoon after it was inundated by heavy rains due to Cyclone 'Amphan'. According to sources at the airport, operations recommenced at noon with the arrival of a Russian chartered plane for evacuation of stranded Russian nationals. However, some parts of the airport still remain inundated with water, which is being pumped out. An Air India official told IANS: "Our hangar has suffered structural damage due to the storm. Ground teams are trying to assess the damage. However, due to the conditions there, the work is going at a slow speed." "None of our aircraft was damaged in this storm." Further, Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal told reporters that two aircraft of the national carrier parked at the Kolkata airport were not damaged while a private aircraft which was parked in the Air India's hangar was damaged. The super cyclone had a severe impact in West Bengal as it left at least 72 people dead and damaged property to a great extent. Scenes from Kolkata airport showed the damage left behind as large airliners stood in a river of water. Houses were flattened, a massive number of trees uprooted as many feared damage to iconic structures in the city as well, as reports still pour in. With landlines severed and no electricity for hours through the raging storm, many tweeted photos of destruction to property, waterlogging right inside their kitchen as they paddled through pools of water. The severe cyclonic storm on Thursday weakened and lay centered over Bangladesh about 270 north-northeastwards of Kolkata with a wind speed of 27 kmph. The super cyclonic storm Amphan (pronounced as UM-PUN) moved "north-northeastwards with a speed of 27 kmph during the past six hours, further weakened into a cyclonic storm and lay centered at 5.30 a.m. on Thursday over Bangladesh near latitude 24.7 N and Longitude 89.5 E about 270 km north-northeast of Kolkata, 150 km south of Dhubri and 110 km south-southeast of Rangpur (Bangladesh)", the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. "It is very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and weaken further into a deep depression during the next three hours and into a depression during subsequent six hours," the IMD said. It said that the Cyclone is now centred over Bangladesh and it will have no adverse impact over West Bengal and Odisha -- a good sign as it cut a swathe through northern Odisha before bearing down on West Bengal where it claimed scores of lives, flattened houses and cast aside trees and electricity poles like matchsticks in six-and-a-half hours of monstrous fury that left Kolkata and most of south Bengal pulverised. While Odisha was spared the worst of Amphan, the Sunderbans region and six south Bengal districts felt the full impact of winds gusting at 155-165 kmph along with torrential rain after the cyclone made landfall near Sagar Island around 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday and entered Kolkata, about a 100 km north, arou nd 5 p.m. Amphan, a Thai name means sky, is the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal since the Odisha super cyclone of 1999. Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn looks on before addressing a large crowd of journalists on his reasons for dodging trial in Japan, where he is accused of financial misconduct, at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on Jan. 8, 2020. (Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images) US Arrests Former Green Beret, Son, Wanted by Japan Over Ex-Nissan Boss Carlos Ghosns Escape BOSTON/WASHINGTONU.S. authorities on Wednesday arrested a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and another man in Massachusetts wanted by Japan on charges that they enabled the escape of former Nissan Motor Co boss Carlos Ghosn out of the country. Former U.S. Green Beret Michael Taylor, 59, and his son, Peter Taylor, 27, are accused by Japanese authorities of helping Ghosn last year flee to Lebanon to avoid trial over alleged financial wrongdoing. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested them in Harvard, Massachusetts, at the request of Japan, which in January issued arrest warrants for both men along with a third, George-Antoine Zayek, in connection with facilitating the Dec. 29, 2019 escape. Ghosn, who was out on bail at the time, fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, while he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. Prosecutors said Peter Taylor traveled to Japan the day before Ghosns escape and Michael Taylor and Zayek arrived the day it occurred with large black boxes that appeared to be for music equipment. All three met with Ghosn, who after entering a hotel room with Michael Taylor and Zayek hid in one of the boxes, which was taken to an airport and loaded on a private jet headed for Turkey, prosecutors said. Ghosn two days later announced he was in Lebanon. The Taylors were arrested after U.S. law enforcement learned Peter Taylor had booked a flight from Boston to Beirut departing Wednesday with a layover in London, according to court papers. Following their arrest, the Taylors appeared by video before a federal judge wearing orange prison jumpsuits and face masks because of the coronavirus pandemic. They are being detained at the request of U.S. prosecutors, who say they pose a risk of flight after aiding Ghosns brazen escape. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hassink said Japan plans to formally seek their extradition as quickly as possible. Pedestrians walk past a big screen showing images of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn in a news program on January 09, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Ghosn was awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial crimes when he fled house arrest in Tokyo, arriving in Beirut on Dec. 30, 2019. (Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images) Paul Kelly, their lawyer, in a statement said he expects to challenge any extradition request. Michael Taylor is a distinguished veteran and patriot, and both and he and his son deserve a full and fair hearing regarding these issues, both before the courts and the executive branch, he said. A representative for Ghosn declined to comment. This month, Turkish prosecutors prepared an indictment charging seven people, including four pilots, over Ghosns escape via Istanbul to Beirut. In September, Nissan and Ghosn settled civil charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to what it said were false financial disclosures by the company that omitted more than $140 million to be paid to Ghosn in retirement. That sum was ultimately was not paid. Nissan paid $15 million and Ghosn $1 million, and Ghosn agreed to a 10-year ban from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded U.S. company. The SEC also said Ghosn engaged in a scheme to conceal more than $90 million of compensation. Nissan sued Ghosn in February seeking about $90 million. By Nate Raymond and David Shepardson Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, who are the most admired people in America? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices (Natural News) A judge in Oregon recently ruled that Governor Kate Browns coronavirus restrictions were null and void on the grounds that they werent given state legislature approval after 28 days but the states high court quickly halted the order. The ruling came Monday in response to a suit brought by churches claiming that social distancing rules were unconstitutional. Emergency powers, they argued, are only in effect for a month before needing legislative approval, which these orders never received, and Baker County Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff ruled in their favor. In his seven-page opinion, Shirtcliff had stated that the damage to peoples livelihoods surpassed the dangers posed by the disease. The ruling meant that not only would church gatherings for worship be okay, but so would all outings within the state, potentially causing a serious health crisis. Governor Brown said that she would appeal the ruling right away in order to safeguard the health of all Oregonians including frontline health care workers, those living in nursing homes, workers in agriculture and food processing plants, and Oregonians with underlying health conditions True to her word, just hours later, she was able to get the Oregon Supreme Court to stop the rural judges order and keep the stay-at-home order in place for the time being. The new decision will stay the judges decree pending a review by high court justices. Governor Brown praised the Supreme Court for its action in a statement, saying that moving too quickly to pre-pandemic life could bring the state back to the beginning of the outbreak when hospitals faced major shortages. Brown declared a state of emergency in Oregon on March 8 due to coronavirus and has since issued several executive orders, including one that closed all schools, nonessential businesses and dine-in services at bars and restaurants. She extended the order by a further 60 days earlier this month until July 6. However, quite a few counties have already been given approval by the state to start loosening their restrictions to some degree. Oregon isnt the only state whose stay-at-home orders have been the target of legal action. A North Carolina federal judge came down on the side of conservative Christian leaders by blocking the enforcement of Governor Ray Coopers restrictions affecting religious services indoors. Last week, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin struck down the governors stay-at-home orders on the grounds that the administration had overstepped its authority by extending the order for an additional month without consulting lawmakers. In contrast, states like New York, Washington and California give governors broader power during public health emergencies. States could be in for a vicious cycle of health and economic disasters Some states are starting to reopen to various degrees, even as models indicate that doing so will lead to a rise in infections and deaths throughout the next few weeks. An uptick in cases is being noted in places like Texas, Alabama and South Dakota, where restrictions have already started to loosen. The World Health Organization has warned that easing restrictions too quickly and reopening the economy could create a vicious cycle of health and economic disasters. WHO Emergencies Program Executive Director Dr. Mike Ryan stated: This is what we all fear, is a vicious cycle of public health disaster followed by economic disaster followed by public health disaster followed by economic disaster. Although the first amendment protects Americans right to practice their religion, there are ways to practice that right that do not put countless people in danger of contracting a deadly illness. The Archbishop of Baltimore, William Lori, reminded Catholics that what is going on is not a violation of religious liberty, and said arguing otherwise puts lives at risk. He said government orders are eminently reasonable and do not undermine peoples faith. These are unprecedented times, and protecting as many lives as possible should be everyones priority especially when there are safer ways of practicing ones religion. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com MercuryNews.com CNBC.com CruxNow.com The fightback against the coronavirus pandemic cost taxpayers a staggering 124bn in little over three months, it is revealed today with the bill set to rise far higher. Ministers threw the unprecedented sum at bailing out stricken businesses, preventing the NHS from being overwhelmed, boosting benefits and other measures after the pandemic struck. No fewer than 11 orders were issued by ministers to override civil service warnings that the spending breached rules on propriety, value for money or feasibility. The National Audit Office does not identify the ministers who issued the directions, or the areas of departmental spending they covered, in the period between 31 January and 15 May. However, there has been criticism that contracts worth an estimated 1bn have been handed out to private companies without offering other firms the chance to bid for the work. Deals to administer Covid-19 tests, provide food parcels and personal protective equipment (PPE) were among those fast-tracked, after standard rules were suspended. The 124.3bn bill does not cover any spending by the governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast, or by local authorities where extra funding was not received from Whitehall. No cost is provided for the expansion of testing for the virus to key workers and now the wider population, by creating a network of laboratories and sites. And spending on the troubled NHS smartphone app, to help trace new infections now delayed, amid fresh security fears was only 6m, by the NAOs cut-off debate. How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities Show all 6 1 /6 How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities Milan, Italy REUTERS How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities North Jakarta, Indonesia REUTERS How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities Jakarta, Indonesia REUTERS How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities Venice, Italy REUTERS How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities New Delhi, India REUTERS How coronavirus lockdowns changed the world's most polluted cities Islamabad, Pakistan REUTERS Crucially, with the economy still in the deep freeze and social distance restrictions here to stay for now, spending is certain to mushroom further in the months to come. A 300bn budget black hole is expected. Gareth Davies, the watchdogs head, said: The scale and nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and governments response is unprecedented in recent history. He said its report would be followed by further reports to parliament and the public on how the money has been spent and the lessons learned. Among the biggest spending pots, after more than 500 announcements, were: * 82.2bn on support for businesses, including the estimated 50bn bill for furloughing staff and on other grants and loans. * 19.5bn on higher benefits and sick pay and on other support for vulnerable people. * 15.8bn on other public services, including for local government services, education and children's services. * 6.6bn on health and social care, covering new hospitals and equipment, services and vaccine development. The government has yet to say how it will settle the bill, although Boris Johnson has insisted he does not want a repeat of the austerity of the Cameron-Osborne years. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is believed to favour allowing the UKs debt mountain to soar as preferable to the alternatives of tax hikes or spending cuts. TUNIS (Reuters) - The Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar said it had pulled back from some Tripoli frontlines on Wednesday, calling into question its ability to sustain a year-long offensive aimed at seizing the capital. The LNA had announced overnight it was withdrawing 2-3 km (1-2 miles) from all positions in the city as a humanitarian gesture, but its fighters remained at some frontlines in the city. TUNIS (Reuters) - The Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar said it had pulled back from some Tripoli frontlines on Wednesday, calling into question its ability to sustain a year-long offensive aimed at seizing the capital. The LNA had announced overnight it was withdrawing 2-3 km (1-2 miles) from all positions in the city as a humanitarian gesture, but its fighters remained at some frontlines in the city. Libya has been split since 2014 between rival factions based in the capital Tripoli and in the east, in a sometimes chaotic war that has drawn in outside powers and a flood of foreign arms and mercenaries. Haftar, the most powerful commander in the east, has tried since last year to capture Tripoli. The decision to withdraw follows a series of military setbacks that underscore the shifting dynamics of the conflict since Turkey intervened in January to help the U.N.-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) stave off Haftar's assault. Turkey's backing is most visible in the new balance of power in the air, with drones striking LNA forces repeatedly and a GNA spokesman saying that six Russian-supplied air defence systems had been destroyed on Wednesday alone. Backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt, Haftar's LNA still holds all of eastern Libya and much of the south, including most oil facilities, but its presence in the northwest, where Libya's population is concentrated, has come under intense pressure. The GNA last month took a string of small towns linking Tripoli to the Tunisian border. On Monday it took Watiya, the LNA's only airbase near Tripoli and a big strategic prize. On Tuesday it took three small towns to the southwest. On Wednesday morning, there were clashes at Asaba, south of Tripoli, while rockets were striking the LNA's most important stronghold in the region, the town of Tarhouna, an eyewitness said. Last month GNA Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said capturing Tarhouna would end Haftar's campaign to seize Tripoli but that the fighting in the capital was the priority. An LNA military source said that in Tripoli the LNA had withdrawn from Salahedin and some other districts. GNA military spokesman Mustafa Majai said its forces were waiting to enter Salahedin but that LNA forces remained in some other districts. Residential areas, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in Tripoli have been bombarded frequently for months. ESCALATION WARNING Addressing the Security Council on Tuesday, the U.N.'s acting Libya envoy warned of a new escalation in the conflict and urged pressure on countries backing the warring sides. However, diplomatic efforts to negotiate a political settlement have made little headway, as more foreign fighters and weapons have poured in despite months of near stalemate. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Haftar's supporters the UAE and Russia issued separate calls for a ceasefire and political solution. Previous ceasefires have been short lived and the GNA has accused the LNA and its allies of using truces to build up military supplies and prepare for new attacks. At Watiya, the GNA seized what it says is a Russian-made Pantsir air defence system supplied to the LNA by the UAE. Majai said six more were destroyed on Wednesday. The LNA did not comment. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that as a result of Turkish training and advice "the balance in Libya changed significantly". (Reporting By Hani Amara in Istanbul, Ayman al-Warfali in Benghazi and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Libya; Writing by Angus McDowall in Tunis; Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel were deployed in Dharavi and some other areas of Mumbai on Thursday to help the city police enforce lockdown to contain coronavirus, an official said. A company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed at Dharavi along with local police, the police official said. Earlier, on Wednesday night, personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar in south Mumbai to enforce a strict lockdown. On Thursday, CRPF personnel met police officers in Dharavi, a COVID-19 hotspot, and discussed deployment plan for the area, the official said. Five companies of CAPF, including personnel of CISF, arrived in Mumbai on Monday, he said. Armed with weapons, batons and shields, CISF personnel conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar on Wednesday night, he said. The Maharashtra government had said that it had sought Central forces so that the overstretched police force could get some rest. More than 700 Mumbai Police personnel have contracted coronavirus so far and ten of them have died. The central forces will assist the Mumbai Police in maintaining law and order and in prevention of any untoward incident during lockdown. Personnel of the Central forces have been deployed in zones 1,3,5,6 and 9 of the city covering some areas of south and central Mumbai and parts of eastern and western suburbs, the police official said. A top political advisor has suggested creating a national Mother's Day for Chinese people to show their gratitude for mothers and promote traditional Chinese culture. "The mother is a child's first teacher, and the mother's role in the child's growth is crucial," Yang Chaoming said. "Many elements of Chinese culture, including the filial piety, loyalty, family relationship and how to choose life direction, even people's love and patriotism of motherland, are closely related to China's maternal culture." Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and head of the Confucius Research Institute of China, is in Beijing to attend the third annual session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. He believed that setting up a Chinese Mother's Day would be a good way to preserve traditional Chinese culture and national heritage. He referred to how the ancient stories of mothers stood out and withstood the test of time, for example, the story of Mencius (372-289 BCE) and his mother. Mencius, the most famous Chinese philosopher after Confucius, was a strict Confucian philosopher born in the state of Zou during The Warring States Period in China. There was a legend about how his mother influenced his growth, helped shape his thinking and personality. He also cited the examples of ancient saints and historical figures who were influenced by their mothers, from the mother of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, to mothers of the statesman and poet Ouyang Xiu and the national hero General Yue Fei from the time of the Song Dynasty. "China has rich maternal-related cultural resources and a long history of the tradition. When we vigorously promote such culture, it will be very conducive to the harmony and stability of the family and society, and to the growth of young people and the improvement of national quality," Yang wrote in his proposal submitted to China's top political advisory body this year. "The establishment of Chinese Mother's Day is of great significance to the correct direction of female ethics, female education and family education, as well as the inheritance of excellent traditional culture." Yang suggested a suitable annual date would be the birthday of Mencius, which is April 2 under Chinese lunar calendar. Since 2007, in his hometown of Zoucheng, Shandong province, the local government has already been promoting a local Mother Culture Day, which is steadily gaining more attention and support. F rontline health workers in the UK will be able to participate in a clinical trial to test if the malaria drug touted by Donald Trump prevents coronavirus. Testing to see if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine can prevent Covid-19 is open to staff in Brighton and Oxford as part of the investigation. It comes just days after the US President's decision to take the drug was described as "a staggering, irresponsible act. Mr Trump revealing that he was taking also sparked fears his actions risk running down supplies of the drug for people with other conditions who need it. The study for UK health workers is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial that will enrol more than 40,000 people. Those taking part will work with confirmed or suspected coronavirus patients from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. MORU co-principal investigator Professor Sir Nicholas White said: "We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against Covid-19. "The best way to find out if they are effective in preventing Covid-19 is in a randomised clinical trial." Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the school of medicine at the University of Leeds, also said those that follow Mr Trump's example might not only endanger themselves, "but could also deprive patients with chronic autoimmune conditions of their much-needed medication". The price of hydroxychloroquine is said to have risen dramatically as the availability of the drug has reduced because of demand from those who believe it will prevent Covid-19. Scientists say the drug has some "very serious" side-effects and there is no evidence that it prevents or treats the disease. But those running the MORU trial have said chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine "could reduce the chances" of catching coronavirus amid fears of a second wave of infections. The study's lead UK investigator, Prof Martin Llewelyn of Brighton and Sussex School, said a "safe and effective vaccine may be a long way off". Loading.... He added: "If drugs as well tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching Covid-19 this would be incredibly valuable." Hydroxychloroquine is a prescription drug used for acute malaria and certain types of arthritis. It can reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling - and is widely used to treat rheumatic diseases. It is a derivative of chloroquine, which is also used to treat malaria. Loading.... The UK Government has said that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are not licensed to treat Covid-19 related symptoms or prevent infection. It said the drugs should not be used outside ongoing clinical trials which have reached no conclusions over the safety and effectiveness of the medicine on coronavirus. The first UK participants in the new trial can be enrolled from today at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Further testing is expected at another four sites by the end of May, with 25 total locations opened across the UK before July and more planned around the globe. The team aims to deliver results by the end of 2020. Sheltering in place could be a little uncomfortable this long holiday weekend as temperatures climb toward 80 in San Francisco and as high as the 90s inland, according to the National Weather Service. What would normally be perfect weather for Memorial Day weekend activities camping, big backyard barbecues, hanging out at the beach could be torture for those without air conditioning or simply itching to get out of the house. But parks officials, tourism promoters and public health officers remind people that shelter-in-place orders remain in effect and they should stay home even though it may be warm. Once you push past 80, it begins to feel hot, especially with lack of air conditioning and with people stuck indoors, said Drew Peterson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Monterey. Temperatures around the Bay Area were expected to rise slightly on Thursday before dipping slightly on Friday as weak high-pressure and low-pressure systems duel over the Pacific. A strong high-pressure system starting Saturday will settle in for a few days and temperatures will climb, officials said. Memorial Day high temperatures Monday are expected to be around 78 in San Francisco, 84 in Oakland, 94 in Concord, 92 in San Jose and 94 in Santa Rosa. The heat is expected to continue on Tuesday, climbing slightly in most places, and possibly Wednesday. Those temperatures are about 10 to 16 degrees above normal for this time of year, Peterson said, adding that even warmer predictions could be coming as more data become available. Temperatures should be in the low to mid-70s in San Francisco and Oakland on Saturday with highs around 80 in Concord and San Jose. Sunday temperatures are expected to rise four to seven degrees. Once the warm spell passes, theres a chance of rainfall in the Bay Area, Peterson said. We could see a few more drops of rain late next week, he said, but were pretty much at the end of our rope as far as rainfall. While the weather might seem perfect for outdoor activities, state and regional parks advise people to stay 6 feet apart from others, even on trails and at beaches, and to carry or wear masks. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Most hotels have been shut down or limited to people making essential trips, and even tourism promoters are telling people theyre not welcome to visit. It should be nice weather, but everyone who wants to get outdoors should make sure they listen to local authorities because rules vary, Peterson said. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan By Express News Service KOLKATA: Wreaking havoc in the coastal belt and its adjoining areas, cyclone Amphan, one of the worst storm in recent years that had hit Bengal on Wednesday, claimed at least 12 lives, apart from demolishing thousands of houses in East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas district and sweeping away crops on thousand acres of agricultural land. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee convened a meeting of the state task force on Thursday afternoon to assess the damage and measures to be taken for the people in the affected zones. Banerjee said that the disaster was bigger than COVID-19 pandemic in Bengal. "Had we not evacuated five lakh people, dont know what would have happened. We are yet to know the extent of damage, It can be Rs 1 lakh crore. We need cooperation from all. We will ask the centre to help the state government financially keeping aside all political issues at this hour of crisis," she said. The extremely severe cyclone hit Bengal with a wind speed of 150 kmph, gusting to 190kmph. In the coastal areas, roofs of thatched houses were blown away, thousands of trees were uprooted and electric poles got twisted. In low-lying areas of Kolkata, streets and homes were swamped with rainwater. Cellphone services were snapped at several pockets of the state capital. River dams were swept away at many places in South 24-Parganas after water level surged up to 15 feet, resulting in the flooding of villages and firm lands. In Ramnagar and Khejuri blocks of East Midnapore, around 75,000 people became homeless. #WATCH West Bengal: A portion of Kolkata Airport flooded in wake of #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/28q5MdqoD2 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 "We need to ensure dry food and living accommodation for the people in badly affected areas. A large of coastal area has become inaccessible because roads are blocked tree trunks. Personnel of disaster management group and NDRF are removing the obstructions," said an official of the state government. Relief flight services to resume at Kolkata Airport Despite being flooded partially, relief flight operations to resume at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkatas DumDum area from 1 pm on Thursday. Two relief flights for Thai and Russian citizens will be operated during the afternoon. There will be one Air Asia flight for Thai citizens. Already passengers started arriving at the terminal. In the late afternoon, another flight will depart for Russian citizens, said Airport Director, Kaushik Bhattacharjee. The ravaging cyclone left some portions of the airport flooded. According to sources, some portion, including apron or tarmac, are water-logged. An apron is an area where aircraft are loaded or unloaded, refuelled and parkedusually not open to passengers. An old hanger of Air India was collapsed reportedly. However, the damages would have little impact on the resumption of operations. This (the waterlogging) will not affect the flight operations. We have 50 parking bays. Flights of Indigo and Spice Jet are parked there. But, it is difficult to pump out the water from the flooded portion due to the difference in water level from outside the airport premises, said the director. According to sources, some parked aircrafts moved by a few inches despite chocks being placed before the wheels as the gale winds tore through this part of the City (DumDum) at a speed of 133kmph. Howling winds, triggered by Cyclone Amphan, hit the Bengal coast on Wednesday. The very severe cyclone made landfall over Sagar Island, claiming at least 12 lives in the eastern State. The eye of the storm is believed to have crossed Kolkata, which faced natures wrath till midnight, between 7.30 pm and 8.30 pm. The City woke up to uprooted trees, bent electricity poles, broken structures, flooded streets and tangled wires, on Thursday. As per historians, Kolkata had faced similar cyclone on October 11 in 1737, making landfall inside Ganges River Delta. The work of the restaurants in the hotels is still forbidden Starting from June 10, the Ukrainians will be able to visit the restaurants on the premises as the Health Ministry of Ukraine reported. During the governments session on May 20, the decision was made on the launch of the second stage of the emerging from quarantine on May 22. Thus, starting from May 22, the city, suburban and intraregional public transport will be launched in Ukraine. Besides, the holding of the religious event will be allowed with no more than one person per 10 square meters. The hotels will also start to work but without restaurants. Starting from May 25, the metro and kindergartens will start to work. Starting from June 1, the railway passengers traffic in city, regional and long-distance domestic traffic will be renewed, as well as the intraregional passenger traffic by cars. Starting from June 10, it will be allowed to visit the restaurants in the premises and the activity of the cultural establishments, including the events with the limited number of visitors considering the square of the rooms, the message said. It is planned to restore the work of airports from June 15. As we reported, Ukraines Cabinet of Ministers extended the lockdown until June 22. It has also been decided to begin the second phase of quarantine easing starting from May 22. Much of Cheshire is shut down at the moment, in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. However, what remains open for use are the numerous hiking trails around town. As the weather warms, residents stuck inside at the moment may want to take advantage of these natural resources, which provide not only much-needed exercise but a chance to escape into nature for a while. In the summer of 2018, The Cheshire Herald ran a series of articles detailing the different trails around town. We thought now would be a good time to revisit those experiences, sharing with you what we saw on some of the trails open to the public. Its important to remember that all social distancing protocols should be adhered to while hiking, and that reports of mass gatherings at these or any other open space areas of town could force their closure. . If youve spent any time strolling the many trails and open-space areas of Cheshire these last few weeks, youll know that some of the best do a good job of hiding the natural gems that await a hiker inside. During our special look at the hiking areas in and around town, weve already explored a few trails that do a good job of camouflaging, at least initially, what is in store for the average hiker the narrow pathway that leads into the open fields at Fresh Meadow Sanctuary and the relatively flat start of an eventually steep ascent to the top of Roaring Brook Falls. But when it comes to the Quinnipiac Blue Trail, accessed through the Cornwall Avenue entrance, hikers are quickly informed of the experience that lies before them. Almost immediately, the trail veers upwards, over some loose gravel-like stones and large rocks jutting out from the ground below. When the incline begins to finally level off, what emerges are some of the most beautiful visions available to any local nature enthusiast, and a trail that offers more miles of challenging terrain to navigate than virtually any other in the state. When The Herald traveled up to the Quinnipiac Blue Trail two years ago, we described it as the yin to the Farmington Canal Linear Trails yang. While the Linear Trail is flat, paved, and open to joggers, bicyclists, or dog-walkers alike, the Quinnipiac Blue Trail is for hikers who are interested in testing their stamina, their fear of heights at times, and an ability to navigate up and down rocky landscape that never stays flat for very long. And at the end of the journey, hikers are bound to have felt challenged, inspired, tired and invigorated all at once, The Herald explained in our 2018 article on the trail. The Quinnipiac Trail that crosses through Cheshire is a part of the Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail System in Connecticut and, according to the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, it is the oldest part of that system. The Blue-Blazed Trails consist of 800 miles of walkable area throughout Connecticut, cutting up and down the state in an intricate network of trails. The immense project of carving out these paths began approximately 100 years ago, in the 1920s, as a response to booming metropolitan and urban areas. With more development and more natural landscape being used for cityscapes, a national movement began to help preserve local nature and encourage people to once again reconnect with the outdoors. The Quinnipiac Trail portion stretches for 18 miles, running through Cheshire, Bethany, Prospect, and into Hamden, where it eventually runs into Sleeping Giant State Park. For walkers interested in keeping their jaunts confined to Cheshire, the Quinnipiac Trail intersects with the top of Roaring Brook Falls, meaning that hikers can not only experience the majesty of that waterfall from above, but also they can choose to descend along the Roaring Brook Falls hiking trail to complete their journey. In 2018, The Herald described the hike as thus: This terrain provides both hurdles and support, as the embedded rocks serve as natural steps up the side of the ridge, while the gravel-like stones make it hard to find sure footing and increase the chances of a slip Yet, despite reaching more than 670 feet in elevation, the initial section of the trail isnt likely to frighten those who have a dislike for heights. Though one is keenly aware of the slopes on either side, the trail runs down the spine of the ridge and away from the steep cliffs At a certain point little more than a mile in the trail begins to more closely hug one side of the ridge and snakes its away along the side of the cliff, providing some awe-inspiring views of the valley below. Eventually, the trail leads down into those valleys a journey that requires slow movements and deliberate steps so as to stay as safe as possible. These inclines and declines make up the more treacherous parts of the journey, but none are so intimidating or dangerous as to require advanced-level skill. The Cheshire Land Trust, which routinely offers guided hiking tours of the area, classifies the hike as moderate to difficult, and it seems to be the perfect description. During spring and summer months, it can be difficult to enjoy the views offered by the slopes height and vantage points, with so many trees full of leaves obstructing sightlines. However, before the trees are in full bloom, or when the autumn frosts have cleared away most of the obstacles, the views can be quite stunning. But if even all one has to enjoy were the trail itself, the hike is worth every ounce of energy expended. For local hikers, the Quinnipiac Trail is simply a cant-miss experience. Released convicts complain about lack of jobs, housing, and subsistence flickr.com/Vlad Meytin 13:02 21/05/2020 MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI, Alena Savelyeva) Russias Ombudsman office receives applications from convicts who have recently served their terms seeking help as to jobs, housing, and subsitence, according to a member of Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkovas staff. The statement has been made in the framework of a videoconference on resocialization and adaptation of convicts released from penitentiary establishments. According to Russias Justice Ministry, annually about 200,000 convicts are released from prisons; more than half of them need assistance in settling the problems they face as to their employment and living conditions, whereas over 35% of such persons lack permanent homes. There are about 200 social adaptation centers across Russia; however, this number is far from being sufficient as these facilities can accommodate only 10,000 people, the Ombudsman staff member informed the audience. State social protection authorities cannot guarantee former convicts housing and jobs; therefore, they have to turn to various NGOs and rights activists for help, the staff member said. Altogether, in 2019 the Rights Commissioners office received 41 such applications, what makes less than 1% of the total number of submitted applications; nevertheless, there are probably many more of such addressed to other departments of the office engaged in the settlement of social issues, he added. Among other problems ex-convicts report are those related to obtaining necessary documents and the situations where they are prohibited to leave the areas where they were obliged to reside under administrative oversight terms, but in which they cannot get jobs. Rights activists believe that the efficiency of criminal policy is determined not only by repressive measures and restoration of victims rights, but also by the quality of rehabilitation of criminals personalities via a range of measures set forth in the Criminal Code, such as moral building activities, community work, general and professional education, and social pressure. Besides, administrations of penitentiary establishments are responsible for providing local governments and federal labor service offices of the places of residence determined for released convicts about the fact of their planned release and his or her situation as to housing, fitness for work, and profession; in case of underage ex-convicts, administrations are to inform commissions on juvenile affairs. Sri Lanka's independent elections commission said Wednesday it cannot hold parliamentary elections on June 20 as planned because of the coronavirus outbreak. Saliya Peiris, a lawyer representing the commission, told the Supreme Court that the elections can only be held 10 weeks after health authorities declare conditions are safe. READ | Sri Lanka: President Rajapaksa Rejects Opposition's Call To Reconvene Parliament Several former lawmakers and civil groups had complained to the court that their fundamental rights were breached by the commission's earlier decision to hold the election on June 20. The election was originally set for April 25 but the commission rescheduled it for June. Peiris said the commission chose that date expecting the country's lockdown would be lifted by the end of this month. READ | Rajapaksa Warns Sri Lanka Will Withdraw From Any Int'l Forum If 'war Heroes' Are Targeted The petitioners also asked the court to annul President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's move on March 2 to dissolve Parliament and reinstate the old Parliament because the constitution says the country cannot run without a legislature for more than three months. Parliament's term was to end in September but the president has the power to dissolve it six months ahead of schedule, and also to reconvene it in an emergency. The court has not yet said whether it will hear that case. Sri Lanka has reported 1,027 coronavirus cases including nine deaths. The court was told that candidates campaign mostly through public meetings and canvassing door-to-door, methods that are not conducive for social distancing. READ | Sri Lanka Removes Top Health Bureaucrat Amid Coronavirus Crisis READ | Ina's Envoy To Sri Lanka Presents Credentials To President Rajapaksa Via Video Linkdi The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis tailor-made for a global response. The virus knows no borders and kills without discrimination. It has halted daily life and devastated economies. The threat it poses is immediate and lethal. Traditionally, a catastrophe like this - something that touches everyone - triggers an ordering moment in international politics. Nations should be aligning their efforts to develop a vaccine, contain the disease, produce and allocate medical equipment, and stabilize the global economy. They should be strengthening the World Health Organization (WHO). But nothing of the sort is happening. Countries are competing for, and hoarding, medical equipment as they engage in a biotech arms race to find a vaccine. They are closing their borders and scapegoating foreigners. The United States is treating the WHO like a punching bag. To raise money for vaccine development, the European Union recently hosted a video gathering of leaders at which German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others pleaded for a coordinated global response. But the United States, Russia and India all passed on the meeting, and China's low-level representative pledged no funds. Why is a global health emergency that should result in global solidarity producing such disarray? A look back at previous instances of cooperative ordering provides the answer. In modern times, there have been four such moments: The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the end of World War I in 1919 (which followed the previous year's flu pandemic and encompassed efforts to advance public health), the end of World War II in 1945 and the end of the Cold War in 1989. These were eras of geopolitical upheaval, not health emergencies. But in their comparably ruinous effects, they offer the best insight into what should be happening now - and why it isn't. All told, the prospective deaths and economic damage caused by the coronavirus may equal the costs of the world wars. The first one took the lives of some 115,000 Americans, a number likely to be surpassed by the pandemic's toll. Armed conflicts disrupt trade and destroy assets, but they also ramp up economic activity to support the war effort. This pandemic shuts everything down. Even amid the Nazi Blitz, Londoners went about their daily routines, scurrying to bomb shelters only when the sirens sounded. Today, Londoners are sheltering around the clock. And the pandemic, like war, dominates public discourse and concentrates the mind. Around the world, it is all about the coronavirus. We are in this together. Three attributes turn an international emergency into a geopolitical realignment: The existence of a wartime alliance that morphs into a peacetime coalition, an identifiable end to the crisis that begins a new chapter, and the presence of a powerful and visionary country to guide the effort. Today, all three of these attributes are missing. After the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II and the Cold War, wartime cooperation made for peacetime innovation. The Quadruple Alliance (Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria) that emerged to defeat Napoleon was the same group that convened the Congress of Vienna in 1814, leading to the launch of the Concert of Europe the following year. France joined in 1818, and the Concert preserved peace for decades to come. In 1919, victors against Imperial Germany (the United States, Britain and France) ran the show at the Versailles Peace Conference, which redrew national boundaries and gave birth to the League of Nations. In 1945, the Allied powers were the architects of the postwar order and the United Nations. And at the end of the Cold War, the leading members of the Atlantic alliance (the United States, Britain, France and West Germany) presided over German reunification, the end of rivalry with the Soviet Union, and the enlargement of NATO and the European Union, the two pillars of European stability during the Cold War. Today, there is no standing coalition to guide international cooperation. Relevant international bodies (such as the WHO) exist, but the coronavirus crisis broke at a moment of geopolitical fragmentation. The United States and China are sparring over security and trade. The Atlantic alliance is still standing, but it is sorely strained by sharp differences between President Donald Trump and his European counterparts. Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a political brand of jousting with, and seeking to undermine, the West. Nations lack the trust and cooperative spirit that come with wartime alliances. The pandemic's harms are similar to those of war, but there is no coalition to drive any kind of international reordering. Nor is there a clear endpoint, an armistice day that would mark the conclusion of suffering and the beginning of efforts to create a better way. In 1815, 1919 and 1945, the guns fell silent. In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. The woes that preceded those events had discredited the old order and created an opening for a more peaceful and cooperative alternative. Members of the Concert of Europe settled territorial disputes and set up creative mechanisms - neutral, buffer and demilitarized zones - to avert the return of rivalries. Even though the Senate was unwilling to approve U.S. participation in the League of Nations, some 60 countries joined, cooperating to mediate territorial disputes, reduce armaments, set up an international court of justice, protect ethnic minorities and stand up a health section to contain disease. These efforts laid the groundwork for the rules-based order that would emerge following the next great war. The institutions that Washington shepherded into existence after World War II - the United Nations, the Bretton Woods monetary system, NATO - anchored the international system for decades to come. So the post-1989 order could build on what already existed: NATO and the European Union opened their doors to Europe's new democracies, the Group of Seven turned into the Group of Eight by including Russia, and China joined the World Trade Organization. With the coronavirus, there is no prospect of an "all-clear," no definitive moment when leading nations can breathe a sigh of relief and collectively deliberate how to build a more secure future. Instead, the pandemic is likely to straggle on, waning and waxing in different locations until it gradually dies out. Some countries are already reopening for business while others envisage prolonged lockdowns. Even after a vaccine emerges, nations will compete for doses. Against this muddled backdrop, the key players are poised to remain inwardly preoccupied and going their own ways. Finally, ordering moments take shape when a strong and forward-looking country guides the enterprise. In 1815, it was Britain and its foreign secretary, Lord Castlereagh. In 1919, 1945 and 1989, it was the United States, with Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and George H.W. Bush setting the pace. All of these leaders understood that only international teamwork could tackle common challenges. Each presided over the most powerful country in the world but grasped that internationally shared gains were the best way to advance the national interest. And they did not wait for the crises to subside to begin planning what would come next. Almost a year before the United States entered World War I, Wilson was already generating ideas about a postwar league to keep the peace, affirming that "we shall be as much concerned as the nations at war to see peace assume an aspect of permanence." The same went for Roosevelt, who secretly met with Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland in August 1941 and drafted the Atlantic Charter - which would eventually serve as a template for the U.N. Charter. Bush, who'd served as U.N. ambassador and CIA director in the 1970s, embodied the pragmatic internationalism that guided U.S. strategy throughout the second half of the 20th century. The United States is still the world's strongest country, but it is governed by a president who disdains rather than seeks out international partnership. "America First," in name and in practice, is antithetical to building international order. Trump insists that "the nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony" and says he is "skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down." He has regrettably made good on his 2016 pledge: "We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism." Trump's stubborn unilateralism is certainly an important part of the story. But had the raw materials been available - an existing coalition and the prospect of a clear end to the crisis - even Trump may have opted for a more collective response, especially since his re-election rides on his handling of the pandemic. They were not; this moment does not lend itself to global realignment the way earlier crises did. Indeed, the world seems to be headed toward growing division and national self-reliance. For now, the best hope for jump-starting global cooperation on the pandemic is Trump's defeat in November. Following in the footsteps of Wilson and Roosevelt, a few Democrats in Congress are already doing some planning. The stakes go well beyond developing a vaccine and sharing vital medical equipment. If nothing else, the pandemic underscores that we live in an irreversibly interdependent world that can be effectively managed only through common effort. Whether the task is fighting disease, preventing war or battling climate change, the coronavirus should serve as an urgent wake-up call for a new era of international teamwork. - - - Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and the author of the forthcoming book "A World Safe for Democracy: Liberal Internationalism and the Crises of Global Order.; Kupchan is a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of the forthcoming book "Isolationism: A History of America's Efforts to Shield Itself From the World." Chinese shipping containers are stored beside a US flag after they were unloaded at the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, Calif., on May 14, 2019. (MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images) The World Waves Goodbye to the Era of Globalization Post-pandemic order will be very different as many governments retreat from global economic integration News Analysis WASHINGTONGlobalization, which has shaped the world economic order over the past few decades, was already in trouble before the pandemic. And with the emergence of COVID-19, the retreat from global economic integration has gained momentum, setting in motion a global reordering thats expected to play out over decades. President Donald Trump said that the lessons learned from the pandemic vindicate his America First policies. While he came under fire for his protectionist stance, which has caused a fundamental shift in the world trade order in the past few years, the pandemic has proven that he was right and globalists were wrong, he said. In many ways, weve learned a lot, and were going to bring back manufacturing that we could never have done without this, he told Fox Business on May 14. A lot of people are saying, Trump was right. Ive been talking about this for a long time. Stupid supply chains are all over the world, he said, noting that one little piece of the world goes bad and the whole thing is messed up. Trump believes the era of globalists who wanted to make the world wealthy at Americans expense has also come to an end. I dont even know where these people come from. But those days are over. And if nothing else, over the last two months, its been proven to be right. With the pandemic, public opinion has also shifted against globalization. People in the United States have been disturbed to find that their health depends on China, which is the dominant supplier of protective equipment and crucial drugs. Overreliance on a single country for life-saving equipment and medicines during the pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains. Its also raised concerns about the purity and safety of thousands of drugs that are made in China. A survey by Pew Research Center in March found that roughly two-thirds of Americans now have an unfavorable view of China. And over the recent weeks, more and more countries have been calling for Beijing to be held accountable for the regimes initial response to the outbreak. The World After the Pandemic The post-pandemic order will be very different, as many governments across the world are also giving up on globalization and talking about decoupling from China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to national television on May 12 to announce his new stimulus package, with an ambition to create a self-reliant India. The plan is expected to boost the Make in India initiative and the countrys manufacturing capacity. Last month, Japans prime minister, Shinzo Abe, announced that his government was setting aside more than $2 billion in funds to help Japanese firms shift production out of China. President Emmanuel Macron of France told the Financial Times on April 16 that the pandemic will change the nature of globalization, with which we have lived for the past 40 years, adding that it was clear that this kind of globalization was reaching the end of its cycle, it was undermining democracy. The economic recovery plan drafted by the European Union highlighted the importance of building strategic autonomy in vital supply chains and reducing reliance on third countries. Weve effectively crushed globalization, Michael OSullivan, author of the book The Levelling: Whats Next After Globalization, told The Epoch Times. Normally, in this kind of crisis, he said, countries tend to create an international coordination group to save the world. Instead, big powers are now at odds with each other, squabbling over medical supplies and racing to ban exports of ventilators, masks, and other personal protective gear, he said. In the post-pandemic world, the whole idea of a multipolar world will come into more focus, he said. OSullivan, in his book, describes the new world order in a post-globalization era, in which three major players will dominate geopolitics: China-centric Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Reducing US Reliance on China Similar to the manner in which different countries reacted to the supply chain disruptions, the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to make the United States more independent, self-sufficient, and resilient. On May 14, Trump signed an executive order that gave the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. new powers to support manufacturers in the United States. The overseas investment agency normally invests in economic development projects in other countries. With this new order, it will also help key industries producing vital goods and services in the United States. On May 18, the Trump administration signed a $354 million contract with Phlow Corp., a Virginia-based company, to manufacture critical medicines and drug ingredients for use in the fight against the coronavirus. Phlow will work with a team of private industry partners to manufacture at facilities in the United States, including a new facility to be built in Virginia. Trump earlier predicted that the United States could be self-sufficient in medicine within two years. The White House is also planning to release an executive order that will require federal agencies to purchase U.S.-made medical products. The order is expected to help create a market for manufacturers to invest and produce in the United States. There is a strong bipartisan push to craft legislation to reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese products, which accounted for almost 18 percent of U.S. imports of goods in 2019. The virus, which has sent shock waves through supply chains, has also forced company boards to rethink the risks associated with their business models. In an apparent win for the Trump administrations efforts to bring manufacturing to the United States, Taiwan Semiconductor, the worlds largest contract chipmaker, on May 14 announced plans to build a production factory in Arizona. The company said it would invest roughly $12 billion for the plant, which is scheduled to open by 2024. It plans to employ about 1,600 people while indirectly generating thousands of other jobs. Companies will face pressure from shareholders, regulators, and governments to make supply chains more local and resilient to prevent future shocks. However, moving supply chains may take longer than predicted, according to Jim Reid, a Deutsche Bank strategist. An unwinding of global value chains should strengthen the position of workers in Western economies, he wrote in a report. If Western workers have been the main victim of globalization, they stand to benefit from deglobalization. But this structural effect will take decades, not years, to feed through. China moves closer to civil code People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 16:57, May 20, 2020 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China's national legislature will deliberate a massive bill when its annual session opens Friday, moving closer to having a civil code for the people's republic. An 84-chapter, 1,260-article draft was put together in December after different parts of it were reviewed, including the general provisions and six parts on property, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance and torts liability. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) decided in its December session that the draft would be presented to the NPC annual session in 2020 for deliberation. "Having a civil code will be another crucial milestone in developing a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics," said Wang Yi, dean of the law school at Renmin University of China. "It will greatly boost the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance." China has a slew of civil laws in place, laying a solid foundation for the codification process. Lawmakers said it is not about formulating a new civil law but rather systematically integrating civil laws and regulations, modifying and improving them to adapt to new situations while maintaining the consistency of existing laws. For example, the draft civil code includes articles on personal information protection, and enhances the protection of virtual properties in cyberspace. The decision to compile the civil code was announced in October 2014 at a plenary session of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. The legislative process started in June 2016. The General Provisions of the Civil Law was adopted in 2017. Starting in August 2018, six draft parts were reviewed in different NPC Standing Committee sessions. In December 2019, a complete draft civil code was unveiled. Then the draft was posted online to solicit public opinions. A total of 13,718 people submitted 114,574 pieces of advice from late December to late January, said Yue Zhongming, spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee. Many of the suggestions concern the everyday lives of the public, Yue said, adding that the legislature will conduct careful research and take reasonable suggestions into consideration. Lawmaker Sun Xianzhong, who has spent years pushing for a civil code, said he was excited at the prospect at the coming NPC session. "It's like witnessing a sapling growing into a lush tree," said Sun. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Millennials are having families, boomers are retiring and both are increasingly choosing apartments and condos over houses. Meanwhile, the suburbs are becoming denser and medium-sized cities like Kitchener or Waterloo are becoming more diverse. These are just some of the insights provided by the fourth generation of PRIZM, a data analysis system by Environics Analytics that puts the Canadian population into segments based on income, living arrangements, generation, dining habits and more. And in a post-COVID-19 world, this data could be used by both businesses and government agencies to determine the new normal. Rupen Seoni, senior vice-president and practice leader at Environics, said the fourth generation of PRIZM data analysis shows an increasingly complex society where Canadian cities are diversifying as millennials and boomers change the way they live. The millennials are having kids, and the boomers are retiring, said Seoni. Meanwhile, growth isnt just for big cities anymore medium-sized cities are seeing more growth and diversification, he said. PRIZM uses census data and other data to compile profiles of segments of the population. The data starts as a profile of a certain postal code, which is then used to compile the segments complete with ages, media habits, living arrangements and more. These segments are a year in the making, said Seoni. The first generation of PRIZM launched in 2004, with 66 segments. This fourth generation has 67, 14 of which are predominantly francophone. Over the years there have been glimmers of some of the segments that are now in full force in the fourth generation, said Seoni. For example, while Toronto and Vancouver as well as other large cities used to be the centres of cultural diversity in Canada, over the years that has spilled over into medium-sized cities such as Kitchener and Waterloo. This diversity is shown in segments such as Diversite Nouvelle, Quebec-centred city dwellers from a diverse set of backgrounds, and in South Asian Enterprise, an urban group comprising upper-middle-income South Asian families. This new generation of data also shows the results of the condo boom, said Seoni, where there are more segments defined by apartment or condo living and no, its not just millennials but retirees too. The condo boom has spread to medium-sized cities, resulting in different lifestyles depending on the city. Some of the younger segments enjoying the condo boom are Eat, Play, Love, characterized by young, single and well-educated people living in urban areas; Indieville, characterized by younger and middle-aged urban singles and couples; and Les Enerjeunes, young urban singles living in Quebec. The condo boom is also reflected in the diversity of retirement lifestyles being chosen by retirees, mainly boomers. While some are moving out to the cottage, more and more are choosing retirement communities like Niagara-on-the-Lake, and many are choosing to downsize and stay in the city. Some of the segments capturing these retirees include Savvy Seniors, made up of upper-middle-income seniors in urban apartments, and Scenic Retirement, which are older, middle-income suburban dwellers. Overall, more people are sticking to apartments and condos, said Seoni. But while many millennials are choosing to stay in the city, many others are choosing to move out of it and commute, causing a dichotomy where both cities and suburban areas are intensifying. Theres also a new classification called urban fringe. Urban fringe refers to the areas once considered suburbs that have now become denser than the newer suburbs and have rapid transit access to the urban core such as Mississauga or Markham, said Seoni. Meanwhile, the classification exurban has been erased from the PRIZM vocabulary, since the exurban lifestyle has been taken over by suburban sprawl. Where exurban living once looked more like rural or town living, these areas are now more like suburbs, home to far-flung commuters. Overall, rural areas have continued to shrink in population as the younger generation moves into Canadas cities. This has had a multitude of results, including an increase in the French-English bilingual population, as the children of French-speaking parents learn English to adapt to life and work in the city. Where is growth happening in this country? Its happening in cities, said Seoni. Rural areas are aging and emptying out, and those are the areas that were predominantly French-only. And despite the fact that COVID-19 is changing the way people live, work and play, Seoni said this new data could help businesses and government agencies more effectively market products and health information. For example, the lifestyle segment data can be combined with mobile movement data to determine which segments are not complying with health precautions, so that government agencies can more effectively promote those precautions. Or, restaurants can use the same data to figure out which segments are going out to eat regularly post-COVID-19 and which are not, and can adjust their businesses accordingly. Mobile movement data comes from enabled location services on cellphones the data is anonymized and does not show specific information such as where people live, said Seoni, but helps show the average movements over 100 metres for certain postal codes. Theyre not precise to the rooftop, said Seoni. Already, Seoni said this data has shown that lower-income segments are moving more because many have jobs that have continued throughout the pandemic. As well, rural and suburban populations are more likely to be leaving the house right now than urban dwellers. The more urban, the less likely to move, said Seoni. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25) PhilHealth has come up with a revised COVID-19 test package, slashing half of the original price after receiving criticisms from lawmakers. Ricardo Morales, president and CEO of PhilHealth, said on Thursday that the high demand for testing and low volume of supplies have jacked up the cost of services during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current PhilHealth coronavirus test package amounts to 8,150. Given the new computation of the countrys health insurance corporation, the test package can now cost roughly around 4,210. The initial cost estimates were done in March 2020, where all the data gathered was during that time," PhilHealths Dr. Ish Pargas told a House committee hearing on COVID-19. "We have very limited information. But at that time, we already know that we needed to adjust the package amount. Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon earlier questioned the costly test package, warning the corporation of incurring a potential loss of over 8 billion. READ: Solon warns of 8-B potential loss with 'overpriced' PhilHealth COVID-19 test package Pargas said PhilHealth is continuously reviewing the test packages as more data came in. On Monday, Morales said the state insurance firm uses "market forces" in setting the COVID-19 testing benefit package, clarifying that the lower coverage amount has been planned even before Drilon's allegations. "Tandaan natin ang mga presyo ngayon. Pagdating ng July or October, makikita natin na bababa further [Take note of the prices now. By July or October, we will see those decline further]," Morales said during the government's Laging Handa briefing, noting that improved supply and the expanded capacity of testing laboratories will also pull down prices. "Gusto kong bigyang-diin na walang overpricing ang cost [I want to emphasize that there was no overpricing of costs]," he added, explaining that it was wrong to compare the package amount to the cost of each testing kit. Morales said that PhilHealth also covers for the costs to purchase, transport, extract, and even transfer specimen to testing centers for reimbursement. The services included in the package are clinical assessment, specimen collection, the handling and transport of specimen, real-time RT-PCR testing, and the analysis and reporting of results. Based on the presentation of PhilHealth to the House health committee, the chunk of the price slash came from the PCR testing process. The service used to cost 5,442, which covers the use of PCR equipment, laboratory supplies, and two medical staff to perform the testing. Meanwhile in the proposed package, the PCR test now costs 2,508, which is less than half of the original amount. RELATED: Ex-health chief accuses local supplier of jacking up prices of test kits PhilHealth has also said it has not yet released funds to pay COVID-19 claims and Morales dismissed estimated losses computed by lawmakers. "How can we suffer a loss if we have not paid anything yet?," he said. The PhilHealth chief has assured there are still enough funds to cover COVID-19 expenses, but 2021 could be "grim" if the country does not manage to control new infections. Currently, PhilHealth covers between 43,997 to as high as 786,384 worth of hospital expenses incurred by COVID-19 patients. CNN Philippines' Melissa Luz Lopez contributed to this report. Latest updates on lockdown 4.0 and coronavirus: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in his media briefing on Thursday that the new fare structure for domestic flights is announced for 3 months. As domestic flights resume from May 25, the Civial Aviation Ministry released standard operating procedures (SoPs) for airports across the country on Thursday. Among the guidelines, the ministry made web check-in mandatory for passengers boarding flights, they will be permitted to carry only one check-in baggage. The Passengers are also required to reach the airport 2 hours in advance for thermal screening. The total coronavirus cases in India jumped to 1,12,359 on Thursday, including 63,624 active cases, 45,299 recoveries, 1 migrated, and 3,435, according to latest update by the Union Health Ministry. The country recorded more than 5,600 COVID-19 cases for second day in a row with 5,609 new cases, and 132 deaths in the last 24 hours. Also Read: Coronavirus: COVID-19 cases surge to 1.12 lakh; check state-wise tally, deaths Also Read: IRCTC Update: Railways releases list of 200 trains starting from June 1; booking to start from today Follow BusinessToday.In for all the latest updates on coronavirus:- 8:30 PM: Goa report 2 new coronavirus cases, tally rises to 52 As many as 2 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Goa today; taking the total number of positive cases to 52, says Directorate of Health Services, Goa. 7:40 PM: No inter-district check-posts for health screening: Karnataka govt No inter-district check-posts for health screening in the state. Agencies running public transport to ensure health screening of passengers before the start of a journey. No health screening of passengers travelling by private vehicles across districts in the state, says Karnataka government. 7:15 PM: Home ministry asks States/UTs to strictly implement measures to contain coronavirus Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said it has reported violations of home ministry guidelines at various places. States/UTs must strictly implement all measures to contain COVID-19. Local authorities must take all necessary steps to enforce the guidelines, says MHA Spokesperson. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to States- Violations of MHA Guidelines being reported at various places. States/UTs must strictly implement all measures to contain #COVID19. Local authorities must take all necessary steps to enforce the guidelines: MHA Spokesperson pic.twitter.com/UxzJTnnnoR ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 7:00 PM: Coronavirus in Karnataka: 143 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in 24 hours 143 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Karnataka from 5pm yesterday till 5 pm today; taking the total number of positive cases to 1605. There are 992 active cases: Health Department, Karnataka. 6:40 PM: Delhi records highest single-day spike of 571 fresh cases on Thursday Delhi reported the highest single-day spike of 571 fresh cases on Thursday, taking tally in the city to 11,659 and the death toll from coronavirus infection rose to 194. This is the third consecutive day when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi so far. The previous highest was 534 cases recorded on May 20. 6:20 PM: Vande Bharat Mission: Civil Aviation in talks with private airlines to bring stranded Indians back Ministry of Civil Aviation is in talks with private airlines to engage them in Vande Bharat Mission to bring stranded Indians back. A total of 23,475 people have safely returned to India under the mission till date, ANI quoted MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava as saying. 6:05 PM: Defence manufacturing adversely affected by coronavirus: Rajnath Singh Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that manufacturing sector has been affected the most due to coronavirus-led lockdown and disruption in supply chains, while the defence sector is more aggravated than others as the only buyer of its products is the government. 5:55 PM: UP reports 360 new cases in last 24 hours In last 24 hours, 360 new positive coronavirus cases have been reported in the state. Active cases stand at 2,130 while 127 deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 and 3,099 people have been cured till now, says Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad. 5:40 PM: IICB Kolkata gets nod from DCGI to start convalescent plasma therapy CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) in Kolkata has got approval from DCGI to start therapy on convalescent plasma. They've tied up with few hospitals in Kolkata and have begun trials now, says Shekhar C Mande, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 5.13 pm: Delhi govt takes back 70% corona cess Delhi government has taken the decision to take back 70% corona cess on liquor. The decision has been taken since the Haryana and UP borders are open now and can lead to smuggling, sources say. Meanwhile, a formal notification in this regard is awaited. 5.05 pm: 397 coronavirus cases in Gujarat in 24 hours Gujarat which is the third worst-hit state in India recorded 397 new COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this the state's tally climbed to 12,537, as per the Union Health 4.56 pm: Total COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu The state recorded 743 new cases, and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours taking the state's tally to 13,191, according to Union Health Ministry. 4.46 pm: Bihar reports 96 new coronavirus cases Bihar registered 96 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the state's total count of positive cases to 1,872, said the state's Information and Public Relations Department. 4.37 pm: Chandigarh records 14 fresh coronavirus cases 14 new COVID-19 cases have been reported from Bapu Dham colony on Thursday, taking the total count of coronavirus cases in Chandigarh to 219. 4.27 pm: Rajasthan coronavirus cases The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 6,146, including 150 deaths, 3,422 recoveries, and 3,041 discharged, said the Rajasthan health department. 131 #COVID19 positive cases, 3 deaths, 18 recovered & 41 discharged in Rajasthan today so far. The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 6146, including 150 deaths and 3422 recovered and 3041 discharged: Rajasthan Health Department pic.twitter.com/xpAG28xTwx ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 4.17 pm: 571 COVID-19 cases in Delhi in 24 hours Delhi recorded 571 fresh coronavirus cases, 375 recoveries in the last 24 hours, said the Kejriwal government adding that the total count of positive cases in the national capital now stands at 11,659, including 5,567 recoveries, 194 deaths. (ANI) 4.09 pm: Uttarakhand coronavirus cases: 10 more infected Uttarakhand recorded 10 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, said the state health department adding that the total coronavirus positive cases jumped to 132 including 77 active cases, 54 recoveries, and 1 death. (ANI) 3.59 pm: Domestic flight routes classified into 7 categories, says Civil Aviation Minister All routes in within the country fall within these 7 categories:- 1) Flight time less than 40 minutes 2) 40 - 60 minutes 3) 60 - 90 minutes 4) 90 - 120 minutes 5) 120 - 150 minutes 6) 150 - 180 minutes 7) 180 - 210 minutes. 3.49 pm: West Bengal coronavirus cases: Total 72 deaths across West Bengal, claims Mamata Out of these 72 deaths, Kolkata's count stands at 15, Howrah -7, North 24 Parganas-17, East Medinipur-6, South 24 Parganas-18,Hooghly-2. 3.43 pm: Minimum and maximum fares fixed for next 3 months, says Puri We have set a minimum and a maximum fare. In the case of Delhi, Mumbai the minimum fare would be Rs 3500 for a journey between 90-120 minutes, maximum fare would be Rs 10,000. This is operative for 3 months - till one minute to midnight on 24th August, says Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. 3.33 pm: Corona updates: Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri briefs media Announcing SoPs for domestic flights beginning May 25, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the flights will restart up to a limited extend of required and approved summer schedule. He added that for operation from Metro to Metro cities, airlines will be permitted to function with one-third capacity of approved summer schedule 2020, which is over 33.33%. Puri stated that from Metro to Non-Metro cities and vice-versa, where weekly departures are more than 100, airlines will be permitted one-third capacity of approved summer schedule 2020. 3.23 pm: New fare structure announced for 3 months Delhi-Mumbai fares-minimum cap of Rs 3,500, maximum- Rs 10,000, says Puri. 3.17 pm: Domestic flights from May 25 Fare limits have been fixed, says Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. 3.14 pm: 'Metro to non Metro citites'-Only 1/3rd flights to resume: Hardeep Singh Puri 3.09 pm: Evacuation flights 20,000 people brough back from abroad, says Hardeep Singh Puri. 3.04 pm: Coronavirus live updates Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri begins press conference on SoPs for domestic flights beginning from May 25. #WATCH: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri addresses the media in Delhil https://t.co/q2KmGXzRfq ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 3.00 PM: Latest coronavirus cases in Rajasthan As many as 131 COVID-19 positive cases, 3 deaths, 18 recovered and 41 discharged in Rajasthan today so far. The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 6,146, including 150 deaths and 3,422 recovered, says the Rajasthan Health Department. 2.50 PM: Lottery ticket sale resumes in Kerala Sale of lottery tickets resumes in the state after almost two months. Ramesan B, a retail lottery ticket seller in Thiruvananthapuram, says, "We are witnessing fall in sales as people stay at home due to lockdown". - ANI 2.40 PM: Coronavirus in numbers 45,299 people cured; recovery rate 40.32% 2,615,920 samples tested so far; 1,03,532 samples tested in last 24 hours 3,027 dedicated COVID Hospitals and Health Centres 6,50,930 COVID Care Centres identified 2.30 PM: On May 20, 279 Shramik trains were run taking 5 lakh migrant labourers, students and trapped tourists to their homes: Railway Minister Also read: Railways to start ticket booking at 1.7 lakh common service centres from tomorrow: Goyal 2.20 PM: 70-year-old woman from Budgam district who had tested positive for coronavirus dies at hospital in Srinagar, taking COVID-19 related death toll in Jammu and Kashmir to 19: Officials --PTI 2.15 PM: Update from Rashtrapati Bhavan President Ram Nath Kovind accepted credentials from Ambassadors and High Commissioners of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Senegal, Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius, Australia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Rwanda through video conference today. This was the first time that credentials were presented through the digital medium. President Kovind remarked that digital technology has enabled the world to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19 and carry out its functions in an innovative manner. 2.03 pm: Manufacturing sector most-affected by lockdown, says Rajnath Singh Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the manufacturing sector has been the most affected by lockdown and disruption in existing supply chains, defence sector is no exception. Defence sector has faced more pressure compared to other sectors, he added. Manufacturing sector has been the most affected by lockdown and disruption in existing supply chains, defence sector is no exception. Defence sector has faced more pressure compared to other sectors: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh #COVID19pic.twitter.com/NWAU2sLa7r ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 1.56 pm: Odisha coronavirus cases at 1,103 Odisha's COVID-19 tally stands at 1,103 as of date, including 753 active cases, 343 recoveries, and 7 deaths, said the state health department.(ANI) 1.45 pm: COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra near 40,000 With 2,161 new COVID-19 cases and 65 deaths, Maharashtra's total count of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed to 39,297, along with 1,390 deaths, according to Union Health Ministry on Thursday. 1.35 pm: Mumbai lockdown extension news Large number of migrant labourers gathered at the grounds in Kandivali's Mahavir Nagar after 2 of the 3 trains, scheduled to leave from Borivali for UP, were cancelled. The labourers requested to be sent to their home states. Police is requesting them to vacate spot. Mumbai: Large number of migrant labourers have gathered at the grounds in Kandivali's Mahavir Nagar after 2 of the 3 trains, scheduled to leave from Borivali for UP, were cancelled. The labourers requested to be sent to their home states. Police is requesting them to vacate spot. pic.twitter.com/fV5LlDUxkJ ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 1.25 pm: 116 new COVID-19 cases in Karnataka Karnataka recorded 116 fresh coronavirus cases from 5 pm on Wednesday to 12 pm on Thursday. 14 people recovered and were discharged during this period. The total coronavirus positive cases in the state have risen to 1,568, while total deaths stand at 41, and a total of 570 people have been discharged so far, the Karnataka government said. 116 new #COVID19 positive cases reported in Karnataka (from 5 PM y'day to 12 PM today), 14 people discharged during this period. Total positive cases in the state rises to 1568, total deaths stand at 41 and a total of 570 people have been discharged so far: Govt of Karnataka pic.twitter.com/ztywDkzoF2 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 1.17 pm: Indore coronavirus cases: 59 more infected in 24 hours Indore which is the worst-hit district in Madhya Pradesh, recorded a total of 59 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the district's tally to 2,774. The death toll due to coronavirus in Indore also jumped to 107, after 2 more patients, both men aged 57 and 62 years, passed away at a private hospital on Tuesday, informed Indore's Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia. (PTI) 1.09 pm: US coronavirus deaths: 1,561 new fatalities in 24 hours The United States recorded 1,561 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 93,406, according to latest data by Johns Hopkins University. US has a total of 1,550,959 cases. (AFP) 1.00 pm: Uttar Pradesh lockdown news: New full list of containment zones in Noida, Greater Noid; check here The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration released the new full list of containment zones for Noida and Greater Noida. The notice issued by the administration notifies that there are 63 containment zones in the district, divided into Category I and II in case of urban areas, the Financial Express reported. Containment zones falling in category 1 are the ones where only one coronavirus positive case is found, while the ones in second category have more than one positive cases. In case of rural areas, if only there is only one COVID-19 positive in a village, then only that village will be identified as a containment zone. If more than one case is found in a village, then the neighbouring areas will also be classified as the containment zone. Here is the full list of containment zones in Noida, and Greater Noida:- CATEGORY me 1. Sector 48, Noida 2. Sector 7, Noida 3. Ajnara Daffodil, Sector 137, Noida 4. Village Surajpur, Greater Noida 5. Village Tugalpur, Greater Noida 6. Village Chaprauli, Sector 168, Noida 7. Village Dadupur, Block Dhankaur 8. Yakubpur, Sector 83, Noida 9. NCR City Village Girdharpur, Near Chaprola, Greater Noida 10. Village Mangrauli, Block Jewar 11. Sai Upvan, Near Village Habaitpur, Noida 12. Village Nawada, Yamuna Expressway 13. Sector 68, Noida 14. Village Sutyana, Greater Noida 15. Kali Charan Mandir Kasna, Greater Noida 16. Galaxy North Avenue II, Gaur City II, Greater Noida 17. Village Salarpur, Sector 102, Noida 18. Shramik Kunj, Sector 110, Noida 19. Purvanchal Royal Park, Sector 137, Noida 20. Panchsheel Hynish, Sector 1, Greater Noida 21. CISF Camp, Greater Noida 22. CRPF Camp, Greater Noida 23. Sector 46, Noida 24. Sector 40, Noida 25. Saya Zion, Gaur City I, Greater Noida 26. Samridhi Grand Avenue, Greater Noida 27. Him Sagar Apartment, Pocket 4, Greater Noida 28. Nirala Estate, Near Patwari Village, Greater Noida 29. Ace City, Greater Noida 30. Hig Apartments Omicron 1, Greater Noida 31. Sector 41, Noida 32. Near Vishal Mega Mart, Village Surajpur 33. Yamuna Expressway Industrial Authority Plot Number 8, Sector 24 34. Jalvayu Towers, Sector 47, Noida 35. Village Faleda 36. Sector 19, Block A, Noida 37. Village Chalera, Gali Number 4, Sector 44, Noida CATEGORY II 1. Sector 30, Noida 2. Pi 1st, Pi 1st Advocate Colony, Greater Noida 3. Village Bisrakh, Greater Noida 4. Skytech, Sector 76, Noida 5. Alpha 1, Greater Noida 6. Sector 10, Noida 7. Nat Madhiya Village, Near CNG Pump, Greater Noida 8. Paras Tierea, Sector 137, Noida 9. Jalvayu Vihar, Sector P-3, Greater Noida 10. Ace Golf Shire, Sector 150, Noida 11. Sector 19, B Block, Noida 12. Chaura Village, Sector 22, Noida 13. Village Sadarpur and Khajoor Colony, Sector 45, Noida 14. Sector 9, Noida 15. Nithari, Sector 31, Noida 16. Sector 8, Noida 17. Village Mamura, Sector 66, Noida 18. Village Malakpur, Greater Noida 19. Sector 12, Noida 20. Chhajarsi, Sector 63, Noida 21. Sector 5, Noida 22. WHO Society, Chi-II, Greater Noida 23. Village Nangla, Phase II, Noida 24. Sector 15, Noida 25. Sector 27, Noida 26. Sunshine Helios, Sector 78, Noida 12.51 pm: Japan coronavirus vaccine trial Japan is conducting clinical trial of antiviral drug Avigan for treating COVID-19 patients. Final results expected around July. 12.41 pm: Indian Railways in lockdown: Bookings will resume from Friday Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that the boking of train train tickets will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres from Friday across the country. He added, "Bookings will also resume at counters of different stations in the next 2-3 days. We are developing a protocol in this regard." 12.31 pm: Coronavirus pandemic: 7 worst-affected states in India Maharashtra is the worst-hit with 39,297 cases Tamil Nadu on second spot with 13,191 Gujarat at 12,537 Delhi-11,088 Rajasthan-6,015 Madhya Pradesh-5,735, and Uttar Pradesh at 5,175 12.26 pm: Chandigarh lockdown 4.0 latest updates Chandigarh Transport Undertaking has resumed bus services in the union territory amid continuing COVID-19 lockdown. A bus driver says, "We are not allowing more than 15 people to board the bus at a time to ensure social distancing among passengers. Chandigarh Transport Undertaking resumes bus services in the union territory amid continuing COVID-19 lockdown. A bus driver says, "We are not allowing more than 15 people to board the bus at a time to ensure social distancing among passengers". pic.twitter.com/XoFab56izT ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 12.18 pm: Coronavirus vaccine: Indian pharma company conducts trials for potential COVID-19 drug Strides Pharma Science Ltd, has said that it has got regulatory approval to carry out clinical trials of anti-viral drug Favipiravir, considered to be a potential treatment for COVID-19, Reuters reported. The Bengaluru-based pharma company has received nod from the Drug Controller General of India to carry out trials of favipiravir in India, informed Strides Founder and Non-Executive Chairman Arun Kumar. 12.09 pm: Jharkhand COVID-19 cases Jharkhand health department said on Thursday that the total cases in the state now stand at 290, including 158 active cases and 129 recoveries. Total number of cases in Jharkhand now at 290, including 158 active cases & 129 recovered/discharged: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/bDNOUH6us3 ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 11.59 am: Coronavirus India updates: 1,000-fold rise in COVID-19 tests says ICMR The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that India has witnessed a 1,000-fold rise in the count of coronavirus tests that are being carried out every day over the past 2 months. It added that for every COVID-19 positive test more there are 20 negative tests that have been done. As per the ICMR, a total of 25.12 lakh samples have been tested till 9 am of May 20, and the testing capacity has been grossed up to 1 lakh tests per day. 11.49 am: Andhra Pradesh COVID-19 cases: 45 more infected in 24 hours Andhra Pradesh recorded 45 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The total count in the state now stands at 2,452, comprising 718 active cases and 54 deaths, said the state's COVID-19 Control Room. (ANI) 11.39 am: Liquor shops in J&K People form long queue outside a liquor shop in Jammu which opened following relaxations in coronavirus lockdown. J&K administration has permitted the opening of liquor shops in the entire union territory. Jammu & Kashmir: People form long queue outside a liquor shop in Jammu which opened following relaxations in #CoronaLockdown. J&K administration has permitted the opening of liquor shops in the entire union territory. pic.twitter.com/SGWvsYibZv ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 11.32 am: Corona news: India's growth depends on intensity, duration of COVID-19 pandemic, says govt A report by Finance Ministry said on Wednesday that the India's GDP growth in FY21 will hinge upon the severity, spread, and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. The reported readied by the Economic Affairs Division of the ministry said that it took note of the IMF's projection of 1.9% growth in the current fiscal. IMF last month had pegged India's GDP to dip to 1.9% in FY21 as against 5.8% assessed in January. Read more here: Coronavirus: India's growth depends on severity, duration of pandemic, says Finance Ministry report 11.26 am: COVID-19 recoveries in India: State-wise status Top 5 states by recovery: Maharashtra-10,318 Gujarat-5,219 Tamil Nadu-5,882 Delhi-5,192 Rajasthan-3,404 11.19 am: COVID-19 cases in India: State-wise status Five worst-hit states by deaths: Maharashtra-1,390 Gujarat-749 Madhya Pradesh-267 West Bengal-253 Delhi-176 11.15 am: Noida lockdown extension: Markets reopen, follow odd-even rule Markets in Noida are open on odd-even basis following social distancing and necessary precautions. The guidelines are applicable only outside containment zones. Restaurants, and sweet shops are permitted to open but only home delivery is allowed. 11.09 am: Coronavirus tracker in India: Check BusinessToday.In tracker to get state-wise tally of COVID-19 cases INDIA CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: BusinessToday.In brings you a daily tracker as coronavirus cases continue to spread. Here is the state-wise data on total cases, fatalities and recoveries in one comprehensive graph. 11.00 am: Delhi lockdown latest updates Heavy traffic movement in Ghazipur amid 4th phase of lockdown. Delhi: Heavy traffic movement in Ghazipur amid 4th phase of lockdown. #lockdown4pic.twitter.com/UmZHw0999Z ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 10.50 am: COVID-19 testing in India: 26 lakh samples tested so far The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that a total of 26 lakh samples have been tested so far with over 1 lakh samples tested in the last 24 hours.(ANI) 10.45 am: Lockdown relaxation in Andhra Pradesh Social distancing rules followed at bus stands as the state allowed the public transport to resume operations. 10.37 am: Coronavirus live updates: AAI issues SoPs for airports The Airport Authority of India (AAI) released the SoPs for all airport operators as domestic flights are all set to resume from May 25. It shall be verified by the Central Industrial Security Force/Airport staff at the entry gate. However, Aarogya Setu is not mandatory for children below the age of 14 years: Airports Authority of India (AAI) https://t.co/4X1GGDipDx ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 10.28 am: Indian Railways status: Railways releases list of 200 trains beginning Jun 1, online bookings to start from Thursday Indian Railways has released a list of 200 passenger trains that will begin transporting passengers from June 1. Among these trains, 17 are Jan Shatabdi and 5 Duronto Express trains. The Indian Railways is also running Shramik Special trains and Special AC trains since May 1 and May 12, to ferry migrants and other passengers. People can book tickets online from Thursday at 10 am. Online ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. 10.21 am: Bihar's coronavirus count touches 1,600, Odisha past 1,000-mark Bihar's total number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 1,674 with 96 new cases being reported in the last 24 hours. Most of these 96 new cases were recorded in the state's Champaran district (26), followed by Buxar (21), and Darbhanga and Patna (9 each). Meanwhile, Odisha's tally reached 1,052, out which 74 were registered in the last 24 hours. The death toll in the state stands at 6. 10.15 am: Global COVID-19 tally past 5 billion-mark Over 5 million (50 lakh) people worldwide have been tested coronavirus positive so far. Latin America overtook the United States and Europe in the past week to report the highest new daily cases worldwide. The virus has infected more people in under 6 months than the annual total of severe flu cases, assessed by the WHO at nearly 3 million to 5 million globally. 10.05 am: Domestice flights from May 25: Civil Aviation ministry issues guidelines for airport operators Civil aviation ministry releases sops for airports operators, highlights:- 1. Thermal screening before passengers enter terminal 2. Entry inside terminal at least 2 hours before departure 3. Trolleys discouraged, bag sanitising outside terminal 4. Washrooms to close every hour for sanitation 5. UV scan to sanitise checkedin baggage. 6. Sanitisers dispernsers at terminals 9.56 am: Delhi corona news Jail superintendent posted at Delhi's Mandoli jail tests COVID-19 positive. 9.49 am: Coronavirus global updates: World COVID-19 tally past 49 lakh, over 3 lakh deaths so far The total count of COVID-19 cases in the world has climbed to 49,96,472, as per data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University. 3.28 lakh people have died due to the infection so far. 9.43 am: Corona updates: Nations with more COVID-19 cases in India Here is the list of countries with more coronavirus cases than India, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. United States: 15,51,853 Russia: 3,08,705 Brazil: 2,91,579 UK: 2,49,619 Spain: 2,32,555 Italy: 2,27,364 France: 1,81,700 Germany: 1,78,473 Turkey: 1,52,587 Iran: 1,26,949 India: 1,12,028 9.36 am: COVID-19 recovery rate in India rises to 40.32% 3,002 people recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. India's total count of those recovered jumped to 4,5299 on Thursday from 42,297 on Wednesday. 9.29 am: Lockdown in Delhi: Parks, garden open in Lodhi Garden, Nehru Park, and Talkatora garden open for public from May 21 The parks will be open from 7 am to 10 am in the morning, and 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm in the evening. Meanwhile, open gym, yoga and other activities will not be allowed during the period. Entry of people above 65 years of age, children below 10 years of age, and persons with co-morbidity, and suffering from chronic diseases will not be permitted. 9.25 am: Total coronavirus deaths in India The country recorded 132 new COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours taking India's toll to 3,435, as per the latest update by the Union Health Ministry. 9.16 am: Over 5,600 coronavirus cases in 24 hours, second day in a row India recorded 5,609 new COVID-19 cases, and 132 deaths in 24 hours, ending Thursday morning taking the country's total past 1.10 lakh. The country also reported a spike of 5,611 fresh cases and 140 deaths in 24 hours ending Wednesday morning. 9.08 am: India COVID-19 cases cross 1.10 lakh The total coronavirus cases in India jumped to 1,12,359 on Thursday, including 63,624 active cases, 45,299 recoveries, 1 migrated, and 3,435, according to latest update by the Union Health Ministry. 9.03 am: Coronavirus latest updates: WHO expresses concern over the rising COVID-19 numbers in poor countries The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern on Wednesday (May 20) over the rising count of fresh coronavirus cases in poor nations, even as several rich countries emerge from lockdown. The global health body said 106,000 new cases of infections of the novel coronavirus had been registered in the past 24 hours, the most in a single day since the COVID-19 outbreak began, as the total number of cases world-wide approached 5 million. Read more here: India should adopt market-friendly approach to survive in post-COVID world: Alice Wells 8.58 am: Corona global news: India needs to adopt market-friendly approach in post-COVID world, says a senior US diplomat Highlighting that India has been unable to crack trade deals Alice Wells, the outgoing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs said on Thursday that India needs to bring in economic reforms to seize the opportunity provided by the coronavirus crisis. He added that the US wants a trade deal but India has been unable to do so. She added that there's a real opportunity for diversification as countries are looking to de-risk from China. 8.54 am: Global updates on coronavirus: Trump slams China Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump lashed out at China saying that "China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along!" China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020 8.49 am: Coronavirus lockdown 4.0: States resume operations amid restrictions Life is slowly coming to normal with the businesses resuming operations in several parts of the country. Delhi's neighbouring Gautam Buddh Nagar on Wednesday allowed markets to reopen, but with odd-even system. Delhi has already permitted shops to open on alternative days. Gujarat also resumed the state transport bus services, while Haryana took the decision not to run interstate bus services and limit them within the state. 8.44 am: COVID-19 cases in India past 1.06 lakh Idnia's total count of coronavirus cases jumped to 1,06,750 on Wednesday. This tally includes 61,149 active cases, 42,297 recoveries, 1 migrated, and 3,303 deaths, according to Union Health Ministry. 8.38 am: Coronavirus India: Domestic flights to resume operations in India from May 25 Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Wednesday that domestic flights will resume their operations in the country from May 25 but in a calibrated manner. Taking to Twitter Puri said that that all airlines have been alerted to make the required preparations to restart operations. 8.30 am: Corona tracker India: Check BusinessToday.In tracker to get state-wise tally of COVID-19 cases INDIA CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: BusinessToday.In brings you a daily tracker as coronavirus cases continue to spread. Here is the state-wise data on total cases, fatalities and recoveries in one comprehensive graph. A day after the standoff between the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government and the Congress over the latter's offer to provide 1,000 buses for migrants, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claimed those trying to help stranded labourers are being jailed and asked party workers to carry on with the fight. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief was arrested twice on Wednesday -- first in Agra for sitting on a dharna to protest against UP government not granting permission to allow buses arranged for migrants by the Congress enter the state. He was granted bail by an Agra court and released, before being rearrested by a team of Lucknow police in a second case filed here in connection with the Congress' standoff with the state government. "Have you seen the the method of Yogi (Adityanath) government to fight the coronavirus epidemic? When the Congress arranged buses for migrant labourers, the Yogi government sent Uttar Pradesh Congress president to jail in a false case," Priyanka Gandhi, the general secretary of the party, said in a message. The party's Uttar Pradesh unit's media convenor said Lallan Kumar said she asked the party workers not to be afraid and carry on the fight for the migrant workers. Gandhi said, "The entire nation is standing united to fight the epidemic but the UP government is putting those making arrangements of bus, train tickets, food and ration for the labourers in jail." Referring to the 30th death anniversary of her father, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, she has said, "Rajiv ji gave his life for the country. He loved Hindustan and its people. He could not see their pain. We have learnt from him to help the weak." Lalan said that Priyanka Gandhi has called upon about 50,000 Congress workers of the state to raise their voices for the labourers through 'Facebook live' on Thursday against the "oppression", as that would be the "proper tribute for Rajiv Gandhi". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Natural News) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against World Health Organization director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus over the latters close ties to Beijing. The relationship, which predates the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, damages the WHOs credibility at a time when the world needs it most, he said. I understand that Dr. Tedros unusually close ties to Beijing started long before this pandemic, and thats deeply troubling, Pompeo said while speaking with reporters on Wednesday. Condemning Taiwans exclusion from the World Health Assembly Pompeos comments came after the exclusion of Taiwan from the World Health Assembly (WHA) the forum through which the WHO is governed as an observer. This is despite the islands success in fighting the ongoing pandemic. Beijing had insisted that Taiwan be excluded from the WHA, describing the self-ruling island as its province. It also stated that Taiwans previous inclusion shouldnt count as a precedent, as the current Taiwanese government no longer recognized the one-China principle. The United States condemns Taiwans exclusion from the World Health Assembly, Pompeo said in a statement. Tedros had every legal power and precedent to include Taiwan in WHAs proceedings, he added. Yet, he instead chose not to invite Taiwan under pressure from the Peoples Republic of China. Pompeo further stated that Tedros lack of independence deprived the WHA of Taiwans renowned scientific expertise on the coronavirus pandemic, on top of damaging the WHOs credibility. (Related: Taiwans coronavirus response caught the worlds attention and the jealousy of a neighbor.) Taiwan postponed its efforts to participate in the WHA, which started Monday with a focus on the ongoing pandemic, according to Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu. After careful deliberation, we have accepted the suggestion from our allies and like-minded nations to wait until the resumed session before further promoting our bid, Wu said. Wu also added that his ministry felt deep regret and strong dissatisfaction that the WHO bowed down to pressure from Beijing and continued to disregard the health of the 23 million people of Taiwan. With the postponement, Taiwan now plans to push for WHO membership once the outbreak is better contained, Wu said. Fourteen diplomatic allies of Taiwan initially proposed a vote on inviting it to the WHA, including Belize, Eswatini, Haiti, Guatemala and Honduras. Tedros, however, said that he had no mandate to offer Taiwan an invitation to the assembly, supposedly because there was no clear support from member states. Pompeo also slams China over row with Australia In addition to slamming Tedros, Pompeo also blasted the Chinese government over their mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, the secretary took aim at Chinas decision to destroy coronavirus samples. The Chinese communist partys response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan have accelerated our more realistic understanding of communist China, Pompeo said. The party chose to destroy live virus samples instead of sharing, or asking us to help secure them. Pompeo also pointed to Beijings threats towards Australia. The former recently threatened to cut their imports of iron and other commodities from Australia. Prior to this, it had already raised tariffs on the latters beef and barley exports to China. The Chinese communist party chose to threaten Australia with economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus, Pompeo said. Thats not right. Pompeo then added that America stood with Australia and the more than 120 nations who have supported calls for an inquiry on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Doing so, Pompeo said, would allow the world to understand what went wrong in how the outbreak was handled and help save more lives in the future. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com SCMP.com News.com.au Schools in Northern Ireland could reopen to pupils preparing for exams in the third week of August, the education minister said. Those studying for major public tests and transfer from primary to post-primary schools would be among the first to return to classes under an envisaged phased reopening, Peter Weir said. All children are intended to restart classes on a phased basis, involving a mixture of physical attendance and remote learning, in September if enough progress is made in curbing coronavirus. Exams for entrance to post-primary schools are due to be held two weeks later this autumn to allow more time for primary teachers to catch up on lost lesson time since the lockdown halted teaching in March. Education Minister Peter Weir today made a statement to the Ad Hoc Committee of the @niassembly on the Covid-19 response. A copy of the Minister's statement is available on the Department's website. https://t.co/HYoSuuoyei pic.twitter.com/LnOqdItduC Education NI (@Education_NI) May 21, 2020 Mr Weir said: This will not be a return to school as it was prior to Covid, but rather a new normal reflective of social distancing and a medically safe regime. For all pupils it will involve a schedule with a mixture of school attendance and remote learning at home. Subject to medical guidance and safety, it will be his aim to see a phased reopening of schools, beginning with a limited provision for key cohort years in late August, followed by phased provision for all pupils at the beginning of September. Mr Weir added: Finally, in line with the Executive strategy, contingent upon medical guidance and scientific evidence around susceptibility and transmission, consideration may be given to a full return for cohorts of younger pupils. He said any social distancing required would be put in place using the advice of medical experts. The key determinant will be what is safe and whether social distancing can be put in place, he said. We think that that will be easier for pupils than at present and also be helpful towards parents. He gave evidence to an ad-hoc committee of Assembly members at Stormont examining the powersharing Governments coronavirus response. Private providers have decided to press ahead with academic selection among P7 pupils seeking entry to grammar schools, with a slightly delayed schedule. My letter to schools appealing for a suspension of academic selection in light of #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/k3uOvW5zsc Eamon Martin (@ArchbishopEamon) May 19, 2020 Catholic archbishop Eamon Martin has supported calls for the exams to be suspended this year in the best interests of children. If transfer tests were delayed until after Christmas to allow more time for preparation, it could be October before appeals are complete, well into the new academic year, Mr Weir said. He added that sort of time frame is not acceptable and scrapping them altogether would create a void. If the tests are done there will be a period of a number of weeks before the results are available. There is always a degree of challenge and difficulties. Alliance Party Assembly member Chris Lyttle said he has been inundated with concerns from parents related to the impact of the pandemic. This is about thousands of 10 and 11-year-old children across Northern Ireland and their best interests. SDLP Assembly member Daniel McCrossan said holding tests is unfair. Mr Weir said up to 24,000 devices will be loaned to more vulnerable and deprived pupils for remote learning over the next few months. At present 1,500 vulnerable children and those of key workers are undergoing supervised learning every day at 450 schools, helped by 2,000 teachers and educational staff. The minister added: This is the biggest public health crisis we have faced in living memory and the Executives priority is to help keep people safe and to support those who have faced real hardship. An extra seven deaths involving Covid-19 were announced by Northern Irelands Health Department on Thursday, bringing the total to 501. An extra 42 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 4,481. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 08:45 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd95a1f0 4 National Indonesian-sailors,Chinese-fishing-vessel,Central-Java,migrant-workers,National-Police,human-trafficking,Foreign-Ministry,citizen-protection Free The National Polices human trafficking task force has named two suspects in a case of alleged mistreatment leading to the of an Indonesian crewman aboard Chinese fishing vessel Lu Qing Yuan Yu 623. The Central Java Polices human trafficking task force has named two [employees] working in a company that sent the crewman [to China] as suspects in the case, said National Police general crimes unit head Brig. Gen. Ferdy Sambo on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com. He, however, declined to disclose any further details about the suspects or the case other than to say that the case was being handled by the Central Java Police under the supervision of the National Polices task force because the company was located in Tegal. The case emerged after a video purportedly showing a group of sailors on the Lu Qing Yuan Yu 623 throwing the body of an Indonesian crewman into the sea was shared on Facebook by user Suwarno Cano Swe earlier this month. Read also: Indonesia looks into report of another citizen dying aboard Chinese fishing ship Tribunnews.com reported that three clips, each 29 seconds long, purportedly show a crewman of the ship experiencing torture that eventually led to his death. It was also alleged that the deceased had been a victim of slavery. According to the chronology confirmed by the Foreign Ministry, the Indonesian crewman identified only by his initial H died on Jan. 16 when the ship was in Somalian waters. The ministry, however, did not obtain further details regarding the cause of death. Hs body was reportedly thrown into the sea on Jan. 23. The Indonesian-based placement company, identified only as MTB, claimed it had reported the death to the Foreign Ministry, the Manpower Ministry and the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI). The Foreign Ministry later found out that this claim was untrue, as it had only received the news of the death on May 8 following a report. The company had also not reported the incident either to an Indonesian overseas mission or local authorities in Somalia. We obtained information from the Transportation Ministry and Manpower Ministry that PT MTB isnt registered nor does it hold a permit to place Indonesian crewmen abroad, said Foreign Ministry director for citizen protection Judha Nugraha. Read also: Family of Chinese fishing vessel crewman demands investigation into son's death Apart from informing Hs relatives and ensuring the deceaseds rights, Judha added that the ministry had coordinated with the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to send a diplomatic note to the Chinese Foreign Ministry requesting that the latter investigate the incident and determine the condition of other crewmen aboard Chinese fishing vessels. The case is not the first report of alleged exploitation faced by Indonesian sailors aboard Chinese fishing vessels. Earlier this month, there was public outrage at the death of four Indonesian sailors aboard another Chinese fishing ship. The crewmen had allegedly been subject to exploitation and had died after enduring poor working conditions. The Chinese Embassy in Jakarta issued a statement on Wednesday that a comprehensive investigation has been ongoing, stopping short of mentioning which case it was investigating. (rfa/dis) BOSTON Actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty to charges in the college admissions bribery case and serve prison time, according to court papers filed Thursday. The couple agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in a plea agreement filed in Boston's federal court. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss charges of money laundering and federal programs bribery that were added after the case was filed. Under the plea agreement, Loughlin has agreed to serve two months in prison and Giannulli has agreed to serve five months. The plea deal must be approved by the judge. "Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," said United States Attorney Andrew Lelling. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions." An attorney for the couple declined to comment. Loughlin and Giannulli previously pleaded not guilty and firmly insisted on their innocence even as other parents reached deals with prosecutors. The couple are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the case. Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew team recruits, even though neither of them played the sport. ____ This story has been corrected to show that Giannulli has agreed to serve five months, not two months. Amanda St. Amand 314-340-8201 @mandystlpd on Twitter astamand@post-dispatch.com [May 21, 2020] Amulet Capital and Shady Grove Fertility Form US Fertility Amulet (News - Alert) Capital Partners, LP ("Amulet"), a middle-market private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, focused exclusively on the healthcare sector, and Shady Grove Fertility ("SGF"), the largest independent fertility practice in the U.S today announced the formation of a business support services platform, US Fertility ("USF"). USF will support fertility focused physician practices with a range of non-clinical services including clinical and business information systems, facilities and operations management, finance and accounting, and fertility treatment financing programs. The USF transaction is the first investment from Amulet Capital Fund II. As part of the formation of USF, the clinical and practice management software assets of IntegraMed Fertility were acquired. SGF Chief Executive Officer, Mark Segal and the newly appointed CEO of USF commented, "Our purchase of a fully integrated and customized electronic medical record (EMR), practice management, and customer relationship management (CRM) solution provides a foundation to support USF's partner practices on a go-forward basis as well as enable other practices to receive transitional operational support that is needed at this time." Michael Levy (News - Alert), President of SGF, said, "When SGF was founded 29 years ago the goal of the new practice was simple-to provide cutting edge fertility care in an environment that supported patients' physical, emotional, and financial needs. Today I am incredibly excited to be joining other leading fertility practices across the U.S to form USF, whose scale and breath will only further enhance each partner practices ability to deliver best in class clinical care to patients." Dr. Christopher Sipe, Medical Director of Fertility Centers of Illinois remarked, "We firmly believe that physician owned and shared governance practice support models, suchas those at USF, best enable local physician practices to meet the needs of their patients while simultaneously benefitting from the support of a national non-clinical support services infrastructure." Dr. Louis Weckstein, Medical Director of RSC of the San Francisco Bay Area said, "We are incredibly grateful that USF will be able to provide fertility practices with the necessary stability, leadership and financial support during these incredibly uncertain times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic." Dr. Marcelo Barrionue, President of IVF Florida commented, "In order to not only remain viable but to thrive in the rapidly changing fertility environment we are seeing today, practices need the necessary support and resources an organization such as USF provides." Jay Rose, Managing Partner at Amulet, remarked, "We are very excited to form USF alongside some of the most highly respected practices across the U.S. Reproductive medicine is an area seeing meaningful innovation in care delivery. One of the goals at USF will be to expand the range of support services available to our physician partner practices so they can continue to meet increasing patient demands for fertility services." Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Shady Grove Fertility SGF has been a pioneer and leader in advancing the field of reproductive medicine for nearly 3 decades through its commitment to providing comprehensive, accessible and affordable patient-centered care, investment in clinical research, and education of the next generation of reproductive endocrinologists via two fellowship programs. SGF is home to more than 85,000 babies born and the largest physician referral network in the nation. SGF's 61 physicians have served patients from all 50 states and 40 countries around the world with 38 locations throughout FL, GA, MD, NY, PA, VA, D.C., and Santiago, Chile. Call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com. About Amulet Capital Partners, LP Amulet Capital Partners, LP is a middle-market private equity investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, focused exclusively on the healthcare sector. Amulet seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation through privately negotiated investments in companies. Amulet Capital Partners focuses on those segments it believes have the most attractive long-term fundamentals with a target investment size generally between $25 million to $150 million. For additional information, please visit www.amuletcapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005219/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Meghan Markle's experience as a 'B-list actress' on Suits wasn't going to prepare her for the global spotlight that comes with being part of the Firm, a royal expert has claimed. Despite the Duchess of Sussex, 38, having a successful career acting in US legal drama Suits, royal commentator Katie Nicholl tells 9Honey that her fame wouldn't have helped her navigate her new royal life. Katie said: 'I think what she encountered was almost impossible to prepare for and certainly her experience as a B-List actress wasn't going to stand her in [good] stead.' Meghan is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband Prince Harry, 35, and their one-year-old son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor. Meghan Markle's 'experience as a B-List actress wasn't going to prepare her' for the global spotlight that comes with being part of the Firm, a royal expert has claimed. Pictured: The former actress in October 2019 in London Despite the Duchess of Sussex, 38, having a successful career acting in US legal drama Suits (pictured), royal commentator Katie Nicholl says that her fame wouldn't have helped her navigate her new royal life When Prince Harry and Meghan first announced their engagement in November 2017, many commentators expected the American-born actress would handle the royal family's spotlight easily. But as the mother-of-one admitted in the couple's tour documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, she never anticipated the scale of the press scrutiny. 'As an actress, she was used to being photographed but she's said herself there was this suggestion that she would be able to handle the press attention and find her way in the spotlight because of her previous experience', Katie said. The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry during a Creative Industries and Business Reception in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October 2019 'Whereas actually, I think what she encountered was almost impossible to prepare for and certainly her experience as a B-list actress wasn't going to stand her in [good] stead for suddenly becoming the most famous woman in the world. 'It became very apparent from that documentary in Africa, that perhaps while she made it look easy, it obviously wasn't easy.' During the ITV documentary the Duchess of Sussex told presenter Tom Bradby of her desire to 'thrive' in life. When discussing the challenges of royal life, she said: 'I've said for a long time to Hthat's what I call himit's not enough to just survive something, right? That's not the point of life. You've got to thrive, you've got to feel happy.' Harry and Meghan have been living in an Beverly Hills 14.5 million villa that belongs to Hollywood actor Tyler Perry since March. Fifty-year-old Perry's eight-bedroom, 12-bathroom Tuscan-style villa sits on 22 acres on the top of a hill in the ultra-exclusive Beverly Ridge Estates guard-gated community, offering sweeping views of the city. Ratcliffe will assume leadership of a sprawling federation of 17 intelligence agencies, with a collective budget of at least $60 billion, at an acutely vulnerable moment for U.S. national security. Still in the throes of a pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people in the U.S. and wrought economic devastation, the U.S. is facing a dramatic escalation in tensions with China, the source of the viral outbreak; the prospect of repeated Russian interference in the 2020 election, which the intelligence community Ratcliffe will lead has said is all but certain; and painful decisions about how to support security and defense budgets when the government is spending trillions of dollars to keep the economy from collapsing. Dorothy Bier celebrated her 94th birthday on Wednesday by leaving her room at Anson Place Care Centre in Hagersville for the first time in nearly two months and going for a walk. Wearing a floral pink gown, her gloved hands gripping her walker, Bier smiled under her blue surgical mask as the four staff members accompanying her down the hallway broke into a rendition of Happy Birthday. Shes thrilled. A nice birthday present, too, said Biers daughter, Sharon Beecroft, who spoke with her mother shortly after the birthday promenade. Bier had been talking on the phone with a granddaughter when staff knocked on the door and invited her to come for a walk. And mom said, What? Is this a joke? Really? I dont believe it, Beecroft said. She could hear in her mothers voice how much the short outing had lifted her spirits. Shes happier, Beecroft said. This was getting to her. The last few days especially, she was getting more antsy to get out of her room. More forlorn-sounding. But its been a good day for her. The news also came as a pleasant surprise to Beecroft, who had been told by Anson Place executive director Lisa Roth as recently as Tuesday night that residents couldnt leave their rooms, despite Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, Haldimand-Norfolks chief medical officer of health, telling reporters on May 11 that he thought it was safe for healthy residents to do so. Its quite frustrating, because we were led to believe mom would be walking very shortly. Then all of a sudden theres ambiguity there, Beecroft said. But something changed by Wednesday afternoon, as Bier told her daughter that other retirement home residents had also left their rooms. Mom said they were letting others out after her, one by one, Beecroft said. The health unit confirmed on Wednesday that Nesathurai had formally given Anson Place permission to have COVID-negative residents leave their rooms more than a week ago. Spokesperson Matt Terry said the health unit relies on Anson Places operational expertise to implement programs based on their staffing levels and other considerations. They know their situation best, Terry said. Reached for comment on Wednesday, Roth confirmed that a walking program for retirement home residents had begun. Working closely with our local public health unit and our medical officer of health, the walking program has been adapted to maintain infection prevention and control measures to make sure residents can get out of their rooms to exercise, but stay safe while doing so. This includes physical distancing, the use of personal protective equipment by residents and staff members, and increased cleaning and sanitization of all door handles and touch points, Roth said. It is our aim to slowly reintroduce programs to make our residents lives comfortable and enriching. Since we are not completely out of the woods yet, the walking program will be closely monitored along with daily COVID-19 symptom checks for both residents and staff. Roth noted that the latest of the 27 resident deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 occurred almost a month ago, and that at present there are just two active COVID-19 cases on the retirement floor. She said one additional resident in long-term care recently tested positive, bringing the number of patients on that floor to 20. Its been more than a week since Bier received her second negative COVID-19 test result. She contracted the disease in late March, running a high fever at the outset but otherwise not experiencing any symptoms. The fever went away and she slowly got better in her room, she said, adding that getting the all-clear from the health unit was a cause for celebration. Wed been so worried, Beecroft said. Self-isolation, she added, has taken a toll on her mother, who has limited vision, diminishing muscle strength after weeks of inactivity, and back problems exacerbated by the enforced confinement. Were concerned for moms well-being physically, being 94. For anybody at any age, it would be horrendous, Beecroft said. Care workers have started massaging Biers back to ease her discomfort, and some employees decorated Biers room for her birthday. Theyve been very good to mom, Beecroft said of Anson Place staff. She hopes the walking program is a positive sign after months of hardship at the place Bier has called home since moving from the family farm in Selkirk seven years ago. She did lose some of her friends (to COVID-19), and she just found out about one or two of them recently. We didnt want to tell her right away and upset her, Beecroft said. She was very sad, but she seems to cope quite well. Shes a calm, easygoing person. She puts on a brave face. Fitch Solutions has said that the latest stimulus package does not address immediate concerns of the healthcare system which is reeling under the pressure of COVID-19 pandemic New Delhi: Fitch Solutions has said that the latest stimulus package does not address immediate concerns of the healthcare system which is reeling under the pressure of COVID-19 pandemic. On 11 March, the Ministry of Finance increased allocation - 0.008 percent of the countrys GDP - to the health services division to support an expansion of healthcare spending, Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (a unit of Fitch Group) said. It is to be noted that this is not a new budgetary allocation, but only a rerouting of existing expenditure, it said, adding that the stimulus package is lacking in addressing the immediate concerns of the healthcare system. The unprecedented crisis due to COVID-19 has highlighted the need to increase investment in the healthcare sector in the country. Despite several healthcare reforms, India is badly placed to tackle the rapid spread of coronavirus. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak The continued lack of medical funding and healthcare infrastructure suggests that the impact of further spread of the disease will be worse in India if it is not adequately contained, it said. Moreover, the significant inefficiency, dysfunctioning and acute shortage of the healthcare delivery systems in the public sector do not match up with the growing needs of the population. Click here to follow LIVE news and updates on stock markets The low level of public spending on health is both a cause and an exacerbating factor accounting for the poor quality, limited reach and insufficient public provisioning of healthcare, it said. Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the critical importance of the public sector in health provisioning, Fitch added. Rapidly declining revenues and sharply eroding profits are leading to the closure of many private hospitals. Despite all its shortages and constraints, the public sector has had to step up to play the main role of addressing healthcare needs during this pandemic as the private hospitals have responded inadequately to the crisis, it said. Private hospitals, which make up for two-thirds of hospital beds in India, and almost 80 percent of available ventilators, are handling less than 10 percent of the critical load of COVID-19 patients. Many are not even offering non-COVID-19 healthcare services, thus leaving the burden of providing healthcare on the shoulders of the public health sector, which is already strained. Only a few private providers have come forward to extend support to the government. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:48:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Video: U.S. President Donald Trump tells reporters at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, May 21, 2020, that "Russia didn't adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere we will pull out." (Xinhua) Analysts noted that the U.S. pullout, rumored for months, would cause grievance among European allies who are also participating in the treaty. WASHINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States is withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, the latest move to abandon a major international arms control agreement. "Russia didn't adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere we will pull out," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the decision to withdraw from the treaty. "But there is a very good chance we will make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together," Trump added, without elaborating. The Washington Post reported that Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, would inform Moscow of the decision during his Thursday's lunch with Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform aerobatics during the 57th annual Abbotsford International Airshow in Abbotsford, Canada, Aug. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Liang Sen) Analysts noted that the U.S. pullout, rumored for months, would cause grievance among European allies who are also participating in the treaty. The withdrawal would formally take place in six months, based on the treaty's withdrawal terms. The treaty, which became effective in 2002, allows its states-parties to conduct short-notice, unarmed reconnaissance flights over the others' entire territories to collect data on military forces and activities. Currently, 35 nations, including Russia, the United States, and some other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have signed it. Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet. The treaty is aimed at building confidence and familiarity among states-parties through their participation in the overflights. Over 1,500 Open Skies flights have been conducted since the deal entered into force in 2002, according to media reports. An U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt takes part in a joint training on a highway near Anije, Western Estonia, Aug. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Sergei Stepanov) The United States and Russia have blamed each other for noncompliance with the treaty. Washington and Moscow have each put a few limits on flights over their territories -- Hawaii and some other U.S. bases have been off-limits, as have Kaliningrad, among others, according to media reports. It was the latest in a string of moves by the Trump administration to withdraw from a major international treaty. Washington abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow last year. The pullout of the Treaty on Open Skies further raised doubts over whether the Trump administration would extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between Washington and Moscow. The New START, which expires next February, can be extended for at most five years with the consent of the two countries. Russia has expressed willingness to extend the treaty, while the Trump administration has yet to officially reply. Advertisement One of New Yorks iconic restaurants is trialing what could be the future of restaurant eating where waiters wear face shields and masks. On Wednesday Cipriani Downtown in Soho ran a test service where three waiters were seen decked out in protective personal equipment, serving two individuals sitting at tables wearing face masks and plastic gloves. When photographer Tim Fadek passed by and asked what the group was doing they identified themselves as the management of the ritzy restaurant and said they were trying something out, according to Grub Street. Downtown Cipriani in New York City is trialing having waiters wear face shields and face masks as they serve gloved patrons Managers testing out new service guidelines above on Wednesday at Cipriani Downtown in Soho When photographer Tim Fadek passed by and asked what the group was doing they identified themselves as the management of the ritzy restaurant and said they were trying something out Staff were seen wearing both surgical style masks and full plastic face coverings as they prepare for businesses post-coronavirus The exterior of the upscale Soho restaurant pictured above Fadek has been photographing Chinatown, Soho and the Upper East Side amid the coronavirus crisis and says this is the first time hes seen a restaurant test out dining-in service. Our exchange was limited but they didnt seem to be too excited about talking to me, Fadek said. In the apparent test service all guests and workers were wearing PPE. New York has been on lockdown since March and restaurants restricted to pick up and delivery service only. New York state continues to have the greatest number of infections in the country at over 356,000 cases and 23,083 deaths. Cipriani isn't the only New York eatery rolling out unique measures to protect customers and staff when lockdown lifts. Brooklyn Chop House, in Manhattan's Financial District, has installed protective plexi-glass screens between tables to keep customers and staff safe The restaurant has unveiled a number of safety measures ahead of the NYC's reopening next month Brooklyn Chop House, in Manhattan's Financial District, unveiled new guidelines in operations where diners will be required to wear masks and have their temperatures taken upon arrival by medical detectors that have been converted into full-body thermometers. Tables will be separated by protective plexi-glass partitions and servers will wear bucket hats with shields down to the breastbone. As of May 20, seven of New Yorks ten regions will have begun a four-phase reopening process: Capital District, Central New York, the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley, the North Country, the Southern Tier, and Western New York. Meanwhile, frustrated New Yorkers have been spotted removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service (Eli's Nigh Shift in NYC) Patrons drink outside Kurant Kitchen & Wine Bar located at 1091 2nd Avenue in the Upper East Side in New York City on May 21, 2020 Patrons drink outside Treadwell Park located at 1125 1st Avenue in the Upper East Side in New York City on May 21, 2020 Business at bars along Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg in Brooklyn starts to pick up as patrons start the Memorial Day Weekend Business at bars along Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg in Brooklyn starts to pick up But New York City, Long Island, and Mid-Hudson remain on lockdown. In order to even meet the requirement to reopen a region must meet seven health-related benchmarks including a 14-day decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, 15 or fewer total new confirmed cases of COVID-19, and fewer than two new patients admitted to hospitals per 100,000 residents, among other requirements. Mayor Bill de Blasio has estimated that the city will meet the states reopening criteria sometime in the first half of June. In the four phase reopening plan, restaurants and other food-service businesses wont reopen for dine-in services until Phase Three. People slide their masks down their faces so they can swig from a drink outside Yuca Bar in East Village Wednesday night In Upper West Side, people gather outside Cafe Du Soleil. New Yorkers are removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service A group of friends cheers their drinks outside The Spotted Owl Tavern in Manhattan's Alphabet City People ignore social distancing as they gather close to the entrance to the hatch at Yuca Bar for a takeout drink Outside the popular Skinny Bar and Lounge in East Village the party appeared to be in full swing, with a group gathered out the front reveling in the balmy spring evening A couple is seen kissing through their face masks outside The Skinny Bar and Lounge Wednesday night Cafe Du Soleil in Broadway offers takeout drinks. In New York City alone, lockdown has thrown the jobs of more than 150,000 people working in restaurants and bars into jeopardy A drinker wears protective gloves to hold his plastic cup of beer in New York on Wednesday The streets were busy in Manhattan as people gathered for a drink after working from home Meanwhile, frustrated New Yorkers have been spotted removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service. Residents in the Big Apple were seen gathering outside bars and restaurants Wednesday night, tempted by the rising temperatures and seeking a way to relax while they grow increasingly weary of isolating inside their homes. Public drinking is strictly prohibited in the state and offenders can be slapped with fines, but the pandemic has sparked a defiance among many residents who - unable to sit inside bars or restaurants - are setting up shop outside them. More restaurants and bars have started reopening and turning to takeout beers and cocktails in recent weeks as a way to keep the lights on as New York City has not yet reached all the requirements necessary for a safe reopening of non-essential businesses. For some New Yorkers the global health crisis seemed to be a distant memory as they enjoyed a drink with friends outside the city's bars and restaurants Wednesday night. Photos show drinkers gathered outside outside East Village favorite Yuca Bar , where people slid their masks down their faces so they could swig from beers in plastic cups. Many were ignoring social distancing guidelines as they gathered close together at the entrance to the hatch serving takeout drinks. It was a similar story across all parts of Manhattan, with New Yorkers in Upper East Side - some wearing masks and some not - seen propping up the doorway to Eli's Essentials like a bar. Meanwhile, a group of friends were seen doing a cheers with their drinks outside The Spotted Owl Tavern in Manhattan's Alphabet City. In Kenya, the locusts are eating in one day the amount of food consumed by all Kenyans in two days, World Bank says. The World Bank has approved a record $500m in grants and low-interest loans to help countries in Africa and the Middle East fight swarms of desert locusts that are eating their way across vast swaths of crops and rangelands. Four of the hardest-hit countries Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda will receive $160m immediately, Holger Kray, a senior World Bank official, told Reuters news agency on Thursday. He said Yemen, Somalia and other affected countries could tap funds as needed. The Horn of Africa finds itself at the epicentre of the worst locust outbreak we have seen in a generation, most probably in more than a generation, he said, noting the new coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the crisis. Locust swarms have infested 23 countries across East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the biggest outbreak in 70 years, the World Bank said. It threatens food supplies in East Africa where nearly 23 million people are facing food shortages. A man attempts to fend off a swarm of desert locusts at a ranch near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia county, Kenya [File: Baz Ratner/ Reuters] The World Bank estimates the Horn of Africa region could suffer up to $8.5bn in damage to crop and livestock production by year-end without broad measures to reduce locust populations and prevent their spread. Even with the measures, losses could be as high as $2.5bn, it said. Desert locusts can travel up to 150 km (95 miles) a day, sometimes in swarms as large as 250km (155 miles) across, eating their own body weight in greenery. In Kenya, the locusts are eating in one day the amount of food consumed by all Kenyans in two days, Kray said. The new World Bank programme will help farmers, herders and rural households by providing fertiliser and seeds for new crops, and cash transfers to pay for food for people and livestock. It will also fund investments to strengthen surveillance and early warning systems to make the region more resilient over the medium- to longer-term, Kray said. Swiggy, on-demand delivery platform, has enabled online processing and home delivery of alcohol through the Wine Shops category on the Swiggy app Swiggy, on-demand delivery platform backed by Chinas Tencent has enabled online processing and home delivery of alcohol through the Wine Shops category on the Swiggy app. The service went live in Ranchi on Thursday after obtaining necessary approvals from the Jharkhand government, with other major cities in the state launching within a week, Swiggy said. Swiggy starts home delivery of alcohol, @MeghaVishwanath reports. The service went live in Ranchi, Jharkhand today after obtaining necessary approvals from the government pic.twitter.com/5QHuAuVurp CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020 After Swiggy, Zomato also started home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand. "With due permissions and licences in place, starting home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand. We will go live in Ranchi later today and seven other cities in Jharkhand over next couple of days," Zomato said, according to the CNBC-TV18. Sale of spirits Alcohol stores, closed nationwide on 25 March, were allowed to re-open in the first week of May, generating queues of hundreds of people outside some outlets in some cities and leading to baton charges by police to enforce social distancing protocols. On 1 May, the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued guidelines allowing sale of spirits subject to restrictions including social distancing. Several states allowed reopening of liquor shops with the easing of some lockdown restrictions from 4 May. However, many places saw heavy rush and flouting of social distancing norms, forcing authorities to close the outlets. Some states also imposed additional taxes of up to 75 percent to control demand as well as shore up their depleted revenues. Swiggy customers need to verify age Swiggy, the Bengaluru-based unicorn, is also in advanced stages of discussions with multiple state governments to provide support with online processing and home delivery of alcohol which the company can immediately enable by leveraging its existing technology and logistics infrastructure and nationwide presence. Customers can complete their instant age verification by uploading a picture of their valid government ID, followed by a selfie which the platform will use for authentication using an AI-powered system, Swiggy said. All orders will carry a unique OTP which needs to be provided by the customer at the time of delivery, it said. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak After Swiggy, @ZomatoIN starts home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand 'With due permissions & licences in place, starting home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand. We will go live in Ranchi later today & 7 other cities in Jharkhand over next couple of days' - Zomato #Exclusive pic.twitter.com/kYVDJVOPfn CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020 There is also a capping on the order quantity to ensure a customer does not order alcohol above the prescribed limit as per the state law. To avail this service, customers in Ranchi can access the Wine Shops category by updating their Swiggy app. Speaking about the introduction of the category, Anuj Rathi, VP - Products, Swiggy said, By enabling home delivery of alcohol in a safe and responsible manner, we can generate additional business for retail outlets while solving the problem of overcrowding, thereby promoting social distancing. Swiggy is partnering with authorised retailers after validating their license and other required documents as outlined by the respective state governments. Delivery partners and retailers have been virtually trained to facilitate smooth processing and fulfilment of orders, the delivery platform said in a statement. According to associations, the liquor industry contributes around Rs 2.5 lakh crore revenue to the state governments. States have lost revenue of around Rs 25,000 crore in the 40-odd days when liquor trade was closed. Restaurants and hotels have been sitting on a liquor stockpile of around Rs 3,000 crore since the coronavirus lockdown. Loveworld Television Network, a station owned by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has been sanctioned by Ofcom, the United Kingdom broadcasting authority. Naija News reports that Pastor Oyakhilome had claimed that the 5G technology was what caused the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19). In a statement on Monday, Ofcom said: Loveworld News featured potentially harmful statements about the Coronavirus pandemic and adequate protection was not provided to viewers. Additionally, statements were not presented with due accuracy, it said. In breach of Rules 2.1 and 5.1 of the Broadcasting Code. We have imposed a sanction on the broadcaster, requiring it to broadcast a statement of our findings. We are considering whether to impose any further sanction. Ofcom received a complaint that a news report from South Africa included inaccurate and unchallenged statements about the Coronavirus pandemic, alleging links to 5G technology. When assessing the programme, Ofcom identified an additional news item that included claims about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 (the disease caused by the Coronavirus). The report showed footage of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome (Pastor Chris), founder and president of Loveworld Incorporated,1 speaking on a stage with a diagram behind him. The diagram was of a flowchart linking fear (caused by the pandemic) and embrace (5G) to a vaccine. The vaccine was in turn linked in the flowchart to ID2020 and NWO.2. Share this post with your Friends on Saliva is one of the ways people can transmit the novel coronavirus to others, but it may also help combat coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Scientists are now looking into using saliva to test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent for COVID-19 disease. The team of scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia is rolling out the new type of diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, which is timely, accurate, and non-invasive in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The test can also determine immune status, which will facilitate effective large-scale pandemic control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Research: SalivaFriend and Foe in the COVID-19 Outbreak. Image Credit: JHDT Productions / Shutterstock Timely detection The novel coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on most countries across the globe, and testing is an essential part of the pandemic response, especially as countries gradually lift social and physical distancing restrictions. At present, the standard method of detecting COVID-19 is the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test. In this test, samples are taken using the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs. In some cases, chest X-rays and CT scans are also used to detect the presence of pneumonia, one of the complications of COVID-19 disease. In this new study, published in the journal Diagnostics, the team focused on the role of saliva as a common mode of transmission through respiratory droplets and aerosols. Also, they explored saliva as a non-invasive diagnostic tool to detect the presence of the coronavirus. Saliva for coronavirus detection The team reviewed the results of three studies conducted in Italy, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen City in China. All the studies revealed that SARS-CoV-2 is present in the saliva of COVID-19 patients, suggesting that saliva is a valuable source of specimens for detecting the coronavirus. The researchers said that saliva could be used to diagnose the novel coronavirus infection, and even help monitor immunity to the virus. Ironically, saliva is a leading way that disease is transmitted, via droplets on surfaces and in the air, but it can also be incredibly useful to us for diagnosing the virus and monitoring a persons health, Dr. Pingping Han, a postdoctoral research fellow in UQs School of Dentistry, said in a statement. Saliva is easy to access, collecting samples is non-invasive, and the procedure to diagnose COVID-19 is low-cost, he added. Saliva is a biofluid with significant clinical applicability for the evaluation and monitoring of ones general health. Just like blood, it contains an abundance of protein and nucleic acid molecules that reflects physiological status. Using saliva as a diagnostic test has long been considered because it offers an easy, affordable, safe, and non-invasive approach for disease detection. The potential use of saliva seems scientifically reasonable, since it contains live SARS-CoV-2, possibly from the lower respiratory tract, infected salivary glands, or nasopharynx. Saliva characteristics Saliva may be a potent biofluid source option for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 since it is non-invasive, easy-to-access, and low-cost. Aside from these, it can be stored at -80 C for several years with little degradation. Further, saliva samples can also be stored in Trizol, a chemical solution used in the extraction of DNA, RNA, and proteins for more than two years without adding RNase inhibitors (compounds that stop RNA from degrading). Therefore, specimens can be used for future diagnostics. Indeed, saliva may be useful for both diagnosing the presence and sequelae of COVID-19 infection, as well as identifying and tracking the development of immunity to the virus, the researchers wrote in the paper. Could it replace nasal swabs? Saliva tests show promise in providing a better experience to patients than nasal swabs, which are invasive and painful. An ideal saliva test will be disposable and can be used at home by individuals, without exposing them or others to the risk of visiting a clinic, testing center, or a hospital. One limitation of the study is that it involved only a small number of participants. At present, there is little information on how these studies collected the saliva for testing. Nonetheless, based on the results of the study, saliva remains a promising candidate for coronavirus testing. Now, the team urged further studies on larger groups of people. On May 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency use authorization for a saliva-based COVID-19 test, which can be performed at home. Developed by Rutgers Universitys RUCDR Infinite Biologics, the testing assay will make it easier for patients to get tested without visiting a clinic or getting swabbed deep inside the nasal canal. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell sharply on Thursday amid rising U.S.-China tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump said China's incompetence was responsible for 'mass worldwide killing.' Meanwhile, the euro area private sector remained stuck in its deepest downturn ever in May due to the containment measures taken amid coronavirus pandemic, survey results from IHS Markit showed today. The composite output index rose to 30.5 in May from a record low 13.6 in April. The services Purchasing Managers' Index advanced to 28.7 from 12.0 in the previous month, while the factory PMI climbed to 39.5 from 33.4 in April. Closer home, Germany's private sector continued to shrink in May, but the rate of decline eased from the record fall seen in April. The headline composite output index rose to 31.4 in May from April's record low of 17.4. The German DAX fell 148.15 points, or 1.32 percent, to 11,075 after climbing 1.3 percent the previous day. Lufthansa shares soared 4 percent. The airline said it was in advanced talks with the German government for nearly 9 billion euros of state aid. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. US imposes sanctions on 8 Iranian officials, including interior minister Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 5:52 PM The United States has imposed sanctions on 8 Iranian officials, including Iran's Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli. The US treasury announced the illegal sanctions Wednesday amid the Trump administration's anti-Iran campaign. Iran's Law Enforcement Force Commander Hossein Ashtari Fard is among the seven others sanctioned. The measure was said to be aimed at holding "accountable Iranian officials and institutions" over the riots that took place in Iran in November 2019. Iran has time and again asserted that the US is in no position to comment on human rights issues in the country. "A regime whose president proudly issues the order to assassinate the most decent children of Iran, and his accomplices shamelessly host the most hated anti-Iran terrorist groups and attend their meetings, has nothing to do with the elevated concept of human rights," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said as the US State Department's annual report on Iran's human rights situation was released on March 11, 2020, referencing the US assassination of the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and its support for the MKO group, which Washington has removed from its list of terrorist organizations. Tensions have soared between Iran and the US since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries consisting of the United States, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany, and reimposed the sanctions that had been lifted under the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address An investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak that led to the closure of Netcare St Augustine's Hospital in Durban found that, between 9 March and 30 April 2020, there were 119 confirmed cases identified at the hospital. St Augustine's Hospital Investigation Clusters Recommendations Hospitals need to establish separate zones (and separate entry points) for people who have confirmed Covid-19 (red zone), people who might have Covid19 (yellow zone), and people who are unlikely to have Covid19 (green zone). Vigilance throughout hospitals for acute respiratory illness, especially in green zones where patients considered low risk for Covid19 have been admitted. Limiting the non-essential movement of patients between and within wards and limiting the movement of staff between different wards. Training on Covid19, especially on infection prevention & control, should be mandatory for all staff and implementation of IPC practices should be monitored closely. The importance of hand hygiene needs to be continually emphasised and hand hygiene practices need to be monitored. Environmental cleaning practices need to be aligned with the national Covid19 IPC guidelines and the national IPC framework manual. Physical distancing inside and outside the hospitals should be promoted. Consideration should be given to weekly PCR testing of all frontline staff. Feedback This included 39 patients and 80 staff. Fifteen of the 39 patients died (case fatality rate 38.5%). The most plausible explanation for the outbreak is that there was a single introduction of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) to the hospital in early March, most likely through transmission from a patient being assessed for Covid-19 in the emergency department to another patient being admitted at the same time with a suspected stroke. The virus then spread widely through the hospital, involving patients and healthcare workers on at least five different wards.The investigation was led by Dr Richard Lessells, Professor Yunus Moosa and Professor Tulio de Oliveira, bringing together expertise in infectious diseases, epidemiology and viral genomics. The investigation harnessed the genomics expertise of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation & Sequencing Platform (KRISP), a research centre in the College of Health Sciences at UKZN. Genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 were generated and analysed to help understand the spread of the virus through the hospital.Investigation methods included medical record reviews, ward visits, and interviews with healthcare workers and management.Through detailed analysis of the timelines which wards patients were on, when their symptoms started, when they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 we were able to build a hypothesis of the most likely chain of events and understand how the virus spread around the hospital.Our genetic analysis supported this hypothesis and gave us confidence that our explanation was correct. To us our findings highlighted how easily and quickly this virus can spread through a hospital. The initial spread of the virus was not recognised at the time, because the first patient who we think was infected in the emergency department was not initially suspected of having Covid-19. She did not have any of the typical risk factors and only presented with a single episode of fever without cough or other respiratory symptoms. By the time she was diagnosed with Covid-19 and the hospital began responding to the outbreak, several other patients and healthcare workers had already been infected, said Lessells.Investigations into the outbreak at the hospital began on 4 April after the identification of 13 confirmed Covid19 cases and three deaths at the hospital.The investigation also revealed that the outbreak at St Augustines Hospital led to clusters of Covid-19 cases in a local nursing home (four residents) and in an outpatient dialysis unit operated by National Renal Care on the hospital campus (nine patients and eight staff members).Overall, we estimate that the hospital outbreak and its spread to these other institutions accounted for about 14% of Covid-19 cases in KwaZuluNatal reported up to 30 April. This highlights the risk that outbreaks like this become what we call amplifiers of transmission, that is they fuel transmission in the wider community, said De Oliveira.Although the case fatality rate was very high, almost all the deaths were associated with the recognised risk factors such as older age and chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and kidney disease.The hospital performed systematic testing of all staff members as part of their response to the outbreak. The 80 staff cases represent approximately 5% of all staff members tested for SARSCoV2. Fourteen staff members required hospital admission but none was admitted to intensive care and none died.Although most were nurses or nursing students, there were a few cases in staff not involved in direct patient care. While the investigation cannot rule out that some of these infections were acquired in the community, the phylogenetic analysis showed that all 18 DNA sequences from the outbreak were almost identical, pointing to a single source of infection and widespread transmission in the hospital.Many of the core recommendations to reduce the risk of similar outbreaks come back to the strengthening of infection prevention and control (IPC) systems and practices throughout all hospitals and healthcare facilities. We call on management at these facilities to promote a culture in which IPC is everyones responsibility and that everyone has a role to play, said Moosa.The report has been shared with the University of KwaZulu-Natal executive management team; the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health; the chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, Professor Salim Abdool Karim; Netcare management; and National Renal Care management.Feedback sessions have been run at St Augustines Hospital with hospital managers, unit managers and doctors and the findings have also been presented to the Ministerial Advisory Committee and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). The report is also being made public today, together with the data generated and analysed.The Covid19 epidemic is an unprecedented challenge for the health system and the community in South Africa. We hope that lessons learnt from this nosocomial outbreak can be used to highlight areas that can be strengthened across the private and public health system, so as to prevent nosocomial outbreaks becoming a major amplifier of Covid19 transmission, said Lessells. Watch out for the Left's "New Normal" The one term I hear from the Left that should tell you exactly where they are coming from is "New Normal". It is a term they use to describe what they think should become the new norms of our society after some sort of crisis. You need to go back no further than the Obama Administration to find examples of the leftist term "new normal". If you remember as the United States and in fact the world started recovering from the economic disasters of 2007-2008, the term has it modern debut. Remember the economy started recovering but jobs had a major lag in recovery. President Obama stated the 'new normal' was an economic jobless recovery. He told the nation and the world that the "new normal" would be a growth rate at 2% or under. That would be the "new normal" for future growth. He also declared a "new normal" in trade agreements and relations with Nations of the World. He negotiated agreements that gave advantages to other nations and in fact hurt our economic engine. But that was the Left's" New Normal'. Loss of jobs and business leaving to go overseas was acceptable so long as we apologized for our superior economy and our "superior attitude" by giving in to these nations demands. This included signing agreements that hampered our businesses from competing with in the Nations in the agreement while allowing those same nations special privileges to export to our nation. Fast forward to today. We are slowly coming out of a national lockdown that allowed states to take extraordinary methods in violation of people's rights. We are recovering from a pandemic where about 97-98% of those contracting the disease do recover. We have had the Governors shut down each state and cause major economic issues. People have been forced to stay home and isolate in case they might get this disease. Constitutional rights were violated in the name of Public Safety. Some state forced all religious centers to close in violation of the 1st amendment. Funny how it was okay to go to Walmart or some other large store but attending church services was forbidden. Some states even banned drive in churches. Our right to assemble was also taken away as in most states groups larger than 10 were forbidden and social distancing was the word of the day. Interesting that in some states prisoners were released early for fear of the virus but people who gather in large groups or do not wear masks were being arrested in jailed. So were businesses that opened early, some owners were jailed. I ask several interesting questions. If the masks are effective then why did they not require them and keep businesses open? Why were the prisoners not given masks and left in jail? If the masks are not effective why are we being told to wear them? Some locales even managed to suspend 2nd amendment rights for gun and ammo purchases. My worst fear is the Left is considering these actions as the "New Normal". It is my fear they will assume or try to enforce these actions with every new virus or unusual event. They will again try to shut the nation down. It is my hope there are enough of us to ban together and stop this power grab. Make no mistake about it is a power grab hidden in the wrapper of "Public safety" If you don't believe it I submit what they are trying to do pass and do under this public safety guise. In an attempt to steal an election they are pushing for mail in voting only. We can stand in lines to shop but not to vote? Mail in voting allows the Left to find tubs of ballots mailed in late as they need them. Trillions of dollars spend mostly on non- disease issues. Grants to colleges and other democratic pet projects were the rule. Many of the groups receiving the grants turned around and donated at least part of it tot eh Democratic Party. Think of what this Nation would be like if we allow the Democrats to take control of all branches of government. This might actually become "THE NEW NORMAL" Vote Republican to stop this "New Normal"!!!!!! William (Bill) Moore was born and raised in Yonkers NY. He became a Social Studies Teacher in Yonkers and eventually an Assistant Principal at the Middle School and High School levels. He was Principal at Roosevelt HS for 5 years in Yonkers before deciding to relocate to Edenton, NC. There he was Principal of John A. Holmes HS for 4 years. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Studies from Fordham University and Master's Degree from Iona College, majoring in Social Studies. He received his second Master's Degree in School Administration from Manhattan College. Bill is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army Reserve. He is trained as an Armor officer and a Logistician. He served two years active duty in the 4th of the 68th Armor, part of the 82nd Airborne Division. In the Reserves he served as a Field Service Company Commander, Transportation Battalion Commander and numerous staff positions at all levels. He has received numerous awards including Administrator of the Year in Chowan County. He has had numerous yearbook dedications and was nominated several times as Administrator of the Year in NY. In NY, Roosevelt HS became a Model School for the Smaller Learning Community Initiative from Brown University. Bill is President of the Edenton Tea Party and a member of the Chowan County Republican Party Executive Committee. He is a current member of the Edenton Planning Board, Chowan County Juvenile Crime Prevention Task Force, and the Northeast Commission. Hamiltons last lighthouse keeper was big Pete Coletti, who had a pirate aura, parrots named Foghorn and Gasbag, and who spoke like a maritimer even though he had never been to the coast. A link to a bygone era of the Beach Strip, Coletti died at 85 on March 17 in New Brunswick, where he had once manned the light on rugged Gannet Rock in the Bay of Fundy. A loner, yet also a swashbuckling raconteur, Coletti started work at Hamiltons lighthouse shortly after crossing a black cat and a dead body, in that order. He was born June 23, 1935 and raised in Millgrove along with his sister, Lee, at the top of the hill off Highway 6 North, where their father sold vegetables. While a natural storyteller, he rarely would talk about his childhood or parents. Young Pete didnt go to school past Grade 5. He was put to work. He taught himself to fix and build most anything, but it wasnt until his 30s that he found his calling, down the hill, at the Head of the Lake. He had no maritime roots, other than his father driving a speedboat running booze during prohibition in New York state. Then he came to Canada and in 1929 lost $350,000 overnight ... A woman and a crooked lawyer had a lot to do with it. That was Pete Coletti, talking to The Spectators Paul Wilson, who delighted writing yarns about Hamiltons keeper of the light with the incongruous accent (everyone thinks Im a Newfie) who was always firing up hand-rolled cigarettes. In the early 1980s, there were 260 staffed lighthouses in Canada, before automation and cutbacks. Today, there are 51 staffed in Canada, and none in Ontario. Back in 1968, most of them had two workers, and thats when Coletti started, alongside lighthouse keeper Mike Gushulak. Coletti took over the light in the early 70s and lived in the keepers cottage in the shadow of the Skyway 23 years. Steel City characters: A host of Hamiltons colourful folk In the early days, he would peer out over Lake Ontario and flip the foghorns if necessary, but most of his time was spent caring for the equipment. Coletti offered Gushulaks son, Mike Jr., the assistant job. For Mike Jr., who now lives near San Francisco, Coletti became the warm and safe male presence he had always lacked in his life. Pete was like a father to me, Mike Jr. writes in an email. When I hear his name, or tell stories about him to my son, it puts a smile on my face. He remembered the time Coletti spotted an abandoned sailboat wash up against the pier, and on the spot told Mike Jr. and his brother Bill to hop aboard, and the three of them rode through the canal. That was the spirit Pete had, writes Mike Jr. And he scared the hell out of my brother when he edged the boat on its side. Coletti married and had two daughters, Chris and Angie, who lived in the cottage along with his dogs, cats, budgies, parrots, a ferret and a dozen guppy-filled aquariums. By the late 1980s, with Hamiltons light automated, Coletti commuted to Long Point on Lake Erie, where he kept the light on a spit of rock dubbed Little Alcatraz. By now divorced, he started living with a woman named Mary Weeks. They met when she interviewed him for a book she was writing on lighthouses. His voice mail greeting went: This is Peter Peter the lighthouse keeper, and Mary the mermaid. In 1991, he moved with Mary to Little Lepreau, N.B. where he was lighthouse keeper on a tiny island accessible by a 20-minute chopper ride. His assistant was young and earnest Chris Mills, a perfect foil to Colettis weathered old salt. Pete descended like a hurricane on Gannet Rock, larger than life, says Mills, who still lives on the ocean. He was tall, and garrulous, and had a big deep voice; he was mostly deaf and that led him to speaker even louder ... And he was just a good-hearted man. Mills marvelled at how Coletti could assemble everything from clocks and cameras to guns. Sometimes hed find him filing the claws of a parrot on the kitchen table, barking at the bird to hold still. The way Coletti talked in his folksy manner, it reminded Mills of an expression: He decorated life. Thats what Pete did. He was one of a kind. The job was hard on Colettis relationship with Mary, who was alone for two weeks at a time when he was working. In 1993, she returned to Ontario and died of cancer soon after. Years later, Coletti found love one more time, an old flame from his Hamilton days. She came to live with him, but in 2019, she, too, returned to Ontario and died of cancer. Dad told me it seemed like everyone in his life was leaving him and dying, says his daughter, Chris Hurst. In recent years, Colettis health was poor: his heart, lungs. On March 16, Chris received an urgent call from a hospital in Saint John. She and her sister flew out the next day, driving through a snowstorm after landing. They got there about 45 minutes after he had died. They sat and talked to him. I held those big mitts he had for hands, says Angie Coletti. He was down to earth. Gentle. And funny. Chris has put some of his ashes in a lighthouse-themed urn. Angie plans to take her daughters to the lift bridge and sprinkle some there. I think he would love that, says Angie. They plan to hold a celebration sometime this summer so beach friends can gather and tell Pete Coletti stories. There remains a bit of mystery why Coletti was so drawn to the lighthouse. Much has been written about their allure, as a symbol of calm in the storm, protection, and even illumination of the spirit. He was the best dad ever, says Chris. But it was difficult for anyone to really get close to his heart. Other mysteries, though, Coletti never tired of telling, in his baritone that boomed like a voice from a mist-shrouded past. I suppose you want to hear the story about how I got started, he said to Wilson one day on the Beach Strip, as he rolled a cigarette, cradling it between two big brown fingers that look like old bananas. Wilson wrote: On a hot night in July 1968, Pete came to visit Mike, lighthouse keeper at the time. Round about 11:30 Mike said he had to wake up old Jack. There was an assistant in those days. They went to the little cottage out back and banged on the door. Then the windows. Finally they broke down the front door and a black cat came tearing out. Jack was inside. Dead. The Gods truth. I started work the next morning at 8 a.m. The United Nations (UN) Population Fund (UNFPA), says Nigeria records 12,000 new cases of Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF), yearly. VVF is an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder (vesica) and the vagina, that leads to continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault. Country Representative of UNFPA, Ulla Muller, told NAN in an interview in Abuja, that with the figure, Nigeria was one of the countries with the highest number of VVF cases globally. Nigeria has about 148,000 cases of fistula, with about 12,000 new cases every year, Muller said. The UN representative said UNFPA has a large imprint in Nigeria through preventive and curative interventions such as family planning, community engagement and training of healthcare workers. She said these were key to preventing and reducing fistula, which had destroyed the lives of many young women and caused many families untold hardships. Ms Muller, who described Nigerian fistula surgeons as one of the best in the world, said it was advisable for women living with the condition to avoid getting pregnant for at least twelve months. She emphasised UNFPAs commitment to creating awareness on the disease through the use of local and social media platforms, targeting young women. Ms Muller advised young women with the condition to seek immediate medical help and not feel ashamed for fear of stigmatisation. She attributed the prevalence of VVF on child marriage, which she said often exposed such young girls to the risk of the disease. May 23 every year has been set aside by the UN as World Fistula Day. (NAN) A New Jersey gym that violated stay-at-home orders by reopening on Monday has now been forcibly closed by the state and county health departments. The owners of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr arrived Thursday to find a notice of embargo from the Camden County Division of Environmental Health taped onto their front door. In an Instagram video, the owners described the order as one of 'Governor Murphy's dirty tricks, playing with his power in the health department'. 'For right now, the gym will be closed,' the owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti conceded in the clip. However, they defiantly declared that they would 'file a suit against Gov. Murphy first thing this morning'. On Monday, crowds of supporters gathered outside Atilis Gym as it reopened for the first time since mid-March. Gym owners Ian Smith (left) and Frank Trumbetti (right) are pictured welcoming a customer to the gym Tuesday - one day after they reopened in defiance of New Jersey's stay-at-home order. The local health department has now shut down the facility The gym spent two months shuttered amid the coronavirus crisis. After reopening for three days, it has now been shut down by the local health department On Monday, crowds of supporters gathered outside Atilis Gym as it reopened for the first time since mid-March. The local health department has now ordered the facility closed Co-owner Ian Smith came under fire when he was caught on camera using a megaphone which featured a white supremacist sticker at the event. Members of the New Jersey European Heritage Association were also seen at the reopening, proudly unfurling one of their banners. But on Thursday, Smith took took to Instagram insisting he was not a white nationalist. 'That megaphone was handed to me,' he stated. 'In no way do I ever or would I ever support any group linked to hate or racism of any kind. That is not my message nor has it ever been. Please take a look at my family, we are a multi-racial family.' Co-owner Ian Smith came under fire when he was caught on camera using a megaphone which featured a white supremacist sticker during a rally outside the gym The gym's reopening defied Governor Phil Murphy's order for non-essential businesses to stay shuttered to slow the spread of coronavirus. On Tuesday, high-profile protests were held outside the gym after police issued summonses to the owners and arrested a gym-goer after the facility opened for the second day in a row. The man was detained after getting into a verbal altercation with an officer when he left the gym, reported NBC. A man exercises inside Atilis Gym on Monday after it reopened to the public Owners tried to take precautions to keep their clients safe - but it did not appease the Camden County Division of Environmental Health The facility's co-owners Ian Smith (left) and Frank Trumbetti (right) were issued summons by police officers ordering them to close Tuesday after they reopened Monday The interior of the large gym is pictured on Monday According to reports, he had refused to give police officers his name when he came out of the gym after working out. Other fitness fans were also pictured having their details noted down by officers in the parking lot outside the facility. Officers were jeered by supporters and gym-goers who had flocked to show their support for the business owners. Supporters, some not wearing masks, waved American flags and banners with slogans reading 'Keep social distance. Wear a mask', 'Liberate New Jersey' and 'Respect law enforcement at all times. This is a peaceful gathering.' A New Jersey fitness enthusiast was arrested Tuesday after he went to work out at a gym which opened in defiance of the state's stay-at-home order. He was reportedly arrested for a verbal altercation - not because he entered the facility The owners introduced a series of safety measures ahead of its reopening, according to the gym's Facebook page. These measures included limiting the capacity to 20 percent and allowing only members inside. Gym-goers' temperatures were also being taken on entry, and anybody with a temperature above 100.4 degrees would be turned away, the Facebook post said. However, the rules have not appeased local and state health departments, amid the coronavirus crisis. As of Thursday evening, 149,000 people have tested positive to COVID-19 in New Jersey, and more than 10,000 have died. A fitness fan is pictured having his details noted down by an officer in the parking lot outside the facili There will be no canoeing or campfire sing-alongs at Camp Stephens and many other overnight camps this summer. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. There will be no canoeing or campfire sing-alongs at Camp Stephens and many other overnight camps this summer. The YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg has announced that its island camp in Lake of the Woods will not operate this season after the Ontario government called for the closure of all overnight camps this summer. "We recognize this is the right decision," a Y Winnipeg spokeswoman told the Free Press. "We are deeply saddened, nevertheless, as the last time a Camp Stephens summer program was cancelled was during (the First World War)." The camp has operated near Kenora, Ont., for almost 130 years and has an average of 1,000 campers each summer. Linnea Marohns daughter Saje, 13, has made the trip from Dauphin to Camp Stephens every summer for the last five years. Staying at the secluded camp far away from family has given Saje, who hopes to be a camp leader one day, a love of nature and more independence. "We are deeply saddened, nevertheless, as the last time a Camp Stephens summer program was cancelled was during (the First World War)." Y spokeswoman "She would go away for the two weeks and come back so grown up," Marohn said. While she was hesitant to send her daughter away from home during a pandemic, Marohn was looking forward to the sense of normalcy provided by the annual tradition. HANDOUT PHOTO The YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg has announced that its island camp in Lake of the Woods will not operate this season after the Ontario government called for the closure of all overnight camps this summer. "Its a bummer, but were going to maybe have a staycation and go on our own canoe adventure. All you can do is make the best of the situation." While Manitoba hasnt officially put the kibosh on overnight camps, most have already pulled the plug. The Manitoba Camping Association oversees 35 accredited camps in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Twenty-five have announced they will not operate this summer. The 10 holdouts are waiting for phase two of the provinces reopening plan, details of which are expected Thursday. "Theyll need to know by that date if they can get camp up and running within a couple of weeks and get staff out to do training," said Kim Scherger, association executive director. Overnight camps face several challenges: keeping beds six feet apart, operating at a lower capacity and giving counsellors, many of whom are teens, the responsibility to clean and keep campers separated. The association estimates its camps serve 50,000 children, employ 2,000 staff and volunteers and generate more than $16 million for the economy each season. Most camps in Manitoba are non-profit organizations that rely on income generated from July to August, as well as private bookings during the spring and fall shoulder seasons. "They can't make that up the rest of the year, so they're going to have zero income," Scherger said. While the future is uncertain, many camps see opportunities in the present. Scherger held virtual meetings with association members on Wednesday and there was talk about offering digital camps, delivering activity boxes to campers and getting overdue work done at facilities. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Camps with Meaning is mulling the idea of running a day camp at its Camp Assiniboia facility, 16 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. Camp Aurora, the Rainbow Resource Centre's overnight camp in Whiteshell Provincial Park for LGBTTQ+ youth and allies, will go online this year. Aurora campers gave input on what they'd like to see in a virtual camp. Youth program co-ordinator Mateo Llanillos said ideas included craft projects, yoga and dance, and queer sex ed classes. "We want to ensure that (they) don't miss out on this important experience," Llanillos said via email. "Some youth have stated that camp is the only place they feel that they can really be themselves." Camps with Meaning, which is run by the Mennonite Church of Manitoba and operates two facilities in the province, cancelled its overnight program last week. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "It takes a lot of work to put together a summer camp," said Dorothy Fontaine, director of missions for the church. "We were just reaching a critical date where we wouldn't have been able to plan a program." In its first phase of reopening, the province gave day camps the go-ahead provided they maintain physical distancing and keep groups to fewer than 16 children. Camps with Meaning is mulling the idea of running a day camp at its Camp Assiniboia facility, 16 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. Mini U, one of Winnipeg's biggest day camps, announced Wednesday it is cancelling its 2020 season. Mini U runs 68 camp and swimming lesson programs for kids aged four to 18 at the University of Manitoba campus every summer. The camping association has temporarily suspended applications to its Sunshine Fund while it makes changes to the program. The fund typically provides subsidies for low-income kids to attend overnight camps, but the association wants to open eligibility to day camps as well. eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @evawasney These new sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, announced April 27 . CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity. The 36 test sites in New York are part of nearly 350 locations across 14 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. "While the large-scale test sites we've been operating since early April have proven successful, this new approach allows us to utilize our presence in communities across the country and bring testing closer to home," said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Health. "Our frontline employees will continue to play a critical role in the testing process, with members of their communities directly benefitting from their dedication and selflessness." Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 22 to schedule an appointment. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients. The new testing sites in New York include: CVS Pharmacy, 951 Atlantic Avenue, Baldwin, NY 11510 11510 CVS Pharmacy, 107 South Country Road, Bellport, NY 11713 11713 CVS Pharmacy, Candlewood Road and 5th Avenue, Brentwood, NY 11717 11717 CVS Pharmacy, 311 Main Street, Center Moriches, NY 11934 11934 CVS Pharmacy, 2315 Middle Country Road, Centereach, NY 11720 11720 CVS Pharmacy, 1710 Route 112, Coram, NY 11727 11727 CVS Pharmacy, 520 Larkfield Road, East Northport, NY 11731 11731 CVS Pharmacy, 2000 Jericho Turnpike, East Northport, NY 11731 11731 CVS Pharmacy, 1797 Dutch Broadway, Elmont, NY 11003 11003 CVS Pharmacy, 450 Main Street, Farmingdale, NY 11735 11735 CVS Pharmacy, 372 Jericho Turnpike, Floral Park, NY 11001 11001 CVS Pharmacy, 114 South Long Beach Road, Freeport, NY 11520 11520 CVS Pharmacy, 65 Forest Avenue, Glen Cove, NY 11542 11542 CVS Pharmacy, 399 Jerusalem Avenue, Hicksville, NY 11855 11855 CVS Pharmacy, 111 Depot Road, Huntington Station, NY 11746 11746 CVS Pharmacy, 530 Burnside Avenue, Inwood, NY 11096 11096 CVS Pharmacy, 831 Connetquot Avenue, Islip Terrace, NY 11752 11752 CVS Pharmacy, 2970 Hempstead Turnpike, Levittown, NY 11756 11756 CVS Pharmacy, 496 County Road 111 Building C, Manorville, NY 11949 11949 CVS Pharmacy, 410 Jericho Turnpike, Mineola, NY 11501 11501 CVS Pharmacy, 310 Hillside Avenue, New Hyde Park, NY 11040 11040 CVS Pharmacy, 470 West Main Street, Patchogue, NY 11772 11772 CVS Pharmacy, 729 Portion Road, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 11779 CVS Pharmacy, 2250 Seamans Neck Road, Seaford, NY 11783 11783 CVS Pharmacy, 29 Havenwood Drive, Shirley, NY 11967 11967 CVS Pharmacy, 977 Jericho Turnpike, Smithtown, NY 11725 11725 CVS Pharmacy, 111 Terry Road, Smithtown, NY 11787 11787 CVS Pharmacy, 4065 Amboy Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10308 10308 CVS Pharmacy, 1571 Forest Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10302 10302 CVS Pharmacy, 250 Page Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10307 10307 CVS Pharmacy, 2045 Forest Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10303 10303 CVS Pharmacy, 2465 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10314 10314 CVS Pharmacy, 1125 Bay Street, Staten Island, NY 10305 10305 CVS Pharmacy, 6221 Route 25A, Wading River, NY 11792 11792 CVS Pharmacy, 105 Montauk Highway, West Sayville, NY 11782 11782 CVS Pharmacy, 610 Old Country Road, Westbury, NY 11590 A complete list of CVS Pharmacy Drive-thru test sites can be found here. More information on steps CVS Health has taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including support for health care providers and clinicians facing financial and administrative strain, is available at the company's frequently updated COVID-19 resource center . For downloadable COVID-19 testing media assets, including photos, video and interviews with CVS Health executives, please visit the Media Resource Center. About CVS Health CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company in the world. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contact Tara Burke, (646) 765-4971 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com/ DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will resume face-to-face instruction at residential campuses in Florida and Arizona on June 30, the school announced Thursday. The private aviation and aerospace universitys board of trustees voted unanimously for the move, school officials said in a news release. We believe that a structured, cautious return to normal operations will provide a platform for our institutions long-term success and better prepare us for the fall semester, Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini said in a statement. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is well positioned for this next step. Our safety focus is unparalleled and our board is unanimous in supporting this decision. Flight and housing operations have resumed at the schools campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, Embry-Riddle President P. Barry Butler said in a statement. Our plan focuses on statistical risk testing, risk mitigation, support for contact tracing and most importantly, education, Butler said. New measures at the school will include limiting classroom capacity, optimizing schedules, screening students for risk factors and requiring face coverings for anyone on campus. LEXINGTON, Ky., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX, "Company") announced today that customers and associates are welcomed back into the Company's U.S. Tempur-Pedic and Sleep Outfitters retail stores. After temporary closures, the Company has begun opening its domestic retail stores in a phased approach in compliance with recommended safety precautions from the CDC, state and local health authorities and its Clean Shop Promise protocol. Tempur Sealy expects the vast majority of its approximately 160 U.S. retail locations to be open by the end of May. Some may operate with reduced hours and/or modified delivery services. In addition to opening its Company-owned stores, the Company continues to support third-party retailers in the opening of their stores through offering its Clean Shop Promise protocol as a resource. The Company built upon its unique combination of robust consumer insights and global industry experience to develop a holistic set of guidelines designed to offer consumers a clean and comfortable in-store experience. Tempur Sealy Chairman and CEO Scott Thompson commented, "One of our strengths is our powerful omni-channel distribution model, which allows us to reach consumers wherever they want to shop. We believe about 65% of the third-party retail doors will be open in the U.S. by the end of May, which is up from 40% at the end of April." Thompson continued, "We see consumers shopping both online and in-stores. While it is early, stores that have re-opened are generally experiencing strong closing rates with reduced traffic. As more third-party retail locations open and we leverage our Clean Shop Promise protocol, we expect that traffic will continue to increase as consumers seek to experience our products first-hand." Forward-Looking Statements This press release may be deemed to include statements that are "forward-looking" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which include information concerning one or more of the Company's plans, objectives, goals, strategies, and other information that is not historical information. When used in this release, the words "expects", "believes" and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify such statements. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based upon current expectations and beliefs and various assumptions. There can be no assurance that the Company will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct. Other potential risk factors include the risk factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Part I, ITEM 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and in Part II, ITEM 1A of the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. There may be other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made. About the Company Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX) develops, manufactures, and markets mattresses, foundations, pillows and other products. The Company's products are sold worldwide through third party retailers, its own stores, and online. The Company's brand portfolio includes many highly recognized brands in the industry, including Tempur, Tempur-Pedic, Sealy featuring Posturepedic Technology, and Stearns & Foster. World headquarters for Tempur Sealy International is in Lexington, KY. For more information, visit http://www.tempursealy.com or call 800-805-3635. Investor Relations Contact Aubrey Moore Investor Relations Tempur Sealy International, Inc. 800-805-3635 [email protected] SOURCE Tempur Sealy International, Inc. Related Links http://www.tempursealy.com No one knows the end to the story about Matthew Riley buying an old church in his Sellwood neighborhood to save it from a developers wrecking ball. A record of the deed of sale isnt even filed and not even Riley knows where this uncharted journey will lead. What have I done? he wondered days after he bought the property on the street where he lives. I put in an offer not thinking I would actually be able to acquire it, but I closed today," he wrote in a Nextdoor post addressed to the neighborhood last week. I am definitely stretching myself thin to make this happen. It needs a lot of work to bring it back to what it once was. He added that he felt lucky but scared that the success of his lowball offer could follow the storyline of the Tom Hanks movie, The Money Pit. The structure was built in 1913 and has been the Calvary Open Bible Church and sometimes the Sellwood Playhouse since at least 1986, according to public records. I have spoken to people who went to church there, attended Sunday school and put on plays, he wrote in his Nextdoor post. I did not want to see it torn down and turned into apartments. It has been a part of the community and neighborhood for over 100 years. He hopes to convert the church on a standard-size residential lot into a house or duplex. Hes not the first to buy a church to repurpose it. An 1891 Gothic Revival-style church in Southeast Portlands historic Ladds Addition has been divided into apartments. Bend visitors can stay in a vaulted, century-old church thats now a vacation rental. And a Victorian church in Milwaukie is the longtime home of a fashion designer and antique importer who filled every inch of the 4,196-square-foot structure with Moroccan architectural fixtures. TLC (the Little Church) in Portlands Alberta Arts District was saved from being flattened into a parking lot. The congregation-less structure, which was built in 1916, can be rented for special occasions and parties, from intimate weddings and workshops to family gatherings and celebrations of life. Vacant churches can be adapted to lots of creative uses since the buildings are designed to have an open floor plan, which makes adding walls easier, and the large square footage allows for the structures to be divided into smaller apartments. The Sellwood church has almost 2,600 square feet of space on a single level. There are no stained glass windows in Rileys retired house of worship, but there were 16 pews. I have given all but one pew away so far, said Riley. Neighborhood support has been great, a few people have offered to help, but nothing concrete yet. Community support is important to Riley since hes never tried to transform a church before though he has renovated a few homes. He was motivated to take possession of the property, which was listed for sale at $550,000, out of concern that the church would be replaced with a massive apartment built, he feared, without consideration to livability or services available or parking. I personally feel that many of the new buildings are cheaply built and not attractive," he says. "This building was built to last. Janet Eastman | 503-294-4072 jeastman@oregonian.com | @janeteastman Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories Want to search Oregon real estate listings and use local resources? Click here. The Odisha government on Thursday showered praises on the India Meteorological Department (IMD), saying weather forecast is getting better with time, a day after cyclone 'Amphan' rolled past its coast causing minimal damage in the state. The government thanked IMD's Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra for accurate predictions. The IMD's predictions on the cyclone's trajectory, wind speed as well as its character in sea and impact were "to the point" and "accurate" which helped the state in making required preparation to face the calamity, Odisha's Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said. Stating that accurate forecast of the natural calamity is a great weapon to contain the damage to life and property, Tripathy said, "The IMD is valuable in this area and its forecast is getting better with time." "We thank Mohapatra, NDRF DG S N Pradhan and everyone in this valuable national body," Tripathy told PTI. Odisha's Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena, the officer responsible for the management of the cyclone, also acknowledged Mohapatra's efforts. "I especially thank Mrutyunjay Mohapatra who time and again re-assured us to have complete faith in his prediction and forecast on cyclone 'Amphan'," he said. Noting that the Odisha administration was on its toes after getting information that a super cyclone was being formed in the Bay of Bengal, Jena said, "It was a sleepless night on Tuesday for all of us. Though IMD had given a clear picture, still we were apprehensive." The SRC said he along with many others worked overnight monitoring the cyclone, which had gradually weakened into an extremely severe cyclonic storm in the sea. However, everyone was anxious about its movement and apprehensive whether the system would tilt towards the Odisha coast, he said. "My apprehensions were compounded when I received several telephone calls from different people that the cyclone may take a turn towards the Odisha coast instead of moving ahead on the trajectory shown by the IMD," he said. Jena said he got anxious after Rohit Shukla, IMD's Radar Centre in-charge at Paradip, told him that the system was taking a turn. "This information actually disturbed me further. The picture of the 1999 super cyclone came to my mind. Unable to resist my fear, I called up Mohapatra thrice between 3 am and 5 am on Wednesday morning to further verify whether the system will not change its path. He (Mohapatra) told me not to worry, the system will move exactly the path drawn by the IMD," Jena said. Mohapatra assured the state government that the cyclone might tilt further into the sea and not towards the Odisha coast. "Finally, I stopped thinking in a negative way when Mohapatra said that the IMD has a special relationship with the Bay of Bengal and is well acquainted with its nature and character in the sea," Jena said. After the cyclone went past several coastal districts, Jena said, "We found that IMD's prediction was not only accurate, but exact. The impact was felt in specific blocks of certain districts as told by Mohapatra." Happy over the IMD's model, SRC Jena said that Mohapatra, also referred as the "cyclone man" of India, had made accurate predictions on ferocious cyclonic storms like Fani in 2019 and Phailin in 2013. The IMD had informed the state government that the wind speed at Paradip and Dhamara coast would be at around 135 kmph, he said. "We were prepared for the wind speed of 140 kmph. But actually it was within 110 kmph, which was a great relief for all of us, Jena said. Mohapatra, who hails from Odisha's cyclone-prone Bhadrak district, said the models used by the IMD were more accurate than others. "We had already predicted about the cyclone on May 13 and it took exactly the same trajectory and path as forecast by the IMD," he told PTI. Apart from Mohapatra, NDRF DG S N Pradhan also swung into action as teams of the disaster response force were sent to Odisha and West Bengal for rescue and restoration operation. The SRC also thanked H R Biswas, the director of the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar. Biswas is an eminent weather scientist and an expert in predicting volume of rainfall during cyclones. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON Former Vice President Joe Biden called for increased safety protocols for workers in the meatpacking industry affected by the coronavirus pandemic, even if that means meat prices will increase. During an interview with Yahoo News Tuesday, Biden was asked whether he thought it was an acceptable burden for Americans if meat prices increased to pay for improved worker safety. "Absolutely, positively, no workers life is worth my getting a cheaper hamburger. No workers life is worth that," Biden said during the interview, which was a town hall focused on food insecurity. We dont treat the workers well at all across the board," Biden said. We have obligations to workers, we have obligations to the community. Yes, yes, yes. Joe Biden vowed to pick a woman VP: Some Democrats say she must be a woman of color Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said people who work in meat plants, whether it's beef, pork or poultry, "are getting sicker" as production increases. People are getting hurt," he said. "The very thing we should be doing now is making sure these people are protected that they have space 6 feet apart, that they have shields around them, slow the process up. Make sure they have the protective gear, make sure they are being taken care of. Over the past several weeks, there's been a wave of coronavirus cases and deaths among employees in the meatpacking industry. Despite safety concerns, President Donald Trump ordered beef, pork and poultry processing plants to remain open, citing his authority under the Defense Production Act. More: New polls show Biden leading Trump in Arizona, Florida and Virginia In the town hall interview, Biden criticized Trump for taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, to prevent coronavirus. Trump announced Monday that he has been taking the drug for nearly two weeks. The Food and Drug Administration cautioned against using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, a related drug, for COVID-19 treatment outside hospitals or clinical trials because of the risk of heart rhythm problems. The administration released a note from Trump's doctor Monday confirming his support of the treatment. Story continues "Look, this is absolutely irresponsible," Biden said. "There's no serious medical personnel out there saying to use that drug. It's counterproductive, it's not going to help. "It's like saying maybe if you injected Clorox into your blood, maybe it'll cure you," he said. "What is he doing? What in God's name is he doing?" This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Joe Biden calls on more safety for meatpacking workers Gov. J.B. Pritzker (L) and U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy meet with members of the Illinois National Guard, medical professionals and construction workers who helped build and staff the COVID-19 alternate care facility at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., on April 17, 2020. (Tyler LaRiviere/Getty Images) Illinois House Votes to Remove Representative Who Refused to Wear a Mask in Session A state lawmaker in Illinois defended his refusal to wear a mask meant to stem the spread of the CCP virus after his colleagues voted to oust him from the legislative session on May 20 because of it. State Rep. Darren Bailey, a Republican, said he is representing the people. In a bipartisan vote, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 81 to 27 to remove Bailey for refusing to wear a mask during the special session, with one representative voting present. People in Illinois are currently required under an order from the governor to wear face coverings in public places where a six-foot distance isnt possible. The Illinois House voted to adopt rules on Wednesday that included a requirement for members, staff, and visitors to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth during the special session. Bailey said he would not comply with the rules, and State Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch, a Democrat, made a motion to remove Bailey from the House floor. Masks and hand sanitizers are displayed at a Hyundai Happy World supplements store during the CCP virus outbreak in Niles, Ill., on April 3, 2020. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo) I feel like Im doing the genuine thing of standing up and representing the people and saying enough is enough, Bailey later told CNN affiliate WCIA. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, when asked about the vote at his daily COVID-19 press conference on Wednesday, slammed Bailey as having shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for peoples health. You just heard (Illinois Department of Public Health Director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike) tell you why people wear masks in the first place is to protect others, Pritzker added. So clearly the representative has no interest in protecting others. CNN has reached out to Bailey for additional comment. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker listens to a question after announcing a shelter in place order to combat the spread of the CCP virus, during a news conference in Chicago on March 20, 2020. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo) Bailey, who represents the 109th District in Southern Illinois, has been a vocal opponent of Pritzkers stay-at-home order to curb the spread of COVID-19, challenging the order in a lawsuit filed last month in Clay County Circuit Court. A judge ruled that Bailey was personally exempt from the stay-at-home order, asserting that Bailey has a clearly ascertainable right in need of immediate protection, namely his liberty interest to be free from Pritzkers executive order of quarantine in his own home. President Donald Trump looks at a protective face mask being shown to him by Honeywells Vice President of Integrated Supply Chain Tony Stallings in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 5, 2020. The President toured Honeywells facility manufacturing masks for the CCP virus outbreak. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Baileys stance on Wednesday comes as a new national poll from Quinnipiac University released the same day found that 64 percent of voters say everyone should be required to wear face masks in public, including 87 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of independents and 40 percent of Republicans. The CNN Wire and Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. Is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey flattening the coronavirus curve in its workforce? Statistics of bi-state employees who are self-quarantining showed the agency squashed it, dropping the numbers to double digits from a high of over 700 people over a roughly 10-week period. As of Thursday, there were 94 Authority employees who were self quarantined, down from 354 reported in April and from a high of 700, said Rick Cotton, Port Authority executive director. Its a positive, said Cotton, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March and recovered. Far and away, were in the low end of the scale thanks to a great commitment to implement and improve protective measures for employees. Statistics show the number of Port Authority employees under quarantine for the coronavirus has dropped from a high of 700 plus to under 100. Cotton said 235 employees tested positive for COVID-19, 194 recovered and returned to work and 39 are still on medical leave. Two authority employees have died from COVID-19, an administrative worker and a PATH rail employee. One employee has been hospitalized, he said. There were 354 workers who had self-quarantined last month. By comparison, NJ Transit, which has a larger workforce, has 542 employees currently under quarantine; 117 of the 194 workers currently battling the coronavirus are frontline workers, said Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman. All together, NJ Transit has had 523 workers test positive, she said. NJ Transit has 12,000 employees compared to the Port Authoritys 8,000 workers. The larger MTA has the highest COVID-19 casualties with 122 deaths. Last month, the MTA reported the number of quarantined workers declined to roughly 3,800 from a high of approximately 6,000. The low numbers were a tribute to Cottons decisive action and recognizing what had to be done to safeguard the health of Port Authority employees, said Kevin OToole, board of commissioners chairman. That deep, forward rational thinking probably saved many lives, he said. Though, not all employees were happy with the Authoritys handling of the coronavirus. A coalition of PATH rail unions said the Authority reduced the amount of sick time to 10 days for workers under quarantine, leaving them with a choice of using vacation days or if they had none left, to lose pay. That policy was made retroactive to April 17, union officials said. This is a heartless and dangerous policy decision by the Port Authority that literally punishes these brave and essential workers as they recover from COVID-19, said Joseph Dominiczak, PATH Labor Coalition president in a statement. Nine PATH engineers came down with COVID-19 and took more than two weeks to recover, said Art Blakey, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Local 497 vice-chairman. All are now being charged for the extra days under the new policy, he said. After the meeting, Cotton said he wasnt aware of any change, but would look into it. PATH unions have been working for almost 10 years without a new contract. Earlier this week the agency said it was providing COVID-19 testing for all essential frontline workers, including PATH and Port Authority police officers. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Abidjan, Ivory Coast (PANA) - Women are excluded from information sharing on Covid-19 and from key high level decision making processes at national and regional levels, says a new gender analysis by humanitarian charity, CARE The African continent witnessed different reactions to the ongoing period of depressed demand mature producers like Nigeria and Angola are facing liquidity issues and struggle to keep their 2020 budget afloat, whilst up-and-coming oil-producing nations like Senegal or Ghana are expected to have a relatively cushioned blow thanks to the economic steam theyve picked up in the past years. Yet for the long-term future of African oil production, sub-Saharan nations should proactively seek to attract international investors now, to reap future benefits when the price of crude rises back to commercially reasonable levels. The case of Tanzania, long mooted to become the star of the nascent East African oil bonanza, is a fitting example of why the coronavirus-triggered market impacts are so divergent. Over the last couple of years Tanzanian authorities seemed to do their utmost to scare off foreign investors. First, they have ran ashore with tightening upstream licensing terms in the 4th Licensing Round by increasing the governments total take to a whopping 94%. Second, it has tied all oil and gas-related arbitration to local courts via the Natural Wealth and Resources Act in 2017, rendering the engagement of international majors even more difficult. Against the background of waning interest, Tanzania has also stopped all negotiations with international oil companies on the review of PSA terms and conditions. The Tanzanian government claimed that it needs to suspend communication so as to be able to focus on a thorough review of gas-related PSAs. As a consequence of all the above developments, Tanzania is compelled to postpone its 5th upstream licensing round well into 2021-2022, despite initial promises to hold it as soon as 2017. All this only a couple of months after Tanzania stated its intention of reopening its hydrocarbon licensing activity after an almost 5-year hiatus. The licensing round would have included 8 deep-water blocks in water depths of 2-3000 meters with quite a remarkable drilling history: Blocks 1,2,3 and 4 have a total of seven gas discoveries yet were subsequently relinquished at different stages by Statoil, ExxonMobil, BG and Ophir. Tanzanias hydrocarbon exploration story is essentially one that revolves around oil majors going deeper and deeper into the abyss of the Indian Ocean. Related: The Worlds Most Controversial Oil Frontier Falls Out Of Favor With Big Banks The first geological surveys in Tanzanias shallow water deposits took place in the early 1950s despite having discovered several fields, BP could not find any commercially viable assets. Then the Italian AGIP, now part of ENI, took over and spearheaded the Tanzanian surveying drive, however most of the activity took place in shallow water in water depths of 100-200 meters and yielded no breakthrough. After the 1st licensing round was launched in 2000, many oil majors were tempted to try their luck in a new oil frontier exploration activities led by Ophir, Petrobras and Shell garnered some 18-20 TCf in recoverable gas reserves, enough to feed a mid-range LNG terminal but not necessarily enough to satiate domestic gas demand. Concurrently, the island of Zanzibar which has been seeking legislative and regulatory autonomy from the federal government in Dodoma, intends to hold a deep-water offshore licensing round in 2021. The standoff between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania is by no means new Shell has in fact clinched 4 offshore blocks in 2002 off Zanzibars coast and has been waiting all these years for the two parties to decide how the revenues should be distributed between the two. With Zanzibar retaining its own parliament and president ever since it joined mainland Tanganyika in 1964, the energy-related feud is closely intertwined with Tanzanias political travails. In September 2019 Zanzibar has issued a tender for a 2D seismic survey in its deep-water offshore in water depths of 500-3500 metres. The crux of the matter is that despite recent legislative advances in safeguarding Zanzibars sovereignty over the resources in its offshore zone among others the 2016 Zanzibar Oil and Gas Act the federal constitution supersedes all regional laws. As things stand now, the Constitution of Tanzania stipulates that all oil and gas-related issues are a union matter, which might be read in a way that should any Zanzibari drilling result in a substantial discovery, the federal government might revisit its light-handed upstream policy. Related: Oil Jumps After API Reports Draw In Crude Oil Inventories Tanzania has also been very slow to advance the Tanzania LNG project. Having first discovered natural gas in the countrys offshore in 2010, constructing an LNG terminal in Lindi to supply the Asian market has been on the agenda for 6-7 years already and even under the most optimistic scenarios it is only in 2028 that it would be commissioned. That is a very sluggish pace for a project that has ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Equinor onboard and that would add some 2% per year annual growth to Tanzanias GDP. Part of the problem is a persisting sense of discontentment that the Tanzanian President has reportedly made clear to the projects consortium, namely that they are seeking profits to the detriment of the government and asked for a reassessment of the projects objectives. Although discussion on the topic is generally scant, the fact that the government has been pushing for separate talks with each investor (instead of the previously held joint round talks) to conclude the host government agreement already insinuates a lack of progress on the topic. Were governmental interference or unrealistic demands to derail Tanzania LNG, both Tanzanias and Zanzibars offshore licensing round would take a biting blow. There are always different ways of looking at things, of course, the adverse consequences of the oil price drop have some positive ramifications, too, for Tanzania this African country of some 60 million has no refinery and currently imports unprecedently cheap products from the Middle East. But the larger picture needs a positive institutional boost so as to bring Tanzania back to the forefront of East Africas E&P developments. By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com Kerala has reported another Covid-19 death taking the casualties toll to five on Thursday while the state reported 24 fresh cases, all of whom had returned to the state from outside, the state health ministry said. The victim, a 73-year-old woman suffering from many ailments including high blood pressure and diabetes, had returned to the state from Mumbai two days ago by road. She died in a hospital in Thrissur on Wednesday but her samples were tested positive late on Thursday, it said. Her son, ambulance driver and another person who accompanied them from Mumbai were put under observation. Her body will be buried under the strict Covid protocol. After the latest death high alert has been sounded in Thrissur district. Earlier in the day Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said 24 new cases were reported in the state. With steady rise in cases, the state which has maintained a good recovery and low mortality rates, has decided to strengthen its surveillance measures. The 24 new cases took Keralas tally to 690 out of which 177 are active while 510 people have been discharged from hospitals, said the CM. He said the rising number of Cvoid-19 cases was a real concern. Cases went up sharply in the state with the arrival of expatriates and people stranded in other parts of the country. Among 24 fresh cases 14 are foreign returnees and 10 came from other states, he said. At least 78,000 have returned to the state by rail, air and road in the last two weeks and more than 90 per cent of the recent cases are imported ones. A big relief is that not a single case was reported due to local transmission. Eight persons recovered also. Rising number is a big concern and we have to increase our surveillance, the CM said. Vijayan warned that the state should brace itself for a situation given the rate of increase in new cases. But he reiterated that it was wrong to dub expatriates as super spreaders. With Covid-19 numbers rising, the government has asked neibghbourhood watch committees and primary health workers to increase their house-level visits to ensure that returnees are adequately isolated in their homes. The government has received several complaints that people in home quarantine interact with other family members regularly. A senior health official said the state is desperate to contain secondary infections but it was a tightrope walk between imported cases and all-out containment strategies. Iranian Media Refute Israel's Claim That Tehran is Scaling Down Its Presence in Syria Sputnik News 14:01 GMT 20.05.2020 Previously, outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennet commented that Iran "has begun the withdrawal process from Syria," his uncorroborated-by-evidence statement coming in the wake of earlier reports of Israeli officials suggesting there was a scaling down of Tehran's presence in the country. An Iranian military source has been cited by Fars News Agency as refuting earlier statements made by outgoing Israeli Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, that Tehran was reducing its presence in Syria. "There has been no change in the quantity and quality of Iran's advisory presence in Syria We will stay in Syria as long as the Syrian government needs the help of the Iranian advisers," the well-informed military source was quoted as saying. While emphasizing that Naftali Bennett's allegations are "an attempt to fill his empty record of any achievement," the source underscored that Iran's presence in Syria was the result of an official request of the legitimate Syrian government, seeking help in combating terrorism in this country. The source was also cited by Tasnim News Agency as adding that the outgoing Israeli Defense Minister's statements "are similar to the continuing allegations of the Zionist entity regarding the implementation of successful military operations against Iranian forces in Syria or cyberattacks on various installations in Iran, which are far from reality." Earlier, Special Assistant to the President of the Iranian Parliament for International Affairs, Hussein Amir Abdullahian, said in an interview with Al-Alam TV on Sunday that there was "no justification for the Islamic Republic to reduce the number of its forces in Syria", stressing that "the Americans wanted to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and topple the political system in Syria, but they failed, and today they send messages to President Assad and offer him agreements." Hussein Amir Abdullahian concluded by emphasizing that "the Iranian advisory presence will continue in Syria as long as the Syrian government requests that from Tehran". The response from the Iranian side followed a statement by outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday that Iran had started withdrawing its forces from Syria. While not offering any evidence to corroborate his assertions, in his farewell speech, quoted by Reuters, Bennett said: "Iran is significantly reducing the scope of its forces in Syria and even evacuating a number of bases Though Iran has begun the withdrawal process from Syria, we need to complete the work. It's in reach." Warning that unless pressure on Tehran is preserved the trend might reverse, Naftali Bennett called upon his successor, Benny Gantz, to continue to toe the line. Earlier in the month, US officials also weighed in on reports of a downscaling of Iranian presence in Syria. In this photo released on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, missiles are fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. Special Representative on Syria James Jeffrey was cited by Newsweek as telling reporters Washington saw "some Iranian movement around Syria pulling back from areas where the Israelis have struck them" as well as "a withdrawal of Iranian-backed militias" from other countries. There has not yet been any official response from Tehran or Syria to Bennett's comments. Iran, which is struggling under US economic sanctions, has repeatedly insisted its military presence in Syria is at the invitation of Bashar Assad's government, vowing to remain in the country as long as its help is needed. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-20 23:00:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close XI'AN, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China's ZTE Foundation recently donated a set of remote diagnosis and treatment system to a Chinese hospital and an Italian hospital respectively to aid the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation ceremony was held on Monday and the beneficiaries were the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province and the Hospital of the Sea in Naples, Italy. Based on remote mobile diagnosis as well as treatment and video technology, the facilities will enable medical institutions to conduct remote consultations for critically ill patients, according to the provincial health authorities of Shaanxi. Many Chinese medical institutions have worked with their counterparts in countries along the Belt and Road as COVID-19 spread across the globe. They have mutually cooperated in a wide range of fields including online conferences, technical consultation, the treatment of severe cases and the use of medicines. In April, He Xijing, head of the Xi'an International Medical Rehabilitation Hospital, joined a global online meeting on COVID-19. Other medical experts in attendance were from China, Russia, Britain and Japan. "We would like to share our latest experiences and techniques in prevention, diagnosis and treatment with our foreign counterparts as soon as possible so that they can help more patients," said He, who previously joined the fight against COVID-19 on the front line in central China's Hebei Province. Li Jinna from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University also shared COVID-19 prevention and control measures with Pakistan's University of Peshawar and local hospitals in an online meeting on May 7. Muhammad Asif Khan, vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar, said the exchange resulted in helpful information regarding the fight against COVID-19 for Pakistan, and the country was encouraged to see that the epidemic was being well controlled in China. This has injected confidence and strength into Pakistan's fight against the virus, he added. Enditem The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Thursday again nudged the states to strictly follow lockdown guidelines, particularly the night curfew, to make sure people observe social distancing norms and contain the risk of infection spreading. In a letter to the states, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said the night curfew, which means all non-essential activity and movement is prohibited between 7 pm and 7 am across the country, was an important element of MHA guidelines. The guidelines were issued on Sunday for the fourth phase of the lockdown, extended till May 31. Bhalla wrote: it has been brought to the notice of MHA, through media reports and other sources that there are violations, at various places, in the implementation of guidelines. He asked local authorities to issue orders in their jurisdictions on the imposition of night curfew. Bhallas letter, a copy of which has been seen by Hindustan Times, doesnt name any particular state but West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banreeje had on Monday, while issuing its own guidelines, ruled out the enforcement of night curfew. We wont officially declare night curfew because people are already under a lot of stress. We do not want to increase their suffering. But we will request people not to venture out of their homes between 7 pm and 7 am or else police will take action, Banerjee said on Monday. She had said the word curfew has negative connotations. An MHA official, who didnt want to be named, said lockdown guidelines had been issued after consulting all the states. If they dont follow these, then it is a clear violation and the states doing so are putting their people at risk, the official said. On Monday, the ministry had even reminded all states that they cannot dilute the lockdown guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act. Bhalla, on Thursday, also asked the states to properly delineate the containment zones and take action if the violations are reported in any of the zones red, orange or green. The national directives, issued along with the guidelines, should also be followed throughout the country, Bhalla added. These include wearing of masks, social distancing at work, transport and public places and maintaining hygiene and sanitation to contain the spread of Covid-19 and protecting individuals and the community, the letter said I would request all chief secretaries and administrators of union territories to remain vigilant in the fight against Covid-19 and ensure all measures that have either been mandated by MHA or laid down by the states are scrupulously adhered to at all levels, Bhalla added. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:15:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ACCRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A female medical doctor who has survived severe symptoms of the novel coronavirus infection urged Ghanaians on Thursday to extend strong support and care to survivors of the pandemic to help them overcome the trauma. Gillian Bougee, a pediatrician and head of the neonatal intensive care unit at the Bolgatanga Hospital in Ghana's Upper East region, said the infection should not be seen as a death sentence. Sharing her story at the government's bi-weekly media briefing on the state of COVID-19 in Ghana, Bougee said that although it was scary getting infected, the available evidence showed that a large majority of those who get infected recover from it. Bougee said she developed symptoms for COVID-19 on March 31, two days after coming into contact with a suspected case. And although her symptoms were severe, it took a second test weeks later to confirm her infection. She was discharged from treatment on May 2. "Getting infected does not mean you are going to live with the infection for the rest of your life, and so there is no need to stigmatize survivors. Social distancing should not be social isolation," she urged. In her case, the medical doctor said she had enjoyed tremendous support from her husband, friends, relatives, as well as the doctors and nurses at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the nation's capital, where she had been airlifted for treatment. Enditem Rick Ross is not just a rapper, but hes also the head of a big record label. Hes the founder of Maybach Music Group, a label which has launched the careers of celebrity rappers like Meek Mill and French Montana. Like many things in hip hop, the name of his label has a lot of symbolism and meaning behind it. Maybach is a German luxury car brand that is well-known for making some really high-end, and expensive, cars. Unsurprisingly, thats exactly the type of imagery that Rick Ross wants Maybach Music to convey. A quick look at Rick Ross career Rapper Rick Ross | Aaron J. Thornton/WireImage RELATED: What Is Rapper Rick Ross Real Name? Unlike many rappers, Ross rap career didnt start that early. In fact, he worked as a corrections officer long before he started his music career. His career only took off when he released a single in 2006 called Hustlin. He was 30 years old by that time, which is significantly older than what many rappers are when they start out in the industry. Despite his age, his career took off pretty quickly. He signed with Def Jam Records and he released two successful albums with them. Then, in 2009, he started Maybach Music Group, or MMG, and he started releasing his songs through MMG. Eventually, his deal with Def Jam ended, and he got other distributors to work with MMG. Through making successful albums, growing his record label, as well as working in other business ventures, Ross is now worth about $40 million. With this level of money, hes been able to live a life that he once dreamed of. Why Rick Ross named his label Maybach Music As Ross said to MTV, thats why he named MMG after Maybach. Maybach, as a brand, is a high-end luxury brand that sells cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions of dollars. That type of luxury is, as Ross told MTV, something that he and others like him dreamed about. That level of luxury is just inspiration for people who started, like myself, who just looked and fantasized, he said to MTV. Fans of Ross or any other artist signed to MMG will know that they will shout Maybach during live performances of their songs. Like Ross told MTV, they dont do that to tell people to buy Maybach cars. Rather, its a way to link the high quality thats found in Maybachs with the high-quality thats found in MMGs music. When we say Maybach Music, its not about the car, its just about the level of quality and the time that we put into the sound and that was just a way to express it where people could really understand it, Ross told MTV. That said, Ross was mourning the death of Maybach when he said those things to MTV. Maybach, since then, has been revived. The death and revival of Maybach RELATED: How Much Is Rapper Rick Ross Worth? In 2011, the high prices and the ridiculous luxury of Maybach cars led to its downfall. People were still feeling the pinch of the Great Recession, so even fewer people could afford to pay the $1 million asking price of certain Maybach models. And so, like any other car brand, the lack of sales led to Daimler, which owns Maybach, to shut down the brand. But, a few years later, Daimler decided to revive Maybach, this time with a new strategy. Maybach would still be a luxury brand, but it would work with Mercedes to make cars that people would actually buy. The most recent Maybach is the Mercedes-Maybach S-class, though Mercedes-Maybach is also making some SUVs, too. Like the Maybachs of old, these new Maybachs are still luxurious and expensive. For example, a Mercedes-Maybach S-class can start at about $200,000. - Innocent Havyarimana lowered the prices of his soap when he heard handwashing was crucial in preventing coronavirus - His aim was to make his soap as accessible as possible while boosting production - The refugee said he varies the containers so that even those with only 50 cents can buy some soap to protect themselves from the virus - Havyarimana fled conflict in Burundi in 2013 and received a loan to start the business two years later from UNHCR When Innocent Havyarimana first heard handwashing was crucial in preventing coronavirus, he did something few businessmen would do he lowered his prices. Others might have raised prices to increase profit, but his aim was to make his soap as accessible as possible and also boost production. READ ALSO: Kawangware landlady removes tenant's roof for failing to pay April rent Innocent Havyarimana lowered the prices of his soap when he heard handwashing was crucial in preventing coronavirus. Photo: UNHCR. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Truck driver who tested for COVID-19 at Malaba border receives positive results while in Kirinyaga While coronavirus left many people feeling helpless, the Burundian refugee was an example of someone who saw an opportunity to make a difference and took it, UNHCR reported. Everyone needs soap. I decided to reduce the price so that everyone would be able to afford it, he said. Fellow refugees, aid workers and Kenyans from the local community buy the products made at his small workshop in Kakuma camp. READ ALSO: Mombasa gay community decries closure of facility that offers them medicine, lubes without stigma Havyarimana is reported to have fled conflict in Burundi in 2013 and received a loan to start the business two years later from the UN refugee agency. I vary the containers, starting from 100 millilitres to one litre so that even those with only 50 cents can buy some soap so that they can protect themselves from the virus, he said The refugee is not only supplementing the supply of soap, but he is also making and selling hand sanitiser with aloe vera which he has planted at his workshop and outside his house. READ ALSO: Senator Isaac Mwaura opens up on being abandoned by father due to albinism Innocent Havyarimana is reported to have fled conflict in Burundi in 2013 and received a loan to start the business. Photo: UNHCR. Source: UGC Havyarimana has a diploma in chemistry and worked for a chemical company back home. He used those skills to establish a range of products including soaps, bleach and shampoo. The products are certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). Coronavirus has affected the world. Refugees are also afraid and that is why they are always washing their hands now, he said. READ ALSO: Fighting together: Woman shaves her hair in solidarity with twin sister on cancer treatment The agency lauded the refugees at the camp noting they were playing an important role in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. The Senior Operations Manager for UNHCR in Kakuma Kahin Ismail said there were many people doing something in the fight against the pandemic. "Whether it is mask making or spreading awareness, said Kahin. READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Client tips hairstylist KSh 267K, adds KSh 353K for other staff The camp in north-eastern Kenya hosts close to 200,000 refugees. Development and private sector investment boost the economy and help the soap business, Galp Enterprises, thrive. An International Finance cooperation (IFC) and World Bank Study in 2018 found there were over 2,000 businesses in Kakuma contributing $56 million (KSh 6 billion) to the regions economy. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly Source: TUKO.co.ke The former attorney of Carole Baskin's long-missing second husband Don Lewis said he believes his client's signature was forged on two documents that effectively surrendered his fortune to the Tiger King star after he vanished. Made famous by the Netflix documentary, multi-millionaire Don Lewis, who co-owned a Florida wildlife sanctuary with Baskin, vanished without a trace in August 1997 aged 59. Lewis has never been found, nor has any evidence to suggest he was murdered, though authorities have previously stated they dont believe he disappeared on his own volition. Shortly after his disappearance, Baskin - his wife at the time and the last known person to see him alive produced his will and his power of attorney that gave her complete control of his $5 million estate. But one of Lewis' ex-attorneys, Joseph Fritz, said he now believes his client's signature on both of the documents are actually forgeries. 'I believe it was traced,' Fritz told FOX, adding that he thinks the ledger was copied from Lewis' marriage certificate, signed some five years prior to his disappearance. Made famous by the Netflix documentary series Tiger King, multi-millionaire Don Lewis (left), who co-owned a Tampa, Florida wildlife sanctuary with Baskin, vanished without a trace in August 1997. But one of Lewis' attorneys at the time, Joseph Fritz, seen at right speaking with Fox News' Nancy Grace, said he now believes his client's signature on both of the documents are actually forgeries. 'I believe it was traced,' Fritz told FOX, adding that he thinks the ledger was copied from Lewis' marriage certificate, signed some five years prior to his disappearance. However, two handwriting experts now believe Lewis signatures on both of the documents were actually forgeries 'Somebody sat at my office and had the pictures and was able to lay one over the other on their cellphone and they are a perfect match,' he continued, citing that typically a person's signature shows at least some variation. Fritz's observations have also been supported by two independent handwriting experts: Willa Smith, who contested the legitimacy documents for Lewis' family back in 1997, and Thomas Vastrick, who voiced his suspicions earlier this week. Its not a difficult call, Vastrick told the Clarion Ledger, adding that the signatures appeared to be the product of tracing. Vastrick also believes Lewis signature for both documents were traced from his marriage record, noting that the witnesses signatures and the notary on both documents are also 'identical', suggesting that at least one and possibly both of the documents may have been forged. He reiterated his findings to Fox on Thursday: 'In conducting the examination of the durable family power of attorney and the will, both of which were created on Nov. 21 in 1996, I was struck by the uncanny similarity between each set of signatures,' he said. 'It was nearly exact replication to the extent that I was very confidently able to opine that what I was dealing with at least with Mr. Lewis's signature that these signatures were traced.' 'Every time you sign your name, there's a level of variation from one signature to the next,' he continued, 'and these are just way, way too similar. I did not find this a difficult determination at all.' Shortly afterward his disappearance, Baskin - his wife at the time and the last known person to see him alive produced his will and his power of attorney that gave her control of his estate and $5 million in assets In this instance, Fritz says, the most critical document is the power of attorney. '[Baskin] managed to move their money and assets and property via the power of attorney, not the will ... she had to because he wasn't declared dead [until] five years later,' he explained. DailyMail.com was told 'Sorry no comment' when approaching Carole Baskin with questions regarding the claims of forgery. It's unclear who authored the emailed response. Fritz has long suspected there is 'no question' Lewis was murdered, adding that Lewis loved his tigers and 'never would have just walked away from them - ever.' According to what the attorney has allegedly been told, Lewis was strangled from the backseat of an airplane over Mexico at 50 feet and dropped out over the Gulf. 'I dont know who is a murderer and who is not a murderer,' he said. 'But I know who is a liar. And I can definitively state that that somebody is lying about it.' Baskin was never charged in relation to Lewis August 18, 1997 disappearance, but the case remains open and gained global notoriety following the release of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness in March. Baskin was never charged in relation to Lewis August 18, 1997 disappearance, but the case remains open and has grown ever more notorious since the release of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness in March The series focused on the long-running feud shared between self-proclaimed animal activist Baskin and Joe Exotic (left), a flamboyant polygamist owner of a private zoo in Oklahoma. The series focuses on the long-running feud shared between self-proclaimed animal activist Baskin and Joe Exotic, a flamboyant polygamist owner of a private zoo in Oklahoma. Amid the heated fallout that later saw Exotic arrested in a murder-for-hire plot for an alleged hit he took out on Baskin, Exotic repeatedly accused the sanctuary owner of killing Lewis and discarding his body by feeding it to one of her tigers. After Lewis was reported missing, deputies found his van abandoned at a nearby airport, where he had allegedly planned to take a trip to Costa Rica. Police found no signs of a struggle or blood inside nor did they find proof that Lewis ever left the country. Lewis was pronounced legally dead in 2002. In 2004, Baskin refused to take a polygraph test related to the investigation on the advice of her attorney. The discovery of the apparent forgeries could be powerful evidence in a potential criminal case if one is ever brought forward by prosecutors, Matt Steffey, professor of law at Mississippi College of Law told the Ledger. She has motive anyway, but this ups the stakes, Steffey added, pointing out that Baskin was given total control of Lewis affairs and said it ties a bow on what could be her scheme to get him out of the picture. In 2004, Baskin refused to take a polygraph test related to the investigation on the advice of her attorney. She later married Howard Baskin (left) One of the other signatures that appears both on the will and power of attorney is that of Susan Aronoff, who has since told deputies she previously testified she was there for the will signing when actually she wasnt. According to Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, Aronoff 'came forward and said she felt pressured at the time to say that it was signed by everyone.' 'I'm pretty confident, she says that she felt to prove her allegiance to Carol that she felt pressured into saying that she witnessed those signatures.' Chronister's claims reference an email chain involving Aronoff from February 2005, in which she claimed to have felt 'backed against a wall' by Baskin and 'from fear of her then I signed a statement, swearing it to be my signature, even though it wasnt.' Susan Aronoff has not yet responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment. Anne McQueen, who served as Lewis longtime executive assistant, said the only will and power of attorney she was aware of was one that was under her desk. McQueen said the will that Lewis had signed and given to her for safekeeping 'in case anything happened to him', the documentary highlighted. In McQueens version of the documents, she claims she was named as the executor of Lewis will, power of attorney and life insurance. However, in the version presented after his disappearance, Baskin is listed for executor, power of attorney, and life insurance. After Lewis was reported missing, deputies found his van abandoned at a nearby airport, where he had allegedly planned to take a trip to Costa Rica. Police found no signs of a struggle or blood inside nor did they find proof that Lewis ever left the country The attorney for Lewis family first hired Willa Smith in 1997 to conduct handwriting analysis when they challenged the will and power of attorney presented by Baskin. Lewis daughter, Donna Pettis, told the Ledger her family opted not to contest the handwriting analysis any further on the advice of their legal counsel. Our attorney was afraid that if Carole continued serving as conservator over the entire estate, then we were risking that our trust fund would be depleted by the end of the five-year term, Donna said of the reason behind the decision. Under the power of attorney unearthed by Baskin, she was given full control over her husbands estate in the event of his disability or disappearance. Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Amanda Granit confirmed to DailyMail.com that the department previously investigated the allegations of forgery in 2011. The Sheriff's Office turned the case over to the Florida attorney generals office, which later said the five-year statute of limitations on forgeries had expired and the matter was pressed no further. Baskin has previously stated she authored the legal documents because Don wanted to save money on lawyers fees. In a post published to BigCatRescue.org that has since been altered, Baskin originally wrote: Some people made a fuss about using the word disappearance, but Don had told me about people going to Costa Rica and disappearing, and he was dealing with the mob down there, so I thought that seemed like a potential threat and included the word. I also included disability because of Dons increasingly strange behavior. Our Costa Rican attorney, Roger Petersen, said the Helicopter Brothers were their version of the mob, and Don was loaning them money, Baskin continued. Lewis daughter, Donna Pettis (left), said her family followed the advice of their lawyer and chose not to contest the conflict over the handwriting analysis any further Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue, has also slammed Tiger King as salacious and sensational, saying on her website that it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997. In response to the claims made by McQueen that Lewis handed her a will to keep in the event that 'anything should happen to him', Baskin wrote: 'Anne McQueen is referred to as Dons trusted assistant [in Tiger King]. 'A few months before his disappearance we caught her embezzling roughly $600,000 in properties by buying them with our funds and putting them in her name. A court ordered her to return them. Not the best sign of integrity, credibility, someone to believe,' she continued. Last month, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said he believed Lewis was murdered. Chronister said Baskin is not a suspect at this time, adding the department doesn't even had a 'shred of evidence to even call her a person of interest. Veteran Punjabi star Satish Kaul, who has acted in several Hindi films and shows including "Mahabharat", says he's currently facing financial woes and the nation-wide lockdown has only made the situation worse for him. The actor, whose credits include working in over 300 Punjabi and Hindi films and played the role of Lord Indra in "Mahabharat", said contrary to rumours, he's not in an old age home. "I'm staying in a small rented place in Ludhiana. I was staying in an old age home earlier but then I'm here at this place with my good samaritan Satya Devi. My health is ok, I'm doing fine but the lockdown has made matters worse. "I'm struggling for medicines, groceries and basic needs. I appeal to the industry people to help me. I got so much love as an actor, I need some attention now as a human in need," Kaul told PTI. The 73-year-old actor had also worked in films like "Pyaar Toh Hona He Tha", "Aunty No 1" and show "Vikram Aur Betaal". Kaul had moved to Punjab from Mumbai and had started an acting school around 2011. The actor said that project wasn't a success. "It came to a halt and whatever work I was doing later was affected after I fractured my hip bone in 2015. For two and a half years, I was bed-ridden in the hospital. Then I had to check in to an old age home where I stayed for two years." Kaul said he feels grateful that people had showered him so much love when he was in his prime and doesn't have any "regrets" now. "It's ok if they've forgotten me. I got so much of love and I'm grateful. I will forever be indebted to the audience for that. Right now, I wish I am able to buy a decent place of my own where I can stay. "The fire to act is still alive in me. It isn't over. I wish someone gives me a role even today, any role, and I would do it. I'm raring to act again," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Alison Romans New York Times column has been placed on temporary leave after the food writer sparked a public feud between herself and Chrissy Teigen. The news of Romans suspension, first reported by The Daily Beast, comes after Roman made controversial comments regarding the success of Marie Kondo and Teigen in an interview with The New Consumer earlier this month. In the interview, Roman said she was horrified by Teigens brand, Cravings, which she referred to as a content farm, and claimed that lifestyle guru Kondo f**king sold out immediately. Romans comments prompted widespread criticism on social media, including from Teigen, who called the accusations from the fellow food writer a huge bummer. I dont think Ive ever been so bummed out by the words of a fellow food-lover. I just had no idea I was perceived that way, by her especially, the 34-year-old wrote, adding that it's really hard to see someone try to completely invalidate the work shes put into building her brand. Others took offence with Romans criticism of two Asian women in the lifestyle sphere, with many accusing the Nothing Fancy author of racism. Following the backlash, Roman issued two public apologies, first to Teigen, in which she wrote that she was genuinely sorry I caused you pain with what I said, and another more in-depth apology in which she said her remarks were tone-deaf and acknowledged her comments were rooted in my own insecurity. Roman also addressed the accusations of racism and her own white privilege, adding: Im not the victim here, and my insecurities dont excuse this behaviour. Im a white woman who has and will continue to benefit from white privilege and I recognise that makes what I said even more inexcusable and hurtful. "The fact it didnt occur to me that I had singled out two Asian women is one hundred percent a function of my privilege (being blind to racial insensitivities is a discriminatory luxury)." While Teigen later thanked Roman for the apology, The Daily Beast reports that a column by the food writer originally scheduled to run in The Times last week was pulled. The Independent has contacted The New York Times for comment. In response to the news of Romans suspension, Teigen said on Twitter that she did not agree with the decision and was doing what she could to make that known. Responding to a tweet from Times reporter Bari Weiss that said: You used to have to do something real to get cancelled. Apparently now you just have to criticise a celebrity! Teigen wrote: I dont like this one bit and Im doing what I can (off Twitter) to make that known. In another thread, Teigen said that she hopes the pair can one day "laugh about it" but that she is "not happy with the NYT leave". However, others have shared their support for the newspapers decision to suspend Romans column. This is a good thing! Sometimes there are consequences when people speak their minds. It may not be fair, but that's why most of us practice tact and diplomacy...especially with peers, one person wrote. Another said: If I publicly branded myself a racist in the media, I would definitely get very fired, and I would deserve it, Alison Roman can use the pages of her cookbook to dry her tears. It's the Instagram equivalent of playing tag, only harder and with slightly higher (social) stakes: the push-up challenge. Gimme five! Or at least try. What quickly became evident, aside from how easily we're distracted when in lockdown, is that there's some wildly differing perspectives on what constitutes a push-up, and how to do it. You can't beat push-ups. Often considered the best chest exercise, hands down (no pun intended), push-ups target not only the pectorals but most of the muscle groups in the upper body. You don't need any equipment to do them, and you can mix up the difficulty by adjusting the tempo and position of your hands. The push-up looks simple, but there are a few mistakes I'm constantly correcting when I coach people: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered more detail Thursday on how the states coronavirus contact tracing system will work. Tracers will contact COVID-positive New York residents to learn who they may have been in contact with, and will then proceed to contact those other individuals via phone. Cuomo said the caller ID of those being contacted will identify the tracers as such. You should answer that call. Its not a hoax. Its not a scam. Its not a fraud, Cuomo said. That is an official message saying New York state contact tracing is calling. Cuomo also mimicked a move from the city Department of Education as he announced that statewide summer school programs will be conducted virtually. DECISION ON SUMMER SCHOOL On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the decision to have nearly 200,000 of the citys students attend summer school remotely, continuing months of distance learning caused by the pandemic. Distance learning creates challenges but also creates a world of possibilities, de Blasio said. And for so many kids this summer will be an opportunity for kids to keep learning. Cuomo said that the state is in the process of developing a plan for eventual school reopening in the fall. He said an official plan can be expected by early June. During his Thursday press conference, Cuomos administration echoed de Blasio in his projection that New York City is on track to begin its reopening process in the first half of June. 30 Photos of the pandemic in NYC: The gradual return to normalcy ** CLICK HERE FOR FULL COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ** As of Thursday, the city is meeting four of the seven metrics laid out by the state, according to the New York Regional Monitoring Dashboard. More ICU and general hospital beds need to be made available in the five boroughs, and the city needs to hire more contact tracers. Cuomo and Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa said the city and state are operating with the same set of facts as the approach to reopening the nations largest city continues. We have those mathematical metrics, and they guide the reopening for New York City, Cuomo said. Its just how that locality fits with those metrics. The governor continued to encourage New Yorkers to engage in safe practices, particularly the wearing of masks, to start the reopening process in the most efficient way possible. He pointed to the lower rates of infection among front line workers and first responders as evidence of personal protective equipments efficacy. "This fact is probably one of the most important facts to me. Logic would have suggested that first responders would have the highest infection rate, he said. Theres a message for all of us -- that the PPE actually works. Nearly half of Americans earning between $35,000 and $100,000 did not fill a prescription when it was declined by their insurance plan. "Not all drugs prescribed by doctors are covered and when they are not people have two choices, pay the cost themselves or forgo taking the medication," explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance. "That forces difficult health decisions particularly for lower and middle income Americans." Slome shared data from a poll conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that 48 percent of middle-income adults who were denied coverage for a prescription drug ultimately didn't fill the prescription. Among lower-income adults the percentage was 48 percent. Lower income was defined as households earning $35,000 a year or less. "Even good health insurance plans gave gaps in coverage something few people think about until they get a rude awakening," Slome adds. "This can be especially true when one is diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, when one has a heart attack or stroke or needs something significant like an organ transplant." The critical illness insurance expert advocates plans that he identifies as 'critical illness supplemental insurance'. "Today you need something to cover the gaps in your health insurance like drugs, deductibles and co-pays," Slome explains. "For a relatively few dollars a month, these plans can be all the difference between getting the care you need as well as the ability to focus on recovery time." A plan that would provide a $10,000 cash benefit upon a cancer diagnosis could cost a 40-year-old man as little as $30-a-year. A 45-year old woman would pay about $85 a year for equal coverage. Both will likely pay more if you use tobacco products." To learn more visit the Association's website. Their critical illness cost calculator gives an instant estimate for plan costs. The American Association for Critical Illness Insurance advocates for the importance of planning and supports insurance professionals who market these products. For instant critical illness insurance rates, visit the Association's website. A peer was last night accused of 'milking the taxpayer' by furloughing himself while claiming the daily House of Lords allowance during lockdown. Lord Fox, 62, has used the Government's job retention scheme to pay himself as the owner of a strategic communications company. But the Liberal Democrat frontbench spokesman for business has also chosen to take the 162 daily allowance for his work in the Lords, which is being conducted by Zoom during the lockdown. In addition, he also has a 100,000 cash pot in his company and owns two homes worth more than 2million, according to the Telegraph. A peer was last night accused of 'milking the taxpayer' by furloughing himself while claiming the daily House of Lords allowance during lockdown. Lord Fox, 62, has used the Government's job retention scheme to pay himself as the owner of a strategic communications company Asked whether having his private income paid by the state as well as taking the Lords' stipend was greedy, he told the newspaper: 'I don't think conflating the two is even logical. 'It's what many companies are doing, which is furloughing their employees. If HMRC has thought it was ineligible for me to have applied for that, then they would have said so.' His move was slammed by MPs who said he should give the money back. Tory MP Robert Halfon said: 'It is incredible that, when my residents in Harlow are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, this peer seems to want to milk the taxpayer at both ends, for every penny - both through the Lords allowance and the furlough scheme. Tory MP Robert Halfon said: 'It is incredible that, when my residents in Harlow are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, this peer seems to want to milk the taxpayer at both ends' 'The Chancellor needs to nip this in the bud and make sure this is not allowed. The least he could do is pay the furlough money back.' He said the furlough scheme was never meant to be for 'wealthy Lords'. Sir Iain Duncan Smith added: 'It's a bit rum, furloughing yourself while being a legislator.' Lord Fox is the owner and sole employee of Vulpes Advisory. Accounts filed with Companies House show Lord Fox has access to more than 100,000 cash in his Vulpes bank account, according to the newspaper. He furloughed himself and has already received his first month's wage subsidy, of about 1,000, from the Government, it was claimed. Asked why he did not first use the 100,000, he said: 'I'm hoping to tide the business over, I'm hoping to relaunch it properly when the scheme when the virus lifts.' Lord Fox has a five-bedroom house in Windsor. He reportedly bought the house in 1995 for 280,000 and it is now estimated to be worth up to 1.89 million. He also has as a second home in east London. He sits on the Lords economic affairs committee and it has held four hearings over the past month. Lord Fox will receive 648 for those hearings. Sir Iain Duncan Smith added: 'It's a bit rum, furloughing yourself while being a legislator' Lord Fox is also able to claim the daily allowance for his work as the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Asked how many days in total he has claimed the Lords allowance for during lockdown, Lord Fox said he did not know the exact number but added: 'It works out as quite a lot of work.' Asked whether he plans to repay the furlough money, he told the newspaper: 'That's not something I've given much thought to at the moment, because I've been working about 14 hours a day on legislation.' Lord Fox was awarded a peerage in 2014 and founded Vulpes Advisory in 2016. Asked why he had furloughed himself, he said: 'Because the business is absolutely moribund,' adding: 'My only customer before the lockdown was a company called Spectris.' The Liberal Democrat party declined to comment. North Korea founder Kim Il-sung's luster is fading as his grandson Jong-un tries to modernize the crackpot country by fits and starts. This April, Kim Jon-un for the first time since he took power missed annual obsequies at the founder's pickled corpse, and on Wednesday state media debunked one of the more bizarre myths about his grandfather, that he could "shrink distances" by sheer force of will. As part of the personality cult, some bright spark in the propaganda department in the 1950s invented the notion of "distance-shrinking magic" that has since been formulaically attributed to the Great Leader in school textbooks and the like. But on Wednesday the official Rodong Sinmun daily in a rare admission said, "Actually it is impossible for a person to appear and disappear and travel by folding space." To save face, it added that the fairy tale had been a metaphor all along. The magic "is not the supernatural skill of a magician but a realistic strategy created through the joint efforts of the people," it said. North Korean lore also has it that Kim Il-sung was able to make hand grenades out of pine cones and create rice from sand, as well as crossing a river on a dry leaf. Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania may be open to considering legalizing marijuana for recreational use after the state's finances have been eroded by the pandemic. Read more Theres a gaping budget hole caused by an economy in tatters. Theres growing voter support and some assurance that the issue is no longer political poison. And there are tax windfalls, potentially huge revenues to be gleaned, if a bill can win bipartisan support in Harrisburg. For those reasons, some Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are coming around if slowly to the idea of legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use. The reasons are not hard to discern. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the state has lost almost $4 billion in tax revenue. That gap is only growing bigger. The Independent Fiscal Office last month warned taxpayers to be prepared for a significant reduction in essential services. Meanwhile, states with legalized recreational marijuana are reaping major tax revenues. Illinois, with a population similar in size to Pennsylvanias, has raked in more than $10 million a month in taxes and fees since it legalized weed for adult use in January. Last year, Nevada collected $99 million; Oregon, $102 million; Colorado, $302 million; Washington state, $390 million; and California, $635 million. And with New York, New Jersey, and Maryland also considering legalizing marijuana for recreational use, the Keystone State risks losing cannabis sales to its neighbors. For a state where tax receipts total more than $35 billion, the additional tax collections from marijuana alone would not solve the budget problem, but they could help the states fund-starved schools, or repair crumbling roads and bridges. For courts and prisons, legalizing would wipe out the cost of prosecuting marijuana-related offenses. Until recently, Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have uniformly avoided talking about legalization. The states legal medical marijuana program, in operation for more than two years, has been touted as an unqualified success by many of the same GOP legislators. But until this month, they have been unified in their opposition to recreational sales. Faced with deficits larger than those seen during the Great Recession of 2008, some of the GOPs more pragmatic legislators are giving it new consideration. Given the pandemic and the fiscal problems that the state is facing, people who may not have formerly considered recreational marijuana as a revenue generator may be brought to the table, said State Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie), who may be the first of the Republican caucus to talk openly about it. I fully believe that recreational marijuana is going to be one of the pieces of revenue that is certainly discussed in the budget cycle. It absolutely will be, said Laughlin, who is up for reelection in November. Im not a big fan of marijuana, but I also know theres not a kid or adult in America that couldnt find a bag of weed if they wanted it. Until this month, Democrats monopolized the issue, led by Gov. Tom Wolf, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, State Sens. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) and Sharif Street (D., Phila.), and State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Phila.). Without Republican support, their efforts have gone nowhere. State legislators are unlikely to raise income and sales taxes, said State Sen. Tom Killion (R., Chester), especially with so many Pennsylvanians struggling economically more than 1.8 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment benefits in the past nine weeks. And there are few things the state can do to raise new revenue. A hole of $4 billion may be a very conservative number, said Killion, who is on the ballot this year. We wont know what the real damage will be until after July 15. Lawmakers will have to weigh program cuts. Schools could be among the hardest hit. Its a whole new world here. So everything is on the table, Killion said. Historically, theres been a few people pushing for recreational marijuana use, but never a groundswell in the [Republican-controlled] House and Senate, Killion continued. I can tell you as a member of the Appropriations Committee, its nothing weve talked about yet. But this time around, youre going to hear everything discussed. Public opinion appears to support legalization. More than 60% of likely voters are in favor of legalizing adult-use cannabis, according to a study released this month by Republican pollster Harper Polling. Surprisingly, nearly 54% of voters who consider themselves very conservative or somewhat conservative support full legalization. Adult-use cannabis has made more rapid growth in becoming accepted by the mainstream than people had previously thought possible, said Brock McCleary, president of Harper Polling. And it could generate a substantial amount of money that doesnt cause pain or angst among voters. More importantly to GOP legislators facing reelection, the issue has ceased to be a certain loser. Its important that Republicans not [be] offended in a way that would have them vote against members of their own party, McCleary said. Thats partly due to a coalition of voters with a libertarian strain of thought that come at this from a different point of view. Only 9% of Pennsylvania Republicans would vote a candidate out of office if they supported a bill that would allow for taxed and regulated cannabis, according to Harper Polling. It wont be held against them. Its not an issue like guns or abortion, said Charlie Gerow, a conservative Republican strategist who is the CEO of Quantum Communications in Harrisburg. A significant part of the population wont be excited about it, but definitely could live with it, especially considering what well be facing with this budget. It could be only a matter of time before more Republicans decide to make legalization a Republican issue, Gerow said, as the potential tax revenues become increasingly more attractive. Its inevitable, so why not get ahead of the curve and do it now, Gerow said. The tax dollars will have more leverage if legislators move to legalize it sooner. Whats keeping them back? Luis Ruiz, secretary general of health services in the Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha, has been getting very little sleep of late. His time is spent going back and forth between two very different time zones: the Spanish one and the Chinese one. Like other procurement officials in charge of purchasing medical supplies, he has been following the advance of the Covid-19 epidemic in Spain with a feeling of anguish. The crisis caught the country unprepared, without enough reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE), testing kits or ventilators. Before he knew it, the act of buying face masks, gowns and safety glasses had become a risky game of trial and error that nobody was prepared for. We are at war. The goal is to emerge from this with as little damage as possible, notes Ruiz. Before the coronavirus turned the world upside down, purchasing medical supplies had been an anodyne administrative procedure. A hospital or health service would put out a tender, suppliers would make their offers and one of them would be selected, generally the one offering the best price for similar quality. There was always enough stock, and suppliers would deliver orders within 48 or 72 hours. We are at war. The goal is to emerge from this with as little damage as possible Luis Ruiz, Castilla-La Mancha procurement official Until recently, according to the health technology industry association Fenin, Spain was purchasing nearly 8 billion a year in medical supplies from the Spanish subsidiaries of multinationals like Siemens, Roche, Medtronic and Drager. There were also a few smaller suppliers with decades of experience, such as Distribuciones Levantinas Sanitarias (Dilesa) from Paterna, in the region of Valencia. But by mid-February, the main multinationals began running out of stock. Production could not keep up with demand. And many countries of origin started to ban exports of medical supplies, according to an industry professional. The Spanish government decided to centralize purchases through a decree that stopped short of prohibiting regional authorities from procuring their own supplies, but slowed them down. Deaths began to spike, and so did transmission among healthcare workers. Hospitals and senior residences found themselves without enough protective gear. On March 14, the government declared a state of alarm and introduced a strict lockdown. By then, procurement officials from all over the world were already competing with one another to get their hands on medical supplies. New middlemen and companies with ties to China emerged. The notion of centralized government purchasing began to crumble. It became a case of each man for himself. China, the new El Dorado A chair manufacturer from Valencia, Andreu World, is now making face masks. Andreu World Before Covid-19, the medical supply needs of a country like Spain were evenly divided into two categories: health technology, and items produced in large numbers (face masks, gloves, gowns), explains Luis Furnells, president of Oesia Group, an IT engineering and consultancy firm. But now, the second category has grown to represent 80%. National production of face masks comes nowhere near covering domestic demand. There are only two factories: Disenos NT in Alcala la Real (Jaen), which makes 80,000 surgical masks a day, and Sibol in Zamudio (Bizkaia), which makes 16,000 FFP3 masks the highest level of protection a day. The reason that so few are being made in Spain is that they are cheaper to import than to manufacture, since the profit margin is very small. The production of perishable medical supplies was outsourced years ago, and China became the top manufacturer. This leadership has been reinforced during the coronavirus pandemic, with China accounting for 85% of the global production of face masks, according to investment banking company Morgan Stanley. Right now, even textile companies in China that are able to do so are converting themselves into face mask manufacturers, explains the head of a major Spanish firm with a presence in China, speaking on condition of anonymity. The same guy who used to sell you a yacht or electric motorcycles is now offering you face masks, adds an entrepreneur from Seville who has factories in China. And sellers are demanding advance payment on the orders. Its 50% when you place the order and the other 50% when its manufactured, not when we receive it, explains Luis Ruiz. I have a contact A plane carrying 56 tons of medical supplies arriving at Madrid Barajas-Adolfo Suarez airport from Shanghai on May 3. Comunidad de Madrid (Europa Press) Together with the new suppliers, a whole set of middlemen and brokers began to knock on the doors of regional health departments and hospitals, offering them protective gear. Everyone has a friend who in turn has a contact in China, notes Ruiz. We are receiving 100 offers a day for medical supplies, and this figure probably falls short. Many of these offers are bona fide, but others are questionable. All of them are expensive. Surgical masks that used to sell for 0.027 cannot be obtained these days for under 0.40, and sometimes up to a whole euro. The price hike has been spectacular. In normal situations we would never approve it, but right now we have no choice but to accept them at that price, adds Ruiz. The price probably conceals commissions for intermediaries, but there is no way of knowing for sure. Ordinary suppliers are doing what they can, but the market is much tougher now and theyre having a lot of trouble, adds Sara Manjon, director of the Area of Professionals and Organizations at the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut). Other suppliers have stepped in and you dont know who the manufacturer is. Theyre just salespeople, and you need to do some vetting. A private manager said that he recently received two offers on the same day for FFP2 face masks, one for 3.5 a unit, and another one for 6. Before the crisis, these masks could be bought at any local pharmacy for 2.5. Their price has been as high as 9 since then. A 50-unit box of surgical masks that used to cost 2.50 at the most is now going for up to 5. And a 100-unit box of gowns that was once sold for 45 is now selling for 65 to 80. Excess demand has not only stressed the factories, but also the transportation routes, notes Furnells. There are fistfights to get your own supplies loaded onto cargo aircraft. This also means that the cost of air transportation has quadrupled: a cubic meter of cargo space on a flight between a Chinese city and Madrid used to cost around two euros per kilogram. This is now around 14 and nobody guarantees that it will arrive on time, adds Michael Voss, director general of a Bilbao-based logistics company named Sparber, which has offices in Shanghai. New laws introduced in China to guarantee the quality of exports has contributed to slowing down the process, says Furnells. It leaves out those who were planning to get rich quick, but it stresses the entire chain of logistics. In these conditions, predicting the day that a shipment will arrive gets complicated. That is why Oesia, Fenin and the airline Iberia have set up a Madrid-Shanghai airlift service with three flights a week. In the last two weeks, these flights have brought 16 million face masks and two million units of other PPE to Spain. Corporate help In the northwestern region of Galicia, the multinational Inditex owner of the fashion brand Zara is assisting the regional government with purchases and logistics. Galicia is also attempting to encourage local production of simple products that are in high demand, such as surgical masks, and it has placed orders with up to six local companies. Regional authorities in Castilla-La Mancha and La Rioja have made similar moves. In the town of Arnedo, shoemaking companies are now making reusable gowns, and in Ezcaray, businesses that manufactured seats for auditoriums are now making plastic aprons. Several sources consulted for this story said they believe that the governments lack of experience may explain why it recently purchased 640,000 defective fast tests that it was forced to return to China. The Health Ministry, which has declined to comment, has yet to reveal the name of the Spanish distributor that it bought the shipment from, or for how much money. There are some perfectly good certificates, and others that are shamelessly phony Javier Diaz, Asepal Any region, even a large hospital, handles more purchases than them, says a regional source, suggesting the central government was not ready to deal with the situation. If wed just sat and waited for the government to buy material in a centralized way, wed have all been in chaos for three weeks, wed be in a situation of total tragedy. The middlemen who have popped up during the crisis shoot at everything that moves, says Antonio Sanchis, manager of a distribution company named Dilesa that managed to import 100 respirators from Turkey despite Ankaras veto on exports. And these brokers make the most of the despair of hospital managers. The Valencia region was the first of Spains autonomous communities to manage to charter an entire plane of medical supplies. The last one flew in 60 tons of equipment. It would have been good for Europe to use its weight to set a price for purchases, notes the regional premier, Ximo Puig. But after that we were no longer in that scenario. We needed supplies no matter what. Avoiding scams Avoiding scams has become a priority for regional procurement officials. Alex Arriola, director general of a Basque business development agency named SPRI, says he has acted in an advisory capacity to prevent several regions from getting fleeced. With seven years of experience as chief of purchasing for several industries in China, he has a reliable network of contacts. I know there are governments and companies that have tried to steal our products, he says. The trick resides in offering two to three times the amount of money for a shipment that has already been paid by another client. Javier Diaz, technical chief for Asepal, an association of personal protective equipment, has been testing the quality and authenticity of around 100 shipments from China since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. He found that 60% had false certification, and stopped the imports in time. There are some perfectly good certificates, and others that are shamelessly phony, he says. But with this volume of imports, it is impossible to have total control. The Netherlands also ended up with 600,000 deficient face masks. Diaz says that some Chinese labs that issue quality certificates have created webpages to help European authorities and companies avoid fraud. With these websites, it is easy to find out if a factory or product has the official certification, he says. With reporting by Ferran Bono, Jessica Mouzo, Ignacio Zafra, Juan Navarro, Javier Martin-Arroyo, Sonia Vizoso, Juan Jose Mateo and Jose Marcos. English version by Susana Urra. Hudson, NY (12534) Today Snow showers this morning. Becoming partly cloudy later. Morning high of 37F with temps falling to near 20. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80%.. Tonight Bitterly cold. A few clouds. Low 4F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Flooding in Michigan's Midland County has sent residents scrambling to protect their homes: AP Two broken dams that unleashed catastrophic flooding and led to the evacuation of 10,000 people across Michigan were a "known problem, according to the state's governor. Governor Gretchen Whitmer said on Wednesday that while the heavy rains were a 500-year event that could leave downtown Midland under nine feet of water, the problems that lead to the dams busting had been known "for a while". These photos of Midland County were captured this morning by MSP Aviation. @CityofMidlandMI @midlandcountymi @MichEMHS pic.twitter.com/WcWOgYxWVe MSP Bay Region (@mspbayregion) May 20, 2020 "Regarding the dams, the state of Michigan is reviewing every potential legal recourse that we have because this incredible damage requires that we hold people responsible and we are pursuing and are going to pursue every line of legal recourse that we can," she said during a press conference. "The initial readout is that this was a known problem for a while and that's why it's important that we do our due diligence and then we take our action," she added. Ms Whitmer said there were so far no fatalities as a result of the flooding, but that the Tittabawassee River at Midland would continue to rise until 8 pm, when it is forecast to crest at record levels of 38 feet. The previous record was 33.89 feet in 1986. Donald Trump said he's sending federal emergency workers to Michigan, but called on Governor Whitmer to ease the state's strict coronavirus lockdown measures. We have sent our best Military & @FEMA Teams, already there. Governor must now "set you free" to help. Will be with you soon! https://t.co/cuG1YacPdx Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020 After days of heavy rain, the river breached the Edenville and Sanford dams on Tuesday evening, with the National Weather Services issuing a flash-flood warning for people in the area to seek higher ground. Story continues Midland County Board of Commissioners issued evacuation orders for about 3,500 homes and 10,000 people, including about 150 residents of the Riverside Place seniors home that escaped in walkers and wheelchairs. The headquarters and manufacturing complex of Dow Chemical Co. was in the path of the flooding, leading observers to warn of a potential environmental disaster The company said in a statement on Wednesday they had shut down all facilities except those managing chemical containment. "At approximately 10:00 a.m. Eastern it was confirmed there were flood waters commingling with on-site containment ponds," the company said. "We immediately partnered with the US Coast Guard to activate emergency plans." Michigan is expected to formally ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for support. By PTI RISHIKESH: A fourth-year MBBS student of AIIMS hospital here was held on Wednesday for making objectionable comments on social media post against the Hindu religion. Adil Ahmad was arrested following a complaint which accused him of making highly objectionable comments on Facebook against the Hindu religion and hurting sentiments, police inspector Ritesh Shah said. Ahmad, a resident of Delhi, later apologised and deleted the post, Shah said. He will be produced before the judicial magistrate on Thursday, he said. New Delhi, May 21 : The Indian government on Thursday denied China's claims that India is carrying out any activity in violation of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western Sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate," the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Anurag Srivastava told media during a virtual press briefing. All Indian activities, he said, "are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns". The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has erected a sizeable number of tents in the Galwan Valley of the Union Territory of Ladakh - an area over which India is sensitive about since the showdown in the 1962 war. In the first week of May, 250 Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area. In the second week of May, around 150 soldiers of both sides had a face-off near Naku La Pass in Sikkim. In both the incidents, soldiers sustained injuries. Both India and China have now deployed addition troops both in tense areas of Galwan valley, Pangong Tso lake and several areas in northern Sikkim. The spokesperson said that Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously. The Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management, Srivastava said adding that the government at the same time, is deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in the perception of the LAC. The spokesperson said India and China have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues, he added. Recalling that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, in their meeting at Chennai last year, had agreed to resolve such issues through dialogue, the spokesperson said Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. "This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," he said. New Delhi, May 21 : The Congress has condemned registration of FIR against interim chief Sonia Gandhi in Shivamogga in Karnataka for questioning PM-CARES fund. Congress said this "BJP dictatorial mindset is an attempt to threaten transparency." Congress Spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill in a statement said "Registration of FIR against Smt Sonia Gandhi in Shivamogga Karnataka for raising questions on PM Cares Fund depicts BJP's dictatorial mindset." "This is an attempt to threaten transparency, avoid answerability and exposes BJP nervousness on audit of the Fund," added Shergill. The FIR registered by K V Praveen an advocate alleged that Congress party shared misleading tweets about PM-CARES fund on May 11 under Section 153/505 IPCA Congress has been questioning the fund and had demanded its audit. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the past had said: "Our only worry with PM Cares Fund is that it's not being spent on the victims of Covid-19 which use can be both direct and incidental." "We only demand an independent audit by CAG or any other credible independent agency and daily updates. Not too much to ask from a public fund," added Singhvi. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text : A magnetic nanoparticle-based RNA extraction kit for use during tests for detection of COVID-19 was unveiled here on Thursday. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) announced the commercial launch of Agappe Chitra Magna, the RNA extraction kit. The kit uses an innovative technology for isolating RNA using magnetic nanoparticles to capture the RNA from the patient sample,a press release issued by SCTIMST said. The magnetic nanoparticle beads bind to the viral RNA and, when exposed to a magnetic field, give a highly purified and concentrated RNA,it said. As the sensitivity of the detection method is dependent on getting an adequate quantity of viral RNA, this innovation enhances the chances of identifying positive cases. The launch of the kit was announced through video conference by NITI Aayog member and president of Institute body of SCTIMSTDr V K Saraswat at an event which was attended online by the secretary of the Department of Science and Technology professor Ashutosh Sharma. The kit was developed by SCTIMST, Trivandrum, an Institute of National Importance of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) along with Agappe Diagnostics Ltd, an in-vitro diagnostics manufacturing company based in Kochi. Saraswat said it was a major step to make India self- reliant in detecting COVID-19. "This can help increase the rate of testing and bring its costs down, a crucial step for combating the pandemic. It can also be an example of rapid commercialisation and implementation of a state-of-the-art technology for the world to emulate," he said. The RNA extraction kit, developed under the leadership of senior scientist Dr Anoop Kumar Thekkuveettil, was transferred to Agappe Diagnostics in April 2020, and would now be available in the market as Agappe Chitra Magna RNA Isolation Kit. "The molecular medicine division headed by senior scientist Dr Anoop Kumar has been working on such diagnostic platforms and we are excited at the prospect of having developed the magnetic nanotechnology-based RNA extraction technology that will reduce our import dependence and facilitate cost-effective confirmatory testing of COVID-19," director of SCTIMST Dr Asha Kishore told PTI. Kishore said it was estimated that India would require about eight lakh RNA extraction kits per month during the next six months, and Agappe Chitra Magna RNA Isolation Kit priced around Rs 150 is expected to reduce the cost of testing and the countrys dependence on imported kits which cost around Rs 300. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One week into the six-week distribution period for the U.S. Department of Agricultures food relief program, the San Antonio event planning company that received a $39.1 million contract has yet to deliver a single food box. CRE8AD8 owner Gregorio Palomino insists the company is making progress and plans to start delivering the first of the 750,000 boxes ordered by the government to food banks and other nonprofits by the first week of June. The USDA granted one of the largest contracts in the nation to CRE8AD8, even though the company lacked experience in food distribution and was without a Perishable Agricultural Commodities (PACA) license from the USDA, which is required to do business in the produce industry. OnExpressNews.com: San Antonio Food Bank chief criticizes USDA But Palomino said Thursday he has received his PACA license. The USDA did not immediately return messages seeking comment. This is proof the USDA and PACA believe in our mission and support our efforts, Palomino said. Palomino said he has found somewhere in the neighborhood of five to 15 purveyors. He declined to name any of them. Its a bold claim considering three established San Antonio wholesalers already have rejected offers from CRE8AD8 to do business. Now Playing: See the viral video of San Antonio's Food Bank that changed the narrative of the coronavirus pandemic. Video: Kin Man Hui San Antonio Express News, William Luther San Antonio Express News, Michel Fortier The thing is even though he has that certificate it doesnt mean people are going to roll down the red carpet and say, Hey, we want to sell to you, said Mike Nando Gonzalez, owner of River City Produce, which rejected an offer from Palomino and is one of the established San Antonio wholesalers that had bids rejected by the USDA. Using the drivers license analogy, just because you have a drivers license doesnt mean you are going to start driving a Ferrari, Gonzalez added. The bitter pill in this is he should have had the license before the bid was awarded. Eric Cooper, CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, remains concerned about Palominos lack of experience in the food industry he has none. However, Cooper said hes committed to working with Palomino because the need in San Antonio is great. It was an optimistic timeline the USDA put out there, and the companies that could (have made deliveries to food banks) in the first week of distribution were companies that were in the business, Cooper said. For new companies starting up, its going to take more time. But the window is narrowing, so the pressure builds. The Food Bank desperately needs CRE8AD8 to come through to help it restock its warehouse. Cooper said the Food Bank has spent all but $500,000 of the $9.1 million in state and federal assistance it received two weeks ago. On ExpressNews.com: State more than triples aid to San Antonio Food Bank Since the coronavirus struck South Texas in mid-March, the San Antonio Food Bank has distributed more than 17 million pounds of food and served more than 35,000 households at drive-thru distributions. On Thursday, it distributed food to 1,000 households at a drive-thru in Seguin and to 400 at an event at Community Bible Church that benefited workers from the hotel and restaurant industry. Under its contract, CRE8AD8 must buy fruit, vegetables, dairy products and meat and arrange for the items to be shipped to a location where they can be sorted and packed into family-size boxes. The boxes will be shipped to food banks and other nonprofits for distribution to individuals in need. While CRE8AD8 works to get going, the Food Bank has already received 1,728 produce boxes from Fort Worths DiMare Fresh, which also won a USDA contract. Its unclear whether CRE8AD8 has secured any refrigerated facilities to store the produce, dairy and meat. Same goes for refrigerated vehicles for transportation of the perishable food. Palomino has said he is trying to find local companies to help him fulfill the contract, and he described the purveyors he has found as ideal. The beautiful thing about that is these are companies whose factories are closed, so they are excited about working with us, Palomino said. As soon as we pull the trigger, they are talking about dozens, if not hundreds, of employees getting returned to work within a matter of 24 hours and going right into full production. Bob Owen /San Antonio Express-News Palomino, who is partnering with San Antonio caterer Iverson Brownell on the food box project, said the unnamed companies will allow CRE8AD8 to do so many creative things and put together a really great, beautiful variety of products in these boxes. On ExpressNews.com: Experts knock USDAs unfathomable contract to SA event planner The lack of a PACA license was one reason San Antonios Labatt Food Service and River City Produce declined requests from CRE8AD8 to form a partnership last week. Palomino said CRE8AD8 has landed a senior food safety auditor who he said works for one of the countrys major grocery retailers. Palomino declined to identify the auditor or the retailer. If we are going to be packing this food for the American people, we want to make sure it is done safely and done to standards above and beyond what the USDA would request of us, Palomino said. Payment to CRE8AD8 hinges on its submitting documents showing it has satisfied requirements of its federal contract. Big State Produce of San Antonio is the third company that has refused to do business with CRE8AD8. Big State said Palomino wanted it to do the work on credit, something the company refused to do. They wanted to spend about $4 (million to) $5 million on produce, said Jamie Gonzalez of Big State. And they asked us to give a minimum 60-day term. But we could not in good conscience make a business decision to extend that amount of credit to someone that does not operate in the industry that has no food safety facilities to operate out of. On ExpressNews.com: Industry professionals giving event planner cold shoulder CRE8AD8 has until June 30 to complete distribution of the 750,000 boxes in a seven-state region. The USDA has said it would conduct audits to ensure food safety during the contract period and investigate complaints against contractors. On Tuesday, USDA terminated its $40 million food box contract with California Avocados Direct. According to ProduceBlueBook.com, an industry website, the contract came under scrutiny because the company had annual sales of only $1 million to $2 million. Cooper isnt the only Food Bank director keeping a close eye on CRE8AD8s progress. I would say I am hopeful, Stuart Haniff, CEO of the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley, said when asked if he was confident he would get the food he needs from CRE8AD8. This is definitely a learning curve and a work in progress. But we are doing everything we can. This is still being fleshed out as its being rolled out, and we are having some challenges. Haniff said he has an agreement in place with Dallas-based Borden Dairy, which won a $147 million contract from the USDA to supply 700 million milk servings to nonprofits in Texas and 15 other states in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest. Tom Orsborn covers sports news in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Tom, become a subscriber. torsborn@express-news.net | Twitter: @tom_orsborn Haiti - News : Zapping... 3 doctors contaminated at HUEH A resident doctor confirmed on Wednesday that at least 3 of his colleagues at the State University of Haiti (HUEH) Hospital tested positive for Covid-19. Given the situation, the management of the State Hospital has closed several services to prevent the spread of the virus. The Inspector General of the PNH tested positive Herve Julien, the Inspector General of the Haitian National Police (IGPNH), confirmed that he had tested positive for Covid-19, saying that no other employee of the IGPNH had tested positive. His deputy, Joany Caneus is acting. First Haitian to graduate from USCGA The Embassy congratulates Naissa Lindsey Pierre and Pierre Erick Wawa today as they graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA). Naissa is not only the first Haitian woman to graduate from the USCGA, but she is also the very first cadet in an American service academy to reach the position of Regimental Commander, the highest cadet position. Graduates will return to join the Haitian Coast Guard and serve Haiti honorably. Congratulations ! North West Health Bureau closed The local Directorate of health of the North-West announces that the Bureau will remain closed during 72 hours, for disinfection, a member of the personnel having tested positive for Covid-19, it has been isolated as well as all the members of the staff who were in contact with awaiting the test results. Colonel Himmler Rebu contaminated ? Subject to confirmation by the concerned party, but according to concordant sources the former Minister of Youth and Sports, colonel Himmler Rebu would be infected with Covid-19. A Haitian ambassador for La Francophonie de l'Avenir Dr. Ben-Manson Toussaint, former scholarship holder from the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), Doctor of Artificial Intelligence, Founder of the startup Seek-n-Check, who was chosen as Ambassador of La Francophonie de l'Avenir by the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) as part of the celebration of its 50 years of existence. He now has the honor of being able to admire his photo in the Paris metro "I am very honored to have been chosen as ambassador for the Francophonie of the future by the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) as part of celebrating its 50th anniversary," said Ben Toussaint. HL/ HaitiLibre Average total primary care physician compensation rose 2.6% from 2018 to 2019, reaching $273,437. Overall, compensation for most physician specialties continued to increase. Urgent care and pulmonary specialists led these salary increases, from $259,661 to $277,393 and $385,024 to $406,245, respectively. Among the report's key findings, the top five most sizable increases in total compensation for established providers between 2018 and 2019 include the following medical specialties: Psychiatry (general): 7.69% Urgent Care: 6.83% Pulmonary Medicine (general): 5.51% Internal Medicine (general): 4.00% Urology: 3.85% NPP Compensation on the Rise NPPs also experienced a 2.13% increase in compensation from 2018 to 2019. Notable compensation amounts for nurse practitioners (NP) and physician assistants (PA) include: NP (nonsurgical/nonprimary care): $108,861 NP (primary care): $109,925 PA (primary care): $112,924 PA (nonsurgical/nonprimary care): $116,656 NP (surgical): $116,964 PA (surgical): $129,183 Over the past five years, total compensation for NPPs increased at a rate of 5% to 9%. COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Physician Compensation According to an April 7 MGMA Stat poll, 97% of medical practice leaders reported a drop in patient volume amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A separate COVID-19 financial impact report by MGMA found that, on average, practices reported a 55% decrease in revenue and 60% decrease in patient volume since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. These significant impacts to medical practices of all sizes and specialties forced many to lay off and/or furlough staff. "With 1.4 million healthcare workers furloughed in the last month alone, this 2019 compensation data will serve as a baseline for benchmarking 2020 operations in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Halee Fischer-Wright, MD, MMM, FAAP, FACMPE, president and chief executive officer, MGMA. "COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on the healthcare industry with productivity halting for many medical practices. Compensation models will look different in the near future based on shifting productivity and demands on physicians and the healthcare industry overall." Productivity Increases with Compensation Many physicians experienced an increase in productivity, even upwards of a 10% increase for some specialties. In a field with growing shortages, physicians are working harder than ever to meet the needs of patients by offering more appointment times and performing more procedures and surgeries. Many physicians are compensated completely or at least in part based on their work relative value units (wRVU) productivity, so increasing volumes is beneficial to physicians in terms of compensation while also meeting patients' needs. With almost all physicians currently tied to productivity or collections-based pay models, the correlation between increased volume and higher pay will remain a trend. However, with volumes decreasing for most practitioners as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, compensation will also likely suffer. Providers on salary-based contracts are shielded more from lost productivity, but their salaries are dependent on the financial viability of their organization. Beyond the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19, projections of significant physician workforce shortages throughout the country by 2030 will likely intensify demand for physicians, which could drive compensation higher. New Hire Compensation Increases The most notable new hire provider compensation increases in the last year include: Cardiology (noninvasive): 15.38% Gastroenterology: 14.29% OB/GYN (general): 4.68% Surgery (general): 3.70% Radiology (diagnostic): 3.69% Neurology: 3.19% Geographic Compensation Differences Compensation for providers ranges dramatically by state. Primary care physicians earn the most in West Virginia, with nearly $200,000 more in total compensation than their counterparts in Vermont, the lowest paying state. The difference in surgical and nonsurgical specialist pay is even greater with physicians earning $260,000 more in the highest-paying states of South Carolina and Alabama, compared to their lowest-paid counterparts in Vermont and Maryland. The Southern and Western regions of the United States report the largest compensation rates for physicians in 2019. For the second year in a row, the Eastern region reports the lowest compensation rates for physicians. Geographic areas that have seen the greatest impact from COVID-19 shutdowns on patient visits and non-essential procedures and surgeries will take the biggest hit from lost productivity and associated impacts to physician compensation until patient volume returns to normal. MGMA Report Methodology The 2020 MGMA Compensation and Production Report represents comparative data from more than 168,000 providers in 6,300 organizations. The report is based on a voluntary response by MGMA member and nonmember practices. On January 6, 2020, MGMA opened the 2020 Compensation and Production Survey collecting data on physician and non-physician provider compensation and productivity reflective of 2019. Email invitations were sent to eligible participants across a variety of audiences including private practices, hospitals, integrated delivery systems, universities and academic departments. All responses to the questionnaires were collected online and underwent rigorous evaluation and inspection. The collected data is reported online in the 2020 MGMA DataDive Provider Compensation. Information from MGMA surveys are published in MGMA DataDive. About MGMA Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is the premier association for professionals who lead medical practices. Since 1926, through data, people, insights, and advocacy, MGMA empowers medical group practices to innovate and create meaningful change in healthcare. With a membership of more than 58,000 medical practice administrators, executives, and leaders, MGMA represents more than 12,500 organizations of all sizes, types, structures and specialties that deliver almost half of the healthcare in the United States. www.mgma.com Media Contact: Hollon Kohtz, Assistant Director of Public Relations [email protected] 877.275.6462 x 1209 317.847.5658 (Cell) SOURCE Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Related Links http://www.mgma.com BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani presidential press-service. Mr President, on the occasion of the celebration of the National Day of the Republic of Azerbaijan, I wish to extend my warm congratulations to you and to the people of Azerbaijan and also reiterate to you our willingness to continue working to strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two countries, the letter said. Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration and respect, the letter said. Hairdressers were also brought to concert halls to provide their services to music-loving customers. (AP) Beauty salons and fitness centers have been reopened after a strict lockdown to contain the omicron variant, but cultural institutions can't resume operations yet. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:24:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cyclone Amphan has slammed Bangladesh's coastlines after making landfall in the Indian state of West Bengal, leaving a trail of destruction. Shah Muhammad Nasim, a senior official at Bangladesh's Disaster Management Ministry, told Xinhua on Thursday that the cyclone damaged houses, crops and uprooted trees. "We're collecting information through our official channels from affected areas about loss of life and damage to property," he said. TV footage showed widespread flooding in coastal areas where hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated. Bangladeshi State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman told journalists that they have taken adequate measures to support the affected people. Shamsuddin Ahmed, director at Bangladesh Meteorological Department, said Amphan has weakened and was being gradually reduced to a depression. He said an inclement weather will persist on Thursday across Bangladesh. Fishing boats, trawlers and maritime vessels over the bay have been advised to remain in shelter till further notice. Enditem POCOPSON A manager of Brandywine Ace Pet and Farm is starring in several national commercials to promote the franchises brand. Recently Ace Hardware, with more than 5,000 stores worldwide, has run several commercials featuring Alex Pyle this year including one addressing the COVID-19 national crisis. Most of the stores, like Brandywine Ace Pet & Farm, are independently owned. Every day is a different adventure here, said Pyle of Brandywine Ace Pet and Farm in Pocopson, where hes been working since 2013 and today runs its hardware division as a store manager. Pyle, a resident of London Grove Township who lives between Avondale and West Grove boroughs, attended Upland as a child and graduated high school in 1998 from West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Maryland. He then earned a bachelor of science degree in business from Adelphi University in New York where he also minored in marketing. Brandywine Ace Pet & Farm is owned by the Drennen family. The family also owns and runs Oxford Grain & Hay Co. and Oxford Feed & Lumber in southern Chester County and the boutique store Pets & Friends in Penn Township. The motto of Ace is: Always open, always essential. Forever helpful. Hes filmed multiple commercials with Ace. His first commercial was shot last year in Chicago and just prior to the national crisis declared on March 13, he traveled to Florida to film scenes for additional commercials. The most recent shoot lasted three days and Pyle was one of 25 employees selected nationwide out of 5,000 stores. For decades, his family owned the hardware store Plyes Home Supply on Route 41 in London Grove near Avondale. The local store closed in 2009. Under Gov. Tom Wolfs ongoing emergency orders, Brandywine Ace Pet & Farm is an essential business and has remained open to the public during the ongoing national crisis. Theres a lot of things that goes on in the story, Plye said. Theres a lot of neat events that we have going on here. Prior to the national crisis, events included ladies and gentlemen nights and pet adoption days. He said the story has been unbelievably busy, and vendors are near running out of inventory. Home projects have kept our store very, very busy, he said. Pyle added that there are less people working at the store these days as many of the stores older employees are staying home. Im adopted, Pyle said. Its been a huge opportunity to represent my family and to represent the Oxford Grain & Hay company that owns this store, and the Drennen family. They have really been behind me, just supporting me. Its been great to have their backing and for them to allow me to do this. I want to give them a lot of praise. Its quite an honor for him and for our store, said owner Larry Drennen on Tuesday. Drennen said Pyle interviewed and auditioned for the opportunity to star in the Aces national commercials. Alexs a very personable person. Hes got a great smile. All the customers love working with Alex. Business is overall good, Drennen said, adding that his stores are running at less capacity with 20 percent of his employees staying home during the last ten weeks. Overall, were doing okay, he said. The customers appreciate us being open, Drennen said. I always thank them for their patience. Overwhelmingly, our customers and the community have supported us being open for their needs. After industrialist Anand Mahindra backed the armys proposed tour of duty (ToD) model last week, industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on Thursday supported the proposal that seeks to allow the countrys youth to serve the military for three years, an army officer familiar with the move said. The scheme has also elicited a positive response from some other industrialists. The industry body, in an e-mail to the army on Thursday, described the ToD initiative of the government as a game changer, said the official cited above, requesting anonymity. He said Assocham has communicated to the army that it will work with the government to promote the ToD scheme not just as an employment opportunity but as a nation building initiative where the industry will send existing employees for a three-year tour of duty with job security when they return. Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani said his company would even consider hiring candidates first and then let them do the military internship as it will help us groom our work force in ethos of the army. The ToD model is similar to the short-service commission that allows officers to serve the armed forces for 10 to 14 years. If the proposal is accepted, the army could implement the ToD model - essentially a voluntary internship after military training - on a trial basis for both officers and other ranks in a limited number of vacancies, Last week, Mahindra said the ToD exposure would give young people an added advantage in their next workplace. In an e-mail to the army, Mahindra said his group would be happy to consider the candidature of ToD optees for corporate jobs. I definitely think military training will be an added advantage for Tour of Duty Graduates as they enter the workplace. In fact, considering the rigid standards of selection and training in the Indian Army, the Mahindra Group will be happy to consider their candidature, Mahindra wrote. The ToD proposal, reviewed by Hindustan Times, stressed that the internship model would result in savings for the organisation. It said it will also brighten the prospects of the ToD optees in the corporate world. The cumulative cost of pre-commission training, pay/allowances, proposed severance packages, leave encashment and other costs is nearly Rs 5.12 crore and Rs 6.83 crore for short-service commissioned (SSC) officers released after 10 and 14 years of service. However, similar costs for those released after three years will be just Rs 80 to Rs 85 lakh, the proposal stated. It said the ToD model would eventually result in significant reduction in salary and pension budgets, too. The proposal cites a survey that has indicated that corporate houses would prefer employing individuals who have been trained by the military and join them at the age of 26-27 after a three-year ToD rather than college graduates. Carlow Womens Refuge Group has organised an online quiz night in aid of Amber Womens Refuge in Kilkenny taking place on Friday May 29 at 7.30pm. People are being asked to join the facebook event to partake in the quiz on the night. The page can easily be found by searching @CarlowWomensRefugeCampaign on facebook. Lisa Morris Manager at Amber Womens Refuge welcomes this fundraising initiative at this difficult time to raise some much needed funds for Amber. She said Amber provides emergency 24 hour refuge accommodation and support services such as court accompaniment, outreach, counselling, play/art therapy, 24 hour helpline, support and information, awareness raising programmes, freedom programme, schools talks and various childrens services, to women and children experiencing domestic abuse in Kilkenny and Carlow. Wed like to thank all those involved sincerely. Ger ONeill, spokeswoman for the campaign group said The pandemic and lockdown has pushed us all into our homes but for many this is a very dangerous place. Domestic violence services were amongst the hardest hit during the financial crisis in Ireland, witnessing eight years of austerity and devastating cuts to core funding. While we call for funding restoration from the government, we can try help meet the immediate rise in demand for these services by coming together as a community for a night of fun and fundraising." She added "Any donation, big or small to Amber refuge is all that is required to join the quiz on the night. We have some amazing spot prizes from local businesses like Tullys Bar, Made in Carlow Art shop and Brooks Cafe and the quiz will be hosted by People Before Profit Cllr Adrienne Wallace. After its former whistleblower faces the public, Apple is now back on the issues of privacy violations, protesting at the lack of action of authorities. The tech giant was accused of listening to private Siri recordings about nine months ago. Apple said that they already implemented new rules regarding the issue to make their users at ease with their privacy. However, the whistleblower now comes back again and tells the world how Apple still 'wiretaps the world' despite filed cases. Ex-Apple employee: Apple 'wiretaps the world' through Siri July last year, Apple whistleblower revealed that the company had a program that illegally listens to users' Siri recordings. The said whistleblower named Thomas le Bonniec was one of the ex-contractors at the time that tasked to listen to random people's voice recordings. As described by him, most of the saved recordings have sensitive content that should not be shared by other people. "The recordings were not limited to the users of Apple devices but also involved relatives, children, friends, colleagues, and whoever could be recorded by the device. The system recorded everything: names, addresses, messages, searches, arguments, background noises, films, and conversations," he explains. "I heard people talking about their cancer, referring to dead relatives, religion, sexuality, pornography, politics, school, relationships, or drugs with no intention to activate Siri whatsoever." Now, he goes public again and had sent a letter to all the European data protection regulators, demanding reasons why the case was disclosed. As reported via The Guardian, Le Bonniec, 25, worries how "Apple continues to keeps ignoring and violating fundamental rights and continues its massive collection of data." This was despite their admission months ago that the tech giant was doing illegal recordings of Siri private conversations. "I am extremely concerned that big tech companies are basically wiretapping entire populations despite European citizens being told the EU has one of the strongest data protection laws in the world. Passing a law is not good enough: it needs to be enforced upon privacy offenders," said him. How Apple listens to Siri recordings After Le Bonniec revelation was reported, Apple promised to create changes in its system, such as allowing users to opt-in or out of their voice recordings and choose to delete the recordings that Apple had stored. However, according to him, these issues are still untackled and unresolved until now. "They do operate on a moral and legal grey area," he told the Guardian. "and they have been doing this for years on a massive scale. They should be called out in every possible way." ALSO READ: Apple And Google To Stop Listening To Siri And OK Google Recordings Amid Backlash 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In the middle of a pandemic, if a cyclone comes hurtling toward you, what should you do? Debasis Shyamal, a fisherman, forgot about social distancing. He crammed himself into a government shelter, minutes before Cyclone Amphan crashed into his coastal village in West Bengal on Wednesday hurling winds of up to 170 kilometers (105 miles) per hour. He stayed awake in the dark, listening to the carnage outside. "No one was thinking about the virus. We were just trying to stay alive," he said. The cyclone has now dissipated. But the pandemic hasn't. In the past 48 hours, the cyclone killed 77 people and the coronavirus nine in West Bengal, one of India's poorer states. Even before the cyclone, its pandemic response was lagging; the state has one of the highest fatality rates from COVID-19 in India. With an economy crippled by India's eight-week lockdown, and health care systems sapped by the virus, authorities must tackle both COVID-19 and the cyclone's aftermath. "I have never seen such a disaster before," said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The challenges are many: crowded shelters could emerge as viral clusters, outbreaks of other diseases triggered by the cyclone and flooding, and jobless migrant workers returning to villages from cities like Mumbai and New Delhi, potentially bringing the virus with them. The pandemic made evacuations harder since many cyclone shelters were being used for quarantining virus patients. Authorities said social distancing was maintained while nearly 500,000 people had been evacuated. But testimonies suggested this often was not possible. AP Slate Plus members get more Care and Feeding from Jamilah Lemieux every week. Dear Care and Feeding, My husband and I live abroad with our 2-year-old daughter, and were expecting a baby boy in July. Like every current and expectant parent, the pandemic has thrown us a real curveball. My parents had been planning to visit from the States for the birth of their newest grandchild, but of course, they had to cancel. At first, I didnt worry too much about finding someone else to watch our daughter during the new babys birth; we have plenty of friends where we live, mostly expats like ourselves, who know our daughter well and could care for her. But as this period of social distancing has gone on, my husband and I are becoming increasingly nervous and frustrated. It seems that few, if any, of our friends are taking social distancing seriously, as they are often getting together with one another for play dates, small gatherings, or even larger parties. It feels condescending to say, but often it seems like we are some of the only ones really isolating ourselves! I know social distancing is tough, particularly in a foreign country without much family around, but it seems so reckless. And from a selfish standpoint, one of my biggest worries now as my due date approaches is who will care for our daughter when it is time to go to the hospital. We have plenty of people we could ask and who would say yes, but given the amount of socializing theyre doing, I worry my daughter could easily catch the virus from whoever watches her and, in turn, infect us and the new baby. I know that my husband could stay home with her while I deliver alone, but I havent even broached this possibility with him. Of course, I selfishly want him there to support me, but also, how could I ask him to miss the birth of our child? What is the best course of action here? Should we start vetting friends and see whos been distancing themselves? Talk to some close friends who have been socializing and beg them to isolate more carefully in a couple of weeks to help us out? Resign ourselves to the only truly safe option of having my husband stay home with our daughter? Quarantine Quandary Dear QQ, I am so sorry that the upcoming birth of your child has been affected in such a drastic way. You should identify a few friends who may be willing to begin practicing proper social distancing habits a few weeks prior to your due date (I would suggest a month to be on the safe sidethough, as you may well know, you should be prepared for the possibility that labor may begin at any time after the 34-week mark; ask your doctor for better guidance). Let them know how important it is to you and your husband that you dont give birth alone, and that it would mean the absolute world for them to compromise their hedonistic refusal to protect themselves from a deadly virus in order to support friends during such a vulnerable time. (But dont say the last part.) If they arent willing to be uncomfortable in the name of their own safety, its possible they are likely to see this sacrifice as a tremendous one to make on someone elses behalf. And you could offer to help the person who takes you up on this request by covering delivery fees and tips for groceries, medications, and other essential items during the predetermined period of isolation, especially if they arent terribly close to you. Alas, you should begin to prepare for the possibility that A) you dont find someone you actually trust to take this stuff seriously enough, or B) you go into labor ahead of schedule and the designated person has not had an adequate period of isolation. I know its less than ideal, but its crucial to be ready for all possible scenarios and to keep everyone safe with an infant coming into your lives. Ask your doctor if there are any emergency babysitting services available via the hospital, but do consider that bringing your older child outdoors may expose her unnecessarily as well. Wishing your family the best for a safe, smooth, and uncomplicated event, and a healthy, comfortable delivery for you! Jamilah (Newser) An Italian woman is the new owner of a century-old painting by Pablo Picasso, worth $1.1 millionbut she didn't buy it. The unidentified woman won 1921's "Nature Morte"a small oil painting depicting a glass of absinthe and a newspaper on a tablein a charity raffle held at Christie's in Paris, reports the BBC. Some 51,000 tickets were sold for the equivalent of $110 each, raising $5.6 million for the global humanitarian group CARE. The organization will pay $985,000 to the painting's previous owner, billionaire collector David Nahmad of Monaco, who also donated $110,000 to the cause. The remaining money will be used to build plumbing infrastructure in schools and villages in Cameroon, Madagascar, and Morocco. story continues below "Picasso would have loved an operation like this, because he was someone with a lot of interest in humanitarian and social causes," raffle organizer Peri Cochin tells Reuters. She adds that the charity project is especially urgent now: "This coronavirus crisis has made it clear how important it is to wash your hands, and that can only be done with clear water." The woman who won the painting received her raffle ticket as a gift, per Reuters. France had the highest number of tickets soldabout 15,000followed by the US and Switzerland. A 25-year-old American man won Picasso's 1914 painting "Man With Opera Hat" in another charity drawing in 2013. Organizers now hope to make the raffle an annual event. (Read more Pablo Picasso stories.) India on Thursday said Chinese military was hindering normal patrolling by its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly refuted China's contention that the escalating tension between the two armies was triggered by trespassing of Indian forces across the Chinese side. The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities were carried out on its side of the border, asserting that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said, India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security. Several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese in the last few days, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two countries even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. The nearly 3,500-km-long LAC is the de-facto border between the two countries. On Tuesday, China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an "attempt to unilaterally change the status" of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian maintained that Indian troops trespassed across the LAC, adding Chinese military firmly deals with such actions. Zhao also dismissed as "nonsense" the comments by Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department, that the aggressive Chinese behaviour along the LAC was a "reminder of the threat posed by China". The MEA spokesperson said all Indian activities were entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. "In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management," Srivastava said. "At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security," he said. "The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC," Srivstava added. Without elaborating, the MEA spokesperson said both sides were engaged to address any immediate issue. "The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues," he said. It is learnt that local commanders of both the sides held at least three meetings in the last couple of days to bring down the tension but there was no positive outcome from the exchanges. Sources said a top official in the government was in touch with Beijing as both sides were attempting to resolve the issue. "In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," said Srivastava. Sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan Valley and even brought in sizeable number of additional boats to the lake. They said India has too made significant increase in its deployment in several sensitive areas in Ladakh and Sikkim and that movement of Chinese troops are being closely monitored. The sources said the Chinese side has erected at least 40-50 tents in the Galwan Valley following which India has also sent reinforcements. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Natural News) The lefts most beloved humanitarian has been caught in yet another human rights scandal, this time involving innocent Nigerian children who were to be used as human guinea pigs in one of his forced vaccination programs. We are talking about billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates, of course, who reportedly offered a $10 million bribe to the Nigerian House of Representatives in exchange for gaining access to Nigerian children whom he could experiment on with a new vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). All the House had to do was pass a bill presented by Gates that would have mandated the vaccination of all Nigerians with an experimental Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its drug partners. Thankfully, opposition political parties quickly rejected this proposed eugenics and possible genocide attempt, and even threatened the Speaker of the House with impeachment if he agreed to Gates bribe. It was the Nigerian Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) that says it intercepted a human intelligence report detailing how the Nigerian House of Representatives was right on the verge of selling out its people when the scheme was unearthed, bringing it to a halt. The House was not only poised to pass the Gates bill, but it was planning to do so outside the bounds of the traditional legislative process. In other words, it was a back-door deal done under the cover of darkness to advance the vaccination dreams of Bill Gates. Listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, unpacks the plan to depopulate the world, in part through mass vaccination: Is Bill Gates Satan in the flesh? In a statement, opposition spokesman Barrister Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere chastised the House for even considering accepting Gates offer, no matter the sum of money. He further threatened to unseat Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila for his complicity in the horrific plot. Opposition Coalition (CUPP) has intercepted very credible intelligence and hereby alerts Nigerians of plans by the leadership of the House of Representatives led by Femi Gbajabiamila to forcefully and without adherence to the rules of lawmaking to pass the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020 otherwise known as the Compulsory Vaccination Bill which is proposing a compulsory vaccination of all Nigerians even when the vaccines have not been discovered, that statement reads. This intelligence is coupled with the information of the alleged receipt, from sources outside the country but very interested in the Bill, of the sum of $10 million by the sponsors and promoters of the Bill to distribute among lawmakers to ensure a smooth passage of the Bill. Great Game India reports that the alleged deal to secretly and illegally pass this sellout bill was hatched during a legislative trip to Austria a few months back. The financial boost was later added to get the bill moving more quickly, and to get it passed by any means necessary. Nigerians are reminded that at present, there is no discovered/approved vaccine anywhere in the world and one now begins to wonder why the hurry to pass a Bill for a compulsory vaccine when there is none, Great Game India further adds about how a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine does not even exist. Meanwhile, Sara Cunial, a prominent Italian politician, has spoken out calling for the arrest of Bill Gates. She says that he is a vaccine criminal who needs to be handed over to the International Criminal Court to be tried for his many crimes against humanity. Cunial also played a critical role in exposing Gates genocidal efforts in India and other countries throughout Africa, which include plans to use vaccinations to deliver microchips into peoples bodies as part of his nefarious ID2020 program. More of the latest news about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) is available at Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: GreatGameIndia.com NaturalNews.com India believes there is urgent need for major reforms in WHO: Harsh Vardhan Harsh Vardhan applauds 'White coat warriors' for going beyond call of duty to attend to patients From Prasad, Javadekar to Harsh Vardhan: List of ministers who have resigned Harsh Vardhan to take charge as WHO Executive Board Chairman tomorrow India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 21: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, is set to take charge as the chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on May 22, officials said. Vardhan would succeed Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan, currently the Chairman of the 34-member WHO Executive Board. Union health Minister Harsh Vardhan set to chair WHO Executive Board | Oneindia News The proposal to appoint India's nominee to the executive board was signed by the 194-nation World Health Assembly on Tuesday, officials said on condition of anonymity. Harsh Vardhan is India's nominee for lead role in WHO: Report Vardhan's taking over the post seems to be a formality after the decision that he will be India's nominee as the WHO's South-East Asia group had unanimously decided last year that India would be elected to the executive board for a three-year-term beginning May. Vardhan would be elected at the Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organisation on May 22, the officials said. The chairman's post is held by rotation for one year among regional groups and it was decided last year that India's nominee would be the Executive Board chairman for the first year starting Friday. It is not a full time assignment and the minister will just be required to chair the Executive Board's meetings, an official said. The Executive Board is composed of 34 individuals technically qualified in the field of health, each one designated by a member state elected to do so by the World Health Assembly. Member States are elected for three-year terms. The Board meets at least twice a year and the main meeting is normally in January, with a second shorter meeting in May, immediately after the Health Assembly. The main functions of the Executive Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly, to advise it and generally to facilitate its work. Addressing the 73rd World Health Assembly via video conferencing on Monday, Vardhan had said India took all the necessary steps well in time to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Explained: Why the development of coronavirus vaccine is delayed? He had asserted that the country has done well in dealing with the disease and is confident of doing better in the months to come. India is set to take over the chairmanship of the Executive Board amid growing calls, including by US President Donald Trump, to investigate how the coronavirus originated in China's Wuhan city and subsequent action by Beijing. WALTHAM, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Together, NWN and Arrow Exterminators orchestrated the smooth technology shift that provided the ability for 2,500+ Arrow employees to work remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic forced a technological shift in Arrow's 128 offices across 12 states. NWN Corporation, a technology-enabled service provider focused on transforming the customer experience, was chosen to fuel the digital transformation of Arrow Exterminators, an Atlanta-based pest-control and home services company. NWN and Arrow Exterminators today released the details of their relationship and how NWN helped Arrow make this critical transition and continue to serve its customers at a high level. To learn more about exactly how NWN assisted, sign up for the May 28th webinar here . Arrow Exterminators is guided by its mission to provide superior quality services to its customers in the most environmentally responsible manner. It strives to continually improve its professional standards, which was why it brought in NWN to revitalize its IT infrastructure. NWN was essential in migrating Arrow Exterminators' systems and offices to the cloud. "NWN was a true partner to us through every step of our digital transformation," said Brannon Gillis, VP of Technology, Arrow Exterminators. "They helped us install a unified communications system 10 months ago. Then, at the beginning of March, when we were searching for our response to COVID-19, we called on them again to help us put processes in place and secure the tools we needed to enable our work force of more than 2,500 people to work remotely as needed. They helped us migrate seamlessly from being in the office to moving certain employees -- many of whom have never worked remotely -- safely into their homes in one-third the estimated timeframe." To learn more, join Andrew Gilman, NWN's Vice President of Marketing and Alliances, and Arrow's Brannon Gillis, VP of Technology on a May 28th webinar that highlights how NWN was an essential partner in the digital transformation and shift to remote work for the pest control and home services company. Register here . About NWN: NWN Corporation, headquartered outside Boston, is an established leader in technology-enabled services that support remote work and transform customer and employee experiences for commercial, enterprise and public sector organizations through its solution-as-a-service platform. With 1,300 customers throughout the U.S., NWN provides a unified customer experience with the NWN Experience Management Platform and integrated offerings for unified communications, security, contact center, DaaS (device-as-a-service), connectivity and advanced technology solutions. To learn more about NWN's solutions and offerings, visit www.nwnit.com . Media Contact: Carissa Ryan, CTP for NWN [email protected] About Arrow Exterminators: Family owned and operated since 1964, Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators is the sixth largest pest and termite control company in the United States, ranked by revenue. Arrow boasts a modern fleet of more than 2,100 vehicles, 128 service centers, 2,500 team members with revenues exceeding $250 million and in 2020 was named the #1 Top Workplace in Atlanta by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. With QualityPro Certification by the National Pest Management Association, the company offers innovative and environmentally responsible services to protect homes and businesses of customers in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Visit arrowexterminators.com for more information. SOURCE NWN Corporation Related Links https://www.nwnit.com [May 20, 2020] MedX Health Corp. Confirms Details of Closings of Non-Brokered Private Placements MedX Health Corp. ("MedX" or the "Company") (TSX-V: MDX) confirms the precise specifics of the series of closings of non-brokered private placements made since January 30, 2020, announced in recent Press Releases by the Company. The following Table sets out the particulars of the dates of each closing, the number of units issued and the amount raised on each closing, together with details of Agent's Warrants and cash commissions paid to Agents at each closing. CLOSING DATE UNITS # AMOUNT $ AGENT WARRANTS - # CASH COMMISSION - $ January 30, 2020 1,485,000 $178,200.00 84,000 $10,080.00 March 4, 2020 7,459,139 $895,096.68 506,000 $60,720.00 March 5, 2020 2,000,000 $240,000.00 0 $19,200.00 April 22, 2020 8,749,673 $1,049,960.76 342,000 $68,720.00 April 27, 2020 1,158,333 $139,000.00 0 $8,000.00 April 29, 2020 200,000 $24,000.00 0 $1,920.00 May 13, 2020 4,887,466 $586,496.00 227,760 $43,331.20 TOTALS 25,939,611 $3,112,753.44 1,159,760 $211,971.20 Each Unit ("Unit") was issued at the price of $0.12, and comprises one fully paid common share and one share purchase warrant, exercisable at $0.20 for a period expiring on the second anniversary of each respective issue; all the securities issued are restricted from trading for a period of four months from their respective dates of issue. Included in the securities issued on April 27, 2020, are 200,000 units, at a total cost of $24,000, subscribed for by an Insider. Final Acceptance has been obtained from the TSX-V in relation to the closings which took place on January 30, March 4 and March 5, 2020, while the closings which took place on April 22, 27 and 29, and May 13, 2020, which are part of the proposed private placement announced in the Company's Press Release dated March 6, 2020, are still subject to Final Acceptance from the TSX-V. Each Agent's Warrant, which is non-transferable, is exercisable to acquire one Unit at $0.12 per Unit, at any time during the period of two years following the respective dates of issue. The funding from these placements will be used by MedX for further development and enhancement of its telemedicine software platform, marketing initiatives and general corporate purposes, including adding additional resources while it expands into new markets, in particular in Latin America and the USA where the Company is anticipating rapid growth. About MedX MedX, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, is a leading medical device and software company focused on skin cancer with its DermSecure telemedicine platform, utilizing its SIAscopy technology. SIAscopy is also imbedded in its products SIAMETRICS, SIMSYS, and MoleMate, which MedX manufactures in its ISO 13485 certified facility. SIAMETRICS, SIMSYS, and MoleMate include hand-held devices that use patented technology utilizing light and its remittance to view up to 2 mm beneath suspicious moles and lesions in a pain free, non-invasive manner, with its software then creating real-time images for physicians and dermatologists to evaluate all types of moles or lesions within seconds. These products are Health Canada, FDA (US), ARTG and CE cleared for use in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and Turkey. MedX also designs, manufactures and distributes quality photobiomodulation therapeutic and dental lasers to provide drug-free and non-invasive treatment of tissue damage and pain. www.medxhealth.com. This press release does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, including, without limitation, the company's limited operating history and history of losses, the inability to successfully obtain further funding, the inability to raise capital on terms acceptable to the company, the inability to compete effectively in the marketplace, the inability to complete the proposed acquisition and such other risks that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in the company's projections or forward-looking statements. All forward looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the company as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005919/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] uschools/iStockBy ALLISON PECORIN, ABC NEWS (WASHINGTON) -- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to issue a subpoena for documents to Blue Star Strategies, a public affairs firm that represented Burisma, a Ukrainian Gas company for which Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, once served on the board. The subpoena, which passed by a vote of 8-6, marks the next step forward in the ongoing joint investigation into Burisma and possible wrongdoing by Hunter Biden being led by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Finance committees. Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., criticized the committee for taking the vote Wednesday and tried in vain to have the vote delayed. "This is not a serious bipartisan investigation in the tradition of this committee and I believe we should not be going down this dangerous route," Peters said. "This misguided subpoena risks amplifying efforts of our foreign adversaries to interfere in the 2020 election." Several Democrats criticized Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., for holding the vote amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Johnson defended the decision. The question I would ask is, what is everybody worried about? Johnson said after the vote. If theres nothing there, well find out theres nothing there. But if theres something there, the American people need to know that. Johnson told reporters after the hearing concluded that the committee expects to issue an interim report on the investigation by sometime in June or before the Senate takes recess in August. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was not physically present for the vote. He voted in favor of the subpoena by proxy, but much attention was given to his vote because he had previously cast doubt about whether he'd support the subpoena. Earlier this week, Romney told reporters he was "looking at" the subpoena issue and did not commit to how he would vote. This is not the first time Romney has put the fate of a subpoena in the joint investigation into Burisma led by Johnson and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa on uncertain ground. In March, Johnson signaled that his committee would pursue a subpoena for documents and testimony from Andriy Telizhenko, a former Ukranian Embassy official who consulted with Blue Star Strategies. Romney initially expressed concerns that a probe into Burisma was too "political" and signaled he could vote against the subpoena. He eventually committed to voting in favor of it after being assured that the subpoena would not be made into a "public spectacle." But the final vote for that subpoena was never taken. Johnson told reporters in March there were discrepancies in evidence related to Telizhenko and said his committee would instead push on with the investigation into Burisma by issuing a subpoena directly to Blue Star Strategies. Though the subpoena passed Wednesday, the motive of the Burisma probe has been highly criticized. Democrats pointed to the ratcheting up of the probe just as Biden was surging in the primary polls for the Democratic Presidential nomination. During his floor remarks Wednesday, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the committee meeting "slanders the family of the president's political opponent." "Believe it or not, this powerful Senate committee with broad jurisdiction over so many aspects of the government's response to the ongoing pandemic is prioritizing yet another attempt to smear Vice President Biden," Schumer said. "The highest priority for Senate Republicans lies in promoting conspiracy theories that have already been discredited on numerous occasions." And, in a rare statement on Senate matters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned Senate Republicans for efforts she said aimed at "smearing the President's political rivals" while the coronavirus pandemic continues. "These Republican subpoenas are a clear act of retaliation and political retribution intended to help the President keep his job," Pelosi said in a statement. "It is sad that the GOP Senate has meekly and weakly chosen to be complicit in the Presidents desperate and dangerous political tactics instead of passing legislation to save lives and livelihoods." Trumps efforts to have Ukraine investigate Hunter Bidens role as a board member for Burisma were at the heart of House Democrats impeachment probe last year. The president asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens on a July phone call that was revealed by a whistleblower's complaint last fall. Hunter Biden has maintained he has done nothing wrong. The House impeached Trump in December for pressuring the Ukrainian government while withholding military aid to the country. The Senate acquitted him in February. Senate Republicans are also launching a separate investigation, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday he supports, into the counterintelligence probe into whether the then-candidate and his campaign colluded with the Russians in 2016. "Senate Republicans are taking steps to issue new subpoenas to a wide variety of Obama administration officials with some relationship to the abuses," McConnell said in a floor speech Tuesday, referencing errors made regarding the surveillance of a former Trump campaign official and the prosecution of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, which the Department of Justice has moved to dismiss. Flynn pleaded guilty under oath to lying to the FBI in late 2017. "The American people deserve answers about how such abuses could happen, and we intend to get those answers." Democrats have also dismissed this probe, calling it a distraction from the coronavirus pandemic. "The president is tweeting insane conspiracy theories, demanding that his water carriers of Capitol Hill make them look legitimate instead of focusing on testing capacity and policies to safely reopen our country," Schumer said Tuesday. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved RADNOR, Pa., May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR) ("Avantor" or the "Company"), a leading global provider of mission critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and advanced technologies & applied materials industries, today announced the pricing of the previously announced underwritten secondary offering of 45,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock (the "Offering") held by certain of its stockholders (the "Selling Stockholders") pursuant to a registration statement filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), at the public offering price of $16.25 per share. In connection with the Offering, the Selling Stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6,750,000 shares of common stock on the same terms and conditions. No shares are being sold by the Company. The Selling Stockholders will receive all of the proceeds from this offering. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan are serving as the joint book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Guggenheim Securities and Jefferies are acting as co-managers for the offering. A registration statement, including a prospectus, relating to this offering has been declared effective by the SEC. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained from: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department at 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282 or by telephone at 1-866-471-2526; or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attention: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone 1-866-803-9204 or by email at [email protected]. About Avantor Avantor is a leading global provider of mission critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. We operate in more than 30 countries and deliver an extensive portfolio of products and services. We set science in motion to create a better world. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements discuss our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "likely," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "project," "projection," "seek," "can," "could," "may," "should," "would," "will," the negatives thereof and other words and terms of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions; they are not guarantees of performance. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Although we believe that our assumptions made in connection with the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that the assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could contribute to these risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, the factors described in "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as such risk factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligations to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise other than as required under the federal securities laws. Global Media Contact Allison Hosak Senior Vice President, Global Communications Avantor +1 908-329-7281 [email protected] Investor Relations Contact Tommy J. Thomas, CPA Vice President, Investor Relations Avantor +1 781-375-8051 [email protected] SOURCE Avantor and Financial News Related Links http://www.avantorsciences.com This is the strange moment a man lands his private helicopter at a petrol station to fill up on gas before paying and flying off. Mobile phone footage of the bizarre scene shows stunned customers looking on as the pilot lands and then pushes his chopper to a petrol pump at the station in the town of Garwolin in Poland. After filling the tank he then pays 'as if nothing had happened' before another video shows him climbing into the cockpit and taking off. The video has now gone viral since being posted on social media on Tuesday, with over 320,000 views. Mobile phone footage of the bizarre scene shows stunned customers looking on as the pilot lands and then pushes his chopper to a petrol pump at the station in the town of Garwolin in Poland One customer who witnessed the extraordinary scenes told local TV broadcaster Polsat News: 'I have seen many things in my life, but to land a helicopter at the stationyou have to be a really good pilot to do such a thing.' The video has now been flooded with comments with people asking if the pilot also bought a hotdog or was collecting points for his fuel card. One viewer calling himself dr0pSu said: 'We have it! GTA 6 official trailer. It's not Los Santos or Liberty City anymore, it's time for Garwolin City.' The video has now gone viral since being posted on social media on Tuesday, with over 320,000 views. Pictured: the helicopter comes in to land at the petrol station Another called Mariano 96 quipped: 'Perhaps the petrol is cheaper in Garwolin.' While someone calling themselves sdd commented: 'He should lose his pilot's licence!!!' Police say they are now looking into the matter. After filling the tank he then pays 'as if nothing had happened' before another video shows him climbing into the cockpit and taking off (pictured) Spokesman Marek Kapusta told PAP Life: 'We are conducting an investigation under the supervision of the prosecutor's office. 'It was not difficult to track him down, because he took an invoice from the gas station, i.e. he gave his details.' Memorial Day weekend in South Dakota typically signals the kickoff of the recreational season for outdoor enthusiasts. And as such a welcome reprieve from the sometimes-troublesome spring weather. The anticipation level is likely amped up even more so this year with the coronavirus impacting normal day-to-day activities across a wide spectrum of society. Added incentive to mix more with nature: the American Institute of Stress points out that time spent in nature helps to reduce tension and release endorphins that promote happiness. And for those who wish to incorporate some fishing into an outing, heres a brief look at spots where success might best enhance the experience. Angostura Reservoir: An on again, off again pattern continues with some anglers reporting success on minnow and jig offerings. For others, the experience is a couple of fish caught followed by a lengthy dry spell as fish are scattered electronics often a must. Also, some smallmouth bass in the 17-18-inch range have been showing up on minnows. Belle Fourche Reservoir (Orman): Despite a multitude of campers at the lake, high winds and rain limited fishing activity last week. A few walleye have been showing up though the majority fall within the 15-17-inch range necessitating release. A few catfish and smallmouth bass are being caught as well. Black Hills Fly Fishing: High stream flows continue though dryer weather ahead should setup excellent fishing opportunities. Nymphs are the go-to option at present a dry fly floated may spur some action as well. Curlew Lake: Crappie action reported on small jigs and minnows. Deerfield Reservoir: Lake trout in the eight to ten-pound range have being showing up on large minnows. Horsethief Lake: Trout activity reported on powerbait and jigs and minnows. New Underwood Dam: Some bluegill activity reported on nightcrawlers and slip bobbers worked in six to eight feet of water. And a few catfish are being taken on shrimp and stink bait during evening hours. Pactola Reservoir: Trout activity continues to be good on powerbait and trout spinners, and a few lake trout in the five to ten-pound range are being caught on chubs and smelt. And shore fishermen are catching bluegill and crappie in bays on the south side. Shade Hill Reservoir: Reports indicate that walleye action is improving though no additional information is available at this time. Stockade Lake: Bass action is picking up as the water warms. Lures and large minnows recommended. Lake Oahe: A combination of low water temps (low 50s) and high winds put the kibosh on fishing activity last week. On a positive note, cleaning stations and bathrooms are now open. as well so a spell of good weather should lead to better days ahead. Do, however, check the SDG&F website to note boat ramp closures in some areas (shore fishermen is allowed). Walleye activity recently has been largely restricted to the shallow waters of bays back in the Cheyenne River on jig and minnow presentations. Lake Sharpe: Limits of walleye and smallmouth bass are being caught most days. Fish are still in shallows as water temps remain in the low 50s. Bouncer/minnow and flicker shad plugs are working best. West Bend area appears to be the current hotspot. Lake Francis Case: As elsewhere, high winds kept boaters off the lake last week. Limits have been taken recently most notably in the Crow Creek and Kiowa areas. Dakota Angler & Outfitter, 513 Seventh St., Rapid City; The Rooster, 1441 W. Main St., Rapid City; Wheel in Bait Shop, 18696 Fishermans Road, Fruitdale; West Prairie Resort, 28354 182nd, Pierre (605-264-5303), Horsecreek Inn and Campground, 23570, and Angostura State Resort have contributed to this report You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Private pathology companies threatened to refuse COVID-19 testing at the height of the pandemic, forcing the federal government to increase by four-fold its payment for each test. The hard-nosed negotiations, which resulted in an increase of the COVID-19 test subsidy from $24.40 to $100, has produced what one company chief executive described as a "COVID-led recovery" for pathologists confronting an exodus of patients from other services. The government was told bluntly in negotiations that pathology companies would refuse to perform COVID-19 tests without a substantially increased subsidy. Credit:Louise Kennerley The peak body for private pathology companies, Australian Pathology, is pushing for an extension of the increased fee beyond the cut-off date of September 30. In the meantime, the value of Australias mass testing program, which is currently open to anyone who feels unwell, is being questioned by those conducting the tests. Australia this week recorded its 1 millionth COVID-19 test since the onset of the pandemic in a testing surge primarily driven by Victoria and NSW. Tsai resumes chairmanship of DPP ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 09:06 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () took up leadership of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) again on Wednesday, after her inauguration earlier in the day for a second four-year presidential term. Following a brief and simple presidential swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address in the morning, Tsai went to the DPP headquarters where she accepted the seal of office from the party's incumbent Chairman Cho Jung-tai (). During the handover ceremony, Tsai laid out three main goals for the DPP, saying it must provide more opportunities for young people, continue to cultivate social media talent, and encourage membership of activists who can help bring about social changes in the party. Tsai had stepped down as DPP chairwoman in November 2018, shortly after her party suffered a crushing defeat in the local government elections. However, following her election in January this year to a second presidential term, Tsai was asked by Cho to resume leadership of the party in accordance with the DPP charter. The party charter stipulates that when a DPP member is elected president of Taiwan, that person will become the ex-officio party chairperson, effective from the day of inauguration. In January, after Tsai won the presidential election, local media raised the question of whether her DPP chairmanship would give her control of the executive and legislative branches of government, given that her party holds a majority in the Legislature with 61 of the 113 seats. In response to reporters' questions on the issue, Tsai said the chairmanship would be decided based on the DPP charter. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the DPP also announced a minor change to its executive, naming Tsai's presidential campaign manager Lin Hsi-yao () as its secretary-general. Incumbent deputy secretaries-general Lin Fei-fan (), Sidney Lin () and Kao Shing-hsueh () will continue to serve in that position, the party said. (By Yeh Su-ping and Evelyn Kao) Enditem/pc NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address , We're sorry, this article is not currently available EATON COUNTY, MI Animal control officers recovered a stolen, four-week old German shepherd following a crash in Eaton County. Staff assisted an Eaton County deputy at the scene of the crash in Delta Township on Wednesday. The occupant of the vehicle was allegedly trying to hide the small puppy in his pants. Animal control staff quickly recognized it as a stolen puppy reported in nearby Ingham County. The puppy was returned to its owner and mother. All three stolen puppies have now been returned, according to Eaton County officials. Eaton County officials are working with Ingham County and assisting with their criminal case, according to a Facebook post. This article was featured in One Great Story, New Yorks reading recommendation newsletter. Sign up here to get it nightly. Biden and one of his leading contenders. Photo: Anthony Lanzilote/Bloomberg via Getty Images The background checks, interviews, and vetting are unfolding behind closed doors in Washington and Wilmington, and on secured Zoom calls. But Joe Bidens invitation-only search for a running mate is starting to look like an open audition with an audience of 300 million. Stuck at home staring at his basement camera and iPhone, Biden has kept his cards close, refusing to express any preference for any of the dozen or so women hes considering to join his ticket. That hasnt stopped just about everyone who has his number from flooding him with advice since he effectively wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination in March. And ever since he named a committee to lead the formal selection process last month, that group has been inundated with recommendations from just about everyone else including via unsolicited texts from a handful of lawmakers promoting their friends as viable contenders, and searching for gossip, after word leaked among some House members in mid-May that Bidens team had started asking candidates for references. Formally, the committee members former senator and lobbyist Chris Dodd, Delaware congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, and former Biden aide and Apple government affairs head Cynthia Hogan have quietly been seeking the counsel of high-ranking elected officials, labor leaders, and people close to Barack Obama, who has spoken with Biden himself extensively about the process. Theyre looking for the pros and cons of the individual contenders, people familiar with the conversations tell New York, but also for information about what various party constituencies are interested in and concerned about. Its the first time that Ive ever actually had real conversations with a presidential nominee about who their vice-presidential candidate should be, including [in 2016, when] we were very close to Hillary and we were not asked our opinion, said Randi Weingarten, the president of the powerful American Federation of Teachers union. Meanwhile, the pols widely thought to be in contention are also making their ambitions known and maneuvering for Bidens attention and doing so more publicly than Democratic insiders, who are accustomed to a typically secretive process peppered with denials of interest, have ever seen before. Stacey Abramss push for the job is by far the most public, to a degree thats amazed some traditionalist Biden allies. The former Georgia statehouse minority leader is the only candidate openly campaigning for it, sitting for a range of interviews about why she would be an excellent running mate, while also aiming to bulk up some of the weaker spots on her resume: She may have little international experience, but this month she published an essay in Foreign Affairs outlining her view of American leadership. Still, many people close to Biden are convinced he will ultimately choose among Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar and many game their chances in roughly that order, though the ranking has shifted a few times in recent weeks, in their view, and likely will again. Publicly, Harris has been focused on pandemic-era voting rights and the coronaviruss unequal effect on minority communities, topics shes discussed in virtual events for Bidens campaign. But shes pitched in behind the scenes, too, handing Biden access to her donor network in a handful of fundraisers. And after her disorganized campaign crumbled last year, shes slimmed down her roster of political advisers an encouraging sign to Biden allies while in mid-May, Biden hired her former political director to advise him on Latino voters. Warren, meanwhile, has recently emphasized protections for essential workers and the need for oversight of Trumps stimulus spending. Shes discussed those priorities repeatedly with Biden, leading to a joint op-ed they published in a chain of swing-state newspapers early this month. Though the progressive and the centrist have clashed in the past, Biden has, increasingly, been calling Warren for policy advice. And people whove spoken with him say Biden noted it with interest when Obama said privately last year that hed been impressed with Warrens campaign. Biden and Warren have spoken at least four times since the senator left the race in March, including after her brother died of the virus last month. Biden called Klobuchar, too, when her husband was diagnosed with COVID-19, and they spoke when he recovered. The Minnesotan, whose election-protection and voting-rights work Biden has followed, has been eager to feature in his campaign events ever since she first endorsed him in March and, soon after, slipped by telling a Michigan crowd she couldnt think of a better way to end her campaign than to join the ticket, before correcting herself: I was going to say, than to join the terrific campaign of Joe Biden. Since then, she has headlined a handful of events alone, like a virtual letter-to-the-editor-writing workshop for Colorado educators, and joined Biden for others. In April, she appeared on his new podcast to discuss their shared prioritization of bipartisanship and esteem for John McCain, as well as the importance of compassion and empathy in the White House. Some of the longer shots have gotten in on the action, too. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, whom Biden made a co-chair of his campaign in early March, also joined his podcast in early April to talk about her states coronavirus response and the federal governments failures. And Florida congresswoman Val Demings, a former police chief and Donald Trump impeachment manager, has made a point of stepping up her presence on cable news shows, and she recently joined Biden for a virtual campaign event aimed at Orlando voters. Even with all that activity, its not clear whether the various influence campaigns will have much effect on Biden or his committee. Some of the partys most powerful figures have, for now, refrained from pressuring Biden one way or another. The names that were hearing, we are friends with all of those folks, and we are going to rely upon his judgment, Lee Saunders, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees president, told me. Hes in frequent touch with Biden and his camp about workers needs during the pandemic, he said, and that remains his priority: We arent going to sit down and talk to him about who we want. Bernie Sanders hasnt offered his thoughts, either, even as some of his closest allies like California congressman Ro Khanna, one of his campaign chairs, and Our Revolution, his affiliated political group advocate for Warren. Still, a wide range Democratic influencers have decided to give it a shot. Some labor leaders, like Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants, have made cases for Warren, as has pollster Stan Greenberg, who presented supportive polling data to Bidens inner circle. Harold Schaitberger, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters the first union to endorse Biden has told him he favors someone with both legislative and executive government experience. (Schaitberger wouldnt tell me who hed recommended, but this could describe Harris or Whitmer, and possibly Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto or New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, too.) The melee extends to top party fundraisers, whove argued for both Harris and Klobuchar, while a network of women donors commissioned a survey showing Abrams would be his best bet. A handful of Latino advocacy groups are ramping up the pressure to choose a Hispanic lawmaker, specifically Cortez Masto or Lujan Grisham, while VoteVets, a group backing veteran candidates, is pushing Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth. And a number of black lawmakers and operatives have made clear to Biden that he should choose a black woman, after he relied heavily on African-American votes in the primary. This includes Jim Clyburn, the South Carolina congressman credited with saving Bidens campaign in February, and Al Sharpton, who initially planned to back Abrams, but who now praises Harris too. Meanwhile Chuck Schumer, wary of losing ground in the Senate, has privately talked up Harris whose California seat would stay safely in Democratic hands if she vacated it as well as Whitmer and Demings, whose selections would have no effect on the chamber. And Harry Reid, Schumers predecessor as the partys Senate leader, is now encouraging Biden to pick Cortez Masto, even after he encouraged Clinton to pick Warren in 2016, and then encouraged Warren to run for president. Got all that? Back in 2007, when Biden was slogging his way to a one percent finish in the Iowa caucuses, he would privately muse about announcing his vice-presidential pick far earlier than candidates usually do. It would create a jolt of attention and project his priorities clearly, hed insist to aides. Hes returned to the idea over time. When Biden was considering running in 2015, he told Warren he wanted to choose her, and shortly before he announced he was running in 2019, he weighed naming Abrams on day one. But now, in candid moments, Biden allows that actually making a decision will probably take more time than the political world seems to expect, so his timing is likely to be conventional. The background-check process, which began in late April, could by itself take up to two months. The selection is still a persistent concern for him. When friends ask what hes looking for he repeats his public criteria: He wants to feel comfortable with the person, she must be prepared to step into the job immediately, the pair must be mostly ideologically aligned, and as Obama has encouraged in their now-frequent calls she should have strengths complementary to Bidens. Some of the characteristics that we were instructed to look for are characteristics the committee is looking for now, former Attorney General Eric Holder, a close Obama friend who helped run the 2008 VP selection, told me. In recent weeks he and others involved in that selection have spoken with Bidens committee about their process structure, and offered advice. If there are differences, you have to figure out what they mean in terms of their worldview, said Holder. Are they compatible? The person has to realize that as important as you are as vice-president, youre number two. Youre part of the team. Still, Biden often talks about being a transitional president who can empower a new generation of Democratic leaders a necessity given his age, even if no one around him will admit out loud that hes unlikely to run for a second term. Hes been considering what kind of message he wants to send about the future of the country and the party with his pick. The omnipresent devastation of the pandemic has helped clarify the choice among at least some of the people around Biden. For one, multiple informal advisers cast doubt on the idea that he could choose a governor, since its unclear if she would have time to devote herself to campaigning amid the outbreak. If you listen to Fauci, this is spiking in the fall, and if it spikes badly, Whitmer cant be on the campaign trail, warned Ed Rendell, a Biden friend and a former Pennsylvania governor and DNC chairman. The imperative of finding someone who can seamlessly step into an executive disaster-management role in January has also dimmed the prospects of potential contenders who havent yet been elected to statewide office like Abrams and Demings in the eyes of some Biden whisperers. Its increasingly likely, they say, that the tradition-bound Biden will keep a trend going: The partys last six vice-presidential nominees and 14 of its last 16 were senators. Yet as the pandemic has expanded Bidens own view of what hell need to accomplish as president, it also appears to have broadened the scope of one of his most important criterias: that his choice be ideologically simpatico with him. This is no longer read by Biden allies as a clear knock against Warren, as the pair has grown closer over the last two months. Warren may be the contender whose policy priorities seem most out of step with Bidens long-held M.O,. Rendell allowed, but those differences, in the end, are not differences in what the goals should be, but how to reach the goals. In a crisis moment like this one, he continued, that kind of disagreement is largely beside the point. Biden, after all, has recently described his own onetime differences with Obama in similar terms. The person who probably reflects Joe Bidens views on things most is Amy Klobuchar, but theres not that much of a difference between what Amy would do and what Elizabeth would do, said Rendell, who briefly backed Klobuchar before the former vice-president entered the race last year. The longtime Biden ally, who has previously been skeptical of Warren, returned to the electoral map. Its a tougher-than-all-get-out choice, because if hes comfortable with all of them that all of them are competent to be president then you gotta make a political consideration. And I dont know whats best, to be honest. I think its a crap shoot. If he were in Bidens shoes, Rendell said, he would choose Klobuchar, but would be happy with any of the three former candidates. Politically, the question is: Do you need an African-American woman to get good African-American turnout?, he continued, referring to Harris. Do they need to make peace with the progressives? They cant afford to lose 15 percent of Bernies voters, he said, pointing to Warren. Or, nodding toward Klobuchar, Do you need someone whos going to appeal to the Midwest? This is, basically, the conventional wisdom view of Bidens political quandary. But some party machers, including a smattering who remain close to Obama, have recently come around to another one: that Trumps presence on the ballot will ensure maximum turnout among all constituencies, no matter what. That means Biden might as well leave short-term politics out of his decision, which keeps bringing him back to the vetting process he knows best: his own. In some ways there are a lot of similarities to 2008, said Holder. Youre dealing with although it wasnt as clear when we were doing the search an economic crisis. Youre also going to be dealing with a health crisis. But what was clear back then, as was expressed by then-Senator Obama, was youre looking for somebody who could help him govern. It wasnt about political calculations who could help us win one state or another. So Biden is looking for his Biden. He has a sense that he was an influential, consequential vice-president, and that was largely a function of his relationship with President Obama. Not that any of this really clears anything up quite yet. Ever since the formal process actually began last month, Biden himself has been uncharacteristically tight-lipped about his preferences, and absent in-person campaign events to showcase his chemistry with the contenders, thats left even some of the people closest to him parsing his every statement about possible choices. Theyve been searching for hints in the transcripts of his podcast episode with Whitmer (minimal) and a recent joint MSNBC interview he did with Abrams (ditto), and looking for patterns in his tweets about Warrens oversight work (nada). Theyve tried deciphering whatever scraps trickle out from his frequent fundraisers, too. Some moderate hearts beat a bit faster after Biden smiled when a donor told him he and Klobuchar look really great together during a private event they tag-teamed earlier this month. But the close-readers consensus is that the nearest Bidens gotten to tipping his hand may have been on a video call with supporters one Wednesday afternoon in early April. Roughly 50 high-powered backers, including Norman Lear, Dee Dee Myers, and a former ambassador to Germany looked on as Biden thanked Harris for her support. The idea, Kamala, that you ran a hell of a race and endorsed me it means a lot. Its not an easy thing to do, but, you know, thanks for making the time and for being so loyal, he said. And Im so lucky to have you as part of this, this partnership going forward, because I think were going together we can make a we can make a great deal of difference, and the biggest thing we can do is make Donald Trump a one-term president. So Im coming for you, kid. Chandigarh, May 21 : Convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Ibrahim Zubair, found guilty of raising funds for the terrorist organisation in the United States, has been deported to India after completing his sentence, intelligence sources said. Zubair was deported two days back along with 167 other Indian deportees, intelligence officials said on Thursday. According to intelligence officials, the deportees were brought on a special flight to Amritsar, Punjab, on May 19. Since then India-born Zubair, 38, has been quarantined at a centre in Amritsar, an official told IANS, requesting anonymity. According to intelligence officials, Zubair, an engineer from Telangana capital Hyderabad, was arrested in 2011 on charges of terror financing. He was convicted for raising money for Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in 2009. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair has been accused of financing terrorism in a bid to support violent jihad against the US military personnel in Iraq. "Ibrahim Mohammad (Zubair), an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. In or around 2006, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a US citizen. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States around 2007," the US Justice Department said in a press release in 2018. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Nairobi, May 21, 2020 Rwandan authorities should unconditionally release journalist Dieudonne Niyonsenga and media worker Fidele Komezusenge, and ensure the members of press can work without interference during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities arrested Niyonsenga, who runs the YouTube news channel Ishema TV, and Komezusenge, a driver with the channel, on April 15, according to tweets from the Rwanda Investigation Bureau, which handles criminal investigations. The bureau said the two were arrested for violating the countrys COVID-19 lockdown, alleging that Niyonsenga, who also goes by the name Hassan Cyuma, resisted orders to go back home, saying that as a journalist he was allowed to move freely during the lockdown. The bureau also accused Niyonsenga of giving Komezusenge a card falsely identifying him as a journalist so that he could work during the lockdown. Three people familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, said that Niyonsenga and Komezusenge were going to report at the time of their arrest. One said that Niyonsenga had a camera with him at the time. In the weeks before the arrests, Ishema TVs YouTube Channel posted reports including an interview with a woman in poverty appealing for help, a discussion on the firing of a state minister, and two reports on alleged abuses by security personnel. CPJ has not seen a copy of the charges filed against Niyonsenga and Komezusenge, and National Public Prosecution Authority spokesperson Faustin Nkusi did not respond to questions about those charges during an exchange of WhatsApp messages with CPJ yesterday. Three other people familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity citing security concerns, said the charges against the two include forgery and claiming to be journalists. Under Rwandan law, forgery is punishable with jail terms of up to seven years and fines of up to five million Rwandan francs ($5,000), and falsely claiming to be a member of a legally regulated profession carries a prison term of up to six months and fines of up to one million Rwandan francs ($1,000). Journalists and media workers need to do their jobs without interference if the public is to stay informed and authorities are to be held accountable during the COVID-19 pandemic, said CPJs sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. Authorities in Rwanda should release Dieudonne Niyonsenga and Fidele Komezusenge, drop any charges against them, and guarantee that the press can work freely during the pandemic. On March 21, Rwanda implemented COVID-19 response measures that included banning all unnecessary movement, with the exception of essential services, which did not explicitly exempt journalists, according to government announcements on Twitter. Guidelines issued by the Rwanda Media Commission, a self-regulatory body, and shared with CPJ, advised journalists to work from home when possible or carry press cards if they go out to the field. On April 13, the commission issued a statement saying that individuals running personal YouTube channels did not qualify as journalists, and were not allowed to conduct interviews with the public during the countrys coronavirus lockdown. In a May 18 email to CPJ, a representative of the secretariat of the media commission said that Niyonsenga and Komuzusenge were arrested like any other citizens for violating stay home guidelines. The commission told CPJ that it had not registered Ishema TV or accredited any of its staff. Authorities allege that, because Niyonsenga and Ishema TV are not registered with the Rwanda Media Commission, he and Komezusenge were impersonating journalists, and Komezusenges identification card labeling him as a journalist constituted forgery, according to the three people familiar with the charges who spoke to CPJ. In its tweets, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau shared images of two identification cards, identifying both Komezusenge and Niyonsenga as senior reporter/journalist with Ishema TV. The people who spoke to CPJ about the charges said that these were company identification cards, printed by Ishema TV, and not government-issued documents. On May 11, a court in Kigali denied Niyonsenga and Komezusenge bail and remanded them to prison for 30 days, according to those three people and media reports. In a May 18 phone call, Rwandan justice minister Johnston Busingye said that the state would never detain or prosecute anyone in connection to their journalism work and referred CPJ to the office of the prosecutor general for further comment on the case. In a text sent via messaging app, Faustin Nkusi, the spokesperson for the National Public Prosecution Authority, told CPJ that that the alleged crimes for which the YouTubers are being investigated have nothing to do with their right to report or their profession. He did not provide details on which specific laws they are accused of contravening. Six homes were destroyed early Thursday morning in a roaring apartment fire in Tomball. The fire started around 4 a.m. at the Cobble Creek Apartments on Lawrence Street near Medical Complex Drive. Tomball police officers helped neighbors evacuate the building as flames tore through the roof, firefighters said. COP INJURED: Houston ISD officer loaded into ambulance after crash near downtown Crews raised a ladder to fight the fire from above as firefighters went door-to-door trying to quell the flames. The fire made its way into a shared attic space, which had no way to stop the blaze from spreading to other apartments in the building. Authorities pulled a second-alarm, bringing more firefighters to the scene. The flames were under control a short time later. No injuries were reported. Arson investigators are working to determine what happened. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 11:08 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd964a31 1 National KPK,perum-perindo,bribery,bribery-case Free The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has demanded five years imprisonment and a Rp 500 million (US$34,003) fine for Risyanto Suanda, the former president director of the state-owned Indonesia Fisheries Company (Perum Perindo), for his alleged role in a bribery case related to a fish import permit. The prosecutors accused Risyanto of accepting a $30,000 bribe from Mujib Mustofa, the president director PT Navy Arsa Sejahtera, in exchange for the latter's use of Perum Perindo's permit to import up to 150 tons of frozen pacific mackerel in 2019. Navy Arsa Sejahtera was prohibited from importing fish in 2009 for exceeding its import quota. We demand that the panel of judges declare the defendant, Risyanto Suanda, guilty of corruption," KPK prosecutor Muhammad Nur Azis said during a hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday. Risyanto was charged with violating Article 12 of the 2001 Anticorruption Law, which forbids civil servants and state officials from accepting bribes. The prosecutors also demanded Risyanto pay Rp 1.24 billion in restitution within a month following his conviction. The fee would include the Rp 200 million he had previously handed over to the KPK and the money gained from the auctions of his goods, namely two Louis Vuitton bags and other jewelry. "Should the defendant fail to pay the restitution on time, his [other] property will be confiscated and auctioned off by prosecutors to cover the fee, Nur Azis said, adding that Risyanto would be imprisoned for another two years if the auction did not cover the fee. For his involvement in the case, Mujib was convicted to 18 months imprisonment and handed a Rp 100 million fine by the Jakarta Corruption Court in February. KPK prosecutors also charged Risyanto with allegedly accepting a total of US$30,000 and S$80,000 from three businesspeople in exchange for using his position at Perum Perindo to benefit their company. Risyanto, along with two other Perum Perindo directors and six other individuals, was arrested by the KPK in September 2019 during two operations in Jakarta and Bogor, West Java. (mfp) The much-hyped Gujarat model is in a mess as the coronavirus pandemic progresses. Consider the following: One, not only does the state have among the highest number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the country, but more worryingly, it has a mortality rate of 5.9%, which is nearly twice the national average of 3.09%. Two, the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner, a well-regarded Indian Administrative Service officer, is suddenly removed because, according to media reports, the government felt he was testing too much. Three, a national daily reports that an Ahmedabad hospital was segregating Covid-19 patients on religious lines. The government denies it even as chief minister (CM) Vijay Rupani blames the Tablighi Jamaat for the spurt in cases. Four, in Surat, migrant workers clashed with the police on several occasions in the past month. Five, in Rajkot, a TV journalist is injured when a mob of migrant labour, incensed that their train has been cancelled, vented their ire on the local media even as the police stood by helplessly. Six, a Gujarati website journalist is booked for sedition for reporting that there are problems between Rupani and the Bharatiya Janata Party high command. So what has gone wrong in a state that is branded as a model for 21st century India, one whose rapid development was seen as the cornerstone for Prime Minister Narendra Modis rise to national prominence and eventually the prime ministership? The truth is that the Gujarat model was never the wondrous paradise that the glitzy propaganda machine suggested it to be for more than a decade between 2001 and 2014. The Vibrant Gujarat imagery, which saw hundreds of Memorandums of Understanding being signed between industrialists and the government, was only one part of the story. While the state successfully cultivated a business-friendly image and took impressive strides in building up its physical infrastructure roads, ports, power generation and significantly enhanced its agricultural growth rate, the areas of darkness were obscured and never questioned by a mostly pliant media and citizenry. One of those dark spots has now come to haunt the model its failure to address public health care concerns and build a socially-inclusive system of governance. Gujarat has 0.33 hospital beds per 1,000 population as against the national average of 0.55 beds per 1,000. Among the large states, only Bihar has a worse ratio. In terms of per capita health expenditure, Gujarat slipped from fourth in 1999-2000 to 11th position in 2009-10, with health expenditure as a percentage of Net State Domestic Product declining from 0.87% to 0.73% in this decade. Its infant mortality rates remain worryingly high, another reflection of poor social sector spending. Sanjeev Kumar, a researcher at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, reveals that the total number of primary health centres in Gujarat is less than even Bihar and the latter has almost three times as many rural public hospitals as Gujarat. Several government hospitals have been handed over to the private sector in recent years. The failure to build a robust public health infrastructure is matched by a decline in investment in education. Gujarat spends less than 2% of its income on education and nearly 45% of its workforce are illiterate or have studied up to the fifth standard. Poor quality higher education has meant a growing number of unemployed engineers and science graduates. Ahmedabad-based economist Indira Hirway has pointed out that over 90% of workers are in informal and traditional sectors with low incomes and low social security; the state also has among the lowest wage rates among the major states in the country. Should the angst of migrant labourers working in Surats grimy underbelly of squalor come as any surprise? Nor should it come as a surprise that those who have sought a reset of priorities or questioned the political authority are being ostracised or charged with sedition. Centralisation of power allows for no dissent. This is not the first time that journalists have been charged with sedition for criticising the government. The CMs attempt to pin the blame on the Tablighis is also predictable. For years, the political establishment has nurtured a dislike for minority groups. The Tablighis provided the perfect alibi for a government struggling to control the spread of the virus. The coronavirus crisis is a wake-up call for Gujarat, a state riding high on its entrepreneurial zeal and aspirational dreams, but also a state blighted by stark caste and communal divisions and rising income disparities. The Modi years have seen a fierce assertion of Gujarati asmita (regional pride), but have also witnessed the marginalisation of those social groups which did not buy into the Vibrant Gujarat messaging. The coronavirus challenge provides Gujarat with an opportunity to revive some of its lost Gandhian values of compassion; an inclusive community spirit, one which doesnt just take pride in increased capital investment, but also in enhancing its human development. That would be the true Gujarat model to strive for. Post-script: In February, the Ahmedabad municipal authorities courted controversy when overnight a wall was built to apparently hide the slums of the city from the gaze of the much-publicised United States presidential visit. It has now taken a coronavirus for the citys beautification drive to be confronted with a more ugly reality. Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His new book is 2019: How Modi Won India The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON by Dr Jia Xiuzhuang SUPPLY SECURITY Talc is found in 15 provinces in China, with Liaoning, Shandong, Guangxi, Jiangxi and Qinghai as the most prominent areas, accounting for more than 90% of the total reserves. Liaoning, Shandong and Guangxi are the main production areas for white talc, although different volumes of white talc reserves have been discovered in Ningshan and Zhenan in Shanxi, Luanchuan and Fangcheng in Henan, Xiangfan in Hubei, Putian in Fujian and Kumishi in Sinkiang. Jiangxi is rich in black talc, produced mainly from Guangfeng, Yushan and Shangrao, with higher whiteness after burning, predominately for the ceramics market. Shanglin in Guangxi, Qixia in Shandong, Shimen in Hunan and Chongqing also produce black talc, but due to a negative geographic location and traffic conditions, talc resources in Qinghai have not yet been mined in scale. Figures for 2010 show a total of 126 talc mining areas with a reserve of 7.5m tonnes, basic reserves of 153m tonnes, stock reserves of 141m tonnes and proven reserves of 267m tonnes. Provinces with reserves of more than 1m tonnes are: Jilin (1.2m tonnes); Liaoning (62m tonnes); Shandong (17m tonne); Guangxi (8.2m tonnes); Jiangxi: (31m tonnes); Hunan (2.8m tonnes); and Shanxi (1.2m tonnes). Source: Ian Wilson Talc deposit types There are four main geological types of talc deposits in China. Firstly, there are regional metamorphic type talc deposits, which can shape qualified talc deposits on a large scale. Examples of these are the Fanjiabaozi talc deposit of Haicheng in Liaoning, the Jizhua talc deposit of Longsheng in Guangxi and the Xujiadian talc deposit of Haiyang in Shandong. The first two of these are super-large deposits. The second type of deposit is pyrometasomatic talc, found in the Sidaohongshan talc deposit of Jinta in Gansu, Nantong talc in Chongqing and the Zhenwei talc deposit of Shanglin in Guangxi. Thirdly there are ultra basic rock hydrothermal alteration type talc deposits, such as the Kumishi talc deposit of Toksun in Sinkiang and the Mangya talc deposit in Qinghai. Finally, sedimentary type attaclay (talc clay) and black talc deposits are found in the Jijiaoyan attaclay deposit of Xinhua in Hunan. Black talc can also be discovered in the Sinian System, for example at the Guangfeng black talc deposit in Jiangxi. There are a total of 43 talc deposits in China (the main deposits are shown in Table 1) with eight large-sized deposits with reserves of more than 5m tonnes, 17 middle-sized deposits (reserves of between 1m-5m tonnes) and 18 small-sized deposits. In addition, super-large deposits with reserves of more than 10m tonnes include Fanjiabaozi of Haicheng in Liaoning, Jizhua of Longsheng in Guangxi, Liboshikuang of Qixia in Shandong, Xitan of Guangfeng in Jiangxi, Pingtang of Heyuan in Jiang, and the west mining area of the Mangya deposit in Qinghai. White talc with high-end quality accounts for 30% of the total reserves. There are more than 200 talc processing enterprises in China, 70% of which are small scale. The main manufacturers, which account for just 5% of the total producers, but 80% of total output are: Gulin Guiguang Talc Development Co. Ltd; Guangxi Longguang Talc Development Co. Ltd; Guangxi Longsheng Huamei Talc Development Co. Ltd; Shandong Pingdu Talc Mine Industrial Co. Ltd; Laizhou Talc Industry Co. Ltd; Shandong Qixia Talc Co Ltd; Liaoning Aihai Talc Co. Ltd; Liaoning Beihai Industrial Group; Haicheng Xindai Mineral Co. Ltd and Haicheng Shuiquan Talc Co. Ltd. Exports Chinese talc output was about 1.85m tonnes in 2011, as shown in Table 2. The talc export volume in 2011 was 680,000 tonnes at a value of $160m. As this represents just 0.008% of total Chinese export volume, it suggests that talc is a low-value, small-scale mining industry in China. Guangxi, Shandong and Liaoning are the main areas for talc export. The volumes broken down into crude talc and ground talc exports show that Guangxi accounts for 56% and 25%, Shandong for 9% and 6%, Liaoning for 35% and 69% respectively. Equipment for processing talc in China mainly includes roller mill, table mill, impact mill and jet mill. There are currently 300 roller mills for processing 400 mesh products; 10 table mills and 10 impact mills for processing 800 mesh products; and 70 jet mills for processing 1,250 mesh and above products. The annual processing capacity of micronised products (as 1,250 mesh) is 350,000 tonnes. It is anticipated that in the future there will be an increased use of table mills to replace roller mills, and jet mills will be developed on a larger scale and will be more automated. Talc is a relatively low-value, small-scale mineral. As an ordinary filler, it is applied to reduce production costs, and shares identical application fields as calcium carbonate and kaolin. On a global scale, talc is not considered to be a rare resource, so excessively high prices will lead to a fall-off in use or result in its replacement by other kinds of fillers. Talcs market share is now less than 5% and is declining, showing its weak position in the filler sector. China is the only country in the world that imposes export duties, export quotas and lawful inspections on talc, and views it as a strategic resource. But the low export levels show that its development will be led more through market regulation to reflect the value and realise the best exploitation of the resource. The Chinese talc industry has changed considerably recently as the export structure moves from crude talc to ground talc and micronised talc with high added value. Demand for high-grade products now exceeds supply, which is a reversal from previous trends, while aggressive competition between rival enterprises no longer exists. The export price has been climbing gradually since 2000, with an average annual increase of around 10% for the past five years. Labour and production costs are increasing, while various taxes and duties have also risen, which has seen the prices for the majority of products increase by between three and five times since 1996. Prices of some export products are now close to or even higher than the international market prices and many low- to medium-grade goods are now no longer internationally competitive. The problem which needs to be resolved is how to regain a competitive position in the global market, but with taxes and fees likely to add 40%-45% to export costs in the second half of 2012 and 50% to low-grade products, this is not going to be easy. SUPPLY RISK From a policy perspective, five questions relating to the sustainable development of Chinese talc industry need to be addressed: 1 Chinese talcs position needs to be reviewed. Talc in China is overstated as a product of strategic importance via the systems of quotas, export duties and lawful inspection. The following regulations now apply to talc: Compensated export quota has been in place since 1996; According to the Announcement on Export of Talc Mixtures in the customs announcement in 2008, mixtures containing more than 50% talc are regarded as talc (Tax Regulation No. 38249091); 5% to 10% export duty has been collected since 2009; Ground talc under Tax Regulation No. 2526202001 was adjusted as products concerned with food additives in 2012. 2 Encourage ground talc export and control crude talc export. Currently, crude talc and ground talc export policies share no essential difference with both subject to export duties and export quotas. Export duty for ground talc include 5% and 10% ad valorem duties, resulting in a situation where products with high added value have a higher export duty. This has not reflected the national basic policy of encouraging the export of finished products and controlling the export of raw materials. Export is the most important market for Chinese talc. The Go Out policy, which encourages Chinese companies to invest overseas, must be carried out in the future, and products with high added value and deep processing need a broad international market. Chinese talc products have a position in the international market, but by fully utilising its advantageous resources and processing techniques, China can do better. A healthy and steady export market is important to the sustainable development of the industry. Current export policy should encourage enterprises taking part in global markets to seek more development opportunities. If the export duty for ground talc was cancelled and retained only on the export duty for crude talc, completion of finished goods worldwide would be improved and simultaneously protect domestic resources. 3 Encourage the utilisation of global talc resources and make the import channel of crude talc accessible. China has the worlds largest talc processing capacity, but the shortage of domestic raw materials has blocked industrial investment and development. The failure to resolve material supply means no further development of the Chinese processing industry is possible. Raw material shortages in Liaoning and Shandong alone are more than 100,000-150,000 tpa, which can only be satisfied by imports. Raw materials in surrounding countries have an obvious price advantage to domestic reserves, which is an opportunity China must seize. China should strive to take advantage of the global resources, but crude talc imports are not currently encouraged. Exports carry a 5%-10% duty, while for imports, a 1% duty is collected. Import duties should be cancelled to make the import channel of crude talc accessible and assist the development of the Chinese talc industry. 4 Promote the comprehensive utilisation of resources, especially low-quality talc and chlorite. According to the Announcement on Export of Talc Mixtures in the customs announcement (Tax Regulation No. 38249091), mixtures containing more than 50% talc are regarded as talc. Even if the talc content in the mixture is lower than 50%, but occupies the largest proportion, these mixtures will still be regarded as equal to mixtures containing 50% talc and will therefore still be subject to export quotas. However, there is no tax number for talc mixtures containing less than 50% talc, so exports are not possible. There seem to be no advantages in restricting low-grade product exports. There are only limited domestic uses for low-grade talc and chlorite, while steady demand exists in the international market. Restricting exports will only result in large-scale overstocks, waste and environmental pollution. A new tax number for the mixtures containing less than 50% talc should be established to define clearly that no matter whether the talc content in the mixture is at the upper range, the mixture should be labelled under the new tax number. 5 Cancel the regulation to control industry-level talc products in accordance with requirements for food additives. Adjustments were made to the Directory of Lawful Inspection on 1 January 2012, and management conditions for ground talc under Tax Regulation No. 2526202001 were regulated as products concerned with food additives. This adjustment is significant. Ground talc under Item 2526202001 refers to micronised talc, which has industrial applications including plastics, painting and paper making, and is listed as an industrial product. Industry talc has no requirements for hygienic indexes and heavy metals, which is precisely the inspection focus for products with food additives. Once the standards for food additives are applied to industrial talc, all products will not qualify and cannot be be exported. There is no need for this to happen. The fact that export enterprises develop and produce micronised talc will increase the added value of the products, complying with the policy of effectively utilising mineral resources, and should be strongly supported. In the six months since it has been applied, this regulation has directly resulted in unnecessary cost increases and longer lead times. The appliance of management conditions for food additives to micronised talc under Tax Regulation No. 2626202001 should be cancelled, or failing that, the commodity inspection body should give the go-ahead notice in accordance with the application description issued by the exporters and Letter of Guarantee for Inedible Products. PRICE TRENDS Chinese talc prices have been rising since 2000. In the past three years, the increase was kept at around 10%, which is higher than that of other countries in the corresponding period. These rising talc prices reflect the market supply-demand situation, as well as the increase in production and export costs in the country. There is an increasing global demand for white talc while supplies in China are decreasing, and this misbalance between supply and demand is not anticipated to change in the near future. Talc has become to be seen as a product with high energy consumption and high pollution, yet restricted by resource and with a changing export policy. In 2003, export rebates were reduced, and all rebates were cancelled in 2006. By 2009, 10% of the export duty was being collected. Another important factor for price rises is the 23% appreciation of Chinese renminbi RMB against the US dollar since the exchange rate system was reformed. By 2012, the price of talc in China hit the limit that the talc market could seemingly bear, and indications are that there is no further room to rise. Price increases may have been accepted in the first half of this year, but the second half and going into 2013 will be more difficult. A decrease in the domestic market in the second half of the year is expected to see demand fall by 30%. This is unlike the financial crisis of 2008, as not only is there a contraction in the international market, but now domestic consumption is also declining. It is predicted that the talc industry in China will see a far more stagnant market in the second half of 2012 compared with 2008. At present, prices of crude products in China are higher than that of other surrounding developing countries, and prices of some medium- and high-grade goods are close to, or even higher, than international market prices. The majority of low-grade goods may soon be uncompetitive in world markets due to high prices. An important feature of Chinese talc exports is the use of export quotas and bidding methods. Qualification of bidding enterprises and the bidding measures have to comply with relevant regulations in Quota Bidding Measures for Export Goods and Implementing Regulations for Export Quota Bidding of Industrial Products. Goods covered in talc export quota management include: Crude talc HS: 25261020 Ground talc HS: 25262020.01 Ground talc HS: 25262020.90 Mixture with more than 50% of talc by weight HS: 38249091 In recent years, the export quota volume has been kept at between 610,000 and 680,000 tonnes. The volume was reduced to 400,000 tonnes in 2009 following the global economic crisis. The export volume rose to 610,000 in 2010, increased to 680,000 in 2011 and was maintained at that level in 2012. A total of 40 enterprises received bidding qualifications and obtained corresponding export quotas, of which 25 are manufacturing enterprises and 15 are trading companies, with a respective export quota of 54% and 46%. In addition, 150,000 tonnes of talc and chlorite are exported annually, mainly from Liaoning and Shandong. Talc mixture refers to wastage after talc sorting, mixed with various amounts of talc and other associated ores in a large proportion. These mixtures are mainly exported to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. According to current regulations, talc mixtures containing more than 50% talc are regarded as talc, and require an export quota. Chinese ground talc is mainly exported to Asia, with crude talc shipped to Japan, Europe and North America. Primary Asian import countries include Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, while main European and American import countries include the US, Italy and the Netherlands. China is the worlds largest talc exporter, although it is notable that talc imports have increased significantly in recent years. In 2011, the import volume was up to 50,000 tonnes, with 19,000 tonnes of ground talc. The main import countries include the US, South Korea and Italy, with consumption mainly in the Yangtze River delta and the Pearl River delta. By 2011, import prices had reached $955/tonne, compared with an export price of just $188/tonne. In 2011, 30,000 tonnes of crude talc were imported, mainly from Pakistan, North Korea, Egypt and India. The reason that ground talc needs to be imported is because Chinese product quality fails to satisfy production requirements, while crude talc is imported as its price is the same or lower than prices in China. MARKET OUTLOOK The Chinese talc industry is striving to abandon the old pattern of aimlessly pursuing production volume and expanding production scales. As an industry relying on resources, current growth in production volume will shorten the life of these reserves. The industry has begun to accept the concept of protecting resources and the environment, and has started to follow a path of sustainable development. Mining resources will now be exploited on the basis of environmental protection. In recent years, a combination of improved mining approaches, creative mine-selection technology and updating of old processes, has seen new mineral resources exploited in a more efficient way. Detailed production grading and improved multipurpose utilisation rates of mineral resources have provided proof that talc production can be kept at a steady level of 1.75m-1.85m tonnes for the next five to 10 years. In the past 30 years, exports have been the main motivation behind the development of the Chinese talc industry. In the future however, domestic market demands will exceed export demands and become the main driving force for growth. In 2009, China was the number one producer of paper, coating, automobiles, household appliances and ceramics. These markets also appeal to the main application fields of talc and have great market potential. The Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta are regarded as the leading consumption areas. Future market growth will be in plastics, especially PP plastics for the automobile industry, household appliances and packaging products, and the annual growth rate will be maintained at 5%-10%. Contributor: Dr Jia Xiuzhuang is a certified business executive and secretary-general of the Chinese Talc Producer Association. Acknowlegdements: Dr Chen Congxi (member of the key laboratory for land and resources strategic research in Ministry of Land and Resources) and Liu Xiangrong (China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters) assisted in the preparation of this article. At a glance: global talc Source: Ian Wilson, consultant Talc production in 2010 is estimated at around 6m tonnes globally, with 18 companies accounting for 75% of production, nine of which are in China. Talc production from China remains stable at 2m tpa, and accounts for about one-third of world talc production. The Indian talc industry continues to grow and is now the worlds second-largest talc producing country, with a 14%-share of the market. Pakistan and North Korea are being developed as new sources of talc, although the majority of new talc is being produced in Afghanistan (3% market share in 2010), which is then exported globally via Pakistan. Pakistan has four talc mining areas with a total production of 165,000 tpa talc, and talc from North Pakistan is processed at CapriCorns Karachi facility along with talc from Afghanistan. Once processed, high- quality pure white talc is then exported globally. South Asia is a major white-talc producing region, with the Indian state of Rajasthan playing host to major players such as Golcha Group, Golcha Associated Group, Jai Group and 20 Microns, while Afghanistan is also growing as a source for international high-quality talc. Due to detailed Russian talc exploration carried out in Afghanistan in the 1970s, awareness of Afghanistans talc deposits has existed for a number of years, although it is only recently that development of the industry has been encouraged as part of the US Aid programme in the country. Despite the dangers the area poses, talc mining in Afghanistan is being developed to obtain the high-quality, high-whiteness talc, which is in great demand. Investment in heavier equipment is underway, as much of the existing mining taking place is currently very basic. Production estimates for Afghanistan vary between 200,000-300,000 tpa or more depending on the source, and so further information is necessary to provide an accurate estimate. Production from the US remains stable and it retains a 10% market share via four major companies; Imerys, SMI, IMI-FAB and American Talc. Production totalled 455,000 tonnes in 2010 according to the USGS, with an additional 241,400 tonnes worth of imports, of which 60% was utilised in the plastics industry. The largest bulk of talc imported into the US was supplied by China (44%) in lump form at average price of $191/tonne, while 38% of imported material was supplied by Canada with a cost of $358/tonne for processing talc. The USGS reported a 20%-increase of talc imports into the US in 2011, with China and Pakistan accounting for most of the increase, although it is believed that around 30,000 tonnes was used to replenish inventories with not all of the material entering commerce. Major players Of the 6m tpa talc produced in 2010, 75% comes from 18 companies. Imerys accounted for 20% of global production, followed by Mondo Minerals with 13% in 2010. However, the talc industry was altered by two large acquisitions in 2011. In October private equity group Advent International Corp. finalised its acquisition of Mondo Minerals, which produces around 800,000 tpa talc, from HgCapital for an undisclosed amount. Talc de Luzenac also changed hands in 2011, acquired by France-based Imerys from Rio Tinto for $340m giving Imerys a total of around one-fifth of the worlds talc production capacity. The acquisition complemented Imerys existing calcium carbonate and kaolin supply to the paper, paint and plastics industry. Although Imerys recently reported a drop in 2012 global paper production of 0.3% compared with the previous year, sales for the companys performance minerals in filtration business - which includes the consolidated Luzenac Group - saw increases of 36.6% for 2012 so far. CEO Gilles Michel believes that the paper industry is decreasing in business and conceded that the streamlining wave in the paper industry was probably not yet over. The sharp increase the company saw in demand for talc was attributed to the growing use of talc in the automotive industry, compensating for cycle related effects from the economy. End markets The declining use of talc as a filler in the paper industry has been more than offset by good growth of the use of talc in polymers, especially for automobile parts, according to industry sources. Under-the-hood automotive parts, such as those for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, require high-aspect ratio talc - preferably high-purity grades - to perform over a wide temperature range. The largest global end market for talc is still paper, which accounts for 34% of the minerals end use. The second largest is the steadily growing polymer market, accounting for 23%, followed by ceramics, 15%, and paint, 12%. A meth-addicted dad who abandoned his two young girls at a McDonald's in the middle of the night to go and play the pokies has been sentenced for a a string of offences. The two children, aged nine and 11, where dropped at a McDonald's at Ayr, an hour south-east of Townsville, Queensland at 11.35pm on January 30 this year. Townsville Court heard the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not bother to check if the restaurant was open before he drove to the Coutts Commercial Hotel to play the pokies. A father abandoned his two girls, aged nine and 11, at a McDonald's at Ayr, an hour south-east of Townsville, in the middle of the night on January 30 this year Unable to enter the building, the girls they waited in the car park wearing no shoes or until a concerned passerby called police, according to the Townsville Bulletin. The court heard when police arrived the girls explained they had not been fed and their dad regularly left them alone. Following the incident the father was arrested for a string of offences including possession of cannabis seeds on February 10 and was caught driving while high on meth on March 6. The dad's defence lawyer told the court that the former navy marine technician had been raising the children by himself for the last 18 months. The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not bother to check if the restaurant was open before he drove to the Coutts Commercial Hotel (pictured) to play the pokies Soon after the incident the father was charged with string of offences including possession of cannabis seeds on February 10 and was caught driving while high on meth on March 6. Pictured is the Coutts Commercial Hotel The lawyer said the man, who was already in jail, had turned a corner by quitting his meth addiction that began when his younger brother died. 'He is much happier off the drugs and can't wait to get out (of jail) and get working again and look after his two girls,' the lawyer said. The father was sentenced to nine months' jail but Magistrate Cathy Wadley suspended the sentence with immediate release after taking into account the 63 days already served. National Weather Service Houston will experience increasing rain chances throughout the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. A sunny week, which saw high temperatures in the 90s, will turn into a wet weekend, with up to a 60 percent chance of rain by Monday. Thursdays rain chances are low, and skies will likely be partly cloudy. The meat industry prefers to work behind the closed doors of factory farms and slaughterhouses, but the pandemic is giving Canadians a rare glimpse into the dirty business of animal slaughter, and the unique and intense forms of suffering the industry unleashes on animals, workers, and sometimes even farmers. By now its old news that Canadas largest COVID-19 outbreaks have all been at slaughterhouses (the industry prefers the term processing plants). In Alberta, over three times as many slaughter workers have fallen ill than have health-care workers. Nationwide, these killing factories are closing or running at reduced capacity, throwing a wrench in the meat supply chain. The meat industry raises animals on a strict, just-in-time basis, and slaughter disruptions are most keenly felt in the pig and chicken meat industries because those animals have shorter lifespans and higher turnover. Slaughter-ready animals are immediately trucked to the abattoir to maximize farmer profits, and clear space for new, younger animals. Genetically manipulated to grow grotesquely fast, chickens reach slaughter size in only six to eight weeks. Pigs reach market weight of about 270 pounds in a mere six months. Many farmers are now making a business decision to depopulate a euphemistic term for killing off slaughter-ready animals whom they cant slaughter for profit. At least 200,000 chickens have been killed on farms in Quebec, and reports suggest up to 90,000 pigs have met the same fate. There is no publicly available data, so actual numbers could be significantly higher. In Minnesota, farmers are killing 3,000 pigs a day and running their bodies through a woodchipper. No public inspectors oversee on-farm killings, and industry-accepted methods include braining piglets by bashing in their heads in, shooting pigs, and gassing entire barns of chickens. Some may wring their hands about food waste, but more importantly, these animals are individuals. As MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith pointed out at a recent Industry Committee meeting, this is what happens when we treat sentient animals as commodities. Farmers are now claiming that shooting pigs and gassing chickens is affecting their mental health. Apparently even farmers involved in the daily confinement and exploitation of animals, often in appalling conditions dont like to contemplate the fate that awaits animals once trucked away. But what of the mental well-being of workers in slaughterhouses to whom we normally outsource the business of killing? What is it like to kill, disassemble bodies, and constantly try to disassociate from the horror of it? Slaughterhouse workers are disproportionately marginalized people from immigrant communities, temporary foreign workers, and other folks with few options. We shunt this dangerous, damaging work onto the vulnerable, and the mental toll it takes is evident in the higher rates of violence in slaughterhouse communities. Now, these workers are also dealing with the added risk of COVID-19 infection. The secretive brutality of the meat industry is on display for all to see, and its more apparent than ever before that a post-pandemic food system must include a shift toward growing plants, and a move away from the slaughter-based food system that hurts animals, workers, and our food supply. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:11:56|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- It is highly necessary for China's national legislature to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to safeguard national security, a spokesperson said Thursday. The deliberation of a draft decision on the legislation has been included in the agenda of the third session of the 13th National People's Congress, scheduled to open on Friday, Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the session, told a press conference. Enditem India's COVID-19 tally crossed 1.16 lakh on Thursday with more than half of it getting reported in just about a fortnight amid large-scale movement of migrants in special trains and arrival of stranded Indians and expatriates from abroad. The government, however, stressed that the mortality rate in India has remained less than half of the global average of 6.65 per cent. Authorities also announced detailed guidelines for resumption of domestic flights after a gap of two months, while business activities and public movement gained further momentum on the fourth day of the much-relaxed fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown that has been in place since March 25. At the same time, the Centre asked all states to ensure strict implementation of the existing lockdown conditions, including a night curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM, saying it has noticed violation of the restrictions at several places. In a directive to all states and union territories, the Union Home Ministry sought strict adherence to its guidelines, including for wearing of face covers, ensuring social distancing at work, transport and in public places, maintaining hygiene and sanitation etc, for containing the spread of COVID-19. The nationwide death toll due to the deadly virus infection has neared 3,500 with a mortality rate of about 3 per cent, while more than 47,000 have recovered so far. At least 15 other countries have recorded more deaths than India so far. However, India's tally of active cases at over 65,000 is now the fifth largest in the world after the US, Russia, Brazil and France. While India is the 11th worst-hit in terms of the number of overall cases detected so far, some of the ten most affected countries now have fewer active cases than India and those include Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey and Iran. In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 3,435 and the number of confirmed cases to 1,12,359 in the country, registering an increase of 132 deaths and 5,609 cases in the last 24 hours. It put the number of active cases at 63,624 and recoveries at over 45,000. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.30 PM, showed a higher number of confirmed cases at 1,16,295 and the death toll at 3,494. It showed an increase of 5,705 cases and 139 fatalities since Wednesday evening, while recoveries also rose during this period by more than 2,700 to 47,487. More than half of this cumulative number of confirmed cases have been reported since May 8 -- the day when the morning update by the Union Health Ministry had put the number of confirmed cases at 56,342. India reported its first COVID-19 case on January 30, while the 100-mark was reached 45 days later on March 15. However, the 1,000-mark was reached much faster on March 29 and the 10,000-mark was breached on April 13. The 50,000-mark was breached on May 6, while it took less than two weeks for the next 50,000 cases with the one-lakh mark being reached on May 18. Globally, more than 50 lakh people have tested positive for the deadly virus infection since its emergence in China last December, while nearly 3.3 lakh have lost their lives. More than 19 lakh people have recovered so far. The government officials have said that the time taken in India for the case count to move from 100 to one lakh has been much better at 64 days, which was better than many other badly-hit countries and actually double the time taken in the US and Spain. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said timely case identification and proper clinical management have helped India keep its mortality rate lower. It also said that more than 3,000 people have been cured in the last 24 hours itself and the overall recovery rate is improving continuously and has crossed 40 per cent now. The Ministry said all patients are under active medical supervision, while around 2.94 per cent of all active cases in ICU. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said there has been a 1000-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 tests done per day in the last two months. More than 25 lakh tests have been done so far. A noted public health expert and epidemiologist, however, cautioned that India may witness COVID-19 cases peaking in mid-July if the current lockdown is lifted this month-end, but also hoped that there could be a "lower surge" in the wake of strong containment measures taken in the past two months. "If the lockdown is lifted on May 30, then we will have peak around mid-July because if you take three incubations period, which is one-and-half months, that will be enough for you to know how the disease spreads when nothing is controlled," Giridhara R Babu, Professor and Head of Life Course Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, told PTI. Several states and UTs continued to report new cases, with the national capital itself recording the highest single-day spike of 571 fresh cases to take its total to 11,659. This was the third consecutive day when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. Gujarat reported 371 new cases to take its tally to 12,910, while 233 fresh cases were found in Ahmedabad itself. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched a week-long campaign to educate citizens on issues related to COVID-19 and said that people should learn to live with coronavirus while fighting against it. Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in India, recorded 2,345 new cases, taking the tally in the state to 41,642. This was the fifth consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases. Tamil Nadu, another badly hit state, recorded more than 700 new cases for the second straight day to take its tally to close to 14,000. State's Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said the government was facing "new challenges" by way of many among those returning to Tamil Nadu from other countries and states testing positive for the deadly virus, some after the mandatory exit test conducted after seven days. The state recorded 776 new cases on Thursday and the infected included those who had returned from other countries including the US and states like Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala. At least seven people died also, taking the state's death toll to 94, while the cumulative tally of positive cases touched 13,967. In Tamil Nadu, at least 61 foreign returnees have tested positive so far. Of these, 25 had initially tested negative right after their arrival, but they turned positive during the exit screening after seven days. New cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well, among other states. In many of these states, the new cases largely included people having returned from other states or in some cases from abroad. Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that migrant workers coming from other states are being monitored by health workers and a number of them have tested positive. "Over 5.42 lakh migrant workers were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," he said. In Barabanki itself, 245 samples were sent for testing on May 15-16, out of which 95 have been found positive for the virus infection. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, while the remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with six infected persons and had been kept in isolation, district administration officials said. In Bihar also, detection of more than 1,000 cases in the last three weeks has been mainly attributed to the large-scale influx of people who have been returning to the state from places they had been stuck in during the lockdown. A similar trend has been seen across various states after special trains began operating on May 1 to ferry migrant workers back to their native places, while there have also been cases, including in Goa and Kerala, of those people testing positive who were brought back from abroad in special flights. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senators demand Planned Parenthood return $80M in Paycheck Protection loans Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Republican Senators are demanding that the nation's largest abortion business return $80 million in coronavirus relief loans that its affiliates applied for and received despite their ineligibility. Thirty-seven Planned Parenthood affiliates received Paycheck Protection Program loans even though the organization has over $2 billion in net assets and doesn't meet the qualifications for the program which was intended for small businesses. Planned Parenthood, the nations largest abortion business, tried to defraud taxpayers during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said Wednesday. The Paycheck Protection Program is supposed to be a lifeline for small businesses, not a slush fund for Big Abortion. The administration needs to reclaim that money and fire the bureaucrats who signed off on this scam. The reason why Planned Parenthood was ineligible to receive the loans is because affiliates of larger organizations with over 500 employees were not allowed to accept PPP funds, according to the Small Business Administration. The SBA wrote a letter to Planned Parenthood explaining that, in addition to mandatory repayment, "severe penalties" were possible, even criminal or civil sanctions, if the agency determined the group made knowingly false statements in its application. There is no ambiguity in the legislation that passed or public record around its passage that organizations such as Planned Parenthood, whose parent organization has close to half a billion dollars in assets, is not eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement. Those funds must be returned immediately. Furthermore, the SBA should open an investigation into how these loans were made in clear violation of the applicable affiliation rules and if Planned Parenthood, the banks, or staff at the SBA knowingly violated the law, all appropriate legal options should be pursued, he added. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted in response to the development that the funds must be recovered "and if anybody knowingly falsified applications, they need to be prosecuted." Similarly, the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political action committee that works to elect pro-life female politicians, said in a statement to The Christian Post on Wednesday that around the country the abortion giant has "refused to cease its abortion operation in the wake of the pandemic, hoarding personal protective equipment and putting its staff and women at risk. "It is rich that they, in turn, feel entitled to taxpayer dollars meant to help businesses in need. After decades of feeding at the taxpayers trough while running the nations largest abortion operation, they have nearly $2 billion dollars in net assets. They should return this funding immediately. We thank President Trump for his strong commitment to stop taxpayer funding of abortion and abortionists like Planned Parenthood," the SBA-List said. In August 2019, Planned Parenthood announced it was leaving the Title X federal family planning program over the Trump administrations Protect Life Rule that prevents clinics that receive Title X funds from referring patients for abortion. An attempt to defund the organization entirely a longtime goal of pro-life advocates failed by one vote as part of an unsuccessful healthcare reform package in 2017, when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cast the deciding vote against the measure. Amid state lockdown orders that forced businesses to close and scheduled surgeries to be canceled, Planned Parenthood argued that its abortion facilities provided "essential" services and should remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. In some conservative states, such as Texas, the clinics were temporarily closed, whereas in more liberal states, such as Illinois, the abortion clinics were allowed to remain open. The City of Laredo has reached the 500-case mark as Laredo and Webb County officials confirmed two additional cases of the novel coronavirus in their daily update Thursday. The added cases bring the city's total of confirmed positives to 500. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Subrata Nagchoudhary Ruma Paul (Reuters) Kolkata/Dhaka Thu, May 21, 2020 14:23 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd96a9b9 2 World India,Bangladesh,cyclone,Cyclone-Amphan Free Rescue teams searched for survivors in eastern India and Bangladesh a day after the most powerful cyclone in over a decade devastated coastal villages, destroying mud houses, ripping out electricity poles and washing away bridges. The full extent of the casualties and damage to property inflicted by Cyclone Amphan would only be known once communications were restored, officials said, but at least a dozen people died in the Indian state of West Bengal and eight in neighbouring Bangladesh. Most deaths were caused by trees uprooted by winds that gusted up to 185 km per hour, and a storm surge of around five metres that inundated low-lying coastal areas when the cyclone barrelled in from the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday. "I have never seen such a cyclone in my life. It seemed like the end of the world. All I could do was to pray... Almighty Allah saved us," Azgar Ali, 49, a resident of Satkhira district in Bangladesh. Mohammad Asaduzzaman, a senior police official in the coastal district, described the destruction Amphan left in its wake. "Devastation is huge. Many villages are flooded. It tore off tin roofs, snapped power lines, and uprooted trees." Designated a super cyclone, Amphan has weakened since making landfall. Moving inland through Bangladesh, it was downgraded to a cyclonic storm on Thursday by the Indian weather office. And the storm was expected to subside into a depression later. Authorities in both countries managed to evacuate more than three million people, moving them to storm shelters before Amphan struck. But the evacuation effort was focused on communities that lay directly in the cyclone's path, leaving villages on the flanks still vulnerable. Read also: 'Super cyclone' bears down on Bangladesh, India Television images showed upturned boats on the shore, people wading through knee-deep water and buses crashed into each other. The airport in Kolkata, West Bengal's state capital, lay under water. Pradip Kumar Dalui, a official in the state's South 24 Parganas area, said that storm waters breached river embankments in several places, flooding over half a dozen villages, that were home for more than 100,000 people. "Many mud houses have been destroyed because of the wind or fallen trees," Dalui told Reuters by telephone. Electricity lines and phone connections were down in many places, but so far no deaths had been reported in this area, he said. The cyclone came at a time when the two countries are battling to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and some evacuees were initially reluctant to leave their homes for fear of possible infection in the packed storm shelters. Cyclones frequently batter parts of eastern India and Bangladesh between April and December, often forcing the evacuations of tens of thousands and causing widespread damage. While the evacuation again saved countless lives, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dreaded the cost of repairing property and infrastructure wrecked by Amphan. "Area after area has been devastated. Communications are disrupted," she said. "We do not know if the damages will run into thousands of millions of rupees, will take three, four days to fully assess the extent of damage." ALBANY Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended his administrations policies toward nursing homes Wednesday as criticism mounts over New Yorks high death toll in the facilities and the governors handling of the situation. The governor has been roundly criticized for policies his administration implemented in March that allowed nursing home employees who tested positive for COVID-19 but were asymptomatic to continue working and that forbid nursing homes from turning away residents who were infected with the virus. Industry observers say this allowed the virus to become introduced into facilities, where Cuomo himself has said the virus could spread like fire through dry grass. Both policies have since been rescinded, and the governor later stated that nursing homes were always allowed to turn away COVID-19 patients if they didnt have the capacity to care for them. But some contend the damage had already been done. As of Tuesday, more than 5,800 nursing home and adult care facility residents had died from the coronavirus. Asked Wednesday whether he believes his policy requiring homes to admit infected patients contributed to the death toll, Cuomo said no. No, because youd have to be saying the nursing homes were wrong in accepting COVID-positive patients, he said. Thats what you would have to be saying. Do you believe a nursing home operator would accept a patient who they knew they couldnt care for? Why would a nursing home operator do that? Cuomo said the policy was based on guidance at the time from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Anyone who wants to ask 'why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes?' Its because the state followed President Trumps CDC guidance. So they should ask President Trump," he said. Last week, a delegation of federal Republican lawmakers from New York, including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, called for a federal investigation of the state's preparation and handling of the pandemic in nursing homes. "If the federal government wants to start a probe, then they can start a probe... It is irrelevant to me, Cuomo said Wednesday when asked about the issue. I have no role in a federal probe. President Trump does what he wants to do; he doesn't listen to a governor." The governor also asserted that New York ranked 34th in the nation in per-capita deaths in nursing homes, "even though we had the highest number of cases." In a livestream event hosted by the Empire Report and AARP on Wednesday, leaders in the long term care industry avoided casting any blame for the situation and instead said the crisis should incentivize the state to develop a systemic plan for keeping the virus out of facilities going forward. I think we need to get the best minds in New York in the room and figure out the long term care system for the future because 5,000 deaths in the long term care system or more just never can happen again, said Bill Ferris, legislative representative for AARP New York. I think it hurts everybody. Every day you pick up the newspaper or read on your iPad the number of people who have died it just cant happen again. Jim Clyne, president and CEO of LeadingAge New York, which represents nonprofit nursing homes, said his members were caught off guard early on by the lack of personal protective equipment both at their facilities and in supply chains. I think they thought they had enough and didnt realize how much PPE they would burn through, he said. And then when they went to their emergency plan they were surprised at their inability to get the equipment that they needed. And I dont think that was a reflection on the state necessarily. I think everybody was surprised at the inability to get access to what they needed the gloves, the gowns, the masks, hand sanitizer. People were running out of everything. Leaders recommended New York should follow in the steps of other states that have since formed strike teams to go into homes whenever a new cluster emerges and provide on-site testing, triage, supplies and other needed resources. The teams vary in makeup, but usually include emergency and medical personnel, and local and state health department representatives. Meanwhile, the New York State Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday called on Cuomo and the state Department of Health to step up their focus on protecting nursing homes "instead of implementing blame-shifting and potentially bankrupting mandates on already stressed and under-funded facilities." The Republicans said Cuomo's recent requirement that nursing home workers be tested at least twice a week for coronavirus would require the state's more than 600 nursing homes, most of them private, to pay between $75 and $150 per test. This week, Cuomo suggested those employees could also go to drive-up sites or pharmacies, although the drive-up facilities are not in every community and "repeated testing that is not medically mandated" may not be covered by insurance policies. The conference also questioned whether state labs, which have been overwhelmed with coronavirus and antibody testing, are equipped to return twice-weekly tests for tens of thousands of nursing home workers. According to the Healthcare Association of New York State, a rural upstate nursing home estimated it would have to purchase 436 tests at a cost of $104.95 each per week, totaling $45,758. A nursing home in Commack, Long Island estimated the tests will cost $300,000 a week, according to the GOP conferences. Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, said the state sent thousands of test kits to nursing homes on Monday and Tuesday to help them meet the mandate, and also paired them with commercial labs that will analyze the swabs. By Laman Ismayilova Film Council has been established in Azerbaijan. The Council was initiated in accordance with Presidential Order "On measures for the development of Azerbaijani cinema" dated March 1, 2019 to organize film contests with state support. The Film Council consists of many specialists, including heads of film studios, filmmakers, media representatives and others.There are three working groups, operating at Azerbaijan Film Council. The First Working Group receives applications and documents and includes Fikrin Bektashi (lawyer), Orkhan Aliyev ( film investor) and secretary of the Film Council, film expert Leyla Vezirzade. The Second Working Group focuses on cinematography features of the films. The second group consists of film directors and screenwriters Yavar Rzayev and Mirbala Salimli, film director and producer Fariz Akhmadov, expert on cultural heritage, member of the European Cultural Parliament Jahangir Selimkhanov, screenwriter and editor Roman Orkodashvili, graduate of the International School of Film and Television in Paris, cameraman Orkhan Abbasov, animation director Mansur Shafiyev, film critic Aygun Aslanli and theater expert Aydin Talibzade. The Economic Assessment Working Group includes director of Azerbaijanfilm Studio Nazim Huseynov (chairman), head of Debut Studio Rufat Hasanov, general director of Ictimai TV Balakishi Gasimov, director of Baku Media Center Orman Aliyev, founder of "Buta Film" production center Ilgar Najaf, director of Mozalan studio Ali-Sattar Guliyev, director of "Color of May" production center in Germany Elmar Imanov and PR manager of Park Cinema chain Rustam Fataliyev. Azerbaijan has a rich cinema history and has significantly contributed to the international film industry. Shortly after the Lumiere brothers from France invented cinematograph, an apparatus for making motion pictures, in 1895, Russian photographer and cameraman Alexandre Michon began shooting motion pictures that depicted everyday life in Baku. The first short, silent film of Azerbaijani cinematography "You are caught" was shown in Baku on August 2, 1898. The audience witnessed a historical event - the birth of Azerbaijani cinematography. Today, the Azerbaijani cinema has come to be an internationally recognized modern art enjoying a huge popularity and recognition at international film festivals, which frequently award the national films. Over the past years, more than 300 films and 1,200 documentaries, as well as hundreds of cartoons were filmed. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Ministry of Information captured in the media to have announced the receipt of the herbal drink in an official tweet, attributing it to the Information Minister. The report indicated that Ghana's Food and Drugs Authority, through the Centre for Plant Medicine, had begun testing the medicine to confirm its efficacy. But, speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, said Ghana had not received the preventive herbal medicine for the treatment of the coronavirus. Ghana has not taken any delivery of the Madagascar Covid-19 remedy, he said, adding that, it was a wrong representation in the media that the country has taken delivery of the medicine. The Minister also said the Government needed to engage on how to live safely with the novel coronavirus in the global ecosystem, adding that, Ghana would soon start a national conversation, dubbed, living with the virus. He urged the media to lead the national conversation on living safely with the virus. Madagascar's COVID-19 herbal remedy is produced from Artemisia, a plant with proven efficacy against malaria, but the country's President, Andry Rajoelina, endorsed the medicine as the 'cure' for COVID-19 when he launched it last month, thus bringing the global spotlight on the herbal mixture. However, the World Health Organisation has advised against using untested remedies for COVID-19 because there is no scientific trial to establish the efficacy and safety of the medicine. There are reports that some African countries such as Tanzania and Guinea-Bissau have planned to import the herbal mixture. The African Union said early this month that it was in discussion with Madagascar to obtain technical data on the safety and efficiency of a herbal remedy. The AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Amira ElFadil, convened a meeting with the Charge d'Affaires of the Republic of Madagascar, Mr Eric Randrianantoandro, on 30th April on the matter, the Union said in a statement this month. During the meeting, the statement said, it was agreed that Madagascar would furnish the African Union with the necessary details regarding the herbal remedy. Once furnished with the details, the Union, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will review the scientific data gathered so far on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 Organics, the statement said. This review will be based on global technical and ethical norms to garner the necessary scientific evidence regarding the performance of the tonic. ---GNA China is planning to build one P3 research laboratory in every province to improve the nation's epidemic-control capabilities and 'protect people's health'. P3 labs have the second-highest biological safety standards and are designed to study pathogens that may cause severe or potentially lethal airborne diseases. The proposal comes amid escalating international scrutiny into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. The proposal to build a P3 lab in each province was released yesterday by the National Development and Reform Commission in a notice. P3 labs have the second-highest biological safety standards after P4 labs, such as the one in Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured) US politicians have claimed that the killer bug might have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has a P3 virus lab as well as a higher level P4 lab. China has repeatedly denied the allegations. Beijing insists that the World Health Organisation (WHO) found no evidence that the novel coronavirus was man-made. The consensus among scientists directs the origin of the novel coronavirus to wild animals, most likely bats. This electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus (yellow) emerging from the surface of cells (blue and pink) cultured in the lab. The consensus among international scientists directs the origin of the new coronavirus to wild animals, most likely bats The proposal to build a P3 lab in each of China's 23 provinces was released yesterday by the National Development and Reform Commission in an official notice. This level of laboratories will be able to handle agents, such as the yellow fever virus and the West Nile virus, according to Lab Manager, a specialist publication. China studied SARS coronavirus at the country's P3 labs before it went on to build a P4 establishment in Wuhan in 2015. The central government says that the coronavirus pandemic has 'exposed the shortcomings' in China's capabilities of controlling and preventing major epidemics. It deems that actions need to be taken to 'build an effective shield to protect people's health and life safety', therefore more P3 labs will be required to test infectious pathogens. Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has a P3 virus lab as well as a higher level P4 lab, has been at the centre of controversy. This file photo taken on February 23, 2017, shows researchers donning full-body protection next to a cage with mice (right) inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan According to the plan, every city will also need to have a P2 lab, which can research infectious organisms posing a moderate hazard. It is not immediately clear if the proposal will apply to the country's five autonomous regions and four municipalities. The plan also gives instructions on how to improve the treatment capabilities of county-level hospitals, develop an urban network to handle epidemics and upgrade medical bases in response to major outbreaks. China's Communist country has faced wide-spread doubt that it has covered up the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak and the origins of the pathogen. China's Communist country has faced wide-spread doubt that it has covered up the origins of the coronavirus. The country's leader President Xi is pictured applauding during the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on May 21 On Monday, the World Health Organization bowed to calls from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the crisis, which has been clouded by finger-pointing between the US and China. The 'comprehensive evaluation' over coronavirus, sought by a coalition of African, European and other countries, is set to review 'lessons learned' from WHO's coordination of the global response to the virus outbreak. But it is expected to stop short of looking into contentious issues, such as the origins of the virus. More than 328,000 people have lost their lives so far and over five million have fallen ill in the pandemic. The security law that the Chinese government is reportedly planning to impose on Hong Kong this week is being described by observers as the effective end of the arrangement in place since the end of British colonial rule in 1997, under which Hong Kong has been formally part of the Peoples Republic of China but enjoyed significant political autonomy. If this move takes place, one country, two systems will be officially erased, pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok told reporters. This is the end of Hong Kong. Advertisement Globally, this law could mark an even more profound shift in relations between China and the West. The law, according to local media reports cited by Reuters, would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference. Opponents of Chinese rule believe the bill poses a direct threat to Hong Kongs political independence and freedom of speech. A similar bill was proposed in Hong Kongs legislature in 2003 but was abandoned after mass protests. This time, the Chinese government is circumventing Hong Kongs local legislature by passing the law at the annual National Peoples Congress in Beijing and inserting it into the Basic LawHong Kongs mini-constitution. (The Basic Law already requires that this legislation be passed at some point.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The laws latest incarnation is a direct response to the mass protests in Hong Kong last year, which Communist Party leaders saw as a sign that local authorities in Hong Kong were no longer capable of governing the city on their own. The party also appears to be taking advantage of coronavirus-era restrictions, which make it harder to organize the kind of mass protests that have scuttled controversial legislation in the past. Nonetheless, street protests are almost guaranteed and violence is likely. The U.S. is likely to respond as well. At a press conference on Wednesday, before the new law was announced, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted the recent arrest of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, saying, Our decision on whether or not to certify Hong Kong as having a high degree of autonomy from China is still pending. Were closely watching whats going on there. Advertisement Under U.S. law, Hong Kong is treated as a separate economic entity from China, which means, for instance, that it is exempt from the tariffs the U.S. has slapped on Chinese goods. Pompeo was referring to the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, passed by Congress last year, which requires the State Department to certify every year that Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous from China to warrant this special status. De-certifying it would have a major impact on U.S. China trade: Hong Kong alone is Americas 21st largest trading partner, with total trade of $43.8 billion in 2018, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Chinese Foreign Minister responded to Pompeos comments by accusing him of blackmail and interference in Chinas internal affairs Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump has never seemed particularly concerned about the fate of Hong Kong in the past. When protests broke out last summer, he praised Chinas Xi Jingping for his restraint. In November, he suggested he might even veto the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to avoid unnecessarily antagonizing Xi in the middle of trade negotiations, telling Fox News, I stand with Hong Kong. I stand with freedom. I stand with all of the things that we want to do, but we also are in the process of making the largest trade deal in history. (He eventually signed the legislation.) Advertisement Advertisement Now, however, the politics have changed. Trump seems to have lost interest in the trade deal as he has sought to pin sole blame on China for the COVID-19 outbreak, and is gearing up for a reelection fight during which he will portray himself as tougher on China than the Democrats. Trump might be more inclined to listen to hawkish advisers who advocate taking a stand of contentious issues like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. Theres increasing support, in Washington and among the public and business community, for the notion of decoupling the U.S. and Chinese economies. As Pompeo put it on Wednesday, For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the WTO as a developing nation. That didnt happen. We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Full decoupling is probably impossible, but rising geopolitical tensions and slumping trade are disastrous for Hong Kong, whose prosperity is linked to its role as an interface between Chinas rising economy and the West. Hong Kongs legal and financial independence has made it an attractive base for international companies looking to do business in China. Two-hundred and ninety U.S. companies had their regional headquarters in Hong Kong as of 2018, according to the CRS. Likewise, mainland Chinese firms set up shop in Hong Kong as a springboard to expansion overseas. But Hong Kong is less important to China than it used to be: it accounts for 2.7 percent of the countrys GDP now as opposed to 18.4 percent in 1997. Leaders in Beijing may have come to the conclusion that its autonomy is no longer worth the headache. Hong Kong had a critical role to play in the global economy as long as there was still widespread commitment to the idea that Chinas growth and integration into the global economy would benefit all, smoothing away any ideological differences. The end of Hong Kongs autonomy will also mark the end of this sort of optimism. Hi ONTD! I started the show Little Fires Everywhere today & I'm trying to binge through it before work tomorrow. I've also watched the movies Vivarium & Sleeping With Other People recently. What have you been watching this week? Reply Thread Link I watched Solar Opposites (eh), First Wives Club (yes pls), some Ozark (still waiting to care), The Hustle (not great), and 1000 John Mulaney youtube clips (very good, would always recommend) Reply Parent Thread Link I binged normal people and flower fight? idk if that's the name, but it's the netflix reality competition show about flower design. A+ on both. Reply Parent Thread Link How are you liking Little Fires Everywhere? I'm thinking about starting it soon. I binged watched The Boys, and it was better than I thought it would be, but I had the lowest expectations. Also finally got around to watching Come and See and uh, holy shit. Can't stop thinking about it. It's truly one of the most harrowing films ever made. Reply Parent Thread Link I need to start a new show or something. I watched half an episode of Mindhunters tonight. Reply Parent Thread Link I watched all 10 eps of The Great in 3 days, which I consider a feat for myself these days. I really enjoyed it. As a classical history major, I really appreciated that they made efforts to let everyone know that this wasn't going to be historically accurate (except occasionally). I can't make up my mind about Elle Fanning. Reply Parent Thread Link Watched the second Lego movie, rewatched Cowboys & Aliens, watched the D.E.B.S. short film, and am currently residing the first season of The Fall so I can watch the rest of the seasons. Reply Parent Thread Link Aw man I missed First Wives Club?? Reply Thread Link I watched it today and it was so worth it. It's just such a fun nineties romp I was dying. Do yourself a favor and watch it. I'm sad I missed the party though because I bet it was so fun. Edited at 2020-05-21 04:55 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Its my favorite movie of all time lol Reply Parent Thread Link I always miss these. Reply Thread Link I never know when they are actually going to end up happening. I see these posts for voting, but never see the outcome. Reply Parent Thread Link Right. Lol I always see the polls Reply Parent Thread Link On the weekends, Northern American nights. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I just watched House at the End of the Street And holy cow was Jennifer Lawrence awful Actually the whole movie was pretty lame tbh Reply Thread Link I watched the automatic clip that netflix played and I was just aghast like, "THIS PERSON HAS WON AN OSCAR??" Reply Parent Thread Link MTE!! There was nothing good about her acting, and as mediocre as the story was, she should have done better!! Reply Parent Thread Link ...isn't she awful in everything though I've seen SLP, X-Men, and Hunger Games with her, possibly some other stuff that I can't recall off the top of my head. She's been underwhelming in everything. Might be horrible to say it, but I 100% believe she fucked (or sucked) her way to that Oscar. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Is Bird Box scary??? I can't do scary. I'm a fraidy cat. Reply Thread Link not really...it's kind of lame Reply Parent Thread Link lol yes it's scary. covered my eyes for quite a few parts Reply Parent Thread Link I voted Jerry Maguire because I haven't seen it since I was a child and I love Tom Cruise the actor even thought it's unacceptable. I also voted Bird Box because I haven't seen it. I think I wouldn't join for Julie and Julia or Hancock bc they're just not my scene, or House at the End of the Street bc isn't it v. gross and assaulty? Not my scene either. Everything else I would be down for though. Reply Thread Link I voted jerry maguire bc Ive never seen it and I think I would appreciate it since they are all good actors, no? renee, tom, cuba, etc. die another day was fun, but I don't want to see violence rn Reply Parent Thread Link You are thinking Last House on the Left Reply Parent Thread Link Ah youre right, thx Reply Parent Thread Link I think I'm doing OK all in all, thanks for asking OP. Reply Thread Link The only way I'm watching July & Julia again is if the July parts are cut out. This character was awful and annoying. Not even my love for JLaw will make me watch that movie again. And I haven't seen Bird Box, so that one will do. Reply Thread Link Julie & Julia?! Nooooo come on, people!! Reply Thread Link The people have spoken, I suppose. Yall tend to surprise me on occasion. Reply Parent Thread Link Thank you for asking OP. Today has been especially frustrating/challenging. Ever since my husband had to start working from home I've been even more attached to our infant (by necessity, to keep him quiet during calls and away from the modem and banging on the den/office door, etc) on top of the housework and other things I want/need to do. usually I can do it with a smile but sometimes it adds up, and I get cranky "for no reason". I feel like I need appreciation and recognition and being a homemaker just doesn't get you any of that. I have moments of resentfulness. But they pass. Last couple of times that I've aired a frustration or 2 on here ppl have felt free to attack my mom and husband. Please don't, y'all. Sometimes a girl just needs to vent, there about 10 million other amazing things going on that I don't vent / share but thank you all the same. Reply Thread Link Im gonna reach out by message soon. If you ever need to vent, Im here to listen. Im a mother of two dealing with a now WFH husband & I can commiserate. Reply Parent Thread Link Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The African Union (AU) contact group on Libya Wednesday reaffirmed its appeal to Libyan actors to put the interest of their country over all other considerations and observe immediate and unconditional ceasefire, an official source told PANA here Tuscaloosa has seen an uptick in coronvirus cases and, as AL.coms Joseph Goodman reported, some of its can be traced to an outbreak among construction crews and subcontractors at the University of Alabamas Bryant Denny Stadium. The board for Alabamas Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program has approved a 7 percent increase in payments for tuition and fees for PACT holders this fall semester. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said the virus is straining the citys medical systems, forcing patients to be sent to Birmingham. ICUs are full. A mayoral candidate in Sylacauga is causing controversy over his call for drug dealers to be publicly hanged. Listen to Down in Alabama, above, with Leada Gore, substituting for Ike Morgan. Get this post and more in your weekday Down in Alabama newsletter by subscribing here. You can also hear Ike each weekday by looking for Down in Alabama on the device of your choosing. Click here for the Spotify podcast page Click here for the Alexa skill page on Amazon Click here for the iTunes podcast page Click here for the Stitcher podcast page Those of you who read what I write know what I have written about the political conundrum in Malaysia these last many months. You know I have written not... 5 months ago HOLLAND, Mich., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A newly launched cloud-based portal, SearchPPE.com, will provide manufacturers with a state-focused, direct order fulfillment process to expedite the delivery of personal protective equipment (PPE) to buyers. Manufacturers should go to SearchPPE.com to rapidly find buyers and register for free. The SearchPPE.com website provides buyers access to the small business supply chain that retooled to provide PPE during the national COVID-19 emergency, but often remains unseen by buyers within their own city or state. "As the nation returns to work, we must ensure the safety of our employees. We are asking manufacturers to register on the site so that employers and healthcare providers can identify and purchase the PPE they need closest to home," said Betsy Freeman, CEO, Radius Advisory Group, a founding partner of SearchPPE.com. "Whether you are a retailer, a hair salon, a restaurant chain or an elementary school, the need for hand sanitizer and non-surgical masks is probably part of a reopening strategy. Likewise, healthcare providers, first responders and individual specialty clinics still need PPE as they continue to care for and protect our most vulnerable citizens. We all must work together to ensure the timely delivery of PPE where and when it is needed." The automated SearchPPE.com site allows employers and manufacturers to build and update an online profile, so they can adjust the level of supplies as they are produced or the amount they need to buy at any given time. "SearchPPE.com recognizes the importance of in-state support from small businesses in filling the PPE gaps that are left in light of federal and state distribution to the 'hot spots' in major metropolitan areas, where the need is greatest," said Janey Joffee, Assistant Director, Upper Peninsula Healthcare Solutions, Marquette, Michigan. "We are happy to find companies within our own state that can produce and quickly deliver what we need in order to help save lives and get people back to work safely." There is no fee to register on the site. Founding partners contributing all services on a pro bono basis include: Charlie Mike Solutions LLC, Dun & Bradstreet, Elder Research, Radius Advisory Group LLC, RGDuece Enterprises, Rings Leighton Creative Services Ltd. Media queries: [email protected] (616) 796-8462 SOURCE SearchPPE.com New Delhi: A petition has been moved in Delhi High Court seeking the release of 916 foreign nationals, who took part in a religious congregation of Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz, from institutional quarantine. The plea submitted that they are being held at the institutional quarantine despite being tested negative for coronavirus. As many 20 petitioners submitted their plea before the high court for the release of the foreign nationals while insisting that these people are undergoing the institutional quarantine since March 30, 2020. According to the petition, this quarantine is "bereft of legality and ultra vires of Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India and thus is liable to be quashed." It further said, "the mere act of detaining 916 foreign nationals in institutional quarantine for over a month, despite all 916 persons now testing negative for COVID-19 shall tantamount to illegal detention and violating Articles 14, 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India and thereby praying for a Writ of Habeas Corpus be issued by the Court directing for the immediate release of the foreign nationals." The petition also stated that direction for the initiation of deportation process of asymptomatic foreign nationals stranded in India was issued on 3rd April and that all 916 foreign nationals related to Markaz have tested negative for COVID-19. It was also alleged that the Department of Revenue has directed for the release of Indian nationals who tested negative but in case of the foreign Nationals "there appears to be deliberate inaction and complete dilution of the Fundamental Rights". BEIJING, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- China Distance Education Holdings Limited (NYSE: DL) ("CDEL", or the "Company"), a leading provider of online education and value-added services for professionals and corporate clients in China, today announced unaudited financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 ended March 31, 2020. Second Quarter Fiscal 2020 Financial and Operational Highlights Net revenue increased by 8.1% to $41.9 million from $38.8 million in the prior year period. from in the prior year period. Total course enrollments were 1,276,000, an increase of 98.7% from the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Cash receipts from online course registration were $37.3 million , a 34.5% decrease from the second quarter of fiscal 2019. , a 34.5% decrease from the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Gross profit increased by 38.1% to $21.4 million from $15.5 million in the prior year period. from in the prior year period. Non-GAAP [ 1] gross profit increased by 38.4% to $21.4 million from $15.5 million in the prior year period. gross profit increased by 38.4% to from in the prior year period. Gross margin was 51.0%, compared with 39.9% in the prior year period. Non-GAAP [1] gross margin was 51.1%, compared with 39.9% in the prior year period. gross margin was 51.1%, compared with 39.9% in the prior year period. Operating income was $1.3 million , compared with operating loss of $4.1 million in the prior year period. , compared with operating loss of in the prior year period. Non-GAAP [1] operating income was $2.0 million , compared with non-GAAP [1] operating loss of $3.6 million in the prior year period. operating income was , compared with non-GAAP operating loss of in the prior year period. Net income attributable to CDEL was $4.3 million , compared with net loss attributable to CDEL of $3.9 million in the prior year period. , compared with net loss attributable to CDEL of in the prior year period. Non-GAAP [1] net income attributable to CDEL was $5.0 million , compared with non- GAAP [1] net loss attributable to CDEL of $3.4 million in the prior year period. net income attributable to CDEL was , compared with non- GAAP net loss attributable to CDEL of in the prior year period. Basic and diluted net income per American Depositary Share ("ADS") attributable to CDEL were $0.126 and $0.125 , respectively, compared with basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to CDEL of $0.116 for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Each ADS represents four ordinary shares. and , respectively, compared with basic and diluted net loss per ADS attributable to CDEL of for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Each ADS represents four ordinary shares. Basic and diluted non-GAAP [1] net income per ADS attributable to CDEL were $0.149 and $0.147 , respectively, compared with basic and diluted non-GAAP [1] net loss per ADS attributable to CDEL of $0.101 , for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. net income per ADS attributable to CDEL were and , respectively, compared with basic and diluted non-GAAP net loss per ADS attributable to CDEL of , for the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Cash flow from operations decreased by 28.7% to $11.7 million from $16.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Mr. Zhengdong Zhu, Chairman and CEO of CDEL, said, "In the second quarter of fiscal 2020, we delivered year-over-year revenue growth of 8.1%, within our guidance range. The second quarter revenue growth was driven primarily by the healthy revenue growth of our industry-leading accounting vertical. In concert with our responsive measures to support our students across China during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19 epidemic, we offered free online courses to students in Hubei province, and significant discounts for certain online exam preparation courses to students outside Hubei, providing students with convenient access to high-quality online professional education at a time when offline classes were restricted. This initiative quickly attracted students across China to our online learning platform. As a result, our paid enrollments nearly doubled year-over-year in the second quarter, dramatically expanding our student base. While our efforts to support students during the COVID-19 outbreak negatively impacted our second quarter revenue and cash receipts growth, they underscore our commitment to social responsibility, our vision to cultivate online learning as a lifestyle, and our aim to be our students' life-long education partner of choice." Mr. Zhu concluded, "In the second quarter of fiscal 2020, we officially commenced the third decade as China's preeminent provider of online professional education. During the past 20 years, CDEL has honed its comprehensive life-long learning ecosystem, as we consistently deliver best-of-breed educational content and integrate new technologies into our learning solutions. Looking ahead, we will remain focused on developing our life-long learning ecosystem, which now spans four key industry verticals accounting, healthcare, engineering and construction, and legal; and provides students with a diverse portfolio of curricula that accommodates their different learning needs, styles and preferences. As online education continues to evolve and become a more widely accepted learning method, we are ready to leverage our extensive experience and compelling value proposition to serve a broader student audience, helping them achieve positive learning outcomes and realize continued advancement in their chosen careers." Mr. Mark Marostica, Co-Chief Financial Officer of CDEL, added, "The second quarter of fiscal 2020 marks the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in operating margins. We are particularly pleased to report improved profitability in our second fiscal quarter, given the challenges we faced during the COVID-19 epidemic. Our profitability improvement demonstrates the resilience of our business model, coupled with our effective execution of cost control measures. With the second half of our fiscal year well underway, we will continue to proactively manage expenses while maintaining operating efficiency, with a goal of balancing our growth and profitability." Second Quarter Fiscal 2020 Financial Results Net Revenue. Total net revenue increased by 8.1% to $41.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $38.8 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Net revenue from online education services, books and reference materials, and other sources contributed 79.8%, 11.7% and 8.5%, respectively, of total net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Online education services. Net revenue from online education services increased by 19.9% to $33.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $27.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, mainly due to healthy revenue growth from the accounting vertical. Books and reference materials. Net revenue from books and reference materials decreased by 9.6% to $4.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $5.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, primarily attributable to the delay in publication of certain Legal Professional Qualification Examination books, due to the impact of COVID-19. Others. Net revenue from other sources decreased by 34.6% to $3.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $5.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, primarily due to a significant decrease in revenue from sale of college-related learning simulation software, resulting from the impact of COVID-19. Cost of Sales. Cost of sales decreased by 11.9% to $20.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $23.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Non-GAAP[1] cost of sales decreased by 12.1% to $20.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $23.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. The decrease in cost of sales was primarily attributable to a decrease in salaries and related expenses, cost of purchase related to sale of learning simulation software, rental and related expenses, and lecture fees. Gross Profit and Gross Margin. Gross profit was $21.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, up 38.1% from $15.5 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] gross profit was $21.4 million, increasing by 38.4% from $15.5 million in the prior year period. Gross margin was 51.0% in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, compared with 39.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Non-GAAP[1] gross margin was 51.1% in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, compared with 39.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Operating Expenses. Total operating expenses increased by 4.7% to $21.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $20.4 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] total operating expenses increased by 4.0% to $20.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $19.9 million in the prior year period. Selling expenses. Selling expenses increased by 10.7% to $15.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $13.8 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] selling expenses increased by 10.5% to $15.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $13.8 million in the prior year period. The increase was primarily driven by higher advertising and promotional expenses, the increase in commission to agents, and higher rental and related expenses, partially offset by a decrease in salaries and related expenses. General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased by 7.7% to $6.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $6.6 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] general and administrative expenses decreased by 10.7% to $5.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, from $6.1 million in the prior year period. The decrease was mainly due to lower salaries and related expenses. Income Tax (Expenses) Benefit. Income tax expense was $0.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, compared with income tax benefit of $1.3 million in the prior year period, primarily due to the taxable income in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. Net Income (Loss) Attributable to CDEL. As a result of the foregoing, net income attributable to CDEL was $4.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, compared with net loss attributable to CDEL of $3.9 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] net income attributable to CDEL was $5.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020, compared with non-GAAP[1] net loss attributable to CDEL of $3.4 million in the prior year period. Operating Cash Flow. Net operating cash inflow decreased by 28.7% to $11.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2020 from $16.5 million in the prior year period. The operating cash inflow was mainly attributable to net income before non-cash items generated in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The decrease in prepayments and other current assets, the increase in accrued expenses and other liabilities, and the decrease/increase in amount due from/to related parties also contributed to the operating cash inflow. The operating cash inflow was partially offset by the increase in inventories and the decrease in deferred tax liabilities. Cash and Cash Equivalents, Term Deposits, Restricted Cash and Short-term Investments. Cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, restricted cash and short-term investments as of March 31, 2020 decreased by 10.8% to $130.2 million from $145.9 million as of December 31, 2019, mainly due to (i) the repayment of offshore loans of $20.4 million, (ii) the repayment of onshore loan of $1.1 million, (iii) the payment of an investment of $0.7 million and (iv) the capital expenditure of $1.2 million. The decrease was partially offset by the operating cash inflow generated in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. First Six Months of Fiscal 2020 Financial Results Net Revenue. Total net revenue increased by 14.6% to $93.3 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $81.4 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Net revenue from online education services, books and reference materials, and other sources contributed 72.8%, 9.9% and 17.3%, respectively, of total net revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2020. Online education services. Net revenue from online education services increased by 28.4% to $67.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $52.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Books and reference materials. Net revenue from books and reference materials decreased by 21.7% to $9.2 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $11.8 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Others. Net revenue from other sources decreased by 3.3% to $16.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $16.7 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Cost of Sales. Cost of sales decreased by 5.6% to $46.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $48.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Non-GAAP[1] cost of sales decreased by 5.7% to $46.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, from $48.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Gross Profit and Gross Margin. Gross profit was $47.2 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, up 45.2% from $32.5 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] gross profit was $47.2 million, increasing by 45.2% from $32.5 million in the prior year period. Gross margin was 50.6% in the first six months of fiscal 2020, compared with 39.9% in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Non-GAAP[1] gross margin was 50.6% in the first six months of fiscal 2020, compared with 40.0% in the first six months of fiscal 2019. Operating Expenses. Total operating expenses increased by 11.9% to $46.1 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, from $41.2 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] total operating expenses increased by 11.7% to $44.9 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, from $40.2 million in the prior year period. Selling expenses. Selling expenses increased by 21.8% to $34.4 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $28.3 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] selling expenses increased by 21.8% to $34.4 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, from $28.3 million in the prior year period. General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased by 9.9% to $11.6 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $12.9 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] general and administrative expenses decreased by 12.3% to $10.5 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, from $11.9 million in the prior year period. Income Tax (Expenses) Benefit. Income tax expense was $0.7 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, compared with income tax benefit of $0.4 million in the prior year period. Net Income (Loss) Attributable to CDEL. As a result of the foregoing, net income attributable to CDEL was $2.5 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, compared with net loss attributable to CDEL of $2.0 million in the prior year period. Non-GAAP[1] net income attributable to CDEL was $3.8 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020, compared with non-GAAP[1] net loss attributable to CDEL of $1.0 million in the prior year period. Operating Cash Flow. Net operating cash inflow decreased by 15.9% to $34.7 million in the first six months of fiscal 2020 from $41.3 million in the prior year period. Outlook For the third quarter of fiscal 2020, the Company expects to generate total net revenue in the range of $50.6 million to $53.7 million, representing year-over-year decline of approximately 18% to 13%, respectively. For fiscal year 2020, the Company decided to withdraw its previous revenue guidance in consideration of uncertainties related to the impact of COVID-19, including the postponement of certain professional examinations, the schedule of reopening of schools, and the schedule of resumption of provision of offline training courses, among others. The above guidance reflects the Company's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change, particularly in consideration of uncertainties related to the impact of COVID-19, among others. Conference Call Management will hold a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, May 22, 2020 (8:00 p.m. Beijing Time on Friday, May 22, 2020) to discuss financial results and answer questions from investors and analysts. Details for the conference call are as follows: Event Title: China Distance Education Holdings Limited Second Quarter of Fiscal 2020 Earnings Conference Call Conference ID: 9088678 Registration Link: http://apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/9088678 All participants must use the link provided above to complete the online registration process at least 20 minutes in advance of the conference call. Upon registering, each participant will receive a participant dial-in number, Direct Event passcode, and a unique registrant ID, which will be used to join the conference call. A telephone replay will be available two hours after the call until May 29, 2020 by dialing: US Toll Free: +1-855-452-5696 International: +61-2-8199-0299 Mainland China: 400-632-2162 Hong Kong, China: 800-963-117 United Kingdom: 0808-234-0072 Replay Passcode: 9088678 Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://ir.cdeledu.com. About China Distance Education Holdings Limited China Distance Education Holdings Limited is a leading provider of online education and value-added services for professionals and corporate clients in China. The courses offered by the Company through its websites are designed to help professionals seeking to obtain and maintain professional licenses and to enhance their job skills through our professional development courses in China in the areas of accounting, healthcare, engineering & construction, legal and other industries. The Company also offers online test preparation courses for self-taught learners pursuing higher education diplomas or degrees, and practical accounting training courses for college students and working professionals. In addition, the Company provides business services to corporate clients, including but not limited to tax advisory and accounting outsourcing services. For further information, please visit http://ir.cdeledu.com. Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expect," "predict," "anticipate," "future," "intend," "plan," "believe," "is/are likely to," "estimate" and similar statements. Among other things, the outlook for the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as the Company's strategic and operational plans (in particular, the impact of COVID-19 on our businesses; the solutions we adopt to address such impact of COVID-19; the revision of revenue guidance; balancing growth and profitability; as well as the anticipated benefits of strategic growth initiatives, including the promotion of the Company's life-long learning ecosystem) contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic and annual reports to the SEC, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, our goals and growth strategies; future prospects and market acceptance of our courses and other products and services; our future business development and results of operations; projected revenues, profits, earnings and other estimated financial information; projected enrollment numbers; our plans to expand and enhance our courses and other products and services; anticipated benefits of acquisition or disposal of businesses, competition in the education and test preparation markets; and Chinese laws, regulations and policies, including those applicable to the Internet, Internet content providers, the education and telecommunications industries, mergers and acquisitions, taxation and foreign exchange. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed or furnished with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. Statement Regarding Unaudited Financial Information The unaudited financial information set forth in this press release is preliminary and subject to adjustments. Adjustments to the financial statements may be identified when audit work is performed for the year-end audit, which could result in significant differences from this preliminary unaudited financial information. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures To supplement the Company's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, the Company uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP net income attributable to CDEL, operating income, gross profit, cost of sales, selling expenses, general and administrative expenses, net income margin attributable to CDEL, operating margin, gross profit margin, and basic and diluted earnings per ADS and per share attributable to CDEL. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures" set forth at the end of this release. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance by excluding share-based compensation expenses. However, non-GAAP financial measures may not be indicative of the Company's operating performance from a cash perspective. The Company believes that both management and investors benefit from these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to the Company's historical performance and liquidity. The Company computes its non-GAAP financial measures using the same consistent method from quarter to quarter. The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of excluding share-based compensation expenses from the above-mentioned line items and presenting these non-GAAP measures is that such items may continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. Management compensates for this limitation by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying table at the end of this release provides more detail on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures. Contacts: In China: China Distance Education Holdings Limited Jiao Jiao Tel: +86-10-8231-9999 ext. 1826 Email: [email protected] The Piacente Group, Inc. Xi Zhang Tel: +86-10-6508-0677 E-mail: [email protected] In the United States: The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente Tel: +1 212-481-2050 Email: [email protected] [1] For more information about the non-GAAP financial measures contained in this press release, please see "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below. (Financial Tables on Following Pages) China Distance Education Holdings Limited Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands of US Dollars, except number of shares and per share data) September 30, 2019 March 31, 2020 Assets: Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 67,977 84,282 Term deposits - 7,061 Restricted cash 38,358 13,760 Short-term investments 22,118 25,071 Accounts receivable, net of allowance for doubtful accounts of US$1,570 and US$1,282 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively 7,330 6,741 Inventories 4,232 6,162 Prepayment and other current assets 26,732 30,184 Amounts due from related parties 515 624 Deferred cost 1,427 2,248 Total current assets 168,689 176,133 Non-current assets: Property, plant and equipment, net 37,935 41,283 Operating lease right of use asset - 33,596 Goodwill, net 74,829 75,536 Long term investments 25,379 26,089 Other intangible assets, net 30,113 26,274 Deposit for purchase of non-current assets 4,448 1,671 Deferred tax assets 3,865 3,163 Other non-current assets 10,092 8,208 Total non-current assets 186,661 215,820 Total assets 355,350 391,953 Liabilities and equity: Current liabilities: Bank borrowings 38,502 6,016 Accrued expenses and other liabilities (including accrued expenses and other liabilities of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$44,058 and US$35,491 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 38,267 44,459 Amount due to related parties 600 2,338 Income tax payable (including income tax payable of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$5,228 and US$8,188 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 10,899 8,545 Deferred revenue, current portion (including deferred revenue of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$86,914 and US$93,364 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 94,202 87,682 Refundable fees - current portion (including refundable fees of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$174 and US$435 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 435 174 Dividend payable - 19,621 Operating lease liability - current portion (including operating lease liability of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$8,876 and nil as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) - 9,521 Total current liabilities 182,905 178,356 Non-current liabilities: Deferred revenue, non-current portion (including deferred revenue of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$68,292 and US$33,564 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 33,564 68,292 Refundable fees - non-current portion (including refundable fees of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$4,257 and US$2,440 as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 2,440 4,257 Deferred tax liabilities 12,695 7,175 Operating lease liability - non-current portion (including operating lease liability of the consolidated VIE without recourse to China Distance Education Holdings Limited of US$22,904 and nil as of March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) - 23,357 Total non-current liabilities 48,699 103,081 Total liabilities 231,604 281,437 Equity: Ordinary shares (par value of US$0.0001 per share; 500,000,000 shares authorized; 135,320,433 and 134,210,745 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2020 and September 30, 2019, respectively) 13 14 Additional paid-in capital 24,507 25,910 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (12,357) (10,087) Retained earnings 60,668 43,595 Total China Distance Education Holdings Limited shareholder's equity 72,831 59,432 Noncontrolling interests 50,915 51,084 Total equity 123,746 110,516 Total liabilities and equity 355,350 391,953 China Distance Education Holdings Limited Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands of US dollars, except number of shares, per share and per ADS data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2020 Sales, net of business tax, value-added tax and related surcharges: Online education services 27,878 33,420 Books and reference materials 5,401 4,881 Others 5,482 3,586 - Sale of learning simulation software 1,962 143 - Business start-up training services 692 675 - Others 2,828 2,768 Total net revenues 38,761 41,887 Cost of sales Cost of services and others (19,453) (16,764) Cost of tangible goods sold (3,826) (3,746) Total cost of sales (23,279) (20,510) Gross profit 15,482 21,377 Operating expenses Selling expenses (13,801) (15,275) General and administrative expenses (6,581) (6,075) Total operating expenses (20,382) (21,350) Other operating income 842 1,303 Operating (loss)/income (4,058) 1,330 Interest income 524 723 Interest expense (796) (259) Exchange (loss)/gain (2,177) 1,554 (Loss)/income before income taxes (6,507) 3,348 Income tax benefit/(expense) 1,335 (730) Loss from equity method investments (642) (162) Net (loss)/ income (5,814) 2,456 Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest 1,939 1,803 Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited (3,875) 4,259 Net (loss)/income per share attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited shareholders Basic (0.029) 0.031 Diluted (0.029) 0.031 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited shareholders Basic (0.116) 0.126 Diluted (0.116) 0.125 Weighted average shares used in calculating net (loss)/income per share attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Basic 133,009,706 133,939,623 Diluted 133,009,706 135,468,910 China Distance Education Holdings Limited Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands of US dollars, except number of shares, per share and per ADS data) Six Months Ended March 31, 2019 2020 Sales, net of business tax, value-added tax and related surcharges: Online education services 52,921 67,943 Books and reference materials 11,806 9,244 Others 16,657 16,111 - Sale of learning simulation software 6,965 6,462 - Business start-up training services 1,372 1,651 - Others 8,320 7,998 Total net revenues 81,384 93,298 Cost of sales Cost of services and others (41,626) (38,171) Cost of tangible goods sold (7,262) (7,958) Total cost of sales (48,888) (46,129) Gross profit 32,496 47,169 Operating expenses Selling expenses (28,285) (34,446) General and administrative expenses (12,907) (11,633) Total operating expenses (41,192) (46,079) Other operating income 2,465 2,326 Operating (loss)/income (6,231) 3,416 Interest income 1,188 1,370 Interest expense (1,590) (685) Gain from deconsolidation of a subsidiary 6,869 - Exchange loss (2,101) (910) (Loss)/income before income taxes (1,865) 3,191 Income tax benefit/(expense) 383 (696) Loss from equity method investments (363) (277) Net (loss)/income (1,845) 2,218 Net (income)/loss attributable to noncontrolling interest (117) 330 Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited (1,962) 2,548 Net (loss)/income per share attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited shareholders Basic (0.015) 0.019 Diluted (0.015) 0.019 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Net (loss)/income attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited shareholders Basic (0.059) 0.076 Diluted (0.059) 0.076 Weighted average shares used in calculating net (loss)/income per share attributable to China Distance Education Holdings Limited: Basic 132,901,311 133,710,889 Diluted 132,901,311 134,953,440 China Distance Education Holdings Limited Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures (In thousands of US Dollars, except number of shares, per share and per ADS data) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2020 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) Cost of sales 23,279 20,510 Share-based compensation expense in cost of sales - 45 Non-GAAP cost of sales 23,279 20,465 Selling expenses 13,801 15,275 Share-based compensation expense in selling expenses - 18 Non-GAAP selling expenses 13,801 15,257 General and administrative expenses 6,581 6,075 Share-based compensation expense in general and administrative expenses 506 653 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 6,075 5,422 Gross profit 15,482 21,377 Share-based compensation expenses - 45 Non-GAAP gross profit 15,482 21,422 Gross profit margin 39.9% 51.0% Non-GAAP gross profit margin 39.9% 51.1% Operating (loss)/income (4,058) 1,330 Share-based compensation expenses 506 716 Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income (3,552) 2,046 Operating margin (10.5%) 3.2% Non-GAAP operating margin (9.2%) 4.9% Net (loss)/income attributable to CDEL (3,875) 4,259 Share-based compensation expense 506 716 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to CDEL (3,369) 4,975 Net (loss)/income margin attributable to CDEL (10.0%) 10.2% Non-GAAP net (loss)/income margin attributable to CDEL (8.7%) 11.9% Net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELbasic (0.029) 0.031 Net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELdiluted (0.029) 0.031 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELbasic (0.025) 0.037 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELdiluted (0.025) 0.037 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersbasic (note 1) (0.116) 0.126 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersdiluted (note 1) (0.116) 0.125 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersbasic (note 1) (0.101) 0.149 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersdiluted (note 1) (0.101) 0.147 Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 133,009,706 133,939,623 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 133,009,706 135,468,910 Weighted average shares used in calculating basic non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 133,009,706 133,939,623 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 133,009,706 135,468,910 Note 1: Each ADS represents four ordinary shares China Distance Education Holdings Limited Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures (In thousands of US Dollars, except number of shares, per share and per ADS data) Six Months Ended March 31, 2019 2020 (Unaudited) (Unaudited) Cost of sales 48,888 46,129 Share-based compensation expense in cost of sales 23 50 Non-GAAP cost of sales 48,865 46,079 Selling expenses 28,285 34,446 Share-based compensation expense in selling expenses 10 21 Non-GAAP selling expenses 28,275 34,425 General and administrative expenses 12,907 11,633 Share-based compensation expense in general and administrative expenses 979 1,169 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 11,928 10,464 Gross profit 32,496 47,169 Share-based compensation expenses 23 50 Non-GAAP gross profit 32,519 47,219 Gross profit margin 39.9% 50.6% Non-GAAP gross profit margin 40.0% 50.6% Operating (loss)/income (6,231) 3,416 Share-based compensation expenses 1,012 1,240 Non-GAAP operating (loss)/income (5,219) 4,656 Operating margin (7.7%) 3.7% Non-GAAP operating margin (6.4%) 5.0% Net (loss)/income attributable to CDEL (1,962) 2,548 Share-based compensation expense 1,012 1,240 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to CDEL (950) 3,788 Net (loss)/income margin attributable to CDEL (2.4%) 2.7% Non-GAAP net (loss)/income margin attributable to CDEL (1.2%) 4.1% Net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELbasic (0.015) 0.019 Net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELdiluted (0.015) 0.019 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELbasic (0.007) 0.028 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDELdiluted (0.007) 0.028 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersbasic (note 1) (0.059) 0.076 Net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersdiluted (note 1) (0.059) 0.076 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersbasic (note 1) (0.029) 0.113 Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per ADS attributable to CDEL shareholdersdiluted (note 1) (0.029) 0.112 Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 132,901,311 133,710,889 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 132,901,311 134,953,440 Weighted average shares used in calculating basic non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 132,901,311 133,710,889 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share attributable to CDEL 132,901,311 134,953,440 Note 1: Each ADS represents four ordinary shares. SOURCE China Distance Education Holdings Ltd. Related Links http://ir.cdeledu.com The East Greenbush Board of Education finalized a 2020-21 budget proposal Wednesday that unlike many New York districts is currently below the tax cap while maintaining programs and not threatening layoffs. The proposed $100 million spending plan raises the property tax levy by 1.5 percent, which is below the state's 1.62 percent tax cap that applies to East Greenbush. The district is proposing to transfer $900,000 in reserve funds to fill the fiscal gap created by the state's freeze in Foundation Aid. It is the lowest tax levy increase the district has seen in five years and it will require a simple majority to pass the budget. We are striving to preserve quality programs for our students through strategic use of reserves making use of monies previously approved by taxpayers and saved by the district, Superintendent Jeff Simons said in a statement. There will be no in-person voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. District residents will decide on the spending plan through absentee ballots which are due back to the district office by 5 p.m. on June 9. The 2020-2021 enacted state budget enables the state's Division of Budget to make reductions to state aid at three intervals mid-year if certain revenue projections are not met. Also unclear for school districts are the potential costs of safely reopening school buildings in the fall. Schools might have increased expenses associated with smaller class sizes, protective equipment, or staggered transportation. School districts throughout the Capital Region are using varied approaches to mitigate the uncertainty around state aid. Some have approved plans that include deep cuts to programs and layoffs, while others are relying on reserve funds for now. It is still unclear whether the state will cut state aid mid-year, but school officials said the district is taking a cautious approach to budget planning for next year. Staff positions due to retirements and attrition are being evaluated and may not be filled next year. Any savings from positions not replaced will be used to offset possible reductions in state aid. There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding whether the state will reduce aid to our schools in the coming months and how this reduction may affect our programs, Simon said. The proposed budget includes the resources needed to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of our students. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. In addition to the school budget, voters will decide on the purchase of eight new school buses out of the Bus Purchase Reserve Fund and elect three Board of Education members to three-year terms. Board members Michael Buono, Kathleen Curtin and Mark Mann are all running for re-election unopposed. The districts bus fleet management plan would trade-in eight older school buses for new buses that have better fuel efficiency, lower emissions, improved safety features, and lower costs for maintenance and repairs. All of the buses would be purchased from the districts bus fund with no impact on taxpayers. The district would be reimbursed for approximately 65.2 percent of the total school bus purchase. The Bus Purchase Reserve Fund acts as a savings account, allowing the district to store money for the sole purpose of purchasing buses. It also helps the district avoid the costs that come with borrowing. Residents can learn more about the proposed budget during a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, May 27 and during a virtual presentation on Thursday, May 28. Budget information will also be shared on the school website and in a printed newsletter. To learn more, go to https://egcsd.org/budget/budget-news/. Police have been waking up caravan tourists who have broken coronavirus lockdown rules by travelling to Cornwall and staying overnight. People from all over the country headed to UK tourist hotspots on the hottest day of the year on Wednesday. Officers from Devon and Cornwall police went out on dawn patrol on Thursday in Newquay to target campervans that had stayed in the region overnight. They knocked on windows and doors to wake people up and remind them of the lockdown rules. We identified some visitors that had travelled to Newquay and stayed overnight against Public Health England advice and legislation, the force tweeted. With engagement, explanation and education they moved on. We love visitors to the town, #comebacklater. It comes after the government eased lockdown rules in England, allowing people to exercise more than once a day, drive an unlimited distance in order to exercise and meet up with one friend as long as social distancing rules are followed. However, the health advice states that people are not allowed to leave their home to stay overnight at another location. Wednesday saw the hottest day of the year so far, as the mercury reached 28.2C at Santon Downham in Suffolk. Members of the public flocked to parks and beaches to enjoy their newfound freedom after the easing of lockdown measures. The day beat a top temperature set just the day before, when Londons St Jamess Park recorded a high of 26.2C. On Wednesday, police in North Devon said roads to the areas beaches were gridlocked despite pleas to the public from councils who advise against travelling to the south-west. Officers in Ilfracombe and Braunton said they had identified vehicles from all over the country in the local area, where toilets and other amenities remain closed. One officer said valuable resources were being used to marshal traffic, adding that elderly people in the area would be very anxious over the selfish actions of these individuals. A slight easing of restrictions in England means people can drive to beaches and countryside beauty spots, where they are allowed to picnic and sunbathe. But in response to the relaxation of measures, leaders in Devon and Cornwall warned second home owners and tourists to think twice about visiting the region. Councils and tourism bodies encouraged people not to travel more than an hour from their local area to enjoy the outdoors and to avoid popular tourist locations, as the regions car parks, toilets and hotspots remain closed. Additional reporting by Press Association By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijan's Air Defense Units have started combat-training tasks on the fourth day of the large-scale drills being carried out in the country, the Ministry of Defense reported on May 21. As part of the drills, the Air Defense Units are fulfilling combat-training missions to defend settlements, facilities of various purposes, and military personnel from aerial attacks of an imaginary enemy, the ministry noted. During the exercises, Air Defense Forces' combat crews will defend troops and combat equipment from the attack of the enemy aircraft. On the same day, the Nakhchivan garrison troops carried out bilateral command-staff exercises, the ministry reported separately. The operational conditions have been further complicated with the involvement of additional forces in the training. The Defense Ministry noted that in the training, where the exchange of information between command posts is provided by the complex application of all types of communication means, the use of communication means in the conditions of active radio-electronic struggle is tested. In accordance with the staffs' decisions, combined arms units, missile and artillery units, air defence units, and other types of troops carry out redeployment tasks. Reconnaissance and special forces units carry out joint reconnaissance-sabotage operations. "The safe movement of troops during the transfer of forces and means from one direction to another is provided by the commandant service. The manoeuvring capabilities of the units and the accuracy of the calculations are checked", the ministry said. The Azerbaijani Army started large-scale operational-tactical exercises in line with the combat exercises plan for 2020 on May 18. The drills will last till May 22 and involve various types and kinds of troops, military associations and units of the Azerbaijani Army. Up to 10,000 servicemen, about 120 tanks and armoured vehicles, up to 200 rocket and artillery systems of various calibres, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, up to 30 military and frontline aircraft, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes will take part in the exercises. --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is considering hosting world leaders for the annual G7 summit at his Camp David retreat despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis, as the global death toll soared past 325,000. Trump, who is seeking to revive the US economy and his political fortunes ahead of the November election, also lashed out again at China, saying its "incompetence" was responsible for "this mass Worldwide killing." There was encouraging news, meanwhile, on the scientific front as two studies on monkeys published Wednesday offered hope that humans can develop protective immunity to the novel coronavirus. Trump said in a tweet that the United States was "Transitioning back to Greatness" and he may hold the G7 in June in person, instead of remotely by videoconference as proposed previously. "I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David," he said. World toll of coronavirus infections and deaths. By Jonathan WALTER (AFP) "The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all -- normalization!" G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- take turns organizing the annual gathering. French President Emmanuel Macron said he would attend the Camp David summit if "health conditions allow," his office said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would "wait and see what happens." Trump, who has blamed China for failing to contain the outbreak after it originated in the city of Wuhan late last year, attacked Beijing in another tweet. Food sellers wearing face masks wait for clients at their stalls in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak first erupted in late 2019. By Hector RETAMAL (AFP) "It was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing," he tweeted. Researchers reported progress from a study involving monkeys which looked at a prototype vaccine and another on whether infection with COVID-19 provides immunity against re-exposure. "We demonstrate in rhesus macaques that prototype vaccines protected against SARS-CoV-2 infection and that SARS-CoV-2 infection protected against re-exposure," said senior author Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Many governments see the development of an effective vaccine as the only surefire way to fully reopen their economies without risking increased death tolls. Record deaths in Brazil Brazil is now a global coronavirus hotspot -- here, health workers and patients are seen in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at Gilberto Novaes Hospital in Manaus. By MICHAEL DANTAS (AFP) While Trump raised the possibility of holding the annual G7 summit as a sign of "normalization," Brazil reported a record number of deaths as the pandemic began hitting Latin America with full force. With Europe continuing to ease lockdowns, Latin America has seen infections surge and now accounts for about 580,000 of the world's nearly five million confirmed cases. Brazil has been hardest hit, rising to the third-highest number of cases in the world, and Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen a steady increases in infections. Health officials in Brazil reported 1,179 new coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time the daily toll exceeded 1,000, but far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a "little flu." With the outbreak in the world's sixth-largest country expected to accelerate until early June, many Brazilians are deeply worried about the next few weeks. "Our country is going from bad to worse," said retiree Gilberto Ferreira in Rio de Janeiro. Bolsonaro has refused to accept experts' advice, pressing regional governors to end stay-at-home measures. And like Trump, he has promoted the use of anti-malaria drugs against the virus despite studies showing they have no benefit and could have dangerous side effects. Chile is also suffering from a sharp rise in cases and deployed soldiers on the outskirts of its locked-down capital Santiago after clashes with protesters angry about food shortages and job losses. A health worker bangs a pot during a protest outside the Hipolito Unanue public hospital in Lima over the lack of protective equipment -- Peru now has more than 100,000 coronavirus cases. By ERNESTO BENAVIDES (AFP) There were worrying signs in Argentina too, with authorities in Cordoba having to backtrack on easing lockdown measures following a sharp spike in infections. Peru saw its case count shoot past 100,000. Europe hopes to save tourism European officials are scrambling to try to save the summer tourism season, crucial for the continent's economies . By Fred TANNEAU (AFP) Europe is meanwhile hoping the worst is behind it, with the number of new cases and deaths on a steady decline. The global toll now stands at more than 325,000, according to an AFP tally, with 169,671 fatalities in Europe and 92,387 in the United States. Lockdown measures are being eased in many parts of Europe, with residents enjoying some of their old freedoms. "I haven't seen the sea for two months," said Helena Prades at a beach in Barcelona. "We just really wanted to hear the sound of the waves." As Spain emerges from one of the world's toughest lockdowns, face masks are now mandatory for anyone aged six and over in public where social distancing is not possible. European officials are scrambling to try to save the summer tourism season, which is crucial for the continent's economies. European Union tourism ministers held a virtual meeting on Wednesday as Greece announced plans to restart its travel season. World map showing official number of coronavirus deaths per country, as of May 20 at 1900 GMT. By Simon MALFATTO (AFP) Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said seasonal hotels could reopen from June 15 and international flights would resume from July 1. With Greece suffering fewer than 170 COVID-19 deaths, Mitsotakis said its prompt response to the virus would be a "passport" to attract visitors. In Italy, airports were given the green light to reopen from June 3, including for international flights. Gradual reopening in Asia A South Korean student undergoes a temperature check at Kyungbock High School in Seoul as schools started reopening after a two-month break. By Ed JONES (AFP) Countries in Asia have also been gradually reopening, with South Korean students lining up for temperature checks and given hand sanitizer as they returned to school after two months off. And India said domestic air travel will resume on May 25 after a two-month shutdown, even as the world's second-most populous country reported its biggest daily jump in coronavirus infections, with 5,611 new cases in 24 hours. Nearly 107,000 cases have been reported in India and more than 3,300 people have died, with experts predicting that infections will peak in June-July. burs/cl/sst Young people under 20 have ended up the big winners from the federal governments JobKeeper program. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that while every other age group has seen their average income plummet since the coronavirus crisis, Generation Z has recorded a 16.8 percent jump. This is because the one-size-fits-all $130 billion wage subsidy scheme pays affected workers who've been with their employer for over 12 months, a flat $1500 a fortnight handout. Young people under 20 have ended up the big winners from the federal governments JobKeeper program New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that while every other age group has seen their average income plummet since the coronavirus crisis, Generation Z has recorded a 16.8 percent jump JobKeeper was announced back in March when there was a lot of uncertainty about the economy and the government had to move very quickly, Shane Oliver, the Head of Investment Strategy and Economics at AMP told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday. That meant a lot of casuals and part-time workers who might only work two days a week were eligible and could receive $1500 dollars (a fortnight). So theyve actually seen a top up in their income. Although Mr Oliver said you can make the case that older workers have been hard done by given they have greater financial commitments in the form of mortgages, its unfair to criticise the government. All economic programs have to have a cut-off point and this scheme was designed very quickly to meet a need and I think it has helped Australia overall, especially compared to some other countries, he said. Any business that has suffered a 30 percent decline in income is able to apply for the scheme, with companies that earn over $1billion dollars in revenue requiring a 50 percent drop. Huge lines are seen outside a Centrelink office in Southport on the Gold Coast, March 23 What employees are eligible for JobKeeper You are currently employed (including those stood down or re-hired) by an eligible employer You were employed by the employer at March 1, 2020 You are full-time, part-time, or long-term casuals (a casual employed on a regular basis for longer than 12 months as at March 1, 2020) You are at least 16 years old You are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, a Protected Special Category Visa holder, a non-protected Special Category Visa holder who has been residing continually in Australia for 10 years or more, or a Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa holder You are not in receipt of a JobKeeper Payment from another employer Advertisement With kinks in the program in need of ironing out, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said a review into the JobKeeper scheme will be conducted in June. On May 4, he announced that young people at high school would have their payments capped at $4500, however teenagers over the age of 18 will not face the same restrictions. I wouldnt say that young people in general are not winners during the pandemic because they are more likely to have lost their job than people in their 30s, 40s or 50s, Independent economist Saul Eslake told Daily Mail Australia. But there is a group of people who are getting more from JobKeeper than they would have in the part-time work they were doing beforehand and this anomaly arose because the government understandably wanted to keep the scheme as simple as possible. However this has created a preserve incentive and it's something I think the government should remove in the review next month. To correct the issue, Eslake suspects the government may require employers to report on how much their workers have earned in previous months. Scott Morrison's (pictured) government will conduct a review into the JobKeeper program in June to iron out the kinks AMP Capital economist Shane Oliver said you can make the case that older workers have been hard done by given they have greater financial commitments in the form of mortgages. Pictured: A woman is seen lining up outside a Centrelink office in Frankston, Melbourne Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has cautioned states relaxing lockdown because of Eid-el-Fitr. Speaking at the PTFs brief on Thursday, Mr Mustapha advised all Nigerians to exercise caution and take personal responsibility during Sallah so as not to cancel the gains of the past weeks. According to him, states must strictly ensure that there are no gatherings of over 20 persons and compliance to restriction guidelines. Mustapha, while giving updates on COVID-19, expressed concern about Nigerians buying hydroxychloroquine, saying that this is not a tested cure for the virus and warned against self-medication. Advertisement Read Also: Your Future In Your Hands, Boss Mustapha Tells Citizens He stressed also that about 106,000 cases were recorded worldwide on Wednesday, the more reason why COVID-19 should not be taken lightly. 202 dead in Nigeria isnt just statistics, these are people, Nigerians, the SGF stressed. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. More than 10,000 residents in Central Michigan were forced to evacuate due to the flooding caused by the failures of the Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam, according to a recently published article. Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam Collapsed The heavy rainfall on late Tuesday has led to the collapsed of the Edenville Dam and Sanford Dam. The catastrophic collapsed of the two dams has released floodwaters that submerged to the houses and businesses along the Tittabawassee River. The continuous flooding has forced more than 10,000 residents in central Michigan to evacuate. The rapidly rising waters threatened to flood parts of Midland County as much as nine feet. Governor Gretchen Whitman said that the ongoing flooding is expected to be historic. This prompted the National Weather Service to issue a rare flash-flood emergency. Meanwhile, the agency added that the Tittabawassee River has already reached 35 feet as of 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday due to the rapid rise of water. They also forecasted that it will rise to 38 feet by Wednesday night. Gov. Whitman issued an emergency declaration following the collapse of the dams and the rapid rise of water. She also warned that the downtown Midland could be under approximately nine feet on Wednesday. Whitman said: "What I can tell you is what you already know, you've seen from the pictures - it's devastating." She is referring to the houses and businesses that submerged with the flooding water that is posted on social media. A Dual Crisis in Michigan Michigan is one of the hardest hits states in the country by COVID-19. 79 out of its 83 states have been devastated by the global pandemic. State authorities confirmed that as of Tuesday, there were more than 53,000 COVID-19 cases and with a death toll of more than 5,000. Gov. Whitman said: "I feel like I've said this a lot over the last 10 weeks, but this is an event, unlike anything we've seen before. We've got to continue to work together, to observe best practices to help one another, and to wear our masks and continue to try to social distance at this moment." Meanwhile, Pres. Donald Trump posted on his Twitter account on Wednesday morning, "My team is closely monitoring the flooding in Central Michigan - Stay SAFE and listen to local officials. Our brave First Responders are once again stepping up to serve their fellow citizens, THANK YOU!" Pres. Trump also asserted that his administration is keeping an eye on the developments of the flooding in the area. Moreover, the Michigan Department of Transportation already warned of the flooding on several state roads. In another report from a news outlet, a bridge had collapsed and thousands of residents were without power in the city of Midland. The governor ordered the evacuation and urged most especially the residents in Midland County to get into safety. The governor said: "Please get somewhere safe, now. In the next 12 to 15 hours downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water. We are anticipating a historic high water level." Gov. Whitman has also already declared a state of emergency for the county. Read a related article: Government sanctions fund and subsidy to stop burning crop residue responsible for pollution Its not just the onions that are bringing the tears: Potato prices too shoot up With an eating capacity as 35,000 people, why India is trembling at the arrival of the Locusts In a first drones used to drive away locusts in Rajasthan Locusts attack crops in Western MP India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Bhopal, May 21: Huge swarms of locusts from Rajasthan have entered parts of western Madhya Pradesh, posing a threat to crops in the central state, an official said on Thursday. An advisory has been issued to 22 agriculture science centres on how to fight the menace, Jabalpur-based Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalayas extension services director Dr Om Gupta told PTI. The locusts initially entered Rajasthan from Pakistan where they flew in from Iran last year. Pakistan: National emergency declared against locusts; Rs 7.3 billion alloted From Rajasthan, locusts entered Madhya Pradesh via Neemuch and have advanced to Ujjain and Dewas. The insects are likely to further move towards Harda, the official said. Six swarms of locusts have so far been noticed in Madhya Pradesh, she said, adding that they move according to the direction of wind. Domestic flights to resume in India from Monday, AAI issues guidelines | Oneindia News "We have issued an advisory to 22 Krishi Vigyan Kendras coming under our university on how to fight the locust menace," the official said. The insects eat up all crops in a field they attack, inflicting 100 per cent damage, she said. {quiz_120} However, right now fields in Madhya Pradesh have minimum crops since it is summer time, Gupta said. Crops may have been currently sown only in areas where there are irrigation facilities, she said. In December last year, locusts from desert areas of Pakistan descended in Gujarat districts like Banaskantha, Mehsana, Kutch, Patan and Sabarkantha and attacked several crops. The Gujarat government had then announced a compensation for farmers whose crops were damaged. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Thursday that it received reports of two new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Wednesday, of which one was imported and reported in Guangdong Province. The other case was domestically transmitted in Shanghai, the National Health Commission said in its daily report. No deaths related to the disease were reported Wednesday, according to the commission. One suspected case, which was imported from abroad, was reported on Wednesday in Shanghai. On Wednesday, five people were discharged from hospitals after recovery, while the number of severe cases decreased by one to eight. As of Wednesday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 82,967, including 84 patients who were still being treated, and 78,249 people who had been discharged after recovery. Altogether 4,634 people had died of the disease, the commission said. By Wednesday, the mainland had reported a total of 1,709 imported cases. Of the cases, 1,666 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 43 remained hospitalized with two in severe conditions. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported. The commission said seven people were suspected of being infected with the virus on Wednesday, all were imported from overseas. According to the commission, 4,864 close contacts were still under medical observation after 308 people were discharged from medical observation Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, 31 new asymptomatic cases, including three from overseas, were reported on the mainland. No cases were re-categorized as confirmed cases, and 24 asymptomatic cases were discharged from medical observation. The commission said 375 asymptomatic cases, including 29 from overseas, were still under medical observation. By Wednesday, 1,055 confirmed cases including four deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 45 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 440 in Taiwan including seven deaths. A total of 1,026 patients in Hong Kong, 45 in Macao, and 402 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery. The United States has increased aid to Ukraine to combat the COVID-19 pandemic to $15.5 million, the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States has said. "The U.S. government has expanded funding for humanitarian and emergency medical care to countries around the world to more than $900 million to counter the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. In particular, aid to Ukraine has been expanded from the previously allocated $14.5 million to $15.5 million," the embassy said on Wednesday evening. The report said the funds would be used to improve the capacity of local healthcare institutions in helping patients and counteracting the further spread of COVID-19. Funding will help alleviate secondary effects, such as the loss of livelihoods and the lack of public services for the most vulnerable, including the communities affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In addition, $2.4 million of humanitarian aid is allocated through the U.S. Department of State (through the Migration and Refugee Assistance program) to support the most vulnerable Ukrainians during the pandemic. The global dry construction market size is expected to grow by USD 22.73 billion during 2020-2024. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact can be expected to be significant in the first quarter but gradually lessen in subsequent quarters with a limited impact on the full-year economic growth, according to the latest market research report by Technavio. Request a free sample report This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005274/en/ Technavio has announced the latest market research report titled Global Dry Construction Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) The rise in global building construction and infrastructure activities is the most significant factor that will drive the growth of the global dry construction market. The number of new constructions in several developed and emerging countries are on the rise after the prolonged depression in the construction market. The recovery in the US economy has created optimism among home buyers, leading to increased demand for new single and multi-family homes. Moreover, several countries are also investing in infrastructure development. For instance, in March 2017, the US government planned to invest USD 1 trillion in various infrastructure development plans, including the construction of airports, hospitals, and schools. Several private players in the construction industry are also undertaking new commercial mega-projects, of which many are already in the construction phase. Such increase in construction activities is expected to drive the growth of the market. To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43471 As per Technavio, the growth in modular and panelized constructions will have a positive impact on the market and contribute to its growth significantly over the forecast period. This research report also analyzes other significant trends and market drivers that will influence market growth over 2020-2024. Dry Construction Market: Growth in Modular and Panelized Constructions The growth in modular and panelized construction is one of the key trends that will drive the growth of the market. Modular construction and panelized construction is centralized in a factory where the modules or panels are manufactured. Modular construction assembles modules to create a whole housing or building unit, whereas, panelized construction assembles pre-fabricated individual roof, floor, and wall panels together for setting up a building. They offer several advantages in on-site construction such as shorter construction duration and reduced labor, which are further driving the adoption of these techniques. "Factors such as the increasing adoption of energy and resource-efficient construction methods, and the improving quality and energy efficiency of dry construction will have a significant impact on the growth of the dry construction market value during the forecast period," says a senior analyst at Technavio. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Dry Construction Market: Segmentation Analysis This market research report segments the dry construction market by end-user (residential buildings and commercial buildings) and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and South America). The North American region led the dry construction market in 2019, followed by Europe, APAC, MEA, and South America respectively. During the forecast period, the North American region is expected to register the highest incremental growth due to factors such as an increase in private and public housing in the region. Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report Some of the key topics covered in the report include: Market Drivers Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Vendors covered Vendor classification Market positioning of vendors Competitive scenario About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005274/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ China on Thursday kicked off its truncated annual political season with the commencement of a week-long meeting of the top advisory body, signalling the abatement of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced Beijing to postpone the session for two months. President Xi Jinping and other top leaders of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) were present at the inaugural session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). It will be followed by the meeting of Parliament - the National People's Congress (NPC) - on Friday. China's Parliament, comprising the CPPCC and the NPC, was due to be held in early March but put off as coronavirus, which broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December, brought the country and later the world to a standstill. A truncated session will now be held for a week. Over 6,000 deputies from across the country would attend the sessions. In Thursday's session, over 2,000 members of the CPPCC attended the meeting wearing masks. They paid silent tribute to the martyrs who died fighting COVID-19 and compatriots who lost their lives in the epidemic. Its members, who are mostly nominated by the ruling Communist Party of China, included top film stars like Jackie Chan. The NPC, often described as the rubber stamp Parliament with over 3,000 members, would pass a host of new legislations, including approval of Premier Li Keqiang's annual work report and the annual defence budget. The meetings are being held under unprecedented restrictions with the media personnel needed to undergo COVID-19 tests, wait for six hours for results after which they would be permitted to cover the proceedings from a press room through a video link. Addressing the meeting, Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report to the political advisors who have gathered to discuss the major domestic political, economic and social issues and make proposals. Authorities have collected and submitted over 1,300 pieces of suggestions on the work related to COVID-19, he added. As it opened up the country, including the worst-hit Wuhan where coronavirus first emerged, China is keen to demonstrate that it brought the virus under control in a short time and restored normalcy. Ahead of the CPPCC meeting, its spokesperson Guo Weimin told the media on Thursday that China brought the COVID-19 pandemic under control in a short period. Guo said that by curbing the coronavirus in a short time China has effectively safeguarded people's lives and health, made solid progress in resuming work and production, and accelerated the restoration of normal social life and production. Such achievements have showcased the country's institutional advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics and demonstrated the excellent qualities of perseverance and solidarity of the Chinese nation, Guo said. Altogether 4,634 people had died of the COVID-19 in China so far. As of Wednesday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland have reached 82,967, including 84 patients who were still being treated. China's economy, the world's second biggest, plummeted by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 as a result of the pandemic. The future of China's multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative is also uncertain post-COVID-19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The problems we were having with Open Skies did not defeat the object and the purpose of the treaty, said Alex Bell, a senior director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. It never appeared like the Trump administration was really trying to fix these compliance problems. It seems like they only know how to break things. Cuba has asked the Paris Club of major creditors for a delay in repaying its debt until 2022, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its economy, diplomatic sources told AFP on Wednesday. In a letter sent to 14 Paris Club countries to whom Cuba owes money including Britain, Canada, France and Japan, Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas proposed "a moratorium for 2019, 2020 and 2021 and a return to paying in 2022," a diplomatic source revealed. Two other diplomats subsequently confirmed the information. All sources spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter. Havana missed more than $30 million in reimbursements in 2019. In February, it committed to settling that debt by May, but the virus crisis has now put paid to those plans. According to one source, the letter stipulates that Cuba would reassess its economic situation in 2021 to see if it could resume repayments. The agreement with the Paris Club is crucial for Cuba, which has been subjected to punishing US sanctions since 1962. After an easing of tensions under Barack Obama, sanctions have been ramped up under the administration of US President Donald Trump. In 2015, Havana renegotiated its debt with 14 Paris Club countries, wiping out $8.5 billion from an $11 billion debt, with the repayments restructured gradually until 2033. Cuba, which has suffered from food and fuel shortages, also benefited from several other creditors writing off debt: $6 billion by China in 2011, $500 million by Mexico in 2013 and $35 billion by Russia in 2014. Havana is increasingly reliant on the European Union, which has become its main investor with almost $3.5 billion in trade in 2018. However, lockdown measures enforced to combat the pandemic have badly affected Cuba's main sources of income, such as tourism and remittances sent from Cubans abroad. Tourism brought in $3.3 billion in 2018 but there has not been a single new visitor since March 24, putting a third of privately run businesses, and the 200,000 people they employ, at risk. Tourist numbers had already dropped by 9.3 percent in 2019 due to new restrictions on American visitors. The year-on year fall reached 16.5 percent in January and February -- and that was before Cuba closed its borders. - 'Humanitarian crisis' - Remittances accounted for $3.5 billion in 2017, according to an estimate by economist Carlos Mesa-Lago. "If the economic damage in Florida (where many Cuban immigrants live) is significant, then (remittances) will fall and that will impact people's lives," said the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, warning of "a humanitarian crisis." Another major source of income that has been hit is Cuba's export of health care workers, which brought in $6.3 billion in 2018. That has been cut by the return of 9,000 workers from countries with whom Cuba has strained diplomatic relations. "It's time to work on our reserves," said Economy Minister Alejandro Gil, because "we must save everything we can." The island nation, which imports 80 percent of goods, "reduced by 75 percent its first quarter imports" because of a lack of cash flow, said economist Omar Everleny Perez. Cuba is desperate to avoid a default, like it suffered in 1986. It is hoping for clemency, given that the Group of 20 largest economies put in place a one-year freeze on debt repayments for the world's poorest countries, including 40 in Africa. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have vowed to help vulnerable countries, but Cuba is a member of neither organization. The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean has said it expects Cuba's GDP to fall by 3.7 percent in 2020, but many experts predict a greater contraction. Cuban men wearing face masks transport food on their carts in the town of Bahia Honda - the country's economy is suffering due to the coronavirus crisis The American men accused of smuggling former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn out of Japan are a former US special forces operative who spent time in prison and his football-playing son. On the surface, Michael Taylor, 59, and Peter Taylor, 27, appeared to be living a quintessential American middle-class life in the small, wealthy town of Harvard, Massachusetts. But from there, US prosecutors say, the pair drew on the elder Taylor's experience as an ex-Green Beret to plot a brazen escape worthy of a Hollywood movie. Ghosn is now living as a fugitive in Lebanon after he absconded on December 29, 2019 while awaiting trial on alleged financial crimes. Michael Taylor's relationship with the country stretches back 40 years. Taylor was deployed to Beirut as a member of America's special forces in the early 1980s, according to US media. He received an honorable discharge in 1983 and then became a private security consultant, the Boston Globe reported, carrying out work across the Middle East. Taylor learnt Arabic and married a Lebanese woman. He was often hired to help people get out of high-risk situations such as abductions and worked as an undercover informant for federal investigators, the Globe reported in January. The New York Times said it hired Taylor to help rescue its then reporter David Rohde, who was kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan and held for seven months in Pakistan's tribal areas. Rohde escaped on his own in June 2009. Taylor's career has courted trouble along the way. In the late 1990s he pleaded guilty to planting drugs in the car of a client's estranged wife, according to a local media report. He was also charged with wiretapping offences in relation to illegal activity while working undercover, the Boston Globe has reported. In 2011, he was investigated for paying kickbacks to obtain a series of contracts from the Department of Defense worth approximately $54 million. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentenced in 2015 to two years in jail, according to the Justice Department. Story continues - Japan trips - Away from his murky professional dealings, Taylor looked to be living a blissful suburban existence on the outskirts of Boston. Pictures taken by an AFP photographer Wednesday showed Michael and Peter Taylor's home situated in picturesque woodland, the garden's lawn perfectly manicured. The Boston Globe reported that Taylor senior played softball and from 2008 spent three years coaching American football at Massachusetts' prestigious Lawrence Academy school. Peter is a former player for the school's football team, according to the paper. Their alleged involvement in Ghosn's escape was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in January. They were arrested early Wednesday, as the younger Taylor was preparing to travel to Lebanon. According to prosecutors, the Taylors and Lebanese man George-Antoine Zayek helped Ghosn hide inside a large music audio equipment case, which they then loaded onto a private jet. Between July and December 2019, Peter Taylor made multiple trips to Japan and met Ghosn at least seven times, prosecutors say. There is no sadder news to music fans than the realization that this may be the first summer where they won't hear live music at their favorite mass events elbow to elbow with like-minded enthusiasts. While Live Nation is considering experimenting with drive-in concerts and reduced-capacity shows, nothing beats sitting on the lawn with your friends at the Xfinity Theatre while enjoying an over-priced craft beer. The Philadelphia Nursing Home at 2100 W Girard Ave. on May 20, 2020. Nursing home COVID data released by the state said no staff at the facility tested positive for the virus but Philadelphia Health Department records show at least 30 staffers did so. Read more If you accept the state data released this week about the coronavirus scourge of long-term-care facilities, no staff members at the Philadelphia Nursing Home in Fairmount have gotten the disease and across the citys 47 nursing homes, fewer than 20 staffers have tested positive. That would be wonderful news for seniors in those facilities and their loved ones. Staff members who carry the virus without showing symptoms all too often bring the disease into the homes, with deadly results. But neither of those statements is accurate. In fact, 30 staff members at the Philadelphia Nursing Home alone have tested positive for the virus, according to the city, which owns the 402-bed facility. When the state on Tuesday released much-anticipated data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes, residents and staff hoped it might provide a fuller picture of the pandemics toll on those vulnerable facilities, which have been shrouded in secrecy despite being involved in about two-thirds of coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania. READ MORE: Tinder boxes: Secret data reveal how COVID-19 swept through Philadelphia nursing homes The data, however, have proved to be highly unreliable, and drastically minimize the virus impact on Philadelphia nursing homes, according to a comparison of the new state records and a previous city database obtained exclusively by The Inquirer. Family members have been unable to visit inside since March, and have complained they were left in the dark about where the outbreaks were occurring. The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday acknowledged problems with the data, which it had kept hidden until federal regulators required it to be disclosed. The state blamed the nursing homes, which it regulates. They did not report completely, or in some cases at all, and so the data had to be reported through another method, Nate Wardle, a spokesperson for the Health Department, said in a statement. "We are constantly working to make sure the data we provide is accurate. Zachary Shamberg, head of a trade group representing Pennsylvania senior centers, said inaccurate information could undermine the trust residents and their families have in nursing homes. Put yourself in the shoes of a son or a daughter or a grandson or a granddaughter or the wife or a husband of a resident, and the numbers released yesterday by the Department of Health are inconsistent with the numbers shared with you by that facilitys administrator, said Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. Once people lose confidence in those caring for their loved ones, you cant get that confidence back, and thats what was done yesterday. READ MORE: Pa. finally released data on coronavirus in long-term-care facilities. But its full of errors. The data perplexed some operators and workers at the facilities. A nurse at Maplewood Nursing & Rehabilitation Center said the states tallies for the Germantown facility 34 coronavirus cases and five deaths among residents, no cases among staff members were severe undercounts. More than 60 Maplewood residents have had the virus, including 45 currently residing in the facilitys wing for COVID-19 patients, and 15 have died, said the nurse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because staff at the facility do not have permission to speak to reporters. Additionally, at least 15 staff members have had the virus or are sick from it, the nurse said. Im appalled, the nurse said. Dont make it a cover-up. Just explain what it is. The nurse said it was important for the state and facilities to be accurate about outbreaks and not downplay the spread of the virus if you want people to social distance when you have a facility where theyre in close quarters. A lawyer for the New York-based Bedrock Care Group, which owns the facility, said in a statement that Maplewood follows state data reporting rules and will continue to do so. Potential undercounts in the new data are widespread, the comparison with the previously released city data indicated. St. Ignatius Nursing & Rehab Center in West Philadelphia, for instance, was listed as having 11 residents with COVID-19 in the new state data, which is far below the 49 cases documented by Philadelphias Public Health Department last month. St. Ignatius was one of 11 care homes that the recent state data showed as having fewer positive cases than the city had documented. In all, these facilities were said to have 184 fewer cases than the city listed in April. The citys inadvertent release of coronavirus counts last month did not identify how many care-home workers had contracted the virus. The state release shows almost none, even at Chapel Manor, where at least 123 residents caught the virus and 27 died. Indeed, of Philadelphias 58 nursing homes and assisted living facilities, 52 showed zero cases among workers. Only six facilities had numbers for sick workers, but in each example fewer than five were sick, so the state didnt share the number. That pattern is challenged by the experience at senior facilities in nearby counties. In Bucks County, three-quarters of the facilities had positive case counts for workers. At Neshaminy Manor Home, one of the hardest-hit in the county with 39 fatalities, the state reported 96 residents and 43 workers caught the virus. Powerback Rehabilitation in Chester Countys Exton reported more sick workers than residents. The data show 28 employees have had the coronavirus, but only nine residents. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. Even with the state datas limitations, it did shed light on a tragic, if unsurprising, reality: Nearly all Philadelphia nursing homes have seen residents die from the coronavirus. Of the 44 nursing homes listed in the state data, only Presbyterian Center for Continuing Care listed no deaths. In all, 54% of the citys 1,152 coronavirus deaths have been of nursing home residents. Myanmar Strips Rakhine Politician Jailed For Treason of MP Status, Bars Him From Elections 2020-05-20 -- Myanmar's Union Election Commission (UEC) has stripped jailed Rakhine politician Aye Maung of his status as a Lower House member of parliament and barred him from running for office, citing his conviction on charges of treason, according to state media reports. The UEC said in an announcement dated May 18 and published on Wednesday that Aye Maung's imprisonment negated his role representing Rakhine state's An township in the Union Parliament and that by losing his seat due to a treason conviction, he could no longer take part in elections for any legislature in the country, based on Article 11(d) and Article 88(a) of the Lower House Election Law, respectively. Aye Maung, the former chairman of the Arakan National Party (ANP), and author Wai Hin Aung were arrested in January 2018 after giving speeches at a public event in in Rakhine's Rathedaung township commemorating the anniversary of the fall in 1784 of the Arakan Kingdom to the Burmese. They were sentenced by the Sittwe District Court in March 2019 to 20 years in prison each for high treason and to two years for incitement, with the sentences to be served concurrently. An appeal to reconsider their sentences was rejected by the Supreme Court of the Union in January this year. Monywa Aung Shin, secretary of the ruling, civilian-led National League for Democracy's (NLD) Information Committee, told RFA's Myanmar Service Wednesday that the move was "the Election Commission's decision," but said it is in line with the Election Law. "I think he can appeal his case to the president or to top judicial officials," he said, adding that such bans "happen in politics." Sai Thiha Kyaw, a Lower House MP representing Mongyai Township in northern Shan State for the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), told RFA the announcement "signals the death of politics" for Aye Maung. "This is a very strong decision against him," he added. Pe Than, another ANP lawmaker representing Rakhine's Myebon township in the Lower House, noted that the charges brought against the leader of a political party for speaking in public "are far more severe than those brought against ethnic rebel soldiers who are killing one another" and suggested Aye Maung's ban from politics could "lead to bad consequences." "If this trend [of targeting ethnic politicians] continues, the people will lose trust in the parliamentary system and it could end up causing much more severe armed conflict," he said. Maung Maung Soe, a political analyst, agreed, calling the decision "very disappointing." "Amidst the many conflicts and fighting in Rakhine state, this is the time to promote dialogue but instead, a Rakhine lawmaker has been removed from parliament and barred from elections," he said. "This is not good for Myanmar's politics, particularly for efforts to solve the Rakhine problem." Calls by RFA seeking comment from the UEC went unanswered on Wednesday. Missing villagers Meanwhile, the family members of 20 residents of Dalet Chaung village tract in Aye Maung's An township told RFA that they have no information on the whereabouts of their loved ones after they were detained last week by what they believe was a local battalion of the Myanmar military. Residents of Dalet Chaung's Alae Kyun village said an 18-year-old named Myo Hlaing, also known as Nga Pyaw, went missing after he went fishing on May 17 and 14 men aged 30 to 56 were detained after they went looking for him the following day. "He went fishing around 1:00 p.m. but hadn't returned by midnight, so several villagers [and family members] set out to find him at dawn," villager Alin Kar said. "Nearly all of the villagers from groups that searched for him on boat and on foot were detained and we haven't heard anything about them. None of their family members have been able to contact them." A villager who was among nine people aboard the boat told RFA on condition of anonymity that he was the only one to escape when two military soldiers guarding the area detained the search party. "We didn't find Nga Pyawwe only found his boat in the creek," he said. "Then, two soldiers came out of the bushes near his boat and asked where we were from. We said we are local residents looking for a lost villager. They asked us to come off the boat and stand in a row on land. I hid in the bushes and fled." Other villagers told RFA that all six people who had searched for Myo Hlaing on foot were detained in the area of Taung Pauk, east of Alae Kyun. They said they believe the young man was taken into custody by the military because of the soldiers who were guarding his boat. Also on Wednesday, the family members of five ethnic Chin residents of West Dalet village, including a local school teacher named Aung Tun Khin, said they were detained by the military on May 18, but they haven't heard from them since. At risk of torture Pyinnya Nanda, a Buddhist monk from the Dalet Chaung village tract area, told RFA that the military may have detained the 20 villagers over suspected ties to the ethnic Rakhine rebel Arakan Army (AA), but said they are civilians and should be released. "I want the military officials to know that the detained villagers are innocentthey are local civilians and earn their living honestly," he said. "Their families are concerned that they will be tortured during interrogation. We would like to appeal to the authorities to release them as soon as possible." The Dalet Chaung area saw several armed engagements between the military and the AA last month. Pyinnya Nanda said the military has since placed restrictions on the movement of residents, making it difficult for them to earn a living. Repeated attempts by RFA to contact the Military Information Committee about the detentions went unanswered on Wednesday. Reported by RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar and Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Copyright 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ashiesh Is Facing Money Crunch The actor was quoted by TOI as saying, "I was already facing a money crunch and the situation has worsened owing to the lockdown. I had savings of Rs 2 lakh, which I spent during the first two days of being hospitalised. First, I was tested for COVID-19, which cost me around Rs 11,000, followed by other expenses. I spent around 90,000 on a single round of dialysis." Ashiesh Further Added "I have to undergo a treatment, which will cost me Rs 4 lakh, but I don't have the money to pay for it. So, I want to go back home, as I can't afford the treatment. I am seeking financial aid from people so that I can clear my medical bills to get discharged. I can't continue staying here even if I were to die tomorrow." The Actor Needs Time & Money To Recover He added that his condition is such that he has to go for dialysis every two weeks. He needs time and money to recover. He hopes to get back to work as soon as possible, and added that he doesn't mind playing any character, but he just needs to keep going. He Had Planned To Relocate To Kolkata Ashiesh said that he had planned to relocate to Kolkata, where his sister lives, as he doesn't have any emotional support here. He feels that he should have got married but didn't when the time was right. Ashieshs Friend Sooraj Says Apparently, his Rishta Sajhedaari Ka co-star, Sooraj Thapar is in constant touch with the actor and has been requesting people to help him monetarily. He has also approached a few NGOs for help. The actor revealed that his sister, who is married and settled in Kolkata, has managed to send some money. He also added that Asheish has been waiting to sell off his 2BHK flat to take care of his medical expenses, but due to the current scenario, it is not easy and will take time. Taiwan President Says Island Won't Accept Rule by Beijing 2020-05-20 -- Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen set the scene for her second term in office on Wednesday with a vow that the democratic island would never accept rule by the Chinese Communist Party, signaling instead a cautious move towards constitutional reform. Tsai said that any relationship with Beijing would have to proceed peacefully, on an equal footing -- an idea that is anathema to the Chinese Communist Party -- and with respect for Taiwan's democratic system. "We will not accept the Beijing authorities' use of 'one country, two systems' to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo. We stand fast by this principle," Tsai said. "Here, I want to reiterate the words 'peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue,'" said Tsai, who won a landslide victory in January for a second term as president of the 1911 Republic of China, which has controlled the four islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu since losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949. She said Taiwan's parliament, the Legislative Yuan, would begin a process of "constitutional amendments," beginning a dialogue to achieve consensus on "constitutional reforms pertaining to government systems and people's rights." "This democratic process will enable the constitutional system to progress with the times and align with the values of Taiwanese society," Tsai said. She said the first amendment would aim to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, a move for which there is already a broad consensus. Tsai spent the first section of her speech praising the island's response to the coronavirus pandemic. "Thank you for your patience, and thank you for trusting the government," she said. "You have shown the world Taiwan's commitment to civic virtues, even in times of greatest distress." "This is what solidarity feels like." Beijing insists on 'reunification' China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing would stick to its insistence on "reunification," which it described as a "historical inevitability of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation." "We have the firm will, full confidence, and sufficient ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the office said in a statement responded to Tsai's speech. In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated Tsai on her second term inauguration. "I would like to congratulate Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on the commencement of her second term as Taiwan's President," Pompeo said. "Her courage and vision in leading Taiwan's vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world." Support for Taiwan in the United States is bipartisan and unanimous," he said. "We have a shared vision for the regionone that includes rule of law, transparency, prosperity, and security for all." He said island's response to the pandemic had shown the world a model "worthy of emulation." China's Foreign Ministry condemned Pompeo's remarks, and said China would take "necessary countermeasures," without giving details. Matt Pottinger, senior director of the U.S. National Security Council, spoke in Mandarin as he commended Taiwan's performance in handling the COVID-19 outbreak and congratulated Tsai on her second four-year term. "The world has much to learn from Taiwan and the U.S. will continue to engage with Taiwan. We will continue to urge other countries and organizations, such as the World Health Organization, to put human lives above politics," Pottinger said in a video message from the White House. Tsai's inauguration speech repeated her election campaign pledge that her government would only deal with China on an equal footing, and would continue to insist on its freedom, democracy and sovereignty in the face of threats of invasion -- which Beijing refers to as "reunification." China has used diplomatic offensives, military threats, interference and infiltration to try to force the island to compromise its sovereignty, according to the Taiwan government and its security services. Tsai said on the campaign trail that Taiwan would never agree to becoming part of the People's Republic of China in its current, authoritarian state, because the experience of Hong Kong had shown that Beijing's "one country, two systems" model isn't viable, because democracy and authoritarianism are unable to coexist within the same country. Hong Kong crackdown fuels Taiwan fears Public opinion polls have shown that the violent suppression of Hong Kong's anti-government protest movement has fueled fears for Taiwan's national security and democracy, and that only around 4.5 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people welcome the idea of Chinese rule. Tsai has been a vocal supporter of Hong Kong protesters' aspirations for full democracy, and against the use of police violence and political prosecutions to target protesters, and argued during a presidential election debate that China is the biggest threat to Taiwan's way of life. Retired Shandong University lecturer Feng Gang said Beijing appears to be deliberately nudging Taiwan in the direction of declaring a new sovereign identity unconnected to China. "I think that the policy is to provide stimuli to send Taiwan towards independence," Feng told RFA. "This will free them up to do what they want to do." "The chances of Taiwan actually acquiescing to [unification] at any point in the next three decades are looking pretty poor," he said. Chinese academic Li Muyang said the Legislative Yuan constitutional amendment committee would pave the way for Taiwan to move still further from Beijing's notion of "one country, two systems." "Tsai Ing-wen looks likely to set up a constitutional amendment committee which could be very important ... over the next four years," Li said. "Although there are no detailed parameters yet, the direction [she is going in] is clear to everyone. Taiwan may develop in a more independent direction." Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was occupied by the 1911 Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal with the allies. It has never been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China. The island began a transition to democracy following the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996. Reported by Qiao Long and Hsia Hsiao-hwa for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Chung Kuang-cheng for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Copyright 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran Lawmaker Says $30 Billion Spent On Syria Must Be Returned Radio Farda May 20, 2020 A conservative lawmaker and former chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission has said that Iran spent 20-30 billion dollars in Syria that must be reimbursed. In a video interview with Etemad Online, the website of the reformist Etemad newspaper, published on May 19, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the money paid to Syria came from the national coffers and has to be paid back. Falahatpisheh visited Syria in March 2018 and following his visit said Iran should help Syria as long as Syria asks for it and claimed that Iran had played a major role in all the successful operations in the country "against terrorists". He also pointed out that Syria had a "major debt" to Iran which it had to pay back but did not mention the extent of the debt. The issue of who will economically benefit in Syria after peace returns has been discussed in media as recently as this month when controversy erupted over a close relative of Bashar al-Assad and his billion-dollar empire. Some have said that Iran and Russia are competitors when it comes to reaping the benefits of their "investment" in Syria "Following my visit to Syria [and calling for the monies paid to Syria or spent there to be paid back] some people said [my statement] had been costly [for Iran]," he said in the interview but added: "I repeat, we have probably given 20 to 30 billion dollars to Syria and must recover it. The money belonging to this nation has been spent there". Falahatpisheh did not elaborate on whether he meant monies loaned to Syria or spent there for Iran and Hezbollah military operations. He also did not mention when and in what manner he expects the money to be paid back. The interview was quickly picked up by many news websites in Iran. Falahatpisheh whose term will end on May 27 is a conservative but was elected as the Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament with the support of reformists in the third year of the current parliament. In February 2019 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's top military adviser, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, also said that Iran will recoup what it had spent in Syria by exploiting the war-torn country's oil, gas and phosphate resources but had not mentioned a figure. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-lawmaker- says-30-billion-paid-to-syria-must-be- paid-back/30623998.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address With the US refusing to soften its stance on Nord Stream 2, Putins pipeline ploy to gain added energy leverage over Europe looks to be in tatters. Meanwhile, the Russian economy is crashing under the combined weight of the COVID19 pandemic, collapsed global energy prices, and sanctions imposed for the war in Ukraine Nord Stream 2 rian.com.ua Vladimir Putin hasnt given up on his grand strategy to dominate European gas markets. In order to accomplish this, Russias stalled undersea pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 2, must be completed. Opposition has been fierce for years, but in December 2019 tough new US sanctions suddenly brought the multi-year and multi-billion dollar project to a halt with only 160 kilometers of underwater pipeline left unfinished. Both the European Union and Washington had voiced longstanding objections to the project because it would allow Gazprom to control the European market and bypass gas delivery systems in Ukraine and Belarus, potentially undermining their sovereignty. But even after the Americans imposed sanctions late last year, Putin continued to double-down. In March 2020, after the Nord Stream 2 contractor fled sanctions, Gazprom decided to deploy another, riskier type of pipe-laying vessel. It applied for a special permit from Denmark, which is the jurisdiction where the route remains unfinished. However, this request was given the cold shoulder by environmentalists as well as by European and American opponents of the project. At the beginning of May, the Russians piled on the pressure when a second ship, the Gazprom-owned Akademik Cherskiy, arrived in the Baltic Sea from Asia with the clear intent of completing the undersea line. The arrival of the Akademik Cherskiy suggests that the pipeline project remains a priority for Moscow despite US sanctions on Russia, speculated Reuters. But not so fast, Vladimir. In an interview on May 11, sanctions co-sponsor Senator Ted Cruz bluntly stated that American sanctions on the pipeline will apply to any ship or any owner who attempts to finish the infrastructure job. The intention was to permanently impede its completion. The sanctions on Nord Stream 2 were endorsed by the entire United States government and there is absolutely no wiggle room, Cruz wrote in an email. If Gazprom uses the Akademik Cherskiy to finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the US President must and will impose sanctions on Gazprom. Their officers would lose their ability to come to the US and all of their assets would be blocked, and thats just for starters. The significance of this cannot be overstated. Tens of billions of dollars, along with Putins reputation as a savvy geopolitical chess master, have been invested in the pipeline project. However, Moscow is now running out of viable options. The only move left is to proceed in defiance of sanctions that will adversely affect many in the higher echelons of the Russian establishment. This is checkmate. Further, the Senators office appended to his interview a statement from December that outlined the deterrents to any company that tries to build Putins energy weapon. The consequences of your company continuing to do the work for even a single day after the President signs the sanctions legislation would expose your company to crushing and potentially fatal legal and economic sanctions. reads the statement. The sanctions stipulate that the US State Department, in consultation with the US Treasury Department, must report every six months to the US Congress on vessels engaged in pipe-laying for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, while also providing a list of foreign companies or individuals who have sold, leased or provided those vessels or facilitated deceptive or structured transactions to provide those vessels. For instance, should Gazprom deploy the Akademik Cherskiy to complete Nord Stream 2 in defiance of sanctions, Gazproms principal shareholders and corporate officers would be denied entry into the United States. The same penalties would apply to officials in charge of Russias Federal Agency for State Property Management which controls government shares in Gazprom and other state-owned enterprises. Likewise, those running Russian state entities Rosneftegaz and Rosgazifikatsiya, which are Gazproms principal shareholders with a controlling interest, will be caught in Washingtons sanctions dragnet. Further, Gazprom would lose access to any property in the United States and be blocked from any of its property controlled by a US company or individual anywhere in the world. This isnt the first time Cruz has weighed in on the pipeline situation. In March 2020, when Gazprom, its backers and partners first requested a permit from Denmark that would allow a barge ship without dynamic positioning to complete the project, Cruz was equally unequivocal. He said the goal was to permanently stop the pipeline and added that the proposed Russian environmental hazard was unacceptable. Senator Cruz is deeply concerned about the environmental risks of continued Russian construction in the Baltic Sea, especially by anchor barges. The Baltic Sea is littered with unexploded munitions and chemicals, and the ships under consideration would pose a grave risk of full-blown environmental catastrophes. He has and will continue to urge Americas European partners to reject such risks. Besides this bombshell, Nord Stream 2 faces more bad news regarding its request for exemption from European Union rules on pipelines connecting the bloc with non-member states. These include requirements such as transparency and decoupling of ownership between owners and suppliers, neither of which Gazprom has agreed to abide by. German regulators are expected to reject the exemption request. With the US refusing to soften its stance on Nord Stream 2, Putins pipeline ploy to gain added energy leverage over Europe looks to be in tatters. Meanwhile, the Russian economy is crashing under the combined weight of the COVID19 pandemic, collapsed global energy prices, and sanctions imposed for the war in Ukraine. Understandably, plans to make Putin president for life are currently on hold. And neither Ted Cruz nor Congress has had to fire a single shot. Read the full story here. South Africa: Two-day-old dies of COVID-19, as cases rise to 18 003 As the numbers of COVID-19 cases increase, South Africa has recorded its first death of an infant due to Coronavirus. According to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, a two-day-old was born prematurely and had lung difficulties that required ventilation support immediately. The mother had tested positive for COVID-19 and the child subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 as well, Mkhize explained. It is important to appreciate the complexities of the underlying condition of prematurity. We extend a special word of comfort to the mother of this child and salute the neonatologists, nurses and all allied and technical personnel who had the difficult task of caring for the neonate to the end. The baby is among the 27 who succumbed to the COVID-19 related illnesses, which brings the total national deaths to 339 as of Wednesday. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country is 18 003, an increase of 803 in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, a healthcare worker in the Western Cape also lost their life. When COVID-19 claims the lives of the very people who are the bedrock of the national response, we feel the loss in so many ways. Mkhize has saluted health professionals who continue to serve with honour and compassion despite the risk they face in the frontline. The total number of recoveries to date is 8 950, while 505 861 tests have been conducted with 18 252 done in the last 24-hour cycle. During a public presentation to senior editors and journalists on Tuesday, Mkhize said without natural immunity or a vaccine, everyone is at risk of the Coronavirus infection. One in five sick patients may need hospital care, he told journalists. He also said flattening the curve is an ongoing process of reducing Coronavirus spread over an extended period. The reason for flattening the curve is to reduce the rate of new infections so that the peak is lowered to a level where hospitals can cope with COVID-19 cases. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Former Senator and author Shehu Sani has attacked Bashir, the son of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, describing him as a gnomi... Former Senator and author Shehu Sani has attacked Bashir, the son of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, describing him as a gnomish heir from a lunatic dynasty. It went down on Wednesday morning on the micro-blogging app, Twitter when the Kaduna lawmaker tweeted a two-in-one image of late pop star Michael Jackson. One image portrayed the Pop king as a lovely kindhearted human with a cool smile and the other appeared to show the late musician as a ghost. Before elections and after elections, Sani captioned the image, not clear who he specifically referred to but most likely insinuating how Nigerian politicians behave before and after elections. As expected, reactions poured in and the one that caught attention was that of El-Rufais son, who replied with two photos of Sani. One image showed the 52-year-old Sani with President Buhari; You can see the President appearing to endorse the Kaduna lawmaker who lost his reelection bid and the other image appeared to show Sani in a sombre mood. A gnomish heir from a lunatic dynasty, Sani fired back. And Bashir, whose father El-Rufai has often been at loggerheads with Sani, was on ground to reply. Allah sarki Bashir El-Rufai (@BashirElRufai) May 20, 2020 Before Murus & After Murus, Bashir wrote in the caption. Were not sure what it means but Murus is a popular slogan used in Kaduna during electioneering.He mockingly sympathised with the senator: Allah sarki. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 980 new coronavirus cases Thursday, raising the statewide total to 65,392. Across Pennsylvania, 4,869 deaths are tied to the coronavirus, including 102 new fatalities reported Thursday. About two-thirds of the states COVID-19 deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. The health department released new data Thursday; the figures reflect cases and deaths reported as of midnight. There are 303,514 patients who have tested negative for the virus, the health department said. State officials say the curve has flattened and new cases in the health departments daily reports have remained under 1,000 for several days. Nursing homes Statewide, 3,234 coronavirus deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities, according to the health department. Those deaths represents 66 percent of the states coronavirus fatalities. Across Pennsylvania, 14,113 residents of those facilities have contracted the virus, along with 2,306 employees. Cases have been found in 570 long-term care facilities in 44 counties. Hospitals and health care workers The number of patients in hospitals has dropped substantially in recent weeks, according to state figures. The health department website indicates 1,682 patients are being treated in hospitals. A few weeks ago, more than 2,700 patients were in hospitals. The department website shows 357 people are on ventilators, which also represents a drop from recent weeks. Most of those who are infected with the virus recover without hospitalization. The virus poses more serious risks for seniors. The health department said 4,871 health care workers have been infected with the virus. Reopening Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has gradually reopened portions of Pennsylvania in recent weeks. On Friday, Wolf will lift 12 more counties from his stay-at-home order, including some in central Pennsylvania. These are the counties moving into the yellow phase Friday: Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Wayne and York. In addition, 37 counties are already in the yellow phase of the states reopening phase. Those counties cover western Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh area, and much of the states northern tier. Wolfs color-coded plan to reopen Pennsylvania has three phases: red, yellow and green. Counties in the yellow phase can allow more businesses to reopen, with some restrictions. Businesses are still encouraged to allow employees to work remotely as much as possible. Retailers can reopen but are encouraged to offer curbside pickup. Even in the yellow phase, restaurants and bars are limited to takeout and delivery services. Movie theaters, casinos, gyms, nail salons and barber shops remain closed. Gatherings of more than 25 people are prohibited in the yellow phase. After Friday, 18 counties in Pennsylvania, including Dauphin, Lancaster and Lebanon, along with the Philadelphia area, will remain under a stay-at-home order. Those counties will stay in the red phase until at least June 4, unless Wolf moves to lift restrictions earlier. More from PennLive 12 Pa. counties, including Cumberland, move to yellow phase of Wolfs reopening plan Friday; what changes? What stores are re-opening this week? Boscovs, Sportsmans Warehouse, Stein Mart, more Democratic lawmakers push Gov. Tom Wolf to allow all retail businesses in Pa. to offer curbside service Trudy Klinger was a nursing home therapist; her death from coronavirus underscores challenges Coronavirus kills traditional Memorial Day observances but not the honoring of veterans Press Release Nokia launches new WaveFabric Elements optical portfolio for 400G ecosystem to meet surging demands from 5G and cloud New components and subsystems portfolio enables upgrades to the next generation of 400G speeds Portfolio includes fifth generation Photonic Service Engine coherent digital signal processors, optimized for end-to-end 400G optical transport Silicon photonic devices and subsystems to supply partner ecosystem addressing 400G data center and service provider optical networks Technology assets to power vertically integrated optical transceiver modules applicable to a wide and expanding range of networking applications 21 May 2020 Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced its WaveFabric Elements portfolio of photonic chips, devices and subsystems, including its fifth generation coherent digital signal processor family, the Photonic Service Engine V (PSE-V). The explosion in video and mobile bandwidth demand over the past decade has been met through the continual advancement of optical and silicon technology. But as fundamental limits of transmission capacity and processing power are approached, network operators will need new ways to continue to scale their networks to meet the surging demands of 5G and cloud networking, while containing cost. Key to this transition is 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400G) technology. Set to become the pervasive network interface across IP, optical and data center networks, 400G marks the first common data rate since the introduction of 100G approximately 10 years ago. As the foundational technology for high bandwidth transport, the critical task of electro-optics in the coming years will be to transport 400G services at the lowest cost across a wide range of networking applications, each with distinct size, power, and performance requirements. Nokia's WaveFabric Elements portfolio combines digital signal processing (DSP) and optics technologies focused on emerging end-to-end 400G applications, allowing Nokia to optimize the entire electro-optic engine that powers today's networks and the transformational upgrades to come. This high degree of vertical integration ensures that Nokia's optical solutions will meet the unique economic and technical requirements of data center, metro, long haul, and subsea networks. Nokia's fifth generation coherent DSP family, comprising the high-performance Nokia PSE-Vs (super coherent) and the low power PSE-Vc (compact), continues Nokia's history of developing multiple DSPs optimized for different optical networking applications, form factors, and platforms. The new DSPs are complemented by the CSTAR portfolio of coherent optical engines brought to Nokia via its recent acquisition of Elenion Technologies, a pioneer in silicon photonics. A new family of pluggable transceiver modules allows Nokia to address their critical and expanding role in data center, IP and optical networks, as well as emerging markets and applications highly dependent upon low-cost optical connectivity, such as access and mobile networking. Sam Bucci, Head of Optical Networks at Nokia, said: "Networks are truly at an inflection point, and 400G will be a catalyst for a significant transformation. With our WaveFabric Elements portfolio, Nokia is committed to supplying the 400G optical ecosystem with components, subsystems and design services, as well as continuing to build the highest performing optical transport solutions for the 400G era and beyond." Scott Wilkinson, Lead Analyst at Cignal AI, said: "Nokia is one of a select few companies with the experience of building five generations of DSPs. The company's expertise in vertical integration is a key competitive advantage in the battle for next generation coherent solutions. The focus on 400G transport in the PSE-V is well-positioned for market needs." The CSTAR family of optical engines is currently shipping to customers. PSE-V-based platforms and pluggables will be available beginning in Q4 2020. The Nokia WaveFabric Elements portfolio addresses the demanding power, performance, and cost-per-bit requirements of 400G networking across data center, metro, core and subsea applications. The PSE-Vs, which can run up to 90 Gbaud, employs the second generation of the industry's only field-proven implementation of Nokia Bell Labs-pioneered probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS). Combining refined algorithms with the enhanced capabilities of a new generation of silicon, it is capable of transporting up to 800G, while providing 60% greater reach, 40% lower power per bit, and 15% greater spectral efficiency than previous DSP generations. The PSE-Vc enables programmable capacity from 100G to 400G with metro to long haul capability. Its extremely low power enables integration into a variety of pluggable transceiver modules. The Nokia CSTAR family of optical engines leverages state-of-the-art silicon photonics and packaging technology, and addresses applications, including intra-data center, metro DCI and long-reach optical transport. Paired with PSE-V DSPs within Nokia platforms, they are also available independently to industry partners for integration into pluggable transceiver modules available to the broader market. Nokia's 400G pluggable coherent transceiver modules are optimized to address a range of platforms and applications, including Nokia's broad portfolio of optical transport, IP, fixed access and mobile solutions. The portfolio includes 400G ZR/ZR+ capabilities in the QSFP-DD form-factor and a higher performance, more feature rich 400G multi-haul variant in a CFP2-DCO form-factor. Resources: Webpage: https://www.nokia.com/networks/technologies/pse-super-coherent-technology (https://www.nokia.com/networks/technologies/pse-super-coherent-technology) eBook: https://resources.nokia.com/asset/207464 (https://resources.nokia.com/asset/207464) About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. Only Nokia offers a comprehensive portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing opportunities across the globe. With our commitment to innovation, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we are a leader in the development and deployment of 5G networks. Our communications service provider customers support more than 6.4 billion subscriptions with our radio networks, and our enterprise customers have deployed over 1,300 industrial networks worldwide. Adhering to the highest ethical standards, we transform how people live, work and communicate. For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia. On the day before restaurants and bars shut down, Brenda Hunt and her friend went to Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery in Bethel. They returned on Wednesday afternoon, the first day they were allowed back. Im so excited that things are opening, said Hunt, a Danbury resident. She was among many in the Danbury area who ventured out for retail shops, outdoor dining and other businesses that were allowed to reopen with various restrictions on Wednesday after an about two-month closure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. While some business owners are not yet ready to reopen, others said the response from customers was good on Wednesday. There has been a huge buzz about opening up, said Sean Deakin, vice president of operations at Rosy Tomorrows in Danbury, which opened 13 tables on its existing patio and had 25 customers in its first three hours. Hesitation and excitement Fernando Martins, owner of FernEllie Boutique in New Milford, placed his open sign outside his shop. After two months, its a little weird, he said. He has received mixed feedback from his customers on whether theyre ready to come shop. Martins, too, has mixed feelings and said hell feel completely comfortable once he gets an automatic hand sanitizer and can make sure his customers use it before they come into the store. Right now, he only has one bottle, and refills for the dispenser are back ordered until June. His store is full of clothing, stuffed animals and other products he embroiders, so hes not able to wipe or spray down the merchandise. Martins said people like to visit the store so they can touch the items before they buy them something they cant do online. He is already selling online, where masks are his most popular item. Those masks have also caught the attention of passersby on the weekends, who paused to look in his windows while the store itself remained closed. A lot of his foot traffic comes from moviegoers to the Bank Street Theater, which is still closed. Bank Street will be closed to vehicles on Friday and Saturday night, so hes curious to see if the restaurant foot traffic will bring more customers for his business. Were just going to have to wait and see, Martins said. Its not going to go away anytime soon. Meanwhile, retail stores and restaurants in Ridgefield did not see a surge in customers during the first several hours after reopening Wednesday. Weve had a couple of customers, but fewer than we normally would on a nice day like this, said Wayne Addessi, owner of Addessi Jewelers on Main Street. I didnt think people would be flocking to stores right away; maybe this weekend we will start to see an increase. Nearby Tequila Escape Kitchen + Bar has a tent with about 50 tables under it. If this doesnt work, it might get worse than it already has, said Angel Pena-Ferna, one of the restaurants three owners. Business was slow the first day, but Tequila Escape had customers from Danbury and South Salem, N.Y., as well as Ridgefield. It gives us a little hope, actually, Pena-Ferna said. First time we can serve the public. Customers at Ibiza Tapas in Danbury had requested outdoor dining, with some asking if they could bring their own tables, general manager Laura Arias said. They were asking to be closer to us, she said. The restaurant, which never before offered outdoor dining, put seven tables at least 6 feet apart underneath its awning and may add tables under a tent if there is enough demand, Arias said. Reservations are encouraged, with three for Wednesday and four for the weekend, she said. J. Lawrence in Bethel was fully booked for reservations of its 13 to 14 tables on Wednesday evening, co-owner Kelly LaReau said, adding she did not know what turnout to expect. I was a little surprised, LaReau said. On Wednesday night, Ibiza Tapas offered drink specials for $5.20 aptly named New Dawn and Welcome Back. Were super excited, Arias said. Rosy Tomorrows restaurant celebrated its 40th anniversary on Wednesday. Its a birthday present in disguise that we can open up and see some of our customers, Deakin said. Preparation Jeanine and Jim Classey moved tables and chairs outside onto the sidewalk and blocked off parking spots on Railroad Street in New Milford. Their business, All Aboard Pizzeria and Ice Cream, is offering outdoor dining for the first time, in addition to delivery and curbside pickup. On Wednesday morning, the Classeys strategized for how to man the phones and serve their outdoor customers, as well as going over the new restrictions. This includes limiting dining groups to five people, unless all of the people are a family who live together. Jim said they have been busy with orders, and worries what that could mean once this new dining option is added into the mix. Its a different world now, he said. Its exciting, but nerve-wracking. Theyre also repurposing their ingredients. Everything has to be individualized, so Jeanine has been busy pouring ketchup into one-ounce containers and creating small packets for other condiments, including cheese. I dont know what Im going to need, she said, adding she started with 50 of each but doesnt know how long that will last. Between 20 to 25 percent of New Milfords restaurants have added or expanded their outdoor seating options and many are still trying to decide if they should buy new supplies for it, such as outdoor tables and chairs, or repurpose what they already have, Economic Development Director Karen Pollard said. Danbury received about 25 applications for new outdoor dining and has issued a decent amount so far, Mayor Mark Boughton said. Staff are still working on the rest. J. Lawrence was already zoned for one patio, but added another, LaReau said. We put in a lot of time and effort the last week or so, LaReau said. Departments in New Milford have readied the town green and nearby streets, too, painting the road crossings and cleaning the streets. More trash cans will also be added so that people can properly dispose their masks and gloves, Mayor Pete Bass said. Businesses were given personal protective equipment. Safety precautions Businesses had to meet various safety regulations from the state to reopen. In New Milford, Robertson Jewelers doors were open with a fan going to allow more fresh air to circulate through the building one of requirements to reopen. At Ibiza Tapas, a hand sanitizer station is available. One table fits four people, but the others fit two to three. Diners are encouraged to order online, but the restaurant has disposable menus. At J. Lawerence, two servers cover and stay at each patio, which have designated bathrooms. Restrooms are checked and sanitized every hour, with a log hanging in the bathroom so customers know they have been cleaned, LaReau said. Normally, the restaurant has 100 seats, but is down to 48. Menus are available through a QR code, with some paper ones available, she said. Employees undergo a health check before starting their shift and were trained on new cleaning procedures. Tony Vengrove, founder of the Makery Coworking in New Milford, said the store has rearranged the floor plan and set up a new accommodations for the apothecarys clients to meet the retail requirements. He also has spent time giving the 5,000-square-foot space a deep clean. Weve taken it as a chance to do a real spring cleaning, Vengrove said. Staff writer Julia Perkins, Katrina Koerting, Tim Murphy and Macklin Reid contributed to this report. Schools, colleges and nurseries across the UK closed more than eight weeks ago due to the coronavirus outbreak, remaining open only for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers. Boris Johnson unveiled proposals to allow more children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to return to school in England from as early as June 1 as part of his strategy for easing lockdown restrictions. But the devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have adopted different approaches to sending children back to the classroom. So what are the plans for the different nations? Scotland The Scottish Government aims to have all children back in schools on a part-time basis on August 11. Teachers will return to school during June to prepare for the attendance of pupils, while there will be support where available for pupils moving into primary 1 or moving from primary to secondary school. Expand Close First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressing the Scottish Parliament (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressing the Scottish Parliament (Fraser Bremner/Scottish Daily Mail/PA) Education Secretary John Swinney said parts of the school estate could be expanded to allow social distancing to be observed, and community and leisure centres, conference halls and libraries could be used to allow pupils to spend more time with teachers. Schools will reopen towards the end of the summer holidays in Scotland, but children will return to a blended model of part-time in-school and part-time at-home learning to allow for social distancing. Northern Ireland All children are intended to restart classes on a phased basis, involving a mixture of physical attendance and remote learning, in September if enough progress is made in curbing coronavirus. But the education minister has said schools in Northern Ireland could reopen to pupils preparing for exams in the third week of August. Those studying for major public tests and transfer from primary to post-primary schools would be among the first to return to classes under an envisaged phased reopening, Peter Weir said. Exams for entrance to post-primary schools are due to be held two weeks later this autumn to allow more time for primary teachers to catch up on lost lesson time since the school closures. Wales The Welsh Government has not given any dates for when the country can expect schools to reopen. Wales plan to exit the lockdown sets out that restrictions will be eased through three stages red, amber and green and each of the stages will see a cautious lifting of measures. If the virus remains under control, the amber zone would follow and include allowing priority groups of pupils to return to school. Further control of the virus would move the country into the green zone, allowing all education to resume. Education minister Kirsty Williams said she would refuse to set an arbitrary date for a return to schools, saying the Government first needed to see more evidence about the disease. England The Government expects pre-school children to be able to return to early years settings, and for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils to be back in school, from the start of next month. Young children could start returning to nurseries and primary schools in England from June 1, with the Government aiming for all primary school pupils to go back for a month before the summer holidays. The Government has also said secondary schools and colleges should aim to offer some face-to-face contact with Year 10 and 12 students who have key exams next year during the summer term. A final decision on whether to go ahead with reopening schools is expected to be taken by the Government on or before May 28 after the most up-to-date scientific evidence has been reviewed. Expand Close Schools across the UK closed more than eight weeks ago due to the coronavirus outbreak, remaining open only for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers (PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Schools across the UK closed more than eight weeks ago due to the coronavirus outbreak, remaining open only for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers (PA) Are there different approaches to reopening among schools in England? Council-run schools Ministers have came under growing pressure from councils, predominantly by Labour-run local authorities in the north of England, who have ruled out a wider reopening from June 1. It is likely that local authority-run primary schools in England will look closely at what their council has to say before deciding whether to reopen on the first week of June. A number of councils, alongside teaching unions, have been calling for the scientific evidence underpinning the decision to reopen schools in England to be published. This is expected on Friday. Academies Academies, which are state schools that are not run by councils, could follow the advice of their local authority, or they may make their own decisions on whether to stick to the Governments time scale. But already a number of chief executives of academy chains have said schools must reopen soon to avoid irreparable damage to vulnerable children. Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust, which has 35 primary schools, said the trust plans to admit more pupils to its schools from June 1 as he said it is common sense to create an opportunity for pupils to return to school. Sir Steve Lancashire, chief executive of REAch2, the largest primary academy chain in England, also plans to open all their schools for the priority year groups. Private schools Some private schools may consider keeping children in Year 6 at home when schools reopen more widely, an independent school chief has suggested. Christopher King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (Iaps), which has more than 600 members, said he expects the vast majority of members in England to reopen to more pupils from June 1. But he told the PA news agency that some private schools may decide to remain closed to Year 6 pupils who can continue their virtual learning at home. Mr King also warned that it may be difficult for some independent schools to open if they are located in local authorities advising against a June 1 reopening. Billionaire and former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg's tech company has a new CEO as it restructures for the general election against President Donald Trump. The move also comes as the firm, Hawkfish, had been struggling to score new client contracts. The company confirmed that its CEO is Josh Mendelsohn, a managing partner at Hangar, a start-up investment firm based out of New York. Mendelsohn, according to a Hawkfish spokesperson, has been involved with the Bloomberg-backed business since the early days of the company's creation in 2019. That includes working with the tech firm when it was the primary digital agency for Bloomberg's run for president that led to him capturing 55 delegates, including the Democratic caucuses of American Samoa. Gary Briggs, the company's chairman and former chief marketing officer at Facebook, said the restructuring, which included the recent termination of employees who were on monthly contracts, is part of an effort to gear up for the battle with Trump. It's unclear how Hawkfish plans to take on the president, as it has yet to sign with Joe Biden's campaign for president. "Hawkfish continues to focus on how we can collaboratively help defeat Donald Trump and Republicans in 2020 and beyond. The staff needs of a focused political firm are different from a campaign team," Briggs told CNBC. "Hawkfish has revised our organizational structure and reduced a piece of our contingent workforce to get back to our original, specific goal: building great data and ad technology to help Democrats win up and down the ballot." Beyond Mendelsohn, Hawkfish told CNBC that it has recently added at least four others to its leadership team, such as Kate Kochman, a former White House official under President Barack Obama, to head its political team, and Mitch Stewart as a senior consultant. Stewart is co-founder of 270 Strategies, a digital firm that he and Jeremy Bird started after working for Obama's 2008 and 2012 runs for president. Hawkfish was a key vendor that was used by the Bloomberg campaign to help craft mainly anti-Trump digital ads. Prior to Bloomberg's brief run for the White House, the data and tech firm was created to help Democrats overtake Republicans in a digital space the GOP had been dominating in since the president's 2016 campaign. However, since Bloomberg, who has a net worth of just more than $60 billion, dropped out of the Democratic primary in March, the company has been searching for its next round of clients. Bloomberg invested close to $1 billion of his own money into the entirely self-funded campaign. Of that total, the campaign paid Hawkfish more than $66 million for its services. Voto Latino, a nonprofit that focuses heavily on digital engagement to encourage young Latino voter participation, recently held virtual talks with Hawkfish. The sides are discussing a short-term, five-figure test investment that would allow Hawkfish to fight for a chance to work with the group for a longer period of time. As of early this week, Voto Latino had yet to come to an agreement with the Bloomberg-linked tech company. Outside of that group, the company has yet to find many political clients that are willing to bring them on board as the coronavirus pandemic has tightened budgets. Many campaigns and outside groups have come off the campaign trail to go fully virtual, leaving political efforts reeling for cash. Bloomberg himself is plotting a spending blitz to back Biden. He and his team are discussing whether his investment will include a major donation to a pro-Biden super PAC, the Biden-Democratic National Committee joint fundraising effort, or another group. New Jerseys death toll from the coronavirus increased to 10,747 lives lost as of Wednesday, though the numbers of patients being treated for the virus at hospitals in the state fell to its lowest level since officials began releasing that data. Officials reported 150,399 total cases since the outbreak began March 4. The latest update included 168 new deaths and 1,670 new positive tests in New Jersey. Hospitals reported 3,405 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases as of Tuesday night, marking a 58% drop from the peak of 8,084 on April 14. There were less than 1,000 people in intensive or critical care and 750 people on ventilators reported across the states 71 hospitals. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Heres a roundup of coronavirus news: When will N.J. reopen more indoor businesses, venues? Were not there yet, Murphy says: Gov. Phil Murphy insisted Wednesday its still not safe to allow customers inside nonessential businesses and attractions in New Jersey, even as the states coronavirus outbreak shows more signs of slowing, the economy continues to struggle with crushing losses, and some lawmakers push him to move more swiftly. Inside no ventilation, close contact is a hard nut to crack, Murphy said during his daily briefing in Trenton. Beware of coronavirus contact tracing scams, N.J. officials warn. Thousands of fraud cases reported: Officials warned Wednesday that thousands of scams have been reported involving phony coronavirus contact tracers seeking to get information from residents. Officials warned residents to never give personal information, including Social Security numbers and bank information if they are contacted by somebody who claims to be a contact tracer. Tracers dont need that information. 7 Walmart stores in N.J. to offer coronavirus testing through Quest Diagnostics: New Jersey residents will be able to get tested for the coronavirus at seven Walmart locations around the state Friday, as part of the states push to expand testing and reopen the economy, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday. The sites will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays weekly from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., weather-permitting and by appointment only, through MyQuestCOVIDTest.com. (The sites will not be open on Memorial Day but will be available Tuesday next week before resuming its regular schedule.) 5,368 dead and counting: An investigation of state failures as crisis rampaged through N.J. nursing homes: More than 40% of the coronavirus deaths in the state have been tied to long-term care settings a staggering toll that includes the elderly, decorated soldiers, patients with dementia. Based on the states own numbers, that means roughly 1 in 13 people who were in long-term care when the pandemic started in New Jersey are now dead 5,368 to date. Scores of nursing home employees died as well. N.J. balloon festival rescheduled to October because of the coronavirus: The 38th annual New Jersey balloon festival has been pushed from July to October because of the coronavirus pandemic. Women are guaranteed a partner for childbirth, but this hospital makes them leave shortly after: When New Jerseys Department of Health mandated pregnant women could bring one support person to the hospital when they give birth, anxious moms-to-be breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for one less thing to worry about amid the coronavirus pandemic. But varying interpretations of that order mean not all visitor policies look the same. One woman who counted on having her husband by her side at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick learned that unexpectedly, just two weeks before she was due to give birth. Port Authority boss worried about projects hed have to axe without $3B in federal coronavirus aid: The drop in travel has created a $3 billion hole in revenue for the Port Authority, putting at risk $20 billion worth of capital spending, officials said. NJ Advance Media staff writers Amanda Hoover, Brent Johnson, Matt Arco, Jeff Goldman, Bill Duhart, Larry Higgs, Ted Sherman and Susan K. Livio contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Cyclone Amphan killed at least 72 people and left a trail of destruction and damage in West Bengal, where rescue teams on Thursday struggled to reach ruined coastal hamlets that bore the brunt of the storms fury before it moved on to neighbouring Bangladesh. The toll in India from the cyclone, including the two dead in Odisha on Wednesday, stood at 74 at the time of going to print. The loss of life may have been much more had it not been for the evacuation of 658,000 people -- 500,000 in West Bengal and 158,000 in Odisha -- before the cyclone arrived. Those moved to relief camps have been asked not to step out or return to their homes for fear that they may come in contact with high-tension electric cables that have snapped and be electrocuted. WATCH | Cyclone Amphan leaves trail of destruction in Odisha & West Bengal The death toll included 15 who died in Kolkata. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said most of the 72 deaths had been caused by electrocution and falling trees. The deceased in Odisha were a two-month-old baby and a woman. In Bangladesh, initial reports said that 10 people were killed. Several districts have been totally ruined. We never thought that it would be so destructive, Banerjee said as her government tried to arrive at an estimate of the damage done by Amphan, the most powerful storm to have originated in the Bay of Bengal since the 1999 Odisha super cyclone that killed 9,000 people. Two districts North and South 24 Parganas -- are completely devastated. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the central government to extend all help to the state, said Banerjee, who is likely to visit the devastated districts on Saturday for a spot assessment of the destruction. The state government announced compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh for the families of those killed in the cyclone. Banerjee also announced a relief package of Rs 1,000 crore after meeting members of a task force formed to assess relief work needed in the aftermath of cyclone Amphan. Large parts of West Bengal including many areas in Kolkata and its surrounding areas went without electricity on Thursday and telecom disruptions made it difficult for the state government to contact district headquarters for an assessment of the situation, including the number of people displaced by the cyclone. Officials said that in some districts it could take three days to restore power supply. Not all the district magistrates could be contacted on Thursday. Those who we could contact have been asked to send a list of immediate requirements which we can send, West Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha told reporters at the state secretariat. Banerjee said she had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the cyclone-hit areas, adding that home minister Amit Shah had called her and assured her of help. Banerjee said help should arrive fast and not after 500 days. We havent received any money to fight the Covid-19 pandemic till date, the CM said. The storm, which made landfall around 20km east of Sagar Island in the Sunderbans on Wednesday afternoon, packing winds gusting to a top speed of 185 kilometres per hour, cut off road links, snapped telecommunications and left parts of West Bengal without electricity. It flattened houses, uprooted trees and power pylons, causing rivers to swell and breach their embankments. It hit Kolkata at a wind speed of 130km per hour. Reuters Television footage shot in West Bengal showed upturned boats on the shore, people wading through knee-deep water and buses crashed into each other. More images showed villagers trying to lift fallen electricity poles, fishermen hauling their boats out of a choppy sea, and uprooted trees lying strewn across the countryside. Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Thursday. Designated a super cyclone, Amphan has weakened since making landfall. Moving inland through Bangladesh, it was downgraded to a cyclonic storm on Thursday by the Indian weather office. The storm was expected to subside into a depression later. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said on Thursday that the India Meteorological Departments (IMD) climatological intelligence was accurate and helped in saving lives while minimising damage.IMD used a doppler weather radar (monitoring tool for severe weather) on the east and west coasts to come up with an accurate cyclone track with near-accurate wind speed and landfall point predictions. IMDs director general, M Mohapatra, said: This shows India can face cyclones and can save life and property. NDRF director general SN Pradhan said Odisha may bounce back to normalcy in the next 24 to 48 hours. The West Bengal government has sought four more NDRF teams which are being airlifted from Chennai and Pune, he said. Restoration work has started from late last night. If more teams needed, we can deploy more, said Pradhan adding that the overall damage has not yet been assessed and the death toll may change as reports from the ground start coming in. Concern was, meanwhile, growing over flooding in the Sundarbans, an ecologically fragile region straddling the India-Bangladesh border, best known for thick mangrove forests and its tiger reserve. The tidal surge submerged some part of the forest, said Belayet Hossain, a forest official on the Bangladesh side of the forest. We have seen trees uprooted, the tin roofs of the guard towers blown off, he said. Over on the Indian side of the Sundarbans, a village official said embankments surrounding a low-lying island, where some 5,000 people live, had been washed away, and he had been unable to contact authorities for help. We have not been able inform them about anything since last night, the official, Sanjib Sagar, said. (Reuters contributed to this story) Residents walk along a house on a flooded street heading to a shelter ahead of the expected landfall of cyclone Amphan, in Dacope of Khulna district. (Munir uz Zaman/AFP) High winds and torrid rains pounded coastal villages and cities, bringing down power lines, uprooting trees and inundating homes. "The situation is more worrying than the coronavirus pandemic. We don't know how to handle it," India's West Bengal state leader Mamata Banerjee told reporters late Wednesday. "Almost everything is destroyed in the coastal villages of the state." Authorities had scrambled to evacuate more than three million people from low-lying areas, but the task was complicated by the need to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Cyclone Amphan is set to cut a devastating path through eastern India and Bangladesh Cyclone Amphan is set to cut a devastating path through eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh at a time when both countries are struggling to contain coronavirus outbreaks.(AFP/Munir Uz zaman) In Bangladesh officials confirmed six deaths including a five-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man, both hit by falling trees, and a cyclone emergency volunteer who drowned. Bangladesh meteorological department chief Shamsuddin Ahmed said the cyclone hit the southwestern coastal district of Satkhira with winds at 151 kilometres per hour. Some three million people were left without power, Bangladesh officials said. Much of the impoverished nation of 168 million people was pounded by heavy rains. Three other people died after being hit by uprooted trees in India's West Bengal, the state's disaster management minister Javed Khan told AFP. Two other fatalities were reported by Indian media in Odisha state. AFP could not verify the deaths. Some 224.6 millimetres of rain fell from early Wednesday and winds up to 113 kph lashed Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state and home to some 14.7 million people. Some of the historic city was plunged into darkness as power lines were knocked out. Video shared on social media showed electricity transformers sparking and exploding in the wild weather. Media reports said 5,500 houses were damaged in one West Bengal district. The cyclone is expected to weaken as it moves north and northeast, and recede to a tropical depression by midday Thursday, the Indian Meteorological Department said. STORM SURGES Amphan is the first "super cyclone" to form over the Bay of Bengal since 1999, and packed winds gusting up to 185 kph. It brought a storm surge - a wall of ocean water that is often one of the main killers in major weather systems - that roared inland for several kilometres, media reports said. In southwestern Bangladesh, a five-feet-high storm surge broke an embankment and swamped a large area of farmland, a local police officer told AFP. Bangladesh officials were particularly concerned about the damage to the Sunderbans, a UNESCO world heritage site famed for its mangrove forest and tiger population, which they said bore the brunt of the cyclone. "We still haven't got the actual picture of the damage. We are particularly concerned over some wild animals. They can be washed away during storm surge in high tide," forest chief Moyeen Uddin Khan told AFP. Houses "look like they have been run over by a bulldozer", said Babul Mondal, 35, a villager on the edge of the Indian side of the Sunderbans. "Everything is destroyed." Bangladesh's low-lying coast, home to 30 million people, and India's east are regularly battered by cyclones that have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in recent decades. The 1999 super cyclone left nearly 10,000 dead in Odisha, eight years after a typhoon, tornadoes and flooding killed 139,000 in Bangladesh. In 1970, half a million perished. While the frequency and intensity of storms have increased - blamed partly on climate change - casualties have fallen thanks to faster evacuations, better technology and more shelters. VIRUS COMPLICATIONS Bangladesh authorities had feared Amphan will be the most powerful storm front since Cyclone Sidr killed about 3,500 people in 2007. Enamur Rahman, Bangladesh's junior minister for disaster management, told AFP 2.4 million people and over half a million livestock were brought to shelters. India evacuated more than 650,000 in West Bengal and Odisha. Because of coronavirus, authorities used extra shelter space to reduce crowding, while making face masks compulsory and setting aside isolation rooms. Infection numbers are still soaring in both countries. Sulata Munda, a tribal villager in Bangladesh, said she and fellow villagers decided not to go to a shelter. "We fear the cyclone, but we also fear the coronavirus," the mother of four told AFP. Although outside Amphan's predicted path, there were fears for the almost one million Rohingya refugees in southeastern Bangladesh - most living in flimsy, makeshift shacks. There were also concerns for hundreds of Rohingya thought to be out at sea in rickety boats and denied entry by Thailand and Malaysia in recent weeks because of coronavirus restrictions. A military base in Texas has entered lockdown after reports of an active shooter. Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, in the city of San Antonio, told people to "get out and away to safety". Security services scrambled to the base at 6.15am local time on Thursday, just after midday BST, to reports of a shooter at large. They have now neutralised the shooter but the base remains on lockdown, NAS Corpus Christi said on its Facebook page. NAS Corpus Christi reported an active shooter / Google In a statement, the base said: "Naval Security Forces at NAS Corus Christi responded to an active shooter at approximately 6:15 a.m. this morning. "The shooter has been neutralised. All gates on the installation remain closed while first responders process the scene. "NCIS and local law enforcement are on scene. More information will be provided as it becomes available." More follows... U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the U.S. State Department January 07, 2020 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON The Pentagon referred questions Thursday to the State Department about American arms deals with Saudi Arabia, amid a controversy over an internal watchdog who was fired while reportedly investigating the agreements. "I'm not going to talk about the interagency process on that and there's obviously a lot of scrutiny and interest in this. I would refer you over to State Department, who handled the announcement on this," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Thursday. "Foreign military sales are an important part of what the department does and how we work with our allies and partners," he added, saying that "with regard to that particular transaction I'm just gonna have to refer you over to the State Department I'm not going to discuss the interagency conversations." In a statement Thursday night, a State Department spokesperson wrote that "the Department met the requirements of the law and followed relevant practice in invoking this emergency authority, and has moved these arms transfers forward. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was looking into what role Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played in the potential fast-tracking of an $8 billion foreign military sale to the kingdom. Linick was also looking into other matters, such as whether Pompeo and his wife, Susan, had a State Department staffer walk their dog, pick up dry cleaning and perform other personal tasks. Pompeo urged President Donald Trump to Linick last week, and Trump complied. The nation's top diplomat told reporters on Wednesday that he should have recommended Linick's dismissal sooner, but did not elaborate on reasons as to why. "There are claims that this was for retaliation for some investigation that the inspector general's office here was engaged in. Patently false," Pompeo said. Saudi Arabia is America's top weapons buyer, and the world's largest arms importer. Between 2015 and 2019, Riyadh imported 73% of its arms from Washington, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In March 2018, Trump praised Saudi Arabia's defense acquisitions as he met with the nation's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed at the White House and pushed for even more. "Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation, and they're going to give the United States some of that wealth, hopefully, in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world," Trump said at the time. While Congress discussed the possibility of placing some restrictions on weapons exports to Saudi Arabia in 2019, deliveries of air defense systems, combat aircraft and guided bombs continued throughout the year. DGAP-News: Inca One Gold Corp. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2020) - INCA ONE GOLD CORP. (TSXV: IO) (FSE: SU9.F) (SSEV: IOCL) ("Inca One" or the "Company") provides the following update on the small scale mining sector and the formalization process in Peru. Earlier this year, as reported in our press release dated January 31, 2020, the Peruvian Government commenced a four month amnesty period beginning January 15, 2020 allowing new and existing mining operations another opportunity to register with the Ministry of Energy and Mines, to demonstrate their compliance with environmental and safety regulations and remit taxes on sales of extracted minerals. As indicated, this represented a renewed window of opportunity within the mining sector to potentially increase the market supply of mineral rich material and expand our customer base. The initial results from re-opening the formalization process have been positive as the number of miners registered has grown 22% to an estimated 66,000 in March 2020, from approximately 54,000 as of January 2020. As a result of this significant growth of the small-scale mining market there are now more legal miners available for Inca One to expand its customer base and forge relationships with new customers that have achieved regulatory compliance within this program. Edward Kelly, President and CEO of Inca One, commented, "In theses uncertain times we can look at the rising gold price and growing number of legal miners as positive for Inca One. As industry opens up again, these developments should provide the Company an opportunity to purchase more mineral for processing and allow us to reach our capacity levels sooner, thereby accelerating our growth." With Inca One coming off its best ever year in 2019 producing over 25,000 ounces of gold while averaging 143 tonnes per day throughput, the Company is well positioned to benefit both from the increasing numbers of legal miners entering the sector and also from the recent and dramatic rise in the spot price of gold, potentially translating to an increase in output and production levels. As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Peruvian Government has extended the terms of the amnesty period for up to 30 days after the date of return to normal business activities. Therefore, the opportunities for additional miners to enter the program, gain compliance and increase the number of registered miners should continue to expand. About Inca One Inca One Gold Corp is a TSXV listed, small-cap, gold producer operating two, fully permitted, gold ore processing facilities in Peru. Peru is the world's sixth-largest producer of gold and its small scale mining sector is estimated by government officials to be valued in the billions of dollars annually. The Company, now in its sixth year of commercial production, is led by an experienced and capable management team that has established Inca One Gold as a trusted leader in servicing government permitted, small scale miners in Peru. Inca One Gold possesses a combined 450 tonnes per day permitted operating capacity at its two fully integrated plants, Chala One and Kori One, and is targeting a fourth consecutive year of increased production and sales growth. On behalf of the Board, Edward Kelly President and CEO INCA ONE GOLD CORP. For More Information Contact: Konstantine Tsakumis Inca One Gold Corp. ktsakumis@incaone.com 604-568-4877 NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Statements regarding the Company which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements due to factors such as: (i) fluctuation of mineral prices; (ii) a change in market conditions; and (iii) the fact that future operational results may not be accurately predicted based on this limited information to date. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update any changes to such statements. Inca One believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included herein should not be unduly relied upon. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state. Corporate Logo To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56169 Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser,to view the associated documents http://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56169 News Source: Newsfile 20.05.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de Haiti - Insecurity : Land conflicts in Arcahaie, 1 dead and many damages On Wednesday in the commune of Arcahaie, the locality of Carries experienced a situation of high tension. According to reports, a resident of Montrouis was shot dead in the course of a land conflict by unidentified armed individuals who terrorize the area and who have left the area without being worried. Furious and in search of revenge of the inhabitants attacked the owners and responsible for certain private beaches on the Cote des Arcadins which they accuse of being linked with these armed individuals with a view to seizing their plots of land located at the seaside. These highly motivated residents headed for the private beaches and set fire to the Apaid family properties and the Ocean View hotel. Police arrived at the scene after the fact... while firefighters tried to prevent the spread of the two fires. PI/ HaitiLibre Since the pandemic was first declared in mid-March, Christena who asked that her last name be withheld to protect her Honduran husband, who is in the process of applying for U.S. citizenship has been consumed by fears for her family. Her husband was laid off from his longtime job at a popular D.C. restaurant, and their 3-year-old son, who has special needs, was separated from his preschool teachers and therapists. Christenas mind is a constant swirl of questions, she says: Will they get evicted? How will they support their son? So when she sat down one afternoon to help her child with an assignment, she was apprehensive. Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari has called on the UN to pressure Western nations to lift the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed on Syria writes SANA. Syrias Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari stressed the necessity of ending the economic, trade, financial and health terrorism represented by the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed by western countries on Syria, pointing out that to achieve any improvement of the humanitarian situation necessitates cooperation and coordination with the Syrian State and refraining from politicizing the humanitarian work. Jaafari said during a UN Security Council video session on the humanitarian situation in Syria on Tuesday that Syria has recently, and in cooperation with a number of UN member states, sent official letters and calls to the UN Secretary General and presidents of the Security Council calling for the lifting of those illegitimate coercive economic measures imposed by a number of UN member states on the Syrian people. He indicated that those calls received positive responses from the UN Secretary General and a number of senior UN officials, among them the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, the special rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the implementation of human rights and special rapporteurs on the right to education, on adequate housing, and on the right to food, in addition to World Health Organization and more than forty other global organizations, which call for lifting the unilateral coercive measures that affect almost two billion people around the world. He said that the US administration and its allies continued to violate international law and the UN charter and human rights, and that over the past two months, they have attempted to foil any initiatives or draft resolutions demanding to end the repercussions of those measures or the possibility of fighting coronavirus in the targeted countries. The US administration even announced the extension of the unfair unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on the Syrian people in a flagrant violation of international law, UN charters and resolutions and all the calls to lift those measures, he added. He indicated that over the years, Syria has repeatedly informed the UN Security Council of the catastrophic effects of the coercive economic measures on the daily lives of 24 million Syrians and the ability of the states institutions and the health, economic and service sectors to shoulder their responsibilities in the best way amid the epidemic of coronavirus. Jaafari said that the coercive measures imposed by the EU and the US are illegal, and represent an attempt to circumvent the legitimacy of the Security Council and are aimed at undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state. Jaafari pointed out that the prospect of the European and American medical and humanitarian supplies to Syria are at their lowest levels due to the wide range of restrictions and preconditions imposed on these supplies, adding that all the allegations by Western countries, who impose coercive measures on Syria, are just the latest desperate attempt that seeks to humanize their brutal behavior and their economic terrorism and collective punishment practiced against the Syrian people. Jaafari said that the Turkish regime continues to violate its obligations under international law and international water and rivers agreements by building the Elisso Dam on the Tigris Riverm which will deprive millions of Syrians and Iraqis of water for years, in addition to that the Turkish regime continues to use water as a weapon against the Syrian civilians in Hassakeh city and its surroundings. Jaafari indicated that the US occupation forces impeded the work of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the northeastern areas of the country, and sought to replace it with other organizations that lack legitimacy. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Assisted dying for the terminally ill in Queensland will not be legislated before the state heads to the polls on October 31. In March, the governments health committee recommended legislation be debated in Parliament, following a year long inquiry. Every four days, a terminally-ill person takes their own life in Queensland. Credit:Alamy But Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk believes the scheme needs "further consideration". She has asked for draft legislation backed by the committee to be sent to the Law Reform Commission for review. Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Q. In 2019, I contributed to a non-deductible IRA and then immediately converted it to Roth IRA. The brokerage company issued a 1099-R indicating the full IRA disbursement as a premature withdrawal. On my New Jersey return, should I show the amount from the 1099-R on line 20a despite the fact that my 2019 contribution was non-deductible and there was no growth in the IRA? Still working A. Your strategy, known as a backdoor IRA, is a strategy to end up with a valuable tax-free Roth IRA when you might not otherwise qualify because of Roth income limits. For federal and NJ purposes, the rollover is not taxable unless the amount rolled into the Roth exceeded the amount contributed, said Michael Karu, a certified public accountant with Levine, Jacobs & Co. in Livingston. The brokerage company has no choice but to issue the 1099-R in that manner, Karu said. Do not enter it as a taxable transaction, he said. If I were preparing the New Jersey return, I would include it on both lines 20a and 20b. Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com. Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe When he was at the top of the world, Mike Tyson was perhaps the toughest man on the planet. That said, nobody is unbeatable, and even Iron Mike could lose. While it sucks to get knocked out in the ring, one of the hardest moments for Tyson was something that was totally out of his control. That moment was when he found out that his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, had died. Even to this day, when Mike Tyson talks about his daughters tragic death, he cant help but to tear up. How Mike Tysons daughter died Mike Tyson | Donald Kravitz/Getty Images RELATED: The Ultimate Rap Battle Between Mike Tyson and LL Cool J In 2009, while the former champion was away in Las Vegas, his family was living a normal life in their home in Arizona, according to ABC News. Exodus and Miguel Tyson were playing around the house, while their mother was busy cleaning the place. While Exodus was in the playroom, her neck somehow got caught by a cord that was attached to their treadmill. Her mother asked Miguel to check up on Exodus, and they found her in distress. Their mom freed Exodus from the cord, called 911 for help, and then gave her CPR, but by then, it was too late. By the time that Iron Mike heard about this and flown back home, Exodus had died in the hospital. How Mike Tyson reacted to this news The death of a child is obviously a very traumatic moment, and Tyson didnt handle it well. In an interview with HBOs Real Sports, the former champion let all of his emotions out and told the brutally honest truth. He recalled that, when he first heard the news, his first instinct was to grab his gun and go crazy. He didnt know who hed hurt, but that was, as he said, his best thinking at the time. Then, when he got to the hospital and saw his daughter, those thoughts went away. Instead, he was filled with the pain and agony that any parent who had just lost their child would feel. He turned to cocaine, saying that he needed to feel high to get through the experience. The former heavyweight champion of the world was so choked up and brought to tears that he ended the interview right then and there. He told the interviewer, You have to go now, you understand, right? and then asked the camera crew to take the equipment off of him. The cameras were still rolling as Tyson left the interview area, and afterward, he was crying and apologizing for crying. How Mike Tyson coped with this loss RELATED: Mike Tyson Looks Forward to Death Because Living Is a Struggle After binging on cocaine to cope, Tyson sought for a more permanent solution to his pain, and that was in his future wife, Lakiha Spicer. The bond between the two strengthened after this tragic event, and a little more than a week after his daughters death, the two were married. Spicer has since helped the former champion turn his life around. He went from throwing crazy drug-fueled parties to being a relatively sober guy. Tyson just smokes weed now, and he even has his own business in the weed industry. On top of that, the two have two children with one another, a daughter named Milan and a son named Morocco. Milan and Morocco joined Tysons large family, which includes his other kids from his past marriages and relationships. His other kids are named, according to FanBuzz, Mikey Lorna, Miguel, Rayna, and Amir. That said, according to The New York Times, he also considers himself as the father to Gena, whos the biological daughter of his ex-wife, Monica Turner. On the first day of the Illinois General Assembly's special pandemic session, in a makeshift chamber in the Bank of Springfield Center, the first order of business was to vote that everyone must wear a mask - a rule that passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support. But there was one Republican holdout on Wednesday: state Rep. Darren Bailey, who sat smiling at his desk on the floor of the arena and refused to put one on. "[If] you want to send me or anyone else outside the doors today, I understand. Go right ahead," Bailey said when asked to comply, NPR Illinois reported. "But know this: If you do that, you're silencing millions of voices of people who have had enough." His colleagues on both sides of the aisle didn't appear too worried. They kicked him out of the legislature by an 81-27 vote. "Doormen, please remove Rep. Bailey," said state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D, before a group of men in masks escorted the mask-less Bailey from the arena, the state's temporary legislative home to allow for more social distancing. ALSO Michelle Obama is stepping into the 2020 election with a program to boost voter turnout Bailey, who has sued Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D, over his stay-at-home executive order, is among a number of Republican lawmakers nationwide who have joined their constituents in acts of defiance, fueling a political power struggle that has sometimes overshadowed the public health crisis. Masks have become part of those partisan battles, as some Republicans, most visibly President Trump, have refused to wear them in public. To Bailey, the confrontation was a stand against being told by the government how to live his life, he told The Washington Post late Wednesday. But to his colleagues, it was a less than amusing bit of political theatrics while they have more pressing matters on their hands. Some Republicans joined Democrats in rebuking him. "I don't think the people that sent us here to represent them today intended for us to focus our time on a mask showdown of whether you're wearing it or you're not," said state Rep. Dan Brady, R, according to NPR Illinois. The Illinois House rules allow a lawmaker who is removed to return should he or she decide to don the face mask. Pritzker had harsh words for Bailey at Wednesday's press briefing. "The representative has shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for people's health," Pritzker said. "You just heard a doctor tell you why to wear a mask in the first place. It's to protect others. So clearly, the representative has no interest in protecting others." Bailey's move follows a pattern by some GOP lawmakers to buck Democratic governors who have put forth stricter stay-at-home rules, such as in Illinois. GOP lawmakers in several states have joined protesters in anti-lockdown demonstrations. Some have gotten illegal haircuts or patronized illegally opened businesses. And like Bailey, some have sued their Democratic governors - which in Wisconsin led to the state Supreme Court striking down Gov. Tony Evers's stay-at-home restrictions. As a result, many bars immediately reopened. In Bailey's case, the downstate Republican from Xenia, Illinois, won a temporary restraining order against Pritzker's stay-at-home order last month, which only applied to him. The case is ongoing with a hearing scheduled Friday. On Wednesday, Bailey told The Washington Post that he believed the mask rule, which had been earlier announced by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, was "not about health" but was instead "just another Democrat bullying tactic." He said he would wear one if he were concerned for his health, but he isn't, and doesn't like being told that he must. "This whole thing that it's concern for other people? I don't buy that at all," he said. The nation's leading public health experts have stressed that the purpose of wearing face masks is largely to protect other people from contracting the virus, which can spread when an infected person sneezes, coughs or talks and releases droplets. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that masks can't offer 100 percent protection, but can help stop the spread to some degree, especially in places such as grocery stores where you may come within six feet of other people. A few other Republican lawmakers had previously bristled at the idea that they would be required to wear a face mask during the special session, NBC Chicago reported, but ultimately complied on Wednesday. "We cannot ignore nor compromise the health and safety of every member of the General Assembly, their family members, every one of our staffers who works tirelessly for us," Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin said on the floor, the Chicago Tribune reported. Bailey had previously spoken passionately about fighting for his unemployed constituents in an interview with The Post last month, calling the economic strife the "second pandemic." Asked Wednesday how he will represent them if he can't participate in the legislature without a mask, he said, "I don't know. That's something where I'll have to decide whether I go back tomorrow and wear a mask or not." Transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained upbeat on Thursday for four consecutive days, with the key performance indicators improving further by 1.25 per cent. Consequently, the All-Share Index which opened at 24,452.23 rose by 306.16 points or 1.25 per cent to close at 24,758.39. Also, the market capitalisation grew by N159 billion or 1.25 per cent to close at N12.902 trillion compared with N12.743 trillion recorded on Wednesday. The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Mobil, BUA Cement, Unilever, Guinness Nigeria and Zenith Bank. Experts at United Capital Plc attributed the market rally to recovery in share prices driven by rebalancing in the oil market which resulted in 94 per cent rebound in oil prices from 18 dollars per barrel to about 35 dollars per barrel within a month. They also attributed the rally to increasing indications that governments around the world would reopen their economies regardless of the anxiety around COVID-19. They said cheap market valuation of high quality stocks; sustained dividend declaration by corporates, translating into attractive dividend yield amid poor rates on T-bills and sizable market liquidity contributed to the market rally. Market closed positively with 29 gainers and nine losers. Sunu Assurances dominated the gainers trend in percentage terms, increasing by 10 per cent, to close at 22k, per share. Red Star Express followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N3.75, while Mobil rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N194.50, per share. BUA Cement garnered 9.88 per cent to close at N35.60, while Cutix appreciated by 9.40 per cent to close at N1.63, per share. Conversely, Arbico Plc led the losers chart in percentage terms, dropping by 9.91 per cent, to close at N2.09, per share. Oando dipped 5.76 per cent to close at N2,62, while Flour Mills lost 4.76 per cent to close at N20, per share. NPF Micro Finance Bank declined by 3.55 per cent to close at N1.90, while Union Diagnostic and Jaiz Bank shed 3.33 per cent each, to close at 29k and 58k, per share respectively. However, the total volume traded declined by 19.70 per cent with an exchange of 350.77 million shares, worth N3.71 billion traded in 5,239 deals. This was against a total of 436.84 million shares valued at N5.41 billion achieved in 5,195 deals on Wednesday. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 57.42 million shares valued at N961.39 million. Ekocorp followed with 57.003 million shares worth N342.02 million, while FBN Holdings sold 44.36 million shares valued at N230.97 million. Guaranty Trust Bank accounted for 32 million shares worth N764.79 million, while Lafarge Africa transacted 28.38 million shares valued at N312.42 million. (NAN) The limited room afforded to dissent in past decades has vanished under Saudi Arabias crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. The killing in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post who had urged the prince to change course, is only the most well-known episode in the governments systematic campaign to co-opt, threaten, arrest or otherwise silence voices of criticism. Mr. al-Hamids ability to express human rights ideals in religious terms was an inspiration to many young Saudi activists, said Adam Coogle, a deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. But he said that those who followed Mr. al-Hamid are now either in prison or in exile. He was very courageous and bold, Mr. Coogle added. Its bleak right now, but I wouldnt say that the movement he inspired is dead. You can repress this stuff, but its hard to eradicate ideas. Abdullah al-Hamid was born in Buraydah, a city in central Saudi Arabia. (Some sources give the birth date as July 12, 1950.) He studied Arabic language and literary criticism at Riyadh University and al-Azhar University in Egypt, according to Ms. al-Rasheeds 2015 book, Muted Modernists: The Struggle Over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia. He is survived by his wife and eight children, Amnesty International said. In 1993, Mr. al-Hamid and five other activists and religious scholars founded the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights, which called for political detainees to be released and for Saudi royals to be held accountable for abuses. The authorities cracked down, accusing the group of having ties to Islamic extremists and arresting Mr. al-Hamid several times from 1993 to 1996. By the early 2000s he had joined a movement agitating for a constitutional monarchy. He was arrested again in 2004 and sentenced to seven years in prison before King Abdullah pardoned him on the condition that he stop calling for reform. But in 2008 Mr. al-Hamid landed in prison again, this time for supporting a peaceful protest by the wives of prisoners in his hometown. The next year, after being released, he and nine other activists founded the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, which continued to press for a constitutional monarchy. It also helped the families of political prisoners sue the government over arbitrary detentions, according to Human Rights Watch. A policeman was killed and another injured when terrorists opened fire at a security forces' patrol party, in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Thursday, officials said. The incident took place near Perchoo bridge where a joint patrol of the CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir police was ensuring law and order situation, they said. In the attack by the terrorists, Anuj Singh and Mohammed Ibrahim, both belonging to the 10 battalion of the India Reserve Police, were injured, the officials said. Singh succumbed to injuries while Ibrahim is battling for life, they said. The incident came a day after terrorists shot dead two BSF personnel at Soura on the outskirts of Srinagar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Facebook will begin opening up its candidate pool to remote workers this summer, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday during an employee townhall livestreamed to the public on the social networking platform. Currently, 95% of the company's employees are working in a remote capacity during the coronavirus pandemic, Zuckerberg says. He estimates half of the organization will continue to work remotely within the next five to 10 years. As part of that effort, the company will begin actively recruiting people for remote positions by early July, says vice president of global recruiting Miranda Kalinowski. These will primarily be for senior engineering roles and will occur in two phases, though she says the company hasn't identified how many new roles will open up by the summer. First, Facebook will begin to hire in extended areas surrounding its main engineering sites, including the Bay Area, L.A., Seattle, New York, Boston and Washington, D.C., Kalinowski tells CNBC Make It. This will extend the company's hiring pool to those in the surrounding metro areas, as well as neighboring mid-sized cities within a one- to four-hour commute from an office location. (A San Diego, Calif., resident may be considered for a remote position with the company's L.A. office, for example.) The second phase will involve establishing a greater presence and hiring engineering talent in Atlanta, Dallas and Denver. Kalinowski says the team hopes to tap into diverse talent pools in these areas, as well as recruit alumni from top computer science programs beyond the company's existing network. Doing virtual recruiting for workers who will likely remain remote through their entire Facebook experience is something her team will have to approach with care, especially when it comes to translating the company's culture, often tied to its sprawling campus and in-office perks. She adds Facebook's recruiting team is one of the most geographically distributed teams within the company. Zuckerberg says Facebook's compensation policy, which pays workers market rate based on their location, will continue. According to Glassdoor, a software engineer in San Francisco earns an average base pay of $150,841 per year; a software engineer in Austin, meanwhile, earns an average salary of $134,681 per year. With a newly blended remote and in-office workforce, the company will also have to consider hiring bias so candidates closer to a physical office, or those who live in a lower cost-of-living area, won't be given preferential treatment. It's yet to be determined whether these changes will impact Facebook's physical footprint whether they'll scale down existing campuses or build new ones where remote workforces grow. "We'll continue to revisit the needs of our offices on a regular basis," Kalinowski says. The company, which announced in May that most employees would be able to work remotely through the end of the year, extended the flexible arrangement to eligible teams to continue working remotely full-time indefinitely. Workers will be able to request a fully remote position if they meet certain criteria, including if they're in a more senior position, they've demonstrated "very strong" work performance in recent evaluations, they work on a team that is able to do prolonged remote work at scale and they have approval from their group leader. This won't include recent graduates. New hires in more senior roles may be eligible based on their previous work performance. For existing employees, Zuckerberg says salaries will be adjusted if they permanently change locations following the remote-work announcement. Citing taxes and accounting purposes, he says workers will have to notify the company of their new location by January 1, 2021. "We're mostly going to rely on honor code on this," he says and adds that the company will take certain precautions, such as checking VPN locations, to verify this information. "There will unfortunately have to be severe ramifications for people if they're not honest about this." Zuckerberg expressed optimism about expanding remote hiring as a way to attract a more diverse talent pool beyond the scope of expensive cities. However, he acknowledged diversity and inclusion efforts will need to be a major consideration as new hiring processes roll out. "One risk I want to make sure we're careful about: If we view remote work as an opportunity to engage more underrepresented folks ... and if remote work ends up being harder in the early phases before we really dial this in, I want to make sure we're not creating any disparity in how people can perform based on that." Zuckerberg also recognized the need to be intentional to ensure both in-office and remote employees have equal opportunities for career advancement. "This will change the culture in how we work long-term. I'm optimistic about this direction and want to make sure we move forward in measured way." Check out: The best credit cards of 2021 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years Don't miss: 13 ways the coronavirus pandemic could forever change the way we work T he lockdown has loosened, the weather is improving and the parks are packed. Consequently Ive become an avid user of the Tree Talk website, which has mapped nearly every tree in London. Not only will it help you identify all the big, tall lads on your own street, it will also plot a local walk which takes in such exotics as the Nettle Tree (oooh!) and the American Sweetgum (aaah!). If, understandably, you feel youve already maxed out on a decades worth of screentime, try looking down at the pavement instead. During lockdown, the botanical chalking trend has made its way over from France, with knowledgeable plant lovers taking time during their own daily constitutionals to label that which grows, often unnoticed, around us. The fact that its illegal in the UK to chalk anything however much it delights and informs the neighbours adds a gallic frisson to the whole endeavour. Vive la resistance! Prosecutions are surely unlikely when botanical chalking is so in-sync with the national mood. Even before a public health emergency shut us inside, many felt disconnected from nature, with 70 per cent of YouGov respondents saying theyd like to be able to name more wild flowers. Still, this powerful urge to hug trees doesnt necessarily make one a tree-hugger, does it? It could just be what happens when were deprived of the human-variety hugs for weeks on end. Theres a difference between cultivating a proper appreciation for the outdoors and being a self-described outdoorsy type and I used to think this amounted to about three North Face body-warmers. Now though, Prince Charles has helpfully provided us with a test thats at least as accurate as the Governments antibody ones. Only a hopeless outdoorsy type could watch his Pick for Britain appeal video, and imagine themselves up to the task. The rest of us have enough res-pect for the skills of seasonal workers and our country cousins to know that a bit of hard graft is quite the understatement. Fruit and veg picking involves a high level of physical fitness, unsociable working hours, inclement weather and a contract that ends with the harvest. Let HRH try fitting in the school drop-offs around a 4.30am start to the working day, or find suitable accommodation in an orchard. Even if fired up by a sincere love for Prince and Country, the average furloughed Londoner would struggle. So, as we come blinking back into the sunlight, lets not mistake the fresh air for a total personality transplant. Once a city slicker, always a city slicker, and no amount of farm-to-table dining experiences will change that. Feel free to start a veg patch on your balcony or donate to your local city farm. Maybe even become a tree-hugger politically as well as literally. But remember that the goal here is not to rewild yourself; Its to love the wildlife that already exists in cities, right here, between the cracks in the pavement. Little Fires Everywhere will do In lieu of Big Little Lies season 3, Little Fires Everywhere (Amazon Prime, from tomorrow) should do. Its got a plot concerning family secrets, Reese Witherspoon playing an uptight, busybody, Ohio mom and even an enigmatic title that includes the word Little. I am concerned about the lack of sexy beachfront homes. The conservatively furnished houses of Shaker Heights look less like property porn and more like a prim property wedding album. Ranvir Shorey has been allowed to leave by Mumbai Police after tweeting for eight hours about his ordeal. Sharing the news, he wrote, After more than 8 hours, we have been let go. No FIR, car not impounded. Thank you, @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice for listening, albeit a bit late. I may have lost 8 hours, but not my faith in you. On Wednesday, Ranvir revealed in a series of tweets that he was stopped by the police for stepping out of his house. He said that he was driving a member of his domestic staff to the hospital for the birth of his child but the officer-in-charge did not think it was an emergency and took him to the station. @MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wifes delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise, he wrote on Twitter, adding that while most police officers were sympathetic towards him, one officer Vijay Kumar Kadam filed an FIR against him and impounded his car. Throughout his eight-hour wait at the police station, Ranvir tweeted about the harassment that he was subjected to and slammed the officer for talking to the media about him. After waiting for more than six hours, Ranvir wrote, 3 hapless people made to wait for more than 6 hours. What are we being punished for? @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra. Also read: Anushka Sharma gets legal notice over casteist slur in Amazons Paatal Lok Ranvirs tweets got the attention not only of the Mumbai Police, who promised to look into the matter. Maharashtra environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray replied to his tweet saying, @MumbaiPolice please ensure delivery of the car as well. Kindly assist. @MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wifes delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise. Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 @MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wifes delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise. Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 On the work front, Ranvir was last seen in the Netflix comedy Hasmukh, starring Vir Das. His most recent big screen outing was Homi Adajanias Angrezi Medium. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The post Pearl Jams Present Tense Was Always the Perfect Swan Song for Michael Jordans Last Dance appeared first on Consequence of Sound. Pearl Jam is no stranger to Chicago sports. Theyve performed at Wrigley Field multiple times. Theyve brought out a rolodex of athletes on stage. Hell, theyve even written a song for the Cubs. In a sense, theyre as much a Chicago band as they are a Seattle export, and all of this has to do with the Midwestern blood that pumps through frontman Eddie Vedder. So, its not just poetic, but rather fitting that Vedder and co. would close down shop on ESPNs The Last Dance, the fantastic 10-episode docuseries on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls that have kept us sane these past five weeks. Time to go, a now-grey Phil Jackson says of his Chicago Bulls. Soon after, the soft strings of Pearl Jams Present Tense begin and with it the emotions. Slowly, we float around Chicagos United Center, the arena of the former gods. Theres the empty seats. The waxed-up court. The banners that still watch over the fans today. And as the No Code gem gently carries on, Jackson and the rest of the similarly wisened champions reflect on their beautiful, final moment together: a fiery ritual. My wife had gotten her Masters in social work, and she was part of a group that went in to help people who were grieving, Jackson reminisces. One of the things they did was a ritual which they kind of put things to rest. As Steve Kerr adds, He says, You know, this is it, this is the last dance, last time were ever going to be together. He asked everyone to bring in anything you want to write about what the team means to you. And thats what they did: They put all their thoughts and feelings into words, placed them in a coffee can, and watched it all burn away together. Story continues Present Tense seamlessly parallels this act. Throughout the near-six minute epic, Vedder ruminates on the long passage of time. Are you gettin something out of this all encompassing trip, he waxes existential, contending, You can spend your time alone re-digesting past regrets oh/ Or you can come to terms and realize/ Youre the only one who can forgive yourself oh yeah../ Makes much more sense to live in the present tense Figuratively speaking, those lines alone capture The Last Dance as a whole, particularly our intimate moments with Jordan, whos spent much of the documentary revisiting past clips on a tablet, an image thats since become a meme. jordan computer Pearl Jams Present Tense Was Always the Perfect Swan Song for Michael Jordans Last Dance This isnt the first time Present Tense has been linked with His Airness. Vedder made the association 14 years ago at Chicagos United Center, as Cougars voice Greg Wrubell pointed out this morning. During a 2006, Vedder began the song by stating, I think you can bring up Michael Jordan and the Chicago team since were in this room tonight and in their house. It was an amazing time in life, especially if you grew up in Chicago, to see that, and so even though music and athleticsit doesnt really seem like they cross over, but this song, in particular, seems like it does, and I think about those guys. Call it foresight, call it serendipitous, call it what you will, but the song winds up aligning with Jordans final thoughts. Im not a poet, I just spoke what I felt at the time, Jordan reflects on his speech at the aforementioned ritual, reiterating: Were always going to be bonded. You say thanks for the past. Enjoy the moment. Lets make sure we end it right. The Last Dance certainly acted accordingly: From there, Jordan, Kerr, and the rest of the unstoppable dream team say their final, final words, a blitzkrieg of vintage shots race by, and then were left with the cigar-smoking king himself. Not surprisingly, Pearl Jam gracefully accentuates these final gasps as theyre wont to do. After all, like Jordan, they treat every ending like its their last dance. Pearl Jams Present Tense Was Always the Perfect Swan Song for Michael Jordans Last Dance Michael Roffman Popular Posts Subscribe to Consequence of Sounds email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox. A diver who rescued a whale calf trapped in shark nets off the Australian coast has donated more than $16,000 to charity. The man, who calls himself Django, faced fines up to $26,900 for interfering with shark control nets after he freed the stricken animal on the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning. A GoFundMe page was set by two men with the aim of helping to cover the cost of the fines. But when Django was spared any punishment, he decided to donate the money that had been raise. The Gold Coast fisherman said he wanted to see the $16,776 raised go to Sea Shepherd Australia, the Brisbane Times reported. 'It can either go to Sea Shepherd or it can go back to them - I'm not just going to get it and go to the pub when they open,' he told Nine News. A Gold Coast diver (pictured) who rescued a whale calf trapped in shark nets off the Australian coast has donated more than $16,000 raised for his possible fines to charity In Queensland it is illegal to interfere with equipment used for shark control. The diver said the net was already doing serious damage to the whale by the time he arrived on the scene and he had to help untangle the animal. '(Saving the whale) was the best part of the whole thing. Because of the adrenaline going through the whole experience, I can barely remember any of it,' Django said. He escaped a fine for the act as it was his first offence, but he was issued two formal warnings. The Marine Animal Rescue Team (MART) was only minutes away when the man intervened, a fisheries spokesman said in a statement. 'To be clear - this incident could have had a tragic outcome,' the spokesman said. 'He put himself in serious danger, as well as potentially injuring the whale, and creating a situation where MART could have been at significant risk trying to rescue a trapped swimmer next to the thrashing whale.' He urged swimmers and boaties to leave rescues to the professionals. The whale was first spotted in trouble at about 7am Tuesday by a drone operator at Burleigh Hill where it was seen badly tangled in the nets. Django was in his boat when he saw the whale in distress. 'I saw the whale and I thought, 'That is pretty cool'. Then I saw he was in the net and I thought, ''That is not cool'',' he said. He sped 500metres into the water at Burleigh Heads on Tuesday morning, taking off his shirt and donning fins before diving into the water to cut whale calf free from shark nets Drone operator James Kable said the whale looked 'very distressed' while being caught in the net (pictured) He took off his shirt and donned swimming fins before diving into the water and freed the baby whale's pectoral fin from the net which was cutting into its flesh. Many social media users rushed to Django's defence after he revealed he'd been fined and created the GoFundMe page, which raised more than $16,000. The money will now be donated to Sea Shepard Australia at Django's request. The incident reignited the controversy surrounding the state government's shark control program. Six whales became trapped in the state's shark control equipment last year, but all were successfully released. However, scores of other non-target marine animals are caught in the nets each year, many dying. Aspects of the program were successfully challenged in court last year by the Humane Society, which argued catching and killing sharks did not reduce the risk of an unprovoked attack. However, a number of shark nets and drumlines were reintroduced along the Queensland coast in a reported attempt to stem a drop in tourism numbers following a string of attacks, one of which was fatal. About a third of operations will be allowed under strict norms when domestic flight services restart on Monday after a two-month hiatus and all the airlines will have to adhere to the upper and lower limits of fares prescribed by the government, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Thursday New Delhi: About a third of operations will be allowed under strict norms when domestic flight services restart on Monday after a two-month hiatus and all the airlines will have to adhere to the upper and lower limits of fares prescribed by the government, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Thursday. In a set of detailed guidelines, the ministry advised vulnerable people like the elderly, pregnant women and passengers battling health issues to avoid air travel till the coronavirus pandemic abates. People residing in the containment zone will not be allowed to travel. CNBC-TV18 Newsbreak Confirmed | Aviation Minister says for Delhi-Mumbai flight minimum fare Rs 3500 & maximum Rs 10,000 Capping on fares & route changes to be applicable until August 24#Breaking #Exclusive #RestartingIndia @awnusharma pic.twitter.com/iU7RooXtOv CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020 Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that a minimum and maximum fare for three months has been set for the domestic flight services, which resume from 25 May. Limits on airfares have been set in seven bands as per the flight durations and they would be in place till 24 August, said Puri said. "We have set a minimum and a maximum fare. In the case of Delhi, Mumbai the minimum fare would be Rs 3,500 for a journey between 90-120 minutes. The maximum fare would be Rs 10,000. This is operative for three months -- till one minute to midnight on 24 August," said Puri at a press conference. Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak The ministry asked all the airline operators to adhere to lower and upper limit of fares prescribed by the government for the next three months. All passengers will have to provide their medical details through the Aarogya Setu app or by filling up a self-declaration form. They will have to go for web-check-in as physical check-in counters in airports will not operate. The rules included no meals onboard, mandatory temperature checks for all passengers and allowing only one check-in bag for each passenger. People who were tested positive for COVID-19 will not be allowed to travel. All the passengers will have to wear masks while entering the airports and thereafter. Passengers will have to report to airports two hours before flights are scheduled to depart and they will have to strictly follow social distancing rules. The government's decision to allow domestic air travel comes days after the government relaxed norms allowing economic activities to resume in a bid to revive the economy hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown. Operations of all scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended on 25 March when the nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic came into force. "All stakeholders such as airlines, airports have cooperated. So we took the decision to resume flights from 25 May," Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said addressing a press conference. Puri said all the air travel routes have been divided into seven sections based on the duration of flights ranging from 40 minutes to 210 minutes. The aim of the exercise is to control the fares. The Civil Aviation Secretary said 40 percent of the seats in any flight will have to be sold at the mid-point of the lower and upper airfare limits prescribed for any route by the authorities. He said only one-third flights will be permitted to operate from the metro to non-metro cities where weekly departures are more than 100. "The passengers are expected to certify the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form," said the ministry. Airports have been advised to earmark areas for isolation as well as to carry out COVID-19 testing of suspected passengers. According to the guidelines, the airports will have to ensure easy availability of hand sanitisers at all entry points and at various touchpoints. The ministry also allowed resumption of services by all food and beverages (F&B) outlets on the condition that they must follow all COVID-19 precautions. "Take-away, digital payments, self-ordering booths at F&B and retail outlets to be encouraged to prevent crowding of people, it said. (With PTI inputs) MARTINSRIED (dpa-AFX) - MorphoSys AG (MOR) and Incyte (INCY) announced the validation of the European Marketing Authorization Application for tafasitamab, an anti-CD19 antibody. The company said the application seeks approval of tafasitamab in combination with lenalidomide, followed by tafasitamab monotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r DLBCL), including DLBCL arising from low grade lymphoma, who are not candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). The validation of the MAA by the European Medicines Agency confirms that the submission is ready to enter the formal review process. The MAA, submitted by MorphoSys, is based on data from the L-MIND study evaluating tafasitamab in combination with lenalidomide as a treatment for patients with r/r DLBCL; and is supported by the Re-MIND study, an observational retrospective study in r/r DLBCL. If approved, Incyte will hold the marketing authorization, and has exclusive commercialization rights for tafasitamab outside of the United States, including Europe. DLBCL is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adults worldwide -comprising 40% of all cases1. It is an aggressive disease affecting the -cells of the immune system with 30-40% of patients who do not respond to initial therapy or relapse thereafter, leading to a high medical need for new, effective therapies. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Hagen Mills was reportedly trying to kill the mother of his child when he turned the gun on himself and took his own life. The actor, who starred in Baskets alongside Zach Galifianakis, died Tuesday in Mayfield, Kentucky, at the age of 29. Its alleged that he died in an attempted murder-suicide. And now its said that the woman he was targeting is the mother of his four-year-old daughter. Its reported that Mills tried to kill Erica Price, 34, before turning the gun on himself. And while their relationship was originally unknown, The West Kentucky Star now says she is the mother of his young child. It was reported earlier that Mills, who also starred in the show Swedish Dicks, a comedy about private investigators, had held Prices mother and daughter inside the house until she got home, shooting at her before killing himself. Its reported that when Mayfield PD arrived on the scene, Price was outside the residence with gunshot wounds to her arm and chest. Its said she told police that Mills was still inside and that he had turned the gun on himself. Price was treated at hospital and is in a stable condition. Her mother and daughter were not physically harmed during the incident. Mayfields Police Chief Nathan Kent confirmed to TMZ that investigators believed the incident was an attempted murder-suicide, in which Mills was the shooter. The actors mother confirmed that he had died. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The German government has donated two mobile labs to Kenya to help in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. German ambassador Annett Gunther handed over the labs and testing kits to Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe at Afya House on Wednesday. She said the Mobile laboratory equipment will help increase Kenyas testing capacity. Ambassador Gunther added that Germany stands with Kenya in the fight against the pandemic and hailed the measures taken by the Kenya government in dealing with the disease. Covid-19 is a crisis that tests us on how we treat ourselves. We can only beat the pandemic when we work together. These labs will enable Kenya to detect communicable diseases, she said. The labs are equipped with modern equipment and have a combined capacity to test 2000 cases per day. Kenya received two of nine labs donated by the German government to East African member states. CS Health Mutahi Kagwe said one lab will be stationed at Namanga, and the other at Naivasha which is Kenyas dry port. The mobile labs have combined capacity to support 2,000 tests per day and couldnt have come at a better time to complement existing laboratory network, said Kagwe. We have seen a rise in cases among truck drivers. They endure long journeys waiting to be tested, we apologise the inconveniences they endure, said the CS adding that: the country has put in measure to test drivers on time and prior to their journey and receive a repeat test after 14 days. In addition to the labs, Kagwe said we are receiving mobile lab consumables, accessories, PPEs, satellite phones and electrical systems to use in the labs. As of Wednesday, May 20th, Kenyas infection cases stood at 1,029. 366 people have so far recovered. Of the 66 new cases, 30 were from Mombasa, 26 from Nairobi, and three from Kajiado. Nakuru, Kisii, Meru, Kirinyaga, Busia, Uasin Gishu and Makueni counties recorded one case each. When the protective services officers unit was expanded to conduct night patrols at every metropolitan train station by then Victorian premier Ted Baillieu, PSOs were not exactly welcomed with open arms. Senior police were sceptical. But since the first recruits walked the platforms of Southern Cross and Flinders Street stations in early 2012, this division of the police force has expanded to almost 1500 officers. And if the state government has its way, their numbers are about to swell again. Fresh from having expanded their duties during the pandemic to include deployment to the Melbourne and Geelong CBDs, shopping centres and main streets as far away as Ballarat and Bendigo, the government wants to extend the new role for PSOs beyond the COVID-19 outbreak. PSOs outside Southern Cross. Credit:Paul Rovere They were originally deployed in 1988 to protect major police centres, courts, the Shrine of Remembrance and designated government buildings. But it was not until Mr Baillieu dramatically expanded the number of PSOs that they had real presence and an impact on the community. They have received some mixed reviews. When the state Auditor-General's Office scrutinised the new PSOs four years after their introduction, it found community perceptions of safety at train stations a major factor in determining whether people use the system had improved. It was a big tick at a time when there was growing concern over public safety, particularly for women. But it was not all good news. A tanker has collided with a fully loaded commercial bus on Otedola Bridge, Lagos State, leaving many injured. According to reports, the accident occurred at the lane inwards Berger around 9am on Thursday. Also Read: Nollywood Actor Allegedly Stab Co-tenant To Death Over Electricity Bill It was gathered that the accident has caused heavy traffic that stretched beyond the state Secretariat in Alausa. Advertisement Emergency workers are said to be on ground battling to save the situation and prevent a fire outbreak. In a tweet, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) said the accident involved a tanker and a fully-loaded Mazda bus. The agency said the right authorities are on the ground to control traffic and to attend to the casualties of the incident. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Eldar Janashvili Trend: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has stepped up its drive to source local currency financing, allowing it to continue local currency lending to the countries where it invests and strengthening these economies as they grapple with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Trend reports on May 21 referring to the EBRD. The EBRD has long placed a strong focus on local currency lending and the development of local capital markets, especially since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, which exposed overdependence on foreign currency borrowing as a major vulnerability of emerging markets in its regions. That vulnerability has intensified since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, making the availability of local currency financing more essential than ever. The EBRD and the National Bank of Georgia established a $200 million swap facility in late April that allowed the EBRD to secure access to liquidity in the local currency and lend in lari to firms that are experiencing temporary difficulties. A $500 million swap facility with the National Bank of Ukraine has increased the availability of Ukrainian hryvnias to local firms affected by the coronavirus. In May, the EBRD joined forces with the Central Bank of the Azerbaijan Republic with a $200 million swap facility for on-lending to local companies. The EBRD moved to address this challenge by sealing currency swap agreements with central banks in three of its economies: Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. The swap facilities secure reliable domestic access on a temporary basis to Georgian lari, Ukranian hryvnia and Azerbaijani manat liquidity and is in line with the EBRD strategy to develop capacity to source and manage local currency risks on domestic markets. This allows the EBRD to offer more sustainable local currency products to domestic borrowers and to support and enhance domestic market development through direct participation. Dealing with domestic counterparties gives the EBRD a better understanding of the dynamics of the markets and puts it in a better position to work with domestic counterparties to address any problems through reforms or capacity building. Since 2008, the outstanding local currency loan and bond portfolio the EBRD manages has increased steadily to reach currently about 20 percent of the total outstanding portfolio. Increased local currency lending is just one element in a comprehensive series of response and recovery measures within the EBRDs Solidarity Package that helps countries in the Banks regions deal with the immediate impact of the coronavirus as well as its aftermath. The bank stands ready to provide support worth 21 billion euros over the 2020-2021 period, dedicating the entirety of its activities to COVID-19 response. The Solidarity Package includes a 4 billion euros Resilience Framework providing finance to meet the short-term liquidity and working capital needs of existing clients. It is also increasing its trade finance support, offering fast-track restructuring for distressed clients, reaching out to new clients and has created a new emergency facility to meet essential infrastructure requirements. ---- Follow the author on Twitter: @eldarjanashvili When my mobile telephone rang around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, I knew, before checking it, what news I would receive: the death, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), of James Kolawole Kwame Crentsil, popularly known as Comrade James Crentsil in and outside Calabar and in and outside the Nigerian Socialist Movement. He died at the age of 63, a unique member of the set of classical cadres or foot-soldiers of the post-Civil War Calabar socialist formation. The general and particular meanings of these key defining terms cadre, foot-soldier, classical and unique will become implicitly clear in the course of this composite but brief tribute to Comrade James Crentsil and, through him, to the Calabar Group of Socialists and the Nigerian Left, both of which he served with uncommon faith and exemplary dedication for more than 35 years. Like most of us, the surviving members of the Old Guard of the Nigerian Left, Comrade James Crentsil, though younger than our average age, had been aging and ailing for quite some time, long before the present pandemic. Students of history of modern revolutions will recall that at the beginning of the 20th century, a fierce debate on party formation arose in the communities of exiled Marxist revolutionaries in Europe, particularly the Russian exiles in central and western Europe. The debate was around the most appropriate type of organization that was demanded by the socialist revolution that was generally believed to be fast approaching. The serious choice was between a mass party and a cadre party a military-type formation, in concept and in operation. Of course, these were approximations because there were cadres in mass parties and mass participants in cadre party activities. But we are talking of essences, rules and methods. Another crucial debate was on the first step in the socialist revolution and the exact theoretical characterization of that first step. This twin-disagreement was the main dividing line between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks in the Russian Marxist revolutionary movement. Be that as it may, it was the Bolsheviks, the faction led by Vladimir Lenin, which advocated cadre-party formation and actually formed one, that won the debate through its leadership of the 1917 Socialist Revolution. In a cadre-party every member, male or female, young or old, high or low, was a cadre or a foot-soldier or at least had a definite action-based assignment in addition to the general responsibilities of party membership. The Calabar Group of Socialists (CGS) formed in August 1977 just like the Anti-Poverty Movement of Nigeria (APMON) and the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Nigeria (REMLON) which I mentioned in my tribute to BJ and KK in January 2020 was a grand-heir of this aspect of Leninism. In its development through the decades the Calabar Group of Socialists had to shed some of its original attributes. But it retained some, and partly retained a particular one: the cadreship (or foot-soldiery) phenomenon. Our departed compatriot, Comrade James Crentsil, was an eloquent statement and unique symbol of that phenomenon. Put simply and directly: For more than 35 years and with his base in Calabar, Comrade James Crentsil remained a consistent, selfless, frontline and indeed unique cadre and foot-soldier of the Nigerian Left and the Calabar Group of Socialists. He was unique in the sense that at least in the last decade of his life he remained virtually alone in the role our history had placed him and which he neither regretted nor betrayed. Comrade James Crentsil was not a foundation member of the Calabar Group of Socialists. The foundation members of the group included Eskor Toyo, Ebony Okpa, Bene Madunagu, Bassey Ekpo Bassey, Assim Ita and myself. James Crentsil was admitted in the first half of the 1980s in one of the big waves of mobilization and admission that characterized the first decade of the groups existence. The waves included the Ali Must Go students protest of 1978, the celebration of Zimbabwes independence (1980), the May 1981 general strike, the formation of the National Democratic Movement (against fascism) (1981), with Comrade Dipo Fashina as a prominent frontline mobiliser and organizer, the National Political Debate (1986), the formation of the Cross River State-based Directorate for Literacy (DL) and Calabar-based Citizens for Community Action (CCA) (1987), and the formation of the Labour Party (1989). At the time Comrade James Crentsil came into the Nigerian Socialist Movement through the Calabar Group of Socialists the latter had transformed from a unitary formation governed by the Leninist principle of democratic centralism to a formation resembling Yugoslavias ruling revolutionary party under Comrade President Broz Tito. Students of the history of socialist revolutions will recall that the structure of the Yugoslav party for better or for worse reflected (or was reflected by) Yugoslavias federalism and federal state structure. The transformation of the Calabar Group, a product of its own earth-shaking internal struggle between late 1977 and early 1978, was in two directions partly resembling the Yugoslav experiment: a shift from unitarism to federalism and a significant relaxation of the categorical demands on cadres and foot-soldiers. The uniqueness of Comrade James Crentsil in this transformation was, first, that he chose to be and remain a cadre of the Calabar Group of Socialists as a whole rather than that of one or a combination of some of the various micro-tendencies and sub-formations of the Group; and, secondly, that he also chose to remain a cadre or foot-soldier in the original Leninist sense of complete integration of labour for personal material sustenance and unpaid work as cadre or foot-soldier of the revolutionary movement. In this integration the latter was dominant; the latter took precedence over the former. I shall return to the attribute sketched above because that was Comrade James defining character as a revolutionary socialist. But, in the meantime, I propose that just as the Nigerian Left and, following it, the Calabar Group of Socialists had organic intellectuals in the sense of Antonio Gramsci a phenomenon younger Leftists justifiably celebrate the Nigerian Left and Calabar Group of Socialists also had organic grassroots leaders of whom Comrade James Crentsil was a shining example. Thus, Comrade James Crentsils workshop as a printer in Calabar became a special, but popular operational headquarters of all tendencies and sub-formations of the Calabar Group of Socialists and all spheres of our popular-democratic struggle in which the grassroots were involved. And Comrade James himself remained the physical controller of this headquarters from the late 1980s until he died in Mid-April 2020. When I returned to Calabar from The Guardian, Lagos, in September 1994, I noticed that some of the older comrades, including my spouse, Bene and Bassey Ekpo Bassey referred to, and hailed Comrade James Crentsil as Baba Isale, a Yourba sociocultural term which I may give a modern political translation: grassroots leader or grassroots godfather. Rather than ask for explanation, I decided to watch and see. I knew, to begin with, that the comrades could not simply be alluding to Comrade James Lagos-Ghana mixed parental origin. Such allusion to national or ethnic origins would be strange in the Calabar Group of Socialists and stranger still in older comrades. It did not take long for me to confirm that the name Baba Isale given to James by members of the Old Guard referred to his stature and role as one of our most respected and effective grassroots mobilisers in Calabar. The conventional wisdom in all tendencies of the Calabar Group of Socialists was that if you conceive a mass political action or radical intervention you first discuss the viability with Comrade James Crentsil, the Baba Isale. He might then tell you, Comrade, give me two days. It is his preliminary report and advice at the end of that period after he had hit the grounds with some other foot-soldiers under his command - that will suggest to you whether to move fast with minimum publicity or just move forward and table the idea in a group meeting or simply bury the idea permanently or for the meantime. The movement had paid dearly whenever it violated this simple rule given to us by our own history. In the late 1980s when the military dictatorship under General Ibrahim Babangida was executing a convoluted, strait-jacket transition-to-civil rule programme with fascist methods, Comrade James Crentsil became a member of a self-constituted Security Committee of the Nigerian Left in Calabar. The committee was not armed and did not direct any armed formation or activity. So, what did it do? Let me answer with a Nigerian proverb which may be translated thus: A mother hen says that when she makes noise on the approach of a hawk, the purpose is not to scare away the hawk, but to alert the world to what is about to happen to her, or is happening to her. In like manner, the Security Committee of which Comrade James Crentsil was a prominent member was created not to confront the Nigerian state, not even to defend the Left or the masses, but to raise the alarm when a danger was apprehended. Older members of the Calabar Group of Socialists, visiting Leftists from other parts of the country, activists of the labour movement and popular-democratic organizations may recall a number of narrow escapes, sudden postponements of meetings, shifting of venues and disappearances of comrades during the Babangida and Abacha dictatorships. Most of these occurrences were results of alarms raised by members of the Security Committee. Now, what factors-biographical, occupational, educational, objective and subjective enabled Comrade James Crentsil to play the roles he played in the Nigerian Left in general and in the Calabar Group of Socialists in particular? First, James was the product, on June 10, 1956, of a union between a Ghanaian father and a Nigerian mother. Secondly, he had an all-round technical secondary education in Ghana and an all-round technical tertiary education in Nigeria (Kaduna Polytechnic) (1975-1978). In the latter he specialized in Building and Printing technologies. Thirdly, he was somehow radicalized as a teenager both in Ghana and in Nigeria. Fourthly, he had the benefit of living in the barracks in Lagos and Kaduna after the Civil War with a maternal aunt who was an officer of the Nigerian Army. This partly explains the discipline he exhibited in private and public life. In the fifth place, with his decision to settle in Calabar from about 1980, he was spotted by a revolutionary formation, the Calabar Group of Socialists. Finally, Comrade James Crentsil was fortunate to enjoy what several comrades of his generation did not enjoy: a relatively non-turbulent family life. In summary, how will the Nigerian Left and the Calabar Group of Socialists remember Comrade James Crentsil? What, in other words, is the essence of this tribute? The answer can be tentatively given under two broad headings: the Highlights of Comrade James revolutionary career as a foot-soldier and Baba Isale; and the Examples of Comrade James. Under highlights we remember Comrade James role in workers participation in the 1986 national political debate in the old Cross River State which included the present Akwa Ibom State; his role in the formation and endeavours of the working class-based Directorate for Literacy which emanated from this debate; his role in the Citizens for Community Action (CCA), his role in the 1987/1988 non-party local government elections which the Left won in Calabar Municipality and in Biase and Obudu Local Government Areas (in central and northern parts of Cross River State respectively). The Left creditably ran the three local governments for the periods they existed. We also recall Comrade James role in the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Workshop held in Calabar in April 1989; the formation of the Labour Party (LP) later that year; Left politics during the long years of Babangida-Abacha dictatorship; the prolonged protest over the June 12, 1993 election annulment; and Left resistance during the Abacha-instigated coup hysteria of late 1997 to early 1998. All these were before the Fourth Republic which began in May 1999. In the last two decades we may list the following: Comrade James Crentsils role in the mobilisations around the funerals (other than burials) in Calabar, of several comrades-in-arms, including Ola Oni (2000), Ita Henshaw (2004), Assim Ita (2009), Gani Fawehinmi (2009), Eskor Toyo (2016) and Eyambi Akpet (2019); and his courageous role during the state persecution, and then, personal tribulations of Comrade Bassey Ekpo Bassey in the period: (2000-2010). In all these, and more, Comrade James Crentsil rose to his fullest height as foot-soldier and Baba Isale. Finally, what are the Examples of Comrade James Crentsil? These can be articulated and simply stated: Beyond his exemplary revolutionary understanding and practice of commitment, service and sacrifice; faith and loyalty; humility and proletarian taste; kindness and humanist passion; friendship, comradeship and solidarity, we may underline the immediate material implication of his being a Leninist cadre or foot-soldier of the Nigerian Left and Calabar Group of Socialists. By this I mean the implication on his material life of his decision to subject his work for family sustenance to the demands of his unpaid revolutionary duty. This particular choice of his put an absolute limit on his material comfort, talk less of personal material accumulation, however good or productive he might be as a commercial printer and all-round technician. I was shocked, but could do only very little to ameliorate the situation, when, about a decade ago, Comrade James Crentsil told me that what he charged any comrade who brought a job to him (in his capacity as a printer, builder, electrician, plumber or mechanic) was based on communist costing, rather than capitalist costing where the latter was at least twice as high as the former! Put differently, when Comrade James Crentsil printed a book, journal, pamphlet, calendar or programme, built a house, dug a borehole, repaired a machine or electrical fittings for a comrade he did this not as a contractor but as one of his own paid workers utilizing unpadded market purchases. The critical aspect of this story is that practically everyone who brought a job to Comrade James Crentsil came as a comrade who should enjoy communist costing and for whom James should work as an ordinary worker and not as a contractor. To deepen the contradiction and worsen the situation, the many people (comrades and non-comrades) who continually made material demands on him would not, on such occasions, consider him an ordinary worker that he considered himself and who he was in objective material terms. No wonder Comrade James Crentsil died in personal material penury! Comrade James Crentsil must have derived his concept and practice of communist costing from the direct labour and communist costing principles with which the Calabar Group of Socialists, through its popular-democratic formations, ran the non-party Calabar Municipal Government (under Comrade Bassey Ekpo Bassey) from March 1988 to May 1989. James served that government whose territory has since been split into three local government areas as a tireless, but unlisted, unpaid and self-effacing cadre and foot-soldier committed to our common burning desire to produce the best-run local administration in the country. And so, it was. Comrade James Crentsil was one of the heroes of that successful Calabar experiment in Leftist governance. Madunagu, mathematician and journalist, writes from Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. The Internet is full of click bait about the most boring, backward boondocks in America. But who decides? And are they right? Comedian Mo Mandel is on a mission to find out if the countrys worst places live up (or down) to their reputation in the new program Small Town Throwdown, premiering at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery. You can also watch it on fuboTV and Hulu. A lot of the time, the writers that are trashing these towns have never even bothered to pay them a visit, Mandel said in a statement. So Im showing up, and giving the towns a chance to show how unique and awesome they really are. Join Mandel as he checks out the countrys most misunderstood spots, meet the locals and learns about such quirky traditions as meat judging in Lubbock, Texas, named The Most Boring Town in America, and takes a polar plunge in Appleton, Wis., named The Drunkest Town in the U.S. How can I watch Discovery? Use the channel finders here to locate Discovery: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish. Where can I watch Small Town Throwdown if I dont have cable? You can watch it on fuboTV (7-day free trial), a streaming service that offers you access to your favorite TV shows, live sports events and much more. Theres a 7-day free trial when you sign up. Or you can watch it on Hulu + Live, which allows you to live stream shows and sports from a variety of networks. You also get access to Hulus library of content. Elections are slated to be held in the state of Bihar in October this year. With social distancing norms not likely to go away anytime soon, the election campaign is likely to be an innovative one, and may mark a paradigm shift from the earlier norms. Sushil Kumar Modi, Bihar's deputy chief minister and the seniormost BJP leader in the state, spoke exclusively to Firstpost on the issue. He said that he believes the poll campaign will be well and truly digital, with big public rallies and helicopters becoming a thing of the past. He suggested that the Election Commission should take note of the situation and think of an online polling system which would avoid crowding at polling booths. He noted that new ideas and processes often emerge from a crisis. Edited excerpts follow: The number of migrant workers returning to Bihar is huge. A Bihar government advertisement said that by the end of this month, about 20 lakh people will return to Bihar through trains and buses. How are you coping with the situation, especially since many people who came from outside, especially from Delhi, have tested positive for COVID-19? In the last 10 days, many people who returned from red zones have tested positive, and returning migrants have accounted for 70 percent of the total coronavirus cases. But most of them are young people below 40 years of age. Their immunity system is strong and they are otherwise hale and hearty, and so, their chances of recovery are high. Those who have returned from red zones are placed in block quarantine centres, while those coming from orange and green zones are being placed in village quarantine centres. In villages, people have become conscious, and they do not let anyone enter without going through precautionary measures. Do you believe the Bihar elections will be held on time, considering social distancing norms may have to be followed for a long time to come? We are presently focussed on fighting coronavirus, and are not thinking about the election. But since you have asked, I believe the elections will be held on time. How will poll campaigning be conducted while maintaining social distancing norms? I do not foresee large gatherings being allowed in India in the near future. If such a scenario emerges, Bihar will see something different. For example, in the last 8-10 elections, helicopters have had a big logistical role in campaigning. Political leaders would often travel by helicopter to address public meetings and rallies. In fact, for a lot of people, seeing a helicopter used to be among the reasons to attend rallies. However, I don't think such social gatherings will be allowed in the months to come. So, the usage of helicopters will also be much lesser than earlier. How will you connect with voters during the campaign? We will have to use digital platforms to the maximum, including video or audio conferencing, WhatsApp and SMS. Earlier, the digital campaign only constituted about 10 percent of our poll strategy, but now, digital mediums will dominate. In recent years, there have been many advances in technology, and you can expect to see it at play in the upcoming election. Perhaps large rallies may not be seen this time. Political parties use rallies not just to connect with voters, but also to show the party's strength and boost the morale of grassroots workers. Through rallies, parties are also able to get direct feedback from people. Won't you miss out on all of that? Yes, but we have to keep the current situation in mind. With social distancing norms in place, we have to find new ways and go digital. What campaign styles do you think Prime Minister Narendra Modi will adopt? It is difficult to say what alternatives may come up. While it is certain that he will address the people, one cannot say whether he will do so through online mediums or TV or some other means. Now, about 80 percent of households own television sets. Although big rallies can attract crowds of up to one lakh, through TV, one can reach out to people directly in their homes. What about the voting process? Do you foresee voting taking place through means other than EVMs? When campaigning can be done online, online voting is also possible. Even at present, for some categories of people, there is a provision of postal ballot. In the 2020 Delhi elections, the Election Commission had made special arrangements of postal ballots for elderly people above 80 years of age and persons with disabilities. Volunteers went to their homes and secured their votes, after the consent of the persons concerned was taken. Your suggestion on considering online voting in Bihar may spark a big debate. After all, EVMs have also come in for criticism from some leaders of the Congress and other Opposition parties Whether or not to opt for online voting is a call that the Election Commission will take. The panel should certainly try to find a new way. We must remember that new ideas and new processes often emerge from a crisis. Several questions arise about online voting. Will voters be comfortable with the new method and will they have the secure tools to do so? Will the Election Commission be able to make entirely new polling arrangements for a big state like Bihar? Most people are now acquainted with online systems. In Bihar, we transfer all benefits to people online, through direct benefit transfers. It is for the Election Commission to decide, but it should mull over possible options. Generally, the subject of how a presidential candidate or newly elected one would handle a global pandemic once in office has not been a front burner issue for media types covering a crucial election. But Donald Trump's candidacy must have rattled the global health elites enough to cajole their medical experts and press pals to begin a fear-mongering campaign even before Trump beat Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016. Long before COVID-19 came ashore this past January, Trump's enemies began politicizing the possibility of a Trump-era pandemic. In 2017, a Clinton-supporting Dr Fauci warned of a "surprise outbreak" during the Trump administration. Earlier, a month after Trump won in 2016, The Atlantic published an article entitled "How a Pandemic Might Play Out Under Trump." The Atlantic writer depicted Trump as a "flying off the handle, rambling" authoritarian isolationist with "zero experience dealing with future pandemics. In March of 2016, a New York University professor of bioethics, Arthur Caplan, wrote a futuristic, fictional blog piece titled "The End of Civilization and the Real Donald Trump." The obsession with Trump and a potential global infection was on the oppositions minds, for sure. Caplans foreboding narrative opens in the spring of 2017 with hundreds of dead chickens appearing in the markets of Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. An American businessman returning from Hong Kong to the U.S. becomes the first victim of a deadly avian virus sweeping the globe. Soon, Caplan is describing mandatory mask wearing, stay-at-home orders, a media in "full, panic-dispensing mode, daily CDC briefings, references to the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 and fast-tracked efforts to develop a vaccine. Sound familiar? The scenario quickly devolves into a future President Trump demanding governors and mayors send out the military to quarantine those breaking his executive lockdown orders and herd them all into makeshift detention camps. From The Health Care Blog: There was no vaccine available but efforts were underway to make one since the genome of the mutated virus had been sequenced. People were urged to stay home, wear masks, cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing and to get the annual flu shot since that might confer some protection. Then President Trump decided to act. Trump told every governor to get the state police involved to enforce quarantine but the numbers involved simply overwhelmed. Trump declared martial law and called out the military to enforce it supplemented by National Guard troops dispatched by cooperative governors. Caplan's version reverses the authoritarian roles being played out today with COVID-19. Currently, it's the despotic mayors and governors of individual states using strong-armed tactics, suppressing dissent and forcing law-abiding citizens to comply with perverse and Kafkaesque guidelines, not President Trump. What Caplan does get eerily right, as if he had a crystal ball, is the unprecedented reaction by our political representatives and medical technocrats to the current coronavirus. For us in 2020, what started out as commonsense recommendations to stop the spread of a new viral strain has rapidly turned into a model-driven hysteria pushed by CDC's Nancy Messonnier, and later, Drs. Fauci and Birx. As part of the COVID-19 Task Force, it was largely their expertise that had us adhering to the edicts of power-mad Democrat officials taking full advantage of their shot at winning the presidency in 2020. They have decimated Trumps economy in record time; issued lockdown orders; encouraged surveillance; there is talk of mobilizing the military to enforce mandatory vaccinations; and finally, enlisting police to shut down church services, public parks, beaches and locally-owned businesses. No other outbreak in our history has prompted politicians to release hardened criminals from prison while arresting and jailing innocent gym members, mothers at the beach, salon owners and taxpaying Americans. The pandemic crisis, manufactured or not, has enabled the resistance radical Democrats to get us as close as we have ever been to a banana republic presidential election and a defunct Bill of Rights. At the end of Caplan's not so far-fetched post, he predicts President Trump will have to answer for the overreaching governments actions. As the disease begins "to fade, he writes, many called for an assessment of what had gone wrong in battling the avian flu of 2017. Fortunately, Trump has repeatedly put the onus for COVID-19 on local state leaders. The recent protests against unconstitutional mandates have been directed at governors and mayors threatening citizens who pay their salaries with prison time for sitting in dry sand. D amien Hirst has created a series of images showing the rainbow heart design he made for our Food For London Now appeal superimposed onto leading British landmarks. The Turner Prize-winning artist made the 12 images to help promote the sale of limited-edition prints of the rainbow heart design that was launched this week and ends at midnight on Monday. Hirst also announced that the 12 images will be turned into postcards that will be sold to raise money for charity. They will go on sale shortly. Its great to be able to help people in need by creating digital images, especially since most people arent allowed out in the world during the lockdown, he said. Ive made the postcards so that everyone has a chance to own one, and all the profits will be donated to charity. It feels right to show what can be done from a lockdown situation with a bit of computer magic and lateral thinking. The images show the butterfly heart design, which was created by the artist for our appeal as a symbol of solidarity and hope, being superimposed on buildings in London and across the country, including the Tower of London, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The limited-edition print of the rainbow butterfly image can be purchased in two sizes, priced at 300 and 1,000. The larger version of the image which is filled with butterflies, one of Hirsts motifs, is 70cm by 72.7cm and the smaller one is 35cm by 36.4cm. The funds raised will go to our appeal partner, The Felix Project, Londons biggest surplus food distributor. The number of editions ordered before sales close on Monday will determine the final size of the edition. Each edition will then have its own unique number and be digitally signed on a label behind the work. How to buy The two versions of the butterfly heart print are available to buy through HENI Editions at: rainbow.henieditions.com/product/damien-hirst-heart/ Hitting out at the Modi government's response to COVID-19, senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Thursday said the Centre's insistence that there is no community spread is "misleading" and the increase in testing capacity has come "too late". Pitroda, a technocrat-turned-politician and the head of the Indian Overseas Congress, also asserted that COVID-19 cannot become an excuse for the national government to take over the role of the states. In a statement released on the occasion of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary, Pitroda suggested 10 steps to the government for combating the novel coronavirus in India in a blog. As part of his suggestions, he said the lockdown was useful as a way of getting some time to prepare, but no country can afford to use it as a permanent solution to fight the virus. "We have to set down a time-bound plan for coming out of the lockdown," Pitroda said. He contended that with over 112,000 cases and nearly 3,500 deaths in India as of May 20, it is inconceivable that the virus is not spreading in the community. "The government continuing to insist that there is no community spread is misleading and gives people the false hope that they are protected," Pitroda said. If people cannot trust their government when there is a relatively low number of cases, how will they trust their government when the number of cases starts increasing, he asked. It is better to plan for the worst and hope for the best, said Pitroda, a key aide of Rajiv Gandhi. He also said the current increase in testing is useful but has come "too late". "We wasted our resources by focusing only on people coming home from abroad or on known contacts of existing cases and left out high risk, low-income populations amongst whom the virus was spreading rapidly," Pitroda said. "If we had started testing in early February when we had our first cases, this level of testing would have been adequate to contain the virus in clusters," he said. "Now we have to assume that the virus has spread across communities and we can only identify the infected by mass testing high risk citizens, which includes anyone over the age of 50, and those with other morbidities," he said. The Indian Overseas Congress chief also urged the government to prepare for more cases, saying if "we are not prepared even now, after eight weeks of a nationwide lockdown, we are never going to be prepared". The government should spell out what it has done in terms of procurement and preparedness during these past eight weeks, that will be of help when the number of cases increases, he argued. He also urged the Centre to allow states leeway to respond to the crisis and designate which districts need special "hot spot" intervention. "Focus national efforts on providing help to states with medical equipment and supplies rather than assuming that experts in Delhi have a better understanding of the situation than the public health officials on the ground," Pitroda said in his suggestions to the government. Pitroda, who is credited with being the architect of the telecom revolution under Rajiv Gandhi, claimed that there is troubling evidence that decisions about lockdowns and plans are being made without listening to the best scientific minds in the country. "The purchase of antibody testing kits was a mess because it was done without sufficient validation or consultation. Even today, we don't know how many people have already been infected because India has not done a serological survey like has been done in many other countries," he said. Underlining that crores of Indians have lost their livelihoods in both rural and urban India, Pitroda said many are starving and if and when they contract the COVID-19 virus, they could be at a greater risk because of their weakened state. "The current level of support for our citizens is simply unacceptable. A national programme that provides food rations to every citizen, with or without a ration card, for a six month period, is easily achievable given our ample stock of food grains," he said. Claiming that much of the financial support that the government has promised is yet to reach many citizens, Pitroda said all bottlenecks must be removed to make sure what has been promised is delivered without any further delay. Pitroda also called for prioritising activities that will allow the economy to recover. "Allow freedom of movement for work including public transport but ban mass religious, social and cultural gatherings for the next few months," he said in his suggestions. All offices, businesses and markets should be allowed to open, Pitroda said. "We know that the virus spreads with or without a lockdown. But we cannot fight the COVID-19 virus on an empty stomach," he said. Pitroda also argued that the current crisis can become an opportunity if it can be used to invest in public health infrastructure. The health and wellness centers that were promised under the Ayushman Bharat programme have not yet come into existence at scale. It will take less than 100,000 crore to build a world class health system that will serve us in the years to come," he said. Pointing out that national and international experts have indicated that India has to live with this virus for at least another 18 months, Pitroda said the government should spell out a clear two-year plan rather than providing guidance week by week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There is a new wrinkle in the long-running saga of government COVID-19 stimulus payments -- debit cards. The program has, for the most part, run smoothly despite the amount of work that was required getting computers and multiple government agencies to play nice with each other. The majority of taxpayers began seeing payments deposited into their bank accounts within two weeks of President Donald Trump signing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act bill into law on March 27, 2020. Yes, there were issues when someone realized that many Americans, ironically those most at need for stimulus payments, don't pay income taxes. The Treasury Department came up with a plan to get stimulus payments to these people quickly by getting the IRS computers to share information with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration. See: Some Veterans May Need to Take This Extra Step to Get Their Stimulus Check Related: Here's When Coronavirus Checks Will Arrive if You Get Social Security, SSI More: It Just Got Easier for Veterans Who Don't File Taxes to Get a Coronavirus Check Later, someone realized that, even though the computers were sharing information across agencies, many citizens -- especially veterans -- who rely on government payments as their sole source of income weren't going to receive the extra $500 payments for any children they had under the age of 17. A workaround was developed and, as of the middle of May, this problem has been solved. See: Some Veterans Need to Fill Out This Form ASAP to Get Their Stimulus Payment Related: With IRS Deadline Looming, Some Veterans May Still Wait Months for Stimulus Money More: Here's Who Should Submit Bank Info ASAP to Avoid a Longer Stimulus Check Wait So, within six weeks of the COVID-19 stimulus payments being authorized, most citizens had received, or were on the path to receiving, the proper amount of money -- not bad considering all the back office work that had to be done and the fact that the country was in the grips of a nationwide quarantine with workers remaining at home, schools closed, and more. But soon someone realized there was another issue: Who uses checks anymore? The government was planning on issuing stimulus payments to more than four million Americans in the form of paper checks. Many of these people don't have bank accounts, and many banks are still closed to walk-in customers. Also, many banks charge non-customers a fee to cash a government check. This was less than ideal. A new solution has been reached. Now, the government says it will issue prepaid debit cards to people who are still awaiting their stimulus payments. The cards will be mailed soon and are preloaded with the entire amount of the stimulus payment. The cards can be used just like cash to make payments or used to withdraw cash from an ATM. Details about economic impact payment debit cards from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau It is a Treasury-sponsored, VISA-branded, prepaid debit card issued by MetaBank. If you get an official-looking letter in the mail containing one of these debit cards, you must follow the instructions included with the card to activate it. If you don't activate it, you can't use it. Once you activate the card, you can use it to make purchases anywhere that Visa debit cards are accepted. You can also get cash back at the register when you make a purchase. There is no fee to activate the card or use it at any cash register. You can also withdraw cash at any ATM, although you may have to pay a fee at some ATMs. Be careful. Scammers won't be far behind. If you get an official-looking card in the mail that requires you to pay an activation fee, you can bet it is a scam. Just throw it out. You can check out the video above to see what the official debit card will look like on the front and the back. Get the Latest Financial Tips Whether you're trying to balance your budget, build up your credit, select a good life insurance program or are gearing up for a home purchase, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com and get the latest military benefit updates and tips delivered straight to your inbox. International student arrivals would recommence from countries deemed safe and be subject to self-funded quarantine requirements under a plan put to federal and state governments by the elite Group of Eight universities. The "secure corridor" framework could allow for students to return en masse subject to strict health checks and with the co-operation of government agencies and the aviation industry, according to the proposal being considered by federal and state leaders and obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. International students could return en masse in first semester 2021 under a plan proposed by the Group of Eight. Credit:Erin Jonasson The first step of the framework which could allow students currently overseas commencing or renewing their studies by first semester 2021 would be a "rigorous protocol for selecting eligible source countries" that had contained the spread of COVID-19. Countries' control of the coronavirus would be demonstrated by sustained low infection rates, high testing rates and an ability to deal with outbreaks. The source countries would also have a record of compliance with visa conditions and students "may be required" to download the COVIDSafe contact tracing app. Chandigarh: The Haryana government has recommended a CBI probe into the incidents of arson and violence during the Jat agitation for reservation in Rohtak, including the attack on the residence of state Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu. The Centre has been requested to probe the criminal and political angle to the large-scale violence and vandalism of public property, including the residence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Circuit House, the ministers house and government buildings, a source said. Rohtak was the epicentre of the Jat agitation for quota in jobs and education in which over 30 lives were lost and property worth hundreds of crore of rupees was destroyed. Several government and private buildings were damaged by protesters, including Capt Abhimanyus palatial house, which had evoked widespread criticism and anger. On February 19, a mob broke into the ministers house, set it ablaze and allegedly tried to kill nine members of his family. The minister, who was in Chandigarh at that time, had later said, It was a political conspiracy to wipe out my entire family...This was a conspiracy by disgruntled elements and political opponents who could not make it to power corridors through democratic ways. The minister has welcomed the probe by the central agency, saying everybody wants to know the truth. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A high-ranking Victoria Police officer has been charged with more than two dozen offences related to breaching court orders. A police investigation into incidents dating back to December last year led to the charges over the 25 incidents. The North West Metro Region member was off duty at the time of the alleged offending, police said. The Sergeant has been granted bail and will appear at a court at a later date, where details of their offending will be heard. Police did not say at which court the officer would appear. The tally of coronavirus positive patients in Gondia district of Maharashtra went up to 23 with the detection of as many as 20 cases on Thursday alone, officials said. This came two days after two persons, both Mumbai returnees, had tested positive for the infection in the district, they said. According to the officials, those who tested positive on Thursday are all contacts of one of the two Mumbai returnees found infected on May 19. "With this, the total of COVID19 cases in the district rose to 23. Of them 22 cases are active," district collector Dr Kadambari Balakwade said. One person, who had tested COVID-19 positive in March had already recovered from the infection, the officials said. One of the Mumbai returnees is a 30-year-old man, who had travelled to his native Karhandli village of Arjuni Morgaon tehsil in a truck with some 50 other people. He was quarantined there, but was later shifted to Gondia's COVID Care Center. His swab samples was sent to Nagpur on May 17. The test reports, which were received on May 19, confirmed that he was infected, they said. After that the authorities identified over 60 people and all of them were quarantined in Gondia. Twenty of them tested positive on Thursday, the officials added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Since you did such an exceedingly poor job of it, Id like to conclude by addressing the class of 2020, a class that surely includes any number of Jeremys, aspiring psychology majors, future teachers, students of Chinese descent and most of all, people who love and care deeply for their classmates regardless of their name, educational goals or race. So, to the class of 2020 in the great state of Nebraska: Nobody has ever done what you just did, and while I know that you had a front-row seat to the setbacks and shortcomings, please know you performed admirably and that many of us are proud of you. Please know, also, that you do not have to accept the representation of people whose values fall short of your own. Human decency is a staple amongst Nebraskans, and I have never witnessed a generation that cared more about other people than you do. You have the intellect, the empathy, the hearts and the minds we need to solve problems like the ones we face today, and in advance Id like to thank each of you for the part you will play in repairing this fractured, sickened world. You will accomplish this, and you will go on to do so much more. As you move forward, please know that your teachers will always support you, even when your elected representatives fail to do so. We are counting on you, and I know you will not let us down. Born and raised in Valentine and a graduate of UNL, Mark Gudgel is a 16-year veteran of public school education and a professor of education at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he is teaching a course in psychology this summer. The iconic Johnnie Fox's has a plan to reopen its 300-seat pub as a 110-seater restaurant at the end of June, rather than wait until pubs can trade in August. It joins more than 300 Dublin pubs planning to reopen under restaurant licences on June 29 which are appealing to the Government for a green light to trade, according to the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA). The lobbying group for Dublin's 750 pubs says 44pc of its members are preparing to reopen on the date set for restaurants to resume trade. The Government's current plan requires pubs to stay shut until August 10. LVA CEO Donall O'Keeffe said pubs that provide a menu service should be treated the same way as other food service providers. "These venues have restaurant certificates and are just as capable of following the public health guidelines as restaurants. Food is a major aspect of their trade. "Why should they be treated differently to other venues serving food and alcohol? Our members cannot remain in limbo and are actively planning to reopen on the same basis and at the same time as restaurants." The Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI), which represents 4,000 pubs outside the capital, said many of its members with restaurant licences also plan to reopen on June 29. Owners are desperate for State guidance, according to spokesman Brian Foley. "Our primary concern is the opening protocols for pubs - something Government really needs to engage on," he said. Well-known publican Charlie Chawke plans to reopen seven of his nine pubs on June 29, including Aunty Lena's in Adare, Co Limerick. "My restaurant licences give me the right to open as a restaurant," Mr Chawke said. Johnnie Fox's, in the Dublin Mountains, plans to transform into a 110-seat socially distanced venue. Red and green 'stop and go' lights would limit toilet access to one customer at a time. Business manager Kaitlin McMahon said 80pc of Johnnie Fox's sales are food. It can serve 2,000 meals on a busy day. Social distancing would still mean 600 meals from noon to 10pm. "We're blessed with space," she said. "It would make absolutely no sense to stop us from operating as a restaurant." New York Times correspondent Chris Buckley was expelled from China earlier in May, the same day as the United States (US) announced new visa restrictions on Chinese journalists. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the expulsion and urge China to reconsider the removal of journalists employed by US media. Chris Buckleys forced removal from China, after the government refused to renew his visa on May 8 , makes him the 19th foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in the last 12 months. Buckley, an Australian citizen, and his wife left China on May 8 bound for Sydney, Australia. For the last 24 years, Buckley has been based in China and investigated and written extensively on Chinese government activities, exposing the mass detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang last year and more recently commenting on the Chinese governments lack of transparency as Covid-19 spread from the epicentre of Wuhan and reported on the outcry over the death of whistleblower Dr Li Wenliang. Despite the expulsion, Buckley was told he would be allowed to come back to China in the future. This is not the first time Buckley has been expelled from China. In 2012 he was asked to leave China, two months after publishing an article revealing the wealth of now-retired Chinese politician Wen Jiabo, who is worth $2.7 billion. On May 8, the US retaliated to Chinas expulsion of journalists by restricting the visas of Chinese journalists employed by non-US media in America to 90 days, with a visa extension limited to 90 days. In combination with the Covid-19 pandemic and global economic pressures, the retaliatory relationship between the US and China has resulted in escalated trade tensions. The IFJ said: The tensions between the US and China are already having grave impacts on press freedom and the lives of working journalists.Expelling foreign correspondents during a health pandemic is a major roadblock to fighting the global pandemic. The IFJ urges the Chinese government to respect press freedom and uphold the rights of media workers amid external pressures. Two more members of filmmaker Boney Kapoors house staff have tested positive for the coronavirus. This is in addition to the one who was found positive for the deadly virus earlier this week. Oshiwara Police Station PI, Dayanand Bangar confirmed the news to Spotboye.com. Boney, on Tuesday, had said that one of his house helps has tested positive for coronavirus. The Kapoor family--him and his daughters Janhvi Kapoor and Khushi Kapoor--are fine and asymptomatic. He had issued a written statement in this regard which was shared on social media by Janvhi, who is also a Bollywood actor. Message from Boney Kapoor -- I would like to inform you that our house staff...has tested positive for Covid-19. He was unwell on Saturday evening, was sent for tests and kept in isolation, the statement read. My children, our other staff at home and I, are all fine and none of us are showing any symptoms. In fact we havent left our home since the lockdown started, he added. He further added that his family is under self-quarantine for the next 14 days and will follow all government guidelines diligently. All of us will be in self-quarantine for the next 14 days. We shall be diligently following the instructions and advice given to us by the BMC as well as their medical team. We are thankful to the Government of Maharashtra and the BMC for their swift response, the Mr India producer said in the statement. Also read: Sonam Kapoors DIY Batman costume is a hit, actor thanks mom: You really let me express myself I am sharing this information because it is important not to feed rumours and panic. We will take all precautions as required. The statement added that Boney hoped the staff member will recover and be back at home with us soon. The domestic help Charan Sahu, aged 23, has been living with Boney and his family at their residence in Green Acres, Lokhandwala Complex. He had been unwell since Saturday evening, and Boney sent him for a test. Charan tested Covid-19 positive, following which he was kept in isolation. Subsequently, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and government staff arrived at the Kapoor residence and took Charan away for quarantine. Follow @htshowbiz for more We are glad to offer our popular refrigeration training as free webinars to help customers advance their refrigeration knowledge. Tecumseh Products Company LLC is expanding its Tecumseh University training program with a series of free webinars to help refrigeration engineers and technicians. The webinars cover a wide range of refrigeration topics for contractors, wholesalers and OEM customers to refresh on basics, sharpen their skills and catch up on the latest technology in the refrigeration industry. Tecumseh University has been training OEM design engineers and HVAC/R professionals for nearly ten years both in webinars and in-person training sessions at their facilities in some parts of the world. With webinars on everything from Basic Refrigeration System Components to DC-Powered Mobile Refrigeration Technology, there is something for everyone regardless of position or experience level. Many of our customers are essential businesses who use our refrigeration technology to provide services, or develop equipment in the medical, pharmaceutical, food retail and transportation industries, Hiroshi Saito, The Director of Global Marketing at Tecumseh said. We know this is a difficult time for everyone. We are glad to offer our popular refrigeration training as free webinars to help customers advance their refrigeration knowledge. As many businesses are working remotely during the pandemic, refrigeration specialists can access the Tecumseh University free webinar series online at: https://www.gotostage.com/channel/tecumsehuniversity. About Tecumseh Products Company LLC Founded in 1934, Tecumseh Products Company LLC is a leading global manufacturer of hermetic reciprocating, rotary and scroll compressors ranging in capacity from 1/15th to 30 horsepower, as well as offering a complete line of condensing units and systems for use in residential and commercial refrigeration and air conditioning applications. Tecumseh products are manufactured on four continents and sold globally through a network of sales professionals, authorized wholesalers and licensed distributors offering brand names that include: AE, AE2, AW, Celseon, LUnite Hermetique, Masterflux, Silensys, and Wintsys. Tecumseh Products Company LLC is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. New Delhi, May 21 (UNI) Amid simmering border tension between them, India on Thursday rejected Chinese claim that Indian troops had undertaken activity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and Sikkim. On the other hand, India said that it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering Indias normal patrolling patterns. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western Sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously. The spokesperson also added that all Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring Indias sovereignty and security, Mr Srivastava said. He further added that the Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC. The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues, the MEA spokesperson said. In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas, he added. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. UNI ASH/VT SB 1943 While assessing the initial impact of COVID-19, the Study Abroad team worked closely with SFUs COVID-19 operational response team and was in regular contact with the universitys International Travel Safety Program. The program supports SFU students international learning abroad. The university also relies on its membership in International SOS a global medical and security services company to provide relevant travel and safety updates to students, staff and faculty travelling abroad. On January 29, the Study Abroad team cancelled SFUs student exchange programs to China. At that time, we helped a small number of students who were scheduled to attend programs in China, with choosing alternative destinations, deferring their exchange term and/or enrolling in classes, says Hanna. In early February, the Study Abroad team supported a small number of SFU students in northern Italy, who were there when the local outbreak began. By mid-March, it was working actively to support 123 students in 26 countries, who were on exchange for the spring 2020 term, to leave their host location as soon as it was safe and feasible to do so. Other students scheduled to attend programs in March and April, and as part of the summer exchanges and field schools, were informed about cancellations. Most students (who were abroad for Spring 2020 exchanges) have returned home; there are a small number of students who have made personal decisions to remain abroad for a variety of reasons, says Torno. The team also provided logistical and financial support to returning SFU students in the midst of a constantly evolving response strategy from governments across the world as the pandemic spread. Every students individual situation varies, and that determined what kind of support they needed for their early return, says Torno. An additional layer of uncertainty was added to the students return once Canada imposed further travel restrictions. There was a lot individual case management for weeks on end, says Hanna, adding that SFUs strong connections with international partners across the globe helped students navigate an incredibly stressful and complex time. I cannot emphasize how appreciative I am of the Study Abroad team, says student Shirin Pedram, a third-year behavioural neuroscience student, who was in Belgium earlier this year on an exchange program. The support that the SFU Study Abroad team providedboth financial and emotionalmade the transition back home a lot easier. They were constantly checking in on us and worked incredibly hard to make sure everyone was safe and sound, regardless of where students ended up staying for the remainder of their exchange. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of an institution that has my back. I would highly recommend the Study Abroad program to every student. Students participating in exchange programs usually plan their trips a year and half in advance. But a premature return and the move to online course instruction has posed challenges for returning students. Study Abroad is working to expand its standard 'returning home' programming to address the unique challenges this cohort of students has faced. This also means recalibrating programs for the fall 2020 and spring 2021 terms. Like our partners across the globe, SFU is doing scenario planning, says Hanna, adding that her team will look to public health and the Canadian government for direction to inform all future decisions. We recently had to make the difficult, but necessary decision to cancel all inbound and outbound Exchanges and Study Abroad programs for the Fall 2020 term. We are supporting students through their options, and are in the early stages of discussing with our partners and with academic units at SFU about how students can gain the skills and experience they would get through Study Abroad in new and different ways, she adds. It opens up many interesting new conversations. DUBLIN, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Vaccine Development and Production Trends, COVID-19 and Other Vaccines Pipeline" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The vaccine market is poised for a rather substantial increase in the next five years due to the number of vaccines in development and the push for a COVID-19 vaccine. As the COVID-19 outbreak advanced worldwide, companies stepped up to the challenge, scrambling to provide a potential vaccine. In addition to discussion of COVID-19 vaccine development as it stands currently, this report examines the market for human vaccines used to prevent various types of disease, focusing on commercialized vaccines and developmental vaccines for diseases that are already vaccine-preventable, with a discussion of the demanding tasks that are facing vaccine manufacturers. Vaccine Development and Production Trends, COVID-19, and Other Vaccines Pipeline provides the following market data: Worldwide Vaccine Market Revenues, 2019-2024 Global Vaccine Market Analysis by Country, 2019 (US, EU, Japan , China , India , RoW) , , , RoW) Major Manufacturers' Shares of the World Vaccine Market, 2019 This report examines the current global market for vaccines, including discussion of prevailing issues: COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates Developing World WHO Vaccine Candidates Other Future Vaccine Products Challenges to Vaccine Development Vaccination has played an enormous role in the prevention of disease, having had the greatest impact on human health of any medical intervention to date. As a result, vaccine-preventable diseases and their resulting deaths are now relatively rare in the developed world. However, developing nations have not benefited as much from the introduction of vaccines. Vaccine Development and Production Trends, COVID-19, and Other Vaccines Pipeline outlines the issues and trends affecting the vaccine industry, including: Increasing Life Expectancy Manufacturing Incentives Synthetic Vaccines Artificial Intelligence Development Pipeline and COVID-19 Development The report also reviews the history and lines of business, strategic alliances, and vaccine products of market participants: Advaxis, Inc. Bavarian Nordic, A/S Bharat Biotech International Ltd. CSL Limited/Seqiris Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. (GSK) Gradalis, Inc. Hawaii Biotech, Inc. Immune Response Biopharma, Inc. Inovio, Inc. Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Crucell/Janssen Medicago, Inc. Merck, Inc. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation Moderna, Inc Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. NovaVax, Inc. Pfizer, Inc. Sanofi Pasteur Serum Institute, Inc. Soligenix, Inc. SOTIO a.s. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd. Valneva SE Also included as an appendix is the WHO Vaccine Pipeline Tracker, a listing of WHO vaccine candidates for HIV, Ebola/Marburg, Zika, Malaria, TB, and Dengue - over 400 vaccines in development. Key Topics Covered: Chapter 1: Executive Summary Overview Scope and Methodology COVID-19 Market Overview and Potential Chapter 2: Introduction to Vaccine Industry Overview How Vaccines Work Types of Vaccines Regulatory Process Chapter 3: Production and Challenges of Vaccine Development Vaccine Development Program Egg Production Cellular Production Influenza Vaccine Production Cell-Based Influenza Vaccines Manufacturing Challenges Pandemics HIN1 Pandemic of 2009/2010 Coronavirus Pandemic Contract Manufacturing Involvement Chapter 4: Issues and Trends of the Vaccine Industry Overview Increasing Life Expectancy Manufacturing Incentives Synthetic Vaccines Artificial Intelligence Development Pipeline and Covid-19 Development Phase III Vaccine Trials: Status Personalized Vaccines COVID-19 Development Chapter 5: Market Participants Appendix: WHO Vaccine Pipeline Tracker For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8vcfc About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com President Trump expressed that he was interested in going to Florida next week to watch Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket blast off with NASA astronauts from American soil for the first time. 'I'm thinking about going. That will be next week. To the rocket launch. I hope you're all going to join me,' he told reporters as he departed the White House for Michigan Thursday. 'I'd like to put you in the rocket and get rid of you for awhile,' he told the group. Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday he would make the trek to Kennedy Space Center. President Trump said he was thinking of going to the launch next week of the SpaceX rocket and spacecraft, which will be taking American astronauts to the International Space Station 'I'd like to put you in the rocket and get rid of you for awhile,' President Trump told the group of reporters gathered outside the White House Thursday The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft at its top are loaded into a vertical position on the Kennedy Space Center launch pad in anticipation of next Wednesday's lift-off, which Vice President Pence is already slated to attend Vice President Mike Pence (right) confirmed that he would be making the trip to the Kennedy Space Center next week at a roundtable discussion in Orlando Wednesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) hinted that President Trump could come as well The launch will show off the public-private partnership between NASA and SpaceX, the company started by Elon Musk (pictured) On Wednesday, as he addressed hospitality industry leaders alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Pence brought up the trip again. 'It's great to be in Florida because I'm going to be back in a week because not too far from here, for the first time in almost 10 years, we're going to send American astronauts back to space in American rockets from Kennedy Space Center,' Pence said. DeSantis indicated that Trump could tag along. Asked if that was in the works at Wednesday's briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany didn't have any updates to share. 'So we have no news on scheduling at that front,' she said. 'But if I get news in the future, I will certainly provide that for you.' The May 27 launch will use SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft lifting off on a Falcon 9 rocket, also made by SpaceX, the company founded by Musk. American astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will take off from Florida's so-called 'space coast.' at 4:33 p.m. They are traveling to the International Space Station. As he left the White House Thursday, Trump also discussed what a rescheduled G-7 conference might look like. On Wednesday, he tweeted that he believed the G-7 conference should be held in-person, despite the coronavirus still spreading around the globe. 'I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David,' he wrote. 'The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all - normalization!' He said Thursday it would 'probably' be held at the White House, with some parts taking place at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin mountains in Maryland. 'So if we do the G7, when that all comes together, probably it will be in D.C. at the White House. But there could be a piece of it at Camp David, which is nearby,' Trump said. A top Russian diplomat has accused the United States of seeking to undermine international security after President Donald Trump gave notice on withdrawing from the Open Skies treaty, citing what U.S. officials said were repeated Russian violations. Speaking on May 22, one day after officials said the United States would move to withdraw from the 18-year-old treaty, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Washington had provided no facts to back up its allegations that Moscow has repeatedly violated the terms of the Open Skies treaty, which allows members states to conduct surveillance flights over one another's territories to observe military installations. The U.S. claims "are totally unfounded," he said. The U.S. announcement is the latest move by the Trump administration to pull out of major international treaties, exits that have prompted watchdog groups and some members of the U.S. Congress to warn of the increased possibility of an arms race or accidental military confrontations. In a statement on May 21, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will provide notification to the other 34 signatories that it will withdraw in six months, but may reconsider "should Russia return to full compliance with the treaty." Trump also gave mixed messages as he made the announcement, signaling that the move might be a bargaining ploy to get Russia to hold new talks on the treaty. He said there was a "very good chance we'll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together." He did not give any further details. The United States and Russia have a very good relationship, he told reporters on May 21, "but Russia didn't adhere to the treaty. So, until they adhere we will pull out." Signed in 1992, Open Skies entered into force a decade later and now has 35 members. The agreement aims to increase international stability by allowing nations to conduct surveillance flights over one anothers territories to observe military installations and other objects. Pompeo alleged that examples of Russia's violations include the denial of access to observation flights within a 10-kilometer corridor along Russia's border with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Arms experts say this restriction may technically not fall under the agreements provision. Pompeo said Russia has also placed restrictions on some flights around the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad amid a military buildup that he said might include short-range nuclear-tipped missiles. Russia has also designated an airfield in the annexed Crimean Peninsula as an Open Skies refueling base, Pompeo said. He alleged that was illegal attempt by Russia to cement its claim to the Ukrainian region, which Moscow seized in 2014. 'Flagrantly And Continuously' Violated Pompeo insisted the United States and its partners that signed the treaty have lived up to their commitments and obligations, but Russia "has flagrantly and continuously" violated it in various ways for years. The exit has upset European allies, many of whom are members of the treaty, and some members of the U.S. Congress. France, Germany, and eight other European countries said they regretted the U.S. move. "We regret the announcement by the United States of its plan to pull out of the Open Skies treaty, even though we share the concerns about how the accord is being carried out by the Russian Federation," the countries said in a joint statement issued by France's Foreign Ministry. EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell later said that "withdrawing from a treaty is not the solution to address difficulties in its implementation and compliance by another party." "While continuing to urge Russia to return immediately to the full implementation of the treaty, I call upon the United States to reconsider their decision," Borrell said. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia to comply with the treaty in the hope that Washington might reverse its decision to withdraw from the accord. "All NATO allies are in full compliance with all provisions of the treaty," Stoltenberg said, while for many years Russia had "imposed flight restrictions inconsistent with the treaty, including flight limitations over [its Baltic exclave of] Kaliningrad, and restricting flights in Russia near its border with Georgia." U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the move to withdraw was illegal, arguing that existing law required the White House to give Congress 120 days' notice. "There is something particularly dangerous about a president, a secretary of state, and a secretary of defense knowingly breaking the law in ways that jeopardize our safety and national security," Engel said in a statement. The threatened withdrawal was the latest effort by the Trump administration to unravel major global security treaties. Last year Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, also accusing Russia of repeated violations. The last major bilateral arms control treaty, New START, is scheduled to expire in February 2021. While Russia has pushed for a five-year extension, the Trump administration has balked, saying it wants the deal to be broadened to include China. That agreement caps the number of nuclear warheads and so-called delivery systems held by the United States and Russia. Trump's lead arms negotiator, Marshall Billingslea, said on May 21 that U.S. officials planned to hold talks with the Russians over the future of New START, even as the Chinese have signaled they do not plan to join that first meeting. "The United States cannot keep participating in this treaty if Russia is going to violate it with impunity." Billingslea said. The idea of allowing Russia and the United States to conduct aerial reconnaissance flights over each others territory was first put forward by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in July 1955. But the Soviet Union balked at the idea. There was no movement toward a treaty until 1989, when President George Bush breathed new life into it. With reporting by Reuters and AFP Prince Charles will be the 'best prepared monarch we've ever had' but will 'have to keep his mouth shut', royal experts have claimed in an insightful new documentary. Speaking on tonight's ITV documentary The Queen: Inside The Crown, which airs at 9pm, British historian Piers Brendon said the heir to the throne, 71, has the potential to 'divide opinion rather than unite it'. Agreeing, former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter also insisted that the Prince of Wales will have to learn to 'keep his mouth shut' upon becoming King, and ditch his 'outspoken nature on politics, architecture and the environment'. Yet despite the 'uncomfortable baggage' referenced by Piers in the programme, where he referred to Charles' separation from Princess Diana in 1992, British royal author Penny Junor said attitudes towards the Prince had changed for the better. Prince Charles (pictured recently) will be the 'best prepared monarch we've ever had' but will 'have to keep his mouth shut' and has a lot of uncomfortable baggage, royal experts have claimed Prince Charles and Princess Diana at a reception in Ottawa, Canada in June 1983. The royal couple separated in 1992 She claimed: 'Prince Charles will be King, and he will be the best prepared monarch this country has ever had. 'I think the nation has changed in its attitude towards Charles. Years ago we wrote him off as a nutter who talked to his plants but today he is in a really good place. 'He laughs again, he jokes, he's relaxed and I think that makes him a much better prince, much better father and much better man all round.' But other royal commentators didn't share Penny's faith and even suggested Charles would have to leave his outspoken ways behind him. The heir to the throne has the potential to 'divide opinion rather than unite it', suggested historian Piers Brendon on tonight's ITV documentary The Queen: Inside The Crown. Pictured: Charles with his wife Camilla earlier this month on VE Day at the Balmoral War Memorial 'He's written his spidery letters to ministers, asking the sort of questions we would want answers to,' said Dickie Arbiter. 'But he won't be able to do that when he becomes King because constitutionally, he'll have to keep his mouth shut.' The Queen's former press secretary referred to the letters Prince Charles wrote to government ministers, expressing his views on policy in 2004 and 2005. They were given the name 'black spider' memos because of Prince Charles' handwriting style. Prince Charles' personal life has often dominated headlines, especially the end of his marriage to Princess Diana and his love affair with his now-wife Camilla. Yet despite the 'uncomfortable baggage' referenced by Piers Brendon (pictured left) in the programme, referring to Charles' separation from Princess Diana in 1992, British royal author Penny Junor (pictured right) said attitudes towards the prince had changed for the better Elsewhere in the programme, the Prince of Wales' goddaughter India Hicks (pictured) said: '[Charles] is a man that is utterly utterly dedicated to hard work. He has been brilliant in waiting because my god it's been a long time in waiting.' Piers Brendon said the father-of-two has a 'lot of uncomfortable baggage', adding that the Queen - who is the longest reigning monarch in history and the first to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee in February 2017 commemorating 65 years on the throne - 'never had that'. 'She emerged absolutely pristine on to the throne. He has had a very rackety past. He could do the crucial thing that a monarch shouldn't do which is to divide opinion rather than unite it.' Elsewhere in the programme, the Prince of Wales' goddaughter India Hicks said: '[Charles] is a man that is utterly utterly dedicated to hard work. He has been brilliant in waiting because my god it's been a long time in waiting.' The Queen: Inside the Crown is on tonight at 9pm on ITV WATERBURY A 2-year-old remains in critical condition after being taken to the hospital with face injuries and difficulty breathing earlier this month, police officials said Thursday. Police, fire and paramedics responded to a Lakewood Road home for a report of an unresponsive child at 5:54 p.m on May 2, according to Lt. David Silverio. The 2-year-old child had visible facial injuries and difficulty breathing, Silverio said. Family members at the home at the time called 911. The child was taken by ambulance to an area hospital for treatment before then being airlifted to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. The child remains hospitalized in critical condition, Silverio said. As detectives from the Major Crimes Unit continue to investigate the infants injuries, Silverio said, they served two search warrants at the Lakewood Road home where the child was taken from on May 2. During the investigation, detectives found out that the child was also hurt on April 28. Silverio said the 2-year-old was treated at a nearby hospital for a head injury that was reported as the result of a fall. He said this injury was never reported to police. Silverio said detectives were granted arrest warrant for two people involved in one or both of these incidents. Lisa Burgison, 54, of Lakewood Road, was charged with risk of injury to a child, third-degree hindering prosecution, second-degree false statement and interfering with an officer. Raymond D. Burgison, 32, also of Lakewood Road, was charged with the same offenses. They were each held on a $500,000 bond. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 20:09:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Some Asian countries saw highest single-day hike of confirmed COVID-19 cases or deaths on Thursday, while Japan and Laos are relaxing restrictions. Bangladesh saw the highest single-day hike of 22 deaths of COVID-19 patients. According to the official, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 28,511, with the biggest daily rise of 1,773 cases reported in the last 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time on Thursday. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has approved a 250 million U.S. dollars loan to Bangladesh as the country grapples with the fallout of COVID-19. Indonesia's COVID-19 cases rose by 973 within one day to 20,162, Achmad Yurianto, a health ministry official, said at a press conference here on Thursday. It was the first time that the daily record of cases in the country surpasses 900. The death toll in Indonesia rose by 36 to 1,278, Yurianto said. Afghan Ministry of Public Health reported 531 new positive cases of COVID-19 including 274 in capital Kabul over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of patients to 8,676 in the country, a spokesman for the ministry Tawhid Shakohmand said. This was the highest daily increase since the outbreak in Afghanistan in February. The Philippine health department on Thursday reported that 213 more people have contracted the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 13,434. In a daily bulletin, the Department of Health said 68 more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the number of recoveries to 3,000. It added that four more patients have died from the COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 846. Malaysia reported 50 new COVID-19 cases, most of them from a new cluster in an immigration detention center on the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said at a press briefing that the total cases in the country stood at 7,059. India's federal health ministry Thursday morning reported 132 more deaths and 5,609 new COVID-19 cases since Wednesday, taking the number of deaths to 3,435 and total cases to 112,359. Nepal reported a new death from COVID-19 as the number of deaths from the disease in the Himalayan country has risen to three. As of Thursday morning, the Nepali government has confirmed 444 cases of COVID-19. South Korea reported 12 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of 0:00 a.m. Thursday local time, raising the total number of infections to 11,122. The daily caseload fell below 20 after rising above 30 in the previous day. Of the new cases, two were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 1,191. New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday for four consecutive days, with the combined total of confirmed and probable cases remaining at 1,503, according to the Ministry of Health. The Northern Territory has become the third Australian jurisdiction to record zero active cases of COVID-19. Michael Gunner, the Chief Minister of the NT, on Thursday announced that the territory is coronavirus-free after the last active case recovered from the virus. The Japanese government on Thursday lifted a state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures in western Japan as the number of COVID-19 infections there has remained low. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that the emergency measure may end in Tokyo and its three prefectural neighbors Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa as well as the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido as early as Monday after a fresh review by a government panel of health experts. Domestic travel is now permitted in Laos for all people throughout the country, but prevention measures and guidelines must be strictly followed, Director General of Department of Transport under Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport Bounta Onnavong told a press conference on Thursday. The measures include arranging suitable seating for passengers with social distancing of at least one meter and everyone must have their body temperature checked. Laos reported no new case of COVID-19 for 39 consecutive days, with the total number of confirmed cases remaining at 19, according to the report. Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, ordered a ban on eating of wild animals on Wednesday. The city is also offering cash to breeders in order to get them to quit breeding exotic animals. This move comes amid mounting pressure on China to crack down on illegal trade of wildlife. The pandemic is believed to have passed on from bats to other species to humans. According to a report in CBS News, local administration in Wuhan also virtually banned hunting of wild animals within its limits. It has also declared Wuhan a "wildlife sanctuary". However, government sanctioned hunting for research, population regulation, monitoring of epidemic diseases and other circumstances have been allowed. Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: Rail bookings to resume at service centres from Friday; cases-1.12 lakh City officials also said that the local administration would take part in the national scheme to buy out breeders. In order to curb breeding of exotic animals, Chinese authorities have pledged to buy them out. Two central provinces in China have already outlined details of the buy out programme to help breeders transition to alternative livelihoods. Hunan province announced a compensation scheme to persuade breeders to rear other livestock or produce tea and herbal medicines, stated CBS. Authorities would evaluate farms and inventories and offer a one-off payment. A kilo of rat snake, king rat snake and cobra would be eligible for a buy out of 120 yuan or Rs 1,276, while a kilo of bamboo rat would fetch 75 yuan or Rs 797. The civet cat, believed to have passed on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to humans around 20 years ago would fetch 600 yuan or Rs 6,380. Also read: What's the coronavirus situation now in China? Not very good Jiangxi province has also released similar plans. The province has more than 2,300 licenced breeders who mostly rear animals for food. Hunan and Jiangxi are "major wildlife breeding provinces", said animal rights group Humane Society International (HSI). This is not the first time such measures have been undertaken. After the SARS outbreak, Beijing implemented measures to ban trade and consumption of wild animals but it could not fully stop the trade. Wuhan, located in Hubei province, is a city of around 11 million people. Hunan and Jiangxi provinces border Hubei province. Also read: Coronavirus cure: Chinese scientists claim this drug can have 'therapeutic effect' on patients Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: Moderna, Inovio, Pfizer -- who will win the race? Lagos doctors will commence strike action today The Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association has began a sit-at-home action on Wednesday over the continuous harassment by security agencies in the state. The sit-at-home takes effect as from Wednesday evening by 6:00PM. The association said the level of harassment had been on the increase, despite a directive by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to grant essential workers free movement. In a statement on Wednesday jointly signed by its chairman and secretary, Dr. Saliu Oseni and Dr. Ramon Moronkola respectively, the association said it had received complaints about several cases of harassment of doctors and other health workers by security officials of the Lagos State Police Command. They said the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, had been issuing conflicting directives on social and mainstream media to the effect that essential workers, including doctors and other health workers, were not exempted from the ongoing lockdown order. There was a most disturbing case of an ambulance conveying an injured patient, which was prevented from moving to the destination, while the attending health workers were harassed and temporarily detained. You will recall that this same ugly situation had occurred sometime in the early phase of the ongoing lockdown/restriction of movement, based on similar conflicting directives from the state Commissioner of Police. It took the intervention of the Governor of the State, following a petition by the Association, for normalcy to be restored. This time around, while it is still unclear how the government and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, will wish to operationalise the lockdown/restriction of movement directive, vis-a-vis the status of essential workers, including doctors and other health workers, the Lagos State branch of the NMA has resolved that it is presently unsafe for her members to continue to provide healthcare services under the present confused arrangement, the statement reads in part. As a result of the recurring issue, the association resolved that all doctors under its auspices should proceed on a sit-at-home starting from 6PM on Wednesday, May 20, indefinitely, until such time when the government and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, are clear on how they wish to operationalise the lockdown/restriction of movement directive as it relates to essential service and service providers, including healthcare services and doctors. That a written statement, signed by government and the appropriate Police authorities, with clear terms on the status of essential services, including healthcare services and its providers, should be issued, advertised in the social and mainstream media, and a copy submitted to the secretariat of the Lagos State branch of NMA, the association added. Roccos Italian Grille is a charming, romantic and intimate Italian restaurant inside a vintage 1940s building in Winter Park located next door to The Glass Knife. The neighborhood has changed some since the opening of Roccos fourteen years ago but one thing has remained the same the consistency of Roccos award-winning authentic Italian cuisine prepared by their experienced native chefs. Roccos has a full bar and a cozy cocktail lounge where you will find wines ranging from Aglianico to Zinfandel. Happy Hour runs Monday through Friday from 5:00pm to 7:30pm (excluding holidays) where bar beverage favorites are discounted ranging from $1 to $3 off. Proprietor Rocco Potami was born and raised in Italy and he has always been passionate about cooking. His restaurant offers recreated recipes of his homeland which he has spent years researching, developing, and perfecting. Mr. Potami has almost 40 years of experience cooking in Central Florida and it is evident when you indulge in his extraordinary dishes. We were invited to try Mr. Potamis favorite menu items, as well as their weekly special, and it all exceeded our expectations. We were also pleased to see employees wearing a face mask and guest practicing social distancing by sitting at least six feet apart from each other. Their menu is composed of a variety of appetizer, pasta, seafood and meat dishes that recreate old favorites and brings out new flavors. They use only the freshest meats, imported pastas and sauces made from scratch to serve a broad selection of dishes from each of Italys regions. GAMBERONI AL GORGONZOLA Shrimp flambeed with a Vecchia Romagna Brandy and finished in a Gorgonzola cheese reduction. I enjoyed this appetizer so much I was even licking the Gorgonzola cheese reduction off my fingers every time my server turned around so he would not notice my questionable manners. It was that good so I did not want to hold back. FUNGHI RIPIENI ALLA JOJO Their attention to detail on every dishs presentation did not go unnoticed the symmetry was simply stunning, almost too pretty to eat. A Calabrian treasured recipe of roasted mushroom caps filled with a mixture of sausage, red bell peppers, shallots and mascarpone cheese. VEAL & BEEF RAVIOLI with imported white truffle cream imported from Italy, parmesan, finished off with black truffle shaving. It was incredibly delicious. This was the special of the week, but it really should be on the permanent menu. SCALOPPINE DI VITELLO ALLA ROCCO Veal scaloppine topped with roasted peppers, prosciutto and Fontina cheese, deglazed with white wine, finished with a rich demi-glace sauce and served with vegetables of the day. I was so excited to try this dish out of them all since it has Roccos name at the end of it, therefore it must be good. When it came out, it actually exceeded my expectations. The veal was tender and the sauce was rich. The potato wedges with julienne vegetables complimented it very well. Every bite was pure perfection and there was not a speck left behind on my plate. PROFITEROLE A sweet, light-as-air cream puff pastry filled with chocolate and chocolate cream inside. ITALIAN RICOTTA CHEESECAKE with strawberry sauce then topped with sliced strawberry over powdered sugar. Its silky texture tastes both rich and light at the same time. Roccos Italian Grille is an exquisite gem that has a beautiful and welcoming ambiance, exceptional dishes using the highest quality of fresh and imported ingredients, and five-star service. Be sure to check them out the next time you are in the Winter Park area, you will love it! Roccos Italian Grille 400 Orlando Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789 (407) 644-7770 roccositaliangrille.com BERKELEY, Calif. - California power regulators unexpectedly delayed a key vote on Pacific Gas & Electrics plan for getting out of bankruptcy Thursday after one of the utilitys most outspoken critics sent an improper email attacking the companys proposal to pay wildfire victims. California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer postponed the vote on PG&Es $58 billion plan for ending its nearly year-and-a-half-old bankruptcy until May 28, which coincides with a federal bankruptcy court trial on the plan. State power regulators and a U.S. bankruptcy judge must approve PG&Es plans by June 30 for the company to qualify for coverage from Californias wildfire insurance fund, but PG&E should still be able to meet that deadline. Nevertheless, Batjer was irked by the need to postpone Thursdays vote because of an email sent Tuesday by Will Abrams, the survivor of a 2017 wildfire that tore through his Santa Rosa, California hometown. The communication came during a mandated quiet period from May 15 through Thursday. In the email, Abrams reiterated his objections to PG&Es plan and objections filed with the bankruptcy court by a committee that represents wildfire victims about their growing doubts the utility will be able to pay the $13.5 billion it has pledged to a fund for the fire victims. Batjer delayed the vote so PG&E and other parties could respond to Abrams email. Another quiet period will start Friday and continue through May 28. Batjer warned of serious consequences, including potential fines, for any other violations. Abrams told The Associated Press he didnt think he was doing anything wrong because his email didnt include any commentary that hadnt already been entered into the record. I tried my best to follow the rules, said Abrams, who isnt a lawyer. PG&E did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has consistently hailed its plan as the best way to to pay wildfire victims and position the utility to make badly needed upgrades to its electrical equipment to prevent more deadly disasters. Abrams has repeatedly lambasted the plan as a boon for short-term investors trying to capitalize on PG&E and a ticking time bomb for the 16 million people who rely on PG&E for power in Northern California. Later today the Ministers for Health, Agriculture & Business will attend Dail Eireann to answer questions on the large scale Covid-19 infection in the meat processing industry. I believe there has been a systemic failure across all three Government Departments, which has resulted in 800+ staff - including up to half of the workforce in at least one meat plant - who have become infected, says Denis Naughten. I firmly believe that if we do not learn from the mistakes made in our nursing homes and in our meat plants then we risk a second wave of Covid-19 infection, which will be disastrous for the health of our people and our economic recovery. This is now resulting in a jump of Covid-19 cases in communities which had very few positive cases to date, and this is undermining the great efforts made to date by every citizen in the State to stop the spread of this virus. It is just not good enough that we had to wait 50 days after the first infections in meat plants for the HSE to issue a comprehensive set of guidelines for the industry, even though the problems within plants were evident. We need to know why after screening all staff, employees remained in work pending the issuing of results which in some cases took over 2.5 weeks to return and why it took up to 10 days after testing before multidisciplinary teams went into meat plants with interpreters to explain to staff the measures they needed to take to minimise infection. Denis Naughten added: The Minister for Health also needs to provide Dail Eireann with the numbers of meat plant employees who availed of the States isolation facilities, currently available in City West, because it would have been impossible for them to effectively self-isolate in their current accommodation. We also need confirmation from Minister Harris that all these employees close contacts on the meat plant floor, travelling companions and colleagues who they resided with, did not return to work during the required 14 days after they were informed of the positive test result. Sadly, I have received anecdotal evidence that this did not in fact happen. And while I have received reports of Health & Safety Authority inspectors being less than helpful this week when calling to small businesses doing their best to manage under very changed trading conditions, these same inspectors conveniently failed to inspect a single meat plant over the last 50 days. Minister Humphreys needs to provide an explanation regarding this selective inspection programme which seems to blatantly contradict the stated approach of Government. The Minister for Agriculture needs to inform Dail Eireann if any of his 250 veterinary and technical staff involved in supervising and regulating the operations of the 56 slaughter plants had raised concerns about their operation under Covid restrictions a question which I asked him three weeks ago on the floor of the Dail. He needs to now provide reassurance that these staff are satisfied that all plants are complying with the HSE guidelines for the industry that eventually issued last Monday, which Meat Industry Ireland state are being verified by Departmental officials. It seems bizarre that while the Health & Safety Authority had received complaints on the operation of meat plants that it seemed to sit on, the Department of Agriculture had not received a single complaint via its staff who have direct responsibility for ensuring that we maintained processing capacity throughout this pandemic. Todays questioning in Dail Eireann is not about attributing blame, but about learning from the mistakes made in the nursing home sector and the meat processing sector to ensure they are not repeated in other communities throughout the country and protecting against a second wave of Covid 19 infection, concluded Denis Naughten. North Korean authorities are hard at work drumming up an instant personality cult surrounding leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Kim Jong-un, Radio Free Asia reported last week. The U.S.-funded radio station quoted a source in North Pyongan Province, North Korea as saying during the Workers Party's 65th anniversary on Oct. 10, the regime made it mandatory for everyone to watch a program glorifying the "extraordinary" leader, Kim Jong-un. "According to the program, Kim Jong-un is a genius with a thorough knowledge of politics, the economy, culture, history and military affairs and is able to speak many foreign languages," the source said. It said he mastered English, German, French and Italian during his studies abroad and is learning Chinese, Japanese and Russian despite his busy schedule helping his father lead the country." The broadcast also claimed North Korea became a "self-sufficient" nuclear power because of Kim Jong-un's firm resolve to build up the North's ability to counter other nuclear powers with equal strength. According to the broadcast, Kim realized the importance of nuclear weapons when he learned about the wars launched by the U.S. and its "imperialist allies." Another source from North Hamgyong Province said the federation of farmers passed out material praising Kim Jong-un's skills and urging farmers to create a new agricultural revolution under his guidance. "The material described an inspection trip by Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un to an agricultural commune in 2008, where the younger Kim surprised experts by spontaneously coming up with a microbial fertilizer that could improve the quality of soil," the source said, and claimed farmers who used it were able to "miraculously" harvest 15 tons of wheat per 9,917 sq.m of farmland. "Farmers who read the material laughed at it, saying if it was true Kim Jong-un could solve the North's food shortage simply by stepping on all the farms in the country, so all they'd have to worry about is how to dispose of the excess amount of food next year," the source said. Chennai, May 21 : Mohanlal is 60, and Kamal Haasan revealed that he envies the Malayalam superstar. "Dear Mr. @Mohanlal, I liked you from your first film. I envied you for the constant quality of your work, that too with detractors lurking in every turn. I liked you even more when I worked with you. Long live my younger brother," Kamal Haasan tweeted on Thursday. The two iconic actors, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal, worked together for the first time in the 2009 film "Unnaipol Oruvan", a remake of the Bollywood film "A Wednesday". Mohanlal has crossed numerous milestones in a career spanning four decades. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2019. The winner of five National Awards, is under self-isolation at his Chennai residence. Mohanlal's upcoming film, directed by Priyadarshan, "Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham" is currently held up on account of the lockdown. One of the first films that he is scheduled to do after the lockdown ends is "Drishyam 2", a sequel to the 2013 release that turned out to be one of the biggest hits of Malayalam cinema. The film was remade in Hindi by the same name in 2015. It starred Ajay Devgn and Tabu. Fans are eagerly awaiting his debut directorial venture "Barroz" now. The 3D venture is scheduled to go on the floors next year. Meanwhile, Mohanlal has tweeted about an initiative to help people during the coronavirus pandemic. Continuing d 3rd phase of @ViswaSanthiFndn initiatives to fight #COVID19, PPE kits whr donated thru Niramay Foundation to hospitals run by Mumbai Municipal corporation, Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, Chattrapathi Shivaji Maharaj hospital, Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Centre pic.twitter.com/RlHjZUg4j7 Mohanlal (@Mohanlal) May 21, 2020 "Continuing d 3rd phase of @ViswaSanthiFndn initiatives to fight #COVID19, PPE kits whr donated thru Niramay Foundation to hospitals run by Mumbai Municipal corporation, Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, Chattrapathi Shivaji Maharaj hospital, Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Centre," he tweeted on Thursday. -- Syndicated from IANS A huge spike in coronavirus cases in the Middle East, where many have been observing the Islamic month of Ramadan, has led countries to extend and reinforce lockdown measures during this weekend's Eid holiday. The largest number of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has been in Saudi Arabia, which normally sees millions of Muslims descend on the holy cities of Mecca and Medina during Ramadan. In response to the outbreak, the kingdom closed off the religious sites, with stark images of empty mosques and sacred sites circulating online. But despite such measures, the number of cases has only grown in Saudi Arabia, passing 50,000 on Saturday and ballooning to 62,545 as of Wednesday with 339 deaths according to the Ministry of Health. The rise has been attributed to illegal family visits, including meeting to break fast together, street vendors remaining open and people gathering in shops, the ministry said in a statement, with cities such as Mecca and Riyadh particularly affected. Image: Muslim worshippers circumambulate the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, (AFP - Getty Images file) Ministry spokesman Muhammad Al-Abdulaali said in a statement that around 60 percent of those infected were non-Saudi residents and that the country was carrying out more than 15,000 tests per day to combat the disease. "The spread of the virus is under control, and the rise in the number of the Kingdom COVID-19 cases is attributed to the increase in the lab tests, which facilitate early detection of cases," he said. But he noted that "social gatherings continue to contribute to the increase in infection cases." Millions of Muslims are preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan with the Eid al-Fitr holiday this weekend, normally marked by public prayers in the mosque, family visits and grand communal meals. But as cases continue to rise, Saudi Arabia has announced the whole country will remain locked down with strict curfews in place and gatherings limited to five people, according to the Ministry of Interior. Story continues In nearby Qatar, cases have also shot up. The gas-rich country has recorded 16 deaths and has over 30,000 active cases, officials said. All shops have been ordered to stay closed until the end of the month, except for pharmacies and grocery stores. Residents must also wear masks when outdoors or risk fines of up to $55,000 or imprisonment of up to three years. The chair of the Qatari National Strategy Group to fight COVID-19 blamed the rise on a "lack of commitment of many members of society to preventive measures," during a news conference on Wednesday. Image: A mask-and-glove-clad staff member of the Jumeirah al-Naseem hotel waits at the hotel reception in Dubai (Karim Sahib / AFP - Getty Images) Elsewhere, the United Arab Emirates confirmed it would expand its nightly curfew, which started May 20. Although some public transport and private hotel beaches have reopened, shopping malls remain only partially open. Kuwait has also imposed stringent penalties for not wearing a mask in public, with up to three months in prison and a $16,000 fine, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health said. The country has also canceled Eid celebrations, introducing a full curfew until May 30, to stem the spread of the disease. Meanwhile, war-torn Yemen reported its first COVID-19 case in April. The United Nations has since warned that the disease is spreading undetected in a country where almost 80 percent of the population already relies on aid. "Yemen cannot face two fronts at the same time: a war and a pandemic," U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths said last month. Image: A field hospital set up by Qatari authorities to treat people infected with the coronavirus Covid-19, May 11, 2020 in Doha. (Karim Jafaar / AFP - Getty Images) There has been a patchy ceasefire in place between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthis during Ramadan, but coronavirus cases continue to rise in a country whose health infrastructure has almost collapsed. The humanitarian charity Save the Children reported a surge in COVID-19 cases in Aden this week with 385 deaths, in an area where many medics have deserted hospitals and those still working face a dangerous lack of protective personal equipment. Kids of parents who have degrees do better than others in maths, suggests a new study. Children of parents with a degree are almost a year of schooling ahead in maths by age 11 than peers whose parents have just GCSEs, a new study by the University of Sussex has discovered. Greater parental education is the strongest predictor of maths attainment and faster future growth for children moving into secondary school even after adjusting for their intelligence (IQ), research by University of Sussex psychologists published today by the Royal Society reveals. The study also showed that boys achieve significantly higher grades in maths at age 11 but this gap did not grow through secondary school. Academics believe the gap at 11 could be explained by girls increasing maths anxiety and decreasing enjoyment of the subject at this age. Statistically significant but very weak evidence that pupils with higher emotional symptoms in early childhood had lower maths attainment when they were older. The studys authors recommend that strategies focusing on improving parental education could be a very effective method of increasing attainment in children. Our study shows that increased maths growth was significantly predicted by higher IQ, higher socioeconomic status and greater parental education, suggesting that children with greater intelligence and higher socioeconomic status progress at a quicker rate across the transition to secondary education compared with their peers, said Danielle Evans, researcher in achievement in mathematics at the University of Sussex. While this finding is not unexpected, it demonstrates the importance of parents within their childs education and suggests that having higher-educated parents may potentially buffer the negative impacts of the transition to secondary education on childrens attainment, added Evans. Recent campaigns launched by the BBC in collaboration with the National Numeracy Charity focusing on promoting adult education and maths training is a step in the right direction but much more work is needed to overcome the extent of poor numeracy in the UK and the negative effects associated with underachievement in maths, said Dr Darya Garsina, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Sussex. The study examined working memory and internalizing symptoms as predictors of childrens maths attainment trajectories across the transition to secondary education through analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) involving almost 9,000 children born between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992. The study focuses on the transition from primary to secondary education because of the reported declines in academic achievement and maths specifically during the move from primary to secondary schools - it is reported that more than a third of children do not show any progress in maths during the transition year. The studys authors believe higher-educated parents support the transition to secondary education in different ways that lessen the negative impact of the transition on maths attainment including their own positive attitudes towards education, involvement with school activities or helping with homework in a supportive environment. The authors had hypothesised that emotional temperament in early childhood could be a very early indicator of poor maths attainment later on in adolescence but later concluded that it was not possible to predict later problems with underattainment in maths using emotional difficulties early on in childhood. The studys authors say additional research is needed to further uncover the relationship of memory during a task (working memory) and internalizing symptoms such as anxiety on attainment, using more time-appropriate measures. The current state of maths attainment and performance of children and adults in the UK is particularly alarming with almost half of all working-age adults in the UK having the maths skills expected of primary-school children, said Andy Field, Professor of Quantitative Methods at the University of Sussex. Poor maths attainment in childhood persist well into adulthood and can be associated with several negative outcomes such as poorer employment prospects, greater likelihood of homelessness, poorer health outcomes and mental health difficulties such as depression. The ability to identify predictors of maths attainment as early as possible in childhood could have life-changing consequences, added Field. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. ) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Spotify this week joined a growing number of tech giants expanding their work from home policies as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on. While not as radical as Twitters recent decision to let staff work from home forever, the music streaming services move does represent increased openness to the arrangement. As noted by Variety, the new policy allows staff to continue working from home through the end of the year. The new edict covers all employees across the globe. The streaming service is headquartered in Stockholm, with a number of regional offices, including New York, London and Tokyo. Spotify operates in 79 countries around the world. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the move with TechCrunch: Earlier today, we announced the extension of our work-from-home arrangement for all Spotify employees globally. We will continue to track local government guidelines city-by-city and take a phased approach of opening our offices when we deem it safe to do so. Our employees health and safety is our top priority. No employee will be required to come into the office and can choose to work from home through the end of the year. The announcement follows similar moves from tech giants, like Facebook and Google. Many have long weighed the ups and downs of a remote workforce, but COVID-19 has caused an acceleration in that way of thinking. These past few months have been a kind of trial by fire for the model. Even as many regions have begun to reopen, however, the potential for additional waves of the virus have made the option that much more appealing. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marc Burleigh (Agence France-Presse) Brussels Thu, May 21, 2020 23:20 608 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd980e69 2 World COVID-19,European-Union,aviation-industry,passenger-flight,social-distancing,new-normal Free The EU's air safety agency EASA is recommending airlines and airports impose measures such as masks and social distancing to limit the risk of coronavirus for passengers. The guidelines, produced jointly with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and released late Wednesday, aim to be "pragmatic" while emphasizing measures they want to see taken. As well as facemasks and physical distancing, frequent hand hygiene and reassuring the flying public that "filtered air on airplanes is safer and cleaner than [the air that] many of us breathe on the ground" are important, EASA said in a statement. Getting passengers back in the air -- safely -- is seen as crucial for Europe's airlines and tourism industry, both of which have been hard hit by the virus lockdowns and public fear of being in enclosed spaces with many strangers. "The assurance of health safety is a critical factor for the resumption of commercial air travel, EASA chief Patrick Ky said. The 28 pages of EASA-ECDC recommendations cover the end-to-end experience for passengers, from check-in at airports, to boarding planes and the journey itself, to arrival. They warn that, if situations were not properly managed, there would be an increased risk of conflict that "may be due to passengers not wishing to sit next to each other or accusing each other of not following the rules". The document said passengers with COVID-19 symptoms should not even go to the airport, and urged airlines to offer cost-free reticketing or refunds to encourage this. Healthy-seeming passengers who do fly should expect to enter the airport without being accompanied by non-flying family or friends, wear facemasks from that point on until they leave their destination airport -- except for brief instances such as security checks -- and try to avoid touching any surfaces unnecessarily. Passengers who refuse to observe those or other recommendations, such as sneezing or coughing into an elbow or a tissue even when wearing a mask, should face being turfed out of terminals or being barred from boarding. Self check-in and limiting carry-on luggage were also recommended. The guidelines urged physical distance of 1.5 metres (five feet) between people, and -- "to the extent possible" -- physical distancing on board planes, except for families in the same household traveling together. That feeds into a debate between airlines about whether to keep the middle seat free in economy to better space out passengers. Some are adopting that as a safety measure, but others say it would make their operation economically unviable. EASA said that "if physical distancing cannot be guaranteed because of the passenger load, seat configuration or other operational constraints, passengers and crew members on board an aircraft should adhere at all times to all the other preventive measures including strict hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette and should wear a face mask". Masks should be changed every four hours, they said -- meaning passengers or airlines doing long-haul flights might need to stock up on fresh ones. Also, there should be no more duty free sales on board, and reduced food and drink service, with items individually packaged. If a patient with suspected COVID-19 is identified during the flight, EASA recommended they be isolated at the back of the plane, with two rows around them cleared, and a toilet designated for them alone. Also, the air nozzle above them should be turned off to try to limit the spread of droplets. On David McLaughlin's first official day on the job, Premier Brian Pallister skirted repeated questions in the legislature about whether the province's top bureaucrat has received payments from the Progressive Conservative party this year. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. On David McLaughlin's first official day on the job, Premier Brian Pallister skirted repeated questions in the legislature about whether the province's top bureaucrat has received payments from the Progressive Conservative party this year. Pallister, instead, focussed on McLaughlin's qualifications for the job, comparing him favourably to former clerks of the executive council who had been appointed by the former NDP government. McLaughlin, who served as campaign manager for the PCs in their provincial election victories in 2016 and 2019, was announced as the province's top bureaucrat last week. He was to begin his new duties on Wednesday. A PC official said last week that McLaughlin has not worked for the party since last fall's election. In February, McLaughlin, who was the main architect of the government's 2017 Climate and Green Plan, received a tendered government consulting contract worth $25,000. "If political involvement precluded anyone from becoming a clerk...there would have been 90 per cent fewer clerks appointed in this country over the last century," Pallister said, when asked about any recent PC party payments to McLaughlin. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS David McLaughlin, who served as campaign manager for the PCs in their provincial election victories in 2016 and 2019, was announced as the province's top bureaucrat last week. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) He said some clerks who served under the former NDP government had "minimal experience in the public sector," while McLaughlin has extensive experience at the highest levels of government. "I would put David McLaughlin's resume and personal accomplishments up against anyone who has served as a clerk of ...this government...in the last 50 years," Pallister said. During his career, Manitoba's new chief civil servant has been deputy minister to a former New Brunswick premier and served as chief of staff for former prime minister Brian Mulroney and former federal finance minister Jim Flaherty. NDP Leader Wab Kinew said afterwards the payment question was legitimate given McLaughlin's close ties to the Tories. He said the premier seemed "very irritable" at the questioning. He also noted that Pallister did not provide a direct response, even after having the question put to him directly three times. "That tells me that there's something to this," Kinew said. "Where there's smoke, there's fire, if you will." Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont also raised McLaughlin's appointment in the House, going as far as to moving a motion that MLAs pause normal business to debate it as a matter of urgent public importance. Lamont said the appointment represented an "unprecedented politicization" of the public service. "The public importance of the premier's decision to hire his own campaign manager as the senior most bureaucrat in the public service sends a clear signal that the premier is turning the Manitoba government into a machine to re-elect the PCs," Lamont said. Lamont said McLaughlin, in the past, has been "personally responsible for approving and launching a series of unprecedented, disgusting and unfair attacks on the character of the leader of the Opposition (Kinew)." He also "spent years berating, belittling and trash-talking political opponents on Twitter," the Liberal leader added. "If any public servant did that they'd be fired in an instant." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Speaker Myrna Driedger denied Lamont's motion for an emergency debate, saying the St. Boniface MLA had not raised the matter at his earliest opportunity, as the rules dictate. Meanwhile, Opposition MLAs say they continue to be concerned that the government may only allow one more sitting day of the legislature between now and fall. They say they have not been able to secure any more dates beyond next Wednesday's sitting. Under normal circumstances, MLAs would break for the summer on June 1. The legislature has only convened on four days since March 19, due to the pandemic. Pallister would not tip his hand when asked about the issue in the legislature on Wednesday. He said the Manitoba's legislature has been sitting more frequently than chambers in six other Canadian provinces and about the same as the House of Commons has. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca JDS Supremo H D Deve Gowda will be attending the meeting of opposition parties on Friday to discuss the plight of migrant workers due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown and the Centre's handling of the crisis, including announcement of the economic package. Gowda will be participating in the meeting of leaders of all opposition parties called by Congress President Sonia Gandhi through video conferencing, the veteran leader's office said in a statement on Thursday. Several opposition parties will be taking part in the meeting, which will also focus on the problems faced by the farmers and the changes in labour laws in BJP-ruled states. The virtual meeting will be held at 3 PM on Friday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Standing with the Iranian People Press Statement Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State May 20, 2020 Today, the United States is imposing financial sanctions and visa restrictions on Iranian individuals and entities under human rights-related authorities. These actions with respect to 12 Iranian individuals and entities by the Department of State and Department of the Treasury send a message of support to the Iranian people that we will continue to support their demands for transparent and accountable governance and speak out for those who are being silenced by this regime. Our pressure on Iran to treat its own people with dignity and respect will not cease. The individuals sanctioned include the current Minister of Interior for Iran, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli. We have reason to believe Minister Rahmani Fazli gave carte blanche orders authorizing Iranian police forces to use lethal force on peaceful protestors and bystanders. Hisand the regime'sgoal was to quash these peaceful protests and suppress the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression at any cost. His orders led to the killing of many protestors, including at least 23 minors. One of these victims, Sayed Ali Mousavi, only 12 years old, was returning home from school when he was fatally shot by police as he passed by the protests near his home. We are also publicly designating Minister Rahmani Fazli under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights. Minister Rahmani Fazli and his immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States. In addition to human rights abuses inside its own borders, Iran has a long track record of assassinations and terrorism in other countries. Another individual being designated for visa restrictions under Section 7031(c) is Ali Fallahian, who served as the head of Iran's intelligence service (MOIS) from 1989 to 1997. During that time, he was involved in multiple assassinations and attacks across the globe, including the 1995 killing of Alisa Flatow, a 20-year old U.S. exchange student who was killed in a suicide bombing in the Gaza Strip. He also bears responsibility for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 individuals. He and his immediate family members are also permanently barred from entering the United States. In an effort to hide evidence of the regime's abuses against its own people, Iran imposed a near-total shutdown of access to the global Internet last November, placing nearly all of its 80 million people in digital darkness for a week while security forces killed as many as 1,500 people and arbitrarily detained thousands more. The Iranian regime has long restricted access to the Internet while censoring and inhibiting rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly two universal human rights. We call on technology companies in the U.S. and globally to do their part to improve the free flow of information to the Iranian people, and we highlight again the Department of the Treasury's General License D1, which facilitates the use by Iranians of certain personal communications services. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At least three women were killed and eight others injured in a stampede on Thursday when a large number of people gathered at the residence of a wealthy businessman who was distributing cash to the families affected by the coronavirus lockdown. The Muslim businessman was distributing Rs 5,000 to people, who lost their livelihood in the coronavirus crisis, to mark the 27th day of the Ramzan fast, police said. A large number of people gathered at the businessman's house in Central Colombo's Maligawatta area violating the COVID-19 lockdown curfew, police said, adding at least six people have been arrested. Sri Lanka, which has reported over 1,000 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, eased the lockdown rules allowing businesses and offices to re-open while complying with health regulations. President Donald Trump accused China of engaging in a disinformation campaign about the coronavirus and claimed its motive is to help his rival Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election. 'China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along!' Trump wrote in the first of a series of tweets. Trump, in another tweet, criticized a Chinese spokesman for speaking 'stupidly' on the country's behalf and 'trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. 'Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace....' he continues. Trump ends by insisting that 'It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't!' US President Donald Trump in a series of tweets has accused China of engaging in a disinformation campaign about the coronavirus. Trump is pictured in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Wednesday Trump says China's motive is to help his rival Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election Trump initially tweeted that China was engaging in a 'massive information campaign' about the coronavirus because it was desperate to see Biden in charge and not him so that it could continue to undermine the US Trump criticized a China spokesman, saying he speaks 'stupidly' on the country's behalf to deflect the 'pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world' Trump ends with a tweet insisting that 'It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't!' Trump's remarks came as the White House Wednesday issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. A released 20-page report does not signal a shift in US policy, according to a senior administration official, but it expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report that 'the medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge thats presented by the Chinese Communist Party.' 'Chinas been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us - through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didn't happen,' he said. 'We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact.' Later in the day, the State Department announced that it had approved the sale of advanced torpedoes to the Taiwanese military, a move sure to draw a rebuke from Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that 'the medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge thats presented by the Chinese Communist Party' The department said it had informed Congress of the $180 million sale of heavy-weight torpedoes, spare parts, support and testing equipment, which 'will help improve the security of (Taiwan) and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region.' While pushing back on China, Trump has sometimes uttered contradictory statements. He has talked about having a great personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the virus from spreading across the world. He'll criticize China, then say he wants Beijing to sign Phase II of a trade deal and join the United States and Russia in a three-way nuclear arms control treaty. In the past 20 years, the US believed that if it opened its markets wider, invested more money in China, and provided greater access to top US technology and training for Chinese military officers that somehow this would cause China to liberalize, the official said. Instead, China is more authoritarian than at any time since Beijing killed anti-government protesters on Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its political ideas across the globe. The US and China established diplomatic relations during the Nixon administration. The US and China established diplomatic relations during the Nixon administration. President Richard Nixon toasts Zhou Enlai the Chinese Prime Minister during a state banquet in Beijing in 1972 'More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China,' the report said. 'Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed.' According to Wednesday's report, the Trump administration sees 'no value' in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry. 'When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure' on China. The latest example of US and China power competition is playing out at the World Health Organization. At the UN health agency's annual assembly this week, Xi joined by video conference to offer more money and support. Meanwhile, Trump railed against the WHO in a letter accusing it of covering up the coronavirus outbreak with China - and threatening to permanently halt US funding that has been its main financial lifeblood for years. According to Wednesday's report, the Trump administration sees 'no value' in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry. Chinese police stand guard in front of Tiananmen Gate China also has been engaged in a military buildup, has engaged in cyber hacking and Beijing's pledge to end predatory economic practices 'is littered with broken and empty promises.' China promised during the Obama administration that it would stop government-directed cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain and restated the same promise in the first two years of the Trump administration, the report said. In late 2018, however, the US and a dozen other countries reported that China was hacking computers to target intellectual property and steal business information. 'Since the 1980s, Beijing has signed multiple international agreements to protect intellectual property. Despite this, more than 63 percent of the worlds counterfeits originate in China, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars of damage on legitimate businesses around the world,' the report said. So far, there have been more than 1.5 million confirmed cases in the US of the coronavirus, which has been blamed for close to 94,000 deaths. The Trump administration also is upset at how China continues to argue to the World Trade Organization that it is a 'developing country,' even though it is the top importer of high-tech products and ranks second only to the US in terms of gross domestic product, defense spending and outward investment. Under the Xi government, Chinese officials have purged political opposition; bloggers, activists and lawyers have been unjustly prosecuted; and stringent controls have been imposed to censor not only media, but universities, businesses and non-governmental organizations. Citizens and corporations also have been targeted with surveillance, and people perceived as dissidents have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and abuse. China retains its non-market economic structure and state-led approach to trade and investment, the report said. Political reforms have likewise atrophied or reversed and distinctions between the government and the Chinese Chinese Party are eroding. 'Xis decision to remove presidential term limits, effectively extending his tenure indefinitely, epitomized these trends,' the report said. 'In a stark example of domestic conformity, local officials publicized a book burning event at a community library to demonstrate their ideological alignment to `Xi Jinping Thought.'' Chinese authorities also have detained more than 1 million Uighurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in indoctrination camps where many endure forced labor, ideological indoctrination and physical and psychological abuse. Challenged by Legislators How Governors Got Clout Whos in Charge? On Monday, a county judge struck down Oregon Gov. Kate Browns order keeping churches shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The state Supreme Court quickly issued a stay, keeping Browns order in place, at least for the time being.The case was brought by a group of churches arguing the governor had overstepped her authority. The ruling came hard on the heels of a decision Saturday from a federal judge in North Carolina, who struck down Gov. Roy Coopers ban on churches holding indoor services. "This court does not doubt that the governor is acting in good faith to lessen the spread of COVID-19 and to protect North Carolinians," wrote Judge James Dever III, "but restrictions inexplicably applied to one group and exempted from another do little to further these goals and do much to burden religious freedom."When it comes to religious freedom, courts have offered mixed opinions. On Friday, a federal judge ruled against a Louisiana pastor who challenged Gov. John Bel Edwards restrictions on services as part of a broader ban on large gatherings. The court finds that there is a substantial relationship between the occupancy limitations in the governors orders and the current severe public health crisis, wrote Judge Brian Jackson. Such restrictions are directly intended to limit the contact-based spread of COVID-19.Around the country, other churches and religious organizations are challenging governors limits on service size and indoor worship. Theyre not alone. Even as governors have begun easing restrictions on commerce and movement, their authority continues to be questioned by legislators, local officials, business owners and other individuals.At least 60 sheriffs around the country have announced they wont enforce governors stay-at-home orders. Angry protests at capitols have become routine and have received considerable media attention.Katie Witt, the mayor of Kaysville, Utah, and a candidate for Congress, is defying state orders to allow a protest concert to take place in a city park at the end of the month. Yes, it violates the directive of the governor," Witt said. "Its a protest, and we are allowing them the space to do that. Im willing to be uncomfortable to stand up for our First Amendment rights.Polls indicate that most Americans continue to support a cautious approach, with governors who were slower to take the crisis seriously receiving lower approval ratings than their peers.But other players in the political process have made it clear that theyre not going to be sidelined."We wont allow one dictator to determine everything, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle said last week. We will have a check and a balance of powers.Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of legislators, striking down Gov. Tony Evers stay-at-home order. As the crisis continues, more governors are finding their actions questioned by legislators, and not just in the courts.As Minnesotas legislative session ended on Sunday, state House Republicans blocked a $2 billion construction bonding bill. Kurt Daudt, the House Republican leader, had made it clear his caucus would withhold its support unless Democratic Gov. Tim Walz agreed to relinquish emergency powers and consult more with the legislature. Democrats hold a majority in the chamber, but bonding bills require a three-fifths majority to pass.As is normally the case, many of the attacks launched on governors have been partisan in nature. Legislators are also starting to push back against governors of their own parties. At a hearing on Monday, California Sen. Holly Mitchell, who chairs the budget committee, complained that fellow Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom was trying to assume too much control over $3 billion in COVID-related spending.Last week, the Legislature in Mississippi passed a bill setting the terms for disbursing small business funds set to the state by the federal stimulus package known as the CARES Act, while reserving other federal dollars in a legislative budget contingency fund. Gov. Tate Reeves hoped to exercise sole discretion over the funds, but fellow Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn made it clear that the legislature would play a leading role in appropriating the money.Fights over exactly what a governor can or can't do through unilateral powers are nothing new in state government, says Thad Kousser, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.Most legislatures have postponed or suspended their sessions. Although this leaves the governor alone in the capitol, its allowed frustration to build among legislators, Kousser suggests.This makes it very difficult for governors to consult with legislators dispersed across a state, making unilateral action more necessary, he says, but also leaves legislators feeling that their institutional prerogatives are especially threatened due to their absence. Which is all a recipe for an escalation of inter-branch warfare.During the early days of the republic, governors were granted little authority. Distrust of centralized government and lingering anger over colonial governors meant early state constitutions gave governors almost nothing to do. Following his states constitutional convention, one North Carolina delegate said that the governor had been given just enough power to sign the receipt for his salary.Governors were not given control over most state departments and agencies. Instead, they were run by separately elected officeholders, boards or commissions. Over time, of course, this has changed. In recent decades, agencies have been consolidated and governors have won considerably more authority over them. In North Carolina, the governor was finally granted veto power the last governor to get it back in 1996.Governors now have a big say in setting the legislative agenda everywhere and few legislators can ever hope to match the size of their bully pulpits. Thats been especially true lately, given the coronavirus.The stay at home or shelter in place orders that governors began issuing in March were mostly rooted in emergency powers granted to their predecessors decades ago. The extent of the actions theyve taken and the duration of the crisis has led some legislators to argue that its time to curb those powers.It doesnt surprise me to see legislatures wanting a bigger role as the length of the crisis grows, says Justin Phillips, a Columbia University political scientist and co-author, with Kousser, ofWhen governors were acting so quickly, it was on the advice of experts and didnt seem like they were making political decisions, Phillips says. As time has lapsed, its gone out of the realm of experts and into partisan politics.Michigan GOP legislators argued in court last week that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer needs legislative approval to shut down businesses and issue other restrictions. Whitmer maintains that she has the authority to issue emergency orders unilaterally, thanks to a law dating back to 1945. Theyre acting as though were in the middle of a political problem, Whitmer said last month. This is not a political problem that we have. This is a global health crisis.Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey wants to overhaul the 1945 law. Since Whitmer holds a veto pen, thats not a realistic option through the legislative process. During a radio appearance earlier this month, Shirkey said that gathering signatures for a ballot initiative to limit the governors powers is probably the No. 1 priority right now.After losing his legal battle, Evers made it clear hes not issuing any new orders. The Supreme Court made it clear this is not our gig, he said last week.Wisconsin legislators had successfully argued that the governor needed to consult with them. After winning in court, however, they said they preferred to leave decisions about continuing health restrictions up to local officials About a dozen cities and counties issued their own orders, but a few quickly rescinded them, nervous they wouldnt hold up in the face of the supreme court ruling against the governor. On Friday, state Attorney General Josh Kaul issued an opinion meant to reassure local officials that they do, in fact, have legal authority.All of this points to a question underpinning this debate. If a governor doesnt have power to issue public health orders in an emergency, who does?Some answers to that question may be legalistic. In Oregon, the case brought by churches rests on a reading of the law that holds that, while the governors authority is more broad during a public health crisis than during a natural disaster, that broader authority is limited to 28 days.In most cases, the question of what a governor can do (or get away with) will be decided politically. Kansas legislators lost a court battle last month questioning Gov. Laura Kellys ability to ban large gatherings, including churches. The state Supreme Court ruled that the Legislature had overstepped its own authority by creating a review committee that sought to countermand the governors orders.Creation of that committee itself represented a compromise earlier in the year. Some legislators wanted to try to gut Kellys emergency powers.The question is coming up again this week. The Legislature will be in session on Thursday to wrap up its business for the year. Legislative leaders intend to present Kelly with a choice: Either surrender some of her standing authority during emergencies, perhaps by giving counties the ability to override state-level restrictions, or they will refuse to extend the state's current emergency declaration past Monday.Kelly said during a radio interview this week that she supports changes to the existing emergency statute, but argued it would be a mistake to do the overhaul in a single day. "Going back on the fly is incredibly reckless," she said.Its hardly a coincidence that several states where the battle over emergency powers has been most heated are also those where legislators and governors seldom get along anyway, such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.In Kansas, some legislators have never fully accepted Kelly's victory. "She was elected by nine counties with 48 percent of the vote, so I think there's a legitimate concern," GOP state Sen. Dennis Pyle told the Associated Press. "People want a check on the governor's powers."But the fact that states have been pursuing different COVID policies along different timetables is also a factor. Two months into the crisis, theres no political consensus about the right approach to dealing with health or the spillover effects on the economy and individual liberty.Every issue gets caught up in this culture war, says Phillips, the Columbia professor. Given that this is the most important issue in American politics, I guess it was inevitable that we could go down this path. Its just another issue that became part of the culture divide. Daniel Graf has had a long career in the tech industry. From founding his own startup in the mid-2000s to working at Google, then Twitter, and finally Uber, the tech business has made him extremely wealthy. But after leaving Uber, he wasn't necessarily interested in working at another business... at least, not until he spent an afternoon in the spring of 2019 with an old friend, General Catalyst managing director Hemant Taneja, walking in San Francisco's South Park neighborhood and hearing Taneja talk about a new startup called Mindstrong Health. Taneja told Graf that by the fall of that year, he'd be working at Mindstrong ... and Taneja was right. "I was intrigued by healthtech previously," said Graf. "The problem always was and it sounds a little too money-oriented... but if theres no clear visibility around who pays who in a startup, the startup isn't going to work," and that was always his issue with healthcare businesses. NEW YORK, NY - MAY 21: Daniel Graf accepts a Webby award for Google Maps for iPhone at the 17th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on May 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The Webby Awards) With Mindstrong, which announced today that it has raised $100 million in new financing, the issue of who pays is clear. So Graf joined the company in November as chief executive, taking over from Paul Dagum, who remains with Mindstrong as its chief scientific officer. "Daniel joined the company as it was moving from pure R&D into being something commercially available," said Taneja, in an email. "In healthcare, it's increasingly important to understand how to build for the consumer and that's where Daniel's experience and background comes in. Paul remains a core part of the team because none of this happens without the science." The company, which has developed a digital platform for providing therapy to patients with severe mental illnesses ranging from schizophrenia to obsessive compulsive disorders, is looking to tackle a problem that costs the American healthcare system $20 billion per month, Graf said. Story continues Unlike companies like Headspace and Calm, which have focused on the mental wellness market for the mass consumer, Mindstrong is focused on people with severe mental health conditions, said Graf. That means people who are either bipolar, schizophrenic or have major depressive disorder. It's a much larger population than most Americans think, and they face a critical problem in their ability to receive adequate care, Graf said. 1 in 5 adults experience mental illness, 1 in 25 experience serious mental illness, and the pandemic is making these numbers worse. Meanwhile, more than 60% of US counties dont have a single practicing psychiatrist, said Joe Lonsdale, the founder of 8VC, and an investor in the latest Mindstrong Health round, in a statement. Dagum, Mindstrong Health's founder, has been working on the issue of how to provide better access and monitoring for indications of potential episodes of distress since 2013. The company's technology provides a range of monitoring and measurement tools using digital biomarkers that are currently being validated through clinical trials, according to Graf. "We're passively measuring the usage of the phone and the timing of the keyboard strokes to measure how [a patient] is doing," Graf said. These smartphone interactions can provide data around mental acuity and emotional valence, according to Graf -- and can provide signs that someone might be having problems. The company also provides access to therapists via phone and video consultations or text-based asynchronous communications, based on user preference. "Think of us more as a virtual hospital our care pathways are super complex for this population," said Graf. "Were not aware of other startups working with this population. These folks, the best you get right now is the county mental health." Mindstrongs Series C raise included participation from new and existing investors, including General Catalyst, ARCH Ventures, Optum Ventures, Foresite Capital, 8VC, What If Ventures and Bezos Expeditions, along with other, undisclosed investors. And while mental health is the company's current focus, the platform for care delivery that the company is building has broader implications for the industry, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to Taneja. "I expect that we'll see discoveries in biomarker tech like Mindstrong's that could be applied horizontally across almost any area of healthcare," Taneja said in an email. "Because healthcare is so broad and varied, going vertical like Mindstrong is makes a lot of sense. There's opportunity to become a successful and very impactful company by staying narrowly focused and solving some really hard problems for even a smaller part of the overall population." Members of a civic group rally in front of Orion Group's building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Tuesday, to condemn the company's ignorance of workplace bullying. /Yonhap By Bahk Eun-ji A civic group filed a complaint with the prosecution against Orion Group Chairman Tam Chul-gon, Thursday, accusing him of violating the Labor Standards Act, in relation to a company employee in her 20s who committed suicide recently. The Public Welfare Committee (PWC), a civic group that mainly handles reports of workplace bullying, said it has filed a complaint with the Seoul Nambu District Prosecutors' Office against the chairman of the confectionary company on a charge of breaching the labor act by condoning the bullying and harassment which allegedly took place at work. "As president of such a big company, Tam has to make an official apology for the bereaved family who lost their daughter and pledge to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents," said Kim Soon-hwan, secretary general of the PWC. Kim said the committee's accusation has nothing to do with the bereaved family, but they demand the company take social responsibility over the death of the young employee. The 22-year-old woman, surnamed Suh, had been working at a plant located in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, until she committed suicide in March. According to Suh's family, she left a note, saying "Stop bothering me, I hate Orion," and "I really want to quit, but money matters." In addition, she also mentioned her boss and two other coworkers in the note. Orion said however, the company immediately conducted an investigation with the union in Orion after her death, but found no evidence in relation to bullying or unfair work orders. "Police have already conducted investigations twice and they concluded that her suicide was not relevant to the company. Regardless of the investigation results, we express our deepest condolences to the deceased and their bereaved families. The executives and employees of Orion are so saddened that it's hard to even express this incident in words," an official of Orion Group said. Washington The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily prevented the House of Representatives from obtaining secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. The court's unsigned order keeps previously undisclosed details from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election out of the hands of Democratic lawmakers at least until early summer. The court will decide then whether to extend its hold. The federal appeals court in Washington ruled in March that the documents should be turned over because the House Judiciary Committee's need for the material in its investigation of President Donald Trump outweighed the Justice Department's interests in keeping the testimony secret. Mueller's 448-page report, issued in April 2019, "stopped short" of reaching conclusions about Trump's conduct, including whether he obstructed justice, to avoid stepping on the House's impeachment power, the appeals court said. The committee was able to persuasively argue that it needed access to the underlying grand jury material to make its own determinations about the president's actions, the court said. The materials initially were sought last summer, but by the time the appeals court ruled in March, Trump had been impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate. The Justice Department said in its Supreme Court filings that the court's action was needed in part because the House hasn't given any indication it "urgently needs these materials for any ongoing impeachment investigation." The House had opposed the delay on the grounds that its investigation of Trump was continuing, and that time is of the essence because of the approaching election. The current session of the House will end Jan. 3, and lawmakers elected in November will take their seats. The committee investigation "continues today and has further developed in light of recent events," the House told the justices, citing the "possible exercise of improper political influence" on decisions to seek a shorter prison term for Trump confidant Roger Stone and end the prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, despite his two guilty pleas. The case is one of several ongoing court disputes between the Trump administration and Congress. The Supreme Court heard arguments last week over whether Trump's accountants and banks must turn over financial records to House committees. The administration is not a party to the case, but is backing the president. The appeals court also is weighing whether former White House counsel Don McGahn must appear before the committee to answer questions related to the Mueller investigation. And the Justice Department has said it will ask the Supreme Court to step in and kill a lawsuit alleging that Trump is illegally profiting off the presidency through his luxury Washington hotel. Mueller's report detailed multiple interactions between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, and examined several episodes involving the president for potential obstruction of justice. Mueller said his team did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Kremlin to tip the election, though pointedly noted that he could not exonerate the president for obstruction. London: Global coronavirus cases have surpassed 5 million, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe in the past week to report the largest portion of new daily cases globally, a Reuters tally shows. It represents a new phase in the virus' spread, which initially peaked in China in February, before large outbreaks followed in Europe and the United States. People wearing protective masks stand at the graves of their relatives at the Parque Taruma cemetery in Manaus, Brazil, during a mass burial of coronavirus victims. Credit:Getty Latin America accounted for about a third of the 91,000 cases reported earlier this week. Europe and the United States each accounted for just over 20 per cent. A large number of those new cases came from Brazil, which recently surpassed Germany, France and Britain to become the third-largest source of outbreaks in the world, behind the United States and Russia. Zoe Kravitz has reservations about recommencing filming The Batman, due to restrictions enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Big Little Lies star, 31, is playing Catwoman in the latest reboot of the super hero franchise, and is concerned about how hair, make-up and wardrobe will be navigated when social distancing is still in place. 'You have people just touching your face, touching your body all day long. I need help getting into the catsuit. I can't do it on my own,' she told Variety. Zoe Kravitz has reservations about recommencing filming The Batman, due to restrictions enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic Zoe - who had already begun work on the movie before lockdown halted film production globally - added: 'I was probably touched more than any job, just because of the clothes and the combat and all of that.' She also revealed she has 'no idea' when the production will re-start. '[I hope] to wake up every day to an email or a phone call saying, 'We're ready to go'. 'I'm in touch with everybody, and everyone's ready to go when it's safe. But no, we have no idea.' Zoe plays the iconic villain - played by the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry in past films - alongside Robert Pattinson as Batman The Big Little Lies star, 31, is playing Catwoman in the latest reboot of the super hero franchise, and is concerned about how hair, make-up and wardrobe will be navigated when social distancing is still in place Zoe plays the iconic villain - played by the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry in past films - alongside Robert Pattinson as Batman and Colin Farrell as The Penguin. And Colin has revealed he can't wait to get back to filming on the hotly anticipated next chapter in the iconic franchise, once lockdown ends. The In Bruges actor, 43, told the GMA News Network: 'It's all exciting. To be a part of that universe and just there are certain words that are part of my internal lexicon: Gotham City, Penguin, Joker, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, all these things.' The Gentleman actor also discussed his admiration for director Christopher Nolan (who directed The Dark Knight). Yearning for the future: Colin Farrell has revealed he can't wait to get back to filming on The Batman, once lockdown ends He said: 'Obviously I was a huge fan of what Chris Nolan did with that world and how he brought it back to life and gave it an immediacy and a contemporary significance so just to be part of that mythology is again really cool.' Talking about how he is yearning to get back to filming he said: 'I had only started it and I can't wait to get back. The creation of it, the aesthetic of the character, has been fun and I really am so excited to get back and explore it, it feels original and fun.' While discussing the coronavirus lockdown Colin revealed that he had to spend two weeks at home alone while his two children Henry Tadeusz, 10, and James Padraig, 16, were with their mothers. He said that what he noticed most was the absence of touch and realised that human touch was a sign of tenderness and affection. Lonely: Talking about how he is yearning to get back to filming he said, 'I had only started it and I can't wait to get back' (pictured 2019) Colin said: 'But touch definitely is something that I miss; being able to shake a hand or give a friend a hug, just that.' Warners Bros. announced that they were moving the film's release date from June 25, 2021 to October 1 of the same year. Late last month director Matt Reeves confirmed production on The Batman was being put on hiatus for the foreseeable future. The project halted production on March 14 after completing nearly seven weeks of filming in London. Warner Bros said it was taking a 'two-week hiatus' due to the coronavirus pandemic, and Matt has now also confirmed that production has been paused for the time being. A quick look:Director Matt Reeves shared this look at Pattinson as Batman with the iconic Batmobile 'Yes, we have shut down till it is safe for us all to resume,' he stated in a tweet. The 53-year-old filmmaker added the cast and crew were all 'safe for the moment'. Filming had initially been relocated from London to Liverpool before being halted altogether. A statement at the time read: 'Warner Bros. Pictures feature production of 'The Batman' will be on a two-week hiatus starting today. 'The studio will continue to monitor the situation closely.' Starbucks Corp. chief executive officer Kevin Johnson said that sales are recovering as the coffee chain moves toward normalizing its operations. Over the last week, we have now regained about 60-65 per cent of prior year comparable U.S. store sales while reopening under modified operations and with reduced hours, Johnson said in a statement. In China, we have seen progress as well and our comparable store sales have reached about 80 per cent of prior year levels, reflecting gradual improvements over the past several weeks. The coffee giant is being closely watched as a barometer of consumers willingness to leave their homes and open their wallets following the intense lockdown measures that brought much of the economy to a standstill in the U.S. and beyond. Starbucks shares rose as much as 1.7 per cent to $79.11 (U.S.) in New York trading. The stock has declined 10 per cent in 2020, outpacing the eight per cent drop from the S&P 500 Index. The Seattle-based chain aims to reopen 90 per cent of its U.S. locations by early June, with most limited to drive-thru, delivery and pickup at store entries. In some limited cases, it will allow to-go orders to be placed at the counter inside a store, so long as social distancing practices are possible. Starbucks also announced it will extend its unpaid leave policy through September and will provide an update on health care benefits through the pandemic next week. Read more about: Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan has paid tribute to his wife Keely Shaye Smith, who he is isolating with in Hawaii. The actor, who celebrated his 67th birthday this month, shared a shot of himself kissing his wife on the beach at sunset, glass of champagne in hand. "Thank you for the moon and sun and all the days of our lives together my darling heart Keely" he wrote, adding, I had a great 67th birthday. Thanks to one and all of you out there who wished me so. God bless, stay strong. The actor has been married to the American journalist and author for 19 years, after tying the knot in 2001. They have two sons, Dylan (23) and Paris (19). Getty Images Brosnan had three other children with his first wife Cassandra, two adopted from her first marriage. Cassandra sadly died from ovarian cancer in 1991. He also lost his daughter Charlotte to the same disease in 2013. REUTERS He has been isolating in Hawaii for several weeks at his home in Kauai. State-owned economic groups, complaining about the losses caused by Covid-19, have asked for financial support at a time when the government is preoccupied with fighting the pandemic. Nguyen Dinh Cung, a member of the Prime Ministerial Economic Advisory Board, commented that the epidemic affects all business fields of the economy. The epidemic has had a big impact not only on state-owned enterprises, but private enterprises as well. It doesnt discriminate among countries, nations and economic sectors. Except for business fields which are believed to bear milder impact from Covid-19 such as healthcare and information technology, all other fields are bearing direct influences, especially service and air transport. In early April, seven state-owned economic groups and general corporations reported losses of over VND3.7 trillion. Of these, Vietnam Airlines reported the biggest loss of VND2 trillion. The national flag air carrier asked for financial support package of VND12 trillion from the state. State-owned economic groups, complaining about the losses caused by Covid-19, have asked for financial support at a time when the government is preoccupied with fighting the pandemic. Six other large economic groups in the fields of oil and gas, petroleum distribution, chemicals production, airport management, maritime, railway, food and coffee all foresee big losses. Regarding air transportation, besides the state-owned Vietnam Airlines, other carriers including Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways have also been affected seriously. Vietnam Airlines bears the biggest impact because it only provides air transportation services, while the other two operate in more than one business field. However, Cung said he hopes economic groups will not complain and ask for the states help. The state now has to gather strength on the fighting against the epidemic and it would be unreasonable for it to think of supporting state-owned economic groups, Cung complained. According to the economist, the epidemic has caused difficulties but has also brought opportunities to develop. Instead of asking for money, the economic groups should ask for reasonable policies to help them become more flexible in coping with difficulties. Meanwhile, private enterprises are mostly small ones which have high flexibility but low endurance, without large financial reserves. When the epidemic broke out, they ran out of money and didnt have income. Vietnamese workers mostly work for small and medium enterprises. Is the economic sector which receives more sympathy from the respected economist. Asked about policies to support enterprises, Cung said necessary policies have been set up, but he still considers the size of the economic relief packages. I think the tax payment should be delayed for longer than several months. As for trade union fee, it would be better to exempt the fee instead of fee payment delay, he said. Thanh Lich Vietnam businesses eyed by foreign investors Instead of following procedures to become nvestors, foreign enterprises are preferring to take a shortcut by taking over Vietnamese businesses, which allows them to penetrate the market more quickly. The cruel irony is that the people most at risk for the virus are also the ones most likely to experience the dangers of racial profiling. One man, Aaron Thomas, put it this way on Twitter, (As a black man) I want to stay alive but I also want to stay alive. As I wrote about before, in the United States, African Americans are some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Nationwide, black people are 13% of the population, but account for 27% of coronavirus deaths at least according to the insufficient data available. The root causes are multifaceted and a legacy of our countrys history of racial inequality, but one reason is that black people are more likely to be in front-line essential jobs with no way to work from home. Consequently, 1 in 4 black adults know someone who has been hospitalized or died from coronavirus, compared with 1 in 10 whites. Its no surprise, then, that there is a huge racial divide between people of color who believe the health risks of opening the country are too great (84%) vs. white Americans (52%). The UK government on Thursday pledged to work with the African Union (AU) to curb the spread of coronavirus in African countries through funding and technical expertise. Apart from an investment of up to 20 million in the AUs Africa anti-COVID-19 fund to tackle coronavirus and save lives, the UK government has also promised to help train African health experts to tackle the pandemic. The AU Chairperson and President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, spoke on the fund according to a statement by the UK Embassy on Thursday. The statement said recruited African health experts would be deployed to where they are were most needed, to strengthen global effort to track the pandemic. Also, the experts would help in combating potentially harmful misinformation, providing specialist coronavirus training for health workers and make information about the virus more accessible to the public. About 800 skilled African expert volunteers would be recruited and deployed through Africa CDCs African Voluntary Health Corps to track the outbreak through effective screening, contact tracing and information management. They will also help in combatting misinformation; creating an online community of practice with weekly webinars for African clinicians; publishing technical guidelines in all AU languages; creating an Africa task force for coronavirus to co-ordinate response activity, and convening AU member states to agree a continental response. The UK International Development Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said it was important to work with partners in Africa to fight diseases, even as the UK faces its biggest peacetime challenge in tackling the virus. No one is safe until we are all safe and this new funding and support for African leadership will help protect us all in the UK, Africa and around the world from further spread of the virus, she said. The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, said the truly global scale of the current crisis meant that international cooperation and solidarity was more important than ever. Fund The 20 million UK funding contribution to the AU, the High Commissioner said, would provide important additional support to Nigeria and other countries across Africa. She said the contribution was also a testament to the UK governments resolve to stand shoulder to shoulder with Nigeria in their collective challenge to defeat COVID-19. The announcement followed calls by the UK Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga and AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Amira El-Fadil. They discussed the risks Africa faces from the pandemic and how the UK was working with partners on the continent to tackle these shared global crisis. The new support for the AU is coming after the recent pledge by the UK government of over $900 million to the international fight against coronavirus. The UK government said it was also using its existing aid programmes to help vulnerable countries in Africa to strengthen their health systems. Besides, the virtual Global Vaccine Summit is scheduled for June 4, to secure future funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which has already saved the lives of millions of children in Africa from infectious diseases. Scourge With many African countries experiencing increases in COVID-19 cases, the people are exposed to severe risks to their fragile healthcare systems. The high prevalence of HIV, malnutrition and other illnesses in parts of the continent, the statement said, may worsen the impact of the virus. In sub-Saharan Africa, the report said there were on average just two doctors for every 10,000 people, compared to 28 per 10,000 in the UK. If healthcare systems become overwhelmed, the worldwide spread of the virus will be difficult to slow, risking new waves of infection. The UKs contribution to the Africa anti-COVID 19 fund will prevent this by working in partnership with the AU to help fight the virus, strengthen healthcare systems and save lives in the AUs 55 member states, the statement said. The latest announcement brings UKs total aid contribution to fighting coronavirus to up to 764 million ($935.6 million), according to the statement. Advertisements The Fund will help to find a vaccine, provide vital humanitarian relief, feed the worlds poorest people, strengthen global healthcare systems and manage the risk of a global economic downturn. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) The Alaska House abruptly adjourned Tuesday after ratifying plans for using more than $1 billion in federal coronavirus relief aid, one day after reconvening to take up the issue. The Senate passed its own ratification bill but stayed in session to consider the House version, which aides said is identical. A vote is expected Wednesday, as Gov. Mike Dunleavys administration moves ahead with plans for distributing funds, including community and small business aid. Payments to communities could begin as early as Friday once signed grant agreements and other required... Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), with Intel, aiming for enhanced collaboration to implement initiatives and projects in the field of innovation and future technologies in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates, a WAM report said. The MoU will also pave the way for exchanging knowledge, expertise, and studies to support the activities of the "Sharjah Open Innovation Lab" (SoiLAB) using the latest high-impact artificial intelligence technologies and accelerators. The cooperation will play an important role in supporting the efforts of the park in positioning Sharjah as a regional and global centre for research and innovation. Intel will strengthen its cooperation with Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park by organising and conducting workshops in various fields related to information technology, especially in education, video analytics, the Internet of Things, IoT, artificial intelligence, AI; and exchanging best practices and solutions to support the activities of the park and the companies working through the Intel Innovation Centre in Dubai. The aspects of cooperation will also include increasing the capacity to develop the usage of information technology, in addition to working jointly to develop a local system of projects to demonstrate concepts of IoT technologies on the sites under the umbrella of Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park. The MoU was signed by Hussain Mohamed Al Mahmoudi, CEO of SRTIP and Eng. Taha Khalifa CCG Sales Director EMEA Territory from Intel. On this occasion, Hussain Mohamed Al Mahmoudi expressed his happiness to work closely with Intel and said: "This cooperation reflects the vision of the complex and its strategy by introducing all kinds of future technologies. As a leading centre for technology and innovation, our mission is to enhance efforts toward investing in every possible way to convert the park into a regional centre for future techs. "This agreement represents a fruitful cooperation between the private and government sectors that we seek to devote through a package of initiatives and actions to transfer and localise technology and promoting a knowledge-based economy in UAE and Sharjah." Taha Khalifa commented: "Intel technologies will be supporting new initiatives and projects in the field of IoT and AI. We are looking forward for implementing new initiatives with SRTIP in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. We will be also working on exchanging knowledge, experiences, case studies and match-making with the Intel ecosystem to accelerate the deployment of high-impact AI/Analytics use cases at SRTIP." TradeArabia News Service York County, THANK YOU! Our community has made significant strides forward in combating this deadly virus. The sacrifices made by all have in fact saved lives. Transitioning to the Yellow Phase is testament to the collective effort by this community to take seriously the virus deadly impact. I have never been more proud to be a York Countian. Based upon the criteria set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, York Countys approach met those important data points. We remained vigilant in our pursuit to move our data in the positive direction to take this step forward as a county. We have committed our best faith efforts to meet the call of this Commonwealth. There are innumerable scenarios as to how this crisis could have unfolded and far too many could easily have included many more Pennsylvanians falling ill and dying. I now hear statements such as it isnt as bad as predicted, or our hospitals are not overrun. These are all testaments to the success of social distancing. The strategy put in place to stay apart and keep our distance is working. The evidence is in the data. Collaboration has been an integral part in positioning York County to transition to the next phase of recovery. Our two largest Healthcare Providers, WellSpan Health and UPMC have been hand in hand with the county on many initiatives aimed at fighting COVID-19. Dr. Matt Howie, our Countys Health Strategist and City Health Bureau Director, has remained a trusted advisor and fosterer of partnerships. The York County Economic Alliance has demonstrated tremendous efforts to assist in providing a one-stop shop for our business community, and all of those economically impacted, by establishing www.preparedyork.com. They continue to partner with the county in our YoCO Strong Recovery Task Force and now provide all the tools online to assist in the reopening. Our Planning Commission and Coalition for Homelessness remains on the front lines, collaborating to protect our vulnerable populations. Working alongside Community Progress Council, Family First Health, the York County Food Bank, and RabbitTransit to ensure transportation, shelter, and food are readily available. These are just a few examples of collaboration fostered amid this crisis. We could not have come this far without our community working collectively for the good. While there is much uncertainty and anxiety about what lies ahead, we will get through this together. And, we will be stronger as a community. Our resolve has been tested. The foundation of our society has been shaken. We have families who have suffered tragic and irreplaceable loss. We have terrific leaders who care deeply about the health and well-being of our community. They are working day and night to meet the challenges that face us. They are committed, compassionate, and relentless in their pursuit to best position York to weather this storm. I am truly humbled to be working alongside them. They inspire me. A special thank you to all who are on the front lines serving our community. Whether its our first responders, our healthcare professionals, county workforce, and organizations providing 24/7 services, to our trusted grocery store clerks and delivery personnel, you are appreciated. As a nation, a state, and a county, we have been tested before. We will again. York rises to those challenges and collectively, we help each other through it. We created a County Recovery Task Force, three weeks ago, in preparation for this transition. We now make the shift from treatment to recovery, never losing sight of the importance of continual mitigation. The Recovery Task Force is charged to lean on subject matter experts representing all aspects of our society to evaluate what has worked, what has not, and to offer recommendations to mitigate future impact, leverage all of our countys assets, formulate public policy recommendations, and ensure an equitable and inclusive recovery that benefits all. These recommendations will inform our recovery and help write the playbook for future pandemic planning. These recommendations will hasten our restart and protect against any future virus resurgence. Please visit www.YoCoStrong.org for further information on recovery plans, and information on what it means to transition to the Yellow Phase We will survive this crisis with compassion, wisdom, humility, and the understanding that we are all imperfect but we all strive to accomplish the greatest of good for each other and our Commonwealth. Thank you, York County! Julie L. Wheeler, President Commissioner York County The first visit to Kabul by Washingtons peace envoy since Afghanistans squabbling political leadership reached a power-sharing agreement comes amid increased violence blamed mostly on an Islamic State affiliate that has been targeted in stepped-up US bombing. Zalmay Khalilzad, in a flurry of tweets Thursday, told of his meetings in Doha earlier in the week with Taliban representatives and on Wednesday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and fellow leader Abdullah Abdullah. All were aimed at resuscitating a US-Taliban peace deal signed in February. Khalilzad called for a reduction in violence by all sides in Afghanistans protracted conflict that has kept America militarily engaged for 19 years. He also said too much time has been wasted getting to the second and critical phase of the peace deal, which calls for talks between the Taliban and Afghanistans political leadership. Abdullah will head those efforts as part of the deal he signed with Ghani to end their monthslong dispute over who won Afghanistans presidential election last September. He conceded the win to Ghani but as part of a power sharing agreement. US President Donald Trump said again last week that American soldiers have wrongly been tasked with policing the country and called on Afghanistan to step up. The US has about 12,000 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, split between counter-terrorism and the NATO-led Resolute Supports 16,500 troop mission, which trains and aids Afghanistans National Security Forces. Washington currently pays about $4 billion annually to keep Afghanistans military in fighting form. US Department of Defense officials have told The Associated Press their biggest worry in Afghanistan is an increasingly active IS affiliate headquartered in the east. The group has ties to Middle Eastern affiliates as well as militant groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Chinese Uighur group, East Turkestan Islamic Movement. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, say the IS affiliate in Afghanistan has been linked to foiled plots to attack America in recent years. The US also blamed IS for a brutal attack on a maternity hospital earlier this month in Kabul that left 24 people dead, including two infants and several mothers. The increased IS activity in Afghanistan has added urgency to US efforts to resuscitate the peace deal, which commits the Taliban to fight terrorist groups in Afghanistan. The same Department of Defense officials said they want the Taliban in the battle to rout IS from Afghanistan. Without intra-Afghan negotiations, the cease-fire Washington wants between the Taliban and the government wont happen . Taliban representatives say a cease-fire will be on the agenda in any intra-Afghan talks, which were to start by mid-March. The delay has been blamed on Afghanistans squabbling leadership in Kabul and disruptions in prisoner releases, which were promised as part of the peace deal ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations. In his tweets, Khalilzad called for the prisoner release to be completed. He also reiterated he is seeking Taliban assistance with US citizens missing in Afghanistan, including US contractor Mark Frerichs who disappeared in January. Several Taliban leaders contacted by The AP said they are not holding Frerichs and have told Khalilzad repeated times. Suhail Shaheen, Taliban spokesman in Doha, said Wednesday the Taliban are committed to the deal and demanded its prisoners be released. The new drug approval process in India is expected to get simpler and faster, with the government initiating discussions on reforming the regulatory system. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has called a meeting of the committee constituted for this purpose on Friday, sources familiar with the developments said. This will be the second meeting of the committee. The industry, which has been lobbying for faster approvals for quite some time now, says the Covid-19 pandemic should help expedite the reforms process. India now needs new drugs like Favipiravir (used for influenza ... A sign as complaints over company refund policies and price hikes have soared. (David Becker/Getty Images) A UK government watchdog has received more than 60,000 complaints over companies linked to the coronavirus, with widespread anger over refund policies and price hikes. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has already warned firms not to breach competition and consumer protection law. But many customers have faced problems securing timely refunds for services, events and trips as companies struggle to cope with unprecedented levels of cancellations and collapsing revenue. The CMA said on Thursday it had been contacted more than 60,000 times about coronavirus-related issues between 10 March and 17 May. Three-quarters of complaints involved holidays and air travel, with the CMA anticipating issues will continue to grow as the summer holidays approach. The watchdog was keen to emphasise that most UK firms had behaved properly, however. The 16,000 firms complained about are a very small minority of the more than 5.9 million private sector businesses in the UK, it said in a statement. But we are concerned that a small minority may be exploiting the situation, for example by ignoring customers cancellation rights, charging excessive prices, or making misleading claims about goods or services, the watchdog said. It comes after a survey by consumer group Which? showed trust in the travel industry had sunk to its lowest level in at least seven years over refund problems with airlines and holiday firms. The CMA said it had passed a fifth of all cancellation complaints over travel booked directly through airlines to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which regulates the sector. But the CAAs chief executive Richard Moriarty told MPs recently that current rules mean it can take two years for it to take action against carriers. Under EU rules, payouts should be made within seven days. The CAA has launched an investigation and is looking at further action, however. The CMA also said many complaints involved price hikes seen as unfair. It has written to 264 firms, who received more than 3,000 complaints, and has received responses from some. Story continues The majority of these attribute high prices to higher costs charged by suppliers, although this does not adequately explain prices that are far in excess of the average, said the CMA. The CMA will use its powers to their fullest extent; but it has also advised government on legislative changes that would enable a faster and more robust response to unjustifiable price rises, it added. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Finance UK (Natural News) After suffering years of financial mismanagement at the hands of Gavin Newsom, and before him, Jerry Brown, California is now in some deep fiscal trouble. But rather than own up to his mistakes and take responsibility for them, Newsom is instead blaming the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) for his poor leadership while demanding that the federal government rescue his state from financial ruin. During a recent appearance on CNNs State of the Union, Newsom basically told Jake Tapper that California would be doing just fine if it were not for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), denying all allegations that his shutdown of the state economy and corresponding lockdowns had anything to do with it. Instead, it is all Trumps fault, which means that California deserves a massive stimulus injection, according to Newsom. But California will not be receiving federal bailout funds anytime soon because President Trump has indicated that handing out money to states is premature. Newsom disagrees, however, and insists that it is Trumps ethical and moral responsibility to bring California back from the brink that it has been veering towards for many years. I mean, a year ago, Jake, we were running a $21.5 billion surplus, Newsom stated. And here we are at $54.3 billion budget deficit that is directly COVID-induced. We have been managing our budget effectively, efficiently, paying down our long-term pension obligations. We have a bond rating that went up twice last year, the highest in decades. So, were not looking for charity. Were not looking for handouts. Its social responsibility, at a time when states, not just California, large and small, all across this country, cities, and counties, large and small, all across this country are facing unprecedented budgetary stress. It is incumbent upon the federal government to help support these states through this difficult time. Listen below to The Health Ranger Report as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, talks about how lockdowns of the sort that have been implemented throughout California are being used as a weapon by politicians like Gavin Newsom to enslave humanity: Newsom blames Trump for first responders, police officers that will be laid off under Newsoms watch While the Democrat-led House tried to put forth a second stimulus bill that would have bailed out California and other struggling states, the Republican-led Senate indicated that it would not pass it. Consequently, California will have to clean up its own mess, which Newsom is of course blaming on Trump. The next time they want to salute and celebrate our heroes, our first responders, our police officers, and firefighters, consider the fact that they are the first ones that will be laid off by cities and counties, Newsom stated, implying that he is in no way responsible for these layoffs. The folks that are out there, the true heroes of this pandemic are health care workers and nurses. Those county health systems have been ravaged. Their budgets have been devastated and depleted. Their budget counts depleted since this pandemic. Theyre the first ones to be laid off. At no point during his interview with Tapper did Newsom even suggest that his continued forced lockdowns, contingent upon a future vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), might be playing any role in his states struggling economy and inability to continue paying essential workers. Instead, he diverted all of the blame towards Republicans who refuse to hand him free cash. Twenty percent of Americans are unemployed, Newsom went on to state. These are Depression-era unemployment numbers, and we have to own up to that. No, Newsom: You need to own up to that. More of the latest news about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) is available at Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: Breitbart.com NaturalNews.com As Memorial Day draws closer, were renewing our call for you to join us in honoring our fallen veterans. At 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, were asking you to sing or play the Star Spangled Banner while socially distancing. Do it from your driveways, your porches, your rooftops, in your back yards. The idea came from Gail Van Prooien, a woman who said shes never missed a Memorial Day parade. But with the cancellations of parades and other commemorative ceremonies because of the coronavirus crisis, she wanted to find another way to show respect. She got immediate support from Michael Boll, who served as a Marine in Desert Storm and is now president of New Jersey Veterans Network, an all-volunteer mobile outreach charity that works to provide veterans with a better quality of life through the donation of cars, housing, mental health services and job assistance. I think this shows everyone who has been home during the pandemic that there are people who love this country and want to show their support in any way they can, he said. I think having the national anthem and sharing it with each other? Its a beautiful thing. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Businesses that are open | Homepage Boll said he is reaching out to all of the charitys partner organizations from the American Legion to Knights of Columbus to Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) and more to ask them to band together to support this moment. Morris Plains, which cancelled its Memorial Day service and parade the largest in Morris County, according to the boroughs mayor is supporting the effort. On Monday, May 25, Memorial Day at 10 a.m., we are encouraging all residents to go outside, stand on a sidewalk, front yard, driveway or porch, and sing or play The Star Spangled Banner, Mayor Jason Karr said. He encourages other mayors to aid in remembering our veterans by taking the time to say thank you. The town will hang a thank you banner at the Morris Plains Rotary Park and more than 150 American flags will fly along Speedwell Avenue, Karr said. Additionally, hes asking Rep. Mikie Sherrill to prepare a virtual message for the Morris Plains VFW Watnong Post #3401. Even in this challenging time, it is very important to never forget the reason we commemorate this day annually, for it is for those who served before us and gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending our great country, he said. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Businesses that are open | Homepage Deptford Township is also on board. The municipality usually has a Memorial Day parade that starts at the Oak Valley fire house and ends at Veterans Park, a park that was opened in 2014 and designed by local artist Frank Seder, a Navy veteran. After the parade, theres usually a barbeque with guest speakers, wreath-laying ceremonies and a service but the local VFW post. Deptford Mayor Paul Mednay said its all going to be different this year because of coronavirus. The parade and traditional wreath-laying ceremony and barbeque are canceled, but there will be a small event at Veterans Park park to lay wreaths while physically staying distant but never neglecting to honor our soldiers in some way. Wreaths will also be placed in front of the municipal building with 100 small flags, he said, and the townships five electronic signs will commemorate our soldiers killed in battle. We will be joining with other towns encouraging residents to sing or play the national anthem on Monday at 10 a.m. We will promote the event on our Facebook page, website, Instagram and Twitter, Mednay said. If we have time we will put up small signs in each neighborhood also. We hope you will join us and your neighbors to honor our fallen veterans. You can RSVPing to this event on Facebook. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Karin Price Mueller may be reached at bamboozled@njadvancemedia.com. In compliance with the federal government, interstate movement ban, Kwara State Government has returned a loaded Toyota Hiace passenger bus which defied the ban from Niger State. The Deputy Governor and Chairman of the State Technical Committee on Coronavirus, Mr Kayode Alabi gave this order in his office on Wednesday during a parade of the driver and the 30 passengers arrested with the bus. Also Read: Lagos, North West Responsible For Rise In Kwara Cases: Gov AbdulRazaq Mr Alabi frowned at the bus driver for risking lives and directed that the occupants of the bus be escorted and handed over to security agents at the Kwara-Niger border in Jebba. Advertisement The Deputy Governor further expressed the state was ready to combat any attempt to import Coronavirus into the State. The initial years of the 21st century witnessed universal economic growth. The fundamentals of globalisation appeared to be getting stronger. The 2008 financial crisis raised a few uncomfortable questions. Critics such as Nobel Laureate Eric Maskin argued that it has benefitted only a select few. As countries, including major economies, faced rising unemployment and inequality, a political class propagated inward-looking policies, rather than expanding the realms of globalisation to shore up the growth prospects. On the other hand, with increasing awareness and instances of natural disasters, many demanded urgency in addressing the climate crisis. There were calls to adopt more sustainable approach towards achieving development goals that achieve high economic growth without adversely affecting the prospects for future generations. The Paris Climate Agreement showed that leadership from various countries can collaborate in tackling the effects of the climate crisis. However, like global trade, the climate crisis action agenda also witnessed a breaking down of consensus such as the withdrawal of the United States (US) from the Paris deal. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the foundations of the world order. It has taught the global leadership that there is no alternative to mutual coexistence, or in the words of Thomas Freidman, the world has become even flatter. Globalisation will undergo a radical redesign. Countries will beef up their home-grown manufacturing capabilities for products and services of essential nature, while, at the same time, also try and find substitute locations as a buffer for their existing supply chains. As the world witnessed prolonged lockdowns with minimal human interface and movement, the planet went into an auto-healing mode. The post-Covid-19 world offers an invaluable opportunity to bring in greener policies for economic recovery. This also offers us a golden chance to create a greener and more balanced rules-based global trade and commerce. As the World Trade Organization (WTO) celebrates its silver jubilee this year, the Green Trade Organisation (GTO) can act as its most suitable extension. While the WTO activities and rules mention conservation of the environment, there is a definite scope for further concrete action on this front. Under GTO, the rules-based order of WTO can be expanded to assimilate facets of trade and commerce from the climate crisis perspective. One, the greenability of production supply chains: The GTO will focus on ensuring that the developing countries, the global south, which are often used in the less productive stages of the supply chain (for procuring raw material and farm produce) are accorded effective protection from anti-climate policies that aim to expand profits at the cost of the planet. Two, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on climate crisis mitigation products and services: Over the years, the IPR regime has witnessed a spectacular growth in technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Today, we realise how significant human health is for a nations progress. For its equitable access globally, we need to develop a robust IPR framework related to climate crisis solutions being developed across the world. Three, the taxonomy and accounting framework for promoting ecologically balanced production processes: This area has witnessed various effective measures being undertaken especially in the developed countries such as the Emission Trading System (ETS) and Carbon Credits framework. However, in many parts of the world, there is still an absence of a credible institutional framework that promotes the use of green accounting and tax-based policies. Four, specialised dispute resolution mechanisms on issues of the climate crisis: As the global trade and services systems become more intricate in a world increasingly vulnerable to the climate crisis, there is a significant increase in international disputes on the climate crisis. It will need a mechanism which creates an enabling legal framework, to help resolve such issues, both at the national and international level. In the past, efforts have been made to set up similar structures within the WTO regime. In July 2014, Canada along with other WTO members such as China, the European Union, Japan and the US launched negotiations for a new WTO plurilateral agreement on environmental goods that sought to eliminate tariffs on a range of environmental goods. However, as governments across the world implement relief packages and create a favourable climate for economic activities, the time is ripe for a Green Trade Framework that promotes the use of greener technologies and production systems. The GTO should lead to tremendous positive externalities for the planet such as the decline in the exploitation of natural and man-made resources, especially in the middle- and low-income countries; an improvement in the standard of life with the fall in pollution levels; transparent and accountable protocols and systems to deal with effects of climate change-induced by global trade activities. Over the years, globalisation has helped boost economic growth and reduce extreme poverty. The coronavirus pandemic has made it clear that we need to look beyond short-term solutions. We cannot sideline climate action. But it is to create a sustainable and more inclusive planet by providing citizens with a suitable platform to undertake economic activity in an ecologically responsible manner. The creation of a Green Trade Organization is a step in the right direction. Jayraj Pandya is pursuing a Masters degrees in Advanced Global Studies at the University of Sciences Po, Paris The views expressed are personal One of these people is Chief Logistics Specialist Ubaldo S. Huaromo, who has served in the U.S. Navy honorably for more than 24 years. Born in Ancash (Peru) on May 16, 1966, he immigrated to the U.S. in August of 1988 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1996. Stationed onboard Diego Garcia , Huaromo is the Fleet Logistics Center Senior Enlisted Leader, and is currently the Material Management Division Leading Chief Petty Officer and Transportation Officer. Huaromo is a proud American and a proud chief, who considers it an honor to be one of "the few, the chosen." After acquiring a job in a travel agency, he was able to come to the U.S., arriving in Maryland in 1988 on his own. Huaromo spoke little English and worked multiple jobs before following his favorite quote by the late President John F. Kennedy that says "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," and enlisted into the military service of his adopted country. He has had a long naval career, originally coming in as an undesignated airman recruit at 30 years old. "I always had in mind to join the Armed Forces, and I never thought that dream would ever become a reality," Huaromo expressed. He eventually struck aviation storekeeper, which transitioned to storekeeper and then logistics specialist, the current name of the rating. After enlisting in the Navy, Huaromo brought his wife and two children from Peru to the U.S. He made E-5 in three years, and was considered a Sailor on a fast track to success. He went on to be selected as 2011 Sailor of the Year for Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella, Site Rota (Spain). Shortly after, the Peruvian-born was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in August 2012. He said that it wasnt only the Navy that made him chief, but the Sailors hes served with, both junior and senior. "The Navy only selects the best of the best to be a chief, and I was one of them," he stated. "I never thought I was going to be able to achieve this rank." As a chief, Huaromo said that mission comes first, his Sailors second, and himself last. "For me, working under Chief Huaromo has been really exciting especially since hes been in the military for 24 years," Logistic Specialist Seaman Apprentice Adrian Marquez remarked. "He's always passing down a lot of knowledge to me and letting me know how I can better myself and be a better Sailor." "I'm not the typical Peruvian or American, nor the typical Peruvian-American," Huaromo stated. "I'm just me, a low profile and humble chief who thinks and cares about others first before I think and care about myself. Militarily, the mission comes first. Everything else is secondary." He also affirmed that to him money isn't everything, and what makes him happy is doing a job well so he expects his Sailors to do the same. "Whenever I make a mistake, I know that he won't get too mad at me right away," Marquez expressed. "Instead, he'll communicate with me and let me know how I can do better." Huaromo said that he and his Sailors work together, coming up with new ways to complete the mission. "I always tell my Sailors to find what you love to do. Once you find it, do what you are supposed to do, and be where you are supposed to be, and have a good and positive attitude," he noted. "With that, you will be good but, maybe, not good enough to get promoted quickly and move up in rank." Huaromo tells his Sailors that if they want to be promoted quickly and move up in rank, they must be better than their peers, and go above and beyond expectations. Marquez also said that he feels lucky to have Huaromo as his chief, saying that he is always positive and looks out for all his Sailors. "I will truly miss my Navy, my great Navy! The Navy of the United States of America, the most powerful naval force of the world. God bless America now and forever," he expressed. After having the opportunity to seek out a better future for himself and his family and falling in love with the United States of America, Huaromo is retiring from the Navy in December 2020 after more than 24 years of honorable service. A mother from the Gold Coast has revealed how she created her dream kitchen from a 'mint green nightmare', and her advice for others planning to take on renovation work in the upcoming months. Alicia Curtis, 43, moved into her Gold Coast home with her young family three years ago with her DIY work cut out for her, but 36 months later, the home more closely resembles the Hamptons-inspired property she always dreamed of having. 'I spent around $50,000 renovating the kitchen, but there was a lot of work carried out in that including flipping the orientation of the layout, replacing all of the timber cladding with plaster and adding a breakfast bar,' Alicia told FEMAIL. BEFORE: A mother from the Gold Coast has revealed how she created her dream kitchen from a 'mint green nightmare' AFTER: The resulting kitchen is closer to the Hamptons-inspired space the mother always dreamed of having Alicia Curtis (pictured), 43, moved into her Gold Coast home with her young family three years ago with her DIY work cut out for her The talented mum said she took inspiration from the Australian design team behind Three Birds Renovations, when she set about making a plan for her dream space. The first thing Alicia said she focused on doing was getting rid of a randomly-placed toilet with a blue door adjacent to the kitchen. This required her to gut the toilet and remove the plumbing, which she followed with pulling up the slate and the carpet and gutting the entire kitchen. 'The plan was to remove the timber ceiling cladding and replace all of the lighting and electricals,' Alicia said on her Instagram profile. 'I also had dreams of removing the existing door and window in the kitchen and making a bigger window from the breakfast bar so we could enjoy eating while looking at the view.' The first thing Alicia said she focused on doing was getting rid of a randomly-placed toilet with a blue door adjacent to the kitchen (left) and removing the timber ceiling (left and right) 'I also had dreams of removing the existing door and window in the kitchen and making a bigger window from the breakfast bar so we could enjoy eating while looking at the view,' Alicia said (the kitchen pictured during the renovation process) Finally, Alicia said her plans included removing the fireplace in the room and plastering and painting. 'It was a big and messy job,' she explained on her Instagram page. 'We had to live the glamorous life of renovating for a bit, toasting our breakfast in the midst of the chaos.' Alicia said she saved some money on the final $50,000 kitchen (pictured) by getting multiple quotes from tradies and always negotiating a better deal Alicia (pictured) said she managed to save a bit by doing the painting and demo in the kitchen herself While some of the renovation was straightforward, the 43-year-old said that it's inevitable you will run into some difficulties along the way. 'When we pulled the slate up, we found that the whole floor needed replacing due to water damage, which was an unexpected expense,' Alicia said. 'But the majority was okay, and just took time. I went with a kitchen company that were on a previous series of House Rules for the cabinetry. 'Then, I used Taubmans All Weather Exterior paint in Flat White all over the house. By doing our own painting and demo, we were able to save a little bit of money - about $2,000. 'We also saved some money by selling our previous kitchen on Gumtree for $500 and by getting several quotes on each trade, as prices can vary by the thousands.' Alicia has since taken on her pool area with impressive results. Alicia has since taken on her pool area with impressive results (pictured before and after), and her top advice is you always get multiple quotes for work as prices vary by the thousands Speaking to FEMAIL about her tips for would-be renovators, Alicia said the most important thing to remember is that you should visit various places before you commit to hiring someone to help you: What are Alicia's tips for renovating a kitchen? 1. Get several quotes for every piece of work and keep your budget at the lower end if you're asked by suppliers. 2. Once the quote is delivered, ask if the suppliers can still do better on that pricing as there is always room for discount. 3. Think about making your design practical and user-friendly when thinking about a layout. 4. If you're struggling to picture your layout, Alicia said you should put masking tape of the layout on the existing floor so you can see it. 5. Choose drawers over doors for better use of space and accessibility. 6. Go with a neutral colour palette, including with splashbacks as this will date less. 7. Add tones of warmth with details including tea towels, plants, chopping boards and cookbooks. Advertisement 'Get several quotes and keep your budget at the lower end if asked by suppliers,' Alicia told Daily Mail Australia. 'Once the quote is delivered, ask if the suppliers can still do better on that pricing and believe me there is always room for discount.' Alicia said you should also always think about making your design 'practical and user-friendly' when you're thinking about a new layout. 'Use masking tape of the design layout on the existing floor if you're not sure,' she explained. Finally, Alicia said you should always choose 'drawers over doors for better use of space and accessibility'. 'I also think it's best to go with a neutral colour palette, including your splashbacks,' she added. 'This means your kitchen won't date over time and you can always switch it up and add colour and warmth with styling and accessories like tea towels, plants, chopping boards and cookbooks.' To find out more from Alicia Curtis and see other rooms that she has renovated, you can visit her Instagram profile here. Portage VFW, American Legion Post 47 (Portage) and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 221 (Portage) will conduct the abbreviated program at 11 a.m. at Blue Star Park, but its not open to the public and will be filmed and posted to the city website and Portage Parks and Recreation Facebook page later in the day. Well play the taps and do the gun salute and thats about it, American Legion Post 47 Commander Dean Simonson said. It will be very simple, but you cant forget about the veterans, just as right now you cant forget about the nurses and the policemen and the firemen and the people working at grocery stores these people are putting their lives on the line, too, they really are. American Legion Post 71 in Poynette is likewise doing a gun salute and playing taps on the bugle at its veterans memorial along Main Street, but the event is not exactly open to the public. I think as long as people observe it while theyre parked along Main Street or in the parking lot by the police station from their car or standing alongside their car my understanding is that should be OK, said Post 71 member Jim Wrchota, who serves as the commander of the Legions Honor Guard. We just ask that you observe it from a safe distance. For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here. All the data so far suggests the novel coronavirus arrived in the United States in 2020, but that hasn't stopped speculation that people who became ill with mysterious flu-like symptoms in late 2019 might have contracted COVID-19. The latest study out of Stanford University, however, is further evidence that the coronavirus wasn't in the United States prior to 2020, as researchers attempt to find the earliest coronavirus patients in an effort to track the spread of the disease. No COVID-19 cases were identified, consistent with limited transmission in this population at this time, Dr. Catherine A. Hogan, an infectious diseases physician and medical microbiologist with Stanfords Department of Pathology, told the Mercury News. The Stanford study, which examined 1,700 throat swabs taken from patients who visited a Stanford Health Care facility in the Bay Area in November and December 2019, found no traces of the coronavirus. The study has not yet been peer reviewed. The symptoms that people tend to present with have a lot of overlap with other common viruses like the common cold, influenza, the common flu-type symptoms, Dr. Alexei Wagner, assistant director of Adult Emergency Medicine at Stanfords Department of Emergency Medicine, told SFGATE in April. So fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, sore throat there's tons of overlap. And so we've heard [from] a lot of people concerned, OK do I have COVID or do I have just kind of a normal upper-respiratory infection that I don't have to worry about? The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was in Seattle on Jan. 21 involving a man who had recently returned from the Wuhan region of China, with the first confirmed COVID-19 fatality, a woman from San Jose, occurring on Feb. 6. It is still possible that COVID-19 was in the United States prior to January, as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn't begin testing for coronavirus until early February, with the rollout marred by contamination in the initial testing kits. The Stanford study also is limited to people who sought medical treatment because they exhibited symptoms of a respiratory illness. Researchers suggest that as many as half of people infected with the coronavirus are asymptomatic. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Matthew Tom is a Homepage Editor at SFGATE. Email: mtom@sfgate.com. The Haryana government will bear three months interest on education loans taken by thousands of students in the state, Chief Minister M L Khattar announced here on Wednesday. Haryana government will pay the interest of three months of all those students who are completing their education this year or who have already completed their education in the previous year, but have not been able to start their jobs or business due to this coronavirus pandemic. As many as 36,000 students will be benefitted, he said in a televised address to the people of the state. The burden on the ex-chequer for this is estimated to be about Rs 40 crore. The Haryana government will also bear two percent of the total interest on loans of up to Rs 50,000 under the Shishu Yojana of the Centres Mudra Loan Scheme, an official statement here quoted the chief minister as saying. They will not be required to give any type of collateral for this loan. Under this scheme, loan will be provided to 5 lakh people in the state, Khattar said. He said the state government will provide loans up to Rs 15,000 to three lakh poor people for starting their own small businesses at nominal two percent rate of interest. These loans will be provided under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme, in which banks charge four percent interest. Of this, two percent interest will be borne by the state government, he said. He said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic activity has been limited for the last three months. As a result, not only the family incomes have been affected but the governments revenue has also come down drastically, he said. The chief minister said banks will play a prominent role in restarting businesses that have suffered due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. But applicants often face various problems in availing loans from different banks. Since the last three months, e-governance has been widely used by the government to help the common man. Keeping this in mind, a portal is being developed on which one can apply for any kind of loan from any bank to start a new venture. The state government will ensure that all such loan applications are approved by banks without any delay, he said. Khattar said the government was determined that in this crisis not even a single person should remain deprived of food. Daily needs of families will not suffer due to lack of family income. With this resolve in mind, financial assistance of Rs 636 crore has been provided to 15,09,108 families in the last three months in Haryana. This amount has been directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, he said. The chief minister said keeping in mind the spirit of the Antyodaya scheme that no one should sleep hungry, free ration is also being made available to more than 27 lakh families by the state government. Apart from this, 3,70,925 families who do not have ration cards are also being provided free ration through Distress Ration Tokens. In addition, so far 2.62 crore food packets and more than 12,22,000 dry ration packets have also been distributed to needy people, he said. About migrant labourers, he said that more than 2 lakh labourers have so far been send to their native states from Haryana through a total of 53 trains and 4,257 buses. During the last two months, more than 600 shelter homes have also been run for stranded labourers, he said. The chief minister said many types of relaxations have been given during the lockdown since May 18 and majority of economic activities have been allowed. However, many businesses need government assistance to resume their work, he said. Far from their homeland in Assam, migrant workers in Kerala have no issues in staying back in God's Own Country during COVID-19 lockdown as long as they get jobs and money in their pockets. Workers, employed in shops and establishments or factories and taken care by their employers, are largely happy to stay back while the daily wagers who have no permanent jobs and hit by COVID-19 lockdown desperately want to return. "I have no problem here. We are having work and are getting paid. Our accommodation has been taken care of", Jakari Ahmed, hailing from Nagaon district in Assam, told PTI. The 21-year old man, working in a Aluva-based house construction company for the past eight months, said he came to Kerala seven years ago and was very happy to be in the state. He was earlier employed elsewhere. Asked if he was keen to return to his home state, Ahmed's response was: "Only if there is any problem here. There are no issues here and we are happy to be working in Kerala." Ahmed says he misses his family, particularly now with Ramzan round the corner. Normally during Ramzan he visits his parents. This time due to the lockdown, it was not possible, he said adding he does miss his mother's home cooked food. Asked if he was missing Assamese cuisine, Ahmed said they cook fish, chicken and vegetables and have started liking Kerala food also. Echoing Ahmed's views, nineteen-year-old Jurul Islam, who came to Kerala seven months ago, said he was happy to be here as there was work. "In kerala we are getting food and work. We do not want to go back". Jurul said he does miss his parents and other relatives. "There are times I feel like going back. But there is no train now", he rued. "I speak to them. They are calling me. There is lockdown. .. how will I go?' Jurul, also from Nagaon, asked. The two are working forAbdul Razak, who is engaged in house construction, activities relating to car parking areas and structural works. There are at least four others from Assam working for him. "None of them have gone back. We have given them place to stay, food and extra Rs 3000 is being given to them a week. So they are extremely happy to be here", he told PTI. Even though the Kerala government has offered accommodation and food, Razak said he was very particular that his workers should not mingle with too many people during lockdown to minimise chances of infection. They have been toldto keep themselves indoors as much as possible for their own safety, he said. The other section of migrants who depend on jobs on daily basis, and known as footloose workers, had been hit hard with no work during the lockdown. Some of them said COVID-19 situation in their villages has been same as in Kerala and want to go back to their state as there was no point in staying back without jobs. Manuel from Udalguri district of Assam has been jobless since the announcement of lockdown and keen to go back home although he feels safe in Kerala. "We feel safe in Kerala. In our village also people are safe. So there is no difference", says Manuel, a representative of footloose workers. "We are not getting any job after lockdown announcement. So we want to go back to our state," he said. Manuel, who is currently in Kottayam looking for a job for survival, however, said some people who were getting jobs, particularly in the construction sector, wanted to stay back at least for two to three months in Kerala and earn some more money. "If I get a job tomorrow, I will also try to stay back here for 2-3 months to earn some money. Because I don't have a single coin in my hand now. No point in hanging around here being jobless," Manuel said. Kerala Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan said the state doesn't want its "guest workers" to go back and assured all rights and benefits for them on par with the state workers. "They will be given legal protection too," the Minister told PTI. The Minister also said the state will continue to provide all facilities to guest workers once they return to Kerala after COVID-19 scare gets over. Benoy Peter, associated with an organisation taking up the cause of migrant workers, said a study conducted by them in Kerala has revealed that a majority of these workers want to go back to their states as their job security was at a risk due to COVID-19. "Footloose labourers are in absolute distress due to the lockdown announcement. They don't have jobs and they want to go back to their states," Peter, Executive Director of the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, a non-profit organisation, told PTI. According to the Kerala government, over 42,000 guest workers have left the state by the special trains arranged for them to reach their native places. The highest number of workers who returned to their state is from Bihar -- 11,157. "We expect at least one lakh guest workers will also leave the state very soon," the official told PTI. Over 4.1 lakh guest workers were accommodated in 22,000 camps set up by the government for them to ensure their safe stay during COVID-19 lockdown period. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-14 19:20:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) on Thursday announced 37 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of infections in the country to 98. The latest cases are Mongolian nationals who returned home from Russia on Wednesday, Dulmaa Nyamkhuu, head of the NCCD, said during a news conference on Thursday afternoon. All 98 cases in Mongolia are imported, including four non-nationals. Among the confirmed cases, 15 patients, including the four foreign nationals, have recovered so far. A French national tested positive for the virus on March 10, becoming the first confirmed case in Mongolia. Enditem No seasoning wimps need show up in the enviable kitchen of Diana Kennedy, the famed cook and British expat who has devoted most of her life to chronicling and conquering Mexican cuisine. And in Elizabeth Carrolls debut documentary, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy, a group of eager acolytes try not to flinch beneath her gimlet gaze and salt-seeking palate. Kennedy may be pushing her centenary, but her words are as sharp as her flavor profiles. Having spent six decades traveling far and wide to research Mexicos regional recipes, Kennedy is still shockingly active. As she cooks and teaches in her solar-powered ranch in the mountains of Michoacan, bouncing to markets along rutted roads in her small truck, her director follows closely and listens to her opine on everything from chiles to having children. Kennedy, tiny and talkative, has a lot of opinions; her director, however, is content to observe and admire. The media record barber Karl Manke, of Owosso, giving a free haircut to Parker Shonts on the steps of the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing, Mich., on May 20, 2020. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo) 7 Barbers Ticketed for Cutting Hair at Michigan Capitol LANSING, Mich.Police ticketed seven people for cutting hair during a protest outside the Michigan Capitol, where about a dozen barbers and hair stylists defied stay-at-home orders to give free hair cuts on May 20. At one point, about 300 people attended the demonstration that was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition to oppose the measures imposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to curb the spread of the CCP virus. More than 5,000 residents have died from COVID-19 complications in the state. Seven barbers or hairdressers were cited for disorderly conductengaging in an illegal occupation or businessafter being warned by state police. The cases were referred to the state attorney general. The penalty is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. A Michigan State Police trooper talks with hair stylist Jody Hebberd while giving free haircuts at the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing, Mich., on May 20, 2020. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo) Whitmers stay-home order requires the closure of nonessential businesses and places of public accommodation such as salons. Angela Rigas, of Caledonia in western Michigan, said she was ticketed after refusing three times to stop cutting hair. Were all here for the same reason todayto show the governor that our rights do not come from her and that we need to open Michigan. People need to get back to work, she said. One hairdresser draped patrons in an American flag cape. Organizers urged the crowd to contribute to a GoFundMe page to help cover fines and legal costs for the barbers. Attendees, many not wearing masks or keeping 6 feet apart, jeered troopers when they issued warnings or tickets. I will not stand down, said Karl Manke, a 77-year-old barber who cut hair at the demonstration. His license was suspended by regulators last week after he reopened his shop in Owosso. The media record barber Karl Manke, of Owosso, giving a free haircut to Parker Shonts on the steps of the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing, Mich., on May 20, 2020. (Paul Sancya/AP Photo) Whitmer, whose handling of the pandemic has been supported in public polling, is gradually lifting restrictions so more business sectors can partly or fully reopen. The stay-at-home order is in effect at least through May 28. She said this week it is very unlikely that salons and barbershops will be allowed to reopen next week, saying people cannot socially distance for a haircut. During a visit to Midland to address flooding that has forced thousands to evacuate, Whitmer told reporters Wednesday that she understands the protesters frustration. But the more people moving about and flouting the law, the harder its going to be turn the dial and take the next step. In the midst of a global pandemic, what I ask is that people do so in a way that does not expose themselves or others to a prolonged public health crisis, she said. By David Eggert Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. Bankruptcy doesn't need to mean the end of a company. It can be a shot to shed debt, reorganize and come out stronger. But during the coronavirus pandemic, bankruptcy filings are increasingly spelling doom for retailers. In turn, it threatens thousands of more workers in an economy that has already suffered tens of millions of lost jobs. Retailers' woes could also have an impact on this year's election campaign as employment will increasingly become a focus for politicians looking to appeal to the working class. The bad news for retailers and their employees keeps piling up. Home goods chain Pier 1 this week announced plans to liquidate its business after failing to find a buyer. Modell's announced plans to shutter its business in March. Grocer Earth Fare, which filed for bankruptcy in February, only found a buyer for parts of it. Contrast their fortunes with retailers like Macy's and Mattress Firm, which have utilized court protection to get out of bad leases and downsize to their most profitable stores. Some, like Gymboree and Payless ShoeSource, emerged from bankruptcy only to fall back in. But at least they had a shot to come back. Those shots are likely to be fewer in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, according to retail and restructuring experts. Retail was already facing broader challenges as shoppers increasingly abandoned malls for online commerce. Now, the financing for retail isn't there as banks tighten their purse strings. It's not clear that shoppers are going to be there, either. A second wave of the coronavirus could be on the way later this year as states relax social-distancing guidelines and reopen their economies under the guidance of the Trump administration. "Given the fact that unemployment on its way to 20% and social distancing is an unpleasant reality it's difficult for me to envision a world where a bankrupt company trying to emerge from a Chapter 11 proceeding is going to be able to put financial projections that lenders have confidence in," said Eric Danner, a partner with CohnReznick Advisory's Restructuring & Dispute Resolution Practice. So far this year, the number of liquidation plans by bankrupt retailers has not outpaced previous years. Five of the 15 retailers that have filed for bankruptcy to date have announced plans to shutter their businesses, according to data provider Debtwire, though some of those retailers could still turn into a liquidation. Last year, 16 of the 25 retailers that filed for bankruptcy liquidated. The year prior, 11 of 23 bankrupt retailers shuttered their doors. But it's only May. Guwahati, May 21 : With Assam's Covid-19 tally more than doubling in four days taking the total count to 203 as on Thursday night, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attributed the rise to the huge number of people returning to the state. Sarma said that the sudden spike in the Covid-19 cases is due to large scale return of the people after the union Home Ministry withdraw the inter-state transport restriction on May 4. "So far by train and by road, 37,000 people, mostly from southern and western India, returned to Assam. "Over 12 lakh people of the state are residing in different parts of the country. We are requesting them not to rush to the state to prevent a chaotic situation. Return to the state slowly. The Assam government has been providing financial aid to those people staying in different states," the minister told the media. He said that of the total cases, 36 cases are attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat's congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin in March, 32 cases are contracts, 112 are due to inter-state travelling and remaining various reasons and unknown source. Out of the 203 cases, 54 people have been discharged from hospitals after they recovered from the disease and three migrated to other states, while four died, including a 16-year-old girl. On Sunday, Assam had 100 cases, with two death and 41 people recovered from the dreaded virus. Addressing the media, Sarma also said that the Assam government has launched a new scheme -- "Ruthless Quarantine, With Big Heart". "Under this mandatory quarantine protocol, each suspected person must be in 14 days quarantine - 7-day instutional and 7-day home. Government will spend Rs 13,000 per head for 14 days," he said, adding that if the home or institutional quarantine system failed, it would be a very big challenge to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the society. The minister said that under the Assam Community Surveillance Plan (ACSP), no Covid-19 patient was found yet even after the health workers and doctors have already visited 21,500 villages across the state. They found only 20,000 people with various types of fever, not related to Covid-19. The Assam government on May 7, launched an ambitious community-based surveillance (ACSP) for Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) across the state to contain the possible spread of Covid-19. Under the ACSP, health workers including doctors would go to all 30,000 villages to identify the ILI and SARI cases in the villages. Sarma also said that in order that economic activities and public services are not affected, the state government will instead of identifying a district as "Red" or "Orange" zone, will identify a certain area as a "Containment zone" and adjoining areas as "Buffer zone". "If any one escape from the quarantine center or violate the quarantine policy, police will take strictest action against them," Sarma warned. He said that the state is currently testing 1,000 to 1,200 samples per day. (Photo : Samsung) Galaxy S20 TE (Tactical Edition) (Photo : REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer) Soldiers of German Army Bundeswehr load a U.S. M109 tank onto a heavy goods transporter during preparations for the Defender-Europe 20 international military exercises in Bergen Hohne, Germany, February 12, 2020. Samsung has released a military-grade edition of its Galaxy S20 for users at the Department of Defense and the federal government operators. The Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition (TE) will come with "military-grade security," including two layers of NSA-standard encryption and customized software and features for classified and tactical applications. This device also features Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), Android Precision Assault Strike Suite (APASS), Kinetic Integrated Low-Cost Software Integrated Tactical Handheld (KILSWITCH) and battlefield assisted trauma distributed observation kit (BATDOK). According to CNET, it can simultaneously run multiple mission applications. The Galaxy S20 TE is great for performing missions as it has night-vision and stealth modes, while the DeX software can be used in performing mission planning and reports on the move. Samsung releases Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition with military-grade security; Probably not for regular buyers In a statement, Samsung said the smartphone "can operate seamlessly with a range of existing peripherals and supports the requirements of tactical and classified applications." This can also assist operators in navigating through complex terrain and a long stretch of distance. More importantly, this helps users when communication with command units is lost. Slated for release in the third quarter of this year, Galaxy S20 TE can connect to tactical radios and mission systems with excellent 5G and Wi-Fi 6 support. Samsung Electronics America's Head of the Mobile B2B Division and General Manager Taher Behbehani said this smartphone "is a result of coordination and feedback received from our Department of Defense customers and partners." The device provides the user with a field advantage while allowing the IT teams with a highly secured technology that can be deployed easily in a controlled environment. The Samsung Galaxy S20 TE will be available only through certain IT partners, so regular customers may not be able to get it. You can get more information about the product through the Samsung website or the Samsung Government programs. Galaxy S20 TE Specs Galaxy S20 TE offers a mobile solution that works with a wide range of technologies. It is supported by a military-grade Samsung Knox mobility platform as well as a unique configuration of Galaxy device tools. Offers Great Connection. Galaxy S20 TE can connect to tactical radios and mission systems to ensure seamless operations throughout multi-domain environments. It also features multi-ethernet capabilities as well as a wide range of network support through SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and CBRS. Galaxy S20 TE can connect to tactical radios and mission systems to ensure seamless operations throughout multi-domain environments. It also features multi-ethernet capabilities as well as a wide range of network support through SIM, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and CBRS. It provides accurate situational awareness. It supports the unique requirements of the military with highly customized features. It has a night-vision mode that allows the operator to navigate on the display while wearing night vision. Meanwhile, the stealth mode disables LTE and mutes all RF broadcasting. Also, the device can be easily unlocked in landscape mode while mounted to the user's chest. Operators can also launch their most commonly used apps quickly by pressing a button. It supports the unique requirements of the military with highly customized features. It has a night-vision mode that allows the operator to navigate on the display while wearing night vision. Meanwhile, the stealth mode disables LTE and mutes all RF broadcasting. Also, the device can be easily unlocked in landscape mode while mounted to the user's chest. Operators can also launch their most commonly used apps quickly by pressing a button. Multi-function Device. Operators need an easy-to-carry lightweight device that offers the power they need during a mission. Its powerful 64-bit Octa-Core processor can support the simultaneous running of multiple mission applications like ATAK, APASS, KILSWITCH, and BATDOK. Operators need an easy-to-carry lightweight device that offers the power they need during a mission. Its powerful 64-bit Octa-Core processor can support the simultaneous running of multiple mission applications like ATAK, APASS, KILSWITCH, and BATDOK. Galaxy S20 TE also carries Samsung DeX software, bringing "a PC-like experience when connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse," is useful for completing reports or potting mission. Certified Special Operations Security. The device's defense-grade mobile security platform, Samsung Knox, protects it "from hardware through software layers." Meanwhile, DualDAR architecture further secures the Galaxy S20 TE with two layers of encryption, even when it is powered off. This multi-defense system allows the device to meet the most stringent regulated industry requirements. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The true cause of ruining cooperation between the two states is Russia's ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has responded to a comment by the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the first anniversary of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in office. Read alsoCrimea never disappears from the radar screen Zelensky "[The] comment by the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the first anniversary of Volodymyr Zelensky assuming the office as President of Ukraine constitutes yet another attempt by Russia to interfere in Ukraine's internal affairs, to impose distorted interpretation of reality, to split up the Ukrainian society and divert attention from its own responsibility under international law for the aggression against Ukraine," the Ukrainian ministry said in a statement on May 21. "Authors of the above comment accuse Ukraine of pursuing a state policy of Russophobia and exacerbating tensions in relations with Russia. This is one of the telling examples of disinformation. Facts clearly testify that the true cause of ruining cooperation between the two states is the Russian ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine, occupation of Ukrainian territories by Russia and illegal detention of Ukrainian citizens by Russia," the statement said. The Ukrainian ministry says that the "hostile language of Russian MFA's comment contains no hint of constructiveness and casts doubt on the Russian side's readiness for diplomatic resolution." "Meanwhile, Ukraine takes a constructive stance in the Normandy format and the Minsk process, and strives for resolving the conflict diplomatically, bringing forward relevant initiatives. The new delegation of Ukraine to the TCG as well as its constructive stance at the latest TCG meeting are among the most recent evidence of such an approach," the statement said. The Ukrainian ministry expects Russia to change its propaganda rhetoric and move to the constructive cooperation, aimed at ending the occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as Crimea. As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukrainian President Zelensky of the policy of confrontation and escalation of tensions in relations with Russia. The brand behind Australia's 'most comfortable mattress' has released a stylish desk in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it can be set up without any tools in four minutes flat. Koala realised that the global virus has forced many people to start working from home so the demand for a portable, pop-up desk has risen significantly nationwide. If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide the $400 adult desk will arrive at your front door for free in just four hours, meaning you can have it paid for, delivered and assembled by sundown on the same day. The brand behind Australia's 'most comfortable mattress' has released a stylish desk (pictured) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic If you live in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide the $400 adult desk or $300 children's desk will ship to your front door for free in just four hours There are bag hooks on the side for easy storage of headphones and other hangable objects If your residence is in a non-metro area you'll still get shipping for free, but the desk will arrive in 1-5 days. Every desk comes with a 120-night trial so you can test it out for four months, and if it doesn't suit your environment, ship it back and get a full refund. 'The Koala work from home desk is built from high-grade, sturdy 18mm ply so it'll last another five years of iso - and it's finished with a beautiful birch veneer, so it's tough as nails, but easy on the eyes,' the website reads. It features gutters for your tablet or laptop to rest against and clever cable management at the back so you don't have wires running along the desk while you work The worktop is anti-microbial by design so it won't be a carrier of any germs during the pandemic and won't spread illness within the family, no matter who is using the desk There are bag hooks on the side for easy storage of headphones and other objects, gutters for your tablet or laptop to rest against and clever cable management at the back so you don't have wires running along the desk while you work. To keep it clean the company suggests dusting the surface with a dry cloth or duster in the direction of the natural grain once a week. If possible keep it out of direct sunlight so the colour of the wood isn't compromised and don't place hot objects - like a coffee - directly onto the surface of the plywood. You can preorder the desk in both sizes from today and it will officially be on sale from May 25. Premier Inn owner Whitbread is looking to raise over 1billion from its shareholders via a rights issue in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet. Whitbread's shareholders are being offered the chance to buy one new share for every two existing ones they own. The group has furloughed around 27,000 of its staff and claimed it had saved up to 80million by using the Government's Job Retention Scheme. The company is paying the additional 20 per cent of salaries, meaning staff remain on full pay. Cash quest: Premier Inn owner Whitbread is looking to raise over 1billion from its shareholders via a rights issue The FTSE 100 listed group's share price nose-dived this morning and is currently down 15.72 per cent or 447p to 2,396p. A year ago, the share price stood at around the 4,549p mark. Cash generated from the rights issue looks set to be used to snap up cut price land and start building new hotel sites. Whitbread, which has suspended its dividend, said it had burnt through around 600million during the Covid-19 pandemic to date. The company shut all its hotels and restaurants in March due to the outbreak, but has reopened 16 hotels in Germany and has a small number of sites open in the UK for key workers. What is a rights issue? Companies use rights issue when they want to raise cash quickly. A rights issue is when existing shareholders of a company are given the chance to buy new shares, in proportion to the size of their existing shareholding. In a bid to make sure shareholders sign up, they are usually offered the new shares at a discount to the current share price. As a rule of thumb, the more desperate the company is for cash, the bigger the discount. A rights issue will usually be underwritten by a stockbroker who will buy up any unused rights so that the company raises all the money it needs to. The group said it expects hotels and restaurants in the UK to remain closed or operate at low occupancy levels until September, and has seen its accommodation revenue drop by 99 per cent in the last seven weeks. Within the UK, the firm has 39 Premier Inn hotels open to accommodate NHS staff and other key workers. At the 39 open hotels, Whitbread said it had implemented 'workable solutions' for social distancing, including enhanced cleaning, protective screens and the use of signs. Looking ahead, the group said: 'Demand recovery is expected to be slow as social distancing restrictions are gradually relaxed.' Whitbread said that around 80million of cash per month is expected to flow out of the business while closures continue, with an extra 100million being dished out for customer refunds. The company said adjusted pretax profit dropped to 358million for the year ending 27 February, down from 390million a year earlier. Full year revenues rose to 2.07billion, while statutory profits for the year rose by 23.2 per cent to 218million. As far as the full year numbers are concerned, trading in the second half saw an improvement in the UK, while in Germany, hotel network capacity grew to 9,800 rooms, spanning 52 hotels. Alison Brittain, Whitbread's chief executive, said: 'Whitbread delivered a resilient financial performance in FY20 in line with expectations, against a backdrop of low UK business and consumer confidence which particularly impacted the regional hotel market. Downward slide: Premier Inn owner Whitbread saw revenue slide 99% in the last seven weeks 'The commercial initiatives we implemented during H1 helped drive a particularly strong end to the year, when we were trading ahead of the market and achieving very strong guest scores. In Germany, we completed the acquisition of the Foremost Hotels on 28 February 2020, growing the number of open and pipeline hotels to 52.' On the figures and rights issue revealed this morning, Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: 'Market reaction to the rights issue has been predictably negative, with the shares sharply lower, and while no shareholder likes to have to put their hands in their pockets there is a certain logic to be had with the raising of this extra cash. 'With UK holidaymakers unable or unwilling to travel abroad Whitbread has the perfect opportunity to take advantage of a big increase in staycations as a result of the pandemic. This extra cash could be enormously helpful in precipitating that.' The hospitality sector, one of the hardest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to face huge challenges once its given the green light to get back up and running again. Holidaymakers may be cautious about staying in hotels and demand could remain sluggish for some time. Millions of jobs in the sector are also on the line, with hotels burning through cash while their doors remain closed. This week, trade Body UK Hospitality wrote to business secretary Alok Sharma to highlight that despite a moratorium on enforcement action, some hospitality businesses were still being aggressively pursued by landlords. UK Hospitality said some venues were being targeted with winding-up petitions, having deposit funds taken and being served with County Court Judgements. The trade body warned that where landlords have been offered rent deferrals, they are likely to end up with mountains of debt that they may not be able to pay back if holidaymakers stay away and trading levels remain low. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 18:00:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WINDHOEK, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has recorded two new cases of COVID-19 after 45 days without new infections, Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula announced on Thursday. The news comes as a blow to the southwest African nation with only two cases remaining after 14 of the previous cases tested negative. Shangula said the two cases tested positive while in quarantine. A 66-year-old Namibian female resident and another female citizen aged 28 had both returned from neighbouring South Africa, Africa's most affected country. The detection of the two cases, after a period of 45 days without a new case, should rekindle our resolve to intensify our fight against COVID-19 in the country, the minister said. Enditem Governor Gretchen Whitmer considered the ongoing flooding was one of the worst the state had seen. She said that local authorities would conduct an investigation on the dam operators. During an aerial assessment, the governor said that it truly was "devastating". In Sanford, waters reached as high as windows on the first story of buildings, and vehicles were almost completely submerged. Longstanding failure of dam capacity According to a report by Michigan Radio, the week-long rain accumulated enough water that led the river to overflow. The City of Midland, they said, was bracing for the worst as communities from Sanford and Edenville were also forced to leave their homes. The news reached the White House. President Donald Trump made an announcement on Wednesday calling for the federal government to keep themselves updated on new developments in Michigan. He urged residents to stay safe and listen to the instructions of the local authorities. A bridge in Midland collapsed and residents were cut off from electricity, according to reports by WILX. In a document published in September 2018, regulators attributed the flood to the "longstanding failure" of the hydropower generating dam to bolster the spillway capacity of the project to safely pass the flow of the floodwater. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee reported that the main priority would be the safety of the residents in the heavily impacted areas. The investigation into the breach would be directed by dam operators Boyce Hydro Power, LLC. In addition, Chatterjee said that FERC would send an engineer from the staff to the site. The committee would be coordinating with state officials for the entire duration of the investigation. On top of handling the coronavirus crisis, Whitmer said that it would be doubly hard for the evacuees to practice social distancing and isolation measures in evacuation centers. She said that matters must be taken more seriously than ever before, especially since 79 of 83 of the state cities were at moderate to high risk of coronavirus. Check these out! Officials warn of more flooding Local enforcement like the Michigan State Police, National guard, and emergency first responders spent the whole night helping residents find shelter. As of yet, warnings from the Michigan Department of Transportation advise to stay away from state roads due to flooding. On Wednesday, they sent notifications to residents of flooding in certain places in several counties. Reports by the National Weather Service warned of extremely dangerous and life-threatening flooding that would continue through the week in various flood warnings. They added that it was the result of failures at the dams in Edenville and Sanford. Large companies like Dow Chemical also confirmed that the floodwaters were "commingling" with containment ponds on-site. Their headquarters were in the city of Midland, and so they coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard to initiate and send out emergency response plans. They assured that commingling did not mean there would be any immediate threat to the residents or cause damage to the environment. In 2018, Australian beef and wine exports were left at the docks, unable to enter China. In 2019, Australian coal exports were held up at Chinese ports. Recently, following Prime Minister Scott Morrisons call for an independent international inquiry into COVID-19 outbreaks origin, China suspended beef imports from four Australian abattoirs, and slapped a crippling 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley. Australia is far from the only country to suffer Beijings economic coercion tactics, and it is time to look for ways to work with other like-minded countries to put a stop to it. How to deal with a coercive China and its authoritarian leader Xi Jinping? Credit:Bloomberg/Shutterstock Although Australian officials deny it, industrial representatives, journalists, and economists have interpreted the events as Beijings attempts to punish Australia for its perceived political missteps. In some quarters of Australian business, the misconception exists that the punishment is deserved when Australia continues to upset China, but the reality we face is an emerging superpower growing more demanding by the day, and redefining what counts as upsetting. Domestically, the Chinese Communist Party rules with an unyielding iron fist, throwing dissenters journalists, activists, ethnic minorities in jail on trumped-up charges. Now the regime is attempting to replicate the formula on the international stage, pushing back aggressively on claims it detests, and threatening those who make them. By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two studies in monkeys published on Wednesday offer some of the first scientific evidence that surviving COVID-19 may result in immunity from reinfection, a positive sign that vaccines under development may succeed, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. Although scientists have assumed that antibodies produced in response to the new coronavirus virus are protective, there has been scant scientifically rigorous evidence to back that up. In one of the new studies, researchers infected nine monkeys with COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. After they recovered, the team exposed them to the virus again and the animals did not get sick. The findings suggest that they "do develop natural immunity that protects against re-exposure," said Dr. Dan Barouch, a researcher at the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center in Boston, whose studies were published in the journal Science. "It's very good news," Barouch said. Several research teams have released papers - many of them not reviewed by other scientists - suggesting that a vaccine against the virus would be effective in animals. In the second study, Barouch and colleagues tested 25 monkeys with six prototype vaccines to see if antibodies produced in response were protective. They then exposed these monkeys and 10 control animals to SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the novel coronavirus. All of the control animals showed high degrees of virus in their noses and lungs, but in the vaccinated animals, "we saw a substantial degree of protection," Barouch said. Eight of the vaccinated animals were completely protected. These studies, which have been peer reviewed, do not prove that humans develop immunity or how long it might last, but they are reassuring. "These data will be seen as a welcome scientific advance," Barouch said. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Bill Berkrot) On May 18, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed in a tweet that he had written a letter addressed to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). In the letter, Trump claimed that "if the WHO does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of U.S. funding to the WHO permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization." In the last few years, the U.S. has already withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN), and other international agreements and organizations. It seems very clear that some American politicians will withdraw from any organization that doesn't do what the U.S. says. Such arrogance may have resulted from the comprehensive strength that the U.S. feels so confident about. But the fact remains that the country has done a poor job in containing the epidemic. America believes in "my way or the highway, but this law of the jungle has not applied to civilization for a long time. If it were to withdraw from the WHO now, it would abandon its responsibility and duty to the world, risk the lives of all people, and become an accomplice of the novel coronavirus. If the rest of the world were to allow this unreasonable and unscrupulous behavior from the U.S., civilization would move backwards and the lives and interests of human beings would suffer irreparable harm. Mankind lives in a community with a shared future, and unity and cooperation are the only way out of the epidemic. It is immoral and unrealistic for the U.S. to threaten and blackmail other countries. If the U.S. continues to make threats to end funding to the WHO and pull out of the international body, international anti-epidemic cooperation will continue. During the just concluded 73rd session of the World Health Assembly, many world leaders expressed support for the WHO and called for solidarity and cooperation amid the pandemic. Now is a time for unity, said Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN. President Emmanuel Macron of France pointed out that the world must not be divided at this moment and needs a strong organization like the WHO to combat the novel coronavirus. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is convinced that only through strong international cooperation will countries survive the crisis, and said she will fully support the WHO. BOSTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FinMason, a FinTech firm and investment analytics provider that enables WealthTech platforms to accelerate development and time-to-market, today announced that it has been selected by RiskPro, a revolutionary risk profiling and portfolio construction system that helps Financial Advisors improve the investor experience, to deliver fixed income risk calculations. "The wealth management industry has typically had poor access to robust fixed income analytics. This is because there are few providers and they charge high prices," said Nick Scalzo, CEO of RiskPro. "By leveraging FinMason's fixed income solution, we can now provide institutional-grade risk calculations on individual fixed income instruments at no additional cost to our customers." FinMason's modern technology platform will allow RiskPro to consume fixed income analytics on any bond or bond portfolio via a simple API call that will be fully integrated within their system, providing the additional analytics needed to be even more precise with their risk calculations. For clients, the integration will be invisible, except for the more precise output. "RiskPro's time-tested risk algorithm was a big differentiator during the last equity decline. Their Perpetual Suitability approach to risk proved to be robust even in the face of statistically improbable declines," said Kendrick Wakeman, CEO of FinMason. "As investors increasingly stretch for yield in this unusual rate environment, RiskPro is positioning themselves to save their clients yet again should the environment change, as it inevitably will at some point." This partnership announcement follows last week's news that the first European headquartered firm to adopt the FinMason API would be Enhance Group, which would be incorporating multi-asset analytics at both the security and portfolio levels. ABOUT RISKPRO RiskPro is an investment risk profiling and portfolio construction software as a service platform developed by ProTools, LLC ("ProTools"). RiskPro is an edge-technology company headquartered in Newport Beach, CA. Through RiskPro, financial institutions and their advisors can support their fiduciary responsibilities to provide clients with prudent investment advice and investment account surveillance. For more, visit www.riskproadvisor.com. ABOUT FINMASON FinMason, one of the world's largest investment analytics engines for financial services platforms, enables WealthTech platforms to accelerate development and time-to-market while retaining control of their user experience. Built with speed, flexibility, and scalability in mind, the financial technology firm calculates and delivers more than 700 analytics on every publicly-traded asset in the world via one simple API. For more information, visit www.finmason.com. SOURCE FinMason Related Links http://finmason.com/ Can you go to office? Can you drive your car across to the next state, or the next city? Can you take public transport? Can you even get a haircut? On March 25, the day India imposed the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, the answer to all these questions was a resounding no. There was one rule, and all citizens had to abide by the restrictions. Today, even as lockdown 4.0 has got officially extended to May 31, the answer to the questions is depends; depends on where you are and which state jurisdiction has adopted what rules. So if you are in Delhi, you cant get a hair cut and will have to live with that long beard or unkempt look for some more time, but if you are in Thiruvananthapuram, you can walk into a salon. If you are in Gurugram or Noida, you can drive down to Delhi but if you are in Delhi, you may not be able drive back to Gurugram or Noida. If you are in Bengaluru, you can work in office at full capacity. But if you have an office in Mumbai, your office can only have one-third of the staff. If you are in Kolkata and need to take a quick auto ride with your spouse, both of you can hop in to one auto rickshaw. But if you are in Delhi, both of you will have to take two separate autos. This, often bewildering, set of rules symbolises lockdown 4.0. Advocates say it is a better reflection of local realities, with states now having the power to decide zones and extent of activity in each area; others believe that this creates confusion for individuals, companies, and even local government authorities. Take companies. A companys office in Delhi or Bengaluru may have started functioning from Tuesday but its office in Mumbai has remained closed, due to the lockdown. Maharashtra government has decided to enforce lockdown 3.0 regulations in Mumbai, in which only 33% of workers are allowed in non-containment areas. Eighteen of the 27 municipal corporations in the state, including all in and around Mumbai, are in the red zone. It (restrictions in Mumbai) has created some functional problems for us, as our head office is in Mumbai, said a Bengaluru-based systems analyst, Srinivasa Murthy, working with a multinational information technology company. Most companies had to introduce city-specific working protocols as lockdown norms are not same in all cities. It has added to our work but we have to deal with it, commented an HR manager in a second Bengaluru-based IT company, requesting anonymity. Or take public transport. After 56 days, public transport buses, cabs and auto rickshaws returned to many cities, with different city norms. In Kolkata, only 20 passengers per bus are allowed. In Bengaluru, buses can run up to half of its capacity. Autos in Bengal can carry two passengers and in Delhi only one. But the ease in curbs has often not translated into passengers, for there appears to be caution. Or take inter-state travel. While Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments have allowed inter-state travel, the administrations in Noida and Gurugram have prohibited it. In Maharashtra, even inter-district travel is difficult. There is an even bigger issue with long-distance travel, with citizens at a loss in the absence of clarity. KC Jain, a cancer survivor, living in Vishal Khand area of Lucknow, wanted to drive down to Jodhpur to bring his wife back. He applied for an e-pass, which was rejected. My wife is stuck in Rajasthan for nearly two months, he said. Kerala and Punjab have allowed barber shops. Delhi and Mumbai have not. Uttarakhand and Rajasthan have come up with strict conditions only one person is to be allowed inside a barber shop at a time and there must be proper provision of masks, sanitisers and thermal scanners. UP and MP will allow salons and barber shops from Thursday. And the experience of a hair cut itself has changed, for both the customer and the barber. Joseph Mathew walked into a salon in Thiruvananthapuram carrying his own towel, for a haircut, his first during the lockdown, and was surprised to find his barber was covered from head to toe in a protective gear. I never imagined such a scene, he said, as two customers got their hair done in distant corners. The first quarter of 2020 saw a modest fall in Irish agricultural land values after a relatively stable opening three months to the year. As the end of the quarter coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent implementation of a national lockdown, there was no evidence of a significant impact on values as March closed. According to data from Sherry FitzGerald Research, the weighted average price of farmland in Ireland, excluding Dublin, was approximately 8,850 per acre at the end of the quarter. There was only a marginal change in agricultural values evident after the first three months of 2020 with prices falling 0.6% in the quarter. Carrying over from a challenging year in 2019, prices were down 4% in the twelve months to the end of March, with all regions in the country recording some reduction in values in the period. In terms of the different farm types, prime arable land saw a 0.8% reduction in value in Q1 2020, while prime grassland values saw a milder fall of 0.2%. However, after a tough twelve months, grassland values noted a larger reduction in the year to March, with prime grassland values down 5.2% in the period compared to 3.4% for prime arable land. At the end of quarter one, the weighted average price of prime arable land in Ireland, excluding Dublin, was approximately 10,700 per acre and 9,900 for prime grassland. Sentiment remained steady in the quarter, according to the report. Anecdotally, agents noted that, for the most part, activity levels were broadly in line with last year, although a drop off was observed in the Mid-West and South-West. Low supply levels were a common theme throughout the country with agents noting this as being a persistent issue for some time. By the end of March, the COVID-19 outbreak did not appear to have had an overly significant impact on the land market, the repor states. Many deals which had already begun the sales process or were sale agreed as the outbreak was unfolding completed or held. However, this impact will likely become more significant as the year progresses with farmers holding off on initiating new transactions or bringing new farms to the market until later in 2020, the report warns. Commenting on the overall market, Philip Guckian, Associate Director, Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes, Farms and Estates, said The land market started 2020 with more optimism until halted by completely unforeseeable events. The necessary precautionary public safety measures taken by governments worldwide to restrict the movement of people will have adverse implications on the economy at large as well as the land market. "In terms of the potential impact on the market, I believe that smaller farms that are less than 50 acres shouldnt be affected or should only see a small decline in value, but interest will remain strong. With regards to larger farms this is harder to predict. It may take a few months for this market to find its feet and for that time there may be a fall in values. However, land is sought after commodity in Ireland and history has shown us that there will always be a market for it. Police in Arizona say one person is in custody following a shooting that injured multiple people. According to KNXV, the shooting happened at Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale. A Glendale police spokeswoman said preliminary information was that there were three victims who suffered gunshot wounds. One person was believed to be in critical condition, and the others' conditions were not life-threatening, she said. Police have not yet identified the suspect. A spokeswoman for Westgate told The Arizona Republic they are "deeply troubled by this incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families." Arizona State Sen. Martin Quezada tweeted that he witnessed the shooting. "I saw 2 victims with my own eyes. Not sure how many others. I saw the shooter. Being told not to say anything else about details 'til I speak to police. I'm ok. Lots of shaken up people," Quezada said in his tweet. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said on social media he was monitoring the situation closely. Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NAFSA: Association of International Educators conducted a survey in early April of senior leadership at U.S.-based higher education institutions and international education organizations to gauge the financial impact of COVID-19 on the field of international education. Results indicate that U.S. higher education overall has potentially lost nearly $1 billion due to shortened or canceled study abroad programs and spent approximately $638 million in financial support for international students, scholars, faculty and staff who remained on campus when courses moved online. Responses further estimate that U.S. higher education will lose at least $3 billion due to anticipated international student enrollment declines for fall 2020. Without congressional action and financial relief to support international education, it is estimated there will be a loss of more than $4.5 billion to U.S. higher education and tens of thousands of American jobs. "With travel restrictions, visa delays, and economic instability worldwide, COVID-19 has been incredibly harmful to the field of international education," said Esther D. Brimmer, Executive Director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. "We need Congress to support legislation protecting international education to save American jobs and ensure U.S. students remain globally competitive at a time where we cannot afford to lose our competitive edge." Detailed survey results: Study Abroad 94% of institutions with study abroad programs reported shortened or canceled spring and summer programs, resulting in losses of $115 million ; when estimated across all of U.S. higher education, potential losses total nearly $1 billion . ; when estimated across all of U.S. higher education, potential losses total . 65% responded that staff positions in education abroad offices have already or may be impacted by the cancellation of study abroad programs Impacts include reduced hours, furloughs, eliminated positions, hiring freezes, and salary reductions 61% expressed uncertainty if study abroad programs will be offered for fall 2020, while 15% anticipated cancelations International Students 38% indicated ongoing support for international students who remained on campus, spending nearly $42 million ; when extrapolated across all of U.S. higher education, potential spending totals $418.5 million ; when extrapolated across all of U.S. higher education, potential spending totals Types of support include housing, scholarships, food, rent, airfare, and tuition refunds 60% reported up to 5 staff positions funded by international student fees 78% anticipate enrollment declines for fall 2020, with a loss of $192 million in revenue; when estimated across all of U.S. higher education, potential revenue losses total at least $3 billion International Scholars, Faculty, Staff 55% host or employ international scholars, faculty and staff, with 77% indicating ongoing support/employment during the crisis 36% reported providing additional financial support totaling nearly $6 million ; when estimated across all of U.S. higher education, expenditures approximate $219 million ; when estimated across all of U.S. higher education, expenditures approximate 51% responded staff positions in international student/scholar offices would not be impacted by COVID-19, while 24% indicated it was too soon to know, and 21% said positions would be impacted Impacts include reduced hours, furloughs, eliminated positions, hiring freezes, and salary reductions Other Negative Financial Impacts 41% reported additional negative financial impacts, such as loss of grants and contracts, enrollment declines due to the shift to online instruction, and compensation paid for cancelled programs. To mitigate the pandemic's damage on the international education field, and to position its recovery when it is safe for American students to study abroad and for international students and scholars to return to the U.S., NAFSA has prepared several requests to Congress. These include requests for policy changes, such as waiving the in-person interview requirement for visas, and direct financial assistance totaling $46.6 billion. Advocates of international education should contact their members of Congress to urge their support for these measures. For the full report and methodology visit www.nafsa.org/COVID19Survey. About NAFSA: With more than 10,000 members, NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education. Visit us at www.nafsa.org/press . To learn more about our advocacy efforts on behalf of international education, visit www.ConnectingOurWorld.org. Resources to guide our members on these issues can be found at www.nafsa.org/reginfo. SOURCE NAFSA: Association of International Educators Pennsylvania Democrats have mostly supported Gov. Tom Wolf as Republicans in the state legislature push him to reopen parts of the economy more quickly, and even contemplated revoking his emergency powers. But two months after Wolf ordered most of the states 12.8 million residents to stay at home and closed all businesses not deemed life-sustaining, some in his party are starting to show frustration with the coronavirus lockdowns and with the governor. The two top Democrats in the legislature wrote a letter to Wolf on Sunday praising his efforts to protect public health but also encouraging him to consider permitting real estate activity to resume in a limited capacity. He did so this week. On Tuesday, Philadelphia-area Democrats asked Wolf to consider allowing curbside pickup at all retail locations in the state. And a Democratic lawmaker from Montgomery County wrote a letter saying residents in her district have not yet seen evidence that your administration recognizes and sympathizes with the added physical, emotional, and financial suffering they are facing as a result of our prolonged stay-at-home conditions, which I know you do. State Sen. Maria Collett, who wrote the letter to Wolf on Tuesday, said Wednesday that the administration has not communicated what steps it is taking to help the Philadelphia region reach the yellow phase of Wolfs three-step reopening plan. Most businesses would be permitted to reopen at that point, with restrictions. We feel like were alone here, Collett said, describing a feeling of abandonment in her communications with the governors office. READ MORE: When will we reopen? How Pennsylvania decides whats in the red, yellow, and green phases. Democrats arent exactly defecting from the second-term governor, whose handling of the crisis has won broad support in public opinion polls. But a shift is clear. On the Democratic side, theres been fairly strong support and consensus for the governors attempts to manage the crisis," said Chris Borick, a pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. On the edges, theres some frustration and hope for both increased communications efforts to point out that there is struggle and suffering. Its adding to the pressure on the governor, Borick added. I dont think its a surprise. I think its probably going to, as we move forward into summer, probably even ramp up. More than a quarter of the states workforce has filed for unemployment benefits since the crisis started. Collett said programs implemented by the states Economic Development Department to lessen the pandemics devastating impact have failed this area. "Its really disappointing to me, said Collett, who also represents parts of Bucks County. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. In March, the state launched a $60 million relief fund for small businesses affected by the pandemic. Businesses in Bucks and Montgomery Counties have received just 4% of those funds, even though the counties account for 17% of the states general fund revenues, Collett wrote in her letter to Wolf. We know here in the Southeast that we are incredible contributors to the economy of the commonwealth," she said in the interview. "To know that contribution isnt matched necessarily proportionally with dollars here to our district to help our businesses, it is beyond devastating. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will participate in a Facebook Live chat with Collett to answer questions from her constituents Thursday an event the senator said was scheduled before she sent her letter. She said she hopes that will start a new conversation. Wolfs office didnt comment Wednesday. Other Democrats have been more circumspect. State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D., Bucks) was among 16 Senate Democrats who signed a letter to Wolf encouraging him to permit non-"life-sustaining" retail businesses to reopen for curbside pickup throughout the state a step New Jersey announced last week. READ MORE: Pennsylvania Republicans have a new campaign season villain and its not Nancy Pelosi On the one hand, we have to make sure we dont risk another spike in the virus, Santarsiero said in an interview. On the other hand, we have to be aware of the fact that we have real hardship in both... our small businesses as well as many families who have taken the brunt of this economically. The truth of the matter is we do need to start thinking about getting people back to work," he said. "I really think were getting very close to that point. Curbside pickup is part of that question. I think that would really help get things moving again. Curbside pickup for retail sales is already available in all counties that have moved from red to yellow in the states color-coded scale of pandemic severity. Forty-nine of 67 counties in the state will have yellow status as of Friday. There are no conversations about allowing curb-side pickup in red counties, Wolf said Wednesday. I understand that both chambers or both caucuses are interested in this, he said on a call with reporters. "Right now we are doing everything we can to balance the needs and desires of people to get back to work, back to shopping, back to life, and the needs to resist this virus. Santarsiero said Bucks County should be permitted to move to the yellow stage no later than June 4, when the governors stay-at-home order is set to expire. Local Democratic officials in Bucks and Delaware Counties have suggested the administrations criteria for reaching the yellow phase were too onerous, and Santarsiero said it probably does need to be reexamined. The governor knows we have been with him, Santarsiero said of Democrats in the General Assembly. We have supported what he and [Health Secretary Rachel] Levine have been trying to do, what has resulted in saving lives. I thank him for that. But I think were at a point now where there are reasonable steps that can be taken which are consistent with those goals. For their part, Bucks County Republican lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to authorize county officials to set their own criteria for reopening businesses. Rep. Frank Farry called the states plan arbitrary and illogical. Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, swiftly seized on the Democratic dissension. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Centre County Republican, knocked Wolf Tuesday for vetoing GOP-backed legislation, accusing him of using the legislature like an unofficial advisory board. State Rep. Marcey Toepel, a Montgomery County Republican, followed Wednesday with a demand on behalf of herself and 13 GOP colleagues in the southeast for Wolf to allow curbside pickup for all retailers, similar to what Democrats in the region were requesting. Toepel said it was unfair that state-run liquor stores are permitting curbside pick-up when mom-and-pop stores are on the verge of never opening their doors again. NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Doc Johnson has partnered with adult content producer Demon Time to rebrand some of its classic products under the Demon Time brand, beginning with the TRYST, iVibe Select iPlease and the recently released GoodHead Warming Oral Delight Gel. Demon Time is known for producing online content featuring performers made anonymous by a mask. Originally streamed on Instagram Live by founders Justin LaBoy and Justin Combs, it later moved to OnlyFans, making an immediate impact and receiving mainstream attention, even inviting a mention by Beyonce in Megan Thee Stallions new Savage remix. "We at Doc Johnson love to find new ways for pleasure products to break into the mainstream, so partnering with a groundbreaking and forward-thinking brand like Demon Time is a thrilling and timely opportunity, said Thao Dipolito, marketing manager of Doc Johnson. We know that those behind Demon Time share the same goals we do, such as expanding name recognition through brand partnerships and bringing other industries into the sphere of sexual health and wellness. We believe that each side will support and help grow the other, and were excited to finally share our first phase of this partnership with the public." Besides the Demon Time name, the products have all been branded with Demon Times signature purple devil logo. The three products are available for purchase on Demon Times website, demontimeproducts.com. Demon Time was started to empower adult workers who were affected by COVID-19, said Elie Maroun, a partner at Demon Time. Demon Time is meant to be more than an adult show; we will be including music performances and appearances from some of the biggest names in music and film. Demon Time is bringing many markets together by entertaining some of the most-popular celebrities of today. Justin Combs is a co-founder; Usher, Winnie Harlow, The Weeknd, YG, Trippie Redd, Kevin Durant, Odell Beckham Jr, Victor Cruz, Delon Wright and Caris LeVert have all entered into the Demon Time Party. The adult industry has always been right there next to music and film but, in a way, standing in the darkness. We wanted to reach into the darkness and bring everything together, Maroun said. The narrative in music has never used sex to be so empowering for the women. Demon Time is only the start. We have some amazing partnerships coming with Doc Johnson. Stay tuned. For more information, visit docjohnson.com. The U.S. Administration has been approving royalty rate cuts for producers on federal land on a case-by-case basis, with rates cut on at least 76 leases in Utah in recent weeks, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing data from a government database. Many small oil and gas companies have been struggling with the low prices over the past two months and some have called for royalty relief to help them with costs as oil crashed to four-year lows. The U.S. Administration has dismissed the idea of an overall blanket royalty rate reduction on federal land and offshore, but it has said that it would consider applications for two-month royalty rate cuts on a case-by-case basis. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued guidance regarding the steps oil and gas operators can take when applying for a Royalty Rate Reduction (RRR) due to COVID-19 impacts. The royalty relief is for 60 days, and in the absence of BLM action to extend it, the relief expires 60 days after an application is approved. Applications for relief are reviewed by career experts at the Bureau following longstanding procedures and its laws and regulations. Any relief granted is temporary, for up to 60 days, an official at the BLM told Reuters today. According to the database cited by Reuters, the royalty rates for companies applying for relief in Utah were slashed in many cases to 5 percent from 12.5 percent. Related: The Worlds Most Controversial Oil Frontier Falls Out Of Favor With Big Banks U.S. President Donald Trump has been keen to save the U.S. oil and gas industry, and last month he instructed his administration to look into ways to make funds available to the American oil and gas produces. We will never let the great U.S. Oil & Gas Industry down. I have instructed the Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Treasury to formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future! President Trump tweeted a day after the front-month U.S. benchmark oil futures contract crashed by more than 300% into negative territory to settle at -$37.63 per barrel. Since then, as oil prices rallied over the past two weeks, President Trump praised higher oil prices several times. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Entire Group of WSU Cybersecurity Applicants Accepted to Elite Graduate Program May 20, 2020 OGDEN, Utah Success is great, but perfect is something else, and perfect is this years success rate for Weber State University applicants to Carnegie Mellon Universitys (CMU) graduate program for information security and information management. Five students will enter the masters program in the fall, and nine are participating in the summer internship. CMUs program is ranked No. 1 in the nation with an average acceptance rate of less than 20 percent. Lindsey and Joel Oliva Lindsey Oliva was happy when her husband was accepted last year and then was thrilled to receive her own acceptance letter this year. Receiving Joel's offer was a huge celebration, and we knew that it was a monumental turning point in our lives, Lindsey said. At the decision of his acceptance, we packed up our home to move across the country to Pittsburgh. We were hopeful and motivated to make the most of this opportunity. Receiving news of my acceptance was flooring. While Joel has attended school, Lindsey has gained professional experience as a cybersecurity intern at the headquarters of Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI), which is a global manufacturing company providing specialty materials and complex components in aerospace and defense, oil and gas, electrical energy, medical, automotive and other industrial sectors. During the tumult of a pandemic, Lindsey has remained successfully employed, conducting security testing and developing phishing simulations and risk assessments for ATI. As Weber State undergraduates, Lindsey and Joel had contemplated and attempted several majors, including accounting, but when they started studying cybersecurity, they both knew they had found the perfect fit. Among the required coursework, Management Information Systems (MIS) 2010 was the class that changed our lives, Lindsey said. We were told to take the class from Dr. Randy Boyle and soon found out why. While completing his classes at WSU, we decided that pursuing a career in cybersecurity was the right choice. We have not regretted our decision. Boyle, a MIS professor and cybersecurity expert, has collaborated with industry leaders to develop an innovative formula of curriculum and instruction to meet growing industry demand and prepare students for advanced degrees. Under his leadership, the program, housed in the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics, has incorporated advanced applied skills to every class. Students not only learn the applications and systems, but they also practice them hundreds of times in real-life scenarios. The practice prepares them to make educated decisions under pressure and communicate complex processes with nontechnical business counterparts effectively. Joel said because of the broad education and hands-on experience he gained in the MIS program, he was well prepared to handle the rigors of his graduate education in the CMU Heinz College Master of Science in Information Security Policy & Management (MSISPM) program. He was also ready for the opportunity this summer to work as a cybersecurity and assurance threat intelligence intern at Kimberly-Clark. As the world continues to become connected online, there is more data and information being captured and stored, Joel said. This data and information must be handled properly to prevent the bad guys from stealing it that is where Lindsey and I come in. Being able to study at CMU in a field like cybersecurity during this time of constant change and technological growth is truly an amazing opportunity, and I am proud to be able to share that with my wife. Over the past 15 years, the frequency and size of data breaches has increased exponentially, and the subsequent demand for cybersecurity professionals has gone up as well. The recent COVID-19 lockdown has forced companies to put nearly everything online, which has exacerbated the problem, Boyle explained. Businesses must provide remote access to everyone, and hackers know it. The students we are sending to CMU will go on to be leaders in the industry. Randy Boyle and Christopher Heywood Christopher Heywood is one of those leaders. He graduated from Weber State in 2016 and from CMU in 2017. He admits the great job he enjoys now as a cybersecurity specialist at Northrop Grumman was the fortunate outcome of avoiding the medical school entrance exam. He had wanted to become an emergency room doctor but changed his major when he decided he could secure a satisfying, high-paying job in information systems and technologies without having to attend graduate school. However, during their association, Boyle recognized Heywoods aptitude and pushed him to take the graduate entrance exam (GRE) as the gateway to additional educational success. He helped me overcome that silly fear, and I ended up taking the GRE, cold turkey, Heywood said. I sent the score to the University of Utah and to Carnegie Mellon University and moved on with my life because there was no way any of those schools were going to accept me into their graduate programs. A couple of months later, I was accepted to both. Heywood said his education and skills allow him to make valuable contributions at work. Ive had the opportunity to automate tasks that once took six-plus hours into tasks of 27 seconds, Heywood said. Ive been the subject-matter expert for cybersecurity in multi-billion dollar proposals, Ive worked with many directors, presented in front of hundreds of people and saved our company hundreds of thousands of dollars through some of the projects Im working on. Heywood said his in-laws have even forgiven him for not going to medical school as he promised when he asked permission to marry their daughter. One thing that helped Heywood pursue his education was the scholarship that came with the CMU acceptance. In 2018, Weber State was selected as a CMU National Education Partner. That means WSU students who are admitted receive scholarships equal to at least 30% of tuition per semester with additional scholarships based on the strength of their applications. In the past four years, 20 Weber State students have been admitted to the CMU graduate programs and 22 to CMU's Summer Security Intensive Information Technology Lab. Summer Lab During the seven-week summer lab, students get a look at the rigors of the graduate program. They study with leading experts and work with real-world clients on applied projects. They also take three intensive cybersecurity courses. CMU covers all fellowship costs including airfare, food, housing, tuition and a stipend. The most valuable perk, however, may come after the internship. Students who finish the program are admitted to a masters program. With his masters degree, Heywood is not only working at Northrop Grumman, but hes also teaching WSUs Advanced MIS Cybersecurity Course as an adjunct. In addition to the coursework, he teaches his students the most important life lesson he learned while in the MIS program. Dont let your fears hold you back from taking big opportunities, Heywood said. Dont be afraid of change. Believe in yourself and your talents. Its okay to be uncomfortable for a while because it will help you grow. Help other people with their goals. Stay positive, work hard, and have fun in your journey. For information about WSUs management information systems program, the partnership with CMU or any of the 14 students continuing their education there, contact Randy Boyle at randyboyle@weber.edu. Registration for classes at Weber State University is now open. For photos, visit the following links. photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2020-photos/May-2020/i-CdT9prF/0/34f33f91/M/WSU%20Graduation%20-%20Boyle-M.png photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2020-photos/May-2020/i-r8zjTmc/0/4b48dc51/X2/IMG_1349-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2020-photos/May-2020/i-SqHT8PX/0/0123d722/X2/IMG_1350-X2.jpg photos.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2020-photos/May-2020/i-QQTBsfx/0/2fe0e5d5/X2/IMG_2002-X2.jpg Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. ASHEVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Asheville Hemp Project (AHP), an Asheville, NC-based hemp cultivator and brand, is now offering connoisseurs, as well as new users, pre-rolled hemp cigarettes with a pleasurable, clean and natural smoke. The newly launched pre-rolls in a 10-pack, along with two strengths of extract and a hemp lip balm, round out the four products AHP has brought to market this Spring, following the successful launch of its CBD chewing gum. The AHP pre-rolls use the premium hemp flower grown on the farm, consistently rolled in unbleached hemp paper imported from France. The whole stick, including its unique crutch, is biodegradable. The crutch was developed in-house to intentionally not filter out any cannabinoids, while still providing a strong piece to hold while smoking and keeping the flower material off your lips. Produced on equipment that previously rolled tobacco cigarettes for speed and consistent quality, each pre-roll is 84 millimeters long, the length of a standard cigarette. Each pre-roll contains 100mg CBD and less than 0.3% THC, making them legal under federal law. AHP sells 10 sticks in a pack, which carries a health warning that meets the most stringent (California) legal requirements, and a QR code back to the third-party lab results. Leslie Hoffman, co-founder of AHP, stated, "We developed this product to be what we want in a smoke - simple, thin materials, all natural, no filter, but easy to hold and clean on your mouth. We are excited about how these pre-rolls address a market for smokable hemp that is still nascent. Users come from many walks of life -- from young people weaning themselves off of tobacco or nicotine, to modern men and women who enjoy a smoke and all of the relaxing attributes of CBD taken in directly through the lungs into their bloodstream. Smoking is an age old, well understood and efficient method to use cannabis. There is a pleasure factor, as well as a relaxing physical effect." She continued, "Because our product is pure, natural and biodegradable, conscious consumers find it preferable. And those who value safety, convenience and freshness appreciate our consistently made and freshly packaged and sealed delivery." Hoffman also said, "We are happy to realize part of our mission to reuse and repurpose the tobacco industry's infrastructure. The equipment we are using was developed for the heyday of tobacco. This approach delivers a consistently rolled pre-roll that is properly packaged, delivering on the expectations of a modern consumer. Hoffman recently described the company's strategy and the hemp line of products in a recent interview with the Nameless Times Podcast. AHP offers the pre-roll 10-pack on its website for $18.99, and the company is also establishing a retail distribution network. There are already some stores across the country that carry them, and AHP is working to expand its market presence. While legal under federal law, this expansion is developing with sensitivity to more restrictive local rules where they exist. Co-founder Scott Brinkley stated, "We lean towards simple, natural and effective products that are well made. We are farmers who know the plant and are also innovators aiming to improve manufactured products that deliver the value of the plant to customers. We continue to look for additional categories to share the benefits of hemp in a wider variety of forms." About Asheville Hemp Project (AHP) Asheville Hemp Project is based on a small farm using organic and regenerative practices just north of Asheville, NC. AHP uses GMP manufacturing to deliver customers a range of products to use hemp with pleasure and effectiveness. Asheville is an epicenter of craft cuisine and breweries, as well as health conscious business. Asheville provides the perfect ecosystem for the mission of AHP - building a hemp business that utilizes what was formerly tobacco country to become a modern powerhouse of the 21st century economy. All products and activities at AHP are licensed and compliant. For more information about Asheville Hemp Project, go to ashevillehempproject.com or follow us on Instagram @ashevillehemp and Facebook. PR CONTACT Janet Vasquez 212-645-5498 jvasquez@jvprny.com SOURCE: Asheville Hemp Project View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590797/Asheville-Hemp-Project-Launches-Packaged-Pre-Rolls--Providing-A-Sophisticated-Smoke-With-A-Back-To-The-Land-Biodegradable-Ethos [May 20, 2020] KYB Corporation Partners with REE Automotive to Develop Next-Generation Modular EV Platform TEL AVIV, Israel, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- REE Automotive (REE) and KYB Corporation (KYB) announced today a strategic partnership to develop suspension capabilities for future electric vehicle (EV) platforms. Automotive Tier 1 supplier KYB's unparalleled semi-active and active suspension systems will boost REE's next-generation EV platform, which delivers complete design freedom and cost-effective, scalable solutions in e-mobility. The combined expertise of REE, a pioneering technology company and leader in electric vehicle platforms, and KYB, a leading global hydraulics manufacturer, will reshape the movement of goods, people and services by revolutionizing electric vehicle design. REE's partnership with KYB further expands REE's global manufacturing capabilities. It also ignites a new level of suspension technology within the REEcorner architecture solution, which integrates all drivetrain vehicle components (steering, braking, suspension, e-motor) into the wheel. The REEcorner combines with the REEboard a completely flat platform allowing complete freedom of design, improved performance and safety, and modular applications for any vehicle type from last mile delivery to heavy duty shipping. The KYB-REE partnership marks the first time KYB has formally collaborated on EV platforms with a technology company. "KYB has vast experience in developing and manufacturing advanced suspension systems, and we are excited to partner with REE Automotive and share its revolutionary EV vision by engineering a suspension subsystem that supports the needs of tomorrow's mobility ecosystem," said Kazunori Masumoto, General Manager of Engineering Hedquarters at KYB Automotive Component Business Division . REE's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Barel said, "REE is delighted to welcome KYB to our unique network of global strategic automotive partners, bringing world-class expertise in advanced suspension systems. KYB's technology will play a crucial role in the rapid development of our next-generation EV architecture, which reinvents the electric vehicle with a completely flat, scalable and fully modular platform, ready to carry the future of e-mobility." About REE Automotive: Next Generation EV platform - Ready to carry the future of e-Mobility REE Automotive is a pioneering technology company reinventing e-mobility. Unrestricted by legacy thinking, REE has developed the next generation EV platform which is completely flat, scalable and modular providing customers full design freedom to create the broadest range of EV, and Autonomous vehicles for current and future applications, including last mile delivery, MaaS, light to heavy duty EV logistics and robo taxis. REE has developed two core innovations; the REEcorner integrates all traditional vehicle components (steering, braking, suspension, e-motor) into the arch of the wheel and the REEboard which is a completely flat and modular platform. REE's approach is cost efficient and offers multiple customer benefits, including vehicle design freedom, package efficiency, increased energy efficiency, faster development time, ADAS compatibility, reduced maintenance and global safety standard compliance. REE is supported by a network of Tier 1 partners providing access to 320 global production lines making REE the next generation EV platform, ready to carry the future of E-Mobility. For more information visit www.ree.auto . For images, please visit: https://bit.ly/REE_KYB About KYB group KYB group are a group company with 47 company in 23 countries worldwide. KYB is a $3.7 billion global hydraulic equipment manufacturer with over 15,000 employees, supplying products all over the world. In supplying suspension that is one of main products to car manufacturers, KYB is one of the world's largest suppliers and also sell full range of suspensions for the aftermarket. For more information, log onto www.kyb.co.jp/english/ . Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mll4-htnVkw Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171042/REE_Automotive_1.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171043/REE_Automotive_2.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171041/REE_Automotive_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. The first session of the newly elected Parliament of 7th convocation of Artsakh kicked off today. During the session the MPs will elect the Speaker of Parliament and chairmen of standing committees, as well as the audit commission and the standing committees will be set up. Later today, at 18:00, the Parliaments special session dedicated to the swearing-in ceremony of new President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, will take place at Shushis culture and youth center. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan President Donald Trump said African American residents were experiencing historic economic prosperity before we had the plague flow in from China and disproportionately impact minority communities. Trump convened administration officials, local elected leaders and Detroit-area business owners at Ford Motor Companys Rawsonville plant before taking a tour of the Ypsilanti Township facility Thursday. The president, sitting in front of a banner with the words Transition to Greatness," pledged to help Michigans African American residents recover from economic and health impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on their communities. As our nation battles the invisible enemy, African American communities have been hit very hard, including Detroit, Trump said. My administration is working relentlessly to rush supplies and resources to these communities and to protect the health safety and economic opportunity of all African Americans and all Americans. Michigan has 53,009 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 28,234 people who recovered as of Wednesday, according to state figures. The virus has disproportionately infected and killed African American residents, who comprise 14% of the states population and 40% of deaths. Trump opened the discussion by acknowledging catastrophic floods in Central Michigan that required 10,000 people to evacuate their homes. The president said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been quickly mobilized to support emergency efforts. My administration is working closely with state and local officials following the terrible flooding in Midland County, Trump said. Our prayers are with the families affected. The guest list for Thursdays roundtable included Jared Kushner, son-in-law and assistant to the president, and U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and other administration officials focused on African American outreach, domestic policy and economic revitalization. Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James also attended the roundtable. James previously joined Trumps son Donald Trump Jr. for a virtual fundraiser on Monday. James highlighted his donation of $547,000 in campaign funds to various community organizations across the state. James said the COVID-19 outbreak has unmasked generational disinvestment and exploitation of African Americans. Ive said for a long time, sir, you dont need to go to Venezuela to see the effects of socialism; you can ride right down the highway in Detroit," James said. James also thanked Trump for his work to keep manufacturing jobs in the country. He said theres an opportunity to bring aerospace manufacturers to the state. Trump returned the good favor to James during the event. If you do come to Washington, you have my ear," Trump said. Youre going to bring a lot of wealth back to this state because it deserves it. State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, also attended the event. Whitsett tested positive for the coronavirus and credited an experimental anti-malarial drug for her recovery. The president previously touted the potential benefits of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 symptoms, and recently said he is taking the drug as a preventative measure, but studies are ongoing. The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency use authorization for doctors to prescribe the treatment to COVID-19 patients, but the agency also cautioned about possible deadly side effects. Whitsett met with Trump in the White House last month, thanking him for championing the drug. Detroit Democrats responded by unanimously passing a resolution to censure Whitsett. Whitsett urged the president to help Detroit-area residents become more economically independent. She advocated for creating a college for black residents, which Trump called an interesting idea. If we have proper training, then we can change our renters into homeowners, Whitsett said. We can change the dynamic of my community. Other participants included Dr. Audrey Gregory, CEO of Detroit Medical Center; Alphonso Wallace, CEO of Vestco Management; Robin Barnes, owners of Latitude Luxury Real Estate; and Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott, CEO of a pro-Trump super PAC and member of Trumps transition team. Scott said Trump has been the most pro-black president in my life." Vincent Hutchings, professor of political science at the University of Michigan, said the roundtable aligns with broader efforts by the Trump campaign to win over black voters. Capturing a small segment of the reliably Democratic-voting group could make a big difference, he said, considering Trump won Michigan by only 11,000 votes in 2016. They have no illusion that theyre going to win that population, it is far and away the most Democratic constituency in the country, Hutchings said. But its also the case that the Democrats rely so heavily on that constituency that if (Trump) can kill off support at the margins, they might be able to win, as they were able to win a marginal victory in the state four years ago. The president has kept a focus on his impact on the black community throughout the year. He celebrated record low unemployment for African Americans at the State of the Union address and released a Super Bowl ad featuring a black woman who was released from prison after Trump commuted her sentence. The Trump campaign opened offices in Detroit and 14 other predominantly black cities across the country earlier this year. The Black Voices for Trump Community Centers" will help campaign staff engage voters and highlight the Trump administrations accomplishments. The campaigns attempts to focus on the previously strong economy may prove more difficult as Michigan and the country slips into an economic recession, Hutchings said. The very nature of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 under the Trump administration makes this a challenging endeavor, Hutchings said. Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes placed the blame on Trumps shoulders for the virus impact on Detroit. "It appears the curve is now flattening, but where was this president during Detroits time of need? He was attacking our governor and playing political games with black peoples lives, Barnes told reporters Wednesday. "Now after months of neglect and disinterest, Trump thinks he can win Detroit black community with a chief messaging stunt. Let me be very clear: Its not going to happen. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order As coronavirus stay-at-home order drags on, more Michiganders bend the rules April was the deadliest month in Michigan this century, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic Protesting inmates refuse to return to cells at Michigan prison as coronavirus cases surge The flu has killed 2,200 Michiganders since 2000. Coronavirus topped that in a month. New Gov. Whitmer order sets rules for nursing homes caring for coronavirus patients The state Department of Environmental Conservation made five wilderness rescues in the Adirondack Park in the past week. Lost hikers in Bolton On May 13 at 5:20 p.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DECs Ray Brook Dispatch from two hikers who had become disoriented on the trail to Thomas and Cat mountains in the town of Bolton and needed assistance. The 76-year-old man and 69-year-old woman from Moreau stated that they intended to hike Thomas Mountain and return to their vehicle at the Route 11 trailhead. Recognizing they were lost with limited supplies, the hikers decided to call 911. Warren County 911 provided rangers with coordinates that placed the pair south of Thomas Mountain, closer to Cat Mountain. Ranger Hannah OConnor spoke to the couple on the phone and advised them to take the blue-marked trail while Forest Ranger Marie Arnold proceeded on foot to intercept them. Arnold began from Edgecomb Pond and reached one of the hikers, who told her the other had continued ahead north on the trail. Dispatch contacted the other hiker and, per Arnold, advised the subject to turn around and head back. Once the pair was reunited, Arnold escorted them back out to the trailhead, where they were met by OConnor, who assisted them the rest of the way in an all-terrain vehicle. The couple was out of the woods by 8:57 p.m. Another lost hiker in Bolton On Sunday at 9:09 p.m., Warren County 911 transferred a call to DECs Ray Brook Dispatch from a hiker separated from his hiking partner on the Cat and Thomas Mountain trail. One hiker went further ahead and failed to meet up on Cat Mountain. After a brief FaceTime conversation, one of the hikers realized that the other, a 26-year-old man from Queensbury, was lost with no equipment or headlamp and only 30% left on his phone for a light. Forest Rangers Hannah OConnor and Chuck Kabrehl responded to the trailhead and followed 911 coordinates that placed the missing hiker halfway along the ridge trail between Cat and Thomas mountains. The hiker was told to continue south along the trail to meet up with the rangers coming to assist him. At one point, the hiker became disoriented along the trail and again reached out for help. Rangers told him to remain in place. At 10:55 p.m., rangers located the hiker and walked him out to the Edgecomb Pond trailhead. Lost on icy Giant On Saturday at 6:36 p.m., Essex County 911 transferred a call to DECs Ray Brook Dispatch reporting a 20-year-old Syracuse man lost on Giant Mountain in the town of Keene. The man was hiking with a group when he chose to head back down while his companions continued to the summit. The man reported that he was having difficulty following the trail and was not prepared for the icy conditions. Essex County 911 provided coordinates that placed the hiker near Putnam Brook. Forest Ranger Robbi Mecus responded to the Roaring Brook Falls trailhead to assist the hiker but did not find him when he reached the location. Mecus requested a second attempt to get the missing mans coordinates, which placed him on a ridge west of Roaring Brook. Mecus located the hiker at 8:14 p.m. and escorted him back to the trail and out of the woods. Once back at the trailhead, the hiker was reunited with the rest of his group. Seven lost hikers found On Saturday at 6:55 p.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a group of seven hikers requesting assistance after losing the trail while hiking to T Lake Falls in the town of Arietta. Dispatch advised the hikers to call Hamilton County 911 to get their coordinates, which placed them on Mill Stream. Forest Ranger Melissa Milano responded to the trailhead for T Lake Falls and requested Dispatch to call the group and advise them to stay where they were. At 8:45 p.m., Milano made verbal contact, located the group and escorted the group out of the woods by bushwhacking to the road where their vehicles were parked. The group was out of the woods by 11 p.m. Hurt on Poke-O-Moonshine On Sunday at 10:10 a.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a group of hikers on Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain in the Essex County town of Chesterfield. The caller said a 16-year-old female in the group fell, hurt her ankle and could not continue down the mountain. Forest Ranger Lt. Brian Dubay and Forest Rangers Sarah Bode, Marie Arnold, Robbi Mecus and Jared Booth responded. At 2:20 p.m., rangers placed the hiker from Chazy in a UTV and started down the mountain. At 2:45 p.m. the group was back to the trailhead, and the hiker advised she would seek medical attention on her own for the ankle injury. Love 1 Funny 8 Wow 2 Sad 0 Angry 5 WINNIPEG - A threatening wildfire has prompted a First Nation in Manitoba's Parkland region to declare a local state of emergency. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG - A threatening wildfire has prompted a First Nation in Manitoba's Parkland region to declare a local state of emergency. The Pine Creek First Nation says flames and smoke near the community 430 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg have people on edge. Crews have been fighting the fire since the weekend but warm, windy weather is making their job a challenge. The province says the fire covers about 100 square kilometres of land. Helicopters and water bombers are buzzing over the area providing support to crews trying to contain and put out the flames from the ground. About 100 people in the community on the western side of Lake Winnipegosis had to self-evacuate over the weekend but were allowed to return to their homes on Tuesday. Pine Creek Chief Karen Batson said dealing with the situation during COVID-19 has been a challenge. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "It is a stressful time," Batson said Wednesday. "We also are trying to access some mental health services with having COVID-19 as well." Batson said the state of emergency will help the community bring in more resources to deal with the wildfire. She said what they really need is rain. "Things can change fairly quickly," said Batson. "So that's why we have to have our community members on alert, have bags packed in case they have to leave quickly we can get them out of the community and to safety." In nearby Camperville, Mayor Joseph Klyne said community members are also on alert. (CTV, The Canadian Press) This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020 On the Frontline Against China, the US Coast Guard Is Taking on Missions the US Navy Can't Do Competition with China has drawn more Pentagon resources to the Pacific, but the most visible U.S. military presence there... In "Netanyahu sets sights on annexing West Bank territory" (5/13/20), The Washington Post continues its trend of writing about what "could" be caused by an Israeli action always suggesting the worst outcome and always being wrong. At least the Post is consistent. In this article, I lost count of how many times it speculated about what "could" happen if Israel "annexes" 30% of the West Bank. Of course, the term isn't really "annexation," because Israel is already entitled to the land pursuant to the 1920 San Remo Resolution. In this article, the Post writes that Israel is seeking sovereignty over parts of the West Bank in accordance with the U.S. administration's recent peace plan. This "could upend regional peace accords reached during decades of delicate diplomacy" and "could alienate some of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's] supporters," states the Post (emphasis added). The Washington Post previously stated that the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem "could" cause violence and riots in the streets; that recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel "could" cause violence and riots in the streets; and outside of Israel but nearby, that the killing of Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani "could" cause retaliation and wreak havoc. None of this happened. The Post should stick to describing actual events instead of guessing what "could" happen. In that way, the people there could be the newspaper of record for reporting not predicting the news. If they want to be in the predicting business, they should hang a shingle with tarot cards on the sign. And with that, they would go out of business because they are wrong so often. OTTAWA The four northern First Nations blockading Manitoba Hydro from undertaking a massive shift change are demanding to meet with the utilitys CEO in person. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The four northern First Nations blockading Manitoba Hydro from undertaking a massive shift change are demanding to meet with the utilitys CEO in person. Three weeks after chiefs asked to speak with Hydro CEO Jay Grewal about the risk of COVID-19 at the Keeyask megaproject, the utility offered to hold a teleconference call. But the chiefs leading blockades at both entrances say theyll reject that offer. They want Grewal to visit them 750 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. "Were trying to protect Manitoba as a whole," York Factory Chief Leroy Constant told the Free Press Thursday afternoon. "We want their president to meet with us directly. We want a nation-to-nation, leadership to leadership-style meeting to occur, just to have more transparency on their part." On May 1, Hydro announced its plan to allow a new batch of workers to rotate in to the site. More than 500 workers volunteered to stay for two months during the COVID-19 lockdown. Hydro convinced provincial health authorities to exempt Keeyask construction from a northern travel ban to usher in as many as 1,200 workers, about a tenth of whom would come from outside Manitoba. Keeyask leaders discussed the idea in weekly calls with chiefs, but the bands say they learned the details and timing the same day it was announced to Keeyask workers. On May 7, the four chiefs wrote to Grewal asking to meet over concerns the plan would introduce COVID-19 to a region with scant medical services. Many band members work on the site and fear an outbreak similar to those seen in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Grewal wrote back, asking them to take it up with local staff and stop speaking with media about it. The blockade started May 15, four days before the shift change was set to start. Constant suggested Grewal could visit the blockades without contracting or spreading COVID-19, given that Hydro said its protocols allow for safe transportation. Hydro confirmed offering the four chiefs a teleconference with Grewal "for her to hear first-hand their perspectives and concerns regarding the current Keeyask pandemic plans and the rotation of staff," and said one chief had responded, asking for an in-person meeting. On Wednesday, RCMP formally presented a Monday court injunction, authorizing Mounties to clear any blockades within 10 days. RCMP presented the injunction to Tataskweyak Chief Doreen Spence, who ripped it up. She said Hydro is violating its promise to be a partner with the local First Nations. "Were not going to back down," she said. "Is this how you treat a partner?" Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The RCMP say they plan to intervene only if safety is at risk. Asked if the blockades were justified Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instead said governments and Indigenous communities need to share the goal of keeping people safe. "Every community needs to make... make sure they're taking decisions to protect their members, but I think there are many ways of going about it," he said. Premier Brian Pallister said he trusted health authorities. "We need to follow the rule of law and we need to make sure that we respect it," he told reporters. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca NEW YORK - The Archdiocese of New York on Thursday released a plan for a phased-in reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, using protocols developed with the advice of medical professionals to help safeguard worshipers. The five-phase plan for the archdiocese, which includes New York City as well as surrounding counties, begins with the resumption of private prayer and confessions, followed by the celebration of baptisms and marriages with attendance limited to 10 people, according to a summary. Later phases in the plan envision the distribution of weekday Communion outside Mass, followed by limited daily and funeral Masses. The archdioceses plan was revealed on the same day that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cleared the way for resuming religious gatherings with up to 10 people, provided that social distancing is observed and masks are worn. Those requirements are part of the Catholic leaders plan, along with hand sanitizing upon entrance of a church, the emptying of holy water as well as baptismal fonts, and frequent cleaning of church facilities. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, briefing reporters on the plan, described worship as essential services for the well-being of our community. Dolan, a member of an interfaith group advising Cuomo on the gradual resumption of in-person worship in the state, noted that Catholics obligation to attend Sunday Mass remains suspended and described the eventual resumption of those Masses as a future touchy point. Attendance at any specific Mass should be limited to 25% of a churchs occupancy permit, the archdioceses plan states. It specifies that any priest distributing Communion wear a mask, sanitize hands and socially distance, while forgoing any distribution of wine as part of the ritual. All priests in the archdiocese are set to be tested for the coronavirus weekly as part of the plan. Dolan said some regions of the archdiocese would likely be able to advance at a faster pace than others through the reopening phases, vowing that we want to be really attentive to the metrics that have been established for safe resumption of activities. He did not offer a firm date for the resumption of services but said some churches could be open for private worship as soon as next week. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content. ___ Washington Senate Republicans moved Wednesday to resurrect unsubstantiated claims that Joe Biden's son helped a Ukrainian energy firm curry favor with the Obama administration when his father was vice president, voting over strident Democratic opposition to subpoena documents for an investigation that President Donald Trump hopes to weaponize for his re-election campaign. The party-line vote by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was part of an emerging effort by Republicans to use their Senate majority to advance Trump's drive to rewrite the narrative of the Russia investigation in a way that implicates his political rivals all while diverting attention from the coronavirus crisis that has imperiled his presidency and their own electoral chances. Republicans insisted that their work was not about smearing Biden but rather exposing potential wrongdoing. "If nothing happened, the American people need to know that," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the homeland security panel chairman, told reporters after the hearing. "If something happened, they need to know that as well. We are just seeking the truth here." But the recent uptick in activity comes after Trump has prodded senators in recent weeks to "get tough" on investigations of his perceived enemies, including warning them that if Republicans did not stick together, "vicious" Democrats would wipe them all out in November. With their party's political standing damaged by the pandemic, most Republicans even those who have normally shied away from the president's incendiary accusations now appear ready to follow Trump's lead. Once reticent to echo Trump's accusations of a "witch hunt," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, has in recent days adopted the president's lines of attack. Eliding the involvement of high-level Trump appointees, McConnell suggested that the Obama administration had used "the awesome power of the federal government to pry into their political rivals." Senate Democrats have refused to take part in the inquiries so far, dismissing them as thinly veiled political stunts devised to help the president's re-election campaign by smearing his rivals with the same allegations of corruption that have trailed Trump. "Today's agenda says a lot about the Senate majority's priorities, sadly," said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. "There are literally matters of life and death waiting for our committee's attention, but instead this committee is doing the president's personal political bidding." Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery has revealed she used to perform alongside a grunge band. The actress is best known for playing aristocrat Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV period drama but has now told of her rock music past. Dockery, 38, an avowed fan of heavy metal groups Metallica and Slipknot - told US TV host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show about her metal past. What would Lady Mary say? Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery revealed she performed in a grunge-metal band when she was a teen (pictured performing in 2009) Grunge: Michelle told Jimmy Fallon she was more Alanis Morissette than Lady Mary Crawley (pictured in a still from Downton Abbey) when she was younger She said: 'I wasn't officially in a band but there was a band in my school when I was 15 and they were really grungy, sometimes a bit sort of metal. 'And I would sometimes be their guest appearance at pub gigs and I would do songs like Zombie (by) The Cranberries.' Dockery - who revealed she has picked the guitar back up during lockdown - said she was into 'teenage angst.' In her blood: Michelle, (right) performing with her onscreen mother Elizabeth McGovern (C) as part of the Americana Festival at Leadenhall Market on July 6 2010 She added: 'I did all of that. Doc Martens, dark eye makeup, the whole thing - long Alanis Morissette hair.' The London-born star's latest role is in TV crime drama Defending Jacob alongside Hollywood actor Chris Evans, best known for playing Captain America in the Marvel movies. Dockery stars as the mother of a 14-year-old boy accused of murder, while Evans plays her husband. The series was filmed on location near Boston, Massachusetts, and Dockery said she 'fell in love' with the area. She said: 'I loved it. Really, really, loved it, fell in love with the place. 'We shot in the suburbs, mainly, in some of the smaller towns but at weekends I got to go into the city and I got to go to a Red Sox game, which was amazing.' Defending Jacob is streaming now on Apple TV+. Restaurants are operating multiple sittings, using digital menus and charging cancellation fees of the entire cost of a meal as they re-open under restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. In New South Wales restaurants have been open for 10 diners at a time since the weekend and restaurants, cafes and pubs will be allowed to reopen in Victoria for 20 diners from June 1. For patrons, however, the dine-in experience will be decidedly different. Some venues are using technology to enable them to safely reopen, with Carlton restaurants Super Ling installing systems to enable customers to order from their table using a digital menu on their phones. Super Ling is using the HungryHungry platform for its digital menus and founder Mark Calabro said the startup was fielding a lot of inquiries for the menus which enabled diners to order before entering, saving time in the restaurant. Iran not to tolerate any nuisance at high Seas: Defense Minister IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, May 20, IRNA -- Iran's Minister of Defense and Logistics of the Armed Froces said on Wednesday that Iran will not tolerate any nuisance at high Seas for its oil tankers and will respond strongly and decisively. On the sidelines of the cabinet meeting, Brigadier-General Amir Hatami said that the Islamic Republic of Iran will react strongly against any nuisance for the Iranian oil tankers. He said that the International Law of the Sea must be respected by the member states of the United Nations. Such nuisances amount to piracy, Hatami said, adding that Iran's policies are clear in this regard and has openly announced that it will not create trouble. He added that both the US and the others know that if the nuisances are repeated or become more, Iran will react strongly. 9417**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kendall Jenner has reportedly settled her Fyre Festival lawsuit. The 24-year-old supermodel has agreed to pay $90,000, according to filed court documents obtained by WWD, after being sued last summer for promoting the infamous failed music festival. As PEOPLE previously reported, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star, model Emily Ratajkowski and musicians Migos, Pusha T, Blink-182 and Lil Yachty were among the celebrities entangled in the scandal and subsequently sued in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York by Gregory Messer. Messer who has been investigating the ill-fated festival, co-founded by William Billy McFarland, since 2017 alleges in one of the lawsuits that Jenner was paid $250,000 to promote Fyre Festival in January 2017 through a since-deleted Instagram photo. She earned an additional $25,000 days after posting it. Gareth Cattermole/BFC/Getty McFarland is currently serving a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud, effectively swindling over 80 investors out of a collective $26 million. He also copped to two counts of bank fraud: one for a sham ticket scheme that sold approximately $100,000 worth of tickets to fictitious events, and another for falsifying a check by using the name and account number of one of his employees without their consent. Additional bankruptcy lawsuits filed in August 2019 allege that Fyre Media paid the talent agencies of models, including Jenner and Ratajowski, and performers that they represent to book them for the festival. DNA Model Management LLC, which represents Ratajkowski, was paid $299,000 by Fyre Media, the lawsuits claim. Lil Yachty, Migos and Rae Sremmurds agency, International Creative Management LLC, was allegedly paid $350,000 for them to perform. According to the lawsuits, Nue Agency LLC was given $730,000 by Fyre Media for performances by Pusha T and rappers Desiigner and Tyga. Blink-182 was also booked to perform with Creative Artists Agencys $500,000 given by Fyre Media. Story continues Emily Ratajkowski/Instagram Emily Ratajkowski Reps for both Jenner and Ratajkowski did not respond to PEOPLEs request for comment at the time. The disastrous event first made headlines in April 2017, when music fans infamously shelled out upwards of $1,595 for what they thought would be a weekend of fun in the sun on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, with luxurious accommodations and extravagant meals promised as well as performances and appearances from high-profile celebrities. Instead, festival attendees touched down on the island and walked into chaos. Flimsy tents replaced the deluxe housing promised, while cheese sandwiches were distributed from the back of trucks as meals. Many of the artists had pulled out due to serious organizational flaws and ramshackle conditions. Worse yet, travelers were stranded there, sleeping in airport terminals waiting to get home. The demise of the festival was documented in two documentaries, one on Netflix and another on Hulu. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani presidential press-service. Esteemed Mr President, I extend to you and to the people of Azerbaijan my sincerest congratulations on the occasion of the national holiday of your country, the Republic Day, the letter said. I wish Your Excellency the best of health, happiness, continued success and the friendly people of Azerbaijan prosperity and progress under your wise leadership, the letter said. Nearly two months after the law was signed to distribute stimulus checks to millions of Americans, the Internal Revenue Service is starting to answer questions about the payments over the phone. The IRS announced this week that it will add 3,500 representatives to assist Americans seeking information about the economic impact payments. The phone number is (800) 919-9835. While the agency's telephone services will be limited, it should help many people who are having difficulty finding information about the payments. The IRS launched an online tool, Get My Payment, that provides updates on the status of the stimulus checks. But for those without internet service, they didn't have a way of seeking assistance. It was an issue that captured the attention of two New York congressmen, U.S. Reps. Antonio Delgado and John Katko. Delgado, a Democrat, and Katko, a Republican, wrote a letter to the IRS last month asking the agency to restore customer service operations. The IRS shut down its customer service hotlines due to the pandemic. "Individuals and families across central New York remain confused and frustrated with the current IRS processes in place," Katko said in a statement. "With many experiencing difficulties finding reliable information on the status of their (economic impact payments), I welcome this change by the IRS." Delgado added, "This is a first step I will keep demanding answers on behalf of my upstate residents to ensure every single person gets the economic impact statement they are entitled to by law." A $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill signed in March allocated funds for the economic impact payments. Single filers who earn no more than $75,000 annually will receive $1,200 stimulus checks. Couples filing jointly will get $2,400 checks if they earn up to $150,000 a year. Filers would also receive $500 payments for children ages 16 and under. In early May, the IRS released state-level data detailing how many taxpayers have already received their economic impact payments. So far, more than 7.7 million New Yorkers have received their stimulus checks. More than $12.5 billion has been paid to New Yorkers, according to the agency. Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday travel to West Bengal and Odisha to take stock of the situation in the wake of cyclone Amphan wreaking havoc in the two states, the Prime Minister's Office said. "He will conduct aerial surveys and take part in review meetings, where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed," the PMO said in a tweet on Thursday night. Cyclone Amphan has left 72 people dead and thousands homeless in West Bengal, battering several parts of the state and washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas. It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. The extremely severe cyclonic storm has weakened and moved to Bangladesh, the IMD said. This will be the prime minister's first visit outside the national capital after coronavirus lockdown was imposed on the midnight of March 24. Sources in the government said the prime minister would first reach West Bengal in the morning and then go to Odisha in the afternoon. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Modi said no stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by cyclone Amphan. "Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan," the prime minister tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal, he said. "Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy," he said. National Disaster Response Force teams are working in the cyclone-affected parts, he pointed out. "Top officials are closely monitoring the situation and also working in close coordination with the West Bengal government. No stone will be left unturned in helping the affected," he said. The prime minister said his thoughts are also with the people of Odisha as the state bravely battles the effects of the cyclone. The authorities, Modi said, are working on the ground to ensure all possible assistance to the those affected. "I pray that the situation normalises at the earliest," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a report that flew under the radar late last week, China admitted that it did order laboratories to destroy samples of the new coronavirus in the early stage of the outbreak. Its a charge that has been levelled against the communist state since the beginning of the pandemic. On Friday, Chinese Health Commission spokesperson Liu Dengfeng confirmed that the Chinese government issued an order on January 3 to dispose of coronavirus samples at unauthorized laboratories. He denied that the destruction of the samples was part of a cover-up, insisting instead that they were destroyed to prevent risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens. He also claimed that the labs had not been given permission to handle the samples, and thatchy were destroyed to comply with Chinese public health laws. Liu accused the US of using the detraction of the samples to push out of context insinuations that China was covering up the scale of the outbreak. Based on comprehensive research and expert opinion, we decided to temporarily manage the pathogen causing the pneumonia as Class II highly pathogenic and imposed biosafety requirements on sample collection, transport and experimental activities, as well as destroying the samples, he said. The destruction of the samples was first noted back in February. It was also noted that the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was conducting controversial experiments into animal-to-human transmission of bat coronaviruses, altered their database in an apparent attempt to distance the lab from the outbreak. The alteration was carried out just two days before a gene sequencing lab was ordered by the Health and Medical Commission of Hubei Province to destroy its coronavirus samples. The destruction of evidence went on to be cited in a dossier compiled by Western intelligence agencies, which pointed to virus samples ordered destroyed at genomics labs, wildlife market stalls bleached, the genome sequence not shared publicly, the Shanghai lab closure for rectification, academic articles subjected to prior review by the Ministry of Science and Technology and data on asymptomatic silent carriers kept secret. Praising people's resilience, Tsai pledges to meet COVID-19 challenges ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 01:07 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () on Wednesday praised the unity and resilience of Taiwan's people in dealing with COVID-19 and pledged strong responses to the future challenges the global pandemic has created for the world economy. In her inaugural address, Tsai thanked Taiwan's citizens for their sacrifices during the outbreak, which helped the country stay unified in combating the new coronavirus disease. It is because of those efforts that Taiwan has so far been able to contain the spread of the virus, a success story that has "amazed the international community," she said. "This sense of pride in our country, this community's shared destiny, and the memories of these past months will live on in all of our hearts. This is what solidarity feels like," she said. Tsai urged people to remain vigilant, however, as the pandemic will linger for a while, and warned they will have to be prepared for a new post-coronavirus era. She said COVID-19 has profoundly affected the world and reshaped the global political and economic order, which is accelerating the reorganization of global supply chains. "These changes present us with both challenges and opportunities. I want to ask that my fellow citizens be prepared, because countless challenges and difficulties remain ahead of us," she said. With that in mind, Tsai pledged that her administration will conduct a series of comprehensive reforms to "proactively develop our industries, foster a safe society, ensure national security, and deepen our democracy." "I am going to reinvent Taiwan and lead our country into the future," she affirmed. In terms of economic development, Tsai said she will build on the foundation of her administration's 5+2 Major Innovative Industries policy, which is focused on moving Taiwan's industrial base away from conventional manufacturing and into more technology-oriented industries. She announced a "six core strategic industries" plan to promote the development of ICT industries, get into global supply chains, and make Taiwan a base for next-generation technologies, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. Tsai also touched on potential reform efforts in other areas, including national security, judicial reform and constitutional reform. In terms of national security, she announced military reforms, including an effort to expand asymmetric warfare capabilities in the face of the growing military threat from China, and plans to strengthen ties with like-minded nations through participation in international organizations. On the Constitution, Tsai said her government will soon form a constitutional reform committee in the Legislative Yuan that will serve as a platform for discussion of proposed constitutional amendments. One priority will be whether to lower the minimum voting age from the existing 20 to 18, the president indicated, saying that the majority and opposition parties in the lawmaking body are in agreement over the issue. The president also repeated her stance on judicial reform and support for a lay judge system, in which randomly selected ordinary citizens serve as lay judges and work alongside professional judges in criminal courts. "This will help bridge the distance between the people and our judicial system, so that it aligns better with their expectations and earns their trust," she said. Tsai also announced that a national human rights commission will be established in August -- a milestone for the repurposing of the Control Yuan, which is the body responsible for monitoring and investigating the other branches of government. (By Joseph Yeh) Enditem/ls NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address YouTube restores John Pipers Coronavirus and Christ audiobook after violation ban Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment YouTube restored access to Reformed theologian John Pipers audiobook Coronavirus and Christ on his Desiring God channel Monday after taking it down last week for "violating" the platform's community standards. The audiobook was uploaded to YouTube and DesiringGod.org on April 8 but was subsequently taken down from the video-sharing website on May 15 without any explanation except a notification saying the video was "removed for violating community guidelines." Even though it had been removed on Pipers channel, the video was still available on the Crossway Podcast YouTube channel here and archived online. YouTube released a statement on April 28 announcing that in response to COVID-19, it had expanded its fact check information panels to the United States by up-ranking, down-ranking and demonetizing certain videos that mention the topic. On April 7, YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan told Axios that the Google-owned platform had already removed thousands of COVID-19 videos for violating policies YouTube's policies [about the new coronavirus] are entirely focused on the content of a video and not who is doing the speaking, Axios reported. After being reinstated, Pipers audiobook on the Desiring God YouTube channel jumped from over 187,000 views to more than 200,700 views as of Tuesday afternoon. In the book, Piper, the chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the founder of Desiring God, offers six biblical answers to the question: What is God doing through the coronavirus? YouTubes censorship of the audiobook followed a call by 22 military chaplains to discipline a senior army chaplain for sending nearly three-dozen other chaplains an email containing a copy of the e-book. The 22 military chaplains, some of whom are from the LGBT community, had a problem with the book because it states that some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions. Representing the 22, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for a strict separation of church and state within the U.S. military, urged Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to punish Senior Chaplain Col. Moon H. Kim. Kim is the command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea, the largest U.S. military installation outside of the United States. The complainants, MRFF said, do not subscribe to the ultra-conservative/Reformed/evangelical Christian theology of John Piper. In a section titled, Examples of Specific Judgements on Specific Sins, Piper wrote that one example is the sin of homosexual intercourse, citing Romans 1:27 in which the Apostle Paul states that men committing shameless acts with men received in themselves the due penalty for their error. That due penalty is the painful effect in themselves of their sin, Piper wrote. This due penalty is just one example of the judgment of God that we see in Romans 1:18, where it says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Therefore, while not all suffering is a specific judgment for specific sins, some is. A copy of Kims email that contained the PDF sent to the chaplains was reviewed by The Christian Post. In the body of the email, Kim wrote to fellow chaplains that he wanted to share the short booklet with them. This book has helped me refocus my sacred calling to my savior Jesus Christ to finish strong, Kim wrote. Hopefully this small booklet would help you and your Soldiers, their Families and others who you serve. MRFF contends that the book was clearly meant as a full-fledged [government] endorsement and validation of what the book espouses and proclaims. Reps. Doug Collins, R-Ga., Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., and 18 other Republican House members signed a joint letter asking the Pentagon to protect the religious liberty of service members from the demands of an anti-religion group. Piper also responded to the issue in a 17-minute audio interview posted online. I think it would be fair to say that some of my views about what the Bible teaches, even rightly understood, the author of that letter hates. He hates what I think, Piper said, referring to MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein. They are, he says, incendiary, bigoted, vulgar not just because he misunderstands, but, in part, because he does understand, and thats how he thinks and feels about some of what the Bible teaches. I consider all of those views to be true because they are what the Bible teaches, and therefore, theyre very valuable to know, Piper stressed. So I think its not just that he misunderstands, but that he gets some things right in those quotes, and he just doesnt like them. Piper said there are three areas where Weinstein seems to misrepresent his stance in either the letter to Esper or an earlier interview with CP. For example, when I say that some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions, he assumes that I know who those people are, or at least what kind of people they are, Piper said. But heres what I write on page 72. ... The coronavirus is ... never a clear and simple punishment on any person. The most loving, spirit-filled Christian, whose sins are forgiven through Christ, may die of the coronavirus disease. But it is fitting that every one of us search our own heart to discern if our suffering is Gods judgment on the way we live. Imperial Valley News Center Second Lady Karen Pence Highlights Mental Health Awareness at Great Smoky Mountain National Park Second Phase Reopening Washington, DC - Tuesday, Second Lady Karen Pence, joined by Deputy Secretary of Interior, Katharine MacGregor, visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to talk about the many mental health benefits the outdoors offers and shared more on the parks progress on the second phase of restoring access to the public. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for us to pay closer attention to our mental health and emotional well-being, said Second Lady Karen Pence. Our amazing national parks offer many mental health benefits and more than ever before, we must ensure that we are taking care of ourselves and each other. Upon arriving to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mrs. Pence and Deputy Secretary MacGregor took part in the ceremonial Clingmans Dome road reopening, which has been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the road reopening, Mrs. Pence delivered remarks at the Clingmans Dome Visitor Center to local community leaders and elected officials. In her remarks, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, Mrs. Pence talked about the benefits of the outdoors for peoples mental health and emotional well-being. Research shows that spending quality time in the great outdoors can have positive health benefits such as reduced stress, lessened anxiety, and lowered risk of depression. Following the remarks, Mrs. Pence and the Deputy Secretary hiked to the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower. Then, Mrs. Pence and the Deputy Secretary spoke to park employees at the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Pavilion. Mrs. Pence thanked the employees for their work to maintain the Smokies during such difficult times and applauded their efforts for reopening the park in a safe and responsible way. In addition, the Second Lady highlighted the parks mental health and resiliency plan. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in the process of developing a program that will create a Park Peer Support Team to offer assistance to all park employees. The program will help teach participants how to recognize when peers are struggling with stress, trauma, and other mental health concerns and will give them the tools to help others. At the national level, the National Park Service is embracing and encouraging parks to create Employee Health and Wellness Programs, and Great Smoky National Park was part of this pilot program. With nearly every state in the nation taking some action to reopen, what a joy it is to be in Tennessee with Second Lady Karen Pence to reopen areas of our most visited National Park for the enjoyment of the American People, said Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor. The Great Smoky Mountains offer over half a million acres to relax and enjoy some fresh air and Vitamin D. Today we are thrilled to expand access for Americans to enjoy the mental and physical benefits of this stunning landscape. This is the shocking moment a gang of girls beat up a security guard when he refused to let them board the elevator at an Atlanta hotel. The male security guard told Atlanta Police that he approached the women when he found them smoking weed outside the Hyatt Palace Hotel. He said that he asked for their room number which they refused to provide. After asking them to leave, the women - who were accompanied by a group of men - pushed through the entrance to the four-star hotel and tried to jump on the elevator. Footage then shows a wild brawl then broke out with the guard, wearing a face mask, being viciously assaulted for trying to stop them boarding the elevator. Pictured: The group of women can be seen accosting the security guard standing in front of the Atlanta hotel's elevator As the women try to get past the guard, he shouts 'no' and keeps them away from the doors. The fight begins when he forcefully pushes one of the women away. The pushed woman rains down blow after blow on the back of his head. He can be seen turning his body to stop the flailing fists connecting with his face. Another woman wearing light blue jeans and a blue hoodie punches him in the jaw and the man falls back on to a chair. He tells the women to stop, holding his hands out to defend himself, but they carry on hitting him. Two of the women can be seen landing a flurry of punches on the Atlanta security guard's head Meanwhile, the men in the video can be heard cheering the attackers on. The altercation ends with the two women hitting the man with a flurry of punches, both at the same time. Atlanta PD said they were yet to identify the women in the video but that the security guard plans to press charges once they are found. BNY Mellons Pershing has expanded Pershing Trading Services (PTS) in EMEA, extending the firms integrated execution to custody services. Michael Horan, head of trading at Pershing EMEA, said: Pershing has a long heritage of providing trading services to some of the largest wealth and asset managers in the UK and Ireland. The recent growth of our trading business is reflective of both our expertise in supporting clients throughout the entire trade life cycle, as well as increased demand for trading services from clients facing growing complexity and volatility in markets. In addition to our global trading expertise, our integrated execution to custody solution supports clients with the operational challenges they are facing to drive new efficiencies. As part of this expansion, PTS now offers its global equity trading services to firms who do not hold custody on the Pershing platform and beyond the UK and Ireland. PTS has completed the successful onboarding of 17 clients since October 2019. The clients consist of wealth and asset managers based across EMEA, including in the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark, Dubai, and Luxembourg. Pershings expanded offering, which provides integrated execution to custody clients, comes at a time when buy-side firms are increasingly looking to external trading support and services. The business continues to experience strong demand from financial institutions as trading activity is complicated by heightened market volatility, regulation and cost pressures. A Jammu and Kashmir policeman was killed and two others injured on Thursday when unknown terrorists launched an attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The terrorists attacked a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama town. A police officer told that the terrorists fired indiscriminately at the joint Naka near Prichoo area of Pulwama, resulting in injuries to three policemen who were been removed to sub-district hospital. One of them was declared brought dead while the other two were referred to Srinagars SMHS hospital for specialized treatment. Hospital authorities confirmed that one personnel was declared brought dead on arrival while others, injured critically, has been shifted to SMHS hospital. The slain cop has been identified as Anoop Singh of IRP 10th battalion. Meanwhile, the police, CRPF and Army have cordoned off the entire area and launched searches to track the terrorists. Inspector-General of Police Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, confirmed the killing of the policeman. He said that the area has been cordoned off and further investigations launched. This is a developing story. More details are awaited. Amber Heard stepped out for her first public sighting since her mother's passing on Wednesday in Encinitas, California. The 34-year-old Aquaman star and her girlfriend, Bianca Butti, matched in a pair of dark-wash jeans and black cowboy boots for their outing in LA. The star was seen grabbing a call during their outing together. Grieving: Amber Heard stepped out for her first public sighting since her mother's passing on Wednesday in Encinitas, California In addition to grieving the loss of her mom, Heard is still involved in an ongoing legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp. The bombshell documented her difficult month surrounded by family members and finding peace in nature for her more than 3.8 million Instagram followers. Getting serious: The 34-year-old Aquaman star and her girlfriend, Bianca Butti, matched in a pair of dark-wash jeans and black cowboy boots for their outing in LA Stressful: In addition to grieving the loss of her mom's death, Heard is still involved in a legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp 'My happy place,' the blonde beauty captioned a picture of herself riding a horse and looking over her shoulder on Tuesday. Butti, who was first spotted sharing a kiss with the actress in January, looked to be one horse ahead. Earlier in the day, Heard posed with one of her pups next to a very tall cactus plant, calling themselves 'desert dwellers.' Pushing through: Despite being inundated with stress, the bombshell documented her difficult month surrounded by family members and finding peace in nature for her more than 3.8 million Instagram followers Two weeks ago, she shared the news of her mother Paige Heard's tragic death with a series of vintage photos. 'I am heartbroken and devastated beyond belief at the loss of my mom, Paige Heard,' she began in the caption. Heard added: 'She left us too early, clasping onto the memory of her beautiful, gentle soul. She will be missed from the very depths of our hearts forever.' 'My happy place,' the blonde beauty captioned a picture of herself riding a horse and looking over her shoulder on Tuesday. Exploring: Earlier in the day, Heard posed with one of her pups next to a very tall cactus plant, calling themselves 'desert dwellers' 'Her unflinching, open heart made her the most beautiful woman I had ever known. Its hard to imagine and even more difficult to say but I feel truly lucky to have been her daughter and been given the gift of having the light she shone on everyone, fall on me for nearly 34 years. 'This has been an unbelievably painful time but in that, I am reminded of what survives us all, love,' wrote the actress. 'The kindness, support and generosity my sister Whit and I have received from friends and family has been utterly soul-saving.' The U.S. Justice Department is probing the origins of the Russia investigation. A Republican-led U.S. Senate committee has voted to subpoena documents for an investigation into Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on May 20 along party lines to subpoena information from Blue Star Strategies, a lobby firm that worked with Burisma, a gas company in Ukraine that paid Hunter Biden to serve as a board member, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said. President Donald Trump was impeached on abuse-of-power and obstruction charges in the Democratic-led House of Representatives for improperly pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. The president was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate. Read also"Biden-Kerry-Poroshenko tapes" reveal push for prosecutor general's dismissal Democrats accuse the Republicans of seeking the investigation in a bid to help Trump's reelection campaign. Senator Ron Johnson (Republican-Wisconsin), chairman of the panel, has said the investigation is not designed to influence the presidential election. His colleague, Senator Rick Scott (Republican-Florida) said, We need to get to the truth about the Bidens' relationship with Burisma. These hearings will provide the Senate with the full picture." Democrats say that the Republican investigation into Biden and his son will aid Russia's disinformation campaign ahead of the November election. Senator Gary Peters (Democrat-Michigan), the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the probe "risks amplifying efforts of our foreign adversaries to interfere in the 2020 elections." Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that Johnson was "running a political errand" for Trump. 'Conspiracy Theories' Trump has alleged that the former vice president used his position between 2009 and 2017 to pressure the Ukrainian government to dismiss Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin to benefit his son and Burisma and quash an investigation into the gas company. No evidence of Trump's claims has emerged and the former vice president's handling of Ukraine was backed by other Western powers concerned about tackling corruption in Ukraine. Following the committee vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (Democrat-New York) accused Republicans of promoting "conspiracy theories." Republicans are probing the foundations of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump says the whole investigation was biased from the start. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina), is investigating surveillance warrants used in the FBI's probe of Russian meddling in 2016. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is probing the origins of the Russia investigation, with some Republicans claiming the investigation will show the president is right. A Guwahati-based NGO has registered a first information report (FIR) with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging financial irregularities in the updating process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam, which was released last year. The FIR was filed in the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI here on Monday by the Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner on whose PIL the Supreme Court in 2015 had ordered for updating of the NRC, which was first compiled for Assam in 1951. The APW alleges that Wipro, one of the prime software companies, involved in the NRC updating process, had allegedly submitted a bill of Rs 1.27 crore for procurement of two software systems. The amount was paid to them between February and August 2017, it added. Also read: Govt asks Assam to probe PM-KISAN fraud charges However, as per the ground report of the National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG), submitted to the Office of the Accountant General (Audit) in Assam, no such system was installed and used for the updation of NRC in Assam, the FIR read. The APW alleges that the said bill for the amount of Rs 1.27 crore was cleared by Prateek Hajela, former state coordinator of NRC. The IAS officer was transferred to Madhya Pradesh last year on the directions of the Supreme Court. The FIR further alleges that a report by the Accountant General (Audit) also reveals irregularities in purchase of 3,700 generators for 2,500 NRC help centres set up across Assam. Also read: With return of stranded people, Covid-19 cases in NE double from 200 to 400 in 11 days It maintains that Wipro had submitted bills worth Rs 34.76 crore for purchase of these generators at the rate of Rs 93,964 for each set, but an inquiry by the accountant generals office revealed that the generators were hired (not purchased). It was also revealed that the market price of these generators was Rs 35,000 each and not Rs 93,964. HT reached out to the corporate communications department of Wipro in Bangalore and this is what they said in an email: Wipro does not comment on pending litigation. The final NRC list for Assam was released in August last year in which 1.9 million of the 33 million people, who applied for inclusion in the list to determine citizenship, were excluded. Those left out of the list were to file an appeal at foreigners tribunals within 120 days. But the process is yet to start. Chinese military launches pilot program on non-staple food supply PLA Daily Source: China Military Online Editor: Wang Xinjuan 2020-05-20 17:51:39 By Sun Xingwei and Du Shuguang Beijing, May 20 -- Recently, the Logistic Support Department of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), together with seven national ministries and commissions, jointly issued a notice on the pilot program for regionally centralized procurement of military non-staple food in Zhejiang Province, Zhangzhou City in Fujian Province, Qingdao City in Shandong Province, Hubei Province, Hainan Province, and Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region. A chief of the Military Energy Bureau of the CMC Logistic Support Department said that, the pilot program serves as an important move to promote the reform of the military food supply. The move aims to break the traditional supply mode of self-contained procurement for various brigades and regiments and to build a new mode with features that troops propose demand, local government sets up a platform, and qualified enterprises undertake the supply responsibility. It will involve multiple aspects, including the operating mechanism, organization, supervision, supplier selection, supply chains at wartime, food security, confidentiality in the supply of military non-staple food, etc. Military non-staple food is an important material support for combat capability. The move to maximize the use of social resources by depending on regionally centralized procurement is bound to free troops from the cumbersome supply affairs to focus more on combat readiness, thus conducive to realizing the goal of building a strong military in the new era. Meanwhile, the pilot program will also facilitate local economic development and poverty alleviation. The precise demand proposed by the military is handed over to the local government, in line with the principle that anything can be fulfilled locally could be entrusted to local governments. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Microsoft stunned the gaming industry when it announced this week it would buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal that would immediately make it a larger video-game company than Nintendo. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. At least they don't have a lot of elevators. As administrators at Grand Valley State University ponder how they are going to safely house thousands of students on their campus just west of Grand Rapids, Michigan, they are finding a few silver linings like more staircases than elevators. With fairly new housing stock, the campus features a number of squat buildings, with little need for elevators one of several pinch points housing officials at universities and colleges in most of the country are thinking about as they plan for a potential fall reopening. Andy Beachnau, associate vice provost of student affairs and director of housing and health services at Grand Valley State University, waits for another staff member to enter a living center on Grand Valley's Allendale campus on Monday, May 11. Multiple public universities and at least a few private colleges in Michigan have already said they will be open for students this fall, which provides a good example of the challenges their peers in other states are facing. Although much of the public's attention is focused on how instruction will be delivered in-person classes, online-only or some hybrid form universities are also having to think about how they'll keep students safe when they are away from the classroom. That means focusing on residence halls, where students spend hour after hour jammed together in tight living conditions. Coronavirus and colleges: Rethinking fall semester? You risk not graduating Michigan's public universities are autonomous entities not bound by all state laws, but Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said they should "rely on federal and state implement guidance on best practices to keep students, faculty and staff safe." There are also massive financial implications. Housing units at Michigan's public universities send millions of dollars to the schools' general funds. Housing funds across Michigan also carry significant debt loads money borrowed to renovate or build new residence halls. While most universities say they have enough in reserves to cover those debt payments, an extended run of being closed or fewer students living on campus could affect the housing fund's ability to pay debts. That debt was guaranteed by the general fund of the university, which would have to step in to pay. Story continues "If these operations are impaired, that could have a negative impact, not only for housing, but for the whole university," said James Maladore, executive vice president for administration and business affairs at Saginaw Valley State in University Center, Michigan. These concerns come as universities are already struggling with enrollment losses and other financial difficulties. Western Michigan University has said it is preparing to cut 20% of general fund spending and has already lost $45 million and laid off 240 employees this year because of the pandemic. The challenge A residence hall showroom at Grand Valley State University. A visit to Grand Valleys campus housing reveals the scope of the problem. The spaces arent designed with social distancing in mind. Single rooms are rare, while common bathrooms are not. In the newest residence hall, the bathroom is down the hallway, with lots of people likely to touch lots of surfaces all day, every day. Common areas for studying or watching TV invite students to congregate. A photo on the front of a Grand Valley housing brochure shows about a dozen students sitting elbow to elbow, studying and talking in one of those large common areas. Don't expect to see that happening much this coming year, at least not at first. No students. No graduation.: Total devastation in college towns during coronavirus pandemic Officials say the good thing about those spaces is that the furniture is movable, allowing students to drag pieces around so they aren't close to each other. However, the spaces are made for small group work, something that's hard to do when everyone is 6 feet apart. Jennifer Cramer's daughter is headed to Michigan State University this fall as a freshman and wants to live on campus. Cramer, 47, of Westland, isn't so sure. "I just worry about everyone being so close around each other," she said. "What happens when they go home for the weekend and come back? Who knows what they will have been exposed to. Because it's possible to have (COVID-19) and not know it, they could pass it on without knowing. I don't know if she'll be safe living there. Maybe she should just go somewhere closer and live at home, at least for a year." How will it work? Two large, multi-story residence halls on the campus at Eastern Michigan University. Officials at Michigan's colleges and universities are trying to develop plans to address Cramer's concerns. Step 1: Don't make the residence halls as dense. At Grand Valley, that means looking at more single-person rooms than normal, officials said. At Oakland University, that may mean shutting about 200 beds in halls that have traditional rooms, with bathrooms down the hall. At Eastern Michigan University, that may mean reopening a closed residence hall to allow students to spread out. Colleges and coronavirus: Recent grads hit with layoffs, furloughs worry returning home is 'the image of failure' Step 2: Clean. Then clean some more. Then bring in more cleaners. Then repeat over and over again. At Grand Valley, that means more wiping down door handles and counters, washers and dryers, sinks and showers. Oakland is also beefing up the cleaning. "Housing has its own cleaning team so we're not sharing custodial services with other parts of the university," said Glenn McIntosh, senior vice president for student affairs at Oakland. That will allow them to up the cleaning frequency. Step 3: Mandate masks. Oakland is requiring all students to wear masks in social situations, McIntosh said. Saginaw Valley and Eastern Michigan both say they expect to have everyone on campus wearing masks. The goal? Keeping students safe. "We want to provide that unique college experience students want," McIntosh said. "A lot of that is social events. We're not going to be socially distant. We're going to have physical distancing to keep students safe." Convincing students and parents that that's possible is key to the financial stability of the university. The money About 3,500 students live on Grand Valley State University's campus in a normal year. That generates millions of dollars in revenue Saginaw Valley knows its students want to be back on campus, its president says. "They are not only telling us that; they are showing us, Donald Bachand said in a statement announcing the reinstatement of campus housing and face-to-face instruction. Despite all the challenges students and families are facing, we continue to receive housing deposits at the same pace as last year." Those deposits are $200. It costs a first-year freshman living on campus as much as $11,378 for room and board for the coming year, according to rates published on the college's website. All that adds up to about $14.7 million a year in housing revenue, according to budget figures for the current school year. That number did not take into account money lost from COVID-19 closures. Not having students in dorms at normal occupancy rates will hurt the revenue coming in, which can in turn hurt the university's general fund and bottom line. The risk is worse for schools that have a major part of their housing budget allocated to paying off debt. An empty hallway inside a "living center" at Grand Valley State University will be filled with students this fall as they return to classes. On average, Michigan's public universities have about 25% of the housing budget scheduled for debt payments. There are reasons for the high debt. Dorms need upkeep and updating. Market competition means colleges compete over students and their dollars. Having nice places to live is one way schools attract more students to campus, bringing tuition dollars with them. That all costs money, and getting that money mostly means borrowing, said Kevin McClure, associate professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "One of the reasons debt is going up is states aren't paying (for residence halls to be built or updated)," he said. "It's a much harder sell to get the legislature to approve funds for a residence hall than for an academic building." And that's why the health of the universities, especially Michigan's regional universities, is so dependent on students showing back up in the fall. "Enrollment numbers have big implications," McClure said, "not just for the general funds, but for those auxiliary (housing) units." Follow David Jesse on Twitter: @reporterdavidj This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus: Stakes are high as colleges seek to reopen campus dorms Facebook has rolled out a new safety feature in India that will enable users to easily lock their account so that people they are not friends with on the platform cannot view their posts and zoom into and download their profile picture and cover photo. The feature is especially aimed at women to give them more control over their Facebook experience, the company said. We are deeply aware of the concerns people in India, particularly women, have about protecting their online profile, said Ankhi Das, Public Policy director at Facebook India, in a statement. Locking the profile applies multiple existing privacy settings and several new measures to a users Facebook profile in a few taps, the company said. Once a user has locked their account, people they are not friends with will no longer be able to see photos and posts -- both historic and new -- and zoom into, share and download profile pictures and cover photos. We have often heard from young girls that they are hesitant to share about themselves online and are intimidated by the idea of someone misusing their information. I am very happy to see that Facebook is making efforts to learn about their concerns and building products that can give them the experience they want. This new safety feature will give women, especially young girls a chance to express themselves freely, said Ranjana Kumari, director at New Delhi-based women advocacy group Centre for Social Research, in a statement. A user can lock the account by tapping on More under their name, then tapping the Lock Profile button and the confirmation button that prompts afterward. Prior to Thursdays announcement, this feature was available to users in Bangladesh, a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch. The new feature appears to be an extension of a similar effort Facebook made in 2017 in India to combat catfishing. That feature, called Profile Picture Guard, allowed users to protect their profile picture from being zoomed into and shared by their friends and those not in the friend list. By Esther Verkaik AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Medical researchers in the Netherlands have signed up 1,500 people who have recovered from the new coronavirus to donate blood as part of an international push to develop a treatment for the virus from their plasma. Doctors are already using survivor plasma to treat coronavirus patients in a number of hospitals worldwide, but plasma supplies are limited because relatively few people have had the new virus and donated blood. "The whole goal is to pull the resources, put the brightest minds together, to make sure that at the earliest possibility this therapy becomes available," said Merlijn van Hasselt of blood donation firm Sanquin. The Dutch group is part of a non-profit alliance, which also includes Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda, seeking to collect blood plasma from thousands of donors and purify it into a high-grade treatment that would be approved by medical regulators. Other alliance members include CSL Behring in the United States, Germany's Biotest AG in Germany, Britain's BPL Group, LFB SA in France, and Octapharma AG in Switzerland. "If the clinical trials go well... this might be one of the earliest treatment possibilities for patients," Van Hasselt said. Using the blood plasma of survivors of a disease has proven effective in the past in treating people with a range of illnesses including rabies, hepatitis-B and chickenpox. Separately, Sanquin is testing thousands of samples of donated blood for antibodies to see how far the new coronavirus has spread in the Netherlands. The first results released in April estimated about 3% of the Dutch population had been exposed. Credit Approval Received for 1st Tranche of Prepaid Swap Perth, May 21, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackham Resources Limited ( ASX:BLK ) ( FRA:NZ3 ) ( OTCMKTS:BKHRF ) is pleased to announce that an updated, indicative term sheet between the company and Mercuria Energy Group ("Mercuria") has been signed providing Blackham with A$21m in the form of a prepaid swap on gold with a supporting hedge facility, and an intention to a further A$40m, for a total of up to A$61m.Highlights-Facility potentially up to A$61 million o Initial pre-pay amount of A$21 million, secured by the Company's assets, with the ability to upsize the facility by an additional A$40 million to support the Company's growth plans- Updated terms, structure and profiling of prepaid swap aligned to the Company's revised timetable for the capital requirements of the of Stage 1 Sulphide Expansion- As part of the arrangement, Mercuria will provide the Company with a secured gold hedging facilityThe company has received credit approval from Mercuria for the A$21m First Tranche, which is now only conditional upon the finalisation of the usual legal documentation. The additional A$40m will be made available upon further certain conditions being satisfied and is not part of Mercuria's initial credit approval.The updated terms of the facility, which replaces the initial indicative non-binding term sheet announced on 26 February 2020, better aligns the drawdown of funds to the company's current proposed capital expenditure commitment timeline. The two companies will now prepare all appropriate documents for final execution as swiftly as possible.The facility gives Blackham the flexibility of drawing a further A$40 million, if required and subject to Mercuria credit approval, to further advance the Stage 1 Expansion. As previously announced, due to COVID-19 issues, the company has delayed the planned construction of the concentrator at Wiluna by six months. Stage 1 Expansion underground mine development and resource to reserve conversion drilling will continue in the meantime to further de-risk the proposed Stage 1 mine plan. The Blackham Board will continue to review the situation and advise of developments.The Mercuria credit approval to allow the company to access the additional $40 million is contingent on the company further developing and upgrading its Stage 1 Expansion mine plan and financial model. The company's plans have been substantially progressed by a significant drilling programme involving seven rigs drilling on site (five of those rigs are drilling at the Wiluna Mining Centre to assist with the mine planning and resource/reserve conversion), and are expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year. This remaining $40m facility is uncommitted and will be made available subject to Mercuria's approval.As part of the prepaid swap facility, Blackham have negotiated a favourable, ongoing hedging facility with Mercuria which will see approximately 34,000oz of gold hedged at prevailing spot gold prices over a 12-month period as a condition of the draw down. This hedge facility is welcomed in a time of important cash flow management, high gold prices, as well as developing a longer-term relationship with Mercuria.Blackham Executive Chairman, Milan Jerkovic, commented "This is an excellent result for Blackham as, along with the A$52 million equity injection early this year, it provides important funding for our Stage 1 Expansion. The ability to upsize the prepay amount by up to an additional A$40 million, and to align this to our revised capital requirement timetable on the Stage 1 Sulphide extension, gives us real flexibility to finish the Stage 1 Expansion and fast track studies for Stage 2."We are delighted to be able to enter into an agreement with a global, respected counterparty like Mercuria, and this is extremely positive for the Company and our shareholders, and a great show of support for our growth strategy"."This initial funding from Mercuria, together with the $52 million equity funding completed last month, allows us to continue to advance our 24 month, five-point strategy which is to;1. Strengthen the balance sheet2. Maintain and increase immediate operational cash flow3. Transition to include gold concentrate production4. Expand production; and5. Undertake exploration and feasibility studies to fully develop a more than 250kozpa, long life, gold operation".About MercuriaEstablished in 2004, Mercuria is one of the four largest privately held commodity traders globally, operating in over 50 countries and with more than 1,200 employees. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, Mercuria has hubs in London, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and Houston.About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential. State-owned pharmaceutical company PT Bio Farma is set to finish the production of 100,000 real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) coronavirus test kits by the end of May. Bio Farmas marketing, research and development director Sri Harsi Teteki said the kits would be donated to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), which would distribute them to laboratories in 45 locations. The products are the downstream [outcome] of collaborative and innovative research. On May 5, we obtained a distribution permit from the Health Ministry, Harsi said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The production started after the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) appointed homegrown genomics technology company Nusantics the maker of test kit prototypes in late March. The BPPT, Nusantics and Bio Farma are part of the COVID-19 task force for research and technological innovation (TFRIC19). A month later, venture capital firm East Ventures, which was tasked with crowdfunding, announced that it had reached the donation target of Rp 10 billion (US$678,656) from more than 2,000 individuals and corporations. On Saturday last week, TFRIC19 finished producing the first 50,000 test kits and is now completing the other 50,000. To date, 16 laboratories have received donations under recommendations from the BNPB and the Health Ministry. Harsi said that Bio Farma adhered to good distribution practice in accordance with World Health Organization recommendations, following the "cold chain" system in storing and transporting the test kits at safe temperatures. On the 112th National Awakening Day on Wednesday, TFRIC19 joined a virtual launch of innovative COVID-19 products held by the COVID-19 Research and Innovation Consortium. President Joko Jokowi Widodo and Vice President Maruf Amin were in attendance. Besides the PCR test kits, other domestically produced products launched that day were rapid test kits, ventilators, immunomodulators, convalescent plasma, mobile lab BSL-2, COVID-19 detection AI, autonomous UVC mobile robots (AUMRs) and purifying respirators. I am optimistic that things that we never thought of before, which we could only import, can ultimately be produced independently. We should be able to produce our own vaccines as well," Jokowi said as streamed on the Research and Technology Ministrys YouTube channel. (syk) At nearly half the national average, Western Australia has the lowest testing rate for COVID-19 in the country as the roll-out of the states asymptomatic testing program continues to stall. It's one of the few areas where the state is comparatively falling short in its response to the pandemic, however Curtin University infectious disease expert Archie Clements said the result could actually be a positive sign. WA's testing rate for coronavirus is 60 per cent of the country average. Credit:Kate Geraghty I don't think we should be alarmed by the lower testing numbers, because they just reflect the lower incidence of respiratory illness in the community", he said. "With testing symptomatic people as we are now, you can't be guaranteed that you're detecting all community transmission, but I think if there were localised outbreaks we would know, because even though there would be a significant proportion of people that are asymptomatic, I suspect there would be enough symptomatic people in that cluster to detect them." By Moira Warburton May 21 (Reuters) - A decision on a key legal aspect of the trial over whether Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou can be extradited to the United States from Canada will be announced next Wednesday, the British Columbia Supreme Court said on Thursday. Meng was arrested in December 2018 at Vancouver International Airport at the request of the United States on charges of bank fraud, and is accused of misleading HSBC about a Huawei Technologies Co Ltd-owned company's dealings with Iran. Meng, 48, has said she is innocent and is fighting extradition. The case has strained relations between Ottawa and Beijing. The judgment will deal with the charge of double criminality, deciding whether Meng's actions were crimes in both Canada and the United States at the time of her arrest. Meng's lawyers argued that unlike the United States, Canada did not have sanctions against Iran at the time Canadian officials authorized the start of the extradition process, meaning Meng's arrest did not meet the legal standard of double criminality. Canadian prosecutors have argued that Meng should be extradited on fraud charges, and that contrary to her defense argument, the case is not solely about a violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Should the judge rule that Meng's actions were not a crime in Canada, the rest of the case "dies," said Gary Botting, a criminal defense lawyer and extradition expert based in Vancouver. "If the double-criminality standard falls, she gets to go home. Not just walk but fly." Arguments on the double-criminality charge took place in January in Vancouver. A court memo on Thursday said British Columbia Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes would preside over an in-person court appearance by Meng and the other parties, once the decision is released at 11 a.m. PDT (1800 GMT) next Wednesday. A second phase of the trial, focusing on abuse of process and whether Canadian officials followed the law while arresting Meng, is set to begin in June. Closing arguments are expected in the last week of September and the first week of October. It could be years before a final decision is reached, since Canada's justice system allows many decisions to be appealed. (Reporting by Moira Warburton in Toronto; Editing by Denny Thomas and and Peter Cooney) Human remains have been found in a car recovered from Lough Erne during the searches for Michael 'Tony' Lynch, the PSNI has confirmed. The car was recovery from the lough in the Corradillar area of Fermanagh on Monday during searches for 54-year-old who disappeared 18 years ago. The father-of-four went missing from Clones, Co Monghan, in 2002. The PSNI said the vehicle was located underwater by police divers and recovered for examination. The car is believed to be the Mitsubishi belonging to Mr Lynch. Expand Close Lough Erne, where a vehicle believed to be that of missing Tony Lynch was found on Monday / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Lough Erne, where a vehicle believed to be that of missing Tony Lynch was found on Monday A PSNI spokesman said: "We are liaising with colleagues from An Garda Siochana, who are investigating Mr Lynchs disappearance." The family of Mr Lynch have been informed. The vehicle was discovered by two fishermen who were aware of a renewed search of lakes and quarries along the border. Mr Lynch was last seen on Fermanagh Street in Clones on Sunday, January 6, 2002. The father-of-four was reported missing to Garda almost a week later. Born in Newtownbutler in Co Fermanagh, Mr Lynch had been working in Co Cavan at the time. When he failed to turn up for work his family became concerned for his welfare and raised the alarm. Mr Lynch had moved from Magheraveely, Co Fermanagh, to a flat in Clones two months before he went missing At the start of the year gardai renewed their appeal for information on the disappearance. Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd) Dr B D Mishra on Thursday stressed on the need to ensure safety, security and logistic requirement of frontline "corona warriors" in the state for successful containment of the virus, according to a press release issued by Raj Bhavan here. Doctors, paramedics, policemen, sanitation workers and others engaged in different duties in the fight against the COVID-19 are called "corona warriors". During a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein at the Raj Bhavan here, the governor asked the state government to ensure safety of the frontline "COVID-19 warriors" by providing them adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and necessary medical gears, including masks and gloves. Mishra also said, all Standard Operating procedures (SoPs) should be maintained while dealing with returnees from outside the state. Students, patients and other people of Arunachal Pradesh, who had gone out of the state before the lockdown was announced, must be comfortably brought back under the laid down SOPs, he said. The governor also discussed in details about the quarantine arrangements and financial provisions, the press release said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Gopika Varrier By Express News Service THRISSUR: Amid rising Covid-19 cases after the return of Malayalis from abroad and other states, Kerala recorded its fourth death due to the coronavirus infection late on Thursday. Khadeeja, 73, a native of Kadappuram, was under treatment at the Chavakkad Taluk Hospital. She suffered from acute respiratory disorder, diabetes and other health issues. DMO K J Reena said, "Her health condition was declining and there were plans to shift her to the medical college hospital. But she died before that, with the sample results coming in only in the evening." According to sources, Khadeeja had gone to Mumbai, where her daughter stays, around three months back and returned on May 18. Even though she was issued a pass to enter the state through Walayar on May 22, Khadeeja -- along with three others -- was allowed entry as her health condition was deteriorating. On May 20, she was admitted to the Chavakkad Taluk Hospital where she breathed her last. "Since swab samples were taken for the Covid test, the body was kept at the mortuary at Chavakkad following all protocols," said an official. Her whereabouts after she entered the state on May 18 is yet to be figured out as her co-travellers were Perinthalmanna natives. Lack of a route map could pose a major challenge for the health authorities. With the confirmation of the coronavirus infection, the funeral will be held according to the Covid protocol. The district administration is likely to trace the contacts of the deceased and her son, who had taken her to the hospital. An official said that the ambulance driver and his son were already under observation. So far, five people have died in Kerala including a Mahe native. Imperial Valley News Center Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery Washington, DC - In December 2019, a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Peoples Republic of China, causing an outbreak of the disease COVID-19, which has now spread globally. The Secretary of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency on January 31, 2020, under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), in response to COVID-19. In Proclamation 9994 of March 13, 2020 (Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak), I declared that the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States constituted a national emergency, beginning March 1, 2020. I have taken sweeping action to control the spread of the virus in the United States, including by suspending entry of certain foreign nationals who present a risk of transmitting the virus; implementing policies to accelerate acquisition of personal protective equipment and bring new diagnostic capabilities to laboratories; and pressing forward rapidly in the search for effective treatments and vaccines. Our States, tribes, territories, local communities, health authorities, hospitals, doctors and nurses, manufacturers, and critical infrastructure workers have all performed heroic service on the front lines battling COVID-19. Executive departments and agencies (agencies), under my leadership, have helped them by taking hundreds of administrative actions since March, many of which provided flexibility regarding burdensome requirements that stood in the way of implementing the most effective strategies to stop the viruss spread. The virus has attacked our Nations economy as well as its health. Many businesses and non-profits have been forced to close or lay off workers, and in the last 8 weeks, the Nation has seen more than 36 million new unemployment insurance claims. I have worked with the Congress to provide vital relief to small businesses to keep workers employed and to bring assistance to those who have lost their jobs. On April 16, 2020, I announced Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, a framework for safely re-opening the country and putting millions of Americans back to work. Just as we continue to battle COVID-19 itself, so too must we now join together to overcome the effects the virus has had on our economy. Success will require the efforts not only of the Federal Government, but also of every State, tribe, territory, and locality; of businesses, non-profits, and houses of worship; and of the American people. To aid those efforts, agencies must continue to remove barriers to the greatest engine of economic prosperity the world has ever known: the innovation, initiative, and drive of the American people. By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to combat the economic consequences of COVID-19 with the same vigor and resourcefulness with which the fight against COVID-19 itself has been waged. Agencies should address this economic emergency by rescinding, modifying, waiving, or providing exemptions from regulations and other requirements that may inhibit economic recovery, consistent with applicable law and with protection of the public health and safety, with national and homeland security, and with budgetary priorities and operational feasibility. They should also give businesses, especially small businesses, the confidence they need to re-open by providing guidance on what the law requires; by recognizing the efforts of businesses to comply with often-complex regulations in complicated and swiftly changing circumstances; and by committing to fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication. Sec. 2. Definitions. (a) Emergency authorities means any statutory or regulatory authorities or exceptions that authorize action in an emergency, in exigent circumstances, for good cause, or in similar situations. (b) Agency has the meaning given in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code. (c) Administrative enforcement includes investigations, assertions of statutory or regulatory violations, and adjudications by adjudicators as defined herein. (d) Adjudicator means an agency official who makes a determination that has legal consequence, as defined in section 2(d) of Executive Order 13892 of October 9, 2019 (Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication), for a person, except that it does not mean the head of an agency, a member of a multi-member board that heads an agency, or a Presidential appointee. (e) Pre-enforcement ruling has the meaning given it in section 2(f) of Executive Order 13892. (f) Regulatory standard includes any requirement imposed on the public by a Federal regulation, as defined in section 2(g) of Executive Order 13892, or any recommendation, best practice, standard, or other, similar provision of a Federal guidance document as defined in section 2(c) of Executive Order 13892. (g) Unfair surprise has the meaning given it in section 2(e) of Executive Order 13892. Sec. 3. Federal Response. The heads of all agencies are directed to use, to the fullest extent possible and consistent with applicable law, any emergency authorities that I have previously invoked in response to the COVID-19 outbreak or that are otherwise available to them to support the economic response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The heads of all agencies are also encouraged to promote economic recovery through non-regulatory actions. Sec. 4. Rescission and waiver of regulatory standards. The heads of all agencies shall identify regulatory standards that may inhibit economic recovery and shall consider taking appropriate action, consistent with applicable law, including by issuing proposed rules as necessary, to temporarily or permanently rescind, modify, waive, or exempt persons or entities from those requirements, and to consider exercising appropriate temporary enforcement discretion or appropriate temporary extensions of time as provided for in enforceable agreements with respect to those requirements, for the purpose of promoting job creation and economic growth, insofar as doing so is consistent with the law and with the policy considerations identified in section 1 of this order. Sec. 5. Compliance assistance for regulated entities. (a) The heads of all agencies, excluding the Department of Justice, shall accelerate procedures by which a regulated person or entity may receive a pre-enforcement ruling under Executive Order 13892 with respect to whether proposed conduct in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including any response to legislative or executive economic stimulus actions, is consistent with statutes and regulations administered by the agency, insofar as doing so is consistent with the law and with the policy considerations identified in section 1 of this order. Preenforcement rulings under this subsection may be issued without regard to the requirements of section 6(a) of Executive Order 13892. (b) The heads of all agencies shall consider whether to formulate, and make public, policies of enforcement discretion that, as permitted by law and as appropriate in the context of particular statutory and regulatory programs and the policy considerations identified in section 1 of this order, decline enforcement against persons and entities that have attempted in reasonable good faith to comply with applicable statutory and regulatory standards, including those persons and entities acting in conformity with a pre-enforcement ruling. (c) As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services, including through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies have issued, or plan to issue in the future, guidance on action suggested to stem the transmission and spread of that disease. In formulating any policies of enforcement discretion undersubsection (b) of this section, an agency head should consider a situation in which a person or entity makes a reasonable attempt to comply with such guidance, which the person or entity reasonably deems applicable to its circumstances, to be a rationale for declining enforcement under subsection (b) of this section. Non-adherence to guidance shall not by itself form the basis for an enforcement action by a Federal agency. Sec. 6. Fairness in Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication. The heads of all agencies shall consider the principles of fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication listed below, and revise their procedures and practices in light of them, consistent with applicable law and as they deem appropriate in the context of particular statutory and regulatory programs and the policy considerations identified in section 1 of this order. (a) The Government should bear the burden of proving an alleged violation of law; the subject of enforcement should not bear the burden of proving compliance. (b) Administrative enforcement should be prompt and fair. (c) Administrative adjudicators should be independent of enforcement staff. (d) Consistent with any executive branch confidentiality interests, the Government should provide favorable relevant evidence in possession of the agency to the subject of an administrative enforcement action. (e) All rules of evidence and procedure should be public, clear, and effective. (f) Penalties should be proportionate, transparent, and imposed in adherence to consistent standards and only as authorized by law. (g) Administrative enforcement should be free of improper Government coercion. (h) Liability should be imposed only for violations of statutes or duly issued regulations, after notice and an opportunity to respond. (i) Administrative enforcement should be free of unfair surprise. (j) Agencies must be accountable for their administrative enforcement decisions. Sec. 7. Review of Regulatory Response. The heads of all agencies shall review any regulatory standards they have temporarily rescinded, suspended, modified, or waived during the public health emergency, any such actions they take pursuant to section 4 of this order, and other regulatory flexibilities they have implemented in response to COVID-19, whether before or after issuance of this order, and determine which, if any, would promote economic recovery if made permanent, insofar as doing so is consistent with the policy considerations identified in section 1 of this order, and report the results of such review to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Sec. 8. Implementation. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, shall monitor compliance with this order and may also issue memoranda providing guidance for implementing this order, including by setting deadlines for the reviews and reports required under section 7 of this order. Sec. 9. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision in this order, nothing in this order shall apply to any action that pertains to foreign or military affairs, or to a national security or homeland security function of the United States (other than procurement actions and actions involving the import or export of non-defense articles and services). (d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. Advertisement Kano state Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has lauded the management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) for improved and steady power supply to residential areas across the state during the lockdown period. Ganduje also received donations of 1500 bags of rice, 1500 Jerrycans of oil and the sum of N2 million from the company as part of its contribution to help cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to the poorest of the poor. Ganduje who spoke while receiving donations of food items from management of KEDCO, said the company deserve commendation for improving power to residents, even though they are not collecting bills at the moment. Advertisement According to him, this is a memorable occassion. It is an important occassion. We have to thank KEDCO for promoting our palliative objectives. We also have to thank KEDCO which is our own company, for not only providing these palliatives for onward distribution to the poorest of the poor, but also for providing regular power supply to our people at this period of lockdown, even without laying emphasis on collection of bills. Ganduje appreciated KEDCO for donating 1500 bags of rice, 1500 Jerry Cans of oil and the sum of N2 million to the Kano COVID-19 Fund Raising Committee. Speaking during the event, the Managing Director of KEDCO, Dr. Jamil Gwamna, said the donations were KEDCOs Widows Mite to help alleviate the sufferings of the poorest of the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gwamna said KEDCO has also ensured improved power supply to residential areas since the outbreak of the Corona Virus, raising the stakes of daily power supply from 16 hours to 18 hours. According to him, KEDCO has also taken adequate measures to ensure that its staff strictly comply with the COVID-19 protocols. He promised that the company will continue to play its through Social Responsibility policy to help government win the battle against COVID-19 in the state. Ganduje also received 10 Ventilators, 1500 prices of N-95 Face Masks from the management of ZEDVANCE FINANCE which also promised to rehabilitate 100-bed facility Isolation Centre. Ganduje also thanked Tint Engineering for donating 900 pieces of N-95 Face Masks. Annastacia Palaszczuk has hit back at New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian declaring Queenslanders will not be 'lectured to' about opening up their borders. Ms Berejiklian has urged the Sunshine State leader to reopen inter-state tourism after it shut down travel in April to slow the spread of coronavirus. Pressure has mounted on the Queensland Premier to lift the tourism ban, but Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Thursday she will not bow down to the pleas of southerners. Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured) has hit back at New South Wales Premier Gladys Berjiklian declaring Queenslanders will not be 'lectured to' about opening up their borders 'Let me be very clear, we are reviewing this every month. Nothing has changed,' she said. 'We are not going to be lectured to by a state that has the highest number of cases in Australia. 'If you look at the federal government's road map, they do not talk about inter-state travel until July if things are going well.' The war of words began when Ms Berejiklian told the ABC that given the declining rate of infection it does not make sense to keep state borders closed. 'I don't think it's logical to maintain the border closures for a prolonged period of time,' she said. 'For Australia to really move forward as a nation during this very difficult economic time, as well as difficult health time, we do need our borders down.' New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is calling for other Australian states to open their borders for tourism New South Wales will relax travel rules within the state from June 1 with regional travel allowed for interstate visitors and residents. But Queensland is still holding firm despite only having 12 active cases of COVID-19, telling its tourism industry to prepare for a likely September reopening of its state borders. 'Unfortunately New South Wales and Victoria have community transmission and they have to get that under control before we allow visitors to come here,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'We are not the only state, Western Australia has a border closure, Northern Territory has a border closure, South Australia has a border closure and Tasmania has a Border closure. This is not unique to Queensland.' On Wednesday, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan also sounded off on Ms Berejiklian calls to reopen the travel. A woman is pictured wearing a protective face mask in Sydney where coronavirus cases have been the highest in the country 'New South Wales had the Ruby Princess - I mean, seriously? And they are trying to give us advice on our borders, seriously?' he told reporters. 'We're not going to give in to that sort of bullying by the New South Wales Premier or anyone else - we are going to protect the health and the economy of Western Australia.' But Australia's deputy chief medical officer disagrees with the cautious approach being taken by the states. 'From a medical point of view, I can't see why the borders are still closed,' Paul Kelly told reporters. Professor Kelly said there would almost certainly be more cases found as the nation's economy and society began reopening, but the system was designed to find them quickly and minimise transmissions. Brisbane residents enjoy drinks at a pub after coronavirus restrictions were relaxed on May 16 I'm David Rosenthal, and this is a place to discuss the work I'm doing in Digital Preservation. Riverdale star KJ Apa said he was planning a career change to return to his 'first love' of music while at Sydney's Comic-Con last year. And the Kiwi actor appears to be releasing his new album very soon! Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the 22-year-old cryptically captioned a photo holding a guitar: 'something hot cooking!' Is KJ Apa QUITTING Riverdale? Kiwi star hints new album is on its way after admitting music was his 'first love' and acting wasn't his 'end game'. KJ is pictured with friend Hart Denton Interestingly, his musician friend Hart Denton in the photo later re-shared an image of KJ's and wrote: 'You'll hear these voice memos... on the album.' It comes after KJ himself told Comic-Con fans to expect an album in 2020 when he visited Australia in September 2019. It won't be KJ's debut album though, as he released his own instrumental rock album called The Third Room when he was 14. Two passions in one! In recent seasons of Riverdale, KJ's character Archie has taken on a role of a musician and KJ has sung in a musical episode alongside his talented castmates Keneti James 'KJ' Apa rose to fame playing Archie Andrews in the CW drama series Riverdale - a role he has occupied since 2017. In recent seasons of Riverdale, KJ's character Archie has taken on a role of a musician and sung in a musical episode alongside his talented castmates. He told Sydney's Daily Telegraph in September 2019: 'I never really wanted to be an actor, it was never really something that I actively pursued.' 'I never really wanted to be an actor, it was never really something that I actively pursued': Riverdale star KJ Apa (pictured) revealed that music was his real passion in 2019 The New Zealand born actor admitted while he enjoys acting, he doesn't see it as 'the end game'. KJ added at the time: 'I have always been super-passionate about music, that is my first love.' KJ, who bases himself between Los Angeles and New Zealand when he's not filming in Vancouver, revealed that fans could expect an album to be dropped shortly. Confession: 'I never really wanted to be an actor, it was never really something that I actively pursued,' he told Sydney's Daily Telegraph at the time The actor got his first major gig as Kane Jenkins on New Zealand prime time soap opera Shortland Street from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, he was cast as leading man Archie Andrews in Riverdale, which is based on the Archie comic books that started in 1941. While The CW renewed Riverdale for a fifth season in January 2019, the cast have been unable to film the series due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down production on the show. NASA has announced it will name the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) after Nancy Grace Roman, one of the first women to work at the agency and a pivotal figure in the development of the Hubble Telescope. The WFIRST will now be called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, or Roman Space Telescope, and is planned to launch in the mid-2020s on a mission to collect data about dark matter, dark energy, and search for new planets outside our solar system. Since joining NASA in 1959, just six months after the agency was formed, Roman played a central role in deep space telescope projects, and Hubble chief scientist Ed Weiler called her 'the mother of the Hubble Space Telescope.' Scroll down for video NASA will rename the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) after Nancy Grace Roman, one of the agency's first women employees, often described as 'the mother of the Hubble Telescope' 'It is because of Nancy Grace Romans leadership and vision that NASA became a pioneer in astrophysics and launched Hubble, the worlds most powerful and productive space telescope,' NASA's Jim Bridenstine said in a prepared statement. 'I can think of no better name for WFIRST, which will be the successor to NASAs Hubble and Webb Telescopes.' Like the Hubble, the Roman Space Telescope will feature a 7.9 foot mirror that will reflect stellar light toward several powerful imaging sensors for processing. The main tool will be a Wide Field Instrument sensor, a 288-megapixel 'near-infrared' camera capable of covering a field of view 100 times greater than the Hubble's. The telescope will also be equipped with a Coronograph Instrument that will produce high contrast imaging for shorter wavelength light required to study nearby exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system. Work on the project began in 2011, and in February it passed a set of final design milestones and was approved for hardware testing to ensure its durability in orbit. Roman began her career working on spectral classification, which involved using powerful telescopes to separate stellar light into a spectrum and using the color information to calculate the size and distance of each star. In 1959, she joined NASA's Office of Space Science as its chief of astronomy and relativity. She was an early champion of the idea of putting a large telescope into orbit around the Earth to collect lightwave data from deep space that would undetectable at ground level because of atmospheric interference. She organized a large collection of astronomers and engineers from around the country to create a plan for what would become the Hubble Telescope, and in 1978 she helped convince congress to approve its $36million development. Nancy Grace joined NASA in 1959, just six months after the agency was formed, and helped organize a team of engineers and astronomers to design a telescope that could study distant stars and planets from orbit around the Earth, what would become the Hubble Telescope On hearing the news that the WFIRST Telescope would be renamed after her, Roman's cousins, Laura Bates Verreau and Barbara Bates, issued a statement on behalf of the family. 'Nancy Grace was a modest person but very determined when she believed in something,' they said in a joint statement. 'We are very proud that she stood up for herself in the early years when everyone told her that women could not be astronomers.' 'She ignored people who told her it was not appropriate or that women didnt have the ability to work in the physical sciences and forged ahead with her studies.' 'If she had not persisted, then we wouldnt have the benefit of her scientific contributions, and NASA wouldnt be naming a telescope after her!' EDWARDSVILLE The Land of Goshen Community Market will have its opening day on June 6 with new social distancing measures in place while also continuing their successful online shop. The Goshen Markets managers Tara Eberlin Pohlman and Candice Watson have been collaborating with the City of Edwardsville and reviewing how farmers markets across the country have been responding to the pandemic. Based on their research and guidelines set forth by the Illinois Farmers Market Association, several social distancing measures will be in place when the market opens on June 6. With over sixty vendors on an average Saturday, a drive-thru model is not ideal for a market of our size. Instead, we have opted for what is called an in-and-out market, said Eberlin Pohlman. In and out markets, are like a drive-thru market, but customers will be on foot. We are encouraging customers to place orders ahead with vendors to make the process go smoothly and limit interaction, explains Watson. The market is asking customers to send only one shopper per family. Additional programming like music, the kids program Market Sprouts, and demonstrations will not be included this season. The market will only include sales of food and hygiene items to limit the number of vendors and allow for at least ten feet of space between all stalls. The market will have two entrances, and only fifty customers will be allowed into the space at one time. Customers will be asked to wear masks. The market plans to keep the online shop running indefinitely to help support immunocompromised customers and vendors. The shop opened for sales April 3 and has since taken in orders totaling over $35,000. The shop offers the produce, meat, baked goods and soap from more than twenty vendors for sale through the markets website. Customer orders are delivered or available for pickup at 222 Artisan Bakery, at 222 N. Main St. in Edwardsville each Thursday. I continue to get quality goods with emphasis being placed on keeping consumers and workers safe and healthy, customer Theresa Morrison said. I appreciate the social distancing and mask-wearing along with the usual great baked goods, meats and vegetables. Sales through the Land of Goshen Community Market online store have been nothing short of a lifesaver for our business, market vendor and the proprietor of Queens Cuisine Tea Room, Jane Muscroft said. As of 12 p.m. May 21, 2020, the Pa. Department of Health reports that there are 65,392 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. There are at least 4,869 reported deaths from the virus. Click the image to see a data page including an interactive maps for the state. (Please click the link in the previous sentence if you cant see the image) Click here for a ZIP code breakdown of cases provided by the Pa. Department of Health. The state is also providing detailed hospital and respirator data here for desktop users and here for mobile users. PennLive is monitoring the new cases over a two-week period, part of the Wolf administrations criteria for reopening the state. A map and a database for these are below. If you cannot see either embed, please click here for the map and here for the database. Below is a map of the current reopening status of Pennsylvania counties. Please click here if you cannot see that map. Adams County 204 positive cases and 2,360 negative results with 5 deaths. Allegheny County 1,718 positive cases and 24,958 negative results with 148 deaths. Armstrong County 58 positive cases and 1,083 negative results with 2 deaths. Beaver County 539 positive cases and 2,952 negative results with 71 deaths. Bedford County 36 positive cases and 563 negative results with 2 deaths. Berks County 3,784 positive cases and 9,407 negative results with 279 deaths. Blair County 44 positive cases and 2,138 negative results with 1 death. Bradford County 43 positive cases and 1,238 negative results with 3 deaths. Bucks County 4,726 positive cases and 15,691 negative results with 442 deaths. Butler County 209 positive cases and 3,248 negative results with 12 deaths. Cambria County 55 positive cases and 2,956 negative results with 2 deaths. Cameron County 2 positive cases and 110 negative results. Carbon County 221 positive cases and 1,888 negative results with 22 deaths. Centre County 136 positive cases and 1,697 negative results with 5 deaths. Chester County 2,267 positive cases and 9,558 negative results with 238 deaths. Clarion County 25 positive cases and 608 negative results with 2 deaths. Clearfield County 33 positive cases and 897 negative results. Clinton County 48 positive cases and 463 negative results. Columbia County 342 positive cases and 1,105 negative results with 29 deaths. Crawford County 21 positive cases and 937 negative results. Cumberland County 565 positive cases and 3,553 negative results with 43 deaths. Dauphin County 1,034 positive cases and 8,328 negative results with 52 deaths. Delaware County 5,969 positive cases and 16,546 negative results with 481 deaths. Elk County 6 positive cases and 272 negative results. Erie County 177 positive cases and 3,558 negative results with 4 deaths. Fayette County 93 positive cases and 2,728 negative results with 4 deaths. Forest County 7 positive cases and 62 negative results. Franklin County 677 positive cases and 4,426 negative results with 28 deaths. Fulton County 14 positive cases and 182 negative results with 1 death. Greene County 27 positive cases and 668 negative results. Huntingdon County 221 positive cases and 690 negative results with 1 death. Indiana County 88 positive cases and 1,071 negative results with 4 deaths. Jefferson County 7 positive cases and 443 negative results. Juniata County 94 positive cases and 290 negative results with 3 deaths. Lackawanna County 1,432 positive cases and 4,907 negative results with 137 deaths. Lancaster County 2,690 positive cases and 12,916 negative results with 269 deaths. Lawrence County 73 positive cases and 1,083 negative results with 8 deaths. Lebanon County 887 positive cases and 3,860 negative results with 24 deaths. Lehigh County 3,586 positive cases and 11,888 negative results with 192 deaths. Luzerne County 2,594 positive cases and 8,913 negative results with 130 deaths. Lycoming County 152 positive cases and 1,882 negative results with 10 deaths. McKean County 11 positive cases and 447 negative results with 1 death. Mercer County 97 positive cases and 1,257 negative results with 4 deaths. Mifflin County 57 positive cases and 1,059 negative results with 1 death. Monroe County 1,291 positive cases and 4,688 negative results with 95 deaths. Montgomery County 6,268 positive cases and 27,941 negative results with 607 deaths. Montour County 51 positive cases and 3,089 negative results. Northampton County 2,814 positive cases and 10,975 negative results with 186 deaths. Northumberland County 150 positive cases and 1,179 negative results with 2 deaths. Perry County 43 positive cases and 562 negative results with 1 death. Philadelphia County 16,840 positive cases and 46,470 negative results with 1178 deaths. Pike County 473 positive cases and 1,770 negative results with 18 deaths. Potter County 4 positive cases and 123 negative results. Schuylkill County 548 positive cases and 3,769 negative results with 25 deaths. Snyder County 33 positive cases and 331 negative results with 1 death. Somerset County 37 positive cases and 1,414 negative results. Sullivan County 2 positive cases and 78 negative results. Susquehanna County 90 positive cases and 566 negative results with 15 deaths. Tioga County 16 positive cases and 461 negative results with 2 deaths. Union County 61 positive cases and 877 negative results with 1 death. Venango County Warren County 3 positive cases and 294 negative results. Washington County 130 positive cases and 3,560 negative results with 5 deaths. Wayne County 112 positive cases and 798 negative results with 7 deaths. Westmoreland County 434 positive cases and 7,780 negative results with 38 deaths. Wyoming County 32 positive cases and 372 negative results with 7 deaths. York County 883 positive cases and 11,114 negative results with 21 deaths. This data is compiled from the Pa. Department of Health. The state will not be providing recovery data at this time. Several counties have released their own data maps. Information reported at the county level may not be consistent with the state numbers. Those counties include: Some medical systems have begun releasing discharge data. Those medical systems include: Text PennLive to 717-745-7532 to sign up to have breaking news and essential updates about the coronavirus delivered right to your mobile device. Data and messaging rates may apply. -- Follow Ed Sutelan on Twitter, @EdwardSutelan Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Its the least he can do. Every morning, starting around 6:30 a.m., Bill Johnsen stands at the corner of Seaview and Mason avenues for about an hour to thank the healthcare workers as they change shifts at Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze. Its getting better, right? Johnsen, who lives in the community, tells the employees as they pass by him. Johnsen also holds a sign for them with messages of encouragement, including words like stay safe and stay strong. His gratitude is greeted with waves and air hugs (and sometimes a breakfast bagel) from the workers. Hospital workers pass by and wave or smile under their masks or give a bow. Johnsen said he remembers how hard his time was in Vietnam, so he wants to give the workers something to smile about for a minute. Colleen DePaolo, RN in labor and delivery talks with Bill Johnsen this morning as she sees him everyday. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) I show up for the community, because they show up for us every day," he said. Bill Johnsen waves as cars honk to say hello. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) As the day shift comes in a hug is passed between the two.(Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) It began as a good thing. A very good thing. As part of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfins $15 million COVID-19 Response Plan, which was approved by the city council on March 17, $547,133 was appropriated to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies for the citys first responders and other public employees. A very good thing. Ten days after council approval, the city placed an order for 175,000 masks (two different types) with Metron Marketing and Distribution, a black-owned company another very good thing based in Yorba Linda, California. The company, according to its website, has also provided medical devices and supplies for the states of Michigan and Oregon, New Yorks Suffolk County, the City of Montgomery, and other clients, mostly hospitals throughout the world. The cost of the masks, per an invoice Metron says it sent to the city on March 27, was $451,250 (shipping was estimated at $30,000 for the masks manufactured in China). Because the demand for masks and other medical supplies was astronomical at the time, Metron asked for a deposit of 50% upfront. The city sent $225,625 with the order. All good? Not anymore. Not good at all. Now, its a bit of a mess. There are 100,000 KN95 filtering facepiece (FFP) masks in a warehouse in Titusville as officials in this predominantly black city and executives from the black-owned company wrestle over who pays for them. Lets unmask the mystery: The city says it ordered 100,000 N95 masksthe gold standard, most experts on protective masks agree, and mostly produced in the United States. They were to be used by the citys first responders, as well as Public Works employees. The city also ordered 75,000 3-ply surgical masks for city employees and people transported by first responders to a medical facility. Surgical masks help others from getting sick. The 75,000 surgical masks arrived on April 20. All good. No issues. The other masks were delayed amid the chaos of the time. As companies around the world ramped up to produce gowns, gloves, and (mostly) masks for healthcare workers endangered by the overwhelming shortage of protective gear during early surge of the spread of the novel coronavirus nationwide, shipments into the U.S. were often clogged by limited cargo space and regulatory gymnastics. On April 29, when boxes of masks arrived at the warehouse, city officials say they contained 100,000 KN95 masks, not the N95s it contends were ordered. Since they were being purchased for our first responders, we wanted to make sure we gave them what we felt were best masks possible, says city finance director Lester Smith. What was shipped was a substitute item. We ordered N95s. To bolster its claim, city officials supplied a purchase order dated Mach 27 listing an order of 100,000 of what is described as IN MASK RESPIRATOR SEVERE CONDITION N-95 TYPE masks at $3.65 each for a total cost of $365,000. Atop the page, it reads: Change Purchase Order. [see document] Metron, conversely, says the city got exactly what it ordered. It, too, cites as evidence a slightly different purchase order from the City of Birmingham, also dated March 27. It contains the same description of the product ordered as above yet adds a category (Ven Part No.",) under which is FN95. (In the confusing nomenclature of medical masks, FN95 is widely used interchangeably with N95.) Both purchase orders list a unit price of $3.65 per mask, which Metron says was the cost of the KN95. N95s cost $4.70 per unit, the company says. You dont go into a McDonalds and ask for a $3.65 burger.' You ask for what you want, Smith says. We asked for N95 and listed it on the purchase order. They know exactly whats going on, said Metron CEO Kyle Davis, when reached by telephone in California. They paid for KN95s but sent a purchase order after the fact for N95s. Metron sent an invoice to the city, also dated March 27, noting KN95 FFP2 non-medical mask as the description of the 100,000 masks ordered. They invoiced us for the incorrect masks they shipped, says Smith. AL.com also obtained numerous pertinent, yet sometimes inconsistent, email exchanges between a Metron sales representative and city workers. [Reprint purchase order document] Without delving neck-deep into the mask debate quagmire, simply know: Both N95 and KN95 are rated to filter out up to 95% of particles N95s are typically manufactured in the United States and thus regulated by the federal government. KN95s are manufactured in China, thus regulated according to its governments standards, then regulated for use here by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under the Center for Disease Control (CDC) . The Food and Drug Administration offers additional regulatory advice for devices used in the healthcare industry In March, the frightening shortage of PPEs for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the scourge prompted a cyclone production. U.S. regulatory agencies struggled to keep up, changing their tunes sometimes from one week to the next In March, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for non-NIOSH-approved N95s produced in several countries, not including China, for use as suitable alternatives under specific emergency conditions. On April 3, it issued a new EUA for Chinas KN95s, if certain manufacturing standards were met. The UEA was revised on May 7 with new conditions, including authorizing only those KN95s that were re-certified and produced at specific manufacturers. (Metron says Chengde Technology, which made the masks sent to Birmingham, is an approved manufacturer.) The final cost of the entire mask order was $476,283. (Final shipping costs, impacted by morphing regulations and limited cargo space, were $36,650). In an email at 4:25 pm, the day the shipment of KN95s arrived in Birmingham, a Metron salesperson, after hearing from city officials unhappy about the shipment of KN95s, shared a letter from the manufacturer supporting the suitability of the KN95 mask. I know it may not change the minds of elected officials and city executives, however, it does explain why the KN95 is suitable and likely your best immediate option at protecting city workers, especially first responders. We hope this helps and you will give serious consideration in keeping the shipment that you have in your warehouse. City and Metron officials agree on this: After some testy exchanges, the city agreed to keep half of the 100,000 KN95s, for use by non-first-responder city employees. The agreement collapsed, though, when the two parties could not agree upon who should pay for shipping. Now, everyone just wants their money. The city is seeking the return of $161,825the difference between the deposit and cost and shipping of the 3-ply non-surgical masks. Smith cites, among the conditions listed with its purchase order: The Purchaser reserves the right to reject at the destination and hold at sellers risk any article supplied by Seller which does not conform to the specifications or description embodied in this order The N95 masks were ordered for a specific purpose, Smith says. The masks received did not match the purchase order. At that point, we have the right to return those items for a full refund so we can now procure the items requested. On May 11, Davis, in a letter to the city, wrote the company demands payment of $250.658.23 for the balance due on .. all related shipping costs, 100,000 KN95s, and 75,000 3-ply surgical masks, delivered to Birmingham, which Birmingham has in its possession. We tried to resolve it, Davis said. We made sure all the product was distributed properly and we just want to get paid. Meanwhile, 100,000 KN95sor, frankly, $365,000 of Birmingham taxpayer dollars in the midst of an economic corona-crashsit in a warehouse until this mask mess is resolved: legally or if the two parties work out a mutually acceptable solution. Smith says the city has a stockpile of N95 masks and there is no danger of them running out soon. His office is ordering additional N95s from another firm, Emergency Equipment Professionals in Pelham. How will they be paid for? At least part of it with the $161,825 we are owed from Metron, Smith says. On Tuesday the city council voted to extend its mandatory mask ordinance until May 29. The day before, Birmingham attorney Richard Rice, who is representing Metron in the dispute, sent an email to councilors (He did not mention Metron was a client in the email) imploring the city to give masks to its residents. Despite having approximately 30% of the population living at or below poverty and 22-25% of the population illiterate the city has not provided masks or protective face coverings, Rice wrote. Please take the appropriate actions, to release the masks now. For now, though they sitwhich is not very good at all. For anyone. A voice for whats right and wrong in Birmingham, Alabama (and beyond), Roys column appears in The Birmingham News and AL.com, as well as in the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register. Reach him at rjohnson@al.com and follow him at twitter.com/roysj Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 05:15:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SANAA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni Houthi rebel-controlled authorities announced on Wednesday the closure of all parks under their control during Eid al-Fitr holiday as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported. The holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, starts on May 24 to May 29 in Yemen. Meanwhile, the government Health Ministry on Wednesday recorded 13 new cases of COVID-19 in southern provinces, bringing the total confirmed cases to 180, including 29 deaths. The government authorities have taken several measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, including imposing a partial overnight curfew in Aden and other main cities. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa. Enditem By Express News Service HYDERABAD: In a shocking turn of events on late Wednesday night, a woman calling herself Allampally Madhavi claimed that her COVID-positive husband has been missing from Gandhi Hospital for several days. The authorities have dismissed the fact and said that the man in question passed away on May 1 and was cremated by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation with the family's knowledge. On Wednesday night, a Twitter account by the name of Alampally Madhavi, claimed that her 42-year-old husband, Madhusudhan, has been missing from Gandhi Hospital. She mentioned in the thread of tweets that the family is from Vanasthalipuram and multiple family members are COVID-19 positive. However, the Twitter account is no more available and seems to have been deleted along with the thread of tweets. However, responding to these allegations, Dr. Raja Rao, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital said, "I would like to clarify the facts. Late Madhusudhan, aged 42 yrs, was admitted to Gandhi Hospital on 30/4/20, at 7:45 pm with a positive diagnosis of COVID, and as his condition was serious (bilateral pneumonia with ARDS), inspite of best efforts he could not be saved and expired on 1/5/20 at 6:03 pm. As per procedure, the family members were informed and according to a protocol the dead body of COVID patients are handed over to the police. They in turn hand over the body to the family. If the family is not coming forward for any reason, the cremation is done by the GHMC. In this case, also the body was handed over to police and signature of the police who handed over the body also taken. On enquiry, the body was cremated by GHMC. Later other family members were also admitted with COVID in Gandhi Hospital. All due procedures were followed, we sympathise with the family but it is wrong to defame the hospital and Doctors and other staff who are treating hundreds of COVID-19 cases risking their lives." The police case sheet too shows that Madhusudhan was declared dead on May 1. According to his case sheets from Gandhi Hospital, the 42-year-old had no history of hypertension or diabetes. However, he was found unconscious on May 1, at 5:30 pm, and doctors were unable to revive him. He did not have any travel history. Madhusudan was referred to Gandhi Hospital from King Koti's out-patient department, wherein he had reported for COVID symptoms like dry cough, on April 30. - Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has come out to deny media reports that schools will soon reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak - According to him, those reports were false - He said the government had only started engaging teacher unions, parents, and other relevant stakeholders on what it takes to reopen schools to ensure the safety of staff and school kids Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has come out to deny media reports that schools will soon reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak. Oppong Nkrumah said the government had only started engaging teacher unions, parents, and other relevant stakeholders on what it takes to reopen schools to ensure the safety of teachers and students. Addressing the media on Thursday, May 21, 2020, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said those reports were false. There was a media report which said schools to reopen soon. With all due respect, that is not true Consultations of what it takes to reopen schools as part of the potential easing of the general restrictions that were living under are what have started, he said at the news conference. On March 15, 2020, President Akufo-Addo announced the suspension of all academic activities, as part of a broader ban on social gathering, so as to stop the spread of COVID-19. Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah Source: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: School should still be closed even after ban is lifted - Teacher Union to GES Following the imposition of these restrictions, some interest groups pushed for the restrictions to be lifted. But analysts have kicked against any intended move to lift the restrictions on movements especially at a time where the country continues to record increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections. YEN.com.gh, earlier reported that some Teacher Unions in the country argued that it is important for schools to remain closed even if the ban on public gatherings is not extended by the President. According to them, that would help reduce the spread and threat of the coronavirus disease. In a letter addressed to the Director-General of Ghana Education Service, the unions said they would not ascribe to the re-opening of the schools, should the President of the Republic decide not to extend the 31st May 2020 deadline and order the re-opening of the schools. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Private schools call on Akufo-Addo to reopen schools Meanwhile, the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) has underscored the need for government to reopen schools. The Executive Director of GNACOPS, Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah, said schools should be re-opened if the government believes it was safe regardless of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country. Despite the refusal of pre-tertiary education teachers in public schools calling for the ban to remain, private schools and private school owners believe the time is ripe for students to return to the classroom. READ ALSO: COVID-19: This virus may never go away; it may be another endemic WHO warns Ghanaian Pastor ventures into farming to help feed the country | #Yencomgh(opens in new tab) Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh Woman blind for 13 years healed instantly by husband's intercessory prayer, study says Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Baptist woman diagnosed with incurable juvenile macular degeneration that left her legally blind for 13 years instantly regained her sight after her pastor husband laid hands on her and prayed for a miracle, a recent study from The Global Medical Research Institute explains. The study of the miracle claim was conducted by Indiana University professor of psychological and brain sciences and GMRI board chair, Joshua W. Brown; Texas Tech University associate professor of ophthalmology Kenn Freedman; retired radiologist David Zaritzky; and GMRI research associate Clarrissa Romez. The researchers were told that the unidentified woman was 18 when she lost the majority of her central vision over three months in 1959. But after her condition deteriorated over the next 12 years to the point that she relied on a cane and learned to read braille, she regained clear eyesight instantaneously in 1972 after receiving proximal intercessory prayer from her husband. Based in Cleveland, Tennessee, GMRI reviews evidenced-based testimonies from various ministries applying rigorous methods of research to show the effects of proximal intercessory prayer in the resolution of conditions that would typically have a poor prognosis otherwise. Researchers at the organization are also developing randomized and controlled clinical trials of healing prayer effects. Proximal intercessory prayer or PIP refers to direct-contact prayer, which frequently involves touch by one or more persons on behalf of another. It is described by the researchers as a prayer that typically lasts for less than 15 [minutes] and involves touch, often with the intercessors eyes open to observe results. The person administering the prayer typically uses soft tones and may offer different kinds of prayers. An example is to petition God to heal, invite the Holy Spirits anointing, and/or command the healing and departure of any evil spirits in Jesus name. Researchers noted that the woman had recently completed a program to learn how to use a cane and read braille. But she claimed to have been healed by an intercessory prayer from her husband one evening before going to bed in August 1972. The PIP was presented in a Christian tradition, extended to God as both asked for her eyesight to be restored that night, the study reads. When the couple went to bed later than normal (after midnight), her husband performed a hurried spiritual devotional practice (reading two Bible verses) and got on his knees to pray. According to the woman, she and her husband began to cry as he began to pray with a hand on her shoulder while she laid on the bed. [W]ith great feeling and boldness he prayed: Oh, God! You can restore [...] eyesight tonight, Lord. I know You can do it! And I pray You will do it tonight, the study explains. At the close of the prayer, his wife opened her eyes and saw her husband kneeling in front of her, which was her first clear visual perception after almost 13 years of blindness. While the woman and her husband never doubted the possibility of spiritual gifts and healing in the present day, they had never previously experienced anything like that as believers before. The only healings we knew about were in the Bible, the woman was quoted as saying. Even though her husband is a pastor, she said her husband had also never prayed for anyone who experienced such a remarkable recovery before. In summary, the patient was blind for [13] years because of a condition that appeared to be a severe form of Stargardts disease, the researchers wrote. Following a PIP event, her vision was spontaneously restored and remains intact to date, 47 years later. The study states that the symptoms were resolved in the context of personal intercessory prayer. A notable aspect of the recovery, according to the study, is the theological acceptance of healing prayer with specific belief recognized through the authority of Jesus. The study concludes that the findings from the research and others like it warrant investment in future research to ascertain whether and how PIP experiences may play a role in apparent spontaneous resolution of lifelong conditions having otherwise no prognosis of recovery. According to the researchers, "research on the potential for PIP to affect the [autonomic nervous system] and/or reverse vision loss associated with JMD is limited." What people need to understand is I was blind, totally blind and attended the School for the Blind. I read braille and walked with a white cane," the woman was quoted as telling the researchers. "Never had I seen my husband or daughters [sic] face. I was blind when my husband prayed for me. Then just like that, in a moment, after years of darkness, I could see perfectly! It was miraculous! My daughters picture was on the dresser. I could see what my little girl and husband looked like. I could see the floor, the steps. Within seconds, my life had drastically changed. I could see, I could see! Charlize Theron has a new Netflix movie coming out that puts her once again behind a gun for an action role. The South African born beauty was seen in the official trailer for The Old Guard which was released on Thursday; the film will be available on July 10. The veteran 44-year-old Hollywood actress wore her hair dark and short as she showed a trainee how to be a top mercenary. 'We don't have all the answers but we do have purpose,' said Theron's icy character. Back in action: Charlize Theron has a new Netflix movie coming out that puts her once again behind a gun for an action role Gun gal: The South African born beauty was seen in the official trailer for The Old Guard on Thursday; the film will be released on July 10 The synopsis: A group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals with the ability to heal themselves, discover someone is onto their secret, and they must fight to protect their freedom. Gina Prince-Bythewood directs from the comic book of the same name. The movie also stars KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman, Marwan Kenzari as Joe (Yusuf Al-Kaysani), Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker (Sebastian le Livre), Luca Marinelli as Nicky (Nicolo di Genova), Chiwetel Ejiofor as Copley, Harry Melling and Veronica Ngo. A mystery: The trailer opens with Charlize walking down a narrow street with sunglasses on and a backpack. 'Who are you?' asks a woman. Theron's character says, 'You can call me Andy.' Rare people: Theron's Andy says they are fighters with 'an extremely rare skill set.' The movie must have cost a fortune: There are several different locations The producers are Beth Kono, Dana Goldberg, A.J. Dix, Don Granger, David Ellison, Marc Evans. Principal photography for the film began in Europe in mid-May 2019 The trailer opens with Charlize walking down a narrow street with sunglasses on and a backpack. Not mortal: When the newbie asks what she means, the star says, 'Let's just say we're very hard to kill' 'Who are you?' asks a woman. Theron's character says, 'You can call me Andy.' Next a helicopter is seen flying over a sparse terrain. Theron's Andy says they are fighters with 'an extremely rare skill set.' They were shot dozens of times: The group is outnumbered and caught with their guard down Oh no there she goes down: It looks like the protagonist will expire as she falls down Dead for a while: The beauty looks very dead with blood on her face Back up and ready to get them: She then wakes up from death and finishes off the men with the help of her staff When the newbie asks what she means, the star says, 'Let's just say we're very hard to kill.' Theron and her group are seen being gunned down only for her to miraculously wake up and finish off the men. Charlize is then on the phone: 'I have the new one. I think she has potential.' A new mercenary that cannot die: 'I have the new one. I think she has potential,' she said She is a tough chick once again: In this scene she takes down some bad guys A very strong woman: Theron must have trained for months to get all the moves down Theron and the new girl, Nile, go at it on a plane and the girl proves she has good fighting skills. When Theron throws the girl down and her arm becomes bloody but then the heal dries up, the newcomer is told: 'See you're already healing faster, you'll do great.' Nile asks, 'So you good guys or bad guys?' A man says, 'Depends on the century' as old images from decades past are seen. The new one who has a special skill too: The new face is Nile Freeman, played by KiKi Layne The leader is in front: Several times the veteran killer is seen with her apprentice 'So you never really die?' asks the girl. 'Just because we keep living doesn't mean we stop hurting,' says a man. Theron then says: 'We've protected this world fighting in the shadows.' No thanks: The special killer is caught in a photo taken by a young woman Sneaky: Theron offers to take a photo of the gals but before she does that she deletes the photo with her face in it Taken out: The assassin does not want her face to be seen anywhere Theron told Vanity Fair of the role: 'From the first moment I read [Greg] Ruckas graphic novel, I felt like there was great potential to make this thing feel really very relevant and have it ask some real questions about humanity. 'Is what were doing enough? Is what were doing actually changing anything? Are we making [things] better, or are we making the world worse?' The action star is also gearing up for upcoming roles in other franchises, including F9 and Atomic Blonde 2. Atomic Blonde stuntman Sam Hargrave recently told The Guardian: 'Some of the stuff she did, her grit and determination, was incredible.' Theron is also staying busy with philanthropy, recently launching Together For Her, a campaign to fight domestic violence amid COVID-19. The glasses are being polished and the beer barrels tapped as New Zealand's pubs and bars prepare to reopen today. Venues which primarily serve alcohol have had to wait an extra week to open after the move to alert level 2. This was due to the additional risk they were thought to pose, the government here citing South Korea where a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases was blamed on the reopening of Seoul nightclubs. Hospitality has been hit hard by the pandemic, and venue owners say that extra week with no customers has been another massive blow. Sue Whelan from Father Ted's in Auckland is excited but nervous. "We'll just play it by ear, we really don't know how it's going to be. We saw last weekend when the restaurants opened up they were pretty quiet," she said. "[And] obviously we can only have 50 seated so we're not expecting massive crowds or anything but we're ready to go. It just depends if anyone turns up." Sue wonders whether people will be put off going to bars if they can't wander from their seats or the group of up to 10 they have come with. It'll be strange for her too - you're not supposed to get your drink delivered to you at an Irish pub. "It's definitely going to be new for customers but it's totally new for our staff as well. It's table service and it's just not what we're used to, but we'll get used to it. We'll get there." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says hospitality businesses must apply the 'three S': Seating: People must be seated to prevent the spread. Separation: There must be social distancing between people and tables. Single server: Each table must have just one person serving it. Jacinda announced on Monday, May 11, New Zealand would move from alert level 3 to level 2 at 11.59pm on Wednesday, May 13, meaning retailers and public spaces would be largely able to reopen from Thursday, May 14. She revealed there would be a staggered approach to the loosening of restrictions, with schools reopening from the following Monday, May 18. When it comes to having a tipple at your local, however, Cabinet was not having a bar of it - at least, not yet. Jacinda says bars would have to wait until today, before reopening. She says this is because bars posed the biggest risk. Bars and other eateries would be distinguished by the guidelines of the Easter Holiday Act legislation. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi further clarified the rules: Patrons must be seated Patrons must be served a meal, not just drinks Serving staff must stick to serving specific tables Establishments must ensure no more than 10 people per booking Establishments cannot accommodate more than 100 people Establishments must ensure safe spacing between seated groups The rule of 10 You won't be raging it up with hundreds of your best mates anytime soon. Indoor and outdoor gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10. It applies to parties of all sorts, weddings, funerals and tangi, church meetings, and group bookings at restaurants or bars. It is the same for churches and other venues. Social distancing rules must be followed too. What remains unchanged? The basic public health measures. If you are even slightly sick, stay at home. If you have any symptoms - a runny nose or sore throat - stay at home and get a test. Wash those hands and clean surfaces regularly. Don't share your phone. The border remains closed to all except Kiwis returning home. On arrival, they will spend 14 days in an isolation facility. Keep your distance. Two metres remains the gold-standard for strangers but in your workplace or with people you know the prime minister says we can "live with less" because tracing can be done if needed. -Additional reporting by RNZ Nigerian Lady Narrates How She Escaped Getting Failed By Lecturer Who Wanted To Sleep With Her A Nigerian lady has narrated her experience with a lecturer who threatened to fail her in his course if she fails to meet him in a hotel. According to @_Faves, the lecturer threatened to make sure she returned for an extra year in school after she refused giving in to his demand for sex following their meeting in a hotel. The Twitter user who revealed that she got same threats on her exam day, said the lecturer was unable to grade her exam as he got suspended and handed over to another lecturer in the school. She Tweeted; Ill never forget the day a lecturer threatened to fail me if I did not meet him in a hotel in school. I was so afraid, so I planned with my twin to put my phone on recording. I took a backup phone just in case and started recording immediately I got to his door. The man was like; Im not saying I want to fuck o, but you will be my baby girl. I like your shape, your breast, your height. You need to be taken care of and maybe when you finish school, we will marry. Were was already planning future with me. He told me to sit, I sat on the chair, he came close on another chair and held my hand. All this while, he was reducing his dialogue and I did not know why. Later, he said; where is your phone, I said its in my bag. He took the bag and put it in the wardrobe and closed it. Were. Like he had done it before. Then he started touching my thighs. I wore denim on denim, so if he even wanted to rape me, it will give him stress. Idiot that said he is not having sex o, said he wants to see how big my breasts are. I should undress. Omo, I don dey shake. I told him that i dont want to do it and the next thing he said was; maybe when you have extra year, youll change your mind. Lmaooooo. I now told him that I cannot do anything without being drunk. Ode, his prick was already rising. He ordered for Smirnoff Ice, but no one answered the call, so he went out of the room himself. Omo, I went to pick my bag; found out that he put clothes on it. I just sprinted out of the room. I had already put my mind that I will fail that semester. He even reminded me on Exam day. Lol we sha wrote exam finish There was a previous riot in the school and some lecturers who were part of ASUU protested, so the VC suspended them. This mad man was among. So, another person marked his paper. I got 67 B in the course lol. God saved me sha. The suspects 21.05.2020 LISTEN Four civilians parading themselves as soldiers have been arrested at various locations in the country. Two of them were arrested at Katamanso, in the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality on Tuesday, May 5. A statement by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) said its personnel were on patrol in the areas where the arrests took place. The statement was signed by Squadron Leader R. Omanye-Agyei. It says the first Kpone-Katamanso suspect identified himself as AB1 Arhen Ebenezer. It stated that he claimed to be based at the Naval Base, Tema. The statement added that he was sent to the Eastern Naval Command for identification which proved false. He was subsequently handed over to the Tema Regional Police Command for further investigation, it added. Further interrogation of the suspect led to the arrest of one Mustapha Maurris, another imposter, according to the statement. On Tuesday May 12, a 32-year-old man, Stephen Zubbuy Matsi, was arrested in Pokuasi posing as a soldier. Another imposter named Oscar Eshun was arrested by Naval intelligence operations of the Western Naval Command At Inchaban, a suburb of Sekondi-Tarkoradi for posing as a military officer on Friday May 8. ---Daily Guide The Kaduna State Government today (Thursday) announced that it will keep its health facilities running and protect staff that are willing to work. It directed the Ministry of Health to ensure that health facilities run and provide services to the public, with the support of willing workers who must be offered every assistance and protection. In its official response to the strike notice by health workers, the state government stated that it will not bend to blackmail. The government noted that it is instructive that the strike action was announced on the same day that many health workers were showing evidence on social media of the N450,000 they had received as April 2020 incentive. Government rejects the strike threat and will regard persons who fail to show up at their assigned places of work as having forfeited their employment. Every health worker that is willing to work is required to sign the register at the Ministry of Health and the health institutions to which they are deployed. The Ministry of Health has the mandate of the government to ensure that residents of Kaduna State are not deprived of public health services. Every effort will be made to ensure that health facilities keep functioning, staffed by willing workers who will be guaranteed free and safe access to health facilities. Those who are not willing to work are strongly warned against criminal action such as attempts to impede access to workplaces, harass willing workers or to sabotage facilities and equipment. To declare strike action amidst the Covid-19 pandemic is naked blackmail, based on the mistaken assumption that the state government will reward irresponsible conduct by some health workers with surrender. The state government will not be misled into granting health workers a special status amongst public servants. The consequences of concessions made along such lines by previous governments have created a sense that some public servants are more precious than others. Government will not be browbeaten by strike action into excluding health workers from the sacrifices being made by other public servants who are donating 25% of their salary to fund the provision of palliatives for low-income, poor and vulnerable persons that are impacted by the lockdown. For the avoidance of doubt, the salary deductions introduced in April 2020 apply to everyone who works for Kaduna State Government from the Governor to the most junior civil servant with a take-home pay of more than N50,000 monthly. It does not favour or discriminate against any professional group in the public service. This comprehensive show of solidarity applies to everyone employed by the government, and therefore does not exclude health workers. However, health workers are being paid additional amounts as part of an Occupational Safety Initiative as follows: High risk staff are receiving a compensation of N15,000 per day. This refers to all cadres of personnel who are in close contact with Covid-19 patients;. READ ALSO: Medium risk staff are receiving N10,000 per day. These are officers involved in taking samples, transferring patients to treatment centres, tracing contacts etc.; Low risk staff are receiving N5,000 per day. These classifications were done by the Emergency Operations Committee on which health professionals, including the NMA, are amply represented. The Kaduna government is also paying a monthly incentive of 10% of net pay to each and every health worker in its hospitals and primary health centres. In addition, the Kaduna State Government has paid premiums for an enhanced insurance package for health workers that raises the death and disability benefits to N5m and N2.5m respectively. The insurance package also includes payment of N100,000 per day for 10 days to health workers who get infected with Covid-19. The state government regards the other demands made as mere smokescreens to cover the first one. Asking the state government to treat the over 11,000 persons working in the health sector as frontline staff and pay them as such is not a serious request. There is a global shortage of PPEs, but amidst these supply-side difficulties the state government consistently tries to keep its secondary health facilities supplied. Expanding health sector resilience and capacity to improve access to health services is a cardinal goal of this government. In pursuit of this objective, the government has recruited more health workers, improved health facilities and implemented initiatives of social inclusion like the Contributory Health Insurance Scheme and the supply-chain transformation project of the Kaduna State Health Supplies Management Agency (KASHMA). The state government pays tribute to the hard work and sacrifice of many health workers who have demonstrated professionalism and commitment in helping to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. These efforts do not deserve to be besmirched by blackmail. Muyiwa Adekeye Special Adviser to the Governor (Media & Communication) 21st May 2020 In 2013, William Brideau came to own Jackson & Connor, a small, cozy boutique menswear shop located on the second floor of Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton. Unlike his experience shopping at bigger retailers, Brideau found searching for and purchasing clothes at the Western Massachusetts store a positive, fun, relaxed shopping experience. So, he started working there in the 2010s and eventually became the owner of the store. Under normal circumstances, shoppers flit through Brideaus shop, look at fabrics, talk with staff and try on clothes. The stores business model centers on the customers experience leading up to their purchase. I would say thats what Jackson & Connor is all about: the experience," Brideau said. The first thing my customers want to do is touch and feel the clothing on their body. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, though, that experience is gone. Brideaus and others retail shops in Northampton and across the state sit empty, the future of their businesses threatened by an invisible enemy. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced the states reopening plan Monday, which reopens the commonwealths economy in four phases. Per the the governors orders, retailers can begin operating May 25 with online ordering and curbside delivery. In-person retail is not expected to start up again until as early June, but the reopening date may be pushed back if there is a spike in COVID-19 cases and restrictions need to be put in place again. For now, state officials are seeking to restrict in-person shopping, limit face-to-face contact and reduce customer interaction. This is catastrophic for our merchants," Jody Doele, marketing manager at Thornes, said of the current public health crisis. Im not sure if we all appreciate the impact this will have. Doele declined to specify how much revenue Thorness roughly 20 retail businesses have lost over the course of the pandemic, but she told MassLive that the number would cause people to pause if they knew. Even with curbside services, Doele and many retailers do not believe that will be a major sales driver for their businesses. As Brideau noted, shopping is an experiential business. Quite candidly, much of our offering is experiential. You touch clothing, you try on clothes, you smell chocolate," Doele said. It will not be a significant improvement for our bottom line. A number of our merchants will try it, but were not optimistic it will drive a significant amount of sales. Prior to the governors briefing Monday that publicized the states reopening plan, Bakers advisory board received input from more than 75 business associations, labor unions, non-profit organizations and community coalitions that represent around 112,000 businesses and more than 2 million employees. Although Thornes was not on any calls with the reopening advisory board, Doele said, she feels the 17-member body well represents the interests of Thornes. It is difficult balancing economic concerns with the health of the community, she noted. We were not surprised that in phase one, retail would be given a curbside option, given the things that need to happen," Doele said. Were appreciative that were in phase two. The lack of business and in-person shopping has caused retailers to enter survival mode, though, according to Brideau. His revenue has dropped by up to 25% from last year, and all the retailers in Thornes are suffering substantially, he said. Jackson & Connor and other merchants in the marketplace are constantly thinking about the future, questioning how to generate enough revenue to pay the rent month to month and how the public health crisis will change the face of business across the board. Brideau predicts that once the pandemic winds down, "its going to be a different kind of shopping experience for everyone. The picture looks dark. Honestly, it looks pretty grim. I think all retailers are in the fight for their careers," he said. This is certainly the biggest challenge Ive had to face. 3/20/2020 - Northampton - Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton is now closed amid COVID-19 public health crisis. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican) Needing to adjust to the new normal: What a reopening at Thornes will look like Gloves, masks, stanchions to manage traffic flow, signage, floor decals, foot-operated door openings for bathrooms: These are all products that will potentially be used by Thornes during a future reopening, according to Doele. In the throes of the coronavirus public health crisis, as businesses look to reopen in the coming months, maintaining peoples safety is the top priority for those operating the marketplace and for merchants. Staff at Thornes spent weeks preparing for an ultimate reopening on May 18, the deadline for the governors order closing businesses that were deemed non-essential. Thornes management purchased all the required goods, Doele said, including hand sanitizer, foggers, etcetera. We need to make Thornes safe and meet all the safety requirements for our customers and employees as well," Doele said. "I want to assure folks we will be meeting or exceeding all the guidelines set forth by the state and the city. Merchants and managements focus at Thornes has now turned to planning for what curbside, and eventually face-to-face, business will look like. In their preparations, the health of employees and customers remains the No. 1 concern, Brideau at Jackson & Connor said. Were all looking forward to getting back to business and seeing our customers again, but our top concern is how to keep everyone safe when we open back up again," he said. Thornes Marketplace, which has operated since the 1970s, shut down its building March 15 shortly before Bakers order closing all non-essential businesses. The only merchants that were left to remain partially open were Herrells Ice Cream & Bakery, Paul and Elizabeths restaurant and Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market, all of which have curbside programs available right now. I cant really overestimate the significance of this event on the small business owners we have in Thornes," Doele said. This is something that is unprecedented and difficult to respond to. Several businesses at the marketplace - including Cedar Chest, considered the anchor store of Thornes - shifted to using e-commerce sites when the pandemic first started ramping up, selling their products online during the outbreak. Cornucopia is also open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week, according to Doele. The store is taking online orders and meeting customers at the back of the store to do curbside pickup. Its super labor intensive," she noted. ASSEMBLE, a shop that sells a mix of furniture and art at the Northampton marketplace, has similarly transitioned to e-commerce and has made a few sales through its website, according to store owner Justin Brown. He anticipates offering a variety of products via curbside later this month as well. People are needing to adjust to the new normal," Brown said. Curbside has become what we need to do to stop the spread." Like Brideau, though, a big draw for customers purchasing products at ASSEMBLE is walking through the physical space of the shop, so it may seem strange initially buying from a retailer online. For my store in particular, a major part of it is being inside the store, he said. Brown does not expect sales to return to the levels they were before the coronavirus, he said. Still, there may be a demand among the public for clothes, furniture and other retail items. For weeks, people have been sitting in their homes, unable to shop, but in the coming months they may able do just that. Folks are excited to come back," Brown said. I think theres a pent-up demand, but I think we live in an area where people are more cautious than other parts of the country. For other businesses at Thornes, curbside business does not look like a possibility. At Jackson & Connor for instance, Brideau does not expect to conduct much curbside retail at all, beyond filling out orders for tailored items that were placed before the pandemic ramped up. There are things that people ordered and said, Keep in the back for me,' " Brideau said. They werent able to get those items, because we closed two days later. Another problem for retailers like Brideau is the spring inventory still sitting on shelves. As they head into the summer shopping season, revenue from the previous season will never be recovered. We have skipped over the spring market, and our stores are still filled with spring goods," Doele told MassLive. The question also remains of if customers will actually come back to the marketplace when it reopens, according to Doele. When we actually reopen again, were in a position of not knowing what consumer response will be, she said. Thats part of the struggle: There are so many unknowns. There are serious things at risks, peoples livelihoods, their health. Related Content: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has said that he will sue a senior UN official, who described alleged comments about Muslims attributed to him as "extremely alarming", saying the diplomat's remarks are slander and a blatant lie. Earlier this week, Under-Secretary-General Adama Dieng, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, in a note to the media expressed concern over reports of "increased hate speech and discrimination" against minority communities in India since the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019. In the letter, Dieng made a reference to the BJP leader, saying statements such as those expressed by Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy, that all people are not equal, and that Muslims are not in an equal category' as others are extremely alarming." Swamy hit back at Dieng's assertion, saying in a tweet on May 19 that the UN official "slandered me in a press release in New York saying I had said in an interview to a Pakistani owned TV channel that Muslims are not equal to Hindus in Indian Constitution. This is a blatant lie so I will take steps to sue him in court. Swamy further said in a tweet on Thursday that in a letter to the Foreign Secretary (Harsh Vardhan Shringla), he has expressed his intention to prosecute for defamation Dieng for relying on a Pakistani owned TV's cut and paste interview, to allege that I said Muslims don't have equal rights with Hindus in India. He said a legal notice will very soon be served on Dien. Dien, a Senegalese international lawyer, is a former registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON -- Let's be clear: A crime was committed in the Michael Flynn case. But that crime was committed not by the retired general, but by someone who leaked the classified details of his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The Justice Department was correct to drop charges against Flynn for lying to the FBI about his communications with Kislyak. The case was reviewed by Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri with two decades of experience as a prosecutor and FBI special agent, and the resulting 108-page motion to dismiss is a searing indictment of FBI misconduct. The department found that there was no legal justification for the FBI to question Flynn in the first place, because the interview was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation" of Flynn. The FBI had decided to close that inquiry because of an "absence of any derogatory information." That meant Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements that were not "material" to any investigation. For Flynn to have committed a crime, his statement had to have been "not simply false, but 'materially' false with respect to a matter under investigation." In his plea, Flynn "stipulated to the essential element of materiality" without being informed that the FBI had already cleared him in the underlying investigation. That fact alone is disgraceful. Even more outrageous is that the bureau interrogated Flynn about communications the Justice Department says were "entirely appropriate." He was the incoming national security adviser, and his "request that Russia avoid 'escalating' tensions in response to U.S. sanctions . . . was consistent with him advocating for, not against, the interests of the United States." There was nothing in the calls to suggest he was being "directed and controlled by . . . the Russian federation." And the FBI did not need his recollections of the calls because it had word-for-word transcripts. It seems clear that the purpose of the interview was to set a perjury trap. The agents did not inform the White House counsel before the interview so as to catch Flynn by surprise; they did not share the transcripts with Flynn during the interview (which would have allowed him to refresh his memory); they did not warn him that making false statements would be a crime - all of which are standard procedure. Even so, both of the agents who questioned him came away with the impression that "Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying." For these and other reasons, the Justice Department withdrew the charges against Flynn. The fact that the judge in the case is refusing to accept the department's decision - and has appointed a former judge to contest it - only perpetuates the FBI's miscarriage of justice. Instead of pursuing Flynn for a crime he did not commit, we should be focused on finding the individual who did commit a serious felony by leaking the classified details of Flynn's conversations with Kislyak. And thanks to acting national intelligence director Richard Grenell, we finally have a list of suspects. Most government officials with access to the transcripts would not have known Flynn was on the call, because when a U.S. citizen is the subject of "incidental collection" during surveillance of a foreign national, their name is "masked." Only certain officials had the authority to request that a name be unmasked. Until now, we did not know which officials had done so. But on May 13, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a list of more than three dozen former Obama administration officials who submitted unmasking requests that revealed Flynn's identity. Only eight of those received information after the intelligence community discovered his communications with Kislyak on Jan. 4, 2017: former U.N. ambassador Samantha Power; former national intelligence director James R. Clapper Jr.; former treasury secretary Jack Lew; former White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; deputy national intelligence director Michael Dempsey; former deputy national intelligence director Stephanie L. O'Sullivan; a CIA official whose name is redacted; and former vice president Joe Biden. The crime of leaking the details about Flynn and Kislyak's call could only have been committed by a small universe of people who had access to the unmasked intelligence on Flynn. We don't know whether it was someone on the list. That is for U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the Russia probe, to determine. But this much is certain: Obama administration officials leaked unmasked intelligence about Flynn to the press. The fact that those individuals have gone unpunished for three years, while Flynn has endured a legal hell, is appalling. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Take a few deep breaths while the breathings good. The coronavirus lockdown resulted in a sudden and steep plunge in air pollution across much of south Louisiana. Satellite measurements have found that emissions from fuel-burning sources, including cars and airplanes, declined in the New Orleans-Baton Rouge area by about 40% during the first two weeks after the states March 22 stay-at-home order. But the downward trend in air pollution started earlier, around when the states first presumptive coronavirus case was confirmed on March 9. When I looked at the New Orleans (air pollution) data, it gave me a bit of a pause because it was such a big drop in early March, said LSU meteorologist Paul Miller, who has been assessing recent trends in air pollution in Louisiana and China. We dont normally see drops like that, and it seemed a little early because schools in Louisiana and other places hadnt closed yet. Miller found that the levels of nitrogen dioxide, a harmful pollutant produced by cars and other sources, remained at about 40% the normal level until the first week of April, when pollution concentration began to rise but remained well below the 15-year average. Such a reduction in pollution over the course of a few weeks is unprecedented in a region with some of the highest air pollution in the country. It is evidence of how profoundly the virus has altered daily life. This is a delightfully unexpected side-effect of this horrible pandemic, said Marylee Orr, executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network. That our air quality could improve so much in such a short amount of time -- I hope we learn something from that, maybe about how much we drive and how much (pollution) we produce. +2 Louisiana's river region residents seek scrutiny of pollution's role in coronavirus deaths Residents of the industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge who suspect air pollution is playing a role in the high coronavirus d Instead, the region appears to be racing back to normal. After the first week of May, nitrogen dioxide levels began closing in on the 15-year average and were on track to meet it or exceed it this week. Other measures of air pollution, including particulate concentrations and smog, also appeared to dip in March and then ease back to normal in recent weeks, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality. One of the steepest declines was noted in Kenner, where an air monitoring station registered a 50% reduction in smog during April. Similar air quality improvements have happened in several major cities, including Los Angeles and Boston, and across regions. In the Northeast, nitrogen dioxide levels fell by 30 percent. In the Southwest, the drop was closer to the 40 percent. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Pollution decreases over the past three months are largely the result of greatly reduced road and air traffic. Louisianas motorists reduced the miles they normally drive by 60 percent in April, according to data science company Descartes Labs, and passenger traffic at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport fell by 97 percent. The coronavirus pandemic had almost no effect on activity in the industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. DEQ officials said there's been little change in pollution from chemical and other industrial facilities, and the Louisiana Chemical Association reported business as usual since February. Facilities have been allowed to continue their normal level of operations throughout the pandemic, said LCA public affairs manager Rob Landry. Any change in production that may be found at an individual facility is a function of business and is not COVID-19 related. St. James, St. John the Baptist and other parishes in the industrial corridor have suffered some of the highest per-capita death rates among U.S. counties from the virus, according to an analysis by The Times-Picayune and The Advocate. Residents suspect, and recent research appears to show, that long-term exposure to air pollution can increase the likelihood of serious illness or death from coronavirus. Its unclear whether the weeks of cleaner air will mean much for the environment or human health. The reduction in pollution was dramatic, but probably too short to do much good, said LSU air quality expert Slawo Lomnicki. Cancer doesnt develop overnight, he said. Human health problems are usually from prolonged or chronic exposure. Having the short break Im not sure it will make a difference. But he and other scientists say the last few months have few or no parallels in the modern age. Air quality improved somewhat after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when air travel was temporarily halted. Pollution often drops during economic recessions, but a nosedive this deep, fast and widespread is unheard of. This offers us a unique setting to test some hypotheses, Miller said, noting potential research into short-term human health impacts, temperature changes and climate engineering. Mostly what we are studying are gradual increases in pollution. This is one of the only times we get to see a big decrease. New York, May 21 : Development charity Oxfam has said that it will phase out physical presence in 18 countries as part of a major restructuring programme due to the Covid-19 pandemic -- a move that will result in laying off 1,450 staffers. The countries where Oxfam will be shutting down offices are Thailand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Paraguay, Egypt, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia and Mauritania. The details were revealed by Oxfam International's Interim Executive Director Chema Vera on Wednesday in an opinion piece in Devex, a media platform for the global development community. "Like many charities and businesses, the pandemic has hit our finances hard. We've had to close shops, cancel fundraising events and absorb rising costs," he said. "Fundraising conditions in many countries are really tough. We need to make significant savings and so we have had to accelerate our change," he added. The organisation, he said, is facing major restructuring due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. "This is the beginning of our 10-year new strategic vision that will transform Oxfam into a key actor and ally to fight inequalities, power and privilege where it grows," he said. "Just because we may no longer have an Oxfam office in one country will not mean we cannot work through allies, networks and partnerships to support communities and social movements," Vera added. Three mid-Michigan communities are working to provide information while dispelling rumors amid record-breaking flooding. Midland officials, Tittabawassee Fire/Rescue, and Essexville police in Bay County issued statements Wednesday, May 20 refuting some claims being made on social media. The city of Midland posted a statement on their Facebook page Wednesday afternoon saying they had received calls, messages and comments about water service being shut off. This is not the case, the statement reads. City of Midland water from the Water Treatment Plant is fully operational - and, since it's sourced from Lake Huron and run through a self-contained system - is safe to drink and use as normal. RUMOR CONTROL: We're receiving a lot of calls, messages, and comments about City of Midland "water service being shut... Posted by City of Midland, Michigan - Municipal Government on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 The statement adds some residents may be confusing water distribution -- or drinking water -- with sanitary sewer, also known as wastewater or used water, pump shutdowns. These are separate systems that contain different types of water, officials said in the statement. Some areas of the city are experiencing a temporary disruption in sanitary sewer disruption as a result of the flooding conditions. The Tittabawassee River crested at 35.05 feet Wednesday afternoon, more than a foot above the record level of 33.9 feet previously set back on Sept. 13, 1986. Five sanitary sewer pump stations -- Currie, Towsley, Emerson, Moorland, and Valley -- operated by the city of Midland wastewater treatment plant have been overtaken by flood waters, per the citys website. A map showing the locations of these pump stations and their service areas can be found at cityofmidlandmi.gov/seweroutage. Sewer backups containing storm water and sanitary wastewater may occur for residents in the impacted areas. Residents in those areas must evacuate and they will not be allowed to return to their homes until service at the pump stations is restored. Alerts will go out when residents can return at midland911.org, cityofmidlandmi.gov, the citys Facebook page, Midland County Emergency Management Facebook page, Midland County 911 Facebook page, on Twitter at @CityofMidlandMI and @MidlandCountyMI, as well as through Nixle.com. An inspection on the condition of the pump stations will take place after floodwaters subside. Anyone who may have wastewater backing up in their home is asked to call the wastewater treatment plant at 989-835-3500. Officials say to not enter the water, and do not attempt to immediately pump it out as the action can relieve pressure in the walls and lead to collapse. In Saginaw County, Tittabawassee Fire/Rescue put a message out Wednesday night on their Facebook page regarding an alleged bridge collapse. FOR YOUR INFORMATION!!!The Tittabawassee Road Bridge has NOT collapsed. It has a natural downward slop(e) going to the west, the message reads. Please do not wonder down there to see it. There is nothing to see but water going under a bridge. It is creating a traffic hazard and unsafe operations for the police officers doing their duty. FOR YOUR INFORMATION!!! The Tittabawassee Road Bridge has NOT collapsed. It has a natural downward slop going to the... Posted by Tittabawassee Fire/Rescue on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Meanwhile, police in Essexville also turned to Facebook in an attempt to curtail inaccurate information being shared about flood conditions. The department points toward misinformation shared by a fictional public works employee. This is a gross injustice at a time when nerves are already heightened, the departments post reads, noting officials are monitoring the situation, particularly due to crews from the city in Midland assisting with rescue operations. A flood warning issued by the National Weather Service for the Saginaw River is in place until May 26 with the waterway expected to crest around 22.3 feet -- 5.3 feet above flood stage -- by Friday morning before it starts to recede. There are admittedly a lot of unknowns, per the post. None of those unknowns have ever included such dramatic and irrational trajectory as the misinformation being perpetuated on social media to include the claim that were about to see the worst flood in 500 years." *** IMPORTANT INFORMATION *** PLEASE SHARE There is a tremendous amount of false information being circulated about... Posted by Essexville Public Safety Department on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Essexville City Manager Dan Hansford told MLive he is cautioning residents to move their basement contents to higher ground and he expects to see flooding along the Saginaw River and the drainage canal between Essexville and Hampton Township. I suggest you take precautionary measures now, he said. If you live within the flood plain of the Saginaw River be prepared for flooding of low areas and basements. Move your items to higher areas in your homes. Bay County not expecting worst-case flooding scenario after dam break in Midland County The high river levels are expected to cause backups of the storm sewers in the Woodside Avenue area and the area along the East side of town along the Hampton Township border, with residents in those areas urged to purchase a floor drain plug and for any basement laundry sink basin. Residents most likely to be impacted are on notice through hand-delivered letters by officers. The department asks residents to check the citys website at essexville.org for updated information. Residents can also sign up for BAY Alerts, the countys free digital alert system. Evacuations orders and additional flood updates will be sent out via the system as needed. More on MLive: Midland city manager warns 'this is not over as flooding continues in wake of dam break Federal regulators order Sanford Dams owner to investigate after flood Midland Michigan continues evacuations after dam break as flooding expected to climb Gov. Whitmer addresses Midland after dam break and flooding: Were gonna get through this' Sanford Dam compromised, Dow shuts down operations in Midland as a precaution What drew me to Wavestone was its operator-led model. Each engagement is steered by experienced consultants with successful track records as transformational IT executives of well-known companies across the US. Wavestone US is pleased to announce the recent appointment of senior IT executive Bob Casale as Managing Director. He brings more than 30 years of experience developing global information technology strategies that transform complex organizations into contemporary customer-centric, digital businesses. Casales last role prior to joining Wavestone US was Executive Vice President and Global CIO at Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he spent 22 years steering global technology strategy, talent, operations, solutions delivery, and IT. Among his many achievements was leading the development of the companys digital strategy that resulted in over $40 million in new channel sales after only two years. He also successfully implemented a consolidated customer portal experience, a 360-customer portfolio capability, a transition to low-cost cloud services, and an entirely new electronic advisory sales platform that delivered a fully integrated, straight-through user experience for the companys more than 20,000 field force partners. In addition, Casale created a Boston-based IT innovation lab to drive research and development which led to several patented innovations including algorithmic underwriting advancements, mobile capabilities, and SaaS-based team productivity software. What drew me to Wavestone was its operator-led model. Each engagement is steered by experienced consultants with successful track records as transformational IT executives of well-known companies across the US. Having been in several IT leadership roles throughout my career, I sensed a band of kindred spirits. When youre talking with former CIOs and CTOs, the conversations are totally different, and the advice youre getting is real-world, practical, and actionable, says Casale. Im excited to be a part of that conversation. Bobs years of hands-on experience and the transformations hes delivered are exactly why hes a great fit for Wavestone. His record of successes is clear-cut, and we believe thats why our business modelexperience over theoryis winning out in the market. Results speak for themselves, and I cant wait to see what Bob does next, says Jeff Vail, CEO of Wavestone US. Wavestone US is the North American arm of global management and IT consulting firm Wavestone. It has supported the transformations of more than 200 Fortune 1000 companies across a wide range of industries, offering a practitioners perspective on IT strategy, cost optimization, operational improvements, cybersecurity, and business management. Wavestone's IT consultancy in the US was formerly known as WGroup, an IT consultancy firm comprised of consultants with over two decades' experience as former C-suite executives and leaders. Following the merger of WGroup and Wavestone in July 2019, the Wavestone US brand was officially launched in January 2020. Keep in touch and join in the conversation on: Facebook @WavestoneGlobal Twitter @WavestoneUS LinkedIn @Wavestone About Wavestone In a world where knowing how to drive transformation is the key to success, Wavestone's mission is to inform and guide large companies and organizations in their most critical transformations, with the ambition of a positive outcome for all stakeholders. Thats what we call "The Positive Way. Wavestone draws on some 3,000 employees across 8 countries. It is a leading independent player in the European consulting market. Wavestone is listed on Euronext Paris and recognized as a Great Place to Work. The same but different, that'll be the Galway Races experience in 2020. Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) today revealed that the meeting will go ahead on its original dates of Monday 27 July to Sunday 2 August with the Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle being run on the Wednesday and Thursday as normal. However, there are significant changes to the traditional race programme. The opening two days will host Flat races only while the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday fixtures will be all National Hunt. The meeting, which will be held behind closed doors, will conclude with two all-Flat cards. In unveiling a full Flat programme for June and revised fixture list for July, HRI director of racing Jason Morris acknowledged needing to provide horses with opportunities to get back racing. We recognise that there will be a large demand for opportunities to run and our aim is to provide all Flat horses with their first run as quickly as possible following the resumption of racing by offering a balanced programme across all age groups, distances and categories," Morris said. "There will be 53 Flat meetings up to the end of July with this objective in mind. There will also be 22 National Hunt fixtures programmed between June 22 and the end of July, compared to the equivalent of 17 meetings in the same period last year, to cater for the demands of the jumps horse population. There will be eight-race cards run at every opportunity where stable capacity allows, with the protocols requiring one stable per horse for hygiene reasons. The number of racedays at Killarney in July has been reduced from five to three which will be stand-alone fixtures on Tuesday July 7, Monday July 13 and Wednesday July 15. The two lost days will be rescheduled later in the year. Racing will resume at Cork Racecourse which will host four fixtures, beginning with an all-Flat card on Sunday July 5. Bellewstown will stage three non-consecutive days in July, while two extra fixtures will be held at the Curragh on Friday July 10 and Sunday July 26, the latter featuring the Tattersalls Gold Cup. All race meetings will be a single code with no mixed meetings to minimise the number of people working at the racecourse on each day. A police officer in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district was suspended on Wednesday after he allegedly told a lawyer, a victim of police thrashing, that he had been mistaken for a Muslim. The action against police sub-inspector B S Patel followed media reports about his alleged comment which suggested that the lawyer faced thrashing because he was thought to be belonging to the minority community. Deepak Bundele, the complainant, had alleged that he was stopped by police when he was going to Betul district hospital on March 23, when restrictions on movement had been imposed in view of the coronavirus outbreak. He told the police that he was going to hospital for treatment, but he was beaten up mercilessly, he alleged. He managed to reach hospital somehow. Later, he filed complaints with several authorities, seeking registration of an FIR against the policemen who had assaulted him. Bundele told media that local police were now presssurising him to withdraw the complaint and he was denied CCTV footage of the area where the incident took place under the Right to Information. Investigating officer B S Patel visited his house on May 17 to record his statement, the lawyer said, claiming that Patel told him that "the cops (who allegedly thrashed him) mistook you as a member of the minority community due to your beard." Bundele shared an audio clip of the purported conversation with Patel with the media. After the audio clip came out, Superintendent of Police D S Bhadoriya suspended Patel. Confirming the action, Additional Superintendent of Police Shraddha Joshi said, "He allegedly made a comment which should not have been part of the police investigation. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday blamed the country's failed foreign policy for the current tension with Nepal. He claimed this has led the unsafe borders and deterioration in relation with neighbouring countries. "Due to a failed foreign policy, voices of protests against India are coming from neighbouring Nepal. The Nepalese prime minister gives a statement against India in parliament. Nepal is releasing maps showing its right on Indian territory," Akhilesh said in a statement. He said Nepal was India's "old and trusted friend but due to BJP's policies it has distanced itself. China is our rival and its growing influence in Nepal is due to BJP's policies," he added. The former UP chief minister was apparently referring to eruption of tensions between the two countries after India inaugurated a strategic road in Uttarakhand to Lipulekh Pass earlier this month. Nepal claims the area as part of its own territory and the country's cabinet approved a new map, showing it as such. Without naming Beijing, Army Chief General M M Naravane has hinted at Chinese possible role in the Nepalese protests over the new road. Akhilesh Yadav also criticised the Uttar Pradesh government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. He claimed that the Uttar Pradesh government has filed "thousands of FIRs" in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak, making it look like a "criminal problem rather than a medical one". Due to the bad state of quarantine centres and the BJP government's discriminatory policy, people are afraid of going there. The BJP people need to change their narrow outlook," Yadav said in a tweet earlier. The state police has lodged FIRs over lockdown violations and also against those found indulging in hoarding and black marketing. An FIR was also lodged recently against Congress leaders in connection with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's offer to provide 1,000 buses to ferry migrant labourers. The UP government had claimed that the list of buses submitted by the party included many which lacked fitness certificates and insurance papers. About 100 registration numbers in the list belonged to vehicles like autorickshaws and cars, instead of the claimed buses, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Latin Americans can now hail drivers with the assurance that Didi verifies their rides. Drivers in their market now use artificial intelligence for verification of added safety and security measures against the transmission of the coronavirus. Added security measures on Didi for safer rides Eight countries in the region started adapting to this system along with Australia and Japan to better combat a resurgence from happening. Since SoftBank Group in Japan is one of Didi's stakeholders, they announced that they would roll out the AI to its markets abroad. Starting May 22, Didi's drivers in Latin America will verify their ride by taking a selfie with a face mask. By June, they will input their body temperature and upload photos of disinfecting their ride-hailing vehicle. Failure to comply with these safety guidelines may be prohibited from service of the ride-hailing app to clients. At the same time, passengers are required to wear masks and come into the vehicle on a limited capacity, according to an official statement by the Didi company. If either the driver and the passenger feel unsafe about the conditions of the ride, Didi allowed the option to cancel the trip. Because of social distancing and home isolation orders, other ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft across the world have seen a steep decline in their revenue. However, as more businesses start reopening, they try to regain most of what they lost during the earlier part of the year. Check these out! AI tool detects "wet lungs" from patients The future is now: Researchers studying artificial intelligence in the United States and China developed a tool that can predict which coronavirus patients are most vulnerable to severe lung disorders. The algorithm the system uses will be able to allow medical experts to decide which ill patients to treat earlier. The AI was able to detect indicators that were consistently suggestive of conditions that patients shared who would later on develop "acute respiratory disease syndrome". It was one of the severe health complications of COVID-19 that fills the organ with fluid. Surviving that condition would only be a 50/50 chance. Physician and professor at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine Megan Coffee said the AI was developed for healthcare institutions who were facing a shortage of resources amid the pandemic. She was also one of the authors of the study in Computers, Materials & Continua. During the trial, they applied a constantly learning algorithm to collect and analyze data gathered from over fifty patients in Wenzhou, China. The AI discovered that there were three key features in the body that set some patients apart from the rest. The liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase, body aches, and hemoglobin were found to be highly indicative of a severe lung disease like ARDS. According to Coffee, characteristics that clinicians used to look at factors of severe diseases were different from the data of the AI. For instance, doctors would consider patterns of lung images with "ground-glass opacity" a precursor to a health complication like ARDS. Representative image Sheera Frenkel, Ben Decker and Davey Alba There have been plenty of jaw-dropping digital moments during the coronavirus pandemic. There was the time this month when Taylor Swift announced she would air her City of Lover concert on television. The time that the cast of The Office reunited for an 18-minute-long Zoom wedding. And the time last month that the Pentagon posted three videos that showed unexplained aerial phenomena. Yet none of those went as viral as a 26-minute video called Plandemic, a slickly produced narration that wrongly claimed a shadowy cabal of elites was using the virus and a potential vaccine to profit and gain power. The video featured a discredited scientist, Judy Mikovits, who said her research about the harm from vaccines had been buried. Plandemic went online May 4 when its maker, Mikki Willis, a little-known film producer, posted it to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and a separate website set up to share the video. For three days, it gathered steam in Facebook pages dedicated to conspiracy theories and the anti-vaccine movement, most of which linked to the video hosted on YouTube. Then it tipped into the mainstream and exploded. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Just over a week after Plandemic was released, it had been viewed more than 8 million times on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and had generated countless other posts. The New York Times focused on the videos spread on Facebook using data from CrowdTangle, a tool to analyze interactions across the social network. (YouTube and Twitter do not make their data as readily available.) The ascent of Plandemic was largely powered by Facebook groups and pages that shared the YouTube link. Follow our LIVE Updates on the coronavirus pandemic here On Facebook, Plandemic was liked, commented on or shared nearly 2.5 million times, according to the CrowdTangle data. That far outdid Swifts May 8 announcement about her City of Lover concert, which plateaued at about 110,000 such interactions on Facebook. The Office casts Zoom wedding video, which was posted May 10, reached 618,000 interactions in less than a week. And the Pentagons videos, which were posted April 27, had 1 million interactions two weeks after the first post. Plandemic stormed into peoples Facebook, Twitter and YouTube feeds even though its claims were widely debunked and the social media companies vowed to remove the video. Yet it has continued spreading online, raising questions about how it might damage trust in the medical community and color peoples views on a coronavirus vaccine. Willis, who has said he plans to release a second video, did not respond to a request for comment. Heres how Plandemic went from a niche conspiracy video to a mainstream phenomenon. The QAnon Factor On the morning of May 5, less than 24 hours after Willis posted Plandemic, a Facebook group dedicated to QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy group, posted Plandemic to its nearly 25,000 members with the headline Exclusive Content, Must Watch. Within days, more than 1,660 people had shared the video to their own Facebook pages after watching it on the QAnon page, according to CrowdTangle. The video went from being viewed directly on YouTube to people linking out to the video on Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels, fueling its rise. A Doctors Endorsement On the afternoon of May 5, Dr. Christiane Northrup, a womens health physician, shared Plandemic with her nearly half a million Facebook followers. Northrup, who had developed a following from her appearances as a medical expert on Oprah, had previously expressed misgivings about vaccines. Her status as a celebrity doctor made her endorsement of Plandemic powerful. After Northrup shared the video, more than 1,000 people also shared it, many of them to groups that oppose mandatory vaccinations, according to an analysis by The Times. She did not respond to a request for comment. Reopen Americas Move By the evening of May 5, Plandemic had popped up on a large-scale political page on Facebook. The page was for Reopen Alabama, which has over 36,000 members and was part of the movement by Americans who wanted to lift shelter-in-place orders. Once the video appeared on that page, which was linked to dozens of other Reopen America groups, it quickly began spreading to the pages of those other groups in a kind of forceful multiplier effect. The Facebook user who posted Plandemic to the Reopen Alabama page did not respond to a request for comment. The MMA Fighter That same night, Nick Catone, a professional mixed martial arts fighter, also shared Plandemic on his Facebook page. Catone, 38, with nearly 70,000 followers on Facebook, has been an anti-vaccine activist since the death of his nearly 2-year-old son in 2017. Catone, who did not respond to a request for comment, has publicly blamed vaccines for his sons death. More than 2,000 people quickly liked Catones post about Plandemic, which he exhorted people to watch before it was taken down. His post was one of the first by a public figure who had no special medical expertise. The Politicians Post Two days after Plandemic went online, it came to the attention of Melissa Ackison, who lost in the Republican primary for Ohios 26th District Senate seat last month. On May 6, Ackison, 41, an anti-Obamacare campaigner, posted the video and told her 20,000 followers on Facebook, If you watch ANYTHING on my page, it needs to be this. Her post spread the video to a broader political audience, which then shared it among conservative groups and other Republican campaign pages. I knew when I shared that video that people would watch, Ackison said. People know me as a person who is skeptical of what the mainstream media narrative is telling them. Mainstream Medias Tipping Point BuzzFeed wrote an article May 7 about Plandemic and its falsehoods, in one of the first signs that the mainstream news media had noticed the video. The article was shared on 63 Facebook pages, including the page of Occupy Democrats, a popular left-wing group, according to The Times analysis. Plandemic is a part of a larger narrative of conspiracy theories and disinformation reporters have been highlighting since the pandemic began, Jane Lytvynenko, who reported on the video for BuzzFeed, said in an email. Its popularity shows how vital it is to keep reporting on false and misleading information and take online events as seriously as offline ones. After BuzzFeed published its piece, the tenor of comments and shares around Plandemic shifted. More people began to fact-check and debunk the video. That same day, YouTube and Facebook removed Plandemic for violating their misinformation policies. By then, the video was fully in the mainstream. c.2020 The New York Times Company The Ministry of Labour and Employment has implemented the decision to cut employees' provident fund (EPF) contributions to 10 percent from the existing 12 percent for three months till July. The Ministry of Labour and Employment has implemented the decision to cut employees' provident fund (EPF) contributions to 10 percent from the existing 12 percent for three months till July. This would increase 4.3 crore organised sector employees' take-home pay and reduce the liability of 6.5 lakh employees reeling under liquidity crunch under lockdown to contain COVID-19. The decision is estimated to infuse liquidity of Rs 6,750 crore in the next three months. In line with the relief measures announced in the economic stimulus package, the labour ministry notified the lower rate of contribution to EPF accounts. The EPF contribution of 12 percent stands reduced to 10 percent of the basic salary and dearness allowance for the next three months, May, June and July 2020. A reduction in the EPF contribution will increase the take-home salary of employees. An employees CTC (salary package) generally includes only their contribution to PF. Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, ClearTax - a fintech company said, one should also note that a reduction in PF contribution reduces tax deduction and increases their TDS liability. Hence, the monthly increase in take-home salary stands reduced by a marginal rise in TDS liability. In case the CTC includes both the employers and the employees contribution, then the take-home salary increases by 4 percent of the basic salary minus the TDS liability. Employers may not pass the benefit of reduction in their share of PF contribution to their employees. Thus, an employee may benefit to the extent of 2 percent of salary minus TDS, as illustrated below: The statutory contribution to PF stands at 10 percent for three months. However, an employee can voluntarily contribute a higher amount to their EPF account and claim a tax deduction for such contribution, in case such an employee opts for the old regime. The reduced rate of contribution applies to all establishments covered under the EPFO. However, CPSEs, State PSUs and other Central Government or State Government-owned establishments will continue to contribute 12 percent. The reduction is estimated to provide relief to 6.5 establishments benefitting about 4.3 crore employees with a slightly higher take-home salary. The EPFO provides various services to its members such as withdrawing balance, advance during the COVID-19 pandemic, transfer of PF account and so on. To avail of any of the services, a members EPF account should be KYC compliant. Employees can log-in to the member e-Sewa portal and check their KYC compliance status using their UAN. In case your KYC is completed, the UAN card will display Yes. UAN is a Universal Account Number allotted by the EPFO to its members. In case your KYC is not complete, here's what you can do: Visit the e-Sewa portal at https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/ Log in with your UAN and password and click on KYC under Manage tab You should link your PAN, Aadhaar and bank account with your UAN and upload the necessary documents. You should provide details of the proofs uploaded. The following documents can be uploaded to complete the KYC: PAN Aadhaar Passport Bank statement Driving license Ration card Election card National population register After uploading the documents, save the changes. You should also submit the documents to your employer. Your KYC will be pending for approval until your employer verifies the proofs uploaded. Upon approval, the status of the KYC proofs uploaded will display as approved by the establishment. You can view the status under Digital Approved KYC section under the KYC option, Gupta added. WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - Unemployment payments jumped to at least $16.2 billion in April, up more than five-fold from February, as layoffs attributed to the coronavirus pandemic swept through the economy. The figure is still preliminary, with April payment data for six states including Florida and Michigan still not available on a Department of Labor Web site that provides detailed unemployment insurance information from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. But the filings available so far show the scale of the payments moving through the economy and the magnitude of the hit to state unemployment trust funds that must be resolved. The U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, bringing total filings since mid-March to nearly 39 million. States reporting so far paid a total of 49 million weeks of unemployment insurance in April, up from 7.2 million in February -- the equivalent of approximately 11.4 million people collecting benefits for the month. California and New York between them paid around $4.5 billion, compared to around $654 million as of April, 2019, and around $660 million in February of this year. Claims for unemployment insurance began a historic rise in mid-March and have topped 38.6 million since then. But state unemployment systems were overwhelmed by the load and backlogs developed. Total payments in March were around $3.8 billion compared to $2.7 billion in February. Payments began flow in April, boosted by an extra $600 per week and extended to solo entrepreneurs and contractors by the CARES Act. It was not immediately clear whether the April payments reported by states included those extra federally mandated benefits. Economists have estimated that the jump in government transfer payments may offset much of the income lost due to coronavirus-related layoffs and business closures, at least for the time being. Some of the additional payments are due to expire this summer. (Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by David Gregorio) SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MOUNTAIN HIGH ACQUISITIONS CORP. (OTCQB: MYHI), announces today that its wholly-owned subsidiary GPS Associates, Inc. (GPS) has expanded its operations to include the production of an alcohol-based medical grade hand sanitizer at its cGMP, FDA-registered facility in Santa Ana, Calif. The company's two state of the art bottling lines are now installed and ramping up into productionanticipating the capacity to produce approximately 2 million bottles of hand sanitizer per month. "Current demand has created shortages of hand sanitizer worldwide, and companies like ours are in a unique position to help," said Paul Gaudreau, CEO of GPS. "With our cGMP, FDA-registered manufacturing facilities already in place and an agile product development team comprised of world class chemists and herbalistswe are determined to meet this challenge head on and be part of the solution." The medical grade hand sanitizer in production at GPS is rolling out as a white labeled product through a wide variety of wholesale partners and mass retail chains, but its own GuardRx brand of hand sanitizer can also be purchased directly online by the bottle or by the case and is available in 3 sizes for convenience and portability. "We certainly have the capacity to handle very large wholesale orders for major retailers currently seeking to roll out their own private label hand sanitizer products nationwide, but we felt that it was equally important to meet the needs of individuals and families who would like to have hand sanitizer delivered directly to their home or business," said Gaudreau. GuardRx is an alcohol-based hand sanitizerproven to be 99.9% effective against most germs and contains glycerin and Vitamin E to protect the skin from over-drying. Consistent with the company's CBD product offering, GuardRx is formulated to include powerful botanical constituents such as red thyme oil, which has exceptional antiviral, antimicrobial, and antiseptic properties. "Whether we're formulating hemp-derived CBD personal care products or personal hygiene products like hand sanitizer, our team is committed to creating thoughtfully-designed, premium quality products," added Gaudreau. GPS annual revenues for 2019 totaled just over $1,600,000 and in the first four months of 2020 alone the company's revenues exceeded $3,600,000. A report released May 11, 2020 by Fortune Business Insights, states that on account of current market conditions, the hand sanitizer market annual growth rate is expected to see a tremendous increase from 5.06% to 45.71% starting this year. About MYHI Mountain High Acquisitions Corp. (OTCQB: MYHI) is a holding company focused on the acquisition and development of businesses and other assets within the hemp industry. www.mountainhighac.com About GPS Associates, Inc. GPS is a California company engaged in the formulation, manufacture and sale of CBD and personal hygiene products for its wholesale white label partners nationwide, as well as under its own retail brands Zen Drops and GuardRx. The company operates from a cGMP, FDA-registered facility located in Santa Ana, Calif. The company's team of professionals includes physiologists, chemists, herbalists and botanists with a commitment to using organic, raw herbs in combination with organic hemp-derived CBD to produce the purest, most effective end products. All of its products are tested for potency and purity at independent, third-party labs. For more information visit www.zen-drops.com and www.guardrxhandsanitizer.com. Press Releases may include forward-looking statements. In particular, the words "believe," "may," "could," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "propose," "plan," "intend," and similar conditional words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any statements made in this news release about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof. The company takes no obligation to update or correct its own forward-looking statements, except as required by law or those prepared by third parties that are not paid by the company. SOURCE Mountain High Acquisitions Corp. Related Links http://www.mountainhighac.com British researchers testing an experimental vaccine against the new coronavirus are moving into advanced studies and aim to immunise more than 10,000 people to determine if the shot works. Last month, scientists at Oxford University began immunising more than 1,000 volunteers with their vaccine candidate in a preliminary trial designed to test the shot's safety. On Friday, the scientists announced they now aim to vaccinate 10,260 people across Britain, including older people and children. If all goes smoothly, the scientists predicted there might be enough positive data about the vaccine's effectiveness to move forward with mass production relatively soon. "If the vaccine is shown to work in the months ahead and it's possible that if there's enough transmission, that could happen in a relatively short period of time," said Andrew Pollard, head of the Oxford Vaccine Group. "It's possible as early as the autumn or towards the end of the year, you could have results that allowed use of the vaccine on a wider scale." But Pollard acknowledged there were still many challenges ahead, including how long it will take to prove the vaccine works, particularly since transmission has dropped significantly in Britain, in addition to any potential manufacturing complications. He was unable to provide any initial data from the earlier trial, explaining that the trial was designed to be blinded, meaning the researchers don't know which volunteers have received the experimental vaccine; those results are shared with a safety and monitoring oversight board. So far, there have not been any indications of worrying side effects. When the vaccine was tested in monkeys, researchers found it protected them against pneumonia, suggesting that it could help to prevent severe disease in people, Pollard said. He said it was still an open question whether it could make a dent in how the disease is spread between people. About a dozen different experimental vaccines are in early stages of human testing or poised to start, mostly in China, the U.S. and Europe, with dozens more in earlier stages of development. AP ST. JACOB Each year, teachers turn the lights off to their classroom and send off students before summer break. Some of those teachers who guide youth to success through education earn the privilege of being recognized across the state by the Golden Apple Foundation. Its an absolute honor, sixth-grade teacher Jeanine Butler said. I work with some amazing teachers and to be recognized among them it is definitely emotional. As an educator at Triad Middle School in St. Jacob, Butler was nominated for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching & Leadership, and was recently told she would become a fellow. Butler has been an educator for 19 years, spending 15 years at Triad. She specializes in special education and has been working exclusively in Triads new response to intervention (RTI) program. Butler was an instrumental part in bringing a stronger RTI program to Triad, which was one of the main reasons she is now recognized as a Golden Apple Fellow, according to the Golden Apple Foundation president, Alan Mather. With Jeanine, there were a couple [of reasons] that stood out, he said. She has to find ways to reach students in other ways that others havent. If she needs something, she isnt afraid to go get it and she did that at Triad. She works to implement what those students learn in school, in their community. It is her strong civic engagement that really shines. What were doing as educators isnt working to just have it work in school, but outside, too. We want to highlight that across the state, what great rural teachers look like. Mather explained that up until recently, the Golden Apple Award was only for teachers in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. However, after some rework, the foundation wanted to help show that those in more rural areas are just as hard-working. Butler primarily works with sixth-graders but helps where she can with seventh- and eighth-graders to assist those who need a little bigger push than other students to understand the material better. She said that those students fall into a three-tier system called Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI). The tiers help educators understand how much more of a push and one-on-one guidance each student needs. One hurdle that Butler has encountered is getting the students to participate in the extra time spent learning. So, I came up with the learning cafe, she said. This is a time where we can spend more time with the students while they have food and drinks and they seem to really enjoy it. Butler explained that she worked with the local chamber of commerce to help fund the food and drinks. The cafe started out for just her sixth-graders but it has worked so well that the seventh- and eighth-graders will get their own in the future. With this addition, Anderson Hospital agreed to match the chambers donation so that the educators do not have to worry about funding. As she looks toward the future, Butler said she will be called upon by the Golden Apple Foundation to mentor as a fellow. She said the opportunity will be a bridge into the next chapter. Fellows take time to mentor aspiring teachers who are a part of the Golden Apple. During their time in college, those in the teacher preparation and tuition assistance program will be mentored by the fellows so that they may hit the ground running, Mather said. The students continue to be mentored for one to two years in the workforce. Butler will work with about 10 budding educators at first, and may aid as many as 30 students in the future upon her retirement. Until retirement, Butler wants to continue working with her roughly 15 Triad students. While I think that while this is an amazing award, your work and dedication as an educator is shown in your students progress, Butler said. Each year, the Golden Apple Foundation asks for nominations for specific grade levels, this years nominations were for educators for fourth- through eighth-grade. Butler was one of 30 selected out of 732 nominations. Nominations are currently being accepted for pre-K through third-grade for any educator, private or public, in Illinois. To nominate an educator visit: goldenapple.org/awards. While nominations can stay anonymous, some come out to reveal their identity, and Butler said she would like nothing more. No ones come forward to say they nominated me and I really wish they would so I can thank them, she added. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nevada-based brand Canna Hemp has been touted as a CBD company to watch in 2020, but what makes Canna Hemp's products so unique? Canna Hemp has been setting the standard for high-quality CBD wellness products since its inception in 2016, releasing specialty lines that run the gamut from tinctures and capsules to topical creams and beauty products. Canna Hemp has also released a niche product line, Canna Hemp X, which is specifically geared towards consumers leading an active lifestyle, with balms, creams and elixirs intended for use after intense exercise. One of the company's most interesting selling points is that many of their products are made utilizing their own proprietary blend of terpenes, TerpFX, which are designed to mimic profiles of cannabis strains, producing various effects. These terpenes work in tandem with the CBD in Canna Hemp 's products to enhance the user experience. Terpenes are aromatic oils found in the same glands of the cannabis plant that produce the chemicals (called cannabinoids) THC and CBD. While both CBD and THC are used as health products, CBD does not produce the feeling of being "high" that is generally associated with cannabis products. For this reason, Canna Hemp 's products are non-psychoactive and can be taken by anyone. Terpenes are a major component in the differing effects of various cannabis strains, and different terpenes are associated with different benefits, qualities, and distinctive flavor and scent profiles. Terpenes likely evolved in the cannabis plant for the same reason that many flowering plants have a distinctive odor, to attract pollinators. Terpenes are the reason why different strains of cannabis smell and taste different from one another. For example, a few common flavors produced by terpenes might have the qualities of "mint," or "citrus," or even "blueberry." Scientists have identified over 100 different types of terpenes, all with their own individual effects. Creating their own proprietary blend of terpenes allows Canna Hemp a greater range of diversity in their products, and greater control over the final outcome of each product they develop, unlike many other CBD products on the market. The brand's adherence to the strictest level of quality control has helped them to stand out as a trusted name in the CBD industry. Canna Hemp manufactures consistently high-quality products with well-sourced ingredients, which has set them up for success as they continue their brand expansion throughout 2020. Please direct inquiries to: Craig Thaice (561) 384-8736 [email protected] SOURCE Canna Hemp Research of the University of Jyvaskyla demonstrate that the characteristic zig-zag pattern on a viper's back performs seemingly opposing functions during a predation event. At first, the zig-zag pattern helps the snake remain undetected. But upon exposure, it provides a conspicuous warning of the snake's dangerous defense. Most importantly the zig-zag can also produce an illusionary effect that may hide the snake's movement as it flees. The research, published in Animal Behaviour 164 (2020), reveals how a single color pattern can have multiple effects during a predation event, thereby expanding the discussion on protective coloration and anti-predator adaptations. Protective coloration is one of the simplest but most effective tools that prey species use to evade predators. Typically, different color patterns are useful at different stages of a predation event. Some color patterns are cryptic, obscuring the prey from being detected - think chameleons. Other patterns are aposematic, which blatantly advertise a warning to predators - think wasps. Finally, some patterns can produce optical illusions to startle or confuse predators and give the prey an escape opportunity - think zebras. But a recent series of experiments, by a team headed by Janne Valkonen and Johanna Mappes at the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), suggests that European vipers (Vipera sp.) can achieve all three tricks with a single color pattern - their characteristic zig-zag. At first, the zig-zag pattern helps the viper to hide. The researchers hid plasticine models of snakes with different color patterns along paths and noted how often they were detected by people walking the trail. Models with the zig-zag pattern were detected less often than plainly colored models. This is the first confirmation that the viper's zig-zag pattern provides a cryptic function. But even if the viper is detected, the zig-zag can still work its magic - instead of hiding the snake, the pattern now functions to make it more obvious. Previous research has already established that the pattern warns predators about the snake's dangerous bite. The rapid flickering from the zigs and zags of a fleeing snake can produce a a 'flicker-fusion effect' to mammalian predators The most significant contribution from Dr. Janne Valkonen's study deals with a particular class of illusion generated by the zig-zag pattern. Just as how a rapid series of still pictures can produce a smooth animation, the rapid flickering from the zigs and zags of a fleeing snake can produce a solid shape. Team measured the speed of fleeing snakes and calculated the flicker rate of the zig-zag. To an observer, a rapidly changing stimulus (such as a moving zig-zag, or spinning helicopter blade) is perceived as continuous if the flicker rate exceeds a threshold in the visual system. The researchers found that the zig-zag moved quickly enough to produce such a 'flicker-fusion effect' to mammalian predators, although the quicker eyes of a raptor won't be fooled. The effect of this illusion may change the appearance of the moving snake, making it harder to catch. So, like a skilled illusionist, the viper hides by revealing. The viper's zig-zag seems to be a simple pattern, but it is a masterful illusion that can hide, reveal, and paradoxically achieve both at the same time. Similarly, this research resolves theoretical tensions between apparently opposing functions of color patterns. That is, crypsis and aposematism seem mutually exclusive: one is meant to blend an animal into its surroundings, the other to make it stand out. However, through the magic of movement and optics, both functions can be gained through the same pattern at different stages in the predation sequence. Furthermore, the one-to-many aspect of the zig-zag to its antipredator functions implies a far broader scope for the evolution of color patterns and antipredator adaptations than simple one pattern-to-one function relations. ### Link to research in Animal Behaviour -publication (number 164) in May 2020: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.04.005 For further information: Dr. Janne Valkonen, tel. +358 40 5137455, janne.k.valkonen@jyu.fi Academy Professor Johanna Mappes, tel +358 40 537 2263, johanna.r.mappes@jyu.fi Communications officer Tanja Heikkinen, tanja.s.heikkinen@jyu.fi, tel. +358 50 581 8351 The Faculty of Mathematics and Science: https://www.jyu.fi/science/en FB: jyuscience Twitter: jyscience NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley take questions from journalists after their arrival at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA Photo) Two NASA astronauts landed at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida today to go through a set of pre-launch traditions that havent been followed for nearly nine years and create a few new traditions as well. When Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken walked out of a NASA Gulfstream jet and met the press, they began a routine thats due to climax next week with the first orbital launch from U.S. soil since the space shuttle fleets retirement in 2011. SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket is due to loft their commercial Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station a week from today. But first, theyll participate remotely in a flight readiness review on Thursday, and then go through an in-person launch rehearsal at historic Launch Complex 39A on Saturday. Theyll also spend relaxation time with their families at Kennedy Space Centers Beach House, a retreat thats been used by NASA astronauts since the 1960s. Hurley wholl be the spacecraft commander on the Crew Dragon acknowledged that the coronavirus outbreak has thrown a huge wrinkle into preparations for the upcoming demonstration mission, known as Demo-2 or DM-2. The astronauts and their families have been going through stricter-than-usual quarantine procedures to minimize the risk of catching COVID-19. Some of the training sessions had to be recast as virtual rather than in-person experiences. Hurley marveled at how quickly and how well the NASA and SpaceX teams have adjusted to the changed circumstances. There have been so many things over the course of the last several years that have amazed me, but that certainly is high on the list, he told the mask-wearing journalists who gathered on the runway for todays arrival ceremony. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and KSC director Bob Cabana wore masks when they greeted the astronauts and observed social distancing guidelines during the news briefing that followed. Story continues Bridenstine asked the astronauts about any new traditions theyre creating to mark a new era of American spaceflight an era thats no longer limited to Russian Soyuz spacecraft for rides to orbit. We feel somewhat responsible to continue some of these really neat traditions that both the Soyuz crews have had for many years, and the shuttle crews have had, Hurley said, and then maybe come up with a few of our own. He said he and Behnken drew upon their test pilot experiences with tagging, and slapped a sticker for their DM-2 mission on their Crew Dragon spacecraft simulator in Houston at the end of their final proficiency training session on Tuesday. Behnken said he adapted a pre-launch tradition thats followed by spacefliers at Russias Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and planted a tree with his family in Houston during a private ceremony. My son will always have that lemon tree that he was a part of planting, Behnken said. Hopefully it makes it through Houstons hot summer this year and becomes a tradition for some other folks as well. The original version of this report referred to an outdated video about a launch-pad tour given by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. More from GeekWire: Weather Alert ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM EST FRIDAY... * WHAT...Very cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 20 to 29 below zero. * WHERE...Central, northern and southern Vermont and northern New York. * WHEN...From 7 PM this evening to 10 AM EST Friday. * IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Temperatures will drop well below zero tonight into early Friday morning with northwest winds of 5 to 10 mph expected across the region. The coldest wind chills are expected between 5 AM and 9 AM Friday with winds expected to weaken as the day progresses. Temperatures will remain on the cold side throughout the day with high temperatures only climbing into the single digits above zero. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use caution while traveling outside. Wear appropriate clothing, a hat, and gloves. && OSAKA, Japan, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Naotsune Alliance, a financial advisor for the world of business that provides discretionary investment advisory services for individual clients, wealthy families, institutional investors and investment trusts, with extensive fund management experience and product development capabilities, today announced that Mr. Eizo Nakayama, the Head of Corporate Governance at the firm, will be stepping down from his position as he announced that his 35 years of business activity have been accomplished and he will be retiring. His successor will be his Deputy Head for the last five years, Mr. Wilhelm Wagner. Naotsune Alliance Naotsune Alliance Naotsune Alliance has followed a strict policy when embracing new family members of long-term commitment and mutual satisfaction and one of the first Executives to step into the firm soon after its inception is Mr. Nakayama. He has been with the firm for over two decades and his experience includes a total of 35 years of active involvement in the financial sector. "I am honoured to have been a part of Naotsune Alliance's family for more than 20 years and I am proud of all the hard-work that me and my team have invested in ensuring a high level of procedural transparency and dedicated channels of communication between departments, stakeholders, Executives' Board and administrative staff," declared Mr. Nakayama. Naotsune Alliance is interested in continuing within the excellent framework created under the guidance of Mr. Nakayama, therefore, the Board of Directors have decided to promote Mr. Wilhelm Wagner from the position of Deputy Head of Corporate Governance to Head of the Department. Among other advantages, this course of action will eliminate any need of a transition period of adjustment, as Mr. Wagner occupied the Deputy Head role for the last five years. Therefore, he is accustomed with all procedures and methodology implemented by the departments entire team and will be in the advantageous position of being 100% prepared to take on the new responsibilities by the time the soon-to-be-former Head of Corporate Governance Department, Mr. Nakayama, steps down into retirement. Mr. Wagner declared: "I am pleased to continue the great work that Mr. Nakayama and I developed over the last five years, but I am also equally happy for him and for his decision. I will personally supervise the party preparations to make sure that we give him a proper and warm good bye." About Naotsune Alliance Naotsune Alliance is a financial advisor for the world of business, a world in which community is key. The company's memberships, partnerships and associations are chosen with care, and its selectiveness ensures it is connected to the right people and have access to the best and most up-to-date knowledge. Our main products are Japanese equity funds, thus utilizing Naotsune Alliance's local expertise for Japanese firms with a focus on mid-small cap companies, start-ups and IPOs. Naotsune Alliance also manages funds with external asset managers and funds managed by prominent asset managers located all over the world. Contact: Wilhelm Wagner [email protected] +81 9045012521 SOURCE Naotsune Alliance The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday decided to go it alone in the crucial bypolls to 24 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, which saw a change of guard two months ago following a political drama. Of these 24 seats, 22 fell vacant after the resignation of Congress MLAs, while the death of sitting legislators has necessitated bypolls in the remaining two segments. Schedule for the by-elections has not been announced yet. State BSP president Ramakant Pippal on Thursday said party supremo Mayawati has decided to contest the assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh without any alliance. "The party would contest these bypolls on its own strength," he said. Pippal said the BSP, a marginal political force in the BJP-ruled state, will start inviting applications from ticket aspirants from next week. Afterwards, names of shortlisted candidates would be sent to the BSP chief for further decision, he said. The Dalit outfit has been working on the ground and preparing for these elections, Pippal said. We are a strong force in the Gwalior-Chambal region. In Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Datia, Ashok Nagar and Shivpuri districts, the BSP had 13 MLAs at different times in the past, Pippal told PTI. Most of the vacant assembly seats are in the Gwalior- Chambal region, where BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress in March, has considerable influence. Pippal said, Our preparations are going on. But, the coronavirus-induced-lockdown has somewhat slowed down our preparations. The state BSP chief said farm loan waiver, unemployment and issues related to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes would be main poll planks for his party. At present, the BSP has two MLAs in MPs 230-member house. Twenty-two seats fell vacant following the resignations of Congress MLAs, including six ministers in the erstwhile Kamal Nath government, from assembly membership. These MLAs left the Congress along with former union minister Scindia in March. Their resignations led to the collapse of the Nath- led Congress regime and subsequent formation of the BJP government headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The other two seats fell vacant earlier following the the death of Congress MLA from Joura, Banwarilal Sharma, and BJP legislator from Agar Malwa, Manohar Untwal. With the effective strength of the Assembly at 206, the BJP currently has a majority with 107 MLAs. The BJP will have to win at least nine of these 24 seats achieve a simple majority in the house. The Congress's current strength is 92, while there are four Independent MLAs and one from the SP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modelers. And if the country had begun locking down cities and limiting social contact on March 1, two weeks earlier than most people started staying home, the vast majority of the nations deaths about 83% would have been avoided, the researchers estimated. Under that scenario, about 54,000 fewer people would have died by early May. The enormous cost of waiting to take action reflects the unforgiving dynamics of the outbreak that swept through American cities in early March. Even small differences in timing would have prevented the worst exponential growth, which by April had subsumed New York City, New Orleans and other major cities, the researchers found. Its a big, big difference. That small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths, said Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia and the leader of the research team. The findings are based on infectious disease modeling that gauges how reduced contact between people starting in mid-March slowed transmission of the virus. Shamans team modeled what would have happened if those same changes had taken place one or two weeks earlier and estimated the spread of infections and deaths until May 3. The results show that as states reopen, outbreaks can easily get out of control unless officials closely monitor infections and immediately clamp down on new flare-ups. And they show that each day that officials waited to impose restrictions in early March came at a great cost. After Italy and South Korea had started aggressively responding to the virus, President Donald Trump resisted canceling campaign rallies or telling people to stay home or avoid crowds. The risk of the virus to most Americans was very low, he said. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on, Trump tweeted on March 9, suggesting that the flu was worse than the coronavirus. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that! In fact, tens of thousands of people had already been infected by that point, researchers later estimated. But a lack of widespread testing allowed those infections to go undetected, hiding the urgency of an outbreak that most Americans still identified as a foreign threat. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, but Trump has repeatedly cited restrictions on travel from China in January and Europe in mid-March as actions that halted the spread of the virus. On March 16, Trump urged Americans to limit travel, avoid groups and stay home from school. Mayor Bill de Blasio closed New York Citys schools on March 15, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a stay-at-home order that took effect on March 22. Changes to personal behavior across the country in mid-March slowed the epidemic, a number of disease researchers have found. But in cities where the virus arrived early and spread quickly, those actions were too late to avoid a calamity. In the New York metro area alone, 21,800 people had died by May 3. Fewer than 4,300 would have died by then if control measures had been put in place and adopted nationwide just a week earlier, on March 8, the researchers estimated. All models are only estimates, and it is impossible to know for certain the exact number of people who would have died. But Lauren Ancel Meyers, a University of Texas at Austin epidemiologist who was not involved in the research, said that it makes a compelling case that even slightly earlier action in New York could have been game changing. This implies that if interventions had occurred two weeks earlier, many COVID-19 deaths and cases would have been prevented by early May, not just in New York City but throughout the U.S., Meyers said. The fates of specific people cannot be captured by a computer model. But there is a name, a story and a town for every person who was infected and later showed symptoms and died in March and early April. Around the country, people separate from this study have wondered what might have been. Rushia Stephens, a music teacher who had become county court records technician in an Atlanta suburb, collapsed on her bedroom floor, unable to breathe, and died on March 19. Adolph Mendez, a businessman in New Braunfels, Texas, was confined to his own bedroom as his terrified family tended to him until he died on March 26. Richard Walts, a retired firefighter in Oklahoma, was ferried to a hospital in an ambulance and died two weeks later, on April 3. Adolph Mendezs widow, Angela Mendez, said she still couldnt say for sure whether action should have been taken earlier. It didnt matter now anyway, not for her husband. They probably could have had earlier a better way to not let this pandemic go that far, she said. But they didnt. Official social distancing measures dont work unless people follow them. While the measures have enjoyed generally widespread support among Americans, the findings rely on the assumption that millions of people would have been willing to change their behavior sooner. People are apt to take restrictions much more seriously when the devastation of a disease is visible, said Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida who specializes in emerging infectious diseases. But in early March, there had been few deaths, and infections were still spreading silently through the population. If things are really taking off, people are likely to clamp down more, Dean said. Do people need to hear the sirens for them to stay home? Shamans team estimated the effect of relaxing all control measures across the country. The model finds that because of the lag between the time infections occur and symptoms begin emerging, without extensive testing and rapid action, many more infections will occur, leading to more deaths as many as tens of thousands across the country. The timing and circumstances of those who were infected in March raise haunting questions. It was a Friday night in mid-March when Devin Taquino began feeling sick. Neither he nor his wife was thinking at all about the coronavirus. There were already more than 200 cases in the state by that time, but most of those cases were in the eastern part of the state, not in the small city of Donora, south of Pittsburgh. Plus, Taquino did not fit the profile: he was only 47 years old with no underlying conditions and his main symptom diarrhea was not something broadly associated with the disease. He was planning to work a Saturday morning overtime shift at a call center half an hour away, but he called in sick. Offices all over the area were asking people not to come in, but Taquinos had not taken that step. He worked on Monday, but on Tuesday he returned home sick from work, passed out in bed and didnt wake up for 16 hours. The next morning, his wife, Rebecca Taquino, 42, woke him up and told him they needed to get tested. She didnt think he had the virus, but she thought it was the smart thing to do. Without primary care doctors, they went to a nearby urgent care clinic, where they learned that his blood oxygen level was very low. The people at the clinic offered to call an ambulance, but fearing the cost, and still skeptical that this was that serious, the Taquinos chose to drive to an emergency room. At the hospital, he was given an X-ray and diagnosed with pneumonia. He stayed, kept in an isolation unit just in case, and she returned home. The next evening, March 26, he called her with two developments. One: his work had emailed with the news that someone at the call center, where the work stations sat about 1 foot apart, had tested positive for the virus. The other bit of news was that he had tested positive. There has been a lot for Rebecca Taquino to think about in the weeks since that phone call, including the long days during which she never left the house and her husbands situation got more horrifyingly worse. Should the call center have sent the employees home earlier? When she called the center on Friday to report his condition, it was already empty: the workers had been sent home. Did they act too late? I kind of tossed that one back and forth myself, she said. I really want to blame it on them, I really do. Could she know definitively where he got it? It was hard to say for sure. Still, given that email the day of his diagnosis, it seemed by far the most likely possibility that he got it at work. After three weeks of agony, Devin Taquino died on April 10. Whether he was one of the thousands of people who might be alive if social distancing measures had been put in place a week earlier can never be known. Rebecca Taquino said officials should have known. If its spreading that fast you have to know it would have come here, she said. They should have been implementing programs. I think it was a giant lapse in our country. There was no way to think that we were going to be spared from this. Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) used to be one of the biggest names in the cannabis market. However, over the past 12 months, shares have fallen by an astonishing 89% due to a number of concerns, such as the company's ongoing lack of profitability and the excessive goodwill on its balance sheet. While there is still plenty of concern over Aurora's long-term financial health, investors were impressed by better-than-expected results from the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings report. Shares of Aurora ended up surging in response to the news, with many investors wondering whether the once-great cannabis giant is now on the rise again. Let's take a deeper look at whether Aurora Cannabis is truly on the cusp of making a comeback, or if this fresh excitement needs to be checked a little. The good When you compare this quarter's results with just three months ago, the difference is immediately apparent. Whereas Aurora ended up reporting a staggering CA$1.3 billion net loss during its fiscal second-quarter results, this figure improved dramatically in the third quarter, to a net loss of CA$137.4 million. If you're wondering how that's possible, the answer is that most of the CA$1.3 billion loss was due to a one-time goodwill and intangible asset adjustment, which came in at CA$920.9 million. However, even if we factor out these one-time charges, Aurora's financial figures are still showing some signs of improvement. Operational losses have improved from the CA$119.6 million reported last quarter to CA$83.6 million. Given that Aurora had announced significant layoffs earlier this year to cut costs, it's not a surprising change, but it's nonetheless welcome news for shareholders hoping for a comeback. Net revenue has improved markedly from last quarter as well, growing by 34.8% from CA$56 million to CA$75.5 million. That's also quite a bit better than the CA$66.8 million some Wall Street analysts were expecting going into this quarter. Aurora's cash position is tenuous, but manageable for the short term if its other financial metrics continue to improve. Its CA$230.2 million in cash on hand makes for a little less than six months' worth of funding if net losses don't change. Aurora also has the option to raise a further CA$352 million in equity financing should it need to do so. The not so good With things seemingly getting better for Aurora, does that mean now's the time to add this stock back into your portfolio? Well, not really. While it's easy to look at this quarter's net loss as a major improvement over three months ago, Aurora is still far from being profitable. Other cannabis companies are outperforming Aurora both in terms of sales and profitability. To illustrate, Green Thumb Industries (OTC:GTBIF), a U.S.-based cannabis company, reported first-quarter financial results earlier this month that put Aurora's to shame. Green Thumb announced $102.6 million in quarterly revenue, while net losses came in at a mere $4.2 million. Aurora already went through an almost CA$1 billion goodwill writedown earlier this year, and investors shouldn't write off the possibility of further writedowns in the future. Aurora still has a staggering CA$2.9 billion in goodwill and intangible assets on its balance sheet, which is one of the highest levels in the entire cannabis industry. Aurora's entire market cap is only CA$1.7 billion, and another major goodwill adjustment could easily wipe off a massive chunk of that, sending shares plunging. In comparison, Green Thumb Industries has a market cap of about $1.9 billion, while its total goodwill and intangible assets fall just shy of $800 million. The verdict? While Aurora's most recent financial results are definitely an improvement, the company's still not out of the woods financially. With Aurora still reporting sizable losses, an unexpectedly disappointing quarter could prove disastrous for the company's already precarious cash position. Couple that with the massive goodwill figure that's still looming on Aurora's balance sheet, and investors have a lot to still be worried about with this Canadian cannabis giant. While there definitely are some interesting pot stocks to invest in right now, especially because so many of them are trading at steep discounts, it might be best to hold off on Aurora for the time being. Burma Myanmars Largest Ethnic Armed Group Invites Military Chief to Visit Myanmars military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, during Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw in 2015. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy Yangon Chairman of United Wa State Party (UWSP) Bao Youxiang has invited Myanmars military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, to visit Wa State and give guidance. External relations officer Nyi Rang of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the military arm of the UWSP, said the invitation was to promote bilateral ties. Founded on April 17, 1989, the UWSA signed a ceasefire with the then military government the State Law and Order Restoration Council in the same year, after splitting from the Communist Party of Burma. Since then, the UWSA has grown into the largest, best-equipped ethnic armed group in Myanmar with an estimated 30,000 troops and 10,000 auxiliary members, according to the Myanmar Peace Monitor. It is not that we have just made the invitation. We have extended an invitation for a long time. We hope he will come and give guidance, which is necessary to foster friendship, amity and trust, said Nyi Rang. A military delegation led by the commander of the Northeastern Command, Major General Aung Zaw Aye, donated medical supplies for COVID-19 prevention to the UWSP headquarters in Panghsang on Tuesday. At the event, the UWSP delegation gave a letter of acknowledgment to Myanmars military chief, inviting him to visit Wa State. Military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun confirmed the UWSPs invitation. U Bao Youxiang expressed thanks [for the donation]. He made the invitation in the letter. He did not say if Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing would accept the invitation. The military chief called for cooperation among all groups in fighting COVID-19 when explaining the donation to Wa State. The military donated 40,000 surgical masks, 2,000 N95 face masks, 500 face shields, 10 tubs of bleach powder, 1,000 sets of protective equipment and hand gel, according to the military spokesman. In April 2019, the UWSA invited State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to mark the 30th anniversary of its signing of a ceasefire with the government in Panghsang. Neither attended the event. They have invited the highest-level leaders of the country to their region, perhaps to ease tensions, build political relations and articulate their positions, said political analyst U Maung Maung Soe. The UWSA wants to demonstrate its development, said former Lower House lawmaker U Ye Htun. Perhaps it hopes the military leaders and government will change their views about federalism and confederation when they see [Wa State]. They apparently want to give the message that autonomy has political benefits, he said. Article 56(f) of the Constitution grants the Wa a self-administered zone covering six townships split between two districts. Although such zones are supposed to be under the control of the central government, the Wa effectively exercise total control with a government and administration. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko You may also like these stories: Myanmar Military Chief Pays Respects to Thai Statesman Gen. Prem Myanmars Military Donates Wages to COVID-19 Fight One of Prince's most iconic guitars is up for auction and will earn something in the six-digit range. The When Doves Cry hitmaker's iconic 'Blue Angel' Cloud guitar from 1984 will hit the block next month as part of Juliens Auctions Music Icons event. The auction house originally did not know what they had and believed that it would go for $100K but after finding out the history of it they believe it will go for at least $500K. Scroll down for video Legend: One of Prince's most iconic guitars is up for auction and will earn something in the six-digit range, as he is seen in 1989 Gorgeous: The When Doves Cry hitmaker's iconic 'Blue Angel' Cloud guitar from 1984 will hit the block next month as part of Juliens Auctions Music Icons event Auction house founder and president Darren Julien is certain the piece is a must-have for serious music memorabilia collectors as he said: 'Its the most significant Prince guitar thatll ever come up for auction.' The guitar has undergone several transformations as it has been white, peach, light blue, yellow, and finally electric blue this the nickname 'Blue Angel.' Consulting specialist for Julien's told Rolling Stone: 'In a sea of Clouds because there are a lot of them the thing that brings a collectible guitar the most value is how much mojo it has. Treasure: The auction house originally did not know what they had and believed that it would go for $100K but after finding out the history of it they believe it will go for at least $500K, Prince is seen in LOndon back in 1992 Transformative: The guitar has undergone several transformations as it has been white, peach, light blue, yellow, and finally electric blue this the nickname 'Blue Angel,' he is seen in Minneapolis in March 1986 'Prince came into the collective consciousness in the Eighties and this was one of his primary performance guitars at that time. So its got a lot of mojo.' As the company was auctioning off a pre-1993 model, author and Cloud guitar expert John Woodland had reached out to Julien's as he believed that it could have been the ever elusive 1984 'Blue Angel.' According to the publication, Andy Beech has been producing Cloud guitars since 1993 but before that there were four original guitars created that were distinctly unique and this was one of them. What a piece: The guitar had been played on several key moments in the legendary musician's career including his 1984 to 1985 Purple Rain Your and even on Saturday Night Live, he is seen here performing in London as part of his Nude your back in July 1990 Woodland is no stranger to prince as he had done conservation work on his guitars at Paisley Park and is currently working on a book about the Cloud model. He told Rolling Stone that the whereabouts of the instrument had been unknown until it turned up in auction as he said: 'Id heard rumors that it was in Holland.' According to the publication, Julien declined to say where the guitar has been over the past few decades but do say that the instrument has been part of a private collection and that it was gifted by Prince to the current owner. Sad: Prince died in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota, he is seen at the AMA Awards in November 2015 The guitar had been played on several key moments in the legendary musician's career including his 1984 to 1985 Purple Rain Your and even on Saturday Night Live. Prince died in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota. His stuff is not the only iconic memorabilia which will be part of the auction as there will also be pieces from The Beatles, Nirvana, Madonna, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Elton John, Whitney Houston, and so much more. Julien's Auctions Music Icons event is set to launch on June 19th and 20th. (Reuters) - Iran will support any nation or group that fights Israel, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, ahead of this week's annual observance of Quds (Jerusalem) Day to express support for Palestinians. 'We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this,' Khamenei said in a post on his official English-language Twitter account. Iran, Israels arch-enemy in the Middle East, has been a key supporter, along with Russia, of President Bashar al-Assad during Syrias civil war, sending military advisers as well as material and regional Shiite militias. (Reuters) - Iran will support any nation or group that fights Israel, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, ahead of this week's annual observance of Quds (Jerusalem) Day to express support for Palestinians. "We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this," Khamenei said in a post on his official English-language Twitter account. Iran, Israels arch-enemy in the Middle East, has been a key supporter, along with Russia, of President Bashar al-Assad during Syrias civil war, sending military advisers as well as material and regional Shiite militias. Israel, which monitors neighbouring Syria intensively, has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria targeting suspected arms and troop movements by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas that Tehran sponsors. Separately, Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran's enmity toward Israel was not the same as hostility toward Jewish people. "The elimination of the government of Israel does not mean the elimination of Jews. We don't have an issue with Jewish people," Khamenei said in a post on his official Farsi-language Twitter account. "'Elimination of Israel' means the Muslim, Christian and Jewish people of #Palestine choose their own government themselves and push out foreigners and thugs like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu," the post added. Khamenei is scheduled to speak on Friday to commemorate Quds Day. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. On Wednesday night, there were rumours about yesteryear actress Mumtaz's demise doing the rounds on social media. It was speculated that the actress had passed away, and her funeral was due on Saturday. However, the news turned out to be a death hoax! Mumtaz, who is currently living in London, told Bombay Times, "Oh! I am hail and hearty. Main abhi zinda hoon. I am glad someone called to check officially." This is not the first time the veteran actress has become a victim of death hoax. Last year in May, a similar rumour did the rounds on Twitter. Recalling that, the actress told the tabloid, "I don't know why someone is deliberately doing this. Is it some kind of a joke? Last year, it shook my family and everyone called in, worried sick. My near and dear ones were in different parts of the world and it traumatised all of them. In a way, it also troubled me a lot. This year, my daughters, grandkids, sons-in-law and my husband are all here with me in London. The lockdown has kept us all at home, together, and safe. Of course, I have more relatives around the world who got worried reading what made the rounds last night. Mujhe kyun maarna chahte hain log? Jab waqt aayega to main khud hi chali jaaongi." She further added, "Jab marungi, to meri family officially bata degi sabko. It won't be a secret. It will be all over the place, I know that and I am sure of that. Death is as real as life and everyone will face it some day. But I can't get my head around these death hoaxes that make the rounds once or twice in the year about a few of us. My nephew Shaad Randhawa is right there in Mumbai. The least anyone can do is ask him or my sister about me. People just spread the word without checking, and in turn, everyone hits the panic button. In times like these, when the world is fighting a pandemic, I wonder who thought of this insensitive hoax to get a few eyeballs. I am not even stepping out of my house. My kids don't let me do it. They are all taking such good care of me and trust me, my health is great." Meanwhile, the Aap Ki Kasam star had mentioned earlier that she would like to visit India, this year, too, like she does every other year. "My knee has been giving me some trouble and I might consult a doctor for a surgery in Mumbai when I visit. I really trust the doctors there. But it's nothing immediate. I would love to visit my old colleagues and friends in the city but only when the time is right," a Bombay Times report had quoted her as saying. Speaking about films, Mumtaz is known for her work in movies like Aap Ki Kasam, Ram Aur Shyam, Pathhar Ke Sanam, Brahmachari, Do Raaste, Khilona, Apna Desh and many others. ALSO READ: When Mumtaz Spoke About Her Hit Pairing With Rajesh Khanna! ALSO READ: Mumtaz: The Actress Who Ruled Bollywood In The 1960s Whatever the merits and demerits of online learning are, I have a conundrum. by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne Writing from Montreal No more pencils, no more books ~ The Economist, May 2nd, 2020 A recent issue of The Economist cites UNESCO as having said that the Coronavirus spread has effectively precluded over three quarters of the worlds roughly 1.5 billon schoolchildren from attending school. BBC reported on Wednesday the 20th May that schools in South Korea have reopened. The BBC newscast recorded the absolute joy in a returning students face and words. He said it was so wonderful to return to the teachers and his friends at school. The famous Indian author Arundhati Roy when interviewed by CBS last week in its programme in 60 Minutes said astutely that we have lost the present, which usually connects our past with our future. Future of the Education after Covid-19 Pandemic? The Economist gives some interesting facts: Statistics Norway estimates conservatively that the countrys educational shutdownsfrom creches to high schoolsare costing NKr1,809 ($173) per child each day. Most of that is an estimate of how much less todays schoolchildren will earn in the future because their education has been disrupted. (It is assumed they are learning roughly half of what they normally would.) The rest is lost parental productivity today... online classes may not always be the answer At the Alan Turing primary school in Amsterdam, it quickly became clear that 28 of its 190 pupils could not take part in online classes. The school now opens its doors for 15 from this group three mornings a week and has found other ways to help the remaining 13, such as arranging for them to get assistance from their neighbours. At the university level, the story is the same although learning still goes on in most instances with the use of online services. Most universities, at least in North America and Europe, have taken to online teaching. In all fairness, education institutions throughout the world are destitute of an alternative. In this context, this debate calls for disinterested look at the benefits and disadvantages of online learning. In an article in Issues in Information Systems of 2012 titled Expected Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Learning: Perceptions from College Students Who Have Not Taken Online Courses, the authors say: Online courses provide opportunities for students all over the world. Students in online classes can work together with others from various places to share diverse opinions and collaborate in solving problems. Yet even with numerous benefits, online educators and administrators have various issues to overcome. Although many students have reported positive experiences with online courses, negative experiences have also been conveyed. While course evaluations indicate students would rather take online versus traditional courses, students report online courses require more time and commitment, and may have limited communication with fellow students. Academic dishonesty is another serious issue and ensuring the person doing the work is (in fact) the student enrolled in the class is critical. Identifying safeguards to prevent dishonesty is an area which will need to be addressed in online course designs. Whatever the merits and demerits of online learning are, I have a conundrum. In the university where I teach aviation law to graduate students, the entire educational programme has been turned into an online curriculum, rendering me bemused as to how a subject like law involving deep Socratic inquiry and robust intellectual engagement can be reduced to staring at a screen. How does a teacher gauge the attention span of the students? Where is the drama of teaching? Where is eye contact? Where is that dynamic intellectual connect between teacher and student? And more importantly, what about Aol (Assurance of Learning) which is a shift from the traditional mode of measuring the success of teaching techniques per se to the level of assurance a university or lower educational institute has, that the student has learnt what was expected before that student graduates and seeks employment. Major determinants in AOL are communication, ethics, analytical skills, and the ability to use information technology, multiculturalism, and reflective thinking. Any teacher instinctively knows that, at whatever level, the inarticulate premise of learning by physical contact is an integral part of the learning process. This is infused in the student through the character and integrity of the teacher as well as the students themselves who influence each other. While online learning will teach the student principles syllogistically, face to face teaching conveys a certain moral rectitude that is attenuated from the principles taught. This extends beyond the teacher to the students themselves in the classroom and beyond, transcending intellectual symbiosis from the classroom to out of class social discourse and recreation. I have seen my students sharing their lunch or supper, exchanging views on assignments in groups before a class commences. They even conspire to stumble the teacher by engaging him in healthy discourse, which is what creativity is all about. A teacher must have cognitive empathy, i.e. an awareness of how a student sees the world and what their worries are regarding their future. A good teacher would then know how to help a student if help is needed with the overall learning experience. They say that a good teacher makes the student think but a great teacher makes the student wonder. On a personal note, I begin my course by encouraging students to attempt writing, not only for evaluation and assessment but also to publish their work eventually. I tell them stories of some of my students whom I have helped publish their papers and independent writing. They look at my face, and my unbridled enthusiasm when I say this and believe me. Most of all, they see in my face a certain indescribable sincerity when I encourage them. I do not know how to do this online. Ivy Tech looks forward to students being able to return to campus and take that next step to prepare for a high-wage, high-value career, said Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann in a news release sent out this week. We are carefully balancing our plan to have a focus on safety and flexibility. Our teams continually monitor the recommendations provided by the state of Indiana and federal guidelines. Committed arts philanthropist Kerr Neilson and daughter Paris have pledged conditional financial support to Carriageworks in a gesture that could see it lifted out of voluntary administration. "We have pledged a reasonable amount once the lease is renewed and the operation is reorganised," Mr Neilson told The Sydney Morning Herald. Kerr Neilson. Credit:Louie Douvis The Neilsons are one of several philanthropists to have come forward to offer a potential lifeline to the Eveleigh-based arts organisation after the board called in administrators KPMG on May 4 due to a catastrophic collapse in revenue following coronavirus shutdowns. The most generous donor is believed to be board director, major art collector and philanthropist Geoff Ainsworth and wife Johanna Featherstone. The Ainsworth family was a major contributor to the Art Gallery of NSW expansion Sydney Modern. LONDON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 21 May 2020, the first UK frontline NHS worker will be enrolled as a participant into COPCOV, the largest multi-national interventional clinical study into the prevention of COVID-19 using the investigational medicine, hydroxychloroquine. Enrolment begins today at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, the first of 20 UK hospitals to participate in this trial. Over 130 UK frontline healthcare workers have lost their lives from COVID-19[1] and this study will test if hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine can be used to effectively protect our valued frontline medical staff, allowing them to undertake their vital roles more safely. Accord Healthcare, a UK-based medicines manufacturer, has donated over two million tablets to enable this landmark trial to go ahead. Dr Anthony Grosso, Vice President & Head of Scientific Affairs, Accord Europe & MENA said: "Based on the known pharmacology of hydroxychloroquine, coupled with the emerging knowledge surrounding SARS-CoV-2 viral replication and COVID-19 pathophysiology, we were very keen to test the effectiveness of this molecule in a preventative, rather than late-stage treatment setting. A large-scale, prospective, randomised, double-blind clinical trial in a high-risk setting is the only way to robustly determine if this medicine can lessen or prevent human infection. Previous studies have not adequately tested this hypothesis; the results of COPCOV are therefore of critical importance to public health." "Even though lock-down measures appear to have significantly reduced the current rate of infection in the UK, healthcare workers will continue to be at risk of contracting COVID-19, especially as measures are relaxed. Whilst we wait for an effective and widely available vaccine, the race is on to find a well-tolerated preventative treatment. The results from COPCOV are expected later this year and, if they show that hydroxychloroquine can reduce the chances of catching COVID-19, this would be incredibly reassuring for myself and my frontline colleagues," said Professor Martin Llewelyn, Brighton and Sussex Medical School and lead COPCOV UK Investigator. Dr James Burt, Executive Vice President, Accord Europe & MENA said: "I am extremely proud that Accord is leading the way in making this significant investment towards the fight against COVID-19. In addition to providing scientific input, our teams are working around the clock, in challenging times, to manufacture the required hydroxychloroquine and matching-placebo for this vital study. This is a great demonstration of Accord's mission to help make things better for healthcare professionals on the frontline, patients and society in general." References 1. Deaths amongst UK healthcare workers (to 20 April 2020) https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19relateddeathsbyoccupationenglandandwales/deathsregistereduptoandincluding20april2020#deaths-involving-covid-19-among-health-and-social-care-workers Notes to Editor: 1. *Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) based in Bangkok, Thailand is leading the COPCOV study. MORU conducts targeted clinical and public health research that aims to discover and develop appropriate, practical, affordable interventions that measurably improve the health of people living in resource-limited parts of the world https://www.tropmedres.ac/ 2. COPCOV (Chloroquine/ hydroxychloroquine Prevention of COVID-19) is sponsored by the University of Oxford (UK) and funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the MasterCard Therapeutics Accelerator with two million tablets of the trial medicine (hydroxychloroquine) donated by Accord healthcare. 3. To learn more about COPCOV, visit https://www.tropmedres.ac/covid-19/copcov 4. Accord Healthcare Ltd, the principal European subsidiary of Intas Pharmaceuticals, is the largest supplier by volume of generic medicines to the NHS, providing approximately 1 in 5 of all generic medicines to the NHS. About Accord Healthcare Accord Healthcare is one of the fastest growing generic pharmaceutical companies in Europe. We have one of the largest market footprints of any European generic company, selling generic medicines in over 80 countries around the world. This global footprint enables us to deliver vital, affordable medicines worldwide, to the national health systems and patients who need them most. From our manufacturing operations in Harrow, Fawdon and Barnstaple and our distribution centre in Didcot, we supply approximately one in five of the UK's generic medicines. Our approach is agile and inventive, always seeking to improve our products and patients' access to them. We are driven to think differently and deliver more for the benefit of patients worldwide. Accord, we make it better www.accord-healthcare.com Related Links https://www.accord-healthcare.com/ SOURCE Accord Healthcare We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. LANSING, MI -- Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson appeared on MSNBCs All in with Chris Hayes on Wednesday night to address threats made by President Donald Trump via Twitter. Twice Wednesday, the president issued tweets threatening to withhold funding from the state after Benson announced the state would mail absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Both times, Benson responded to call the president out for inaccuracies. Im dumbfounded that this is controversial," Benson said, especially because there are Democratic and Republican secretaries of state doing just what were doing here in Michigan. She went on to say she thinks Trumps comments are part of a larger effort to create confusion for voters. To me, it is also a reflection of what will be happening in our state in the months ahead, which is an effort to misinform and confuse voters about their rights in the state, Benson said. "We see it happening nationally, weve seen it happening in various different forms. We anticipate this is just going to escalate in the months ahead. My responsibility is also to try to cut through that misinformation, that chaos, that confusion and just clearly say to all voters regardless of who youre voting for, these are your choices, this is how you can vote this year. In 2018, Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal to allow all voters in the state to request absentee ballots. In March, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order suspending election laws for the local May 5 elections to ensure voters could vote absentee if they so wished. The state reported nearly 25% of eligible voters cast ballots on May 5, and 99% of them did so by mail or in a drop box. That total was more than double the typical voter turnout for May elections over the previous decade. In the handful of elections that have taken place since that proposal was approved, Benson said there has not been any indication of any voter fraud. Hayes asked Benson about her confidence in the states ability to hold a fair election, regardless of how people choose to vote. Absolutely. People have been voting by mail, including the president, for decades in this country in various states. So weve got the tools in place not just to ensure every citizen can vote by mail, but when they do so, its secure," Benson said. The president wasnt the only person to question the move to mail absentee applications to every registered voter. Former Secretary of State Ruth Johnson criticized the decision after it was announced Tuesday. I supported secure, no-reason absentee voting as secretary of state, and I think absentee voting can be a really good option for people especially with the coronavirus pandemic," said Johnson, now a Republican senator from Holly, in a prepared statement. "Michigan voters can already request and complete an application, receive an absentee ballot, and mail in their absentee ballot all without ever leaving their homes. I do question how and why this specific mailing was done right now. Local clerks are the ones who have always handled these requests, not the secretary of state. Like Gov. Whitmer, Secretary Benson seems to be taking unilateral actions with no input and questionable motives and that is very troubling. The secretary mailing an application to every voter is an unnecessary expense that will cost millions of dollars. Where is that money coming from? I assume it will be from coronavirus funds the state received." Bensons office has said its received $11.2 million from the federal government in the most recent stimulus package. We will be using those funds to ensure that were able to securely provide democracy in every election this year," she said after the May election. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Medical professional wearing Summit Medical professional face shield. Our teams innovative design and dedication to meet the urgent demand to protect health care workers as well as employees returning to the workplace has been outstanding. Summit Medical, an Innovia Medical company, a medical device manufacturer, announces its first milestone to deliver over one million FDA-compliant face shields designed, engineered and manufactured in the United States in just eight weeks. Summit Medical Face Shields meet the critical need for personal protective equipment (PPE) for both front-line health care workers and returning business employees to limit the spread of COVID-19 as the country reopens. As the demand for the companys elective surgical products declined with the onset of the coronavirus, Summit Medicals successful pivot to manufacture face shields has also met a critical economic need to protect its 65 employees with job security. Our teams innovative design and dedication to meet the urgent demand to protect health care workers as well as employees returning to the workplace has been outstanding, said Kevin McIntosh, President of Summit Medical. McIntosh mitigated employee losses by cross-training staff to assemble face shields. Every staff member has been involved in production and is working overtime, including weekends, to make it possible to deliver face shields with quality and speed. Unlike masks, Summit Medicals Face Shields protect all facial mucous membranes including the eyes from splashes, sprays, droplets and fine aerosol contamination of the coronavirus. Easy to see through and breathe in, the clear plastic shield enables full-face coverage (9 inches long). In addition, shields are usually more comfortable to wear than masks and they form a barrier that keeps people from easily touching their own faces. Our engineering team adjusted an open-source design from Maker Space at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to meet requirements for Summit Medicals Face Shields to be registered and sold as a medical device, said Tim Butina, Summit Medicals Engineering & Operations Manager. More importantly, we did extensive research and testing of materials to ensure Summit Medical was providing a high quality, safe product. The Need for Face Shields Beyond Health Care As businesses reopen and adopt new COVID-19 protocols, the effectiveness of face shields in health care demonstrates their utility to protect workers in other industries. As we continue to supply the health care community, Summit Medicals Face Shields also offers a cost-effective way to protect employees returning to the office, sales floor, warehouse or industrial production floor, said McIntosh. Ive been searching for an answer for my production staff that was functional and provides protection from the COVID-19 virus, said Todd Wiles, Director of Operations at Water Control Corporation in Ramsey, Minn. My staff has been wearing Summit Medicals Face Shields for over a week now and report they are very comfortable. Face shields enable full visibility of the face and mouth a particular advantage for service industries with staff who directly interact with customers such as retail stores and restaurants. Businesses also can tap Summit Medicals expertise working with OEM customers to quickly brand face shields with their own corporate logos. We require all of our employees to wear some type of protective face cover. Most work in an environment where the temperature is elevated at best, said Shelli Raes, Office Manager for Bobs Produce Ranch in Fridley, Minn. Summit Medicals Face Shields help to keep employees cooler than a face mask. In addition, when speaking, people sometimes pull down a mask to communicate better, but that isnt necessary with a facial shield, as a clear shield allows for visibility of facial expressions and lip movement for speech perception. Leveraging Minnesota Innovation in the UK Beyond his leadership for Summit Medicals home office in Minnesota, McIntosh coordinated supply networks for production of its face shields at Summit Medicals sister companies under the Innovia Medical umbrella at Eagle Labs in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Innovia also leveraged Summit Medicals face shield design for production at Innovias facilities in the United Kingdom, where they are producing over 1.3 million Innovia Face Visors to protect front-line health care workers in UKs National Health System. Summit Medicals Quality and Regulatory team is currently pursuing a CE for the face shields. This would allow Summit Medical to support customer demand in Europe and beyond. The health care community has endured untenable delays in securing face shields and other critical PPE due, in part, to components sourced in China, McIntosh said. Manufacturing certified, quality face shields with speed and efficiency has been a guiding priority, McIntosh said. And unlike others selling unregulated face shields during this limited period of relaxed standards, Summit Medical is an FDA registered medical manufacturer that will sustain its capabilities to meet the continued demand. About Summit Medical, an Innovia Medical Company Summit Medical, an Innovia Medical Company, is a medical device manufacturer located in St. Paul, Minn. Founded in 1982, the company has been serving the global healthcare community for over 30 years. Summit Medical is dedicated to staying on top of industry demands and developing the solutions to meet them throughout all the stages of design, engineering and manufacturing. Innovia Medical combines the experience and expertise of Summit Medical, Network Medical Products, Eagle Labs and DTR Medical to help our medical professional partners elevate the delivery of care to improve patient outcomes. For more information about Summit Medical and Innovia Medical visit http://www.innoviamedical.com. In 2025, consideration of the SAT or ACT for any students admission, in or out of state, would be eliminated. These tests are extremely flawed and very unfair, said Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a member of the board who supported the decision, adding, Enough is enough. In the meantime, the university will do a study on the feasibility of creating its own admissions test, perhaps in collaboration with other California schools. In a statement after the vote, the College Board predicted that the governing boards decision would add to the burden of high school students applying for college if the system creates its own exam, saying that many students will still take the SAT or ACT to apply to other institutions. Having to take multiple tests will likely cause many of these students to limit their college options much earlier in the college search process, the organization said. Some 300,000 students attend University of California schools, and six of its campuses top the list of American schools with the most applicants, with U.C.L.A. consistently the most sought after. Four-fifths of applicants to the systems schools take the SAT, providing the largest source of customers for the College Board, which brings in more than $1 billion a year in revenue. In addition to the SAT, the organization also administers Advanced Placement tests for high school students and other testing programs. Experts said that despite actions like the California systems, the testing industry is likely to survive in some form. Australian iron ore could be the next victim of trade tensions with China after Beijing changed its inspection rules. Chinese customs officials say the changes taking effect next month are designed to "streamline procedures" at ports. But the Global Times has warned Australian iron ore imports could be hurt by political tensions between the two countries. Chinese customs officials say the changes taking effect next month are designed to "streamline procedures" at ports. Credit:Angela MacDonald-Smith "This is another implicit warning to Australia," Yu Lei, a chief research fellow at Liaocheng University, told the newspaper. "It is associated with how Australia has acted, and a general decline in demand for steel on the global level." - Uganda Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said President Yoweri Museveni directed her to revise the COVID-19 cases downwards after excluding foreigners - Aceng said the number came to 145 after excluding truck drivers who tested positive and have since been directed to go back to their countries`AZ of origin - So far, Uganda has not recorded any COVID-19 deaths and the country is looking forward to resume normalcy as from June 2020 President Yoweri Museveni has ordered Uganda Health Ministry to revise its COVID-19 cases downwards from 264 to 145 after excluding the number of foreigners who tested positive. By Wednesday, May 20, the country had confirmed 264 cases according to the World Health Organisation, but the Health Minister Jane Aceng said the number has now been reduced to 145 after revision. READ ALSO: Police arrest William Ruto's ally, arraigns him in court for distributing relief food The Health Ministry said the revision of COVID-19 numbers was directed by President Yoweri Museveni. Photo: Yoweri Museveni Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Man who fled after glueing wife's privates arrested at witchdoctor's home in Mwingi In a Twitter post, Aceng said the count of all infected foreign truck drivers would be added to their respective countries given they were ordered to return to their home countries. "Today, May 20, 2020, 10 new COVID-19 cases confirmed. Nine new cases are truck drivers while one case is a contact case. Following a presidential directive of deducting all foreign truck drivers from Ugandas total confirmed case count, the confirmed COVID-19 cases now stand at 145," said Aceng. The minister said on Wednesday they had tested 1,264 samples from truck drivers out of which 11 foreigners turned positive and were handed over to their country of origin. READ ALSO: Mkenya anayeishi Marekani aangamia katika ajali baada ya kumdunga kisu mkewe In total, the ministry said it had handed over 124 infected foreign drivers to their respective countries since the president made the directive, but did not disclose their nationalities. So far, Uganda has not reported any death related to the coronavirus and plans to start easing strict lockdown measures from June 2. The East African nation is on a plan to distribute free face masks in the next two weeks before the country can resume public transport. There are also plans to reopen schools targeting the learners set to do their national examinations this year. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke A Perfect Throwback Moment Taking to her Instagram stories, Riddhima posted this picture from a family function. It features a young Ranbir Kapoor sitting on his father Rishi Kapoor's lap. Meanwhile, Neetu has her hand under Riddhima's chin. We must say, the actress looks like a dream in the green saree. Cuteness Overload In this monochrome picture, Riddhima is seen sitting between her parents, Rishi and Neetu. Rishi, who is all smiles, has his arms around Riddhima, and it's such a cute moment. However, Ranbir is missing from this picture. Nostalgia Bytes The third picture is from another family function. Neetu, who is seen standing besides Rishi, is carrying Riddhima in her arms. Meanwhile, This Is How The Kapoor Family Is Coping With Rishi's Death "God has been kind and the family is holding up well. We are taking one day at a time, but we all miss him every day. We shared a common bond over friends, family, food and films," Rishi Kapoor's actor-brother Randhir Kapoor recently told a tabloid. BRIDGEPORT The Guilford teenager accused of repeatedly stabbing a woman outside a Westport hair salon in January was released Wednesday from a state psychiatric hospital. Superior Court Judge Joan Alexander agreed to release 18-year-old Ellis Tibere on a $1 million bond following a hearing in court. Tibere will live with his parents in Guilford under house arrest, with GPS monitoring pending his next court date on July 8. Tibere has been found competent to stand trial on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault and possession of a deadly weapon. Dr. Lori Hauser, a psychologist at the Whiting Forensic Institute, the states maximum security psychiatric hospital in in Middletown where Tibere has been held since February, told the judge via video conferencing that Tibere does not pose a significant risk requiring him to be further hospitalized. Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Senior Assistant States Attorney Joseph Valdes disagreed, telling the judge he is concerned that Tibere does pose a danger to the public and insisted on the house arrest condition. He told police he is obsessed with injuring another human being and this event was his practice run, the prosecutor said. He told police, I would live off the property of the person I would kill. Tibere attended the hearing by video conferencing from Whiting. His only comment was to agree he understood the conditions of his release. His father and their lawyer, John R. Gulash, stood before the judge during the hearing. It was an appropriate result and the matter is proceeding, Gulash said after the hearing. Eugene Riccio, the lawyer for the 33-year-old victim, also attended the hearing. We appreciate that the court set stringent conditions on the defendants release. My client is justifiably concerned about her safety, Riccio said. Tibere told police he waited on Jan. 6 for more than three hours in the parking lot of New Beauty Wellness at 1137 Post Road E., before donning a black mask and attacking the unsuspecting Greenwich woman, according to an arrest affidavit. Police said Tibere walked up to the womans car, opened her door and began stabbing her. Tibere told detectives he only stopped stabbing the woman when a man exited the beauty salon, according to the affidavit. When police arrived, they found two men trying to stanch the victims bleeding. Officers applied a tourniquet to the womans leg. She was later transferred to Norwalk Hospital. Police found Tibere driving south on the Sherwood Island Connector shortly after the incident, where he surrendered to police without incident. According to search warrants, Westport police said Tibere had also planned to ambush victims inside of their homes and kill them. However, a Westport detective said location data from Tiberes phone did not corroborate his claims and he has not been charged in those alleged incidents. The Supreme Court has dismissed an application to hear an appeal against a lower court's decision to appoint a receiver over a Dublin property deemed to have been acquired with the proceeds of crime. In 2019, following an application by the Criminal Assets Bureau, the High Court held that assets, including a house located at 83 Casement Drive, Finglas in Dublin were the proceeds of crime. The court held that the house, as well as the other items including a quantity of cash, were beneficially owned by alleged illegal drug-trafficker Jason Boyle, but were registered in the names of his parents Laurence (Larry) and Rosaleen Boyle of Coolebrook Cottages, Finglas West to conceal their son's involvement. The Boyles opposed the application and had rejected CAB's claims that the assets were acquired in part or in full by monies derived from Jason Boyle, who denies he is involved in trafficking drugs. In 2016 CAB, secured freezing orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act against the Boyles in respect of various assets including the three bedroom house located at Casement Drive. CAB claimed that Jason Boyle lived at the property, with an estimated worth of 250,000 had been extensively renovated after it was purchased in 2013. One of the bedrooms converted into a walk-in closet and there was also a jacuzzi and a sauna installed, high-end electronics including a 65-inch tv and a surround sound system. The kitchen had also been extended and bulletproof glass had also been installed, CAB also alleged. Representing themselves in the proceedings the Boyles had claimed that the property at Casement Drive was acquired for 70,000 in 2013 with a 60,000 loan from Mrs Boyle's father. A High Court judge rejected the Boyle's claims and after deeming the property and other items the proceeds of crime appointed Mr Kevin McMeel, CAB's legal Officer, as receiver of the house. The High Court's decision to appoint a receiver over the house was appealed to the Court of Appeal, which in January of this year dismissed the Boyle's appeal. The Boyles then sought to have their appeal, aimed at overturning the receiver's appointment, considered by the Supreme Court. In a written determination issued this week the Supreme Court comprised of Mr Justice Donal O'Donnell, Mr Justice Peter Charleton and Ms Justice Mary Irvine dismissed the Boyle's appeal. The court said the Boyles had not raised any issue that would allow the appeal against the receiver's appointment be heard by the Supreme Court. Having considered the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court said that it was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence before the High Court, particularly in relation to the insurance status of the premises, which would justify the appointment of a receiver. A man jumps into the sea at the Forty Foot in Sandycove, Dublin, as the bathing spot has reopened (Brian Lawless/PA) The transmission of Covid-19 in the community has been effectively suppressed, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. Mr Varadkar has defended the countrys slow and steady approach to easing the lockdown. Speaking in the Dail on Thursday, he said the impact of the restrictions on the reproductive rate will not be known until the first week in June. He welcomed the fact that the number of new coronavirus cases has been below 100 for the past five days in a row. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) We take some comfort in the fact that the trend is going in the right direction transmission in the community has been effectively suppressed. We need to stay vigilant, we really wont know until the first week of June whether the easing of the restrictions has increased the reproduction number, or to what extent. He said the Government will make a decision on whether the country can move to phase two on Friday June 5, four days before the roadmap target date of June 9. I know that some other countries are opening faster, but every countrys circumstances are different, we stand over the slow and steady approach. Meanwhile, Minister for Health Simon Harris announced that a Covid-19 nursing home expert panel is to be established which will examine and advise on safeguard measures. He said the panel will consist of four members including a public health expert who will chair the group a geriatrician, a senior nurse and a public interest representative. Mr Harris explained: This is a crucial aspect of good planning, its a NPHET recommendation to support Irelands navigation through the Covid-19 landscape and ensure the best possible safeguards are in place to protect the many people who call nursing homes their home. I would expect this group to do its work by the end of June, so we can share it with this House as we prepare for the weeks and months ahead. I also wish to advise the House that tomorrow I intend to update the government on further measures we intend to take in relation to travel, in relation to protecting our country, in relation to ensuring that there are measures in place at airports or ports. Regardless of anybodys nationality, when you come through an airport or port now you need to fill out a passenger locator form, and each person is asked to self-isolate for two weeks, provide the State with an address of where they will self-isolate. Senior government official Liz Canavan warned that businesses that have reopened ahead of the Governments planned roadmap risk slowing down the progress the country has made. Her comments came following concerns that a number of businesses that were not scheduled to open for another number of weeks have already reopened. Ms Liz Canavan said she understood the temptation to reopen, however she warned that even if businesses are applying Government-enforced return-to-work safety protocols, they cannot open. This is phase one, its a small step. The concern is not just around the safety of particular settings, its also about the volume of people moving about, she said. Those businesses who say they can open safely or see a loophole in the health regulations are not respecting the spirit of the approach that is set out in the roadmap. Expand Close (PA Graphics) Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp (PA Graphics) They risk slowing down the progress for everyone else. So I am appealing to businesses to take the responsible approach. As part of the easing of restrictions, people are able to meet up in groups of four in outdoor settings while adhering to social distancing rules. Ms Canavan said that while the weather is good, people are taking advantage of these relaxed rules. Nevertheless, we cant relax and have to remember this is only phase one, she continued. The five kilometre rule still applies if youre meeting up with people, as it does to exercise and journeys to public amenities. Steps and processes that businesses must take to mitigate the spread of #COVID19 are outlined in the Return to Work Safely Protocol. The Protocol should be used by all workplaces to adapt their procedures and practices. Download from https://t.co/pnVoEuJI52 #SafelyBackToWork pic.twitter.com/AfROeOzjuX Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (@DeptEnterprise) May 20, 2020 Social distancing rules still apply. We have a responsibility to one another not to make unnecessary visits to the homes of our families and friends just yet, or to have playdates or barbecues that dont abide by these rules. Everyone knows that slow and steady will win the race so we just have to hold firm. The coronavirus death toll in Ireland rose to 1,571 on Wednesday after a further 11 deaths were announced. There were 64 new confirmed cases of the infection, bringing the total since the outbreak began in Ireland to 24,315. PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS (KCTV) - A 35-year-old man has been charged in connection to the killing of an 18-year-old man. On May 5, around 6:15 a.m., officers were called to the Highlawn Montessori School parking lot for a man that was unresponsive. He was pronounced deceased at 6:36 a.m. - The new order as announced by Health CS Kagwe would also see markets, restaurants and eateries shut down for next 18 days in the two areas - Kagwe said the decision to extend the restrictive movement was taken based on number of cases reported from the places - Nairobi and Mombasa became the worst hit counties with the latter losing close to 30 people to coronavirus Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has announced extension of cessation of movement into and out of Nairobi's Eastleigh and Old Town Mombasa. The 15-day restrictive movement in and out of the two areas which was expected to end on Wednesday, May 20, was pushed to June 6, following the new directive. READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Brazil records over 1000 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours Health CS Kagwe confirmed additional 66 new cases. Kenya's tally moved to 1,029. Photo: Ministry of Health. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Senator Moses Wetang'ula's brother buried in Bungoma Kagwe attributed the move to rising number of cases reported from the areas marked as hotspots and the need to contain coronavirus by ensuing those infected did not export it. The orders will also see markets, restaurants and eateries shut down for next 18 days in the two places. "In order to contain further spread of the virus; there shall be an extension of the cessation of movement in Eastleigh and Old Town until June 6, 2020. Eateries and hawking have been prohibited until June 6, 2020," he said during May 20 press briefing. READ ALSO: Tanzania terms Kenya's COVID-19 testing smear campaign against its tourism industry READ ALSO: Watatu wafumaniwa wakila nyama ya mbwa na kuwauzia wakazi Tharaka-Nithi Nationally, at least 23 counties have since reported one or more coronavirus cases with Nairobi and Mombasa being the worst hit. However, the coastal town suffered the most in terms of deaths with 27 people having been buried since Kenya recorded its first case on March 13. During the presser, the CS confirmed Kenya's highest positive cases ever reported on a single day after 66 samples tested positive growing the national tally to 1,029. Out of the 66 new cases, 30 were from Mombasa. "The number of cases today, is the highest since the pandemic began in Kenya with 66 cases. We have hit 1,029 cases," he CS added. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. My wife pushed me to marry another woman - Pastor Habil Were | Tuko Talks | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke There was silence from the legal profession on Thursday after revelations that Melbourne barrister turned Administrative Appeals Tribunal senior member Jason Pennell had plagiarised significant portions of a decision from a Commonwealth submission. As this column reported yesterday, Federal Circuit Court judge Christopher Kendall found the sheer extent of copying by Pennell was unacceptable. So, having weighed in on everything from the COVIDSafe app source code to constitutional amendments in Samoa and the arrest of pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong in recent months, was the Law Council willing to comment on this matter? After all, Pennell plagiarised swaths of copy from a document authored by a delegate of Immigration Minister David Coleman which he was meant to review in a matter about a stateless (and self-represented) Iraqi asylum seeker. Jason Pennell Credit:Shakespeare No, the Law Council wasn't. The Law Council does not comment on individual cases, its public affairs boss, Fiona Wade, told CBD on Thursday. As for the tribunal? This column inquired whether it would check previous decisions handed down by Pennell, a former stockbroker who is married to ex-Victorian Bar chief executive Sarah Fregon (now a partner at Deloitte). The ancient clay tablet carries a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem composed more than 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Pictured: Gilgamesh in a statue from 700BC Christie's is being sued over the sale of an ancient clay tablet that bears part of a poem regarded as the world's oldest surviving work of great literature. The US Department of Homeland Security seized the 3,600-year-old artefact eight months ago, after investigations suggested it had been looted from Iraq after the first Gulf War. The Hobby Lobby, a Christian-run retailer paid 1.3million to have the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet in its Museum of the Bible in Washington DC. It filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday against Christie's and the unidentified seller of the antiquity, accusing the auction house of 'deceitful and fraudulent conduct'. The tablet carries a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem composed more than 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia most of which corresponds to modern Iraq. It tells a story of male tyranny, friendship, heroism and grief over its 12 tablets. The poem is preserved in one of the earliest writing systems, named after the 'cuneiform' or wedge-shape dents made in wet clay with reeds by the scribes who wrote it. US prosecutors are now seeking to return the 6in by 5in section, which tells of Gilgamesh's dreams, to Iraq. The office of the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York said it was imported illegally to the US in the 2000s. According to court documents, the authorities traced the tablet's ownership back to 2003, when an unnamed American antiquities dealer bought it from the family of a Jordanian dealer in London. After the tablet was imported and cleaned, experts in cuneiform recognised it as a portion of the Gilgamesh epic. In 2007, the US dealer sold the tablet, claiming the tablet had been inside a box of items purchased in a 1981 auction in San Francisco, the court papers said. The poem is preserved in one of the earliest writing systems, named after the 'cuneiform' or wedge-shape dents made in wet clay with reeds by the scribes who wrote it A subsequent owner provided that letter to Christie's, but 'advised that the provenance would not withstand scrutiny and should not be used in connection with a public sale', the US Attorney's Office said. Through its London office, Christie's sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby in 2014, but when, three years later, a curator at the bible museum tried to find out more about its provenance, the auction house withheld information, the authorities claim. The Hobby Lobby suit claims 'fraud and breach of express and implied warrant', and seeks the return of what it paid. Christie's said: 'This filing is linked to new information regarding an unidentified dealer's admission that he illegally imported this item, then falsified documents over a decade ago.' It said the 'illicit activity' pre-dated Christie's involvement. US state attorney Richard P Donoghue said: 'A major auction house failed to meet its obligations by minimising its concerns that the provenance of an important Iraqi artefact was fabricated, and withheld information that undermined the provenance's reliability.' Prosecutors said the bible museum had co-operated with the investigation. The tablet is in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security. Goodwill has announced when its stores will reopen in York and Cumberland counties. Those counties enter the yellow phase on Friday but Goodwill shoppers will have to wait a little bit longer as the organization is reopening stores in those counties on May 30. Goodwill has three stores in Cumberland County. Goodwill has an outlet center at 3835 at Hartzdale Drive in Lower Allen Township and has stores at 4880 Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township and at 1200 Market St. in Lemoyne. Goodwill also has four stores in York County in York, West Manchester Township, Penn Township and Shrewsbury. Stores will initially reopen with limited hours. The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Monday from 10-11 a.m. will be reserved for seniors and at-risk shoppers. And with the reopenings there will be some changes: Face masks will be required for all shoppers and employees (unless covered by a medical exemption) Social distancing of six feet will be encouraged throughout the stores A limited number of customers will be allowed in the store at one time Fitting rooms and restrooms will be closed Donation areas will remain no contact, self-service and donations will be moved to quarantined areas for a waiting period before they are processed and made available for sale to the public. In addition to the stores in York and Cumberland counties, two other stores will open in the state. Goodwills store in the Lewisburg area will reopen on Saturday, which is in Union County, which was among the first counties to move into the yellow phase earlier this month. Goodwills store in the Burnham area will reopen May 30. That store is in Mifflin County, which will move into the yellow phase on Friday. Donation areas at all Goodwill Keystone Area locations remain open for no contact, self-service donations. Goodwill is a nonprofit organization that helps people with barriers to employment build skills, find jobs and grow careers by offering job training, career development and education service, and 75 percent of Goodwill Keystone Areas revenue is generated from the sale of the donated goods stores. Goodwill Keystone Area serves 22 counties in central and southeastern Pennsylvania. With Cumberland and York counties moving into the yellow phase on Friday, many retailers will be eligible to reopen. Retailers will be asked to limit customers to half of the stores traditional maximum occupancy and to provide specific hours at least weekly for people considered at high-risk for COVID-19, like the elderly, to have exclusive use of the business. Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Wayne, and York counties are the counties that are moving into the yellow phase for the first time on Friday joining 37 other counties that have previously moved into the yellow phase. --Sign up for PennLives newsletters Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like PennLives business page on Facebook at @PennLiveBusiness India is yet to hear from Pakistan on a proposal for a coordinated response along with Iran to control the problem of desert locusts, people familiar with developments said on Thursday. Iran has already responded positively to the Indian proposal, which includes an offer to supply pesticides to control locust populations in Sistan-Balochistan and South Khorasan provinces, the people said on condition of anonymity. The proposal was made against the backdrop of reports that swarms of the destructive pests were making their way to Indian states such as Rajasthan after breeding and maturing in Iranian provinces and Pakistans Balochistan province. It remains to be seen if Pakistan will rise above its narrow-minded approach, as was seen in the case of Indias regional initiative for dealing with Covid-19, and come forward to cooperate with India on a coordinated desert locust control operation, said one of the people cited above. India mooted the coordinated response to control desert locust populations to Iran and Pakistan as part of efforts to further regional cooperation. India had suggested to Pakistan that the two countries could coordinate locust control operations along their border and New Delhi could facilitate the supply of the pesticide Malathion to Islamabad, the people said. The institutionalised mechanism of the Locust Warning Organization could be energised for such cooperation. These efforts will contribute to mitigate the impact of desert locust not only in the two other countries, but also for India, said a second person. Pakistan was the last country to pledge a contribution to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Covid-19 Emergency Fund, which was created at Indias initiative, and it has pushed for the fund to be placed under the Saarc Secretariat. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), hopper bands of locusts are maturing in the southwestern coastal plains of in Iran, and another generation of breeding is underway in the countrys southeast, where hatching is taking place on the coast and in the interior of Sistan-Baluchistan. In Pakistan, adult groups of locusts are migrating to the Indian border from breeding areas in Balochistan, where hopper groups are present, and from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. FAO reports suggest the desert locust population is expected to move from spring breeding areas in Balochistan to summer breeding along the India-Pakistan border. In India, more adult groups and small swarms have arrived from Pakistan in the past few weeks, and moved into Rajasthan, reaching Jodhpur. The agriculture ministry leads Indias efforts in locust control and also spearheads initiatives to foster regional cooperation, the people said. India has an existing institutionalised mechanism with Pakistan for such cooperation, including regular border meetings between locust officers of the two sides. Six border meetings, led by plant protection advisers of India and Pakistan, are held every year from June to November, either at Munabao on the Indian side or Khokhropar on the Pakistani side for exchanging information. Wireless communication is maintained every year during June-November between Jodhpur in India and Karachi in Pakistan for exchange of information. There is consensus that the desert locusts could pose a grave challenge in 2020. The agriculture ministry has already started efforts to address the issue. In March, minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary participated in a virtual meeting for the southwest Asian region coordinated by FAO to discuss regional cooperation to combat the desert locust problem, the first person cited above said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON While the coronavirus pandemic has left us grappling with health issues, we are also facing other equally grave problems such as unemployment and food insecurity. With the extended lockdown, the condition of the under-privileged is only worsening. While many good samaritans are coming forward to help the distressed, three Delhi-based girls have adopted a community in Kalindi Kunj. Under the project Panah, the young brigade, Aliza Ali (alumna of Shri Ram College of Commerce), Mallika Goel (alumna of Lady Shri Ram College for Women) and Noyonika Gupta (alumna of Indraprastha College for Women) joined forces to contribute as proactive citizens of the country. The community in Kalindi Kunj mainly consists of daily wage and migrant labourers. Amidst them are struggling widows with a family to feed. Faced with an unwarranted situation like this, life for these women has become a constant ordeal, since they lack traditional means of support. The lockdown, as described by many of them, is an experience as horrid as a nightmare, since almost all of them have lost their means of livelihood. Project Panah worked towards gathering funds and supporting this local community, struggling to make its way through a global crisis, says 22-year-old Ali. The girls have adopted 85 families and they carried out donation drive in two phases. Goel says, Food packages consisting of rice, daal, salt and other essential food grains were distributed, thereby sustaining them for a period of 2 months. For the group, this project was the first ever experience to work with the ground realities. Ali adds, We strongly believe that helping others in such uncertain times is a responsibility, not a favour. We are now even more enthusiastic to continue our work for the society. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON These days Rakesh Yadav, a trader in Sadar Bazar, spends a significant time every day discussing with his fellow businessmen how to reopen the market and conduct business in the postCovid world. He says in Sadar Bazar, a warren of narrow streets, always jam-packed in normal times , social distancing is an impossible propositionand so is the odd-even formula the government has proffered. He explains why: Sadar Bazar, Indias largest wholesale market of household goods, has about 40,000 shops; each one has about 3-4 workers/salesmen. Then there are thousands of thelawalas, daily wage labourers, loaders, luggage careers, rickshaw drivers, jostling for space in its lanes. On an average, Yadav says, there are 2. 5 lakh people in the market on any given day. The traders feel opening the market is a monumental risk , and they are reluctant to take it, says Yadav, who is also president, Sadar Bazar Trades Association. Among the proposals, he points out, the traders have floated during endless rounds of tele- and video conferencing in the past few days, include opening the shops trade-wise, reducing the timing of business hours, keeping hand sanitiser machines at all shops, creating a boundary with a rope to separate shoppers from shopkeepers, encouraging customers to pre-order goods on WhatsApp, and minimise cash transactions. While all these measures look good on paper, it is next to impossible to implement them in a market like Sadar Bazar. The traders are fearful of Covid-19 because a majority of them are in their late 50s and 60s, running the business with the help of their employees, their children having refused to join, what with the poor working conditions in the market, says Yadav. Making a choice is tough, says Rajender Sharma, a soft-toy trader in the market. We are caught between the devil and the deep sea. The market is usually so crowded it is impossible for people to walk without literally falling over each other. You cannot maintain social distancing in the market where many streets are barely 3-ft wide, says Sharma. Pawan Kumar, national organising general secretary, Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal, says that the odd-even formula proposed by the Delhi government would not work in Sadar Bazar. There are hundreds of buildings here with one number, but as many as 20 shops, a result of the fact the property has over the years been divided among family members, says Kumar who has his shop near Bara Tooti Chowk, in Sadar Bazar, one of the citys oldest labour chowks, where manual labourers, masons, porters and house painters used to gather every morning looking for work. These days it wears a deserted look. We kept meeting authorities over the past two decades to decongest the market, improve the infrastructure and working conditions, but no one cared. Now we are faced with an existential crisis, adds Kumar. Pawan Khandelwal, a jeweller in Sadar Bazar says the market is the lifeline for lakhs of traders across north India. Every house in Delhi would have something that came from this market. Here one can buy anything from cosmetics to toys, steel utensils, stationery, gas ovens, jewellery. You name it and we sell it, says Khandelwal. He is not exaggerating. Sadar Bazar, which is presently a containment zone, has dozens of submarkets such as Pratap Market, Swadeshi Market, Toys Market, Bartan Market, each dealing in a particular product. In all, there are about 83 traders associations in the market, more than in any other market in the city. Until the late 1980s, most traders lived in Sadar Bazar, with their shops on the ground floor and residence upstairs in localities such as Deputy Gunj, Prakash Gali, Matawali Gali, but as congestion increased over the years, most shifted out, converting their houses into warehouses and shops. They allowed, rather encouraged, the labourers to sleep in the house-turned-godowns, ensuring that they did not have to worry about lack of labour or break-ins, while workers and labourers got a place to live. Thousands of workers and labourers, who are mostly into loading , unloading and transporting goods on hand-pulled carts, who could not find a space simply slept outside shops and godowns, cooking, bathing sleeping in the narrow streets. For them, Sadar Bazar has been a home and a workplace for decades. For instance, Rajendra Prasad, 62. He was 20 when he arrived in Delhi 40 years ago on a pleasant March morning. From the railway station, he headed straight to Sadar Bazar, where he found work within a couple of hours. He earned 10 on day one and slept on a footpath in the night . I remember a shopkeeper had asked me to load sacks of wool in a truck. I never went out of work in the market until this March, when it closed, says Prasad. I have been desperately waiting for the market to reopen for two months now; I think it is time to head to my village, adds Prasad, who hails from Basti district in Uttar Pradesh. While thousands of labourers like Prasad left for their homes over the past two months, having failed to earn, there are others who have stayed put Mallu Singh 40, who has so far resisted the temptation to leave, says: I was never short of work since I came to Sadar Bazar 22 years ago. Starting at 10 am, I would work late into the night , earning anything between 400 to 800 a day. I have waited for 2 months and I think I should wait for some more time before I leave, says Singh , who hails from Gonda district in UP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON "We're experiencing a revolution when it comes to telehealth use, both for medical and mental health care," said Andrew Dreyfus, Blue Cross' president and CEO. "It's likely that this kind of growth would otherwise have taken years, based on the trends we saw before the COVID-19 crisis." Nearly half the telehealth visits since the crisis began have been for mental health services, including psychotherapy. To help meet this unprecedented demand, Blue Cross has added more than 400 new mental health clinicians to its network since March 1 via its expedited emergency credentialing and enrollment process. This brings the total number of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, family therapists and other mental health clinicians most of whom are now offering telehealth services - to nearly 15,000. "It's encouraging that so many of our members are seeking and getting the help they need during this incredibly challenging time," said Dr. Ken Duckworth, Blue Cross' senior medical director for behavioral health. "It's clear that the mental health impact of the pandemic will be felt for quite some time, even after we start the transition to a new normal. Mental health support will continue to be critical as our response to the virus evolves." Blue Cross has taken several additional steps to expedite access to care and testing related to COVID-19 for duration of the Massachusetts declared public health emergency, including waiving member cost share (co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles), prior authorizations and referrals for medically necessary COVID-19 testing, counseling, vaccines (when available) and treatment and supportive care, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Massachusetts Department of Public Health guidelines. Blue Cross and its Foundation have also committed more than $3.35 million in financial support to COVID-19 relief efforts, along with a pledge of pro bono and in-kind support surpassing $4.68 million in value for a total community investment of $9.7 million. Blue Cross has re-deployed more than 120 employees to address critical community health needs through the Community Tracing Collaborative , Boston Hope field hospital, and a partnership with FLIK the company's food service partner and nonprofit Lovin' Spoonfuls to make and distribute up to 5,000 meals per week across Greater Boston. For more information on how Blue Cross is responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency, please click here. About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are committed to the relentless pursuit of quality, affordable health care with an unparalleled consumer experience. Consistent with our promise to always put our members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Related Links http://www.bluecrossma.com Italy is emerging from lockdown but tensions have proved too much for some couples - Corbis Two months of pent-up frustration and irritation during Italys lockdown have led to a dramatic rise in divorce proceedings, lawyers said. Petty niggles over leaving the loo seat up or not doing the washing-up have come to a head for many couples forced to live in close proximity since the country went into coronavirus shutdown in early March. In what may be a harbinger of what is to come in Britain, Italian lawyers report a 30% increase in the number of couples inquiring about, or initiating, divorce proceedings. They say couples who were able to rub along tolerably well in normal times, with work and friends providing distractions and breathing space in the relationship, have been pushed to the brink by confinement. I cant believe how oblivious my husband can be to the kids needs. He can have two toddlers bouncing on top of him and still be glued to his phone, said one disgruntled wife in Rome, exhausted by the long weeks of lockdown. Italy's lockdown, which began in early March, is starting to ease - Reuters For some couples, the equilibrium relied on the fact that that they didnt see each other very often or they were able to see their lovers, said Annamaria Bernardini di Pace, a divorce lawyer. Since lockdown began on March 9, she has taken on 12 new divorce proceedings. The loss of jobs and worries about money have exacerbated the tensions between many couples. The increase in couples splitting is no surprise to lawyers most continued to work during the lockdown, communicating with clients via Whatsapp, Skype and other platforms. It is too early to give precise numbers but we have seen a doubling in requests for separations, said Valentina Ruggiero, a family lawyer. Given the heavy emotional stress of the lockdown, my advice is for couples to evaluate whether it is a passing crisis or whether the relationship is really at the end of the line. Lawyers likened the boom in separations to the periods after Christmas and the summer holidays, when divorce proceedings traditionally spike. Story continues I knew that it would end up like this because for weeks Ive been conducting consultations on the phone and social media, Gian Ettore Gassani, the president of the Italian Association of Divorce Lawyers, told Corriere della Sera newspaper. With courts closed during the lockdown, judges have allowed some divorce proceedings to be heard by videoconference. The option is available to couples who have largely agreed the terms of their divorce, including custody of children and the division of assets. As Italy emerges from its draconian lockdown regime, there have been other unforeseen consequences including a sharp hike in prices. A couple being served at a cafe in front of the Pantheon in Rome - AFP Hairdressers, bars and restaurants are accused of increasing their prices since they were allowed to reopen on Monday. With Italians desperate for a haircut after being stuck at home for so long, some salons have hiked their prices by up to 20%, according to the Italian Consumers Centre. The price of an espresso has risen in Italys big cities by 20-50% according to Codacons, a national consumer association. The tiny cups of coffee normally cost around 1 but in some places that has jumped to 1.50 in Rome, 1.70 in Florence and 2 in Milan. Italians who have been longing for weeks to enjoy a cappuccino in a cafe or a haircut have had a bitter surprise that has hit them in the wallet, Codacons said. Business associations said the price rises were justified because of the huge loss in earnings caused by Italys lockdown. There are businesses who have earned nothing in three months, they are going through great difficulties, said Mauro Bussoni, the secretary-general of Confesercenti, a small business association. One sector of the economy is doing well - shops that buy gold. Cash-strapped Italians are selling their rings, jewellery and watches or resorting to pawn shops for temporary loans. Italy has around 6,000 gold-buying shops, many of which opened during the global recession a decade ago. Italys GDP is predicted to contract by around 10% as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The virus has killed more than 32,000 people in Italy, the third highest death toll after the US and Britain. A worker prepares a store on the reopening day at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, in Milan, Italy, on May 18, 2020, as Italy eases some of the lockdown measures put in place during the COVID-19 outbreak. (Flavio Lo Scalzo/Reuters) Global Business Downturn Shows Signs of Easing as Lockdowns Loosen Business activity in Europe and Japan, as measured by purchasing managers index (PMI) data, declined for the third straight month because of COVID-19 restrictions, although at a slowing pace, reflecting a gradual economic pickup as lockdowns begin to be lifted. The eurozone saw a further collapse of business activity in May, but the survey data at least brought reassuring signs that the downturn likely bottomed out in April, said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, which released its PMI survey of eurozone business activity on May 20 (pdf). Lockdowns during the outbreak were by far the most commonly cited cause of falling output, the report said. According to IHS Markit, the eurozone composite PMI, which measures private sector business activity, rose to 30.5 in May from 13.6 in April. Readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity, with a lower number reflective of a deeper plunge. All eurozone countries eased their containment measures in May, accounting for the rebound in business activity. Yet even amid expectations for further loosening of restrictions, some are expected to remain in place until a vaccine is found, putting a damper on the pace of economic recovery. Demand is likely to remain extremely weak for a prolonged period, putting further pressure on companies to make more aggressive job cuts as government job retention schemes expire. We therefore expect GDP to slump by almost 9 percent in 2020 and for a full recovery to take several years, Williamson said. Japans composite PMI reading, according to a separate au Jibun Bank/IHS Markit release, rose slightly to 27.4 from 25.8 in April, driven by a pickup in services. Manufacturing, however, saw a further decline, with the Flash Manufacturing Output Index slumping to 31.7 in May, compared to 34.7 in April. Latest PMI data provide yet another shocking insight into the devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, said Joe Hayes, IHS Markit economist. As Japan eases the state of emergency measures, the services economy can begin its gradual recovery, he said. However, the damage to the manufacturing sector could continue to worsen as global trade conditions deteriorate and the global economic recovery is slow. Britains business activity numbers, according to a separate IHS Markit report (pdf), indicate a further sharp drop in output, although an improvement over April. The Flash UK Composite Output Index rose to 28.9, a two-month high, compared to 13.8 in April. Manufacturing fared better, with the Flash UK Manufacturing PMI hitting 40.6 in May, compared to 32.6 in April. An improvement in business confidence about the year ahead for a second successive month is welcome news, and the easing of restrictions in coming months should help boost activity in some sectors as we head into the summer, Williamson said. However, the UK looks set to see a frustratingly slow recovery, given the likely slower pace of opening up the economy relative to other countries which have seen fewer COVID-19 cases, he said, adding that Brexit uncertainty was likely to exacerbate the virus-related restrictions and job insecurity. Germanys business activity numbers across the board hit two-month highs (pdf), although both the composite and the discrete services and manufacturing PMI and other indexes printed below 50. The rate of decline in activity has eased considerably since the peak of virus containment measures in April, but we are still a long way off business as usual, and the path to recovery remains unclear, said Phil Smith, principal economist at IHS. France hit a three-month high in its composite index, which hit 30.5 in May compared to 11.1 in April. Manufacturing lifted to 40.3 in May, from 31.5 in April, a two-month high. As anticipated, the latest France Flash PMI results pointed to a much slower contraction in business activity during May, with some companies reopening as lockdown measures are cautiously pared back, said Eliot Kerr, IHS economist. Still, he noted that the sharp contraction in first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) in France after just two weeks of lockdown suggests that we are set for colossal reduction in economic activity during the second quarter. The contraction in output will hit its lowest point in the second quarter across the globe, economists widely predict, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting a 37.7 percent quarterly plunge in Q2 GDP in the United States, seasonally adjusted and annualized. However, the third quarter is expected to show a sharp rebound of 21.5 percent, which White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on May 20 said would make it the biggest growth quarter in American history. Taipei: The US government has notified Congress of a possible sale of advanced torpedoes to Taiwan worth around $US180 million ($274 million), further souring an already bitter dispute between Washington and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory. The United States, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the democratic island with the means to defend itself. China routinely denounces US arms sales to Taiwan. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, centre, walks ahead of Vice-President Lai Ching-te, left of her, as they attend an inauguration ceremony in Taipei. Credit:Taiwan Presidential Office The US State Department has approved a possible sale to Taiwan of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes and related equipment for an estimated cost of $US180 million, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement on Wednesday. "The Defence Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today," it added. HOUSTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE:PWR) announced today that company management will participate in several institutional investor conferences in May and June, including the KeyBanc Capital Markets Industrials & Basic Materials Virtual Conference, Baird Global Consumer, Technology & Services Virtual Conference and the Stifel Cross Sector Insight Virtual Conference. KeyBanc Capital Markets Industrials & Basic Materials Virtual Conference Duke Austin, Chief Executive Officer, Derrick Jensen, Chief Financial Officer, Paul Gregory, President of Pipeline and Industrial and Chief Strategy Officer and Kip Rupp, Vice President Investor Relations, will virtually meet with institutional investors during the conference on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Baird Global Consumer, Technology & Services Virtual Conference Kip Rupp, Vice President - Investor Relations, will virtually meet with institutional investors during the conference on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Stifel Cross Sector Insight Virtual Conference Duke Austin, Chief Executive Officer, Derrick Jensen, Chief Financial Officer, Paul Gregory, President of Pipeline and Industrial and Chief Strategy Officer and Kip Rupp, Vice President Investor Relations, will virtually meet with institutional investors during the conference on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. Mr. Austin, Mr. Jensen and Mr. Gregory will also participate in a fireside chat at 12:40 p.m. Eastern time that day, which will be broadcast live over the Internet. Live webcast links and archived replays of this presentation will be available in the "Investors & Media" section of Quanta's website. About Quanta Services Quanta Services is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, pipeline, energy and communications industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com. Kip Rupp, CFA Quanta Services, Inc. (713) 341-7260 SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc. Related Links http://www.quantaservices.com China on Thursday said it firmly opposes the planned US sale of advanced torpedoes to Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, which Beijing claims is a breakaway province. The Chinese foreign ministry reacted angrily after reports emerged from Taiwan about the sale valued at some $180 million. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Beijing had lodged solemn representations with the US to complain about the sale, adding that it firmly opposes the deal. Zhao said China urges the US to strictly abide by the one China principle, stop selling arms to Taiwan, avoid further damage to Sino-US relations and maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Earlier, media reports said the US government had notified Congress of a possible sale of advanced torpedoes to Taiwan worth around $180 million, a decision that was bound to trigger angry reaction from Beijing. Washington like the majority of countries worldwide including India do not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, an island off Chinas southern coast. It is however bound by law to provide Taiwan the means to protect itself. The announcement of the sale coincided with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen searing in for her second term in office, and saying that she strongly rejects Chinas sovereignty claims. China responded that reunification was inevitable and that it would never tolerate Taiwans independence. The latest point of conflict between Beijing and Washington added to the existing problems between the two countries including the ongoing exchange over the origin of the pandemic-causing Covid-19 virus. The US has repeatedly criticised China for mishandling the outbreak and hiding information about the virus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. China has hit back, saying accusing the Donald Trump administration of politicising a global health problem to deflect attention from its own failure to handle the outbreak in the country. China has more or less brought the outbreak under control with numbers stabilising near 83000 infections and over 4600 deaths. The US has so far reported more than 1.55 million infections and over 93,000 deaths, according to the latest tally by Johns Hopkins University. T here was a time when Hillary Clinton still fascinated people. Why was this brilliant, scholarly, disciplined woman married to such a cad as Bill? Did she really love him, or the doors he opened for her, all the way to the White House? She always seemed so secretive, so dull and controlled in public, and yet by all accounts so charming in private. She spent decades on the national stage operating at the very highest levels of politics, but departed a still curiously unknown character, humiliated in the end by Donald Trump. She never did shatter that final glass ceiling and become Americas first woman president. As characters, the Clintons have been analysed to death. By the time Hillary lost to Trump in 2016, many Democrats even were relieved no longer to have to discuss them. But Curtis Sittenfeld wasnt done and in Rodham she tries to pull a similar trick to the one she did in her 2008 novel, American Wife, in which she imagined the life of Laura Bush. In Rodham she keeps parts of Hillarys story, such as her upbringing in the Midwest, her meeting Bill at Yale Law School and falling in love. But then she splits the two of them up. Despite an intense intellectual and physical attraction and loads of sex, in Sittenfelds telling, Bills philandering eventually drives them apart. When I try to convince you to stay, he whispers to her one night in Arkansas, its me being selfish. Us staying together is good for me and bad for you. Hillary reluctantly agrees. So thats that, and now Sittenfeld gets to imagine an entirely new life for Hillary. One in which she becomes a law professor, a senator from Illinois and eventually does win the presidency. A life in which she isnt constantly battling the tensions of modern feminism with marriage to Bill. Bill, meanwhile, doesnt get to the White House. Hes in and out of politics, he even loses the Democratic nomination to Hillary, is divorced twice and ends up living and working in Silicon Valley. They drift along the margins of each others lives, and in one scene meet up in his San Francisco apartment, where he cooks her dinner. He is charming and talks about his morning yoga classes, and for a moment Hillary considers leaving her political career: What if I didnt run for president again? What if I didnt even run for Senate again after this term? Let some other woman make history while having her clothes and voice and intellect and voting record picked apart. Let me have great sex and stimulating conversations let me be Bill Clintons girlfriend again, let me finally be Bill Clintons wife. But she doesnt. She runs for president and wins the endorsement of Donald Trump. She even develops a relationship with a man who isnt Bill and yet makes her happy. Hillarys written voice is flat, and if youve slogged through her memoirs, you might hesitate before reading a pastiche. But by tilting history on its side, Sittenfeld makes Hillary seem a fresh character and remarkably sympathetic. Rodham: What If Hillary Hadnt Married Bill? by Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, e-book 8.49/audio 27.99), buy it here. [May 21, 2020] Trusted Media Brands' Taste of Home, Family Handyman Have Biggest Month Ever in April 2020 NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Trusted Media Brands' Taste of Home and Family Handyman had their biggest month ever in April 2020, with record-setting performances. Taste of Home , among the most popular U.S. food brands and the number one food magazine in the United States, reached 32.2 MM unique visitors, a 66 percent increase year-over-year and a 22 percent increase from last month. This record-setting month continues a streak of 34 consecutive months with year-over-year increases in monthly unique visitors. Taste of Home's growing digital audience is also highly engaged. The brand leads its competitive set in engagement, with an average view per visitor of 7.2 pages, which is two times more than the average site among its competitors. Family Handyman , the #1 trusted source for DIY home improvement, reached 9.6 MM unique visitors, a 44 percent increase year-over-year and a 38% increase from last month. Family Handyman's DIY University, a direct-to-consumer product that offers curated online courses in home repair and renovation developed by experts, saw its transactions increase 53 percent in April over the previous month and revenue rose 72 percent. Some of the most popular classes included How to Power Your Home with Renewable Energy, How to Build a Backyard Shed and How to Build a Deck. During these unprecedented times when Americans are being asked to stay at home, many are taking comfort in Home Basingwhether it's through stress baking, cooking with pantry staples and engaging kids in the kitchen, or checking off long-lingering home improvement projects or taking on new DIY projects to pass the time. In response, Trusted Media Brands' Taste of Home and Family Handyman have doubled down to provide service journalism and a calm voice in the face of this crisis. Across both editorial teams, that encompass culinary and home improvement pros and an extensive freelancer network that represents all regions of the country, the brands are creating engaging content that is resonating with its growing audiences. "As we all find our way through these trying times, it's been so heartening to know that the work we do at Trusted Media Brands is helping people," said Beth Tomkiw, Trusted Media Brands Chief Content Officer. "Americans are coming to our sites in droves looking for ways to comfort their families, break up the monotony of sheltering in place and just find some sense of normalcy during this stressful time. We're so proud of the community we've built and the content we create." In the last six weeks alone, Taste of Home has served up recipes for staples , like homemade bread , ad encouraged readers to break the monotony with new meal ideas . The brand has provided info to help people stock their pantries smartly and get the most out of their grocery dollars with ingredient storage tips and budget-friendly recipes . They've also assisted readers in the midst of an impending meat shortage, helping them to stay calm and explore alternatives such as veggie burger recipes, easy vegetarian dinners, and vegetarian substitutes. Taste of Home is tapping into its vast trove of home content to provide cleaning and disinfecting tips , along with ways to avoid germs at the grocery store . And since community is at the heart of the Taste of Home brand, it's also creating ways to help its audience stay connected with their communities and help those in need through content and challenges, including the Homemade Bread Challenge and When Life Gives You Lemons Challenge on Instagram. In addition to a record-setting April for its website, Taste of Home was a top 10 brand for Total Brand Audience with a +45% year-over-year increase and the No. 1 brand in Video growth year-over-year with a +2,845% increase, according to AAM's Magazine Media 360 report for Q1 2020. This industry report measures nearly 100 U.S. magazines' audiences using MRI readership data and March comScore web data. Visit Taste of Home on the web at TasteofHome.com , Facebook , Instagram and Pinterest , and Family Handyman at FamilyHandyman.com , Facebook , Instagram , Pinterest . About Trusted Media Brands Trusted Media Brands, comprises a network of engaged, active readers who genuinely connect with its blend of uplifting and expertly-curated family, food, health, home improvement, finance and humor content digitally, via magazines and books, social media, events and experiences. Founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace as Reader's Digest Association, one of the first user-generated content publishers, the company now contains a variety of well-known brands including Reader's Digest, Taste of Home, and Family Handyman. About Taste of Home Taste of Home is America's most popular destination for food, cooking and entertaining. Each year they publish more than 5,000 of the best recipes from an extensive community of home cooks, each tested by the culinary team in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen to ensure reliability and availability of ingredients. From smart grocery shopping tips to timesaving weeknight meals to creative party planning, Taste of Home offers inspiring ways to bring people together over a love of delicious foods. About Family Handyman The Family Handyman is the DIYers best friend, offering a variety of print and digital resources for do-it-yourself homeowners. Our forte is accurate and complete how-to instructions for improving homes, yards and vehicles. We publish The Family Handyman magazine, the oldest and largest publication for DIYers, and a variety of newsstand publications in addition to this web site. The Family Handyman is part of Trusted Media Brands, Inc. family of brands, including Taste of Home, Birds & Blooms, and of course Reader's Digest. Press Contact Sarah Van Cleve High10 Media for Trusted Media Brands [email protected] 414-469-8991 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trusted-media-brands-taste-of-home-family-handyman-have-biggest-month-ever-in-april-2020-301063167.html SOURCE Trusted Media Brands, Inc. ROME - Cyprus is the first Eurozone country to announce that it will use the credit line of Esm (European stability mechanism) for healthcare costs. Local newspaper Phileleftheros reported the news on Thursday, also quoted by Greek daily Ekathimerini, citing Cypriot Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides. ''Obviously we will use the Esm for health care expenses'', the minister was quoted as saying, explaining that the government is calculating past expenses and future costs, including funds used for the new intensive care unit of the hospital of Nicosia, to compile the application already available. Bengaluru, May 21 : Karnataka registered 116 new COVID-19 positive cases in the past 19 hours, raising the southern Indian state's tally to 1,578, an official said on Thursday. "New cases reported from Wednesday 5 p.m. to Thursday noon are 116," said a health official. Of the all the cases, 966 are active, 570 discharges and 41 deaths. In the past 19 hours, 14 patients got discharged, six in Bagalkote, five in Davangere and three in Dakshina Kannada. Meanwhile, cases spiked in Mandya, Dakshina Kannada, Belagavi, Dharwad, Udupi, Ballari, Bengaluru Urban and Hassan among others. Among the new cases, Udupi contributed 25 cases, followed by Mandya (15), Hassan (13), Ballari (11), Uttara Kannada (9), Belagavi (8), Bengaluru Urban (7), Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga (6 each), Dharwad (5), Davangere (3), Chikkaballapura and Gadag (2 each) and Vijayapura, Tumkur and Mysuru (1 each). Of the new cases, 112 had inter-state travel history to Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and mostly to Maharashtra, India's corona hotspot. Seventeen of the new cases were contacts of earlier cases while six Dakshina Kannada cases had international travel history to Dubai. Nowadays, most people in the state are contracting corona through inter-state travel. Among the new cases, 69 are men and 47 women. Bengaluru Urban has so far seen nine deaths, followed by Kalaburagi (7), Dakshina Kannada (5) and Davangere and Vijayapura (4 each), and remaining from other districts. Until Wednesday, out of 1,462 cases, 10 per cent were senior citizens, 63 per cent men and 37 per cent women. The state's patient discharge rate is 39 per cent. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text CNBC.com's MacKenzie Sigalos brings you the day's top business news headlines, and what to watch as the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep most of America on lockdown. On today's show, the U.S. puts big money behind a new vaccine and CNBC's Ari Levy dives into Clubhouse, a new invite-only social network that's become the darling of Silicon Valley. Here's what else you missed: Trump doesn't wear coronavirus mask to Ford plant, after being told he should President Donald Trump on Thursday did not wear a mask for coronavirus protection while touring a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan, despite a state law and company policy requiring facial coverings there. Trump, who has consistently refused to wear a mask in public, was visiting Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, which has a policy of requiring masks there. The plant is currently making ventilators in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Silicon Valley is going crazy for Clubhouse, a social media app with 1,500 users that's already worth $100 million If you tuned into the Clubhouse app Monday night, you could have heard a lively discussion on how the coronavirus is affecting the prison population. Speakers included MC Hammer, political commentator Van Jones, writer and activist Shaka Senghor and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Despite the big names, only about 1,500 people, mostly with ties to prominent tech investors, had access to the chat. Zuckerberg says employees moving out of Silicon Valley may face pay cuts By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijans Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva has said Armenias holding illegal elections in occupied Nagorno-Karbakh region amidst COVID-19 crisis as well as the so-called "inauguration" in Shusha manifests Yerevans policy of aggression and separatism. In the statement issued on 21 May, the Ombudsman stressed that the so-called "elections" run against the norms and principles of international law, have no legal force and have been resolutely and unequivocally rejected by the international community. The ombudsman urged the international organizations, such as the UN, EUl, OSCE, International Peace Bureau to take urgent measures towards the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the UN-recognized territories of Azerbaijan, to give legal assessment to the crimes committed by Armenia in Azerbaijan, to restore the fundamental rights and freedoms of Azerbaijanis violated as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "We are deeply concerned about the violations of the ceasefire by the Armenian armed forces, which are constantly firing on the positions of Azerbaijan in the nameless heights of the republic in different directions of the front, as well as civilian settlements", the statement reads. Furthermore, the statement underlined the fact that ignoring the appeals of the UN, the World Health Organization and other international organizations in connection with the pandemic, the Armenian government continues to stage provocative actions in the region against the background of its aggressive policy. "Even during the pandemic, the Armenian army continues to violate the ceasefire, which further aggravates the living conditions of people living in the conflict zone," added the ombudsman. The Azerbaijani ombudsman also touched upon UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for a global ceasefire. "The Secretary-General's statement said that IDPs and others who have been victims of violent conflict are becoming more vulnerable", she said. "Undoubtedly, Armenia's repeated violations of the ceasefire during the international security issue and pandemic-a global problem, are a clear indication of disrespect and disregard for the known statement of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with disregard for international law and the principles of humanism", the ombudsman noted. Aliyeva also referred to a special statement of Cecilia Jimenez-Damari, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, on COVID-19, published on the official website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1 April 2020, which stressed that during the pandemic, there is a risk that refugees may face restrictions in terms of medical examinations, water, sanitation, food and adequate living conditions, and discrimination. "Given this point, it should be noted that living conditions in the settlements close to the conflict zone have worsened due to the pandemic. Thus, the provision of clean water to people living in these areas, and therefore their access to hygiene and sanitation services, is at risk", she noted. The ombudsman also recalled the resolution 2085 adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2016, in which it is emphasized that poor condition of Sarsang Reservoir located in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, providing clean water to the population living in the occupied territories and adjacent areas, will endanger human life and lead to serious disasters. "Unfortunately, the poor condition of the Sarsang Reservoir against the background of the fact of occupation has put the lives and health of Azerbaijanis in those areas at greater risk during the pandemic", she added. The ombudsman reminded that Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan are still under occupation as a result of the Armenian government's policy of aggression, ignoring UN Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 and the requirements of international law in general. "As a result of Armenia's policy of ethnic cleansing and aggression, one million of our compatriots have become refugees and internally displaced persons, and their fundamental rights have been grossly violated. As a result of the aggression, more than 20,000 innocent people, including children, women and the elderly, were brutally killed and thousands were taken hostage and tortured." The ombudsman also noted that in the context of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions defined the situation as "military occupation", and the European Court of Human Rights, in its decision on the case of "Chiragov and others v. Armenia", established that Armenia carried out an effective control over the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. "At the same time, the resolutions, decisions and recommendations adopted by the European Union and the Council of Europe established the facts of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and the control of separatist forces in those territories", the statement said. --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz HOOSICK FALLS Lawsuits stemming from water pollution in the Hoosick Falls area recently saw a precedent of sorts when a federal appeals court upheld the plaintiffs request for ongoing medical monitoring of residents - if they ultimately prevail in court. What the court said was this is a valid type of damages we can seek, said James Bilsborrow, who is representing village residents. That means should his plaintiffs ultimately win their federal lawsuit against St. Gobain and Honeywell corporations, medical monitoring costs could be part of the damages. Infographic: The lingering threat of PFAS The defendants at the trial court level had earlier argued that state law prevents such damages. But Bilsborrow said that stemmed from another lawsuit with a different set of facts, and a federal appeals court agreed. Lawsuits over PFOA contamination of the Hoosick Falls municipal water system and nearby private wells have been ongoing for more than a year. The cases are still in the relatively early stages. But the appellate courts May 18 decision in the federal Second Circuit is important since it could apply to other similar actions stemming from contamination in nearby Petersburgh, as well as Newburgh and other locations. The suits stemmed from revelations more than five years ago that PFOAs, or perfluorooctanoic acid, had leaked into the water from St. Gobain and Honeywell plants that made anti-stick chemicals. PFOAs are a key ingredient in these substances which are used in products like Teflon. A temporary filtration system was placed on at village's municipal plant, and filters were placed on individual private wells outside the village. State and local officials have been looking for alternative water sources to the existing wells that have long supplied the village's water system. Researchers believe that PFOAs are associated with a variety of illnesses including cancer and thyroid problems. After pressuring of state health and environmental officials, a new water system is being developed and residents have been tested for the PFOA levels in their blood which are much higher than the national average. Residents have also filed civil lawsuits against the companies; in this appeals case Bilsborrow is with the Weitz and Luxenberg firm. St. Gobain in this matter is represented by Sheila Birnbaum of the Dechert law firm, while Honeywell is represented by Arnold and Porter Kay Scholer. The precise type and cost of medical monitoring wasnt immediately known. It could involve periodic blood tests, as well as checkups for years, said Bilsborrow. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Monitoring could include an array of tests, and provisos that the checkups are within a reasonable driving distance, such as Albany, Troy or Bennington, Vt., said Bilsborrow. The state Department of Health has already been testing Hoosick Falls residents for the levels of PFOA in their blood, but it remains unclear how long that would go on. The most recent results were out in March. And while PFOA levels have fallen since testing began in 2016, they are still higher than national averages. As of March, DOH found that, among those village residents tested, there was a mean of 37.5 micrograms per liter of blood compared to a national mean of 1.56. One of the next major steps in the lawsuit will entail the plaintiffs request to be certified as a class, meaning this would become a class action suit. That probably wont happen before the end of this year, said Bilsborrow. More for you Health Dept.: Hoosick Falls residents' blood shows lower PFOA levels rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU With 16 new cases tested and found positive for Covid-19, Manipur reported a total of 23 active positive cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, according to an official press note. Today 16 new cases are tested positive and out of this 15 are from Churachandpur centres and one from Imphal East centre, said a press note from state Chief Secretarys office in Imphal on Wednesday night. So far about 2,544 samples are tested and 25 cases have been detected positive. Of 16 patients, 10 are female. Last month, the first two positive patients of coronavirus in the state recovered from the disease and were subsequently discharged from the hospitals. Given the rapid rise in the number of coronavirus cases, the state cabinet in its emergency meeting on Wednesday reviewed the status of incoming stranded people. Also read: Second-biggest single-day spike takes Covid-19 cases in India to over 1.1 lakh The government said that it is following strict procedure and more than the prescribed norms to ensure the safety of the people. So far, all the cases are confined to the quarantine centres and there is no case detected from the general public in the society, it said. Six trains have arrived at Jiribam railway station, 220 kilometres west of Imphal, from Chennai, Punjab, Bangalore, Vadodara, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The sixth special train, carrying around 485 migrant labourers of the state, arrived at Jiribam on Wednesday morning. Soon after their arrival, the returnees were transported to their respective districts using the state transport buses following necessary medical procedures. The press note informed that the health department has intensified the sample collection in 17 centres and testing capacity has been increased from the earlier level of 200 samples a day to 900. It will be further increased to 1,500 per day, the statement said. After deliberation, the cabinet has decided to bring stranded people in phases. In the first phase, the trains arranged till May 25 will be allowed, it said. After the completion of testing of all people stationed in quarantine centres, the second phase of trains will be planned. The state cabinet has also decided to segregate these incoming people from the existing inmates in quarantine centres and not to mix up them to control the spread of Covid-19. Dr Khoirom Sasheekumar, additional director and spokesperson of the state health department, confirmed the report of detecting 16 new positive cases of Covid-19 through two separate press releases issued at 6.30 pm and 8.30 pm respectively on Wednesday. Infiniti Research's team of industry experts and analysts are constantly monitoring the business impact of the COVID-19 crisis across sectors to help organizations prioritize response, mitigate risk, and continuously monitor the economic adversities on their business. To help companies across sectors to make headway against the adversities of the coronavirus outbreak on business operations, Infiniti presents immediate, impactful, and in-depth insights and action plans to navigate the crisis. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005382/en/ Infiniti's post-COVID-19 business support solutions. (Graphic: Business Wire) The coronavirus outbreak has contributed to unprecedented challenges for the global energy sector. The industry is currently witnessing a dampened demand for oil, resulting in plummeting prices and declining production, especially amidst the Russia-OPEC price war. Similar price decline trends can also be observed in the electricity sector now, especially in European countries. Another major concern is the impact of the reduced demand on the utility companies' cash flows and the consequent effect that this has on the energy sector. Want more insights on how Infiniti's post COVID-19 business support solutions are helping global energy sector companies? Request a free proposal to know more. Infiniti Research has been working with some of the top global energy sector companies to understand their key challenges during the COVID-19 crisis and helping them formulate strategies and action plans to ensure business continuity. Based on our expertise in the energy sector, here are some of the key challenges that our experts have identified for the energy sector due to COVID-19: In several countries, customers have been advised by energy regulators and governments to delay the payment of utility bills. Defaults on payments cause a cascade effect and impact the whole sector severely. China is one of the global producers of several clean energy technologies, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries. Since the coronavirus outbreak has delayed deliveries from China, renewable energy companies are struggling to comply with deadlines for equipment installation. Many energy sector companies have considerably reduced or ceased their capital expenditure in order to cover up for the losses incurred. This is resulting in the delay of initiated projects and consequent decrease in the procurement of goods and services. Want more insights on the COVID-19 challenges in the energy sector and what companies must do to thrive? Request for more information. About Infiniti Research Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005382/en/ Contacts: Infiniti Research Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 844 778 0600 UK: +44 203 893 3400 https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-us Bay League boys and girls basketball teams will play five league games and then there will be a tournament to determine seeding for CIF-Southern Section playoffs. Islamabad, May 21 : The novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of three mediapersons in Pakistan and infected 156 others, according to a report released by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). The report released on Wednesday highlighted that camera-persons and photojournalists have been the biggest sufferers since the pandemic struck the country, reports Dawn news. The report, compiled by Zulfiqar Ali Mehto who heads the PFUJ's COVID-19 rescue committee, states that out of the three dead journalists, one was from Multan and the two others from Sukkur. Sixty-nine journalists have returned home from hospital after recovery, while the others were in quarantine and their condition is out of danger. Lahore has reported the highest number of cases at 84, followed by Rawalpindi and Islamabad with 24, Quetta 17, Peshawar 12, Karachi nine, Sukkur six, Multan five and Gujranwala and Hyderabad two each. Mehto said the PFUJ had collected data from its units spread across the country and Azad Kashmir. "One media person got infected in Pakistan occupied Kashmir but he has recovered now, whereas there has been no coronavirus victim among journalists in Gilgit-Baltistan area," Dawn news quoted Mehto as saying. The development comes as the country has so far registered a total of 47,394 COVID-19 cases, with 1,010 deaths. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Washington: Actors Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman and Millie Bobby Brown are among the celebrities who will turn over their social media accounts to health experts to share facts and promote a science-driven approach to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Roberts, who won an Oscar in 2001 for Erin Brockovich, kicks off the project on Thursday by interviewing Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Actress Julia Roberts. Credit:AP The #PassTheMic initiative is organised by global nonprofit ONE Campaign which aims to spotlight "health and economic experts ... discussing a global response to the global COVID-19 pandemic." The emphasis is on data, science and facts. According to ONE, the stars will turn over their social media accounts for one day to frontline workers, health, economic and other experts. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 11:21:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate will vote on President Donald Trump's nomination of Congressman John Ratcliffe as the next director of national intelligence (DNI) on Thursday. The Senate, where Republicans have a narrow majority, is expected to approve Ratcliffe for the post. Ratcliffe, 54, was nominated again by Trump in February to be the nation's spy chief, several months after the Texas Republican's first nomination was withdrawn amid bipartisan concerns about his qualification. First elected to the U.S. Congress, Ratcliffe sits on the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees and was a member of Trump's impeachment defense team. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is currently the acting DNI. The Trump administration's first DNI, Dan Coats, left the post in August 2019 after a tenure in which he conflicted with the White House on a number of national security issues. The DNI serves as the head of the U.S. intelligence community. Enditem Beach goers enjoy a day at Seal Beach while social distancing on Thursday, May 21, 2020. The city is now welcoming beachgoers from 4:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) Coastal access in Orange County will be easier over the Memorial Day weekend, as several coastal cities expanded their beach hours and plan to open more parking lots connected to the shoreline. Seal Beach officials this week authorized the city to move into Phase 2 and 3 of its "beach in motion" plans, which expands hours for access but continues to prohibit beachgoers from lounging on the sand. Active use such as walking, jogging, surfing or swimming is allowed and is in line with rules at other Southern California beaches. Following a six-week closure at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Seal Beach took a more cautious approach in reopening its coastline earlier this month than other beach cities. The city submitted a multistep plan to the state in early May after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of all 42 miles of the county's coastline to stem the spread of the virus after beachgoers packed some stretches of sand during a spring heat wave. Initially, Seal Beach allowed public access only Monday through Thursdays, opening after sunrise and closing at sunset. But the city is now welcoming beachgoers from 4:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Those new hours will be in place seven days a week, officials say. Parking lots on 1st Street, 8th Street and 10th Street also reopened this week. However, officials closed half of the parking spaces to ensure beachgoers continue social distancing. Weve been so proud of this communitys patience, dedication, and understanding as we navigate this difficult time Seal Beach Mayor Schelly Sustarsic said in a prepared statement. We are very excited to move into phase three and look forward to being able to enjoy our beaches more. Phase three is the next step in moving toward returning to normal. A few miles south, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are also allowing beach access on weekends, ahead of the Memorial Day holiday. Newport is now open 6 a.m.-10 p.m., while Huntington Beach opens an hour earlier. Story continues Laguna Beach, however, is maintaining stricter hours on Saturdays and Sundays, with their coastline closing at noon each day. Getting to the beach is also easier, after county officials opened parking lots with reduced capacity at Salt Creek, Strands and Baby beaches in Dana Point, along with the coastal lot at Aliso Beach in South Laguna. Most cities have opened beach parking in some capacity to prevent visitors from crowding neighborhoods. Los Angeles County officials announced Friday that beach bike paths and some beach parking lots would reopen ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. Public health officials have continued to caution residents to avoid large gatherings and outdoor crowds. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned residents to allow for physical distancing and refrain from packing the sand during beach outings. "Many of our beautiful outdoor spaces are open and we can enjoy them as we practice physical distancing and wear our cloth face coverings when we're around other people," Ferrer said during a news conference Wednesday. "The virus hasn't changed. It's still relatively easy to become infected, particularly if you're not taking precautions." Times staff writer Colleen Shalby contributed to this report. KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - A Kansas City man says the same Kansas City police officers recently indicted by a grand jury for allegedly assaulting Breona Hill nearly a year ago did the same thing to him during an arrest last year. "Before quarantine, I was here every day," Troy Robertson who is accusing officers of mistreatment said. The Kosovo-Serbia dialogue has been taking place off and on since 2011. Instigated by the European Union, the dialogue is a series of negotiations aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries. The Trump administration has taken a keen interest and active role in the dialogue, and it appointed Richard Grenell as special envoy to the negotiations in October. The negotiations largely take place between Grenell, Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. They have been mired in controversy not only for their role in the recent collapse of Kosovos government, but also for the fact that a territorial exchange in which Kosovo would swap some of its ethnic Serbian-majority municipalities for some of Serbias ethnic Albanian-majority ones is being strongly considered. While the United States and European Union are the two most active actors from outside the Western Balkans in this process, China has been notably absent. This is somewhat surprising, considering that over the past several years China has emerged as one of the Western Balkans most important foreign actors. Beijing has invested heavily in the region as part of the Belt and Road Initiative and has incorporated most of its countries into the 17+1 format. The Western Balkans have become a focal point for Chinas BRI investment in Europe. China views the region as a key route to transport goods shipped in from the port in Piraeus, of which China's COSCO Shipping Corp. Ltd. is majority owner, to the EU common market. While China has been investing a significant amount of capital in most of the countries in the region, the linchpin of its Balkans strategy has been its relationship with Serbia. Chinas relatively close ties with Serbia predate its active role in the region as a whole. In 2009, former Serbian President Boris Tadic declared China to be the fourth pillar of Serbian foreign policy, along with the United States, the European Union, and Russia. The Sino-Serbian relationship has only grown closer since then. This closeness was recently exemplified by the fanfare that greeted Chinese medical aid and workers when they arrived in Belgrade to help Serbia with its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A billboard was later placed in the center of Belgrade, bearing a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the phrase, written in both Serbian and Chinese, Thank you, brother Xi. This relationship has also been reinforced by a shared policy of non-recognition towards Kosovos independence -- Serbia still considers Kosovo to be one of its provinces. In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. The delcaration came a full decade after the conclusion of the Yugoslav Wars, during which Serbian troops committed atrocities against Kosovar Albanians. Serbias reasons for not recognizing Kosovos independence, besides the obvious desire to not lose territory, include its denialism of war crimes committed by Serbian troops during the Yugoslav Wars and the important role that the Battle of Kosovo (1389) plays in the Serbian nationalist mythology. There are two motivations behind Chinas non-recognition of Kosovar independence. While this policy may prevent China from investing in Kosovo through the BRI or 17+1 format, China appears to view this as a tradeoff worth making in order to further ingratiate itself to the Serbian government. China also fears that recognition of Kosovos independence would set a precedent for the territories it views as its own renegade provinces, such as Taiwan. Conveniently for China, a non-recognition policy towards Kosovar independence has been able to achieve two foreign policy goals, drawing it closer to its most important ally in the Western Balkans while simultaneously defending its own territorial integrity by proxy. However, a successfully negotiated agreement between Kosovo and Serbia could create a tension between these synchronized interests. Part of the European Unions motivation for initiating these negotiations in the first place was to achieve a policy of mutual recognition between the two countries, as Serbia is a candidate for EU membership and Kosovo a potential one. No country can become an EU member without recognizing the territorial sovereignty of every other member state. This means that if a Kosovo-Serbia deal is successfully negotiated and true to its original mission, then Serbia will wind up recognizing Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. Such an outcome would complicate Chinas Balkans strategy and force it to consider the implications of its Kosovo policy in a way that it has never had to before. If this comes to pass and China chooses to continue to not recognize Kosovos independence, then it risks alienating its most vital partner in a region core to its geostrategic ambitions. On the other hand, if it reverses its policy and recognizes Kosovo, then those with anti-Beijing and pro-independence sentiment in places like Taiwan may be emboldened. From Chinas perspective, the ideal outcome is for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to fall apart and the status quo to persist. Following on the success of their first book together, The President is Missing, President Bill Clinton and author James Patterson will cowrite a second novel together, The President's Daughter. As with the first novel, the forthcoming book will be published jointly by Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and is set for June 2021. The book will be published simultaneously in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook, with the colophons of both Little, Brown and Knopf displayed on all editions. Michael Pietsch, CEO of Little, Brown parent company Hachette Book Group and Knopf publisher Reagan Arthur with jointly edited the book. Maya Mavjee, president and publisher of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and Pietsch acquired North American and translation rights to the book, from Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell of Williams & Connolly; Susan Sandon at Penguin Random House UK separately acquired UK and Commonwealth right. Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. "The unprecedented reader-driven success of their first collaboration augurs well for their second, as Clinton and Patterson have become masters of the presidential thriller," Mavjee and Pietsch said in a joint statement. The President Is Missing, published in 2018, has sold more than 3.2 million copies worldwide, according to the publishers. The President's Daughter, however, will be a stand-alone novel, not a sequel, about a former president of the United States, now relocated to rural New Hampshire, whose daughter is kidnapped. An excerpt from the new book is included in the mass-market edition of The President Is Missing, which goes on sale May 26. "I never imagined Id be writing a book with a master storyteller like Jim, much less two," Clinton said. "I was grateful for the success of the first book, and I believe readers will enjoy reading The President's Daughter as much as Im enjoying working on it. Patterson, for his part, called working with Clinton "a highlight of my career, and Im thrilled to have the chance to write with him again." He added:It was gratifying to see the enthusiastic response to our first book, and Im eager to get The President's Daughter into the hands of readersthey wont be disappointed. The High-level Peoples Court in Ho Chi Minh City on May 20 upheld the verdict handed down at the first-instance trial in a case involving the manufacturing and trading of counterfeit medicine. Nguyen Minh Hung, former general director of Vietnam Pharma Joint-Stock Company, at the High-level People's Court in HCM City on May 20 At the first-instance trial, Nguyen Minh Hung, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of the Vietnam Pharma Joint Stock Company (VN Pharma), was sentenced to 17 years in prison, and Vo Manh Cuong, former Director of the H&C International Maritime Trading Co., Ltd, to 20 years. Both faced charges of manufacturing and trading counterfeit medicines for treatment or prevention of diseases under Article 157 of the Penal Code 1999. The remaining 10 defendants were sentenced from 3-12 years in prison. Hung did not appeal after the first-instance trial. However, seven of the 12 defendants in the case, including Cuong, filed an appeal against the verdict reached at the first-instance trial. Cuong said he did not play a mastermind role as mentioned in the first-instance verdict and that he did not know the drugs were counterfeit. But the High-level Peoples Procuracy in HCM City rejected the contention, saying Cuong directly contacted people who made counterfeit drugs and asked for permission to import the batch of fake drugs. According to the Peoples Procuracy, the wrongful acts of the defendants were dangerous to society and the sentence at the first-instance trial was lawful and appropriate. VN Pharma was established in October 2011 with capital of 25 billion VND (1.075 million USD), rising to 40 billion VND in 2014. Hung owns most of the shares. Since its operation, the company has imported various kinds of drugs. From 2013 to 2014, Hung ordered Cuong to buy imported medicine that was allegedly manufactured by Canadas Helix Pharmaceuticals Company and supply the drugs to Vietnamese hospitals. The order included 9,300 boxes of 500mg capsules of H-Capita, a cancer treatment drug. The consignment was worth around 5.3 billion VND. Hung said he ordered his staff to fake documents related to the drugs and submit them to the Drug Administration of Vietnam, which operates under the Ministry of Health. Hung also faked receipts and payment procedures to acquire import licences from the ministry. In April 2014, the Drug Administration of Vietnam questioned the origin of the drugs and decided to inspect the companys shipments. The Ministry of Health concluded that the H-Capita 500mg batch contained 97 percent of the active ingredient capecitabine, which is of unknown origin and poor quality, and must not be used as a medicine for humans. The Procuracy said Hungs actions caused damage of more than 6 billion VND (255,320 USD) to VN Pharma./.VNA Around 60 to 70 migrants have gathered at the Suncity grounds in Vasai (East) since Tuesday, due to rumours on social media that the Railways are starting a special train to Kathgodam, Ramnagar and other stations in Uttarakhand. We saw a huge group at Suncity grounds. They told us that a WhatsApp message was doing the rounds that a special train will start to take them to Uttarakhand. I alerted the state administration and Kiran Survase, Tehsildar, Vasai, reached the spot and convinced the group that no such train was arranged by the government, said Jaiprakash Sabhapati, member, Uttarakhand Welfare Association. As the migrants had no money to return to their areas, trustees of a nearby under-construction temple were requested to let them stay at the premises. The Dashmesh Gurudwara in Vasai also agreed to provide meals and water to the migrants twice a day, added Sabhapati. Sabhapati said they are planning to complain to the state cyber cell to probe the source of the rumours. The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre on five fresh petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA), citing specific exclusion of Muslims was against the principle of secularism under the Constitution, and the right to equality. Notified on January 10, the CAA seeks to grantIndian citizenship to non-Muslims minorities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who have migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, after facing faith-based persecution. A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, taking up the matter through video-conferencing, issued the notice on the pleas filed by All Assam Law Students Union, Tamil Nadu Thoweed Jamath, Shalim, Muslim Students Federation (Assam) and Sachin Yadav. The apex court also ordered their tagging with the other PILs filed on the matter. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is the lead petitioner, and in December last year, the top court had said it will examine the constitutional validity of the CAA, but refused to stay the operation of the law. Nearly 160 pleas have been filed opposing the CAA. One of the pleas said it was raising important questions in connection with the promulgation of the CAA, where for the first time, religion has been introduced as a condition for acquisition of Indian citizenship for undocumented migrants from the three neighboring countries. The pleas argued that the classification based on the religious identity of the individual is against the fundamental principle of secularism, which is an integral component of the Constitution. The pleas have argued that citizenship is being extended to a certain class of migrants, and this violates Article 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to equality) of the Constitution. The IUML had argued that CAA violates the fundamental right to equality and intends to grant citizenship to a section of illegal immigrants by making exclusion on the basis of religion. QASR AL-MIHRAB, Iraq He was burly, with piercing blue eyes, and it was clear he was in charge when he entered the Galaxy, a wedding hall-turned-slave pen in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Dozens of Yazidi women and girls huddled on the floor, newly abducted by Islamic State group militants. He walked among them, beating them at the slightest sign of resistance. At one point, he dragged a girl out of the hall by her hair, clearly picking her for himself, a Yazidi woman who was 14 when the incident occurred in 2014 recounted to The Associated Press. This was Hajji Abdullah, a religious judge at the time and labeled one of the architects of the militant groups enslavement of Iraqs Yazidi religious minority, who rose to become deputy to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Hes believed to be the late al-Baghdadis successor, identified only by the pseudonym Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. A group of investigators with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability is amassing evidence, hoping to prosecute IS figures for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide including Hajji Abdullah. Hajji Abdullah was previously accused of involvement in the slave trade, most notably in a wanted poster circulated by the U.S. setting a $5 million bounty on his head. But his prominence in the creation and oversight of the slave trade has never been spotlighted. IS fighters didnt take it upon themselves to rape these women and girls. There was a carefully executed plan to enslave, sell, and rape Yazidi women presided over by the highest levels of the IS leadership, said Bill Wiley, executive director and founder of CIJA. And in doing so, they were going to eradicate the Yazidi group by ensuring there were no more Yazidi children born. CIJA shared some of its findings with The Associated Press. The group, through IS documents and interviews with survivors and insiders, identified 49 prominent IS figures who built and managed the slave trade, as well as nearly 170 slave owners, including Western, Asian, African and Arab fighters. These also include top financiers, military commanders, local governors and women traders, many of them from the region neighboring the Yazidi communitys villages. The AP also put together findings from ISs own literature, along with interviews with IS members, former slaves and rescuers, to establish how slavery was strictly mapped out from the earliest days, devolving into a free-for-all with fighters enriching themselves by selling Yazidi women as the groups power began to disintegrate. CIJAs focus now is to build cases that courts can use to try IS members for crimes against humanity or genocide. Countries can prosecute militants for individual rapes or torture or for membership in a terrorist group. But to prove higher charges, they would need the contextual evidence that CIJA provides, showing the crimes were part of a greater structure. Practically every Daesh prosecution that has ever happened anywhere in the world is a material support case, a membership case, Wiley said, using an Arabic name for the group. Prosecuting high crimes could serve as a counter-radicalization tool for IS supporters. In the first prosecution on charges of genocide against the Yazidis last month, a German court brought an Iraqi national to trial for enslaving a Yazidi woman and her 5-year-old, who was chained and left to die of thirst. Meanwhile, a U.N. investigative team said it has collected evidence from Iraq, including 2 million call records, that can strengthen cases of prosecution for crimes against the Yazidis. CIJA is sharing its findings from Iraq with the U.N. team and is pursuing more evidence from Syria, where IS made its last stand. The Syrian Kurdish authority holds perhaps the largest trove of material from the group, as well as some 10,000 of its members, including 2,000 foreign fighters, in detention. Investigators steep challenge: documenting crimes committed over the course of four years against millions of people in different countries, while many IS members remain at large. In the Iraqi city of Mosul, for instance, the crimes took place among a population of nearly 2 million people over three years, including enslavement, attacks on dissidents, destruction of cultural and religious sites and training children in jihad. The Islamic State groups narrative is that slavery is a justifiable consequence of battle during its brutal capture of Sinjar, a region west of Mosul, as part of its attempt to establish a so-called caliphate. But the AP determined, based on CIJAs investigation and its own reporting, that the highest levels of leadership were directly involved in organizing an enslavement machine that became central to the groups structure and identity. Governing institutions were enlisted, from the IS cabinet that constructed the slave system, the security agencies that enforced it, the bureaucrats and Islamic courts that supervised it, and propaganda arms that justified it. Even as their caliphate collapsed around them, the militants made keeping their grip on slaves a priority. When slave markets proliferated out of the leaderships reach, internal documents show IS officials struggled to impose control with a stream of edicts that were widely ignored. A SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS launched its attack on the heartland of the Yazidi community at the foot of Sinjar Mountain in August 2014. Its unclear if Sinjar was attacked for its strategic location between IS holdings in Iraq and in Syria or with the specific aim of subjugating the Yazidis, an ancient sect considered heretics by the militants. In any case, the results were devastating: During the week-long assault, IS killed hundreds of Yazidis and abducted 6,417, more than half of them women and girls. Most of the captured adult men were likely eventually killed. Hajji Abdullah, an ethnic Turkman from Tal Afar, an area near Sinjar, was believed to be the highest IS judicial official in the area and so stepped in to play a key role in distributing slaves. The women and children their husbands and fathers butchered or missing had to learn to navigate the perverse rules of a world where they were considered commodities for rape and servitude. For five years I lived with them. They beat me and sold me and did everything to me, said the woman who witnessed Hajji Abdullahs casual cruelty in the Galaxy wedding hall. She dug her nails into her arms as she spoke, her skinny frame carrying more memories than her years are meant to handle. The AP is not identifying her because she was a victim of rape. Now 19, she said she was raped by nearly a dozen owners, including al-Baghdadi, who owned her for months before he gifted her to one of his aides. The woman was rescued in a U.S-led operation in May 2019. She spoke to the AP in a northern Iraqi town full of Yazidi refugees, including freed women and girls who underwent similar horrors. When Yazidis were seized, top IS commanders registered them, photographed the women and children and categorized them into married, unmarried and girls. Initially, the thousands of captured women and children were handed out as gifts to fighters who took part in the Sinjar offensive, in line with the groups policy on the spoils of war. Under early IS rules, war booty was distributed equally among the soldiers after the state took 20%, known as the khums. According to survivors and CIJA, some fighters came to detention centers with pieces of paper signed by Hajji Abdullah confirming their participation in the Sinjar attack and entitling them to a slave. Women and girls also would be picked out to be raped by fighters, then returned to detention. By early 2015, the remaining women were transferred to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the caliphates capital, and then distributed across IS-controlled areas, CIJA and survivors of slavery accounts showed. The IS propaganda machine was mobilized to justify its revival of slavery. Articles, sermons and fatwas interpreting Islamic law were issued outlining how taking slaves was in accordance with Islam. Islamic Shariah law traditionally allowed and regulated slavery, just as many societies did throughout history, but almost all Muslim clerics now say slavery is no longer permissible. IS operated centralized slave markets in Mosul, Raqqa and other cities. At the market in the Syrian city of Palmyra, women walked a runway for IS members to bid on. Others, like the one in al-Shadadi, distributed women to militants by lottery. A June 2015 notification reviewed by the AP called on IS fighters in Syrias Homs province to register for an upcoming slave market, or Souk al-Nakhassa, giving those on the front lines a 10 day-notice to attend. Participants were told to enter bids in a sealed envelope. The Soldiers Department, or Diwan al-Jund, recorded fighters who owned slaves, usually referred to by the Arabic word sabaya. For a time, IS paid fighters a stipend of about $50 per slave and $35 per child equivalent to the stipend for a wife. The stipend eventually stopped, apparently because military defeats hurt revenues and because owning a sabaya became a sign of wealth and privilege. Managing the robust system turned out to be more complicated than the leadership planned. And chaos abounded. Slaves meant to be a reward to fighters were resold for personal profit, and some IS members made tens of thousands of dollars ransoming captives back to their families. Violence and abuse by owners led to rising reports of suicides and escapes among captives. That prompted a flurry of regulations on ownership and sales, uncovered by CIJA and Syria expert and independent researcher Aymenn Tamimi. As early as March 2015, IS officials in Syrias Aleppo province banned posting pictures of Yazidi women on social media, trying to crack down on electronic markets that rescuers and smugglers often infiltrated to extract captives. The CIJA archive contains a copy of an edict by the Department of War Spoils that banned separating enslaved women from their children, with a handwritten note ordering it distributed to all departments and provinces a signal that earlier decrees had failed to stop the practice. In July 2015, the Delegated Committee effectively the cabinet ordered all slave sales to be registered by Islamic courts, seeking to end sales among fighters. It also required the finance minister of each IS province to keep track of women between transactions. The rules got only tighter as the leaderships frustration over violations grew. One directive set punishments for selling Yazidis to commoners anyone not a fighter or senior IS official and for ransoming them to their families. CIJA documented cases of senior officials dismissed from their jobs or punished with lashes for making exorbitant sums by flouting the rules. Another document explained that only al-Baghdadi was in charge of setting policy on slaves and their distribution. A February 2016 edict required the Delegated Committees approval for any senior figure to own slaves a suggestion that even top officials were abusing the sales process. Captured IS militants offered a glimpse into the resistance the leadership faced in enforcing its rules. In the eyes of some in the rank-and-file, what they saw as their right under Islamic law could not be restricted. Abu Hareth, an Iraqi IS preacher held in a Baghdad prison, told the AP that many fighters didnt feel compelled to register sales in courts. You have a product and you are allowed to trade in it, he said. Abdul-Rahman al-Shmary, a 24-year old Saudi who traded in slaves and is held in a Syrian Kurdish-run prison, dismissed the rules as rooted not in Islamic law but in the leaderships need for control. It was about power and not for Gods sake, he said. Abu Adel al-Jazrawi, a Saudi who worked in the groups War Spoils department and is now imprisoned in eastern Syria, put it bluntly: Slaves were just the means for high officials to get rich. TALOOS JOURNEY Laila Taloos 2 1/2-year ordeal in captivity underscores how IS members continually ignored the rules. They explained everything as permissible. They called it Islamic law. They raped women, even young girls, said the 33-year old Taloo, who was owned by eight men, all of whom raped her. She asked that her name be used because she is publicly campaigning for justice for Yazidis. After Taloo, her husband, young son and newborn daughter were abducted in 2014 and she and her husband were forced to convert to Islam, which should have spared them from being enslaved or killed. But conversion meant nothing. What is this all for? They never had a second thought about killing or slaughtering or taking women, Taloo said. The family was taken to the Iraqi village of Qasr Mihrab, along with nearly 2,000 other converted Yazidis. At one point, the militants gathered all the adult men and took them away. Their bodies were never found but are believed to have been thrown into a nearby sinkhole, where bones still can be seen. CIJA found that Hajji Abdullah was among the senior IS officials involved in the execution of the men. Taloo was first sold to an Iraqi doctor, who three days later gifted her to a friend. Despite the rules mandating sales through courts, she was thrown into a world of informal slave markets run out of homes. Her third owner, an Iraqi surgeon, woke her one night and had her dress and put on makeup so four Saudi men could inspect her. One didnt like her ankles; another, a member of the IS religious police, paid nearly $6,000 for her. That owner posted pictures of his slaves online and, every day, they were paraded before potential buyers. It was like a fashion show. We would walk up and down a room filled with men who are checking us out, Taloo said. With each owner, she fought to keep her children safe. One man took photos of her then-2-year-old daughter, threatening to sell her to an Iraqi woman who couldnt have children. IS was known to separate children from their mothers, using them as household slaves or child soldiers, changing their names and forcing them to convert to Islam. One owner forced Taloo to have a baby then changed his mind and forced her to have an abortion. He also forced her to remove a tattoo she engraved on her skin carrying her husbands name. Another owner forced her to use contraceptives. A third owner got her pregnant and she forced her own abortion. Eventually, to free a relative, Taloo married a militant who turned out to be a senior IS operative. His long stints on the battlefield enabled her to escape: She paid a smuggler $19,500 she got from her family for passage out of IS-held territory with her children and sister-in-law. Today, Taloo still visits the sinkhole where her husband is believed to be buried, and for the first time last year she visited the house in Qasr al-Mihrab, where her family was held captive. The house owners, who had fled the IS takeover, have now returned, unknowingly living among Taloos cherished memories of her family that was. THE RESCUERS As their territory steadily diminished and defeat loomed, IS continued to crack down on members who, desperate for money, sought to sell slaves back to their families for large sums. Some fighters who did so were reportedly killed, survivors of IS slavery said. Some 3,500 slaves have been freed from IS clutches in recent years, most of them ransomed by their families. But more than 2,900 Yazidis remain unaccounted for, including some 1,300 women and children, according to the Yazidi abductees office in Iraqs Kurdish autonomous region. Most are believed dead, but hundreds of women and children likely remain held by militants, said Bahzad Farhan and Ali Khanasouri, two Yazidis who work as rescuers tracking down the enslaved. For years, the two have followed slave markets on social media, contacting smugglers and searching out IS militants willing to ransom their captives to their families. Working separately, they have secured freedom for dozens of women and children. Sitting under the shade of a tree at Lalish, the holiest Yazidi shrine in Iraqs Dohuk province, Khanasouri recounted how he managed to escape after being among about 250 people kidnapped by IS in his hometown five years ago. With the help of a Tunisian IS member he encountered in captivity, he has developed a network of insiders and confederates in his quest to rescue as many fellow Yazidis as possible. As IS crumbled, the rescue business was brisk as captors scrambled for money, looking for buyers, Khanasouri said. Now, with militants scattered some hiding in deserts and caves or in sleeper cells finding sellers is harder. Wielding his phone, Khanasouri shows maps of likely locations of IS safehouses in Iraqs western deserts, where he is certain surviving women are still held. Other women are hiding, either by choice or coercion, among IS families housed at the al-Hol camp in Syria, run by Syrian Kurdish fighters. Some captives have accepted their new identities, particularly Yazidi children who grew up under IS, Farhan said. Some women with children born to IS fathers dont want to return home because their Yazidi community has shunned the newborns. Khanasouri and Farhan have extended their search beyond the areas that IS once controlled, finding traces of women and children smuggled out by their captors who fled as far afield as Iran and Turkey. A Yazidi freed slave lost custody in a Turkish court of her nephew and niece who were found in an orphanage in Turkey. At times, they said, Syrian opposition fighters have refused to return enslaved girls they come across in their territory. One Yazidi girl, forced to convert to Islam and six months pregnant, was found in the northwest Syrian town of Azaz when fighters captured a Saudi IS militant transporting her. One of Farhans contacts, an opposition fighter, offered to bring the girl back to her family. But his commanders stopped the transfer. They said, `She is now a Muslim girl, why are you sending her back to the infidels?' Farhan said. ___ Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Salar Salim in Irbil, Iraq contributed to this report. ___ Follow Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb at www.twitter.com/seldeeb The Federal Treasury has admitted a "significant error" in the Morrison government's JobKeeper application form has greatly inflated the number of people using the scheme and its total cost. Loading In a statement released on its website, the department revealed the $130 billion program - the centrepiece of the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic - was likely to cost $70 billion and cover 3.5 million workers, rather than more than 6 million. It said a tax office review of the enrolment forms used by businesses to apply for the scheme had found about 1000 firms had made "significant errors" when estimating the number of staff who would use the program. Read the full story here. India logs over 3.17 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate up at 16.41 per cent COVID-19 fatalities may be much more than what is being reported US pharma firm Gilead Sciences likely to seek nod to market anti-viral drug remdesivir in India India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 21: US pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences is likely to apply to India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) soon seeking marketing authorisation for its anti-viral drug remdesivir, which is being considered by many as a potential medication for COVID-19. Officials of the Union Health Ministry, along with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) held a discussion with the representatives of Gilead Sciences on Wednesday to prepare a road map for introducing remdesivir in India, sources said. UK begins anti-malaria drug trial to test COVID-19 prevention "The US-based company is keen on applying for granting of marketing authorization for its drug remdesivir in India. They were apprised about the regulatory procedures for granting of approval to a new drug in the country and were assured of total facilitation. "The company representatives said they will get back after discussion with their board of directors," an official said. The medicine has been issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Regulatory approval under exceptional pathway was granted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on May 7, on the basis of clinical data from the US. "On the basis of approvals granted by USFDA or any other reputed regulator, the Indian regulator can approve the drug by waiving off clinical trials in special circumstances in accordance with the provisions of the New Drug and Clinical Trial Rules 2019," a source in the know of the developments said. The efficacy of remdesivir was discussed in a recent meeting of the joint-monitoring group (technical committee) headed by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the use of the drug on COVID-19 patients was not approved due to lack of enough scientific evidence at that stage. "In a recent meeting it was decided that since redmdesivir is one among the four treatment protocols that are being evaluated during the randomised controlled clinical trials under WHO's solidarity trial to find an effective treatment for COVID-19 across several countries, we may wait for its outcome before deciding inclusion of this drug in national treatment protocol," a source said. The other three treatment protocols are hydroxychloroquine, a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, and also combination of lopinavir and ritonavir with interferon beta-1a. Gilead Sciences Inc have entered into non-exclusive licensing agreements with pharma firms including three domestic majors Cipla, Jubilant Life Sciences and Hetero for manufacture and distribution of Remdesivir. It has been learnt that these companies will be able to start supplies earliest from July/August even if they are given fast-track approvals in May, the source said. The Health Ministry had earlier written to Gilead Sciences Inc to supply drugs for use on trials for 1,000 patients at AIIMS. But the company on May 12 said the best approach for India to participate in a remdesivir clinical trial is through WHO's 'solidarity trial' being undertaken in multiple countries, including India, in which remdesivir is one of the five drugs being tried. The Indian Council of Medical Research had earlier said anti-viral medication remdesivir which was used during Ebola outbreak may inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication and research on its efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 is a part of the WHO's 'solidarity trial.' According to a recently published study in the New England Journal of Medicine, two out of three critically ill coronavirus patients who were on oxygen support or on ventilators showed signs of improvement when they were administered remdesivir. Rolling 50/30 day cycles of lockdown, relaxation can help manage COVID-19, sustain economy: Study The New Drug and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, provides for certain clauses, according to which the provision of waiver of local phase-III clinical trials of the drug is approved and marketed in certain countries (as notified from time to time) subject to certain conditions and confirming conduct of phase-IV study, a source explained. The phase four study requirement could be reduced in case of drugs of special relevance, in case of unmet need, for rare disease for which drugs are not available or available at a high cost or orphan drugs. A police officer has been kicked out of the force for life after stealing seven fry-up breakfasts from the canteen in the first week of his new job. PC Jamie Larman took the meals at a training centre near Reading, Berkshire, despite knowing he wasn't allowed them. Officers and staff at the facility can enrol to stay on-site if they live more than 20 miles away from the base - and receive complimentary meals. But those who live closer have to pay for their food - something PC Larman knew full well, a misconduct hearing was told. He was caught after another Thames Valley Police (TVP) officer heard him say: 'I'm not entitled to this, but I should be, I only live just outside the boundary.' PC Jamie Larman claimed he took the food to 'build rapport' with colleagues - which force bosses dismissed as 'nonsense' Two weeks into training, after he was challenged about stealing breakfasts, he quit The ex-officer later claimed he took the food to 'build rapport' with colleagues - which force bosses dismissed as 'nonsense'. He is now banned from ever applying to a job in any police force in Britain again. PC Larman had been a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) since May 2019, before starting his new role as a constable in January 2020. But two weeks into training, after he was challenged about stealing breakfasts, he quit. Documents also revealed that the ex-officer was given a warning last year when he was caught taking food before a training day as a PSCO. TVP's Chief Constable John Campbell told the hearing: 'He states that the reason for his actions were to build rapport with colleagues who met early for breakfast ahead of training. Thames Vally police HQ. Documents also revealed that the ex-officer was given a warning last year when he was caught taking food before a training day as a PSCO 'I consider this nonsense. He could have fulfilled this objective by paying for his own food and not stealing from TVP. 'To compound this, there is evidence he behaved similarly as a PSCO. He was fully aware of the force rules and that he was therefore not entitled to free food. 'It was not a ''mistake'', as he suggests - it was wilful and dishonest. He has no place in TVP. 'If he was still serving I would have dismissed him without notice. He will be placed on the COP [College of Policing] barred list.' By Shlomo Ben-Ami TEL AVIV The COVID-19 crisis has become the latest front in the escalating clash of ideologies that has become a central feature of geopolitics in recent years. Representing authoritarianism is China, which has touted the success of its aggressive lockdown strategy in curbing the coronavirus's spread. Representing democracy are a broad array of countries, some of which have responded far worse than others. So, which political system is better suited to managing crises? The notion that authoritarian regimes have an advantage may be alluring. Whereas in democracies, such as the United States, people may misunderstand their freedom and resist protective measures like mask-wearing, authoritarian regimes can easily impose and enforce rules that serve the public good. Moreover, some have argued that China benefits from the Confucian tradition, with its emphasis on conformity and deference to authority, in contrast to Western democracies' emphasis on individual autonomy and consent to authority. China's government has been attempting to reinforce these narratives, including by mocking the slow response in the U.S. And it is true that a sudden strict lockdown like the one that contained the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan the pandemic's first epicenter would be anathema to Americans. But, when it comes to assessing political systems' capacity to respond to crisis, this comparison misses the point. For starters, democracies that uphold Confucian norms such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have managed the COVID-19 crisis at least as effectively as China. So have several democracies without a Confucian tradition, including Australia, Austria, Greece, New Zealand, and Portugal. In fact, among the countries whose performance during the crisis has been rated most highly, the overwhelming majority are democracies. What these top-ranked democracies have in common is that their leaders recognized the scale of the challenge, communicated credibly with their citizens, and took timely action. Worse-performing countries, by contrast, were either caught largely off guard (Italy and Spain) or had leaders who knowingly delayed action (Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.). To some extent, even the latter failure is not out of line with history: As the run-up to the two world wars shows, democracies have often been slow to recognize the threat of war. Yet, once they did, they always prevailed, thanks to a combination of determined action and public trust in government. True, some democratic governments nowadays have largely lost the public's trust and seem determined not to act. U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have both played down the severity of the virus and contradicted expert advice, while indulging their own narcissistic need to appear tough. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has displayed similar tendencies. But this can hardly be regarded as a pitfall of democracy. After all, during the COVID-19 crisis, many heads of democratic governments have emerged as exemplars of enlightened leadership. In New Zealand, 39-year-old Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has spoken frankly about the threat the virus poses, appealed to people's sense of shared responsibility, and implemented science-based measures. A new case has not been detected in days. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's calm, transparent, and credible communication style has contributed to a response that has kept the fatality rate low. Resolute and timely action taken by Denmark's Mette Frederiksen, Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen, Norway's Erna Solberg, Iceland's Katrin Jakobsdottir, and Finland's Sanna Marin have produced similarly impressive results, without veering from democratic principles. These leaders had the trust of their citizens. (One might argue that electing a woman leader in some cases, a very young one reflects a country's political maturity and fundamental trust in the work of government.) And their responses deepened it. Meanwhile, authoritarian regimes depend on propaganda and censorship to maintain a patina of legitimacy, making lack of trust in government practically inescapable. Why would one trust China's COVID-19 figures, when it has been widely reported that local authorities' initial response to the outbreak was marked by suppression of information? This is far from China's first cover-up. During the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a physician had to become a whistleblower before the government told the truth about the epidemic. Some informed observers don't even believe China's official GDP statistics. In any case, a new wave of COVID-19 infections in China now seems to be emerging. There is also good reason to believe that the outbreaks in Iran and Russia are far more serious than has been reported. Following a series of official missteps including the Kremlin's initial refusing to take the crisis seriously Russian President Vladimir Putin's popularity plunged to its lowest level in his 20 years in power. In comparing countries' performance during the COVID-19 crisis, there are also relevant factors that have nothing to do with political systems. Countries that have experienced infectious-disease outbreaks in the recent past such as China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan benefit from institutional knowledge. But even here, with the admittedly remarkable exception of Vietnam, the democracies seem to have learned the lessons of past outbreaks better. South Korea's experience in 2015 with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) directly shaped its COVID-19 response, which emphasized large-scale testing. China, by contrast, repeated its mistake from the SARS epidemic, by initially attempting to engineer a cover-up. The problem is not that China didn't learn its lesson; the problem is that it couldn't. And that is the point. In a democracy, a crisis is a political test: A leader must retain or strengthen the public's trust, or risk being voted out in the next election. But in an autocracy, a crisis is a threat to the regime's legitimacy indeed, its survival. With such high stakes, a cover-up will always seem like the safest bet. To expect such a government to respond differently, as Trump has demanded of the Chinese, may be tantamount to calling for regime change. Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, is vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace. He is the author of "Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy." His article was distributed by Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org). PUNE The city, on Thursday, reported seven more deaths related to Covid-19 (coronavirus), caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, taking the virus-related death toll in the city to 227. In addition, 208 fresh Covid-19 cases were reported within 24 hours, taking the total count of positive cases in Pune to 4,107. The number of patients in critical care rose from 165 on Wednesday, to 169 on Thursday. As many as 159 persons were discharged, after being declared cured of the virus; this puts the discharged count at 2,182. According to the information given by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department, of the seven deaths reported on Thursday, two patients each were from Sahyadri Hospital, Deccan, Sassoon Hospital and Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital and one patient was from Kashibai Navale Hospital. Two deceased patients from Sassoon Hospital include a 52-year-old male patient from Yerawada who was admitted on May 12 and died due to respiratory failure along with Covid-19. While another patient was an 84-year-old female from Ganj peth who was admitted on May 13 and had pneumonia and respiratory failure. Other two patients from Sahyadri Hospital, Deccan were both females 50 and 74-year-old. Both of them had pneumonia along with Covid-19. While two patients from Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital were a 42-year-old male patient and 65-year-old female patient. The female patient suffered from hypoxic respiratory failure and the male patient suffered from respiratory hypoxemia. Kashibai Navale hospital reported death of a 64-year-old female, a resident of Market Yard area who suffered from pneumonia along with Covid-19. Mindstrong, a Mountain View, California-based healthcare company focused on improving mental health through innovations in virtual care models and digital measurement, secured $100m in Series C funding. Backers included participation from new and existing investors General Catalyst, ARCH Venture Partners, Foresite Capital, 8VC, Optum Ventures, and What If Ventures, among others. Led by Daniel Graf, CEO, Mindstrong is a healthcare innovation company built on research of Paul Dagum, Founder, Vice Chairman, and Chief Scientific Officer, and dedicated to transforming mental health through innovations in digital measurement, data science, and virtual care models. The company, which has an office in San Francisco, is also developing technology for remote patient monitoring and mental health symptom measurement. Their in-house clinical team of therapists, psychiatrists and care coordinators use their technology platform to deliver virtual care to members through a smartphone app. Clinical services are provided by their own team of full-time clinicians to members, thanks to partnerships with national private and public insurance payers. In addition to its virtual care model, the smartphone app allows members to monitor their own mental health symptoms through AI-powered digital biomarker technology that can track changes in mental health symptoms. The technology can also trigger alerts to a members clinical team when these markers indicate their mental health may be at risk or deteriorating, outside of a therapy or psychiatry session. Therapists use in-app messaging, video, and phone conversations to deliver cognitive-based therapy with members. Members can also receive telehealth medication management with a psychiatrist through the app. FinSMEs 21/05/2020 London, May 21 : Drugmaker AstraZeneca on Thursday said it received support of more than $1 billion from the US Health Departments's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the development, production and delivery of University of Oxford's upcoming COVID-19 vaccine, starting in the autumn. The deal includes a Phase III clinical trial with 30,000 participants and a paediatric trial. AstraZeneca is also in discussions with the Serum Institute of India and other potential partners to increase production and distribution. In addition, the company is engaging with international organisations such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO), for the fair allocation and distribution of the vaccine around the world. The Britain-based drug-maker said it is also in discussions with governments around the world to increase access. AstraZeneca, which recently joined forces with the UK government to support Oxford University's vaccine, said it will supply the UK starting in September. "This pandemic is a global tragedy and it is a challenge for all of humanity. We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world," Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, said in a statement. "We are so proud to be collaborating with Oxford University to turn their ground-breaking work into a medicine that can be produced on a global scale. We would like to thank the US and UK governments for their substantial support to accelerate the development and production of the vaccine. We will do everything in our power to make this vaccine quickly and widely available," Soriot said. AstraZeneca has now finalised its licence agreement with Oxford University for the recombinant adenovirus vaccine. The licensing of the vaccine, formerly ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and now known as AZD1222, follows the recent global development and distribution agreement with the University's Jenner Institute and the Oxford Vaccine Group. AstraZeneca has also agreed to support the establishment of a joint research centre at Oxford University for pandemic preparedness research. A Phase I/II clinical trial of AZD1222 began last month to assess safety, immunogenicity and efficacy in over 1,000 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years across several trial centres in southern England. Data from the trial is expected shortly which, if positive, would lead to late-stage trials in a number of countries. AstraZeneca said it recognises that the vaccine may not work but is committed to progressing the clinical programme with speed and scaling up manufacturing at risk. Half a year after the failed attempt to impeach President Trump over his pressure on Ukraine, a topic of the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine will be yet again getting close attention and presumably making it hot and sweaty in the Delaware basement. A reason for that is a political scandal that burst out in Kiev on May 19, when a member of Ukrainian Parliament Andrey Derkach called a press conference where he released audio records of the phone calls between individuals whose voices sound like those of ex-President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Vice President Joseph Biden, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry who discussed the course of Ukrainian domestic policy in very precise detail. On that tapes, Joe Biden factually tells Poroshenko what to do, and Poroshenko seeking advice, cooperates his actions and frankly reassures Biden that all his orders will be executed. Mr. Derkach said that the contents of those records are sufficient to incriminate Poroshenko a treason. As for our side of the pond, the tables are rapidly turning against Biden, who, so far, magically shrugged off all corruption accusations. Yours truly, as a native Russian and Ukrainian speaker, was thrilled to listen to every single word that was said on that press conference. The central topic of the conversations on the highest level was a figure of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, whom American counterparts insisted to be removed from the Office as a key precondition of landing Ukraine $1 billion that it strove to receive from IMF to keep its collapsing economy afloat. The first conversation between Poroshenko and Kerry took place on December 3, 2015. During that initial call, Kerry told Poroshenko that Vice President Biden would like you to consider a possibility to replace General Prosecutor Viktor Shokin Vice President is concerned about it. Kerry urged Poroshenko to resolve this issue by the Bidens visit to Ukraine. On February 18, 2016 Poroshenko gave Biden good news: Yesterday I met with General Prosecutor Shokin, and despite of the fact that we didnt have any corruption charges, we dont have any information about him doing something wrong, I specially asked him to resign... And despite of the fact that he has a support in the Parliament. And as a finish of my meeting with him, he promised to give me the statement on resignation. And one hour ago he bring me the written statement of his resignation. And this is my second step for keeping my promises. Great! exclaims Biden. Thus, there was nothing wrong with Shokin, according to Poroshenko, but one billion dollars outweighed it for the corrupt Ukrainian President. Interestingly, that is not even the news since Biden himself bragged about his influence on Ukraine at the Foreign Affair Issue Launch on January 23, 2018: I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk [Prime Minister of Ukraine] that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn'tI said, you're not getting the billion. I'm going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I'm leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. He got fired. Yes, Viktor Shokin was fired, but Biden made more demands from Poroshenko on March 22, 2016: Tell me that there is a new government and a new Prosecutor General. I am prepared to do a public signing of the commitment for the billion dollars. Extremely strong motivation! replied Poroshenko eagerly. On May 13, 2016, Biden congratulated Poroshenko on getting the new Prosecutor General, saying that it will be critical for him to work quickly to repair the damage Shokin did, than added And Im a man of my word, and now that the new Prosecutor General is in place, were ready to move forward to signing that one billion dollar loan guarantee. Poroshenko remarked that he asked a newly appointed Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko to contact U.S. Embassy, and emphasized that he would be very pleased if he [Lutsenko] had a certain person either from Washington, whatever We have here, I dont remember his name, an American prosecutor of the Ukrainian origin. Hes a little old. I sent Geoffrey [Pyatt, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine] his name. He was ready to be an assistant and advisor [to Lutsenko] and be a person of trust. In other words, an American with the advisory functions to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General who would make sure nobody looks into Burisma anymore. And such person was found it was ex-U.S. federal prosecutor Bohdan Vitvitsky. Joe Biden, meantime, got what he wanted. The major part of the Burisma investigation was closed, and the remaining part was sent to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine that was directly tied to the U.S. Embassy in Kiev and instead of investigating corruption leaked to them confidential information on Viktor Shokin and his family. In the course of the press conference, Mr. Derkach described Bidens motive in firing Shokin. He noted that Prosecutor Generals office had started investigating Burisma Holding in fall of 2015. It was known that Joe Bidens son, Hunter Biden, joined its board in April 2014, at a time when Burisma was engulfed in corruption investigation woes, and at a time when his father was leading the Obama administrations effort to curb Ukraines endemic corruption. In fall of 2015, Ukraine got evidence on large financial tranches that were laundered by the Burisma and then wired to a company called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC between April 2014 and November 2015. Specifically, the records show 18 months in which two payments of $83,333 per month were paid to Rosemont Seneca Bohai for consulting services, and then sent to the American Bank Morgan Stanley. Letting Shokin dig it all up would mean a political suicide for Biden, concluded Mr. Derkach. The second part of the press conference was dedicated to the external governance of Ukraine by the U.S., in which Mr. Derkach presented the records of Biden advising Poroshenko how to deal with the parliamentary crisis in Ukraine that would hinder all necessary reforms. Among the methods that Biden explicitly instructs Poroshenko to use are personal appointments and removals, and where and how to find legal loopholes. The final part of the press conference was led by the Ukrainian ex-prosecutor Konstantin Kulik, who investigated the crimes of the Yanukovych regime in 2016-2019. He detailed corruption actions of the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich, the U.S. charge dAffaires in Ukraine George Kent and FBI Special Representative for Eastern Europe Keren Greenway who blocked the return of funds stolen by the Yanukovych regime to Ukraine in the amount of the countrys annual budget (about $45 billion). According to Mr. Kulik, they placed fulfillment of orders of representatives of the U.S. Democratic Party over the interests of justice. In 2018, it became clear that Biden, Jovanovic, Kent and Greenway are doing everything to block the investigation of Zlochevsky [the Burisma founder] and other persons of the Yanukovych regime and are doing this in coordination with the environment of Poroshenko. Without an investigation of their activities, there is no chance to continue confiscating assets for 40 billion dollars, he stressed. All of the records of the hours-long conversations between the top U.S. and Ukrainian officials are now being officially sent to the U.S. government, according to Mr. Derkach. If even a part of the Derakch tapes turns out to be true, the Democratic ambitions would be buried for good for at least a couple of the upcoming political cycles. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore Veronika Kyrylenko is a Ph.D. from Odessa National University (Odessa, Ukraine), Research Associate at GeoStrategic Analysis. @KyrylenkoN on Twitter ZonesCorp, the largest operator of purpose-built economic zones in the UAE, announced the opening of a factory that produces liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2), which is widely used in several food and manufacturing industries. Launched by Al Ghaith Industries within the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi I (ICAD I), the new facility covers a total area of 100,000 sq m and has a total production capacity of 60 tonnes per day. Using the latest eco-friendly technologies, the first of its kind facility in the UAE captures harmful gases from the manufacturing process and recycles them into a clean and eco-friendly product, Al Gaith Industries said in a statement. Commenting on the latest facility, His Excellency Mohamed Al Khadar Al Ahmed, Acting Director-General of ZonesCorp, said: "We are proud to host an increasing number of industrial establishments that prioritise their compliance to the highest environmental standards and contribute significantly to the industrial GDP growth of Abu Dhabi Emirate. Such efforts make our economic zones more attractive to all types of investment activities, and further boost our status as the largest operator of economic zones in the emirate." Al Khadar added: "ZonesCorp's advanced infrastructure, strategic location, integrated facilities, services and connectivity with neighbouring markets enable the companies and factories operating from our economic zones to increase the efficiency of their production and expand business presence in the region." Almamoon Al-baadani, General Manager, Al Ghaith Industries, said: "We are pleased to open our latest liquefied carbon dioxide plant within ICAD-I through our strategic partnership with ZonesCorp, which has materialised in a total investment of AED300 million. In addition to reiterating our active role in promoting Abu Dhabi's leading position as an industrial hub, the facility demonstrates our continued commitment to promoting excellence in customer relations by delivering best-in-class services and products." Al-baadani added: "We are confident that the factory will become an active contributor to the emirate's industrial development through the adoption of the latest eco-friendly technologies and capturing of harmful industrial gases. In driving the advancement of the manufacturing sector and enhancing the role of non-oil sectors in GDP growth, the facility will become crucial for the emirate's sustainable development." Fatima Al Hammadi, Director, Industrial Zones, ZonesCorp, said: "The opening of Al Ghaith Liquefied Carbon Dioxide Factory marks an important addition to the quality and range of industrial products manufactured within our zones. The facility also supports our strategic plans to attract more industrial investors and offer innovative products and services that cater to the evolving needs of the industrial sector that continues to drive economic diversification in the emirate." The new liquefied carbon dioxide production plant uses the latest methods to capture carbon dioxide released from the production of chlorine and alkali in different stages of manufacturing. The facility helps minimise environmentally harmful carbon emissions which are the main cause of climate change and global warming. Using the latest equipment, the end product is purified to a concentration level of 99.9%, making it clean and eco-friendly to be used in beverage, oil, water treatment and many other manufacturing industries. Unlike the old technologies that used geoengineering and bioenergy to treat and store carbon emissions, limiting its commercial utilisation, the state-of-the-art technology used by Al Ghaith Industries converts captured harmful gases into a useful and safe product. ZonesCorp plays a key role in shaping the industrial sector in Abu Dhabi by developing five integrated economic zones covering a total area of 50 sq km in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. In addition, it has developed 30 workers residential cities with a capacity of 420,000 workers according to the latest international standards.TradeArabia News Service NEW YORKA Chinese man who tried to get $20 million (U.S.) in federal aid meant for distressed businesses affected by the coronavirus created two bogus businesses and falsely claimed he was trying to procure COVID-19 tests and protective equipment in an official capacity for New York state, authorities said Thursday. Muge Ma, 36, also claimed he was paying millions of dollars to hundreds of workers when he was really his only employee, working out of his posh $1.5-million Manhattan condominium, federal authorities said as they announced his arrest. Prosecutors said Ma claimed to a COVID-19 test-kit manufacturer and a medical-equipment supplier that one of his companies was representing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo in procuring COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment to respond to the pandemic. They said he falsely claimed in a recorded call on Monday that one of his companies was a registered vendor for New York state and that the company had a large team of employees working on a deal for the state. An email seeking comment was sent to Assistant Federal Defender Tamara Giwa, who told a U.S. magistrate judge that her client had no criminal history and should be released on $50,000 bail so he can take care of his parents who are visiting from China. The judge denied bail, citing arguments by a prosecutor who said Ma had the motive and money to flee. During the hearing, held by video conference because of the pandemic, Ma admitted he was not a U.S. citizen but said: For many, many years, I see myself as American. He said he came to the U.S. in 2011 on a student visa and obtained a degree from UCLA. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman called Mas alleged crimes as audacious as they are callous. Ma described one of the companies as a patriotic American firm, and said of the other company that it would help the country reduce the high unemployment rate caused by the pandemic by helping unemployed American workers and unemployed American fresh graduates find jobs as quickly as possible, Berman said in a statement. FBI assistant director William F. Sweeney Jr. said the arrest should serve as a warning to anyone contemplating fraud to profit in bad times. There are many people in desperate need of federal money right now to get them through an unbelievably difficult time. The last thing they need to hear is that a fraudster allegedly tried to steal millions of dollars for his own selfish use, he said. Documents filed in Manhattan federal court alleged that Ma from March through last Friday applied to at least five banks to get more than $20 million in government-guaranteed loans. Authorities said Ma told the banks he was the sole owner and executive director of the Ma Companies, purportedly based on the sixth floor of his luxury condominium building. They said he submitted fraudulent and doctored bank records, tax records, insurance records, payroll records and financial statements to the banks, providing links to his companies websites, which claimed he owned global companies. Court documents allege he also falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he is a Chinese national with lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. According to court papers, the Small Business Administration had approved a $500,000 loan for one of Mas companies and a $150,000 loan for another, with at least a $10,000 loan advance provided to him. Authorities said a bank also disbursed approximately $800,000 in government loan funds for one of the companies, although the money was frozen during the investigation. They said Ma tried to withdraw his loan applications from the banks and return the funds after the probe began. Ma was charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, making false statements to a bank and major fraud against the United States. Three of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. You are here: Arts A special reading campaign kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday to promote reading in rural areas and improve the services of village-based libraries across China. The event was co-sponsored by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The campaign features nine major activities including reading themed publications, recommending books favored by farmers, sharing of video on book reading and book donations. SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SafeBreach , provider of the leading breach-and-attack simulation (BAS) platform to validate security controls, visualize security risk and prioritize remediations, today announced two integrations with Palo Alto Networks -- Cortex XSOAR (previously Demisto), the industry's first extended security, orchestration, automation and response platform, and Panorama, a network security management platform. The integration with the SafeBreach BAS platform delivers a true closed-loop solution that provides continuous security controls validation, and risk-based insights to security teams to improve their organization's security posture. Automating Remediation to Prevent Attacks With this new integration with Cortex XSOAR, SafeBreach streams Indicators of Compromise (IOC) data to the platform, triggering automatic remediation steps to quickly close any identified security gaps. This unique capability empowers security teams to quickly and continuously identify and remediate security weaknesses before malicious hackers exploit them. By continuously simulating attacks against networks, endpoints, and cloud infrastructure, SafeBreach enables Cortex XSOAR users to leverage the SafeBreach Hacker's Playbook. When SafeBreach determines that an attack is not blocked by security controls, it intelligently correlates the detected security weaknesses by control categories including: Data Leak Web Endpoint Network Access Network Inspection Email By helping security teams optimize their controls and configurations and automating remediation workflows, SafeBreach enables Cortex XSOAR users to maximize their security investment and reduce time spent on remediations by already busy security operations teams. "Through this integration, security teams with Cortex XSOAR and SafeBreach can quickly and easily benefit from continuous breach-and-attack simulation to identify any defensive weaknesses and automate remediation. This will help them stay ahead of attackers, now and in the future," said Rishi Bhargava, vice president of product strategy, Cortex XSOAR at Palo Alto Networks. SecOps teams using SafeBreach can quickly visualize prioritized IOCs in an intuitive heat map to show which attacks have breached the simulated defenses and which controls are affected. SafeBreach's continuous risk-based insights combined with Cortex XSOAR Threat Intel Management helps security teams orchestrate and automate their mitigation actions, from investigation to approval and validation of endpoint and network security control updates. "Most mature enterprises today have plenty of excellent security controls and tools. The real question is, are they using them the right way?" says Itzik Kotler, CTO at SafeBreach. "This integration with Cortex XSOAR not only gives security teams the intelligence they need to quickly and easily validate their controls but also automates remediation workflows, which improves their overall security stance and, ultimately, reduces their risk of a breach." For network security, the integration of SafeBreach and Panorama automatically correlates breach and attack simulation results to network security settings and highlights any policy or configuration gaps. SafeBreach also analyzes which attack methods were not stopped, and identifies network paths where data might be exfiltrated as a result of a successful breach. This allows network security teams to quickly and visually prioritize remediations and to evaluate overall security posture and readiness of their firewalls and other network security controls. The tight integration between attack simulation and network security policy and controls helps security teams maintain the highest levels of network security against the broadest array of attack types. Faster Remediation, Improved Validation, Reduced Costs These integrations move enterprise security teams towards a state of near-continuous validation and security stance optimization that results in far fewer breaches and significantly curtails security drift. Tightly integrating SafeBreach's BAS and Cortex XSOAR improves the efficiency and efficacy of security analysts and SecOps teams by enabling them to process IOC data far more quickly and effectively. Enterprises that use the combination of these technologies to streamline and enhance their security practice realize faster remediation, improved security control validation, and reduced costs of ongoing security operations. For more information: About SafeBreach SafeBreach is the world's most widely used breach-and-attack-simulation platform. The company's patented platform provides a near real-time "hacker's view" of an enterprise's security posture to proactively predict attacks, validate security controls, and improve security operations center (SOC) analyst response capabilities. SafeBreach automatically and safely executes thousands of breach methods validating network, endpoint, cloud, and email security controls by leveraging its extensive and growing Hacker's Playbook of research and real-world investigative data. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company is funded by Sequoia Capital, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, OCV Partners, DNX Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, PayPal and investor Shlomo Kramer. For more information, visit www.safebreach.com or follow us on Twitter @SafeBreach. Media Contact: Danielle Ostrovsky Hi-Touch PR [email protected] SOURCE SafeBreach Related Links https://safebreach.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 09:20:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland reported one new imported COVID-19 case Wednesday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 1,709, the National Health Commission said Thursday. The new imported case was reported in Guangdong, the commission said, adding that one new suspected case imported from abroad were reported in Shanghai. Of the total imported cases, 1,666 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 43 remained hospitalized with two in severe conditions, the commission said. No deaths had been reported from the imported cases. Enditem The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has demolished hundreds of structures at the Jamestown beach enclave to pave the way for work to begin on the Jamestown Fishing Harbour project. The demolition exercise, which began at about 5a.m, saw city officials and armed policemen storm the coastal community to pull down a string of wooden structures and other buildings. When the Daily Graphic got to the area around 11am, some bulldozers were seen pulling down buildings while the fisherfolk and some squatters watched on without any resistance. Many of them were trying to salvage their belongings while others, including women and children, sat in despair and dejection. Residents impressed Some of the residents the Daily Graphic spoke to, said the AMA had engaged them prior to the demolition and that gave them the opportunity to take out their belongings. The Chief Fisherman of Jamestown, Nii Armah Wulu, said the community members were in support of the exercise because the AMA had duly engaged them about the importance of the project. The AMA gave us letters about the demolition and held meetings with us. The exercise was supposed to have happened earlier but because of the partial lockdown of Accra, it was delayed, he said. The Head of Public Relations at AMA, Mr Gilbert Nii Ankrah, said all was set for the project to take off. The project will start as soon as possible. It is under the supervision of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) but because the area falls under the jurisdiction of AMA, we are ensuring that the demolition exercise is done to pave the way for it to be implemented, he said. He added that measures had been put in place to compensate legal residents of the area who had suffered some losses. The project The Jamestown Fishing Harbour project is in three major parts. It involves the dredging of about 118,000 cubic metres harbour basin and shipping channels; construction of hydraulic structures composed of berths, seawall and a break water; and construction of administration, production and supporting facilities, including an office building, kindergarten, trading market, processing area, commercial area and other production and supporting facilities. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video She has been keeping busy amid the COVID-19 pandemic by continuing to host Heart Breakfast. And Amanda Holden expressed her gratitude towards the real heroes of the nation as she joined in the Clap For Our Carers applause with her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, on Thursday. In a clip shared to Instagram, the presenter, 49, beamed alongside her lookalike children as they stood on their doorstep for the weekly salute. In good company: Amanda Holden expressed her gratitude towards the NHS as she joined in the Clap For Our Carers applause with her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, on Thursday The Britain's Got Talent judge showcased her lean legs in hot pants and a T-shirt, while her kids were dressed in rainbow print ensembles. '#clapforourcarers #keyworkers #frontlineworkers #nhs' [sic], the media personality captioned her post. While fronting one of the UK's most famous stations, the blonde beauty continues to appear on Britain's Got Talent at the weekends. Great cause: In a clip shared to Instagram, the presenter, 49, beamed alongside her lookalike children as they stood on their doorstep for the weekly salute Comfy numbers: The Britain's Got Talent judge showcased her lean legs in hot pants and a T-shirt, while her kids were dressed in rainbow print ensembles The Wild At Heart actress' charity single, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, is currently raising funds for the NHS amid the coronavirus crisis. The Clap For Carers campaign, which started online, has been staged because 'during these unprecedented times they need to know we are grateful', the organisers said. For the ninth week in a row, National Health Service workers have been the recipients of the cheers and claps from the nation. Last month the event, organised by the Clap For Our Carers campaign, was expanded to include all key workers, such as supermarket staff, the emergency services and teachers who are continuing to work. Britain's daily coronavirus death toll dropped again as health chiefs announced 338 more victims, meaning the official number of victims has now surpassed 36,000. The Department of Health toll - which takes into account deaths in all settings - is the lowest figure recorded on a Thursday since March 26 (103) and is even lower than yesterday's count of 363. Essential worker: The media personality has been keeping busy amid the pandemic by continuing to host Heart Breakfast (pictured exiting Global Studios earlier in the day) The militants obliged the Ukrainians living there to issue passports of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic Open source The militants demand from the citizens of Ukraine who live in occupied Donbas and who got the passports after April 2014 to legalize in the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) as Novosti Donbassa reported. The issue is about the order of Denis Pushilin, the head of the DPR, which obliges the citizens of Ukraine who got the Ukrainian passport after April 7, 2014, and living in the territory of occupied Donbas to process DPR passport. The document says that the citizens of Ukraine will get address certificates, which act only for six months. They were issued earlier to legalize Ukrainian passports. After the passing of such a procedure, a person obtains a right, for example, to process a plastic card at the local financial establishments to get payments or the possibility to study at the education establishments controlled by DPR. Thus, starting from July 31, 2020, address certificates will be issued in case a person filed documents to get DPR passport or impossibility to get it. Until the expiration of a certificate, a person should possess DPR passport if he/she is registered in the territory of Donetsk region or lives in occupied Donbas. As we reported, the criminal proceeding is opened due to the fact of the forcible pasportization of the citizens of Ukraine in the uncontrolled territories of the Luhansk region (Luhansk Peoples Republic, LPR). Fewer people than previously reported suffer from stroke as a result of COVID-19, a new analysis finds. However, strokes that accompany the pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2, appear to be more severe. In the NYU Grossman School of Medicine-led study, researchers found that fewer than 1 percent of hospitalized patients who tested positive during one month for the virus also suffered from a stroke. This contrasts with the rates reported recently in small studies in China and Italy, which ranged from 2 - 5 percent. However, the current investigation also revealed that people with both conditions were younger, had worse symptoms, and were at least seven times more likely to die than stroke victims who were not infected. Our study suggests that stroke is an uncommon yet important complication of coronavirus given that these strokes are more severe when compared with strokes occurring in patients who tested negative for the virus." Shadi Yaghi, MD, study lead author, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at NYU Langone Health Yaghi, who is also the director of clinical vascular neurology research at NYU Langone, cautions that the public should always take stroke symptoms seriously. Should they experience symptoms like trouble walking or speaking, or sudden paralysis of the face or limbs, they should seek immediate medical care regardless of concerns about exposure to the virus. The new study, publishing May 20 in the journal Stroke, is the largest of its kind, says Yaghi, among COVID-19 stroke victims and adds valuable insight into the poorly understood complications of COVID-19 disease. For the investigation, the researchers used medical records to identify 32 stroke patients among 3,556 people who were being treated for COVID-19 at NYU Langone hospitals in New York City and Long Island between March 15 and April 19. Then, they compared the characteristics of this group with stroke patients without the virus admitted during the same timeframe, and with patients from the previous year, before the pandemic began. The research team found that stroke patients with COVID-19 disease had more severe symptoms than their counterparts without the virus. In fact, during the study period, 63 percent died, compared with just 9 percent for those without the virus and 5 percent of pre-pandemic stroke patients. The results also add to other early research suggesting that strokes among COVID-19 patients form differently than the majority of strokes. The condition, the researchers say, usually occurs when a blood vessel suddenly gets blocked, preventing blood from reaching the brain. Among study patients with COVID-19, at least 56 percent of the strokes appeared to arise from increased blood-clotting throughout the body. This finding may offer a clue to how physicians can better treat stroke occurring in patients who have the virus, the study authors say. "Our findings provide compelling evidence that widespread blood-clotting may be an important factor that is leading to stroke in patients with COVID-19," says study senior author Jennifer Frontera, MD, a professor in the Department of Neurology at NYU Langone. "The results point to anticoagulant, or blood thinner therapy, as a potential means of reducing the unusual severity of strokes in people with the coronavirus." In addition to investigating anticoagulant therapy, both Frontera and Yaghi plan to continue the study to see if the findings hold true through the end of the year. The most common chemical bond in the living world -- that between carbon and hydrogen -- has long resisted attempts by chemists to crack it open, thwarting efforts to add new bells and whistles to old carbon-based molecules. Now, after nearly 25 years of work by chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, those hydrocarbon bonds -- two-thirds of all the chemical bonds in petroleum and plastics -- have fully yielded, opening the door to the synthesis of a large range of novel organic molecules, including drugs based on natural compounds. "Carbon-hydrogen bonds are usually part of the framework, the inert part of a molecule," said John Hartwig, the Henry Rapoport Chair in Organic Chemistry at UC Berkeley. "It has been a challenge and a holy grail of synthesis to be able to do reactions at these positions because, until now, there has been no reagent or catalyst that will allow you to add anything at the strongest of these bonds." Hartwig and other researchers had previously shown how to add new chemical groups at C-H bonds that are easier to break, but they could only add them to the strongest positions of simple hydrocarbon chains. In the May 15 issue of the journal Science, Hartwig and his UC Berkeley colleagues described how to use a newly designed catalyst to add functional chemical groups to the hardest of the carbon-hydrogen bonds to crack: the bonds, typically at the head or tail of a molecule, where a carbon has three attached hydrogen atoms, what's called a methyl group (CH3). "The primary C-H bonds, the ones on a methyl group at the end of a chain, are the least electron-rich and the strongest," he said. "They tend to be the least reactive of the C-H bonds." UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Raphael Oeschger discovered a new version of a catalyst based on the metal iridium that opens up one of the three C-H bonds at a terminal methyl group and inserts a boron compound, which can be easily replaced with more complex chemical groups. The new catalyst was more than 50 times more efficient than previous catalysts and just as easy to work with. "We now have the ability to do these types of reactions, which should enable people to rapidly make molecules that they would not have made before," Hartwig said. "I wouldn't say these are molecules that could not have been made before, but people wouldn't make them because it would take too long, too much time and research effort, to make them." The payoff could be huge. Each year, nearly a billion pounds of hydrocarbons are used by industry to make solvents, refrigerants, fire retardants and other chemicals and are the typical starting point for synthesizing drugs. 'Expert surgery' on hydrocarbons To prove the utility of the catalytic reaction, UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Bo Su and his coworkers in the lab used it to add a boron compound, or borane, to a terminal, or primary, carbon atom in 63 different molecular structures. The borane can then be swapped out for any number of chemical groups. The reaction specifically targets terminal C-H bonds, but works at other C-H bonds when a molecule doesn't have a terminal C-H. "We make a boron-carbon bond using boranes as reagents -- they're just a couple steps away from ant poison, boric acid -- and that carbon-boron bond can be converted into many different things," Hartwig said. "Classically, you can make a carbon-oxygen bond from that, but you can also make a carbon-nitrogen bond, a carbon-carbon bond, a carbon-fluorine bond or other carbon-halogen bonds. So, once you make that carbon-boron bond, there are many different compounds that can be made." Organic chemist Varinder Aggarwal from the University of Bristol referred to the catalytic reaction as "expert surgery" and characterized UC Berkeley's new technique as "sophisticated and clever," according to the magazine Chemical and Engineering News One potential application, Hartwig said, is altering natural compounds -- chemicals from plants or animals that have useful properties, such as antibiotic activity -- to make them better. Many pharmaceutical companies today are focused on biologics -- organic molecules, such as proteins, used as drugs -- that could also be altered with this reaction to improve their effectiveness. "In the normal course, you would have to go back and remake all those molecules from the start, but this reaction could allow you to just make them directly," Hartwig said. "This is one type of chemistry that would allow you to take those complex structures that nature makes that have an inherent biological activity and enhance or alter that biological activity by making small changes to the structure." He said that chemists could also add new chemical groups to the ends of organic molecules to prep them for polymerization into long chains never before synthesized. "It could enable you to take molecules that would be naturally abundant, biosourced molecules like fatty acids, and be able to derivatize them at the other end for polymer purposes," he said. UC Berkeley's long history with C-H bonds Chemists have long tried to make targeted additions to carbon-hydrogen bonds, a reaction referred to as C-H activation. One still unachieved dream is to convert methane -- an abundant, but often wasted, byproduct of oil extraction and a potent greenhouse gas -- into an alcohol called methanol that can be used as a starting point in many chemical syntheses in industry. In 1982, Robert Bergman, now a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of chemistry, first showed that an iridium atom could break a C-H bond in an organic molecule and insert itself and an attached ligand between the carbon and hydrogen. While a major advance in organic and inorganic chemistry, the technique was impractical -- it required one iridium atom per C-H bond. Ten years later, other researchers found a way to use iridium and other so-called transition metals, like tungsten, as a catalyst, where a single atom could break and functionalize millions of C-H bonds. Hartwig, who was a graduate student with Bergman in the late 1980s, continued to bang on unreactive C-H bonds and in 2000 published a paper in Science describing how to use a rhodium-based catalyst to insert boron at terminal C-H bonds. Once the boron was inserted, chemists could easily swap it out for other compounds. With subsequent improvements to the reaction and changing the metal from rhodium to iridium, some manufacturers have used this catalytic reaction to synthesize drugs by modifying different types of C-H bonds. But the efficiency for reactions at methyl C-H bonds at the ends of carbon chains remained low, because the technique required that the reactive chemicals also be the solvent. With the addition of the new catalytic reaction, chemists can now stick chemicals in nearly any type of carbon-hydrogen bond. In the reaction, iridium snips off a terminal hydrogen atom, and the boron replaces it; another boron compound floats away with the released hydrogen atom. The team attached a new ligand to iridium -- a methyl group called 2-methylphenanthroline -- that accelerated the reaction by 50 to 80 times over previous results. Hartwig acknowledges that these experiments are a first step. The reactions vary from 29% to 85% in their yield of the final product. But he is working on improvements. "For us, it shows, yeah, you can do this, but we will need to make even better catalysts. We know that the ultimate goal is attainable if we can further increase our rates by a factor of 10, let's say. Then, we should be able to increase the complexity of molecules for this reaction and achieve higher yields," Hartwig said. "It is a little bit like a four-minute mile. Once you know that something can be accomplished, many people are able to do it, and the next thing you know, we're running a three-and-three-quarter-minute mile." ### Other coauthors of the paper are Isaac Yu, a first-year graduate student; former visiting student Christian Ehinger, now at ETH Zu?rich, a public research university in Switzerland; postdoctoral fellow Erik Romero and undergraduate Sam He. A Texas cheerleader had to be rushed to the hospital after she was bitten by a venomous snake while practicing her flips in the backyard. Paris Montgomery had been practicing flips on her cheer mat at around 7pm on Friday when she was bitten by the Copperhead snake in the backyard of her Houston home. Her mother, Tracy Montgomery, shared in a Facebook post that her daughter did not even know that she had been bitten and instead believed she had been poked by a stick. Paris Montgomery had been practicing flips on her cheer mat at around 7pm on Friday when she was bitten by the Copperhead snake in the backyard of her Houston home The teen captured the moment when she was bitten. Footage shows her take to the mat as blood can be seen seeping from the top of her shoe The teen captured the moment when she was bitten. Footage shows her take to the mat as blood can be seen seeping from the top of her shoe. She takes the shoes off and examines the injury, unaware of the venomous snake. 'Something just started hurting,' she explained to ABC 13. 'I didn't know it was a snake.' Tracy rushed her daughter to the emergency room, where doctors gave her anti-venom. 'Something just started hurting,' she explained to ABC 13 . 'I didn't know it was a snake' Tracy, the girl's mother, rushed her daughter to the emergency room, where doctors gave her anti-venom 'I did not have snake on my mind, so I was thinking, 'Maybe a bee stung her,'' the mother added. 'So, I put some baking soda on it. Well then, it started swelling up and turning purple and we rushed her to the hospital.' The girl was transferred to the local children's hospital but has since been discharged home. Copperhead snakes exist throughout much of the southern and eastern United States and are responsible for the most snake bites in the country. According to National Geographic, the snakes are even comfortable living in subdivisions and on developed land. The snake is generally between two to three feet but some have been known to get to four feet. The girl was transferred to the local children's hospital but has since been discharged home Soon to enter the fray in the Pacific will be the USS Theodore Roosevelt, as China has been aggressive even to armed US ships and add their constant coercion of civilian vessels in the Paracels and Malaysia. The massive USS Theodore Roosevelt that China fears is ready to put China in place before Memorial Day, it was docked because of the coronavirus. In the absence of the aircraft carrier, China has been emboldened to harass any vessel they want to. With the return of the massive vessel, China will have a lot to handle. One thing clear is that China began harassing when USS Carriers and ships were docked by coronavirus infections, which they took advantage off, said a Pentagon official. China brazenly harasses without the US carrier insight When the USS Theodore Roosevelt got docked in Guam, there have been incidents of Chinese fighter jets threatening recon craft in the South China Sea, confirmed by Reed B. Werner, in a Fox News interview. Other threatening actions were mustered against sea vessels too. Last month, a guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin operating in Japan, a nearby PLAN carrier group, was bold enough to harass and engage the American ship. This is was initiated by a Chinese escort ship that was part of the PLAN group. A confrontation between the Chinese and American navies are not publicized yet. According to Werner, the aggressiveness of the PLAN is getting higher and pushing the envelope since last March. The US government has sent their grievances over the perceived taunting, also sending it thru private channels. Werner even mentioned sending messages to the concerned party. Also read: Two US Warships Warned Chinese Navy to Stop Coercing an Unarmed Drilling Ship in Malaysian Waters Chinese actions will polarize the situation in the South China Sea, especially with Beijing acting tough when other nations are pouring effect to combat the virus, Chinese is sneaking around when others are occupied. One recent incident when the USS Gabrielle Giffords, a littoral combat ship sent to assist an oil-and-gas platform off Malaysia, in Malaysian waters that was harassed by Chinese vessels. But, when the combat ship came the Chinese vessels left immediately, showing the opportunistic character of the PLAN. A code of conduct is under discussion between China and other Asian countries in the SCS. But the Pentagon official doubts anything that the Chinese say in the talks. Beijing has broken a litany of pledges, and one stark example getting pushy and bullying other vessels. When Xi Jinping went to the White House in 2015, the pact was made not to fortify man-made islands in the SCS. Werner declined to comment on the matter further. As the Chinese raze fishing grounds that are not China's, they have virtually claimed ownership of Vietnam's Paracel Island chain to the Natuna Islands close to Malaysia and Indonesia. Werner called Beijing a presence in Southeast Asia that is causing problems. America is sending a message to Beijing Docking of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam, the US Navy dispatched naval assets and sortied B-1 Bombers to show they mean business. Next was the USS America and the USS Bunker Hill that met up with an Australian frigate, for naval operations to counter China's military stance. For each dispatch, the US Navy's top line warships, the Chinese blast through channel uselessly through China's missile arsenal can be a problem too. The US needs to counter this threat and it is to preserve American counterforce in the future. Once the USS Theodore Roosevelt is sent to operation, the Chinese will think twice or thrice to harass US assets. Related article: US Navy Destroyer Sails Through Taiwan Strait to Let Beijing Know US Will Support Taiwan @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Limits on airfares have been set in seven bands as per the flight durations and they would be in place till August 24, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. The minister said the first band, which would have it's specific lower and upper limits of airfare, will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. Second, third, fourth, and fifth bands of upper limit would be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, and 120-150 minutes, he said. The sixth and seventh bands would consist of flights with ... Judge of the first instance court of general jurisdiction of Shengavit Administrative District of Yerevan Davit Balayan will examine the criminal case in regard to Judge Davit Grigoryan of the court of general jurisdiction of Avan and Nor Nork Administrative Districts and secretary for the trials Gor Vardanyan. The news was confirmed by Head of the Public Relations and Protocol Department of the Supreme Judicial Council of Armenia Arman Khachatryan during a conversation with Armenian News-NEWS.am. Davit Grigoryan is the judge who rendered a decision to release second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan on May 18, 2019. On July 26, 2019, the acting Prosecutor General of Armenia filed a motion with the Supreme Judicial Council with three episodes in order to institute criminal prosecution against Judge Davit Grigoryan under the criminal case being investigated under the elements of official fraud, and secretary for trials Gor Vardanyan was also charged with assisting in committing official fraud. During Davit Grigoryans leave, a search was conducted in his office, and the office was sealed. New Delhi: It is the 29th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack at Sriperumbudur, Chennai on May 21, 1991. The attack was carried by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam aka Dhanu, a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation of Sri Lanka. His assassination rocked the Indian political world as the country was in the midst of a Lok Sabha election. The trial in the case was conducted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), and in January 1998, the court awarded death sentences to 26 accused in the assassination. The LTTE leadership, which wanted an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka, masterminded the assassination because India under the prime ministership of Rajiv Gandhi had sent its Army to Sri Lankan government's aid in the civil war. Rajiv Gandhi and the then Sri Lankan president JR Jayawardene had signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in July 1987 which "envisaged a devolution of power to the Tamil-majority areas". The LTTE was to be dissolved and Tamil to be made one of the official languages of Sri Lanka according to the accord. It is suspected that LTTE planned the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to stop him from coming to power again as the terrorist organisation feared that India would once again try to play a role in Sri Lankan civil war. Rajiv Gandhi was the sixth prime minister of India. He took office in 1984 at the age of 40, to become the youngest prime minister of the country. He is cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna in Delhi, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. The ground is known as Veerbhumi. Maine prison inmates who were forced to stop work-release jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak were paid nearly $200,000 in unemployment benefits, according to a shocking new report. In total 53 inmates were paid $198,767 in jobless benefits, about $3,750 each, after the Department of Corrections stopped work-release jobs due to the COVID-19 concerns in mid-March. Last week Governor Janet Mills halted those payments after learning of the inmate unemployment benefits saying it is a privilege for prisoners to be able to work for a salary and they should not be eligible for unemployment as other Maine residents are struggling to pay their bills. It's not known how the inmates applied for the benefits, but Maine Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty says family members could have applied for unemployment on the inmates' behalf. In total 53 inmates were paid $198,767 in jobless benefits, about $3,750 each, after the Department of Corrections stopped work-release jobs due to the COVID-19 concerns in mid-March, it has been revealed. Gov. Janet Mills ordered for those payments to stop in a letter issued May 15 In Maine working inmates earn between $1,000 to $6,000 per year with 50 percent of workers earning between $1,000 to $2,500. Up to three positions per facility can earn up to $6,000 a year, according to a 2017 Prison Policy Initiative report. In Maine there are 175 inmates involved in work-release programs designed to help them transition back into society and pay restitution to victims. Some of the prisons where inmates were involved in work release job programs include the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren, the Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston and the Southern Maine Womens Re-entry Center in Windham, according to the Press Herald. Gov. Mills' was made aware of the unemployment benefits in late April by Liberty and immediately ordered for the payments to stop and the sum to be put in a trust for those inmates in a letter issued May 15. The Department of Corrections took out money from those benefits for each inmates room and board and restitution owed by inmates as a part of their sentences and the rest was placed into a trust account for them. The department takes 20 to 25 percent of wages received by prisoners to pay for room, board and transportation. Gov. Mills' was made aware of the unemployment benefits in late April by Liberty and immediately ordered for the payments to stop and the sum to be put in a trust for those inmates in a letter issued May 15 The corrections department asked the Maine Department of Labor in March whether inmates participating in work release jobs were eligible for unemployment benefits. Assistant Attorney General Nancy Macirowski said they were because the corrections department made the decision to stop the programs. 'The prisoners became unemployed for COVID-related reasons. It is my understanding that prison officials made the determination to prohibit prisoners from performing work release because of concerns of COVID, thus quarantining prisoners. It is the expectation that these prisoners will return to their work-release jobs when the quarantine is lifted. Thus, the prisoners are eligible for unemployment benefits pursuant to the emergency legislation' she wrote in that letter that was released following a Freedom of Information Act request. In Gov. Mills' May 15 letter to stop payments she said she believed to wasn't the intent of Congress to allow federal inmates to receive unemployment benefits. 'I not only find this appalling and to be bad public policy, I also do not believe that it was the intent of the Legislature or the Congress to allow inmates to receive state or federal benefits, including the $600 weekly PUA (pandemic unemployment assistance) payment,' Mills letter to Liberty said. 'While work release offers inmates a valuable opportunity to learn life skills, support local employers, and earn a salary that can be used to pay restitution to victims, it is a privilege not a right and any inmate who loses that privilege for whatever reason should not have access to our limited public benefits system,' she added. In Maine there are 175 inmates involved in work-release programs designed to help them transition back into society and pay restitution to victims. One of those centers in the Bolduc Correction Facility (above) Mountain View Correction Facility in Charleston is one of the facilities that offers work-release programs to inmates Southern Maine Women's Re-entry Center in Windham pictured above She stressed that during the public health crisis, state benefits should be reserved and prioritized for Maine residents who are not incarcerated and are struggling to make ends meet, particularly as inmates do not have to worry about rent, food or utilities while in jail. 'The governor and I are both very consistent in the fact that we believe that is was not the (state) legislative intent to allow inmates to draw down unemployment benefits,' Liberty said following the payments. 'Weve frozen the accounts. Weve frozen the money at this point, and were seeking additional advice and guidance. Those assets the monies that were obtained through unemployment benefits are now in a separate account. The offenders cannot access that,' he added as per WMTW. It's not clear if other states had similar issues where inmates were given unemployment benefits. The news comes as another 2.4milion Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total of claims to more than 38million over the past nine weeks amid the pandemic. Venezuela says it will use its military to escort Iranian fuel tankers nearing its shores. The South American countrys ambassador to the UN said Wednesday this comes amid threats from the United States against the vessels. Today, the coercion has reached a new danger with the threat of military force against five Iranian tankers bringing gasoline to Venezuela, Samuel Moncada said in a statement. The South American country and OPEC member once had a thriving oil industry, but years of political and economic chaos in the country have created dire fuel shortages, in part because of major issues involving its refineries. The United States opposes the government of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recently criticized Venezuela-Iran ties, focusing on flights from Irans Mahan Air to Venezuela. Both countries maintain close economic and political relations in the face of shared US sanctions. There are also US naval forces patrolling for drugs in the Caribbean at present that Venezuela views as a threat, The Associated Press reported. Amid the tensions, Venezuelas defense minister said yesterday the country's naval and air forces will escort the tankers through Venezuelas waters to shore, according to Reuters, citing Venezuelan state television. When they enter our exclusive economic zone, they will be escorted by Bolivarian National Armed Forces boats and planes to welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation, said Vladimir Padrino. Venezuela names its military after South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar. The Iranian ships are named the Clavel, the Forest, the Faxon, the Petunia and the Fortune. Some of the ships locations have not been updated on the ship tracking website MarineTraffic for several days. The website did show the Clavel had progressed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean. Al Jazeera reported today that all the ships are in the Atlantic, with the Fortune on pace to arrive within days. Before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube made their entry in the media market, the PatnaDaily had already registered its presence in... Advertisement President Donald Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was freed from federal prison just before 9am Thursday to serve the remainder of his sentence at home. Cohen had been serving a federal prison sentence at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. He was seen leaving the low-security prison in a silver Mercedes A-class sedan driven by his son Jake. He was not wearing a mask and was wearing a crisp white shirt with French cuffs and no tie. Later Cohen was seen arriving at his Manhattan apartment, wearing a University of Miami cap and a mask. His personal items, including a box clearly marked 'Legal Documents', were brought in on a luggage cart and carried in by his son Jake. The onetime-fixer was released on furlough with the expectation that he will transition to home confinement to serve the remainder of his sentence at home. Cohen, 53, began serving his sentence last May and was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021. He had pleaded guilty to a series of offenses, including breaking campaign finance law by paying 'hush money' to Stormy Daniels to keep her alleged affair with Donald Trump secret. Michael Cohen was seen arriving at his Manhattan apartment after his release from federal prison on Thursday The former fixer wore a University of Miami cap and a mask as he was seen walking into his apartment Cohen's personal items were brought into his Manhattan apartment on a luggage cart. One box was clearly marked 'Michael Cohen - Legal Documents' Cohen's son, Jake Ross Cohen, picked up his father from prison and was seen helping to carry his father's personal items into their apartment Cohen, 53, began serving his sentence last May and was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021 Freedom: Michael Cohen left Otisville federal prison just after 9 am Thursday, ending just over a year behind bars On his way home: Michael Cohen will spend the rest of the almost two years of his federal sentence in New York City Family reunion: Michael Cohen's son Jake picked him up from the prison in his silver Mercedes Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates ahead of a potential outbreak, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6 feet away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars. Attorney General William Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons in March and April to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates, beginning at three prisons identified as coronavirus hot spots. Otisville is not one of those facilities. Cohen was told last month he would be released to serve the rest of his three-year sentence at home in response to concerns about coronavirus. He had told associates he was expecting to be released earlier this month. The Bureau of Prisons has placed him on furlough as it continues to process a move to home confinement, the person familiar with the matter said. The agency has the authority to release inmates on furlough for up to 30 days and has been doing so to make sure suitable inmates, who are expected to transition to home confinement, can be moved out of correctional facilities sooner, the person said. Smartly dressed: Michael Cohen was wearing a crisp white shirt with French cuffs as he left Otisville headed for New York City Federal guard: Michael Cohen was driven away from Otisville watched by a federal correctional officer. He is on furlough from prison for now but his sentence is expected to be converted to home detention soon Off home: Michael Cohen's son Jake drove his father back to New York City where he will serve his sentence at home Out: Michael Cohen walked free from Otisville federal prison in upstate New York one year and 15 days after reporting for custody from his apartment (pictured) Old boss: Michael Cohen has been writing a book about his time with Trump while behind bars, he has confided - which could include a tell-all on his dealings with Stormy Daniels which put him there Free already: Michael Cohen spent longer behind bars than Paul Manafort despite having a shorter sentence A federal judge had denied Cohen's attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a ruling earlier this month that it 'appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle.' But the Bureau of Prisons can take action to move him to home confinement without a judicial order. The Bureau of Prisons said last week that more than 2,400 inmates had been moved to home confinement since Barr first issued his memo on home confinement in late March, and 1,200 others had been approved and were expected to be released in the coming weeks. Other high-profile inmates have also been released as the number of coronavirus cases soars in the federal prison system. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released on home confinement last week. Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Trump, was temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City and is staying at a friends house in Los Angeles. Former New York state Senate leader Dean Skelos, 72, who was also serving a sentence at Otisville, was released on home confinement after testing positive for the coronavirus. Last month it emerged he has been writing a book while behind bars. 'He told me he's been writing a book and he's pissed. He told me he is going to spill the beans. What has he got to lose now?' comedian-and-actor Tom Arnold told The Daily Beast. Comedian Tom Arnold (right) said: 'He told me he's been writing a book and he's pissed. He told me he is going to spill the beans. What has he got to lose now?' Cohen had told the publication in February 2018 that he was shopping a book and had interest from publishers including Hachette. At the time the book was tentatively titled, Trump Revolution: From The Tower to The White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump. But in December 2018 he was ordered to spend three years in federal prison and in February 2019 he was disbarred. He reported to federal detention on May 6, 2019. In March 2019 Trump tweeted his acknowledgement of Cohen writing an expose. 'Wow, just revealed that Michael Cohen wrote a 'love letter to Trump' manuscript for a new book that he was pushing,' POTUS posted on social media. 'Written and submitted long after Charlottesville and Helsinki, his phony reasons for going rogue. Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!' Arnold added that Trump has been expecting Cohen to release a book. Now Cohen is being let out early alongside dozens of other inmates, the release could be sooner than Trump anticipated. 'It's like Jawsyou don't see Jaws very much, but you hear the music, and for Trump he knows Michael is coming and Trump better hear the Jaws music,' Arnold said. 'For 12 years, Michael cleaned up everything for Trump and his family. Stormy Daniels was a tiny moment in that. There's so much more that will come out in the book.' He believes it will be a 'bestseller'. Another person close to Cohen told the publication that the expose was a long time coming. 'He has been using his time wisely inside to write a book and no one should be surprised as he's always talked about writing a book,' the source told The Daily Beast. 'Michael's stories about Trump are incredible. He has saved a lot of them for when the time is right and the time is now right. 'Michael spent a long time with Trumphe is going to go into everything and he's not going to hold anything back. He has paid his dues and he's pissed he had to go to jail for this.' More than a year ago after Cohen's sentencing, Trump tweeted about knowledge of him shopping a book Cohen tried to get his sentence reduced in March but a judge shut him down. Now due to COVID-19 he and many other prisoners will be released from the Federal Correctional Facility in Otisville, New York (pictured) Sources suggest he will have no problem shopping the book and publishers have estimated Cohen could get hundreds of thousands for it. 'He was bragging he was going to have a one-hour television show on ABC and he said he would be like the Count of Monte Cristo and come back and get Trump,' one of Cohen's fellow inmates told The Daily Beast. Cohen's attorney, Roger Bennet Adler, declined to comment to the publication. Cohen began serving his sentence last May and was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021. Cohen tried to get his sentence reduced in March but a judge shut him down. 'That Cohen would seek to single himself out for release to home confinement appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle,' U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III wrote then. 'Ten months into his prison term, it's time that Cohen accept the consequences of his criminal convictions for serious crimes that had far reaching institutional harms.' Frequent government critic Kung Raiyas trial was completed on May 20 without the presence of the defendant, who was staying in Thailand in anticipation of the verdict. The barely hour-long trial was completed by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday, with Kung Raiya represented by his lawyer Sam Sokong. The critic was arrested in July at a memorial service for slain political commentator Kem Ley, charged with incitement to commit a felony and given bail in November. He was arrested for selling t-shirts with Kem Leys image and words. He also provided the phone number for a taxi driver who could ferry people to Phnom Penh for the memorial service. At the time, the taxi driver and Kung Raiyas wife were also questioned but released without charge. From Thailand, Kung Raiya said his arrest was unjust and a threat to anyone who wanted to genuinely criticize Cambodias social situation. The purpose of the charges against me is to silence my criticism, as well as to threaten young people and other Cambodians who dare criticize the inaction of the Cambodian Peoples Party and government officials, he said, during a phone call after the trial. Raiya said he left for Thailand in December 2019, shortly after he was given bail, and would return to Cambodia depending on the verdict. "If I am guilty, I will not go back to Cambodia because I do not recognize the court's verdict and I think I will advocate from overseas, he said. Sam Sokong, Kung Raiyas lawyer, used the short hearing to remind the court that his client was only using his right to free expression, as well as participating in political dialogue. He expected the court to rule in his clients favor on June 19, when the verdict will be delivered. Kung Raiya's wife, Sok Sreynich, said she expects the court to drop charge against her husband so their family could live together again. "I call on the lower court and those [officials] involved in my husband's case to please give my husband justice because he is innocent, said Sok Sreynich. VOA could not reach Y Rin, spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, for comment on Wednesday. By Express News Service KOCHI: A 105-member medical team from Kerala has travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a medical mission to treat COVID-19 patients, making this the second big medical contingent from the state to reach the Gulf country to counter the spread of the pandemic. The medical team comprising of members from almost all the districts of Kerala reached Abu Dhabi. They flew from the Kochi airport on a specially chartered Etihad aircraft on Wednesday. An initiative of VPS Healthcare, a healthcare group in the UAE, the team members will be working in the critical care units various COVID-19 hospitals across the Emirates. This will further strengthen the efforts of the UAE government in combating COVID-19, officials said here. The travel date was decided after the medical team received permissions from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Health in both countries for the travel. Of the 105 members who arrived in the UAE, 75 are recruits from India who have come to join the UAEs battle against the pandemic. The rest 30 are employees of VPS Healthcare who have been in Kerala on vacation. They couldnt return due to lockdown. All of these team members are extensively trained and experienced in critical care. VPS Healthcare Director (India) Hafiz Ali Ullat said they are extremely proud to send a medical team to the UAE from Kerala. We extend our deep gratitude to the governments of India and the UAE, and the state government of Kerala for its support of this medical mission. During this health emergency, we strongly believe it is our responsibility to work hand-in-hand with the government. In UAE, we have been working with the government from the beginning. Sending a medical team is a part of our continuous effort in supporting the government there during this pandemic. The medical team will be following all the travel guidelines and maintain social distancing norms even on the flight, he said. Vinod Sebastian, one among the senior nurse among the medical team, said it is a proud moment for each of them. It is our duty to serve and treat the patients during this unprecedented crisis. For the majority of the nurses in the medical team, it is their maiden journey to a foreign country. All of them are extensively experienced in critical care. We are very confident and motivated. We are taking it up as a challenge, he said adding that his family has been very supportive and encouraging. Vinod had been a frontline volunteer when Kerala faced devastating floods in 2018 and 2019. All the members of the medical team underwent a COVID-19 test on Sunday and all were tested negative. The travel of the nurses to Kochi was facilitated by the Office of the Kerala Chief Minister. Four KSRTC buses were arranged for this. The team followed social distancing norms while travelling. Early this month, a team of 88 health workers, including 38 from Kerala, also left for UAE to treat the COVID patients in the Arab country. A viral video showing an Asian man being 'sneezed on' before he's asked if he's 'got a bit of Wuhan' is being investigated by police. John Kapiris from St Bernards Fruit and Veg in Adelaide uploaded a video to TikTok on Thursday showing a man pretending to sneeze on an Asian worker using a spray bottle. South Australia Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that they are investigating the incident. The Asian worker yelps in surprise as he wipes his face with his hat as the man who sprayed him says 'sorry buddy' pretending to clean his nose The Asian worker yelps in surprise as he wipes his face with his hat as the man who sprayed him says 'sorry buddy, bloody hell' pretending to clean his nose. 'Wuhan huh? Getting a bit of Wuhan up you,' the person recording the footage said. A few moments later, the man who sprayed the Asian employee is shown the spray bottle and the pair both laugh. Mr Kapiris apologised for sharing the video after he was called racist. 'It's the latest craze on TikTok where someone's gone around spraying people making out they sneezed on them when in fact they are using a water bottle,' Mr Kapiris said in a video shared to Instagram. 'Guys, all I want you to know is I'm not a racist person. I'm not racist at all. I supply Chinese restaurants, I supply many Asians. I am not a racist. 'Everyone's got a different sense of humour.' He then proceeded to threaten those who are 'abusing the s**t out of me' saying he will abuse them back because he's not one to 'cop no s**t' from anyone. Towards the end of his apology video, Mr Kapiris then revealed that the footage was sent in to him by a follower. 'I'm not a racist person and it wasn't done intentionally to hurt or p**s anyone off,' he concluded. I want to report a robbery in progress. Be on the lookout for the governors of California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. They are attempting to steal from the federal treasury in order to make up for decades of unfunded liabilities. Known associates include Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. They should be considered manipulative and dangerous and likely to stab innocent Americans from behind. Caution is advised. I only partially jest. Right now, most Americans think the biggest story in the country is a virus from Wuhan, China that has shut down their places of business and forced their families into house arrest. That's only part of the story. There's another part being actively gamed out by shady political operatives in the smoke-filled back rooms of every "dark blue" statehouse, city hall, and precinct captain pool hall around the country: how they can turn this once-in-multiple-generations "black swan" economic catastrophe into a goldmine that gets them out of hock with their many creditors. The Democratic Party is attempting to cash in on the nation's current pandemic fears so that they may finally dig themselves out from the mountains of debt they've created through vote-buying schemes and interest group bribes that have kept them in continuous power of their state and city governments while creating the most financially insolvent treasuries in the nation. The truth is that our present pandemic nightmare has set in motion an event that has been fermenting for over fifty years. Corrupt Democrat politicos have been fraudulently using the tax-and-spend powers of their offices to keep their natural constituencies financially beholden to their electoral success for generations and generations with no immediate plan for solving their growing financial albatross except the ephemeral hope that one day, somehow, they'd be able to offload the cost of all that graft and corruption onto the federal government's tab for the national taxpayers from faraway states to pay. Great-granddaddy Democrats who paid off dock workers or butchers or ice vendors for their votes by robbing from the treasury taught the lesson from one generation of grifters to the next, who used the same neat trick with ethnic groups and public unions and anybody else who saw no problem with getting rich and powerful in the present day while leaving the bill for future generations to settle. Along the way, those same "ballot-harvesters" let each generation in on a dirty little secret: the outrageously generous pension plans and health benefits and other financial perks they handed out over the years had grown so big that they could never be paid down without the federal government's help. Since Uncle Sam would never let them go bankrupt and destroy the financial health of American citizens trapped behind blue state lines, their state and city money pits were simply "too big to fail." Someday, some public emergency would set off a cascading economic calamity that would finally allow them to sweep up all the "debt for votes" Democratic Party deficits into one giant, inscrutable, and byzantine federal bailout. And young Democrats are today calling up their old corrupt grand-pappies or toasting the ones who have long since departed and saying, "Here at last, all our great sins will be washed away, so that we may begin buying votes again with a clean slate." Think how excited these liars are right now. They've been planning this great train robbery since the time that masked men on trains meant something else entirely from today. Now that the moment has come to wipe generations of debt clean, they must be beside themselves. There is simply no way the Democrats can afford to let this crisis go to waste. It has been built into the pricing of their political calculus for too many years. They may never have another chance to so masterfully settle all their accounts in one fell swoop. So when Senator McConnell publicly suggested a couple weeks back that states in financial distress should consider utilizing the nation's bankruptcy laws, Senator Schumer's fire-and-brimstone reaction came not from some deep legislative wariness that doing so might open up a Pandora's box of unintended consequences for the United States, but rather from an understanding that the creditworthiness of blue states would be so effectively destroyed that their tradition of using the treasury as a piggy bank for buying votes would come to a sudden and unavoidable end. Right now, the Democratic Party's model of doing business is on the line. It is also why Gavin Newsom will continue to hold California's economy hostage, and why J.B. Pritzker and Phil Murphy and Andy Cuomo and Ned Lamont will continue to do the same with their states. They have viewed this national shutdown as simply an opportunity to sink America into another Great Depression that wipes out President Trump's re-election chances. (In fact, those ambitious Democrats stand a better chance at winning the White House in 2024 if the Republican president stays in office and they can avoid having to mount campaigns against Biden or his heir apparent.) Instead, blue states are playing a dangerous game of "chicken" right now in which they sacrifice their own state economies and the futures of all their residents in an attempt to force President Trump and Senator McConnell into giving them what they so desperately crave the financial salvation of their political party. It does not matter how few cases of the virus continue to show up on the West Coast; Newsom will make sure California stays closed. It does not matter how many Americans or their businesses continue to suffer along the Acela corridor; the blue states will hold out for their government bailouts. Their offer to President Trump is as simple as it is crude: fund our past corruption or try winning in November without the help of our economies. It's a Faustian bargain that only the Democrats could see fit to propose. In plain sight and in broad daylight, the Democratic Party is right now extorting the president and attempting to rob the country blind. Except quite a few Americans refuse to look the other way and become their accomplices. Let's not swap temporary peace today for the Democrats' promise to make future generations their new economic hostages down the road. The blue state model of graft and political cronyism must finally die. (Newser) Drone projects don't get much more ambitious than the one envisioned by Flash Forest, which plans to plant a billion trees by 2028helping save the planet in the process. The Canadian startup says its drones, which can identify the best planting sites before dropping specially designed seed pods, can each plant up to 20,000 trees a day, while a human can manage 1,500 a day at best, Fast Company reports. The company, which aims to improve the technology to the point where two pilots can plant 100,000 trees in a day, is planting 40,000 trees this month in an area north of Toronto scorched by a wildfire. Later this year, it plans to plant 300,000 trees in Hawaii. The company says its technology will be the key to restoring forests, as well as to countering climate change. story continues below Flash Forest says the pods contain germinated seeds, fertilizer, and some "secret" ingredients, reports Newsweek. The company says that where the terrain requires it, its drones can use a firing device to shoot pods into the soil. "It allows you to get into trickier areas that human planters can't," co-founder Angelique Ahlstrom tells Fast Company. "I think that drones are absolutely necessary to hit the kind of targets that we're saying are necessary to achieve some of our carbon sequestration goals as a global society. When you look at the potential for drones, we plant 10 times faster than humans." AirSeed, one of several similar companies, plans to use its drones to replant areas of Australia devastated by last year's wildfires, per Reset. (Read more reforestation stories.) Frustrated yet again with continuing shortfalls in Ontarios COVID-19 testing, Premier Doug Ford is promising a new plan next week aimed at workers on-the-job and people without symptoms. Lets start getting out there and testing everyone possible. Thats the only way we can get a handle on this, Ford said Thursday, citing a desire to test truckers, autoworkers, taxi drivers and staff in food processing plants, among others. This latest pledge to improve testing came after Ministry of Health figures revealed Ontario has been testing fewer people for COVID-19 this week but more people are coming up positive for the highly contagious virus. On Monday, labs across the province used just one-quarter their testing capacity and that rose to only half by Wednesday the same type of problem that so riled Ford last month he vowed to be like a dog on a bone with health officials. He supersized that threat Thursday. Ill be like an 800-pound gorilla on their backs every single day if I have to until I see these numbers go up, said Ford, who noted hes relying on the advice of experts like chief medical officer Dr. David Williams. Theres a difference between what I want and whats going to happen, the premier said. The split is obvious, said one scientist. There is an evident disconnect between the premier who feels there is something wrong with our testing performance, and our chief medical officers of health who are defending our current approach, said Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said shes not convinced the province has a handle on testing after targets have been repeatedly missed. Doug Ford needs to stop the rhetoric and get to work on the solutions, she said. It feels like Groundhog Day every time the premier complains about low testing numbers, Green Leader Mike Schreiner added. The premier must tell us why he felt confident pushing Ontario into stage one reopening when our testing system simply wasnt ready. Epidemiologists and opposition parties have been long pushing for more widespread testing to get a better picture of the virus as more businesses open and risks of transmission increase with more people out and about. We simply need to be proactive, testing people based on occupational exposure, and we need to bring testing to the taxi garage, the grocery store, etceterathis is where infections will be found. Waiting for people to become desperately ill is the wrong approach, Furness added Thursday. No reason why we couldnt be maxing out our capacity every single day. In fact, wed need a lot more capacity to be properly proactive. Ford agreed with that approach but did not set a goal or a timeline for a higher level of testing than the current maximum capacity. We cant just be testing people with symptoms. Weve got to start going to the broader public and start testing as many people as possible, asymptomatic people. Until we do that, in my opinionwe cant get our hands around the whole system. How do we know how many asymptomatic people are out there right now? There were 413 new cases in Ontario as of Wednesday at 4 p.m., up from an adjusted figure of 345 for the same day a week ago, according to the Ministry of Health. There is a time lag between the official figures and the daily Star compilation as of 5 p.m. Thursday, which found 404 new confirmed and probable cases in the previous 24 hours. It was the third straight day with more than 400 new cases after 10 days below 400. Although the provinces network of government, hospital and commercial labs can process more than 20,000 nasal swabs daily, they handled 10,506 Wednesday. That further fuelled concerns the wasted capacity is a lost opportunity to more closely track the virus around the province. Weve seen it go up over the last, I think its five days now and the testing, actually, the numbers havent been there. So thats concerning, Ford said. Id understand it if we were testing 25,000 people or 20,000 and numbers creep upbut thats not the case right now. Williams, the chief medical officer, said the recent numbers of new cases at higher levels than last week is disappointing. Were pretty well at a plateau, whereas wed hoped to keep coming down in that regard, the told a news conference where he said some of the new cases are still coming from nursing homes, but could not say how many were from long-term care or spread in the community. Health Minister Christine Elliott blamed the lower testing numbers on not enough people showing up at the provinces more than 100 assessment centres and pleaded for Ontarians with mild symptoms they fear are COVID-19 to make appointments to get checked. Until late last week, centres were turning away people with mild symptoms but that was changed in a directive as the province sought to test more broadly. Perhaps our messaging and our communication wasnt as clear as it should be and were working on that now, said Williams. Testing has been a problem all week after a blitz on residents and staff in the hard-hit nursing-home sector was completed, leaving plenty of capacity to spare and infuriating critics that there wasnt a plan ready to take advantage of it. We need to significantly increase testing volumes, acknowledged Elliott, who revealed Wednesday in the legislatures question period that the government is working with the business community on expanded testing. According to the Star tally, the province has had 25,768 cases of COVID-19 since the first was reported in late January after a Toronto-area resident returned from a trip to China. There were 26 more deaths as of 5 p.m. Thursday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,091, the bulk of them in nursing homes. The Ministry of Health said there were 984 people still in hospital, including 155 in intensive care and 117 of them on ventilators to assist with breathing. Those ICU numbers have been coming down in recent weeks. Across Canada, there have been 80,555 cases and 6,062 deaths. Washington A former Green Beret and his son were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail. The Taylors were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Harvard. They appeared before a federal judge from jail via videoconference, wearing orange jumpsuits and tan face coverings due to the coronavirus pandemic. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hassink said Japan plans "as quickly as possible" to submit a formal request to extradite the Taylors. The tale of the daring escape began on Dec. 28, 2019, when Peter Taylor arrived in Japan and met with Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for about an hour, authorities said. Just before 10 a.m. the next day, Michael Taylor flew into Osaka, Japan, on a chartered Bombardier Global Express jet from Dubai with another man, George-Antoine Zayek, carrying two large black boxes with them. The elder Taylor was experienced with sticky situations. Over the years, he has been hired by parents to rescue abducted children, gone undercover for the FBI in a sting on a Massachusetts drug gang and worked as a contractor for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last assignment had landed him in a Utah jail for 14 months, caught in a federal contract fraud case that upended Taylor's family and finances before he agreed to plead guilty to two charges. It's not clear yet how Ghosn hooked up with Taylor. At their arrival, Taylor and Zayek, his Lebanese-born colleague, told airport employees they were musicians carrying audio equipment. Meanwhile, Ghosn, who was out of custody on a hefty bail, headed to the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and met up with Peter Taylor in his hotel room, authorities said. The elder Taylor and Zayek joined after a brief stop to rent a separate room near the airport. Soon after their arrival, the group left the Grand Hyatt and split up. Peter Taylor headed to the airport to hop on a flight to China, court documents said. The others hopped on a bullet train and arrived at the Shin-Osaka train station about four hours later, authorities said. They hailed a taxi and went back to the towering luxury hotel where Taylor and Zayek had booked a room earlier in the day. They all went in; only two would be seen walking out. Authorities say Ghosn was inside one of the big black boxes, lugged by the two men to Japan's Kansai International Airport, authorities said. The boxes passed through a security checkpoint without being checked and were loaded onto a private jet headed for Turkey, the documents say. At 11:10 p.m., the chartered Bombardier, its windows fitted with pleated shades, lifted off with Ghosn stowed aboard. The flight went first to Turkey, then to Lebanon, where Ghosn has citizenship but which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Two days later, Ghosn announced publicly he was in Lebanon. He said he fled because he could not expect a fair trial, was subjected to unfair conditions in detention and was barred from meeting his wife under his bail conditions. Ghosn maintains he is innocent of allegations he underreported his future income and committed a breach of trust by diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. He says that the compensation was never decided on or received, and that the Nissan payments were for legitimate business purposes. Peter Taylor had traveled to Japan at least three times since July 2019 and met with Ghosn at least seven times during those visits, according to court records. Japanese officials had also issued a provisional warrant for Zayek's arrest. Lebanese authorities said Ghosn entered the country legally on a French passport, though he had been required to surrender all three of his passports to his lawyers under terms of his bail. He also has Brazilian citizenship. People stand next to an uprooted tree after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in Kolkata, India, on May 21, 2020. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters) Cyclone Kills at Least 82 in India and Bangladesh, Flooding Lowlands KOLKATA/DHAKAThe most powerful cyclone to strike eastern India and Bangladesh in over a decade killed at least 82 people, officials said, as rescue teams scoured devastated coastal villages on Thursday, hampered by torn down power lines and widespread flooding. Mass evacuations before Cyclone Amphan made landfall undoubtedly saved countless lives, but the full extent of the casualties and damage will only be known once communications are restored, officials said. In the Indian state of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said at least 72 people had perishedmost of them either electrocuted or killed by trees uprooted by winds gusting up to 185 km per hour (115 mph). She said the storm had carved a 400-km long swathe through the state and announced a 10 billion rupee ($130 million) emergency fund to rebuild roads, water and health systems. These areas have been devastated, she said. In neighboring Bangladesh, the initial death toll was put at 10. I have never seen such a cyclone in my life. It seemed like the end of the world, said Azgar Ali, 49, a resident of Satkhira district on the Bangladeshi coast. A man salvages his belongings from the rubble of a damaged shop after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in South 24 Parganas district in the eastern state of West Bengal, India, on May 21, 2020. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters) When the cyclone barreled in from the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, a storm surge of around five meters caused flooding across low-lying coastal areas. Reuters and other television footage showed people wading through knee-deep water and buses that had been smashed into each other. Villagers could be seen trying to lift fallen electricity poles, fishermen hauling their boats out of a choppy sea, and uprooted trees lying strewn across the countryside. A man walks over a collapsed wall after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in Kolkata, India, on May 21, 2020. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters) Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Designated a super cyclone, Amphan weakened after making landfall. Moving inland through Bangladesh, it was downgraded to a cyclonic storm by the Indian weather office, and it was expected to subside into a depression later. Low-lying Bangladesh has a history of cyclones, but even by those standards Amphan was powerful, said Mostak Hussain, humanitarian director for Save the Children in Bangladesh. Weve received reports that more than 5 million people were disconnected from the electricity grid for their own safety as winds of 150 kph smashed into power lines, destroying homes and uprooting trees, he said. Concern was also growing over flooding in the Sundarbans, an ecologically fragile region straddling the Indian-Bangladesh border, best known for its thick mangrove forests and tiger reserve. The tidal surge submerged part of the forest, said Belayet Hossain, a forest official on the Bangladeshi side. We have seen trees uprooted, the tin roofs of the guard towers blown off. A man cuts branches of an uprooted tree after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in Kolkata, India, on May 21, 2020. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/TPX Images of the day/Reuters) On the Indian side, village official Sanjib Sagar said embankments protecting a low-lying island where some 5,000 people live had been washed away, and he had been unable to contact authorities for help. Authorities in both countries managed to evacuate more than 3 million people to storm shelters before Amphan struck. But the effort was focused on communities that lay directly in the cyclones path, leaving villages on the flanks still vulnerable. The two countries are already battling to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and some evacuees were initially reluctant to leave home for fear of infection in packed storm shelters. By Ruma Paul and Subrata Nagchoudhury Live music may be in hiatus but these artists are ensuring the soundtrack to our quarantined lives can continue. Keep Climbing, Delta Goodrem An anthem to moving on, Delta continues the journey that she began with 2018's Think About You.Her voice only gets better with age and her prowess as a songwriter is in full force in this heartbreaker. Delta Goodrem has released a new single called Keep Climbing. Dark Parts, Washington Brisbane's first lady of indie pop returns with the sexiest track from her extensive back catalogue. Her early jazz roots are on show through the exciting, unexpected syncopated beats that weave through this absolute bop about being vulnerable. Some Boys Never Learn, Jae Laffer The Panics' Jae Laffers is back. The debut track from his new album, out today,offers a dissarmingly frank rocker with slick guitar and Laffers' stunning voice in full force. Just as many aspects of American society changed after 9/11, we should anticipate significant changes to how we work, travel, educate our children and approach health care as a result of COVID-19. Because we have so quickly adjusted to conducting business and school through teleconferencing in the last weeks and months, it stands to reason that telehealth is now poised to create a dramatic shift in health care delivery. For years, telehealth providers have treated patients, prescribed medication, monitored vital signs and provided other services remotely. In fact, telehealth has often been a contributing factor in improving patient outcomes. Yet, even though experts have long viewed telehealth as a solution to lingering issues related to health care access, especially for mental health patients, seniors and rural communities, this method of delivery has not been widely accessed. Patient preferences, regulatory roadblocks and providers unwillingness to invest in telehealth have been, up until now, barriers to the expansion of telemedicine. But the pandemic has altered that landscape considerably, as patients attitudes changed, burdensome rules were waived, and providers were forced to redirect investment almost instantly. A vast majority of mental health services are now provided online and over the phone. After a steep learning curve, some practitioners are reporting that telehealth solutions are preferable. This is especially true for those who do not have access to reliable transportation, which is often a barrier to health care. Adolescent patients are often more willing to interact through a screen than in person. Providers are reporting breakthroughs in family counseling sessions in which adolescent behavior was an issue. The Center for Health Care Services provides behavioral health services to the most vulnerable Bexar County residents. CHCS expanded telehealth capabilities in March in response to the pandemic. Three-quarters of CHCS patients now use telehealth. We anticipate the need to serve more San Antonio citizens in the coming weeks and months as they navigate returning to work, school and life, said Jelynne Burley, chief executive officer at CHCS. One real benefit of the shift to telehealth is no-show rates for CHCS appointments have declined. This is consistent with reports from the behavioral health industry nationwide. No-shows impede the delivery of effective behavioral health services, increase costs, decrease access to care and reduce efficiency in the behavioral health system. It is no surprise that one of the more prominent mental health issues to arise in the wake of COVID-19 is depression caused by isolation in senior patients. There are more than 240,000 seniors living in Bexar County. Before the pandemic, only 4 percent of seniors had ever used telehealth services, according to a 2019 survey. An April survey found a dramatic increase in respondents willingness to use telehealth services as safety emerged as a top priority. In response to the pandemic, the Trump administration enacted sweeping regulatory reforms to expand access to telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries in March. Medicare telehealth visits quickly skyrocketed exponentially. Congress and the administration should maintain and build on these reforms to expand telehealth services to seniors permanently. Those who live in rural communities are among those who benefit the most from increased access to telehealth. As 26 rural Texas hospitals closed since 2010, the Texas Legislature passed a series of laws that dramatically increased the role of telehealth statewide. The state deserves praise for extensive rule changes that effectively expanded telemedicine services in response to the pandemic. Telehealth is one of the most valuable tools we have to ensure Texans continue to receive the heath services they need, said Gov. Greg Abbott. Moving forward, the Legislature should aggressively build on this foundation and continue to expand telehealth eligibility and reimbursement. The Trump administration provided a framework for such an effort with a recent release of guidelines to encourage states to expand telehealth for Medicaid and Childrens Health Insurance Program patients. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Seema Verna said in the Wall Street Journal that the pandemic has taken us to a new frontier of telehealth, and theres absolutely no going back. Policymakers should recognize this reality and encourage and augment telehealth services to expand access, improve care and control costs. T.J. Mayes is a San Antonio-based attorney, community volunteer and host of KLRNs On the Record. Australian shoppers can save big money on their winter wardrobe by picking up a flattering pair of split-hem trousers at Kmart for a fraction of the price charged by other retailers. The trendy 'Ponte' leggings are available in sizes six to 20 for just $17 in-store and online nationwide, and they look identical to designs almost 50 times the cost. Similar styles are in stock at Zara for $69.95, Bardot for $129.99 and PrettyLittleThing for $60, while luxury designers like Wardrobe NYC are charging an eye-watering $835 a pair. Made from a stretchy blend of viscose, nylon and elastane, the Kmart pants are stitched with a thick elastic waistband that sculpts the hips and smooths the stomach, making all shapes appear slimmer. The tapered hems, which are slit in half a few inches above the ankle, elongate the body, creating the illusion of longer, leaner legs. Scroll down for video What's the difference? Australian fashion blogger Paige Kennedy (left) wears the $17 'Ponte' leggings from Kmart on May 12, and British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (right) wears $835 split-hem leggings from Wardrobe NYC on March 10, 2020 How much you could save by buying $17 split-hems at Kmart Wardrobe NYC: $835 Kmart saving: $818 Aje: $325 Kmart saving: $308 Viktoria and Woods: $280 Kmart saving: $263 Bardot: $129.99 Kmart saving: $112.99 Zara: $69.95 Kmart saving: $52.95 PrettyLittleThing: $60 Kmart saving: $43 Advertisement A model wears the Bardot $129.99 split-hem pants, which are identical to but almost eight times more expensive than Kmart's $17 Ponte leggings Australians have been raving about the leggings on Instagram, with affordable style bloggers like Paige Kennedy praising their comfort, versatility and timeless appeal. Supremely versatile, the pants are the perfect piece to take you from the office to the pub for upcoming post-isolation celebrations, while still being comfortable enough to lounge around in if youre continuing to work from home. Pair split-hems with a woolen cardigan or neutral coloured crew neck for a casual daytime look and sharpen them up with a white shirt and colourful, structured blazer for evenings out at bars and restaurants. The key to nailing the look lies in your choice of footwear. Split-hems should be paired with heels to elongate the legs even further and prevent the tapered detail from trailing on the ground. They don't need to tower to six inches - kitten-heeled sandals or boots with a low block heel will do. Australian affordable fashion blogger Dani aka Luxe and Lemonade wears Kmart's $17 Ponte leggings with a beige cardigan and point-toe flats (left) and a white shirt and block heeled sandals (right) Debuted by Victoria Beckham at London Fashion Week in September 2018, split-hem trousers have since become a staple in the wardrobes of celebrity stylists and some of the world's top models. Catwalk megastars and influencers are fans of the look, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley regularly posting Instagram photos in a pair of $835 split-hems from Wardrobe NYC and Mancunian fashion blogger Megan Ellaby teaming checkered designs with matching blazers. Demand for split-hem pants has skyrocketed since the beginning of the year, with Google searches up 1,000 percent between January and February 2020, according to data from clothing app LikeToKnow.it. Forty-two people tested positive for COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the number of cases in the state to 153, officials said here. A majority of the fresh cases have recently returned to the state from either Maharashtra or West Bengal, they added. Of the new cases of COVID-19 infection, 31 are from Hamirpur, six from Kangra and five are from Solan district, the officials said. Four patients were also discharged in Kangra during the day, taking the number of those who have recovered from the disease so far to 59, they added. The number of active cases in the state now stands at 90. Forty-one of these are from Hamirpur, 28 from Kangra, five each from Solan and Bilaspur, four from Mandi, two each from Sirmaur, Una and Chamba, and one from Kullu, the officials said. Four people have so far died due to the disease in the state, they added. Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner Harikesh Meena said most of the fresh cases reported in the district had returned from Mumbai in a special train on May 18 and were kept under institutional quarantine at different places. They have been admitted to various COVID centres of the district for treatment and isolation, he added. Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said six Mumbai returnees, including a woman, in Kangra district and five West Bengal returnees in Solan district have tested positive for the infection. In Solan, all the five cases were from the Ramshehar area and they had returned from West Bengal on May 15, the special secretary said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Googles flurry of accessibility updates goes well beyond improvements to Maps. Its releasing its long-promised Action Blocks feature (above) as an Android app, greatly simplifying Google Assistant tasks for people with cognitive and motion disabilities. You can call a family member, turn the lights off or take a selfie with a single tap on the home screen. Live Transcribe is also considerably more useful for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Its updated Android app can vibrate your phone when someone nearby says your name, allows custom names for places and objects, and makes it easier to search through past conversations. Seven new languages are available, too, including Albanian, Estonian and Punjabi. Sound Amplifier is getting just two updates, but theyre important. Its updated Android release adds support for clarifying audio from Bluetooth headphones. You can use your Pixel Buds to help understand conversations, to put it another way. And if you have a Pixel phone, the second update can also boost the audio from whatevers playing on your device, such as a podcast or a YouTube video. Fans can now rejoice as their wish to reunite with the uber cool clan of Metro Park comes true starting Saturday, 23rd May 2020 on ErosNow.com! After gaining much applause and adulations for its first season in 2019, the premium OTT platform Eros Now, has proudly announced the release of a very special Quarantine edition of its original series titled Metro Park. Five episodes of 3 to 5 minutes each, promises to take fans on an exciting joyride as it showcases a fascinating story that revolves around the members of a Gujarati family settled in New Jersey, USA. Over the years, Indian culture has made its presence felt globally. Regardless of which part of the world we are in, our deep-rooted values have given birth to many Indian neighbourhoods. The distinctive and individual characteristics of Indians settled abroad not only capture everyones attention but often our desi community is seen as a catalyst for some quirkiness. Art imitates life, and that comes across in this captivating series starring Ranvir Shorey, Purbi Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Vega Tamotia and Pitobash Tripathy amongst others. The first season received several accolades and popularised the concept of e-pooja in many places, setting an all-new trend. A perfect blend of drama and comedy, Metro Park Quarantine Edition is here to leave us all entertained. This time around, the residents of Metro Park can be seen in quarantine mode, however COVID fails to curb the spirit of its cheerful & chirpy residents even in such challenging times. In this quarantine special edition one can witness, how despite staying indoors, Kalpesh and gang adapt to the new ways of living which has become the new normal and stay cautious, creative, and maybe even a little calm. This quarantine edition has had actors shoot their portions independently at their residence. Right from Payal taking online dance sessions to Kalpesh trying his hands at cooking there is a lot that in the series that will keep you glued to the screen. Speaking up about the show, Ridhima Lulla, Chief Content Officer, Eros Group says, "The amount of love Metro Park's first season garnered last year, it got all of us at Eros Now really excited to put together a special Quarantine Edition of the show. We are aiming to deliver exciting and unique content for our viewers world over, which they can binge watch and enjoy during the lockdown. With the characters and milieu both being relatable to the current circumstances worldwide, we are confident this special edition will be showered with tons of love by the audiences. Ecstatic to be a part of Metro Park - Quarantine Edition, Ranvir Shorey said, It is always a joy to work with Eros, and even more so to work on Metro Park. It is very special to me, as it was the first series that I shot for a digital platform. Shooting for Metro Park - Quarantine Edition has been truly exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time because it is entirely shot from home by the cast, which is turning into the new normal in the times of Covid - 19. Im hopeful that Metro Park fans will enjoy watching these specials especially made for them. Omi Vaidya also spoke about working on this special edition of the series and added, People are struggling in lockdown and the stories we see on tv/online suddenly seem so irrelevant and don't speak to the challenges people are facing right now. Because of Metro Park season one's success and the immense appreciation it received from audiences, we made it a point to create a special Metro Park - Quarantine Edition to give people some relief and a comedic mirror of their own lives. We are just so lucky we have such a dynamic partner like Eros Now to bring out such interesting content. It's been a wonderful experience collaborating with them as they take chances and push the envelope of quality storytelling." HALIFAX - An Immigration and Refugee Board member has ruled that an American fugitive wanted for murder in Texas will be deported, with a wide publication ban on details of his case. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX - An Immigration and Refugee Board member has ruled that an American fugitive wanted for murder in Texas will be deported, with a wide publication ban on details of his case. Board member Diane Tordorf issued a deportation order against Derek Cameron Whisenand in her April 30 decision, which was sent to The Canadian Press on Tuesday. Derek Whisenand is shown in this handout photo provided July 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Cavalier County Sheriff's Department In her reasoning, Tordorf notes she hasn't concluded Whisenand committed the Texas murder, but rather there is reasonable grounds to believe an offence was committed. The American had been detained at a Halifax provincial jail since his Dec. 30 arrest, which came after police responded to a call about the shoplifting of work boots at a Walmart in the Bayers Lake area of Halifax. The 28-year-old is a suspect in the June 2019 death of a 78-year-old man in Eastland County, Texas, about 170 kilometres southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He is alleged to have crossed illegally into Manitoba sometime in late June 2019 from North Dakota, where authorities found his car. The fugitive hasn't explained how he got to Nova Scotia, but he was found living in a tent near the commercial area in Halifax where he was arrested. The CBSA said he has no family or friends in Canada. In March, Dianne Tordorf, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, ordered Whisenand to remain detained at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility on the basis he was a flight risk and a danger to the Canadian public. She allowed media to attend the detention review hearing but imposed a sweeping publication ban on many of the details of Whisenand's case, as well as most aspects of his hearings going forward. Whisenand has told previous immigration hearings he fears for his safety if returned to the United States. An admissibility hearing is a hearing to determine if a person is allowed to remain in Canada, and can include determining factors such as whether the person is a security threat or was involved in a crime. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020. A worker (pictured May 18, 2020) wearing a protective mask cleans a divider made of plexiglass at the entrance of the Acropolis in Athens. (AFP/Aris MESSINIS) With Greece suffering fewer than 170 COVID-19 deaths over two months into the pandemic, Mitsotakis said the country's prompt response to the virus would be a "passport of safety, credibility and health" to attract visitors. "The tourism period begins Jun 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen, and direct international flights to our tourist destinations will gradually begin Jul 1," Mitsotakis said in a televised address. "We will win the economy war just as we won the health battle," Mitsotakis said. Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis said a list of nations resuming flights to Greece would be announced by the end of May, noting that Athens would focus on reviving a travel front "from the Balkans to the Baltic." Bulgarians and northern Europeans including Germans will be among the first visitors, the minister said, in addition to Israelis and Cypriots. Incoming travellers will not be required to undergo virus testing or quarantine, but sample tests will be carried out in tourist areas for epidemiological purposes, the minister said. Greece so far has carried out fewer than 140,000 tests among 11 million. Theocharis added that 600 beds would be specifically set aside for coronavirus care on Greek islands, which are traditionally among the country's top travel destinations. The EU last week said holidaymakers could be asked to wear facemasks on planes, respect social distancing on the beach and even book slots to use hotel pools. RESTAURANTS TO REOPEN MONDAY The country, which is still recovering from a decade-long debt crisis, badly needs tourism income that directly and indirectly accounts for over a fifth of its economy. Many operators have expressed scepticism about reopening owing to strict spacing rules. Lockdown restrictions began to be lifted on May 4, reversing a wave of shutdowns which followed Greece's first recorded COVID-19 death on Mar 12. Restaurants are scheduled to reopen on Monday after open-air archaeological sites were opened earlier this week and paid beaches over the weekend. Museums are to reopen on Jun 15. According to Bank of Greece figures, the country in 2019 had over 34 million visitors and revenue of over 18 billion euros (US$20 billion). To increase Greece's appeal, tax on all transport will be reduced to 13 per cent from the current 24 per cent for the coming five months, the prime minister said. And struggling businesses can be flexible with staff working hours to cut cost, he said. The Greek finance ministry earlier on Wednesday noted that without support measures for businesses, the country could face an economic contraction of up to 13 per cent this year. The jobless rate is also expected to approach 20 per cent this year. The Greek government has announced a support package of around 24 billion euros, including EU funds, to help shore up the economy. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. In any case, absence of attention to the advantages of actualizing powerful security arrangements particularly in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is required to limit the development of the market. Also, development in cloud-based security arrangements and devices, and expanding acknowledgment of enormous information examination to accumulate basic information on digital dangers is making various open doors for the development of the market. The digital security advertise offers arrangements and administrations which is used among different industry verticals, including producing, open area, BFSI, human services, aviation and guard, vitality and utilities, and IT and telecom. Open segment is one of the noticeable end clients of the market, attributable to the expanding digital assaults on state and government offices. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/6265 Also, the administration division is most inclined to digital assaults because of the nearness of government records that are stuffed with movement reports and proprietorship insights. In vitality area, security arrangements are utilized to turn away assaults that outcome in foundation control cut, creating monetary and money related impedances, and now and again even natural devastation. The most well-known assaults in the vitality and utilities part incorporate phishing, malware, infection, Advanced Persistent Threat (APT), and Trojan. Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 report includes different applications such as Application, Database, Endpoint, Network, Web and Email Security and others. This report aims to estimate the Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 for 2018 and to project the expected demand of the same by 2023. This market research study provides a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023. It provides a comprehensive review of major drivers and restraints of the market. Major companies such as Dell, IBM, Kaspersky, McAfee, Securitymatters, etc. are profiled in this report. Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 is also segmented into major application and geographies. Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/6265 Various secondary sources, such as annual reports, industry journals, forums, blogs, paid and free databases to identify and collect information useful for this extensive commercial study of Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 have been used. The primary sources, experts from related industries and suppliers, have been interviewed to obtain and verify critical information as well as to assess the future prospects of Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023. Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 have grown significantly during the last few years, and it is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the next five years, mainly driven by a growing consumption in the North America region. Global Industrial Cyber Security Market 2018-2023 is expected to grow by 8% till 2023. Full View of Report Description: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/analysis/SIC/industrial-cyber-security-market Boris Johnson wont face a criminal investigation into his dealing with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri, after a review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) recommended against it. But the details of the 112-page dossier make interesting reading and shed some light on the prime ministers conduct while he was Mayor of London. They also may give a clue about what to expect when the Greater London Assembly reopens its own separate investigation. Here are the key points: There is evidence of an intimate relationship between Johnson and Arcuri The review notes that there is some evidence that Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri may have been in an intimate relationship during some of the relevant time period when Ms Arcuri attended trade missions. It says the evidence from an associate of Arcuri suggests that this started some time before 2014 and that it ended before Ms Arcuris relationship with her present partner began, which media reports suggests was in 2016. Mr Johnson was married at this point, later separating from his wife in 2018. For reasons that arent full explained, the review says it was deemed unnecessary and inappropriate to ask Mr Johnson at this stage of the process whether a sexual relationship had taken place. Arcuri has denied that one took place. The relationship may have begun on a trade mission. The report states: Witness A stated that Ms Arcuri said she first had an intimate relationship with the Mayor on a trade mission. One text message from Arcuri to a friend detailed in the report shows the businesswoman texting her friend after a charity event: he text me right after that saying he saw you ... and then asking when he can show me his tech biking moves ... LMAO. Another acquaintance describes meeting the pair: They were very tactile with each other, flirty, and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable so I left. Johnsons officials werent happy at the perceived favours he was doing Arcuri The extent of the then-mayors favours for Arcuri such as attending events appear to have rattled some officials. In one email reproduced in the report, an employee at London and Partners (L&P), an organisation which promotes the capital abroad, wrote: Jennifer Arcuri trades off her association with the Mayor to some extent, but at the end of the day he attended the event as a favour to her. His officials were not happy about him doing so, but he had apparently promised her some time ago. She volunteered as part of his campaign team. Officials believed Arcuri had Johnson eating out of her hand Perhaps the most colourful quote in the document from from another L&P email. It shows one persons assessment of the pair, in relation to a 1,500 payment: Shes [Ms Arcuri] is very good at name dropping and has Boris eating out of her hand ... so we need to help where we can; as shes prone to a whinge. The review found no evidence of Johnson helping to Arcuris place on trade missions or obtaining funding Despite this, the review is clear that There is no evidence that Mr Johnson sought to influence, or played an active part in securing, Ms Arcuris participation in trade missions. It is this that crucially for the prime minister, means there will not be an investigation into whether he committed misconduct in a public office. The prime minister has always denied any wrongdoing. His spokesman told journalists: We welcome the fact that this politically-motivated complaint has been thrown out. Such vexatious claims of impropriety in office were untrue and unfounded. The spokesman also added that Downing Street believed the allegations were not a policing matter, and we consider this was a waste of police time. Its still possible Johnson breached the mayoral code of conduct A separate review into Johnsons conduct is ongoing, conducted by the Greater London Assembly. The IOPC seems to believe this could be worthwhile. The report states: While Mr Johnson was not under an obligation to declare on his register of pecuniary interests Ms Arcuris dealings with the Greater London Authority (GLA)/London and Partners (L&P), if Mr Johnson was in an intimate relationship with Ms Arcuri, it would have been wise for him to have declared this as a conflict of interest, and a failure to do so could have constituted a breach of the broader Nolan principles contained within the GLA 2012 Code of Conduct. The IOPC reviewers were concerned some relevant evidence may have been deleted Both this review and the GLA were apparently made harder by, the review says, the deletion of Mr Johnsons [Greater London Authority] email account and those of his appointees. It also states: The material stored in digital devices, email accounts and computer drives belonging to Mr Johnson while Mayor and his appointees was deleted when he left office in 2016. The requirement in the GLA Records Management Guidance for material concerning GLA business (which includes sponsorship and trade missions) to be transferred to executive officers prior to deletion appears not to have been followed. Mr Johnsons solicitors have said he has no relevant material in his custody or control, and Ms Arcuri has said that she deleted any relevant email correspondence and other electronic record. All eyes will now be on the GLA investigation. Aluminum Shapes Drive Through Testing Shelter We are very proud of our partnership with Aluminum Shapes and its efforts to help with preventing the spread of the Coronavirus throughout the community. On Saturday, May 16, Aluminum Shapes LLC, a fully integrated aluminum services resource, donated its second COVID-19 drive-through testing shelter in Camden County, New Jersey. The new drive-through testing location is provided through a partnership with the Camden County Freeholders and Connor Strong & Buckelew and is located at 3100 Federal Street, across from Woodrow Wilson High School. "The Freeholder Board wants to thank Solomon and Aluminum Shapes for their continued generosity and participation in our efforts to combat this insidious virus," Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli said. "His corporate citizenship is beyond reproach and we're proud to call him a partner in our effort to break the back of this virus by expanding testing to the citizens of Camden County." We saw the danger this virus posed and knew we could help, stated Solomon A. Rosenthal, Chief Executive Officer of Aluminum Shapes. Our engineers, finishers, fabricators and other employees collaborated to design the shelters to support hospitals, municipalities and businesses that will need to establish remote testing facilities without exposing front-line healthcare professionals or individuals experiencing symptoms to potential carriers of the virus or the weather. The aluminum shelters are completely recyclable, retain the COVID-19 Virus for the least amount of time of any building material, are easy to clean and disinfect, and provide a safe, sterile and secure place for hard-working healthcare workers to operate in. The shelters utilize high-grade aluminum to ensure the structural rigidity of the lightweight materials. As states make preparations to reopen sections of the economy, it is important that businesses play a key role in the preparations and ongoing path to recovery, stated George Norcross, of Conner Strong & Buckelew. We are very proud of our partnership with Aluminum Shapes and its efforts to help with preventing the spread of the Coronavirus throughout the community. Through the partnership with Conner Strong & Buckelew and The Camden County Freeholders, Aluminum Shapes is providing COVID-19 testing shelters to regional hospitals and businesses to use in their highest volume testing centers. The shelters replace the tents formerly used which were not weatherproof and were susceptible to damage from winds and storms. As the state looks for ways to safely reopen, there has been increasing demand for ways to administer testing safely. Were proud that Pennsauken is involved in providing safer workspaces to frontline healthcare workers during this challenging time, said Tim Killion, Mayor of Pennsauken Township. Aluminum Shapes has been a part of this community for a long time, so its not surprising that theyre looking for ways to use their facility to help. Were grateful that a local business is taking such a front-line role in combatting the crisis. The semi-permanent aluminum structures are available in multiple dimensions and replace vinyl tents, which the Center for Disease Control and Prevention warns that coronaviruses can remain viable for hours to days on some surfaces. Aluminum Shapes is providing several shelters and drive through testing locations to local governments in hard-hit regions, and is renting the shelters at discounted rates to businesses assisting in the COVID-19 response nationwide. To learn more about Aluminum Shapes COVID-19 shelters, or for additional information about the company, please email shelters@shapesllc.com ABOUT ALUMINUM SHAPES LLC. A fully integrated company, Shapes offers the widest range of production and distribution capabilities in the industry including: Billet Casting, Remelt, Extrusion, Die Support, Fabrication, Finishings, Aluminum Anodizing, Engineering Design Support, Shipping and Distribution. From its 267,020 square meter, state-of-the-art facility, Shapes operates a highly efficient manufacturing and distribution operation with centralized administration, marketing, and customer service. Combined with our on-site engineering staff, technical support and quality assurance procedures, we can provide our customers with more rapid order fulfillment, higher quality, and better on time delivery performance. Backed by these capabilities and significant infrastructure investments over the last decade, Shapes has created one of the most comprehensive soft alloy aluminum extrusion facilities in North America. Leaders of several opposition parties are set to discuss the plight of the migrant workers trying to reach home on foot amid the nationwide lockdown on Friday. A meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon will see the leaders of around 20 opposition parties come together on a common platform through video-conferencing. They will discuss the joint opposition strategy moving forward on the migrants issue. Besides, they will also deliberate on the dilution of labour laws in some states. The leaders are also likely to discuss the issue of economic package and raise objections to no direct cash being given to crores of migrants, who are suffering due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, sources said. They added that after losing their livelihood in the wake of the economy coming to a standstill due to the complete lockdown, the migrant workers are left with no money or food and the government has done nothing for them. The sources informed that around 17 opposition parties have agreed to take part in the meeting, which will also focus on the problems being faced by farmers. The meeting will be held at 3 pm, they said, adding that the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have not confirmed their participation. The Congress chief personally called several opposition leaders and sought their cooperation in chalking out a joint strategy to address the issue of the stranded migrants, the sources said. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee has said she will attend the meeting. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has also confirmed his participation. He is expected to urge the opposition parties to jointly raise the demand of immediate implementation of direct cash transfer of Rs 7,500 to migrants and poor people by the Centre. Yechury will also seek distribution of 10 kg of foodgrains per month for free to the needy for the next six months, besides free transportation for all migrant workers to their native places. The left parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), will also demand a reversal of the unilateral decision to dilute labour laws by some states. Yechury is likely to raise the issue of procurement of the "rabi" crops and minor forest produce at the minimum support price (MSP), besides provision of seeds, fertilisers and other inputs to the farmers preparing for the "kharif" crops. He will also seek stopping of the communal profiling, targeting and arrest of peaceful protesters, besides demanding the release of all political prisoners, particularly those arrested in Jammu and Kashmir and jailed inside and outside the Union Territory. CPI leader D Raja said his party will participate in the opposition meet and raise the issue of some states diluting labour laws. Rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which came into effect on March 25, and desperate to get home, thousands of migrant workers across the country are undertaking long and arduous journeys to their native places on foot, bicycles or packed into trucks. Many of them have been killed in accidents. The Opposition has criticised the government over its handling of the migrant crisis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) These new sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, announced April 27 . CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity. The 21 test sites in Massachusetts are part of a total of nearly 350 locations across 14 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. "As we move into a new phase of combatting the pandemic and as communities begin to safely open up their local economies, we need testing to be easily accessible," said Troyen Brennan, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, CVS Health. "By further expanding the number of drive-thru test sites available across our retail network, more people can be tested closer to home in a familiar setting." Once fully operational, more than half of the company's 1,000 test sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index. The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing that may weaken a community's ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks. "By working with partners like CVS and the health care community, Massachusetts has significantly increased COVID-19 testing and is a national leader in per-capita testing," said Governor Charlie Baker. "We are grateful to CVS for their partnership on this second major additional testing expansion at a number of sites across the Commonwealth, especially as we move toward a responsible, phased reopening of our economy." Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 22 to schedule an appointment. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients. The additional new testing sites in Massachusetts include: CVS Pharmacy, 1010 Revere Beach Parkway, Chelsea, MA 02150 02150 CVS Pharmacy, 419 East Falmouth Highway, East Falmouth, MA 02536 02536 CVS Pharmacy, 150 Lafayette Square, Haverhill, MA 01832 01832 CVS Pharmacy, 480 North Franklin Street, Holbrook, MA 02343 02343 CVS Pharmacy, 842 South Franklin Street, Holbrook MA 02343 02343 CVS Pharmacy, 136 Ashley Boulevard, New Bedford, MA 02746 02746 CVS Pharmacy, 272 Highland Avenue, Salem, MA 01970 01970 CVS Pharmacy, 720 Boston Turnpike Road, Shrewsbury, MA 01545 01545 CVS Pharmacy, 215 College Highway, Southwick, MA 01077 01077 CVS Pharmacy, 800 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA 02154 02154 CVS Pharmacy, 301 Central Street, Winchendon, MA 01475 01475 CVS Pharmacy, 652 South Street, Wrentham, MA 02093 A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here. More information on steps CVS Health has taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including support for health care providers and clinicians facing financial and administrative strain, is available at the company's frequently updated COVID-19 resource center . For downloadable COVID-19 testing media assets, including photos, video and interviews with CVS Health executives, please visit the Media Resource Center. About CVS Health CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company in the world. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contact Joe Goode, (401) 378-5220 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com China has threatened Australia's $47billion coal industry as tensions between the two countries continue to grow. Authorities in Beijing have reportedly told state-owned power plants to buy coal from inside China instead of from Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. China earlier banned Australian beef and slapped an 80 per cent tax on barley in the wake of Canberra's calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Australia's coal industry, which brings in tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy, may be next in facing tougher restrictions. Australia exported 4.3million tons of coal to China in March, an increase of 105 per cent from March 2019. China has threatened Australia's $47billion coal industry as tensions between the two countries continue to grow (pictured: coal operations at the Port of Newcastle in Australia) Australia's coal industry, which brings in $47billion to the Australian economy, may be next in facing tougher restrictions (pictured: Coal workman assessing construction project) Coal: Australia's most valuable resource The coal industry brings $47 billion into the Australian economy every year It employs 80,000 people across the country with most mines located in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria Australia is the world's third-largest producer of coal, after China and the US As a country, Australia produces approximately 68 million tonnes of brown coal every year If Australia were to cease production of its coal there would be a significant increase in world prices Australian coal is typically of high quality - it is high-energy and has low-ash content, making it suitable for modern high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-based power generation technologies Advertisement Despite China not yet confirming the ban, analysts and industry insiders told the SMH that Beijing has warned state-owned power plants to not purchase Australian coal. News began to circulate among traders following a meeting of China's National Development and Reform Commission. 'Either in that meeting or after that meeting, apparently five major state-owned utilities are said to have been directed to stop buying new cargoes of Australian thermal coal,' Wood Mackenzie's Asia-Pacific head of coal Rory Simington said. 'The idea that the government has is that the utilities will switch to buying domestic coal to support the industry, but we think it's more likely that the utilities will look to buy additional Russian coal or Indonesian coal.' Another analyst told the paper that traders are being told to opt for Russian coal over Australian coal. China has banned Australian beef and slapped a tax on barley in the wake of Canberra's calls for an inquiry into the pandemic (pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping) The threat comes after China issued another warning to Australia by opening the door to new checks on Australian iron ore in an escalating trade row overshadowed by coronavirus. The new Chinese customs rules mean that Australia's $63billion (34billion) iron ore exports could be singled out for extra checks, analysts say. Instead of mandatory inspections, China will now carry out optional checks at the request of the importer - meaning Australia's competitors could be given priority. China's retaliation has sparked fears of a global trade war involving other countries who backed an inquiry, including Britain, although Beijing claims the changes are nothing to do with coronavirus. China has changed customs rules on iron-ore imports after introducing an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley banning four Aussie beef suppliers Yu Lei of Liaocheng University told Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times: 'This is another implicit warning to Australia. 'It is associated with how Australia has acted and a general decline in demand for steel on the global level.' China's ambassador in Canberra has previously hinted at a boycott of Australian goods after Scott Morrison's government rallied global support for an inquiry. The World Health Organisation finally bowed to the pressure and agreed to a 'comprehensive evaluation' on Monday. Iron ore is Australia's biggest export to China, bringing in $63billion in 2019. The new rules, which come into effect on June 1, state that customs officers can conduct safety checks for toxic elements 'if necessary'. The General Administration of Customs said the changes are meant to 'streamline' the process and 'facilitate trade'. A haulage truck and an autonomous drilling rig at the Rio Tinto West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of West Australia One trader at Lianyungang Port told the Global Times the changes would not be used to punish Australia. 'I see it as a value-added service that will improve efficiency and inventory turnover at ports,' he said. But iron-ore analyst Du Hongfeng told the AFR the new system could target Australian exporters. 'Australia asked for a groundless investigation [into coronavirus] by following a certain country (the US). Therefore the market will link this to other things,' he said. A source familiar with the situation told Daily Mail Australia it would not be surprising if Brazilian exporter Vale was prioritised over Australian exporters for streamlined customs processing. China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 62 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil. Analysts have predicted an increased demand for Australian iron-ore this year as China embarks on more infrastructure projects and Brazilian suppliers suffer from the country's coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes on the first day of the annual meeting of The National People's Congress, which will discuss economic recovery. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Daily Mail Australia: 'We welcome any improvements in administrative arrangements that could streamline the customs clearance of iron ore imports.' China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 66 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil Last week China introduced an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley after suspending imports from four Australian beef suppliers for 30 days over alleged labelling issues. Critics including Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have said China is seeking to punish Australia for calling for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has denied this and said the barley tariff is due to concerns that Australia was 'dumping' the grain at unfairly low prices, which Australia rejects. The Global Times said relations between the two countries have 'ebbed because of Canberra's incessant efforts to spearhead an independent probe of the Covid-19 outbreak in China in order to stigmatize the country.' In an editorial the outlet warned 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy'. 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy but won't fire the first shot in a trade war,' the publication wrote. 'In view of past experience, China won't be the one to take the first provocative step, but it should be noted that any further attempt to confuse malicious COVID-19 inquiries with trade would only exacerbate the tensions, driving bilateral trade off track.' Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an independent inquiry into the deadly respiratory virus and the World Health Organisation 's handling of the crisis Last month the Chinese Embassy called Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton 'pitiful,' 'ignorant' and a US 'parrot' after he told China to 'answer questions' about how coronavirus started. On April 26 Chinese Ambassador to Australia Jingye Cheng warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products in revenge. 'Maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef,' he told the AFR. The dispute comes after a torrid year for Australia-China relations saw clashes over political interference, human rights abuses in western China and Huawei 5G equipment. Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby told Daily Mail Australia that diplomatic relations are 'at their lowest point since they began 46 years ago'. One third of Australia's exports - including iron ore, gas, coal and food - go to China, bringing in around $135billion per year. Beijing has a track record of putting pressure on exporters during political disagreements. It includes encouraging a boycott of South Korean cars after the country deployed a US missile shield in 2017 and a ban on Norwegian salmon after Chinese rebel Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo that same year. 'Trade should be independent from politics, but it's hard to completely divide them in reality,' Mr Yu told the Global Times. Australia and China have had a free trade agreement since 2015 but some exporters have still run into difficulties as relations have soured. In 2018 Beijing imposed new customs regulations on Australian wine resulting in shipments being held up in Shanghai. And last year - after Canberra stripped Chinese businessman Xiangmo Huang of his visa - major ports prolonged clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days, claiming the delay was due to 'normal' safety checks. Carrie Moran made the cold call while Maria Ramirez, a Spanish-speaking health assistant, crouched over the speakerphone at the edge of the desk. "Did they call you yet with your results?" Ramirez translated to the Maryland man in his 30s on the other end of the line. He said no. "We're calling to let you know that you tested positive for covid-19." "Oh, si," the man replied softly after a pause. "Si," Ramirez repeated. Thirty-five minutes later, Moran, a school nurse supervisor whose schools are closed because of the pandemic, had notes about the man's symptoms, his living arrangements, his job and his whereabouts since he fell ill. Similar calls are being made across the country, from California to Massachusetts. As states start to emerge from the strict shutdowns imposed as part of the effort to fight the novel coronavirus, they are scrambling to hire tens of thousands of people to trace the path of the deadly infection. Notifying those who have been exposed - and persuading them to isolate and get tested - has been a vital part of curbing the pandemic in countries around the world, including in South Korea and Germany, public health experts say. Local leaders in Maryland and top Democrats in Annapolis, the capital, have accused Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, of moving too slowly to hire contact tracers through the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center (NORC). Filling the gap, for now, are people like Moran, part of an army of school health workers deployed by the Anne Arundel County government. Over the course of a week, Moran and her colleagues made contact with the 30-something man's relatives and tried to track down his boss, along with hundreds of others exposed to infected patients. Some of their targets do not return calls. Some say they cannot afford to stay home from work or are reluctant to give information for contacts. And others have no idea when or where they may have contracted the virus, making it hard to determine who they might have infected. Karen Karnes, supervisor of the county's epidemiology program, said people have abruptly hung up the phone on contact tracers, then called back to apologize. She said she understands that it takes time for people to process the fact that they are infected and what that might mean. "It can be a real struggle," she said. "It's important that contact tracers are really good listeners, be empathetic and talk to people on a level that they feel comfortable, providing them with the education that they need to understand this disease." - - - While tests identify who has the coronavirus, contact tracing - a public health practice widely used in underdeveloped countries and marginally in the United States - determines how far it has spread. "If you don't know where the enemy is, how are you supposed to beat it?" asked Anne Arundel County Executive Stueart Pittman, a Democrat. According to a recent study, a person with the coronavirus, on average, can infect two or three other people, each of whom is likely to infect two or three more. Through 10 iterations, that means one positive case can turn into more than 59,000 infections. The study, from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says the United States needs a large-scale effort of about 100,000 contact tracers to identify all coronavirus cases and trace all close contacts. Maryland has hired about 400 contact tracers who will begin their work next week, according to Deputy Health Secretary Fran Phillips. In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said the state is in the expanding its tracing force from 300 to 1,300. The District of Columbia has hired an additional 130 contact tracers to meet its goal of 200 for the first phase of its recovery. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said the new hires should finish training by June 1. But Anne Arundel, a largely suburban county of more than a half-million people on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, is already paying almost 100 school nurses and others to do the work. In two months, the team grew from six registered nurses to 86 nurses, health assistants, bilingual support staffers and behavioral health specialists. "The governor is talking about it now, as they plan a pilot program with NORC," Pittman said earlier this week. "We've been doing it." County Health Officer Nilesh Kalyanaraman described the team's mission as a mix of detective work and social work. Along with ferreting out who may have been exposed, contact tracers have found themselves consoling the grief-stricken and locating resources for families who need food, shelter, diapers, formula or medical assistance. "We should call it contact-tracing case management," Pittman said. "We're doing case management on every one." Moran gathers details about her patients and anyone with whom they may have been in proximity for more than 10 minutes - the amount of time in which exposure is possible, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She calls daily to monitor their condition and remind them to remain isolated in quarantine. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, praised the county's early launch of contact tracing and its focus on black and Hispanic communities and other vulnerable populations. Contact tracing for Anne Arundel's first known case - a woman in her 70s from Montana, in town to visit relatives - focused on those family members. The trail in other cases has led to a party attended by an infected person, a military base and a doctor's office. "We did put the people from the party on quarantine," Karnes recalled. She said it is nearly impossible to pinpoint where an infected person was exposed, unless it is traced back to a family member or co-worker. But still, they try. "It's kind of difficult," she said of coming to a conclusion that a person may have became infected during a trip to the grocery store or the bank. "Even with salmonella, you ask: 'You ate here? You ate there?' You try to figure it out, but you really can't." One of the team's most challenging cases originated in a house divided into four apartments. Sixteen people lived there. After a man in his 40s died and posthumously tested positive for the coronavirus, 13 other occupants - ages 8 through 70 - tested positive, too. The grieving relatives were reluctant to provide information to contact tracers, Karnes said. Others in the home, many of whom spoke Spanish, expressed a distrust of government. "For some of the teenagers, it was difficult to have them understand the need to stay in the home," she said. "One of the girls had a job. She was concerned about her family, and we wouldn't let her go to work." The contact tracers are working on 855 cases, their biggest caseload since the outbreak. They average about 75 new cases a day, Kalyanaraman said. The county expects to bring on additional employees from government or the local community college as the number of positive cases mount. The disease-prevention bureau is also looking at how technology could play a role. - - - On the corner of Moran's desk is a black plastic file holder her team has dubbed the "happy bin." It is the home for closed cases, ones in which the patient is healthy and the contacts are cleared. "One down," a nurse said one recent day, walking into Moran's office waving a file and dropping it in. But dozens more yellow folders remained in Moran's pile. One belonged to the man in his 30s. He told Moran in their initial conversation that he had been staying in a separate bedroom for four days, away from his wife, 6-month-old daughter, brother and two dogs. Moran told him it was crucial that he remain isolated - even from his pets. The man had started running a fever five days earlier. Worried that he might have the virus, he stopped working at his job at a grocery store in Hanover. His fever continued, and he went for a coronavirus test. Over the weekend, the man said, his chest tightened and his heart began to race. He later realized it was an anxiety attack. On that Saturday, his wife took the baby to the emergency room because her temperature had spiked. His wife had a fever, too. Both were tested. Moran repeated that the man should stay away from his family. She asked whether he had a separate bathroom. He said there was a half-bathroom and he washed it down with bleach whenever he used it. She asked what type of interaction he had with people at work. He said that he worked in quality control and that his contact was limited to the truck driver delivering food. Moran took the name and number of his supervisor and suggested that he contact his bosses to let them know he was sick. A week later, Karnes said the man's daughter, wife and brother all had tested negative. But the supervisor at the store had not returned Moran's calls, so she did not know whether he had any symptoms or should isolate. And, despite Moran's insistence, the man, wearing a mask, had left his room to play with his daughter, potentially exposing her to the virus again. "We're just trying to reinforce to him why he needs to stay isolated," Karnes said of the efforts made by the contact tracers. The man was feeling better and had been removed from isolation. But the file had not made it to the "happy bin." The man's wife, brother and daughter had mild symptoms and remained in quarantine. - - - The Washington Post's Fenit Nirappil and Antonio Olivo contributed to this report. Advertisement Photographs of plastic coverings and squalid tents lining Los Angeles' freeways's on and off ramps have shown the shocking extent of the homeless crisis in the city - as city and county officials row over who will pay to disperse the 7,000 people living in the roadside encampments. An order issued last week by US district judge David O. Carter asked authorities to form a plan by tomorrow to move the thousands of homeless people living alongside freeways. The judge cited concerns over the effect of tailpipe fumes on the health of those living underneath congested zones. Other threats to safety include the risk of the freeways' collapse during an earthquake or if the camp falls in the path of a car crash, reported the Los Angeles Times. A hearing to discuss how city and county officials are going to respond to the order was cancelled yesterday after the authorities failed to come up with a combined solution. Talks broke down on Tuesday evening after the two parties struggled to decide how to fund the monumental operation. An order issued last week by US district judge David O. Carter asked authorities to form a plan by tomorrow to move the thousands of homeless people living alongside freeways. Pictured, plastic is draped over items to form a makeshift shelter next to a freeway off-ramp in Los Angeles The judge cited concerns over the effect of tailpipe fumes on the health of those living underneath congested zones. Other threats to safety include the risk of the freeways' collapse during an earthquake or if the camp falls in the path of a car crash, reported the Los Angeles Times A hearing to discuss how city and county officials are going to respond to the order was cancelled yesterday after the authorities failed to come up with a combined solution. Talks broke down on Tuesday evening after the two parties struggled to decide how to fund the monumental operation The order will take affect tomorrow, but a dispute over who will pay the tens of millions of dollars for extra shelter places to send the thousands of dispersed homeless has left the city without a plan. Los Angeles county and city representatives offered separate outlines for how they would deal with the order, both with varying degrees of detail but focusing on creating more shelter spaces and safer parking areas for the homeless to move to. Carter was forced to cancel the hearing when he realized the authorities had failed to combine their ideas. County officials proposed a 'shared funding arrangement' but had no specific breakdown over who would pay for what. And city officials refused to agree to the plan without knowing how much they would be expected to pay. 'The City would not agree to a shared funding arrangement as proposed by the County for operational costs (such as food, laundry, security, etc.) associated with City's pilot programs,' according to a brief filed jointly by county and homeless advocates. The order will take affect tomorrow, but a dispute over who will pay the tens of millions of dollars for extra shelter places to send the thousands of dispersed homeless has left the city without a plan Los Angeles county and city representatives offered separate outlines for how they would deal with the order, both with varying degrees of detail but focusing on creating more shelter spaces and safer parking areas for the homeless to move to Carter was forced to cancel the hearing when he realized the authorities had submitted different plans. County officials proposed a 'shared funding arrangement' but had no specific breakdown over who would pay for what. And city officials refused to agree to the plan without knowing how much they would be expected to pay Grey plastic sheets are pinned to a fence along a sidewalk underneath a freeway in the city. Rob Wilcox, a spokesman with the city attorney's office, said the city 'is not comfortable finalizing an agreement committing itself to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the development of shelter opportunities before resolving the funding of those needed services' This makeshift shelter has the words 'not now! not in the mood to deal with'. The homeless people living in these squalid conditions could soon be moved on, but officials are unsure how to pay for the extra shelter places and housing needed Rob Wilcox, a spokesman with the city attorney's office, said in a statement that the city 'is not comfortable finalizing an agreement committing itself to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the development of shelter opportunities before resolving the funding of those needed services.' Daniel Conway, policy advisor to the LA Alliance for Human Rights claimed the 'disconnect' revealed the extent to which the city is in a homelessness crisis. He said: 'Unfortunately, the city and county couldn't agree on who was responsible for funding and operating these shelters. This disconnect says a lot about how Los Angeles' homelessness crisis has reached this scale.' Meanwhile, homeless advocates have warned the order could result in people in need being moved but not placed into suitable housing or a shelter. Shopping carts hold people's possessions including black bags filled with clothes. Daniel Conway, policy advisor to the LA Alliance for Human Rights claimed the 'disconnect' revealed the extent to which the city is in a homelessness crisis A rainbow umbrella brightens up its drab surroundings at the encampment in the city. Homeless advocates have warned the order could result in people in need being moved but not placed into suitable housing or a shelter Tents of all sizes occupy the sidewalk underneath the freeway. Los Angeles' Mayor Eric Garcetti fears moving the homeless from their established camps could only be done by law enforcement officers And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said dispersing the homeless could cause further outbreaks of Covid-19. Los Angeles' Mayor Eric Garcetti added that moving the homeless from their established camps could only be done by law enforcement officers. 'There's ethical issues. There's health issues. And then there's just logistical issues,' he told The Times. 'I don't know who could enforce this besides a law enforcement officer. I don't think I want those images. That's not good for us.' Of some $1.57 billion given to Los Angeles County by the federal government in the first wave of relief funds, the city received $700 million. There are thought to be 15,000 homeless people aged over 65 or with health conditions such as diabetes, groups considered more at risk of death if infected by the virus, living in the city Items from this encampment have fallen into the road. The federal order is expected to test the limits of Martin vs City of Buise, a ruling on homelessness by 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal that found it was unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping on sidewalks where there is an absence of shelter places A woman sits in a wheelchair at this roadside homeless encampment in the city. Ed Avol, professor and chief of the environmental division at USC's Keck School of Medicine, said those who live near high concentrations of traveling vehicles, even if living in a house, are more likely to suffer from asthma, breathing problems, diabetes and other medical problems Pete White, executive director of the antipoverty group Los Angeles Community Action Network, said he worries an order to clear encampments would mean enforcement from LAPD and the county Sheriff's Department A man reads a book while sitting in an office chair at an encampment. Since the outbreak began in the county in late January, 3,300 hotel beds have been secured by officials to house the homeless population. In a county with at least 60,000 people living on the streets Mayor Garcetti set up a thousand emergency shelter beds in converted city recreation areas Since the outbreak began in the county in late January, 3,300 hotel beds have been secured by officials to house the homeless population. In a county with at least 60,000 people living on the streets Mayor Garcetti set up a thousand emergency shelter beds in converted city recreation areas. There are thought to be 15,000 homeless people aged over 65 or with health conditions such as diabetes, groups considered more at risk of death if infected by the virus, living in the city. Some 39,573 have tested positive for coronavirus so far in the county, with 1,913 recorded deaths. The federal order is expected to test the limits of Martin vs City of Buise, a ruling on homelessness by 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal that found it was unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping on sidewalks where there is an absence of shelter places. Further plastic sheeting marks another camp next to a train, which is aptly emblazoned with the words 'Clean-Air First'. Of some $1.57 billion given to Los Angeles County by the federal government in the first wave of relief funds, the city received $700 million The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said dispersing the homeless could cause further outbreaks of Covid-19. Words on a sheet at this site read: 'Beining exployted honk help' [sic] Bicycles line the road at an encampment. Although the order is expected to be fulfilled tomorrow, neither the city nor county authorities have been able to think of an effective way to disperse these roadside camps Ed Avol, professor and chief of the environmental division at USC's Keck School of Medicine, said those who live near high concentrations of traveling vehicles, even if living in a house, are more likely to suffer from asthma, breathing problems, diabetes and other medical problems. Judge Carter wrote: 'The court has continued to learn from the parties, as well as other participants in hearings and conferences, it has become clear that many homeless individuals face an additional, immediate health hazard as a result of camping near freeway overpasses, underpasses, and ramps.' Pete White, executive director of the antipoverty group Los Angeles Community Action Network, said he worries an order to clear encampments would mean enforcement from LAPD and the county Sheriff's Department. 'I believe Judge Carter is really invested in getting something done,' said White, whose group has intervened in the case being heard by Carter. 'The danger with simply getting something done is that oftentimes you forget about the nuance and the fact that details matter.' MailOnline has contacted Public Health Los Angeles County and Mayor Eric Garcetti's office for comment. Gina Ferazzi / Gina Ferazzi/TNS The Orange County jail will allow visitations with precautions after Memorial Day, according to the Orange County Sherrifs Office. The Orange County jail visitations will resume Tuesday, the office said in a news release. Hardin County is aiming for June 15 as the date to begin allowing visitations again, Sheriff Mark Davis said. The government plans to prepare a roadmap for a universal employment insurance system by the end of the year, the labor minister said Thursday. "The government plans to provide a roadmap by the end of this year to clear any blind spots in the universal employment insurance system," Labor Minister Lee Jae-gap said in a press briefing Thursday, "We will then hold social dialogue (over the issue) and expand the scope of beneficiaries in phased steps." The minister's remarks follow moves by the ruling party and the presidential office that have highlighted the need to reinforce the insurance scheme to enable all people engaged in economic activities to file for unemployment claims when they lose jobs. The issue emerged as many non-regular workers, the self-employed, freelancers and other vulnerable workers fell in a "blind spot" in the employment insurance system even though they have been hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. Addressing a recently-approved bill that includes people who work in the arts and performing industries as employment insurance beneficiaries, Lee said it has helped pave the way to include freelancers into the system. Lee, however, voiced regret that non-standard contract employees, such as private insurance planners, were excluded from the revised bill that was passed at the final session of the 20th National Assembly on Wednesday. South Korea runs four state-managed social insurance programs -- the national pension, health insurance, employment insurance and industrial accident compensation insurance. The employment insurance program was introduced in 1995 as the main employment safety net for regular workers in workplaces of certain sizes. All employers who hire at least one worker were required to enroll in the employment insurance starting in 1998. But non-standard contract employees, freelancers, artists, the self-employed and other vulnerable workers are not obliged to subscribe to the employment insurance as they are not regarded as workers under the labor standard act. (Yonhap) A woman wearing a protective mask passes a homeless person during the coronavirus pandemic on May 12 2020 in New York City. Victoria's Secret's parent company L Brands is about to shut more than 200 stores in malls and shopping centers across the country this year. And it expects even more closures for its struggling bra business are looming. When it released its fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday evening, the Ohio-headquartered retailer said it plans to shut permanently about 250 Victoria's Secret and Pink stores in the U.S. and Canada in 2020, or roughly a quarter of its shops in North America. It also is planning to close 50 Bath & Body Works shops for good this year, or about 3% of that business in North America. But that is just the beginning of the rout. L Brands' business was floundering before the coronavirus pandemic, but when its stores were forced shut, its troubles worsened. "We think there will be more store rationalization over the next several years as well," interim Victoria's Secret CEO Stuart Burgdoerfer said Thursday morning during a call with analysts. "We would expect to have a meaningful number of additional store closures beyond the 250 that we're pursuing this year ... meaning there will be more in 2021 and probably a bit more in 2022," he added, declining to put a number to those years. A spokesperson for L Brands further declined to provide a list of the locations set to close this year. As of May 2, L Brands was operating 1,070 Victoria's Secret and Pink locations in North America, according to its website. During the first quarter, L Brands' net sales tumbled 37% to $1.65 billion from $2.63 billion a year ago. Victoria's Secret's same-store sales were down 13%, while they surged 41% at Bath & Body Works. L Brands is facing additional pressures after its plans to sell a controlling stake in Victoria's Secret to private-equity firm Sycamore Partners were shattered because of the Covid-19 crisis. It said this week that it still aims to make Bath & Body Works a "pure-play public company," with Victoria's Secret operating as another standalone business. L Brands said it is currently talking to its landlords about the 250 closures slated for 2020. And this will add to a glut of retail real estate going back on the market. J.C. Penney is planning to close more than 240 stores as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Pier 1 Imports is liquidating its business. Nordstrom is closing 16 department stores because of the Covid-19 crisis. L Brands shares were up more than 16% Thursday morning. The stock has dropped about 21% this year. L Brands has a market cap of about $3.9 billion. Mastercard is the latest in a long line of large companies that are relaxing back-to-office policies. (Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty) Payments company Mastercard (MA) said its 20,000 staff can continue working from home until they "feel comfortable" returning to the office amid the coronavirus pandemic. "Today, a large percentage of our team is working remotely, even as most offices remain open," said a Mastercard spokesperson in a statement. "At the end of the day, our employees will make the decision on when they feel comfortable returning to an office. They know their personal circumstances and needs." Mastercard is the latest in a long line of large companies that are relaxing back-to-office policies. Earlier this month, tech giants Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) told employees they do not have to return to work in the office until 2021. READ MORE: Facebook and Google extend working from home to 2021 The moves mean employees can continue working from home for the rest of the year amid worries from staff over safety about returning to the office. Facebook has taken the next step in its return to work philosophy. Today, we announced anyone who can do their work remotely can choose to do so through the end of the year, said a spokesperson for Facebook. As you can imagine this is an evolving situation as employees and their families make important decisions about returning to work. Facebook confirmed on 20 May that although it will reopen its offices in July, it will be at just 25% capacity, require temperature checks, and will introduce multiple shift patterns. Twitter also announced this month that employees who can work remotely to do so indefinitely. UN envoy urges end to foreign support for warring sides in Libya Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 6:46 AM The United Nations (UN)'s acting envoy for Libya has called on the Security Council to press countries to end their sponsorship of warring sides in the North African country, warning that the influx of arms and mercenaries will aggravate the conflict. "From what we are witnessing in terms of the massive influx of weaponry, equipment, and mercenaries to the two sides, the only conclusion that we can draw is that this war will intensify, broaden, and deepen," said Acting UN Envoy Stephanie Williams before the Security Council. "We must not let Libya slip away," she insisted. "This council can ensure the collective security it is mandated to maintain by applying consistent and credible pressure on those regional and international actors that are fueling the conflict." Libya descended into turmoil following the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi, its long-time ruler, in 2011. For the past six years, the country has been split between two rival camps, namely the UN-recognized government based in the capital, Tripoli, and another camp based in the eastern city of Tobruk, backed militarily by rebel forces led by strongman Khalifa Haftar. The Libyan government receives major backing from Turkey, and the rebels from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Jordan. The rebels launched a deadly offensive to capture Tripoli in April last year but have so far failed to advance past the city's outskirts. The remarks by Williams came just a day after the UN's Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen also informed the UNSC that militants from Syria were being dispatched to Libya to fight on both sides of the conflict there. UAE calls for truce, diplomacy to end Libya war Meanwhile, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash proclaimed that the Persian Gulf country believed the only viable path forward in the Libyan crisis would be "an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire and a return to the political process." "The UAE's position on the Libyan crisis has been firm and clear & shared by the majority of the international community," Gargash claimed in a Twitter post on Tuesday. The assertion was made despite the UAE's persistent interference in the Libyan conflict by way of supplying Haftar with weaponry despite a UN arms embargo on Libya and conducting drone operations in support of his forces. Rebels declare retreat from Tripoli fronts Separately, a rebel spokesman announced early on Wednesday that the rebels were withdrawing two to three kilometers from all front-lines around Tripoli from midday. Ahmed al-Mismari claimed the retreat was meant to allow citizens to move more freely during the end of Ramadan and in the run-up to the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Mismari also called on government forces to do the same but did not state whether the rebel's own pull-back was contingent on it doing so. The development came after the government's biggest advance in the past year on Monday, when it captured the Watiya airbase, a significant rebel stronghold and the only major airbase near Tripoli, along with an abandoned Pantsir air defense system. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Binita Jaiswal By Express News Service CHENNAI: Although the leather manufacturing and exporting units have resumed operations after the relaxation of lockdown, the situation remains grim for the sector. Leather exporters are worried, as the industry is likely to see 30-40 per cent drop in shipments this year. The sector is facing a plethora of problems such as shortage of manpower, restrictions by government and supply chain disruption; but what has upset it more is the lack of financial relief from the Centre.Though units have resumed operations, the situation is nowhere near normal, said Sanjay Leekha, vice-chairman, Council for Leather Exports. The industry fears it would lose a major chunk of export orders due to the restrictions on industrial activities. We have started receiving export orders, but with limited manpower, we cannot complete then on time, said C Rangarajan, a leather exporter in Vellore. The units are currently functioning with 25 per cent of manpower, he said. The scenario is same across the country. Many units are located outside Delhi and due to transport restrictions, employees are finding it difficult to come to the workplace. Even migrant labourers have left. It is difficult to manage things with local labourers as the industry requires skilled hands, said R K Singh, another leather exporter based in Delhi. No major relief was announced for the leather industry. Our major concern is to ensure revival of the units, rued Leekha. The Oregon Health Authority on Wednesday reported four new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the states toll to 144 people, as known cases climbed to 3,801. Two Multnomah County women, ages 58 and 75, and as well as a 90-year-old Washington County man and 94-year-old Washington County woman were the latest Oregonians to succumb to the illness, the health authority said. In the last 24 hours, state health officials reported 65 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 10 new presumptive cases. They were linked to 12 of Oregons 36 counties: Benton (1), Clatsop (4), Deschutes (9), Josephine (2), Lane (1), Linn (1), Marion (24), Multnomah (13), Polk (1), Umatilla (4), Washington (14), Yamhill (1). Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter The overall 3,801 case count includes 3,701 positive test results and 100 presumptive cases. Death toll: People have died from the virus in 12 counties: 57 people from Multnomah, 24 from Marion, 17 from Washington, nine from Clackamas, nine from Polk, nine from Linn, seven from Yamhill, five from Benton, three from Umatilla two from Lane, one each from Josephine and Wasco. Their ages ranged from 41 to 100. Among those who have died, 61 were women and 83 were men. [Read about Oregon coronavirus deaths. Help us learn more.] County case totals: Seven counties -- Multnomah, Marion, Washington, Clackamas, Linn, Deschutes and Umatilla -- have reported 100 coronavirus cases or more. Gilliam, Lake and Wheeler have yet to document a single coronavirus case. Heres the overall count -- confirmed and presumptive cases -- by county: Baker (1), Benton (55), Clackamas (284), Clatsop (42), Columbia (16), Coos (30), Crook (1), Curry (5), Deschutes (116), Douglas (25), Grant (1), Harney (1), Hood River, (14), Jackson (52), Jefferson (24), Josephine (27), Klamath (41), Lane (66), Lincoln (8), Linn (110), Malheur (21), Marion (879), Morrow (12), Multnomah (1,018), Polk (94), Sherman (1), Tillamook (6), Umatilla (105), Union (6), Wallowa (1), Wasco (18), Washington (658) and Yamhill (63). Testing: Another 2,498 people received coronavirus test results, up from the previous days 2,398, according to figures published on the health authoritys website. So far, 102,049 Oregonians have been tested for the illness since the state confirmed its first case on Feb. 28. Ages: Of the states confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases, 2,052 people, or 54%, are under age 50, state figures show. Another 566, or 15%, are 70 and older. Heres the breakdown: ages 0-9 (44), ages 10-19 (139), ages 20-29 (568), ages 30-39 (646), ages 40-49 (655), ages 50-59 (667), ages 60-69 (516), ages 70-79 (338), ages 80-plus (228). Gender: So far, 1,995 of the cases are among women, or 52%, and 1,802, or 47%, are among men. But more men have died: 83 compared to 61 women. Hospitalizations: At least 723 of the states COVID-19 patients, or 19%, have been hospitalized at some point during their illness, according to the health authority. Currently, 53 people with confirmed coronavirus cases are hospitalized, including 25 in intensive care and 13 on ventilators. Senior care homes: Six out of 10 coronavirus deaths in Oregon a total of 83 are associated with a care center, the most recent state data show. At least 545 senior care home residents, staff and close contacts from 64 nursing, assisted and retirement homes had contracted the coronavirus. Recoveries: The median recovery time for infected Oregonians is 20 days and goes up to 24 days for people who were hospitalized with the infection, according to new numbers released Tuesday. Underlying conditions: The Oregon Health Authoritys most recent weekly report didnt include a list of underlying medical conditions most common among people who have died. An earlier analysis by the health authority proved confusing, it said, because it was based on limited medical information. The list caused "unwarranted apprehension about which groups might be at greater risk of dying from COVID-19, the report said. The health authority is now analyzing more complete medical information on the underlying conditions of hospitalized coronavirus patients and may include it in the future. Cases in Oregon prisons: The Oregon Department of Corrections on Wednesday reported a total of 143 cases among inmates so far. Positive cases have been reported at the Oregon State Penitentiary (110), Shutter Creek Correctional Institution (25), Santiam Correctional Institution (7) and Two Rivers Correctional Institution (1). Nationwide: The U.S. has identified more than 1.5 million cases and nearly 93,000 people have died. -- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632 Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories The Madhya Pradesh government said initiatives such as the amendment to the Madhya Pradesh Krishi Upaj Mandi Act will help blunt the economic slump caused by the corona pandemic as it will empower the farmers and cut their dependence on middle men to get fair price for the produce. Agriculture minister Kamal Patel, who completed a month in office on Thursday, said the state is focusing on the agri-sector to generate revenue and jobs. A lot of people think it is udyog (industry) that keeps the economy afloat, but this pandemic has proved that it is the farmers who have saved us from starvation and the sector has generated jobs, he said. Even as the government faced criticism for bringing an ordinance to do away with labour laws for the first thousand days to attract new investors, Patel said the government wants to empower the farmers and weed out middlemen. The decision to set up agriculture marketing yards and letting farmers sell their produce from their farms will change the lot of the farmers. They will no longer be at the mercy of middlemen who made profits while the farmers took home a pittance, he said. Even as farmers groups associated with the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh complained of having to sell their produce at much lower rates and tonnes of milk being discarded in the absence of demand, Patel said the Mandi act amendment will boost income since the farmers now have the option of selling their produce at higher rates. Farmers can even set up their own private mandis, warehouses and cold storages. With one licence they will be able to sell wherever they want. We have also bought milk from the farmers and made powder worth crores that will be sold once all restrictions are lifted, the minister said. To a question on whether the government has addressed concerns of farmers who were opposed to the limits set for the purchase at mandis, he said efforts are underway to see that the interest of the farmers with smaller holdings are as protected as those of bigger farmers. He also ruled out that the agri-sector will face labour shortage as migrant workers from UP, Bihar and Jharkhand are heading back to their native places. Bolivia has fired and arrested the health minister after he signed off on the purchase of ventilators at inflated prices from a firm in Spain, underscoring the global challenge to prevent graft in the coronavirus pandemic. Bolivian authorities announced the arrest of Marcelo Navajas and three other health ministry officials on Wednesday after he presented 15 new respirators at a hospital in the city of Santa Cruz. Press reports on the steep premium paid for the ventilators sparked social media backlash against the Bolivian government, which received Inter-American Development Bank [IDB] funds to buy the devices in May. The Bolivian officials purchased 170 emergency respirators from the Spanish firm GPA Innova, using $4,707,110 in IDB funds. Each ventilator cost $27,683. Bolivia's state prosecutor said in a statement on Wednesday that some officials abroad and intermediaries involved in the deal would also be investigated. Former Bolivian health minister Marcelo Navajas (right) displays one of 15 respirators that were handed over to a hospital in Santa Cruz on Wednesday, a short time before he was arrested as part of an investigation into the overvalued purchase of ventilators from Spanish firm GPA Innova for $4,707,110 Health minister Navajas was also detained in relation to the case, police said. A government spokeswoman said later that Navajas had been dismissed from his post. 'I will seek jail and order the full weight of the law against those who have taken a single cent. Every penny of corruption must be returned to the state,' caretaker President Jeanine Anez had written on Twitter late on Tuesday. In televised comments, she said she had ordered a thorough investigation 'no matter whom it brings down.' Marcelo Navajas (left) was removed from his post as Bolivia's health minister and arrested on Wednesday as the government investigated a scandal involving the purchase of 170 ventilators at inflated prices from a Spanish firm Rosario Canedo, a lawyer acting for Navajas, said the contracts were legal. 'We are going to prove, with documentation, that everything was above board and legal and in response to a historical and very tough moment, where the lives of Bolivian citizens were at risk,' she said. Reuters could not reach the Spanish firm for comment, though its chief executive told Bolivian media that the ventilators had been sold via a third party. The IDB said on Wednesday it was concerned about 'possible irregularities in the purchase of respirators' by Bolivia's health ministry using financing from the bank. As of Thursday afternoon, Bolivia had reported 199 deaths and 4,919 confirmed cases as a result of the coronavirus pandemic On Wednesday, May 20, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, a staunch believer in Christ Jesus led an online prayer against the Church of Satan after ... On Wednesday, May 20, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, a staunch believer in Christ Jesus led an online prayer against the Church of Satan after a picture showed the latter having a procession in the United States. Femi Fani-Kayode asked God to destroy the Church of Satans temple and their disciples after he described them as the seeds of Belial and the offspring of the serpent. Taking to Twitter, Kayode wrote, Angel, the ritual guild leader for the Satanic Temple of Washington state, leads the procession up the Capitol steps as part of their satanic ritual. Behold the seed of Belial, the offspring of the serpent & the children of Beelzebub. May the Lord rebuke thee satan. May the Lord crush your citadels, pull down your temples, burn your alters, and scatter your disciples, Fani-Kayode wrote as he tagged the official handle of the Church of Satan. A few moments later, the Church of Satan responded by telling Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode to learn to differentiate between the Satanic Temple and the Church of Satan. The Church said that they do not belong to the Satanic Temple, stressing that the latter is a political movement that uses Satans name to draw attention. Please learn to read, the Church of Satan told Fani-Kayode. The Satanic Temple is a political activist group that exists to troll politicians and use Satan to get headlines, press attention, and fool people. They have nothing to do with us or the established religion of Satanism. Satanists are atheists, we dont believe in a god or a devil. The Satanic Temple is a political activist group that exists to troll politicians and use Satan to get headlines, press attention, and fool people. They have nothing to do with us or the established religion of Satanism. Satanists are atheists, we dont believe in a god or a devil. An 18-year-old has been arrested by gardai investigating a Covid-19 redirect fraud in which a company was swind-led out of more than 35,000 when it tried to buy life-saving ventilators. The teenager was still being questioned at Ronanstown Garda Station last night after his arrest yesterday at a property in Maynooth, Co Kildare. He is suspected of making "direct financial profit" from the scam, and sources said he has had access to the diverted funds, which were directed to his bank account as part of an international criminal conspiracy. Fraud squad detectives were contacted by Europol earlier this month after it emerged that a Swedish company became the victim of the fraud after it tried to buy ventilators from a legitimate English supplier. "The suspect was already on the garda radar for street-level drug dealing in Maynooth, but what he has got himself involved in here is at an entirely higher level of criminality," a senior source said last night. Mule "The fact this individual was able to directly access funds from the redirect fraud shows he is more than just what is known as a mere mule." Officers from the Garda Nat- ional Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) raided the property as part of a Europol investigation into the fraud. Invoice redirection fraud happens when a business falls prey to requests, purporting to come from trusted suppliers or service providers, and is tricked into believing that a beneficiary's bank account details have been changed. As a result, funds that are due to be paid out are transferred to a fraudulent account. Sources said there has been an increase in this type of crime across Europe since the coronavirus pandemic hit. The fraudsters often use students' and other young people's bank details by offering them a fee to allow use of their accounts for a few days, but this is not the case with the teenager arrested yesterday, who is being investigated as part of the wider criminal enterprise. Money mules are usually approached by recruiters and asked to allow their accounts to be used for a transaction in exchange for a fee of a few hundred euro. Last December, gardai said they had identified 232 suspected money mule accounts active in the State between last September and November, as well as five recruiters. In the past year, gardai have made a number of arrests of organised criminals who are suspected of being directly involved in invoice redirection frauds, a crime that has cost Irish companies millions of euro. In a separate case, the Herald revealed earlier this month that fraud squad detectives seized a number of electronic devices and documentation as part of an international probe into a 1m redirect fraud. Officers from the GNECB raided a property in the Finglas area, where the target was a Nigerian national who is the subject of a major Europol alert. The suspect, who is aged in his mid-20s, was not arrested in the raid, but multiple devices were seized and are being forensically examined. Gardai have been assisting Dutch police in an investigation into an organised crime gang in relation to the theft of 1m from a company in the Netherlands. Last month, Irish firms were warned by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland to watch out for supplier and invoice scams during the global pandemic. It is going to seek moral and material compensation from the Russian Federation for the Ukrainian sailors who were captured on November 25, 2018 Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine A memorandum against Russia in the case of illegal apprehension of three ships of the Ukrainian Navy and 24 members of their crew will be submitted to the International Tribunal for the law of the sea on May 22. This was announced by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin on the air of Ukraine-24 TV channel, Interfax reports. "We plan to submit a memorandum to the International Tribunal for the law of the sea against the Russian Federation in the case against the illegal detention of three ships of the Navy and 24 members of their crew by the end of this week, on May 22," the official said. According to him, given the world practice, in particular the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, Ukraine will apply for moral and material compensation for Ukrainian sailors from Russia. As we reported earlier, On February 25, four Ukrainian fishermen, who were detained by the Russian special services in the Azov Sea, were released. I have just received information that Ukrainian fishermen: Serhiy Hoha, Oleksiy Ivanov, Vasyl Tyurkedji, and Maksym Terekhov, detained in the Sea of Azov on February 15, 2020, were released, Ukrainian MP Pavlo Melnyk reported. Teacher unions have given a cautious welcome to the Education Minister's timetable for restarting schools. The Ulster Teachers' Union (UTU) welcomed Peter Weir's collaborative approach in getting schools back to a 'new normal', while the NASUWT union said it must be done in a way that is safe and commands public confidence. UTU president Stephen McCord said parents should be assured that teachers want children back in school - but only when it's safe for them to be there. "Children should be in school and we are in touch daily with the Education Department and the Education Authority towards that end," he said. "We can assure parents and pupils that we are doing everything we can to get children back at school where they belong, but safely back at school. "Education cannot be at the price of health and lives. We welcome the fact that the Minister and Education Authority are listening to us as they plot the way ahead - for it is, after all, teachers who are at the chalk face and know what will work for their schools - and what won't." Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said the union has previously welcomed the Stormont Executive's decision not to rush ahead with the reopening of schools. "As plans are now starting to be put together in relation to how schools might begin to reopen in the new academic year, it will be critical that the Executive maintains a cautious approach which does not undermine public health or put at risk the health and safety of teachers or children," he said. "Once the details emerge of the arrangements, the NASUWT will evaluate them and advise members in the light of the key tests it has established around making schools Covid-19 secure and minimising risk. "The NASUWT's bottom line remains that no teacher or pupil should be expected to return to school until it can be demonstrated that it is safe to do so." NASUWT Northern Ireland representative Justin McCamphill added: "While it has been the practice of some schools to reopen for some days at the end of August to prepare for the beginning of the academic year, it would not be acceptable for individual schools to move their established starting date without agreement with school trade union representatives." Michael Allen, principal of Lisneal College in Londonderry, told the Belfast Telegraph that the minister's announcement was helpful, in that it brought clarity to the 'return to school' timetable, and put an end to conjecture about Northern Ireland aligning with other parts of the UK, such as England, where schools are to return in June. "It's put that speculation to bed," he said. "It gives us time to plan properly." On Tuesday, as he celebrated the arrival of two new Republican colleagues, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California was asked whether he really had a problem with mail-in voting. Rep. Mike Garcia of California had won an election that relied heavily on mail-in ballots, and so had Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin. So, what was the problem? "We don't have a problem if someone votes by mail," McCarthy said. "The problem we have is if you try to federalize the election." One day later, President Donald Trump attacked Democrats in Nevada and Michigan for expanding vote by mail. In one tweet, he threatened to "hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path," and in another he threatened the same if Nevada sent out "illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario." Since the start of the pandemic, vote by mail has been expanded in multiple states. The debate over that expansion has grown increasingly surreal and politically contradictory. As they ramp up their own absentee ballot programs, aimed at their base, state and national Republican committees have sued to stop states from making vote by mail easier, conducted polling to suggest that voters want limits on the process, and highlighted stories about the difficulty of quickly implementing all-mail elections. "The media argues [that the president] has 'no evidence' of mail-in ballot problems," Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted Thursday. "Oh really? Look what just happened in [South Carolina], where Dems sued to force a rushed transition to mail with no safeguards. Their ballots magically appeared in Baltimore." The South Carolina story didn't involve any sort of election fraud. SeaChange Print Innovations, a Minnesota-based company that printed ballots for 13 of South Carolina's 46 counties, had failed to mail 20 of those ballots to one county. The problem was not that voters' ballots were misplaced but that the voters never got them in the first place. So far, in primaries held under ramped-up absentee voting, most problems have grown around the distribution of ballots, not the legitimacy of ballots being cast. With the Republican-run Senate rejecting Democrats' vote-by-mail funding proposals - and vehemently ruling out their ambitious election-rule plans - the biggest election problem facing states is the cost and timing of mass ballot production. The political controversies have had more muted effects because most of the states that previously threw up hurdles for absentee ballot voters have been quietly taking them down. Before the pandemic, 34 states and the District of Columbia allowed voters to request absentee ballots for any reason. Since stay-home orders began, most of the remaining states have relaxed those requirements; Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas still force most voters to prove that they face conditions preventing an in-person vote. In those states, voters over 65 don't need excuses to obtain mail ballots, but other voters do. Republicans control every level of government in all but one of those states, Louisiana, where a Democratic governor found a mass vote-by-mail expansion faltering once rank-and-file Republicans opposed it. At the start of the pandemic, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, a Republican, proposed that voters could cite fear of infection as a reason to obtain a ballot. The GOP-controlled legislature shut that down, limiting new requests to voters who could prove they had valid medical conditions putting them at risk. That led to an ongoing lawsuit against the state, similar to one underway in Texas, which made the same judgment that "fear" was not a legitimate excuse for under-65 voters. And as Democrats fought in vain to change this legislatively, Republicans played the "fraud' card, warning this week that the state's elections "could be rigged forever" if a Democratic proposal succeeded. (It was quickly throttled in committee.) These new voting wars have played out even as Republicans, who enjoy a massive fundraising advantage over Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee, have stepped up their efforts to get their voters to request absentee ballots. A piece of mail for South Carolina Republicans, shared on Twitter by The Daily Beast's Sam Stein, begins with a declaration - "I will NEVER support universal vote-by-mail" - and then explains how recipients can request and mail back their ballots. ("Sometimes conservatives have legitimate reasons to vote absentee.") On Tuesday, new Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., emphasized that the biggest problem his state had faced in its May 12 special election was not fraud but the logistical difficulty of getting absentee ballots to voters in a largely rural district. "There were people who were not able to vote as a result of that mail-in system not working," Tiffany said. A Thursday memo from the RNC, warning of "the voting problems if Democrats get their way," contained four horror stories, but two had nothing to do with vote by mail - Stacey Abrams warning that a census undercount of noncitizens could affect redistricting, and an election fraud conviction in Philadelphia over ballot boxes being stuffed at traditional polling places. The party's own polling, partially released this month on its ProtectTheVote microsite, also went further than the debate over absentee ballots has, asking voters whether they'd cast in-person ballots "if the coronavirus pandemic is still prevalent in November and your state does not expand universal vote by mail." Eighty-eight percent of respondents said yes, though the party is not trying to undo all of the changes to voting since March. "We are not proactively going after states for making changes," said RNC spokesman Steve Guest. "Democrats are suing states to force them to violate the laws that are on the books, and we are stepping in to defend those state laws." Still, while the president's jeremiads go further than most Republicans are willing to, raising questions about universal vote by mail has slowed the momentum for Democrats' preferred fix to the problem of holding safe elections during a pandemic. On Thursday, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a Republican, announced the formation of "VoteSafe," a group that included Michigan's Democratic current secretary of state (whom Trump had picked a fight with) and Georgia's Republican secretary of state (whom Trump hadn't). There was no talk of "universal" voting systems, just of "expanding absentee ballot options" with as little blue-on-red violence as possible. "This is not a partisan issue," the former governors said, "and not a time to play politics." The Department of Homeland and Security announced on Tuesday that the United States is extending its travel ban to and from Mexico and Canada until June 22, according to a recently published article. First and Second Order of Travel Ban to and from Mexico and Canada The restriction of travel ban across the borders of U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada have was first implemented in March when the outbreak of the new coronavirus began. Before the first order of travel restriction expired, Trump along with Mexico and Canada decided to extend it again for another 30 days. For the third time, the DHS announced that travel restrictions across the borders will be extended until June 22. This decision was made to stop the entry of asymptomatic that may add up to the swelling number of COVID-19 cases and a death toll in the country. As of today, the U.S. still leads the world with the highest number of infected persons. The country has recorded nearly 1.6 million individuals who tested positive for the virus and with a death toll of more than 94,000 according to worldometers. The U.S. still continues to combat the new coronavirus and is doing everything to flatten the curve. Travel restrictions are one of the measures implemented by the federal government to control the entry and spread of the virus. Travel Ban Extension for the Third Time For as long as no vaccine is available, the contagion will continue in many ways. Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement "Non-essential travel will not be permitted until this administration is convinced that doing so is safe and secure. We have been in contact with our Canadian and Mexican counterparts and they also agree that extending these restrictions is prudent at this time." Moreover, only the "Essential Travels" listed below are allowed to travel and these are: U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents returning to the United States Individuals traveling for medical purposes (e.g., to receive medical treatment in the United States) Individuals traveling to attend educational institutions Individuals traveling to work in the United States Individuals traveling for emergency response and public health purposes (e.g., government officials or emergency responders entering the United States to support Federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial government efforts to respond to COVID-19 or other emergencies) Individuals engaged in lawful cross-border trade Individuals engaged in official government travel or diplomatic travel Members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the spouses and children of members of the U.S. Armed Forces, returning to the United States Individuals engaged in military-related travel or operations It can also be remembered that during the first order of travel extension, Pres. Trump said: "These measures will protect the health of all three nations and reduce the incentive for mass global migration that would badly deplete the health care resources needed for our people." Moreover, Pres. Trump also banned travel from Europe and Iran as an addition to his travel ban from China in January. The European Union borders will remain shut down until June 15. Read a related article: Former WWE superstar Shad Gaspard has been found dead three days after he went missing. However, while it is indeed a tragic moment, one should not forget the heroism and parental love he showed before he had his last breath. Gaspard Found The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office delivered the bad news on Wednesday, days after Gaspard got caught in the strong currents at Venice Beach. On Wednesday, the County's Fire Department Lifeguard Division said on Twitter that they finally found the former WWE superstar. However, they also proclaimed his death after finding the body which was washed ashore. "@lacolifeguards @LACOFD @LAPDHQ respond to #VenicePier to a report of a body along the shoreline that matches the description of Sunday's missing swimmer," the LA Lifeguards Division wrote. The crews on the site extricated the body and transferred it to the LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office. The Los Angeles Police Department also released a statement to confirm that "the decedent was identified as Shad Gaspard and next of kin was notified." Heroism and Parental Love Despite his heartbreaking passing, it should be remembered that Gaspard made a heartwarming move to his 10-year-old son before his death. On Monday, TMZ reported that the 39-year-old professional wrestler took a break by joining a group of swimmers at the newly opened Venice Beach. The Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Margaret Stewart said in an online statement that they received the medical request at 3:56 p.m. local time on Sunday (May 17) after two swimmers reportedly went missing. Pono Barnes said that Gaspard told the rescuers to get his son first, who was with him around 700 feet away from the shore. A few moments later, another massive wave crashed on him before he went missing. Authorities believed that he submerged in the ocean. A witness at the scene confirmed the event, highlighting the heroic act of the father. In addition, Kenichi Haskett, the Section Chief of the LA County Fire Department - Lifeguard Division, described what happened and said that it "is like being inside a front-loading washing machine. The waves keep crashing on you, pushing you down. ... I've been through that, those kind of rescues. You think you might die." Haskett added that choosing between Gaspard and his son was never really a choice for the father, who told the lifeguard "take my son, save my son. "Dad told me to push off to the guy," the 10-year-old son reportedly told Steve Smith, a firefighter-paramedic. WWE Community, Netizens Send Condolences After the shocking news emerged, Gaspard's household sent a statement through People and expressed their gratitude toward all the people who rescued the 10-year-old Aryeh and those who found the former Cryme Tyme member's body. "Shad is a fighter, a warrior, and a magical soul. We are hoping and praying for his safe return," the family said. "As a family, we thank you all for your concern and well wishes. Please continue to keep sending your positivity and prayers to our beloved Shad." For northerners, fermented pickles are part and parcel of daily meals, but for locals in central provinces, particularly Nghe An, nhut (pickle made from young jackfruit) is a real specialty. A plate of nhut made by locals in Nghe An's Thanh Chuong District is said to give diners a healthy appetite. Photo baomoi.com Ho Thi Nguyet from the rural district of Thanh Chuong said most households in the province know how to make nhut but the most delicious came from her district. Asked why it is called nhut, Nguyet said it meant jackfruit and Thanh Chuong was famous for its fragrant jackfruit. In the past due to the barren land with white sand and hot winds sweeping in from Laos (locally known as the dry hot wind from Laos), locals often went hungry for at least several months of the year. To alleviate their hunger, they boiled young jackfruit to dip in cheo (a unique sauce made from soy sauce and peanuts) to eat instead of rice. But jackfruit is only available in the summer so housewives fermented it to be eaten year-round. Since then nhut has been a popular dish which reminds locals of when they were facing a very hard time, said Nguyet. Asked how to make nhut, Nguyet said when the jackfruit season arrives, most women in her district are excited. Ingredients include salt, ginger leaves, chilli, cane, water and galangal. I choose young jackfruit with seeds that are not covered to make the nhut tastier, said Nguyet, noting that after peeling off the skin, she cuts the inside into threads and soaks them in stock for two hours until the threads turn white and then dries them in the sun for several hours before mixing with salt. Nhut is a must-have dish in daily meals. Photo baonghean.com The last stage is to put 2-3 sugarcane chunks in the bottom of the jar before adding the nhut, chili, ginger leaves and galangal root then pouring cooled boiled water into the jar. I often use a bamboo frame to press these ingredients to stop them from turning black, said Nguyet, adding that the fermented nhut should be soaked for 5-6 days. Apart from the young jackfruit flesh, Nguyet said she also uses the fruits fibres locally known as xo mit to make nhut but they take two days to ferment. Nguyet said the most enjoyable way is to eat nhut is with mint and cheo sauce. You will experience the flavours of soy sauce, peppery chilli, sweet sugarcane and buttery roasted peanuts. Jackfruit trees are planted widely across Nghe An. Photo baomoi.com Nhut can be mixed with boiled bacon, roasted peanuts and mint to make a salad, or it can be fried with pig ears or pork fillets with added chili to eat with hot rice during the winter, Nguyet said, noting she often cooks nhut with tomato and fish to eat in the summer. It helps to reduce body heat a lot. Although we live in Hanoi we usually have the chance to enjoy the original Thanh Chuong nhut because we are related to Nguyet, and she sends us a dozen jars every year. Ta Thanh Binh, who is a native of Nghe An, said she likes eating nhut very much. She said she often ordered nhut from Thanh Chuong to send to her friends in Europe. My friends told me they miss the dish so much. We always have a jar of nhut at home for daily meals. It helps to give us a good appetite every day, and much more important is it's also good for the digestion, Binh said, noting that she also uses nhut to make sour soup. Ingredients include fermented jackfruit fibre (one bowl), three dried shallots and fresh onions, cilantro, spices, pepper, and chilli. The dish is most enjoyable with fresh fish. All six of my family members agree that the dish is really good for summer. They also call it a specialty. It reminds us of our native land in Nghe An, Binh said. VNS By Ha Nguyen & Hoang Ho Tuber pickles and dried radish salad, two must-try dishes of Nghe An The central coastal province of Nghe An well known for its beautiful beaches such as Cua Lo and Quynh Bang, and also its local specialties such as the popular dua mon (tuber pickles ) and nom cu cai kho (dried radish salad). Unplanned Thai jackfruit farming pose risks The Department of Crop Production has warned farmers about possible risks when growing Thai jackfruits without planning. Coronavirus claims retired NY priest weeks after killing his successor Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment NEW YORK St. Clares R.C. Church in Great Kills on Staten Island announced the loss of Pastor Emeritus Msgr. Joseph P. Murphy to the coronavirus on Saturday, just over a month after the virus killed his successor. He was 91. It is with a very heavy heart that we share with you that our beloved Pastor Emeritus, Msgr. Joseph P. Murphy, affectionately known as Monsignor, has returned to the Lord, the church said in a statement on their website. Murphys death came two days after he celebrated his 66th anniversary of priestly ordination. Monsignor bravely battled and defeated COVID-19 but had a long recovery, the church said. The beloved priest, who led the church from 1985 to 2008, was described as a strong spiritual leader and visionary. It was Msgr. Murphy who foresaw the importance of engaging lay ministers in the Church, especially women ministers. Monsignor was the first to enable women to become active ministers in the Church. He had a particular gift at identifying the talents of others and encouraging them to use their talents to serve the Church. The engaged and active lay ministries that make our parish thrive today is a direct result of his leadership, the church said. Looking at the fruits of his labor, we can all agree that this world was made a better place because God had blessed it with the gift that was Monsignor Murphy for the last 91 years. Now he belongs to his Maker. In the loving arms of his friend and successor, Fr. Richard, may Monsignor journey to be at peace with God forever. Monsignor Richard J. Guastella, who succeeded Murphy in 2008, died last month at the age of 73 after battling the coronavirus. It is with the utmost sadness that we share with you that our beloved pastor, Msgr. Richard J. Guastella, affectionately known as Fr. Richard, has returned to the Lord. Fr. Richard passed away in the early hours of Holy Thursday, April 9, 2020, after bravely battling the COVID-19 which led to his hospitalization last week, the church announced then. Guastellas death came exactly a week after the passing of his brother, Joseph. It is fitting that the Lord chose to call Father home, after nearly 48 years of priesthood, on the day that we celebrate the Supper of the Lord, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood. He is indeed a priest forever. We can all agree that this world was made a better place because God had blessed it with the gift that was Fr. Richard for the last 73 years. Now he belongs to his Maker, the church noted of Richard Guastellas death. Australias Catholic Church could be dramatically overhauled to give lay people more power, increase the number of women in leadership roles and force parishes to open up their finances to the public. A secret 200-page report being considered by the nations bishops has called for unprecedented reform in a bid to make the church more inclusive and break down the structures that contributed to decades of clergy abuse and cover-ups. Australia's Catholic Church is set for a shake-up. Credit:Jacky Ghossein The report is in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, which found that the hierarchical nature of the church, coupled with its lack of governance, had created "a culture of deferential obedience" in which the protection of paedophile priests was left unchallenged. But in a sign of how sensitive the church is to issues of reform, the body that commissioned the report - the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference - is unlikely to publicly release or reveal how it will respond to its 86 recommendations until the end of the year. The United States President Donald Trump called the country's world topping numbers of COVID-19 cases a "badge of honor" during a Tuesday press conference. He claimed the increasing number of cases is evidence that U.S. health officials are testing more people. During the conference, Trump claims the country conducts more coronavirus testing "than anybody else." He argued testing only a million people instead of 14 million would record far few cases. "I don't look at that as a bad thing. I look at that in a certain respect as being a good thing, because it means our testing is much better," the president said. "So, I view it as a badge of honor." According to the COVID Tracking Project, the U.S. government has performed over 12,647,791 tests as of Thursday. The country still faces shortages in testing supplies following months of hurdles in development and access. According to Our World in Data, the U.S. has carried out more tests by volume than any other country. However, it is not the first in the world on a per capita basis. Globally, the United States ranks 16th in terms of tests per thousand people. The country is ahead of South Korea but behind New Zealand, Russia, and Canada. Data from the COVID Tracking Project showed American health officials conduct more than 300,000 tests each day. Ashish Jha, Harvard's Global Health Institute director, said 900,000 tests every day are needed to safely open up the country again. At a Senate hearing last week, Republican Mitt Romney said the country's testing is "nothing to celebrate" as it lagged in February and March while other nations tested people aggressively to flatten the curve. He cited data where the U.S. was shown to have only conducted 2,000 tests by March 6 while South Korea had performed 140,000. Despite the increase in national testing, health experts argue not enough is being done for states to safely reopen their economies. A new report released Wednesday claims coronavirus testing in the country is disorganized and uncoordinated. Researchers at the University of Minnesota said the tests are not enough to base most decisions on, including reopening schools and letting employees go back to work. Mike Osterholm, the head of the institution's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), claims the number of tests reported by states and Washington shows only part of the country's COVID-19 situation. He said the data is inaccurate primarily due to the public health system being overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. The CIDRAP report suggested using diagnostic tests for disease surveillance, contact tracing, and monitoring frontline workers at high risk for exposure to the disease. The team recommended against testing suspected coronavirus patients in hospitals, schools, and other low-risk settings. It also suggested avoiding giving antibody tests to decide who can go back to work. "We believe that greatly expanding SARSCoV-2 testing is a critical element in our response to COVID-19," the report reads. "For testing to be maximally effective, coordination across the system and across jurisdictions is necessary."Want to read more? Check these out: Some of the furious residents claimed to have spotted camper vans and tents late into Wednesday evening Advertisement Day trippers last night ignored lockdown rules as they slept over at seaside resorts, raising fears a surge in crowds could trigger a second wave of coronavirus infections and force the government to abandon its plans for a return to normal life. Visitors were seen camped out in Brighton and at various beauty spots in Devon and Cornwall, with locals blasting 'selfish' revellers for partying into the night and leaving rubbish strewn across roads and open spaces. Meanwhile, police in Newquay carried out 'dawn raids' on campervans to order those inside to go home, as closed car parks led to gridlock on the roads. Scenes of beaches in Brighton, Bournemouth and Durdle Door in Dorset packed with sunseekers enjoying temperatures of up to 82F sparked a backlash, with one man saying: 'It's madness, it's like everyone's forgotten about coronavirus.' Richard Walden, 55, of Woolacombe, Devon, took a picture from his house showing gridlocked traffic snaking back as far as the eye could see. 'Unbelievably selfish people started arriving at 5am and last night we had vans outside our house until 11pm. They are not just casual visitors.' It comes as Britain announced another 363 hospital deaths from coronavirus yesterday, taking the official total to 35,704. Visitors enjoy the sunny weather in Tynemouth yesterday during the hottest day of the year so far. People in England are allowed to exercise and visit beaches as long as they are socially distanced A group of men sip on beers in Bournemouth yesterday, amid fears large crowds gathering a beauty spots could spark a second wave of infections A couple were pictured playing around on the sand at Bournemouth beach last night, which was busy with visitors amid sweltering temperatures Police in Newquay, Cornwall, were yesterday forced to speak to visitors in campervans and urge them to 'come back later Posting just after 6am today police in Newquay said: 'We identified some visitors that had travelled to Newquay and stayed overnight against Public Health England advice and legislation.' Pictured are officers on one of their inspections People enjoy the hot weather at a crowded Bournemouth beach in Dorset, as people flock to parks and beaches with coronavirus lockdown measures eased and temperatures hit 82F (28C) People enjoy sunny weather on the hottest day of 2020 so far on the beach and promenade at the seaside in Weston-super-Mare It was the hottest day in the UK so far this year and the masses were out in force with deck chairs and towels on the beach. Sorrell Vince, 23 (left) from Northampton and Bethany Heatley from Preston enjoying the sun on Cullercoats Beach, Tynemouth The government has been accused of 'euthanising' MPs with health conditions by insisting they come back to the Commons rather than attend 'virtually'; The chief of Heathrow Airport has confirmed that Public Health England is considering temperature testing for arrivals, despite ministers and science advisers arguing for months that it is not effective; Justice Secretary Robert Buckland became the first senior figure to acknowledge the Government had prioritised the NHS over care homes; The PM hinted he might reshuffle his top team following criticism of the Government's handling of the crisis; Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden urged the BBC to think again about axing free TV licences for over-75s; A study by University College London found more than half of young adults are no longer sticking to the lockdown strictly; Officials plan to give NHS and social care staff antibody tests revealing whether they have had coronavirus; The Bank of England is considering using negative interest rates for the first time in its 324-year history; Visitors flock to Durdle Door in Dorset on a scorching day with sunbathers packed together, despite social distancing rules Hot sunny weather brought out large crowds to the beach in Portobello, Scotland on Wednesday. Dancers from The Lion King UK Tour which was playing in Edinburgh before the lockdown, were among those having fun in the sun Traffic on the approach to Woolacombe, Devon. Sun-seekers have been flocking to coastal hot-spots in the Westcountry in such numbers traffic wardens have reportedly run out of tickets Devon and Cornwall police said that every double yellow line from Woolacombe to Morthoe is covered with cars and vans as sun-seekers descend on beaches amid the hottest day of the year so far Southend beach was absolutely packed this afternoon as sun-worshipping Britons turned out to soak up the rays on what is predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Met Office Roads and car parks were crammed full as parking restrictions were lifted several days ago and thousands of people flocked to Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, on the hottest day of the year so far Residents and tourists enjoy the warm weather hitting Kent as Britain is set for the hottest day of the year so far. Sun seekers flocked to Margate to soak up the rays on Wednesday with surrounding roads packed with cars The Althorp in Wandsworth Common, London saw people enjoying drinks on the Common opposite the pub, as a woman in PPE gear handed out pints These three women enjoyed the sun as they lounged with drinks on Primrose Hill in London on Wednesday, with sun-seekers all over the country taking advantage of Boris Johnson's easing of restrictions Primrose Hill was busy with sun-lovers on what was the hottest day of the year so far, though most appeared to maintain social distancing These men picked up takeaway pints from the Althorp before enjoying the sunshine on Wandsworth Common this afternoon People enjoy the sunshine in London Fields, north east London on May 20, 2020, with temperatures in the capital are expected to reach 82.4F (28C) People soak up the rays at Bournemouth beach in Dorset, as Britons flock to parks and beaches as lockdown is eased Wednesday's packed beaches are a stark contrast from last month. Bournemouth beach was deserted in this photo from April 26, despite the warm weather at the time Hundreds of people took day trips to Southend as the temperatures hit 27 degrees on Wednesday after parking restrictions were lifted A near empty beach on Southend seafront on March 23, the day the lockdown was announced. It is a stark contrast from Wednesday's images People queued up for more than half an hour at the Hot Rocks bar in Bournemouth, where they are selling takeaway beer and other drinks The people queuing up for beer looked to be ignoring the two-metre requirement as they topped up on drinks amid the hot weather Sunbathers enjoy the hot weather in Hyde Park, London, as easing of the coronavirus lockdown continues. There is a risk of thunderstorms later today in east and south-east England People lie back on towels as they sunbathe and enjoy the hot weather in Greenwich Park, London, on what is predicted to be the hottest day this year so far, according to the Met Office People enjoy the sunshine in Broadway Market, Hackney, north east London on Wednesday, on what was the hottest day of the year so far Broadway Market in Hackney, north east London was packed on Wednesday, as people flocked to parks and shops to enjoy the sunshine People enjoy the sunshine in London Fields, north east London. Bikinis and shorts were the order of the day across the country Drone images show the socially distanced crowd on the beach in Old Portsmouth and Southsea on the south coast on the hottest day of the year Despite the beach attracting a huge number of sunbathers, they appeared to maintain social distancing as they took in the scorching weather Yesterday, car parks were crammed as sun worshippers visited Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, as parking restrictions were lifted in many areas several days ago, while vehicles clogged up country lanes at a popular tourist spot in Devon, forcing police to block off roads and warn people to stay away. LBC's Charlotte Sullivan tweeted: 'More people arriving in Southend today. It almost looks like any other hot day here apart from the dots on the floor to mark out where to stand in the queue for ice creams. 'One man told me 'it's madness, it's like everyone's forgotten about coronavirus''. Another social media user posted: 'The state of Southend beach today like that is ridiculous, how have people not been told to leave?' A third added: 'Southend beach at lunchtime on what's heading for the hottest day of the year. Technically you're allowed to travel somewhere and to sunbathe - but this is the result when so many choose the same place...' A fourth wrote: 'People clearly staying alert to the chance of a beach day down in Southend.' The Met Office's Nicola Maxey told MailOnline: 'A warm, fine sunny day for most people with the possibility of isolated spots reaching around 28C (82F) in the south-east. It's a southerly airflow so bringing in nice warm air. There is a possibility it will be the warmest day of the year so far. 'We are going to see a change in weather starting from tomorrow, which will see temperatures dip a little after today. 'Friday is more 22C-23C (72F-73F), so a slight dip in temperatures as we go through the weekend, with a low-pressure system coming in through the Atlantic affecting northern parts, but having some impact further south before things kick up again next week.' She added: 'Tomorrow we'll start seeing with this low-pressure system travelling up from the Atlantic some bands of cloud and rain from the west, pushing eastwards across west and north-west Scotland and affecting potentially parts of north-west England. 'But it sort of weakens and fragments as it pushes across country. We are going to see showers and isolated thunderstorms possibly in the south-east where it stays warm, which makes the air a little bit unstable and there may be a chance you see the odd thunderstorm.' Scorching weather led to the resort of Woolacombe in North Devon becoming over-crowded with traffic grid locked, as neighbouring resorts of Croyde, Saunton Sands and Putsborough experienced huge numbers of people attempting to spend the day at the beach. Faye Faybourne, 17 (left), and Daisy Sloane, 16, from Killingworth on King Edwards' Bay, Tynemouth, as people flock to parks and beaches amid the rocketing temperatures and lockdown restrictions being eased A pair go swimming in the scorching temperatures early this morning at Branksome beach in Dorset. Sunbathers have been making the most of their new-found freedom following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions Apple mobility data shows that people across the UK are slowly starting to get back to work, with the amount of people driving, walking and taking public transport creeping back up towards baseline figures The crowded scenes at Southend beach sparked backlash on social media, with one Twitter user writing: 'Is this what #StayAlert means if you live in #Southend? If so, it's not so bad after all... Lord help us' Another Twitter user posted an image of Bournemouth beach, captioning: 'British public showing none of the 'good common sense' at Bournemouth beach. Unfortunately, the council and police have no powers now. Second wave incoming surely' Tourists and residents queuing while waiting to get into a Tesco Express at Sandbanks beach in Dorset, appearing not to adhere to social distancing rules and standing closer than 6.5ft (2m) apart People sat close together on a busy Sandbanks beach in Dorset on Wednesday, as beach goers appear to ignore social distancing rules People sunbathe on a beach in Brighton on Wednesday, as lockdown restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak have been relaxed, allowing unlimited outdoor exercise and activities such as sunbathing Britons flock to a packed Bournemouth beach in Dorset with many seen sitting close together, despite social distancing guidelines still in force as the coronavirus lockdown is gradually eased A paddle boarder pictured at Branksome beach in Dorset early this morning, as Britons basked in the hottest day of the year so far as temperatures hit 82F Members of the public at Southend on Sea enjoy the sunshine this morning, buying ice creams, takeaway food and beach equipment from nearby stalls, as the coronavirus lockdown is eased across the nation People enjoy the sunshine in Hyde Park, London, on Wednesday as restrictions are eased and Britons are allowed to sunbathe in parks Two people stand on the rocks before going for an early morning dip in the sunshine at Branksome beach in Dorset this morning. It comes as sunbathers make the most of their new-found freedom, as lockdown restrictions are eased A sunbather enjoys the warm weather at Clapham Common in south-west London. Hot conditions are expected in the capital, as people are now allowed to exercise outside as much as they want and are allowed to sunbathe Londoners pictured enjoying the sunshine at Clapham Common Park this morning, with some seen wearing face masks. The Met Office's Nicola Maxey said the warmer temperatures are being brought about by a 'southerly air flow' A kayaker takes to the water as they enjoy the early sunshine at Branksome beach in Dorset on Wednesday. Coral bookmakers is as short as 1-4 for 86F (30C) or higher being recorded in the UK this week Three paddle boarders make the most of the sunshine this morning at Branksome beach in Dorset. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said the 'vast majority' of the UK will have a 'dry day with sunny spells' People visit the beach in Brighton on Wednesday, as temperatures rocket on what is forecast to be the hottest day of the year so far People sunbathe on a beach in Brighton as lockdown restrictions are relaxed, advising people still adhere to social distancing guidelines, but allowing the public unlimited outdoor exercise and activities such as sunbathing Three people take a selfie as they enjoy the sunshine and easing of lockdown restrictions on Clapham Common on Wednesday. Boris Johnson has said the public should be encouraged to head back to work if they cannot work from home Joggers and cyclists take their daily exercise at Branksome beach in Dorset early this morning. BBC's Carol Kirkwood forecast the hottest temperatures to spread from Yorkshire towards the south-east Locals said some visitors lost their temper in the sweltering heat as they became stuck in traffic jams waiting for a space in a car park and fights had to be broken up by police. One resident of the village told Mail Online: 'It was complete chaos. Cars were parking on double yellow lines and no stopping routes. Buses couldn't get through and had to cancel their trips. 'The emergency services were unable to operate and the Coast Guard could not even get to the beach. Surfers were having to act as rescuers for people who got into difficulty. It was complete madness.' The main car park on the Esplanade in Woolacombe was full by 9am and with no other designated parking places visitors left their cars along the side of the small country roads. Buses were unable to pass and traffic became gridlocked leading to frayed tempers in the sweltering heat. Meanwhile, Barnstaple Police tweeted: 'Traffic wardens are running out of tickets. Do not abandon your cars as emergency vehicles can't get though. They will be towed away. 'The traffic heading to the North Devon beaches is exceptionally busy. The beach car parks are now closed for new traffic....please avoid the area.' A police car pictured at Woolacombe in North Devon as chaos broke out in the area, with locals saying some visitors lost their temper in the sweltering heat as they became stuck in traffic jams while waiting for a space in the car park Parking fines were slapped onto vehicles, above, as hundreds of cars were illegally parked in the area in Woolacombe, north Devon. A resident said emergency services were 'unable to operate' and the Coast Guard could not even get to the beach A massive queue of cars trails back down the country lane in Woolacombe, north Devon. Buses were unable to pass and traffic became gridlocked leading to frayed tempers in the sweltering heat Police by the beach in Woolacombe, north Devon. Richard Walden, 55, said people 'started arriving at 5am', adding: 'Last night we had vans outside our house until 11pm. They are not just casual visitors' Residents and tourists at the beach in Woolacombe, north Devon. Throughout the day visitors attempted to use the public toilets, but on finding they were closed one desperate woman attempted to kick open the door Richard Walden, 55, of Woolacombe, Devon, said yesterday: 'It is unbelievable the amount of thoughtless visitors we have had, parking illegally and causing the roads to be blocked and preventing use of the footpath. 'They blocked the whole footpath. There is no way a fire engine or ambulance could get down that. It is totally senseless. People sadly haven't heeded the warnings, especially the ones from the lifeguard and RNLI. There was a big powerful surf out there today but no lifeguards, If anyone gets into trouble, they are on their own. 'Living in a seaside resort you are used to having lots of visitors, but it is unwise to come today. No car parks are open, no shops and there is nowhere to go to the toilet. 'It was unbelievable selfish. People started arriving at 5am and last night we had vans outside our house until 11pm. They are not just casual visitors.' Throughout the day visitors attempted to use the public toilets, but on finding they were closed one desperate woman attempted to kick open the door. Devon and Cornwall Police had advise motorists to avoid the area to prevent further congestion. One local resident said: 'People were literally dumping their cars anywhere and heading to the beach. The village is happy to welcome visitors but once the spaces are all taken, unfortunately visitors seemed to lose their minds. Its very scary. 'There is not really any social distancing and we saw a young lady trying to kick a toilet door off its hinges as they were closed. Also, there is only a Londis and a Newsagent open in the village. Two people out on the water at Branksome beach in Dorset this morning. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst predicted the hottest day of the year so far, with highs of 82F (28C) in the London area Two people sit in the sunshine at the Forty Foot in Sandycove, Dublin, as lockdown rules are eased and the bathing spot has reopened following closures due to the coronavirus pandemic One man goes fishing while enjoying the sunshine this morning at Branksome beach in Dorset, with a paddle boarder seen in the background. There is a risk of thunderstorms today in east and south-east England People pictured enjoying the sun while sipping takeaway drinks and wearing sunglasses during the warm weather at Clapham Common in south-west London A jogger wears sunglasses while taking their daily exercise this morning at Branksome beach in Dorset as lockdown restrictions are eased across the country and Britons venture outdoors to enjoy the scorching sunshine A group enjoy a picnic and laugh with a dog owner after one of her dogs steals some of their bread on Clapham Common. Lambeth Council have replaced signs to say 'stay alert' and to allow people to sit on benches Three paddle boarders enjoy the sunshine on Wednesday at Branksome beach in Dorset. Temperatures are predicted to cool from 75F (24C) or 77F (25C) before the rain to a fresher 63F (17C) to 70F (21C) on Friday Londoners walking their dogs enjoy the sunshine and the easing of the coronavirus lockdown on Clapham Common this morning, after the Government eased restrictions and allowed people to meet, within social distancing guidelines Traffic around Brighton was lower this morning than at the same times last week, though congestion levels rose by 1pm as locals searched for the sun and flocked to beaches, according to TomTom data Congestion levels in Bournemouth were lower during the morning than they were at the same times last week, but increased by two per cent at 1pm as locked-down Britons left the city, according to TomTom data A spokesperson for Woolacombe Tourist Information said: 'We had hoped that people would be considerate to the local coastal communities so are very disappointed by the influx.' By midday lfracombe and Braunton police reported the coast roads were 'gridlocked' and urged people not to travel to North Devon. A tweet said they had identified vehicles from all over the country in North Devon on Wednesday, and North and West Devon Superintendent Toby Davies tweeted to urge people to stay away. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst forecast this morning: 'There will be a bit of a grey, misty start for some first thing but that will quickly burn away. 'The vast majority of the UK will have a dry day with sunny spells, if not blue skies all day for some.' He predicted the hottest day of the year so far, with highs of 82F (28C) in the London area. BBC's Carol Kirkwood forecast the hottest temperatures to spread from Yorkshire towards the south-east, predicting highs of 84F (29C). She said: 'The highest temperatures from Yorkshire down this east coast, towards East Anglia and the south-east, where we could hit 28C (82F) or 29C (84F) today, making it the warmest day of the year so far.' Ms Kirkwood added: 'If you're looking for rain in today's forecast there's not much around. In fact the only place really where we're likely to see it is the far north of Scotland. Social media users react to the packed beaches, with one saying: 'The advice was always stay at home if you can. Not sure Southend Council will be impressed or the nearby hospital' 'For most of us it's going to be dry, it's going to be sunny and it's also going to be very warm. High pressure is firmly in charge of our weather at the moment, keeping those fronts at bay. 'We've also seen some fog through the morning but most of that has gone now, and we also hang on to a little bit of sea fog across parts of the Irish Sea coastline and parts of western Scotland.' There is a risk of thunderstorms later today in east and south-east England as a band of rain pushes eastwards. Temperatures are predicted to cool from 75F (24C) or 77F (25C) before the rain to a fresher 63F (17C) to 70F (21C) on Friday. Mr Dewhurst predicted a windy start to the weekend with sunshine and showers for many with the weather gradually turning drier from the south on Sunday and into bank holiday Monday. Meanwhile, Coral bookmakers is as short as 1-4 for 86F (30C) or higher being recorded in the UK this week. The firm is also 5-4 for this month to end as the hottest May on record and next month at 6-4 to be a record hot June. Coral's John Hill said: 'The prospects of a sweltering summer are increasing all the time and that has forced us to slash the odds on there being a hosepipe ban in the UK this year. 'It feels like summer has come early and our betting suggests temperatures will reach 30C (86F) at some point this week.' Some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Tro-bu Constituency have protested the disqualification of Edward Lincoln Addo from the partys upcoming parliamentary primaries in the Constituency. They have therefore sent a petition to President Nana Akufo-Addo, registering their displeasure over the disqualification. Reading out the petition to the media on Thursday, May 21, 2020, a polling station Executive within the Constituency, Albert Assumadu, says the constituents were requesting for the Presidents intervention to reverse the disqualification decision. He says it was key for the President to act in order to prevent aparthy fomenting among party members during the 2020 parliamentary and presidential elections. He stated that they will support any candidate who emerges victorious in the primaries through a democratic process and not through disqualification. He expressed disappointment in the Greater Accra vetting committee for disqualifying Edward Lincoln Addo. He recounted that the skirt and blouse reared its ugly in the Constituency in 2020, with then presidential candidate Akufo-Addo garnering 50,000 and the incumbent MP managing 48,000 votes. He said if care is not take the NPP could lose the Tro-bu seat. ---Daily Guide Police west of Toronto say theyve charged a former teacher in an alleged sexual assault that took place sometime between 2014 and 2015. Provincial police say the incident happened at an elementary school in Caledon. A 71-year-old man from Prince Edward County is facing charges of sexual interference and sexual assault on a person under 16 years of age. Investigators are asking anyone with information about the alleged incident to come forward. Theyre also asking any other potential victims to come forward. The accused is set to appear in court in Orangeville, Ont., on July 30. Mojicas program caught the attention of Mather and helped her win the award. He also told of how she has helped students earn a trip to Washington D.C. by having them become entrepreneurs and sell Mexican popsicles on a bike she had prepared for them by a former student. This has been a piece of student involvement, giving the students an opportunity to do things they wouldn't normally get an opportunity to do, Mather said. She also makes them proud of their language and heritage. "It was just a wonderful thing to see her building skills in students while making them proud of their heritage and getting them to show concern for others. Its a tremendous program, Humphries added of One By One. The kids, the grades, they all came up. And now kids just want to be in this program. She takes them out and they do things in the community. She takes them out to Google in Chicago and shows them whats possible, that you dont have to maybe work in a job that maybe your parents or grandparents did. You can dream of anything you want. She shows them that, and they are doing it. Its a lesson, Mojica learned at home. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 20, 2020 | FRANKFORT By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 20, 2020 | 06:53 PM | FRANKFORT In his update on Wednesday, Governor Andy Beshear highlighted new CARES Act funding for local governments, efforts to care for residents in long term care facilities, and tips for staying safe over the Memorial Day weekend. Beshear announced a $300 million award to city and county governments as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which established the Coronavirus Relief Fund to reimburse local governments for expenses incurred in response to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. "Local governments have been instrumental in this public health response," said Gov. Beshear. "Their leadership has been incredible and it's required everybody. They've sacrificed to protect others by supplying PPE, enforcing guidelines and keeping the public informed, and I could not be prouder of their work." Beshear and Department for Public Health Director Dr. Steven Stack also spoke about the strides the state is making in testing and care at long-term care facilities. According to Dr. Stack, the state sent out a significant amount of personal protective equipment to long-term care facilities on Wednesday. Dr. Stack also stated that the state is continuing increased testing at these facilities. Testing is taking place at 23 facilities this week and the state is trying to reach 280 facilities as rapidly as possible. "We have an aggressive and brisk testing program, so we're going to do this over the next month or so," said Dr. Stack. "I would emphasize it's not just the testing. We have a comprehensive program where we work with facilities to help them with how they use PPE, how they manage their staff and they manage the patients to try to keep everybody safe and reduce the risk of spread of infection." As restaurants are able to reopen on Friday, and gatherings of 10 people or less are allowed, Beshear stressed the importance of keeping safe while celebrating the Memorial Day weekend, and asked people to remember three words: 1) Hands - Wash/sanitize hands frequently, and keep your hands to yourself. 2) Face - Wear a mask. Try not to touch your face. 3) Space - Stay six feet apart. Gather outdoors if possible. Beshear announced 166 new cases of the virus in the Commonwealth, bringing the total number of cases to 8,167. There are currently 474 Kentuckians hospitalized with the virus, with 98 of those in the ICU. Ten new deaths were announced, including a 79-year-old woman from Graves County. As of Wednesday, 2,919 Kentuckians have recovered. You can see Beshear's full update below. The Savannah Regional wing of the National Democratic Congress has petitioned the Overlord of the Gonja Kingdom, Yagbonwura Tutumba Boresa 1, over what they describe as 'disrespectful sentence' of Alhaji Osman Mimina Salifu, a sub-chief of Gonjaland. Tagging the sentence as politically motivated, Mr. Malik Basintale, the Regional Communications Officer of the party noted that the decision to incarcerate the revered chief was without recourse to the customs, norms and tradition of our society. In submitting the two paged petition to the Overlord at the Jakpa palace, he emphasized that Dinpo-wura Alhaji Osman is a noble man who has contributed enormously to the development and progress of Gonjaland. "The political persecution by President Akufo-Addo and disrespectful sentence of a Gonja chief, Dinpo-wura Alhaji Osman Mimina Salifu without respect to our traditions and customs is regrettable. A noble man, enskinned by the Gonja kingdom as a chief due to his highly respected profile, A man who brought development, supported generations and contributed immensely to the progress of the Savannah region," he stated. The NDC spokesman pressed on Yagbonwura to demand answers from President Akufo-Addo as to why he disregarded the tradition of Gonjaland to the convenience of politics that allowed that noble chief to be jailed. The petition further pointed to the continuous neglect and disregard for the people of the Savannah Region in the sharing of the national cake by the Akufo-Addo led NPP government. Whilst doubting the feasibility of the 88 district hospitals as promised by the president, the NDC wondered why the entire Savannah Region was not captured as beneficiary in the list released earlier on by the Local Government Minister. They described as suspicious, the second updated list which captured two districts in the Savannah Region even though, the President announced that the region was to be allocated three district hospitals plus a regional hospital. "To our dismay, the final list of 88 hospitals released came without even a single one allocated to the Savannah Region. When we quizzed, we were told that the government had forgotten of the Savannah Region, and that follow ups were made to get the matter resolved. We wondered how an oversight could still have the released list tally with the 88 number as other regions had theirs increased to fill the space of our omission. "We termed the latter list dated 20th, May 2020, uncertified since the loan facility to be secured was in tally with 88 hospitals and not anything more. This simply meant that, the additional figures were just mere additions to throw dust into the eyes of indigenes out of fear in the deadline given by the NDC," he emphasised. According to Mr.Malik, this administration has taken the Savannah Region for granted for far too long, citing the abandonment of road projects, hospital projects, rural electrification, schools and water projects started by the previous administration to buttress his point. He appealed to the Overlord to use his powers as a major stakeholder to call President Akufo-Addo and his government to order. The Northern Territory could open its borders sooner than expected as cases of coronavirus continue to decline. NT Government's Tourism Rebound Taskforce said on Thursday that August 1 could be a potential date for border restrictions to be lifted. Initially the territory had flagged September 1 as a date for when it would open borders so tourists could visit destinations such as Darwin, Kakadu National Park and Uluru. NT Government's Tourism Rebound Taskforce said on Thursday that August 1 could be a potential date for border restrictions to be lifted Tourism NT's chair of the Board of Commissioners Michael Bridge told NT News: 'I think if things continue nationally and particularly here in the Northern Territory that there is opportunity for that date to be brought forward and potentially maybe even August 1.' He said airline capacity is the biggest issue the territory is currently facing when encouraging people to travel. Another concern is whether tourists will actually want to visit the Northern Territory in August. 'Should the industry want to open on the first of August if they are only going to have 20 per cent demand or are we better off juggling, managing and continuing to try to support them from a cash and business perspective so that they can open on September 1 maybe with 40 or 50 per cent of demand,' Mr Bridge said. However a spokeswoman for the NT Department of Tourism, Sport and Culture told Daily Mail Australia there is no confirmed date for when borders will reopen. 'Tourism NT will follow the lead of the Chief Minister and Chief Health Officer who will determine when to reopen the borders, based on the expert health advice,' the spokeswoman said. 'We are planning for the future and refining those plans as the situation continues to evolve. Initially the territory had September 1 as a date for when it would open borders so tourists could visit destinations such as Darwin, Kakadu National Park and Uluru. Pubs in the state opened on May 15 'We very much look forward to welcoming interstate visitors back to the Territory and encouraging Territorians to explore their backyard when it is safe to do so.' Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has revealed he is in talks with the NT Government to determine the best way forward. 'There is a possibility that we might have nearly all the states and territories opening up as early as July. And we're planning for that,' Mr Joyce said in a statement. He said they are putting thought into safety of passengers and flexibility of travel. 'We're obviously dependent on the borders opening. The tourism industry is calling out for those borders to open,' he said. Borders around the country have been closed as Australia deals with the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured: Queensland border crossing Australia's Northern Territory became the second state to eradicate COVID-19, joining the ACT. Northern Territory Health Minister, Natasha Fyles, confirmed on Thursday that the territory did not have any active cases. She told reporters: 'It's been six-and-a-half weeks since we have had a locally diagnosed case but we mustn't become complacent. 'The Northern Territory, through the tough measures we put in place early, we are a safe bubble and we need to keep it that way.' The territory was declared free of the coronavirus after an Australian Defence Force member who was the only remaining patient was cleared overnight. This person had contracted COVID-19 while on overseas deployment. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the business community continues to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies need to strategically alter their approach to promoting products and services. According to Jordan Buning, president of ddm marketing & communications in Grand Rapids, given the global impact of the situation, there needs to be an immediate shift in marketing messages. "Consumers of your products need to feel safe, they need to be informed and they want convenience that personally resonates with them. Whether we are talking about B2B or B2C, the drivers that you think you knew about your audience are different right now and they're going to be lasting for quite a while." While this difference may either be temporary, or permanent, it is a current reality. Organizations are rethinking how they understand their audience and how to best connect with them. To achieve this, business owners need to determine how their company will become viewed as a brand that consumers want to positively interact with. It is important to consider whether audience messaging is still as relevant as before COVID-19. The time is now for organizations to shift from simply selling something to effectively helping someone. Every organization's goal is to sell something, and that's not to be ignored. But the way this is done and the authenticity that is delivered becomes increasingly vital. From a functional standpoint, ddm marketing & communications suggests that organizations consider the following points: Do your sales messages still resonate? Does your product/service meet a new need or opportunity? Does your knowledge benefit a new client base? Do your services fulfill a public need or service? As organizations answer these questions, it is important to always remain authentic and sincere. Audiences will remember how you treated them during times of need. To be successful, companies need to contribute to others in a meaningful way and be sincere in their actions. For more information on communicating and engaging customers during challenging times, please visit teamddm.com for valuable resources and informative guides. About ddm marketing & communications Founded in 1990, ddm provides a full-service array of communication, marketing and technology services to businesses in highly complex and highly regulated industries. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ddm serves a diverse national and international client base, ranging from healthcare and financial services, to medical device and global manufacturing. With team members located in west Michigan and Chicago, ddm is organized through the EOS Entrepreneurial Operating System and prides itself on an untiring commitment to serving clients tenaciously. For more information, please visit teamddm.com For More Information: John Gonda [email protected] 616-309-4888 SOURCE ddm marketing & communications Related Links http://www.teamddm.com Now with Jesus: Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias dies at 74 Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Ravi Zacharias, the prominent Christian apologetics author and speaker, died Tuesday at the age of 74 following a battle with a rare form of cancer. Zacharias daughter, Sarah Davis, posted a message on the website of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries on Tuesday, titled Ravi Zacharias, Now With Jesus, confirming that the apologist had passed away. It was his Savior, Jesus Christ, that my dad always wanted most to talk about. Even in his final days, until he lacked the energy and breath to speak, he turned every conversation to Jesus and what the Lord had done, she wrote. He perpetually marveled that God took a seventeen-year-old skeptic, defeated in hopelessness and unbelief, and called him into a life of glorious hope and belief in the truth of Scripturea message he would carry across the globe for 48 years. Davis noted that details about a public memorial for her father were pending, with a request added that those interested in sending flowers instead give to the work of RZIM. Today my beautiful father is more alive than he has ever been. We thank God for him and recommit our lives to sharing this truth with all who will hear, until He calls us to our eternal home, Davis added. Background Zacharias was born on March 26, 1946, in India. While raised in a Christian home, Zacharias considered himself a religious skeptic until age 17 following a suicide attempt. While hospitalized following the attempt, Zacharias was visited by a Youth for Christ director who gave him a Bible. He heard the verse John 14:19 read: Because I live, you also will live. This verse has become the cornerstone of Zacharias ultimate mission as a Christian apologist and evangelist: to present and defend the truth of Jesus Christ that others may find life in Him, recounted Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. Zacharias calling to preach was first confirmed when he was awarded the Asian Youth Preacher Award at the international Youth Congress in Hyderabad at the age of nineteen. Apologetics In 1980, Zacharias was ordained by the Christian and Missionary Alliance and founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in 1984. He launched an apologetics training center in 2017. For its part, RZIM boasts 16 offices across the world and around 200 employees, which include 80 apologetics speakers, both in full-time and adjunct roles. Zacharias was a prolific radio personality, having a weekly program called Let My People Think that was carried by an estimated 2,000 outlets in more than 30 countries. He often gave apologetics speeches at universities, churches, and other gatherings across the United States and abroad, including in Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also participated in the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians in Washington, D.C., 2017; the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa, Canada in 2015; First Annual Prayer Breakfast for African Leaders, Mozambique in 2003; and Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations, New York on multiple occasions. In 2004, he spoke at a major dialogue event between Protestants and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which had an estimated 7,000 people in attendance. His participation garnered some negative feedback among evangelicals concerned that he was endorsing Mormon theology, but Zacharias responded that he wanted to graciously build one step at a time in communicating our faith with clarity and conviction rather than to simply condemn certain LDS Church teachings. Books In addition to his radio programs and many speaking engagements, Zacharias also authored several books on a myriad of Christian apologetics topics. His first book, titled A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism, was originally released in 1990 by Wolgemuth & Hyatt and was later updated and rereleased. Other titles includeJesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message (2000), The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha (2001), Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle for Truth (2002), The Lamb and the Fuhrer: Jesus Talks with Hitler (2005), New Birth or Rebirth: Jesus Talks to Krishna (2008), and The Logic of God: 52 Christian Essentials for the Heart and the Mind (2019), among others. In his 2012 book Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality, Zacharias argued that Americans have been made susceptible to harmful new age spiritual ideas because of mass media, like through television personalities Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra. "Mystics, spiritual masters all are in the lineup to give the viewer the feeling that she who has become all but deified in their eyes can now make each viewer just like them," wrote Zacharias in the book. "It is a long way from the wanderings of a Buddha or the sacrifice of the Son of God, but it has eye appeal in a time in history when gullibility is king and riches control appetite." Later controversies In November 2017, atheist blogger Steve Baughman had a lengthy piece posted on the website Ordinary Times arguing that Zacharias had long misrepresented his academic credentials. Since the early 1980s, Ravi Zacharias has assertively referred to himself as Dr. Zacharias and represented himself as holding multiple doctoral degrees, wrote Baughman. But Ravi Zacharias has never so much as enrolled in a graduate level academic program, much less completed a doctoral program. He has a Bachelors degree and a non-academic Master of Divinity degree, both from obscure religious institutions and has racked up numerous honorary doctorate degrees over the years from supportive Christian schools. In response, RZIM released a statement noting, among other things, that some outside entities have accidentally misrepresented Zacharias credentials and that it is common for individuals with honorary degrees to be known as Dr. Currently, eleven RZIM team members have earned doctorates. Ravi is not one of them, nor has he ever claimed to have an earned doctorate, stated the ministry. In earlier years, Dr. did appear before Ravis name in some of our materials, including on our website, which is an appropriate and acceptable practice with honorary doctorates. However, because this practice can be contentious in certain circles, we no longer use it. Around the same time, details surfaced of a married woman who accused Zacharias of engaging in an illicit emotional relationship after meeting her and her husband at an event in Canada in 2014. The couple claimed that Zacharias had used his spiritual authority to manipulate the woman, who sent him illicit images of herself. Zacharias denied the allegations, claiming that she and her husband were purposely trying to place him in a morally compromising situation. In March 2018, following an investigation, the Christian and Missionary Alliance announced that they were not going to remove Zacharias credentials, as they found the allegations unmerited. While it is not appropriate to publicly discuss the nuances of these allegations, the available evidence does not provide a basis for formal discipline under the C&MA policy, stated the Alliance. Final months In March, Zacharias was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer called sarcoma, which was found a few weeks after he had undergone back surgery. They will wait until I am fully healed from the back surgery, and in 4-5 weeks, will begin treatment to shrink the tumor, stated Zacharias at the time. We are trusting the Lord in this, and we believe we have already seen evidence of His hand. On May 8, Sarah Davis, CEO of RZIM and Zacharias' daughter, announced on social media that the chemotherapy was not successful in eliminating the cancer where it had metastasized. His oncologist informed us that this cancer is very rare in its aggression and that no options for further treatment remain. Medically speaking, they have done all they are able, she explained. While we are full of so many emotions, we are also at peace, resting in the truth that God knows all and sees all and is sovereign and good." At least 130 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in a refugee shelter in Sankt Augustin, near Bonn. Almost one in two COVID-19 tests was positive. The forced placement of refugees in large communal accommodation facilities exposes many people, whose health is weakened due to their history, to a deadly risk. Last Thursday, a resident of the Sankt Augustin shelter, who suffered from fever and flu-like symptoms, tested positive for COVID-19. As there is no privacy whatsoever in the collective accommodation, with multiple occupants per room, communal kitchens and shared sanitary facilities, and it is impossible to keep a minimum distance, the health authority of the Rhein-Sieg district ordered all 489 refugees and their carers to be tested. By Monday evening, the results of 330 people tested had been received. They show that mass housing enormously increases the probability of infection. Of the 250 refugees who were tested, 120 proved positive. Forty-seven caregivers were tested and six tests came back positive. Of 33 members of the security service who were tested, three proved positive. A further 100 refugees living in collective accommodation have not yet been tested because they were absent when the tests were carried out. The refugee accommodation in Sankt Augustin is one of 29 Central Accommodation Units (ZUEs) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The ZUEs serve as a kind of intermediate station in the refugee camp system. Although refugees housed there are subject to a so-called residence condition and are not allowed to leave the district or state, they are not locked up. Refugees are referred to the ZUEs after they have spent one or two weeks in one of the five large initial reception centres (EAEs) in the country, where 500 to 1,000 people are crammed together in an exceedingly small space. They then remain in the ZUEs from several weeks to up to 18 months. Responsible for the operation of the ZUEs, with almost 15,000 places nationwide, are the respective district administrations, which delegate the task to private operators. The camp in Sankt Augustin, which is in the former media headquarters of the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces), is operated by ORS Deutschland GmbH. After the extent of the infections became known over the weekend, hectic quarantine measures began to be implemented. The refugees infected with COVID-19 are being isolated in a special part of the collective accommodation. Non-infected refugees are mostly brought to the ZUE Schleiden, near Aachen. These measures have sometimes met with resistance from those affected, as families are torn apart in the process. We have warned that these are breeding grounds for coronavirus, Birgit Naujoks, the managing director of the Refugee Council NRW, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung on Monday. She said that the state of North Rhine-Westphalia was violating regulations that had been issued for the rest of the population to protect them from infection. Various aid organizations are demanding that the refugee camps in Germany and all of Europe be dissolved. Helen Deffner of the Refugee Council of Saxony-Anhalt explained, We are currently observing a deliberate threat to health, namely that a contagion is being accepted. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the internment of refugees since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic has been aggravated by the fact that no more refugees have been transferred from the ZUEs to decentralized shelters and apartments. This has made overcrowding in the refugee accommodation worse. The mass infections in Sankt Augustin are part of a series of COVID-19 outbreaks in refugee shelters in North Rhine-Westphalia. Shortly before, 50 of the 271 residents of the initial reception centre in Bonn were diagnosed with COVID-19. In Euskirchen, 50 refugees were also infected; in Mettmann, 30. In other federal states, mass infections previously occurred in collective centres in Ellwangen in Baden-Wurttemberg, Hennigsdorf in Brandenburg, and Bremen and Giessen in Hesse. In the so-called anchor centre in Geldersheim, Bavaria, a refugee died of COVID-19. The victim was a 60-year-old man with previous illnesses, placing him in the high-risk group. Nevertheless, he had been accommodated in a shared room. According to the media service Integration, approximately 40,000 refugees whose asylum proceedings have not yet been completed are accommodated in collective camps throughout Germany with several hundred to over a thousand inhabitants. Another 180,000 refugees live in collective accommodation with more than 10 people. It is impossible for the refugees in the large collective camps to observe minimum hygiene regulations or maintain a safe distance from fellow residents. In March, a refugee criticized the conditions in a Bavarian refugee camp, saying, The hygiene rules are a joke here. We are squatting together here in a confined space. There is no soap or disinfectant in the bathrooms, toilet paper is scarce. Even the isolation of refugees as a quarantine measure is not feasible in the collective centres. So-called chain quarantines are ordered again and again, because there are always new infections in the cramped accommodation. In Hennigsdorf, the quarantine was recently extended by 10 days, in Geldersheim it lasted for a total of five weeks. The quarantine measures in refugee accommodation are repressively enforced by the police. In Hennigsdorf, residents who had gone through the quarantine were subsequently discriminated against by the accommodation operators by obliging them to wear a green bracelet in public. The administrative courts in Dresden, Chemnitz, Leipzig and Munster had upheld complaints against the accommodation of refugees in collective centres during the pandemic, branding it as illegal. The Administrative Court in Leipzig stated at the end of April that being housed in large collective accommodation facilities ran counter to the meaning and purpose of the Saxony Corona Protection Ordinance. It and other courts have referenced a paragraph of the Asylum Act according to which accommodation in refugee camps can be terminated for reasons of public health. Nevertheless, the federal and state governments continue to adhere unwaveringly to the camp system for refugees, placing them at particular risk. Due to traumatising and debilitating experiences in their countries of origin and during weeks or months of flight, they are often much more susceptible to infectious diseases. They are also legally worse off as asylum seekers and receive only minimal health care. Their disenfranchisement and accommodation in shelters, exposing them to a deadly risk, are part of the brutal anti-refugee policies of the German government and the European Union, aimed at deterring others from seeking asylum. 90s sitcom star Maia Campbell has been arrested in a crackdown on street racing by Atlanta Police, reports confirm. Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) report that the 43-year-old was arrested and charged Saturday with being a pedestrian in a roadway. Details of her involvement in the street race have not been released. Campbell is best known for playing Tiffany Warren in the hit show In the House alongside LL Cool J and Alfonso Ribeiro from 1995-1999. Busted: 90s star Maia Chinassa Campbell, 43, was arrested Saturday and charged with being a pedestrian in the roadway, according to police records. Police have been targeting street races since they became popular on emptier streets due to the coronavirus. The races are said to have become spectator events filmed for social media. More recently, Campbell has stepped away from her acting work as she's struggled with battles of substance abuse and has been open about living with bipolar disorder. The troubled star discussed her rollercoaster life in the 2012 series Iyanla: Fix My Life on the Own Network. Actress: Campbell (pictured above in 2019) is best known for playing Tiffany Warren in the hit show In the House alongside LL Cool J and Alfonso Ribeiro from 1995-1999. Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos told AJC: 'This isn't new. But what the pandemic did was create a perfect storm where you have young people who are bored; their usual outlets shopping, hanging out in a park those were all eliminated by the stay-at-home orders.' In addition to Campbell's arrest, police issued 114 citations and had 29 cars impounded. Georgia State Patrol are said to have assisted with the crackdown as well as other agencies. Past fame: LL Cool J, Alfonso Ribeiro, Maia Campbell, and Kim Wayans in In the House Rollercoaster: Campbell (pictured in 2013) has stepped away from her acting work as she's struggled with battles of substance abuse and has been open about living with bipolar disorder. Campbell - who also made appearances on Beverly Hills 90210, Moesha, Sister, Sister, and 1993 movie Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson - has been reluctant to get help in the past. In 2017, a video emerged of the actress asking for crack went viral which prompted former co-star LL Cool J to try and help her. Dont call me. Ill call you,' she replied to the the star. LL Cool J replied later: You cant help someone who doesnt want your help,.' Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photos Getty In 2016, Donald Trump and his campaign staff found themselves up against a Democratic nominee who was running under a cloud of corruption allegations, family liabilities, a longtime establishment image, health and wellness questions, personal baggage related to sexual-misconduct claims, and politicized inquiries on Capitol Hill. In 2020, they want to do it all over again. But this time, Team Trump faces a presumptive Democratic nominee who appears, at least thus far, significantly less vulnerable to those attacks that worked so well on Hillary Clinton. In poll after pollboth public and internal campaign varietyformer Vice President Joe Biden has maintained leads over President Trump, including in several key battleground states. The advantage has persisted as Bidens prospects seemed doomed, as Trumps standing momentarily brightened, as the attacks have grown more vicious, and as both men were taken off the trail because of the coronavirus pandemic. The steadiness has gotten to the point that Bidens own confidants are now increasingly confident that Trump simply wont be able to re-use the playbook that got him the White House four years ago. Joe Bidens not Hillary Clinton, thank God, one senior Biden adviser said about any attempt from Team Trump to paint him as a Hillary clone. Its also prompted some Trump lieutenants, and even the president himself, to start practically longing for the good ol days of having Clinton as their foe. As recently as last month, Trump privately joked how great it would be if Biden ultimately didnt secure the nomination this summer and Clinton would have to step in, so that he could beat her harder than he did last time around, according to two sources close to the president. It would be nice, for sure, if we were running against a replica of Hillary, a senior Trump administration official said. But only Hillary Clinton is Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton Gets Tipsy and Throws Shade at Bernie and Trump on Watch What Happens Live Story continues Its not as if the president and his team havent been trying to meld the last two Democratic candidates together. In interviews with half a dozen Trump aides in the administration and his re-election effort, each said that there was a concerted campaign to make Biden the new Hillary, in the words of one campaign official, whether it be by accusing him of engaging in shady foreign dealings, charging him with a embracing a culture of corruption, or portraying him as an immigrant-loving elitist. Joe Biden just told his wealthy liberal donors that Trump supporters are a bunch of racist xenophobes, the presidents campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted last month. Biden is picking up right where Hillary left off! Beyond portraying him as a Clinton clone, the presidents top political advisers have also gone after Biden on new fronts, first and foremost his positions and record on China. However, with the past few months having been dominated by the coronavirus and a collapsing American economy, the punches have proven harder to land, and some Republicans are worried that they may never will. Part of Bidens advantage, they concede, is that he has never been perceived as a boogeyman in conservative circles like Clinton was for decades prior to Trumps arrival on the national scene. While Biden has universal name-ID, unlike Hillary Clinton he hasnt spent the last two decades as the principal boogeyman among conservatives, and beyond that, hes generally been pretty undefined politically, other than the fact that he was Barack Obamas VP, said a Republican close to the Trump campaign. For now, Americans are focused on the virus. I think that by the summer, people will start paying more attention to the race between Biden and Trumpand youll be seeing his open wounds get picked at more and more. Team Trumps Furious Hunt to Find Out Who Liked a Chelsea Clinton Tweet But for some Democrats, the simplest explanation as to why Biden is proving more immune (at least for now) to the Trump campaign playbook is chromosomal. Donald Trump's attack on Hillary in 2016 ranged from calling her nasty, crooked, and unlikable, said Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's 2008 campaign manager and longtime confidant. His tactics ranged from parading women who had accused her husband of various sexual assaults; to leading chants of Lock Her Up; to stalking her at a debate. None of these tactics will work on Biden because.... wait for it....HES A MAN! Trump is going to have to dig deeper in his sleazy bag of tricks to attack his opponent this time around. Clearly frustrated by the durable nature of Bidens campaign to date, Trumpworld has, in recent days, accelerated the attacks in visceral ways. Trump, his team, and his two eldest sons have taunted Biden with unfounded charges that hes mentally deteriorating, a pedophile, and Chinas puppet. Congressional Republicans have pushed subpoenas seeking to investigate a firm that did work for a Ukrainian company where Bidens son Hunter sat on the board. And the broader Trump political apparatus has pushed accusations, unsupported by any available evidence, that Biden was involved in an elaborate effort to spy on Trumps former adviser Michael Flynn. Through it all, Bidens inner circle has remained adamant in adhering to the plan they believe worked best in the Democratic primary: only engaging minimally when Trump and his allies attack. This is his pattern, the former vice president stated in a forum with Yahoo News, already appearing exasperated at the mere mention of things like Obamagate before repeating the word diversion five times in rapid succession. Dont speak to whatever the issues before us are. My God! Obamagate. Nearly five minutes into the topic, Biden appeared to grow more frustrated with his opponents political approach, spitballing about the pettiness and general absurdity of Trumps latest crusades. What hes trying to do is get something going on the internet, Biden said, answering a follow-up question about the presidents eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., sharing an online meme about a baseless insinuation that the former vice president has engaged in pedophilia. Its sick! Its sick! Its sick!... I dont want to get down in the mud with these guys. Though Bidens hesitance to mud-fight has worked so far, for some veterans of past campaigns, the strategy carries risk. Four years ago, Clinton took pains not to dirty herself trying to defend ongoing attacks about her use of a private email server at the State Department, or the death of a United States ambassador who was killed by an Islamic militant group while working in Benghazi, Libya. During one general election debate, where Trump hovered within striking distance, she famously didnt engage. I think Hillary regrets a lot of that, a former top adviser to Clinton said, speaking broadly about her hesitance to take Trump head-on over a variety of issues. People can pretend all day that this whole not responding thing is the high road and the way to go, but its not. Democrats need to understand that this is a real fight, the former adviser went on. And stop pretending that we can normalize this by offering some other type of positive politics thats going to get us through it. Its not. You have to hit this guy, you have to hit him harder. Still, Biden and his top allies believe there are stronger benefits to simply downplaying any outlandish remarks and turning the attention back to Trumps record in the White House. Indeed, some Biden campaign officials delight at the prospect of Team Trump dusting off their 2016 playbook, saying that unlike 2016, when Clintons team struggled to anticipate the unorthodox and bombastic approach, they have an edge knowing what to expect this time around. Hes been at it all year long, Mike Donilon, the Biden campaigns chief strategist, said on a recent briefing call with reporters about the presidents attempts to trash the former VP. "I understand that the president and his allies will undertake every effort to go after the vice president and try and change the subject, but first of all, I would say, this isnt new. The thinking among some in Bidenworld is that, unlike Clinton, who only competed against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016, Biden had to slug it out against a series of formidable challengers during a hard-fought primary. Trumps attacks, including on his son Hunter Bidens involvement with the Ukrainian company Burisma, didnt stick then and wont work now. He came after him in the primary. He made a real effort to try to stop him there, Donilon said. One of the things thats been underestimated about the vice president from the beginning is how strong an image he has with the American people. He has held up incredibly well. I think hes been attacked if not more than anybody else, pretty much in the same league. And hes held up very well through all of it. There also is the matter of the political landscape at hand. The coronavirus pandemic has put the campaign on the backburner and prompted a nationwide debate about Trumps capacity to handle a national crisis. For Biden, its been an opportunity. He released a plan for tackling coronavirus in mid-April, and has emphasized a coordinated strategyfrom policy prescriptions to messaging and social media roll-outscentered around the need to believe and elevate scientists, who Trump publicly downplays. In doing that, the campaign sees Bidens handling of the pandemic as one of the strongest lines of defense against Trump, and a surefire way to rebuff the idea that he is a Clinton reincarnation. Its going to fall on deaf ears, said the senior Biden adviser. It worked very well on Hillary because a lot of people didnt like Hillary. It was primarily because of her unpopularity. with reporting by Sam Stein Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. (CNN) NASA's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, is departing the space agency after just six months in the role. In a farewell note to colleagues, which was obtained by reporters on Tuesday, Loverro said he was resigning over a "mistake" he had made earlier this year. His departure was effective on Monday. The incident in question was related to the Artemis Program, a source familiar with the matter told CNN Business. The Artemis Program seeks to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, which was announced by the Trump administration last year and has been criticized as unrealistic. The source familiar with the reason for Loverro's departure said the issue centered on contracts that were awarded earlier this year for development of lunar landers, or vehicles that can carry astronauts to the moon's surface. When reached by phone Tuesday evening, Loverro declined to comment on the reason for his departure. Loverro began serving in his role as the head of NASA's human spaceflight programs in December, replacing William Gerstenmaier, who served in the role for more than a decade. In his nearly 700-word note, Loverro told NASA workers only that leaders are "called on to take risks" and added that, "I took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission." "Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences," Loverro wrote. "And therefore, it is with a very, very heavy heart that I write to you today to let you know that I have resigned from NASA effective May 18th, 2020." NASA's Office of the Inspector General announced an audit of the agency's acquisition strategy for the Artemis program in March, though it's unclear if that review was related to Loverro's departure. It's also unclear exactly what role Loverro played in the selection process. The source familiar with the matter, who asked to remain anonymous because the space agency has not yet publicized details, told CNN Business that the incident in question was unrelated to NASA's historic milestone next week when SpaceX, NASA's partner in the Commercial Crew Program, launches two astronauts to the International Space Station. That mission will mark the first time since 2011 that humans have launched into orbit from US soil, and Loverro was slated to preside over a final technical review meeting on Thursday, ahead of launch on May 27. Steve Jurczyk, NASA's associate administrator, will take over Loverro's role at that meeting, according to NASA. Ken Bowersox, NASA's acting deputy associate administrator for human exploration and operations, will become NASA's interim head of human spaceflight. Loverro's exit immediately raised some eyebrows on Capitol Hill. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Democrat from Texas who chairs the House space and science committee, said in a statement that she was "shocked" by the news. "I trust that NASA Administrator Bridenstine will ensure that the right decision is made as to whether or not to delay the launch attempt," Johnson said. "Beyond that, Mr. Loverro's resignation is another troubling indication that the Artemis Moon-Mars initiative is still not on stable footing. I look forward to clarification from NASA as to the reasons for this latest personnel action." Kendra Horn, a Democrat from Oklahoma who chairs a House subcommittee on space, said in a tweet Tuesday that she is "deeply concerned over this sudden resignation, especially eight days before the first scheduled launch of US astronauts on US soil in almost a decade." The timing of Loverro's departure was related to when Jurczyk, the associate administrator, made a recommendation to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, the source said. It was unrelated to next week's Crew Dragon launch, the source added. Jurczyk was the source selection officer for the Artemis lunar lander contract awards, according to public documents. In announcing Loverro's appointment in October, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine called Loverro "a respected strategic leader in both civilian and defense programs" who "will be of great benefit to NASA at this critical time in our final development of human spaceflight systems for both Commercial Crew and Artemis." An agency-wide email sent on Tuesday said Loverro "hit the ground running" after his appointment in 2019 and had made "significant progress in his time at NASA." "His leadership of [NASA's Human Exploration and Operations] has moved us closer to our goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024," the email said. It said his resignation was effective immediately, though it did not provide details on the reason for his exit. A NASA spokesperson declined to comment. Loverro told CNN Business he is "100% confident" that leadership will be able to carry out the SpaceX mission. He added that he believes NASA's ambitious human spaceflight goals are "doable." "But," he added, "it will take risk takers to get us there, and I hope folks who step in my shoes will continue to take risks." Next week's SpaceX launch will mark the space agency's highest-profile mission since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. SpaceX, which has a multibillion-dollar contract under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, has worked for the better part of a decade to ready its Dragon spacecraft for crewed flights to the International Space Station. Since the Shuttle retired, NASA has had to rely on Russia for rides to the ISS. This story was first published on CNN.com, "NASA's head of human spaceflight abruptly resigns, citing 'mistake.'" IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation) will join the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indians stuck overseas, the first instance of a private airline joining an exercise that was a monopoly of Air India till date. In a statement on May 21, the country's largest airline said, it "has been authorised to operate 97 Kerala reparation flights to the Middle East. Adhering all the precautionary measures, the flights will be operated between Kerala and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Doha, Kuwait and Muscat. IndiGo has been granted nearly half of the total 180 repatriation flights allotted to private airlines." The government had launched the Vande Bharat Mission in May to bring back about 1.9 lakh Indians who were stuck overseas since the national lockdown was imposed in March. At present, the second phase is on. Till now, Air India and its unit Air India Express, had operated all the flights. In the first phase there were 64, and in the second 149 flights. There were murmurs in the industry about Air India's monopoly as these flights were paid for. Air India, as per a Moneycontrol estimate, stood to make up to Rs 40 lakh per flight. Earlier on May 21, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had mentioned that these flights had brought back 20,000 Indians till now. We had expressed eagerness to support the governments repatriation efforts from the Middle East. These special flights offer an opportunity to leverage our network strength in the Middle East..." IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said in a statement. The 97 repatriation flights will include 36 flights from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 28 from Doha, 23 from Kuwait and 10 from Muscat to Kerala. Homemade face masks can help slow the spread of coronavirus but still let strong jets of air escape from the sides, a new study shows. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that wearing face coverings can reduce the forward spread of saliva by more than 90 per cent. As the breath could contain small droplets of water, some of which may contain traces of the virus, experts have said covering up the mouth and nose could help. The Edinburgh team tested the effectiveness of seven different types of face coverings, including medical grade and home made masks,. Study authors said they could all potentially limit the spread of coronavirus. As the breath could contain small droplets of water, some of which may contain traces of the virus, experts have said covering up the mouth and nose could help The Scottish Government advised people on April 28 to wear face masks while out of the home, with the UK Government making the recommendation on May 11. Neither have made the policy mandatory but some shops, including Apple Stores are requiring the masks for customers in store and even providing them. Dr Felicity Mehendale, a surgeon at the Centre for Global Health at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute, said the findings were reassuring. She said: 'It was reassuring to see the handmade mask worked just as well as the surgical mask to stop the wearer's breath flowing directly forwards.' 'This suggests that some handmade masks can help to prevent the wearer from infecting the public' said Mehendale. But a team lead by engineers at the university found some masks enabled strong jets of air to escape from the back and sides. Surgical masks and the tested handmade masks were found to limit the forward flow of a breath out but also generate far-reaching leakage jets to the side, behind, above and below. Heavy breathing and coughing, in particular, were shown to generate intense backward jets that then escape out of the sides of the mask. Only masks that form a tight seal with the face were found to prevent the escape of virus-laden fluid particles, the team said. The Scottish Government advised people on April 28 to wear face masks while out of the home, with the UK Government making the recommendation on May 11 Dr Ignazio Maria Viola, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, who co-ordinated the project, said he was generally impressed with the coverings. 'However, we discovered that some face coverings allow the emergence of downward or backward jets that people are not aware of and that could be a major hazard to others around them,' he said. Dr Mehendale added: 'The strong backward jets mean you need to think twice before turning your head if you cough while wearing a mask and be careful if you stand behind or beside someone wearing a mask.' The team also discovered that a regular medical procedure known as extubation the removal of a breathing tube used during anaesthesia and when patients are on a ventilator may increase the risk of spreading Covid-19. Simulations showed that the coughing that regularly accompanies extubation caused people nearby to be enveloped in the patients exhaled air. This puts clinicians and others at high risk of exposure to the virus. Professor Paul Digard Chair of Virology, the Roslin Institute said being able to visualise where breath or coughs go is a reasonable proxy for virus transmission. 'The findings of this important study measuring the effectiveness of various professional and homemade face coverings show that masks generally reduce forward air flow, but coughing through a loose-fitting mask can lead to jets of air in unexpected directions. 'This means that masks are likely to help, but its important to maintain the two meter social distancing.' Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov has said that Ukraine needs to draw up a long-term state aviation program. He said this at a meeting on the development of Ukraine's aviation industry, the NSDC's press service reported. "Touching upon the Ukroboronprom reform issue, Danilov warned against ill-considered decisions and stressed the need to preserve unique national production, scientific base and qualified personnel," the report said. Danilov also stressed the need to draft a long-term state aviation program and provide domestic enterprises with state orders. The meeting was attended by representatives of the largest enterprises in the industry. According to them, Ukroboronprom has shown insufficient efficiency in the management of state aviation enterprises and the hasty corporatization of individual enterprises without taking into account the principles of state defense policy can lead to negative consequences. Providing enterprises with state orders, preserving labor collectives and attracting investment in the latest domestic developments is important in this context. Danilov stressed the urgency of introducing the post of deputy prime minister and minister for defense and industrial policy. Danilov said the key tasks in the aviation industry set by the Ukrainian president included, in particular, the creation of a national air carrier. Photo: National Security and Defense Council An embargo notice by the New Jersey Department of Health is shown posted on the windows of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, N.J. Thursday, May 21, 2020.The New Jersey Department of Health has reportedly shut down Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, which had defied shutdown orders earlier this week. Read more The New Jersey Department of Health closed Atilis Gym in Bellmawr indefinitely on Thursday after it reopened this week in defiance of coronavirus shutdown orders. Although Atilis is purporting to take its own measures to address COVID-19 transmission, these particular measures do not sufficiently address the risks, read the order, signed Wednesday by state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli and left at the gym. On Thursday morning, gym owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti posted a video to Facebook and Instagram showing them arriving to find the notice on their door. In the clip, one of the owners calls the signs an example of Gov. Murphys dirty tricks, playing with his power in the Health Department. In a previous social media post, they discussed a sewage problem that occurred at the gym late Wednesday, and later suggested the shutdown was somehow related to that issue. In the Department of Health notice, there was no mention of sewage. Hours after the discovery of the notice, Smith appeared on Fox News to discuss what he called a government scare tactic. READ MORE: A Bellmawr gym reopened despite Gov. Murphys orders. The owners were issued a citation but plan to continue operating. This is just a bump in the road for us, he said. Murphy does not have the legal precedent to shut us down, so hes resorted to calling in the Health Department. However, all of these messages put here on the wall from the Health Department were put on without them ever stepping inside to take a look at the facilities. The owners said the gym would be closed Thursday and planned to reopen Friday. A cleaning crew was working on the property, they said. READ MORE: In the Philly area, gyms have led the way in defying coronavirus shutdown orders A Department of Health spokesperson responded to a reporters questions with a copy of the order, which said the gym must remain closed to all, including members, until further notice. If Atilis doesnt comply, it would be subject to criminal and civil sanctions, the order states. Several gyms across the Philadelphia region have moved to reopen despite Pennsylvanias and New Jerseys closures of nonessential businesses. The move by Atilis was the most high-profile. Its owners were interviewed several times on Fox News and became champions of protesters who say state governments have overreached and infringed on their freedoms with nonessential business closures. On Thursday, Smith also addressed a photo circulating the internet, which showed him using a megaphone with a sticker supporting the New Jersey European Heritage Association, a white supremacist organization. Smith said on Facebook that he has no connection to the group, and that he was handed the megaphone to use briefly and didnt see the sticker. Yesterday, rumors started circulating around social media that I was a white nationalist, Smith said in a Facebook video Thursday. These rumors are entirely false and based off of one photograph of me holding a megaphone while addressing the crowd. That megaphone was handed to me, and on it was a sticker that before yesterday I had never seen. In no way would I ever support any group linked to hate or racism of any kind," he said. "That is not my message, nor has it ever been. Public health experts say indoor facilities like gyms make perfect breeding grounds for the contagious virus, and should remain closed for the time being. Recent polls show more than eight in 10 Americans are concerned that lifting restrictions will lead to new COVID-19 infections. Atilis owners have said they are taking safety measures, including operating at 20% capacity and allowing in only members who had undergone temperature checks and filled out a medical questionnaire. When the gym opened Monday, police initially informed the owners and supporters that they were violating Murphys order, but left without taking action. By Tuesday, however, authorities began cracking down, citing the owners and arresting a member who refused to give police his name. On Thursday, the owners and their attorney suggested to Fox News that the sewage issue was linked to state efforts to shut them down. Gov. Murphy addressed in a news conference yesterday he was going to be enforcing some restrictions on us with the Health Department," Smith said. "We are looking into what happened yesterday. Less than an hour after his news conference, our toilets were backed up. It was not immediately clear what ramifications the gym or its owners would face if they defy the Department of Health order. Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said public health remains paramount despite hardships businesses have faced. He urged businesses to follow officials guidance on reopening. The situation in Bellmawr has not followed that path thus far, and introduces a risk into our community that we cannot afford, Cappelli said. "I am hopeful that this situation can be resolved cooperatively, and that the gym will be able to welcome back their patrons when, and only when, it has been deemed safe to do so by the State of New Jersey. This is a violation of the Constitution in two ways, Breen said. The government order violates both the free exercise of religion clause and free speech. This pastor gives out food and clothing. There is a homeless center right next to him, with no limit as to the number of people inside. Our guy, hes outside. He can give away food and clothing, but not the churching. An EgyptAir flight carrying the last group of Egyptians repatriated from Kuwait amid the coronavirus restrictions is due to arrive in Cairo International Airport on Thursday, state news agency MENA reported. The 300-passenger flight brings the total number of Egyptians brought back home from Kuwait to 6,300 citizens in 36 trips, MENA said. The group arriving Thursday will be placed under a 7-day quarantine after the Egyptian health ministry decided earlier this week to shorten the mandatory quarantine period for overseas returnees from 14 days to one week. Egyptians in Kuwait and other Gulf countries have pleaded to authorities in recent weeks to get repatriated. On 4 May, Kuwaiti authorities broke up riots by a group of Egyptian workers demanding repatriation at shelters designated for those who had violated the Gulf country's residency laws, arresting several people, the Kuwaiti interior ministry said at the time. Egypt started operating flights to bring those back home one day later. Egypt began repatriating its citizens abroad in March after it grounded all international flights as part of sweeping measures to limit the spread of the virus. Authorities are giving priority to humanitarian cases followed by those with expired residences or terminated contracts, then those with a final exit visa and tourists. The country has continued to operate domestic trips and freight flights. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said earlier this month that authorities were hoping to repatriate all nationals stuck abroad before the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Fitr, which is set to begin on 24 May. He expected the number of repatriated nationals to exceed 16,000 by that time. Search Keywords: Short link: Redmi will expand its product range in India, bringing TWS headsets and IoT gadgets and more A few days from now Xiaomi will expand its assortment of accessories available in its store in India with the #NoStringsAttached event. It will bring new IoT gadgets, power banks and a TWS headset. The event kicks off at 12pm on May 26 (thats next Tuesday). Xiaomi is teasing a TWS headset, likely the Redmi AirDots S The TWS headset is most likely the Redmi AirDots S as they check all the boxes on the teaser page they have a low-latency Bluetooth connection, long battery life (buds last 4 hours, the case brings that up to 12 hours), are sweat-proof (IPX4) and can summon a digital assistant. The AirDots S launched in China in mid-April at the low price of CNY 99, thats around INR 1,050. Redmi AirDots S As for power banks, there are two options already available in India 10,000mAh and 20,000mAh Redmi-branded external batteries, but the company probably has new additions in mind. On the IoT front, the online store in China shows various Redmi-branded smart gadgets, from routers with smart home integration to smart screens. To find out which of these gadgets will make their way to India, youll have to wait until Tuesday. Source Advertisement New Yorkers are removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service. Residents in the Big Apple were seen gathering outside bars and restaurants Wednesday night, tempted by the rising temperatures and seeking a way to relax while they grow increasingly weary of isolating inside their homes. Public drinking is strictly prohibited in the state and offenders can be slapped with fines, but the pandemic has sparked a defiance among many residents who - unable to sit inside bars or restaurants - are setting up shop outside them. More restaurants and bars have started reopening and turning to takeout beers and cocktails in recent weeks as a way to keep the lights on as New York City has not yet reached all the requirements necessary for a safe reopening of non-essential businesses. People slide their masks down their faces so they can swig from a drink outside Yuca Bar in East Village Wednesday night In Upper West Side, people gather outside Cafe Du Soleil. New Yorkers are removing their masks to take a drink in the streets as lockdown in the city enters its tenth week and more bars reopen their doors for takeout cocktail service A group of friends cheers their drinks outside The Spotted Owl Tavern in Manhattan's Alphabet City For some New Yorkers the global health crisis seemed to be a distant memory as they enjoyed a drink with friends outside the city's bars and restaurants Wednesday night. Photos show drinkers gathered outside outside East Village favorite Yuca Bar , where people slid their masks down their faces so they could swig from beers in plastic cups. Many were ignoring social distancing guidelines as they gathered close together at the entrance to the hatch serving takeout drinks. It was a similar story across all parts of Manhattan, with New Yorkers in Upper East Side - some wearing masks and some not - seen propping up the doorway to Eli's Essentials like a bar. Meanwhile, a group of friends were seen doing a cheers with their drinks outside The Spotted Owl Tavern in Manhattan's Alphabet City. People get cocktails to go from Yuca Bar, New York. Residents are seeking a way to relax while they grow increasingly weary of isolating inside their homes Public drinking is strictly prohibited in the state and offenders can be slapped with fines, but the pandemic has sparked a defiance among many residents who - unable to sit inside bars or restaurants - are setting up shop outside them People ignore social distancing as they gather close to the entrance to the hatch at Yuca Bar for a takeout drink Outside the popular Skinny Bar and Lounge in East Village the party appeared to be in full swing, with a group gathered out the front reveling in the balmy spring evening Some drinkers perched on stools outside the bar laughing and joking with each other Outside the popular Skinny Bar and Lounge in East Village the party appeared to be in full swing, with a group gathered out the front reveling in the balmy spring evening. Some drinkers perched on stools outside the bar laughing and joking with each other. The revelry continued with some drinkers pictured downing some mid-week shots on the sidewalk, while a couple were seen kissing through their masks. Many food and drink establishments that shuttered when the outbreak ramped up across the state and when the stay-at-home order was issued are now reopening for takeout service, as the lockdown rumbles on and they seek new ways to keep their businesses afloat. The restaurant and bar industry has been hardest hit by the pandemic, with stark data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and collated by the National Restaurant Association revealing that a staggering six million restaurant workers have lost their jobs during the pandemic. A man enjoys a takeout beer from the Skinny Bar. More restaurants and bars have started reopening and turning to takeout beers and cocktails in recent weeks Takeout service is becoming a way for businesses to keep the lights on as New York City has not yet reached all the requirements necessary for a safe reopening of non-essential businesses Some people did not wear masks outside the Skinny Bar and Lounge - despite not keeping six feet away from each other A couple is seen kissing through their face masks outside The Skinny Bar and Lounge Wednesday night Three decades of restaurant jobs have been lost in two months and industry employment has fallen to its lowest level since 1989. In New York City alone, lockdown has thrown the jobs of more than 150,000 people working in restaurants and bars into jeopardy. Experts have predicted that one in four restaurants will go out of business as a result of the weeks-long lockdown measures put in place by the majority of US states to stop the spread of COVID-19. New York restaurants and bars were first shuttered more than nine weeks ago on March 16, with the exception of staying open for takeout service. Over in Lower East Side, two men were seen enjoying a drink in the sunshine on Wednesday Two men fist-pump in the streets of New York. Many food and drink establishments that shuttered when the outbreak ramped up across the state and when the stay-at-home order was issued are now reopening for takeout service New Yorkers down their drinks. As the lockdown rumbles on restaurants and bars are reopening to takeout service as they seek new ways to keep their businesses afloat The restaurant and bar industry has been hardest hit by the pandemic, with stark data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and collated by the National Restaurant Association revealing that a staggering six million restaurant workers have lost their jobs during the pandemic With lockdown rumbling on, many restaurant and bar owners who chose to shutter completely back then have reversed their decision and reopened their doors for delivery and pick-up service only. In East Village B&H Dairy, Gloria, Olmsted and Superiority Burger have all reopened for takeout service in recent weeks, while Flatiron's Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop has also made a return, joining MeMe's Diner in Prospect Heights. Many are exploring the option after their businesses have been hammered over the last two months leaving them struggling to pay rent and keep a roof over their heads. Over in Jackson Heights, Alejandro Osorio, co-owner of Arepa Lady told Grub Street the restaurant reopened last Friday to try to keep some income coming in. Yuca Bar draws in thirsty New Yorkers Wednesday night. Three decades of restaurant jobs have been lost in two months across the US and industry employment has fallen to its lowest level since 1989 Cafe Du Soleil in Broadway offers takeout drinks. In New York City alone, lockdown has thrown the jobs of more than 150,000 people working in restaurants and bars into jeopardy New York restaurants and bars were first shuttered more than nine weeks ago on March 16, with the exception of staying open for takeout service Three women gather outside Tiki Chick in the Upper West Side Wednesday night for a beer through a straw while wearing their face masks With lockdown rumbling on, many restaurant and bar owners who chose to shutter completely back then have reversed their decision and reopened their doors for delivery and pick-up service only 'Rent keeps accumulating,' Osorio told Grub Street. 'Is it better to get a little something than nothing? I don't know.' Others said they are becoming more comfortable with navigating some sort of reopened business as cases and deaths from the virus ease across the city. 'We had been talking about it, you know, for a while. I guess, officially, I would say about a month ago. It's basically like opening a whole new restaurant, with the takeout and delivery, because it wasn't something we were doing previously,' Lisa Limb from the West Village's Nami Nori told Grub Street. And many have cited challenges in restaurants and bars using the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, leaving them with no choice but to reopen one way or another. Revelers gather outside the Skinny Bar in Manhattan. Residents in the Big Apple were seen gathering outside bars and restaurants Wednesday night, tempted by the rising temperatures Patrons prop up the closest thing to the bar at Eli's Essentials as it offers takeout drinks from its doorway Many bars and restaurants have reopened to takeout service after their businesses have been hammered over the last two months leaving them struggling to pay rent and keep a roof over their heads Other bar and restaurant owners are becoming more comfortable with navigating some sort of reopened business as cases and deaths from the virus ease across the city The PPP was designed to give money to small businesses with 500 employees or less to help them survive the economic downturn during the coronavirus crisis, ensuring they can still pay their employees and bills, and avoid mass layoffs. Companies that use the money to avoid layoffs will not have to pay the money back as long as 75 percent of the funds are used to pay staff. But famed restaurateur Thomas Keller, behind New York eateries Per Se and TAK Room, told CNN Wednesday that it falls short of providing much-needed relief for restaurants. Keller pointed out that restaurants cannot use the PPP loans for wages because they are unable to rehire their workforce as sites stay closed - while the restaurant owners continue to grapple with the prospect of affording restaurant operating costs. 'We have not been able to take the PPP loans as we cannot open our restaurants,' he said. 'The restaurant profession is much much different to other businesses.' Revelers drink outside Mel's Burger in the Upper East Side in New York City on May 20 For some New Yorkers the global health crisis seemed to be a distant memory as they enjoyed a drink with friends Drinkers in Manhattan Wednesday. Many bar and restaurant owners have cited challenges in using the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, leaving them with no choice but to reopen one way or another A drinker wears protective gloves to hold his plastic cup of beer in New York on Wednesday The streets were busy in Manhattan as people gathered for a drink after working from home New Yorkers are only too happy to help the ailing bars and restaurants across the city, with rising temperatures sending people in their droves to bars to pickup a takeout cocktail or beer to enjoy in the sunshine And New Yorkers are only too happy to help the ailing businesses, with rising temperatures sending people in their droves to bars to pickup a takeout cocktail or beer to enjoy in the sunshine. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a warning to revelers at the weekend seen gathering in the streets and ignoring social distancing. 'I'm not comfortable at all with people congregating outside bars,' de Blasio said during his Sunday press briefing. 'That violates what we're saying about social distancing. That puts lives in danger.' The mayor warned that police presence would be stepped up in the worst-offending areas and that businesses breaking social distancing rules would be shut down. Most people wear masks outside The Spotted Owl Tavern on Wednesday night where they gather in the street after buying a takeout drink New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a warning to revelers at the weekend seen gathering in the streets and ignoring social distancing People cheer for health care workers at 7p.m. as they gather outside The Spotted Owl Tavern 'If we have to shut places down, we will if they're starting to violate these rules,' de Blasio said. He singled out the Upper East Side of Manhattan as having a 'particular problem' over the weekend, with at least one restaurant in the area serving customers in the premises, in direct violation of the statewide emergency order, according to NBC New York. The New York Sheriff's Department stepped up their presence in the area Sunday night to enforce social distancing guidelines. But similar scenes have been seen the following evenings. People gather outside El Camion Cantina in New York Wednesday evening. As the weather improves and lockdown continues the streets have gotten busier People sporting face masks buy drinks to go. It is illegal to drink alcohol in public places in the city, including being in possession of an open container of alcohol People caught drinking in Manhattan will not be arrested but can be issued a summons or a ticket As of Wednesday there are 192,374 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 16,153 people have been killed across New York City On Monday, de Blasio raised concerns again and told New Yorkers not to congregate on the sidewalks with their takeout drinks. 'Get your drink. Go home. Don't allow gatherings to occur. It's not safe,' the mayor said. It is illegal to drink alcohol in public places in the city, including being in possession of an open container of alcohol. People caught doing in Manhattan so will not be arrested but can be issued a summons or a ticket. As of Wednesday there are 192,374 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 16,153 people have been killed across new York City. Foreign direct investment in Korea is expected to dwindle this year for the second year running due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Federation of Korean Industries said Wednesday. FDI in 36 OECD member states increased 6.3 percent last year despite harsher global trade protectionism including the U.S.-China trade war, according to the institute. But in Korea it plummeted 20.6 percent on-year to US$10.57 billion. The FKI blames an unfavorable investment climate including the abolition of corporate tax breaks for foreign-invested companies and the minimum wage hike. It expects that FDI will drop even further this year because of the epidemic. "Investment from the U.S., the EU and China, which account for 64.1 percent of total FDI in Korea, is expected to drop further," Kim Bong-man of the FKI said. "We need to concentrate our efforts on luring investment" in newly emerging business sectors including artificial intelligence-assisted technologies. ROME - During the coronavirus emergency, Spain followed Italy's example as it was hit by the outbreak later. However, the Spanish government is now following a different course of action because it believes that Italy is moving too fast during 'phase 2' with the gradual relaxation of lockdown measures, El Pais reported on Thursday, quoting well-informed sources. The Moncloa took this decision as it believes that Rome is moving ahead too quickly, according to Spanish government sources quoted by the newspaper. The daily said that Premier Pedro Sanchez expressed concern about Italy's policies, commenting the latest developments with his aides: ''Italy is moving too fast during the de-escalation, perhaps everything will be fine but they are risking too much''. El Pais stressed that contacts between the governments of the two countries are very fluid. Politicians and experts at all levels from both countries have been in contact to discuss de-escalation but this time Rome and Madrid will reportedly move at a different pace. Champawat (Uttarakhand) [India], May 21 (ANI): Hundreds of stranded Nepali migrant workers gathered near the India-Nepal border in Banbasa town of Champawat district here on Thursday protesting against the Nepal government. These migrant workers raised slogans against Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli and urged the government of the neighbouring country to take them back. "We have been stranded in India ever since the lockdown. We want to go home but the Nepal government is not helping us in any way. We want to say that we are ready to do whatever we are directed, be it staying in quarrentine," a migrant worker protesting here said. He said that they are left with no money or food to support their families due to lockdown. "We are left with no other choice but to stay in the open during this lockdown. We want to urge the Nepal government to transport us back to our country," the migrant worker said. "This is the nepal border. Nepali migrants are gathering here different states of the country. We are arranging shelter and food for as many people as possible. Around 500 more Nepali migrants have come here since last night and more are coming," Deputy Collector Dayanand Saraswati said. He said that the administration of Nepal has been informed about the development and added that the forces at the ground level are awaiting further directions in the matter. On the other hand, BJP MP Ajay Bhatt said that he will discuss the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah soon. "I had talked to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and am going to talk to Home Minister Amit Shah about it. The issue is that Nepal has not given permission to take their migrant workers back," Bhatt said. He said that Nepal migrants have gathered near the border from across the country. "These migrant workers have travel passes for this region but they have IDs of Nepal. I urge District Magistrate or authorities concerned across the country to make passes after checking identity cards. People are coming here in trucks but Nepal government is not taking them back. If these people are stopped in the district they were in, this problem will not get worse," Bhatt said. (ANI) Metcela Inc., a Tsuruoka-shi, Yamagata, Japan-based biotech startup specializing in fibroblast-based cell therapy, closed its 430m yen ($4m) Series B funding round. Backers included Japan Lifeline Co., Ltd. (JLL), Sony Innovation Fund and Tsukuba Exceed Fund (TX fund). The company plans to accelerate the clinical development of the fibroblast-based cell therapy product, MTC001, for the treatment of chronic heart failure and initiate a Phase I clinical trial. Established in 2016 and led by Co-CEOs Takahiro Iwamiya and Kenichi Nogami, Metcela is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on researching and developing potentially curative fibroblast-based therapies for chronic diseases with limited therapeutic options. Through basic research and various pre-clinical studies, the company has discovered that VCAM-1-positive cardiac fibroblasts (VCFs) were capable of stimulating proliferation of cardiomyocytes and improving cardiac function through formation of new lymphatic vessels, a process known as lymphangiogenesis. Metcela also announced that it has appointed Kenji Yamada, who also serves as a director of JLL, as an outside director. FinSMEs 20/05/2020 NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) today announced its Graduation Gift Card Give Back program that will honor 2020 graduates and support future educational pursuits. The brand will be matching 10% of special graduation-themed egift card purchases and donating to Scholarship America, an organization that works directly with students, parents, colleges, businesses and communities to help students fulfill their college dreams. Since it was founded in 1958, Scholarship America has distributed $4.3 billion to more than 2.6 million students. Additionally, the first 5,000 Chipotle customers who purchase a graduation-themed egift card will receive a digital BUY-ONE-GET-ONE (BOGO) offer. Through its new Graduation Gift Card Give Back program, Chipotle will match 10% of graduation-themed egift card purchases and donate to Scholarship America. Fans can learn more and purchase Chipotle graduation-themed egift cards through June 30 by visiting: www.chipotle.com/gradgiveback. "We're excited to offer parents, family members and friends an easy way to congratulate the Class of 2020," said Chris Brandt, Chief Marketing Officer. "It's been a rollercoaster year for many of these seniors, and they certainly deserve something extra for all their accomplishments." In the past week, Chipotle launched a pair of virtual events to help students stay connected during their final days of senior year. On May 16, the brand hosted a virtual prom afterparty on Instagram and awarded one attendee a $25,000 scholarship. Chipotle also teamed up with the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) on May 20 to create a Virtual Senior Day for high school lacrosse student athletes who had their spring season cancelled. Professional lacrosse players from the PLL sent inspirational video messages on social media to high school seniors who played for their respective alma mater. Chipotle and the PLL invited the larger lacrosse community to share stories of their high school playing days using the hashtag #VirtualSeniorDay. Ongoing support of academic aspirations continues to be an essential pillar in Chipotle's mission to Cultivate a Better World. Last year, Chipotle announced that all eligible employees, including crew members, would have the opportunity to pursue a debt-free college degree. Chipotle covers 100% of tuition costs up front for 75 different types of business and technology degrees through their partnership with Guild Education. The launch of the debt-free degrees was the latest addition to Chipotle's Cultivate Education program, which also includes a reimbursement option, allowing eligible employees to be reimbursed for tuition up to $5,250 a year at the school of their choice. Donation offer is valid on purchases of designated graduation e-gift cards from the Chipotle online gift card store at chipotle.com/gifts-and-gear, from May 21 through June 30, 2020. Proceeds will be based on specific graduation gift cards; donation will equal 10% of sales during the promotional period, with minimum donation of $5,000, and maximum donation of $250,000. Purchaser receives the full value of the e-gift card. The first 5,000 customers to purchase a graduation gift card during the promotional period will also receive one code per customer receipt valid for a buy-one, get-one free entree; terms and conditions apply. Void where prohibited. ABOUT CHIPOTLE Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle had over 2,600 restaurants as of March 31, 2020, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants. With more than 85,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. Steve Ells, founder and former executive chairman, first opened Chipotle with a single restaurant in Denver, Colorado in 1993. For more information or to place an order online, visit WWW.CHIPOTLE.COM SOURCE Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Related Links https://www.chipotle.com The safety notices will pop up if activity taking place in the background is deemed suspicious by artificial intelligence software. The feature began rolling out to the Messenger app tailored for Android-powered smartphones in March and will head to Messenger on iPhones next week, according to Facebook. (Photo | Facebook) San Francisco: Facebook on Thursday said that its Messenger app will be watching behind the scenes for scammers using the smartphone communication system. Safety notices will pop up in Messenger text chats if activity taking place in the background is deemed suspicious by artificial intelligence software, according to director of privacy and safety product management Jay Sullivan. He said the new safety feature will help millions of people avoid potentially harmful interactions and possible scams without compromising their privacy. The feature began rolling out to the Messenger app tailored for Android-powered smartphones in March and will head to Messenger on iPhones next week, according to Facebook. Too often people interact with someone online they think they know or trust, when its really a scammer or imposter, Sullivan said. These accounts can be hard to identify at first and the results can be costly. Artificial intelligence software scans for scammers based on account behavior, such as sending messages in bulk targeting demographics or geographies, according to Facebook. Warning notices pop up before people respond to messages of possibly dubious origins. Since the feature does not involve looking at what is in messages, it should continue to add a layer of safety when Messenger takes to encrypted missives as planned by Facebook. As we move to end-to-end encryption, we are investing in privacy-preserving tools like this to keep people safe without accessing message content, Sullivan said. Messenger already uses software tools to fight spam and thwart efforts by adults to contact minors they dont appear to know. Messenger has been ramping up capabilities and security as use of online tools to communicate and socialize surges due to restrictions of movement during the pandemic. Facebook recently unveiled a new video chat service with virtual rooms where people can pop in to visit friends, aiming at users turning to the popular Zoom platform during the pandemic. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) and Lenovo announced a three-year program extension to their Lenovo Financial Services program, continuing the decade-long relationship. Under the extension, CIT will continue to provide a broad range of vendor financing solutions for U.S. clients and customers who utilize Lenovo's extensive range of technology products and services. "We're excited to continue our longstanding and successful relationship with Lenovo," said Mike Jones, president of CIT's Business Capital division. "CIT is committed to providing customers with the financial agility and flexibility to meet their unique needs. Our Lenovo Financial Services program demonstrates that commitment by showcasing CIT's ability to deliver the right financing solutions for customers of a leading technology company." Through the Lenovo Financial Services program, CIT offers solutions for commercial customers seeking to lease or finance Lenovo's advanced technology products and services. CIT supports all of Lenovo's direct and indirect sales channels, from small business e-commerce to Fortune 100 clients. Options range from traditional fair market value leasing and loan products to integrated managed service offerings. "For 10 years, CIT has served as a trusted financing and services provider for Lenovo, giving our U.S. customers the flexibility they may need to incorporate advanced technology solutions into their businesses," said Rob Makin, Lenovo Executive Director of Worldwide Device as a Service and Lenovo Financial Services. "Extending this relationship strengthens our ability to make smarter technology available for all, whether through outright leases or participation in Lenovo's Device as a Service Program." CIT's Business Capital division empowers small and mid-size businesses by providing equipment financing solutions via technology-enabled platforms and market leading structuring expertise. About CIT CIT is a leading national bank focused on empowering businesses and personal savers with the financial agility to navigate their goals. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with over a century of experience and operates a principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A. (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender). The company's commercial banking segment includes commercial financing, community association banking, middle market banking, equipment and vendor financing, factoring, railcar financing, treasury and payments services, and capital markets and asset management. CIT's consumer banking segment includes a national direct bank and regional branch network. Discover more at cit.com/about. MEDIA RELATIONS: Donna Choi 212-461-5731 [email protected] SOURCE CIT Group Inc. [May 21, 2020] Black & Veatch, ENACT Systems Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Commercial Solar in Southeast Asia Black & Veatch (News - Alert), a global provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, and ENACT Systems Inc., a leader in cloud-based software for the solar industry, today announced a strategic partnership designed to elevate commercial solar project management to new heights in Southeast Asia. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005558/en/ Driven by the global march towards decarbonization and sustainability, large solar projects in this region are becoming highly distributed and increasingly complex. And the market is growing - Black & Veatch estimates that Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam will see an additional 19 GW in solar installations and capacity by 2024. But with COVID-19 driving a shift towards new, digital-based working models, traditional project management has been set aside as project execution continues to evolve into the digital age. By embracing the power of automation, the solar industry can optimize project management while introducing new opportunities in efficiency and productivity. To do this, Black & Veatch's Global Distributed Energy business will combine its experience and industry-leading service and EPC offerings with the ENACT cloud-based platform to automate development and deployment processes for distributed solar projects across Southeast Asia. By digitizing the entire project design and development process, the platform helps manage project design, management, financing, execution and asset management needs across multiple countries in the region, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In doing so, the platform will help streamline efforts while delivering greater efficiencies across the entire solar project life cycle. "As a globl leader in renewable energy, Black & Veatch has contributed to more than 2,000 solar PV installations around the world," said Mitesh Patel, Director of Black & Veatch's Renewable Energy business in Asia. "Pairing our deep technical expertise in renewables with ENACT's unique cloud-based platform will allow us to broaden and expand our EPC offerings within the region, particularly when it comes to the growing commercial rooftop solar market. Embracing this advanced technology reflects Black & Veatch's commitment to innovation and working in new ways." "Distributed energy, led by solar, will continue to grow as commercial and industrial customers in Southeast Asia look to reduce fixed costs while benefitting from third-party financing," said Deep Chakraborty, CEO of ENACT Systems Inc. "In the post-COVID-19 world, the complexity of renewable project development will only increase as business teams continue to work remotely, avoiding physical engagement while still getting work done on time. Digital platforms will be even more crucial to ensure timely and effective transactions throughout this time." *** Editor's Notes: Click here for an example of the platform's workflow diagram. Black & Veatch is supporting a global banking and financial leader that is working to decarbonize its operations by relying on 100-percent renewable energy. As part of this effort, Black & Veatch is deploying solar PV at approximately 1,000 retail branch sites throughout the U.S., and is providing EPC, program management, and operations and maintenance services across all sites. Black & Veatch has implemented more than 100 GW of solar and wind energy through its full range of EPC services and capabilities. The company has over 100 MW of battery energy storage experience and has deployed more than 700 distributed energy buildouts. About Black & Veatch Black & Veatch is an employee-owned engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries by addressing the resilience and reliability of our world's most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2019 were US$3.7 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media. About ENACT Systems, Inc. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, ENACT Systems has offices in India and UAE. Its smart energy platform for renewable energy projects allows design, financing, installation management and asset management on a single cloud platform. Enact digital platform for solar projects is actively used by thousands of users in North America, Middle East, India and South Asia, in thirteen country markets, with over $1 billion of solar projects processed annually. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005558/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A U.S. military plane carrying ventilators has landed in Moscow to help Russia in its battle against the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. Embassy said on May 21 that the 50 ventilators were the first tranche of a $5.6 million "humanitarian donation" to Russia that will eventually include a total of 200 U.S.-manufactured ventilators. Even though U.S.-Russian relations remain at post-Cold War lows, the embassy said the two countries "must set aside policy differences and focus on the needs of our people." Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on May 21 that another shipment of ventilators is expected next week. Russia now has the second-highest total of reported COVID-19 cases after a surge of new infections over the past month. Russia's case tally rose to 317,554 on May 21 after 8,849 new infections were reported, while the death toll climbed to the 3,009 mark after 127 people died in the last 24 hours. The United States has the largest number of reported cases globally at over 1.55 million, with the death toll exceeding 93,471. Russia in April sent ventilators to the United States as cities like New York faced a shortage. Washington has said it had paid for the equipment but the Russian sovereign wealth fund, RDIF, on May 19 claimed Russia had paid for it. Moscow has ordered thousands of locally made ventilators, but was forced to sideline them after they were reported to have caused fatal fires in two Russian hospitals earlier this month. The same ventilator type was part of the batch of medical supplies Russia sent to the United States. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung Thu, May 21, 2020 16:55 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd977171 1 National COVID-19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,COVID-19-West-Java,ridwan-kamil,PSBB Free West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has said that the provinces large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) will continue proportionately until May 29, with some cities and regencies to allow for more movement and economic activity if they are at lower risk of COVID-19 transmission. In a press conference on Wednesday, Ridwan said that the evaluation of the provinces 27 cities and regencies was based on eight parameters laid out by the World Health Organization, which include the rate of new suspected COVID-19 cases, the recovery rate, the fatality rate, the case reproduction rate, the transmission rate, the movement rate and geographical risk. A combined score of 21 to 24 puts a region in the low-risk category, 18 to 20 means moderate risk, 15 to 17 means quite severe, 12 to 14 means severe and 8 to 11 means critical. The provincial administration assigned colors to each category. A city or regency labeled critical risk is categorized as a black zone, one with severe risk is a red zone, one with quite severe risk is a yellow zone, one with moderate risk is a blue zone and one with low risk is a green zone. There should be zero movement, a total lockdown [in a black zone]. So far, no [city or regency] has been categorized as a black zone, Ridwan said. The provinces red zones so far are Bekasi regency, Bekasi municipality and Cimahi municipality. These three cities and regencies should continue their PSBB policy, Ridwan said, adding that economic activity should only be at 30 percent of their normal level. Yellow zones are allowed to increase economic activity to around 60 percent of normal levels, while maintaining physical distancing. Blue zones, namely West Bandung regency, Pangandaran regency, Sumedang regency, Garut regency and Sukabumi municipality, are allowed to reopen all public and commercial facilities but must ensure that there are no crowds. Crowds are allowed if the city or regency is categorized as a green zone. There are none so far, Ridwan said. Ridwan said that instructions on specific movement and economic activity was up to each regent or mayor. The important thing is for the activity level of a city to be at 30 percent or 60 percent. Its up to them what those activities consist of, he said. Ridwan added that he had shared the evaluation results to the police and the Indonesian Military. Siliwangi Military Commander Maj. Gen. Nugroho Budi Wiryanto said that his institution would add personnel and extend shifts at all checkpoints to help with the PSBB in West Java. We will have three shifts to block people from mudik [exodus], he said. West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said the police would disseminate information on the streets given that there was a 40 percent increase of traffic one week ahead of Idul Fitri. Ridwan said the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had decreased from 430 patients in April to 270 patients. Isolation wards were only at 33 percent of capacity, he said, adding that the number of recovered patients had been increasing and the fatality rate had been decreasing. According to the official government count, West Java recorded 1,962 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 124 deaths as of Thursday. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) - The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said it will not be accepting new merit scholars for this year due to budget adjustments in line with the COVID-19 fight. Chairman Prospero de Vera said some funds for student financial assistance set for 2020 will no longer be released. "Ang tatamaan is 'yung student financial assistance na pinakamalaki (This will hit student financial assistance the most) so we are giving out a notice that we will not be able to give merit scholarships for this school year," De Vera told a Senate online hearing on Thursday. However, he said CHED will continue to support students who already have their scholarships. "Ang mapopondohan namin doon sa natitirang pera ay 'yung continuing lang kasi kung tatanggap kami ng bago tapos hindi mabibigyan 'yung continuing, mas kawawa sila," said De Vera. "At least huwag na lang tatanggap ng mga bagong scholars." [Translation: We can only fund those who are continuing scholars with the remaining funds because if we accept new applicants we will not be able to assist those who have existing scholarships. We will not accept new scholars at least.] He told the hearing that reimbursement of tuition and miscellaneous fees will be affected, but this can be rectified if they will include the amount in the 2021 budget. De Vera detailed that over 1 billion allotted for subsidies for persons with disabilities and reimbursement of licensure tests were also hit and another 2 billion was discontinued. The agency in a follow-up statement said the scholarship program had 2,467 slots for incoming freshmen for the next school year. CHED also clarified that the transferred funds were not due to the Budget department's earlier order to discontinue money identified as "For Later Release" in the 2020 budget to pool funds for the COVID-19 response. It assured the students that education subsidies will continue. CHED also earlier noted that the budget department did release 3.6 billion to provide tertiary education subsidy stipends to 120,000 students from 404 institutions, who were enrolled for the first semester of Academic Year 2019-2020. This story was updated with CHED's statement dated May 22. A rollover crash on Interstate 95 in a Massachusetts town Tuesday afternoon injured a Massachusetts State Police trooper as well as a toddler and two other adults, authorities said. The trooper suffered minor injuries. The toddler, a 28-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, who were all in the same car, suffered injuries that do not appear life-threatening, state police said in a statement. The officer was on patrol around 3:30 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-95 near Exit 10 when he saw a 2002 Toyota Camry start to turn into the median crossover connected to the southbound side of the highway, according to the statement. After stopping the Camry in the median and explaining to the driver, a 79-year-old Littleton woman, that such a turn is illegal, the trooper used his cruiser to help the Camry back into the northbound lanes, the statement said. The cruisers lights were activated, and the Camry reentered the northbound side of I-95. At that point, a 2007 Honda Civic, driven by the 27-year-old man, failed to slow down before reaching the cars in front of him, according to state police. Rather, the Civic moved suddenly to the right to try to get around the cruiser and the other vehicle, state police said. As it did so, the Civic struck the passenger side of the cruiser and then rolled over, coming to rest on its roof. The trooper radioed in the crash and began to give emergency aid to the man, the 28-year-old woman, who was riding passenger, and the one-year-old girl, according to authorities. The man and the woman, who are both from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and the child were taken to Boston Medical Center. The trooper was taken to Norwood Hospital, authorities said. The driver of the Camry was not injured, but that Littleton womans car was damaged, state police said. The crash remains under investigation. Amid the coronavirus lockdown, celebrity photographer Dabboo Ratnani has been sharing his masterpieces from his photoshoots with celebs. He recently posted a picture of Kangana Ranaut that is causing a social media frenzy. In the picture, Kangana can be seen in a black sheer top. Fans dropped positive comments on the picture. "Wow she slays in any attire," one fan wrote, whereas the other said, "Wow looking amazing. So gorgeous and beautiful." Read: Kangana Ranaut's Throwback Photoshoot by Dabboo Ratnani Causing A Frenzy; See Pic Actor Sumeet Raghvan, who essayed the character of adolescent Sudama in B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat decades ago, says that he had no inkling that the show would create history. "I was very young when I bagged the role, and I was as excited as any new kid on the block. I was quite skinny at the time, probably that's why I got the role," he quipped. Read: Didn't Know We Were Going to Make History With Mahabharat, Says Sumeet Raghvan Salman Khan visited his house in Mumbai on Tuesday, taking necessary precautions, to check in on his parents after spending two months at his Panvel farmhouse during the nationwide lockdown. The actor was in Mumbai for a few hours before he returned to Panvel before nightfall. His parents have been staying at the family's Galaxy apartments home in Bandra. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Salman followed social distancing guidelines and had taken the essential permissions. Read: Salman Khan Makes a Quick Visit to Parents in Mumbai Before Returning to Panvel Farmhouse Farhan Akhtar was questioned by netizens after he shared photos of PPE kits donated by his fans that bear his name. Social media users, on seeing the pictures, pointed out charity should be faceless. Farhan had tweeted a couple of photos where cartons can be seen piled up inside a room. On every carton, it is written "These PPE kits made possible by fans of FARHAN AKHTAR CAMA HOSPITAL." Read: Netizens Question Farhan Akhtar Why His Charity is 'Not Faceless' Actor Gregory Tyree Boyce, best known for his role as Tyler Crowley in Twilight, was found dead on Wednesday in his Las Vegas condo along with his girlfriend Natalie Adepoju. He was 30 years old. A source told E! News, "Greg's cousin woke up and noticed that Greg's car was still at the house. He was worried because Greg was to be in LA. His cousin went to check on him and found them." Read: Twilight Actor Gregory Tyree Boyce and Girlfriend Natalie Adepoju Found Dead in Las Vegas Follow @News18Movies for more Canada traditionally rolls out the welcome mat for seasonal workers to help on the country's farms. Now it can't find enough willing to make the journey. There is scant local interest in farmwork, so Canada's agriculture sector relies on nearly 60,000 foreign workers to make the journey north each year from countries like Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala. This year, however, some migrant laborers are deciding to stay home to protect themselves from the coronavirus, resulting in a dearth in essential foreign labor. That leaves Canadian farmers desperate to fill a shortage of workers, despite facing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. It's an issue that's quickly become politicized, with the federal government forced to step in and opposition politicians calling for coronavirus aid programs intended for students and the unemployed to be tied to working in the fields. The government is "exploring additional ways to shore up our domestic labor supply," said Marielle Hossack, spokeswoman for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough. "We continue to encourage employers to hire Canadians, and jobs are posted - and continue to be available - for Canadians who are interested." Even as the covid-19 fallout forces Canada to reduce its new arrivals targets for immigration, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has implemented measures to try and lure seasonal workers north. They include rolling out exemptions from border closures, easing visa renewals for agriculture workers and providing C$50 million ($36 million) to cover mandatory quarantine costs. It's still not enough to convince more people to come. Political pressure is mounting to find an alternative labor source locally as Ottawa estimates the shortage at several thousands already with the growing season just beginning. For the four months to the end of April, 22,000 agricultural workers had arrived to take up jobs from the fruit orchards and vegetable fields of British Columbia to the wine-growing region of Niagara in Ontario. Of the 13,000 projected arrivals for the month of April, only 11,000 workers came. Syed Hussan, director at Migrant Workers Alliance for Change in Toronto, said the shortage is being compounded by travel difficulties and public health fears. In many cases the workers' countries of origin have fewer covid-19 cases than Canada, and Canadian farms and facilities staffed by migrant workers have witnessed some of the largest workplace outbreaks. Foreign workers say that not all employers are following the government's health guidelines and they are worried about their health. One worker from Jamaica, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said this time was unlike the previous 12 years he made the journey. Instead of a commercial plane, he took a crammed chartered flight in April without quarantining for the mandatory 14-day period. "This year is very very different from previous because when we arrive this year, we have been told to keep safe of this covid-19, but complying with all rules and regulations is difficult," he said. He lives in a house with six other men, sharing a kitchen and bathroom. He says the house doesn't meet health standards and the men have been relying on a local church to provide food donations. A fruit picker, he says he knows people in Jamaica who decided not to come to Canada out of fear of contracting covid-19. Stringent workplace health and safety rules need to be in place and enforced to protect workers, according to economist Armine Yalnizyan, who said that they also need the right to refuse work if they feel they may get sick from unsafe practices. "Migrant workers are not allowed to not work - if they don't work, they get deported," she said. "But they're getting sick and they're not allowed access to care or any kind of income support when they are not working because they are sick." Twenty-three foreign workers tested positive for covid-19 at a plant nursery in British Columbia this month, and migrant workers at meat plants in Alberta have been among the confirmed cases. A Mexican worker on a mushroom farm in Ontario said he's been under more pressure this season due to a shortage of labor both as a result of those not arriving and others who have gotten sick on the job. The farm has reported a number of covid-19 cases over the past few weeks. The man, who also asked not to be named, lives with five others in a three-bedroom house on the farm. He says the company has given them masks to use for two weeks at a time and has recently implemented temperature testing. If the workers get sick, they have to quarantine at home and do not get paid. He makes C$500 a week and uses that income to support his mother, wife and daughter back in Mexico. Migrants rights groups are calling for increased protections for workers, including stricter physical distancing and guaranteed pay if they fall ill. The government says it has already strengthened requirements and will punish employers who don't comply with new covid-19 regulations with penalties of up to C$1 million and a permanent ban on hiring foreign workers. With some provinces closing their borders to migrant labor entirely, the labor shortage shows no sign of abating. Instead, opposition politicians are pressing the government to tie part of its C$9 billion student aid program to agricultural work. Shifting even some of that money away from direct payments to students and on to employers including farms would "provide relief for many of the front-line essential services and jobs for students in return for the money," said lawmaker Erin O'Toole, who is vying for the leadership of the main opposition Conservative Party. Trudeau's Liberal government says it encourages unemployed Canadians to work in essential sectors including agriculture. But Nicole Brayiannis, deputy chairperson from the Canadian Federation of Students, says that's impractical. "A lot of folks take years of training to work up into the positions that they're in and now just turning to students and saying this is essential work that is available doesn't make sense," she said. Meanwhile, the Jamaican fruit picker is dreading harvest season without more support to ease the workload. He earns around C$900 every two weeks and works six days per week, sending his pay home to support six family members. "When its reaping time in September, I'm worried," he said. Fewer workers means more pressure and longer hours to bring in the harvest. "I wouldn't like this to happen again." Rajasthan government has so far sent about two lakh migrants to their home states and brought back its 6.75 lakh workers to the state, Minister of State for Labour Tika Ram Juli said on Thursday. He said the state government has established a call center to facilitate interstate migration of workers. A total of 23.98 lakh people have registered themselves online with 10.82 lakh people applying for going out of the state and 12.27 lakh for coming back from other states. Juli said so far 1.95 lakh workers have been sent to various states. Similarly, 6.75 lakh workers and migrants have been brought to Rajasthan, of which 2,74,283 have entered from Sirohi border, 1,23,919 from Dungarpur border, 55,043 from Chittorgarh border, 51,891 from Jalore border and the rest from other districts, he added. The minister said 9,860 workers have been sent to Gujarat from Rajasthan, while 2,81,432 migrants have been brought to Rajasthan from various districts of Gujarat. About 51,085 workers have been sent from Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh, while about 32,487 state's migrants have been brought back from MP, he said. Similarly, about 9,272 migrants have been sent to Punjab, while 2,614 people have been brought from there, he added. About 10,518 workers and migrants have been sent from Rajasthan to Haryana, while 14,245 people have arrived from there, adding, similarly, 61,575 workers have been sent to Uttar Pradesh from Rajasthan and 14,861 have been brought back from there. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The department also has received 74,515 claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to aid the self-employed in the first week since the states system went live May 11, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The program is part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Applicants must first apply for regular unemployment and be rejected before they can apply for the new benefits. WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its tradition of supporting the nation's heroes, Pennsylvania College of Technology (https://www.pct.edu/) is offering discounted tuition for active-duty military during the 2020-21 Academic Year. Active-duty military can receive a discounted tuition rate of $250 per semester credit hour, up to a maximum of 18 credit hours or $4,500 per fiscal year. Pennsylvania College of Technology is offering a discounted tuition rate of $250 per semester credit hour for active-duty military during the 2020-21 Academic Year. "This institution's dedication to the military can be traced to its earliest years, when it retrained World War I veterans and provided round-the-clock defense-industry training before and during World War II," said Carolyn R. Strickland, vice president for enrollment management and associate provost. "The college has long been a supportive educational hub for active military, veterans, those serving in the Reserves or National Guard, and Army ROTC. The discounted tuition rate is the latest example." The discount applies both to remote and on-campus classes. The $250 per-credit rate aligns with the $250 per-credit benefit offered by the Armed Forces Tuition Assistance program. When the discounted tuition rate is combined with that program, active military are eligible to earn credits tuition-free at Penn College. Each military branch has its own application and procedures to be eligible for the Armed Forces Tuition Assistance program. Penn College provides a Veterans & Military Resource Center and a coordinator of veteran and military services, who offers assistance with enrollment, financial aid and veterans/military benefits. For more information about the discounted tuition rate for active military, visit www.pct.edu/activeduty; email Chet Beaver, coordinator of veteran and military services, at [email protected]; or call toll-free at 800-367-9222. Penn College is a national leader in applied technology education. Visit www.pct.edu, email [email protected] or call toll-free at 800-367-9222. Media Contact: Joseph Yoder 570.320.2400 x 7218 [email protected] Related Images tuition-discount-for-active.jpg Tuition discount for active military at Penn College Pennsylvania College of Technology is offering a discounted tuition rate of $250 per semester credit hour for active-duty military during the 2020-21 Academic Year. Related Links Penn College SOURCE Pennsylvania College of Technology Related Links https://www.pct.edu The Pentagon on Thursday released the identity of a South Carolina Army National Guard soldier who died recently in the counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan. First Lt. Trevarius Ravon Bowman died Tuesday at Bagram Air Base, in Afghanistan's Parwan province to the northeast, from a non-combat related incident while supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel, according to a Defense Department news release. Read Next: Active Shooter 'Neutralized' at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Bowman, a 25-year-old native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was assigned to B Company, 198th Signal Battalion, 261st Signal Brigade, located in Newberry, South Carolina, according to the release. The Pentagon did not release details about his death, but the incident is under investigation, the release states. Two weeks ago, the Pentagon announced that an Alaska-based soldier died in Iraq from non-hostile circumstances. Sgt. Christopher Wesley Curry died in a non-combat incident May 4 in Erbil, Iraq, while supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. Bowman's unit is attached to the 228th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade, the release states. He served in the South Carolina Guard for five years, starting off as an enlisted soldier before receiving his commission at the University of South Carolina Upstate, according to the university's website. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in information management systems and began working as an admissions operations IT specialist at the university's Palmetto College in 2018, according to the website. Part of his job was to help design web development projects on the college's website. Bowman's awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Afghanistan Campaign Medal, according to Capt. Jessica Donnelly, spokeswoman for the South Carolina Guard. Maj. Gen. Van McCarty, the adjutant general for South Carolina, offered his "deepest condolences" to Bowman's unit and family members. "This is never an outcome we as soldiers, leaders, and family members wish to experience," McCarty said in a statement. "Please keep the service members in his unit in your thoughts and prayers, as well as his family as they work through this difficult time." -- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com. Related: Pentagon Identifies Alaska-Based Soldier Who Died in Iraq This photo illustration taken on March 27, 2018, shows apps for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social networks on a smartphone in the Indian capital New Delhi. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) Online Speech Threatened by Social Media Censorship, Experts Say A surge in topics being moderated and censored by social media companies is causing alarm among some experts who say were moving rapidly toward losing our online freedoms. Most recently, platforms have started moderating CCP virus-related content they deem to be misinformation. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said the platform would be removing information that is problematic including anything that goes against World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Mark Grabowski, an associate professor specializing in cyber law and digital ethics at Adelphi University, said theres a double standard when it comes to online speech, in particular with virus-related topics, as of late. In some cases, the [virus] content was produced by authoritative sources like physicians, professors, and epidemiologists, he told The Epoch Times. Meanwhile, these same platforms are promoting highly speculative opinions by people who are completely unqualified to speak on the topic. Twitter recently highlighted a news story about Melinda Gates stating governors were opening states too early. Shes not an expert on this matter; she has an MBA, Grabowski said. The moderation of virus content has become an issue, he said, pointing to studies stating that excessive homogeneity of ideas can lead to stagnation and poor problem-solving. Liberals and conservatives alike can fall prey to motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, he said. YouTube also has been automatically deleting comments that mention some Chinese phrases commonly used to criticize the Chinese Communist Party. This moderation and censorship is being used on a growing number of topics, according to Grabowski, who called the trend very troublingespecially with an upcoming U.S. election. Its becoming like Chinese-style censorship where dissident viewpoints and even certain words and phrases are forbidden, he said. And, while such censorship doesnt violate the First Amendment, it isnt keeping with the spirit of freedom of speech. Some companies detailed instances in which theyve been moderated out. Austin Wolff, director of research at the Novus Center, an anti-aging clinic, said one of the companys videos was taken off YouTube recently because it was showing an inhalation therapy treatment. We show more graphic treatments on our channel like scalp and knee injections, but someone breathing from a mask was apparently too sensational for YouTube, he said via email. I would call it a violation of free speech, but its YouTubes platform. I guess they can do as they please. Grabowski said theres no guarantee of freedom of speech on social media platforms, noting that the First Amendment prevents only the government from censoring speech. Giant social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube control cyberspace and are effectively acting as quasi-states to reshape political speech, he said. Youre living in a bubble if you dont think social media censorship is occurring. Control Over the Message Social media platforms are limiting the reach of posts that contain words or references to the virus unless theyre from trusted sources, experts say. But its the platforms that are deciding who these trusted sources are, said Andrew Selepak, social media professor at the University of Florida. In essence, the platforms are acting as gatekeepers to information, which is the exact opposite of the purpose behind social media, in that it should not limit the voice of users, he told The Epoch Times. If the online public square is only limited to voices vetted as acceptable by social media companies, we may never know whose voices are being limited or silenced and they may never be able to tell us, Selepak said. There are solid arguments to limit some speech in cases of inciting violence, such as ISIS using platforms to spread its violent ideology and recruit members. If the only option for people is to not use the platform, and there are no other alternatives, then free speech is truly silenced, Selepak said. Recently YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms took down a documentary on the virus titled Plandemic. The removal of the video sparked controversy after people complained about censorship abuses. Platforms said the reason for removing the documentary included halting the spread of misinformation and violating the community guidelines, according to ABC27. The documentary, which gained millions of views online before it was taken down, suggested that wearing a protective mask could actually make people more sick, among other topics. According to Andrew Contiguglia, president of the not-for-profit First Amendment Lawyers Association, theres not much people can do about companies moderating or censoring posts on their platforms. We have this First Amendment right to free speech, but the social media sites have control over the message we are trying to convey, Contiguglia told The Epoch Times. Some people have expressed concern that social media sites arent doing enough to counter violent or false speech, he said. At the same time, others argue platforms are unfairly banning and restricting access to potentially valuable speech. Publishers can be held liable for any content they post, while social media platforms are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which states that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. Critics say these companies, which claim to be platforms, arent only maintaining a public forum but are also moderating its content, effectively making them publishers. They say the companies cant have it both ways. Contiguglia said he agreed there could come a point where a social media company crosses the line into state action. Academics have argued that free and and unfettered debate on social media is profoundly threatened by factors such as corporate ownership. There is no consistency in monitoring or in enforcement, Contiguglia said. Influencers messages are at the discretion of the monitoring staff at each of these platforms. Contiguglia said that lawsuits predicated on the platforms decisions to moderate content have been largely unsuccessful under existing laws, saying lawsuits of this nature face at least two significant legal barriersnamely, the State Action Doctrine, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Courts have held that the First Amendment, which provides protection against state action, isnt implicated by the actions of these private companies, Contiguglia said. Some pointed out other concerns. Adam Hempenstall, CEO and founder of Better Proposals, an online proposal software, told The Epoch Times that people are generally discouraged from having their own opinion on social media due to the mass mob mentality it generates. Its not the platforms themselves that are discouraging people from voicing their opinion, its other users, he said. The Epoch Times reached out to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for comment, but didnt receive any responses by press time. Meanwhile, Margaret Andriassian, a business marketer whose clients include a cotton mask company, told The Epoch Times via email she had been promoting the masks before some platforms flagged them, marking them as a violation for selling essentials. After getting in touch, all companies except Facebook apologized and resolved the issue and got the products relisted. She said the algorithms are set up to manage and tightly control the selling of masks. Andriassian also said companies should focus on bigger issues, such as doing more to combat the child pornography industry on their platforms, which has seen a spike during the pandemic. It is all over the place with code words throughout social media, and that has not come to a stop whatsoever, she said. [Companies] should put all their control and efforts in eliminating that industry, [rather] than trying to control any other news. Its all politics. P iers Morgan has slammed Boris Johnson after he rejected calls to scrap the health surcharge for overseas NHS and social care workers. The Good Morning Britain host launched into the Prime Minister on live television, branding the fee completely outrageous and "unbelievable." All adult migrants arriving in the UK from outside the European Economic Area, including health workers, have to pay a 400 annual health fee whether or not they use the NHS. The immigration health surcharge (IHS) is due to be hiked to 624 a year in October, with parents also expected to pay an additional 470 for each dependent child. Mr Morgan fumed on GMB this morning: Everyone knows its outrageous. Piers Morgan launched the furious rant live on GMB / Good Morning Britain/ITV "But for Boris Johnson to stand there and say yeah, yeah I know Ive been praising the NHS for weeks and they saved my life but you know what? Im going to sting them, because we need their cash thanks Boris. The ITV star added: Will you be out clapping tonight, Boris, outside Number 10? Doing your big clap for the NHS workers that you're going to be stinging for 624 a year, on top of their taxes and National Insurance? Really Boris, youre going to do that tonight?" Boris Johnson defended the fee at PMQs / via REUTERS Mr Morgan mocked the PM on the steps of Downing Street for the weekly applause for NHS wokers tonight saying: "Hey, Jenny thanks Jenny, thanks Luis, thanks so much, here's your reward, I'm going to punish you financially because I need your money." In a video shortly after his discharge from intensive care, Mr Johnson name-checked two NHS nurses - Jenny and Luis - who "saved my life, no question". Ministers are under mounting pressure to ditch the charge, with Labour, the SNP and the Royal College of Nursing all branding it "unjust" how health workers have to pay. Piers Morgan mocked Boris Johnson at Clap for Carers on GMB / Good Morning Britain/ITV Leading Tory MPs have backed the calls, including former party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale who warned the PM it would be seen as "mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty". The Royal College of Nursing said there are a total of 77,065 non-EEA nurses who work in health and care nationwide. Dame Donna Kinnair, its chief executive, said: "The immigration health surcharge is a grossly unfair financial burden on our international workforce and we're pleased to see the issue being taken seriously by politicians. "The government must drop this charge as a matter of urgency." But at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson rejected calls from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the fee, saying the Government could not afford it. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that a care worker on the National Living Wage would have to work for 70 hours "to pay off the fee". But Mr Johnson replied: I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and, like him, I've been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life. "On the other hand we must look at the realities - this is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900m, and it's very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. Coronavirus in Colorado: Live updates - 10 grocers in the state with confirmed outbreaks; Nearly 94,000 coronavirus deaths in the U.S. BJP president J P Nadda and Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar have expressed their condolences over the demise of former legislator Rakesh Verma. BJP leader Verma had died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday. Nadda said he was very sad to learn about Verma's sudden demise, a BJP spokesperson quoted him as saying. In his condolence message, Nadda said Verma was his companion during student days and he started his political career with him in 1983. His absence will be felt immensely by the party, he added. Parmar said Verma had been active in politics for the last 35 years. He was a good orator and was associated with the poor, underprivileged and backward, he added. Verma, who represented Theog assembly segment, was brought dead at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) Wednesday evening. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Retailers aren't the only ones struggling to pay the bills. The biggest shopping center in the country, The Mall of America, has missed two months of payments on its $1.4 billion mortgage, a sign of just how much retail real estate owners are reeling during the coronavirus pandemic. The mall, operated by private developers Triple Five Group, skipped mortgage payments in April and May, according to Trepp, a New York-based research firm that tracks the commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, market. A spokesperson for Triple Five Group did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Mall of America closed its doors because of the Covid-19 crisis on March 17. It has now notified notified Wells Fargo, the master servicer that is overseeing its mortgage, of the "hardships" it faces. But it is not clear if Triple Five Group will seek forbearance on its loan. Mall of America, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, is planning to reopen its retail stores on June 1, according to its website. "Next to hotel owners, retailers have been the hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis," Manus Clancy, Trepp senior managing director, told CNBC. "The percentage of delinquent retail loans has already surpassed the highest percentage reached during the financial crisis and could be headed higher." Mall of America- and American Dream-owner Triple Five Group had previously told CNBC that it was concerned about some of its tenants not paying rent, which was going to hinder its ability to make mortgage payments. American Dream co-CEO Don Ghermezian told CNBC in an interview in early April: "The difficulty we are going though now ... if tenants don't want to pay rent, my response is: 'I have got to pay a mortgage. I borrowed money. I have got to pay back my lenders.'" If there is not more assistance to come from the federal government on this front, "many malls will be headed into default because they won't be able to make mortgage payments going forward," he said at the time. Mall of America is not alone in this scenario, either. A number of malls are missing mortgage payments, and particularly those in the CMBS market. As of the start of this week, Trepp said the percentage of CMBS loans categorized as 30 or more days delinquent for the retail sector was 10%. And those loans in a grace period, meaning a payment could still potentially be made, was 13.6%, Trepp said. "We're starting to see forbearances coming in," Clancy said. The FT first reported on the Mall of America delinquency. Bengaluru, May 21 : An advocate from Karnataka's Shivamogga district approached the police with a complaint against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi after the party's Twitter handle tweeted against Prime Minister Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency (PM CARES Fund), an official said on Thursday. "An FIR has been registered against Gandhi under IPC Section 153, 505 (1)(B) for the tweets against PM CARES FUND," a police official told IANS confirming the development. K.V. Praveen, a leading local advocate in Sagara Town, Shivamogga district has filed the case against Gandhi for the party's tweets making allegations on the funds being used from the PM CARES FUND. According to the official, Praveen complained that the tweets alleged money is not being accounted for from the PM CARES FUND and others. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Ahmedabad and Surat continue to report bulk of the new coronavirus cases in Gujarat as together they accounted for 267 of the 371 positive cases registered on Thursday, taking the state tally close to 13,000-mark. Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health) said that 233 new positive cases were from Ahmedabad, 34 from Surat and 24 from Vadodra. Also, 24 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, she said. The tally of total positive case has reached 12,910 while 773 fatalities have been reported in the state as of now. A total of 4,96,730 people have been kept in quarantine, out of which 4,85,051 are in home quarantine, Ravi said. She claimed that the recovery rate of Covid patients in the state was improving. So far 5,488 people have been discharged. Condition of 6,519 affected people is stable and 52 are on ventilator, Ravi added. In most states, the recovery rates have shown dramatic improvement since the health ministry tweaked discharge guidelines allowing patients with mild symptoms to be home quarantined instead of admission in Covid hospitals. Thursday also marked the second day of the resumption of state government run buses, over 20,000 passengers had availed the service on day one. The passengers have been instructed to compulsorily wear masks and maintaining physical distance. Ashwani Kumar, secretary to chief minister, said that the state government had announced special relaxations for lockdown 4.0 for a graded restoration of normalcy amid Covid-19. As part of this, we have allowed state transport bus service to resume operations from May 20. These buses will operate between 8:00 am to 6:00 pm in other than containment zones across the state, he said. Gujarat state transport has resumed after around a period of two months, on the first day, as many as 23,069 passengers travelled on a total of 6,600 busses which include 46 express and 6,545 local trips, said Kumar. Kumar added that in the prevailing circumstances, it is desirable for passengers to book e-tickets or mobile tickets, however, tickets are also being issued against cash from the counters at the bus stand and by the conductor in the bus while complying with the physical distancing norms. The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19 He also advised the passengers to arrive at the bus stand at least 30 minutes before the departure time. The buses are being operated at 60 per cent seating capacity and are also being sanitised after making each trip. At present, bus services are operational in all the districts except Ahmedabad. The interstate transport and the Gandhinagar to Ahmedabad service is not allowed currently, Kumar said. Canadian Channel Partners Virtual Event We are putting every effort to make the virtual experience as enjoyable as an onsite experience. It was not an easy decision to make. We wanted to provide our sponsors with an opportunity to continue business with minimum interruption. Monali Supramanyam, Strategic Marketing & Comm Director Xeo Marketing & Strategic Consultancy Inc announced their first Fully Virtual Canadian Channel Partners Conference, scheduled to go live on June 18th, 2020. This virtual event will replace the previously announced Canadian Channel Partners West Coast Conference. It will now be open to Channel Partners across Canada with a focus on the West Coast MSPs & resellers. The Canadian Channel Partners conferences are much awaited and highly anticipated events in the Canadian telecommunications & technology industry. The west-coast onsite event initially scheduled for April 2020 was postponed to June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the lockdown duration seemed uncertain, and the potential impact on the walk-in audience at a post-pandemic event could not be gauged, Canadian Channel Partners (CCP) decided to make this unprecedented move. Spearheading the integration of emerging technology and social media marketing trends, Xeo chose to take the event online and mirror all elements of the onsite event with GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. The changing dynamics of the post-pandemic business world is making such virtual events a widely accepted norm among sponsors and attendees alike. "We are putting every effort to make the virtual experience as enjoyable as an onsite experience," said Monali Supramanyam, Strategic Marketing & Communications Director at Xeo. "It was not an easy decision to make. But we wanted to provide our sponsors with an opportunity to continue business with minimum interruption even during the pandemic. We have made every effort to incorporate all the key elements of the onsite event to give a comparable experience virtually utilizing various technologies, including LogMeIn's GoTo collaboration products like GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. We are taking these actions to increase attendance and drive better engagement online." By merging modern-day technology with the latest social media platforms, Xeo and CCP will deliver an avant-garde online experience. To ensure attendees experience a never-before-seen event, the Xeo team has worked closely with sponsors and technology partners to integrate innovative ideas, new technologies, software, and industry content. The virtual event will incorporate elements of virtual reality in its online tradeshow with chatrooms and one-on-one video options. 3D & video-based product display, pre-recorded presentations, links to exhibitor's online assets and social media platforms etc. will be used to create a vendor pavilion inside the virtual fair simulation. Keynote presentations and seminars will be delivered via GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. The event will promote one-on-one engagement via social media platforms. Lunch will be provided in partnership with the leading online food ordering and delivery platform right to the attendees' homes, ensuring social distancing and their safety while still providing them with lunch options. The keynote sessions and seminars for the event were also updated to reflect the current situation better. The sessions will be packed with expert information on how MSPs, VARs, and the overall Resellers community can utilize and optimize telecommunications, VoIP, SD-WAN, cloud and cybersecurity solutions for an extended remote working environment and manage productivity disrupted by the pandemic. Experts will address how businesses can respond and adapt seamlessly to social distancing rules. The Xeo team is excited about delivering an innovative solution that provides exceptional experience while maintaining the safety of our partners, attendees and staff in the current situation. The channel partner community and the service providers are equally enthusiastic about the upcoming event. We invite the entire ICT community to join us at our first-ever Canadian Channel Partners Fully Virtual Conference on June 18th, 2020, to further your business, build your portfolio and network from the comfort and safety of your home. About Xeo Marketing & Strategic Consultancy: Recognized as the top technology marketing company in Canada, Xeo Marketing is a B2B strategic consultancy and marketing organization. Powered by experienced industry experts, Xeo Marketing works with businesses in the fast-paced, high-tech sector and tech & AI start-ups of all sizes. Xeo helps the organizations in the B2B tech-sector capture the market share and grow their revenue, by providing them with affordable growth strategies and marketing services through innovative ways to leverage the modern marketing channels like social media and mobile. About Canadian Channel Partners Conference Canadian Channel Partners conference and Xeo.ai is the brainchild of Xeo Marketing. Working as a catalyst that connects different user groups of the ICT community, Xeo struggled with the lack of transparency within these user groups. Xeo quickly realized the need for a smart, connected platform that would provide a seamless service to buyers, channel partners and technology vendors alike. Xeo recognized the need for various users to connect instantaneously and efficiently to make informed decisions, saving them valuable time and resources. With that in mind, Xeo launched the xeo.ai ICT platform that connects multiple users on a single platform to provide a simplified buying experience for an end-to-end cloud, telecom and emerging tech solutions. Canadian Channel Partners conference is yet another avenue to help connect the channel partners with technology vendors. For information on Xeo Marketing, please visit http://www.xeo.marketing. For more information on the Xeo AI platform, please visit http://www.xeo.ai or follow @xeo_ai on Twitter. For information on the Canadian Channel Partners conference visit http://www.canadianchannelpartners.com Congress leader from Haryana Pankaj Punia has been arrested by police in Karnal for allegedly "hurting religious feelings" through a social media post, a police official said on Thursday. Punia, a former secretary of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, was arrested late Wednesday night following a written complaint by a Karnal resident at Madhuban police station that he allegedly "hurt religious feelings" and "promoted enmity between different groups on ground of religion" through his tweet, the official said. "Pankaj Punia was arrested from Madhuban area," Station House Officer, Madhuban police station, Inspector Tarsem Chand said. A similar complaint against Punia, also a member of the All India Congress Committee, was registered on Wednesday by the Uttar Pradesh Police. An FIR was registered against Punia at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow for his alleged objectionable tweet. Chand said in the case registered in Madhuban police station, Punia has been booked under IPC sections related to promoting enmity between different groups (153 A), outraging religious feelings (295 A), public mischief (505-2), and Section 67 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008. In his complaint, the complainant has alleged that "one person namely PankajPunia@INC has posted provocative falsehood to promote enmity between sections of society on ground of religion and his acts are prejudicial to maintenance of harmony". On Tuesday, Punia in his tweet, now removed, had targeted the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, referring to the politics over plying of buses by the Congress for ferrying migrants. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CANBERRA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- An Australian senior economist has called for Australia's cooperation with China on the global trade policies "needed for a V-shaped recovery" amid the spread of COVID-19. China, whose share in Australia's trade grew in the first quarter on a year ago, "has cushioned the initial economic shock of the COVID-19 crisis on our economy," said Peter Drysdale, head of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research at the Australian National University, in an opinion piece on Wednesday. "These outcomes are the product of the huge market reform over the past 40 years that made China the largest trader in the world," he said in the article "Return to Prosperity Depends on Mending China Ties" published by the Australian Financial Review. Beyond COVID-19,the Australia-China relationship is "central to the ambitions of the Australian community for economic recovery and reconstruction; it's crucial to forging co-operative strategies that preserve prosperity and political stability in the Asian region; and it's critical to help secure the rules-based global order," said Drysdale. "On these three issues Australia's and China's strategic interests converge," he added. "A strategic foreign policy priority for both is to work together with neighbors to engineer a more rapid economic recovery from the crisis. China will be a central part of the co-operation and recovery effort," he said. Yosemite National Park could reopen on a limited basis as early as June, but all visitors would be required to have reservations, according to a tentative plan released this week. The popular park, which normally sees 4.5 million visitors a year, would cut capacity by about half to make it easier for people to maintain physical distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. The plan, which would require federal approval, was presented in a video conference Monday to about 150 people invited by Yosemite Gateway Partners, an alliance of businesses and groups in communities near the park. No specific launch date was given, but it wont happen until Gov. Gavin Newsom moves California into its Stage 3 reopening phase. More for you Evicted Yosemite employees fear homelessness Here are the key elements of the plan, according to the Mercury News, which was first to report the story, and the Sacramento Bee: Guests visiting Yosemite for just the day would have to apply for a day-use permit through recreation.gov. The permits would probably be given out at least 48 hours in advance of a visit. Annual or lifetime pass holders would have to reserve online as well and pay a reservation fee, though not an admission fee. People with overnight reservations for campsites or hotels, and those with wilderness permits, would not need a day-use reservation to enter the park. Neither would those driving through the park to the Eastern Sierra. Roughly 3,600 vehicles a day would be allowed in the park, about half of the daily number in June 2019. Day-use vehicles would be capped at 1,700 and overnight vehicles at 1,900. Officials figure 1,200 of the day-use vehicles would go to Yosemite Valley, where there are 2,000 parking spaces (plus another 400 along roads). The valley has another 1,900 spaces for overnight vehicles. Crowd-control plans have been drafted for popular destinations such as Tunnel View, Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite Lodge area, Lower Yosemite Fall, Yosemite Village, Curry Village, Glacier Point, Wawona, Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and park entrance stations. Some trails would be converted to one-way only traffic. Half Domes cables would be ready for hikers with previously acquired permits by June 5. Permits for earlier dates will not be honored, and there are no plans to issue more permits via the lottery system. Physical-distancing would be promoted at restaurants. Retail outlets, grocery stores, The Ansel Adams Gallery, bicycle and raft rentals, and pay-at-the-pump gas stations would be open. Public restaurants in Yosemite Valley would be cleaned twice a day. The Ahwahnee hotel and Yosemite Valley Lodge expect to open at full capacity, along with half of the accommodations at Curry Village. Lower Pines Campground (60 sites) and North Pines Campground (81 sites) would open, along with backpackers campgrounds. Hodgdon, Crane Flat and Bridalveil campgrounds may also open at a later date. Yosemite Valley shuttle buses will not operate because of crowding concerns. The Tioga Road, which is currently closed, will reopen this year. Glacier Point Road will reopen when the park does. Yosemite closed to visitors in late March due to the pandemic. Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has chastised the Akufo-Addo government for dragging Major Osahene Kwadwo Boakye Gyan (rtd) before the Police CID for purportedly inciting the public to mutiny. According to him, Boakye Gyan rather deserves commendation for warning against a possible insurrection, since being an experienced former military officer, he is able to envisage activities that can lead to such acts of revolt. If They Want It, They Will Get It! The Major (rtd) accused the EC of gradually leading the country into a civil war with its bull-headedness, particularly regarding the decision to compile a new voters register, and subsequently warned of impending doom should the Electoral Commission connive with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the upcoming December polls Sounding a note of caution, he pointed out that most electoral disputes in Africa have resulted in civil wars and Ghana is not immune to it, and warned that "should the EC continue to toe the line of their paymasters, it will certainly spell doom for this country." " . . it is political motivation that led to the dismissal of Madam Jean Mensah as the EC Chairperson by the current administration. They want to beef up the numbers so they can win simply because they don't have confidence in their winning numbers, otherwise they won't tamper with it...But more importantly...post-independence Africa, all crises and civil wars have been on the back of disputed electoral results. What they are doing now, they are driving us into a civil war and if they want it, they will get it," he screamed. CID Invite Days after his remarks, four personnel drawn from the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, on Tuesday, 19th May, 2020, arrested and questioned him. Mr. Boakye-Djan was made to write his statement at the police station in the Bono Region where his lawyers joined him at the police station. He was later granted bail and asked to make himself available at the station at least once in a week. Statesman But the NDC General Secretary, who was speaking in an interview with Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, described Osahene Boakye Gyan as a statesman for his prewarn remarks. Any Ghanaian who wants the best for the country will do as he (Boakye-Djan) did . . . and so I will commend Boakye-Djan for not keeping silent as a statesman . . . per his pedigree in matters of such nature he could have kept quiet and allow something bad to happen but he chose to warn the EC about their things which can spark civil war, he argued. Has he not orchestrated a coup detat before? If he is therefore warning you against something that can result in an uprising, what wrong has he done? He is rather doing you a great good . . . He knows the conditions which can lead to a coup detat and as a security expert, we should welcome his admonition rather than seeking to arrest him. If the EC and NPP's wish is for Ghanaians to turn a blind eye to their actions, then they should be prepared to arrest all of us . . . and when no-one is left, they can go ahead and govern an empty country. Everyone will rise up against this blatant intimidation and manipulation which can mar the democracy, he charged. Be careful EC Mr Asiedu Nketiah further cautioned the Electoral Commission (EC) not to take for granted the country's stable state and ensure that every action they take, especially regarding this year's polls, is in the best interest of all. Some people in the past fought with their blood for the democratic dispensation we are currently enjoying, and so if someone is doing something which will mar the beauty of that democracy and out of fear for our lives we decide not to do anything about it, then we have greatly disappointed those who fought for our democracy. The EC should be careful because they are on dangerous grounds, he warned. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Oregon Republicans on Tuesday elected a Senate nominee who believes in QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that has taken root among some far-right supporters of President Donald Trump. Jo Rae Perkins bested three other candidates to win the GOP nomination to face Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., in November. In a now-deleted video posted to her Twitter account Tuesday night, Perkins said she supports the conspiracy theory, which revolves around "Q," an anonymous Internet user claiming to be a government agent with top security clearance. "Where we go one, we go all," Perkins said in the video, reciting a QAnon slogan. "I stand with President Trump. I stand with Q and the team. Thank you Anons, and thank you patriots. And together, we can save our republic." In a statement Wednesday night, Perkins backtracked slightly from her comments, saying that she does not fully embrace QAnon. "To be very clear, I do not believe everything from Q/Anon and would never describe myself as a follower, but I also do not believe in infringing upon any outlet's right to discuss news or topics," Perkins said. She added: "My slogan, For One Oregon, has nothing to do with conspiracy theories or media bias, but rather, has long been my commitment to being a civil servant for all of Oregon, not just some as has been the case under Jeff Merkley's tenure." Merkley is heavily favored to win in November, but Perkins' primary victory nonetheless presents a dilemma for Republicans in Washington. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he would need to learn more about Perkins but that the organization generally gives its backing to GOP candidates. "I don't know anything about that," Young said when asked about Perkins' belief in QAnon. "I'll have to learn more about it, but the NRSC tends to support Republican candidates, as you know." A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment when asked about Perkins' candidacy. Merkley, too, declined to weigh in. "I don't have any comment on it," he said Wednesday at the Capitol. The state health department has decided on a price cap for the treatment of Covid-19 at private medical facilities following reports of patients being charged exorbitant fees at private hospitals. Restrictions will also be imposed on the billing of medicines at these facilities. The government resolution (GR) with the new guidelines was passed on Thursday night. Earlier in the day, the health department fixed caps on how much private medical establishments may charge when treating Covid-19 patients. Once the GR is passed, private hospitals will be able to charge up to 4,000 per day for a general bed; 7,500 per day in the intensive care unit (ICU); and 9,000 per day if a patient is on a ventilator. The charges will also include meals.All private hospitals are liable to follow the rules laid down by the state government during a pandemic according to the Epidemic Diseases Act. Dr Sudhakar Shinde, chief executive officer of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, said, This [amount] will include the treatment fees, consultancy fees of doctors along with other expenses. Private hospitals cant charge more than the fixed amount. Some patients may need moderately-costly medicines but the hospitals cant charge more than 10% extra for such drugs, he added, addressing reports of private hospitals charging between 40% and 50% more than the cost price for certain prescribed drugs. High- end drugs like immunoglobulin, Meropenem, Parenteral nutrition, tocilizumab etc can be charged at MRP, the GR said. According to the health department, it faced severe opposition from private hospitals when arriving at these new guidelines. In March, when private hospitals were allowed to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients, the health department only imposed a price cap of 4,000 on general beds. But we didnt provide bifurcation of other medical requirements which led to the exploitation of patients which we had to amend, said an officer privy to the developments. Chief executive officer of Lilavati Hospital Dr V Ravishankar said that the hospital would abide by orders issued by the government. Politician Rais Sheikh, who has been vocal in his criticism of private hospitals overcharging patients, said, At a time when the government is planning to take over 80% of the beds from private hospitals, they had to decide on the rates of the beds so that the hospitals dont exploit patients further. Health advocates have welcomed the state health departments decision. Non-Covid footfalls of patients in hospitals have decreased by 90%, so only Covid-positive patients are their source of income. So, they started extracting their income from these patients which is unethical. Most of the senior citizens dont even have medical insurance, said Dr Manohar Kamath, general secretary of Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI). Many Covid-19 patients are referred to private hospitals due to unavailability of beds in the government and civic-run hospitals. HT has previously reported how a relative of a Covid-positive patient had to pay 16 lakh for a 15-day stay in a private hospital and how some families had to take out loans to pay private hospitals bills. On May 4, HT had reported how private hospitals like Nanavati Hospital charged 8,000 to 9,800 per personal protective equipment (PPE) even though the cost of PPE ranges between 350 and 1,000. By Trend Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 22 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The Armenian armed forces were using sniper rifles. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz States Title, a San Francisco, Calif. based real estate company, closed a Series C financing round of $123m. The round was led by Greenspring Associates with participation from Horizons Ventures, Eminence Capital, HSCM Bermuda, Foundation Capital, Assurant, FifthWall Ventures, Lennar Ventures, and SCOR Global P&C Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its business reach. Led by Max Simkoff, Founder and CEO, and its family of brands North American Title Company (NATC) and North American Title Insurance Company (NATIC) offers solutions for lenders, real estate agents, title agents, and homeowners to improve the title and escrow processes and to provide an instant customer closing experience, to be efficient, and to lower costs for everyone involved. Its patented technologies enable the use of data science to create predictive title insurance based on an assigned risk score to indicate how safe a property is from liens or liabilities. The company has a team of nearly 1000 data scientists, engineers, product managers, and operations associates throughout the U.S. FinSMEs 21/05/2020 The UK has published proposals on the Northern Ireland part of a Brexit deal (Paul Faith/PA) Processes on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be kept to an absolute minimum following the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK Government said. Some checks supported by electronic processes will be needed on agri-food movements from Great Britain, building on what is already happening at ports like Larne and Belfast, ministers acknowledged. Implementation of rules designed to keep Northern Irelands land border with the Republic and the EUs internal market free-flowing will not involve new customs infrastructure, a document published by the UK Government on Wednesday added. There will be no tariffs on goods remaining within the UK customs territory under a position adopted by Britain for negotiation with the EU. Businesses in Northern Ireland will have unfettered access to sell goods to the rest of the UK market under the plan. The Northern Ireland protocol was drawn up as part of the EU Withdrawal Agreement with Brussels, and the paper published on Wednesday elaborates on how Britain intends to implement it. It says: Some checks will be needed, supported by relevant electronic processes, in line with the island of Irelands existing status as a single epidemiological unit, building on what already happens at ports like Larne and Belfast. What the protocol does not do is create nor does it include any provision for creating any kind of international border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That means its provisions must entail the minimum possible bureaucratic consequences for business and traders, particularly those carrying out their affairs entirely within the UK customs territory. The Northern Ireland part of the Brexit deal is supposed to be implemented even if a trade agreement cannot be struck with the EU before the end of this year. Businesses in Northern Ireland are expecting to undergo checks on goods being brought in from the rest of the UK. That is because the country will continue to follow the EUs rules on goods. Northern Ireland is expected to continue to enforce the EUs customs codes at its ports to preserve the free-flowing Irish border; the Republic is its nearest EU member state. Expand Close The Northern Ireland part of the EU withdrawal deal is designed to keep the Irish border free-flowing (Brian Lawless/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Northern Ireland part of the EU withdrawal deal is designed to keep the Irish border free-flowing (Brian Lawless/PA) The UK Government has said it will develop border control posts (BCPs) at Northern Irelands ports. Wednesdays document added: There will be unfettered access for Northern Irelands producers to the whole of the UK market and this will be delivered through legislation by the end of the year. No tariffs will be paid on goods that move and remain within the UK customs territory. Implementation of the protocol will not involve new customs infrastructure with any processes on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland kept to an absolute minimum so that the integrity and smooth functioning of the UK internal market is protected. European Commission priorities include procedures and formalities in Northern Ireland for goods traded with Great Britain involving live animals and agri-food due to its strict rules on entry into its single market. It has said discussions on the EUs presence in Northern Ireland need to be advanced as a matter of urgency. The British Government has disputed any need for a permanent office. AstraZeneca has received more than $1 billion from the U.S. Health Department's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to develop a coronavirus vaccine from the University of Oxford. The British-Swedish drugmaker has agreed to initially supply at least 400 million doses of the vaccine and secured total manufacturing capacity to produce 1 billion doses, with first deliveries in September. AstraZeneca's development program of the vaccine includes a phase three clinical trial with 30,000 participants and a pediatric trial. Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, said the drugmaker would do everything in its power to make the vaccine "quickly and widely available." The coronavirus has now infected over 5 million and killed 328,227 people worldwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On Sunday, the British government announced it was putting 65.5 million pounds ($79 million) in fresh funding toward the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 30 million doses expected to be rolled out as early as September. The University of Oxford announced it partnered with AstraZeneca in April, to allow the drugmaker to develop and distribute the vaccine being researched by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group. Human trials began last month on over 1,000 volunteers in the south of England, and AstraZeneca said in this latest announcement that data from the trials was "expected shortly which, if positive, would lead to late-stage trials in a number of countries." No trial data has been released, and AstraZeneca has said it recognizes that the vaccine may not work. On Monday, U.S. drugmaker Moderna released positive data from its phase one human trial on its potential vaccine, in development with the U.S. government. Health-care publication STAT then reported Tuesday that vaccine experts were skeptical of Moderna's new data. However, Moderna Chairman Noubar Afeyan told CNBC on Wednesday that the drugmaker would never put out coronavirus vaccine data that was different from "reality." Moderna said earlier in May that it was wrapping up the phase one trials and was moving to start phase two trials, expecting phase three to begin in July. If the vaccine is found to be safe, Moderna said it could be ready for the market in early 2021. BARDA has also provided funding for one of the two vaccines being developed by French pharmaceuticals company Sanofi, which it is working on with U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, according to Reuters in a report. More than 90 vaccines being developed around the world, with eight in clinical trials. CNBC's Chloe Taylor and Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this article. Editors Note: Monday is Memorial Day, and Joan Keener of Godfrey has shared a Soldiers Freedom she clipped out of a San Diego newspaper in 1998: It is the soldier, not the reporter, who gave us freedom of the press. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that no stone will be left unturned in helping the people affected in Cyclone Amphan, a day after the storm killed 72 people in West Bengal. The cyclone left a trail of destruction in its wake in the state as it was one of the most powerful cyclones in over a decade. In a series of tweets, PM Modi said that in this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. He prayed for the well-being of the people of the state, adding that efforts are on to ensure normalcy. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, PM Modi said, "Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy." Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2020 NDRF teams are working in the cyclone affected parts. Top officials are closely monitoring the situation and also working in close coordination with the West Bengal government. No stone will be left unturned in helping the affected. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2020 My thoughts are with the people of Odisha as the state bravely battles the effects of Cyclone Amphan. Authorities are working on the ground to ensure all possible assistance to the those affected. I pray that the situation normalises at the earliest. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2020 He added that the NDRF teams are working in the cyclone-affected parts. "Top officials are closely monitoring the situation and also working in close coordination with the West Bengal government. No stone will be left unturned in helping the affected," the PM added. Seeing the visuals on the devastation PM Modi wished that the situation normalises Odisha too at the earliest. "My thoughts are with the people of Odisha as the state bravely battles the effects of Cyclone Amphan. Authorities are working on the ground to ensure all possible assistance to those affected. I pray that the situation normalises at the earliest," he said. Cyclone Amphan, which battered West Bengal before heading towards Bangladesh, has killed at least 72 people in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday. Out of the total 72 deaths, 15 of them were from Kolkata, the Chief Minister said. ''72 people have died in West Bengal so far. I have never seen such a disaster before. I will ask PM Modi to visit the state and see the situation,'' West Bengal Chief Minister said. She also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for those killed in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. The West Bengal Chief Minister, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since May 19, said the impact of Amphan was "worse than coronavirus". The cyclone ravaged Kolkata and several parts of West Bengal as it left behind a trail of destruction by uprooting trees, destroying thousands of homes and swamping low-lying areas of the state. The cyclone barrelled through coastal districts of North and South 24 Paraganas of Bengal, unleashing copious rain and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and swamping low lying towns and villages, the officials said. As per reports, over 5,000 houses were destroyed in North 24 Parganas alone, while many trees lay uprooted and infrastructure damaged in Kolkata. The mobile and internet services were also down as the cyclone had damaged several communication towers. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. The Ministry of Home Affairs will be sending teams to carry out an early assessment of damages and submit a report, the Union Government said on Thursday. On Wednesday, the cyclone made landfall at 2.30 PM between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, flattening fragile dwellings, uprooting trees and electric poles. The Cyclone 'Amphan' started crossing the Bangladesh coast around 5 pm on Wednesday packing a wind speed of around 160 to 180-kph rising to 200-kph within 80-km of its centre, meteorologist Abdul Mannan said. Officials believe that the world's largest mangrove forest, shared both by India and Bangladesh, Sundarbans absorbed the major impact of the killer storm. The Cyclone Amphan also wreaked havoc in Bangladesh, killing at least 10 people, devastating coastal villages, inundating many areas, and damaging scores of houses, officials said on Thursday. Cyclone 'Amphan', the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades, was the most powerful storm since Cyclone 'Sidr' killed nearly 3,500 people in 2007. The cyclone is likely to move further in a north-northeasterly direction and weaken gradually, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department has said. Bangladesh shifted over 20 lakh people to storm shelters and deployed the military to deal with the powerful cyclone. Leading global storm tracker AccuWeather had on Tuesday described Amphan as the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. Pastor dies from coronavirus after laying hands on infected followers, declaring them healed Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Frankline Ndifor, a popular self-styled prophet and former presidential candidate in Cameroon, died from the coronavirus Saturday after laying hands on dozens of his infected followers and pronouncing them healed from the disease. He was 39. The BBC reported that the death of the pastor, who founded Kingship International Ministries, caused so much mayhem it took police hours to retrieve his corpse from his home, where he died in Bonaberi, as his family and followers prayed for his resurrection. Rigobert Che, one of the pastors followers, told Voice of America that it was only last Wednesday that Ndifor had prayed for him and several dozen others who were either diagnosed with the virus or suspected they had been infected. Now that Ndifor is dead his followers are worried about their healing from the virus. "This is a pastor that has been laying hands [on the sick] and claiming that he cures COVID-19," Che said. "If you, the person that claims that you are curing COVID-19, you are dead, what about the fellow people that were affected by the COVID-19? Now that he is dead, I do not know how the people that he was laying hands on will be healed." The Cameroon Tribune reported that the pastor was sick for weeks before his death but he didnt seek medical help until early Saturday morning when his symptoms began to overwhelm him. He reportedly called the Regional Delegate of Public Health to refer him to a doctor, but by the time the doctor arrived he was in a coma and subsequently died. Doctor Gaelle Nnanga told VOA that Ndifor died less than a week after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Nnanga said he had been called by church members to help the pastor on Saturday, but by the time he and his team arrived, Ndifor was having severe respiratory issues that led to an agonizing death less than 10 minutes after he was treated. A government official in Douala also noted that the pastors followers refused to accept the medical examiners death pronouncement and had chased medical staff away from his home and told people that he was simply away on a spiritual retreat with God. Ndifor was a well-known faith healer who placed seventh out of nine candidates in Cameroons 2018 presidential election with 23,687 votes, VOA reported. Before his death he prayed for many people infected with coronavirus in his home and church and donated buckets and soap to the poor so they could also protect themselves from the coronavirus by washing their hands. His last public outing was on April 20, when he went out into Doualas streets to distribute facemasks. Some 3,300 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in Cameroon and 147 of them have died, according VOA. Medical personnel in the Central African nation of more than 27 million are now begging for increased security at hospitals as they face increasing attacks from people infected with the coronavirus or their loved ones. Gervais Gabriel Atedjoe, secretary general of Cameroons National Medical Council, told VOA that last week, angry crowds exhumed at least four corpses of people buried after they died of COVID-19 in the cities of Douala and Bafoussam to stop the spread of the virus. They insisted that people needed to be properly buried. "It is unbelievable, unacceptable that a medical doctor or medical personnel should be putting up a fight over a corpse with a family. They [the crowds] should understand that these people [the healthcare workers] are coming to help so that they should not be infected," Awah Fonka, governor of Cameroons Western Region, said. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by Swayam, an online portal by MHRD, will now be accepted for credit mobility in colleges as per the UGC guidelines. Union HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal wrote this on the microblogging site twitter on Thursday. The HRD minister also shared the list of courses approved and ready to be offered in July 2020 semester. The minister also attached a letter written by the UGC to vice-chancellors of all Universities and principals of all colleges urging them to adopt and approve these courses for credit transfer. MOOCs offered on @SWAYAMMHRD will now be accepted for credit mobility in colleges as per UGC guidelines! Another incredible step to maintain continuity of learning for students! Check out the courses approved & ready to be offered in July'20 semester here: https://t.co/cUnYHqqPze pic.twitter.com/jwSRTUwg0K Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) May 21, 2020 It is earnestly hoped that universities and colleges will come forward in large numbers to adopt SWAYAM courses for credit transfer and encourage more and more students to enroll in these courses to ensure uninterrupted teaching-learning for students, reads the UGC letter. As per the letter, the commission has also asked teachers from universities and colleges to express interest in developing non-technical undergraduate and postgraduate level courses for the platform. The Swayam exams for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses for the July semester to be conducted by the National Testing Agency are scheduled for November 14 and 15, 2020. The universities and institutions have been asked to consider these dates while fixing their examination dates to avoid any clash of the dates. Many Texans have returned to work. Others, those deemed essential, never left. Some workplaces may have fallen short of safety standards amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to complaints made to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. One report made to OSHA's hotline in August claimed that at least 60 employees tested positive for COVID-19 at the Walmart Distribution Center in New Braunfels. The company had not disinfected the facility and was not enforcing the use of face masks, according to the report. READ ALSO: Avoid haunted houses: Metro Health releases guidelines for a safe Halloween in San Antonio Workers at San Antonio International Airport charged with emptying aircraft lavatories - potentially exposing them to human waste and "blue juice" - did not have access to hot water for handwashing. Those allegations were found in complaints made to OSHA and assembled in a nationwide map by Strikewave. The data was last updated on Oct. 18. The following complaints have since been closed by the agency. Keep scrolling to see the COVID-19 complaints made to OSHA in the San Antonio area. Less severe fire locks away huge amounts of carbon and keeps it from entering the atmosphere DURHAM, N.C. -- High-intensity fires can destroy peat bogs and cause them to emit huge amounts of their stored carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases, but a new Duke University study finds low-severity fires spark the opposite outcome. The smaller fires help protect the stored carbon and enhance the peatlands' long-term storage of it. The flash heating of moist peat during less severe surface fires chemically alters the exterior of clumped soil particles and "essentially creates a crust that makes it difficult for microbes to reach the organic matter inside," said Neal Flanagan, visiting assistant professor at the Duke Wetland Center and Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. This reaction -- which Flanagan calls "the creme brulee effect" -- shields the fire-affected peat from decay. Over time, this protective barrier helps slow the rate at which a peatland's stored carbon is released back into the environment as climate-warming carbon dioxide and methane, even during periods of extreme drought. By documenting this effect on peatland soils from Minnesota to Peru, "this study demonstrates the vital and nuanced, but still largely overlooked, role fire plays in preserving peat across a wide latitudinal gradient, from the hemi-boreal zone to the tropics," said Curtis J. Richardson, director of the Duke Wetland Center. "This is the first time any study has been able to show that," Richardson said, "and it has important implications for the beneficial use of low-severity fire in managing peatlands, especially at a time of increasing wildfires and droughts." The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings May 10 in the journal Global Change Biology. Peatlands are wetlands that cover only 3% of Earth's land but store one-third of the planet's total soil carbon. Left undisturbed, they can lock away carbon in their organic soil for millennia due to natural antimicrobial compounds called phenolics and aromatics that earlier studies by the Duke team have shown can prevent even drier peat from decaying. If a smoldering, high-intensity fire or other major disturbance destroys this natural protection, however, they can quickly turn from carbon sinks to carbon sources. To conduct the new study, Flanagan and his colleagues at the Duke Wetland Center monitored a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proscribed burn of a peatland pocosin, or shrub-covered wetland bog, at Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina in 2015. Using field sensors, they measured the changing intensity of the fire over its duration and the effects it had on soil moisture, surface temperatures and plant cover. They also did chemical analyses of soil organic matter samples collected before and after the fire. They then replicated the intensity and duration of the N.C. fire, which briefly reached temperatures of 850oF, in controlled laboratory tests on soil from peatlands in Minnesota, Florida and the Amazon basin of Peru, and analyzed the burn samples using using X?ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The analysis showed that the low-severity fires increased the degree of carbon condensation and aromatization in the soil samples, particularly those collected from the peatlands' surface. In other words, the researchers saw the "creme brulee effect" in samples from each of the latitudes. Long-term laboratory incubations of the burnt samples showed lower cumulative CO2 emissions coming from the peat for more than 1-3 years after the tests. "Initially, there was some loss of carbon, but long-term you easily offset that because there's also reduced respiration by the microbes that promote decay, so the peat is decomposing at a much slower rate," Flanagan said. Globally, peatlands contain approximately 560 gigatons of stored carbon. That's the same amount that is stored in all forests and nearly as much as the 597 gigatons found in the atmosphere. "Improving the way we manage and preserve peatlands is critical given their importance in Earth's carbon budget and the way climate change is altering natural fire regimes worldwide," Richardson said, "This study reminds us that fire is not just a destructive anomaly in peatlands, it can also be a beneficial part of their ecology that has a positive influence on their carbon accretion." Flanagan and Richardson conducted the study with fellow Duke Wetland Center researchers Hongjun Wang and Scott Winton. Winton also holds appointments at ETH Zurich's Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. ### Primary funding came from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science's Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences division (grant #DE-SC0012272). Additional support came from the Duke University Wetland Center Endowment and the Duke University Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility. CITATION: "Low-Severity Fire as a Mechanism of Organic Matter Protection in Global Peatlands: Thermal Alteration Slows Decomposition," Neal E. Flanagan, Hongjun Wang, Scott Winton and Curtis J. Richardson; May 10, 2020, Global Chang Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15102 We all have heroes in our lives. Whether its parents, friends, or someone famous, we can all benefit from having someone to look up to. But it now seems that whoever that person in your life may be, they will likely pale in comparison to Uncle Bunky. No, Uncle Bunky isnt a functional character on some classic American Spaghetti Western. He is, in fact, a man from Phoenix, Arizona who passed away on May the 4th, 2020, but who has since gone viral due to the obituary his nephew Chris Santa Maria posted in the Arizona Republic newspaper. Even though many who read it wont know of him, he sounds like a figure we would all benefit from in our lives. The fact Uncle Bunky real name Randall Jacobs was 65 at the time he met his demise, only adds to the proof he lived a wild life when you see his picture. Without wanting to sound too harsh, the man looks a good 20 years older than his birth certificate would suggest. I don't know who Randall Jacobs was, but this obituary makes me hope somebody turns his life story into a movie. RIP Bunky pic.twitter.com/Zmz29rOjNy Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) May 20, 2020 But thats likely due to the fact that Bunky, as his nephew says, burned the candle, and whatever else was handy, at both ends. Clearly he was one for living life to the fullest. A night out with Bunky could result in a court summons or a world-class hangover, but his friends and family would drop whatever they were doing to make a trip out to see him. Not only did he like to frequent Arizona dive bars but he must have been a dab-hand on the snow too. He spoke in a gravelly patois of wisecracks, mangled metaphors, and inspired profanity that reflected the Arizona dive bars, Colorado ski slopes, and various dodgy establishments where he spent his days and nights. He was a swaggering hybrid of Zoni desert rat, SoCal hobo, and Telluride ski bum. Were starting to wish we could have had the fortune to meet this guy. Chris adds some extra stories on his Twitter account, including this absolute gem: one time he tried to pick me up from elementary school in his shitty 70s era Buick LeSabre (a.k.a. The Sled) by revving the engine and hollering expletives out the window the kids were so terrified, they asked a teacher to make sure I wasnt getting kidnapped Chris Santa Maria (@chrisantamaria) May 20, 2020 He comes across as a man who would have had a thousand stories to tell, that would have engaged his audience not just for their content, but for the way he told them. His nephew says he was a prolific purveyor of Bunky-isms such as Save it, clown!'. A phrase were going to start adopting, no doubt. His cause of death isnt revealed in the obituary, but it could have been from heartbreak, as he went just days after his beloved cat Kitters. He may have known his time was up as well, as his nephew says he was able to relay one final Bunkyism. Im ready for the dirt nap, but you cant leave the party if you cant find the door. Never a truer word spoken. Chris finishes the, quite frankly incredibly well-written obituary, asking people to not send flowers to the family, but to instead pay someones open bar tab, smoke a bowl, and fearlessly carve out some fresh lines through the trees on the gnarliest side of the mountain. Rest In Peace, Uncle Bunky. Read Next Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 01:37:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump's pick Congressman John Ratcliffe from Texas as the next director of national intelligence. Senators voted 49-44 on Ratcliffe's nomination, largely along party lines. Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate. Ahead of Thursday's vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Ratcliffe while Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer vowed to oppose his nomination. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend: The share of private banks in Uzbekistan is only 15 percent, Trend reports with reference to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. "Preservation of high share of the state in the banking system of Uzbekistan has a negative impact on the overall development of the sphere and its efficiency. At the same time, the increase in number of private banks contributes to improving competitive environment in the sphere," the Central Bank noted. The Bank believes, that sale of state-owned banks to foreign strategic investors will allow improving the corporate governance and risk management systems in these banks. Besides, new technological solutions and advanced foreign experience will be introduced into the banking system, business models of banks will change and their level of customer orientation will increase, the message said. In the future, according to the Central Bank this will create additional conveniences for households and entrepreneurs - the quality of services will improve, prices will drop, new types of products will appear, and the range of e-banking services will expand. Government of Uzbekistan intends to sell state shares of Ipoteka Bank, Uzpromstroybank, Asaka, Aloqabank, Qishloq Qurilish Bank and Turonbank, providing their institutional transformation (transformation of activities) at the first stage, and implementation of the package of shares at the second stage. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini Texas wineries have been struggling like many wineries across our country and the world due to the pandemic. Governors all over the USA have implemented executive orders shutting down winery tasting rooms due to safety concerns during the pandemic. Online sales of wines have skyrocketed during this time period. Wines sales in grocery stores are up! However, wine sales at wineries are down even though drive by services to pick up wines are available. Loyal winery customers account for most of those sales with virtual wine tasting on ZOOM and FaceBook prompting some to buy wines after seeing/hearing winemakers and sommeliers describe available wines. Most consumers want to taste unknown wines before purchasing a bottle or two or even a case. As a result, tasting room closures at wineries had a direct impact on both wineries and wine lovers. Texas Gov. Abbot has announced last Monday that Texas wineries can reopen their tasting rooms with safety restrictions today in time to celebrate Memorial Day. Those safety restrictions imposed by our Governor include: Tasting room operate at 25-percent capacity NO stand-up service at a free-standing bar like many wineries currently do. Wine lovers must be seated and served at tables spaced at least six-feet apart. Table seating is limited to no more than six at a table. Winery staff requirements will be similar to those in restaurants which requiring daily pre-work screening for health considerations and staff required to wash their hands regularly. Winery staff should meet you at the door to open the door and keep the doors clean. In addition, more intense housekeeping is required throughout the winery tasting room including restrooms! In order to avoid problems with wineries being overcrowded, I strongly recommend to make a reservation at the winery tasting room similar to what you would do at a restaurant. Winery tasting rooms and restaurants have LIMITED capacity available so reservations are a MUST these days. Jerry Bernhardt at Bernhardt Winery told me appointments are a MUST for his winery. Patrons will be required to check-in before entering the winery with check-in limiting the number of people on the winery grounds, both inside the winery and outside on the winery grounds. Wine tastings will be held inside the winerys inside event center and the fermentation room. Both rooms are air conditioned and should be cool and comfortable to enjoy your wine tasting. ALL wine tastings at Bernhardt Winery will be led by either Jerry Bernhardt or his Assistant Winemaker. All wines will be pre-poured to ensure a perfect, intimate tasting. These tastings should be lots of fun and will last approximately one hour. Tables will be cleaned, sanitized, and readied for the next tasting. The winery grounds will have 60 tables which will be spread out on the north winery grounds. Those tables and chairs will not be allowed to be moved. There will be two concerts this weekend along with a virtual wine tasting Saturday evening on FB starting at 7 pm. The FB virtual wine tasting will feature Antiquity Wines which are only available at Bernhardt Winery for purchase by the bottle. The Saturday afternoon concert featuring Bobby Enloe with Texas HoldEm will run from 1 to 5 pm this Saturday. This concert is FREE including table with your reservation and a pre-purchase of at least one bottle of vino per table. The traditional Memorial Day Weekend Concert on Sunday evening from 6:00 to 8:30 features the Texas Troubadour Shake Russell. This concert has a $15 charge for those 16 and older with those younger than 16 FREE. There are also table charges. All concert seat on the Bernhardt Winery grounds is at a reserved table. Currently, there is no general lawn seating so patrons are not allowed to bring their lawn chairs and tables. Due to Governor Abbotts restrictions, Bernhardt winery is limited to sixty tables with some tables located in the sun and/or off the side stage. As a result, reservations are a MUST with those without reservations not allowed on the winery grounds. For reservations, please call Bernhardt Winery at 936-894-9829 x 107. Jerry Bernhardt is glad that Gov. Abbot has allowed the reopening of Bernhardt Winery and other wineries throughout Texas with an emphasis on safety and health. Your adherence to the safety restrictions is required with wineries having onus for enforcing such health rules. California and other states still have winery tasting rooms closed. Ron Saikowski may be reached at rsaikowski@comcast.net. Pakistan has launched new terror outfits staffed by cadres of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed under "local names" to mislead the world that it has nothing to do with the terrorism prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Police (DGP) of the union territory Dilbag Singh said. The DGP also hit out at the neighbouring country and its agencies for creating social media platforms to flare up "street trouble" in the Kashmir valley. Pakistan recently launched three new terror outfits under local names -- Tehreek Resistance Front (TRF), Tehreek Militi Islamia (TMI) and Ghazwa-e-Hind (GeH) -- to falsely justify that there is indigenous militancy in Kashmir, the officer said. "They (Pakistan) came up with a new terror outfit called the Resistance Front. It is actually a terror revival front, because they saw that terrorism is dying down and the terrorist ranks are falling down. They came up with the concept of a local name for the continuance of ongoing terrorism in the region," Singh told PTI in an interview here. He said the TRF was fully backed and staffed by JeM and LeT, which are Pakistani terror outfits. "They have tried to replenish the numbers (of terrorists) by pushing more members and cadres of LeT and JeM to the Resistance Front," he said. The Police chief said that "to fool the world", TRF claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks which were actually engineered by the cadres of LeT, JeM and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM). "In the past we have seen many incidents carried out either by LeT, HM or JeM, the responsibility for which was taken by the TRF," he said. The officer described this as an operation of camouflage to mislead the world that Pakistan has nothing to do with terrorism in Kashmir, while the fact is that everything is being managed, maneuvered and done on behalf of Pakistan, its army and intelligence agency. "They are continuing with terrorist activities in J&K. This is a cause of concern," he added. The TRF had claimed responsibility for the April 5 incident along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kupwara sector where five army personnel were killed. Three militants killed in Kulgam's Qazigund on April 27 an attack that was claimed by the TRF were associated with the HM for many years. "In most terrorist encounters we have seen that even if the terrorists belonged to an organisation other than TRF, they were trying to claim that the one who was killed is from TRF. That is another strategy of Pakistan," the DGP said. He said Pakistani agencies have also started using other local-sounding names for terror groups like Tehreek Militi Islamia (TMI) and Ghazwa-e-Hind (GeH). "They are promoting these outfits now. These notorious activities are being carried out by Pakistan," the officer said. Singh said it has been proved by the Indian security agencies that Pakistan is using social media to launch new terror outfits and mobilize the new recruits. "They (Pakistan) used TRF as a social media entity actually, which later turned into a physical entity," he said. Singh said the TRF was launched here in April. "Before they could launch this terrorist outfit fully, we were able to seize 22 weapons which were meant for the TRF. This affected the launch of 12 cadres who were scheduled to be inducted into the TRF," he said. Pakistan has started attempts to ignite fresh "street turbulence" in Kashmir after the police and security forces eliminated 22 commanders of all terror outfits including chiefs of four organisations in recent encounters, he said. Around 70 terrorists have been killed in nearly 30 encounters this year including 22 top commanders, he said. In April alone, as many as 30 terrorists were killed in 12 different encounters. Those killed in these encounters included the Kashmir chiefs of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Ansar Ghazwatul Hind and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits. The officer described the killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo as a "remarkable achievement" for police and security forces and a major setback to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. "They are trying to mobilise stone pelting attacks and violent demonstrations which could invoke retaliatory action from police and security forces in which some people would get killed and injured," he said. "This is their strategy and we are aware of it. We have already denied them a single civilian casualty in any action from police and security forces in the last about one year. There has been peace in Kashmir and the people have been cooperating with the government. This has left Pakistan, terror groups and their support structure totally frustrated," the DGP said. Pakistan-sponsored propaganda to instigate law and order problems and to mislead the youth in Jammu and Kashmir regions is going on with full intensity, he added. "They have created social media platforms to foment trouble in this part of Kashmir. They came up with a number of nefarious designs over the past couple of months," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Lagos State Government has said mild coronavirus cases will be managed at home, adding that only critical cases will go to isolation centres. The state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, stated this on Wednesday during a discussion on Instagram on the effects of COVID-19 on the health care system. Abayomi, who tweeted highlights of the conversation, #ShopTalkHealth, urged members of the public to confirm their coronavirus status if they felt ill. He explained that government was making efforts to flatten the curve. We have exceeded the containment phase now. We are at the active community transmission stage. We will be concentrating on people with severe cases and isolating them, while mild cases will be managed at home. Our attention is shifting to community based isolation, the commissioner tweeted. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates When Jamil al-Saboot and his family were told by a Yemeni aid agency to self-isolate to stop the spread of coronavirus, he knew he would not heed the advice. For the 40-year old father of ten, uprooted by civil war and living in a tent on a hillside above the southwestern city of Taiz, staying home means giving up on life. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities around the world, with low-income workers from Bogota to London this week risking their health by returning to work in countries easing lockdowns, while wealthier people stay home. In impoverished Yemen, where the pandemic is now taking hold, millions of displaced people face an even bleaker choice: head out and risk infection or stay home and go hungry. We are scared of coronavirus but we cant stay at the camp as we do not have enough food even for one day. Staying here means starving, said Saboot, dressed in a blue shirt and a traditional headscarf. The arrival of the pandemic in Yemen in April - 184 cases have been confirmed - added to afflictions already facing the Arab World's poorest nation including widespread hunger and a major cholera outbreak. Five years of war have left 80% of its population of more than 24 million relying on aid and 3.6 million displaced. Healthcare services are collapsing. 68 out of 174 patients admitted to a COVID-19 treatment centre in Aden have died, Medicins Sans Frontieres said on Thursday, warning that people perishing from the disease are much younger than in Europe: mostly men between 40 and 60 years old. Yemen's government has advised people to only venture out for necessities but there is little authorities can do to impose restrictions in the war-torn country, said Tamuna Sabadze, Yemen country director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Each day Yemenis spend at home -- each day the market is closed -- they will be losing their income, she said. "If they don't have work they have to beg." 'OVERCROWDED CAMPS' Saboot was working as a day-labourer breaking stones on construction sites when he was forced to flee intense fighting in Taiz between forces loyal to exiled President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebel movement in 2017. His relief at having found safety for his family was tempered by his struggle to find work. Now he is worried the new coronavirus could ravage the hillside camp where he and several hundred families share toilets and live in tents built of wood and tarp. It's overcrowded... the disease will spread in a dramatic way, he said. Telecom companies are raising awareness about hygiene among Yemen's displaced through text messages. Community volunteers advise families in camps to frequently wash their hands but it's a struggle for many who rarely have soap or sanitizer. The IRC and other humanitarian groups are trying to establish green zone areas within displaced person camps to isolate high-risk groups like the elderly and pregnant women from other residents. That requires the community themselves to be willing - that they understand the benefits of this strategy because you cannot force people to separate the elderly from their families, said Sabadze. In the same Taiz camp, 30-year-old mother-of-six Nawal Ghalib gave birth recently and is worried about getting infected. The (visiting awareness) team told me that Im more vulnerable to corona than anyone else, Ghalib said. About 6 million women and girls of childbearing age in Yemen are in need of support and more than a million pregnant and lactating women are malnourished, according to the United Nations Population Fund. Ghalib is breastfeeding and with her youngest being only months old, she cant beg in the market. Her husband and children go instead. If not for begging and for generous people we would have died when we arrived in this camp, she said. Search Keywords: Short link: Newborn babies, seen wearing face shields as a protective measure amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, are seen at a maternity facility in Jakarta, April 21, 2020. Indonesias family planning agency on Thursday urged couples to delay pregnancies after estimates showed that 10 percent of reproductive couples in the fourth most-populous country had abandoned contraception as a result of restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The lack of access to contraceptives could result in 420,000 unplanned pregnancies, sparking fears of a COVID-19 baby boom, said Hasto Wardoyo, the head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN). With an additional 420,000 births next year, population growth in Indonesia could surge dramatically, he told BenarNews. If you plan to get pregnant, now is not the right time. The government estimates that about 15 percent of 3 million couples who stopped using contraception between March and April could end up pregnant, Hasto said, adding that 95 percent of contraceptive users in Indonesia are women. Hasto said people had been reluctant to visit health clinics because of fears they would contract COVID-19, while many health workers have suspended their practices to avoid contact with other people. Government health workers assisted by military personnel are going door-to-door to provide contraceptives and other family planning services, along with personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical personnel in the field of reproductive health, he said. Health officials in Tasikmalaya, a regency in West Java province, reported earlier this month that the pregnancy rate doubled to more than 3,200 in the January-to-March period compared to last year. The April-to-May period may see another rise, said Uus Supangat, chief of the Tasikmalaya health office, according to Kumparan.com online news portal. Nearly 5 million babies are born every year in Indonesia and about 28 million couples were using contraception last year, according to government data. COVID-19 cases Indonesia recorded 973 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the largest single-day rise so far, taking the total to 20,162. East Java province saw the highest daily increase on Thursday, 502, COVID-19 task force spokesman Achmad Yurianto said. Globally, more than 5 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and nearly 330,000 have died as of Thursday, according to data compiled by disease experts at U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Obstetrics and Gynecology Association (POGI) has urged couples planning pregnancy to postpone visits to clinics until the pandemic is under control as health workers are focusing their attention on providing services to expectant women to prevent COVID-19-related complications. Even though theres no evidence yet that the fetus can be infected by COVID-19, we still have to take precautions, Budi Wiweko, POGIs deputy secretary general, told BenarNews. We have to avoid caesarian delivery as much as possible, he said. Angga Sisca Rahadian, a researcher with the Population Research Center at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the predicted 420,000 additional births in 2021 would make it harder for Indonesia to achieve its total fertility rate target of 2.1. The rate refers to the average number of children a woman would have if she survives all reproductive years. Indonesias total fertility rate is 2.4, according to a 2017 demographic and health survey. With the increase in pregnancy rates during the pandemic, it will certainly affect the growth rate, Angga told BenarNews, referring to population growth. Angga said the government must ensure that women who are pregnant during the pandemic are given maternity care. These are unplanned pregnancies and the government has to find ways to keep pregnant women well-nourished to prevent complications, she said. Infant mortality rate in Indonesia is 24 per 1,000 live births, while under-5 mortality rate is 32 per 1,000 live births, far beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target of 70 per 100,000 live births, according to the 2017 demographic survey. Travel concerns Task force spokesman Yurianto attributed the jump in single-day COVID-19 cases in Indonesia to increased testing and the failure to observe social distancing measures. He warned that the country could see an increase in infections because of higher mobility during the holy month of Ramadan culminating in the Eid al-Fitr festival, which falls on Sunday. Traffic in the greater Jakarta region has been busier in recent days ahead of Eid al-Fitr, while airports, sea ports and markets have also started to reopen. The head of the COVID-19 task forces team of experts, Wiku Adisasmito, said public perception that travel restrictions had been relaxed could also be a factor. It could be due to increased testing, or due to the lack of discipline in observing health protocols, he told BenarNews. President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Monday said the government would not ease restrictions amid criticism that the government is silently relaxing measures to curb the spread the virus to keep the economy running. Speculation that the government is taking steps toward reopening the economy emerged last week after Wiku said residents 45 and younger could be allowed to return to work. He said West Java has been a bright spot in the fight against COVID-19 for its success in flattening the curve. Hopefully other provinces can catch up, he said. East Java Deputy Gov. Emil Dardak told local television that the provincial government had tested not only people who showed symptoms of COVID-19, but those who were at risk, resulting in the high number of daily cases. Japan could lift the state of emergency in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures as soon as Monday, if current trends continue, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. The measure was lifted Thursday for Osaka and the two adjoining prefectures of Kyoto and Hyogo after the move was endorsed by a government panel of health experts earlier in the day. The emergency declaration will stay in effect for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, as well as for the northern island of Hokkaido, for the time being, he said. New infections are declining in the areas remaining under the declaration and their medical systems are less stretched than they were, Abe said. "The government will do its best in order to protect people's lives," he said, adding he would work with regional governors to prepare for a potential second wave of infections. Japan has seen a steady fall in its new confirmed infections over the past few weeks and its overall numbers for covid-19 cases and deaths are the lowest among the Group of Seven leading democracies. Abe last week lifted the state of emergency for 39 of the country's 47 prefectures and now looks likely to remove it across the nation before the planned expiry of May 31. Lifting the emergency would help re-open more parts of the virus-battered economy, which sank last quarter into a recession, data this week showed. Abe said last week the government was preparing a second extra budget to aid people and businesses reeling from the effects of the pandemic that includes handouts to help with rent, and raises the maximum subsidy for furloughed workers to 15,000 yen ($140) a day. The troubles for the world's third-largest economy are likely to deepen further as households limit spending to essentials and companies cut back on investment, production and hiring to stay afloat. Analysts see a 21.5% contraction this quarter, a record for official data going back to 1955. Tokyo, neighboring Kanagawa and Hokkaido were slightly above the government threshold of 0.5 new cases per 100,000 people in a week, Kyodo News reported. The state of emergency, first declared in some areas on April 6, allows local governments to direct businesses to close and to urge residents to stay in their homes, though there are no penalties for failure to comply. 1. Yes. Too many kids are staying home. They need a virtual learning option to keep up. 2. Yes. Teachers are out sick and subs cant handle the load. Online learning is needed. 3. No. Its too late in the school year to make a wholesale switch in teaching platforms. 4.No. Many parents arent in a position to stay home while their kids learn virtually. 5. Unsure. It may seem like a good idea from a health standpoint, but it has shortcomings. Vote View Results Kristopher Fowler thought he found a place he could settle down when he purchased his first home in 2013. The inspection on the property, in an attractive James Island neighborhood about 5 miles from downtown Charleston, showed nothing abnormal. But after heavy rain submerged his bedroom floor nearly two years later, he learned something startling: Fowler's first flood was the home's sixth. The federal government offered him money to restore the house. So he rebuilt. Then, Hurricane Matthew hit in 2016, flooding it again and leaving him with the prospect of rebuilding a second time. It was pointless to keep doing this," Fowler said. "Its going to happen year after year." Flooding caused by rising tides, hurricane-force winds and rain deluges, has left a glut of damaged properties in South Carolinas real estate market, specifically in cities along the coast. Homeowners might get days of advanced warning that a storm is coming or walk outside to see the water rapidly rising as they did in the Charleston region on Wednesday. The end result is the same: houses get flooded and federal privacy laws hide the exact addresses of those properties from the public. But data obtained by The Post and Courier allowed reporters for the first time to pinpoint about a third of South Carolina's most vulnerable and water-damaged properties, a revealing disclosure for a state that is near the top in flood insurance payouts from the federal government. Records obtained from the federal government through an open records request show the claims history of specific addresses, which are usually kept secret from all but the owners. They include a multi-million dollar home near Charleston's Battery sea wall that has maxed out its $250,000 policy coverage and modest homes that received more money in insurance claim payments than their value in county property assessments. That includes a home in Charleston's West Ashley community that has flooded at least 10 times and has received $165,000 for building damage $44,000 more than its appraised value. And another, in Charleston's Shadowmoss neighborhood, that received $212,000 from the federal government before the city purchased it and tore it down. This list led reporters to people like Fowler, stuck in a crushing cycle of disaster and repair. His former home was one of roughly 800 repetitively flooded properties in South Carolina that have received more than $100,000 in damage claims from the federal government. Federal and state efforts to lift or move these repeatedly flooded houses have lagged behind the pace of damage that was exacerbated by a recent four-year stretch of destructive weather in the state. That has left homeowners with few options other than to rebuild and wait for the next flood or put their at-risk properties on the market with no requirement, until recently, to let potential buyers know about past damage history. The existing flood insurance system leaves them with a lack of alternatives, and quickly provides payments to rebuild, even in the face of likely future disasters. In high-demand housing markets like the Charleston region, moving into a comparable home isn't always financially possible. Troubled safety net From its inception in 1968, the National Flood Insurance Program was built on the premise that floods were not a chronic problem, but random and infrequent disasters that could be weathered with a little financial help. That premise has been challenged as sea levels rise, storms get stronger, and development decisions put more properties in harm's way. Flooding has long been a mathematical nightmare for private insurers. Homeowner insurance policies don't cover flooding as a matter of course, because the disaster is one that's presumed to simultaneously affect many properties in a large area. That raises the chance that an insurer breaks the bank by paying out several claims at the same time. The (national) program was needed to make it affordable for people who couldnt afford the full risk of living in risky places," said A.R. Siders, a University of Delaware researcher who's an expert on coastal management and retreat policy. In providing financial protection for people in flood-prone places, the program has ultimately created an incentive for them to stay and for new people to add more development, Siders said, "because theyre not bearing that full risk. While policy holders do pay premiums, the program is heavily subsidized: it's more than $20 billion in debt, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service. The program has piled on loans without paying off past ones since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which the government estimates is the most expensive disaster in U.S. history. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last year it was going to make the rates more reflective of risk, but past attempts to do so have been met with strong political opposition. Government data shows that, as of 2019, claims for property paid out in South Carolina totaled more than $920 million, the 10th-highest amount among the 50 states. The Charleston region accounted for a third of the state's payouts. And while the program is in continual need of financial support, it's also unable to cull out properties that flood over and over again, as private insurance carriers can. The federal government paid $5.5 billion to repair and rebuild properties between 1978 and 2015 that had been damaged before, according to an analysis of flood insurance data by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Those properties had flooded five times each on average. Rob Moore, director of the water and climate team at the NRDC, said insurance claims are paid out quickly, while efforts to lessen future flood damage can take years. That encourages homeowners to restore their damaged properties without addressing their vulnerability. Rebuilding is the first and highest priority, even though we know thats not what we should be doing in every instance, Moore said. In South Carolina alone, the federal government's flood insurance program has paid out more than $185 million to repair homes in the state that have flooded multiple times. That includes more than $45 million paid for properties that the government flagged as frequently flooding, or receiving high claims amounts. Breaking the cycle After the first flood, Fowler didn't know his options. He started with the state's hazard mitigation officer and was referred from public employee to public employee. Ultimately, he reached a Charleston County building official, but the county wasn't coordinating buyouts to demolish problem properties. In many cases, homeowners who need financial help to move on from flooded houses are at the mercy of their local governments. Cities and counties can apply for FEMA-funded voluntary buyouts, but the process is competitive. The city of Charleston has used federal money for buyouts, but Charleston County has no record of pursuing similar grants, county spokesman Shawn Smetana said. Part of Fowler's James Island former street was located in the city. But his home was in the county. Without a buyout option, Fowler took a big risk buying a new house before selling his old property. Paying two mortgages was a strain, and he knew it might end up in foreclosure, but better than trying to rebuild, he thought. He decided to be frank about the problem on the property. He left a 2-foot gap where soggy drywall was ripped from the inside of the house. In a stroke of luck, a buyer acquired the flood-damaged home. That person tore down the house and built a new, higher one. Others, like Melissa Krupa, have been less fortunate. Krupa bought her home in Rosewood Estates, a middle-class neighborhood near Myrtle Beach, in 2013. The development, on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, had flooded before, but she didn't initially buy insurance because she wasn't in one of FEMA's mapped flood-prone zones. In 2015, flooding from a record-breaking deluge across the state brought water within 5 feet of her doorstep. A year later, Hurricane Matthew swelled rivers in a huge swath of the Carolinas' border belt, and 3 feet of water rose inside her house. One flood was enough to convince her to sell. In the interim, she bought flood insurance and started renovating the house, but she wasn't finished when Florence arrived in 2018, submerging her home in 5 feet of water. Donate to our Investigative Fund to support journalism like this Our public service and investigative reporting is among the most important work we do. It's also the most expensive reporting we do. We can't do it without your support. Donate Now The second flood convinced her to seek a buyout. Rebuilding seemed unlikely: shortly after Florence, Krupa's mother had a heart attack, and she moved up to Pennsylvania to care for her. Flood insurance money was used for rent in Krupa's new home, not repairing her old one. "Even if I did fix it up, how do I sell it to innocent people knowing that it's flooded a few times?" Krupa said. I would not want anybody to go through what I (went) through." Others caught in a similarly desperate situation may not take the same direction: until recently, homeowners had the ability to patch up the house they're selling and say little about its flood history. The federal Privacy Act stops potential buyers from looking up flood insurance claim histories of a house they might purchase. But late last year, South Carolina's Real Estate Commission made homesellers start documenting the number of federal flood claims on their properties in a standard disclosure form. Sellers still don't have to include the amount of those claims, a key indicator of a flood's severity. S.C. Realtors Association Chief Executive Officer Nick Kremydas, who pushed for the change, said it's a stopgap as the state waits on the federal government to take more decisive action. Were holding out hope for the next Congress," he said. Meanwhile, Krupa has been seeking a home buyout, and the wait has been a long one. Like Charleston County, Horry County did not have a buyout program. Recently, the state said it would use $30 million in federal Housing and Urban Development money to buy out Horry County homes. Krupa arranged for a real estate investor to view the stripped-to-the-studs home in Horry County. But the viewing was cut short in February when another, less severe round of flooding hit Rosewood, sending water feet from her property and scaring the investor away. Robust programs lacking The four-year spate of flooding along South Carolina's coast has spurred discussions of how to avoid future damage caused by a rising sea, but there are few long-running efforts in place to remove homes from harm's way. An exception is an initiative in Greenville County that began in 2007. There, heavy rains overloaded creeks and overflowed into nearby neighborhoods and homes. The solution was a continuous buyout program that is funded with about $2 million in annual stormwater fees, said Paula Gucker, an assistant administrator. The county sees it as a good investment: Fewer flooded homes mean fewer emergency rescues, and less infrastructure to maintain. It also can do what the federal government can't: buy homes quickly. It takes the county about six months to a year to buy out a homeowner. The federal government can often take five years. In one neighborhood, along Del Norte Road, the county has removed at least 68 houses, the majority through the local program. One single-family home in the neighborhood flooded 11 times with damage totaling just over $62,500, according to the records obtained by The Post and Courier. The county bought it for $140,000 in 2010. County officials also stepped up their efforts, buying properties that were offered on the open market because the owner owed delinquent taxes. The goal was to buy flood-prone homes before people do. Were trying to be proactive and buy everything out pre-disaster, Gucker said. When youre reactive, the emotional costs from the poor citizens that are living there and the work we have to do is much harder." Greenville County isn't the only place that's built a robust buyout program after disaster. Some states have built their own programs. In North Carolina, the state's Office of Recovery and Resilience has identified 22 zones affected by Matthew and Florence. Staff there are asking homeowners whether they're prepared to sell and plan to buy homes with money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "In a lot of instances, people are waiting on us to offer the buyout program," said Laura Hogshead, the chief operating officer of the North Carolina office. Like most buyout programs, the state offers the pre-flood value of the home to sellers. But it also asks the people relocating to identify the next home they want to buy, and offers up to $50,000 to cover the difference, if needed. There are further incentives if the sellers stay in the same county or the state. Not all homeowners are eager to take one. Some may suspect it's really an attempt to gentrify an area. To combat suspicions like this and ease the transition, Hogshead said North Carolina is working to build affordable housing near historic communities like Princeville, in the eastern part of the state. The town was incorporated by freed enslaved people in 1885. "We want you to stay in the same community, we just want you to be on higher ground," Hogshead said. Still, the ties to home remain strong for some, even if flood damage has been persistent. Robert Mundy, a Charleston resident in West Ashley, has had minor flooding in his home at least eight times since he bought it in 1974. The soakings are not the most costly, totaling just over $40,700 in all, but they have been persistent: stranding him on his property at times and repeatedly ruining flooring. After several entreaties to the city of Charleston, he's not confident that the problem will be fixed any time soon. The city, for its part, is trying to complete a drainage project, but has been stymied by a telephone utility's underground transmission lines, which are in the way of the work. The utility only recently told Charleston that it would move the line and is working on getting permits now. Mundy doesn't carry flood insurance anymore. Despite the continued flooding, Mundy doesn't plan to sell. The Vietnam War veteran said he was determined to hold on to his home and pass the asset on to his children one day. Flooding: A destructive teacher There's no replacement for living through a flood. Fowler said he found out about his former home's flooding history only after he looked through the stack of closing documents he had skimmed through before purchasing the property. He didn't make that mistake again before buying his current home, he said. Charleston Realtor Leslie Turner said purchasing a home in the area is not just risky for first-time buyers. Everyone should find an agent who is knowledgeable about the specific neighborhood where they are looking, she said. Requesting an estimate on how much flood insurance will cost is also a good step to take before finalizing a deal. "If that quote comes back really high, theres a reason," she said. Not all homebuyers have the means or desire to look for a new home. Timothy Brown was 58 when he purchased his first home in 2018 in North Charleston. He plans to stay there. He wanted to escape the Charleston region's notoriously high rents. Spur Street, where he landed, was modest but quiet, dotted with one-story homes just off of Dorchester Road. But his section of the street fills up like a basin when the rain comes, and the open-cut drainage ditches do little to move water out. The ditch behind Brown's own backyard is uneven, and the opposite bank is 3 feet higher, effectively acting like a levee that pushes water onto his property. He did not know the extent of his homes flooding before he purchased it, Brown said, and there was no indication of damage inside the house. Neighbors later said the previous owners had replaced the floor several times. The property has flooded at least six times, the federal data shows, causing $83,635 in damage. The most recent was in September 2017. Brown has flood insurance but says he's hesitant to file new claims, because he doesn't want his premiums to rise. His home hasnt flooded since he bought it, but rising waters have come close twice. When water starts to submerge his yard, "I leave, I come back, and I hope for the best," he said. In the meantime, he has plastic sheeting to wrap the bottom 3 feet of the house and sandbags at the ready. Thats kept the water out so far. Bryan Brussee contributed to this report. At least seven retirement homes and residential care facilities associated with the family behind the Royal Crest Lifecare bankruptcy have been found in violation of provincial or city regulations within the last six months. Three of the homes Rosslyn Retirement Residence on King Street East, Cathmar Manor on Catharine Street North and Greycliff Manor in Niagara Falls have been hit with registrars orders in the past four weeks by the provinces governing body for retirement homes. The three homes are connected with the families of brothers Aldo Martino and the late John Martino, owners of the Royal Crest Lifecare chain of care homes which collapsed into bankruptcy in 2003. Another four retirement homes and residential care facilities connected to the Martino family Dundas Retirement Place, Montgomery Retirement Home, Victoria Manor I and Victoria Manor II have been found in violation of numerous regulations based on inspections carried out either by the city or the governing Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA). The Rosslyn home was the site of a horrific COVID-19 outbreak last week that sent more than 60 residents to hospital and emptied the facility. Twenty staff members became infected and four of the Rosslyns residents have died. The city said Tuesday it is conducting urgent inspections of all homes associated with the Martino family. The inspections are expected to be done by Friday. Representatives of the Martino family did not respond to requests for comment made Wednesday. On May 15, the RHRA issued a registrars order against the Rosslyn home, stating the facility was in contravention of the Retirement Homes Act section pertaining to infection prevention and control and failure to protect residents from neglect. The order states Rosslyn is not permitted to admit new residents to the home until the licensee has retained a regulated health professional (RHP). On May 14, the citys associate medical officer of health also issued an order against the Rosslyn home requiring a number of immediate steps be taken to address alleged deficiencies related to screening, outbreak response plans, protective equipment and staff training. In the Ontario legislature Wednesday, NDP MPP Sandy Shaw said the owners of the company that operates the Rosslyn have a sketchy history. Shaw, who represents Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas called on Doug Fords government to take action to make sure that this private, for-profit corporation and others like it are not able to hurt and take advantage of seniors. This is the stuff of nightmares, Shaw said during question period. In a statement to The Spectator, the RHRA said it is deeply concerned about the situation at the Rosslyn home. Our first priority is the safety and protection of the residents, which is why we took swift action in collaboration with Hamilton local public health unit to safeguard the residents, stated Kathryn Chopp, spokesperson for the RHRA. We are in daily contact with the management of Rosslyn Retirement Residence to ensure their compliance with the May 15 registrars orders. On March 5, the RHRA issued a registrars order against Cathmar Manor that the Catharine Street home was in contravention of pest control regulations due to a bedbug infestation. An inspection by the RHRA on Jan. 13 found Cathmar in violation of several regulations related to cleanliness, pest control and procedures for dealing with complaints about the care of residents. The same issues of noncompliance had been found during an RHRA inspection in November. A city public health inspection on March 10 found Cathmar not in compliance for food quality and proper nutrition. On April 24, the RHRA issued a registrars order against Greycliff Manor, located on Lundys Lane, for contravening regulations related to pest control, medication administration and behaviour management of residents who pose a risk to themselves or others in the home. Between Jan. 17 and Feb. 12, the Niagara Falls home was inspected three times by the RHRA and a total of 20 violations were found. The RHRA conducted an inspection of Dundas Retirement Place on Nov. 27 and found five violations related to emergency plans and the plans of care for residents. The authority conducted inspections of Montgomery Retirement Home on Main Street East on Jan. 14 and Nov. 7, 2019 and found more than a dozen violations in total relating to issues such as infection prevention and control, emergency plans, risk of falls and behaviour management. The citys public health department inspected Victoria Manor I and II on Feb. 18 and found violations related to the storage of medications, food quality and nutrition. The RHRA said its aware the Rosslyn home is owned by a corporation that has connections to several homes in the Hamilton and surrounding area. We can confirm that the RHRA has been engaged with the other associated homes in the area including on-site inspections of the various locations as part of the COVID-19 response efforts, Chopp stated. Local public health units are leading activities as they relate to COVID-19 infection prevention and control. The collapse of the Royal Crest chain was the largest bankruptcy of long-term care homes in Ontarios history. At the time of its bankruptcy, Royal Crest had $180 million in liabilities owing and left taxpayers on the hook for $18 million. Royal Crest and the Martino brothers were the subjects of an extensive Spectator investigation in 2003 and 2004. The investigation showed Ontarios health ministry had provided more than $500 million to Royal Crest in a decade leading up to the chains collapse, but the ministry hadnt conducted its own audit of the company in the three years prior to the bankruptcy. More snow on the way in Pennsylvania; here's how much to expect Thousands of Israeli websites have been defaced earlier today, hackers published an anti-Israeli message on their homepage and attempted to implant malicious code. A massive hacking campaign defaced thousands of Israeli websites, attackers published an anti-Israeli message on their homepage and attempted to inject a malware seeking permission to access visitors webcams. Be ready for a big surprise The countdown of Israel destruction has begun since a long time ago, reads the message published in in Hebrew and English on the defaced Israeli websites. A video published by the hackers shows explosions in Tel Aviv and a battered and bloodied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swimming away from a burning city. The hackers also added a link on some websites, asking users to click on the link and activate their camera The list of hacked websites belong to local municipalities, several NGOs, popular restaurant chains, and a left-wing Member of parliament. The attacks were carried out by a group calling itself the Hackers of Saviour most of the hacked websites were hosted on the Israeli WordPress hosting service uPress. The hacker groups YouTube channel describes the crew as collective seeking on avenging Israels policy on the Palestinian situation. Early this morning we detected a widespread cyber attack against many websites stored on our servers. It is a case of a malicious and far-ranging attack carried out by anti-Israel (Iranian) sources. We detected a weakness in a WordPress add on that enabled the hack and are working closely with the National Cyber Bureau to research the breach and fix the affected sites. reads a statement from the company sent to Ynet News. The hosting provider confirmed the attack and revealed that the hackers exploited a vulnerability in a WordPress plugin to compromise the Israeli websites. Below the message published by the company on Facebook: The company said it was working with Israeli authorities to investigate the hack. uPress also took down all defaced websites and pulled the file hackers were exploiting. The company is working to restore all the defaced websites. The Israel National Cyber Bureau, the government agency tasked with protecting Israel from hacking attacks confirmed that a host of Israeli websites were hacked in the morning hours in a suspected Iranian cyber-attack. reported the website Calcalistech. The matter is being handled by the Bureau. We recommend users refrain from pressing any links on compromised sites,. The hosting provider reported the incident to the authorities that launched an investigation into the attacks. The Israeli National Cyber-Directorate (INCD), the Israeli cyber-security agency, warned users against visiting and interacting with the hacked websites. -. . . Cyber Israel (@Israel_Cyber) May 21, 2020 Israeli press outlets blame Iranian hackers for the attacks, but at the time there is no concrete evidence to support this attribution. Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs Israeli websites, hacking) Unibank has updated credit scoring for unsecured consumer loans, introducing the technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The AI algorithm will enable us to process great amount of information, to analyze client behavior and to model their profiles far more precisely. As a result, the bank will be able to make the process of decision making more optimized, risk evaluation quality higher and responsible client service better, offering them more profitable crediting conditions meanwhile saving time and resources. In 2014, Unibank was one of the firsts in Armenia to completely exclude human factor in loan application review process and to make it automatic by using the newest CRM system developed by Protobase Laboratories company. By 2019, Unibank had processed more than 480 thousand applications with the help of the credit conveyor and provided an answer to the clients within a minute. With the introduction of Artificial Intelligence, Unibank has stepped into a new digital reality. The new scoring model will help essentially reduce expenses, make relationships with clients better and increase their loyalty, thus allowing the bank to actively develop and strengthen mass-crediting. According to the data provided by McKinsey, in credit organization that use AI technology, the cost-to-income indicator is by 12 percentage points below the average market, -comments Sergey Kocharyan, the Head of Risk Management. Unibank is one of the leaders in retail market. Our client base includes 1/3 of working age population of Armenia, and we are striving not only to meet the requirements of modern banking, but also to get ahead of them. The scoring system, based on the statistical data of the Banks 20 years of work and the Big Data business-analytics, will enable us to make decisions on credit issuance way faster and more efficiently, -says Gurgen Ghukasyan, Director of Retail Business Promotion and Sales at Unibank. In the future, Unibank will enhance the sphere of the use of AI and will implement the given technology while processing secured consumer and business loan applications. In 2019, Unibank issued loans to physical persons with a total amount of AMD 71 billion. In the 4th quarter of 2019, Unibank was in a leading position in the Armenian banking system by the number of POS loans. This year, the number of POS loan applications has increased becoming 2 000 per day. China said on Thursday that it will continue to accord priority to Pakistan in its neighbourhood diplomacy and reinforce iron-clad' ties as the all-weather allies celebrated the 69th year of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Pakistan recognised China in 1951, a year after India established diplomatic ties with Beijing. India became the first non-Communist country in Asia in 1950 to establish diplomatic relations with China. Though a late entrant, Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has emerged as Communist China's closest ally and the two countries in recent years firmed up their all-weather alliance with USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the biggest overseas investment by Beijing. "Today marks the 69th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan. I offer congratulations, Foreign Ministry spokesman told a media briefing here on Thursday. Zhao, who worked earlier as China's Deputy Ambassador to Islamabad, had a personal note of praise for his stint in Pakistan. "I had the pleasure of working in Pakistan. Before leaving the country, I said that Pakistan stole my heart. I believe it shows the deep-rooted friendship between the two countries, he said. "In future, we have every confidence in the development of bilateral relations. We will continue to put Pakistan a priority in our neighbourhood diplomacy and work together for high-quality CPEC development, Zhao said. India had protested to China over the CPEC as it traversed through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). "We are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. In the past 69 years, this relationship has stood the test of the changing international landscape, and has remained firm as a rock, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Survivors of COVID-19, who tested positive to coronavirus after recovery, are not capable of transmitting it the second time, a new study finds. Researchers from the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), in a study, looked at 285 survivors who tested positive after previous tests said they were negative. The study reported late Monday revealed that the virus samples collected from the patients who tested positive a second time could not be grown in lab cultures. This suggests the patients were not re-infected but rather that they were shedding dead virus particles, the study said. After health authorities in South Korea raised alarms last month upon dozens of recovered patients testing positive for the virus again, the results of the study were accepted. None of the 790 people that the patients came into contact with were found to be infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, the study said. More than 400 people have reconfirmed cases of the virus, according to the KCDC. Silver lining Because of the studys results, South Korean health officials will no longer consider people infectious after they recover from COVID-19, the KCDC said. The agency said after recovering or completing an isolation period, residents will not have to test negative for the virus before returning to school or work. Under the new protocols, no additional tests are required for cases that have been discharged from isolation, the KCDC wrote in a report, according to Bloomberg. KCDC said cases in which someone has tested positive again will not be referred to as PCR re-detected after discharge from isolation. However, it remains unclear how many antibodies one needs to prevent being re-infected and how long they remain in the body. A recent study in Singapore showed that patients who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, are found to have significant levels of neutralizing antibodies nine to 17 years after initial infection, according to researchers including Danielle Anderson of Duke-NUS Medical School. Other scientists have found higher levels of IgM, an antibody that appears in response to exposure to an antigen, in children, according to an article published on medRxiv. This suggests that the younger population have the potential to produce a more potent defence against COVID-19. The study has not been certified by peer review. The World Health Organization (WHO), however, advised against this and said the accuracy of such documents could not be guaranteed. Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an immunity passport or risk-free certificate that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection, the WHO said in a statement. Dame Julie Walters has said she feels like a different person after recovering from bowel cancer. The actress told Good Morning Britain With Lorraine Kelly that it is so far, so good after she revealed in February that she had been given the all-clear. The Mamma Mia star underwent surgery and had chemotherapy to treat the condition. The 70-year-old said: Its two years in June that I had the operation. I had a scan in February and that was clear, so, yeah, as far as I know everything is fine. She added: Since the cancer, Ive felt like that was a different person, the person who was acting the whole time. I feel like a different person now. People ask me about jobs like Mamma Mia and Harry Potter, and things like that, and it feels like it should be someone else answering, not me. In February, Dame Julie told the BBCs Victoria Derbyshire programme that she first went to the doctor because of indigestion and feeling slight discomfort with stomach pains, heartburn and vomiting. Video of the Day She was later diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer and had nearly 12in (30cm) of her colon removed after doctors found two tumours. More than 1,000 Israeli websites were hit by a coordinated cyber attack on Thursday, with the home pages replaced by images of the country's commercial capital Tel Aviv in flames. Israel's National Cyber Directorate said private companies using a particular operating system were targeted, but said the damage was 'superficial'. It did not state the number of pages targeted but Israeli media reported it was more than 1,000, including those of major firms. The pages were replaced with the slogan 'the countdown to the destruction of Israel started long ago'. A link led to a computer-generated video of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on fire, seemingly after a series of attacks. The image also showed a photoshopped picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swimming from the burning city to safety. There were no immediate details on the group which claimed the attack called Hackers of Saviour, who also changed the page titles to 'Be ready for a big surprise,' along with the message: 'The countdown of Israel destruction has begun since a long time ago [sic].' Pictured: The image that appeared on thousands of Israeli websites depicted Tel Aviv in flames was put there by a hacker ground calling itself 'Hackers of Savior' A statement in the group's only YouTube video in broken English said: 'We gather here to take revenge of Zionists crimes against Palestinians who have dead or have lost their lifes, families and grounds.' Visitors were asked by the website to allow access to their camera. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Avitar Gat, Digital Systems Operator at the Zeliger Shomron PR agency, warned: 'This is a combined attack that tries not just to harm Israeli sites and to disturb the economy from operating. '[The cyber attack] also tries to gain personal information from users that enter these sites through control of the users' cameras, which would allow the recording of personal information and pictures of thousands of Israelis,' he added. The Post said that the targeted sites included uPress, a WordPress hosting service, Bang and Olufsen Israel - a high-end sound system retailer, Bet Gabriet - a cultural center, Yad L'Ahim - an Orthodox Jewish religious organization and several religious Jewish high schools and post-high school programs. The attack came a day before Israelis celebrate Jerusalem Day - signifying the country's capture of the eastern part of the disputed city in 1967, and May 22 marks the 53rd anniversary of the capital's reunification. Iran, Israel's long-time rival, also commemorates the day but highlights the Palestinian and Muslim connection to the holy city. Head of the Cyber Intelligence Department at Checkpoint Software Technologies, explained that hackers across the Muslim world - including Turkey, North Africa and the Gaza Strip - organised attacks against Israeli sites on the day. Speaking to 103 FM, an Israeli radio station, Amos Yadlin, executive director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies and former head of IDF Military Intelligence said: 'We've all known for a decade already that cyber is the new dimension of war in the 21st century: This didn't happen this week or last month.' 'Israel tried to explain to Iran that in cyber they're much more vulnerable than us and therefore it's really worth it for them to keep civilian infrastructure outside of the conflict,' he warned, adding that Israel has 'additional abilities' and that Iranians should think twice before attacking Israel with cyber attacks. He went on to say that cyber attacks are only met with more cyber attacks. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured, recently attacked the founding ideology of Israel - Zionism - drawing rebuke from Israel's Prime Minister Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured, responded to Iran's leader's comments saying any nation that threatens Israel's survival will 'find itself in similar danger' Animosity between the two nations has also flared in a war of words on Twitter. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently attacked Israel's founding ideology Zionism, charging that Zionists have 'been acting like a cancerous tumour, furthering their goals by massacring children, women and men'. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied Wednesday evening, saying Khamenei 'should know that any regime that threatens Israel with extermination will find itself in similar danger'. The attack on Israeli websites came days after a cyber attack on computer systems at an Iranian port was blamed on Israel, which according to the New York Times was itself in retaliation to an attack on Israeli water infrastructure, which allegedly took place on April 24. The cyber attack on the Iranian port was meant to be a message from Israel, warning Iran not to target Israeli infrastructure. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an eight-hour visit to Israel last week, during which he accused Iran of using its resources to 'foment terror' even as its people face the Middle East's deadliest novel coronavirus outbreak. Pompeo also tweeted that 'the United States condemns Supreme Leader Khamenei's disgusting and hateful anti-Semitic remarks. 'They have no place on Twitter or on any other social media platform.' U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pictured, condemned Khamenei's comments about Zionism in a tweet On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah parked outrage after releasing an anti-Israel poster showing a conquered alongside the Nazi's infamous 'final solution'. Khamenei has been accused of anti-Semitism after he shared the poster calling for the destruction of Israel on his official website in Farsi, Arabic and English. The poster, which showed a 'free' Palestine and the late Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, was published alongside the message: 'Palestine will be free. The final solution: Resistance is referendum.' Published on Quds Day, an annual celebration in Iran held on the last Friday of Ramadan, the image showed people celebrating at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem alongside the 'final solution' term which refers to the mass genocide of Jewish people during the Holocaust. The Iranian leader, who earlier this month said that the United States would be expelled from Iraq and Syria, has been in office since 1989. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:37:52|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Thursday blasted Israel for reducing water supply to different West Bank districts this week without prior notice. The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) said in a statement that Israeli authorities significantly reduced the amount of water allotted to the West Bank districts of Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Hebron, during the past few days. The Israeli sudden cuts directly affected the amount of water supplied to the public and led to irregular water pressure, said the PWA, adding that it was under great pressure to manage and distribute the available amount of water in a fair manner. "We are facing this crisis as we enter the summer season, a time of the year when people are usually in need of more and not less quantities of water. Demand for water is expected to increase by about 30 percent," PWA leader Mazen Ghneim was quoted as saying. Ghneim called upon the international community to pressure Israel to stop its arbitrary policy of using water as a tool to clamp down on the Palestinian people. Enditem Aditya Shrikrishna By Express News Service Philips (Azhy Robertson) friend Earl, with his opulent but independent life, starts by saying, Lets do something awful, whenever he wants to enlist Philip for one of his nefarious escapades. One such pastime of his begins like this: Lets follow people. He is simply including Philip on his stalking endeavours, choosing a man or a woman on the street, following them till their destination, usually a wealthy neighbourhood, and Earl even keeps records of this. This is how he maps the town. In David Simons adaptation of Philip Roths The Plot Against America, this simple, harmless-for-their-ten-year-old-selves pursuit takes a different meaning. Whom to follow? Who is speaking the truth? Who is a legitimate hero, if there are heroes at all? It was also an era of heroes. The cult of personality thrived unlike any other. Charles Lindbergh was an aviation hero and the idea of the oncoming American dream, a hero to look up to as the country was dusting off the Depression era. Lindbergh was also a racist and believed to be a Nazi sympathizer. Philip Roths novel details an alternate history where Lindbergh defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 Presidential elections and begins a wave of xenophobia, fascism, and anti-Semitism. He is against USs intervention in the Second World War and signs a treaty to that effect with his partner in crime across the Atlantic Adolf Hitler. So, Lindberghs forty-two-word speech that he spells out ad nauseum catches on, and his aura only brightens to blind. Philips family of four his socialist father Herman Levin (Morgan Spector), his mother Bess (Zoe Kazan), and elder brother Sandy (Caleb Malis) is part of a working-class Jewish neighbourhood of Weequahic in Newark. Philip is named for Roth himself, who grew up in Weequahic, and much of the series is framed from the point of view of younger people, like Philip and Sandy. Of course, reams can be and have already been written about how this might be alternate past but is really the present and future of the world. However, this column is not about that. This is about the way The Plot Against America depicts aridity of the period, an anti-Semite, fascist America sold on speeches and style that even a rabbi falls for the ruse. This is less about adaptation and more about the visual representation of that period and its specific anxieties and vulnerabilities. To get this point across, directors Minkie Spiro and Thomas Schlamme go for muted colours, almost monochromatic. There is only black, white, a little bit of ochre, the sunlight streaming in and the lens flares and shadows. The Plot Against America is doggedly colourless and spiritless, as if the apocalypse is about to break the world into several little pieces. Martin Ahlgrens cinematography uses closeups, over-the-shoulder, or point-of-view shots to display the ruthless ways in which the ideology is stuffed onto impressionable minds. We see Sandy or Philips empty eyes looking on as their parents argue with other elders or worry about something seemingly beyond their understanding. In many scenes, the children are foregrounded while the action occurs behind them. Sandy and Philip become antithetical to each other, the elder brother fast becoming a Lindbergh fan and taking part in their absorption programs on his aunt Evelyns (Winona Ryder) insistence, while Philip is too young to make decisions of his own, often having the deer in headlights look about everyone from his parents and his cousin Alvin to his friend Earl. The tempered colours are further enhanced by the claustrophobic ways in which The Plot Against America is filmed. We often see Herman in newsreel theatres watching the news of the war in Europe (this is early 1940s), sometimes with his friend in the projection room that is all dark, dingy and yellow with realms of film reels. Or the vegetable market that his brother works in. Even the interiors of the Levin household have tightly-filled spaces and a basement that is shared with another family living under the same roof. In contrast, Lindberghs addresses demand open spaces and the ringing endorsement that rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf (John Turturro) delivers is shot like theatre, one of the Nazi beer hall speeches with only the rabbi addressing crowds of faceless men in the dark. Herman and Bess find it hard to reconcile with their idea of America. Herman has been sold the dream, he considers it his country and believes that its rich history will save it, and he is emblematic of that. Bess is quick to decide to emigrate to Canada. They are blocked in front of the radio in the living room, Herman in his night clothes and Bess finishing up in the kitchen, or sometimes, Herman in front of newsreels and Bess in front of immediate manifestations of a fascist state during interactions with friends and family. David Simon shows usually involve delving deep into systemic fault lines and irregularities that reek of the vast divide between public policy and its implementation. But, The Plot Against America is a very un-Simon like miniseries in that it takes the montage and vignette route of showing a society depleting at such a rapid pace that there is no time to think, only run. DUBLIN, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Prefilled Syringe Fill / Finish Services Market, 2020-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report features an extensive study of the current market landscape and future opportunities for contract service providers offering fill finish services for prefilled syringes. The study features an in-depth analysis of the key drivers and trends related to this evolving domain. One of the key objectives of the report was to understand the primary growth drivers and estimate the future size of the market. Based on parameters, such as growth of the overall pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical market, cost of goods sold, direct manufacturing costs, share of drug product manufacturing costs, and outsourcing trends related to fill/finish operations, we have provided an informed estimate of the likely evolution of the market in the mid to long term, for the time period 2020-2030. Our year-wise projections of the current and future opportunity have further been segmented on the basis of: [A] scale of operation (preclinical, clinical and commercial) [B] key geographical regions ( North America (the US), Europe (the UK, France , Italy , Spain , Germany and rest of Europe ) and Asia-Pacific ( Japan , China , India , South Korea and rest of Asia-Pacific ) (the US), (the UK, , , , and rest of ) and ( , , , and rest of ) [C] type of drug molecule (small molecules and biologics) [D] key therapeutic areas (blood disorders, infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, oncology disorders, neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and others) [E] syringe barrel material (glass and plastic) [F] number of barrel chambers (single chamber and dual chamber) Among drug delivery devices, prefilled syringes represent one of the fastest growing primary packaging formats, which are also designed for dose administration. In fact, over the past ten years, there has been an evident increase in the development of parenteral drugs (especially with the introduction of several classes of biologics), which has resulted in an increased consumption of prefilled syringes, by approximately three fold. The sustained preference for such products can be attributed to the fact that prefilled syringes are safe and easy-to-use, and current variants are designed with provisions to reduce dosing errors, the risk of occlusions, extravasation and phlebitis. Owing to the aforementioned benefits, several injectable drugs (such as Humira, Enbrel, Avastin, PREVNAR 13, ALPROLIX and Benefix), diluents and other products requiring parenteral administration, are packaged in prefilled syringes. In fact, over the past seven years, around 90 drugs have been approved in combination with prefilled syringes across different geographies, including the North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Moreover, several clinical-stage drugs are being evaluated in combination with prefilled syringes, across different phases of development. Owing to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in the development initiatives for the vaccines is likely to be witnessed in the near future. This is expected to significantly raise the demand for prefilled syringes, providing an additional impetus to the overall fill/finish services market. The filling of sterile drugs into prefilled syringes (and other primary drug containers) is considered to be one of the most crucial steps in the pharmaceutical production process. Proper fill/finish operations, carried out under aseptic conditions, is a necessity for not only maintaining pharmacological efficacy and quality, but also ensuring end user safety. The prefilled syringe filling operation is considered complex as it requires close monitoring of both the syringe fill volume as well as the headspace between the liquid in the syringe and the bottom of the plunger. Additionally, the rise in complexity of small molecule APIs and the increasing diversity of biologic drugs have also contributed towards the demand of advanced aseptic fill/finish operations. A number of small-sized companies and some large companies have outsourced their fill/finish operations to contract service providers. According to the 10th Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production, biomanufacturers have been shown to outsource over 30% of their fill/finish operations. With the increase in the demand for prefilled syringes, along with the growing complexity of fill/finish processes, the outsourcing of these operations is likely to increase further in the future. Currently, over 100 companies are actively providing fill/finish services for prefilled syringes. In order to cope up with the current and future market demand, service providers are actively investing in expanding their existing infrastructure and capabilities; companies are also expanding their client reach through service agreements in the past few years. Given that around 55% of drug candidates in the global R&D pipeline are injectables, the opportunities for prefilled syringe developers / manufacturers and affiliated service providers is anticipated to continue to grow over the next decade. Amongst other elements, the report includes: A detailed review of the overall landscape of companies offering contract fill/finish services for prefilled syringes, along with analyses based on a number of relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size, scale of operation (preclinical, clinical and commercial), location of the headquarters, location of fill/finish facilities, type of drug molecule (small molecule and biologic), syringe barrel material (glass and plastic), syringe fill volume and additional services offered (drug formulation, regulatory support, labelling and packaging, terminal sterilization, quality control, storage and logistics). In addition, the chapter includes details on prefilled syringe fill/finish installed capacity of the service providers. Tabulated profiles of key players (shortlisted based on a proprietary criterion) across key geographies, such as North America , Europe and Asia-Pacific . Each profile provides an overview of the company, information on its overall service portfolio, fill/finish facilities, financial performance (if available), and details on recent developments as well as an informed future outlook. , and . Each profile provides an overview of the company, information on its overall service portfolio, fill/finish facilities, financial performance (if available), and details on recent developments as well as an informed future outlook. An analysis of the recent developments (since 2015) pertaining to contract fill/finish services, based on various parameters, such as year of development, type of activity/development (collaboration and expansions), scale of operation of the project, location of expanded facility, type of drug molecule involved, additional services offered and most active players (based on the number of instances of collaborations/expansions). An estimate of the global, contract fill/finish capacity of prefilled syringes, by taking into consideration the capacities of various fill/finish service providers (as available on respective company websites), collected via secondary and primary research. The study examines the distribution of number of prefilled syringe units and volume of drug filled, based on the company size of manufacturer (small-sized, mid-sized and large), scale of operation (preclinical / clinical and commercial), location of headquarters and fill/finish facilities ( North America , Europe and Asia-Pacific ) and type of drug molecule (small molecule and biologics). , and ) and type of drug molecule (small molecule and biologics). An informed estimate of the annual demand for fill/finish of prefilled syringes (in number of units), taking into account the marketed drugs available in prefilled syringes and other relevant parameters, such as target patient population, dosing frequency and dose strength. The study provides the distribution of the annual demand, based on the geography ( North America (US), Europe (UK, France , Italy , Spain , Germany and rest of Europe ), Latin America ( Brazil , Mexico , Argentina and rest of Latin America ), Asia-Pacific ( Japan , China , India , South Korea and rest of Asia-Pacific ), and the Middle East and Africa ( Saudi Arabia , UAE, Africa and rest of the Middle East )), type of drug molecule (small molecule and biologics), therapeutic area (blood disorders, infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, oncological disorders and others), syringe barrel material (glass and plastic) and number of barrel chambers (single chamber and dual chamber). (US), (UK, , , , and rest of ), ( , , and rest of ), ( , , , and rest of ), and the and ( , UAE, and rest of the )), type of drug molecule (small molecule and biologics), therapeutic area (blood disorders, infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, oncological disorders and others), syringe barrel material (glass and plastic) and number of barrel chambers (single chamber and dual chamber). A detailed demand and supply assessment of geographies, based on a number of parameters, such as the number of prefilled syringe combination product developers, number of prefilled syringe manufacturers, number of prefilled syringe fill/finish service providers, number of prefilled syringe fill/finish facilities, capacity and demand of prefilled syringes in that particular geographical region. An analysis presenting potential strategic partners (primarily drug developers) for prefilled syringe fill/finish service providers, based on different parameters, such as pipeline strength, number of target therapeutic indication(s), type of drug molecule, year of establishment, company size and location of the headquarters of the company. A discussion on the potential growth areas, such as growing injectable drugs pipeline, increasing fill/finish outsourcing operations, rising preference of self-medication, increasing popularity of prefilled syringes and technological advancements in aseptic fill/finish processes. A review of the landscape of prefilled syringe manufacturers, featuring a list of key prefilled syringes and their manufacturers, analyzed based on a number of relevant parameters, such as syringe barrel material (glass and plastic), number of barrel chambers (single chamber and dual chamber), type of needle system (fixed needle system, luer lock and luer cone) barrel volume, year of establishment, company size and location of the headquarters of manufacturers. To account for the uncertainties associated with the fill/finish of prefilled syringes and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three forecast scenarios, portraying the conservative, base and optimistic tracks of the market's evolution. The opinions and insights presented in the report were also influenced by discussions held with senior stakeholders in the industry. The report features detailed transcripts of interviews held with the following industry stakeholders: Kirti Maheshwari , Chief Technical Officer, Intas Pharmaceuticals , Chief Technical Officer, Intas Pharmaceuticals Gregor Kawaletz, Chief Commercial Officer, IDT Biologika Jesse Fourt , Design Director, IDEO , Design Director, IDEO Purushottam Singnurkar, Research Director and Head of Formulation Development, Syngene Anonymous, Associate Director, Head of Process Sciences Formulation and fill/finish, a large CMO Companies Mentioned AbbVie Contract Manufacturing Aguettant AJ Biologics Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services Akron Biotech Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Alanza Alcami Alfasigma Alkermes AMRI APL Aristopharma Austrianova Automated Systems of Tacoma Axcellerate Pharma Bahrain Pharma Baxter Becton Dickinson Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing Beximco Pharma Bio Elpida Biocon BioConnection Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority BioPharma Solutions Biotech Vision Care BirgiMefar Boehringer Ingelheim BioXcellence Bryllan CARBOGEN AMCIS Catalent Biologics Cenexi Cerium Pharmaceuticals CinnaGen Ciron Drugs and Pharmaceutical Cobra Biologics Consort Medical Cook Pharmica CordenPharma Dalton Pharma Services Delpharm Dhruv Life sciences sciences DM Bio EirGen Pharma Emcure Pharmaceuticals Emergent BioSolutions Eurofins BioPharma European Medical Contract Manufacturing EVER Pharma ExCellThera FACET Fresenius Kabi Contract Manufacturing Gadea Pharmaceutical Group Genovior Biotech Gerresheimer Gland Pharma GP Pharm Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing GlaxoSmithKline Gulf Biotech Health Biotech Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Hetero Drugs Hisun Pharmaceuticals USA IDEO IDT Biologika Injectalia Intas Pharmaceuticals Integrity Bio Irisys Italfarmaco Kemwell Biopharma Kilitch Healthcare KP Pharmaceutical Technology Lifecore Biomedical LSNE Contract Manufacturing Lubrizol Life Science Health Medefil Mithra Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Mycenax Biotech Nipro Northway Biotechpharma Nova Laboratories Ology Bioservices OmniChem Ompi Oncotec Pharma Produktion Patheon PCI Pharma Services Pfizer CentreOne Pfizer Injectables Pharmaceutics International Pierre Fabre PiSA Farmacutica Polpharma Biologics Praxis Pharmaceutical Precision Ocular Metrology PrimaPharma PYRAMID Laboratories Reliance Life Sciences Rentschler Biopharma Rompharm Rovi CM Samsung Bioepis Samsung Biologics Sandoz Saudi Biotech Manufacturing Schott Schott Kaisha ScinoPharm Selecta Biosciences Sewa Medicals Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass Shandong Weigao Sharp Corporation SHL Group Siegfried Singota Solutions Sovereign Pharma Square Pharmaceuticals Sunshine Health Products Swissfillon Symphogen Syngene Taisei Kako Taiyo Yakuhin Tanvex BioPharma Terumo Tolmar TriPharm Services Unicep United States Army Medical Materiel Development Activity USV Vanrx Pharmasystems VELIT Biopharmaceuticals Vetter Pharma VxP Biologics West Pharmaceuticals Wockhardt Zen Pharma For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/15tbmp Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Health secretary Matt Hancock led the latest daily coronavirus briefing from the UK government. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via Getty) The UK government will start rolling out 10 million antibody tests in Britain next week, in what has been called a game changer in managing the coronavirus. The health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the deal had been agreed with Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.SW) and US drugmaker Abbott (ABT) in the governments daily televised coronavirus briefing on Thursday. These tell you if you have had the virus, and have developed antibodies in response that might help you to fight the virus in future, he said. Hancock said he could still not say those who tested positive were certainly immune however. But he said the tests would significantly boost understanding of the spread of the virus and the risks it poses in Britain. He also said trials had begun of a separate COVID-19 swab test by the UK company Optigene, showing if users currently have the virus in less than 20 minutes. He said these would be rolled out as fast as possible if successful. READ MORE: AstraZeneca could supply potential COVID-19 from September The minister added that a study in London found 17% of participants tested positive for antibodies, indicating they had previously contracted the virus, and at least 5% had tested positive in another national study. The antibody tests will be rolled out from next week in a phased way, with health and care staff, patients and residents to be eligible first to see if they have had COVID-19 already. Each devolved administration will be able to decide how to use the tests. Hancock said the announcement marked an important milestone, adding: History has shown that understanding an enemy is fundamental to defeating it. READ MORE: How to get a coronavirus test if you have symptoms The Roche tests received approval from the European Union last month, while the US Food and Drug Administration gave them an emergency use authorisation on 2 May. Public Health England (PHE) also then said last week that scientists at its Porton Down facility had carried out an independent evaluation of the Roche test. A junior minister has called such tests a game changer. JEFFERSON CITY St. Louis financier and megadonor Rex Sinquefield has made another large contribution to boost the election prospects of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. Sinquefield on Wednesday contributed $250,000 to a political action committee supporting the Republican attorney general, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records. Including the latest donation, Sinquefield has given $1 million to MO Opportunity PAC since February 2019, records show. Gov. Mike Parson appointed Schmitt attorney general in late 2018 after Josh Hawleys election to the U.S. Senate. Though Missouri voters in 2016 limited contributions to statewide candidates to $2,600, candidates belonging to both political parties have been able to skirt the limits by working with political action committees that can accept unlimited contributions. The limit for statewide candidates has since increased to $2,650. Candidates can coordinate fundraising efforts with their PACs, but they cannot coordinate spending. Schmitts PAC had almost $1.7 million on hand at the end of March; his campaign account had about $629,000 on hand. A spokesman for Sinquefield did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did a spokesman for Schmitts campaign. Schmitt will likely appear on the November ballot alongside one of two Democrats vying for their partys nomination Elad Gross or Rich Finneran. Gross, who does not have a PAC, had about $25,000 in his campaign account at the end of March, according to his latest campaign finance report. Finneran had about $78,000 on hand at the end of March. Unfortunately it certainly appears that the attorney generals office is for sale now to one billionaire, Gross said. Eric Schmitts silence about these contributions is unacceptable, Finneran said, wondering how Schmitt earned such massive support from a single donor. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling on Donald Trump to follow the letter of the law requiring the president to give Congress a 30-day written notice before removing an inspector general. A longtime advocate for whistleblowers and inspectors general, the Iowa Republican is asking for a detailed explanation from Trump of his plan to terminate Inspector General Steve Linick, who reportedly was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeos use of his staff for personal errands. I think that I do have a question about the president following the spirit of the law, Grassley said Wednesday, but thats more of a process question because the Constitution is clear on the presidents power to hire and fire. The 30-day notice is a protection Congress provided to inspectors general, who report to both the president and Congress, to guard them from unwarranted political attacks from all sides, including from officials that they are duty-bound to critique. Grassley said hes working with a Democratic colleague to restrict the naming of political appointees from within a department to serve as its inspector general. EVERY Manitoban who uses electricity and drives a vehicle will be affected by Bill 44, because it undermines our right to question the rates we pay to two important monopolies Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Public Insurance. It is a step backward for consumer rights in our province. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion EVERY Manitoban who uses electricity and drives a vehicle will be affected by Bill 44, because it undermines our right to question the rates we pay to two important monopolies Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Public Insurance. It is a step backward for consumer rights in our province. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when everyone is preoccupied with such pressing issues as the health of their family and the security of their jobs, the Pallister government quietly asked for public comments about Bill 44 via its website, with a quick closing date. This is the opposite of meaningful public consultation and input. On behalf of consumers across Manitoba, we have looked more deeply at Bill 44 and submitted a brief to the government, which includes the following three key areas of concern. First, that we are losing independent, non-governmental, third-party oversight of large monopolies in Manitobas marketplace. It is widely accepted that consumers right to access affordable, basic, essential goods and services, and to have choices among a variety of goods and services in the marketplace, is essential. In Manitoba, we rely on the independent oversight of the Public Utilities Board to set rates and examine the business practices at both Manitoba Hydro and MPI. The PUB maintains a delicate balance between the interests of monopoly corporations and ratepayers by improving accessibility and consumer protections. This oversight by the PUB has served Manitobans well. The board has consistently helped to slow Manitoba Hydro rate hikes over a number of years, based on careful examination and questioning of the utilitys business plans. This has saved consumers significant sums on their monthly energy bills; for example, in 2018, the PUB reduced a proposed 7.9 per cent Manitoba Hydro rate increase to 3.6 per cent, saving Manitoba ratepayers more than $60 million annually. We urged the PUB to provide consumers with an Autopac rate rebate, which the government then announced on April 23. Bill 44 specifically eliminates MPI rebates for drivers. In May 2011, MPI was ordered to issue an unprecedented rebate of 45 per cent to all policyholders, an average of $450 for every Manitoba driver. The PUB had discovered that MPI had $200 million more in its hands than it required for its personal-injury protection plan and, between 2001 and 2016, ordered rebates of nearly $600 million to Manitoba drivers. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. We urged the PUB to provide consumers with an Autopac rate rebate, which the government then announced on April 23. Bill 44 specifically eliminates MPI rebates for drivers. Our second concern is about transparency and access to information for all interests in the marketplace. Consumers have the right to information about goods and services, including the impact of the production of those goods and services on communities and the environment. The PUB process helps get information out to the public regarding electricity, natural gas, auto insurance, payday lending and energy efficiency programs that would otherwise be very difficult for consumers to access. Third, the public needs the opportunity to provide meaningful input. By stripping the PUB of much of its authority and many public processes, Bill 44 takes away our right, as Manitobans of all interests, to question government monopolies and to have a meaningful voice in making decisions for the marketplace. While we may not agree with every PUB decision, we have confidence in the evidence-based process. For these reasons, we strongly urge the province to recall Bill 44. If the government wishes to consider reforms or revision of the PUB, legislation should be the last step in that process, not the first. Meaningful public and stakeholder engagement must begin before decisions have been made, when alternatives are still being discussed. It should include both remote and in-person opportunities for input, must be widely advertised, and should never take place during a state of emergency, when Manitobans are occupied with other unprecedented concerns. Gloria Desorcy is executive director of the Consumers Association of Canada (Manitoba). Quantzig, a global data analytics and advisory firm, that delivers actionable analytics solutions to resolve complex business problems has announced the completion of its latest telecom analytics engagement. This success story explains how Quantzig helped a German telecom services provider to reduce the total cost of operations (TCO) while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) using telecom analytics. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005397/en/ TELECOM ANALYTICS USE CASES (Graphic: Business Wire) Quantzig's telecom analytics solutions help telecom companies to identify opportunities for value creation, demonstrate quick wins, and scale solutions to meet the needs of the business. Request a free brochure of our analytics solutions to learn more about our capabilities. In today's competitive telecom sector, staying relevant by finding new revenue sources is quite challenging owing to the dynamism in the market. Also, the growing competition and the emergence of new technologies have negatively impacted subscription rates, which in turn, has curtailed growth leading to huge revenue losses for players all over the globe. Telecom service providers also face challenges due to mergers and the need to deliver a consistent user experience across all channels. Meanwhile, new market entrants, particularly OTT service providers that deliver services over the internet are trying to grab a large chunk of market share by innovating and offering advanced services to meet the needs of their customers. At Quantzig, we understand that challenges such as these can curtail the ability of telecom companies to cater to the dynamic needs of its clients. Our telecom analytics solutions are designed to help telecom companies undertake an end-to-end digital transformation to achieve their business goals. Want expert insights and recommendations? Talk to our analytics experts to learn more about the use cases of telecom analytics. The Business Challenge The client, a leading telecom service provider well-known for offering advanced telecom and networking services, realized that the key to increasing sales and subscription rates is to focus on reducing fraud through better risk management. This prompted the telecom company to leverage telecom analytics solutions to undertake a digital transformation to achieve its business goals. The client's challenges included: The need to optimize core operations Reduce TCO while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) High competitive pressures "Our telecom analytics solutions are designed to help clients gain a competitive advantage and make the right decisions by gaining valuable insights about their operations and customer needs," says a telecom analytics expert from Quantzig. Leading telecom clients have achieved a low total cost of ownership (TCO) and high return on investment (RoI) using our solutions. Gain limited-time complimentary access to our analytics platform to learn how we can help you. The Solution Offered Value Delivered In collaboration with Quantzig, the client set out to digitally transform their business processes. The primary objective was to reduce the total cost of operations (TCO) while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) using telecom analytics. To help them achieve their objectives, our telecom analytics experts proposed a comprehensive three-pronged approach that focused on devising an implementation approach, setting up scalable processes, and progress and innovation. Quantzig's telecom analytics enabled the client to: Improve the efficiency of business operations by 3x Achieve a 30% reduction in TCO Quantzig's telecom analytics solutions offered predictive insights on: Leveraging advanced telecom analytics for monitoring key performance metrics Improving customer experience through process standardization Are you ready to transform your challenges into fruitful opportunities? If yes, Contact our analytics experts to learn more. Recent Success Stories: Price Optimization For a Fortune 500 Silicon Wafer Manufacturing Company A Healthcare Equipment Supplier Transforms Sales Operations and Drives Sales Using Predictive Sales Analytics Redesigning the Pharma Logistics Supply Chain to Combat The Impact of COVID-19 About Quantzig Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India. For more than 15 years, we have assisted our clients across the globe with end-to-end data modeling capabilities to leverage analytics for prudent decision making. Today, our firm consists of 120+ clients, including 45 Fortune 500 companies. For more information on our engagement policies and pricing plans, visit: https://www.quantzig.com/request-for-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005397/en/ Contacts: Quantzig Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 538 7144 UK: +44 208 629 1455 https://www.quantzig.com/contact-us Full text of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's second-term inaugural address ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 10:28 AM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The following is the full text of President Tsai Ing-wen's () inaugural address to start her second term, as released by the Presidential Office Wednesday: Vice President Lai, esteemed guests, friends watching on TV and online, my fellow citizens across the country, good morning. A Taiwanese Community I feel immensely grateful to stand here once again today and take on the responsibility entrusted to me by the Taiwanese people. This inauguration ceremony is unique in the history of the Republic of China. What makes it special is not its size or the number of people in attendance. It is special because we know how difficult it has been for us to get to this point. I want to thank the people of Taiwan for making such a difficult feat possible. I particularly want to thank a group of people who have not received a lot of attention over the past four months in our fight against COVID-19. I want to thank every single person who waited in line outside of the pharmacy in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for trusting the government. You have shown the world Taiwan's commitment to civic virtues, even in times of greatest distress. I also want to thank everyone who was quarantined or isolated at home, putting up with inconvenience in your daily life to keep others safe and healthy. Thank you for exemplifying humanity's best qualities and helping us successfully bring the coronavirus outbreak under control. This sense of pride in our country, this community's shared destiny, and the memories of these past months will live on in all of our hearts. This is what solidarity feels like. Many ambassadors and representatives from other countries are here today, and I trust that many countries around the world are watching Taiwan as well. I want to take this opportunity to tell you that the country you see is populated by kind and resilient people. No matter the difficulties we face, we can always count on our democracy, our solidarity, and our sense of responsibility towards each other to help us overcome challenges, weather difficult times, and stand steadfast in the world. Unprecedented Challenges and Unparalleled Opportunities From January to now, Taiwan has amazed the international community twice. The first was our democratic elections, and the second was our success in the fight against COVID-19. In recent months, Taiwan's name has appeared in headlines around the world, thanks to our successful containment of the coronavirus outbreak. "Taiwan" is also emblazoned on the boxes of supplies we are sending abroad. The Taiwanese people have the kindest hearts in the entire world, and we will always offer help to the international community whenever we are able. I hope that in addition to sharing in a sense of pride and joy, my fellow citizens can take to heart the spirit of "helping ourselves to help others;" "when we help ourselves, others will help us." This pandemic has not yet ended, and we must remain vigilant. Even when it ends, its impacts will linger on. The coronavirus has profoundly affected our world. It has changed the global political and economic order, accelerated and expanded the reorganization of global supply chains, restructured the global economy, and changed the way we live and shop. It has even changed the way the international community views Taiwan and developments in the surrounding region. These changes present us with both challenges and opportunities. I want to ask that my fellow citizens be prepared, because countless challenges and difficulties remain ahead of us. Over the next four years, only those who can end the pandemic within their borders, lay out a strategy for their country's survival and development, and take advantage of opportunities in the complex world of tomorrow, will be able to set themselves apart on the international stage. It takes more than fervor to govern a country. Leadership means calmly taking the right direction in a changing world. That is precisely what I have done over the past four years. I said before that I will leave you with a better country. So over the next four years, I will proactively develop our industries, foster a safe society, ensure national security, and deepen our democracy. I am going to reinvent Taiwan and lead our country into the future. National Development 1. Industrial and Economic Development I know that the Taiwanese people are most concerned about our industrial and economic development. In 2016, we initiated a new economic development model to help connect Taiwan's economy to the world. Over the past four years, despite massive changes in the international economy, Taiwan has done more than just weather the storm. Our economic growth has once again topped the Four Asian Tigers, and the stock market index now regularly breaks 10,000 points. Thanks to our successful control of the pandemic, so far, Taiwan is able to maintain positive economic growth. This is rare in the world. However, we need to continue to take early action on economic relief and revitalization, and do whatever it takes to maintain stable economic growth. Over the next four years, we will face more intense changes in the global economy and the accelerated reorganization of supply chains. We will continue to implement our Forward-looking Infrastructure Development and trillion NT-dollar investment programs. We will do so in the spirit of "achieving growth through stability, and seizing opportunity amid changes," in order to secure Taiwan's economic development over the coming decades. In terms of industrial development, we are going to take advantage of the opportunities before us in six core strategic industries founded on our 5+2 Innovative Industries Program, to transform Taiwan into a critical force in the global economy. Six Core Strategic Industries First, we will continue to develop our information and digital industries. We will take advantage of Taiwan's strengths in the semiconductor and ICT industries to secure a central role in global supply chains, and make Taiwan a major base for the development of next generation technologies, including IoT and AI. Second, we are going to develop a cybersecurity industry that can integrate with 5G, digital transformation, and our national security. We will strive to create cybersecurity systems and an industrial chain that can protect our country and earn the world's trust. Third, we are going to create biotech and medical technology industries integrated with the rest of the world. Throughout this pandemic, Taiwanese teams have proven that they are capable of working with world-class technologies to produce reagents and develop new drugs and vaccines. We are going to give these industries our utmost support, and transform Taiwan into a key force in the global battle against infectious diseases. Fourth, we are going to develop national defense and strategic industries by integrating military and civilian capabilities. In addition to domestically-produced naval vessel and aircraft programs that are currently underway, we will push harder to promote technological integration between the military and the private sector, to stimulate private sector production capabilities, and advance into the aviation and space industries. Fifth, we are going to accelerate the development of green energy and renewable energy industries. Over the past four years, renewable energy has experienced explosive growth, and Taiwan has become a hotspot for international investment. Building on this foundation, I am confident that we will achieve our goal of deriving 20% of our overall energy from green sources by 2025. We are going to make Taiwan a center for green energy in Asia. Sixth, we are going to establish strategic stockpile industries that can ensure the steady provision of critical supplies. Facing changes to the global order, we need to keep key industrial chains in Taiwan and maintain a certain degree of self-sufficiency in the production of face masks, medical and daily supplies, energy, and food. In the current international climate, countries that end their dependence on others will have a head start on national development. I would like our friends across all industries to rest assured that our government stands with you. Over the next few years, we have several strategies to drive the growth of our industries. Industrial Development Strategy First, we will use domestic demand, particularly demand from the public sector and national security needs, as the basic engine for our industrial development. A prime example of this is the way strategic demand for face masks and other medical supplies throughout this pandemic has spurred the development of related industries. We can adopt a similar model for our national defense and renewable energy industries to help accelerate their development. We will continue to organize "national teams," like our face mask team, according to the size and conditions of different industries. We will utilize our government's guarantee of domestic demand to establish a global strategic materials manufacturing industry under the "Taiwanese brand" and help it expand into other markets. We know that financial support is crucial to industrial development. Looking to the future, we will adopt more flexible financial policies, continue to reform financial systems, and use more diverse means to help industries obtain the financing they need. We will also work to create a safe environment for our industries. Our government is committed to maintaining sound public health and national security systems, a stable society, strong rule of law, and a healthy market. We need to offer these guarantees so that high-tech and strategic industries will be willing to choose Taiwan as their production and R&D base. We will also continue to guide the global expansion of our industries. We will keep working to sign trade or investment protection agreements with the United States, Japan, and European countries. As we continue to promote our New Southbound Policy, we will also develop other potential markets and encourage firms to establish operations there, giving our industries an edge when they engage in international cooperation. Overseas Taiwanese business communities around the world will be our best partners as we seek new international opportunities. Finally, we have the issue of talent. In order for Taiwan to become a key global economic force, we need a diverse talent pool. My government will bring in the world's top technical, R&D, and management talents to help globalize Taiwan's workforce, widen our industries' horizons, and give them the ability to compete in the international arena. Looking to the future, Taiwan must further connect with the international community. We will work to cultivate more outstanding bilingual and digital talents, giving our industries a global competitive edge. Over the next four years, Taiwan's economy will enter a new stage, complete with more flexible capital and talent flows, more robust industrial capabilities, and closer ties with the world. Together, we are going to enter a new era of shared prosperity. 2. Safe Society: Health and Social Safety Nets to Catch Those Who Need Help As we develop our industries, we will also keep in mind that the people expect the government to foster a safe society. To be a better country, the government must take on more responsibilities to reduce the burden on the people and mitigate issues in society. Over the past few years, we have addressed Long-term Care 2.0, childcare, and residential justice issues. Over the next four years, my goal is to weave an even tighter net that can catch every single person who needs help and prevent future tragedies. Health and Disease Prevention Safety Net First, we will strengthen our health and disease prevention safety net. Taiwan is an ageing society, and infectious diseases pose a serious challenge to the health of our people. That is why we need to bolster our disease prevention and treatment capabilities and link industries to make more breakthroughs in vaccine and new drug development, as well as infectious disease prevention and treatment, so that people can enjoy healthy lives and receive better care. Mending Gaps in the Social Safety Net Our second step will be to mend the gaps in our social safety net. Over the past few years, a great deal of discussion has arisen around public safety incidents involving schizophrenia patients. The same goes for other mental illnesses, drug addiction, and domestic violence. I understand your concerns. These issues are not just the responsibility of individuals or families, they are the responsibility of the government. When families are unable to provide proper care, the government has a duty to step in and help. I am going to upgrade our social care system, enhance the capabilities of frontline social workers, and improve their work environments, so that they can work at the grassroots and identify people who have fallen through the gaps in our safety net. We cannot hold medical agencies or individual judges solely responsible for controversies surrounding specific cases. Our judicial and executive branches should reevaluate and optimize these systems and take initiatives to make any necessary legal amendments. 3. National Security: National Defense Reforms, Active International Participation, Peaceful and Stable Cross-strait Relations A better country requires a greater emphasis on national security. Over the past four years, we have pushed for national defense reforms, active international participation, and peaceful, stable cross-strait relations. We hope that Taiwan can play a more active role in the peace, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. Over the next four years, the direction of our policies will remain the same, and we will do even more. National Defense Reforms We have three important directions for our national defense reforms. First is accelerating the development of our asymmetrical capabilities. While we work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional asymmetrical capabilities. We will also work to strengthen our defenses against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and "unrestricted" warfare to achieve our strategic goal of multidomain deterrence. The second is substantive reforms to our military reserve and mobilization systems. We need to enhance the quality of our reserve forces, as well as their weapons, equipment, and training, in order to achieve effective jointness with our regular forces. We also need to establish a standing, interdepartmental system connecting our reserve and mobilization systems. This system will help coordinate personnel and supplies, so that we can successfully mobilize during a transition from peacetime to war. Third is improvements to our military's management institutions. Today's young servicemembers have all grown up in a democratic society, and one of our most important missions will be to find ways for them to better utilize their professional skills in line with military needs. Some young servicemembers have difficulties adjusting to military needs, reflecting the gap between today's society and our military management institutions. We need to work to close that gap. We need to reduce negative societal views of the military and end the gradual erosion of our military's prestige and morale due to individual incidents caused by imperfect institutions. Thus, we will improve appeal and counseling mechanisms within the military, establish a fair and equitable incident investigation mechanism, and regularly evaluate personnel placements. In terms of education and training, we will strengthen leadership capacities across all levels of leadership and foster a modern management system that emphasizes professionalism. We need to strike a balance between the team-oriented military discipline needed for actual combat and society's respect for the individual. Active International Participation Over the past four years, we have actively taken part in addressing major global issues, including counter-terrorism cooperation, humanitarian assistance, religious freedom, and nontraditional security. Throughout this global pandemic, we have been praised for providing selfless assistance to the international community wherever we are able. Taiwan has been deemed a democratic success story, a reliable partner, and a force for good in the world by the international community. All Taiwanese people should take pride in this. Over the next four years, we will continue to fight for our participation in international organizations, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with our allies, and bolster ties with the United States, Japan, Europe, and other like-minded countries. We will also participate more actively in regional cooperation mechanisms and work hand-in-hand with countries in the region to make concrete contributions to peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Peaceful and Stable Cross-strait Relations In the face of complex and changing cross-strait circumstances, we have made the greatest effort to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait over the past four years, gaining approval from the international community. We will continue these efforts, and we are willing to engage in dialogue with China and make more concrete contributions to regional security. Here, I want to reiterate the words "peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue." We will not accept the Beijing authorities' use of "one country, two systems" to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo. We stand fast by this principle. We will continue to handle cross-strait affairs according to the Constitution of the Republic of China and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. This has been our consistent position for maintaining the peaceful and stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Cross-strait relations have reached a historical turning point. Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences. Faced with changing circumstances, I will hold firm to my principles, adopt an open attitude to resolve issues, and shoulder my responsibilities as President. I also hope that the leader on the other side of the Strait will take on the same responsibility, and work with us to jointly stabilize the long-term development of cross-strait relations. Strengthening State Institutions and Democracy While we work to achieve national development, it is crucial that we optimize our government institutions over the next four years. Our Legislative Yuan will establish a constitutional amendment committee, giving us a platform to engage in dialogue and reach a consensus on constitutional reforms pertaining to government systems and people's rights. This democratic process will enable the constitutional system to progress with the times and align with the values of Taiwanese society. Our first priority should be to lower the voting age from 20 to 18, an issue on which both the majority and opposition parties are in agreement. In terms of judicial reform, I delivered on my promise to convene a National Congress on Judicial Reform, and we completed amendments to the Judges Act, the Attorney Regulation Act, the Constitutional Court Procedure Act, and the Labor Incident Act. This is all base work for the further improvement of our judicial system. However, our judicial reforms are still in transition, and our current progress has not yet met the public's expectations. I will continue to solicit opinions from across society and keep pressing forward. The people's dissatisfaction drives us to continue on the path of reform. Within the next four years, we need to implement a lay judge system, so that citizens can act as lay judges in court and become catalysts for judicial reform. This will help bridge the distance between the people and our judicial system, so that it aligns better with their expectations and earns their trust. All constitutional institutions must also continue on the path of reform. The Executive Yuan will reevaluate and reinitiate its organizational reform process, including the establishment of a specialized digital development agency and adjustments to all ministries in line with current needs. This will enable governance capabilities to be more responsive to the needs of national development. The National Human Rights Commission under the Control Yuan will officially be established in August of this year. This will be a milestone in our journey to place human rights at the center of Taiwan's national ethos, and marks the start of a new chapter for the Control Yuan. Our new Examination Yuan team will be instated in September, and I will ask them to propose a comprehensive reform plan and evaluate past policies, so that they can become an effective human resource department that can cultivate the talent a modern government needs. Conclusion My fellow citizens, over the past 70 years, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has grown more resilient and unified through countless challenges. We have resisted the pressure of aggression and annexation. We have made the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Although we were once isolated in the world, we have always persisted in the values of democracy and freedom, no matter the challenges ahead of us. We will always remain committed to our common belief: Taiwan must help ourselves to help others, and when we help ourselves, others will help us. Many of the heroes in our fight against COVID-19 are here with us today, including members of our national face mask team, our Central Epidemic Command Center's public health team, and Premier Su Tseng-chang's team. There are many more heroes from all walks of life not in attendance today: medical workers, postal workers, pharmacists, convenience store clerks, taxi drivers, and many more. I may not be able to call out all of your names, but I want everyone to know that Taiwan has overcome countless challenges over the past 70 years, relying on not just one or two heroes, but thanks to countless heroes such as yourselves, working together to turn the wheels of history. You have helped make Taiwan a happy, safe, and prosperous place for generations to come. I want to express my respect to all of you. Every single person in Taiwan is a hero. Vice President Lai and I are honored to take on the responsibility you have entrusted to us. Taking on the responsibility of the President of the Republic of China in such difficult times brings me more pressure than joy. But I will not back down, because all of you are with me. The path forward will not be easy, and greater challenges await us. But we are a country that has persevered through even the greatest hardships. We, the 23 million people, have always been and will always be a community with a shared destiny. I truly hope that all of my fellow citizens will remember how it felt to come together to overcome the challenges of the past few months. The Republic of China can be united. Taiwan can be safe. Being Taiwanese can be an honor that makes you hold your head high. My dear citizens, the path ahead of us is long, and we are about to begin a new chapter in Taiwan's story. Taiwan's story belongs to each and every one of us, and it needs each and every one of us. I ask that the 23 million people of Taiwan act as our guides and partners. Let us pool our wisdom and courage and make this country a better place together. Thank you. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address State officials appear to be ramping up their response to a Camden County gym that has defied an executive order from the governor to remain closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. State police Superintendent Patrick Callahan said the owners of Atilis Gym received their third day of citations for violating the order and the state Department of Health could be next in assessing some sort of penalties or oversite. The citations include a fine of up to $1,000 and possible jail time. Police in Bellmawr, Camden County arrested a gym patron Tuesday after he refused to provide his name after leaving the gym. The man returned to the parking lot in front of the gym on West Browning Road an hour later. He declined to give his name but said he had been given a disorderly person citation with a summons to appear in court. I will not close my doors again unless I am behind bars and unable to unlock the doors, Frank Trumbetti, one of the owners, said Tuesday, standing in front of the gym with an American flag gaiter over his mouth and nose. Ian Smith, his business partner, has done several national television interviews on Fox News, including multiple primetime appearances on Tucker Carlson Tonight. He says he and Trumbetti have been economically strangled by the shutdown and believe it violates their Constitutional rights. Lockdown Diehards Crave Total Control Americans are starting to fight government overreach. Tucker spoke with a New Jersey gym owner who re-opened his business in defiance of the lockdown. Posted by Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday, May 19, 2020 Both Trumbetti and Smith have been touched by issues in their private lives over the past week during their public feud with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Trumbettis mother, Lucia, 77, died Tuesday after a battle with the COVID-19 coronavirus. Trumbetti said she was the toughest women Ive ever known. He said she contracted the virus in a rehab facility after being released from the hospital for another issue. Smith posted an Instagram video Wednesday acknowledging he had been convicted of being intoxicated in a fatal accident that killed the 19-year-old driver of another car after he ran a stop sign in 2007 in Hamilton, Atlantic County. This is something I take full responsibility for, Smith said, with a somber gaze into the camera. Ive never run from it. There is justifiably a great deal of hatred and resentment toward me. Smith said he decided to make a statement Wednesday after a flurry of social media comments about it when the gym standoff started. At least 10,586 have died of COVID-19 related causes in New Jersey after officials announced an additional 162 fatalities on Tuesday. About 3,405 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus or suspected coronavirus as of 10 p.m. Monday, the fewest patients since health officials began publicly tracking that number on April 4. The peak number of hospitalizations was 8,084 on April 14. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Twelve McDonalds outlets in Melbourne, Victoria were shut down on Monday after a delivery driver tested positive for COVID-19. The driver was a close contact of a previously confirmed case at the Craigieburn McDonalds, which was closed last Friday. Twelve people have now tested positive for the coronavirus as a result of the cluster, which began at the fast food chains Fawkner location, in the citys north. The first case at Fawkner was confirmed on May 5, but the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) did not call for the outlet to be closed until after a second worker tested positive on May 8. As was the case with the Melbourne Cedar Meats abattoir outbreak, now linked to 103 confirmed cases, the slow response of the state health authorities was allegedly because the first worker to test positive was believed not to have been infectious while at work. Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said: [Its a] coincidence in the sense that the early individual hadnt given it to the later individuals, but theyre probably all linked through some undetermined family and friends. The statement is reminiscent of an unfounded public allegation made by Suttons federal counterpart, Brendan Murphy, last month that a wave of infections in north-west Tasmania was the result of an illegal dinner party held by health workers in defiance of social distancing rules. Murphy was subsequently forced to retract the claim. The purpose of these assertions is to downplay the severity of the pandemic in Australia, and the infectiousness of the coronavirus, as part of a bipartisan push to reopen the nations schools and workplaces. State and federal leaders have plainly stated that this will result in an increase in transmission of the coronavirus, but have said that it is necessary to reopen the economy in the interests of corporate profit-making. The Fawkner McDonalds was reopened on May 13, staffed by employees from other McDonalds locations. Despite public assurances from the company and DHHS that the outlet was safe after deep cleaning, these workers have been told by head office that they can no longer accept shifts at their regular stores. The Craigieburn McDonalds was closed on May 15 and its 223 employees were forced to self-isolate after a worker tested positive. The Craigieburn staff member is a relative of one of the Fawkner workers. About 200 workers who were possibly exposed at the twelve locations have now been told to self-isolate for 14 days and will only be allowed to return to work after presenting a negative COVID-19 test. In total, around 1,000 workers are employed at the affected outlets, meaning hundreds more will miss several days of work while the stores are closed for deep cleaning. The company says full- and part-time staff will be paid for their rostered shifts while they are self-isolating, but 79.3 percent of McDonalds workers are employed as casuals and will not be paid while they are unable to work. While McDonalds Australia claims it has put in place social distancing and hygiene practices, workers have taken to social media to report that cleaning products and hand sanitiser provided by the company are inadequate to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. At the same time, the company is intensifying its attacks on workers wages and conditions. The Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled on Tuesday to allow a move by McDonalds to modify the Fast Food Industry Award, enabling employers to reduce workers hours, and eliminating overtime penalties. The companys application was developed in direct collaboration with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Under the modified award, part-time workers are guaranteed only eight hours of work per week with no certainty as to when they will be rostered to work. This essentially reduces them to the status of casual workers, but at a lower hourly rate. The SDA has for years worked hand-in-hand with McDonalds management in maintaining some of the worst pay and conditions in the country. Prior to adopting the award in December 2019, workers at the company were covered by an enterprise agreement, negotiated by the union, that denied them penalty rates or casual loading. The latest changes, which apply not just to McDonalds employees, but to all 214,000 workers under the award, also allow employers to compel staff to take annual leave while business is slow. Under the 2019 agreement, full-time Level 3 employees with managerial responsibilities earn 9 percent less than two-thirds of median full-time earnings, the benchmark used by the Fair Work Commission to determine who is low paid. Casual workers in the fast food industry earn between $26.76 and $29.16 per hour, while junior workers in the fast food industry earn as little as $8.56 per hour. The wage levels consign workers to poverty and housing stress. After decades of union-enforced cuts to full-time jobs, up to half of all young people are compelled to work in such precarious, casual and low-paid employment. The McDonalds outbreak is one of several ongoing COVID-19 clusters in Victoria. In recent days positive tests have been returned in connection with Cedar Meats and Sunshine Hospital. Four aged care facilities in the state are on lockdown after residents tested positive for the coronavirus. The Cedar Meats abattoir began to reopen on Monday with limited staff. According to Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen, the only workers going back are those who are clear of COVID-19 and we know are no longer susceptible. In fact, there is not yet broad scientific consensus that reinfection is impossible, and the World Health Organization has cautioned against this strategy. Across the state border in New South Wales, a 93-year-old resident at Newmarch House died on Tuesday, marking 100 COVID-19 deaths in Australia. With 19 casualties, the western Sydney aged care facility outbreak is now the countrys second-most lethal, behind the Ruby Princess cruise ship. The attacks on McDonalds workers are part of a broader onslaught by the ruling elite. Major corporations are utilising the pandemic as the pretext for implementing longstanding plans to further casualise the workforce and remove any, minimal imposts on profits. The federal court ruled on Monday that 20,000 Qantas workers will not be allowed to take sick leave because they have been stood down by the company and are not working. Instead they must rely on their annual leave, long-service leave, or the minimum-wage level JobKeeper payment. Justice Geoffrey Flick was unmoved by the testimony of a long-standing Qantas worker battling cancer or a baggage handler waiting for a triple heart bypass after 35 years service for the company. Flick said: If there is no work available to be performed by the employee, there is no income and no protection against that which has not been lost. At least 60 Qantas Group workers have been infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic, including a cluster of 34 in Adelaide. The federal court ruling means the company does not have to pay the workers sick leave, despite the fact that most of them contracted the virus while they were on the job. In his first official campaign event targeted at a Wisconsin audience, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden took aim at Republican President Donald Trump over his handling of the economy and the COVID-19 pandemic. Streaming online from his home in Delaware due to limitations placed on large gatherings amid the pandemic, the former vice president said Trump could not be trusted to bring the nation out of the economic crisis created largely by the coronavirus. Why would anybody trust this man to bring back the economy now? He thinks hes a builder, but hes a destroyer of everything he touches, Biden said. Wisconsin has the power to pick a different path. He was joined in the online event streamed on YouTube by Wisconsin Democrats including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, of Madison, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, of Milwaukee. Earlier in the day, Biden attended an online discussion with U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, where he also criticized Trumps handling of the pandemic and called for the need for more testing and contact tracing. As of Wednesday, the virus had killed 481 Wisconsinites and sickened more than 13,400, according to the Department of Health Services. Its frustrating, but more than that its heartbreaking to think about how much pain could have been avoided if Trump had wasted less time and he moved quicker, Biden said. Biden also referenced Trumps endorsement of the states contract with Foxconn Technology Group to build a flat-screen display panel plant the president has lauded as transformative for the state, calling it the eighth wonder of the world during 2018s groundbreaking ceremony. The project has yet to live up to the states $3 billion deal for a $10 billion, 20-million-square-foot campus and 13,000 jobs in southeast Wisconsin. Late last year, Gov. Tony Evers administration told the company it no longer was eligible for tax subsidies agreed to in the original contract, creating more uncertainty for the project. Instead of handing over the keys of the store to help (former Gov.) Scott Walker bring Foxconn to town, trading away billions in exchange for 13,000 jobs that never materialized, imagine if we invested that in small businesses, Biden said on Wednesday. During the online discussion with Kind, he talked about the need for affordable health care, rural broadband access and financial assistance for farmers as well as businesses struggling through the pandemic. While he has held online events in other states, including Florida, Wednesdays rally marked Bidens first official campaign activity directed at Wisconsin, which many anticipate to be a key battleground state again this November. In response to Bidens campaign activity on Wednesday, Republicans, including former Gov. Scott Walker and Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Andrew Hitt, criticized the former vice president for just now focusing on Wisconsin. Trump held a Milwaukee rally in January, and Vice President Mike Pence has visited the state twice. Its interesting that Joe Biden chose now to finally quote-unquote come to Wisconsin, Hitt said. The president himself, his White House, his campaign team, they have been here for Wisconsin for the last four years. Republicans, including Hitt, also criticized both of Bidens online events for failing to start when they were originally scheduled. Both Trump and Biden have been forced to shift to more online campaign efforts amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Walker and Hitt, who held a media call with reporters Wednesday morning, also asked Kind and Biden to address allegations made by Tara Reade, who has said Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993, a claim Biden has denied. Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by about one percentage point, or fewer than 23,000 votes, in 2016. This months Marquette Law School Poll found that 46% of respondents support Biden, while 43% support Trump. The margin is similar to that in March, when 48% supported Biden and 45% supported Trump. Both poll results are within the margin of error. by Mathias Hariyadi Ms Yatmi gave part of her pension for the sick. Elizabeth, a nurse, donated her salary for unemployed daily labourers. Ismanto donated his paintings. Yasmin Saman, 6, donated the money she saved in two years. Diego, a 12-year- old disabled, donated his savings. Jakarta (AsiaNews) Many people think they must get rich first and then worry about being charitable to others. Other people practise a different philosophy. Ms Yatmi, a widow in Kedungjati, a village in Grobogan Regency (central Java), is one of the latter. She lives in a simple hut on her monthly pension. She earns something extra selling drinks and food from her home. Sometimes she goes to rice fields to plant or take care of the land of some other small property. The 65-year-old woman has a lot of compassion for others. Usually, she is the reference point for daily chat with neighbours and children. This type of relationship is typical in rural areas of Indonesia. Ms Yatmi has financially helped some COVID-19 patients in her area. She gave a million Indonesian rupiahs (US) a few days ago to the head of the local sub-district. When he was about to leave, she added another 200,000 rupiahs. The money probably comes from her pension and savings. It is in fact impossible to earn that much from just selling drinks and food in a rural village, where they cost at most ten rupiahs. Other people have also been generous during the pandemic. Elisabeth Wahyu Ajar Wulan (picture 4), a Catholic, works as a nurse at Panti Rapih Hospital, the only Catholic hospital in Yogyakarta (central Java). Born in Bulu, near Sawangan-Magekang, about 30 km from Yogyakarta, she donated her April salary for COVID-19-related humanitarian programmes. "I donated my April salary because I heard about the large number of unemployed daily labourers, she said, following a friend named Ismanto (picture 1), also from Magelang, who offered some pieces of art to humanitarian programmes during the pandemic. Ismanto, a painter, hails from Mount Merapi. He too is Catholic. Then there is Yasmin Saman (picture 2), a 6-year-old girl from Makassar (South Sulawesi province) who donated her savings, 448,000 rupiahs (about US) for COVID-19 patients. Yasmins mother, Mardiana Rusli, said that she saved the money for two years. In April, two other girls, Tata and Usia, donated their savings for the same purpose. Together they donated 349,000 rupiahs (US). Diego Bagus Putra (photo 3), a 12-year-old disabled boy, is another very young donor in Batam, a city on the island of Batam (Riau Island province). The boy, who attends elementary school, felt compassion for others after seeing people make donations for COVID-19 humanitarian programmes on social media and TV. He brought two boxes with his savings to the Batam Catholic Youth Organisation. His mother, Ms Mustika, had no idea how much money he collected." Diego has been disabled since birth, she explained. She thinks he saved the money she gave him every day to buy food and drinks at school. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) carried out searches in the Blessington area of County Wicklow on Tuesday, May 19 as part of an ongoing investigation into an allegation of a bogus legal firm offering immigration services to persons subject to immigration law in Ireland. During the course of these searches, a significant number of files and computers were seized. Also read: Woman arrested after 10,000 worth of cocaine seized during Granard drugs bust Gardai discovered that, in many cases, the victims of this bogus legal firm were persons desperate to regularise their status in this jurisdiction. These persons paid significant fees (between 1,000 and 3,000 in many cases) to this firm in the belief that they had the legal expertise to address their immigration status. Approximately 60,000 has been frozen in a bank account as a result of this investigation. A male was arrested and detained at Naas Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. He has since been charged to appear before Naas District Court, this morning Thursday, May 21. Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said, "We are concerned that people in vulnerable positions are being taken advantage by fraudsters." "We are advising persons seeking legal advice on immigration services or otherwise to check to ensure the person or persons they are dealing with have the appropriate qualifications and experience to provide such services." VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NewLeaf Brands Inc. (CSE: NLB) (OTC: NLBIF) (FSE: 0NF) ("NewLeaf Brands" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Mindleap Health Inc. ("Mindleap"), dated May 20, 2020, pursuant to which NewLeaf Brands will acquire, by way of share exchange, 100% of all of the issued and outstanding securities of Mindleap, an arm's length company. Mindleap is an advanced digital health platform that helps people connect with mental health specialists that can empower them to thrive and develop habits for a healthy mind. The software platform has been designed by leading psychologists and neuroscientists to improve on current telemedicine solutions and is set to launch in Q3 of 2020. Mindleap's software development team has a proven track record in delivering software solutions on budget and on time. Mindleap's developers have previously launched successful HIPAA compliant eHealth applications and, cumulatively, have developed over 200 software applications in the last decade. Today, more than 300 million people suffer[1] from depression worldwide, with about 100 million of whom do not respond to available treatments. Psychedelic medicine offers the potential to revolutionize the mental health industry and is witnessing staggering growth. Mindleap is uniquely designed to meet the needs of the over 90+ psychedelic clinics and 30 million [2] underground psychedelic users. The company's platform will allow mental health specialists to provide psychedelic aftercare along with addiction, and holistic wellness services and programs. Mindleap Health Founder and CEO, Nikolai Vassev stated: "We have always believed in building strong alliances and are extremely pleased to begin working with the talented team at New Leaf. Their investment in Mindleap will allow us to speed up our time to market, add more advanced capabilities but most importantly will get us closer to our goal of improving access to mental health services for those that need them most." The Global Telemedicine Market Size [3] was valued at USD 31.46 Billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.28% until 2025. The pandemic has shown the need for virtual therapy services and it's expected there will be over 1 billion telemedicine sessions by the end of 2020 [4]. Mindleap's innovative technology and business model strive to capture a unique and growing piece of that market. NewLeaf Brands Director and CEO, Josh Bartch, stated: "Upon diving into Mindleap's unique approach to the mental health space and seeing their innovative technology we were immediately blown away. Mindleap fills a much needed void in the marketplace that we see as an incredibly important aspect of the overall success of modern mental health treatments. Mindleap's unique focus on psychedelic aftercare, addiction and holistic wellness fits well with our strategy and we are excited for them to join the NewLeaf family." Pursuant to the LOI, NewLeaf Brands will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Mindleap in exchange for CAD $3,500,000, payable in common shares in the capital of the Company at a deemed price per share equal to CAD $0.55, as of the date of signing the LOI. NewLeaf Brands shall also advance CAD $500,000 in direct investment into Mindleap upon closing of the transaction and CAD $500,000 before, or on, September 1, 2020. The Company will pay a finder's fee for the transaction. The Company will look to close the transaction following the completion of the due diligence investigations. Closing is subject to definitive documentation and applicable regulatory approvals. About NewLeaf Brands NewLeaf Brands, Inc. is the parent company operating innovative product divisions in the Naturally Sourced Therapies (NST) space. While controlling a variety of Psilocybin and hemp-derived CBD brands that design, manufacture and distribute cutting edge products, Newleaf Brands Inc. further enhances its portfolio with numerous cultivation properties, retail locations, and other land assets. NewLeaf Brands Inc. is the progressive and innovative Naturally Sourced Therapies (NST) lifestyle group known around the globe. Focusing on the rapidly emerging psilocybin and psychedelic medicines market, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary 1220611 B.C. Ltd. (operating as Mydecine Group) ("Mydecine") is a vertically integrated company engaged to utilize the vast medicinal, health and wellness capabilities of the various compounds found in mycology as a whole. Established to parallel the early emergence of the industry, Mydecine aims to be a pioneer in the cultivation, processing, product development, and research and development of mycology's exciting compounds through its three divisions, "Mydecine Farms," "Mydecine Wellness" and "Mydecine Labs." Furthermore, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries in the hemp-derived CBD space, We are Kured LLC, Drink Fresh Water LLC, Relyfe Brand LLC, Fresh Water CBD LLC and TeaLief Brand LLC have quickly developed into market leaders and maintain extensive retail and cultivation land investments in the United States. About Mindleap Health Mindleap is developing an advanced digital health platform that will provide support for people that are looking to achieve personal transformations and overcome mental health challenges. Mindleap is the only digital health platform that combines telehealth with mood, emotion and habit tracking. This is a paradigm shift to conventional mental health as Mindleap personalized support and users have the tools needed to track their progress and take control of their mental health. You can learn more about the company here: https://mindleap.health/ For further information about NewLeaf Brands, please consult the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Company's website at www.NABrandsInc.com. [1]https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=202612 [2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3917651/ [3]https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-telemedicine-market-size-was-valued-at-usd-31-46-billion-in-2018-and-is-expected-to-grow-at-a-cagr-of-19-28-by-2025--valuates-reports-300984931.html [4]https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/03/telehealth-visits-could-top-1-billion-in-2020-amid-the-coronavirus-crisis.html The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to completion of planned improvements at both the Canadian and US sites on schedule and on budget, the availability of financing needed to complete the Company's planned improvements on commercially reasonable terms, planned occupancy by the tenant-growers, commencement of operations, differences in yield on expected harvests, delays in obtaining statutory approval for marijuana production plans, issues that may arise throughout the grow period, outdoor crops affected by weather, the ability to mitigate the risk of loss through appropriate insurance policies, and the risks presented by federal statutes that may contradict local and state legislation respecting legalized marijuana. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Joshua Bartch Chief Executive Officer info@nabrandsinc.com For Further Information Contact Corporate Communications info@nabrandsinc.com 250-488-6728 The year has been an interesting one so far, dont you think? Despite a myriad of concerns for the Thoroughbred breeding and racing community, one relatively esoteric issue has come to mind: North Americas stakes schedule for the second half of 2020. Without racing since about mid-March in most of the country, the racing programs in New York, California, Kentucky, and elsewhere other than Florida and Arkansas have been compromised. While it is of utmost importance to return to as healthy a daily purse structure from top to bottom as possible, racing at the upper echelon is also a concern. Last week the American Graded Stakes Committee announced it would drop minimum purses at the grade 1 and grade 2 levelsa smart move to keep the purses ball rolling. While racing will return in Maryland and New York, other areas might not snap back so quickly. Also, last week Penn National Race Course announced the cancellation of the $500,000 Penn Mile Stakes (G2T). Questions abound in other jurisdictions, including racing in Illinois this summer at Arlington International. Questions, too, abound regarding a basket of graded races that werent contested this spring. Aside from the West Coast, we wonder about Keenelands canceled April meet, stakes from Churchill Downs that werent contested on the first Friday and Saturday in May, and stakes on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard from Pimlico (the main event at least being run Oct. 3), among others. If the stakes are crammed into the summer and fall programs, will there be enough social distancing on the calendar to squeeze them in while also being able to maintain a certain quality level? It is encouraging to know that the AGSC has been thinking about it quite a bit. The graded stakes committee has had several video conference meetings over the course of the last month and a half to discuss the continually evolving, constantly changing nature of the Thoroughbred racing landscape, said Dan Metzger, president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, which oversees the AGSC (and a co-owner of BloodHorse). It goes without saying well meet more this year than the last five years combined, said TOBA board member Everett Dobson, who also chairs the AGSC. That is part of our chargeto assess the quality. We essentially are a look back committee, Dobson said. The AGSC uses racing data from the last five racing seasons to determine the quality of a race. We dont try to judge the effect of where a race is positioned or how its run other than we look back at that race to consider the future effects of the grading of that particular race. In December well look at this year, and it will be unprecedented and hopefully just a one-year anomaly; it will be one point of the data set, but it wont be everything. Im optimistic the strength will remain across all of the categories. But it is definitely going to be a wait-and-see process. The preference would be that the tracks would come up with a reasonable pattern, if you will, on these specific races, which they can request to move, Dobson continued. Our bylaws allow for us to remove a graded status if a race is moved more than 30 days on the calendar. We are taking all of those races case by case, and fortunately we have five racing secretaries that are on our board. We have a fair amount of dialogue, and so far they have come up with very reasonable requests. I believe the races that have been canceled this year wont be held against them (the grade and/or status) if they dont run, Metzger added. There is going to be as much forgiveness and being reasonable as possible. With the New York Racing Association being given the green light to open June 1, expect their stakes schedule soon. Keeneland is hopeful to run a few days this summer, so it is of interest as to what their plans are, along with Churchills. I think everybody is trying to make it work the best they can, but there will be conflicts, Metzger conceded. There is no way to avoid it, but I think there has been a wonderful spirit of cooperation among racing officials I know who have discussed this through the AGSC, but they all have their constituents to listen to. Right now most people are just happy that racing is resuming in those jurisdictions. Everybody has been transparent and open and trying to get through this. Everybody in the business wants to get out of this crisis on the other side and do right by the industry. Resident Health workers at the Sumbrungu Health Centre in the Bolgatanga Municipality, Upper East Region, have deserted dilapidated quarters, they described as a death trap. They presently commute from their various houses to the Health Centre whenever they are on duty, creating stress and adversely affecting service delivery in the area. When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the facility, it observed that the quarters was not only too small to house all the health workers posted to the facility but it was in a very deplorable state thereby, posing danger to those who were staying there. It had several cracks and a part of the roof was ripped off while some part of the ceiling was rotten with water seen collected in the rooms. Mr Raymond Azalbila Adoganga, the Principal Physician Assistant of the Health Centre told GNA in an interview that the Sumbrungu East Sub Municipality had seven health facilities in addition to the Health Centre and with the exception of the Community Health Planning Services (CHPS) Compound at the Bolgatanga Technical University, staff accommodation of the remaining facilities were in a bad state, posing health risks to the staff. We had a resident Midwife, a resident General Nurse and two resident Community Health Nurses who were staying in the quarters but just last week, they had to park home due to the bad nature of the accommodation, he stated. Mr Adoganga said the staff accommodation in the various facilities harboured reptiles and bees, thereby, compelling the health workers especially those who worked at the Health Centre to park to their houses in Bolgatanga. The Midwife at Azorebiisi facility, on two occasions, killed a snake on her bed and the resident community health nurse also killed a snake in her room and at Aguusi CHPS compound, on two occasions, I was chased away by bees. So almost all the health facilities have serious staff accommodation challenges, he lamented. He said although the health workers practised shift system, they usually offered back up services to those on duty especially on days and periods when the facility recorded higher attendants and emergencies. He said the Health Centre alone averagely records about 40 to 60 attendants daily but during the third quarter, July, August and September, it records about 80 to 100 attendants each day due to the usual increase in malaria cases during the rainy season. It serves over 13,000 people each year and it also challenged when it comes to office space. The facility is a single structure with five rooms and has about four units working in one room while the waiting area is exposed to direct sunlight. Mr Adoganga said the only consulting room is about 10 by 10 metres, the counts unit is sharing space with the records, dressing and claims departments. When you go to the next room, we have the dispensary, the laboratory and a detention area in that single room. In the third room, we have our reproductive and child health services, family planning, prevention of mother and child transmission and cold chain management while the fourth room also has four units. He said several appeals including written letters had been sent to the appropriate authorities including the Municipal Health Directorate and the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly but nothing had been done. When the GNA contacted Mr Joseph Amiyuure, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area, he admitted that the Assembly was aware of the situation of the Health Centre but refused to comment on whether or not something would be done especially on the staff accommodation at the Health Centre. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Tripod Mounted 3D Laser Scanners Market is growing at a CAGR of 9.2% during the forecast period. Higher accuracy of measurement, and innovative way than the traditional 2D representation are driving the market of Tripod Mounted 3D Laser Market. However, the need for a rather high initial investment, and high-end hardware for data processing are the factors restricting the market from its growth. Request For Report Sample @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/12147 Tripod is a three-legged platform used to support flasks and beakers. Tripods are usually made of stainless steel or aluminium and lightly built for portability. Within the field of 3D object scanning, laser scanning (also known as lidar) combines controlled steering of laser beams with a laser rangefinder. By taking a distance measurement at every direction the scanner rapidly captures the surface shape of objects, buildings and landscapes. Construction of a full 3D model involves combining multiple surface models obtained from different viewing angles, or the admixing of other known constraints. Small objects can be placed on a revolving pedestal, in a technique akin to photogrammetric models. Based on application, the aerospace & defense segment is going to have a lucrative growth in Tripod Mounted 3D Laser scanners market owing to its unique properties. By Geography, North America is is constantly enhancing due to the rise in the number of application across diverse industries of the market in near future. Some of the key players profiled in the Tripod Mounted 3D Laser Scanners market include Faro, Trimble, Topcon, Hexagon (Leica), Nikon Metrology, Creaform (AMETEK), Teledyne Optech, Z+F GmbH, Maptek, Kreon Technologies, Shapegrabber, Surph aser, Riegl, 3D Digital and Carl Zeiss. Types Covered: Indoor 3D Laser Scanner Outdoor 3D Laser Scanner Applications Covered: Aerospace and Defense Architecture and Engineering Automotive and Transportation Energy and Power Medical and Healthcare Other Applications Segmentations Covered: Direct Sales Distributor Regions Covered: North America o US o Canada o Mexico Europe o Germany o UK o Italy o France o Spain o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o Japan o China o India o Australia o New Zealand o South Korea o Rest of Asia Pacific South America o Argentina o Brazil o Chile o Rest of South America Middle East & Africa o Saudi Arabia o UAE o Qatar o South Africa o Rest of Middle East & Africa Get Complete TOC with Tables and Figures@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/12147 What our report offers: - Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments - Strategic recommendations for the new entrants - Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets - Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) - Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product / Technology Analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc. - Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations - Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends - Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments - Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Free Customization Offerings: All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options: Company Profiling or Comprehensive profiling of additional market players (up to 3) or SWOT Analysis of key players (up to 3) Regional Segmentation or Market estimations, Forecasts and CAGR of any prominent country as per the clients interest (Note: Depends of feasibility check) Competitive Benchmarking or Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence , and strategic alliances <<< Get COVID-19 Report Analysis >>> https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/12147 Starbucks Reserve store in Seoul / Courtesy of Starbucks Korea By Kim Jae-heun Starbucks Korea is allegedly trying to reduce the number of sockets in their coffee shops to stop customers from staying there for a long time. A 31-year-old office worker surnamed Lee visited a Starbucks coffee shop recently in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, and was shocked to notice there were hardly any electricity outlets available for use. "Usually a Starbucks coffee shop has tables with many electricity sockets for customers. But this shop had barely any. Some people like me came in with laptops and had to leave as there were no electricity outlets available," Lee said. According to a local media report, Starbucks Korea has installed no outlets at 10 shops that have opened over the last three years including those at Shinsegae Department Store in Hoehyeon-dong, Seoul, Incheon International Airport and Starfield Hanam in Gyeonggi Province. "Maintaining an open and efficient supply chain through and beyond COVID-19 will save lives and help us in the fight against this pandemic" Businesses and advocacy groups can sign on to statement here in growing push for mutual support, opposition to division WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 27 groups representing businesses and communities across Canada and the United States unveiled the following joint statement calling for continued strong cross-border cooperation, trade, and supply chains as a critical component of both countries' COVID-19 public health and economic response and recovery efforts. The groups, led by the Canadian American Business Council, also unveiled a new advocacy portal that will allow other businesses and organizations to sign on to the statement and make their voices heard. "The COVID-19 public health and economic crisis has been devastating for workers, families, and businesses across Canada and America. As both countries work to keep citizens safe and help businesses and workers get back on their feet, it is clearer than ever that a unified manufacturing supply chain between Canada, and the United States must be protected and strengthened. "While cross-border cooperation has long been a key component of both countries' economic prosperity, this crisis has highlighted the critical need to maintain the fluid border that is essential to many critical sectors that cross national boundaries. In addition, the urgent need for critical medical supplies to move seamlessly across our borders to get to where they are needed most has exposed key vulnerabilities in our manufacturing ecosystem that must be addressed. "The longstanding partnership between Canada and the United States ranging from logistics, to economics, to geopolitics, and more is a key strategic asset to both countries, now more than ever before, Many critical sectors depend on trade between our two countries including medical equipment, food and agriculture; communications and energy; automotive and industrial; transit equipment and aerospace; law enforcement and first responders. "More than any two countries in the world, the U.S. and Canada make things together as integrated economic partners. The U.S. sells more goods to Canada than to any country - more than it sells to China, Japan and the UK combined. "That is why we believe that both countries must stand strong for a common cross-border manufacturing response as we tackle the COVID-19 public health crisis and help our shared economies rebuild and recover. "Specifically, we believe that our two countries must continue to work together on a collaborative manufacturing response to COVID-19, to achieve the following objectives: Securing the availability of personal protection equipment (PPE) in both countries; Designing Canada-US manufacturing solutions to replenish and maintain strategic stockpiles of medical equipment; Continuing to ensure people and goods cross the border efficiently without interrupting our critical supply chains; Expanding market opportunities between our two countries in order to spur recovery and compete globally. "Maintaining an open and efficient supply chain through and beyond COVID-19 will save lives and help us in the fight against this pandemic. It will provide the infrastructure required for jumpstarting the economy to compete with other regions of the world in a rapidly-changing global economic environment. "We stand with a growing number of businesses, workers, and advocacy organizations to urge our governments and all American and Canadians to stand together in the global marketplace, push aside those who would divide us, and meet our global competition head-on." Association of Oil Pipelines Andrew Black, President & CEO BIOTECanada Andrew Casey, President & CEO Business Council of Canada Goldy Hyder, President & CEO Canadian American Business Council. Maryscott Greenwood, CEO Canada Arizona Business Council Glenn Williamson, Founder & CEO CanAm Border Trade Alliance James D. Philips, President & CEO Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Dennis Darby, President & CEO Canadian Pharmacists Association Glen Doucet, CEO Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance Toby Mack, President & CEO Government of Ontario Ian Todd, Ontario's Representative in Washington, D.C. Earl Provost, Ontario Agent General in Chicago, Illinois Jag Badwall, Ontario Agent General in Dallas, Texas Government of Quebec Catherine Loubier, Quebec's Delegate General in New York Marie-Claude Francoeur, Quebec's Delegate in Boston Martine Hebert, Quebec's Delegate in Chicago Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Joe Reardon, President & CEO International Business Council, Illinois Chamber of Commerce Laura Ortega, Executive Director Innovative Medicines Canada Pamela C. Fralick, President Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce Tom Torti, President Medtech Canada Brian Lewis, President New England Canada Business Council Jon F Sorenson, President New Hampshire Canadian Trade Council Senator Lou D'Allesandro, Chair North Country Chamber of Commerce Garry Douglas, President & CEO Ohio-Canada Business Association Dan Ujczo, President Ontario Chamber of Commerce Rocco Rossi, President & CEO Quebec's Federation of Chambers of Commerce Charles Milliard, President & CEO The Business Council of New York State, Inc Heather C. Briccetti, President & CEO The Canadian Chamber of Commerce Honourable Perrin Beatty, P.C., O.C., President & CEO U.S. Chamber of Commerce Neil Herrington, Senior Vice President for the Americas Vermont Chamber of Commerce Christopher Carrigan, V.P. Business Development Women In Trucking Association Ellen Voie, President & CEO Quotations "It is critical in times of crisis to ensure the maintenance of the Canada-US relationship. This means fighting back against protectionism, and buy-American and buy-Canadian. The Canadian American Business Council advocates for an open and efficient supply chain in both times of peace and crisis for the mutual benefit of our two countries." - Maryscott Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council [email protected] "Quebecers and Americans share a long history grounded in common values and interests. We make things and build prosperity together. In times of crisis, this partnership is more crucial than ever. Last year, the U.S. imported US $5B of Covid-19 related products from Canada, nearly 25% of which were from Quebec. We must continue to fight protectionism, bolster supply chains and keep the border fluid in order to revive growth and ensure that our economic region remains one of the strongest and most competitive in the world."- Catherine Loubier, Quebec's Delegate General in New York; Marie-Claude Francoeur, Quebec's Delegate in Boston; Martine Hebert, Quebec's Delegate in Chicago [email protected] "The close economic partnership between Canada and the United States remains critical in the pandemic and will be even more so in our economic recovery. 'We make things together' is a common refrain that captures our close trade ties. Looking ahead, we must focus on ensuring the safety of health care and other essential workers, identifying a pathway to safely resume normal economic activity, and eliminating obstacles to the resumption of economic growth. We need to continue to align in how we identify critical industries and workers and avoid the emergence of new export restrictions and other trade barriers that would impede our pandemic response and recovery efforts. We need the Canada-U.S. partnership more than ever." - Neil Herrington, Senior Vice President for the Americas, U.S. Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "The U.S. and Canada have a unique economic partnership that has moved beyond trade and is unlike any other. Together, we compete with greater effectiveness against the rest of the world. In the past, this special relationship has found itself automatically swept into responses to unfair trade or economic challenges involving other places. As we recover from this pandemic and reclaim economic leadership, it is crucial this not happen and that we instead move together." - Garry Douglas, President/CEO of the North Country Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "The COVID-19 crisis is forcing businesses from all sectors to adapt their operations and the way they are doing business. One thing, however, that will not change is the importance of trade with the United States for the Quebec economy and the privileged ties that unite us. More than ever, it is by working closely together that we will strengthen our competitiveness on the continent and around the world. We have always been strong supporters of a competitive economic environment and we are pleased to add the voice of the FCCQ to this joint statement, which is important for our common prosperity and fostering economic recovery." Charles Milliard, President and CEO, Quebec's Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FCCQ)[email protected] "There has always been a need for a strong manufacturing supply chain between New York State and Canada. Now, more than ever the two markets need to work together to ensure the healthy and prosperous relationship stays strong as both economies start to recover from the abrupt disruption this global pandemic created." - Heather C. Briccetti, President & CEO, The Business Council of New York State, Inc.[email protected] "The United States and Canada have the most unique economic trade relationship in the World. The CanadaUnited States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest un-militarized international border in the world between two countries. In New England, Canada continues to be our number one trading partner. We believe this terrible crisis, will bring our two regions and our two countries even closer, trading goods and services with a friendly and trusted partner. We support our two countries recovering and prospering together," - Jon F Sorenson, President of the New England Canada Business Council [email protected] "The Vermont Chamber's work extends to Canada, and, in partnership with our neighbors to the North, we are leveraging our cross-border contacts to identify manufacturers with excess supply and who can aid in the production of personal protection equipment (PPE) to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, and in the aftermath of this crisis, we will be relying on our strong regional, international, cross-border supply-chain." - Christopher Carrigan, V.P. Business Development, Vermont Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "Vermont relies on a robust, integrated and accessible supply chain to support its robust manufacturing base. We are pleased to see that our state, and our partner states, are easing restrictions in accordance with the best scientific advice and principles available. We join with others in looking forward to our joint return to prosperity" Tom Torti, President of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "Now more than ever, the manufacturing partnership with our Canadian neighbors is a priority and most critical as we move beyond the Covid-19 crisis. The trade between such neighbors includes many necessities of life and is a lifeline to both countries. We join hands to support each other and ultimately becoming one in our success together" - Senator Lou D'Allesandro, Chair of the New Hampshire Canadian Trade Council [email protected] "Canada is an indispensable commercial partner for the State of Illinois that supports nearly 400,000 jobs through foreign direct investment and cross-border trade. It is our largest export market which totaled $17.73 billion in 2018, representing 27 percent of the state's total goods exports. Our integrated supply-chains have realized over the years a significant advantage for Illinois companies' competitiveness in the global market and led to joint innovation and prosperity. Canada is also the most important US strategic alliance to protect our shared resources and confront global security challenges like the current pandemic. We must ensure that this collaboration continues to effectively respond to Covid-19 and revamp our economies" - Laura Ortega, Executive Director of the International Business Council, Illinois Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "Ontario and the United States have a common history. Our geographic proximity, shared economic interests, and interconnected supply chains resulted in nearly USD $300 billion in two-way trade last year. If Ontario was a stand-alone country, we would be the United States' third largest trading partner. Working together is something that comes naturally to Ontario and the United States, and working together is how we can best ensure adequate availability of personal protection equipment for our citizens, both now through cooperative sourcing and moving forward through shared manufacturing solutions. As the current health crisis reshapes our world, it is vital that the United States and Canada commit to fighting protectionism and promote the free flow of goods and people across our shared border." - Ian Todd, Ontario's Representative in Washington, D.C., Earl Provost, Ontario Agent General in Chicago, Illinois, Jag Badwall, Ontario Agent General in Dallas, Texas [email protected] "The Canada-US relationship is critical for economic recovery, particularly for the province of Ontario. Ontario is the number one trading partner with 19 states and the second largest trading partner with nine others. With two-way trade between Ontario and the US totalling CAD$390 billion in 2018, fostering an environment that encourages collaboration, particularly with close allies and trading partners, can help stabilize the economy and safeguard public health. We cannot afford to compromise international supply chains during this crisis and beyond." - Rocco Rossi, President and CEO, Ontario Chamber of Commerce [email protected] The Ohio-Canada relationship is the heart of the Great Lakes Region, which, in turn, is the center of the world's largest economic hub. As we move toward business resumption, recovery and resiliency, companies require the infrastructure, innovation and investment that comes from integrated solutions. In short, it is time for the goodwill and common sense that only shared Canada-US solutions can provide. - Dan Ujczo, President, Ohio-Canada Business Association [email protected] "Pipelines cross the U.S.-Canada border connecting North American families, workers and businesses to vital supplies of natural gas, crude oil, and refined petroleum products. Keeping the border open for the movement of parts and workers operating, maintaining, and constructing energy pipelines will help our economies both now in these difficult times and later as we recover and restart. Andrew Black, President & CEO, Association of Oil Pipelines [email protected] "Nearly two-thirds of Canada's exports are manufactured goods, and more than 80 percent of these exports go to our CUSMA partners. Much of this trade is due to the deep integration of manufacturing operations across the North America. This integration has created a unique relationship for our countries; we do not simply trade goods with each other, we build things together, we innovate together, and we compete together against the rest of the world. It is critical North America maintains the integrity of those supply chains so manufacturers can continue their essential contribution to the fight against COVID-19." - Dennis Darby, President & CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters [email protected] "Canada and the United States have long been friends, allies and partners in business. Particularly during the current pandemic, our shared border must not become a barrier to collaboration but remain a meeting place. The citizens of both our countries are stronger when we are together." - Honourable Perrin Beatty, P.C., O.C., President & CEO, The Canadian Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "While the U.S. and Canada are two distinct sovereign nations, we are bound together for centuries in too many ways to count. U.S. and Canada social and positive economic qualities of life have individually and jointly benefited in large measure. Especially in difficult and challenging situations, our future opportunities and achievements depend on our continued positive relationship and a cooperative fluid shared Canada/U.S. land border." James D. Philips, President & CEO, Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance [email protected] The Canada-US relationship is unique, extraordinary and singular among the countries of the world. We must never become complacent and unappreciative of the historic bond between our two great nations. The world has changed in the last 90 days. Now is the time for us to strengthen our ties to each other. Let's stop the negative rhetoric. We must be bolder, more creative and wildly innovative in order to grow stronger, together, in the post COVID world. Glenn Williamson, Founder & CEO, Canada Arizona Business Council [email protected] "The challenges our drivers are facing today are extreme, while the need for transportation in North America increases. The need for a comprehensive plan for cross-border transit has never been greater to ensure our driver's safety as well as their productivity. The Women In Trucking Association supports the need to reduce unnecessary delays, especially those imposed by our respective governments and supports a collaborative effort between our countries." Ellen Voie, President & CEO, Women In Trucking Association [email protected] "A seamless network of energy infrastructure connects American and Canadian consumers and businesses to vital energy resources travelling in both directions. This keeps our North American communities warm in winter and cool in summer, and our businesses and factories humming with economical power that gives our consumers an enviable standard of living and our products and services competitive advantage in the global marketplace. An open border is critical to building, maintaining and operating this critical asset as our economies regain their robust growth." Toby Mack, President & CEO, Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance [email protected] "Trade between the U.S. and Canada helps create jobs, boost economic growth, and better the lives of men and women in both nations. It is to our mutual benefit to continue fostering this robust relationship, leaving our supply chains open and unfettered during and post-pandemic. Together we are stronger." Joe Reardon, President and CEO, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce [email protected] "Canada and the U.S. are two of the world's strongest trading partners and this pandemic has underscored the necessity to continue to enhance the longstanding relationship between our two nations for the health and economic benefits to citizens on both sides of our border. Medical Technology companies in both countries rely on the free flow of materials needed to make the medical supplies and technologies that save lives and ensure that the doctors, nurses and other health care heroes on the front lines are equipped with everything they need to stay safe while providing care." Brian Lewis, President, Medtech Canada [email protected] "Now more than ever cross-border cooperation and coordination is critical to both addressing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring a strong economic recovery. A secure and efficient flow of goods across the border is vital for job creation and our future economic growth. We must continue to work together to keep trade open, strengthen supply chains and enhance competitiveness." Goldy Hyder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Business Council of Canada [email protected] "The Canada-US economic partnership has historically been a foundational element of the economies of both nations. The connectivity of our markets and access to capital and talent have made both economies stronger and more globally competitive. The economic, social and health impact of the COVID-19 crisis has only increased the urgency and importance of maintaining the efficiency, effectiveness and security of this partnership. Effectively maintaining existing supply chains and continuing to exchange science and ideas will prove to be critical to Canada's and the United States' ability to successfully work through the immediate health and economic challenge and jump-start the recovery for both nations over the period ahead." Andrew Casey, President & CEO, BIOTECanada [email protected] SOURCE Canadian American Business Council Related Links http://www.cabc.co New Delhi: The United States of America on Tuesday (May 19, 2020) deported al Qaeda terrorist Mohammad Ibrahim Zubair to India. Zubair, who pleaded guilty in a US court for his terror crimes, was brought on a special flight on May 19 and is at a quarantine center in Amritsar, Punjab. Although associated with the terro group, "Mohammad Ibrahim wasnt a key financer to al Qaeda", according to to intelligence sources. His brother Farooq Mohammad was a key financer and is still in a US jail. The US immigration authorities deported Mohammad Ibrahim to India on May 19, and he was brought in a special flight to Amritsar, Punjab along with 167 other deportees. Since February, Mohammad Ibrahim was languishing in an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre in USA's Colorado, where he completed a two-year sentence in the federal prison. Upon his arrival in India, he was questioned by the authorities in Amritsar. The 39-year-old Mohammad was arrested in 2015 after being charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, specifically Anwar al-Awlaki, a preacher who later came out in support of al Qaeda. Awlaki was later killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011. After waiting two years for a trial, the government offered the structural engineer a plea deal despite his repeated protests and denials of any wrongdoing. In exchange for a guilty plea, the Hyderabad native was told that he would serve a significantly reduced sentence of two and a half years in the USA and then be deported to India instead of being a burden on the US taxpayers. In its judgment, the district court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Court ruled, "It was part of the conspiracy that the defendants, FAROOQ MOHAMMAD, IBRAHIM MOHAMMAD, ASIF SALIM, and SULTANE SALIM, agreed and concluded, individually and with at least one other co-conspirator, that they were obligated to participate in "violent jihad" against the United States and the United States military in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the world." "It was a further part of the conspiracy that one or more of the co-conspirators collected, solicited, and raised funds, both in the United States and elsewhere, to provide to Awlaki in support of "violent jihad" against the United States and the United States military in Afghanistan, Iraq, and throughout the world," the court added. Haldimand-Norfolks health unit has stopped issuing ID cards for migrant farm workers after public outcry. Dr. Shanker Nesathurai confirmed on Wednesday that the blank cards which were not mandatory and up to the worker or their employer to fill out are no longer being included among resources given to local farmers. The cards had fields for the workers name, place of work with contact information, and their date of arrival to Canada. Nesathurai said the cards were conceived as a form of identification that could also verify whether offshore workers had completed their mandatory two-week quarantine. But farmers led by Dusty Zamecnik, chair of the countys agriculture advisory board, said the cards smacked of racial profiling, a charge Norfolk County CAO Jason Burgess dismissed as unwarranted. Burgess linked the complaints to farmers frustration over the health units three-person limit on bunkhouse occupancy during quarantine, as detailed in a Section 22 order issued March 24. That order remains in force after a contentious board of health meeting on Tuesday. In a 6-3 vote, the board which consists of Norfolk County councillors and Mayor Kristal Chopp voted down a motion tabled by Coun. Kim Huffman asking Nesathurai to amend the order, which some farmers say has hampered their ability to bring in enough migrant workers to plant and harvest their crops. Instead, Nesathurai agreed to review the policy put in place, he argued, to prevent large-scale outbreaks on farms and report back in two weeks. Farmer Brett Schuyler has appealed the Section 22 order, arguing that subjecting Haldimand-Norfolk farmers to stricter rules than those laid out by the federal and provincial governments puts local farms at a disadvantage. The appeal goes before the provinces Health Services Appeal and Review Board on May 25. As spring has blossomed in Longmeadow, residents may have noticed a large number of new trees being planted on tree belts. Theyre easily recognizable because of the green bags, known as tree gators, which hug their trunks and make watering easier. Its all part of a plan developed by the towns tree warden and the Longmeadow Tree Committee to replace trees that are removed each year because of age or disease. This year, 155 new public shade trees, also referred to as street trees, have been planted along the towns public ways. This effort began several years ago with the establishment of the Tree Committee, formed in response to residents concerns that public shade trees were being removed faster than they were being replaced. Tree warden, David Marinelli, oversees this effort. A retired local radiologist, Marinelli joined the Tree Committee four years ago as secretary, and two years ago became chairman. Although not originally trained as an arborist, he became certified by the Massachusetts Arborists Association through self-study and a college level lecture course and lab work at Springfield Technical Community College. The renewal of tree belt trees is central to our mission, Marinelli said. The first step in this restoration process has been to determine how many street trees the town owns, and their condition. The project began six years ago using summer interns, and was completed last year. Marinelli said, We estimate at its peak in the 1990s there were 16,000 public shade trees in Longmeadow, and we are now down to just under 10,000 ... This is only a count of trees along public ways and does not include trees in parks, on school grounds, or in conservation areas. Now that the Tree Committee understands it is managing about 10,000 public shade trees, Marinelli said, it can make ... projections of the investment necessary to maintain this resource. Because of past under-investment, we are currently playing catch up. In spite of increased expense and effort, we are not even keeping up with removals, and have not begun to address the deficit created by years of under-planting. This year, a new effort to identify potentially hazardous trees began with the hiring of a professional arborist qualified in risk assessment. Unfortunately, this project is currently on hold because of the Coronavirus. Money for all this work comes from the Department of Public Works yearly budget, from additional appropriations approved at Town Meeting, and from grants from the Department of Conservation and Recreations Urban Forestry Program. This year, a grant from that department was just approved in the amount of $10,000. By planting bare-root trees from a nursery near Buffalo, New York, we have managed to dramatically reduce the price per tree, both for materials and labor, Marinelli said. An additional source of money is the towns memorial planting program. Residents can make a donation to the tree planting program, while also honoring a loved one. For a donation of $350, a tree will be purchased and planted in town, and the honorees name added to a plaque in the Community House. But even without a donation, homeowners can request a tree be planted on their tree belt. They can even choose the type of tree, within certain parameters. In return, they must agree to water it regularly until it becomes established. What constitutes a tree belt is not always clear cut. It depends on whether there is a sidewalk or no sidewalk, or whether, like Longmeadow Street, the right-of-way is much wider than the sidewalk layout. Its best to consult the town on this matter. To plant your own tree, to request the town plant a tree, to participate in the Memorial Tree Planting Program, or to see a list of recommended trees, please email the tree warden at treewarden@longmeadow.org or call the Department of Public Works at 413-567-3400. In both cases, please provide the address where the trees will be planted, the number of trees requested, and an agreement to water the tree(s) by using the gators for two years. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: The number of Turkish citizens looking for job in Kazakhstan from January through April 2020 has grown, Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) told Trend. In the reporting period, the number of Turkish citizens visiting Kazakhstan to find work through ISKUR increased by 2.7 times compared to the same period of 2019. From January through April 2020, 428 Turkish citizens visited Kazakhstan through ISKUR. In general, 4.098 Turkish citizens went abroad via ISKUR during the reporting period, which is 40.3 percent less compared to the same period in 2019. In April 2020, 30,556 citizens were provided with jobs through this agency in Turkey. Some 34.6 percent of the total number of employed citizens accounted for women and 65.4 percent for men. In April 2020, 96.9 percent of the total number of citizens provided with jobs accounted for the private sector, ISKUR said. The number of unemployed in Turkey in the reporting month amounted to over 3.6 million people, 48.4 percent of which are women, and 51.6 percent are men. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu A model of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System exhibited in Zhuhai. [Photo/Xinhua] China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System has been used in more than half the world's countries and regions, according to the system's chief designer. Yang Changfeng, who is also a national political adviser, said on Thursday afternoon that the system will soon be accessible to every user in "any corner on this planet" to offer navigation and positioning services. "This year will mark the completion of the Beidou network. The last satellite in it has been transported to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and is undergoing prelaunch preparations. It will lift off in June," he said. He made the remarks as he spoke to reporters in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before the opening of the third plenary session of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body. Beidou is the country's largest satellite-navigation system and one of the four global networks, along with the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo. Beidou is widely used in many public services in China and globally, including transportation, agriculture and disaster relief. It is also playing a helpful role in the ongoing fight against the coronavirus outbreak, the scientist said. About 70 percent of mobile phones registered in China are compatible with Beidou-enabled services, Yang noted. The nation began the research and development of its own space-based navigation and positioning system in 1994, aiming to lessen reliance on foreign networks. In 2000, China launched the first two Beidou satellites to establish an experimental system. In 2003 and 2007, another two experimental satellites were launched to join the trial run. Beidou's first mass-production satellite, also the first in its second-generation series, was launched in April 2007. The first two third-generation satellites were launched in November 2017. The deployment of Beidou's space-based assets accelerated in the past two years, with 17 launches placing 29 satellites in orbit. The most recent launch took place in March. Beidou began providing positioning, navigation, timing and messaging services to civilian users in China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. At the end of 2018, it started to provide global services. ANDOVER, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced that it has released a public API (application programming interface) for cloud-based software EcoStruxure IT Expert. The first public API for EcoStruxure IT Expert, it enables IT solution providers and end users to seamlessly integrate a power and critical infrastructure monitoring platform into any preferred management system. With the introduction of EcoStruxure IT Expert API, Schneider Electric is helping to simplify management at the edge for IT solution providers and end users who are managing distributed IT infrastructure. EcoStruxure IT Expert API builds on the success of EcoStruxure IT Expert, the industry's first hosted monitoring platform, which is vendor-agnostic and powered by artificial intelligence. Now enhanced with new public API capabilities, the platform keeps increasing its flexibility. For example, users can maintain a local data store and build custom applications that react to changes. With this increased access to energy and infrastructure resource data, users can make changes to increase efficiency and sustainability. Access to data via EcoStruxure IT Expert API creates opportunities for growth and efficiency "We are working with our partners and customers in new and different ways so they can gain the right visibility and insights on their IT infrastructure while we help to create a more open ecosystem," said Kevin Brown, Senior Vice President EcoStruxure, Energy Management Business, Schneider Electric. "We have been talking about releasing a public API in the past year, and this announcement of its availability for EcoStruxure IT Expert demonstrates our on-going commitment to solving efficiency and sustainability challenges with edge computing while also opening up new business opportunities for partners." With the addition of the public API, IT solution providers can easily integrate the EcoStruxure IT platform into their preferred systems. By adding remote monitoring of power and critical infrastructure into their portfolio, solution providers drive differentiation and bring more value to their customers who are grappling with the complexities of edge network management. "EcoStruxure IT Expert API brings additional power-based instrumentation to bear, supplementing our current platform with additional data to increase our related value proposition and enrich the overall customer experience," said Wayne St. Jacques, Vice President, Managed & Executive Services, ePlus. EcoStruxure IT Expert API key benefits: Third-party integration: Integrate the EcoStruxure IT platform into your existing systems to mitigate risk of downtime by monitoring power and critical infrastructures. Integrate the EcoStruxure IT platform into your existing systems to mitigate risk of downtime by monitoring power and critical infrastructures. Improved, instantaneous visibility: Access critical infrastructure data from your preferred system and retrieve a snapshot of its current state to determine any alarms. Access critical infrastructure data from your preferred system and retrieve a snapshot of its current state to determine any alarms. Smarter, data-driven decision making: Capture alarm, inventory, sensor and location data to make key decisions and, in the case of a partner, make proactive recommendations to customers. Capture alarm, inventory, sensor and location data to make key decisions and, in the case of a partner, make proactive recommendations to customers. Improved reporting: Pull data from your power and critical devices into existing or new dashboards and gain the ability to add metrics with a granular level of detail. EcoStruxure IT Expert API is available globally in all markets, except China. EcoStruxure IT Expert API is subscription based, contact your Schneider Electric representative or visit the EcoStruxure IT web page. With an open, vendor-agnostic platform, EcoStruxure IT software and services provide the power and flexibility for customers to seamlessly manage critical infrastructure devices on their own, with a partner, or to leverage Schneider Electric's expert service engineers to manage it on their behalf. About EcoStruxure EcoStruxure is our open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architecture and platform. EcoStruxure delivers enhanced value around safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity for our customers. EcoStruxure leverages advancements in IoT, mobility, sensing, cloud, analytics, and cybersecurity to deliver Innovation at Every Level. This includes Connected Products, Edge Control, and Apps, Analytics & Services which are supported by Customer Lifecycle Software. EcoStruxure has been deployed in almost 500,000 sites with the support of 20,000+ developers, 650,000 service providers and partners, 3,000 utilities and connects over 2 million assets under management. From energy and sustainability consulting to optimizing the life cycle of your operational systems, we have world-wide services to meet your business needs. As a customer-centric organization, Schneider Electric is your trusted advisor to help increase asset reliability, improve total cost of ownership and drive your enterprise's digital transformation towards sustainability, efficiency and safety. About Schneider Electric At Schneider Electric, we believe access to energy and digital is a basic human right. We empower all to make the most of their energy and resources, ensuring Life Is On everywhere, for everyone, at every moment. We provide energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability. We combine world-leading energy technologies, real-time automation, software and services into integrated solutions for Homes, Buildings, Data Centers, Infrastructure and Industries. We are committed to unleash the infinite possibilities of an open, global, innovative community that is passionate about our Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. www.se.com Discover Life is On Discover EcoStruxure Related resources: EcoStruxure IT Edge Computing Follow us on: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Blog Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #EcoStruxure #EdgeComputing SOURCE Schneider Electric Mr. Ratcliffe, by contrast, has served only a brief stint as an acting U.S. attorney in Texas, in an office that sees relatively few national security cases, and joined the House Intelligence Committee only last year. He made his name in Washington in recent years as one of Mr. Trumps savviest allies in the House, frequently appearing on Fox News to defend the president during the Russia investigation and sharply criticizing the F.B.I. along the way. Ultimately, Mr. Ratcliffe joined a team of House members that helped mount Mr. Trumps impeachment defense this year. Mr. Ratcliffe promised during his confirmation to work in a nonpartisan manner, insisting that he would deliver the unvarnished truth to the president and Congress, unshaded by political objectives. That pledge will quickly be put to the test. He is already under pressure from the White House to appoint Stephen A. Feinberg, a hedge fund chief, to a top intelligence job. Conservatives also want to see more documents declassified and released that are related to the Russia investigation opened during the Obama administration. And the Justice Department is continuing its look at how the F.B.I. and intelligence agencies investigated accusations of Trump campaign ties to Russia. Mr. Ratcliffes biggest challenge, though, is likely to be gathering intelligence on Chinas handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak that began within its borders and has killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The Trump administration, keen to blame China for an economic downturn caused by the outbreak, has pressed intelligence agencies to learn all they can about the origin of the virus, but they have yet to reach any conclusions. Democrats said on Thursday that they were unconvinced that Mr. Ratcliffe could put aside his personal political views or stand up to Mr. Trump. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a member of the Intelligence Committee, said that Mr. Ratcliffes confirmation hearing suggested that he would not speak truth to power; he would surrender to it. Mr. Wyden had pressed Mr. Ratcliffe during the hearing to state his views on Russian election interference, the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the firing by Mr. Trump of the intelligence agencies inspector general. On each point, Mr. Ratcliffe declined to give the kind of unequivocal statements that Mr. Wyden sought. US, China divisions deepen amid spat over coronavirus, Taiwan Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 9:02 AM Tensions between China and the United States keep escalating on the international stage, with representatives from the two sides trading barbs at a United Nations Security Council meeting over the coronavirus response, as well as officials from both countries confronting each other on the sensitive issue of Taiwan's sovereignty. During a Security Council meeting on Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft called on China "to validate its claims of global leadership in combating COVID-19" by supporting "a resolution to allow the UN to combat this pandemic by delivering life-saving aid cross-border" into Syria. China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun hit back by calling on Washington to focus on global efforts to fight the pandemic and "stop playing political games and really focus on saving lives and stop diverting from its own responsibilities to other countries." The US President Donald Trump administration has been suggesting that the coronavirus was artificially synthesized at a lab in China and that Beijing failed to act promptly when its own outbreak began late last year. China has rejected the allegations. The tensions between the two veto-wielding powers have hampered a months-long attempt by the Security Council to agree on a resolution backing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for a global ceasefire so the world can focus on fighting the pandemic. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday passed a resolution on the need to investigate the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. "We want accountability more than anyone," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director-general, said. "We will continue providing strategic leadership to co-ordinate the global response" to the pandemic. He made no reference to a letter to the WHO by Trump in which the US president threatened to reconsider America's membership in the international body, as well as to permanently halt funding for the WHO if it did not commit to unspecified improvements within 30 days. Trump has called the WHO a "puppet of China." The UN organization has praised China's response to its outbreak, which was the world's first. China responds to Taiwan rejecting sovereignty, warns against US provocations Meanwhile, tensions are simmering on a separate front. China has been outraged by Taiwan's attempts to portray itself as a sovereign state, and has also warned against US attempts at driving a wedge between China and Taiwan. Taiwan said it would strive to actively participate in global bodies despite its failure to attend the WHO's ministerial assembly this year. Taipei complained that Beijing which has sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan was using its influence to keep Taiwan out of international organizations such as the WHO. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen claimed on Wednesday that the Chinese territory was an independent country, rejecting China's sovereignty. Taiwan cannot accept becoming part of China under its "one country, two systems" system, she said in her inauguration speech for her second and final term in office. China responded swiftly, by dismissing the idea of an independent Taiwan and insisting that "reunification" was inevitable. China's Taiwan Affairs Office argued that the "one country, two systems" policy did "not leave any space for Taiwan independence separatist activities." "Reunification is a historical inevitability of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," it said. "We have the firm will, full confidence, and sufficient ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity." Taiwan, backed by the US, unsuccessfully attempted to join the WHO's assembly this year as an "observer state." Beijing's relations with Taipei have particularly been strained since Tsai came to power in 2016. She has strong anti-China inclinations. Under the "One China" policy, almost all world countries recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to counter Beijing. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent congratulations to Tsai, also praising her response to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Taiwan. China's Foreign Ministry reacted to Pompeo's move, warning that such behavior undermined peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as well as Beijing-Washington's relations. The ministry in a statement on Wednesday warned of China's countermeasures and told the US to be prepared for the consequences of such acts. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Under payroll costs, borrowers applying for a PPP loan are permitted to include healthcare and workers compensation premiums in calculating the amount of support theyre eligible for. But according to Miller, this insurance relief does not go far enough. In an opinion editorial penned alongside Deanna Johnston, general counsel; VP compliance & HR at Embroker, the pair argue the PPP should be expanded to include critical commercial insurance like property, general liability, cyber, directors & officers, and errors & omissions insurance. Read next: Near $50 billion loss but Buffett believes insurance business won't be as hard hit as others This makes sense for two reasons, write Miller and Johnston. First, the forgiveness provision of the PPP includes the payment of rents, mortgages and utilities all key for keeping a business running. But insurance is as critical for maintaining minimum business operations. Leases require lessees to maintain property and general liability insurance. Lenders typically required those types of coverage, plus additional coverage specific to the companies business. Second, as the state departments of insurance have recognized, commercial insurance is critical to all types of business operations. Commercial auto is needed for delivery services. Service contracts require general liability insurance. Cyber insurance is critical given the increased phishing attempts and cybersecurity attacks due to employees working from home. EPLI coverage is needed to protect companies from liability which will likely arise as a result of the changing leave of absence and unemployment requirements under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, as well as the emerging city, state and federal requirements. We must continue to support the purchase of insurance to protect these businesses from the inevitable lawsuits arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supporting ongoing business operations as companies return to work. Read more: Arthur J. Gallagher takes $42.2 million coronavirus hit There has been a lot of coronavirus-related support at state level, with many departments of insurance providing much-needed financial relief to policyholders impacted by the current economic downturn. For example, some insurance departments have issued regulations stopping insurance carriers from canceling or non-renewing policies for non-payment, and others, such as the California Department of Insurance, have ordered premium rebates. While Miller commends these actions in that they ease the financial burden upon small businesses and help policyholders maintain their coverage, he told Insurance Business that the implementation of such measures has been haphazard and may have some unintended longer-term consequences. The intention is good in terms of helping policyholders, but weve seen the implementation of [relief measures] on a state by state basis be chaotic and potentially even detrimental, he said. Any time you create uncertainty in a contract, you create risk of litigation over it. For example, if somebody buys an insurance policy and then doesnt pay for it, but its not cancelled that would, under the letter of some of these new laws, result in a covered loss. Its not been tested in the courts yet about whether that contract could be enforced, but its a possibility. Thats just one example, but there are all sorts of situations that could arise. Over the course of the last month, theres been a number of different actions by the state departments of insurance to provide premium relief to policyholders or to mandate that insurance companies provide premium relief. Again, the impact of that has not been coordinated at a federal level, and were worried about some unintended consequences of changing the way that premiums are calculated. The intention of the regulatory action makes a lot of sense, which is that if there are elements of risk that are lessened during this time, insurance companies should be mandated to rebate some of that. But its not exactly clear how that happens, what the calculations are going to be, or how that varies state by state. As such, we got to thinking about what might be a better way to provide the same type of financial relief for small businesses in a more coordinated way at a federal level. We believe that expanding the PPP to include property and commercial insurance premiums is a more efficient way of helping small businesses. Miller, Johnston and the Embroker team are now encouraging others in the industry, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and State Commissioners to support this addition to the PPP. As Miller and Johnston concluded in their op-ed: Insurance is a critical risk mitigation tool for all businesses under normal circumstances and, in these extraordinary times, it is even more important. Small and mid-sized businesses need money in their hands immediately to pay for insurance to help them weather the longer uncertainty that will result from the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you think the PPP should cover commercial insurance premiums? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Department of Health apologized Thursday for the confusion caused by Secretary Francisco Duque III's announcement that the country is already experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections. Special Assistant to the Health Secretary Beverly Ho confirmed in an online briefing that the Philippines is still in the first wave of the outbreak, as earlier clarified by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. "The DOH confirms that yes, we are in the first wave driven by local community transmission," Ho said.Duque made the same statement in an online hearing of the House committee on health. The agency confirmed local transmission of the coronavirus disease in March, when Filipinos who had no history of exposure to known COVID-19 cases and no recent travel history abroad, were diagnosed with the viral illness. "We are still in this wave," Ho said, adding that the country reached the peak on March 31, when the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped by 538. Since then, the daily increase in infections averaged at around 220 and "this is the reason why we are saying that we have started to flatten the curve," Ho added. "We apologize for the confusion that this has caused. But we hope that this does not in anyway distract us from what we really need to do to change the course of this pandemic," Ho said, referring to social distancing and other necessary measures to prevent further spread of the virus. Why Duque used 'second wave' term Government officials are clarifying Duques controversial remarks in a Senate hearing on Wednesday, which surprised and alarmed lawmakers and the public. Senators questioned how the country was already able to "flatten the curve" during the first wave when it has yet to meet coronavirus testing targets. In a virtual hearing of the House of Representatives, Duque explained his use of the term "second wave" and said the country is at the "first major wave of sustained community transmission." "My statement was a casual expression of an epidemiologic fact because the first wave that indeed there was a first wave but very small which consist of three imported cases in January," he said. "In the epidemiological sense, cases that show a rise or a crest and then a decrease or trough constitutes a wave, although a very small wave. And we have nothing for February and this was followed by a bigger wave which we now consider first major wave of community transmission," he said. Roque, however, said that based on his consultation with health experts, three cases are too few to be considered a wave. Roque is also spokesperson of the government's COVID-19 task force. READ: COVID-19 task force spokesman refutes Health Chief's statement on second wave Dr. Edsel Salvana, an infectious disease expert, has bared that genome data suggests the local transmission in March has partially originated from India. He further explained that the virus "came to India from Australia, and came to Australia from China." PH situation 'getting better,' but curve not yet flattened Dr. Tony Leachon, special adviser to the government's COVID-19 task force, said the country's coronavirus situation is "getting better," based on a slower increase in infections and deaths. He clarified, however, that what the country is seeing is not a flattening of the curve but a plateauing. This was also raised by Rep. Carlos Zarate during the House hearing, but Duque stood by his earlier announcement that the country has flatted the coronavirus curve, based on the report made by seven "expert groups." Leachon said that only an expanded testing and intensive contact tracing would help the country return to the "new normal." Salvana, meanwhile, backed Duques claim as he pointed out that the lockdown helped in preventing the countrys health system from getting overwhelmed. The whole point of flattening the curve is to give your health system time to catch up, he told CNN Philippines on Thursday. So in that sense, weve flattened the curve because our healthcare system did not get overwhelmed, although it was close at the start. Salvana added that while the Philippines lags behind its neighbors in Southeast Asia, it is doing relatively well in its fight against the dreaded virus, compared to other nations across the globe. He added that in terms of cases and tests conducted, the countrys closest match is Japan, which he noted is a first world nation. Much of the country is under general community quarantine, while some areas like Metro Manila are under stricter lockdown restrictions to prevent further spread of COVID-19. The number of coronavirus cases nationwide rose to 13,434 on Thursday with 3,000 recoveries and 846 deaths. CNN Philippines' Kristel Limpot contributed to this report. The countrys largest second-level teaching union has advised its members not to begin marking Leaving Cert students as it believes the legal protection currently being offered to teachers is unacceptable. The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) has directed its members not to begin work on the process of calculating grades for this year's Leaving Cert students. Earlier this Thursday, the Cabinet signed off on legal indemnity for teachers and schools who are individually named in any civil proceedings that may arise. Unfortunately, and upon legal advice, the indemnity that has been offered to teachers thus far falls short of what is required and could potentially lead to personal liabilities for costs for second level teachers, the union said in a statement issued this evening. This position is unacceptable. We will continue to engage with the Department of Education and Skills to secure the necessary provisions. In the meantime, we are advising ASTI members not to undertake any work on the process until this issue is resolved. Earlier this evening, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) welcomed the detailed guidance issued by the Department of Education. The Department of Education continues to engage with the teaching unions in relation to the calculated process, a Department of Education spokesman said. "A State indemnity has been approved by Government for teachers, principals, schools and boards of management in relation to their role in the calculated grades for Leaving Certificate 2020." Further clarification has been provided to the unions and engagement in relation to that is ongoing, he added. "Minister Joe McHugh recognises the importance of teachers carrying out work in relation to Calculated Grades on behalf of the Department which is why he sought approval from Government to put a State indemnity scheme in place." The global disruption unleashed by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has led to an uptick in the use of social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Facebooks usage, for example, has increased by as much as 50% in countries hardest hit by Covid-19, whereas the Twitter usage in India has gone up by 30% between early-February and end-March. With the lockdown likely to continue in some form or other, the reliance on social media is likely to rise further. This has, however, exacerbated pre-existing challenges around curbing misinformation. Some forms of misinformation, such as a motivational quote misattributed to industrialist Ratan Tata, may be benign, but they can often have severe consequences. In April, 10 people in Andhra Pradesh were found in a semi-conscious state after they followed a home remedy tip for the coronavirus they found on TikTok. Similarly, misinformation about the role of specific communities in spreading the virus can further deepen the social divide. Tackling misinformation is a very delicate dance that requires us to traverse a narrow corridor between accurate information and free speech. As many as seven countries including Egypt, Malaysia and China have brought in legislation to control fake news, and almost all of them have been accused of committing excesses. Sensing the danger such steps can invite, an independent European Union committee has advised against bringing laws to curb misinformation. There are no easy responses, however. Society needs to build resilience and infrastructure to be able to tackle this scourge. It calls for a holistic national strategy, with clear roles for social media platforms, governments and individuals. Under intense pressure from governments, leading social media platforms have announced some measures to curb misinformation. For example, Facebook has partnered with the International Fact-Checking Network to provide flash grants for fact-checkers fighting coronavirus-linked misinformation. WhatsApp has introduced features that slow down misinformation by restricting the frequently forwarded messages to one chat at a time. Twitter has put in place a system that attempts to identify and remove instances of Covid-19-related misinformation. These measures are welcome, but not enough. In addition to expanding and intensifying the measures already in place, social media platforms must introduce more sophisticated tools, which, for example, sorts and ranks verified news or has a better pattern recognition capacity to remove highly deceiving-in-nature deep fake images and audios. This should be prioritised especially in India, where a lot of social media content is audio-visual and in regional languages. In such a crisis, the government, with its unmatched reach, perceived reliability and trust, has an indispensable role to play. As of now, it has reached out to platforms to remove users spreading misinformation, and, on the other side, has issued public advisories. Learning from the best practices employed in other countries to curb fake news, the government should consider implementing these three ideas. First, it should make fighting misinformation a jan andolan (mass movement) by involving people, much as it did with the Swachh Bharat Mission for sanitation. The Australian governments stop and consider campaign to tackle political misinformation employs the same idea. Second, it should create a non-partisan national task force that serves as a rapid response mechanism to coordinate among public and private agencies. This was pioneered in Canada in the run-up to its 2019 election. Third, the government can explore creating forums for citizens to receive accurate information. It has already launched a WhatsApp chatbot to provide accurate information on Covid-19. It can create a fact-checking unit that provides accurate information to the public through a website. Mexico created a government-run platform, verificado notimex, which employs a network of fact-checkers. But, above all this, citizens have the most important role in curbing misinformation. Social media gives each of us immense power. It can be used as a platform for citizen-led mass movements as seen during the agitation against corruption during the last decade. Since out-of-context images are a major source of misinformation, citizens can be trained to use reverse search image tools such as RevEye and TinEye to locate their origin. Videos present an even higher level of complexity, but tools like InVID have begun to make a difference. In general, we should verify the accuracy of information by looking up a reliable source before forwarding it. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that posts that trigger an emotional response are shared more that vulnerability is exactly what fake news targets. In short, if a story is too good, too funny, too infuriating, too sweet, or too outrageous, it is probably likely to be untrue. Subhashish Bhadra and Varad Pande work at Omidyar Network India, an investment firm that invests in bold entrepreneurs who help create a meaningful life for every Indian The views expressed are personal This scanning electron microscope image shows the novel coronavirus (orange), which causes COVID-19 disease, isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (green) cultured in the lab. Photo published on Feb. 13, 2020. (NIAID-RML) CCP Virus Likely Introduced to Chinese Market by Humans, Not Animals: Study The CCP virus was likely introduced to the Chinese wet market in Wuhan that was originally said to be the origin of the pandemic by humans, researchers found. Scientists in Canada and the United States examined environmental samples from the seafood market in the epicenter of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus and found them genetically identical to human SARS-CoV-2 isolates, they wrote in a preprint study (pdf). SARS-CoV-2 is the technical name for the CCP virus. The market samples were most likely from human sources, they added. Chinese officials originally suggested the market was where the virus originated. Some sellers market exotic animals there. Coronaviruses circulate among animals and only rarely jump to humans. The SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the market samples were most likely from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 who were vendors or visitors at the market. If intermediate animal hosts were present at the market, no evidence remains in the genetic samples available, the scientists wrote. They compared samples of the new virus to SARS-CoV, which appeared in the early 2000s. They found a surprising absence of precursors or branches for the new virus, suggesting that there was a single introduction of the human-adapted form of the virus into the human population. A police officer wearing a mask stands in front of the closed seafood market in Wuhan, Hubei province, China on Jan. 10, 2020. (Stringer/Reuters) The scientists said a number of questions remain but stressed the importance of identifying how the CCP virus adapted for human transmission, citing a lack of evidence to definitively support any of the theories banded about. Did SARS-CoV-2 transmit across species into humans and circulate undetected for months prior to late 2019 while accumulating adaptive mutations? Or was SARS-CoV-2 already well adapted for humans while in bats or an intermediate species? More importantly, does this pool of human-adapted progenitor viruses still exist in animal populations? Even the possibility that a non-genetically-engineered precursor could have adapted to humans while being studied in a laboratory should be considered, regardless of how likely or unlikely, they wrote. A preprint paper means it has not been peer-reviewed. Some scientists have posited the virus originated in bats before jumping to pangolins and humans. But no evidence as yet points to the adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 for human infection in pangolins or the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from pangolins to humans, the researchers said in the new study. They recommend sampling for the virus from more species to try to pinpoint the origins, including taking samples from markets, farms, and wild populations. The authors were Shing Hei Zhan, a researcher at the University of British Columbias Department of Zoology & Biodiversity Research Centre and founder of the Fusion Genomics Corporation; Benjamin Deverman, director of the vector engineering research group at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University; and Yujia Alina Chan, a researcher at the Broad Institute. Chan said in an email to The Epoch Times that the study found SARS-CoV-2 is well adapted for humans. The paper found and stated that there is currently no genetic evidence that supports the theory that SARS-CoV-2 originated from a laboratory, she added. The virus originated in China last year, with the first cases being reported in Wuhan. The city hosts a high-level laboratory. These new sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, announced April 27 . CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity. The 26 test sites in Arizona are part of a total of nearly 350 locations across 14 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. "As we move into a new phase of combatting the pandemic and as communities begin to safely open up their local economies, we need testing to be easily accessible," said Troyen Brennan, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, CVS Health. "By further expanding the number of drive-thru test sites available across our retail network, more people can be tested closer to home in a familiar setting." Once fully operational, more than half of the company's 1,000 test sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index. The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing that may weaken a community's ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks. "Arizona is focused on increasing access to testing," said Governor Ducey. "As we gradually re-energize our economy, we will continue to follow public health guidance. We are grateful to CVS Health for making more drive-through sites available for Arizonans to get tested." Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 22 to schedule an appointment. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients. The additional new testing sites in Arizona include: CVS Pharmacy, 180 North Dobson Road, Chandler, AZ 85224 85224 CVS Pharmacy, 990 East Warner Road, Chandler, AZ 85225 85225 CVS Pharmacy, 3990 West Ray Road, Chandler, AZ 85226 85226 CVS Pharmacy, 990 East Pecos Road, Chandler, AZ 85225 85225 CVS Pharmacy, 1151 East McKellips Road, Mesa, AZ 85203 85203 CVS Pharmacy, 7547 East Southern Avenue, Mesa, AZ 85208 85208 CVS Pharmacy, 9230 E. Broadway Road, Mesa, AZ 85208 85208 CVS Pharmacy, 5954 East McDowell Road, Mesa, AZ 85215 85215 CVS Pharmacy, 3560 West Peoria Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85029 85029 CVS Pharmacy, 1850 West Dunlap Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021 85021 CVS Pharmacy, 1625 North 44th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85008 85008 CVS Pharmacy, 10160 East Bell Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 85260 CVS Pharmacy, 10010 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85253 85253 CVS Pharmacy, 5100 East Grant Road, Tucson, AZ 85716 85716 CVS Pharmacy, 615 North Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85711 85711 CVS Pharmacy, 6310 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ 85710 A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here. More information on steps CVS Health has taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including support for health care providers and clinicians facing financial and administrative strain, is available at the company's frequently updated COVID-19 resource center . For downloadable COVID-19 testing media assets, including photos, video and interviews with CVS Health executives, please visit the Media Resource Center. About CVS Health CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company in the world. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contact Monica Prinzing, (831) 241-8294 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com New Delhi: Pakistan continues to focus on countering Indian influence in Afghanistan and harbours the Taliban and groups such as the Haqqani Network, which have the ability to engage in violence on Afghan soil, according to a new Pentagon report. The report by the inspector general of the US department of defense for the January-March quarter, issued on Monday, pointed to a continuation of Pakistans efforts to achieve its strategic objectives in Afghanistan, including shutting out India from the war-torn country. The report is the first one to be issued since the US and the Taliban signed an agreement on February 29 to facilitate the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The deal has stalled due to differences between the Taliban and the Afghan government on prisoner releases and intra-Afghan dialogue. There was no immediate response to the report from Indian officials. According to the DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], Pakistans strategic objectives in Afghanistan continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of instability into its territory, the report said. The DIA reported that Pakistan likely views increased Taliban influence in Afghanistan as supporting its overall objectives and will seek to influence intra-Afghan peace talks in a direction favourable to Pakistan. The DIA also reported to the inspector general that Pakistan has encouraged the Afghan Taliban to participate in peace talks, but refrained from applying coercive pressure that would seriously threaten its relationship with the Afghan Taliban to dissuade the group from conducting further violence. The DIA also told the inspector general that Pakistan continues to harbour the Taliban and associated militant groups in Pakistan, such as the Haqqani Network, which maintains the ability to conduct attacks against Afghan interests. Indian and Afghan officials have for long accused the Taliban, particularly its sword arm, the Haqqani Network, of having close links to the Pakistani military leadership. Most of the Taliban leadership and their families continue to be based in Pakistani cities such as Quetta. The report comes at a time when the US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has called on India to hold direct talks with the Taliban. However, the Trump administrations outgoing pointperson for South Asia, Alice Wells, said on Wednesday that it was up to India to take a call on engaging with the Taliban. In his message in the report, Sean ODonnell, the acting inspector general of the US department of defense, said: The United States and Taliban agreed to a [one]-week reduction in violence prior to the signing of the agreement, but Taliban violence during the quarter overall was high. In January and February, both the United States and the Taliban increased operations in order to influence negotiations. In addition, while the Taliban reduced attacks against US and coalition forces, it continued to attack the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, particularly after the signing of the agreement. The department of defense didnt provide information on Taliban-initiated attacks for the January-March quarter, saying this was sensitive as it was part of ongoing deliberations on whether the Taliban is complying with the terms of the agreement with the US. ... SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pakistan's Punjab province government will reopen shrines for visitors after easing the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that has claimed more than 1,000 lives in the country, according to a media report. The proposal to reopen the 544 shrines in the province and finalise standard operating procedures (SOPs) for them was presented during a high level meeting, The Express Tribune reported. The Auqaf department, which controls the management of shrines, is also insisting that the shrines should be reopened as it has so far incurred a loss of Rs 260 million due to their closure. Officials of the Auqaf department said they had sent suggestions to the provincial government to ease the restrictions on visiting the shrines during the lockdown. The sources said the administration of a shrine would have to follow the procedure if visitors gather, according to the paper. The SOPs and related recommendations will be formulated by the home and health departments. The participants of the meeting, chaired by Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat, were informed that there are 544 shrines in the province under the auspices of the Auqaf department, which can be opened as per SOPs. It was decided that steps should be taken to ensure implementation of the SOPs at the shrines. It is expected that SOPs will be issued after Eid, following recommendations for opening the shrines. A recommendation to reopen cinema and theatre halls on the occasion of Eid was also reviewed. After reviewing the situation regarding the novel coronavirus pandemic, the proposal was rejected. The cinemas and theatres will remain closed on Eid because the increased number of visitors expected on the occasion may cause spread of the virus, the paper said. Punjab Home Department sources said it would be impossible to implement the SOPs in cinema and theatre halls so they would remain closed. Pakistan on Thursday recorded 2,193 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections to 48,091. The death toll stands at 1,017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Ghana Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD-Ghana), has called on all political parties, especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to channel their energies towards promoting peace and unity in the country and not resort to actions that would promote conflict. In a video shared with the Daily Graphic, the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the CDD-Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante, stressed the need for the two leading political parties to exercise restraint in their approach towards the compilation of a new voters register by the Electoral Commission (EC). Dr Asante said anyone who would be entrusted with the responsibility to govern the country by January 7, 2021 would need the co-operation and the goodwill of the people to be able to work. This is the time that political leaders have to be talking about unity and not conflict and dividing us. We really need to have a different approach to any problem that we are going to have with elections, he added. Restraint The NDC and the NPP have to really step back, take a deep breath and appreciate the moment that we are in. There is a current pandemic, a coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging our society, he said in a video. Dr Asante said the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the economies of the world and the way people were even thinking about the future. We do not even know or appreciate what kind of impact it is going to have on ordinary citizens, their livelihoods and economic opportunities. We do not know when this is going to end, there is so much to be done to think about how we are going to face the future and overcome this devastation, he stated. Way forward Commenting on the best way to address the divided views on the compilation of a new register, Dr Asante said since the EC still insists on compiling the register, anyone with issues could opt for other lawful means to address their concerns including going to court. Dr Asante said any party that thought the ECs decision to compile a new voters register was unlawful could explore the possibility of going to the law court, stressing that even though the lawful process can delay things, it is a much better option. I know already that the NDC has gone to court on the lawfulness of the EC refusing to use Voter ID cards for people to identify themselves during the registration, he added. No fighting He said since there was already a process in place to deal with the matter, we should respect the court to give a ruling so that we can move forward. Dr Asante said there was no benefit in the current contest for anybody to want to go and fight or do things outside the laid down procedures in order to give a mandate to whoever the people will choose as their President in the 2020 elections. It is completely unnecessary. Delayed registration He conceded that lawful processes would delay an already encumbered registration process. Some of us have already done our analysis that shows that we are really risking this process because of all the delays that have happened if we want to still compile a new voters register. "So obviously, the lawful processes can delay things but that is a much better option if we want to consider other political options which include bringing other eminent people in to discuss how we can overcome this problem, I think we can do that, he added. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video This photo shows a view of a dam on Wixom Lake in Edenville, Mich., on May 19, 2020. (Kaytie Boomer/The Bay City Times via AP) Michigan Dam Had Repeated Safety Violations Before Flooding TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.A hydroelectric dam that failed to hold back floodwaters this week in Michigan was the target of lengthy investigations by federal regulators, who revoked the facilitys license over safety violations two years before the flooding that forced 10,000 people to evacuate their homes. Boyce Hydro Powers history of violations lasted throughout the 14 years the company was authorized to run the nearly century-old Edenville dam, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which said it repeatedly raised concerns about the dams ability to prevent flooding during extreme conditions because of its inadequate spillway capacity. The dam on the Tobacco and Tittabawassee rivers, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Detroit, was among several barriers overtaken on May 19 by floodwaters that chased people from communities in central Michigan. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned that Dow Chemical Co.s hometown of Midland could end up under 9 feet of water. She said the state will investigate the dam operators. Homes and other buildings surrounded by floodwaters in Midland, Mich., on May 20, 2020. (Maxar Technologies via AP) The commission ordered Boyce Hydro to form an independent team to investigate three other dams it owns on the rivers that were vulnerable to a cascading failure scenario. Among them was the Sanford Dam, which also was damaged. The commission planned to send a staff engineer to the site to assist with the investigation as soon as it could be done safely, Chairman Neil Chatterjee said in a statement. The governor said the state was reviewing every possible legal recourse. A look at the Sanford Dam on May 20, 2020. (Kaytie Boomer/The Bay City Times via AP) Lee Mueller, architect and co-member manager of the company, did not return calls for comment Wednesday from The Associated Press. The Edenville dam, in Michigans Gladwin and Midland counties, includes a series of earthen embankments totaling about 6,600 feet (2,012 meters) long, with a maximum height of nearly 55 feet (16.8 meters). It forms a 2,600-acre reservoir known as Wixom Lake, a popular boating and fishing spot. The dam has two reinforced concrete spillways to carry away excess water when reservoir levels get too high. In its 2018 order revoking Boyce Hydros license, the commission said its primary concern about the dam was its inability to handle the probable maximum floodthe type of event that could be expected from the most severe combination of critical meteorologic and hydrologic conditions that is reasonably possible in the area. Don Thomas rows Nick Maki (L) and son Jason Thomas past Jasons red 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee, barely visible above the flooding, after picking up Jasons two family cats from his flooded home in Midland. Breached dams further up the Tittabawassee River flooded downtown Midland, Mich., on May 20, 2020. (Daniel Mears/ The Detroit News via AP) Commission guidelines require that dams be able to withstand such a flood or have enough spillway capacity to prevent reservoirs from rising dangerously high. The Edenville dams spillway capacity was only about 50 percent of the probable maximum flood, the commission said. Inadequate spillway capacity is a common problem for U.S. dams, an Associated Press investigation found in 2019. The commission said it warned the dams previous owners of the need for improvements in early 1999, but no changes were made before the license was transferred to Boyce Hydro in 2004. Boyce Hydro said it planned to build an auxiliary spillway on the Tittabawassee River that year and was studying the need for another on the Tobacco River, the commission said. An aerial view of flooding as water overruns Sanford Dam, Mich., on May 19, 2020, still frame obtained from social media video. (TC Vortex /via Reuters) But the company failed to complete either project, repeatedly seeking extensions and missing deadlines, the agency said. Among its other violations: performing unauthorized dam repairs and earth-moving and failing to file an adequate public safety plan, maintain recreation facilities or monitor water quality. For more than a decade, Boyce Hydro knowingly and willfully refused to comply with major aspects of its license with the result that public safety has been put at risk, and the public has been denied the benefits, particularly project recreation, to which it is entitled, the commissions order said. The record demonstrates that there is no reason to believe that Boyce Hydro will come into compliance, the commission added. The company has displayed a history of obfuscation and outright disregard of its obligations. The company twice lowered Wixom Lakes level without permission after the federal license was revoked, said Nick Assendelft, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which has overseen the Edenville barrier since its federal license was withdrawn. The department was pursuing enforcement action for the violation and resulting damage to natural resources when the dam gave way, Assendelft said. A lawsuit filed April 30 says the lengthy drawdowns in 2018 and 2019 killed thousands, if not millions of freshwater mussels, many listed as endangered species. The Four Lakes Task Force, an authority formed by the two counties and area property owners, agreed to buy all four dams on the rivers from Boyce Hydro last December and was planning to close the deal within the next couple of months, spokeswoman Stacey Trapani said. The group planned to raise $32 million for the purchase and for major upgrades and maintenance, she said. Now, the status of the deal is unclear. Were still in emergency mode at the moment, Trapani said. As soon as we are able, well start assessments so we can determine a path forward. By John Flesher Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. Much colder. High 22F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 10F. Winds light and variable. Australian businesses are unpersuaded by President Joko Widodo's plans to reopen the economy for business, with trade slumping and few signs that travel restrictions will be eased any time soon. And while the Indonesian government has flagged it could begin winding back some restrictions as soon as early June, some business people are reluctant to return because of uncertainty about the true number of infections in the country and the standards of the health care system. Dane Herden, owner of the Celebrity Ink Tattoo Bali studio, left the island in March to return to Australia and doesn't know when he will be able to return and reopen his business. On Thursday, Indonesia recorded 973 new cases of the virus, a new record high for single-day infections. It has now had a total of 20,162 cases with 1278 deaths the highest in south-east Asia and while 154,139 people have now been tested, this figure is proportionally much lower than the numbers in neighbouring countries. Bali reported three new cases on Thursday, taking the holiday island's total to 374, yet officials have suggested they could begin reopening one of Australians' favourite tourist hot spots from July. Another three cases of coronavirus have been linked to an abattoir in Melbourne's west, bringing the cluster to 106 people. The household contacts of people linked to Cedar Meats in Brooklyn are among four new cases recorded in Victoria on Thursday. The state's coronavirus tally has increased by just one to 1581 after another three cases were reclassified - one moved to another state and another two dropped because of duplication. There are now 88 active cases in Victoria, with 10 people in hospital, including five people in intensive care. Another three cases of coronavirus have been linked to an abattoir in Melbourne's west, bringing the cluster to 106 people Police Minister Lisa Neville said there have been no new cases in aged care. But a woman at HammondCare's Caulfield Village dementia facility is due to receive the results of a COVID-19 test on Thursday after she was tested a third time. The facility went into lockdown after the woman tested positive on Monday before a second swab came back negative on Tuesday. She was then tested for a third time. HammondCare chief executive Stephen Judd said on Wednesday the woman was 'doing really well' despite a cough that prompted the testing. More than 150 staff and residents have tested negative at the facility. It is among three aged care homes put in lockdown after residents tested positive to COVID-19. A resident from Villa Maria Aged Care Home in Bundoora went to hospital at the weekend with a fever, returning an inconclusive test result. A woman at HammondCare's Caulfield Village dementia facility is due to receive the results of a COVID-19 test on Thursday after she was tested a third time More tests were negative, but the nursing home remains in lockdown. A resident at Lynden Aged Care at Camberwell was diagnosed with COVID-19 while being treated at a metropolitan hospital, prompting the facility to also shut its doors to visitors on Tuesday. A study from the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and the Victorian health department released this week revealed Victoria had 76 distinct genetic COVID-19 clusters by April 14. Researchers made the finding through genetic analysis of samples from 903 coronavirus patients, which was about 75 per cent of the state's 1333 cases at the time. There are now 88 active cases in Victoria, with 10 people in hospital, including five people in intensive care. Pictured: : A person arriving at Cedar Meats has their temperature taken Of the cases sampled, the majority (737) of people were part of a genomic cluster, with social venues, healthcare facilities and cruise ships among the sites where clusters were linked. The 76 clusters includes 34 with only people who had travelled overseas and 34 with a mix of people who had travelled overseas and acquired the illness locally. The median size of a cluster was five people, but one cluster linked to multiple social venues in metropolitan Melbourne had 75 cases. David Dee Delgado/Getty ImagesBy VICTOR ORDONEZ, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, arrived at his midtown Manhattan apartment Thursday morning after being released from Otisville Correctional Facility. Cohen will spend the remainder of his three-year sentence in home confinement. Cohen was released as part of the Justice Department's push to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among inmates, his lawyer said. The lawyer, Jeffrey Levine, is expected to issue a statement later in the day. Cohen, 53, was originally scheduled for release in November 2021. He pleaded guilty in 2018 in two separate criminal cases. Cohen admitted to campaign finance violations spawning from payments made to women who alleged having affairs with Trump years prior to his 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen's return home marks the end of a long and confusing endeavor. His lawyers requested the remainder of his sentence be served at home due to the pandemic in March which was swiftly rejected. His attorneys submitted another request in mid April. Although this request was reportedly granted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the BOP backtracked and rescinded its approval on May 1. Cohen's attorney, however, was notified Wednesday that the latest BOP order was, in fact, rescinded Cohen would be allowed to return home Thursday morning. In another charge, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project Trump and his company pursued while Trump was trying to secure the Republican nomination to become president. Thousands of federal inmates have contracted coronavirus, and more than 50 have died, according to the BOP's own data. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was also released from prison last week without having served even half of his more than seven-year term. He was jailed in 2018 convicted for witness tampering while awaiting trial on bank and tax fraud charges. He also later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct justice related to his undisclosed lobbying for a pro-Russian politician and political party in Ukraine. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. A federal judge on Wednesday agreed to temporarily set aside a Texas death row inmates capital murder conviction and ordered the state to either give him a new trial or release him from custody. Ronald Prible, 48, was sentenced to death in 2002 on a capital murder charge in connection with the slayings of five family members in 1999 at a northwest Houston home. His sentence partially stemmed from the testimony of a prison informant who said Prible confessed to the killing. Pribles attorneys have maintained that prosecutors, including former Harris County prosecutor Kelly Siegler, trained a group of informants to set him up. Siegler no longer works for the office and currently serves as host of the crime TV show Cold Justice. In an 88-page court order, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison said Prible should be released if the state does not begin new criminal proceedings within 180 days. Harris County District Attorneys Office spokesman Dane Schiller said this ruling was only a first step in the ongoing federal proceedings. The Texas Attorney General may decide to appeal this to the 5th Circuit, he said. We are closely monitoring the case. Pribles appellate attorneys have been challenging the conviction for more than a decade. Judge Ellison agreed with their claims that the state suppressed and withheld evidence in the original prosecution. Ive had this case for 12 years, and the takeaway is that we have a client who has been on death row for 12 years, placed there on informant testimony of the sort that should not be used to put anybody on death row or in prison, said Pribles appellate attorney James Rytting. Its a serious problem within the federal and state system, and we were fortunate that other inmates in the case came forward and said he was set up. On April 24, 1999, Prible's longtime friend, Steve Herrera, was found on the floor of his northwest Houston home, shot once in the base of his skull. Herrera's fiancee, Nilda Tirado, was found on the loveseat in the den wearing only a T-shirt, also killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. Her body had been covered in gasoline and burned. Black soot spread through the house, fatally choking the couple's three young daughters as they slept. Investigators believed that Tirado had been sexually assaulted and her body burned to cover the evidence. According to earlier reports in the Houston Chronicle, authorities learned that Prible was the last known person to see the family alive. Police, however, found little evidence when they questioned him. He did not smell like smoke. His clothes and shoes from the night before were tested for trace evidence, but no blood, hair or accelerants were found. Tests on the clothes he was wearing when he was detained also came back negative. Further investigation did not reveal enough evidence to charge him with the crime. Prible did, however, confess to a string of bank robberies, which landed him in federal prison. He said some of the bank money was kept at Herreras house, and Prible has maintained that someone else who knew about the money likely robbed the family. In 2001, after the capital murder case went cold, Siegler questioned Prible in prison and later charged him in the slayings. In court filings, Pribles attorneys say Siegler supplied prison informants with enough information to fabricate a confession. While challenging the conviction, Rytting and attorney Philip Hilder pointed to other allegations of misconduct against Siegler. For example, a state district judge in 2015 found that she had committed 36 instances of misconduct in the 2007 murder trial of David Temple, who has since been given a new trial after a conviction in his wife's 1999 slaying. Temple was found guilty again in the second trial. Siegler has denied any wrongdoing in that case. In the Prible case, attorneys say she withheld letters that proved the snitches were setting up their client. julian.gill@chron.com Facebook Inc. is making another run at building a shopping empire and this time it has the direct involvement of the companys most important executive, Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook chief executive officer announced a handful of updates Tuesday signaling the companys commitment to online shopping and commerce, one of the areas he highlighted as a priority for this year. The main product, called Shops, is a new version of an existing Facebook feature with a similar name, and will let retailers upload product catalogs to their Facebook page or Instagram profile. Users can find these Shops directly from the retailers page, or by clicking on an ad that will redirect them to a Shop inside Facebook instead of the retailers own website. Eventually, Zuckerberg says, these Shops will be accessible across the Facebook family, including Messenger and WhatsApp, giving retailers a way to reach Facebooks nearly 3 billion users with one product catalog. This is really the first very major push that were going to be making into that next step around commerce, Zuckerberg said in an interview Monday. He also highlighted the importance of Shops for small businesses, almost all of which are operating exclusively online during the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of Facebook advertisers are small businesses, Zuckerberg said, so ensuring they can operate is important to Facebooks business as well. All these tools are open for business even when your physical storefront cant be, he said on a livestream Tuesday announcing the new feature. Facebook stock rose more than 3% after the news, adding to gains from earlier in the day. The real significance of Tuesdays announcement, though, may be Zuckerbergs personal involvement in the effort. Facebook has built shopping features into its service before without much traction. Prior efforts around buy buttons in users feeds and selling virtual gifts never took off. Facebook has even offered product catalogs for years, including a Facebook Page Shop that lets brands list products within a digital store front much of the same functionality that Zuckerberg announced Tuesday but under a different banner. Zuckerberg has been heavily involved in Shops, spending significant time and attention on the product usually a sign that a feature is here for the long haul. Zuckerberg said hes been meeting with the companys small-business commerce team every day during the pandemic. Shops is also under the direction of another high-ranking Facebook official, Javier Olivan, who is running the companys efforts to integrate all of its products and has lead Facebooks growth organization for years. Whats unknown is whether this added attention will lead to a different outcome than Facebooks prior shopping efforts. Facebook has been good at helping people find new products through ads, but has never succeeded at becoming a place people go specifically to shop, Zuckerberg concedes. Hes also learned lessons from previous commerce attempts, including the importance of making it as easy as possible for retailers to sign up. When Instagram first launched shopping in 2016, for example, Zuckerberg said Facebook made it difficult for businesses to sign up by forcing them to use all of Instagrams software systems instead of enabling them to upload existing catalogs from other services. With Shops, which are free to create, retailers can import existing product catalogs from Shopify Inc. or BigCommerce Inc. to expedite the process and eliminate barriers. We think this will get the flywheel going a little bit more, Zuckerberg said. Facebooks push into commerce could help boost its advertising business. If retailers believe they can close a sale directly on Facebook or Instagram, they may be more likely to promote products on those apps. But commerce could also offer an alternative revenue stream to advertising. When users buy a product directly through Instagram, for example, the company takes a small cut of those sales. Instagram only works with a few hundred retailers right now for direct checkout. Shops could eventually increase that number by hundreds of thousands, or even millions. A foray into a new business line is likely to draw attention from regulators, too. The social network is already criticized for its size it has 3 billion global users across all of its products and is under antitrust scrutiny from multiple agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and 47 state attorneys general. Any new thing that we do is going to have scrutiny, Zuckerberg said. Thats certainly something we think about in everything we do. But at the same time, I dont think you can let the fact that there will be scrutiny and questions prevent you from doing things that you think are going to be good. Now read: The biggest South African ecommerce winners Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) A police official who led the raid on an illegal medical facility feared that Chinese patients who may have COVID-19 are not being treated properly and are not placed under quarantine despite showing symptoms. Brigadier General Rhoderick Armamento, deputy director of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said authorities were surprised to see the mini-hospital located inside Villa 627 of the Fontana Leisure Park in Pampanga which appeared to be catering to coronavirus patients. The PNP caught one Chinese national being treated in the illegal facility on Tuesday, who was complaining about cough and sore throat. "Ang mga dinadalang pasyente doon accordingly ay may mga problema sa respiratory diseases such as inuubo, sinisipon, namamaga ang lalamunan. Lahat po 'yun ay manifestation na meron kang COVID-19 [Patients brought here are those with respiratory diseases such as cough, colds, and sore throat. All those are manifestations of COVID-19)," Armamento told CNN Philippines' Balitaan. "Ang very risky po dito is come and go lang sila, hindi po sila nagpapa-quarantine. Nagpapa-check up lang [What's very risky here is that these people just come and go, they do not subject themselves under quarantine. They just come here for check-ups]," he added, noting that the facility only had seven beds and had no confined patients. The CIDG official added that they discovered rapid antibody test kits and syringes on site, along with "unsanitized" volumes of hospital waste. "Pangalawa, hindi sila nagku-quarantine kung talagang may mga karamdaman silang ganoon. One thing's sure, kumakalat pa rin sila [Second, they do not practice quarantine even if they have those symptoms. One thing's sure, they are still roaming around]," the official added. Armamento said the PNP is coordinating with the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration for further investigation, adding that the medicines and equipment found in the underground hospital are being assessed. The Chinese administrator and pharmacist on site could not present licenses for their operations. Photos from PNP-CIDG Photos from PNP-CIDG Previous Next For now, the CIDG said the Chinese patient as well as the two staff members caught during the raid have been brought to a legitimate hospital to be tested for COVID-19. "From thereon, doon kami magsisimula ng contact tracing, 'yung mga naging pasyente noon at kung nasaan sila [From there, we will start contact tracing their patients and where they are now]." Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said separately that Malacanang is alarmed about the discovery of the illicit clinic. "Kakasuhan po iyong mga nahuli sa Fontana dahil nilabag po nila 'yung dalawang batas na nagsasabing hindi pwedeng mag-practice ng medicine ng walang lisensya, hindi pwedeng mag-dispense ng gamot na hindi rehistrado sa FDA [We will sue those caught in the Fontana facility because they violated two laws stating no one can practice medicine without a license, and one that prevents the dispensing of medicines not registered with the FDA]," Roque said during his regular briefing. News about upcoming MBC romance drama is set in stone, starring South Korean actor and actress Ji Hyun Woo and Kim So Eun. The new series is said to have the literal title, "Can't Be Bothered to Date, But Don't Want to be Lonely!" The drama depicts the story of two people in their youth who are in a co-living situation. They are young and seeking a romantic relationship, yet at the same time, do not want such relationship to prevent each other from living a full and uncaged life because they see serious romantic relationships as burden. They want their freedom, yet they also do not want to be lonely. "Can't Be Bothered to Date, But Don't Want to be Lonely!" is set to portray people in their 20s who are yet to discover themselves and navigate their way through life and love. Ji Hyun Woo will play Cha Kang Woo, a handsome psychiatrist who is curious about humans and how they behave, yet is quite frightful of expressing himself when it comes to significant others. He has fondness for causing trouble, and he also gets to do whatever he pleases. Ji Hyun Woo speaks whatever is on his mind and is spontaneous. However, because of a traumatic experience, he stops and actively avoids starting new relationships with other people. Luckily, this all stops when he meets a woman and changes everything he knew about love. On the other hand, Kim So Eun will be Lee Na Eun, a freelance copy editor who shows foul behavior to people who have a bad attitude, and shows kindness to people who are equally good. She used to have a job for a newspaper, working as a contract worker. However, after failing to renew her contract, she got fired. Lee Na Eun strongly believes that she will get to write her own book and become a novelist one day. Due to a rough and problematic life, she has put into a halt the bliss of dating and meeting people who may potentially be her other half. However, this all changes when she meets a man in the house that she is co-living in. Things spark and romantic feelings arise as they live under one roof. Jin Hyun Woo and Kim So Eun are the perfect pair to play the roles of Cha Kang Woo and Lee Na Eun. The actor is much known for his impressive drama portfolio and the wide number of dramas he has starred in. His top works include "Angry Mom," "Queen In Hyun's Man," "Wanted," "The Awl," and "Good Thief Bad Thief." Kim So Eun also has a rich drama range. She has several dramas including, "Our Gap Soon," "Liar Game," and "The Scholar Who Walks the Night." When Adrian Perez first received his COVID-19 diagnosis, he was terrified. Doctors told him to try to stay off a ventilator. Now, the well-known morning show producer for The New 93Q is back at home and talking about his fight with coronavirus. "Producer Hoss," as he is known, spoke with Chron.com from his home after a five-day ordeal in the hospital that began last Friday. "I feel way better than when I went in, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all the love, support, and prayers you've all shown me. It did help push me through when I feared the worst." LOCAL RADIO SHOW HOST GOES NATIONAL: Houston radio host goes national with new weekend show President Donald Trump on Thursday did not wear a mask for coronavirus protection during the public part of touring a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan, despite a state law and company policy requiring facial coverings there. Trump, who has consistently refused to wear a mask in public, was visiting Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, which has a policy of requiring masks there. The plant is currently making ventilators in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Video showed Trump on the factory floor talking to Ford executives who were wearing masks. "Not necessary," Trump said, when a reporter asked why he was not wearing a facial covering. "Everybody's been tested and I've been tested." Trump also claimed "I had one [a mask] on before," in an area that was not visible to reporters, but added, "I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it." "I was given a choice, and I had one on in an area where they preferred it," Trump said, referring to Ford executives. When Ford's executive chairman, William Ford Jr., was asked "can you confirm the president was told it is OK not to wear a mask in this area," Ford shrugged and said, "It's up to him!" Both William Ford and CEO Bill Hackett each were wearing masks when they accompanied Trump for the visit to the factory floor. The Ford company later issued a statement saying: "Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit." President Donald Trump wears a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years at the Ford Rawsonville plant. NBC News When William Ford introduced Trump for a speech to factory workers after the tour, the company chairman wore a mask as he spoke. Trump did not. United Automobile Workers, the union representing factory workers, released a statement which said: "Despite some in the President's entourage not following health and safety protocols in the plant today, we want to make it clear that the CDC guidelines have not changed and it is vitally important that our members continue to follow the protocols that have been put in place to safeguard them, their families and their communities. "This deadly virus has taken the lives of 25 of our UAW members already and thousands of Americans. These protocols are literally a matter of life and death, and that is why the UAW has been working tirelessly with the companies to ensure that everything that can be done to keep our members and our communities safe." The president's tour occurred despite an executive order signed earlier this week by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that prohibits nonessential visits to manufacturing facilities in the state to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Wednesday said that while she would not seek to block Trump's visit, he had a "legal responsibility" under state law to wear a mask when he visited the plant. "I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford and across this state by wearing a facial covering," Nessel wrote in an open letter to the president. On Tuesday, Ford Motor told media outlets that it had a policy of requiring masks there and that the company had informed the White House about that policy. But the company also said that day "The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination" about whether Trump and his party will wear masks during the visit. Ford twice this week briefly shuttered plants elsewhere after three workers tested positive for the coronavirus. When Trump was asked at the White House earlier Thursday if he would wear a mask when he visited the Ford factory, he had said, "I don't know, we're going to look at it" Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett (L) speaks with US President Donald Trump as they toursthe Ford Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 21, 2020. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images But Nessel, in her letter to Trump, wrote that the mask requirement "is not just the policy of Ford, by virtue of the Governor's Executive Orders. It is currently the law of this State." She also wrote, "Anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the President of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus." Tweet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during an interview Wednesday on MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," criticized Trump for not wearing a mask while in public. "I also am concerned the example that is not being set for the rest of the country, and I'm concerned about those lives because while the president and the vice president may consider it not in their interest to wear a mask, they have doctors around them all the time who can tend to their needs at any given moment," Pelosi said. "But most of the American people who might follow their lead do not have that same opportunity." Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat whose Michigan district includes the factory that Ford visited, said Thursday during an interview on MSNBC, "Mr. President, I just hope you'll wear that mask so people know that it's important, and your wearing that mask can save lives." OTTAWA The number of Canadians receiving the COVID-19 unemployment benefit is triple those getting a wage subsidy, raising worries federal programs will be slow to help the economy recover. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The number of Canadians receiving the COVID-19 unemployment benefit is triple those getting a wage subsidy, raising worries federal programs will be slow to help the economy recover. "Clearly, something has gone wrong," said Conservative MP Marty Morantz, whose riding straddles Winnipegs west. Federal departments reported Wednesday that 2.7 million Canadians are on the wage subsidy, versus 8.1 million who applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. Ottawa launched the monthly $2,000 CERB in early April, in an effort to help Canadians who have lost jobs or work hours, and the Liberals rolled out the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy three weeks later. The wage subsidy pays up to 75 per cent of an employees wage, maintaining their health insurance and making it easier for businesses to scale up as the recession abates. But numerous industry groups have said the six-week lag between the COVID-19 shutdown and the wage subsidy was too late for businesses to survive. Ottawa allocated $73 billion for CEWS over 12 weeks, but in the first eight weeks, just $5.7 billion had been paid out, dating to March 15. "These programs are not really working," said Morantz. He noted CEWS provides many workers with more cash than CERB, and yet its only gotten scant uptake. "The government is letting down Canadians." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has extended the program by another 12 weeks, and urged businesses to bring back laid-off staff. "Please rehire your workers; use the wage subsidy for their paycheque. Thats what its there for," Trudeau said Tuesday. Jennifer Robson, a political-management professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, said CEWS late rollout is just one factor. For one, self-employed people who dont have a wage to subsidize could qualify for CERB. CEWS requires employers to complete a complex application form, compared with the simple CERB form, which is given to almost anyone with a Social Insurance Number and checked for compliance after the fact. "Perhaps (employers) would like to hold off on using (CEWS) until theyre up and going that theyre kind of banking it," said Robson. Comparing archived data on the two programs uptick, Robson reported a slight jump in CERB applications a week after the CEWS launched. She also noticed the number of CERB applications, unique applicants and total payouts suggest many are only applying for part of the eligible two-month period. To her, that suggests employers might have taken longer to apply than staff expected, or perhaps employers who didnt qualify for the subsidy then suggested their staff apply for the CERB. "Reopening is still very much a patchwork right now, so its still early days," said Robson, an expert in social policy who will testify Thursday before MPs. Morantz says the federal Liberals botched their COVID-19 pandemic response by not getting enough outside advice. For example, CEWS was originally set at 10 per cent, a rate almost universally panned before the Liberals raised it to 75 per cent. "You see the government making changes to these programs on the fly, reacting after weeks and weeks of suggestions," said Morantz, arguing parliamentary sittings would have caught some issues before programs were launched. Finance Minister Bill Morneau said last week he expects more workers to go from the benefit to the wage subsidy after the government broadened CEWS criteria and time frame. "Employers have been signing up at a rapid pace. You will see more funding through that program come as that is rolled out," he told reporters May 15. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. That day, the Free Press asked both the Canada Revenue Agency and Service Canada how many Manitobans had applied or received either the CERB or CEWS; neither agency could provide an answer by Wednesday. Robson said getting the number of applications by week, region and gender would help experts figure out how the pandemic is impacting different people and whether policies are working. NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said it could also help provinces craft their own supports. "Its obvious that theres a benefit in having that information," Blaikie said. "Were living in a really fast-paced policy environment; there are a lot of decisions, with big financial and other implications, being made." dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca [May 21, 2020] IntraEdge launches privacy-first self-check temperature kiosk, Janus, to help companies get back to business safely PHOENIX, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IntraEdge today announced the launch of privacy-first self-check temperature kiosk, Janus, an enterprise level hardened contactless solution for supporting companies in getting back to business, available for nationwide order and delivery. As businesses across the country begin to re-open, COVID-19 remains front of mind and public health and privacy are paramount. With the Janus kiosk, companies can comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's daily health check expectations and user privacy with this turn-key contactless, market-ready solution. To meet the highest health, privacy and security standards, Janus leverages Pyramid's Flex kiosk's thermal imaging technology and the Truyo Privacy Rights Platform , an IntraEdge product, powered by Intel. Janus' contactless check-in process has four simple steps, so employees and customers can go about their business as usual. This check-in process can be integrated into existing HR systems and can support card scanning and manual inputs as needed. "As state's begin to re-open, businesses need a safe and secure way to support their employees and customers. Regular temperature checks are one piece of the puzzle," said Dan Clarke, president of IntraEdge products and solutions. "The Janus kiosks are developed as a privacy-first solution to sense temperature and verify identity with maximum convenience and safety. Nothing will be 'normal' about our 'new normal,' but we firmly believe Janus will make a positive difference in the lives and environments of businesses' re-opening through our contactless and secure solution while addressing any privacy concerns." Integrating the Truyo Privacy Rights Platform into the kiosk ensures transparency and peace of mind for the privacy and security of user data, as well as corporate compliance with global security regulations, like the CCPA and GDPR. Janus only collects temperature values taken using the thermal imaging camera, and this information is immediately encrypted then transmitted to Truyo's highly secure cloud environment. No data is stored on the kiosk itself. Janus can be installed freestanding, using a wall mount or on a countertop. All touchpoints on Janus are within ADA reach along with an audio interface for visually impaired users. Janus is available to order nationwide and can be delivered in as little as four weeks of placing an order. To learn more, please visit truyo.com/janus. About IntraEdge IntraEdge is a large technology talent, products, services and training organization that functions with the agility of a significantly smaller firm. We provide our clients with the resources and expertise to enhance business performance through technology. We give our people the opportunity to grow in their fields, with the freedom to excel. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/intraedge-launches-privacy-first-self-check-temperature-kiosk-janus-to-help-companies-get-back-to-business-safely-301063638.html SOURCE Truyo [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Bengaluru-based food delivery app Swiggy has announced home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi today. Liquor would be delivered through the 'Wine Shops' category on the app. The feature was launched after the app received the nod from the Jharkhand government. The service would be extended to other cities within a week. According to a report in CNBC, Swiggy is also in talks with other state governments to roll out liquor delivery and online processing services. Zomato, too, is reportedly in talks with the Jharkhand government and is aiming to make the service live by the end of the week. Also read: Coronavirus lockdown 4.0: Want to get alcohol home delivered? Swiggy might have an answer Swiggy has also introduced measures such as verification of mandatory age and user authentication in order to fulfill the deliveries. Customers would have to verify their age by uploading a picture of their valid government ID along with a selfie. The platform would then authenticate the information using an AI-powered system. There would also be a unique OTP that the customer would have to provide at the time of delivery, stated the news site. Customers must also keep in mind that there is a cap on the quantity of order to keep in line with the permitted quantity as per law. Also read: Zomato fires 13% employees, announces 50% salary cuts due to coronavirus Swiggy VP - Products, Anuj Rathi said that they would fulfill the deliveries through their existing technology and infrastructure that enables hyperlocal deliveries. "By enabling home delivery of alcohol in a safe and responsible manner, we can generate additional business for retail outlets while solving the problem of overcrowding, thereby promoting social distancing," said Rathi. The food-delivery app is partnering with authorised retailers for liquor delivery. Delivery partners and retailers have also been trained to ensure smooth processing and fulfillment of orders. Also read: Coronavirus impact: Swiggy lays off 1,100 employees, future of cloud kitchens uncertain Also read: Zomato aims to deliver alcohol amid coronavirus lockdown Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel were deployed in Dharavi and some other areas of Mumbai on Thursday to help the city police enforce lockdown to contain coronavirus, an official said. A company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed at Dharavi along with local police, the police official said. Earlier, on Wednesday night, personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar in south Mumbai to enforce a strict lockdown. On Thursday, CRPF personnel met police officers in Dharavi, a COVID-19 hotspot, and discussed deployment plan for the area, the official said. Five companies of CAPF, including personnel of CISF, arrived in Mumbai on Monday, he said. Armed with weapons, batons and shields, CISF personnel conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar on Wednesday night, he said. The Maharashtra government had said that it had sought Central forces so that the overstretched police force could get some rest. More than 700 Mumbai Police personnel have contracted coronavirus so far and ten of them have died. The central forces will assist the Mumbai Police in maintaining law and order and in prevention of any untoward incident during lockdown. Personnel of the Central forces have been deployed in zones 1,3,5,6 and 9 of the city covering some areas of south and central Mumbai and parts of eastern and western suburbs, the police official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Photo: Contributed Plans for Canadian tech giant Shopify Inc. (TSX:SHOP) to hire 1,000 workers for a new Vancouver office now look uncertain amidst the pandemic. CEO Tobi Lutke took to Twitter Thursday (May 21) to announce the e-commerce company was keeping its offices closed until 2021. And after that, most will permanently work remotely. Office centricity is over, the tech executive tweeted. The future of the office is to act as an on-ramp to the same digital workplace that you can access from your #WFH setup. WFH refers to work from home. The Ottawa-based company revealed plans in January to open its first office in Vancouver by late 2020. The new research and development centre was poised to hire 1,000 workers in the coming years, led by vice-president of user experience Lynsey Thornton. Thornton was the citys first Shopify employee and had initially been working remotely when the company announced its massive expansion plans. A Shopify spokeswoman did not immediately respond to inquiries from Business in Vancouver about the future of the new R&D centre and hiring plans prior to publication. Shopify chief talent officer Brittany Forsyth followed up on Twitter to say the company planned on retaining recruitment hubs in Toronto, Ottawa, Waterloo, Montreal and shortly Vancouver. When it was announced in January, the plan was for the new office to occupy four floors and more than 70,000 square feet at Four Bentall Centre on Dunsmuir Street. Shopify said at the time it was in the market for Vancouver-based backend developers, data engineers, mobile developers, web developers, product designers and product managers. Silicon Valleys Tipalti Inc. announced plans the same month to hire 50 workers in Vancouver by the end of the year for a new office that opened in February. Mastercard Inc. said in January it was investing $510 million with $49 million in help from the federal government to launch a new cyber security centre in the city and hire about 300 workers. Over 3,000 students, who were staying in 173 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, have been safely sent back home, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said on Thursday. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are co-educational residential schools run by the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, an autonomous body under the human resource development (HRD) ministry. The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti has successfully completed the exercise of shifting of over 3,000 students who were staying in 173 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in various parts of the country during the lockdown period, Nishank said. In the backdrop of COVID-19 situation, the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) had preponed its summer vacation schedule and the JNVs were closed from March 21. While majority of the students of the JNVs could travel to their respective residences, which are mostly within the district boundaries, before the imposition of the nationwide lockdown, 3,169 outstation students who were staying in 173 JNVs, under the migration scheme and 12 students who were attending preparatory classes at Centre of Excellence, Pune, for the JEE (Mains) exam could not travel to their residences, Nishank said. With further extension of the lockdown period, these outstation students (including girls) and mostly in the age group of 13 - 15 years, were increasingly becoming restless and homesick as they had not met their families for the past over six months, he said. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as one of the measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Later, a 21-day nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24, which came into effect the next day. It has now been extended till May 31. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,435 and the number of cases to 1,12,359 in the country on Thursday, registering an increase of 132 deaths and 5,609 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 63,624, while 45,299 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. San Francisco, 21 May 2020: The Report School Bags Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Fabric (Canvas, Polyesters, Nylon, Leather), By Distribution Channel (Offline, Online), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025 The global school bags market size is expected to reach USD 24.6 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to high demand for the product driven by rising number of students in primary and secondary schools. As per the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2018, about 56.6 million students attended elementary and secondary schools. Growing student enrollment is projected to boost the demand for school supplies, such as school bags. This factor is anticipated to create growth opportunities for the market in the forthcoming years. Government initiatives to provide basic education to all the children is also expected to drive sales of school supplies including school bags. Evolving teaching methodologies and rapid digitization have resulted in increased use of tablets, laptops, and other electronic gadgets. These gadgets increase the weight of the bags, which is anticipated to drive the demand for lightweight bags and fuel innovation in terms of raw materials and manufacturing technologies. Rising use of eco-friendly materials such as recycled plastics is projected to positively influence the growth. By fabric, the school bag market is segmented into canvas, polyesters, nylon, leather, and others. Polyesters held the largest market share in 2018 and is expected to be the fastest growing segment over the forecasted period. High strength of the product is anticipated to fuel the segment growth in near future. Nylon is anticipated to hold the second largest share of the market over the forecast period. It is also expected to register the second fastest CAGR from 2019 to 2025. Online distribution channel is estimated to register the fastest CAGR over the forecasted period owing to growing penetration of e-commerce industry coupled with rising influence of social media on consumer purchasing decisions. Availability of offers and discounts, quick product delivery and easy returns, free shipping, and ease of comparison are some of the factors driving the growth of the segment. Access Research Report of School Bags Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/school-bags-market School Bags Market Report Highlights Polyester fabric is estimated to be the largest and fastest growing segment during the forecast period Online distribution channel is projected to register the fastest CAGR in the forthcoming years owing to rising internet penetration and influence of social media Asia Pacific accounts for the largest market share and is estimated to be the fastest growing region over the forecast period, due to growing number of school children in the region Some of the key players operating in the school bags market include Samsonite International; Targus Inc.; Nike; Puma; VIP industries; and Wildcraft Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/clothing-footwear-and-accessories Grand View Research has segmented the global school bags market on the basis of fabric, distribution channel, and region: School Bags Fabric Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) Canvas Polyesters Nylon Leather Others School Bags Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) Offline Online School Bags Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2015 - 2025) North America Europe Asia Pacific Central & South America Middle East & Africa Access Press Release of School Bags Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-school-bags-market About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. For More Information:www.grandviewresearch.com Rico Montego, 22, is out and about in Washington on his daily routine, chatting with friends on a street corner in the east of the city, despite the strict stay-at-home orders. Compliance with the lockdown -- now in its eighth week -- has been patchy across the American capital, with concern focused on casual social gatherings in neighborhoods hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Montego lives in Trinidad, a small, ethnically-mixed residential area that has recorded over 230 cases of coronavirus, among the highest per capita in the city. According to official data, 77 percent of the 407 deaths in Washington have been black, revealing the disproportionate toll on African-Americans as only about 46 percent of residents are black. Click here for full Covid-19 coverage It is very difficult to stay home all day with nothing to do, said Montego. I was working for a big security company until they stopped our shifts. They say we will go back, but I have no money coming in. I havent got my stimulus check -- the system is all backed up. We are just waiting around. A few blocks away, Barry Wright, 61, and about eight other men gathered on a sidewalk to eat lunch distributed by a local school. We are here every day. We all grew up nearby, he said. The group are theoretically breaking the citys lockdown rules, and could face $5,000 fines or even 90 days in jail, but Wright said the police dont interfere. They know us and stop to chat, asking us if were OK and giving us water bottles, he said. Unequal city As the United States battles to quell the pandemic that claimed more than 93,000 deaths nationwide so far, the impact has underlined Washingtons sharp social and economic disparities. The capital has boomed in recent years, but poverty, unemployment and inadequate public services remain widespread in some of its black-majority neighborhoods. Experts say African-Americans are suffering more from Covid-19 due to higher housing density, poor health and medical care, and more often having to take public transport to work. This is overwhelming for a lot of people. All we can do is follow the guidance on staying under lockdown, said Brian Hamilton, pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the citys southwest. But many people are getting close together, many are not social distancing, and some young men dont want to wear masks. Some just dont have masks, others just wont do it. Groups hang around -- it does happen a lot. Deaths from coronavirus have plateaued in recent weeks in Washington, rather than fallen as they have in former hotspots such as New York and New Orleans. City authorities could be facing a long battle, but they may soon follow other parts of the US by easing the lockdown. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she could unveil a phased reopening plan this week despite the emergency stay-at-home order being extended to June 8. Recent warm spring weekends have encouraged some residents to venture outside to socialize, with some skate parks attracting large crowds, and the upcoming Memorial Day holiday is set to further test the restrictions. Rhonda Hamilton, 43, is an advisory neighborhood commissioner -- an elected local volunteer -- who represents about 2,000 people in the Buzzard Point district next to the Anacostia River. People say we saw six or seven young people together but I say those youngsters are like a family -- always together and drawing strength from their own peer group. A lot of African-American culture is based on people connecting, so people continue to check on one another, to have conversations, to make sure meals are distributed, Hamilton said. Social distancing has changed how we reach out to each other but, even in the midst of the pandemic, those cultural relationships and community connections continue. This has been a total readjustment of how we live. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A child receives a vaccination shot at a hospital in Rongan in China's southern Guangxi region on July 23, 2018. That year, a scandal rocked China after a Chinese company was found to have shipped more than 250,000 doses of a faulty DTaP vaccine, affecting more than 200,000 children. (AFP via Getty Images) Doctor Concerned About Canadian Human Trials of Virus Vaccine Developed in Partnership With Chinese Military A medical doctor is expressing concern about Canadians receiving an experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed with the help of the Chinese military. Canadas National Research Council (NRC) announced a collaboration initiative with the Chinese company CanSino Biologics Inc. on the clinical development of the companys new AD5-nCoV vaccine, Ad5-nCoV. CanSino developed the vaccine in partnership with Chinas military. Health Canada has approved the first human clinical trials that will run at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University. The company is already conducting human clinical trials for the vaccine in China. Dr. Kulvinder Gill, a medical doctor based in the Toronto area and president of Concerned Ontario Doctors, says shes worried about Canadians becoming human subjects of a vaccine developed in China. Canada is literally the only country in the entire world offering up its own citizens as guinea pigs in this unethical, rapid, human clinical trial of the Chinese SARS-CoV-2 vaccinein partnership with the communist Chinese military that is already under a cloud of global suspicion, Gill says. SARS-CoV-2 v is the scientific name of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19. The Canadian government is spending $44 million to upgrade NRCs Montreal facilities to enable mass production of a vaccine for COVID-19. The NRC has been working with CanSino since 2013. Gill says the process for developing a vaccine shouldnt be rushed, citing comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. I must warn that there is also the possibility of negative consequences where certain vaccines can actually enhance the negative effect of the infection, Fauci said recently. Gill says the process for developing vaccines normally takes years. This human clinical trial with Chinas Communist Party vaccine is proceeding at an alarming rate, she says. The typical vaccine development cycle is approximately 10 to 15 years. The shortest vaccine development cycle on record is actually four years, and that was for the mumps vaccine. Gill also notes that China has a bad record when it comes to vaccines. She says there have been several major vaccine scandals in China in recent years, including in 2018 when hundreds of thousands of children were injected with faulty vaccines. Most colleagues and other Canadians that I have spoken to have said that they want nothing to do with a vaccine if theres any affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party because theres such lack of trust in overall handling of the epidemic to date, she says. As reported by The Epoch Times, the Chinese regime hid information about the human-to-human transmission of the CCP virus for at least several days, and reprimanded whistleblowers who tried to warn others about the virus. The NRC was subjected to intense cyberattacks by Chinese state-sponsored hackers in 2014, costing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Gill believes that legitimate informed consent would include telling participants of the CCPs involvement in the vaccine. However, she would prefer that the partnership be dropped altogether. Its fundamental for our government to abandon this dangerous endeavour and instead fund vaccine trials with our allied nations who understand the importance of trust and ethics and transparency. The Epoch Times reached out to the NRC and Health Canada but no comments were received by press time. A spokesperson for the Canadian Center for Vaccinology said, We are still waiting for final approval and will be in touch soon to give you detailed study information. Chahid El Hafed, May 21, 2020 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali praised the historical role of Africa in accompanying and supporting the Saharawi people. Brahim Gali, in a speech on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the start of the armed struggle, said: "We salute the historic role of Africa in accompanying and supporting the just cause of our people and we call on the African Union to take more severe measures to curb the constant violation by the Kingdom of Morocco of the founding law of the African Union, especially the clear violation of the borders inherited from colonialism and internationally recognized, as well as the military occupation of parts of the territory of the Saharawi Republic, a founding member of the African Union. The President of the Republic thanked the people and government of Algeria, under the leadership of the President of the Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, for their positions of principle and their support for the Sahrawi people and their just cause. Gali also praised the fraternal and friendly relations that unite the Saharawi Republic with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, expressing his satisfaction in this regard for the level of cooperation and coordination between the two nations. he greeted the international movement of solidarity with the struggle of our people, and strongly condemned the unfortunate attempts being made at the level of the European Union, with the clear support of France and Spain to approve agreements with the Moroccan occupier, including parts of the territory of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, in a cowardly violation of international law and the resolutions of the European Court of Justice itself. SPS 125/090/TRA Beijing: China on Thursday termed as nonsense a senior US diplomat's remarks blaming it for using constant aggression on the border with India to try to change the status quo and said consultations were going on through diplomatic channels between the two countries which has "nothing to do" with Washington. Responding to a question on the flare-up of border tensions between India and China, Alice G Wells, the senior US diplomat for South and Central Asia, on Wednesday described Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accused it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour" to try to shift the status quo. "There's a method here to Chinese operations, and it is that constant aggression, the constant attempt to shift the norms, to shift what is the status quo. It has to be resisted, Wells told the Atlantic Council think-tank at an event on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that China's position on China-India boundary issue had been consistent and clear. The US diplomat's remarks are just nonsense, he said when asked about Wells' comments. "China's border troops firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and security, and firmly deals with the Indian side's crossover and infringement activities," Zhao said. "Our troops firmly safeguard the peace and stability in the border region. We urge the Indian side to work together with us, abide by our leadership's important consensus, comply with the agreements signed, refrain from unilateral actions complicating the situation," he said. "We hope they will make concrete efforts for peace and tranquillity in the border region. There are consultations and diplomatic channels between the two sides that has nothing to do with USA, Zhao said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. Churches leave Mennonite denomination over theology, LGBT stance Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction appended Congregations from three Anabaptist churches in Ontario have left the over 100-congregation Mennonite Church Eastern Canada over theological concerns, some of which relate to issues of sexuality and salvation. We announce with great sadness Kingsfield-Clinton and Kingsfield-Zurich Mennonite Church, Living Water Christian Fellowship and Maple View Mennonite Church have left the MC Eastern Canada family, the church conference said a recent statement publicized by CanadianMennonite.org. After a healthy conversation with leadership from each congregation, we mourn their leaving, and we bless and pray Gods best for each of them in their future ministry. According to the magazine, the churches formalized their departures from the denomination earlier this spring. Pastor Brent Kipfer of Maple View Mennonite Church in Wellesley told the magazine that his church began a discernment process after members of the evangelical congregation noticed a more widely varying theological diversity within MC Eastern Canada and MC Canada. Maple View formally left MC Eastern Canada on April 25, 2020 and became an associate member of the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches in June 2019. Kipfer said that Maple View was spurred to review its relationships with the denomination due to the MC Canada's shifting stance on LGBT issues. In 2016, MC Canada congregations voted in favor of creating space for congregations to hold differing views from MC Canadas traditional definition of marriage as being a union between one man and one woman. [C]oncerns about sexual ethics [are] a secondary expression of a deeper theological divergence anchored in a more substantial discomfort with the range of theological diversity in the denomination, Kipfer was quoted as saying. The Kingsfield-Clinton and Kingsfield-Zurich Mennonite Church family of congregations have left the MC Eastern Canada and joined the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches as associate members. Lead Pastor Ryan Jantzi told the Canadian Mennonite that around June 2018, church members acknowledged that they were out of sync with the shifting policies of the regional church body and felt more isolated. The Kingsfield congregations stepped down to associate members of MC Eastern Canada in 2019 before a formal two-part vote was held in January. A majority of members voted to formally withdraw from MC Eastern Canada. According to Jantzi, the Kingsfield congregants were primarily concerned about convictions related to salvation and mission and how the Mennonite church landscape has shifted. He said that the Kingsfield congregations affirm that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that everyone, everywhere ought to be invited to place their faith in Jesus. Another concern, Jantzi said, was that his congregations were not completely in sync with MC Canadas shifting position on sexuality. Jantzi said that even as we hold to the overall historic, traditional teaching on this, we are also adapting in this area. We also are on a journey of learning how to care for and disciple those who experience same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria, he was quoted as saying. This is a growth area for us too. Jantzi assured, however, that there were many points of blessing for the Kingsfield congregations throughout their time with MC Eastern Canada. The Christian Post reached out to Living Water Fellowship Church in New Hamburg for comment on why the congregation stepped away from MC Eastern Canada. A response is pending. Living Water chose not to make a statement after repeated requests for comment by Canadian Mennonite. MC Eastern Canada Executive Minister David Martin said that the denomination is gratified that the congregations departure took place on good terms. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to engage with each congregation in frank and helpful conversation, Martin told the magazine, adding that MC Eastern Canada respects the various decisions that each congregation has made in terms of how they desire to follow their call to ministry. Even though our formal affiliations are changing, we have taken the time to pray together and bless each other, Martin concluded. We will continue to pray for each other and ask for Gods blessing on our respective ministries. Disagreement over sexuality has led to other Mennonite denominational divisions in recent years. In 2018, the largest conference of Mennonite churches in the United States departed from the Mennonite Church USA over changing views on homosexuality. In 2015, the denomination made a similar move to create more space for theological divergence from its traditional marriage stance. The Lancaster Mennonite Conference, which had over 179 congregations across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio in addition to over 70,000 members, departed from the conference after its leaders voted to do so in 2015. The move led to about eight churches ending their affiliation with the Lancaster conference because of their desire to stay with Mennonite Church USA. Correction: May 20, 2020: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Maple View Mennonite Church stepped down to an associate member of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada last June. Rather in June 2019, the church became an associate member of the Ontario Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. Maple View formally left MC Eastern Canada on April 25, 2020. (TNS) Seattle, Washingtons decade of mind-boggling growth ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.OK, maybe whimper is overstating it, but population data for 2019 released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows the city recorded its slowest growth rate of the decade last year.From July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019, Seattle had a net gain of about 11,400 people, reaching a total population of 753,700. That pencils out to a 1.5 percent growth rate, a far cry from the peak year of 2016 when we grew by 3.2 percent, and added more than 22,000 residents.After six consecutive years in the top 2 for growth among the 50 most-populous U.S. cities that includes a No. 1 showing in 2013 Seattle dropped to sixth place in 2019.For those Seattleites who feel the citys been growing at much too fast a pace, this news should come as a welcome relief. For growth-loving urbanists, though, maybe its a bit of a downer.Of course, the new census numbers capture a period before we were hit with the COVID-19 virus and the ensuing economic shutdown. Well have to wait until next years data release to see what kind of effect that crisis has had on the citys growth.Seattle is not the only city to see things cool off a bit in 2019. Census data shows that overall, growth is down sharply among major U.S. cities over the past couple years. This slowdown is evident in most of Seattles peer cities, including San Francisco, Portland, Denver, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas.The data suggests that the much-touted urban renaissance of the 2010s, which was fueled by a newfound love of city living among millennials and empty-nesters, could be waning. Most likely, the steep cost of living in these cities has made the higher growth rates unsustainable.In 2019, Mesa, Arizona (population 518,000) ranked No. 1 for growth among the 50 most-populous U.S. cities, for the first time. It grew by 2 percent, which is a modest number compared with the top-ranking cities of previous years. In fact, Mesa is the slowest No. 1 of the decade.In terms of numeric growth, another Arizona city holds the top spot: Phoenix, with a net increase of about 26,300 people. That brings the citys total population to 1.68 million. The nations largest city, New York (population 8.34 million), had the biggest numeric decline in 2019, shrinking by 53,300.Even if Seattles population growth last year was slightly anemic, we still amassed a net increase of 145,000 people over the course of the decade. That adds up to a remarkable 23.8 percent growth rate.And with that, its official: Seattle ranks as the fastest-growing major city of the 2010s. We handily beat two Texas cities for that distinction Fort Worth and Austin which tied for second with 22.1 percent growth for the decade.Seattle remains the 18th most-populous U.S. city, behind Indianapolis and ahead of Denver.From 2010 to 2019, five major cities lost population. Detroit had the most dramatic decline, losing 6.1 percent of its population. The other cities are Baltimore, Milwaukee, Memphis and Chicago.While Seattles growth is cooling off, Redmonds is not. Last year, Microsofts hometown grew by a whopping 6.7 percent. That ranks Redmond as the 10th fastest-growing city in the country for 2019, among those with a population of 50,000 or higher.Washington has 25 cities with a population of at least 50,000. Only three lost population last year, and all are in King County: Federal Way, Auburn and Burien.Like Seattle, Bellevues rate of growth has slowed down recently. At just 0.7 percent, last year was just the first time this decade that King Countys second-largest city dipped below a 1 percent growth rate. Bellevues population stands at 148,200.Seattle remains, of course, the states largest city. Spokane is still No. 2 in the state, and just slightly larger than Tacoma. Vancouver and Bellevue round out the top five, in that order.Just as Seattle is perennially Washingtons biggest city, the states smallest town also has no real competition. But unlike Seattle, little Krupp in Grant County had something of a population boom in 2019. After plateauing at 50 for five consecutive years, the towns population suddenly jumped to 52.Thats a 4 percent rate of growth for the year, more than twice as high as Seattles. Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - Guinea's National Agency for Health Security (ANSS) has welcomed the increasing number of recovered patients from Covid-19, estimated at 1,548 out of a total of 2,927 patients since the first case was reported on 12 March NEW HAVEN It looked like all of Westville had shown up virtually, of course. A dense housing and commercial development project with views of West Rock won over traffic concerns when some 75 people came to a Zoom meeting of the City Plan Commission, with approval of the transformation of the long-closed 500 Blake Street Cafe and large parking lot that has been dormant for almost two decades. The site plan was approved unanimously by the commission that heard testimony for four hours on Ocean Managements proposal for 129 units of housing and an improved public walkway along the West River, which was negotiated by City Plan staff. Approval was contingent on submission of detailed traffic and sidewalk approvals by the citys engineering office and Transportation, Traffic and Parking before building permits are issued, with special attention to the intersections of Blake and Valley streets and the site plan along Tour Avenue. A special permit that also gave the commission more control over design elements in the village was approved 3 to 1, with commissioner Elias Estabrook voting against the look of the building along Tour Avenue with its metal clad facade he said did not fit in with the surrounding buildings. Melissa Saint, who represented the owners, said they were trying to bring in a small, modern touch, such as Yale University does with some of its buildings, by using a mix of materials in a sophisticated way. In the big picture here, while we all may have ... different views of what kind of material should appear on this building, I think it is enough for the developer to consider, but I think if we start getting into whether or not this is going to ride on the materials on one portion of one building ... we are going down a road I dont think we want to go to, said attorney Jim Segaloff, who represented the developer. Commissioner Adam Marchand joined the 3 to 1 vote on the special permit even though he felt the proposed apartment buildings were somewhat out of scale with the surrounding village district structures. Im not 100 percent convinced that it fits in super neatly as some of the diagrams make it seem it does, he said. Marchand asked the developers in refining the design to explore materials and techniques to reduce the visual impact of a building that is bigger than what is around it. He explained his vote to approve, rather than table, given the current situation with the country in partial lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic that has stalled the economy. I think that supporting development, and development happening soon, is absolutely essential policy for our city to pursue when we have an economy in a coma and we are trying to figure how to get our economy relaunched. I feel there are some tradeoffs here and for me the most important thing is the safety of pedestrians, but I just want to acknowledge that the design is still rather big, Marchand said. Saint said she hopes construction starts this summer with completion by early 2022. The general opposition to the development came from residents of Tour Avenue who asked that the vote be put off for more discussion and review of the traffic plan and some tweaking of a design element, but even they were happy with the general intent of the project, the density and walkability. The housing will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, one-plus apartments that add some space, and two-bedroom apartments. The project also features more than 7,000 square feet of new commercial space. Along Blake Street, according to the narrative accompanying the development, there will be a 3,900-square-foot restaurant, while closer to the West River, some 3,400 square feet of retail space will feature a small market in a public plaza with outdoor seating next to the existing boardwalk. In addition to the pedestrian walkway, there will be a bike path. Parking is available for around 120 cars. Saint said they are looking to bring in more foot traffic that would support not only commercial space at the development, but existing businesses in Westville, as well. She said they will seek to add essential retail so residents will not have to drive someplace else for such things. Patty OHanlon, who runs the Westville Community Nursery School on Tour Avenue, asked for a good faith discussion with the developers about residents traffic concerns. She said there are preschool-age children on that street and she is worried about their safety and particularly the egress onto Tour Avenue which she fears many will use, rather than Blake Street. She also asked for traffic calming efforts for the street. Her concerns were echoed by Adam Lopiano, Muffy Prendergast and Thea Buxbaum, who favored tabling approval for more discussion. On the other side, architect Keith Krolak said previous developments done in this area have left much to be desired. He said this one respects the scale and urban fabric of the neighborhood and provides connectivity with the current retail establishments. Krolak said he feels the traffic issues can be solved with the right amount of engineering. He said the solution could be outside the site due to the traffic moving through here, rather than being part of the neighborhood, and it shouldnt penalize a good development. All indications are that this is going to be an excellent catalyst for the neighborhood, Krolak said. mary.oleary@hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577 Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:50:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Yosley Carrero HAVANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese community in Cuba are extending a helping hand to students from China as COVID-19 restrictions remain in place to contain the spread of the pandemic. The kitchen of Susu Wang, one of the Chinese students at the University of Havana, is well stocked with beans, pork, noodles as well as different ingredients and condiments for China's traditional cuisine. The 23-year-old student was born and raised in China's Hebei Province and now rents a second floor apartment in central Havana, one of the hardest hit municipalities in the island nation amid the pandemic. "During lockdown Chinese students watch TV, do workout, study and above all, try to keep in touch. Solidarity and friendship are guiding principles of Chinese people. A friend in need is a friend indeed," she told Xinhua. Wang and her roommate Qiuyu Wu are preparing Chinese beans and potatoes for dinner as well as a cucumber salad, a traditional Chinese cold dish made of cucumber, garlic and soy sauce. It would have been impossible to cook their traditional dishes during the coronavirus outbreak without the help of the Chinese community in the Cuban capital, said Wu, who comes from China's Sichuan Province and studies at the University of Havana now. "Public transport is suspended to keep social distancing and buying food is difficult for Chinese students. We are now benefiting from the initiative of the Beijing Restaurant's workers who have set up a place so that we can get the ingredients we need to cook," she said. Beijing Restaurant, founded in August 2019, was the first restaurant operated by a Chinese company on the island. It stands on the banks of Almendares river in Miramar District in Havana. With a seating capacity of 120 on normal days before lockdown and decorated with Chinese symbols, the brand new restaurant served about 50 dishes cooked by skillful chefs from China. Zhang Jiang, executive manager of Beijing Restaurant, said they pick up Chinese students in Havana twice a week and offer them food supplies. "We have a minibus to pick them up at different locations and send them back home. We are committed to making Chinese students' stay here more pleasurable during the epidemic," he said. Currently, a 215-member chatroom on WeChat operates as the ideal platform to keep workers at Beijing Restaurant and Chinese students connected so that they can order meals in advance and keep informed on the offers. "This chatroom is very useful while we stay in isolation because we can talk not only about food supply, but also about other topics involving Chinese people and descendants in Cuba," Chinese student Haitong Wu said. However, Beijing Restaurant's initiative also benefits Cubans who visit the restaurant for the fine Chinese cuisine. Cuba has been suffering a shortage of basic supplies in the past several months as a result of stepped-up U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade over the island. The scarcity of basic products is made even worse by the COVID-19 epidemic. Since first confirmed cases were reported in the country on March 11, local authorities adopted measures to distribute more products to Cuban nationals through the ration card system. "I have been driving for 20 minutes from the outskirts of the city. I want to buy Chinese soy sauce and spices. I am fond of Chinese cuisine," Havana resident Yankiel Suarez told Xinhua. The Chinese community in Havana has been offering different services during the coronavirus outbreak, including supplying meals to elderly people living in nursing homes and offering Chinese martial arts classes on TV to help Cubans better deal with COVID-19. Earlier in May, Cuba distributed some 58,750 face masks and protective suits donated by Chinese alumni to combat the coronavirus on the island. China and Cuba renewed their bilateral educational agreement in late 2019, under which more than 3,000 students from different regions and provinces of China can study the Spanish language, tourism, medicine and other specialties at Cuban universities. Enditem Rajasthans Ranthambore tiger reserve has 18 to 35 caracals aka Siyagosh, a secretive wild cat, according to a report by the states forest department. The Indian caracal is an endangered animal and listed as a schedule-I species in the Wildlife Act, 1972. The caracal is a medium-sized wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and India. It has a slender build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears and long canine teeth. The report on status of species by Manoj Parashar, Field Director, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve states that the species earlier was found in drier parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kutch but its habitation has now shrunk to parts of Rajasthan (Ranthambore tiger reserve) and Kutch in Gujarat. Only few records of the species have been reported annually, mainly in the Ranthambore landscape though it was also found in Sariska until recently. The decline in its population and distribution in India is a matter of concern. Parashar said caracals were tamed and used for hunting in ancient Egypt. In India caracals and cheetahs were tamed and trained for hunting small and large game respectively. In India caracal is known as Siyagosh. The main threat to the species is the loss of habitat although there have been reports of retaliatory killing of the species by shepherds in Rajasthan as they are known to kill lambs and kids, Parashar said. Typically nocturnal, the caracal is highly secretive and difficult to observe. It is territorial, and lives mainly alone or in pairs. The caracal is a carnivore that typically preys upon small mammals, birds, and rodents. In Ranthambore tiger reserve seven species of wild cats are found, of which the caracal is the rarest and least known in terms of status and ecology, states Parashar. The phase IV monitoring in Ranthambore was conducted from January to April this year during which some of them were camera trapped. Parashar said there has been no proper attempt to estimate the abundance of caracals in any area. It was decided that we will process our camera trap capture data to initiate some population estimation exercise and arrive at an estimate of individuals present in the area. Due to the presence of tigers outside the tiger reserve especially in Dholpur, Karauli and Bundi, camera trap data of these areas could also be included in this exercise, he said. Based on the data from all the different camera trap stations, it was concluded that there were at least 18 different individuals and the population could range from 18 to 35 individuals. The forest department predicts that a sizeable population of caracals could be present in the adjoining forest areas of Karauli, Dholpur and Bundi as well as in the ravines of the National Gharial Sanctuary along the Chambal River. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Egypt is predicted to reach 20,000 next week, Egypts higher education minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said on Thursday. The figure, around 40% up from the current confirmed 14,229 cases, is expected to be recorded on 27-28 May, the minister said in a televised conference attended by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. From 15 April to 20 May, the average rate of the daily increase in new infections in Egypt stood at 5 -5.6%, down from 8-10% in the first two weeks of April, the minister said. He sought to reassure the public that authorities are still able to contain the virus. The daily growth rate [in cases] remain within safe ranges, the minister said, adding that it would be worrying if the rate of the daily rise in cases reaches 15-20%. Each person infected with coronavirus in Egypt is passing the disease on to an estimated 1.4 people, as opposed to three people on average at current transmission rates in some countries, Abdel Ghaffar said. When the number is below 1 percent, then the pandemic can be considered receding, he added. Search Keywords: Short link: THE ISSUE: President Trump fires five inspectors general over six weeks. THE STAKES: The acts seem aimed at stopping probes that threatened political embarrassment. --- Politicians like to drop news that they'd rather people ignore on a Friday night, figuring most won't notice it and will have forgotten, anyway, once the next week starts. So it's late on some recent Fridays when President Donald Trump has tended to announce the firings of some key oversight officials. He probably doesn't need to worry about official reaction: The U.S. Senate's Republican majority, which has some capacity to rein him in, has been as docile as a flock of spring lambs when confronted with evidence of the Trump administration's corruption. But the rest of us ought to take note. Because the firing of people leading the inspector general offices in five top agencies over the past six weeks is just the latest move by this president to avoid accountability on top of stonewalling congressional investigators and defying court orders. It is the latest evidence of Mr. Trump's push toward an imperial presidency, which our founders resisted as an affront to the operation of American democracy. Late Friday, Mr. Trump notified Congress that he was firing the State Department's inspector general, Steve Linick. Then, on Saturday, the Trump ax fell on the acting inspector general of the Department of Transportation, Mitchell Behm. Those firings followed the ousters of the Health and Human Services acting inspector general, Christi Grim, on May 1; the Pentagon's acting inspector general, Glenn Fine, on April 7; and the acting inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, on April 3. Why were they fired? Mr. Trump initially said he had lost confidence in Mr. Linick, then admitted that he had acted only at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who by law can't fire somebody charged with overseeing his work. In each of these cases, one may reasonably point to other factors that may have been more in play. Mr. Linick is reported to have been investigating Mr. Pompeo's use of diplomatic personnel for personal errands and the secretary's role in U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Mr. Behm was probing whether Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao had preferentially directed aid to Kentucky, the home of her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who's in a tight re-election race. Ms. Grim had released a report that identified critical shortages of medical supplies and staff as the coronavirus pandemic developed. Mr. Fine was in line to lead the committee overseeing the release of $2 trillion in coronavirus relief funds, oversight congressional Democrats won over Mr. Trump's objections. And Mr. Atkinson, of course, was the Trump-appointed official who authorized the release to Congress of the whistleblower complaint that led to Mr. Trump's impeachment last year. The president has the right to fire people in his administration. And we all have the right to judge whether a president is acting in good faith on our behalf or scrambling in the dark of night to avoid accountability. Midland ISDs transition to virtual learning in the future will not be mandatory. Superintendent Orlando Riddick told the school board on Monday that any plan that allows for student to work at home will be another choice the district offers its students. Riddicks comment came during a question-and-answer meant to bring clarity to the virtual learning discussion taking place in the community. The back-and-forth with board President Rick Davis also was the culmination of weeks of comments Midland ISD officials have made about continuing some form of learning from home, even if the coronavirus pandemic is no longer a factor. Riddick again told the board he believes there is a place for at-home learning for those who choose to do so and those excelling with programs such asGoogle Classroom. He also stated that-home learning is not for all students. I believe that parents need schools not just for the academic environment, but they need schools for the capacity of child care, Riddick said. That is the reality of what it is. I know that we do our best to provide what it looks like on both instances quality academics and a safe and secure place. And that works for a whole lot of our students and parents in our community, Riddick said. And I know that there are kids who are doing really well outside this new normal, and with that, I dont want to take that away, he said. And I believe that there are parents who are doing really well in this new normal, and I dont want to take that away. The conversation during the meeting on Monday appeared to stem from community reaction to recent comments by Riddick and other MISD personnel about online learning and moving Midland ISD into the 21st century. Officials have talked about how in a coronavirus world parents arent going to want their children in classrooms with more than 20 students, there is more technology available to students and that not all students learn the same way. What you and your team are working on is a possible scenario by which people who want to opt for that (online) option can choose that option if they believe it works best for the -- either from an academic standpoint o perhaps some parents might be concerned about not wanting their children to attend school when it begins next school year, Davis said. If (an online option) exists, then bottom line, it is a choice. Its not a mandate, is that right? Riddick answered, Absolutely. Its a choice. School choice has part of Riddicks transformation of the district. Hes created more options beyond the neighborhood schools, worked with third-party organizations in the attempt to turn around lower-performing schools and created Midlands first single-gender school. James Fuller, who has been a trustee for decades, said Midlanders want innovation and more choices in academics. What we have now is a challenge to offer those choices, Fuller said. Cleveland Barrett was accused of the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl and prosecutors presented DNA evidence at his trial earlier this year. But the probabilities that Barrett was not linked to the DNA were not of the 1-in-several-billion sort; instead, a crime lab analyst said the DNA would match 1 in 4 African-American males. Barrett was acquitted. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune) When Cook County prosecutors brought Cleveland Barrett to trial earlier this year for the predatory criminal sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl, they presented the jury hearing the case testimony from the alleged victim plus the kind of evidence that long has won convictions with its scientific certainty: DNA. Indeed, Assistant State's Attorneys Krista Peterson and Jane Sack told jurors in closing arguments that the DNA obtained from the victim after the alleged incident in July 2010 was a match to Barrett's genetic profile and evidence that corroborated the victim's trial testimony. Advertisement "Who is the major profile in the DNA that's found?" Sack asked the jury, according to a transcript from the trial. "The defendant." But this DNA was different. It was not from semen, as is often the case in rapes; instead it came from male cells found on the girl's lips. What's more, the uniqueness of the genetic link between the DNA and Barrett was not of the 1-in-several-billion sort that crime lab analysts often testify to in trials with DNA evidence. Instead, when Illinois State Police crime lab analyst Lisa Fallara explained the statistical probabilities, she testified the genetic profile from the cells matched 1 in 4 African-American males, 1 in 8 Hispanic males and 1 in 9 Caucasian males. Advertisement Fact is, the DNA profile from the cells on the victim's lips could have matched hundreds of thousands of men in the Chicago region. The advent of forensic DNA analysis offered a precision that older and cruder and, now, mostly discarded forensic disciplines did not. But experts say cases such as Barrett's, which are emerging in Cook County and in some other jurisdictions across the nation, mark a troubling return to a kind of forensic science that allows imprecision to cloud the evidence as well as a judge's or a jury's ability to weigh it properly. The broad and almost meaningless statistical probabilities offered at Barrett's mid-April trial were just the kind of probabilities offered for years when crime lab analysts testified about serology, the more crude forensic discipline that gave way to the more scientifically exacting DNA. Observers of the justice system worry that this use of DNA, which holds a powerful allure for jurors, will lead to wrongful convictions. "Juries are conditioned to think DNA is incredibly powerful and dispositive. But these cases are very different," said William Thompson, a professor in the Department of Criminology and the School of Law at the University of California at Irvine and an expert on DNA. "Juries can give this kind of evidence too much weight." Edward Blake, one of the nation's leading DNA scientists who has worked on cases for both prosecutors and defense lawyers, was more blunt. He said that it is "preposterous" to use DNA evidence when it cannot be more precise and that judges should not allow it into courtrooms. "It has almost no value at all as evidence," Blake said. In the end, after spending more than a year in jail, Barrett was acquitted and set free. But other cases with similar DNA evidence are working their way through the courts, and attorneys at the Cook County public defender's office fear they will not be handled with skepticism. Advertisement Barrett's case, in fact, involved considerable back-and-forth testimony over the meaning of the DNA. At one point, Fallara testified that she could not determine whether the cells on the victim's lips came from saliva or skin or even a hair. She did acknowledge, though, that Barrett's DNA matched the DNA recovered from the victim's lips at only one of 11 locations on a chromosome meaning she could not get enough information at the other 10 locations, a distinction that was drawn out by Assistant Public Defender Scott Kozicki in cross-examination. Fallara even acknowledged in testimony that under a different reading of the data, Barrett could have been excluded as the source of the DNA recovered on the victim's lips. "It's new. It's highly unusual. And it's very concerning," said Gregory O'Reilly, chief of the forensic science division for the Cook County public defender's office. "There's a terrific power in the phrase 'DNA match.' And there's a great risk that the jury will put great significance on this when it's not significant at all." Crime lab officials and Cook County prosecutors say this kind of DNA evidence is being used more frequently in court as science and technology advance and police become more sophisticated and skilled in their efforts to find and recover DNA in smaller quantities, as well as in places that they were not able to in the past. One byproduct of those advances is that the genetic profiles they obtain are incomplete. That leads to statistical probabilities that are incredibly common, like those in the Barrett case, which critics say are misleading. "When science advances and you're getting profiles that aren't complete, you're going to wind up with numbers that are not as probative as the numbers you're getting with full profiles," Fabio Valentini, chief of the state's attorney's criminal prosecutions bureau, said in an interview. Cecilia Doyle, chief of the biochemistry section of the state police crime lab in Chicago, declined to discuss the Barrett case. But she said in an email that lab analysts, who are available to both prosecutors and defense attorneys, merely process the evidence and do not "decide whether the results or statistics are meaningful to the case. ... The laboratory analyst's job is to analyze the evidence and report the findings, whatever they may be. Advertisement "Sometimes the analysis only reveals limited information, but that could still be significant and useful in a case." Valentini said trial prosecutors are trained to be aggressive advocates but not to go beyond what the evidence introduced shows. The office stood by Sack's statements in closing, with office spokeswoman Sally Daly saying they were "proper and consistent with the evidence presented during trial. That is not only our position, but obviously the position of the trial judge as well, as he overruled objections made at the time." Valentini said prosecutors saw limited uses for DNA such as that in the Barrett case. He said they would not use it as the basis to bring charges against a suspect or to mount a prosecution without other significant evidence. They would use it, he said, to corroborate other evidence, as they did with the testimony of Barrett's alleged victim. "It's really like any other evidence you have. It's part of the picture," Valentini said. "Is it sufficiently probative for us to identify a single suspect? No, it's not. But is it probative enough to corroborate other evidence we have? That's case by case. But, generally, the answer is yes." But Sack, in her closing argument, also used a word defense attorneys say goes too far and prejudices defendants: "match." O'Reilly said trial court judges need to be vigilant in weighing whether a jury should hear such DNA evidence or whether it should be kept out. Advertisement "It doesn't only run the risk of convicting an innocent person or letting bad science into the courtroom, but you're going to undermine the very power that's behind DNA in the public consciousness," O'Reilly said. "The meaning of 'match' will become so trivialized that you'll mix powerful science with junk science, powerful evidence with junk evidence. It's going to lead to a lot of confusion. Because this is DNA." Barrett, 47, said he was just weeks from getting a degree as a chef when he was arrested and his life turned upside down. He said he still cannot believe that prosecutors used the DNA against him. "The way they done me was really unfair," he said in a Rogers Park apartment filled with books. "That DNA didn't match me, and they knew it." smmills@tribune.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:17:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Pacific Fleet said Wednesday that aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt headed out to sea from Naval Base Guam after nearly two months of being under quarantine there. The carrier set sail to test the critical systems required to sustain it during its upcoming operations. This simulation process, or "fast cruise," is a key step for the carrier to recommence its scheduled deployment, the fleet explained in a statement on its website. During the process, the ship remained in waters off the coast of Guam so its pilots and air crews could be re-certified for flight operations. "Our sailors have tested all of the ship's systems individually, but this is our opportunity to integrate all of that together and show that (USS) Theodore Roosevelt is ready and able to go back to sea," said Captain Carlos Sardiello, commanding officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt, according to the fleet's statement. Lieutenant Commander DeCrisha Nolan, USS Theodore Roosevelt's training officer, was quoted as saying that the ship must pass a rigorous certification process before deployment, validating the crew's ability to safely navigate, launch and recover aircraft and respond to onboard emergencies. In addition to testing the ship's systems, its crew have implemented new measures to protect themselves from possible exposure to COVID-19, the fleet said, adding the crew had learned to conduct their normal duties while wearing masks and maintaining social distance over the past seven weeks. Theodore Roosevelt is America's fourth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, with a crew of nearly 5,000 sailors who support and conduct air operations at sea. It departed San Diego in California for a scheduled Indo-Pacific deployment on Jan. 17 but had to dock in Guam on March 27 due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus on board the ship. After testing was carried out, it was found that a quarter of the sailors on board the ship were infected with COVID-19, with a 41-year-old chief petty officer later dying from it. The carrier and its crew recently became embroiled in controversy after Captain Brett Crozier, the ship's then commanding officer, wrote a letter to the Navy, asking Washington to do more to stem the spread of the coronavirus among the crew. The letter was later published by the San Francisco Chronicle, bringing it to the attention of national media. Crozier was fired by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who resigned following comments he made to the ship's crew in Guam, where he blasted Crozier as being "naive" and "too stupid." (Newser) The number of COVID-19 deaths in the US is nearing 100,000, but a new study suggests the figure would be dramatically lower if widespread social-distancing measures went into effect just one week earlier than they did, reports the New York Times. The study out of Columbia University estimates that 36,000 fewer people would have died through early May if those measures began on March 8. If they began on March 1, the figure jumps to 54,000. Scientists came up with the estimates using models that took into account how transmission of the virus slowed once the guidelines did go into effect. "It's a big, big difference," says Columbia epidemiologist Jeffrey Shaman. "That small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths." story continues below The story points out President Trump's reluctance to recommend coronavirus shutdown measures, calling attention to this tweet on March 9: "Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on," he wrote about how the US deals with the flu. The White House, though, is pushing back against the notion that Trump is at fault, reports the Washington Post. "What would have saved lives is if China had been transparent and the World Health Organization had fulfilled its mission," said a spokesperson. "What did save American lives is the bold leadership of President Trump," he added, referencing Trump's decision to restrict travel from China in January and from Europe on March 13. (In Illinois, a state lawmaker refused to wear a mask and was escorted from the legislative chamber.) Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. A convicted paedophile took his own life days before he was due to be sentenced for his crimes. Andrew Carter, 62, was charged with six counts of indecently dealing with four children under the age of 13. The youngest victim was just eight years old. Carter pleaded guilty to the crimes, which spanned two years from 2017 to 2019, after several court appearances, and was due to be sentenced next Friday. Andrew Carter (pictured), 62, was charged with six counts of indecently dealing with four children under the age of 13 Great Southern Police told The West Australian Carter commit suicide on Tuesday. The award-winning production designer has worked with the The Royal Ballet and The Australian Ballet, and had an esteemed career in the arts prior to the allegations. His offending occurred in the small West Australian towns of Shadforth and Menzies. Carter's artwork once featured prominently inside Perth's Ritz-Carlton hotel, but was removed shortly after allegations of his crimes were made public. 'In light of the charges and with respect to those affected, the Ritz-Carlton, Perth will remove these from the hotel immediately and look forward to celebrating another artist in its place very soon,' a spokeswoman for the hotel said at the time. Lifeline: 13 11 14 Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told a media that China's position on China-India boundary issue had been consistent and clear Beijing: China on Thursday termed as nonsense a senior US diplomat's remarks blaming it for using constant aggression on the border with India to try to change the status quo and said consultations were going on through diplomatic channels between the two countries which has "nothing to do" with Washington. Responding to a question on the flare-up of border tensions between India and China, Alice G Wells, the senior US diplomat for South and Central Asia, on Wednesday described Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accused it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour" to try to shift the status quo. "There's a method here to Chinese operations, and it is that constant aggression, the constant attempt to shift the norms, to shift what is the status quo. It has to be resisted, Wells told the Atlantic Council think-tank at an event on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that China's position on China-India boundary issue had been consistent and clear. The US diplomat's remarks are just nonsense, he said when asked about Wells' comments. "China's border troops firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and security, and firmly deals with the Indian side's crossover and infringement activities," Zhao said. "Our troops firmly safeguard the peace and stability in the border region. We urge the Indian side to work together with us, abide by our leadership's important consensus, comply with the agreements signed, refrain from unilateral actions complicating the situation," he said. "We hope they will make concrete efforts for peace and tranquillity in the border region. There are consultations and diplomatic channels between the two sides that has nothing to do with USA, Zhao said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. 09:46 | Lima, May. 21. Given the imbalance between the supply and demand for generic drugs especially those for the treatment of covid-19 Minsa has invested in their purchase and will distribute them to health centers and posts , he explained. The international cyclist association (UCI) announced its reworked competition plan, slating Hungarys Tour de Hongrie between August 29 and September 2. The race has been pushed back from May 13-17 in view of the novel coronavirus epidemic. Karoly Eisenkrammer, the head of the Hungarian races organising board, said the competition will be hosted by the cities of Debrecen, Hajduszoboszlo, Karcag, Nyiregyhaza, Sarospatak, Kazincbarcika, Miskolc, Gyongyos and Esztergom. The race will also include the highest mountain in Hungary, the 1,014m high Kekesteto, he said. The Hungarian Tour will coincide with the first five days of the Tour de France, he added. Click here to visit Tour De Hongrie's website online Mastercard Inc will not ask employees to return to its worldwide corporate offices until they are comfortable that the sometimes fatal coronavirus is under control with vaccines or other measures, a senior executive told Reuters on Wednesday. The worlds second-largest payment processor is also looking at its real-estate footprint and considering consolidating offices, Chief People Officer Michael Fraccaro said. We expect in the coming weeks and months that more employees will continue to work from home than come into office," he said. And we are OK with that. We support that choice." While some Mastercard staff have young children or parents to look after, others are concerned about taking public transport to work. We have stated upfront to all our employees, that it is their choice we want them to make the decision on when they feel comfortable returning to the office," he said. The company employs nearly 20,000 people globally, with its main headquarters in Westchester, a New York City suburb. Mastercard owns that campus, which it purchased from IBM in 1994. When the situation stabilizes, companies around the world may find that their offices are only about 30% full, Fraccaro said, leading Mastercard to think about its future real-estate needs. Mastercard joins other technology and financial firms that have said they do not plan to implement widespread get-back-to-the-office initiatives any time soon, including its main rivals American Express Coand Visa Inc. Mastercard has created a future of work" task force that is figuring out how best to handle real estate and employee needs, Fraccaro said. About 90% of its workforce is operating remotely, including those based in overseas locations including Beijing and Shanghai, Fraccaro said. Employees who work in offices must follow social distancing rules, wear masks and undergo temperature checks, he said. Once there is adequate testing and there is a vaccine and people feel comfortable to return, then we may see more," he said. But in the early phases it will be vastly less than what we had." Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here Do Texas rising numbers of coronavirus cases spell trouble ahead, or does our declining percentage of positive tests give reason for hope? Are we testing enough for comfort, or do we not have enough workers to track down people whove been in contact with those who fall ill with the virus? Are Houstons intensive care wards half empty, or are they half full? Journalism professors used to warn me against using questions in the lead paragraphs of a story, and I just posed three at the top of this column. Those questions, though, are indicative of the swirl of information available during these confusing days, data that can be used to argue just about any case that our leaders want to make. At the Houston Chronicle, were working hard to make sense of all those numbers and to present them in a way that can help you, our readers, with what once were pretty simple decisions: Go to the office, or stay home? Go out to dinner, or make do with what we have at home? Get a haircut, or stay shaggy? For those who have lost a job, we work hard to provide useful information about where to get help, how to apply for benefits, how to navigate through a suddenly harsh environment. Our data efforts are led by a three-person team, a dedicated group of journalists working crazy hours to gather information daily from local, regional and state officials. They work with a graphic artist and designer to assemble a series of charts and maps that can be seen online at any time at HoustonChronicle.com, our subscriber site, and each day in print in our coronavirus section. Weve updated those charts this week with information that better captures the current state of things, including seven-day rolling averages of new cases in the state and region. Well also soon add a special weekly version that includes economic data. The work of the data team, though, extends far beyond charts and dashboards. This group, led by Data Editor Matt Dempsey, has contributed to a series of exclusive stories that have helped explain the reach and impact of the pandemic in Houston, and in Texas. BREAKING NEWS ALERTS: Were tracking the coronavirus across Texas. Sign up for updates. One story revealed how poorly the state ranks in per-capita testing, a key measure for knowing what we know and what we dont. Another showed that in Harris County, the virus was attacking most fiercely in poor neighborhoods. And this week, as Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans to further reopen Texas businesses, we reported that the state was still far from achieving some of the key benchmarks for reopening set by one of his advisers. Dempsey is one of the countrys leading data journalists and a member of the board of Investigative Reporters & Editors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. (Im a longtime member.) Dempsey says the data team works to make the numbers understandable. There's so many different statistics and numbers out there about the pandemic, he says. I see a lot of confusion about what it all means... Theres no agenda in our reporting. If a metric looks good for Texas or the Houston area, we want people to know about it. If we're falling behind in an area, we want people to know that, too. The teams stories, and those from other reporters, have at times drawn questions from readers who are eager for Texas to get back to work. They can become flashpoints for anger at a time when nearly any piece of data, any story about pandemic policy, can divide readers who are already on edge including those who view such issues through a partisan lens. WE ARE HOUSTON: Help Chronicle journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today. We understand the urge to get things back to normal. Yet we know that many of you many of us remain ambivalent about what to do next. Tuesday online and Wednesday in print, we reported that Houston hospital leaders support the governors push to reopen, while local leaders still have their worries. One respected health economist called some of the reopenings a disaster in the making. Our newsroom and our company have been cautious; nearly all of our employees have been working remotely since mid-March. And you can count the Chronicle among the businesses that have been hurt by the shutdown. But, as always, we do our best to keep our personal feelings away from our journalism. We do have one agenda, though: We strive, every day, to give our readers the best, most up-to-date information to help them make their own decisions. Thank you for subscribing, and for reading. steve.riley@chron.com twitter: @srileychronicle A general view of Clapham high street in London, Britain. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters) The UK economy shrank at a faster rate in May than during the global financial crisis as the coronavirus continued to hammer companies and jobs, new figures show. A closely watched business survey showed services and manufacturing firms output declined at its second fastest pace since the survey began in 1998, better only than the record contraction in April. Firms reported a dire shortage of new work and many said they feared it could take a long time for business to recover, though optimism ticked slightly higher. The figures were released in the latest purchasing managers index for the services sector in May, compiled by IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS). Lower volumes of business activity were again almost exclusively linked to business shutdowns, cancellations of customer orders and a general slump in demand amid the coronavirus disease, said the report published on Thursday. READ MORE: EasyJet to resume flights from 15 June The survey is a widely followed gauge of business activity in Britain, with figures above 50 on the index showing growth and figures below 50 showing decline. This months combined services and manufacturing figures came in at 28.9, well above last months dire 13.8 reading but still worse than during the 2008-9 crisis. The UK economy remains firmly locked in an unprecedented downturn, with business activity and employment continuing to slump at alarming rates in May, said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. Michael Hewson, chief markets analyst at CMC Markets, said: For all of the underlying optimism that the worst is over in the short term, as we head into the heat of the European summer months, and the talk of holiday destinations re-opening from 1July, there is some concern that a second wave is only a matter of time. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Finance UK PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 21:22:45 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 879 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX:MBA)(OTCQX:MBAIF) ("CIBT" or the "Company") pledges its support to take a stand against racism. The following statement was issued today by the Business Council of British Columbia:B.C. business and community leaders take a stand against racismWe Say No to Hate It Must Stop NowAs business and community leaders, British Columbians, and human beings we cannot sit idly by. What we condone, we accept, and we cannot accept the growing racism and hate directed at people because of their ethnicity, culture, or faiths. Racism must be called out and it must stop now!We are all deeply disturbed by the violent, overt and subtle displays of racism we are increasingly seeing and some that are being reported in the media. This is an affront to what it means to be a citizen in our province and country. As a place that welcomes the world, what we are witnessing is not who we are or aspire to be as Canadians. Admitting this growing problem will enable us to address it.Brazen assaults on people of Chinese descent. Racist slurs directed at Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and people based on their faith. Hate messages written on buildings. The recipients of these deplorable behaviours are our family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues, fellow business and community leaders, philanthropists, and generations of people who have helped build our province.These incidents and actions come in sharp contrast to the many generous acts of kindness and tolerance exhibited by so many British Columbians every day and particularly the compassion that we have seen during this trying time.Our cultural mosaic is the envy of the world. It is comprised of generations who were born here and those who chose to come here to make a difference, to build a better life for their families and to contribute to a better province. It doesn't matter where British Columbians and their ancestors are from. As B.C. business and community leaders, we care deeply about our collective wellbeing and are standing up to say: this is wrong.Here in British Columbia, we have been fortunate thanks to the leadership of both our government and the Provincial Health Officer, and the measures each of us have taken during COVID-19 to do our part to plank the curve. This is a collaborative success that exemplifies our capacity to care for one another.Our primary job now is to dig out of this generational crisis together to create an even better province, with jobs and new opportunities for all. We need every British Columbian to be part of this rebuilding effort, working together with generous hearts, offering their solutions, intelligence, positivity, creativity and as Dr. Bonnie Henry so compassionately tells us: kindness.Division makes us smaller and weaker, at a time when strength and collaboration is required given the pain that so many face. Study after study has shown that rich diversity in our workplaces and communities results in stronger performance and a higher quality of life, from improved productivity and innovation to global connectivity and economic prosperity.Enough wrongs have been committed over the course of our province's history and this need not be another. Let's look back on this pivotal moment as a time when we turned our backs on racist tendencies and chose a different path that embodies our best character and shows our resilience and the humanity that has served us so well.We ask you join us to stop racism, educate others and celebrate the diversity that gives us strength and an advantage in the changing world we face together.The Business Council of British ColumbiaAbout CIBT Education Group:CIBT Education Group Inc. is one of the largest education and student housing investment companies in Canada focused on the global education market since 1994. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and U.S OTCQX International, CIBT owns business and language colleges, student housing properties, recruitment centres and corporate offices at 45 locations in Canada and abroad. The total annual enrollment for the group exceeds 12,000 students. Its education providers include Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903), Sprott Shaw Language College, Vancouver International College and CIBT School of Business. Through these schools, CIBT offers business and management programs in healthcare, hotel management, language training, and over 150 career, language and vocational programs. CIBT owns Global Education City Holdings Inc. ("Global Education"), an investment holding and development Company focused on developing education related real estate such as student hotels, serviced apartments and education centres. The total portfolio and development budget of projects under Global Education's GEC brand is over C$1 billion. The various GEC properties provide accommodations to over 1,500 students and other tenants. CIBT also owns Global Education Alliance ("GEA") and Irix Design Group ("Irix Design"). GEA recruits international students on behalf of many elite kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in North America. Irix Design is a leading design and advertising company based in Vancouver, Canada. Visit us online and watch our corporate video at www.cibt.net Toby ChuChairman, President & CEOCIBT Education Group Inc.Investor Relations Contact: 1-604-871-9909 extension 318 or | Email: info@ cibt.net SOURCE: CIBT Education Group Inc. A flood warning for Midland County remains in effect indefinitely at this time. As of 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, the Tittabawassee River level is 35.013 feet and rising, with an expected crest of 38 feet around 8 p.m. tonight. Residents are reminded that they should remain diligent and follow all current evacuation protocol despite fair weather conditions. At this time, about 11,000 people are evacuating from their residences in Midland County, including 10,000 within the City of Midland and 950 within townships and villages. No fatalities or significant injuries have been reported. Residents are strongly urged to continue evacuating. Within the City of Midland, the following residents are advised to evacuate: residents living within the shaded areas of the map located at https://bit.ly/damfailure2020; those living south of U.S.-10 and west of Eastman Avenue should also evacuate; residents contacted by State, City or County public safety officers. In Midland County, the following residents are advised to evacuate: Residents living with the shaded areas of the map under the Edenville Dam Failure layer at http://link.fetchgis.com/b6f5016d; Midland Township residents on Ashby Road between Poseyville and Patterson roads; Homer Township residents residing on East Wheeler Road or on Homer Road; Residents in Lincoln Township east of M-30 on any roads between Price and Wackerly. Residents who do not have a safe place to stay should come to one of the following shelters: West Midland Family Center - 4011 W. Isabella Road Midland High School - 1301 Eastlawn Drive Bullock Creek High School - 1420 S. Badour Road (pet friendly) Coleman High School - 4951 N. Lewis Road North Midland Family Center - 2601 E. Shearer Road (pet friendly) Residents are advised not to return to evacuated homes until informed by official channels that it is safe to do so. Based upon current conditions, it is anticipated it will take several days before evacuated residents will be able to return to their homes. When it is safe to return, information will be shared via the following channels: www.midland911.org www.cityofmidlandmi.gov Facebook channels for the following entities: Midland County Emergency Management (MI), Midland County 911 and City of Midland, Michigan Municipal Government Twitter: @CityofMidlandMI Twitter: @MidlandCountyMI Call 2-1-1 Emergency text and email alerts through Nixle.com Additional news releases to local media outlets Please do not call 911 to inquire about the status of a residence or if it is safe to return home. Many roads in Midland County and the City of Midland remain closed due to flooded conditions. Due to the rapidly-changing nature of this event, additional road closures may be in effect since this release was issued. Residents are encouraged to visit www.midland911.org/CurrentAlerts/CurrentFloodedRoadClosuresandRiverLevel for a map containing current road closures and other information. Residents are advised to obey all road closure signs and to stay clear of standing water, flooded areas and floating debris. Do not attempt to drive or walk through any standing water. Residents should take extra precaution where electrical items may be submerged. Rumors of an individual being swept away by flood waters are unfounded. Midland County residents whose residence have groundwater wells that have been submerged by flood waters are advised not to consume their drinking water until it has been disinfected and tested. Please visit http://co.midland.mi.us/health for more information. A boil water advisory has been implemented for residents in Water District 1 in Hope and Edenville townships due to proximity to the Edenville Dam failure. City of Midland residents and township customers who receive water service from the City of Midland Water Treatment Plant are not impacted and may continue to consume drinking water. The Grace A. Dow Memorial Library has received flooding in its lower level, which includes Midland Community Television (MCTV), due to flooding of the Snake Creek. Damage mitigation efforts are currently underway by city staff. More updates will be provided as additional details are made available. Evacuations of all residents of the City of Midlands Riverside Place senior living community were completed around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19. Most residents have taken shelter with family members, while those without local family members are being sheltered at Midland High School. Riverside Place is currently taking on water in its lower level due to flooding of the Tittabawassee River. For updated emergency alerts and information, continue to monitor the channels listed above. For more flood coverage, visit www.ourmidland.com/flood. Processed by Mitchell Kukulka, Mitchell.Kukulka@mdn.net VCE students will begin their exams in early November and have results by the end of the year, the state government has announced. Education Minister James Merlino said the exams would begin from November 9, a month earlier than originally planned at the outset of remote learning. The revised date is just over a week later than last year's first exam. VCE students will begin exams in early November. Credit:The Age The announcement gives students, teachers and parents certainty in what has been a very disrupted year," Mr Merlino said. The revised dates mean students will get their results and an ATAR in 2020, giving them a clear pathway to further study or employment next year and a break to celebrate the end of school. [May 21, 2020] Available for free during COVID-19, TeksMed Services Inc. launches QuikCare Thrive, an app-based mental wellbeing program. CHILLIWACK, BC, May 21, 2020 /CNW/ - TeksMed Services Inc, in partnership with Thrive Therapeutic Software Ltd., has launched QuikCare Thrive, a mental wellbeing program that provides users access to an application designed by medical professionals to help build resilience against stress and common mental health conditions and develop reliable coping mechanisms. "Mental health has become an increasingly prevalent topic over the years, and rightly so," says president of TeksMed, Tony Culhane. "More and more employers are seeing the value in providing mental health care along wih traditional benefits. As we face the challenges caused by COVID-19, the necessity for readily available mental health support is clear. And so, we are very pleased to provide an innovative tool for employees to access beneficial mental wellbeing resources, available anytime and anywhere." The current environment we are facing including economic uncertainty, social isolation, and the fear of infection is undeniably increasing the mental burden of many Canadians. QuikCare Thrive is currently being offered to employers for free, in support of employees affected by the pandemic. "The health and wellbeing of our employees is what any successful business is built upon," says Culhane. "We understand that many Canadians are struggling right now. Even on our best days we could all use a little extra support, and I think we can agree that these are certainly not our best days." Through mood tracking, guided relaxation techniques, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based modules and more, the application empowers users to build the mental and emotional resilience that will help them adapt to the everchanging crisis. Removing barriers between individuals and mental health care is imperative to ensuring everyone can access the help they need. By providing 24/7 access to beneficial resources, users are able to prevent, screen, and self manage mental health concerns at their own discretion, without having to wait for an in-person appointment or face the stigma that still exists around mental illness. "TeksMed is committed to providing clients with exceptional care," says Culhane. "We offer QuikCare Thrive to our own employees and have seen firsthand the benefits of providing accessible mental health support. We are excited to share the program with others for free, and to make a positive impact on as many lives as possible. Now more than ever, it is important for us to come together and support one another." SOURCE TeksMed Services Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ALBANY A former State Police senior investigator who retired last year amid an investigation of his on-duty activities and those of his fellow members assigned to a federal drug task force in New York City died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday. The death of 49-year-old Francis Stabile III, who was found in his vehicle at a boat ramp in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, came as the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the inspector general's office were probing the task force and the State Police's handling of its own internal investigation, which led multiple members of the agency to retire but did not yield any arrests. "I can confirm that we are investigating the incident," said Dutchess County sheriff's Capt. John Watterson, adding they received a call to respond to the boat ramp just after 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The investigation of troopers assigned to the 150-member federal Drug Enforcement Task Force began in February 2018 when Stabile, then a State Police senior investigator, crashed his unmarked police SUV on a Dutchess County highway. He told a trooper who responded to the scene that he had lost control after swerving to avoid a deer. A resident whose front-yard fence was splintered by Stabile's vehicle said the investigator looked unsteady and had difficulty talking. The internal probe, which began with a review of the mishandling of the crash by troopers, shifted to the question of why Stabile was off-duty but driving his undercover SUV more than 100 miles north of the DETF's Manhattan headquarters. Stabile's residence at the time was about eight miles south of the crash scene, according to public records. He abruptly retired in January 2019. The State Police declined to say whether Stabile's retirement was part of a negotiation with the agency. The investigation of the drug task force members was handled by former Troop K Maj. Michael A. Kopy, who retired in the midst of the probe. Capt. James Murphy, another former high-ranking State Police member who had been assigned to the DETF, retired in May 2018, as the probe was ongoing. In 2018 and 2019, at least 12 State Police members assigned to the DETF applied for retirements. In January 2019 the same month that Stabile retired Kopy was appointed as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's director of Emergency Management, a position in which he remains. The Times Union reported in December that the state inspector general's office had launched an investigation of the State Police's handling of the internal probe. It ended last year with no charges being filed against members of the federal task force, who were alleged to have padded their overtime or used government vehicles for personal use. The unusual intervention by the inspector general's office followed a series of Times Union stories that revealed details of the State Police investigation, which was closed without the agency disclosing its findings. The investigation led to suspensions or retirements of at least a dozen troopers, according to people familiar with the probe. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Historically, the offices of the state's inspector general and attorney general have allowed the State Police to handle investigations of wrongdoing by its members with an outcome that usually ends with private discipline or forced retirements even when the allegations may be criminal. Three years ago, the FBI in Boston arrested multiple current and former Massachusetts state troopers accused of padding their incomes by putting in for thousands of dollars in overtime they allegedly never worked. The U.S. Justice Department pursued that case, which focused on troopers who patrolled the Massachusetts Turnpike. The criminal case relied on a statute that makes it a felony offense to steal from an agency that receives federal funding. The Times Union reported last year that a person briefed on the New York State Police investigation said there was concern that any pursuit of criminal charges would force the other law enforcement agencies in the DETF, including the New York Police Department and DEA, to pursue investigations of their members' misconduct. The State Police have declined to comment on their investigation or the more recent probes by JCOPE and the inspector general's office. "Integrity is paramount at the New York State Police," an agency spokesman said in a statement last year. "All allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated and any violators will be held fully accountable." The statement added that "retirement determinations are personal and are not considered a part of the disciplinary process." A spokesman for the agency declined comment Thursday. In his first UK broadcast interview for five years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company has learnt a lot about how politics works online since 2016. The company was infamously criticised for its use as a platform by Russian-linked agents, who shared Facebook posts with 126 million Americans in an attempt to swing the election for now-President Donald Trump. One of the links was the Kremlin-directed Internet Research Agency (IRA) which, between 2015 and 2017, flooded social media with false reports, conspiracy theories, and trolls. One big area that we were behind on in 2016 but I think now are quite advanced at is identifying and fighting these co-ordinated information campaigns that come from different state actors around the world, Zuckerberg said. I feel pretty confident that we are going to be able to protect the integrity of the upcoming election. Since 2016, the company has made numerous decisions in order to try and quell the influence of bad actors on its platforms which also include Instagram and WhatsApp. This has included creating an archive for political adverts with information about ad impressions and spend, as well as demographic data such as age, gender and location. There is also now a verification process in place for advertisers, while millions of fake and suspicious accounts have been banned. In 2019, the company said it would take action against content that does not directly violate our Community Standards, but still undermines the authenticity of the platform by reducing its distribution in the main News Feed and adding in contextual information next to the post so people can better access details about the publisher. These actions continued into 2020 ahead of the upcoming US election. Facebook will pay $52 million to content moderators who developed PTSD on the job However, while the question of whether the company is prepared for the upcoming election remains to be seen, evidence suggests that some problems still remain. During the UK election in 2019, the company refused to remove doctored videos by the Conservatives, which criticised the now-leader of the Labour Party and then-Brexit spokesperson Kier Starmer. Rebecca Stimson, Facebooks UK head of public policy, said at the time that we dont believe a private company like Facebook should censor politicians. This is why we dont send content or ads from politicians and political parties to our third-party fact checking partners. Even when the company said it would partner with fact-checkers, it still said it would not remove misinformation a particularly troubling aspect when a study found that 88 per cent of all Conservative adverts were found to be misleading compared to seven per cent of Labours adverts. When Conservative Party adverts were removed, where clips from BBC news reports were used out of context, it was done on the grounds that it violated intellectual property rather than because the government was proactively spreading disinformation. Writing in 2019 Facebooks ex-head of global elections integrity ops Yael Eisenstat made scathing criticisms of the social media giant, stating that the real problem is that Facebook profits partly by amplifying lies and selling dangerous targeting tools that allow political operatives to engage in a new level of information warfare. She added: Its clear that the company wont make the necessary fixes without being forced to, either by advertisers who refuse to spend money on their platforms until Facebook cleans up the spread of misinformation and other harmful content; employees who continue to demand accountability and responsibility from their leaders; and most immediately, government action. An ex-employee of Cambridge Analytica the firm which scraped user data in breach of Facebooks terms and conditions to tilt the election in the Republicans favour said that Facebook has not learned its lessons since the 2016 election. Of the billions of dollars that are being spent on the American elections, most of the political advertising money will flow to Facebook and based on what I saw at Cambridge Analytica none of it, as far as I am aware, will be fact-checked. No content will be blocked or removed, even if its found to be demonstrably false Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Brittany Kaiser wrote. Fake news ads from the Trump campaign about his political rival Joe Biden were blocked by CNN, but have been hosted on Facebook for months racking up millions of views by impressionable voters. Facebook's work since the last US elections has attempted to walk the fine line between freedom of speech and ensuring its platform is free from misinformation and disinformation, but it remains unclear whether or not it has been enough to protect democracy. ultrastructural morphology exhibited by corona viruses View Photo Sonora, CA No more traveling nearly an hour to Lodi or Mariposa for those that want to be tested for COVID-19 in the Mother Lode. Limited testing is available through local healthcare providers, so anyone in the Mother Lode wanting a test has been able to go to regional sites in Mariposa and Lodi. Tuolumne County Public Health announced a new shared testing site will be set up somewhere in either Tuolumne or Calaveras County. Public health spokesperson Michelle Jachetta tells Clarke Broadcasting, We are happy to learn about the new site. We expect that it will be within the next week or so. There are few details known at this time. Jachetta relays, The specifics as far as location and hours are not available yet, but we will definitely share that with the public just as soon as we know and have all that information confirmed. Once set up, people can go online and answer a few screening questions and make an appointment. Jachetta stresses that those questions do not screen people out from being able to be tested. She adds that anyone can get tested and those with insurance, the bill will be sent to the provider, but for those without insurance, it is free. Regarding what this means for the county in terms of reopening, Jachetta says that it is good news and moves the county in the right direction for increased testing capacity. She clarifies, It definitely helps us meet the criteria and maintain that criteria for testing which was necessary for us to attest for opening into late Stage 2 and provides a foundation for moving forward. However, she would not go as far as to say it will help the county move into Stage 3 as there is no clear directive from the state regarding what that stages criteria and restrictions will be. Current testing site information can be found by clicking here. Public health officials also shared that the department was getting questions and concerns about testing for coronavirus from the public. Interim health officer Dr. Liza Ortiz is recommending that local healthcare providers follow the California Department of Public Health criteria for testing. The doctor adds she has advised local providers that individuals that fall into Tier 1 can get tested. Click here to view the state testing criteria including an outline of the tiers. For the latest testing numbers for Tuolumne County and cases in the Mother Lode counties click here. Mouni Roy, who was last seen in Made In China is in Dubai amidst COVID-19 lockdown. She had gone to Abu Dhabi for a shoot and had extended her trip for a while. But before the actress and her sister would return, a lockdown was announced, halting all flight services. Mouni Roy is quarantining with her sister in Abu Dhabi for now. Talking about it in an interview, Mouni said, After the shoot, I decided to stay back in Abu Dhabi for two weeks, as my next project was scheduled to kick off only on April 15. I was possibly ignorant, but I didn't imagine that the world will shut down. I have been stuck here with four days' clothes. Mouni added, I have been checking up on them every day. I am relieved that my brother is by my mom's side at this time. My cousins also live close by, that's an added advantage. Latin America's largest cemetery "Vila Formosa", in the state of Sao Paulo, is operating at an unprecedented rate to cope with the large number of people dying from COVID-19. Daniela dos Santos buried her 57 year-old mother, victim from COVID-19 on Wednesday. Her mother, a bank officer, was sick for more than 20 days and got the test confirmation a day before she died in the hospital. Dos Santos also looks after her father, who has been placed in a hospital on Tuesday, also diagnosed with the new coronavirus. Sao Paulo is the state at the epicenter of Brazil's coronavirus with more than 5,300 deaths and almost 70,000 cases reported. According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has almost 18,000 COVID-19 confirmed deaths, making it the hardest-hit country in Latin America. The country registered more than 271,000 confirmed cases, with the actual figure believed to be much higher because of limited testing. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lee Marvin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 08:54 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd95ad30 3 Science & Tech GDP-Ventures,online-learning,development,human-resource-development,human-resources,company,microlearning Free You might not have realized it, but microlearning -- a process in which learning material is divided into bite-sized portions to ease users into learning more naturally -- has seeped its way into the educational methodologies of our society. As companies continue to evolve their internal processes into the digital medium, microlearning has seen steady adoption in corporate learning and development (L&D) practices. The convenience of smartphones, coupled with learning applications that utilize microlearning methods have served to streamline the often-convoluted corporate training process. Typical onboarding and on-site training sessions held during regular work hours are often at odds with the principal workload of the average employee. The hours spent in traditional training methods can be reduced through the use of a microlearning application that empowers the employee to access their required training materials at their convenience. Shifting the materials outside of a traditional classroom has the added benefit of engaging the employee on their own terms, thereby facilitating knowledge retention to a higher degree. The concept of microlearning can be traced back to the 2007 book Didactics of Microlearning by Theo Hug, an educational sciences professor at the University of Innsbruck. The book introduces microlearning as requiring relatively short efforts and low degrees of time consumption and deals with small units and rather narrow topics, even though aspects of literacy and multimodality may play a complex role. Coincidentally during the same year, the first iPhone was released, which eventually ushered in a new frontier in the field of e-learning. It wasnt until 2010 that microlearning gained much more traction as a training technique when Grovo Learning, a tech company that focused on providing a microlearning platform, was established in New York. In 2015, Grovo was named one of the most disruptive start-ups by CNN due to the way it approach microlearning as a new strategy for employee training, and to this day it has worked with large corporations from various industries such as Gap, Chevron and BuzzFeed. Today, with much of our workforce following social distancing guidelines to combat our worldwide pandemic, methodologies that facilitate off-site learning have become crucial to corporate survivability and continuance. The new normal that has emerged in recent weeks has been the reliance on digital communications for daily operations and for corporate L&D. As such, e-learning platforms are likely to see a surge in adoption rates across all industries, and platform efficacy will rely on microlearning. Lets take a look at the benefits of microlearning and break them down one-by-one: Accessibility The inherently segmented nature of microlearning materials, means that the content can be easily accessed, set aside, and picked up again with ease. This can mitigate user fatigue and empower users with the agency to control where and when they learn. Affordability E-learning platforms that utilize microlearning can often offer shorter, more affordable programs than the traditional alternatives. The short-form content can be tailored, expanded and implemented to suit any corporate need and budget. Scalability As best practices evolve and internal processes expand, microlearning based content can be removed, updated and restructured to fit any company need. The modularity of microlearning content means that L&D programs can now benefit from content and platforms that are more scalable than ever before. Efficiency Microlearning can increase learner comprehension through the use of media-rich learning materials and bite-sized content. Multi-medium learning attracts more attention from the learner, and knowledge retention is enhanced due to easily digestible information delivery from microlearning materials. Another example of the possibilities that stem from microlearning could be seen in one of Agates Level Up products, Levio. In an attempt for inclusive learning for employees of a major Indonesian bank in remote areas, Levio presented as the microlearning tool that would help them prepare for their job obligations. Up to this point, it has been used by more than 3,000 employees of said bank. As a result, that particular bank has saved more than 30 percent of its budget by switching to microlearning as opposed to traditional training methods. In a pandemic that requires us to keep our social distance, one could assume that everyone is living and working remotely. In order to keep functioning and training employees during this time, microlearning is the way to go for companies to survive. All of a sudden, this relatively new L&D method becomes a necessity. The result that microlearning has had has been positive, and more and more businesses have made a switch to microlearning as well. However, the fact of the matter is there are still a lot of businesses that favor conventional training methods over investing time and effort in microlearning, even though this method has an outstanding track record. There is no time to waste in this rapidly changing world. Microlearning is the future for HR L&D and it is the way to go. (kes) *** Lee Marvin is vice president of gamification at Agate Level Up. He began his work experience as a freelance server administrator for DigiGame Cyber Cafe while also attending management school at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). Before joining Agate as product manager in 2012, he co-owned several entrepreneurial businesses. In 2019, Marvin was appointed Agates VP of Gamification. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. The BJP on Thursday said that it would provide assistance to the goldsmiths from West Bengal, who work in Indore's jewellery market in large numbers, for their safe return to their home state. Among other things, Indore is famous for its jewellery market. However, the district has emerged as one of the COVID-19 hotspots in the country. As the jewellery shops in the city are shut due to coronavirus-induced lockdown, most of the 20,000 goldsmiths of West Bengal origin have decided to go back to their home state. Talking to PTI on Thursday, BJP general secretary in- charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijaywargiya, said, "These goldsmiths have approached me. My party will provide assistance to them, especially in terms of arranging e-passes and transport facilities." He urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take necessary steps for the safe return of these goldsmiths who are working in the city in large numbers. "We have also provided ration to them with sufficient quantity of rice, which is their staple food. We were told that their families have been facing hardships because of lockdown," Vijaywargiya said. Talking to PTI, Kamlesh Bera, president of the Indore Bengali Swarnakar Loksewa Samiti, an association goldsmiths from West Bengal, said, "Everyday, a number of Bengali goldsmiths are calling us over phone as they are facing difficulties in going back to their home state." "Most Bengali goldsmiths are sure that their business will not be back on track till Diwali in November. That is why they want to return home immediately," Bera said. He said that at least five special trains should be run between Indore and Kolkata to take these goldsmiths home. Bera also said that in the last 10 days, after the introduction of the e-pass facility, about 1,000 goldsmiths have left for their home in West Bengal by arranging buses and other vehicles at their own expense. "Every Bengali goldsmith had to pay Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 to reach home in these vehicles. This cost is high during this difficult time," he said. Sources said that there are around 20,000 goldsmiths from West Bengal living in Indore, of whom 2,500 are shopkeepers and another 17,500 are jewellery-makers. Most of these people are from Hooghly, Midnapore and Vardhman districts. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier written a letter to his counterpart in West Bengal, requesting her to take necessary steps for the safe return of Bengali workers employed in different sectors. In a letter written to Banerjee on May 17, Chouhan said, "During the lockdown, these migrant workers want to return to their home place (West Bengal). But due to the long distance and no official means of transport, some migrant workers from private vehicles left for West Bengal which is expensive, inconvenient and unsafe option." According to official information, 2,774 COVID-19 patients have been found in Indore district so far, of whom 107 have died during treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Caleb Rogers makes quick transition from W&M undergrad to elected official Quick transition: Caleb Rogers '20 graduated from William & Mary on Saturday and was elected to the Williamsburg City Council on Tuesday. Photo by Skip Rowland Photo - of - Hide Caption Caleb Rogers 20 graduated from William & Mary Saturday and was elected to Williamsburg City Council Tuesday, giving him an opportunity to put his public policy major to immediate use. Rogers, who minored in history, ran for a position on the council while finishing his final semester at William & Mary. He graduated from the university in a virtual degree conferral ceremony May 16. I'm filled with gratitude, thankful that William & Mary took a chance on me as a waitlist admit four years ago and thankful the Williamsburg community took a chance on a council newcomer with their vote, Rogers said. Having come to be a home for me, Williamsburg is an incredible city, and I plan to work as hard as I can for it. Rogers was one of three people to win four-year appointments on the council, including W&M alumna Barbara Ramsey 75 and former Williamsburg Fire Chief W.P. Pat Dent. Williamsburg Mayor Paul Freiling 83 also ran in the election, seeking his fifth term on the council. Rogers is the third W&M student to be elected to the council. Scott Foster 10, J.D. '14 was the first, beginning his work in 2010 shortly after his graduation. W&M student Benming Benny Zhang 16 was elected to the Williamsburg City Council in 2016, becoming the first Asian-American to ever do so. I am pleased that Caleb Rogers will usher student leadership on the city council into the next decade and continuing the legacies that my predecessor, Scott Foster and I have established, Zhang said in a statement. During his campaign, Rogers focused on the local economy, specifically ways to support small businesses and increase economic diversity in Williamsburg. He said he aims to find ways to encourage alumni to build careers in the city after graduation. He has also advocated for more affordable housing to attract more families to live in the community. I would most like to see us accomplish a resounding rebound from the economic hardships we are facing today and tomorrow, Rogers said. The most immediate challenge facing the city is making sure we can maintain our important city services, without the necessity of drastically raising taxes or entirely depleting our reserve fund. Additionally, I am invested in the long-term success of our amazing city, Rogers continued. With a job starting in July, I have started looking at Williamsburg as a young professional. And from that, I wonder what areas can I afford to live in and where are the professional communities with others my age. From this perspective, the long-term challenges of Williamsburg are how can we be innovative enough to make sure this area is one anyone could live in. Through campus service opportunities, Rogers participated in groups that focus on regional poverty and homelessness. He also served as a member of the citys Planning Commission and Public Housing Advisory Committee. At the end of his sophomore year, Rogers was appointed undersecretary of Williamsburg affairs, which is a wing of the Student Assembly's public affairs section. To bridge the gap between students and the city, Rogers drafted a bill to create the Student Residents Group. The bill passed, and the group continues to foster dialog between students and local government. My very first realization that there are some ways Williamsburg could change for the better was in researching local homelessness for a freshman year assignment, Rogers said. I found our area could provide more resources and this, along with other perceived local difficulties over the years and a precedent for younger representation, led me to ultimately want to run. I hope if anything it encourages others of our age to do so. Politics isn't reserved for the well-established or well-resourced, it's simply an opportunity to do good for an area, and in this case, my home. All election results are unofficial until certified by the Board of Elections. via REUTERS FBI officials have deemed a shooting at a naval air station in Texas that injured one security guard as terrorism-related. The shooting occurred on Thursday at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi at about 6.15am when a gunman tried to speed through a gate at the base in a vehicle, according to US officials. Security personnel were said to have put up a barrier in time to stop the shooting, and the man then got out of the car and opened fire. A Navy sailor who is a member of the security force at the base was shot and wounded during the incident, but was released from the hospital later in the day, Navy officials told ABC News. The unidentified shooter was said to have been shot dead by security personnel during the attack. The public should remain calm, and if you see something, say something, FBI officials said. FBI Special Agent Leah Greeves said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon that they are investigating the shooting as terrorism-related. We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism related, Ms Greeves said. We are working diligently with our state, local and federal partners on this investigation, which is fluid and evolving. The FBI have said that they are working to determine if a second person of interest may be at large but did not specify any information about the person. A motive for the shooting has not yet been released and officials were said to be still working to process the crime scene. The Department of Justices counterterrorism section is working closely with the FBI, the US Attorney's Office in SDTX and other federal and local authorities to expeditiously investigate the circumstances of this event and all available evidence, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec told ABC News. Additional reporting by The Associated Press. Read more Saudi official tied to 9/11 attacks accidentally identified by the FBI FBI cracks iPhone, finds al Qaeda links to Florida naval base shooter Story continues Trump says he took his mask off because he didnt want press to see it Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden suffer from the same sickness as Trump New York governor warns beaches will be at full by 10am on Friday BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) in Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva voiced a protest regarding holding of illegal, so-called "election" in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the regular violation of the ceasefire by Armenia, Trend reports on May 21 referring to Ombudsmans office. We are deeply concerned that the Armenian armed forces are breaking the ceasefire regime by continuously firing at Azerbaijani positions located on the nameless heights, as well as the settlements where civilians live, at different positions of the front line, the statement said. While ignoring the appeals of the UN, WHO and other international structures in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Armenian government continues to take provocative actions amid the aggressive policy, creating a more dangerous situation in the region, the statement said. The continued violation of the ceasefire regime by the Armenian army during the pandemic aggravates the living of people in the conflict zone. Along with this, the organization of so-called "elections" by Armenia in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan at a time when the world is fighting the COVID-19 infection, and the show called "inauguration" is another clear example of an occupational and destructive policy and support for separatism, as well as a gross violation of international law. The so-called "elections" are completely contrary to the Constitution of Azerbaijan, the norms and principles of international law, have no legal force, resolutely and unequivocally rejected by the international community, said the document. Ombudsman called on the international community, in particular, powerful international organizations, to take the necessary steps and immediate measures on releasing from occupation the territories recognized UN, on giving a decent legal assessment of the crimes committed by Armenia in Azerbaijan, on suppressing the violation of international law, and on making efforts on restoration of the fundamental rights and freedoms of compatriots trampled as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Artur Tovmasyan, lawmaker from the Free Fatherland-United Civilian Alliance faction of the Artsakh Parliament, has been elected as Speaker of the new Parliament of Artsakh. 33 MPs participated in the voting, 29 voted in favor of Tovmasyans candidacy, 4 voted against. During todays session the lawmakers will also elect the deputy speakers and the chairmen of standing committees. Later today, at 18:00, the swearing-in ceremony of new President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan will take place during a special session of the Parliament which will also be attended by Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. 1 party bloc and 4 parties have been elected to the Parliament of Artsakh based on the results of the recent election: Free Fatherland-United Civilian Alliance party bloc 16 MPs United Homeland party 9 MPs Justice party 3 MPs ARF 3 MPs Democratic Party of Artsakh 2 MPs Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. A patented method for single biomolecule detection that overcomes limitations of current technologies may help in the fight against COVID-19. Purdue University innovators created a method that uses a special sensor similar to a computer chip. The application-specific integrated circuit chip is designed for the early detection of a number of pathogens and viruses. We want to find partners to move this technology to the public as soon as we can to help in COVID-19 testing, said Saeed Mohammadi, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering. We know it can be an effective, easy and inexpensive method for detecting viruses, potentially the one linked to the current pandemic. The Purdue technique involves machine learning to train the system to detect certain features associated with particular diseases and viruses. Then, when a sample is run through the system, it can detect those features and confirm the presence of particular viruses and diseases. Simulations have shown this technique may be effective in detecting COVID-19. This method uses a metal-oxide semiconductor sensor with embedded, fluidic nanochannels. As a biomolecule moves through the nanochannel, a high frequency current is measured that contains information about the biomolecule, such as the type of nucleotides in the case of DNA/RNA, which can be used to classify the molecule. Mohammadi said, This method does not have the problems associated with other nanopore techniques because it does not require the difficult drilling of extremely small nanopores, can detect four nucleotides at a time, and is not significantly affected by the rotation or position of the biomolecule in the nanochannel. Mohammadi said the technology is simple enough that a manufacturer could use it to develop a test kit that could be used at home for virus and disease detection. The team worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent this technology. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. The researchers are looking for partners to continue developing their technology. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Matthew Halladay of OTC at mrhalladay@prf.org and mention track code 2013-MOHA-66407. The researchers received support from the Trask Innovation Fund, a development program established to support projects that advance the commercial value of Purdue intellectual property. The fund makes awards twice a year to aid faculty and staff with their patented innovations that are being commercialized through OTC. About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2019, the office reported 136 deals finalized with 231 technologies signed, 380 disclosures received and 141 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information. About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu. Writer: Chris Adam, 765-588-3341, cladam@prf.org Source: Saeed Mohammadi, saeedm@purdue.edu Nasser al-Qirdash was appointed in the role of deputy leader to the current ISIL chief, Abu Ibrahim al-Quraishi. Iraq has arrested one of the former candidates to succeed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the slain leader of the ISIL (ISIS) group, the Iraqi Intelligence Service announced. In a brief statement on Wednesday, the intelligence agency said: Today, the terrorist named Nasser al-Qirdash, the candidate to succeed the criminal (Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, has been arrested. Iraqi news agency al-Sumaria published photos of al-Qirdash after the arrest, dressed in a yellow and red chequered shirt and black trousers. The US said al-Baghdadi was killed in an air raid last October in the countryside of Idlib province in northeast Syria. In the aftermath, ISIL appointed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi as the successor to Baghdadi, while al-Qirdash was appointed to the number two position. The announcement of al-Qirdashs arrest coincides with the escalation of attacks in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq by suspected ISIL fighters, especially in the region between Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Diyala, known as the Triangle of Death. In 2017, Iraq declared victory over ISIL after reclaiming its entire territory estimated to be about a third of the countrys area after the group invaded and took control in the summer of 2014. Myer will reopen all remaining stores this week following almost two months of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. From next Wednesday, 35 more stores throughout Australia will return to business as usual. Several Myer stores in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia have already opened in line with governments' COVID-19 measures. The retail giant has ramped up safety and cleaning measures in its stores, and suspended some close contact services like shoe fittings. Myer will reopen all remaining stores this week following almost two months of closures due to the coronavirus pandemic The Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra previously said retail activity was key to economic recovery. 'Public health and safety is the priority and that will ensure a sustainable recovery rather than a false start,' Mr Zahra said. 'Each state is on a slightly different recovery path and those decisions will be based on local data and expert advice.' On March 23, the federal government closed all restaurants, cafes, gyms, pubs and clubs in an attempt to slow the spread of the deadly respiratory virus. Days later, Australians were told they couldn't leave their houses for non-essential travel, forcing retail stores to shut up shop, too. The move put an estimated one million employees out of work. With Myer in particular, roughly 10,000 employees were stood down without pay before the government introduced the JobKeeper subsidy, which was designed to keep people employed throughout the pandemic. All Myer stores across Australia will be closed for at least a month due to the coronavirus pandemic China's annual parliamentary meeting has been officially opened in Beijing and it's expected that national security legislation for Hong Kong will be discussed during the seven-day session according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.Reports say that the National Peoples Congress (NPC) is to discuss drafting a decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for Hong Kong to Safeguard National Security at a plenary session on Friday. The government announced on Wednesday that domestic airline operations would resume on May 25. However, the Union home ministry had earlier this week, prohibited air transport till May 31 while announcing the extension of India grounded domestic air transport on March 24 to contain the spread of the This was the day before the came into effect. International flights, which were stopped on March 22, will remain shut. Civil Aviation Minister announced in a Twitter message that Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, May 25. All airports and carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25. It was decided earlier to keep the middle seat vacant to ensure social distancing.However, Puri has said it is not viable as it will lead to a hike in ticket prices, and the prescribed social distancing norms would still not be met. Puris tweet caught airlines and airports off guard as they were preparing to resume operations from June 1. But later in the evening, the civil aviation secretary held a meeting with chief executive officers of airlines to discuss the service resumption plan. A senior government official said would be allowed to all cities, irrespective of whether they were in the red zone or the green. An earlier plan of resuming only between cities in green zones didnt work as airlines dismissed it as unviable. A source said only 35 per cent of would be allowed on metro routes in the first phase, in order to maintain social distancing across airports. Airlines may be permitted to fly 50 per cent of flights between metros and non-metros. Delhi Airport, which usually has more than 60 aircraft movements per hour, would allow only 14 flights per hour, he pointed out. Initially, airports will operate for a limited period in a day to make time for sanitisation of terminals. Many airlines that were on the brink of bankruptcy, welcomed the government decision to open up air traffic. This morning, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for recommencement of Here is what is going to change for passengers as they fly in the time of coronavirus: The government's tracing app, Aarogya Setu, is a must for all travellers except children below 14. If they don't show "green" or do not have the government contact tracing app, they will not be allowed in. Face masks, gloves and hand sanitisers will be compulsory. Hand sanitiser containers of up to 350 ml will be allowed in hand baggage. All staff should have hand sanitisers and Personal Protective Equipment as directed by the home ministry. Passengers are advised to familiarise themselves with the new procedures at the airport, especially about social distancing norms and ensuring minimum touching of various surfaces. If you are traveling, you should also be familiar with baggage limitations, Covid-19 questionnaire, possibly slower processes at airports and use of authorised taxis to reach the airport, it said. Only personal vehicles or select cab services will be allowed to take passengers and staff to the airport or from it. Airport operators should make arrangements for sanitizing baggage before entry. All entry gates of the terminal will be opened to avoid crowding. The ministry has proposed that passengers should reach the airport at least two hours before a flight and do away with passenger identity checks at airport entry gates to minimise rush at the entry points. Passengers will be allowed into the terminal building if their flights are within four hours. Passengers can do web check-in and carrying cabin baggage should not be allowed in the initial phase of operations, as per the document. Further, the ministry has suggested that passengers denied travel due to high temperature or age should be permitted to change their date of travel without penalty, and airlines would have to maintain their records. Newspapers or magazines will not be provided in the terminal buildings or lounges. Once flights land, passengers will be allowed to leave the plane in batches, sequentially IndiGo, India's largest airline, will fill its airport buses at 50 per cent capacity when service resumes. The airline will also discontinue on-board meal services, CEO Ronojoy Dutta told employees in April. has prepared floor-marked passenger areas on the kerbside and in-terminal to ensure social distancing. Taxis at Keralas Cochin International Airport will have a fibre-glass partition between the driver and passengers. The driver will provide a sanitiser to passengers before the journey. Only two passengers, to be seated at the rear, will be permitted. Well, airlines have suffered huge losses in the lockdownsome estimates say that the number could be as high as $1.75 billion in the first quarter of FY21. The result will be that the Indian aviation business will shrink, as some airlines shut down and others merge. The government is considering temporarily setting caps and floors on airfares once air transport resumes after the lockdown, in a bid to protect both consumers and airlines, officials aware of the matter said. Airlines estimate they would have to increase average fares by anything between 50-100 per cent to break even. Britain has suffered the highest proportion of excess deaths across Europe during the coronavirus crisis, figures suggest. Around 55,000 more Britons than normal have died in 2020, up nearly 70 per cent compared to the five-year average by May 8. A quarter of these deaths were not officially attributed to COVID-19 but experts say excess fatalities paint a much clearer picture of the outbreak. This is because they capture victims who may have not been diagnosed, as well as deaths that that resulted from a lack of access to healthcare and suicides. Belgium has been the second worst-hit European country, with 9,000 excess deaths by May 3 57 per cent higher than average, according to the Financial Times. Spain's deaths are up 44 per cent compared to the five year average, after suffering 30,000 excess fatalities. There has been only one study comparing excess death rates in Italy so far, which suggests its excess deaths are 39 per cent higher than normal. Britain has suffered the highest proportion of excess deaths in Europe during the coronavirus crisis Belgium has been the second worst-hit European country, with 9,000 excess deaths by May 3 57 per cent higher than average, according to the Financial Times. Spain's deaths are up 44 per cent compared to the five year average, after suffering 30,000 excess fatalities WHAT ARE EXCESS DEATHS? Excess deaths are those which occur in addition to any that would be expected to happen in the same period in an average year. They are measured in the UK over a five-year average. For example, if the average number of deaths in the first week of April over the least five years was 10,000, the 10,001st person to die in that week is considered an excess death, along with any others who come after them. Ministers have admitted 'excess deaths' are the most reliable measure of how many fatalities the coronavirus has actually contributed to. They take into account not just infected people who have died of COVID-19 but also those who died because of indirect effects of the outbreak. The biggest contribution to this is expected to be people whose medical treatment was interrupted or stopped because of the pandemic, including people who avoided going to hospital. NHS data shows A&E attendances have halved since March. Advertisement Italy's national health body said since February 20 - when it recorded its first COVID-19 case - there were 91,000 deaths, 25,000 more than average. Only 13,700 of these were officially attributed to coronavirus, meaning more than 11,000 may have gone uncounted. But it could also be the case that these people missed out on treatment for other conditions. France recorded a sharp rise in deaths in March but after lockdown in April the rate actually fell below its usual level. It means the nation - just 100 miles (160km) south of London - has experienced 22 per cent more deaths than normal. French officials say the drop off in April was likely caused by a steep decline in car accidents and a decease in other viral illness deaths, helped by lockdown. Germany one of the countries in Europe to avert a major crisis has had 5,800 excess deaths up to April 19, about 7 per cent above the average. The Government imposed stringent testing and contact tracing protocols which helped it become one of the first nations on the continent to come out of lockdown. The US has suffered 328,368 coronavirus deaths so far, the most out of any country in the world. Week 19 started on May 4. EuroMOMO assigns a so-called Z-score to all the countries in its database, showing the deviation from a five-year average of deaths. Data showed England had an 'extremely high' amount of excess deaths and has done since March 23 Week 18 ended on May 3, England still had an 'extremely high' amount of deaths, while in Scotland they were 'very high', in Wales they were 'high' and Northern Ireland had 'low excess' deaths Week 17 ended on April 27. England's excess deaths were 'extremely high', Wales and Scotland recorded 'very high' additional fatalities and Northern Ireland's were 'moderate'. Belgium's excess deaths were also 'very high', while in Spain and Italy they were 'moderate' Week 16 ended on April 20. Spain was still in the thick of its crisis, as was the UK and Belgium, meanwhile the outbreaks in France and Italy were starting to ease slightly During the week of April 6 and 12 in 2020, the UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy all suffered extremely high excess deaths Week 14 started on March 30 as much of Europe was hurtling towards the peak of its outbreaks. Spain, France, England, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands all suffered 'extremely high' deaths Week 13 started on March 23. EUMomo statistics showed the UK, Spain and Italy all had 'extremely high' amounts of excess deaths Week 12 started on March 16. Data showed both Italy and and Spain both recorded 'very high' amount of excess deaths in that week, while crises were beginning in France, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands Week 11 started on March 9. Italy recorded a moderate amount of excess deaths, showing how it was the first to be hit heavily by coronavirus Around 55,000 more Britons than normal have died in 2020, up nearly 70 per cent compared to the five-year average EUROPE'S EXCESS DEATHS REVEALED UK Around 55,000 more Britons than normal have died in 2020, up nearly 70 per cent by May 8 compared to the five-year average. Belgium Belgium has been the second worst-hit country on the continent, suffering 9,000 excess deaths by May 3 57 per cent higher than average. Spain Spains deaths are up 44 per cent compared to the five year average after suffering 30,000 excess fatalities. Italy Its national health institute said that since February 20 there were 91,000 deaths, 25,000 more than normal (39 per cent). France Roughly 22 per cent more French people have died in 2020 than normal. Germany The country has had 5,800 excess deaths up to April 19, about 7 per cent above the average. Advertisement Yet official data shows it has recorded just a 5 per cent increase in overall excess fatalities compared to the five-year average. Around 1,006,000 people died in 2018 up until May 1, according to the National Centre for Health Statistics. This year that number has been 1,057,000, up by 51,000. Fewer road accidents and flu deaths are one possible reason for the small increase. However, data collection is decentralised to the states and there can be delays of over two months in the death figures. The Office for National Statistics revealed Britain's excess death toll in a report on Tuesday, suggesting at least 55,000 more deaths had occurred than expected. Hospital deaths have now tapered off so much that the numbers of people dying in them is lower than average for this time of year - but the crisis is continuing in care homes. The government said this week there are now fewer than 10,000 people in hospital in England because of the virus. In care homes, however, there were still more than 2,000 'excess deaths' in the week between May 2 and May 8. Not all of this will have been caused directly by COVID-19, but they would not have been expected to happen if the pandemic didn't hit Britain. This shows that the coronavirus outbreak is now mostly persisting mainly in care homes. (Image: Reuters) Investors gave a thumbs-up to Civil Aviation Ministry for allowing resumption of domestic flights beginning May 25. Stock price of airline companies like SpiceJet, IndiGo (Interglobe Aviation) and Jet Airways rose between five to nine percent in early trade on May 21. Jet Airways was quoting at Rs 20.30, up Rs 0.95, or 4.91 percent with pending buy orders of 4,855 shares, with no sellers available. SpiceJet was quoting at Rs 42.95, up Rs 2, or 4.88 percent with pending buy orders of 876,162 shares, with no sellers available. InterGlobe Aviation was quoting at Rs 974.25, up Rs 62.35, or 6.84 percent on the BSE. The flights were suspended from March 25, when the first phase of the national lockdown was announced to control the outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. However, the government has decided on re-open the skies from May 25. Flight operations will resume on May 25 with one-third the schedule, with most airports expected to be open for service, senior officials said. Top executives of all airlines are expected to meet officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and industry regulator DGCA, on May 21 to chart out the details. Also Read - Domestic flights to resume with one-third schedule; 'most airports' to open The official added that once the schedule is finalised, airlines will begin to accept bookings. At the same time, he added that it is not yet clear if airports in red zone will open from May 25. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is set to issue several guidelines to be followed for airlines and flyers. Compulsory registration on Aarogya Setu app, use of masks and gloves, and thermal screening are some of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that the AAI is expected to issue to airlines and airport operators. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at his daily briefing at New York Medical College during the outbreak of the CCP virus in Valhalla, N.Y., on May 7, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) Cuomo Blames Trump for Order Forcing Nursing Homes to Take COVID-19 Patients New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried placing the blame for a state mandate made in March that told nursing home operators they had to accept COVID-19 patients. You should tell yourlook, this is a political season, I get it. I have refrained from politics. Im not going to get into a political back-and-forth, Cuomo told reporters in Albany on Wednesday. But anyone who wants to ask why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes, its because the state followed President Trumps CDC guidance, so they should ask President Trump. I think that will stop the conversation. Thousands of New Yorkers died in nursing homes with COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. That figure doesnt account for elderly who were rushed to hospitals and died there. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, answered Cuomo Thursday, saying her agency released guidance on the matter on March 13. The guidance says nursing homes can accept patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 but only if they could follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance, which included strongly recommending nursing homes dedicate a specific wing to patients moving to or arriving from a hospital. Once patients in the wing showed no symptoms for two weeks straight, they could be released into the general population. If nursing home operators couldnt follow the guidance then the transfer must wait until the patient is no longer subject to COVID-19 precautions, or the resident can be transferred to another facility that can provide the care, Verma said in a statement. When a patient leaves a hospital its critical they are discharged to a place where their healthcare needs can be met without risking spread of the virus to others. She pointed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom temporarily ordering nursing home patients aboard a U.S. Navy hospital ship that was docked near San Francisco and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis requiring negative test confirmation prior to transferring nursing home residents from hospitals to the homes. The Isabella Geriatric Center is shown on May 1, 2020, in New York City, N.Y. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo) Cuomo is facing increasing calls for an independent probe to look into what transpired in New York. The March 25 directive at the heart of the matter, which was later deleted from the New York State Department of Healths website, informed nursing home operators they couldnt refuse to accept residents even if they tested positive for COVID-19. No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to a nursing home solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19, the order says. State officials are now saying operators who couldnt provide proper care could have notified them and had the patients transferred elsewhere, but that wasnt detailed in the order. A major portion of the order was reversed earlier in May. State officials are now requiring twice-weekly testing for staff members at the homes and sent hundreds of thousands of testing kits to homes in the state to test staff and residents. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Fox & Friends Tuesday joined the calls for a probe. The governor took executive action, forcing positive COVID cases back into nursing homes. There was zero transparency in terms of informing the seniors, the workers, or the family members whether there were positive cases, she said. Cuomo said over the weekend that older people were going to die no matter what officials did. Asked why he was resisting a federal probe, Cuomo said he isnt and doesnt regret the mandate. If the federal government wants to start a probe, they can start a probe. What do I have to do with whether or not a federal probe happens? Cuomo said. It is irrelevant to me. I have no role in determining a federal probe. I dont welcome, not welcome. It doesnt matter. President Trump does what he wants to do. He doesnt listen to a governor, he added. Cuomo also said he rejects the idea that nursing home operators wouldnt have accepted patients they couldnt properly care for. The School of Business Executive Educations open-enrolment programmes at the American University in Cairo (AUC) have been ranked among the Financial Times (FT) top 75 open-enrolment executive education programmes worldwide. This years ranking of AUCs Executive Education programmes jumped seven places to number 67, maintaining the schools position on the world map as the only ranked school in the Arab region and one of three in Africa. Associate Dean for Executive Education and External Relations at AUCs School of Business Ghada Howaidy said, We are very proud of the schools Executive Education team, who have worked hard to achieve this result. With the vast number of universities and executive programmes globally, being FT ranked bears witness to our impact and the extent to which professionals find the reconfigured programmes we offer relevant to their business needs and best-in-class. We promise to continue working hard to get even better, she added. This years FT executive education open-enrolment rankings are primarily based on data provided by learners and collected from the schools. The rankings are based on 10 criteria assessed by participants and six for data submitted by the schools. Participant criteria include preparation, course design, teaching methods and materials, faculty, quality of participants, new skills and learning, follow-up, accommodation, and facilities. As for school surveys, the criteria incorporate the percentage of female participants, international participants, growth, international location, partner schools, and faculty diversity. Ranked for the first time by FT in 2013, and consistently in the ranking ever since, the AUC School of Business Executive Education programmes maintain their leading position as a regional platform for world-class executive education. Search Keywords: Short link: [May 21, 2020] Neeyamo Organized Its Exclusive Annual Analyst Event - nLight 2020 LOS GATOS, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Neeyamo Inc., a market-leader in providing global HR and Payroll services, hosted its fourth exclusive annual Analyst Day Event - 'nLight' on May 19, 2020. The core focus of the event was to bring in analysts, advisors, and select thought leaders in the global HR industry under one roof and share with them the latest developments across Neeyamo's business verticals. Neeyamo successfully held its first nLight in February 2017 virtually with analysts, advisors, and representatives from Neeyamo's partner community as attendees. During subsequent years, the organization hosted nLight 2018 in Atlanta and nLight 2019 in Orlando. Owing to global travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, Neeyamo decided to bring nLight as a virtual event to the analyst community. The event showcased the progress Neeyamo has made in the past year and highlighted key strategies devised to support multinational organizations' need to manage their global workforce. Key speakers from the leadership team at Neeyamo presented several key projects and initiatives that they believe will set the tone for Neeyamo in the year 2020-2021. The event further saw the launch of Neeyamo's HR Operating System (HROS), its newly evolved HRO service offering for global organzations. The attendees were also given an opportunity to connect one-on-one with the leadership team and understand the company's competitive positioning and differentiation. Samuel Isaac, Senior Vice President -- Strategy at Neeyamo said, "We were extremely glad to engage with the analyst and advisory community and apprise them over Neeyamo's competitive strategy. We were able to help the participants comprehend the strong momentum Neeyamo has been showing in winning stellar customer deals and our continued growth as we expand into new markets and geographies." About Neeyamo Neeyamo is a leading platform-based HR solutions provider focused on delivering global HR and payroll services to multinational organizations with operations across a long-tail of countries. With more than 2,000 professionals serving clients across 190+ countries and underpinned by its technology wing NeeyamoWorks, Neeyamo works at the intersection of business and technology to deliver best-in-class HR solutions to global enterprises and create sustainable value to its stakeholders. Neeyamo leverages its unique service-based model and functionality-rich, next-generation portfolio of HR products to help organizations enable agile and scalable business. With deep functional and industry expertise, and its breadth of geographical reach, Neeyamo envisions to stand at the forefront of revolutionizing the global HR ecosystem and meet the market-specific requirements including Global Payroll, Benefits, Workforce Administration, Background Screening, and Employee Helpdesk - to name a few. To know more, visit Neeyamo online at https://www.neeyamo.com/. Media Contact: Irene Jones, HRO Evangelist [email protected] Related Images neeyamo.jpg Neeyamo Neeyamo - A global leader in long-tail HR & payroll View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neeyamo-organized-its-exclusive-annual-analyst-event---nlight-2020-301063795.html SOURCE Neeyamo Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Port Arthur is getting closer to striking a deal for public coronavirus testing in the southern part of Jefferson County, nearly a week after the regions public test sites were closed, officials said Wednesday. Assistant City Manager Scott Moore said the Port Arthur Health Department could have a contract with a private provider available for City Council review next week. Public Health Director Judith Smith declined to identify the potential partner but said the talks involve a group that already is working with the city of Beaumont for public testing there. Beaumont has several partners, and it is running its own testing site jointly with Riceland Healthcare. Riceland CEO and President Tahir Javed did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. When Port Arthur residents call their Health Department about testing options, they are referred to the privately run Gulf Coast Health Center. The city has been looking for a partnership to increase overall testing. We want to plan something that is similar to the drive-thru setting and this lets us piggyback with our sister city to make sure there are enough sites available, Smith said, adding that it would likely open for two or three days, with the potential to add days based on need. Related: Beaumont sees interest in coronavirus testing surge More Information Helpful numbers (409) 550-2536: Hotline for residents of Jasper, Jefferson, Hardin, Newton, Orange and Tyler counties who want to be tested for coronavirus. 211, option 6: For general coronavirus inquiries. By the numbers Jefferson County confirmed COVID-19 cases: Beaumont 373 Port Arthur 60 Nederland 14 Groves 9 Port Neches 8 China 3 Cheek 2 Nome2 Fannett 1 Source: Beaumont and Port Arthur public health departments See More Collapse On Wednesday, Beaumont confirmed six more cases of coronavirus and the first death of an individual with no known underlying health condition. This brings Jefferson County to a total of at least 672 cases and 26 deaths. The city did not give any more information about the death. Smith attributed the lower number of positive test results each day in the southern part of the county and the lag time in testing between when the public testing site at Jack Brooks Regional Airport was closed by the six-county pandemic response coalition and when the individual public health departments could get their programs off the ground. We still know that there are people that possibly have COVID, whether theyre asymptomatic or not, Smith said. And we understand that the more people we test, the more cases we will find. As of Wednesday, Beaumont was waiting for results for 67 test kits. These numbers only account for people tested at the citys public facility. Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox Nearly 2,500 people have been tested for coronavirus across in Beaumont. Smith said about 1,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Mid- and South-County, about half of whom are residents of Port Arthur. In other words, Beaumont, which has about twice the population of Port Arthur, has potentially tested five times as many residents. Smith cited that disparity and said it is critical to keep testing for the virus to give residents and leaders more information to make decisions about what precautions to take while businesses, restaurants, churches and other establishments move toward total reopening. As with everything else, when things start opening up, there is an increased possibility of community spread, she said. Its necessary to have testing available to make sure we have the best information. Smith again urged people, especially in Port Arthur, to wear masks in public. Masks benefit the most at-risk individuals only when everyone wears them. Kaitlin Bain is the Government Reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise. Contact her at Kaitlin.Bain@BeaumontEnterprise.com or on Twitter by clicking here. Don't miss a thing: Sign up for our Daily Headlines newsletter. China on Thursday dismissed as nonsense a senior US diplomat's remarks blaming it for using constant aggression on the border with India to try to change the status quo and said consultations were going on through diplomatic channels between Beijing and New Delhi, which has "nothing to do" with Washington. Responding to a question on the flare-up of border tensions between India and China, Alice G Wells, the senior US diplomat for South and Central Asia, on Wednesday described Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accused it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour" to try to shift the status quo. "There's a method here to Chinese operations, and it is that constant aggression, the constant attempt to shift the norms, to shift what is the status quo. It has to be resisted, Wells, the outgoing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, told the Atlantic Council think-tank at a virtual event on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that China's position on the China-India boundary issue is consistent and clear. The US "diplomat's remarks are just nonsense, he said when asked about Wells' comments. "China's border troops firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and security, and firmly deals with the Indian side's cross over and infringement activities," Zhao said. "Our troops firmly safeguard the peace and stability in the border region. We urge the Indian side to work together with us, abide by our leadership's important consensus, comply with the agreements signed, refrain from unilateral actions complicating the situation," he said. "We hope they will make concrete efforts for peace and tranquillity in the border region. There are consultations and diplomatic channels between the two sides that have nothing to do with the USA, Zhao said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in Eastern Ladakh in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. Neither the Indian Army nor the Ministry of External Affairs commented on the escalating tension between the two armies. In its reaction to the two face-offs, the Ministry of External Affairs last week said it remained committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border with China noting that such incidents could have been avoided if there was a common perception about the frontier. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day tense stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. PTI KJV MRJ AKJ We bring the World to you" Disclaimer : This e-mail message may contain proprietary, confidential or legally privileged information for the sole use of the person or entity to whom this message was originally addressed. Please delete this e-mail, if it is not meant for you. Thanks.Thanks a lot.Looks good. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US imposed sanctions on several Iranian authorities, accusing them of engaging in serious cases of human rights abuse. Iran has dismissed US sanctions on several of its officials, saying they were a sign of the complete inefficiency of Washingtons previous sanctions on the country. Washingtons fruitless and repetitive sanctions against Iranian officials is a sign of weakness, despair and confusion of the US administration, state TV quoted Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying on Thursday. On Wednesday, the United States imposed sanctions on several Iranian authorities, including its interior minister, accusing them of engaging in serious cases of human rights abuse. The US Treasury Department said Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli gave orders authorising the Law Enforcement Force (LEF) of Iran to use lethal force in response to anti-government protests in November, leading to the killing of protesters, including at least 23 minors. Hundreds of young and working-class Iranians took to the streets on November 15 to protest against the governments decision to increase fuel prices. The protests turned political, with demonstrators burning pictures of senior officials and calling on clerical rulers to step down. Irans top authority, Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei, denounced the unrest as a very dangerous conspiracy by Irans enemies. In January, an opposition website said at least 631 people were killed during the unrest while London-based Amnesty International put the total at more than 300. Both accounts have been dismissed by Iran, which has yet to give a death toll. Its judiciary has sentenced dozens of protesters to long prison terms. Maximum pressure Despite calls by United Nations officials and some governments to temporarily suspend sanctions during the coronavirus pandemic, the US has continued to apply new restrictions. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated since US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and embarked on a campaign to economically squeeze Tehran through successive rounds of sanctions targeting individuals and entities. Dubbed the maximum pressure campaign, the strategy consists of complementary diplomatic, economic and military pressure methods to curb Irans influence in the region and to put an end to the countrys nuclear ambitions and missile programme. It started with a cough. It was just a little one, but Ron Temko tended to cough sometimes, so the family wasnt worried. By all accounts, everything was normal. His family could never have anticipated that just a few days later, Ron would be admitted into the intensive care unit at UCSF Parnassus, where he would spend 21 days in a medically induced coma, 34 days on a ventilator and 40 days on a feeding tube. He was hospitalized for over 61 days due to COVID-19 symptoms, during which he could barely talk and had to relearn to walk and sit up by himself. He was a breath away from death. Concurrently, Ron was being treated for prostate cancer, but he and his wife, Linda Temko, were highly active and avid travelers. Around mid-February, Ron and Linda, both 69, set off for an international trip they were attending a wedding in South Africa and made a few stops in Europe before and after. At that point, they already knew about the coronavirus, and did their best to be diligent wearing masks in the airport and on the plane, trying to social distance, wiping down every area before they sat down. When they returned to their apartment in the Marina district of San Francisco around March 10, everyone was feeling fine as well as all the people theyd seen abroad so they decided to shelter in place with their daughter Perri Garners family: her husband, Zak, 34, and two children, Mila and Knolls, who all live in San Rafael. It had been a lovely few days the family went on walks over to Crissy Field and Ron got to spend time with his newborn granddaughter, who was 3 months old. But the tickle in his throat was growing. On March 16, after Perri, 33, had put the kids to sleep, she asked Ron if she could take his temperature: 100.4. They called his doctor, who told him to call the COVID-19 hotline first thing in the morning. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle That night, feverish and terrified, he and Linda retreated to bed. She insisted on sleeping with him no matter what. I just remember him holding me all night, Linda said. On March 17, he tested positive at UCSF Parnassus, and the doctors decided it would be best to keep him there. They put him in a room he joyfully called the presidential suite, and FaceTimed his entire family to show them the view. He was wearing a special shirt that Perri had gotten him, reading: Life is Good. For a little while, everything seemed to be under control, Perri said. But then the coughing got worse, and soon, Ron stopped being able to talk because doing so would trigger coughing fits. Shortly after, he called Linda to tell her the news: He was being transferred to the ICU because he needed ventilator support. He told her it was going to get a lot worse before it got better. Linda asked him if he was going to die. I dont know why I asked him that, Linda said. But it just popped out of me. His voice was resolute when he told her, No. At around the same time, the Garners started feeling sick. Months-old Mila spiked a fever before they even got their test results back, and dad Zak had a fever, too. Perri had muscle aches, headaches and a mild cough. Only their son, Knolls, didnt present any symptoms. All of them tested positive for COVID-19. Except Linda. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle But in some ways, it was the least of her concerns. She put every inch of her energy toward doing whatever she could for her husband as the doctors had to sedate and eventually paralyze him so he could enter a medically induced coma. The situation was getting critical. But Linda was unwavering as she reminded her family of the rule: No negativity was allowed. It was their mantra. Ron remained in the coma for three weeks, during which the family never left his virtual side they sat with him on Zoom calls for hours, hoping that he would hear them, feel them, somehow. They played his favorite music: Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, the Black Keys. They danced and read messages from everyone in the community who had written to them. And every day, through the pixels of the screen, they reminded him to visualize himself healthy and strong, walking out of there. The family said that over and over, to remind him and themselves. The phrase was a maxim borne out of Psycho-Cybernetics, a motivational self-help book by Maxwell Maltz that Ron had long advocated. Hes a firm believer in the power of positive thinking that what you believe you can achieve, Linda said. During those three weeks, Linda tried her best to block the negativity, but there were moments where it cracked. It all came to a head on Easter, April 12. The Garners had already pushed through being sick and Linda was planning to see them, but plans changed when Perri got cold feet, worried about potentially infecting her mother. I had a bit of a breakdown then, Linda said. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle She got up the next morning and walked to Sausalito and back a five-hour journey. She went over to the visitors center, had a granola bar with the pigeons and pelicans, and thought about a picture shed taken of Ron right there, when they had first started dating. All she wanted was the chance to go back, and take another picture so they could paste them side-by-side. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. On April 13, the positivity and the visualizations appeared to be paying off. The doctors started slowly waking Ron up. But then it got worse. When he woke up, he was experiencing a severe case of ICU delirium he had no idea where he was or what the coronavirus was, didnt remember checking himself into the hospital and was extremely anxious, which soon became a dark depression. He thought he had been abducted, and wrote disturbing messages about the FBI and guns to his family that he showed them on a piece of paper over Zoom. I didnt know if I wanted to live or die, Ron said. His legs felt like the trunks of sequoia trees and his entire left side was immobile. His right side was operating at only 30% of its capabilities. I was a tortoise on its back. And I was sitting there thinking, Is the rest of my life going to be this way? They removed his ventilator on April 27 hed been on it for 34 days. And after a sobering conversation with a nurse, he decided to visualize himself healthy, leaving the hospital; he felt determined. It took some time extensive physical therapy and occupational therapy but soon he was able to sit on the edge of the bed himself, and then walk again. On May 18, Linda appeared outside of his window with a big sign for their 40th anniversary: It had lyrics from their wedding song, Make It With You by Bread. She came home to a bouquet of flowers hed ordered her: 40 red roses and two white roses, surrounded by 9 candles for their immediate family that Perri had arranged. Linda was characteristically impossible to surprise, but her husband had done it. After Rons two months in the hospital and three weeks in a coma, his family arrived at UCSF Mount Zion, where hed been transferred, to take him home on Wednesday. Family and friends swarmed the outside, holding up neon signs that glowed under the warm sun: Strong like Ron and Were so happy youre home. Linda and Perri embraced each other. Then the sliding doors opened, and he was there. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle The sun shone brightly on Ron as he came out to a chorus of cheers and hollers. A flood of nurses in scrubs and doctors followed close behind, encircling him as he held his heart over his chest and cried softly. He and Linda thrust their fists in the air at the same time. One of the nurses wiped away tears, and a physicians glasses fogged up. Perri teared up behind her sign, which read: What you believe you can achieve. She told her dad that his granddaughter was here to see him, too. Linda had tested negative for antibodies, which meant she could potentially still get sick. The night before picking him up from the hospital, she wondered how she should greet him; the doctors had told her that it wouldnt be a good idea to hug or kiss him, and that he should remain isolated because after two months, he was still testing positive. But the moment he got within her sight, something clicked in her and she reached over to kiss his cheek. Im onto my second life, Temko said, dropping his head back in his wheelchair to bask in the sun. Linda stayed beside him, rubbing his back. She wasnt leaving. Annie Vainshtein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com Legislators arent sure what the proposal will look like without a clear answer on whether Congress will approve $1 trillion in aid to states and municipalities, House Speaker Robert DeLeo told business leaders Thursday afternoon. There is talk that help from Washington may be on its way, but that picture is also uncertain due to the political opposition in some quarters against helping states, DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, said during the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerces Government Affairs Forum. Without more concrete information, its simply not possible to immediately provide sound details about the budget or our approach. DeLeo went on to suggest the Legislature might need to pass a temporary budget to cover costs in July, the first month of fiscal 2021, while lawmakers crunch the latest numbers and draft a budget that meets the needs of the states during the coronavirus pandemic. In January, Gov. Charlie Baker proposed a $44.6 billion budget for fiscal 2021 that includes additional funding for the MBTA, public education and increase ride-sharing fees. Yet that was two months before the coronavirus spread across the U.S., prompting Baker to close schools, businesses and government buildings to limit community transmissions. This time last year, lawmakers on Beacon Hill were debating the contents of the budget for fiscal 2020. This week the House and Senate have focused on COVID-19 bills. Many legislators are participating from their homes for the first time in the General Courts nearly four-century history, under the emergency rules implemented to enable remote voting. DeLeo said Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, who succeeded the speaker as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is hard at work on a plan and continues to speak with experts, stakeholders and other lawmakers. Releasing a budget proposal during a pandemic, however, may prove tough as estimates on revenue losses keep changing, DeLeo noted. Massachusetts has received more than 1 million jobless claims since the start of the pandemic, and residents are sending less money to the states coffers. The Department of Revenue collected $1.98 billion in April, 50% less than it did a year ago. It is uncertain as to how much is attributable to shifting the states income tax filing deadline from April to July, and how much is a true economic slowdown, DeLeo said as he brought up the decline in tax collections. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a state watchdog group, issued a revised report this week projecting the state could collect $6 billion less in tax revenues in fiscal 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. MTF President Eileen McAnneny projected in April that the state would collect $4.4 billion less in tax revenues next fiscal year. And states are waiting to hear on the outcome of a $3 trillion coronavirus aid package that includes $1 trillion in funding to states and municipalities. House Democrats passed the coronavirus aid package, but it faces opposition from some GOP senators and the White House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the package has no chance of passing. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called the legislation a $3 trillion liberal wishlist. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee state and local governments may need more funding to survive the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Newsweek. What Congress has done to date has been remarkably timely and forceful, the central banks chairman testified to lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee. I do think we need to take a step back and ask over time: Is it enough? DeLeo cited these factors as reasons why lawmakers should not release budget proposal at the moment. It is so much more important to operate with reliable information, than to do something for the sake of making a quick announcement, he said. DeLeo announced a number of groups and committees the Legislature is launching to address the states needs during the coronavirus pandemic. The Legislature plans to launch an Early Education and Care Recovery Advisory Group, which will review health protocols and their impact on children, financial model for education programs and the impact programs have in communities of color. Rep. Alice Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat, will lead the group. House Majority Leader Ron Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, will chair the Commonwealth Resilience and Recovery Special Committee. Majority Leader Joseph Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat, will serve as vice chair. The Restaurant Promotion Commission, which launched in 2019, will be repurposed as the Restaurant Recovery Commission, DeLeo said. The commission will analyze how to help businesses deal with social distancing and other changes related to COVID-19. Related Content: To a group of Taliban fighters, the only thing that could be more frightening than American F-16 Fighting Falcons coming at them would probably be a squadron of F-16s doing a delta burst before dropping a JDAM on them. Or maybe dropping six JDAMs on them. (U.S. Air Force/Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen) . The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, also known as the "Thunderbirds," probably isn't going to provide close-air support against enemy troops in Afghanistan the same way it would wow an audience in Abilene, Texas, but it could if it wanted to. The Thunderbirds were formed to show off the skill of Air Force pilots while demonstrating the capabilities of the F-16. For the service, the team is not just a morale-booster, it's a recruiting asset. For civilian communities, it's a reminder of just how good their Air Force really is. But like all service members, the airmen who run the squadron, maintain the planes and fly them in demonstrations joined the military for one purpose: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Those planes? Those are weapons of war, designed to stop the enemy in its tracks. So while the Air Force would have to be in deep trouble to call the Thunderbirds to the front lines, the Demonstration Squadron is more than capable of bringing the pain to anyone asking for it. The squadron's F-16s are only slightly modified for air demos and can be made combat ready within 72 hours. According to the Air Force, the Thunderbirds' F-16s still have all the capabilities of any other combat-ready fighter. The real differences are subtle. An F-16 going to fight a war would probably not be painted bright white. And while in demo mode, the aircraft's 20mm cannon is replaced by a smoke generator. The Air Force will spend $1.5 trillion on the F-35 but completely forget about adding smoke machines. (U.S. Air Force) Since 1953, the Thunderbirds have been the Air Force demonstration team, first flying the Korean War-era F-84, then moving on to the first supersonic fighter, the F-100 Super Sabre in 1956. The team briefly flew the F-105 Thunderchief in 1964, but quickly switched back to F-100s. Next came the F-4E Phantom, the T-38 trainer and, finally in 1983, they hopped into the cockpits of the F-16. The demonstration team has performed all over the world, in the capitals of allies and rivals alike. The show is a gentle reminder of the skill of American airpower. And while the smoke and music may be fun, it takes only three days to put the fight back in the Falcon. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Learn More About Military Life? Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox. The numbers of Covid-19 cases in Rajasthan have seen a sharp rise since the beginning of May when the migrants began arriving. In the last two weeks, more than 1,100 new cases have been recorded in the state taking the tally to 6,146. Of these, 2,574 are active cases while 3,422 patients have recovered and 150 have died. Rajasthan was showing a decline in the number of active cases and the number of new infections were also coming down but the influx of migrants has sent it spiralling upwards and put pressure on the states health infrastructure, especially in rural areas, which were so far largely untouched by the disease. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has acknowledged that preventing the spread of the virus in rural areas as migrants return will be a challenge for the government. Health minister Raghu Sharma has said the governments priority is quarantine and all those returning to the state will have to undergo 14-day compulsory quarantine. Total focus of the health department is now on strengthening quarantine facilities. The migrants have to undergo the 14-day quarantine period compulsorily so that people in the state, who have been in lockdown and kept safe, do not get infected, he said. For Coronavirus Live Updates According to the health department, the number of active cases in the state on April 21 was 1,435. On April 30, this figure went up to 1,633. On May 1, there was a drop in active cases to 1,488. It continued to decrease till May 7 when the number of cases stood at 1,439. Since then the graph of active cases has shown a continual rise. Dr Ravi Prakash Sharma, additional director, rural health, said active cases refer to those patients who have excess viral load and are infected with the virus. The rise in active cases can be attributed to the migrants who are returning home in large numbers as well as the aggressive sampling being done to identify positive cases, he said. The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19 He said the increase in cases is not a matter of concern as most cases are mildly infective and will get cured by themselves and do not need hospitalisation. Nine districts with the highest migrant influx have reported the highest number of new cases. They are Barmer, Bhilwara, Churu, Dungarpur, Jalore, Pali, Rajsamand, Sikar and Sirohi. In the beginning of May, several of these districts were on the verge of becoming corona-free with a majority of patients having recovered. But since then, they have been deluged with migrants. Dungarpur has been among the hardest hit by the migrant influx. Health department data shows that the district had only two active cases on May 5. But as of May 21, it increased to 258 cases with 256 migrants testing positive. Similarly, Pali had 20 active cases on May 5 which has risen to 168 with 106 migrants testing positive. Jalore had no active cases on May 5 but now, the district has 124 cases after 120 migrants were detected with the Sars-Cov-2 virus. Sirohi, too, had no active cases on May 5 but has 72 today with 69 migrants found to be infected. Cases in Rajsamand increased from five to 42 in the same period largely due to the migrants. 44 migrants have tested positive in Barmer, taking its tally to 51 from two active cases on May 5. Churu had no active cases as all 37 patients had recovered. It now has 37 active cases after 35 migrants tested positive. Bhilwaras cases have risen from two to 39 with 45 migrants testing positive and Sikar, which had three active cases on May 5, now has 55 cases with 55 migrants testing positive. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received in a video format Seymur Orujov due to his appointment as head of Aghstafa District Executive Authority and Elchin Rzayev due to his appointment as head of Imishli District Executive Authority. The head of state addressed the video meeting. Speech by President Ilham Aliyev - I am appointing you to the posts of heads of the Executive Authority of Aghstafa and Imishli districts. You have been given great confidence. You must justify it with your work. The heads of the Executive Authority of Aghstafa and Imishli districts are arrested. The public has been informed about this. The investigation is under way now and law enforcement agencies will establish everything. The public has already been informed. The violations committed by the heads of the Executive Authority in Aghstafa and Imishli districts have also occurred in other districts, several heads of the Executive Authority are already under investigation. This once again shows that the fight against corruption, bribery and theft in Azerbaijan is conducted not just in word but in deed. And it will be continued. Currently, the activities of both local and central executive bodies are being examined now and all the violations committed will be revealed. The fight against corruption and bribery in Azerbaijan should be merciless. I have already expressed my opinion on this matter. I want to say again: for the successful development of Azerbaijan and the sustainable development of our country, negative phenomena must be stopped. You also need to conduct a serious struggle with all the negative phenomena in the districts you will lead. Corruption, bribery and embezzlement must be eradicated. The state will provide you with great support in this. At the same time, it is necessary to involve the general public in these matters, as public oversight is a very important factor in the fight against negative phenomena. I am glad that the mechanisms of public control have been improving lately. First of all, you must analyze the situation and solve problems that concern people. As for the issues you cannot solve yourselves, you need to inform relevant central executive bodies so that these issues are quickly addressed. The source of our work in the regions is the will of the people. As you know, the fourth state program on the socioeconomic development of regions is already under way. When all these programs are designed, preference is given to proposals from the ground. A special role in the preparation of these programs is played by my numerous visits to regions and districts, meetings with local residents as part of these trips. It is necessary to solve the issues that are pending and create difficulties for people in the regions. Therefore, when analyzing the situation, you must first identify issues of concern to our citizens. As for infrastructure projects, as a result of the implementation of three state programs, a significant part of them has been completed. Everyone can see that today, people living in the regions can see that. At the same time, this is acknowledged by international organizations. It is no coincidence that a report of the Davos World Economic Forum ranks Azerbaijan second in the world in terms of access to electricity and in 30th place in terms of the quality of roads. Today, Azerbaijan is one of a handful of countries where the vast majority of gasification projects have completed and the level of gas supply is 96 percent. Drinking water projects are being implemented in all our cities: they have either been completed or are in their final stages. All this is the work done by the state, the investments made by the state. Most of the infrastructure projects have been completed. Therefore, your main goal should be to use this solid basis to ensure the socioeconomic development of the districts with your work. At the same time, all work must be done fairly. Justice should be the main principle in your work. In the current environment, during the pandemic, it is necessary to help people more and provide support. On the ground, this should primarily be done by heads of the Executive Authority, by executive bodies. Of course, the Azerbaijani state is taking all necessary measures. I believe that the mechanism used in Azerbaijan in connection with the pandemic deserves the highest assessment. Taking into consideration the worsening of the social status of hundreds of thousands of people, we are helping them. In such a difficult situation, this help inspires people and also contributes to their material capabilities. We are doing this for people to be able to get out of this situation with small losses. First of all, the work done in the fight against coronavirus deserves the highest assessment. At the same time, the state should extend its helping hand to the people who have lost or temporarily lost their jobs in the aftermath of the coronavirus. Therefore, the state will always play a leading role in this matter, and you are the representatives of the Azerbaijani state on the ground. Your work also serves as a criterion for assessing the work carried out in Azerbaijan as a whole. If the head of the Executive Authority does not fulfill his official duties and, on the contrary, torments people, sets his eyes on their property and steals the help intended for those who are lonely, pockets the payment cards of people involved in community service, is engaged in theft, bribery and corruption, what can people think? You must set an example both at work and at home, work so that people are happy with you. If people are pleased with you, then I will be pleased with your work. Therefore, you need to deeply analyze the situation, make effort to resolve the issues awaiting resolution and contact the Presidential Administration, the Cabinet of Ministers and relevant state bodies to solve the problems you cannot solve. Under the current conditions, the successful development of our country will primarily be ensured by the non-oil sector. Of course, the development of entrepreneurship is even more important. We are successfully dealing with these matters and a very large class of entrepreneurs has shaped up in Azerbaijan today. However, in some cases entrepreneurs are faced with difficulties. When they want to implement a project and make investments, they are faced with problems created by government officials. Some officials try to get a share in their projects, others set their eyes on business peoples income. This is completely unacceptable. On the contrary, you should attract entrepreneurs and try to convince them. There is competition for investment in the world these days. Countries put forward proposals to attract investors. Therefore, you must first convince local investors that they should invest in your districts, create jobs and thereby contribute to the development of the district. But what happens is that sometimes an entrepreneur wants to work but faced a thousand obstacles. This cant be allowed. The development of agriculture remains a priority area for us. In the current circumstances, large-scale programs for the development of agriculture are being implemented using modern methods. In this area, too, a lot depends on local executive bodies. Therefore, together with relevant state agencies, it is necessary to work on the development of agriculture, provide people with jobs, increase productivity and ensure all the factors that determine the development of agriculture, including the issue of equitable distribution of irrigation water. There are also major violations in this area and I receive complaints from the ground. There was a drought last year. It is observed this year as well, so we must use water very sparingly. For the correct analysis of all this work done and preparation of an action plan, a special commission has been set up on my decree. I have already been presented with preliminary results of its work. We can say that in some cases the losses reach 40-50 percent. This is unacceptable. Such a waste leads to major problems. Therefore, you should analyze the whole situation in this area. Of course, central executive authorities are dealing with this issue, ministers are represented on the commission. However, you need to pay serious attention to this work on the ground, do the inspections and inform us. If we only reduce these losses, we will be able to achieve greater progress in agriculture. At the same time, the issue of equitable distribution of water is also very relevant because, according to my information, in some cases entrepreneurs that are close to the heads of the executive authority are provided with water, while outsiders are not. This is unfair and must be stopped. For several years now, we have been creating public jobs and increasing the number of people of this category every year. We started with 30,000. This year, 90,000 public jobs should be created on my instruction, and there are already results in this direction. However, unfortunately, due to the criminal actions of some heads of the executive authority, this sphere has also turned into the most corrupt and dirtiest of all. Heads of the executive authority were involved in the theft of payment cards of people involved in this work. Hundreds of payment cards have been found in the offices of all the arrested heads of executive authority and their entourage. This money is meant for the poor people who cannot find a job, especially during the pandemic when jobs are being cut and unemployment is growing in all countries, including Azerbaijan. In such a situation, setting ones eyes on the poor peoples money is dishonesty and a crime. Therefore, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population has been instructed to exercise overall control and perform monitoring. You should also seriously analyze this work in the districts you will be leading and figure out how many people have been deprived of this opportunity by the criminal heads of the executive authority. We must restore justice. In short, your activity should facilitate the socioeconomic development of the districts you are leading because, I want to say quite frankly, at least 90 percent of the work done in the regions over the past almost 17 years has been carried out on my initiative within the framework of state programs. A total of 16,000 kilometers of roads have been built, the entire electricity economy has been almost reorganized. We have increased the rate of gasification to almost 100 percent, more than 3,500 schools, more than 700 medical institutions, about 50 Olympic centers, many youth houses, cultural centers and other social facilities have been built. We did all this on my direct instructions at the expense of the state budget. And now let's see what the heads of executive authority have done, what they have created. All these affairs are being investigated now. Embezzlement also occurs during the construction of houses erected at the expense of the funds I have allocated on the site of emergency houses both during construction and subsequent distribution of apartments. These houses are intended for distribution free of charge. However, there is a theft during construction and apartments are distributed for a bribe. Money is extorted from people. An audit is currently under way and officials involved in all of these violations will be held accountable. The head of the executive authority must justify the trust placed in him by his work. I always exercise control over the work carried out in the regions. My numerous trips are also meant to identify the result, get acquainted with the work done, hear from people about their concerns so that we could resolve them. However, I can say that the heads of executive authority often do not leave their offices. All heads of the executive authority, including you, should meet with people in all the villages, listen to peoples problems and then make a decision. There are issues that remain unresolved simply because of indifference and irresponsibility. There are issues that do not require large funds or hard work. They simply dont care. They believe that they should lead there as masters, torment people and ensure their own personal interests. There is no place among us for people with this mentality. They have no place here. Therefore, you should visit all villages, learn about problems from people and solve them. I want to say again: problems that cannot be resolved at the local level should immediately be brought to the attention of relevant central executive bodies. Azerbaijan is renewing and modernizing today, and a lot depends on new personnel. A lot depends on your activity. Peoples confidence, their mood and confidence in justice often depend on the work of local leaders. You must work so that people believe you, support you and are pleased with your work. You should also know that attention will be paid to your activities and you will be under control. You need to work so that all my instructions are carried out and that the successful development of Aghstafa and Imishli districts continues to be provided. Elchin Rzayev: Dear Mr. President, I express my deep appreciation to you for the high confidence. Aware of the depth of responsibility arising from this trust, I want to assure you that I will work tirelessly and do my best to fulfill the tasks entrusted to me in relation to our state and a dignified accomplishment of the goals set. Thank you very much, Mr. President. President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you! Seymur Orujov: Dear Mr. President. On my own behalf and on behalf of the youth of the New Azerbaijan Party, I also want to express my deep appreciation to you for this high confidence. This is a manifestation of the confidence placed in the youth of the NAP. This trust is a great incentive for all Azerbaijani youth. In your speeches, you have repeatedly said that you rely on the Azerbaijani youth and trust it very much. The foundation of today's youth activity in the country's public and political life was laid by the great leader because, dear Mr. President, during the period of the PFPA-Musavat government, which seized power in the early 1990s, Azerbaijani youth were forcibly torn apart from universities and jobs and sent to places where rallies and events to support their negligent leaders were held. Our youth was in a pessimistic mood. However, after the great leader came to power, the youth spirit returned to Azerbaijani youth. The great leader united all Azerbaijani youth around a single ideology of Azerbaijanism. Today, too, you are pursuing this policy in a new style, in a magnificent form. Dear Mr. President, the Azerbaijani youth is indebted to you because you are pushing us forward in state bodies. At the same time, you and our First Vice-President are protecting the health of young people, the Azerbaijani people, because the misfortune that has gripped the whole world today demonstrates that many large states have failed to manage this process as clearly, in a timely manner and with as small losses as you. It comes from your leadership skills. After all, leaders manifest themselves on a difficult day. We, young people, are proud of this. The response of all heads of state and government to your call for holding summits of both the Turkic Council and the Non-Aligned Movement, your efforts to rid the planet of this disaster together are an example for the whole world and testify to the growing authority of Azerbaijan. Dear Mr. President, I also promise you that I will serve the policies of Heydar Aliyev with all my strength, will make every effort to develop and improve the district, will serve my state, people and you with dignity. Your path is our path, Mr. President. Thank you again and let me express my gratitude to you again. President Ilham Aliyev: Good luck! Dams and other pieces of critical infrastructure shouldnt be owned by private entities, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday after record-breaking flooding caused by a dam break forced thousands of Michigan residents to evacuate their homes. On Tuesday, May 20, the Edenville Dam collapsed after several days of heavy rain in the region. The resulting floodwaters destroyed bridges and overtopped the downstream Sanford Dam on their way to Midland, where the Tittabawassee River was cresting at about 35 feet on Wednesday evening. The crest tops the rivers 1986 all-time record level but falls short of the 38-foot mark predicted earlier. Whitmer said during a Thursday news briefing the incident laid bare the need for increased investment in infrastructure, an issue she ran on during her candidacy for governor. We know that this underinvestment is going to come with a very big cost if we dont take this seriously, she said. But the dam that broke is privately owned by Boyce Hydro. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) records characterized the company as chronically non-compliant with regulatory requests to upgrade the dam in a 2018 filing. We can talk about the merits of whether or not private companies should own critical infrastructure or not - I dont think that they should - but thats what were dealing with here, Whitmer said. Related: Feds warned years ago Edenville Dam couldnt handle a historic flood The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) assumed regulatory authority for the 96-year-old dam in late 2018 after its license to generate hydropower was revoked. Boyce Hydro had agreed to sell Edenville Dam and three others to a local task force that hoped to oversee repairs and bring stability to impoundment lake levels after years of discord between the dam owner and lakefront homeowners. Whitmer said the investigation into events leading up to this weeks dam break is ongoing, but said everyone deserves to know the facts. Where theres culpability, we will pursue...holding people accountable, she said. The governor took an aerial tour of the flood zone along the Tittabawassee River by helicopter on Wednesday and gave a press conference at Midland High School, which is being used as a shelter for residents displaced by flooding. Shes requested emergency assistance from FEMA and spoke to President Donald Trump about the issue Wednesday afternoon. Whitmer said shes hopeful Trump, who is touring a Ford plant Thursday afternoon, will provide some immediate relief to impacted residents. Whitmer said she would accompany Trump if he visits areas impacted by the flooding. More on MLive: Midland city manager warns 'this is not over as flooding continues in wake of dam break Federal regulators order Sanford Dams owner to investigate after flood Midland Michigan continues evacuations after dam break as flooding expected to climb Gov. Whitmer addresses Midland after dam break and flooding: Were gonna get through this' Sanford Dam compromised, Dow shuts down operations in Midland as a precaution Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate today announced its Brunswick office location was recognized as one of the top 3 performing offices in the U.S. South Region in the number of residential units sold during the first quarter of 2020. This achievement builds upon their success in 2020; the Brunswick office received the Round Table award for residential units sold in 2019 in the U.S. South region and this announcement also marks a repeat of receiving the same award for the 4th quarter of 2019. In addition, the entire brokerage was recognized in RISMedias 2020 Power Broker Report, which ranks the top 1,000 Power Brokers by sales volume. RISMedia is residential real estates definitive source for news and information pertaining to the industry. To access the full report, please visit rismedia.com. We are so proud of all of our agents but are especially excited to see the continued success of the agents in our Brunswick office location. They truly operate as a team of trusted advisors and help support one anothers businesses to serve every client. This recognition is well-deserved, and we are honored, shared Pat Hodnett Cooper, owner and broker. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate, which is independently owned and operated, became a member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brokerage network, operated by HSF Affiliates LLC, in 2017. Since that time, the company and several of its Realtors have earned a host of honors and awards. About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodnett Cooper Real Estate Hodnett Cooper Real Estate is a family-owned and operated company with four offices throughout the Golden Isles offering a full range of real estate services including real estate sales, residential rentals, property management and commercial sales. The brokerage is the premier real estate company in southeast coastal Georgia with a professional and diverse team of agents. Visit http://www.BHHSHodnettCooper.com. About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, based in Irvine, CA, is a brand-new real estate brokerage network built for a new era in residential real estate. The network, among the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name, brings to the real estate market a definitive mark of trust, integrity, stability and longevity. About HSF Affiliates LLC Irvine, CA-based HSF Affiliates LLC operates Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Prudential Real Estate and Real Living Real Estate franchise networks. The company is a joint venture of which HomeServices of America, Inc., the nations second-largest, full-service residential brokerage firm, is a majority owner. HomeServices of America is an affiliate of world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Contact: Catherine Maybank (912) 638-5450 catherine@hcrega.com - The Ashanti Regional Health Director, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, says more women are being infected than men are contracting COVID-19 in the region - A total of 886 cases had been recorded in the region - 52% of the 886 confirmed cases in the Ashanti Region are women - Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in The Ghana Health Service (GHS) latest figures have revealed that more women in the Ashanti Region are contracting the coronavirus as compared to men. The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed that more women have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Ashanti Region than men. The latest data is different from the national data which shows more men are getting infected than women. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Ghana records more recoveries; as case count rise to 6,269 According to the data, 52% of the confirmed cases in the Ashanti Region are women (representing 423) and 48% being men. The total number of infected people is 886. A week ago in the Ashanti Region, the figures showed that more men had tested positive than women, but that position has changed in the last couple of days. The majority of the reported cases are from Obuasi where more women have tested positive than men. READ ALSO: Asiedu Nketia describes Akufo-Addos government as worse than military regime Out of the total number of infected people in the Ashanti Region, 30 of them have been identified as health workers, who according to the authorities, are doing well and responding to treatment. YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the paramount queen of Okuapeman has allegedly rejected a truckload of 62 sheep and other items including money from government officials to drop a dispute. According to Joy News, the said donation to Nana Obuo Nketiaa is to settle a dispute between her and the newly enstooled paramount chief of the area. 695 test positive at fish-processing factory in Tema | #Yencomgh READ ALSO: COVID-19: Ghanaian doctor who survived disease shares experience Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has revealed how she is spending her time in isolation. The 63-year-old said she has been keeping physically, mentally and socially active since she returned to Perth at the beginning of March. On Wednesday she told comedian Joel Creasey in an interview for GQ that she has also set aside some time to catch up on television shows. 'Where do I start - or rather, where do I stop,' she joked. Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop revealed how she is spending her time in isolation during an Instagram Live for GQ Australia with Joel Creasey (pictured top) Ms Bishop revealed she is halfway through watching shows such as Stan's popular Normal People (pictured) She named shows such as Outlander, Billions, Homeland and Stan's Normal People among her top picks. 'I'm halfway through all of them, I am catching up. It would be easier to ask what I'm not watching,' she said. Normal People is adapted from Sally Rooney's best-selling novel of the same name about an on and off-again relationship between two Irish teenagers. Viewers have praised the ten steamy sex scenes across the 12 episode series, saying they are both realistic and relatable. Mr Creasey then asked if Ms Bishop had seen the television show VEEP. She said it was one of the most realistic political shows on television 'particularly the language'. Between television shows and working out Ms Bishop said she enjoys dressing up to work from home as style is important to her. She joked its become a time of looking fabulous from the waist up while sat on video meetings. Ms Bishop added she has set herself some 'ridiculous' workout goals to motivate her to get out of bed in the morning. Between television shows and working out Ms Bishop said she enjoys dressing up to work from home as style is important to her Ms Bishop revealed she runs, does yoga and insists on making sure she makes 20,000 steps a day Ms Bishop said she is attempting to learn how to do a handstand while in isolation She shared her routine on Instagram, and detailed just how strenuous it really is in an interview with Nine Honey earlier this month. Ms Bishop explained she runs, does yoga and insists on making sure she makes 20,000 steps a day. She said: 'The first item is to get up, get out of bed, and then I add yoga in the morning online. 'I'm currently perfecting the head stand. My next goal is the handstand.' The former Deputy Leader of the Opposition said that she makes 20,000 steps, '10,000 in the morning and 10,000 in the afternoon'. In these unprecedented times, it has grown ever more crucial for businesses to support their employees as people, and not just as workers. Working parents are under an enormous amount of pressure. Currently, Statista reports that a full 38 percent of employees have been asked to work from home. Theoretically, the request is a best-case scenario; with remote working capabilities, businesses can keep achieving, and employees can keep earning without fear of job loss. But a lot of people have kids and during the coronavirus crisis, the vast majority of working parents are forced to juggle their professional to-do lists with their parenting responsibilities. Related: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs limited screen time for their kids Working from home isnt so easy when youre also tasked with being the sole caretaker for your children all day. The risk of contagion prevents working parents from enlisting their usual sources of help during the workday; grandparents, babysitters, friends and neighbors are all out of reach. This lack of support makes it exponentially more difficult for employees to execute their usual workload. As journalist Corinne Purtill puts the matter in an article for the New York Times, The only thing more distracting than working at home with kids is having an actual elephant in your living room. But for some, the distraction isnt only having the kids at home its needing to educate them, too. Nationwide, the vast majority of schools have shut down for at least the next few weeks. Nine states have shuttered academic institutions until the end of May; eight have closed for the remainder of the academic year. Many parents, including those in my home state of New York, have been suddenly tasked with supporting their kids through untested remote learning programs. Its stressful because I am receiving six to seven emails from my daughters school each day, working parent Stephanie Caudle told the New York Post of her experience. I often stress if Im doing it right and if my child is going to fall behind because I am currently juggling so much. Businesses need to be conscious of the multiple responsibilities working parents hold during the average workday. Now more than ever, company leaders must be thoughtful, empathetic and responsive to the needs of those they rely on to drive their business forward. Here are a few steps you can take. Be exhaustive when rethinking your expectations. You may think you know what to expect from your remote workers but do you? Sit down with your HR representative to figure out how task allocation and hourly expectations might change for working parents during the pandemic. How much work can parents realistically complete during a workday at home? What support might they need to complete their assigned to-do lists? Establishing a fair baseline for working expectations will save everyone involved from unnecessary stress and overwork down the road. Related: 5 Reasons Why Kids Make Amazing Entrepreneurs That said, dont limit your thinking to a baseline. Be exhaustive in your thinking; brainstorm through various COVID-19 scenarios. What, for instance, would you do if an employee is caring for a sick relative and can only put in so many hours? What will you need to do if you need to furlough teams? Be specific in your thinking the last thing you want is to inadvertently put stress on your business or employees because you failed to plan for adverse outcomes. Proactively provide employees with information about leave policies. We live in uncertain times. Employees need to know what their options are if they do get sick or need to care for an ill family member. Company leaders should proactively provide information both on their own leave policies and the aid provided by recent legislation. The federal government passed an aid package that includes funding to support sick workers and those who need to care for children who are at home due to coronavirus closures. The legislation provides workers at companies of under 500 employees ten days of immediately-available paid sick leave during the pandemic. It also establishes a new federal paid leave program for working caretakers. Eligible workers can receive benefits for a month, receiving two-thirds of their average monthly earnings up to a cap of $4,000. Work with your human resources department to explain available supportive measures to working parents and assist individual workers with their paperwork if need be. Dont only think of your full-time employees, either also provide information to any temporary or part-time workers that aid in your operations. Learn how to be flexible. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. What allowances can you make for your employee base? Can you give them more sick time outside of federal benefits? Is there a way to provide some working parents the opportunity to go part-time or have flexible working hours? Some companies have already taken such measures. According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Google has given employees who are caring for children or family members two additional weeks of leave in the event of any school or care facility closure. If they use that two-week allotment, affected staffers still have the option to use their usual four weeks of paid leave. Related: 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs to Actually Get Work Done While ... Obviously, those privileges are considerable and not feasible for many smaller companies. However, there are smaller measures that company leaders can take. Work with your team to institute flexible working arrangements and provide support to those who can no longer handle their full workload. Above all else, treat your employees as people first; recognize that they have worries and need empathetic support now more than ever before. We are going to have to be patient and understanding of ourselves, our kids and each other, one New York Times journalist wrote of the remote-working paradigm shift. The challenge economically will be whether employers are able to do that too. I believe that we can, if only we try hard enough. Related: 6 Predictions for How This Crisis Will Impact Small Businesses Long-Term Secrets From a Navy SEAL on Courage During Crisis Why Every Franchise Should Pivot Right Now Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Tip of the iceberg: Existing racial inequalities in death from COVID-19 will soar As is the case with most fatal diseases, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is already taking a disproportionate toll on black Americans and other disadvantaged minorities. As of April 14 in the United States, 32 percent of deaths from COVID-19 occurred among black Americans who comprise of only 13 percent of the population. These numbers indicate that they have a 2.3-fold excess risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to white Americans. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health provide ominous forebodings in a commentary just published in The American Journal of Medicine, aptly quoting the philosopher George Santayana, who in 1905 said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, senior author, the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine, and co-authors, emphasize that most major clinical and public health challenges of COVID-19 will be long term and will inevitably result from the development of lifesaving drugs in treatment as well as a vaccine that will be preventive. The authors document that the introduction of such lifesaving innovation will only markedly increase the already existing racial inequalities, if public health initiatives for equitable dissemination throughout all communities are not immediately developed. In the commentary, the authors document increases in racial inequalities following lifesaving drugs for HIV, respiratory distress syndrome, and hepatitis C as well as the experiences before and after the development of the Salk vaccine for polio. Before the introduction of the vaccine in 1952, initially, black Americans experienced significantly lower rates of paralytic polio than white Americans. By 1959, after the widespread dissemination of the Salk polio vaccine, the reverse was true. "We must certainly try to overcome all of the barriers facing black Americans and other minorities in the United States but, realistically this is a long-term goal," said Hennekens. "Now is the time to address short-term clinical and public health challenges to ensure equal access to any lifesaving innovation." The authors also highlight that mistrust is one of the major factors influencing inequalities. Even today many black Americans, particularly older black men, mistrust the efforts of the U.S. Public Health Service due to the lingering perceptions derived from the late disclosure of their study results of syphilis at Tuskegee, which withheld treatment from black men in favor of depicting the natural course of the disease. "As a black physician committed to addressing racial inequalities in morbidity and mortality, if we do not act now, then those in greatest need will once again be condemned to even greater racial inequalities," said Heather M. Johnson, M.D., FACC, co-author and a preventive cardiologist/cardiologist at the Lynn Women's Health and Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital/Baptist Health South Florida. The urgency of the issues raised by the authors are only enhanced by the recent public pronouncements concerning remdesivir as a promising but unproven treatment for COVID-19 as well as very recent encouraging news about an accelerated timetable for the development of an effective and safe vaccine. "Death is inevitable but premature death is not. Unfortunately, black Americans and other disadvantaged minorities have unacceptably high mortality rates from COVID-19 and most other chronic diseases that confer their markedly reduced life expectancies," said Hennekens. Hennekens, Johnson and co-authors Robert S. Levine, M.D., first author and professor of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and an affiliate professor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine; and Dennis G. Maki, M.D., professor emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, where Johnson is an adjunct associate professor, conclude that, at present, individual behavior change is an important and necessary strategy. However, they also state that major societal changes amenable to responsible government but beyond individual control, also are needed to combat current and increasing future racial inequalities in mortality from COVID-19. Hennekens and Maki have been collaborators since 1969, when they served as lieutenant commanders in the U.S. Public Health Service as epidemic intelligence service officers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hennekens and Levine have collaborated since 1976, including on racial inequalities for more than 20 years. Coincidentally, Hennekens has been listed by Science Heroes as No. 81 in the history of the world for having saved more than 1.1 million lives and Salk is listed as No. 83. ### About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine: FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 154 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU's commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The Consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology. About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit fau.edu. This story has been published on: 2020-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Ramot, Tel Aviv University's technology transfer company, and Neovii, a Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company and a member of Israel-based Neopharm Group, announced today that they have signed a research and license agreement to develop a novel and potentially life-saving COVID-19 vaccine. Neovii will work in close collaboration with a team of scientists led by Prof. Jonathan Gershoni of TAU's School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology. The agreement grants Neovii the exclusive right to develop and commercialize a novel and recently patented platform technology conceived by Prof. Gershoni for the rapid discovery of epitope-based vaccines. The collaboration is focused on the development of a first-in-class COVID-19 vaccine that reconstructs the coronavirus's Receptor Binding Motif (RBM), a critical structure of its "spike" protein. The "spike" protein itself is the major surface protein that the virus uses to bind to the cellular receptor that acts as the doorway into the human cell. After the spike protein binds to the human cell receptor, the viral membrane fuses with the cell membrane, allowing the genome of the virus to enter the cell and begin infection. "We have been working on coronaviruses for the last 15 years developing a method of reconstructing and reconstituting the RBM structure of the spike protein in SARS-CoV and subsequently in MERS-CoV," explains Prof. Gershoni. "The moment the genome of the new virus was published in early January 2020, we began the process of reconstituting the RBM of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and expect to have a reconstituted RBM of the new virus soon. This is the basis for the new vaccine, which could be ready for use within a year to a year and a half." "The smaller the target and the focus of the attack, the safer and greater the effectiveness of the vaccine," he adds. "The virus takes far-reaching measures to hide its RBM from the human immune system, but the best way to 'win the war' is to develop a vaccine that specifically targets the virus's RBM." Keren Primor Cohen, Ramot CEO says: "We hope that through this collaboration with Neovii, it will be possible to produce an effective vaccine that targets the coronavirus's Achilles' heel and will accelerate the development of a protective vaccine against this global threat." Jurgen Pohle, Neovii CEO, adds: "The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how fragile and vulnerable our societies are in the face of a pandemic. We are extremely excited about our collaboration with Professor Gershoni and TAU which provides Neovii with a first-in-class platform for the rapid development of promising vaccine candidates towards any future emerging pandemics including COVID-19. Furthermore, the COVID-19 vaccine is highly synergistic to Neovii's core expertise in the development and manufacturing of passive polyclonal antibodies and provides an opportunity to bring a COVID-19 immunotherapy in a rapid manner." Neovii's long-standing and well-established experience and capabilities in developing, manufacturing and commercializing biopharmaceuticals will support the objective to have a vaccine ready for use in the general population on an accelerated timeline. About Neovii Swiss-based Neovii, a member of Israeli-based Neopharm Group, is an independent, rapidly growing commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company with a patient-focused mission to develop and market novel, life-transforming therapies. Neovii has been dedicated for over three decades to improving the outcomes in transplantation medicine and the treatment options for hemato-oncological as well as immune disorders. About Ramot and Tel Aviv University Ramot is the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University, one of Israel's foremost research and teaching universities. It is one of the major hubs that has contributed to Israel's global reputation as the "Startup Nation". Founded in 1956, Tel Aviv University is located in Israel's cultural, financial and industrial center. Rooted in both academic and corporate arenas, Ramot is uniquely positioned to cultivate the special relationships between these two compelling worlds, creating win-win connections that support fertile, groundbreaking research while providing companies with discoveries that give them a crucial competitive edge. ### Whose Line Is It Anyway comedian Tony Slattery and his partner are seen opening up about his battle with alcohol and mental health in a candid BBC Two documentary airing on Thursday. What's the Matter with Tony Slattery? follows the London-born actor, 60, along with his partner of 36 years Mark Michael Hutchinson, as he is referred to countless mental health experts to get to the bottom of his ongoing battle with depression and alcohol. The hard-hitting programme explores the link between Tony's substance abuse, his mental health and the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a priest, aged eight. 'Well, it wasnt pleasant, getting f****** up the a*** at the age of eight. No, it was not,' he is seen telling to Ciaran Mulholland, a consultant psychiatrist located in Belfast. Meanwhile Mark, who met Tony when they starred in a 1986 West End musical, admits that caring for him is a challenge, describing him as 'always on the edge' and 'erratic', saying he's seen 'dozens' of versions of Tony over the years. Airing on May 22, What's the Matter with Tony Slattery follows the famed actor and his partner of 36 years Mark Michael Hutchinson (left) as he is referred to one mental health expert after another, discussing his ongoing battle with depression and alcohol Mark, who met Tony at the height of his career, says: 'It's tiring caring for someone, loving someone who is constantly on the edge.' 'I don't know where the alcohol stops and where the depression starts.' 'You don't know what to prioritise or treat first: is it because of the alcohol or is it depression,' he adds. Mark also says he has seen 'dozens of versions of Tony' over the years, so much so, that he has started to speak to each of them as if they were different people. Once a darling of British TV in the 80s and 90s, seen then, Slattery withdrew from public life due to his battle with depression and substance abuse 'I see Tony and he seems right as rain, then he'll go out and it's like there's another Tony there,' he said, describing him as a 'lethargic, negative Tony'. Speaking candidly about his partner's troubles with substance abuse, he admits to having left him on a few occasions over the years. 'I've run away a couples times, I'd go away for a couple of weeks,' he says, adding he would always come back because he couldn't stand being apart from Tony. Mark has seen Tony at the height of his addiction, and discussed the actor's sexual abuse with him before the 'Whose Line is it Anyway' star opened up about it in an Guardian interview in 2019. Speaking in the raw documentary, Slattery, seen now, admitted to suffering from paranoia due to the alcohol and drug abuse In a 2019 interview with This Morning, Tony revealed he had once bought 4,000 worth of cocaine. At the time he explained he had been on anti-depressants for 15 years and could not imagine life without them or without alcohol. However, without an exact diagnosis, the actor cannot get a treatment to match, and therefore cannot get the help he needs to get better. The documentary follows the actor as he tries to get an exact diagnosis of his mental health issues, with experts trying to determine whether he falls on the bipolar spectrum. Once called manic depression, a bipolar disorder describes an individual experiencing manic bouts of euphoria and crushing bouts of depression and unhappiness. Partner Mark Michael Hutchinson said in the documentary he had witnessed 'dozens' of versions of Slattery over the years These episodes of mania or depression can last for several weeks at a time. Getting an exact diagnosis is made more difficult, as Slattery is a heavy drinker who admits it had been years since he had had a day without alcohol. In the BBC documentary, Slattery and Hutchinson explain he suffers regular bouts of paranoia. The actor recalls throwing pieces of electrical equipment in the Thames, convinced they had been tapped and said he would do it so often, the police had to be called. 'He kept mentioning that he was being spied on,' Hutchinson explained, adding the actor had, at times, has been a danger to himself. The documentary also touches on the subject of Tony's sexual abuse, which happened when he was sexually assaulted by a priest, aged eight. New science confirms that people with bipolar are over 2.5 times more likely to have suffered physical or mental abuse as a child, and the actor is seen looking for answers in his painful past. In a gut-wrenching moment, the actor cries as he admits to hiding the abuse from everyone he knew, 'shoving' it deep so he didn't have to deal with it. Speaking about the documentary in an interview with the Guardian on Monday, Mark said Tony hasn been doing better in recent years, and that he is starting to see the 'old Tony.' 'By the end of last year, for the first time in a long time, I could see the old Tony. Every day is up and down, but hes starting to believe that people do seek out his company that is an upturn, he said. What's the Matter with Tony Slattery airs on Thursday 21 May at 9pm on BBC Two. This image shows the disc around the young AB Aurigae star, where ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has spotted signs of planet birth. Close to the centre of the image, in the inner region of the disc, we see the 'twist' (in very bright yellow) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the Sun. The image was obtained with the VLT's SPHERE instrument in polarised light (https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/sphere/). CREDIT ESO/Boccaletti et al. Observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) have revealed the telltale signs of a star system being born. Around the young star AB Aurigae lies a dense disc of dust and gas in which astronomers have spotted a prominent spiral structure with a 'twist' that marks the site where a planet may be forming. The observed feature could be the first direct evidence of a baby planet coming into existence. "Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form," says Anthony Boccaletti who led the study from the Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, France. Astronomers know planets are born in dusty discs surrounding young stars, like AB Aurigae, as cold gas and dust clump together. The new observations with ESO's VLT , published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, provide crucial clues to help scientists better understand this process. "We need to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form," says Boccaletti. But until now astronomers had been unable to take sufficiently sharp and deep images of these young discs to find the 'twist' that marks the spot where a baby planet may be coming to existence. The new images feature a stunning spiral of dust and gas around AB Aurigae, located 520 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Auriga (The Charioteer). Spirals of this type signal the presence of baby planets, which 'kick' the gas, creating "disturbances in the disc in the form of a wave, somewhat like the wake of a boat on a lake," explains Emmanuel Di Folco of the Astrophysics Laboratory of Bordeaux (LAB), France, who also participated in the study. As the planet rotates around the central star, this wave gets shaped into a spiral arm. The very bright yellow 'twist' region close to the centre of the new AB Aurigae image, which lies at about the same distance from the star as Neptune from the Sun, is one of these disturbance sites where the team believe a planet is being made. Observations of the AB Aurigae system made a few years ago with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA, in which ESO is a partner, provided the first hints of ongoing planet formation around the star. In the ALMA images, scientists spotted two spiral arms of gas close to the star, lying within the disc's inner region. Then, in 2019 and early 2020, Boccaletti and a team of astronomers from France, Taiwan, the US and Belgium set out to capture a clearer picture by turning the SPHERE instrument on ESO's VLT in Chile toward the star. The SPHERE images are the deepest images of the AB Aurigae system obtained to date. With SPHERE's powerful imaging system, astronomers could see the fainter light from small dust grains and emissions coming from the inner disc. They confirmed the presence of the spiral arms first detected by ALMA and also spotted another remarkable feature, a 'twist', that points to the presence of ongoing planet formation in the disc. "The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation," says co-author Anne Dutrey, also at LAB. "It corresponds to the connection of two spirals -- one winding inwards of the planet's orbit, the other expanding outwards -- which join at the planet location. They allow gas and dust from the disc to accrete onto the forming planet and make it grow." ESO is constructing the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, which will draw on the cutting-edge work of ALMA and SPHERE to study extrasolar worlds. As Boccaletti explains, this powerful telescope will allow astronomers to get even more detailed views of planets in the making. "We should be able to see directly and more precisely how the dynamics of the gas contributes to the formation of planets," he concludes. More information This research was presented in the paper "Are we witnessing ongoing planet formation in AB Aurigae? A showcase of the SPHERE/ALMA synergy - https://www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038008 " to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics (doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038008). The team is composed of A. Boccaletti (LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Universite PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Universite, Univ. Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, CNRS, France), E. Di Folco (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Universite de Bordeaux, CNRS, France [Bordeaux]), E. Pantin (Laboratoire CEA, IRFU/DAp, AIM, Universite Paris-Saclay, Universite Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cite, CNRS, France), A. Dutrey (Bordeaux), S. Guilloteau (Bordeaux), Y. W. Tang (Academia Sinica, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taipei, Taiwan), V. Pietu (IRAM, Domaine Universitaire, France), E. Habart (Institut d'astrophysique spatiale, CNRS UMR 8617, Universite Paris-Sud 11, France), J. Milli (CNRS, IPAG, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, France), T. L. Beck (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA), and A.-L. Maire (STAR Institute, Universite de Liege, Belgium). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world's largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky". The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC) and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA. Research paper - https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2008/eso2008a.pdf Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Three young men who declared that they were joining a terror group were arrested Thursday after a brief operation by security forces in north Kashmirs Kupwara district. Security forces launched an operation after the men whose pictures holding AK-47 rifles went viral on social media, were traced in the forests of Lolab Valley, a police spokesman said. The youths were arrested after a brief exchange of fire. Police said the three young men had claimed that they had joined the terrorists. The trio were identified as Aabid Hussain Wani son of Gulzar Ahmad resident of Lalpora, Zakir Rafiq Bhat son of Abdul Rashid resident of Lalpora and Javid Ahmad Dar son of Ghulam Qadir resident of Thayan Kalaroos, the police spokesman said adding that prompt contact tracing revealed their presence in the forest area of Gungbugh area of Lolab. A joint security team of the police, army and the CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in the area. During the search operation they (youth) started firing on the search party. However, repeated announcements were made to persuade them to surrender and after a brief shootout all the three were apprehended alive during the operation. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession, the spokesman said. Police said that preliminary investigation revealed that these three were in contact with their handlers across PoK via social media, who motivated them to pick arms. The swift intervention of police and security forces not only led to their prompt tracing but also in saving the precious lives of these misguided youths, the police spokesman said. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: The Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) has appealed to the creditors of Amrahbank and AtaBank, Trend reports referring to the Fund. In accordance with the Law on Banks, the claims on a bankrupt bank must be registered by the liquidator in a written form within 60 calendar days from the date of the first publication of a court decision declaring bankruptcy of the bank in the newspapers. To register the claims, creditors must submit the documents confirming the legal basis of their claims and the following information: - name and address of the creditor; - the amount of interest and other fees included in the main claimed amount; - information about the pledge (mortgage) or guarantee. The creditors must apply for registration of their claims at the addresses mentioned below till July 1: - 36A Khojaly Avenue, Khatai District, head office of Amrahbank, Baku, Azerbaijan. Additional information can be obtained at: (+99412) 480 28 39. - 102 Shamsi Badalbayli Street, Nasimi District, head office of AtaBank, Baku, Azerbaijan. Additional information can be obtained at: (+99412) 497 87 00. With all the buzz surrounding Japanese whisky these days, you might be tempted to peg the liquid as their new national spirit. But youd be mistaken. Sake lovers might also be surprised to learn that the title still belongs to shochu, a style of liquor tracing its roots back to the 16th Century 350 years before the country started distilling single malt. As steeped in history as it is in flavor, the beverage is beginning to make a splash here in the Bay Area. Local bartenders have been early adopters of the trend, drawn to the versatility of a drink distilled out of everything from sweet potatoes to buckwheat. And even in the temporary absence of bars it is relatively easy to find. At Bitters & Bottles in South San Francisco, Joe Barwin began stocking more of the specialty spirit last year after he noticed more customers asking for product by name. Its following the trajectory of mezcal, he reasons, likening it to the rapidly-expanding category of Mexican liquor. [Customers] try something they like and they want to learn more. Its like the start of a conversation. If youre looking to get playful with your home bar during self-isolation, this is a category uniquely suited for experimentation. Heres what you need to know about shochu (and where to find it). Technically speaking, just about any distilled grain or vegetable can earn classification as shochu. Stateside, you are most likely to encounter four distinct styles: kome, made from rice; mugi out of barley; imo, a sweet potato distillate, and kokuto, coming from sugar cane. As a result, some sip more like whiskey and others more reminiscent of rum. You typically get a lot of umami notes, observes Kevin Diedrich of Pacific Cocktail Haven. I had one made from buckwheat that literally tasted like the broth you slurp on at the bottom of a bowl of soba noodles. It was super neat. And not surprising, considering the frequent use of koji in shochu production. Its the same mold used to make soy sauce or miso, imparting upon the liquid similar tonalities. READ ALSO: Bars left behind as restaurants start the path to reopening Think mushrooms and wet leaves, but also cashew and dry cacao, says Lance Winters of St. George Spirits in Alameda. He began distilling his California shochu back in 2014. To him, a recent uptick in sales suggests an evolving consumer. That unusual nose and flavor, coupled with the fact that today's spirits drinkers are much more adventurous, are what are driving the increase in shochu's popularity. Traditionally bottled around 25% ABV, Japanese drinkers sip on the drink alongside food as you would sake or wine. The Japanese are all about simplicity [of production] and bringing out the best and truest flavors of whatever it is you are eating or drinking, explains Victoria Vera, general manager and shochu buyer at Tsunami Panhandle, which boasts the citys largest collection of the spirit. Different types of shochu have corresponding ways to be enjoyed in order to best express each, Vera said. For example, imo is best enjoyed oyuwari [with warm water]. But for a barrel aged mugi my preferred method is a simple highball. To prepare, she simply pours 1.5 ounces of shochu over ice, carefully adding soda water to the top of a long glass and garnishing it with a lemon peel. Although today its a popular menu item, Vera doesnt have difficulty recalling a different reality when she started serving shochu back in 2014. It was a slow, steady slog. One thing I think stunted its growth is the mere fact that a lot of these distilleries in Japan are tiny family run businesses who either can't see or do not wish to see their product succeed in that way. If ever that was a flaw it is most certainly now a feature. Increasingly educated drinkers crave products that speak to a sense of place. Shochu doesnt just speak. It sings. Also these days, many people [from the Bay Area] have traveled to Japan and fell in love with it, adds Vera. They tend to take up more of an interest in the things they tried there, once back in the US. Still, the role of bartenders in the shochu surge cant be overstated. When Diedrich opened PCH in 2016, he was one of few highlighting the drinks mixing potential. So he crafted four separate cocktails, each built around one of the primary styles. The sweet potato worked well with citrus, but the rice was a lot more delicate so I didnt want to hammer it with too much acidity, he recalled. I played around with it and was thrilled with the response that they got. He was aided in the mission in 2019, when Iichiko one of the categorys largest exporters to the US launched a high-proof variant called Saiten. It holds up more in a cocktail, he notes of the clear spirit, bottled at 43% ABV. You can use it in a Daiquiri or in a Last Word where it adds a nice backbone to a citrus cocktail with modifiers. Youve got texture, youve got melon, youve got mushroom notes. Its savory but refreshing. In addition to Saiten, for the DIY cocktail crowd, Barwin carries infused bottlings from Mizu. Imbued with either green tea or Japanese lemongrass, they afford a familiarity of flavor to those looking to dip their toes into uncharted water. At Umami Mart in Oakland you can dive deep with dozens of examples broken down by base ingredient. Tenshi No Yuwaku is a coveted imo aged in sherry barrels, exhibiting rich and creamy characteristics similar to a polished brandy. Tsukushi Shiro is a crisp, food-friendly mugi with hints of orchard fruit. Both bottle shops offer delivery and curbside pickups during the shelter-in-place. At Tsunami Panhandle, Vera has temporarily transformed the restaurant into a boutique shop offering takeout sushi, sake and, of course, shochu. Shes personally fond of selections from Nankai, a craft producer making a vacuum-distilled liquid off the southwestern coast of Japan. Nankai Gold is an 86-proof ABV blended shochu matured in a combination of American and French oak casks. Its rounded notes will likely resonate with fans of bourbon or Irish whiskey. She also recommends delving into unique distillates such as the Sesame Shochu from Beniotome. Its the only spirit in the world distilled from sesame seeds, she explains. The moment you think youve got it mastered, is the moment it throws you for a loop. Im so excited that shochu is having a moment. But its still gaining momentum, Vera said. Brad Japhe is freelance writer specializing in food, beverage, and travel. Email: BRAPHE@gmail.com | Instagram: @journeys_with_japhe European shares fell on Thursday following a strong run this week after the latest business activity data revealed the damaging impact of the coronavirus crisis. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 1.0%, retreating from its strongest close in three weeks, led by declines in travel and leisure, banks and technology stocks. Data released earlier showed the pandemic's devastating effect on the euro zone economy abated a little in May as lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of the virus were eased, but was still a long way from marking a growth. After having crashed to rock bottom in April, the IHS Markit's Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index recovered to 30.5 from April's 13.6. Stock markets globally have made headway this week as optimism over easing lockdowns and talks of more stimulus for the battered euro zone revived hopes of a recovery. However, rising U.S.-China tensions and concerns about the longer-term outlook have stalled a strong rebound in markets from mid-March lows. "We are starting to see a bit of lag in momentum," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. "Until we see the countries reopen and fully understand what the negative implications are going to be, there's only so far the rally can continue." The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed legislation that could prevent some Chinese companies from listing their shares on U.S. exchanges, adding to woes after intense criticism by the Trump administration on Beijing's handling over the coronavirus crisis. Among individual movers, Amsterdam-based telecoms and cable group Altice Europe NV slumped 14.3% as it posted a worse-than-expected first-quarter core profit. Premier Inn owner Whitbread Plc tumbled 12% after revealing plans to raise 1.01 billion pounds ($1.23 billion) through a rights issue as the company looks to bolster its balance sheet amid the pandemic. Lufthansa rose 4.6% amid talks with the German government over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion), including the state taking a 20% stake. British low-cost airline easyJet gained 3.3% after saying it would restart a small number of flights on June 15. Markets in Sweden, Denmark and Norway are closed for a public holiday. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Already battling the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), West Bengal has been battered by Cyclone Amphan. While preparatory arrangements and evacuations of five lakh people by the state government ensured that the loss of life was minimised, the devastation suffered by families and the damage to public and private properties as well as the ecology of Bengal has been incalculable. The cyclone is a national calamity. In this hour of pain and tragedy, Bengal seeks everyones cooperation. All stakeholders, state and central, have to come together to provide relief and solace to those who are suffering. It is against this backdrop that Opposition parties meet on Friday, for the first time since Covid-19 hit India. There is much to discuss. Many states are run by parties that are in Opposition at the Centre. They will share experiences. They will also compare notes on the Centres response and on the gap between its words and deeds. The political impact of the Covid-19 response and the spirit of federalism will inevitably come up. ALSO WATCH | TMC MP counters low testing charge; accuses BJP of politicising Covid fight It is important to note that all Opposition parties were not always on the same page. In early March, the Trinamool Congress, and a few others, were aggressive in urging adjournment of Parliament and taking coordinated steps. The National Democratic Alliance government would not listen. Some Opposition parties decided to trust its judgment. Meanwhile, in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee began preparing, regardless of New Delhis views. When the 21-day national lockdown was announced, at just four hours notice and without consultation, the Opposition parties and their state governments continued to be supportive. They abided by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modis request to eschew politics in this hour. It is another matter that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to politicise the response to Covid-19 in the states, with the bulk of the party-sanctioned online drivel being reserved for Bengal. The BJP and the Centre have showboated their efforts. They have grabbed publicity, but left the states to handle the crisis. I will illustrate with two sets of examples: Testing and cost of treatment; and the so-called economic stimulus announced last week. On April 22, the West Bengal government was the first to announce free treatment for Covid-19 patients in private hospitals requisitioned by the state. The government undertook the cost. On April 30, the Maharashtra government imposed a price cap on Covid-19 treatment by private hospitals. It took a leaf out of West Bengals book and extended free treatment to all residents of the state under the state health insurance scheme. This is how states learnt from each other. What did the Centre do? It confused everybody on the testing protocol and was at sixes and sevens when it came to providing overarching guidance to states, both before and after March 24. Testing labs could be cleared for Covid-19 only by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Union health ministry and ICMR took their time. In states where 20 laboratories were required, and available, only two were cleared. Once the clearances came, the states got to work. Laboratories have been working in double and triple shifts to ramp up testing. Bengal is testing close to 9,000 samples a day, among the highest in India. If we could not test so many earlier, it was because the clearances and kits from the Centre did not arrive. That is not an excuse; it is a fact. Governments from Bengal to Chhattisgarh and Kerala to Punjab have complained of such over-centralisation. While many states have gradually increased their testing numbers over two months, I must point to the curious case of Gujarat. It showed a jump from 3,000 to 10,000 tests in a single day. Is there something more than meets the eye? The Centre has been talking about Ayushman Bharat and its role in the Covid-19 fightback. How credible are such claims? Let me give you some numbers. Of the 2.5 million tests done, only 3,000 0.12% have been covered by Ayushman Bharat. Of the 100,000 people who have tested positive, only 2,000 about 2% have been treated under Ayushman Bharat. Make your own assessment. Now I come to the stimulus package. We are in a crisis and standard macroeconomic principles say the government must immediately stimulate demand. Of the 500 million-strong Indian workforce, 93% work in the unorganised sector. Many have lost livelihoods, without savings or any safety net. A massive direct cash infusion one can debate the exact quantum is unavoidable. But the Centre has carefully avoided this. The Centre has placed the burden on the state governments, telling them it has raised the borrowing limit under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act from 3% of the Gross State Domestic Product to 5%. The states would have welcomed this, if not for the fine print. The increase is only from 3% to 3.5%, after which it becomes conditional on impossible benchmarks that include one nation-one ration card; power sector reform (a pipedream in the midst of an economic crisis); or augmenting urban local body revenues (at a time when city economies are reeling). Then, there is the abandonment of guest (migrant) workers. Clearly, theres much on the Covid-19 response to discuss at todays Opposition meeting. Derek OBrien leads the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha The views expressed are personal Related Parliamentary committee to investigate controversial Giza flyover Tuesday Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said building violations are more dangerous than terrorism, calling on authorities to toughen penalties against violators. Egypt has seen a significant rise in illegal buildings amid the security vacuum that followed the 2011 uprising. Several people started constructing multi-storey buildings without acquiring the necessary permits or complying with safety standards. Many of the countrys 100 million population live in clusters of red-brick buildings and informal settlements. "We are not going to chase slums forever, this should end. We draw the line and start over, El-Sisi stated. He said in a televised conference during the inauguration of the Bashayer El-Kheir 3 housing project in Alexandria on Thursday. We are fighting terrorism. This is a form more dangerous than terrorism, El-Sisi said, adding that corruption and destructing the country are worse than terrorism. He called for bringing to justice those who construct unlicensed buildings, saying legislative reforms to toughen penalties should be introduced if needed. Fighting building violations should be a top priority for security chiefs and governors, he added. In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, home to a large number of illegal constructions, over 132,000 building violations were recorded between January 2011 and December 2019, local development minister Mahmoud Sharaawi said at the conference. Violations registered since the beginning of 2020 stand at 1,773, he added. According to a 2018 report by the local development ministry, Egypt registered two million building violations between 2000 and 2017. In April, the cabinet said building violations would be referred to military prosecutors under the current emergency law. Earlier this year, El-Sisi ratified a law allowing reaching a settlement with the state over building violations, save for those pertaining to safety standards, authorised height or purpose, historic buildings, and others. Search Keywords: Short link: BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend: Humanitarian cargo from Qatar in the form of N95 high-quality respiratory medical masks, protective clothing, gloves, goggles, bathrobesc etc., arrived in Kazakhstans Nur-Sultan, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The humanitarian cargo was sent by a decree of Qatars Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The humanitarian cargo was transferred to Kazakhstans SK-Pharmacy LLP for its further distribution among medical institutions in Kazakhstan. The first two cases of coronavirus infection were detected in Kazakhstan among those who arrived in Almaty city from Germany on March 13, 2020. The total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Kazakhstan amounted to 7,234 cases. This includes 3,835 people who recovered from the coronavirus, and 35 patients who passed away. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh Brisbane, Australia, May 20, 2020 - (ABN Newswire) - Lake Resources (ASX:LKE.AX - News) (HAM:LK1.F - News) (OTCMKTS:LLKKF - News) to Webcast Live at OTC's VirtualInvestorConferences.com Thursday May 21, 2020 - 10am ET (NYC) - Lake Resources invites North American and European based individual and institutional investors, as well as advisors and analysts, to attend real-time, interactive presentations in OTC's Conference on VirtualInvestorConferences.com - Thursday May 21, 2020 - 10am ET (NYC), 3pm GMT (London). - LINK: https://tinyurl.com/May21VICPR Lithium explorer and developer Lake Resources NL today announced that Steve Promnitz, Managing Director, will present live at OTC's Virtual Conference on VirtualInvestorConferences.com on Thursday May 21 at 10am ET (NYC), 3pm GMT (London). This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event. It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system, check to expedite participation and receive event updates. Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com. To view further information, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/J1I456F5 About Lake Resources NL: Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE.AX - News) is a lithium exploration and development company focused on developing its three lithium brine projects and hard rock project in Argentina, all owned 100%. The leases are in a prime location among the lithium sector's largest players within the Lithium Triangle, where half of the world's lithium is produced. Lake holds one of the largest lithium tenement packages in Argentina (~200,000Ha) secured in 2016 prior to a significant 'rush' by major companies. The large holdings provide the potential to provide consistent security of supply demanded by battery makers and electric vehicle manufacturers. Story continues The Kachi project covers 69,000 ha over a salt lake south of FMC's lithium operation and near Albemarle's Antofalla project in Catamarca Province. Drilling at Kachi has confirmed a large lithium brine bearing basin over 20km long, 15km wide and 400m to 800m deep. Drilling over Kachi (currently 16 drill holes, 3100m) has produced a maiden indicated and inferred resource of 4.4 Mt LCE (Indicated 1.0Mt and Inferred 3.4Mt) within a 8-17 Mt LCE exploration target (refer ASX announcement 27 November 2018). A direct extraction technique is being tested in partnership with Lilac Solutions, which has shown 80-90% recoveries and lithium brine concentrations in excess of 3000 mg/L lithium and is planned to be trialled on site in tandem with conventional methods as part of a PFS to follow the resource statement. Scope exists to unlock considerable value through partnerships and corporate deals in the near term. Contact: Steve Promnitz Managing Director Lake Resources N.L. T: +61-2-9188-7864 E: steve@lakeresources.com.au Source: Lake Resources NL Copyright (C) 2020 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved. New Delhi: The Prime Minister of the country has greeted Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, India's youngest PM. PM Modi tweeted from his official Twitter handle, writing that -"A tribute to former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary." On the death anniversary of former PM Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress is running a #ThankYouRajivGandhi campaign on social media. In a tweet from the official Twitter handle, the Congress wrote, 'Rajiv Gandhi the man who felt the pulse of a young India and led us towards a bright future. The man who understood the needs of young and old and loved one and all. ' On 21 May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a bomb blast in Sriperumbudur. He arrived there to address an election rally. During this time, a 30-year-old woman came to Rajiv Gandhi with a flower necklace and went to Rajiv and blew her body with a bomb. According to reports, angry with the sending of peace forces to Sri Lanka, Tamil rebels launched a suicide attack on Rajiv in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Corona cases increased in America, more than 1500 people died in 24 hours Know three mistakes of Rajiv Gandhi's life Was the new type of corona virus spread by a beaver? EDENVILLE, MI Owners of a collapsed dam that caused major flooding in Michigan say they were pressured by the state to maintain elevated water levels on Wixom Lake behind it, despite concerns about the structures ability to handle flooding. It is an accusation a state agency spokesperson calls misinformation. Boyce Hydro Power LLC owners accused Michigan regulators of being more concerned with preserving aquatic life and appeasing property owners than ensuring public safety in a statement following the catastrophic Edenville Dam collapse on Tuesday, May 19. The resulting flood has displaced about 10,000 people and focused national attention on Michigan as floodwaters inundated the Midland area. Federal energy regulators have ordered Boyce Hydro to conduct a third-party investigation. The dams license to generate power was revoked in 2018. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vowed the state will pursue every line of legal recourse against those responsible for the calamity. On Thursday, she suggested that such critical infrastructure should not be in private hands. Boyce Hydro, which has been criticized for failing to keep the Edenville Dam in compliance with federal regulations, said it sympathizes with those affected by the flood but defended its actions in the weeks and months before record rainfall caused the dam to fail. In April, Boyce and the state sued each other in state and federal court over the companys attempts to lower Wixom Lake, an impoundment reservoir that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) says is home to endangered freshwater mussels that were killed by drawdowns in 2018 and 2019. Boyce says it asked EGLE for permission to lower Wixom Lake last fall due to concern for the safety of its operators and the downstream community. EGLE and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources denied the request. Boyce lowered the lake without approval in mid-November believing its safety concerns were paramount. Boyce sued the state on April 29 in Grand Rapids federal court, arguing the state lacks scientific validation for its endangered species concerns and should allow the drawdowns. According to a counter lawsuit filed against Boyce by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in Ingham County Circuit Court, the 8-foot drawdown was larger than the typical 3-feet and the exposed bottomlands resulted in the death of thousands, if not millions, of freshwater mussels. Boyce claims it raised the lake this spring under pressure" from the shoreline residents and state regulators. The state agencies clearly care more about mussels living in the impoundment than they do about the people living downstream of the dams, said Lee Mueller, part owner of Boyce Hydro LLC, which owns the Edenville Dam. On Thursday, EGLE disputed Boyces claims and said Mueller wanted to lower Wixom Lake over the winter to prevent ice build-up on dam equipment without having to pay for heated power washing and labor; not to prevent a spring flood. There has been some misinformation about what transpired between Boyce and the state, said EGLE spokesperson Nick Assendelft. The narrative by Boyce that somehow when the state was handed regulatory authority we pivoted from concerns about the infrastructure to concerns about clams is neither accurate nor fair. Boyce Hydros desire to save money did not outweigh the natural resource damage an extended, winter drawdown would cause, Assendelft said. More: Follow MLive coverage of Michigan flooding EGLE assumed regulatory authority for the 96-year-old dam in late 2018 after its license to generate hydropower was revoked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which had pushed Boyce Hydro for years to increase spillway capacity in order to handle a historic flood. The 4.8 megawatt, 6,600-foot earth-gravity dam impounded both the Tittabawasee River and its tributary, the Tobacco River. It was built in 1925 and mostly used for flood control. Edenville fell short of a federal requirement that dams that pose a significant danger to the public must be equipped to handle the largest predictable storm, called a probable maximum flood or PMF. Edenvilles spillway capacity could only handle about half that level, which Boyce said has been calculated to occur once in every 1,000,000 years. This weeks flood has been called a 500-year event. The federal license revocation put the Edenville dam under state oversight, where the capacity requirement is lower. Michigan law requires high-hazard dams to withstand the equivalent of a 200-year flood. Edenville meets Michigans capacity standard, according to federal records. EGLE conducted a cursory inspection of the dam in October 2018 and declared it in fair condition with no obvious signs of imminent danger to the public. Nonetheless, Assendelft says EGLE maintained strong concerns the dam did not feature enough spillway capacity. Boyce said it could not finance the estimated $8 million cost needed to build more spillways. The dam had six 20-foot-wide spillway gates before Tuesdays collapse. Boyce said it began drawing down Wixom Lake and impoundments behind its other nearby dams Secord, Sanford and Smallwood on May 15 in anticipation of what was predicted to be a major storm system. However, substantial rainfall in the river basins drove water levels on Wixom Lake to just a couple feet under the dam crest. This, combined with wave action due to high winds, eventually caused the water to penetrate the earthen dike at the east end, saturating it, Boyce said. The breach washed out about 900 feet of the earthen dike and sent impoundment water rushing downstream toward the Sanford Dam, which was quickly overtopped but did not immediately fail. Boyce Hydro was in the process this year of selling the dams to a local task force that hoped to oversee repairs and bring stability to impoundment levels on both Wixom and Sanford lakes after years of discord between Mueller and shoreline homeowners. Drawdowns have upset residents along Wixom and Sanford Lakes. The task force planned to ask a judge to set legal minimum lake levels once the sale went through. Dave Kepler, a Sanford Lake resident who chairs the Four Lakes Task Force, said the $9.4 million sale would have been finalized this year, but indicated that outcome may be in doubt. Right now, were focused on making sure we recover and everyone is safe, Kepler said Wednesday morning. Well have to sit back and reassess what happened and what the path forward its. Related stories: Michigans aging dams are an expensive headache Michigan flooding: One, two, three punch of rain overwhelms soggy state Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break The mayor of London said public complacency over London's falling infection rates would lead to a second spike - and overwhelm the NHS. (PA) The mayor of London has warned how complacency over falling coronavirus infection rates in the UK capital could lead to a second spike of the virus. During Wednesdays Downing Street press conference, the government confirmed that cases in London were continuing to decline and that the R rate was thought to be lower in the capital than in other parts of the country. Sadiq Khan said despite falling figures, the virus is still out there and could risk overwhelming the NHS and reversing efforts already made to contain COVID-19. However, the mayor added he was excited after Boris Johnson said he had great confidence that the governments contact tracing system would be ready for a nationwide rollout by 1 June. Boris Johnson said he is confident contact tracing would be rolled out nationwide by 1 June. (PA) The new test, track, trace (TTT) system would include testing people for coronavirus, tracking the spread of the virus, then tracing the people an infected person has come into contact with. On Thursday, Khan told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Im still very cautious, the virus is still out there. But what this good news and it is good news gives us is a window of opportunity to begin the test, trace, isolate and support programme which we so desperately need. The mayor said he believes now is the right time to adopt the technology, while numbers of infection appear to decline. He continued: Let me tell you why: we know that test, trace, isolate works best when numbers are low and weve got a small window now to be testing everyone that has got symptoms, to be tracing everyone they have been in contact with over the last few days and then to make sure they are tested, isolated and supported. Because my fear is that this good news could lead to complacency, which could lead to a second wave that would overwhelm the NHS and be really bad for peoples lives, but also their livelihoods. The COVID-19 R rate is said to be lower in London than in other parts of the country. (PA) Widespread contact tracing was originally abandoned in mid-March as the number of cases soared in the UK. However, TTT - which has been tested on the Isle of Wight - is now seen as a crucial component of efforts to safely ease the lockdown whilst avoiding a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Story continues Speaking during PMQs, the prime minister said: Were making fast progress in testing and tracing and I have great confidence that by June 1 we will have a system that will enable us, that will help us very greatly to defeat this disease and move the country forward. Health bosses have warned that 'time is running out' for the government's trace and trace system to be put in place. (PA) He said 25,000 staff would be in place by the start of next month and they would be capable of tracking the contacts of up to 10,000 new COVID-19 cases a day. Meanwhile, NHS bosses have warned how time is running out for the government to launch its track and trace system if Britain is to avoid a second spike of the virus. In the letter to health secretary Matt Hancock, NHS Confederation CEO Niall Dickson said while the prime ministers plans to launch the system by June was very much welcome, delivery and implementation will be critical, and we await further details. We would therefore urge you to produce such a strategy with a clear implementation plan ahead of any further easing of the lockdown, he wrote. Coronavirus: what happened today Click here to sign up to the latest news, advice and information with our daily Catch-up newsletter Read more about COVID-19 How to get a coronavirus test if you have symptoms What you can and cant do under lockdown rules In pictures: How UK school classrooms could look in new normal How public transport could look after lockdown How our public spaces will change in the future Help and advice Read the full list of official FAQs here 10 tips from the NHS to help deal with anxiety What to do if you think you have symptoms How to get help if you've been furloughed ALBANY Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended his administrations policies toward nursing homes Wednesday as criticism mounts over New Yorks high death toll in the facilities and the governors handling of the situation. The governor has been roundly criticized for policies his administration implemented in March that allowed nursing home employees who tested positive for COVID-19 but were asymptomatic to continue working and that forbid nursing homes from turning away residents who were infected with the virus. Industry observers say this allowed the virus to become introduced into facilities, where Cuomo himself has said the virus could spread like fire through dry grass. Both policies have since been rescinded, and the governor later stated that nursing homes were always allowed to turn away COVID-19 patients if they didnt have the capacity to care for them. But some contend the damage had already been done. As of Tuesday, more than 5,800 nursing home and adult care facility residents had died from the coronavirus. Asked Wednesday whether he believes his policy requiring homes to admit infected patients contributed to the death toll, Cuomo said no. No, because youd have to be saying the nursing homes were wrong in accepting COVID-positive patients, he said. Thats what you would have to be saying. Do you believe a nursing home operator would accept a patient who they knew they couldnt care for? Why would a nursing home operator do that? Cuomo said the policy was based on guidance at the time from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Anyone who wants to ask 'why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes?' Its because the state followed President Trumps CDC guidance. So they should ask President Trump," he said. Last week, a delegation of federal Republican lawmakers from New York, including U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, called for a federal investigation of the state's preparation and handling of the pandemic in nursing homes. "If the federal government wants to start a probe, then they can start a probe... It is irrelevant to me, Cuomo said Wednesday when asked about the issue. I have no role in a federal probe. President Trump does what he wants to do; he doesn't listen to a governor." The governor also asserted that New York ranked 34th in the nation in per-capita deaths in nursing homes, "even though we had the highest number of cases." In a livestream event hosted by the Empire Report and AARP on Wednesday, leaders in the long term care industry avoided casting any blame for the situation and instead said the crisis should incentivize the state to develop a systemic plan for keeping the virus out of facilities going forward. I think we need to get the best minds in New York in the room and figure out the long term care system for the future because 5,000 deaths in the long term care system or more just never can happen again, said Bill Ferris, legislative representative for AARP New York. I think it hurts everybody. Every day you pick up the newspaper or read on your iPad the number of people who have died it just cant happen again. Jim Clyne, president and CEO of LeadingAge New York, which represents nonprofit nursing homes, said his members were caught off guard early on by the lack of personal protective equipment both at their facilities and in supply chains. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. I think they thought they had enough and didnt realize how much PPE they would burn through, he said. And then when they went to their emergency plan they were surprised at their inability to get the equipment that they needed. And I dont think that was a reflection on the state necessarily. I think everybody was surprised at the inability to get access to what they needed the gloves, the gowns, the masks, hand sanitizer. People were running out of everything. Leaders recommended New York should follow in the steps of other states that have since formed strike teams to go into homes whenever a new cluster emerges and provide on-site testing, triage, supplies and other needed resources. The teams vary in makeup, but usually include emergency and medical personnel, and local and state health department representatives. Meanwhile, the New York State Senate Republican Conference on Wednesday called on Cuomo and the state Department of Health to step up their focus on protecting nursing homes "instead of implementing blame-shifting and potentially bankrupting mandates on already stressed and under-funded facilities." The Republicans said Cuomo's recent requirement that nursing home workers be tested at least twice a week for coronavirus would require the state's more than 600 nursing homes, most of them private, to pay between $75 and $150 per test. This week, Cuomo suggested those employees could also go to drive-up sites or pharmacies, although the drive-up facilities are not in every community and "repeated testing that is not medically mandated" may not be covered by insurance policies. The conference also questioned whether state labs, which have been overwhelmed with coronavirus and antibody testing, are equipped to return twice-weekly tests for tens of thousands of nursing home workers. According to the Healthcare Association of New York State, a rural upstate nursing home estimated it would have to purchase 436 tests at a cost of $104.95 each per week, totaling $45,758. A nursing home in Commack, Long Island estimated the tests will cost $300,000 a week, according to the GOP conferences. Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, said the state sent thousands of test kits to nursing homes on Monday and Tuesday to help them meet the mandate, and also paired them with commercial labs that will analyze the swabs. Lehigh Valley Health Network announced Wednesday, effective immediately, it is lifting some visitation restrictions put in place in response to COVID-19. The efforts to limit and, in some cases, prohibit hospital visitors have helped slow the spread of infections of the coronavirus illness, the network said. "During the past 10 weeks, we implemented many processes -- such as visitor temperature screenings at entrances -- to help keep everyone safe in our facilities," LVHN said in a news release. "These safety measures have proven to be very effective. "Now, as our hospitals continue to see declines in the number of COVID-19 cases across the region we serve, we are ready to welcome back visitors into select areas to provide support and companionship to our hospitalized patients." St. Lukes University Health Network updated its visitor policies May 11. They can be found at slhn.org for both its Pennsylvania campuses and for its Warren Campus. The Lehigh Valley is not out of the clear yet, with newly confirmed cases still above Gov. Tom Wolfs metric for transitioning to the initial, yellow-phase reopening of some sectors of the economy. With the yellow phase, the stay-at-home order is lifted in favor of aggressive mitigation strategies, as well. Social distancing and mask requirements remain in place, as do guidelines for thoroughly washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces. But hospital preparedness data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows widespread availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators in the Lehigh Valley region, particularly in counties with confirmed cases in the thousands like Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks. (Cant see the above table? Click here.) For New Jerseys hospital data, click here. Since its first patients tested positive March 6, Pennsylvanias count of confirmed coronavirus illness cases now totals 64,412 with 4,767 deaths. New Jerseys coronavirus death toll climbed Wednesday to 10,747, with 150,399 total cases since the outbreak began March 4. Lehigh Valley Health Network says its visitation guidelines and restrictions will be reviewed weekly, and updated based on the latest information and with the safety of patients and caregivers in mind. Here is their visitor guidelines updated as of Wednesday: In LVHN hospitals and inpatient facilities, visitors are allowed in these circumstances: Labor and delivery and postpartum areas: One partner/support person may stay the duration of the hospitalization. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU): One set of parents or authorized representatives may visit. Hospitalized patients age 18 and younger: One set of parents or authorized representatives may visit. Patients with developmental disability, major neurocognitive disorder or dementia: One designated support person essential to patient care may visit. Non-COVID-19 medical surgical/low-level monitoring units: One healthy support person may visit daily for the duration of the hospitalization. Patients ready to be discharged from the hospital: One healthy support person may visit to assist as necessary. Emergency department: One healthy visitor may accompany a patient. Non-COVID-19 patients who are at end-of-life: Two healthy visitors may visit at a time. COVID-19 patients who are at end-of-life: Two healthy visitors my visit at a time. Healthy visitors are allowed under these guidelines: Visitors will have their temperature taken and will be screened for symptoms of COVID-19. Visitors will be asked to provide a prior history of any COVID-19 diagnosis. Visitors will wear a face mask at all times. A mask will be provided to those who arrive without one. Visitors will be allowed in the patient room only and should not visit other areas in the hospital. No visitors under age 18 will be permitted except for visits to patients at the end of life. Visitors recovering from COVID-19 will be allowed if: Ten days have passed since they developed symptoms. They have been fever-free without the use of antipyretic medications (used to reduce fever) for three days. They have experienced an improvement in other symptoms. In LVHN hospitals and inpatient facilities, visitors are not allowed in these areas: Non-COVID-19 intensive care units. COVID-19 intensive care units. COVID-19 medical surgical/low-level monitoring units. Same-day surgery. COVID-FREE hospitals: LVHNTilghman; Coordinated Health Allentown1503 N. Cedar Crest Blvd.; and Coordinated Health Bethlehem2310 Highland Ave. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) - Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque maintained that the government is still gearing towards "expanded targeting testing", even after drawing flak for his remarks over the lack of a "mass testing" policy in the country to curb the spread of COVID-19. "Kung ako ay nagkamali, babawiin ko. Pero hindi po ako nagkamali dahil wala akong ganoong sinabi (on mass testing)," Roque said Thursday during his virtual briefing with Malacanang reporters. [Translation: If I said it wrong, I will take it back. But I did not make a mistake because I did not say anything about mass testing in the first place.] Roque was referring to the previous call of Sen. Risa Hontiveros to retract and clarify his claims over the government's stance on its COVID-19 testing strategy. He also reiterated that mass testing still cannot be done in the Philippines due to its current limits in testing capacity. "Ang sinabi ko po, hindi natin ginagawa ang ginagawa ng Wuhan kung saan tine-testing ang lahat ng mamamayan. Ang atin po, expanded targeted testing kung saan ite-test ang 1 to 2% ng populasyon," he added. [Translation: What I said was, we are not doing what Wuhan is doing wherein they would test every individual. What we are doing is an expanded targeted testing where we test 1 or 2% of the population.] He even claimed that CNN Philippines changed its article titled 'Up to private sector to carry out mass testing, Roque says amid limited testing capacity.' No modifications have been made by CNN Philippines in the story three days since it was published. Roque had repeatedly said in the past that it would be "physically impossible" to do a mass testing in the country which has almost 100 million population for COVID-19 infection. He added authorities will leave such efforts to the private sector. Roque experienced a backlash for his previous remark, amid public clamor on the government to ramp up its testing efforts as it gradually eased operations and movement in various areas under community quarantine. Calls for mass testing have been rampant on social media since March, when the Department of Health confirmed local transmission of the disease. Authorities earlier rejected the idea, but later implemented what they call a "progressive" COVID-19 testing program" which prioritizes people with severe flu-like symptoms, the elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions, pregnant women with mild symptoms, and healthcare workers with respiratory symptoms. The Department of Health reiterated on Wednesday that it would not be "cost-effective" to test asymptomatic individuals, or those who do not show symptoms of COVID-19, for the meantime due to limited resources. The government is aiming to have at least 66 functional testing laboratories by the end of the month to reach its goal of 30,000 daily tests. The country currently has 37 licensed laboratories, 31 of which are RT-PCR testing centers and 6 are GeneXpert laboratories. In recent weeks, U2 frontman, Bono, has been sharing letters to the music community - and one of his latest ones were addressed to none other than the iconic duo of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. In the letter, Bono revealed how influential musician Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin was for him and how they changed his life when he was 14. With this emotional letter, Bono showed his gratitude to Elton and stated that he is a big fan of him. Bono wrote: Dear Elton and Bernie, Of all people. you both know sometimes songs are not what they were meant to mean, but rather what they need to mean to someone. I was 14. In a fox hole In Vietnam and fighting with my brother, Norman, at the time. It was some kind of civil war The kind that follows a convulsion, a revolution, or a great bereavement where the world around you caves in and despots are required to restore order But at the time it might just have been that I borrowed his Trump 350 without telling him and before I could ride one The type of problem that might inspire a bro to leave Ireland for the Costa Brava! Your fan, Bono. Elton John saw the letter and couldnt help but respond via Instagram Story. Its so kind of you to include Daniel on such a special playlist. Im humbled that our song had such a profound effect on you. Your friend, Elton. Nine people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district on Thursday, pushing the number of cases to 130, officials said here. Among the fresh cases, eight have returned from Mumbai and one from Jaipur, District Magistrate Adarsh Singh said. He said all those who have tested positive for the infection are being treated in hospitals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The SUV driver who tore through crowds in western Sydney, smashing into a hijab fashion store and injuring more than a dozen people, has been released by police. A 51-year-old man was arrested outside Hijab House in Greenacre on Thursday afternoon, after his Mitsubishi ploughed into the shop's front window. He was released from custody on Friday morning pending further inquiries, with reports suggesting he may have suffered a medical episode. The driver is reportedly known to police for previous traffic offences. The crash left 14 people injured, with NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell telling reporters he was 'very grateful' nobody had been killed. None of the injuries are life-threatening, but several victims were left with serious injuries and broken legs. Blood-soaked feet of women who were injured in the horror crash on Thursday afternoon (pictured) Among the injured was a 13-year-old girl, who was rushed to hospital after the crash at around 3pm on Thursday afternoon. Police said the car crashed into another vehicle stopped at the traffic lights moments before driving into the busy store. Most of the victims are believed to be women aged between 18 and 30 and were in the store shopping at the time of the crash. So far, one victim in a serious condition. The store was particularly busy ahead of Eid al-Fitr this weekend, the festival that marks the end of Ramadan. The driver was arrested and taken to Liverpool Hospital for assessment and mandatory testing. Twelve people have been injured after a van driver smashed into a shop in Sydney's southwest (pictured) on Thursday afternoon After being discharged, he was taken to Bankstown Police Station where he was interviewed by police and released. On Thursday night, Police superintendent Murray Reynolds told 2GB he believed the crash may have been deliberate. 'It does appear that it's [been] done deliberately but potentially it could be a medical episode,' he said. 'The scene itself it obviously quite chaotic I'm grateful no one was killed.' A spokesman for Hijab House confirmed both customers and staff were injured in the crash. A Mitsubishi SUV slammed into Hijab House on Waterloo Road and Juno Parade in Greenacre just after 3pm on Thursday (pictured) The van (pictured) has now been removed from the Hijab House store in Greenacre, following hours of police investigations 'A number of our customers and staff members were injured. The community is shaken and management is working to make sense of this tragedy,' the spokesman said. 'At this stage motives are unknown. The important thing is everyone is still alive.' Video taken by a bystander showed thick smoke billow from the front of the Subaru while stopped at a red light. The Mitsubishi then appeared to accelerate across the crowded intersection before ploughing into the shop's glass windows. The male driver was initially trapped in the car and had to be freed by emergency crews, while 11 pedestrians were injured. 'The male driver and 11 pedestrians have been injured. They are currently being treated at the scene; however, their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening,' police said in a statement. Smoke billowed from the SUV before it careered across the intersection and into the shop front (pictured) Shocked locals are seen gathered outside the crash sight on Thursday afternoon (pictured) after 14 people were injured Dozens of paramedics, firefighters, police, nine ambulances and a specialist medical team remain on the scene. Two people have been taken to Liverpool Hospital and up to seven others are being treated for leg injuries at the scene. NSW Police said there is no indication the crash was terror related. Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell on Tuesday said there doesn't appear to be any link between the driver of the SUV or the driver of the other car. John Makhlouf, who owns a nearby petrol station, said he saw a car career through the intersection and into the shop. Police are seen after a car crashed into a shop at Greenacre in southwestern Sydney (pictured), injuring 14 people Emergency services rushed to the scene (pictured) on Thursday, but no-one suffered life-threatening injuries 'I saw a lot of smoke and heard a beeping horn. One car got pushed out of the way and the other car went straight into the shop and crashed and you could hear the horn constantly beeping,' he told the ABC. 'It's very lucky there was no one standing on the corner or crossing at the lights because they would have been hit.' A worker at the Al Aseel restaurant next door said 'police and ambulances were everywhere'. Crude oil demand in India will take longer to recover than many hope for as the country braces for the worst recession in its history after a two-month lockdown. Bloomberg reports, citing Indian oil industry executives, that demand for the commodity might take until the end of the year to return to pre-crisis levels after last month, fuel demand at one point dropped by as much as 70 percent. Still, most of the demand will return before the end of the year, according to one executive. Demand is reaching 60% to 70% of normal, but it will take some time to get to pre-Covid sales, the chairman of Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Mukesh Kumar Surana, told Bloomberg. Over a period of two to three months, we should get back to 80% of normal sales. Beyond that, it will be slow. Earlier this month, reports said that fuel demand in India had plummeted by more than 60 percent in April, with gasoline sales slumping by 61 percent and diesel sales shedding 64 percent in just the first two weeks of the month. Due to plummeting fuel demand and overflowing storage capacity, at least three oil refiners in India asked for lower crude oil imports for May from the Middle East, including from the worlds top exporter, Saudi Arabia. These developments have suggested the recovery in oil imports could take long, too. Yet a report by Reuters citing shipping data obtained from unnamed sources had it that imports of crude oil last month were actually higher on the month, by 5 percent, to an average daily of 4.63 million barrels. The countrys top supplier of crude oil was Saudi Arabia, replacing Iraq at the top spot thanks to the generous discounts the Kingdom offered Asian buyers to find markets for its surplus oil. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: 21.05.2020 LISTEN The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) with support from UNICEF, and in collaboration with this the Fiscal Decentralization Unit of the Ministry of Finance, has organized a capacity building workshop for stakeholders on the Public Financial Management Templates for citizen engagements. The two-day workshop held at the Forest Hotel, (Dodowa) in Accra was aimed to Sensitize CSO leadership on the PFM Templates, provide a platform for further inputs to improve the PFM Templates, agree on a work plan for transferring knowledge and provide a platform for networking and discussing how CSOs can work to ensure No One is Left Behind, towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) PARTICIPANTS The workshop was attended by key stakeholders including UNICEF, NDPC, FDU, Staff of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Head of Social Accountability Unit (SAU) and PFM Network members. PURPOSE AND KEYNOTE STATEMENTS Madam Fati Lily Soale, Director HR and Head SAU at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in a statement noted that the workshop was organized to sensitize and validate the revised Public Financial Management( PFM )Templates because of the changes in law especially the Local Governance Act (936) and the PFM Act all of 2016. She also said the workshop was to educate Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to be familiarized with the template. She further said the workshop was meant to create opportunity for the MLGRD and MoF to collect inputs from stakeholders to update the templates review process. Madam Fati reminded participants that CSOs had a task to disseminate it to the grassroots level to equip citizens to demand accountability during town hall meetings. The Chief for Social Policy & Evidence Officer at UNICEF Ghana, Ms. Yoshimi Nishino, in her statement noted that UNICEF was a Child focused International Organization that ensures that transfers from central government like the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) are utilized in a manner that addresses child related challenges. She was happy that the PFM templates will be used as a tool to ensure that budgets are translated to real changes in the lives of children. She was also happy CSOs would be tracking changes and demanding accountability. She noted that the launch of multidimensional child poverty in Ghana is an opportunity for CSOs to ensure that funds from government are utilized efficiently at the local level through demand-side accountable and governance using the PFM templates. Mr. Kojo Anane, speaking on behalf of CSOs indicated that the role of CSOs as a collaborators with local governments to successfully engage citizens was important and appreciated the MLGRDs recognition of same. He indicated that a coalition of CSOs in PFM, known as the PFM Network has grown tremendously and was in collaboration with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG), Ministry of Planning (MoP), German Development Organization (GIZ) among others to increase citizens voice on how national resources are utilized. Mr. Anane indicated that PFM Network uses development communication tools such as social media to communicate on what it does. He called on UNICEF to support PFM Network activities in the future following the successful implementation of 2 projects which included the 2019 Citizens Budget Dissemination and the Enhancing Citizens Participation in Social Accountability at the District Level. PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT TEMPLATES The Public Financial Management (PFM) templates were developed under the 3rd component (Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability-SPEFA) to help the average citizen with at least primary or no education to understand district PFM issues during the implementation of the Local Government Capacity Support Project (LGCSP). The templates cover Planning, Budgeting, Auditing and Financial Reporting, and it is intended to help citizens to be able to engage with duty bearers on core financial management issues as well as assist districts to present key PFM information to the public. An off-duty New York City police officer was charged this morning with murder in the shooting death of his purported best friend on Long Island. The state attorney generals office brought the criminal charge against rookie officer Errick Allen, 26, after investigating the May 12 shooting under its authority to review killings of unarmed civilians by law enforcement officers. Allen was expected to be arraigned on Thursday afternoon for the killing of 25-year-old Christopher Curro. Authorities say Allen, a first-year officer, shot Curro in front of a house in Farmingdale. The police department suspended him for 30 days without pay after the shooting. Scroll down for video NYPD cop Errick Allen, 26 (left), on Thursday was charged with murder in the shooting death of his best friend, Christopher Curro, 25 (right), during a heated argument on Long Island Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Allen pulled out a gun and shot Curro, a friend since childhood, twice in the head and twice in the neck as they engaged in a struggle. Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement: 'We trust our police officers to protect the safety of New Yorkers, but instead, this individual allegedly betrayed that duty to end another mans life.' Curro's stepmother, Ellen, told local news outlets that the 25-year-old grew up and was best friends with Allen, who was assigned to a 109th Precinct in Queens. According to the victim's stepmother, Curro was shot five times, including twice in the head, twice in the neck and once in the shoulder, after he and Allen got into a heated argument outside a home off Langdon Road in Farmingdale shortly after 8pm on Tuesday. There are still lingering questions about the subject of the men's dispute, with police sources claiming that Allen allegedly opened fire on Curro to prevent him from hurting someone. A neighbor who lives near the crime scene told the New York Daily News she heard from Curro's stepmother that the argument between her son and Allen was over a woman, but Ellen has denied saying that. Officers with the Nassau County Police Department responded to the scene in front of a Farmingdale home off Langdon Road at 8.05pm on May 12 to investigate the homicide The stepmother called Curro's killing an 'execution,' adding that after firing the fatal shots, Allen took off from the scene to go to his father's house, leaving his friend's bullet-riddled body sprawled out in the street. 'For a cop to do that and leave your best friend for dead ... thats atrocious,' Ellen said. 'Its unconscionable. Errick was his best friend. He grew up with Chris. These are not two strangers. They grew up with sleepovers in each others houses.' The stepmother added that her husband - Curro's father - had just lost his mother to the coronavirus. Curro worked as a deliveryman for Crostini N Broadway, a pizza shop located in Massapequa. 'We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend,' his employer stated in a Facebook post on Thursday. 'He was quiet, kind, hard working, funny, and an all around good person. We all miss you immensely and youll never be forgotten. RIP our dear friend Chris.' Speaking at an unrelated event in Oceanside on Wednesday, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that the altercation escalated from a verbal disagreement to a physical altercation. Curro worked as a deliveryman for a Massapequa, New York, pizzeria. He had just lost his paternal grandmother to COVID-19 'There was an altercation between two gentlemen; it started over a conversation they were having,' Ryder said, according to Newsday. 'They met up. A struggle ensued. During that struggle, a weapon was produced and the victim was shot and killed. The person that was involved in that struggle, fighting also with that other individual, was a New York City police officer.' Ryder described the victim and the alleged gunmen as being 'childhood friends' who 'grew up together.' 'It's just an altercation between two individuals and the gun was produced and the individual who was shot was shot in the head and he died last night and the other individual is being discussed with homicide,' said Ryder. During Mayor de Blasio's coronavirus press briefing last week, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said that the department was informed of the shooting almost immediately. 'An NYPD officer discharged a firearm,' Shea said during the press conference. 'That case is being investigated by the Nassau County District Attorney's office and the Nassau County Police. He is an NYPD officer that discharged his firearm, ' Shea continued. 'As a result of that discharged, the individual was struck in the head and killed and it is an ongoing and very early part of that investigation. 'We were conferred with almost immediately last night and that is an active investigation.' Allen graduated from the academy a few months ago and was assigned to the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens, sources told the New York Daily News. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that the altercation escalated from a verbal disagreement to a physical altercation Spoke to the stepmom of the #LongIsland man who was shot dead by NYPD Officer Errick Allen his best friend on Tuesday night. She says her stepson was shot five times, but cant understand why. This wasnt self defense. This was an execution.https://t.co/feBJnRGS4Q pic.twitter.com/vpiBf4emUh Esha Ray (@ByEshaRay) May 13, 2020 Allen is said to have fled the scene of the shooting before returning later with his father The rookie cop left the scene and returned home, where he told his father what happened. The pair returned to the scene, soon after. But by then, cops had been called by a passing motorist who saw the victim's body in the street. 'Somebody was driving by and saw the dead body in the street and got out because he thought it was a joke,' neighbor Mary Fanelli, said. 'But then he realized what it was and called 911. Apparently the guy that shot him left the scene and came back.' The 62-year-old said that Allen was grilled by police once he returned to the scene. A passing motorist saw the body and called police to the scene 'He was sitting on the curb and they were all around him,' she recalled. 'Apparently it was his gun. The other guy was not armed.' Fanelli said that the two were 'best friends' who graduated from Farmingdale High School. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- J.P. Morgan Asset Management today announced the launch of two actively-managed transparent equity ETFs, the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and the JPMorgan International Growth ETF (JIG). Delivered through the transparent ETF structure, both active equity ETF funds will employ the expertise of J.P. Morgan's Global Equities platform, seeking to improve returns and better manage risk within portfolios as investors navigate today's investment environment. JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) targets a significant portion of S&P 500 returns with less volatility, seeking annualized income distributed monthly. The fund leverages an experienced equity management team comprising more than 50 years of combined experience and headed by 32-year industry veteran Hamilton Reiner as the lead portfolio manager, based in New York. "Regardless of the market environment, investors demand an active strategy that captures income without taking on undue risk," said Hamilton Reiner, Portfolio Manager and Head of U.S. Equity Derivatives at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "JEPI provides an attractive solution to help investors realize their financial goals and round out their portfolios with conviction." The JPMorgan International Growth ETF (JIG) seeks high quality growth opportunities for U.S. investors looking for broad, diversified access and exposure to the international equity market through an ETF. The fund is managed by an experienced J.P. Morgan team, with 21-year veteran Shane Duffy lead portfolio manager, based in London. "It was important that we took our time to develop thoughtful and disciplined actively managed equity ETF solutions that give investors tools to pursue better outcomes," said Bryon Lake, Head of Americas ETF Distribution at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "We are eager to combine our firm's global active equity management platform with the benefits of the ETF technology as part of the next wave of active solutions we bring to market for our clients." J.P. Morgan's Global Equities platform manages $518 billion across US Equity ($286bn), International Equity ($111bn) and EMEA ($121bn) investment strategies. 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On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here. Read this article and more for a 30 day period. Are you already an IFLR subscriber? Login here It seems like a long, long time ago since there was an atmosphere in Northern Ireland politics that could be recognised as "hope". Twenty-five years ago, in February 1995, the document Frameworks For The Future (or the "frameworks documents", as it became known) was published by the UK and Irish Governments, confirming rumours that a proposed talks process would be built around three strands: relations within Northern Ireland; north-south; and London-Dublin. The crucial difference between the frameworks documents and the Downing Street Declaration of December 1993 (and it was this difference that afforded the hope I mentioned above) was the position of the IRA and loyalist paramilitary groups: "The announcements made by the Irish Republican Army on August, 31, 1994 and the Combined Loyalist Military Command on October 13, 1994 are a welcome response to the profound desire of people throughout these islands for a permanent end to the violence which caused such immense suffering and waste and served only to reinforce the barriers of fear and hatred, impeding the search for agreement. A climate of peace enables the process of healing to begin. Everyone now has a role to play in moving irreversibly beyond the failures of the past." The attitude of the governments - that the paramilitaries had to have an input, albeit through their political fronts - wasn't universally popular, let alone endorsed by all of the political parties. The thinking, though, was that the imprimatur of paramilitaries would make it easier to construct and deliver an agreement, while also paving a route for the eventual disappearance of their structures, stockpiles, members and influence (often malign and criminal) in local communities. I can't remember who, but I do remember someone saying that the groups would just become like "old comrades associations", eventually disappearing altogether as old-age took its toll and political/societal circumstances changed. Yet, here we are, a quarter-of-a-century later, and there are some very gloomy realities all around us. I suspect that some members of the group which issued the threat may not even have been born when the Combined Loyalist Military Command issued its ceasefire statement in October 1994 According to a report in 2015, "PIRA members believe that the Provisional Army Council oversees both the PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy"; there have been intermittent feuds within both loyalism and republicanism; dissident "armed struggle" republican groups are targeting PSNI/security forces and murdered Lyra McKee a year ago; loyalist groups/gangs are still engaged in very serious criminal activities, a new generation is being recruited into these organisations, and a UDA offshoot from south-east Antrim has issued threats against journalists and politicians. And isn't it extraordinary that this far into a peace/political process a joint statement has been issued by a number of newspapers calling for "the immediate withdrawal of all threats against journalists in Northern Ireland and for the freedom of the Press to be respected and protected"? I suspect that some members of the group which issued the threat may not even have been born when the Combined Loyalist Military Command issued its ceasefire statement in October 1994. They will have no personal knowledge of the Troubles. They have joined a paramilitary group for no other reason than the opportunity it provides to line their pockets with cash and their noses with coke. There were three key votes in the mid to late 1990s: 1996 (Forum elections); 1998 (Referendum); and 1998 (Assembly election). All the 18-20-year-olds who were casting their first votes at the time are 40 or older in 2020. They're middle-aged now and whatever hopes they may have had of a paramilitary-free world have been dashed. And whatever hopes they may have had of politics being done differently in the future have probably also been dashed. I've talked to groups of A-level students over the past few years. If you think I'm cynical or pessimistic about local politics, then you should listen to what they think Some of their own children will be of voting age at this point - or approaching it - so I wonder what advice they will give them if asked? That generation, born between 1998 and 2002, will also be at, or nudging towards, voting age. My eldest daughter, born in 1998, cast her first vote in the 2017 Assembly election for an Assembly that didn't actually meet until three years later. A few days ago she asked me about the death threats against journalists, wondering, I suppose, if there was any risk to me. I've talked to groups of A-level students over the past few years. If you think I'm cynical or pessimistic about local politics, then you should listen to what they think. So, why are we still plagued by paramilitarism in Northern Ireland? A number of possibilities come to mind. There still seems to be a belief in Government circles (and it may also be fuelled by some security/intelligence analysis) that the paramilitaries are 'too big' - in influence rather than numbers at the moment - to be faced down In both conflict and coming-out-of-conflict societies, what happens at the political centre is usually reflected by what happens on the ground, particularly in specific "community" areas. If the centre isn't working then you can't expect something different on the ground. If the key political parties are in positions of almost constant stalemate and open disrespect then don't be surprised if certain on-the-ground elements choose to exploit those schisms, usually by promotion of the absurd and spurious logic that "we are still needed, there's still a role for us". There still seems to be a belief in Government circles (and it may also be fuelled by some security/intelligence analysis) that the paramilitaries are "too big" - in influence rather than numbers at the moment - to be faced down. What that suggests is a fear in those governing/intelligence circles that paramilitaries on both sides would be able to recruit and stockpile pretty quickly if the political process broke down. So - and this shouldn't surprise anyone - it is in the interests of those paramilitaries to make it clear that they can put boots and guns on the ground if they think it's required. It's also worth noting that paramilitarism survives, old structures are maintained and recruits (or even just potential recruits) are sounded out and lined up because there is a very clear impression across broader society that paramilitary groups are actually indulged (and more likely to escape undue attention from the police). Unionist leaders meet representatives of loyalist groups. Sinn Fein doesn't really hide the fact that the Army Council still plays a role in strategy and decision-making. Newer offshoots seem to be allowed to grow rather than being stamped out and uprooted at community level. My generation (I'm 64) lived through the Troubles and saw the daily, bloody outworkings of paramilitarism. My daughter's generation (those born at the start of the peace process) hear of paramilitary activity on a regular basis, although it's now more regularly described as criminal rather than the more accurate paramilitary. What is often described as the Good Friday Agreement generation (the ones we claimed to be making peace for) have been failed. There isn't much change in how we do politics and the deadly hand of paramilitarism still has a grip in far too many areas and on the lives of far too many people. I accept that some of those paramilitaries who played a crucial role in getting the Good Friday Agreement endorsed 25 years ago are still doing their best to maintain discipline and deter a new generation from going down the "wrong path". But the fact they seem to be fighting a losing battle would suggest that paramilitarism won't be disappearing - let alone being wiped out - anytime soon. Nasal swab samples from bodies of suspected Covid-19 cases should be collected for testing of coronavirus infection at the emergency before moving the body to mortuary, the ICMR said. According to the Standard Guidelines for Medico-legal autopsy in Covid-19 deaths in India released by the ICMR on Tuesday, if the Covid-19 test report is awaited, the dead body must not be released from the mortuary until the final report is received and after the formalities, it must be handed over to the district administration. It is advisable to collect Nasopharyngeal swab at the emergency department/casualty/ward/ICU and should be sent for Covid-19 RT-PCR test in all suspected cases before moving the body to mortuary for preservation if the same was not sent in due hospital course, the guidelines said. Asymptomatic infected people and patients in incubation period may not meet the diagnostic criteria for suspected cases, but if they have possible epidemiological history, all dead bodies without reliable clinical/epidemiological history and all unidentified dead bodies should be treated as suspected Covid-19 deaths. Cases with negative swab results also should be treated as suspected Covid-19 deaths as false negative result is not uncommon, the guidelines stated. At no time, more than two relatives must be present near the body and they must maintain a distance of at least one meter from the body. The body must be identified through the plastic bag, without opening the bag, and it must be done in the presence of law enforcing agencies. The body must be taken to the burial/cremation ground in presence of law enforcing agencies, where not more than five relatives of the deceased should be allowed, it said. In case of burial, upper surface should be cemented and earmarked. The body must be cremated in electric crematorium, wherever possible, so that the movement and handling of the body is minimised, the guidelines stated. Religious rituals which require touching the bodies should be avoided like bathing, kissing and hugging of the dead bodies, the document said, adding the ashes do not pose any risk and can be collected to perform the last rites. As for the ideal depth of burial of dead body, the ICMR said as per available literature and reports, the burial is being done at a depth of six to eight feet. During autopsy or while handling the dead body, if anyone get accidental occupational exposure with body fluids/tissues of a Covid-19 patient, then immediately the entire exposed area should be washed with soap and water with minimum contact time of 20 seconds. This should be followed by application of 70 per cent alcohol based disinfectant. The exposed clothes/ articles should be disposed off according to the established practices. The matter should be reported to the hospital administration to evaluate the necessary steps accordingly, the ICMR added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Public Joint Stock Company Zvezda (MCX:ZVEZ) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 13% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last half decade have been spectacular. To be precise, the stock price is 679% higher than it was five years ago, a wonderful performance by any measure. So it might be that some shareholders are taking profits after good performance. Only time will tell if there is still too much optimism currently reflected in the share price. We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance! See our latest analysis for Zvezda Zvezda isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth. For the last half decade, Zvezda can boast revenue growth at a rate of 8.7% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. However, the share price gain of 51% during the period is considerably stronger. We usually like strong growth stocks but it does seem the market already appreciates this one quite well! You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). MISX:ZVEZ Income Statement May 21st 2020 If you are thinking of buying or selling Zvezda stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet. What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)? We've already covered Zvezda's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that Zvezda's TSR of 697% over the last 5 years is better than the share price return. Story continues A Different Perspective Investors in Zvezda had a tough year, with a total loss of 4.9%, against a market gain of about 7.8%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 51%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Zvezda better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Zvezda (including 2 which is don't sit too well with us) . Of course Zvezda may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on RU exchanges. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. After being closed for two months with little to no revenue, Athens bar owners worry about what the bar scene will look like after COVID-19 as bars continue to pay fixed expenses. TROY The Troy school districts 23 reading teachers are cut from its proposed $113.65 million budget for the 2020-21 school year that the Board of Education voted Wednesday night to put on the June 9 ballot. A last-minute petition bearing more than 700 signatures asking the school board not to eliminate the reading teachers failed to sway the adoption of the spending plan. We know that reading is fundamental, Superintendent John Carmello said. Every student will get the same amount of reading instruction. The elimination of the 23 positions accounts for $1.7 million of the $2.9 million budget gap the district administration had to close. The budget also cut a clerical position and a laborer job. Two open non-teaching positions also went unfilled. The budget includes a 1.99 percent tax levy increase that falls under the 2.13 percent cap for raising the tax levy. This will produce $740,000 in new tax revenue. That translates to a $44 per year increase for a home assessed at $100,000. The district found itself in the same position that other small urban city school systems do of not seeing their state aid increase due to the adverse impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on state revenues. The district had expected to learn this past Friday if there would be additional state aid cuts, but that did not occur. There is still the threat of looming cuts coming, Carmello said. He warned that steep state cuts would totally decimate our district and make it unrecognizable. A letter from Troy Area Labor Council Vice President Sean Collins was read by Carmello for those listening to the livestream of the school board meeting. The petition accompanied the letter. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Troy parents and residents understand that foundational significance of reading. They understand intuitively that in a district where 71 percent of students do not read on grade level, the notion of eliminating the department dedicated to closing that gap is reckless and ill conceived, Collins wrote. The district decided that keeping elementary class sizes to 19 students would permit classroom teachers to deliver the reading instruction the students need, Carmello said. The district also would preserve the social workers and mental health counseling that students currently need and may need more of as they deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The district will mail out absentee ballots to each voter who has cast a ballot in the last five school district votes. Any person qualified to vote by being at least 18-years-old, an American citizen and living within the district for 30 days who has not voted in and of these previous school board election may send an email to the district clerk at boe@troycsd.org to request a ballot. The absentee ballots must be received by 5 p.m. June 9 to be counted. RACINE A federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday against City of Racine Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox and 20 other Wisconsin officials alleging that locally mandated Safer at Home orders are unconstitutional. The lawsuit, which lists a Racine resident as one of its 17 plaintiffs, asks the Eastern District of Wisconsin of the U.S. District Court to end all of Wisconsins local Safer at Home orders. The local orders unlawfully interfere with plaintiffs rights to work and to worship, to gather and assemble, in violation of their Federal Constitutional Rights, the complaint alleges. Other defendants in the case represent Dane, Outagamie, Winnebago, Green and Rock counties, the City of Appleton, the Grand Chute Police Department, the Wisconsin State Capitol Police and the City of Milwaukee, as well Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and Gov. Tony Evers. The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph W. Voiland of Veterans Liberty Law, which is based in Cedarburg. Voiland served as an Ozaukee County Circuit Court judge from 2013-2019. Racine City Attorney Scott Letteney said Thursday morning that the city still has not been served with the lawsuit yet. As such, It would be premature to provide any comment, he said in an email. Racine womans allegations Among the plaintiffs is Sandra K. Morris of Racine. In the lawsuit, she claimed that two of her rights specifically have been unlawfully stripped. The first was her ability to worship. Places of worship in Racine are now allowed to legally hold services, albeit with limited numbers of attendees. Morris second claim, along with five of her co-plaintiffs, is that the Safer at Home order prevented her from circulating recall petitions for either state or local office holders. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many of those who are running for public office have held outdoor events or gathered signatures by mail, rather than collecting signatures by going door-to-door as is normally done, to ensure their nomination petitions are filled out with enough voters signatures. Statewide order overturned The statewide Safer at Home order was overturned on May 13 by a 4-3 vote by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. State Attorney General Josh Kaul and Letteney said afterwards that local orders were still legal if there was an ongoing public health emergency in a specific locality. Last week, Letteney argued that the Supreme Courts ruling on the statewide order did not declare that the order itself was unconstitutional, just the way it was implemented by the Department of Health Services. The courts decision did not say anything about what a local health officer may do under Wisconsin Statute section 252.03 or under any other law, Letteney said. Ryan Nilsestuen, the governors legal counsel, said that he is optimistic that this lawsuit will go nowhere. Heading into the Supreme Court hearing earlier this month, Nilsestuen had expressed confidence that DHS would win the case; he was later proven wrong when four justices sided with the Republican-led Legislature. Local situation Only a handful of local Safer at Home orders remain in place statewide, including in the cities of Racine and Milwaukee, and in Dane County. On Monday, Dane County announced its plans to roll back its order. Before the end of this week, the City of Racine plans to release its outline on how it will begin allowing businesses to reopen. Kenosha County, as well as several other municipalities, repealed its order after consulting with an attorney soon after the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision. Racine Council OKs extension of emergency declaration; mass gatherings restricted through July 31 RACINE The City Council and city staff spent quite a bit of time Tuesday night clarifying the differences between Safer at Home orders, the Confirmed cases of COVID-19 are rising in the City of Racine faster than the rest of the state, with more than 550 cases and five deaths in the city alone. The rate of increase in the greater Racine area ranks among the top 25 in the nation, according to data compiled by The Upshot and The New York Times. On Tuesday, the City of Racines emergency health declaration was extended until July 31 by the City Council per request of Mayor Cory Mason, as was a restriction on mass gatherings that need to be approved by the city per order of Bowersox. The local orders unlawfully interfere with plaintiffs rights to work and to worship, to gather and assemble, in violation of their Federal Constitutional Rights. Lawsuit against Dott-Kay Bowersox and other state officials Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 4 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. A Republican Illinois Rep. has been kicked out of a House session after he refused to wear a mask despite the coronavirus pandemic, prompting the governor to respond that he has a 'callous disregard for life'. The Illinois House passed an order that required members, staff and visitors to the Bank of Springfield Center to wear a nose and mouth covering for the protection of others around who are potentially vulnerable or have loved ones at risk. The House is sitting at the convention center rather than their chamber the Illinois Capitol building, six blocks away, in order to allow room for social distancing. Asked to comply with the new rule announced by Democratic House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, Rep. Darren Bailey responded on the first day of the Illinois General Assembly's special pandemic session: 'I will not.' '[If] you want to send me or anyone else outside the doors today, I understand. Go right ahead,' Bailey continued. 'But know this: If you do that, you're silencing millions of voices of people who have had enough.' Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Louisville, stands to leave the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield, Illinois on Wednesday He was kicked out after he refused to put on a face covering despite new House rules requiring him to do so Democratic Rep. Emanuel 'Chris' Welch initiated the motion to remove him and House members voted 81-27 in favor of it. 'Doormen, please remove Rep. Bailey,' state Rep. Jay Hoffman (D) said before Bailey left smirking. The only time House members are allowed to remove their mask is when eating and drinking but they told to stay at their socially distanced tables when doing so. However Bailey won a temporary restraining order against the governor which allows him to go mask-free. Earlier in the day House Republican Leader Jim Durkin was seen speaking with Bailey for several minutes but didn't appear to have any luck persuading him to wear a mask. Durkin and a few other Republicans expressed annoyance at having to comply with the new rule but went along with it. '[If] you want to send me or anyone else outside the doors today, I understand. Go right ahead,' Bailey said. He won a temporary restraining order last month that allows him to go against state requirements to wear a face mask in public House Republican Leader Jim Durkin was seen speaking with Bailey for several minutes but didn't appear to have any luck persuading him to wear a mask 'We cannot ignore nor compromise the health and safety of every member of the General Assembly, their family members,' Durkin said 'We cannot ignore nor compromise the health and safety of every member of the General Assembly, their family members, every one of our staffers who works tirelessly for us,' Durkin said, according to NPR. 'I don't think the people that sent us here to represent them today intended for us to focus our time on a mask showdown of whether you're wearing it or you're not,' state Rep. Dan Brady (R) said. However Rep. Dan Caulkins (R, Decatur) supported Bailey: 'If someone chooses to exercise their right, I don't think that we should take punitive action. I think this is a mistake,' Bailey has been staunchly opposed to the protective measures and has claimed that wearing a face mask isn't to protect others, despite what the CDC and coronavirus task force doctor Anthony Fauci has recommended. 'This whole thing that it's concern for other people? I don't buy that at all,' Bailey told the Washington Post Wednesday. He claimed it's not about health but 'just another Democrat bullying tactic'. Bailey said he'd wear one if he was concerned for his own health but he's not. Legislators have been gathering instead of in their chamber in the Illinois Capitol building a few blocks away because it affords more space for to practice social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic Democratic Rep. Emanuel 'Chris' Welch initiated the motion to remove him and House members voted 81-27 in favor of it. Bailey is seen gathering his things in preparation to leave 'Doormen, please remove Rep. Bailey,' state Rep. Jay Hoffman (D) said before Bailey left smirking Illinois is the third worst affected state with more than 100,000 coronavirus cases and 4,525 deaths as of Thursday morning. Gov. J.B. Pritzker blasted Bailey for his defiance. 'The representative has shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for people's health,' Pritzker said. 'You just heard a doctor tell you why to wear a mask in the first place. It's to protect others. So clearly, the representative has no interest in protecting others.' Last month Bailey sued Gov. J.B. Pritzker for extending the state's stay-at-home order through until May 30. Bailey claimed it was a violation of civil rights. 'Enough is enough!' Bailey said in a statement. 'I filed this lawsuit on behalf of myself and my constituents who are ready to go back to work and resume a normal life.' The case continues and is set to be heard on Friday. On Tuesday hundreds of people gathered outside the Bank of Springfield Center demanding that the state reopen. Bailey could return the House if he complies. The Xenia, Illinois man hinted that he may change his mind when asked how he will represent his constituents if he isn't on the House floor. He responded to the Washington Post on Wednesday: 'I don't know. That's something where I'll have to decide whether I go back tomorrow and wear a mask or not.' As protesters chant, 'open Illinois,' Dan Haifley of Mattoon, center, prays in front of the Bank of Springfield Center, where the Illinois House of Representatives conducted their spring session Wednesday Representational image (Flickr) The scientific community has been awestruck since it stumbled upon a fountain of high-energy particles erupting from the ice in Antarctica, which could prove the existence of a parallel universe. Now, a parallel universe would typically exist where the established rules of physics would not apply and this discovery was made by NASAs Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). The United States space agencys stratospheric balloon payload ANITA was designed to detect cosmic-ray air showers by reading radio wave signals that would bounce off the ice. However, what it detected in the course of the flights it took between 2006 and 2014 was a fountain of high energy particles that resembled an upside-down cosmic shower. A Newshub report states that the findings were initially dismissed as background noise or technical glitches, but now some researchers are claiming these were in pretty strong tension with the standard model of physics, implying a parallel universe may have been created during the Big Bang. Professor Peter Gorham, a researcher at the University of Hawaii said: What we saw is something that looked just like a cosmic ray, as seen in reflection off the ice sheet, but it wasnt reflected. It was as if the cosmic ray had come out of the ice itself. A very strange thing. The discovery that gave rise to this conundrum was made several years ago but gained prominence recently with the other plausible explanations being ruled out one by one. Researchers believe the neutrinos were actually travelling back in time, reversing the laws of physics as we know them. Admitting that everyone was not comfortable with the hypothesis, Professor Gorham pointed out that the bizarre phenomenon could also be the indication of some new type of physics. Researcher Neil Turok of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is also of the opinion that the reverse cosmic shower could be proof of a parallel universe, reported the Express. Notably, Professor Stephen Hawking had also proposed in his final paper that our universe is only of many similar ones that exist in the cosmos. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 20, 2020 | 10:38 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY On Tuesday, the McCracken County Fiscal Court held a budget workshop to discuss the county's $1 million budget shortfall. Historically the county has provided the Senior Citizens Center with $25,000 annually, aside from last year when the they gave the center just over $4,000. This year they're proposing cutting funding to the center entirely. West Kentucky Star spoke with Commissioner Eddie Jones about the proposal. Jones says that in order to receive funding from the county, groups must first fill out a form, providing their current and past financial situation. According to Jones, unless there's a typo on the the Senior Center's 990 form, as of 2018 the center had $1.6 million in investments, and $61,000 in investment income. "One of the things that we're looking at is, well, how much money do you have? Maybe you have more money than we do. And in this case that appears to be true, at least from the 990 tax forms that were filed, it shows quite a bit of investment income," He said. "It's a little difficult for me to just leap frog over that when we have deputy sheriff's and jailers who are underpaid." Jones continued, "Obviously this program is wonderful and we don't want the program to fail, but if the program is already adequately funded through something that's happened in the past, then it might not be the best use of tax dollars at the moment." Jones says he's just trying to be careful with taxpayer money. He reiterated that he doesn't want the senior center to fail. He says they are very supportive of the program, and if they need tax dollars, they will go back and look at it again. "At this point, based on their 990, they appear to be making enough money that maybe they don't necessarily need the tax grant." He said, "Until I see more, I'm going to be a little more careful with the tax dollars." You can see the full budget workshop meeting below. While working on the county's budget, McCracken County officials have proposed cutting funding to the Paducah-McCracken County Senior Citizens Center. A Delhi court Wednesday sent Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) university student Asif Iqbal Tanha to 7-day police custody in a case related to communal violence in northeast Delhi during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in February. Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain sent him to the custody till May 27 after the police said it required his remand to unearth the entire conspiracy with respect to the communal violence in Delhi and to confront him with the electronic data collected during investigation. Tanha, a third-year student of BA in Persian language, was earlier arrested in connection with the violence in the Jamia area during a protest against the CAA in December last year. He was sent to judicial custody on till May 31 in the case. The police had said that Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, was a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the new citizenship law. Asif is a key member of the Jamia Coordination Committee and played an active role in organising protests and riots in Jamia in December 2019. He is a close associate of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar who had been key organisers of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots, police had said. On December 15 last year, protesters had turned violent, torching four public buses and two police vehicles and pelting stones at the police and civilians, near JMI. At least 40 people including students, policemen and fire fighters were injured in the incident. Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured. Cyber security experts are warning that Australias digital healthcare networks are not as secure as they should be and are under threat of cyber attacks as the nation becomes increasingly reliant on remote services after the COVID-19 pandemic. "Historically in the health sector, when it comes to security and privacy many have been under-funded," said chief executive of security tracking firm LMNTRIX, Carlo Minassian. Telehealth and other internet-based services are in demand during the COVID-19 crisis. Mr Minassian warned Australia must develop clearer guidelines for minimum security standards for digital healthcare, saying that even though telehealth platform providers had safety front of mind, many practitioners have below-standard security on their own laptops and devices. "They are working from home offices or spaces with very limited security in place," he said. The UK is suffering far graver economic damage than Sweden after Britain imposed a lockdown and the Scandinavian country did not. Sweden's death rate is currently the highest in Europe, with 6.08 deaths per million in the last week compared to 5.57 in the UK and 4.28 in Belgium - but its economy has taken a smaller hit than Britain's. Britain's GDP has already seen a larger slump than Sweden's this year, with only one week of lockdown included in the figures so far. The UK's construction and retail sectors both saw their worst collapses on record in March, while production suffered its worst slump since the strikes of the 1970s. By contrast, Swedish retail sales slightly increased in March as shops remained open, while the construction sector also grew. Sweden is still expected to take a huge economic hit in 2020, but its GDP and budget forecasts are significantly less dire than Britain's. While the UK has paid a greater economic price, the lockdown has not led to much more favourable figures on cases and deaths. Britain's death rate in the last seven days is only slightly better than Sweden's even after two months of lockdown. In total, the UK has suffered 35,704 deaths compared to 3,831 in Sweden - more than nine times as many for a population only 6.6 times larger. This graph shows how the UK's economy has already been ravaged by the pandemic, with sharp falls in GDP, retail sales, industrial production and construction work - even when the latest figures include only a brief period of lockdown. The UK's unemployment rate increased only slightly in the latest figures, but separate statistics show a nearly 70 per cent rise in the number of people claiming Universal Credit This chart shows forecasts for the rest of 2020, with the UK's GDP set to plunge by more than Sweden's - while Britain is left with a larger budget deficit because of the cost of propping up the economy. Britain will also have a deficit in the current account, which is related to trade - showing the flow of goods, services and money between countries. However, the EU expects Sweden to have a higher unemployment rate this year Britain's per-capita death rate over the last week (5.57 deaths per million) is only slightly better than Sweden's (6.08) even after two months of lockdown GDP Britain's gross domestic product fell by 2.0 per cent from January to March, the worst slump since the global financial crisis of 2008. The economy also shrank by 1.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2019, the worst such decline since 2009. In Sweden - where the economy already had been shrinking in 2019 before the pandemic began - GDP fell by a less severe 0.3 per cent in the first quarter. Economists say Sweden had a 'strong start to the year' before the virus began to ravage Europe in February and March. The period in question includes only one week of full-scale lockdown in Britain, which was ordered by Boris Johnson on March 23. Public health restrictions were already starting to take effect before that, but pubs and restaurants largely remained open until mid-March. The figures for the April-June quarter will show the full effect of three months of lockdown, and economists expect those figures to be far worse. The Bank of England has suggested that the economy could shrink by an astonishing 25 per cent in the current quarter. In Sweden, the government has entrusted Swedes with 'individual responsibility' rather than imposing a full-scale lockdown. However, the disruption to supply chains and collapse in tourism mean that the worst is yet to come despite the lack of quarantine measures. The European Commission's forecast for 2020 projects that the UK's GDP will shrink by 8.3 per cent this year, before recovering with 6.0 per cent growth in 2021. Sweden is expected to suffer a 6.1 per cent slump in GDP, a major recession but a smaller one than the projected EU average of 7.4 per cent. Apocalyptic predictions from the Bank and England and others show the UK is on track for the worst recession in 300 years, when the Great Frost swept Europe BUDGET Sweden was running a budget surplus before the pandemic arrived - and the country's deficit is expected to be less dire than the UK's at the end of 2020. The European Commission expects the UK's deficit to balloon to 10.5 per cent of revenue in 2020, up from 2.1 per cent last year. Sweden ran a budget surplus of 0.5 per cent in 2019, but that is expected to become a deficit of 5.6 per cent this year. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has extended the UK's furlough scheme until October 2020, with workers receiving 80 per cent of their monthly salary up to a 2,500 limit. However, he has indicated that companies will have to start 'sharing' the cost of the scheme from August as the cost spirals out of control. Britain's Office for Budget Responsibility expects the UK to require 298billion of borrowing in 2020/21, with 123billion of that attributable to coronavirus. Sweden's deficit is projected at 402billion Swedish kronor (34billion), the country's Debt Office said on Tuesday. 'The downturn in the economy and the support measures taken lead to a large deficit in the central government budget and to increased government debt,' it said. The government has launched measures worth around 20billion to soften the blow and is offering a package of around 49billion in loans and guarantees. The EU's forecast says that Britain's total public debt will rise to 85.2 per cent of GDP in 2019/20 and then above 100 per cent in 2020/21. Sweden's debt-to-GDP figure is also set to increase, but only from 35.0 per cent in 2019 to 42.0 per cent in 2020 before 'stabilising'. Chancellor Rishi Sunak speaks in the House of Commons last week where he announced that the furlough scheme would continue until October RETAIL Britain's retail industry shrank by 5.1 per cent in March, the largest fall since records began in 1996. That included a staggering 28.4 per cent slump in clothing sales, according to ONS figures. Boris Johnson has said that shops will not start to re-open until June, and then only if public health conditions are met. Similarly, the closure of hotels, restaurants and bars caused a 31.1 per cent drop in the 'accommodation and food services' industry even at the start of the lockdown. By contrast, food stores saw their strongest retail growth on record, with a 10.4 per cent increase linked to panic-buying at the start of the lockdown. Online sales also reached a record high, accounting for 22.3 per cent of all retail as people switched to ordering online during the lockdown. In Sweden, retail sales actually increased by 0.6 per cent in March 2020 compared to the same month in 2019. However, the overall increase disguised a 3.8 per cent in sales of 'durable' goods such as clothes and furniture. As in Britain, there was a sharp increase - 6.1 per cent - in 'consumable' products such as groceries. Sweden has not ordered general shop closures, although business owners have been told to introduce their own social distancing rules. Sweden is expected to suffer a smaller slump in GDP than Britain this year after keeping shops and restaurants open (pictured, people sit outdoors in Stockholm earlier this month) A man walks pasted closed shops in London earlier this month, with most stores and all pubs and restaurants shut down since March PRODUCTION The UK's production industries suffered a 4.2 per cent fall in output in March 2020, the fourth-largest since records began in 1968. The other three were all related to strikes in the 1970s, including the 1978-79 'winter of discontent' which helped bring Margaret Thatcher to power the following May. Output of machinery and equipment fell by 11.6 per cent, while the furniture industry saw a 17.0 per cent slump in production. Clothes and textiles production dropped by a record 18.2 per cent, despite 'anecdotal evidence' of increased PPE production. Nearly half (44 per cent) of exporters say they have been hampered by coronavirus-related travel restrictions in recent weeks. Alcohol sales in shops increased in March 2020, but production fell by 6.9 per cent as pubs and restaurants were closed because of the pandemic. The ONS said there was 'some evidence of alcohol producers diversifying to a small degree to produce hand sanitiser,' but not enough to reverse the overall slump. In Sweden, industrial production fell by a less severe 0.7 per cent, or 0.2 per cent compared to the previous year. Car manufacturer Volvo has warned of stalling truck orders and a 'new normal' of feebler demand because of the virus. The Gothenburg-based firm suffered its worst fall in demand since the 2008 crisis, when there were more cancellations than new orders for a full quarter. Both countries are expected to see huge drops in exports in 2020, with falls of 10.7 per cent in Britain and 12.0 per cent in Sweden. That is potentially a larger blow to Sweden, where exports make up a larger share of GDP than in the UK. A construction worker at a building site in London last week, after Boris Johnson said they should be encouraged to return to work CONSTRUCTION The UK's construction industry collapsed by 5.9 per cent in March 2020, the largest fall since monthly records began in 2010. The slump was caused by a 6.2 per cent fall in new construction work and a 5.1 per cent drop in repair and maintenance work, according to the ONS. Construction makes up around 6.1 per cent of the UK economy, and there were knock-on effects on the output of materials such as cement, plaster and concrete. Boris Johnson said earlier this month that people should return to work at construction sites as the UK starts to lift the lockdown. EU figures show that Sweden recorded 0.8 per cent growth in the construction sector from February to March. The quarterly figure was down by 6.8 per cent, but that reflected a large fall in January 2020 when the virus was still having minimal economic impact in Europe. UNEMPLOYMENT Benefit claims in the UK soared by nearly 70 per cent in April after companies were forced into massive lay-offs by the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said claims under Universal Credit surged by a record 856,000 from March to April, reaching 2.1million. The actual unemployment figures are less up to date, but figures showed 50,000 more people becoming jobless from January to March. Economists expect that figure to get worse despite the government's enormous job retention scheme to pay the wages of furloughed workers. Early estimates for April 2020 indicate that the number of paid employees fell by 1.6 per cent compared with March, as firms began to feel a greater impact. Job vacancies also significantly decreased, with the number of empty posts in the three months to April diving by 170,000 to 637,000. The position in Sweden is similar, with the full effect of the pandemic not yet visible in the monthly figures. The monthly unemployment rate actually decreased to 6.7 per cent in March, compared to 7.5 per cent in February. However, separate weekly figures have shown a rate of 8.4 per cent in mid-May, suggesting that the April and May figures will show a far worse picture. 'Since March 2020, labour market indicators have shown a severe deterioration, with redundancy notices soaring, a European Commission analysis says. 'Worst affected were employees on flexible and short-term contracts, particularly in the hotel, restaurant and retail sectors.' Further figures show that 56,133 people had been given notice in the period from March 1 to April 12. Sweden's unemployment rate is expected to be 9.7 per cent for the whole of 2020, worse than Britain's projected figure of 6.7 per cent. Dublin (Ireland) 21 May 2020 (SPS)- Front Line Defenders expressed deep concerns in a Press Release issued Today, regarding the arbitrary detention of Ibrahim Mrikli and the charges brought against him by the Moroccan authorities of occupation, in direct reprisal for his peaceful and legitimate human rights work, documenting violations in Western Sahara. Front Line Defenders urged the Moroccan authorises to Immediately drop all charges against Ibrahim Mrikli as it is believed that they are solely motivated by his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights and to carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the physical abuse of human rights defender Ibrahim Mrikli, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards. It further called on Morocco to guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Westren Sahara are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions. On 15 May 2020, human rights defender, Mr. Ibrahim Mrikli, was arbitrarily detained in El Aaiun by several Moroccan police officers dressed in plain clothes. He has been charged with insulting public servants, stone throwing and violating quarantine regulations, the press release says. The Saharawi activist and member of Nushatta Foundation for Media and Human Rights, a Western Sahara-based NGO which has been working in the field of media activism and human rights advocacy since its establishment in 2013, Ibrahim Mrikli works as a photographer documenting human rights violations committed by the Moroccan authorities in Western Sahara. The victim was on his way to a pharmacy when he was stopped and arrested by several Moroccan police officers dressed in plain clothes. He was interrogated for two and a half hours the next day, during which he was physically and verbally abused and expressly told by the interrogator that his lawyer was not allowed to be present during the interrogation. On 17 May 2020, Ibrahim Mrikli was charged with insulting public servants, stone throwing and violating the quarantine regulations. These charges were based on alleged confessions given by Ibrahim Mrikli during the interrogation; however the human rights defender refutes the claim that he confessed to these crimes. The defender was released on a bail of 3000 Dirham (approximately 300 Euros) on the same day. The hearing is yet to be scheduled. Ibrahim Mrikli has previously been harassed and subjected to arbitrary detention by the Moroccan authorities. In January 2019, he was detained for two months, and in July 2019, he was also sentenced to four months imprisonment. In both instances he was charged with insulting public servants and stone throwing, Frontline recalled. (SPS0 090/500/60 (SPS) Originally live streamed on May 21st at 7am PST. www.twitter.com/soarfinancial - make sure to follow us & click on the #Gold #Quebec #CartierResources https://twitter.com/soarfinancial/status/1263469130079969281?s=20 BREAKING NEWS SPECIAL - CARTIER RESOURCES INC. (TSX.v: ECR) Guest: - Philippe Cloutier, President & CEO Cartier Resources President & CEO Philippe Cloutier discusses today's drill result from the Chimo Mine project in Quebec, Canada. CARTIER CUTS 20.8 G/T AU OVER 4.0 M AT CHIMO MINE 500 M BELOW THE NEW ZONES 5B4-5M4-5NE Press release here: https://ressourcescartier.com/press-r... Follow Us! Twitter: http://twitter.com/soarfinancial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soarfinancial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soarfinancial/ Website: http://www.soarfinancial.com #finance #investing #mining #Canada #chimo #investment #stocks #exploration #success SF Live is a new format by Soar Financial Partners. The goal is give short company updates and more importantly get investors engaged directly with the companies. Intro Music: "Endless Motion" by Bensound.com Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only and not to be regarded as investment advice. Cartier Resources Inc. is a client of Soar Financial Partners, hence we are extremly biased. Do your own due diligence. An infant crying of thirst or maybe hunger, an exhausted boy asleep over a strolley dragged by his mother, two sisters trying in vain to shield their little brother from the scorching sun with a flimsy gamcha'. As India's migrant crisis continues unstoppably and lakhs walk, hitchhike and scramble for buses and trains to go home, holding on to their few belongings and dependent on charity for food, children are the most vulnerable. Many children are just wilting. The hunger and the heat, the stress and the strain of the traumatic journey to their home states are taking a terrible toll, said their parents. Sitting in an open ground in Kundli, on the Delhi-Haryana border, waiting for a bus to take her to her village in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Neha Devi wondered how to protect her seven-month-old baby. As the sun beat down mercilessly and the hours passed by with the family no closer to boarding a bus, she tried to calm little Nancy, crying incessantly in the heat. Neha, just 22 herself, tried feeding her water from a steel glass, and Nancy tried to grab the glass and thirstily took some sips. But the crying didn't stop. The young mother tried to cover her with one end of her sari, but the sun was blazing down, the temperature was over 40 degrees Celsius and there was no shade. Nothing worked. "She is troubled by the heat," Neha said. Neha's husband Harishankar, who made a living selling golgappas' in a village near the Haryana town of Sonipat on Delhi border, has been out of work since the lockdown started on March 25.With their savings drying up, they had no option but to head back. Not far from them, two sisters and their brother huddled together. They had one thin towel, gamcha', between them. Sheetal is nine, Sakshi seven and Nitin three. The two sisters used the gamcha to cover their brother and themselves, but not very successfully. The family had been waiting for a bus for 10 hours. Their parents, Rajput Singh, 35, and Sunita looked on helplessly, worried about their children and how they will endure the difficult journey to their village in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district. The future of their children is a matter of concern but there was no choice but to go back, they said. Rajput Singh was a daily wager doing odd jobs in Akbarpur Barota village in Sonipat but with no work and no money to feed his family he has to head homewards. Both Sheetal and Sakshi study in a government school in Akbarpur Barota but due to the lockdown, they are going back home. Asked what will happen to their studies, their mother Sunita said, "We will see. We will try coming back once the situation eases." If the first wave of migration of labourers in the early days of the lockdown was mostly about men returning to their homes, the second wave is about families making the long journey. Last week, a video showing a woman in Agra dragging a wheeled bag and her son over it as she walked to her home somewhere, was circulated widely, mirroring the struggles of lakhs of migrant families. Across the expanse of the national capital and its borders, hundreds of such families can be seen waiting or walking, many of them with children. The availability of food and milk is a constant source of concern. "Elders can have dal and rice, but what about kids," said Shivshankar Yadav (27), sitting in a little patch of shade under a metro pillar in Anand Vihar on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. His wife Aarti (25) and two daughters, Anshi (3) and Priyanshi (2) were with him, the two toddlers showing signs of extreme fatigue. "Children need milk. If there is no money, how can one buy it," Yadav said. He worked at a garment factory in Noida and had not been paid since the lockdown began, So, the family packed their bags and somehow made it from Noida in the hope that they could take a bus or a train to Sultanpur. Their worries were echoed by Kuldeep Kumar and Ajay Kumar, both fathers in their 20s heading home with their wives and infants to Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Both had lost their jobs at the Kundli Industrial Centre and boarded a bus from Sonipat to Uttar Pradesh only to be dropped to a shelter home a few kilometres away because they couldn't manage to get seats. The shelter home, they said, has barely any facilities. "We can sustain ourselves. But will our children make it, said Kuldeep, anxious about the well-being of his 10-month-old daughter. The shelter home, he said, has no milk and only brackish water. Ajay's son is seven months. And he is concerned too. Their anxiety that finds echo in distant corners of the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) B oris Johnson is in a race against time to get "track and trace" up an running in order to contain possible fresh coronavirus outbreaks and allow lockdown measures to be eased. The Prime Minister promised that the system, seen as the key to easing the lockdown, would be in place by the start of next month. But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, wrote to Health Secretary Matt Hancock because his members were "concerned" over an apparent lack of a clear strategy. "We would therefore urge you to produce such a strategy with a clear implementation plan ahead of any further easing of the lockdown," Mr Dickson said in his letter. Race against time: Boris Johnson has promised track and trace by June 1 / via REUTERS He said Mr Johnson's plan to launch the system by June 1 was "very much welcome... But delivery and implementation will be critical, and we await further details." Test, track and trace - TTT - means testing people for coronavirus, tracking the spread of the virus, then tracing the people with whom an infected person has come into contact. Health officials began contact tracing for every positive diagnosis of coronavirus following the first confirmed cases in January. Widespread contact tracing was abandoned in mid-March as the number of cases soared in the UK, but it is now seen as a crucial component of efforts to safely ease the lockdown while avoiding a second wave of Covid-19 infections. June 1 is also the date earmarked for the gradual reopening of schools in England. The Prime Minister's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing the smartphone app being trialled on the Isle of Wight "is only one part of the system" and that there was a "tried and tested" system for tracing and testing people. But Newcastle University's Allyson Pollock, a professor of public health, said the Government's approach had raised numerous questions. "This is an extraordinary experiment that the Government's put in place, and none of us know how it's going to work," she said on BBC Radio 5. "There's so many questions to ask about this and why they're bypassing the local systems, and the local health system and the local community. Because you have to know your local community. You can't put the fire out from the centre." It comes after thousands of people were seen flocking to beaches on Wednesday as temperatures soared, sparking fears about mixing and spreading of Covid-19. Public head to Bournemouth beach during heatwave Under the new rules in England people can drive to leisure spots and meet one person outside their household, but have to follow social distancing. But pictures appeared to show some breaking the rules, which request people to stay six feet apart and remain in force despite the slight loosening of lockdown Mr Johnson said a 25,000-strong army of trackers had been recruited to identify the contacts of infected victims and instead the government was making fast progress with the system. His comments came after Cabinet minister Robert Buckland conceded there may not be a "uniform approach" to reopening England's schools in the face of opposition from councils and unions. The Government's deputy chief scientific adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean has said that the modelling for changes to the lockdown were based on a "highly effective track, trace and isolate system" being in place. At Prime Minister's Questions Mr Johnson said: "We're making fast progress in testing and tracing and I have great confidence that by June 1 we will have a system that will enable us, that will help us very greatly to defeat this disease and move the country forward." The capacity to trace the contacts of 10,000 people far exceeds current levels of confirmed Covid-19 cases. Widespread contact tracing was abandoned in mid-March as the number of cases soared in the UK. Mr Hancock said last week that the contact tracing app - part of test, track and trace - would be rolled out across England from mid-May but that has now been pushed back. Mr Johnson did not mention the app - currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight - as part of his plan for June 1. Asked earlier if schools reopening depends on test, track and trace being fully in place, Mr Buckland told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think the position is somewhat more nuanced than that." Ministers are facing pressure from several councils and teaching unions to reconsider plans to reopen English primary schools. At the moment, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 are due to go back from June 1 at the earliest, with other years phased in before the summer break. Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today released the agenda for the May 27 meeting of the Asset Management Advisory Committee (AMAC). AMAC was formed to provide the Commission with diverse perspectives on asset management and related advice and recommendations. The meeting will include a discussion of matters relating to AMAC's subcommittees and to COVID-19 and the asset management industry. The meeting will be held by remote means and is open to the public. The meeting will be webcast live on SEC.gov and will be archived on the website for later viewing. Members of the public who wish to provide their views on the matters to be considered by AMAC may submit comments either electronically or on paper, as described below. Please submit comments using one method only. At this time, electronic submissions are preferred. Information that is submitted will become part of the public record of the meeting. All submissions should refer to File Number 265-33, and the file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. Electronic submissions: Use the SEC's Internet submission form or send an e-mail to rule-comments@sec.gov. Paper submissions: Send paper submissions in triplicate to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20549-1090. * * * Asset Management Advisory Committee - Agenda for May 27, 2020, Meeting PM Pedro Sanchez failed to get majority support to extend the state of alarm for at least a further month this week. Negotiations with other parties ahead of Wednesdays debate in Congreso didnt secure him enough MPs votes. In the end, it was another two-week extension, until 7 June, that was presented to parliament for approval instead. The prime minister said in the debate, as in previous ones, that the state of alarm is needed to keep restrictions of movement during the phased end of lockdown. However opposition parties believe it could be used as a cover for avoiding parliamentary scrutiny of other policies and they say other, less draconian, legislation would be just as effective. A woman hits a saucepan in protest in the Madrid district of Salamanca. / EP This time the conservative PP voted against, as did Catalan republicans ERC. It was only when centre-right Ciudadanos and the Basque PNVinsisted on just two weeks to gain their support that the extension went ahead. Meanwhile, street protests have grown over the Socialist PSOE and Unidas Podemos coalitions handling of the crisis, amid fears over the economic outlook. Flags, pots and pans The neighbourhood protests began in central Madrid. The capital, along with Barcelona and much of the Castilla y Leon region, is still in the more restrictive Phase Zero. Madrids regional leaders are working on legal action against the government, claiming holding their area back has been politically motivated. The first spontaneous protests were on street corners in Madrids middle-class district of Salamanca last week. This prompted commentators on the left to accuse the conservative opposition of fuelling the unrest. Over the last week, the nightly action has spread to street corners in other parts of the country, starting at 8pm, until now the time to applaud healthcare workers. Protesting local residents have also gathered outside the Socialist party head office and the homes of some government members. Residents took to the streets in Malaga and Marbella, among other places, on Thursday. In the Madrid village of Galapagar, several Guardia Civil vehicles have been guarding the gates to the villa of Unidas Podemos leaders Pablo Iglesias and Irene Montero. Right-wing commentators have pointed out the irony, as Iglesias has criticised excessive Guardia Civil protection of politicians in the past. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Every night after walking a mile home from her job as a certified nursing assistant in East Los Angeles, Alma Lara-Garcia would strip off most of her clothes before she went in the house. 4:18 Listen: LA's Hardest Hit Nursing Homes Care For Latino And Black Patients "I didn't care if the neighbors saw," she said. "I would take off my overshirt, down to my camisole and take off my shoes and pants before I'd go in." Only then did she feel it was safe to enter the home she shares with her four teenage children. She knew the coronavirus was circulating at the nursing home where she worked, Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center. But she had no idea it would kill so many of the elderly residents she cared for, or that she would become one of dozens of staff members to fall horribly ill. Lara-Garcia is Latina. Most of the residents at the 100-bed Buena Ventura facility are also Latino. An increasing volume of evidence shows that COVID-19 is taking a disproportionate toll on people of color. A collaboration between KPCC/LAist, The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun and The Southern Illinoisan has found the same pattern in nursing homes. This is true even though all nursing homes, by nature, care for people with underlying health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to the disease. In the 22 hardest-hit states for which data was available, plus the District of Columbia, nursing homes with many black and Latino residents were twice as likely to have at least one case than those with mostly white residents, according to a New York Times data analysis. Race and Latino origin turned out to be a major predictor of whether a nursing home has a COVID-19 outbreak, the analysis found, even after accounting for a facility's location, federal quality ratings, size and infection rate in the surrounding community. Buena Ventura has an overall rating of five stars -- the highest rating on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' website -- although it has just two stars for staffing, a measure of hours spent with each resident by nurses and aides. Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center is among the 20 worst-hit homes in a county where nursing facilities have been devastated, according to public health data. So far, 59 of Buena Ventura's residents and 24 of its staff have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Twelve people at the nursing home have died of COVID-19, according to the county health department. Overall, the county has reported 990 COVID-19 deaths at institutional facilities, most of them at nursing homes, according to L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. Despite Lara-Garcia's intimate role as a caregiver -- spooning food into the mouths of fragile residents, carefully bathing them and communicating with family members about their well-being -- she said the severity of the outbreak at Buena Ventura was never fully explained to her and her colleagues in the rank-and-file staff. She said supervisors didn't walk her or colleagues through the thought process behind infection control or keep them updated on the number of residents and staff who became infected. The lack of information communicated to her and fellow certified nursing assistants, who are generally among the lowest paid health workers, felt disrespectful, she said -- she knew the residents and their families better than almost anyone. "CNAs, you know how they say, we wipe butts only," Lara-Garcia said. "We do more than that, you know. We have the right to know what goes on." Lara-Garcia said her incomplete understanding, and the lack of communication in the early days of the outbreak was potentially dangerous, as the virus spread unseen, eventually infecting even her. KPCC/LAist and The New York Times made multiple requests to interview the managers and administrators of Buena Ventura but none made themselves available. Buena Ventura administrator Tiana Thompson emailed a written statement that said in part: "Our healthcare center has worked closely with [California Department of Public Health] and L.A. County Public Health to assure compliance with the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services evolving guidelines. As with all health care providers in the country, we have acted aggressively to acquire and provide the recommended [personal protective equipment] for our staff and have been able to do so in compliance with the CDC's recommendations." Facing The Virus With Pool Goggles Buena Ventura sits on a residential street half a block away from the I-5. The neighborhood is 98% Latino, according to census data. The rooms at Buena Ventura, which house up to four residents each, surround a grassy courtyard with a small, Spanish-style fountain. Lara-Garcia, who speaks Spanish and English, said she liked working there because she shares the same culture and language with many of the residents. "It felt like home," she said. But in mid-March, when federal health authorities released new guidelines for nursing homes to combat the coronavirus, Lara-Garcia said the atmosphere became tense. Administrators ordered staff to feed residents in their rooms, rather than in the communal dining room, and suspended all group activities, Lara-Garcia said. Family members were no longer allowed to visit. Months later, Lara-Garcia cried recalling how family members of residents begged her through the windows to take care of their loved ones. "They would say 'Alma, take care of my mom,'" she recalled. "'I leave my mom in your hands.'" Lara Garcia said staff had their temperatures checked at the beginning and end of their shifts. She said they were not given masks, gloves or any other gear designed to prevent the spread of infection, what's known as personal protective equipment, or PPE. "The only thing they were asking of us was to wipe the door handles, the controls to the TV, the controls to the bed," she said. Lara-Garcia said she and other staff didn't know the new measures were due to the coronavirus until she and a few others started asking questions. As one of the few bilingual staff members, Lara-Garcia said she often acted as an interpreter between the mainly English-speaking nursing home administrators and the largely Spanish-speaking nursing home staff. "I started asking, what was the reason? You know, and they said that the state had implemented that law that no one could go out, or no one could come in, only the workers," she said. Soon after, it became clear the virus had made its way into Buena Ventura. Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) One morning in early April, Lara-Garcia said, administrators gathered the staff in the dining room and told them that two people had tested positive for COVID-19, one staff member and one resident. Lara-Garcia had noticed that some of her patients had been moved from their rooms, without explanation. On April 9, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported that there was at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 at Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center. Even so, Lara-Garcia said it wasn't until the second week of April that she and fellow staff members were given surgical masks and gloves and told to wear them at all times. She said she and other staff members were given a paper lunch bag and told to put their surgical masks in the bags after their shift and reuse them for three days. This is in line with CDC guidelines when critical protective equipment is scarce. Lara-Garcia said her supervisor also gave her bright orange pool goggles to wear while working, to try to keep her from getting infected with the virus. At first, she thought it was a joke. "Why are we wearing this? They're not even 99 cents," she remembered thinking. The goggles didn't fit under her glasses, so she didn't wear them. Administrators told her that they wanted to order medical grade goggles and masks, but suppliers were out. A week later, Lara-Garcia said, the situation at Buena Ventura deteriorated. She described how one nursing station was converted into a makeshift isolation area. More and more of the residents Lara-Garcia cared for were moved into it. And she observed more and more of her coworkers becoming ill. Lara-Garcia said she and other staff members were not told there was a risk that staff and residents could transmit the virus even if they didn't have symptoms, something the county health department began cautioning the public about at the beginning of April. Alma Lara-Garcia holds the kid's swimming googles she said a manager gave her to protect herself while working with COVID-positive residents. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) Lara-Garcia said the confusion took a toll on her mental health. She sometimes met a fellow CNA in the bathroom and they cried together, away from residents, whom they didn't want to upset. "We were scared, we didn't know what was happening," she said. Few Protections For Nursing Home Workers More than half of all reported COVID-19 deaths in L.A. County have been among residents and staff of what local public health officials call "residential congregate settings," mostly nursing homes. Two-thirds of the health care workers who have died of the disease in L.A. County -- 20 out of 26 people -- worked in nursing homes, according to county health officials. April Verrett, president of SEIU Local 2015, which represents nursing home employees, including Buena Ventura staff, said some workers have sent photos of themselves wearing rain ponchos and garbage bags because they lacked protective gowns. Others were using plastic bags on their hands instead of gloves. A banner outside of Brier Oak on Sunset announces that they are now hiring certified nursing assistants. Brier Oak has had more than 150 cases of COVID-19 and four deaths, according to L.A. County public health data. (Chava Sanchez/Laist) Certified nursing assistants like Lara-Garcia often make minimum wage, or close to it, despite being the backbone of care at nursing homes. (Lara-Garcia said she made $15 an hour at Buena Ventura; minimum wage in the City of Los Angeles is $14.25 for employees of for-profit companies with more than 25 workers.) If the workers get sick or may have been exposed, Verrett said, "they cannot afford to miss a shift, let alone two weeks." Two weeks is the length of time that health officials recommend quarantine for people who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Nursing home staff are often undertrained and responsible for too many patients with complex challenges, said Steven Wallace, who teaches public health at UCLA. They often have to rush from room to room, sometimes skipping essential steps like thorough hand-washing, he said. At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, public health officials prioritized getting hospitals prepared with staff and equipment, fearing they could be quickly overrun with COVID-19 patients. Nursing homes were an afterthought. "That then changed as they were seeing outbreaks in nursing homes and realizing that in nursing homes, once an outbreak occurs, it's really hard to manage," Wallace said. Federal, state and local guidelines for nursing homes evolved rapidly -- and still are. "It would be difficult for an administrator because every day you open your mail and there's a potential for changing protocols. But you know, that's your job as an administrator, to make sure the protocols are followed." Like hospitals, nursing homes have struggled with a lack of personal protective equipment. But unlike doctors and nurses, less-skilled workers at nursing homes, including nursing aides, janitors and kitchen staff, may not be trained to handle a virus outbreak. Also, because they are low-paid, nursing aides frequently work at multiple locations to make ends meet, meaning they could transport COVID-19 from one facility to another. A CDC investigation into one of the first COVID-19 outbreaks at a U.S. nursing home, in Kirkland, Washington, found that the virus's spread was likely aided by inadequate infection control, staff members who continued to work while they had symptoms, and staff who worked at multiple facilities, among other factors. A resident at Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center in East Los Angeles looks out the window. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) Family Members In The Dark In mid-April the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health began listing nursing homes with confirmed COVID-19 cases on the department's website. But it didn't report the actual number of cases and deaths at first. That left people like Sylvia, whose mother is a patient at Buena Ventura, reliant on the scraps of information they received from nursing home administrators. Sylvia asked us not to use her last name because she fears speaking out could cause her mother to lose her spot at the facility. Sylvia's 73-year-old mother, who is partially paralyzed and has dementia, has lived at Buena Ventura for about six years. She and her sister would visit their mother daily before Buena Ventura was locked down. Their mother also had a cell phone they could call, but it went missing just before COVID-19 cases started showing up at the facility. They were frantic for information from the nursing home's administrators. "My sister is, you know, is literally going insane, calling them every single day, three times a day," she said. Eventually they got word that their mother had been moved to a new room, with three new roommates. One day, Sylvia went to stand in the parking lot where she could look through the window of her mother's room and talk to her on a replacement cell phone a sympathetic nurse had brought into the facility. Sylvia was surprised to see someone else's purse on the nightstand, and pictures of strangers hanging in her mother's new space. In the rush to contain the COVID-19 outbreak at Buena Ventura, Sylvia suspects that aides hadn't had a chance to remove the former patient's personal belongings. O n April 21, the county health department reported that nine residents and two staff members at Buena Ventura had confirmed cases of COVID-19. Just two days later, on April 23, county health officials reported the first death at Buena Ventura. The number of COVID-19 cases at the facility had ballooned to 13 residents and eight staff members, according to county data. In May, Sylvia said administrators told her family that her mother had tested negative for the coronavirus. But Sylvia would like proof. She's glad her mother was moved to a room where she can see her through the window, but she cried recently describing the loneliness she sees her mother enduring, without much human interaction, and without the homemade food they used to bring her. "She's already lost a lot of weight," Sylvia said. "She will not eat their food if it looks gross, if she doesn't know what it is, if she doesn't like the taste, she'll return it," she said. Sylvia feels like she doesn't know what is going on at Buena Ventura, even though it's just a few minutes from her house. She's frustrated by the lack of communication from nursing home administrators. "Nobody wants to meet with us. Nobody has attempted to talk to us. Everybody's busy, they're short-staffed, they're overwhelmed with all this COVID contamination in their facility," she said. She'd like to know when her mother will be tested again for COVID-19, and if, like Silvia and her sister suspect, their mother has been routinely exposed to the coronavirus. "They should be able to provide this information openly and transparently, without having the family members, you know, wondering or asking about it," she said. A Call For Reinforcements Nursing homes across Southern California began to face staffing shortages as more and more of their workers tested positive or feared coming to work. On April 24, L.A. County public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced a shift in strategy to fight outbreaks at nursing homes: All residents and staff would be tested for the virus, regardless of whether they exhibited symptoms. A spokesperson for the public health department did not respond to a request for details on when Buena Ventura staff and residents would be tested. On the same day, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the California National Guard would be deployed to hard-hit nursing homes to boost staffing and help with infection control and testing. Buena Ventura received a team of eight health care workers, according to a National Guard spokesperson. On April 28, L.A. County health officials reported that 41 residents and 15 staff members at Buena Ventura had contracted COVID-19. Four people from the facility had died of the disease. At one point the state health department also sent a 'strike team' to Buena Ventura to help manage the outbreak, including isolating residents and assessing exposures. But by the time reinforcements were sent in, Lara-Garcia said she had already gotten sick. 'I Just Felt Like I Was Gonna Die' As more and more residents became ill in the first weeks of April, Lara-Garcia said she came down with a cough. She said she told her bosses, but that they told her she should keep working since her temperature wasn't over 100 degrees. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that workers who have a fever -- defined as a temperature over 100 degrees -- or other symptoms of COVID-19, like coughing and shortness of breath, should leave the workplace and be prioritized for testing. Lara-Garcia said it wasn't until about a week later, when she told her supervisor she had a sore throat and uncontrollable coughing that she was sent home. Later, she said her supervisor sent her an email with a link to the county's website where she could schedule a coronavirus test. In her emailed statement, Tiana Thompson, the administrator at Buena Ventura, disputed Lara-Garcia's account. Thompson wrote: "At no time has Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center asked any employee who reported experiencing COVID related symptoms to report to work. To the contrary, staff who showed symptoms of COVID were sent home and referred for testing." Thompson said she was unable to provide details about Lara-Garcia because of federal health privacy regulations. But she said Lara-Garcia "was never told to come to work when feeling ill." Alma Lara-Garcia feels like her workplace failed to protect her and the residents. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) Lara-Garcia said she got tested at East Los Angeles College, the closest site to her home, on April 15. Two days later, she said, she got the results: She had COVID-19. She said a supervisor offered her access to a hotel room so that she could isolate herself, but Lara-Garcia declined. "Who will take care of me, or look after my kids if I'm in a hotel?" she asked. Instead, she had her kids move two of the mattresses out of the master bedroom that she normally shares with them into the living room. The kids slept on the mattresses on the floor for the next two weeks so that she could stay alone in the room. "You know, it was really bad because I didn't have the attention that you will usually get even at the hospitals," Lara-Garcia said, recalling her physical pain. "I just sat in bed and cried. I just felt like I was gonna die because it's unbearable, especially my stomach. I developed some kind of rash on my body. I didn't know the agony," she said. At one point, she said she contemplated suicide. "Honest to God, I wanted to go to the kitchen and grab the knife," she said. "That's how bad it was. And then knowing on the other side of the door that my kids were not being cared for. It was really awful." On April 29, exactly 14 days after Lara-Garcia tested positive for COVID-19, the director of staff development at Buena Ventura texted her, asking if her symptoms had subsided. Lara-Garcia texted back that the fever was gone but she still had a "dry cough." The director of staff development replied: "if you have no fever and the cough is dry, you are allowed to come back," which is within CDC guidelines for returning health workers. Alma Lara-Garcia's teenage children took care of her while she was recovering from COVID-19. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) Lara-Garcia said she still hasn't gone back to work at Buena Ventura. She's angry. She feels like they played with her health, and that she wasn't given the information needed to keep safe. But she said she needs to start making money again soon to support her family. She's considering going to another, nearby nursing home, where her friend told her they pay $24 an hour -- a huge increase from the $15 an hour she said she was making at Buena Ventura. But there's a catch: She'd have to work with COVID-19 patients. She said if they give her the right equipment to protect her from the virus, she'd probably take the job. Elly Yu contributed reporting. CENTRAL NEBRAKSA Memorial weekend may see the first dose of severe weather the area has seen for quite some time. Conditions are shaping up for severe weather events on Saturday, May 23 throughout the central and north central Nebraska regions. National Weather Service Hastings meteorologist Aaron Mangels said Saturday will be a warm day with moisture returning to the area, causing dewpoints to climb into the 60s. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., has issued a slight risk for severe weather across much of Nebraska as upper level disturbances look primed to set off storms in the areas across Nebraska where there is high instability. Mangels said it is starting to seem likely the daytime period for most of the NWS warning area will be quiet with storms possibly impacting the area during the evening or overnight periods. Primary hazards could be hail, strong wind gusts and locally heavy rainfall, according to the NWS website. Red- and blue-state America was already divided before the coronavirus epidemic hit. Globalization had enriched the East Coast and West Coast corridors but hollowed out much in between. The traditional values of small towns and rural counties were increasingly at odds with postmodern lifestyles in the cities. There were, of course, traditionalists in blue states. And lots of progressives live in red states. But people increasingly self-segregate to where they feel at home and where politics, jobs and culture reflect their tastes. The ensuing left/right, liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican divide not only intensified in the 21st century, it also took on a dangerous geographical separatism. The coasts vs. the interior reflects two Americas often in a manner similar to the old Mason-Dixon line that geographically split the U.S. for roughly a century. Liberals scoff at the deplorables and irredeemables for embracing an ossified, unchanging 18th-century Constitution. The red-staters supposedly cling to their weird, dangerous habits such as owning guns and opposing abortion, while adhering to paleolithic ideas of small government, secure borders and dont-tread-on-me individualism. Blue-staters are confident that progressive citizens of the world like themselves are where the global action, money and future lie. And who could doubt the success of Silicon Valleys wealthy tech companies, Wall Streets investment giants or internationally respected universities such as Harvard, MIT, Caltech and Stanford? Progressives believe the story of America has most often been one of discrimination, original sin and a need for constant repentance and reparations for a flawed past. Conservatives feel just the opposite that one does not have to perfect to be good, and that America is far better than anywhere else. Red-staters contend that many blue states are broke and need bailouts to ensure that their generous pensions and entitlements dont wither away into insolvency. Cities are often seen by those in less densely populated areas as dirty, full of homeless people, dangerous and ungovernable. Red-staters also see failed statist ideas the world over. For them, China, the European Union and much of Africa and Latin America are proof that democratic socialism is neither fair nor compassionate. Conservatives welcome in immigrants, but only if they come legally, assimilate to U.S. values and arrive in manageable numbers to be integrated. When the virus hit, these divides intensified. Blue-state governors wanted long lockdowns, red-state governors not so much. Elite professionals, state employees and the wealthy residents of the coasts feel they can easily ride out a bad recession. They believe that even a miniscule chance of dying from the virus still makes it too risky to go out. Yet in red states, there are many self-employed people and small-business owners who are always at risk on the margins. They believe they have great odds to beat the virus but not to beat a more deadly depression. The 2020 election is the unspoken force multiplier of the divide. Blue-state politicians believe that if the lockdown continues, the country wont recover before November. Donald Trump will then be blamed for the downturn. They hope for a replay of the 1932 election, with Trump as Depression-era Herbert Hoover vs. a progressive challenger with big promises of more programs and larger government. Progressives also want more connectivity with the world abroad to beat the virus. They rely on elite researchers, statisticians and epidemiologists to chart and predict the course of the epidemic. Conservatives are convinced that entrepreneurs and individuals will better save us. Most elites, they believe, were wrong in their modeling, their predictions and their advice about the contagion. Many conservatives think that the best and brightest had little practical experience, less common sense and did not live in the real world. Red-staters look at the lies of the Chinese, the enabling deceptions of the World Health Organization and the initial failures of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They conclude that transnational organizations are sometimes incompetent and corrupt, and that even our own bureaucracies are too unimaginative, sluggish, haughty and territorial. Is there any agreement between red-state and blue-state America? Perhaps. Red-staters are not flocking to blue-state urban corridors, where the virus hit hardest. They are happy to live in less crowded places, rely on their own cars, have detached homes and be free of government edicts that often make little sense other than to showcase the dictatorial powers of petty bureaucrats and local officials. Even blue-staters are beginning to see their mass transit, high-rise living and clogged streets more as incubators of disease than as the circulatory system of an exciting, high-end life. Perhaps in this time of plague, Americans can at least agree that the romance of Arcadia is suddenly preferable to the allure of big-city lights. Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won, from Basic Books. You can reach him by e-mailing authorvdh@gmail.com Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic secretary of state in Michigan, said this week that the state would mail applications for absentee ballots to all 7.7 million registered voters for both the August primary and the November general election. The Legislature in deeply Republican South Carolina expanded absentee voting rights last week as a lawsuit pressing that cause lay before the states Supreme Court. In West Virginia, the Republican secretary of state sent absentee ballot applications last month to each of the states 1.2 million registered voters; so far, nearly one in five has asked to vote absentee. And in Kentucky, Republicans and Democrats agreed three weeks ago on an emergency plan that allows any voter to request an absentee ballot online and submit it by mail or at drop-off points for two weeks before the states June 23 primary. Michael G. Adams, the Republican secretary of state, told National Public Radio last week that he had been excoriated by his party for mailing postcards to voters explaining the new rules. The biggest challenge I have right now is making the concept of absentee voting less toxic for Republicans, said Mr. Adams, who won election on a platform underscoring the threat of voter fraud. Many political analysts say they find that odd. Until now, the decade-long crusade by Republicans against voter fraud has focused largely on requiring ID cards at polling places, supposedly to counter the distant possibility that an impersonator might make it into a voting booth. Studies show that fraud among absentee voters, while still rare, is more common but that those voters have tended to be both older and white, a demographic that favors Republicans and Mr. Trump. Before 2018, Republicans loved mail balloting, Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political science professor and elections expert, said. A Russian nurse has been reprimanded for wearing a bikini underneath a transparent protective suit while treating Covid-19 patients, the countrys official newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on Wednesday. The unnamed nurse, who reportedly works at a state hospital in the central Tula region, just south of Moscow, appears to have been candidly photographed as she tended to patients in the get-up. A photo posted on social media shows the nurse otherwise covered head to foot in protective garb, including a face mask and visor. The photo elicited a whirlwind of commentary online, much of it sympathetic and supportive. The nurse said she had worn the bikini because she was too warm when fully clothed under the protective suit, the newspaper reported. A spokesperson for the regional medical authorities said the nurse had been reprimanded, without elaborating on the incident. Russia has confirmed more than 300,000 recorded cases of the novel coronavirus, the worlds second largest caseload behind that of the U.S. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates The Mekong Delta's Bac Lieu Province has quarantined a local vendor and his family after he made contact with a Covid-19 patient. Tran Khanh Vui, 32, a local vendor, made contact with a 33-year-old male Covid-19 patient currently under treatment at a quarantine zone inside the Bac Lieu General Hospital on May 16. The incident was exposed after another Covid-19 patient in the hospital informed authorities on May 19 that someone from the outside had entered the hospitals quarantine zone. The Bac Lieu Steering Committee for Prevention and Control of Covid-19 said that subsequent investigation found that the 33-year-old Covid-19 patient had asked Vui to buy him cigarettes twice. The first time, Vui brought the cigarettes himself; then he asked his 9-year-old daughter to buy the cigarettes and deliver them to the Covid-19 patient. After his contact with the Covid-19 patient on May 16, Vui continued to interact with several members of his community afterwards. A 50-year-old man, Tran Bich Hien, was confirmed to have made contact with Vuis family. Authorities are trying to trace people who have made contact with Vuis family and Hien, while the Bac Lieu General Hospital is also trying to see if anyone else inside the hospital made contact with Vui. Vuis family members and Hien have since been taken into the quarantine zone of the Bac Lieu General Hospital for Covid-19 testing. Doctor Bui Quoc Nam, Director of Bac Lieu's Health Department, said their first Covid-19 tests have come back with negative results. Police have been asked to guard the hospital to prevent similar incidents. Bac Lieu General Hospital is treating 17 Covid-19 patients, who were among 297 Vietnamese repatriated from the UAE on May 3. Vietnam has confirmed 324 Covid-19 cases so far, 60 of them active. The nation has gone without community transmission of the disease for more than a month. Beijing, May 21 : A top Huawei executive has claimed that their indigenous operating system called HarmonyOS can very well challenge Google and Apple operating systems. "Huawei is in a position to deliver an ecosystem that is on par with Google's and Apple's ecosystems," said Eric Tan, Huawei's head of consumer cloud services. "We have the confidence to be one of the top ecosystem developers in the world," he said while speaking about Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and its related app store during 'Global Analyst Summit' in Shenzhen on Wednesday. Huawei's App Gallery reached 420 million users in the first quarter of this year. According to the company, App Gallery is now available in more than 170 countries. "We must join up with our partners - developers - to provide the apps that consumers demand," Tan said. According to Huawei, there are now 1.4 million developers registered to create apps for App Gallery. Over the last decade, the smartphone operating system (OS) business has become a duopoly. Either you have Apples iPhones running on iOS or a device powered by Google's Android. In the wake of the US-China trade war, the Chinese giant last August officially launched 'HarmonyOS' aimed to reduce the company's reliance on Google-developed Android OS. In December last year, Huawei said it is preparing to bring Harmony OS to smartphones. Being a local Chinese company/brand, it would be easier for Huawei/HarmonyOS to build a well-rounded mobile ecosystem given its familiarity of the digital ecosystem there and the large scale of Huawei's mobile phone penetration. Ever since Google suspended the Huawei's Android license, following the US government's decision to put Huawei on the Entity List, there had been a lot of speculation about Huawei's in-house OS. The team behind Trash, an app that uses artificial intelligence to edit your video footage, launched a number of new features this week that should make it more useful for anyone but especially independent musicians. I wrote about the startup last summer, when CEO Hannah Donovan told me that her work as Vine's general manager convinced her that most people will never feel like they have the technical skills to edit a good-looking video. That's why she and her co-founder Genevieve Patterson (the startup's chief scientist) created technology that can analyze multiple video clips, identifying the most interesting shots and stitching it all together into a fun video. Since then, Trash brought on more creators before opening up to a general audience last fall. Donovan explained that while she'd expected users to create "hyper-polished influencer videos," the opposite has been true. "The content on Trash is very personal, very authentic, very real," she said. "For lack of better words, it's what youd see in your [Snapchat or Instagram] Stories." Trash is giving users more capabilities this week with the launch of Styles. This allows them to identify the type of video they want to create whether it's a recap (vacation recaps are big right now), a narrative video or something more artsy. The results are tailored accordingly, and then the user still has the option to further tweak things, for example by moving clips around. Trash music video style Image Credits: Okayceci for Trash There's also a style for music videos. Many Trash videos already combine videos and music, but Donovan said this style is specifically designed for independent musicians who may not have editing skills, but who still need to create music videos especially as YouTube has become one of the main ways people discover new music. "The music video is more important than it's ever been," she argued. Trash can't give those musicians professional, studio-quality footage, but currently, everyone no matter how famous is largely limited to shooting themselves at home on smartphones. And even after the pandemic, Donovan expects the trend to continue. "Youre seeing that in commercial videos as well, incorporating elements like text messaging," she said. "What were seeing now is just this huge blend where it doesnt matter [and you can mix] real life and virtual life, this hyper-polished, big-budget stuff and a super DIY, shot-on-an-iPhone aesthetic." Story continues To check it out, you can watch a playlist of some of the initial music videos created on Trash. The startup has also launched Trash for Artists, where musicians can upload their songs to create music videos and promo videos, while also offering them up as a soundtrack for other Trash users. In addition to launching the new features, Trash also graduated last week from Snap's Yellow accelerator program. (Other investors include the National Science Foundation, Japans Digital Garage and Dream Machine, the fund created by former TechCrunch Editor Alexia Bonatsos.) FILE PHOTO: Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai By Matthew Green and Simon Jessop LONDON (Reuters) - Oil companies may be facing uncertainty as the coronavirus pandemic triggers a collapse in demand for their products, but auto makers are betting the crisis will help accelerate an electric future. With economies reeling from lockdowns to curb the virus, the sharpest plunge in oil prices in two decades has slashed the cost of filling up a tank of gas, eroding some of the incentive to make the switch to cleaner fuels. Looking ahead, cuts in capital spending forced upon energy companies as their revenues crumble could tighten supply enough to cause a spike in oil prices, making electric vehicles more attractive just as automakers ramp up production, analysts say. "We think this will lead to a tipping point, accelerating the switch to electric vehicles in many more countries around 2023-24," Per Magnus Nysveen, senior partner at Rystad Energy, a consultancy in Oslo, told Reuters. "We will start to see that this starts to dig into global oil demand in a very significant way," he said. According to a Reuters analysis of 27 automakers compiled in partnership with Constellation Research & Technology, most companies apart from Elon Musk's Tesla Inc and China's BYD Co Ltd <002594.SZ> are still in the early stages of transitioning to EVs, which make up a fraction of global sales. (For an interactive graphic on business model transformation and decarbonization within the auto manufacturing sector, see: https://graphics.reuters.com/DATA-ESG/AUTOS/ygdpzylllvw/index.html) With mid-sized to large petroleum-fuelled SUVs and trucks driving much of the recent growth in the auto sector, many companies are banking on these high-emitting gas-guzzlers to drive their near-term performance. Nevertheless, with China's BAIC Motor Corp <1958.HK> and German rivals Volkswagen Group and Daimler AG pursuing some of the industry's most ambitious decarbonisation targets, investors are increasingly using a company's EV prospects as a proxy for future success. "All the growth in transportation is being eaten by electricity," said Harry Benham, chairman of Ember-Climate, a British energy transition think-tank. "Oil and gas companies have got no ability to defeat electricity as a transport fuel." Story continues PEAK OIL DEMAND? With fuel for road transport accounting for about half of all oil demand, the possibility of a faster-than-expected switch to EVs in the wake of the pandemic is one of the main reasons some forecasts for a peak have been brought forward. Global oil demand hit a record of just over 100 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019. Rystad now sees demand topping out at 106.5 million-107 million bpd in 2027-2028. The consultancy had previously forecast a marginally higher peak in 2030. Although the oil industry has defied numerous attempts to call "peak oil" in the past, the fact that the International Energy Agency projects that demand will plunge by a record 8.6 million bpd this year has reignited the debate. Though as yet a minority view, some believe the pandemic is reshaping patterns of work, aviation and commuting so profoundly that oil demand might never return to 2019 levels - a potential boost to hopes of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. "It's inconceivable that all that demand for oil comes back in one go, so the real question is how much of that is lost permanently," said Mark Lewis, head of sustainability research at BNP Paribas Asset Management. Underscoring the changing economics of transport, Reuters revealed last week that Tesla plans to introduce a new low-cost, long-life battery in its Model 3 sedan in China that it expects to bring the cost of EVs in line with gasoline models. Despite such potential breakthroughs, the Constellation data shows that automakers still have a long way to go to align themselves with climate goals enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, with Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles among the biggest laggards. Volkswagen has announced some of the most aggressive long-term plans to decarbonise its fleet, but the company still has to prove it can build EVs at scale, and has led the field in ramping up sales of mid- and large SUVs, the data shows. Although the public decarbonisation targets of Japan's Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> are only a little bolder than the industry average, the company's proven capacity to build hybrids may bode well for its EV ambitions, the data suggests. Japan's Subaru Corp <7270.T>, which produces only a small number of hybrid vehicles, might have to rely on its partnership with Toyota if it wants to prosper as demand for EVs picks up, Constellation analysts said. 'CRISIS OF UNCERTAINTY' Although the oil industry hopes to offset demand lost to EVs with a growing appetite for crude to make petrochemicals and plastics, companies facing growing pressure from investors over climate change are increasingly open about the risks. In April, Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell , said the company did not expect oil demand to recover in the medium term, saying the industry was living in a "crisis of uncertainty". Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP , was later quoted in the Financial Times as saying he would not "write off" the possibility the world had reached peak oil. Much will depend on whether economies stage a V-shaped recovery, as some forecasters predict, and how far governments adopt new EV targets as part of "green stimulus" packages to spur a faster shift to a low-carbon future. With many European politicians calling for green recoveries, the French government signalled on Monday that the country wants to boost sales of low-emission cars. China has extended backing for EVs as part of its recovery package, and U.S. Democrats are exploring ways to boost demand for clean vehicles. With various European countries planning to ultimately ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars, some see increasingly ambitious EV commitments by automakers as another sign of the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. "One of the primary factors holding back the transition has been resistance by the fossil fuel incumbents," said Kingsmill Bond, senior strategist at financial think-tank Carbon Tracker. "Now those incumbents are significantly weakened." (GRAPHIC: Reuters sustainability - Automobiles - https://graphics.reuters.com/DATA-ESG/AUTOS/ygdpzylllvw/index.html) (Reporting by Matthew Green and Simon Jessop in London; Additional reporting by Christine Chan in New York; Editing by David Evans) By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 20, 2020 | 07:40 PM | GRAVES COUNTY No one was injured when a vehicle caught fire Wednesday afternoon in Graves County. The Graves County Sheriff's Office says 29-year-old Travis Palmer of Mayfield was driving his pickup truck on KY 58 West when he started smelling smoke. Palmer stopped his truck in a dirt lot near the intersection with KY 339. When Palmer got out of his vehicle to investigate the smell, he saw flames coming from behind the dashboard. Palmer closed the door and called 911. The Wingo Fire Department arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire. Palmer was not injured in the incident. Actress Soundarya Sharma is currently stranded in the USA amid the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. She was in Los Angeles to attend an acting course at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Soundarya had approached the Indian embassy and Ministry of External Affairs for assistance to return back to India. However, according to the latest reports, the actress has opted out of travelling by the repatriation flight phase one, so that people who are in distress can travel back home first. An IANS report quoted Soundarya as saying, "I am certainly missing my folks back home but the priority is not me. It's for those who are in a difficult situation here and have to get back. As it's a must have for them and I always have felt my happiness should not be at anyone's cost. My appeal was for the people and I am so thankful to everyone for mission VANDE BHARAT." Soundarya, along with more than 400 Indians including students, is stuck in the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The actress had earlier said, "I would humbly request the Indian embassy and the MEA for a stimulus package for all those students and fellow Indians who are stuck here to help overcome this situation and hopefully arrange an evacuation flight back to India." Talking about her films, Soundarya Sharma played the lead role in the film Ranchi Diaries. The film was produced by Anupam Kher. ALSO READ: Actress Soundarya Sharma Stranded In The USA; Requests Help From Ministry Of External Affairs ALSO READ: Anurag Kashyap Auctions His Trophy To Raise Funds For COVID-19 Test Kits A US Navy aircraft carrier that had been sidelined in Guam due to a coronavirus outbreak on board will return to sea later this week after finally disembarking its passengers, according to officials. Navy Captain Carlos Sardiello said on Monday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt will set sail with a reduced crew of about 3,000, leaving the remaining 1,800 sailors behind on shore in quarantine. More than 1,000 sailors tested positive for the coronavirus on the ship over the past two months, forcing the entire crew into quarantine in alternate shifts before being allowed to reboard. Were at the time where expect the unexpected and deal with it. Theres no good news. Theres no bad news. Its Covid and we dont understand it completely, Capt Sardiello said. Were executing according to plan to return to sea, and fighting through the virus is a part of that. Fourteen sailors recently tested positive for the disease just days after getting cleared to return to the carrier and will be forced to remain in quarantine alongside those they came into contact with. According to anonymous US officials, the vessel expected to leave in the next few days, but Capt Sardiello would not discuss timelines or planned operations. Officials also said that if everything goes as planned the ship is set to conduct naval operations in the Pacific region for some period of time before heading back to San Diego. Capt Sardiello also said that he could not say for sure if the carrier would be able to conduct missions following its two-month setback. Do I have a crystal ball? I do not. But I think we have set the conditions for a high probability of success, and were going to go to sea and do our mission, he said. Capt Sardiello was abruptly sent to take command of the ship in April after its previous Captain, Brett Crozier, was fired for urging commanders to take measures to stem the virus onboard. The Navys top officer Adm Mike Gilday recommended that Mr Crozier be reinstated after a preliminary review. However, the Navy decided to conduct a broader investigation. The ship will return to sea with added requirements to help stem outbreaks such as masks, constant cleaning and social distancing. Half the crew would, Im sure, be happy to just sail straight home to San Diego once were ready," Air Traffic Controller 1st Class Daniel Wright said. However, he added that for some sailors this may be their first or last deployment, so to be able to finish something that they started back in January its a good milestone for all of us to shoot for. Additional reporting by The Associated Press. Asia Thailand Detains 15 Rohingya Migrants for Illegal Entry People illegally cross the border between Mae Sot, Thailand and Myawaddy, Myanmar in March 2020. / REUTERS BANGKOKPolice in Thailand have arrested 15 Rohingya Muslims on charges of illegal entry and are investigating the possibility that they could be victims of human trafficking. Twelve of the detainees were arrested late on Tuesday and three more on Wednesday morning in Thailands Mae Sot, close to a bridge that separates the two countries, police said. All were from Buthidaung, home to one of the largest concentrations of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmars northwestern Rakhine State. They have been preliminarily charged with illegal entry, pending further interrogation to determine whether they are victims of human trafficking, Phubed Sang-aram, superintendent of the Mae Sot district police, told Reuters by phone. Phubed said three Thais had also been arrested for providing accommodation to illegal migrants. Local television showed video of the group of mostly Rohingya women sitting on the floor being questioned by police. The group had planned to go to Malaysia via Thailand, said to Chaiyapheuk Chiantranluk, the Mae Sot district chief. Vast numbers of Rohingya fled a 2017 Myanmar military crackdown in Rakhine State that the UN said was executed with genocidal intent. Many Rohingya risked death and starvation on perilous boat journeys in the hope of reaching predominantly Muslim Malaysia. Myanmar denies allegations that its security forces have committed atrocities against them and says it was conducting a legitimate security operation against militants who attacked police posts. It says Rohingya are illegal immigrants from South Asia. More than a million of them now live in camps in neighboring Bangladesh, too frightened to return. You may also like these stories: Bankruptcy Court to Oversee Restructuring of Thai Airways Masked Against Coronavirus, South Korean Students Return to School Singapore Sorry for Sending Positive Coronavirus Test Results in Error Officials in both countries said the full extent of the damage caused by the cyclone was not known because communications to many places were cut. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated ahead of the storm, a process complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. Vast majority of young people experiencing suicidal thoughts display only mild or moderate mental distress, instead of more obvious symptoms associated with a diagnosable disorder, according to a new study. As such, measures to reduce suicide risk in young people should focus on the whole population, not just those who are most distressed, depressed or anxious, said Cambridge University researchers during Mental Health Awareness week. The study recently published in the journal BMJ Open. They argue that the small increases in stress across the entire population due to the coronavirus lockdown could cause far more young people to be at risk of suicide than can be detected through evidence of psychiatric disorders. It appears that self-harm and suicidal thinking among young people dramatically increases well within the normal or non-clinical range of mental distress, said Professor Peter Jones, senior author of the study from Cambridges Department of Psychiatry. These findings show that public policy strategies to reduce suicide should support better mental health for all young people, not only those who are most unwell, said Jones, who is also a consultant for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. Even modest improvements in mental health and wellbeing across the entire population may prevent more suicides than targeting only those who are severely depressed or anxious. The Cambridge researchers conducted the study with colleagues from University College London. It was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute for Health Research. Recent studies suggest a broad range of mental health problems - e.g. depression, anxiety, impulsive behaviour, low self-esteem, and so on - can be taken as a whole to measure levels of common mental distress (CMD). Researchers analysed levels of CMD in two large groups of young people through a series of questionnaires. They also separately collected self-reported data on suicidal thinking and non-suicidal self-injury: predictive markers for increased risk of suicide - the second most common cause of death among 10-24 year-olds worldwide. Both groups consisted of young people aged 14-24 from London and Cambridgeshire. The first contained 2,403 participants. The studys methods - and findings - were then reproduced with a separate group of 1,074 participants. Our findings are noteworthy for being replicated in the two independent samples, said Jones. CMD scores increase in three significant increments above the population average: mild mental distress, followed by moderate, and finally severe distress and beyond - which often manifests as a diagnosable mental health disorder. Those with severe mental distress came out highest for risk of suicide. However, the majority of all participants experiencing suicidal thoughts or self-harming - 78% and 76% respectively in the first sample, 66% and 71% in the second-ranked as having either mild or moderate levels of mental distress. Our findings help explain why research focusing on high-risk subjects has yet to translate into useful clinical tools for predicting suicide risk, said Jones. Self-harm and suicidal thoughts merit a swift response even if they occur without further evidence of a psychiatric disorder. The findings point to a seemingly contradictory situation, in which most of the young people who take their own life may, in fact, be from the considerably larger pool of those deemed as low- or no-risk for suicide. It is well known that for many physical conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, small improvements in the risks of the overall population translate into more lives saved, rather than focusing only on those at extremely high risk, said Jones. This is called the prevention paradox, and we believe our study is the first evidence that mental health could be viewed in the same way. We need both public health and a clinical approach to suicide risk. We are surrounded by technology designed to engage the attention of children and young people, and its effect on wellbeing should be seen by the industry as a priority beyond profit. At a government level, policies affecting the economy, employment, education and housing, to health, culture and sport must all take account of young people; supporting their wellbeing is an investment, not a cost. This is particularly important as the widespread effects of the Covid-19 pandemic unfold. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. ) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is spending Gh 29.5 million within the next year to expand access to reliable power supply in the Ashanti Region. Under the expansion project, which is already underway, the company is adding two new 33 kV lines to the Konongo substation to improve on the supply to the Konongo enclave and also to reduce the pressure on the substation. Currently, the substation has only one 11kV substation that feeds the entire Konongo and part of Kumawu. At a press briefing in Kumasi to address the power outages being experienced in the Ashanti Region in recent times, the Managing Director of ECG , Mr Kwame Agyeman-Budu, said the company had also invested in fire retardant paints to be used on the wooden poles to reduce the incidence of electric poles being burnt by bush fires. Outages Mr Agyeman-Budu explained that some of the outages had been due to faulty transformers in the region. He said the company had identified 13 transformers that had been the cause of most of the outages in the region. According to him, out of the total of 234 outages that the region had experienced in the last one month, the 13 stations were responsible for a total of 102 while 29 of them were from GRIDCo. He said during the period under review, the transformer at Piase in the Bosomtwe District tripped 12 times while that at Mankraso in the Ahafo Ano South District also tripped 10 times. Response That notwithstanding, he said, the companys response time in restoring power whenever there was an outage had also reduced considerably. He said the company had been working around the clock to ensure that power was restored quickly to affected areas whenever there was an outage. According to him, while the intention was to have an outage free system, some external factors made it impossible. Mr Agyeman-Budu cited the incidence of bush fires which destroyed electricity poles, and illegal connections as some of the causes. He reiterated that the company would not deliberately cut supply to its customers because whenever power goes off, we lose money. The more power that is consumed legally, the more money the company makes, he stressed. Incentive Mr Agyeman-Budu appealed to the public to report those engaged in illegal power connections to the company for necessary action. He said the company had instituted a scheme to reward whistleblowers with six per cent of proceeds that the company would generate whenever someone engaged in illegal connection was arrested and billed. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Michigan National Guard units from Bay City, Saginaw, Port Huron and other nearby communities have responded to a request for assistance following massive flooding in the Midland area resulting from the breach of the Edenville and Sanford Dams. The Michigan State Police (MSP) requested the units to provide assistance evacuating Midland area residents. About 130 soldiers and more than 40 specialized vehicles arrived in the area to provide assistance. The National Guard began missions Wednesday, May 20, at 4 a.m., evacuating citizens, augmenting emergency planners and preparing logistical support. The Michigan National Guard is using assets such as Light Medium Tactical Vehicles (LMTVs) that are capable of driving through high water for this mission. More than 200 soldiers and additional equipment are expected to arrive throughout the day. Additional guard members are on standby with capabilities for other missions including aviation, rescue hoist and logistical support, if required. Our priority is supporting the State of Michigans response to this situation and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of Michigan citizens, said Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Members of the Michigan National Guard are trained to respond at a moments notice when their skills are called upon their professionalism is another reassuring example of the guards mission as Michiganders helping Michiganders. Members of the Michigan National Guard will mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread during this emergency response using carefully supervised medical protocols, including pre-screening, mission-appropriate face covering, social distancing and sanitizing equipment. The Michigan National Guard has also been integrated into the states emergency response for COVID-19 since the governor announced its activation on March 18. Currently, nearly 1,000 Michigan National Guard members are supporting COVID-19 response missions across the state. -- Processed by Mitchell Kukulka, Mitchell.Kukulka@mdn.net For more flood coverage visit www.ourmidland.com/flood. Anne Dunne of the White Gables Restaurant & Shop in Moycullen packs up orders An Post has unveiled 2m in supports for small firms designed to help them kick-start their businesses and boost their online presence during the Covid-19 crisis. The national postal firm has introduced discounted prices for An Post parcel services by at least 25pc. And it also has launched a 1m marketing fund. This is offering 1,000 worth of direct mail services to small firms to fuel local advertising or wider marketing campaigns. An Post said its initiative includes a dedicated e-commerce hub that provides information for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to start trading online. Garrett Bridgeman, the managing director of An Post mails and parcels, said the initiative represents the first phase of a wider support programme being offered to SMEs. "There's lots to be learned from the global e-commerce players in getting the digital impact, service quality and customer focus in place from the start," he said. Communications, Climate Action and Environment Minister Richard Bruton welcomed the support from An Post for SMEs in what he said was an "exceptionally difficult time". "As we all adjust to the new normal, the new advice hub will provide expertise and advice to all SMEs as they plan for their return to business," he said. An Post also is offering SMEs bulk-buy discounts for booklets and boxes of stamps if they register for An Post Advantage Cards. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan has extended the period of residence of imigrants without a visa in the country, head of the State Migration Service Vusal Huseynov said on May 20. "Before this, the period of residence was extended until May 31. Usually, migrants should apply for an extension of residence in the country. This issue has been resolved, and the decision was made to extend the period of these persons' residence for 60 days without application until the opening of the borders. Afterwards, their appeals will be considered and decisions will be made, Huseynov said addressing an online briefing. He reminded that the number of foreigner in Azerbaijan is 134.298. These are mainly citizens of Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine and Iran. The rest of the immigrants are citizens of other countries, Huseynov said. He also said that the State Migration Service has received appeals for financial assistance from migrants residing in Azerbaijan. These appeals were redirected to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and other relevant agencies. Through volunteers of the Service, some migrants were provided with support and assistance. The appeals of these people related to the problems with transport and jobs were considered and the corresponding assistance was rendered to these people, Huseynov added. Furthermore, he said that Azerbaijani citizens who have acquired citizenship of another country will not held liable if they do not report this to the Migration Service. In accordance with the previous law, upon the adoption of other citizenship, a citizen of Azerbaijan had to inform the Migration Service or the Embassy of the country abroad about that within one month. "In this regard, the parliament adopted a bill upon the presidents initiative. According to the previous legislation, if the citizen does not notify Migration Service about obtaining another citizenship criminal liability was envisaged. But under the new law, this measure is abolished," he emphasized. He also said that deportation of Azerbaijani citizens from foreign countries whose period of residence there has expired has been suspended. This process has been suspended in all countries in connection with the closure of borders due to the coronavirus pandemic, including Azerbaijan. The appropriate decisions will be made after the opening of the border," he said. Huseynov also pointed out that everyone airlifted to Azerbaijan via charter flights are placed in a quarantine for a certain period, during which all the necessary medical and other services are rendered to them. Azerbaijan first introduced special quarantine regime on March 24 and the third stage of quarantine regime easing came into force in Azerbaijan on 18 May. As of May 20, Azerbaijan has registered 3.518 COVID-19 cases and 41 coronavirus- related deaths so far. The total number of recovered patients is 2.198. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on May 20 notified Congress of a possible foreign military sale to Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) of eighteen (18) MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology (AT) Heavy Weight Torpedoes (HWT) and related equipment for an estimated cost of $180 million. According to a release by the agency, TECRO has requested to buy eighteen heavyweight torpedoes, which also includes spare parts, test equipment, and other related elements of logistics support from the US government. Read: China Hits Back At Tsai Ing-wen, Says It Will 'never Tolerate' Taiwan's Separation "This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipients continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability. The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region," US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a release on its website. Read: China Condemns Pompeo's Remarks On Taiwan The proposed deal is likely to inflame tensions between China and the United States but Washington insists that the sale will improve Taiwan's security and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. As per the United States, Taiwan will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and strengthen homeland defense. The United States also claims that the proposed sale will not alter the basic military balance in the region. Read: Taiwan President Wants 'dialogue' With China, Says No To 'one Country, Two Systems' US-China tensions Tensions between the United States and China are already at its peak after Washington vowed to support Taiwan's effort in the World Health Assembly late last month. The United States has also time and again blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak and accused Beijing of not sharing full information about the disease with the international community. US President Donald Trump and his administration have also claimed that the virus is not of natural occurring and that it emerged at a virology laboratory in Wuhan. Read: US: Pompeo Congratulates Taiwans President Tsai Ing-Wen On Re-election (Image Credit: AP) Pakistani Prime Minister imran khan Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that people should have to learn to live with the coronavirus until a vaccine is developed to treat the disease as the number of infected cases in the country soared up to 45,898 with 985 deaths. Khan was speaking at the inauguration of the COVID-19 Telehealth Portal in Islamabad to help people get medical services on phone. We have to live with this virus for some time until a vaccine is developed, he said, adding that even advanced countries with much more resources were unable to cope with the situation. Khan said asked the doctors, especially female doctors, to register on the portal to provide their services through it. This year our nation will have to join forces to fight against the virus. We previously launched an initiative for tele education and now are launching this initiative for tele health, he said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Even when coronavirus ends, we will continue [on] this portal, he said. The nationwide tally of the coronavirus soared to 45,898 with 1,932 new cases reported during the last 24 four hours. According to the Ministry of National Health Services, 17,947 cases have been reported in Sindh, 16,685 in Punjab, 6,554 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,885 in Balochistan, 1,138 in Islamabad, 556 in Gilgit Baltistan and 133 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. So far, 13,101 patients have recovered from the virus, while 985 have died, including 46 new deaths reported during the last 24 hours. Authorities have so far conducted 414,254 tests, including 13,962 in the last one day. Limited rail operations resumed on Wednesday across Pakistan after over two months of suspension during the lockdown. Railway officials said that the suspension caused a loss of Rs 10 billion, while 10.26 million passengers were affected, making achieving the annual financial target of Rs 58 billion impossible. Special arrangements were made at railway stations to spray disinfectants on the trains and scanners were installed for the passengers. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a meeting with European Union Ambassador in Pakistan Androulla Kaminara urged for global efforts to fight the coronavirus. The minister welcomed the European Union's support to Pakistan to deal with the situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic. The Pakistan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have begun the first disbursements of emergency cash assistance to the most vulnerable refugee families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. This is a significant event and important milestone for the emergency cash programme that will continue over the coming months, UNHCR Representative Noriko Yoshida said. Last week, UNHCR and the Pakistan Post signed an innovative agreement for the disbursement of the emergency cash assistance. The initiative follows the Pakistan government's Ehsaas emergency cash programme, where vulnerable families receive Rs 12,000 to cover a four-month period. Some 36,000 families will be the initial beneficiaries for this emergency cash assistance from UNHCR through the Pakistan Post. It will help the most vulnerable refugee families to meet their urgent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Postmaster General Laeeq Zaman, said that Pakistan Post will be there every step of the way in solidarity with Afghan refugees, as this emergency cash assistance programme is rolled out across Pakistan. Chennai, May 21 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Thursday allowed television serial shootings in the state subject to conditions. An official statement said Palaniswami considered the representation received from the industry and has allowed shooting of television serials subject to the following conditions: Shooting is allowed only indoors or in the houses having compound walls; No shooting is allowed in public places, except in rural and on Covid-19 containment areas; No permission for onlookers; Spraying of disinfectant before and after the shooting at the shoot spots; Barring actors, all others should wear masks and maintain social distance. During breaks actors too should wear masks; All equipments, vehicles coming to the shooting spots should be sanitized; a maximum of 20 persons alone are permitted at the spot including actors and technicians. Iran to US: We will brook no harassment of our oil tankers in intl. waters Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 3:32 PM Iran's defense minister has warned the US of a firm and crushing response should it continue to harass the country's ships and oil tankers in international waters. "We will definitely give a firm and decisive response if harassments continue or escalate," Brigadier General Amir Hatami told reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday. Hatami said US acts of harassment of tankers run against international law and endanger global security, calling on international organizations and those countries abiding by laws governing the security of waterways to adopt an appropriate reaction to the US moves. He described the US acts of harassment at high seas as "piracy" but added, "Our policies are crystal clear and we announced explicitly that we will tolerate no act of harassment." The US has recently intensified its anti-Iran rhetoric, threatening to seize or target Iran's fuel-carrying vessels crossing the Caribbean to sanctions-hit Venezuela. US officials say Washington is mulling over possible measures against Iran in response to its fuel shipment to crisis-stricken Venezuela, according to reports. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday said the US' provocative acts amounted to a form of piracy and a constituted a big threat to international peace and security. The top Iranian diplomat highlighted the responsibility of the US administration with regard to the consequences of any illegal move, reiterating Iran's right right to adopt appropriate and necessary measures in the face of such threats. Zarif's warning came in a letter penned to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Following Zarif's letter, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi summoned the Swiss ambassador, whose country represents Washington's interests in Tehran, to communicate the country's serious warning and vehement protest at the US provocations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Amazon management has announced that it will eliminate its $2 dollar per hour and double overtime pay raises for all Amazon workers at the end of the month, despite the mounting number of coronavirus infections. Management has already terminated the policy of allowing workers to take unlimited unpaid time off if they get sick. With these provocative and gratuitous cuts to hazard pay, management is making clear what it really thinks of the sacrifices and risks that workers have taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is signaling its support for the murderous drive by the American political establishment, together with ruling classes around the world, to reopen the economy in the midst of a pandemic which has already killed over 90,000 people in the United States and over 325,000 people worldwide. While Amazon management deliberately conceals the global numbers of suspected and confirmed cases in the workforce, Indiana Amazon worker Jana Jumpp has been working to gather these statistics from second-hand sources. She has counted over 900 workers to date who have contracted the disease. Yesterday, several new cases were reported at a warehouse in San Marcos, Texas, although Amazon did not say how many. Amazon granted the pay raise in March, not as a gesture of altruism or magnanimity, but to try to coax workers back into the warehouses without adequate safety measures in the early stages of the outbreak. One worker commented that even with the $2 raise and overtime policy, the company still made over $30 billion in profit during the pandemic, such that they can more than afford to let us keep it permanently. Another worker noted: We should get hazard pay, which should be more than $2 dollars. Amazon workers are taking deadly risks every day, under conditions where three-fourths of warehouses have reported cases of the virus. Since workers are risking their lives every day, together with the lives of their family members, the $2 hardly reflected the danger to begin with. Like my job, the worker explained, love my health and life and I love my family more. The company has already terminated its concession with respect to unlimited unpaid time off (UPT), having hired around 100,000 additional workers to replace those who were unwilling or unable to work during the pandemic. One Amazon worker in Oklahoma told the International Amazon Workers Voice that instead of going back to work, she has taken a personal leave of absence since May 1. It was a fight to get Amazon to approve it: But even with documentation from my doctor, I had a hard time getting it approved and its unpaid also. Even though Amazon states that you can take 12 weeks a year, they are only approving personal leave of absence for 45 days! Management is desperate to keep workers in the warehouses generating profits for the trillion-dollar international conglomerate, no matter the danger. The Oklahoma worker continued: Ive been advised by my doctor to take leave of absence due to being very high risk, but it seems like Amazon could care less and they are making people practically beg for unpaid time off. I know a lot of others are in the same position and many are having their personal leave of absence completely denied! Meanwhile, a recent article in the New York Times is a devastating confirmation of the utterly callous response by the company in the early weeks of the pandemic, slow-walking a handful of cosmetic-safety measures while workers stayed scandalously unprotected. The article, Way Too Late: Inside Amazons biggest Coronavirus Outbreak, focuses on the 600,000-sqaure-foot AVP1 facility in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, near the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part of the state. The coronavirus has infected more workers at AVP1 than at any other warehouse across the nation, with infections totaling more than 100, according to local politicians. As the infections mounted, over 250 workers in a 500-worker shift staged an unprecedented sickout. In the shipping department, more than 100 workers walked out when management announced more workers had tested positive. Newly hired workers, who had been bused in from hard-hit areas of New York, had to watch training videos to perform their job, as trainers walked-out for fear of being infected. In typical fashion, Amazon attempted to smother the news of the outbreak, refusing to provide any official statement of the number of cases and deaths, claiming this would only cause undue alarm. The current policy of Amazon is to send out robo-text messages to workers to announce the discovery of confirmed cases. These texts often contain inaccurate data, are inexplicably delayed, or are sent to the wrong workplace. Meanwhile, while management sends out piecemeal notifications to workers in different warehouses, the company refuses to give global updates of the number of suspected cases, confirmed cases, and deaths. At AVP1, it took months before a handful of low-cost safety measures were implemented, such as hand sanitizing stations, temperature checks, and social distancing measures. Meanwhile, workers complained to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that theres no disinfectant we bring our own and that Amazon had let workers with suspected cases continue to work at the plant. One worker told OSHA that the richest company in the world can afford to close for a few days with pay for their people. OSHA closed the complaint after Amazon supposedly provided them with documentation of its efforts to keep workers safe. These efforts were totally inadequate, as evidenced by the fact that the virus spread like wildfire and infected more workers at AVP1 than at any other warehouse. One worker told the International Amazon Workers Voice that even with the measures taken in their facility, We keep getting more positive cases in the warehouse. Reacting to the decision by CEO Jeff Bezos to eliminate the pay increase and other concessions, another worker commented: Another Trump, screw this man. Bezos has piled up staggering profits during the pandemic, making approximately $35 million every day. The media carried reports over the last week that he is well on his way to becoming the first trillionaire in history. The annual Fortune 500 rankings were released this week, which rank companies by revenue generated last year. Amazon beat Apple for second place, behind only Wal-Mart. With all the cash that Amazon has on hand, Forbes reported yesterday that Amazon may be interested in taking over retail chain J. C. Penney, which recently filed for bankruptcy. YORK, Maine, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading specialty foods and home goods producer Stonewall Kitchen announced the reopening of their Camden, ME, Nashua, NH, North Conway, NH, Portsmouth, NH, Rochester, NH, and South Windsor, CT Company Stores. For the safety of all guests and staff, store capacity has been limited and safety precautions have been implemented, as outlined by each state's economic reopening plans, in order to support healthy business operations. Additionally, the Stonewall Kitchen Cafe in York, Maine is now offering curbside pickup, with a limited menu, just by calling (207) 351-2719. The service will be offered Monday-Friday for both breakfast (8 a.m.-10:30 a.m.) and lunch (11 a.m.-3 p.m.). Guests may simply call in to place their orders and pay over the phone. Upon arrival, guests can call again and their orders will be delivered to their vehicles. "We're opening carefully and thoughtfully," states John Stiker, CEO of Stonewall Kitchen. "Our first priority remains the continued safety and health of our associates and guests. We have implemented various safety measures in our stores, including mandatory face coverings for staff and guests, markings on the floor for social distancing, no more than 50% capacity, and plexiglass partitions at the registers. We have also ceased sampling in our stores and have established enhanced cleaning protocols that follow CDC guidance related to cleaning and disinfecting. Furthermore, while the stores are open for walk-in guests, we are encouraging guests to utilize our call-ahead, pay-ahead curbside pickup in select stores to minimize contact and maintain social distancing. All stores, with the exception of Camden, are offering the curbside service." The following Stonewall Kitchen Company Stores are currently open: Portsmouth Company Store, 10 Pleasant Street, Portsmouth NH , 03801 , 03801 Nashua Company Store, Pheasant Lane Mall, Nashua, NH 03060 03060 Rochester Company Store, 92 Farmington Road, Rochester, NH 03867 03867 North Conway Company Store, Settlers Green, North Conway, NH 03860 03860 Camden Company Store, 13 Elm Street, Camden, ME 04843 04843 South Windsor Company Store, Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk, South Windsor, CT 06074 The York, Maine Cafe and flagship Company Store open June 1 with limited seating indoors but extensive seating outdoors. The Cooking School in York, Maine will also be opening June 1 with limited seating that ensures social distancing; class sign-up is now available on the company website. The Portland, ME Company Store is also scheduled to open June 1. The reopening for the Newburyport, MA Company Store has been tentatively planned for June 8 but will be based on final Massachusetts state guidance. For all Company Store updates, please check back on: https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/companystores. For more information on the Stonewall Kitchen Cafe and to view their curbside pickup menu, visit https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/visit-us/stonewall-kitchen-cafe/cafe.html. About Stonewall Kitchen Stonewall Kitchen is a leading producer of specialty foods and home goods headquartered in York, Maine. Founded in 1991 by partners Jonathan King and Jim Stott, the two established the Stonewall Kitchen brand by selling jams and jellies at local farmers' markets with a flavorful line of distinctive and high-quality products. Over time, they expanded the brand to include sauces, condiments, crackers and baking mixes, always focusing on innovative product development, beautiful packaging, and exceptional guest service. Today, Stonewall Kitchen is a family of specialty food and lifestyle products, with premium quality brands including the flagship Stonewall Kitchen brand; the Tillen Farms brand of pickled vegetables and cocktail cherries; the Vermont Village brand of organic apple sauce and apple cider vinegars; the Village Candle brand of fragranced candles, gifts and accessories; the Napa Valley Naturals brand of olive oils, culinary oils, balsamic vinegars and wine vinegars; the Montebello brand of artisan organic pasta imported from Italy; and the Legal Sea Foods brand of restaurant-quality seafood sauces and condiments. The company boasts more than 8,500 wholesale accounts nationwide and internationally; a thriving catalog and online division; a cooking school and cafe in both York, Maine and Costa Mesa, California; and nine retail Company Stores throughout New England. As winners of 30 prestigious awards from the Specialty Food Association and the recipient of the coveted Outstanding Product Line Honors three times, Stonewall Kitchen is proud to be one of the most awarded specialty food companies in the country. For more information about Stonewall Kitchen, please visit: www.stonewallkitchen.com For all media inquiries, please contact: Margaux Maertens, [email protected] SOURCE Stonewall Kitchen, LLC Related Links http://www.stonewallkitchen.com COLUMBUS, Ohio A leadership fight is brewing for control of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, with the longtime chairman facing a challenge from a well-connected local party activist. Lisa Stickan, president of the Highland Heights council and a staff attorney for a Republican Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, announced her plans on Thursday to challenge Chairman Rob Frost, an attorney who has led the county party since 2005. Frost has fended off challenges before, but Stickan is perhaps his most formidable opponent yet. She is a longtime activist in Ohio Republican politics and a named delegate for President Donald Trump for this years Republican National Convention. Her mother, Lucy Stickan, holds a leadership position on the county partys executive committee, and was elected to the state Republican Partys central committee in the just-concluded state primary. Lisa Stickan said in an interview she helped recruit a slate of candidates to the local county party central committee in the primary election, and shes now asking them and other local Republicans for support. County party leadership is chosen by the rank-and-file Republicans who hold elected seats on the partys central committee. I think its time to look to a new direction in the party," Stickan said. I have the infrastructure experience to bring to the table, but I also have some new ideas as well for a new direction, and I want to bring that forward. Frost said hes running on his record helming the party, and that its too important of a year" for local Republicans to change leaders. Its a necessary and good exercise for us as a party to have these internal debates, Frost said. It helps us really refine what we need to bear down on and do well from through November 3 [Election Day] so that we win. The Cuyahoga GOP is scheduled to meet on Saturday, May 30 for its regular post-primary organizational meeting, with members having the option of participating remotely via Zoom, the teleconferencing software. Current party leadership is proposing casting ballots by mail for the chairmanship spot during a 30-day voting period. If committee members sign off, that means a winner wouldnt be known until June 30. Both candidates are making the case to committee members that their leadership of the county party will help Trump get re-elected. But the Republican Party increasingly is defined by affiliation with Trump, and Stickan has a unique card to play here. The Trump campaign chose her as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. And while party chairs in other counties, including Ashtabula, Hamilton and Summit counties, Frost didnt make the cut. Hes also had some friction in the recent past with state party leadership, which is close to Trump. Bob Paduchik, a top Ohio Republican operative who holds a senior position with the Trump campaign, said the campaign doesnt get involved with local party issues. But when it comes to delegates, Paduchik said, a very important factor in that is loyalty to the president and his campaign, and the ability to help him win re-election. And so that is obviously an important factor in choosing and selecting delegates. Frost said hes served as a delegate to past Republican conventions, and that he plans to attend this years convention. His goal is the same as state and national party leaders, he said. Ill be supporting President Trump to be re-nominated, and well be working with the Trump campaign daily... to make sure this president gets re-elected, he said. While Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold, it remains significant for any Republican running a statewide race in Ohio, thanks to its sheer volume of voters and presence of major GOP donors. It cast the second-most votes of any Ohio county for Trump in 2016, as well as in 2018 for Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. The county party also helps recruit candidates and organize races for state legislative seats, judicial positions and other local races. T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge turned bingo hosts for the first time in a surprise virtual visit to a care home. The royal couple joined residents at the Shire Hall Care Home, in Cardiff, via a video call from Anmer Hall, Norfolk, as residents played bingo in the homes cinema. With their own bingo spinner which Prince William took charge of, the pair took turns holding up balls to the screen, calling out the numbers in bingo lingo as they joined residents Margaret Stocks, Margaret Jones, Ray Donoghue and Joan Drew-Smith for a game on Wednesday afternoon. William told them: Catherine is going to pick out the first ball, as Kate held it up to the screen for the residents to see, as she announced: So, the first number is five and eight, 58. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (right) were bingo callers for residents at the Shire Hall Care Home in Cardiff / PA The duke then chose a ball and held it up to the screen, calling out: One little duck, number two, followed by Kate calling out the next two balls: Eight and seven, 87. Six and two, tickety-boo. Hearing Ms Drew-Smith call out I won, the couple clapped,and William congratulated her with a Yay! Hi Joan said Kate. Well done! How are you? Ms Drew-Smith asked them. But when William replied were very well thanks and asked her How did we do at bingo? We did OK? she gave a cheeky reply. Very good, said Ms Drew Smith, before adding: Wasnt as good as it should have been, prompting more giggles from William and Kate. They also spoke with Mrs Stocks, who is in her eighties. Kate said: Hi Margaret. Lovely to meet you, how did you get on? Mrs Stocks said: We won one line in the bingo. Kate replied, Oh fantastic, well done! Mrs Stocks later described William and Kates call as amazing and a wonderful afternoon which she was happy to be part of. They also spoke with Margaret Jones: Hello Margaret, said William. Hi Margaret, said Kate. Mrs Jones said: Hello, before her carer sitting with her appeared to echo Ms Drew-Smiths assessment of the Cambridges bingo hosting skills: They havent done so well in the bingo there, said the carer, prompting more laughter from William and Kate. Not so well, laughed William. Well say a big thank-you and goodbye to everybody. Well try and do a bit better at bingo next time. Kate signed off with: Stay safe everybody and thank-you for your time today, its lovely to meet all of you, as William added: And enjoy your cake. Bye! After their game of bingo with William and Kate, the residents celebrated their virtual royal visit with a glass of wine and a cake which the Cambridges had specially arranged for the Shire Hall chef to prepare for the residents. Shire Hall is part of the Hallmark Cark Homes group, a family-run business which provides residential, nursing and dementia care to more than 1,000 residents across locations in England and South Wales. It is currently home to 87 residents aged from 58 to 99. Before joining the bingo game, the couple spoke with some of Shire Halls staff, including Karen Grapes, the general manager since 2008 and a former nurse, Sheila Charles, the lifestyles leader and Harriet Boobyer, the senior care assistant and dementia co-ordinator. Harriet has been leading the homes implementation of the RelsApp, an app specially developed for Hallmark Care Homes which allows residents and relatives to send each other pictures, videos, music and memories, helping to bring families together when they cannot visit the home. The couple heard about the impact of Covid-19 and the challenges they have faced during the pandemic, including greater use of technology to keep residents in touch with their loved ones. Good afternoon everybody, said William. Hello, said Kate. Good afternoon your royal highnesses, said Karen. Welcome to Shire Hall. William began: Maybe youd like to start just by telling us a little bit about the care home and what the challenges are youve been facing at the moment? Karen spoke first: Yes. I mean, it has been quite a hard couple of months, I must be honest. Ive been in the care home industry here for 12 years in Shire Hall and worked for Hallmark and weve never, ever as you can imagine come across anything quite like this. The challenges have really been around reassuring the team, the residents, and the relatives. Because thats been our hardest challenge is the fact that the residents are missing their families, the families are missing their relatives and, you know, a lot of our residents have got dementia, so theyre struggling with dementia so its really difficult for them to try and understand. They dont really understand whats going on, but they know that their family arent here. Sheila filled them in next: Weve had other tablets donated to us so that we can make sure that the residents are kept in contact with their families every single day. So were reassuring them, they can see their residents having fun, looking well, doing things. And Skyping childrenEverybody loves children. Sheila then told the couple about a young girl, Lily Hewitt,who has been entertaining the residents via Face Time with her singing, dancing and writing poems for them in Welsh. And we do have one little girl, who is amazing, her name is Lily and shes eight. She got in contact with us, her family, because she wanted to be part of and helping. For the last eight weeks, either once or twice a week, she Skypes some ladies. We give her a challenge So, shes Welsh speaking so she done a poem. She dresses up as fairies and princesses and she does stories and she sings and its amazing. And shes eight. And shes been doing that Oh, even a family TikTok. Really? said William. I bet everybody loves that. Sheila added: Were doing what everyone else is doing at home because were all in the same position, but that doesnt have to stop because families dont come in. Harriet then spoke to the couple about her experiences: We are family, and it does feel that way with our residents and in my view, its almost been a sort of relief being able to come here when I havent been able to see some of my own family, but I still can here and see everybody and feel that kind of sense of normality in this really strange time. "But its all about making sure that our residents and their families and friends as well still feel very connected with us and with them. William asked: So youre doing a lot more hours, youre a lot more involved, I guess, and are there a lot more than normal. How is that, plus the sort of responsibilities you all have now with keeping all the PPE kit on and everything else? Is that worrying? Karen told them: I think what Harriet was saying there, the fact that it almost makes it feel a bit more normal because we are coming to work and this is how we come in the norm. "So weve sort of grown into it because to start off with it was just the hand washing and the masks, and then it was the aprons, then it was gloves, then it was, you know, all the extras that go on on top. Its very hot in all of the gear, said Harriet. But the morale in the home is lovely, said Sheila. I think there is because weve got a treat trolley, doing chocolates and drinks and crisps that goes round every single day to keep things up And the night team, thats day and night. Adapted things, its different things but theyre all different things that we will carry on doing. Karen added: Weve had a lot of positives that have come out of it that we thought, Why werent we doing this before? So there will be some good that comes out of this, you know, lessons learnt, and we can move forward then so that, you know, if it happens again well be well prepared for it. Harriet said: Its brought everyone closer together. You know, people like I said, were a family, we take care of each other. You know if someone is stressed, you let them take that five minutes out, you talk to them, really, its so much its such a good community that weve got in here now and it is were all taking care of each other, not just the residents, we take care of our friends, our work colleagues as well. Its really great. Sheila said: To be honest with you, although its a terrible situation that the world and the country is in, we can still have fun, we can still have activities, you know, it is a positive daily live at Shire Hall at this moment. William laughed, telling them: Ive never known Welsh people not to know how to have fun. Speaking after William and Kates call with the residents,Sheila described it as emotional for the team and the residents. It was all very secretive because its important to have a surprise and they were all engaged, they all enjoyed it." Eros Now's original series Metro Park also stars Purbi Joshi, Pitobash Tripathy and Vega Tamotia. Eros Now original series Metro Park is all set to roll out a special "quarantine" edition, wherein actors of the show, including Ranvir Shorey and Omi Vaidya, have shot episodes from home. The new edition of the series, written by Ajayan Venugopalan, will feature five episodes of 3-5 minutes each. (Click here for LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) The show, which debuted last year, chronicles the story of a fictitious Gujarati family settled in New Jersey, USA. The quarantine special had actors shoot their portions independently at their residence. It also stars Purbi Joshi, Pitobash Tripathy and Vega Tamotia. "Shooting for Metro Park - Quarantine Edition has been truly exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time because it is entirely shot from home by the cast, which is turning into the new normal in the times of COVID-19. I''m hopeful that fans will enjoy watching these specials especially made for them," Ranvir said in a statement. Ridhima Lulla, chief content officer, Eros Group, said the team is excited to put together the special edition amid difficult times. "We are aiming to deliver exciting and unique content for our viewers world over, which they can binge watch and enjoy during the lockdown," she added. Directed by Abi Varghese and Venugopalan, Metro Park - Quarantine Edition will stream from 23 May. Watch the trailer here Manila (CNN Philippines Life) The International Center of Photography recently awarded Filipino photographer Hannah Reyes Morales its 2020 Infinity Award for Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism. Morales has had significant photojournalism work throughout the years such as documenting the aftermath of the Marawi siege and the effects of President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs for The Washington Post, the overcrowding at the Manila City Jail for the New York Times, war crimes against Cambodians for Al Jazeera America, and the beauty standards affecting women for the National Geographic. Watching the landscape of the Philippines change under this administration has also been difficult, to say the least, she tells CNN Philippines Life in an unpublished 2019 interview. I became a photojournalist in a time of immense changes here. So many of us are coming into our practice amid this contested space. Working in Mindanao has been challenging. Its such a context-heavy space, and Im often having to undo my own assumptions as I go. But as in every story, I meet people who guide me and help me understand what I am seeing. Morales was born in Manila and travels around Asia for her work. Her upbringing in the messy bits of Manila has become part of the core of her journalism work, which has allowed her to document crucial events and cultural touchpoints in the Philippines and around the world, particularly subjects that are close to her, such as the Filipino diaspora. The ruins of Marawi city after the siege. This was for a work for The Washington Post in 2019. Photo by HANNAH REYES MORALES Detainees are seen sleeping by a small grotto of Mary in the Manila City Jail. This photograph was taken in 2018 for the New York Times. Photo by HANNAH REYES MORALES Marta poses with her husband Apolinar at their home in Pampanga. Mara is a member of Malaya Lolas, or Free Grandmothers, a group of survivors of mass rape during the Second World War. Photo by HANNAH REYES MORALES Working on the story on the Filipino diaspora was also interesting, she told CNN Philippines Life. Visualizing migration and absence was tough, and it was daunting to try to find a different way of telling a story that almost every Filipino has somehow touched. We all have memories with a balikbayan box. We all have friends who've left. Or we've been the friend who's left. It's a story of millions of people my husband and family included. It shook up my notions of what family and nationhood meant. Her previous awards include the 2019 Tim Hetherington Visionary Award, the Royal Photographic Society Margaret Harker medal for 100 Photographic Heroines, and the 2016 SOPA Award for Excellence in Digital Reporting. She has also received two grants from the National Geographic. This years International Center of Photography awards has also honored the sprawling The 1619 Project of the New York Times Magazine, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. Watch the ICP video on Hannah Reyes Morales below. You can also read some of Moraless works for CNN Philippines Life below. The photographs we take, the homes that we carry On the road with Leni Robredo LOOK: How the children of Sampaloc, Manila dressed up for Halloween With reporting by Claire Jiao. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Fed up with their businesses taking a hit during the coronavirus pandemic, about 20 restaurant owners met at Casa Belvedere Wednesday in a secret meeting to discuss moving forward with a reopening strategy for their businesses on their own. We need to open. Two or more months like this, a lot of us are going down," said Max Calicchio, owner of Maxs Esca in Dongan Hills and organizer of the chat. He gathered a sampling of restaurant owners from around the borough to share concerns. Restaurants and other food services cannot open until Phase 3 of the states reopening strategy, and New York City has not even reached Phase 1 yet. Having lost between 75 and 80 percent of his regular sales since the pandemic began, the proprietor and chef just hopes to go forward. It doesnt make sense not to open up," Calicchio said. "Our numbers are different than the rest of the city. We werent as affected as, say, The Bronx. If were showing were being careful, then open us up. Use us as a test if you have to. He talked about putting signage around Staten Island with slogans like Help us feed our families, Save our jobs, We need sales and you need sales tax. Restaurant owners devised flooding 311 with calls to reopen businesses now. Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), who was in attendance Wednesday, said that some business owners were considering opening over Memorial Day weekend or the near future after seeing diners congregate in and around their favorite restaurants across the city last weekend. But Borelli said that by the end of the meeting, cooler heads prevailed and decided to wait things out. The meeting comes as City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is looking at closing down public sidewalks and streets to create outdoor dining space similar to European dining. Mayor Bill de Blasio has called Johnsons idea interesting but said the city could not implement that concept just yet because it has not yet met its reopening goals. Johnson has said his outdoor dining concept is familiar to New Yorkers who have visited Stone Street in Lower Manhattan. But Borelli said that most Island bars and restaurants are no Stone Street and dont always have the ability to open up for outdoor dining on streets and sidewalks like other parts of the city. The stuff we hear about businesses . Lets close streets off and put tables in the streets, thats not helping anyone on Staten Island, Borelli said. Were just not the same as Stone Street, its just not the same, not having grandmas 40th anniversary is whats killing [restaurants] in their party rooms half of those businesses there dont even have sidewalks in front of their business because of the city, Borelli said. Pete Marcolini, owner of Aunt Butchies of Brooklyn bakery and neighboring sit-down dining restaurant in Richmond Valley, said he is willing to give outdoor dining a try. Let me open up outside with a tent. Lets try that. Lets try outdoor seating, Marcolini said. If you see a spike then we go back to square one. Weve got to start somewhere. Its our slow season. Everyone knows you either go to the Jersey Shore or to the marina in the summer. I will put fans to help with circulation. Before New York City and regions across the state can start to reopen in phases, they must first meet seven state-mandated reopening metrics, which include a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations; 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths; under two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents; hospitals having 30% of their general and intensive care unit beds available; a testing program that reaches 30 per 1,000 residents in the region, and having 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents or based on infection rate. As of Wednesday, New York City only met four of those requirements and has not hit Phase 1 of reopening. The city is also keeping track of three daily indicators to determine when the city can begin relaxing its coronavirus restrictions, which include the number of New Yorkers being admitted into the citys hospitals, patients in its 11 public hospitals intensive care units, and the rate of New Yorkers testing positive for coronavirus. But Staten Island has been left out the citys ICU metrics since it started keeping track of those indicators in April. The mayor has said all three of those indicators would need to move in unison in the same direction for at least 10 days to two weeks before the city can start relaxing restrictions. However, the citys metrics have yet to move down consecutively. He has said he is confident New York City can meet the states seven reopening metrics by mid-June. Republican Minority Leader Steven Matteo (Mid Island) who also attended Wednesdays meeting, said business owners expressed frustration throughout the meeting and advocated for opening Staten Island up ahead of the rest of the city -- an idea Island Republican politicians have rallied behind. "The overwhelming sentiment from restaurant owners was frustration -- frustration about not being able to open and get back to work; frustration at watching the businesses that they have worked so hard to make successful be in danger of permanently closing down; frustration that government has not provided clear guidance and not set a certain date for them to reopen; frustration about not being able to provide for their employees and their own families, Matteo said. Though he did not attend Wednesdays meeting, Richie Holmes of Juicy Lucy, said he would make necessary changes if needed for his business in order to reopen sooner, like switch to only using disposable utensils, cups and place settings. The Ocean Breeze barbecue restaurant with its tiered patio setup was among the first restaurants to close to the public in mid-March and open for to-go only. We should also closely monitor the opening up of our businesses to make sure another breakout doesnt occur, otherwise everything weve worked so hard for the last two and a half months is wasted. Outdoor dining, social distancing and using disposable products is a nice head start," Holmes said. Ill be game for anything that will bring some more money in and gives us more of a breathing room to be able to survive," said Massimo Felici of VINUM and The Richmond, both Stapleton, and the contract operator at Casa Belvedere. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com. This is the man facing trial, charged with the murder of David 'Daithi' Douglas, who was shot dead in a gangland attack in a Dublin shop in 2016. Lee Canavan (31) was extradited from the UK on Tuesday and brought before Dublin District Court yesterday morning. Judge John Hughes remanded him in custody, to appear in court again next week. Mr Canavan, of no fixed address, is charged with murdering Mr Douglas (55) at Bridgefoot Street in Dublin's south inner city on July 1, 2016. Killing He is also accused of causing criminal damage to a car at Strand Road, Sandymount, on July 4 that year. Mr Canavan is the fourth man to be charged over the killing of Mr Douglas, who was shot six times in front of his daughter. Freddie Thompson was convicted by the Special Criminal Court and jailed for life for murder after a trial in August 2018. Nathan Foley pleaded guilty in November 2018 to assisting a criminal organisation and received a six-year sentence. Getaway car driver Gareth Brophy admitted helping to facilitate the murder and was jailed for 10 years in January this year. Detective Sergeant Mark Kelly told Judge Hughes he arrested the accused at 4pm yesterday at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, on foot of two warrants. Mr Canavan was taken to Kevin Street Garda Station, where his reply to each charge after caution was "no comment", Det Sgt Kelly said. He applied for the accused to be remanded in custody to appear in Cloverhill District Court on the next date. Defence solicitor Tracy Horan said she anticipated that the book of evidence was ready and asked for the case to be put in to next Wednesday for the service of the book. She said it was a matter that would be sent forward for trial to the Special Criminal Court and asked for her client to be remanded to Mountjoy Prison, rather than being sent to the Midlands Prison in Portlaoise. "We have security arrangements in place and it makes sense for us to bring him directly from Mountjoy," Det Sgt Kelly agreed. Ms Horan said given the "nature of this matter," all individuals involved were incarcerated in Mountjoy Prison. Judge Hughes remanded him to Mountjoy, to appear in Cloverhill District Court on May 27. Tumour He also recommended appropriate medical treatment for the accused. Ms Horan said her client required urgent medical attention in relation to a tumour. The judge also granted free legal aid after hearing the accused was not working and of "no means". No bail application was made as bail cannot be granted at district court level on a murder charge. The accused, dressed in a navy tracksuit, was not required to address the court during the brief hearing and has not yet indicated how he intends to plead. He was flown to Ireland on an Air Corps aircraft after a risk assessment by gardai deemed it would be "unsafe" for him to travel from London on a commercial flight. Detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit travelled to arrest Mr Canavan at an RAF airbase in the UK and returned with him on the Irish military plane. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Turkmenistan and other countries of the the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) organized by The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) have proposed new approaches to joint activities, Trend reports with reference to Zolotoy Vek (Golden Age) newspaper. The Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan held a televised Q&A question and answer session with other APFSD countries. The results of the implemented work since the previous meeting were discussed. The parties have identified important directions in the field of sustainable development for the period up until 2030. Turkmenistan pointed out that science, technology and innovation are important both in the fight against COVID-19 and in solving environmental problems. The need to strengthen scientific cooperation in the region among UNESCAP member states was noted. The participants stressed the relevance of the initiatives put forward by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. These initiatives are aimed at developing a joint dialogue. Turkmenistan has joined two intergovernmental agreements developed by the UNESCAP on the Trans-Asian railway network and Asian highway network in 2016. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva RACINE And then COVID hit. Alicia Sauceda, who has co-owned 911 Tacos since 2016 with her husband, Nino, said that sentence several times during a phone call with The Journal Times Tuesday evening, an hour after they announced via Facebook that they would be closing their Tex-Mex restaurant at 817 Main St. for good. But the Saucedas promised their tacos wouldnt be leaving Racine. This week, they submitted their application to operate as a food truck in Racine. Today was a bittersweet moment, Alicia said. We are still here. The Saucedas had been thinking about closing the restaurant for a few months before Tuesdays announcement. The decision to close permanently was only partially because of COVID, Nino said. In November, their 911 Tacos food truck was delivered. In January, it was licensed to start serving in Kenosha County. Soon, the truck became just as profitable (if not more profitable) than the brick-and-mortar restaurant. And that was before the pandemic reached Wisconsin. Restaurants in Wisconsin were forced to close on March 17, the last day anyone will have ever dined in at 911 Tacos on Main Street. The final two months When the restaurant was forced to shut down except for carryout, the Saucedas kept all of their staff on payroll. It was their sole income, Alicia said. But revenue from takeout orders rarely covered half of the operating expenses. They were forced to cut hours for employees, many of whom decided to look for other work. The restaurant was closed off-and-on for days at a time because staffing was so low throughout the crisis. The Saucedas requested a small business relief loan but didnt get it. One of the Saucedas sons Jose, an electrician in Illinois moved back home for the time being to help with the restaurant so his dad could focus on the food truck. Some days since the pandemic began, the food truck usually parked outside either Steinhafels (7001 120th Ave.) or Big Hit Barber Shop (6011 39th Ave.) in Kenosha got so busy they just closed the restaurant so Juan would be able to go help on the truck. It was hand over foot at the food truck, Alicia said. The food truck was carrying the load of the restaurant. The thought of closing the restaurant had been on their minds since the truck arrived in November. We were thinking about it before. And then COVID hit, Alicia said. They knew the food truck offered more freedom and was cheaper to operate: you dont have to pay rent for a truck, and the Saucedas can run it as a family without any additional staff. What am I holding onto it for if its not making us any money? Alicia thought to herself. Its just him and I on the food truck. And our two boys help out It just seemed easier and made more sense. One of the final nails in the coffin was when the Saucedas certified public accountant said Thats not a bad idea to close the restaurant permanently. We were thinking about it (closing the restaurant) before, Alicia said. And then COVID hit. Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. [May 21, 2020] Spectra7 Announces US$750,000 Debt Settlement Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. (TSX-V:SEV) ("Spectra7" or the "Company"), a leading provider of high-performance analog semiconductor products for broadband connectivity markets, announced today that it intends to issue an aggregate of 42,000,000 common shares at a deemed issuance price of Cdn.$0.025 per share to settle in full Cdn.$1,050,000 (US$750,000) owing to certain non-arm's length parties pursuant to outstanding promissory notes (the "Loans"). The Loans had been provided by certain directors of the Company to provide capital to fund the growth of the Company's data center business. All common shares issued in connection with the shares for debt transaction are issued in reliance on certain prospectus exemptions available under securities legislation and are subject to a four month statutory hold period. Pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), the shares for debt transaction constitutes a "related party transaction" as related parties of the Company subscribed for common shares. The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority approval requirements of MI 61-101. The shares for debt transaction was approved by all of the independent directors of the Company. The shares for debt transaction remains subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. ABOUT SPECTRA7 MICROSYSTEMS INC. Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. is a high performance analog semiconductor company delivering unprecedented bandwidth, speed and resolution to enable disruptive industrial design for leading electronics manufacturers in virtual relity, augmented reality, mixed reality, data centers and other connectivity markets. Spectra7 is based in San Jose, California with design centers in Cork, Ireland and Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, please visit www.spectra7.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CAUTIONARY NOTES Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those relating to the shares for debt transaction, and the Company's strategy, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2019. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005699/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] - Over 15 million meals donated in under four weeks - YallaGive is the first online donation and fundraising platform in the UAE and MENA region - YallaGive's customers include Mercy Corps, EN-WWF, Emirates Red Crescent, Al Jalila Foundation, Doctors Without Borders. DUBAI, UAE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Online donations platform, YallaGive, partnered with the leading payment provider, Checkout.com who waived fees to process '10 Million Meals' initiative. The campaign was started to provide food assistance to millions of less fortunate individuals during the holy month of Ramadan. It was launched under the umbrella of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives in collaboration with the Social Solidarity Fund Against Covid-19. It marks the largest community campaign ever seen in the UAE, with millions of dirhams donated in the weeks since launch. The campaign also saw the iconic Burj Khalifa, converted into the "world's tallest donation box", as it enabled people from all over the world to sponsor one of 1.2 million lights and provide a meal for those impacted by the pandemic. The project concluded with over 15 million meals pledged. Online donations raised 1.4 million meals, with SMS donations netting over 771,000 and call centres raising 720,000. The remaining donations were made by business leaders pledging 5.7 million meals and donations from the humanitarian sector which resulted in 6.8 million meals. Sebastian Reis, Executive Vice President of Checkout.com said, "We are pleased to use our platform to support a noble cause like this and to partner with YallaGive. We count some of the regions most forward-thinking businesses amongst our partners. In this time, we are doing all we can to give back and we are delighted to waive our processing fees for the 10 million meals campaign." Abdulla Al Nuaimi, Founder of YallaGive said "We are proud to be part of the 10 Million Meals initiative, which has seen millions of people come together in these difficult times. We relied on Checkout.com to process all of our online donations. The team have been amazing supporters to our work from the day we started! Checkout.com has solid infrastructure and features that support our operations to secure millions of dirhams that change people's lives in many countries around the world." About Checkout.com: Checkout.com helps companies accept more payments around the world through one integration. The company works with global businesses to optimize their payments, with real-time data. Checkout.com's unified global payment processing platform features in-country acquiring, relevant payment methods, feature parity across geographies, fraud filters and reporting features, all via one API. It helps businesses in Europe, the US, APAC and the Middle East to achieve faster, more reliable processing in more than 150 currencies, with direct access to Visa, Mastercard, American Express, all major international cards, as well as popular alternative and local payment methods. For more see: www.checkout.com About YallaGive: YallaGive is the first online donation and fundraising platform in the UAE and Middle East region. It is a social enterprise and impact-driven initiative with the mission to provide innovative fundraising tools to help charities raise funds online for the benefit of many causes that are categorised under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. YallaGive is a member of the International Humanitarian City and a winner of Expo Social Impact Award by Expo Live - Expo 2020 Dubai. YallaGive works with well-known charities such as Mercy Corps, EN-WWF, Emirates Red Crescent, Al Jalila Foundation, Doctors Without Borders. It also supports corporates with CSR and corporate engagement tools, on this front YallaGive works with companies like HSBC, General Electric (GE), ADGM, Ernst & Young and Cisco to name a few. Follow the science. It has become a mantra for Boris Johnson and senior ministers throughout this crisis. There are variations. One of them is: We are guided by the science. Sometimes its the best scientific advice. Rather as in the Star Wars movies when the goodies constantly say May the force be with you to bolster their own spirits and buck up those who are rocketing off into the unknown, ministers go around chanting that they are following the science. Except for one, that is. An obscure Cabinet minister, Therese Coffey, had the gall to suggest on Tuesday that scientists are not always correct, and that when the Government has got things wrong this could be because it has received duff advice from the boffins. All hell broke loose. No 10 instantly disowned Miss Coffey, insisting it loved its scientists, while the Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, yesterday described her remarks on BBC radio as unproductive. I certainly wouldnt choose to cross the Sahara desert with Mr Buckland if there were only one water bottle between us. An obscure Cabinet minister, Therese Coffey, had the gall to suggest on Tuesday that scientists are not always correct, and that when the Government has got things wrong this could be because it has received duff advice from the boffins Meanwhile, at the daily media briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Dame Angela McLean, chief science adviser at the Ministry of Defence, sounded a bit shirty. She said she and her ilk have been focused on trying to give good-quality advice, completely rooted in evidence. I shouldnt describe the Work and Pensions Secretary as Miss Coffey. She is Dr Coffey, having obtained a PhD in chemistry at the respected University College London. Her scientific background makes her almost unique in the Cabinet. The only other senior minister who can lay claim to a scientific training is Business Secretary Alok Sharma, who studied applied physics with electronics. International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan read maths. The other 19 members of the Cabinet studied non-scientific subjects, or nothing at all. Now it seems to me that if anyone in the upper echelons of Government is qualified to point out that not all the scientific advice it has received has been flawless, that person is Dr Coffey. Yet the poor woman is being treated as a pariah for opening her mouth. She has the scientific knowledge, and therefore the intellectual confidence, to enable her to point out deficiencies and inconsistencies in the advice of those the Government continues to venerate while it follows the science. Look at the quad of senior ministers who have been running the show with Boris Johnson during the Covid-19 crisis while Dr Coffey has been busying herself at the Department for Work and Pensions. It is a very long time since any of them last peered into a test tube Look at the quad of senior ministers who have been running the show with Boris Johnson during the Covid-19 crisis while Dr Coffey has been busying herself at the Department for Work and Pensions. It is a very long time since any of them last peered into a test tube. The PM read classics at Oxford. Michael Gove studied English, also at Oxford. Dominic Raab buried his nose in law books at Oxford and Cambridge. Both Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock read politics, philosophy and economics (the must-have degree for many aspiring modern politicians) at Oxford. Not a single scientist among them. And not many scientists, I would wager, among the senior civil servants and special advisers who surround and counsel them as they try to make sense of the mountains of scientific advice put before them by bodies such as Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies). We are governed by non-scientists during a crisis in which the enemy the coronavirus must be defined, fought and beaten by methods devised by scientists. How well suited are the humanities graduates who rule us to lead us in this battle? Lets leave that question unanswered for a moment, and consider some of the errors the Governments scientific advisers have made since the beginning of the pandemic. You dont have to be a scientist (and Im not) to be clear that these people have not always given good advice. Back in early March, we were told that closing schools would only be of marginal benefit. Large gatherings were said not necessarily to be dangerous and Cheltenham races went ahead with disastrous results. The Governments scientific advisers also ruled out quarantining some 18 million incoming air passengers in the three months before the lockdown even though their counterparts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand were urging the shutting of borders with highly beneficial results. Another piece of fatal guidance given to the Government was that it was very unlikely care homes would be affected. Talk about famous last words. Sage debated for weeks whether masks would be useful, long after most other countries had commonsensically decided that they were. The PM read classics at Oxford. Michael Gove (pictured) studied English, also at Oxford When the Government foolishly abandoned track and tracing testing in mid-March, the deputy chief medical officer for England, Jenny Harries, declared: There comes a point in a pandemic where that is not an appropriate intervention. She wasnt speaking off her own bat. Her views were those of Public Health England, and probably Sage. I could go on. There are numerous examples of poor advice being offered by reputed experts. My purpose is not to chastise them. I only suggest that scientists are not gods, and that they can get things badly wrong, particularly when their adversary is a previously unknown virus. If the Government had had a Margaret Thatcher (a chemist) or an Angela Merkel (an even more distinguished chemist) at the helm, would it have interrogated and examined the scientists more exhaustively than our current rulers have, and discarded bits of suspect advice more readily? I believe it almost certainly would. There is a fissure in modern society which the novelist and scientist C. P. Snow highlighted in a famous 1959 Cambridge lecture, The Two Cultures, later turned into a book. Snow, who unusually had a foot in both camps, maintained that mutual incomprehension existed between the realms of science and the arts, each of which thought itself paramount. There were, he argued, two distinct ways of looking at the world, and each by itself was incomplete. Some accused him of over-simplification (while the literary critic F. R. Leavis dismissed Snows theory on the dubious grounds that he was a bad novelist) but the rift he identified was surely correct. It endures. Our rulers are clever people who, being intellectually at sea in the unfamiliar world of science, are apt to bend the knee too readily to its practitioners. In normal times it would not matter because it is rare in politics for a major problem to be defined exclusively in scientific terms. In the past few weeks, though, Boris and his colleagues have been required to make quick-fire decisions on all manner of issues which they have not been trained to analyse. They have been too deferential and credulous because, understandably enough, they lack the intellectual confidence to challenge the scientists. Now that Therese Coffey has let the cat out of the bag by pointing out that some scientific advice has been deficient, No 10 feels obliged to jump on her. To agree with her would be tantamount to conceding that mistakes have been made, as they undoubtedly have. The Government dare not risk such an admission. We need more scientists in politics to avoid deifying scientists that is the message of the past few months. Hurrah for Dr Coffey! The dangerous rupture recognised by C. P. Snow has come to haunt us in a way that he could never have predicted. With the Central government planning to resume domestic flights from Monday, and 200 trains from June 1, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) anticipates an increased passenger influx in the city. With this in mind, BMC is planning to screen all passengers on arrival and home quarantine them for 14 days. The civic body opines that institutional quarantine for those arriving via domestic flights will pose a challenge considering the hotel rooms have to be kept for incoming international passengers and increasing cases in Mumbai. However, BMC has maintained that discussions between the state government and Centre on the same will take place to formalise the guidelines for those coming to Mumbai via domestic flights and trains. We have been quarantining international travellers at hotels, and currently around 1,040 of the 2,300 rooms are occupied. However, we will require these rooms for more international passengers considering the Central government plans to operate more repatriation flights under mission Vande Bharat. Also, the number of local cases may increase in the future, for which we need these hotel rooms, said a BMC official. The demand to accommodate frontline staff is also increasing. Hence, those without symptoms and arriving in Mumbai via domestic flights will be home quarantined for 14 days, the official added. At present, international travellers have been quarantined at hotels, and those arriving in the city via train are being home quarantined. BMC is screening all travelers arriving in the city via train or flight. Domestic flights are expected to resume from May 25 and from June 1, Indian Railways will operate mail trains to Mumbai. P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner, said, We have not drafted any guidelines yet. Aviation operations are under the Central government, and the discussions to restart will happen with the state government. We will take a call on the same after getting directions from the state government. However, we will prefer to have those arriving in the city via domestic flights to be home quarantined for 14 days. Meanwhile, BMC has issued a circular stating that all international passengers arriving in Mumbai, who are being quarantined at hotels, will be compulsorily tested before getting discharged. Starting May 10, more than 2,000 passengers have arrived in the city from countries like UK, US, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, etc. All passengers from international destinations will compulsorily be tested before completion of 14 days of quarantine. The charges payable for the test will be borne by the passenger. If the result is negative, the patient shall be released, the circular states. They shall quarantine themselves in a separate room and follow social distancing measures. The passengers released will have to be home quarantined with a stamp. If the passenger is tested positive, the test shall be repeated on the seventh day. [The patient will be] released if tested negative. Under no circumstances shall the passenger be released from the hotel until the swab results come negative, the circular adds. The Government is examining ways to help those with special needs return to school over the summer. Schools are not due to reopen until September under current plans to lift Covid-19 restrictions. However, the Taoiseach says he is concerned about children with autism, intellectual disability or behavioural problems. Leo Varadkar says they are looking at specific measures to address their needs. One thing wed like to do before September is something around what they call July Prevision, he said. Mr Vardakar said this is some summer education dedicated towards those groups of kids with the highest needs. And if we do anything before September, its going to be in that space. We want to get it right too. Earlier today, Mr Varadkar told Newstalk it is not the Governments intention to re-open schools ahead of September. The Department of Education and the teachers unions and all the partners in education are examining that and looking at whats happening in other countries and seeing how were going to open the schools in a practical way, and a safe way in September. Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), John Boyle has said that it is unlikely that schools will reopen in June. Getting children back to school in September will be a mammoth planning task he told RTE radios Morning Ireland. "With 20 school days to go before the summer break, it would be very difficult for schools to reopen, even on a phased basis." Mr Boyle warned that it may not be possible for all children to return at the same time in September as there will be logistical issues-particularly in rural Ireland where many children travel to school by bus. I have been living in limbo in many respects since moving to Spain last September so, life in lockdown isnt very different in many respects. When I first arrived in the town of Vera in the Almeria region I didnt want to get set up officially as I didnt know if I would stay a few months or a lot longer. The move was supposed to be straight-forward because my sister owns an apartment on the coast, plus I have rented out my apartment in Kilkenny so, as long as I live modestly I dont need to work here. My motorbike, dying within hours of landing in the country, ensured that life here started with a bang, and more bureaucratic learning curves than I ever wanted. It took a week of dogged persistence to be able to buy a new motorbike in my sisters name; she has official Spanish ID from her apartment purchase 15 years ago. Lesson One: If you want to buy property here every door will be open to you; otherwise every obstacle will be put up for you Needing a monthly prescription for sleeping tablets is a challenge even in my home-town, so Im used to it being a nightmare when I move abroad, which I have done quite a lot. But I have been dealing with this situation for 20 years so I know I will get there eventually. It meant spending my first month in Spain in another bureaucratic loop, which tested my patience further. Many hours were spent filling out forms in the city hall and medical centre so that I could visit a GP. My situation baffled officialdom: what was a single middle-aged female doing moving countries on a whim, alone, to a near-deserted beach resort off-season, with limited language skills and no paperwork or research done ahead of a stay for an unknown amount of time? And they werent shy about telling me as much. The upside to these challenges is that they force me to work harder on my Spanish, which was acquired a decade ago in university, thus giving me a copious amount of nouns and verbs but less knowledge or confidence in forming coherent sentences. Meanwhile I began renting out the spare room, often to touring Spanish couples, forcing my language skills further on. One day I took a booking from a Swedish person called Raghnid, who was flying in for a month while searching for an apartment to buy. I feared the arrival of a young Viking, coming to this seaside resort to wreck my new hermit-like life. But I was pleasantly shocked when a little lady in her seventies got off the bus. Not that my new housemate (and ultimately, friend) an addict of cigarettes, coffee, novels, and the chats with a large glass of wine and cake, didnt bring her share of distractions. But Im a sucker for older people who live independent lives to the full they make me hope that, when my time comes, Ill be as eccentric as they are. Eventually I did settle into a quiet routine of writing from dawn until the winter dusk. Then I would take a long walk along the deserted coast, via a lake bird-sanctuary, stunned by the exotic flora, fauna and the sun setting into the Mediterranean. How lucky I felt to be able to grant myself this time out of normal work-life back in Kilkenny, as I walked home, backpack full of squid, octopus and anchovies, or melon, peaches and kaki. Thats when I met Alan, a British-born biker farm-sitting in the Catalonia region. Thus began a romance that saw me move up north for a while. Soon the State of Alarm was imposed and the rest is history in the making. Two weeks ago most regions in Spain entered Phase Zero in a four-phase de-escalation plan. This meant that my Alan and I could walk up to a kilometre from home together. Such a modest victory step but its impact mentally was enormous. Ive now gone so long without many items that I preferred to spend this valuable time away from home just walking around the quiet town or along the river, instead of waiting in line wearing a mask for half an hour outside each small shop. If lockdown has taught us anything, its the real meaning of essential. Another communal clash between Afono and Ibini communities in Biase Local Government Area of Cross River State has left 15 dead, according to Daily Trust. A clash at Orugbam invaded Ipene and Egbor villages in the same Biase LGA had left 3 dead late last week. Afono and Ibini communities were sacked, according to affected natives who fled to nearby communities last Tuesday. The clash between the two communities, it was gathered, is as a result of an ancestral road which has been used for many decades. Advertisement Youths from Afono were alleged to have blocked the road which leads to the two communities, refusing to allow their Ibini brothers from passing through. But, speaking with journalists on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Irene Ugbo, said: It is not true. No person was killed. The only thing was that farms and some houses were destroyed. Read Also: Ayade Lifts Ban On Religious Gatherings In Cross River The Commissioner of Police, Uche Anozia, has deployed our men to the communities to maintain peace and order. The Commissioner of Police and state security adviser will visit the two communities soon to meet with traditional rulers, it was gathered. Permanent Secretary, Office of the State Security Service, Sir Alfred Mboto, had confirmed the killing of three persons. President Donald Trump has said it is a "badge of honour" for America to "lead" the world with 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases since it means the US is testing more people for the disease that has killed over 300,000 people across the world. The US has 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and over 91,000 deaths, both the world's highest. "I look at that as, in a certain respect, as being a good thing because it means our testing is much better," he said on Tuesday at the White House as he hosted his first Cabinet meeting since the ... Google is encouraging Egyptians to take virtual tours of some of their top destinations during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday amid the coronavirus travel restrictions. The tech giant is encouraging people to do so by using its Street View feature in Google Maps, which offers 360-degree views of streets in many countries, and Google Arts & Culture, which features content from over 2,000 museums. Egypt's top searched Eid destination is the United States, followed by the UAE, Germany, Greece, the UK, Turkey, Spain, Italy and Lebanon, Google said in a report sent to Ahram Online. Google has suggested some sites in each of these countries that can be explored virtually through the two features. Egyptian users can roam through New York's Times Square or experience the Brand enberg Gate in Berlin. They can also tour the Acropolis Museum in Greece and visit Londons Royal Albert Hall and learn about the UKs Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Travel lovers can also get close to La Sagrada Familia in Spain, experience Italys rich culture or take a stroll around Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest skyscraper. "Over the past 60 days weve seen Google Search interest spike more than 700 percent for virtual tours worldwide, Google said. People are looking to discover world-famous museums, with the Louvre in Paris, Washington's Smithsonian and New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) among the five most-searched virtual tours globally, Google said. Search Keywords: Short link: Shortly after the explosion in microcephaly cases caused by Zika virus in Brazil in 2015-16, several scientific studies were published with evidence that the pathogen is capable of crossing the human placenta, the organ that keeps the fetus connected to the mother's body during pregnancy. From then on, the states began following a protocol established by the National Ministry of Health requiring collection of placental samples to help diagnose the disease in women with symptoms during pregnancy. However, according to a group of Brazilian researchers at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) who have studied emerging viruses with Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP's support, the official protocol in place nationwide should be reformulated. As they recently reported in Frontiers in Microbiology, it is crucial to ensure that samples are representative and properly stored and transported to obtain trustworthy results in detecting the virus in the placenta. The report concludes that Zika virus can indeed infect different regions of the placenta in pregnant women, such as the umbilical cord, amniotic membrane, chorionic plate, chorionic villi and basal plate. This discovery suggests that diagnostic tests should take several placental regions into consideration to assure adequate representativeness and more accurate results. The protocol currently in force says each sample should be 1 cubic centimeter in size but doesn't specify the placental regions to be analyzed." Jose Luiz Proenca Modena, molecular biologist, head of the Emerging Virus Research Laboratory (LEVE) at UNICAMP's Institute of Biology and is one of the authors of the report The study analyzed 17 placental samples from women who gave birth at the Women's Hospital (CAISM) run by UNICAMP. Fourteen tested positive for Zika virus using a real-time PCR kit developed by the researchers. The PCR method detects RNA from the virus in the samples tested. "We collected four fragments from all placental regions for each patient, including the umbilical cord," Modena said. The women had symptoms of the disease during pregnancy, such as fever and rash, or delivered babies with microcephaly in 2016 or 2017. According to Modena, the collection of several placental fragments increases the chances of detecting Zika because some regions of the placenta contain more viruses than others. The researchers were surprised to find that placental samples from the same patients tested negative when analyzed using the health ministry's protocol by the Adolfo Lutz Institute (IAL), the main reference laboratory for epidemiological surveillance in the state of Sao Paulo. "This problem highlights the urgency of changing the currently required method," Modena said. In response to inquiries by Agencia FAPESP, IAL's press office stated that placental samples continue to be tested in compliance with the official protocol, and there are no plans to change this procedure at the moment. For Modena, the urgent need to increase laboratory testing to detect the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will hinder efforts to change the protocol in the short run. "The coronavirus pandemic will probably delay moves to reformulate the diagnostic test to detect Zika virus in placenta," he said. Modena has had to interrupt his normal research activities to join the efforts of the task force set up by UNICAMP to halt the spread of COVID-19 (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/32998/). Talks about adjustments to the placental test protocol with the Ministry of Health began at the end of 2019 but have also had to be suspended, he said. For Maria Laura Costa do Nascimento, a professor in UNICAMP's School of Medical Sciences and a coauthor of the Frontiers in Microbiology article, while many research projects have been redirected in response to the emergency posed by the pandemic, a systematic protocol must be established as soon as possible to ensure that placental samples are collected in the appropriate manner. Evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted from mother to fetus has not yet been found, but reliable studies of its behavior in the placenta are few and far between, she said. The UNICAMP group planned to use the knowledge acquired from their research on Zika virus to study viral load in placental samples from women infected by SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy. "The placenta is a very important organ for diagnosing several diseases, including Zika," Nascimento said. "About 70% of those infected are symptomatic or exhibit mild symptoms, so that they take longer to go to a doctor." The probability of a positive test result after the acute stage of infection is negligible, she added. The virus can be detected for up to five days in blood and eight days in urine, counting from the date of infection. In the placenta, however, traces of the virus can be detected months after the start of infection. According to the Ministry of Health, 2,054 cases of Zika were reported in Brazil in the first three months of this year. The researchers acknowledge that changing the protocol is no easy task. Collecting a larger number of samples from specific placental regions will make testing more expensive, for example. "It's one thing to extract a placental fragment at random and store it in a freezer at -20 C, as the protocol requires now. Collecting four or five specific fragments and storing them at -80 C is quite another," Modena said. According to Nascimento, the challenge will be guaranteeing that Brazil's maternity hospitals have the requisite technical staff trained to perform a more complex procedure and the equipment to store samples properly until they arrive at the reference laboratory responsible for diagnostic testing. "It's complicated to work with samples collected during or just after childbirth, especially when the procedure hasn't been scheduled in advance and is performed by rosters of hospital duty personnel," Nascimento said. "These professionals would have to be trained to collect specific placental fragments, ensuring sample quality and representativeness, as soon as possible after the baby is delivered." Floodwaters surging through Central Michigan on Wednesday were mixing with containment ponds at a Dow Chemical Co. plant and could displace sediment from a downstream Superfund site, though the company said there was no risk to people or the environment. Dow said the ponds held only water, and it has detected no chemical releases from the plant in Midland where the company was founded, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when they're able. Once the flooding recedes, Dow will be required to assess the Superfund site contaminated with dioxins the company dumped in the last century to determine if any contamination was released, the EPA said. Meanwhile, the Tittabawassee River crested at just over 35 feet (11 meters) in Midland, about 3 feet (90 centimeters) below the forecast level. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had warned that the city of 42,000 people could end up under 9 feet (2.7 meters) of water by Wednesday evening after floodwaters overtook two dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from their homes. But the danger isn't over, and Midland officials asked that residents not return yet. The National Weather Service said communities farther downstream were bracing for flooding in the coming days. No injuries or fatalities related to the flooding have been reported, Midland spokeswoman Selina Tisdale said. Residents near the river were urged to seek higher ground following what the National Weather Service called catastrophic dam failures at the Edenville Dam, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Midland, and the Sanford Dam, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) downriver. Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said Wednesday that the Sanford Dam is overflowing but that the extent of structural damage isn't yet known. If the entire dam structure were to fail, there would be a much higher surge that will come down the river and that could raise the level much more quickly than what we're seeing right at the moment, Kaye said. In nearby Edenville, Bob Yahrmarkt, 79, evacuated his home along the river on Tuesday afternoon. He said he couldn't believe what he saw when he returned Wednesday. Just devastation, said Yahrmarkt. His garage, which housed tools and equipment he amassed over 70 years, was swept away. His home was heavily damaged by water: It has three levels two beneath the main floor, which itself was more than a foot underwater. I'm looking at a sand pile and concrete where the garage was, Yahrmarkt said, noting that floodwaters also pushed his antique 1953 Ford sedan and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle around in his yard. His neighbor, 58-year-old Dan Dionne, returned home to find everything beneath his home washed away. I never saw nothing like this, Dionne said. We had a flood before, but nothing like this. It's like someone picked up my garage and shook it. There's a freezer, refrigerator in my backyard. I don't know where it's from. The river topped a previous record of 33.9 feet (10.3 meters) set in 1986, the National Weather Service said. Its flood stage is 24 feet (7.3 meters), and it had been expected to crest at about 38 feet (11.6 meters). Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Midland County, and the towns of Edenville, Sanford and parts of Midland were evacuated, Tisdale, the Midland spokeswoman, said. Midland is about 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Detroit. The governor said her office had been in touch with federal officials and would ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for support. This is an event unlike anything we've ever seen before," she said. President Donald Trump tweeted that he was closely monitoring the situation and praised first responders. But he also took a jab at Whitmer, whom he has criticized for her stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus: We have sent our best Military & @fema Teams, already there. Governor must now 'set you free' to help. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The public are being warned of a new TV licensing email phishing scam that steals bank details and personal information from victims. (PA) Various UK police forces have issued warnings over a fake TV licensing email that scams people into revealing their bank details. Forces across the UK including Durham, Sussex and North Wales are warning the public over the fake email that claims the customers direct debit payments for their TV licence has failed. The scam orders the recipient to disclose their bak details to make a payment, or risk prosecution. The fraudulent email also offers a COVID-19 personalised offer of six months of free licensing in order to lure recipients in. WARNING Fake TV licensing emails are circulating, the email claims the customers direct debit has failed and therefore they need to pay to avoid prosecution. Do not click links from an untrustworthy source pic.twitter.com/WOY220Pl7Z Durham Constabulary (@DurhamPolice) May 21, 2020 When unsuspecting victims click on a link, they are taken to a fake sign-in page where fraudsters can steal data including personal details and passwords. Read more: End of free licence fee for over-75s delayed due to COVID-19 The subject header reads: We couldnt process the latest payment from your Debit Card COVID19 Personalised Offer: You are be eligible for a 1 x 6 months of free TVLicence. The email then clicks through to for victims to enter a new direct debit on a website controlled by the criminals. The phishing scam is commonly seen around the start of a new tax year in April. (Getty Images) Action Fraud said that they received over 70 reports of a new version of the email phishing scam. The phishing scam is often seem around the start of a new tax year in April, with another widely circuated trick claiming that recipients are owed a tax refund. Read more: How do you cancel your TV Licence? On its official website, a statement from the TV Licensing Company says: The genuine TV Licensing Company will never email you to tell you that youre entitled to a refund, or offer you a discounted TV License. Story continues The end of the free TV licence for all over-75s has been delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak. (PA) People who receive the scam email are urged to report it to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) immediately, by forwarding it to report@phishing.gov.uk Meanwhile, the controversial end of the free TV licence for all over-75s has been delayed due to coronavirus. The universal benefit was due to end on 1 June, when it will be restricted to those who claim pension credit, but that has now been pushed back until 1 August. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo News Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday all countries must come together to isolate nations that support and abet terrorism. In his message on Anti-Terrorism Day, Naidu paid tributes to the men and the women who sacrificed their lives to "safeguard the motherland from the evil of terrorism". "Terrorism is the enemy of humanity and the biggest threat to global peace. All countries must come together to isolate nations that support and abet terrorism in any form," he said. Fight against terrorism is not the responsibility of security forces alone but the the duty of every citizen to fight the evil, Naidu said. "All Indians must always remain united to defeat the scourge of terrorism," the vice president said in his message tweeted by his secretariat. Anti-Terrorism Day is observed to mark the death anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated on this day in 1991. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pashinyan: UK has been strong partner of newly independent Armenia Armenia, Ukraine depositories sign memorandum of cooperation Azerbaijan advises Armenia to correctly assess the new geopolitical realities and draw conclusions Protesting residents of Armenias Parakar community march to territorial administration ministry Armenia government approves protocol on implementation of readmission agreement with Lithuania MFA: Armenia has no preconditions for border delimitation 621 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Paris to have place named after Hrant Dink Armenias Parakar enlarged community residents protesting outside government building Turkey opposition party MPs petition for parliamentary inquiry into Hrant Dink assassination France, Germany, Italy and Spain call on Israel to halt construction in East Jerusalem Armenia parliament speaker in US, meets with Nancy Pelosi Iranian MFA: Relations between Iran and Russia have moved into a new diverse, intensified direction Biden says invasion of Ukraine will be disaster for Russia Newspaper: Armenia PM Pashinyan plans to hold Presidents office Newspaper: Opposition Armenia bloc, led by ex-President Kocharyan, starting new processes Taliban PM calls on Muslim countries to be first to formally recognize their government Saudi Arabia records lowest temperature in 30 years Erdogan's visit to Ukraine scheduled for February 3 Russian peacekeeping contingent establishes order of passage through Lachin corridor French Senate votes to ban hijab at sporting events Armenian FM: All necessary conditions to be created for Demarcation Commission work Olaf Scholz: Borders in Europe cannot be changed by force Lavrov presents Armenian Ambassador to Russia, with the Order of Friendship Bill Gates warns of pandemics far more serious than COVID-19 Macron: EU countries must work together on agreement for stability and security Turkey Central banks and UAE sign agreement worth almost $5 billion Blinken: Western countries need unity to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine Iranian President performs evening namaz in Kremlin after talks with Putin Turkish police detain women protesting price hikes in hygiene products Delegation headed by Chief of the Cypriot National Guard General Staff has meetings in Armenia Merkel refuses job in UN structure Greece receives the first batch of French Rafale fighters NEWS.am daily digest: 19.01.22 Azerbaijan hopes Pope to mediate in relations with Armenia Talks between presidents of Russia and Iran start in Kremlin Armenian FM: This is not first time Baku makes nonconstructive statements Ombudsman: I urge not to give in to Azerbaijani manipulations, to visit Artsakh Armenian FM: Armenia passes a package of proposals to Azerbaijan France names the main favorite of presidential election Garo Paylan concludes address in Turkey parliament in Armenian Russian Foreign Ministry believes there is no risk of large-scale war in Europe Dollar goes up in Armenia Sharmazanov: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan did not decide to hold press conference, he did not change his mind Blinken: Russia has plans to increase force on Ukraine borders : Azerbaijani military participate in Turkish drills Taliban say all conditions for recognizing legitimacy of government are met Azerbaijan MFA statement distorts events of Armenian massacres in Baku 32 years ago Karabakh ombudsmans office: Azerbaijans anti-Armenian, genocidal policy has clear chronology US official, Barzani are photographed against backdrop of Greater Armenia and Kurdistan map Armenia ex-defense minister, army General Staff chief, some others criminal case court hearing kicks off FM: Most important direction continues to be international recognition of Artsakh Armenia revenue committee chief on opening of Turkey border: Shall we live with closed borders? In fear? US selects Los Angeles to host Summit of the Americas in summer 2022 Karabakh Foreign Minister: Return of refugees can only be like mirror Iranian president arrives on official visit to Moscow All CSTO peacekeepers leaves Kazakhstan Artsakh Foreign Minister: Unacceptable to bracket NKAO and NKR together Karabakh FM: Format of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' visits needs to be restored Media: Air communication between Turkey and Armenia will start on February 2 Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan attack on Karabakh will mean attack on Russia Gold prices hardly change American professor angers Erdogan's son-in-law Hovhannes Khachatryan is elected Armenia Central Bank Deputy Governor 15 years pass since Hrant Dink assassination 563 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Guterres offers Merkel job at UN Armenian church revamped in Iran World oil prices going up Newspaper: ECHR rulings increase after Armenia revolution in 2018 Newspaper: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan to give interview instead of press conference Azerbaijan MFA falls into hysterical rage by France FM statement The Pope to donate 100,000 to help migrants on border of Belarus and Poland Fourth vaccine against COVID-19 is not enough for Omicron World is on verge of country defaults French Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable Azerbaijan statements about Pecresse US to return two valuable artifacts over 4,000 years old to Iraq Germany may consider halting Nord Stream 2 if Russia attacks Ukraine Israel successfully completes test of anti-ballistic missile system Plane landing in Sochi struck by lightning Putin and Aliyev discuss Ukraine situation Greek PM Mitsotakis threatens Turkey with sanctions Handelsblatt: US and EU abandon idea of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT international payment system Artsakh President meets representatives of non-governmental organizations Avalanche kills person in Iran Erdogan says he is pleased with decline in volatility of lira NEWS.am daily digest: 18.01.22 Turkey and Azerbaijan to start laying gas pipeline to supply Nakhichevan UK begins to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons Armenian PM holds meeting on Armenia's Transformation Strategy until 2050 Nagorno-Karabakh: Remains of another Armenian soldier found in Jrakan region Tehran to not accept any border change in South Caucasus Dollar holding relatively steady in Armenia Armenia special representative: Future process depends on Turkeys constructiveness degree Erdogan: Gas from Mediterranean to Europe can only be pumped through Turkey Iranian Consul General discusses customs cooperation in Nakhijevan Inecobank brings Apple Pay to customers Parliament vice-speaker says he is familiar with Armenia proposals on border demarcation commission work US Secretary of State to visit Kyiv Fourteen people have been injured and a 51-year-old driver was interviewed by police after a maroon Mitsubishi SUV ploughed into a shop at a busy four-way intersection in Greenacre in Sydney's south-west on Thursday afternoon. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said he was "very grateful" nobody had been killed when the vehicle crashed into Hijab House on the coroner of Boronia and Waterloo roads about 3pm. Police said 14 people were hurt, including one with serious injuries and another with potentially serious injuries. The driver of the vehicle was arrested and taken to hospital for blood and urine analysis, Mr Thurtell said. Top Mueller Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to Headline Biden Fundraiser Former special counsel Robert Muellers key deputy is headlining a fundraiser for presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Bidens campaign, according to an invitation to the event obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Andrew Weissmann, who held the second-most senior position on Muellers team investigating allegations of criminal conspiracy by the Trump campaign to work with Russia to swing the 2016 election, will host a June 2 fireside chat for prospective Biden donors. Moderating the event is former federal prosecutor and law professor at New York University Anne Milgram, who also co-hosts the Cafe Insider podcast. In a recent episode, Milgram commented on the recent dismissal of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, writing on Twitter: Trumps purge of Inspectors General is an attack on good government. The fundraiser is being put on by the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between the former vice presidents campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The chat will take place on Zoom, and guests who RSVP by making a contributionwill be sent instructions for how to join via Zoom, the invitation states. Weissmann was recently featured as a legal analyst on MSNBCs Rachel Maddow show, during which he criticized Trumps comments about the judge and lead juror in the Roger Stone trial, arguing that it poses a threat to the integrity of the U.S. jury system. After Weissmann left Muellers team, he returned to New York University School of Law last May as a distinguished senior fellow with the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law (CACL), according to a post on the schools website. Andrew has led an extraordinary career in law and government, NYU School of Law Dean Trevor Morrison said in an email to the NYU Law community. Weissmanns credentials include serving over twenty years as a federal prosecutor and as general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, after serving as special counsel to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller. He also headed the Enron Task Force, overseeing the prosecution of dozens of individuals involved with the Enron collapse. Doing a very sophisticated white-collar investigation prepares you for representing companies, Weissmann would later say in reference to his experience investigating one of the biggest fraud cases in American history, according to Chron. Enron itself was the worlds most complicated internal investigation. Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer took a jab at Weissmanns involvement with Bidens campaign, saying in a tweet Thursday, which linked to the fireside chat invitation, that as if we didnt already know, Andrew Weissmanns politics are officially unmasked. Tickets for the fundraiser with Weissmann start at $500 and go up to $5,600, the combined maximum federal contribution for Bidens primary and general election accounts, Bloomberg reports. Recently released campaign fundraising figures show that while Biden and the DNC matched the fundraising performance of Trump and the Republican Party in April, the presumptive Democrat nominee remains well behind. According to their respective Federal Election Commission filings from May 20, Trump had 107.7 million cash on hand at the end of April, while Biden had 57.1 million. The Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur on Tuesday released the schedule for the remaining papers of Class 12 board exams. The council will be conducting the class 12 board exams on July 6 and 7, 2020, at various centres spread across the state. According to the schedule, the council informed all concerned officers to make necessary preparation for the smooth and fair conduct of the examinations. The revised schedule for class 12 board exams: SPRINGFIELD - The men and women of the U.S. Postal Service have never ceased delivering mail under trying circumstances, and for that reason U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal stopped in Springfield to deliver his support for them. Neal, speaking in front of the citys main post office branch at Main and Liberty streets, said the U.S. Postal Service is an essential service and needs to be treated like one. He said that while much of the country is shut down from the pandemic, he finds comfort in seeing letter carriers making their rounds each day. I cant emphasize enough the role that the Postal Service plays every single day as a service that we all depend on, he said. The best example I always use is one that we all know of the most difficult days. Their footprints in the snow is a reminder of how seriously they treat their responsibilities. Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, met with a dozen retired postal employees in front of the Main Street post office branch Thursday morning. He spoke of his support for the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package approved last week by the House that includes $25 billion in relief for the troubled Postal Service. The Postal Service was in difficult financial straits for years, but the COVID-19 crisis has pushed it over the edge. A drop in business as fallout from the coronavirus shutdowns has cost the agency billions in revenue, and there have been estimates that without help, it will run out of money as soon as October. The bill must now be approved by the Senate and then be ratified by President Donald Trump to become law. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken out against postal service funding in the House Bill, calling it, as Neal said, a non-starter. And President Trump has been and remains a frequent critic of the Postal Service, saying its budget shortfalls are the result of its failure to charge more money to Amazon and other internet-based merchants for package deliveries. Neal said he is hopeful the House leadership can work with McConnell to negotiate a compromise that would provide aid. Everyone acknowledges the problem even if we have a temporary disagreement on the solutions," he said. As for Trump, Neal said The idea that, once again, because one person tends not to like Amazon (and) tends not to like the Washington Post and uses that as the linchpin of the argument that the Postal Service needs to be charging more for products does not stand up under the magnifying glass. The Postal Services funding shortfall is not due to mismanagement or declining mail volume, Neal said, as much as it is the result of 2006 legislation that required it to finance in advance retiree benefits and pensions for the next 75 years. That doesnt happen anywhere else in the public or private sector. So that has really been the culprit, he said. Neal said the Postal Service is not a massive, faceless bureaucracy, as much as it is thousands of ordinary men and women, many of whom are veterans, who make up the community. Ive known the men in the women in the Postal Service my whole life, he said. In addition to delivering mail, letter carriers know and watch out for the people on their routes, he said. They know who was sick and who is elderly. They know when mail sits for 2-3 days its likely they should inform someone. Michael Powers, retired U.S. Postal Service district manager for Massachusetts, said the postal service has been an American institution for some 230 years and serves to connect everyone with anyone else around the world. During the pandemic when businesses are closing and people are sheltering in their houses, postal employees go to work each day to get the mail delivered. That our employees today are putting their concerns (and) their affairs aside to ensure that connection remains a credit to them all, and it speaks to what the Postal Service is all about, he said. Kathy Mannix of Wilbraham, a retired manager, said she appreciated Neals support, calling mail delivery both vital and essential. The post office delivers mail to the most rural areas of the country where private delivery companies will not go, she said. She said letter carriers are the public face of the postal service, but there are thousands of other employees who work in distribution centers and post offices across the country who have continued to work to keep the mail moving during the pandemic. US Sanctions A Chinese Firm For Dealing With Iran's Banned Airline Radio Farda May 20, 2020 The U.S. Departments of State and Treasury sanctioned a Shanghai-based firm Tuesday, May 19, for allegedly working on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Mahan Air airline. China's Saint Logistics is accused of providing various services to Mahan Air, including booking freight flights between China and Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanction on the Chinese company for its business with an airline designated by the U.S. as an entity that supports terrorism. "This designation serves as another reminder that companies still providing services for Mahan Air - in the [People's Republic of China] or anywhere else - risk potential U.S. sanctions," Pompeo said. Furthermore, Pompeo said in a statement, "The People's Republic of China is one of the rapidly dwindling number of countries that welcomes Mahan Air, which ferries weapons and terrorists around the world for the Islamic Republic of Iran. Such cooperation has consequences." Accused of secretly transporting weapons and military forces to different regions, including Syria, Mahan Air was blacklisted and sanctioned by Washington in 2011. Eight years later, Washington targeted Mahan Air with a new batch of sanctions for illegally transporting weapons banned by the United Nations, such as weapons of mass destruction. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly dismissed the charges as unfounded. However, Mahan Air's name once again came up recently for taking nine tons of gold from Venezuela to compensate Tehran's assistance in providing the fuel needed by Caracas. Condemning the move, Pompeo tweeted on May 1, "Maduro's thugs looted nine tons of gold bars and sent it to the Iranian regime. The world's leading thieves are partnering with the world's leading state sponsor of terror. The greatest victims are the Venezuelan and Iranian people." Steven Mnuchin, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, for his part, noted on Tuesday, "The Iranian regime is using Mahan Air to support an illegitimate and corrupt regime in Venezuela, just as it has done for the regime in Syria and terrorist proxy groups throughout the Middle East". "We will not hesitate to target those entities that continue to maintain commercial relationships with Mahan Air," Mnuchin added. Mahan Air's name was also mentioned in the early weeks of the Coronavirus pandemic. Although Islamic Republic officials announced that flights between Iran and China had been suspended on January 31, 2020, Radio Farda's investigations show that Mahan flights between the two countries continued after that, and at least 55 flights were operated on this route until February 23. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/us-sanctions-a- chinese-firm-for-dealing-with-iran-s- banned-airline/30621507.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ever since the beginning of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan late last December, China has simultaneously been fighting a war on two fronts - against the virus and Western propaganda. China has shown tremendous success in fighting the coronavirus. But it is still beset by a large scale propaganda war being waged by Western politicians. Many media outlets from the West also love to dance to the tune of their politicians. And they are working hand in hand with pernicious smear campaigns against China over the coronavirus. When China was totally exhausted from its efforts to curb the outbreak at its very outset, many Western media outlets ran reports questioning Chinas efforts in combating the virus. They blamed China for taking unnecessarily harsh measures in its war against the disease. They even accused China of violating human rights while fighting the coronavirus. Now that the world's second-largest economy has reaped the dividends of its strategy for defeating the virus, Western politicians have changed their tune and come up with new allegations against China. Media outlets have also joined the new chorus being sung by their politicians in tarnishing Chinas image. Amid these heated smear campaigns, an article titled 'COVID-19: The feasibility of making China legally responsible' recently caught my attention. The article was published in Bangladeshs largest circulated English language daily. The author of the article, a lawyer of the country's apex court, has incorporated several provisions and articles of certain international laws in his write-up to show how China might legally be made responsible for the global spread of the coronavirus. The write-up even goes over the possibilities of holding China responsible before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its role in the pandemic and for making reparations for the damage caused. As I am not a lawyer, I won't try to give legal explanations of the provisions and articles mentioned in his piece. But, as a journalist, I have a professional responsibility to let the world know the facts that prove China never breached the provisions and articles of any international laws while tackling the outbreak. The lawyer mentioned that China failed to abide by two international obligations to notify the WHO within 24 hours of the discovery of the new coronavirus and to share information on such an unexpected public health event under the International Health Regulation 2005 (IHR). .The author further mentioned that it could be argued that China breached the human rights of its citizens and millions of global citizens by not respecting the IHR and international human rights law. He said China could be held responsible for committing international wrongful acts under some articles of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA). Thus, China is liable for paying full reparations for the injury caused by the internationally wrongful act. From what I can understand by reading the aforesaid arguments, the lawyer has pointed out that China breached the obligations of the IHR by concealing information of the outbreak from the WHO. This concealment meant the world could not find enough time to make preparations for preventing and controlling the coronavirus, resulting in the pandemic. Thus, China breached human rights and committed internationally wrongful acts. China is, therefore, liable for damages for the pandemic and has to compensate affected countries around the world. However, the facts say the opposite. On December 27, 2019, a hospital in Hubei Province of China reported three cases of pneumonia of unknown causes for the first time. Two days later, the relevant authorities carried out an epidemiological investigation and notified the WHO office in China on December 31. On January 3, 2020, China made a formal report to the WHO and the virus was separated on January 7. On January 12, the whole genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus was shared with the WHO. Since then, China has been maintaining contact with the WHO and other countries. The aforesaid timeline proves that China has never concealed information about the outbreak. Rather, it notified the world about this incident in an extremely speedy, open, transparent, and responsible way. China didn't even breach the obligation of the IHR to notify the UN health agency within 24 hours of the discovery of the new virus, as the country informed the WHO about the novel coronavirus on the very day it confirmed its discovery, December 31. As a result, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the speed and scale of China's actions had rarely been seen in the world. Even US President Donald J Trump himself has praised China for its transparency and management of the outbreak. CNN identified at least 37 separate instances where Trump praised China from January to April 1. In a tweet on January 24, Trump said, China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi! Just finished a very good conversation with President Xi of China. Discussed in great detail the Coronavirus that is ravaging large parts of our Planet. China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect! Trump tweeted on January 29. The US president again took to Twitter on February 7 to say that (President Xi) will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help! The write-up also referred to the interpretations of several provisions of the WHO Constitution to show how any state can drag China to the ICJ for the alleged breach of its IHR obligations. But the writer has admitted that the WHO Constitution does not contain any substantive obligations of the international health law. I should refrain from making any comment on this argument, as it makes no sense after such an admission by the writer himself. The lawyer has also argued that a state could claim that China has gone against the objective and purpose of the WHO Constitution "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health" under the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties (VCLT), as the VCLT states that a state is obliged to refrain from acts that would go against the objective and purpose of a treaty. In reply to this argument, I would like to assert that China has never tried to go against the objective and purpose of the WHO Constitution. Rather, China has been cooperating and communicating with the UN health agency from the very beginning of the outbreak. The above-mentioned timeline is more than enough to prove the veracity of this claim. The write-up has also tried to hold China responsible for breaching provisions of the Biological Weapons Convention. It said that Article I of the Convention prevents China from seeking in any circumstances to retain microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for protective or other peaceful purposes. But the writer stopped short of saying clearly how China has breached the obligations of the convention, which is why I couldn't make any point about this argument. Finally, the international community and medical professionals, in particular, praised the speed and intensity of Chinas prevention and control measures at the outbreak, which effectively prevented the spread of the virus and saved tens of millions of innocent people in China and the world. To my eyes, the sharing of information was also highly transparent and Chinas efforts provided valuable time and experience for the international community to fight the pandemic. That's why blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic is not only unlawful, but also immoral. The author is the China Correspondent of the Bangladesh Post. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-20 21:49:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHANGHAI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- When a patient with scleroderma came to Wu Huangan many years ago, the practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was determined to do something to help patients suffering from rare diseases. "She was in her 50s and had been to many hospitals in her hometown, but no one knew what kind of disease she had," said Wu, head of a research institute of acupuncture under the Shanghai University of TCM. "She suffered a lot of pain, and I wanted to do something to help." A rare disease is a condition that affects a limited number of people but has severe symptoms. For a long time, rare diseases have been treated primarily by Western medicine in China. Wu said that TCM is quite effective in the treatment of rare diseases such as hepatolenticular degeneration, systemic scleroderma and lymphangiomyomatosis. But after visiting a variety of hospitals and many patients with rare diseases, Wu found that the patients and doctors practicing Western medicine did not know much about TCM's efficacy on rare diseases. "Due to the lack of information, the patients could miss opportunities to receive possibly better, more effective treatment from TCM," he said. "There are major breakthroughs in TCM, but compared to Western medicine, support for TCM still needs to be enhanced," he said, adding that training sessions on rare diseases do not cover TCM medics frequently. "If TCM practitioners don't have enough training in this regard, it is possible that they would misdiagnose in the cases of rare diseases," Wu added. China published the first catalog of rare diseases in 2018, and various localities in the country are implementing policies on medication, health insurance and research according to the catalog. "It is necessary to include the ideas of TCM practitioners when it comes to rare disease treatment," he said. Wu plans to play his role as a national political advisor in speaking for TCM treatment. For this year's annual session of the national political advisory body, to be held in Beijing from Thursday, he will submit a proposal to draw more attention to TCM in combating rare diseases. Since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, Wu has used online tools such as video conferences and WeChat to hold discussions with other experts on the role of TCM in battling the novel coronavirus. They deepened research and drew experience from the use of acupuncture at Leishenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital built to treat COVID-19 patients in the city of Wuhan, once the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China. As many of his former colleagues and students work overseas, Wu also communicated with them on the application of TCM, especially during the epidemic. "TCM has proven to have effect in treating COVID-19 patients," he said. "It should be better promoted." Enditem A follower of the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory has won a Republican primary for a seat in the US senate. The QAnon conspiracy theory, and a loose online collective who subscribe to it, have been slowly working their way from the far fringes of right-wing social media into more mainstream politics in the country. The endorsement of QAnon supporter Jo Rae Perkins is a notable development in the creeping spread of the fantastical fringe ideas pushed by the group. After she won her partys nomination for a seat in the US senate in Oregon this week, she credited fellow QAnon followers with her victory. I stand with President Trump, I stand with Q and the team. Thank you Anons, and thank you patriots. Together, we can save our republic, she tweeted prior to the results coming in. The QAnon supporter Jo Rae Perkins is running for the US senate. Source: AP During a victory speech live-streamed to social media, Ms Perkins concluded by saying, As we Q people like to say, Where we go one, we go all. The line is a slogan for the group. She later deleted both of the election night videos containing QAnon references but her endorsement has raised eyebrows in the US. So what is QAnon? QAnon is a theory built around belief in an international conspiracy of high-ranking government officials to kidnap, abuse, torture and kill children. It was under the same delusion that an an armed man attempted an apparent rescue mission at a Washington pizzeria in 2016 in an internet conspiracy that became known as Pizzagate widely considered a precursor to QAnon. In recent years QAnon proponents globbed onto the Trump campaign and attended rallies in Q gear in an apparent bid to spread the conspiratorial ideas, however the Trump campaign has reportedly sought to distance itself from the group. In the QAnon worldview, Donald Trump is working behind the scenes to expose and disrupt a child-sex trafficking ring but has been thwarted by deep-state bureaucrats and global elites. President Trump, according to the more extreme proponents, is fighting back against satanic pedophiles and cannibals. Story continues The narrative is fed by cryptic posts on internet message boards from the anonymous Q, who followers believe to be a high-ranking intelligence official, or possibly even the US president himself. Popular YouTube and social media pages promulgate and analyse Qs vague messages, turning the obsession into something of a game for many followers. QAnon conspiracy theorists hold signs during the protest at the State Capitol in Salem, Oregon this month. Source: Getty The nature of internet-based conspiracies gives them a global reach, including in Australia where a close friend of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been associated with the conspiracy group. This month Facebook moved to suspend a number of accounts related to QAnon citing coordinated inauthentic behaviour on its platform, a company euphemism for fake accounts run with the intent of disrupting political elections and society. Nonetheless a private QAnon group for Australia and New Zealand Facebook users remains up since it was created in May 2018 and currently boasts 3,900 members. Conspiracy theories in the time of coronavirus Existing and new conspiracy theories have gained increasing attention during the coronavirus, ranging from the longstanding anti-vaccination movement to blaming Bill Gates for being behind the novel coronavirus. Ana Stojanov works in the Department of Psychology at the University of Otago in New Zealand where she has spent years researching the rise of conspiracy theories. As with other complex phenomena, the reasons people are drawn to them can vary widely, she says. If the content of the conspiracy belief confirms people's worldview they'll be especially drawn to it. The positive feeling arising from being in the know and possessing unique knowledge about some event may likewise be satisfying, she told Yahoo News Australia. For some people, its about gaining a sense of control and order something which has been borne out in her research. Sometimes the alternative to conspiracy explanation suggests that events happen at random, so people prefer malevolent agents over randomness, Ms Stojanov explained. QAnon supporters at a Trump rally. Source: Getty Ms Stojanov has been conducting surveys in New Zealand where the coronavirus pandemic has been well contained and doing the same survey in North Macedonia, where the government is perceived as more corrupt and the pandemic response has been poor. Those in North Macedonia are more inclined to believe in coronavirus conspiracies. The studies so far show that people who have lower sense of control are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, though the causality is not yet clearly understood, she said. In uncertain times like during the current pandemic we witness an increase in the circulation of conspiracy theories, especially those relating to the threatening event. Any antidote to the wild and unfounded conspiracies that people embrace, such as QAnon, will need to address the psychological comfort the belief provides to people. The best shot at reducing their popularity is by examining the underlying psychological needs they serve and looking for an alternative way to meet those needs, Ms Stojanov said. with Yahoo News US Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. Reopening America has been a hot topic on Twitter, as millions are calling for the US government to end the lockdown - but a new study suggests the trend is being fueled by bots. Using a 'bot-hunter' tool, researchers discovered that there are twice as many web crawlers starting conversations about the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders than human users. After analyzing more than 200 million tweets, experts determined that of the top 50 influential retweeters, 82 percent are bots and 62 percent are bots in the top 1,000. The team also found that 66 percent of the activity is orchestrated by human hands. Scroll down for video Reopening America has been a hot topic on Twitter, as millions are calling for the US government to end the lockdown - but a new study suggests the trend is being fueled by bots The findings were made by a team at Carnegie Mellon University, which scanned Twitter for coronavirus related tweets starting in January. They used artificial intelligence to look for signs of a bot powered account such as those that post numerous amounts of tweets and show locations in multiple countries in a few hours. And although there is much misinformation about the virus, bots were found to be more involved with conversations related to re-opening American and stay-at-home orders. Conspiracy theories about the coronavirus have been running wild on Twitter and other social media platforms, which are causing harm to the public. Some ideas such people should drink bleach to cure the virus, while others say the pandemic was sparked by 5G cellphone towers. Using a 'bot-hunter tool, researchers discovered that there are twice as many web crawlers starting conversations about the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders than human users. Last week, Twitter announced it will warn users when a tweet contains disputed or misleading information about the coronavirus. Kathleen Carley, a professor in the School for Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon, said in a statement:' We're seeing up to two times as much bot activity as we'd predicted based on previous natural disasters, crises and elections.' She also noted why they speculate there has been a rise in bots during the coronavirus pandemic millions of people are in lockdown and have more time to people to create the internet spiders. The team also noticed a spike in sophisticated groups that hire firms to run bot accounts 'Because it's global, it's being used by various countries and interest groups as an opportunity to meet political agendas,' said Carley. A subset of tweets about 'reopening America' reference conspiracy theories, such as hospitals being filled with mannequins or the coronavirus being linked to 5G towers. 'Conspiracy theories increase polarization in groups. It's what many misinformation campaigns aim to do,' Carley said. 'People have real concerns about health and the economy, and people are preying on that to create divides.' The team also found that 66 percent of the activity is orchestrated by human hands. Twitter also shared how they handle tweets with misinformation about the coronavirus Carley said that spreading conspiracy theories leads to more extreme opinions, which can in turn lead to more extreme behavior and less rational thinking. 'Increased polarization will have a variety of real-world consequences, and play out in things like voting behavior and hostility towards ethnic groups,' Carley said. Unfortunately, Carley and her team are unable to locate who is behind the bots. HOW DO TWITTER'S BIGGEST ACCOUNTS ACT LIKE BOTS? Researchers have previously discovered bots retweet and post links to external sites more often than non-bot accounts. They also see less engagement on their tweets. Bots tweet more often, yet they spend less time 'liking' others' tweets. They revealed the behavior of users with 10 million followers or more was more in line with bots than humans. These accounts tweet at roughly the same pace as bots with similar follower numbers and, like bots, tweet more in general. They rely on retweeting and posting links to external sites more than human accounts. Their tweets are also of lower quality and see less engagement. Advertisement 'We do know that it looks like it's a propaganda machine, and it definitely matches the Russian and Chinese playbooks, but it would take a tremendous amount of resources to substantiate that,' Carley said. She does suggest users do their diligence when looking at Twitter accounts to determined if they are real users or the crawlers. 'There is no guarantee, but closely examining an account can offer indications of a bot, such as sharing links with subtle typos, many tweets coming out very quickly, or a user name and profile image that don't seem to match up,' Carley explains in a statement. 'Even if someone appears to be from your community, if you don't know them personally, take a closer look, and always go to authoritative or trusted sources for information. Just be very vigilant.' Last week, Twitter announced it will warn users when a tweet contains disputed or misleading information about the coronavirus. The social media firm will take a case-by-case approach to how it decides which tweets are labeled and will only remove posts that are harmful, company leaders said Monday. Some tweets will run with a label underneath that directs users to a link with additional information about COVID-19. Other tweets might be covered entirely by a warning label alerting users that 'some or all of the content shared in this tweet conflict with guidance from public health experts regarding COVID-19.' WASHINGTON - Lawmakers are criticizing Delta Air Lines and JetBlue for plans to cut employee hours, despite receiving more than $5 billion in government support as part of the federal coronavirus relief package. In letters sent this week to the airlines' chief executives, more than a dozen senators wrote that plans to reduce employee hours violate the intent of the Payroll Support Program that was established as part of the $2 trillion Cares Act. "Your decision to cut employee hours is inconsistent with congressional intent and is a blatant and potentially illegal effort to skirt you requirements to keep workers on payroll, and you should reverse this policy immediately," the senators wrote. Under the Cares Act, U.S. airlines were eligible to receive more than $50 billion in grants and loan. Of that, $25 billion was in the form of grants that were to be used to keep front line workers such as flight attendants, pilots and mechanics on the job. In exchange for receiving the money, airlines had to agree to a number of conditions, including keeping workers on the job through Sept. 30. Delta received more than $5 billion in grants as part of the program; JetBlue received $935 million. But since the money began flowing, airlines and lawmakers have been at odds over the intent of the law. United Airlines was the first to run afoul of lawmakers after it unveiled plans to reduce hours for some employees. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the workers, sued the airline saying the reductions violated their contract and the Cares Act. The airline eventually backed away from the plan, making the reductions voluntary. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on whether his agency was doing enough to ensure companies that received money were keeping workers on the payroll. In the letters, the senators noted that Delta "was reportedly the first airline to cut hours for employees after receiving assistance from the CARES Act. In the letter to JetBlue chief executive Robyn Hayes, the senators noted that since receiving Cares Act funding the airline has cut hours for mechanics, passenger service agents and ramp workers. In both cases, the senators noted that company officials have said the "reductions in hours comply with the CARES Act." They wrote: "This view is impossible to reconcile with the clear intent of the law." The senators said that Delta and JetBlue should not accept any additional funds, "unless you are prepared to protect your workers' jobs, pay and benefits as intended by Congress in the CARES Act." "Your federal financial assistance is conditioned on keeping your promises to workers," the letters concluded. Ex Formula 1 engineer joins leadership team at WFS Technologies WFS Technologies has further strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of a former Formula 1 engineer as Head of Engineering and Projects. Colin Drysdale takes up the post and will be responsible for leading the successful delivery of projects at WFS which specialises in subsea wireless automation. With more than 20 years experience of delivering transformational change and new technology development, Colin was previously Head of Technical Projects at McLaren where he was responsible for delivery across motorsport, electric vehicles and public transport. His career also spans aerospace and defence sectors, developing radar for Eurofighter Typhoon, sensors for the A400M Atlas programme and military communications systems. He will oversee the engineering and technical team which has been also been further reinforced with the appointment of three specialists across the electronics and software disciplines. Peter Sharpe, interim CEO at WFS, said: We are thrilled to welcome on board Colin who, through his background, brings an exciting new dimension to the company and will form a key part of the leadership team. Colin has an impressive breadth of skills which are fully transferrable to our business and technologies, and this will be integral to supporting our growth strategy. As well as providing technical leadership to the engineering team, Colin will establish a robust project management function in line with WFSs expansion plans which harness our capabilities to help customers reduce costs, increase production and improve their carbon footprint. A chartered engineer and a member of the Association for Project Management, Colin graduated from Glasgow University with a BEng (Hons) in microcomputer systems engineering. Previous employers have included Siemens, BAE Systems and Roke which is a research and development centre of excellence for communications, networks and electronic sensors. During his career, Colin has led number of major projects including creating improvements in engineering and project management processes that delivered quality and consistency of project results and significantly reduced development costs. In motorsport and public transport, he delivered complex projects which involved the development and integration of software, hardware and mechanical design elements as well as establishing a data centre and service desk to support customer operations. He said: WFS has established a suite of smart subsea technology which is a major game changer for a diverse range of sectors including offshore wind and oil & gas. Their holistic approach to developing solutions was of particular appeal because this, combined with WFS edge computing and digitisation of its tools, is more critical than ever to significantly increasing productivity and efficiencies while substantially reducing costs. I look forward to working with the engineering and management teams, and applying my experience in sensors, communications and data analytics, to help WFS enhance our customers operations and reduce the cost of maintenance. WFS is a world leader in subsea digitalisation through its range of true wireless Subsea Internet of Things (SIoT) products that provide offshore operators with asset integrity monitoring with embedded edge computing for real-time insight. The award-winning company has delivered more than 7,000 of its proprietary Seatooth devices through its team of dedicated software and hardware engineers based in Livingston, Scotland. An industry first, the wireless Seatooth products have the potential to disrupt the offshore energy industry by providing operators of oil and gas platforms and wind farm installations with the ability to digitalise their subsea assets, reducing cost and increasing asset life through insight derived from real-time data. One more case opened in Russia over Nazism rehabilitation at Immortal Regiment event RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 12:37 21/05/2020 MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) Tula Region investigators opened a case over rehabilitation of Nazism against a young woman, who had allegedly published a photo of Adolf Hitler on the website of the Immortal Regiment movement, the Investigative Committees press service reports Thursday. According to the preliminary information, on May 8, the young woman registered on the website of the Immortal Regiment movement and published the photo of Hitler naming him as a hero of the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War. Last week, investigative authorities opened criminal cases over rehabilitation of Nazism after finding out that photographs of Nazi criminals were published on websites of the Immortal Regiment movement. The photos were published in the framework of a virtual event aimed at preservation and perpetuating of the memory of the generation fighting against Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. According to investigators, on or before May 3 and on or before May 10 unidentified persons published on a freely accessible website a photograph of Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler and that of Adolf Hitler respectively; they were falsely designated as participants of the war against the Nazis. The probe in the cases is underway; investigators take all necessary measures to apprehend the identified suspects, according to the document. New Delhi : External Affairs Ministry has indicated that the remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Balochistan, did not constitute a policy shift. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Prime Minister had been thanked by people of Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan, for flagging their problems at an all-party meeting here last week and, moved by their messages, he talked about them in his speech from the Red Fort. At the same time, he said, Modi also gave certain instructions on the next course of action but refused to divulge details or how those instructions will be implemented. I cannot at this stage share with you. However, MEA will do what it has to because after all people of PoK are also our people, he said. On Modis mention of Balochistan he said, As to whether this constitutes a policy shift, let me say that Government of India has made statements about the situation in Balochistan in the past as well. My own predecessor had commented on this issue. The only difference, this time was that the various messages the Prime Minister had received had sufficiently moved him to share it with the people of India. In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Modi had talked about the situation in PoK, Gilgit and Balochistan and said people from there have thanked him for raising their issues. The Prime Minister had been thanked by these people for flagging their cause in the all-party meeting which represents all political segments in India. Prime Minister was sufficiently moved by these messages of gratitude to share it with the people of India in his Independence Day address. When asked about certain Baloch groups seeking recognition from India, the MEA spokesperson said, Dont jump the gun. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Like millions before him, Prince Harry has packed his bags and made his way across the pond to chase the American Dream. And just like any other new arrival, the Duke of Sussex has a long checklist to go through as he settles into his new life in Los Angeles. From obtaining a social security number to taking his test for a California driver's license, the whole process will take place against the backdrop of the coronavirus shutdown. Here DailyMail.com breaks down the hoops Harry, 35, will be jumping through as a fresh off the boat Englishman in LA. The Duke of Sussex has a long checklist to go through as he settles into his new life in Los Angeles with wife Meghan Markle and son Archie Harry and Meghan are currently staying in Tyler Perry's $18 million mansion with one-year-old Archie Social Security As a former member of the British Army who saw combat in Afghanistan, Harry has witnessed his fair share of hectic scenes. But perhaps none as chaotic as that which awaits him at one of the United States Social Security Administration offices. Although this will have to be his first point of call if he plans to work and set up a bank account, the offices have been closed since March 17 due to the coronavirus crisis. When they reopen the Duke will need to attend in person to obtain his social security number. DailyMail.com breaks down the hoops Harry, 35, will be jumping through as he gets settled in the United States, including going in person to obtain a social security card When social security offices reopen, Harry will need to attend in person to obtain his social security number However several offices in the LA area are used to dealing with celebrities and are believed to attend to their needs in a separate room. It will save the Royal from having to wait side by side with citizens who are dealing with their benefits in what is often a highly charged atmosphere. Obtaining a social security number usually takes around a morning of filling out paperwork. The card is later sent to the applicant's new address. Philip Moeller, an expert on Social Security, wrote of the chaos at its offices: 'The agency invites people to make in-person appointments but this word doesn't always make it out to the actual field offices where such meetings are supposed to take place. 'People tell us some offices refuse to even schedule meetings, while the waiting list at others can be several weeks long.' Visa Harry has a number of options open to him when it comes to obtaining a visa so that he can legally work in the US. The Duke is currently believed to be on either a regular B1/B2 tourist visa or possibly an A1 diplomatic visa. Neither would allow him to work except in a diplomatic capacity on the A1 visa. He could also try for an 'extraordinary alien visa' or O-1, often obtained by top athletes and movie stars who bring outstanding skills to the US economy. Harry could try to point to extraordinary accomplishments in philanthropy, although if he does obtain an O-1 visa he would have to renew it periodically. Sources told The Times last month that he has no immediate plans to become a permanent resident on a Green Card. But as the husband of American citizen Meghan and the father of their dual national American-British son Archie he could choose to apply for one. As the husband of American citizen Meghan and the father of their dual national American-British son Archie, Harry could choose to apply for a Green Card Prince Harry has a number of options open to him when it comes to obtaining a visa so that he can legally work in the US, including applying for an 'extraordinary alien visa' or O-1, often obtained by top athletes and movie stars who bring outstanding skills to the US economy That would probably involve Meghan sponsoring him and can take up to two years, a heavy amount of paperwork, expensive legal fees, at least one interview and a wait of several months minimum. It is by no means a foregone conclusion after President Trump made it harder than ever for spouses of Americans to get a Green Card. And that was when things were running as normal and hadn't been impacted by a worldwide pandemic that has brought the bureaucracy to a grinding halt in many places. There is usually a fast track service called 'premium processing' which allows the applicant to skip the line for a fee of $1,440. That service was suspended temporarily in March due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Once things have gone back to normal, Harry could also be sponsored for a Green Card by his and Meghan's new charity venture Archewell. After three years on a Green Card he may apply to become an American citizen, although that would involve renouncing his royal title. California Driver's License On the few occasions Harry and Meghan have been spotted since moving to LA in March, the couple appear to have been driving themselves. The Duke and Duchess were spotted in a Porsche SUV as they took their dogs for a hike and a Cadillac XT5 as they made deliveries for a charity that helps the needy. Drivers moving to California to become residents have 10 days to apply for a license at the Department of Motor Vehicles. DMV offices have closed in California during the coronavirus lockdown and have not been processing new licenses. When they get back to business Harry will need to attend the nearest one with his documentation, pay a $37 application fee, give a fingerprint scan, pass a vision exam and have his photograph taken. Harry and Meghan have been spotted driving themselves since moving to LA, so the Duke will need to obtain a California driver's license DMV offices have closed in California during the coronavirus lockdown and have not been processing new licenses He will then have three changes to pass a 36-question knowledge test about California roadside rules and regulations. Depending how busy the office is the process can take the best part of a day to complete. Applicants then have to schedule and pass a behind-the-wheel driving test which lasts around 20 minutes. Once that is all sorted Harry will also have to get used to driving in Los Angeles, which is an experience in itself. Not only will he be driving on the opposite side to the road. He will need to learn to live with LA drivers who do not indicate when they change lane, generally consider speeding acceptable, are recklessly dangerous in rainy conditions and lack any semblance of driving etiquette. Taxes When Harry and Meghan left their luxury bolthole in Canada and moved into an $18million Beverly Hills mansion in March, it was claimed that tax affairs had played a role in their decision. Sources told The Sun that as Meghan remains a US citizen and is taxed on her worldwide income she would have ended up paying in both the US and Canada. Whether or not Harry will have to pay taxes in the US is another matter and not a straightforward one. It boils down to a fairly complicated formula to calculate how many days he spends in the country during the current year and also the prior two. If over the limit he would be considered a resident for tax purposes. One way around that would be not to spend more than 121 days a year in the US. Meghan remains a US citizen and is taxed on her worldwide income she would have ended up paying in both the US and Canada. The couple were previously living in this waterfront mansion in Vancouver Whether or not Harry will have to pay taxes in the US is another matter and not a straightforward one Using other potential loopholes in the US-UK tax treaty Harry might be able to remain up to around 150 days a year Stateside without being considered a taxable resident. Harry and Meghan have made it clear that they will be seeking to earn their own income now they have left the Royal Family. But if he does qualify as a resident he would still have to file a return even without earning any income. Harry would even have to disclose information about his bank account holdings, which means the IRS could potentially get a glimpse of the Royals' finances. Tax lawyer Henry Bubel told Town & Country last month: 'That wouldn't tell you anything else about the rest of the royals' finances except by implication. 'However, if he were the beneficiary of trusts, where he received distributions from that trust while he was a resident, there'd be some complicated reporting and some complicated tax analysis that would have to be done.' Pet Relocation When Harry and Meghan moved from the UK to Canada and then onto California they had their dogs Guy the Beagle and Oz the black Labrador in tow. The US Public Health Service requires that dogs brought into the country undergo examination to check for evidence of diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns on its website: 'All dogs must appear healthy to enter the United States.' When Harry and Meghan moved from the UK to Canada and then onto California they had their dogs Guy the Beagle (pictured with Meghan) and Oz the black Labrador in tow. The US Public Health Service requires that dogs brought into the country undergo examination to check for evidence of diseases Guy and Oz certainly looked in tip top shape in the pictures which emerged last month of Harry and Meghan walking them. Dogs coming from countries deemed to be at high risk for dog rabies require a vaccine certificate. Neither the United Kingdom nor Canada are on the list but owners coming from those countries must still provide written or oral statements that their dogs lived in a country with low or no risk for at least 6 months or from birth. American Bank Account As a newly arrived expat, Harry will need to set up a bank account in the US to help him create a financial identity. By setting up a checking account he will be able to receive income in US dollars, use online banking and bill pay, and build up a US credit history. Many US banks require high balances for foreign national looking to secure an account and issue a bank card. Given Harry's background and earning potential alongside Meghan, that shouldn't be a problem. Harry will have to set up an American bank account to help him create a financial identity in the US Health Insurance As a member of the Royal Family, Harry has grown up being cared for by the Medical Household. The team of physicians and specialists is on hand around the clock to attend to all of the family and their staffs' healthcare needs. Since he married Meghan however the couple followed their own path when it comes to health, including a snub for private maternity wing of London St. Mary's Hospital, where Royal births had become something of a tradition. Now he has branched out on his own in the US, Harry is required to take out insurance like any other resident. And even though he and Meghan are still not working, they are still thought to have the means to access the best care money can buy. In California top plans can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year, with the very best nudging towards the $100,000 mark. Education Minister Peter Weir has said it his intention for schools in Northern Ireland to reopen in late August for some pupils. He clarified those children returning would be those on the verge of taking major examinations such as GCSEs or A-Levels or in the processing of transitioning between schools, for example P7 and first years at secondary schools. However, he stressed schools will not return in the same manner as before the coronavirus outbreak but with a phased return of pupils. He said that depending on medical and scientific evidence groups of younger pupils may be fully able to return to school. The minister also said he was looking at providing 24,000 devices to children to help with remote learning. He also confirmed his department would continue to pay for free school meals to the end of June, but the Executive would have to decide on provision through the summer. He told the Assembly: "We will explore what role the voluntary, community and private sectors can play in making some provision for our young people during the summer. "Subject to medical guidance and safety it would be my aim to see a phased reopening of schools, beginning with a limited provision for key cohort years in late August, followed by phased provision for all pupils at the beginning of September. He added: "For all pupils it will involve a schedule with a mixture of school attendance and remote learning at home." In terms of preventing inequality the education minister said handing out thousands of digital devices will help children learn at home during the crisis. Speaking during the daily Covid-19 Executive press conference, Mr Weir said handing out devices could close gaps in disadvantages felt by pupils but there needed to be a wider package or measures. "So in of itself this will not solve it, it will be part of a wider package of measures. In an imperfect situation all we can try and do is ensure we have as much mitigation as possible to give as much opportunity for every child as possible. Earlier Northern Ireland's Covid-19 death toll reached 501 after seven further deaths were announced. There was also 1,546 tests carried out involving 1,084 people in the past 24 hours with 42 returning positive. There have now been 4,481 confirmed cases of the virus in Northern Ireland. The figures also show there remains outbreaks of the virus in 71 Northern Ireland care homes with outbreaks at 36 facilities appearing to have ended. Read More Health Minister Robin Swann, in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, defended his department's response to the pandemic and how care home residents were treated. He said every loss of life was a regret. Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride said measures to protect care homes could have been handled differently. Check out our live blog below to see how Thursday's developments unfolded. Photo: Peter Alfred Hess/Flickr Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Chicago. Pastors upset after police issue citations for violating state restrictions Read the full story on nbc chicago. Harry Caray's restaurant has creative way to manage social distancing amid reopening Read the full story on ABC Chicago, WLS. Police volunteer at Irving Park Community Food Pantry Read the full story on ABC Chicago, WLS. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Pastors at a pair of Chicago churches are upset after they were issued citations for continuing to hold services in violation of Illinois' stay-at-home order. The pastors were issued the citations by Chicago police after they held religious services with more than 10 people in attendance. The Harry Caray's restaurant group has temporarily closed all locations in Chicago, Rosemont and Lombard due to the pandemic. But the restaurant wants to welcome patrons back in a fun way, with tons of cardboard cutouts of Harry. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. Both the city and county of Los Angeles have submitted preliminary plans to a federal judge who has ordered the "humane relocation" of thousands of homeless people currently living beneath L.A.'s countless freeway overpasses. As part of the order, homeless encampment residents must be offered some form of shelter before any action can be taken. Though the plans are hardly set in stone, court documents outline a rapid expansion of safe parking sites, thousands of modular "pallet shelter" tiny homes, and another option called "Safe Sleep," modeled after a pilot government-sanctioned campsite at the West Los Angeles VA. In their plans, officials are also including residents who have been moved inside due to the pandemic. For both groups, they'll try to place people into supportive housing, reunite them with family, provide rental assistance, and extend some hotel leases beyond the initial three-month contract. "In all, the City commits to creating 6,100 new shelter opportunities in the next 10 months," reads the city of Los Angeles' report to federal Judge David Carter. The city says it will do that in two phases: first for people currently in hotels and recreation centers, then for people beneath freeways. The report supplied by Los Angeles County outlines a schedule for moving forward, though notes there are likely only about 200 to 350 people beneath freeways in the county's unincorporated jurisdiction. The county says it aims to provide Judge Carter with a list of potential locations for safe parking and sleeping pilot sites by May 21, and operation protocols for the safe parking and sleeping sites by May 27. A BOLD ORDER Last week, Judge Carter dropped a bombshell court order that compels both the city and county of Los Angeles to find shelter for those who've made freeway bridges and ramps their home. Citing the coronavirus pandemic and the adverse respiratory effects of living close to freeway pollution, Judge Carter ordered "that this subset of individuals experiencing homelessness be relocated away from freeway overpasses, underpasses, and ramps." The order stunned many on all sides of the homelessness crisis. Its demands come on top of attempts to shelter thousands of people in recreation centers and hotels because of the coronavirus pandemic. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy RELOCATION, BUT NOT RIGHT AWAY However, the wording of the order does not mean that the moment it becomes effective, L.A. will send cops to clear out underpass encampments. It lists several preconditions before that could happen. Among others, anyone living beneath an overpass must be offered an alternative space in a shelter or other accommodation before being ordered to leave, and that offer must be given with advance notice. The order also stipulates that any shelter or accommodation must come with access to health services, security, and hygiene facilities. It's likely an attempt to compromise in the wake of a 2019 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Martin V. Boise. Judges ruled in that case that cities cannot prosecute homeless people for sitting or sleeping on public property if there isn't anywhere else to go. Carter, for his part, has expressed publicly that he's more interested in just getting the ball rolling on bringing people indoors, and restoring the use of public space, after what seems like years of nonmovement. Speaking last year at an event in Anaheim, Carter offered some clarity on his logic. "Our public is not going to stand for homeless people taking our parks, or our beaches, or our libraries. But also, our public is not going to stand for the truly homeless person, who has either mental disease or just is homeless because of circumstances, being incarcerated. And that's a tough balance," he said. A tentative balance has been struck in nearly 20 cities in L.A. and Orange counties with a settlement agreement brokered by Carter. In that judicial consent decree, cities agree to add more homeless shelter beds in exchange for court permission to enforce anti-camping laws. It's possible a similar agreement could be reached by both the city and county of Los Angeles. DISAGREEMENTS ALREADY The two plans filed separately in the court could have been filed as one joint plan had the city and county of Los Angeles not disagreed about who is going to pay for the provision of services for people relocated from under freeways. If they'd agreed, Carter would have presided over a hearing on Wednesday to broker the details. That hearing didn't happen. In its report to Judge Carter, L.A. County said the city of L.A. declined "to participate in the joint filing, stating that [the city of L.A.] could not agree out of a concern over the payment for 'services' at city-owned interim shelters and similar sites." The county's filing said that the city requested services at any potential shelter sites be paid for using money from the Measure H sales tax. Measure H funds homeless services countywide, and is projected to generate less revenue in the near future due to the economic recession, according to county officials. By contrast, the city's filing estimates that sheltering people who live near freeways will cost approximately $100 to $130 million in capital costs. As for providing supportive services for those people, the filing says "ongoing operating and service commitments needed to sustain these interventions and keep people off the streets come with a substantial cost, one that must be shared between the city, the county, and LAHSA." READ THE ENTIRE COURT ORDER BELOW: Kathmandu, May 21 Political leaders in Darchula of Sudurpaschim, active at the local and national levels alike, have demanded that the recently inaugurated border outpost of Armed Police Force located in Chhangaru of disputed Kalapani region be relocated further northwestward. They demand that the outpost is relocated as there is already a Nepal Police post near the place where the outpost has been established now and the security personnel must go farther to monitor the activities of Indian security personnel there. They have identified a wide ground in a place Kauwa, around seven kilometres northwest of Chhangaru, as an appropriate site for the outpost. Nepali Congress House of Representatives member Dilendra Prasad Badu says, Our troop should be given more facilities than the Indian personnel in the region. Because Kauwa has a higher altitude than that of Chhangaru, this place is more appropriate for border surveillance. Meanwhile, Byas rural municipality-1s ward chair Ashok Bohora says the locals had been demanding the outpost in Kauwa, not in Chhangaru. Crypto Twitter was ablaze Wednesday after the sale of some Bitcoin was reportedly linked to the account of the tokens mystery founder. The price of the largest digital token plummeted on speculation its anonymous creator, who goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, was moving coins mined in early 2009, an act perceived by some as a near-sacrilegious offense. Twitter account @whale_alert, which posts real-time transaction data, was among the first to report of the sale, tweeting that the coins in the transaction were mined in the first month of Bitcoins existence. Bitcoin fell as much as 4% during Wednesdays session to trade near $9,530 as of 2:47 p.m. in New York. Peer coins, including Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin, also sold off. Still, theres no proof that the coins are Satoshis and many were quick to point out that the transaction didnt necessarily need to be tied back to the founder. Hundreds, or possibly thousands of people were already mining Bitcoin at that time, and some of them have been selling ever since from time to time, said Nic Carter, co-founder of Coin Metrics. The last such sale of early mined Bitcoins took place in August 2017, he said. It could really have been anyone, said Carter. But most likely someone technical enough to run the Satoshi client Bitcoin software and who would have been interested in a digital cash project. itcoin was born on Halloween 2008 with the publication of a research paper by someone who went by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. But the mysterious creator behind the coin has never been unmasked, though many have speculated over the years about his or her identity. I suppose we all just assumed that SN has already passed away, said Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, referring to Satoshi. But for this community that often resembles a religion of sorts, resurrection shouldnt be ruled out too hastily. Should the creator be choosing to make a reappearance, Im not sure that would be a such a bad thing, he wrote in a note. David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital, said that while speculation may be running high on Twitter, its possible Satoshis identity stays secret until well after his or her death. Therefore, ascribing anything previous action, current action, identity or otherwise is just a waste of time. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:44:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LAGOS, May 21(Xinhua) -- One person was killed and seven others injured after a fuel tanker collided with a commercial bus in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, on Thursday morning, the road safety authority said. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) confirmed the accident through its twitter handle, saying the accident involved a Mazda bus with 10 passengers and a fuel tanker on a bridge in Lagos, and all relevant emergency agencies were alerted. "One passenger from the bus was confirmed dead with seven others injured," the LASTMA said, adding the accident has caused heavy traffic in the area. A rescue official, who didn't want to be named, also confirmed the incident to Xinhua, adding emergency workers are on the ground battling to save the situation and prevent a fire outbreak. Enditem MECOSTA TOWNSHIP As parts of central Michigan are underwater, Consumers Energy officials have assured its 13 dams, including one in Mecosta County, are operating properly. Rogers Dam, which sits on the Muskegon River in Mecosta Township, is the oldest hydroelectric power plant operated by the company. The family of a man who died at a Southeast Portland nursing home last month has sued the establishment, now shuttered after it became the site of the states largest and deadliest coronavirus outbreak. David Parkers family is asking for $2.4 million from Healthcare at Foster Creek and its management company, Benicia Senior Living, alleging that the nursing homes neglect and abuse led to his death. The 83-year-old died April 7, after testing positive for coronavirus and being hospitalized on April 4. In a lawsuit filed May 20, his daughter Davina Parker alleged that the way her father had been treated was deplorable." The lawsuit described a lack of transparency and safety measures by the nursing home, including a failure to directly inform her that her father had died. Parkers lawsuit is the second one Foster Creek faces; the daughter of another resident who died of coronavirus is suing the home for $1.8 million over alleged elder abuse. According to the latest suit, Davina Parker found out her father had died from a Facebook post by the nursing home, stating RIP David. When she called the home, workers allegedly told her they had no knowledge of his death. Parker called local hospitals until she found the one where her father had been a patient, and hospital staff told her that he had died. Parker said in the lawsuit that she had not even known her father was in the hospital. Davina Parker said in the lawsuit that her father was already at risk of contracting the virus if exposed because of his age and physical health conditions. Parker also had dementia, his daughter said. In addition to being infected with COVID-19, Mr. Parker was bedbound with contractures and multiple pressure wounds, had severe protein calorie malnutrition, and concomitant staph becteremia, the lawsuit said. CORONAVIRUS IN OREGON: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter The effects of the pandemic escalated within the nursing home over a month and a half, after the state learned on March 24 that a Foster Creek resident may have been infected. The states Department of Human Services received a complaint about the nursing homes infection control practices just two days later. Foster Creek was investigated by DHS in mid-April, and was found to have failed in nearly a dozen areas. That investigation found Foster Creek was understaffed and had failed to train staff on proper infection control practices. Staff also allegedly worked across units and rooms that had patients who had tested positive, and those who had tested negative. The suit alleges that staff did not properly social distance, and did not maintain accurate or adequate medical records regarding coronavirus. The state initially implemented infection control training barred the home from admitting new patients, but in the first week of May, ordered the home to shut down. More on coronavirus: Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Washington The Trump administration notified international partners on Thursday that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each others territory overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict. The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from U.S. or commercial satellites. Exiting the treaty, however, is expected to strain relations with Moscow and upset European allies and some members of Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed that the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each others territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but President George H.W. Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Currently, 34 nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control and other agreements. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights, yet Russia has restricted flights over certain areas. Last month, top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in both the House and the Senate wrote to Trump accusing the president of ramming a withdrawal from the treaty as the entire world grapples with Covid-19. They said it would undermine U.S. alliances with European allies who rely on the treaty to keep Russia accountable for its military activities in the region. The administrations effort to make a major change to our national security policy in the midst of a global health crisis is not only shortsighted, but also unconscionable, wrote Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J. This effort appears intended to limit appropriate congressional consultation on, and scrutiny of, the decision, they wrote. They said they werent moved by the defense secretarys argument that $125 million to replace aging aircraft used for treaty verification, which was already appropriated by Congress, is too costly. The total cost of replacing the aircraft is a tiny portion of the overall defense budget, they said. Earlier this month, 16 former senior European military and defense officials signed a statement supporting the treaty, saying that a U.S. withdrawal from the treaty would be a blow to global security and further undermine the international arms control agreements. The officials asked the U.S. to reconsider its exit. But if the U.S. leaves, they called for European states to stay in the treaty, fulfill obligations under the treaty and refrain from restricting the length of observation flights or banning flights over certain territories. Senior administration officials said Trump last fall ordered a comprehensive review of the costs and benefits of U.S. participation in the Open Skies Treaty. At the end of an eight-month review, which included extensive input from allies, it became clear that it was no longer in Americas interest to remain party to the treaty, the officials said. The U.S. notified other members of the treaty on Thursday, and the United States will formally pull out in six months. The senior administration officials said Russian violations of the treaty were the main reason for exiting the treaty. They said Russia has restricted flights over Moscow and Chechnya and near Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian restrictions also make it difficult to conduct observation in the Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland that is home to Russias Baltic fleet, they said. Russia uses illegal overflight restrictions along the Georgian border in support of its propaganda narrative that the Russian-occupied enclaves of Georgia are independent countries. The senior administration officials said that amounted to an illegal restriction, under the treaty, coupled with a narrative that justifies Russias regional aggression. The U.S. has been working on a proposal to backfill partners and allies with imagery that the U.S. would have shared from its open skies flights. Gopika I S By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On January 22, a 23-year-old medical student from Thrissur started from Wuhan, where COVID-19 had begun to wreak havoc, for India. She arrived in Kolkata and had a stopover for a few hours before the flight took off again, landing in Kochi on January 24. She then left for her home in Thrissur by a private vehicle. Kerala was already preparing for the pandemic by then. Everyone returning from China was asked to report to the nearest Public Health Centre and stay under home quarantine. The medical student did so too. Days later, on January 30, she became India's first COVID-19 patient after testing positive for the virus while under observation at the General Hospital in Thrissur. Early the next day, she was moved to the Government Medical College, Thrissur. Her condition was stable. Now, the government had to recreate the students journey from Wuhan to Thrissur, identify everyone who came in contact with her and ensure that all these primary contacts are quarantining. It was going to be an arduous task. Dr Kavya Karunakaran, a Junior Administrative Medical Officer from Thrissur, bore the responsibility of doing the in-depth interview of the patient which would help in tracing her contacts. The district team traced 63 travel contacts (primary) and 18 community contacts of the student. Most of them were students from Wuhan who travelled with her. Later, one of them tested positive in Alappuzha. Dr Kavya Karunakaran The public at large came to know of the concept of contact tracing when the Nipah virus struck in May 2018. During the COVID-19 outbreak, this is being practised on a much larger scale beginning from Thrissur. Contact tracing starts with the patient. The reference point is the infected person and we reach others through them. People who travelled and communicated with them need to be identified. When the case was identified in Thrissur, we developed the protocol at the Government Medical College based on SARS-CoV," said Dr Kavya. "China returnees were under surveillance from the third week of January. The majority of them were studying medicine and we didnt have to impress upon them the importance of quarantining. The challenge was pinpointing the contacts. Mapping out the journey itself was not difficult with regard to travel history. The rest depends on the memory of the patient. But we have alternatives for this, she said. Identifying the people who travelled with the student itself was a bit difficult. Some were on the journey from Wuhan to Kolkata and some from Kolkata to Kochi. We needed to establish who they were and where they were at the time. The patient did not know all the students who travelled with her since they are all studying at a big university. In this case, we got contacts from students of other years and tracked their batchmates. In some cases, they did not have Indian numbers," noted Dr Kavya. "We contacted them through social media, tried to establish their location and asked them to quarantine themselves. Some of these students/co-passengers were not within India. In these cases also, we followed a similar protocol. The technical support regarding the passengers on the flight and all work related to the airlines was done by the state machinery. And most importantly, a steady team is important in tracking the contacts efficiently. In Thrissur, we have a great team, said Dr Kavya. At this point itself, a state level control room was set up to combat COVID-19. One of the major tasks undertaken by the state control room was surveillance which reduced the burden on the various districts. In fact, the team at the state control room identified some primary contacts. People who were travelling with the students before they boarded the flight were also among them. Alerts were sent to other states if necessary once such contacts were identified. During this time, a call centre was set up and a tool was also developed with questions at the Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram. Through the call centre, all the quarantined people were called and asked questions which enabled the medical team to analyse their needs and ascertain if they were following the guidelines. While the tool has not been validated, it was later replicated in Pathanamthitta when the second wave of cases broke out. Second cluster of cases During the second wave of cases, the state was presented with a very complex situation when members of a family that returned from Italy and two of their relatives tested positive in Pathanamthitta. The family returned to the state on March 1. Five field level teams were launched to find primary and secondary contacts. In total, 1254 primary and secondary contacts were identified and quarantined within a matter of a few days. The teams visited each of the places that the Italy returnees had been to. They collected CCTV footage based on an approximate time frame, checked the records of the various places which include hotels, houses and a private hospital. This is the point where technology doesnt help us as much as we think it would, said Dr Amjith Rajeevan, Assistant Surgeon, Nilakkal Primary Health Centre. Dr Amjith with his wife, Dr S Sethulakshmi Dr Amjith was part of the State Control Room team during the Wuhan cases and later the one to do the in-depth interviews of the patients in Pathanamthitta. The field teams also travelled through the Ranni region where the family lives. In fact, during these regular trips they even identified some of the primary contacts walking around despite being quarantined. Notably, most members in the field team as well as the surveillance team had very limited experience of contact tracing, if at all. Dr Amjith himself had some experience in tracing the origins of a hepatitis outbreak in Kozhikode earlier. In-depth interviews In-depth interviews of the patients are key in identifying the places a person travelled to and people they interacted with. Dr Amjith is still doing in-depth interviews and feels the process is a deeply emotional affair. I have only met about four people in person for in-depth interviews, especially in cases where the patients are old or where our presence is necessary. We try not to waste a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit if its not necessary. All other interviews are done through phone calls. 90 percent of them were very cooperative when speaking with us and in divulging information. However, it is a gradual process because they may not remember everything. We also interview the primary contacts so that they can fill in the blanks. Some patients give us more details as they remember, said Dr Amjith. There are cases where the patients are in intensive care and unable to talk much. In such cases, the contact tracing and route map making are done with the help of primary and secondary contacts. In the case of a COVID-19 patient in Pothencode, Thiruvananthapuram, who was also one of the states casualties, the contact tracing was done mostly through primary contacts. Field work and challenges The field level work to identify contacts was not easy. The team of doctors and health care workers was following all the infection control methods while at work. In Pathanamthitta, they visited the primary contacts. Across the state, at local level, there is a system already in place which can be used for field work and includes ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers, Junior Public Health Nurses (JPHN), medical officers and block level officials above that. However, field teams were deployed first in the Pathanamthitta case and are still on standby if needed. We followed all the infection control procedures. There are people who divulged more information and responded to us better when they were moved away from their family and asked questions regarding their travel history. When it came to the private hospital they visited, we had to quarantine patients who were in the same room when they visited. It was a long process and we tried to close all loopholes," said Dr S Sethulakshmi who was part of the field surveillance team. "We identified people who were at the same place as the patients at the same time and traced their contacts too. But there was still this small chance that we missed someone who might have got infected. However, only people in our list ever tested positive in that cluster. Even after identifying them, there were cases where the primary contacts were breaking quarantine, she said. To keep quarantine violators in check, the district administration had released a WhatsApp number where the public can raise complaints and concerns. There were a few instances where the government instructions were not followed. As soon as we are alerted of this, we send a team to give them instructions. If the people under quarantine do not abide by these, we call in the police. We identified the reasons for breaking the quarantine and further focused on providing essential services and food, said Dr Sethulakshmi. The state already operated community kitchens during the floods of 2019 with the help of Local Self Government (LSG) bodies and Kudumbashree, a community-driven agency of the government for poverty eradication and women's empowerment. This time, they were set up on a much larger scale and across the state as cases increased to provide cooked food to people under quarantine and later to families that couldnt afford food or cook on their own during the nationwide lockdown. The food was delivered at their homes by volunteers of local bodies. Route maps The route maps were made with the details collected from the patient as well as the primary contacts. Even if the field teams missed anyone in the primary/secondary contact list, the route maps help in identifying the people who were missed. The time and location lead to people approaching the authorities to have their health evaluated. The graphic representations have thus proved effective. This also quashes the rumours spread through social media when a person tests positive. A route map of a COVID-19 patient Media surveillance A team in each of the district control rooms goes through the print, television and social media to help identify the needs of people under quarantine, keep tabs on pneumonia deaths and debunk fake news. We see reports that people under quarantine have a water shortage or that food kits are not reaching them or that they are being harassed. We also learn about people who were cured and collect positive stories which helps boost the team. A crucial aspect is going through the obituary page and tracing pneumonia deaths, which cannot be dismissed in the current scenario," said Dr Amjith. "We were prepared for asymptomatic patients in Pathanamthitta because of the media surveillance even before we had any such cases. The social media page of the Pathanamthitta district collector was active. If we identify a cluster of comments, it means there is a need. Now, we go through all the comments. It need not be about the health department. Even if it is regarding the civil supplies department or excise, we hand over the data to the authorities, he added. The only catch is some current Facebook employees may earn less depending on where they choose to live. Facebook Inc. plans to hire more remote workers in areas where the company doesnt have an office, and let some current employees work from home permanently if theyd like to. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to aggressively open up remote hiring starting immediately with the U.S., particularly for engineering talent. Based on internal employee surveys, he believes remote workers could make up as much as 50% of Facebooks workforce in the next five to 10 years. We and a lot of other folks were very worried that productivity was going to really fall off a cliff, Zuckerberg said in an interview. It just hasnt. We are at least as productive as we were before, and some people report being even more productive. The social network, which closed its Menlo Park, California, offices in early March due to the coronavirus outbreak, has already told employees that they can work from home through the end of the year. Zuckerberg shared the remote hiring plans with workers Thursday. Facebook had more than 48,000 global staff at the end of March. The vast majority of people at the company are working remotely anyway, so constraining ourselves to only hiring people who live near an office thats not open anyways isnt really that efficient, he added. Facebook is the latest, and largest, tech company to announce a full or partial move to more permanent remote work amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Twitter Inc. and Square Inc., both run by CEO Jack Dorsey, have announced that their employees can work from home permanently if theyd like. Canadian e-commerce company Shopify Inc. said this week it will allow its 5,000 staff to work from home indefinitely. Its a trend that could drastically change Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, which has for decades been the mecca for high-paying technology jobs. Many of the worlds most valuable companies, including Facebook, Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google are headquartered just south of San Francisco, which has made the surrounding area one of the wealthiest and most expensive in the world. Facebook employees who wish to work remotely, and are approved to do so, will be paid based on their new location, Zuckerberg added. That means employees who move to areas with a lower cost of living than the Bay Area would likely take a pay cut. Employees currently working remotely who want to extend their remote work plans beyond the end of this year will need to alert Facebook for tax and payroll reasons. Well localize everybodys comp on January 1, he said. They can do whatever they want through the rest of the year, but by the end of the year they should either come back to the Bay Area or they need to tell us where they are. Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California may soon have substantially less employees reporting to work [File: Bloomberg] Zuckerberg said his decisions arent driven by employee demand, but there are a number of other benefits to remote hiring. This will extend the talent pool of people Facebook can hire, he said, and could help Facebook increase the diversity of its workforce, both racially and ethnically, but also ideologically. There is also a potential environmental benefit, Zuckerberg said, pointing out that pollution and emissions have dipped as people have stopped traveling. Id rather have our employees teleporting to work with VR or video chat than sitting in a commute and kind of poisoning the atmosphere, he said. There could be product advantages, too. Facebooks mission is to create products that help people feel closer even when they are physically apart, Zuckerberg said. This would give the company a chance to put its own products to the test and eat our own dog food, he added. There are still some unknowns. Zuckerberg believes a change like this could impact some of what he calls the softer stuff, like social connections, group brainstorming and creativity. Companies like Facebook and Google have changed work culture by offering employees never-ending perks, like free food, shuttles to work and even laundry. Those elements of work cultures will undoubtedly be affected. We dont know yet how much we are drafting off of culture, relationships, strategy and direction that have been developed up until this point. Were kind of just gliding forward, he said. We dont know how hard its going to be to evolve. Zuckerberg said the Covid outbreak and current plan to increase remote workers wont change the companys real estate ambitions at least not in the short term. Facebook has been expanding its sprawling headquarters for years, and has other plans to expand East across the San Francisco Bay to Fremont. Facebook has also embarked on a major push in New York, where it last year signed a lease for more than 1.5 million square feet of space in the Hudson Yards development. The company had planned to start moving employees into the space this year. When some employees do return to work following the July 4 holiday, Facebook plans to keep office capacity at just 25%, so will need as much room as possible. If anything we just dont have enough office space, Zuckerberg said. The virus is going to be with us for a while, so we really need to get good at this, Zuckerberg added. I just dont think theres going to be a single day where its like, OK, Covid is done.' India is a land rooted in forgiveness. We are a peace-loving country often known to avoid conflicts unless it becomes inevitable to strike back. Thats how our daredevil soldiers carry out their duties as part of the Indian Armed Forces, always trying to keep Indias border secure and its citizens safe. RSVP Movies However, its no news that our neighbouring countries like Pakistan are often involved in cross-border skirmishes. They overstep their boundaries and test the patience of our soldiers. Ceasefire violations and terrorist attacks are commonplace, which require the Indian forces to always stay alert and responsive, often in the form of surgical strikes which also serves as sweet revenge. While some of these surgical strikes widely carried out by India became popular, were reported and even turned into films, others were quickly forgotten. Here are 4 such other surgical strikes which deserve our attention and also a movie of their own. 1. Operation Ginger RSVP Movies In 2011, the Indian Army carried out a tit-for-tat surgical strike across the LoC. According to reports, the strike was a retaliation against Pakistans Border Action Teams attack on an army post in Kupwara in July wherein six Indian soldiers were killed and two of them beheaded. Thats not all, the Pakistani troopers carried back the heads of two Indian soldiers. In its response, the Indian Army carried out Operation Ginger. Indian soldiers struck three Pakistani Army posts in August and decimated their enemies. At least 13 Pakistani soldiers were reportedly killed, and heads of three of these soldiers were brought back to India. 2. Operation Badla RSVP Movies Pakistani Special Forces and terrorists struck again in 2013 when they beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj and mutilated the body of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh along the LoC in Jammu & Kashmirs Pooch area. Reportedly, the Indian Forces retaliated with Operation Badla which avenged their comrades killing by completely destroying a Pakistani post across the LoC. More than half a dozen Pakistani troops and terrorists were said to have been killed in the revenge attack. 3. Myanmar Operation BCCL On June 4, 2015, a Naga terror outfit killed 18 Indian soldiers in an ambush attack launched in Manipurs Chandel area. Within hours, a decision to retaliate was taken, post which PM Modi gave his clearance to a retaliation on June 7th, upon his return from Bangladesh visit. On June 9, 70 Indian Army commandos of 21 Para carried out a lethal surgical strike within the Myanmar jungles at the crack of dawn. The operation was swiftly carried out within 40 minutes wherein the Indian commandos succeeded in killing 38 Naga militants and injured seven. 4. Balakot Airstrikes RSVP Movies After the devastating Pulwama attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian soldiers on 14th February 2019, which resulted in the deaths of 40 CRPF soldiers, the Indian Armed forces decided to give a befitting response to Pakistan, which is home to numerous terror launchpads. Thats when during the wee hours of February 26, the Indian Air Force carried out the Balakot airstrike wherein as many as five Pakistani terrorist training camps were bombed by IAF warplanes, killing several militants and trainers in the process. These definitely deserve to be turned into movies, right? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. (Photo : REUTERS/Johanna Geron) Schoolchildren and a teacher wear protective face masks at a francophone primary school during its reopening as Belgian children head back to their schools with new rules and social distancing in place during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Brussels, Belgium, May 18, 2020. Children are at low risk of catching or transmitting coronavirus to adults, and the elderly, a systematic review of over 47 studies has concluded. According to scientists involved in the review at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karplinska Institute in Sweden, reopening schools is thus "unlikely" to spread the killer bug. ALSO READ: COVID-19 Update: Coronavirus May Be Transmitted By Children, New Study Shows; Kawasaki Disease May Be Linked to COVID-19 Children do not get very sick from coronavirus The study lead author, Professor Jonas Ludvigsson, said the vast majority of children do not get very sick from COVID-19, and deaths are infrequent. "So there's really no reason to close down schools and kindergartens to protect the children themselves," he told Mirror.co.uk. However, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that children "can also transfer this virus to those who may be at greater risk." And other reports indicate that children tend to demonstrate similar transmitting capabilities as adults, prompting experts to warn against trusting children not to transmit the disease. "What we don't know yet is the degree to which children can transmit the virus," Dr. Danielle Zerr, an infectious disease expert at Seattle Children's Hospital, told The Vox. As plans have been plunged into chaos to reopen schools in Britain, a government minister admits that primaries may not all be open as initially planned on June 1. A mass revolt from unions and councils hurled those plans into doubt. England's schools were told to plan to put back the reception as well as the year 1 and 6 students to college, with other primary years going back later in the month. Liverpool, Hartlepool, Birmingham, and even Tory-run Solihull and Essex warned that it might not be possible to set the start date. Some seek to open their doors later, while others suggest that returns may be part-time-despite the government saying that this is not an option. ALSO READ: COVID-19 UPDATE: CT Scans Reveal Half of Hospitalized Children with Coronavirus Have Inflamed and Fluid-Filled Lungs No local transmission from school Professor Ludvigsson, whose research was published in the Acta Paediatrica journal, said there had been no recorded cases of Sweden's pupils or teaching staff contracting the virus in school. For the duration of the crisis, the schools of the Scandanavian country have all been open as usual - with Prof Ludvigsson adding that it's a 'million' kids every day. The professor warned that the United Kingdom must focus on protecting the most vulnerable-" and they are the elderly and middle-aged with risk factors. "This tells us there is real-world evidence that children are not very contagious," he added. The British Medical Association (BMA) said that schools will reopen "as soon as it is safe to do so," although it noted that there is "not yet a united opinion" as to whether children can transmit coronavirus. The tentative evidence for the argument that children do not transmit the coronavirus at high levels has contributed to optimism about children and transmission from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC). "Data from population-based and cross-sectional studies indicate that children are unlikely to be primary source cases," the website wrote. However, ECDC spokesperson Alexandru Niculae told the Vox that these and other studies "cannot be regarded as "enough evidence." She explained the data is still regarded to be limited. Hence, the general public needs to take this for the time being with a pinch of salt." 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, he spoke by phone with Israeli "alternate" Prime Minister Benny Gantz. Israel has two prime ministers who loathe each other because that arrangement was the only way to form a halfway-functioning government in a polarized country that staged three elections in 12 months without producing a clear result. The two PMs have agreed not so much to share power as to operate two parallel administrations at the same time. Many Israeli political observers expect the two men to continue their in-fighting on a different plane. But there is one long-term project of Netanyahu's that Gantz has promised not to oppose after July 1: the formal annexation by Israel of part of the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967 but never recognized as part of Israel by any government. Trudeau has had separate conversations with both Israeli PMs. But if the Canadian government's anodyne readouts of the calls are accurate, he had exactly the same conversation with both men. Adina Valman/Knesset Spokesperson's Office via Reuters Canada won't recognize the annexation The words "annexation", "West Bank" and "occupied territories" do not appear anywhere in the readouts. Although government officials who spoke to CBC News pointed to a passing reference to the "two-state solution", they were unable to say that the prime minister had warned his Israeli counterpart not to proceed with the annexation. Two officials did tell CBC News there is no chance that Canada will recognize the annexation. Global Affairs spokesman Adam Austen told CBC News that "Canada is very concerned that Israel moving forward with unilateral annexation would be damaging to peace negotiations and contrary to international law. This could lead to further insecurity for Israelis and Palestinians at a critical time for peace and stability in the region." But the Trudeau government, which has largely continued the UN voting pattern of the Harper government rather than those of the Chretien and Martin governments, does not appear keen on challenging Israel. Story continues In fact, the readout says Canada is seeking closer ties: "Prime Minister Trudeau expressed Canada's continued support for Israel as a friend and ally, and the two leaders discussed ways to continue strengthening their bilateral relationship ..." No support for annexation in Ottawa No major Canadian federal party appears to support recognition of annexation. Conservative foreign affairs critic Leona Alleslev told CBC News that "Conservatives continue to believe in the two-state solution, as part of a negotiated settlement to this conflict, as well as the right of Israel to defend itself and secure its borders." The NDP's Jack Harris pointed out that "other nations, including the U.K., Norway, Ireland and France, have made strong declarations" against annexation. "Now that the incoming government of Israel has committed to a plan to annex lands in the occupied territories, Canada must speak out and condemn such action," he said in a statement. "It would be a clear violation of international law and the Geneva Convention to which Canada is party." The Green Party caucus sent a letter to Trudeau earlier this month asking him to apply the same standards to Israel's proposed annexation that his government applied to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. "The attempt by the Netanyahu government to take this action while the world is busy dealing with an unprecedented global public health crisis is reprehensible," said the letter. Hawks against hawks The annexation plan has split opinion in Israel. The Israeli peace camp rejects it as the last nail in the coffin of the Oslo Accords, but the plan is also opposed by a large part of Israel's hawkish security establishment. A group of former Israel Defence Forces generals recently warned that "unilateral annexation has the potential to ignite a serious conflagration" and "any partial annexation is likely to set in motion a chain reaction over which Israel will have no control." But the proposal is popular with the Trump administration, which has encouraged Netanyahu to move forward. In fact the annexation map is being drawn up by a joint U.S.-Israeli "mapping team" that includes U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, his adviser Aryeh Lightstone and C. Scott Leith, a senior adviser on the U.S. National Security Council. Majdi Mohammed/The Associated Press Israel's supporters unconvinced Some Israeli observers have argued President Trump, rather than PM Netanyahu, is driving the annexation schedule in order to have something to show his evangelical supporters in time for the presidential election in November. But the move may be more popular with American evangelicals than with American Jews. Strong supporters of Israel, including Republicans like Daniel Pipes and the Democratic Majority for Israel, have come out against it. "We cannot overstate the long-term damage such a move would have on the U.S.-Israel alliance," Mark Mellman, a longtime strategist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), warned in letters sent to both of Israel's new prime ministers. 'No fuss being made' The doubts over the wisdom of annexation being felt in Israel and the U.S. may be mirrored in the pro-Israel community in Canada, which hasn't greeted the proposal with any real enthusiasm. CBC News asked the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs for its take on the issue, but it declined to comment. From the other side of the debate, though, the group Independent Jewish Voices, which opposes the occupation of the West Bank, called the plan "a test to countries like Canada which claim to stand for a rules-based international order, but in reality only do so selectively, whenever it is politically expedient." IJV's Corey Balsam said merely withholding recognition isn't a good enough response from a government that claims to be a guardian of international law. "If there's no fuss being made, then Israel will continue annexing land," he told CBC News. "At this point, what Israel requires is punitive measures where it's being deterred. That's where the conversation is globally, especially in Europe, where allies like Ireland and France are exploring avenues to deter Israel. Not just staying silent and refusing to recognize annexation." Free trade with annexed territory? Balsam notes that Canada imports dates from Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley that are on the list of lands to be annexed. "The government may say that they won't recognize annexation, but will they modify the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) to exclude those territories from privileged trade status?" he asked. "I highly doubt that". CBC News asked officials in Global Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office about that issue but was told that they had no comment on the matter. Canada currently allows products from illegal West Bank settlements to enter the country duty-free under CIFTA, arguing that Israel and the West Bank are part of a customs union agreed to mutually by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That agreement would no longer exist following annexation. Mohammed Ballas/The Associated Press Balsam criticized the statement issued after Trudeau's call to Netanyahu for its talk of "increasing ties, improving relations, adding to trade and collaboration." "You'd think that if Canada's trying to send a strong message that they're not happy with the direction Israel is going, they would perhaps suggest that type of collaboration is based upon Israel not annexing territory," he said. Double standard Michael Lynk, the UN's Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Territories (who also teaches law at the University of Western Ontario), said the Trudeau government's mild reaction to Israeli annexation plans stand in stark contrast to its response to Russia's unilateral annexation of Crimea in 2014. That provoked a flood of retaliatory measures that have only escalated since. When she was Canada's foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland repeatedly spoke about the need to defend what she has called "the vital international norm" established after the Second World War that no country should be allowed to alter its borders by force. "Today's sanctions demonstrate that Canada and the international community are ready to impose costs on Russia when it ignores international law and the rules-based international order," she said last year on the fifth anniversary of the Crimean annexation, as she announced that Canada had increased the number of Russian individuals and organizations facing sanctions for that act to more than 400. Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press Lynk said the Trudeau government appears to be much less interested in upholding international law and the rules-based system when it comes to Israel. "Russia was expelled from the G8. There was an import and export ban imposed on the goods manufactured in Crimea," he said. "There were a range of sanctions against Russia and individual asset freezes and travel bans were imposed on Russia as well. "There is no daylight between the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the Israeli annexation of any of the territory it conquered in 1967. For Canada to remain silent tells me that Canada is applying different standards to situations that are essentially the same. "It's surprising to me that Canada has lost its voice on this, given its commitment to a rules-based international order." When New Jerseys Department of Health mandated pregnant women could bring one support person to the hospital when they give birth, anxious moms-to-be breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for one less thing to worry about amid the coronavirus pandemic. But varying interpretations of that order mean not all visitor policies look the same. One woman who counted on having her husband by her side at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick learned that unexpectedly, just two weeks before she was due to give birth. The hospital has permitted women to bring partners, but says they must leave once the women are transferred to postpartum treatment. Robert Cavanaugh, a spokesperson for the hospital, said the period between delivery and movement never lasts less than an hour, and that the support person can stay during that time. The mom-to-be said she found this out only after her husband stumbled across Facebook posts complaining about the policy. I havent been so upset and so emotional until that day, last Thursday, said the woman, whose identity has been withheld because she works at the hospital and fears retribution. I wasnt hearing about it from anyone. Alarm bells rang in March, when it appeared hospitals might bar all visitors in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli issued an order mandating hospitals allow women to have one support person with them for labor, delivery and immediate postpartum. The Department of Health considers one support person essential to patient care throughout labor, delivery and the immediate postpartum period. Therefore hospitals are required to allow one designated support person to be with the expectant mother during these times," Persichilli said in a letter. Other hospitals have more lenient policies. Cooper Health, Hackensack Meridian and St. Peters University Hospital down the street from RWJ in New Brunswick all allow the partner to stay throughout mom and babys admissions, provided they do not have coronavirus symptoms and follow restrictions. And other RWJ locations, including Somerset and Long Branch, allow the partner to remain throughout the mothers stay. RWJ in New Brunswick did not respond to a question asking why the hospital has implemented stricter policies regarding the support person. A law enacted May 15 mandates at least one person can accompany the woman in the delivery room, but does not address the rest of the stay. Persichillis March letter expands on the issue, allowing the support person to remain throughout labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period, which [the health department] has interpreted as delivery hospitalization admission through discharge where a labor and delivery occurred, a health department spokesperson said in a statement. The letter also provides guidance for the hospitals to handle support persons who stay through discharge if they are able to provide appropriate personal protective equipment. In recent decades, having a partner during labor and delivery has become common practice. But that became the norm only after activists fought to take back their rights surrounding maternity. When hospitals began to bar partners in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus, many feared a return to traumatic and dated policies. But both New Jersey and New York the states with hospitals hit hardest by the coronavirus passed orders protecting a womans right to have a partner present. The woman who planned to give birth at RWJ in New Brunswick said she had asked her doctor about having her husband present, and never heard about the policy or any problems. But a call to the hospital just two weeks before she expected to go into labor confirmed her fears. So she decided this week to move to Robert Wood Johnson in Somerset, where the hospital will allow her husband to remain in the room with her throughout her stay. She said she worries about other women, who either cant switch hospitals or also dont know about the policy. Had her husband not seen the Facebook posts, she said they may have arrived at the hospital and learned about the policy in the moment. Anything can happen, she said. Its more the mental and emotional state after delivering the child. This story has been updated to include comment from the health department. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. The number of new coronavirus infections remains low in Tokyo with officials reporting just five new cases in the capital on Wednesday. This marks the fourth consecutive day the number of new cases has been 10 or fewer in the capital city of about 14 million. The latest figure comes as Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko continues to call on her prefectural counterparts to work together to contain the virus. She said: "Clustered infections have emerged not only in Tokyo, but across Japan. The entire nation must be united to address this issue." The central government is set to decide on Thursday whether it will lift the state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and six other prefectures. Last week, the government canceled the nationwide declaration for the other 39 prefectures. It's likely to be lifted for Osaka and its neighbors --- Kyoto and Hyogo. That's because the rate of new infections there has fallen below 0.5 per 100,000 people in the past week --- a benchmark set by the government for the emergency declaration to be lifted. Officials plan to decide whether to lift the declaration for Tokyo and its three prefectural neighbors as a group. The rates for Tokyo and Kanagawa currently do not meet the criteria. Officials will also take into account the state of their medical and testing systems. The northern prefecture of Hokkaido also does not meet the criteria. In total, more than 16,400 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Japan. Over 780 have died. >>> Vietnam presents medical supplies to eight countries >>> Vietnamese NA presents medical supplies to foreign parliaments >>> Vietnam helps Cambodian detention centres battle COVID-19 Vietnamese Ambassador in Cambodia Vu Quang Minh, on behalf of Vietnamese NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, presented the masks to the Cambodian delegation at a ceremony held at the Cambodian NAs headquarters in Phnom Penh on May 20. Expressing his gratitude for the gifts, General Secretary of the Cambodian NA Leng Peng Long affirmed that the gift from the Vietnamese NA partly meets the Cambodian need for medical supplies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. It also shows the friendship and solidarity between the two countries in general and the two legislatures in particular, he stated. Ambassador Vu Quang Minh stated that close cooperation between Vietnamese and Cambodian legislatures on bilateral and multilateral cooperation channels in both regional and international forums, such as Inter-Parliamentary Union, Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum and ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, has greatly contributed to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and around the world. In the context of COVID-19 causing serious issues all over the world, countries must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against the disease, the diplomat said, adding that this small gift shows Vietnams willingness to share its difficulties with Cambodia in dealing with the challenges created by COVID-19. Minh also highly praised and congratulated the great successes that the Cambodian Government and people have achieved in the cause of national construction and development, especially in the prevention and control of COVID-19. Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more In this uncertain and increasingly homebound era, customers are turning online for everything from groceries to cat food. Its more important than ever to make sure that websites are optimized for the highest-possible customer engagement and conversion. E-commerce optimization is one game that companies struggling for market share in the midst of a pandemic must play. Optimization is analysis and correction of e-commerce marketing, workflow and systems to enhance the efficiency and value of an e-commerce brand, said Travis Romine, an e-commerce growth consultant at Sharp Commerce. Optimization ultimately comes down to design and good design, it turns out, is good business. The key elements of e-commerce optimization are ease of use, customer journey mapping, speed of the site, and relevant content, observed Jim Barnes, CEO of enVista. The key to e-commerce optimization is understanding the complete customer journey. The journey doesnt stop when customers place their order and provide payment, he told the E-Commerce Times. Optimizing e-commerce entails the entire end-to-end process, said Barnes, as the customer journey starts with product look-up and research and continues, through product delivery and in some cases returns. Simply put, e-commerce optimization is getting the most value from each visitor to your digital properties, said Brian Massey, founder of Conversion Sciences. Optimal Functioning E-commerce optimization is not one thing, but rather a series of steps that can be taken to facilitate, improve and streamline customer experience. The definition of e-commerce optimization depends upon what you are focused on optimizing, said enVistas Barnes. From a customer perspective, optimization means a seamless, frictionless and enjoyable journey from order placement to delivery and through returns, he continued. Optimizing the customer experience depends on the retailer effectively managing pre-cart and post-cart expectations by providing the customer with expected delivery dates, and tracking the parcel to provide near real-time mobile-friendly updates. The other end of the purchasing journey returns also needs to be considered when optimizing the e-commerce experience. The returns process needs to be flexible and self-service, said Barnes. Customers should have the ability to easily return items from the original order, adding reason codes, swapping items that did not fit, adding new items, and using a carrier-compliant label to ship the returns. Finally, a site needs to be fast and easy to navigate, so that customers dont think twice before hitting the purchase button. Its about speed and convenience, said Barnes. It is imperative for retailers to maintain a fast and responsive e-commerce site with a wealth of information to enhance the customer experience. E-commerce optimization is about making the customer a promise and keeping that promise end to end. How to Optimize Optimizing a website involves looking at what you have, what you want to do, and who you want to reach. The more a company can use data to shape its optimization strategy, the better. Its not a quick process, but its worth it in the long run. The first step in optimizing a step involves looking closely at the current data about a sites visitors and conversions. Analyze the data you have to come up with hypotheses for improving e-commerce, Conversion Sciences Massey told the E-Commerce Times. Research these ideas using behavioral data, analytics and user testing. This will help determine which ideas to turn into hypotheses for testing. The next step is to test the hypotheses to see if they improve revenue. Design tests that prove or disprove that your ideas will improve revenue, said Massey. You will be surprised at how non-rational your e-commerce buyers are. The final stage in the optimization process is applying whats learned. Use what you learned from the test to create new ideas, or move on to the next idea on your list, said Massey. A D V E R T I S E M E N T This kind of careful, data-based approach is the way to move forward into a fully optimized future, and away from older strategies for website design and implementation. The way we design websites is antiquated, Massey observed. A small team of designers, developers and executives decide what they think their visitors want. These small teams are often very wrong. Working optimization processes into the website design process will fundamentally change the way websites are developed. Optimizing a Brand Ultimately, optimization needs to have a broad reach. Optimizing a website is only one element of optimizing an e-commerce brand, Sharp Commerces Romine told the E-Commerce Times. Typically the goal is to increase engagement and conversion, narrowing down the moving parts as you go, using A/B testing methods and keeping careful notes, he added. Google Analytics has a great annotation feature thats helpful for this. Knowing which elements of the site to optimize first is super-important, so time is focused for meaningful wins. As technology evolves, it will alter optimization processes. New technology is coming fast with recommendation engines like 4-tell.com, noted Romine. Using AI technology to improve search, recommendation, and the customer experience can have a huge impact on engagement, sales and retention. Optimizing each slice of the customer journey is paramount to be competitive in todays e-commerce marketplace. Whatever form it takes, e-commerce optimization is about increasing sales. It means finding customers, engaging them, and guiding them to a purchase. Each business has unique challenges, said Massey. An e-commerce site with a low conversion rate on smartphones may choose to focus on getting email addresses. This allows them to market to visitors when they are on a desktop, he pointed out. We had a client whose website didnt support smartphones. By collecting emails, we were able to target visitors when they were on their laptop or work computer, Massey recalled. Some of our e-commerce clients will take incoming phone calls. There is a phone app in all smartphones. So, we may optimize for calls on mobile devices, he said. Ultimately, optimization means engaging visitors in any way we can, and beginning a conversation with those who arent ready to buy. President Trump speaks Thursday at a Ford auto components plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., which is now making personal protection and medical equipment for the coronavirus crisis. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford scored a breakthrough of sorts Thursday when he got President Trump to briefly wear a protective face mask during a tour of a converted factory now churning out ventilators and other medical gear for the coronavirus crisis. But Trump, who has conspicuously refused to cover his face in public during the pandemic, was defiantly unmasked when he stepped in front of reporters and cameras soon after. Trump showed a blue mask with the presidential seal that he had worn behind the scenes, but he wouldn't put it on it in plain sight. I didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it, he said, a wink at the nonstop questions about whether he'll cover his mouth and nose, which public health officials recommend to prevent spread of the coronavirus. Tom Petty's classic hit "I Won't Back Down" played in the background. Ford confirmed that its chairman had asked the president to put on a mask when he arrived, in keeping with company policy, and that Trump had complied. "He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit, the company said in a statement. The will-he-or-won't-he mask question was one of several distractions from the stated purpose of Trump's visit, which was to honor the workers producing critical supplies for treating COVID-19 patients. The visit was also overshadowed by Trump's latest feuds with the Democratic leaders of Michigan, a crucial election year battleground, after he threatened to withhold unspecified federal funding because state officials had mailed out absentee ballot applications to registered voters. The applications were intended to help voters safely participate in the November election during the pandemic, and Republicans and Democrats have done the same elsewhere. But Trump said Thursday that the process is "wrought with abuse," a claim that election specialists said is false. Story continues Trump's visit came as Michigan struggled with a double-barreled disaster. More than 5,000 people have died from COVID-19, and over 1.7 million about a third of the state's workforce have filed for unemployment. In addition, a devastating flood has hit the Midland area after two dams breached Tuesday, forcing thousands to evacuate. Before Trump arrived, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer accused him of deliberately stirring division by threatening to block federal funds to the state. "To have this kind of distraction is just ridiculous to be honest.... Threatening to take money away from a state that is hurting as bad as we are right now is just scary, and I think something that is unacceptable," Whitmer said on "CBS This Morning." She said she told Trump on the phone Wednesday, "Let's try to focus on the true enemy, which is the virus and the natural disaster." Trump has previously derided Whitmer, a Democrat who is considered a potential running mate for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Her office said this week that she was not invited to join Trump's visit to the Ford factory. Biden criticized Trump's handling of Michigan's challenges. "In times of crisis, leaders dont drag their feet and they dont politicize they spring to action to secure needed relief," the former vice president said in a statement. "But in the wake of disaster, Donald Trump once again showed us who he is threatening to pull federal funding and encouraging division." The turmoil over voting and masks demonstrates Trump's ability to generate fresh controversies and attention for otherwise routine events. But it also reflected his tendency to cloud his own message in a crucial swing state. Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes in 2016, and polls show him trailing Biden this year. In this case, Trump transformed the visit to Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant into the latest episode of his battles with Democratic politicians. State officials had urged Trump to wear a face mask at the site, citing Whitmer's executive order and Ford's workplace protocols. "Anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the President of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus," Michigan Atty. Gen. Dana Nessel, a Democrat, wrote Trump in a letter Wednesday. Besides the mask controversy, Trump continued pushing to end lockdown orders around the country, which have helped put more than 38 million Americans out of work since March and sent the economy into a tailspin. All 50 states have begun easing restrictions to some extent, but with the death toll from COVID-19 nearing a staggering 100,000 and still rising, much of the U.S. remains semi-shuttered. "A country wasn't meant to be shut down," Trump said at the Ford factory. "We did the right thing, but now it's time to open it up." More than 10,000 residents were ordered to evacuate their homes in the central part of the US state of Michigan this week after heavy rain caused two dams to fail, triggering what officials warned will be historic flooding. Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in Midland County, the site of the breached dams, in the towns of Edenville and Sanford. The National Weather Service warned of life-threatening flash flooding and joined the governor in urging people in the area to seek higher ground immediately. The downtown area of Midland, a city of about 42,000 people, was under feet of water, according to Whitmer, who warned of historic high flood levels. The city said on its website that 11,000 people were evacuating, and that no deaths had been reported. Authorities said the Tittabawassee River that flows through Midland has reached 35 feet (10.6 metres), well above flood stage and one foot higher (0.3 metres) than the previous record level set in 1986. The river is expected to rise another three feet (about a metre) before cresting. Images taken from helicopters show vast stretches of land underwater, bridges washed away, and homes and buildings flooded. The flooding disaster and the evacuation are being compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced people to observe social distancing. Its hard to believe that we are in the midst of a 100-year crisis a global pandemic and that also were dealing with a flooding that looks to be the worst in 500 years, Whitmer said on Wednesday, referring to the coronavirus pandemic. The governor urged those evacuating to shelters to wear face masks and maintain social distancing when possible due to the COVID-19 crisis. [May 21, 2020] Kane Biotech Announces First Quarter 2020 Financial Results WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kane Biotech Inc. (TSX-V:KNE) (the Company or Kane Biotech), a biotechnology company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of technologies and products that prevent and remove microbial biofilms, today announced its first quarter 2020 financial results. Recent Corporate Highlights: On February 20, 2020, the Kane Biotech appointed renowned Canadian veterinarian, Dr. Jean Gauvin, as Chief Veterinary Officer. On February 24, 2020, the Company closed a non-brokered private placement offering, issuing a total of 24,999,999 Units for aggregate gross proceeds of $3.5 million. On February 25, 2020, Kane Biotech signed its first U.S. distribution agreement with King Wholesale Inc. On February 26, 2020, the Company launched its silkstem TM anti-itch shampoo at the Global Pet Expo. anti-itch shampoo at the Global Pet Expo. On May 12, 2020, the Company announced positive results from a consumer product test evaluating the efficacy of its shampoo on dermatitis and dandruff. The shampoo consists of coactiv+ TM and contains ingredients approved as safe for human use. and contains ingredients approved as safe for human use. On May 19, 2020, Kane Biotech announced that, effective May 19, 2020, shares of the Company have been reapproved for and will recommence trading under the ticker symbol KNBIF on the OTCQB Venture Market, operated by OTC Markets Group. This quarter, we completed the initial launch of our silkstemTM anti-itch pet shampoo, as well as received positive feedback from a consumer product test evaluating our anti-biofilm human shampoo, such that we are now planning to launch these products in the second and third quarters of this year, respectively, said Marc Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kane Biotech. In our Human Health business, we continue to evaluate a number of regulatory pathways for DispersinB, with the goal of identifying a pathway that is most attractive for Kane Biotech, as well as for future potential partners. First Quarter 2020 Financial Highlights Total revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 were $456,139, with $64,680 from license and royalty revenues and $391,459 from product and services revenues. Total revenues decreased 27% compared to $621,256 for the same period in 2019. The decrease in first quarter 2020 revenues is primarily due to a 31% decline in product and service revenues, as the Company delivered its largest purchase order for bluestemTM products in its history to a large North American pet retailer in the first quarter of 2019. This was partially offset by a $13,919, or 41% increase in royalty payments from Dechra Veterinary Products, as it continues to roll out its expanded VetradentTM product line to its North American veterinarian customer base. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2020 was $179,416, a decrease of $31,432 compared to $210,848 for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. The decrease in gross profit is primarily related to lower product and services revenues. Total operating expenses for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 were $1,624,152, an increase of 96% compared to $830,123 for the same period in 2019. The increase is primarily attributable to increases in staff and other compensation-related expenses, higher investor relations-related expenses and higher contract research costs related to the Companys DispersinB human wound care program. Loss for the first quarter of 2020 was ($1,363,836), an increase of 107% compared to ($657,393) for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Detailed financial information about Kane Biotech can be found in its March 31, 2020 Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis on SEDAR and on the Companys website. Conference Call Details Kane Biotech is pleased to invite all interested parties to participate in a conference call today, May 21, 2020, at 4:30pm E.T. during which time the results will be discussed. Live Call: 1-877-268-9044 (Canada and the United States) 1-706-679-2995 (International) Replay: 1-404-537-3406 Conference ID: 4697848 A live and archived audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of Kane Biotechs corporate website at www.kanebiotech.com. About Kane Biotech Inc. Kane Biotech is a biotechnology company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of technologies and products that prevent and remove microbial biofilms. The Company has a portfolio of biotechnologies, intellectual property (51 patents and patents pending, trade secrets and trademarks) and products developed by the Company's own biofilm research expertise and acquired from leading research institutions. StrixNB, DispersinB, Aledex, bluestem, silkstem, coactiv+ and Kane are trademarks of Kane Biotech Inc. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "KNE." For more information, please visit www.kanebiotech.com , or contact: Marc Edwards Chief Executive Officer Kane Biotech Inc. +1 (514) 910-6991 [email protected] Ray Dupuis Chief Financial Officer Kane Biotech Inc. +1 (204) 298-2200 [email protected] Stephen Kilmer Investor Relations +1 (646) 274-3580 [email protected] Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains certain statements regarding Kane Biotech Inc. that constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities law. These statements reflect managements current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the Companys: (a) financial condition, including lack of significant revenues to date and reliance on equity and other financing; (b) business, including its early stage of development, government regulation, market acceptance for its products, rapid technological change and dependence on key personnel; (c) intellectual property including the ability of the Company to protect its intellectual property and dependence on its strategic partners; and (d) capital structure, including its lack of dividends on its common shares, volatility of the market price of its common shares and public company costs. Further information about these and other risks and uncertainties can be found in the disclosure documents filed by the Company with applicable securities regulatory authorities, available at www.sedar.com . The Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. COVID-19 Pandemic The outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 strain of coronavirus, was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020 and has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has affected economies and financial markets around the world, resulting in an economic downturn. The effects of this pandemic on the Company may include decreased customer demand, interruptions to supply chains, manufacturing activities and research and development programs and increased government regulations or interventions. The duration and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is unknown at this time and it is not possible to reliably estimate the length and severity of these developments nor the impact of these developments on the financial results and condition of the Company in future periods. KANE BIOTECH INC. Selected Financial Results Statement of Comprehensive Loss Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 2019 Total Revenue $ 456,139 $ 621,256 Gross Profit 179,416 210,848 Operating expenses General and administration 1,018,745 595,685 Research 605,407 234,438 Total operating expenses 1,624,152 830,123 Loss and comprehensive loss for the period $ (1,363,836 ) $ (657,393 ) Basic and diluted loss per share for the period $ (0.01 ) $ (0.01 ) Weighted average shares outstanding - basic and diluted 104,411,111 80,113,536 Statement of Financial Position March 31, December 31, 2020 2019 Cash and cash equivalents $ 426,334 $ 834,128 Other current assets 1,250,426 1,075,297 Non-current assets 860,467 846,267 Total Assets $ 2,537,227 $ 2,755,692 Current liabilities $ 1,248,945 $ 1,341,653 Non-current liabilities 698,095 577,232 Shareholder' equity 590,187 836,807 Total liabilities and shareholder's equity $ 2,537,227 $ 2,755,692 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Bahri, the shipping arm of Saudi Aramco, has suspended plans to charter a dozen tankers for liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a U.S. export project in which it is a minority partner, after the majority owner of the project postponed the final investment decision, sources told Reuters on Thursday. The Saudi oil giant has an agreement from last year for LNG offtake and a participation of 25 percent in the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas, as part of Aramcos ambition to become a global natural gas player. Last year, Saudi Aramco was looking to spend billions of U.S. dollars on natural gas acquisitions in the United States as part of this strategy. Aramco signed in May 2019 an agreement with Sempra Energy to offtake LNG from the Phase 1 of the Port Arthur project, and take a 25-percent stake in the project. The agreement with Sempra LNG is a major step forward in Saudi Aramcos long term strategy to become a leading global LNG player. With global demand for LNG expected to grow by around 4% per year, and likely to exceed 500 million metric tons a year by 2035, we see significant opportunities in this market and we will continue to pursue strategic partnerships which enable us to meet rising global demand for LNG, Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramcos CEO said back then. However, all bets on the global demand for LNG were off when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. LNG demand this year is expected to be much weaker than expected before the crisis. Sempra Energy, which initially targeted the final investment decision (FID) for Q3 2020, said earlier this month that Given current market dynamics, a final investment decision is now expected for the project in 2021. Now that the FID has been delayed by at least a couple of quarters, Aramco has put earlier plans to charter up to 12 LNG tankers on hold, according to Reuters sources. The shipping requirement was meant for Port Arthur, so given the delay and also the current market, it makes sense to put the shipping on hold, one of those sources told Reuters. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has revealed that 60 per cent of coronavirus confirmed cases in the state are from oil workers returning from rigs. The Rivers State Governor made this claim when the Management Team of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited paid him a courtesy visit at Government House Port Harcourt. Wike further stated that this is the reason why the state government has insisted that oil workers coming into the state must be tested to confirm their coronavirus status. He added that the Nigeria Air Force Base, Port Harcourt, recently quarantined 14 oil workers out, which three tested positive, just as he commended Exxon Mobil for their gesture. Just yesterday the Nigerian Air Force base quarantined 14 oil workers. Three of them tested positive for COVID-19. You see, those who come from the rig contributes to 60 per cent of the cases we have recorded in this state. Share this post with your Friends on remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G-20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Beyond its hard-hitting rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus, the White House on Wednesday issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report does not signal a shift in U.S. policy, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the report and spoke only on condition of anonymity, but it expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. "The media's focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge that's presented by the Chinese Communist Party," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report. "China's been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didn't happen," he said. "We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact." Later in the day, the State Department announced that it had approved the sale of advanced torpedoes to the Taiwanese military, a move sure to draw a rebuke from Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province. The department said it had informed Congress of the $180 million sale of heavy-weight torpedoes, spare parts, support and testing equipment, which "will help improve the security of (Taiwan) and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region." While pushing back on China, Trump has sometimes uttered contradictory statements. He has talked about having a great personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the virus from spreading across the world. He'll criticize China, then say he wants Beijing to sign Phase II of a trade deal and join the United States and Russia in a three-way nuclear arms control treaty. Late Wednesday, Trump wrote on Twitter that China's "massive disinformation campaign" is intended to help Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election. @realDonaldTrump: China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along! In the past 20 years, the U.S. believed that if it opened its markets wider, invested more money in China, and provided greater access to top U.S. technology and training for Chinese military officers that somehow this would cause China to liberalize, the official said. Instead, China is more authoritarian than at any time since Beijing killed anti-government protesters on Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its political ideas across the globe. The U.S. and China established diplomatic relations during the Nixon administration. "More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China," the report said. "Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed." According to the report, the Trump administration sees "no value" in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry. "When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure" on China. The latest example of U.S. and China power competition is playing out at the World Health Organization. At the U.N. health agency's annual assembly this week, Xi joined by video conference to offer more money and support. Meanwhile, Trump railed against the WHO in a letter accusing it of covering up the coronavirus outbreak with China and threatening to permanently halt U.S. funding that has been its main financial lifeblood for years. Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans was hailed by her fans on Wednesday as she showed off her curves on social media with a shot of herself in a blue tie-dye bikini on the warm spring day. 'Little bit of Vitamin Sea,' the Oak Island, North Carolina native, 28, captioned the post, with the hashtag #BeachDays. In the shot, the reality star - who's mother to sons Jace, 10, with Andrew Lewis, and Kaiser, five, with Nathan Griffith; and three-year-old daughter Ensley with her husband David Eason - had her dark locks in long braids while wearing a black cap with reflective sunglasses. Radiant: Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans was hailed by her fans Wednesday as she showed off her curves on social media with a shot of herself in a blue tie-dye bikini on the warm spring day She was complimented by hundreds of fans as she beamed body positivity, going back and forth with one who wrote, 'I'm glad you are showing your confidence! I struggle wearing a bikini at a size 9.' Jenelle replied: 'ANYONE can look good in a bikini!!!! Just have to find the right style/size. Not everyone looks the same in identical bathing suits. 'There's even cute 1 pieces I've been buying lately ... Don't put yourself down!' Elsewhere in the thread, one user wrote to Jenelle, 'Loving that swim suit glad youre rocking it regardless of the haters,' while another said, 'Girl you look absolutely amazing!' Uplifting: The one-time MTV star encouraged a fan's self-esteem Summer style: In the shot, the reality star had her dark locks in long braids while wearing a black cap with reflective sunglasses Confident: She was complimented by hundreds of fans as she beamed body positivity Evans has frequently taken to Instagram and TikTok with clips of herself in a bikini, brushing off body shaming comments and forging ahead with grace. In an April 8 post in which she posed in a bikini, she captioned the shot, 'When people talk about my weight, I'll just keep on dancing.' In the clip, Evans, who has more than 2.9 million Instagram followers, twerked to the Kash Doll tune Doin Too Much. Lauded: Many of Evans' fans posted positive messages in the social media thread Director of Elections for the Convention People's Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr., has waded into the controversy over whether there is a need for a new electoral register, and sought to find out if the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, could admit that he is a product of an ''incurably fraud voters' register''. James Kwabena Bomfeh, also called Kabilla, said this when making his submissions on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) comments about the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) regarding a new voters' register. The NDC is of a belief that the EC and NIA are in cahoots with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig this year's elections, hence the plan by the Commission to use Ghana card and passport as the only legal documents for the compilation of a new voters' register. The NPP 2020 Campaign Manager, Peter Mac-Manu fired back at the opposition party saying the NPP doesn't need the Electoral Commission to win the elections but rather the party has a solid track record for Ghanaians to re-elect them during the December polls. Although the EC has debunked the claims and defended their position on why they are going for those two requirements for the registration exercise, the NDC leadership and members are the least convinced about the intention of the Commission. Contributing to the Wednesday edition of ''Kokrokoo'' on Peace FM, Kabilla picked on the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana referring him to statements he made in 2016 regarding the latter's call for a new voters' register under the Charlotte Osei-led Electoral Commission. Kabilla recounted to host Kwami Sefa Kayi that the Vice President described the register as an ''incurably fraud register'' and therefore didn't believe in it. According to him, though Dr. Bawumia didn't believe in the old register, it was the same register that the former Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei used to declare the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) winner in the elections which saw him (Bawumia) become the Vice President of Ghana. Kabilla therefore wants to find out if Dr. Bawumia would describe himself as a product of a fraudulent register. Dr. Bawumia ''should be ready to tell how he would describe himself; as the product of an incurably fraud register? My point is that if you call a system incurably fraud and that system is used to produce you...how would you describe yourself, the product of an incurably fraud register'', Kabilla said this in an attempt to advise opponents of the compilation of a new voters' register to mind their language and choose their words carefully. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video WATERLOO REGION A professor at the University of Waterloos School of Pharmacy was recognized for her work as an advocate, teacher, health care provider and researcher by the Canadian Association of Pharmacists. Kelly Grindrod is the associations Canadian Pharmacist of the Year. It was an honour she won before the pandemic began, but it wasnt announced publicly until this week. Its really nice to be recognized, Grindrod said. A lot of us work really hard and we are often in the background, supporting others. It reminds you there is a reason were doing this. Were helping people. Pharmacists dont just dispense drugs. Their main role is to make sure medications are safe and effective. But many of them wear several different hats, Grindrod said. In addition to working with people who have chronic pain and mental illness, Grindrod also focuses on teaching her graduate students how to be effective community pharmacists. She has also done research in pharmacy innovation and digital health technologies. Right now Grindrod is on sabbatical in Quebec, but when she is in Waterloo Region she also spends one day a week at the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre. When people have messy, complicated drug problems, I help them with that. When people have chronic pain, I help them find medication that works, she said. Grindrod said the role of pharmacists has been evolving, but the pandemic has made some of those changes much more evident. When medical offices began to shut down, pharmacies remained open and accessible. Pharmacies have become public health hubs. That has become very clear in the pandemic, she said. Pharmacists filled the role of health care provider for many people seeking renewals to prescriptions or even simple public health advice. Grindrod said many of them were overwhelmed with concerns and questions from the public when the pandemic began. They worked with patients to renew prescriptions for them if their family doctor was busy. They gave people public health advice when they were concerned about catching COVID-19 and couldnt reach overwhelmed public health lines. What we really saw is that pharmacies are filling those gaps. Grindrod said pharmacists will probably be the ones to administer a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available, similar to flu shot administration that is already done at pharmacies. Pashinyan: UK has been strong partner of newly independent Armenia Armenia, Ukraine depositories sign memorandum of cooperation Azerbaijan advises Armenia to correctly assess the new geopolitical realities and draw conclusions Protesting residents of Armenias Parakar community march to territorial administration ministry Armenia government approves protocol on implementation of readmission agreement with Lithuania MFA: Armenia has no preconditions for border delimitation 621 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Paris to have place named after Hrant Dink Armenias Parakar enlarged community residents protesting outside government building Turkey opposition party MPs petition for parliamentary inquiry into Hrant Dink assassination France, Germany, Italy and Spain call on Israel to halt construction in East Jerusalem Armenia parliament speaker in US, meets with Nancy Pelosi Iranian MFA: Relations between Iran and Russia have moved into a new diverse, intensified direction Biden says invasion of Ukraine will be disaster for Russia Newspaper: Armenia PM Pashinyan plans to hold Presidents office Newspaper: Opposition Armenia bloc, led by ex-President Kocharyan, starting new processes Taliban PM calls on Muslim countries to be first to formally recognize their government Saudi Arabia records lowest temperature in 30 years Erdogan's visit to Ukraine scheduled for February 3 Russian peacekeeping contingent establishes order of passage through Lachin corridor French Senate votes to ban hijab at sporting events Armenian FM: All necessary conditions to be created for Demarcation Commission work Olaf Scholz: Borders in Europe cannot be changed by force Lavrov presents Armenian Ambassador to Russia, with the Order of Friendship Bill Gates warns of pandemics far more serious than COVID-19 Macron: EU countries must work together on agreement for stability and security Turkey Central banks and UAE sign agreement worth almost $5 billion Blinken: Western countries need unity to stop Russian aggression against Ukraine Iranian President performs evening namaz in Kremlin after talks with Putin Turkish police detain women protesting price hikes in hygiene products Delegation headed by Chief of the Cypriot National Guard General Staff has meetings in Armenia Merkel refuses job in UN structure Greece receives the first batch of French Rafale fighters NEWS.am daily digest: 19.01.22 Azerbaijan hopes Pope to mediate in relations with Armenia Talks between presidents of Russia and Iran start in Kremlin Armenian FM: This is not first time Baku makes nonconstructive statements Ombudsman: I urge not to give in to Azerbaijani manipulations, to visit Artsakh Armenian FM: Armenia passes a package of proposals to Azerbaijan France names the main favorite of presidential election Garo Paylan concludes address in Turkey parliament in Armenian Russian Foreign Ministry believes there is no risk of large-scale war in Europe Dollar goes up in Armenia Sharmazanov: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan did not decide to hold press conference, he did not change his mind Blinken: Russia has plans to increase force on Ukraine borders : Azerbaijani military participate in Turkish drills Taliban say all conditions for recognizing legitimacy of government are met Azerbaijan MFA statement distorts events of Armenian massacres in Baku 32 years ago Karabakh ombudsmans office: Azerbaijans anti-Armenian, genocidal policy has clear chronology US official, Barzani are photographed against backdrop of Greater Armenia and Kurdistan map Armenia ex-defense minister, army General Staff chief, some others criminal case court hearing kicks off FM: Most important direction continues to be international recognition of Artsakh Armenia revenue committee chief on opening of Turkey border: Shall we live with closed borders? In fear? US selects Los Angeles to host Summit of the Americas in summer 2022 Karabakh Foreign Minister: Return of refugees can only be like mirror Iranian president arrives on official visit to Moscow All CSTO peacekeepers leaves Kazakhstan Artsakh Foreign Minister: Unacceptable to bracket NKAO and NKR together Karabakh FM: Format of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' visits needs to be restored Media: Air communication between Turkey and Armenia will start on February 2 Artsakh FM: Azerbaijan attack on Karabakh will mean attack on Russia Gold prices hardly change American professor angers Erdogan's son-in-law Hovhannes Khachatryan is elected Armenia Central Bank Deputy Governor 15 years pass since Hrant Dink assassination 563 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia Guterres offers Merkel job at UN Armenian church revamped in Iran World oil prices going up Newspaper: ECHR rulings increase after Armenia revolution in 2018 Newspaper: Armenia ex-President Sargsyan to give interview instead of press conference Azerbaijan MFA falls into hysterical rage by France FM statement The Pope to donate 100,000 to help migrants on border of Belarus and Poland Fourth vaccine against COVID-19 is not enough for Omicron World is on verge of country defaults French Foreign Ministry considers unacceptable Azerbaijan statements about Pecresse US to return two valuable artifacts over 4,000 years old to Iraq Germany may consider halting Nord Stream 2 if Russia attacks Ukraine Israel successfully completes test of anti-ballistic missile system Q&A with Lee Beavington What inspired you to tell this story? Ive been blessed with opportunities to teach and research in wild locations that are both tremendous in their biodiversity and full of profound wonder. I shot and edited all the footage. Yet with the exception of the first segment, every second of footage was serendipitous. That is, while engaged with the natural world, I noticed something that caught my eye. So, I pulled my camera out of my pocket, and tried to capture that wonder (or, in a few cases, the destruction of said wonder). I served as witness to the ordinary beauty that is revealed when we are attentive and tuned in. I also took the Fall 2019 President's Dream Colloquium course at SFU: Creative Ecologies: Reimagining the World. This provided a supportive and inspiring space to work on this project. What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them to present your story? I've been extremely blessed to travel to remote wild locations for both my teaching and scholarship. Trips to the flooded Amazon River, as part of Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Amazon Field School, and the melting glaciers of Norway, as part of the Wild Pedagogies Colloquium, proved transformative for myself. However, I'm not sure how to reconcile my carbon footprint. In fact, while I flew over the Atlantic Ocean toward Oslo, Greta Thunberg was somewhere below me heading to America on a fossil-free sailboat. I think a paradigm shift is needed where we fly less and connect locally more. Also, I wanted to use something more advanced than iMovie. Yet various factors prevented this from happening. So, I heeded the advice of my favourite artist, Peter Gabriel: When you put an obstacle in front of an artist, they get creative. There were times when I thought iMovie wont let me do this! and then, through some persistence, I found a workaround that turned out even better than originally conceived. What do you want people to take away from your story? First, that direct experience in the natural world is vital. For our health, clarity and general well-being, but also to remind us of the deep interrelatedness of our planet. We are nature. Second, that science education has an opportunity to be a leader in this area. Students can go through their first year of biology instruction at a university without stepping outside once. This, to me, is not only a lost opportunity, but a sign of how far we have removed ourselves from being connected to the wild. Third, to get yourself and your family outside every single day. We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So before you buy or sell Ascletis Pharma Inc. (HKG:1672), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling. What Is Insider Buying? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information. We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise. Check out our latest analysis for Ascletis Pharma The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Ascletis Pharma In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Founder Jinzi Jason Wu bought HK$3.5m worth of shares at a price of HK$3.05 per share. That implies that an insider found the current price of HK$3.42 per share to be enticing. That means they have been optimistic about the company in the past, though they may have changed their mind. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. In this case we're pleased to report that the insider bought shares at close to current prices. Jinzi Jason Wu was the only individual insider to buy shares in the last twelve months. Jinzi Jason Wu bought 2.31m shares over the last 12 months at an average price of HK$3.02. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below! Story continues SEHK:1672 Recent Insider Trading May 20th 2020 Ascletis Pharma is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Insider Ownership of Ascletis Pharma I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Ascletis Pharma insiders own about HK$2.0b worth of shares (which is 54% of the company). I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders. What Might The Insider Transactions At Ascletis Pharma Tell Us? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Ascletis Pharma shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, Ascletis Pharma insiders feel good about the company's future. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. While conducting our analysis, we found that Ascletis Pharma has 1 warning sign and it would be unwise to ignore this. Of course Ascletis Pharma may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Ibrahim Zubair, found guilty of raising funds for the terrorist organisation in the United States, has been deported to India after completing his sentence, intelligence sources said. Zubair was deported two days back along with 167 other Indian deportees, intelligence officials said on Thursday. According to intelligence officials, the deportees were brought on a special flight to Amritsar on May 19. Since then India-born Zubair, 38, has been quarantined at a centre in Amritsar, an official told IANS, requesting anonymity. Investigative agencies sources confirmed that after Zubair was deported to India, he has been questioned security officials to find out his links to terrorists in India. According to intelligence officials, Zubair, an engineer from Hyderabad, was arrested in 2011 on charges of terror financing. He was convicted for raising money for Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in 2009. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair has been accused of financing terrorism in a bid to support violent jihad against the US military in Iraq. "Ibrahim Mohammad (Zubair), an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. In or around 2006, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a US citizen. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States around 2007," the US Justice Department said in a press release in 2018. The Justice Department further stated that Zubair was a citizen of India and brother of Farooq Mohammad, who was also arrested for the terror crimes. Citing his role in the terror funding, the US Justice Department said that Zubair, exchanged several mails between 2005 to 2009 with his brother, about the funds and the jihad against the US. The two discussed jihad in detail over 50-60 mails exchanged between them during 2005 to 2009. The US Justice Department also stated that Zubair joined the terrorist organisation after watching videos of al-Awlaki. And on directions of his brother, he received money from two Pakistani associates -- Sultan Salim and Asif Salim -- and deposited it into his brother's accounts. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair also tried to hide the high value transactions with his brother by telling authorities that he has sold his car and other stuff to his brother. The US Justice Department further alleged that Zubair's brother also travelled to Dubai, and used Zubair's US address for bank transactions while Zubair also facilitated in transferring the money to his brother there so that it could be handed over to the Al Qaeda leader. It further said that in 2009, Mohammad along with two people had travelled to Yemen and gave around a huge amount to al-Awalki's associates. According to the US Department of Justice, Zubair had pleaded guilty for terror crimes and was sentenced to five years in jail while his brother was given 27 years imprisonment. Madrid, 18 May 2020 (SPS) - The Association of Sahrawi Journalists and Writers in Europe has condemned the unfair sentence issued by the so-called Court of Appeal of the Moroccan occupation against Sahrawi media activist, Khatri Faraji Bujama, of 20 years imprisonment, because of his political positions in favour of independence of Western Sahara and the self-determination of the Saharan people. The Association considered the sentence against the Sahrawi media activist a crime committed by the Moroccan occupation, in order to continue its practices aimed at intimidating Sahrawis and silencing their voices. Finally, the Association called on the international organizations to take urgent action to demand the release of Sahrawi media activist, Khatri Faraji Bujama, and all Sahrawi political prisoners in the Moroccan jails. (SPS) 062/SPS/T Washington: The US Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that could prevent some Chinese companies from listing their shares on US exchanges unless they follow standards for US audits and regulations. The measure, sponsored by Republican Senator John Kennedy and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, passed by unanimous consent. However, it must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act bars securities of any company from being listed on any US securities exchange if it has failed to comply with the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Boards audits for three years in a row. The measure also would require public companies disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government. The bill is written to apply to all foreign companies, but it is targeted at China, and follows intense criticism of Beijing by Republican President Donald Trump that has been echoed by Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Trump and other officials in his administration insist that China mishandled the novel coronavirus during the early weeks of an outbreak that has spread into a global pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 people and cratered global economies. Beijing denies such allegations. There are plenty of markets all over the world open to cheaters, but America cant afford to be one of them. China is on a glide path to dominance and is cheating at every turn, Kennedy said in a statement. For too long, Chinese companies have disregarded US reporting standards, misleading our investors, Van Hollen said. TORONTO, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- African Gold Group, Inc. (AGG.V) (AGG or the Company) is pleased to provide an accelerated construction development timeline for its fully licensed Kobada project in Southern Mali. Highlights include: Fast-tracked schedule reduces construction from 23 months to 19 months Significant savings in EPCM costs and working capital Detailed design completed on the majority of the process plant Initial infrastructure completed on main camp and construction camp Lower power requirements resulting in smaller, short-lead time equipment for process plant The Kobada Gold Project is a fully licensed and permitted advanced development project located in the prolific Birimian Greenstone belt in Southern Mali. The Company is working towards delivering the definitive feasibility study (DFS) in Q2 2020 as a final step before commencing construction. Incorporating significant experience from other West African operations, SENET has assisted in designing the process plant for the Kobada Gold Project, which is very similar to other operating plants in the region. The mine is designed with ease of construction and operation as a priority. The simplified and compact process plant flowsheet minimizes the requirement for expensive and long lead process equipment, thereby substantially reducing the construction time. We are very fortunate to be working with SENET, part of the DRA group, on the Kobada Gold Project. SENET has been active in West African region for over 25 years, and there are very few projects in this region that SENET has not been involved in, says Danny Callow Chief Operation Officer of AGG. Utilising known technology to develop a robust plant flowsheet suitable for West African conditions, yet simple and flexible in design, has allowed us to fast-track the development of the engineering to a stage where much of the plant is now at detailed design level. This allows us to shorten the schedule significantly and save on engineering costs. This achievement is made even more remarkable by the fact that SENET engineers and designers have had to work remotely due to the current lockdown conditions in South Africa. Story continues The Company also intends to outsource key specialised components of the plant from best in class providers, including a state-of-the-art hybrid, solar PV, thermal and battery storage system, fuel storage and supply, and the mining and TSF contract to reduce upfront capital cost. About African Gold Group African Gold Group is a Canadian listed exploration and development company on the TSX Venture Exchange (AGG.V) with its focus on developing a gold platform in West Africa. Its principal asset is the Kobada Project in southern Mali. For more information regarding African Gold Group visit our website at www.africangoldgroup.com. For more information: Daniyal Baizak VP Corporate Development (416) 861 2966 Cautionary statements This press release contains forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forwardlooking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding, timeline for delivery of the DFS, the accelerated construction development timeline, design of the Kobada Gold Project mine, savings on EPCM and working capital costs, power requirements and equipment lead times, outsourcing of specialized components of the Kobada Gold Project, other design elements of the Kobada Gold Project mine and other statements with respect to the future plans or intentions of the Company. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", aims, "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration activities; regulatory risks; risks inherent in foreign operations; and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. To be honest; I am not sure that there is a single truth anymore coming from the USA. From the top (Trump ???) to almost the bottom. It must be getting really bad for such Tweeting to be going on. I then looked at the last few days of Trump Tweets and OMG he is mental and his continuing to be supporters are just as mental It is in black and white or maybe blue and white as it is a Tweet Tweet. It cannot be ignored and denied Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the incompetence of China, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020 The Twitter from Trump is showing serious mental issues. I voted for him and never will again (At least I learn from my mistakes). The man is definitely perfect for the US and he is leading the US right into the bottom of the well Lets put the actual words in the post, for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and many more are erasing many things very fast Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the incompetence of China, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing! Trump You have to smile when you see a mental issue such as a Tweet like the one above shows. He is hanging himself & the USA and if voted in again, well that will just show the truth about the US system and its corruption.from the top down to the little people My God we (USA) are looking very very desperate What else can be said? Except: Running scared is never a good thing and Going full retard! You never go full retard WtR Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:22:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close The White House is seen in Washington D.C., the United States, on May 21, 2020. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States is withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, the latest move to abandon a major international arms control agreement. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua) WASHINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States is withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies, the latest move to abandon a major international arms control agreement. "Russia didn't adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere we will pull out," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the decision to withdraw from the treaty. "But there is a very good chance we will make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together," Trump added, without elaborating. The Washington Post reported that Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, would inform Moscow of the decision during his Thursday's lunch with Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov. Analysts noted that the U.S. pullout, rumored for months, would cause grievance among European allies who are also participating in the treaty. The withdrawal would formally take place in six months, based on the treaty's withdrawal terms. The treaty, which became effective in 2002, allows its states-parties to conduct short-notice, unarmed reconnaissance flights over the others' entire territories to collect data on military forces and activities. Currently, 35 nations, including Russia, the United States, and some other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, have signed it. Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet. The treaty is aimed at building confidence and familiarity among states-parties through their participation in the overflights. Over 1,500 Open Skies flights have been conducted since the deal entered into force in 2002, according to media reports. The United States and Russia have blamed each other for noncompliance with the treaty. Washington and Moscow have each put a few limits on flights over their territories -- Hawaii and some other U.S. bases have been off-limits, as have Kaliningrad, among others, according to media reports. It was the latest in a string of moves by the Trump administration to withdraw from a major international treaty. Washington abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Moscow last year. The pullout of the Treaty on Open Skies further raised doubts over whether the Trump administration would extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between Washington and Moscow. The New START, which expires next February, can be extended for at most five years with the consent of the two countries. Russia has expressed willingness to extend the treaty, while the Trump administration has yet to officially reply. Elections can happen without a whole lot of voters. But you cant have an election without a whole lot of poll workers. Thats one of the lessons from the 2020 Wisconsin presidential primary, when poll workers refused to turn out for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus. In Milwaukee County, so few poll workers showed up, election officials were able to open only five of 150 polling places, forcing voters to either cast their ballots by mail or literally risk their lives by standing in long lines at congested polling places. So far, at least 40 poll workers or people who voted in person that day have contracted the coronavirus. Poll workers tend to be older citizens, often retirees. Voters tend to skew older, too. So a disproportionate number of people who traditionally go to polling places on Election Day happen to be among the population most vulnerable to COVID-19. And that raises a serious question: Will Harris County have enough poll workers to adequately staff the November elections? And will a lot of voters stay away from the polls because theyre afraid of the coronavirus? In collaboration with the Harris County clerk and with funding from Rice Universitys COVID-19 Initiative, we set out to answer these questions by surveying Harris County voters and poll workers about polling place practices for the 2020 presidential election in light of the pandemic. Online interviews were completed by 1,800 poll workers and 1,000 live telephone interviews were conducted with registered voters in Harris County between March 27 and May 4. We asked a lot of questions, but the most important one was this: In this pandemic election year, how and where would you prefer to vote? Despite the pandemic, and despite what happened in Wisconsin, poll workers in Harris County generally say theyre still likely to show up for work in November. But most of them say they want protection. More than 75 percent of all poll workers we surveyed said theyre likely to work at the polls in November when they are provided personal protective equipment (including sanitized gloves), plexiglass screens, distancing requirements and a rule allowing only one person to vote at a time. All of these are steps the county clerk is planning to take. Curiously, though, poll workers are not enthusiastic about other ideas that could protect them and voters from the coronavirus, including moving polling places outdoors or conducting drive-thru voting. However, we should note here that these choices would involve major restructuring of voting systems; poll workers arent familiar with these types of systems, and its possible theyre just not comfortable with them because theyre unfamiliar. Of course, this calculus might change drastically if the new CDC/FEMA models are correct and daily U.S. deaths double to 3,000 a day in the coming months. Voters willingness to cast their ballots in the November 2020 election under the threat of the coronavirus varies across the electorate. More than 30 percent of Democrats compared to only 9 percent of Republicans say they probably wont vote at a polling location with nothing but social distancing to protect them from the coronavirus. A quarter of women compared to only 14 percent of men say theyre similarly reluctant to vote at a polling place with such lax precautions. Finally, among people over 65, who are considered especially vulnerable, 27 percent say they probably wont vote at such a polling place; among voters under 65, that number is only 18 percent. The challenge confronting Harris County election officials is how to make voting in person, either on or before Election Day, safe not only for voters but also for poll workers. The option to vote by mail is readily available to voters over the age of 65 and it is something the county clerk can encourage with public outreach. That right may be extended to all voters during the pandemic, given a ruling Tuesday by a federal judge in San Antonio. We support that expansion, but whether it still holds by the time voters go to the polls depends on the success of Attorney General Ken Paxtons appeal of that ruling, which was blocked temporarily on Wednesday by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The expansion of mail-in voting comes with serious challenges for local election administrators. Since Texas has never done full-state mail-in voting, there may not be sufficient time to educate the public about it and insufficient funds and resources (people) to process requests for and receipt of mail-in ballots. The longer the courts and state officials take to settle the matter, the more difficult it will be to implement, potentially disenfranchising the very voters it intends to help. At a minimum, its a good idea to give voters plenty of opportunities to cast ballots early, in places with open spaces for maximum social distancing, personal protective equipment for poll workers, gloves for voters, along with cotton swabs for touching eSlate voting machines. If not, we may not have a lot of voters, we may not have a lot of poll workers, and we may not have much of an election. Stein is professor of political science; Vann is director of the Center for Civic Leadership; Kortum is an associate professor of psychological sciences; Ziegler Acemyan is an adjunct assistant professor of psychological sciences; and Wallach is a professor of computer science at Rice University. This research was funded in part by a grant from Rice Universitys COVID-19 Research Fund. The Taoiseach claims the British government is using Northern Ireland as leverage in trade talks with the EU. It is after the UK government revealed how it plans to implement the Irish protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Bob Behnken didnt want his 6-year-old son to hear the roaring engines and see the flames of a rocket launch for the first time when his dad was in the tiny capsule on top. So in December 2018, Behnken and Theodore stood along the Florida coast as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. It was similar to Behnkens impending launch Wednesday, but it carried supplies rather than fathers. At first he was trepidatious about that and didnt think anyone should go on it, Behnken told reporters in a recent call. But after seeing the launch, he was comfortable enough to give me approval to go and fly, and then suggested that Mommy could go second and then he was going to go third. Behnken heads to Florida: NASA astronauts depart Houston, enter final preparations for next weeks 'historic' launch In fact, his mom is also a NASA astronaut. Both Behnken and Megan McArthur have been into space, but that was before they became parents. Theyre excited to share this experience with Theodore, but they want to make sure liftoff is not surprising or scary. Theyve spent the past year or so launching and recovering model rockets in their Timber Cove neighborhood in Taylor Lake Village and reading books on rockets. Theodore has lots of these. When youre an astronaut, Behnken said, people give gifts to your child assuming that theyre only interested in space. This preparation will culminate this week as Behnken and Doug Hurley, who also has a young son, become the first NASA astronauts to launch on a new SpaceX vehicle designed to carry people to the International Space Station. This planned launch from Kennedy Space Center, Demo-2, is considered a flight test before the SpaceX human spaceflight system can receive NASA certification for more routine flights. Behnken and Hurley could spend between 30 days and 119 days on the space station. And while routine might not describe current U.S. launches (yet), it was certainly appropriate for the 1960s and 70s when Amy Bean and Tracy Cernan Woolie watched their fathers launch into space. Bean was 6 when her dad, Alan Bean, launched on Apollo 12 in 1969, becoming the fourth man to walk on the moon. Living in Nassau Bay, a neighborhood of astronauts, her dads out-of-this-world adventure felt rather normal. All dads were going, said Bean, who is now 56 and lives in Boerne. It was kind of like, Well, this is my dads turn. She was 10 when he took his second flight in 1973, this time to the Skylab space station. He was in space for 59 days, calling home every three days using a phone that connected the Beans home to Mission Control. I never felt scared or anything like that, she said. I always just felt excited and proud of my father, and I think that was because our family was. It was really just an exciting time for our family. Cernan Woolies father, Gene Cernan, went into space three times: Gemini 9 in 1966, Apollo 10 in 1969 and Apollo 17 in 1972. She was 3, 6 and 9, respectively. Before Apollo 10, a practice run for the first moon landing, she recalls her dad pointing to the full moon and explaining how far he would travel to get there and what hed be doing. Youll be able to look up there, she recalls him saying, and Ill be looking back down on you. Her response: OK, so when are we going camping? Throwback: 'The beginning of a new era:' NASA astronauts prepare to fly in a capsule once again Like Bean, a childhood neighbor and longtime friend, Woolie said rocket launches had become common. Routine. Especially from a childs perspective. It wasnt until the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986 that she truly understood the risks. When I saw the children from Challenger, all of the sudden Im like, Oh my god, that could have been me. That could have been my dad, said Woolie, who is now 57 and lives in Houston. I dont think until then I ever realized the danger of it. The Challenger explosion was followed by the Columbia accident in 2003. Retired astronaut Mike Fossum was on the second space shuttle launch following the Columbia disaster, and he said that incident worried his wife, Melanie, and four children (Carrie was 21, Mitch was 19, John was 15 and Kenneth was 9). He sought to ease their fears by explaining the importance of his mission and by detailing new safety features, such as a backup shuttle ready to launch and bring the crew home if their original shuttle was damaged during ascent. He also stayed connected with his family after the launch by having flowers delivered to his wife and autographed space shuttle models, signed by his fellow crew members, delivered to his children. The mission patches he designed had one star for each of the crew members children. His last mission, launched on Russias Soyuz spacecraft to spend 5 months on the station, had a special eight-pointed star for Rebecca Anne Braun, his first granddaughter born just before Fossum left home. Leaving his granddaughter was hard, but he knows watching launches is more difficult for those on the ground. When Im strapped onboard, Im the 12-year-old kid that was watching Apollo land on the moon and dreaming about flying to space myself, Fossum said. The bravest ones are really the ones that are watching, because they dont feel the sense-of-life purpose, that drive that has consumed me and my brethren. They mostly see someone they love sitting on top of what many of them would describe as a bomb. Like Fossum, Behnken has looked for ways to include his son in events leading up to the launch, giving Theodore a thumbs up during an earlier news conference and a shout-out in his more recent May 1 press briefing. More on the May 27 launch: NASA discusses its first astronaut launch from U.S. soil since 2011 Building on a tree-planting tradition of cosmonauts and astronauts before launching on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which has been the only way for NASA astronauts to reach the International Space Station since the shuttle was retired in 2011, Behnken and his son recently planted a lemon tree. He hopes it will survive Houstons hot summer weather. Its not missing a parent as they go off to do this other thing, Behnken said. Hes still a part of what I do throughout the mission and in the lead-up to it. And its been fun to see what excites Theodore the most. For instance, Behnken said Theodore likes that the Falcon 9 has nine first-stage rocket engines whereas the Saturn V, a more powerful rocket used to launch the Apollo spacecraft, only had five first-stage engines. Weve had to talk a little bit about size difference and how much payload that they could take, said Behnken, but hes excited that Im on the Falcon 9. Saturn V was, in his mind, only a five (engine) instead of a nine, so thats pretty cool. This article has been updated to correct where Behnken lives. andrea.leinfelder@chron.com twitter.com/a_leinfelder New Delhi, May 21 : Two months after arresting six accused in the murder of a senior BJP member from Karnataka's Dharwad, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed chargesheet against eight people accused in the case. A CBI official here said that the agency has filed chargesheet against Santosh Savadatti, Dinesh M, Sunil K.S, Harshith, Aswath S, Nazeer Ahamad, Shanawaz and Nutan K.S. before the JMFC Court in Dharwad. According to CBI, Yogish Gowda, a member of the Dharwad Zilla Panchayath in Karnataka was murdered on June 15, 2016 in front of a gym in Sapthapura area. Gowda ran a gym at Sapthapura in Dharwad and was a friend of Basavaraj Shivappa Muttagi, the prime accused, for the last 10 years with different political inclinations. Gowda came to know about a land purchase deal by Muttagi. Gowda had threatened Muttagi that he should not purchase the land as it was under the former's custody and if he still proceeded, he would kill him. The agency had taken over the probe on September 24, 2019 based on the notifications of the Karnataka government and central government. The case was earlier registered by local police at Sub-Urban Police Station in Dharwad. The police filed the final report on September 9, 2016 before jurisdictional court, chargesheeting six accused persons, all residents of Dharwad. The agency official said that after taking over the probe, CBI had arrested eight accused. Seven of these accused are presently in judicial custody and one accused is on bail. He said during the investigation it was revealed that the accused allegedly came to Dharwad on two occasions in June 2016 and with the support of other accused allegedly planned the murder of Gowda. "These accused fled after the murder of Gowda," he said. The official said that further investigation into the role of the other accused and larger conspiracy in this case is continuing on a day-to-day basis. A drug trafficker who used his ill-gotten gains to lavish his model girlfriend with designer bags claims to have had sex with a policeman's girlfriend while on bail. Ryan Hill, 26, from Cairns admitted to trafficking drugs for 13 months, amassing a small fortune that allowed him to enjoy luxury holidays and even a custom-made yacht. On Wednesday, the Cairns Supreme Court heard Hill believed police had 'animosity' towards him for sleeping with an officer's girlfriend. Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane asked Hill if he believed police resented him for the incident, to which he agreed, the Courier Mail reported. He had still been posing as a tradie by dressing in hi-vis clothing and doing fake quotes, all while helping to distribute drugs across Queensland. In February, Ryan Hill (pictured) pleaded guilty at the Supreme Court to drug trafficking as part of an organised crime syndicate Soraya Bodman (pictured) is the former girlfriend of drug trafficker Ryan Hill, who used his ill-gotten gains to shower her with gifts But Hill is seeking to drop his guilty plea to being part of a criminal syndicate after learning the offence came with an additional seven-year sentence. The drugs operation crossed state lines as it was secretly shipped in a courier service from Sydney to Townsville. While on bail, the court heard Hill continued to live his lavish lifestyle, with his ill-gotten gains since seized by the Queensland government. He spent $1 million on luxury holidays and bought $12,660 worth of designer bags for his model girlfriend Soraya Bodman, as well as a $120,000 racing boat and several flashy cars. He would also frequently visit Nando's to satisfy his craving for spicy Portuguese chicken. There is no suggestion that his girlfriend Ms Bodman knew of, or was involved in, the criminal activity. A week before he was taken into custody, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that Hill (pictured) had sex with a police officer's girlfriend Soraya Bodman (pictured) was bought $12,000 worth of designer hand bags by her drug trafficker boyfriend After pleading guilty to drug trafficking as part of an organised crime syndicate in February, Hill claimed he was unaware that it would add a mandatory seven years to his sentence. Last month he applied to have that guilty plea reversed, after finding out his three co-offenders had received reduced sentencing. In exchange for supplying information about Hill's activities, they had charges of being part of an organised crime syndicate dropped. Hill told the court that he was 'angry' and deserved the same treatment as his co-offenders because he did 'the same s**t' and was younger. Despite being questioned by police, they claim Hill didn't provide enough information which could have warranted a reduced sentencing. 'In my eyes I'd done what everyone else had done,' Mr Hill told the court. Ryan Hill (pictured) enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, and particularly enjoyed spending his fortune on Nando's He insists that he should have raised more questions before pleading guilty on the drug charges claiming that there was something about the judge's 'body language'. 'He seemed like I was silly to go guilty,' he said. A document signed by Hill was shown in court which led to his acceptance of pleading guilty. He told the court: 'I don't read a document, I just sign it'. He will reappear in court on Thursday as the pre-trial continues. When Hill was arrested by police on January 2 2018, they found $95,000 in cash buried in a PVC pipe in bushland near his father's home, court documents said. After monitoring Hill for several days prior to his arrest, they also discovered another $23,000 in cash hidden in various places in his father's house, mostly vacuum-packed. Soraya Bodman (pictured) was given numerous gifts from Instagram star Tammy Hembrow's website Police allege Hill trafficked drugs hidden in packages from Sydney to Cairns, using the courier company Toll. Court documents state the drugs were then sold on to buyers in Townsville and Taigum. Not only is the syndicate alleged to have operated in Far North Queensland, but also South Australia, New South Wales and overseas, the Cairns Post reported. Packages were sent to fictitious people, but to addresses owned by Hill's family, court documents state. Police allege they found 66 consignments from Sydney that Hill organised between July and December 2017. His operation was first busted by police in January 2018, when he used his girlfriend's car to pick up a package from the Toll depot. He agreed to forfeit all his dirty money and proceeds from drug trafficking to the Queensland government under proceeds of crime laws. The package contained a cardboard box with 1kg of ice inside, worth $750,000, as well as 2,000 ecstasy tablets, worth $20,000 and 28g of cocaine, worth $5,600. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals on Thursday said it has decided to discontinue production and sale of Zinetac tablets, used to treat and prevent heartburn, in the country. The company has made a decision to discontinue the manufacture and supply of Zinetac tablets (150 mg and 300 mg products) manufactured in India and will in due course request cancellation of the marketing authorisation associated with the drug, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals said in a regulatory filing. In the coming months, the drug firm will work closely with the regulatory authorities, it added. The drug firm was contacted by regulatory authorities regarding the detection of cancer causing N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in Zinetac (ranitidine) products. Based on the information received and correspondence with regulatory authorities, the company made thedecision in September 2019 to initiate a voluntary recall of all ranitidine products in all markets of as a precautionary action. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Securing corporate cyber frontiers while employees work from home, illustration photo Cloud video conferencing platform Zoom has gained huge numbers of users this year but its security remains controversial, with cybersecurity firm Cyble discovering that half a million Zoom accounts being given away on the dark web since early April at a price of 0.2 US cents each. This is not the first time Zooms security has been compromised. At the end of March, a security breach allowed trolls to see images from meetings without a username or password. Additionally, online criminals can easily break into Zoom meetings to interrupt, steal information and data, and share disturbing content. Despite the security concerns, Zoom is still gathering momentum as people are working from home in increasing numbers to curb the spread of the virus. Pho Duc Giang, director of PwC Vietnam Cybersecurity Ltd., told VIR that the pandemic gives cybercriminals more opportunities to take advantage and facilitate campaigns. By working from home, firms connect remotely to corporate networks or check out and take home the companys digital assets. If these practices are not properly authorised, protected, and monitored, businesses expose a much wider attack surface, Giang said. Additionally, cybercriminals can now use the coronavirus theme to lure internet users into opening attachments or clicking on links to phishing websites and malware. According to Giang, there are many advanced persistent threat groups which are actively targeting critical infrastructure and government entities, with the most heavily-used technique being injecting malicious macros into Word and Excel-based documents. In Vietnam, the Department of Cybersecurity and Hi-tech Crime under the Ministry of Public Security has reported similar attacks via email. Specifically, hackers have sent emails purported to be from the prime minister which contains false news about the pandemic in a Word document. Once users download and open the document, the code will be activated and the computer is then under the control of hackers. As per the Global Check Point Threat Index, there is a significant surge in website domains registered in relation to COVID-19, of which at least 50 per cent are more malicious than others. Google also reported that they have blocked more than 18 million malware and phishing emails a day. Tarun Sawney, senior director of The Software Alliance affirmed these trends, Particularly with the current health crisis, cybercriminals send fake news emails about the virus or links which contain malware or ransomware. Hackers can also use fake virus tracking apps to lock phones until a ransom is paid. He said that companies are also at risk of cyberattacks while employees are working from home. Three-quarters of Vietnamese companies are using unlicensed software so they are even more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, he added. With employees outside their organisations networks and no longer using devices under the control of the IT department, several new opportunities have opened up for attackers. Major General Nguyen Minh Chinh, director of the Department of Cybersecurity and High-tech Crime, said Businesses, organisations, and individuals both in Vietnam and throughout the ASEAN are facing more sophisticated attacks every day, and the destabilisation caused by the COVID-19 crisis has made many of them even more vulnerable. It is vital that they become more aware of the risks and protect their data not just for their own sake, but for the public as well as the safety and security of the country. Meanwhile, Giang from PwC Vietnam Cybersecurity pointed out three key areas for companies to reduce cyber risks. He recommended that at the minimum, enterprises should establish a process to grant, authorise, and monitor remote access for example, enabling two-factor authentication and encrypting communication channels, using the latest software patches, and carrying out security configuration reviews. Additionally, cyber awareness training is important. Staff with more working time at home should get continual updates on the threats of social engineering, external phishing attacks, and other precautions. Lastly, for business resilience, it is important that the IT team or specialised cyber team is prepared to address any cyber incident responses, Giang added. For example, they need to make sure there is sufficient staff on hand, provide timely internal communications, and action IT disaster recovery practices. He noted that organisations can consider automated technology to assist in early detection and proactive alerts of cyberattacks. A web security report from Vietnams technology startup company CyStack Security revealed that Vietnam ranked as 11 in the world and third in Southeast Asia in the number of websites attacked by hackers, with 9,300 in 2019. Cybersecurity is no longer just something for the IT department to worry about and in this time of crisis, it will be more imperative than ever for companies to employ safe and secure digital practices. Their survival through these difficult times could depend on it. Donald Trump says he should finish his prescription of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug he is pushing to treat coronavirus despite warnings of negative side effects by his own health agencies, in "a day or two." The president announced matter-of-factly earlier this week about the medication: "I happen to be taking it" before minutes later suggesting he revealed the information to see reporters' eyes "light up" as he did. Mr Trump on Tuesday said he started taking the medication because "a young man close to me" contracted the virus, appearing to cite a military valet who tested positive recently. He also noted Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, Katie Miller, also tested positive. She is married to one of his top policy advisers, Stephen Miller. The president on Tuesday dismissed a Veterans Department study on hydroxychloroquine, which found the malaria drug that is unproven to prevent or treat coronavirus could lead to dangerous side effects, was conducted using patients who were "almost dead" and "in very bad shape." Mr Trump, defying warnings from multiple federal health agencies, claims to be taking the medication as a Covid-19 prevention measure. The Veterans Affairs study featured 368 patients in a number of VA hospitals, concluding there was "no evidence" the antimalarial drug lowered the patients' risk of death or needing a ventilator when they were given hydroxychloroquine in combination with any drug . What's more, those in the study who were treated with just hydroxychloroquine were more likely to pass away. White House aides on Monday night released a memo from the top White House physician, Navy Commander Sean Conley, contending that Mr Trump began taking hydroxychloriquine after that military valet tested positive for Covid-19. Mr Trump has pushed the medication for months. The New York Times has reported his family has a financial tie to one of the parent companies of one of the drug's manufacturers. The president denies is making any money off hydroxychloroquine. Medical professionals have prescribed it mostly as a possible treatment drug. What Mr Trump and Commander Conley described, however, was a preventative prescription. The Conley memo never stated he wrote a prescription for Mr Trump to obtain the controversial antimalarial medication. The president, who has been a contrarian since he was a private citizen who was mulling a political career, continued that on Monday. He revealed he was taking the malaria medication despite a dire warning published late last month by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "The FDA is aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with Covid-19 treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, often in combination with azithromycin and other QT prolonging medicines. We are also aware of increased use of these medicines through outpatient prescriptions," the agency said. "Therefore, we would like to remind healthcare professionals and patients of the known risks associated with both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine. We will continue to investigate risks associated with the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid-19 and communicate publicly when we have more information." "Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing Covid-19. They are being studied in clinical trials for Covid-19, and we authorised their temporary use during the Covid-19 pandemic for treatment of the virus in hospitalised patients when clinical trials are not available," the agency warned. "Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can cause abnormal heart rhythms such as QT interval prolongation and a dangerously rapid heart rate called ventricular tachycardia." But Mr Trump on Tuesday claimed the anti-malaria drug has had "no effect" on him. (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. reported declining sales and announced it would cut jobs and reduce executive pay, saying the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted supply chains for data-center hardware. Revenue fell 16% to $6 billion in the period ended April 30, the San Jose, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. Analysts, on average, expected $6.19 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit, excluding some items, was 22 cents a share, compared with an average estimate of 28 cents. The company said it was putting in place a plan to cut costs, with a goal of $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2022. Measures will including simplifying its product portfolio and supply chain as well as changing customer support, marketing efforts and real estate strategies, HPE said in the statement. It definitely was a tough quarter by every measure and Im disappointed in the performance, but I dont see this as an indication of our capabilities, Chief Executive Officer Antonio Neri said in an interview. This was clearly driven by supply chain disruptions because of coronavirus, including a shortage of chip components from China, disrupted logistics and social-distancing guidelines in some regions. Neri said he expected HPEs sales to recover sequentially, with the third quarter posting better results than the second and the fourth improving further. Still, he said, its unknown just how bad the economic downturn will be. The company withdrew its annual profit forecast last month, citing uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced millions of people to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus. HPE shares dropped about 5% in extended trading after closing at $10.36 in New York. The stock has dropped 35% this year. Neri has struggled to spark sales growth at the computing and networking company, which has seen year-over-year revenue declines in all but one quarter since the company split from HP Inc. in 2015. Competing with larger hardware rival Dell Technologies Inc. and dominant cloud-computing companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., HPE has hitched its future to edge computing, which distributes data-processing capacity closer to customers rather than at centralized data centers. More immediately, the company has sought to support sales by offering $2 billion of financing for clients trying to preserve cash in the pandemic. Story continues Under the companys three-year plan to reduce expenses, senior executives including Neri will take 20% to 25% cuts to their base salaries and the board reduced each directors cash retainer by 25% from July to the end of the fiscal year. The hardware maker will consolidate offices where possible, Neri said. He expects more than half of HPEs employees wont return to the office full time, instead dropping in for meetings and collaboration when necessary. The number of employees who may lose their jobs under the cost-cutting plan hasnt been determined, Neri said. The company will spend the next few months working out the details and evaluating how much it can save in other areas. HPE has already instituted some temporary pay cuts and has frozen employee raises and promotions, executives said on a conference call after the results were announced. In the fiscal second quarter, revenue declined in all of HPEs business segments. Server sales dropped 20% to $2.64 billion and storage hardware fell 18%. Neri said the company saw steady demand from large enterprises while small and mid-sized businesses struggled. HPE wasnt able to produce as much data-center hardware as clients were ordering, he said. HPEs integration of supercomputer maker Cray is on track and should yield synergies by 2021, executives said on the call. (Updates with additional details starting in ninth paragraph) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The consumer finance seminar at the headquarters of VIR This was announced by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dang Ngoc Duc, former dean of the School of Banking and Finance under National Economics University, at the seminar organised on May 21 at VIR's headquarters at 47 Quan Thanh Street in Hanois Ba Dinh district. Speaking at the seminar, VIR's editor-in-Chief Le Trong Minh said, The credit market in general and the consumer finance sector in particular are expected to recover after the social distancing period. In addition, consumer finance, in collaboration with other financial solutions, are also expected to continue to play an important role in ensuring social security and supporting people who have short-term financial difficulties. Le Trong Minh, VIR's editor-in-chief talking about his expectations of a bounceback in the consumer finance sector after the COVID-19 pandemic He recalled that at a recent talk with local media, leaders of diverse consumer finance firms agreed that Vietnams consumer finance market will continue its growth momentum, albeit at a slower pace due to the implications of the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) as well as new policy moves. At today's seminar, Ngoc Duc discussed statistics depicting the positive growth of Vietnam, saying this will also serve as the basis for the growth of consumer finance in the future. Notably, Euromonitor International forecasts that Vietnams GDP will increase by 91.4 per cent in the 2019-2030 period. Besides, a 2019 study by Nielsen showed that the trust level of Vietnamese people reached 129 points in the third quarter of 2018. Consumer finance companies and banks have yet to meet customer demand. In reality, only a part of the people can approach consumer loans at commercial banks and other companies and only a few of them actually get a loan. The opportunities for students and farmers are especially few and far between, Duc said. A report by Vietstock published in 2019 showed that 50 per cent of customers of finance companies and 60 per cent of customers of banks can access loans, making up two-thirds of the demand. Commercial banks are always concerned about the risks because almost all customers applying for consumer loans have low and medium income, without no collateral to back up the loan or meet strict lending criteria. Along with clarifying the existing difficulties and opportunities for consumer finance companies, experts proposed numerous solutions to encourage the demand of people as well as knowledge about this sector. Vietnam is currently home to 18 financial companies, including six foreign players. The governments strong commitment to crackdown on shadow banking is expected to propel the markets further development. U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has urged a reduction in violence "by all sides" in Afghanistan, saying innocent Afghans are bearing too much of the brunt of the war. Khalilzad, the architect of a February agreement with the Taliban clearing the way for a U.S. troop withdrawal, met Taliban leaders in Qatar on May 20, hours after meeting Afghan government leaders in Kabul. "On violence, I told the Talibs, violence by all sides must fall," Khalilzad said on Twitter, adding that he also met with the Taliban's political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada released a statement on May 20 for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, calling for progress on peace but also telling his fighters to stay "focused on their objectives" and "consolidate ... ranks," which government security officials criticized as inciting violence. Earlier in the day, Khalilzad met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his former rival Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul. Ghani and Abdullah signed a power-sharing agreement on May 17, ending a months-long impasse over a disputed election, and raising expectations that the government would now focus on the U.S.-brokered peace process effort. The power struggle between Ghani and Abdullah, both of whom claimed to have won Afghanistan's presidential election in September, had been one of the main impediments to the start of intra-Afghan negotiations to end more than 18 years of war. The talks were to begin on March 10 under the agreement between the Taliban and the United States, which calls for U.S. and foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan following an intra-Afghan deal and in exchange for security guarantees. Uptick In Violence Khalilzad's latest diplomatic shuttle comes amid an uptick in violence that threatens to unravel a peace deal signed by the United States and the Taliban in February. At least 14 people were killed in attacks late on May 19 on two mosques in Afghanistan where worshippers were breaking their Ramadan fast. The Taliban denied carrying out the killings, which came after last week's attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul in which 24 people, included newborns, were shot dead. The Taliban also denied carrying out that attack, which Washington said bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State (IS) militant group. Akhundzada said the militants were committed to the deal and called on Washington "not to waste" the opportunity offered by the agreement to end the United States' longest war. Akhundzada also urged U.S. officials to not afford anyone the opportunity to obstruct, delay, and ultimately derail this internationally recognized bilateral agreement." The Taliban has so far rejected repeated calls for a cease-fire by the Afghan government. With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attend the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisory body started its annual session Thursday afternoon in Beijing. Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held at the Great Hall of the People. Attendees at the meeting paid a silent tribute to martyrs who died fighting COVID-19 and compatriots who lost their lives in the epidemic. The agenda for the session was reviewed and approved at the meeting. Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee to the session. The report noted the role of political advisors in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, saying that they have submitted more than 1,300 reports and suggestions on preventing and controlling the epidemic, resuming work and production, stabilizing public expectations and strengthening law-based governance. Giving full play to role of the CPPCC as a specialist consultative body, 71 consultation meetings, 97 research trips as well as online consultations were organized in the past year, it said. The report made arrangements for the CPPCC's work in 2020 in six aspects, urging political advisors to fulfil their duties around achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Attendees were also briefed on the handling of proposals submitted since the previous annual session of the top political advisory body. The teenage girl, in an image attached to her social media post, claimed she was put into a car on Tuesday and taken to an address so that three Asian men could have sex with her A 19-year-old girl has been charged with perverting the course of justice after telling police she was drugged and raped by an Asian sex gang in Cumbria. The teenager, from Barrow-in-Furness, is currently in custody awaiting a court hearing, having allegedly breached her bail conditions. Last night Cumbria Police confirmed it was investigating an incident of physical and sexual abuse that was reported by a woman in her late teens on Tuesday evening. The girl later alleged on social media that she had been beaten, burned, drugged and trafficked for sex throughout the north of England by Pakistani men. Her post included pictures of bruises, scratches and burn marks, and sparked a social media storm. Cumbria Police revealed on Wednesday that they had launched a 12 month investigation into claims of sexual and physical abuse by an organised gang who were said to have trafficked girls and young women across the north of England. An independent review team was called in to assess their handling of the investigation and safeguarding surrounding it. Today the force said the only charges to arise from the investigation was against a young woman. In a statement it said: 'Cumbria Constabulary can confirm that a 19-year-old woman, from Barrow-in-Furness, is subject of ongoing criminal proceedings. 'She was charged with seven counts of perverting the course of justice on 26th March 2020 and was released on bail. 'She has subsequently been arrested on 20th May for breach of her bail conditions and has been remanded in custody, court date to be notified. ' In the girl's shocking social media post, she'd claimed she was put into a car on Tuesday and taken to an address so that three Asian men could have sex with her. 'Afterwards I was beaten because I was in debt to these men for not attending "parties" for over seven weeks due to coronavirus,' she wrote. One of the pictures posted online by the teenage girl, showing bruising from the alleged abuse. The allegations are now the subject of a thorough police investigation 'The organisers of the party decided to beat me to teach me a lesson. They decided that I don't learn from being battered as I've received beatings before'. She claimed her alleged abusers began to hack off one of her fingers as a punishment for 'continuing to make the same mistakes'. One of them 'waved a knife around' while he and others in the gang threatened to kill her. The girl supported her claims with a series of photographs showing her with black eyes, bruising to both her face and body, and what appear to be cigarette burns. Responding to the public's horror at the social media post today, Cumbria's Head of Crime and safeguarding, Det Chief Supt Dean Holden, reiterated that there had been a robust response to the allegation. Det Chief Holden said: 'What I can say about this particular scenario is that Cumbria Constabulary have been undertaking an operational investigation for nearly 12 months now that has been looking at specific allegations of abuse. 'That investigation has involved a dedicated investigative team, a senior investigating officer and significant resources dedicated to it. 'As a result of that investigation I can say that an individual has been charged with some offences. I have to be very careful what I say about that because I do not want to undermine any judicial processes, but what I can say is that the investigation was subjected to an independent peer review in March this year. The girl posted this picture of her thumb covered in blood 'That review was conducted by subject matter experts nationally, qualified and experienced in investigating sexual abuse and physical violence. 'Whilst that review did give us some minor recommendations the outcome was that the investigation was conducted with utmost integrity, transparency and professionalism. 'More importantly our safeguarding approach had been very robust and professional, which we had taken with partner agencies. 'So I want to reassure people this is not something we had ignored or otherwise dismissed, it is something we have taken extremely seriously and we have sought an independent review to ensure that our investigation is transparent and professional. 'What I would say is, when the question is asked, "Is there an organised gang of Asian men in Barrow conducting abuse or other exploitation against individuals?" 'Our investigation has shown that has not been corroborated or otherwise evidenced. 'Here in Cumbria Constabulary we are not complacent, we are humble and if individuals think they have information that suggests that is the scenario or have any information about abuse, sexual abuse or physical abuse they must contact us and put those reports in. 'We will take them very seriously and will do our utmost to investigate them and more importantly safeguard and support victims of crime. We have a really good relationship with our partner agencies and have been really well supported.' The girl alleged she had been both physically and sexually abused by the gang over a number of years. She also claimed that despite the police investigation into her own case, other teenagers in the area are still being attacked and trafficked. She claimed: 'I am not the only girl in (the area) who has gone through this or is going through this. I know plenty of girls involved including girls from away. 'This is local men and men from away. These are mostly Pakistani men and some are business owners. I wish I could name all of those involved, but due to current ongoing investigations I'm not allowed'. She had finally come forward after 'years of me being trafficked to places across Manchester, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbriamostly Leeds, Huddersfield, Oldham, Preston, Blackpool, Lancaster and Morecambe. 'I have been to other places as well as attending "parties" locally. This is to have sex with Asian men with me receiving nothing for it'. She adds: 'These are evil yet clever men. They know how to manipulate, convince and threaten girls into staying. When they can't, they use extreme violence. 'I used to believe that these people loved me. I realise now that they used me for their own gain and profit. They have beaten me on multiple occasions, sometimes for no reason at all. 'They have given me drugs to the point I was nearly addicted to heroin. They have stripped me naked, beaten me and dumped me in the middle of nowhere with nothingno money, phone, ID, clothes, shoes, nothing. 'They did this once in winter (when) I got found with bad hypothermia. They have broken my ribs and many bones in my face. They have split my ear, cut my throat, attempted to cut my boobs and nipples off. One of the pictured posted to social media by the teenage girl. Last night Cumbria Police confirmed it was investigating an incident of physical and sexual abuse 'They have carved words into my body, branded me with letters. They have disclocated my elbow, they have stabbed me, they have burnt me and used me as an ashtray to stamp cigarettes out. 'They have beaten me black (and blue). I have had a bleed on the brain from a head injury. I have lost some vision in one of my eyes from being smacked so badly. 'Now I have had my finger cut. They have put lit petrol rags and threatening letters through my letter box, they have followed me home, tried to drown me, strangled me and they have stalked me'. She claimed members of the gang were sometimes armed and had either waved their guns around or else held them to her head. For years she tried to cover up the abuse by claiming she had hurt herself in accidents. Her suffering caused her to attempt suicide as a way to escape. 'I lost all my self-respect and didn't actually care if I was killed because at least then all this would be over. I know now that this has gone too far and everything is not ok. I have scars across my body that won't go away, but even worse I have memories that won't disappear'. 'I am incredibly lucky not to be dead already. I thought the only way I could escape this life was to marry one of them, get pregnant or kill myself'. Girl X insists she will continue to tell the police everything she knows so she can help them 'fix this'. She believes she deserves justice and will feel 'so proud of myself' if she can achieve it by bringing her alleged abusers to trial. She wants other girls to be aware of the issue of grooming and to remember that 'if a man asks you to keep it a secret it's usually because what he is doing is wrong'. Under-age girls should be shown the 'disturbing' images of her abuse if their families or friends felt it would help frighten them into staying clear of the gangs. They might see the attention given to them by such men as 'fun and nice at the start', but the photographs represented the reality of 'how it ends'. By Akbar Mammadov There is no doubt that Armenia will be compelled to withdraw its armed forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, including that the city of Shusha, and the demographic composition and the cultural structure of the liberated areas will be restored as well as the rights of the IDPs. This was said in a letter circulated by the UN Security Council as the UN General Assembly and Security Council documents, which was sent by Azerbaijans Permanent Representative to the UN on May 11. Touching upon Armenian PMs visit to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the document highlighted it as another provocation of Armenia. It should be noted that on May 9, Armenian PM visited the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan to celebrate two mutually exclusive occasions, of which one is related to the forcibly capture by Armenians in May 1992 of the city of Shusha - Azerbaijans historical centre and cultural cradle. Giving detailed information on the harsh consequences of the occupation of Shusha by Armenian armed forces, the document also emphasized the fact that the occupation of Shusha happened while the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership signed the Joint Statement in Tehran to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and in accordance with international law. The document stressed that the destruction and looting of historical, cultural and religious monuments and sites in Shusha were committed by Armenia with systematic actions to erase any signs of the citys Azerbaijani cultural and historical identity. Moreover, as a means of implementing its annexation policy, Armenia encourages and facilitates the transfer of settlers into the occupied territories depopulated of their Azerbaijani inhabitants, including the city of Shusha, in clear violation of international law and in contravention of the objectives of the political settlement of the conflict, the letter reads. Furthermore, the document emphasized that the fact that the occupation of Shusha and other districts of Azerbaijan is glorified by Armenia proves that aggression, racism and deep-rooted hatred at the cornerstone of Armenias ideology and policy. Armenias cynical attempts to draw parallels between the perfidious seizure of the Azerbaijani city and the great victory in the Second World War also represent a profound disrespect for the memory of millions of people of throughout the world who sacrificed their lives for freedom from fascism. However, there is nothing surprising in such a policy of Armenia, where for example, Nazi Generals Garegin Nzhdeh and Drastamat Kanayan are raised now to the rank of national heroes, the document noted. Thus, the UN Security Council has circulated this letter under agenda items 32, 37, and 75 under titles Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development, "The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, "Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts". --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike. We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve. Bobby Norris attends the Good Morning Britain 1 Million Minutes Awards at Television Centre in London (James Warren / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images) The Only Way Is Essex star Bobby Norris has said online abuse has risen during the coronavirus lockdown and that he is getting almost daily death threats. The reality star, 33, has been open about being the victim of homophobic abuse online and is calling for a clamp down on trolling. Read more: Bobby Norris slams trolls after homophobic comments Giving evidence to the Commons petitions committee, Norris revealed he is bombarded with death threats and that some trolls even urge him to take his own life. Addressing MPs via video link, he said: I have seen such an increase in online abuse and trolling, especially since lockdown, and since speaking about it to my fans and followers on social media Im so aware that its not just me and people in the public eye going through it. Norris, who started appearing on TOWIE in 2012, said he had almost become immune to the abuse but feared others targeted in the same way as him might not be able to cope as well. I think Ive become immune almost to the online hatred and homophobia, its devastating that Ive had to build immunity to it, he said. Whenever I experience any kind of online hate its always to do with my sexuality. As a gay man of 33 I think Ive built up quite a thick skin and Im very aware that I do have a strength, that is not to say it doesnt hurt and its certainly not right, but Ive built up this immunity. Im very aware that 14-year-old Bobby would not have had that strength. And I hear from so many people, whether its parents or people suffering themselves, saying how is it 2020 and we are still having to face this and nothing is being done about it? Norris said there is still a misconception that what is said online doesnt matter, that it is not the same as saying it to someones face. Story continues I believe trolling is abuse and the content is often a hate crime, whether thats homophobia or racism or anything, if its a hate crime offline, it should be online, he said. The reality star wants changes to be implemented to make online trolls traceable, for example by people having to use ID to set up social media accounts. He said he believed there would be a decrease in trolling if people knew that they were traceable and that their actions would have repercussions. Tehran, May 21 (IANS) Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami warned the US of threats against the Iranian oil tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela. Any threats for the tankers will trigger Iran's harsh response, Xinhua news agency quoted Hatami as saying to local media on Wednesday. Causing any insecurity to the oil tankers and maritime trade routes is in violation of the international law and will draw reaction of international institutions and countries, said Hatami. "Our policy is also clear, and we won't tolerate any disturbance for our tankers," he noted. Ali Rabiei, government spokesperson, said on Monday that Iran was ready for the worst-case scenario over US threats against the shipment of Iranian fuel to Venezuela. The remarks by the Iranian officials came after the White House announced last week that the US was considering measures it could take in response to Iran's shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela. --IANS ksk/ Brazil broke another record in COVID-19 fatalities on Tuesday, recording 1,179 deaths over the previous 24 hours. The country has officially confirmed over 290,000 cases and 19,000 deaths, but the government admits it has lost control of the pandemics spread. With the second lowest testing rate in the Americasless than one-twentieth of the tests in the USit has adopted an effective policy of herd immunity with dire consequences for the countrys population. Imperial College London has estimated that Brazil had over 4.2 million cases last week, with an accelerating rate of 6.5 percent growth every day, putting it on course to be the global pandemics epicenter. Twelve Brazilian capitals have over 80 percent occupation of intensive care units, with many dumping bodies in mass graves. In the second wealthiest city in the country, Rio de Janeiro, doctors have already received medical protocols to choose whom to treat, as ICUs are fully occupied. The government is consciously ignoring the public health catastrophe, fully engaged in a back-to-work campaign, declaring the whole of industry and construction as essential services that should be left out of partial quarantines imposed by local governments. Cemetery workers place crosses over a common grave after burying five people at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida cemetery amid the new coronavirus pandemic (AP Photo-Felipe Dana) An essential part of this drive has been the definition of hydroxychloroquine as a medicine to be freely used in treating COVID-19 cases, against widespread medical advice that it not only has no proven effectiveness against the disease but could lead to deadly side effects. The governments promotion of the drug led to the resignation of Health Minister Nelson Teich, who declared he would not stain his biography in order to please the government and declare its safety against scientific evidence. Yesterday, the new interim minister, a military general, fulfilled Bolsonaros order and issued a new, wider, protocol for its use. For his part, Bolsonaro reacted to the record death toll joking about the freedom of left-wingers to take a soda drink instead of hydroxychloroquine, if they so desired. Even as it closes ranks behind Bolsonaros back-to-work campaign, the Brazilian ruling class is conscious that it is bringing Brazil to the brink of a social explosion. The government has constantly cited the 2019 mass demonstrations in Chile as an example of the social chaos that will ensue in the case of prolonged quarantines leading to economic downturn. It has ominously warned that it will adopt dictatorial measures in case of social unrest. In the countrys COVID-19 epicenter, Sao Paulo, the city council has already raised the specter of imminent looting. Under these conditions, Bolsonaros ignorance and criminal indifference to the mounting COVID-19 death toll are seen as a liability and have drawn growing criticism from within the ranks of the ruling elite itself. These sentiments were expressed by the vice president of the largest business lobby in the country, the Sao Paulo Industry Federation (FIESP), after Teichs resignation. He said it was necessary to build public confidence for families to get back to shops and factories, but that the instability in the Health Ministry generated uncertainty of what is happening in the country. These divisions have fueled daily editorials in the bourgeois press denouncing Bolsonaro, not only for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis, but also for his attempts to mobilize a far-right base against state institutions. The editorialists fear this will contribute to workers resistance by exposing the authoritarian drive that must accompany the preparation of the ruling class for inevitable social explosions. O Estado de S. Paulo, one of Bolsonaros harshest media critics, editorialized on May 9 that the armed forces should denounce the Brown Shirts being mobilized by Bolsonaro against Congress and the Supreme Court with the stated goal of Ukrainizing Brazil, that is, preparing a fascist-led putsch. On May 14, it opened its editorial pages to an opinion piece by Bolsonaros vice president, Gen. Hamilton Mourao, who invoked the responsibilities of the press, Congress, the governors and Supreme Court justices to consider their roles in usurping the role of the Executive and hurting Brazils image abroad by criticizing Bolsonaro. He warned once again of a coup, stating that if other powers and political forces did not close ranks behind the government, this would bring demoralization and reaction and the deterioration of the tolerance and environment of coexistence that should prevail in a democracy. Against this backdrop, the bourgeois press and bourgeois political opposition forces are changing the focus of their criticism of the government from its catastrophic mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis to accusations against the president of using his extensive connections with the repressive apparatus to shield himself and his family from investigations of their involvement in criminal schemes. This includes possible ties to the death squad murder of the Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Marielle Franco of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in March 2018, through a former parliamentary aide to the presidents son Flavio, Fabricio Queiroz. Queiroz is under investigation for managing embezzlement schemes in Brazilian local parliaments through which aides funneled part of their salaries back to the office holder. In the case of Flavios aides, the police suspect the money was transferred to the Crime Office gang, whose presumptive leader, Adriano da Nobregalater murdered by the policehad relatives working under Flavio when he was a Rio state legislator. Rios militias are direct successors of the 1964-1985 death squads and are chiefly composed of retired and active duty policemen, controlling essential services as well as drugs and gambling in vast swathes of Rios impoverished, working-class northern and western sectors. They were praised by Bolsonaro as vigilantes fighting crime during his entire 30-year parliamentary career. In late April, Bolsonaros Justice Minister Sergio Moro resigned, charging the president with firing the head of the Brazilian Federal Police (PF), Mauricio Valeixo, in order to gain access to investigations, including the probe into Flavios militia ties and Francos murder. This led to the opening of an investigation by the Attorney Generals Office and the demand that the government hand over to the Supreme Court (STF) the tape of a cabinet meeting in which Moro claims Bolsonaro made clear that the replacement of the police chief was motivated by his desire to defend his son against the investigations. The tape has become an obsession of the press and members of Congress, with its possible disclosure by the STF seen as a Watergate moment for Bolsonaro, sealing his downfall. The gravity of these accusations notwithstanding, they serve a definite political function amid the criminal handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the murderous back-to-work campaign backed by all representatives of the ruling class and the growing fears of a social explosion fueled by the combined effects of the health and economic crises and popular hostility to the fascist moods being whipped up by the government. Above all, they are providing a framework for the attempts by the ruling classincluding the opposition parties led by the Workers Party (PT) and extending from the far-right theorist Miguel Reale to the pseudo-left PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party) leader Guilherme Boulosto find the least costly means to remove Bolsonaro. Reale, the author of the trumped-up impeachment charges against PT President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, declared on March 16 that Bolsonaro should be declared unfit for office by a medical board, since impeachment would be too painful a process. Two weeks later, a joint letter by all progressive candidates in the 2018 elections, including the Communist Party and PT representatives, as well as Boulos, declared Bolsonaro the greatest obstacle to dealing with the coronavirus crisis and called for unity after his resignation, endorsing the coup-monger General Mourao for the presidency. House Speaker Rodrigo Maia has received 25 impeachment petitions over crimes ranging from an attack against public health by sabotaging state quarantines, to calling for fascist demonstrations against the legislature and judiciary. The leading financial daily Valor has reported that Maia fears an impeachment process would backfire, allowing Bolsonaro to cast himself as a victim, and instead prefers to wait for the STF to rule on Moros charges. The starkest exposure of the crisis of the Brazilian ruling class has been the refusal of the largest and supposedly most vocal opposition party, the PT, to take any action. The PTs leader, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, declared as late as April 30 that the party should not present its own impeachment charges in order not to derail the process. The PTs faithful left appendage, the PSOL, denounced its Morenoite House member Samia Bonfims presentation of an impeachment charge in late March as interfering in party democracy, i.e., its backdoor negotiations with the right wing on how to proceed as safely as possible. All of these forces are just as terrified of a social explosion as the government itself. Their aim is to guarantee that if Bolsonaro is actually replaced by Mourao as a more suitable manager of the crisis, it is done in such a way as to channel mass opposition back behind the capitalist state. Brazilian workers are being driven by the combined crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the deepening economic depression into growing struggles against not only Bolsonaros fascist policies, but the whole of Brazilian capitalism, whose defenders include the PT, the PSOL and their pseudo-left satellites. The immediate threat to Boris Johnson from Partygate has receded after the defection of Red Wall MP Christian Wakeford to Labour shocked the Tories into closing ranks. Meanwhile, ministers have shrugged off an extraordinary attack from veteran David Davis at PMQs yesterday, in which he ordered Mr Johnson to 'in the name of God, go'. But restive MPs have warned that Mr Johnson has only been given a stay of execution, with many holding off on deciding whether to send no-confidence letters to the chair of the powerful 1922 committee until after an inquiry by top civil servant Sue Gray reports. There are claims that while Ms Gray will not directly criticise Mr Johnson it could paint a very grim picture of his Downing Street operation. Meanwhile, rumours are swirling that five more Tories are in talks with Labour about defecting, as polls suggest many in the Red Wall face losing their seats at the next election. In a round of interviews this morning, Mr Javid made little effort to varnish the challenge faced by the PM. 'It is damaging, of course it is,' the Health Secretary told Sky News. WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa about a briefing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic this afternoon and the need for Congress to address the concerns of frontline workers. "The Teamsters are glad to see that the House subcommittee is taking the welfare of essential workers seriously by hosting its first hearing and hearing from these heroes who have stayed on the job while many have followed the guidance of public health officials and stayed home. "These people have risked their lives and those of their families by heading to work each day. Whether their job is in a hospital, a grocery store, behind the wheel of a truck or picking up the trash, Americans are grateful for their actions. So in return, Congress must do everything it can to ensure these workers are protected. "Hundreds of workers, including Teamster members, have already died from COVID-19. To prevent additional tragedy, the Senate must follow in the House's lead in approving legislation such as a bill offered by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth and Patty Murray that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a temporary emergency standard that protects the safety of all workers, including public sector employees in states that have not opted into OSHA coverage. "Such language must be included in the next stimulus bill the Senate votes on so we can ensure these hardworking Americans get the protection they deserve." Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters. Contact: Ted Gotsch, (703) 899-0869 [email protected] SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters Related Links http://www.teamster.org A Civil Rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has expressed apprehensions over the lopsided appo... A Civil Rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has expressed apprehensions over the lopsided appointment by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government. HURIWA condemned the continued domination of strategic appointments by Hausa, Fulani, and Kanuri extraction under Buharis administration. It stressed that due to the deep-seated Northern Muslims domination of all strategic federal appointments under Buhari including the skewed appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), the next government may need to convoke a year-long National Constitutional Conference to try to mend the deeply broken fences. A statement by HURIWAs National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko reads: The current Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has skewed all strategic appointments to favour his cronies and political affiliates in the Core Moslem North and a sprinkling of some Christian Northerners but millions of Northerners are left marginalised just like the heavily marginalised Southerners under the current administration. However the impact is felt more in the far North whereby due to a large-scale state of wars by armed hoodlums many poor individuals in places like Sokoto and Katsina States have since the last two years migrated into Niger Republic for succour and security whilst only a few Northern elites with assets offshore are the few controlling the national assets under the watch of the selective administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Last year the Daily Trust reported that Many Nigerians residing in Katsina State have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic to escape persistent attacks by kidnappers and bandits. In addition to evacuating their family members, the Nigerians are also acquiring plots and building houses in Niger Republics towns of Maradi and Dan Issa. This is even as some of them have obtained resident permits, allowing them to stay in the West African country. HURIWA blamed the unequal redistribution of national wealth for the total state of anarchy in the North. Channel 10 and Endemol Shine Australia claim they weren't fully aware of the charges laid against Ben Ungermann when he was first arrested earlier this year. It comes after MasterChef fans questioned why the 34-year-old wasn't edited out of the show after he was charged with two counts of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in February. A network spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday: 'Network 10 and Endemol Shine Australia were not aware of the nature of the charges laid against Ben Ungermann by Victoria Police.' Statement: Channel 10 and Endemol Shine Australia claim they weren't fully aware of the charges laid against Ben Ungermann (pictured) when he was arrested earlier this year They added: 'As this is an ongoing police matter, we will not be making any further comment.' On March 20, it was first reported that Ungermann had been arrested. At the time, a spokesperson for Endemol Shine described his arrest as being 'of a personal nature'. Endemol Shine is the production company behind MasterChef and other popular shows, including Married At First Sight. Arrest: In March, it was reported that Ungermann had been arrested. But at the time, a spokesperson for Endemol Shine described his arrest as being 'of a personal nature' On Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed Ungermann had in fact been charged by Victorian sexual crime squad detectives on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault following an alleged incident on February 23 with a 16-year-old girl. Audiences were left reeling at the news, including one on Twitter who asked why Ungermann hadn't been edited out of the show. They wrote: 'If you missed the news on #masterchefau's Ben Ungermann's arrest... They should have edited him out more.' Charges: On Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed Ungermann had in fact been charged by Victorian sexual crime squad detectives on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault following an alleged incident on February 23 with a 16-year-old girl Another wrote: 'Ben was arrested for alleged sexual offences against a 16 year old? You're kidding, why, wasn't he edited fully off the show?' Meanwhile, social psychologist Dr Karen Phillip told The Daily Telegraph it was 'unethical' for Channel 10 to continue showing Ben and that he should have been edited out completely. 'Even if it's not proven, there is still the allegation [of sexual assault], and the fact is that will probably bring back a lot of memories and fears of the trauma that sexual assault victims may have experienced previously,' she said. Furious: Audiences were left reeling at the news, including one on Twitter who asked why Ungermann hadn't been edited out of the show 'That's a production decision and we know they're just going to go with the bottom line, but it's unethical for them to continue to show him,' she added. Ungermann will deny all allegations and has hired top criminal lawyer Adam Houda to represent him in court. He is listed to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 25. Mr Houda, who has 24 years' experience in criminal law, told Daily Mail Australia his client was completely blindsided by the charges. 'My client is distressed by the charges, which came as a huge shock to him,' he said on Tuesday night. 'The allegations, I am instructed, are a complete fabrication and are denied.' Italys restaurants and pizzerias, for foodies the world over a key reason to visit, are facing an existential threat. Those that didnt fold after 10 weeks of a strict coronavirus lockdown are emerging to find that new social distancing requirements might yet drive them out of business. While Italians reveled this week in being able to sit down to a plate of spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) at their local trattoria for the first time since March, a slew of studies suggest that as many as a third of Italys bars and restaurants risked closing. The reasons? Financial losses already incurred by the lockdown, a projected tourism downturn, reduced table capacity and Italians own fears about eating out. Venices famed Harrys Bar the birthplace of the Bellini cocktail of white peach juice and prosecco has closed until further notice. We cant think about opening with just five or six people allowed inside at a time, said owner Arrigo Cipriani. Milan chef Matteo Fronduti, who won the first Italian edition of Top Chef, announced that his Manna restaurant wouldnt reopen for now, given lingering questions about the continued risk of contagion and the Italian governments confusing regulations for restaurants. Only when those questions were answered, Fronduti said, would he consider reopening Manna, which features unusual, wildly named dishes like Against the wear and tear of modern life, (artichokes, raw jumbo shrimp and lemon) and All talk (spaghetti, broccoli rabe, herring and horseradish). Until then, Ill continue listening and making meatballs, Fronduti wrote on Facebook. As it is, the lockdown in the birthplace of the Slow Food movement has already cost Italys food and beverage sector 14 billion euros ($15.1 billion) in lost revenue, the Bain consultancy said. It estimated the full-year losses could reach 30 billion euros ($32.4 billion) in an industry that is worth 4% of Italys gross domestic product and accounts for 5% of its jobs. Bain projected that up to 300,000 jobs were at risk. It is a situation that is a bit apocalyptic, said Manuela Paiella, owner of the Corsi Trattoria in downtown Rome, a popular lunchtime spot for tourists and Romans alike. Never would we ever have thought in the restaurant business, in the historic center of a European capital, that we could ever live through something like this. Corsi reopened for business on Monday, the first day that restaurants were allowed sit-down customers. But half of the tables were removed due to social distancing rules. Hand sanitizing gel was placed at the entrance and a new ordering system was installed to let customers see the menu on their phones. No longer do waitresses squeeze between tightly packed tables to recite specials. We have to turn upside down all the activity that we did before, lamented chef Raffaele di Cristo, who now must wear a mask and latex gloves to cook. Everything is changed. Nearby Pierluigi, one of Romes fanciest restaurants, had to renovate its kitchen because workplaces also have to respect social distancing. Italys main farm lobby estimated this week that Italian restaurants and pizzerias saw an 80% drop in consumption during the lockdown, with the ripple effects hitting the vital wine and agricultural sectors particularly hard. Coldiretti said prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Italians spent 35% of their food budgets outside of the home, from morning cappuccinos to pizza dinners, pumping 84 billion euros ($90.7 billion) a year into the Italian food and beverage industry. But now, many Italians are too terrified to eat out. An SWG poll this week found that 32% of Italians considered going to a restaurant unsafe, particularly places with only indoor seating. Their fears are not unreasonable. For two months, Italy was the epicenter of Europes coronavirus outbreak, with a surge of patients overwhelming some hospitals in the north and soaring deaths scarring Italian families and psyches. Italy has seen over 32,000 deaths in the pandemic, behind only the United States and Britain. While Italians have welcomed the easing of lockdown restrictions, many fear a predicted second wave of infections and deaths amid uncertainty that the government has the outbreak under control. For those staying home, at least theres Massimo Botturas Kitchen Quarantine, a weekly YouTube cooking tutorial from the Michelin three-starred chef, who just won a Webby Award for inspiring home cooking and uplifting spirits during the COVID-19 crisis. The show is charming. Narrated in English by his daughter Alexa and featuring cameos of Botturas American wife and son in their home kitchen, Bottura takes viewers through easy recipes. Botturas Osteria Francescana in Modena, one of Italys best known restaurants, is scheduled to reopen June 2. But the loss of tourists is hitting the industry hard. Seven out of 10 restaurants on Romes picturesque Piazza Navona were still shuttered Wednesday. They cater mostly to tourists, so many will likely stay closed at least until Italy reopens to European visitors on June 3. At LIsola del Pescatore in the Santa Severa beach resort near Rome, up to 40% of the clientele had been foreigners. Certainly we have to be stronger than before and try to restart, said owner Stefano Quartieri as he readied tables to meet the governments new regulations. Restaurant owners had harshly criticized preliminary government recommendations that their tables be spaced 4 meters (13 feet) apart, arguing it would decimate the industry. If you want 4 meters, better to keep us closed, warned Lino Enrico Stoppani, president of the FIPE federation of restaurant owners. The government eventually relented and agreed to a 1-meter (3-foot) distancing rule, and moved up the original June 1 reopening by two weeks. Diner Francesco Lapenta joined some colleagues for a lunch at Corsi on Monday, sitting widely spaced apart. He read off the menu items from his phone, speaking loudly so his friends could hear. We will have to yell more, said Lapenta as he rattled off the pastas of the day: carbonara, cacio e pepe, gricia. We will make more noise! (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. ) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Some global leaders, including former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, have alerted the world that democracy was at risk globally because of the novel coronavirus. The leaders, 27 of them, said in an open letter that some countries were using health emergency laws to arbitrarily postpone elections. They said such countries abandoned appropriate political channels as stipulated by their constitutions and international standards and did not have a consensual process for fixing a new date for elections. The letter was written under the auspices of the Kofi Anan Foundation and it is titled Democracy must not become the silent victim of the coronavirus pandemic. Madeleine Albright, a former U.S Secretary of State and the Chair of the National Democratic Institute; Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British billionaire businessman and the founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Toomas Ilves, former President of Estonia; and Michael Moller, former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, are among those who signed the letter. While governments everywhere struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and do all they can to protect public health, democracy is at risk in many places around the world. Hard-won rights are being swept aside by emergency measures, elections postponed indefinitely, or held under problematic conditions, and essential freedoms eroded, the letter said. Since the beginning of March, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) has noted that more than 50 countries and territories have postponed elections because of the crisis. The letter said some 19 countries have so far held elections under circumstances which could undermine their democratic integrity and legality. Indeed, an election with few poll workers, closed polling stations, very low turn-out, and little or no independent observation could potentially be as compromised as one delayed indefinitely, it said. The letter, however, admitted the challenges faced by countries that are due to hold elections challenges such as how to hold campaign rallies, voter registration, face-to-face debate, and election-day gatherings. It suggested some key principles that could guide the electoral processes in countries due to hold elections during the pandemic: A firm grounding in the law. The adoption of emergency measures, including changes to elections, should conform to constitutional provisions and electoral laws. Where the national legal framework does not anticipate such a situation, necessary changes should be formally adopted, consistent with international obligations. Broad political support. Even where the law is clear, a consultative approach building agreement across the political landscape is crucial. Without this, measures may be perceived as a strategy for political gain by incumbents, which can subvert the public trust that is essential to address the health crisis. READ ALSO: Clear and transparent communication to the public. Citizens will need to understand what measures are being considered, by whom, and on what grounds. The media and civil society have a crucial role to play in preventing democratic erosion by monitoring policy, fostering or enabling debate, and shining a light on critical issues. Proportionality. Any measures taken from adjustments at the polling station to more profound changes in how voters are registered, ballots are cast, or votes are tabulated should be reasonable and proportionate to the risk posed by the coronavirus. Based on the best available technical information. Choosing suitable, proportionate measures requires not only legal certainty and political buy-in but also subject matter expertise. The relevant experts, including electoral experts, should be consulted as early as possible. Time-bound. The horizon for any emergency measures should be clearly set out. This is particularly relevant in the case of a postponement of elections, which should not be open-ended. Where it is not possible to set a new date, there should be clarity and agreement on how to determine when risks have been overcome. Mindful of particularly affected groups. Some citizens will require special consideration at this time to ensure free, fair, and safe elections. These include those who are in hospitals or isolation due to the virus; health care workers; law enforcement and military personnel assisting in the crisis; and traditionally marginalized groups, such as women, persons with disabilities, the elderly, refugees and migrants, minority groups, and others who might otherwise be disenfranchised. Virtually every country in the world will be affected by the pandemic. It is critical, therefore, that we face this common challenge together. In protecting the health and safety of our citizens, we must also be sure that protection measures safeguard the integrity of elections and the legitimacy of democratic political systems, the letter said. Guinea, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Tanzania, Togo and Seychelles are some of the African countries that had scheduled their presidential elections to hold in 2020. The United States, Iceland, South Korea, Serbia, New Zealand, Hong Kong are also some of the countries that have their presidential elections scheduled for this year. Poland and Ethiopia are among the countries that have already announced a postponement of their presidential elections. Local elections in England and Wales have been postponed because of the coronavirus. Advertisements In Nigeria, the election commission said it would go ahead to conduct the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States on September 19 and October 10 respectively. With 213 countries and territories affected, the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally stood at 5,156,777 as of 8:38 p.m. on May 21, according to data published by Worldometers, a website providing real time statistics on the infection around the world. The number of deaths from the virus is 332,493, globally. The number of infections in Nigeria is 6,677. Joel McHale Talks Guinness, Good Trivia Topics, and Becoming a Superhero Youd Be Insane to Turn Down a Cold Guinness from Joel McHale Refusing the sip of a freshly poured Guinness means risking a friendship with Joel McHale. Its as simple as that. [Its] one of the oldest beers on the planet, and it's possibly the most famous beer on the planet, he tells me over the phone. And there's a reason why ... it's because it's very, very good, and you should put this into your lexicon. Stout is much lighter than a Porter, and I think people can confuse those. When they see a dark beer, they go, Oh, that must be heavy. That must be thick, and I don't find it that way. I find it perfectly balanced, and if they said, I really don't want to try it, then I would say, Well, I'm not going to talk to you anymore. Im very strict that way. RELATED: St. Patricks Day Is More About Quality Than Quantity for Actor Nick Offerman Chalk it up to his half-Irish roots, but theres just something about the Dublin-brewed beer that has McHale deeming it one of the most dependable beers on the planet. Guinness threaded a needle like Seinfeld, where somehow you got really perfectly wonderful, well-written, really intelligent jokes, and it appealed to everyone, he says. And that's how I see it. With that much passion, it only makes sense that the Community star don his hosting hat for an upcoming virtual trivia night this Thursday, May 21st at 8:00 p.m. on GuinnessUS Facebook Live thatll bring the Guinness-charged one-of-a-kind pub experience with it. And did we mention its for a good cause, too? Read on to learn more about McHales help in raising money for Team Rubicon, the trivia topic hed school you on, and his upcoming role as a staff-wielding, patriotic DC superhero. AskMen: Was the decision to work with Guinness a no brainer? Joel McHale: I really do love Guinness stout, and I always have. When they asked if I would host a trivia night to bring back some good times and the feeling like you're back in the pub, I said absolutely. They're donating up to $50,000 to Team Rubicon, and all that money's going to go help essential workers. On top of that, they're being mensches and I'm donating some money. So every person who participates, Guinness is going to give a dollar up to $50,000. I hope we get 500 million people, but it'd be so great if we got 50,000, because as you know, you're at home, I'm at home and essential workers are out there breaking their backs and working really hard. I will be toasting them tomorrow night. Whats your plan to really replicate that pub-like vibe from your own home? I think you can create the feeling of a pub almost anywhere, but in these crazy times and unprecedented times, now you kind of have to make these little worlds in your home. I'm making a little comfy space where I can pretend, and maybe I should put a game on in the background and have it blaring just to complete the feeling. And yeah, I know a couple of bartenders in town ... Joe at my favorite place in Studio City. A lot of people think Studio City, there's no good pubs there. There are a ton of them. Maybe I'll just have Joseph standing next to me handing me bottles of Guinness. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do. You know, I'll probably take a shower. Get dressed, make it a special occasion. Comb my hair. If you could craft your own trivia night, whats a topic youd pick that you would absolutely dominate in? I could tell you about World War II history. I know a lot of war history, because that's what I majored in college. I majored in World War I and the time in between World War II, and I just started educating myself on the Korean War. I took very little of it in college and I wanted to know more about it. I could tell you about edged weapons. I collect knives and swords and axes and hammers I'm not kidding. My wife thinks I'm very odd. The kids sometimes get into them. She's like, They might hurt themselves, and I'll be like, Well, then they'll learn their lesson. Touching upon your acting career, fans might be surprised to see you all suited up as Starman on Stargirl. What did you soak up the most from working with someone like Geoff Johns now that youre a part of the DC universe? It was like winning an auction item where you get to be a superhero. I always wanted to do it. I got the offer and my agent was like, Is this something you're interested in? and with many F bombs later, I was like, Oh, you know, yes. I've never been more interested because I could fulfill this childhood dream of playing a superhero, not something that I ever thought would happen. I read the script and it's great Geoff Johns is just walking around with a brain like that. And he is incredibly thoughtful, way too kind. I'm really just flattered to be in it. I'm not in it a lot ... I mean, I'm basically a guest star because my character is killed in the first episode. Spoiler. I don't know if I would fit in my suit right now, I'm like several pounds heavier, but it was just thrilling to do it. And the scale at which they made the show is pretty impressive. They made it look like, you know, they made it look like the real thing, like a real movie. It was pretty impressive. A lot of your Community family Danny Pudi, Ken Jeong, Donald Glover, Yvette Nicole Brown has shown up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with spot-on cameos. Whens it going to be your turn? Well, technically I've already appeared in a Marvel movie in 2005. But yeah, what the hell? I'll talk to Joe and Anthony [Russo]. If your Community character Jeff Winger ever made a return, would he be a Guinness drinker? Oh, absolutely. He also drinks single malt scotch, but you can't just drink scotch all night. I mean ... you can, it's going to be quite a day, but yes, definitely. Jeff Winger definitely would. Hopefully in the movie we can include it. And since we are AskMen, what do you think being a man means today, right now in the world we live in? Washing your hands all the time, wearing a mask when you go out, and being safe. Not endangering others by getting too close to them and leaving your mask at home. And maybe keep the errant body hair at bay. Keep it at a reasonable length, and you know ... amounts. Don't let it all go. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. You Might Also Dig: The US on Wednesday supported India amidst the rising border tension with China with a senior diplomat describing Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accusing it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour". Military sources in New Delhi said that Indian and Chinese armies have rushed in additional troops in areas around Pangong Tso lake and Galwan Valley in Ladakh, signalling to harden of their aggressive posturing two weeks after they were engaged in a fierce face-off. The sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso and even brought in additional boats to the lake. The two sides also have brought in more troops to locations like Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie. The flare-ups on the border, I think are a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical. And so whether it's on the South China Sea or whether it's along the border with India we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that raises questions about how China seeks to use its growing power, Alice G Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department, told reporters in a conference call. She was responding to a question on the recent flare-up on the India-China border. Wells retires from the State Department later this month after having headed the important South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department for three years in the Trump administration. She also talked about China's aggressive behaviour in the strategic South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade. And that is why you have seen a rallying of like-minded nations or whether it's .. through ASEAN or other diplomatic groupings, the trilateral that the United States has with Japan and India, the quadrilateral with Australia, the conversations that are taking place globally as to how we can reinforce the principles of the post-World War II economic order that has supported free and open trade that help lift all boats, including the Chinese boat, Wells said. What we want to see is an international system that provides benefit to everyone and not a system in which there is a suzerainty to China. I think in this instance, the border disputes are a reminder of the threat posed by China, the top American diplomat said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. I am continually amazed by the number of emails I get with questions about Social Security from people who dont even pay into the system. Who are these folks? They are primarily teachers in some states and police officers and firefighters in other states. A lot of these employees are covered by other retirement plans and not by Social Security. Why is that? Because back when Social Security laws were enacted in the 1930s, Congress felt that they could not force a federal pension plan (Social Security) on state and local governments. So, they gave them the option of joining Social Security or not. Most did. But some did not. And still today, about 10% of all workers, mostly in state and local jobs in the public sector, are not covered by Social Security. Also, federal government employees were initially not covered by Social Security because they had their own pension system in place before Social Security came along. But all federal employees hired since 1982 pay into Social Security. However, there are still some old feds out there (hired before 1982) who are not in Social Security. Her Instagram feed has been a seemingly endless stream of sponsored posts recently. And Phoebe Burgess was working hard at being an influencer on Wednesday, attending a photo shoot in Sydney's Manly. The 31-year-old ex-wife of retired NRL star Sam Burgess was spotted leaving the beauty shoot wearing a casual chic ensemble. Back to business! Phoebe Burgess was working hard at being an influencer on Wednesday, attending a photo shoot in Sydney's Manly The former magazine journalist paired ripped jeans with a colourful knit jumper, and threw a beige blazer across her shoulders. Phoebe accessorised with white sneakers, cat eye sunglasses and a tan cross-body handbag. Completing her effortlessly stylish look, the single mother-of-two curled her shoulder-length blonde hair into loose waves. Stunning: The ex-wife of retired NRL star Sam Burgess was spotted leaving the beauty shoot wearing a colourful knit jumper and beige blazer The details: Phoebe, 31, accessorised with cat eye sunglasses, and a tan cross-body handbag She has been ramping up her sponsored posts in recent weeks, and her career as an influencer seems to be flourishing despite the coronavirus recession. Lifestyle and beauty brands are particularly vulnerable to economic downturns, but there are still companies willing to pay Phoebe top dollar to advertise their wares. The vast majority of her Instagram posts so far this year have been advertisements. Professional spruiker: She has been ramping up her sponsored posts in recent weeks, and her career as an influencer seems to be flourishing despite the coronavirus recession She has spruiked items from the likes of Ostelin, L'Occitane, L'Oreal Paris, Aje, Witchery, Glasshouse Fragrances and The South Store Phoebe and Sam, who share two children together, Poppy and Billy, finalised her divorce in April. They had married in 2015 at her parents' country estate in Bowral, but separated in September last year. MELBOURNE, May 19 (Reuters) - A Papua New Guinea court is set to rule next month on whether Barrick Gold Corp can proceed with a legal challenge over the government's refusal to extend its lease on the Porgera gold mine, the head of the country's mining regulator said. Papua New Guinea (PNG) said last month it would take control of the lucrative but troubled mine in the remote highlands region, citing environmental and social problems. Barrick, which operates the mine in a joint venture with China's Zijin Mining, suspended operations and launched a court challenge to the decision, vowing to pursue "all legal avenues" for recourse. PNG's National Court is considering whether to allow the case to proceed. "The court case went through all the substantive matters. They reserved the decision for June 3rd," Jerry Garry, head of the country's Mineral Resources Authority told Reuters. It was not clear whether a refusal to allow the challenge to go ahead would exhaust Barrick's legal avenues. Barrick (Niugini) Ltd, which manages the joint venture with Zijin directed Reuters to the company's external lawyer, Derek Wood, who had no immediate comment on the matter. Human rights organisations and some locals have advocated for the mine's closure due to social unrest and pollution. Barrick has said the move by the government is tantamount to nationalisation and that it has always abided by the country's environmental regulations. (Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; editing by Richard Pullin) A day after LNJP Hospital authorities issued an order telling all quarantined healthcare workers to vacate hotels and other lodging facilities given to them, the decision was on Thursday "put in abeyance" for a week, sources said. The order issued by the Medical Director of the Delhi government-run facility on Wednesday said, the accommodation provided to the doctors and other heathcare workers be vacated by 12 noon on Thursday. "The RDA of the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) submitted a representation to the hospital authorities, raising infeasibilities in complying with the order, like spreading infection to their family if the healthcare workers leave the quarantine facility before 14-day period," a source said. "So, it has been decided to put the yesterday's order in abeyance for week," he said. During this time, modalities will be worked out, to treat the situation on a "case by case basis", the source said. The hospital authorities had issued the order under the directions issued by the government authorities on May 18. The order by the LNJP Hospital dated May 20, said, "Regular quarantine of healthcare workers after performing duty in COVID-19 areas is not warranted" and those medical staff under quarantine must vacate the accommodation provided in hotels and dharamshalas across the city. The Delhi health department in an order issued on March 29 had said that doctors treating coronavirus patients at LNJP and GBP hospitals will be accommodated at a private hotel here on city government's expense. The order had said the accommodation will be provided at the plush Lalit Hotel in central Delhi. Dr Parv Mittal, president of the Residents Doctors' Association (RDA) of MAMC, said, "We had appealed to the Medical Director of the hospital to reconsider the decision. Doctors are also getting infected by coronavirus, and going back to home means running the risk of infecting family members". "We were given assurance that our appeal will be heard," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - The former chief executive of Refco Inc, one of the world's largest commodities brokerages before its 2005 bankruptcy, has been granted compassionate release from a U.S. prison, where he had been serving a 16-year term for his role in the collapse. Phillip Bennett, 71, will be placed into the custody of U.S. immigration officials on Thursday, after the British citizen demonstrated "extraordinary and compelling reasons" for early release, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wrote. The Manhattan judge said Bennett is expected to be deported "as soon as practicable" to Britain. Bennett had said his age, high blood pressure and high cholesterol increased the risk he might contract COVID-19 in prison, justifying his release from the Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. U.S. prosecutors opposed the request, calling Bennett "the principal architect of an elaborate, massive, brazen fraud." Bennett had not been eligible for release until April 2022. His lawyers were not immediately available for comment. Refco filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in October 2005, two months after going public and a week after revealing that Bennett had concealed $430 million of debt. Bennett later pleaded guilty to 20 counts including fraud and money laundering, for causing an estimated $2.4 billion of investor losses. He told Buchwald at his July 2008 sentencing he intended no harm but "made an unacceptable and appalling error in judgment." In ordering Bennett's release, Buchwald called him a "model prisoner," and said his age put him at "far greater risk of death" from COVID-19 though his health issues were not unusual. She also said the case was unique because U.S. immigration authorities had, with Bennett's consent, planned before the coronavirus pandemic to deport him upon his release, making him ineligible for home confinement in the United States. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy) ArtRage Gallery in Syracuse has been closed to the public since mid-March but last week they made the switch to virtual programming with their first Internet based art exhibition. The photography exhibition, (In)dispensable: Who is essential in America? is the work of Maranie Rae Staab, a photojournalist and recent graduate from the multimedia, photography and design (MPD) program at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Staab is currently traveling across the US to document essential workers, such as truck drivers, grocery store workers, warehouse workers, and house cleaners and asking them to share their thoughts, fears and hopes about the current pandemic. The exhibition includes photographs and stories from her travels from New York to Georgia. ArtRage Gallery, a nonprofit art gallery founded in 2008 and located in Syracuses historic Hawley-Green neighborhood, has a stated mission of exhibiting art with social justice or environmental themes. Their current virtual exhibition is no exception. As Staab reveals in her Artist Statement, I began this trip with a seemingly simple question, but the interactions and conversations Ive had have spurred others about inequality, marginalization, immigration, racism, politics and power. Kimberley McCoy, staff member at ArtRage Gallery says, We felt this new work by Maranie is a revealing look at America right now. This pandemic has laid bare our nations inequalities. As our country begins to reopen we now have the challenging work of creating a new normal and that must go far beyond hand sanitizer and face masks. ArtRages curators first got to know the work of Staab back in the fall of 2019 when they exhibited her work in an exhibition called RECREATING HOME: Photographs of the Refugee Experience . Since 2015, Staab has worked as an international photojournalist with a focus on documenting displaced populations, such as those in and Syria and Iraq. When she arrived in Syracuse in 2018 to attend Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, she began to meet and photograph resettled refugees she met through Hopeprint, a non-profit organization on Syracuses Northside that offers community building and life skill programming to New Americans. Staabs exhibit at ArtRage revealed a closeness with her subjects that she describes as both a goal and a strength of her work, I strive for visual intimacy, to get close to people and their experiences and to be fully present. I believe doing so is increasingly necessary and I remain forever grateful to those who have trusted in me enough to share. For this new project, closeness has been a obvious challenge. Staab explains, I spent several weeks doing research and talking to professionals both about the health concerns and the project itself. Ive been wearing a N95 mask, standing at least 6 feet from everyone I am interviewing and social distancing in all other circumstances. I recognize that there is still always a level of risk, but as a journalist its also important to be documenting and to be telling stories. While, Staab, may not have been physically close to her subjects, that hasnt stopped her from creating beautiful work that is honest, revealing and articulates our common humanity. (In)dispensable: Who is essential in America? can be viewed free of charge directly from the ArtRage website. Re: Neighbourhood crime is up I am writing in response to a letter that was posted on May 17th about neighbourhood crime rate being up in the north end. In the letter, the writer has accused Kelownas homeless people as the ones who are responsible for the rise in the crimes happening in their neighbourhood. Does this person actually have any actual proof or evidence that it is the homeless people who are committing these crimes or is she just showing how ignorant the HAVES treat the HAVE-NOTS in this town? Crimes are committed in my neighbourhood on a daily basis and the crimes are not being committed by the homeless. I have actual photographic proof of numerous rich Kelowna residents breaking the law - wealthy, privileged citizens with $80,000+ SUVs and $1,000+ bikes and biking gear not the homeless. Did the residents of the affected neighbourhood ever consider that maybe its one of their own? This whole COVID pandemic created situations that people have never had to deal with before. Maybe thats the reason crime is up? I have personally seen how people react in a crisis, how they disregard the health and safety of others, how the refuse to listen to rules and obey laws, how they act like a bunch of uncivilized animals. Maybe its those people who are committing the crimes because they think they can, because They do not have to and will not obey the law. Speeding, Drinking in public, Talking/Texting on your cell phone while driving, and driving under the influence are crimes too. Yet, all summer long my neighbourhood will be inundated with people committing these crimes and no one with do anything about it. So, unless you have proof and even if you do, Kelowna RCMP really wont do anything stop placing blame on a certain group of people. Accusations without proof is just ignorance. Erika Demoskoff, Kelowna Please register or log in to keep reading Stay logged in to skip the surveys. : At least 103 Russian tourists, who got stranded in the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, left for their country from here. The special plane of Royal Flight Airlines took off at 10.30 am IST to Moscow via Kolkata and Yekaterinburg. While at least 75 guests were staying in different destinations in Kerala like Varkala near the state capital, the rest were held up in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, officials said. The operations were coordinated by Ratheesh C Nair, HonoraryConsul of the Russian Federation here. The homebound passengers underwent the mandatory medical check-up and other formalities before boarding the flight. As many as 2,500 stranded foreign tourists were repatriated from Kerala since the international airports were closed on March 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included 232 to Germany, 268 to the UK, 112 to France and 115 to Switzerland. Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the state government had taken great care to ensure that the extended stay of the foreigners had been convenient and hassle-free. The Tourism Department officials were in constant touch with them to extend the best hospitality that Kerala is known for. Rani George, Secretary, Tourism, said "Providing care to tourists held up in the state has been top priority of the government despite the constraints posed by the lockdown. We are happy to note that all the stranded passengers were taken care of in the best possible manner. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Syrian Justice Ministry Refutes Reports of Arresting Accounts of Assad's Cousin Makhlouf Sputnik News 12:20 GMT 20.05.2020 CAIRO (Sputnik) - The Syrian Justice Ministry on Wednesday refuted media reports about arrested accounts of businessman Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar Assad. "Some pages on Facebook, based on biased foreign sources, published a fake decree of the Ministry of Justice about the arrest of all types of assets of Rami Makhlouf. The ministry denied ever issuing any decree in that regard," the ministry said on Facebook. The ministry said there were accounts on social networks that were intentionally publishing fake news and exploiting the topic to spread rumors. The state department of communications has recently informed Syriatel provider, headed by Makhlouf, about the need to pay nearly 234 billion Syrian pounds ($456 million) by 5 May. Makhlouf posted an appeal to the president on his Facebook page, asking for his company to be exempted from taxes and claiming that the special service mistreated his employees. Syrian lawmaker, Mari Bitar, told RIA Novosti that the cousin of the president was subject to the same laws as other citizens of the country and the decision on taxes concerned not just him but everyone who had not paid. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The European Union is set to launch a down payment on a Green New Deal. As the world slips into a deep economic recession and some indicators are as bad as the Great Depression trillions of dollars are flowing in the form of government stimulus. To date, much of that has been aimed at re-inflating the pre-pandemic economy, particularly in the United States. In fact, the Trump administration has been going further, dealing out benefits to oil and gas while slapping fees retroactively on renewable energy. There has been quite a bit of talk about green stimulus in recent months, and not just from environmental groups. The IMF and the IEA have both said that macroeconomic recovery should be done with the climate change in mind, and green stimulus checks multiple boxes at once. Even top global corporations have said the same. A coalition of 150 companies worth a combined $2.4 trillion recently signed a statement calling on governments to ensure their pandemic response is grounded in bold climate action. On May 27, the European Commission will unveil details on its Green Deal strategy, which will offer a green economic recovery package while at the same time put some meat on the bones of the EUs aim to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Specifically, the plan will propose a recovery instrument worth a half-a-trillion euros, according to Bloomberg, which obtained a copy of the draft document. Of that, between 60 and 80 billion euros would be aimed at boosting EV sales and building out EV recharging networks. EVs would be exempted from the VAT. Another 91 billion euros would go to retrofitting existing buildings. 10 billion euros would go to renewable energy projects. Around 30 billion euros would be funneled into technologies to cut emissions in sectors where it has been exceptionally difficult to do so, such as steel and cement. Related: Oil Climbs As Fears Of Negative Prices Fade These sums would dwarf any green stimulus announcements to date and signal that the EU really wants to align its economic recovery strategy with the Green Deal, said Victoria Cuming, head of global policy at BloombergNEF. Meanwhile, at the national level, Denmark just announced a plan to build two giant energy islands, dubbed the worlds most ambitious offshore wind project, according to the FT. The 37-billion-euro project is a cornerstone of Denmarks plans to cut emissions by 70 percent within the next decade. Even though we are in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis, that doesnt mean that the climate change problem is smaller. We are also in a climate crisis, Denmarks climate minister Dan Jorgensen told the FT. The new spending measures come as Germany and France have separately reached an agreement on a version of a fiscal union, or at least, the first steps towards building such an outcome. That is, in an effort to hold the EU together, Germany and France have proposed a 500-billion-euro fund that will provide fiscal stimulus to struggling economies on the continent, such as Italy and Spain, both hit hard by the pandemic. The funds would be raised across the Union, but would disproportionately benefit the countries that need it most. Economists have long argued that some of the eurozones deepest economic problems reflect the fact that the region exists in a monetary union but not a fiscal union. The arrangement creates instability, leaving Europe halfway between merely a free-trade zone and a fully integrated single economy. But Germany has historically resisted a fiscal union, which would amount to redistributing money from North to South. The political risks have always kept the idea on the drawing board. But the pandemic has changed all of the rules. Related: Big Oils Best Survival Strategy During past crises, the EUs response has often been more Europe, not less. But Brexit slammed the brakes on the notion of deepening the European project. And the coronavirus has deeply divided the continent, with resentment building in southern Europe, where the economic and public health toll has been most concentrated. The worst recession in nearly a century, and all the political fallout that entails, could yet tear the EU apart. But thats exactly why Germany may be coming around to the idea of a more redistributive arrangement. It remains to be seen if a few holdouts (Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands, for instance) scuttle the proposal. It is against this chaotic backdrop that the European Commission will propose its green recovery package. Europe is suffering through health crisis, an economic crisis and a political crisis. A Green Deal by no means is a silver bullet, but it does promise progress on multiple fronts. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A judicial officer was appointed as an additional judge of the Kerala High Court on Thursday. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the name of Karunakaran Nair Haripal for his elevation to the high court, to the central government on May 12. On an earlier occasion, the SC collegium had rejected Haripal's name recommended by the Kerala High Court collegium as he did not fulfill the age criteria laid down for those seeking elevation to the high court through judicial officers' quota, sources in the government said. He had then made a representation to the SC collegium stating that in certain previous recommendations, the apex court panel had ignored the age criteria while giving weightage to other aspects, the sources said. "In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Karunakaran Nair Haripal, to be an Additional Judge of the Kerala High Court, with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office till May 8, 2022," the law ministry notification said. A judicial officer should be 58-and-a-half year old on the day a vacancy arises in a high court to be considered under the judicial officers' quota for elevation to HC. Additional judges are usually made permanent judges after two years based on their performance. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A South Carolina man furious that his ex-girlfriend went to the beach with another man fatally shot her and her two daughters before turning the gun on himself, authorities said. Gabriel Jordan, 37, committed the carnage on Sunday outside the St. Matthews home of his ex, Shanta Singleton, according to a police report obtained by the Times and Democrat of Orangeburg. Cops said Jordan initially choked Singleton before shooting her when one of her four daughters at the home tried to intervene. Jordan then shot 12-year-old Trevay Stroman after she jumped on his back, Calhoun County deputies said. He next took aim at 18-year-old Shantasia Stroman, who was struck in the arm and escaped to a neighbors. As Stroman ran away, she saw Jordan chasing her 15-year-old sister, Essence Stroman, into their house. Essence was later found dead, according to the report. Jordans body was found with a pistol next to him, deputies said. One of two surviving children told investigators that Jordan followed her mom and another man home from Myrtle Beach. The daughter said Jordan snapped after Singleton told him their on-again-off-again relationship was finished. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Netflix Logo. Courtesy of Netflix By Kim Hyun-bin Netflix, a global streaming giant, has been taking a "my way or the highway" approach with local telecom companies as it believes to have the upper hand in negotiations as the majority of local corporations are currently seeking to ink deals with the U.S. content provider. However, the National Assembly passed a revised bill Wednesday seemingly favoring the telecom companies, making it mandatory for foreign content providers to pay for network use, which most foreign companies have not been doing. The National Assembly Science and Technology Committee said, "Major content providers should pay local telecom companies for network services in Korea in return for continuing their content services, which usually cause heavy network traffic. The revised law is asking global content providers to spend more to make sure their content service quality to Korean customers is guaranteed," SK, KT and LG have spent trillions of won in building networks but several foreign content companies have been taking up nearly half of the data traffic without paying fees. The three telecom companies welcomed the move, but local portals and IT companies such as Naver and Kakao worry the new regulation will negatively affect local companies that are already paying hefty fees for network use. "Under the new regulation, telecom companies will ask for a higher network use fees," an IT company official said. "Foreign content providers will not pay for the traffic use and only increase the burden on local firms." Netflix is currently engaged in a lawsuit against SK Broadband (SKB) arguing it should not pay for network use. Meanwhile, local players such as Naver and Kakao have been paying annual fees in the tens of billions of won to domestic local internet service providers (ISP). Netflix only pays a network use fee in the United States and France. However, with the recent revision the tide could turn in favor of SKB. SKB has no choice but to approach the issue aggressively as it is seeking to expand its own over-the-top (OTT) service "Wavve," while finding it difficult to cope with the increase in its network traffic due to Netflix's "freeloading." Despite the controversy, the country's leading pay-per-view provider, KT, has not been vocal about the matter as opposition to Netflix's actions could make it difficult to secure a partnership with the streaming giant, negotiations for which are underway. KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) After two months of mall closure due to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the SM Aura Premier reopened its doors to customers on May 18. After a careful assessment of the malls safety measures, the local government of Taguig approved the reopening of SM Aura Premier as the city is now under modified ECQ. For the protection of everyone, shoppers entering SM Aura Premier will be required to wear a mask at all times and only those carrying official Taguig City quarantine passes will be allowed to enter the mall. The management of the mall assured it is following strict sanitation protocols to ensure the safety and well-bring of its customers. Among the sanitation measures include the thorough cleaning and disinfection of the mall prior to opening and throughout mall hours. Mall entrances are equipped with temperature checks and disinfecting foot mats. Alcohol dispensers are also provided at the mall entrances and restrooms, while the restrooms are sanitized every 30 minutes. SM Aura Premier strongly adheres to the observance of physical distancing. In fact, it has its own safety protocol officers to reinforce safe malling measures. Hallways and common areas have floor directional arrows to encourage one-way customer traffic that will help people avoid coming into close contact with others. SM Aura Premier is also concerned with the welfare of its employees and agency frontliners, including janitors and security guards, that they undergo temperature checks at the start of their shift and throughout the day. They are also provided with face masks and face shields. In addition, agency personnel working in high customer contact areas are required to wear gloves. The mall management will also run COVID-19 antibody rapid testing among its employees. As the country heals and recovers from the crisis, SM Aura Premier and the Taguig City Government will continue to serve and support the community as the mall makes everyones safety a top priority. For more information about SM Aura Premier, visit @SMAuraPremier on Facebook and Instagram. Over the 10 weeks (or has it been 10 years?) of this coronavirus shutdown, weve all been inundated with lots of information about self-care and maintaining mental health. Call your friends. Eat some vegetables. Go for a walk. All sound advice but Id like to add to that list another coping mechanism that Ive found to be highly effective in dealing with the unfolding global crisis: rose. Im not the only one who knows this. According to Nielsen, dollar sales of still (that is, non-sparkling) rose were up nearly 35% during the 10-week period ending May 9, compared with the previous year. Rose isnt just a wine. Its a mood. And it feels especially transportive right now, possibly because its a beverage so well suited to daytime drinking and evocative of outdoor activities that are currently unattainable. The passage of time is moving strangely right now, but rose has a reassuring way of marking the entrance to a new season. Sipping a glass of pink wine, even while confined to, say, your small San Francisco apartment, can make you feel like youre on a beach, at a picnic in the park, at a big outdoor concert. Those qualities are exactly why rose has become so ripe for commoditization for the Hamptons-yacht-club set (a phenomenon that was, incidentally, the subject of my first major feature when I joined The Chronicle in 2015). If you love great, high-quality rose wine, its easy to turn your noses up at these marketing-brand roses, some of which Summer Water; Hampton Water seem to be marketing themselves on flavorlessness. Water is not a word I find particularly appealing when it comes to wine, especially rose, which I want to be bold and juicy and bursting with flavor. In fact, dry rose happens to be one of the most versatile wines for food pairing. Its an ideal salad wine, standing up well to assertively herbal and vegetal notes. I recently wrote about two roses, from Lorenza and Alta Colina, that go beautifully with notoriously wine-averse asparagus. Rose loves grilled and smoky flavors, and can be a refreshing antidote to fatty foods precisely why it harmonizes so well with all kinds of charcuterie, and by extension pepperoni pizza. Its beautiful with seafood, and can often absorb some heat; I enjoyed Minus Tides rose of Carignan with a spicy cioppino I made last weekend. But heres whats especially important to keep in mind during this difficult shutdown period: Dont let all the wine jargon distract you from the fact that rose is supposed to be fun. The yacht-club set is on to something, and I celebrate rose for the same reasons that they do. Particularly now, when we all wish we could be traveling, or gathering in large groups, rose offers a sense of sybaritic escapism. And I think its silly to pretend youre taking it so seriously that you cant join the party. Here are some roses that have been keeping me going over the last couple weeks. What Im drinking Lady of the Sunshine Rose Edna Valley 2019 ($28, 13%): Winemaker Gina Giugnis rose is unusual in that its a blend of white and red grapes: 30% Sauvignon Blanc, 70% Pinot Noir, both foot-stomped and in contact with their skins for 24 hours. The grassy, gooseberry-forward notes of the Sauvignon Blanc come through on this very citrusy wine, whose nose recalls green-apple candy and prickly pear. Birichino Vin Gris California 2019 ($17, 13%): I usually love just about everything from this Santa Cruz winery, and its latest vin gris a term often used for ultra-pale roses smells like putting your nose in a bouquet of violets. A blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Cinsault and Vermentino, its richly textured and quite tannic for a rose. The tannins give it a pleasant, orangey bitterness that makes it perfect for what the French would call apero. Minus Tide Rose Feliz Creek Vineyard Mendocino County 2019 ($24, 12.9%): From 112-year-old Carignan vines, this lean, acid-driven rose tastes like a just-ripe peach, with lots of red berry notes, and smells like lavender and wet stones. It achieves lots of flavor in a very delicate frame. Sangiacomo Vin Gris Roberts Road Vineyard Petaluma Gap 2019 ($30, 12.5%): This rose of Pinot Noir is fuller and weightier than the other wines here. It smells tropical, giving off the impression of guava, but turns more savory, with a spicy coppa flavor, on the palate. What Im writing Janelle Bitker, Soleil Ho and I had a lot of fun writing a bit of speculative fiction as we envisioned what restaurants and bars might look like post-coronavirus. Reservations at dive bars? Showing a contact tracing app at the door? No more oysters? Read our story, and be sure to also check out this cool graphic by designer Todd Trumbull. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Stephen Lam / Special to The Chronicle What does brandy have to do with climate change? More than you might realize, according to Mark Guillaudeu, the beverage director at CDP and Commis in Oakland. I spoke to him about why Cognac, Armagnac and Calvados have the potential to inspire regenerative agriculture. (Yes, this is a story that was written pre-pandemic, and Im so happy it has now seen the light of day.) California still hasnt given wineries the go-ahead to open their tasting rooms, but some have begun welcoming guests back for visits without any wine. I wrote about how Jordan Winery in Sonoma County is introducing $110-per-person hikes this weekend, sending you home with a takeout box of wine and food. Since that article was published, Ive also learned that Heringer Estates in Clarksburg is taking appointments for a short nature hike on its property, with a suggested $5 donation that goes to a scholarship fund. What Im reading California tasting rooms may not really be open yet, but in Oregon wineries have begun seeing visitors again, reports Michael Alberty. I was unfamiliar with Cygne Blanc, a naturally propagated grape variety in Western Australia that may be the countrys only truly indigenous wine grape, until I read Christina Pickards account in Wine Enthusiast. Will struggling bars, restaurants, breweries and wineries immediately begin to rebound as soon as shelter-in-place orders are lifted? It might not be quite that simple, writes Bart Watson, the Brewers Association chief economist. Drinking with Esther is a weekly newsletter from The Chronicles wine critic. Follow along on Twitter: @Esther_Mobley and Instagram: @esthermob Shipments of the steelmaking commodity iron ore, Australia's most lucrative export, will face new customs procedures on arrival in China under changes industry insiders say will streamline quality checks but could also be used to single out Australian product if trade tensions escalate. China's customs authorities have released new rules coming into force on June 1 that officials would conduct quality inspections for iron ore shipments at the request of the buyer. They replace the existing regime that requires the mandatory inspection of a random selection of vessels. "[Officials] will be selectively testing for impurities in iron ore," UBS mining analyst Glyn Lawcock said. "Australian iron ore is very good quality, we'd be surprised if it fails the test for quality. But it means things could take a little bit longer than usual if your boat is selected." Australia is the world's top exporter of the steelmaking commodity iron ore. Credit:Brendon Thorne\Bloomberg Major miners on Thursday said they were positive about the changes, which apply to all shipments not just those carrying Australian iron ore, as they could also speed up trade flows because fewer batches might ultimately get inspected. Mining insiders said they had been first told about the proposed reforms in October 2019. President Akufo-Addo in his address to the nation on April 9, 2020 to provide an update on COVID-19 announced a 50 per cent and 100 per cent reduction on tariffs for businesses and lifeline consumers respectively as COVID-19 pandemic special electricity bill relief for consumers. The bill relief commenced effectively on 1st May, 2020 for prepaid customers, while postpaid customers had theirs reflecting on their April, 2020 bills that was delivered by the end of May, 2020. For instance, some of the customers indicated that they bought GH20.00 on February 07 and had since been using without the power going off. For her part, Mrs. Christina Sackey, Proprietress of the Classic Beauty Palour in Takoradi disclosed that about two weeks ago, her prepaid accounts was credited with GH94.00 when she went to buy GH40.00 of credit. She explained that hitherto, she would have had less than the GH 40.00 but due to the reduction in tariffs as announced earlier by the President following the economic hardship the pandemic was having on Ghanaians. She commended the government for the relief and described it as a step in the right direction since it would go a long way to lessen the hardships associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Mrs. Sackey expressed the optimism that the reduction in tariffs would help reduce illegal connection and therefore encouraged customers to use electricity wisely to save the government some money. However, she stressed that "if one was disconnected for an illegality or none payment of electricity bills, this was the opportune time to make amends by paying to benefit from the relief for the period." ---GNA Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung highlighted the life, career and great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh as well as the time-honoured traditional relations between Vietnam and Laos, which were founded by Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Kaysone Phomvihane and have been nurtured by generations of leaders and the people of the two countries. Also on the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia hosted an incense offering to President Ho Chi Minh yesterday morning. Delegates at the event paid tribute to President Ho, the great leader of the Vietnamese nation, the brilliant soldier of the international communist and worker movements, and a global cultural celebrity. In Thailands north-eastern province of Udon Thani, Vietnamese Consul General in Khon Kaen, Hoang Ngoc Son joined 100 overseas Vietnamese in offering incense to President Ho Chi Minh at the Ho Chi Minh relic site. The site is the first of its kind in Thailand and was opened in 2006. Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Udon Thani Luong Xuan Hoa said that after arriving in the province, the President established a revolutionary movement and opened classrooms for the Vietnamese community during the 1928-1929 period. The Party Committee and the Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine organise a tree-planting event at the embassy on May 19 to mark President Ho Chi Minh's 130th birthday. The same day, the Party Committee and the Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine organised a tree-planting event at the embassy. Ambassador Nguyen Anh Tuan recalled that President Ho Chi Minh initiated the tree-planting movement which has become a beautiful tradition of Vietnam. He affirmed that the Presidents idea on planting trees cultivating people has remained a valuable lesson. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Consulate General in the Russian city of Vladivostok laid wreaths at the President Ho Chi Minh monument in the city to commemorate his 130th birthday. Earlier on May 18, the Embassy of Vietnam in Mexico offered flowers at the statue of late President Ho Chi Minh in the embassys campus. Speaking at the event, Ambassador Nguyen Hoai Duong highlighted the Presidents remarkable contributions to the cause of national revolution. The diplomat called on the Vietnamese community in Mexico to study and follow President Ho Chi Minhs ideology, morality and style, as well as to actively implement the Vietnamese Party and States foreign policies, and contribute to the reinforcement and development of the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Mexico. People wear masks and gloves as they wait to enter a Walmart in Uniondale, N.Y., on April 17, 2020. (Al Bello/Getty Images) Americans Use Their $1,200 Stimulus Checks on Nonessential Items at Walmart, Target: Report Major retailers have said that a number of Americans are spending their stimulus checks on non-essential items such as clothes, toys, and consumer electronics. Call it relief spending, as it was heavily influenced by stimulus dollars, leading to sales increases in categories such as apparel, televisions, video games, sporting goods and toys, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during the companys earnings call on Tuesday, according to MarketWatch. Adult bicycles started selling out, as parents started to join the kids. An overlapping trend then started emerging related to DIY and home-related activities, he added. A number of consumers bought bandanas and sewing machines to make their own masks, McMillon added. People wearing masks and gloves wait to enter a Walmart in Uniondale, N.Y., on April 17, 2020. (Al Bello/Getty Images) Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told the news outlet that before the checks were sent out on April 15, there was not as much demand for nonessential goods at the store. However, sales took off towards the end of the quarter, he said. Also, Apple saw an increase in demand in its products across the board, CEO Tim Cook said. A part of it is due to just our new products, Cook said, adding that another part is due to the stimulus programs taking effect in April. Target also saw a rapid increase in traffic and sales for discretionary goods due to the pandemic checks, CEO Brian Cornell remarked on Wednesday, according to the report. We certainly saw an uptick as we reported starting on April 15, as those checks arrived across America, Cornell added. Some consumers are still seeing the benefits of the stimulus check, he added, saying that people are shopping across all categories including apparel. Walmarts online sales in the U.S. jumped 74 percent for the quarter ending April 30, which captured the brunt of the pandemic. Same-store sales rose 10 percent at U.S. Walmart stores on strong sales of food, health, and wellness goods, according to The Associated Press. Unlike its online rivals such as Amazon, Walmart enjoys an extensive network of nearly 5,000 physical stores and a variety of delivery and pick-up options that it ramped up to meet the crushing demand for essential items from paper towels to canned food. Walmarts reputation for low prices also helped as the unemployment rate has spiraled to a high level since the Great Depression. Having a wide range of fulfillment options, including delivery to home, collection from storeand by using stores for fulfillmentallowed Walmart to ramp up capacity in a way that many other players struggled to do, said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail. We also believe that by using stores effectively, Walmart mitigated some of the higher costs associated with the online channel. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The CollegeCentral.com/ctccjobs website makes it both FREE and easy for all employerslarge and small, public and privateto register just once and then post an unlimited number of jobs to Connecticut's community college students and alumni! This is an extraordinarily useful resource for employers hiring in today's climate, even with temporarily closed or restricted campuses, and students having to return home. Employers posting jobs today can simultaneously reach tens of thousands of job seekers from eight community colleges, including Capital Community College, Housatonic Community College, Manchester Community College, Middlesex Community College, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Quinebaug Valley Community College, Three Rivers Community College, and Tunxis Community College. According to Joy Miller, CCN's Career Services Central National Sales Manager, "The Consortium is relaunching with a new look and features. At this time when employers need to target timely job postings in response to COVID-19, organizations are looking to hire college students and alumni willing and able to jump in to meet their state's, regions', or cities' specific hiring conditions. Connecticut's community colleges are well positioned to help their State's economy rebound fast and to quickly fill the State's hiring needs in an era of rapid economic and technological change. "Many employers post jobs at the closest community colleges," Miller added. "But, with the Consortium, employers can easily extend their reach. Posting just once, they can go statewide or target a specific combination of regional Connecticut community colleges." CCN's Career Services Central is the exclusive online career office management platform for career centers at all eight schools participating in the Consortium. Joy Miller sums it up: "Community colleges can have a greater impact on the State's economy. As many barriers as possible have been removed, simplifying the process and allowing employers to easily recruit the state's home-grown entry-level talent. The Connecticut Community Colleges Jobs Consortium website does exactly that, particularly with the added current complications of closed campuses and remote learning." "Our State's community colleges provide great value and contribute directly to Connecticut's economic growth. Our Consortium provides our State's employers with direct access to our combined colleges' new and eager job talent," said Julie Greene, Director of Career & Veterans Services at Manchester Community College. "Everyonestudents, alumni, and taxpayershas invested in our community college system. And the result is a clear path for our State's employers to see a return on that investment." "Recruiters like the ease of posting just once to reach all Connecticut Consortium members' community college talent. Our graduates have the skills, and they are ready and willing to move directly into the local workforce now. Our colleges train our State's students to meet Connecticut's specific needs, and our graduates are who today's employers are looking to hire," stated Hannah Gregory, Program Coordinator, FIRST Center at Capital Community College. Emily Canto, Career Services Counselor at Middlesex Community College emphasized, "Signing up just once gives an employer unlimited posting opportunities statewide!" Anisha Thomas, Director of Career Services & Internships at Housatonic Community College, pointed out, "Job postings are free of charge to all Connecticut employers here. It is a useful, no-cost resource that can connect you to qualified students and alumni across the state." As Antony Wormack, Director of the Center for Job Placement, Naugatuck Valley Community College said, "Most job boards charge employers high fees and make promises to deliver qualified candidates. But only our Connecticut Community Colleges Jobs Consortium gives employers a direct path to our combined community colleges career centers and talent." According to Elizabeth Willcox, Acting Associate Director of Career Services, Three Rivers College, "Collectively, our responsibility is to prepare our students to join the workforce, and this has proved to be the best place for Connecticut's employers to find their next hires!" "Employers who post to the Consortium are specifically looking to hire students and alumni who want to work in Connecticut," said Samuel Kapros, Academic Advisor/Career Services at Tunxis Community College. "It is important to note that our community college graduates almost exclusively accept job offers in the state, and that makes this a workforce win-win." Statistics show that approximately 47,909 students attend Connecticut community colleges.* * "Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System," National Center for Education Statistics, accessed May 20, 2020, https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data. About College Central Network Founded in 1997, College Central Network (CCN) has over 22 years of experience connecting employers with qualified emerging talent candidates. More than one million employers have already registered to utilize the Network to post jobs and recruit students and alumni for entry-level jobs. CollegeCentral.com is absolutely free for any student enrolled at a U.S. college; alumnus/a of a U.S. college; community resident taking classes at a U.S. college; or student attending one of our partner high schools. To learn more, visit: CollegeCentral.com. About Career Services Central Career Services Central (CSC) is CCN's intuitive and affordable career office management platform that works on any device and is trusted by hundreds of institutions and organizations across the U.S. Thousands of career professionals use CSC daily to manage the entire career process for students, alumni, and community residents attending CSC-powered institutions, including appointments, career advice and job searching, resumes, career portfolios, experiential learning, on-campus recruiting, career events, and job fairs. To learn more, visit: CareerServicesCentral.com. CONTACT: Barbara Anderson 800-442-3614 [email protected] SOURCE College Central Network, Inc. Kazakhstans crude oil production has fallen below 1.7 million bpd of crude and condensates, oil analytics firm OilX told Oilprice.com, noting that the giant Tengiz field has seen a jump in Covid-19 cases among workers, at 935. The Tengiz field is one of the biggest in the country and normally produces 600,000 bpd of crude. Kazakhstan is a member of the OPEC+ group and earlier this year agreed to cut some 400,000 bpd in oil production as part of international efforts to stymie the drop in oil prices resulting from the combination of excessive production at a time of falling demand. Most of the Central Asian countrys cuts were to come from the Tengiz field as well as from the offshore Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. The situation was unique in the oil world because the operators of both Tengiz and Kashagan are supermajors: Chevron for Tengiz, and Shell, Total and Exxon as partners in Kashagan. Kazakhstan was not alone in this unprecedented position of negotiating production cuts with private field operators. Neighbour Azerbaijan with whom the country shares the Caspian Seas oil riches, asked the BP-led consortium that operates the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore field system to start reducing its output from May. Last year, the ACG group produced some 542,000 bpd. Now, BP and its partners would need to reduce this by between 75,000 bpd and 80,000 bpd to fill the countrys reduction quota, which stands at 164,000 bpd. The total amount of daily oil output OPEC+ agreed to take off the market was 9.7 million, but OPEC leader Saudi Arabia said it would cut an additional 1 million bpd to stimulate oil prices. The effort has worked, supported by production cuts in Norway and the United States and Canada, which have together cut somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 million bpd in oil production since the start of the crisis. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The winner of a Republican Senate primary in Oregon is a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory - and made her support of it a central theme in her campaign. The candidate, Jo Rae Perkins, is a former Republican chairwoman of Linn County, located south of Oregon's capital, Salem. In a four-way race among Republican candidates, Perkins was hovering around 50 per cent, meaning she will be on the general election ballot against Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley, who holds an advantage in the mostly-blue state, Yahoo News reported. Perkins celebrated in a victory speech by referring to herself as a 'Q person' and then repeating a slogan used by followers of the conspiracy theory: 'Where we go one, we go all.' U.S. Senate candidate Joe Rae Perkins won the Oregon Republican Party's primary Tuesday night. She stood out among the candidates because she leaned into the QAnon conspiracy theory QAnon believers think President Trump and an individual name 'Q' are taking on the elites and 'deep state' officials, who are trying to kill children. The conspiracy theory is similar to Pizzagate, which accused Hillary Clinton of running a child trafficking ring out of a pizza parlor A QAnon conspiracy theorist (left) and a Trump supporter (right) are among the throngs who came out to the state capitol in Salem, Oregon on May 2 to protest the state's stay at home orders. Perkins ran on her belief in 'Q' as a Republican for U.S. Senate in the state Senate candidate Joe Rae Perkins (center) stands with fellow QAnon conspiracy theorist in February of this year. She posted this photo to her Facebook page Perkins made no secret of her belief in QAnon - a conspiracy theory that revolves around 'deep state' officials and global elites killing children, with President Trump and a high-ranking intelligence official dubbed 'Q' - who could be Trump himself - working to thwart the plot. It has similar outlines to Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory that grew in the deep reaches of the right-wing internet in 2016 that said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton ran a sex trafficking ring in the basement of a D.C. pizza parlor. The bizarre theory got started using references from her campaign chairman John Podesta's leaked emails. The pizza place has no basement, nor was Clinton involved in any such plot. But allies of Trump on the right, including ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's son, pushed it into prominence. A North Carolina man found it so believable that he showed up with a firearm to the restaurant, Comet Ping Pong, to stage a rescue. The president has retweeted 'Q'-supporting accounts as well, but Perkins, during her Senate primary run, has taken her support to another level. 'It's a very highly calculated risk that I'm taking,' she told Right Wing Watch in January. 'Most people play it a lot safer than I do. It's either pure genius or pure insanity. It's one of the two. The voters are going to have to be the ones that make that decision.' Perkins speaks about 'Q' like he or she is a real person. 'Q is most likely military intelligence and they've been out there watching what's been going on with our country for decades and they are partnered with President Trump to stop the corruption and to save our republic.' She suggested to Right Wing Watch that 'there's probably a lot of us out there.' 'But I just happen to be bold enough to say, "Hey, I'm following Q because I want to know, because if the Q team is real, I want to know about it,' she said. She said her belief in 'Q' was similar to Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, in that it's based on faith not proof. Jay Rayner has said he was pilloried in public as a teenager after his suspension from school for drug use was reported by the media because of his mothers fame. The restaurant critic and MasterChef judge told the Big Issue that he got in trouble with teachers after they found out he smoked cannabis with his friends at a party following a school play. He said that the story was sold to a newspaper, who were interested in the incident because his mother Claire Rayner was in the public eye as an agony aunt. Rayner told the magazine: I started smoking dope when I was about 13 or 14 I was an early starter. I was invited to an all-night party after a school play and a group of us got stoned. The next day somebody grassed us all up to the school and a massive inquest started. He added that after initially trying to lie about the incident he crumbled under interrogation. I was thrown out of school from early May and told they would decide later whether I would ever return, he said. She felt that I'd been pilloried in public because of who she was. Jay Rayner Rayner added that a couple of guys decided to sell the story and my mum was ridden by guilt. Video of the Day She felt that because of her profile, what should have been a dramatic but private incident became a public one. She felt that Id been pilloried in public because of who she was. And she was absolutely right. The critic, whose father Desmond Rayner was an actor, said that he felt very hard done by over the incident, adding that he would advise his younger self to hold out when being questioned. They could never have proved it, he said. The Big Issues vendors are not working amid the coronavirus outbreak but people can support the magazine by subscribing online at bigissue.com. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group transits in formation Jan. 25, 2020. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment to the Indo-Pacific. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anthony Rivera The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has finally gotten underway after a coronavirus outbreak sidelined the carrier for nearly two months, the service announced Wednesday. The ship left Naval Base Guam on Thursday local time and entered the Philippine Sea for carrier qualifications, which involves making sure the air wing is ready to operate normally. The Navy stopped providing updates on the total number of coronavirus cases among USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors weeks ago, but at the end of April, there were more than one thousand active cases. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The US Navy announced Wednesday evening that the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has finally returned to sea after a serious coronavirus outbreak upended the ship's Pacific deployment and sidelined it in Guam for nearly two months. The ship departed Naval Base Guam on Thursday local time and entered the Philippine Sea, where the Carrier Air Wing 11 will conduct carrier qualifications aboard the flattop. The USS Theodore Roosevelt has been pier-side in Guam since March 27, just a few days after the Navy revealed that three sailors aboard the carrier had contracted COVID-19. After the ship arrived in Guam, the Navy began the lengthy processing of testing the entire crew, as well as moving members of the ship's crew ashore. More than 80% of the ship's crew of around 4,800 sailors would be moved off the ship as the number of cases skyrocketed. The Navy has stopped providing updates on the number of cases aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but by the end of April, the ship had more than one thousand cases. In recent weeks, sailors have begun returning to the ship, but only on the condition that they meet the health requirements. Roughly 3,000 sailors have returned to the carrier. The Navy announced on Monday that sailors aboard the carrier have been conducting a "fast cruise," which simulates being at sea. Story continues The service explained that "following a successful fast cruise, the ship will commence underway training and carrier qualifications to support the air wing's return to operational readiness." The Navy said Wednesday evening that the ship is currently sailing with only a portion of its crew. "Carrier qualification requires fewer personnel than other missions, and bringing fewer Sailors on board will enable enhanced social distancing while underway," Capt. Carlos Sardiello, the ship's commanding officer, said in a statement. The ship's former commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier, was relieved of his command on April 2 after a letter he wrote warning of a worsening situation aboard the carrier and calling for the Navy to take decisive action leaked to the press. The outbreak, as well as his actions, are still under investigation. Read the original article on Business Insider The Lagos State Police Command has arrested and detained the Yahaha Adeshina, the Divisional Police Officer of Ilemba Hausa Division for allegedly killing a sergeant attached to his division. Bala Elkana, the police spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday that Mr Adeshina is being investigated by the State Criminal Investigation Department, (SCID). The sergeant, Onalaja Onajide, died during a shooting incident at the division on May 10, while the DPO was said to have also sustained injuries in the shoot out. According to the earlier investigation by the police, two deserters from the Nigerian Army, Kehinde Elijah and Ezeh Joseph, were arrested in respect to the shooting and killing of the police sergeant. Mr Elkana said Mr Elijah is among the three suspects on police wanted list for violent crimes. Mr Elijah was earlier at the Ilemba station to solicit the release of his motorcycle which was impounded by the police for violating the ban on the use of commercial motorcycles. The police spokesperson had said Mr Elijah was not happy with the DPOs refusal to release the motorcycle to him, so, he decided to launch the deadly attack. Four pairs of military fatigues were recovered from his house. He claimed to have deserted the military in 2015 when he was deployed to the North east to fight insurgency. He has been in Ojo area since then, where he has been terrorizing members of the public. The second suspect, Mr Joseph, was arrested in his apartment at Imude Pako Area, Era road, Ajangbadi. He claimed to have deserted the military while undergoing basic military training, the police said. The shooting incident happened on 10/5/2020 at about 2140hours, when unknown gunmen fired gunshots at the Divisional Police Officer, Ilemba Hausa and the Station Guard, Sergeant Onalaja Onajide. The DPO survived the gunshots but the Station Guard died from the pellets wound. Investigation led to the arrest of the two, Mr Elkana had said. Meanwhile, the family of the deceased accused the DPO of the division, Mr Adeshina, of shooting the sergeant, according to a report by PUNCH newspaper. READ ALSO: The wife of the deceased, Folashade Onajide, who was informed that her husband was shot dead by armed robbers in front of the station, said on getting to the mortuary, she observed bullet wounds on her husbands chest and marks of torture all over his body because his uniform was torn. When I saw my husbands corpse the next day, I did not believe the story they told me. I saw bullet wound on his chest; his uniform was rough, he was no longer wearing a singlet and his trousers had been torn. I believe something strange happened before he died and I want an investigation. Later on, about four policemen hid their numbers when they called to inform me that the DPO, Yahaya Muhammed Adeshina, shot my husband dead with a locally-owned gun and I recorded the conversations. I have petitioned the Zone 2 Command, because I want justice, she said. Mr Elkana said, on Thursday, that following the reports received by the command accusing Mr Adeshina of shooting the sergeant while dispersing crowds that gathered in front of the station, the DPO has been arrested and detained at the Sate CID for investigation. His rifle is retrieved for forensic examination. The command has ordered that autopsy be carried out on the deceased person, Mr Elkana said. He added that the two deserted soldiers, initially arrested in connection to the the shooting, will be handed over to the military authority for further investigation. The Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the fallen colleague and assured them that the command will stand with them in this moment of grief and ensure that justice prevails. 1 of 1 UPSC Civil Services 2020 Prelims Exam dates to be released on June 05 After day-long speculations about the Union Public Service Commission exam dates, the organisation has released crucial information. Union Public Service Commission held a special meeting today and reached a conclusion that it will be releasing the dates for the exams on June 5. The commission will declare the final calendar for UPSC exams on the website, upsc.gov.in, after June 05. Ahead of the meeting held today, the commission affirmed that it would release the UPSC Civil Services 2020 Prelims date after assessing the situation on May 20, 2020. Along with UPSC prelims, dates of other exams including the Indian Forest Services Prelims exam will be declared on the official website of UPSC i.e. upsc.gov.in. UPSC Civil Services 2020 Prelims Exam 2020 was supposed to be conducted on May 31, however, due to lockdown, it was delayed. More than 10 companies a week went bust last year in the State after their creditors forced them into liquidation. A lot more businesses quietly and voluntarily went out of business. That is the nature of a market economy even in the best of times, and last year was about as good as it gets. Now we are plunging into the worst of economic times. Tens of thousands of firms, employing hundreds of thousands of people, are in serious trouble in this country. Much of the rest of the world is in the same boat. Most Irish businesses have either no cash coming in or have much reduced incomes, according to the latest CSO survey. Barring a medical breakthrough of miraculous proportions in the very short term, 2020 will be the worst year for corporate deaths since the depths of the last recession. It could easily become the worst year ever. Cash is to businesses what oxygen is to the human body. Just as a person trapped in an air pocket obsesses about conserving air, many people who run businesses think of little else other than how they can conserve cash in order to survive. Too many businesses, alas, will not make it. The shock to the economy has already been enormous. The scale of what is to come is still not widely understood. This period is the calm before the bankruptcy storm. Deloitte, an accounting and professional services firm, tots up the number of companies which file for bankruptcy every three months. In the first three months of 2020, which included the first weeks of lockdown, fewer companies went bust this year than the same period of last year. That was part of the trend in evidence since the trough of the last recession almost a decade ago. Deloitte's David Van Dessel said that since new arrangements to allow creditors to meet virtually were put in the place in recent weeks, the number of companies being pushed down towards bankruptcy has risen. It will rise a lot more over the rest of the year and into 2021. There is growing desperation for the Government to do more to help companies survive. The only thing that is certain is that recriminations will arise whatever actions are taken: either the Government will give too much money to businesses and be accused of handing public money to private interests; or it will give too little and be accused of killing off otherwise viable businesses to the detriment of everyone. Could Europe ride to the rescue? On Monday, France and Germany announced their support for the European Commission to borrow 500bn. The money would be given to the sectors and regions in the EU which have been hardest hit by the effects of the virus. Unlike some other EU spending plans in the past, this would be real money, not flashy financial engineering. Some serious commentators have likened this to the moment in the early history of the United States when the debts of the individual states were pooled. That was an important milestone in America becoming, arguably, the most successful state ever to exist. The Franco-German plan will certainly be a very significant development if all other 25 member countries agree to it. If it happens, which is by no means certain, it will make the EU more like a sovereign state than it is now. But even if the plan gets the green light, it won't amount to a European rescue of member states. To see why, consider the sums. If the half a trillion euro were divvied out by population, Ireland would get a little more than 5bn. That is not to be sneezed at, but it would not be a game-changer - the Government currently expects a 30bn coronavirus bill this year alone. Ireland, which is already richer than the average EU country, could well receive less than 5bn. Some of the economy's most important sectors - pharmaceuticals, technology, financial services and food - have been among the least affected from the revenue-crushing effects of the pandemic. If they continue to weather the storm, Ireland should suffer less economically than other European countries. We would therefore receive less of the proposed new borrowings by Brussels. If big questions about deeper European integration have risen up the agenda this week, so has its long-running disintegration saga - Brexit, and more specifically the prospect a no-deal Brexit at the end of the year. Talks between the EU and the UK are going badly. The gap between the two sides yawns wider than ever and time is running out. The EU, as the more powerful side, is exercising its power in the talks. It wants to limit how much the UK can gain a competitive advantage once it is fully outside the European law-making process. London is railing against this. Earlier this week, the UK's lead negotiator wrote to his EU counterpart saying no democratic country could sign up to what the EU wants. A no-deal Brexit could mean tariffs on Irish food products going into the UK. It would also certainly mean intense competition in that market from cheaper southern hemisphere producers. The country's farmers usually exaggerate problems in their industry and constantly complain about the challenges they face. It is, however, hard to exaggerate the threat posed to the sector from a no-deal Brexit. The last thing that is needed when some sectors are facing collapse in 2020 is for one of the rural economy's most important sectors to face a hit of this magnitude in 2021. The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has made no difference to Indias stated goal of providing piped water to all households by 2024, Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said. In an interview to Hindustan Times, Shekhawat conceded that in some states, it was a challenge to provide water for frequent washing of hands that health experts advise as a way of keeping the virus at bay. He added: Looking towards the challenge itself, PM had envisaged this programme (Jal Jeevan Mission) . You may call it luxury but we are going to achieve it in the targeted time. Edited excerpts: Your ministrys objective has been to provide tap water to all by 2024. Has the coronavirus disease pandemic made any difference to the plan? No, not at all. We are still set for our goals for 2024 and providing functional drinking water to every household. Before this Covid period, we were working hard ever since PM announced this on 15 August from Red Fort. We requested states to collect the low hanging fruits-- villages that already have existing, sustainable sources of water -- could start retrofitting pipes. I can proudly say that we have achieved our goal for the first year. Simultaneously, during the Covid period, the 2.5 months, we were not sitting idle. We repeatedly did meetings with states and ministers. We wanted to use this period to complete the planning for the implementation of this programme. We requested them to make their state execution plan for this year and the remaining three years. So you are completing the theoretical part during the lockdown? Yes and as soon as the construction activity was allowed in Lockdown 2, we asked states to start work as soon as possible. Today, for example, I had meetings with Chattisgarh CM and Madhya Pradesh CM and I have requested CMs to use the Jal Jeevan Mission as a programme to provide employment at the grassroots level. Since each and every village has to be provided piped water, every village will have work for laying pipes, digging trenches, etcetera. MNREGA {Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act} budget has been increased, so we have asked states to utilise that money as well by consolidating funds so you are providing employment and achieving (piped water) targets. So there is a convergence of supply and demand? But your ministry data says only 18% people have piped water right now. So how difficult is it for people to practice washing of hands? It is really challenging, but water was not available as a whole but through the water drinking water programme and work of the states over the years, it was available in the close vicinity. Whether it is in the 50-100 metres and for some other villages, it is a longer distance, but still it was available. We wrote a letter to the states during the lockdown, to ensure sustainable water supply through those public standposts or common sources of water. But practically speaking, it must be a problem. Isnt it a luxury to be able to wash hands frequently? Especially in states like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, which have only 1%, and Biha, which has 2% households with piped water. It is a challenge. Looking towards the challenge itself, PM had envisaged this programme (Jal Jeevan Mission) . You may call it luxury but we are going to achieve it in the targeted time. What do you make of the side effects that we are seeing of the lockdown? Reports that the Ganga has become much cleaner. Do you fear that things will immediately go back as soon as the lockdown ends? There are three visible causes of water pollution--sewage, industrial effluents and third, by human interactions. Out of three, two were closed--industry and the human interactions, due to the lockdown. Because of that there are changes which have been observed in the quality of water but as far as the Ganga is concerned, its not a major difference. In the Ganga, in the last Kumbh last year, 22 crore people observed changes in the quality of water. Thats because of the mission mode effort under the PM of Namami Gange. In the month of October- November, we did a rafting expedition from Devprayag to Rishikesh. In those 90 odd kilometres, I just picked up some water from the river in my glass and it was absolutely potable. In this season, as the water comes from melting snow, it appears comparatively better. Similiar position is also in the Yamuna water, there was significant rainfall which increased the water in the river. It was a coincidence that there were untimely rains otherwise we only see sewage in the Yamuna in this period. Water for harvest was also not taken out of the river so quantity of water increased. Looking at the industrial shutdown as an opportunity, Prime Minister instructed us to take samples of the river and use this period as an opportunity to study, how much pollution is contributed through industrial effluence. This can be used for future planning. So how will you use it? We have collected all the data of different stretches of the Yamuna and Ganga during the lockdown period. Now we are able to tell how much pollution is contributed by sewage in the city and how much by industries. So we have tied up with Central Pollution Control Board and also with the IITs {Indian Institutes of Technology} apart from our internal bodies so at the end of it, well have extensive data on this. For every positive COVID-19 test more than 20 negative tests have been done, the ICMR has said, asserting there has been a 1,000-fold increase in the quantum of tests per day in the last two months. A total of 25,12,388 samples had been tested by 9 am of May 20, and the testing capacity has been scaled up to 1 lakh tests per day, it said. Starting with less than 100 COVID-19 tests per day just two months ago, a 1000-fold increase in just 60 days was made possible by dedicated teams from research institutions, medical colleges, testing laboratories, ministries, airlines and postal services working together, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in a statement. In January, India had only one laboratory testing for COVID-19, at the Indian Council of Medical Research's National Institute of Virology, Pune. "Today there are 555 laboratories across the country, performing molecular tests for diagnosis of COVID-19 - an unparalleled achievement in the history of the Indian health system," the apex health research body said. Faced with an unprecedented challenge, both in terms of technicalities and scale, Indian scientists had to innovate extensively, health workers had to train and learn on the job, administrators had to coordinate multiple actions round the clock amid the challenges of a nationwide lockdown. In the absence of an effective treatment, prevention is the best strategy, which revolves around testing. In a diverse country like India, for inclusive and equitable access to testing, optimization of resources, based on the evolving epidemic was an essential part of sustainable scaling up. "As the epidemic evolved, India's testing strategy underwent iterative calibration to keep pace with the changing epidemiology and extent of infection. This ensured that access to tests was assured for risk groups that needed it the most; wasteful, unnecessary testing was avoided; and testing infrastructure was optimally scaled up without taking away resources from other key public health interventions," the ICMR said. This is evidenced by the fact that for every positive test more than 20 negative tests have been done throughout the course of the epidemic, it said. "With its testing capabilities now matching the most advanced countries in the world, Indian institutions have risen to the occasion in an emergency situation. In the days ahead their contributions will be required even more as India continues to grapple with the clear and present danger still posed by COVID-19," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) We're sorry, but we're unable to locate the page you requested. The page may have been removed, renamed, or deleted. You can try searching for the topic using the search button in the right hand corner above. A cabinet meeting led by President Michel Aoun has decided to maintain fuel supply contract with Sonatrach Petroleum (SPC), a subsidiary of Algerias state-run oil company, that is currently embroiled in supply of low quality fuel and corruption scandal, reports say. The Lebanese leader however stressed that investigations launched into the alleged corruption and supply charges should continue in view of reaching concreate findings. The public opinion expects concreate actions on the matter, Aoun was quoted as saying. A prosecutor at a court this month ordered the arrest of Tarek Faoual, head of the Sonatrach subsidiary after the company was accused by the Middle East countrys Electricity of Lebanon (EDL) of supplying two shipments of the adulterated foil. The case has become a diplomatic thorny issue between the two countries, TSA reports. Raymond Ghajar, the Lebanese minister of energy and water met Monday with Algerias ambassador to Lebanon to discuss the matter. Sonatrach has denied the charges. The presidency of the North African country last week said that the Algerian state is not involved in the scandal and that the case is an internal Lebanese affair. However, the President, according to his office, instructed justice minister to launch a probe into the case after it was revealed that a dozen of Algerian officials have offshore bank accounts in connection with the contract, which was signed in 2005. Flash The China Population Welfare Foundation (CPWF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Wednesday jointly launched a charity fundraising program in Beijing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which is called COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO-Action of China, will receive donations via some 20 Internet-based Chinese fundraising platforms, including Tencent Foundation, Alibaba Foundation, Alipay Foundation and others. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his address at the launching ceremony via video link, spoke highly of the CPWF's support to the WHO's global fight against COVID-19. He said the fund will promote individuals and companies to contribute directly to the WHO's life-saving efforts, adding that the donations will help countries to prevent, detect and deal with COVID-19. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, announced by Tedros on March 13, was co-founded by the WHO, the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, calling on responsible, kindhearted individuals, businesses and social organizations worldwide to donate funds and supplies to the WHO and its partners for the outbreak response. As a national public fundraising foundation, the CPWF echoes WHO's appeal and helps raise funds in China to contribute to the global fight against COVID-19. According to the CPWF, the funds will be remitted to WHO's accounts in installments in time. The WHO and the CPWF will disclose information of the operation of the fund through official websites and reports. Some 50 representatives from the Chinese side and the UN Office in China attended the launching ceremony. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:57:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MADRID, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Spain will be able to reopen its international tourism sector in July, Fourth Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera said Thursday, warning that allowing visitors to return sooner would be "irresponsible." "Our thought at the moment is that we will be able to work over safe destinations and countries of origin in July, rather than June," said Ribera, who is also minister for ecological transition, in an interview on national TV network RTVE. "We have to be very careful that whoever comes to Spain isn't in danger and arrives at a safe destination, and also ensure they don't pose a threat to the local people," she said. Spain currently requires visitors coming from abroad to undergo a 14-day quarantine on arrival, and has closed its land borders to most traffic to control the spread of COVID-19. These measures have battered the country's tourism sector, which accounts for over 11 percent of its gross domestic product, and has drawn complaints from hotel chains and travel agencies. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 20:02:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The China Development Bank (CDB), one of the country's policy banks, has stepped up financial support for poverty alleviation resettlement programs as the country aims to achieve its goal of eliminating absolute poverty this year. The CDB is expected to complete its annual loan issuance plan for the relocation programs in advance at the end of the third quarter of the year, it said in a statement on its website. The bank extended a total of 2.7 billion yuan (about 381 million U.S. dollars) in loans in the first quarter in support of 30 poverty alleviation relocation programs. This added to the total to 23.9 billion yuan which supports relocation programs in 92 counties and has benefited some 300,000 relocated people so far. It vowed to extend the loans at concessional rates to projects that facilitate the development of resettlement areas while strengthening management and supervision over these projects after loan issuance. Founded in 1994, the CDB is designed to provide finance to major national projects and development strategies. Enditem COVID-19 fatalities may be much more than what is being reported Coronavirus: Bike rental platforms offer long-term plans, home delivery of sanitised vehicles India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 21: From long-term rentals to home delivering sanitised bikes, bike rental platforms like Bounce and Vogo are undertaking a slew of measures to woo customers as they re-commence operations after weeks of lockdown. Bounce, which offers dockless scooters in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, is offering rental plans of 7, 14, 30 and 60 days that will allow users to keep the vehicle with them for a longer duration. Swiggy begins home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi, in talks with other states "...(we) spent a few weeks brainstorming for a solution. We wanted all our users to feel safe and secure when they step out of their homes...We realised that if users could keep their scooters with them for long periods, they would not only feel safer but also secure about having immediate access to the outside world whenever they wanted," Bounce said in a blog post. It added that the rental packs will give users the convenience of owning their own scooter without bearing the exorbitant costs of purchasing their own vehicle. Also, the scooters are rigorously scrubbed down, disinfected, and sanitised before they reach users, it emphasised. Ola-backed Vogo has also increased the rental duration for two-wheelers on its platform and is sanitising its vehicles with anti-microbial solutions before handing over the bikes to users. The Bengaluru-based company said it is distributing sanitisation kits to their customers which includes hand sanitiser, gloves and solutions and cleaning cloth for the bike. "Not only people's interest in renting two-wheelers has gone up, but the renewal of subscriptions for longer periods has also seen a surge. In just seven days, 50 per cent of our customers have booked for renewal and 30 per cent of them have ordered for delivery to home," Vogo Chief Executive Officer Anand Ayyadurai said. The lockdown, which started on March 25, had restricted movement of people, impacting the business of these platforms. Restrictions were eased in the third and fourth phase of lockdown and ride-sharing platforms are trying to get customers back on their platforms. According to industry watchers, a key concern for the shared mobility players in the country is getting customers to use their services as people continue to stay indoors amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many commuters are using their own vehicles as well. Players are hopeful of demand picking up as more offices open and people resume work. Rapido, which offers bike taxi services in close to 100 cities, said it has resumed services in over 35 cities in green and orange zones as the services cannot be extended to the containment zones as per the lockdown guidelines. Amazon launching food delivery operations in select parts of India "Resuming these operations will bring relief to around 3 lakh Captains (driver-partners) that are solely dependent on the bike taxi service for their daily income and livelihood," the company said. Rapido added that it is providing sanitisers and masks to all the driver-partners, while customers will be provided with mandatory sanitised half helmets as opposed to full-face helmets before every ride. The company, which has resumed operations in cities like Amritsar, Kolkata, Madurai, Karnal and Rourkela, said it is showing containment areas in its app and making sure that its captains and customers don't pass by those areas. The NA's ninth session will be held online from May 20 to 29, and deputies will gather at the NA building in Hanoi for plenary meetings from June 8 to 18 (Photo: VNA) In the morning, Minister of National Defence Ngo Xuan Lich is going to submit the draft Vietnam border guard law to the parliament. Later, Chairman of the NAs Committee for Defence and Security Vo Trong Viet will deliver a verification report on this draft. The draft Vietnam border guard law, consisting of seven chapters with 33 articles, covers such issues as border defence tasks, task performing forces, international cooperation in border defence, the border guard force, and responsibility of agencies, organisations and individuals performing border defence tasks. After Chairman of the NAs Committee for Economic Affairs Vu Hong Thanh presents a report on revisions to the draft revised Law on Enterprises, legislators will have online discussions on some debatable matters of this bill. The draft revised Law on Enterprises used to be discussed at the eighth session of the NA and the 43rd session of the NA Standing Committee. The draft put on the table this time comprises 10 chapters with 219 articles, regulating the establishment, organisation, management, re-organisation, dissolution, and relevant activities of businesses. In the afternoon, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung is set to submit the draft revised law on Vietnamese guest workers under contract, a verification report on which will be later presented by Chairwoman of the NAs Committee for Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh. The bill to be discussed consists of eight chapters with 79 articles. After that, Chairwoman of the NAs Committee for Judicial Affairs Le Thi Nga will deliver a report on amendments to the draft law revising and supplementing some articles of the Law on Judicial Expertise. Deputies will also deliberate this draft law in the afternoon. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Joseph Campbell (Reuters) Singapore Thu, May 21, 2020 17:45 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd978fd7 2 Science & Tech robot,UV-light,Singapore,malls,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic Free A shopping mall in Singapore is deploying a newly developed smart robot to fight the novel coronavirus, not with chemicals - but with light. While spraying has become the norm in many places around the world, the robot uses ultraviolet lamps to disinfectant not only surfaces, but tricky-to-reach crevices and even the air. According to Derrick Yap, whose firm, PBA Group, developed the Sunburst UV Bot, the novel coronavirus pandemic presented an opportunity to test out a robot for a role that was "dangerous, dull and dirty". "It's dangerous because UVC shouldn't be deployed when there's humans around," he said, referring to the short-wave germicidal type of ultraviolet radiation. "Dull - because you keep on going to a place and you keep on doing a repeated task, and dirty, because of the COVID-19," he said. UVC can be harmful to the skin and eyes, which is why the robot, which looks like a bunch of fluorescent lights standing up on a moving base, is being tested by Frasers Property Retail after the mall's closing time. Read also: In Spain, bar bot serves up contact-free beers But it is programmed to turn off its UV lights if it detects a human in close proximity. Once its route has been fully mapped, the robot is expected to perform its cleaning cycle autonomously and recharge itself afterwards. Yap said he expected the coronavirus outbreak to prompt companies to reassess their labor requirements and use of technology, including robots. "In the future, there will be a lot of use for this," he said. Just one Sunburst UV Bot has been undergoing test runs, Frasers intends to deploy more elsewhere in Singapore. But they don't come cheap, each one costing S$70,000 ($49,500). Some are being leased to clients for S$3,000 ($2,121) a month and some will be given to hospitals and isolation centers. ALBANY No decision has been made on whether New York's summer day camps can reopen, but schools will be given guidelines in June to begin planning for a potential reopening in September, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday. "I don't know whether or not they should reopen yet. ... We'll make a decision on the fall reopening in a timely way," Cuomo said. "We're telling them go ahead, do your plans ... give us those plans by July." In March, Cuomo closed 700 school districts across the state, later extending that order through the end of this calendar school year. In-class summer school classes also are canceled. "You have 700 different opinions, but you have one decision-maker," he said. The governor, during Thursday's daily coronavirus task force briefing in Manhattan, said a syndrome similar to Kawasaki disease that has afflicted 157 children across the state has made his administration hesitate to make a decision on reopening summer day camps. A decision on schools, he added, will not be made until well into the summer months. The pediatric syndrome linked to COVID-19 infections, which like Kawasaki disease can cause dangerous inflammation of blood vessels or organs including the heart, is affecting 0.0008 percent of the state's overall population. "Should I send my children to day camp? Is it safe? Until we have this answer on this pediatric syndrome (and) ... I know how widespread this is, as a parent I would not send my children to day camp," he said. "They're still exploring this. So, make a decision on the facts. What do you do when they keep changing the facts?" Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. There were 105 deaths attributed to symptoms of COVID-19 in New York on Wednesday, as infection rates and hospitalizations have returned to levels seen before the pandemic engulfed the state in mid-March. "If this country knew more and knew it earlier, I think we could have saved many, many more lives," Cuomo said. "(The) New York Times doesn't call for a close-down until March 24. ... Forget March 24, it should have been Dec. 31. But who knew the virus left China ... was already here (in) January, February, March. Now, who should have known is above my pay grade. ... It's not my responsibility, but somebody has to answer that question." The governor, responding to questions about the slow pace of New York's reopening, said the state cannot open too soon unless "the facts" indicate it can be done safely. "We dont want financial ruin, but we dont want death either," he said. New Delhi, May 21 : The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has upheld profiteering allegation against Emaar MGF Land for not passing on benefit of input tax credit on GST to home buyers of 'Emerald Floors Premier' at Gurugram and has ordered the company to pass on the benefit within three months. The authority has also issued show cause notice to the company as it is liable to penalty under the CGST Act, 2017. As per the NAA order, the real estate developer profiteered over Rs 13.35 crore, inclusive of GST at 12 per cent on the base amount of over Rs 11.92 crore from over 1,239 home buyers including the complainant. The authority has directed the company to reduce the prices of the flats commensurate with the benefit of ITC received by the company. "The respondent has benefitted from the additional ITC to the extent of 11.90 per cent of the turnover during the period of July 2017 and March 2019 and hence the provisions of Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017 have been contravened by the respondent as he has not passed on the above benefit to his customers and thus, he has profiteered and amount of Rs 13,35,79,636 inclusive of GST at 12 per cent on the base profiteered amount of Rs 11,92,67,532," said the order copy. The Director General, Anti-Profiteering (DGAP), which investigated the complaint, said that the ITC as a percentage of the total turnover which was available to the developer during the pre-GST period, April 2016 to June 2017 was 9.08 per cent amd rose during the post-GST period, July 2017 to March 2019, to 20.98 per cent. As per DGAP, this increase meant that Emaar MGF benefited from the additional ITC to the tune of 11.9 per cent. The order also said that as the present investigation is only up to March 31, 2019, any benefit which accrues subsequently shall also be passed on to the buyers. Further, the authority directed the developer to pass on an amount of the amount of Rs 13.35 crore and additional realised amount of Rs 1.04 lakh with an interest of 18 per cent per annum. Rajat Mohan, Senior Partner at AMRG & Associates, was of the view that basic principles should be issued to help taxpayers in the calculation of profiteering amount. "NAA has issued plethora of orders in the real-estate sector and all have one thing in common, every taxpayer is confused about the calculation of profiteering. In the wider interest of thebusiness community, tax officers must issue some basic principles to help the taxpayers in the calculation of profiteering amount," Mohan said. Renewables generated more than 40 per cent of Britain's power in the first three months of the year, overtaking fossil fuels for the first time, a new report reveals. Wind, solar and biomass all contributed to more than a third of the country's power generation in the first quarter of the year, the analysis shows. In particular, winter storms that battered the country helped boost the productivity of wind farms across the country in February. These storms helped make February 2020 the first month on record when more electricity was produced by wind farms than gas-fired power stations in the UK. Overall, renewables generated 41.8 per cent of the country's energy over the quarter, more than the 34.5 per cent generated by fossil fuels. The analysis suggests harmful fossil fuels namely gas and coal are on their way out as a source of power generation in this country. The coronavirus lockdown has also contributed to a fall in electricity demand during weekdays to its lowest level since 1982, the analysis also shows. Renewable energy sources such as wind supplied more than 40 per cent of electricity during first quarter of 2020, with output overtaking fossil fuels for the first time in February Emissions per unit of power produced were also down 20 per cent compared with the first three months of 2019. RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES Renewable sources: Solar - light and heat from the sun. Wind - through wind turbines to turn electric generators. Hydro - captured from falling or fast-running water. Tidal - energy from the rise and fall of sea levels. Geothermal - energy generated and stored in the Earth. Biomass - organic material burnt to release stored energy from the sun. Renewables contrast with the more harmful fossil fuels: Coal Gas Source: EDF Energy Advertisement 'Britain's electricity system is under pressure like never before, with both the country's weather getting more extreme and a global pandemic testing its resolve,' said lead author Dr Iain Staffell at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London. 'So far in 2020 we've seen companies reducing their demand for electricity to help keep the grid stable when supply from wind power rapidly decreased, and then the COVID-19 lockdown caused many businesses to shut up shop, reducing electricity demand and creating new challenges with oversupply of power. 'Having flexibility within the power system at these critical moments is crucial to keeping Britain's lights on.' The independent analysis, conducted by academics from Imperial College London for interactive energy tracking website Drax Electric Insights, reveals the flexibility of Britain's power system, thanks to new renewable energy sources. Over the course of the three-month period, gas, a fossil fuel, supplied 30.6 per cent of the country's electricity more than any other power source. Solar energy generation accounted for 2.6 of the total over the first three months of the year Despite this, wind was very close behind, supplying 30.5 per cent of electricity effectively neck and neck with gas. Breakdown of power generation sources in the UK for the first three months of the year In periods when wind power dropped in calmer conditions, flexible power stations and large companies reducing demand helped balance the grid's overall power output, the analysis said. Of the other renewable sources of energy generation, biomass the burning of organic matter contributed 6.7 per cent of the energy mix, solar made up 2.6 per cent and hydro 2 per cent. Coal, the other fossil fuel aside from gas, only contributed to 3.9 per cent of the energy mix. The burning of coal, which releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming, is on track for a total phase-out in the UK by 2024. The country has also gone a record-breaking 40 days without any coal generation, as of Wednesday the longest stretch since the Industrial Revolution. 80 per cent of the coal power stations once operating in Britain have now fallen silent, the report says, with capacity halving over the last 12 months. Two coal-powered plants were retired at the end of March after they burned all their remaining fuel, pushing up coal generation for the quarter for the first time since 2012. There are just three coal plants left in Britain, including Drax's coal unit in North Yorkshire that is set to close in March 2021. The lockdown has seen an impact on carbon pollution, with emissions from British power production falling 35 per cent from the same period last year. Of the energy sources in the first quarter of the year that do not fit into the fossil fuel or renewable category, nuclear accounted for 16.1 per cent and imports 7.6 per cent. The burning of coal, which releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming, is on track for a total phase-out in the UK by 2024 The analysis also revealed weekday power consumption fell by 13 per cent as a result of the lockdown, which began in late March. A lack of machinery, computers, lights and heaters being used in industry, offices and schools, and a reduction in electric rail, tram and London Underground services led to weekday electricity demand falling to its lowest levels since 1982. Although domestic power use increased due to people being at home in the day, it is 'like living through a month of Sundays', the study said, while weekend electricity demand in lockdown has been even lower. The report speculates on whether the UK can keep an overall reduction in power generation after the lockdown measures are lifted by the government. 'With even a small share of the population continuing to work from home on some days, there could be a lasting impact on electricity demand for years to come,' it says. Texas Childrens plans to build a pediatric and womens hospital in Austin, officials announced Wednesday, the latest expansion of its brand beyond the Texas Medical Center but its first full-spectrum hospital outside the Houston area. The plan comes two years after Texas Childrens began testing the Austin market with the first of a scheduled network of clinics. It calls for a 48-bed, 360,000-square-foot hospital to open in north Austin in late 2023. Officials estimate the project will cost $450 million. We see so much opportunity to bring Austin the breadth and depth of our services and increase access to high quality health care for children and women, said Michelle Riley-Brown, executive vice president of Texas Childrens. We know Austins one of the fastest growing cities in the country and we love the community and the spirit of the city. Were excited to serve it in a bigger way. Texas Childrens, the nations largest pediatric hospital and a Texas Medical Center institution for 66 years, has expanded across both Greater Houston and the state since the mid-1990s. It also has pediatric HIV/AIDS and cancer clinics in numerous countries in the developing world. Currently, Austins high-end pediatric hospital care is mostly provided by Dell Childrens Medical Center of Central Texas, a smaller and younger but up-and-coming hospital owned by the Seton Healthcare Family and affiliated with the University of Texas-Austins Dell Medical School. Its staff boasts Dr. Charles Fraser, one of the worlds preeminent pediatric heart surgeons, who joined Dell in 2018 after building one of the nations top centers at Texas Childrens. Riley-Brown said Texas Childrens intends to grow the planned Austin hospital beyond the initial 48 beds. There are 2.2 million people in the greater Austin metropolitan area, which has grown by nearly 30 percent since 2010. Kevin Holloran, senior director of Fitch Ratings, noted that its fairly uncommon for pediatric hospitals to go head to head, but said he thought the Austin market could sustain two. He said hes sure the Texas Childrens brand name has been resonating, the demographics and trends look favorable and all the financial numbers so far line up to convince the Houston hospital system to pull the trigger. He said he wasnt surprised it came so soon after it opened the first Austin clinic. Theyre not folks who sit still very long when they see an opportunity, who are shy about putting assets behind their strategy, Holloran said. When they decide they like a market, they seed it, then go out and build. When they open, it tends to go gangbusters. Holloran called Texas Childrens on a different level than Dell in terms of resources, scale and recruiting ability. Texas Childrens tied for the nations third best best pediatric hospital in U.S. News & World Reports latest rankings. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Texas Childrens to expand to Austin with clinics Vivian Ho, a Rice University health care economist, said Texas Childrens plan makes sense, given Austin is a tech hub, attracting high-income, well-insured residents. Texas Childrens has made the calculation that the increase in residents with good insurance coverage is sufficient to warrant the entry of another standalone hospital, said Ho. Ill be interested to see whether the additional competition helps to slow growth in prices for childrens health care in that region. Riley-Brown said Texas Childrens has had a pretty good idea it would build an Austin hospital since shortly after opening its first clinic in spring 2018. Officials have been studying the market and listening to families about what theyd like in terms of services for several years, she said. Riley-Brown emphasized the full spectrum of care that will be provided at the Austin hospital. She said a few cases, like transplants, may have to come to Houston. Texas Childrens bought the 24-acre plot of land at North Lake Creek Parkway and Texas 45 in December. The location is 2 miles from a spot where Dell plans to build a second hospital the project calls for 36 beds, with the ability to go to 100 scheduled to open in November 2022. Also nearby, HCAs St. David Hospital has a 57-bed childrens wing. Dells Childrens is licensed for 240 beds. Texas Childrens has 969 throughout the system, including 813 in the Medical Center. The Texas Childrens Austin hospital will include neonatal and pediatric intensive care; labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum care; an emergency center; diagnostic imaging and operating rooms; an epilepsy monitoring unit; a sleep center; and an on-site urgent care location. Since announcing plans for an Austin network in 2017, the system has opened its Texas Childrens Urgent Care Westgate and Texas Childrens Specialty Care Austin and seven pediatric practices. It plans to build three more urgent-care clinics, two more specialty clinics, 11 more primary-care practices and two maternal-fetal medicine practices. The hospital project will bring an estimated 400 new jobs to the Austin area, Texas Childrens officials said. The Austin network already employees 25 doctors and 84 additional staffers. Previous Texas Childrens ventures around the state include a cancer and hematology clinic in McAllen that opened in 2001; a partnership with Scott & White Healthcare in Temple that was signed in 2011; and a collaboration with Childrens Hospital of San Antonio that began providing it doctors in 2013. Outside the Texas Medical Center but within Greater Houston, Texas Childrens opened a West Campus hospital at Interstate 10 and Barker Cypress in 2011 and a hospital in The Woodlands in 2017. todd.ackerman@chron.com HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. - Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday condemned a church fire thats being investigated as an arson. First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs burned on Wednesday, about a month after it filed a lawsuit challenging city restrictions on gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic. News outlets reported that investigators from the Marshall County Sheriffs Office found graffiti in the church parking lot that read: Bet you stay home now you hypokrites. The Republican governor said during a news conference in Jackson that the fire and the message make him heartbroken and furious. This is not who we are as a people, Reeves said. This is not who we are as a state. Pastor Jerry Waldrop said he and other church leaders have no idea who might have set the fire or left the graffiti. No enemies that we know of, Waldrop said. We dont know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this. The church sued the city of Holly Springs in April, alleging police officers had disrupted a church Bible study and Easter service. Holly Springs City Attorney Shirley Byers said nearly 40 worshipers inside the church building were not practicing social distancing on April 10 when a violation citation was issued for the church. Churchgoers practiced social distancing while indoors and only held indoor services when bad weather would not allow them to gather outside, the lawsuit said. Byers said the city amended its local order in late April to allow for drive-thru church services. The governors safer-at-home order, which is set to expire Monday, allows churches to operate as essential businesses, but it limits the size of indoor gatherings. The Republican governor has also asked pastors to follow public health recommendations on social distancing and other practices to mitigate the spread of the virus. Reeves issued guidelines this week for places of worship to restart services inside their buildings. Authorities are offering a reward for tips on the arson investigation. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, reminds investors in DouYu International Holdings Limited ("DouYu" or the "Company") of the May 26, 2020 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. If you invested in DouYu stock or options pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's July 16, 2019 IPO and would like to discuss your legal rights, click here : http://www.faruqilaw.com/DOYU. There is no cost or obligation to you. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. CONTACT: FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP 685 Third Avenue, 26th Floor New York, NY 10017 Attn: Richard Gonnello, Esq. [email protected] Telephone: (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330 The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of all those who purchased DouYu American Depository Shares ("ADSs") pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's July 16, 2019 Initial Public Offering ("IPO"). The case, Liang v. DouYu International Holdings Limited et al., Docket No. 2:20-cv-02747 was filed on March 24, 2020. The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) DouYu's risks related to its top streamers had materialized, including that: (a) a top streamer was actively misrepresenting herself on DouYu's platform; and (b) the costs associated with retaining top streamers was swelling; (2) DouYu did not ensure that all of its products were fully compliant with current regulatory requirements before those products became available on line; and (3) key interactive features of DouYu's "lucky draw" were noncompliant with current regulatory requirements, requiring DouYu to remove them from operations, which negatively impacted user engagement activity and caused disappointing financial results. On July 31, 2019, Mic.com also published a story, titled "Popular Chinese DouYu streamer revealed to be much older thanks to livestream glitch" (the "Mic Article"), on the glitch that revealed the true identity of Qiao Biluo whose DouYu users "fawned over the videos and photos that she uploaded . . ., which showed a young woman posing, playing games, and talking to the camera." According to the Mic Article, "the revelation caused a considerable amount of drama, with many of her male subscribers expressing outrage that they had been tricked. They left the stream in droves, unsubscribed from her account and pulled donations." On July 29, 2019, the day before the incident was first reported, DouYu ADSs closed at $10.08 per ADS. After the market absorbed all this information, on August 6, 2019, DouYu ADSs closed at $7.84 per ADS: a drop of $2.24 or 22.22%. Then, on August 11, 2019, Bloomberg published an article from the South China Morning Post, profiling Liu Mou ("Liu"), a top streamer who plays exclusively on DouYu and purportedly contributed as much as 3% of DouYu's revenues in the second quarter of 2019 alone. In addition to explaining how DouYu lives and dies on virtual gifts from fans, with "[n]inety-one per cent of DouYu's revenue [coming] from virtual gifts" in the previous quarter, the article warned that "the cash burn on marketing and retaining top performers has caused investors to question the business model." [Emphasis added.] Using Liu as an example, the article noted how "Douyu pay[s] top gamers like Liu at least $4 million a year to retain them exclusively" and gives them half of whatever money was spent on "virtual gifts [bestowed upon them] from followers[.]" On this news, the price of the Company's ADSs fell from $9.93 per share on August 12, 2019 to $8.84 per share on August 13, 2020: a $1.09 or 10.98% drop. Then, on October 15, 2019, J.P. Morgan announced in an analyst report that DouYu had temporarily removed its "lucky draw feature in late Aug 2019," before "reinstat[ing]" it "on Oct 10," which, according to J.P. Morgan, "will cause its 3Q19 revenue to decline 1.5% QoQ . . ., 5% below the low end of company's 3Q19 guidance . . . and 7% lower than current Bloomberg consensus." [Emphasis added.] According to J.P. Morgan, which characterized the suspension of luck draw features as a "headwind." On this news, the price of the Company's ADSs fell from $7.47 per share on October 15, 2019 to $7.12 per share on October 16, 2019: a $0.35 or 4.69% drop. Finally, on November 27, 2019, DouYu released its third quarter 2019 financial results. During the Q&A portion of the earnings call held the same day, the Company addressed the temporary removal of its "lucky draw" features. On this news, the price of the Company's ADSs fell from $7.84 per share on November 27, 2019 to $7.46 per share on November 28, 2019: a $0.38 or 4.85% drop. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding DouYu's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Related Links www.faruqilaw.com In a relief to people during the lockdown, the Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to resume intra-district State Transport (ST) bus services, excluding in red zones and COVID-19 containment areas, from Friday with certain conditions. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) announced resumption of intra-district bus operations from May 22 (Friday). The bus operations will resume with certain terms and conditions, the MSRTC said in a statement. ST buses will be run at 50 per cent occupancy to meet social distancing norms and services will be available only for limited hours, it said. Red zones and COVID-19 containment areas have been kept out of the routes of these buses, the statement said. The state-owned transport body had stopped its statewide bus operations since March 22 due to 'janata curfew' and the subsequent COVID-19-enforced lockdown. Since the past two months, MSRTC's bus operation has been restricted to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where it is ferrying staffers o n emergency and essential services duty. Since the first week of May, the corporation has also ferried over two lakh migrants till Maharashtra's borders with other states and to various districts within the state. "The state government has granted permission to operate intra-district bus services with certain terms and conditions during the lockdown period," MSRTC said. From Friday, buses will be operated on certain routes of districts, strictly following terms and conditions laid down by the corporation, the statement said. According to MSRTC, intra-district bus services will be available only between 7 am and 7 pm and all buses will be sanitised using disinfectants before putting them on roads. The transport body said that following social distancing norms, buses will carry only 50 per cent of their passenger capacity. Also, senior citizens and children below 10 won't be allowed to board buses, barring in emergency situations, the statement said. According to MSRTC, it will be compulsory for every passenger to wear mask while travelling. Also, passengers and bus crew will have to use hand sanitisers. MSRTC, the biggest road transport corporation in the country, has a fleet of around 18,000 buses. Before the lockdown, it used to ferry over 65 lakh daily passengers across Maharashtra. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Future Farmers of America (FFA) the premier youth organization preparing members for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture. Feeding America a nonprofit organization with a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people. Farm Rescue a nonprofit organization that plants and harvests crops free of charge for family farmers who have suffered a major illness, injury or natural disaster. Frontline Foods a nonprofit whose army of volunteers raises funds to support local restaurants and feed heroes working on the frontlines. Action Against Hunger Canada an international humanitarian organization that fights hunger and its root causes. Social giveaways The social portion of the campaign allows followers to recognize and nominate those in agriculture who are working hard to put food on our tables, including farmers, growers, producers, ranchers and more. Titan will select five winning nominations each from Facebook and Twitter to receive a Goodyear Farm Tires cooler. Entries must be made by Friday, June 12th, and winners will be notified within Facebook and Twitter through direct message by June 16th. "To us, this is more than a campaign or a giveaway it's a way to say thank you," says Kim Boccardi, vice president of marketing at Titan International, Inc. "Now more than ever, we need to show our appreciation for those who continue on every day caring for livestock and putting seeds in the ground. We're extremely thankful for the resiliency and determination of producers, farmers and growers everywhere." Make your nomination and choice of donation For full details on the nomination process on Facebook and Twitter, visit the Facebook post and Twitter post with instructions, and be sure to follow Goodyear Farm Tires on both channels to receive notifications. To select an ag organization for a $5 donation from Titan on your behalf, visit GoodyearsAhead.com. About Titan International, Inc. Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is a leading global manufacturer of off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage products. Headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, the company produces a broad range of products to meet the specifications of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket customers in the agricultural, earthmoving/construction, and consumer markets. In the United States, the company produces two distinct tire brands Goodyear Farm Tires and Titan Tires. 2020 Titan International All Rights Reserved. Please send all reader and sales inquiries to: [email protected] SOURCE Titan International, Inc. Related Links http://www.titan-intl.com As covid-19 forces more and more classical musicians and organizations to shift operations to the Internet, theyre having to contend with an entirely different but equally faceless adversary: copyright bots. Or, more accurately, content identification algorithms dispatched across social media to scan content and detect illegal use of copyrighted recordings. Youve encountered these bots in the wild if youve ever had a workout video or living room lip-sync blocked or muted for ambient inclusion or flagrant use of Britney or Bruce. But who owns Brahms? Russian citizens are expressing greater protest sentiment as the spread of the coronavirus and the states fight against it has left many people dissatisfied, including doctors and small-business owners, said one of the nations most influential opposition activists. "Right now the degree of protest activity among citizens is probably one of the highest in recent times, Aleksei Navalny, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, said in a video interview with RFE/RL from his Moscow home on May 20. "Such rage is brewing now among those that earlier were not visible in protest activity or direct politics. These are doctors, representatives of small business, and ordinary people that are now without an income," he said. Russia has been hit hard by the coronavirus, with more than 300,000 registered cases, the second-highest globally after the United States. The virus has put huge pressure on the nations underfunded health-care system, with dozens of doctors dying from COVID-19 and some taking their own lives. Moreover, small-business owners are being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy amid the resulting lockdown, while some of the growing number of unemployed people are facing a cash crunch. Yet the government has been slow to tap the more than $160 billion it has meticulously saved up over the years in a rainy-day fund. Navalny and his team have proposed a plan that calls for the government to make more of the funds cash available to citizens and small businesses. During the interview, he criticized the government for prioritizing spending on the security services and state companies like Rostekh, the defense conglomerate, and not the nations health-care system. The government needs to double or triple spending on health care in order to eradicate its deficiencies, Navalny said. Russias last significant outbreak of protest activity occurred in Moscow during the summer of 2019, when several opposition politicians seeking a seat in the city parliament had their candidacy rejected by the local election commission, sparking weeks of rallies that brought tens of thousands of people into the streets. Vote On Constitutional Changes Navalny said his team was focused on agitating against the upcoming vote to approve constitutional changes that could allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in power until 2036 and regional elections in September. Navalny called on people not to participate in the vote and that if they are forced to go to the polls, to cast their ballot against the constitutional changes. Russian elections are often marred by gross violations, such as ballot stuffing, and are closely observed by opposition activists. Navalny last year recommended citizens vote against candidates representing the ruling United Russia party, a strategy that cost some pro-Putin politicians their seat. However, amid concerns about crowds during the coronavirus threat, the Russian government earlier this month passed legislation allowing online voting, a move criticized by the opposition as opening the door to vote falsification beyond the detection of observers. "No mechanisms of control exist at all. In principle, there is no way to monitor the results," Navalny told RFE/RL. He said the growing frustration among the population opens the window for the Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) -- the so-called "loyal" opposition parties that the government tolerates -- to win more votes in September, but said he expects the state to hamper their efforts. The government has already imposed new election-campaign regulations and given the police greater power, he said. "There are possibilities opening up for [the Communists and the LDPR], but the government is now systematically shutting all these windows of opportunity," he said. President Jair Bolsonaro unveiled rules Wednesday expanding the prescription of chloroquine, the predecessor of an anti-malaria drug promoted by US President Donald Trump, for coronavirus patients despite a lack of clinical proof that it is effective. Chloroquine was already being used in Brazil for COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in serious condition, and under the new regulations, it can be given to people with lighter symptoms such as abdominal pain, cough or fever, according to the Health Ministry. There is still no scientific evidence, but it is being monitored and used in Brazil and worldwide, Bolsonaro, who has likened the virus to a little flu and feuded with local governments over their stay-at-home measures, said via his official Facebook page. We are at war: 'Worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought.' More than 291,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Brazil, the third most in the world after the United States and Russia, and the announcement came a day after the country's single-day death toll from the virus hit a new high of more than 1,100. Officials said Wednesday that 888 more died in the subsequent 24 hours. Trump has promoted treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine, a variant considered less toxic and more effective than chloroquine, and he announced Monday that he was taking the drug as a precaution. No large, rigorous studies have found either drug safe or effective for preventing or treating the virus. Bolsonaro, a conservative populist and nationalist, has long expressed admiration for Trump and enthusiasm for chloroquine. Brazil's new guidelines were approved by interim Health Minister Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience prior to becoming the ministry's No. 2 official in April. Pazuello's appointment to the top job came after then-Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired last month for publicly supporting state governors who shut down nonessential businesses and adopted other measures against the virus, and after Mandetta's replacement, Nelson Teich, resigned last week. Teich did not explain why he left, but he had publicly disagreed with Bolsonaro over chloroquine. Speaking to a group of street cleaners in the capital, Brasilia, Bolsonar suggested Wednesday that he has no plans to replace Pazuello: This one is going to stay for a long time. Officials say nearly 19,000 people have died of the coronavirus in Brazil so far, and experts warn that low testing rates mean the true number of cases is likely far higher. Health systems in various states have gone over capacity, with overwhelmed intensive care units unable to take in new COVID-19 patients, and experts say rising numbers of people are dying at home. Cemeteries are using backhoes to dig hundreds of graves at a time, and Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest is burying the dead in mass graves. Gen Pazuello appointed nine more military officers to the Health Ministry on Tuesday, Folha de S. Paulo reported, including his No. 2, Col. Antonio Elcio Franco Filho. Also Wednesday, Bolsonaro announced the resignation of Culture Secretary Regina Duarte, a former soap opera star who was recently criticized by many in the opposition and the arts community for downplaying torture during the 1964-1985 dictatorship and who had warned against the dangers of unbearable morbidity around the virus. Bolsonaro continues to oppose governors and mayors who are renewing stay-at-home recommendations or introducing stricter measures. The former army captain has argued in favor of restarting the economy, even though experts say Brazil has yet to reach the peak of the pandemic. He believes that containment measures are too painful in a country where tens of millions of workers depend on low-paid jobs in the informal sector. Several large observational studies, including one in U.S. hospitals for veterans, have not found benefit from hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19. Earlier this year scientists in Brazil stopped part of a study of chloroquine after seeing heart rhythm problems among patients taking a higher of two doses being compared. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 11, 2020. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo) Pelosi, Schumer Want Trump to Lower Federal Flags at 100,000 Virus Deaths House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote to President Donald Trump on Thursday to request that federal flags be lowered to mark the number of COVID-19 deaths when the toll reaches 100,000 in the United States. The two suggested that the measure would mark the sad day of reckoning when the threshold is met. Respectful of them and the loss to our country, we are writing to request that you order flags to be flown at half staff on all public buildings in our country on the sad day of reckoning when we reach 100,000 deaths, Pelosi and Schumer added. It would serve as a national expression of grief so needed by everyone in our country. As we pay our respects to them, sadly, our country mourns the deaths of nearly 100,000 Americans from COVID-19, they said. Our hearts are broken over this great loss and our prayers are with their families. The president has the power to issue a proclamation to order the flags be flown at half-staff at federal buildings across the country, while Pelosi has the power to make the proclamation over the Capitol. Trump ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff as a mark of solemn respect for the victims of shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, last year. To President Trump:@SpeakerPelosi & I are writing to request that you order flags to be flown at half staff on all public buildings on the sad day of reckoning when we reach 100,000 deaths. It would serve as a national expression of grief so needed by everyone in our country. pic.twitter.com/4zH1s8JtAL Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 21, 2020 The two Democratic leaders noted that Monday is also Memorial Day when the U.S. honors service members who died. According to a rolling tally from Johns Hopkins University, the death toll in the U.S. is around 94,000. The website USA.gov, says the American flag is flown at half-staff when the nation or a state is in mourning, and a president can order the lowering of flags via a presidential proclamation. State governors and the mayor of the District of Colombia can order flags to be flown at half-staff. Origami's strategy to attract, retain and engage the industrys most talented people has helped us drive steady innovation, generate superior outcomes for clients, and achieve a rapid rate of organic growth, said Jon Nichols, president, Shared Services division, Origami Risk. Origami Risk, the industry-leading risk, safety and insurance Software as a Service (SaaS) technology firm, has been named to Inc. magazines annual list of the Best Workplaces for 2020. In gaining this recognition by Inc. for the third consecutive year, Origami Risk now has earned more than two dozen workplace awards in recent years. The honors reflect its ongoing commitment to hire and retain the insurance industry's top talent to provide the highest level of service to its customers. Hitting newsstands May 12 in the May/June 2020 issue, and as part of a prominent Inc.com feature, the list is the result of a wide-ranging and comprehensive measurement of American companies that have created exceptional workplaces through vibrant cultures, deep employee engagement, and stellar benefits. Collecting data from more than 3,000 submissions, Inc. singled out 389 finalists for this years list. Each nominated company took part in an employee survey, conducted by Quantum Workplace, on topics including trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. Inc. gathered, analyzed, and audited the data. Then they ranked all the employers using a composite score of survey results. This year, 73.5 percent of surveyed employees were engaged by their work. The strongest engagement scores came from companies that prioritize the most human elements of work. These companies are leading the way in employee recognition, performance management, and diversity. It is a different playbook from a decade ago, when too many firms used the same template: free food, open work environments, and artifacts of fun. Were honored to earn this recognition from Inc. magazine; it underscores our enduring commitment both to be an excellent business partner to all our customers and to provide an empowering, fulfilling and collaborative work environment for all our colleagues, said Jon Nichols, president, Shared Services division, Origami Risk. Origami's strategy to attract, retain and engage the industrys most talented people has helped us drive steady innovation, generate superior outcomes for clients, and achieve a rapid rate of organic growth. Notably, Origami recently teamed with its customers to launch a series of online solutions to help them address issues arising from COVID-19, including a suite of specialized tools for the healthcare sector. Earlier, Origami continued its expansion with a new division focused on serving property-casualty insurance companies, third-party administrators, managing general agents, government pools and entities with large self-administered workers compensation plans. Listed as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies in 2019, Origami also ranked among Deloittes Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. Building a great corporate culture comes only from strong leadership, says Inc. magazine editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. The companies on Inc.s Best Workplaces list are setting an example that the whole country can learn from, especially now, when company culture is more important to the workforce than ever. While researching the finalists, Inc. and Quantum saw distinct themes: 100 percent provide health insurance. 50 percent allow employees to bring pets to work. 62 percent take employees to offsite retreats to relax and recharge. 20 percent offer paid sabbaticals to reward length of service. # # # About Origami Risk Origami Risk is a leading provider of integrated SaaS solutions for the risk, safety, and insurance industry from insured corporate and public entities to brokers and risk consultants, insurers, third party claims administrators (TPAs), and risk pools. Highly configurable and completely scalable, Origami Risk delivers a full suite of risk management tools and insurance core system solutions from a secure, cloud-based platform accessible via web browser and mobile app. Visit origamirisk.com or contact Origami at info@origamirisk.com. About Inc. Media The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com. About Quantum Workplace Quantum Workplace, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is an HR technology company that serves organizations through employee-engagement surveys, action-planning tools, exit surveys, peer-to-peer recognition, performance evaluations, goal tracking, and leadership assessment. For more information, visit QuantumWorkplace.com. In Hong Kong, anyone known to have been exposed to the novel coronavirus was dispatched by authorities to a government-run facility to quarantine for two weeks. Recently, officials announced that weeks had passed with no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases. In South Korea, people with moderate symptoms were ordered to decamp to isolation centers. That country's response to the virus is hailed as a model for the world. But even as centralized, out-of-home quarantine and isolation appeared helpful in breaking the chain of transmission in other countries, the United States has remained largely resistant to isolating people in government-run centers away from their homes. And in places where voluntary isolation facilities are available, local officials are finding fewer people taking advantage of them than expected. It's a reflection, experts said, of cost and conflicting priorities, of cultural norms and mistrust of government. Although great time and effort are being devoted to testing for the virus, treating the ill and tracking those who are exposed, isolation centers have received relatively scant attention. Then there are the associated costs, for government and for people taken out of the workforce. Americans' suspicions about government intervention also mean large swaths of the population - especially immigrants and people of color who have been subject to government restrictions in the past - are wary of placing their lives in the hands of local officials. "We just don't have enough civic trust, in many different ways, to make that something people are going to let happen with confidence," said Michael Fine, former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health. "You can see that in people on the right, you can see that from the perspective of people of color, and others." Because states and cities generally control the nuances of their public health efforts, coordinating an isolation policy on a grand scale is next to impossible. And forcing those infected with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to quarantine in government-run facilities could provoke legal challenges and social resistance. Scholars have expressed concern about the consequences of requiring Americans to enter out-of-home isolation or quarantine centers. In March, 450 organizations and public health and legal experts published a letter on the American Civil Liberties Union's website saying mandatory quarantine or isolation measures should be a last resort and steps should be taken to protect people's civil and economic rights. ACLU spokesman Abdullah Hassan said the organization would support isolation outside the home only if it were voluntary and came with the proper economic and social support systems. Last week, Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics published a pandemic recovery road map estimating that 14% of infected or exposed people would need somewhere to voluntarily isolate outside their residence because they cannot do so safely at home. "There is substantial evidence that providing a voluntary option to safely isolate will help to dramatically reduce spread of infection to one's family and therefore the spread of infection overall," the report concluded, suggesting that using vacant hotels over 18 months would cost about $4.5 billion. The report also called for about $50 a day in income support for people voluntarily isolating, estimating that 40% of those in isolation would need the money to survive. The experts pegged the overall costs of those payments at $30 billion over a year and a half. As states move to expand testing for the virus and launch efforts to track down people who may have been exposed, they have recognized an uncomfortable truth: Urging people to hunker down at home is not enough to prevent cases of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Earlier this month, New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a survey of New York City hospitals to gather information about patients they had treated for covid-19 during a recent three-day period. He expected to hear about front-line medical workers being hospitalized, or about patients whose jobs required regular contact with people throughout the U.S. city hardest hit by the coronavirus. Cuomo expressed surprise at the results: 66% of those who were hospitalized had been staying at home, and just 17% were employed. "They're not working; they're not traveling," Cuomo said at a news conference where he shared the survey's results. "We were thinking that maybe we were going to find a higher percent of essential employees who were getting sick because they were going to work - that these may be nurses, doctors, transit workers. That's not the case. They were predominantly at home." The disheartening implication of that data is that home isolation is not necessarily offering protection to those participating in it - especially for people in densely populated cities such as New York. "Some of us tend to think everyone lives in four-bedroom suburban houses. But that's not the case," said Eric Toner of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. "But there are an awful lot of people - the same people who disproportionately represent those who are infected - who live in much more densely crowded spaces. They can't isolate. They don't have a guest bedroom where they can isolate." In an effort to help jurisdictions looking to implement out-of-home isolation, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued guidance regarding what it called non-congregate shelters. Unlike overflow hospital facilities established in some cities, isolation centers are not meant to house people needing treatment or medical attention. Instead, they're designed for people who test positive for the coronavirus or who have been exposed. Those cities and states that have opened quarantine and isolation facilities - often in hotels - have largely geared them toward emergency workers or homeless people. For the most part, these facilities do not require those staying in them to do so against their will. But almost all of them prohibit coming and going for anyone exposed to or known to be carrying the virus. "It's not vacation. You can't go back and forth," said Thomas Ambrosino, city manager of Chelsea, Massachusetts, which provides hotel rooms for infected people. "But we're not keeping people against their will. If you say, 'I don't want to stay here anymore,' we're saying, 'OK. But you're not coming back.' " New York began securing hotel rooms for isolation purposes early on, acknowledging the city's similarities to many of the densely populated East Asian cities that used isolation to substantial effect. The facililties are open to those who test positive for the virus and have been discharged from the hospital but do not have homes where they feel they can isolate safely. The rooms are offered at no cost for the extent of the required isolation period and can be booked with a referral from a doctor or hospital. As of Tuesday, more than 5,600 people were staying in those rooms, according to New York City Department of Emergency Management spokesman Omar Bourne. About 5,000 of them were health-care workers who had been exposed to or tested positive for the virus and feared bringing it home to their families. The rest were people who had tested positive but could not isolate safely in their homes. In Missoula, Montana, which has yet to see the worst of the pandemic, local health and emergency management officials began getting calls about people here and there needing a place to isolate. The western Montana city of about 75,000 has a substantial homeless population, and officials realized that a trickle of requests could soon turn into a flood - particularly once coronavirus-related job losses left more and more people unable to pay for safe housing. Officials began hunting for a facility that could provide shelter for those without homes. They found a former Sleepy Inn with rooms that opened to the outside, rather than into a long interior hallway - ideal for maximizing isolation. They petitioned FEMA for support and their city council for money, and persuaded local government that the more than $1 million investment was worthwhile - a lengthy process that highlights the obstacles that can hinder officials even after they decide to set up an isolation facility. Missoula officials said they expect 75% of their costs will be reimbursed by FEMA, an expectation shared by officials in other jurisdictions that have set up facilities in accordance with FEMA guidelines. Officials in Louisville, Kentucky partnered with the Salvation Army to make sure homeless people needing isolation had somewhere to go. Relatively few people have used the service. The same has been true in Las Vegas, which constructed a substantial quarantine and isolation facility for homeless people. Officials said the facility sheltered 130 people and discharged 72 of them in its first three weeks of operation. It was built to house 500, in accordance with surge projections, said Community Services Department Director Kathi Thomas-Gibson. But Las Vegas has not come close to needing that many beds. Local officials warn that with the city's signature tourism industry largely shut down, more people may find themselves unable to pay for adequate housing in the weeks to come. Las Vegas, like many cities, could see a rise in homelessness that will make such shelters crucial to limiting outbreaks. In Chelsea, Massachusetts, a hotel dedicated to people who tested positive for covid-19 could be a model for communities wanting to make out-of-home isolation more widely available. The city is sharing the hotel with nearby Revere, Massachusetts, to address the needs of those for whom infection meant they couldn't isolate safely in high-density housing prevalent in both jurisdictions. "The situations we were seeing, and knew would be replicated, were situations where a person was getting a positive covid-19 diagnosis, returning home to an apartment where they were subletting a room from other roommates, and their roommates were telling them, 'Get . . . out of here,' " Ambrosino said. "They were sort of out on the streets by themselves without a lot of legal recourse against the subletting situation, which goes on in a lot of these crowded houses." In Chelsea, those who feel they cannot isolate safely can call the city's 311 line to explain their situation or use referrals from medical professionals to secure rooms in the hotel. That information is passed along to medical officials from Massachusetts General Hospital, headquartered in nearby Boston, which volunteered personnel to help oversee intake and monitoring of patients at the isolation facility. The hotel housed 78 people on its busiest night of the pandemic and 69 on Monday night, somewhat fewer than Ambrosino and his team expected, something he attributes to a variety of factors - including that many of those cast out from crowded living facilities are undocumented immigrants, who fear the consequences of making contact with any government system. Hillsborough County, Florida, set up two Tampa hotels to house people who might need to isolate, but as of early May, they had not received much use. A hotel in Marietta, Georgia, was used for only a few weeks before it was shut down. Fine, the former Rhode Island health official, said officials should embrace a more proactive approach that would direct people to isolation facilities at their first sign of symptoms, rather than waiting for them to receive a test. "When I talk to patients, which I'm doing all day long, the first question I ask them is, 'How many people live in your house and how many bathrooms do you have?' " Fine said. "If you live in the 'burbs in a five-bedroom house with four bathrooms and two people living there, they don't need out-of-home isolation. But if you live in a triple-decker with eight people living in a place with three bedrooms and one bathroom, those people need out-of-home isolation." OTTAWA, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NAV CANADA today released, for consultation, a proposal to revise customer service charges, effective September 1, 2020. The proposal calls for increased service charges averaging 29.5% in base rates and includes provisions to ease the cash flow impact of the increase on its customers through payment deferral mechanisms. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry has significantly reduced NAV CANADAs liquidity. Revenues and cash inflows have been substantially reduced as compared to its approved budget. All operating and capital spending has been reviewed and actions have been taken to reduce spending and cash outflows while at the same time ensuring the continued fulfillment of NAV CANADAs statutory mandate to safely operate and maintain the Canadian air navigation system as an essential service. NAV CANADA will continue to pursue all opportunities for additional operating and capital spending reductions. NAV CANADA acknowledges that this increase comes at a time when its customers are also in exceptionally difficult circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and is therefore proposing to defer the fiscal 2021 cash impact of the increases to its customers, over a five-year period. NAV CANADA is proposing this rate action only after having actively pursued all available alternatives, including government assistance, said Neil Wilson, President and CEO. All available alternatives, including further government assistance will continue to be explored and utilized in order to minimize or avoid the proposed rate increase. As the majority of its costs are fixed, NAV CANADA cannot fully offset significantly lower revenues and cash inflows due to recent decreases in air traffic volume during COVID-19. The consequent reduction of available liquidity has prompted NAV CANADA to seek additional debt financing. In order to meet the additional indebtedness provisions of its existing debenture agreements however, it must achieve a minimum level of revenue in its fiscal 2021 year. The proposed service charge increases are required for NAV CANADA to meet that minimum revenue level. Story continues The proposal is now subject to the mandatory 60-day consultation period required by legislation. Input received during the consultation period will be considered by NAV CANADAs management and Board of Directors, prior to a final decision being made on the proposal. Details of NAV CANADA's proposed revised service charges are available here: View: - Notice of Revised Service Charges [PDF] View: - Details and Principles Regarding Proposed Revised Service Charges [PDF] Caution Concerning Forward-looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning applicable to Canadian securities legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as proposes, plans, anticipated, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. NAV CANADA is subject to significant risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this release. NAV CANADA cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements and NAV CANADA assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect actual events or new circumstances, except as required by applicable securities legislation. About NAV CANADA NAV CANADA is a private, not-for-profit company, established in 1996, providing air traffic control, airport advisory services, weather briefings and aeronautical information services for more than 18 million square kilometres of Canadian domestic and international airspace. The Company is internationally recognized for its safety record, and technology innovation. Air traffic management systems developed by NAV CANADA are used by air navigation service providers in countries worldwide. For further information, please contact: Brian Boudreau Manager, Media Relations 613-563-7303 Media Information Line: 1-888-562-8226 The Federal Government says it has paid back state governments N98.3 billion tax liabilities owed them by Nigerian universities lecturers under the pay as you earn (PAYE) tax system. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, said the settlement followed claims by state governments of underpayment of tax by the institutions. Following reports of underpayment of PAYE taxes by tertiary institutions, Mr Idris said the Federal Government advised all the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory Administration to submit their requests for reimbursement. It is important to note that all states governments of the federation made claims on the federal government to pay the differential arising from underpayment of tax by these institutions. The federal government has paid several billions on behalf of these institutions because of their underpayment of PAYE Tax. The aggregate figure of settled PAYE liabilities for the universities is N98.283 billion, the Accountant General said in an advertorial on Thursday. Mr Idris was reacting to recent reports by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that the government, through the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), was overtaxing them. The OAGF said its attention was drawn to series of reports by tertiary institutions unions, led by ASUU, that the Integrated Personnel Payroll System (IPPIS) was making huge deductions from their salaries and allowances to the extent that their take-home was reduced to 50 per cent or less of their earnings. In his clarification, the Accountant-General noted that PAYE tax is compulsory for all salary earners in the federal public service. In computing the tax deductible from the salaries and allowances of the university lecturers, Mr Idris said the IPPIS complied with Section 34 of the 6th schedule on Personal Income Tax (Amendment) Act of 2011. He said prior to migration to the IPPIS payment platform, university lecturers underpaid PAYE tax as a result of the application of the wrong rate for the deduction. Mr Idris said the unions had demanded from the Federal Government their exemption from certain tax payments under the IPPIS. He said the request by unions amounted to an attempt to formalise tax evasion through IPPIS and was not only untenable, but also unpatriotic request to violate extant laws on tax. Another deduction the university lecturers have been contesting is the 2.5 per cent of basic salary for the National Housing Fund (NHF). Mr Idris explained that this was not only another statutory contribution backed by the Act of the National Assembly, but also savings by all federal employees to enable them have access to short life loans to own their personal houses. These savings contributions are refundable with interest either at retirement by the university lecturers or at their exit from public service as Federal Government employees. The request that those laws should not be applicable to ASUU members and therefore should be exempted, or be made optional for them is a breach of the Act of Parliament and not within the ambit of the IPPIS or the (OAGF). To meet their request, Mr Idris said the OAGF has already advised ASUU to approach the National Assembly to seek the amendment of the relevant Act on the issue. On the 7.5% Employees Pension Contribution deductions, which ASUU has also frowned at, Mr Idris faulted the Unions claim that it should be based on the basic salary of their members and not on consolidated salary. The consolidated salary is what is applicable in the computation of Federal employees taxes by the Salaries Income and Wages Commission (SIWC) to determine their contribution as consolidated salary. He said the actual amount contributed by the employees determines what the government contributes as well. On payment of allowances, Mr Idris said this was based on the salary structure as approved by SIWC, the agency authorised by law to prescribe salary structure and issue circulars for all federal government employees in Nigeria. The other agency charged with that responsibility is the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) authorised by law to issue circulars on payment of salary and allowances to political officeholders. Any other salaries and allowances approved by any other agency of government in Nigeria not formalized by these two agencies will amount to illegal payment, the Accountant-General said. Advertisements Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:29:56|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Burak Akinci ANKARA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The prospects for the trade relations between China and Turkey are encouraging as the Chinese economy is on its way to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, Turkish businessmen said. "Trade between Turkey and China has not been grounded to a complete halt during this pandemic, we continued to trade," Murat Kolbasi, chairman of Asia-Pacific Business Council of Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board, told Xinhua. Kolbasi indicated that Turkish industrialists also see a rebound in orders from the Asia Pacific region. "We know that now over 90 percent of the factories have restarted production in China following the end of the lockdown in Wuhan," he said. Along with other businesspeople engaged in trade with China, Kolbasi said he is optimistic about the future trade between Turkey and China, as the lockdown restrictions are gradually eased. "We expect an increase in the exports of fruits and dairy products from Turkey to the Chinese market soon," he said. The trade volume between Turkey and China stood at 23.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 and 21 billion dollars in last year, according to the data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute. "For the moment, because of additional taxes imposed by the Turkish government during the pandemic and the depreciation of the Lira, imports from China are lower than normal," Kemal Kocak, head of the Turkish Association of Friendship and Solidarity With Chinese Businessmen (TUCIAD), told Xinhua. "But we expect an upward trend in bilateral trade towards the end of the year," he said, adding that it would take up to a year and more for Turkish firms and businesses to fully recover from the impact of the coronavirus. In Turkey's capital Ankara, there is a positive mood regarding the future of the China-Turkey trade ties. "We are ready and willing to increase and diversify our trade with China, a country that we see as an important partner," a Turkish trade official told Xinhua, on condition of anonymity. The Turkish government aims to diversify its portfolio of investors, which has been largely dominated by European countries, and boost investments from Asian countries. The Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an important medium to promote the China-Turkey commercial partnerships, experts said. International freight giant Maersk has recently launched its first intercontinental rail service between the Chinese city of Xi'an and Izmit in Turkey. This new rail route will connect major areas of the two countries, diversifying their logistics options and significantly reducing shipping time. Enditem LANSING, MI - Barbers and protesters conducted Operation Haircut on the lawn and steps of the state Capitol with few confrontations or flare-ups Wednesday. The demonstration, organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, featured barbers and stylists offering free haircuts in defiance of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders aiming to slow the spread of COVID-19. The emergency orders closed barbershops, salons and other businesses. Barbers giving away free haircuts on Capitol lawn at next weeks protest The only escalation Wednesday came when a pair of Michigan Militia protesters, one with a rifle, started shouting at Michigan State Police officers for issuing $1,000 citations to barbers. The violations were for disorderly conduct, state police clarified on social media. The officers were issuing a fine to Angela Regas, a barber from Caledonia, as well as the others working Wednesday. No arrests or physical altercations occurred. Regas helped deescalate the situation, telling the two men that she could handle the situation in court herself. I just took the citation, she said. I just took it and Ill fight it. Im not worried, and I have a lot of friends and a lot of supporters here today that will support me no matter what happens today. The conservative organizers of the protest pledged to cover barbers $1,000 fines through a GoFundMe fundraiser in a speech to the crowd. The relative calm of the Wednesday protest contrasted with previous demonstrations against Whitmers outbreak response. There was a scuffle between protesters and a man displaying a doll with a noose around its neck last week, and armed protesters entered the Capitol and demanded to be let into House chambers in late April. Wednesdays attendees did express anger at Whitmer and her executive orders keeping small business owners from operating. Karl Manke, the Owosso barber who inspired Operation Haircut after continuing to operate his business despite Michigan suspending his license last week, was among the demonstrators. Owosso barber continues fight to reopen with support from Dallas salon owner Manke, who said Whitmers continued extension of the executive orders brought him to his knees," financially, and compared the situation to Jews in Nazi Germany being placed into cattle cars. These older people in Germany were told in reels and movies and types of propaganda coming out at the time, that they could get into these cattle cars, and would be taken to these new homes, he said. They willingly got into those cattle cars. I will not be placed into a cattle car. There have been 53,009 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Michigan, as well as 5,060 deaths, state health officials said Wednesday. Shiawassee County, where Manke operates his business, has seen 235 cases and 21 deaths. Live: Operation Haircut Protest in Michigan Operation Haircut is underway on the capitol steps in Lansing, Michigan. Posted by MLive.com on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a statement following the suspension of Mankes license, saying his actions put people at risk of spreading the virus. Anytime you have a barber or other professional providing services to numerous citizens in close proximity to each other and those citizens are then returning to their various residences, there is a risk of contracting and spreading the virus," Nessel said. "It is paramount that we take action to protect the public and do our part to help save lives. Business owners like Sara Yacks, who runs Hillsdale massage parlor Elbows of Love, said she is losing $2,000 a month and struggles to cover basic needs for her children, who traveled with her to the protest. Thats not (for) the extras. Thats not for taking my kids out to eat," she said, her voice occasionally breaking with emotion. "Not having that income... while Im grateful for the stimulus check that carried me through and I dont have to worry about getting evicted, the bills didnt stop. Whitmers administration should trust barbers, salons and massage parlors to operate safely, Yacks said. As a health care provider before this ever happened, I wash my hands before and after every client, she said. I sanitize my equipment before every client. She has no right to take my career (away). It is unlikely barbers, salons and personal care services would reopen when the stay-home order expires on May 28, Whitmer said Tuesday. It hurts me to say it because I would love to go to get my hair done, too," Whitmer said. "But the fact of the matter is, the nature of that personal service is such that it is intimate, it is close, you cant social distance and get your hair cut. Thats why it is important that we have all the protocols in place. My hope is that we get into phase four and then phase five and we are able to do those things. But at this juncture, its too early to say precisely when we will get there. Were going to get there. State Sen. Kevin Daley, R-Lapeer, had his hair trimmed by Holly barber Suzanne Dodoro. He not only needed one, he joked, but wanted to support small businesses. We need to support the people making a living, he said. We need to save life, but we need to save livelihood, too. Only a handful of counter-protesters showed up, including members of the New Black Panther Nation. While everyone wants businesses to open, said spokesman Malik Shabazz, it must be done slowly and on the basis of science. Lets open the economy slowly, safely, cautiously and let science lead us, he said. Because money does not come before lives. Shabazz and his group, as well as conservative protesters wearing MAGA hats, calmly argued issues with the stay-home order. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Wednesday, May 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Flooding near downtown Midland as seen by drone Pilot captures aerial footage of roaring water as Edenville Dam bursts in Midland County Sanford Dam remains intact, Dow shuts down operations in Midland as a precaution (CNN) As businesses around the world adopt new practices due to coronavirus, one Japanese pub is taking a novel approach to customer safety. Visitors to Kichiri Shinjuku, a traditional Japanese-style pub known as an "izakaya," are sprayed with a fine mist of disinfectant before they are allowed to enter. "We want customers to feel safe when they come inside," spokeswoman Rieko Matsunaga told CNN. "This is geared to promote social distancing and prevent infections." Upon arrival at the pub in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, customers are greeted by a hostess on a monitor, who tells them to wash their hands and take their temperature with a thermometer. Next, they walk into what looks like an airport security scanner, where they are sprayed with a mist of chlorine-based disinfectant for 30 seconds. Customers then pick up a map that shows them where to sit, and scan a QR code to bring up a menu on their phone, from which they can place their order. Diners sit separated by clear acrylic screens. The pub is owned by Kichiro & Co., which has 103 locations in Japan. The company installed the machine at its Shinjuku branch on May 14, and a Kichiri pub in Osaka got its own machine on May 19. "We set it up to abide by the new lifestyle guidelines," said Matsunaga. "We'd like to spread this technology and collaborate with other restaurants. We also run Japanese omelette rice and hamburger stores so we're thinking of installing this technology there too." While Matsunaga cited guidance from the Japanese Ministry of Health in the company's decision to use hypochlorous acid water to spray customers, the World Health Organization (WHO) says spraying people with disinfectant is a really bad idea. "Spraying disinfectants can result in risks to the eyes, respiratory or skin irritation and the resulting health effects," the WHO said in an updated advisory published Saturday. "Spraying or fogging of certain chemicals, such as formaldehyde, chlorine-based agents or quaternary ammonium compounds, is not recommended due to adverse health effects on workers in facilities where these methods have been utilized." WHO also cited studies showing that spraying disinfectant over a wide area is ineffective in killing coronavirus. Japan continues to battle the pandemic and has implemented what it calls a "soft lockdown." On May 6, the government extended the country's state of emergency until the end of the month, while introducing controversial "new social behavior guidelines." An expert panel told the population to permanently adopt measures such as wearing face masks and keeping two meters between people. Other advice included telling restaurant customers to sit outdoors, side-by-side while keeping conversation to a minimum. This left people wondering why Japan's advice differed from many other countries'. "I'm dumbfounded ... There are no other experts urging this kind of advice in the world -- just experts in Japan. It's like they studied the virus, but not human behavior. What's scarier than the virus is ignorant people giving society guidance on how to tackle it," said one Twitter user. This story was first published on CNN.com, "This Tokyo pub has a machine that sprays customers with disinfectant as they enter." American arms control negotiators plan to meet with Russian counterparts soon to discuss a proposal to limit U.S., Russian, and Chinese nuclear arsenals, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The talks would be the initial effort to replace the Russia/United States New START arms control treaty, which is expected to expire next February. The U.S. is eager to bring China to the table despite the country's for now smallish nuclear arsenal because of its long-term expansion plans. The U.S. is coming to the table on arms control even as it moves forward in its $8 billion effort to replace its aging Minuteman Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) with a new intercontinental ballistic missile to be developed by Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC). It is important to note that the goal of talks is arms control, and not arms elimination. The Pentagon's long-term planning assumes an arms control regime is in place, and Northrop's GBSD business should proceed as planned despite the talks. There's a case to be made that defense contractors would benefit from talks collapsing, creating a world with uncapped nuclear arsenals. In such a scenario the U.S. might feel compelled to build out its arsenal to match Russian and Chinese plans, potentially creating new work for not just Northrop but Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon Technologies among others as well. However, given the realities of the U.S. budget, and the added pressure the Pentagon could come under to cut costs as the government pays for its massive COVID-19 response, it is unlikely the U.S. will commit to adding to its estimated $500 billion spending commitment to update its nuclear triad. Canadian David Lah, 43, was taken into custody yesterday for violating the lockdown. The Myanmar-born clergyman held a prayer meeting on 7 April. Scores of people were infected with the coronavirus. Lah, who is awaiting trial, faces up to three years in prison. Myanmar Vice President Henry Van Thio, a Christian, was also present at the event. Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) Myanmar authorities yesterday arrested a Myanmar-born Canadian pastor for holding a religious service in defiance of restrictions on large public gatherings due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Scores of people present at the service, including the Protestant clergyman, contracted COVID-19 as a result of coming into contact with each other on this occasion. On 7 April in Mayangone, a township in northern Yangon, Pastor David Lah, 43, held a prayer for his congregation. In a video, he is seen saying that the Christian faith would protect those present from the virus. Later, Lah and some eighty members of his congregation tested positive for the disease. Something similar occurred in South Korea, where most of the first infections occurred among members of the Shincheonji Christian sect. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country where Christians represent 6 per cent of the population, has reported so far 199 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and six deaths, but the figures are likely underestimated. According to experts, if the disease spreads, it would have disastrous effects and lead to a health catastrophe. It is the Way of the Cross of humanity and a challenge for faith", which Card Charles Bo blames on the Chinese Communist Party. After spending two weeks in quarantine at the City Hotel Yangon, Lah came before the Mayangone Township Court where he was charged along with three others under the Natural Disaster and Management Law, which carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison. The clergyman was remanded in prison until 3 June. His trial is expected to follow. Agence France-Presse quoted a police officer, who declined to be named, as saying that Lahs arrest was delayed because he was recovering from the disease. Three other Christians priest Saw Kwe Wah, Saw Regeandy and Wai Tun have also been charged. All are all recuperating from infection and have yet to face the court. Following the prayer meeting, Myanmar authorities tested anyone who had close contact with the pastor on 7 April, including Myanmar Vice President Henry Van Thio, who is a Christian. The Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari has restricted public gatherings in the country to 20 persons ahead of Eldi Fitri Celebration amid Coronavirus in Nigeria. Naija News reports that the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, disclosed this on Thursday at the ongoing briefing of the taskforce. The Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19 said the decision is a measure to contain the spread of Coronavirus in Nigeria. A strong advisory from the PTF is that large gatherings beyond 20 persons remain restricted, Mustapha said. The Secretary to Government of the Federation disclosed that the House of Representatives has set up an ad-hoc committee to work with the taskforce. Meanwhile, the Buhari government has declared Monday, May 25 and Tuesday, May 26 as public holidays to mark Eldi Fitri Celebration. Naija News reports that the declaration was made on behalf of the Federal Government by the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, in Abuja, Nigerias capital. A statement by Mohammed Manga, the Director of Press in the Ministry, quoted Aregbesola as calling on Muslim faithful to replicate the life of kindness, love, tolerance, peace and good neighbourliness as exemplified by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him). The Minister of Interior, however, expressed his concern about the spate of ethnic conflicts that have resurfaced in some parts of Northern Nigeria in recent times. Aregbesola advised Nigerians to see themselves as a single entity and learn to tolerate one another despite their ethnic and religious differences. The Minister further assured Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was fully committed to battling COVID-19. Share this post with your Friends on Libya's UN-supported government has carried out a series of airstrikes against retreating forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Hifter, a spokesman said Thursday. The Government of National Accord (GNA) conducted five air operations in the city of Tarhuna, destroying two military vehicles and an ammunition carrier, said military spokesman Col. Mohamed Qanunu. The air attacks come as Hifter and his so-called Libyan National Army (LNA) have suffered a series of defeats, most recently losing two towns and a key air base to pro-GNA forces. Libya has been embroiled in conflict since the ousting of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations now controlling opposite ends of the country. For the past year, the LNA has been staging an offensive on southern parts of the capital, Tripoli, where the internationally recognized GNA is based. During the past nine years, some 400,000 Libyans have been displaced about half of them this year amid the fighting in Tripoli. Of the 58 civilians killed since the beginning of April, the vast majority died as a result of attacks linked to Hifters forces, the United Nations said. Speaking by phone Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on rival factions to return to the UN political process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They reiterated their calls for an immediate cease-fire in Libya, where they support opposite sides of the ongoing civil war. Earlier this month, Turkey and Italy said that areas near their embassies in Tripoli had been shelled. Ankara, which provides military support to Hifters rivals, followed up with a warning that further attacks on its interests would have grave consequences. We remind once again that if Turkish interests in Libya are targeted, this will have severe consequences and we will consider the putschist [Hifter] elements as legitimate targets, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a statement. Russia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, supports Hifters self-styled army but denies sending fighters to Libya. However, a recent report from the United Nations confirmed the presence of up to 1,200 mercenaries deployed to the country by the private Russian security firm Wagner Group. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recip Tayip Erdogan discussed the latest developments in the North African country. They noted the need to immediately resume the permanent truce and the intra-Libyan dialogue based on the resolutions of the Berlin International Conference on January 19, 2020, approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2510," read a statement from the Kremlin. Last week, seven UN agencies called for the parties to agree to a lasting truce, warning the escalating violence could leave Libya highly vulnerable to a coronavirus outbreak. Libya has so far registered 69 cases of the virus and three deaths. Conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic present a significant threat to life in Libya, they wrote in a statement. The health and safety of the countrys entire population are at risk. JCB employees set to vote on new working arrangements to safeguard 915 jobs This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 21st, 2020 JCB employees are set to vote on new working arrangements after an agreement with GMB union was reached to help safeguard hundreds of jobs across its UK operations. The company says it has successfully concluded negotiations with the GMB over more flexible working arrangements for shop floor employees as the anticipated disruption caused by the pandemic continues in the coming months. The move is set to protect up to 915 shop floor employees. However the company says this does not affect the planned salaried staff redundancies announced last week after demand for JCBs machines fell by half as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Now a ballot of GMB members is to be held next week on the new temporary collective agreement at JCBs factories in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham with the result expected on Friday, May 29th. GMB members will cast their vote in person at JCB sites. The announcement comes as JCB resumes production at UK factories where more than 2,000 employees have now returned to work. JCB Chief Operating Officer Mark Turner said: We have held very constructive discussions with the GMB. It is very pleasing that we have found a way forward on production flexibility because we expect disruption from the Covid-19 crisis to continue until at least the end of this year. Among the proposals GMB members are being asked to vote on is the introduction of a system of banking hours and extending shift patterns to include earlier starts and later finish times. Employees will also be guaranteed 39 hours basic contractual pay in any one week. The GMB is strongly recommending that its members vote in favour of the new arrangements. JCB and the GMB will review the agreement no later than December 31st, 2020 and may extend it for a further period. Stuart Harrison, GMB Organiser said: GMB Senior representatives have been working with JCB throughout the crisis to protect the jobs of our members. Our new agreement provides flexibility to the company, through a Working Time Arrangement and achieves our sole objective of avoiding compulsory redundancies. Weve worked hard to avoid job losses here and are very grateful to all our members for working together to secure their future with JCB. In 2020 JCB had planned to sell and produce over 100,000 machines but production is now expected to be around 50,000. JCB currently employs around 6,700 people in the UK. Leaving Apple behind, Samsung Electronics has introduced a new rugged version of its Galaxy S20 smartphone, dubbed as Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition (TE), for US government and Department of Defense (DoD). According to the company, with a highly customized software and feature set, the Galaxy S20 TE can operate seamlessly with a range of existing peripherals and supports the requirements of tactical and classified applications, especially those designed to help operators navigate complex terrain, expansive distances, and the potential loss of communication with command units. Galaxy S20 TE introduces DualDAR' architecture, which delivers two layers of data encryption based on the NSA standards to secure up to top-secret level data for classified missions. "The Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition provides the warfighter with the technology that will give them an edge in the field, while providing their IT teams with an easy-to-deploy, highly secure solution that meets the demands of their regulated environment," Taher Behbehani, Head of the Mobile B2B Division, SVP and General Manager, Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement. With its 64-bit Octa-Core processor, the device supports the running of multiple mission applications in the field (ATAK, APASS, KILSWITCH, BATDOK) so operators can access the intelligence they need. It also includes Samsung DeX software, which offers a PC-like experience when connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. With DeX, operators can use the device for completing reports, training or mission planning when in-vehicle or back at the base. Galaxy S20 TE features a 6.2-inch WQHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2.0 display with 3200 x 1440 Resolution with up to 120Hz refresh screen. It runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor coupled with 12GB of RAM and 128GB storage. In terms of optics, it has 12MP, 64MP, and 12MP camera sensors on the back. On the front, it houses a 10MP camera. The device runs Android 10-based OneUI 2 and houses 4,000mAh battery. A study conducted by investigators at Cedars-Sinai suggests that universal testing of asymptomatic pregnant women in labor may not be necessary at every hospital. The investigation was prompted by reports from several large hospitals in New York City that nearly 14% of asymptomatic women admitted for childbirth had tested positive for COVID-19 during the early weeks of the pandemic. The women did not know they were infected. In California, infections from the novel coronavirus and deaths from COVID-19 are strikingly lower than those in the state of New York. The reasons for the dramatic differences across regions of the country are not yet clear. That data from New York made us very concerned about the possibility of asymptomatic infections among our own pregnant patients. This would have implications for them, their babies, their households and for the health of our staff caring for them." Mariam Naqvi, MD, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai For one week in April, universal testing was employed to study the rates of asymptomatic infection in all admitted pregnant patients at Cedars-Sinai. Of the 82 patients tested, two had symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, but 80 women were asymptomatic. The findings of the study were published this week in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Universal Testing Experience on a Los Angeles Labor and Delivery Unit. "We had no positive tests for COVID-19 in any of the 80 asymptomatic women in our labor and delivery unit, and all remained symptom-free throughout their hospitalizations. Of the two patients who had symptoms when admitted, one tested positive," said Naqvi, the study's principal investigator. Sarah Kilpatrick, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, emphasizes how important it is to have accurate data about the number of asymptomatic pregnant women who come to the hospital to give birth and are not infected with the virus. "If a high number of the asymptomatic women had tested positive for COVID-19, then we would need to continue testing all pregnant women. But as we suspected, the positive tests for asymptomatic women were in fact very low-zero-so we do not need to institute universal testing at this moment," said Kilpatrick, one of the study investigators. "These results are reassuring for our patients, their families and for healthcare providers." Importantly, sporadic outbreaks or hot spots may develop quickly as the pandemic works its way through cities and states. Kilpatrick says it is critical that hospitals and communities remain vigilant in protecting pregnant women. "We would restart universal testing immediately if we noted an increase in the number of positive tests among asymptomatic pregnant women in Los Angeles or around the state," Kilpatrick said. "To keep this positive rate low, we all must continue with what is working: wearing face masks, frequent hand-washing and maintaining physical distancing." Around the country, citizens are fighting back against extreme and likely illegal shutdown orders. An inspiring example comes from Minnesota, where today all of the states Catholic bishops signed a letter to their congregants saying that they will not obey Governor Walzs current order. Walz modified his shutdown order again today, but it still prohibits churches from gathering in groups of more than ten. A local newscaster commented: Churches can only have 10 people or less outdoors while bars and restaurants can have up to 50. No, I don't know why either. Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) May 20, 2020 These are excerpts from the bishops letter: Given our willingness to coordinate with the Governor, we are especially disappointed that his most recent order (20-56) does not address both the vital importance that faith plays in the lives of Americans, especially in this time of pandemic, and the fundamental religious freedom possessed by houses of worship that allows our country to thrive. The Governors remarks today further underscored a failure to appreciate the role of our Church and other faith groups in serving the community. *** The bishops of Minnesota are united in our conviction that we can safely resume public Masses in accordance with both our religious duties and with accepted public health and safety standards. We can worship in a way that reflects both the love of God and the love of our neighbors (cf. Mark 12:30-31). Therefore, we are giving our parishes permission for the resumption of the public celebration of Mass on Tuesday, May 26, which will give us time to be ready for the celebration of Pentecost on May 31. Parishes will be required to follow the strict protocols we have published for sanitation and social distancing and will have to limit attendance to one-third of the seating capacity of the church. No one will be obliged to attend, as the bishops of Minnesota will continue to dispense from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. *** We are blessed to live in a nation that guarantees the free exercise of religion. This right can only be abridged for a compelling governmental interest, and only in a way that is narrowly tailored to be the least restrictive means of achieving the desired end. This is a correct statement of the law. That is why a large majority of states now allow in-person religious services, including many states that had previously suspended in-person religious services. We think that the executive order issued last Wednesday fails this test. An order that sweeps so broadly that it prohibits, for example, a gathering of 11 people in a Cathedral with a seating capacity of several thousand defies reason. Therefore, we have chosen to move forward in the absence of any specific timeline laid out by Governor Walz and his Administration. We cannot allow an indefinite suspension of the public celebration of the Mass. Two Twin Cities churches have sued Governor Walz, alleging that his shutdown order violates First Amendment freedom of religion. I wrote about that case here. It is brought by the Upper Midwest Law Center, on whose board I serve, and includes several small businesses as plaintiffs as well. On Tuesday, the churches will argue their motion for a preliminary injunction against Walzs order in federal court. I am confident that they will win, as churches have done across the country in response to irrationally anti-religious shutdown orders. On another front, the owner of several restaurants and bars in central Minnesota whom I wrote about here will be in state court on Friday to contest the order of that court shutting down his Albany, Minnesota restaurant. Attorney General Keith Ellison obtained the order improperly by appearing ex parte before the court, something that is not permitted unless it is impossible to give notice to the opposing party, which was certainly not true here. The Upper Midwest Law Center is involved in that case as well. In Ohio, a state court judge held today that Ohios Health Departments shutdown order exceeded statutory authority. Such pushback against arrogant government authority is taking place across the country; I cant begin to summarize it here. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the coronavirus story has been the alacrity with which Americans have, sheeplike, obeyed government orders that made little sense and infringed on their most fundamental rights. For those who thought it cant happen here, this passive compliance has been an eye-opener. Lets hope the pushback continues and gains strength. UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board has weighed in on the side of Minnesotas discriminated-against churches: Minnesota churchgoers were hoping for a reprieve Wednesday when Gov. Tim Walz, as expected, announced steps for easing restrictions on bars, restaurants, hair salons and barbershops starting June 1. But churches didnt make the cut. *** The churches are asking for equal treatment not special treatment, and the decision to reopen came only after efforts to work out an arrangement with the Governor were ignored. As a result, starting June 1, while a restaurant or bar can serve up to 50 people outdoors, churches remain restricted to gatherings of 10 or fewerindoors or out. As the Becket Fund notes, these Minnesota churches plan to reopen with only 33% capacity, rigorous social distancing and hygiene protocols. This will put Gov. Walz in an awkward position. Are the cops going to cite or arrest people for going to church? It is a dilemma entirely of his making, and he cant say he hasnt been warned. Last month Attorney General Bill Barr reminded mayors and governors that there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Kentucky lockdown biased against churches. And this week the head of Justices Civil Rights Division warned California Gov. Gavin Newsom that civil-rights protections forbid favoring secular over religious activities. Gov. Walz might take a look at that letter. Its hard to see how under any reading of the First Amendment the Mall of America can be allowed to reopen while churches must keep their doors closed to all but a handful. Governor Walz will lose in court, probably in the District Court in Minneapolis and if not, certainly in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Does he care? Probably not. He is a member of a political party that is anti-religious, and specifically anti-Christian, to its core. He will get credit with his base for taking an anti-Christian position, regardless of what the courts decide. The US State Department is rescinding a 9-year-old policy that barred it from doing business with the Saudi subsidiary of a British defense firm, which pled guilty to fraud in a multibillion-dollar arms deal in 2010. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper rescinded the policy today at the request of BAE Systems Saudi Arabia, according to a notice published in the Federal Register. The Barack Obama administration implemented the policy of denial in 2011 after BAE Systems pleaded guilty to fraud in the 1985 al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The Department has determined that it is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States to rescind the policy of denial concerning BAE Systems Saudi Arabia, Cooper wrote in the notification. Why it matters: A State Department official told Al-Monitor that BAE Systems has fulfilled the terms of its 2011 consent agreement to settle its 2,591 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and Washingtons International Traffic in Arms Regulations. BAE Systems made significant improvements to its compliance program throughout the entire organization while the consent agreement was in force and has continued to cooperate on compliance matters, the official said. The rescission of the policy of denial for BAE Systems comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finds himself in hot water over an unrelated arms deal to sell Raytheon-made precision guided missiles and combat aircraft to the Saudis and Emiratis. Pompeo convinced President Donald Trump to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick after the watchdog began investigating the Raytheon deal, which relied on an emergency declaration that cited Iran. Pompeo, who refused to do an interview with the inspector general, acknowledged seeking Linicks removal but denied that it was an act of retaliation during a press conference today. Whats next: With the policy of denial gone, the Trump administration is now free to conduct arms deals with BAE Systems Saudi Arabia without restrictions. Under the policy of denial, such deals would have required the State Department to conduct a case-by-case review. Know more: Be sure to read the original memo that the State Department used to justify last years emergency declaration to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Credit checker Experian was the top riser on the FTSE 100 yesterday despite warning turnover could be about to dip. It was barely affected by the coronavirus crisis in the most recent financial year, which ended on March 31. Revenues jumped 7 per cent to 4.3billion, while profits fell 2 per cent to 770million. Credit checker Experian was barely affected by the coronavirus crisis in the most recent financial year, which ended on March 31 But Dublin-based Experian warned that organic revenues, which strip out any boost in sales from acquisitions, had decreased by 5 per cent in April and could drop by as much as 10 per cent during the first quarter. Investors shrugged this off, though, taking a longer view. The type of credit data check Experian offers may be needed now more than ever by struggling businesses and individuals who could become 'susceptible to fraudsters and criminal organisations', the company said. At a time when many people's jobs are at risk, more people will want to know where they stand when it comes to their mortgages and loans. Stock Watch - Echo Energy Echo Energy bounced after it told investors its work in Argentina has continued during the pandemic. The gas-focused group has secured extensions to contracts with two key customers. And it is working out what impact support from the Argentinian government for domestic energy companies could have on its operations. This could include restarting production at wells it had stopped using. Shares in the AIM-listed group jumped 34.8 per cent, or 0.2p, to 0.78p. Chief executive Brian Cassin said that the coronavirus pandemic had 'highlighted the fundamental importance of data', adding that in his view the company 'has a role to play in helping societies recover'. Those lofty goals sent Experian's shares rocketing it was up 7.4 per cent, or 186p, to 2708p. Experian's jump helped to nudge the FTSE 100 1.1 per cent higher, or 64.93 points, to 6067.16, after making early losses. London's premier index was also boosted by blue-chip engineering giant Rolls-Royce, which climbed 2.3 per cent, or 6.1p, to 273.7p after it announced thousands of job cuts following the crisis in the travel industry. The plane engine-maker will slash 8,000 roles in its civil aerospace division in addition to 1,000 it was lining up as part of a restructuring plan launched in 2018. And water company Severn Trent (up 1.8 per cent, or 42p, to 2446p) also made gains after it pledged to pay a final dividend of 60p per share, up from 56p last year. The utility giant reckons the coronavirus pandemic is likely to lead to a rise in unpaid bills and a fall in sales to businesses over the next year, with so many people now working from home. On the mid-cap index, investors cheered as bookie William Hill rose 3.3 per cent, or 4p, to 126p, saying it expected to reclaim up to 150million from the taxman after gambling groups won a 1billion legal battle over the tax paid on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals. Ladbrokes Coral-owner GVC did not make a statement yesterday but its shares climbed by 3.1 per cent, or 24.2p, to 811.2p, and it has said that it could make up to 200million from the ruling. And gambling software maker Playtech rose 6 per cent, or 13.9p, to 244.9p after reporting its financial trading division had benefited from the see-sawing stock markets and higher trading volumes triggered by the pandemic. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index as a whole advanced 0.3 per cent, or 47.4 points, to 16,367.48. Elsewhere, oil services firm Lamprell was one of the day's big winners after it signed a new contract with the Sharjah National Oil Corporation, valued at anything between 5million and 41million. Its shares rocketed 76.7 per cent, or 8.9p, to 20.5p. On AIM, e-sports firm Gfinity rose 10 per cent, or 0.15p, to 1.65p after it extended its partnership with motor racing company Formula One. The group, which runs video game tournaments, will deliver the main elements of the F1 Esports Series this year and in 2021 as well as the 2022 qualifying events. An upmarket Coles supermarket that caters to millennials with a gelato stand, a fresh pasta bar and a fancy dog treat station has gone viral on TikTok. Photography student Mercedes McLean filmed a tour of Coles Local Glenferrie in Melbourne's Hawthorn when it opened earlier this month and posted a clip to TikTok. 'Literally the most boujee (bourgeois) Coles I have ever seen,' Ms McLean captioned the video, which has now amassed more than 630,000 views. In the clip, the student shows a freshly-squeezed orange juice machine, a fresh pasta bar, a candy bar and a dessert stand with gelato, macarons and Japanese mochi. There was also a bread station where shoppers could slice their own loaves. 'Grab a coffee while you shop? Yes please,' Ms McLean captioned one part of the video showing off the store's coffee machine. All of the features in the video were part of a new Coles Local store, which are more upmarket than normal Coles supermarkets. A new Coles Local store just opened up in Sydney's Rose Bay on Wednesday while the first store to set up shop is in Melbourne's Surrey Hills. A dessert station (left) with mochi, macarons and gelato and pasta station (right). Photography student Mercedes McLean filmed a tour of Coles Local Glenferrie in Melbourne's Hawthorn when it opened earlier this month and posted a clip to TikTok A foodie hub in a Coles Local store in Melbourne's Surrey Hills, the first of its kind to open in 2018. Coles Local stores are more upmarket than normal Coles supermarkets The news Coles Local in Hawthorn is 'tailored to the needs of the local customer base, which includes a high proportion of millennials'. 'Millennials seek out food retailers that are both convenient and sustainable, and shop more regularly than customers from older demographics,' a Coles spokesman said. 'Coles Local Hawthorn is also the first Coles supermarket to only accept card payments at self-scanning checkouts, with Coles research finding the vast majority of millennial shoppers always use cards to pay for their grocery shop.' Following success with Hawthorn, Surrey Hills and St Kilda stores in Melbourne, Coles Local expanded into NSW this week. Like Hawthorn, the highly anticipated Coles Local Rose Bay offered freshly pressed juice, a macaron bar and even a pick-and-mix bar just for dogs on its opening day. The supermarket, one of the first of its kind, is now open in the old Kings Theatre in Rose Bay an affluent suburb in Sydney's east. Specially designed with young professionals in mind, it has a fresh pasta bar, a Japanese mochi ice cream counter, self-serve barista-quality coffee and one of the largest plant-based ranges of any Coles supermarket. Pets are especially pampered at the new shop, thanks to a doggy the dedicated pet treats section. Coles Local in Rose Bay is the first of Coles' new neighbourhood supermarkets to open in Sydney. The store features a dedicated station for mochi, macarons and gelato cones (pictured) Pet owners can pamper their pets with the fancy snack station on offer inside the Coles Local store in Sydney's Rose Bay (Pictured: A woman with her dog) Dog treats galore: The store has a pick-and-mix bar just for dogs - allowing owners to spoil their pets with many treats The store looks like a 1920s movie theatre from the outside with its art-deco design style The thoroughly modern supermarket has carry boxes instead of plastic bags, and offers an eco-friendly product section and a zero edible food waste policy. Even the fridge doors are energy-efficient, and staff wear uniform made from 65 per cent recycled bottles. Products sold at the store are designed to 'match the needs of local shoppers', Coles said. Coles opened the store after it conducted wide research into the Rose Bay community, finding they are more than twice as likely to choose premium, high quality products than the average Australian shopper. The survey also found an overwhelmingly large majority of residents value 'fresh and healthy solutions at mealtimes'. They are also typically aged between 25 - 44 and don't have kids. As a result of the survey, Coles Local aims to cater to the 'time-poor Rose Bay professionals' by becoming a destination for health and convenience, offering more than 350 new ready-to-eat products that can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, including restaurant-quality pasta, salads and dinnertime meals from Sydney icon Pasta Pantry. Coles designed the store after it conducted wide research into the Rose Bay community, finding they are more than twice as likely to choose premium, high quality products than the average Australian shopper The store offers 500 convenience products that cover customers breakfast, lunch and dinners (pictured is a shopper grabbing a meal on the go) With the expanding Coles Local brand, you get an upmarket pet store crossed with specialty food and convenience stores still at supermarket prices A DIY juicer allows customers to make their own freshly squeezed orange juice, while a self-serve bread slicer lets them cut up fresh loaves Inside the first Coles Local store in New South Wales: 500 convenience products covering breakfast, lunch and dinner; 350 of these lines can be prepared in 30 minutes or less More than 120 suppliers exclusive to Coles Local, 35 of these based in Sydney The largest vegan and vegetarian range of any Coles store in New South Wales, with more than 200 plant-based products, including Nature's Kitchen and Beyond Meat More than 400 kosher products -- one of the largest ranges of any store in the country (26 per cent of the Rose Bay community is Jewish) Premium sourdough bread and sweets from Sydney stalwart Sonoma, Southeast Asian delights from Roll'd, and pastries from traditional French bakery Noisette. Advertisement The store also features delicious treats from premium sourdough bread and sweets from Sydney stalwart Sonoma, Southeast Asian delights from Roll'd, and pastries from traditional French bakery Noisette. Coles CEO Steven Cain said the Coles Local format had been designed to appeal to local tastes and preferences. 'Customers want us to make their lives easier, and this store offers our customers the convenience of a supermarket with the range of a specialty store,' Mr Cain said. Social media influencer and foodie Lisa Clark raved about the store, she was a big fan of doggie treat bar which allowed her to grab a number of different snacks for her dog Levi. The expanded convenience offering includes an extensive vegan and vegetarian range, and more than 350 lunch and dinner options that customers can prepare in 30 minutes or less. To reduce time spent at the checkout, the store is the first to only accept card payments at self-scanning checkouts. The move came after Coles found the vast majority of millennial shoppers always use cards to pay for their grocery shop, and the Hawthorn store is next to a university. The store is the fourth example of the new supermarket format, where a shop is tailored to the needs of local customers. It also offers an extensive Kosher range, and products from 35 speciality Sydney producers, including family butchery Field to Fork, whose Bondi and Vaucluse outlets were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Grabbing a meal on the run has never been so easy with so many options available at the specialty store Coles Local in Rose Bay is the first of Coles' new neighbourhood supermarkets to open in Sydney, offering the community a tailored in-store experience by partnering with local butchers, bakers and cafes The barista-quality coffee station allows to customers to get their morning cup on the go (pictured) while enjoying the store's other delights The store features an extensive Kosher range, and products from 35 speciality Sydney producers, including family butchery Field to Fork, whose Bondi and Vaucluse outlets were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic The store has partnered with local butchers to provide meat. cafes have also joined on offering coffee and cakes SAN DIEGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- biproxi, the commercial real estate tech platform where brokers sell better, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with The Future of Real Estate (FRE) . FRE pioneered online real estate auction sales in 2004 with their Accelerated Marketing Program (AMP), a program which provides brokers with an end-to-end transaction platform to sell commercial real estate online. As market uncertainty continues to impact the real estate sector, more and more commercial property owners are turning to online CRE auctions for their disposition needs. This week we invited experts in commercial real estate auctions to discuss the impact a recession can have on the auction market, how to evaluate whether or not a property is ideal for auction, and what pitfalls to avoid when buying or selling an auction property. Through this partnership, biproxi will be able to bring a sophisticated auction process to all of our brokers already selling with existing CRE marketing and technology products and services. "We're excited to add auctions to the suite of products and services available from biproxi, and believe it is a natural progression to our current offerings," said CEO, Gordon Smith. biproxi currently offers a rich collection of products and services, curated for all brokers. biproxi's Listing Essentials is a single space for brokers to select and buy what they need on an a la carte basis -- think things like 3D floor plans, virtual staging, property photography, etc. Their Marketing Concierge offering is an end-to-end digital marketing solution, created to streamline your selling process and deliver highly engaged buyers, operated by their team of marketing professionals. As the real estate landscape evolves in response to the current global pandemic, there is a growing need for a digital revolution in the real estate buying and selling process. biproxi and FRE's online auction platform fills that need by providing sellers, investors, and real estate professionals the tools necessary to conduct business from the comfort and safety of their homes. Especially as market uncertainty grows, auctions offer the perfect solution to deliver a true and current market valuation post-COVID, based on what buyers are willing to pay. Bill Lange, CEO, and founder of FRE said, "For centuries auctions have provided the primary way to appraise the most priceless works of art and jewelry via competitive bidding. Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic rise in commercial real estate sellers and brokers exploring auctions as a way to shorten the time on market and provide a true appraisal of the property's value." The culture at FRE has been to provide a marketing and transaction platform to real estate professionals that appeals equally to sellers and buyers. By making it easier to buy, you make it easier to sell. Together with biproxi's Marketing Concierge program and buyer reach, FRE can offer real estate professionals a full-service solution to sell on an accelerated timeline, acquire new leads, and maximize revenue. About The Future of Real Estate (FRE): Founded in 2003, The Future of Real Estate was the first online auction platform to bring the entire real estate buying process online. In association with real estate professionals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia , FRE continues to provide leading-edge real estate marketing services to clients such as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., Bank of America, Halliburton, Morgan Stanley, the Trump Organization, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and numerous developers, financial institutions, private equity funds and REITS. About biproxi: biproxi is the first open-access marketplace of its kind, connecting brokers to the best vendors nationwide. Developing best in class marketing strategies to move listings quicker and more efficiently, biproxi is putting more time back in your day, without any subscription fees. They integrate with a broker and their team to provide marketing solutions, vendor management , and handle all logistics. Brokers sell better with biproxi. SOURCE biproxi Related Links https://biproxi.com By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two flights, one from Moscow and another from Kuwait, landed at the airport here late on Wednesday night. The flight from Moscow that arrived at 9pm had 104 passengers while the Kuwait flight at 11.15pm had 158 passengers from across the state.The passengers in the Moscow flight include people from Thrissur, Kollam, Ernakulam (18 each), Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur ( 9 each), Alappuzha and Kozhikode (8 each), Pathanamthitta, Kottayam (4 each), Kasaragod (3), Malappuram (2), Palakkad (1), and two passengers who have not specified their destinations. 83 among them are students. Meanwhile the flight from Kuwait included passengers from Thiruvananthapuram (39), Kollam (52), Pathanamthitta (37), Alappuzha (14), Malappuram (4), two each from Ernakulam, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kottayam, one each from Kasaragod and Kannur and two passengers who have not specified their destinations. Passengers with Covid-19 symptoms will be moved to Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram while others will be moved to quarantine centres. Pregnant women, children below the age of 10 and senior citizens will be considered for home quarantine. The screening of passengers was done through 10 help desks set up at the airport. KSRTC buses were arranged to move passengers to quarantine centres and other districts. Taxis were also arranged, following Covid-19 protocol to move passengers to their homes in case they are allowed to quarantine at home. Special train to Kashmir A special train bound for Jammu and Kashmir left from Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station on Wednesday carrying 302 passengers. The passengers were mostly from Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and New Delhi. The train will reach Udhampur on May 24. Man violates home quarantine The city police have registered a case against a person for violating home quarantine. The person, who resides in Medical College police station limit, had arrived from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu on May 9 and was asked to go on home quarantine. However, the police found that he was travelling outside by violating quarantine norms. The police had installed BSafe app in the persons mobile phone while he was sent for home quarantine. The city cybercell found that the man was moving outside his house and they alerted the Medical College police about the same. The police swiftly shifted him to a government quarantine centre and registered a case against him under the State Epidemic Diseases Ordinance. Meanwhile, the police have decided to extend the service of the motorcycle brigade to more areas to check whether those who are under home quarantine are skipping it. Medical workers carry a patient in respiratory distress from an ambulance May 20 at the Parque de Los Venados hospital in Mexico City. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press) At least three times as many people in Mexico City may have died of complications from COVID-19 than have been officially reported, a new report by a Mexican activist group suggests. Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity says it found 4,577 cases in the Mexican capital in which death certificates linked the coronavirus to fatalities between March 18, when the countrys first coronavirus-related death was confirmed, and May 12. The official number of confirmed and suspected COVID-19 deaths in Mexico City during that period was 1,060 less than one-quarter of the cases cited in the new report. Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity said it was opting to go with a more conservative estimate of a toll at least three times greater than the official numbers. The group's analysis comes as the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador plans a gradual reopening of the economy despite spiking numbers of cases, widespread uncertainy about the scope of contagion and growing pressure on hospitals, morgues and funeral facilities in Mexico City and its environs. The first cases surfaced in Mexico about a month after initial infections were confirmed in the United States. Mexico City represents the epicenter of the country's pandemic, accounting for about one-quarter of all 6,090 deaths nationwide as of Wednesday and almost one-third of all 56,594 infections, according to official government numbers. Even so, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that the capital the heart of a sprawling metropolis that is home to some 22 million people would gradually begin reopening June 1. Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity says it obtained a confidential database providing details on the 4,577 Mexico City deaths in which coronavirus or equivalent designations such as "COVID-19," "COV" and "SARS COV2" were mentioned on death certificates. The certificates are kept in civil registry offices. Story continues In 3,532 of the cases, the report said, the virus was listed on death certificates as the confirmed, suspected, probable or possible cause of death, sometimes in combination with other ailments, such as severe respiratory infections. In another 1,045 cases, COVID-19 was listed as a cause of death, without specifying whether it was suspected, likely or confirmed. This study demonstrates that there is a significant undercount that is not being made public, said Samuel Adam, one of the researchers on the project. The group drew no conclusions as to why authorities had apparently missed so many deaths. Asked Tuesday about the large discrepancy, Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatell, who heads the country's coronavirus response, told reporters that the "enormous majority" of the cases cited in the report were likely already incorporated into the official statistics. "It's not new information," Lopez-Gatell told reporters. Sheinbaum, the mayor, has acknowledged an under-count of coronavirus-related deaths and appointed a special scientific panel to examine death certificates, medical reports and other data in a bid to come up with a more accurate toll. Mexican health officials have long recognized that official tallies don't capture the totality of coronavirus-related cases. That is the case in many countries, Mexican authorities note. But the magnitude of the disparity in Mexico has become a matter of intense debate and has drawn fire from Lopez Obrador, who has denied that authorities are "hiding the dead." The president has also been a longtime critic of the group behind the new report, calling it politically biased against him, an allegation the organization denies. Experts say the numbers gap arises in large part from Mexicos extremely low testing rate about 1,442 tests per 1 million people, among the lowest of heavily populated nations in the Western Hemisphere, outside Africa, according to the global statistics website Worldometer. Chile and Peru have testing rates about 15 times greater than Mexico, and the U.S. testing rate is almost 30 times greater. "The undercount of cases and deaths because of COVID-19 is an international problem," Dr. Alejandro Macias, who headed Mexico's response to the swine flu epidemic a decade ago, wrote on Twitter following release of the new report. "In Mexico it may be particularly big because we do so few tests, but that doesn't necessarily mean that someone is trying to hide cases. Let's say it's more of a measuring error." Since mid-April, Mexican health authorities have directed physicians filling out death certificates to designate someone as a "probable" COVID-19 fatality if it appears that he or she succumbed to the virus, even if there are no lab tests confirming it. However, that is not enough for the death to be added to the official tally, absent a positive test. Lopez-Gatell, the Mexican sub-secretary of health and the public face of the country's coronavirus reponse, has defended a targeted testing strategy focusing on seriously ill cases, calling it sufficient to allow authorities to monitor the spread of the infection. He has denied allegations that the Mexican government has skimped on testing as a cost-saving measure. In his televised daily updates, however, Lopez-Gatell has lately found himself having to explain multicolored charts indicating an ever-upwards trajectory of contagion and death. On Wednesday, Mexico officially reported a record one-day number of COVID-19 fatalities, 424, and a nationwide total topping 6,000 a figure that Lopez-Gatell had earlier projected would be the likely final death tally. The fast-rising numbers of infections and death in Mexico City are straining the capital's medical and mortuary infrastructure. As of Wednesday, almost 90% of the 75 hospitals treating coronavirus patients in Mexico City reported no or few available beds, according to official statistics. Morgues, cemeteries and crematoria are backed up and authorities this week dispatched refrigeration trailers to help preserve growing ranks of bodies at 16 hospitals in the capital's densely populated suburbs. "Since April we have been saturated, and this month we've had to turn down a lot of business," said Arturo Franco, who runs the Grossman funeral agency and crematorium in Mexico City. "We've never seen anything like this before." Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report. Tunisia: Francophonie summit postponed to 2021 Event to be scheduled, possibly on island of Djerba (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MAY 21 - Tunisian President Kais Saied and the secretary general of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) have postponed the 18th edition of the francophonie summit to 2021. The event was originally scheduled to take place on December 12-13 this year in Tunis. Highlighting Tunisia's willingness to host the event, Saied suggested to organize it on the island of Djerba sometime in 2021. The theme will remain unvaried: ''Connectivity in diversity: the digital vector of development and solidarity in francophone space''. The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie includes 56 States and governments and 14 observers from five continents. The common element is the language.(ANSAmed). Pratteln, Switzerland, May 20, 2020 Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) announces full recruitment of its Phase 3 SIDEROS study with idebenone in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The sample-size and variability re-assessment performed according to study protocol demonstrated that with the currently enrolled patients the study has a very high power (>99%). Given the strong powering of SIDEROS, the Company is now assessing the potential of conducting an interim analysis to test for overwhelming efficacy with a view of completing the trial early. With patient recruitment into the 18-month international SIDEROS trial in its final stages, Santhera performed the planned sample size and variability re-assessment in accordance with the study protocol to confirm adequate study power. This blinded analysis showed that variability is lower than anticipated per protocol and, with the current number of enrolled patients, the SIDEROS study has a very high power of over 99% to detect a treatment difference. On this basis, Santhera has taken the decision to complete enrollment into the SIDEROS trial. At present, approximately half of the recruited patients in SIDEROS have completed 18 months of treatment and about two thirds of patients have completed 12 months of treatment. Owing to the decision to complete enrollment of this advanced study, its very high power as well as the urgent unmet medical need, Santhera is assessing the potential of conducting an interim analysis to test for overwhelming efficacy with a view of completing the trial early. Such an interim analysis would be performed by the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to preserve the integrity of the study. If overwhelming efficacy is not established in the interim analysis, the study could continue as planned with the currently enrolled patients and the corresponding high power. However, if overwhelming efficacy is demonstrated, it would be considered unethical to continue with the blinded study and the Company would decide to end the study later this year. This would result in acceleration of corresponding regulatory filings by approximately one year both in Europe and the US. Story continues Santhera is the only company that has dedicated its clinical development program towards finding a treatment to preserve respiratory function in DMD. The large Phase 3 SIDEROS study was designed to confirm the efficacy of idebenone in patients with respiratory function decline who are concurrently taking glucocorticoids, said Gunnar Buyse, MD, PhD, Professor of Child Neurology at the University Hospitals Leuven (Belgium), SIDEROS Principal Investigator and Lead Investigator for Europe. We are truly excited that SIDEROS has completed recruitment and is on track to generate a comprehensive dataset in an area of such high unmet need. There are currently no approved treatments to slow the rate of respiratory function decline leading to respiratory failure, which remains a leading cause of premature death in young men at the advanced stages of DMD, commented Oscar Henry Mayer, MD, Medical Director of the Pulmonary Function Testing Laboratory at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and Lead Investigator for US. By slowing the rate of respiratory function decline, we open the possibility to delaying the time to chronic respiratory failure and the need to assisted ventilation and reducing the risk of other life-threatening respiratory complications. We are delighted to have reached such an important milestone and wish to express our sincere thanks to patients and families, caregivers, physicians and study personnel for their support and commitment, added Kristina Sjoblom Nygren, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development of Santhera. SIDEROS, the largest currently ongoing clinical trial in DMD, is a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled Phase 3 study evaluating the efficacy of idebenone in delaying the loss of respiratory function in patients with DMD. Patients on any stable glucocorticoid treatment scheme and irrespective of the underlying dystrophin mutation or ambulatory status were randomized to receive oral idebenone (900 mg/day three times a day) or placebo for 18 months. The primary endpoint of the trial estimates the treatment difference in FVC%p (forced vital capacity % predicted). Patients completing the trial are offered the opportunity to enroll in an open label extension study where all patients receive idebenone. The study is currently conducted in 62 sites in the United States, Europe and Israel. Further information is available at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT#02814019. About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy DMD is one of the most common and devastating types of progressive muscle weakness and degeneration starting at an early age and leading to early morbidity and mortality due to respiratory failure. It is a genetic, degenerative disease that occurs almost exclusively in males with an incidence of up to 1 in 3,500 live male births worldwide. DMD is characterized by a loss of the protein dystrophin, leading to cell damage, impaired calcium homeostasis, elevated oxidative stress and reduced energy production in muscle cells. With age, progressive respiratory muscle weakness affecting thoracic accessory muscles and the diaphragm causes respiratory disease, impaired clearance of airway secretions, recurrent pulmonary infections due to ineffective cough, and eventually respiratory failure. There is currently no treatment approved for slowing loss of respiratory function in patients with DMD. About Idebenone in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Idebenone is a synthetic short-chain benzoquinone and a cofactor for the enzyme NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) capable of stimulating mitochondrial electron transport, reducing and scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) and supplementing cellular energy levels. DELOS is a Phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled 52-week study which randomized 64 patients, not taking concomitant glucocorticoids, to receive either idebenone (900 mg/day) or matching placebo. The study met its primary endpoint, the change from baseline in peak expiratory flow (PEF) expressed as percent of predicted, which demonstrated that idebenone can slow the loss of respiratory function and reduces the risk of bronchopulmonary adverse events [1-5]. Supportive data for idebenone were shown in the Phase 2 double-blind, placebo-controlled DELPHI study and its 2-year open-label extension study (DELPHI-E). SYROS is a prospectively planned, retrospective collection of long-term respiratory function data from 18 patients who completed the DELOS study and subsequently received idebenone (900 mg/day) under Expanded Access Programs (EAPs). The SYROS study showed that the previously observed beneficial effect of idebenone in reducing the rate of respiratory function decline was maintained for up to six years during treatment [6]. References: [1] Buyse et al. (2015), The Lancet 385:1748-1757 [2] McDonald et al. (2016), Neuromuscular Disorders 26:473-480 [3] Buyse et al. (2017), Pediatric Pulmonology 52:508-515 [4] Mayer et al. (2017), Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases 4:189-198 [5] Buyse et al. (2018), Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases 5: 419-430 [6] Servais et al. (2019), Neuromuscular Disorders. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nmd.2019.10.008 About Santhera Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) is a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines for rare neuromuscular and pulmonary diseases with high unmet medical need. Santhera is building a Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) product portfolio to treat patients irrespective of causative mutations, disease stage or age. A marketing authorization application for Puldysa (idebenone) is currently under review by the European Medicines Agency. Santhera has an option to license vamorolone, a first-in-class anti-inflammatory drug candidate with novel mode of action, currently investigated in a pivotal study in patients with DMD to replace standard corticosteroids. The clinical stage pipeline also includes lonodelestat (POL6014) to treat cystic fibrosis (CF) and other neutrophilic pulmonary diseases, as well as omigapil and an exploratory gene therapy approach targeting congenital muscular dystrophies. Santhera out-licensed ex-North American rights to its first approved product, Raxone (idebenone), for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) to Chiesi Group. For further information, please visit www.santhera.com . Raxone and Puldysa are trademarks of Santhera Pharmaceuticals. For further information please contact: public-relations@santhera.com or Eva Kalias, Head External Communications Phone: +41 79 875 27 80 eva.kalias@santhera.com Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. # # # Attachment A former MBTA transit police officer has been accused of sexually assaulting two women while working in uniform in 2012, authorities said Thursday. Shawn McCarthy, 46 of Wilmington, was outside the Aquarium subway station in July 2012 when he gave the victims, who were in their early 20s at the time, a joyride in his marked police cruiser, with its blue lights flashing, against the advice of a fellow officer, according to a statement from the office of Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins. After stopping in a vacant lot so the women could relieve themselves, McCarthy said he hadnt risked his job for nothing and he would not take them back downtown until he got something out of it, Rollins office wrote in the statement. The women stated that they feared getting in trouble and had no choice but to submit as McCarthy subjected them to sexual acts. After allegedly sexually assaulting the victims, McCarthy drove them back near the T station and warned them not to tell anyone about the episode, the statement said. McCarthy was arraigned Thursday on rape charges after a unique Suffolk Superior Court grand jury was reconvened this week to finish a series of cases it had been hearing before the COVID-19 outbreak, Rollins office said. Among the 99 indictments returned so far are three against McCarthy. Rollins office said that McCarthy appeared for booking at the MBTA police headquarters in Boston and was arraigned remotely by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Michael D. Ricciuti. McCarthy was released on conditions that he have no contact with the victims or other witnesses and obtain permission to travel outside Massachusetts, which was requested by Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, the chief of Rollins Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit. One of the victims told a male relative about the assault soon after, Rollins office said. That victim had to divulge it again in August 2019 when she was answering required questions as a candidate for a law-enforcement job in another community. Up to that point both victims had believed the perpetrator worked for the Boston Police Department. The matter was initially referred to BPD and further investigation identified the assailant as a Transit Police officer, Rollins office said. Thats when the grand jury investigation with MBTA police began. McCarthy admitted that he had two women in the cruiser that night but denied any wrongdoing, the district attorneys office said. McCarthy was placed on administrative leave in December 2019 and resigned soon afterward, according to the statement. It takes great courage for survivors in a case like this to come forward, Rollins said. Members of law enforcement are held to a higher standard of conduct because the publics trust in them is vital. Victims turn to police in the aftermath of a crime and police turn the community to help solve crime. When a member of any law enforcement agency commits such a horrendous act, it erodes the communitys confidence in law enforcement as a whole. When law enforcement asks for the communitys help in solving crime, we and the police must be trusted. My office intends to hold this individual accountable as part of our efforts to rebuild the communitys trust in this noble profession. Indictments against McCarthy were returned on Monday. Last month, Rollins wrote to Chief Justice Judith Fabricant of the Superior Court requesting that the court allow an emergency convening of the grand jury to continue hearing cases under strict social distancing protocols, according to the statement. Fabricant allowed the grand jury to reconvene. Suffolk County is the only county in Massachusetts and one of only a handful of jurisdictions in the country where grand jurors are currently hearing felony cases for indictment, according to Rollins office. More than 11 million people have been tested in the U.S. for COVID-19, all with the assurance that their private medical information would remain protected and undisclosed. Yet, public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders from police officers to firefighters to emergency medical technicians (EMTs). An Associated Press review found that at least 10 of those states also share the patients names. First responders argue the information is vital to helping them take extra precautions to avoid contracting and spreading the coronavirus. But civil liberty and community activists have expressed concerns of potential profiling in African-American and Hispanic communities that already have an uneasy relationship with law enforcement. Some envision the data being forwarded to immigration officials. The information could actually have a chilling effect that keeps those already distrustful of the government from taking the COVID-19 test and possibly accelerate the spread of the disease, the Tennessee Black Caucus said in a statement. Sharing the information does not violate medical privacy laws, according to guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But many members of minority communities are employed in industries that require them to show up to work every day, making them more susceptible to the virus and most in need of the test. In Tennessee, the issue has sparked criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who only became aware of the data sharing earlier this month. 35 States Share The process is simple: State and local health departments keep track of who has received a test in their region and then provide the information to dispatch centers. The AP review shows that happens in at least 35 states that share the addresses of those who tested positive. At least 10 states go further and also share the names: Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Tennessee. Wisconsin did so briefly but stopped earlier this month. There have been 287,481 positive cases in those states, mostly in New Jersey. We should question why the information needs to be provided to law enforcement, whether there is that danger of misuse, said Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He said law enforcement agencies should provide assurances that the information wont be turned over to the federal government, noting the Trump administrations demands that local governments cooperate with immigration authorities. Law enforcement officials say they have long been entrusted with confidential information _ such as social security numbers and criminal history. The COVID-19 information is just a continuation of that trend. According to the national Fraternal Order of Police, more than 100 police officers in the United States have died from the coronavirus. Hundreds more have tested positive, resulting in staffing crunches. Many agencies before having this information had officers down, and now theyve been able to keep that to a minimum, said Maggi Duncan, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. Precautions Everywhere Critics wonder why first responders dont just take precautions with everyone, given that so many people with the virus are asymptomatic or present mild symptoms. Wearing protective equipment only in those cases of confirmed illness is unlikely to guarantee their protection, they argue. In Ohio, Health Director Dr. Amy Acton issued an April 24 order requiring local health departments to provide emergency dispatchers with names and addresses of people who tested positive for the coronavirus. Yet the order also stated that first responders should assume anyone they come into contact with may have COVID-19. That portion of the order puzzles the American Civil Liberties Union. If that is a best or recommended practice, then why the need or desire to share this specific information with first responders? said Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist for the ACLUs Ohio chapter. Duncan said having the information beforehand is valuable because it allows officers to do their jobs better and safer. To use the data, officers arent handed a physical list of COVID-19 patients. Instead, addresses and names are flagged in computer systems so that dispatchers can relay to officers responding to a call. In most states using the information, first responders also must agree they wont use the data to refuse a call. In some states, the information is erased after a certain period of time. In Tennessee, the data is purged within a month, or when the patient is no longer being monitored by the health department, according to health officials and agreements the AP reviewed. In Ohios Franklin County, which includes the state capital, health officials reported 914 confirmed and probable cases to dispatch agencies in May and April, but removed those names after patients spent 14 days in isolation, said spokeswoman Mitzi Kline. Some are not convinced. The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition called sharing the medical information deeply concerning, warning that doing so may undermine the trust governments have been trying to build with immigrants and communities of color. Tell us how its working for you, then tell us how well its been working. Dont just tell us you need it for your job, said state Rep. G.A. Hardway, a Memphis Democrat who chairs the legislative black caucus. The data remains highly sought after by law enforcement. In Pennsylvania, two police unions sued to force local health officials to disclose both patient names and addresses. The lawsuit is still pending. Still, there have been cases of misuse. New Hampshire health officials agreed to start sharing names and addresses in mid-March, but some first responders also informed local leaders of positive cases. State health department spokesman Jake Leon said that was a misunderstanding and has been stopped. We have not experienced additional issues, Leon said. Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio; Nomaan Merchant in Houston; Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin; and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 USA Law Enforcement Ohio Tennessee New Hampshire Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:40:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SEOUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export posted a double-digit fall in the first 20 days of this month due to an economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak across the world, customs office data showed Thursday. Export, which accounts for about half of the South Korean economy, reached 20.3 billion U.S. dollars in the May 1-20 period, down 20.3 percent from the same period of last year, according to Korea Customs Service. It came as the COVID-19 pandemic weakened global trade. The outbound shipment tumbled 24.3 percent in April from a year earlier. Exports for oil products and automobiles plunged 68.6 percent and 58.6 percent respectively in the 20-day period, and shipment of telecommunication devices such as smartphone declined 11.2 percent. Semiconductor export advanced 13.4 percent on the recovery in the global chip market. Export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, fell 1.7 percent in the period, and those to the United States and the European Union retreated 27.9 percent and 18.4 percent respectively. Shipments to Vietnam and Japan diminished in double figures, and export to the Middle East slipped 1.2 percent. Import reduced 16.9 percent over the year to 23 billion U.S. dollars for the first 20 days of this month, sending the trade deficit to 2.7 billion U.S. dollars. Enditem Updated Tabatha Rosproy, a preschool teacher in Winfield, Kan., has been named the 2020 National Teacher of the Year. Rosproy is the first early childhood educator to receive the national honor in the programs 68-year history. In the announcement today on CBS This Morning, she said she was overwhelmed with joy and honored to represent whats best about education and all of the incredible, hardworking people that are educators in our country. I think for a long time, early childhood educators have fought for the legitimacy our K-12 peers have, ... to be seen as professionals and be valued for the work we do, she said in an interview with Education Week. Receiving this honor, she said, feels like its a huge step forward for early childhood education. Rosproy teaches at a public preschool thats housed in a local retirement community and nursing home. The community members visit her classroom daily as grandparent volunteers, and the preschoolers visit the nursing home every day. The program serves at-risk, special education, and typically developing preschoolers, and it has the highest preschool literacy and math scores in the school district. It is the most joyful experience that you can imagine, Rosproy said on CBS This Morning. They are connected to people who are older than them, who have different abilities, and it has built so much empathy in their hearts. In a video played by CBS This Morning , one of the community members said Rosproy teaches the children the values of equality, love, [and] respect. She makes us be kind to everyone, a preschooler said. Even with her school building shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, Rosproy has stayed connected to her students, parents said on the video. She mailed each student bins with sensory toys, which were their favorite part of the classroom, and put pinwheels in her students yards. I think that social-emotional learning is one of the most important things that we can offer our students in preschool and at all ages, Rosproy said on CBS. It is something that every person needs, and something I plan to advocate for as National Teacher of the Year. Advocating for social-emotional learning feels even more important during this pandemic, Rosproy told Education Week. Teachers have a responsibility now more than ever to help students think critically and regulate their emotions. At first, I was nervous to be named National Teacher of the Year during this pandemic because I wondered if I was able to make a difference, she said. This is a more important time than I even imaginededucators, families, and students are under so much stress, and here I am in this elevated position getting to represent them. Her message to teachers, she said, is that she sees the hard work and the long hours and the innovation theyre putting in. Im encouraged by the future of education, Rosproy said. I just want them to know, its OK to make mistakes during this. Were really reinventing [school]. White House Ceremony Postponed Rosproy was selected by a national committee from a group of 55 educators who hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and U.S. territories. The committee includes representatives from 17 education and community organizations and is run by the Council of Chief State School Officers. The other finalists were Chris Dier, a high school history teacher in Chalmette, La.; Leila Kubesch, a middle school Spanish and English-as-a-second-language teacher in Norwood, Ohio; and Linda Rost, a high school science teacher in Baker, Mont. Every year since 1952, there has been a White House ceremony to honor the national winner and the other state teachers of the year. In most years, the president receives the award winners. (Last year, President Donald Trump made headlines for his initial decision to not meet with the honorees , but he ultimately invited the teachers into the Oval Office for a surprise meeting. Two state teachers of the year, however, boycotted the ceremony in protest of Trumps policies.) This year, the White House ceremony has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. We hope to reschedule when it is safe to do so, said Carolyn Phenicie, a CCSSO spokeswoman. Our goal, as in years past, is to give the National Teacher of the Year the opportunity to meet with and be honored by the countrys top officials. In a February interview with Education Week and the other finalists , Rosproy said if given the opportunity, she would ask Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to go out to classrooms and visit and see what incredible things are happening. I think in the way that we dont know the day-to-day of whats going on in Capitol Hill, they probably dont realize all the amazing things that are going on in rural Montana, in Louisiana, in Ohio, in Kansas, she said. And I would ask for their continued support on the programs that we have in existence and the bountiful ideas that our teachers have to make it even better. Rosproy will take the year off from teaching duties to be a national advocate for the profession. Rodney Robinson, a social studies teacher who works with students at a Richmond, Va., juvenile detention center, won the national award in 2019 . Honoring All Teachers Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Education announced this week that instead of naming a single 2021 Teacher of the Year, every teacher in the state would receive the honor. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new complexities and challenges to schools with no advance warning, said Jennifer McCormick, the state superintendent, in a statement. Teachers across our state have displayed a level of flexibility and commitment, underscoring the fact Hoosiers really are #INthisTogether. And in Georgia, the 2020 Teacher of the Year will continue her service for another year , instead of the state selecting a 2021 honoree. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the state education department felt that a new winner would have lost out on opportunities due to school building closures and other restrictions. Additional changes to the selection process might also be happening in other states during this unprecedented school year. Phenicie said its too early to say whether these changes might affect the 2021 National Teacher of the Year selection process, but CCSSO is committed to recognizing and supporting a new NTOY next year. Photo provided by CCSSO - Eric Omolo was tested at Malaba border on Wednesday, May 20, and left before the analysis report was ready - The results turned out to be positive when he had already reached Kutus in Kirinyaga county - The patient who was transporting maize was isolated and kept in government quarantine at Kerugoya Hospital - The government has commenced tracking of the people believed to have come into close contact with the victim A long distance truck driver who was tested at Malaba border tested positive for coronavirus after driving all the way to Kirinyaga county. The 55-year-old man identified as Eric Omolo who was transporting dry maize grains left the border before the analysis of the report was out. READ ALSO: Tanzania's tantrums over border closure pointless, could make a bad situation worse The 55-year-old man identified as Eric Omolo left the border before the analysis of the report was out. Photo: People Daily Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus: Client tips hairstylist KSh 267K, adds KSh 353K for other staff According to a report filed at Kianyaga police post in Kirinyaga county on Wednesday, May 20, the driver had reached Kutus when he was intercepted. "It was reported by clinical officers Peter Irungu, in charge COVID-19 monitoring Kirinyaga East Sub-County. The driver of registration number KBR 235T/ZD9015 Mercedes that he was tested at Malaba border and left before the analysis report. While on the way analysis tested positive," a police statement read. READ ALSO: Tearful moment as man stolen as a child reunites with mother 32 years later Upon further interrogations, it was established that the patient left Juba in South Sudan on Sunday, May 17, while alone on board. The man was isolated for treatment at Kerugoya Hospital while people who were suspected to must have come into close contact with him were being tracked for quarantine. This came at a time when the country had just reported a record of 66 new cases in a single day as total cases surpassed the 1000 mark. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly Source: TUKO.co.ke By Andrew Hammond U.S. President Donald Trump threatened at the weekend to "cut off the whole [U.S.] relationship" with China fueling concerns of a new Cold War. Yet, that historical analogy is far from perfect to describe the growing tensions between the two superpowers. Just two of the key differences between the United States and the Soviet Union, and today's relationship between Washington and Beijing, is the extent of people-to-people interaction, and trade. In the late 1980s, the United States was importing around $200 million worth of goods from the Soviet Union, while U.S. imports from China in 2018 were more than $500 billion. Yet, it is nonetheless the case that there are elements of U.S.-China competition reminiscent of the Cold War, including the ratcheting-up of military competition. Today, a string of security issues cloud the bilateral agenda, including the South China Sea. A second element that recalls the U.S.-Soviet relationship is the hardening of ideological or system competition. China is well aware here that one of the key reasons that Washington bested Moscow in the Cold War was its strategy of international containment and cultural vigor with successive U.S. administrations generally using soft power resources skillfully to encourage other countries into a system of alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Today, Beijing and Washington are increasingly in a similar battle for "hearts and minds." As things stand today, people around the world tend to have a more favorable view of the United States than China, according to the most recent (2019) Pew Research survey of 33 nations. The United States is significantly more positively perceived than China in a clear majority (21) of these countries mainly in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. There are particularly stark gaps in Japan, where people are 54 percentage points more likely to have a positive view of Washington than Beijing (68 percent versus 14 percent), while people in South Korea, the Philippines and India are also at least 37 points more likely to see the United States than China favorably. Large differentials also appear in many Central and Eastern European nations, such as Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Yet, other countries have more positive views of Beijing than Washington, including Mexico. For example, 71 percent of Russians see China favorably, while only 29 percent have a positive opinion of the United States. Many people in the Middle East and Africa are also more partial to Beijing than the United States, including in Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey and Nigeria. Yet, while Washington is therefore in pole position in this soft power battle, Beijing is punching back hard. Take the example of the Asia-Pacific where Trump last year unveiled a revamped Indo-Pacific strategy in the face of China's growing strength. Yet, welcome as the administration's emerging plan is for many U.S. regional allies, critics claim that the strategy will have less overall impact than the Obama team's Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which Trump abruptly pulled out of on the first day of his presidency. And the added pressure on the White House here is China's monumental ambition in comparison as illustrated by the $1-trillion Belt and Road scheme, plus its alternative vision to TPP of a Free Trade Area of Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). History also points to the apparent under-ambition of current U.S. strategy. Since 1945, U.S. administrations of both Republican and Democratic stripes helped create and nurture key global and regional bodies and institutions that exist to this day from the U.N., to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Inspired by this postwar success, both the administrations of George H.W. Bush and especially Bill Clinton encouraged the creation of a range of bodies including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The Obama team's TPP was thus only the latest example of a global institutional-building project that began in the post-World War II to embed U.S. influence. It is in this context that the U.S. plan for Asia-Pacific must be judged, and convince U.S. allies that the Trump team is wholly committed politically, economically and security-wise to the region. Here there are some troubling signs for Washington with confidence in Trump, specifically, lagging according to Pew. His ratings are significantly lower than the most recent ones of his predecessor, Barack Obama, in a range of Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia (by -49 percentage points), Japan (-42), South Korea (-42), Indonesia (-34) and the Philippines (-17). And this comes at the same time as there have been significant declines since 2015 in regional views of U.S. international pre-eminence vis-a-vis China. Take the example of which country is perceived as the world's leading economic power. Significantly less people in the Philippines (-32 percentage points), Indonesia (-26) and India (-8) believe this is true of the United States today than five years ago. Taken together, this underlines that, while Washington currently has advantage in the battle for "hearts and minds" across the region, and indeed, much of the world, its lead is not necessarily unassailable. Given some reversals in the last half decade, the Trump team would do well to relearn the "lessons" of the past, including how Washington used soft power resources so skillfully during the Cold War to press its case against the Soviet Union. ) is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics. Andrew Hammond ( andrewkorea@outlook.com 20% of IZ Adaptive mask sales benefit the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation From its inception, IZ Adaptive has prioritized empowerment through fashion, said Camilleri, Were honored to have found a way to further that mission during these uncertain times by providing safe and functional masks to consumers while supporting the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Just in time for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Izzy Camilleri, founder and head designer of the innovative and inclusive clothing brand, IZ Adaptive, today announced a partnership with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Camilleri and her team at IZ Adaptive, a revolutionary apparel brand designed for people living with a physical disability, have adjusted their time and resources to produce consumer face masks, the proceeds of which will benefit the foundation. The chic, denim masks are available in adult and childrens sizes and in-keeping with the mission of IZ Adaptive, are also adapted for people with physical disabilities. 20% of all mask sales in the US and Canada moving forward will be donated to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The eco-friendly, washable fabric masks are made from a densely-woven poly cotton and spandex blend following the protocol established for consumer use. Masks are $15 and can be purchased online beginning today at http://www.izadaptive.com. Prior to partnering with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, IZ Adaptive masks were made available in mid-April through a one-for-one donation partnership with Maison Birks. Since the launch, more than 10,000 masks have been donated to Canadian hospitals. We are pleased and honored to be selected as a beneficiary of IZ Adaptives work to support the paralysis community during these challenging times, said Aimee Hunnewell, Chief Development Officer, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. This effort underscores the companys deep understanding of the special circumstances and inherent health risks associated with COVID-19 that will become more challenging for those living with paralysis. We thank IZ Adaptive for its compassion and dedication to our community. From its inception, IZ Adaptive has prioritized empowerment through fashion, said Camilleri, Were honored to have found a way to further that mission during these uncertain times by providing safe and functional masks to consumers while supporting the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. About IZ Adaptive IZ Adaptive is a ready-to-wear apparel line designed for adults with physical disabilities. A leader in the adaptive space, the revamped brand features wardrobe basics like tees, denim, coats, and other casual wear with adaptive design features that make getting dressed more accessible to everyone. Fashion designer Izzy Camilleri founded the company in 2009, as one of the first brands to launch a truly inclusive apparel collection. By designing with disability in mind, Camilleri aims to make getting dressed easier for everyone, and to help empower people to feel their best through fashion. IZ Adaptive is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit http://www.izadaptive.com. About Izzy Camilleri One of Canada's leading innovative and celebrated designers, Camilleris fashion collections have been featured in Vogue, InStyle, Harper's Bazaar and Forbes. Angelina Jolie, David Bowie, and Meryl Streep, Daniel Radcliffe are just a few of the celebrities who have worn Camilleris designs, and she regularly collaborates with top film and television costume designers on custom pieces for A-list projects and talent. Most recently, Camilleri created the wardrobe worn by Jason Momoa in the Ozzy Osborne teaser video Scary Little Green Men. All of Camilleris collections and work are available to view at http://www.izzycamilleri.com. About Reeve Foundation: The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by advancing innovative research and improving quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureaus standards for charity accountability and hold the BBBs Charity Seal. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292. An 83-year-old man from Oklahoma admitted that he shot and killed his neighbors on May 18, before he turned the gun on himself in from of police who were desperately trying to convince him to drop the weapon. The motive of the suspect According to the news released by the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation or OSBI, the police found Mary Milam, 57-years-old and Donald Langdon, 59-years-old shot dead in their own home in Mannford, which is 22 miles west of Tulsa. After the police arrived at the scene, James Hancock, the suspect, walked out of his mobile home, sat in a lawn chair with a loaded gun pointed at his head. Mannford Police Chief Jerry Ridley said to Tulsa World that Hancock told the police officers that he was the one who shot and killed the two victims. For 30 minutes, the officers tried to persuade Hancock to drop his weapon, but he eventually shot himself in the head. Hancock was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The events leading to the deaths of Milam and Langdon were not clear, according to Chief Jerry Ridley. As for the probe, the Mannford Police Department asked for OSBI's help for it. Mannford, Oklahoma, is home to 3,000 people. The last recorded homicide in the area was in 2012, and before then was in 1996. Also Read: Man Positive with COVID-19 Refused to Go to the Hospital, Hugs Neighbors Out of Spite Similar Incident In March, a 24-year-old man from West Springfield, Virginia was shot and killed. Javon Prather died after he was shot blocks away from his home. The 52-year-old suspect, Michael Hetle, who is also from West Springfield, Virginia, was immediately arrested by authorities and was charged with second-degree murder. The mother of Prather says that Hetle was her son's neighbor and that they had fought for years. The authorities did not comment about the events that led up to the killing of Prather. The victim was an ex-national guard in Maryland for six years. In October 2019, Krysztof Marek, a 66-year-old man from Chicago, was charged with murder after he shot five of his neighbors at an apartment complex. Authorities that Marek when into his neighbor's apartment and fatally shot four people as they ate their dinner. Marek then went to the third floor of the building, where he fatally shot another resident. The authorities said that the victims were 65-year-old females, a 61-year-old male. a 30-year-old female, a 53-year-old female, and a 40-year-old male. All five victims were rushed to the hospital where they were pronounced dead. According to the police, the victims were not random, since the suspect lives in the building too and he's been living there for 15 years. Marek knows all of the victims, but he refused to tell the authorities why he killed them. Marek was a retired construction worker, and his neighbors described him as someone with anger management issues. Marek had a history of complaints from other residents, including the exchanging of dirty looks and noise complaints. The police still do not know to this day what set Marek off. There was also no sign of forced entry to the apartments of the victims. Related Article: 6-year-old Playing With Loaded Gun Accidentally Shoots 4-year-old Sister in the Face @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Egypts State Information Service (SIS) announced on Wednesday that it will hold a regular monthly meeting for accredited foreign correspondents in the country to meet with SIS chairman Diaa Rashwan. The aim behind these regular meetings is to listen to the foreign correspondents and respond to any inquiries related to their work and their coverage of Egyptian affairs, Rashwan said in the statement. Rashwan said that through these meetings, the SIS can get acquainted with correspondents opinions and perspectives on their performances of their duties and the SIS ability to provide them with the means through which they can reflect the actual facts regarding affairs and issues related to Egypt in light of universally accepted standards of journalism. The first meeting will be held on the first Tuesday of every month starting 2 June at the foreign correspondents club in Talaat Harb Street, Downtown Cairo. Search Keywords: Short link: The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) recently held a meeting to discuss the work of protecting women and children' rights and interests. Shen Yueyue, President of the ACWF, delivered a speech at the meeting. Shen stressed that the women's federations should shoulder the political responsibility of protecting women and children's rights and interests in accordance with law, and they should adhere to the people-centered approach during the whole process of rights protection. Shen urged to cooperate with all circles, do the work of recurrent rights protection well, and safeguard legitimate rights of women and children. During the meeting, Tan Lin, Vice-President and Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, introduced the current situation of women and children's rights protection and the plan of rights protection work on a regular basis. Song Yushui, part-time Vice-President of the ACWF, President of the China Women Judges Association (CWJA) and Vice-President of the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, gave suggestions on the popularization of the legal knowledge on women and children's rights protection. Representatives of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate introduced their work, measures, achievements and problems on the aspect of strengthening juridical protection of women and children's rights and interests, especially the prevention and settlement of the cases in which women and children's personal safety was infringed upon. Officials of the CWJA, the China Women Procuratorates Association and the Women Lawyers Association of the All China Lawyers Association, reviewed their work in recent years and put forward suggestions on how to give play to the advantages of group members and join hands to protect women and children's rights and interests. A participant from the Beijing Children's Legal Aid and Research Center also gave suggestions to better protect children's personal safety. Shen urged women's federations at all levels to take the lead in the women and children's rights protection, and improve their ability and capacity in the protection work. The women's federations were also urged to conduct in-depth analysis of key and difficult problems on violation of women and children's rights and interests, take meticulous and effective measures to safeguard their legal rights, especially when addressing the cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse against children. Enhanced efforts should be made to popularize the laws, and inform the public of knowledge on relevant laws and regulations to raise the whole community's legal awareness. Meanwhile, women's federations should organize professional people to provide legal services. Women's federations should care for and assist women, children and families amid regular epidemic prevention and control, make more efforts in psychological counseling, mediation of marriage and family disputes, family education guidance and caring for key population groups, to reduce the cases of infringement of women and children's rights and interests to the greatest extent. Efforts should also be made to implement the systems and mechanisms of women and children's rights protection, cooperate with professional people, organs of public security, procuratorates and courts, judicial organs and group members of the women's federations, including the women judges associations, the women procuratorates associations and the women lawyers associations, to safeguard the rights and interests of women and children, so as to promote social fairness and justice, and maintain social harmony and stability. Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the ACWF and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, presided over the meeting. (Women of China) The broadly accepted distance of two metres (six feet) may not be enough to stop transmission of the new coronavirus, with just a light wind able to spread infected droplets between people while outdoors, according to a new study. Public health officials in many countries may need to reconsider their safety guidelines " which usually consist of social distancing and wearing a mask " after the publication on Tuesday of the research paper in the journal Physics of Fluids. Authors Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis, from the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, found two metres was a safe approximate distance in still conditions, with droplets taking about 15 seconds to fall below human waist level. However, they found that "when a person coughs, the wind speed in an open space environment significantly influences the distance that airborne disease-carrier droplets travel". Using a computational fluid dynamics model to compare the distance travelled by human saliva droplets in different wind conditions, the researchers found droplets could reach as far away as six metres (18 feet) in five seconds at a wind speed of just 4km/h (2.5mph). At 15km/h (9.3mph), the wind can carry droplets the same distance in just 1.6 seconds. "Our findings imply that, depending on the environmental conditions, the 2-metre social distance may not suffice," the study said, adding that further research was necessary into the influence of other parameters, such as relative humidity and temperature of the environment. The researchers also warned that shorter adults and children could be at higher risk if they were within the trajectory of droplets carrying the infection, which has killed more than 323,000 people and infected nearly 5 million around the world. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. A Rhea County physician said COVID-19 numbers in the rural county have jumped drastically due to an outbreak among migrant workers on a farm. The numbers went from 13 to 188. Dr. Craig Swafford said on the Facebook page of Rhea Herald News that the workers have been isolated. He also said a physician at Life Care Center in Rhea County had come down with the virus. Earlier, Rhea County Executive George Thacker advised citizens to expect a spike in numbers from 13 to around 180. Dr. Swafford said, "Just some facts to help with some of the fear that people are experiencing. Yes there is a significant jump in the numbers in Rhea County. A large number of migrant workers have tested positive for the virus. We have communicated as the local hospital and the county government with this particular farm and have been assured that these folks have been isolated and will remain so. "We are working to try and make sure that they have everything they need and will not be exposing other folks in our community. There has been at least one confirmed case at Lazyboy and that person is recovering after spending two days in ICU and appears much better. Contact tracing has been done within the factory and additional testing has been recommended steps have been taken to clean the workspace and minimize any additional exposure there and additional testing has been offered. "Anyone at high risk of exposure will not be allowed to work for at least 14 days and your local health care professionals have recommended those people have a negative test before they are allowed to return to work. "There has been one confirmed case in a physician working at Life Care Center in Rhea County. This physician was wearing personal protective equipment. Anyone that was exposed to the physician has been identified and additional testing has been recommended for residents and employees that came in contact with the physician. The physician is now quarantined and will not return to work for an extended period of time. It has also been recommended by local physicians that the physician be tested and have a negative test before they are allowed to resume their duties. "It has been the experience of the medical staff at Rhea Medical Center that some people that have been infected have taken over three weeks to post a negative test afterwards. This means that they are potentially contagious for longer than CDC guidelines or Tennessee Department of health recommends. Therefore, your local physicians and hospital recommends repeat testing for everyone that test positive before they resume contact with the general population. These recommendations made by your local healthcare providers hospital and county government cannot be enforced as law so there will be a lot of individual responsibility that has to take place. "The Tennessee Department of health views contact tracing and enforcement of quarantine as their sole responsibility and will not allow local officials to participate unless we were directly involved with your diagnosis or treatment. Therefore, I recommend testing at our local hospital or your local physicians office instead of the department of health that way your local officials can have insight to the number of people affected. We can help ensure your access to repeat testing for safe resumption of work and contact with the general population and any medical needs during your convalescence. "While this is a potentially serious disease and obviously is highly contagious it does not pose a significant risk of death to most of those who contract it. In fact, it appears that the majority are asymptomatic. That does not mean that we should take it lightly. Steps like social isolation for high risk folks and social distancing and wearing a mask for everyone else can have some small impact but a much more important step is a liberal testing model that identifies people early and a successful quarantine to isolate them that have the disease from those that dont and ensuring that they are safe to return to society. "Everyone please continue to live your lives be thoughtful and respectful of your neighbors. Observe the data and try to stick to the facts your local healthcare providers are there to answer your questions and treat you if necessary. Now is not the time for panic but rational thought and recommendations." After he left the British Army, Ian Grant was a frontline police constable for 30 years. During his service he was stabbed three times and received a number of commendations. In 2006, while on motorcycle duty on the M1, he was run over by a lorry and died 14 times on the way to hospital. He survived and returned to duty. PC Grant ended his police career as a member of the unit guarding the Palace of Westminster. And it was there that he became a security risk. Why? Because he had dared to raise security concerns shared by fellow PCs guarding the perimeter of the Houses of Parliament. The Mail has been given an extraordinary audio recording of PC Grant being berated and threatened by a senior officer who told him he would have his security pass removed and be sent on a punishment posting if he didnt apologise for speaking out. PC Ian Grant was a frontline police constable for 30 years and raised security concerns by fellow PCs guarding the perimeter of the Houses of Parliament PC Sam Kelly not his real name was on duty at the Palace of Westminster on March 22, 2017, when his unarmed colleague Keith Palmer was stabbed to death at the Carriage Gates by Islamist terrorist Khalid Masood. Seconds earlier the knifeman had killed four pedestrians and injured dozens of others by ramming them with his hired car on Westminster Bridge. PC Kellys abiding memory of that terrible day was seeing as hundreds fled an unarmed, middle-aged, policewoman colleague running at full pelt towards the attack to try to save PC Palmer. Meanwhile, Acting Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey remained sitting in his car only yards from the assault, watching as his constable was murdered. Sir Craigs excuse was that he was ill-equipped to intervene. Earlier this month, in the first part of this Mail investigation, we revealed a number of the security failings at the Palace of Westminster which were ignored by senior officers and civilian staff before PC Palmers horrific murder. It emerged last month that PC Palmers widow Michelle Palmer has launched a legal action against the Metropolitan Police, for placing her husband who won a posthumous George Medal for bravery at unnecessary risk. At the conclusion of the inquest into his death, Chief Coroner Mark Lucraft QC spoke of the shortcomings in the security system which may have contributed towards his murder. PC Keith Palmer was killed and the suspect was shot dead by police during the attack at Westminster on March 22, 2017 Today police officer Grant and police officer Kelly, who were both members of the command guarding the Palace of Westminster, have come forward to give the Mail devastating testimony which will surely underpin Mr Lucrafts findings and Mrs Palmers case. We knew (a tragedy) was going to happen and the exact location where it would happen, says Ian Grant. The Carriage Gates were the weakest point. It was just a question of when. Sam Kelly agrees. All the indicators suggested a terror attack on Parliament was coming, he says. If you are facing a violent threat, the best thing to do is increase the strength of your defences and make sure everyone can see that, as a deterrent effect. It emerged last month that Michelle Palmer, the widow of PC Palmer (pictured) has launched a legal action against the Metropolitan Police, for placing her husband at unnecessary risk What was happening at Westminster was the opposite. The police presence was made to lower its profile; it had also been physically reduced. Senior management knew best, better than the guys on the ground. We were told everything had been assessed way above our pay grade; we didnt understand the bigger strategic picture and we should just shut up. Yet it was the foot soldiers, he says, who were blamed after the Westminster Bridge attack. I can think of at least two inspectors, probably a dozen sergeants and even more PCs who were squeezed out. We were made to feel it was our fault. He has hard words for several senior officers including Sir Craig Mackey and the current Commissioner Cressida Dick. (Mackey) is not fit to be called a police officer in my book, he says. Our job isnt to head in the opposite direction when there is a live threat. I saw one of my colleagues, a mother of four in her late 40s. She wasnt the fleetest of foot but she did the right thing. She didnt think about running away to save her own skin. Her instinct was to fight. She went towards where the blood was being shed. The anecdote brings a catch to his voice and he admits it still makes the hair stand up on the back of his neck and a tear come to his eye. She stood for everything that made me proud to be a police officer, he says. Of Commissioner Dick, he says: The day after the attack she made a morale-boosting visit and listened to us. What happened next? Nothing. Kelly had first raised concerns as long ago as 2011 when he was in the Diplomatic Protection Group. He felt, as did colleagues, that armed officers were being positioned too far away from the Carriage Gates. In an ideal world you would have had two armed officers outside the gates and two inside. If you couldnt have that, then keep the two you did have on the perimeter. Dont move them back inside, out the way, though. He adds: Yet that is exactly what they did. Khalid Masood was shot dead by police after he drove a rental car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing PC Palmer It probably saved the equivalent of paying two men per day on time and a half. In return, the armed police lost line of sight of the gates and without that they are not much use. It was disgraceful. As what happened (to PC Palmer) showed. On the day PC Palmer was murdered, Sam Kelly had discussed swapping positions with him on the rota. But, at the last minute, Palmer changed his mind. He told me, Nah, dont fancy it, mate. It was just banter but you cant help thinking about the what ifs. I didnt know Keith that well personally but I did professionally. He was a very decent guy. He was nobodys fool but he was taken for one by the system. At his guard post Kelly heard what he thought were shots being fired and then a chilling message came through on the radio. It was from a police guard on the Carriage Gates; an ex-Army man who had seen action in Iraq. K ELLY recalls: He was 6 ft 3 in, a big, tough guy, but his voice was breaking with fear and panic. He shouted something about them being under attack and they needed armed support immediately. There was an armed response car parked opposite us, outside Westminster Abbey and we waved frantically at it and pointed in the direction of the (Carriage) Gates. But they just sat and stared at us. Later, it turned out they were working on a different radio frequency. Kelly resented the culture of arrogance and indifference towards the junior officers on guard. PC Ian Grant said: 'We knew (a tragedy) was going to happen and the exact location where it would happen' There was a strong feeling within the Palace that scary armed guards should not be standing at the gates. It was not the view they wanted to give the world. Many of the MPs and Lords we were there to protect did everything they could to make life difficult for us like not openly wearing their passes. On one occasion we let in an MP who wasnt showing his pass, because we recognised him. Then he complained we hadnt challenged him. So we started challenging everyone and, of course, that wasnt right either. It was a horrible, petty war with people who thought we werent worthy of passing the time of day with. There was always niggle. Some of the most famous faces were the most difficult. You would think in the wake of Keiths death there would be some humility, some sobering reflection. Instead everyone blamed everyone but themselves. And they drove a lot of us out. Within a year he had left the service, totally demoralised by what had happened. It was in the spring of 2014 that PC Grant, who had been based at the Palace of Westminster for almost two years, sent an email to a number of senior officers and civilian security personnel. It expressed the growing concerns among junior officers guarding the perimeter about proposed cuts in numbers of both armed and unarmed constables and guard posts. Officers on the ground were already grotesquely overstretched and often having to work double shifts. Grant was particularly concerned about the prospect of reducing the number of officers at the St Stephens posts, where visitors and MPs on foot enter the Palace complex. Guards would no longer have line of sight contact with each other which would hamper any response to an emergency. His email caused one senior officer apoplexy but not because of the problems he flagged up. Instead, Grant was summoned by him for a dressing down. Ambulance crews tend to injured victims on Westminster Bridge and in Parliament Square Grant recorded the exchange. The Mail has heard the recording and we reproduce some of the verbatim dialogue here. In any context be it a police force or a private business you might wonder at the senior officers hectoring approach and the threats that he makes. He had refused to wait until a Police Federation representative was available to sit in with Grant who had already been warned by him of possible disciplinary action. Then he let rip. Senior Officer: Come in, have a seat, please. Never speak to me like that again. PC: Sir, I was respectful at all times. SO: No you werent. You were actually downright disrespectful. PC: By demanding a Fed rep, Sir? SO: Yes, by making demands. PC: But . . . SO: Dont argue, mate, because this will go badly for you. You need to listen. PC: Well I think Im being bullied here, Sir. SO: ...Yesterday as I was going through various emails, catching up with the world, I find an email from yourself to (a senior member of the Palaces civilian security team) . . . in which you raise concerns about the St Stephens entrance. PC: Correct, Sir. SO: Thats fine . . . but what is not fine . . . is sending an email that in the last sentence is sarcastic. And I quote: It seems to be a case of when something is working lets amend it again. Well, let me tell you this, Mr Grant; if you think the security operation at St Stephens is working at the moment you are very, very wrong. What youre also very, very, wrong in doing is being sarcastic to a member of the senior leadership team and what you are even more wrong in doing is then copying it to all the constables on the command. The senior officer demands that Grant sends an email apology. SO: If you dont do that then I have no confidence in you here. You have no place on this Operational Command Unit. Now the Met Police does not give me systems and processes to remove you just like that, sadly. . . However, I have discussed the matter with the Serjeant-at-Arms Office (the civilian security authority at the Palace) about what I (could) do if I didnt have confidence in people here. And they (said they) would remove your security pass. Without the security pass you cant work here and you will spend (your last) 140 days in this police service somewhere where you dont want to be. The choice is yours PC Grant. Grant then tries to explain the context of his email. PC: Sir, when I sent that email, I sent it with the concerns of other officers who were standing over me when I sent it. It was the concerns of the other officers as well. He apologises if there had been a misunderstanding and says he has no disrespect for rank. But the senior office becomes angry again. SO: You come here, try and lord it over me, tell me what I am and what I am not doing. Tell me I am bullying you and, until you stepped through the door, I didnt know who you were. At the moment, you are a risk to me in running this operation smoothly. PC: Id like to know how I am a risk, Sir? When I have always done my duty. SO: You are a risk because you are trying to undermine my security plan. PC: I questioned something, Sir. The reasoning behind it. SO: . . . So you think what was at St Stephens earlier this week was working? That says to me you dont understand the security plan. PC: Because were not told anything, Sir. As PCs that are doing it, we are not told anything. SO: You to me are a risk around my security plan because you are in denial about problems that exist and our right to put those things correct. PC: I have always done what I was told to do. I would like to know how I am a risk, Sir? SO: If you are naive enough to send an arsey email . . . and copy it to all the constables, that in my book makes you a significant risk. It makes you a risk of disaffecting other people, makes you a risk of spreading misinformation, it makes you a risk to good order and discipline, it makes you a risk on several levels. The choice is yours, buddy. You can leave here now and we will have that written apology by ten oclock . . . or we can play it the difficult way. It matters not to me. Sharpen up, stop being foolish, stop displaying bad attitude, just crack on and do your job . . . OK? PC: Yes, Sir. Grant was not concerned about being posted to inner-city Hackney which is what, he says, the senior officer threatened to do but he did email an apology for giving offence. At the same time, he made a formal complaint to the Met about the way the senior officer had treated him. But it was not resolved by the time he retired. He never explained what was going wrong at St Stephens or why it had to be changed, Grant says. He just focused on what I thought was an innocuous turn of phrase in the last line of my email. None of our serious security concerns were addressed. Three years later, PC Keith Palmer paid the price. WASHINGTON - The Trump administration, top Republicans and powerful corporate lobbyists mounted fresh opposition Thursday to extending enhanced unemployment benefits to the growing number of Americans who are now out of work, raising the prospect of significant cuts to their weekly checks unless lawmakers act by the end of July. The latest round of threats came hours after U.S. government released dour new jobless figures showing an additional 2.4 million Americans sought unemployment aid just last week, further compounding an economic crisis that already rivals the Great Depression in its severity. Over the span of nine weeks, more than 38 million Americans have filed unemployment claims across the country because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In March, Congress passed a law that gave people filing for unemployment benefits an additional $600 each week until July. The debate about whether to extent those benefits this summer have touched off fierce debate in Washington over the extent to which continued aid is necessary to stimulate a sagging economy. Some White House officials and Republicans believe the extra payments are creating a disincentive for people to return to the workforce, potentially holding back the economic recovery. But so far there is no consensus over how to proceed, with some calling for phasing out the benefits entirely and others supporting a one-time payment that could encourage Americans to return to work. "In certain cases, we're actually paying people more than they made so we have to fix that," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview with The Hill newspaper. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell blasted the expanded benefits as a "crazy policy" in a private meeting with lawmakers Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the remarks. The party's position is backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which on Thursday joined Republicans in arguing the extra payments might deter people from returning to work. The renewed Republican opposition has incensed some congressional Democrats, who instead have sought to maintain and augment federal unemployment aid. During the Great Recession, lawmakers from both parties extended expanded unemployment benefits because so many Americans struggled to find work, particularly when long-term unemployment became a growing problem. The unemployment rate in April hit 14.7 percent, higher than any point during the Great Recession, suggesting the unemployment benefit challenges could prove even more complicated this time. Democrats argue along with a stable of economists that the expanded jobless benefits are critical at a time when Americans have lost their jobs through no fault of their own - and desperately need the money to pay their bills and protect their homes. "The worst thing Republicans can do to the economy and American families is to allow supercharged unemployment benefits to expire," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The White House declined to comment for this story. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at a news briefing that the president would not "rush forward with spending trillions more dollars in taxpayer money." Spokespeople for Mnuchin and McConnell did not immediately respond to requests for comment. For now, the new unemployment figures released Thursday further illustrate the precipitous economic decline caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which has shuttered many businesses nationwide. The impact on the labor market has been swift and severe, and it's unclear how many newly unemployed will be able to quickly return to their old jobs. Some Americans had struggled for weeks to obtain the benefits after a flood of applications overwhelmed aging or neglected computer systems in states including Florida, New York and Maryland. These and other states later made immense progress in reducing their backlogs, though delays still remain. More than 200,000 out-of-work Americans are in line for payments in Florida, state data show, while the New York backlog stands at about 44,000, it reported Wednesday. About 7,000 claims had been pending review there for roughly a month. "The economic need is not going away," said Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures. "The fact that we are two months into this, and we're still getting multimillion claims numbers, speaks to how deep and intense the economic pain is right now." The threat of a protracted downturn prompted Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board, to warn that Congress may need to authorize additional stimulus during a hearing with the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. Trump and some of his top aides, however, have articulated a contrary view, insisting that business is set to rebound - and jobs will return - much more quickly than experts envision. "We're opening up; the states are opening up," Trump affirmed again on Tuesday. "It's a transition to greatness." In response to the coronavirus, lawmakers in March extended unemployment support for an additional 13 weeks while granting new benefits to workers otherwise ineligible for jobless aid. That includes self-employed and so-called gig economy laborers, including those who drive for companies such as Uber. But the centerpiece of lawmakers' efforts had been the additional $600-per-week in payments they authorized for out-of-work Americans until the end of July. Mnuchin reached the agreement with Democrats to include payments of that amount, even though some Senate Republicans immediately complained that the payments would be too high. The heightened unemployment benefits had been designed to replace workers' wages, unlike unemployment in normal times, which often only covers a small fraction of what people earn while they have a job. "They feel like they have some breathing room," said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. "For them to have enough money to know they can stock up on groceries, and finally get caught up on bills, and know their housing is okay - it's a lifeline." But business groups have balked at the payments, fearing they are too high and making it less likely that Americans will quickly look to return to work. Two-thirds of unemployed workers who are receiving benefits are earning more than they were taking home previously while on the job, according to a May analysis from the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Conservative groups and congressional Republicans have touted the study in recent days, while anecdotally, companies say they're having a hard time persuading workers to return to their old jobs - even though some laborers say their reluctance is the result of unaddressed safety concerns. "It absolutely makes sense in this current health pandemic, when businesses are forced to close their doors, to provide a higher level of benefit," said Rachel Greszler, a research fellow who focuses on budget issues for the Heritage Foundation. But, she said, the Cares Act program "introduces a lot of inequities and perverse incentives that damage the economy." Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told reporters on a conference call Thursday that the business lobby opposes continuing the $600-per-week additional unemployment benefit, which he described as an "across-the-board bonus." Bradley said that this enhanced benefit provides more income for many workers than their jobs did. With an eye on the July deadline, Democrats have put forward a slew of proposals to bulk up unemployment insurance. Last week, House Democrats approved a $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill that would authorize enhanced unemployment benefits until the end of the year, arguing such payments are critical toward keeping hard-hit Americans financially afloat. But top congressional Republicans instead have signaled support for paring back these benefits, including during a meeting on Tuesday attended by Vice President Mike Pence along with Mnuchin, McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations. Talks remain in flux. "On a lot of this stuff there isn't a real consensus yet that's formed because some of these programs are just delivering, and we're kind of getting feedback on how they're working so I think it's going to take a little while," said Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., on Thursday. Some Senate Republicans, however, publicly maintain they are unified in their opposition to extending the $600 unemployment benefit, said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who said he called the president around the time of the passage of the Cares Act to object to the provision. "I don't know of anybody that's not on board," he said. "The government is competing with businesses for workers, and that's the craziest idea ever. . . . We can't hurt our ability to reopen the economy." Several Senate Republican staffers privately have told advisers off Capitol Hill that they expect the GOP to accept some extension of the unemployment benefits increase, despite the caucus's opposition to the expansion, according to two people familiar with the private conversations. They are debating a number of different scenarios, including a one-time return-to-work bonus and approving a smaller federal subsidy to the benefits that comes in lower than $600. Berkshire Music School Hires New Executive Director PITTSFIELD, Mass. - Berkshire Music School has hired Natalie Johnsonius Neubert as its new executive director, to replace Tracy Wilson, who is retiring in June after a nearly 17-year run in that position. The search committee, headed up by BMS trustee Christine Condaris, received applications from individuals across the country, and the selection was made in mid-April. Neubert will begin in early June, to work with Wilson during that month, ensuring a seamless transition in leadership. "The board is thrilled to welcome Natalie to the BMS family and looks forward to working with her," Board President Paul Houston said. "The Berkshire Music School is an invaluable gem in our community, bringing the joy of music into the lives of our neighbors of all ages and backgrounds," Neubert said. "I am honored to follow Tracys exemplary leadership, and am excited to work with the school's board, faculty, staff and students to inspire and cultivate the vast diversity of musical voices in the Berkshires." Neubert comes to Berkshire Music School with 20 years of experience in arts management specializing in fundraising, programming and marketing for nonprofit music, theatre and dance organizations. She has worked with such institutions as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dublin International Fringe Festival, Performance Space New York (formerly P.S. 122), Classic Stage Company, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, The Kitchen, the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, and LUMBERYARD/American Dance Institute. Most recently, she served as the senior development officer at Shakespeare & Company. As a curator, her productions have been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, American Theatre Magazine, and The Village Voice. Neubert has also served on the board of directors for The Civilians Theater Company in New York City and the venue On The Boards in Seattle, and on the Development, Marketing, and Special Events Committees for the Pacific Northwest Ballet (Seattle), the Berkshire Museum, Community Access to the Arts, the Lenox Library Association, Berkshire Country Day School, and IS183, the Art School of the Berkshires. She lives in Lenox with her husband David and their children Craig and Rose, and is a co-chair of the Berkshire County Development Association and a member of Berkshire Business and Professional Women. In addition, Neubert is a classically trained musician who plays the piano and saxophone, and is a professional sound designer. She earned her bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied both music and theatre. I am particularly thrilled that Natalie comes to the school knowing the local community, its rich cultural offerings, the challenges we face now and in the future, with the instincts of a practicing artist/musician," Wilson said. Founded in 1940 by Winnie Davis Long Crane, the Berkshire Music School is dedicated to fostering the love and pursuit of music for all ages through quality music education activities, community collaborations, and performance opportunities. The school serves more than 250 students taking weekly lessons during the school year from 32 professional musician/educator faculty members, numerous classes for young students, chamber ensembles, workshops, and summer camps. The organization also hosts a variety of collaborations with other cultural organizations, social service agencies, and senior centers as well as recitals, concerts, and residencies at its historic home at 30 Wendell Ave. in Pittsfield and venues across the county. Killings follow elimination of two dreaded Hizb militants in massive encounter SRINAGAR: Two jawans of Border Security Force (BSF) were shot and critically wounded by gunmen riding a motorbike in Pandach area on the periphery of Jammu and Kashmirs summer capital Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon. Both of them were declared brought dead at a nearby hospital. The police sources said that one of the jawans was killed on the spot and the other died on way to nearby Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS). Medical Superintendent at SKIMS, Dr. Farooq Jan, said that both troopers were declared as brought dead on arrival. The assailants before fleeing from the scene also took with them two services weapons of the BSF jawans, a senior police official confirmed here. The J&K police earlier tweeted Two BSF jawans on naka duty on the outskirts of Srinagar City at Pandach Chowk were fired upon by two to three bike-borne militants. One jawan died. Other injured was evacuated to hospital. The local sources said that the BSF jawans belonging to its 37th Battalion which is stationed at nearby Dignibal in the Valleys Central district of Ganderbal were targeted while they were patrolling along the old Pandach road. None of the militant outfit active in J&K owned responsibility for the attack which has come a day after the J&K police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in a joint operation killed Hizb-ul-Mujahideens divisional commander Junaid Ashraf Khan and his close associate Tariq Ahmed Sheikh in an encounter in Srinagars Dana Mazaar, Nawa Kadal locality. 28-year-old Khan was the son of prominent separatist leader and amir of Tehrik-e-Hurriyat party Muhammd Ashraf Sehrai who is a close confidante of Syed Ali Shah Geelani. The 10-hour-long gunfight also left behind smouldering heaps of ruins of residential houses including the one where the militant duo had been holed up. While some police officials have termed the destruction of these houses other than the one in which the militants were hiding as unavoidable collateral damage, the locals have accused the security forces of deliberately causing devastation which has rendered many families homeless. Some of the residents have also alleged that the security forces looted cash, gold jewellery and other valuables and even LPG cylinders from their homes after they were asked to leave these to avoid harm coming to them during the fighting. The authorities have strongly denied these allegations and reiterated that the security forces evacuated several families to safety before engaging the militants in the gunfight. Meanwhile, the J&K police has said that they along with the Armys 2 Rashtriya Rifles arrested four terrorist associates of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) in central district of Budgam. The accused have been identified as Muzaffar Ahmed Dar, Mudasir Ahmed Lone, Younis Waza and Nazir Ahmed Sheikh. Incriminating materials including a pistol, a grenade and huge cache of ammunition were recovered from their procession, a statement issued by the police here said. Meanwhile, tension erupted in Srinagars Bagh-e-Ali Mardan Khan area and its neighbourhood early on Wednesday after the residents found that a failed attempt has been made overnight to torch a place of worship. The police said that a case has been registered against unknown persons for damaging the Imam Ali mosque at Alipora and investigations launched into the incident. The local residents said that the act of sacrilege could be a deliberate attempt to create sectarian divide in the Valley. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-22 00:06:23 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 985 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 WESTPORT, WA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / A research project started by a Pacific Northwest seafood company and a nonprofit group over coffee with researchers will get $295,800 in federal funding to continue its work. The collaborative survey data will help inform sardine stock assessments and improve the understanding of other coastal pelagic species such as herring, anchovies and mackerel.Ocean Gold Seafood, based in Westport, Wash., was awarded a Saltonstall-Kennedy grant on behalf of the West Coast Pelagic Conservation Group to continue a collaborative project that will benefit the seafood industry and scientific data collection process. The grants, commonly referred to as S-K grants, are used to fund projects that address the needs of fishing communities, optimize economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and increase other opportunities to keep working waterfronts viable. The survey includes industry vessels and National Marine Fisheries Service and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researchers and personnel."We learned a lot though this collaborative process," Ocean Gold Chief Operations Officer Greg Shaughnessy said. "The survey itself is an intricate and energized dance of scientific procedures all happening in real time and at once. The team is professional. I have fished over 50 years, but I learned more about the sardine and other coastal pelagic species than I ever imagined." The F/V Lisa Marie is seen in the background beyond the NOAA R/V Reuben Lasker during a collaborative sardine survey in 2019.Photo credit: Dr. David Demer/NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science CenterShaughnessy said the survey was necessary to access some areas nearshore."The coastal pelagics industry realized we needed a boat on the water to help assess the shallower areas that the deeper draft federal research vessels couldn't access," Shaugnessy said. "We all had open minds and worked together with state and federal scientists to acquire the best available data for the sardine stock assessment." The project, "Utilize an Industry-Seine Fishing Vessel to Enhance Data Collection and Improve Assessment of Pacific Coast Coastal Pelagic Species for the Benefit of the Fishing Industry and Fishing Communities," builds on past proof-of-concept research projects in which the West Coast Pelagic group started to help assess the nearshore stocks. These shallower areas are habitat for large volumes of sardines and other pelagic fish.Industry investigators use the F/V Lisa Marie, locally owned by Andy Blair. The vessel has a sophisticated echosounder (a type of sonar) to record schools of fish in the nearshore areas. Then researchers use the vessel's purse seine net to capture a portion of the fish in the same area. WDFW biologists sample species for length, age and sex data from a 20-pound selection of each seine set and release the rest of the fish unharmed. The Lisa Marie surveys established nearshore transects from the U.S./Canadian border to northern California throughout the summer and fall in conjunction with the NOAA research vessel Reuben Lasker doing similar work in deeper waters.The F/V Lisa Marie is seen through the trawl gantry of the R/V Reuben Lasker during a collaborative Sardine survey in 2019.Photo credit: Dr. David Demer/NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center"This complements what the NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center is doing offshore," Pacific Seafood consultant and West Coast Pelagic board member Mike Okoniewski said. "It is a good model. We hope to build on more activities like this in the future. This kind of collaboration builds trust on both sides." The improved science can help the industry by improving fleet and processor operational efficiencies through better planning, which builds and stabilizes markets. Incomes from the fish sales and vessel activities feed into coastal communities. The sardine fishery off Washington and Oregon has been closed in recent years; this collaborative research will help inform stock assessments by recording the biomass of fish in the shallow areas.Both Shaughnessy and Okoniewski noted the project could not have moved forward without the support of state and federal fishery scientists, managers, and biologists: Dr. Cisco Werner, National Marine Fisheries Service Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor; Kristen Koch, SWFSC Science and Research Director; Dr. David Demer, Leader of the SWFSC Advanced Survey Technologies Program; Lorna Wargo, WDFW Coastal Marine Fisheries Manager (principal investigator), and Dr. Theresa Tsou, WDFW scientist. Andy Blair and his son Rick are the respective owner and captain of the F/V Lisa Marie.Okoniewski recalled the start of this project six years ago. "Greg, Andy and I and met Cisco in Seattle over coffee to discuss ways industry and the science community could work together," Okoniewski said. "Andy offered Cisco the use of his boat. There were some bumpy starts but thanks to a lot of effort from many outstanding individuals, we have a work product that can be a model for many fisheries. Moreover, they help ensure the long-term heritage of our fishing communities and protection of our fishery resources." Others who helped promote the project include numerous Pacific Northwest congressional members and staff, NOAA SWFSC scientists and crew who took the time to work with industry to sort out the kinks, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Environmental Defense Fund and the West Coast Seafood Processors Association.More informationWest Coast Pelagic Conservation Group: The WCPCG is a non-profit coalition of fishermen and processors based in Westport, Wash. The group's goal is to encourage, promote, conduct and support scientific research regarding pelagic fish; promote sustainable commercial fisheries for pelagic fish, and to educate public and government officials about the value of commercial fisheries for pelagic fish.Ocean Gold Inc.: https://oceancos.com/ocean-gold Pacific Seafood Group: https://www.pacificseafood.com/ Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/grant/saltonstall-kennedy-grant-program Fiscal Year 2020 S-K funding projects: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/noaa-fisheries-announces-projects-recommended-s-k-funding PRESS CONTACTMike Okoni Mother-of-one Melissa Belshaw was killed at her home in Wigan. (MEN Media) A woman who was killed in a double stabbing in Wigan has been described as a caring and lovely mother-of-one. Beautician Melissa Belshaw, 32, suffered catastrophic injuries in an attack at her home on Upholland Road, Billinge, on Wednesday afternoon. A man in his 40s believed to be a neighbour who intervened during the attack is in a serious condition in hospital having also been knifed. A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder following the incident. Melissa Belshaw was killed at her home in Billinge, Wigan. (MEN Media) Paying tribute, stepmother Lisa Belshaw told the Manchester Evening News: She was lovely. She is going to be so sadly missed. Close friend Leanne Fairhurst added: "She had a good heart. She was so outgoing and was always smiling and loved a good time. When we used to go parties, Melissa was always the one trying make everybody laugh. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Britons flock to beaches during coronavirus lockdown Huge queues outside McDonald's as drive-throughs reopen Police pull over mobility scooter doing 8mph on busy dual carriageway A scene remains in place in Upholland Road while investigation work is carried out. A witness, who has asked not to be named, said he saw two men fighting next to the One Stop shop, near to the junction with Crank Road. He added: They both fell into the middle of the road. I had to swerve around them. Forensic officers on the scene of the double stabbing in Wigan. (MEN Media) The man on top looked to be trying to stab the man on the floor with a large knife. By the time I had passed police were at the scene. Detective Superintendent Jamie Daniels, from Greater Manchester Police, said: We understand that this news will likely cause concern among the local community but I would like to stress that at this stage we do believe this to be an isolated incident. Anyone with information should call 101 quoting incident number 1981 of 20/05/20. Reports can also be made to the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111. After Greece announced a gradual opening up to international visitors, the countrys tourism minister has confirmed that British travellers will not initially be welcome because of the high incidence of coronavirus cases in the UK. On Wednesday, the Greek premier, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the domestic tourism season will begin on 15 June, with the first international holiday flights touching down 16 days later. Ahead of the anticipated lifting, easyJet has today started selling flights from Gatwick to Athens from 1 July onwards. But on Thursday afternoon, Athens time, the tourism minister re-tweeted an ITV report which indicated British visitors will not immediately be welcome. In the report, Harry Theoharis said Greece will want to see UK infection rates decline before British visitors will be accepted. I think that the UK has a big difference in terms of the current medical status of the country with Greece, so I dont think its likely it will be there, he told ITV. In the tweet, the tourism minister wrote: Always guided by the absolute safety of Greeks and our visitors. On the BBCs Coronavirus Newscast on Monday, Mr Theoharis urged the UK to agree to mutual quarantine immunity. He said: If we dont impose quarantine for people coming to Greece from the UK from some day onwards, we would welcome if the UK extended the same thing. The Independent has approached Mr Theoharis for comment. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the UKs deputy chief medical officer, said the UK is becoming an area of low incidence of Covid-19. Around three million British visitors the vast majority of them tourists travel to Greece in a normal year. The UK and Germany are the countrys two leading tourism markets. At present the Foreign Office urges against all but essential travel abroad. A few years ago, I began one of these columns by quoting one of Yogi Berra's most celebrated adages: Prediction is hard, especially when it's about the future.Yogi was right when he said that (assuming he actually did say it), and I was right in recognizing its wisdom. But it's even more true at the moment, when we are in the midst of a national crisis whose end we cannot foresee and whose consequences we cannot foretell. Perhaps we will grow closer to each other, or perhaps we will continue to maintain social as well as physical distance. Maybe our central cities will depopulate and grow quiet, or maybe they will experience a surge of pent-up energy. One guess is about as good as another.But there is one prediction I think I can make with reasonable confidence: We will embark on a period of heightened nostalgia.Nostalgia is pretty much a constant of modern civilized life. It recurs in every generation. Mostly, though, it is a matter of middle-aged people longing for the world they recall (often inaccurately) from their childhood. In particular, most of us as we grow older indulge in sentimental memories of a communal closeness and social order we believe infused our childhood and adolescence.But there is another, quite different form of nostalgia, and it is highly relevant to the present moment. It relates to societal upheaval and painful crises that the society struggles to overcome. Sometimes it is generated by rapid cultural change: The 1970s are often identified as the most nostalgic of recent American decades, in part due to fond remembrances of the stable, orderly years that the rebellions of the 1960s had brought crashing to a halt.Yet this is not the whole story. When older Americans were asked in the 1970s about their nostalgia, the decade they most often mentioned was not the 1950s. It was the 1930s. And their reminiscences tended to focus not on the giddy times that preceded the 1929 stock-market crash and ensuing Depression, but on the Depression years themselves the solidarity, communal identity and helping institutions. Odd as it may seem, these people were looking back with nostalgia on what objectively speaking were the worst years of their lives.You may question this, but there is plenty of evidence for it. In 1972, Robert Nisbet, the distinguished Columbia University sociologist, wrote a long article calledHe and others explained the attraction to the 1930s as remembrance of a time when ordinary Americans felt themselves in the throes of a challenge, and were invigorated by that challenge. The historian Richard Pells, writing from the perspective of 40 years' distance, argued that in the Depression years, "in the midst of tragedy, there was for some a kind of euphoria a mood of utopian optimism that was as unideological as the opposite sense of impending doom. If the old order was dying, the new was being born."In other words, there was a sense of community that shined through the hardship. This is why the aging Americans of the 1970s felt such an unlikely loyalty to the years they spent in Depression America. Their recollection was that among the carnage, social bonds had remained intact and even grown stronger.A similar form of remembrance came to exist among Britons who suffered through the murderous German air attacks in 1940 and 1941 that came to be known collectively as the Blitz. It's true that as the decades passed, there was a certain amount of nostalgia for the peaceful society and habits of life that prevailed before the Nazis started dropping bombs. But there was an equally fond remembrance of life under the Blitz itself, no matter how dangerous and stressful that life was. "People almost reveled in the dangers of the situation and gloried in standing alone," was the way one cabinet official came to remember the crisis. Winston Churchill himself seemed to agree. Years after the war, Churchill was asked which year of his life he would most like to relive. "1940," he said. "Every time, every time."to draw too much of a parallel among the Depression, the Blitz and the coronavirus. But when a crisis is over, people don't just feel nostalgic about pre-crisis life. They develop fond memories of life during the event itself. So one question we might ask ourselves now is whether we can find a way to put those feelings to productive use.Almost any crisis, including the present one, calls forth gestures of community and loyalty that seem to emerge from a swamp of societal self-absorption. Some of these are very small, such as the efforts of local residents to help elderly neighbors cope with their heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. Some are less tangible but much larger. Among these are the respect that ordinary citizens feel for people and institutions they had been apt to disparage: medical professionals and other caregivers; civic leaders who demonstrate an enhanced sense of purpose; governors and mayors who insist on following the best-documented advice from public-health experts regardless of contrary statements from the White House and restless protests from their own constituents.Will these examples of strengthened community persist beyond the pandemic itself? I can't promise that. But it's not unreasonable to suggest that the solidarity of Americans during the economic hardship of the 1930s eased the way for the communitarian patriotism of the World War II years that followed. The solidarity of Londoners during the Blitz didn't diminish when the bombs stopped falling. It persisted until the last day of the war.It is no secret that the bonds of community in America are perceived to have atrophied in the past generation. We've seen the growth of an intellectual consensus from Robert Putnam's 1995 essay "Bowling Alonewhich documented the decline of civic participation and recreation; to Marc Dunkelman's 2014 book, which traced the erosion of casual but vital neighborhood friendships; to Yuval Levin's recent work,, arguing for the revival of robust institutions that American communal life has lapsed into a moribund state over the past generation. "An attractive community," Levin writes, "plainly provides a venue for genuine flourishing. But such community requires healthy institutions that attract our loyalty and devotion." We are seeing at least a flickering of institutional revival in these very troubled weeks.Maybe it's asking a lot to think a post-pandemic rise in communal nostalgia might help to solve our long-standing communitarian deficiencies. Old-fashioned community depended to a great extent on physical proximity. That will be hard to revive at a time when some form of social distancing remains a feature of our everyday lives. But community revival doesn't require us to swarm together in singles bars and mosh pits. It's undoubtedly true that after the pandemic eases, more people will be working from home than were doing so before. But that won't eliminate their desire for social contact; it will generate creative new ways to experience that contact.States and cities can't foster a new community with legislative mandates and executive decrees. But they can contribute. Cities can make their streets more congenial to pedestrians without forcing them to huddle unsafely. Public spaces can be retrofitted or designed to bring people together without placing them on top of each other. We can devote more of our public resources to supporting the restaurants and retail stores that remain crucial to urban social life. We can come to trust public institutions that behave with prudence and courage, as we are starting to do.A pandemic is a terrible thing. It may also be a terrible thing to waste. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on May 20, 2020. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo) Pelosi Formally Authorizes Remote Voting for House Members for 45 Days House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has formally authorized remote voting for a 45-day period for House members due to the CCP virus pandemic. The authorization comes after the House adopted historic rules changes on May 15 to allow temporary remote voting during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic. Under the adopted H. Res. 965 (pdf), Pelosi can designate a period of remote voting after receiving a notification from the Sergeant-at-Arms, in consultation with the Attending Physician, that a public health emergency due to a novel coronavirus is in effect, according to a statement by the House Committee on Rules. Lawmakers can now vote by proxy by authorizing another colleague to vote on their behalf. Members are still welcome to cast votes in person at the Capitol. No member can hold more than 10 proxies, and a single lawmaker can serve as a proxy for up to 10 other colleagues. Electronic submission is sufficient to be able to vote remotely by proxy, but the scanned letter must have an original signature, the guidelines state. Members have to submit signed letters to designate the proxies voting on their behalf and email in the letter, as well as send in a hard copy by mail to the House clerks office. The 45-day period begins on May 20 and will last until July. It can be extended or renewed if the public health emergency persists or there is a resurgence, according guidelines (pdf) prepared by House majority staff on Best Practices for Remote Floor Voting. The House is expected to vote next week on a bipartisan bill related to changes to the governments small business loan programthe Paycheck Protection Program. Washington D.C. is under a stay-at-home order until June 8. The historic rules changes on May 15 also allow House committees to operate completely remotely by holding hearings, markups, depositions, and other business meetings via videoconference. A hybrid approach is also allowed, whereby some members can meet in person while others participate remotely. The crime rate in Victoria at the height of the coronavirus lockdown hit the lowest daily average for six years, with police seeing a huge drop in the number of robberies and residential burglaries across the state. Assaults, commercial burglaries, thefts from cars, sexual offences and home invasions have also all dropped while strict coronavirus restrictions have been in place. The crime rate dropped significantly during the coronavirus lockdown, said Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton. Credit:Eddie Jim However, carjackings and aggravated burglaries have increased marginally, while armed robberies remained at similar levels to last year. Despite expectations that incidents of family violence would rise, police say there hasn't been a spike in offending but warn this could be due to a delay in victims reporting offences. A total of 476 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases were registered in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, 15 patients died and 272 recovered. On the day before, Ukraine registered 354 new cases and on May 19 260. "A total of 476 people were diagnosed with coronavirus in the past 24 hours, including 29 children and 76 medical workers. Some 115 people were hospitalized. Fifteen patients died. Some 272 people recovered," Health Minister of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov told a press briefing on Thursday morning. Ukraine has recorded a total of 19,706 COVID-19 cases, including 1,405 children and 3,833 healthcare workers, since the start of the pandemic, he said. Of the total number of coronavirus cases, 6,227 people have already recovered and another 579 have died. Thus, the number of patients in Ukraine currently suffering from coronavirus stands at 12,900, which is 189 more than the day before. Ukraine performed a record high number of COVID-19 tests using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in the past 24 hours 9,361, Stepanov said. The U.K. and European Union are on collision course after the thorniest issue in Brexit flared up again: the Irish border. On Wednesday, Britain set out how it will implement the part of the Brexit agreement covering Northern Ireland. The government said it will not build any new physical customs infrastructure to check goods moving from Great Britain into the region. "What the protocol does not do is create -- nor does it include any provision for creating -- any kind of international border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland," the government said in a document on Wednesday. "There will be no new physical customs infrastructure and we see no need to build any." The U.K. did concede that it will have to expand existing checks at entry points "to provide for proportionate additional controls" on food and agricultural products -- but warned that the protocol isn't a permanent measure. Britain has come under pressure from Brussels to set out in detail how it will implement the measures it signed up to that prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland -- one of the most controversial issues that dogged Britain's negotiations over its departure from the bloc. The EU is determined that the U.K. honors its pledges -- which include checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland from Great Britain -- but officials in Brussels worry that an emboldened Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to backtrack. The bloc's frustration was laid bare earlier this month, when the European Commission warned London that time is running out. It pressed Britain on the "urgent need" to provide a "detailed timetable." To the Editor, COVID-19 is NOT a really bad flu. CDC website posts official statistics. Note: CDC counts deaths weekly, some states report daily. CDC uses official confirmation from death certificates, and counts for earlier weeks are continually revised as new, updated state data are received. Counts on CDCs site may differ from others, as data currently lag by an average of 1-2 weeks. Theres no mystery or conspiracy about differences in numbers based on timing. As of this writing, COVID-19 death toll is 92k & rising, with CDC projecting 100k by 6/1, though well likely surpass sooner. Remember, these are death counts even with some level of lockdown. CDC routinely uses mathematical models to estimate the number of flu deaths in the US, as it does for COVID-19. Models are dynamic, changing as new data become available for consideration. Again, no conspiracy, just standard methodology. Absent a crystal ball, these are useful tools in facilitating decision-making, especially critical in times of pandemic. For the period 2/1/10 - 5/16/20, COVID-19 deaths per CDC are 67,008. Flu deaths for that period are 6,207, which includes deaths with pneumonia or COVID-19 also listed in cause of death. Data are incomplete because of the time lag between the deaths occurrence and the completed death certificates submission and processing for reporting. This delay can range from 1 to 8 weeks or more. For flu season this year (roughly 6 months) CDC estimates about 24,000 died. Suggesting that governors, whove borne the burden of managing this crisis, have engaged in some dictatorial power grab, is ridiculous. Instead of recognizing good faith efforts to prevent deaths & manage resources of the healthcare system, Ive seen comparisons to Kim Jung Un, suggestions that were a step from concentration camps. There are unquestionable trade-offs between public health concerns & economic impacts, but its not either/or. I saw it expressed well as a sustainable strategy of total harm minimization save as many lives & livelihoods as possible at the same time. This requires careful planning, using reason & a data-based approach to returning people to work, no matter how impatient we may be to resume our lives. The hyperbolic reaction is out of control. Wearing masks & taking unproven, potentially dangerous drugs have become cultural symbols, falling along partisan lines. Armed militants in full assault gear are storming state capitals, screaming at dedicated healthcare workers, threatening journalists. Employees have been assaulted, some killed, for asking people to abide by a posted rule. Listening to medical & epidemiological experts isnt treason. No ones goal is to destroy our economy & take away our freedom. Watching the spectacle of Americans yelling about stolen liberty, Im reminded of Sarah Palins stoking fears of death panels, always a baseless charge. Now, GOP supporters think nothing of sacrificing lives in exchange for jobs. Is your family member expendable? Have you informed him/her? Or do you cling to the magical thinking that this isnt real, will just vanish or only impact others? When truth is tribal, Ill put trust in the governor to act in my health interest. A thought from astrophysicist, cosmologist, planetary scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson: If a predatory enemy to our species cant unite everyone on Earth to fight it, Im left wondering what hope remains for civilization. Nancee Magilson Alton PHOENIX, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With COVID-19 changing the way we interact, gather and celebrate many holidays look different this year including Memorial Day. But that doesn't mean service members, veterans and families don't need support any less. Assisted Living Locators, a leading nationwide senior care placement service, is doing their part to protect and honor veterans during the pandemic. The company provides a free service, offering resources and guidance to help senior veterans and families find the best care solutions. "Our veterans, no matter how much time they spend in uniform, devote some or all of their lives looking out for us. It's time we help take care of them. Many are elderly and for medical reasons are unable to do things for themselves," said Angela Olea, Assisted Living Locators CEO RN. "At Assisted Living Locators, we care about you and want to make sure you are safe. This Memorial Day, large services and gatherings will not be possible, but the true meaning of this day lives on through the contributions of our senior care advisors, many who are veterans, are making to improve their quality of life." Here's some of the inspiring ways Assisted Living Locators senior care advisors are strengthening and supporting the veteran's community: A Final Salute It happens far too often. A veteran passes away -- and there is no next of kin or friends to come to the funeral. Tim Hodge, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and Assisted Living Locators San Antonio senior care advisor, is a member of the "Defense Gang," a group of retired colonels that step in for homeless veterans when they are laid to rest, attending their funeral. "These veterans fought for our country and I'm proud to honor them with a final salute," said Hodge. "Memorial Day honors those who have died, but it also is an opportunity to reach out to all those who serve, including our senior veterans, many who are combating the negative effects of isolation during the pandemic. Now, is an important time to reach out to them virtually to uplift their spirits." Connecting With Technology Assisted Living Locators Greenwich, CT senior care advisor Mimi Santry is helping senior veterans stay connected during COVID-19 by collecting iPads and tablets. With contributions from her friends and colleagues, she donated 30 iPads to a local assisted living facility where several senior veterans are now using them for virtual visits with their families. "Virtual visitation plays an important role in the emotional well-being and health of residents and their families, while being isolated," said Santry. "Technology helps families to stay connected and connecting through video can be particularly reassuring during this difficult time because families can see their loved ones for themselves." Protecting Healthcare Workers As an Iraq veteran and medic, Assisted Living Locators East Valley senior care advisor Dustin Baker has a deep desire to help veterans and healthcare workers. Determined to make a positive impact during this challenging time, he has supplied over a thousand N-95 masks to protect healthcare workers in veterans' homes and senior living properties. 'It's vital that we all work to ensure our long-term care facilities and veterans' homes have the resources and equipment they need to fight these outbreaks," said Baker. "Right now, is the time for our entire community to come together to find new ways to support one another." To learn more about Assisted Living Locators no cost, nationwide senior referral and placement service, visit www.assistedlivinglocators.com SOURCE Assisted Living Locators Related Links http://www.assistedlivinglocators.com The Birim Central Municipal Assembly has cut sod for the construction of a 20 -seater Information Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory for cluster of schools in Akim Oda, Old town. The project is expected to be completed in six months. Ms Victoria Adu, the Birim Central Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) together with Mr Benjamin Cudjoe, the Municipal Director of Education who cut the sod explained that the project was awarded to the municipality through the efforts of Ms Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister for Communication who is a member of the Frimpong Manso royal family of Akim Oda. Ms Adu said, the project when completed would improve the computer skills of students and boost innovation in the country. The cluster of schools to benefit from the project include; Akim Oda Presbyterian School, Old Town Methodist School and Akim Oda Anglican Basic School. The MCE said pupils in other schools in the Birim Central Municipality could use the ICT centre within the Akim Oda library which recently received 20 desktop computers and other equipment from the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC). Dr Khadel Mohammed Mahama, of Fresh Cut Consult, contractors for the project said it would cost GH106,010.00 and explained that the centre would consist of the main laboratory, office and a toilet facility. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Photo credit: Kensington Palace From Town & Country This week, the royals are following Matthew Mcconaughey's lead, and playing virtual bingo with British senior citizens. On Wednesday, Prince William and Kate Middleton checked in with residents at the Shire Hall Care Home in Cardiff via video call, and took turns calling a game. The royals also spoke with the residents' care team about how the facility has adapted given current circumstances, and the challenges they are facing in the pandemic. This was one of several calls the Cambridges have been making to thank care workers across the UK in recent weeks. Photo credit: Kensington Palace Earlier this month, Prince William spoke with members of the Belfast Health and SocialCare Trust, which delivers health and social care to approximately 340,000 citizens in the Northern Ireland capital. Per Kensington Palace, "Those on the video call also highlighted the unique challenges that young people in care face when schools are closed and normal life has significantly changed." Photo credit: Kensington Palace And just one week ago, the Duke held a video call with a group of workers involved in a different sectors of the healthcare industry across England. They discussed the various measures required to continue care amid the coronavirus outbreak as well as how these measures are affecting their own mental health. During that call Prince William pointed to one potential silver lining of this crisis. If theres hopefully some positivity that comes out of this horrendous time," he said, "it is that theres a light shone on all of the wonderful things you all do and on the social care sector, and it allows people to acknowledge, respect and appreciate everything that you are doing. You Might Also Like PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 22:31:32 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 776 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Cub Energy Inc. ("Cub" or the "Company") (TSX-V:KUB), a Ukraine-focused upstream oil and gas company, announced today its unaudited financial and operating results for the interim three months ended March 31, 2020. All dollar amounts are expressed in United States Dollars unless otherwise noted. This update includes results from Kub-Gas LLC ("Kub-Gas"), which Cub has a 35% equity ownership interest, Tysagaz LLC ("Tysagaz"), Cub's 100% owned subsidiary and CNG LLC ("CNG"), which Cub has a 50% equity ownership interest.Mikhail Afendikov, Chairman and CEO of Cub said: "In April 2020, we made a capital commitment to purchase two Jenbacher power generation units in order to better utilize the Company's RK field in western Ukraine to generate potential cashflow for the Company." Operational HighlightsAchieved average natural gas price of $3.45/Mcf and condensate price of $36.25/bbl during the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to $7.11/Mcf and $42.57/bbl for 2019. The decrease is due, in large part, to increased volumes of gas stored in Europe and a warmer than expected winter in Europe.Production averaged 646 boe/d (97% weighted to natural gas and the remaining to condensate) for the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to 895 boe/d for 2019.In April 2020, the Company has signed a contract for the purchase of two Jenbacher gas power generation engines that should convert the natural gas produced from the RK field into power that can be sold in western Ukraine at local market rates. Each power generation unit will have the capacity to produce as much as 1.5 megawatts ("MW") of power each or 3 MW in total. The RK field was materially suspended on April 1, 2016 and this new plan should result in the restart of the RK field.Financial HighlightsThe Company reported a net loss of $706,000 or $0.00 per share during the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to net income of $962,000 or $0.00 per share during 2019.Netbacks of $5.40/boe or $0.90/Mcfe were achieved for the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to netback of $24.49/Boe or $4.08/Mcfe for 2019.The Company has implemented certain cost-cutting initiatives during the second quarter of 2020, including the layoff of eleven team members, salary and director fee reductions, the signing of office leases at lower rent levels and a general decrease in the use of external consultants.Reader AdvisoryWith the current cash resources, negative working capital, suspension of the RK field, uncertainty surrounding the successful installation of the Jenbacher power generation units, fluctuating commodity prices, dividend uncertainty, currency fluctuations, reliance on a limited number of customers, and impact on carrying values, the Company may not have sufficient cash to continue the exploration and development activities. These matters raise significant doubt about the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern and meet its obligations as they become due.(in thousands of US Dollars)Three Months EndedMarch 31,2020Three Months EndedMarch 31, 2019Petroleum and natural gas revenue6649Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue(1)1,2623,452Revenue from gas trading(2)2,2044,479Net income (loss)(706962Income (loss) per share - basic and diluted(0.000.00Funds generated from (used in) operations350(35Capital expenditures(3)Pro-rata capital expenditures(3)85156Pro-rata netback ($/boe)5.4024.49Pro-rata netback ($Mcfe)0.904.08March 31,2020December 31, 2019Cash and cash equivalents6,1006,206Notes:Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue is a non-IFRS measure that adds the Company's petroleum and natural gas revenue earned in the respective periods to the Company's 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas natural gas sales that the Company has an economic interest in.During the three and twelve months ended March 31, 2020, the Company recorded $2,204,000 (2019 - $4,479,000) and $2,070,000 (2019 - $4,240,000) in revenue for gas trading and $134,000 (2019 - $239,000).Capital expenditures include the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the purchase of exploration and evaluation assets. Pro-rata capital expenditures are a non-IFRS measure that adds the Company's capital expenditures in the respective periods to the Company's 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas and 50% equity share of CNG Holdings capital expenditures that the Company has an economic interest in.Supporting DocumentsCub's complete quarterly reporting package, including the unaudited interim financial statements and associated Management's Discussion and Analysis, have been filed on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com) and has been posted on the Company's website at www.cubenergyinc.com About Cub Energy Inc.Cub Energy Inc. (TSX-V: KUB) is an upstream oil and gas company, with a proven track record of exploration and production cost efficiency in Ukraine. The Company's strategy is to implement western technology and capital, combined with local expertise and ownership, to increase value in its undeveloped land base, creating and further building a portfolio of producing oil and gas assets within a high pricing environment.For further information please contact us or visit our website: www.cube Napa police say they and sheriffs deputies arrested a prolific burglar in the early hours of Wednesday after receiving a report of a man attempting to break into a home in west Napa. Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, a 64-year-old woman called 9-1-1 to report a man breaking into her home on Flora Street, the department reported in a news release. She was home with her husband and mother. Officers arrived a short time later and spoke with the resident and reviewed surveillance camera footage. They learned that a man had broken into a car in the driveway and used a house key he found inside to open the front door. The woman confronted the man, who grabbed what items he could and fled. Officers attempted to locate the man, including using a K-9 unit, but were unable to find him. More than an hour later, a sheriffs deputy near Linda Vista Avenue and Culpepper Street spotted a BMW traveling at a high rate of speed, the department said. The officer located the vehicle crashed and abandoned a short distance away. Officers from both departments searched the area, again using a dog, and located a man hiding in the bushes nearby. Officers determined that the man had recently taken tools and the BMW from a garage on Dry Creek Road and was fleeing the scene when he was spotted by the deputy. Officers identified the man as 29-year-old transient Jake Lenning, who had previously been arrested for a variety of similar crimes. Since April 11, he has been arrested on suspicion of burglarizing four homes, stealing five cars (including four in a single week), theft from an unlocked car, looting (committing grand theft during an emergency), possession of methamphetamine, and resisting arrest, the department said. At the time of his arrest early Wednesday, Lenning was free on $25,000 bail on previous charges. Under the states current no-bail policy, enacted April 20 to prevent overcrowding in the states jails during the cornonavirus emergency, he would have been eligible to be released shortly after his arrest. Because of his prolific recent history, however, a Napa County judge granted an exception and ordered Lenning held on $100,000 bail. The department is still looking into Lennings activities. Anyone with information is asked to contact Napa Police Detective Brandt Keown at 707-257-9592 or BKeown@cityofnapa.org. You can reach Sean Scully at 256-2246 or sscully@napanews.com. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Remember (fill in the blank)? She (or he) just passed away from COVID-19. This is a conversation that is becoming all too familiar. Each announcement is as surprising as the last. In the past few weeks, the conversation has played out for many of us far too often. It starts with a phone call from a parent, friend, colleague or a former classmate. Each time the update on the latest COVID-19 casualty is met with thoughts such as, I just saw that person a few days (or weeks) ago, and they appeared fine. The harsh reality is people continue to die every day from a virus for which there are still a lot of unknowns. Another fact is African Americans are one of the hardest hit populations. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, one out of every five COVID-19 deaths is an African American despite the fact that we only represent 9.8% of the state population. This virus is devastating to our community for a number of reasons such as the environments we live in, the jobs we do and the prevalence of health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. As Indiana and other states prepare to reopen, its important for the Black community to remember the high risks that still very much exist for us. Just because a business hangs a welcome sign does not mean the right thing to do is walk through the door right away. COVID-19 affects people in different ways. Some may never experience symptoms while others may have mild to severe symptoms. Those who may have undetected asymptomatic COVID-19 and are out in public spaces are dangerous for a population that is already at a greater risk due to underlying immunocompromising illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Staying at home is hard. Especially when we are entering the time of year when we find ourselves wanting to fellowship more at family reunions, neighborhood cookouts, weddings or graduation parties. We are all ready to get out of the house and get back to normal. But there is nothing normal about the havoc this virus continues to create. Yes, I will be the first to tell you I cant wait to get back to the hair and nail salon. Three months ago, I joked about being a professional chauffeur on the weekends, taking my kids back and forth from lessons, games, playdates, repeat. More than 60 days into shelter-in-place, I would do anything now to be back in that same place. In order to get back to that place, all of us are going to have to take accountability for our actions. As much as I want to go shopping again, its not worth putting myself at risk in a public setting, knowing I have 7- and 11-year-old children and a husband who are depending on me. I also have parents who cant wait to see their grandkids. Each interaction you make in a public place is a risk you are taking. This includes our churches, barbershops and nail salons all gathering places in Black communities. The African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis (AALFI) recently launched a public awareness campaign called Lets Stay Together. The purpose of this campaign is to create greater awareness of the health and socio-economic effects of this global pandemic. We want our African American families to remain intact, and we dont want to lose another unnecessary life to COVID-19. So, what can we do? We can continue to stay home and limit our interactions with others. Pay attention to the health experts who update us daily on best practices for controlling the spread of the virus. We all have an obligation to help protect those around us. Our state may be getting back on track but African Americans here in Central Indiana are not out of the woods yet. The commitment Im making to myself is one I hope everyone else will make as well. Thats because we are all in this together. Brandi Davis-Handy is a marketing and communications executive and a founding member of the African American Legacy Fund of Indianapolis (AALFI). Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Do you know about the nakba? Every year, when Israel commemorates the founding of the nation, the Palestinian people commemorate the nakba, which in Arabic means catastrophe. Why was it a catastrophe? In just a few weeks time, over 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated, and about 750,000 people made homeless. After all of this time, neither that generation nor any of their descendants have been allowed to return to their homes or villages. Many fled their homes with their keys in their pockets, never imagining that theyd never set foot inside them again. For us, it was an experience of deep trauma that remains with us to this day and is indeed ongoing. I do not have time to delve into all of the issues here, but suffice it to say that without a resolution to the wider situation, our nakba has not yet come to an end. It continues in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and parts of Israel, where Palestinian homes, villages, and resources continue to be made at risk. At the anniversary of the 72 years since the Palestinian nakba, a catastrophic decision has been made by the new Israeli government, which has just been formed based on a coalition of the right-wing Likud party led by Prime Minister Netanyahu and the centrist Blue and White party led by Ganz. Anyone who has been following the news here knows that it took the Israeli government three elections and political games on many sides in order to finally form the current government. This unity coalition was certainly not expected by the Israeli voting public, and many people do not anticipate it to last but for now, politics is politics! A major agenda that was proposed by this new government, and encouraged by the current U.S. administration, is the annexation of over 30 percent of the West Bank an area that is home to hundreds of Palestinian communities. Of course, thousands of acres of homes and land and resources that belong to Palestinians will be confiscated at the moment Israel declares its sovereignty over them. Sadly, every time Israel makes a unilateral decision on issues related to the Land, it puts another nail in the coffin of the peace process as well as the two-state solution that was supposed to happen a long time ago. As an Evangelical leader that was born and raised in this conflict-torn land, it grieves me deeply to see how many opportunities have been missed during my lifetime to achieve agreements that could lead to peace and justice for all in the Holy Land. Certainly, it is also very painful to see how many Evangelical leaders from other parts of the world take an oppositional stance towards any agreement leading to a just peace for both nations. It is very disappointing, to say the least. I have already written several articles on this subject, expressing how so many of those so-called Evangelical leaders have not been helpful in achieving peace here. Instead, they encourage the American administration to give green light to Israeli aggression and veto anything the UN tries to do in order to stop the Israeli injustices towards our people. Thus, instead of helping to bring peace, they are some of the leading voices who continue to throw kerosene on the fire. Because people sometimes tend to lump all Evangelicals together, let me remind my friends that several years ago, many Evangelical leaders from the World Evangelical Alliance took stand for a two-state solution, issuing this important statement: The Bible clearly teaches that God longs for justice and peace for all people. We believe that the principles about justice taught so powerfully by the Hebrew prophets apply to all nations, including the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians. Therefore we are compelled to work for a fair, negotiated solution for both Israelis and Palestinians. We resolve to work diligently for a secure, enduring peace and a flourishing economy for the democratic State of Israel. We also resolve to work for a viable permanent, democratic Palestinian State with a flourishing economy that offers economic opportunity to all its people. We believe that the way forward is for the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a fair, two-state solution.. We call on all evangelicals, all Christians, and everyone of goodwill to join us to work and pray faithfully in the coming months for a just, lasting two-state solution in the Holy Land. We call on all involved governments to work diligently toward this goal. And we covenant to pray for the leaders of all the nations engaged in this effort, hoping for them the blessing of our Lord, who said, Blessed are the peacemakers. As we work and pray, we are strengthened by the truth that Christ will return someday to complete his victory over sin and injustice, and we are empowered by the knowledge that until He comes again, He summons us to support the things that promote peace and justice for everyone in the Holy Land. I consider these voices to rightly represent the true heart of Evangelicalism and I wish that more Evangelical Christians around the world would also take such a courageous stand. Indeed, I can only hope and pray that more of them will write and speak on this subject in such as spirit as has been expressed above, rather than vehemently upholding a system that favors one nation over the other and advances an agenda that can only continue to bring more harm and suffering to the two nations. As we mark the 72nd year of the nakba, I call upon Christians around the world to help us say enough of the injustice and to join us in prophetically speaking against systems that instill suffering and strife on a weak and almost helpless people. I plead with them to join me in these prayers: Pray that the Israeli leaders will come to their senses and act in wisdom towards the Palestinians. That there will be no more land stolen from the Palestinians and instead, a just and righteous agreement that is equitable for all will be reached. That violence from all sides would stop and many innocent lives will be spared. That refugees and poor people will be taken care of and their suffering will decrease. I close with these powerful words the Lord Himself, praying that my fellow believers around the world will begin to take them as seriously as they take other parts of the Bible: This is what the LORD Almighty said: Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other (Zechariah 7:9,10). Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 20:46:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENNA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Six people were injured in two separate knife attacks in a small town near the Austrian capital here on Wednesday night, including a 19-year-old suspect who was arrested on Thursday, according to local police. The suspect is an Austrian citizen, who injured a person at one location in Baden town and then attacked four other people near a food market in the town, said police spokesman Raimund Schwaigerlehner. A relationship conflict may have been a motive for the attack, as one of the injured, a 16-year-old, is said to be the suspect's ex-girlfriend. The suspect, who also got hurt, may have caused cuts on his arm himself, and a knife was also seized when he was arrested, Schwaigerlehner said. None of the victims in the attacks suffered life-threatening injuries, Schwaigerlehner added. Enditem A Houston ISD police officer injured in a crash near downtown Wednesday continues his recovery. The officer was on Texas Highway 288 near the Interstate 45 interchange when the driver of a white work van rear-ended the officers patrol SUV. Firefighters placed a neck brace on the officer before loading him into an ambulance. FIRE DESTROYS APARTMENTS: Six homes destroyed in overnight blaze in Tomball A Houston ISD spokesperson said the officer is continuing his recovery Thursday. The driver of the work van was cited for failure to control speed. The district declined to identify the officer. Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com A fire broke out in an office on the first floor of a jewellery showroom in central Delhi's Karol Bagh on Thursday afternoon, a Delhi Fire Service official said. No casualty was reported in the incident, he added. The Fire Department said a call was received at 1.15 pm and three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Later, 10 more vehicles, including water bowsers and motor pumps, were sent to control the fire, it added. The blaze was brought under control by 5.40 pm and the cooling process is underway, a senior fire official said. The incident took place on the first floor of the Kalyan Jewellers showroom, the officials said, adding that smoke had filled the entire building as there were no windows. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ossie Hill, a homeowner, becomes upset over the possibility of foreclosure in May 2017. Hill said a contractor misrepresented how her PACE loan would work. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles County has ended its controversial PACE home improvement loan program, a decision that follows years of criticism that the county enabled predatory lending and put people at risk of losing their homes. County officials who launched the PACE program in 2015 to fund energy- and water-efficient home improvements said they made the decision after determining the program lacked adequate consumer protections. Homeowners repeatedly alleged the private home improvement contractors who signed them up for PACE misrepresented how the financing would work, saddling them with loans they could not understand or afford. The county also faced lawsuits alleging that government authorities failed to properly oversee the private lenders it partnered with to issue loans that, if unpaid, could lead to foreclosure. The criticisms mirror complaints directed at other Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, programs across California that fund environmentally friendly home improvements such as solar panels, heat-blocking roofs and low-flush toilets. In response to widespread concern, both the county and state instituted reforms in recent years, including requiring that an ability-to-repay analysis be conducted and phones calls be made with homeowners to ensure they understood the financing. Complaints over fraud, however, continued, including instances in which homeowners alleged contractors forged their signatures. In explaining the county's decision to end the program, L.A. County Treasurer and Tax Collector Keith Knox said in an email that despite recent reforms the county could not be certain there were sufficient protections for consumers." Knox said the county let its contracts with lenders Renovate America and Renew Financial expire in April. This month, it ended its contract with its third lender partner, PACE Funding Group. Bob Giles, chief executive of PACE Funding Group, said in an email that the company had worked with the county to create consumer protections Giles called "among the strongest in the country." Story continues Olivia White, vice president of government affairs at Renew Financial, said in an email that the company stopped originating new financing through the countys program in 2018 for operational reasons and that Renew Financial, which still works with other government authorities, has added extensive consumer protections in recent years. Renovate America did not immediately responded to a request for comment. Consumer advocates heralded the county's decision. "In ending its program, the County of Los Angeles confirmed what advocates and victims have been saying for years: that the county 'cannot be certain' that the PACE program can 'provide sufficient protection for all consumers,' " a coalition of advocates, including Bet Tzedek and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said in a statement. The decision doesn't mean PACE totally ceases to exist within L.A. County. Homeowners with existing loans taken out through the county's program must still pay back what they owe. Knox said that the county "remains committed to servicing existing PACE program participants" and that the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs will continue to assist PACE borrowers who have problems. The decision also doesn't mean it's impossible for homeowners in the county to take out a new PACE loan. Some cities, including Los Angeles, not only took part in the countys program, but also partnered with statewide PACE programs to offer additional financing within their cities. Consumer groups said they hoped the county's decision would inspire other governments to reevaluate their programs. And they urged the county to do more to help people with existing loans that were unaffordable even before the COVID-19 pandemic tanked the economy. While we welcome this decision, it does nothing to help the low-income homeowners stuck with these oppressive loans, many of whom are barreling toward foreclosure and could easily end up homeless, said Stephanie Carroll, a senior staff attorney at Public Counsel, which along with Bet Tzedek sued the county over its program. Though PACE will be available to some extent in the county, the decision of California's most-populous county to end its program marks a significant setback for the so-called PACE industry. The industry offers a unique type of financing that is repaid as a line item on a homeowner's property tax bill and thus requires a partnership with public authorities. The amount of new loans issued statewide has fallen sharply since 2018, when new consumer protections, including an ability-to-repay analysis, became law. Knox said declining usage of the county's program also played a role in the decision to end it because less revenue would be available to cover the county's administrative costs, raising the prospect the county would need to raise fees it charges homeowners with PACE. Giles of PACE Funding Group said he believed declining usage was a "key factor" in why his company is no longer working with the county because "with fewer and fewer projects, it becomes increasingly difficult for any local government to justify the administrative costs of running its own program." As of July, more than 20,000 parcels had an outstanding PACE assessment through the county program, according to a report from the county's Internal Services Department. Governments retain oversight of PACE programs but most have partnered with private lenders, such as the three Los Angeles County used, to operate them. To fund the loans, public agencies typically issue bonds, which are purchased by PACE lenders, who turn around and sell them on Wall Street. The private lenders rely on home improvement contractors to pitch their products and sign people up. Some homeowners allege contractors have hoodwinked them into taking out loans they didn't understand. Some major PACE lenders note they have supported increased regulations and say they've worked to sever ties with contractors found to misrepresent the financing. They also say foreclosures are rare and most people come away happy. According to the recent Internal Services Department report, more than 35,000 projects have been completed through the county's program, which over the lifetime of the home improvements would be equal to taking nearly 630,000 cars off the road. Knox said investors in PACE loans haven't foreclosed on anyone who signed up through the county's program and that a county reserve fund would have to be exhausted before the investors could do so. Consumer advocates, who criticize lenders for relying on contractors in the first place, say they are seeing foreclosures that wouldn't show up in county reports. In those instances, homeowners with an underlying mortgage who are struggling with their PACE assessments have had their mortgage servicer foreclose on them after the servicer stepped in to pay their property taxes. The county has taken some steps recently to ease financial hardships for PACE borrowers as the economy turned south. Last week, the county Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis that requires the treasurer and tax collector to report back within 45 days on the possibility of allowing PACE borrowers to defer payments to the end of their contract term. NEW YORK President Donald Trumps former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was released from federal prison Thursday to serve the remainder of his sentence at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Wearing a surgical mask and a baseball cap, Cohen arrived at his Manhattan apartment building at around 10:40 a.m. after his release from FCI Otisville in New York. He removed boxes of legal documents from the trunk of a car. A uniformed doorman at the luxury residence, not far from Trump Tower, carried them into the lobby on a luggage cart. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress, didnt stop to speak with reporters gathered on the sidewalk. I am so glad to be home and back with my family, Cohen wrote on Twitter a little more than an hour after arriving home. There is so much I want to say and intend to say. But now is not the right time. Soon. Thank you to all my friends and supporters. Asked about Cohens release, Trump said he didnt know about it and declined further comment. Cohens convictions were related to crimes including dodging taxes on $4 million in income from his taxi business, lying during congressional testimony about the timing of discussions around an abandoned plan to build a Trump Tower in Russia, and orchestrating payments to two women to keep them from talking publicly about alleged affairs with Trump. Prosecutors said the payments amounted to illegal campaign contributions. Trump, who denied the affairs, said any payments were a personal matter. Cohen, 53, was once one of Trumps closest advisors but became a loud critic after pleading guilty. He was released on furlough as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the virus in federal prisons. He began serving his sentence last May and had been scheduled to remain in prison until November 2021. Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars. Attorney General William Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates, beginning at three prisons identified as coronavirus hot spots. Otisville is not one of those facilities. A federal judge had denied Cohens attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a ruling earlier this month that it appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle. But the Bureau of Prisons can move prisoners to home confinement without a judicial order. The Bureau of Prisons said last week that more than 2,400 inmates had been moved to home confinement since Barr first issued his memo on home confinement in late March, and 1,200 others had been approved and were expected to be released in the coming weeks. Other high-profile inmates have also been released as the number of coronavirus cases soars in the federal prison system. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released on home confinement last week. Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Trump, was temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City and is staying at a friends house in Los Angeles. Former New York state Senate leader Dean Skelos, 72, who was also serving a sentence at Otisville, was released on home confinement after testing positive for the coronavirus. ___ Balsamo reported from Washington. On Thursday, on the occasion of Anti-Terrorism Day, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu paid tribute to those who laid down their lives to save the country from terrorism. Fear of Corona continues to grow in Brazil, new cases found again Naidu tweeted, 'On Anti-Terrorism Day, I pay my respects to all the brave sons and daughters who sacrificed their lives to protect the motherland'. He further said that the fight against terrorism is not the responsibility of the security forces alone but the duty of every citizen. Earthquakes of magnitude 3.4 strikes in Bhaktapur district of Nepal In his statement, he said, 'Terrorism is the enemy of humanity and the biggest threat to global peace. All the countries that support terrorism will have to be isolated and move towards ending terrorism in any form. The fight against terrorism is not the responsibility of the security forces alone. It is the duty of every citizen to fight this evil.' He said that all Indians should always remain united to defeat the menace of terrorism. Doctors who save lives of innocent people becoming victims of Corona New Delhi: By 2016, India had nearly 10 crore internal migrants. In other words, nearly every third person out of Indias workforce was migrating away from state of origin to search for livelihood. This was what the then Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had said in his Economic Survey of 2016-17, in a chapter titled India on the Move and Churning: New Evidence. Even if one ignores the obvious increase in these numbers since, the assertion by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday morning about the government having little data on migrants is perplexing. Subramanian had said that the share of migrants in the total workforce was between 17% and 29% or every third person from the total Indian workforce could be a migrant. As per Census 2011, the size of the workforce was 482 million so he said it was safe to assume that this had crossed 500 million by 2016. If the share of migrants in the workforce was estimated to be even 20% (not the upper limit of 29%), the size of the migrant workforce would have been over 100 million or 10 crore in 2016, as per Subramanian. The former CEA had examined the numbers as per Census 2011 and then used other data sources, including data on unreserved train passenger travel every month, to come to a conclusion about how many people were moving away from their home states for work etc. So when Sitharaman said in an interview that she wished the government had enough data on migrants to provide direct assistance to them, it seemed obvious that the lack of an estimation cannot be the reason for this inability to reassure the masses hitting highways, gathering in large numbers at grounds, desperate to find a way to reach home. The motive is not to exclude. Tell me (does) anybody state governments, the Central government, local bodies, universities, think tanks, institutions which monitor our economy have a comprehensive database on migrant workers? I am not blaming anybody. For me to say, that is the prototype, that is the state where this many migrants are there, they spend across the state, they may be from xyz sectors and if thats the proportion, I might be able to do a model of xyz or abc statesBut where is it, where is the data, who is there as a migrant? Without that however much relief and however much you want to give, I dont even have a basis and wont know how to reach them, institutionally, Sitharaman said. She further said that states and other local bodies will be roped in to form a database on migrants. But the problem at present may actually be that the lockdown came as a hammer blow, with just not enough time and no consideration of the plight of this class of people whose livelihoods are often dependent on functioning cities and who have zero safety nets. Caught by surprise, with visuals of migrants streaming onto the streets suddenly erupting across media, the government took time getting its act together. Some economists and Opposition leaders suggested that handing over a significant amount of cash to the destitute, with or without documents and with no questions asked, could help mitigate their troubles. But the government was able to only put Rs 500 in the existing Jan Dhan accounts under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, offering nothing to the unbanked. And by the time the FM gave us an estimate of eight crore migrants who were to be offered free foodgrain for two months, most were already on the long march home. Where can they stop by to access these rations? Hungry and thirsty, many continue to lose their lives as they try any means to reach a place of safety. This situation was exacerbated by the lockdown, but the honest truth is that few attempts have been made to reach this highly vulnerable section of society in the past. Earlier, Union Labour minister Santosh Gangwar had said in Parliament in March that neither did the government have an estimate for internal migrants nor has it conducted any study to assess the living standard, health and safety of migrant workers. The minister was replying to queries by MPs on how many migrants exist in the country, whether their safety and health is monitored by the government and is the implementation of the Inter State Migrant Workmen Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service Act, 1979 monitored by the Centre. The people who nobody documented, have been left to fend for themselves in better times as well as now, in times of great distress. The absence of data makes it near impossible to reach these people for any assistance. Nor is there further assessment of the kinds of assistance these people may need in terms of food, healthcare, cash transfers etc. In an echo of the same helplessness that we detect in Sitaramans interview, Gangwar had said in his reply that migration of workers from one area to another area was a continuous process and the migrant workers keep on moving from one area to another area in search of work, therefore, it is not feasible to keep record of such migration.. Now, as the Congress gets active on the issue of the imploding migrant crisis, the Chairperson of its Data Analytic Team, Praveen Chakraverty, said his estimate was a migrant population of over four crore people who were currently in other cities for work. According to my estimate, there are over four crore migrants currently in other cities/towns for work. What percent of them wants to move back varies with time. Proxy data sources can be used to impute a rough estimate. Among other things, I suggest the government first read the Economic Survey report of its own CEA on migration. The government may have now reactively started collecting data on migrants but this step has come too late for those dying on railway tracks and highways. In the Survey nearly four years back, Subramanian had noted that migration within India was between 5-9 million or just shy of upto a crore annually; less affluent states and districts evinced higher out-migration and rich metropolises attracted large inward flows. Internal migration nearly doubled in the 2000s relative to the 1990s and increased migration happened despite discouraging incentives such as domicile provisions for working in different states, lack of portability of benefits, legal and other entitlements upon relocation. Sitharaman did not have to look far if this government indeed wanted to do something for the migrants. Subramanian had said in that Survey To sustain this churn, however, these policy hurdles have to be overcome. Portability of food security benefits, healthcare, and a basic social security framework for the migrants are crucial potentially through an interstate self-registration process. While there do currently exist multiple schemes that address migrant welfare, they are implemented at the state level, and hence require inter state coordination of fiscal costs of migration. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 03:42:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey saw new signs of slowdown in the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday with 961 new infections reported, while Saudi Arabia continued to lead the region in terms of daily rise of coronavirus infections. This was the second day that Turkey's daily infections with the novel coronavirus fell below 1,000, after 972 cases were reported on Wednesday. So far, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Turkey climbed to 153,548, while the death toll surged to 4,249 after 27 more deaths were added, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted. A total of 1,003 patients recovered from the respiratory disease on Thursday, bringing the overall number of recoveries to 114,990. Turkey's tourism sector said it is looking forward to attracting Chinese tourists back to the country once the COVID-19 pandemic is fully contained. "China is a huge market, and we are attaching significant importance to the country and Chinese people," Firuz Baglikaya, head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, said at an online press conference in the largest Turkish city of Istanbul. Baglikaya said China and Turkey will continue to improve their already strong ties even further when everything is back to normal in the post-pandemic era. Iran on Thursday registered 66 new deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 7,249, the highest in the region. The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Iran surged to 129,341 after 2,392 new cases were reported. Saudi Arabia continued to be the country in the Middle East with the fastest rise in daily COVID-19 cases, with 2,532 new ones reported on Thursday, pushing up the total number to 65,077. The kingdom also reported 12 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 351. The number of recoveries increased to 36,040 after 2,562 new ones were added. The Qatari health ministry announced 1,554 new infections of the COVID-19, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 38,651. At the same time, 688 people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall number of recoveries to 7,288, while the fatalities rose to 17. Kuwait reported 1,041 new cases of COVID-19 and five more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 18,609 and the death toll to 129. The Kuwaiti health ministry also announced the recovery of 320 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 5,205. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday announced 894 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 26,898. The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention said 946 more patients fully recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries to 12,755. Four more deaths were recorded, raising the country's death toll to 237. Egypt set a record daily increase of 774 COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections to 15,003. It was the third consecutive day for Egypt's COVID-19 daily infections to exceed 700. Meanwhile, 16 patients died from the coronavirus in Egypt in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 696, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said. Earlier in the day, Egyptian Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar explained that the actual number of COVID-19 infections in Egypt could be five times that of confirmed infections. "The actual figure of coronavirus infections in Egypt could be more than 71,000," the minister said in a televised conference. The Omani health ministry announced on Thursday 327 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number in the country to 6,370. In Iraq, 153 new cases of COVID-19 were registered, the highest daily increase so far, bringing the total number of infections to 3,877. So far, 140 people have died from the virus in Iraq, while 2,483 others have recovered, the Iraqi health ministry said. Lebanon's total number of COVID-19 infections increased by 63 cases to 1,024, the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the virus on Feb. 21. The Lebanese cabinet approved on Thursday the extension of general mobilization until June 7 in an attempt to curb the number of daily infections. The Moroccan health ministry on Thursday announced 78 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 7,211. The number of the recoveries in Morocco rose by 182 to 4,280, while the death toll increased to 196 after two fatalities were added. In the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, 29 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the past three days, raising the total tally to 49 since March 5. All the new cases are Palestinians who recently returned home from Egypt or Israel. Israel's Health Ministry reported zero coronavirus death case on Thursday for the first time since March 28. The ministry reported 18 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 16,683. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13 Trend: Azerbaijani citizens who are abroad will come back via charter flights from May 18 through May 31, Assistant to Azerbaijans president, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said. Hajiyev made the remark at the briefing in the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, Trend reports on May 13. Over 540 Azerbaijani citizens returned from Russia to Azerbaijan through I am going home website, assistant to Azerbaijans president added. Azerbaijani citizens from other countries also came back over the past period. "Azerbaijani citizens staying abroad will come back via special charter flights from May 18 through May 31, Hajiyev said. These flights will be carried out both from the CIS countries and from the European countries. In general, about 20,000 Azerbaijani citizens have come back so far." Associated Press Writer Federal authorities say they have uncovered a scheme to lure Filipino teachers to the United States with false promises of jobs in Texas school districts, charging five people with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and fraud. Two former West Texas public school administrators and an elementary school principal also face charges that they sponsored work visas for dozens of the teachers in exchange for free trips to Asia. The Friday indictment accuses Florita and Noel Tolentino and their company Omni Consortium of persuading the Filipinos to pay them $10,000 each, promising there were well-paying teaching jobs waiting for them in the United States. The teachers also were told they would receive permanent residency status and could bring their families with them, prosecutors said. Omni took money from 273 Filipino teachers since 2002, but fewer than 100 ever received positions with school districts, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Gardes told the El Paso Times for a Saturday story. The immigrant teachers were housed in groups of 10 to 15 in unfurnished properties, and most had to sleep on the floor or on mattresses, according to court documents. The Tolentinos told the teachers they would be deported if they complained about not having jobs or tried to seek employment on their own. Florita Tolentino, Noel Tolentino, Angelica Tolentino, Cesar Librodo and Owen Cruz were charged with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and visa fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. An answering service for Florita and Noel Tolentino's Houston-based company told The Associated Press no one was available for comment on Saturday. Former Socorro Independent School District Interim Superintendent Mario Aguilar and his wife, Magdalena Aguilar, an elementary school principal in the district, are charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. Raye Lokey, the former associate superintendent for human resources for the Ysleta Independent School District, faces the same charge. The Aguilars and Lokey were free on Saturday on $25,000 bond each. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted. They made no comment during a Friday court appearance, answering only basic questions from a judge. When contacted by telephone at their home in El Paso on Saturday, the Aguilars told The Associated Press they had no comment. According to the indictment, Omni paid for a November 2002 trip to the Philippines and China for Mario Aguilar and other Socorro administrators. In December 2002 and February 2003, the district applied for visas for 26 teachers. Mario and Magdalena Aguilar visited Asia at Omni's expense in March 2003, and Socorro applied for visas for 42 teachers, prosecutors said. Ysleta employees took an all expense paid trip to the Philippines in November 2002, and Lokey applied for visas for 63 teachers a few months later, according to the indictment. Twenty-nine of the Filipino teachers currently work in Ysleta, and 12 are working in Socorro, the newspaper reported. Both districts are located in El Paso. A few others had jobs in other West Texas districts, Gardes said. Magdalena Aguilar has been suspended with pay from her position, district officials said. "I am shocked. I don't know what to say," Socorro school board president Brenda Castaneda told the newspaper. "All I can say is that we will cooperate and see that the right thing is done here." Gardes said all the teachers are in the United States legally, and those that don't have jobs are being protected by the federal government. With fewer than 100 deaths and around 7,000 cases of coronavirus in Australia, the standing of its prime minister, Scott Morrison, has gone from 'zero to hero' in just a matter of weeks. Morrison became leader of the Liberal Party and head of a minority government in August 2018. He was then returned as prime minister after a general election in May 2019. His party gained several seats and, having gone into the election as a minority government, it emerged with a small majority. However, the following month saw the start of the annual bushfire season in Australia and it was a particularly bad season. It peaked during October to December and the fires burnt 72,000 square miles, destroying almost 6,000 buildings and killing at least 34 people. The Australian fire service was stretched to the limit as it fought the bushfires and some major cities were blanketed in smoke. There has been a lot of debate about why the fires were so severe during this season, especially around climate change and the management of the countryside and prime minister Morrison came in for particular criticism over his handling of the fires. He was heckled when he visited some of the fire-damaged towns and some people refused to shake his hand. The deluge of criticism continued through into January and February this year, but all that changed as the bushfires were extinguished and media attention and public concern turned to coronavirus. In fact, Scott Morrison went from 'zero to hero' in just a matter of weeks. Today, one year after his re-election last May, his standing in Australia is soaring, people are singing his praises and some of his most vitriolic critics have apologised. He had a shaky start in addressing the pandemic and the Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle was a particular problem, as was the initial tension between the state governments and the federal government. However, Morrison took hold of the situation and has relied heavily on the advice of the chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy. Morrison listened to Murphy and took the decision that Australia should shut its borders to China at a time when the World Health Organisation was saying that travel bans weren't needed. He realised that the WHO is not the fount of all medical knowledge and that its 'world' status does not confer infallibility. Shutting its borders made sense. As regards local infections, he acted quickly and, when the number of cases reached 1,000, bars were shut and larger social gatherings banned. He didn't drag his feet. Australia is a federation and, at the start, there were some differences of opinion between the federal government and the state governments. Morrison addressed that and, as head of the federal government, he established an emergency cabinet with the eight state and territory leaders. This ensured a unified message from all tiers of government and has largely prevented the sort of political opportunism and posturing we have seen from some regional politicians in the UK. Morrison was also willing to learn lessons and was not afraid to make a U-turn when it was necessary. Some reporters love political U-turns, because they enable them to ask the inevitable, "Were you wrong?" As a result, most politicians try to avoid ever making a U-turn, or even admitting it when they have done so. But none of us are infallible and a U-turn can be a sign of strength as well as demonstrating a capacity to learn. Controlling coronavirus in the way that Australia has done is remarkable. With a population of 25 million it has kept the death toll under 100. Yes, much of Australia has a sparse population and that helps. But Sydney and Melbourne both have populations around five million. It is also true that Australia is an island, but then so, too, is Great Britain. One interesting difference is that Australians view personal space differently: they naturally keep a greater distance between one another when talking. But there's no denying that Australia has done well. So, can we in the United Kingdom learn something from our Commonwealth friends and especially from a politician who has gone from 'zero to hero' in such a short time? Two men arrested Wednesday in a theft scheme that targeted young people and hit parents with major losses are accused of over 300 felonies, Portland police say. Daimarvion Lambert, 20, is accused of 238 felony counts, including over 100 counts of identity theft, according to police. Jazman Moore Jr., 19, faces 74 counts, police said. Police said Moore posted ads on social media to entice young people to provide their bank cards and personal identification numbers. He then deposited stolen and forged checks into their bank accounts as a way to obtain money, according to police. Many of the people who were targeted are juveniles. Some parents suffered large losses in bank fees, police said. The total losses added up to $80,000 between Feb. 4 and April 27, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the cases against Lambert and Moore. The court filing said detectives worked with a credit union fraud investigator, who used bank card numbers pictured on the social media posts to track down the accounts, and discovered a pattern of fraudulent transactions. Police traced the transactions to ATMs at various Multnomah County banks and Fred Meyer stores, then used security video footage from those stores to identify Lambert and Moore, the court filing said. Lambert and Moore admitted they were the people shown in the video when they were interviewed by police, the probable cause affidavit said. Both Lambert and Moore are being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center. "Our officers and detectives continue to work tirelessly to hold prolific suspects like these accountable for the disruption they cause in this community," Assistant Chief of Investigations Andrew Shearer said in a statement. "We do this to bring some comfort to the victims of these crimes." Police reminded people to not give their debit cards or personal identification numbers to strangers. An investigation continues. This story has been updated to reflect information in the court filings. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. US authorities have arrested two Americans for their alleged role in smuggling former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn to Lebanon from Japan. Ghosn fled Japan on a private jet via Turkey late December last year while on bail. Tokyo prosecutors in January obtained arrest warrants for former US Green Beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter Taylor. They were arrested in Massachusetts on Wednesday. The move is in line with a Japan-US treaty ratified in 2004 that allows investigative authorities in both countries to work together without going through diplomatic channels. Papers issued by a court in Massachusetts say they carried out two large black boxes from a hotel room near Kansai Airport... and Ghosn was hiding in one of them. The document says the boxes were loaded onto a private jet. Peter Taylor is suspected of meeting Ghosn numerous times in the months leading to his escape. He is believed to have booked hotels for Ghosn and carried his belongings. US media say authorities arrested the two Taylors after discovering Peter Taylor had booked a flight from the United States to Beirut departing on Wednesday. President Muhammadu Buhari has seemingly coaxed Governors of the 36 states to submit to the domination of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) in the fight against coronavirus in the country. The president in an online meeting with governors emphasized that they should work closely with the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, to engender better harmony in the daunting task of checking the pandemic. However, the PTF has appeared to be entrenching its domination in the fight against coronavirus, making rules for states and directing the compliance if states. More so, while preponderant interventions are highly active in several states, the PTF holds back on federal funds, beside that which the president approved for Lagos, assuming responsibilities of moving into states to create test units. Most states have clearly become skeptical of the PTF and are reluctantly showing minimal cooperation or unwillingness to align. However, President Buhari during the online meeting with the Governors Forum, said that the PTF had briefed him on next steps in the national response to the pandemic, adding: and I have directed that they work very closely with the Governors. President Buhari said the pandemic was beyond technology, power, and resources, noting that countries that had all those, were recording highest casualties round the world. We have to be very careful. We need to continue to educate and persuade the people to accept the reality of the situation, and do all that is necessary to stay safe, the President said. The meeting also discussed economic and security issues, among others, with the Governors commending the President on the leadership and direction he has given the country in combating COVID-19. Five people, who had recently returned from West Bengal, have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the virus tally in the state to 116, officials said on Thursday. All the five cases have been reported from Solan district, which was declared coronavirus-free a few weeks ago, Special Secretary (Health), Nipun Jindal, said. The patients are from Solan's Ramshehar area and had returned from West Bengal on May 15, he said. The five were already placed in quarantine. The total number of infected people in the state stands at 116, while 54 of them have been cured. Four people have died due to COVID-19. The active cases in the state now stand at 58, including 26 from Kangra, 10 from Hamirpur, five each from Solan and Bilaspur, four from Mandi, three from Chamba, two each from Sirmaur, Una and one from Kullu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There has been a lot of advice going around lately, in the midst of this market downturn. Investors are being told to buy up on the cheap and to look out for huge short-term earnings. This is all true, I cant deny it. When you invest in quality stocks, there is a high likelihood that you will see strong returns in the next year. But what happens after you invest? Investors might think it looks pretty good to make some short-term gains off a few stocks. After all, the percentage points alone look pretty tempting. If youre looking at a potential upside of 30%, 50%, or even 100% in the next year, who wouldnt want that? But what if you could get a return of 300% on your investment? Its easy. All you have to do is buy and not sell. Invest in the best Heres the first thing you should consider before you invest while looking to sell in the short term. While it might seem like the market is on the mend, there is a high likelihood of another market crash. It might not be as large as the first one, but its very likely to come. As earnings reports come in, businesses will likely need to take some action. Layoffs, business closures, and further stress on industries are all likely to come in a new wave of pressure on the markets. Add to that the housing crisis, and you have a market ripe for another downturn. So if youre looking to sell in a few months or a year, when is the right time to do it? Unless youre a professional, its far better to invest and hold onto quality stocks that will do well over the long term. How long term? Im talking decades. Thats what top analysts, and probably your own financial advisor, will tell you to do before considering anything else. Buy a Buffett stock One of those top analysts thats chosen a Canadian company to invest in is Warren Buffett. Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway owns a 3.32% stake in this company as of writing, and is bullish about its future. Its not a gold stock, or even an energy stock, but Restaurant Brands International Inc. (TSX:QSR)(NYSE:QSR). Story continues Restaurant Brands owns three fast food chains, with Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen under its umbrella. While Tim Hortons has proven less than worthy thanks to poor menu options over the last while, the other two brands have been picking up the slack. In fact, Popeyes saw an incredible 32% growth in sales during the first quarter of 2020. Furthermore, all three have been pushing forward even during this pandemic. While other fast food chains struggle to create mobile pickup, delivery services, and other means of getting food to customers, Restaurant Brands already had these methods set up. This has kept sales from crashing, to say the least, and should allow the company to come back strong after the market crash is over. Meanwhile, investors have a lot to look forward to from this stock if they choose to invest. Restaurant Brands has a potential upside of 38% to reach fair value, with a dividend yield of 4.01% as of writing. The stock has come up 150% from its initial public offering and its highest point before the crash in the last five years. An investment of $3,000 today could bring in about $120 in dividends each year, and triple your investment in a decade. The post If Youve Got $3,000 to Invest, Buy This Stock Now appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada. More reading Fool contributor Amy Legate-Wolfe has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2020 Australia is pushing to be the first country exempted from the UK's new 14-day coronavirus quarantine - as arrivals face 'spot checks' on homes and 1,000 fines for breaking the rules. Despite a huge backlash from airlines, ministers are due to unveil plans for mandatory isolation of everyone coming into the country, in a bid to stop the deadly disease flaring up again. Those who flout the orders face 1,000 fines, followed by even tougher penalties if the they fail to pay. Arrivals will be required to supply an address where they will be isolating, enforced by public health officers carrying out random visits. Exemptions from the tough regime will be extremely limited to start with, mainly covering lorry drivers, NHS workers and fruit pickers considered essential to run the economy and health services. Free movement with Ireland will also be maintained, with the Common Travel Area a key part of the peace deal. Virgin Atlantic warned the move means passenger services cannot resume until August at the earlier - urging the government to rely on screening measures instead. The system is not expected to be finalised until the Commons returns from recess at the beginning of next month. However, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has already raised the prospect of 'air bridges' to low-infection countries being introduced at a later stage. Reports in Australia suggest PM Scott Morrisson is pushing for his country, which has almost wiped out the virus, to be left out of the curbs. Ministers will today press ahead with the mandatory isolation plan for all ports and airports (arrivals at London Heathrow this month) A thermal screening trial taking place at Terminal 2 in Heathrow yesterday Heathrow trials temperature screening Heathrow has started trials of temperature screening to spot passengers with coronavirus. Travellers passing through Terminal 2's immigration hall are being monitored with thermal detection cameras which can read a person's temperature in seconds from a distance of 8ft. The airport is in talks with Border Force and Public Health England (PHE) over what action can be taken if a passenger with a fever is identified. The traveller could be asked to quarantine or be prevented from boarding the plane. The trials have been set up to ensure the technology works before proper regulations are introduced. The move follows anger over the country's failure to screen the 15,000 passengers continuing to arrive into Britain every day. New safety measures also mean all airport staff have to wear face coverings and bosses are also considering UV sanitation to clean security trays, as well as contact-free security screening equipment to reduce person-to-person contact. Heathrow says the measures could form part of an internationally agreed system of biosecurity to restore confidence in air travel. Advertisement Under the plans, travellers arriving at all ports and airports will be ordered to go into self-isolation for a fortnight. Foreign nationals who refuse to agree to self-isolate will be banned from entering the UK. It will also apply to those returning from holiday abroad, but truck drivers will be exempt from the rules to prevent disruption to vital supplies such as food. Transit passengers, who do not formally enter the UK, will also be exempt, as will fruit and vegetable pickers. Harvesters will be forced to live on the farms on which they are working. But pleas for a broad exemption for business have been rejected. Only a small number of specialist workers will be exempt from what insiders said would initially be a 'blanket' policy. Around 100 of these spot checks are expected to performed each day. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis warned Britons that if they go abroad they face quarantine on return. He told BBC Breakfast: 'The reality is, we are saying to people If you are going abroad, you need to look at the fact you may well need to quarantine when you come back. 'But this quarantine, when it comes in, it something we will be reviewing every three weeks or so. 'I can't say how long this quarantine will last for, that is something that will be down to the scientific advice at every stage as we assess it in terms of keeping that R level down.' The quarantine plan is designed to stop the UK importing new cases of the virus. It will be reviewed every three weeks. But Whitehall sources played down hopes it could be lifted before the summer holiday season. Virgin Atlantic warned the plan would keep planes grounded. 'The safety and security of our people and our customers is always our top priority and public health must come first,' a spokeswoman said. 'However, by introducing a mandatory 14-day self-isolation for every single traveller entering the UK, the Government's approach will prevent flights from resuming. 'We are continually reviewing our flying programme and with these restrictions, there simply won't be sufficient demand to resume passenger services before August at the earliest.' The airline instead called on the Government to introduced a 'multi-layered approach' targeted public health and screening measures to allow the safe restart of international travel. There are signs of discontent among Tory backbenchers at the proposals. Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Telegraph: 'The Government needs to rethink this quickly and not go into quarantine.' However, a former head of Border Force said today he was 'surprised' quarantine measures had not been brought in at UK borders sooner. Tony Smith, now chairman of the International Border Management and Technologies Association, told the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Friday: 'Yes I was surprised that we hadn't seen earlier measures introduced at the UK border. 'I did live through a number of pandemics in my time in government, including Sars and bird flu, swine flu. 'The normal response is that there would be a significant introduction of public health into the ports and borders. That is what we would normally expect. 'I think there was some of that in some of the ports where hotspots were identified. 'The airports do have the capability working with the Border Force and with the airlines to isolate flights, to segment passengers into more remote areas of the airport and to conduct testing if such a thing is medically proven as being worthwhile.' Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis warned Britons that if they go abroad they face quarantine on return Mr Shapps on Monday raising the idea of 'air bridges' with popular tourist destinations such as Spain. Madrid yesterday signalled it might be prepared to welcome UK tourists from July without asking them to self-isolate for 14 days. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: 'What we've had is incredibly confusing messages from the Government. 'We have a possible air bridge announced one day, only for someone else to pop up later to say it won't happen.' Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: 'We need to find a way that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who don't have a disease can still fly.' It came as Italy yesterday announced airports will reopen from June 3. EU tourists will be allowed in from that date, with the 14-day quarantine waived. But this would only include Britons if the UK also dropped its quarantine plans for arrivals from Italy. A Department for Transport spokesman said yesterday: 'Ultimately, we will be guided by the science, with the health of the public always coming first.' Legal battles between cities and states are expected to intensify in the coming months with dust-ups over municipal broadband networks, paid sick leave and affordable housing policies at the forefront. Why it matters: After some high-profile disputes with governors over pandemic-related restrictions, some mayors are emboldened in pushing back on state laws prohibiting city-level policies that, they say, will be important to recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Between the lines: The city vs. state squabbles that are going to get the most attention as local economies start to reopen are those that are seen as critical to helping residents weather the pandemic and addressing the inequalities that have been deepened by COVID-19. "When states handcuff cities, they don't have the flexibility, autonomy or policies in place to deal with emergencies," said Kim Haddow, director of the Local Solutions Support Center. "These are three areas that, if they'd been in place before the pandemic, cities would have been in a better position to respond to the crisis." 1. Community-run broadband networks: 19 states have legal barriers or bans on municipal-owned broadband networks, even in places where broadband is not available or there are limited options and speeds. This impacts millions of schoolchildren who may still be grappling with remote learning in the fall, and at-home workers who are more reliant on an internet connection. "You have the dual effect of communities that are completely disconnected in a world that is more interconnected than ever before, combined with the realization that telecommuting is effective. Cities wanting to be competitive are looking at ways to move that forward." Columbia, South Carolina, Mayor Steve Benjamin Where it stands: More than 500 communities have some sort of municipal broadband networks, per the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. In some rural areas where it's particularly challenging to get private telecom companies to deploy broadband, phone and electricity cooperatives are laying fiber. Some states like Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina have eased restrictions on cooperatives to facilitate broadband. 2. Paid sick leave: About 40% of service sector workers don't have paid sick leave, including many of the essential workers who are still on the job during the pandemic. That has left tens of millions of workers with a very difficult decision if they get sick: Go to work and risk infecting others, or stay at home and lose their paycheck. Only 13 states and Washington, D.C. require paid sick leave, while 20 states have passed laws preempting cities from requiring employers to provide paid sick leave. A new CityHealth poll shows 78% of Americans support paid sick leave for U.S. workers. "Never has it been more important that people have the ability not to go into a workplace, and the public really gets that now." Shelley Hearne, president of CityHealth and a pandemic expert Where it stands: Despite the pandemic, a federal judge in March blocked Dallas from enforcing a local ordinance requiring private employers to offer paid sick leave, per the Dallas Morning News. Similar ordinances have been blocked in San Antonio and Austin, with Austin appealing to the Texas Supreme Court. Per the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress in March, certain employers must provide paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19. Those provisions expire at the end of the year. 3. Affordable housing: About 11 million people pay more than half their income on rent. A number of cities and states have implemented eviction moratoriums to give relief to renters suddenly out of work, but some are already expiring. Rent strikes and #CancelRent rallies are trying to focus policymakers' attention on the severe lack of affordable housing that could lead to spikes in homelessness as the pandemic drags on. Where it stands: Despite a dramatic expansion of tenants' rights laws over the past few years with rent control laws in New York, Oregon and California, 31 states have statewide laws pre-empting rent control, said Haddow. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Wells Fargo & Company (Wells Fargo or the Company) (NYSE: WFC). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Wells Fargo and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On April 5, 2020, Wells Fargo announced that it had received strong interest in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, and was targeting to distribute a total of $10 billion to small business customers under the requirements of the PPP. On April 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would allow Wells Fargo to exceed the asset cap that it had imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 after revelations that the Company had opened millions of accounts in customers names without their permission, a change would allow Wells Fargo to make additional small business loans as part of the PPP. On April 8, Wells Fargo also issued a press release stating that beginning immediately, in response to the actions by the Federal Reserve, [Wells Fargo] will expand its participation in the Paycheck Protection Program and offer loans to a broader set of its small business and nonprofit customers subject to the terms of the program. Then, on April 20, 2020, after at least two lawsuits were filed against Wells Fargo, reports emerged that Wells Fargo may have unfairly allocated government-backed loans under the PPP. Following this news, Wells Fargos stock price fell more than 5% over two trading days to close at $26.84 per share on April 21, 2020. Finally, on May 5, 2020, Wells Fargo disclosed in an SEC filing that it has . . . received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans. Following this news, Wells Fargos stock price fell by more than 6% over two trading days to close at $25.61 per share on May 6, 2020. The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com. Capital will fund completion of preclinical studies and initiation of the first clinical trial in patients suffering from stress urinary incontinence caused by sphincter insufficiency Dr. Friedrich Hillebrand and Dr. Louis Geslin join Board of Directors GRENOBLE, France, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UroMems, developer and manufacturer of the electronic artificial urinary sphincter (eAUS), today announced the raising of 16 million, which included a combination of equity and debt financing. The proceeds of the financing are expected to fund ongoing preclinical studies and the initiation of the first clinical studies of UroMems eAUS device, which is being developed for the treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). The eAUS is an active implantable medical device which compensates for sphincter insufficiency in patients with SUI. Protected by over 80 patents, it is based on the latest technologies in embedded intelligent systems and software. The financing round was led by Hil-Invent GmbH, with co-investor Financiere Arbevel. Existing UroMems investors, including Wellington Partners, Bpifrance, via its FABS fund, Cita Investissement, Supernova Invest and btov Partners also participated in this financing, as well as the Companys founders. The debt financing was provided by a syndicate including Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Caisse dEpargne, Credit Agricole and Banque Populaire. We were able to accomplish a tremendous amount with the proceeds of our Series A, which was completed in 2016, said Hamid Lamraoui, CEO and co-founder of UroMems. That capital enabled us to complete development of the eAUS device and all industrialization processes necessary to pursue clinical development of the technology. This additional capital will allow us to initiate the first phase of our clinical development program. We are grateful for the support of Hil-Invent and Financiere Arbevel, as well as the continued confidence of our Series A investors. Story continues Pr. Pierre Mozer, co-founder of UroMems and Urological Surgeon at Paris Hospital added, SUI is a highly prevalent condition. It has a major impact on a patient quality of life and is currently treated using products that have not seen meaningful advancement in decades. The results of our preclinical studies were very encouraging and give us confidence as we prepare to launch our clinical trials in the near future. According to the National Association for Incontinence, approximately 200 million patients suffer from incontinence worldwide. Of these, 75-80% are women and the majority suffer from SUI. UroMems eAUS aims to address a major unmet need in a market estimated at $2 billion per year. In connection with the financing, Friedrich Hillebrand, PhD, President of Hil-Invent and Louis Geslin, PhD, Private Equity Portfolio Manager at Financiere Arbevel, have agreed to join the Companys Board of Directors. Dr. Hillebrand has more than 40 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, covering a range of disciplines including Research and Development, Manufacturing and Quality, Business Development, Marketing and Sales. In addition to his role at Hil-Invent, he currently serves as president of EVER Pharma. Previously, he was CEO of EBEWE Pharma, where he was involved in several significant M&A transactions including the $1.2 billion sale of the EBEWE Oncology business to Novartis. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Technical University of Vienna. Dr. Geslin joined Financiere Arbevel in 2016 as an equity analyst in the healthcare sector and has co-managed the Arbevel Life Sciences Crossover I fund since 2018. Before joining Arbevel, he held positions of increasing responsibility at prominent European venture capital funds, including Seventure Partners, Advent Life Sciences and Bpifrance. Dr. Geslin began his career in the hospital sector at Hopital Timone and Institut Paoli-Calmettes. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of NG Biotech and Imactis. He holds a PhD in Pharmacy and is a graduate of the ESSEC French Grande Ecole program. We were impressed with the quality of the device and its potential to address a major unmet need among both patients and surgeons, said Dr. Hillebrand. UroMems is managed by a team of highly skilled engineers, medical technology experts and entrepreneurs who brought the device to industrial maturity. The fact that the company has its own manufacturing capacity ready to scale is a significant competitive advantage that will be an important element of its go-to-market strategy. Dr Rainer Strohmenger, Managing Partner at Wellington Partners added, We are very excited to have Hil-Invent and Financiere Arbevel on-board for the funding of this great venture. The company has achieved multiple critical milestones since its last round of funding, which we believe speaks to the potential of UroMems to be a disruptive force in this large market. About UroMems Founded in 2011 by Pr Pierre Mozer, Hamid Lamraoui and Stephane Lavallee, UroMems focuses on designing, developing and commercializing active implantable medical devices. UroMems is highly innovative and focuses on clearly identified clinical unmet needs, not only for their prevalence but also for their negative impact on patients quality of life. Since the inception of the company, significant investments have been made for the development of the UroMems first product. This includes a 12 million series A financing round led by Wellington Partners, Bpifrance via FABS Fund, Cita Investissement, Supernova Invest and btov Partners. The company is based at the heart of the French Alps, in the city of Grenoble, representing one of the most dynamic regions in Frances Medtech industry. For more information, please visit www.uromems.com About eAUS The eAUS is an electronic artificial urinary sphincter designed to overcome the limitations of current solutions by optimizing safety and performance, patient experience and surgeon convenience. Corporate: Email: media.relations@uromems.com Media: Ryo Imai / Robert Flamm Burns McClellan 212-300-8364, ext. 155 / 212-300-8364 rimai@burnsmc.com / rflamm@burnsmc.com Investors: Lee Roth Burns McClellan 212-213-0006, ext. 331 lroth@burnsmc.com 21.05.2020 LISTEN Ten more foreign nationals comprising four Nigerienese, five Togolese and one Burkinabe have been arrested after they entered the country illegally through unapproved route in the Garu District despite the ongoing border closure. They were arrested on Monday at Zebilla inland checkpoint by the Immigration personnel after managing to crossover. The arrest of the 10 foreign nationals has brought the total number of immigrants who have been intercepted and repatriated for illegally entering the country to over 120 since the closure of the borders in March. According to the Immigration Unit Commander Superintendent David Addo Nketia, on Monday, at about 1715hrs they intercepted 10 foreign nationals comprising three minors on board a passenger bus with registration number GT 5165- 18 heading to Kumasi from Garu district. They entered the country through some unapproved routes within the Bawku sector command and were intercepted during profiling and screening of passengers at the Zebilla inland check-point. He added that the suspects include; One Burkinabe, four Nigerienese and five Togolese. According to the sector commander superintendent, David Addo Nketia, the suspects were travelling to Kumasi for farming purposes except for one Togolese student who was travelling to Kumasi for a visit. Superintendent David Addo therefore cautioned people who indulged themselves by aiding foreigners to enter the country to desist from it or face the law. Mr Addo indicated that the Command will intensify its surveillance and patrols at the various border points to make sure all passengers are screened and properly checked before exiting Zebilla. Nigerian sensational dancer, Poco Lee took to Instagram to announce that a good soul blessed him with a car. Sharing the picture of the White Lexus, the 24 year old wrote ; PLEASE HELP ME SAY A PRAYER TO THE GOOD SOUL THAT BLESSED ME WITH A CAR TODAY The dancer and hype man started dancing as a child. Raised alongside his four siblings in Ojo area of Lagos State by their parents Mr Kenneth and Augustina Iweh little did Poco Lee know fate was preparing him for a great destiny in life. The post Poco Lee receives a Lexus SUV gift appeared first on . Share this post with your Friends on Harley-Davidson Inc is reopening its factories this week at lower production rates and sending dealers a narrower range of motorcycles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The U.S. motorcycle maker, which closed its U.S. assembly plants in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, may not ship any additional new motorcycles this year to about 70% of its 698 dealers in the country, the report said (subscription required). Harley would reopen its plants in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and accelerate production in phases that would be limited to bestselling models and palette of colors and without customizable features for the remainder of the year, the report added. The company has failed for years to increase sales in the United States, its top market which accounts for more than half its motorcycles sold. As its tattooed, baby-boomer consumer base ages, the Milwaukee-based company is finding it challenging to attract new customers. To make matters worse, the pandemic has further dented demand as Americans stay at home to curb the spread of coronavirus. In April, the company's then acting Chief Executive Officer Jochen Zeitz, who has since taken a permanent role at Harley, told investors about plans to cut costs and "de-emphasize" some of its unprofitable international regions. Jochen and team are currently working on a new five-year strategic plan to revive sales which the company plans to reveal in the second-quarter earnings update. The shift in strategy for the company that symbolized the counterculture movement of the 1960s comes as it struggles to woo the next generation of younger riders with its electric and more nimble bikes in the United States. Harley did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Related Video: Click here to See Video >> Ghana contributes the largest number of female peacekeepers to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major Damea Acheampong Kusi, Ghana Battalion Finance Officer, said on Thursday. She said deploying more women into peacekeeping was crucial since women were able to engage more with the vulnerable and young girls in peacekeeping communities. Major Acheampong Kusi made her comments in a Zoom meeting organized by the United Nations Information Centre to promote the work of women peacekeepers ahead of the International day of the UN peacekeepers celebrated on May 29. The theme for this years celebration is: Women in peacekeeping: a Key to peace. Major Acheampong Kusi reiterated that female peacekeepers served as positive role models for young girls. Commenting on the challenges posed by COVID-19 for female peacekeepers, she said even though there was a pandemic, they remained committed to their responsibilities and continued to support the communities they worked in, in the fight against the pandemic. Major Acheampong Kusi said they observed all needed protocols, and used the pandemic situation to train some of their community members in bead making and other skills. Major Cynthia Adiasani, the Ghana Battalion Principal Nursing officer, said to keep their camp safe from COVID-19 infection, soldiers made to wear masks, use hand sanitizer, wash their hand at the entrances and sanitize their feet in chlorine solution before entering the camp. Tilak Pokharel, Public Information Officer of (UNIFIL) commended Ghana saying, Ghana was the first out of 45 countries to send troupes to UNIFIL. He said the Ghanaian team had about 118 women and played a key role in peacekeeping along the blue line. The blue line served as a boundary between Lebanon and Israel, he explained. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video On April 20, 2015, two thieves broke into Oslos Galleri Nobel and walked out with a pair of rolled-up canvases by painter Barbora Kysilkova. That crime sets the stage for the remarkable and surprisingly moving documentary The Painter and the Thief, which charts the Czech-born, Oslo-based artists subsequent friendship with one of the two men who stole her art: Karl-Bertil Nordland. A junkie who was so high at the time of the burglary that he cant recall what happened to Kysilkovas art, Nordland begins posing for Kysilkova, who approached him in the courtroom, seemingly as a way to make recompense for the loss of her art. What ensues is a strange and beautiful story touching on the meaning of love, forgiveness, exploitation, the role of the muse and healing. Filmmaker Benjamin Ree (Magnus) doesnt tell the tale complete with twists in a linear fashion, and he leaves some things, such as details about Nordlands sentence, unanswered. But as he follows this odd couple through Nordlands continuing trouble with the law, rehab and eventually enrollment in nursing school, and Kysilkovas struggles with paying her studio rent and her relationship with her boyfriend, what emerges is a narrative powerful and provocative enough to make Painter the best art documentary since last yearss The Proposal. Unrated. Available May 22 at afisilver.afi.com and sunscinema.com. Contains drug material, coarse language and smoking. In English and Norwegian with subtitles. 102 minutes. CEO tells Lloyds Loading List the Polish and Romanian drivers that were working on the vehicles that were held in Belgium were lawfully executing international transport activities for the company Vos Logistics has made a deposit of around 500,000 to recover 89 trucks that were impounded by the Belgian judicial authorities in March as part of an ongoing investigation into possible driver employment irregularities. The case focuses on whether the Netherlands-based logistics services provider has used its drivers of Polish and Romanian nationality, registered at the companys branches in Poland and Romania and working under local labour regulations, to carry out operations in western Europe states, notably in the Benelux, where labour costs are much higher so-called social dumping. Vos Logistics CEO, Frank Verhoeven, told Lloyds Loading List in a telephone interview: The investigation is related to Polish and Romanian drivers who were working on the impounded trucks and executing international transport activities for our company, organised from our branches in Poland and Romania. But the trucks were in Belgium. We are very confident we are organising our business processes in a proper way and in compliance with European laws and regulations and we stay far away from things like social dumping. We pay our drivers properly. We organise work from Poland and Romania. Yes, these trucks are in Belgium and yes, we have facilities in Belgium to convene our drivers. This is the way we operate. Verhoeven continued: The Belgian authorities are saying to us youre using Polish and Romanian drivers for international transport organised from Belgium. Thats their vision on it. And by the way, that kind of activity is allowed; and its also allowed to pay them in the country where they come from Poland and Romania provided this respects the minimum wage provision in Belgium; otherwise its false competition. He concluded: Currently, we are waiting on the outcome of the investigation and remain in constructive dialogue with the Belgian judicial authorities, and are ready to provide any information they request. As the matter continues to be under investigation, theres not much more I can say. We need to see what the conclusions (of the investigation) are and take it from there. Vos Logistics reported a 2019 turnover to 342 million, an increase of 9% on the previous year. It employs 3,000 staff, across a network of 30 group-owned locations and operates a fleet of 1,400 trucks. It has also 4,000 loading units and 300,000 sqm of storage space. Image: Shutterstock.com Aero-engine maker Rolls Roycethe second largest engine manufacturer in the worldis the latest company to announce redundancies. The company plans to cut 9,000 out of 52,000 jobs, to be lost mainly in the UK. Anticipating that it will be several years before production rises to pre-pandemic levels, restructuring will fall on the groups civil aerospace sector, due to plummeting demand from aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus. The jobs cull in the UK began in April as firms in retail and hospitality collapsed into administration after the imposition of lockdown, accelerating an already existing trend towards recession. Senior economist Nye Cominetti at the Resolution Foundation think tank warned, Britain could still be facing the highest unemployment levels in over a quarter of the century. Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane agreed, declaring the UK was heading for 1980s levels of unemployment, when joblessness rose to 3 million. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the numbers claiming unemployment benefit reached an historical high with 856,500 claims for Aprila 69 percent increasebringing the total number of claimants to 2.1 million. After these figures were announced, Conservative Chancellor Rishi Sunak commented that the economy was entering a severe recession, the likes of which we havent seen. Contradicting comments of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he said it was not obvious there will be an immediate bounce back from the economic downturn. The number of job vacancies halved in April to 350,000, down from 750,000 in March. Unemployment rates, come September, are predicted at 8.5 percent, or over 5 million. Breaking down the figures, Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, observed that the clear evidence now emerging that those areas worst off before the crisis have seen the biggest rises in unemployment. This is confirmed by Resolution Foundation research revealing lower-paid agency workers and those on zero-hour contracts are most likely to be furloughed or lose their jobs. School leavers will suffer due to a third fewer apprenticeships, while graduate jobs are down 12 percentaccording to an Institute of Student Employers survey. The collapse in tourism is decimating aviation. Plane maker Boeing announced 16,000 job cuts, while Virgin Atlantic and Ryanair announced 3,000 redundancies apiece. UK flagship British Airways (BA) announced 12,000 redundancies from its workforce of 42,000, followed by a 55-75 percent pay cut, slashing entry-level cabin crew pay to 24,000. Most BA crew are on furlough. Under the furlough scheme, the government pays 80 percent of laid-off workers wages until the end of July, up to 2,500 a monthcovering a fifth of the UK workforce. This subvention to business costs taxpayers at least 14 billion a month. The assistant general secretary of the Unite trade union, Howard Beckett, responded to BAs pay cuts with the pathetic complaint that this was a complete abuse of the government Job Retention Scheme. BA, however, taking advantage of the pandemic to lower costs in an already ailing industry, is only emboldened by previous concessions by Unite, GMB and the pilots union, Balpa. Last year, Balpa ended the first strike by pilots in 40 years, accepting a deal barely different from the company offer rejected by a 90 percent majority. Aer Lingus, like BA, part of the International Airlines Group, plans 900 job losses out of a workforce of 4,500. Another firm to shed jobs due to the travel freeze is Anglo-German TUI, the worlds largest tour operator. The company operates out of Bournemouth airport to holiday destinations in Europe. It aims to cut costs by 30 percent, after profits plummeted 747 million for the first half of 2020. In March, the company announced a 50 percent salary cut for 10,000 staff. The German government stepped in with a loan worth 1.6 billion, repayable in 2022. General Secretary of the TSSA travel and transport industry trade union, Manuel Cortes, merely said, We are extremely disappointed that TUI is planning to cut 8,000 jobs. Southampton-based cruise giant Carnival UK, owner of the Cunard and P&O Cruises brands, plans around 450 redundancies. The remaining staff will suffer a 20 percent cut in pay and hours until November. Each stopover by a cruise ship that docks in Southampton is worth 2 million, so the knock-on effect for local businesses will be disastrous. Dorset boat builder Sunset International, whose workforce is currently on furlough, announced 460 job losses, a fifth of its workforce, since the demand for luxury vessels dried up. P&O Ferries recently announced 1,100 redundancies, due to travel restrictions. Normally during the holiday season, P&O ferries are packed, transporting passengers between Dover and Calais, and Hull to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam. The company had already furloughed 1,400 workers under the Job Retention Scheme, which is benefitting some of the most profitable concerns, including more than a quarter of the UKs largest firms listed on the FTSE 250 index. P&O Ferries is a case in point. Along with the ports of Southampton, London gateway and international terminals, P&O is part of a global empire owned by DP World. The Dubai-based entity accrued profits of 1 billion last year. Two months ago, the firm said it would pay shareholders dividends worth 270 million. As well as finance from the furlough scheme, the company applied for a government subsidy of 150 million to maintain the movement of goods. It operates across the Irish Sea and English Channel, carrying 15 percent of trade, worth 122 million, in and out of the UK. The Department for Transport provided 27 million to subsidise critical ferry delivery routes, including those belonging to P&O. The Sunday Times reported last weekend that at least 63 of the UKs richest individuals, including 20 UK billionaires are profiting from the Job Retention Scheme. Meanwhile, small businesses face ruin, and non-contractual workers impoverishment, as they do not qualify or cannot access the scheme. The government is using the economic chaos caused by the pandemic to further redistribute wealth from the working class to the super-rich, and restructure industry at the expense of jobs, pay and conditionsin preparation for deepening trade war as the world economy shrinks. Employees should brace themselves for pay freezes or even pay cuts in the year ahead to help preserve jobs, said Gerwyn Davies, senior labour market adviser for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). A CIPD report issued this week found that more than a fifth of employers plan to make redundancies over the next three months. The Financial Times noted that the survey shows many more had only been able to avoid lay-offs by freezing pay, putting a stop to hiring, cutting bonuses and making extensive use of the governments furlough scheme. UK conglomerate JCB, which makes heavy construction, agriculture, waste handling and demolition plant, announced 950 redundancies, including 500 Guidant agency jobs, due to the halt in construction. Chief executive Graeme Macdonald explained, In 2020 we had planned to sell and produce over 100,000 machines. that figure right now is looking more like 50,000. The company, chaired by Tory donor Lord Bamford, employs 6,700, either directly or subcontracted and sells 85 percent of its products abroad. Most JCB workers are currently being paid under the Job Retention Scheme. Leading banks shed 2,800 in the first quarter of this year. HSBC had already planned 35,000 redundancies over the next three years, to be matched with redundancies at Deutsche Bank and Swiss finance houses Credit Suisse and UBS. Jobs are under threat across the board. Britains second-largest energy supplier OVO Energy announced 2,600 job cuts, affecting gas engineers, electricians, meter readers and call centre staff. UK universities face financial Armageddon as revenue from foreign student tuition fees dries up. Up to 60,000 jobs are threatened. Since 2008, in a decade of austerity, the trade unions have collaborated in imposing pay cuts to fund the governments bank bailout. Now, they are playing a particularly treacherous role at this critical juncture, assisting the government in ending the lockdown. This premature move, while the virus is active, and without adequate public health measures in place to contain further spread and protect those in work, threatens the lives of thousands. Trades Union Congress General Secretary Frances OGrady and Labours Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds have now called for a National Recovery Council encompassing the unions, business and government that will work to impose the devastating cuts now on the agenda. The Mediterranean Sea. UNHCR/Markel Redondo UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are calling on Malta and other European States to speed efforts to bring some 160 rescued refugees and migrants, who remain at sea on board two Captain Morgan vessels, on to dry land and to safety. A separate group of 21 people, mostly families, women and children, were already evacuated and disembarked in Malta several days ago. It is important to disembark the remaining people as soon as possible, as they have been on board the vessel for some two weeks - the standard quarantine period for COVID-19 - without any clarity on disembarkation. It is unacceptable to leave people at sea longer than necessary, especially under difficult and unsuitable conditions. Mediterranean States have been at the forefront of receiving sea arrivals in recent years. Their efforts, and those of NGO search and rescue vessels, have prevented many tragic deaths. However, UNHCR and IOM are also deeply concerned about reports that States have been ignoring or delaying responses to distress calls, especially amid a sharp decrease in state led and NGO search and rescue capacity. We remind States of their obligations under international law to immediately assist people in distress. These obligations cannot be traded away with the offer of fuel and aid. States must take every effort to promptly rescue people in distress, as a delay of even a few minutes could make the difference between life and death. Public health measures such as mandatory, time-limited quarantines, medical screening and physical distancing must be applied without discrimination and within the specified national health protocol. States must continue to disembark people rescued at sea, in line with international maritime law obligations and ensure access to asylum and humanitarian assistance. Reception capacities in some Mediterranean States are further challenged by necessary health measures put in place due to COVID-19. Recognizing this serious challenge, we have offered support to ensure the effective and speedy processing of new arrivals. Prompt disembarkation must also be supported by tangible solidarity from other European States through a timely and predictable relocation mechanism and once conditions permit effective cooperation on returns to country of origin for those found not to be in need of international protection. A clearly agreed system for post-disembarkation relocation is urgently needed if we are to finally move away from a perpetual cycle of negotiations and ad-hoc arrangements that put the lives and health of people at further risk. The relocation of 17 people yesterday from Malta to France shows that solidarity at the time of COVID-19 is possible, with all necessary precautions and measures to ensure preventing further spreading of the virus in place. UNHCR and IOM unequivocally reiterate that no one rescued at sea should be returned to Libya. The misery and risk to life posed by intensifying conflict, arbitrary detention and widespread human rights violations, amongst other factors, mean it cannot be considered a place of safety. Direct or indirect State involvement through commercial boats in the return of rescued migrants and refugees to Libya may constitute a violation of international law. END For more information, please contact: UNHCR IOM Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:24:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's tourism sector said Thursday it is looking forward to attracting Chinese tourists back to the country once the COVID-19 pandemic is fully contained. "China is a huge market, and we are attaching significant importance to the country and Chinese people," Firuz Baglikaya, head of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, said at an online press conference in the largest Turkish city Istanbul. Baglikaya said that China and Turkey will continue to improve their already strong ties even further when everything is back to normal in the post-pandemic era. "We have our most prestigious tour operators in China, trying to promote Turkey in the best way possible to the Chinese people," Baglikaya said. "They would continue to prepare suitable holiday packages for them, and provide their favorite type of vacation in the best way possible." Baglikaya also noted that a state-run promotion office is also preparing to carry out activities in China to attract the Chinese tourists back to the country. In 2019, Turkey received over 420,000 Chinese tourists, while the country's annual tourism revenues hit 34.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to official data. The Turkish government has recently launched a normalization process as the rise in daily COVID-19 cases continued to slow down. As of Wednesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Turkey, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, reached 152,587 while the death toll rose to 4,222. Enditem Charlottesville, Va. - Xu Yi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Virginia, collaborated with Yun-Feng Xiao's group from Peking University and researchers at Caltech to achieve the broadest recorded spectral span in a microcomb. Their peer-reviewed paper, "Chaos-assisted two-octave-spanning microcombs," was published May 11, 2020, in Nature Communications, a multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, health, physical, chemical and Earth sciences. Yi and Xiao co-supervised this work and are the corresponding authors. Co-authors include Hao-Jing Chen, Qing-Xin Ji,Qi-Tao Cao, Qihuang Gong at Peking University, and Heming Wang and Qi-Fan Yang at Caltech. Yi's group is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Xiao's group is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China and National Key Research and Development Program of China. The team applied chaos theory to a specific type of photonic device called a microresonator-based frequency comb, or microcomb. The microcomb efficiently converts photons from single to multiple wavelengths. The researchers demonstrated the broadest (i.e., most colorful) microcomb spectral span ever recorded. As photons accumulate and their motion intensifies, the frequency comb generates light in the ultraviolet to infrared spectrum. "It's like turning a monochrome magic lantern into a technicolor film projector," Yi said. The broad spectrum of light generated from the photons increases its usefulness in spectroscopy, optical clocks and astronomy calibration to search for exoplanets. The microcomb works by connecting two interdependent elements: a microresonator, which is a ring-shaped micrometer-scale structure that envelopes the photons and generates the frequency comb, and an output bus-waveguide. The waveguide regulates the light emission: only matched speed light can exit from the resonator to the waveguide. As Xiao explained, "It's similar to finding an exit ramp from a highway; no matter how fast you drive, the exit always has a speed limit." The research team figured out a smart way to help more photons catch their exit. Their solution is to deform the microresonator in a way that creates chaotic light motion inside the ring. "This chaotic motion scrambles the speed of light at all available wavelengths," said co-author and Peking University research team member Hao-Jing Chen. When the speed in the resonator matches that of the output bus-waveguide at a specific moment, the light will exit the resonator and flow through the waveguide. The team's adoption of chaos theory is an outgrowth of their previous study on chaos-assisted broadband momentum transformation in deformed microcavity, which was published in Science in 2017 (Science 358, 344-347). This research builds on UVA Engineering's strengths in photonics. The Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has a solid foundation in semiconductor materials and device physics that extends to advanced optoelectronic devices. Yi's microphotonics lab conducts research on high-quality integrated photonic resonators, with a dual focus on microresonator-based optical frequency combs and continuous-variable-based photonic quantum computing. "The introduction of chaos and cavity deformation not only provides a new mechanism, but also an additional degree of freedom in designing photonic devices," Yi said. "This could accelerate optics and photonics research in quantum computing and other applications that are vital to future economic growth and sustainability." ### Connecticuts major population centers continued to lose residents last year, even as real estate agents reported a spike in interest in Connecticut homes the past few weeks from Greenwich to Mystic. Fairfield County lost about 640 residents over the 12-month period ending last July to give it a population of 943,332 people, according to new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 0.1 percent decline was the smallest among Connecticut metropolitan areas. The Hartford region lost double the number of residents to give it just over 1.2 million people as of July 2019, the Census Bureau estimated. The New Haven regions exodus of more than 2,200 people dropped its numbers below 855,000 for a 0.3 percent decline. The New London area had the steepest reduction at 0.4 percent, or close to 2,000 residents. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Connecticuts overall population loss last year at 0.2 percent, one of 10 states to see a decline. The 2020 Census is currently underway, with Connecticuts response rate at 63.4 percent of residents as of May 19. Amid continuing uncertainty over New York City closures and social distancing policies as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Connecticut has seen an uptick in bids for upper-tier properties statewide, building on a recovery last year in the starter home market. The Utah city of St. George, east of Las Vegas, led the nation with a 3.5 percent increase in population, with Myrtle Beach, S.C. tops in the East with a 3.1 percent gain. In the Northeast, the Nashua, N.H. area edged Portland, Maine for population gains, with both at 0.6 percent. The New York City region, which the Census Bureau defines as including portions of northern New Jersey, lost more than 60,000 residents for a 0.3 percent decline. The Florida panhandle metropolis of Panama City had the sharpest decline nationally at 6.2 percent, with Watertown, N.Y. trailing the Northeast with a 1.2 percent drop and Pittsfield, Mass. seeing the biggest outflow among New England states at 0.8 percent. Includes prior reporting by Liz Teitz. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman It looks like Russia is really trying to comply with its share of the OPEC+ production cuts this time, unlike in previous deals when it had regularly exceeded its cap, attributing higher production to condensate output. In the new round of cuts, Russia is said to be nearly complying with its quota, two sources with knowledge of Russias oil and condensate production so far in May told Reuters. As part of the OPEC+ deal, Russia pledged to cut its production to 8.5 million bpd in May and June from a February 2020 baseline, or by around 2 million bpd, or by 19 percent, from February 2020, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Interfax in an interview last month. Russia has to cut its oil production from around 11 million bpd to 8.5 million bpdand many analysts expected that Moscow would not be able to fully comply with its share of the cuts, again. Referring to Russias uneasy task to cut 2 million bpd as part of the OPEC+ deal, Russias Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said earlier this month that Moscow expects to achieve the maximum reduction level as soon as practicable. Related: The Oil Bulls Are Back According to Reuters sources, Russias combined oil and condensate production averaged 9.42 million barrels per day (bpd) between May 1 and 19. Excluding condensate output, which is not part of the Russian quota within OPEC+ as of this year, crude oil production averaged 8.72 million bpd, as per Reuters estimates. This is close to the 8.5-million-bpd quota, especially considering Russias far-from-perfect track record in complying with the cuts. Three weeks into the new deal, Russia, as well as OPECs leader Saudi Arabia, are trying to assure the market that the OPEC+ group is taking the task to rebalance the market very seriously. Last week, Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, issued a joint statement, saying that Our two nations remain firmly committed to achieving the goal of market stability and expediting the rebalancing of the oil market. We are confident that our partners within OPEC+ are fully aligned with our goals and they will comply with the OPEC+ agreement. Story continues By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com The 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe is just one example of a vehicle shoppers could purchase as part of these programs. Hyundai Motor America has provided a lot of initiatives throughout the events that have been affecting the country over the past few months, including its Job Loss Assurance program, which offered peace of mind for recent or prospective new car buyers with the heightened risk of losing their job. Now, HMA is enhancing its Military and First Responders programs to benefit those on the frontlines. During the time of this enhancement, any active or retired member of the military, any active first responder, healthcare worker or hospital employee, or a spouse of any of the aforementioned will receive $1,000 toward the purchase of any new Hyundai vehicle. The offer became valid earlier this week on May 18 and will remain so until June 1. In addition, Coastal Hyundai is offering the Healthcare Hero Program, an offer that is good through May 31st. This program is good for any Hyundai vehicles that are from the 2017 model year or newer and provides a 1.89% annual percentage rate for 84 months with no payment for 120 days, pending approved credit. Those eligible to benefit from the Healthcare Hero Program include employees of blood banks, hospitals, nursing homes or assisted living, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Florida Highway Patrol, the Department of Corrections, Department of Homeland Security, the sheriffs office or the police department, as well as firefighters, paramedics and EMTs. Those interested in taking advantage of these deals can find the dealerships inventory of new Hyundai vehicles on its website, http://www.coastalhyundai.com. Any questions about these programs can be directed to the sales team at Coastal Hyundai, reachable at 321-878-8927. Coastal Hyundai is located at 915 New Haven Avenue in Melbourne. The Supreme Court Thursday sought Uttar Pradesh governments reply on a batch of pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict which upheld the states decision to keep higher cut-off marks for the appointment of 69,000 assistant basic teachers. The top court asked the state government to explain through a chart detailing the vacancies and the chronology of events in the process which was undertaken for the appointments. A bench of Justices U U Lalit, MM Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran which initially declined to interfere with the high court verdict later modified its order and issued notice to the state government and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6. It asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain as to why it changed the earlier criteria of 45 per cent cut-off marks for the general category and 40 per cent for the reserved category. The bench sought a detailed reply before July 6. The top court said the matter required detailed hearing as there were many parties to the litigation and it would be better if the pleas are adjourned till open court hearings resume. Several petitions, including those by individuals and Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Association, have been filed challenging the May 6 decision of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one Ram Sharan Mauraya, said that single bench order of the high court was in their favour but the division bench order went against them. He said cut-off marks cannot be fixed after the exam is over as they have to be decided before the examinations are conducted and therefore the process was wrong. Rohatgi said the issue also deals with nature of contract and changes made regularly in the appointment process. He said that after the examination on January 6, 2019, the cut-off was made 65 per cent for the general category and 60 per cent for the reserved category, from the earlier 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. To this, the bench told Rohatgi that due to cut-off some of Shiksha Mitras examinees were not able to qualify but the point is some of them did not even have the required marks. The senior lawyer said that salary of Shiksha Mitras is very less and if the cut-off marks is fixed at 45 per cent for general category and 40 per cent for reserved category, then many more people will get the chance. The bench said it would like to hear the matter at length as there are too many counsels appearing in the matter and it would not be possible through video conferencing. It then adjourned the matter for further hearing after the open court hearing resumes and refused to pass any interim order or status quo. Senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, CA Sundaram and other lawyers, appearing for another set of Shikhsa Mitras, objected to the adjournment and said that court should hear it now as it is an important issue impacting lakhs of people. Dhavan said the exam results should be recalculated and re-computed on the basis of the earlier cut-offs. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, as to why were the rules and criteria changed after the examination was held. Mehta said that he needs to take instruction on the issue but these people (Shikhsa Mitras) want to ride on the back of meritorious candidates. The bench said that Mehta should file the reply before July 6. The high courts final verdict of May 6 this year had paved the way for completing the process for appointment of 69,000 assistant basic teachers in Uttar Pradesh. It had directed the state government to complete the process of appointment within the next three months. The process is almost already complete on the strength of the interim directions of the division bench issued on May 29, last year and only result is to be declared finally. The division bench has set aside the single bench order that had quashed the government order by which it had fixed the criteria of 65 per cent qualifying marks for general category candidates and 60 percent for reserved category candidates for appointment as basic teacher. The single bench had said that the minimum cut-off marks would be 45 per cent for general and 40 per cent for reserved candidates. On July 25, 2017, the top court had asked the state government to cancel the recruitment of 1,37, 517 teachers on the post of TET Assistant Teacher but give them the benefit of experience in two recruitment process. Six months later, on January 17, 2018, the government had issued the order for the written examination for the assistant teachers posts for the first time to hire 69,000 teachers. Six months ago, Talia Khattak, 20, was just a regular student in Pakistan. She was happily focused on pursuing a degree in computer science and taking care of her middle-aged father, who had raised her as a single parent. But now she is campaigning to be reunited with him. Idris Khattak, a human rights campaigner and political activist, was picked up by unidentified men in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last November. He is believed to have joined the thousands of victims of forced disappearances in Pakistan whose fate he had researched for global human rights watchdogs. This will be our first Eid without my father, Talia said in a recent video, referring to the Muslim festival of Eid Al-fitar, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Not a day goes by that we dont miss him. We have been to the police. We have filed a case in the court, but nobody is telling us anything. Talia is particularly worried about her 56-year-old father because he is diabetic and needs regular medical care. I appeal to [Pakistani] Prime Minister Imran Khan, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, human rights organizations, and the public to help us, she said. We want justice. Recalling their last meeting, Talia says that a day before his disappearance on November 13 they discussed her long train journey from Islamabad to the southern seaport city of Karachi. He was reluctant to let me take the train. The railways are not safe, he had said, and that he had a bad feeling, she wrote in a recent op-ed. We reached a compromise that he would call me every hour to check on me. The next day, she hadnt heard from her father by the time the train reached the eastern city of Lahore, a five-hour journey. Puzzled, I called him. He answered to say he was very busy and that he would be staying with his friends for a few days, she wrote. He also added, strangely, that his phone was almost out of battery and he had left his charger at home. Not feeling worried, she spent the next few days planning a celebration for her fathers birthday. It was November 18, a day before Papas birthday. I was catching a train when a university mate sent me a text message saying my father had been abducted five days ago, she told Radio Mashaal. I was devastated. My [extended] family already knew about his kidnapping, but they were hoping he would return before I did. Six months later, there are still no definitive answers about Khattaks whereabouts. A week after his disappearance, Amnesty International (AI) called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Idris Khattak and other people who have been disappeared, or produce them in a civilian court to be charged. Khattaks driver was released a day after his disappearance. In a sign that the disappearance was not criminally motivated, no one has demanded ransom for his release. But a police investigation has gone nowhere. Talia says her father was probing key human rights issues before his disappearance. He was worried a few days before his disappearance but did not tell us much, she said. I am sure his disappearance is related to his work. Khattak had consulted for AI and probed forced disappearances by the security forces in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The region bordering Afghanistan is now merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was a main theater of Taliban violence between 2003 and 2014. Khattak had also probed abuses in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where activists claim thousands have disappeared amid a separatist insurgency. Talia says her father is a compassionate man who raised two daughters on his own. She was 6 and her sister was 9 when he and their Russian mother separated. Papa never made us miss our mom, she said. He used to make us breakfast, change our clothes, and comb our hair before dropping us at school. He always strove to build a bright future for me and my sister. Following months of appeals to officials and lawmakers, Talia finally reached the courts. In January, she filed a habeas corpus case in the Peshawar High Court, the top court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While the court ordered the authorities to locate Khattak, there has been no progress. We nominated the Pakistani government and its eight security agencies, her lawyer, Tariq Afghan told Radio Mashaal. Three of them told the court that Idris Khattak is not in their custody. Five others have not submitted their response. Case hearings have now been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. As in many other cases about forced disappearances, it is unclear why thousands have gone missing and are not tried for their alleged crimes. Talia is consumed with worry about her fathers fate. I want him back. With the help of social media, we are finally finding our voice, she said, alluding to her use of Twitter and other social media platforms to try to find her father. Her campaigning has resonated. On May 21, AI launched a new campaign for Khattaks release. Few punishments are as cruel as enforced disappearances and not knowing the whereabouts and fate of their loved one is a source of immense pain and anguish for Mr. Khattaks family, read a letter from AI to Prime Minister Khan. Enforced disappearances have long been a stain on Pakistans human rights record. Earlier, Human Rights Watch called on Islamabad to seriously investigate Khattaks disappearance. Pakistans security forces have long been implicated in enforced disappearances, carried out with impunity, the organization said in a May 4 statement. Either charge or release people held in illegal secret detention centers, and hold those responsible to account. But previous appeals to provide answers to families of victims in Pakistan have not ended forced disappearances, which began in Balochistan after a separatist insurgency emerged two decades ago. Suspected Baluch separatists and alleged Islamist militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere were kept in indefinite detention by Pakistani spy and security forces. In recent years, members of political parties, sectarian groups, bloggers, and other activists have also been forcibly disappeared. The Pakistani authorities maintain claims of the numbers of forced disappearances are exaggerated and that not every missing person is in government custody. The government-appointed Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances says it has solved more than 4,000 cases out of more than 6,500 cases of suspected forced disappearance since 2011. There are over 2,000 unsolved cases we are currently working on. Idris Khattaks case is not among them because we do not have him in our registry, Farid Ahmad Khan, secretary of the commission, told Radio Mashaal. A human rights organization, the United Nations, or a family member has to register his case with us first. But finding victims of forced disappearances such as Khattak still remains a journey in the dark. Last year, Shireen Mazari, the human rights minister, said her Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) political party had been working to criminalize forced disappearances. PTI lives up to its human rights commitments, she tweeted with the news in January 2019. But in its 2019 report on Pakistan, AI recorded little improvement. In some cases, persons are openly taken into custody by the police or intelligence agencies, and families trying to find out where they are held are denied information, it noted. Some victims are eventually released or their whereabouts are disclosed to their families. Talia hopes they will be among the lucky few whose loved ones have returned. Papa taught us to be brave and optimistic, she said. I sleep every night in hope of a morning that will bring him back. Since the age of 18, Collin Whitney says his dream has been to own a gym for powerlifters like himself. In September, he opened PWRBLD in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, only to have to close the business when the coronavirus pandemic struck. On Monday, Whitney reopened his gym despite Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's stay-at-home orders requiring all nonessential businesses such as his to remain shuttered. Whitney, now 30, said he took action less out of defiance and more out of desperation. "What's the alternative? It's open up and try, or just sit back and see it all go away anyway," Whitney told ABC News, adding that his overhead costs, including rent and utilities, is about $8,500 a month. "The last month of bills across the board have been paid right out of my personal account. My personal savings is just dwindling down to all but nothing." As some stay-at-home orders across the country remain in place and reopening plans roll out slowly, business owners like Whitney and individuals fed up with the government response to the pandemic are taking matters into their own hands against the advice of public health officials who argue they could trigger a spike in cases and in turn delay the economic reopening further. Numerous protests have erupted around the country in recent weeks involving many demonstrators who are unemployed due to the economic collapse brought on by the virus. Organizers say they are defying stay-at-home orders to demand the economy be restarted. Others have held religious services in defiance of government orders. The acts of protest have garnered support from conservative politicians and pundits among others, who argue that governors, mainly Democratic, have overreached their authority. President Trump, for instance, in April issued a series of "LIBERATE" tweets directed at Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia. He has also repeatedly emphasized the need not to make the effects of the economic shutdown worse than the virus itself and pushed states to reopen. Story continues Risk of transmission These acts of civil disobedience, lauded and criticized in different corners, have elicited harsh words from some medical experts. "They're obviously putting themselves at risk and putting others at risk of transmission. So my proposal is: if you're so sure of your need to go to a tattoo parlor or a bowling alley or get a haircut, then sign a pledge that says, 'If I get sick, I'll forego medical treatment if it's scarce," Dr. Arthur Caplan, founding director of the division of medical ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, told ABC News. PHOTO: Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith does pushups outside the storefront in Bellmawr, N.J., May 18, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP) ''Liberty is one thing but it comes with responsibility," Caplan added. "What's going on here is people have what I'll call an eighth-grade view of liberty, like 'I can do what I want. That's what liberty means.' It doesn't. We're not supposed to be able to endanger others or cause harm to others. If you cause an outbreak and you're sick, I think you should be willing to say, 'I'll pay the price for my choices.'" But Whitney said he has gone "above and beyond" what is required to keep people safe in his gym. He said he has restricted the number of members in his 3,000-square-foot workout facility to 10 at a time, requiring each to use hand sanitizer, to socially distance while working out and to wipe down equipment before and after use. Whitney said he is not requiring members to wear masks while working out. ''If there was another way, I would probably try to extend it (staying closed) a little bit further. But when you're pushed to the edge, I refuse to set back and allow it to fail," said Whitney, adding that he's been waiting for weeks to hear whether his application has been approved for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The federal government's COVID business assistance programs as well as state unemployment systems have been plagued with problems. While he feared the local police would bring the hammer down on him, he said that as of Wednesday no law enforcement officers had shown up to shut him down. 'Everybody be safe' Just over the Delaware River from Whitney's gym, another workout facility became a rallying point. More than 200 people showed up to support the reopening of Atilis gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, on Monday by waving American flags and chanting "U.S.A! U.S.A.!" as the doors opened at 8 a.m. Gym owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti said they, too, restricted the number of members inside the center and put in place social-distancing and sanitation rules, including making masks mandatory, in an attempt to keep people safe. At 10:30 a.m., a group of Bellmawr police officers arrived. Doors of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr now open to cheers, in defiance of state orders. pic.twitter.com/BtuMVpg5hP Katherine Scott (@KScott6abc) May 18, 2020 "You are formally in violation of the executive order," an officer, wearing a face mask told Smith and Trumbetti. After handing the owners a $2,000 citation for violating the rules, the same officer then spoke to the crowd outside the gym. "We are ... only here for everybody's safety today," the officer said as the crowd quieted down. "We plan for the worst and hope for the best and it seems like that's what we have out here today. Normally, you are all in violation of the executive order. On that note, have a good day. Everybody be safe." As the officers walked away, the crowd burst into wild cheers, and Smith celebrated with an impromptu push-up contest with a gym member. PHOTO: Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith stands outside the gym in Bellmawr, N.J., May 18, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP) Prior to reopening, Trumbetti posted an emotional video on Facebook to address those who have criticized him and Smith as being selfish and not taking the threat of this virus seriously. He revealed his mother is non-responsive in a hospital with coronavirus, which has infected more than 150,000 people in New Jersey and killed more than 10,000, including 286 in Camden County where Bellmawr is located. "So I get to sit and wait and cannot even go see my mother as she's dying," Trumbetti said in the video. "So trust me when I'm saying, I take this more seriously than probably almost anybody you know." But New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he was disappointed to hear the gym opened in violation of his stay-at-home orders and that he planned to make his displeasure known to the owners without causing "World War III." "If you show up at that gym tomorrow there's going to be a different reality," Murphy said during his coronavirus news conference on Monday. When the gym opened again on Tuesday morning, police returned and handed both Smith and Trumbetti a second $2,000 citation. But the owners said they will not be deterred. "I will not close my doors again unless I'm behind bars," Trumbetti told a crowd of supporters Tuesday morning. "And I guarantee you this door will be open every single day." PHOTO: A gym goer is taken into custody outside Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, N.J., May 19, 2020. (Matt Rourke/AP) At least one person was detained by police after leaving the gym and having a verbal exchange with an officer, according to ABC Philadelphia station WPVI-TV. The gym was closed Thursday morning after the state Department of Health issued a notice to the owners overnight shuttering the facility, writing it does not believe Atilis Gym or any business can "set their own divergent health measures, done without approval of the State and its health officials." Cluster of COVID-19 cases In recent days, business owners and patrons, and even churches across the country have become more emboldened about broaching restrictions set by government with mixed results. --In Owosso, Michigan, 77-year-old barber Karl Manke reopened his shop this month in violation of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" orders, which are in effect until May 28. Despite having his professional license suspended by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Manke is continuing to give haircuts. Armed members of the Michigan Militia showed up to guard the front door of Manke's business in case police showed up to shut him down, but officers never appeared. On Wednesday, The Michigan Conservative Coalition organized a protest dubbed "Operation Haircut" in support of Manke by giving free haircuts on the lawn outside the capitol building in Lansing. Despite having his license suspended, Manke gave free haircuts at the protest while wearing a mask and spoke to the crowd from the steps of the capitol building, saying, "I feel I have been denied my livelihood by this governor. Her actions are wrong. This is not a police state. I refuse to live in a police state. I will not stand down." PHOTO: Barber Karl Manke, of Owosso, gives a free haircut on the steps of the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing, Mich., May 20, 2020. (Paul Sancya/AP) -- Dallas hairstylist Shelly Luther was jailed this month for keeping her business, Salon a la Mode, open despite multiple warnings, a citation, a cease and desist letter and a restraining order. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whose executive orders were allegedly violated by Luther, criticized a judge for sending Luther to jail, saying in a statement that "surely there are less restrictive means to achieving that goal than jailing a Texas mother." Luther said in an interview on ABC's "The View" that she decided to reopen because her employees were telling her that they were about to go do business underground. "I decided to open because it's not safe for them, obviously, to be going to people's houses, for them or their clients," Luther said. "I just felt like if I opened ... I could create a sterile environment and make it at least a lot safer and follow CDC guidelines and regulations. I really didn't want to be the reason why they weren't making money." --In Castle Rock, Colorado, the owners of C&C Coffee and Kitchen reopened against Gov. Jared Polis' "Safer at Home" orders only for a video to surface on social media showing dozens of unmasked patrons filling the business to celebrate Mother's Day. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment immediately ordered the restaurant to close and suspended its retail food license. The owners of the business, April and Jesse Arellano, did not respond to request for comment from ABC News, but in an interview with Denver station KCNC-TV, Jessie Arellano was unapologetic about reopening, saying, "We figured if we're going to crash, we're going to go down and see how many people stand with us." He also expressed skepticism about data government leaders and scientists have released about the virus, saying, "The projection said 100,000 people are going to die in April. That didn't happen. The numbers you know, they keep going down and you know, we keep getting more restrictive it seems backward to me." --In Los Angeles, authorities say an underground economy has opened up against Mayor's Eric Garcetti's "Safer at Home" orders with hairstylists, manicurists, pet groomers, tattoo artists and personal trainers covertly doing business. During an April 22 news conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said his department had issued 1,700 complaints against nonessential businesses illegally operating. Some acts of defiance have come with health consequences. --Earlier this month, the Pasadena Public Health Department announced that a cluster of COVID-19 cases was traced to a birthday party in the Southern California city. The party was held in violation of Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home orders, which forbids large gatherings. --In Northern California, public health officials in Butte County notified more than 180 people last week that they may have been exposed to the coronavirus at a May 10 religious service held in violation of the state's stay-at-home orders. Some acts of defiance have turned violent, particularly confrontations sparked by individuals refusing to wear protective masks. --On Friday, a man police say was turned away twice for refusing to wear a mask at a Waffle House in Aurora, Colorado, was arrested for allegedly chasing the eatery's cook outside and shooting him after slapping the victim and threatening, "I'll blow your brains out," according to an affidavit obtained by ABC affiliate station KMGH-TV in Denver. The suspect, Kelvin Watson, 27, was charged with attempted murder while the cook is expected to recover. --On May 1, two brothers were captured on surveillance video at a Van Nuys, California, Target store fighting with security guards trying to escort them out of the store for not wearing masks. The brothers, ages 31 and 29, were arrested on felony battery charges, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. --One of the most violent encounters over masks also occurred on May 1 at a Flint, Michigan, Family Dollar store when security guard Calvin Munerlyn was gunned down after he ordered a woman to leave the store for not wearing a mask. The woman returned with her husband and son, who allegedly ended up shooting Munerlyn to death. Inconsistency in messaging Karen Kendrick, an assistant sociology professor at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut, told ABC News that the many acts of civil disobedience appear to be fueled by a growing mistrust of government leaders who have shared information about the virus and the best practices for guarding against it only to be contradicted by rapid development in the scientific study of the novel virus. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initially recommended people to not wear masks only to later advise people to wear them. Some models projecting the number of deaths and infections have proven to be wrong, although some government leaders have said the toll decreased because many people have stuck to social-distancing directives to flatten the curve of infection. MORE: 'Incomprehensible': Confrontations over masks erupt amid COVID-19 crisis Each state has developed vastly different guidelines for reopening the economy, with some mandating reopenings be based on consistent declines in the number of deaths, infections, and hospitalizations while others have opened despite increases in the data. All 50 states and Puerto Rico have begun easing restrictions, but none appears to have experienced a 14-day decline in cases, one of the criteria set forth in White House guidelines for reopening, according to an ABC News analysis. President Trump, who has yet to be seen in public wearing a mask, has tweeted support for open-the-economy protesters even though many have defied best practices recommended by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. PHOTO: Demonstrators protest in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 15, 2020, demanding the re-opening of the state and against Governor Tom Wolf's shutdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images) ''Any public health researcher is going to tell you that the most important thing in any public health message is consistency. And our federal government has completely failed in its consistency. And if you compare state to state, there's tremendous inconsistency," Kendrick said. "So, of course, the public is not feeling confident and that's been really, to me, the biggest heartbreak of this whole thing because we could have had much better messaging and we wouldn't be in the place we are in right now. "If the government says, 'We don't know,' or contradicts itself, then that is a message that no one knows," Kendrick said. ''It's sort of classic sociology: what makes society work, in part, is that human beings trust the social rules and so if the social rules are breaking down there's nothing left to trust.'' 'Even disease gets politicized' Pamela Oliver, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin, told ABC News that polarizing partisan politics in the United States is inspiring some of the backlash against stay-at-home orders and reopening restrictions. "Even disease gets politicized and people are deciding that the infection rates are a political object," Oliver said. She said that even wearing masks have become a political statement. MORE: Prospect of reopening amid COVID-19 crisis has some restaurateurs balking "It's either a political statement that you have communal instincts and want to help protect the community and believe that we should all be taking steps to stop disease, or not wearing a mask is a sign that you're standing up to oppression or something. It's very odd," Oliver said. Oliver also said that conservative groups have organized many of the demonstrations and have apparently taken advantage of the confusion over the virus to push their own agendas and support for Trump, noting that many have been seen at rallies carrying banners and posters advocating the president's reelection. MORE: COVID-19 cluster traced to Southern California birthday party: Health department "The mantra is open the economy, that the restrictions are silly," Oliver said. "People are legitimately worried about the economy and worried about jobs. But there's another level saying, what they really mean by opening the economy is forcing other people to go back to work so they don't have to be paid unemployment insurance, they don't get subsidies, they can be forced to work for low wages to meet the needs of other people." Kendrick noted that many open-the-economy protesters have expressed a need for services they miss like getting a haircut or eating out in a restaurant, pleasures once taken for granted. ''Even though a lot of people are supporting the protests because they are afraid of the economic implications going on, many of the protesters themselves don't really seem to be motivated by that," Kendrick said. "They're motivated by that longing of, 'I want my life to go back to normal.''' What to know about the coronavirus: How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis. Coronavirus lockdowns spark acts of resistance despite warnings of health consequences originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Though many Americans are growing anxious to resume business as usual, mass protests demanding states "reopen" reflect relatively fringe views, with nationwide polling showing that a majority of Americans fear that reopening their states during the coronavirus pandemic could put them at risk of infection. While nearly ever state begins to ease restrictions and begin returning American life to "normal" following weeks of business closures, more than 80 per cent of Americans are worried about infecting themselves or their families, according to a May survey from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago. Roughly 54 per cent of respondents are "very or extremely worried" about reopening spiking infections, while another 29 per cent are "somewhat worried" about the risk. But even as respondents begin considering lifting some restrictions after several weeks of quarantines across the US, half of respondents say that a vaccine is essential before pre-pandemic public life can resume. Echoing results from previous surveys during the "lock-down" period, most respondents said they believe restriction measures have been appropriate. More than half of respondents agreed with the restrictions, while another 27 per cent said they don't go far enough. Only 18 per cent of respondents disagree with the mandates, and 16 per cent said they're not concerned at all about infections. The nationwide poll of 1,056 adults was conducted between 14-18 May. Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Show all 11 1 /11 Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A demonstrator shouts next to two masked security guards at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan during a protest against stay-at-home orders AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed members of a milita group at the state Capitol building in Lansing, Michiga, during a protest against coronavirus lockdown measures REUTERS Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester at the state Capitol in Lansing holds a sign comparing Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer to Adolf Hitler during a demonstration against coronavirus lockdown measures AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan An armed protester takes part in a demonstation against lockdown measures at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AP Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a sign saying 'Bill Gates is evil' at a demonstration against stay-at-home orders at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan. Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and a billionaire philanthropist, has warned of the dangers of viral pandemics AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Protesters take part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against stay-at-home orders AFP/Getty Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a pro-Trump sign at a demonstration against lockdown measures outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan Armed protesters take part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester holds a sign reading 'Every job is essential, get workers back to work safely now' during a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan over lockdown measures AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester with a US flag painted on her face takes part in a demonstration at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan against lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic AFP via Getty Images Armed protests against stay-at-home coronavirus measures in Michigan A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask holds up a sign reading 'Stay Free' during a demonstration against lockdown measures at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan AP Support for restrictions overall has slipped within the last month, down from 80 per cent in April to 62 per cent in May, but the report shows that the changing attitudes among Republicans mirroring demands from right-wing protests and GOP leadership that have caused the numbers to dip slightly. Republican support for stay-at-home measures dropped from 76 per cent in March to 45 per cent in May. Results fell largely along partisan lines three-quarters of Democratic respondents believe it's essential to wear face coverings before restrictions are lifted, while only 37 per cent of Republicans agree. Overall, nearly 60 per cent of respondents support mandates for face coverings, which have become libertarian flashpoints. Majorities of respondents from both parties also believe people who have been exposed to the virus should be quarantined. EDWARDSVILLE Officials announced Madison County would roll out mobile COVID-19 testing starting next week. We will be setting up mobile testing sites as early as next week, Director of Public Health Toni Corona said. Chairman Kurt Prenzler announced during the County Board meeting that the county had been working on a plan this past week to increase the availability of testing for the underserved, low-income and minority communities. He said County Board member Ray Wesley of Godfrey, and chair of the Health Department Committee, and Corona worked together with Southern Illinois Health Care Foundation, SIU School of Medicine and Lewis and Clark Community College to bring the program forward. We received confirmation (Wednesday) afternoon that the mobile COVID-19 testing unit can travel to underserved areas in the county, and do drive-through or walk-up testing, Prenzler said. We need to do all we can to support such a program as it will help those who are underserved. Corona said that SIHF is set to start in Alton next week. She said that in the near future the testing would expand into other communities such and Madison, Venice and Collinsville. Prenzler said Dr. Jerry Kruse, who is the dean of the SIU School of Medicine, offered to train staff and volunteers for the mobile testing unit and LCCC offered to lend its mobile health unit. I think this is truly a win-win for our county, Prenzler said. Wesley thanked Ed Hightower, vice chair of SIU Board of Trustees, for helping to facilitate a meeting between the school of medicine and Corona. Board members Gussie Glasper of Venice, Michael Doc Holliday of Alton and Victor Valentine of Edwardsville also gave input in helping secure locations in the underserved, low-income and minority communities. I am thankful to all those involved, as its much needed and much appreciated, Glasper said. Prenzler said hes appreciative of the work done by Wesley and Corona as well as Kruse, LCCC Trustee Kevin Rust and LCCC Interim President Dr. Lori Artis. Its been a truly collaborative effort and Im excited to see this rolled out, Prenzler said. Corona said she is happy with the partnerships. Working with these agencies and what weve identified is that we still have a problem in communities where people dont have transportation or are medically underserved, Corona said. She said mobile testing for COVID-19 is unique and getting testing to those special areas within the countys population is a good thing. She said the health department would also be evaluating items and associated costs and hopes to use minimal resources for the program. We will be doing our best to be responsible and resourceful, she said. As we start to open up and people are moving around, this program will allow us to target areas for testing. CALGARYAn independent review has found the Calgary Board of Education focuses too much on protecting individual members and not enough on its broader mission and long-term finances. Overall, the findings are indicative of an organization that has undergone turmoil at the governance level with a focus on process over function and a short-term view of financial sustainability, accounting firm Grant Thornton wrote in a report released Thursday. Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange issued a ministerial order, effective immediately, based on 19 recommendations in the report. They include hiring a minister-approved governance instructor and evaluating ways to reduce risks associated with the pricey headquarters building the board leases in downtown Calgary. It also recommends the board consider eliminating all half days to save on transportation costs and do an updated salary survey. The overall findings lead me to believe that there is a dire need for improvement, said LaGrange. Perhaps the most concerning of all is the finding that the boards short-term view focused more on protecting individuals on the board rather than fulfilling their overall mission. LaGrange said the board has until Nov. 30 to meet all recommendations, or trustees will be fired. She said its a realistic target, even as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps schools shuttered. The minister added she debriefed with trustees Wednesday and they have already begun to act. The Calgary Board of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment. LaGrange ordered the $125,000 financial audit and governance review of the provinces biggest public school board last fall. She said at the time that she was disappointed the board announced it would lay off more than 300 contract teachers instead of working with her ministry to find other ways to cover a $32-million budget shortfall. The teacher cuts were averted after the province allowed a $15-million infrastructure and maintenance renewal grant to be repurposed. At the time, LaGrange accused the board of reckless misuse of taxpayer dollars. She pointed to its decision to enter into an expensive 20-year lease for its new head office almost a decade ago as an example. The Grant Thornton report did not use language nearly that strong to describe the improvements it said should be made. It highlighted some things the board has done well, such as keeping maintenance and planning costs in line with other big city school boards and having appropriate procurement practices. Sarah Hoffman, the NDP Oppositions education critic, said the review is about finding someone else to blame for education cuts made by the United Conservatives government. About 5,000 new students are expected to attend CBE schools next year and their total funding is still less than it was under the last NDP budget, she said in a statement. Read more about: UPDATED The chairman of the U.S. Senate education committee says he has a different interpretation than the head of the U.S. Department of Education of how much federal coronavirus aid should be available to private school students. But Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., also said that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos might have the authority to try to direct the money in the manner she has, and indicated he might take another look at the issue. In a Thursday remote press conference with reporters, Alexander also expanded on past comments hes made that testing will be the key to helping schools reopen after shutting down due to the coronavirus. Recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help, he said, but he stressed that different schools should be free to make independent decisions. Alexander also said schools should have protection against legal liability when they move to reopen, but that they shouldnt expect Congress to provide schools with a big infusion of more emergency aid in the very near future. Heres more on the split between Alexander and DeVos about that guidance: A few weeks ago, DeVos issued guidance for the CARES Act that, in essence, said that school districts should distribute the relief money to support all private school students in their attendance areas. Typically, under Title I of the Every Student Succeeds Act, only certain at-risk private school students are eligible for such money under whats called equitable services. (CARES stands for Coroanvirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.) The Education Department has said its guidance is based on the idea that CARES money is meant to help all students regardless of whether they attend public or private schools. But state and local education officials have publicly criticized the guidance, saying that its not the right interpretation of the relief law, and others have said the guidance is a thinly-veiled attempt to help private schools at the expense of public schools . On Thursday, when a reporter asked Alexander about whether he agrees with DeVos CARES Act guidance, the senator responded, I thought, and I think most of Congress thought, that money from the CARES Act would be distributed in the same way that Title I is distributed. That doesnt match DeVos guidance. Her departments position is that equitable services for private school students under the CARES Act is not bound by the rules of Title I. (Technically, equitable services benefit private school students and dont provide financial benefits directly to private schools themselves, but they still ultimately assist private schools, especially when their finances are being hit hard by the virus.) However, Alexander stopped short of saying that he thinks DeVos overstepped any boundaries by issuing that guidance. Congress has the power to nullify DeVos guidance, but the senatorwho is retiring at the end of his term in 2020did not indicate that he would support overturning her directive, which does not have the force of law. Later on Thursday, when asked about Alexanders response and whether she plan to revise or abandon the guidance, DeVos reiterated the departments position that CARES money is meant for all K-12 students who need assistance during the pandemic. She added that traditional public schools should work together with private schools to see what private school students need. In their latest relief bill thats not expected to become law, House Democrats included a provision that would overturn the guidance. How Schools Can Reopen Safely Alexander also weighed in on ways for K-12 schools to reopen, and said that making sure schools and colleges reopen later this year will be one of the most important factors in helping the country return to a sense of normalcy. As he did during a recent Senate committee hearing, Alexander stressed the importance of testing to ensure that schools can reopen safely, and he expressed confidence in the future ability of officials to gather critical information about the spread of the virus: There will be many more tests. Contact tracing will be better established. He said that because of state and union rules, K-12 might have less flexibility than colleges and universities when it comes to how they operate. But he also noted that recent CDC guidance that recommends, for example, that all school staff wear face masks, is not the law and need not be treated as such. And he said that he doesnt think the federal government needs to issue additional guidance to specify how much testing is necessary for schools to reopen. Such steps, he said, will be best determined by local education officials. A school in Wyoming and a school in rural Tenenssee and a school in Brooklyn are not going to be the same, Alexander said. After assessing their situations and figuring out the resources they require that they cant get for themselves, Alexander said, The colleges and the schools and the states should tell Washington what their needs are, and then Washington should fill in the gaps. The senator also said that he and his Republican colleagues will insist that in future COVID-19 relief legislation both K-12 and higher education receive legal protections when it comes to when and how they reopen. Alexander indicated he wasnt in a huge rush to pass a big new relief package for schools or other parts of society. School districts have been sounding the alarm for weeks about what they say is a looming collapse in state support for education, and how that loss of money will hit disadvantaged students and relatively poor districts especially hard. But Alexander said hes interested to see how effective CARES Act relief is before we appropriate more money. Photo: Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, speaks with reporters on Jan. 24, 2018 at the Capitol in Washington. --J. Scott Applewhite/AP Follow us on Twitter @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Politics K-12 reporters @EvieBlad @Daarel and @AndrewUjifusa . - Deputy President William Ruto has been operating within the East African region since February 2018 when he returned from the United Kingdom - The furthest he has gone since then is in Sudan where he reportedly went for private business in January 2020 - In December 2019, Ruto travelled to Uganda to lay a foundation stone for the construction of William Ruto's Institute of African and Leadership Studies at the Makerere University - On the other hand, President Uhuru had made at least 14 international trips between January 2018 and December 2019 - Where he has been unable to go personally, the head of state has been sending Cabinet Secretaries and ambassadors to represent him as Ruto remains within the borders Deputy President William Ruto has been operating within the East African region since February 2018 since he returned from a foreign trip in the United Kingdom. The furthest the deputy president has gone since then is in Sudan where he reportedly went for private business in January 2020. READ ALSO: Police arrest William Ruto's ally, arraigns him in court for distributing relief food William Ruto arriving in Mombasa accompanied by wife Rachel Ruto in a past local trip. Photo: William Ruto. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Watoto 13 wamefariki dunia kutokana ugonjwa wa kipindupindu, 550 wako hospitalini Ruto's other trip was in December 2019 when he travelled to Uganda where he laid a foundation stone for the construction of William Ruto's Institute of African and Leadership Studies at the Makerere University. Apart from the aforementioned trips, the DP, unlike President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga, has not made any other publicly known foreign travel- particularly outside Africa. READ ALSO: Kirinyaga: 22 quarantined after interacting with driver who tested positive for COVID-19 in Malaba For a man nursing the dream to become the next head of state, the limited foreign trips do not augur well with the reality of his aspiration. But why has Ruto not travelled abroad as much as one would expect an aspiring presidential candidate to do? Has he been restricted from within or without? Or is it a personal choice? Analysis: William Ruto failure to travel abroad since 2018 shows he's unwanted home and away Source: Facebook Communication expert and political commentator Mark Bichachi argued the deputy president had been restricted by the international community. According to Bichachi, his reputation has been tainted by corruption allegations and as such many foreign states, particularly in Europe, do not want to associate with him. "Ruto cannot be restricted to travel outside the county, he is the deputy president of this country. What I know is his corruption tag has made it impossible for him to travel because where will he go? Maybe in countries where they do not care about corruption like Russia. But even there he wait until he is invited," he told TUKO.co.ke in a phone interview. City lawyer Ahmednassir, however, observed Uhuru has been deliberately sidelining his deputy in crucial international meetings that require the DP to represent the country in the absence of the president. "The constitution is very clear that the deputy president is the principal assistant of the president. We, therefore, expect the DP to represents the president in international functions where he is unable to attend," he said during an interview on Citizen TV. Veteran journalist and political scientist David Makali disagreed with Ahmednassirs' views noting the head of state had the leeway to select who to represent him in local and international functions. "Grand Mullah just lied: nowhere does the Constitution say only the deputy can represent the president. And definitely the foreign affairs minister, any Cabinet minister or even a special envoy can represent the president at the AU he gave as an example or anywhere else," he said via his Twitter handle. Political analyst Gabriel Muthuma observed that foreign trips were crucial for a presidential candidate since they help one to establish international contacts and build diplomatic ties. "Foreign trips are crucial for a presidential candidate and I expect that Ruto knows that better. I believe there is a way he is working on that," he said in a phone interview with TUKO.co.ke. During his trip to the UK, Ruto gave a speech at Chatham University and was set to address African students at Warwick University before the trip was cut short by State House following communication that the president was heading to Ethiopia hence the DP was required to be in the country. In May and June 2018, Ruto organised a trip to Canada and the United States which was expected to take about a month. Preparations were made to the last stage only for the trip to be cancelled later on grounds that the president was also heading to Canada around the same time and it would not be good for the two leaders to visit the same country at almost the same time. President Uhuru Kenyatta has been using cabinet secretaries to represent him in international talks as opposed to sending his deputy. Photo: State House. Source: Facebook The DP was scheduled to meet senior government officials in Canada and the US. He was also set to meet Kenyans spread across 15 states of America. Reports indicate the meeting was rescheduled and the DP got new appointments from the two foreign countries but his plans were frustrated locally. Since then, Uhuru has been sending Cabinet Secretaries and ambassadors to meet with foreign heads of state or represent him in international meetings. Between January 2018 and December 2019, Uhuru made at least 14 international trips that raised eyebrows among Kenyans who trooped to social media to complain about his increased foreign trips. In January 2018, Uhuru travelled to Ethiopia for an AU summit before heading to Uganda for East Africa Community (EAC) summit in February. In March, Uhuru travelled to Rwanda for the 10th Extraordinary Session of the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit and later headed to Mozambique for a State visit. In April, the president went to the UK for a commonwealth meeting before heading to Canada for the G7 summit in June. In January 2019, the Kenyan leader kicked off the year with flying out of the country for the inauguration of Felix Tshisekedi as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He also visited Eritrea on January 23. In April 2018, Uhuru travelled to China where he sought to secure funding for the Naivasha-Kisumu standard gauge railway. In June the same year, the president went to Canada where he attended the 2019 Global Women Deliver Conference. In July, Uhuru visited Tanzania after being invited by President Pombe Magufuli at his rural home in Chato. In August 2019, Uhuru made a six-day trip in the Caribbean Islands of Jamaica and Barbados. He met with Barbados Prime Minister Andrew Holness and PM Mia Mottley respectively. A month later, the Kenya leader visited Singapore for a trade summit where he spoke about Kenya's economic growth. In October 2019, Uhuru flew to Japan to witness a Japanese cultural heritage and engage in other bilateral talks. All along, Ruto was operating within the Kenyan borders. In recent diplomatic engagements between Kenya and Ethiopia, the present sent Interior CS Fred Matiang'i to represent the countries in talks with her counterparts. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. My wife pushed me to marry another woman - Pastor Habil Were | Tuko Talks | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the US, announces Founder and CEO, Ronn Torossian, has been named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award in the Entrepreneur of the Year category in The 18th Annual American Business Awards. Ronn Torossian was also awarded a Bronze Stevie Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019 and has been recognized twice as PR Executive of the Year by The American Business Awards. "The American Business Awards are the most prestigious business awards in America and I'm honored to be recognized. This award is not only for me, but a testament to our team and client partners," said Ronn Torossian. "We remain committed to ensuring 5WPR remains at the forefront of the PR industry and look forward to an exciting second half of the year." The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. In total, there were more than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Startup of the Year, Executive of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year, and App of the Year, among others. More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners. "Despite the toughest business conditions in memory, American organizations continue to demonstrate their commitment to innovation, creativity, and bottom-line results," said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher. "This year's Stevie-winning nominations are full of inspiring stories of persistence, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and compassion. We celebrate all of their stories and look forward to showcasing them during our virtual awards ceremony on August 5." Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning "crowned," the awards will be virtually presented to winners during a live event on Wednesday, August 5. Tickets for the virtual event are now on sale. About Ronn Torossian Ronn Torossian is the founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States. With over 20 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth, overseeing more than 175 professionals in the company's headquarters in the iconic Helmsley Building in Manhattan. With clients spanning corporate, technology, consumer and crisis, in addition to digital marketing and public affairs capabilities, 5WPR is regularly recognized as an industry leader and has been named "PR Agency of the Year" by the American Business Awards on multiple occasions. Throughout his career, Torossian has worked with some of the world's most visible companies, brands and organizations. His strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a 2020 Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications, and is called on to counsel blue chip companies, top business executives and entrepreneurs both in the United States and worldwide. Torossian has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly on CNN & CNBC, was named to PR Week's "40 under Forty" list, is a contributing columnist for Forbes and the New York Observer, and his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations" is an industry best-seller. A NYC native, Torossian lives in Manhattan with his children. He is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and active in numerous charities. About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Sponsors of The 2020 American Business Awards include John Hancock Financial Services, Melissa Sones Consulting, and SoftPro. SOURCE 5W Public Relations Related Links http://www.5wpr.com Lancashire-based Neals Family Bakery has won an award from dating and social networking app Bumble. The family-run bakery won 5,000 in Bumbles competition to support small businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak. One of 10 winners, Neals Family Bakery was nominated for the Bumble Community Grant Award and chosen out of 2,500 UK applicants. The coronavirus pandemic had led to the closure of its cafe, which accounted for half of its annual turnover. It had to adapt and branch out into an online ordering service for contactless collection and delivery, in order to ensure the most vulnerable members of the local community had access to its products. The grant is facilitating the continuance of our business during these challenging times and contributing to the cost of our online ordering and delivery service. In an effort to future-proof our business, we have invested in glass screens, in order to create individual booths in our cafe. This will ensure we can provide effective social distancing facilities, as and when we are permitted to open, said Jane Neal, co-owner of Neals Family Bakery. The majority of the bakerys customer base is made up of an older demographic, who are at higher risk from the virus, it added. People in the community spoke highly of the business and how well it served its clients and took care of its staff. Neals has fostered an environment where its employees feel they can grow as individuals, creatives and a team, said a spokesperson from Bumble. Bumble is a free, women-first social networking app, with more than 80 million users across six continents. The Family, Walk In The Woods, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Its an eclectic selection on TV today with lovelorn whimsy, arctic vampires and mob comedies to choose from as TopFilmTip brings you the best films on TV today: Thursday, 21 May. Some films may require a Sky subscription. Living below gravitationally inverted parallel earth, amorous inventor seeks amnesiac soulmate in the whimsically surreal sci-fantasy curio Upside Down 4:50pm Sony Movies Quick-drawing snake hunter rescues missionaries from mortar slaughtering Burmese in lumpy, chunky, body-blasting fun Rambo 9:00pm Sony Movies An unusual take on the possessed teen trope when a priest on trial for murder defends his actions in The Exorcism of Emily Rose 9:00pm Horror Channel Bill Bryson and philandering friend attempt to trek 2,200 mile trail in juxtaposed odd couple adventure true story A Walk in the Woods 9:00pm Film4 Read more: Film released early to streaming The few survivors of vampire onslaught on Alaskan town battle blood-lusting baddies in axe-decapitating, JCB melee 30 Days of Night 10:00pm SyFy Universal The Gauntlet, poster, US poster, from left: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, 1977. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images) Lesser known action-packed, odd couple road movie when Clint Eastwood has to escort a Mob prostitute turned snitch in The Gauntlet 10:35pm ITV4 Gleefully brutal, joyously vicious mafia family pass time in witness protection bullying and bludgeoning rural French The Family 11:05pm Film4 Reduced to an inner monologue, a girl suffers bodily invasion and repeated punching from cave dwelling boys, for love in The Host (2013) 2:00am Channel 4 Everything new on streaming in May: Netflix UK: Mays new releases NOW TV: Mays new releases Amazon Prime Video UK: May's new releases Disney+ UK: May's new releases We Do Have Other Buyers For Our Grain: Aussie Barley Farmers in Response to China Tariffs Australian barley farmers are seeking to develop trade relationships with other countries as the Chinese regime levies heavy tariffs. On May 18 Chinas minister of commerce announced that after 18 months of investigations Australian barley imports will be charged an additional 73.6 percent anti-dumping tariff, and 6.9 percent subsidy charge. The Australian government and farmers reject these findings. Farmers have said the increase has made it economically impossible to sell into that market leaving a void worth an estimated $500 million. Barley producers in Western Australia (WA) will be most severely hit with the loss of trade into the Chinese market potentially coming up to $200 million. WA is the largest exporter of barley in Australia, which is the largest barley-exporting nation, according to WA Farmers Grains President Mic Fels. Fels said in a statement on May 20: For most farmers, it is now too late to reduce barley planting, so our focus now in the face of this decision is shifting to shoring up new premium paying markets for our grain. According to Fels, Australian barley farmers have a number of factors in their favour. Australian barley is well-known for being of the highest quality in the world, both for malting and as feed grain. Fels said that Australian growers have the highest quality standards and the most effective and compliant regulation system in the world, as well the lowest level of government intervention, and the most organised and efficient logistical supply chain delivering barley from the farms to the ports. Speaking to Farm Online, Nick Crundall, Market Checks head of strategy, said that in the international markets the Australian dollar is favourable and barley is competitively priced. We are about as cheap as anywhere at present so the export market is competitive into places like Saudi Arabia and south-east Asia, he said. Maintaining and Forging New International Trade Deals According to a report by the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre the top three barley importers excluding China are Japan (importing 700,000 tonnes), Saudi Arabia (importing 408,000 tonnes), and U.A.E (importing 210,000 tonnes). Australian barley exporters have been looking to develop trade with these countries. We do have other buyers for our grain, were not going to be cast out into the street, thats for sure, Fels said. Australia delivered over one million tonnes of barley to Saudi Arabia earlier this year. The agreement was made before the outbreak in Wuhan of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. Australia and Japans trade ministers met via video conference on May 18 and agreed not to impose prohibitions or restrictions on each other, and to uphold supply chain connectivity despite the impact of the CCP virus pandemic. A free trade deal is due to come into force with Indonesia in July. Indonesia has been a growing market for Australian goods and services which was worth $17.8 billion in 2018-19, making Indonesia Australias 13th largest trading partner. Indonesia is predicted to become the worlds fifth-largest economy by 2030. The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) have agreed on a trade partnership with Indonesia. This is a significant win for Victorian farmers and it will deliver real results for farmers across a wide range of commodities, include livestock, grains, dairy, and horticulture, said David Jochinke, VFF President. Australia has also been looking to grow its trade relationship with India, the worlds largest democracy. Two-way trade with India was worth $30.4 billion in 2018. Facebook FB stock surged over 6% to hit brand new highs Wednesday, as Wall Street gushes over its latest e-commerce push. The social media powerhouse announced on Tuesday its new mobile-first shopping experience called Facebook Shops that could help it compete against the likes of Amazon AMZN. Shops & More Mark Zuckerbergs firm announced in a blog post that its launching Facebook Shops, which it calls a mobile-first shopping experience where businesses can easily create an online store on Facebook and Instagram for free. The move comes as Facebook finds success with its Marketplace that competes against the likes of eBay EBAY and Craigslist. Shopping directly on Instagram has also become popular. Facebook Shops will allow users and businesses to essentially create a streamlined and pared down version of their e-commerce sites directly on Facebook and some of its other family of services. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers, Facebook wrote. The social media company said it was working with partners like Shopify SHOP, to give small businesses the support they need. Facebooks latest e-commerce push couldnt have come at a better time, with retailers around the world strugglingaside from giants like Walmart WMT and Target TGTduring the coronavirus pandemic. Analysts expect the free e-commerce offering to help boost and expand its core advertising business, as business big and small pay for exposure. Meanwhile, it will help Facebook start to compete within the expansive and booming e-commerce space alongside giants such as Amazon and smaller players like Etsy, Inc. ETSY. Other Fundamentals The nearby chart shows investors that Facebook has roared by its pre-coronavirus highs and is now up 60% since mid-March. FB hit a new intraday high of $231.34 Wednesday. Facebook stock has now doubled the broader tech space over the last two months to match stay-at-home standout Zoom ZM and easily top Netflix NFLX and Microsoft MSFT. Story continues Investors should also note that Facebook in April said it would pay $5.7 billion for roughly 10% of Indian telecom powerhouse Jio Platforms Ltd. The move is a bet on the massive Indian market (roughly 1.3 billion people), where FB already has over 400 million WhatsApp users. Were making a financial investment, and more than that, were committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India, Zuckerberg said in a post on his personal Facebook page. More recently, Facebook at the end of April impressed Wall Street with solid first quarter results. FBs daily active users climbed 11% to 1.73 billion, while its MAUs popped 10% to 2.6 billion. Both of these growth rates topped recent periods. Plus, overall engagement across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger increased as millions of people around the world are cooped up inside. This growth helped Facebooks Q1 revenue pop 18% to reach $17.74 billion. Meanwhile, its adjusted first quarter earnings soared over 100% from the year-ago period to hit $1.71 a share. Perhaps more importantly, FB executives calmed Wall Street nerves about its advertising sales during the coronavirus. FB said that we have seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been approximately flat compared to the same period a year ago. The coronavirus economic downturn and uncertainty are poised to continue to impact its ad business, which makes up roughly 98% of total revenue. Despite the expected downturn, as businesses cut back on spending, Facebook and its various platforms will remain highly attractive in an age where people pay not to see ads. Despite resting at new highs, FB stock is trading at 7.4X forward 12-month Zacks sales estimates. This marks a discount compared to its own one-year high of 8.4X and Microsofts 9.1X. Plus, Facebook sits on roughly $50 billion in cash and equivalentseven taking into account its Jio investment and its $5 billion FTC settlement, which took effect in April 2020 after Q1. Bottom Line Facebook is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) that sports B grades for Growth and Momentum in our Style Scores system. FB is also part of an industry that rests in the top 12% of our more than 250 Zacks industries. Some investors might want to wait for FB to cool off in the near-term, or wait to see how Q2its first full coronavirus quartershakes out. That said, longer-term investors could consider buying Facebook stock give its massive global reach, e-commerce expansion, and more. Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside? Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. See the pot trades we're targeting>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Target Corporation (TGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Walmart Inc. (WMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report eBay Inc. (EBAY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Etsy, Inc. (ETSY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Shopify Inc. (SHOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Air France flight crew members wearing protective face masks distribute face masks to passengers at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy-en-France during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France on May 6, 2020 Benoit Tessier/REUTERS The coronavirus pandemic has rapidly transformed the way we fly, if we're flying at all. Though air travel has seen a significant decrease, airlines have scrambled to implement new protective measures to make passengers and crew feel safe during the pandemic. Around the world, airlines are administering temperature checks, requiring passengers wear face masks, and implementing new ways to disinfect planes and terminals. Flying during the coronavirus pandemic is an entirely new experience. In a matter of months, the pandemic has significantly transformed the way airlines and passengers operate. Though air travel has seen a drastic decline, people around the world are still booking necessary flights, and airlines have had to implement new safety policies for customers and crew members. In most cases, wearing a face mask on flights has become customary. Thermal body scanners, electronic temperature checks, sanitation stations, and sweeping disinfection policies are just a few of the many new practices that have become commonplace in airports around the world. These photos show what it looks like to fly right now. The coronavirus pandemic has left airports looking eerily empty. In the US alone, air travel demand has fallen as much as 95%. A man looks at his phone as he stands alone in the empty hall of Guarulhos International Airport amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 19, 2020. Amanda Perobelli/REUTERS Source: Business Insider, LA Times In Brazil, an empty runway is seen at the Guarulhos International Airport on May 19. A few airplanes and luggage carts are seen at Guarulhos International Airport as air traffic is affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli The International Air Transport Association has previously warned that European airlines could see demand drop 55% this year. Here, empty luggage carts are seen in France, where travel restrictions have been strict. Empty luggage carts are pictured at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy-en-France during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France May 19, 2020. Charles Platiau/REUTERS Source: The New York Times, The Local Airport restaurants have been left abandoned, as well. In this photo, dining areas at the Hong Kong International Airport are completely shuttered. A general view of restaurants at the Hong Kong International Airport, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Hong Kong, China May 7, 2020. Tyrone Siu/REUTERS But people are still booking flights for necessary travel. In this photo at an airport in Spain, passengers are seen lining up six feet apart to check in at an otherwise empty terminal. Story continues Passengers queue upon arriving at the Adolfo Suarez Barajas Airport, after the Spanish government announced that from May 15th all people entering the country will have to go under quarantine for two weeks, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Madrid, Spain, May 15, 2020. Juan Medina/REUTERS Some airports have begun implementing social distancing by using labels across the floor that tell passengers where to stand while they check in for a flight, like these at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Stickers mark out social distancing spacing on the floor at the check-in queue for Air France, in Terminal 2 of Charles de Gaulle International Airport, amid France's gradual easing of its lockdown measures and restrictions during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Roissy near Paris, France May 14, 2020. Ian Langsdon/Pool via REUTERS At security, some airports have implemented thermal scanners that check a passenger's body heat, as a way to detect a fever. But about a quarter of coronavirus patients don't develop a fever, and many don't have symptoms at all. An airport official wears a 'Smart Helmet', a portable thermoscanner that can measure the temperature of passengers at a distance, at the Fiumicino airport, after Italy begun a gradual end to a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy May 6, 2020. Remo Casilli/REUTERS Sources: LA Times, Business Insider Thermal scanners were previously used in some airports during the SARS outbreak in 2003, and the Ebola scare in 2014. Rather than having airport personnel physically scan people before a flight, thermal scanners can monitor body heat on a television screen from a distance. A thermal scanner is seen as flights resume during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Riga international airport, Latvia May 18, 2020. Ints Kalnins/REUTERS Source: LA Times Many airports around the world are also administering temperature checks via electronic thermometers for both passengers and crew members. A pilot gets his temperature checked at a sanitary checkpoint, during a media tour to show sanitary measures taken against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Mariano Escobedo International Airport in Apodaca, Mexico May 18, 2020. Daniel Becerril/REUTERS While passengers wait to board the plane, many airports have created social distancing guidelines in terminals so people can be spaced apart from one another. Seats covered in social distancing markers are seen at the arrivals terminal as Israel's airport authority announced a pilot programme revealing what passengers leaving Israel should except as air travel gradually returns to normal after weeks of bare minimum flights due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Ben Gurion International Airport, in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel May 14, 2020. Ronen Zvulun/REUTERS Here, passengers at Charles de Gaulle are seen spaced out every other seat. Passengers, wearing protective face masks, wait to board an Air France flight to Mexico City in Terminal 2E at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy-en-France during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France, May 6, 2020. Benoit Tessier/REUTERS In many cases, airline workers have begun wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face shields, and hand sanitizing stations have been set up throughout airports. A man boards on a plane as flights resume during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Riga international airport, Latvia May 18, 2020. Ints Kalnins/REUTERS Source: Insider Some airlines, including Air France and American Airlines, are even giving out face masks to customers for free. Air France flight crew members wearing protective face masks distribute face masks to passengers at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in Roissy-en-France during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in France, May 6, 2020 Benoit Tessier/REUTERS Source: CNBC Others are giving out informational booklets and coronavirus kits on how to stay safe during the pandemic. A flight attendant displays information booklets as flights resume during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Riga international airport, Latvia May 18, 2020. Ints Kalnins/REUTERS Wearing a face mask on flights has become the new norm. Most major US and international airlines are recommending the use of a face mask, and the International Air Transport Association has said it supports the mandatory use of masks. Passengers wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak are seen on a China Eastern Airlines flight at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 19, 2020. Martin Pollard/REUTERS Source: Insider In some cases, flights have been left under-booked. In April, over half of flights in the US were canceled, and fewer than one in 10 seats were filled on some planes. Flight attendants talk in a nearly empty cabin on a Delta Airlines flight operated by SkyWest Airlines as travel has cutback, amid concerns of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a flight departing from Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. April 11, 2020. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo Source: The Guardian But as states and countries begin easing up on stay-at-home orders, flights are starting to become more crowded. A United Airlines flight from Newark to San Francisco is crowded with passengers in this picture obtained from social media May 9, 2020. Ethan Weiss/via REUTERS Source: Vox To protect passengers and crew members, disinfection has become a key step in the battle against the coronavirus. A member of Charles de Gaulle airport personnel nebulizes the interior of an Air France aircraft as part of a disinfection process for airplanes, at Terminal 2 of Charles de Gaulle International Airport, amid France's gradual easing of its lockdown measures and restrictions during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Roissy near Paris, France May 14, 2020. Ian Langsdon/Pool via REUTERS Airlines have been sending personnel in full PPE to clean off seats, and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. A member of Charles de Gaulle airport personnel nebulizes the interior of an Air France aircraft as part of a disinfection process for airplanes, at Terminal 2 of Charles de Gaulle International Airport, amid France's gradual easing of its lockdown measures and restrictions during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Roissy near Paris, France May 14, 2020. Ian Langsdon/Pool via REUTERS The same goes for airport terminals and check-in areas. Personnel members clean machines, in Terminal 2 of Charles de Gaulle International Airport, amid France's gradual easing of its lockdown measures and restrictions during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Roissy near Paris, France May 14, 2020. Ian Langsdon/Pool via REUTERS At the Hong Kong International airport, sanitation robots are being used to disinfect and kill the virus on frequently touched surfaces with ultraviolet light. An Intelligent Sterilization Robot (ISR), produced by TMiRob of China, uses UV light to sanitize, at a toilet, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Hong Kong International Airport, in Hong Kong, China May 7, 2020. Picture taken May 7, 2020. Tyrone Siu/REUTERS Source: LA Times Once passengers arrive, most countries recommend they self-quarantine for 14 days to keep from spreading the virus if they have it. A public health campaign advert is seen as passengers arrive from international flights at Heathrow Airport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in London, Britain, on May 10, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville Source: CDC Read the original article on Business Insider Gov. Kristi Noem said Thursday that its important to gain legal clarity on tribes' COVID-19 checkpoints because allowing them during the pandemic could set a precedent for that to happen far into the future in many other situations as well. But she did not answer whether a future situation shes concerned about is tribes blocking vehicles involved in the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. I would say that would be a great question for the tribes, Noem said. Spokesmen for the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes did not immediately return messages from the Journal. But the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe already has a law banning such vehicles from the reservation. All Keystone XL trucks and escort vehicles that drive onto our reservation (should) be turned around immediately, according to a tribal resolution cited in a June 2019 press release from Chairman Harold Frazier. That press release was sent after tribal police escorted a semi-truck off the reservation. Frazier and other tribal members said the truck was working for a contractor with TC Energy the company that's planning on building the pipeline but TC Energy said the truck has no relation to the company or pipeline. Construction for a workforce camp near Philip, which is around 85 miles east of Rapid City, and Baker, Montana, have already begun, the Associated Press reported on Thursday A photo of construction north of Philip was printed in the Pioneer Review, according to a photo of the May 7 paper posted to Facebook. The highways that the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes are monitoring connect to several potential construction sites of the proposed pipeline route, which skirts tribal lands, the AP says. But if TC Energy wants to build the pipeline it will have to win an appeal after a federal judge in Montana recently cancelled one of its permits. "We only use pre-approved routes and will not access any roads in or out of reservation areas, TC Energy spokeswoman Sara Rabern told the Journal when asked if the company is concerned about the checkpoints. Precedent comment Noems comment about precedent came after a reporter asked if she regrets issuing a 48-hour ultimatum to sue the Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux tribes that she never carried out. The governor said she doesnt regret it because its very important that we have clarity in this area to make sure that we are upholding the law and we know whose jurisdiction is in each situation that these checkpoints are in. With every action that we take and that the tribes take, theyre setting precedent, so we cant just look at this situation in a virus and a pandemic, Noem continued. If we allow checkpoints to shut down traffic in this situation then we are setting precedent for that to happen far into the future in many other situations as well. The Journal then asked if the future situation shes worried about is tribes blocking KXL vehicles. Noem responded that the pipeline is not crossing through tribal land but there could be vehicles that pass through these areas. That build will be happening in the coming months if things proceed the way that they are, Noem said about the KXL Pipeline. And Ive been long dedicated to to making sure that it is a peaceful build and that law and order is upheld. The tribes say the pipeline passes through lands promised to the Oceti Sakowin in now-broken treaties, and a spill could impact their water sources. And the Rosebud Sioux Tribe says the pipeline does cross land it owns mineral and surface rights to, according to a March 1 story by SDPB. Contact Arielle Zionts at arielle.zionts@rapidcityjournal.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to members of the news media while walking into his office on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 17, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) McConnell: Next Pandemic Stimulus Bill Wont Extend Enhanced Unemployment Benefits Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the next CCP virus bill will not extend enhanced unemployment benefits that entail an extra $600 per week. The benefits, which were included in the CARES Act passed in March, will not be in the next bill, he told other lawmakers in a conference call. More aid is likely necessary in the coming weeks as unemployment rates continue to rise, but the unemployment benefits wont continue, he stressed. Republicans are going to have to clean up the Democrats crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work, McConnell said. At the same time, he said House Democrats HEROES Act passed last week will not serve as a model for future aid packages. The HEROES Act would extend the $600 extra per week until Jan. 31, 2021. It is currently set to end on July 31. Now, Republicans will pause to evaluate the U.S. economy before a phase four stimulus package, the majority leader added in the call. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Hill that he also pushed President Donald Trump to agree to not extend the enhanced unemployment benefits. I asked him not to agree to that. That we cant. You can extend some assistance, but you dont want to pay people more unemployed than they made working, Graham said, but he added that Trump didnt necessarily say he would support ending the benefits. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) told the website on Wednesday that a reduction in unemployment benefits would lead to a catastrophe. President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka listen as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks during an event on supporting small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program in the East Room of the White House on April 28, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) There is broad agreement among economists that Congress needs to pass much more stimulus to help the economy recover, he said. Cutting back federal assistance at the height of the crisis would mean self-inflicted disaster, devastation, and additional deaths. That must not happen. McConnells comments come as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that its likely another stimulus package will have to be passed. Were going to carefully review the next few weeks, Mnuchin said in an interview with The Hill. I think there is a strong likelihood we will need another bill following the already approved $3 trillion were pumping into the economy. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, continues to suffer losses amid the pandemic closures. Another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the last week, said the Labor Department. It brings the total of those who filed for unemployment to 39 million in March. Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2020-21 state budget during a May 14 news conference in Sacramento. (Associated Press ) In mid-March, the California Legislature took the extraordinary step of going into recess at a key point in the session and heading home indefinitely to stop the spread of the coronavirus among lawmakers and staff. Before they left the Capitol, however, legislators agreed to give Gov. Gavin Newsom unrestricted access to $1.1 billion from the state's budget to use as he saw fit to respond to the crisis that was just beginning to unfold. This act of faith was the right decision for the moment. Legislators might have been stuck at home, but the governor spent his days in the state's emergency operations center, in the middle of a fast-moving disaster. He needed the ability to move quickly to ensure that hospitals, first responders and public health departments had the resources necessary to meet the anticipated surge of COVID-19 cases. There was some grumbling later about the governor's lackadaisical efforts to keep legislative leaders informed of what he was up to, but his results made those quibbles seem inconsequential. Coronavirus cases didn't overwhelm the healthcare system as many had feared, in large part due to the governor's quick action. In recent weeks, both hospitalizations and new confirmed cases have been decreasing to the point that businesses are reopening across the state and Californians are going back to work. The Legislature is back in session as well. The crazy days of the emerging crisis are settling into a more methodical approach to managing the pandemic. But the governor seems to have missed that shift. In his newly revised budget proposal, Newsom is requesting access to $2.9 billion more in emergency COVID-19 funds that would be exempt from the normal legislative oversight. During a hearing Monday, Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) questioned why the governor needed access to so much money with no strings attached now that the Legislature was back on the job. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office raised concerns too about the degree of budgetary autonomy being requested by the governor, warning that legislators should guard against ceding any of their constitutional authority. We agree. Story continues This is not to say we don't trust Newsom. We do, even though some of his pandemic deals raised a number of questions. California is fortunate to have a leader who has wielded the vast power granted to him by the state's Emergency Services Act with wisdom and judiciousness. The results of his leadership have been fewer deaths than probably would have occurred had he not had the ability to quickly issue executive orders and to spend money. But now that the state is moving from the emergency response phase into one of recovery, the governor needs to start sharing power again with the Legislature, as the state's constitution intends. That means no more COVID-19 blank checks. Assembly and Senate leaders must insist on maintaining their oversight role in COVID-19 spending in the next fiscal year. The only exception would be if another coronavirus wave happens after the Legislature adjourns for the year, at which point it may be appropriate to free up some emergency funds. The Legislature has legal authority to terminate the governor's emergency powers immediately through a vote in both houses. Two Republican lawmakers are calling on their colleagues to do so, arguing that Newsom has exceeded his authority. We dont agree that he has, or that it's time to declare the coronavirus emergency over. Despite the positive trend in hospitalizations and cases, were still in the middle of a crisis, and the governor still needs to be able to act rapidly through executive orders to, say, suspend laws or commandeer resources, should COVID-19 cases suddenly spike. That said, we don't like the idea of open-ended emergency declarations and would prefer to see some restrictions in place for the next pandemic or natural disaster. Some states' emergency power laws automatically terminate the governor's authority in 30 or 60 days unless an extension is approved by the Legislature. That seems like a reasonable middle ground. We were fortunate to have a governor making smart use of his power in this crisis, but that may not always be the case. During a Zoom chat with his sister and three brothers two of whom are also rabbis the siblings thought of the music video and worked together to write the lyrics for Pillow My Zillow, a two-minute rap song in which Teldon and his family don masks, dance around in the front yard and show off various features of the house. Customs officers seized 1,000 fake COVID-19 tests from a man's suitcase, the agency announced May 21. Customs and Border Protection Customs and Border Protection seized 1,000 fake COVID-19 test kits inside a man's suitcase, the agency announced Thursday. It's becoming a growing trend customs officers seized a similar haul in March of six bags filled with apparently counterfeit coronavirus tests. The federal government has launched a crackdown on counterfeit products, scams, and other fraudulent activity related to the pandemic, issuing warning letters in some cases and pursuing fraud charges in others. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Officers from the Customs and Border Protection agency recently seized 1,000 counterfeit COVID-19 tests stuffed inside the suitcase of a man traveling to Mexico, the agency announced Thursday. The agency said officers have seen a recent uptick in similar unapproved or fake products at the border. "Some appear to be exploiting the pandemic for financial gain, leaving the consumer at risk," CBP said in a statement. "These products may result in serious consequences to the consumer, whether that end user is in the United States or another country." It's not the first time the agency has busted apparently fake COVID-19 test kits. In March, customs officers at the Los Angeles International Airport seized six bags full of small bottles labeled "Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)" and "Virus1 Test Kit." The Customs and Border Protection agency said officers seized six bags of suspected counterfeit coronavirus tests. Customs and Border Protection The agency also announced Thursday that officers seized 1,000 masks, 2,740 mask filters, and 60 bottles of hand sanitizer from a woman at the Ysleta port of entry on May 17. "All of the products were found to lack proper registration, labeling, and did not comply with criteria set by the Food and Drug Administration," CBP said in a statement. The federal government has warned of a surge in counterfeit products, scams, and other fraudulent activity related to the coronavirus. The US Food and Drug Administration, for instance, has for months been sending warning letters to companies pushing bogus coronavirus "treatments," such as teas, tinctures, vitamins, supplements, or essential oils. Recently federal authorities arrested a New York man, alleging that he sold stolen coronavirus test kits to people for $200 and never provided any results. The Justice Department also pursued a similar case against the owner of a website that sold fake coronavirus test kits. Read the original article on Insider CHICAGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Advisor Group, a premier consulting firm, announced today a strategic partnership with CAC Specialty, an integrated specialty insurance brokerage and investment banking business. Together, CAC Specialty and Liberty Advisor Group are creating a leading-edge solution for insurance clients. This solution will enhance CAC Specialty's dedication to client service through a new real-time data analytics insurance platform. The new platform will allow clients to analyze real-time information, enable better execution of risk and financing decisions through the combination of quantitative and qualitative tools alongside unique third-party data delivery. This platform will also streamline legal processes and provide AI-powered document analysis to reduce time spent on risk management activities and improve operational capabilities. Built in collaboration with leading markets and customers, the platform will become the first step in the realization of a more highly digital client experience for all participants. "We are so excited to partner with CAC Specialty on this innovative, groundbreaking project." says Chad Smith, CEO of Liberty Advisor Group. "Our goal is to better serve the needs of brokers, underwriters and customers by bridging technology and customer needs with the power of data analytics." Cybeta, a cyber data science company affiliated with Liberty Advisor Group, will further enhance the solution with their predictive and patent-pending Threat Alpha and Threat Beta metrics. Using a proprietary bottom-up methodology, Cybeta's Threat Alpha tool calculates the complete financial and business impact to a client's organization from a cyber-attack. It illuminates cybersecurity priorities by applying financial rationale to decisions and provides the facts and intelligence needed to make the best technology ROI decisions in real-time. "CAC Specialty executives have long held the vision of digitizing all elements of the insurance ecosystem - advisory, brokerage, service, operations through technology complimented by colleagues and clients. We are excited to partner with two world class firms in Liberty Advisors and Cybeta. With the addition of the data analytics platform, we will further enhance a key component of client experience by further enabling highly informed risk and risk financing decisions." says Eric Joost, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology & Global Markets Officer, CAC Specialty. Liberty Advisor Group is a goal-oriented, client-focused and results-driven consulting firm. Liberty has the experience to lead organizations through major transformations, from designing technical architecture through thoughtfully implementing change management processes. This year, Liberty has been named to CIO Applications Top 10 BI and Analytics Companies and was named a Best Places to Work in Chicago. CybetaTM offers a suite of Cybersecurity products and services designed to help you keep your business off the Cyber 'X'. Based on decades of detecting and thwarting the activities of even the most advanced attackers, CybetaTM delivers the substantive cyber data science you need to make preemptive strategic and operational decisions. CAC Specialty is an integrated specialty insurance brokerage and investment banking business focused on providing structuring expertise and placement capabilities across the spectrum of insurance and alternative capital markets. CAC Specialty serves large corporates, SMEs, private equity, and other alternative fund managers. SOURCE Liberty Advisor Group Himachal Pradesh on Thursday witnessed the biggest single-day spike in the Covid-19 cases with a total of 42 people testing positive for coronavirus taking the states tall to 152. Thirty-one cases were reported from Hamirpur district alone; six cases were reported from Kangra district and five from Solan. With this, the number of active cases in the state has gone up to 90, said special secretary, health, Nipun Jindal. Hamirpur deputy commissioner Harikesh Meena said that five peopletwo from Bhoranj and three from Tauni Devi areawere tested positive for the virus early morning. Two returned from Mumbai and the travel history of three is being traced. Four were under institutional quarantine and one home quarantined. Later in the afternoon, eleven more people tested positive. All of them returned from Mumbai and were under institutional quarantine, said Meena. Fifteen more tested positive late evening. The patients have been shifted to Covid-care centers at Dugha and Hamirpur. KANGRA TALLY GOES TO 41 WITH SIX NEW CASES Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati said that the fresh cases in the district comprise a 41-year-old woman and five men aged between 21 years and 57 years. They all returned from Mumbai recently and were institutionally quarantined at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas complex at Paraur near Palampur. They have been shifted to the Covid care centre at Baijnath. The districts tally has climbed to 41. SOLAN SCORES A FIFER In Solan, all five patients belong to Ramshehar in Nalagarh sub-division. They returned from West Bengal on May 15 and were under institutional quarantine at the Manpura centre, Jindal said, adding that patients have been shifted to a covid-care centre. STEEPEST SPIKE SO FAR Himachal Pradesh witnessed the biggest single-day spike in the state with a total of 42 cases. Earlier, eighteen cases were recorded on Wednesday. Till date, the state has 152 Covid-19 cases, including three casualties. Hamirpur is the worst-hit district with 46 cases followed by Kangra with 41 cases and Una with 19 cases. Fourteen cases have been reported in Solan, thirteen in Chamba district, seven in Bilaspur, six in Mandi, four in Sirmaur and one each in Shimla and Kullu. A total of 55 people have been cured of the virus in the state, including 14 people over the week. So far, 22,399 people have been tested for Covid-19 in the state, while more than 24,000 are under active surveillance. NALAGARH MLA, EX-MLA QUARANTINED The health authorities in Nalagarh have told Nalagarh MLA Paramjeet Singh Pammi and former legislator KL Thakur to self-quarantine after five people tested positive in Solan. They had recently visited the institutional centre where the five patients were quarantined after returning from West Bengal. They will remain under quarantine for seven days. When the Edenville Dam along the Tittabawassee River in Midland County failed Tuesday evening, it sent an overwhelming amout of water into the Village of Sanford, causing extensive damage. However, the state of the city its drinking water, services and more has largely been unannounced. On Thursday, May 21, residents and owners began to return to their homes and businesses in Sanford to assess damage after having to evacuate. Several feet of quick-moving water had kept them away, prohibiting many from grabbing valuables or making any preparations. When they returned, windows were broken, walls caved in, furniture and valuables destroyed, and everything was covered in a layer of thick, silty mud. Nosey neighbors, restoration crews, TV news stations and residents of Sanford paraded around the downtown area on South Saginaw Road Thursday. Merchants loitered around their own businesses and some attempted to take inventory of what is salvageable. (Not much is.) Many reported the water was up to their ceilings; they can tell because of the muddy film left behind. Though for the business owners whose walls gave way to the water, it hardly matters. Owner of Sanford Pizza, Pam Riggie, said her eatery of seven years is a total loss, the back of the building blown out and open to the elements. She said she was at the eatery every day more than her own home so there were many personal items lost. The only things she was able to save were a few sentimental items including pictures, a glass pig gifted by a customer, and her fathers ashes. Im overwhelmed I dont even know right now, Riggie said about how she was feeling. I dont even know what to do or where to start. Still, Riggie said Sanford is the best community and back and forth conversations with passersby and those checking in demonstrate the community morale of Sanford. Im hoping that we can all pull together and bring it back up to Sanford, you know Riggie said. Its a strong community. And its not just us its everybody. Another business owner, Connie Methner, pulled items out from inside her quaint salon, CJs Hairstyling, which had been fully submerged after 34 years of serving the community. Plastic buckets outside are filled with muddy hairbrushes, hairspray cans and towels. Methner said the one thing on her mind during the flood was a picture of one of her sons as an infant, which she was able to find in decent condition. Believe it or not, those pictures of my kids were the only thing knee-jerking me and when I got them, I balled my eyes out, she said. Now, she said unless financial relief is handed down from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), she wont be able to bring the business back to life. To her, its like being in an episode of The Twilight Zone or on a set of a Hollywood movie. Ive been out of work for two months and now this, she said. ... Im 63 years old I cant take out what savings I have to live on for the rest of my life; (I) cannot build a business. Down the road in a neighborhood along Sanford Lake near US-10, Clay Holmes stood on his now very muddy lawn. A day ago, the water was higher than it ever usually is, creeping over the grass, and now on Thursday, Holmes looked out over a nearly barren lake, sand exposed. He said the day prior, he watched as boats, docks and other debris floated down the river, which was as tall as the highway bridge. It was definitely scary watching the water come up as fast as it was and just seeing stuff that people loved going down the lake, he said. No one had time to be getting boats out, obviously, or lifts out, and now its just gone down the river. Holmes said he hopes the dams and berms are repaired as soon as possible to return the lakes back to a normal state. I hope everybody is kind of together in the sense of wanting to get things back to how they were, he said. Down the road, neighbor Becky Scherf and her family moved all the contents of their basement to the lawn to sort through and dry records, photos, clothing and more. She said the water was so forceful, it came up into the basement through pipes. Monday night, Sandford native Matt Smith and his wife were told by law enforcement to evacuate in the middle of the night from their dream home they had purchased less than a year ago. It was less than two miles from the Edenville Dam. He said they threw some clothes in a bag and left, returning the next day to strap down their boats and dock while the water continued to rise. Then the dam failed and broke, and the Smiths were evacuated by first responders for a second time. They grabbed their pets and packed bags and left. Flooded roads made it a challenge to get back to their house taking hours longer than it should have. Though, due to the height of their home on a hill, the Smiths didnt imagine the house would be flooded. Smith said he is a realtor for the area and regularly attends the Four Lakes Task Force meetings, but still he never imagined his home was in danger of flooding. When they arrived, the debris line from the water said otherwise. The height of that water was unbelievable, he said. Sure enough, the water had cleaned out the inside of their basement, leaving it full of mud. The boat, docks, hoist and landscaping were gone with the water; the week old irrigation system ruined. Now, the Smiths are spending time cleaning out their basement, keeping an optimistic outlook. However, Smith said he is unsure what the future holds and whether there will be any financial relief from their insurance, since they dont live in a floodplain. We dont know where were going to be financially and we dont know when things will be fixed and back to normal again, he said. We dont know exactly when well be able to start living in our house again. For more flood coverage visit www.ourmidland.com/flood. Egypts Doctors Syndicate demanded on Thursday that the government extend the current curfew for another three weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus. In an online press conference broadcast via the syndicates Facebook page, syndicate officials renewed their demand that the health ministry expand its PCR testing for both medical teams and the public in general, as well as that it locally manufacture PCR kits. The curfew will run from 5pm to 6am for a week starting from Sunday; the doctors are demanding that is extended for three further weeks after this. Currently the PCR testing kits needed to diagnose COVID-19 are imported from China or the UK. The syndicate also renewed its demand that the government assign special isolation hospitals for the members of medical teams who contract the virus, to reduce the spread of the disease among patients and society more broadly. The demand to assign special isolation hospitals for medical teams has been raised in the past two weeks by the Nurses Syndicate, which demanded police and military hospitals be opened as isolation hospitals for infected medical teams, and by the union of medical professions, which also demanded special isolation hospitals. According to the Doctors Syndicate, four doctors, including two university professors, passed away in the past 48 hours from the virus, in a major blow to the medical sector in Egypt. So far over 300 Egyptian doctors have contracted the virus, aside from nurses and other medical professions, including pharmacists, administrators, and other medical workers. Egypt has officially logged 15,003 cases and 696 fatalities, as of Thursday. Dr. Ehab El-Taher, the Doctors Syndicate secretary-general, stated during the press conference that the health ministrys recent plan to deal with the spread of the virus in the country which was unveiled on Wednesday was good but it needed certain things to make it succeed. The ministry said the 320 centralised and general hospitals nationwide will be used for coronavirus screening and testing. We need full medical and protective supplies for those hospitals to be ready for this, he said. The counter-infection teams should be sent from the ministry to divide those hospitals internally into green zones and red zones, to make sure that the coronavirus does not reach other sections in those hospitals, he added, hinting there should be full protection for doctors in hospitals. El-Taher also demanded that the medical teams in those hospitals be fully trained in dealing with possible coronavirus patients. He gave an example of an outbreak of the coronavirus among the medical team of Manshyat El-Bakry hospital in Cairo when it was turned in to an isolation hospital without proper preparation of its team. As well as discussing the coronavirus crisis, the press conference also discussed the new doctors assignment system announced by the ministry on Wednesday. According to the syndicate, at this critical time, the ministry can adopt the old assignment system to deal with all controversial issues, so that newly graduated doctors can join the system quickly. Search Keywords: Short link: At least 19 million children in parts of Bangladesh and India are at "imminent risk" from flash flooding and heavy rain as Cyclone Amphan makes landfall and the state of West Bengal is expected to take a direct hit from the powerful storm, the UN's children agency has warned. The extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan made a landfall at Digha in West Bengal and Bangladesh on Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction. At least three persons were killed in India and seven in Bangladesh. The UNICEF said that at least 19 million children in parts of Bangladesh and India are at "imminent risk from flash flooding, storm surges and heavy rain as Cyclone Amphan makes landfall." West Bengal, "home to more than 50 million people, including over 16 million children, is expected to take a direct hit from the powerful storm," the UN agency said in a statement on Wednesday. The UNICEF said it is also very concerned that the COVID-19 could deepen the humanitarian consequences of Cyclone Amphan in both the countries. Evacuees who have moved to crowded temporary shelters would be especially vulnerable to the spread of respiratory diseases like COVID-19, as well as other infections. "We continue to monitor the situation closely," said UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Jean Gough. "The safety of children and their families in the areas that will be impacted is a priority and it is good to see that the authorities have planned their urgent response factoring in the on-going COVID-19 pandemic." Across the region, the UNICEF is "working closely with the governments of Bangladesh and India and stands ready to support humanitarian operations to reach children and families affected by Cyclone Amphan." Based on the storm's current trajectory, Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh now sheltering over 850,000 Rohingya refugees is likely to experience high winds and heavy rains which may cause damage to homes and shelters in the refugee camps and Bangladeshi communities. This population is already highly vulnerable and cases of COVID-19 have recently been confirmed in the camps and host communities. The UNICEF said it is working with the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Cox's Bazar, the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, and humanitarian partners to help ensure Bangladeshi and Rohingya children and families remain protected. These efforts include raising awareness among Rohingya and Bangladeshi communities on cyclone preparedness and prepositioning emergency life-saving water, sanitation, hygiene and medical supplies to meet immediate humanitarian needs. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing that UN teams on the ground continue to work with the Government of Bangladesh to prepare and support those in need in the wake of the cyclone. "Given the current pandemic, this support includes distributing personal protective equipment, disinfectants and other materials to evacuation shelters. To reduce the person-to-person contact during the delivery of aid, e-cash distributions will be used," he said adding that the UN along with its partners is mobilising more than 1,700 mobile health teams and preparing for emergency food deliveries. "The Super Cyclone is taking a westerly trajectory towards India, but nearly 8 million people in Bangladesh remain at risk," he said adding that the Bangladesh government has evacuated more than 2 million people in high-risk areas. A 26-year-old Covid patient from Dombivli complained that he had to walk to Shastrinagar civic hospital in Dombivli on Thursday as the municipal corporation did not send an ambulance even after repeatedly calls. He alleged that the hospital staff asked him to walk to the hospital, which is 3km away, as an ambulance was not available. He called up the local social worker Bala Mhatre, 50, who along with five others accompanied him till the hospital by maintaining social distancing. They also shot a video of him posted it on the social media to draw the attention of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. After my Covid report on Wednesday showed I was infected, I was asked to wait at home till an ambulance is sent by the civic hospital staff. On Thursday morning, I called up the Shastrinagar hospital for ambulance but they said there was no ambulance available. They asked me to walk to the hospital as arranging an ambulance would take time, said the patient, who works as ward boy at Wadia hospital in Parel. His 52-year-old relative, who had tested positive, died on May 16. I attended his funeral and his test report came after his death. I decided to get tested, he said. After he tested positive, neighbours got scared and insisted he leave the building soon. How can the civic hospital ask a patient to walk to the hospital? Although he does not have any symptom, this is not the way to treat a patient?said Mhatre. At Shastrinagar hospital, he was kept waiting for almost three hours and then taken to Tata Amantra quarantine centre on Kalyan-Bhiwandi road. Suhasini Badekar, chief medical officer of Shastrinagar civic hospital, said, The patient should have waited at home till the ambulance arrived. Our staff did not ask him to walk to the hospital. Since Covid cases are on the rise, ambulances are not enough. Private ambulances often refuse to ply. She added that the hospital has two ambulances and they have hired a private one. The chief medical officer of Shastrinagar hospital coordinates and arranges ambulance for all Covid patients, said Pratibha Patil, epidemic officer, KDMC. There are four civic ambulances -- two at Rukminibai hospital in Kalyan and two at Shastrinagar hospital in Dombivli. There are four private ambulances in Dombivli and five in Kalyan for Covid patients. A senior officer from KDMC health department said, If there is a delay in the arrival of an ambulance, a patient should wait. The civic staff will coordinate and send an ambulance as soon as it is available. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Here are some of todays biggest headlines. Trump sows division and confusion as anxious country edges toward opening If America navigates its risky pursuit of a comeback without unleashing a vicious resurgence of coronavirus, it will be in spite of President Donald Trump, not because of him. Fact check: Trump falsely denies FDA warning on hydroxychloroquine, baselessly alleges political bias in study Fact check: Trump falsely denies FDA warning on hydroxychloroquine, baselessly alleges political bias in study President Donald Trump continued Tuesday to make false and baseless claims about hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly promoted and now says he is himself taking. Obama White House portrait unveiling not expected as Trump accuses him of crime An official portrait unveiling for former President Barack Obama at the White House isnt expected to occur anytime soon as his successor, President Donald Trump, accuses him of unsubstantiated and unspecified crimes. Gregory Tyree Boyce, Twilight actor, found dead with girlfriend Gregory Tyree Boyce, an actor who appeared in the 2008 film Twilight, was found dead in a Las Vegas residence, a spokesperson with the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner confirmed to CNN. Joe Rogans exclusive Spotify deal and 4 other business stories you need to read today Here are some headlines you might have missed today in the world of business and finance. Texas church cancels masses following death of a possibly Covid-19 positive priest A church in Houston has canceled mass indefinitely after one of its priests died and five others subsequently tested positive for the coronavirus. The sun is experiencing a less active phase called solar minimum, but it wont cause an ice age like last time In a solar minimum, the sun is much quieter, meaning less sunspots and energy. How Asias richest man is trying to build the next global tech giant Mukesh Ambani wants to build the next global technology company. And if he plays his cards right, his mobile carrier and technology juggernaut JioPlatforms could soon hold rank alongside the likes of Google, Amazon, Alibaba and Tencent. Trumps stone-age views on womens work In defending his secretary of state Mike Pompeo against charges of using his position to get aides to do personal errands for him, President Donald Trump showed his hand on what he really thinks women are for, says Jill Filipovic to clean up the mess. Trump Allies Recruiting Pro-Trump Doctors To Prescribe Rapid Reopening WASHINGTON (AP) Republican political operatives are recruiting pro-Trump doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Biden Blasts Trump For Taking Hydroxychloroquine: Cmon Man! Former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking publicly for the first time about President Trumps controversial announcement Monday that he was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection, reacted, as many Americans did, with bafflement. Chrissy Teigen Calls Out Her Thirsty Rich Friends Asking For Free Stuff Chrissy Teigen sees you begging for freebies, rich people, and she doesnt approve. After showing off Cravings packages which included cooking gear from her signature line that she sent to influential friends like Ali Wong, Kourtney Kardashian and Shay Mitchell, Teigen revealed Monday night on her Instagram stories that some people wanted one of their own. I Was Set To Become An Elite Athlete This Year. Instead I Got A Job At A Grocery Store. A wave of despair washed over me as I crossed the grocery store parking lot. It was March 28 and I was supposed to be in Tennessee preparing for the biggest race of my life. One month ago, I was on the verge of achieving my childhood dream of becoming a professional athlete. Revisiting Game of Thrones during social distancing is a bittersweet memory of shared fandom All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Like many Game of Thrones fans, I was disappointed with the shows finale. The two seasons leading up to it were also not the fantasy juggernauts best, but the finale hurt. Joe Rogans massively popular podcast is moving exclusively to Spotify Spotify mustve backed up the Brinks truck for Joe Rogan. He announced on Tuesday that his massively popular podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, would soon be available exclusively on the streaming platform. Spotify announced the pod would debut on its platform on Sept. 1 and would become exclusive later in the year. Former Amazon rival Jet.com is dead because Walmart doesnt need it anymore Walmart has jettisoned Jet. Well, sort of. The big-box retail giant released its quarterly earnings this week. It was good news for Walmart and bad news for Jet.com. In the earnings release, Walmart confirmed the e-commerce site it acquired in 2016 would be shut down because, well, Walmart can live without it. Apple Glass could start at $499 with support for prescription lenses After years of rumors, Apple might finally launch its highly anticipated augmented reality glasses. Not only will Apple Glass be sold for the relatively low price of $499, but it will also be compatible with prescription lenses (for an additional cost). 21 May 2020 At an international conference today on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia, delegates paid tribute to the country's achievements in building up a solid intellectual property (IP) system, and discussed the importance of IP in supporting future innovation and economic growth. The conference, "Intellectual Property - Vision Without Illusion", held as a livestreamed, virtual event due to the coronavirus pandemic, was organised by the Latvian Patent Office in co-operation with the EPO, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It attracted a broad range of participants from industry, academia, politics and the IP profession from around Europe, and featured opening addresses by Latvian dignitaries and the heads of WIPO, EUIPO and EPO. Opening the conference, the President of the Republic of Latvia, Egils Levits, said that great inventions and innovations come from an environment where ideas meet opportunities to realise them: "I am convinced that the future of our country must be based on our intellectual potential, both creative and innovative," he said. The Minister of Justice, Janis Bordans, echoed this sentiment in his remarks: "Latvia is consistently moving towards a knowledge-based economy. [...] All those who have contributed to the development of high-quality technological processes, devices and substances, both in domestic and large companies, have created and continue to create the story of Latvia as we know it today." The Director of the Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia, Sandris Laganovskis, stressed: "It is important to keep pace with the times and develop modern solutions in order to provide maximum support to Latvian innovators not only locally, but also globally." EPO President Antonio Campinos congratulated the management and staff of the Latvian Patent Office on its centenary and underlined the country's strength in innovation, citing the example of Latvian inventors who have made outstanding contributions in their fields. Looking to the future, he said: "As we face the economic aftermath of coronavirus, and forecasts of negative growth, it is IP-rights intensive industries that will help us to pull through this crisis." Highlighting the benefits of co-operation between the EPO and Latvia, which has been a member state since 1 July 2005, and of co-operation among all of Europe's patent offices, he said: "As a result of these efforts...the quality of our patents is higher, nationally and throughout Europe. The amount of patent information and technical and scientific knowledge is greater than ever before. And by working together, our scientists and researchers have greater access to that information." The conference went on to explore the impact of intellectual property on the economy, featuring speakers from WIPO, the OECD and the private sector. Another session focused on emerging technologies, including keynotes from the EPO, private sector and universities, and the event rounded off with a panel discussion on IP and youth. A video recording of the event will be made available on the conference website. Further information FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured on the headquarters of the WHO in Geneva GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization expressed concern on Wednesday about the rising number of new coronavirus cases in poor countries, even as many rich nations have begun emerging from lockdown. The global health body said 106,000 new cases of infections of the novel coronavirus had been recorded in the past 24 hours, the most in a single day since the outbreak began. "We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. "We are very concerned about rising cases in low and middle income countries." Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO's emergencies programme, said: "We will soon reach the tragic milestone of 5 million cases." The WHO has come under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump, who accuses it of having mishandled the outbreak and of favouring China, where the virus is believed to have emerged late last year. This week Trump threatened to withdraw from the WHO and permanently withhold funding. Tedros acknowledged receiving a letter from Trump, but declined to comment further. Tedros said he was committed to accountability and would carry out a review into the response to the pandemic. Such a review was demanded by member states in a resolution this week that was passed by consensus, although the United States expressed reservations about some elements of it. "I said it time and time again that WHO calls for accountability more than anyone. It has to be done and when it's done it has to be a comprehensive one," Tedros said of the review, while declining to say when it would start. Ryan said such assessments are normally conducted after an emergency is over. "I for one would prefer, right now, to get on with doing the job of an emergency response, of epidemic control, of developing and distributing vaccines, of improving our surveillance, of saving lives and distributing essential PPE to workers and finding medical oxygen for people in fragile settings, reducing the impact of this disease on refugees and migrants," he said. Story continues Tedros said he had long been looking for other sources of funding for the WHO, saying its $2.3 billion budget was "very, very small" for a global agency, around that of a medium sized hospital in the developed world. In comments that could further annoy Trump, Ryan, said people should avoid using the malaria medicine hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent coronavirus infection, except as part of a clinical trial to study it. Trump has said he is taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection. "At this stage, (neither) hydroxychloroquine nor chloroquine have been as yet found to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 nor in the prophylaxis against coming down with the disease," Ryan said. "In fact, the opposite, in that warnings have been issued by many authorities regarding the potential side effects of the drug." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Emma Farge in Geneva and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in Zurich; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Giles Elgood) State lawmakers are moving a bill that would impose a harsher penalty for those convicted of causing or aiding suicide of a minor or anyone with autism or an intellectual disability. The measure won passage by a 188-14 vote in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. It is named Shawns Law in memory of 25-year-old Shawn Shatto, who committed suicide a year ago in her parents Newberry Township home in York County after receiving guidance to do so from an online chat forum. The action by the House today sends a strong message that aiding or encouraging someone to take his or her own life will not be tolerated in Pennsylvania, said Rep. Dawn Keefer, R-York County, the bills sponsor. This is nothing more than murder by proxy and, in addition to being a shameful and cowardly act, should carry a heavy penalty for those who commit this crime. In advocating on the House floor for House Bill 1827, Rep. Frank Ryan, R-Lebanon County, called it a sad day we have to vote on a measure like this. ... To think there would actually be people in our society that would encourage someone to commit suicide and actually assist them in doing it is inconceivable to me in every possible way." The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing suggests that the number of people sentenced for causing or aiding a suicide averaged about 12 a year between 2016 through 2019, although the victims werent minors or someone with autism or an intellectual disability in every case, according to the House Appropriations Committee analysis. In Shattos case, she was provided instruction from the online chat forum to make poison that eventually took her life. At a news conference last September, Shattos mother, Jacqueline Bieber, said her daughter contacted the forum members saying she was scared to follow through with the act and was told suicide was the best route and wished her well on her journey. They were encouraging her to see it through to the end and in Shawns final moments. These predators told her good luck rather than telling her to go get help down the hall from us, her parents, Bieber said. Yes, these monster strangers encouraged her to finish out her act of suicide. She added: As we were trying to wrap our heads around the death of Shawn and as we were planning her funeral, we shockingly received a Facebook message from an individual from the [suicide assistance] website who reached out to ask us, Did your daughter go peacefully? Any signs of struggle? Bieber urged lawmakers to pass the legislation "so that no other parent has to go through this awful heartache. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference praised the bills passage. This is a sickening trend that has become all-too common because of the internet, said Eric Failing, the conferences executive director. The wrong people have been getting in the ear of those who are thinking of taking their own lives. These victims should be getting professional help instead of listening to hateful people who only want to harm others. We must send a message to them that this will not be tolerated. The current penalty for causing or aiding suicide is graded as a second-degree felony, punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, or a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable with up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, depending on the circumstances, according to the York County District Attorneys office. Assistance to prevent suicide can be found by calling The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources and best practices for professionals. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. After China attempted to put fishing limits on the disputed South China Sea, Vietnam answered with a message to its people: just keep fishing, legally. The Vietnamese government told provincial governments near the seas coast to intensify the supervision of local fishermen. A message from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said fishers should be informed of Chinas ban. However, it also said to encourage fishers to stick to normal production within the limits of Vietnams territorial waters. Vietnam rejected Chinas order of a seasonal ban from May 1 to August 16 in the South China Sea. A report on VienamNet, the official news site of the Ministry of Information and Communications, released the new guidance to officials of provinces and cities. The ministry provided a telephone hotline for people to report unexpected incidents to the Department of Fisheries Control after Chinas announcement. In early April, Vietnam accused China of sinking a boat carrying Vietnamese fishers. China rescued the fishers and blamed them for the sinking. Later, China said the fishermen admitted wrongdoing. Also last month, China reportedly sent a ship into disputed waters, possibly to explore for oil. Vietnam protested the operation. The Philippines, which has expressed conflicting positions toward Chinese action in the sea, gave rare support to Vietnam after the sinking. The fishing dispute has added to tensions existing between several nations over territory in the South China Sea. The incidents led the United States to criticize China. American officials said China was using the crisis of COVID-19 as a distraction from its aggressive acts in the South China Sea. The U.S called the behavior coercive and unlawful. It also deployed a U.S. war ship to the area. Vice Admiral Bill Merz, commander of the U.S. Navys 7th Fleet said the U.S. would continue to fly and sail freely, as permitted by international law. Several nations in the area dispute legal control of large areas of the South China Sea. The waters are rich with fish and may hold substantial mineral resources. The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has hurt Vietnams fishing industry, including a decrease in its seafood trade with China. Nguyen Viet Thang is chairperson of the Vietnam Association of Fisheries. He said he asked the government to defend local fishermen and to oppose Chinas summer fishing ban. He said fishermen of Vietnam have the right to fish in waters under its control. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the fishing ban, saying Vietnam rejects Chinas unilateral decision. China says Vietnam does not have the right to such protest. Im Mario Ritter, Jr. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted this VOANEWS story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story encourage v. to make an activity more likely to happen, to ease barriers coercive adj. using force or threats to get a desired result unilateral adj. involving only one group or country, one-sided in nature The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday discharged the then executive engineer of the public works department (PWD) from a case related to the state irrigation scam. Anilkumar Gaikwad, the then executive engineer of presidency division of PWD, was booked by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in September 2015, along with partners of FA Enterprises - Fateh Mohammed Khatri and his sons Nisar, Jaitun, Aabid and Jahid. According to ACB, the Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation does not allot any contract to a contractor who has already been awarded three dam construction contracts. FA Contractors had six works allotted to it and in order to have more irrigation contracts, formed a new firm--FA Enterprises-- and claimed that it was made by directors who resigned from FA Contractors. Gaikwad is accused of overlooking the rules and forwarding a proposal for registration of FA Enterprises as Class-1A contractor with the government. It was alleged that he forwarded the proposal without proper scrutiny of documents submitted by the contractor. He had moved HC after the special ACB court rejected his discharge plea on March 15, 2019. Justice AM Badar overruled the special courts order due to lack of evidence against Gaikwad. The judge also took into consideration a government resolution (GR) issued by the PWD on November 28, 2018, that exempted all its employees from penal consequences arising out of the scrutiny of documents submitted by contractors. The judge said that according to the GR, PWD employees or officials who may be entrusted with the work of checking documents submitted by contractors shall not be held responsible for penal consequences in respect of scrutiny of such documents if those turn out to be false and fabricated. As this GR has retrospective effect, continuation of prosecution against the applicant (Gaikwad) which is essentially with an allegation that he has not ascertained veracity and truthfulness of the documents submitted by the FA Enterprises, would certainly amount to abuse of the process of court, said justice Badar. The judge also noted that there was hardly any evidence against the PWD engineer. Perusal of the entire chargesheet does not reveal iota of evidence for even prima facie demonstration of an offence of criminal misconduct on the part of the applicant, said justice Badar, exonerating Gaikwad. The HC also noted that the entire file relating to registration and certification of FA Enterprises as Class-1A government contractor had gone missing and no original document was available to shed light on the entire episode of registration of FA Enterprises. Dr. Peter Andrade, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Richmond University Medical Center who has been volunteering his time since the outbreak of the coronavirus, has witnessed the fear and loneliness patients experience since visitors arent allowed due to the contagiousness of the illness. Hes also learned in some instances families of victims cant afford to claim bodies of their loved ones or provide a proper funeral or burial services, especially since unemployment continues to rise. That inspired Andrade to start a fundraising initiative called Healing Hands Abroads RE-NYC, to provide and support families of COVID-19 victims by affording them the opportunity to give their loved ones a proper goodbye. FAMILIES BENEFIT FROM THE ORGANIZATION Members of Staten Islands Garcia family are the first the organization has been able to comfort. Juan Gonzalez Garcia died from COVID-19 and his family struggled financially. Funds raised from Andrades initiative took care of the funeral. The first day as a volunteer physician I saw that the number of deaths was staggering," the doctor said. "It was brought to my attention that many families of the deceased simply couldnt afford funerals. This meant that the patients were dying alone in the hospital without family at the bedside. He added: They were not given a funeral. There was no ceremony to honor the life of the departed. There was no closure. This weighed heavy on me. After reflecting on this reality, I helped start a fundraising campaign called RE-NYC through the non-profit surgical volunteer organization that I have been involved with for 10 years now. Andrade said Teodoro Montalbo, a patient, came in for a routine follow up visit after undergoing reconstructive hand/wrist surgery. Teodoro had come to all of the pre-op appointments with his wife and her parents, but at this particular appointment, they were not present. He told Andrade that in one week his wife lost her father, Juan Gonzalez Garcia, to COVID-19 in Mexico, and he lost his brother, in New York City to COVID-19. And when he asked how he was going to pay for the funeral, he said he didnt know. With glassy eyes, he said he would ask the funeral home if they would finance the funeral and he would somehow find a way to pay them back once he could resume work after he recovered from his hand/wrist injury," the doctor said. "I told him about RE-NYC and that we would cover the entire cost of the funeral. Beautiful emotions ensued and humanity shined bright that day. That was a good day, Andrade said. Family members, who were helped by Dr. Peter Andrade's initiative, called RE-NYC, gather at the wake of their loved one. (Courtesy/Lauren Larkin)Staten Island Advance ADDITIONAL FUNDING Celebrated artist Donald Robertson has donated an exclusive piece of art that reflects the tenacity and spirit of New York. Although any donation is appreciated, white T-shirts with his unique art print will be mailed as a thank you for anyone who donates $50 or more. Visit PayPal . To date the organization has collected $15,000. POMSnet Aquila MES software major release delivers the best of customer requests. Combining 60+ new features across the electronic batch record software suite, POMSnet Aquila MES sets a new bar for MES software. WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / POMS Corporation unveils POMSnet Aquila 2020.1.0 MES: the next generation of master batch record software enabling pharma, biotech, medical device and cell & gene therapy manufacturers to implement FDA-compliant paperless manufacturing workflows for batch records and product release. POMSnet Aquila is an industry-leading, cloud-enabled HTML5 manufacturing execution system. This release provides enhanced user experience by leveraging HTML5 technologies for the most comprehensive commercial off the shelf (COTS) MES product available to the life sciences industry. Specification Management gives a powerful boost to recipe authors by enabling High Speed Data Entry for MES recipe authors to view all recipe versions and edit all specifications from one screen with intuitive HTML5 native functionality. Aquila MES further enhances IIOT and Pharma 4.0 for life science manufacturers with visual and dynamic workflow Behaviors that provide real-time animation on electronic batch record displays with shop-floor camera feeds to stream real-time live operations and videos on demand. The release includes Native Biometric Authentication support for the industry-leading Nymi biometrics band, which reduces electronic signatures by 10-15 seconds saving manufacturers 66% time spent on logins and e-signatures. Home screen software login with touchless biometric authentication nymi band. Over 60 new features in POMS Corporation's new release of Manufacturing Execution System software for life sciences. POMSnet Aquila MES helps pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotech, cell & gene therapy, nutrition and medical device companies run efficient paperless operations while meeting the highest good manufacturing practices GMP compliance requirements of government agencies. Traditionally, life science companies manually record and document production activities with highly regulated paper and manual production data batch records. With POMSnet Aquila, the manufacturing workflow is digital, computer-guided and controlled by the manufacturing execution system to enforce regulatory requirements and best practices are implemented and cGMP followed. "This release is it for me! This is HUGE for our customers and our support team," said Travis Castleman, Director of MES Support Operations at POMS. "To be able to get a global view of what's happening with the system is tremendous. Some customers have one server, others have 12 or more. This gives customers the ability to see everything visually with their own eyes." ? POMS Corporation, based out of Washington, D.C., is an MES software provider that counts five of the world's 10 largest pharmaceutical companies among its clients. POMSnet Aquila 2020.1.0 release is available now by contacting POMS Corporation. About POMS Corporation A Washington, D.C.-based provider of Manufacturing Execution System software for regulated life science companies. POMS provides web-based and cloud-based MES solutions for life science manufacturers ensuring compliance FDA 21 CFR Part 11 electronic signatures for electronic batch records. POMS Corporation's parent company Constellation Software Inc. is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange with $3.1 billion revenue and 16,000 employees worldwide. Media Contact Darrell Tanner POMS 404-386-9279 Darrell.Tanner@poms.com SOURCE: POMS Corporation View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590878/POMS-Announces-the-Release-of-POMSnet-R5003-With-HTML5-User-Interface-and-Touch-Screen-Enabled-Web-Based-Manufacturing-Execution-System Thiruvananthapuram, May 21 : The Thiruvananthapuram District Mohanlal Fans Association on the superstar's 60 birthday on Thursday gave their consent for donating their organs to the state run 'Mrithasanjivini' programme. Receiving the pledge of 500 fans, State Health Minister K.K.Shailaja said this was a noble act and Mohanlal has always been a friend of the health department. "He ( Lal) has always been part and parcel of our department. In 2017 when there was a spread of diphtheria, he came forward and acted in a short campaign film on why the vaccines should be taken. He is our brand ambassador of aMrithasanjivini' programme and this act of the fans of his is worth appreciating," said Shailaja. Shailaja wished him all the best on his birthday. Winner of five national awards, for those in the industry he is Lal, but those who consider him dear refer to him as 'Laletten'. The star is locked up at his Chennai residence and is busy on his mobile connecting with his close friends who have been with him since his glittering screen career began way back in 1978, when he did his first film 'Thiranottam'. By now he has acted in over 340 films, which include other south Indian languages too and for the first time in his career, he has been sitting idle, ever since the lockdown began. His screen rival superstar Mammootty came out with a video wishing Lal all the best. " We known each other for over three decades and had a wonderful journey together. Whenever he calls me aichetten', I feel some sort of emotional attachment. Though a few others also address me like that, I don't get the same feel, as when Lal addresses me that way. Beyond films also we have had an excellent relation and let us all travel forward, though we do not know how long, but as long it happens, let us move together,a said Mammootty. Tamil icon Rajanikanth in his video wishing him a happy birthday said," Mohanlal you are a wonderful person. Wishing you all the best," . -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text GALWAY, Ireland, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aran Biomedical Teoranta, provider of outsourced design, development and manufacturing services for implantable devices, today announced the availability of its ProTEX Med implantable grade material for purchase as a standalone raw material for products requiring implant grade polypropylene (PP). According to the company, the decision was announced to accommodate the increasing number of enquiries for implantable grade polypropylene for pharmaceutical and blood testing purposes. The material was previously offered exclusively for companies leveraging Aran Biomedical's implantable textile manufacturing services, but the company now sees enquiries for implantable grade polypropylene for much broader indications. This includes blood collection tubes, short-term pre-filled syringes and cryogenic based vaccine containers. It is anticipated that these devices could become central in the fight against COVID-19, as the search for suitable treatment or vaccines continues. "The company is adapting to the new normal, and stepping up to combat the pandemic in any way we can," says company CEO, Peter Mulrooney. "We have been fortunate in that we are deemed as an essential service provider, and have been able to continue operating during these trying times. Offering our proprietary resin as a stand-alone material was a decision taken internally to facilitate the increasing number of enquiries for implantable grade polypropylene we are receiving." Mulrooney added, "Offering our material to those making medical devices for the front-line is not something we had anticipated in 2020, but we are happy to make a difference and ease the burden on companies worldwide where possible." ProTEX Med polypropylene, as an implant grade resin, is distinguished by its biocompatibility and suitability for use in blood contact environments. The material is tested to ISO 10993-5 (cytotoxicity) and has a unique FDA Device Master File reference available to support product qualification. Equivalency data is available relative to currently implanted PP grades. Suitability of resin to long-term clinical implantation is supported by implantable device data: FDA 510k clearance was granted for the use of ProTEX Med resin to manufacture this implant in 2018. Further information on the material and pricing can be found at https://www.aranbiomedical.com/implantable-grade-polypropylene-pp/ About Aran Biomedical For more information about Aran Biomedical, please visit https://www.aranbiomedical.com/ Media Contact: Eoghan Groonell [email protected] +35391896958 SOURCE Aran Biomedical Related Links https://www.aranbiomedical.com/ UConn 4-H, the youth development program of Extension in the UConn College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources has moved 78,894 pounds of dairy products to date - the equivalent of six full-size elephants - during Operation Community Impact. 4-H members and volunteers are working with community partners and the UConn Extension Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Deliveries of dairy products were made to 96 food pantries in 57 towns statewide. The effort has involved 88 Extension families that donated their time to help unload and deliver the dairy products. The most recent donation, 33 pallets of ice cream, was received last week from H.P. Hood in Suffield. We are glad to partner with a wonderful organization such as 4-H and UConn Extension to provide assistance to local Connecticut communities when we can, said Megan Uricchio of H.P. Hood, and an alumni of UConn 4-H Hartford County. Milk donations were received from Dairy Farmers of America through their local facility, Guidas Dairy. Agri-Mark Cooperative and Cabot Creamery donated yogurt and sour cream. All of these products were previously distributed to facilities statewide. Fluid milk donations totaled 8,640 gallons - that is more than the amount needed to fill an 18-foot round swimming pool. Community service is a key component of the 4-H civic engagement mission. This project provides UConn 4-H members the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of consumers and dairy producers. Operation Community Impact would not be possible without the efforts of many community partners, volunteers, food pantries and businesses statewide that the project is serving. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone helping to connect those in need with the milk and dairy donations. We created this short video to thank our dairy donors: https://bit.ly/DairyCollaboration. UConn 4-H is the youth development program of UConn Extension. 4-H is a community of over 6 million young people across America who are learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), leadership, citizenship and life skills through their 4-H project work. 4-H provides youth with the opportunity to develop lifelong skills including civic engagement and healthy living. Learn more and enroll your child in the UConn 4-H program at http://4-H.uconn.edu/ Pet Valu invites photos for calendar Through June 15, Pet Valu, a specialty retailer of pet food, treats, toys, and accessories, is hosting a photo contest looking for outstanding photos of various kinds of pets to be featured in its upcoming 2021 annual pet calendar. Following the June 15 deadline for submissions, a panel of judges will narrow the entries to a Top 50 for voting. Voting begins on Facebook the week of June 21, 2020 and winners will be announced on July 15, 2020. The top 13 photos with the most votes will be featured in Pet Valus 2021 calendarone lucky pet will be featured on the front cover, while the 12 other winning photos will be featured as honorary Pets of the Month inside the calendar. Winners will also have the option to host their own Pawtograph signing events at their local Pet Valu stores later this year when the calendar is released for purchase. Past winners featured in the calendar can be seen on Pet Valus Pinterest page. Pet Valu will donate all proceeds from the $5 calendars directly to local organizations, shelters and rescues. Last year, Pet Valu raised over $100,000 from calendar sales to give back to the communities. The calendars will be available for purchase in all Pet Valu stores beginning November 1, 2020. Interested participants can visit Pet Valus Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/PetValuUS) to submit their pet photos. All pets are welcome to enter. Contest rules and regulations are located on Pet Valus website at https://usa.pgtb.me/Nv7sk5 and Facebook page; search Pet Valu. May is National Foster Care Awareness Month Over the last four months, the need for Foster and Adoptive families has grown tremendously. More than ever, agencies like the Klingberg Family Centers are looking for families, couples and single adults just like you to provide a safe and supportive home environment for children and teens in Connecticut. Learn about the licensing process and how you can make an impact as a Therapeutic Foster Parent. For more information, visit www.klingbergfosterandadoption.org or contact Nicolin, a Recruitment Specialist at Klingberg Family Centers at 860-817-3918. American Cancer Society holding competition Brick by brick, LEGO fans of all ages will build hope for cancer patients as they compete in the first-ever Brick Masters For A Cure virtual brick building competition to raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS). The Brick Masters For A Cure Challenge provides an opportunity for registered participants to turn play into support of the Society by using commercially-available plastic bricks to build, complete, and photograph or video record a masterpiece that reflects the theme determined by ACS. The Brick Masters For A Cure website is accepting new registrations now for the competition, set to begin on May 22. To compete in one of five categories and to have the theme of the Master Challenge revealed, participants must donate or raise a minimum of $100 by 11:59 p.m. Participants are invited to join these age/skill bands: Pre K to 3rd grade; 4th to 6th grade; 7th to 12th grade; Family project, all ages; Masters Level, all ages. Teams must incorporate motors, advanced parts or power systems. Winners will be selected and announced on June 4. Prizes will be awarded for: Best build in each age/skill band and for top overall fundraiser. To register: acsengage.org/brickmasters2020. By Li Yun BEIJING, May 21 -- "The corrosion prevention and control of equipment is a strategic project for the navy. It is necessary to think from a macro-strategic perspective, and start with the innovative details", said Cao Jingyi, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) of China and research director with the PLA Navy Academy, in an interview when she is going to attend the 13th National Peoples Congress in Beijing. Over last year, Cao Jingyi, together with her team, have made extensive research and offered strategic suggestions at the requirements of the PLA Navys strategic transformation and future naval warfare based on artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, they were also committed to tackle existing practical problems in upgrading corrosion prevention of naval equipment and the application of advanced materials. In 2019, this team had undertaken more than 110 scientific research tasks and taken the lead in launching a special corrosion control project of the PLA naval equipment. They reshaped the corrosion prevention and control mode comprehensively from six dimensions, namely the management, technology, materials, standards, assessment tests, and data analyses; completed the comprehensive demonstration of the research on the new-generation materials application to vessel structure, laying a solid foundation for the development and building of future naval vessels. Besides, they have also conducted some specific tasks such as the assessment of naval coating and the standardization of naval equipment specifications. In recent years, the top concern for Cao Jingyi is that the naval equipment corrosion protection work has not received due attention. An attack helicopter hovers over the sea as the guided-missile frigate Chaozhou (Hull 595) navigates in formation with another vessel during a coordinated operation of a maritime realistic training exercise conducted by a frigate flotilla with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command from May 8 to 11, 2020. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhou Daoxian) According to Cao Jingyi, "when it comes to the combat effectiveness of vessel equipment, the first issues that come to peoples minds may be the advanced weaponry platform, sensitive detection equipment, and powerful command system. Corrosion prevention is more likely to act as a supporting role." Most people used to think that the equipment corrosion prevention only means de-rusting and painting. The corrosion is but something related to the equipment appearance or the water leakage in pipes, so the innovation of corrosion prevention technology is nothing more than the development of new paints and new tools. In fact, the corrosion issue has become the number one killer that triggers equipment failures and accidents, the biggest headache that pulls down combat readiness and maintenance capabilities, and the number one enemy that affects the quick reaction and strategic deployment of equipment. This issue implies a lasting combat on an invisible battlefield. The impact of corrosion on equipment is systematic and could be seen anywhere and anytime, which in turn determines that the equipment corrosion prevention is correspondingly a systematic project. Cao Jingyi pointed out that it is urgent to get rid of the traditional low-level, unsystematic and simple coating or painting mode, and get it promoted as a national strategy, being addressed in line with top-level planning and deployment, with the establishment of a complete corrosion prevention mechanism and system from top to bottom. The team will take every possible means to break through the existing bottleneck of technology, so as to improve the corrosion prevention level fundamentally. "As scientific and technological service members in the new era, we will start with the nuances scientific research work and live up to the glorious mission entrusted to us by the times", said Cao Jingyi. : IT exports from Telangana has grown by 17.93 per cent in the last financial year at Rs 1.28 lakh crore even as the sector created about 40,000 new jobs. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 during the last quarter of the financial year 2019-2020, the export growth of the state managed to record a phenomenal 17.93 per cent growth for the full financial year. This is more than double that of the national growth, an official press release quoted IT Minister KT Rama Rao as saying. The exports stood at Rs 1,28,807 crore in FY '20 against Rs 1,09,219 crore in the FY '19. The sector has 5,82,126 employees as of March 31 against 5,43,033 personnel at the end of 2018-19, the release said. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said he was happy to see the share of Telangana's exports going up from 10.6 per cent to 11.6 per cent. This clearly indicates that Telangana is poised to be the preferred destination for IT investments in the future, he said. The Chief Minister directed the IT department to ensure that all measures and precautions be taken to ensure that the IT industry functions smoothly, keeping in view the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said. During 2019-20, several marquee investments have taken place in Hyderabad, including the inauguration of Amazons worlds largest facility at three-million sq ft and Microns largest Research and Development centre globally. Tech Mahindra and Cyient have chosen to open their centres in the tier-2 location of Warangal, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) * Crimea's economy dependent on tourism * Hoteliers fear coronavirus will lead to bankruptcies * Peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Anton Zverev MOSCOW, May 21 (Reuters) - Crimean hostel owner Natalia Kirichenko has given up hope of hosting guests this summer as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to ruin the economy of the tourism-dependent region that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Like more than half of the workforce on the Black Sea peninsula, Kirichenko's livelihood depends on a steady influx of Russian tourists during its balmy summer months. But with hotels and beaches closed, and few Russians able to travel and willing to observe a two-week quarantine upon their arrival, businesses and people reliant on Crimea's tourism industry fear bankruptcy. "If people come at all, they might trickle in at the end of July or in August," said Kirichenko, who has begun delivering food to compensate for her empty 30-bed hostel in Sudak on Crimea's southern coast. "This won't be a livelihood, but a hobby." Mriya Resort & SPA, another hotel located in the resort city of Yalta, has estimated it will lose 27% of its annual revenue even if it is authorised to reopen next month. As much as half of Crimea's tourism-oriented businesses could close down or go bankrupt by 2021 if this year's tourist season doesn't take place because of the coronavirus, said Pavel Lebedev, an official from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and Ukraine's former defence minister. The peninsula had as of Thursday recorded 447 coronavirus cases and four deaths. Known as for its jagged coastline and mild climate, Crimea was a favoured destination for 19th century Russian nobility and for Soviet workers' state-funded holidays. Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which led to a flurry of Western sanctions against Russia, marked a drastic shift in the peninsula's tourism landscape as it had to reorient itself towards the Russian market. Russian authorities have invested heavily in linking the peninsula to southern Russia, including by building a massive road and rail bridge. "Our main task this year is to survive, not to make a profit," said Natalia Stambulskaya, head of Crimea's association of small hotels. (Writing by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by Mark Heinrich) A new Covid-19 test developed by an Irish company delivers positive results in just 30 minutes. The rapid molecular test, developed by Dublin-based HiberGene Diagnostics, has achieved the CE marking required for it to be put on the market in Ireland and internationally. It has the same sensitivity as the current polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for Covid-19 that is more cumbersome and takes around 24 hours for tests to come back. The new test uses the company's proprietary molecular reagent format to detect the virus in nose and throat swabs. It will confirm whether or not a person is infected and is potentially contagious. HiberGene's HG swift machine can test up to four samples at the same time. Positive results are returned within 30 minutes while negative results are returned within 60 minutes. Unlike the PCR test, the new test does not require a pre-extraction stage where samples are treated before the test is carried out. Using a low-complexity preparation protocol, the new test has excellent performance for samples with high to moderate viral loads. Chief executive of HiberGene, Seamus Gorman, says the test is in the same price range as those already available. Our primary target market is small and medium sized hospitals globally who don't typically run PCR as standard and who are looking for an alternative. The company, which employs 21 people, started working on the EU-funded project at the end of January. It is supported by a grant of 930,000 from Horizon 2020, the EU programme for research an innovation. HiberGene already has a strong record in developing molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases. We are a small team and a lot of us have been working together for about five years. This is our 13th product," says Mr Gorman. "We are really proud of this test because we had to turn it around so quickly but we also wanted to join the effort to test, test, test and try and reduce the level of infection in the community." The company's portable instrument, HG Swift, that can run off as battery as well as a mains supply, can test for other diseases such as flu, Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:56:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SYDNEY, May 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 people were injured after a car crashed into a shop in Sydney's southwest on Thursday afternoon. New South Wales (NSW) police and emergency services were called to the scene of the crash in Greenacre where a Subaru SUV slammed into a retail store, Hijab House, shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time. The police said in a statement that the SUV crashed into a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights before continuing into a nearby shop. "The male driver and 11 pedestrians have been injured and are currently being treated at the scene," the statement said. "However, their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening." Officers from Bankstown Police Area Command rushed at the scene and are conducting inquiries. NSW Police said investigators did not believe the crash was related to terrorism and there was no threat to the community as a result of the incident. Enditem Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Some small businesses in the United States are finding a way to survive the economic conditions described as the worst since the Great Depression. Al Jazeeras Gabriel Elizondo reports from Montclair, New Jersey. Baldwin -- North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin was declared a "model prison" pertaining to health department standards, despite having over 80 inmates and staff members test positive for coronavirus. Patrick Maddox, Lake County Emergency Management director, told the Board of Commissioners at its meeting May 13, that District Health Department No. 10 officials toured the facility on May 11 and reported that they were happy with what they saw. "They were happy with everything that is set in place, and the precautionary measures that are being implemented to deal with the coronavirus situation," Maddox said. Executive Assistant at North Lake Correctional Facility, Mark Pitcher, would not comment on the number of positive cases, or the safety procedures in place at the facility, but said they are following all the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP), guidelines on coronavirus mitigation. Pablo Paez, a spokesperson for GEO Group, Inc., the for profit company that operates the facility, said, as of May 12, 20 staff members at the facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Of those 20 employees: nine live in Mason County; three live in Osceola County; two live in Montcalm County; two live in Lake County; one lives in Wexford County; one lives in Oceana County; and two live in Mecosta County. Ten of those employees are currently at home on self-quarantine, while the remaining ten have fully recovered and returned to work after meeting the guidelines issued by the CDC. "The health and safety of those in our care, and our employees, is our utmost priority," Paez said. "GEO has taken comprehensive steps at all facilities to address the risk of COVID-19 to all of those in our care and our employees, who are the front lines making daily sacrifices to provide for those in our facility." Paez referred inquiries about inmate numbers to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP) website. According to the latest figures from the BoP, as of May 21, 65 inmates at North Lake Correctional Facility have tested positive for the coronavirus. Of those that have tested positive, 63 have fully recovered. In response to recent reports from an outside group, No Detention Centers in Michigan, that inmates are dying and a possible hunger strike by inmates was planned, a GEO Group, Inc. employee, speaking off the record, stated that, according to facility personnel, all inmates are receiving and eating meals. Paez said, GEO strongly rejects those allegations. "We take our responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all those in our care with the utmost seriousness," he said. Paez stated that the facility provides access to regular hand washing with soap and clean water throughout the facility; provides 24/7 access to healthcare; and is equipped with Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms as part of the COVID-19 mitigation response. "We have also deployed personal protective equipment, including facemasks for all staff and inmates at the facility," he said. Updated information on positive coronavirus cases can be found at bop.gov/coronavirus. This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here. Wilson Jerman started working in the White House as a cleaner in 1957, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. But it wasnt until President John F. Kennedy was in office that he got his first big promotion, to butler, thanks to Mr. Kennedys wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. He had a very close relationship with Jackie O, said Jamila Garrett, Mr. Jermans granddaughter. She trusted him with her children, and he would ensure they had everything they needed in the White House. In 1966, when Mr. Jermans wife, Gladys, was dying of lupus, President Lyndon B. Johnson flew his personal doctors to help treat her and sent lobsters and filet mignon from the White House kitchen to the familys home in the Petworth section of Washington. An image of the zero-emission electric tanker TOKYO, May 21, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Seven companies--Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Mitsubishi Corporation--today announced establishment of the "e5 Consortium," with the goal of establishing new ocean shipping infrastructure services through various initiatives to develop, realize, and commercialize zero-emission electric vessels.Coastal shipping in Japan faces structural issues such as a shortage of mariners due to the aging of the seagoing workforce, not to mention the aging of the vessels. In addition, the ocean shipping industry has urged the coastal shipping industry to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as one of Japan's measures to address climate change. The seven e5 Consortium corporate members are focusing their attention on fulfilling the potential of electric vessels to solve these urgent issues. The consortium aims to establish a platform that offers innovative ocean shipping infrastructure services based on electric vessels bringing to bear the strength, technological know-how, networks, and other advantages of each member company.As the first phrase of the project, the consortium plans to launch the world's first zero-emission electric tanker, powered by large-capacity lithium ion batteries, in March 2022(1). e5 Lab. Inc. will serve as the executive office of the e5 Consortium.(2)The e5 Consortium will promote the sustainable growth of coastal shipping in Japan and contribute to the nation's social and economic development by providing added value to the coastal shipping industry through the development and introduction of advanced vessels.What is 'e5'?A provider of safe, reliable, and high-quality transport service, based on the realization of five core values: electrification, environment, evolution, efficiency, and economics.(1) Asahi Tanker decided to build two electric tankers powered by lithium-ion batteries, the first such vessels in the world:https://asahi-tanker.com/news-release/2020/135/Zero emission electric tanker concept video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sJjzCbRFWw&feature=youtu.be(2) e5 Lab. Inc. (President: Tomoaki Ichida; Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), jointly established by four companies of Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corporation, has enthusiastically promoted innovative projects to bring digital solutions and digital transformation to the ocean shipping industry, not only with electric vessels, but also hydrogen fuel batteries, onboard automated equipment, onboard broadband, remote control vessels, and development of a common integrated OS for ocean (vessels).URL of e5 lab Inc.: http://e5ship.com/Source: Mitsubishi CorporationCopyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. NEW YORK Seagrams heiress and longtime NXIVM executive Clare Bronfman has asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to adjourn her June 25 sentencing in Brooklyn in part because the COVID-19 pandemic will keep her family from attending. Bronfman, 41, who provided longtime financial resources for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and his cult-like, Colonie-based organization, faces 21 to 27 months in prison when she is sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. Bronfman pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain, and fraudulent use of identification. On Wednesday, Bronfmans lawyer, Kathleen Cassidy, told the judge that her client will not consent to being sentenced via video or teleconference. She respectfully requests that the court adjourn her sentencing until such date as the sentencing can be conducted in person at the courthouse, Cassidy stated. The attorney noted Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has extended the states pause and that reports indicate the New York City area is unlikely to be ready to meet the necessary criteria for the first phase of reopening until mid-June at the earliest. Pandemic-related travel bans, which prevent Ms. Bronfmans family from traveling to the United States from Europe for her sentencing, appear likely to remain in place through July, the lawyer stated. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Bronfman, who has homes in Manhattan and Clifton Park, has been on detention in her New York City residence on $100 million bond since she was arrested in July 2018. Bronfman, the daughter of late Seagram's tycoon Edgar Bronfman, was the major financial backer of Raniere, a purported personal growth guru known as "Vanguard," who was convicted of all seven counts at his trial last June. Raniere had been scheduled to be sentenced June 23 for his convictions on charges of sex trafficking, forced labor and racketeering charges with underlying acts of identity theft, obstruction of justice, wire and visa fraud, forced labor, human trafficking, sex trafficking, money laundering, child exploitation and possession of child pornography. He faces the possibility of life in prison. Raniere's sentencing was postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic earlier this month. Good Morning America On the eve of the one-year anniversary of his inauguration, President Joe Biden held a formal news conference at the White House Wednesday, answering reporter questions on his handling of the pandemic, the economy and legislative agenda, characterizing the country as unified -- but not as much as it could be -- and raised eyebrows by saying Russia was likely to invade Ukraine. "It's been a year of challenges, but it's also many years of enormous progress," Biden said to begin, ticking through his administration's successes before fielding questions from reporters. With Biden facing the limits of what he can accomplish with an evenly-divided Senate, unable to get either his signature social spending package or major voting rights reform through Congress in recent weeks, and with the pandemic still raging well into its second, his approval rating in polls has hit an all-time low. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-20 19:59:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Fishermen are trying to pull their fishing boats back at Talasari beach in heavy wind and rain in Balasore, India, May 20, 2020. India Metrological Department (IMD) Wednesday said super cyclone Amphan has begun making landfall near the Sunderbans in eastern Indian state of West Bengal with a wind speed of 160 to 170kmph gusting to 190 kmph as an extremely severe cyclonic storm. (Str/Xinhua) NEW DELHI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- India Metrological Department (IMD) Wednesday said super cyclone Amphan has begun making landfall near the Sunderbans in eastern Indian state of West Bengal with a wind speed of 160 to 170kmph gusting to 190 kmph as an extremely severe cyclonic storm. "Landfall process commenced and forward sector of the wall cloud region entering into land in West Bengal and landfall process will continue for about four hours," IMD said. According to officials over 500,000 people have been taken to shelters in West Bengal and over 100,000 in Odisha. The cyclone is likely to reach Kolkata by Thursday evening. Officials said East Midnapore and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal were witnessing heavy rain. The cyclone is expected to cause heavy to extremely heavy rainfall over Gangetic West Bengal and heavy to very heavy rainfall over north coastal Odisha. It will also cause heavy to very falls over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on Wednesday and Thursday and Meghalaya on Thursday. IMD said extensive damage is likely to occur to all types of kutcha (makeshift) houses, some damage to old badly managed pucca (permanent) structures. IMD has warned of flying objects, uprooting of communication and power poles, disruption of rail and road link at several places, extensive damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards, falling of palm and coconut trees, uprooting of large bushy trees and large boats and ships may get torn from their moorings. Authorities have deployed 41 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in West Bengal and Odisha. The severe cyclonic storm comes at a time when India is fighting against COVID-19, which has infected 106,750 people in the country and killed 3,303. NDRF chief S N Pradhan said cyclone Amphan along with the coronavirus fight poses a double challenge for the country. Authorities have advised fishermen not to venture into north Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal-Odisha coasts until Thursday. Reports say cyclone Amphan is one of the worst storms over the Bay of Bengal in years. Enditem Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wendesday (May 20) confirmed that Kerala SSLC, plus two exams will be conducted as per earlier schedule. Addressing a press conference, CM Vijayan clarified that the dates would remain unchanged and the exams would be conducted as per the schedule decided last week. He added that the remaining SSLC, higher secondary and vocational higher secondary examinations will be held in Kerala from May 26-30, 2020. There were reports that Kerala government has decided to postpone the exams post a cabinet meeting which was also attended by education minister. As per the Kerala CM, the Centre has granted permission to the state to conduct their exams as per the schedule decided. "There were some issues in conducting exams as there was a delay in getting the Central government's approval. Now we have got it," he said. So there would not be any change in the exam dates now. We will arrange all precautions and transport facilities for students to attend the exams. All students will get the opportunity to write exams. Neither students nor parents need to worry. Students will be allowed to enter exam halls after using sanitisers and wearing masks. Seating arrangements will be done keeping social distancing," he added. Meanwhile, the general education department of the state has also opened a centre correction window for the students who are stranded in districts other than their exam centres due to the coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown. It is learnt that the government has allowed the students to apply for the change in the centres and they will be provided with centres closer to their places. The students can check their time tables at dhsekerala.gov.in. This is the fifth in a series of 10 stories examining the issues Chinese leaders face as they gather for their annual "two sessions" of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference this week. This story looks at the sharp decline of US-China ties, and where it may lead. When thousands of China's elites flock to Beijing for the delayed national legislative session starting on Friday they will face a renewed debate about relations with the US. Specifically, can armed conflict between the two economic superpowers be avoided? The question is not new, but it has taken on a new urgency as the acrimony escalates between Washington and Beijing amid the Covid-19 pandemic, exposing growing cracks in the current global order. Harvard professor Graham Allison raised the question in a 2017 book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides' Trap? The reference being to the Greek historian of 2,500 years ago and the conundrum named after him on the likelihood of armed conflict when a rising power challenges a ruling power. While observers generally agree that an all-out war between the nuclear-armed nations is improbable, there are potential risks for a limited military conflict. President Xi Jinping has shown personal interest in the Thucydides trap concept, which Allison first posed in a 2012 newspaper article, referencing it on at least three occasions, including the eve of the swearing-in ceremony of US President Donald Trump three years ago. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2017, Xi said the Thucydides trap "can be avoided ... as long as we maintain communication and treat each other with sincerity". Xi Jinping referenced the Thucydides trap concept on the eve of Donald Trump's swearing-in ceremony. Photos: AFP alt=Xi Jinping referenced the Thucydides trap concept on the eve of Donald Trump's swearing-in ceremony. Photos: AFP Story continues But since then, the devastating Covid-19 pandemic has driven the deeply fraught US-China relations to the brink of an all-out confrontation as a result of strategic distrust and misperception, said Wang Jisi, president of Peking University's Institute of International and Strategic Studies. "China and the US are shifting from an all-around competition to a full-scale confrontation, with little room for compromise and manoeuvring," Wang said in a speech in late March. "We cannot rule out the possibility that the two powers may fall into the Thucydides trap." That seems to sum up the tone of recent communications from the US side. Trump has vowed to "take whatever actions that are necessary" to seek reparations and hold China accountable for the Covid-19 disease that was first identified in the city of Wuhan at the end of last year. His top aides, especially Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper, have been particularly blunt. During the Munich Security Conference in February, Esper described China as a rising threat to the world order and urged countries to side with the US in preparing for "high intensity conflict against China". Paramilitary police officers patrol in Tiananmen Square near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where China's political elites are about to meet for the "two sessions". Photo: Reuters alt=Paramilitary police officers patrol in Tiananmen Square near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where China's political elites are about to meet for the "two sessions". Photo: Reuters Mainland authorities are usually reluctant to play up sensitive diplomatic topics during the annual gatherings of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, known as the "two sessions". Domestic concerns, especially the socio-economic upheaval wrought by the pandemic, will no doubt dominate the week-long meetings as the country faces the deepest economic contraction in decades, mass unemployment, and a possible manufacturing exodus from China. However, the sharp decline in relations with the US in recent months and its possible consequences are expected to loom large in the minds of over 5,000 participants at the two sessions, according to Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University. "Considering the boiling tensions with the US over Covid-19 and the resulting scrutiny of China's global ambitions " which have dealt a heavy blow to the economy, especially at local levels, and left the country increasingly isolated " it may be hard to suppress such discussions," Gu said. Given the widespread public interest in these contentious topics, Xi and other top leaders may need to weigh in personally and set the tone for the national debate, especially on the future of China and US relations, he said. But it would be unrealistic to expect major policy decisions on diplomacy, as "the two sessions are not usually known for substantial foreign policy deliberations", said Zhu Feng, an international affairs expert at Nanjing University. The deterioration of US-China ties has clearly alarmed Xi and his top aides. On April 8, the Chinese leader issued an unusually stark warning that "we must get ready for the worst-case scenarios" in light of unprecedented external adversity and challenges, according to Xinhua. While the state news agency did not elaborate on what Xi meant by worst-case scenarios, a recent study by a Chinese government-backed think tank offered some hints. The China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, said Beijing may need to prepare for armed confrontation with Washington amid the worst anti-China backlash since the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, according to Reuters, which cited an internal report. The report warned that China's overseas investments, especially the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, could fall victim to rising anti-Chinese sentiments, while the US may accelerate efforts to counter Beijing's expanding clout by increasing financial and military support for regional allies. While the think tank declined to confirm the Reuters story, many international relations analysts shared similar bleak assessments of US-China relations. "We are already in an all-around confrontation with the US, which sees both sides at odds on almost every front " from trade and tech tensions, military, ideological and geopolitical rivalry, to political and legal battles over the coronavirus," Zhu said. "The prospects for bilateral ties are deeply worrying and we are just one step away from a new cold war." With much of the world still in the grip of the pandemic, Beijing's critics and opponents, led by the US, have upped the ante in the blame-shifting game as they line up to pursue an international investigation into the origins of the deadly virus. The coronavirus has also derailed most of China's diplomatic agenda for the first half of the year, with Xi's planned state visits to Japan and South Korea postponed. Meanwhile, China's relations with the European Union have become more tense, though Beijing managed to dodge a bullet at this week's World Health Assembly, which adopted a mildly worded resolution drafted by the EU to carry out an independent inquiry into different countries' response to the outbreak at "an appropriate time". But a growing number of European countries have pushed back against China's diplomatic assertiveness and followed Washington's lead to press Beijing for greater transparency over the coronavirus. Shelley Rigger, a political science professor at Davidson College in North Carolina, said the CICIR report, if confirmed, offered a clear-eyed assessment of the situation and did not have the usual triumphalist tone present in many papers on international relations from China. "That's a good thing. Everyone needs to be realistic, and not indulge in wishful thinking or overconfidence," she said. Seth Jaffe, assistant professor of political science and international affairs at John Cabot University in Rome and an expert on Greek history, said the Chinese think tank report was "profoundly concerning". "The acrimonious narratives surrounding Covid-19 are currently reshaping the attitudes of leaders and populations alike, which is leading to harder-line strategic postures, as evidenced by the hawkish CICIR report," he said. "In this way, the virus blame game is stirring up nationalistic pride and grievance, narrowing the space for political leaders to manoeuvre, and creating zero-sum dynamics that invite future conflict " a vicious cycle." According to Jaffe, the author of Thucydides on the Outbreak of War: Character and Contest, although the temperaments of Trump and Xi would matter enormously in any actual crisis, it was the structural shifts in the balance of power in recent years that had brought the two sides closer to the brink. The most likely collision scenario, he said, would be in the South China Sea. "I still worry most about military close encounters associated with American freedom of navigation operations, which could rapidly escalate in unintended but dangerous directions, for example, in the direction of a serious naval conflict." Guided-missile destroyer the USS Barry sails in the South China Sea last month. Photo: AFP alt=Guided-missile destroyer the USS Barry sails in the South China Sea last month. Photo: AFP He said an international incident would put Trump and Xi on a reputational collision course, with each leader facing pressure to stand up to the other and not back down, given the mistrust and heated rhetoric. "The danger, then, is an unforeseen spark, which could set off a frightening movement up the escalation ladder," he added. Zhao Tong, a senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing, also expressed concern that military incidents and conflicts with the US had become "less unimaginable given how quickly mutual animosity is building". In recent months, many senior Chinese diplomats have risen to Xi's hardline, nationalist call and displayed their "fighting spirit", often at the expense of the country's global image. "In future crises, if People's Liberation Army officers, like some Chinese diplomats, calculate that it is in their personal interests to act extra tough, even if they know their aggression could cause war and cost China dearly, they might still feel incentivised to do so," Zhao said. To make things worse, according to Zhang Tuosheng, a security analyst from the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, Beijing and Washington had yet to set up an operational crisis management mechanism. "One of the major lessons is that we've paid scant attention to the establishment of a series of mechanisms that have proven necessary during the Cold War era in preventing tensions spiralling out of control in the event of emergencies or a real crisis," he said. Beijing made clear its resentment over the warming ties between Washington and Taipei ahead of and during Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration on Wednesday, but a military confrontation over the self-ruled island in the near term was not likely, according to Rigger. "The Chinese leadership surely understands the massive costs " in blood, treasure and reputation " of military action against Taiwan. They are way too smart to count on the US not intervening," she said. Rigger noted several retired PLA officers, including air force Major General Qiao Liang, had unusually toned down their hawkish stance on seeking reunification with Taiwan by force. "That is a frustrating message for many Chinese to hear, but war is very costly and very unpredictable " something the US has learned through painful experience," she said. While experts called for efforts to lower tensions in the lead-up to the US presidential election in November, most said that would largely hinge on Trump. "Anything is possible with Trump," Rigger said. "If he thinks better relations with China will help him win re-election, he will do whatever it takes to turn the relationship around. I'd be really surprised if the Chinese leadership didn't respond positively to such an opportunity." But Zhu said it would be naive to pin hopes on Trump, who was desperate to play the China card in his re-election campaign. "Beijing should be particularly cautious on Taiwan and the South China Sea disputes and should not engage in rhetorical tit-for-tat with Washington," he said. "We need to look beyond the Trump presidency and prioritise the steady development of bilateral relations over the need to outcompete Trump." The next story in the series will examine the debate over the future path of China's relations with the United States and how Beijing will respond to the new international economic realities post-coronavirus pandemic. Until then, you can read the first four parts of the series: how Beijing is preparing for a post-Covid-19 world; how it is likely to ignore calls to investigate the coronavirus; the expectations for Beijing's policy on Hong Kong; and the expectations for China's new military budget. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. A University of Queensland student who is critical of the Chinese government says documents released to dispute his claims the university co-ordinated its response to campus protests with the Chinese Consulate show the education provider is "more interested in public relations" than fair disciplinary action. Drew Pavlou and his lawyer, Tony Morris, QC, walked out of a closed virtual hearing held to decide whether he should be expelled on Wednesday, describing the process as a "kangaroo court". University of Queensland student Drew Pavlou says he walked out of a disciplinary hearing because UQ denied him access to documents he needed for his defence. Credit:Attila Csaszar The disciplinary action was brought against the outspoken human rights activist and critic of UQ's strong ties to Beijing after complaints about his protest and social media activities. UQ has strongly rejected claims the ongoing matter is an issue of free speech, though a number of federal Liberal MPs, advocating free speech, have cautioned it against taking a hardline approach. DETROIT -- State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and several fellow Democrats, claiming violations of free speech and defamation. Specifically, Whitsett claimed Whitmer and the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization sought to deprive her of her right to engage in protected speech after she publicly thanked President Donald Trump for his suggestion of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat her coronavirus case. Whitsett contracted the virus in March and has been open about her appreciation for the presidents suggestion, which she says saved her life. While it remains unproven that hydroxychloroquine can effectively treat COVID-19, it is used to prevent malaria and to treat rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and complications of Lyme disease. Whitsett suffers from Lyme disease, and was aware hydroxychloroquine can be used to treat that disease, but didnt know until the president mentioned it that it was being testing for use against COVID-19. As a result, Whitsett was invited to The White House to meet with Trump on April 14. During that meeting, she again thanked Trump for the suggestion and said her condition went from 0 to 100 after she began taking the drug. Following that meeting, Whitsett began receiving criticism for her public statements and was eventually censured by the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization. The organization took exception to her comments on the drug and the outbreak, saying they painted a picture that isnt true and spreads misinformation. Chris McClain, a precinct delegate for the organization who wrote the censure resolution, explained the decision to MLive last month, prior to censure vote. Her individual circumstance does not apply to everyone," McClain said. She misrepresented a lot of the priorities and needs here of the community when she went to go meet with the president. McClain, who is not named in the lawsuit went on to say: Our leaders have a platform and they shouldnt use that platform to spread misinformation or play with the health and safety of the people that live here. More than 10,000 Detroiters have tested positive for COVID-19. According to the lawsuit, Whitsett says she also received a text message from Whitmer on April 19 regarding the meeting with Trump. "Youre entitled to your opinion, Im just disappointed youd take your theories public without seeking to get answers first. Take care, Whitmer is accused of saying via text. Whitsett and her attorneys Norman Yatooma and Christine L. Constantino, Jr. claim the political organization worked to silence her free speech. At Whitmers prompting, the lawsuit alleges, the organization passed the resolution that bars Whitsett from holding any position or committee membership within the group. The censure also meant the organization would not endorse her in future elections, the lawsuit says. As a result of the censure, Whitsett says she has been ousted by the party, and the defendants continue to hinder her ability to do her job. An example, the lawsuit claims Whitsett arranged for 388,680 meals to be delivered to her constituents in Detroit, and the defendants refused to allow her the help of the Michigan Army National Guard to distribute the meals as previously arranged. Jonathan Kinloch, the chair of the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization said he had not been served with the lawsuit and had yet to read it when reached for comment. Its probably full of banter and bullcrap," Kinloch said. Despite having not read the lawsuit, Kinloch said the organization did nothing wrong and the legal action is an attempt by Whitsett to grab media attention. Whitsett had the opportunity to appeal the resolution of censure, but she did not do so, according to Kinloch. Moving forward, he says the organization simply wants Whitsett to declare her true intentions. The core question is, does she intend on operating as a Republican while she was elected as a Democrat? Kinloch asked. She has shown herself not to remain interested in being a Democrat. Maybe she should consider the suggestion from President Donald J Trump, to become a Republican," Kinloch said. If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then its a Republican duck. Coincidentally, Whitsett was one of President Trumps guests during his tour of the Ford Rawsonvile plant Thursday. The lawsuit goes on to say Whitsett was defamed by the political organization because the censure resolution said Whitsett Breached protocol in separately arranging meetings with and advocating to the President of the United States, Donald Trump and Vice President Michael Richard Pence, in place of Michigans duly elected Democratic leadership and Chief Executive Officer. Whitsett says she did not arrange for any meeting with the White House. She was invited to the meeting and did not seek it out on her own. The organization also accused Whitsett of: 'Endangering the health, safety, and welfare of her constituents, the City of Detroit, and the State of Michigan by appearing at a meeting with the President of the United States of America to discuss her experience with the COVID-19 virus and subsequent treatment." Those statements from the organization were distributed to Democratic leadership throughout the state, according to the lawsuit. The suit accuses Whitmer of being aware of a conspiracy to publicly shame, defame and humiliate Whitsett. Whitmer did not try to stop the scheme and actually prompted it, making her liable for damages, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money for damages, reimbursement for all court fees, lawyers fees and other costs related to the case and any further relief the court deems appropriate. A spokesperson for Whitmer declined comment, saying the governor doesnt speak on pending litigation. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Thursday, May 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order The father of a Bessemer teen killed during a police chase over the weekend has now been charged in his sons death. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Wednesday obtained a reckless murder warrant against 41-year-old Reico Terry. The warrant was served on Terry midday Thursday. Killed in the Saturday crash was 15-year-old Jaylan Derrell Terry. Jaylan Terry (Contributed) Terry already was charged with loitering for the purpose of drugs, tampering with physical evidence, resisting arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, felony attempting to elude and reckless endangerment. He is being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail. The ordeal began at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. According to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, the Sheriffs Neighborhood Enforcement Team (SNET), accompanied by a crew from Live PD, who was filming, but was not live, witnessed a drug transaction at a gas station in the Midfield area. Both parties in the transaction were stopped. It was confirmed that the transaction had occurred by questioning the purchasing party, said Jefferson County sheriffs Sgt. Joni Money. The sellers vehicle was occupied by himself and two additional males. As deputies approached the sellers vehicle, the driver sped away from the scene. The driver, identified as Terry, led deputies on a chase throughout the area and onto the interstate. Attempts to block the vehicle in were unsuccessful, Money said, and the driver exited onto surface streets. Money said it was initially thought that deputies had ended the pursuit with Terry prior to the crash but, after a supervisory review, it was confirmed law enforcement was still pursuing the vehicle. Authorities said it was also discovered that Terry had tried to destroy evidence of illegal narcotics while he was running from deputies. He led deputies on an extensive chase that ended with Terry failing to stop at an intersection where the signal was red. At 12:07 p.m., authorities said, Terry drove into the path of an oncoming diesel truck, Money said. The crash happened at the intersection of Eighth Avenue West and Arkadelphia Road. Terry jumped out of the vehicle and attempted to run from the scene. Deputies were able to take him into custody. Terry was found to be in possession of heroin, authorities said. The front seat passenger was also questioned at the scene and released. He received only minor injuries in the accident. Jaylan, a passenger in the back seat, was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:46 p.m. By Ayya Lmahamad Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya has thanked Azerbaijan for projecting the Spanish flag on the Heydar Aliyev center building as a sign of solidarity amid coronavirus, during a phone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, the Foreign Affairs Ministrys press service reported on May 20. Gonzalez Laya also thanked Mammadyarov for his letter expressing support to joint efforts to fight the global crisis. The ministers stressed the importance of joint efforts and solidarity in the fight against the global pandemic, spoke about high level of political relations between the two countries, noted the cooperation of the countries within the UN framework in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, including the principles of respect for sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states and inviolability of borders. The sides also highlighted the importance of signing a declaration on strategic partnership between the two countries in the near future and in this context the implementation of high level visits. Furthermore, the ministers exchanged views on the intensification of cooperation between the two countries in the economic and energy spheres, and discussed the expansion of cultural ties. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz New Delhi: And, its official! Actor Rana Daggubati on Wednesday got engaged to his girlfriend Miheeka Bajaj in Hyderabad. The announcement was made by the couple on their respective Instagram pages with pictures from the dreamy engagement ceremony. The rituals happened as per traditions. Rana wore a white shirt and a dhoti while his ladylove looked ravishing in an orange and pink sari. Tagging Miheeka in a picture of them together from the ceremony, the 35-year-old actor wrote, And its official. Miheeka, on the other hand, treated us to another lovely photo and said, To the beginning of forever while she captioned another post as, Officially mine. Here are the pictures from Rana and Miheekas engagement ceremony: Rana proposed to Miheeka Bajaj earlier in May and introduced her to the Instafam with a loved-up picture. She said yes, he wrote and soon, the internet went into a meltdown. Miheeka is an entrepreneur. She hails from a business family of Hyderabad. She is the daughter of Bunty and Suresh Bajaj. She is the founder of an interior design label and event management company named Dew Drop Design Studio. Congratulations, Rana and Miheeka! 21.05.2020 LISTEN The Executive Director of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has said the construction of the first ever infectious disease treatment facility in Ghana in response to the coronavirus pandemic is ample evidence of Ghanaian ingenuity and patriotism. Mr. Agyepong was speaking after leading a delegation from the GhIE to inspect the progress of work on the facility located at the Ga East Hospital in Accra. The GhIE is one of the key institutions partnering with the Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund to bring the project to fruition. It has been collaborating with other built environment professionals from conceptualisation to the execution of the project. Mr. Agyepong says such collaboration is all in support of governments efforts to bring the Covid-19 epidemic under control and its a good testimony of what Ghanaians can achieve together. This pandemic has brought the best out of Ghanaians, he says. The fact that the private sector can put together funding for the public good and as built environment professionals we are also chipping in. We presented a document to the Ghana Health Service and one of the recommendations was that we should have a facility such as this one and thats why we are contributing to it. It shows the Ghanaian that in times of need we can rally together and put the nation first. In this struggle against this very deadly pandemic that we cannot see, the Ghanaian has shown that we can work together, rally around and support ourselves. Mr. Agyepong was impressed by the progress of work on the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of this month. He noted: This facility has to be up very quickly and so we are using new methods to do that and we are satisfied with the work that we have seen so far and we hope that we would be able to achieve that in good time. The GhIE delegation which visited the project site included Ing. Joseph Oddei, Chairman of the Civil Division (GhIE), Ing. William Viala, President of Ghana Consulting Engineers, and Ing. Clement Amole, Structural Engineer. When completed the infectious disease treatment facility will be used to isolate and treat critically ill Covid-19 patients. After the pandemic is declared officially over, it will be used to provide treatment and care for other infectious disease patients. The Ghana Covid-19 Private Sector Fund (GCPS-Fund), which is spearheading the project, is raising funds to build three more of such facilities in Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi. The GCPS-Fund is an initiative by private business executives who set it up with a seed fund of One Million Ghana Cedis. They are also campaigning to raise at least One Hundred Million Ghana Cedis from local and international sources to aid the Government of Ghanas fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. For more information on how to donate/contribute, please visit: www.ghanacovid19fund.com Watch video here: China's People's Liberation Army soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City during the opening ceremony a political meeting in Beijing on May 21, 2020. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images) White House Report Denounces Beijings Malign Behavior Amid Heightened Tensions The White House decried the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) predatory economic practices, aggressive military moves, and human rights abuses in a new report to Congress. The assessment comes as the Trump administration escalates criticism of Chinas pandemic response. The 16-page report (pdf), submitted May 19 to Congress as required under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, spelled out a range of challenges posed by Beijing, including its unfair trade practices, persecution of religious groups and dissidents, and provocative and coercive military activities in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. The United States now acknowledges and accepts the relationship with the PRC [Peoples Republic of China] as the CCP has always framed it internally: one of great power competition, the report stated. Even as we compete with the PRC, we welcome cooperation where our interests align. The report, which summarizes the administrations policy toward the Chinese regime in the past few years, was released as the Trump administration clamped down on security threats posed by Chinese tech companies, and escalated demands for Beijing to be transparent about the origins of the CCP virus outbreak. The medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge thats presented by the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said May 20 at a press conference before the public release of the report. Chinas been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime, since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like usthrough trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didnt happen, he said. We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact. Trump on May 20 called out the regimes massive disinformation campaign relating to the pandemic, saying on Twitter that it was intended to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden win this years presidential election. In another set of tweets, Trump called the regimes disinformation and propaganda campaign against the United States and Europe a disgrace. It all comes from the top, Trump wrote. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! Pompeo said the Chinese regimes response to the outbreak has accelerated our more realistic understanding of communist China. He spotlighted Beijing destroying virus samples during the early stages of the outbreak, its refusal to allow investigators to access its facilities, and its threats to impose tariffs on Australia after it called for an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic. The report stated that the Chinese regime has fallen short of its commitments in a range of areas, from trade to intellectual property to environmental protection. For instance, Beijing promised during the Obama administration to stop state-directed cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain, and repeated the pledge in 2017 and 2018, the report said. However, in 2018, the United States and a dozen other countries reported massive cyber attacks aimed at stealing business information by hackers affiliated with Chinas top intelligence agency. The report stated that the administration sees no value in engaging with the regime for symbolism and pageantry. We instead demand tangible results and constructive outcomes, it stated. When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure on the PRC government and take action to protect United States interests. The report concluded, We continue to engage with PRC leaders in a respectful yet clear-eyed manner, challenging Beijing to uphold its commitments. [May 21, 2020] Mobvista Publishes 2020 Mobile Ad Anti-Fraud White Paper 2.0 to Expand the Toolkit for Fighting Ad Fraud GUANGZHOU, China, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ad fraud has become one of the greatest threats facing the fast-growing global mobile ad market. The Ad Anti-Fraud White Paper 2.0, published by Mobvista, takes a close look at the current state of mobile ad fraud, fraud types, and anti-fraud strategies, intending to improve the transparency and health of the mobile ad industry. This year, the global economy is gripped by uncertainty as the Covid-19 pandemic continues its worldwide rampage. Among the hardest hit is the ad industry, known as a gauge of economic activity. Advertisers' budgets plunged as a result of the crisis, which is worsened by increasingly rampant ad fraud. Mobile ad fraud is defined as any technology-enabled attempt to defraud advertisers, publishers, or suppliers to steal advertising budgets. According to the World Federation of Advertisers' statistics, a conservative estimate is that ad fraud costs advertisers more than USD 20 billion in 2019. This number is expected to rise to a whopping USD 50 billion by 2025. Aside from causing advertisers heavy economic losses, ad fraud erodes the value and credibility of mobile ads and therefore hamstrings the sustainable development of the mobile ad industry. Recent years have seen a rise in mobile ad fraud. According to a statistical analysis done by Mobvista's anti-fraud team, from October 2019 to March 2020, ad fraud deteted accounted for 10.69% of total ad traffic worldwide. All participants of the mobile ad industry must pull together to combat the growth in fraudulent ad traffic. Behind the increase in ad fraud lie the ever more sophisticated fraud techniques. The 2020 anti-fraud white paper published by Mobvista introduces the latest strategies to combat the evolving fraud threat. Mobvista's multi-tiered anti-fraud system, led by its anti-fraud team, integrates with third-party fraud detection platforms and other anti-fraud technology providers. It is essentially an anti-fraud toolkit with Mobvista's proprietary anti-fraud technology at its heart, and it is constantly expanding to adapt to newly identified fraud features. So far, Mobvista has classified more than 60 fraud features and is continually identifying new ones from the latest industry research to optimize its rule-based anti-fraud system. The white paper also demonstrates a selection of anti-fraud solutions. As fraud techniques evolve, the industry needs to develop more sophisticated fraud detection technology, said the group's vice president Dr. Zhu Yadong. Mobvista's machine learning-based anti-fraud solutions can effectively stop the spread of fraudulent ad traffic by automatically extracting potential or new fraud patterns from masses of data. Moreover, to tackle the situation where fraudsters combine click spamming traffic with bo traffic to improve channel CVR and shorten CTIT, Mobvista included mobile device brands into their statistics to split up the original traffic indicators and see the real situation. According to public data, Mobvista was founded in 2013, went public in Hong Kong in 2018, and has over 700 employees across 16 cities around the world. It is the world's largest mobile marketing platform dedicated to providing advertising solutions for developers and advertisers around the globe. With an ad network covering over 200 countries and more than 10 billion daily impressions, Mobvista is at the forefront of the fight against mobile ad fraud. About Mobvista Inc. Mobvista is a leading technology platform dedicated to driving global business growth in the digital age. With global technology and rich industry experience, Mobvista helps customers utilize advanced technologies across big data, artificial intelligence, and elastic cloud computing cluster management to connect China and the rest of the world, helping customers build forward-looking business models and guaranteeing effective market access for all. Mobvista was founded in Guangzhou, China, in 2013, and listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (01860.HK) since December 2018, hitherto has over 700 employees with offices in 16 cities across the world. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobvista-publishes-2020-mobile-ad-anti-fraud-white-paper-2-0-to-expand-the-toolkit-for-fighting-ad-fraud-301063824.html SOURCE Mobvista [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A scowl on Sergio Moros face tends to be a bad omen for Brazilian presidents. As the lead judge of Brazils landmark Car Wash corruption investigation, in 2016 Moro helped unleash a wave of anger at the political class that triggered Dilma Rousseffs impeachment. In 2017, he convicted Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseffs hugely popular predecessor, of graft. And, last month, he plunged Jair Bolsonaro, the countrys current far-right leader, into a political crisis when he resigned his post of justice minister and accused Bolsonaro of inappropriately meddling in law enforcement. When you look at it, Moro is arguably the most influential Brazilian of the past decade, says Gustavo Ribeiro, a political scientist. But Moro, 47, insists he has never set out to change the course of Brazilian history. Its all very circumstantial. Things can end up having big consequences, he tells TIME over video chat from a grey hotel room in the capital city of Brasilia. He speaks slowly even in his native Portuguese and rarely lets a smile crack through his stony expression. But I also wouldnt overstate my influence. Especially now, Im just an ordinary citizen. That understated attitude is typical of Moro. Over the last six years, hes become one of the most popular politicians in Brazil and early polls indicate he would be Bolsonaros main challenger if he ran for president in 2022. But most of his political leanings remain a mystery. Hes transformed the fate of some of Brazils biggest and brashest political characters, but he has the persona of a somber bureaucrat. Hes a hero to the right and a boogeyman to much of the left, but his slogan is strikingly apolitical: Always do the right thing. It was that ethos, Moro claims, that forced him to act on the morning of April 24, when he learned that Bolsonaro had fired Mauricio Valeixo, the federal police chief. A few hours later, he called a press conference in which he resigned and accused the president of having fired Valeixo in order to install a lackey who would illegally provide him with confidential reports. Moro later added that Bolsonaro had tried to replace the regional head of police in Rio de Janeiro state, where two of his sons are currently under investigation. Brazils attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into Moros claims, which could lead to charges of obstruction of justice and abuse of powerand even the presidents impeachment. Story continues Bolsonaro, who last year celebrated Moro as a national treasure after he appointed him justice minister, has denied the allegations and referred to Moro as Judas for making them. So far, Moro isnt rising to the bait. It wasnt my intention to damage the government, he says. But I wouldnt feel comfortable with my conscience without explaining why I was leaving. People demonstrate in support of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Justice Minister Sergio Moro in Brasilia, on June 30, 2019. | EVARISTO SA/AFP via Getty Images The son of a Portuguese teacher and a geography professor, Moro and his elder brother grew up in Parana, a relatively wealthy state with a mild climate in the southwestern corner of Brazil. As an adult, he settled in Curitiba, the state capital of 2 million people. He took the public entrance exam to become a federal judge at just 24. The descendant of Italian immigrants, he developed a fascination with Operation Clean Hands, the corruption probe that rooted out hundreds of dirty politicians in Italy in the 1990s. In 1998 he spent a summer studying money laundering at Harvard Law School. Over the next two decades he worked on a string of corruption cases, from financial crimes to vote-buying in Brasilia, and lectured at universities. Moro credits his 22 years on the bench as the reason for his reserved persona.My training has made me very aware of the need to observe certain patterns of conduct, he says. He is married to lawyer Rosangela Maria Wolff de Quadros Moro and the couple have two young daughters. But he is loath to share more details about their life, responding to a question about where he lives by saying it was very personal. Moro has managed to maintain his privacy even after being thrust into the national spotlight in 2014, when Car Wash landed on his desk. The case started as a small operation looking at money laundering in Curitiba, but when police discovered a link with state-run oil giant Petrobras, it grew to a scale no one had anticipated. Investigators unveiled a vast and intricate network of corruption, involving cash for contracts, that implicated large swaths of Brazils business and political elites. By 2019, $3.4 billion in public funds had been recovered and 445 people indicted, many of them officials from the leftists Workers Party, which had been in power since 2003. Moro became a symbol of the end of an era of impunity in Brazilian politics. As the revelations from the investigation triggered a wave of anti-government protests, His face was plastered on posters, T-shirts and flags, accompanied by the slogan We are all Moro or SuperMoro. But Moros conduct during the investigation also attracted controversy. In March 2016, he shocked many Brazilians when he sent the audio of tapped phone conversations between Lula and then-president Rousseff to the media. One clip appeared to show that Rousseff had appointed Lula as her chief of staff, allegedly in order to shield him from Car Wash prosecutors, because government ministers can only be tried by the Supreme Court. (Analysts say the audio clip was decisive in building the public outrage that underpinned Congress drive to impeach Rousseff four months later, on charges of manipulating government financial data.) In July 2019, investigative site The Intercept published a trove of messages which they said showed that, as a judge, Moro had inappropriately consulted with federal prosecutors on strategy to take down high profile figures. Some of the messages concerned Lula, convicted by Moro in July 2017 over his receipt of a beachfront apartment in exchange for allocating Petrobras contracts. Ribeiro, who founded political news site The Brazilian Report, says that Car Wash exposed a kind of duality we have in Brazil: either no wrongdoing is ever punished or we have law enforcement and judges bulldozing due process and bending the rules in order to do the right thing, he says. Moro is the poster boy for that phenomenon. Moro rejects that idea and denies any wrongdoing. He argues the audio release was vital to the public interest, and that The Intercepts coverage sensationalized innocent messages. I have an absolutely clear conscience about what I did during Car Wash. Theres an attempt to characterize everything as political persecution; to cast me as an executioner, he says, pointing out that Lula has since been convicted of corruption by other judges in other court rooms. It was never a personal issue with ex-president Lula either. Even though theres a narrative that he wants to impose. Regardless of Moros intentions, Car Wash transformed Brazils political landscape. By 2017, Brazil ranked worst in the world on the World Banks index of public trust in politicians. Public satisfaction with Brazils democracy fell to 15%. Perhaps the largest benefactor of that situation was Bolsonaro. After spending two decades as a fringe figure on the far-right of Brazils congress, in October 2018 he rode a wave of public anger at the mainstream to be elected president with just over 55% of the vote in a second round run-off. He promised to stamp out the corruption Brazilians now saw as endemic to the countrys large parties. When Bolsonaro invited Moro to become justice minister soon after his election, Moro says he saw an opportunity to consolidate the achievements of Car Wash and permanently strengthen the rule of law from Brasilia. He cites a backsliding after Italys Clean Hands operation, in which corruption networks sprouted up again in Italian politics in the early 2000s. I wanted to prevent that weakening from happening in Brazil. For the left, Moros entrance into a government led by a far-right president cast a pall over his impartiality. His conviction of Lula, who would have been the Workers Party (PT) presidential candidate, had effectively paved the way for Bolsonaros victory. Its the Fraud of the century! tweeted PT President Gleisi Hoffmann. Moro now says he worried about how the decision would be seen. But also a lot of people told me that they felt more comfortable with me inside the government than outside of it, because inside I could be a potentially moderating influence. So that provided me some comfort. If things had turned out differently, and the Workers Party had won the election, would Moro have joined their government? There are some very clear issues. You can only advance in the future if you face up to the mistakes of the past. He argues that the PTs campaign in the presidential election in 2018 did not acknowledge the partys culpability in the scheme unveiled by Car Wash. I simply wouldnt believe that it would be possible [for them to advance the anti-corruption agenda], without recognizing past errors. So then you have to look for a fresh start. There has to be a serious commitment, he says, and pauses. Unfortunately, the government that was elected also didnt have that. The explosive allegations that Moro made as he resigned in April were the final straw, he says, in a whole scenario that has unfolded over the last year [] that showed that this new government was not fulfilling its promises to fight corruption and strengthen institutions. In particular, he cites a lack of presidential support for anti-corruption measures Moro had wanted included in a 2019 crime bill. The law, finally passed in December, strengthened police powers to fight violent crimemeasures critics say could worsen Brazils problem with police brutality. But lawmakers watered down key sections meant to overhaul campaign finance rules and scrap the immunity that congress members enjoy while in office. Bolsonaro refused to veto all of the changes, Moro says. He also points to recent apparent alliances between the president and politicians who have been accused or convicted of corruption. All of that began to strain, or drain of meaning, my remaining in the government. I cant be in the government if I dont have a serious commitment on corruption and rule of law. (Bolsonaro denies mentioning the police in the video.) Moro was in Brasilia to view a two-hour official recording of an April 22 meeting between ministers and Bolsonaro. The video is at the heart of the investigation into Moros allegations against the president. Moro claims it contains evidence of the president seeking to meddle in the federal police and says it must be shared with the public. The supreme court will make a decision about its publication on Friday. A partial transcript released by the attorney generals office includes Bolsonaro saying, Im not going to wait for [the federal police] to fuck my family and friends just for shits and giggles. Moros allegations against the president have riled up Bolsonaros radical political base. Bolsonaro supporters, who last year took to the streets to defend Moro during the scandal over The Intercepts leaks, bearing images of Moro as superman, now have new signs. These ones label Moro a traitor. On a May 17, some in Brasilia even carried coffins with the former ministers image attached. Supporters of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate with a coffin with the portrait of Brazilian former Justice Minister Sergio Moro, Brazilian and Israeli flags during a rally in Brasilia on May 17, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. | SERGIO LIMA/AFP via Getty Images Moro says he tries not to take such labels personally, and brushes off questions of personal loyalty to the president. I didnt enter the government to serve a master. I entered it to serve the country, the law. Nevertheless, he is tight-lipped about the presidents current leadership of Brazil, which public health experts have condemned for worsening the countrys COVID-19 death toll. Brazil currently has the worlds second-highest daily death rate and epidemiologists say the peak is still weeks away. The president has railed against social distancing measures, waging what he calls a war against local governors who try to implement them, and dismissed the virus as a little cold. He fired his health minister in mid-April for publicly defying his stance; the man who replaced him resigned after just a few weeks on the job. (An active-duty army general is now serving as Interim health minister.) Moro says he felt uncomfortable being part of a government whose leadership was not taking the virus seriously. But my focus is on the rule of law. He says its difficult for [him] to make an assessment as to whether the president shares his definition of corruption. But he hopes Brazilians do, he says. Brazil is a firm democracy. Its institutions sometimes suffer some attacks but they are working. And theres a growing perception in public opinion that we need to strengthen the pillars of our democracy, including the rule of law. Those desires continue, despite the circumstances of the moment. The optimistic and careful tone of that statement could sound like a politician running for office. Speculation that Moro might run for president in 2022, or to be a state governor, is rife, though he is evasive about the idea of reentering politics. Thats not the concern of the moment, he says.Ive just left the government. I need to re establish my private life. And were in the middle of a pandemic. Instead, he says, after six years of turbulence, some time for self-reflection might be advisable. He has job offers from universities to become a law professor again. Under Brazilian law, he cannot return to the judiciary. I dont have a way to go back and take up my role as judge again. Ive lost that forever, he says. I have to reinvent myself somehow. Two men of the Nigerian army have been killed while three others have sustained various degrees of injury during Boko Haram ambush in the northeast John Enenche, Coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO), confirmed this in a statement on Wednesday night. The Troops of Combat Team 1, Operation KANTANA JIMLAN on long-range admin patrol along Buni Yadi Buni Gari axis encountered multiple Improvised Explosive Devices and Boko Haram Terrorists ambush, eight kilometres ahead of Buni-Gari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State on the 18 of May 2020. Read Also: Military Jets Destroy Compound Housing Boko Haram Leaders in Borno Advertisement Two soldiers paid the supreme price and three other soldiers sustained injuries as a result of the IED explosion. Additionally, a recovery truck, one troops carrying vehicle and a water tanker that ran into the IED were destroyed by fire. Three terrorists were neutralized while unconfirmed number escaped with various degrees of injury. However, due to mental snap/distress occasioned by fog of war, two of the soldiers who escaped the IED and terrorists ambush recorded the incident with uncomplimentary remarks, about the Nigerian Army and her leadership, which was released on the social media. Although this kind of outburst is expected in war, the soldiers involved have been identified and would undergo observation and counselling. The Armed Forces of Nigeria will remain unwavering in its quest to end the terrorism and will do everything possible to ensure there is no repeat of this kind of traumatic incident/outburst. The Military High Command commends troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE for their unwavering determination, hard work and resilience. #PressBriefing OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE TROOPS ON PATROL ENCOUNTER IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE/TERRORISTS AMBUSH EIGHT KILOMETRES AHEAD OF BUNI-GARI, YOBE STATE The Troops of Combat Team 1, Operation KANTANA JIMLAN on long range admin patrol along Buni Yadi Buni Gari axis DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) May 20, 2020 encountered multiple Improvised Explosive Devices and Boko Haram Terrorists' ambush, eight kilometres ahead of Buni-Gari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State on the 18 of May 2020. Two soldiers paid the supreme price and three other soldiers sustained injuries as a DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) May 20, 2020 result of the IED explosion. Additionally, a recovery truck, one troops carrying vehicle and a water tanker that ran into the IED were destroyed by fire.Three terrorists were neutralized while unconfirmed number escaped with various degrees of injury. DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) May 20, 2020 However, due to mental snap/distress occasioned by fog of war, two of the soldiers who escaped the IED and terrorists' ambush recorded the incident with uncomplimentary remarks, about the Nigerian Army and her leadership, which was released on the social media. DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) May 20, 2020 Although this kind of outburst is expected in war, the soldiers involved have been identified and would undergo observation and counselling. The Armed Forces of Nigeria will remain unwavering in its quest to end the terrorism and will do everything possible to ensure there DEFENCE HQ NIGERIA (@DefenceInfoNG) May 20, 2020 SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- McClatchy (OTC: MNIQQ) today announced the winners of the annual President's Awards that recognizes the best work from journalists across the company's 30 local newsrooms. This year's awards spotlighted high-impact, investigative and accountability journalism that revealed local government corruption, the failure of the nation's foster care system, overcrowding and violence in a local jail and the injustice of an underfunded and understaffed public defenders system in Missouri. The McClatchy President's Awards, now in their 20th year, recognize the best work of 2019 by journalists company-wide. "Congratulations to this year's winners, whose efforts have provided vital information to our communities, held the powerful to account and given voice to the powerless," said Craig Forman, President and Chief Executive Officer, McClatchy. "Your work represents the highest expression of our mission and clearly demonstrates the value and necessity of strong, independent, local journalism." Recognizing the distinguished panel of award judges, Forman said, "We are very grateful to our judges this year, who devoted their time and energy to review the submissions while also dealing with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic." "These entries are a great tribute to local journalism," said Dean Baquet, Executive Editor, The New York Times, and a President's Award judge. "They were inspiring to read." The panel of judges who reviewed nominations included Dean Baquet, Executive Editor, The New York Times; Richard Gingras, Vice President, News, Google; Raju Narisetti, Global Publishing Director Elect, McKinsey & Company; Jennifer Preston, Vice President, Journalism, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Laura Zornosa, Journalism/International Studies Major, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism; and Cynthia DuBose, Senior Editor for Special Projects, McClatchy. The winners were announced at a virtual awards ceremony held via livestream. During the awards, Kristin Roberts, VP of News commented, "The winners of this year's President's Awards truly represent the extraordinary level of journalism being produced across our newsrooms. There has never been a more challenging time to be a journalist, and I want to express my deep gratitude to our winners and to everyone in our newsrooms who, every day, are delivering on our mission of essential local journalism in the communities we serve." Here is the complete list of this year's President's Award winners. The list includes judges' comments and links to the winning stories. The (Raleigh) News & Observer Andrew Carter, Reporter and Jessica Koscielniak, Video Journalist When a Hero Came Home | Riley Howell/UNC-Charlotte shooting "A poignant multi-layered profile of a family's grief at the loss of a loved one who died attempting to stop an all-too-common incident of mass shooting. 'When a Hero Comes Home' goes beyond the moment, beyond the ephemeral media spotlight, beyond the simple idealization of a hero to present the pride and pain of a family accepting that Riley Howell did what he would expect of others and thus what he himself would have to do." Richard Gingras, Vice President, News, Google The Kansas City Star Laura Bauer, Judy L. Thomas and Eric Adler, Reporters Shelly Yang and Reshma Kirpalani, Video Journalists Neil Nakahodo, Motion Graphics Throwaway Kids | The grave failures of the foster care system "A year-long investigation that examined and exposed what, exactly, happens to children across the country after they age out of the foster care system. Taking community engagement to the next level, the Star reached out to nearly 6,000 inmates in 12 different states to compile a powerful image of the systemic pipeline that shuttles children from foster care into prison. This series is a must-read for every American." Laura Zornosa, Journalism/International Studies Major, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism Miami Herald Emily Michot and Brittany Peterson, Video Journalists Julie Brown, Jessica Koscielniak, Producers Sohail Al-Jamea, Motion Graphics Perversion of Justice | A Miami Herald investigation and video documentary "This video documentary gives a platform to the voices of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the multi-millionaire and serial pedophile first investigated by the Herald last year . While that series also won a President's Award in 2019, this year's subsequent mini-doc focuses on the women who had been shut out of the court process a masterpiece of empathetic reporting and investigative prowess." Laura Zornosa, Journalism/International Studies Major, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism The Sacramento Bee Ryan Sabalow, Phillip Reese, Dale Kasler, Sr. Writers, Alyssa Hodenfield, Visuals and Nathaniel Levine, Visuals Editor Destined to Burn "A constructive look at the California paradox of living in an idyllic slice of heaven that will inevitably become a searing spot of hell. Destined to Burn is both a pragmatic examination of how California might prepare for its environmental challenges and an enigmatic look at our apparent acceptance of probable destruction." Richard Gingras, Vice President, News, Google The Wichita Eagle Chance Swaim, Jonathan Shorman, Reporters, Dion Lefler, Sr. Journalist and Jaime Green, Visuals Editor Special treatment "This is as simple, elegant and hard-hitting as it gets. A reporter substituting on a beat finds governmental corruption. Classic, hard-hitting, hard-nosed, old-fashioned investigative reporting finds the mayor gave hundreds of millions of dollars in business to his friends." Dean Baquet, Executive Editor, The New York Times Lexington Herald-Leader John Cheves, Reporter and Patrick Gleason, Motion Graphics Caged "This was a beautifully-written, crystal-clear story that let the outrages and the victims speak for themselves. It had deep historical perspective and was open about its mission to provoke reform of a system that has been in crisis for years. This is classic big, ambitious public service journalism." Dean Baquet, Executive Editor, The New York Times The San Luis Obispo Tribune Monica Vaughan, Writer, Cassandra Garibay, Reporter, David Middlecamp, Photographer, Stephanie Finucane, Associate Editor Opinion Page and Ashley Ladin, Reporter (Intern) Air Quality on or Near Nipomo Mesa "This is quintessential high impact journalism that brings to life a serious, silent hazard, one that a community has lived with indeed even enjoyed using for decades, without understanding the deadly effects on their air quality. From the crowdsourcing of community example and data analysis, to the compelling storytelling and 'news you can use,' and, ultimately, to its concrete positive impact, this is what powerful local journalism is all about." Raju Narisetti, Global Publishing Director Elect, McKinsey & Company McClatchy DC Bureau Tara Copp, Ben Wieder, Shirsho Dasgupta, Reporters, Reshma Kirpalani, Video Journalist and Meta Viers, Producer Patrick Gleason, Motion Graphics Stricken | Why are so many Iraq, Afghanistan war veterans getting cancer? "This package demonstrates what happens when a team of journalists work tirelessly to build a data-driven investigation and multi-media content package. The investigation intricately threaded detailed, heart wrenching stories of veterans battling cancer with deeply-reported data. It's no surprise that after Stricken published, dozens of emails from veterans and their families poured in asking that McClatchy keep digging." Cynthia DuBose, Senior Editor, Audience Growth + Loyalty The Charlotte Observer Ames Alexander, Gavin Off, David Raynor, Reporter and John Simmons, Photographer Patrick Gleason, Motion Graphics Dismissed "Dismissed stands out for the thoroughness of its data-informed journalism that doesn't stop at the more common 'guns don't kill people, people do' storytelling. It provides a very compelling, well-told story on what enables serial, gun-related crimes to occur in a community, and the continued culpability of a legal system that is failing Mecklenburg's residents." Raju Narisetti, Global Publishing Director Elect, McKinsey & Company The Kansas City Star Dave Helling, Opinion Writer and Katie Moore, Reporter Defenseless "A seething look at Missouri's underfunded and understaffed public defender system. This series spotlights lives changed forever as a result of a long-ignored problem. Defenseless is a prime example of shoe-leather reporting at its best. For six months, a reporter and opinion columnist traveled across the state interviewing public defenders, prosecutors, judges and defendants in more than two dozen counties. The series ran in seven parts: five news stories, bookended by a column and an editorial calling for the state to fund and fix the public defender's office. Perhaps the most powerful part of this series, the reaction it ignited throughout the state -- lawmakers promised urgency in solving the problem and readers lauded the series via a full-page 'thank you' advertisement in The Star." Cynthia DuBose, Senior Editor, Audience Growth + Loyalty, McClatchy About McClatchy McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy publishes iconic local brands including the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif. #ReadLocal Contact: Jeanne Segal [email protected] 1+202-271-8880 SOURCE McClatchy Related Links http://www.mcclatchy.com Early on this week, Fantana revealed a lot of secrets in the camp of Rufftown records. This expose emanated from wendy shay shading Fantana on social media. There have been several posts made by Wendy shay but her latest post and captions were not taken likely by Fantana. Fantana in her expose went hard on Rufftown records, detailing that Rufftown records made her lie to Ghanaians that Wendy Shay introduced her to Rufftown records. She said, It was a plan by the label, they told me to lie that Wendy Shay introduced me to the label to make wendy shay look good in the eyes of Ghanaians. She also added that she knew Bullet 4years back and she was having conversations with bullet when she was in the States. Per the above expose, Bullet has come out to react in an Instagram live interview with 4syte TV. Bullet revealed that Fantana lied to Ghanaians in her expose. He exposed Fantana by quizzing the Host, DJ milzy, and live viewers. Shatta Wale is a GA, Fantana is an Nzemaa but Fantana said Shatta wale is her cousin Who is lying here? Bullet enlightened the viewers on how Wendy Shay and Fantanas beef started. He said, the people around me and both artists started it. When Wendy shay says something about Fantana, they will go to Fantana and tell her what Wendy said and Vice versa After Fantana expose, Rufftown records issue a release indicating possible termination of contract. Watch the video below Canada Wide COVID-19 Update Canadians now encouraged to wear masks May 21, 2020 May 20, 2020. Canadas chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is officially recommending Canadians wear non-medical face masks when maintaining a two-meter distance isnt possible. Prime Minister Trudeau said Canadas health experts wil... For access to this article please sign in or subscribe. Sharon Horgan, left, and Kristin Scott Thomas in the movie "Military Wives." (Aimee Spinks / Bleecker Street) Combine the inherent pathos of a group of army spouses waiting for their partners to return from war with the sure-fire inspirational uplift of preparing for an important musical performance and you get the dependable-to-a-fault British film Military Wives. Upon seeing their men (and one woman) deployed to Afghanistan, the women of Flitcroft Garrison have little choice but to bide their time with their nations trademark stiff upper lip. Most of the wives would be content to meet for coffee in the mornings and share alcohol in the evenings but after a failed attempt at a knitting club, Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas), the wife of a colonel (Greg Wise), initiates the formation of a choir and meets more than a little resistance. Kate engages in a battle of wills with Lisa ("Catastrophe's" Sharon Horgan), who reluctantly inherited a leadership role with her husbands recent promotion. Lisas laidback, improvisational style clashes with Kates organized, patrician approach, but the pair gradually form an uneasy cross-class alliance as the other women realize how much they need the choir. The group features the usual menagerie of archetypes including the newlywed (Amy James-Kelly) young enough to be Kates daughter, the shy songbird (Gaby French) who finds her voice and the off-key enthusiast (Lara Rossi) whose vocal offerings must be camouflaged without hurting her feelings. Sisterhood is forged amid the warbling of tunes made famous by the Human League, Cyndi Lauper and the Spice Girls, and the women learn they are stronger together (the motto of the real life group that inspired the movie). An unexpected invitation to perform at a nationally televised event at London's Royal Albert Hall raises the stakes considerably and sets in motion the required obstacles. When tragedy inevitably strikes, the wives (mostly) keep calm and carry on. Written by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard, and directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), the film crisply follows standard operating procedures for both the bonding-via-singing and martial weepie genres. No surprises await, but the performances by Scott Thomas, Horgan and company and some pleasant harmonizing make "Military Wives" palatable Memorial Day weekend viewing. Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Harry Roque, spokesperson of the COVID-19 task force, on Thursday refuted the claim of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III that the Philippines is currently in a "second wave" of coronavirus infections. In his press briefing today, Roque, who is is also the spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte, insisted that the country is still in the "first wave" of the pandemic, saying he consulted three health experts on the matter. This effectively debunked the statement of Duque yesterday that the first three cases of COVID-19 in the country were the first burst of infections that comprised the first wave of the health crisis in the country. Roque did not directly invalidate the Health Secretary's claim, but said the confusion may be due to different interpretations of data. "Ang tingin ng marami at marami naman po tayong kinonsulta kailangan basahin yan na kabahagi lamang ng isang wave... Ang tatlong iyon ay napakaliit para maging isang wave. Sabihin nating hindi nagkamali, pero nagkaroon ng kakaibang opinyon," he explained. [Translation: We consulted health experts who said those first three cases were only part of the first wave. Those three cases are too few to be considered a first wave. Let's not say he made a mistake, rather there was a difference in the opinion.] Duque's statement at the Senate hearing on Wednesday surprised and alarmed the public. He cited findings of epidemiologist Dr. John Wong, who explained that a wave is the rise and fall in cases and that the country's first three cases in January were the first wave. Wong said the second wave began in March, but senators were skeptical that the number of infections had flattened in the "first wave" since the government has so far failed to reach its target testing capacity of 30,000 per day. Roque pointed out that Duque had not informed President Duterte about his conclusions before appearing in the Senate hearing. "Meron po tayong protocol na sinusunod. Lahat ng impormasyon, dahil meron nga po tayong kalihim sa DOH, ipararating muna sa Presidente at ang Presidente ang magsasabi sa taong bayan, either personally or through our office. Pero hindi po dumaan sa protocol na iyan," he said. [Translation: We follow a protocol. All information is sent to the President and he will make the announcement, either personally or through his spokesperson. But this time, it did not go through the protocol.] Despite the government's conflicting statements, Roque insisted the Duterte administration remains in sync with its policies and pronouncements. "Medyo sintonado lang siguro ang isa, pero okay naman po ang orchestra," he added. [Translation: One person was out of sync, but the orchestra remains in tune.] HARTFORD, Conn. - A woman accused of being part of a conspiracy to murder a Connecticut mother of five said Thursday that she never should have trusted the accused killer Fotis Dulos, her boyfriend and the victims estranged husband knowing what she knows now. Michelle Troconis, a dual American and Venezuelan citizen, released an audio statement in Spanish that were her first public comments on the case, only days before the one-year anniversary of the disappearance and presumed killing of Jennifer Dulos. She also said she knows nothing about what happened to Jennifer Dulos, whose body still hasnt been found. Troconis lawyer, Jon Schoenhorn, provided a translated transcript of the statement, in which Troconis says people have said cruel things about her and expresses her frustration at not being able to tell her side of the story. Whether or not Fotis Dulos was capable of doing the things the police and prosecutors accused him of doing, I do not know, she said. But based on what I have learned in the last year, I think it was a mistake to have trusted him. Jennifer Dulos disappeared on May 24, 2019, after dropping off her and Fotis Dulos five children at a private school in New Canaan. At the time, she and Fotis Dulos were mired in contentious divorce and child custody proceedings. Police allege Fotis Dulos killed Jennifer Dulos at her home and drove off with her body. He was charged with murder, but killed himself in January. Troconis, who remains free on bail, and Kent Mawhinney, a friend of Fotis Dulos and his former lawyer, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder on allegations they helped cover up the killing. The children have been living with Jennifer Duloss mother in New York. The biggest cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal in two decades wrecked havoc along Indias east coast and in Bangladesh, killing dozens of people, flooding low-lying areas and affecting power supply. Amphan is likely to continue to move north-northeastward and weaken further into a depression on Thursday, according to the India Meteorological Department. The storm, which started as a category 5 hurricane and made landfall Wednesday, will carry sustained wind speeds of 30 to 40 kilometers (19-25 miles) per hour, which may rise to 50 kilometers per hour, it said. As many as 72 people were killed in the Indian state of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Thursday. In Bangladesh, at least 12 people lost their lives, private broadcaster Somoy TV reported. The cyclone snapped power supply to about 5.5 million homes and caused tidal surges, flooding homes and some coastal areas, according to the report. I have never seen anything like this in my life, Banerjee said Wednesday evening. Electricity and water supply is disconnected. Crops have been damaged. Many areas have been destroyed. We have lost communication. Virus Risk The storm had prompted Bangladesh to evacuate about 2.4 million to storm shelters, Indias West Bengal moved 500,000 people, while the eastern state of Odisha shifted 200,000 people. There are concerns that coronavirus infections may rise in cyclone shelters as people dont have enough masks and social distancing rules are not strictly being followed at many places. Disasters also wreak havoc on fighting of a pandemic as all attention and resources shift to relief operations, said Bhubaneswar-based Bhuputra Panda, associate professor with Public Health Foundation of India. The possibility of an increase in infections has risen sharply as even some quarantine centers have been converted into cyclone shelter homes, he said. The cyclone has heaped more misery on India and Bangladesh, whose economies have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Indian economy is headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades, while Fitch Solutions in April lowered Bangladeshs GDP growth forecast. Its a big disaster. This is a bigger disaster than even Covid-19, Banerjee told reporters late Wednesday. West Bengal will set up a 10 billion-rupee ($132 million) fund for the restoration work, Banerjee said Thursday, adding that the state government may need to borrow money since its running short of funds. We have to tackle this disaster while maintaining social distancing as much as possible, she said. Airport Flooded Heavy rain flooded Kolkata airport, affecting cargo and evacuation flights, NDTV reported. Passenger flights have been suspended in India due to a nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus. The federal government has decided to resume domestic flights from May 25. Light to moderate showers are expected to continue in some areas of West Bengal, while heavy rainfall is likely at some places in the northeastern states of Assam and Meghalaya, Indias weather office said. Indias National Disaster Response Force personnel are clearing roads that are blocked by uprooted trees, broken electric poles and hoardings, it said on Twitter. Authorities in Odisha have cleared most road blocks and will be able to restore power supply to about 85% homes in four cyclone-hit districts by Thursday evening, Pradeep Kumar Jena, special relief commissioner, said by phone. The state has evacuated more than 200,000 people to safer places and there is no confirmed case of any death due to the storm, he said. Social distancing norms are being maintained in Odisha as evacuated people have been placed in a large number of shelters, Jena said. Those centers are housing people much below their capacity. Cyclone-affected people are not being kept in 242 shelters, which are being used as virus quarantine centers, Jena said. With assistance from Bibhudatta Pradhan and Anurag Kotoky. Photograph: People walk with umbrellas in the rain ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Amphan in the Bhadrak district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Authorities in India and Bangladesh evacuated millions of people while aiming to maintain social distancing. Photo credit: AP Photo. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Flood Aviation India Venezuela has said that its air and navy forces will escort Iranian oil tankers arriving with much-needed fuel after Tehran warned of 'consequences' if the US tried to intercept the ships. The tankers are carrying around 1.5 million barrels of fuel to the Latin American nation as it faces an acute scarcity of gasoline as the country endures the novel coronavirus pandemic. 'We're ready for whatever, whenever,' President Nicolas Maduro told state-run media, thanking 'all the support' from its Middle East ally in its confrontation with the United States. His comments came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said the shipment should 'alarm' Latin America. Both OPEC members are U.S. adversaries whose oil industries are under U.S. sanctions. Trump administration officials say Washington is considering a response to the shipment, Reuters reported. Venezuela said it would deploy naval vessels like these frigates - here on a 2019 exercise - to welcome Iranian tankers bringing much needed gasoline Venezuela's air force includes Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MKV multirole strike fighters 'We're ready for whatever, whenever,' President Nicolas Maduro told state-run media Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, but its capacity to refine crude into gasoline is limited. US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed unilateral sanctions aimed at ending oil exports from Iran and Venezuela, both major crude producers. Washington has also sanctioned individual Venezuelans and Iranians. In early April the US military said it was increasing its vigilance and deploying warships in the ocean near Venezuela, arguing that there was an increase in organized crime. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that when the Iranian ships enter the oceanic economic zone - 200 nautical miles from the coastline - 'they will be welcomed' by Venezuelan naval ships and warplanes. Opposition leader Juan Guaido said he was 'very worried' about this 'attempt of Iranian presence on Venezuelan soil' Neither Maduro nor Padrino said when the ships, which according to press reports number five and sailed from Iran in the past days, will arrive. Venezuela's economy is in the midst of a free fall, battered by mismanagement, corruption and US sanctions, and with millions of people fleeing as they lack basic goods. Opposition leader and National Assembly speaker Juan Guaido, recognized by some 60 nations as interim president, claims that Iran was paid with gold illegally extracted from mining camps in the south of the country. 'They are paying for that gasoline with blood gold,' Guaido said during a videoconference organized by the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. Guaido said he was 'very worried' about this 'attempt of Iranian presence on Venezuelan soil' that was not authorized by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned Washington against deploying its navy to disrupt Iranian fuel shipments to Venezuela Iran has often expressed its support for the Maduro regime, which also counts on support from Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba. Teheran and Caracas established close ties during the government of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Admiral Craig Faller, head of the Florida-based US Southern Command, said Monday that the United States is following the Iranian actions 'with concern,' but refrained from any comments on the tankers. Iran's Fars News claimed Saturday that four US Navy warships are in the Caribbean for a 'possible confrontation with Iran's tankers.' The following day Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Washington against deploying its navy to disrupt the fuel shipments. In a letter to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Zarif said that any such action would be 'illegal and a form of piracy,' according to a foreign ministry statement. Zarif added that the US would be responsible for 'the consequences of any illegal measure.' Tensions between Washington and Caracas remain high following Venezuela's disruption of a seaborne raid by 52 mercenaries that included two Americans and was coordinated by a private US security company. Maduro blames Washington and Guaido for being behind the raid. After a tumultuous 35-year career on Sydney's airwaves, Alan Jones' retirement announcement last week was welcomed by his critics, lamented by his ardent listeners and greeted with relief by those who have felt his wrath. None of those reactions will have surprised Jones, who has brushed off decades of criticism over dozens of ugly controversies. As he embarks on his final week behind the microphone on his 2GB breakfast show, a damning decision by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) must surely sting not to mention, rain on his farewell parade. Alan Jones and Jacinda Ardern. Credit:SMH The broadcast regulator was asked to rule on Jones' misogynistic on-air attack of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. In the tirade, he urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to "shove a sock down her throat", "get tough with a few backhanders" and "go for her throat". Amid universal condemnation, he apologised quickly but this time it was too late a social media campaign led by the online group Mad F---ing Witches was unleashed in a bid to convince his show's sponsors to pull the advertisements which helped pay his $4 million-a-year salary. The 79-year-old resigned last week but many say he had no choice. State Duma adopts bill on unified registry of data on population of Russia duma.gov.ru 16:20 21/05/2020 MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) Russias State Duma has adopted in the third and final reading a bill on creation of a unified information federal registry containing the data on the countrys population, according to a statement of the lower house of Russias parliament. The registry is to contain basic (family name, name, patronymic surname, the date and place of birth and death, gender, requisites of registration of acts of civil status as to birth and death, personal insurance policy number/SNILS, taxpayer ID number/TIN) and additional (family status, kin relations) information about an individual. According to the explanatory note to the bill, the initiative is aimed at systematization of the data contained on state and municipal databases, including those of extra-budgetary funds. The population information registry is to be managed by the Federal Tax Service on the basis of the data it has at its disposal, as well as the data of the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, Ministry of Education and Science, state extra-budgetary funds. The Federal Tax Service is to be responsible for the protection of all available data. The registry is aimed to shorten the time needed to provide state and municipal services and to improve the efficiency of state policies. Such a system, the statement reads, is to further facilitate crime prevention and fraud related to social assistance measures, as well as tax evasion so to improve fiscal performance. The procedures governing the functioning of the state information system are to be developed by the government of the Russian Federation. The law is to be enacted since January 1, 2022, whereas its certain provisions will come into force in January of 2024 and 2025. Private legal practitioner, Maurice Ampaw seems to have a firsthand information about the modus operandi of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service ahead of the December polls. He has, however, warned politicians, mainly the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the largest opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be mindful of rebellious utterances that may likely cause fear and panic among citizens. According to him, the new Director of CID, Commissioner of Police (COP) Isaac Ken Yeboah is a No-nonsense man and will carry out his duties professionally. Maurice Ampaws comment comes after the CID invited and charged Major (Rtd) Kojo Boakye-Djan for beating war drums to express his disapproval of the compilation of a new voters' register. The Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen and the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe 'Abronye' have also been invited by the CID for a similar offence. Major (Rtd) Kojo Boakye-Djan questioned Four personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, on Tuesday, 19th May 2020, arrested and questioned Major Kwadwo Boakye-Djan (Rtd) for allegedly saying on public radio that there would be a civil war in Ghana should the Electoral Commission go ahead with its plan to compile a new voters' register in connivance with the ruling NPP. Days after, he was made to write his statement at the police station in the Bono Region where his lawyers joined him because he pleaded on health grounds that he cannot make it to the CID headquarters in Accra. CID investigates NPP's Obiri Boahen over radio comment The CID says it has initiated an investigation into a radio comment by Nana Obiri Boahen which is said to be a breach of peace. The NPPs deputy General Secretary is said to have made some comment on Okay FM, May 15, 2020, in relation to the offence of offensive conduct conducive to the breach peace and contrary to section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). CID invites Abronye DC over Mahamas allegations However, The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the CID Headquarters has also started investigating the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Abronye DC. The investigation concerns an alleged case of publication of false news reported against Abronye DC by former President John Mahama. As a result, the CID, in an invitation letter dated May 19, 2020, asked Abronye to report to the SIU at 10:00 am today, May 21, to assist with the investigation. Sanitizing the system Lawyer Maurice Ampaw who is all praise with the approach by the CID department said: I think what they [CID] are doing now is to sanitize the system. Were in an election year so the political temperature will surely rise up. Some politicians just open their mouths to spew any trash to cause fear and panic. I am very happy with what the CID is doing now. Irrespective of your party affiliation, youll be called to book for your treasonable comment, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show 'Ghana Montie'. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Revelo Resources Corp. (TSXV: RVL) ("Revelo" or the "Company") reports it has concluded a series of key milestones that set the stage for the company's next phase of development. These actions included capital restructuring, repayment of third-party debt, conversion of management debt and completion of beneficial transactions (as indicated in the company's news release of February 6, 2020). As a result, Revelo approaches 2020/2021 with an improved capital structure and balance sheet, a streamlined and exceptional portfolio of gold and copper exploration assets in Chile and a firm commitment to execute our strategy to fulfill the company's vision. SUMMARY OF REVELO'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2020:* Sold its generative royalty portfolio totaling 20 NSR royalties for approximately $2.11 million. Sold its equity interest in a listed company for total net proceeds of about $0.88 million. Repaid all third-party debt totaling approximately $2.54 million. Significantly reduced overhead costs over the last 12-18 months. Paid the 2020 annual property maintenance fees on 15 properties in Chile totaling about $480,000. Entered into a binding agreement with West Pacific Ventures for the sale of eight of Revelo's porphyry copper projects in order to create a new copper-focused exploration company in Chile. This transaction will result in Revelo owning 19.9% of the new company as well as receiving potential future milestone payments. Completed a 10-for-1 rollback of the stock. Obtained shareholder approval for the conversion of debt owed to the Chairman, CEO and officers of the company. Chairman wrote off $513,000 in management fees owed and converted the balance of $242,000 into 1,613,334 shares. Converted $2.36 million of cash loans from the Chairman into 15,729,348 million shares. * See news releases dated January 20, February 6, March 20, March 26, April 21, April 27, May 6, and May 19, 2020. LOOKING AHEAD: 18 MONTHS These achievements leave the company in a much stronger position to carry out its strategy and plans for the next 18 months. Revelo will continue to evaluate all options to successfully explore its portfolio. Exploration work will be done efficiently, either by Revelo (in our gold portfolio) or with our partners (in our copper portfolio). We will exercise considerable influence on the technical programs to ensure our exploration concepts are tested successfully. Despite having negotiated eight joint ventures and having about $20 million spent by third parties over the last six years, many of our projects either remain untested or have specific targets that remain untested. With 38.6 million shares outstanding and a current market capitalization of about $4.0 million, the Company and its shareholders have significant leverage to exploration success within Revelo's portfolio. Our plans for the next 18 months include: Raising capital to fund the exploration of Revelo's gold projects with an initial focus on Victoria Sur. Assessing capital markets for potential business combinations. Assisting our copper equity spin-outs on getting capital deployed quickly and efficiently to test exploration concepts. Continuing to conduct general reconnaissance to identify and acquire additional precious metal projects in Chile. REVELO'S ASSETS AS OF MAY 2020: Gold-Silver Portfolio - Shareholders will have direct interest in Revelo's gold-silver portfolio that comprises four projects totalling 38,500 hectares, with the key projects being Victoria Sur and the Las Pampas / Loro district: The Victoria Sur project is located along the Domeyko Mineral Belt, one of the world's most productive mineral belts, where several gold and silver mines have operated in the past. Previous exploration at Victoria Sur, including drilling, identified a porphyry gold style target with significant gold intercepts in trenches and drill holes, and higher-grade gold-silver intercepts in high-sulphidation epithermal structures. Several other targets on the property require follow up, including an extensive gold-bearing "lithocap". The Las Pampas and Loro projects comprise a strategic landholding within the Paleocene Mineral Belt, located south and southwest of the multi-million ounce El Penon district (Yamana Gold). Limited "proof-of-concept" historic drilling at both projects has identified low-sulphidation epithermal "bonanza" veins with extensive geochemical and geophysical anomalies that require further exploration follow-up. Copper Portfolio - Shareholders will additionally have significant leverage to copper through joint ventures on its three wholly-owned projects totalling more than 30,000 hectares, together with equity spin-outs that encompass a further 65,000 hectares of prospective ground: Joint venture with Sociedad Quimica Y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) covering the Calvario & Mirador copper porphyry projects (14,600 hectares) where SQM can earn up to 80% by spending US$13 million and paying Revelo $5.2 million in cash payments. 100% interest in the Montezuma copper project (16,000 hectares) strategically located between Codelco's Chuquicamata and Antofagasta Mineral's Esperanza mines, where the Company will continue to look for a JV Partner. 15% equity holding in Atacama Copper Exploration Limited (see news release dated July 23, 2019) exploring 3 copper projects (7,000 hectares) in Chile, with Revelo having a seat on a technical committee. 19.9% equity holding in a copper spin-out as a result of the recently announced agreement with West Pacific Ventures, which will be exploring 8 copper projects in Chile (58,000 hectares), and in which Revelo will have a seat on the board of directors as well as having significant input into the technical program (see news release dated May 19, 2020). Qualified Person Demetrius Pohl, PhD., Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG), an independent geological consultant to Revelo, is the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators and has verified the data disclosed and approved the written disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. ABOUT REVELO Revelo is a Canadian company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: RVL). Revelo has interests in an outstanding portfolio of projects prospective for gold and copper located along proven mineral belts in Chile, one of the world's top mining jurisdictions. The Company's vision is to reward shareholders with wealth-generating mineral discoveries along Chile's prime mineral belts, through leveraged and more efficient capital deployment, exploration, discovery and monetization. For more information, please visit Revelo's website here www.reveloresources.com. The reader is cautioned that when reference to an historic or an existing mining district is made in the above descriptions, this is to help place the properties into geologic context and is for reference purposes only. There is no evidence to date that similar mineral resources occur on Revelo's properties. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Michael Winn | Chairman INVESTOR CONTACT Timothy J Beale | President & CEO T: +1 604 687-5544 | info@reveloresources.com | www.reveloresources.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Revelo expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Revelo believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56272 Premier Doug Ford says he is open to more open-air wining and dining once bars and restaurants are allowed to reopen. With restaurateurs and publicans struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ford praised Progressive Conservative MPP Gila Martows proposal to increase the size of restaurant patios. Ill bring it to the health table. Its something that we could bring to the health table and ask them, the premier said Thursday, referring to the command table overseeing Ontarios coronavirus response. Martow (Thornhill) wants the province to work with municipalities and liquor licensing officials to expand the services that patios can offer, perhaps the hours they can offer it, perhaps the locations. Perhaps they could take up a bit more space if theres maybe even park space or parking lots that we can amend the rules, the MPP told the legislature Wednesday. Spilling onto sidewalks, has long been the norm in Europe, could also be considered as long as patrons can sit safely apart to stop the spread of the virus. Our restaurants and hospitality sector are part of the hardest hit by this pandemic of COVID-19, she said. Everybody here would agree that people feel a lot more comfortable social distancing outside and that, hopefully, this global pandemic has toughened us up a little bit so that even if its a bit chilly on the patio, well walk over and well dress appropriately. Ford emphasized that the testing trends in the province must improve before any such liberalization can be considered. Restaurants are hurting, but, again, it all goes back to the numbers especially over the last four or five days weve seen these (positive tests) slowly creeping up, he said. I want to give a shout-out to Gila. Shes a real thinker. She comes up with great ideas all the time. The Conservatives have shown some flexibility with Ontarios strict liquor licensing rules since the state of emergency was declared on March 17, permitting bars and restaurants to sell wine, beer, and spirits to go with takeout meals. Still, many in the hospitality sector fear they may not be able to remain in business as they scramble to cover their rent payments. Asked why his government has refused to issue a moratorium on commercial evictions during the pandemic, Ford said: well, I first want to give everyone a chance. The premier noted the $900 million federal-provincial subsidy for landlords and tenants will be up and running on Monday. Under that program Ottawa and Queens Park will cover 50 per cent of commercial rent for April, May, and June while landlords and tenants will each be expected pay 25 per cent. While there has been relatively little initial uptake on the plan, Ford, who has railed against greedy landlords, said he wants to wait and see. They can apply May 25 so lets give everyone a chance. Ive been very clear to landlords I want to protect the small business owners, he said. Lets give it a shot and see how it goes. I cant measure it until we see the program start up next week. Like Ford, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging landlords and tenants to enlist in the program. If many businesses arent able to make ends meet and do go under at this point, it will be a lot slower to pick up the economy and that will be bad for Canadians, he said Wednesday. But it will also be bad for landlords. It will also be bad for building owners who will see a slower regaining of economic activity. The Ontario Landlords Association has said more than 60 per cent of tenants did not pay full rent on May 1. Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie Read more about: Bengaluru, May 21 : The city civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has declared two places in the city as containment zones in the past two days, owing to rising Covid cases, an official said on Thursday. "Mallathahalli in Nagarbhavi 2nd stage has been declared a containment zone. This area in Jnanabharathi Ward number 129 under RR Nagar zone is being sealed down," tweeted BBMP Commissioner B. H. Anil Kumar. Kumar said the civic body is taking all measures to break the chain of Covid transmission. On Wednesday also, BBMP declared new containment zones in the city. "With fresh cases reported from Jnanabharathi Nagar & Nagawara, BBMP has declared new containment zones. Inspected Ward 23 and directed a complete seal down of Nagawara," he said. Contact tracing is in the containment zones is in progress. The civic body workers barricaded Nagawara Ward 23 at the entry and exit points. Meanwhile, BBMP has also deputed three teams to look into the complaints of returnees from abroad and other states who chose to quarantine themselves in hotels at their own expense. "BBMP has set up 3 teams to look into issues raised by returnees in hotel and hostel quarantine with regard to cleanliness, hygiene, food arrangements and other issues," Kumar said. He said the teams will also handle the complaints of hotels overcharging the quarantined returnes. The commissioner shared a list of room tariffs approved by the civic body which the hotels can charge the returnees. Bengaluru Urban is grappling with the second highest number of Covid cases in the state at 122. It has also seen nine deaths, highest in Karnataka. Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan has slammed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for accusing the New Patriotic Party of seeking to hold on to power through foul means. The leadership and members of the NDC have strongly spoken against the compilation of a new voters' register by the Electoral Commission (EC), and recently upped its opposition a notch higher by accusing the electoral body and the National Identification Authority (NIA) of conniving with the governing NPP to rig the impending general elections. According to NDC National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the EC wants to disenfranchise 11 million electorates by making requirements for the Ghana card and passport to be the only legal documents for the registration exercise. He maintained that the EC and NIA are planning to use the Ghana card and passport as an excuse to skew the elections in favour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Both bodies - EC and NIA - have refuted the NDC claims saying their intent to use the Ghana card and passport for the registration exercise is not borne out of any ulterior motive but rather to help ''in the elimination of unqualified names in the register''. The EC assured ''all stakeholders at all levels of its determination to deliver free, fair and credible Presidential and Parliamentary Elections on December 7, 2020 as mandated by law''. Making his submissions on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', Hon. Kwamena Duncan questioned the caliber of the people at the helm of affairs of the biggest opposition party, accusing them of having no regard for rule of law in the country. According to him, the NDC's position on the EC's decision to compile a new voters' register coupled with their notion that National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card holders should be allowed to register, deviates from a Supreme Court ruling that the NHIS card cannot be used in the country's electoral system. ''NDC leadership led by Mr. Ofosu Ampofo is very [very] disappointing'', he said to host Kwami Sefa Kayi. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman remains on the open market, but he could be close to signing on the dotted line. NFL.com reports the Seattle Seahawks have offered Freeman a one-year deal worth as much as $4 million. But the report also states the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets have expressed interested in the 28-year-old free agent. Introducing Eagles Extra: Sign up for a free trial now. Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text directly with reporters The Eagles are interested in adding depth behind Miles Sanders. General manager Howie Roseman also has been linked to ex-Houston Texans running back Carlos Hyde and former Eagles, Bills and Chiefs running back LeSean McCoy. The Jets make less sense for Freeman, since the team signed Frank Gore earlier this month. Buy Eagles tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek Freeman was released by the Falcons this spring after six seasons with the franchise. He has missed 16 games over the past two seasons due to knee and foot injuries. While those recent injury woes have hurt his value, perhaps he could be willing to take on a rotational role to prolong his career. The 5-foot-8, 206-pound back also is a strong receiver out of the backfield. (NJ Advance Medias Mike Kaye contributed to this report.) Get Eagles text messages from reporters: Cut through the clutter of social media and text directly with the Eagles beat writers. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now for a free trial. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. It fed speculation about Mr. Johnson, whose turbulent personal life he has been divorced twice, refuses to say how many children he has and was once fired for lying about an extramarital affair has made headlines throughout his career. Mr. Johnsons fiancee, Carrie Symonds, gave birth to their baby boy last month, after she said she had experienced coronavirus symptoms and he was released from the hospital after a harrowing battle with Covid-19. The investigation into his conduct as Londons mayor an office that he held from 2008 to 2016 centered on several payments and positions on trade missions given to Ms. Arcuri, a tech entrepreneur who was in her 20s when her path first crossed Mr. Johnsons in 2011. In 2013 and 2014, a promotional agency overseen by the mayor gave Innotech, Ms. Arcuris first venture after leaving business school, a total of 11,500 pounds, roughly $14,000. The Greater London Authority also gave her company a 12,447 grant in 2013 to attend a trade mission in South Africa, and Ms. Arcuri secured spots on trade missions led by Mr. Johnson to Malaysia, New York and Tel Aviv despite her being told at various points that she did not qualify. The Sunday Times reported that Mr. Johnson had paid regular visits to Ms. Arcuris East London apartment, sometimes during afternoon work breaks. The Sunday Times later reported that Ms. Arcuri had told friends that she and Mr. Johnson were having a sexual affair, though she has since given ambiguous answers to questions from journalists about their relationship. One witness told the police watchdog that Ms. Arcuri had spoken of having a sexual relationship with Mr. Johnson, the agency said. The police watchdog said there was no evidence that Mr. Johnson had influenced the payments to Ms. Arcuri or that he had tried to help her secure spots on the trade missions. It did say, however, that it had evidence that the payments by the mayors promotional agency were influenced by the decision makers belief that there was a friendship between Ms. Arcuri and Mr. Johnson. (CNN) Brazil hit a record high for new coronavirus cases Wednesday, after becoming the country with the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the world earlier this week. The country's health ministry reported 19,951 new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 291,579 confirmed cases. This new surge tops the previous record set Tuesday. Reported deaths caused by coronavirus also increased by 888 on Wednesday, bringing to the country's total to 18,859 deaths, the ministry said. Asked about Brazil's skyrocketing numbers on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that he was mulling a travel ban on Brazil. "We are considering it," Trump said, adding: "We hope that we're not going to have a problem. The governor of Florida is doing very, very well testing -- in particular Florida, because a big majority come in to Florida. Brazil has gone more or less herd, and they're having problems. "I worry about everything, I don't want people coming in here and infecting our people," Trump said, "I don't want people over there sick, either." Amid the spiraling health crisis, Brazil's lower house of Congress has approved a proposed law that would make use the use of personal protection masks in public spaces mandatory. The proposed law would require people to wear any form of face covering in areas that are accessible to the public, including parks, sidewalks, public transportation and even private buildings where there is a high level of foot traffic. Individuals not wearing masks would be fined up to $52. The proposal needs approval by the Senate and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who rarely wears facial coverings. It is unclear when the Senate vote will happen. Health system on the brink Brazil's alarming numbers come days after Sao Paulo's mayor warned that its health system could be overwhelmed very soon if residents don't follow social distancing guidelines. Officials in the major city of 12 million have declared a five-day holiday in a bid to get residents to stay home. By Monday, Brazil achieved the grim record of having the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, behind the United States and Russia. Yet Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the threat of the virus, saying quarantines and lockdowns could have a worse impact on Brazil's economy. He has repeatedly dismissed Covid-19 as a "little flu" and urged businesses to reopen, even as many governors scramble to implement social isolation measures and slow the spread. The country lost its second health minister in a month last week. Nelson Teich stepped down after clashing with Bolsonaro over the country's coronavirus strategy. In April, Bolsonaro fired his predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, after a prolonged standoff. Teich clashed with Bolsonaro over the use of malaria drugs to treat the virus and social isolation measures. Despite the political crisis, the populist leader continues to tout chloroquine as a potential wonder drug against the new coronavirus -- like his US counterpart Trump -- even though it is an unproven treatment for Covid-19. Bolsonaro tweeted on Wednesday that there will be new guidelines to expand the use of chloroquine. "Today we will have a new protocol on chloroquine" issued by the Ministry of Health, Bolsonaro wrote, calling it "a hope, according to the many who have used it." Brazil's medical authority approved the use of hydroxychloroquine -- which has been described as the less toxic derivative of chloroquine -- in April in serious cases of coronavirus if the doctor and patient agree. Bolsonaro has since pushed for approval to use the drug in less serious cases. It follows Trump's claim on Monday that he is taking daily doses of hydroxychloroquine, even though medical experts, the US Food and Drug Administration and at least one study have questioned its efficacy and warn of potentially harmful side effects. CORUNNA, MI A Shiawassee County judge has ruled against the state for a second time in its efforts to close the Owosso barber shop that has become a legal battleground over Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders for COVID-19 purposes. Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew J. Stewart denied a request by the state Attorney Generals Office for a preliminary injunction to keep Karl Mankes shop along West Main Street closed. David A. Kallman, Mankes attorney, said the judge noted the request did not meet the requirements for a preliminary injunction. State agency suspends license of Owosso barber who defied coronavirus order closing non-essential businesses Manke, 77, reopened May 4 in defiance of the governors executive order that closed barber shops and salons across the state. The AGs Office throughout this whole process with Karl, all they do is talk about the COVID crisis. They just throw that out there and theres COVID deaths and shut Mr. Manke down, said Kallman Thursday afternoon. Who denies that? Of course, its terrible, but they have to prove Karl Manke and his barber shop are spreading the virus They cant show that it has. Kallman expects the state Attorney Generals Office to appeal todays ruling with the Court of Appeals, who ordered Stewart to decide by Thursday on the matter. Stewart previously denied a temporary restraining order sought by the Attorney Generals Office on behalf of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services whod issued a Health Protection Order on May 8 claiming the shop created an imminent public health threat. Judge denies attorney generals demand to shut down Owosso barber shop Ryan Jarvi, press secretary for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, told MLive-The Flint Journal in a statement: The Court of Appeals retained jurisdiction over this case when it ordered the trial court to hold a hearing so the Court of Appeals is where this matter will ultimately be decided. We look forward to having our day in that court, he added. Stewarts ruling is one of several pieces to the legal puzzle in the matter, with Kallman pointing out paperwork is expected to be filed in court regarding Mankes license suspension as a hearing is slated for next week. Manke is also facing a June 23 court date on two misdemeanors he previously received from police for violation of the governors executive order which Kallman has called unconstitutional and illegal. Owosso barber confirms he was ticketed by police for opening shop Kallman has said he would file motions to dismiss the citation Manke received for violation of the order. Manke, who is expected to reopen today, was closed Wednesday as he was in Lansing for Operation Haircut on the front steps of the Capitol building. While other barbers and stylists on site were issued $500 citations for disorderly conduct, Kallman said Manke was not cited. The protest, organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, was inspired by Mankes stance. Officers issue multiple citations to barbers at state Capitol protest; conservative organizers pledge to cover costs Video above: A county in Mississippi has been dealt a serious economic blow by the coronavirus A church in Mississippi has been destroyed by a suspected arson fire about a month after its pastor filed a lawsuit challenging the city of Holly Springs on restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs burned down Wednesday morning, news outlets reported. Investigators at the scene found graffiti that read bet you stay home now you hypocrites." The lawsuit alleges police officers disrupted a church Bible study and Easter service. A city attorney said nearly 40 parishioners weren't practicing social distancing inside the church when a violation citation was issued. In a tweet Thursday, Gov. Tate Reeves said he was heartbroken and furious. In Mississippi, a church was just burned to the ground. They had been trying to open services, Reeves said on Twitter. What is this pandemic doing to us? We need prayer for this country. Reeves released guidelines earlier this week for pastors to use to help safely resume in-person worship services. The governor said he did not order churches to close because he does not believe the government can or should do that. Reeves said he did ask pastors to consider holding online services to avoid large gatherings that could spread the coronavirus. At Banc Intranets, we pride ourselves on providing organizations with leading-edge technology that facilitates content management while streamlining internal processes Banc Intranets, a provider of secure, web-based enterprise content management solutions, announces BancWorks intranet features that can make it easier for employees to work remotely during the coronavirus crisis or under normal conditions. BancWorks is a user-friendly intranet platform that offers a variety of elements to help employees stay connected, on task and productive while working from home or a remote office environment. For instance, BancWorks can give remote workers convenient and centralized access to their companys important information. They can securely access their portal and instantly view the latest policies, procedures, rates, product information and other documents. Employees can also browse company news, RSS feeds, blogs and announcements to keep on top of what is happening internally and within their industry. BancWorks also makes it easy for telecommuting employees to get the information they need to stay on top of their individual duties as well as team projects. They can use an electronic organizational chart and employee profiles, for example, to connect with the most appropriate people and internal resources that can support their activities. The human resource department, for example, can use BancWorks learning management module to keep personnel on task with training requirements, including classes, evaluations and documentation of their progress. And with the kudos employee recognition tool, managers can publicly acknowledge workers for the contributions they make working from home. In addition, BancWorks includes productivity-enhancing options that can help telecommuters operate more effectively. As a prime example, managers can use announcements, blogs and FAQs to quickly disseminate information across the entire organization. Integration with Office Outlook calendars can help teleworkers effectively stay on top of important events while the ticket system can enhance productivity by keeping work flowing smoothly. Employees can also use BancWorks internal links to go directly to information and search tool to find information quickly and easily anywhere on their intranet site. This can allow them to spend less time hunting for information and more time working on higher-value tasks. The flexible, robust features of BancWorks have been especially beneficial for organizations during the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced more employees to work from home. But the intranet platform is also a viable solution for staff who may be working in the field, while traveling or off site for other reasons. Regardless of the work environment, BancWorks is a valuable work-from-anywhere resource that offers convenient access to company information, simplifies processes and improves workflow for employees. At Banc Intranets, we pride ourselves on providing organizations with leading-edge technology that facilitates content management while streamlining internal processes, said Mark Anderson, CEO of Banc Intranets. We are excited to highlight BancWorks as an invaluable resource for employees whether they are working in the office, at home, on the go or anywhere else. From a trend-related standpoint, BancWorks is helping to fill an expanding need in the marketplace. Because of social distancing measures designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, millions of Americans have been working from home. But studies indicate telecommuting was steadily increasingmainly due to technological advancements, cost savings, and the appeal of flexible work arrangementsbefore the coronavirus outbreak. According to the Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey, 4.7 million Americans regularly work from home, up 173 percent since 2005. Forty percent more U.S. companies offered remote work as an option in 2018 than they did five years ago, reports research-based consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics. And experts expect the remote work trend to continue long after the coronavirus crisis ends. In addition, research shows that remote work and intranet technology like BancWorks are part of the acceleration of the digital workplace. Organizations are increasingly establishing a formal digital workplace strategy, according to the 2019 State of the Digital Workplace report by CMSWire and Digital Workplace Group. The number of entities with a formalized digital workplace program grew from 46 percent in 2017 to 65 percent in 2019. Their top five digital workplace priorities are digitization and process improvement (45.5 percent), knowledge management (37.1 percent), culture and change (34.9 percent), improving customer service (28.4 percent), and learning and development (28.4 percent). BancWorks is an innovative intranet solution that makes it easier for companies to organize, centralize and manage their information. It creates a single place where employees can access policies, procedures, the latest news, and other important information. And because BancWorks has responsive design, it automatically adjusts content to fit all screen sizes, which means employeeswhether working on site or remotelycan use any type of device to access the information. BancWorks is ideal for financial institutions, health care facilities, nonprofits and other organizations that want to enhance their operations. About Banc Intranets Established in 2002, Banc Intranets, LLC is a leading provider of secure, web-based enterprise content management solutions for financial institutions. Its technology provides a single point of access across multiple devices for information and centralizes employee onboarding and training, streamlining day-to-day operations for bank directors and senior managers. In addition to increasing efficiency and productivity, Banc Intranets solutions are developed by financial industry professionals, providing comprehensive reporting that is critical to maintaining regulatory compliance. For more information, visit http://www.bancintranets.com or follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter. Chinese defense ministry denounces US congratulation on Taiwan leader's inauguration PLA Daily Source: China Military Online Editor: Li Jiayao 2020-05-20 19:25:39 BEIJING, May 20 -- The Ministry of National Defense(MND) of the People's Republic of China issued a written statement to express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's congratulating Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration on Wednesday. The MND's statement said that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The US act is a grave violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques. It seriously interferes in China's internal affairs, seriously jeopardizes the development of relations between the two countries and the two militaries, and seriously undermines the peace and stability across the Taiwan straits. As an internal affair of China, the Taiwan question bears on China's core interests and the feelings of the 1.4 billion Chinese people. It brooks no external interference. The Chinese defense ministry firmly opposes any country's official exchanges and military ties with Taiwan in any form. We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China. There is no way out to bank on foreign forces to build themselves up, and it is doomed to be futile to contain China with Taiwan. The "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces and their acts go against the great interests of the nation and will leave behind historical imprints of notoriety. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has the strong will, full confidence and sufficient capability to thwart any form of external interference and any separatist attempts for "Taiwan independence". The PLA will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, safeguard peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Weve never had an event like this, Michigan's city manager Brad Kaye said in a Detroit News story. "What we're looking at is an event that is the equivalent of a 500-year flood." Kaye is referencing the catastrophic flood that occurred in central Michigan this week after heavy rainfall was compounded by two breached dams on the Tittabawassee River. Reports say the flooding forced evacuation of up to 10,000 residents, swallowed entire towns, and destroyed thousands of properties. No casualties have been reported, according to the Detroit Free Press, but car enthusiasts will be sad to learn a Pontiac Fiero shop and collection called Forever Fieros was decimated by the natural disaster. The Tittabawassee River is located about two hours, or roughly 140 miles, north of Detroit. It starts 20-30 miles further north and flows southeast as a tributary to the Saginaw Bay Watershed. Along the way, the Tittabawassee is held up by several dams, including the Edenville dam that failed and the Sanford dam that was breached during torrential downpours. According to NPR, the federal government took away the Edenville dam's license in 2018 and suggested it could not last through a major flood. Unfortunately, that prediction was proven accurate. Forever Fieros is located in Sanford, Michigan, which is just below Sanford Lake, which is created by the Sanford dam. So when the Edenville dam north of Sanford broke, water from Wixom Lake flooded Sanford Lake, and a berm next to the Sanford dam was overwhelmed, according to MLive. Technically the dam did not fail, but the end result was the same: an entire town underwater. The Tittabawassee reportedly crested at 35 feet, or 10 feet above flood level and 1.1 feet higher than the previous record set in 1986. According to The Drive, the man in charge of Forever Fieros, Tim Evans, had time to attempt to save his vehicles from floodwater. He reportedly moved about 12 cars to a street that doesn't typically flood, but the water level was simply too high for that to matter. A floating pole barn also reportedly struck and damaged the Forever Fieros building. Story continues Worsening the situation is the fact that Evans was planning to hold an auction to sell many of the Fieros. As seen on Industrial Bid, he planned to sell 12 Fieros, Fiero GTs and a Fiero Formula, ranging from 1984 through 1988. The lots included a 1984 pace car, a Lamborghini Countach kit car, and a Fiero Cosworth Pontiac Super Duty 16-valve DOHC engine. According to The Drive, Evans has since canceled the auction. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 08:47:51|Editor: zh Video Player Close A staff member of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum works on a bee model in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on May 20, 2020. Several events were held on Wednesday in Slovenia as the world celebrated "World Bee Day" for the third time. This year's theme is "Bee Engaged" with a specific focus on bee production and good practices adopted by beekeepers to support their livelihoods and deliver good quality products. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun) Development aid agency Oxfam International will withdraw from 18 countries around the globe and lay off thousands of staff, according to a story in Devex, a development news website. The cuts are a result of financial issues made more glaring in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement will affect almost a third of its staff, or 1,450 out of some 5,000 people. A total of 700 out of 1,900 partner organizations on the ground will also be affected. Oxfam is shutting down country offices in Egypt, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia, and Mauritania, as well as Thailand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Paraguay. Devex reports that Oxfam has been present in some of those countries for over half a century. The international aid agency said that program offices would not necessarily be shut down in the 18 countries immediately, as it would see projects already in flux to completion. Interim Executive Director Chema Vera explained that the cuts were coming after a restructuring began in 2018, but the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the changes. Oxfam currently partners with 700 local organizations in those countries. We will have to work with those 700 local organizations, over time, in a responsible and orderly way, so they can find other funding sources and begin [to] take over fully the work we did together," said Oxfam spokesman Matt Grainger. The charity first started in Afghanistan in 1961 and has worked throughout Tanzania from the 1960s onwards, focusing on governance, rural issues and female empowerment. It was key in trying to drum up efforts to stop the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the span of two months. Oxfam had been tainted by scandal 10 years ago in Haiti, where sexual abuse by staff members created issues for the British office of the organization. Story continues Its second-hand stores throughout the UK were closed in March and two-thirds of its staff were furloughed. The organization will remain in 48 countries, some to benefit from an increased budget. Looking strategically at where and how we operate is the essential first step in ensuring that Oxfam can continue to make the best possible contribution to fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice, and to influence for change as effectively as possible, Vera said. Dozens of parents and students demonstrated outside a Pompton Lakes Catholic elementary school after saying they were blindsided by the announcement that the school would be closing in just a few weeks, unable to withstand a financial toll made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday morning, around 50 people donning masks and holding signs gathered outside Saint Marys School in protest, calling for another chance to keep their school open and demanding an audit into the schools finances. Parents at the school said they were caught off guard Saturday when Father Gonzalo de Jesus Torres-Acosta announced that the school is permanently closing when classes, currently being conducted remotely, finish in June. Some parents felt the announcement was unwarranted and unexpected, with fall registration being advertised just a week prior to the announcement, said Ashley Monochello, who has a daughter in first grade at the school. Most parents just sort of feel like we were kind of blindsided, she said. Like this came out of the blue. Calls to the school, a school spokesman, and the Diocese of Paterson were not immediately returned. Protesters take to the streets to oppose the sudden closure of St. Mary's School on Wednesday morning in Pompton Lakes. 05/20/2020Steve Hockstein | For NJ Advance Media The school has been part of St. Marys Parish since 1952, and has weathered substantial financial troubles, Torres-Acosta previously said in a statement provided to NJ Advance Media. The school has been subject to declining enrollment amid tuition increases and a rising budget deficit of more than $334,000, according to the statement. The coronavirus pandemic, while not one of the main reasons for the schools impending closure, pushed the school over the edge, said Torres-Acosta. Demonstrators Wednesday morning stood feet apart, practicing social distancing, raising signs over their heads that begged for another chance to save their school. Once in a while, a passing motorist would honk the car horn in support, rousing cheers from the crowd of demonstrators. Monochellos daughter has been attending St Marys for two years and loves her school, she said. Finding a new school would be a hardship for parents, especially as the pandemic makes touring schools untenable, she said. Demonstrators called for a financial audit at the school, citing troubles they say were not announced until the eleventh hour and a lack of transparency for financial records, said Maria Salvanto, the organizer of Wednesdays demonstration. Basically we want answers, said Salvanto, who has a daughter in fourth grade at the school. We are kind of hoping and petitioning the diocese to do an audit. Because there has been very little financial transparency. According to both Salvanto and Monochello, parents were consistently told at the schools Home & School Association meetings that the St. Marys was financially stable. The association consists of all school parents, faculty members and school administrators, according to the schools website. We were being told at all of the Home School Association meetings that we met our fundraising goal, said Salvanto. In his statement, Torres-Acosta said the pandemic had essentially canceled and postponed any events. As of Wednesday afternoon, an online petition seeking to save the school had received 2,418 signatures. Protesters (clockwise from left) Carolyn Hermann, Dennis Monochello, Ashley Monochello and Marian Monochello take to the streets to oppose the sudden closure of St. Mary's School on Wednesday morning in Pompton Lakes. 05/20/2020Steve Hockstein | For NJ Advance Media For the 2020-21 school year, only 164 students had registered at St. Marys, compared to 223 last September, Torres-Acosta said in his statement. Along with the $334,000 budget deficit, the school is subject to $240,000 in state-mandated repairs to the building. Those repairs would be required if classes were held next school year, it said. The average annual tuition projected for the 2020-21 school year is $3,861, when adjusted for the schools Fair Ability to Pay program, a tuition scholarship that offers discounts based on income. The projected annual tuition is far below the $7,393 average full cost of education for each student, Torres-Acosta said in a statement. Additionally, not all of the families with children registered have paid in full for the current school year, according to the statement. The Fair Ability to Pay program has come up in meetings with school parents as a reason that many people dont pay full tuition, creating a substantial shortfall, said Monochello. Though tuition was raised by 5% last year, and another 5% this year, about three in four students at the school pay discounted rates, in part via subsidies from the parish. St. Marys School is the latest in a string of schools facing closure in New Jersey. On May 7, the Archdiocese of Newark said it is shutting down nine elementary schools and one high school, at the end of the school year. In April, the Diocese of Camden said it will be closing five schools. Parents like Monochello and Salvanto say they hope to help as much as they can with the schools shortfall. Its just the sudden nature of it, Monochello said. It was without warning and without the opportunity to [ask], Is there anything we can do?' Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Rodrigo Torrejon may be reached at rtorrejon@njadvancemedia.com. Boston police have arrested 18 people and confiscated 30 different vehicles dirt bikes, mopeds and motor scooters in a recent crackdown on illegal vehicles in the city. Police said the arrests were made in an ongoing effort to address community complaints and quality of life concerns relative to off-road vehicles. The first incident occurred on May 8, when officers pulled over a person riding a dirt bike in the area of 842 Morton Street in Dorchester. On arrival, officers observed an individual operating the dirt bike in the parking lot of a gas station in the area before parking it on the sidewalk, police wrote. Officers conducted a query of the dirt bike, which was later determined to be a Yamaha RT off-road motorcycle, and discovered it to be unregistered with the Massachusetts Environmental Police. Police then confiscated the vehicle and cited the operator. A few days later, police arrested one person and recovered illegal dirt bikes in the area of 52 Hecla Street in Dorchester. While on patrol in the area of Park Street in Dorchester, officers observed two individuals operating dirt bikes without their helmets, police wrote. Officers further observed the individuals going through red lights, weaving in and out of traffic, and traveling on the wrong side of the road all while operating at a speed greater than reasonable. Officers followed the two people to a residence on Hecla Street, where one was taken into custody, and the other cited. Polices impounded the two dirt bikes and a moped. The 26-year-old man, of Mattapan, is facing a slew of traffic-related charges. Police made another arrest on May 14 in Roxbury and confiscated several more dirt bikes and mopeds that day and the following day in Dorchester following investigations from the departments Auto Theft Unit. Information on the vast majority of the arrests was not included in a Boston Police Department post on the crackdown. On May 9, Brazils death toll from the coronavirus topped 10,000. Instead of marking the grim milestone with an address or a sign of respect for the victims, President Jair Bolsonaro took a spin on a jet ski. Video footage widely circulated on social media shows Brazils far-right leader grinning as he pulls up to a boat on Brasilias Paranoa Lake where supporters are having a cookout. As he grips onto their boat, Bolsonaro jokes about the neurosis of Brazilians worried about the virus. Theres nothing to be done [about it], he shrugs. Its madness. Even by the standards of other right-wing populists who have sought to downplay the COVID-19 pandemic, Bolsonaros defiance of reality was shocking. From the favelas of densely packed cities like Rio de Janeiro to the remote indigenous communities of the Amazon rain forest, Brazil has emerged as the new global epicenter of the pandemic, with the worlds highest rate of transmission and a health system now teetering on the brink of collapse. Unlike the previous global hot spots Italy, Spain and the U.S. Brazil is an emerging economy, with a weaker social safety net that makes it harder for local authorities to persuade people to stay home, and an underfunded health care system. When a particularly severe outbreak struck the city of Manaus, in the Amazon, in late April, hospitals were quickly overrun, leading to a shortage of coffins. On May 17, the mayor of Sao Paulo, Latin Americas largest city, warned that hospitals there would collapse within two weeks if the infection rate continued to rise. The country has confirmed almost 18,000 deaths as of May 19, with a record 1,179 people dying in the preceding 24 hoursthe worlds second highest daily fatality rate. Epidemiologists say the peak is still weeks away. For many Brazilian politicians and health experts, much of the blame for the heavy toll lies with the man on the jet ski. Defying social-distancing measures, Bolsonaro has held large rallies with supporters and waged what he calls a war against local governors who have tried to lock down their regions. Thanks in part to his example, many Braziliansbetween 45% and 60%, depending on the stateare refusing to comply with social-distancing measures, according to cell-phone tracking data. Adding to the chaos, Bolsonaro fired his Health Minister Luiz Mandetta in mid-April when he opposed his stance on social distancing. His replacement, a doctor with no political experience, resigned on May 15, after Bolsonaro pushed him to reopen the economy and promote unproven drugs to treat the virus. Story continues The crisis comes as Bolsonaros administration is crumbling around him, just 16 months into his presidency. On April 24, Sergio Moro, his star Justice Minister, resigned, accusing the President of attempting to interfere with the federal police and sparking a political crisis. The departure of the most popular member of Bolsonaros Cabinet, widely seen as a moderating force, piles further pressure on the President: he now faces a criminal investigation into Moros claims that could lead to his impeachment. Bolsonaros personal approval rating has fallen 9 percentage points since January, according to a May 12 poll, to below 40%. Bolsonaros personality is extremely ill suited to a pandemic, says Gustavo Ribeiro, political scientist and founder of politics site The Brazilian Report. He cant unite the country, because his whole modus operandi is based on sowing division. But Bolsonaro shows no sign of reversing courseand the crisis in Brazil is poised to deteriorate even further, leaving epidemiologists, humanitarians and regional leaders aghast. The President is co-responsible for many COVID deaths, says Arthur Virgilio Neto, the mayor of Manaus, who watched his city overtaken by the virus in late April. With irresponsible, almost delinquent preaching, he encourages people to take to the streets. He has pushed many people to their deaths. Brazils far-right President Bolsonaro addresses journalists from outside the Planalto Palace, the official presidential workplace, in Brasilia on May 12 as cases of COVID-19 surge across the country | Joedson AlvesEPA-EFE/Shutterstock Bolsonaro rose to power in 2018 by exploiting a period of intense anger at mainstream politicians and unprecedented polarization between the left and the right. A landmark corruption investigation, dubbed Car Wash, had exposed a breathtaking network of graft among Brazils political and business elites. Bolsonaro barreled into that situation as a political outsider, supposedly immune to the corrupt structures of large parties. An isolated figure in the capital, Brasilia, he joined the right-wing Social Liberal Party to run for President, only to leave it after taking office. Upon assuming the presidency, he burnished his anticorruption credentials by appointing Moro, the popular lead Car Wash judge, as his Justice Minister. The President presented himself as a maverick, willing to speak truths on issues that divide Brazil: praising the military dictatorship that led the country for two decades in the 20th century, promoting the use of force by police officers, railing against so-called gender ideology, and disdaining environmental protections for the Amazon rain forest and the rights of indigenous communities, which he says hold back Brazils agricultural sector. In his willingness to say the unsayable and to take on the pillars of the establishment, Bolsonaro took his cues from the U.S. Presidentso much so that international media nicknamed him the Trump of the Tropics. Over his first 16 months in office, Bolsonaro determinedly fanned the flames of Brazils culture warssometimes literally. Deforestation in the Amazon rain forest last year surged 85% from 2018, as the President slashed regulations and enforcement meant to prevent land grabbers from setting fire to the forest to clear it for farming. When the international community pressured Brazils government to slow the destruction, Bolsonaro responded by telling Angela Merkel to reforest Germany. But Bolsonaros sense of impunity may have sowed the seeds for his eventual downfall. In the early hours of April 24, Bolsonaro removed the chief of the federal police, Mauricio Valeixo, writing in his official decision that Valeixo had asked to step down. Hours later, Moro resigned as Justice Minister. He accused Bolsonaro of firing Valeixo in order to replace him with a lackey who would illegally feed him confidential information, and later said the President had also attempted to replace the regional head of the police in Rio de Janeiro state, where two of Bolsonaros sons are under investigation. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and has referred to Moro as Judas. Moro is more cautious in criticizing the President. Speaking to TIME from a gray hotel room in Brasilia, the former judge chooses his words carefully. There is a difficulty in facing the pandemic in Brazil due to the Presidents negationist position. Thats obvious, he says, adding that he felt uncomfortable being part of a government led by a President who has trivialized the virus. But my focus is on the rule of law. He says the Presidents alleged interventions with the police were the last straw in a whole scenario that has unfolded over the last year that showed that this new government was not fulfilling its promises to fight corruption and strengthen institutions. The overlapping controversies of Bolsonaros handling of COVID-19 and Moros dramatic departure have begun to sap the Presidents support. A survey published May 12 by pollster CNT/MDA found the Presidents personal approval rating fell to 39.2% from 47.8% in January, as disapproval rose to 55.4% from 47.0%. But Bolsonaros radical base, which includes evangelical Christians, the military and the agriculture sector, remains strong, says Rodrigo Soares, a professor of Brazilian public policy at Columbia University. The President is [doubling down] to appeal to his core supporters, who would be displeased if he took a technocratic approach and listened to public-health experts. Thats not how he got where he is. The same might be said of Trump, who has at times taken an approach to the coronavirus as cavalier as Bolsonaros. Both men have sowed confusion over the seriousness of the disease. Both have promoted unproven drugs as treatments for COVID-19, despite warnings of their serious side effects. In March, Bolsonaro visited Trump in the White Housea trip that ousted Health Minister Luiz Mandetta later described to CNN as a corona trip because several members of Bolsonaros team tested positive for the virus afterward. Yet while Trump leads the richest country in the world, Bolsonaro leads an emerging market with one of the worlds highest rates of inequality. Health care access is patchy for millions of people, and fewer in Brazil than in the U.S. have the conditions necessary to work from home. Miguel Nicolelis, one of the most respected scientists in Brazil, who is coordinating a committee for northeastern states to track the viruss spread, says the situation is still worsening. Despite the very serious problems in the U.S., the exponential curve of cases and deaths in Brazil suggests we are not even close to our peak yet. Nurse technician Vanda Ortega Witoto, 32, takes care of a patient in Parque das Tribos, an indigenous community near Manaus, the capital of Brazils northern Amazonas state | Ricardo OliveiraAFP/Getty Images In April, Vanda Ortega Witoto, a nurse technician, began monitoring the chief of her indigenous community. Messias Martins Moreira, 53, of the Kokama people, had a fever that wouldnt let up, which Ortega believed was COVID-19. There is no health center in Parque das Tribos, their remote community of 700 families on the banks of the Taruma-Acu River in the Amazon. At first, Martins didnt want to go to a hospital in the nearby city of Manaus, saying he would rely on traditional medicine. [By the time] he realized there was no other way, he couldnt breathe, Ortega says. He died on May 14. Brazils 800,000 indigenous people, many of whom live in remote parts of the vast Amazon rain forest, now find themselves particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. Joenia Wapichana, the countrys only indigenous member of Congress, has warned that the communities isolation and lack of health and sanitation infrastructure could turn the coronavirus into another genocide for indigenous people. The first occurred when the Portuguese arrived in Brazil in the 1500s, carrying diseases and staging violent takeovers of land that wiped out most of the more than 3 million indigenous people living there. And all over Brazil, there are vulnerable communities. Roughly 11 million people live in Brazils favelas, shantytowns often on the outskirts of major cities. Cramped homes, limited water infrastructure and unsafe working conditions have left millions of favela residents struggling to stem the spread of the virus. With case numbers yet to peak, health systems around the country are on the edge of collapse. In Sao Paulo, 90% of ICU beds are full. In the state of Pernambuco, where ICUs are 96% full, a shortage of ventilators has forced doctors to choose not to treat some cases, and some hospitals are treating patients in hallways. In Rio de Janeiro state, the waiting list for a hospital bed topped 1,000 in the second week of May; some emergency facilities opened a few weeks ago are already over 90% full. The economic impact of the coronavirus is also likely to carry a heavy human toll. Even as lockdowns have been only partly implemented, the economy is projected to shrink 5% in 2020which would be the deepest recession since records began in 1900. Incomes have already fallen sharply among the majority of the population, who cannot work from home, and particularly among the roughly half the work-force who earn a few hundred dollars a month in the informal sector. Humanitarian groups say a hunger crisis is in the cards for the quarter of the population who live in poverty. The government announced an estimated $30 billion package to funnel emergency cash to those who cannot work. The impact of this is especially unpredictable in Brazil, where almost every economic crisis since its return to democracy in 1985 has been followed by a sharp political shift. Ribeiro, the political scientist, says it is very, very possible that any such shift in the near future would be accompanied by social unrest. People are as radicalized as I have ever seen. And now were going to an economic crisis like Ive never seen in my lifetime, he says. I dont see a rosy future ahead of us. Bolsonaro has a not-so-secret weapon that could help him ride out the storm. A former army captain, the President has forged a tight alliance with the military. Active and former military officials currently hold nine of the 22 Cabinet positions, and they appear to be closing ranks around Bolsonaro, which analysts say might shield him from impeachment. The President may yet survive, but many of his people will not. Carlos Machado, coordinator of the observatory against COVID-19 at the countrys epidemiological institute, Fiocruz, sees the makings of an extremely dangerous situation for Brazilians in the current moment. When public-health emergencies overlap with extremely precarious political and economic crises, it can create a humanitarian crisis, he says. Brazil is heading there. With reporting by Flavia Milhorance/Rio de Janeiro The school staff and visitors will be able to walk directly from the upper level of the deck into the school. Although, the main entrance to the new middle school currently appears to be on the south side facing Third Street, district officials have said that is the back entrance because that is where the school buses drop off and pick up the students. Iran grapples with deadliest outbreak in the region while concerns also grow over rise in cases in Gaza Strip and Yemen. The coronavirus has infected more than 10,000 healthcare workers in hard-hit Iran, reports said, as health officials in war-ravaged Yemen and Gaza expressed mounting concern about the waves of new cases. Irans semi-official news agencies on Thursday cited Deputy Health Minister Qassem Janbabaei, who did not elaborate. Reports earlier in the week put the number of infected healthcare workers at only 800. Iran says more than 100 of those workers have died. Iran is grappling with the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, with at least 7,249 fatalities among more than 129,000 confirmed cases. Those figures include an additional 66 deaths announced on Thursday by Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour. Tip of the iceberg in Yemen The international aid group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said the virus-related death toll at a medical centre it runs in southern Yemen attests to a wider catastrophe in the country, where a five-year civil war had already caused the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. The facility in Aden admitted 173 patients between April 30 and May 17, at least 68 of whom have died, the group said in a statement. The United Nations-recognised Yemeni government in the south has confirmed 193 cases, with 33 fatalities. What we are seeing in our treatment centre is just the tip of the iceberg, in terms of the number of people infected and dying in the city, said Caroline Seguin, MSFs operations manager for Yemen. People are coming to us too late to save, and we know that many more people are not coming at all: they are just dying at home. The increase in suspected coronavirus cases in Yemen is sounding alarms throughout the global health community [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters] The government tally of cases does not include confirmed cases in the countrys north, which is under the control of the Houthi rebels, who are believed to be concealing the magnitude of the outbreak. So far, they have reported four cases, including one death of a Somali migrant. On Tuesday, a 35-year-old World Food Programme staffer died of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, in the Houthi-controlled province of Saada, the group said. The Iran-backed Houthis captured much of northern Yemen, including capital Sanaa in 2014, forcing the government to flee to the south. The following year, a Saudi-led coalition went to war against the rebels. The increase in suspected coronavirus cases in Yemen is sounding alarms throughout the global health community, which fears the virus will spread like wildfire through some of the worlds most vulnerable populations. The World Health Organization says its models suggest that, under some scenarios, half of Yemens population of 30 million could be infected with the virus and more than 40,000 could die. Yemens health facilities are severely strained and 18 percent of the countrys 333 districts have no doctors. Water and sanitation systems have collapsed. Many families can barely afford one meal a day. The high level of mortality we are seeing among our patients is equivalent to those of intensive care units in Europe, but the people we see dying are much younger than in France or Italy: mostly men between 40 and 60 years old, Seguin said. The war in Yemen has killed more than 100,000 people and left millions suffering from food and medical shortages. Concerns in Gaza Strip Another area of concern is the Gaza Strip, where the Health Ministry has reported 35 new cases in the last three days, bringing the total number to 55. All the new cases have been detected among returnees from abroad who are in mandatory quarantine in facilities at the border. Yousef Abu el-Rish, a senior Health Ministry official, on Thursday said it is investigating whether the virus has spread beyond the quarantine facilities, where some 2,000 people are housed. Gazas healthcare system has been severely degraded by a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after ruling group Hamas seized power there in 2007. The territory only has around 60 ventilators for a population of two million. Workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus, at the main market in Gaza City [Adel Hana/AP] Egypt controls information In Egypt, where those publicly questioning the official coronavirus toll have been expelled or thrown in prison, a government official acknowledged for the first time that the states outbreak is likely much larger than reported. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, the minister of higher education, said on Thursday at a conference attended by the president and other top officials that disease models suggest the states current count of 15,003 infections is an estimated five times lower than the projected numbers of 71,145 or more. This is a hypothetical model that we say can be a reality, he said, noting that across the world, officials cannot know precisely how many people are infected. Under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the media has been largely muzzled and authorities have seized on the pandemic to tighten controls. Security services expelled a reporter from The Guardian newspaper over an article citing infectious disease specialists who estimated Egypt had some 19,000 cases in March. In a separate development, the International Monetary Fund approved nearly $400m in emergency financial assistance to Jordan, which has largely succeeded in containing its outbreak by imposing wide-ranging quarantine measures. Jordan, a close Western ally, has reported 672 cases, including nine fatalities. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will visit Michigan on Thursday, the home turf of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a frequent target of his attacks, as he looks to tout his response to the coronavirus pandemic in a pivotal battleground state. Whitmer, who has emerged as one of Trump's most prominent foils in his bid to pressure states to reopen for business, has sparred with the president throughout the pandemic over the administration's handling of the crisis and protests in Michigan against stay-at-home restrictions. The first-term Democratic governor was thrust into the national spotlight in March when Trump dismissed her as "the woman in Michigan" and "Gretchen 'Half' Whitmer" after she repeatedly criticized the federal government for a lack of planning and a slow response to the pandemic. Trump has also cheered on protesters demanding a rollback of stay-at-home orders, calling on supporters to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" even as his task force released new guidelines recommending states adopt a phased approach to reopening only after experiencing a downward trajectory of new coronavirus cases for two weeks. Michigan has the fourth highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. and thousands were ordered to evacuate this week over dam failures that triggered record flooding in Midland. US President Donald Trump visits medical supply distributor Owens and Minor Inc. in Allentown, Pennsylvania on May 14, 2020. Trump and Whitmer spoke by phone Wednesday, and Trump later told reporters he may visit flood-stricken Midland soon. Trump will tour a Ford Motor Co. plant in Ypsilanti repurposed to make ventilators needed to treat COVID-19 patients, despite an order put in place by Whitmer requiring manufacturing facilities to "suspend all non-essential in-person visits, including tours" as part of the state's battle against the spread of the coronavirus. The visit comes a day after Trump threatened to withhold relief funding when he erroneously accused Michigan of preparing to send out absentee ballots to its 7.7 million voters in a Wednesday morning tweet. State officials, in fact, sent out applications for those who wish to request to vote by mail ahead of its August and November elections. Story continues Trump later deleted his initial tweet and posted a new one alleging the state committed voter fraud by sending out the applications. Asked why the president did not invite Whitmer to the event at the Ford factory, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she wasnt aware of a particular reason and said it didnt come up. The president has done quite a bit for Michigan, McEnany said. She should be thanking the president for all the supplies that he's delivered to her state. More: Anti-quarantine protests, Trump pressure put governors on political tightrope over coronavirus The trip marks Trumps third visit to a 2020 battleground state in as many weeks, as he looks to boost his political standing in a pivotal state led by a popular Democratic governor. Before the tour at the Ford plant, Trump will meet with national and local African American leaders to discuss efforts to assist distressed communities recovering from the pandemic, according to White House spokesman Judd Deere. The president earlier this month visited manufacturing plants in Allentown, Pa. and Phoenix, where songs usually heard at Trump's trademark political rallies blared from the speakers. He was criticized when the Guns 'N' Roses version of "Live and Let Die" was played during the Phoenix event. It was left off the playlist in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania and Arizona are both considered key to Trump's reelection chances in November, During a visit to a medical supply distributor in Allentown, Trump's veered into political rhetoric as he attacked "Sleepy Joe Biden," his nickname for Vice President Joe Biden, whose hails from nearby Scranton. Vice President Mike Pence has employed a similar strategy, visiting Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado since he began leading the White House coronavirus task force. Trump has said he's eager to return to the campaign trail and has accused some Democratic governors of "playing politics" in their phased plans to allow businesses and schools to reopen. With the suspension of Trump's raucous rallies that were held weekly before the coronavirus crisis unfolded, the campaign is taking advantage of the president's official visits to swing states that put him in front of critical voters who could determine November's outcome. Americans can see that President Trump is fighting to protect their safety and reopen the economy," said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. "He is doing his job as President and critics would complain if he didnt go visit states. Critics are the ones playing politics." Michigan Democrats slammed Trump's visit, saying that it shows he is "tone deaf" to economic turmoil states are facing in the coronavirus crisis. "He should not be going on a parade to highlight himself at a time when people are dying, when people are getting very sick, when people are continuing to lose their jobs," said Michigan state Rep. Yousef Rabhi. "Instead of parading around the country like he's doing, President Trump should be in Washington trying to solve these, you know, vital issues and get us the resources that we need to be able to preserve jobs." The fiery exchanges between the president and Whitmer, who is widely popular at the moment, have been unsettling to some Republicans in the state, several political consultants said. In a crisis its time to put politics aside and gratuitous political shots really dont do anybody any good, said John Truscott, a consultant who served as a spokesman to former Gov. John Engler, a Republican. I hope he can focus his message on these auto manufacturers and ... how they mobilized at the presidents request. Where coronavirus isn't: What's kept cases officially at zero in these 200 counties? Angering even small share of persuadable voters, he said, could cost Trump the state in the November. Were talking about less than 5% of the electorate that can be swayed at this point thats who hes targeting, Truscott said. If theyre that indecisive then they can probably be swayed by this. On the other hand, Truscott said, Michigan has been under some of the strictest lock down orders in the country, which have not only inspired protests at the state capitol but may also slow the states economic recovery in coming months. On an economic front, the phrase has always been that when the country gets sick, Michigan gets the flu, Truscott said, suggesting that the Rust Belt states industries can take longer to recover from a downturn. And that can make for uncertain politics. A Fox News poll last month put Biden up 8 points over Trump among registered voters in Michigan. Meanwhile, Whitmer has received high marks for her handling of the coronavirus outbreak, despite criticism over her strict stay-at-home orders and anti-lockdown protests. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last week found 72% of residents approved of Whitmer's response to the pandemic compared to 43% who said Trump was doing a good job, although the survey sample was not large enough to distinguish partisan lines. Last month, a Fox News poll found 64% of registered voters approved of the Michigan governor's handling, which included 90% of Democrats compared with 35% of Republicans. Every Republican I talk to is pulling their hair out silently, said Joe DiSano, a Democratic political consultant in Michigan. No ones mind is being changed here about who is exhibiting leadership. But whats happening now is youre starting to see a hardening of opinion. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: Trump visits home turf of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Operating under some restrictions, San Antonio bars will soon turn up the music and pour drinks for the first time since mid-March. Texas bars, wineries and breweries got the go ahead to reopen at 25 percent occupancy starting Friday, after being temporarily closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The occupancy limit does not apply to outdoor areas as long as patrons maintain a safe distance. Some, like Cowboys Dance Hall and Retox Bar, are getting the post-shutdown party started early at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The Corner, a bar on Culebra is hosting a "F #&@ Covid-19 Grand Reopening." Along with announcing their reopening, some of the bars below gave customers an idea of what to expect. For example, drinks will not be ordered at the bar. Instead, an employee will take drink orders at tables or seats. Bars also asked patrons to be patient while staff readjusts to the new safety guidelines. Here are some of the San Antonio bars, dance halls, clubs and breweries that owners or promoters say will be open this weekend. "I will not kill myself over a new voters register," says the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is up in arms again with the Electoral Commission over the latter's decision to compile a new voters' register. The debate which somehow died down due to the emergence of coronavirus has been resurrected. The NDC still believes compilation of a new register is a bad idea; in addition, they are alleging that the EC and the National Identification Authority are conniving to rig election 2020 in favour of the ruling government Even though Kweku Baako thinks NDC's allegations are 'ugly noises' that can be allowed especially in a democratic dispensation, he believes compilation of a new voters' register in an era of COVID-19 will be difficult. He further indicated that if the EC is still bent on replacing the Biometric Management system, "it's in order and I hope COVID-19 has not created serious challenges to disable the procurement process". "As for new machines yes critically needed; voters register I will not kill myself over it; I wouldnt mind going for a compromisewith COVID-19 restrictions it disables us a little bit; we are challenged; hugely challenged. If we are going to go about the same old way we will suffer," he said while contributing to a panel discussion on Wednesday's edition of Peace FM morning show 'Kokrokoo'. Listen to him in the video below Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video You will want to read these good stories that you may have missed. Purdue develops application to quantify impact of COVID-19 on research programs To measure and document the level of disruption of research experiments and activities requiring on-campus laboratories and field sites, Purdue and Microsoft are collaborating on a tool that allows researchers to input information about how specific sponsored programs have been affected. Media Contact: Steve Tally, steve@purdue.edu Enabling highways and bridges to prevent their own damage Purdue associate professor Luna Lu is developing technology that would allow concrete-paved bridges and highways to reveal more accurately when they need repairs and to come equipped with materials that respond to potential damage. Media Contact: Kayla Wiles, wiles5@purdue.edu Purdue ranked 3rd nationally in startup creation A report covering an 11-year period of technology commercialization activities lists Purdue as third in the U.S. for startup creation. Media Contact: Cynthia Sequin, casequin@prf.org Tips on taking care of loved ones at home or in a health care facility during the COVID-19 pandemic Purdue School of Nursing assistant professor Jiayun Xu is providing some tips on how to care for a family member or oneself with extended medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Media Contact: Matthew Oates, oatesw@purdue.edu With auditoriums closed, schools turn to virtual end-of-year musical performances Christopher Cayari, an assistant professor of music education in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance at Purdue, researches online music making and collective performances on YouTube, Soundcloud, Tik Tok and other digital platforms. Media Contact: Joseph Paul, paul102@purdue.edu About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu. Victoria's Secret will close 250 stores in the U.S. and Canada, parent company L Brands said on Wednesday, in the latest retail casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The closures will represent nearly a quarter of Victoria's Secret's 1,091 locations in North America, and L Brands will also permanently shut down 50 Bath & Body Works in the U.S. and Canada. It comes as the pandemic and government shutdowns have battered retailers, with J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew all filing for bankruptcy protection. Macy's warned on Thursday that its losses could exceed $1 billion this quarter. Sales at Victoria's Secret, the lingerie chain that L Brands is planning to run as a separate business after failing to sell a majority stake, nearly halved to $821.5 million in the first quarter ended May 2. Models are seen at the Victoria's Secret fashion show in 2018. The brand has struggled in recent years, and coronavirus shutdowns have been devastating for sales Victoria's Secret is seen closed during the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday in New York City. The chain will permanently close 250 stores in North America Meanwhile, sales in the Bath and Body Works personal-care products unit declined 18 percent to $712.7 million, the first drop in 10 quarters. Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works stores have remained shut since March 17, even in states where lockdown restrictions on retailers have eased. L Brands said Wednesday that it has been testing two reopening models in Ohio, one limiting the number of customers allowed in the store at one time, and another allowing customers to order products for pickup in store. The company said it had a total of 23 stores open in Ohio as of the end of the quarter. L Brands did not provide second-quarter or full-year 2020 earnings forecasts, citing a high level of uncertainty. The company also said Chief Operating Officer Charles McGuigan would leave the role he has held since May 2012 and would no longer serve as the head of sourcing and production, effective July 4. The Treasure Coast Mall in Jensen Beach, Florida reopened, but the Victoria's Secret and most other major retailers are still not open for business Leslie Wexner (above with his wife), who bought Victoria's Secret in 1982, stepped down as CEO of L Brands last week, as had been previously announced In line with earlier announcements, Leslie Wexner, who bought Victoria's Secret in 1982, stepped down as CEO of L Brands last week, with Bath & Body Works CEO Andrew Meslow replacing him. Columbus, Ohio-based L Brands posted a net loss of $296.9 million, or $1.07 per share, compared with a profit of $40.3 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier, also hit by a $96.8 million impairment charge. Excluding items, L Brands posted a loss of 99 cents per share, while analysts on average had expected a 72 cents loss, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Net sales decreased 37 percent to $1.65 billion, below Wall Street's estimate of $1.72 billion. Shares of the company rose 10 percent in early trading. L Brands had planned to sell a controlling stake of Victoria's Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Last month, Sycamore Partners sued to get out of the $525 million deal, citing the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the chain to close its stores and lose sales. Earlier this month, L Brands said the lawsuit with Sycamore Partners was settled and announced plans to spin Victoria's Secret off as a separately traded company. A worker walks past a closed Victoria's Secret store on 5th Avenue, during the outbreak of the coronavirus in Manhattan on May 11 Clothing was the hardest-hit retail category in April as the nation remained on lockdown Retail sales plunged a record 16.4% in April amid the coronavirus pandemic U.S. retail sales tumbled by a record 16.4 percent from March to April as business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus kept shoppers away, threatened the viability of stores across the country and further weighed down a sinking economy. Office Depot unveiled a restructuring plan that includes 13,100 job cuts, closing stores and consolidating distribution centers. The chain, which operates about 1,400 stores, said the restructuring will be complete by the end of 2023. Nike acknowledged that despite an aggressive shift to online sales, stores shuttered by the pandemic will have a material impact on wholesale operations in the final three months of the year. J.C. Penney, J.Crew, Neiman Marcus and Stage Stores all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month. Indias markets regulator on Wednesday directed companies that have publicly traded securities, including shares and bonds, to disclose broad-ranging details about the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) found that listed companies have only offered sketchy details related to shutdown of operations and, in some cases, updates about sanitation and safety measures at offices under the listing obligation and disclosure requirements (LODR). The number of entities that have disclosed the impact is, however, small, Sebi said. Listed entities, Sebi said, should ensure that all investors have access to timely, adequate and updated information. Following Sebis directions, companies will now have to evaluate and disclose the impact of pandemic on their businesses, both qualitatively and quantitatively. They will also have to inform investors about the impact of covid-19 on issues such as capital, financial resources, profitability, liquidity, ability to service debt and other financial liabilities, assets, internal financial controls, supply chain, demand for products and services and existing contracts that are not being fulfilled. Most importantly, they also have to assess and disclose the long-term impact on the business due to covid-19. The above list is illustrative and not exhaustive, said Sebi. While submitting financial statements under listing obligation and disclosure requirements, listed entities may need to specify the impact of pandemic on their statements to the extent possible, Sebi added. So far, only banks and non-bank lenders have disclosed changes in provisioning for certain borrower accounts because of the impact of covid-19. The market regulator warned companies should not to resort to selective disclosures. SAGINAW TWP, MI A 19-year-old man on his way home from work was nearly swept away by the Tittabawassee River when he tried to drive through a flooded roadway but was rescued by police and firefighters. About 6 a.m. on Thursday, May 21, Saginaw Township police and firefighters responded to the intersection of South Center and West Michigan roads to help a motorist whose pickup truck had stalled during his attempt to drive through flood waters. He had been heading north on South Center Road and had crossed the Center Road Bridge before his truck stalled just south of the West Michigan Road intersection. Crews arrived to find the man had left his truck and was trying to walk to a closed-down store at the intersections southwest corner. A witness saw the man get swept up by the swift current, police report. Firefighters quickly entered the waters with an inflatable boat and were able to find the man clinging to a tree some distance from his truck, police said. They brought the man to shore, where he was attended to by Mobile Medical Response paramedics. The man had received numerous small cuts and scratches from being dragged through the water and being struck by debris. He did not require treatment at a hospital. His truck was swept away into a wooded area, said Saginaw Township Police Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr. Theyre not able to do any recovery on that until the waters go down, the chief said. Pussehl and Saginaw Township Fire Chief Jim Peterson are warning motorist not to try driving through standing water on closed roads. Vehicles can easily become disabled and the river currents are extremely swift and dangerous as indicated by this incident, the chiefs stated in a joint press release. We are thankful that this young man survived his ordeal. County officials announced on Thursday morning that the Tittabawassee Rivers crested overnight and have begun receding. All bridges across the Tittabawassee River, as well as the Genesee Street Bridge across the Saginaw River, are closed to traffic. These bridges will be inspected as the water recedes and reopened when deemed safe. Related: Midland officials give flooding update, say river to crest 3 feet lower than expected Saginaw County officials warn Mistequay Creek dike may break, Tittabawassee River gauge failed Flash flood warning issued Wednesday for Tittabawassee River in Midland County Pray for Midland, says resident surveying flood damage after dam failure Latin America has overtaken the U.S. and Europe for the largest number of new daily novel coronavirus cases this week, per Reuters. Why it matters: The outbreak in Latin America, and Brazil in particular, significantly contributed to global infection numbers surpassing 5 million early on Thursday. The surge in cases indicates a shift in the spread of COVID-19 from the original epicenter of China to Europe and the U.S. By the numbers: "Latin America accounted for around a third of the 91,000 cases reported earlier this week," Reuters notes. "Europe and the United States each accounted for just over 20%. ... Cases in Brazil are now rising at a daily pace second only to the United States." Brazil has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. More than 291,500 people have tested positive for the virus, which has killed over 18,500 as of Thursday morning, Johns Hopkins data shows. Driving the news: The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday there have been 106,000 cases reported to the WHO in the past 24 hours the most in a single day since the outbreak began. Roughly two-thirds of the new cases were concentrated in four countries, Axios' Marisa Fernandez notes. Among them is Brazil, recorded 1,179 more deaths from the virus on Tuesday its highest death toll in 24 hours. However, the country's health department said that most deaths had occurred outside of the past 24 hours. Coronavirus deaths in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and the Western Hemisphere, have increased by over 485% since the city's health department began keeping track in April, Axios' Orion Rummler reports. The big picture: Peru has the second-highest contagion rate in Latin America. It has reported over 104,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths despite being one of the earliest countries in the region to introduce lockdown measures, on March 16. The country's most impoverished communities have been hit hardest, the Guardian reports. Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden called on Wisconsinites to leverage their power to pick a different path come November as he slammed President Donald Trumps response to the novel coronavirus pandemic in a virtual campaign rally Wednesday. The former vice president also questioned Trumps ability to rebuild the economy and suggested the current administration wants to see a corrupt recovery that rewards certain businesses over others, as he addressed the state from his Delaware home. We know that Donald Trump has utterly failed his test of leadership, Biden said, later adding: Why would anybody trust this man to build back our economy now? He thinks hes a builder but hes a destroyer of everything he touches. Forced to replace in-person campaigning with remote events, the presumptive nominee turned to Wisconsin this week as the destination of his second virtual campaign trip after focusing on another battleground state, Florida. The unusual rally, in which Biden addressed Milwaukeeans virtually through a video stream, featured no large crowds and no applause though it went without the technical glitches that marked his Tampa rally earlier this month and drew national attention. But in customary campaign event fashion, it started a half hour late, with introductions from Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, local arts gallery owner Cynthia Henry and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes kicking off just after 4 p.m. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, whose name has been mentioned as a vice presidential contender, wrapped up the rally. Biden called for creating a new system that would build up the middle class and reward the people who actually make this country work by ensuring all have paid sick leave, child care support, access to health care and more. He also pushed to implement measures that empower workers by encouraging unionization, bolstering worker safety, securing retirement funding and more. We can choose who our economy, our government and our country works for, he said. Thats the choice we have to make this November and that choice could not be more stark. Earlier in the day, Biden also participated in a roundtable with U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and rural health care officials and economic development leaders, during which he knocked Trumps lack of leadership on the nations response to the novel coronavirus crisis. COVID-19 is not his fault, Biden said. The failure to respond quickly is. But former Gov. Scott Walker credited Trump with aiding health care employees and other frontline workers access to protective equipment, as well as his support of the federal Paycheck Protection Program that has been a big deal for businesses in this state. He slammed Biden for outsourcing his agenda to the very far fringe of the party, pointing to the recent news that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would co-lead a panel advising the former vice president on climate policy. Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have visited Wisconsin in recent months; Pence most recently stopped at GE Healthcare in Madison in April. Biden in mid-March had planned to hold a rally in Chicago, but he canceled it and others two months ago as the nation began directly feeling the novel coronavirus impact. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Children glued to their headphones. Its a familiar scene these days. Lauren Breeze of Nashville finds her 15-year-old son, Declan, wearing headphones all day. He has always been a big music fan, but this is new since we have been home in quarantine. Its almost like he has to have a soundtrack to his life. Her attitude: Anything to make it through the day. I havent tried to get him to stop, especially now that things are so different, she said. Before, he didnt walk around the house like this. With more families squeezed together for longer periods of time during the coronavirus pandemic, theres more of a need for ones own listening space. But lengthy listening on headphones or earbuds can be harmful. And volume is only part of the equation. Its noise dose that is significant, or roughly the duration times the volume. As one increases, the other should decrease. Baha'i Community Warns Of Increased Persecution Of Followers In Iran Radio Farda May 20, 2020 In a statement released on May 18 the Baha'i International Community (BIC) warned about the increased persecution of Baha'is in Iran despite the coronavirus health crisis. "In recent days, two Baha'is in Isfahan have been arbitrarily arrested, seven Baha'is in Shiraz have been sentenced to long prison terms ranging from one to thirteen years," the statement said adding other persecution instances of the banned religious group. More than 300,000 Baha'is live in Iran. Unlike Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians whose religions are recognized as minority religions by the Iranian Constitution, Baha'is are deprived of the freedom to practice their religion, are not admitted to higher-education institutions or allowed to run their own schools. According to the statement two Baha'is who were released due to the coronavirus pandemic, have been summoned back to prison despite widespread international calls for the release of prisoners of conscience in Iran due to the pandemic. "The Baha'i International Community is appalled by the sentences handed down to these innocent individuals who were guilty of nothing other than selflessly serving their communities," Diane Ala'i, Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva, declared in the statement. The Baha'i community has to share many of the economic and health-related consequences of the current pandemic with the rest of the population, the statement said and reiterated that the followers of the banned faith face additional layers of pressures including arbitrary arrests and imprisonment only for their faith. "This is an abhorrent treatment of an entire community at a time when lives and livelihoods in Iran are already under such severe strain," it added. In a tweet on Tuesday the spokesperson of BIC once again protested to returning Baha'i prisoners to jail despite the danger of getting infected. "These individuals are not criminals and they do not belong in prison. During this global pandemic, when prisons are hotbeds of infection, returning these Bahai's to prison is akin to handing down a death sentence," she wrote. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/baha-i- community-warns-of-increased-persecution-of- followers-in-iran/30623750.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CLEVELAND, Ohio The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services contacted roughly two-dozen individuals who mistakenly viewed the personal data of others seeking unemployment benefits, and found no evidence of widespread compromise, Director Kimberly Hall said Thursday. A system glitch let 26 people applying for unemployment benefits through the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program see other users data, the ODJFS revealed Wednesday. Those people mistakenly viewed a screen intended for ODJFS staff that included other users Social Security numbers, names, addresses and correspondence, Hall said Thursday during a videoconference with media. The ODJFS has contacted the users who mistakenly viewed other applicants personal information, Hall said. The agency also notified all users whose data was likely compromised. We reached out to the individuals specifically that we know landed on the page to let them know Hey, we know you landed on the page and well be paying attention, Hall said. Deloitte Consulting, the firm tasked with administering the PUA program in Ohio, notified the ODJFS of the issue over the weekend and resolved it within an hour, Hall said. There is currently no evidence of widespread data compromise. We dont know how many records were exposed, [but] we know it was a limited number, Hall said. We remedied the issue promptly, and were taking all the necessary requirement around notice. The issue appears to be related to Deloittes work on the PUA system, because it also occurred in Colorado and Illinois, Hall said. Deloitte is also tasked with administering the PUA program in those states. The ODJFS reported Thursday that Ohio has received more than 161,000 applications to the new PUA program, which the federal government created for workers who are ineligible for traditional unemployment benefits, such as independent contractors and anyone who is self-employed. Ohio started accepting PUA claims on May 12; technological hurdles prevented the state from implementing the program for several weeks, Hall said previously. Typically, officials would test a system like the one used to administer the PUA program for six months before rolling it out to the public. But the rapid onset of the coronavirus crisis forced Deloitte and the ODJFS to get it up and running within four weeks, Hall said. Some of these things are just naturally going to be a function of moving at the speed of light in order to be as responsive as every state can to what the federal government asked us to do, Hall said. Deloitte, which also issued a statement confirming the data leak, is offering 12 months of credit monitoring to anyone who filed for the PUA program. Hall emphasized that no one hacked the system to access users personal information. Everyone who viewed the personal data was using the PUA system to sign up for unemployment benefits. The ODJFS did not notify users that their data had been compromised until Wednesday, several days after the issue was resolved. Hall said Thursday that she was not at liberty to reveal the data leak sooner. The ODJFS notified users less than two hours after Hall spoke with media on a separate videoconference Wednesday. We certainly hold the confidentiality of claimant data in the highest regard, and I appreciate the immediate steps that Deloitte took to prevent any further access, Hall said. Were working with them on preventing access into the future. Anyone with questions or concerns about the data leak should email DeloitteIdentityhelp@jfs.ohio.gov. Read more from cleveland.com: Traditional unemployment claims decline in Ohio, but 161,000 self-employed and independent contractors apply for new program Social Security numbers, personal data of Ohio unemployment claimants compromised, state says Ohio begins accepting unemployment claims from self-employed workers, independent contractors BOSTON (AP) Actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty to charges in the college admissions bribery case and serve prison time, according to court papers filed Thursday. The couple agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in a plea agreement filed in Boston's federal court. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss charges of money laundering and federal programs bribery that were added after the case was filed. Under the plea agreement, Loughlin has agreed to serve two months in prison and Giannulli has agreed to serve five months. The plea deal must be approved by the judge. "Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," said United States Attorney Andrew Lelling. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions." An attorney for the couple declined to comment. Loughlin and Giannulli previously pleaded not guilty and firmly insisted on their innocence even as other parents reached deals with prosecutors. The couple are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the case. Lori Loughlin, center, with daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli (left) and Isabella Rose Giannulli in 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (File photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)Getty Images Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew team recruits, even though neither of them played the sport. Earlier: Actor Lori Loughlin, husband Giannulli plead not guilty in college scam Lori Loughlins daughters no longer enrolled at USC after college bribery scandal Daughter of Felicity Huffman attending Pa. university after admissions scandal: report Actress Felicity Huffman gets 14 days behind bars in college admissions scam One of two brothers shot by police at a Victorian campground threatened to behead officers and said he wanted to become a martyr. Footage played to a Melbourne court shows 19-year-old Joel Clavell being shotwhile charging at police with an axe on June 12 last year. His older brother, Joshua Clavell, was also shot after ramming a police car and running at officers with a knife at the Barnawartha North campground. Joel Clavell called police "dogs" and "mutts", said he wanted them to drop their guns so he could chop their heads off and become a martyr. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2020) -Bluestone Resources Inc. (TSXV: BSR) (OTCQB: BBSRF) ("Bluestone" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of voting at its annual general meeting of shareholders which was held on May 20, 2020 by conference call (the "Meeting"). Full details of all the voting results for the 2020 Meeting are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The nominees for directors listed in Bluestone's management proxy circular dated April 15, 2020 were elected as set out in the following table: Director Votes For % James Beck Zara Boldt Dave Dicaire 49,888,112 49,887,112 49,887,112 99.99 99.98 99.98 Leo Hathaway 49,881,512 99.97 Darren Klinck 49,887,633 99.98 William Lamb 49,817,962 99.85 Jack Lundin 49,887,633 99.98 John Robins 49,887,633 99.98 Jim Paterson did not stand for re-election to the Company's board of directors (the "Board") at the Meeting. Jim served on the Board Audit Committee, the Board Corporate Governance and Nominations Committee, and as Chair of the Board Compensation Committee. John Robins, Board Chair commented, "Jim has served on our Board since 2011, prior to the acquisition of the Cerro Blanco gold project, which transformed the Company to what it is today. He has been a strong Board Member, providing insightful feedback and leadership experience. On behalf of Bluestone's senior management team and our Board, we would like to thank Jim for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours." Dave Dicaire has been appointed to the Board effective immediately. Jack Lundin, CEO, commented, "We are extremely pleased to have Dave Dicaire join the Board of Directors. Dave's diverse experience and highly successful career in mine development projects, coupled with his technical background will be valuable assets for Bluestone as we continue to advance the Cerro Blanco Gold project. On behalf of the Company and the Board we wish to welcome Dave to the team. I would also like to take a moment to thank Jim for his valuable contributions to the Bluestone Board." Dave Dicaire Dave Dicaire has over 40 years of experience in the mining, engineering, and construction industry on a variety of global projects leading both the Owners and EPCM teams and is currently the VP Projects and General Manager at Lundin Gold Inc. Prior to joining Lundin Gold, he was with Freeport-McMoRan Inc. as the Project Director for the highly successful US$4.6 billion Cerro Verde Expansion Project in Peru. Prior to moving to Freeport, Dave was the General Manager, Project Development for South America for Xstrata Copper (now Glencore plc) based in Santiago, Chile. His experience covers all facets of project management for all types of mining projects ranging from managing pre-feasibility studies to large EPC/EPCM projects. About Bluestone Resources Bluestone Resources is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Cerro Blanco Gold and Mita Geothermal projects located in Guatemala. A Feasibility Study on Cerro Blanco returned robust economics with a quick pay back. The average annual production is projected to be 146,000 ounces per year over the first three years of production with all-in sustaining costs of $579/oz (as defined per World Gold Council guidelines, less corporate general and administration costs). The Company trades under the symbol "BSR" on the TSX Venture Exchange and "BBSRF" on the OTCQB. On Behalf of Bluestone Resources Inc. "Jack Lundin" Jack Lundin | Chief Executive Officer & Director For further information, please contact: Bluestone Resources Inc. Stephen Williams | VP Corporate Development & Investor Relations Phone: +1 604 646 4534 info@bluestoneresources.ca www.bluestoneresources.ca Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Bluestone Resources Inc. ("Bluestone" or the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation: to the market for Bluestone's common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, subscription receipts, units, warrants and share purchase contracts; the conversion of the inferred mineral resources; increasing the amount of measured mineral and indicated mineral resources; the proposed timeline and benefits of further drilling; the proposed timeline and benefits of the Feasibility Study; statements about the Company's plans for its mineral properties; Bluestone's business strategy, plans and outlook; the future financial or operating performance of Bluestone; capital expenditures, corporate general and administration expenses and exploration and development expenses; expected working capital requirements; the future financial estimates of the Cerro Blanco Project economics, including estimates of capital costs of constructing mine facilities and bringing a mine into production and of sustaining capital costs, estimates of operating costs and total costs, net present value and economic returns; proposed production timelines and rates; funding availability; resource estimates; and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to Bluestone and often use words such as "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "may" or variations thereof or the negative of any of these terms. All forward-looking statements are made based on Bluestone's current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by Bluestone and information currently available to Bluestone. Generally, these assumptions include, among others: the presence of and continuity of metals at the Cerro Blanco Project at estimated grades; the availability of personnel, machinery, and equipment at estimated prices and within estimated delivery times; currency exchange rates; metals sales prices and exchange rates assumed; appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in economic analyses; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operations; the availability of acceptable financing; the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); anticipated mining losses and dilution; success in realizing proposed operations; and anticipated timelines for community consultations and the impact of those consultations on the regulatory approval process. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of Bluestone to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Bluestone. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: risks and uncertainties related to expected production rates; timing and amount of production and total costs of production; risks and uncertainties related to the ability to obtain, amend, or maintain necessary licenses, permits, or surface rights; risks associated with technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities; risks and uncertainties related to the accuracy of mineral resource estimates and estimates of future production, future cash flow, total costs of production, and diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources; risks associated with geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in Guatemala; risks related to global epidemics or pandemics and other health crises, including the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); risks and uncertainties related to interruptions in production; the possibility that future exploration, development, or mining results will not be consistent with Bluestone's expectations; uncertain political and economic environments and relationships with local communities and governmental authorities; risks relating to variations in the mineral content within the mineral identified as mineral resources from that predicted; variations in rates of recovery and extraction; developments in world metals markets; and risks related to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. For a further discussion of risks relevant to Bluestone, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2019, available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Bluestone disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Bluestone believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures The Company has included certain non-International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") measures in this news release. The Company believes that these measures, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company and to compare it to information reported by other companies. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. All-in sustaining costs The Company believes that all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The Company calculates AISC as the sum of refining costs, third party royalties, site operating costs, sustaining capital costs and closure capital costs all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce amount. Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise due to a different definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining capital. AISC reconciliation AISC and costs are calculated based on the definitions published by the World Gold Council ("WGC") (a market development organization for the gold industry comprised of and funded by 18 gold mining companies from around the world). The WGC is not a regulatory organization. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56269 Succession star Jeremy Strong has revealed that Frank Ocean texted him after hearing his excruciating rap performance on the show. For many Succession fans, a highlight of series two was the scene in which Kendall Roy (Strong) serenades his father Logan (Brian Cox) on his 50th work anniversary with his very own rap song, L to the OG. Born on the North Bank, king of the East Side/ 50 years strong, now he's rolling in a sick ride/ Handmade suits, raking in loot/ Five-star general, y'all best salute, raps Kendall in tribute to the media mogul and patriarch. Speaking about how well it went down with viewers, Strong told Variety: It became apparent when people were dressed for this thing at Halloween and I did get a text from Frank Ocean that said, L to the OG with a crying face emoji. I took it as the highest possible compliment because hes one of my heroes. It was small props but it meant the world. On whether fans will see Kendall rap in season three, Strong said: I keep pitching [composer] Nick. Can we please make the Kendall quarantine mix-tape? Im here, Im waiting and I want to release some beats. At the Golden Globes, Jay-Z and Beyonce walked past the table, I was waiting for the moment for him to say, Good stuff, but I dont think he knew who I was L to the OG was released as a single released on Wednesday (20 May) by WaterTower Music. Succession 1-2 will be available on Sky on-demand on 8 June, and is available to Digitally Download now The French director Bruno Dumont returns to the subject of his galvanic 2018 Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc in this not-quite-sequel. While the real-life Joan died at 19, and has often been played in film by actors a lot older, here Dumont recasts Lise Leplat Prudhomme, now not yet 12, to play Joan the warrior and eventual martyr. The movie doesnt depict any battles, instead presenting simply staged scenes of Joans consultations and prayers and pronouncements. While Jeanette depicted a young Joan singing and dancing to arty metal-inflected music, in this movie, she stands still while dreamy electronic pop songs, sung by an unseen voice, function as interior monologues. Here and in the earlier picture its perhaps easy to apprehend Dumonts approach with a Whats this oddball up to now? smirk. But if Dumont is joking at all, its a form of what used to be called kidding on the square. A contactless system of making payment by scanning QR codes at parking spots is being made in Jaipur to contain the spread of the coronavirus, an official said on Thursday. Additional Commissioner of Police Ajaypal Lamba said people will now be able to scan the Quick Response (QR) codes of ''The Digital Parking'' App and pay at the facility to prevent getting infected by the coronavirus. Lamba said the measure will help maintain social distancing, especially at the parking in hospitals and other public places. He said people will be able to park vehicles at free parking spaces through QR code. With this, the record of vehicles going to and from parking will also be digitally protected. Parking space holders, who do not have a digital QR code, can get it from the ''Digital Parking App''. Through this app, police can be informed by taking photographs of unclaimed and suspicious vehicles, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) [May 21, 2020] Nokia and Openreach deploy next generation fiber access network to connect millions in UK to ultra-fast, reliable broadband access Nokia fiber solution enables Openreach to significantly extend its full fiber network capacity and coverage New fiber access network capable of delivering multi-Gigabit speeds to customers Openreach FTTH network is delivering economic and environmental benefits to the UK 21 May 2020 Espoo, Finland Nokia today announced that Openreach will deploy its fiber solutions to help meet its target of bringing ultra-fast and reliable broadband access to 20 million homes across the UK by the mid-to-late 2020s. The fiber rollout with Nokia underpins Openreachs commitment to build a world-class, secure broadband network that can deliver differentiated customer experiences and provide a platform for the UKs economic recovery, post Covid-19. Openreach is focused on extending its fiber networks to better meet evolving consumer demands, support society in unforeseen crises and help socio-economic growth. A nationwide fiber-to-the-home network has the potential to provide a 59 billion boost to UK productivity by 2025i. It can also enable 400,000 more people to work from home, allow 125,000 parents with dependent children the opportunity to re-enter the workforce and help to reduce greenhouse emissions. The rollout with Nokia focuses on deploying GPON and XGS-PON fiber access technologies to expand Openreachs fiber-rich network to reach 4.5 million premises by the end of March 2021. Its also capable of delivering up to 10Gb/s symmetrical broadband speeds in the future, in areas where demand for additional capacity is required. Nokias solution supports a smooth evolution from current traditional deployments to virtualized access-network control and management (SDAN Software Defined Access Networking) by software upgrade. The agreement is another key milestone in Nokias extensive partnership with Openreach to deliver multi-Gigabit, next generation PON connectivity to customers and builds on an extensive end-to-end network framework that has been established over the past years. This includes G.fast technology which currently allows Openreach to offer 100s Mb/s to homes in areas where fiber is not available yet. Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said: Were accelerating our full fibre build to deliver an ultrafast, ultra-reliable and futureproof broadband network throughout the UK. This new digital platform will help our economy to bounce back more quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic enabling people to continue work from home, and millions of businesses to operate seamlessly online for decades to come. Right now, were making the new network available to around 32,000 homes and businesses every week, and Nokias innovative solutions arehelping us to build it better, broader and faster. Our partnership with Nokia will be critical in helping us to upgrade the nation and hit our target of reaching four and a half million premises by the end of March 2021. Peter Bell, Network Technologies Director, Openreach CTIO said: Nokia is already making a major contribution to Openreachs Fibre-to-the-Premises rollout, including in the build of our first fully fibred city, Salisbury. Were confident that Nokia will continue to be a strong partner in helping us meet our ambition throughout the UK. Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia said: Ensuring everybody has access to broadband services is critical, especially during unprecedented times like these where it has become the lifeline to millions working, handling healthcare and learning from home. Our fiber solutions will help Openreach bring enhanced ultra-broadband services to millions of new customers across the UK today while our 10G PON technology will help to futureproof their network against whatever may come next. About the solution Openreach will deploy the Nokia fiber access solution which includes 7360 ISAM FX, Nokia 7362 ISAM DF and Nokia ISAM ONTs. About Nokia We create the technology to connect the world. Only Nokia offers a comprehensive portfolio of network equipment, software, services and licensing opportunities across the globe. With our commitment to innovation, driven by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs, we are a leader in the development and deployment of 5G networks. Our communications service provider customers support more than 6.4 billion subscriptions with our radio networks, and our enterprise customers have deployed over 1,300 industrial networks worldwide. Adhering to the highest ethical standards, we transform how people live, work and communicate. For our latest updates, please visit us online www.nokia.com and follow us on Twitter @nokia Media Inquiries: Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: [email protected] About Openreach Openreach Limited is the UKs digital network business. Were 35,000 people, working in every community to connect homes, schools, shops, banks, hospitals, libraries, mobile phone masts, broadcasters, governments and businesses large and small to the world. Our mission is to build the best possible network, with the highest quality service, making sure that everyone in the UK can be connected. We work on behalf of more than 620 communications providers like SKY, TalkTalk, Vodafone, BT and Zen, and our fibre broadband network is the biggest in the UK, passing more than 27.5m UK premises. Over the last decade weve invested more than 14 billion into our network and, at more than 185 million kilometres its now long enough to wrap around the world 4,617 times. Today were building an even faster, more reliable and future-proof broadband network which will be the UKs digital platform for decades to come. Were making progress towards to our FTTP target to reach 20m premises by mid-to-late 2020s. Weve also hired over 3,000 trainee engineers this past financial year to help us build that network and deliver better service across the country. Openreach is a highly regulated, wholly owned, and independently governed division of the BT Group. More than 90 per cent of our revenues come from services that are regulated by Ofcom and any company can access our products under equivalent prices, terms and conditions. For the year ended 31 March 2020, we reported revenue of 5.1bn. For more information, visit www.openreach.co.uk. Email: [email protected] i According to research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research - https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/hidden-pages/full-fibre-impact/CebrReport_online.pdf [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Metropolitan Police claims that the phrase unsolved murder was used in error when referring to the death of Derry man Samuel Devenny have been dismissed by his family. Last month the Derry News reported that for the first time the Met Police acknowledged Mr Devennys death was an unsolved murder. The London-based police service has now attempted to backtrack by saying the inclusion of that phrase was a mistake. Father of nine Samuel Devenny died on July 17, 1969, at the age of 42. It came three months after members of the RUC entered his home in William Street and assaulted him and his family on April 19, 1969. He is believed to be the second victim of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the first in the city. The attack on Mr Devenny was preceded by the Burntollet Bridge incident where civil rights protestors were attacked by a large ulster loyalist crowd including off-duty members of the Ulster Special Constabulary. One month after his death rioting erupted in Derry in what would become known as the Battle of the Bogside. During those riots, between August 12-15, the Devenny family suffered further trauma after their home was destroyed by fire. The Devenny family have repeatedly called for the British government to release classified files in relation to their fathers death. They strongly believe that those files contain crucial information, but the state has said they will remain secret until at least 2022. The report into his death was compiled by Met Police Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury who conducted an independent inquiry. It established that the attack on the Devenny family had been carried out by RUC officers. But it was unable to identify those officers, according to a Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman investigation in 2001. 'UNSOLVED MURDER' Last year on Mr Devennys 50th anniversary Independent Councillor Gary Donnelly suspended standing orders to table a motion calling on the Met Police to release all files in relation to his case. It took the Met Police seven months to provide a response and, in it, Mr Devennys death was described as an unsolved murder. The Devenny family viewed this admission as significant as it was the first time the Met Police had accepted that their fathers death was a murder. However, in a statement to the Derry News the Met Police has sought to distance itself from the phrase saying that it was used in error. A Met Police spokesperson said: The phrase unsolved murder in the introductory Reason for Decision section was used in error. The accurate phrase unsolved death was used on three occasions in the remainder of the FOI response. The PSNI was asked whether it supports full disclosure of Mr Devennys files. And if full disclosure of the files produces enough evidence to warrant prosecutions whether the PSNI would cooperate. In response a spokesperson said: The death of Mr Devenny was the subject of an independent review by a Senior Officer from the London Metropolitan Police in 1970 and was also investigated by the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in 2001. As this is not a PSNI investigation it would not be appropriate for us to comment. TRUTH Mr Devennys son Harry said he expected nothing more from the Met Police given its refusal to release the truth in over 50 years. He believes the person drawing up the response may have seen unsolved murder written on the file or was aware of its contents and thats why he/she used those words. Harry is in no doubt that it was murder, he commented: You could describe it as nothing else. They came into the house, battered him and he died at 42 years of age. Thats the only conclusion that we can come to. He took bad just after the beating and was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where they put him on a pacemaker to keep his heart going because he was actually dead. In the hospital, Sammys wife Phyllis and a 21-year-old Harry asked how he was and a doctor demonstrated that it was only the machine Sammy was hooked up to keeping him alive. The severe beating he got resulted in his death, we have no doubt about that, Harry said. NEVER FORGOTTEN In Harrys view it is in the public interest for people to know the truth yet the British government and Met Police have used that as an excuse to withhold the files. When they got away with my fathers case that open the gates for them to do whatever they wanted. The government probably feels like if they prosecute one policeman then they can all be prosecuted, but if they dont it lets them all off. He believes that if his fathers death had been handled better that perhaps violence may not have escalated in the way it did in the years that followed. Sammy Devennys daughter, Christine Robson, echoed her brothers feelings that it was murder and refused to accept the Met Police claim of an error. They told the truth the first time, she said. She believes the British government and Met Police are trying to wear the family down in the hope they will eventually admit defeat. But Christine refuses to let that happen: I cannot let my daddy be forgotten, you just have to keep going. She wants to see the files released in 2022 and is confident her son and grandchildren will continue to seek the truth. Canberra is one of the few markets which could fare better than others amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to experts. Richard Sheppard, chief property investment advisor at inSynergy, said Canberra, along with Brisbane and Adelaide, is well-positioned to weather the risks of the outbreak on the housing market. "The fundamentals are very strong for the medium- to long-term in certain Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide sub-markets. We also believe the risk of COVID-19 pushing these markets backwards is quite low," he said. Sheppard said Canberra also possesses robust yields, ranging from 4.5% to 6%, which makes it attractive to property investors. Also read: Which Are Canberras Top Growth Areas? A separate report from Herron Todd White said the Canberra residential property market has historically been stable, reporting consistent growth. "We don't tend to see the spikes and falls like some other markets but general stability," said Angus Howell, local expert at Herron Todd White. Howell said Canberra has strong market fundamentals that include low unemployment, above-average annual incomes, and a strong government and public sector employment base. "We are still seeing transactions occurring at all levels and generally agents are reporting that most purchasers are finance ready and able to compete with confidence in the market. Sellers may be adjusting their expectations slightly, but this has had minimal impact so far," he said. However, Howell said it remains hard to predict the full impact of COVID-19 on the local economy and on the property market. "The outlook for the remainder of the year is difficult to predict. The landscape changes very quickly; however, the stable market conditions mentioned hold the Canberra residential property market in good stead," he said. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The government of Honduras through an executive order declared as national priority supporting food producers and agroindustry. The measurement has no precedents in the history of the country and seeks to respond to the resulting challenges of Covid-19 pandemic, and to safeguard the national sovereignty and food security of the Honduran population. Previously, President Juan Orlando Hernandez introduced to the Coffee National Council (CONACAFE) the "Presidential Coffee Bonus" project to finance the fertilization of coffee farms of more than 91 thousand producers. Mauricio Guevara, Minister of Agriculture, detailed that the project consists in over 12 million dollars investment capital to benefit 91,400 families en 15 departments and 222 municipalities throughout the country, mainly targeting small and medium size producers ranging from 1 to 150 quintals of coffee grains. Additionally, Minister Guevara explained that the Solidarity Productive Bonus is issuing seed money to support agricultural producers. With this initiative "we will provide financial support of 11 million dollars for over 140,000 producers in 17 departments of the country to secure food production" President Hernandez stated. During a Ministers Council meeting, Minister of Agriculture Guevara reported that the government started since January the execution of the "Family Agriculture" program which has reached 8,200 families up to today. The Country Representative of the Inter-American Institute of Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA), Franklin Marin, stated "Honduras will not suffer from famine and food security have been guaranteed by the efforts of the government" supporting the food producer sector throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. IICA Representative considers that the immediate responses of the government to deal with the pandemic can be taken as "a fact that the country is prepared". He added that since last year they have been discussing with the government the importance of food security working with the producers. https://sag.gob.hn/sala-de-prensa/noticias/ano-2/mayp-2020/expertos-descartan-hambruna-en-el-pais/ SOURCE Government of the Republic of Honduras It was clear he was in charge when he entered the wedding hall-turned-slave pen in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where dozens of Yazidi women and girls huddled on the floor, newly abducted by Islamic State militants. He beat them at the slightest sign of resistance. At one point, he dragged a girl away, picking her for himself, a Yazidi woman who was 14 when the incident occurred in 2014 recounted to The Associated Press. This was Hajji Abdullah, a religious judge and a key architect of the IS slave system. He later became deputy to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Many believe he is the late al-Baghdadi's successor, identified by the pseudonym Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. The U.S has a $5 million bounty on his head. Investigators with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability are amassing evidence, hoping to prosecute IS figures for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide including Hajji Abdullah. Bill Wiley, executive director and founder of CIJA, said fighters didn't just decide to enslave and rape Yazidi women; it was a carefully executed plan by the group's leadership. They put all of the apparatus of their so-called state behind carrying it out in practice," he said. And in doing so, they were going to eradicate the Yazidi group by ensuring there were no more Yazidi children born. The investigators, who shared some of their findings with AP, say that through IS documents and interviews with survivors and insiders, they have identified 49 IS figures who built and managed the slave trade, and nearly 170 slave owners. The AP interviewed former slaves, rescuers and imprisoned militants to build a picture of how slavery became central to IS structure. The group's cabinet constructed the slave system, security agencies enforced it, and Islamic courts supervised it. Still, it devolved into a free-for-all with fighters enriching themselves selling women amongst themselves and back to their families. CIJA's aim is to build cases so IS suspects can be prosecuted for crimes against humanity or genocide, not only charges of material support or membership in a terrorist group. In the first prosecution on charges of genocide against the Yazidis last month, a German court brought an Iraqi to trial for enslaving a Yazidi woman and her 5-year-old, who was chained and left to die of thirst. U.N. investigators say they have collected evidence from Iraq, including 2 million call records, that can strengthen cases against perpetrators of crimes against the Yazidis. IS launched its attack on the heartland of the Yazidi community at the foot of Sinjar Mountain in August 2014. The fighters killed hundreds and abducted 6,417, more than half of them women and girls. Most of the captured adult men were likely killed. Initially, the women and children were handed out as gifts to fighters who took part in the offensive. Many fighters showed a receipt from Hajji Abdullah confirming their participation so they could claim their slave, former captives and CIJA said. The remaining women were distributed across IS-controlled areas. The group operated centralized slave markets in Mosul, Raqqa and other cities. At the market in the Syrian city of Palmyra, women walked a runway for IS members to bid on. Others distributed the women by lottery. The Soldiers' Department, or Diwan al-Jund, recorded fighters who owned slaves. For a time, IS paid fighters a stipend of about $50 per slave and $35 per child. Managing the robust system turned out to be difficult, however. Chaos abounded. Slaves were resold for personal profit. Some IS members made tens of thousands of dollars ransoming captives back to their families. IS officials tried banning separating women from their children and the posting of women's pictures on social media. They ruled slave sales must be registered by an Islamic court. One directive set punishments for selling Yazidis to commoners anyone not a fighter or senior IS official and for ransoming them to their families. A February 2016 edict required the approval of the IS cabinet for any senior figure to own slaves, a sign even top officials were abusing the process. Laila Taloo's 2 1/2-year ordeal in captivity underscores how IS members continually ignored the rules. They explained everything as permissible. They called it Islamic law. They raped women, even young girls, said Taloo, who was owned by eight men. After Taloo, her husband, young son and newborn daughter were abducted in 2014, and she and her husband were forced to convert to Islam, which should have spared them from being enslaved or killed. But conversion meant nothing. Eventually the men who converted were massacred, and Taloo and the other women enslaved. What is this all for? They never had a second thought about killing or slaughtering or taking women, she said. Despite rules mandating sales through courts, Taloo was thrown into a world of informal slave markets run out of homes. One of her owners, an Iraqi surgeon, had her dress up and put on makeup so four Saudi men could inspect her. A member of the IS religious police bought her for nearly $6,000. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Recently it was reported that the United Kingdom has recruited 17,000 contact tracers. I guess Prime Minister Boris Johnson understands the issues with this virus better than most (perhaps due to his experience with the virus). I do not understand why our federal government is not deploying contact tracers, testing and quarantine initiatives. Our society has sacrificed for two months with social distancing, stay-at-home initiatives and hygiene practices and made a huge impact on the spread. But if we had contact tracing to identify all people who have been exposed to any of the remaining cases and illnesses today, and had them tested and quarantined, wouldnt that make sense to further reduce the spread? This is the logic: Identify the sick, contact anyone who may have been exposed to the them, quarantine them and isolate the virus. We could continue to reduce the spread and contain the virus. I dont get it. This is what successful countries like South Korea have done to combat the virus. Instead of one national plan for contact tracing and testing, the United States has 50 separate plans. Logical? No, we travel and move among states often in this society. Therefore, states with lax contact tracing and testing could increase the spread to people in other states. This is what is called chaos, not success and containment. Ron French OFallon, Mo. AUSTIN, Texas -- A Fort Hood soldier was found shot dead in a burning vehicle Monday in a town just outside the central Texas Army base, according to local law enforcement and service officials. Pfc. Brandon Scott Rosecrans, 27, was identified Tuesday as the victim by the Harker Heights Police Department, which is investigating his death as a murder, according to a news release from Police Chief Phillip Gadd. The soldier's body was found inside an orange 2016 Jeep Renegade in Harker Heights, which is located about 12 miles southeast of Fort Hood. The town's fire marshal is conducting an arson investigation concurrently. Army Criminal Investigation Command also is investigating. Authorities did not provide further details Wednesday. Rosecrans, who is from Kimberling City, Missouri, entered the Army in May 2018 as a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairer and has been assigned to the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, since November 2018, according to a news release from Fort Hood. "Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan McLane and I would like to express our deepest regrets to the family and loved ones of Pfc. Brandon Rosecrans," said Col. Kevin Capra, the 3rd Brigade commander. Rosecrans' awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. The Harker Heights Police Criminal Investigation Division is asking anyone with information about the murder to call them at 254-953-5400 or Crime Stoppers at 254-526-TIPS [8477]. Submit information online at www.bellcountycrimestoppers.com. All information is confidential and anonymous, and tips leading to an arrest are eligible to receive a reward up to $1,000 in cash. Fort Hood has more than 36,000 active-duty personnel, and the base is home to III Corps, an armored headquarters, and its largest unit, the 1st Cavalry Division. The World Health Organization said Wednesday it had registered a new daily record number of COVID-19 cases as it quickly neared the "tragic milestone" of five million total infections. The UN agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that on Tuesday, there were "106,000 cases reported to WHO -- the most in a single day since the outbreak began" in December. The WHO was also getting to grips with US President Donald Trump's reform ultimatum, giving the organisation 30 days to overhaul its operations otherwise its biggest contributor would freeze its funding and consider pulling out altogether. The Geneva-based WHO's coronavirus disease dashboard said that on Tuesday, 106,662 confirmed cases had been reported to the agency from around the world. The new figures come after states around the world have been dramatically ramping up their testing programmes. And the pandemic is still unfolding. "We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," Tedros told a virtual press conference as his agency warned of rising infection figures in poorer countries. More than 4.9 million cases of the novel coronavirus have been registered in total since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said the five million cases mark would be a "tragic milestone". Tedros added: "We're very concerned about the rising numbers of cases in low- and middle-income countries." More than 325,000 people have lost their lives, according to the AFP tally. - WHO studying Trump letter - The WHO's annual gathering of member states agreed Tuesday to an independent probe into the UN agency's coronavirus response amid mounting US criticism over its handling of the pandemic. Trump made public later Tuesday a letter he sent to Tedros, saying that if the WHO did not commit to "major substantive improvements" within 30 days, he would permanently freeze funding to the organisation and reconsider US membership. The United States is the biggest contributor to the WHO's budget and has already suspended funding, accusing the organisation of severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the virus. Pressed on the ultimatum, Tedros said only: "We have received the letter and we are looking into it." The WHO agreed that an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of "the actions of WHO and their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic" should be conducted at the "earliest possible moment". Asked Wednesday when that might be, Tedros said: "When all the conditions we need are actually met". - Hydroxychloroquine advice - Trump on Monday made the surprise announcement that he is taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that his own government experts say is not suitable for fighting the novel coronavirus. And Brazil's health ministry recommended Wednesday using chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat even mild cases of COVID-19 -- treatments President Jair Bolsonaro has pushed for despite the lack of conclusive evidence of their effectiveness. The WHO's Ryan stressed: "Hydroxychloroquine nor chloroquine have been, as yet, found to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19 -- or in the prophylaxis against coming down with the disease." The two drugs are among a handful involved in WHO-coordinated clinical trials to find effective treatments for the disease. Some 3,000 patients are taking part in the trials in 320 hospitals across 17 countries. "As WHO, we would advise that for COVID-19, that these drugs be reserved for use within such trials," said Ryan. The WHO's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that on May 19, 2020 (pictured), there were "106,000 cases reported to WHO -- the most in a single day since the outbreak began" US President Donald Trump made public a letter he sent to Tedros, saying that if the WHO did not commit to "major substantive improvements" within 30 days, he would permanently freeze funding to the organisation and reconsider US membership Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro (pictured March 2020) has pushed to use chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat even mild cases of COVID-19, despite the lack of conclusive evidence of their effectiveness Gujarat: Over 150 WB fishermen stuck in Narmada May 21,2020 | Source: The Times of India They arrived in the tribal belt of Gujarat in January this year with the hopes of earning good money. But these 150 fishermen from West Bengal never thought that they would get stuck for months on the banks of Tapi River in Sagbara taluka of Narmada district. They are not in regular touch with their families back home nor are they able to seek help from the West Bengal government. Hundreds of fishermen arrive in the state every year and stay here for few months. They are hired by the local cooperative societies that are into fishing business. The societies get contract from the government for fishing in the river and hence they need labourers, said Kanti Kothari, general secretary, Sagbara Taluka Matysaudyog Sahakari Mandali Ltd. We hire them to fish in Tapi River. This year, though, we didnt get the contract as water level in the dam was high. But the fishermen arrived in January and when they didnt get work, they decided to stay here for a couple of months to look for some other work. Before they could return, the lockdown was announced, Kothari told TOI. Over last two months, the fishermen have been staying in hutments on the banks of Tapi River in Motidevrupan village. When they began running out of food, local villagers provided them groceries for a few days before the administration stepped in. We have been providing them with food and some NGOs too have supported these fishermen. We have made all the arrangements for their return to West Bengal but we have to wait till their state government gives permission to run the train, said H K Vyas, deputy collector, Narmada. While most people are confining themselves within their homes amid the Covid-19 outbreak, jobless youth in Ludhiana came in large numbers to apply for the post of volunteers at the isolation wards on Wednesday. The volunteers, mostly women, including paramedical staff, were seen jostling among themselves as they queued up outside the enrolment centre at civil surgeon office for registration. A doctor, on the condition of anonymity, said that many BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) graduates had also come to apply for the post. The volunteers are being recruited as daily wagers to meet the manpower shortage emerging in the government hospital during the Covid-19 crises. As social distancing went for a toss completely, the health authorities had to call the police to bring the situating under control. Furious on witnessing the chaotic scenes, civil surgeon Dr Rahesh Bagga was seen yelling at the crowd. Dr Bagga said, It is sad that we had to call the police to control the situation. These youngsters, who are educated enough, should realise the importance of maintaining social distance. But they did not bother. Dr Bagga also said that while applicants were jostling with each other, their family members went one step ahead. They were seen assembling against the wall to catch a glimpse of the training centre. Nearly two to five family members were accompanying one applicant. It was as if they were visiting a shopping mall. This is bizarre. People should not take undue advantage of government relaxation, said Dr Bagga. Dr Bagga reportedly lambasted the staff for failing to manage the crowd. The applicants should be given tokens to avoid chaos at the enrolment counter, said Dr Bagga. On the other hand, the youngsters standing in queue said that they were badly in need of a job. I need a job to help my family in tiding over the financial crises. The government is offering a good amount of money to volunteers on a daily basis. I did not want to lose this opportunity. Yes, there was rush but everyone needs a job these days, said Gurpreet Kaur, one of the applicants. Another woman, who got married recently, said that due to the lockdown, her familys savings were drying up. My family is in desperate need of money and despite being a trained paramedic, I am sitting at home. As soon as I found about this job, I came here to try my luck, she said. Richwood, TX (77531) Today Cloudy with occasional showers. High around 50F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low near 35F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Photo: Getty Whitbread (WTB.L), owner of huge UK brands such as Premier Inn, hopes to raise 1bn ($1.2bn) to help it battle the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. It aims to raise the funds through a rights issue giving the option to existing shareholders to purchase additional new shares in the company. The proposal is that Whitbread will offer one new share for every two existing shares. Whitbread said in a statement that the purpose of the rights issue is to ensure that Whitbread emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic in the strongest possible position to take advantage of its long-term structural growth opportunities and win market share in both the United Kingdom and Germany. Whitbread announced at the same time that its adjusted pretax profit dropped to 358m for the year ending 27 February just before the mass lockdowns from 390m a year earlier. It has already suspended its dividends for shareholders and it has had to shut all its hotels and restaurants in March due to the spread of COVID-19. The group said it only expects to reopen hotels and restaurants in the UK in September at the very earliest. It has already reopened 16 hotels in Germany. Despite the challenges the industry faces, Whitbread's strategy to drive long-term value has not changed and remains compelling, said Alison Brittain, CEO of Whitbread. We have a significant opportunity to continue to build out our pipeline in the UK, along with optimising our large network of hotels by investing in upgraded formats such as our Premier Plus rooms, which are proving very popular with both our business and leisure guests. Germany offers an enormous opportunity for structural growth, with a large domestic market and a fragmented and declining independent sector. As a result of the current crisis, we expect there to be an impact on the competitive landscape and to see a material slowdown in the supply of rooms in both our key markets, and potentially an acceleration in the decline of the large independent sector. Our ownership and operating model underpins a winning customer proposition, that we believe will thrive as customers return to travelling domestically and continue to seek value and to rely on their most trusted brands. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Finance UK NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller was unable to explain how the COVID-19 laws operate in the state as he defended the force's enforcement of the laws at a parliamentary inquiry. Mr Fuller told the inquiry on Thursday that police had issued the $1000 fine for breaching the public health orders to about 1300 people since March. NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller struggled to clearly explain the current COVID-19 restrictions in NSW at a parliamentary hearing. Credit:Rhett Wyman In a combative exchange, Labor and Greens MPs accused Mr Fuller of being unaware of the latest changes to the public health order, which no longer require people to have a reasonable excuse to leave home. They raised the case of a 19-year old man who was fined for leaving his home on Friday night after the new laws came into effect. OKLAHOMA CITY Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday said hes going to let Oklahomans decide whether they should wear a face mask in public during the COVID-19 pandemic. To me, thats a personal preference, he said. If you feel safer in a mask, then we definitely encourage you to do that. If you can remain social(ly) distance(d), we dont think you necessarily need to have a mask, but thats a personal preference. The governor indicated he is reluctant to require Oklahomans wear masks in public. Some entities have mandated the face coverings in public. The novel coronavirus pandemic may forever alter the way the U.S. Navy delivers psychiatric care and therapy to sailors, Marines and military dependents. Health officials said Tuesday that face-to-face mental health visits are down for the Navy and Marine Corps, while phone appointments have increased since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak -- a shift that is prompting them to consider expanding audio and video appointment capabilities for medical care in the future. Read next: Navy Carrier Theodore Roosevelt Back at Sea After Coronavirus Outbreak Increased availability of these platforms may be necessary as patients who are now focused on handling their day-to-day schedules, including work and family requirements, seek help for psychological conditions as the pandemic continues or ends, said Capt. Joshua Morganstein, a U.S. Public Health Service officer, psychiatrist and assistant director for the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. "Historically, there has been an increase in demand for mental health care after disaster-type events," Morganstein said. "Things like distress, insomnia, distractibility, irritability, feeling unsafe, as well as risky health behaviors like increasing use of alcohol and other substances to manage stress." In March, as the pandemic spread, calls to the national Disaster Distress Helpline run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration rose by more than 330%. At the Department of Veterans Affairs, mental health phone consultations rose from 40,000 in February to 154,000 in March, a 280% increase, while telehealth group therapy sessions increased by 200%. Capt. James Reeves, director of mental health at the Navy's Bureau of Medicine, said the Navy anticipated an initial decline in medical appointments as hospitals and clinics stopped taking all but essential cases. The service has seen an increase in patients booking phone appointments, but there has still been an overall decrease in mental health utilization across the Navy and Marine Corps, he said. "I think that's from the initial shock and the social distancing and things changing," Reeves said. "People may not be sure how to get an appointment. But I think that's starting to get back to normal. It's something we'll continue to follow." Military personnel and family members have many options for mental health services outside psychiatric departments in military treatment facilities, including providers embedded in primary care departments and assigned to military units. Family members can see private providers through the Tricare health network. "Non-medical" counseling, such as anger management classes and marriage counseling, is available through several resources, including military chaplains, the Fleet and Family Support Centers, Marine Corps Community Services and Military OneSource, a DoD program that provides support services for military families. Reeves said he did not know whether demand for non-medical counseling at the family service centers or Military OneSource has increased. The Navy is responsible for providing medical care to more than 524,000 active-duty sailors and Marines, as well as family members. Since the first U.S. service member was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Feb. 26, 2,298 sailors and 503 Marines have had confirmed cases of the illness. Of the two U.S. troops who have died, one-- Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr. -- was a sailor, assigned to the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. Reeves said the Navy lacked a robust telehealth program at the start of the crisis, having only a few pilot programs exploring the feasibility of virtual health, especially for mental health services. But, he added, telehealth has been shown to be "very effective" in those pilots, and the service is working to expand that capability. "COVID has really pushed us to expand it in a matter of a week or two across the Navy," Reeves said. According to Morganstein, the Navy plans to review its pandemic readiness, based on the lessons learned responding to COVID-19, to include understanding risk, exposure and operations during a pandemic. Reeves said that the future may include telehealth for medical specialties where it is best suited, such as behavioral health. Mental health, which doesn't normally require a physical exam, is particularly suited for distance appointments, he said, adding that the patient no-show rate for phone appointments is significantly lower than it was for in-person appointments at military facilities. "Telephonics have been really effective, so do we really need people to come back in? Maybe we can adopt this on an ongoing basis," he said. He added that the Navy is looking at potential platforms for virtual health, such as those used by the VA. "The VA has a great system for virtual health, so we're starting to actively look at what are the long-term platforms," he said. One of the barriers to continued phone consults or virtual health are licensing policies that require physicians to practice medicine only in states where the patient is located at the time of treatment. The requirement was waived during the pandemic by the Center for Medicaid Services, Tricare and most states until the declaration of the end of the national emergency, but if reinstated, would not allow military physicians to treat patients who live within their medical facility's immediate area but across a state line. "If that [happens], we may be going back to more face-to-face," Reeves said. Reeves and Morganstein said that Navy and military mental health officials are carefully tracking the well-being of all patients to make sure they are ready if calls for appointments increase. Despite service efforts to decrease the stigma attached to mental health conditions and reduce fear of losing one's job or repercussions from seeking treatment, many military personnel are still reluctant to get care for mental illness. To increase access to care and make it more user friendly, the Navy adopted its mental health embed program and has launched a campaign, "No Wrong Door," to encourage help-seeking behavior. Reeves said he wants sailors, Marines and family members to get help if they need it. "These doors that I mentioned are still open for people to access. It may be that you access them virtually or telephonically, but they are still open and ready and waiting for people who need support during this time. Feel free to come forward. We're here for you," he said. Troops and veterans in crisis, as well as family members, can call the Military or Veterans Crisis Line, (800) 273-8255, press 1, or text 838255. Military OneSource can be accessed at (800) 342-9647. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her @patriciakime. Related: Pentagon Releases Plans for Easing Base Restrictions as States Reopen The Coast Guard Administration said May 12 the garrison is scheduled next month to hold a firing exercise around the Pratas Islands. China had passed its Liaoning aircraft carrier group around Taiwan in April and let a military transport plane to fly into Taiwanese air space earlier this month. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said last month it had information that China was talking about declaring an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea. The sea is disputed by Taiwan and four Southeast Asian countries. "If they want to seize the island they could encircle the island and force Taiwan to withdraw, without a fight," said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. China maintains the world's third strongest military and Taiwan ranks 26th by the database GlobalFirePower.com. Asymmetric warfare means use of strategy or unconventional arms, such as submarines, against an overall stronger enemy. The People's Liberation Army from Beijing is getting ready for amphibious military exercises in the South China Sea possibly to simulate the takeover of three tiny islets that Taiwan controls as part of a marine national park, analysts and media reports in Asia say. The islands sit in a strategic spot between northeast and southeast Asia. Taiwan's coast guard has a garrison on one. "While we work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional, asymmetrical capabilities," Tsai said in a speech to mark the start of her second term in office. She was reelected in January. Officials in Beijing have tired of Tsai's refusal to see Taiwan as part of China, her ever-strengthening ties with the United States -- the chief counterweight to Chinese political power globally -- and Taiwan's bid to attend the World Health Assembly this month despite Beijing's longstanding opposition. Tsai, first elected in 2016 partly on her tough China stance, has made indigenous defense a priority. The island long dependent on heavy industry has come out already with surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles and 66 aircraft in the past. A domestic shipbuilder broke ground last year on a submarine that's due as early as 2024. Over the next four years, Tsai said, Taiwan will work on strengthening defense "against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and 'unrestricted' warfare to achieve our strategic goal of multi-domain deterrence." She said the government plans as well to integrate military and civilian "capabilities" in aviation and space. Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong's Communists and rebased on the island. China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has not ruled out use of force, if needed, to unite the two sides. Tsai rejects Beijing's proposal for a "one-country, two-systems" form of rule that China uses to govern Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Chinese territory with a measure of local autonomy. Taiwan government surveys say around 80 percent of Taiwanese oppose unification with China. The president suggested dialogue instead on Wednesday. "We will continue these efforts, and we are willing to engage in dialogue with China and make more concrete contributions to regional security," Tsai said in her speech. "Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences." A new crash in relations would precede any attack by China, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. "You're supposed to look for early warning signals, so you'd need to have some deterioration of relations between the two, and it's certainly not the best relations, but not the worst," Thayer said. Chinese officials aren't planning an attack but want Tsai to make the next diplomatic move, said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. "I think the relation is already at the bottom and I think its up to Tsai Ing-wen to do something about it," Chiang said. "If she can offer some kind of hope, some kind of friendly gesture toward China, maybe there will be some movement toward a better relationship." China's military exercises are just a "war game" and the country has no "appetite for military actions" while working on economic recovery post-COVID-19, he added. The process of reverse migration of workers continued in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday as the tally of coronavirus-infected people reached 5,515 in the state. Several migrants tested positive in various parts of the state, including Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Bareilly among others. Meanwhile, the state registered 341 fresh cases in the last 24 hours. Till date, 138 people have died in the state due to the coronavirus while 3,204 have been discharged and 2,173 remain active. On Thursday, Maharajganj district registered eight positive cases among migrant workers, taking the tally in the district to 31. Of these, seven people have been discharged or cured and one person has died. In Suddharthnagar district, 11 positive cases were registered, out of which maximum were migrants, who had returned from Maharashtra and were quarantined at different facilities. The Basti district once again saw 16 migrants testing positive, taking the tally to 120 in the district. Earlier, 50 migrants had tested positive for COVID19 in Basti, out of which 14 belonged to Basti while 36 belonged to other districts and had travelled through 'Shramik Special' trains. In Bareilly, four migrants, who had returned from Mumbai recently, tested positive taking the district's total to 11. Meanwhile, addressing a press briefing at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow, principal secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said, 85,471 teams were engaged in surveillance of coronavirus infection in the state. These teams surveyed 68,72,936 households and screened more than 3.43 crore people. A large number of migrant labourers and workers have come back in the state. They have been asked to stay in the home quarantine for 21 days. ASHA workers have also been deployed to screen those in home quarantine and, so far, 5.42 lakh people have been screened. During this process, 46,142 samples were taken for test. After examining the samples, 1,230 people were found infected with coronavirus. The health department is taking action on reports of such people. Also present at the press briefing, additional chief secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi informed that since March 1, nearly 20 lakh migrants have returned to the state and the government will work to harness their skills. Awasthi further said that in a meeting with Team 11, on Thursday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the lockdown. The chief minister said that number of people getting cured has exceeded the active cases in the state. At present only 2,130 are active cases while 3,099 people have recovered. Still, we have to be safe and alert. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed to all the people returning from other states and to the families of these people to come forward and inform them about their health so that their treatment can be started at the right time. The chief minister has instructed the health department to increase the testing capacity, asking them to conduct 10,000 sample tests daily." The health department is currently doing about 7,000 tests every day. As per information till now, a total of 1,154 'Shramik Special' trains have been arranged so far, including 355 from Gujarat, 181 from Maharashtra, 144 from Punjab, 28 from Rajasthan, 36 from Delhi, and 33 from Karnataka. Of these, 841 trains have arrived while 313 are either en route or will arrive in a couple of days. 15.27 lakh people returned to Uttar Pradesh through these trains in the first phase. Now, in the second phase, 1.35 lakh people have been brought by 3,982 buses from Haryana, 13,224 by 355 buses from Rajasthan and 49,000 people have been brought by 1,350 buses from Madhya Pradesh. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Katie Paul (Reuters) Thu, May 21, 2020 08:02 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd958d35 2 Science & Tech Facebook,shopping,Instagram,united-states,social-media,shops,WhatsApp,Shopify Free Facebook Inc is launching Shops, a service that will allow businesses to display and sell products on the world's largest social network's platforms, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. The move to build up e-commerce offerings follows Facebook's launch last year of limited shopping options on photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging app WhatsApp. Company leaders wager making the platforms more business-friendly will generate fresh ad revenue, even as user growth slows. Facebook Shops will tie at least some of those efforts together, enabling businesses to set up a single online store accessible via both Facebook and Instagram. A checkout feature will enable in-app purchases, while a more deeply integrated messaging feature will allow customers to chat with businesses through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct. Zuckerberg also said the world's largest social network would be working more closely on product integrations with Shopify and seven other online commerce platforms going forward. He had Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke join him in a livestreamed video announcing the partnerships. Read also: Facebook launches new experimental app to keep couples connected Shopify's shares sank after the initial Facebook Shops launch, then rebounded following Lutke's appearance. Shares of both companies were up over 2 percent in afternoon US trade. As with Facebook's other e-commerce features, Shops will be free for businesses to access with the expectation it will boost consumer engagement and ad sales. "Our business model here is ads," Zuckerberg said. "Rather than charge businesses for Shops, we know that Shops are valuable for businesses. They're going to in general bid more for ads and we'll eventually make money that way." Facebook is also rolling out a tool to connect loyalty programs and a shopping feature showing product tags underneath live videos, allowing viewers to make purchases while watching. Zuckerberg said more than 800 million people engage with live videos daily across Facebook and Instagram. 'Today when people are fighting to get their salary, you are telling them you will privatise airports!' IMAGE: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the first of her five press conferences to announce details of the economic stimulus, May 13, 2020. Photograph: Press Information Bureau Over five days, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package to revive India's economy ravaged by the COVID-19 crisis and the subsequent national lockdown. Will the measures make India an 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. "I can only compare this to the Chennai auto driver. He will use the right-turn signal while his left-hand will communicate he is turning left, but in fact he will go straight! He will leave everybody confused," M R Venkatesh, the well known chartered accountant, lawyer and political commentator tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com. The first of a two-part interview: Do you think the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package, announced by the finance minister in five instalments, will stimulate the economy? To answer quite bluntly, I don't think the government has approached the issue in terms of stimulating the economy during the COVID-19 crisis. It seems it wanted to rewrite the Budget of 2019 and 2020 which did not address certain pressing concerns and issues. So, it was like rewinding the clock back to July 2019 and February 2020 and reading out the missed-out portions of the Budget speech in May 2020. So, we had a whole range of reforms which many of us were advocating for in May 2014. It suddenly comes in May 2020. Of course, these are welcome in the aggregate. But everything must be packaged in a context. For example, the aviation industry is in doldrums now. And in the next 2-3 years, the industry is going to have huge problems. And to say we are going to privatise six airports, I don't know whether it is to create headlines or whether you want to say, if you can't have bread, eat cake! Or, whether you genuinely believe in privatising airports. If so, why now? And how is it relevant to getting my salaries or paying my EMIs this month? The problem with the reforms, which occupied a substantial portion of the finance minister's presentation, seems to be more out of convenience rather than conviction. You mean, in today's context the priority should have been on something else, and not reforms? Exactly. You don't ask someone lying in the ICU to start exercising from the next day. It is not the right advice to give. You have to help him recuperate and come out of the ICU first; only after that, can he start exercising once he comes out of ICU. Today when people are fighting to get their salary, you are telling them you will privatise the airports! And this is the solution offered. IMAGE: Migrants walk to their villages in the sweltering summer heat. Photograph: PTI Photo At a time when hundreds and thousands of migrant labourers are walking home... The scale of the migrant crisis should be a lesson in itself. I think we are having a human migration problem equivalent to that of Partition in terms of its scale if not of severity, minus the violence. The labour ministry owes a lot of explanation on how it allowed this kind of migration to happen in the first place, and what went wrong. Unless this explanation is not forthcoming, we will be trying to remedy the situation with the same old bureaucratic ideas, plans, programmes and policies. Actually, I have lost faith in the system. I have consistently said that we are lacking in governance. I have also maintained that from Manmohan Singh to Modi, the system has not changed at all. And this system is creaky, dysfunctional and not delivering, and Covid has exposed it thoroughly. I remember in the first interview you gave Rediff.com after Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, you had said that what he needed to do first was administrative reforms... Yes, I expected that the prime minister would start with administrative reforms. Let all the other reforms go to hell. What we require immediately is administrative reforms and it has not happened and not happening also. Do you feel the most disappointing aspect of this package is not giving money in the hands of the needy, which many say is the need of the hour? Not only that. I can understand the money part of it as we have many constraints. If at all the government has done something, it is, they have put money in Jan Dhan Yojna, started Shramik trains, etc. My question is this, do we have the details of the migrant labourers in each district? For example, we know that Tirupur in Tamil Nadu has a lot of labour from UP and Bihar. Do we have the data on how many people from each district in Bihar have come to Tirupur, or Kerala or Bangalore? If we don't have this data, we can't offer any solution. If we don't have the data, we can't decide whether to operate a train to Rajasthan or Bihar, how many trains you need, and how you package them. These are the questions that the powers that be did not probably even think of. The biggest failure in this whole debacle is the NITI Aayog. Three Economic Surveys back, (then economic adviser to the finance minister) Arvind Subramanian wrote a separate chapter on migration of labour. It is not that the government did not know about migration of labour, but it did not have the data to prepare itself for a calamity like this. In fact, a government must prepare itself for such an eventuality. That is why we have a National Disaster Management Authority. And a government has to plan for disasters. The issue is not the plan; anybody can write a plan. The issue is delivery. Take, for example, low cost housing. The idea was mooted to tackle this kind of a problem concerning migrant labour and the poor. But now the migration is happening because people do not have work, do not have money to buy food and pay the rent. If the low-cost housing had come up, the problem of people not being able to pay rent might have been taken care of. I was trying to find out whether there are any low-cost housing in the cities, towns or rural areas, but I couldn't find any especially in cities. But we have been allocating thousands of crores in Budgets. The prime minister must understand now that all these schemes are only in the PowerPoint of (NITI Aayog CEO) Amitabh Kant. The migrant labour fiasco would have been stopped to a great degree if we had these low-cost housing for them. They would have at least had shelter in the place where they were working. We are realising the importance of one nation, one ration card now. In a country where there is so much migration, they should have implemented it long ago. All we have to do was digitalise the card. We had a plan, we had a budget, but nothing has happened in reality. Why? Because the bureaucracy was not able to deliver. Like low cost housing, there is this Skill India programme started with great fanfare. Then, the smart cities. All these projects with crores of public money pumped in, have vanished into thin air. If we don't have the wherewithal to deliver, we should not start these programmes. And this is the balance sheet of the Modi government in the last six years. This is also a time to reflect on where the Modi government needs to focus in the coming years. How can you blame the bureaucrats alone? Is it not the duty of the politicians to see to it that the programmes announced by them are implemented? To implement an idea, we must understand the problem first. For example, the tax reforms. I don't know whether tax refunds form part of the stimulus package or not. But the finance minister did say they were refunding tax dues. How can a finance minister even say this? It is my money, legitimately due, and it cannot be taken to the Consolidated Fund of India. Likewise, they say they have reduced TDS by 2 1/2% and calculated a Rs 50,000 crore stimulus package because of that. If we reduce TDS, our tax bill does not go down. By June 15, the first instalment of advance tax is coming up, and we will have to pay. So, where is the stimulus? If at all it is there, it is between May 15 and June 15! The problem with this package is it got enmeshed in many things with no eye for details. It wanted to reform, it also wanted to find solutions for the pandemic. Also, there has to be an Aatma Nirbhar vision which suddenly got intertwined. And all we had is a diffused idea of reforms, package and Aatma Nirbhar idea. Why so much on stress on Swadeshi now? On one side you are talking about Swadeshi and on the other you want all the companies that may leave China, to be here. I can only compare this to the Chennai auto driver. He will use the right-turn signal while his left-hand will communicate he is turning left, but in fact he will go straight! He will leave everybody confused. The Aatma Nirbhar mission has to be a serious, thought-out plan, and not a knee-jerk reaction. For years, we did not reform our labour laws. Then, from one end of the pendulum, we swung to the other to have no labour laws! Some states indeed say no to labour laws, and when some of the Sangh Parivar affiliated unions raised this issue, they said, they didn't mean no labour laws. This was never thought out, never planned, never discussed when there should have been wider consultation happening with experts and stakeholders. This government acts first, and then thinks and discusses. Actor Mohanlal on Thursday took to Twitter to share the official announcement video of Drishyam 2, which will mark his reunion with filmmaker Jeetu Joseph. The project, according to reports, will take off post lockdown. Drishyam, which is the story of a father covering up a murder to save his family, was the first Malayalam film to gross over Rs 50 crore. The sequel will be produced by Antony Perumbavoor. The rest of the cast and crew will be announced soon. Its worth mentioning that Mohanlal and Jeetu Joseph recently joined hands for Malayalam thriller, Ram. The project, which also stars Trisha Krishnan as the leading lady, was officially launched last December. The makers of Ram even released a title poster when the project was announced. In a recent media interaction, Jeetu revealed hes going to put Ram on hold and finish working on another project in the interim. As per reports, this new project will be Drishyam 2, and itll go on the floors as soon as Kerala government grants permission to commence film shootings. Also read: Surbhi Chandna says she was almost replaced in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah Mohanlal was last seen in Malayalam film, Big Brother. He was also recently seen in Malayalam blockbuster Lucifer, which has a sequel in the pipeline. Lucifer was the first Malayalam film to gross over Rs 200 crore worldwide. The film, a political thriller, saw Mohanlal play a character called Stephen Nedumpally. Produced by Antony Perumbavoor, the film also starred Vivek Oberoi, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith and Manju Warrier in crucial roles. Lucifer marked the directorial debut of actor Prithviraj. In December 2018, he took to Twitter to share a heartfelt post on the experience of directing Mohanlal. Lucifer will also have a sequel and the project is all set to be remade in Telugu with Chiranjeevi. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop A car dealer dubbed the 'Auto King' and his wife have been sentenced to death in Iran for manipulating the country's car prices by hoarding thousands of vehicles. Vahid Behzadi and Najva Lashidaei, both in their 40s, were also convicted of money laundering and disrupting the currency market by hoarding gold, at the Islamic Republics special court for corruption on Tuesday. A scheme devised by the pair saw them hoard 6,700 vehicles from Sapia, a Tehran-based manufacturer, in an effort to push up car prices, reports The Times. Aerial view of Tehran against the backdrop of mountains towards the north of the capital, bisected by the Modaress highway (file photo) The couple were also found to have stockpiled 24,700 hold coins and 100kg of gold inside their home. They will not permitted to appeal against their death sentences. Thirty two others were also convicted following the trial - including Iranian parliamentary deputies Fereydoun Ahmadi and Mohammad Azizi, who both received a five year prison sentence. Mehdi Jamali, Sapia's former CEO, was handed a seven year sentence for his part in the auto-market manipulation. As the economy weakened and Iran's currency, the rial, took a dive in value, mass gold buying and hoarding increased. Iranian police stand guard (file photo) The Islamic Republics special court for corruption was set up to deter criminal economic activity in 2018, which saw a spike after U.S sanctions on trade were imposed on Iran. As the economy weakened and Iran's currency, the rial, took a dive in value, mass gold hoarding rose, damaging the economy further. This month the price of gold, a safe-haven that investors use to protect themselves against losses in a turbulent market, hit an all time high - driven by instability in the middle east. Iran claims it has executed 80 people over the last year, human rights groups claim the number is closer to 280, reports The Times. Tom Peeling wanted his teeth cleaned and wasn't going to let the coronavirus pandemic get in the way. Luckily, his six-month regular appointment was scheduled for earlier this month, just days after dental offices were allowed to reopen in Florida for routine services. In late March the state ordered dentists to treat only emergency cases as part of its efforts to keep residents at home and to preserve limited medical supplies, such as N95 masks, that might be needed to treat COVID-19 patients. Yet for Peeling, 62, of Lantana, Florida, the dental visit was anything but routine. He had his temperature taken upon arrival and was asked to rinse with a hydrogen peroxide solution to reduce germs before the dentist or hygienist looked into his mouth. The dentist and his assistants all wore masks. Another change: He was the only patient in the office. Florida is one of 40 states that have allowed dental offices to resume providing routine services following the March shutdown of nonessential businesses in much of the United States when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The American Dental Association supports dental offices reopening with added precautions in states where COVID-19 cases are declining. It notes that patients are better off if they have their regular dental services. The dental group says many dental practices are being hit hard financially because most of their regular patients aren't coming in for routine care. But many health experts question whether states are moving too fast. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to advise patients to limit dental visits to emergencies. The CDC said it has no data yet about the possibility of coronavirus "transmission during dental practice or to determine whether [dental health care providers] are adequately protected when providing dental treatment using standard precautions." Matt Crespin, president of the American Dental Hygienists' Association and a Milwaukee hygienist, also said it's not time yet. His association believes dentists should postpone all elective and nonemergency care until dental offices have enough equipment such as masks to safeguard all employees and there is more testing to gauge the spread of the disease. "We have some hygienists who are ready to go back to work and follow the guidance to keep themselves safe and their patients safe," Crespin said. "But we are hearing from other hygienists worried about going back because appropriate protections are not being put in place" and offices have limited supplies of protective gear. Infection control experts said patients, dentists and their staffs need to weigh their risks which vary by where they live, their age and other factors. "Just because you can be going back to the dentist doesn't mean you should automatically go," said Pia MacDonald, an infectious disease expert with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in North Carolina. She said patients should talk to their dentists about what precautions they are putting in place. For dental practices, like many other small businesses, the shutdown has been financially devastating. An ADA survey of 17,000 dentists found that by early April more than 9 of 10 dentists said their patient volume was 10% or less of normal, and just under half had stopped paying their employees. Nearly 20% of dentists said they had concerns about sustaining their dental practice if current restrictions are kept in place until the end of June, according to the survey. "We are going to see more dentists file for bankruptcy if the restrictions go into June," said Margaret Gingrich, president of the Michigan Dental Association. Like many dentists, Gingrich received a Small Business Administration loan to help her pay rent, utilities and payroll. Even when dentists get clearance to resume regular visits, it's uncertain how many patients will postpone out of fear of coronavirus infection. An April survey by the North American Dental Group, which operates 230 dental offices nationwide, found 71% of respondents were uncomfortable going to the dentist for a "non-time sensitive" dental procedure. "I don't feel comfortable being in the chair with my mouth open for an extended period of time," said Marian Hollingsworth, 66, of San Diego. Adding to their financial woes, many dentists plan to see fewer patients per day to reduce the number of people in their waiting rooms and give staff more time to disinfect areas between cases. Matthew Roberts, a dentist in Crockett, Texas, who reopened his practice to routine patients last week, said dentists are accustomed to handling germs that can cause infections. "While we are not used to this novel virus, we deal with infections all the time," he said. "Patients should have no qualms" about returning. In addition to wearing N95 masks and gowns, he and his hygienists now use face shields. When patients arrive at his office, staff members take their temperature to make sure they don't have a fever, which could signal a COVID infection, and screen them by asking questions about their health. Roberts said he has been pleasantly surprised that many of his patients have chosen to book appointments once he reopened. He attributed that to his rural county having few COVID cases and patients wanting a return to normal. After being closed for six weeks, Roberts said, he has a backlog of 300 appointments to get through. He's scheduling patients into September. Matthew Messina, a spokesperson for the ADA and a dentist in Columbus, Ohio, said that, with added precautions such as having patients wait in their cars instead of small waiting rooms and dentists wearing face shields, people should feel comfortable about going to the dentist even if they are elderly and at high risk for COVID complications. "The dental office is a safe place for patients," he said. MacDonald, the infectious disease expert, recommended, however, that older people consult with their medical doctor about whether a routine dental visit is worth the risk. "Dentists are uniquely positioned to handle this," said Thomas Paumier, a Canton, Ohio, dentist who reopened last week. With a shortage of N95 masks, he said, he is using high-quality surgical masks and a face shield. "Ever since the HIV experience in the 1980s, we treat every patient who walks in the door as potentially infectious," Paumier said. Like many other dentists, he donated masks and gloves to area hospitals. But recently, his were returned because they were not needed. Still, other dentists are concerned about getting adequate supplies. Michael Hoffmann, a dentist and treasurer for the Greater St. Louis Dental Society, said many practices there are "not opening to full capacity because there's not enough personal protective equipment. He said his own practice has about a month's worth of supplies. "Once we run out, we'll have to close our doors until we can get more, he said. The society recently used a salesperson Hoffmann had previously worked with to order 100,000 KN95 masks the European version of N95s from a supplier in China. But the masks arrived in boxes stamped "nonmedical." "When we were trying to fit-check them, they leaked horribly," Hoffmann said. "Nobody was able to get any kind of seal, and we knew they were fraudulent." The group received its money back, and Hoffmann said they will refund the dentists that preordered. KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber contributed to this story. They confirmed the arrival of their first child, a girl, earlier this month. And Rupert Grint and his girlfriend Georgia Groome looked like they were settling into parenthood well as they were seen with their child for the first time on Thursday. The couple enjoyed the sunshine as they went for a stroll with their baby daughter in a large black pram. Parents: Rupert Grint, 31, and his girlfriend Georgia Groome, 28, looked like they were settling into parenthood well as they were seen with their child for the first time on Thursday Rupert, 31, opted for a casual look for the day, sporting a black printed T-shirt with a matching pair of jeans. Keeping a low profile with a dark cap and a pair of sunglasses, the Harry Potter star put safety first with a face mask. Georgia, 28, was also dressed casually, donning a white T-shirt with a cross print along with a black denim jacket. The Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging star wore a pair of black leggings while she styled her brunette locks into an updo. Out and about: The couple enjoyed the sunshine as they went for a stroll with their baby daughter in a large black pram The couple shared parenting duties on their outing, taking it in turns to push their daughter in her pram on the stroll. In a statement earlier this month, the couple announced that they were now proud parents to a baby girl, just a month after confirming they were expecting their first child. Rupert and Georgia announced their pregnancy in April after Georgia stepped out with a noticeable baby bump. Laid back: Rupert opted for a casual look for the day, sporting a black printed T-shirt with a matching pair of jeans Stroll: Keeping a low profile with a dark cap and a pair of sunglasses, the Harry Potter star put safety first with a face mask Outfit: Georgia was also dressed casually for the day, donning a white T-shirt with a cross print along with a black denim jacket In a statement a representative told The Mirror: 'Rupert Grint and Georgia Groome are delighted to confirm the birth of their baby girl. 'We would please ask that you respect their privacy at this very special time.' The couple are yet to reveal the name of their baby daughter. In April Rupert, know for playing Ron Weasley in the hit franchise, confirmed he and Georgia were expecting their first child. Look: The Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging star wore a pair of black leggings while she styled her brunette locks into an updo Outing: Rupert and Georgia looked every inch the happy couple as they strolled side by side Baby: The couple shared parenting duties on their outing, taking it in turns to push their daughter in her pram on the stroll A representative for the actor told MailOnline at the time: 'Rupert Grint and Georgia Groome are excited to announce they are expecting a baby and would please ask for privacy at this time.' Rupert and Georgia who's famed for her role in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, have been together since 2011. Last month, Georgia debuted her baby bump as she and Rupert stepped out in North London to stock up on supplies amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Excitement: In a statement earlier this month, the couple announced that they were now proud parents to a baby girl News: Rupert and Georgia announced their pregnancy in April after Georgia stepped out with a noticeable baby bump A representative said: 'Rupert Grint and Georgia Groome are delighted to confirm the birth of their baby girl. 'We would please ask that you respect their privacy at this very special time' Relationship: Rupert and Georgia who's famed for her role in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, have been together since 2011 The happy couple were pictured strolling along in the sunshine after visiting a pharmacy, and a Whole Foods to pick up some groceries. Last year, the couple sparked marriage rumours as Georgia was spotted wearing a gold band on her wedding finger during pub lunch. In an interview with The Guardian in 2018, Rupert opened up about his about settling down and revealed his hopes to have children someday. He said: 'Turning 30 felt strange. It just doesn't feel like I'm there yet and I don't know what the future holds. I'm just going to go with the flow, keep playing interesting characters and see what happens. Bump: Last month, Georgia debuted her baby bump as she and Rupert stepped out in North London to stock up on supplies amid the COVID-19 lockdown Speculation: Last year, the couple sparked marriage rumours as Georgia was spotted wearing a gold band on her wedding finger during pub lunch Plans: In an interview with The Guardian in 2018, Rupert opened up about his about settling down and revealed his hopes to have children someday Rupert said: 'Turning 30 felt strange. It just doesn't feel like I'm there yet and I don't know what the future holds' Career: Rupert is best known for his role as Ron Wealey in the Harry Potter film series (pictured with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson) Role: Georgia is best known for her appearance in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging 'I'd like to settle down and have kids soon. If I had a son, would I call him Ron? It's quite a good name, but probably not. And Grint's a tough name to pair a one-syllable first name with.' In December 2018, Harry Potter fans expressed their shock at discovering Georgia starred in the 2008 coming of age comedy, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Despite the couple's long-term relationship, many enthusiasts were late to realise the London to Brighton star's acting history. He added: 'I'm just going to go with the flow, keep playing interesting characters and see what happens' Disbelief was first sparked among admirers after a fan tweeted in 2019: 'I was today years old when I found out Georgia from Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging has been going out with Ron Weasley since 2011 ????.' Georgia, who is also said to have also dated actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is best known for playing Georgia Nicholson in the comedy. Rupert became a global superstar after starring as Ron Weasley in Harry Potter, making his first debut in 2001 and filming his final scenes in 2011. Since the series, Rupert has starred in a slew of TV roles, including the sitcom Sick Note, the crime drama Snatch and a Poirot role in a series called the ABC murder. Pendragon PLC ("the Company") Results of Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Company was held on Thursday 21 May 2020 at 10.30am. The results of each resolution are set out in the table below. Resolution Votes for % For (to 2 d.p) Votes Against % Against (to 2 d.p) Votes Withheld 1. To receive the annual accounts and Directors' and Auditors Reports for year ended 31 December 2019 1,132,794,058 100.00 40,880 0.00 327,039 2. To approve the annual report on directors' Remuneration for year ended 31 December 2019 889,274,828 78.48 243,783,685 21.52 103,463 3. To approve the directors' remuneration policy 665,116,001 58.70 467,942,512 41.30 103,463 4. To approve the Pendragon Long Term Incentive Plan 665,204,028 58.71 467,860,909 41.29 97,039 5. To approve Pendragon 2020 Sharesave Scheme 1,132,985,692 99.99 72,517 0.01 103,768 6. To re-appoint Mr W Berman as a director 922,469,585 81.46 209,687,182 18.54 725,210 7. To re-elect Mr M S Casha as a director 1,130,380,826 99.77 2,664,605 0.23 116,546 8. To re-appoint Ms N K Flanders as a director 1,132,545,793 99.96 496,355 0.04 119,829 9. To re-appoint Mr B M Small as a director 1,182,582,026 99.96 463,405 0.04 116,546 10. To re-elect Mr M S Willis as a director 1,129,743,790 99.71 3,301,641 0.29 116,546 11. To re-elect Mr M D Wright as a director 745,437,947 65.79 387,607,483 34.21 116,546 12. To appoint KPMG LLP as auditor of the Company 1,074,795,016 94.85 58,305,206 5.15 61,854 13. To authorise the directors to determine the remuneration of the auditors 1,132,397,109 99.94 713,368 0.06 51,500 14. To authorise the Directors to allot shares in the Company 1,131,123,031 99.83 1,967,113 0.17 71,833 15. To authorise the directors to call a general meeting on not less than 14 clear days' notice 1,127,080,286 99.47 5,997,059 0.53 84,632 16. To authorise the Directors to dis-apply pre-emption rights when allotting shares in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment 1,132,950,780 99.99 139,364 0.01 71,833 17. To authorise the Directors to dis-apply pre-emption rights when allotting shares in connection with an acquisition or specific capital investment which is announced contemporaneously with, or has taken place in the preceding six months 1,132,690,349 99.97 383,017 0.03 88,611 18. To authorise the Company to make market purchases of its shares 1,132,782,870 99.97 337,628 0.03 41,479 All resolutions were passed. Resolutions 15 to 18 were passed as special resolutions. Despite all resolutions having passed, the Board notes the number of votes recorded not in favour of resolutions 2, 3, 4 and 11. The Company will continue to consult with shareholders who did not vote in favour of these resolutions and will provide an update within six months as required by the UK Corporate Governance Code. In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2, copies of the resolutions that do not constitute ordinary business at an annual general meeting will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism The results will also be made available on the Company's website at www.pendragonplc.com Richard Maloney COMPANY SECRETARY 21 MAY 2020 Enquiries: Headland Howard Lee Tel: 0203 805 4822 Henry Wallers HOLLAND, MI The city has set up a webcam at Holland State Park on a station tower used by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration. The video will show beach conditions for the public and provide authorities with environmental and safety information, Mayor Nathan Bocks said. NOAA will collect information for research on Lake Michigan. This video imagery will provide another valuable source of lake observations to the water level and meteorological information NOAA already collects at Holland Beach, and is extremely important to improve our rip current forecasting on the Great Lakes, Greg Dusek, a senior scientist at NOAAs National Ocean Service, said in a statement. A view of a new webcam near the Big Red lighthouse. (Photo provided by City of Holland). The video will be used to alert beachgoers to dangerous swimming conditions and be available to first responders during an emergency. The video will also be used to monitor lake and weather conditions to manage warning flags for swimming, said Ron Olson, chief of the Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division. "The Great Lakes are at their highest levels in 30 years, which can lead to stronger and more dangerous currents, he said. The webcam - a partnership of the city, Park Township, the DNR, NOAA and local Biggby Coffee shops - will also be used to promote the Holland-area tourism. It is Hollands eighth webcam at MiHollandCam. Read more: With non-essential health care reopening, expert tells concerned Michigan residents: Call your doctor Despite guilty plea, Michael Pagel denies killing estranged wife: I was at home Video shows Michigan dam break as it happened: Catastrophic is the only thing I can call it A 72-year-old Arkansas woman has been granted parole more than three decades after she was jailed for 140 years for killing her physically abusive husband. Governor Asa Hutchinson announced in March that he intended to commute the sentence of Willie Mae Harris, who has served 34 years of a life sentence at Wrightsville Women's Facility in Arkansas after being arrested for her husband's murder in 1985. Harris' parole was approved on Wednesday and she will be freed within 45 days, according to state law. Her original sentence was 140 years for first-degree murder. Harris, who went blind while in prison, has always maintained her innocence. In her trial testimony, she said her husband Clyde Harris accused her of giving him a sexually transmitted infection, tried to have anal sex with her and then 'slung her around'. Willie Mae Harris Harris, now 72 and blind, was sentenced to life in prison in 1985. Since she first started petitioning for executive clemency in 1998, the Arkansas parole board recommended her for release five times Pictured: Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson appears on 'Meet the Press' in Washington on 24 February 2019. Hutchinson has approved to commute the sentence of Willie Mae Harris, who was serving a life sentence at a women's correctional facility in Arkansas Pulling a gun from her purse, she said she began to hit Clyde with it, and a single shot accidentally went off and killed him. Recalling her relationship with her husband, she said that he would threaten to kill her and be physically abusive. 'She's been a victim of domestic violence for a long period of time [and] there was evidence of that,' Gov. Hutchinson said. 'She proclaimed her innocence, but for a lot of reasons, I granted clemency to Willie Mae Harris.' Criminal justice publication The Appeal, who have written articles calling for Harris' release, spoke to her daughter Silvia Harris Wilkins, who said she can't express her joy at the decision. Gov. Hutchinson on Wednesday decided to commute the sentence of Willie Mae Harris (pictured in 1985) and non-violent drug offender Robert R. Johnson (right) 'My biggest fear was burying my mother in prison,' she said. 'Just to know that I don't have to do that and she's coming home is such a relief.' She said that the 72-year-old will be moving to Texas to live with her and her sister. Gov. Hutchinson on Wednesday also decided to commute the sentence of non-violent drug offender Robert R. Johnson. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a meeting of the special committee on the COVID-19 outbreak, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 20, 2020. (Blair Gable/REUTERS) China Doesnt Seem to Understand Independence of Canadas Judiciary: Trudeau OTTAWAChina does not appear to understand that Canadas judiciary is independent, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday, taking a rare public swipe at Beijing at a time when bilateral ties are poor. China says Canada must free Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition to the United States. She was arrested by Vancouver police in December 2018. Canadian government officials have repeatedly said they cannot intervene in the case. Canada has an independent judicial system that functions without interference or override by politicians, Trudeau told a daily briefing. China doesnt work quite the same way and [doesnt] seem to understand that we do have an independent judiciary. Shortly after Mengs arrest, Chinese authorities detained two Canadian men in China on state security charges. Beijing also blocked imports of Canadian canola seed. Trudeau said last month that China had suspended consular visits to the two men, citing the coronavirus outbreak. The fact that China is still linking an independent judicial system in the case of Meng Wanzhou with the arbitrary detention of two Canadians is saddening but thats a challenge weve been working with for many months, he said on Thursday. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa was not immediately available for comment. Canada and China are both furious over the case of Meng but there are signs the two sides can hold constructive talks, the Canadian ambassador to Beijing said in February. The United States says it believes Meng covered up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the country. By David Ljunggren Many private nursery schools in HCM City and neighbouring provinces are facing teacher shortage after three-month school closure. illustrative image At some schools, the directors and managers have to take classes while searching for new teachers. According to a private school in Go Vap, they have used all their employees to look after five and six years old children. When younger children go to school next week, even the directors and managers will have to help too. During the long school closure, the school laid off many teachers due to financial problems. Many teachers have already found other jobs and will not return to teaching. They had to recruit new teachers immediately when there was news that schools could reopen, however, they still need eight more teachers. Le Thi Be Tuyet, director of Do Re Mi Nursery School in Binh Duong, said they were having difficulties in searching for new teachers. For many people, nursery teacher is only a temporary job as they wait for new opportunities. The outbreak is a motivation for them to change jobs. A teacher in Thu Duc District said she was a teacher at three-year-old classes but now she had to look after the five-year-old children too. The school is struggling to deal with teacher shortages even though only five-year-old children have returned to school. Teachers will have more difficult and hard jobs when more children return to school in June. "The children have stayed home for a long time so it will take time for them to become reacquainted with the nursery. They will cry and cause trouble more often. It's a high-pressure job," she said. Teacher recruitment ads are constantly uploaded on the Internet with few successes. Similar situations can be seen in neighbouring provinces like Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An. Nursery teacher is already an unstable and low-income job for many and the Covid-19 pandemic had badly affected the teachers in the private sector. Statistics from the HCM City Department of Education and Training show that 879 nursery facilities with 23,460 managers and teachers were affected. 80% of the teachers, especially those in the private sector, have been temporarily laid off or lost their jobs. Dtinews Oh Erlanger, please not Dr. Devlin; and I should ask, not Dr. Devlin too? Dr. Devlin was/is legendary. Is it past time now for the board of directors to get a firm handle on a one-of-a-kind specialist, like Dr. Devlin, that served with heart and mind suddenly gone and the public learn after the fact? Is Erlanger's goal to send we local taxpayers out of state for special treatment? Devlin allow Erlanger to create/maintain confidence in the hospital and the board. Just seems to me that doctors such as Dr.Devlin allow Erlanger to create/maintain confidence in the hospital and the board. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed it is considering Madagascars COVID Organics for a clinical observation process. T... The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed it is considering Madagascars COVID Organics for a clinical observation process. This was made known by the President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina in a tweet on Wednesday. Rajoelina after a meeting with Director-General of WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said WHO had congratulated Madagascar for the discovery of its COVID Organics, adding that it had accepted to support the clinical observation process in Africa Recall that the Rajoelina had over the weekend claimed that the WHO offered his country the sum of $20m as a bribe to poison COVID-19 alleged cure. He also stated that the only reason the rest of the world had refused to take the herbal cure seriously and with respect was because it came from Africa. However, Rajoelina on Wednesday tweeted, Successful exchange with @DrTedros who commends #Madagascars efforts in the fight against #Covid19 and congratulates us for the discovery of #CovidOrganics. @WHO will sign a confidentiality clause on its formulation and will support the clinical observations process in #Africa. Following @WHOs invitation to be part of Solidarity Trial for clinical trials, #Madagascar will prove the effectiveness of its third protocol that combines two injectable medicines that are different from #CovidOrganics. Donald Trump has said in private that he wishes he could run against Hillary Clinton again in 2020, a Thursday report revealed. The president privately joked last month, two sources close to the president told the Daily Beast, about how great it would be if presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden ultimately didn't secure the nomination this summer and Clinton would have to step in. The individuals claimed the president jested about how fun it would be to beat her harder than he did in 2016, where Trump won the electoral college but not the popular vote. A half-dozen Trump administration and campaign aides said that there is a concerted effort from the president to 'make Biden the new Hillary,' according to the report. Trump's campaign has attempted to paint Biden as a cheap knock off of Clinton. 'Joe Biden just told his wealthy liberal donors that Trump supporters are a bunch of racist xenophobes,' Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale tweeted in April. 'Biden is picking up right where Hillary left off!" Donald Trump has privately joked with aides and advisers that he wants to take on Hillary Clinton again in 2020 The Trump camp has repeatedly tried to 'make Biden the new Hillary,' but a senior Trump administration official admitted the presumed Democratic nominee does not carry as much baggage and is not as easy a target. 'Only Hillary Clinton is Hillary Clinton,' the aide said One campaign official said the president wants to have the opportunity to accuse Biden of things he used to throw Clinton's way, like being involved in shady foreign dealings, embracing 'corruption,' or being an immigrant-loving elitist. A senior Trump administration official, however, said 'But only Hillary Clinton is Hillary Clinton.' 'It would be nice, for sure, if we were running against a replica of Hillary,' the official noted. Some of the president's lieutenants have started longing for the good ol' days of Clinton v. Trump. Clinton proved to be an easy target for the president, and his ultra-loyalist fans ate up his anti-Clinton bits at his massive campaign rallies including chants of 'Lock her up!' Trump also was able to target Clinton for corruption allegations, an 'establishment' image, her handling of sexual-midsoncudct claims against her husband and a myriad of other scandals. 'Joe Biden's not Hillary Clinton, thank God,' a senior Biden adviser said when posed with the potential of Trump's campaign trying to paint the former vice president as a Clinton clone. Despite being a career politician, Biden has had a relatively drama-free career in public office no matter how hard Trump's campaign tries to paint his opposition that way. Trump has attempted to wage attacks against Biden for his son's business dealings in Ukraine, which the president tried to link to the impeachment investigation. He also has focused on the allegations former Senate staffer Tara Reade made earlier this year, when she revealed in March accusations that Biden sexually assaulted her when she worked for him on Capitol Hill in 1993. But several polls have revealed the attacks have had little effect as Biden has maintained a lead over Trump. A recent internal poll with the Trump reelection campaign showed the president losing steam in several key battleground states. Republicans claim part of Biden's advantage against Trump's attacks is that he was never perceived as a 'boogeyman' among the GOP, while Clinton was painted that way for decades prior to Trump's decision to run for president. 'While Biden has universal name-ID, unlike Hillary Clinton he hasn't spent the last two decades as the principal boogeyman among conservatives, and beyond that, he's generally been pretty undefined politically, other than the fact that he was Barack Obama's VP,' a Republican close to the Trump campaign said. 'For now, Americans are focused on the virus,' the individual continued. 'I think that by the summer, people will start paying more attention to the race between Biden and Trumpand you'll be seeing his open wounds get picked at more and more.' The latest theories and applied examples stemming from the authors' 48 years of experience in teaching, research and practice as a professional engineer are presented in his new book. Coasts are paramount for the economic prosperity, sustainability, ecological resiliency, and national security for the nearly one billion people living in low-lying regions of the world. Sea level rise is now causing serious economic, social, and environmental impacts. These are complex coastal-people systems and the need for predicting, responding to, and mitigating these threats to coastal regions has never been greater in the face of sea levels rising faster than ever before experienced by citizens of the planet. Coastal engineers will play an ever-expanding role in making future decisions regarding mitigation, accommodation, and relocation/retreat from the world's coasts. Professor Emeritus David R. Basco, who pioneered the highly successful online "Certificate in Coastal Engineering" program has published materials presented in four, undergraduate and graduate-level courses in his new book with World Scientific, entitled DESIGN OF COASTAL HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES FOR RISING SEAS. The book is organized as a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate students and can be employed for several courses. It is also a self-contained reference for government and consulting engineers responsible for finding solutions to coastal hazards facing the world's coastal populations. Both risk reduction metrics quantified in monetary terms, and increased resilience metrics quantified as vulnerability reduction must now be taken into consideration to make equitable design decisions that help people of all socio-economic levels living at the coast. Adaptation to sea level rise is easy to talk about and has become the "low cost" solution. Alternatives to mitigate damage from today's storm surges and future sea levels are expensive. Decisions are needed for the long-term that today's elected officials are unwilling to face because they will require tax increases. The timing of these decisions will depend on "tipping points" (when complex systems are altered into a new state) and financial planning (e.g. combining mitigation alternatives with renewable energy generation). Adaptation without mitigation is immoral at all government levels when facing the unknown future of sea level rise. DESIGN OF COASTAL HAZARD MITIGATION ALTERNATIVES FOR RISING SEAS retails for US$138 / 120 (hardback) and is also available in electronic format. To order or find out more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11462. ### About the Author Professor Emeritus, David R. Basco, PhD, PE (PhD, 1970) has been honored by the American Society of Civil Engineers as the 2016 International Coastal Engineer of the Year. Dr. Basco has also been selected in 2017 as a Distinguished Alumni from the IHE-UNESCO, International Hydraulic Engineering Courses in Delft, the Netherlands. Dr. Basco retired in May, 2014 after teaching for 28 years at Old Dominion University (1986-2014), USA in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department where he was also Director of the Coastal Engineering Centre; and 17 years at Texas A&M University (1969-1986), USA in the Civil Engineering and Ocean Engineering Departments. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia and President of Beach Consultants, Inc., Norfolk VA. He may be contacted at dbasco@odu.edu where he is still active as a coastal engineering consultant and research engineer. About World Scientific Publishing Co. World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 140 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit http://www.worldscientific.com. For more information, contact Amanda at heyun@wspc.com. According to the results of 2020, it will increase to 45% A significant increase in Ukraine's poverty rate should not be expected Proexpress Ukraines Ministry of Social Policy assures that there will be no significant increase in the poverty rate this year - it will increase by only 6.5% compared to last year. This was reported by the Ministrys press service with reference to the forecast of the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. "According to the results of 2020, the poverty rate will increase to 45% which is 6.5 percentage points higher than in 2019," the statement said. The Ministry emphasizes that media reports about UNICEF data on "rapid growth of poverty rate from 27.2% to 43.6%" are incorrect and need to be clarified. As we reported earlier, UNICEF predicts that the poverty rate in Ukraine may exceed 50 % due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the data of the organization, before the pandemic, the rate on the absolute criterium made 27.2%. Under the best scenario, it could grow to 43.6%; under the worst, 50.8%. As for the children in poverty, it is expected that the rate will make from 51.3 to 58.5%. Before the pandemic, it made 32.9. The Illinois General Assembly convened Wednesday in Springfield for the first time in 10 weeks, with desks spaced apart and most members wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, in hope of completing a spring sessions worth of work in three days. The legislature has canceled all its scheduled meetings since early March because of health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic to keep at least 6 feet of space between people, which is nearly impossible in the close quarters of the Capitol. Their return occurred along with extraordinary safety measures and a disagreement over them that led to a GOP lawmaker being removed from the House floor. The House, with its 118 members, abandoned the Capitol chamber for the Bank of Springfield Convention Center six blocks away. Tables were spread across the vast floor to allow for social distancing, and everyone entering either the convention center or the Capitol had to undergo a body temperature check and wear a face covering to limit the chances of spreading the virus. Rep. Jim Durkin, the House GOP leader, called on members to approve and follow an emergency House rule requiring members to wear masks, saying its important to protect members families, as well as each other and legislative and convention center staff. The bottom line is we have to put them before ourselves, Durkin said before lawmakers approved the rule on a 97-12 vote. Among the no votes was GOP Rep. Darren Bailey of Xenia, who filed a legal challenge to Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzkers stay-at-home order. Moments later he was escorted off the floor after saying he would not wear a mask, in violation of the new rule. He walked out without incident. Lawmakers, whose scheduled adjournment date is May 31, must approve a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 that may be one of the more challenging budgets in Illinois history. The pandemic, which has closed non-essential businesses and ordered people to stay at home, has ripped a $7 billion deficit in this and next years spending plan. Pritzker and Democrats, who control both houses, want plans developed to provide financial relief to families and small businesses decimated by the coronavirus. But that will depend on an undetermined amount of federal aid coming to the state. The 59-member Senate is meeting in its chamber, but not all at once. Instead, small groups of senators are on the Senate floor at one time, with one senator presenting legislation and one speaker to rise in support or opposition of it. Rather than voting simultaneously a process that typically takes at most a few minutes lawmakers are being called to the floor in groups, apparently alphabetically by last name, considerably increasing the time it takes to record their votes. Pritzkers stay-at-home order has been in place since March 21 and, under pressure to provide a roadmap to taxpayers eager to return to a former way of life, this month he produced a five-phase Restore Illinois plan. Pritzker has signaled that when his current stay-at-home order expires May 30, the state will move into the plans third stage, which allows for the reopening of manufacturing and retail and allows small groups to congregate. When Giorgio Milella, a graphic designer, started working from home in mid-March, he figured out how to break up the tedium: by leaving his Harlem apartment and hitting the newly empty streets on his motorcycle. The first week, I was like, This is amazing. Going down Fifth Avenue and there are no cars, recalled Mr. Milella, 33, who was once able to catch a wave of green lights all the way from the West Village to 135th Street. But gradually the experience, which he called surreal, started to change for him. Ive been like, Theres something wrong with this whole scenario, he said. Why am I not staying home? Since the pandemic has largely cleared the New Yorks streets, few motorcyclists have been able to ignore the singular, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity speeding through the city free of the annoyances that can make riding here such a frustrating and dangerous experience: distracted drivers, swerving taxi cabs, sclerotic traffic. All that, and its spring, too. New Delhi, May 21 : The National Disaster Response Force on Thursday said that four additional teams are being airlifted to West Bengal for restoration work, a day after the state suffered the wrath of Cyclone 'Amphan'. The decision came after the Union Cabinet Secretary held a meeting with the West Bengal and Odisha Chief Secretaries to estimate the damage and response pursuant to the savage cyclone. Addressing a press briefing, NDRF Director General S.N. Pradhan said that the team will reach Kolkata Airport by 7.30 to 8.30 p.m. "West Bengal has suffered huge damage, and, on their request, four teams are being sent for restoration purposes." NDRF had earlier deployed 21 teams in West Bengal, which became active as the cyclone struck late afternoon on Wednesday. Meanwhile, 20 teams were positioned in Odisha. He further announced that Odisha did not suffer much damage and the life in the state will return to normalcy in the next 24 to 48 hours. "Over 2,37,296 people were evacuated in Odisha but some of them have started to return back to their homes." While Odisha was spared the worst of 'Amphan', the Sunderbans region and six south Bengal districts felt the full impact of winds gusting at 185 kmph along with torrential rain after the cyclone made landfall near Sagar Island around 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday and entered Kolkata around 5 p.m. Director General of India Meteorological Department (IMD) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that the observed track of Amphan was forecast very well by the weather agency which resulted in minimal damage. "The cyclone crossed over to Bangladesh at 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday. It has now weakened to a deep depression in Bangladesh." He added, "50-60 kmph wind speed expected in Bangladesh and Meghalaya for next 3 hours, this is not expected to cause any structural damage, can at most affect some trees, no strong winds expected tomorrow." The Director General said that very to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in Assam especially in western part and in Meghalaya. Arunachal Pradesh will also receive some rainfall at isolated places. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Connor Money was jailed following a high-speed police chase on the M2. (SWNS) A driver has been sentenced to nine years in jail after he hit speeds of 140mph on the M2 before crashing and fleeing, leaving his passenger to die. Connor Money sped into the back of a lorry while attempting to undertake a different vehicle in Rainham. The 23-year-old then ran from the scene to try and evade capture after what one officer described as the worst driving he had seen in 25 years. Shocking video footage from different dashboard cameras shows Money, from Dartford, Kent, speed down a motorway and attempt to weave through cars. Two Kent Police officers first became suspicious of Money's driving while he was travelling on the coastbound M2 at around 1.30pm on 8 October. The constables overtook his vehicle and displayed a message on their rear window which instructed him to follow them. Dashcam footage shows Connor Money speed down a motorway and attempt to weave through cars. (SWNS) Money appeared to be following their instructions but, when the officers left junction two to find a safe location to stop, he chose to suddenly disobey the request and sped down the motorway. As Money passed junction 4, driving at around 130 mph, he attempted to undertake a lorry that had moved from lane one to lane two to make way for another HGV that was joining from the slip road. Money failed to see the joining vehicle and collided with the back of it. Instead of staying at the scene to check on the well-being of his front seat passenger, Money chose to run into some nearby woodland. Read more from Yahoo News UK: Tory MP criticises 'lazy' colleagues who oppose returning to parliament More than 400 defendants charged in coronavirus-related cases Traffic wardens 'running out of tickets' after tourists flock to coastal beauty spots The passenger, a 23-year-old man from Dartford, died at the scene. Money was later found on South Bush Lane by an officer. He admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to nine years at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday. Sergeant Chris Wade, Kent Polices lead investigating officer for the case, said: "This is without doubt the worst driving I have encountered in 25 years of policing. Money will also serve an additional 10 months in prison for an unrelated Metropolitan Police case and will be subject to a 10-year driving ban after his release. KAPLAN, La. - A Louisiana police officer has been fired after posting racial comments about the coronavirus on Facebook. Kaplan Chief of Police Joshua Hardy said Officer Steven Aucoin commented under a live feed of the governors news conference last Friday. One person posted Virus that was created to kill all the BLACKS is death. Aucoin commented: Well it didnt work then posted how unfortunate. Hardy told news outlets the department was notified about the posts that were described as racist in nature. He said the department does not tolerate such behaviour and he fired Aucoin after an investigation. Were held to a higher standard than normal civilians, so you got to watch what you do, you got to watch what you say. You cant just go and post anything you want on social media, the police chief said. Aucoin had worked previously for the department for eight months and had been back on the force for about three months before he was let go. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a statement Thursday, welcomed Aucoins firing. Those who uphold the law must be held to the highest standards of conduct, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. By John J. Metzler After years of consistent economic expansion and growth throughout much of the world, the global economy is facing tectonic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic. For developed states such as the United States and Western Europe, the "unseen enemy" of the virus has shattered economic forecasts and international commerce; for developing countries, the after-shocks of this crisis can be even more lasting as they will fall victim to steep drops in demand and investment. The global economy is projected to contract sharply by 3.2 percent this year, according to the U.N.'s World Economic Situation mid-2020 report. This sharp contraction, the greatest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, follows a lackluster original forecast of 2.1 percent growth at the beginning of this year. The report estimates that GDP growth in the developed economies will plunge to -5 percent in 2020. A modest 3.4 percent recovery is expected next year. Significantly, "world trade is forecast to contract by nearly 15 percent in 2020 amid sharply reduced global demand and disruptions in supply chains." These are stunning statistics and reflect the cruel reality that nearly 90 percent of the world remains on pandemic lockdown causing catastrophic job cuts and threatening a quick economic revival. There's an ongoing debate between saving lives and saving jobs. Dr. Elliott Harris, assistant secretary general for economic development, warned, "The pace and strength of the recovery from the crisis not only hinges on the effect of public health measures in slowing the spread of the virus, but also on the ability of countries to protect jobs and incomes." Moreover U.N. officials warn the increase in global economic inequality can lead to instability. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United States has gone from having robust economic growth and historically low unemployment to negative growth and surging unemployment all in a space of a few months! U.S. growth of 2.9 percent last year is except to fall to -4.8 percent this year but rebound to 3.9 percent in 2021. The European Union's growth of 1.8 percent last year will slip to -5.5 this year and only inch up to 2.8 percent in 2021. Equally Japan whose growth in 2019 was an anemic 0.7 percent will fall to -4.2 percent but will then jump to 3.2 percent next year. Looking at East and South Asia, which grew 5 percent on average last year, there's still a prediction of some growth this year albeit 0.8 percent. China's growth of 6.1 percent last year is expected to maintain 1.7 percent this year and then theoretically surge to 7.6 percent in 2021. India who recorded an impressive 4.1 percent in 2019 is still expected to reach 1.2 percent this year and then climb to 5.5 percent in 2021. Just a few years ago the so-called BRICS, the informal alliance of fast-growing developing world economies, were the talk of the town. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa were lauded as a new global engine. Now with the exception of China (if you can believe the numbers) and India, these economies have cooled considerably. Brazil has gone from 1.1 percent growth last year to an expected -5.2 percent this year. Russia has gone from an anemic 1.3 percent last year to a -4.3 percent this year. The once vibrant Southern African region has gone from flat growth in 2019 to -3.5 percent this year. A particularly troubling trend concerns Latin American and African growth rates. The U.N. report states that, "The pandemic will likely cause an estimated 34 million people to fall below the extreme poverty line in 2020, with 56 percent of this increase occurring in African countries." This underscores a troubling trend where African growth rates reached 3 percent last year to fall -1.6 percent this year but rebound to 3.4 percent next year. South America underscores some serious shortfalls; growth last year was -0.5 percent, this year shall drop to -5.5 percent and only rise 2.7 percent next year. Such numbers reflect economic free fall in Venezuela, and serious economic contractions in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Closer to home, Mexico expects a contraction of 5.4 percent this year. Poor growth prospects for Mexico and Central America can cause a surge in migration toward the U.S. as the American economy is expected to robustly recover next year. Without a strong U.S., European Union, and Japanese economic recovery along with vibrant free trade, global growth will stagnate and poverty will increase. Trade, investments and free markets will then begin to turn the tide lifting all boats. John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China." With the lockdown forcing families to spend time together, many have resorted to holding virtual pub quizzes to keep them occupied. But as households across Britain are finding out, theres only so many times you can be asked for the capital of Peru (Lima) or the chemical symbol for gold (Au). And so NEIRIN GRAY introduces ChroKNOWLEDGEy a very different type of test that will captivate history buffs and duffs alike. The premise is simple. Each letter contains a couplet of historical events, both of which took place in the same century. There are 21 sets one for each century since 0BC. And all you have to do is put them in the right order! Knowing that every century must be used, and once only, will make it easier to help complete the jigsaw. You might find some easy but, be warned, some (especially in the Dark Ages) could leave you in the dark... In our new quiz, the premise is simple, Each letter contains a couplet of historical events, both of which took place in the same century. There are 21 sets one for each century since 0BC. And all you have to do is put them in the right order. A (i) Macbeth defeats Duncan I of Scotland. (ii) Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a three-way power struggle for the crown of England. B (i) Henry VIII is excommunicated from the Catholic church over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. (ii) Nicolaus Copernicus publishes a heliocentric model of the solar system in which all planets orbit the Sun. C (i) Pontius Pilate presides over the trial of Jesus Christ and orders his crucifixion. (ii) Queen Boudica commits suicide after her failed Iceni tribe rebellion against the Romans. D (i) The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is launched. (ii) A piece of insulating foam breaks off the fuel tank of U.S. space shuttle Columbia, causing the spacecraft to disintegrate upon re-entry into the Earths atmosphere which kills all seven crew members. Pictured: A painting depicting the great fire of London E (i) Great Fire of London sweeps through the capital after starting in a bakery on Pudding Lane. (ii) The English Civil War results in defeat for Charles I, who is then beheaded. F (i) Hadrians Wall is built to keep Caledonian tribes and barbarians out of Britannia. (ii) Greek polymath Ptolemy publishes a model of the solar system in which all celestial bodies orbit a stationary Earth. G (i) Thomas Becket is brutally murdered by four knights at the altar of Canterbury Cathedral. (ii) The Bishop of Paris organises the construction of Notre Dame. Notre Dame cathedral pictured on May 7 undergoing reconstruction after a fire, but in which century did did the Bishop of Paris organise for it to be constructed? H (ii) The Han dynasty collapses and China is divided into three kingdoms. (ii) Saint Hippolytus forms his own contingent within the Church of Rome, causing him to be widely regarded as the first Antipope. I (i) The Black Death wreaks havoc across Europe, killing around half of its population. (ii) Geoffrey Chaucer begins writing the Canterbury Tales. It is still unclear whether he ever thought the work complete. J (i) Roman Emperor Constantine turns Byzantium into the capital of the Roman Empire and names it Constantinople. (ii) The ancient tradition of hosting the Olympic Games every four years in Olympia stopped on the basis that it was a pagan event. K (i) Charlemagne establishes himself as King of the Lombards. (ii) The Venerable Bede writes the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. L (i) The Magna Carta or Great Charter is signed by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor. (ii) The explorer Marco Polo of Venice embarks on an epic journey to China. Pictured: The Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire M (i) The English pirate Blackbeard real name Edward Teach is tracked down and killed by British naval lieutenant Robert Maynard and his crew in Carolina. (ii) The constitution of the U.S. the first three words of which read We the people . . . is ratified. N (i) The final Western Roman emperor is deposed and Germanic barbarians take control of the city of Rome. (ii) The Vandals, with a reputation for destructive behaviour, capture the city of Carthage in modern-day Tunisia, demolishing various buildings and churches in the process. O (i) The guillotine is used for the last time by the French state to carry out an execution. (ii) The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. P (i) Viking settlers found the city of Dublin. (ii) Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex, after which he spends several years fighting off Viking invasions. Q (i) Lions become extinct in Europe after the last specimens die in the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (circa). (ii) King Edward the Martyr, the eldest son of Edgar the Peaceful, is murdered at Corfe Castle. R (i) Mohammad departs from Mecca and settles in Medina marking the first year in the Islamic calendar. (ii) The first Arab siege of Constantinople is launched, marking major friction between the Arab Muslims and the Byzantine Empire. S (i) Charles Darwin travels to the Galapagos Islands on HMS Beagle. His findings would contribute to his theory of evolution. (ii) Napoleon Bonaparte dies on the island of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. Pictured: Charles Darwin, who famously travelled to the Galapagos Islands on HMS Beagle. But in which century? T (i) Richard III is killed during the War of the Roses Battle of Bosworth Field. (ii) Leonardo da Vinci depicts the Last Supper in an 8.8 metre-wide mural painting in Milan. U (i) Saint Augustine travels to Britain and becomes the first Archbishop of Canterbury. (ii) Justinian, the great jurist whose legacy includes the Roman law that forms the basis of civil law in many modern states becomes the Eastern Roman emperor. Answers: VICTORIA - There are no plans to defer a June 1 increase in British Columbia's minimum wage because of COVID-19, says the province's labour minister. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Surrey-Newton NDP MLA Harry Bains arrives to the start of the debate at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, June 26, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito VICTORIA - There are no plans to defer a June 1 increase in British Columbia's minimum wage because of COVID-19, says the province's labour minister. Harry Bains said Thursday he understands the economic threat the novel coronavirus poses to businesses in B.C., but the province plans to increase the minimum wage to $14.60 per hour from $13.85. "The minimum wage will continue to go on as it was scheduled," Bains told a news conference. "The lowest paid workers in B.C. need help as well. They need money in their pockets so they will be able to go and invest in the local businesses who are suffering right now." A spokesman for B.C.'s restaurant industry said while the government will not budge on the minimum wage, it has been working with restaurants on changes to liquor rules and tax policies that usually get bogged down in bureaucratic delays. "We have suggested a delay (in the minimum wage increase) if possible," Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant of Food Services Association, said in a statement. "As offsets, the government has been working proactively with our industry and have made many positive and quick policy changes that is benefiting the industry." B.C. reported 12 new COVID-19 cases Thursday and three deaths, increasing the total number of deaths to 152 people. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said B.C. has now diagnosed 2,479 COVID-19 cases and of those, 2,020 people have recovered. Bains said the provincial government's $5 billion pandemic relief plan includes numerous tax relief and payment deferment options to help businesses. The plan also includes $1.5 billion to support efforts to rebuild the provincial economy. B.C. launched its economic restart plan this week after steady declines in COVID-19 cases saw the easing of some health restrictions to allow for the reopening of restaurants, hair salons, dental offices and other personal services. Bains said the plan aims to restore confidence for employees, employers and customers during the pandemic. "We want to win the confidence and trust of the public and the customers that their safety is protected," he said. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Employers and employees must follow WorkSafeBC guidelines introduced last week to ensure safe workplaces and the prevention of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, Bains said. Businesses can expect random inspections from officials who will be looking to enforce physical distancing requirements and the public posting of safety plans. "I can't emphasize enough if we don't win the confidence of the public, the confidence of the customers who are going to come into those businesses, that business will continue to suffer," said Bains. "We don't want to be in that situation." Henry said B.C.'s economic restart is focused on taking a slow and thoughtful approach that will see the easing of other restrictions on businesses and public spaces depending on the state of the virus. "We know this virus hasn't left and it is circulating in our community and that's why we're doing this so cautiously and thoughtfully," she said. "There is a potential for it to start transmitting quite rapidly in our community." Henry cited South Korea where public health restrictions were relaxed after decreases in COVID-19 cases, but virus transmissions linked to people at nightclubs have started to increase. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. Forgoing all of these services also devastates our health-care system and the front-line heroes who have kept it running. Many health-care workers have been furloughed, and hospitals are seeing as much as 60 percent revenue declines from the cancellation of elective procedures. Hospitals in rural America operate on about a 2 percent to 3 percent profit margin, and urban hospitals have about a 5 percent to 6 percent margin. Extended disruption to our health-care system may permanently close some institutions, with lasting impacts on access to care, especially where access is a challenge already. Larry Aubry: Reflections on a Purposeful Life Larry Aubry was a consummate journalist and a dedicated activist. His columns were perfect storms of passion and facts. He had an ability to seamlessly merge institutional knowledge with current affairs. When he put pen to paper, it was to expose injustice and systemic racism. Larry took no hostages. He was our conscience and a necessary voice. He was there on the frontlines when decisions were made that affected Black people, especially our youth. He fearlessly held elected officials and leadership accountable while chiding the Black community for complacency and not doing the same. Larry held many leadership positions, himself. He was a member of the Inglewood School Board; vice-president and education chair of the L.A. NAACP; a board member of Multicultural Collaborative and the Inglewood Coalition for Drug and Violence Prevention; vice-president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute; a member of the Reparations United Front; a member of the Committee to Save King Drew Medical Center; co-chair of the Black Community Clergy & Labor Alliance and so many more. ADVERTISEMENT In the decades that I have volunteered with the Watts Summer Festival, there were two public figures that you could always depend on to attend and lend their support: Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Larry Aubry. He seemed to particularly enjoy participating in the Community Village Discussion component that always tackled controversial and debatable topics. I was fortunate to work at the Sentinel during the era of seasoned journalists like Larry Aubrey (Columnist), Bob Farrell (Political Editor), Libby Clark (Food Editor), Virgie Murray (Religion Editor), Ron Dungee (Managing Editor) and Betty Pleasant (City Editor) who routinely shared the rich and colorful history that was Black Los Angeles. They were not only reporters of news and culture they were history makers themselves. Larry and/or Bob Farrell were cut from the same cloth. They would share stories of segregation, civil rights and the Eastside Boys a brotherhood of like-minded men who walked the talk. They both shared tales of morality and responsibility that spoke of a time when unity and purpose were front and center qualities that Larry championed in his writing. If there were a Black Peoples Pulitzer Award, he would have won it hands down. In 2005, he was honored by The Southern California Library in 2005 for a lifetime of being unafraid to speak the truth, building bridges and working to bring justice to Los Angeles through his outstanding journalism as a columnist for the Sentinel. Larry and the Sentinel team, under the helm of Danny Bakewell, Sr., keenly understood that the mission of Black and ethnic news outlets is to report on those stories ignored by mainstream media and to ensure that our narrative and image was not dictated by the overabundance of Black violence and criminal activity that continues to lead most other news reports. Larry gave his readers a Black perspective rooted in pain and purpose. He did not have a desire to be popular, but he was nevertheless. His forte was addressing community issues that some wished had remained hidden. ADVERTISEMENT He was notably outspoken about gentrification and protecting Black and Brown communities, calling it mass displacement. He cautioned us to look beyond the glitz of new public transit rail lines to the luxury condos and business developments that could price minorities out of their own communities. He talked about backroom deals, lobbying by developers and broken zoning codes. He also pointed to the historic areas that would disappear or morph into something unrecognizable The Reef, the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Mall and the Cumulus 30-story skyscraper on Jefferson and La Cienega Boulevards. This may have been one of his last big crusades. Whenever I happened to run into Larry at meetings or events, he would reach into his pocket and whip out a copy of an investigative report or his latest column. His thirst to share information and his drive to elevate Black lives was perpetual. As managing editor, there were times when I had to ask the columnists to reduce their word count to 800 and even 600 because we needed to adjust the layout of the page. Instead of complaining, Larry saw it as a personal opportunity to tighten up his journalism. If youve ever sat next to Larry at a meeting, you knew one thing he could not whisper quietly. He was oblivious to the shushing and frowns aimed at him. He would continue to give blow-by-blow reactions to the speakers and tidbits about the players while pointing out their shortcomings. It was infinitely more entertaining than the meetings themselves. Larry will be sorely missed but there are at least 1700 columns that he left us that are all worth reading. Thank you to the Aubry family for sharing your father, husband, grandfather and uncle with his work family and our Black community. The nationwide Covid-19 tally crossed 1.1 lakh on Thursday with 5,609 new cases getting detected in the last 24 hours. This is the second-biggest single-day spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country. According to the Union health ministry update at 8 am, the total number of cases in the country are 1,12,359. Out of these, the number of active cases are 63,624, those recovered are 45,299. As many as 3,435 people have died in total, the ministry said. The Union Health Ministry had said on Wednesday that the recovery rate among those having tested positive for Covid-19 has risen to nearly 40 per cent, from about seven per cent before the lockdown began on March 25. It also said that hospital support was needed by less than 7 per cent patients. On Wednesday, the number of cases across the country rose by more than 5,600, the countrys biggest single-day jump, to reach 1,06,750. The health ministry said on Wednesday that the Covid-19 death toll has risen to 3,303 after 140 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours (between Tuesday and Wednesday). The number of coronavirus disease cases have doubled in nearly two weeks - up from 49,391 on May 6 to 1,06,139 on Wednesday in the fourth phase of the lockdown. The nationwide lockdown was initially imposed for a 21-day period till April 14, but later got extended till May 3 in the second phase and then for another 14-day third phase till May 17. A two-week-long fourth phase is now underway till May 31, but with several restrictions having been relaxed to boost economic activities. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday that domestic flights will resume in a calibrated manner from May 25, two months after the services were shut due to the coronavirus. The Union Home Ministry also said later in the night that domestic air travel has been removed from the list of prohibited activities during the lockdown. With the BJP set to protest Maharashtra governments failure in combating COVID-19, state Minister Jayant Patil on Thursday said even Prime Minister Narendra Modi must not be agreeing to such an agitation, and accused the saffron party of playing during the crisis situation. Terming BJPs Maharashtra unit as childish, Patil said the state is leading in conducting COVID-19 tests, identifying patients, treating them and making arrangements for migrant workers, as compared to other states. Claiming that the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government has "failed" to check the spread of coronavirus and the rising number of fatalities in the state unlike Kerala, the BJP on Wednesday appealed to people to register a protest on May 22. Patil, who is also the Maharashtra NCP chief, recalled that all the opposition parties had earlier supported Prime Minister Modis appeal of clanking utensils and lighting lamps (to express gratitude towards doctors, nurses and police) to send across a message that the country was united in the fight against COVID-19. The Maharashtra BJP, however, is playing during the crisis period, Patil alleged. We lit up lamps, when asked to. Why did we light up lamps? To send out a message that we are united in the fight against the crisis. Unfortunately, we cannot see such a situation in Maharashtra, the state water resources minister told reporters during an online press conference. Maharashtra has conducted the highest number of COVID-19 tests and hence, maximum cases are being reported from the state, he said. Patil claimed more positive cases will be found in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat, if tests are carried out in these states on the scale as in Maharashtra. "Hence, it was not right for the BJP to politicise the issue. I think Narendra Modiji too must not be in agreement with what the Maharashtra BJP is doing," the minister said. "BJP leaders in Maharashtra are being childish by planning protests when no other party has even thought about it in the country, he said. Patil also termed as quite unfortunate BJP leader Subramanian Swamys reported remark that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray should snap ties with the allies Congress and NCP or else the parties will destroy the Shiv Sena president in the face of COVID-19 crisis. Swamy had made the reported comment sharing an article titled 'The Corona Crisis: Presidents Rule, the only way out in Maharashtra?' on Twitter. Hitting back at the BJP, Patil said the NCP has not questioned how come the novel coronavirus entered India when the saffron party is ruling the country. The NCP will not raise the question and it does not want to politicise the issue at this juncture, he said. Maharashtra is leading in treating patients and making all the required arrangements. If any state government has to be dissolved on this account, then it will be (BJP-led) Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Then Maharashtra can be thought about, the minister said. Patil also announced NCP's 'Abhipray Abhiyan' (feedback campaign) ahead of completion of 22 years of the partys formation on June 10. The NCP leader said he will speak to five lakh party workers over phone during the campaign beginning Friday, to know their views on difficulties they are facing while working at the grass root level. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As National Park Service officials contemplate reopening Yosemite as early as June, they appear intent on implementing new wrinkles to visitation rules: day-use reservations and a limit on daily car traffic. In a video call with local stakeholders on May 18, Yosemite officials presented a draft plan for cautiously reopening the park, which closed in March during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. To preserve social distancing mores and restrict human-to-human interactions, the plan emphasizes a phased roll-out of services and guest accommodations designed to cater to a limited number of visitors. Officials did not give an exact date when the park would reopen but seemed to be preparing for a day in June. Most notably, the plan would require visitors to reserve their entry tickets online in advance via Recreation.gov, the portal the park service uses to manage campsite reservations. (Pass holders would have to reserve online as well and pay a reservation fee, though not a park admission fee.) It would also cap the number of day-use cars allowed into the park at 1,700 per day and the number of cars associated with overnight reservations at 1,900. That would represent an approximately 50% reduction in cars in the park compared to June 2019, when roughly 7,700 cars entered Yosemite each day . One of the big concerns that we have is we dont want to have a crowded situation that doesnt allow for social distancing, David Miyako, a management analyst for the parks Visitor and Resource Protection Division, said during the presentation. What we dont want to do is have people line up for hours, get to the gate and tell people, Sorry, we ran out of space today, you have to turn around. Try again tomorrow. In recent years, the number of annual visitors to Yosemite, one of the countrys most popular national parks, has hovered between 4 million and 5 million. Most visit during sunny summer weekends when traffic into Yosemite Valley can freeze into gridlock. About 70% of park visitors travel to Yosemite Valley, the home of iconic, crowd-pleasing features like Half Dome, El Capitan and Bridalveil Falls that draw hordes of visitors in close proximity to one another. The presentation followed Gov. Gavin Newsoms announcement Monday that the state would begin easing some of the restrictions stemming from shelter in place. Gregory Thomas is the Chronicles editor of lifestyle and outdoors. Email: gthomas@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @GregRThomas Hardeep Singh Puri said 20,000 Indians have been brought back till now and some countries are at this point of time not allowing foreign nationals to come back. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that upwards of 20 thousand Indian citizens have been brought back to the country under the Vande Bharat mission so far and the number will rise further in the coming days. Under Vande Bharat mission, we have brought back more than 20 thousand of our citizens from various destinations. We have at the same time utilised the outgoing aircraft to carry our citizens who are normally residents abroad, and needed to travel because they have jobs to do and other commitments, Puri said at a press conference here. The Minister added that some countries are at this point of time not allowing foreign nationals to come back, stating that six countries in the Gulf and the Middle East, and some others in East Asia are included in the list. It is important to note that the Indian government launched the first phase of the Vande Bharat Mission on May 7 and the second phase was started on May 16. He further said that the Vande Bharat mission had started somewhat cautiously, and the intention in between May 6 and 13 was to bring back 12,800 people, but the numbers were ramped up in the second week, and a substantial increase in the number of flights from Air India, with the private players also joining in the coming days will be seen. He, however, added, During Vande Bharat mission, our effort was not to bring back everyone who wanted to come back. The clear emphasis was on evacuating our citizens who were genuinely stranded and in distress abroad. Stating that the situation in the times of COVID-19 crisis was returning towards normal, Puri had said, When we announced #VandeBharatMission on 5th May, we met virtually. The very fact that we are meeting on May 21 physically, it is a reflection of the fact that we have gained more confidence in the normalisation of the situation and resumption. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App On the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, amnesties have been issued across the country, with some have sentenced commuted and some shortened reports Alsouria Net. Various governments in control of different parts of Syria have released decrees and conditions granting amnesty to Syrian prisoners since the beginning of 2020, including the Assad regime in March and the Syrian Salvation Government on Wednesday. The Salvation Governments Ministry of Justice, which operates in northwestern Syria, released a decree granting a general amnesty to prisoners convicted of criminal offences, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. The government published a speech by the Minister of Justice saying that the decree had been put into effect and the prisoners benefitting from the amnesty would be released after endorsement by the Shura Council and the Salvation Governments legislature. The decree excludes from the amnesty prisoners convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, drug trafficking and border and retribution crimes. The amnesty also extends to pardoning fines at or under 500 dollars, or their equivalent in Syrian pounds. The Salvation Government, which is affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has previously issued amnesty decrees in recent years on the occasions of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, though official numbers of detainees and prisoners are not available. Regime pardons prisoners, though arrests exceed releases Regime president Bashar al-Assad issued a general amnesty decree on Mar. 22, 2020, that granted amnesty to some penalties that were not previously included, while also removing some conditions. Official regime news agency SANA published the text of the decree, which exchanged the death penalty for life imprisonment with hard labor. It also exchanged lifelong hard labor for 20 years of hard labor, as well as lifelong imprisonment for 20 years of hard labor. According to a report published earlier this month by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the Assad regime arrested more people than it released during the month of April, after the issuance of the latest amnesty decree in March. The network recorded at least 138 cases of arbitrary detention in April, despite the issuing of the amnesty decree. Coronavirus pushes toward amnesty In areas under the control of the Syrian Interim Government, a general amnesty decree was issued for those who committed crimes before Apr. 1, 2020. Included in the decree were those convicted of misdemeanors and other infractions, those age 70 and above and people with terminal illnesses. Those convicted of minor criminal offenses had their sentences cut in half. Interim Government President Abdelrahman Mustafa said at the time that the amnesty was aimed at easing crowding in prisons to help fight the spread of coronavirus. In areas under the control of the Self-Administration, a general amnesty was issued for crimes committed before May 17, 2020. The amnesty replaced life imprisonment for criminal misdemeanors with 20 years of prison, and halved the prison time of other imprisoned people. Though that amnesty included a complete pardon for life imprisonment, and stipulated no life imprisonment for those with terminal illnesses, it excluded those convicted of rape, drug trafficking and terrorism crimes. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. A British pilot who was feared to become Vietnam's first coronavirus death has now been confirmed as free of the virus after two months in intensive care. The unnamed pilot, 43, who worked for Vietnam Airlines, was admitted to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam on March 18 and became the country's most-critical patient, with his lung function dropping to just 10 percent. The Director of the Administration of Medical Examination and Treatment at Vietnam's Ministry of Health, Luong Ngoc Khue, has said the hospital has 'fulfilled its mission of treating the British man,' given the name 'Patient 91'. Local media report the pilot has tested negative five times in the past 20 days with Khue saying it can 'be confirmed he is free from the novel coronavirus'. The unnamed pilot, 43, who worked for Vietnam Airlines, was admitted to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam on March 18 The British man remains on life support in a critical condition after being transferred to the Cho Ray Hospital. But local media report that he has shown signs of improvement, with his lung function rising to between 20 and 30 percent. He reportedly suffers from a blood clotting disorder and cytokine storm syndrome. The syndrome sees sufferers' immune systems release a high number of cytokines - a group of small proteins which work against the body - into the bloodstream. The director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Nguyen Vinh Chau said a lung transplant is still being considered for the patient despite the upturn in his condition. The Director of the Administration of Medical Examination and Treatment at Vietnam's Ministry of Health, Luong Ngoc Khue (pictured), has said the hospital has 'fulfilled its mission of treating the British man,' given the name 'Patient 91' However, medics must wait for an infection in his pleura, the thin covering which protects the lungs, to pass before any transplant is carried out. The man was reportedly found to be the source of the largest COVID-19 hotspot in Vietnam, the Buddha Bar & Grill in Ho Chi Minh City's Thao Dien Ward, which saw 19 people infected. Local media report 60 people have come forward to volunteer to donate part of their lungs to help the British man but doctors said they will prioritise donations from donors who were brain dead. The director of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Nguyen Vinh Chau said a lung transplant is still being considered for the patient despite the upturn in his condition Reports state the situation has been complicated as the man had told doctors he had no living relatives, and in Vietnam all surgical interventions must be agreed to by the patient or the patient's authorised representative. The country has reportedly spent around 5 billion VND (175,908 GBP) on treating the man. As part of our #LockdownLessons series, Bizcommunity is reaching out to South Africa's top industry players to share their experience of the current Covid-19 crisis, how their organisations are navigating these unusual times, where the challenges and opportunities lie, and their industry outlook for the near future. Wayne Neary, MD of ICON Group What was your initial response to the crisis/lockdown and has your experience of it been different to what you expected? Comment on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on your organisation or economy as a whole. How is your organisation responding to the crisis? Comment on the challenges and opportunities. How has the lockdown affected your staff? / What temporary HR policies have you put in place regarding remote working, health & safety, etc.? How are you navigating physical distancing while keeping your team close-knit and aligned? Any trends youve seen emerge as a result of the crisis? Your key message to those in the sector? What do you predict the next six months will be like? We chatted to Wayne Neary, MD of ICON Group, to get his take.Our initial response was concern for our clients, teams and suppliers. Thankfully, we had the benefit of observing the process unfold overseas before it directly impacted us, which helped us manage and plan for the process.The impact has been felt by all sectors of the economy and construction has been heavily impacted. Thankfully, we have a well-established business with resources built up and paid for over time which has ensured we've been largely sheltered.We have purchased all required safety equipment, PPE, etc., and conducted extensive training on all aspects.The challenges will be to ensure that we can restore full production while ensuring our employees, clients and suppliers remain safe. The opportunities are endless, with the pandemic forcing us as a nation and global population to think outside of the box and work more efficiently while commissioning new technology.The lockdown has had a direct impact on all our staff, processes and policies. We have adopted a work-from-home policy where possible. We have also implemented social distancing, screening and hygiene regiments for all our essential staff.We have embraced technology such as Zoom for meeting where necessary, but have always encouraged our staff to work independently while still driving team objectives.Trends in our business are to have smaller more focused teams working in relay where possible.Keep positive! Stay focused!That is the million-dollar question. I think it will be challenging, but ultimately rewarding to find ways to overcome the adversity and come out the other end stronger as a result. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: Deputy Supreme Commander of Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent a congratulatory letter to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani presidential press-service. Esteemed Mr. President, I extend my sincerest congratulations to you and to your friendly people on the occasion of the national holiday of Azerbaijan, the Republic Day, the letter said. I wish Your Excellency the best of health, happiness, and the friendly people of Azerbaijan progress and prosperity under your wise leadership, the letter said. Harnessing todays technology to fight the coronavirus pandemic is turning out to be more complicated than it first appeared. The first U.S. states that rolled out smartphone apps for tracing the contacts of COVID-19 patients are dealing with technical glitches and a general lack of interest by their residents. A second wave of tech-assisted pandemic surveillance tools is on its way, this time with the imprimatur of tech giants Apple and Google. But those face their own issues, among them potential accuracy problems and the fact that they wont share any information with governments that could help track the spread of the illness. Contact tracing is a pillar of infection control. Its traditionally conducted by trained public health workers who interview those who may have been exposed, then urge them to get tested and isolate themselves. Some estimates call for as many as 300,000 U.S. workers to do the work effectively, but so far those efforts have lagged. Other tech companies like Salesforce have offered database tools to assist manual tracing efforts, although those also raise privacy concerns because of the need to collect and store detailed information about peoples social connections, health status and whereabouts. Privacy Issues Privacy advocates warn that the danger of creating new government surveillance powers for the pandemic could lead to much bigger problems in the future. In a new policy paper shared with The Associated Press, the American Civil Liberties Union is warning state governments to tread more carefully and establish stricter privacy procedures before deploying technology meant to detect and curb new coronavirus outbreaks. Even the most privacy-minded tools, such as those to be released soon by Apple and Google, require constraints so that they dont become instruments of surveillance or oppression. The risks of getting it wrong are enormous, said Neema Singh Guliani, a senior legislative counsel with the ACLU. ACLUs report says the worst location-tracking technology should be rejected outright, such as apps that track individual movements via satellite-based GPS technology and feed sensitive personal data into centralized government databases. Good designs dont require you to gather peoples location information and store that, Singh Guliani said. She urged governments to set rules addressing both privacy and efficacy so that surveillance tools dont interfere with more conventional public health methods. Utah, North Dakota and South Dakota were the first U.S. states to launch voluntary phone apps that enable public health departments to track the location and connections of people who test positive for the coronavirus. But governors havent had much luck getting the widespread participation needed for them to work effectively. Nearly a month after Utah launched its Healthy Together app to augment the states contact-tracing efforts by tracking phone locations, state officials confirmed Monday that they havent done any contact tracing out of the app yet. Instead, people who download the app have been able to assess their symptoms and get testing if appropriate, Utahs state epidemiologist, Angela Dunn, said last week. The state with the highest known rate of participation so far is North Dakota, where last week about 4% of residents had downloaded the Care19 app and were using its location services. The same app is getting even less support in South Dakota. This is a red state, said Crystal Wolfrum, a paralegal in Minot, North Dakota, who says shes one of the only people among her neighbors and friends to download the app. They dont want to wear masks. They dont want to be told what to do. A lot of people I talk to are, like, Nope, youre not going to track me.' Wolfrum said shes doubtful that the app will be useful, both because of peoples wariness and its poor performance. She gave it a bad review on Googles app store after it failed to notice lengthy shopping trips she made one weekend to Walmart and Target stores. North Dakota is now looking at starting a second app based on the Apple-Google technology. The existing app was rushed to market, because of the urgent need, Vern Dosch, the states contact tracing facilitator, told KFYR-TV in Bismarck. We knew that it wouldnt be perfect. The ACLU is taking a more measured approach to the Apple and Google method, which will use Bluetooth wireless technology to automatically notify people about potential COVID-19 exposure without revealing anyones identity to the government. But even if the app is described as voluntary and personal health information never leaves the phone, the ACLU says its important for governments to set additional safeguards to ensure that businesses and public agencies dont make showing the app a condition of access to jobs, public transit, grocery stores and other services. Among the governments experimenting with the Apple-Google approach are the state of Washington and several European countries. Swiss epidemiologist Marcel Salathe said all COVID-19 apps so far are fundamentally broken because they collect too much irrelevant information and dont work well with Android and iPhone operating software. Salathe authored a paper favoring the privacy-protecting approach that the tech giants have since adopted, and he considers it the best hope for a tool that could actually help isolate infected people before they show symptoms and spread the disease. You will remember your work colleagues but you will not remember the random person next to you on a train or really close to you at the bar, he said. Other U.S. governors are looking at technology designed to supplement manual contact-tracing efforts. As early as this week, Rhode Island has said it is set to launch a one-stop pandemic response phone app. It will pair with a new contact-tracing database system built by software giant Salesforce, which has said it is also working with Massachusetts, California, Louisiana and New York City on a similar approach. Salesforce says it can use data-management software to help trained crews trace relationships across people, places and events and identify virus clusters down to the level of a neighborhood hardware store. It relies on manual input of information gathered through conversations by phone, text or email. Its only as good as a lot of us using it, Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo said of the soon-to-be-launched mobile app at a news conference last week. If 10% of Rhode Islands population opts in, this wont be effective. The state hasnt yet outlined what people are expected to opt into. The ACLU hasnt weighed in on the Salesforce model, but has urged contact-tracing public health departments to protect people from unnecessary disclosure of personal information and to not criminalize the requirement for self-isolation. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 InsurTech USA Tech North Dakota American gun control activists looked at New Zealands response to the Christchurch massacre with a high degree of awe. They desperately want the United States to follow that lead after the next mass shooting. They would love for our government to swoop in after such an event and snatch away all our guns, but particularly those nasty so-called assault weapons that they dont think we have any business owning. They applauded Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her quick response, but what really happened was more of a knee-jerk reaction. She responded with liberal reflexes rather than taking the time to look at the situation rationally, and shes been applauded by gun grabbers for it. However, one thing we on the pro-gun side said would happen in response seems to have come to pass. New figures obtained by RNZ show last year had the highest rates of gun crime and deaths involving firearms for nearly 10 years. But despite that rise, there has not been a corresponding increase in officers taking out or using their guns. The figures, obtained from police under the Official Information Act, show the rates of gun crime went up in both 2018 and 2019. Last year, there were 3540 occasions where an offender was found with a gun. And in both of the last two years, the rate of deadly incidents involving a firearm was the highest it had been since 2009. The number of guns seized by police is also on the rise, up almost 50 percent on five years earlier at 1263 last year. You mean banning guns doesnt actually reduce gun crime? Im shocked. Im completely and totally shocked. No, really. Whats shocking, though, isnt that this happened. Its that this happened yet again and anti-gunners are still able to delude themselves into believing that gun control reduces gun crime. It doesnt. While some of our gun controlled states have low crime, it has a low crime in spite of those laws, not because of them. It seems like a universal truth that in the immediate aftermath of enacting tough gun control laws, gun crime goes up. That doesnt make a lot of sense unless you realize that the very people not complying with the law include a large number of criminals who arent going to comply with any law. Now, though, they know that their potential targets are less likely to be able to defend themselves. For them, its time to step up and get busy because no one can stop them. Note how the police arent using their guns any more than normal? Thats not surprising. After all, the police show up just in time to draw a chalk outline around the body. They dont prevent crimes so much as respond to them and the criminals know this. They do what theyre going to do and leave before the police show up. In fact, expect to see still more increases in so-called gun crime in New Zealand, at least until some degree of sanity returns and the government there goes back to respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Its only too bad that were pretty much the only nation with that right preserved in our Constitution. New Zealanders could probably use that right about now. A new 20-minute coronavirus test that gives "on-the-spot" results without needing to be sent to a lab is starting large-scale trials today, Matt Hancock has said. Speaking at the daily Covid-19 press conference at Downing Street, the Health Secretary said that the Government is working with "top names" for "innovation developments" including testing and vaccines. Among other projects the Government is supporting, Mr Hancock said that the company OptiGene has created a "fast" coronavirus swab test, which returns results in 20-minutes. It comes after criticism that people have been waiting days or weeks for test results, which sometimes even come back inconclusive. The Health Secretary said the test has proven effective in clinical settings and now needs to be trialled for widespread use. On the OptiGene test, Mr Hancock said: "It doesn't need to be sent to a lab so you get the result on-the-spot typically within 20 minutes. "It has already proved effective in early trials and we want to find out if it would be affective on a larger scale. Government to supply 10m antibody tests to roll-out from next week "We'll monitor it's effectiveness very closely and if it works, we'll roll it out as soon as we can." The six-week trial begins in Hampshire today with up to 4,000 people of all ages and backgrounds being tested. If successful, Mr Hancock said it will be rolled out to a number of accident and emergency hospital departments without access to laboratories and care homes across Hampshire. UK returns to work as Coronavirus restrictions are eased - In pictures 1 /38 UK returns to work as Coronavirus restrictions are eased - In pictures Londoners returning to work near London Bridge Jeremy Selwyn Emergency as Lockdown is slowly lifted at Victoria Station Nigel Howard Cyclists travel in central London AFP via Getty Images Emergency as Lockdown is slowly lifted at Victoria Station Nigel Howard Alan Price on his Penny Farthing this morning on Battersea Bridge Jeremy Selwyn Delivery men are seen outside a reopened McDonald's with take-out only deliveries in Dalston Reuters Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Worlds End Nurseries in Chelsea opens for business. Customer Nika Kucifer is shown flowers by Janson Lotery Nigel Howard Londoners going back to work at Waterloo Jeremy Selwyn People ride bicycles in a cycle lane in Chelsea PA Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases. Nigel Howard Matt Writtle Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Vehicles are seen on the M56 motorway near Manchester, Reuters Londoners going back to work at Waterloo Jeremy Selwyn Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Monty's first day back. West Highland Terrier Monty commutes to work on his bike on his first day back with owner Darragh McElroy. Monty, who's Instagram account is @monty_whitehall_westie, works at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall with his owner Darragh who is Deputy Director of Coronavirus Communications at the Cabinet Office Matt Writtle Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn A commuter wears a mask at Canning Town station Reuters Rush hour on the M6 at the junction for Birmingham/Walsall on the first morning of the eased Coronavirus lockdown PA Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Commuters, some wearing masks are seen on a London Underground tube, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease Reuters Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Commuters, some wearing masks are seen at Stratford station, Reuters Cyclists in Chelsea today. Nigel Howard The tests would then enable health and care workers to carry on with their shift or immediately isolate on the same day. On other developments, the Health Secretary announced that the Government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody tests, with the roll-out starting with health and care staff, patients and residents from next week. He told the briefing: Weve signed contracts to supply in the coming months over 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott. Loading.... From next week we will begin rolling these out in a phased way, at first to health and care staff, patients and residents. The UK Government has arranged supplies of these tests on behalf of the devolved administrations and each devolved nation is deciding how to use its test allocation and how testing will be prioritised and managed locally. This is an important milestone and it represents further progress in our national testing programme. Mr Hancock also said certification systems will be developed for people who test positive for coronavirus antibodies. He told the daily Downing Street briefing: Its not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring. Its that knowing that you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus. Were developing this critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given assurances of what they can safely do. Transaction Marks the Third Significant Investment Made by Apollo Funds in Past Month NEW YORK, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, Apollo or the Firm) today announced that certain funds managed by its affiliates have led the purchase of $1.75 billion of convertible preferred stock (preferred stock) in Albertsons Companies, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. The investment will represent approximately 17.5% pro forma equity ownership of Albertsons on an as-converted basis. The transaction is expected to close by June 15, 2020 and is subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction was led by Apollos Hybrid Value business in partnership with the Credit platform and drew upon Apollos depth of experience in the sector. As the lead investor, Apollo-managed funds are purchasing the preferred stock based on the Firms view of Albertsons resilient business model, strategy to invest in compelling growth opportunities and proven management team. It is the third sizable investment made by Hybrid Value in the past month, demonstrating Apollos conviction in defensible, quality companies and an ability to act as capital solutions provider throughout various cycles. Apollo Co-Presidents Scott Kleinman and Jim Zelter commented, We believe the Albertsons investment showcases the benefits of Apollos integrated platform and our ability to leverage capital and knowledge across the Firm. With expertise in the grocery sector, flexible strategies and an integrated operating model, the Hybrid Value and Credit teams were able to jointly lead one of the largest private preferred investments made in recent years. Since the start of the year, Apollo has deployed more than $50 billion in capital. In the past four weeks, Apollos Hybrid Value business, which seeks to provide creative equity and debt capital solutions, has invested or committed more than $1 billion in transactions with Expedia, Cimpress and now Albertsons. Story continues Matt Michelini and Rob Ruberton, Senior Partners and Co-Heads of Hybrid Value, said, Apollo created the Hybrid Value business to provide capital solutions tailored to a companys specific needs. Businesses are finding these capabilities highly relevant in todays volatile economic and market environment. We are pleased to have invested significant capital over the last month, working with strong management teams, boards, sponsors, founders and public companies, with the latest being Albertsons, one of the premier grocers in the US. Apollos Hybrid Value business is a natural extension of its integrated global platform that operates without barriers among its Private Equity, Credit and Real Assets teams. Apollo believes this integrated approach and knowledge sharing can lead to better investment outcomes. About Apollo Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Bethesda, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $316 billion as of March 31, 2020 in credit, private equity and real assets funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.apollo.com. Contact Information For investors please contact: Gary M. Stein Head of Investor Relations Apollo Global Management, Inc. (212) 822-0467 gstein@apollo.com Ann Dai Investor Relations Manager Apollo Global Management, Inc. (212) 822-0678 adai@apollo.com For media inquiries please contact: Joanna Rose Global Head of Corporate Communications Apollo Global Management, Inc. (212) 822-0491 jrose@apollo.com EDWARDSVILLE Local debate continues over Gov. J.B. Pritzkers decision to rescind an emergency order allowing fines and jail time for businesses who violate the states stay-at-home order. Madison County officials on Wednesday said they do not plan to emphasize any enforcement of business closures. Weve taken the stand that were not going to be out looking for any violation of the executive order, said Chief Madison County Deputy Sheriff Maj. Jeff Connor. He added the department will deal with actual complaints, with education as the first step. Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons said his office will act only at the request of the Madison County Health Department. If the health department does not refer any cases for enforcement, we would not take any action, he said. On May 15, Pritzker filed an emergency rule making it easier for law enforcement to issue citations for businesses violating his COVID-19 executive order. Under the rule businesses could be issued Class A misdemeanor citations punishable by fines up to $2,500 and one year in jail. Pritzker said the fines were easier to come back from rather than a business losing a state license or being closed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. During his Wednesday briefing, said he would rescind his emergency enforcement rule in favor of legislation he expects from the Illinois General Assembly. Both he and others, including Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, said the rules intent was only to allow citations, and not to arrest business owners. Pritzker also said Wednesday that, if legislation was not quickly approved, he would consider a new emergency rule. Both candidates for Madison County States Attorney issued statements Wednesday before Pritzkers action. Republican Tom Haine said he rejected the idea of prosecuting business owners. With his new emergency rule the Governor has gone beyond his legally granted power. Responsibly going back to work is not and should not be a crime, Haine said. He added that, if elected in November, he will not criminally prosecute otherwise law-abiding persons or businesses solely for violations of the governors legally dubious stay-at-home orders. His Democratic opponent, current Madison County First Assistant States Attorney Crystal Uhe, said the states attorneys office has worked closely with local officials to protect the publics safety. Because every situation is a little different, you have to approach each one on the facts, she said. Some have suggested applying a one-size-fits-all approach, whether by heavy-handed enforcement or by complete failure and refusal to act to prevent harm to human life. Neither of those makes sense, so we take each case on its facts and circumstances and apply the law equally and fairly in line with the needs of local officials working on the ground in their communities, she said. The Singapore Supreme Court has sentenced a man to death via a video chat service due to the coronavirus lockdown in the city-state. A 37-year-old Malaysian man was sentenced to death by hanging last Friday for a 2011 heroin deal, court documents showed. Defense lawyer Peter Fernando said his client, Punithan Genasan, was sentenced in a hearing on the video chat app Zoom while he was in jail and Fernando and prosecutors took part in the hearing from various locations. Human Rights Watch condemned the use of the app to enforce the death penalty, maintaining it exacerbates a punishment it already considers cruel and inhumane. "It's shocking the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to confront his accusers," said Human Rights official Phil Robertson. Unidentified robbers killed a petrol pump employee and looted Rs 1 lakh in Nagpur early Thursday morning, police said. Another employee was severely injured in the attack. The incident took place at Vidya Sarvo petrol pump owned by Madhukar Ugle on Hingana-Amravati bypass near Wanadongri. As per the preliminary probe, four to five robbers broke into the petrol pump's cabin where two night-shift employees, Liladhar Marotrao Gohte (53) and Pandhari Shriram Bhandarkar (61), were asleep. The robbers attacked the two with sharp weapons, and leaving them unconscious, took Rs one lakh from the cash box and fled. A man visited the pump in the morning to refuel his vehicle and finding two employees lying in a pool of blood, called up the police. Inspector Hemant Kumar Kharbe of MIDC police station and his team reached the spot and found that Bhandarkar was dead. His body was sent to the Government Medical College & Hospital for autopsy while Gohte was admitted to a private hospital. His condition was said to be critical. A case of murder and robbery was registered and further probe was on, inspector Kharbe said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Good Morning Britain has received more than 500 Ofcom complaints in a single week due to Piers Morgans political rants. The host has refused to hold back when disagreeing with opinions held by guests appearing on the breakfast show, which has seen a spike in angry viewers. Its been reported that on Tuesday (12 May), the media regulator was contacted 174 times by disgruntled members of the public, with 98 complaints being registered the following day. A further 76 complaints were made on Thursday (14 May), with the number dropping to just 10 on the Friday Morgan's day off. When Morgan returned alongside co-host Susanna Reid on Monday (18 May), Ofcom received another 51 messages from viewers who were left infuriated by the presenters criticism of the UK government. The figures come weeks after Ofcom said it would not investigate Morgan after receiving 4,000 complaints over his interviews with Conservative politicians. Two interviews he conducted with care minister Helen Whateley earlier this month led to more than 3,200 complaints, while 600 related to a segment with health secretary Matt Hancock. In one of his interviews with Whateley, Morgan repeatedly corrected her on the number of NHS staff who have died from the coronavirus, calling the figures she gave nonsense. Many complained to say the politician was treated unfairly. At the time, Whateley accused him of shouting at me and not giving me a chance to answer your questions. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Ofcom dismissed the complaints, saying: Viewers would expect him to challenge senior politicians and hold them to account. Conservationists in Cambodia are celebrating the hatching of more critically endangered turtles in recent months than the past three years combined, owing to a preservation drive and a halt on sand-dredging. Some 23 rare royal turtles have hatched recently in southwestern Koh Kong province, the only place in Cambodia where the turtles can be found, including on a river beach not been used for nesting in 13 years. The hatching of 23 of the 51 eggs found is boosting hopes of survival for a threatened species that was designated Cambodias national reptile and was believed to be extinct two decades ago. With ongoing support and cooperation, we are hopeful that the number of turtles will continue to increase in the coming years, said Ken Sereyrotha, country programme director for the Wildlife Conservation Society. A person holds a turtle at Chheuteal Beach, where over twenty rare Royal Turtles have hatched thanks to conservation efforts. (REUTERS) Illegal fishing, reduction of flooded woodlands and sand-dredging along the Sre Ambel river system has been blamed for loss of habitat for the turtle, also known as the southern river terrapin. A law was introduced in 2017 to stop sand-dredging. The baby turtles are each only a few inches long and were measured and weighed by the group. They will be looked after at a conservation centre before being released into the wild. A man measures a turtle at Chheuteal Beach, where over twenty rare Royal Turtles have hatched thanks to conservation efforts to stop sand dredging. (REUTERS) The European Union is helping to fund the programme to save their species through research and monitoring and protection of the nests and beaches. The increased hatching follows good news for turtles in Thailand, which since November has recorded the largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles in two decades, found on beaches empty of tourists due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are fears nursing homes could be hit with more coronavirus outbreaks owing to chronic understaffing and the risk that low-paid staff will continue to go to work while unwell. Groups representing workers, aged care providers and doctors are calling on the federal government to fund "pandemic leave" to allow aged care staff to receive a wage if they are forced into isolation awaiting test results. If the virus gets away, nursing homes could see large numbers of cases.. Credit:Louise Kennerley Without the leave there is concern that workers, and in particular casual staff, might be less likely to seek out COVID-19 testing for a sniff or other mild symptoms, because they would not be paid if forced to stay at home. "They've got families to support and mortgages to pay," said Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Pat Sparrow. DALLAS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PrimeMyBody , a global leader in the hemp wellness industry, is honored to give back to frontline healthcare workers who are risking their health and lives for the well-being and safety of those directly affected by COVID-19. Through a partnership with Donate Beauty , PrimeMyBody has donated $275,000 worth of hemp-based skincare products to frontline healthcare professionals working at 12 hospitals across the U.S., including: St. David's Medical - McDade, TX University Health System - San Antonio, TX UT Houston - Department of Pediatrics - Houston, TX - Department of Pediatrics - Medical City Children's - McKinney, TX Pikeville Medical Center - Pikeville, KY Medical City Alliance - Saginaw, TX UMC Lubbock - Lubbock, TX Memorial Hermann Hospital, Texas Medical Center - Houston, TX Women's Hospital Texas - Stafford, TX Medical Center Hospital Emergency Department - Odessa, TX Ochsner - New Orleans, LA Women's Hospital Texas - Houston, TX On receiving hundreds of PrimeMyBody's NOX Airless Pumps and Sachets , Hydrate Pure moisturizer and Hempening Vanilla lip balm products for emergency staff at St. David's Medical Center in Texas, Samantha Wright says, "On behalf of the nurses, doctors and techs of SDMC ER, I'd like to thank PrimeMyBody for their kindness and generosity! It has changed our drab 'mask skin' to fresh and glowy skin." As essential as they are, the masks and protective facial gear safeguarding frontline healthcare workers and their patients are causing a number of skin issues when worn for extended periods of time. Trapped heat, humidity, bacteria, and the constant contact with abrasive materials are causing rashes, pimples, skin irritations and visible trauma. Long-term glove use and repeated hand washing are leaving most healthcare workers with severely dry, cracked skin, and in many cases causes bleeding. "I'm proud to be donating these skincare products to those that are on the frontlines and hope that they provide even a small sense of normalcy and inner beauty for these amazing warriors," says PrimeMyBody CEO, Paul Rogers. Crafted with organically sourced hemp compounds and ethically-sourced botanical ingredients, PrimeMyBody's skincare products are formulated to work with the body to balance skin health, improve skin strength, and protect skin composition from the harshest of elements. About PrimeMyBody A recognized leader in the national and global hemp wellness industry, PrimeMyBody specializes in premium hemp and plant-based wellness products created from ethically-grown botanical ingredients that are formulated with highly efficient delivery methods. PrimeMyBody's affiliate marketing business model provides business and compensation opportunities for people who have an interest and passion for sharing and selling PrimeMyBody products. With headquarters in Dallas, PrimeMyBody services e-commerce sales throughout the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Further global operation expansion plans into markets such as Canada, Africa, and the EU are currently underway. Website: www.primemybody.com Find us on social media: FB IG Twitter Media Contact: Chris Fleck [email protected] SOURCE PrimeMyBody Related Links primemybody.com Chahid Al Hafed (refugee camps), May 20, 2020 (SPS) - The Saharawi people commemorates todays, May 20th, the 47-year anniversary of the outbreak of armed struggle in Western Sahara, to reiterate their commitment and attachment to regain their legitimate rights by all means. On this day, 20 May 1973, the Frente POLISRIO announced the outbreak of armed struggle against the Spanish occupation, only 10 days after its creation on 10 May of the same year. On 28 November 1975, the first Saharawi National Council formed to be followed by the birth of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, directly after the withdrawal of the last Spanish soldier from Western Sahara. The SADR has been a full and founding member of the African Union (AU), formerly the Organization of African Unity (OAU), since 1984. Morocco withdrew from the OAU in protest to SADRs accession to the African Organization. SADR is now recognized by more than 80 countries across the world. On 21 November 1979, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Resolution 34/37 recognizing the POLISARIO Front as the representative of the people of Western Sahara. (SPS) 125/090/TRA Solano County has received state approval to move ahead with reopening, allowing dine-in restaurants, schools and other businesses to resume operations. The California Department of Public Health endorsed Solano Countys variance report on Wednesday night, county officials said, making it the second Bay Area county allowed to advance further into stage two of the states plan to reopen from coronavirus restrictions. Napa County is the only other Bay Area county to also have this approval. Retail stores, including shopping malls and swap meets, and restaurants will be able to open immediately with appropriate health guidelines in place, per the countys attestation report. Schools will open later in summer or fall once guidance is developed, the report states. Businesses such as salons, gyms, fitness studios and clubs remain prohibited in stage two of Californias plan. Businesses that reopen must follow social distancing requirements in the county and states health orders and comply with sector-specific guidance, Solano County officials said. Solano County submitted a revised report to the public health department on Wednesday outlining its readiness under state criteria for expanded reopening. The countys COVID-19 hospitalization rate, positive case rate, testing and hospital capacities meet state requirements, health officer Bela T. Matyas wrote in the report. The county will continue tracking epidemiological data and could retighten restrictions if its case rate increases sharply or infections in health care workers rise for an extended period, the report states. As we move to advance more quickly through Stage 2, we will continue to monitor the situation, and our top priority will always remain the health and safety of Solano County residents, Matyas said in a statement earlier Wednesday after the report was submitted. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. County officials said they still encourage residents to maintain distance of six feet from other people in public, wear a cloth face mask outside the home when unable to maintain distance and stay home if feeling unwell. As of Wednesday, Solano County had confirmed 435 total cases of the coronavirus, including 43 active cases, and 18 deaths. Of the deaths, the county had reported 11 in the last 10 days. State health officials have now received paperwork from 39 of 58 counties seeking approval to advance more quickly with reopening, according to the public health department website. Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara Islamabad, May 21 : Police in Pakistan's North Waziristan has arrested a man suspected to have killed two teenage girls in the name of 'honour' after a short mobile video of them with a young man surfaced online, the media reported on Thursday. The girls were gunned down on May 14 in Shamplan Garyam village after their 'objectionable' video footage went viral on social media, said the Dawn news report. On Wednesday, North Waziristan district police officer Shafiullah Gandapur said the suspected killer Mohammad Aslam, who was a cousin of the two girls, was held during a raid in an unidentified location. He had gone into hiding after the murders. Earlier in the day, a central character of the incident, Umer Ayaz, confessed before a local court that he had recorded the video. A senior police official said Ayaz told the court that he used the mobile phone of his friend, Fida Wazir, who had already been held by the police. Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Sanaullah Abbasi announced cash reward and commendation certificates for police officials over arrests in the honour killing case. Besides Aslam, the police police have arrested four suspects in the case -- Ayaz, Fida Mohammad, father of one of the girls, Zadwal Khan, and the girl's cousin, Roohuddin. The police claimed that the family of the deceased had kept the killings a secret, so the relevant station house officer registered the FIR as the complainant, reports Dawn news. The area where the incident took place is far-flung and considered risky in terms of security. The incident comes nearly eight years after the 2012 Kohistan video scandal, in which three women were killed for honour after a grainy video showing them singing and clapping while two boys danced had gone viral in the ultra-conservative and remote district. DigiCert's customer-focused strategy, feature-rich solutions and agile processes give it a distinct competitive advantage in the global market LONDON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan recognizes DigiCert with the 2020 Global Company of the Year Award, based on its recent analysis of the global transport layer security (TLS) certificate market. DigiCert has exhibited strong market leadership in its growth, supporting the adoption of new standards and continually innovating with the industry's best, most modern public key infrastructure (PKI) technology. In addition to the strength in the TLS/SSL market, the company is also focused on new security technologies, such as protecting devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) and developing implementations of post-quantum cryptography (PQC). By developing these technologies and helping define standards to address new security use cases, the company is strengthening its leadership position within internet security. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171533/Digicert_Award.jpg "Leveraging its superior technology, customizing it to regional markets and building a best-in-class customer support system, DigiCert has captured the business of 89% of the Fortune 500 companies and the world's most recognized brands," said Swetha Krishnamoorthi, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Further, DigiCert has successfully integrated the technology strengths of the former Symantec TLS and PKI business to provide an unequaled product portfolio and scalability for partners and customers. DigiCert's certificates and management tools support a wide range of enterprise needs and use cases, ranging from standard TLS to compliance-specific use cases such as Google AMP and EU-trusted qualified certificates for natural persons, legal entities or web authentication (QWACs). The company also supports cloud-based code signing, remote document signing, a host of IoT device authentication and encryption scenarios, large enterprise secure remote access, secure email and much more." DigiCert CertCentral TLS Manager enables organizations to issue, discover, renew and revoke certificates in an automated manner. CertCentral features an intuitive UI and is built on APIs for easy certificate management at any scale. DigiCert's modern and growing DigiCert ONE platform, which also includes DigiCert Enterprise PKI Manager and DigiCert IoT Device Manager, enables management of all types of certificate deployments, such as cloud, on premises, in-country and hybrid environments. DigiCert has upgraded its infrastructure in a way not seen in its industry to support large installations, regionally-focused deployments and high-volume, rapid certificate enrollments for the world's largest web platform companies. The company's agile product development process allows it to roll out changes and product updates more quickly than competitors. This strategy has helped the company create the industry's first PQC toolkit, which enables companies to create hybrid certificates for testing in their systems. DigiCert actively engages with industry standards and regulatory bodies to drive the creation and support of new standards and ensure a safe internet and IoT for consumers, including the CA/Browser Forum, IETF, W3C, ASCX9, PCI Council, SAE, CableLabs, CI+, AeroMACS, WinnForum, Industrial Internet Consortium, APWG and NIST NCCoE. "With its multi-pronged approach to innovation, DigiCert has developed a hyper-converged, agile infrastructure that promises reliability, scalability, resiliency and shorter response time for its customers," noted Swetha. "Its emphasis on user experience and a customer-first approach to product development will ensure its continued domination of the digital certificate market in the long term." Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Frost & Sullivan For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion. Contact: Kristen Moore P: 210.247.3823 E: kristen.moore@frost.com About DigiCert DigiCert is the world's leading provider of scalable TLS/SSL, IoT and PKI solutions for identity and encryption. The most innovative companies, including 89% of the Fortune 500 and 97 of the 100 top global banks, choose DigiCert for its expertise in identity and encryption for web servers and Internet of Things devices. DigiCert supports TLS and other digital certificates for PKI deployments at any scale through its certificate lifecycle management solution, CertCentral . The company is recognized for its enterprise-grade certificate management platform, fast and knowledgeable customer support, and market-leading security solutions. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com ?or follow? @digicert . Contact: Jeff Chandler P: 801.701.9653 E: jeff.chandler@digicert.com Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times. This latest installment is from Beyond the World War II We Know, a series by The Times that documents lesser-known stories from the war. They never met, but their early lives ran a strikingly similar course. They were both Chinese-American women who thwarted layers of prejudice and preconception to become World War II pilots. One died young, while transporting a fighter plane. The other lived to 89 and went on to become a scientist. Their names were Hazel Ying Lee and Maggie Gee, and they were WASPs, or Women Airforce Service Pilots. In 1942, as the Air Force faced a dearth of male pilots to sustain the war effort at home, the pilot Jacqueline Cochran persuaded the chief of the U.S. Army Air Force to recruit female pilots. More than 25,000 women applied. Only 1,830 were accepted into flight training. Of those, 1,074 completed the training. Locusts, Covid-19 and deadly flooding pose a triple threat to millions of people across East Africa, officials have warned. The warning came as the World Bank announced a 500 million dollar programme for countries affected by the historic desert locust swarms. A new and larger generation of the voracious insects, numbering in the billions, is on the move in East Africa, where some countries have not seen such an outbreak in 70 years. Climate change is in part to blame. The added threat of Covid-19 imperils a region that already was home to about 20% of the worlds population of food-insecure people, including millions in South Sudan and Somalia. Yemen in the nearby Arabian Peninsula is also threatened, and United Nations officials warn that if locusts are not brought under control there, the conflict-hit country will remain a reservoir for further infestations in the region. Lockdowns imposed for the Covid-19 pandemic have slowed efforts to combat the locusts, especially imports of the pesticides needed for aerial spraying that is considered the only effective control. Were not in a plague, but if there are good rains in the summer and unsuccessful control operations, we could be in a plague by the end of this year, said Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Now there is a risk that the locusts could make their way in the coming months into West Africas sprawling and arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert, he said. Chad, Niger and Mauritania could be affected another burden for a region under growing threat from extremist attacks. The FAO is preparing to increase its appeal for aid as the livelihoods of millions of people across Ethiopia, Kenya and elsewhere are at stake, including farmers and herders. Swarms of locusts near crops in Kenya (Ben Curtis/AP) Already about 400,000 hectares of land have been protected from the locusts, or enough crops to feed about five million people, said Dominique Burgeon, the FAOs director of emergencies, but it is only one part of the equation. Story continues The number of locusts continues to grow despite the control efforts, and if that work is not sustained, the combined threat with Covid-19 and flooding could have a catastrophic effect, said FAO director-general Qu Dongyu. The FAO in its latest assessment says the situation in parts of East Africa remains extremely alarming because new swarms will form from mid-June onwards, coinciding with the start of the harvest season for many farmers. The recent floods in parts of East Africa have killed nearly 300 people and displaced 500,000, slowing locust control work and increasing the risk of the virus spread, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. We are facing an unusually complex humanitarian situation, said Simon Missiri, the groups Africa director. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday publicly chided Law Minister JC Madhuswamy for yelling at a woman farmer in Kolar, an incident that attracted widespread criticism. The incident happened at Kolar on Wednesday when Madhuswamy, who is also the minor irrigation minister, was inspecting the Koramangala-Challaghatta (KC) Valley project, under which Bengalurus sewage is treated and pumped into lakes in Kolar. During his visit, farmer Nalini Gowda questioned Madhuswamy on the encroachment of the 1,022-acre S Agrahara lake. At one point, Madhuswamy lost his cool and yelled, Aye! Shut your mouth, rascal, and asked the police to take her away. Before this, Madhuswamy told her, Make a request. Im a very bad man. You can only air your grievance. Dont command us. A video of this exchange was aired by news channels. What (Madhuswamy) said is not right. I have warned him. None can forgive such an explicit manner of talking with a woman. That, too, behaving like that being a minister doesnt bode well. I will talk to that woman also and Ill ensure this doesnt happen again, Yediyurappa told reporters. The incident has come as a shot in the arm to the Opposition Congress, which is already attacking the Yediyurappa administration on the COVID-19 crisis. Condemning Madhuswamys behaviour, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah demanded an apology and asked Yediyurappa to sack him from the Cabinet. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar said it was unbecoming of Madhuswamy to behave like that being a senior minister. People will ask us questions and express their problems, naturally. Whats important is how we handle ourselves. Be it a woman or anyone, they come to us because were into public service. Calling them rascal and things is not right. Maybe there was some irritation, but I agree with (Siddaramaiah) that he should be dropped from the Cabinet, he said. On his part, Madhuswamy said he felt intimidated. If I have hurt the feelings of any woman, I will certainly apologise, he said. But citizens should realise, we go to their villages to ask about their problems. If they start abusing us publicly, how can we work? My secretary and I heard her for five minutes and then told her that we know our responsibility. We asked her to close the issue. She didnt stop and I got tempted (sic), the minister said. By Express News Service BHOPAL: Become corona warriors this is the condition set by the Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court for granting bail to the accused in many criminal cases over past few days. The cases in which such an order has been passed include one filed under the stringent SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, a 2015 case filed by the CBI against a middleman arrested in connection with the Vyapam scam for arranging a dummy to sit in place of the actual candidate in the Forest Guard Appointment Examination in 2013, a matter pertaining to seizure of 92.5 gm smack in Sheopur district, assaulting a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty. The accused were released on bail on the same condition in other cases too, including that of murder, jumping bail, attempt to murder, theft of liquor, cheating, fraud, breach of trust and cases under the Essential Commodities Act and the Excise Act. Most of the orders were passed by benches of Justices Sheel Nagu and Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava. While granting bail or anticipatory bail, the court, in many of these cases, observed that the accused was young/middle-aged/able-bodied/responsible citizen. In the present time, where the entire humanity is struggling to survive against the Covid-19 pandemic, the government machinery is experiencing an extreme shortage of hands in the process of disaster management. The petitioner, a citizen of India, is obliged to assist the government in times of deep crisis by discharging his fundamental duty enshrined under Article 51-A (d), which states that citizens must defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so, read one of the bail orders. The HC bench directed the petitioners to register themselves with the district magistrate concerned as COVID-19 Warrior so that they are assigned suitable work taking all prescribed precautions. This court expects that the petitioner shall rise to the occasion to serve the society in this time of crisis to discharge his fundamental duty of rendering national service, the bench said. The nature, quantum and duration of the work to be assigned are left to the discretion of the DM concerned. Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), during an Axios event Thursday, called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance for reopening schools "so completely unrealistic". The big picture: The CDC released guidance this week on reopening nonessential businesses, including schools, and advises administrators to consult with local health departments to gradually scale-up operations for schools safely. The guidance suggests staff and students receive temperature checks daily and to disinfect classrooms and buses daily when in-person learning returns. Staff should also wear face coverings. What she's saying: "Anyone whos ever been in a classroom knows this list will not work. Education and teaching is about relationships. It is about making kids feel confident and helping them to take a step out of when theyre really not sure what theyre doing." Why it matters: The guidance from CDC comes as many schools begin to plan how to tackle the next school year in the fall. A top data analyst from Florida claimed she was fired from her position on May 5 after refusing to manipulate COVID-19 data to support the state's plans to reopen the economy. Dr. Rebekah Jones was the architect and manager of the online dashboard that allows Floridians and researchers to track the coronavirus situation in real-time. In an email to a media network, she claims she created two applications in two languages, four dashboards, and six unique maps covering half a million lines of data without help from other staff. In the letter, Jones said she worked sixteen hours each day for two months. She claims most of the time she worked was never paid for. She confirmed she was fired for refusing to censor some data to support the state's plans to restart its economy. The state's Department of Health fired her from her position as manager of the Geographic Information Systems. She warned researchers and the citizens that her removal would likely bring changes to the dashboard data's accessibility and transparency. Jones' dismissal has upset many researchers in Florida who say their work relies on accurate and impartial information. Lucky Tran, a biologist at Columbia University, said censoring scientists and changing the numbers would cause the residents to suffer. Democrats believe the removal was politically driven, with many denouncing Florida's government for trying to alter data to make reopening appear safer. Terrie Rizzo, the chair of the state's Democratic party, called the move "dangerous and criminal." She called for an independent investigation into the allegations. She argued city and state officials to monitor the situation to protect the general population. Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow who led the Obama administration's fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said Jones' dismissal raises questions about Florida's recent downward trend in COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis defended the decision to fire the data scientist. He claimed Jones sent her supervisor an email where she allegedly said: "she was tired and needed a break." The governor also claimed Jones had active criminal charges for cyber-stalking and cyber sexual harassment. A police report from Tallahassee Police shows a man who claimed to be a victim of revenge porn insinuated by the scientist in 2019. The complainant said the data analyst posted naked photos of him on a website and shared it with his employers and family members. DeSantis also dismissed Jones' claims that she was the chief architect of the Web portal. He claims her tasks were focused on putting data on to the dashboard, some of which scientists believe were invalid. "The dashboard data is transparent," DeSantis said. "Any insinuation otherwise is just typical partisan narrative trying to be spun." DeSantis' communications director, Helen Aguirre Ferre, also released a statement later that day where she claimed Jones was fired due to insubordination. She said the top data scientist repeatedly modified the department's dashboard data without receiving approval from her supervisors. Want to read more? Check these out: Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 02:46:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BAGHDAD, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday recorded 113 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 3,724 in the country. The 113 cases were recorded after 5,947 test kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours, and a total of 163,609 tests since the outbreak of the disease, the ministry said in a statement. So far, up to 134 people have died from the disease in Iraq, while 2,438 have recovered, it added. Since the early hours of the day, the Iraqi health authorities kicked off a plan to impose curfew on Baghdad's districts of Sadr City, Habibiyah, Kamaliyah, Hurriyah, Shula and Ameriyah, which witnessed highest numbers of COVID-19 cases during the past few days. The Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in an interview with the official Iraqiya TV channel that the quarantine measures in these six districts will be strict and will last for two weeks with the aim of curbing the spread of the disease in cooperation with teams from the World Health Organization and the security forces. Abdul Ghani al-Saadi, head of al-Risafa Health Department in eastern Baghdad, said that up to 50 medical teams started a campaign in Sadr City district to conduct random tests for people in the affected areas which witnessed confirmed COVID-19 cases. The curfew of the six districts came after the Iraqi Health Ministry on May 18 reported 150 cases of coronavirus, 120 of them registered in Baghdad. It was the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the disease in the country. Iraq has been taking measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, including a nationwide curfew. On April 26, a Chinese team of medical experts left Iraq after a 50-day stay to support Iraq in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. China has also donated batches of medical supplies to Iraq to help combatting the coronavirus. Enditem Bhopal, May 21 : The Madhya Pradesh Police have suspended B.S. Patel, a sub-inspector in Betul district, for letting out what they believed was a secret. Patel had told a lawyer that the police once beat up the latter as he was mistaken to be a Muslim. The suspension became effective from Wednesday. The lawyer, Deepak Bundele, claimed that the police stopped him while he was going to the district hospital in Betul on March 23, shortly after movements were restricted to contain coronavirus. Bundele alleged that the police thrashed him mercilessly before he informed them about his visit to the hospital for treatment. Bundele filed complaints with several authorities, seeking registration of an FIR against the policemen who attacked him. He also filed an RTI application to retrieve the CCTV footage of the incident. However, two months later, he was neither given the CCTV footage, nor was an FIR filed. Investigating officer B.S. Patel visited Bundele's house on May 17 to record his statement. "The cops mistook you as a member of the minority community due to your beard," Patel allegedly told Bundele. Bundele then shared an audio clip of the conversation with the local media. Superintendent of Police D.S. Bhadoriya suspended Patel after the clip was shared widely on social media. "He allegedly made a comment which should not have been part of the police investigation," Additional Superintendent of Police Shraddha Joshi said. Muslims have been the target of hate crimes since a congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi in March. Many coronavirus cases around the country were attributed to the congregation. Some organisations even moved the human rights commission. United Nations, May 22 : The UN on Thursday launched an initiative called "Verified" to counter COVID-19 misinformation by increasing the volume and reach of trusted, accurate information. "We cannot cede our virtual spaces to those who traffic in lies, fear and hate," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who announced the initiative, Xinhua reported. "Misinformation spreads online, in messaging apps and person to person. Its creators use savvy production and distribution methods. To counter it, scientists and institutions like the United Nations need to reach people with accurate information they can trust." Verified, led by the UN Department for Global Communications (DGC), will provide information around three themes: science, solidarity and solutions. It will also promote recovery packages that tackle the climate crisis and address the root causes of poverty, inequality and hunger, said the United Nations in a press release. The initiative is calling on people around the world to sign up to become "information volunteers" to share trusted content to keep their families and communities safe and connected. The volunteers will receive a daily feed of verified content optimized for social sharing with simple, compelling messaging that either directly counters misinformation or fills an information void. The DGC will partner with UN agencies and UN country teams, influencers, civil society, business and media organizations to distribute trusted, accurate content and work with social media platforms to root out hate and harmful assertions about COVID-19. "In many countries, the misinformation surging across digital channels is impeding the public health response and stirring unrest. There are disturbing efforts to exploit the crisis to advance nativism or to target minority groups, which could worsen as the strain on societies grows and the economic and social fallout kicks in," said Melissa Fleming, UN undersecretary-general for global communications. COVID-19 is not just this century's largest public health emergency, but also a communication crisis, Fleming told a virtual press briefing. Over a quarter of the most viewed videos on Youtube about COVID-19 contained misleading information, Fleming said, quoting a recent study of the British Medical Journal. "Fiction is often circulating faster than fact." Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text DETROIT It's hard enough trying to keep Michigan safe in the wake of COVID-19, the worst pandemic in 100 years. Now add in what's being called a 500-year event, according to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the massive flooding in Midland County. "I feel like I've said this a lot over the last 10 weeks, but this is an event unlike anything we've seen before and we've got to continue to all work together to observe best practices, do our part to help one another, and to wear our masks and continue to try to social distance, Whitmer said at a Wednesday news conference. Whitmer jokingly admonished a few members in the audience who werent standing at least 6 feet apart, but the moment underscored a genuine challenge how to handle a natural disaster in the middle of a health pandemic that already has claimed 5,000 lives in Michigan. The record flooding caused by heavy rain and the failure of two dams has displaced up to 10,000 residents, who are sheltering with friends, family and local evacuation sites. First responders are working within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines while helping evacuees to safety. But concessions are also being made, as some of the social distancing recommendations are difficult to abide by when thousands of people are relocating to a handful of shelters. The CDC currently discourages gatherings of more than 10 people. Governor Gretchen Whitmer surveys the shelter area set up at Midland High School after flooding and a dam breach in Midland County on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Its absolutely a challenge, Midland County Public Health Director Fred Yanoski told the Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a phone interview. Our message with normal COVID response is to discourage public gatherings and whatnot. And in this particular situation, it is unavoidable as weve had to move several thousand people into a handful of sheltering facilities. It is a challenge. The American Red Cross has set up eight shelters in the Midland area for those with nowhere to go. Individuals are being screened for symptoms prior to entering the shelters, and masks and face coverings are being provided to those within the shelters. Story continues In addition, shelter beds are being kept 6 feet apart from each other, and enhanced cleaning and disinfecting practices are being used. Individuals displaying COVID-19 symptoms are not being allowed within the shelters, and Midland officials are working with the Red Cross to find alternate accommodations for those who may have the virus. In a news release, the organization announced it provided more than 65 overnight hotel stays for residents who had to leave their homes. It is not a perfect world, but we are not allowing symptomatic people into the shelter and we will, on an individual basis, make arrangements for those individuals, Yanoski said. Those who might be COVID-positive are taken care of separately and accommodated because local public health is currently monitoring all those individuals that are tested positive for COVID as well as close personal contacts. So we are making alternate arrangements to place them prior to them even coming to the shelter if they let us know. Yanoski said the challenges will persist for days. The flooding created by the failure of the Edenville Dam may leave downtown Midland under 9 feet of water by Wednesday night, and families are still evacuating and figuring out accommodations. Some individuals in shelters are not normally those who would go to a shelter, Yanoski said. We have some special needs folks and some that mightve been in an assisted living facility. Were trying to incorporate some additional staff to meet the needs of some of our special populations. ... Its certainly a challenge moving forward. Officials are also evaluating the environmental impact of the flooding. On Wednesday, Dow, which has a chemical plant in Midland, announced that it found floodwaters "commingling with on-site containment ponds, but that it posed no threat to residents or the environment. Yanoski said while the situation is challenging, the community is up to the task. Our community is well-versed in flood response as it is not an uncommon occurrence, said Yanoski, adding that while the situation is challenging, they are up to the task. Follow Omari Sankofa II on Twitter: @omarisankofa. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan flood response complicated by coronavirus, social distancing Thursday, May 21st, 2020 (12:01 am) - Score 1,572 Broadband ISP iDNET, which has already built up a good reputation for service and support quality, have announced that theyve just become the first telecommunications company in the United Kingdom to be certified as a B Corporation a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. At this point theres a good chance that many of our readers may be unfamiliar with what being certified as a B Corporation actually means. In short, this reflects for-profit companies that have committed to create a positive impact on society and the environment through their operations (i.e. businesses that want to do some good in the world, beyond simply making profit). Today there are known to be over 3,000 Certified B Corporations in more than 50 countries around the world, including approximately 300 here in the UK (e.g. Ben & Jerrys, Patagonia, Innocent Drinks, Danone, Teapigs and The Body Shop) and now iDNET has joined their ranks. Tim Davies, Director of iDNET, told ISPreview.co.uk: This is an enormous milestone for the company, and we are excited about taking our customers and supply partners on the journey with us. The process has already helped to add more context and meaning to our Everything Connected message. When people choose to buy products or services on the high street, online or from a business supplier, they should look out for the B-Corps popping up across all sectors of the economy. Supporting these businesses is an opportunity to be part of something better. Tim likens becoming a B-Corp to being a bit like receiving a Fairtrade produce certification, but for your business operations. The certification essentially requires firms to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Gym owner Ed Frack says its do or die time for his small business. If he doesnt open his gym soon, hell go bankrupt. So he plans to open SuperSets gym on a limited basis Sunday in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, despite the governors stay-at-home order. The order has been in place since March to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Frack said he hasnt been able to obtain any grants or government assistance. Hes still waiting for unemployment. This is do or die, he said Thursday. We are losing everything that we have put into our business. Sunday 5/24 1PM Supersets will be opening for business! Please come out and show your support to all small businesses who will be there! We need your help! Please share! Posted by SuperSets on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Hes inviting other small business owners suffering under similar circumstances to rally at 1 p.m. Sunday and support relaxing the states business shutdown rules. He expects hundreds to gather outside his gym at 2450 Schoenersville Road. He said there is plenty of room so the participants can stay six feet apart under the governments social distancing guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Frack was slow to close when the shutdown was imposed in March. He said police came to the gym and warned him he faced citations or jail time if he stayed open. On Thursday, state police Trooper Nathan Branosky said citations remain a possibility for violators, although most businesses are complying with the shutdown. This is a public health crisis that will not be solved by issuing more citations, Branosky said. We will get through this by working together as a community; however, citations are possible for violators depending on the specific circumstances of an investigation. Frack said he would probably reach out to police as details come into focus for the Sunday reopening. He said people are more at risk going to a department store or a supermarket than they would be going to his gym. He plans to operate at 20% of capacity, meaning there will be no more than 15 people inside at a time. Three of those will be employees, initially. Our end goal is to not cause harm, Frack said. Our end goal is to bring to light how unfair things are. Gyms must remain shut in areas under the yellow phase of the statewide shutdown. Experts say COVID-19 spreads quickly in poorly ventilated spaces where people are breathing heavily, shouting, or talking, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. A study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified a coronavirus cluster associated with dance fitness classes in South Korea, concluding that intense physical exercise in densely populated sports facilities could increase risk for infection," the report says. Frack said everyone working out at SuperSets must wear a mask. Customers must be screened for a fever or any sign of illness before theyre allowed in. He said clients must fill out a questionnaire and sign a waiver before working out. As devastating as the virus has been for the health of Pennsylvania residents, Frack feels the shutdown has also had a devastating impact on the financial health and mental health of small business owners. He opened six months ago and doesnt have the resources to keep the business closed and afloat. I refuse to allow my business to crumble while I sit at home so I will fight, Frack said in a Facebook video to his customers. I will do whatever I can to allow my business to survive. I will do anything I can to provide for my family. And thats what it comes down to. In New Jersey, a gym in Bellmawr that opened Monday in violation of the governors order was shut down Thursday. Other gyms have opened in and near Philadelphia, according to the Inquirer. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Lehighvalleylive.com. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. If theres anything about this story that needs attention, please email him. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 01:05:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ACCRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Director-General of the Ghana Health Service Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said on Thursday that available data shows a slowing infection rate of the novel coronavirus in Ghana. Over the past two weeks, Ghana experienced spikes in the number of infections to as high as 921 within 48 hours. But these have slowed to below 183 per day over the past four days. "Daily cases are declining, admissions are declining, isolation centers are also seeing fewer numbers, and some of our treatment facilities have not yet received any patients," Kuma-Aboagye said at a bi-weekly COVID-19 press briefing. He conceded, however, that there could be occasional surges from time to time, adding that "what we need to do is to identify those hotspots and quickly move in to deal with them, as we have done in Obuasi, Bibiani, and Tema." In the last update, only five of the 13 affected regions reported some cases, which the director-general said was a sign of the general decline in infections across the country. The deputy minister for information Pius Hadzide, however, urged the public to continue observing the prevention protocols of social distancing, wearing of face masks and hand hygiene, among others, to ensure that the decline continues. Public transport operators in Ghana have been ensuring social distancing by reducing the number of persons each vehicle carries while ensuring that their passengers also put on face masks to support the fight against COVID-19. Enditem The Navy ship at the center of the service's coronavirus battle has returned to sea after spending nearly two months in Guam as COVID-19 spread among the crew. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt left Naval Base Guam on Thursday local time, the Navy announced Wednesday night. The ship is now in the Philippine Sea where the embarked carrier air wing is conducting qualification flights. "It feels great to be back at sea," Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, said in a statement. "Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew." Read next: Pentagon Releases Plan for Easing Base Restrictions as States Reopen The ship has been in Guam since March 27. More than 2,900 members of the roughly 4,800-person crew had returned to the ship as of Monday, according to a Navy news release. When announcing the Roosevelt's return to sea, officials said it went out with "scaled manning." "We are scaling our manning on board based on our mission requirement," Capt. Carlos Sardiello, the carrier's new commanding officer, said. "Carrier qualification requires fewer personnel than other missions, and bringing fewer sailors on board will enable enhanced social distancing while underway." The Roosevelt was deployed in the Pacific in March, when COVID-19, the sometimes-fatal illness caused by the coronavirus, began to spread on the ship. The commanding officer at the time, Capt. Brett Crozier, later wrote a letter pleading with Navy leaders to evacuate the bulk of the crew over fears that the virus could lead to sailors' deaths. The letter's publication by the San Francisco Chronicle eventually led then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly to fire Crozier. Modly, who later resigned over backlash for Crozier's relief and follow-on actions, claimed the captain sent the letter to 20 or 30 people. The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of Crozier's email, showed Crozier had emailed the letter to 10 people, most of whom were in his chain of command. Crozier would become one of more than 1,100 Theodore Roosevelt crew members to test positive for COVID-19. One of those sailors, Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., died from the illness. Thacker was 41. Navy leaders initially recommended that Crozier be reinstated as the carrier's commanding officer. The service is now conducting a more thorough investigation into the situation surrounding his relief. Most of the crew was moved off the ship and into isolation on Guam in April while the carrier was disinfected "from bow to stern," according to the Navy. The sailors aboard the ship now practice social distancing, wear masks, adjust meal hours, limit in-person meetings and sanitize spaces, the news release on its departure states. The crew held a safety stand down last week and simulated a departure this week. Last week, five sailors on the carrier had to be moved back off the ship after testing positive for COVID-19 a second time. That was despite testing negative twice in a row before being allowed to get back on the ship.Medical experts say it remains unclear if having COVID-19 gives a person immunity to the virus. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: Navy Orders Deeper Investigation into Crozier Firing Over 'Unanswered Questions' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 12:53 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9673cb 1 National COVID-19,coronavirus,Ganjar-Pranowo Free A number of regional leaders have come to the defense of the central government from criticism over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, saying that it is the responsibility of all people to help the nation get through the pandemic. Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said no one, including the government, had had any experience with the novel coronavirus and thus it was somewhat understandable for authorities to be "confused" while handling the health crisis and sometimes make blunders in policies. Strong cooperation between the central government, regional administrations and people in the community was therefore necessary to overcome the challenges that emerge during the outbreak, he said during a teleconference organized by the Center of Indonesia Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) on Wednesday. "The country's spirit is gotong royong [mutual cooperation], so we can't just delegate a particular task to the central government, or to certain regional administrations only. Containing COVID-19 is our shared responsibility," Ganjar said. Ganjar said that he himself had introduced a community movement program dubbed Jogo Tonggo (neighbors looking after each other), in which community members collaborated to manage food and security in response to the pandemic. "I openly told the public that this crisis is not going to end anytime soon and the government's financial aid will therefore never be sufficient. I therefore try to inspire empowerment among the community," Ganjar said. Read also: With policy flip-flops, 'new normal' looks gloomy for Indonesia Meanwhile, Anna Mu'awanah, the regent of Bojonegoro in East Java, concurred with Ganjar, saying that "COVID-19 is the concern of all parties", including the citizens. If the public, for instance, insisted on violating mobility restrictions issued by the authorities to contain the disease transmission, all of the COVID-19 response efforts would count for nothing, she went on. The Bojonegoro administration had strengthened the function of task forces at each level, from top to bottom, to do contact tracing so as to cut the chain of the virus transmission. "Lately, weve been doing what's called village-based contact tracing [by mobilizing resources at the bottom level] so that all corners of Bojonegoro can be well covered." Meanwhile, the executive director of Regional Autonomy Watch, Robert Na Endi Jaweng, said the country should establish a "command system" during the crisis to avoid bureaucratic infighting and discrepancies between regulations across the country. "Someone needs to consolidate all ministries and institutions under one management to avoid potential conflicts," he underlined. Scientists have warned the public away from buying Superdrug's coronavirus testing kits while doubts linger over their reliability and usefulness. The accuracy of these antibody tests remains foggy, as does whether a positive result means a person is then immune to the disease. The drugs store yesterday became the first to sell the tests which reveal if someone has had the infection, charging 69 for blood sample analysis. Widespread antibody testing has long been heralded as the breakthrough needed to end blanket lockdown as it could potentially flag up who is immune to Covid-19. Superdrug has insisted the test, manufactured by US-based pharmaceuticals firm Abbott, is accurate, but experts urged consumers to take this with a dollop of caution. Abbott itself has said the tests were not meant to be used DIY, but blood samples are instead supposed to be taken by a trained health worker. Professor Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, told people to hold off purchasing the tests until government scientists drill down deeper into its accuracy. Superdrug has become the first high street retailer to sell a coronavirus antibody test to the public for 69 with almost 100 per cent accuracy A notice on Superdrug's website this afternoon said 'Due to the high demand of orders, this service is currently not available' WHY IS ANTIBODY TESTING IMPORTANT? WHAT IS AN ANTIBODY TEST? Unlike tests to diagnose diseases, antibody tests show who has been infected and recovered. The body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses and infections, including other coronaviruses. New blood tests are being developed to identify antibodies unique to SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the new coronavirus. The tests look for two kinds of antibodies: immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG). The body quickly produces IgM antibodies for its initial attack against infections. It makes IgG antibodies more slowly and retains them longer; IgG antibodies suggest possible immunity. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAPID TESTS AND ASSAYS? Some companies are developing finger-prick tests that get results in minutes. These are called immunoassays and will form the basis of home testing kits. Others are developing far more accurate tests called enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) that require sending blood samples to a lab for analysis. HOW CAN ANTIBODY TESTS HELP END LOCKDOWNS? Antibody tests can help calculate what portion of the population has already been infected, as well as whether infections were mild or severe. Governments and companies could use antibody tests to determine who would most likely be safe to return to work and public interactions, and whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders all at once in some regions or in stages based on infection risk. People with negative antibody tests or very low antibody levels would likely have higher risk of infection than people with high antibody levels. DO ANTIBODIES TO THE NEW CORONAVIRUS CONFER IMMUNITY? While antibodies to many infectious diseases typically confer some level of immunity, whether that is the case with this unique coronavirus is not yet known. And how strong immunity might be, or how long it might last in people previously infected, is not clear. With some diseases like measles the immunity can be lifelong. With others, immunity can wane over time. Scientists cannot know with certainty that reinfection is not possible until further research. Antibody tests could inform not just lockdown exits, but the best approach to treatments and vaccines. Advertisement Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, he said: 'I would caution against using any tests that might be made available without knowing quite how good those tests are. 'Public Health England as I say is evaluating them for the NHS so I would caution people against being tempted to have those tests.' He added: 'What we don't absolutely know at the moment is whether having antibodies, and having the antibodies that are tested in those tests, means that you won't get the virus again. 'I wouldn't want people to think just because you test positive for the antibody that it necessarily means that you can do something different in terms of social distancing or the way you behave. 'Because until we are absolutely sure about the relationship between the positive antibody tests and immunity, I think we as scientists would say we need to tread cautiously.' Scientists around the globe are urgently trying to establish whether, like many viruses, your body develops immunity once you contract the infection. When a virus attacks your body, antibodies are produced to fight the disease and so their presence signals if you have it the virus. Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics, University of Bristol, who is in the field of developing an antibody test for Covid-19, said until the science is clear there is no point spending money on an antibody test. 'Until we know how strong and long lasting immunity is after infection, it is hard to know what to do about the results of these tests, even if the tests are reliable,' he said. 'So the bottom line is: don't spend money and time on any test unless you have a very clear idea of what the result does or does not mean for you and what you are going to do or not do if you get a positive or negative result. 'If the answer is that the result is not going to change what you do because you can't be sure what it means, then there's no point in doing the test.' He was echoed by Professor Gino Martini, chief scientific officer at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, who added: 'Any antibody test at present can only provide a partial picture. 'The real issue is that no-one knows the level of immunity that is conferred by having antibodies to coronavirus, how long it might last, and if you can become re-infected. We need much more information and data on immunity before we can understand the importance of having antibodies to the virus.' Yvonne Fovargue MP, who chairs a parliamentary panel on consumer protection, told the Telegraph that 'Superdrug seems to be playing on people's fears and that's not right. What people really need is a readily available, easy to use test that's accurate'. The test is produced by medical giant Abbott and has been given the seal of approval by Public Health England WHAT ANTIBODY TESTS ARE APPROVED SO FAR? Antibody tests made by Abbott and Roche are the first antibody tests to be ratified as accurate by Public Health England, after weeks of disappointments. The tests detect whether someone has had the virus and then recovered which could indicate they may be immune. PHE said the ratification of the two tests performed in its labs was a 'very positive development'. Both are likely to be used in the 'test, track and trace' programme being launched next week, in which anyone who has been in contact with a coronavirus patient will be tested. The Department of Health is in conversations with both firms about incorporating the kits into its testing programme, with NHS staff likely to be first to get access. The Abbott test is also being sold privately for home use by health tech firm Babylon and retailer Superdrug for 69. Home use of the test which uses a spot of blood from a finger prick rather than a full blood sample has only been confirmed as accurate by an independent lab, and not yet by PHE. Scientists have stressed that although the two tests offer useful information about who has been infected, it is not yet clear what proportion of these people will be immune to the disease. The idea of 'immunity certificates' has been shelved for now because of this, although No 10 said it was still exploring it. Hopes have run high since March that antibody tests could allow employees to return to work. Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordered 3.5million tests but it turned out the best of them could spot only 70 per cent of those who had been infected. The new tests resolve that problem by using proven lab-based technology, rather than the 'pregnancy-test' style kits Mr Hancock had pinned his hopes on. They also generate very few 'false positives' which means indicating someone has been infected when they have not. Advertisement The tests, which are intended to tell someone if they have had the virus in the past, cost 69 and require the user to take blood samples themselves and post them off to a laboratory, where it takes 24 hours to produce a result. In a notice on the shop's website this afternoon it said: 'Due to the high demand of orders, this service is currently not available'. And the medical giant Abbott, which makes the tests, has insisted that its tests were not intended to be used by people taking their own blood samples. Instead, the Illinois-based firm says its tests have only been evaluated to be accurate on blood samples taken by trained healthcare providers directly from patients' veins. Any test that has a CE mark such as the one made by Abbott can be legally sold and used in the UK but health chiefs have repeatedly urged Britons to avoid tests that haven't been approved. Officials last week approved the Abbott test for laboratory use, making it only the second kit of its kind to be given the green-light following a similar kit made by Swiss giant Roche. No home 'pregnancy-test' kits have yet been approved, despite promises in March that one would be available. Known as the 'have you had it' tests, antibody tests reveal whether someone has been infected with COVID-19 in the past and recovered from it, but scientists are still unsure whether this means they are protected from catching the virus again. Therefore, some say there is 'no point' paying for a test because it is still not clear what the results mean. Superdrug urges individuals to continue social distancing and following government guidance even if their result is positive. Superdrug started selling the kit this morning on its Online Doctor service for 69, but said it isn't available in store. It requires a few drops of blood collected by a finger prick taken at home which are sent off in a pre-paid envelope to The Doctors Laboratory. Blood is then placed into a vial, which must be filled until a certain level. Michael Henry, Superdrug's healthcare director, said he is 'confident' the test is accurate and reliable. It was the second antibody test to be approved by the government's testing chiefs and is soon expected to be used by professionals in the NHS and in public surveys. The first was that manufactured by Swiss firm Roche, called Elecsys, which is also not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home. Both tests have been described as 'game changing' by PHE which conducted an analysis of it. Ministers are in talks with Roche to buy millions of the tests, which will be given to NHS and social care workers for free. It is not clear if they will ever be given to the public. Abbott's antibody kits are on standby for NHS use and a spokesperson said last week the firm had capacity to provide five million tests a month to the UK 'with immediate effect'. But anyone over the age of 18 can now privately buy the Abbott test on Superdrug, so long as they do not currently have symptoms of the virus because it takes at least 14 days for antibodies to be made. Babylon is selling it for the same price, while another Northampton-based company checkmybodyhealth.co.uk is offering the Abbott test for 89. London-based privatecoronavirustests.com is selling it for 99. The test is 97.5 per cent sensitive, which means just over 97 people in 100 who test positive have indeed been infected. The other three people, however, would get an inaccurate result - known as a false negative result. They will be told they do not have antibodies when in fact they do. The test has 100 per cent specificity, which means it will never generate a 'false positive' result - when people are incorrectly led to believe they have antibodies. Experts say is it better to compromise on sensitivity than specificity, because 'false negatives' can have dangerous consequences. However, commenting on the test, Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'This seems rather a strong claim since to be absolutely sure ('never'), an infinite number of people will have to have been tested.' Will Irving, a professor of Virology, University of Nottingham, said although it is reassuring claims test to be very accurate, it depends entirely on how the company came to that conclusion. He said: 'The sensitivity data will be dependent on what kind of serum samples have been tested. If these are mostly or all from hospitalised patients, then the figure may be an overestimate, as there are data suggesting that individuals who don't become very ill with COVID-19 may not make very high levels of antibody. 'The same is true of specificity.' Ministers are in talks with Roche to buy millions of the tests, which will be given to NHS and social care workers for free. The Roche test, called Elecsys (pictured), is also not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home. Medical giant Abbott has produced a test which is essentially the same as the antibody test announced by the Government last week, manufactured by Swiss firm Roche. Scientists welcomed the development in antibody testing. But rallied to remind the public that various antibody tests being sold privately online are a gamble, even if approved by officials. Babylon's Dr Olivia Morrow who is helping to lead the company's coronavirus testing effort says an antibody test 'can help give answers to people who are unsettled, wondering if that cough, fever, or loss of smell they had in February was COVID-19'. Users can also choose to opt-in to share information to aid national research by institutions such as PHE, according to the company. It's not clear if this is the case for Superdrug. PHE is conducting a surveillance programme to understand how many of the population have had the virus using their own, high accuracy antibody test operated at their Porton Down science campus. Millions of Abbott's lab-based tests have been shipped to customers across the US after it was granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. Abbott plans to ramp up to 20million antibody tests in June and beyond. It's hoped that one day, CE-marked home testing kits, also called lateral flow tests, will become available. But they have to be proven to work, first. Health chiefs are still on the hunt for an accurate immunoassay test since ministers promised one back in March. The finger-prick test generates results in minutes at home. The results are displayed like a pregnancy stick and don't need the help of a laboratory of doctor. Such a test was touted as the key to lifting lockdowns because it would mean people could buy a test quickly online, find out if they have had the virus and return to work or not. But progress has been halted because scientists have warned it's still to early for them to know what the antibodies show, exactly. There are hundreds of companies designing these tests, but so far, none tested by an Oxford University team have passed stringent protocol. PHE has not disclosed how many samples its evaluations were based on before giving Abbott (or Roche) the green light. Superdrug doctor ambassador, Dr Zoe Williams, made clear the new test does not confirm someone is safe to go back to work or mingle in society. She said: 'There are however things to consider before taking it. 'Receiving a positive antibody test result does not confer immunity, and it is important that people understand a positive test result does not mean you can be any more relaxed with the required hygiene and social distancing measures as set out by the government.' NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 64% of U.S. workers are anxious about returning to the workplace according to a survey conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Articulate Global, Inc., from May 11-13, 2020, among 1,100 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older. Articulatemakers of Rise.com, an all-in-one system that makes online training easy to create, enjoyable to take, and simple to manageconducted the survey to understand how employees are preparing for the gradual reopening of workplaces. What's fueling this anxiety? According to the poll, 59% of those who are anxious to return to work once stay-at-home orders are lifted say the potential inability to maintain social distance with coworkers and customers are leading concerns. Sharing a bathroom (40%) and displeasure with wearing a facial mask (38%) were other sources of discomfort. In addition to their unease about returning to the workplace, many of those working from home due to COVID-19 have yet to receive information and guidelines about workplace behavior in "the new normal." As of the survey date, only 33% of those who work from home due to COVID-19 say their employer has shared a plan and trained them on how they will return to the workplace safely. Addressing Stress and Uncertainty To address these key concerns raised by survey respondents, Articulate today launched a free Rise.com course titled, "Coping With Stress and Uncertainty." The course features lessons on why coping in a crisis is challenging, as well as how to understand your stress response and emotional triggers. "We know it's critical to provide uniform training to a distributed workforce, especially in times like these," said Articulate President Lucy Suros. "Following on our well-received COVID-19 course released in early March, this free Rise.com resource helps overwhelmed and overburdened employers deliver training quickly and at no cost to support their employees during these uncertain times." The course provides instruction on: How people react to stress Creating a routine and sense of normalcy Calming techniques Connecting with others It also includes audience-specific safety and stress mitigation tips for health care workers, essential workers, and parents. Individuals and organizations can view this free course at https://blog.rise.com/coping-with-stress-and-uncertainty-during-covid-19/ . Organizations that want to customize or edit the course can do so by starting a free 30-day trial of Rise.com or purchasing a subscription. The course is then available for editing in their Rise accounts. Training Solutions for Any Organization Articulate has been developing the world's most popular apps for online training since 2002. More than 98,000 organizations worldwide, including 93 of the Fortune 100, have created millions of courses using the company's online training apps. Debuting late February 2020, and built upon Articulate's award-winning product family, Rise.com makes it fast and easy for anyone to create courses, guides, and other training content from scratch or by starting from hundreds of fully customizable lessons on common business topics, customizable templates, and sample courses, such as the " Coping With Stress and Uncertainty " course. Learners easily and securely access training right from Rise, rather than a separate learning system. With the granular analytics in Rise, organizations can improve workforce performance and employee satisfaction, measure training engagement, and manage compliance with regulatory requirements. Rise.com is a secure, enterprise-class, all-in-one, web-based training system. About Articulate Articulate is a highly successful, fully remote software company that's changing the way the world learns. More than 104 million learners in 151 countries have learned new skills, gained new insight, and received career-boosting training made possible by Articulate apps. More than 98,000 organizations worldwide, including 93 of the Fortune 100, have created millions of courses using Articulate's online training apps. The company recently launched Rise.com, an all-in-one system that makes online training easy to create, enjoyable to take, and simple to manage. Survey Method: This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Articulate Global, Inc., from May 11-13, 2020, among 1,154 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 907 work from home due to COVID-19. This online survey is not based on a probability sample, and therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. SOURCE Articulate Global, Inc. Premier Brian Pallister is still trying to convince the public that theres a pot of money sitting in an Employment Insurance fund in Ottawa that belongs to Manitobans. It's one of the more bizarre positions the premier has taken during the pandemic. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Premier Brian Pallister is still trying to convince the public that theres a pot of money sitting in an Employment Insurance fund in Ottawa that belongs to Manitobans. It's one of the more bizarre positions the premier has taken during the pandemic. Pallister has been claiming for weeks that EI funds can be used to finance his governments proposed reduced workweek for public servants as a way of reducing costs during the COVID-19 outbreak. He says Manitobans have contributed to the fund for years and have set aside "savings" that can now be tapped to reduce civil-service costs. Hes even gone as far as claiming EI funds do not belong to the federal government. "We paid $2 billion of taxpayer money into a fund to pay workers when there isnt enough work," Pallister said last week. The premier says instead of borrowing more than it has to, Manitoba should use EI money to soften the blow to the provincial treasury. There are no savings set aside for Manitoba or any other province. Manitobans who pay into EI, and are eligible to collect, can do so. But Pallister is wrong to claim there is money saved up in an account for any province. "There is a pandemic and were going to draw on the Employment Insurance fund for some of our workers," he said. "We saved up for exactly this type of situation and were going to use savings that we had set aside." Its unclear whether the premier doesnt understand how the EI program works, or if hes deliberately trying to mislead. It seems unlikely that someone with a background in insurance who spent years in Ottawa as an MP would not have a working knowledge of the EI program. Nevertheless, he continues to describe it as some kind of savings account Manitobans can dip into under their own terms. "Its not the federal governments money," Pallister insisted. "Its our money." Actually, it is the federal governments money, just as PST revenue belongs to the provinces. EI isnt a savings account. Its not even a real insurance plan. Premiums paid into it by employees and employers go into the federal governments general revenues. Its accounted for in a "notional" account. But its not kept in a separate fund like a pension plan or a trust fund. Prior to 1990, Ottawa subsidized EI from time to time when the program was in a deficit. That changed in the 1990s when the federal government jacked up premiums to generate surpluses large enough to weather recessionary periods. Trouble was, the accumulated surpluses grew so big, the federal government started using them to pay down debt and balance the books. That became a sore point with labour and business groups who demanded Ottawa stop using EI as a slush fund. Its unclear whether the premier doesnt understand how the EI program works, or if hes deliberately trying to mislead. It seems unlikely that someone with a background in insurance who spent years in Ottawa as an MP would not have a working knowledge of the EI program. Legally, though, Ottawa was within its right to do so. That was confirmed in a landmark 2008 Supreme Court of Canada case, after labour organizations took the federal government to court demanding surpluses be returned to workers. The top court sided with Ottawa. The merits of using EI premiums to balance the books or pay down debt may have generated a lot of political debate, the court said. But under the Employment Insurance Act, the federal government is allowed to use EI premiums for purposes other than paying out benefits to unemployed workers. EI premiums are federal revenues, the court ruled. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "It is clear that the account does not constitute as is the case of pension fund assets a trust fund or patrimony by appropriation," the court wrote. "These monies were used like any other part of the revenues in the consolidated revenue fund, and the appropriate accounts were kept." After years of racking up EI surpluses in the tens of billions of dollars, Ottawa eventually adopted a seven-year break-even plan. Premiums are now set each year with the goal of having a balance of zero in the EI account at the end of a seven-year period. Premiums were reduced slightly this year to bring the accumulated EI surplus down to a projected $3.8 billion in 2020. Its expected to reach zero by 2026. There are no savings set aside for Manitoba or any other province. Manitobans who pay into EI, and are eligible to collect, can do so. But Pallister is wrong to claim there is money saved up in an account for any province. Whether the premier can convince the federal government to use EI funds to subsidize Manitobas civil service is a separate matter. That decision is up to Ottawa. Whether Pallister likes it or not, its the federal governments money. tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury has warned that book sales could plunge by as much as 65 per cent. Lockdown measures in many countries have forced shops to temporarily shut, as part of efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19. Bloomsbury relies on physical books sales for 79 per cent of its revenues and it is readying for sales failing to recover until March. Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury relies on physical books sales for 79 per cent of its revenues and it is readying for sales failing to recover until March It has said it would have to 'extend' measures already in place such as pay cuts, a recruitment freeze and slashing its marketing. Boss Nigel Newton said: 'The impact may be substantial. Orders for print books are being affected in all markets.' Bloomsbury revealed a profits boost in its annual results, which covered a period before the pandemic, partly thanks to its efforts to boost sales of digital products, now 15 per cent of the business. Total revenues increased from 162.68million to 162.77million in the year to February 29, while profits rose from 12.05million to 13.23million. Sales of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series had stayed 'resilient'. China is on a "massive disinformation" campaign and is desperately trying to deflect the "pain and carnage" that it spread throughout the world, United States President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Trump, who has expressed disappointment over China's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed that it was the "incompetence" of Beijing that led to the mass killing across the globe. "China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along!" Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday. "Spokesman speaks stupidly on behalf of China, trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't," he said in a series of tweets. Trump blamed China for spreading the coronavirus globally and accused it of being incompetent. "Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!" Trump said. China has denied covering up the extent of its coronavirus outbreak and accused the US of attempting to divert public attention by insinuating that the virus originated from a virology laboratory in Wuhan. "China was the first country to report the COVID-19 to the World Health Organisation, (and) that doesn't mean the virus originated from Wuhan... There has never been any concealment, and we'll never allow any concealment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last month. "A discerning person will understand at a glance that the purpose is to create confusion, divert public attention, and shirk their responsibility," he said. The novel coronavirus which first originated in Wuhan in December last year has claimed 3,28,120 lives and infected nearly 5 million people globally. The US is the worst affected country with 93,439 deaths and over 1.5 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Meanwhile, the US Senate passed a bill boosting oversight of companies based in China and other nations that could lead to their removal from American stock exchanges. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, proposes to increase oversight of Chinese and other foreign companies listed on American exchanges and delist and ban over-the-counter trading for firms that are out of compliance with US regulators for a period of three years. In a related development, a group of top Republican Senators led by Marco Rubio sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin following disturbing reports that China's state-owned and-directed enterprises were looking to exploit the economic crisis by buying US and foreign companies. As companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party approach banks to identify the purchase of companies in the US and in Europe affected by the pandemic, the senators urged Mnuchin to protect against the China's and the CCP's predatory economic behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis. "We write to express our concerns related to the People's Republic of China's efforts to exploit the economic crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic to gain control of distressed companies or shirking its international responsibilities amidst a worldwide crisis. "In both Chinese Communist Party and PRC policy documents, Beijing has made no secret of its intentions to dominate strategic industrial and emerging technology sectors as well as influence standards at the expense of liberal, rules-based governance," wrote the senators. As the crisis reverberates across the globe, the PRC's predatory lending practices -- including the use of non-disclosure agreements for bilateral loans -- not only damage the fiscal situation of recipient countries but also undermine the international community's ability to respond effectively to the crisis, they said. "Without US and international pressure for accountability and transparency, those countries that are in debt to the PRC will not have the political cover or protection to open their financial books. Such countries will face the risk of default or a currency crisis, leaving the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Western countries to clean up the PRC's mess," the senators said. During a campaign round table Katrina Pierson, Senior Advisor to the Trump 2020 Campaign, said that only the US President will defeat the coronavirus, hold China accountable for their negligence, and defend the American people from socialism. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving higher over the two previous sessions, treasuries turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Thursday. Bond prices spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 0.677 percent. The choppy trading on the day came as traders digested a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims pulled back further off their record high but remain at an elevated level. The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 2.438 million in the week ended May 16th, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week's revised level of 2.687 million. Economists had expected jobless claims to tumble to 2.400 million from the 2.981 million originally reported for the previous week. Jobless claims fell for the seventh straight week after reaching a record high of 6.867 million in the week ended March 28th. The total number of new claims since the coronavirus-induced lockdowns began in mid-March still reached 38.6 million. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing another steep drop in U.S. existing home sales in the month of April. NAR said existing home sales plunged by 17.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.33 million in April after tumbling by 8.5 percent to 5.27 million in March. Economists had expected existing home sales to plummet to a rate of 4.30 million. The continued nosedive pulled existing home sales down to their lowest level since hitting 3.45 million in July of 2010. A separate report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed a slowdown in the pace of contraction in regional manufacturing activity in the month of May. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity climbed to a negative 43.1 in May from a negative 56.6 in April. Economists had expected the index to increase to a negative 41.5. The index rebounded from the nearly 40-year low set in the previous month, but a negative reading still indicates a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. A lack of major U.S. economic data may lead to another choppy trading session on Friday as some traders look to get a head start on the long Memorial Day weekend. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Our solution combines innovative technology and integrated compliance while helping clients save time and money. Were committed to reinforcing and validating the trust and confidence borrowers place in their local lender." Ohios banks are signing on to deliver a digital loan experience that makes mortgage lending faster, simpler and more scalable for growth as their state association endorses services offered by Promontory MortgagePath. The Ohio Bankers League (OBL) officially endorsed Promontory MortgagePaths (PMP) comprehensive mortgage fulfillment services and digital point-of-sale (POS) technology, Borrower Wallet, the association announced. PMPs tech-driven mortgage solutions are designed to help banks compete in the mortgage business more profitably, efficiently and compliantly while eliminating the fixed costs in their current mortgage model. Ohio banks and thrifts are relentlessly focused on innovation and uncovering the best ways to increase efficiencies and meet customer demands, said Mike Adelman, President & CEO of OBL. At a moment in history where digital offerings and superior service are more urgently needed than ever, PMP stands out for its innovative technology, compliance pedigree, and record of success. Its solutions can keep mortgages flowing smoothly while helping banks reduce operating expenses. We are proud to partner with OBL to help their members launch a digital transformation and deliver an even better customer experience, said Paul C. Katz, managing director and head of bank relations at Promontory MortgagePath. Our solution combines innovative technology and integrated compliance while helping clients save time and money. Were committed to reinforcing and validating the trust and confidence borrowers place in their local lender," Katz added. Promontory MortgagePath delivers a comprehensive set of mortgage fulfillment solutions, enabling banks to determine their own product and loan pricing strategies while PMP provides the technology and process. Banks partnering with PMP field their own loan officers to co-pilot the application process and collaborate with their borrowers via Borrower Wallet. PMP then processes and underwrites each loan using client-provided business rules and closes in the banks name. About Ohio Bankers League The OBL is the trade association for the Ohio banking industry and is Ohios only organization focused on meeting the needs of all banks and thrifts in the Buckeye State. For more than 125 years, the OBL has been the voice of the Ohio banking industry fostering a cooperation that has made it one of the strongest and most reputable financial trade associations in the country. The non-profit association is comprised of 200 FDIC-insured financial institutions including commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loan associations ranging in size from just over $13 million in assets to more than $2.5 trillion. Follow the OBL on social media using @ohiobankers. About Promontory MortgagePath | NMLS ID 1532373 Promontory MortgagePath is a fast-growing team of passionate problem solvers on a mission to fundamentally change the way lenders approach their mortgage businesses. The companys founder, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig, is widely recognized as a far-sighted thinker on the critical issues confronting financial services, and his companies are renowned for their ability to help community lenders resolve their most-pressing challenges. To learn more, visit mortgagepath.com. The HSE has said that bed occupancy in the States 18 private hospitals stands at 46% as the clamour of voices continues to grow calling for the States short-term contract to take over those hospitals to be broken. The executive said that figure may not take into account the fact that some hospitals may currently be focusing more on outpatient and day-case work so overall activity should also be considered when analysing overall hospital activity. The initial contract between the State and the private hospitals was signed in March for three months at a cost of 115 million per month, with the Department of Health required to inform those providers if it plans to extend the deal for a fourth month by May 25. Last week Minister for Health Simon Harris told the Dail that occupancy in certain of the private hospitals was close to capacity. He said that the Bon Secours in Cork was operating at 82% capacity, and the Mater Private in Dublin 60%. However, data made available by Dublin orthopaedic surgeon Dr Fergal McGoldrick in recent days appears to contradict the bed occupancy levels previously reported by the Government, with a reported average figure across those 18 hospitals standing at close to 30%. Other audits conducted by the Independent Medical and Dental Consultants of Ireland (IMDCI) last month suggested figures as low as 16% occupancy on certain dates. Those low levels of occupancy, coupled with a row over the public contract which formerly private consultants had been asked to sign, has seen an increasing number of politicians and physicians call for the deal to be torn up as being not fit for purpose. Concerns have been raised about consultants being shut out of their own hospitals over an unwillingness to sign the States contract, and about problems with continuity of care for seriously ill patients as a result. Thankfully, we have not seen the surge we feared, Minister Harris told the Dail on May 14th, adding however that we may yet see a surge so we believe we still need that capacity. Just 20% of private hospital capacity is generally believed to be what would be required by the State should a second wave of coronavirus infections come to pass. The Irish Private Hospitals Association said it is not in a position to verify current occupancy in its member institutions as it doesnt manage capacity figures centrally, and such a query would require contacting all 18 hospitals individually. The decision to allow the State to take over the private hospitals was the right decision for that time, a spokesperson for the IPHA said. Thankfully the curve has flattened considerably in the interim period, they said. The requirement for private hospital capacity is currently under review by the HSE and we await the outcome of that process. Fianna Fail spokesman on Health Stephen Donnelly on Tuesday told the Oireachtas special committee on Covid-19 that clearly the situation is not working at the moment. Many of the operating theatres and diagnostic machines are not working as they could, he said. In response, Secretary General of the Department of Health Jim Breslin said that the Government is currently in a ramping-up phase in private hospitals adding that good progress had been made in recent days with regard to signing up Irelands 600 private consultants to the State contract. Many of Irelands private hospitals are now understood to be keen to break free from their agreement with the State. However, while individual entities have the power to walk away from the contract, that power does not become live before the end of July. YEREVAN, 21 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 21 May, USD exchange rate down by 1.95 drams to 481.68 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 1.50 drams to 528.07 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.06 drams to 6.79 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 4.22 drams to 589.05 drams. The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals. Gold price up by 51.32 drams to 27074.82 drams. Silver price up by 4.35 drams to 270.55 drams. Platinum price up by 273.62 drams to 13070.5 drams. The Trump administration has taken another provocative step in its escalating anti-China campaign by openly siding with the re-elected Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen and pressing Taiwans case at the annual World Health Organisation (WHO) ministerial assembly. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has reacted angrily to steps that breach longstanding protocols associated with the so-called One China policy, under which countries, including the US, recognise Beijing as the government of all China, including Taiwan. In a written statement yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration for a second term and was effusive in his praise for her courage and vision. He added that the US has long considered Taiwan a force for good in the world. It is the first time that a US secretary of state has formally congratulated an incoming Taiwanese president. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, center, walks to her inauguration ceremony in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP) In response, Chinas defence ministry issued a statement expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Pompeos remarks and reasserting that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Chinese foreign ministry declared that Pompeo had seriously damaged the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and warned that China would take necessary countermeasures. As the Trump administration is well aware, Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan is regarded by Beijing as one of its most sensitive core concerns. It has sought to cultivate close economic relations with Taipei and is particularly hostile to the efforts of President Tsai Ing-wen, with the Trump administrations backing, to boost Taiwans military forces. Tsai belongs to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which, while stopping short of advocating a formal break from China, has pushed for greater political and diplomatic independence. The Chinese regime has in the past warned that it would react militarily to stop any formal declaration of independence. Trump has deliberately cultivated closer diplomatic, economic and military relations with Taiwan. He signaled his attitude just prior to being inaugurated in 2017 when he declared that he did not regard the One China policy as sacrosanct, and took a congratulatory phone call at the time from Tsai. His administration has given the green light for several huge arms sales to Taiwan that significantly bolster its armed forces. US military strategists regard Taiwan, situated close to the Chinese mainland, as crucial in any US war with China. The Trump administration further angered Beijing by backing Taiwans push for observer status at the international WHO meeting this week. Taiwan is excluded from UN gatherings as it has no independent status under the One China policy recognized by the United Nations. Chinas ambassador to the UN, Chen Xu, branded US arguments for Taiwans inclusion as political hype and its conduct as not acceptable. Pompeos latest remarks are just one aspect of the Trumps administrations aggressive anti-China campaign that has centred on making Beijing the scapegoat for the global COVID-19 pandemic. Trump officials have accused China of a lack of transparency over the outbreak and given credence to extreme-right conspiracy theories that the virus was released from a Chinese virology laboratory in Wuhan. These unsubstantiated claims are completely at odds with the actual record. Chinese authorities were grappling with cases of an atypical pneumonia and informed WHO and health bodies around the world as they identified the virus involved, determined whether it was transmissible from human to human and posted its genetic code. By contrast, the Trump administration ignored the warnings, downplayed the dangers and only belatedly, weeks after the implications of the pandemic were evident, took limited action to contain its spread in the US. Trump also suspended payments to WHO blaming it for supposedly covering up for China. Trump renewed his attack on WHO, and by implication on China, in a letter this week to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, riddled with factual errors and unsubstantiated allegations. He threatened to cut off all funding to WHO and to withdraw from the organization unless it carried out unspecified reforms demanded by the US. To cite just two of the inaccuracies: The editor-in-chief of the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, Richard Horton, publicly corrected the claim in Trumps letter that the journal had published a report on the coronavirus in China in December 2019. In a tweet to the US president, he explained that the first two reports on COVID-19 were published on January 24, 2020 and were from Chinese scientists. The Lancet has been highly critical of Trumps attacks on WHO, with Horton branding his decision to suspend funding to the international organization in the midst of the pandemic as a crime against humanity. In a statement on Tuesday, The Lancet declared: allegations levelled against WHO in President Trumps letter are serious and damaging to efforts to strengthen international cooperation to control this pandemic. Secondly, Trump in his letter claimed that Taiwan had informed WHO by December 31 that the coronavirus was transmissible from human to human, but was ignored by the organization. WHO has repeatedly denied the accusation, and significantly, Taiwanese health authorities have made public the email sent on that date which makes no mention of human-to-human transmission. The Trump administration, however, does not base itself on fact or scientific assessments, but rather uses the method of the Big Lie taken from the playbook of the German Nazi regime of the 1930s. Yesterday, Trump once again blasted China without a shred of evidence in a tweet declaring it was the incompetence of China, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing! Washingtons scapegoating of China is not simply a matter of deflecting attention from its own criminal indifference and negligence in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, but is part of the escalating US trade war and military build-up against China that began under President Barack Obama and has accelerated under Trump. As the global pandemic again underscores its historic decline, US imperialism is determined to use all means, including military, to prevent its rivals, above all China, from undermining American global dominance. Last week, the US Navy again sailed a warship through the narrow and highly sensitive Taiwan Strait between China and Taiwanthe guided missile destroyer, USS McCampbell. The Trump administration has stepped up provocative naval operations both in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. The latest transit was the sixth this year. Amidst extreme geo-political tensions, such exercises always carry the risk of an incident, whether accidental or deliberate, that triggers a broader military confrontation that quickly spirals out of control. China faces growing criticism around the world for its early attempts to conceal the outbreak in Wuhan. Many governments are demanding an investigation into the origins of the virus. Relations with the United States have soured, raising the specter of a new Cold War. At home, the party retains broad public support for curbing the spread of the outbreak, but critics have urged it to admit its early missteps and reflect on the pitfalls of its penchant for secrecy and control. When decisions lead to policy failure, not only should the course be corrected, those responsible must acknowledge their mistakes, appeal in all humility for public forgiveness and be held accountable, wrote Xu Zhangrun, a law professor in Beijing who has been punished for criticizing Chinas leader, Xi Jinping. Without this as a bottom line, we will all be confronted by the worst possible kind of rulership, one under which people are forced to live as if in a foreign land. But such voices will not be heard inside the ornate Great Hall of the People, where the congress will take place, and where the mood will likely be positive as Chinese leaders celebrate the countrys progress in reducing infections. The congress will provide party leaders a forum to declare victory in what Mr. Xi has described as a peoples war against the virus a chance to beat back criticism from abroad and rally the public behind him. They want to remind people in China, Just think how lucky you are that you have Xi Jinping and the Communist Party governing you, said Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. The message is: Imagine what suffering you would have if you have Boris Johnson or Donald Trump as your leader. New national security laws will be considered for Hong Kong. A medical worker takes a swab sample from a resident to be tested for the CCP virus in Wuhan, China, on May 15, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) All CCP Virus-Related Information Considered State Secrets in China: Leaked Classified Documents Classified Chinese government documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times show that Chinese authorities are treating all CCP virus-related information as state secrets and have forbidden officials from exposing them to the public. Ironically, Chinese state-run media Xinhuathe central governments mouthpiececommented on Feb. 8: Countless historical experiences of preventing infectious diseases have shown people that sharing epidemic information to the public is like sunshine that can kill the virus. So, the most effective medicine is publishing all information. Leaked Document Nanning is the capital of the southwestern Guangxi region. The city has seven districts and five counties, with a population of roughly 7.25 million. The Epoch Times obtained a copy of a document from the Nanning city government dated Feb. 13 that was marked classified. It laid down requirements for all local government teams within district and county governments in Nanning that have been set up to deal with the virus. Another document from Heilongjiang Province in northern China also mentioned that pandemic-related documents are to be treated as top secretmeaning other local governments in China likely received similar notices. During the time period of combating the virus, all types of urgent documents, urgent notices, urgent events internally shared sensitive information, and any information that the [government] leaders havent approved to disclose to the public would be considered state secrets, the document said. These pandemic-related state secrets were protected by the law on guarding state secrets released on April 29, 2010, the city government said. According to the law, seven types of information are treated as state secrets, such as those concerning major policy decisions on state affairs, national defense, diplomatic activities, national economic development, science and technology, state security, and so on. The document did not explain how pandemic information can be considered state secrets, but went into detail about how to keep such information confidential. Measures The document said all officials should prepare, edit, and save virus-related state secrets only on computers or cell phones not connected to the internet. All virus-related documents can only be transferred by regular mailing. All staff are banned from taking photos of these documents and sharing these photos. All officials are not allowed to talk about such information during phone calls, via text messages, or any other internet-based communication channels. They are also forbidden from mentioning the information at home. Officials cannot bring virus-related documents, related computers, external hard drives, and other movable storage mediums to their homes or public places. All such documents must be processed at offices in government buildings, with all windows closed. When officials need to open the office window, related staff must pay attention to security, the notice said. When each level of government organizes pandemic-related meetings, staff should also keep all windows closed. If the meeting goes for very long and participants need to get fresh air, staff can open the windows but must make sure the secrets wont be leaked, the document noted. Without a permit from the city government, all government officials and employees, medical staff at hospitals, and related personnel are not allowed to accept media interviews. Any information that has been approved for public release must be published according to the city governments orders. The Epoch Times previous reporting has documented the Chinese authorities lack of transparency surrounding the virus. In the initial stages of the outbreak, the Chinese regime downplayed the risk of human-to-human transmission in public, while internal government documents showed that authorities were scrambling to contain the virus from spreading. Local authorities have also consistently underreported virus infections, keeping internal tallies of diagnostic results that differ from officially released data. Politics, at its best, is an art. It demands the building of relationships, the forging of alliances. Every nation is a potential ally, a friend we may need in times of crisis. President Donald Trump does not nurture relationships or forge alliances. He is adversarial, the latest example being his fight against the World Health Organization, or WHO. Accusing the organization of incompetence in its handling of the novel coronavirus, he has threatened to withhold funding from a group that, most health experts agree, is vital to the battle against the pandemic. The president said he would withhold the money if the organization does not commit to improvements within 30 days. Trump suspended funding to the WHO last month, charging it with promoting Chinese disinformation about the outbreak. He is also reconsidering U.S. membership in the agency. WHO officials deny the claim, and Chinese officials also pushed back, with Zhao Lijian, the foreign minister, saying that any move to withhold funding would be a violation of U.S. obligations. The squabble is baffling, considering the president was praising China for its handling of the pandemic only two months ago and this administration has had its own challenges in responding to the virus. Then again, the president is known for his about-faces. WHO officials are leading the global effort to combat the virus, including the development of tests, vaccines and other drugs. The goal is threefold to diagnose, treat and prevent. It is an ambitious agenda, one that could be crippled by the withholding of U.S. funding. The Chinese response to the virus is problematic and plagued by unanswered questions. Chinese officials acted slowly, and there is evidence to suggest a serious lack of transparency in the initial reports about the severity of the virus. Chinese officials have also failed to be forthcoming with biological samples, which could aid vaccine efforts. But these are criticisms and failures of China, not the WHO. Whatever the deficiencies in the Chinese response to the outbreak and there will be a time for answers and accountability it makes no sense for Trump to stop funding the WHO. The U.S. contributed more than $58 million to the WHO in 2019, about 15 percent of the money it receives annually. Withholding the funds could be devastating to countries throughout Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. It also opens the door for China to exact even more influence. The focus now should be on stopping the virus. Squabbles with organizations and nations can wait. But there is also a domestic disconnect. Imagine if Trump took such a hard-line and serious approach about limiting the spread of COVID-19 here. His early comments downplayed the pandemic. In a sad and perplexing irony, the president visited a mask factory recently without wearing a mask. He was the only person in the facility without one. And, in the early days of the outbreak, he shook hands and violated the 6-foot distancing guideline, a policy his own administration recommended. Then on Monday he said he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for two weeks. Hydroxychloroquine is the anti-malarial drug the president has been touting for weeks, even though health experts warn against its use as a prophylaxis against the virus. The stunning statement came in the wake of a Food and Drug Administration warning about the drug, advising it should be taken under the close supervision of a doctor in a hospital setting or clinical trial. In addition, Veterans Affairs posted in late April an analysis of the medical records of 368 male patients at VA hospitals nationwide, according to the Washington Post. The study found the rates of death in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone or in concert with the antibiotic azithromycin were higher than for those who did not take the drug. The results are more compelling than the anecdotal evidence cited by the president. How does undercutting the WHO, dismissing public health guidelines or promoting a potentially dangerous anti-malarial drug hasten the end of this pandemic? President Donald Trump said Michigan auto workers have proven that states can safely reopen segments of the economy and promised an epic comeback as the country experiences the highest level of unemployment since the Great Depression. Trump toured Ford Motor Companys Rawsonville manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti Township Thursday, just a few days after automakers returned a portion of their workforce to facilities across the state. The president thanked auto workers for shifting their operations to produce vital medical equipment for hospitals, comparing their efforts to the role Michigan played to build warfighting machines in WWII. You are demonstrating that we can open our country while taking precautions like social distancing, daily medical screenings and strict hygiene, Trump said. I want to thank you all for leading America back to work ... With your help in our policies this country is poised for an epic comeback. This is going to be an incredible comeback. Watch, its already happening. The president arrived in Michigan as the state is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, record unemployment and catastrophic flooding that forced evacuations for thousands of residents in Midland County. Before Trump took the stage, the White House announced his approval of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers request for an emergency disaster declaration due to the flooding in Central Michigan. Whitmer said Thursday that 10,000 residents have been evacuated from their homes after two aging dams failed, releasing floodwaters throughout the region. The president said he would visit Midland County at the appropriate time," but has already dispatched FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assist emergency operations. President Donald Trump speaks as he tours Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant that has been converted to making personal protection and medical equipment, Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Ypsilanti, Mich. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) APAP Trump celebrated the work of Ford, General Electric and other private entities that stepped up to build ventilators and PPE during the pandemic. Ford, in collaboration with GE Healthcare and the UAW, began making ventilators the week of April 20 in the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant. You walk in the footsteps of those who built the Motor City in the 1920s and 30s, who stocked the arsenal of democracy in the 1940s, and who set the standard for automotive safety and style in the 1950s and 60s and beyond, Trump said. Fords goal is to produce 50,000 ventilators within 100 days. Trump told reporters the Strategic National Stockpile isnt in danger of running short on the machines. Every state now has more than they need and our stockpile is totally full, he said. The president also called for states to begin reopening their economies. Trump did not refer to Whitmer by name throughout the event, or comment on her strategy to incrementally send categories of businesses back to work. We did the right thing, but now its time to open it up, Trump said. "A never-ending lockdown would invite a public health calamity. To protect the health of our people we must have a functioning economy. " Whitmer reauthorized manufacturing facilities starting May 11 and announced all restaurants and shops in the Upper Peninsula and in several counties in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula will be allowed to reopen starting Friday. The governor signed an executive order Thursday morning lifting restrictions on non-emergency medical, dental and veterinary procedures and allowing retail businesses and auto dealerships to operate by appointment. She also allowed social gatherings of 10 people or less. A total of 93,061 Americans have been killed by the coronavirus as of Thursday, according to the CDC. Michigan has been among the hardest-hit states in the COVID-19 pandemic. The states death count surpassed 5,000 this week, ranking fourth in the country behind Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. Michigan has 53,009 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 28,234 people who recovered as of Wednesday, according to state figures. The virus has disproportionately infected and killed African American residents, who comprise 14% of the states population and 40% of deaths. Trump acknowledged the impact on the Detroit area, which was among the worst hotspots for the virus in the U.S. He also blamed China for allowing the virus to enter the U.S. Here in the Detroit area you were hit hard by the virus, Trump said. As one people, we hold in our hearts the precious memory of every person that we have lost. Weve lost too many. One is too many. It came in from China, and it should have been stopped in China. They didnt stop it. They should have stopped it." Trump convened a roundtable with African American business leaders focused on helping minority communities recover from the pandemic. The event was attended by Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James. This is the Motor City; this is the arsenal of Democracy, James said. When called upon, Michigan and Detroiters stood up. The White House released a series of statements outlining the federal support Michigan has received throughout the pandemic. This includes $2.6 billion to medical providers, $315 million for testing assistance and other resources," 8.6 million N95 respirators, 740,018 surgical masks, 311,571 face shields and 700 ventilators. Michigan Republicans celebrated Trumps arrival and his work to direct federal aid to the state. "The support President Trump has given Michigan is a strong first step in starting to reopen our state for business, said Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox. Under the Trump Administrations leadership we have seen unprecedented support for our state, and as we move to help the nation recover, I know Michigan will rebuild stronger and more prosperous than ever as we defeat this invisible enemy. Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes criticized Trump for what she characterized as a sluggish response to the pandemic. When nurses in Detroit hospitals went without PPE, Donald Trump was sitting on his hands and telling us to figure things out ourselves, Barnes told reporters Wednesday. When we were facing severe ventilator shortages weeks ago he attacked hospitals for hoarding them. When Detroit became a hotspot and hundreds were dying he told Mike Pence dont talk to that woman from Michigan. The president spoke for 30 minutes, punctuating his remarks by inviting several workers to speak at a separate podium on stage. Thursdays event is the presidents second visit to Michigan in 2020 -- he toured a Dana Inc. manufacturing facility in Warren in January. Trump landed in Detroit was met by House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and Plymouth Township Supervisor Kurt Heise. Trump wore a mask during the tour, but not in public. Ford and the Michigan Attorney General requested that he adhere to executive orders and company policy requiring facial coverings. The president said he put a mask on in an area where they preferred it," and later showed reporters a navy blue mask decorated with the presidential seal. I didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it, Trump told reporters. Eyes on 2020 The presidents visit is among a series of trips to battleground states that are critical to his re-election hopes. Thursdays events were organized by the White House event instead of his re-election campaign. In the last month, Trump visited Arizona and Pennsylvania, while Vice President Mike Pence was dispatched to Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Florida. Vincent Hutchings, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and Ypsilanti resident, said the president appears to be using official White House visits to maintain a campaign presence in important battleground states. Trump has been forced to forego his signature campaign rallies due to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, supporters have organized a series of weekly protests pushing Michigan to swiftly reopen the economy. A crowd gathers for the "American Patriot Rally-Sheriffs speak out" event at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids on Monday, May 18, 2020. The crowd is protesting against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order. (Cory Morse | MLive.com) Cory Morse | MLive.com Aside from the public health implications of masses of people walking around that masks, from an electoral standpoint, its probably good to keep that perspective in the news, to give comfort to others who may be silently supportive of the president but not aware of the vocal support out there among many of their fellow Michiganders," Hutchings said. It leaves the impression that theres a groundswell of opposition, even though polls dont mostly support this. Hutchings said the protests have provided an alternative means for voters to show their support for the president. Trump has voiced his support for the demonstrations organized by members of his Michigan campaign team and other conservative activists. Hes encouraged them because this is a critical state for him and the target of their ire is a Democratic governor, Hutchings said. The president is not visiting an area where he had much success in the 2016 election. Ypsilanti Township is a short drive from two college towns and sits in a traditionally Democratic-voting county; Trump lost both by a wide margin in the previous election. Supporters arrived outside the Rawsonville plant more than an hour before the president was scheduled to arrive. Trump also attracted critics, including one person who displayed a sign on their vehicle reading 90,000 DEAD Trump failed U.S. Onlookers watched the presidents motorcade travel down I-94 from Detroit to Ypsilanti, according to a pool report, some draped in Trump 2020 flags and Auto Workers for Trump signs. One supporter brought a brunette doll in a noose outside the Rawsonville facility, imitating an anti-Whitmer protester who hung an effigy of the governor at the Capitol last week. Another noose prop scuffle flares up outside Rawsonville Ford Plant before Trump visit Anti-Trump protesters along the highway also held signs saying I heart Fauci, and It Takes a Big Man to Wear a Mask." Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed Trumps threat to withhold funding to Michigan in a statement Thursday morning. Biden, who won Michigans Democratic primary in a landslide, also sympathized with residents in Midland County. In the wake of disaster, Donald Trump once again showed us who he is threatening to pull federal funding and encouraging division, Biden said in a statement. Michigan is in the fight of its life as it battles this pandemic and flooding disaster, and now more than ever, leadership and empathy matter. Trump did not refer to Biden by name, but questioned why unions arent endorsing Trump instead of the standard Democrat, a Democrat who doesnt even know where he is. The UAW endorsed Biden last month, and the union said Bidens experiences during the Obama administration will be instrumental as the industry experiences massive changes in technology and jobs in auto and other UAW sectors. Just so we are clear - it is leadership of @GovWhitmer that is saving lives in Michigan. Michigan Democrats (@MichiganDems) May 21, 2020 The former vice president also called Trumps COVID-19 response delayed, erratic and corrupt, causing a disproportionate impact on the health and financial standing of communities of color. Biden said the Trump administration has failed to provide enough federal relief to buoy workers and states during an economic depression caused by the virus. I know Michigan will bounce back because Ive seen it before when President Obama and I worked to rescue the auto industry and our economy from the brink of collapse, Biden said. And I know that under the leadership of Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist, Michigans best days are still ahead." Manufacturing remains top priority Trump said former presidents and Democrats had given up on the manufacturing sector, but his work to revise disastrous trade deals and roll back regulations helped the industries recovery. Trump won Michigan in part by promising to restore the states manufacturing sector, which makes up a critical segment of the Michigan economy. Manufacturing comprises 21% of Michigans gross domestic product and employs 13% of the states workforce while supporting jobs in various connected industries. Michigans manufacturing sector steadily recovered throughout the last decade after facing a severe downturn during the 2008 Great Recession. Manufacturing employment continued to grow at a slower rate since Trump took office, and the sector shed 1,200 jobs in 2019. Regardless, the U.S. was experiencing its longest period of economic expansion in history before the coronavirus stopped it the economy its tracks. The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April. The unemployment rate launched from 3.5% in February to 14.5% last month, the highest since the Great Depression. Some economists predict the unemployment rate could soar to 25% this year. The presidents reelection team argues Trump is the best person to lead the economic recovery. As Michigans economy begins to rebound, Michiganders know that President Trump built the strongest economy Michigan has ever seen, and know that he will do it again, Trump Victory Spokesperson Chris Gustafson said in a statement. Hutchings said the COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly be one of the major issues of the campaign. He said the resulting economic and public health fallout reflects poorly on Republican leadership. The economy is at levels we havent seen since the Great Depression and in the span of about two months almost 100,000 Americans have died who would not have died otherwise, Hutchings said. This is just really calamitous. Its not inconceivable that Trump could win in November, it will be in spite of all thats unfolded. COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. RELATED STORIES Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order Another noose prop scuffle flares up outside Rawsonville Ford Plant before Trump visit As coronavirus stay-at-home order drags on, more Michiganders bend the rules Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Heres what can reopen in which Michigan counties under new state order April was the deadliest month in Michigan this century, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic However, he was forced to leave the Buddhist order due to his ailing health and he died in London aged 51 in 1923. With the support of the Buddhist Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and thanks to Ananda Metteyyas efforts to promote Buddhism through talks and publications, interest spread in Buddhism in Europe. The English monk was an unusual sight under British colonial rule. He was also incongruous with his shaven head and robes in Londons streets, refusing to use horses and carts or hold cash. He practiced Buddhism for seven years before leaving the country for his first mission in his homeland. He became a Theravada Buddhist monk aged 30 in what was then colonial Burma and founded the International Buddhist Society together with monks from Myanmar and Sri Lanka, lay members Arnold and Thomas William Rhys Davids, president of Londons Pali Text Society. He published the Buddhism Magazine and distributed free copies to libraries across Europe. Aspired by the Light of Asia, a narrative poem by Sir Edwin Arnold about the life and philosophy of Gautama Buddha, he studied Buddhism in Sri Lanka before joining the order. Yangon On this day in 1902, Charles Henry Allan Bennett, an analytical chemist born in London, entered the Buddhist Order in Myanmar (then Burma). Given the dharma name Ananda Metteyya, he became the first Buddhist missionary in Britain. On This Day The Day the First British Missionary Entered Myanmars Buddhist Order Two Muslim Children Killed, One Hurt in Mine Blast in Myanmars Rakhine State China's Wuhan Says It Has Tested Almost a Third of Its Residents for Coronavirus The Day the Lawyer Behind Myanmars First Constitution Died What Will it Take to Bring Struggling Myanmar Migrant Workers Home from Thailand? Thai Economy Shrinks Most in Eight Years in Q1; Worse Yet to Come Operator of Chinas Alipay to Invest Over US$73 Million in Myanmars Wave Money Scholars Account of Myanmars Intelligence Apparatus Lets Its Former Chief Off Lightly Hotels to Slash Wages in Myanmars Capital Because of COVID-19 Closures We do not encourage viewing this site in this width. Please increase the size of your window. The fake Iraqi war hero was among the first prosecuted under Pa.s stolen valor law. The harsh prison term handed down this week should ward off others. Certainly, the judge is sending a well-timed Memorial Day message: Some things should never, ever be stolen. As WNEP-TV reports, Christopher Crawford of Scranton falsely claimed he was a veteran wounded in an Iraqi bombing only to have actually fled boot camp a few weeks in. Now, hell be reporting to prison for at least the next 6 years. This, after a Lackawanna County judge handed down a harsh prison sentence in the case this week. Crawford must also pay back more than $16,000 he stole from an American Legion in Scranton. The same judge had found him guilty of both stealing veterans valor and their money during a bench trial back in February. Crawford now has the dubious distinction of being the first person prosecuted under the recent Pa. law making lying about military service a felony. READ MORE: In honor of Memorial Day, heres the compelling story of a local vet blown up in combat -- and his long walk home from war after losing both legs above the knee As WNEP previously reported, the stolen valor part seemed to anger real veterans most. And as stolen valor lies go, Crawfords was a big one, amounting to grand theft honor. When Crawford came to American Legion Post 568 in Scranton, he claimed he was injured by an IED in Iraq. In reality, he deserted only weeks into Army boot camp, WNEP reports. "The thing that's going through my mind in there is all those who we lost overseas in all the wars. What a disgrace," James Kuchwara, commander, VFW Post 25, told the news station during the trial. The real vets the trial attracted wouldnt thing of doing such a thing, WNEP reported. "They come from a generation where veterans don't go around saying, 'Hey, I'm a war hero.' This guy made himself out to be some kind of superman, and he had a lot of people fooled," David Eisele, Lackawanna County Office of Veterans Affairs, told WNEP at the time. Details from WNEP: During the trial, prosecutors laid out how Crawford stole more than $10,000 from Post 568 in just a matter of months last summer. He used four different debit cards that he gave himself as the post secretary. He spent hundreds of dollars a day at bars around Minooka. Other post officers noticed something was wrong only when checks started to bounce. But Crawford took something more than money, these vets said. "The lying about his service hurts ten times more than the money. It's a slap in the face to all the veterans, mostly to the friends and family of those who made the ultimate sacrifice," Robert Kerrigan, American Legion Post 568, told WNEP. "He won't break us; we're here to make sure that justice prevails." Lying about military service became a felony offense in Pennsylvania in 2017. The entire case is a good reminder as we prepare to observe Memorial Day. Hopefully, the judges harsh sentence sends a much-needed message: Some things should never, ever be stolen. READ MORE: 3 men accused of forcing Pa. woman to perform sex acts to pay off debt: cops Man stabbed in chest outside Pa. Sheetz in dispute over womans lost purse: cops Pa. sports bar fights back as liquor license suspensions spread in lockdown crackdown Cadaver dog on boat finds missing 10-year-olds body in Pa. river Huge fentanyl bust on Pa. Turnpike shows opioids are booming amid coronavirus lockdowns Suspect fleeing Pa. police goes missing after plunging into river Wild Pa. police chase of serial burglary suspect caught on tape Pair of Sheetz bandits wear carved-out watermelons as face masks: cops 10-year-old Pa. boy falls into river while playing with older children; search is fruitless so far Person of interest in Pa. womans Mothers Day shooting arrested in 2nd killing: reports Accused DUI driver faces homicide charges in unborn babys death in violent Pa. crash Injured Appalachian Trail hiker triggers hours-long rescue in PA Counterfeit and potentially harmful Seresto flea collars for pets seized in Pa. Armed suspect sought in shooting, killing of 16-year-old Pa. boy Burn the demon out of him: Pa. man accused of trying to light 4-year-old boy on fire 2 Pagans Motorcycle Club members guilty in rivals brutal beating slapped with whopping sentence Dead body found at Pa. country club Armenian News - NEWS.am presents a daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 21.05.2020: The number of COVID-19 cases in Armenia has reached 5,606, with three new deaths reported. According to the latest data, 2,581 COVID-19 patients162 people in the past dayhave recovered thus far, whereas 70 othersan increase by threehave died in Armenia from the disease. Armenian PM spoke on the COVID-19 situation and noted that the situation is much more serious than we can imagine" "We need to take strict measures to bring the pandemic under control so that we do not have to resort to the most extreme restrictions," Nikol Pashinyan added. The number of infected people in the nursing home in Yerevan has reached 45, 28 of whom are its employees, whereas 17 are the elderly receiving care at this facility. Two of the elderly people from the Nork nursing home in Yerevan, and who had coronavirus and were in critical condition, died Wednesday, Sona Martirosyan, spokesperson for the minister of labor and social affairs of Armenia, told NEWS.am. "Two deaths were reported yesterday from among the three in critical condition; one from the coronavirus, the otherno," she said. Health minister Arsen Torosyan briefed reporters on the current situation. Torosyan noted that 15 COVID-19 patients are hooked up to ventilators, and 135 patients are in critical condition. The minister noted that there are 23 pregnant women, 270 kids infected with coronavirus in Armenia. According to him, everything possible must be done so that not a single patient is deprived of access to medical care. The minister added that 375 employees of Armenian medical institutions have been tested positive for COVID-19. According to him, it takes up to 6-7% of the total number of patients. The minister also noted that as of tomorrow, most likely, citizens with a mild or asymptomatic diagnosis of coronavirus will be sent home from hotels and hospitals. The first session of the newly elected Artsakh National Assembly was held on Thursday. Artur Tovmasyan, representing the Free Homeland Alliance faction, was elected was elected Speaker of this parliament of the 7th convocation. Seven standing committees have also been formed in Artsakh parliament and the chairs of these committees have been elected. [UPDATE] Inauguration ceremony of newly elected Artsakh president Arayik Harutyunyan was held in Shushi on Thursday. The newly elected MPs of the Artsakh Parliament, the representatives of the government, the former Artsakh President took part in the event. Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan and Armenian parliament's vice-president Alen Simonyan are also present. The preliminary court hearing of the case of Armenian second president Robert Kocharyan v. PM Nikol Pashinyan is scheduled for June 23. Kocharyan, who is currently in custody, has filed a new lawsuit against Pashinyan for defamation. The reason for the lawsuit is Nikol Pashinyan's statements during the campaign that the countrys defense budget should be increased by $2.4 billion, of which $1.2bn of stolen money should be returned, and during that statement, Robert Kocharyan was mentioned. The Czech Republic's Senate has adopted the resolution condemning atrocities committed against humanity, including the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian MFA wrote on its Facebook. Representative image The cost of a life-saving drug used to treat complications from COVID-19 is making doctors in private hospitals think twice before administering it, as they consider the financial capabilities of the patient. Marketed as Actemra in India by Cipla, Roche pharmas Tocilizumab costs Rs 60,000 per dose. Approved for use in treatment of autoimmune diseases six months of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis costs patients Rs 2.5 lakh. Healthcare professionals are thus being cautious while administering the drug, despite the fact that it is life-saving for patients who develop complication called cytokine storm an extreme immune system response to the coronavirus, as per a report by The Economic Times. The drug modulates IL6 protein to slow down cytokine response and has saved many gravely ill COVID-19 patients. On May 12, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said 30 out of 40 patients it had used this drug on had encouraging results, the report added. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Follow our LIVE Updates on the coronavirus pandemic here The predicament is severe in private hospitals, while public hospitals are completely dependent on corporate donations for provision of the drug. An official at a private hospital said as per the report that they are using the drug only on those patients who can afford it, there is also a shortage of this drug. Shivkumar Utture, Head of Indian Medical Association Mumbai chapter, said corporates have donated 40 doses of the drug to be given to public hospitals. This is an expensive drug and patients of public hospitals definitely cannot afford this, so we are depending on donations, Utture said. Leena Menghaney, a lawyer with Doctors without Borders pointed out the issue of equal access adding that the high price leads to questions of a discriminatory system. This seems to be a classic case of profiteering by pharma companies and inequitable access of this drug, she said. Roche, later said in a statement as per the report, that the drug is currently not approved by an health authority in India. "We are constantly monitoring the evolving situation and coordinating with our global supply chain teams to ensure that the demand requests for Tocilizumab are met and adequate quantities are made available for India. In these unprecedented times, Roche remains committed to providing unrelenting support to patients in India, said a spokesperson. Applicants at a job fair in Concord, Calif., before the pandemic struck. On Thursday, California lawmakers on Thursday said the state is not doing enough to help those left jobless by the COVID-19 crisis. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg) State lawmakers rebuked the states Employment Development Department on Thursday, charging that it has failed to address public outcry over delays in answering calls and processing unemployment benefit claims from Californians thrown out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators grilled EDD Director Sharon Hilliard at a budget subcommittee hearing on the agencys handling of an unprecedented 5.1 million claims for unemployment insurance benefits, voicing frustration that many Californians have not been able to get help in a timely way. We have never heard the kind of suffering that people are experiencing right now, Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) told Hilliard. When they call your bureaucracy, the feedback we are getting is atrocious, and I believe we can do better. Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) said his constituents complain that when they call the EDD for help with claims, they often get a recorded message or the state phone system hangs up on them. The desperation, the frustration is extreme, Lackey told Hilliard. Even with some of the live calls [answered by representatives] we get hangups. That is really unacceptable. Other unemployed Californians have complained that their attempts to file applications at the EDD's online portal were greeted with error messages, frozen screens and other glitches. We are two months in from the start of this pandemic, and still too many Californians cant even reach EDD or have yet to receive unemployment benefits, Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) said. Hilliard said a lack of staff and the agency's antiquated computer system have hampered efforts to answer a flood of phone calls from jobless people and process their claims. She said the agency is weeks away from additional improvements, including an expansion of a phone line that currently helps people with claims from 8 a.m. to noon every day. The agency has transferred 1,300 employees to work at the EDDs call centers, and another 600 are expected to be added in the next two weeks. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also proposed more money for staffing in the fiscal year starting July 1. Story continues We believe that with the additional funding that is coming next fiscal year that we will have plenty of budget in order to continue to quickly ramp up our services both in the call center, as well as with processing, Hilliard told the legislators. The state opened a second call center that operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. but lawmakers said representatives can handle only technical issues, such as changing passwords, and are unable to help callers resolve problems with specific claims. Hilliard said some callers to the second call center can get claims assistance and noted her agency is looking at the possibility of merging the two call centers so people can get help with claims 12 hours a day. The agency was in the process of modernizing its computer system when the pandemic hit and hopes to award a major contract in the fall to do much of the work, Hilliard said. We have a very inflexible system. Its very challenging, Hilliard said. But Chiu complained that the modernization of EDDs 30-year-old computer system began four years ago and is expected to take seven more years, which he said is too long and will likely make it obsolete by the time it is finished. The idea that a modernization project is going to take 11 years is completely unacceptable, Chiu said. Under the Air Indias evacuation plan, the first flight will bring non-resident Indians (NRIs) stuck in Ukraine at the Chandigarh International Airport on Friday. The flight will arrive from Ukraine via Delhi to Chandigarh at 1:30pm and depart at 2:30pm. Confirming the same, a Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) spokesperson, however, said the number of passengers and their details were undisclosed. As per the schedule, there will be four flights (two arrival + two departures) operating on Friday and May 30 to/from Chandigarh International Airport. The May 30 flight will bring NRIs from USA via Delhi to Chandigarh at 10:05am, and depart to Delhi at 10:45am from Chandigarh. Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said all returnees will be quarantined, either at paid accommodation or at their homes, as per their choice. We have already arranged for their screening at the airport and those found with symptoms will be isolated whereas asymptomatic cases will be quarantined for 14 days, he said. The outbreak of COVID-19 has taken a toll on college students forcing them to give up campus life and move all their classes online. Well, the sacrifices for them may not be over yet as it now appears the pandemic may have cost them the chance at having the maximum state grant award rise by $577 to $4,700. When the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agencys board of directors meets next Thursday, it will consider a state grant formula for 2020-21 that maintains the maximum grant award at $4,123. That is the same amount it has been for the past couple of years. These grants go to Pennsylvania undergraduate students to help them pay for the costs of attending college and dont have to be repaid. Elizabeth McCloud, vice president for state grant and special programs, told members of a board committee on Wednesday that the agencys state grant advisers in March had recommended boosting the maximum award by $577 but in light of the COVID-19 disruptions throughout the commonwealth, they recognized the amount of potentially available funding has likely shifted. The funding needed to support keeping the maximum grant at that level requires $325.4 million. McCloud said that anticipates state appropriations for the grant program remain at this years $310.7 million with an expectation that the agency would apply some of its profits from its student loan servicing and other business lines to make up the balance. Gov. Tom Wolf had included a $29 million increase in funding for the grant program for next year in his February budget proposal. But that was before the COVID-19 outbreak ravaged the commonwealths revenue sources, leaving it facing up to a $4 billion budget shortfall, according to the states Independent Fiscal Office projections. So in light of the COVID-19 disruptions throughout the commonwealth, [the state grant advisers] recognized the amount of potentially available funding has likely shifted, McCloud said. Also shifting is the number of students applying for state grants offered to those from families earning less than $125,000 annually. On May 7, the agency reported it had received 31,000 fewer applications for financial aid, compared to the same time last year. Agency officials speculated some students werent applying for the free aid because the pandemic had changed their financial situations and some were thinking of not returning to college in the fall. But by the May 15 deadline, the decline had shrunk to about 11,200 fewer applicants from the prior year, to 342,616, according to agency spokesman Keith New. Last year, 134,000 students received state grants to help pay for college. Perhaps softening the blow of not seeing an increase in the maximum grant amount is seeing many colleges and universities deciding to freeze tuition for next year in recognition of the COVID-19-related job losses and business closings that has left many families financially struggling. Along with recommending the maximum grant award hold steady, McCloud told the board that the state grant advisers also recommended again relaxing one of the grant programs rules that limits students taking at least half of their classes online to be eligible for only 75% of the maximum grant award given to students who take mostly in-person classes. That way students would be eligible for the same grant amount regardless of the instructional delivery mode. Its particularly relevant right now in light of the likely increase in distance education enrollment in the 2020 fall term as a result of COVID-19," McCloud said. The board temporarily relaxed that rule for the spring and summer semester after colleges and universities announced they were discontinuing their in-person classes due to the pandemic. At this point, few, if any, Pennsylvania colleges or universities have not announced definitive plans about whether they will be returning students to their campuses in the fall and resume in-person classes. Penn State President Eric Barron said on Tuesday that is notion by which his university is proceeding at this point but a decision will be made by June 15. Temple University is also considering going back to in-person classes this fall with a decision expected by the end of this month. Discussions also are underway at the 14 state-owned universities about how to resume in-person classes safely with a decision expected in the next month, said State System of Higher Education spokesman David Pidgeon. Meanwhile, McCloud said a board decision on the grant formula next week will allow the agency to send out conditional award amounts to eligibile students by the beginning of June. This timing is very important for our students so they can make financial arrangements for college attendance and payment of bills for the fall 2020 term, she said. "Those conditional awards will not be finalized until after the commonwealth budget is passed of course. If there is a change in the commonwealth appropriation or in other resources available to the program, then the student final award amounts are recalculated and reposted. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. PREVIOUS: Defiant N.J. gym shut down by state, owners vow to sue Murphy The co-owner of a South Jersey gym at the center of an ongoing controversy about reopening used a megaphone labeled with a sticker from a noted white supremacist organization. His lawyer, however, told NJ Advance Media that Atilils Gym owner Ian A. Smith was just handed the megaphone and that he has no association with the organization, the New Jersey European Heritage Association. It was not his megaphone, Smiths lawyer James Mermigis told NJ Advance Media. Not that it makes it right that someone in the crowd had it." We had nothing to do with them ... they showed up, uninvited, he said. The rally in question took place on Monday, as hundreds of supporters gathered to cheer Smiths reopening of the gym. Images identifying the sticker on the megaphone began circulating on social media on Wednesday. The South Jersey gym owner who refuses to keep his gym closed says that he used a megaphone with a white supremacist sticker on it because someone in the crowd handed it to him. pic.twitter.com/cQOIXmi8TE Juan Melli (@juanmelli) May 21, 2020 On its website, the Anti-Defamation League identifies the New Jersey European Heritage Association as a a small white supremacist group created in 2018. Thursday morning, Smith, 33, posted a video on his Instagram page discussing what he called an entirely false rumor. That megaphone was handed to me ... In no way do I ever or would I ever support any group linked to hate or racism of any kind, he said. That is not my message nor has it ever been. Please take a look at my family, we are a multi-racial family. Smith hardened his stance in a statement sent to NJ Advance Media: I condemn any and all hate groups, including but not limited to New Jersey European Heritage Association. I did not ask any of their members to come and they are not welcome here. When asked if his staff will tell the group to leave were they to return to the gym, Smith responded: Absolutely. I was unaware they were even here in the first place. I am uneducated about these groups, as I am not affiliated. Smith made national news with an appearance on Fox News last weekend when he announced his gym would be reopen regardless of the consequences. Gov. Phil Murphy said that would be clear violation of his executive order, when asked last week during a daily briefing on the outbreak. He opened the gym on Monday and was issued a summons. The gym was issued at least two additional citations since them, each of which includes a fine of up to $1,000 and possible jail time. On Wednesday evening, the gym was shut down by the state, reportedly because of health code violations. Co-owner Frank Trumbetti vowed to fight the closure. When asked by NJ Advance Media about the white supremacy organization sticker, Trumbetti said that they are not associated with any hate groups or white supremacy organizations. Ian already put something up on social media and Ill leave it at that, he said. Smith faced further backlash Wednesday after word circulated that he had been charged in a previous drunk driving crash that killed another New Jersey man in 2007, while Smith was a student at Richard Stockton University in Galloway. Rodrigo Torrejon contributed to this report. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook. "As an infantryman, you are on high alert 24-7... getting bombed while you're sleeping, mortared every night," said Army veteran Rodney Ridgeway. "I can't count how many times I almost died." Ridgeway joined the Army in August 2001. By 2012, he had served in three deployments to Iraq. Because of his time there, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other mental and behavioral health issues. Since then, he's seen 11 of his veteran friends take their own lives. Army veteran Rodney Ridgeway in Iraq. (Courtesy of Ida Carson) "You come home, and it's like 'OK, be normal, chill out,'" Ridgeway told AARP. "No, there's no chilling out. ... Without my mom, I wouldn't even be here." Ida Carson, Ridgeway's mother, serves as her son's veteran caregiver. There are an estimated 5.5 million veteran caregivers -- the friends, lovers and family who take care of American military veterans who are seriously injured, ill or carry the invisible wounds of war. A new video from AARP highlights their story. "I identify myself first as his caregiver/mom," said Carson, who lives just a few doors down from her son. "I'm his mother, but I'm acting in a different capacity." That involves not just being present for appointments at the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center and following up afterward, but also serving as an advocate for his well-being. She tracks those appointments, along with his medication and anything else pertinent to his care. While people often think "spouse" when they hear the word caregiver, many members of the caregiver community are parents, siblings and even grandchildren. For those who are unsure of how to address problems with a loved one who might be suffering, AARP offers a Military Caregiving Guide that helps broach difficult subjects, have hard conversations, organize documents and medical information and -- above all -- care for yourself, as well. "My mom was the first person to realize that, when I came home, I wasn't me no more," Ridgeway said. "That happy-go-lucky class clown ... I was gone." Army Veteran Rodney Ridgeway with his parents. (Courtesy of Ida Carson) "Immediately I was at the VA, I made it a point that whatever it takes," Carson said. "He was not going to be a statistic; he would not be the 21 that's killing themselves on a daily basis." She was referring to VA figures that show approximately 20 veterans kill themselves each day. But Carson didn't just start fighting for her son, she was fighting for every veteran who suffers from an unseen injury and has trouble taking care of themselves. Carson was soon speaking in front of VA panels, four-star generals and, eventually, Rep. Phil Roe, a medical doctor and U.S. representative for Tennessee's 1st District. He is also a ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "She goes to D.C. and fights for vets," Ridgeway said. "It's like ... if you got someone like that in your corner ... I can't put it into words." As close as Carson is to her son, she's able to be there for him whenever he might need her and ensure his basic needs are met. It's an effort to maintain that level of personal care for another person. She has an office with a dedicated filing cabinet just for her son's records. For most, caring for a wounded veteran is a full-time job, one that goes largely uncompensated and at great physical and mental cost to the caregiver. A 2017 Rand Corp. study found that caring for a veteran puts a great strain on the caregiver and places them at greater risk for major depressive disorders. But Americans are starting to take notice. Then-Sen. Elizabeth Dole noticed the plight of military caregivers while caring for her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It was the Elizabeth Dole Foundation that commissioned Rand to research the plight of American military caregivers. Ida Carson with Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Elizabeth Dole Foundation Hidden Heroes Campaign Chair Tom Hanks. (Courtesy AARP) According to that 2017 study, there are millions more caregivers just like Ida Carson, providing $14 billion in service for their wounded warriors every year -- and they need help. Often, military caregivers don't think of themselves as such, and are hard to identify. There are also few resources available to them, so even if they know they need help, it can be hard to find. If you or someone you know is a veteran caregiver -- whether they know it or not -- be sure to take a look at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's Hidden Heroes, which can help provide support networks, resources and connect veteran caregivers to valuable benefits from various organizations. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Learn More About Military Life? Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox. In a series of tweets, Ranvir Shorey said he had provided his car to his house help to rush his pregnant wife to the hospital for delivery. Actor Ranvir Shorey on Wednesday claimed that he was stopped by Mumbai Police personnel after he was on his way to the hospital with his house help for a medical emergency. (Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) In a series of tweets, the actor said he had provided his car to his house help to rush his pregnant wife to the hospital for delivery. He alleged that the officer-in-charge told him that child birth is not an emergency. "@MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wife's delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise," Shorey wrote on Twitter. @MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wifes delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise. Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 The Angrezi Medium actor said officer-in-charge at the Jogeshwari Highway Police Chowki has "decided to file an FIR and impound", which he described as "plain harassment". He added that the officer was also speaking to the press about him. Shorey further said he was "saddened and disappointed" with the "transgression and highhandedness of one policeman". Saddened and disappointed that the transgression and highhandedness of one policeman is going to cost me my car, and an FIR against my innocent driver. Even after 3 hours, there has been no redressal of my complaints . @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 Even after over six hours, Shorey said, he was still waiting at the police station. "3 hapless people made to wait for more than 6 hours. What are we being punished for? @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra," the actor wrote. 3 hapless people made to wait for more than 6 hours. What are we being punished for? @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 In response to the actor's tweets, Mumbai Police assured him to resolve the matter soon. "Sir, we have followed you. Request you to share your number on DM for us to reach out to you for a few details," the police department wrote on Twitter Shorey's latest update on Twitter shows no FIR was launched, nor the car was impounded and they were let go after eight hours. However, tagging Mumbai Police, he writes, "I may have lost 8 hours, but not my faith in you." After more than 8 hours, we have been let go. No FIR, car not impounded. Thank you, @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice for listening, albeit a bit late. I may have lost 8 hours, but not my faith in you. Ranvir Shorey (@RanvirShorey) May 20, 2020 (With inputs from Press Trust of India) Lucknow, May 21 : Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who was arrested in Agra on Wednesday evening by the Lucknow police, has been sent on 14 days' judicial remand. The Congress leader was brought to Lucknow, late on Wednesday night, and produced before a magistrate. He was taken for medical examination at the Civil Hospital in Mahanagar and then taken to a temporary jail. He was arrested in a case of fraud and forgery, related to bungling in list of buses submitted by the Congress to the Uttar Pradesh government for bringing migrant workers. Lallu was arrested immediately after he was granted bail in another case by the court in Agra on Wednesday. He had been arrested in Agra on Tuesday for protesting against the government's refusal to allow movement of buses in the state. Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Lucknow during his medical examination, Lallu said, "Such cases and jail sentences are a reward for a political worker. The government can heap cases on me and keep me in jail but they should provide immediate relief to migrant workers." Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sack of Prof. Charles Uwakwe as the Registrar and Chief Executive of the National Examinations Council, NECO. A letter dated May 11 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, on behalf of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said Buhari approved the sack. Also sacked by the president were four members of the Management for various offences bordering on financial impropriety. In the letter, Uwakwe was accused of violating the Public Procurement Act (2007) and pursuant to PSR 030402 and Part 1 schedule 4 (i) of NECO Establishment Act. He had been suspended since May 2018 by the Federal Ministry of Education, the parent ministry of the agency over alleged financial mismanagement and abuse of office. It was alleged that Uwakwe and some top officials of the council allegedly awarded contracts in the council to the tune of N25 billion without following due process. NECO, in a release on Wednesday by its Head of Information and Public Relations Division, Mr. Azeez Sani, confirmed that the suspended registrar had been relieved of his appointment by the President, while four members of the management had also been dismissed. After due consideration of the investigative panel on the allegation of unsatisfactory conduct levelled against you and some management staff of the council, Mr. President in exercise of his powers, has approved your removal as the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of National Examinations Council with effect from the date of your suspension from duty. The former Registrar was also directed to hand over all the government property in his custody to the acting Registrar, Mr. Abubakar Gana, The Nation reports. Frontline workers treating Covid-19 sufferers could be particularly prone to PTSD, studies show (Dominic Lipinski/PA) Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst NHS staff helping patients with Covid-19 could rise by 70% if they are not given the right support before returning to regular routines, psychiatrists warned. The Royal College of Psychiatrists Northern Ireland is called for a phased return to normal working for NHS staff in the same fashion which the military uses to bring troops back from deployment. One element is decompression, 36 hours of relaxation, briefings, and psychological resetting away from the operational environment. Dr Gerry Lynch, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists NI, said: Our frontline staff work really hard at the best of times, but during the pandemic theyve been working under much stress whilst continuing to treat those patients with mental health conditions. This is particularly problematic if there is a second wave of the virus. Dr Gerry Lynch If our mental health workers are not supported during the recovery process then they may suffer significant health problems in the future and we cannot afford to not have them there, if a second wave hits. There is a risk that if key workers such as doctors are not supported well enough during the recovery process, then they may suffer significant mental health problems. This is particularly problematic if there is a second wave of the virus. Stormont health minister Robin Swann has published a mental health action plan which includes a dedicated Covid-19 response. It aims to help mental health patients access the support they need. New analysis published in the BMJ of the mental health impact of staff working with patients suffering from Covid-19 has shown the danger of not giving staff the chance to reset following a crisis. The study suggests that staff working with patients with Covid-19 are 70% more likely to develop acute PTSD or to suffer from other psychological distress. CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's military will escort Iranian tankers bringing fuel to the gasoline-starved country as soon as they enter its exclusive economic zone, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday. His comments came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said the shipment should "alarm" Latin America. Both OPEC members are U.S. adversaries whose oil industries are under U.S. sanctions. Trump administration officials say Washington is considering a response to the shipment. The tankers - Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon and Clavel - are carrying around 1.5 million barrels of fuel, and passed the Suez Canal in the first two weeks of May, Refinitiv Eikon data show. They are expected to arrive in Venezuela between late May and early June. "When they enter our exclusive economic zone, they will be escorted by Bolivarian National Armed Forces boats and planes to welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation," Padrino said on state television, adding that the government was in touch with Iran's defense minister. Guaido said the fact President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government is importing fuel shows its mismanagement of the country's oil industry. Venezuela's refining network has 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of capacity, but has collapsed after years of underinvestment. "We are very concerned for the safety of Venezuelans, and of Latin America as well, due to this attempted Iranian presence on Venezuelan soil," said Guaido, who leads the opposition-held National Assembly and is recognized as the rightful president by dozens of countries, including the United States. Maduro calls Guaido a U.S. puppet seeking to oust him in a coup, and blames U.S. sanctions for Venezuela's economic woes. Guaido said his team believed Venezuelan officials paid Iran with "blood gold" from informal mines in Venezuela's southern jungles, which have fueled massacres as gangs battle for territory. (Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell) Electric carmaker Tesla dropped a federal lawsuit against Alameda County filed less than two weeks ago after resuming manufacturing at its Fremont plant against local orders. Tesla sued to reopen its factory on May 9 and also resumed operations around then. County officials approved a safety plan for the factory to reopen this week. Lawyers for Tesla filed the dismissal Wednesday and did not respond to an emailed request for comment. No reason for the dismissal was given. Alameda County Counsel Donna Ziegler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case. Tesla took legal action during an escalating battle between CEO Elon Musk and Alameda County over whether the company could continue making cars after being forced to shutter in March under shelter-in-place orders. Musk repeatedly railed against shutdown orders on Twitter and on an earnings call. He continued to operate the plant in March for days after being ordered to close before sending employees home with pay. Workers across the company were furloughed in April with some seeing pay cuts as well, with more than 11,083 Fremont employees temporarily out of work, according to state filings. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Musk moved to restart production lines in early May as Gov. Gavin Newsom began loosening restrictions on which businesses could operate, including manufacturing. Alameda County health officials said at the time their orders remained unchanged, however, prompting Musk to file the lawsuit. Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me, he wrote on Twitter after filing the suit. Tesla does not appear to have been penalized for reopening before its safety plan was approved. Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice At least 23 endangered royal turtles have successfully hatched in Cambodia, more than the number since the last 3 years combined. The rare turtles could breed after the local communities and the government put in dire conservation efforts to stop sand-dredging in its habitat in the Koh Kong province. In footage released online by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the researchers can be seen weighing and measuring the turtles at the end of April. One of the world's 25 most threatened freshwater turtles, the royal turtles came from at least three nests on the beach visited by a few turtles regularly each year, as per local media reports. In a shocking, a few of the infant royal turtles hatched from two nests that werent visited by the turtles for almost 13 years. Until the re-emerged of the scant population in the Sre Ambel River in the year 2000, the royal turtles were almost declared extinct according to the Wildlife Conservation Societys report. Hatched in the region of southwestern Koh Kong province, the 13 of the 51 eggs elevated hopes for the survival of Cambodias national reptile which had disappeared due to Illegal fishing, reduction of flooded woodlands and sand-dredging along with the Sre Ambel river system, as per media reports. NEWS: 23 critically endangered Royal Turtles have hatched on Cambodia's Sre Ambel River. More than 3 previous years combined. Full story: https://t.co/sgiGXCcCz8 pic.twitter.com/Ho8sWNtmgj WCS Newsroom: #EarthStrong (@WCSNewsroom) May 19, 2020 Read: Biggest US Solar Project Approved In Nevada Despite Objections From Conservationists Read: Wildlife Still In Official China Event Menus, Key Politician Pushes For A Vegetarian Diet Sand-dredging banned in 2017 Cambodias programme director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Ken Sereyrotha, was quoted saying that with the ongoing support and cooperation, the authorities were hopeful that the number of turtles will continue to increase in the coming years. Earlier, a law was introduced in the year 2017 to stop sand-dredging which had been responsible for the loss of habitat of the royal turtles, pushing them to the brink of extinction, he added. The Sre Ambel River System is key to the survival of Royal Turtle because it has beaches, flooded forests, and mangroves where they can find their food and breed, Sereyrotha stressed. Director of Fisheries Conservation Department of Fisheries Administration, Ouk Vibol, said that he was extremely delighted to witness the rise in the number of nests of the Royal Turtle in the region, local media reported. Further, he added, the Fisheries Administration would continue to put in efforts along with WCS to conserve Royal Turtles through habitat and beach protection, research and monitoring, and nest protection program. Read: 'Koala Distancing': Australian Vets Give Native Wildlife Touch To Social Distancing Norm Read: Africas Endangered Wildlife At Risk As Tourism Dries Up Its been a little over a week since Standard Cognitions cashier-less grocery store on Market Street reopened, and customers are trickling in. The coronavirus pandemic highlighted how fraught the San Francisco companys supply chain was. Despite being considered an essential business, Standard Cognition closed its store in mid-March when the citys shelter-in-place orders took effect. Weve had a few pieces of the puzzle to figure out, said Jordan Fisher, co-founder and CEO. We have to think about keeping our employees safe in the current environment and going forward as well. The store is not Standard Cognitions bread and butter. Rather, it serves as a showcase for the companys core offering: its autonomous retail technology. The company wants to equip retailers, including grocery stores, with technology that makes it easy for shoppers to walk in, grab what they want, and leave without waiting in line or stopping to scan and pay. In other words, Standard Cognition would like to be an answer to Amazon Go (which has temporarily closed all five of its San Francisco locations). But instead of building stores from the ground up, Standard said its technology would help retailers work within a stores existing layout. The company uses ceiling-mounted cameras and A.I. to track purchases and said it does not use or collect facial recognition or other consumer biometrics. All of that is on display at the companys single location on 1071 Market St. But no matter how much expertise the company has on its tech it acquired Italian competitor Checkout Technologies for an undisclosed amount this week it had to learn how to be a grocer and navigate supply chain issues, which were exacerbated during the pandemic. Standard Cognition It wasnt easy for us, and it took us a little longer to figure out the logistics, Fisher said. We didnt have that same infrastructure in place as a major retailer, and it was harder for us to come around. Some changes include offering more essential products like paper towels, hand sanitizer and food. It set up more local sources for getting goods, said Chintan Maniar, the head of retail experiences at Standard Cognition. The store now offers around 500 items, compared with about 200 in March, Maniar said. Heeding local measures added to the challenge, but the company is ready to forge ahead, with gloves and masks for employees. Notices about safe practices are on display for shoppers, as mandated by the city. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes We have a safety plan in place, a strategy for what were going to do if one of our workers contracts COVID-19, Maniar said. Standard Cognition employs 100 people, three of whom work at the store. Even though the store touts convenience with cashless payments, it still has to cater to the citys rule of allowing for cash transactions. Six-foot markers show the space in front of its kiosk where customers can buy goods with the help of an employee. San Francisco ordered most businesses to accept cash last year, out of a concern that the trend to cashless payments was shutting out those without access to smartphones and credit cards. The city said its still enforcing the rule and does not plan to lift it temporarily. Shwanika Narayan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @shwanika MILTON, Ga., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Exide Technologies ("Exide" or the "Company"), a global provider of stored energy solutions, today announced that customary first day motions to help facilitate continued operations in the ordinary course of business while the Company operates in Chapter 11 were approved by Judge Christopher S. Sontchi of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As part of the court's approval of first day motions, Exide received authorization from the court to, without interruption: Pay employees in the usual manner and to continue their health and welfare benefits programs; Continue to manufacture and deliver product to customers; and Pay suppliers for goods and services provided to the Company post-petition. The Court also approved on an interim basis the $40 million in Debtor-in-Possession ("DIP") financing from a group of lenders, including certain of its existing noteholders. This DIP financing will provide sufficient liquidity to support ongoing operations in North America for the duration of the sale process and restructuring. The Court will hold hearings on June 18, 2020 to consider the final orders regarding Exide's first day motions, including the final approval of the DIP financing. "The Court's approval of these critical first day motions is an important first step, allowing us to continue supplying high quality energy storage solutions to our customers and honor our commitments to our stakeholders while pursuing a value-maximizing sale of our North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific operations," said Exide Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Vargo. As announced on May 19, the Company and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as one component of a comprehensive strategy to best position its North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific businesses. The Company's operations outside of North America are not included in the Chapter 11 proceedings as a debtor. Additional Information and Advisors Additional information about Exide's Chapter 11 proceeding can be found at exide.com/2020-restructuring. Vendors with questions can visit https://cases.primeclerk.com/Exide2020/, call a dedicated hotline at 877-429-4840 between the hours of 9 AM and 6 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday, or email [email protected]. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. are serving as legal counsel to Exide, Houlihan Lokey is serving as investment banker, and Ankura is serving as financial advisor. About Exide Technologies For more than 130 years, Exide Technologies, LLC (exide.com) has been Powering the World Forward as a global provider of stored electrical-energy solutions for the Transportation and Industrial markets. Headquartered in Milton, Georgia, Exide operates in 80 countries with more than 8,000 employees. Exide produces a range of battery and energy storage systems and specialty applications for the Transportation, Network Power and Motive Power markets and industries including agricultural, automotive, electric, light and heavy-duty truck, marine, materials handling, military, mining, power-sport, railroad, security, telecommunications, utility and uninterruptible power supply (UPS), among others. As one of the world's largest secondary recyclers, the company is committed to environmental sustainability MEDIA CONTACT: Melissa Floyd [email protected] (678) 566-9927 Jeremy Fielding / Nathan Riggs Kekst CNC (212) 521-4858 / (212) 521-4804 Richard Campbell Kekst CNC (+44 7775) 794933 SOURCE Exide Technologies Up to 10,000 NHS workers will be given anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to see if it can protect them against the coronavirus in a new trial. US President Donald Trump sparked fury earlier this week when announced he was taking the drug as a prophylaxis, despite there being no proof it works in this way. And the evidence on whether it can even treat COVID-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - is mixed. British researchers believe hydroxychloroquine's 'best chance' of working is if it used in prevention, which is exactly how it is used against malaria. The trial will involve healthcare workers who come into direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Results are expected by the end of the year. Hospitals in Brighton and Oxford will be among the first to be involved in the global study, which will also enroll volunteers in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. More than 40,000 frontline workers from around the world will take part in a trial to see if hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug touted by Donald Trump as a 'game changer,' can really help fight coronavirus Professor Sir Nicholas White said a randomised clinical trial is the best way to find out if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL? Hydroxychloroquine - branded as Plaquenil - is a cheap drug that has been used to prevent malaria and treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis for decades. But no evidence currently exists to show the drug can prevent patients being struck down with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Scientists also warn there is no proof hydroxychloroquine, which was touted as a wonder drug by Donald Trump, can even treat COVID-19. Hope was sparked early on in the crisis when a French study suggested the drug could have both antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects. It triggered a flurry of research across the world, an endorsement from Trump and emergency authorization from US regulators. But other research has dealt a blow to the drug, with one Chinese trial last month finding it did not speed up the recovery of COVID-19 patients. And New York researchers last week said patients got no benefits whether they took just the drug or paired it with the antibiotic azithromycin. Leading doctors have warned the drug can cause severe side effects, and can even throw off the process that makes the heart beat in time. One trial in Brazil was stopped short because so many of the enrolled coronavirus patients given the drug developed these arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats). According to WebMD, side effects may include: Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, dizziness, or headache Slow heartbeat, symptoms of heart failure (such as shortness of breath, swelling ankles/feet, unusual tiredness, unusual/sudden weight gain) Mental/mood changes (such as anxiety, depression, rare thoughts of suicide, hallucinations) Hearing changes (such as ringing in the ears, hearing loss), easy bruising/bleeding Signs of infection or liver disease Muscle weakness, unwanted/uncontrolled movements (including tongue/face twitching), hair loss, hair/skin color changes Low blood sugar, severe dizziness, fainting, fast/irregular heartbeat, seizures. Advertisement One of the study authors, Professor Nicholas White at the University of Oxford, said: 'We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against COVID-19. 'The best way to find out if they are effective in preventing COVID-19 is in a randomised clinical trial.' The study's lead UK investigator, Professor Martin Llewelyn of Brighton and Sussex School, said a 'safe and effective vaccine may be a long way off'. He added: 'If drugs as well tolerated as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could reduce the chances of catching Covid-19 this would be incredibly valuable.' It comes just days after the US president's decision to take hydroxychloroquine as a prophylaxis was described as 'a staggering, irresponsible act that could very well also amount to self-harm' and there are fears his actions risk running down supplies of the drug for people with other conditions who need it. Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the school of medicine at the University of Leeds, also said those that follow Mr Trump's example might not only endanger themselves, 'but could also deprive patients with chronic autoimmune conditions of their much-needed medication'. The price of hydroxychloroquine is said to have risen dramatically as the availability of the drug has reduced because of demand from those who believe it will prevent COVID-19. Scientists say the drug has some 'very serious' side-effects and there is no evidence that it prevents or treats the disease. The trial - which will involve 40,000 participants - is being ran by the Bangkok-based Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit. But those running the trial have said chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine 'could reduce the chances' of catching coronavirus amid fears of a second wave of infections. Hydroxychloroquine is a prescription drug used for acute malaria and certain types of arthritis. It can reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling - and is widely used to treat rheumatic diseases. It is a derivative of chloroquine, which is also used to treat malaria. Leading doctors have warned the drug can cause severe side effects, and can even throw off the process that makes the heart beat in time. The UK Government has said that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are not licensed to treat COVID-19 related symptoms or prevent infection. It said the drugs should not be used outside ongoing clinical trials which have reached no conclusions over the safety and effectiveness of the medicine on coronavirus. The first UK participants in the new trial can be enrolled from today at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Further testing is expected at another four sites by the end of May, with 25 total locations opened across the UK before July and more planned around the globe. The team aims to deliver results by the end of 2020. Donald Trump has backed the anti-malaria drug, even telling reporters he has been taking it The TRUTH about hydroxychloroquine: Cheap malaria drug being trialled to treat COVID-19 has sparked hopes - but evidence shows it may NOT help after all and can even cause severe heart problems INFECTED PATIENTS 'GET NO BENEFIT FROM TAKING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE' Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health looked at data from 1,438 COVID-19 patients across 25 hospitals in New York. The study, published in JAMA last month, was observational and looked at the outcomes of patients given different drug combinations. About 25 per cent of patients who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin - another promising coronavirus drug - died. In comparison, the rate was 20 per cent for those only given hydroxychloroquine alone and was 10 per cent for those on azithromycin. 90% OF CRITICAL PATIENTS GIVEN THE DRUG DEVELOPED ARRHYTHMIAS Scientists in the US and France last month found 90 per cent of critically-ill COVID-19 patients given hydroxychloroquine developed heart arrhythmias. An arrhytmia is an abnormal heartbeat rhythm, which could be that the heart beats too slow, too fast or irregularly. It is relatively common, affecting around two million people per year in the UK, but can increase the risk of life-threatening events such as stroke or cardiac arrest. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers monitored 90 patients in intensive care units, while University of Lyon academics analysed 40 patients. Both uncovered similar results in JAMA Cardiology, after looking at the QT intervals - the time between the heart's ventricular muscles contracting and then relaxing. When this interval becomes too long, the patient has developed a dangerous form of heart arrhythmia, called atrial fibrillation. HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE MAY IMPAIR ABILITY OF IMMUNE SYSTEMS Hydroxychlorouquine may impair the ability of patients' immune systems to fight off the infection, a review suggested at the start of April. Harvard scientists analysed 10 studies as well as anecdotal reports from doctors that suggested the drug could help coronavirus patient. The review found many of the clinical trials were poorly conducted and anecdotal reports carried little weight. HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE DOES NOT SPEED UP RECOVERY The antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine did not speed up coronavirus patients' recovery in a trial in China, scientists revealed in April. In a disappointing blow for the promising drug, doctors said it did not work as a cure. Patients who were taking it suffered fewer symptoms than others who were treated alongside them without the medication but their recovery time was the same. They had tested hydroxychloroquine on 75 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and compared their illnesses to 75 patients who didn't receive the drug. BRAZIL TRIAL STOPPED EARLY BECAUSE OF HEART PROBLEMS A clinical trial in Brazil had to be stopped early, it was revealed last month, because patients developed heart problems. The Brazilian study, taking place in the Amazonian city of Manaus, had planned to enroll 440 severely ill COVID-19 patients to test two doses of chloroquine. But researchers reported their results and called a halt to the experiment after only 81 people had received the high-dose treatment which gave them 1,200mg per day. One in four of the patients had developed heart rhythm problems and early data suggested death rates were higher among those patients. MALARIA DRUG DOES IMPROVE SURVIVAL ODDS, PHYSICIANS CLAIM Hydroxychloroquine has improved the survival and recovery odds for about 90 per cent of patients treated, a physicians group claimed. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) presented data on 2,333 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine. Results showed 91.6 per cent of those who got the controversial drug fared better after treatment, it was reported at the end of April. COMBINING DRUG WITH DIET SUPPLEMENT COULD WORK BETTER Combining hydroxychloroquine with the dietary supplement zinc could create a more effective treatment for coronavirus patients, a study suggested last week. Researchers found taking the drugs together, along with the antibiotic azithromycin, increased patient's chances of being discharged and decreased their risk of dying. It did not, however, change the average time patients spent in hospital, how long they spent on a ventilator or the total amount of oxygen required. The team, from New York University Grossman School of Medicine, says the findings are encouraging but that more studies are needed. HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE COULD HELP TREAT PATIENTS, STUDY SAYS French researchers last month found hydroxychloroquine could treat coronavirus patients, sparking hope of a cure. Thirty patients were treated with hydroxychloroquine for 10 days, combined with azithromycin, an antibiotic. Although very small, the study 'showed a significant reduction of the viral carriage' after the six days. And results showed patients had a 'much lower average carrying duration' compared to patients who received other treatments. Several weeks later, the study's publisher said the paper 'did not meet its standards' because it excluded data on patients who did not respond well to the treatment. Philippine National Police officers inspect a pharmacy linked to an alleged medical facility set up to treat Chinese COVID-19 patients in the northern Philippine town of Mabalacat, May 19, 2020. Authorities in the northern Philippines raided a villa housing an unauthorized COVID-19 clinic and arrested two Chinese nationals who were operating it, police said Wednesday. Ling Hu, 45, the apparent owner of the outfit, and pharmacist Seung-Hyun Lee, 38, were taken into custody Tuesday while allegedly operating the clinic at the Fontana Leisure Park inside the government-operated Clark Freeport Zone in the town of Mabalacat. Police said they confiscated Chinese-labeled medicines used on COVID-19 patients, but did not identify the medicines. Their patients were Chinese nationals, local police commander Brig. Gen. Rhoderick Armamento told reporters, adding that he sent officers to track them down. Their patients thought they were already treated at the hospital, but they may be spreading the virus, he said. Regional police commander Col. Amante Daro said the suspects would face criminal charges, but did not elaborate. The place was operating as a health facility and pharmacy with Chinese-labeled medicine catering to the services of Chinese nationals, he said. More than 200 suspected coronavirus rapid test kits and syringes were recovered from trash cans at the villa, the Associated Press reported. Armamento said the two suspects were not permitted to operate a medical facility in the Philippines, adding that officers were checking their immigration status. The area is a known destination for illegal Chinese workers who end up working inside online casinos that cater to Chinese clients. Statistics from the immigration bureau show that as of last year, more than 200,000 Chinese nationals were working in the country, many of them employed by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators. Since September 2019, Philippine authorities have arrested and deported nearly 1,000 Chinese nationals illegally employed in online casinos in Manila and in Clark, officials said. The state-owned Clark Development Corp., which runs the economic zone, said it ordered the closure and full lockdown of Fontana Leisure Park following the raid. This illegal activity not only violates the law, but also poses danger to individuals who potentially need medical treatment for the deadly disease, it said. CDS does not and will not tolerate this inside the Clark Freeport. In April, military chief of staff Gen. Felimon Santos caused a diplomatic stir when he sought assistance from the Chinese Embassy to procure the Chinese-developed anti-COVID-19 drug known as Carrimycin. Santos, who said the drug helped him recover, subsequently apologized and withdrew his letter after learning that the drug had not been approved in the Philippines. Second wave At a Wednesday Senate hearing on the government response to Covid-19, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the country was on its second wave of infections. The first wave based on our epidemiologist happened sometime in January. Its the time when we have three Chinese nationals from Wuhan infected by the virus. Its just small, Duque said. But now we are on second wave and we are doing all we can to flatten the epidemic curve, he said. During a cabinet meeting that stretched past midnight Wednesday, President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he would re-impose a total lockdown if infections continued to rise. The government relaxed quarantine rules on Saturday in many parts of the Luzon island, home to the capital city Manila and 60 million people, triggering a commotion in some malls by shoppers eager to go out after two months of being cooped up at home. If we will go back to the situation before, if the contamination will be as fast as before and it will continue to infect those who are already allowed to go outside, then well have to just go back to the original program, Duterte said. On Wednesday, health officials announced seven new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the national toll to 844, and 205 new infections, for a cumulative caseload of 13,147. Around the world, more than 4.9 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and more than 324,000 have died as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by disease experts at U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Headlines have been pronouncing the impending death of the shale industry since long before the spread of the novel coronavirus. Even when oil was priced at $30 a barrel, writes industry rag RigZone, hundreds of small producers across Texas and the Midwest were laden with debt, sweet spots already taken and forcing well operators to tap higher-cost locations. Now, however, the situation in the United States shale patch is infinitely worse. The region that brought us the shale revolution and allowed the United States to surpass even Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer in the world has been pummeled by the last months oil price crash. The United States oil empire is facing its downfall. When the COVID-19 pandemic began to ravage the global economy and shut down industries around the world a few months ago, global oil demand took an immediate hit. When the leading OPEC+ members of Russia and Saudi Arabia met to strategize, their talks quickly devolved into a dispute and then an all-out oil price war, which led to a massive crude glut and oil storage shortage that continues to stifle the international oil market. On Monday, April 20, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude benchmark did the unthinkable--it plunged below zero. And not just a little bit below zero. The WTI closed at nearly -$40 per barrel that day. While U.S. shale prices have since bounced back above zero, they are still not nearly high enough to save the domestic shale industry from sweeping bankruptcies and tens of thousands of fired and furloughed employees. WTI crude at under $20 a barrel, is less than half the $40-plus-a-barrel breakeven needed by the shale industry, says RigZone. The slump in crude prices and a supply glut lasting into the foreseeable future leaves the shale industry with stark choices: to limit production, cut costs and increase productivity. Related: Natural Gas Drillers Face Price Meltdown As Storage Fills Fast This sobering reality has caused massive speculation and untold numbers of think pieces about the future of U.S. and international oil markets. Stories have ranged from How Oil Prices Could Go To $100, to U.S. Shale Needs To Slow Down To Survive and, if it doesnt, U.S. Shale Could Crush The Oil Market Recovery. Now, this new report by RigZone poses a new burning question: Can US Shale Producers Innovate Themselves Out of Trouble? Industry leaders across the West Texas permian basin are using every method in their arsenal to stay afloat. Cutting exploration budgets, rigs, well drilling, laying off frack crews and closing old wells are tried and tested methods to weather a downturn in prices, lists RigZone. After these measures, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is available and gives companies space to restructure and restart operations when oil prices recover. But the gap between the oil price and breakeven price of shale which, according to the latest Dallas Federal Energy survey, averages $48 to $54 per barrel, demands drastic action to bring costs down and productivity up. The traditional methods of overcoming an economic slump just wont be enough in the face of the recession-causing juggernaut that is the novel coronavirus pandemic. The only possible answer is out-of-the-box thinking and industry innovation that will allow the industry to cut costs at the same time that it increases productivity, according to RigZone. But even this may be a short-sighted response, as fossil fuels were already on a downward trend as the worlds most developed countries move toward decarbonization and renewable energies. While some industry leaders work toward technical improvements like bettering hydraulic fracturing, deep imaging, smart microchip proppants, and speedier drilling methods and technologies, others are moving away from fossil fuels altogether. Long before coronavirus, the Permian Basin was already in severe decline, and even Saudi Aramco had admitted that they expect peak oil by midcentury. Oil will continue to be a massive economic sector for decades to come--but not forever. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Pakistan continues to focus on countering Indian influence in Afghanistan and harbours the Taliban and groups such as the Haqqani Network, which have the ability to engage in violence on Afghan soil, according to a new Pentagon report. The report by the inspector general of the US Department of Defense for the January-March quarter, issued on Monday, pointed to a continuation of Pakistans efforts to achieve its strategic objectives in Afghanistan, including shutting out India from the war-torn country. The report is the first one to be issued since the US and the Taliban signed an agreement on February 29 to facilitate the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The deal has stalled due to differences between the Taliban and the Afghan government on prisoner releases and intra-Afghan dialogue. There was no immediate response to the report from Indian officials. According to the DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], Pakistans strategic objectives in Afghanistan continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of instability into its territory, the report said. The DIA reported that Pakistan likely views increased Taliban influence in Afghanistan as supporting its overall objectives and will seek to influence intra-Afghan peace talks in a direction favourable to Pakistan. The DIA also reported to the inspector general that Pakistan has encouraged the Afghan Taliban to participate in peace talks, but refrained from applying coercive pressure that would seriously threaten its relationship with the Afghan Taliban to dissuade the group from conducting further violence. The DIA also told the inspector general that Pakistan continues to harbour the Taliban and associated militant groups in Pakistan, such as the Haqqani Network, which maintains the ability to conduct attacks against Afghan interests. Indian and Afghan officials have for long accused the Taliban, particularly its sword arm, the Haqqani Network, of having close links to the Pakistani military leadership. Most of the Taliban leadership and their families continue to be based in Pakistani cities such as Quetta. The report comes at a time when the US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has called on India to hold direct talks with the Taliban. However, the Trump administrations outgoing pointperson for South Asia, Alice Wells, said on Wednesday that it was up to India to take a call on engaging with the Taliban. In his message in the report, Sean ODonnell, the acting inspector general of the US department of defense, said: The United States and Taliban agreed to a [one]-week reduction in violence prior to the signing of the agreement, but Taliban violence during the quarter overall was high. In January and February, both the United States and the Taliban increased operations in order to influence negotiations. In addition, while the Taliban reduced attacks against US and coalition forces, it continued to attack the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, particularly after the signing of the agreement. The department of defense didnt provide information on Taliban-initiated attack for the January-March quarter, saying this was sensitive as it was part of ongoing deliberations on whether the Taliban is complying with the terms of the agreement with the US. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Twitter will begin testing a feature that lets users preemptively limit who can reply to their tweets. Specifically, the feature is allowing users to select whether they want to receive replies from everyone, only users they follow, or people they mention in their tweet. Everyone that can normally see a users's tweets will still be able to read the limited post in addition to being able to like and re-tweet it 'A new way to have a convo with exactly who you want. Were starting with a small % globally, so keep your out to see it in action,' said Twitter in a tweet. Testing, testing... A new way to have a convo with exactly who you want. Were starting with a small % globally, so keep your out to see it in action. pic.twitter.com/pV53mvjAVT Twitter (@Twitter) May 20, 2020 Users will be able to see if a tweet's replies have been limited so they know in advance if they'll be able to comment. According to the company, which announced its intentions in January, it is testing the feature with a limited global audience and will roll the feature out to all users sometime this year. Twitter hopes that letting users limit replies will help mitigate harmful conversations on its platform. 'We're really excited about this, because not only does it help people feel more comfortable as a community, but also [ it] allows us to create a whole new format of conversation,' Twitters director of product management, Suzanne Xie in a feature announcement in January. Limiting replies is part of a broader push by the company to crack down on offensive or abusive content that takes place within the platform. Last year the company put in place a policy to moderate and examine posts that are reported to the platform that target certain religious groups. If the tweet is found to be targeting specific religious groups, specifically if it 'dehumanizes others on the basis of religion,' Twitter says it will remove the post. Protections for religious groups followed up a previous change last June that was meant to weed out hate speech emanating from its platform by political figures. In the new system, posts by political figures found to be in violation of Twitter's policy will be flagged by a type of public consent notice which must be read and clicked through before users can access the underlying tweet. Seven staff posted at the Wireless Control Room of Delhi Police's west district have tested positive for COVID-19 following which the district control room was shut on Thursday night, police said. A staff posted at the wireless control room of the west district tested positive for COVID-19 four days ago, following which samples of other staff were taken for testing. "After seven staff posted at Wireless Control Room of West district were found positive for COVID-19, we had to shut down the operations from the office concerned by 8 pm. Thirty staff members are being sent for home isolation for the next five days, a senior police officer said. Meanwhile, Mobile Control Room of the force will function as the west district control room, he said. According to an official order, an officer-in-charge of arrangement cell will provide five staff for each shift round-the-clock and an inspector from reserve will work as Inspector for Control Room in General Shift. While an officer-in-charge in Mobile Control Room will provide the connectivity of electricity from DCP (West) district office to make it functional, it said. An inspector from West district will ensure sanitisation of these area and lock it down for five days. All staff of control room, workshop and exchange shall maintain home quarantine for five days and will report their health to duty officer, Shalimar Bagh daily. Explaining the functioning of the control room, the officer said usually an emergency call received at the main control room is then diverted to the district concerned. So the 15 police districts of the Delhi Police have their own control room in each of its district and the operations of that particular district is handled by the district wireless control room concerned. There are at least seven staff deployed in each shift at the control room which works 24*7, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The new "exposure notification" technology rolled out on Thursday by Apple and Google could help solve the technical troubles experienced by the federal government's COVIDSafe app, but may also require changes to the way the app collects personal data. The technology allows deeper access to the iOS and Android smartphone operating systems, which could reduce issues faced by COVIDSafe including the iPhone version's reduced operation when the device is locked. However, in order to utilise the tool, health authority apps must comply with conditions put in place by the two tech giants in order to protect user privacy. Namely, the apps must not collect location data, and user submission of personal contact details must be strictly voluntary. Currently the COVIDSafe app requires users to supply a phone number. A spokesperson for Apple and Google said that apps were allowed to ask for phone numbers and other contact details, and governments could use that volunteered data to contact individuals who were identified as at risk, but apps had to give users the option to not provide the information. Opposition is hardening among teachers and parents toward the Johnson governments phased re-opening of nurseries and primary schools, slated for June 1. On Monday, a poll by the NASUWT trade union of 30,000 teachers found 95 percent opposed schools in England returning from June 1, while 91 percent have no confidence in government measures to protect their health and safety or that of their children. There is deep public anger over the criminally reckless push to reopen schoolsand widespread recognition that the governments campaign has nothing to do with educating or protecting students. Social distancing is impossible to maintain in primary schools and in the case of nursery age children would amount to child abuse. Last week, it was revealed that Public Health England had neither seen nor approved the governments plans for a phased return of schools announced by Boris Johnson on May 10. The Department for Educations chief scientific adviser, Osama Rahman, has admitted he was only provided with a draft guideline for the return of schools two days after Johnsons speech was aired. According to Schools Week, during Rahmans appearance in front of the parliamentary science and technology committee, he also admitted the DfE had done no modelling on the impact on transmission rates of starting to reopen schools after the May half term break. The decision to send nursery aged childrenincluding babies and toddlersand primary-aged students as young as 4, 5 and 6 back into schools was taken solely by Johnson and his cabinet of deranged Thatcherites including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and Dominic Raab. The nakedly pro-market character of the June 1 reopening could hardly be clearer. Seizing on the first signs of a decline in the death rateachieved only thanks to the publics rigorous adherence to social-distancing and other measures to combat the virusthe Johnson government is pushing working class parents back into factories, offices and workplaces. It is for this reason that the youngest children, the most difficult to protect, are being forced back first. The economy is being reopened, despite warnings from the governments scientific advisers that its failure to provide comprehensive mass test, trace and quarantine measures will produce a deadly new wave of infections. Primary school teacher Piers Roberts, whose step-daughter contracted coronavirus at school before the lockdown and is now fighting for her life, has warned that reopening schools will turn them into death camps. He slammed the unconscionable risk taken by the government for using children as guinea pigs, describing its return to work measures a war crime and human rights catastrophe. An urgent warning is necessary: while broad sections of teachers and parents recognise the homicidal content of the Johnson governments return-to-work campaign, the organisations posturing as the political allies of teachersthe education unions and Labour-dominated local authoritiesare working to introduce Johnsons plans via the back door. Since Friday, at least 27 councils, covering thousands of primary schools, have come out against the June 1 reopening date. These include Liverpool, Hartlepool, Gateshead, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham, Essex, Slough, and Barking and Dagenham, mostly run by Labour. Closer scrutiny shows that most are proposing only to delay the reopening of schools by a matter of days. Liverpool and Sefton councils have flagged start dates in mid-June, Stockport plans a phased return from June 10, while Birmingham has stated only that some schools may not reopen on June 1. Bury Council announced that schools in its catchment would not reopen while high levels of Covid-19 remain. But Andy Burnham, Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, sought to qualify this, telling reporters, I just think there needs to be a little flexibility offered to councils like Bury to put in place the local arrangements to reassure parents, teachers and wider community If that means a week or a couple of weeks beyond June 1, I say so be it. On Monday, 20,000 teachers attended an online meeting of the National Education Union (NEU). But the NEU, NASUWT, head teacher association NAHT and the GMB (which covers general staff) are working to derail this opposition in direct collaboration with the Johnson government. Last night, Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the NEU, posted the following extraordinary statement on Twitter: We are writing to [Education Secretary] Gavin Williamson today asking him to set up a working party to really examine the practicalities of wider school opening when it is safe to do so. Reopening schools is a question of logistics, not of risks. Teachers responded incredulously to Bousteds statement, Surely it is both? one asked. Bousteds announcementcontemptuous of the lives of teachers, students and their familiesaccurately reflects the NEUs position. In a speech to union reps last Thursday, she described the NEUs publicly stated opposition to a June 1 phased reopening of schools as a negotiating position. She revealed that in the days prior to Johnsons May 10 speech, NEU officials were already negotiating a phased reopening of schools scheduled to begin with Year 6 students. We knew that June 1 was a date favoured by the government to start to reopen schools. The indications in our meeting on Thursday, was that the reopening was going to be very cautious, staged, and well managed, she said. Bousted and Joint General Secretary Kevin Courtney said they were shocked by Johnsons subsequent announcement that three grades would resume. She explained that letters sent to NEU members the day after Johnsons speech, instructing them not to participate in discussions at their local school, were aimed at forcing the government back to the negotiating table: The government hasnt engaged with us nationally They havent engaged with the trade unions, so were saying, dont talk at school level to try and force the conversation at national level. Anyone who thinks the NEU is trying to protect lives should consider the following words spoken at the reps meeting by Courtney: The government has not yet answered our questions about what is the safe rate of transmission amongst children. Children do transmit (emphasis added). Courtney is making clear the NEUs willingness to subject children to what is being widely described in government, business and media circles as acceptable levels of risk. The NEU is deliberately working to break-up the opposition among teachers and prevent a political struggle to bring down the Johnson government. This is the real purpose of its safety checklist sent to reps, with teachers instructed to oppose their schools reopening if the NEUs five safety criteria are not met, the first of which is a sustained downward trend in COVID-19 cases. The checklist does not nominate a point at which a reopening would be acceptable, but by their own admission the union was preparing the return of year 6 pupils under conditions where hundreds of people are dying from the virus each day. What teachers can expect from the NEU in the weeks ahead was blurted out by the unions legal advisor, who explained that teachers have the right under section 44 of the Workplace Safety Act to refuse to work in conditions that pose a serious and imminent risk of danger. The NEU will support anyone in that position, the advisor told reps. But you as reps may well be placed in quite difficult positions when we are finally at a place where were looking at the wider opening of schools. Should schools fail to act on teachers health and safety concerns, Bousted advised, ultimately the matter could be raised with your local MP. Teachers will find no support from their local MPs. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy, former Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner, both pointedly refused to endorse local councils decision to not reopen schools on June 1. On the BBCs Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Rayner bent over backwards to demonstrate what she described as Labours constructive and cooperative role in supporting the Johnson government. So far, NASUWT, NAHT and the ASCL have all announced their support for the staged resumption of classes on June 1. The NEU is preparing to deliver the same outcome as soon as it is politically possible. The back to school plans are the spearhead of efforts to dragoon millions of workers into unsafe workplaces, and they can only be fought on the basis of the broadest possible mobilisation against the Johnson government. To wage such a struggle successfully, rank-and-file committees must be formed in every school, uniting teachers, general staff and parents, to oppose the reopening of schools until the virus has been suppressed. Such committees must champion the fundamental principle that the health, safety, lives and social rights of the working class must take precedence over the murderous dictates of the financial oligarchy. [May 21, 2020] Businesses 'Out of Touch' With Employees Working From Home, Peakon Reveals COPENHAGEN, Denmark, LONDON, AUCKLAND, New Zealand and NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Peakon , an employee success platform, released a new report, How Employees and Organisations are Responding to COVID-19 , which reveals that 19% of the global workforce feel their productivity and workload is being misunderstood by their employers. Peakon's data, collected over March and April, comprises nearly 500,000* survey responses from employees worldwide. It reveals that employees are most concerned about their productivity and workload being misunderstood by their employers. Globally, nearly one in five (19%) is critical of their employer's approach to productivity during the crisis. Respondents noted a pressure to work harder and longer hours. An analysis of the comments made by employees found that 'hours' and 'pressure' were among the top five most commonly used words. While employees appear to approve of measures taken by their employer to protect their physical health during the pandemic, many are still looking for greater understanding and support around their mental health. Of the employees who criticise their employer's response to productivity, 12% explicitly mention health and mental health issues commonly using words like 'stress', 'anxiety' and 'pressure'. Respondents spoke of companies being 'out of touch' with the stress and anxiety employees are currently feeling as they attempt to work during a crisis. Others were keen for their employers to understand that far from being a prolonged vacation this extended period of working from home represents a violent change, impacting many parts of their lives. Terms like 'pulling weight' and not 'slacking' also occur frequently in the employee comments. This suggests a lack of trust among some managers, and employees feeling they need to demonstrate how much they are working. Nearly one in ten (8%) critical respondents raised concerns linked to family obligations and their position as primary caregivers. A desire for more flexible hours to help support childcare and home schooling was noted, along with a need for managers to betterunderstand individual situations. Women were more critical than men on this topic of understanding productivity and workload. This suggests that traditional gender roles are continuing to play out for those still in lockdown, with women carrying more of the caring responsibilities. Commenting on the findings, Peakon CEO and co-founder Phil Chambers says: "There's a disconnect between employers and employees around what's feasible in the current situation, and this must be addressed. "Employers need to remember that this is not a typical 'work from home' scenario, and most employees won't have had a proper break or holiday in recent months. "Business leaders and managers should also be cognisant of the pressure some workers are feeling now to work harder and produce even more in a bid to to prove their worth, concerned about their job security. "Remote working is not going away anytime soon, especially as many organisations are taking a phased approach to getting people back into the workplace. But monitoring employees' productivity is not the answer. It will only compromise the trust employees have in their employer. "This is the time to ask employees how they are feeling, and understand their ever-changing needs and expectations. Give them autonomy and flexibility they need. Be empathetic. Reassure your teams that with everything going on of course it's fine to have the odd slow or unproductive day. This is the only way to make sure employees can work to their best ability now, and in the future." Based on the concerns exposed by Peakon's data, Phil advises businesses to take the following steps: 1. Listen to employees It seems simple, but all too often businesses fail to ask employees for their opinion on what does and doesn't work for them. Not all requests can be acted upon immediately but maintaining a conversation with employees regarding what is workable and what is not will ensure they have a voice and feel heard. 2. Be flexible According to the findings of our Employee Expectations Report , employees worldwide are crying out for more flexibility. Often this is feasible. Allowing employees to flex their hours around caring responsibilities, free from judgement, can help them achieve a better work life balance, which is important to support their mental health. 3. Be realistic Business productivity may dip in the coming months as some employees remain working remotely and others return to the workplace. Communication will be key, but monitoring employees won't help. It will only demonstrate a lack of trust in them and encourage them to look elsewhere when the climate improves. Instead, business leaders should work with employees to overcome barriers to their productivity where possible. Those that do will be rewarded with longer term loyalty and hard work. For more information on how to support your workforce through this crisis, visit our Peakon Support Hub . * Source: Peakon database: employee survey responses related to COVID-19 questions . About Peakon Peakon is an employee success platform that converts feedback into insights. It makes the employee conversation quantifiable and actionable to increase employee engagement not simply measure it. With the largest data set of employee feedback in the world, Peakon provides customised benchmarks and personalised insights to support our mission of helping every employee drive the change they want to see. To date, Peakon has helped organisations like Capgemini, Verizon, Pret, TrustPilot, and easyJet make fundamental changes in how they operate to improve employee experience, driving greater business results and helping work work for people. Contact: [email protected] View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/businesses-out-of-touch-with-employees-working-from-home-peakon-reveals-301063890.html SOURCE Peakon [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] AstraZeneca office in South San Francisco, California, US. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty) AstraZeneca (AZN) confirmed that it will begin to supply a potential vaccine to battle the COVID-19 infection by September. The pharmaceutical giant said in a statement that it has the capacity to manufacture 1 billion doses of the University of Oxfords potential vaccine through 2020 and 2021 and it has already secured the first agreements for at least 400 million doses of the vaccine. The new coronavirus has so far infected nearly 5 million people and killed more than 300,000 across the globe. The vaccine, previously known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, but now known as AZD1222, is being developed by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford. AstraZeneca said it has now finalised its licence agreement with Oxford University for the recombinant adenovirus vaccine. On 14 April, AstraZeneca said it would start a clinical trial to assess the potential of Calquence in the treatment of the exaggerated immune response associated with COVID-19 infection. On 30 April, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford announced that they had teamed up to make and distribute a potential coronavirus vaccination, as scientists across the world race to develop drugs to combat the pandemic. There are more than 70 coronavirus vaccines currently in the works and a finished product could take more than a year to emerge. The usual lead time for the development of a vaccination is five to seven years. The group also confirmed on Thursday that todays announcement is not anticipated to have any significant impact on the companys financial guidance for 2020; expenses to progress the vaccine are anticipated to be offset by funding by governments. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo Finance UK The Apple iPhone SE recently went on sale in India. The 2020 iPhone SE was unveiled globally in April, and unlike past iPhone reveals, the iPhone SE 2020 was released through a regular press release. Perhaps the company did not see the merit in a big launch event given the current state of affairs. But despite the rather down-to-earth approach, the iPhone SE 2020 was still the most popular phone at the time of its launch. According to data collected by iPrice Group, the new iPhone SE dominated search trends beyond the tech sector, and for a moment, was even able to steal netizens attention from the COVID-19 pandemic. The e-commerce aggregator analysed search data on Google in 17 different countries and regions, including seven countries with the most cases of COVID-19, including India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brazil. iPrice discovered that concerns and curiosity about the coronavirus for all countries surveyed dropped significantly in April, just as rumours about the iPhone SE started to gain strength. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show The analysis shows that searches worldwide for keywords such as COVID-19, COVID, and coronavirus went down by 46 percent compared to its peak in late April as Apples new iPhone began shipping. In countries with the highest number of active cases like the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the proportion of searches for coronavirus keywords had decreased by 76 percent, 43 percent, and 47 percent respectively. iPrice noted that the rapid increase in iPhone searches could be attributed to the fact that people in these countries were looking for a distraction. And shopping for consumer electronics turns out to be an extremely popular choice. iPrices research showed that when people stopped searching for COVID-19, they started searching for the iPhone SE instead. Within 30 days of April, the proportion of searches for iPhone keywords went up by 17 percent worldwide. This trend was most evident in developing countries, presumably because of the iPhone SEs low-price tag, by iPhone standards. In seven developing countries, interests for iPhone keywords shot up by 89 percent immediately after the announcement about the phone was made in those countries. Two days after the new iPhone SE announcement, India, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia saw the proportion of searches for iPhone increased by 133 percent, 178 percent, 103 percent, and 104 percent, respectively. In Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, and Hong Kong, searches for the iPhone SE surpassed that of the coronavirus. The data in iPrices study suggests that announcing a new smartphone amid a prolonged crisis might not be such a bad idea. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 18:39:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TOKYO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan's exports logged the steepest drop in April in more than 10 years as the coronavirus pandemic saw overseas demand slump amid global business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, the government said in a report Thursday. According to the Finance Ministry, exports in the recording period plummeted 21.9 percent from a year earlier to 5.20 trillion yen (48.24 billion U.S. dollars), marking the 17th straight month of decline. The decline marked the steepest drop since a 23.2-percent dive booked in October 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis, the ministry's data showed. Imports, meanwhile, dropped 7.2 percent to 6.13 trillion yen, marking the 12th straight month of decline, owing to slumping purchases of crude oil and coal among other energy resources, according to the ministry's preliminary report. Japan's goods trade deficit stood at 930.40 billion yen in the recording period, with the figure turning negative for the first time in three months, the latest data set also showed. Exports to the United States fell 37.8 percent to 879.80 billion yen, owing to falling demand for cars and aircraft engines, the ministry said, adding that imports form the United States rose 1.6 percent to 698.63 billion yen, leading to a 181.17 billion yen deficit in the recording period. Exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, fell 4.1 percent to 1.18 trillion yen, in the recording period, marking the fourth straight month of decline, the ministry said. Imports from China, however, increased 11.7 percent to 1.73 trillion yen, leading to a trade deficit of 552.60 billion yen, the latest figures showed. For the whole of Asia, including China, exports were down 11.4 percent, while imports rose 2.2 percent, with the deficit standing at 27.04 billion yen in April on year, the ministry said. Exports to the European Union, meanwhile, tumbled 28.0 percent in April to 483.51 billion yen, while imports from the single currency bloc fell 6.8 percent to 674.68 billion yen, resulting in a deficit of 191.18 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said. "Of course, we don't think the virus pandemic is coming to an end, so it is possible that the negative effect will continue in May," a finance ministry official was quoted as telling a press briefing on the matter. (1 U.S. dollar equals 107.77 yen). Enditem Study estimates that successful implementation of three recently introduced therapies would be expected to extend survival by up to six years and event-free survival by up to eight years Patients with heart failure have substantially shorter life expectancies than people without this condition. Approximately 6.5 million people in the U.S. and over 64 million people worldwide have heart failure, and about half of them have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In the last three decades, there have been many advancements in the treatment of HFrEF with several new drugs showing promising results in randomized, controlled clinical trials. However, uptake of new therapies has been slow. A team led by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital has conducted an analysis to estimate the potential benefits of using a comprehensive regimen that incorporates newer therapies into clinical practice compared to using a more conventional regimen. The team found that comprehensive therapy could extend lifespan up to six years and eight years free from cardiovascular death or first hospital admission for HFrEF. Results are published in The Lancet. "There's been some resistance to adopting comprehensive therapy for heart failure patients," said corresponding author Scott Solomon, MD, of the Brigham's Cardiovascular Division. "What we did here was to say, 'What might the benefit be over a patient's lifetime?' And the benefit we're seeing is pretty dramatic." "Across a broad range of ages, these therapies, when implemented in combination, may meaningfully improve life expectancy and help patients remain out of the hospital," said lead author Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, also of the Brigham's Cardiovascular Division. To conduct their analysis, Solomon, Vaduganathan and colleagues leveraged data from three previously conducted randomized, clinical trials. Each trial evaluated a therapy for heart failure patients: mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI), and sodium/glucose cotransporter (SGLT2) inhibitors. Drawing on the data from these trials, the team conducted an actuarial analysis to estimate the lifetime benefit of taking all three drugs in addition to a conventional regimen. Their analysis found that over the course of a lifetime of use, assuming consistent treatment benefits, the comprehensive regimen could add up to eight years of survival free from cardiovascular events and hospitalization due to heart failure. While younger patients with HFrEF would stand to benefit the most, the researchers reported gains in life expectancy for all age groups analyzed. Offering readily understandable metrics for clinicians and patients to be able to refer to when discussing treatment options was important to the authors, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "Patients with heart failure are especially vulnerable during COVID-19 and ensuring effective preventive care for this high-risk segment of the population is a top priority in the next phase of the pandemic planning," said Vaduganathan. The authors note that their analysis has certain limitations, including assumptions about the therapy, adherence, and that benefits would continue to accrue over time. In addition, the analysis does not examine the costs of heart failure drugs or the potential side effects -- such as kidney toxicity -- of taking these drugs in combination. ### Vaduganathan has served on advisory boards for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Baxter Healthcare, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, and Relypsa. Solomon has received research grants from Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bellerophon, Bayer, BMS, Celladon, Cytokinetics, Eidos, Gilead, GSK, Ionis, Lone Star Heart, Mesoblast, MyoKardia, NIH/NHLBI, Neurotronik, Novartis, Respicardia, Sanofi Pasteur, Theracos, and has consulted for Akros, Alnylam, Amgen, Arena, AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Cardior, Cardurion, Corvia, Cytokinetics, Daiichi-Sankyo, Gilead, GSK, Ironwood, Merck, Myokardia, Novartis, Roche, Takeda, Theracos, Quantum Genetics, Cardurion, AoBiome, Janssen, Cardiac Dimensions, Tenaya, Sanofi-Pasteur, Dinaqor, and Tremeau. Paper cited: Vaduganathan M et al. "Estimating lifetime benefits of comprehensive disease-modifying pharmacological therapies in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: a comparative analysis of three randomised controlled trials" The Lancet DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30748-0 Pakistan and China have enjoyed close and friendly relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties in May 1951. Pakistan was one of the first countries that recognized the Peoples Republic of China. Over the years, the relationship has blossomed into an All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership. Pakistan sees China as one of its closest friends and partners, and China considers Pakistan its Iron Brother. The bilateral relationship between the two neighboring countries is characterized by feelings of mutual trust, respect and goodwill towards each other. There is a regular exchange of visits at the highest level between the two countries, and the strategic cooperation between Pakistan and China has grown over the past several decades. Economically, China is Pakistans largest trading partner and a major investor, especially in infrastructure and the energy sector. In 2018, bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$ 19.08 billion. With the official launch of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the bilateral relationship has been elevated to a higher level. CPEC is a flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinpings Belt and Road Initiative. It aims to enhance connectivity and improve the infrastructure between Pakistan and China. Several projects are being implemented under CPEC for the enhancement of infrastructure and generation of energy. People-to-people contacts are an important aspect of the bilateral relationship. The year 2015 was celebrated as the Year of Friendly Exchanges between Pakistan and China, and several high profile events were organized including seminars, exchanges of visits and cultural events to highlight people-to-people interactions. Leaders of both countries often pay mutual visits and maintain close contact, and consult with each other on all important issues. People to people contact has grown exponentially after the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Consultation Mechanisms: Pakistan and China have several consultation mechanisms including the Strategic Dialogue at Foreign Ministers level, Political Consultations at Foreign Secretary/Vice-Minister level, consultations on South Asia, Arms Control, Counter-terrorism, and so on. Bilateral Cooperation: Defense: Pakistan-China Defense collaboration forms the backbone of the relationship. This cooperation covers high-level military exchanges, structured defense and security talks, joint exercises, training of personnel in each others institutions, joint defense production and defense trade. Economic & Trade Relations: China is currently Pakistans largest single trading partner, while Pakistan is Chinas second largest trading partner in South Asia. Major imports from China include machinery and mechanical appliances, metals, chemical products, mineral ores, plastic scrap and transport equipment. Main exports include cotton yarn, cotton fabric, rice, leather and fish products. Bilateral trade, which stood at US$ 1.3 billion in 2002, reached US$ 19.08 billion in 2018. To enhance bilateral trade volume, the two countries signed the second phase of the China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) during the Pakistani Prime Ministers visit in April 2019. CPFTA-II became operational from 1st December 2020. It would ensure a level-playing field in terms of concessions vis-a-vis other competitors, robust safeguard measures for the protection of domestic industry, improved tariff reduction modality, higher liberalized import value from China and lesser import value for Pakistan and attracting FDI into SEZs. Investment: According to the State Bank of Pakistan Annual Report 2018, during FY 2018, China was the biggest investor in Pakistan, with an investment of US$ 1.591 billion out of a total of US$ 2.537 billion, which amounts to 63 percent of total FDI. With the initiation of CPEC, there has been an upsurge in investment flowing into Pakistan, especially in the infrastructure and energy sectors. China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): Pakistan and China have established a Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) to implement CPEC. The JCC is co-chaired by Pakistans Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform and Vice-Chairman of Chinas National Development and Reform Commission. It is supported by eight Joint Working Groups covering the various areas of cooperation, including: (i) Energy, (ii) Transport Infrastructure, (iii) Gwadar port, (iv) Industrial Cooperation, (v) Planning & Finance, (vi) Security, (vii) Socio-Economic Development, and (viii) International Cooperation. Two new JWGs have also been added. The ninth and tenth JWGs on Science & Technology and Agriculture were established in March 2020 during the visit by the Pakistani President to China. Nine JCC meetings have been held to date, with the last one taking place on 5 November, 2019 in Islamabad. The next meeting of the JCC is scheduled to be held in China in 2020. Both sides will also enhance cooperation in agricultural areas including deep processing technology, fisheries, and disease-free zones. The opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to People's Daily Online. Zamir Ahmed Awan is a senior fellow with the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and a sinologist at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected] Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:18:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ANKARA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Thursday said it will not bow to Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar's threats to launch airstrikes against Turkish elements in Libya and emphasized any attack on Turkish interests would have "grave consequences." "It is striking that the threats by Haftar militias to attack Turkish forces and interests come in the wake of deployment of new warplanes in eastern Libya by foreign support," Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement. "Haftar and his supporters intend to escalate the conflict in Libya," Aksoy stated. He said that Ankara reminds once again that if Turkish interests in Libya are targeted, this will have severe consequences and Turkey will consider the Haftar elements as "legitimate targets." Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart on the issue of Libya on Thursday. Turkey's reaction came after media reports that Russia sent at least eight warplanes to help Haftar. Turkey backs the Tripoli-based Government National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and has signed a military cooperation agreement to support its fight against Haftar. Turkey sent troops to Libya as part of this accord. Since the uprising which killed former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been divided between the powers of GNA and the eastern-based LNA. The brother of the Bourke Street rampage killer has been jailed for a decade over an 'evil' terror plot to gun down people on New Year's Eve. Ali Khalif Shire Ali, 23, admitted planning to shoot civilians and take hostages during New Year's celebrations in Melbourne's Federation Square in 2017. He will spend at least seven-and-a-half years behind bars in a ten-year sentence before he is eligible for parole. 'What you were planning was random and despicable,' Victorian Supreme Court Justice John Champion said in sentencing on Thursday. Ali Khalif Shire Ali (pictured), 23, tried to get a firearm and ammunition in a plot to attack Melbourne's Federation Square on New Years Eve in 2017. He has been jailed for 10 years He said the planned attack was 'evil' and the consequences would have left a 'terrible and horrifying toll'. Justice Champion said Ali had planned 'terror and horror' to achieve his 'twisted religious and political objective'. The Somali-Australian told undercover operatives about his plans and wanted to get his hands on a high-powered assault rifle for the attack. Ali is the younger brother of 30-year-old Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, who fatally stabbed Pellegrini's Espresso Bar owner Sisto Malaspina, 74, in November 2018. The killer was shot at the scene by police and later died in hospital. The younger Ali became radicalised in 2016 and consumed 'vicious and insidious' Islamic State propaganda, including graphic videos, and read terror attack how-to handbooks. He was fuelled by revenge, wanting to give the Australian community a 'small taste' of what was happening to countries in the Middle East by hurting innocent people, Justice Champion said. Ali's brother Hassan Khalif Shire Ali (pictured), 30, was shot dead by police after setting his car on fire and stabbing a 74-year-old cafe owner to death on November 9, 2018 However, during his pre-sentence hearing in November last year, Ali took to the stand to apologise and renounce the terrorist organisation. 'I'm deeply sorry for what my actions were... I was just an angry person,' Ali said at the time. He also renounced IS for the actions and said he hated the terror group. 'I hate them for the actions they committed, the innocent lives they have taken for no reason,' Ali told the court. 'I hate them for what they did to my brother.' The younger Ali has been in custody since November 2017, when police arrested him at a Werribee shopping strip. He had been subjected to a lengthy police investigation, with a phone tap in place from October 2016 until his arrest Ali was also subject to physical surveillance and his spending activity was tracked. The would-be terrorist originally planned to use a truck for his attack, but his driver's licence was cancelled, the court heard. Federation Square, opposite Flinders Street Station, is popular spot to watch the New Years fireworks on the Yarra River (pictured is New Years Eve at Federation Square in 2013) He instead considered using a knife or a bomb to murder civilians, before settling on an automatic firearm. Justice Champion recalled how Ali told undercover police that if he saw Muslims or a non-Muslim woman with a child in the crowd he would spare them. 'But if she was alone, then yeah',' he told the officers. Ali planned to use his terror attack to radicalise other Muslims by recording two videos he hope would inspire them to commit their own unspeakable acts. One video was for the Australian community about the treatment of Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, and another was to the Muslim community. 'I'm gonna rise them up,' he told the undercover officers. Legendary cafe owner Sisto Malaspina, 74, ran to help Hassan thinking he was a car crash victim but stabbed to death in the Bourke Street (pictured) attack Ali had previously denied his terror charge in a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court, but later changed his plea to guilty. It is not the first time Federation Square has been the target of terrorism plots. In November last year, Ibrahim Abbas was jailed for 24 years after admitting he planned a terror attack on Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and St Paul's Cathedral for Christmas Day 2016. His co-conspirators Hamza Abbas, Abdullah Chaarani and Ahmed Mohamed are yet to be sentenced after being found guilty by a Supreme Court jury. The plot was foiled just days before the attack by police who had been listening to their preparations and watching as they carried out reconnaissance at Federation Square. A pre-sentence plea hearing for Ali has been set down for August 23. Advertisement In high-income countries, antenatal corticosteroid treatment has been in routine use for over 30 years. Recommendations and clinical care guidelines for maternal antenatal corticosteroid treatment differ between continents and countries. In Finland, the treatment is currently recommended when the risk for preterm delivery is at 34 gestational weeks or less. In select cases, the treatment is recommended even later in gestation. Corticosteroids accelerate fetal maturation, especially in the lungs, and increase the child's resilience to the stress that results from being born preterm.The population-based register study used records from the Finnish Medical Birth Register and the Care Register for Health Care. The registers are kept at the THL Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, which is the statutory statistical authority for social and healthcare data in Finland. The researchers followed up with over 670 000 singleton children born between 2006 and 2017. Of the pregnant mothers, 2.2% were treated with corticosteroids when preterm birth was imminent.Maternal corticosteroid procedure is an effective treatment - but the long-term benefits and harms should still be weighedThe researchers emphasize that maternal corticosteroid treatment is an effective treatment and can be life-saving for babies who are born extremely or very preterm. However, in recent years, there has been considerable debate on whether to expand the treatment indications beyond 34 gestational weeks. In Finland, this treatment is recommended, for instance, in the case of elective cesarean section, until 36 gestational weeks. Gestational week 36 refers to a pregnancy that has lasted for 36 weeks and six days."This is an observational study, and the results do not prove that antenatal corticosteroids are the cause of the increased risks found in the study. However, we conclude that it is important to weigh the balance between the long-term benefits and harms, in particular when considering whether to expand the treatment indications to later gestational weeks. The prognosis of babies who are born preterm at later gestational weeks is very good in high-income countries," says Professor Eero Kajantie from the University of Oulu and THL Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare."Of the mothers who were treated with antenatal corticosteroids, 45% went on to deliver a term baby. This means that prediction of preterm birth is often very difficult," he adds.The study took into account a number of factors that increase the risk of preterm birth, including maternal pregnancy disorders and smoking during pregnancy. The study also compared term-born maternal sibling pairs, of which one sibling was exposed to maternal antenatal corticosteroid treatment and the other sibling was not.Also in these sibling comparisons, the treatment-exposed children had higher rates of emotional, behavioral and psychological development disorders, suggesting that shared genetic or familial factors do not explain these associations.In term-born children, the findings could not be attributed to a single, specific disorder. However, in preterm children whose mothers had received corticosteroid treatment, the rate of mild intellectual disability was lower than in preterm children whose mothers had not received the treatment. This finding is in line with those showing that maternal antenatal corticosteroid treatment improves the prognosis of the children born preterm."Even though experimental studies in animals have shown that antenatal corticosteroid treatment has harmful effects on the neurodevelopment of the offspring, population-based cohort studies, like ours, cannot verify if any of the harmful effects on child disorders are accounted for by maternal corticosteroid treatment or if some other factor explains these associations. We tested for several candidates, but none of these factors explained the associations," says Professor Katri Raikkonen from the University of Helsinki.Source: Eurekalert A former White House employee who served under 11 United States presidents died of COVID-19 this month, US media reported on Wednesday. Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, 91, was one of the White Houses longest-serving employees, working in various positions, including cleaner, doorman and butler from 1957 to 2012. I want the world to remember my grandfather as someone who is really authentic, Jermans granddaughter, Jamila Garrett, told FOX 5, the local Fox affiliate in Washington, DC. She said that he taught his family to always be yourself and that is what we will continue to carry on through his legacy. Garrett said her grandfather started in the White House as a cleaner under the administration of Dwight D Eisenhower. He was promoted to the butler position under former President John F Kennedy after developing a good relationship with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Garrett told FOX 5. Tonight on @fox5dc at 10p He served at the pleasure of 11 U.S. Presidents during his 55 years at the White House. Last weekend, he passed from COVID-19. My exclusive interview with the granddaughter of White House butler, Wilson Jerman is next! pic.twitter.com/SBiXbQLiud ShawnYancy (@ShawnYancyTV) May 20, 2020 Shanta Taylor Gay, who is also a granddaughter of Jerman, told CNN that her grandfather had retired from the White House in 1997, but returned in 2003. Former President George W Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush said Jerman was a lovely man. He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned, they said in a statement to NBC news. Jerman left the White House in 2012 as a maitre d under former President Barack Obama, according to Gay. He was a quiet but stern man. Very giving, never fussed or complained. Always said he lived a blessed life, Gay told CNN, adding that when Jerman left the White House in 2012, the Obamas presented him with a plaque and a coin to represent each president he served. Former First Lady Michelle Obama included a photo of Jerman standing in the elevator with the president and first lady in her memoir, Becoming. Considering that we arent able to grieve normally physically together, [the photos inclusion] is one way we are able to feel connected to his success and to feel connected to so much that he promoted around authenticity and building relationships, which equals building trust, Garrett told FOX 5. Facebook will limit offices to 25pc occupancy, put people on multiple shifts and require temperature checks when it lets employees back into workplaces beginning in July, according to people familiar with the matter. The company employs almost 5,000 people at its Dublin-based European headquarters. The social media company outlined to staff globally how it plans to handle a return to major job sites starting July 6, providing a glimpse at what offices may look like more broadly when businesses reopen their doors after Covid-19. Facebook will also limit how many employees can gather in meeting rooms, create two-metre spaces between work stations, replace cafeteria buffets with grab-and-go meals and initially keep office gyms closed, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing company internal policy. The company also will bar outside visitors initially. Staff must wear masks in the office when not social distancing, and in some locations, masks will have to be worn at all times while working. Facebook doesn't plan to test employees for Covid-19, but it may do so once faster testing becomes more readily available, the sources said. Bloomberg Name: Mary Doolan What do you do? I'm principal at Coonabarabran High School in North West NSW. The COVID-19 crisis has placed into sharp relief the fact that you can't always know what is around the corner. My days involve working with students, staff and parents and carers. The classroom environment beats admin tasks, on any day. Coonabarabran School Principal, Mary Doolan. How long have you been doing this job and what first sparked your interest in this area? I have been a teacher for 15 years. Teaching was never on my radar as a career path during high school. I adored learning and had fantastic teachers, but journalism was my goal. I took a gap year as an exchange student to Canada and upon my return studied Arts/Law at Sydney University. A new 5G agreement will see China Mobile sharing network resources with China Broadcasting Network (CBN), granting the market leader access to the TV providers 700MHz spectrum. The companies stated that they would jointly fund and deploy a network over the 700MHz frequency. This will enable China Mobile to improve its coverage using fewer base stations than with its 2.6GHz network particularly in rural regions. CBN will be able to access China Mobiles 2.6GHz network and will also receive guidance and investment from the mobile operator. This will allow it to deploy its commercial 5G network more rapidly, significantly reducing its projected investment costs. The cable TV operator received its 5G licence in June 2019, along with an 80MHz holding of 700MHz spectrum and 100MHz of 4.9GHz spectrum. It has lined up an investment of CNY250 million (US$35.2 million) to offer 5G services in 16 cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. CBN will be able to pay to use China Mobiles 2G, 3G and 4G infrastructure before the companies launch the 700MHz network. The broadcaster will pay China Mobile to run and maintain the joint network, as well as for providing backhaul links between its core network and the 5G base stations. The Chinese government has encouraged 5G partnerships in order to boost efficiency both in terms of cost and deployment. In October 2019, the second and third largest operators China Unicom and China Telecom announced that they would jointly deploy a 5G network. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday allowed shooting for the small screen with certain restrictions. This follows the request made by the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) and South Indian Small Screen Producers Association to the Information Minister Kadambur Raju. An official release said that in urban areas, shooting in public places is not permitted and indoor shooting is allowed only in non-containment zones. However, in rural areas, shooting in public places is allowed in non-containment zones. Producers should ensure that all those who take part in the shooting adhere to the norms. The shooting should be carried out with a maximum of 20 people including artistes, technicians and others. Spectators should not be allowed and the auditorium or house used should be disinfected before and after the shooting. Except the artistes taking part in the shooting, all other technicians should wear masks and maintain physical distancing. During the breaks, artistes too should wear masks. The entire team members should wash their hands with hand sanitiser frequently. The vehicles coming to the shooting spot and those used for transport, camera, cranes and all other equipment should be disinfected at frequent intervals. Artistes and technicians who have symptoms of fever, cold and cough and respiratory problems should not be engaged in shooting. If such symptoms are found, they should be subjected to medical tests immediately. For film shooting in Chennai, permission should be obtained from the Chennai Corporation Commissioner and in the other districts, permission should be obtained from the respective District Collectors. All restrictions imposed by the central and state governments should be adhered to strictly. Carlow Arts Festival is usually the first cultural event of the summer and 2020 is set to be no different as festival organisers have announced details of a very exciting festival edition taking place across the summer. On June 6 - as part of their special 2020 #SLICES programme the online one-hour special live-streamed performance of #SLICE2 takes place. Taking place on what would have been the weekend of the festival, Carlow Arts Festival is set to live stream #SLICE2 of the festival to an online audience. The special broadcast on June 6 will feature a stellar line-up of national, international and native Carlow artists. From 'Exotic v. Baskin: The Micro-Opera', a Tiger King-inspired micro-opera to Cian Kinsella's (Lords of Strut) 'Grow Your Own Way' to Crash Ensemble CrashLands, Carlow Arts Festival will bring viewers a diverse range of art forms from Circus, Opera, Dance, Comedy, Theatre, Visual Art, New Writing & Music - including newly commissioned and site specific work. Speaking today, Jo Mangan, CEO & Artistic Director of Carlow Arts Festival said: "In two weeks' time we should be commencing Carlow Arts Festival 2020, expecting over 55 thousand people onsite across the period, providing employment for hundreds of artists and crew and having a significant impact on the local economy. "We all know why this cannot happen in 2020. We are however a versatile and forward looking organisation, and one that is not shy of embracing new ways of working which is allowing us to pivot in 2020. "The feast of arts and cultural treats Carlow Arts Festival has come to mean has changed. We are determined to take this as an opportunity. "Thanks to digital technology, weve been able to rethink, reset and reinvent what we do in 2020. This is the festival even we didnt know could happen, and features acts from Argentina to Austria, the USA to Carlow." Featuring Louis Lovett (Theatre Lovett) as the festival host, international arts critic Villum Harsch, a mix of live and pre recorded content will be streamed as a live broadcast across Carlow Arts Festival Youtube channel and Facebook page on June 6 at 8pm - https://www.youtube.com/c/CarlowArtsFestival_Ireland and http://facebook.com/carlowartsfestival. The broadcast will be available to view in its entirety for one week after broadcast and will have Sign Language Interpretation and/or subtitles throughout, demonstrating the festivals continued commitment to accessibility. #SLICE2 on 6 June will feature: 'Exotic v. Baskin: The Micro-Opera' (USA / Berlin / Ireland), a Tiger King-inspired micro-opera. This operatic riff on the true story behind the Tiger King phenomenon is a darkly funny musical duel between zookeeper Joe Exotic and his arch-nemesis Carole Baskin. It is conceived and composed by acclaimed US composer Dana Kaufman, with a libretto by award-winning playwright Tom Swift - the team that created the Reality TV inspired Opera Kardashian and is performed & directed by Lucia Lucas and Ariana Lucas. In 'Grow Your Own Way', Lord Of Strut's Cian Kinsella (Ireland) will take you on a journey into farming and partial insanity during Lockdown. Emma Martin (Ireland) presents 'Oh Sweet Future Dream', a visual essay/mixtape/collage on the dance between reality and imagination using a mash up of original and found material. Christina Zauner Circus (Austria/United Kingdom) will see two Circus Performers literally taking Circus and Dance Hand in Hand, exploring the possibilities of spontaneous movement, physical trust and creative cinematography. In 'PRECARIZADA', Josefina Gorostiza (Argentina) presents an explosive dance/music/spoken word piece that confronts us over the relationship between the arts, paid work and unpaid work. Bryan Quinn (of Horsebox Theatre) presents 'Weekend Of Bernie' - offered up for adoption by wolves, Spanish Bernie is a man with a chequered future and his determination to take over the Carlow Arts Festival is the only thing keeping him going in these crazy times. Tune in to Bernie's manifesto from the comfort of your own lockdown. The broadcast will also feature a new piece 'Big Mouth' written and performed by Carlovian and recent Lir graduate Ella Lily Hyland, and delves darkly into sex, drink and comfort food. Felispeaks is a Nigerian-Irish Poet, Performer, Playwright, she presents a brand new commissioned work for Carlow 2020. To mark their 20th anniversary, Crash Ensemble presented CrashLands featuring new works from 20 Irish and international composers - #SLICE2 will feature the premiere performance of Vultures' by Amanda Feery at Ducketts Grove, Carlow for Carlow Arts Festival. Emma Lucy OBrien, director of VISUAL Carlow will also announce the artists featuring in this years ARTWORKS exhibition and Camille Donegan will talk about the exciting Virtual Reality Cinema we have lined up for later in the Summer. Visit www.carlowartsfestival.com for further information. A US Naval base in Texas responded to an active shooter situation on Thursday morning in which officials said the suspect was neutralized and at least one security force member was injured during the incident. The Naval Air Station Corpus Christi said in a statement posted to social media there was an active shooter in the vicinity of the North Gate and added: If you are in or near the North Gate get out and away to safety. The base ordered all facilities to execute lockdown procedures before 6:45 am local time. Nearby, the Texas A&M University Corpus Christi also issued a warning for all students and faculty on campus to remain indoors. The Naval Base remained closed on Thursday morning as officials worked the scene. The FBI was also on the scene executing an investigation into the shooter, a spokesperson for the local field office told CNN. There have been multiple security incidents at the Naval base in recent years, including last February when a man was shot and killed after entering the base and driving into the north gate. SEYMOUR Even though residents wont be gathering downtown this year to watch the annual Memorial Day Parade, an alternative procession will take place May 25 to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as some surviving veterans. The Seymour Parade Committee was forced to cancel the annual parade due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that didnt stop members from coming up with an alternative motorcade that will venture through various parts of town. The motorcade will step off at 11 a.m. Monday from Seymour High School. It will feature police, fire and emergency vehicles, members of the Board of Selectmen, parade committee members, town veterans groups and other local organizations. The procession of vehicles will drive by the homes of three surviving World War II veterans, who reside at Emma, South Main and Summit streets, respectively, according to Committee Chairman Alex Danka. The committee will place signs outside the veterans homes, along with a soldier silhouette, to pay homage to their service. Members of the towns American Legion Emil Senger Post 10 will stand guard outside the veterans homes. The motorcade also will pass by the Pearl Street home of Col. Michael Casey of the Connecticut National Guard, then on to French Street past the home of Lauren Cust, a veteran of the Iraq War who was slated to lead this years Memorial Day Parade as grand marshal. We know Memorial Day honors the deceased, but we also want to support the veterans who lost fellow veterans, and to let know them we have not forgotten about any of them, said Danka. Danka said any local organizations that want to participate in the procession can, but must limit their vehicles to one per organization, and should put a sign on their vehicle identifying the group. Cars are asked to start lining up at Seymour High School, 2 Botsford Road, beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, and no later than 10:45 a.m. Danka said hed like to limit the number of vehicles participating to fewer than 100. While the procession is logistically unable to hit all roads in town, Danka encouraged residents to watch from a safe distance on their front lawns, wave flags and pay their respects. Danka said the town was flooded with phone calls from residents upset upon learning the annual Memorial Day Parade was canceled, so the committee jumped into action to come up with an alternative. In these unprecedented times, we werent even going to do anything, Danka said. But on very short notice, we tried to come up with something that still honors the veterans. We hope to do a full parade later this year, perhaps for Labor Day, if possible. I will always try to make people happy in this town and do what I can to make them smile. A map of the processions route will be posted on the towns website and Facebook page , Danka said. Anyone who wants to be part of the procession should contact Danka by Sunday night via email at adanka@seymourct.org. jean.sos@snet.net Kim Roxie knows her late mother, Loretta Wiggins, would be smiling. She was Roxies biggest cheerleader and she urged her to start her clean makeup line, Lamik Beauty, for women of color in 2004 when the beauty industry was ignoring the market. When Wiggins died of metastatic breast cancer at age 62 in 2014, Roxies life had a major shift. That next year, she got married and gave birth to her daughter, Loretta, named in honor of her mother. Then in 2018, Roxie closed her longtime store in the River Oaks area and took two months off, traveling to Hong Kong and South Africa. She returned to Houston energized and focused on taking her business to the next level online. So when the coronavirus pandemic hit in March, Roxie launched a program that allowed customers to try on her popular Celebrity Brow Kit virtually, before they purchase it. It was major hit. Even in the midst of a pandemic, women still want to look good, Roxie said. More Information Home: Southwest Houston How many pairs of shoes: 25. "I've learned I don't need a lot of stuff." Favorite designers: House of Chargois and "Project Runway" designers Kimberly Goldson and Chloe Dao. Best advice: "You can't tell everyone how much you are sacrificing for your dream. People who love you don't want to see you suffer." Favorite food: Calas & Collard Dip from Kulture restaurant, beet juice from thejujuproducts.com and lemon pepper sauce from siennasauce.com Backup career: Activist, minister Hidden talent: "I played classical piano from age 7 through college." Fitness routine: Walking, running and doing "freeze" dancing with 4-year-old daughter, Loretta. Theme song: "I'm Blessed" by Charlie Wilson Website:lamikbeauty.com See More Collapse I was actually supposed to launch at SXSW in Austin, but when it canceled because of the pandemic, I decided to go ahead and launch, she said. Its incredible that online business has been booming. It also helped that Roxie started doing live Friday happy hours on Facebook, where she gives viewers makeup tips and talks with them about everything from motherhood to entrepreneurship. Her first live session was on how to put on lashes. Its like therapy for women. I wanted to provide an escape. It also has been a game changer and helped me move products that I had just sitting on the shelves because of the pandemic. Clean products have a shorter shelf life than others because you dont have all of the bad things in them that keep them preserved, she said. Her clean makeup is non-toxic. Roxie also wanted to be respectful to what was happening in the world, she said. Her own brother-in-law recently died at age 52 from COVID-19. She surveyed customers and found most of them were either essential workers or they were working from home. Many wanted to look professional for video calls. A Houston native, Roxie was just 21 when she opened Lamik Beauty at Sharpstown Mall in 2004 with her own green formulas she made in her kitchen. Lamik stands for love and makeup in kindness. A few years later, she relocated to a studio at Greenbriar and Westheimer near River Oaks. She also launched her line of lip glosses, foundations, makeup brushes and eye shadows at Macys stores in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia. In the last few years, Roxie has been participating in technology accelerators in California and Austin, absorbing as much information as she can. Accelerators are designed to help small businesses hone their business models and e-commerce technology. This pandemic has launched Lamik Beauty 2.0, she said. The reality is 75 percent of beauty products marketed to black women are toxic. When I started 16 years ago, I just sounded like the crazy person talking about products with no parabens and other toxins. Its hard to sell anything when people dont get it. Today, her customers get Lamik, Roxie said. African American women spend 80 percent more on beauty products than other women, but products targeted for black women only get 10 percent of the shelf space at stores. I know my mom would be telling me to keep going. Keep trying. Lamik was her dream. Roxie has teamed with The Rose, a non-profit organization that provides breast-cancer screening, diagnostics and treatment services to women, regardless of their ability to pay. She has helped raised more than $300,000 for the organization. In 2015, she hosted a community baby shower for six expectant mothers residing at the Star of Hope Mission. The event was held at St. Johns Downtown. Its important to me that I do my part to help where I can, Roxie said. That also includes fashion. She supports local boutiques and designers and is concerned about how fashion impacts the environment. I started to realize I only want to wear what I represent, she said. I want to wear things that have ethical value. I dont want to own a closet full of clothes just to have clothes. I also still want to look cute. Makeup helps me. joy.sewing@chron.com While trumpeting the return of astronaut launches, NASA is urging spectators to stay away because of the pandemic. But beaches near Kennedy are now open, and the local sheriff is welcoming visitors even though inside the space center, the number of guests will be severely limited. Among the exceptions: both astronaut wives who have flown in space themselves and their young sons. Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the National Space Council, is also going, and possibly President Donald Trump. "Its going to be a great inspiration to the country next week to see you two go aloft from the Kennedy Space Center, Pence told the astronauts Tuesday. It will be just the fifth time NASA astronauts strap into a spanking new U.S. space system for liftoff following Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle. NASA owned and operated all those spacecraft, built by contractors to NASA's precise specifications. The commercial crew program, by contrast, calls for private businesses to handle and own it all, with input and oversight by NASA. Only three countries have launched humans Russia, the U.S. and China in that order making SpaceXs attempt all the more impressive. Seoul, May 21 : A high school in Daegu, a southeastern city at the center of South Korea's first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, shut down on Thursday after a student tested positive for the virus, officials said. According to the city's Metropolitan Office of Education, a Daegu Agricultural Meister High School senior residing in its dormitory has been confirmed to be infected with COVID-19, prompting authorities to close the school and force all other students to return home or be quarantined, reports Yonhap News Agency. Schools reopened nationwide on Wednesday after five coronavirus-related postponements, and high school seniors were the first group to attend offline classes. The other primary and secondary students will return in stages to school by June 8. At the Daegu school, the infected student entered the dorm on Tuesday afternoon before taking a coronavirus test the following day. The school was notified of the student's positive result prior to the beginning of Wednesday's first class. In accordance with its quarantine manual, the school isolated 17 students residing in the dorm and the remaining 94 seniors were sent home. A total of 18 students who had direct contact with the infected student will take the coronavirus test, said the Yonhap News Agency report. School facilities will be closed for two days for disinfection, while classes will be shifted back online. Washington, May 21 : A US Senate panel has issued a subpoena as part of an investigation involving Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden. On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted along party lines to issue a subpoena for Blue Star Strategies, a Washington-based consulting firm allegedly with ties to Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden served as a member of the board, reports Xinhua news agendy. Senator Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the committee, has insisted that the investigation was not designed to hurt Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee in this year's presidential election. Senator Gary Peters, the panel's top Democrat, called it an "extremely partisan investigation". President Donald Trump and some of his allies have pushed a narrative that Joe Biden, when serving as the Vice President, tried to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor to shield Burisma from an investigation in order to protect his son. The White House's efforts to have Ukraine investigate the Bidens were at the heart of House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into Trump last year. The Democratic-led House impeached Trump in December 2019, while the Senate, controlled by Republicans, acquitted him this February. The University of Manitoba is projecting a decline in enrolment in the upcoming summer, fall and winter terms, as students consider taking a gap year to avoid online learning. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The University of Manitoba is projecting a decline in enrolment in the upcoming summer, fall and winter terms, as students consider taking a gap year to avoid online learning. The Winnipeg universitys board of governors approved a balanced $674.6-million budget this week. The 2020-21 budget, which includes a 3.75 per cent hike to both tuition and student fees, accounts for a five per cent drop in provincial funding, remote learning costs and uncertainties related to the pandemic one of which is enrolment. While its too early to forecast figures "with any degree of certainty," according to the boards May 19th agenda, U of M is bracing for tuition revenue reductions during the summer and fall-winter periods, declining by approximately 40 per cent and two per cent, respectively. Grade 12 student Elise Ward was still weighing her options last week when she learned U of M announced it would maintain a virtual campus throughout the fall term. The prospect of more online learning cemented her decision to decline an offer to study biomedical engineering next year. Ward, 18, said both an unreliable computer and virtual interactions have made school increasingly difficult. Pre-pandemic, she relied on her Winnipeg high schools library computers and face-to-face instruction to ask teachers questions in band, physics and French class. Typically, in times of financial uncertainty, students and laidoff workers rush to postsecondary institutes to update their resumes and retool; thats what happened after the 2008 financial crisis. "Im struggling with my online classes in high school and I don't want to know how badly I'd struggle with online university," she said. Instead, Ward plans to spend the next year working in fast food and saving up for school. Typically, in times of financial uncertainty, students and laid-off workers rush to post-secondary institutes to update their resumes and retool; thats what happened after the 2008 financial crisis. At the tail end of that recession, 40 per cent of Canadian post-secondary students in the class of 2009-10 continued their education after graduating. Statistics Canada suggested graduates returned to school for a number of reasons: among them, increasing educational requirements to meet employer demand and difficulties in the labour market. Fletcher Baragar, an associate professor of economics at U of M, said he suspects things will look different in the current recession because of public health concerns and subsequent social distancing measures. He predicts enrolment will likely pick up in a couple of years, when campuses resume in-person teaching and activities. "In addition to all of this and all of the trauma and turmoil that students have been coping with were also seeing an increase in tuition and course fees, lab fees, continuing education fees," said Jelynn Dela Cruz, president of U of Ms students union. Dela Cruz said the increases will take "a pretty big toll" on students already facing uncertainty during the pandemic. Personal finances aside, students may be dissuaded from attending a school virtually because of the disappearance of student life, Baragar said, adding that prospective international students may also look to complete their studies closer to home if they cannot physically attend a foreign school. International students account for approximately 19 per cent of the U of Ms student population; students hailing from different countries are charged, on average, upwards of three times more than their Canadian counterparts for tuition and student fees. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Right now, were on a deep learning curve by learning-by-doing, but I think some benefits will come out of that," Baragar said, adding that schools will be able to provide more programs via distance learning, which will make learning more accessible for some in the future. Economic Development and Training Minister Ralph Eichler said Wednesday some Manitoba schools are predicting growth while others are anticipating reductions. "Predicting enrolments in a given year can be challenging for any post-secondary institution, and perhaps more so this year with learning shifting to alternative and other online formats," Eichler said in a prepared statement. "There are, as well, increased challenges for international students and a need for re-imagined campus communities." U of M declined to provide additional context to its enrolment projections Wednesday. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie There were two immediate reasons for the U.S. to blame China for the novel coronavirus global pandemic. by Vijay Prashad On March 20, just after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) sent a cable to U.S. State Department instructing officials how they should speak about China and the novel coronavirus, according to the Daily Beast, which obtained the cable. One section of the cable is called NSC Top Lines: PRC [Peoples Republic of China] Propaganda and Disinformation on the Wuhan Virus Pandemic. The cable says, Chinese Communist Party officials in Wuhan and Beijing had a special responsibility to inform the Chinese people and the world of the threat, since they were the first to learn of it. Instead, U.S. officials were instructed by the cable to contend, the Chinese government hid news of the virus from its own people for weeks, while suppressing information and punishing doctors and journalists who raised the alarm. The Party cared more about its reputation than its own peoples suffering. The cable suggests the NSC instructed U.S. officials to trumpet this narrative, and to say instead that the United States must be thanked for its extraordinary humanitarianism. The United States and the American people are demonstrating once again that they are the greatest humanitarians the world has ever known, the cable continued. President Trump at the White House There were two immediate reasons for the U.S. to blame China for the novel coronavirus global pandemic. First, it was a convenient way to divert attention from the fact that the U.S. government had done nothingdespite months of noticeto effectively prepare for the arrival of the virus. Second, it was a necessary way to undermine the remarkable way China had been able to tackle the epidemic, with massive infusions of personnel and equipment as well as relief into Wuhan and Hubei province. U.S. President Donald Trumps attack on China is explained not as the rant of an unstable individual, but as part and parcel of the agenda of the U.S. government to displace its own incompetence onto China, and to ensure that China does not receive credit or associated benefits on the world stage from its own swift public health response. Azars Two Weeks of Silence On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities contacted the Beijing office of the World Health Organization and informed them about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin observed in late December; on January 3, Dr. George F. Gaodirector of Chinas Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)spoke to Dr. Robert Redfieldhead of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)about the severity of the virus, and Gao burst into tears. This was just a few days after the first cases of the mysterious pneumonia were detected in Hubei. A high-level team arrived in Wuhan from Beijing on December 31 to investigate the as yet unknown virus, the same day that the Chinese authorities informed the WHO. Trumps administration was first formally notified about the outbreak in China on January 3. The United States government, in other words, was personally informed about the danger of the virus within days of when the Chinese government told the WHO. On January 1, the WHO set up a team across three levels of its organization (regional headquarters, country-level, and headquarters) to address the outbreak, and the next day, the WHO alerted all levels of its organization to the emergence of this virus, according to its situation report. The WHO announced publicly that the Chinese authorities had informed it of a cluster of pneumonia caseswith no deathsin Wuhan on Twitter on January 4 and publicly released its first risk assessment on January 5. On January 3, Dr. Redfield of the U.S. CDC informed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, whose leaderSecretary Alex Azaris a cabinet rank official. Azar was picked by Trump not for his government experience, but for two other reasons: first, Azar is known to be fiercely loyal to Trump, and second, he comes from the pharmaceutical industry (from 2012 to 2017, Azar was the head of the U.S. division of Eli Lilly, one of the worlds largest drug companies, and he was on the board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a trade association of the drug industry). Azar informed the National Security Council, which he is obliged to do. But he did not brief President Trump with the actual facts. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal reported, Secretary Azar waited two weeks to brief the president on the potential severity [of coronavirus], calling him to assure him the agency was ready to handle any cases in the U.S. Dr. Rick Bright, a U.S. government scientist who headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said that he warned the government in January that the U.S. must prepare for the virus. Azar did nothing. When asked why Azar downplayed the threat of the virus by CBS on May 18, Bright said, You know, I dont know why he would do that. Not only was the government not being clear with the public, but it also ignored the warnings from private companies that said the supply chain for medical goods was running dry, according to Bright. On January 20, Chinese medical authorities announced the virtual certainty that the virus could be transmitted between humans; this was validated by the WHO on January 22. The announcement led to the shutdown of Wuhan and soon thereafter of Hubei province. Trump and Azar did nothing but downplay and ignore the threat of the coronavirusdespite the fact that the first U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed in Seattle on January 21. On January 28, Azar said that Americans would find that the virus should not be an impact on their day-to-day life. On the day that the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concernJanuary 30Trump said, with no evidence, we think we have it very well under control. He did not declare a national emergency (Azar declared a public health emergency the next day, which meant merely that agencies could reallocate personnel and resources to deal with the virus). Trump set up the first task force on January 29by which time there were already five known cases of coronavirus in the United States. The declaration that set up the task force maintained that the risk of infection for Americans remains low. The task force and any other actions taken by the U.S. in response to the coronavirus were hollow. For instance, Azar did not clear labs to conduct testing until February 29an entire month after declaring the U.S. public health emergency; this has had catastrophic impacts on the ability of local governments to do contact testing and to manage the spread of the disease. Right through January, February, and March, Trump minimized the threat. His Twitter feed provides all the necessary evidence. On March 9, Trump likened the virus to the common flu; Think about that! he tweeted. Two days later, the WHO declared a global pandemic. On March 13, Trump declared a national emergency; this was six weeks after the WHO had declared a public health emergency of international concern. These six weeks might have been used in crucial prevention, contact tracing, testing, and other planning efforts to combat coronavirus and lessen the infections and deaths, but were lost. Attack on China The March 20 cable with the NSCs instruction to attack Chinas response to coronavirus was likely led from the very top. On March 10, Trump retweeted the right-wing commentator Charles Kirk who wrote, With China Virus spreading across the globe, the U.S. stands a chance if we can [get] control of our borders. That day, Dr. Redfield appeared before the U.S. Congress for a hearing. When Representative Lois Frankel (Democrat from Florida) asked Dr. Redfield if, It is absolutely wrong and inappropriate to call this the Chinese coronavirus, Dr. Redfield answered that he agreed with her. The WHO had anticipated this. On February 14, the WHOs Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for solidarity, not stigma. This is what Dr. Redfield recognized, but it was precisely what the U.S. government denied. On March 16, Trump wrote on Twitter, The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. This was when the incendiary term Chinese virus entered wide circulation. It was part of the campaign to blame China for the epidemic and to suggest that China should receive no credit for its remarkable fight to contain the outbreak. Trumps Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the term Wuhan virus, and the entire administration and the far-right pressas well as moderate Democrats, including Trumps 2020 presidential election challenger Joe Bidenbegan to blame China for the outbreak. Outcomes By March 16, when Trump was going on about the Chinese virus, there were 88 deaths in the United States by the novel coronavirus. About a month later, more than 50,000 people in the U.S. died from the lethal virus, far more than died in China. Rather than look deep into the record to see how the U.S. had destroyed its own public health system by austerity, how the U.S. government had disparaged a science-based approach, and how the U.S. had ignored the warnings from the Chinese and from the WHO, the Trump administration and the entire U.S. political class finds it easier to blame China. This article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than twenty books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest book is Washington Bullets, with an introduction by Evo Morales Ayma. Man accused of false terrorist report of bomb in Russian Constitutional Court faces trial RAPSI 14:14 21/05/2020 ST. PETERSBURG, May 21 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) A criminal case against a man, who had reported planting of a bomb in the Russian Constitutional Court, reached the Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts told RAPSI on Thursday. Victor Nikolayev is a homeless person. He stands charged with a false terrorist report, the statement reads. According to the indictment, on January 17, Nikolayev called to the emergency Service-112 and told an operator that the Constitutional Courts building was mined. During the hearing on a restrictive measure, Nikolayev said that did it because of depression. OPEC member Algeria plans to install up to US$3.6 billion worth of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to produce renewable electricity for export and for meeting increasing domestic power demand. The solar power facilities are expected to have a combined installed capacity of 4,000 megawatts (MW), the office of Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad said in a statement. The OPEC member, which generates most of its electricity from natural gas, plans to have those solar PV plants installed between 2020 and 2024, the prime ministers office said. The project for the new solar power plants, called TAFOUK1, is part of the governments plan to boost power generation from renewable energy sources. The whole project will require investments of between US$3.2 billion and US$3.6 billion, and is expected to create 56,000 jobs during the construction phase and 2,000 jobs during the operational stage, the government said. Apart from meeting growing domestic demand and positioning Algeria to export electricity, the new solar projects will help it preserve its oil and gas resources, the government said. In Algeria, the oil and gas industry is the backbone of the economy, accounting for 20 percent of GDP, and 85 percent of total exports, according to OPEC data. The oil price crash hit Algerias finances, and earlier this month, the country decided it would slash its budget for this year by 50 percent due to the drastically lower income from oil after the price crash. Algeria which was already feeling a squeeze on foreign exchange reserves even before oil prices collapsed in early May due to the Saudi-Russian oil price war and the global demand crash in the pandemic is now taking drastic action to protect its finances this year. Due to the low oil prices, another oil and gas producer in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Oman, has recently decided to liquidate a solar power company it funded together with Shell because of the persistent depression in oil prices. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams pledged Thursday to raise money and rally voters for candidates in seven key U.S. Senate contests, as the party aims to win control of the upper Chamber in the November general election. The candidates are running in battleground states, as well as southern states, where Abrams has urged the party to invest in growing populations of potential Democratic voters for candidates Mark Kelly in Arizona, John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Barbara Bollier in Kansas, Sara Gideon in Maine, Mike Espy in Mississippi, Cal Cunningham in North Carolina and Jaime Harrison in South Carolina. "Leader Abrams will headline a virtual event, mostly high-dollar fundraising events, for each candidate in the coming weeks and leverage her social media networks to help the candidates gain support," Abrams spokesman Seth Bringman said. "These efforts are part of her commitment to help Democrats take back the U.S. Senate majority, a path that also includes two U.S. Senate races in Georgia." Abrams, 46, who narrowly lost the Georgia governor's race in 2018, declined to run for Senate, despite heavy lobbying from national party leaders. She has made her interest known in joining presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's ticket. For the past year, Abrams has provided money and technical assistance to help Democratic state parties and liberal organizations in 18 battleground states set up voter protection operations through Fair Fight Action. Most of the endorsements announced Thursday are in states that are part of the initiative, called Fair Fight 2020. The endorsements are the first she has made in major political contests outside of Georgia, and she is likely to announce her support for candidates in additional key races. Most of the races are considered competitive, with the exceptions of Mississippi and South Carolina. Espy, 66, who ran in Mississippi's special election in 2018, lost to Cindy Hyde-Smith by eight percentage points. But it was far closer than Democrats have come in recent years. As Espy prepared to run again, this time for a full term, he sought out Abrams for advice on motivating black voters; 38% of Mississippi's residents are African American. Polls show Hyde-Smith with a large lead over Espy, who served as agriculture secretary under former president Bill Clinton. In South Carolina, polls show Harrison, 44, is trailing by single digits against Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, who is seeking a fourth term. In a statement, Abrams described Harrison as a "strong leader" and said he would "work hard to address inequalities in rural health care and infrastructure." Harrison has said Abrams's 2018 campaign, in which she became the first black woman to win a major party gubernatorial nomination, is an inspiration and political playbook for Democrats to compete in the South. Abrams has pointed to her success in increasing turnout among Democratic voters in Georgia in 2018 as a reason national party leaders and liberal groups should invest resources in southern states, where the populations of African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans continue to grow at a rapid rate. She and other strategists have argued that turning out more reliable Democratic voters makes more sense than trying to woo a smaller pool of white swing voters. She hopes to put that plan in play this fall in Georgia, where Republicans hold both of the Senate seats that will be on the ballot. Sen. David Purdue is up for reelection this year. Several Democrats are competing in the June 9 primary for the party nomination. The other seat is held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed after Sen. Johnny Isakson stepped down, citing health reasons. She faces a special election on Nov. 3 to keep the seat for the remainder of Isakson's term, which ends in 2022. In that contest, Abrams has endorsed Democrat Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. She is said to be a millionaire after securing a huge money making deal with Ann Summers. Yet Maura Higgins kept things candid on Wednesday as she shared a collection of makeup-free snaps to Instagram. The Irish Love Island babe, 29, admitted that she 'hides behind filters' and insisted that 'nobody is perfect'. Candid: Maura Higgins kept things candid on Wednesday as she shared a collection of makeup-free snaps to Instagram Maura told her 2.8million that she has the privilege of 'stylists, makeup artists and personal trainers' but is still just a 'normal person'. The former grid girl posting three makeup-free snaps of herself with her brunette locks sweptback into a tousled hairdo. Maura also shared a photo of a 'bad angle' as she wore a pair of white jeans and a beige vest top. She penned in a lengthy caption: 'So many of us hide behind filters & I am not going to come on here and lie...I am one of them BUT don't do it to impress others...do it for yourself, just like everything else in life. DO YOU!!! 'Nobody is perfect!': The Irish Love Island babe, 29, admitted that she 'hides behind filters' and insisted that 'nobody is perfect' 'Still a normal person!': Maura told her 2.8million that she has the privilege of 'stylists, makeup artists and personal trainers' but is still just a 'normal person' 'Stop comparing yourself to others. We are all human, we all have our bad days, bad photos, bad angles etc. I want to let every person reading this know that NOBODY IS PERFECT. 'Being in the public eye we have the privilege of having stylists, makeup artists, PT's etc. But behind all that glam and social media we are just normal people ! If you want to be happy, don't take stuff personal, let things go & let other people be!' Maura added that she has been trolled her 'whole life' and she chooses to ignore the online bullying. Keeping it real: The former grid girl posting three makeup-free snaps of herself with her brunette locks sweptback into a tousled hairdo (pictured with makeup, right) Heartfelt: She penned in a lengthy caption: 'So many of us hide behind filters & I am not going to come on here and lie...I am one of them...' She said: 'Those people being nasty or behind their keyboards are far from perfect too! Focus on you, your mental health & your well being physically and mentally. And if there's times you are struggling, don't suffer in silence, please talk to someone .' Maura's Love Island co-stars Molly-Mae Hague and Lucie Rose Donlan were quick to praise the reality star for keeping things real. Molly-Mae said: 'Thats my girl .' While Lucie added: 'YES BABE! Well said, this is amazing.' Girl gang: Maura's Love Island co-stars Molly-Mae Hague and Lucie Rose Donlan were quick to praise the reality star for keeping things real Earlier this month, it was reported that Maura had become a millionaire after securing a huge money deal with Ann Summers. The reality star has been working with the store since appearing on the 2019 series of Love Island. It has been claimed that Maura has earned 500,000 from both Boohoo and Ann Summers for her collections with the companies. The former grid girl has also reportedly bagged 250k from Bellamianta and 150k from her stint on Dancing On Ice in January Ka-ching! Earlier this month, it was reported that Maura had become a millionaire after securing a huge money deal with Ann Summers A source told The Sun: 'Maura will be lapping up the fact Love Island is cancelled this summer. 'Given the winter series failed to produce any real stars, she can continue to secure the most lucrative brand deals. 'She's a canny operator and knows she has a shelf-life, but Maura is definitely maximising her current popularity.' MailOnline contacted a representative for Maura and Ann Summers for comment. Sizzling: The reality star has been working with the store since appearing on the 2019 series of Love Island A powerful cyclone has battered Bangladesh, killing at least 10 people, devastating coastal villages, inundating many areas and damaging scores of houses, officials said on Thursday. Cyclone 'Amphan', the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades, made a landfall on Wednesday evening. It was the most powerful storm since cyclone 'Sidr' killed nearly 3,500 people in 2007. "From our initial report we can say 10 people were killed in the cyclone, said Ayesha Akhtar, spokeswoman of the health ministry's control room. Akhtar said officials in the coastlines so far could confirm identities of six of the deceased while a process was underway to assess the medical requirements and other details in the affected area. Initial reports from the coastlines suggested most of the deaths were caused by accidents like trees falling on people and wall collapse. A Red Crescent volunteer drowned during an evacuation bid. The body of Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) leader Shah Alam was recovered nine hours after he went missing following the capsizing of a boat in a canal in Kalapara upazila, Kalapara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abu Hasnat said. A boat carrying CPP volunteers, including Alam, sank in the Hafez Pedar canal on Wednesday morning after being hit by the storm, the report said. Many low-lying areas were inundated, embankments collapsed, trees uprooted and houses damaged by the cyclone in the coastal districts of Bangladesh, the Dhaka Tribune reported. Cyclone Amphan has turned into a land depression, bdnews24.com reported. The cyclone is likely to move further in a north-northeasterly direction and weaken gradually, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department was quoted as saying by the report. At least seven persons were killed in the Barguna, Satkhira, Pirojpur, Bhola and Patuakhali districts, the Dhaka Tribune reported. In Barguna, a 60-year-old man died by drowning, in Satkhira, a 40-year-old woman died after being hit by a falling tree branch, in Pirojpur a 60-year-old man died after a wall collapsed on him, authorities were quoted as saying by the report. In Bhola, two persons were killed during the stormy weather caused by the cyclonic storm. In Patuakhali, a six-year-old boy died after being hit by a falling tree branch. In Jessore district, a 45-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter died after a tree fell on their house. The cyclone brought with it heavy downpour as predicted while most parts of Khulna region were severely battered by tidal surges and very heavy showers, they said. On Wednesday, the cyclone made landfall at 2.30 p.m. between Digha in West Bengal and and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, flattening fragile dwellings, uprooting trees and electric poles. The cyclone 'Amphan' started crossing the Bangladesh coast around 5pm on Wednesday packing a wind speed of around 160 to 180kph rising to 200kph within 80km of its centre, meteorologist Abdul Mannan said. Officials believe that the world's largest mangrove forest, shared both by India and Bangladesh, Sundarbans absorbed the major impact of the killer storm when many wild animals might have been killed alongside uprooting of trees. Bangladesh had shifted over 20 lakh people to storm shelters and deployed the military to deal with the powerful cyclone. Leading global storm tracker AccuWeather on Tuesday described Amphan as the first super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 05:07:01 Introducing the All-In-One TV & Streaming Guide ontvtonight.com/uk/guide/ On TV Tonight Now Available in the UK MORE INFORMATION For more information, media creatives or interview opportunities: Glen Murphy On TV Tonight Pty Limited Email: glen.murphy@ontvtonight.com Popular TV listings website On TV Tonight is now heading to the United Kingdom to serve the current unprecedented demand from TV fans in the region. On TV Tonight is a unique all-in-one guide to TV and streaming - to help viewers find out where to watch TV & movies legally. Whats new on Netflix, BBC or iTunes? Where to watch that great movie or TV series that everyone has been talking about? On TV Tonight provides an easy to access one-stop site to search for any title, anywhere. To make the experience even more worthwhile, registered users can customise their individual channels and streaming services and use easy and intuitive tools to filter for titles offered for free or help finding that elusive golden oldie classic from yesteryear. On TV Tonight also offers an Alert service for users to be reminded when their favourite series or movie is next on TV. On TV Tonights founder and CEO, Glen Murphy, believes TV fans in the UK will embrace the new service currently enjoying surging popularity in the United States, Canada and Australia. We cant wait to cater for the complete TV needs of viewers throughout the UK. We started On TV Tonight in 2014 with the simple mission of providing an easy dip-in dip-out guide to whats on TV. Little did we know it would quickly enter into the favourites folder of so many TV fans worldwide. Now with the growing popularity of on-demand streaming services, particularly in the UK, we think weve now created something really special. On TV Tonight currently provides TV listings coverage for the most popular free and subscription TV channels and streaming services in the United Kingdom, with many more coming onboard in the coming months. On TV Tonights UK TV Guide is available at: ontvtonight.com/uk/guide/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005 TV Guide website @OnTVTonightHQ begins expansion in the UK. Start watching UK TV & Movies online now - ontvtonight.com/uk/guide/ By Anto Antony and Archana Chaudhary Indias unemployment rate has probably peaked with large companies looking to restart hiring as the economy gradually exits the worlds biggest lockdown, says the head of a top staffing firm. Companies have already started conversations with us for hiring requirements in June and July, and the sense we are getting is that the worst of the job losses are behind us, Ajit Isaac, chairman of Quess Corp. said in an interview on Tuesday. I can see the bend in the road, and the bounce back in hiring in sectors like financial services, health care, and last-mile logistics will be sharper. Read: Cost of economic stimulus just 1% of GDP, not 10%: Economists The outlook from Quess, which claims to be Indias largest private-sector employer providing everything from sales staff at supermarkets to trainers for more technical industries, follows Prime Minister Narendra Modis move to allow some businesses to resume operations. A record 122 million people were forced out of work in April due to shelter-at-home rules that are due to lift next month. India Inc. in Trouble Multinational companies and large Indian corporates with stronger balance sheets have indicated to Quess that they may go ahead with at least 70% of their planned hirings. Isaac sees that number possibly revised in the quarter starting July. However, such firms account for just about 15% of Indias workforce. The bulk of employment -- and 40% of gross domestic product -- is concentrated in the so-called informal or parallel economy. Follow live updates on coronavirus here Workers in the informal sector, comprising mostly of people who have migrated to cities from rural India, were the most vulnerable to the economic shock of the lockdown. Having lost their jobs and incomes, hundreds of thousands of them decided to leave for their homes since March, sparking an exodus that many are still making by foot back to their villages. Now many are reluctant to return, frustrating plans of businesses trying to restart operations as curbs are eased. Thats poised to push India toward what Goldman Sachs says is the deepest recession ever in the second quarter. This will also lead to many firms backed by venture capital money going out of business, said Isaac. Quess, which employs more than 380,000 people, counts Amazon Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in India among clients. Also Read: Goldman Sees Worst India Recession With 45% Second Quarter Slump One of the key steps to revive the economy will be to revive demand in large cities and bring back migrant workers, Isaac said. While the administration has announced steps to support migrant workers and farmers through the provision of cheap credit and food rations, many states have diluted labor laws to allow companies to hire and fire staff at will or to extend working hours to try and revive industrial activities. Theres a need for better and more equitable labor reforms so workers arent exploited, Isaac said. In a scene from Season 1 episode 6 of the recently released series Paatal Lok, journalist Sara Mathews is introduced to an intern who is assigned to her. Sara sniffs out the nepotism immediately and guesses that he is the son of a media big shot looking for some CV points before joining his father's company. "Delhi, you are so predictable," she says in exasperation. That sentiment can extend to the whole of Paatal Lok as far as representing social issues and stereotypes is concerned. The moment Gul Panag's brother arrives at her home with a truck full of weird Chinese juice-dispensing machines, both her husband and the audience understand that he is planning to fleece his middle class sister. (This article contains spoilers from the show.) When Sara approaches her boss and disgruntled prime time journalist Sanjeev Mehra sitting alone at a bar, you know a workplace romance cum extramarital affair is brewing. The show does manage to shock you as well, with the brutality in scenes of child sexual abuse and rape, but they are all part of a carefully crafted narrative that's ticking every box there is in making it a socially conscious show. Mental health issues, caste discrimination, religious discrimination, economic divide, crime against women, gender issues, toxic masculinity, you name it. Every character represents an issue or a type, is oppressed by the system or society and struggling to break free. *Economic divide: Swarg, narak, paatal - the show starts with the conventional labels of class divide that existed as concepts even before the caste divide came in. These are used as metaphors to explain the difference based on economy, and therefore geography, that exists in Delhi and in society at large. *Islamophobia: Ishwak Singh's character Ansari, a young policeman, acts as a conscience call for every Hindu indulging in casual Islamophobia. Hathiram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat) uses a religious slur while interrogating a Muslim suspect, and later apologises to Ansari. A CBI officer, upon learning that Ansari has cleared UPSC prelims, marvels at how people from his community have "progressed". A Hindu woman on a train throws up on seeing her Muslim co-passenger eat non-veg food. *Race and gender: The character of Mary Lyngdoh or Chini, a transgender woman from the northeast represents two marginalised groups. While the character reminded actress Kubbra Sait of her own transgender role in Sacred Games, it has also been used to highlight the lack of facilities for trans men or women in lockups or jails. *Suspended cop: There are more similarities to Sacred Games. Inspector Hathiram, much like Saif Ali Khan in the Netflix show, is suspended mid-investigation despite his sincerity. He is constantly being one-upped by his colleagues and juniors. *Child abuse: The plight of street children is also highlighted, including a shocking brutal scene of child sexual abuse. *Cast discrimination: Caste-based discriminatory practices prevalent in Punjab is shown through the character of Tope Singh, who is bullied and abused for protesting. His family is served with a harsh, sword-wielding reminder that their living in the village is a privilege, not a right. *Crime against women: Rape is shown as an act of revenge in the male dominated world of both UP's Chitrakoot and a small village in Punjab. Instead of going to the police, rape victims are secretly married off and labeled as 'second hand' by their in-laws when they find out. *Toxic masculinity: While Tope Singh is bullied at his village, Hathiram's son Siddharth is bullied at his elite school where he clearly does not belong. His classmates make fun of his father's name. On the other hand, teenagers around his own society taunt him for being 'English Medium and not tough like them. Siddharth struggles to find his space between two very different worlds. *Hindi Medium: The post-colonial hangover not only affects the son, but also the father. Hathiram is unable to talk the principal of Wordsworth School into relaxing his son's punishment, when his English-speaking sidekick Ansari has to step in and impress with his fluency. *Sympathetic Muslim sidekick: Hmmm, where have we seen this one? Oh yes, Sarfarosh. Remember Mukesh Rishi as Inspector Saleem, constantly proving his loyalty to his country? *Mental health: The character of Dolly Mehra has been assigned the following absentee and cheating husband, midlife crisis, anxiety issues, depression, craving for motherhood replaced by dog love, Buddhist chants for positivity, the works. *Bengalis: Bong women call their dogs "Shabitri", put mustard oil in every dish and recite Rabindranath Tagore's poems to achieve a climax. Seriously? Paatal Lok's plot stretches itself thin to accommodate so many cliches, which often take away from the intensity of the thriller. What would have been a really woke show? A Muslim cop as protagonist with a Hindu sidekick. A mentally strong, financially independent wife who calls out her husband's infidelity instead of questioning her own age and attractiveness. A smart mother who knows exactly how to deal with her rogue teenage son instead of blaming her husband's daddy issues. A 'Jamna Paar' household without the usual disarray of DDA flats. We could go on, but you get the drift. Follow @News18Movies for more The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) departs Apra Harbor following an extended visit to Guam in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, in an undated file photo. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Jordan E. Gilbert) Virus-Hit Carrier Heads Back to Sea After 2 Months Virus-hit carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is finally back at sea after being benched on the pacific island of Guam for almost eight weeks. The Navy announced on May 21 that the nuclear-powered ship was underway in the Philippine Seaalthough it has left some of the 5,000 crew behind. After moving nearly 4,000 crewmembers off ship and cleaning the entire ship from bow to stern, the appropriate number of crew members to operate the ship underway have returned from quarantine after passing rigorous return-to-work criteria, said the Navy in a statement. However, according to USNI News, officials say that this will likely be the first of a few shorter sailings before the carrier heads out for a lengthy deployment. The carrier was on deployment for the 7th fleet in the Pacific when it was hit by the outbreak, and stayed put in Guam after a scheduled stop on March 27. It feels great to be back at sea, said Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9. Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) operates in the Philippine Sea on May 21, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kaylianna Genier) In total, around 1,000 crew members tested positive for COVID-19, as the crew was systematically tested and quarantined while the ship was cleaned. One sailor on the carrier became the first and only member of the armed forces on active duty to die so far from the virus. The Navy is now using a concept called scaled manning, selecting only the crew members for particular missions to come on board. We are scaling our manning on board based on our mission requirement, said Capt. Carlos Sardiello, Theodore Roosevelts commanding officer. Carrier qualification requires fewer personnel than other missions, and bringing fewer sailors on board will enable enhanced social distancing while underway. The crew is also enacting other COVID-19-prevention strategies, including wearing masks, medical surveillance of 100 percent of the crew, adjusted meal hours, minimizing in-person meetings, sanitizing spaces, and a simulated medevac. It was an unprecedented challenge to get to this point and Im proud of the Rough Rider Teams tenacity and resiliency in the face of uncertainty, said Sardiello. We are extremely thankful for the dedicated support and hospitality of Gov. Leon Guerrero, her staff, and the people Guam. They have been steadfast and proactive partners throughout. We are also thankful for the efforts of our fellow service members on Guam for their resolute support. We owe them all a debt of gratitude that words cannot express. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka. Monday, May 18 10:01 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Greendale Township location for a suspicious vehicle. A deputy made contact with a 27-year-old Saginaw man who said the vehicle's battery died. The man jump started the vehicle and drove the vehicle from the scene. 6:59 p.m. Officers responded to a traffic hazard in the area of Elisenal Drive and Joe Mann Boulevard. 3:15 p.m. A 51-year-old Midland Township resident and business owner contacted the sheriff's office because he recently discovered a person fraudulently opened a line of credit for themselves under the business' name. This complaint is under investigation. 1:34 p.m. Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the 7000 block of Eastman Avenue. 12:56 p.m. A deputy was requested to assist a 28-year-old woman who's 8-year-old daughter had been aggressive with several animals of theirs. The deputy spoke with the mother and child about respecting all creatures. The child agreed to work better at behaving more appropriately. There were no additional issues and there were no reports of injuries to any animals. 12:42 p.m. Officers responded to an animal complaint in the area of East Patrick Road and Washington Street. 10:50 a.m. Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of East Patrick Road and Washington Street. 9:28 a.m. A 59-year-old Greendale Township man located a vehicle on his property. The vehicle had entered the property and gotten stuck in the mud. The owner was out of St. Louis, in Gratiot County. The City of St. Louis attempted to contact the 35-year-old female owner at her residence, but were unsuccessful. The complainant requested Mid-State Towing remove the vehicle from his property. 5:56 a.m. A deputy responded to a single-vehicle crash on a Larkin Township roadway. 1:40 a.m. Deputies assisted a Michigan State Police trooper with a report of reckless driving on a Greendale Township roadway. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:22:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SYDNEY, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A 23-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for his role in a foiled terrorist attack targeting 2017 New Year celebrations in Melbourne, Australia. The Melbourne resident was apprehended by undercover police in November 2017, after admitting to them that he was planning to shoot civilians and take hostages just before the New Year's Eve countdown, telling officers, "I'm planning to go hard." "You planned to commit an evil act, designed to cause the deaths of many innocent people," Victorian Supreme Court Justice John Champion said during a sentencing hearing on Thursday. "The prospect of randomly opening fire into a crowd of civilians with a rapid-fire weapon is a horrifying state of affairs to contemplate." According to media, the man became radicalized after he consumed Islamic State propaganda in 2016 and was fueled by a hatred for the community. The man's brother was also influenced by the group and in 2018 was shot dead by police after stabbing and killing a cafe owner in the Melbourne CBD, in an apparent terrorist attack. During sentencing, Champion acknowledged that the 23-year-old was remorseful, having apologized for his actions and renouncing IS and what he says it did to his brother. "I'm deeply sorry for what my actions were... I was just an angry person," he said at the time. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years and six months. Enditem HONG KONG - China's Communist Party will impose a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong by fiat during the annual meeting of its top political body, officials said Thursday, criminalizing "foreign interference" along with secessionist activities and subversion of state power. The move is the boldest yet from Beijing to undercut Hong Kong's autonomy and bring the global financial hub under its full control, as it works to rewrite the "one country, two systems" framework that has allowed the territory to enjoy a level of autonomy for the past 23 years. After steadily eroding Hong Kong's political freedoms, Beijing signaled that the national security law will be a new tool that allows it to directly tackle the political dissent that erupted on Hong Kong's streets last year. The months-long and sometimes violent protests began last June and fizzled out only over public health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak. The new tactic marks an escalation in Beijing's crackdown in the former British colony and the clearest indication that it views Hong Kong as a restive region to be brought to heel after last year's protests. The city's future has become a point of contention in the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States; on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was "closely watching what's going on" in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have directly appealed to Washington for intervention, frequently waving American flags on the streets, and see themselves as the last bastion of resistance against an increasingly assertive Beijing under President Xi Jinping. "Beijing has opted for the most risky route," said Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University. "It will show the world that 'one country, two systems' is, if not already over, almost over." He added: "It will be very difficult for anyone, especially the United States, to say Hong Kong is still autonomous and viable." On Thursday, China made clear it was asserting control over Hong Kong through "improvement" of its governance. "We will ensure the long-term stability of 'one country, two systems,' " Wang Yang, head of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the opening of the annual meeting of China's top political advisory body. The meeting is the first part of the Two Sessions political gatherings, which will continue Friday with the National People's Congress (NPC), the rubber-stamp parliament. "We will continue to support the improvement of the implementation of the systems and mechanisms of the constitution and Basic Law," Wang said in a report to the meeting. Later Thursday, representatives from Beijing's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office met with Hong Kong delegates to China's legislature to explain the details of the national security law. The law, a direct response to last year's protests, will ban secession, subversion of state power, foreign interference and terrorism, said Stanley Ng, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC, who attended the meeting. The legislation could pass as early as next week and will bypass all of Hong Kong's usual processes. Similar laws were proposed in 2003 and would have allowed authorities to conduct searches without warrants. But they were abandoned after mass protests and never picked up locally again. "The social unrest last year showed that the Hong Kong government was unable to handle passing [national security legislation] on its own," said Ng, a Beijing loyalist who has for years pushed for a similar law. "Hong Kong's status will be sacrificed with or without this law if society is unstable due to the protesters' violence." Zhang Yesui, the spokesman for the NPC session, said in comments to Chinese media that Hong Kong is an "inseparable" part of China and that national security is the cornerstone of stability in the country. "In light of new circumstances and needs, the National People's Congress is exercising the power that is enshrined in the [Chinese] constitution to establish and improve" Hong Kong's legal framework, he said. The Hong Kong dollar weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar as the reports emerged. Beijing blamed last year's unrest on secessionist forces and foreign influence. A government proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China touched off the unrest, but the movement grew into a broader and sometimes violent rebellion calling for full democracy and opposing China's efforts to chip away at Hong Kong's firewall with the mainland. President Donald Trump has sharply stepped up denunciations of China over his claims it failed to warn the world of the coronavirus dangers in the outbreak's early weeks. But his comments on Hong Kong were less direct. "I don't know what it is because nobody knows yet," Trump told reporters as he left the White House. "If it happens, we'll address that issue very strongly." He did not elaborate. At the State Department, spokesman Morgan Ortagus called China's expected move "highly destabilizing" for Hong Kong. "Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilizing," she said, "and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community." Wang did not elaborate on what "improvement" meant. But he also referred to the Chinese territory of Macao, a gambling hub where open displays of political dissent are rare and where most leaders toe Beijing's line. The shift will have far-reaching effects. Under the agreement Britain signed with China before it handed back Hong Kong in 1997, the territory is supposed to enjoy its relative freedoms until at least 2047 under the "one country, two systems" framework. This arrangement helped Hong Kong to flourish as a global financial center even after returning to Beijing's overall control, and has allowed the United States and other nations to treat the city differently to China. It also allowed Hong Kong to run its own affairs, except foreign affairs and defense. But under Xi's leadership, the Communist Party has encroached on Hong Kong's autonomy with stunning speed. "I'm speechless," said Dennis Kwok, a pro-democracy lawmaker, of the proposed national security legislation. Kwok was singled out for criticism by Beijing and was recently removed from his chairmanship of a key legislative council committee. "This is a complete and total surprise and I think it means the end of one country, two systems." Kwok said that the Hong Kong government and Beijing had used the coronavirus pandemic as cover to clamp down on the city. "When the world is not watching they are killing Hong Kong, killing one country, two systems, and using social distancing rules to keep people from coming out to protest," he said. "This is the most devastating thing to happen to Hong Kong since the handover." On Wednesday, Pompeo warned China about its actions in Hong Kong, saying that the city's pro-democracy lawmakers had been "manhandled" this week "while trying to stop a procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators." "Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were hauled into court," Pompeo told a news conference in Washington. "Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China," he said. For the United States to treat Hong Kong as a separate entity, mostly for commercial purposes, the State Department must certify that the city retains "a high degree of autonomy" from China. Pompeo said its latest decision on this was still pending. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, through its office of the commissioner to Hong Kong, said Thursday that Pompeo was "blackmailing" the Hong Kong government and accused him of "blatant interference" in China's internal affairs. It also took aim at Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for placing "unjustifiable pressure on China's central government." "Certain U.S. politicians are repeatedly carping on about [Hong Kong's] legislative and judiciary branches in a vain attempt to glorify and exculpate the rioters who oppose China and seek to stir up trouble in Hong Kong," it said. "They just don't want to see Hong Kong heal its divides and get back on track: Their sinister motives are thoroughly exposed, and their 'black hands' are bared for all to see." In recent months, Beijing has installed a tough new representative in Hong Kong, called for patriotic education to instill more allegiance to China, and promoted a bill that would make it a criminal offense to disrespect China's national anthem. Delegates from Hong Kong, including Carrie Lam, the city's chief executive, arrived in Beijing on Thursday for the Two Sessions. Wang said Beijing supports the Hong Kong deputies' efforts to "avoid violence in Hong Kong and to restore order." But as news of the proposal spread, calls were issued for more mass protests in Hong Kong. "The arms of tyranny have reached Hong Kong," said Ted Hui, a pro-democracy lawmaker who was a regular participant in protests last year. "Darker days are coming." - - - Fifield reported from New Zealand. The Washington Post's Timothy McLaughlin in Hong Kong, Yuan Wang in Beijing and Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report. A former Google engineer who was fired over a sexist memo has dropped a high-profile lawsuit against the Silicon Valley giant in which he alleged the company discriminates against white conservative men. James Damore and three other men asked Santa Clara Superior Court in California to dismiss the lawsuit in agreement with Google earlier this month. It is not clear if a settlement has been reached with the tech firm. Damore famously filed the lawsuit in 2017 claiming Google's efforts to make the workplace more diverse discriminate against conservative white men, after he was fired for penning a sexist memo saying women are 'biologically' less likely to succeed. The abrupt end to the lawsuit comes as a group of House Democrats wrote to Google calling for answers Monday after an investigation revealed the company has scaled back its diversity and inclusion workplace initiatives, with sources blaming fears over the backlash from conservatives. James Damore (pictured with his attorney Harmeet Dhillon in 2018) asked Santa Clara Superior Court in California to dismiss the lawsuit against Google earlier this month Damore's attorney Harmeet Dhillon confirmed the suit had been dropped but said it had forced Google to change some of its workplace policies, including workers being able to discuss their working conditions. 'As a result of our lawsuit on behalf of James Damore and several other Google workers and job applicants, Google has changed some of its workplace policies to address some of the concerns raised in our lawsuit,' she told Fox news. 'That's a very positive development for all workers at Google not just the plaintiffs in our lawsuit and it came about as a result of our legal action.' DailyMail.com has reached out to Dhillon and Google for details of a settlement. Damore was fired in 2017 after he wrote a 3,300-word, 10-page manifesto complaining about Google's approach to diversity and saying there are 'differences between men and women' which mean women can not get ahead at the firm. 'At Google, we're regularly told that implicit (unconscious) and explicit biases are holding women back in tech and leadership,' he wrote. Google's Silicon Valley HQ. The former Google engineer dropped a high-profile lawsuit against the Silicon Valley giant in which he alleged the company discriminates against white conservative men 'Of course, men and women experience bias, tech, and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this, but it's far from the whole story. 'On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways.' Among the perceived differences is that women have 'a stronger interest in people rather than things' which he said explains 'why women prefer jobs in social or artistic areas.' Men, he said, are more prone to jobs like coding 'because it requires systemizing'. Damore wrote that women were generally 'more prone to neuroticism' and that this is why there aren't so many females in high-stress jobs. 'We always ask why we don't see women in top leadership positions, but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs. These positions often require long, stressful hours that may not be worth it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life.' The memo was leaked by a coworker and went viral, with some arguing it was proof of a sexist, boys-club culture in Silicon Valley. Damore was fired by the tech giant in 2017 after he penned a sexist memo about why women do not get ahead at the company Damore was fired and Google CEO Sundar Pichai released a statement saying the former employee had violated the company code of conduct and 'cross(ed) the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.' The ousted employee, who won the backing of right-wing supporters, then filed a lawsuit against Google's parent company Alphabet. The suit, which also named David Gudeman as a plaintiff, claimed that through the firm's efforts to improve diversity and inclusion, Damore and other white conservative men were being discriminated against. 'Google's management goes to extreme - and illegal - lengths to encourage hiring managers to take protected categories such as race and/or gender into consideration as determinative hiring factors, to the detriment of Caucasian and male employees and potential employees at Google,' the suit said. 'Damore was surprised by Google's position on blatantly taking gender into consideration during the hiring and promotion processes, and in publicly shaming Google business units for failing to achieve numerical gender parity,' it claimed. News that the suit has now been dropped comes as Google continues to face criticism over its diversity efforts. On Monday, 10 House Democrats including Reps. Yvette Clarke of New York and Andre Carson of Indiana sent a letter to Pichai demanding answers following allegations the company had scaled back its diversity and inclusion initiatives since 2018. The letter called for the company to come clean over any diversity and inclusion workforce training programs that have been cut and explain what diversity training is offered to workers. On Monday, 10 House Democrats sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding answers following allegations the company had scaled back its diversity and inclusion initiatives since 2018 'It is no secret that companies across Silicon Valley and the tech sector have struggled to increase diversity, and Google is no exception,' the representatives wrote. 'It is troublesome to hear that Google, an industry leader, plans to scale back efforts to address their lack of diversity when you have previously stated a corporate commitment to improve in this very area.' This came off the back of an NBC News investigation which said Google has significantly cut its diversity and inclusion programs since 2018, citing six former and current employees. The sources told NBC News they believed the company had scaled back its attempts at diversity and inclusion progress because of the backlash the firm has faced saying it is being biased against conservatives. Google has denied the claims saying they are 'entirely false. 'Any suggestion that we have scaled back or cut our diversity efforts is entirely false,' the company said in a statement. 'Diversity, equity, and inclusion remains a company wide commitment and our programs are continuing to scale up.' BOSTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blarney Ventures (BV), a Boston, Massachusetts-based investment holding company with a focus on outsourcing, has reached an agreement to acquire SalesWorks, a London-based sales training and consulting company. This acquisition is being made in conjunction with the creation of a new London-based holding company, Blarney Ventures UK. Shabri Lakhani will remain as the CEO of SalesWorks and become a partner in Blarney Ventures UK. This combination propels the SalesWorks offering into demand generation, account management, and customer success, while also expanding operating resources, as the firm can leverage the BV team to enhance delivery and support. For BV, the acquisition brings a key piece of the sales and marketing puzzle into the portfolio and adds Lakhani to the leadership team. It also offers a foothold in the European market for BV's subsidiaries, FullFunnel and Practice Alchemy. "The SalesWorks acquisition bolsters the BV portfolio and opens up a segment of the market that is very synergistic with our core offerings," notes BV Managing Partner, Matthew Iovanni. "We are excited to have Shabri as a partner, and aim to expand the SalesWorks platform in the European and North American markets while importing other BV companies to Europe." "This transaction enables SalesWorks to offer integrated training solutions across a broader range of capabilities as we leverage BV's expertise in demand generation, go-to-market strategy, and sales," says SalesWorks CEO, Shabri Lakhani. "BV has achieved phenomenal growth and success in the US and this combination will help propel the next phase of growth. I'm excited about working with the team to launch BV businesses in the UK market, building on their proven platform." About SalesWorks SalesWorks is a training and consulting firm purely focused on sales team development for B2B software and software-enabled companies. SalesWorks uses the proprietary 4S Methodology with clients to create a successful and efficient sales operation. From addressing issues to creating opportunities and pursuing growth, SalesWorks helps organizations maximise every element necessary to achieve their sales objectives. About Blarney Ventures Blarney Ventures is an investment holding company that is fundamentally changing the outsourcing space. With a growing portfolio of businesses that leverage the same core infrastructure that has allowed our flagship brand, FullFunnel, to become a leader in the outsourcing space in a few short years, BV aims to create a world-class outsourcing partnership opportunity for businesses to outsource their sales, marketing, and business operations programs. SOURCE Blarney Ventures Related Links https://www.blarneyventures.co BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: Everyone should take care of themselves and their loved ones, be aware of their responsibility and observe discipline, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in his interview with Azerbaijan Television after viewing the DOST center No3 of the Sustainable and Operative Social Security Agency under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population in Nizami district, Baku, Trend reports. The work related to the coronavirus has been carried out in the right direction in Azerbaijan from the very beginning. This is approved and acknowledged by both the Azerbaijani people and international organizations. I am still receiving hundreds of letters from citizens every day, and all these are letters of gratitude because the adoption of preventive measures indeed saved us from serious problems. Again, everything is relative. What is the situation like in developed countries with about the same population as Azerbaijans? In some of them, about 10,000 people have died to date. There are very few deaths in Azerbaijan. At the same time, preventive and restrictive measures have enabled us to prevent the extensive spread of the pandemic and we succeeded in that. It is no coincidence that the World Health Organization appreciates our work in this area and describes Azerbaijan as an exemplary country. This is a high assessment of our work. I do not know if any other country has received such an assessment. This is truly a logical result of the work done, because our main goal since the very beginning has been to protect our citizens from this disease, said President Ilham Aliyev. He noted that all other economic issues, the economic downturn, possible problems have been put on a backburner even though we seriously dealt with these issues as well. However, the first priority was people's health and the second their social security. We organized both. I can say that we have been able to quickly rebuild our healthcare system. Currently, more than 20 hospitals in our country operate exclusively in connection with coronavirus. Only those infected with coronavirus are treated there we currently have 19 hospitals engaged because there are no more patients in some hospitals today. However, more than 20 hospitals are ready, the construction of 10 modular hospitals has begun and I took part in the opening of one of them. This will provide us with an extra 2,000 beds. All medical equipment is provided, artificial respiration equipment has been delivered, there is enough room in intensive care units, there are enough beds. The number of quarantined persons is directly related to the number of arrivals from abroad, because we keep our citizens evacuated from abroad in quarantine for two weeks. I must say that more than 20,000 Azerbaijani citizens were evacuated from abroad in an organized manner. We cannot carry out this work spontaneously, said President Ilham Aliyev. The head of state pointed out that we are doing all this in an organized manner, according to schedule and distribution by country: from which country, when and how many citizens of Azerbaijan will arrive. This work will be continued in the same fashion. The largest number of our evacuees came from Russia. To date, 6,500 Azerbaijani citizens have arrived from Russia, and this process continues but, as I said, in an organized manner. Everyone must register, there is a special portal - Going home. Therefore, evacuation work will also be carried out in an organized manner. The quarantine conditions are excellent, I receive numerous letters from those in quarantine, we keep them in four to five star hotels. Currently, we have begun the production of medical masks, overalls and disinfectants. This is why these comprehensive measures, of course, saved us from major problems. In the current circumstances, when the mitigation process is under way, the main factor will be the responsibility of citizens. I want to say again that citizens should realize this responsibility: the pandemic has not ended, the virus has not disappeared and will spread. Therefore, everyone should take care of themselves and their loved ones, be aware of their responsibility and observe discipline, said President Ilham Aliyev. The New Jersey man who has gotten national attention for opening his Bellmawr gym in defiance of the states shutdown orders is now facing some backlash after word circulated online that he also broke the law 13 years ago in an incident that cost a man his life. Ian A. Smith was a 20-year-old Stockton University student in 2007 when he drank 10 to 12 beers and in the morning ran a stop sign, killing Kevin Ade, 19, of Galloway Township, according to 6ABC reports at the time. He pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to 5-1/2 in prison, court records show. Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym, addressed the incident in an Instagram video Wednesday, saying he was responding to a lot of postings about a tragedy in the past that I was the cause of. Smith and partner Frank Trumbetti have reopened their gym for three days, arguing the state shutdown of gyms is unconstitutional and that they can take steps to keep members safe, like taking temperatures and limiting capacity. For each of the three days, they and patrons have been cited by police for violating Gov. Phil Murphys executive order. A GoFundMe pledging to pay their legal fees had raised over $40,000 by Wednesday afternoon. Smith said the fatal crash in 2007 happened after he had been drinking at his dorm room at night and didnt realize when he got up in the morning that he still had alcohol in his system. Its something that I accept full responsibility for. And to anyone out there who hates me, you are completely justified in doing so, but I do want to set the details straight, Smith said in the video. My actions caused the death of a young man and broke the hearts of an entire community, and thats something theyll never ever fully recover from, he said. Theres nothing I can do except try to live a good life and give back and promote as much love and positivity in the world as I can. But some members of Ades family said that while they hoped Smith would turn his life around, his decision to reopen his gym despite the governors executive order and the risk it poses to members shows he has not. It shows he has no regard for the law, said Robert Henchy, Ades uncle. He drove drunk, killed somebody, gets probably one of the lightest sentences Ive ever seen, said Henchy, a retired Absecon police officer. And now 13 years later, youre out defying the law once again. I just dont get it. He already killed somebody and now hes going to put other peoples lives in jeopardy by opening the gym. Beth Henchy, Robert Henchys wife and Ades aunt, said she doesnt want to be angry with Smith, but she feels his actions now show he still does not value others lives. I used to drive in my car and say, I forgive. I forgive Ian Smith, hoping if I said it, I would feel it, she said in an interview Wednesday. And then I look at this and ... Im angry again. Beth Henchy, a radiology technician at a South Jersey hospital, said she understands how much small businesses are suffering now. But as she and her family members work in hospitals, law enforcement and other essential jobs, she just cant agree that opening a gym is that essential, especially given the risk asymptomatic gym members could spread the virus. Maybe he should come hang out with me and my coworkers dealing with COVID-19 patients, she said. As were holding someones hand as they take their dying breath. She said one positive thing has come out of the development: people have started to make donations in her nephews name to The HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers, which has honored Kevin Ade as one of the victims of drunken driving who died too young. Ade, a 2006 graduate of Absegami High School, was attending Atlantic Cape Community College at the time of his death and dreamed of being a radio deejay. At 19 years old, Kevin Ade was killed by a drunk driver, leaving his family to mourn his loss and carry on his... Posted by HERO Campaign on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 James Mermigis, an attorney representing Atilis Gym, declined to comment for this story. Attempts to reach Smith for comment were unsuccessful. Rebecca Everett may be reached at . More: What central Pa. stores are re-opening this week? Boscovs, Sportsmans Warehouse, Stein Mart, more Pa. school director resigns after threatening to shoot anyone without a mask approaching her family Officers issue $1,000 citations to barbers at Michigan protest; conservative organizers pledge to cover costs One was a venerable giant with a legacy in aerospace that stretched back more than 100 years and a role in every major moment in NASA's history. The other was a relative upstart that in its early days was derided as little more than a delusional billionaire's fantasy and that critics said was building its rockets out of wax and rubber bands. No one thought Elon Musk's SpaceX would ever beat Boeing to space. Some members of Congress even wondered why NASA would bother awarding contracts to two companies to build capsules to fly astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Just let Boeing do it. But from all appearances, SpaceX has won the competition. The Wednesday launch of SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule with astronauts aboard would not only be the first crewed launch to orbit by a private corporation but also a major upset in a new kind of space race. During the Apollo era, NASA was driven to the moon by a Cold War space race with the Soviet Union, but today companies are reprising the roles of nations in competitions that NASA hopes will help it recapture some of the achievement of a bygone era. Assuming the launch is a success, it will mark the end of the era in which only government-owned spacecraft achieved such feats and represent another major step in the privatization of space. That SpaceX is making that transition and not Boeing emphasizes the dramatic nature of the change. Publicly, the companies downplay any tension. But the competition has grown bitter over the years, particularly as SpaceX went from a rich man's folly no one took seriously to a disrupter that transformed the aerospace industry. In the beginning, SpaceX was largely dismissed as a long shot that would never achieve much. "One industry veteran told me, 'You know their rockets are put together with rubber bands and sealing wax,' " recalled Lori Garver, a former deputy NASA administrator who pushed the agency to outsource human spaceflight to the private sector. " 'It's not real. It won't fly.' " When the contracts for the Commercial Crew Program were awarded in 2014, Boeing received the lion's share, slightly more than 60 percent of the $6.8 billion NASA awarded, getting $4.2 billion compared to the $2.6 billion SpaceX received for the same amount of work. Perhaps that was understandable. SpaceX was considered a risky bet, a wild card whose brash impatience and embrace of failure clashed with the agency's more conservative bent. Top executives urged SpaceX employees to be "mouthy," to disregard traditional chains of command, a trait embodied by Musk that made it seem like a rebellious teenager compared to Boeing's father figure of the aerospace industry. "The Hill and big industry and most of the leadership at NASA thought the answer was give the money to Boeing and let them do it," Garver said. "Change is hard in a bureaucracy. And Eisenhower had it right with the military industrial base - they are not going to let it go easily. And human spaceflight is the holy grail." But when it came to the task of flying astronauts, SpaceX perhaps had an edge. Since 2012, it has been flying cargo and supplies to the space station, giving it lots of practice in hoisting spacecraft to orbit and having them meet up and dock with the station. Its Falcon 9 rocket now has a lot of heritage, flying missions not just for NASA but for the commercial sector. It also was perhaps better suited to perform under the strict limitations of NASA's "firm-fixed price" contract, one that forces contractors to be efficient. That's long been one of SpaceX's trademarks; it reuses not only its rockets but in the early days it repurposed all sorts of materials, even a 125,000-gallon liquid nitrogen tank that an employee found scrapped at an old abandoned Cape Canaveral launch site. "We had to be super scrappy," Musk once told The Washington Post. "If we did it the standard way, we would have run out of money. For many years, we were week to week on cash flow, within weeks of running out of money. It definitely creates a mind-set of smart spending. Be scrappy or die: Those were our two options. Buy scrap components, fix them up, make them work." Boeing, by contrast, was used to the cost-plus contracts often used on big government programs, such as its Space Launch System rocket, that allowed for greater expenditures and longer timelines. Still, building a spacecraft designed to fly humans is an enormous challenge, and both companies suffered setbacks and delays that pushed back the original launch date from 2017. SpaceX had two Falcon 9 rockets explode, and it struggled with the parachute system that slows the spacecraft down as it flies back to Earth. Last year, its Dragon capsule was completely destroyed during a test of its emergency abort system. Since then, however, SpaceX has discovered the root causes of all problems and fixed them, NASA says. Boeing, meanwhile, has continued to struggle. Late last year, its test flight without any astronauts onboard its Starliner spacecraft went terribly awry from the moment it reached orbit. The spacecraft's onboard computers were off by 11 hours, making the autonomous spacecraft think it was in a different part of the mission. Controllers on the ground had trouble communicating with it. Later, the company discovered another software glitch - one that would have affected the separation of the crew module from the service module. As a result, Boeing will re-fly the test mission, a flight it says would probably happen toward the end of this year, meaning its first launch with crew wouldn't happen until 2021. Inside the company, officials were embarrassed by the setback - another bit of bad news that followed the fatal crashes of two 737 Max airplanes. It also triggered a role reversal. Boeing, once the trusted partner, was now under renewed scrutiny by NASA, which said it had been lax in its oversight of the company. NASA also said that after initially giving Boeing a pass, the agency would perform a full safety review of the company, as it did with SpaceX after Musk was seen taking a puff of marijuana on a podcast streamed on the Internet. One industry official said executives inside Boeing "can't accept" SpaceX is flying people first. "People are annoyed by Elon - how does this guy who smokes pot beat us?" said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to speak publicly. "We have a lot of humble pie to eat here." Musk once told The Post that SpaceX was able to rise because the big aerospace companies didn't think it would ever amount to anything. "They screwed themselves because they were just arrogant and complacent," he said. "Look, Boeing doesn't get out of bed for less than $1 billion." Boeing's response was just as combative: "At the turn of the 21st Century, before Musk entered the space business, Boeing was building the International Space Station with NASA, where we've kept astronauts safe and continuously on orbit. . . . While others talk about aspirations and hopes, we actually do things in space and will deliver on our commitment to America's journey to Mars. That's what we get out of bed for." Flights to the International Space Station weren't the only place where Musk took on Boeing. In 2014, he also took on United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, that had held a virtual monopoly on Pentagon launch contracts for nearly a decade. Musk sued the Air Force for the right to compete for contracts, a risky move that annoyed some in the Pentagon. Musk also made a stink over the fact that the ULA used a rocket engine manufactured by Russia. "Lockheed and Boeing are used to stomping on new companies, and they've certainly tried to stomp on us," he said at the time. "I think we have a shot at prevailing. But we're certainly a small up-and-comer going against giants." Ultimately, though, he settled with the Air Force, was able to compete and since then has won a handful of Pentagon launches. More recently, Boeing and SpaceX sparred over the Commercial Crew Program when a NASA inspector general report found that the average cost of Boeing's Starliner would be $90 million per astronaut, compared with $55 million a seat on SpaceX's Dragon. "This doesn't seem right," Musk wrote on Twitter, adding: "Meaning not fair that Boeing gets so much more for the same thing." Boeing pushed back hard against the report, saying, "It is a fact that our competitor received a contract years earlier to develop a cargo vehicle that later served as a the basis for their crew offering. Boeing did all the development under the Commercial Crew contract under a more compressed, shorter schedule." Recently, when NASA announced it had awarded a contract for $1.79 billion to Aerojet Rocketdyne for 18 RS-25 engines for the core stage of the massive Space Launch System rocket Boeing is building for NASA, Musk lamented the cost. "SLS makes me feel sad," he tweeted. Last month, SpaceX notched another victory when it was chosen to be among the three companies awarded preliminary contracts to develop a spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon. Boeing was not among them. But when Boeing's Starliner was in trouble after it reached space late last year, Musk's tone was markedly different. Having suffered through several failed missions, he added a touch of empathy. "Orbit is hard," he tweeted. "Best wishes for landing & swift recovery to next mission." Health official: Omicron cases 'just skyrocketing here in the community' As of Jan. 18, McLaren Northern Michigan had 23 COVID-19 inpatients at the Petoskey-based hospital, which included 10 in critical care units and 13 in non-critical care units. The NFU has urged MPs to call for a trade policy that safeguards British farmers from cheaper imports as the Trade Bill starts its passage in the Commons. NFU President Minette Batters has written to all MPs ahead of the debate today (20 May), highlighting how the UK was at a 'make or break moment' for British farming. The Bill, which was first presented to the House of Commons when Theresa May was prime minister, will begin its second reading. After her resignation, parliament was prorogued and therefore the Bill has had to start again from scratch. The restarting of the legislation's process, however, means that farming groups now have a second opportunity to raise industry concerns. The NFU is urging MPs to ask how the government intends to honour its manifesto pledge that farmers' high standards would not be undermined in future trade policy. The Conservative Party manifesto at last year's general election committed to maintaining British animal welfare and food safety standards. The union is also pressing the importance of a Trade, Food and Farming Standards Commission a body which would develop solutions to promote free trade while holding all food imports to the UKs standards. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) recently backed farmers' calls for the body, as it would advise government during important Brexit trade negotiations. It comes after the Agriculture Bill was passed into the House of Lords unamended last week, despite widespread support from the farming industry for changes. Minette Batters said a trade policy was needed that safeguarded farmers from the 'damaging' impact of imported food that would be illegal to produce in the UK. "Failure to do this would undermine our values of animal welfare, environmental protection and food safety, all of which are incredibly important to the public," she said. As the Trade Bill is debated for the first time in the House of Commons today, I ask MPs to consider one thing where do they see the UK on the global stage? Last week we heard MPs say that the standards of imported food was an issue for the Trade Bill rather than the Agriculture Bill. With this in mind, I hope to see it fully addressed today." Mrs Batters added that the trade commission would be an 'eminently sensible approach' aimed at ensuring high standards were safeguarded within future trade policy. Our trade policy must reflect our moral responsibilities to the planet and the people and creatures that live on it," the NFU president said. I ask all MPs to speak up for British farming today; ask for a commission that will protect the UKs food values from sub-standard imports and ask for more parliamentary scrutiny over future trade deals." Total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Jharkhand stands at 302 Total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir climbs to 1,449 With 371 new cases of Covid-19 in Gujarat, tally rises to 12,910 Reservation counters, common service centers for booking of reserved tickets to open from May 22: Railway Ministry Opening of booking of Reserved tickets through post office, Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK ) and authorised agents of IRCTC Total Covid-19 positive cases in West Bengal is now at 3,197 Total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Haryana is now 1,031 Indias Covid-19 tally crossed 1.1 lakh on Thursday with 5,609 new cases getting detected in the last 24 hours. This is the second-biggest single-day spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country. According to the Union health ministry update, the total number of cases in the country are 1,12,359. Out of these, the number of active cases are 63,624, those recovered are 45,299. Countries across the globe are easing restrictions which were imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak. Covid-19 continues to cross grim milestones as 50 lakh cases have been recorded globally with more than 3 lakh deaths. The global recovery rate is now close to 40% as more than 20 lakh have recovered. Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic The All-China Women's Federation holds a symposium on May 7 to motivate women to learn from women role models in the battle against novel coronavirus and contribute to epidemic control and economic and social development in Beijing. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun] The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) held a symposium on May 7 to promote the heroic deeds of women medical staff in the battle against novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and motivate women to learn from the role models and struggle to be "most beautiful strivers." Shen Yueyue, President of the ACWF, delivered a speech at the symposium. Shen stressed that women's federations should firm up the work of guiding, serving and contacting women, support medical women to continue to work hard at their posts and contribute to building a "Healthy China," and unite women to win the battle against the epidemic and promote economic and social development. The All-China Women's Federation holds a symposium on May 7 to motivate women to learn from women role models in the battle against novel coronavirus and contribute to epidemic control and economic and social development in Beijing. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] During the meeting, Yu Yanhong, Member of the Leading Party Members' Group of the National Health Commission, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and part-time Vice-President of the ACWF, shared stories of women who have fought against COVID-19 on the front line via video connection. Yu spoke highly of women's role in the anti-virus fight, saying that the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine in disease prevention and treatment should be given further full play, and health knowledge publicized in a bid to promote public fitness. Qiao Jie, head of the leading group of the medical team from Peking University to support Central China's Hubei Province, President of China Medical Women's Association and President of Peking University Third Hospital, speaks at the symposium on May 7. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun] Qiao Jie, head of the leading group of the medical team from Peking University to aid Central China's Hubei Province, President of the China Medical Women's Association and President of Peking University Third Hospital, shared her own experience on the front line of the anti-virus battle in Wuhan, capital city of Hubei Province, and the stories of female medics struggling tooth and nail to save patients' lives. Wu Xinjuan, head of the second medical team from Peking Union Medical College Hospital to support Hubei and President of the Chinese Nursing Association, speaks at the symposium on May 7. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun] Wu Xinjuan, head of the second medical team from Peking Union Medical College Hospital to support Hubei and President of the Chinese Nursing Association (CNA), outlined the active role of frontline nursing workers and the CNA in epidemic prevention and control. As a new group member of the ACWF, the CNA will give full play to its professional advantages to serve women, children and families and contribute to the building of "Healthy China," said Wu. Shen Yueyue, President of the ACWF, gives a speech at the meeting on May 7. [China Women's News/Yang Rui] Shen spoke highly of the efforts and dedication of women medical workers in the battle against COVID-19. Noting that it is a major task for women's federations to unite women to contribute to winning the battle against COVID-19 and promoting economic and social development, Shen stressed that women's federations at all levels should publicize the stories of female role models on the front line of the anti-epidemic battle to fully showcase China's strength, spirit and efficiency, and encourage women to play a role in achieving the two centennial goals. Women's federations were urged to continue to serve women medics, help establish platforms, provide opportunities and create conditions to enhance their professionalism, and help solve their difficulties in looking after elderly family members and raising children. Shen hoped that women medical workers will always place people's lives above everything else, continue to implement regular epidemic prevention and control measures, protect people's safety and health, and publicize epidemic prevention and control and health knowledge. Women medical workers were also urged to motivate more women to create and share healthy lives, help build a "Healthy China" and win the battle against poverty. Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the ACWF and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, presided over the symposium. Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group of the ACWF and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, presides over the symposium on May 7. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun] (Women of China) Syrias justice ministry has announced a travel ban on Rami Makhlouf, a Syrian tycoon and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, over money it says he likely owes the state. Makhlouf, the head of Syrias largest mobile operator Syriatel, has been grappling with the authorities over demands that the firm pay $185m. Syrias telecoms authority has threatened to take all necessary measures to recover money it says Syriatel owes for maintaining its operating license. But Makhlouf has called the claims undue and unjust. On Thursday, the justice ministry published on its Facebook page a court order temporarily banning the defendant [Makhlouf] from travelling abroad until the case is resolved or outstanding payments are made to Syrias telecom authority. The document, signed on May 20, said the ban was requested by the telecoms minister and the general manager of Syrias telecoms authority in a lawsuit they filed against Makhlouf. The court finds that it is likely the defendant is indebted in light of the documents presented by the plaintiffs, it said, justifying its decision to impose the travel ban. Makhlouf, who also has stakes in electricity, oil and real estate, on Tuesday said the telecoms authority was seizing his assets and those of his family. He said he had also received notice from the government that he would be banned from working with the state for five years. Responding to measures against him, Makhlouf has launched a series of online attacks against Syrian authorities in recent weeks. Isolation from centre of power At the end of April and again in early May, Makhlouf, who had kept a low profile throughout Syrias nine-year war, said some people in government were out to get him and his company. Analysts have said that this suggests his growing isolation from the centres of power, including al-Assad himself. Signs of a spat first emerged last summer, when Syrian authorities seized Makhloufs Al-Bustan charity and dissolved militias affiliated to him. When the finance ministry in December froze the assets of several businessmen over tax evasion and illicit enrichment, the Syrian press said Makhlouf, his wife and companies were among them. In recent weeks, security services have detained several of Makhloufs employees a move he says is meant to intimidate him into stepping down from his businesses. According to the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, dozens of employees from Al-Bustan and Syriatel have been arrested since April. Police arrest stolen vehicle suspect who fled, entered occupied home The homeowner was able to get out of the home safely, but Aberdeen police are now negotiating the surrender of the suspect. (Alliance News) - IntegraFin Holdings PLC on Thursday reported a higher interim profit as increased funds under direction and net flows growth pushed up revenue. The company's pretax profit for the six months ended March 31 amounted to GBP27.3 million, a 22% rise from GBP22.4 million the year prior as revenue rose 13% to GP53.8 million from GBP47.6 million. Funds under direction rose 1.7% to GBP34.99 billion from GBP34.41 billion and gross inflows rose 14% to GBP3.2 billion from GBP2.8 billion, driving revenue growth. IntegraFin declared an interim dividend of 2.7 pence per share, up from 2.6p the year before. Chief Executive Alex Scott said: "Performance in the second half of the year will very much depend upon the effects of measures taken to combat Covid-19 and their impact upon the economy, the equity markets, [funds under direction] and flows." Scott highlighted that all of its staff are working from home and it is not using any of the schemes which come under the National Temporary Framework for State Aid, with no staff furloughed. Shares in IntegraFin were up 0.1% at 498.00p in London on Thursday. By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Ford was forced to temporarily shut down its Dearborn Truck Plant in suburban Detroit Wednesday afternoon after a worker tested positive for COVID-19. The worker, who was sent home to self-quarantine for 14 days, worked 10-hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday in the plants chassis department, coming into contact with an unknown number of workers and union officials. The truck plant was the second Ford facility to close just days after the auto corporations brought tens of thousands of workers back after an eight-week shutdown amid claims by management and the United Auto Workers (UAW) that factory changes and new protocols had made the plants safe. On Tuesday morning, hundreds of workers were sent home from Ford Chicago Assembly Plant (CAP) after two workers at a factory annex tested positive. Workers at the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant New cases of infection have been reported at the Lear Corp. plant in Hammond, Indiana, which supplies seats to the Chicago Ford plant. Workers at the Magna Seating plant in Detroit, which supplies Fiat Chrysler, also reported there were several cases at the plant, but these have not yet been confirmed. Workers on a Facebook page at the Toledo Jeep plant have posted that there are also cases at their plant, and some workers were sent home after a worker tested positive. Videos sent by workers from inside the Dearborn plant show workers standing around and not working. It is likely that management decided to send them home before they simply walked out. In a crude attempt to mollify the concerns and anger of workers and prevent a repeat of the walkouts and job actions over unsafe conditions that forced the mid-March shutdown of the auto industry, CEO Jim Hackett, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr., and UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem toured the Dearborn plant earlier in the day, garbed in protective personal equipment. According to a Ford statement, the tour was to observe firsthand the robust safety measures Ford has put in place to help support a safe and healthy environment for the companys workforce. GM CEO Mary Barra was scheduled to do the same publicity stunt with UAW officials at the Delta Township plant near Lansing, Michigan. President Trump will be in Rawsonville, Michigan today with Ford officials to tout the reopening of the auto industry, although whether he plans to wear a facemask has reportedly been a cause of anxiety for company officials and state officials, who waived the ban on unnecessary tours for the president and corporate heads. Being at Ford is not safe, a Chicago Ford worker told the WSWS. We definitely opened back too soon. The cases are going to increase and not slow down. We all need our jobs, but at the same time our lives and health are more important. People are in fear because they dont trust the company. They feel if they miss days due to [COVID-19] theyll be replaced. The workers feel like the company should close the plant because people in the plants have died or are in intensive care right now as we speak. We need to take action immediately, the Chicago Ford worker said. After the Dearborn closure, Ford claimed it was deep cleaning and disinfecting the work area, equipment, team area and the path that the [infected] team member took. The company added, We expect to resume production tonight. Workers on the B Crew were scheduled to report at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday night, meaning production of Fords most profitable vehicle, the F-150 pickup truck, would be halted after less than five hours.' Letter from UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem citing 24-hour closure requirement Autoworkers have noted that the letter sent out by UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem in March said any facility where a worker tested positive should be closed for 24 hours, citing Centers for Disease Control guidelines. In fact, the CDC recommends waiting 24 hours before beginning a thorough cleaning. Workers on the B shift at the Chicago Assembly plant, who build the Ford Explorers, Lincoln Aviator SUVs and police cruisers, were robocalled in to work Tuesday night, but sent home around midnight after the shift began. After a brief restart Wednesday morning, the plant shut down operations again, sending workers on the A shift home around 11:30 a.m. after company representatives reported a shortage of parts from a supplier. A Lear worker in Hammond told the Autoworker Newsletter that one worker on the sub-assembly side of the plant tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and that workers on the A shift Wednesday were sent home around 8:30 a.m., with the company promising to deep clean the building. I found out that it was a woman working on front seats on the Sub [sub-assembly] side, on the trim station. Another man who was working next to her has been told to quarantine for 14 days. We are in here working, and we dont have enough [workers] to run the lines. Another worker reported on conditions at the Lear Plant. Hand sanitizer and disinfectant have been watered down. The mens restroom has just one soap dispenser, so most people have not washed hands. No one wears safety glasses or face shields. There is a sign that says face masks are required and must cover our nose and mouth, but it is not enforced. Some have them hanging off one ear; others have them below their chin with their nose and mouth exposed. UAW Local 2335 did nothing to protect or inform Lear workers about the case except to send the following message, We are aware of the occurrence at Lear. We are in contact with the Company, and we had a CDC-approved company clean the facility. A robocall has gone out as well as an OmniAlert. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and keep you informed of any and all factual changes. Lear was the first parts supplier to publish a Safe Work Playbook as part of a national framework for restarting the US auto industry during the pandemic. In addition to the confirmed case in Indiana, at least 18 workers have died of COVID-19 who work at the Rio Bravo plant in Mexico, one of 10 Lear factories in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Workers at the Rio Bravo plant make seats for Mercedes Benz, which has had to halt production in an Alabama plant due to parts shortages from Mexico. Workers have been sending in emails and photographs to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, exposing the real conditions in the plants, contradicting the claims of the corporations, the UAW and the news media. One worker at Fiat Chryslers (FCA) Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio sent a picture of the flimsy surgical face masks which the company is giving them. The masks break easily during the course of a shift. Two flimsy surgical masks are given to workers for each 10-hour shift A worker at GMs Flint truck plant said, I was working up until the shutdown, and they said they were taking all these sanitary precautions. But they werent doing anything. We have nuts and bolts that we touch that the other shifts touch too. Theres no way theyve made it safe for workers. I definitely do not want to build a truck in a mask and safety glasses. Its already getting hot outside, and its going to be very tough to work in those conditions. Describing the immense financial pressure being exerted on workers, she added, I havent gotten my unemployment yet, and I have two little girls I need to support. So I have to go back to work. We stopped work on March 26, and I filed for unemployment the next Monday. Ive had eight certifications, and none of them has been processed. I was on the phone waiting for five hours, and finally I reached someone, and she just said to stop calling. Workers at Fords assembly and Kentucky truck plants in Louisville, Kentucky, which together have over 12,000 workers, have reported that safety protocols that both the UAW and Ford promised are being openly flouted. One worker posted on Facebook that he had tested positive for COVID-19 less than two weeks before going back to work and was cleared due to not having fever symptoms. I went to work, security let me in, and went to medical. ... It took them 30 minutes to see what policy they were going to use as my doctors note said I could go ahead and go back. Im cleared for work even though Im COVID-19 positive because the note says once there are no signs of fever, I can return to work. Another worker from Louisville remarked on Facebook that social distancing was not being enforced because jobs were not restructured to accommodate a safe distance between workers before the reopening of the plant. Ive been training a new hire for two days straight, and there are two jobs doubled up on each side of me. A Fiat Chrysler worker at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in suburban Detroit emailed the Autoworker Newsletter saying, It is very premature for workers to return back to work during this period of time (Pandemic). If the UAW members are allowed to get tested before returning to work, they have to return to work. ALL workers should be given the same equal options. Workers are returning to work with symptoms and later testing positive for COVID-19. This puts everyone and their families lives at risk! The Democratic Party has been just as eager and willing as the Republicans to reopen the auto factories without any concern for the health and safety of the working class. Democratic Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer, seen as a top choice for presidential candidate Joseph Bidens running mate, greenlighted the restart of all manufacturing in the state on May 11, even though she is keeping limited stay-at-home orders in place until the end of the month. The World Socialist Web Site urges autoworkers to form rank-and-file safety committees, independent of the corrupt UAW, to oversee the safety measures in the plants with the assistance of trusted medical experts committed to the defense of lives, not corporate profit. These committees must fight for workers control over line speed and production so that operations can be staggered to allow for universal testing and contact tracing and the isolation and immediate treatment of ill workers. At the same time, the most up-to-date and high-quality PPE must be guaranteed. If conditions are not satisfactory, these committees will have the right to halt production until a safe environment can be guaranteed. In normal times, not paying your student loans can crush your credit score. During the pandemic, however, federal student loan borrowers were supposed to get a break from their bills, and their lenders were supposed to report their payments as on-time anyway. That's not how it's playing out. A class action lawsuit, brought on behalf of millions of federal student loan borrowers, alleges that Great Lakes Educational Loan Services inaccurately reported the payment status of millions of federal student loan borrowers, lowering their scores and jeopardizing their access to credit during a recession. Some borrowers saw their scores drop by as much 100 points. Tweet The plaintiffs allege Great Lakes reported borrowers' student loans as "deferred," a status that suggests they can't meet the terms of their loan agreement. Congress required the Education Department to report the payments to credit bureaus as on-time. VantageScore, one of the major companies that provides credit scores, said it was making changes to its algorithm "to minimize the potential of any negative impact associated uniquely with the usage of forbearance and deferment codes." Of course, borrowers of all types have turned to these breaks for relief during the pandemic. Great Lakes released a statement saying that it's working with the credit reporting companies to "ensure the accuracy of the information we reported regarding Covid-19 forbearances." It also said it doesn't believe its reporting has impacted consumers' credit scores. Yet the stories of borrowers with wounded scores continue to mount. Tweet Help India! By NAZISH HUSSAIN, TwoCircles.net City of Saint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota in the USA, has passed a resolution declaring Bhartiya Janta Party led Indian government as Islamophobic. Support TwoCircles The resolution opposes Indias National Registry of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act. Saint Paul city became the fourth city to pass the Resolution. The resolution was passed with a 5-0 vote. The City Council opposes the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act in India. The City Council found the policies of these laws to be discriminatory to Muslims, oppressed castes, women, indigenous peoples known as Adivasi, and the LGBTQ community, and any other efforts that render vulnerable populations anywhere to become stateless, scapegoated, and targeted for discrimination, violence, and the abrogation of human rights that are universal to one and all. It said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is dominated by the exclusionary ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). RSS promotes discrimination against Muslims. It stated that the Citizenship Amended Act passed on 9 December 2019 under the leadership of BJP government and Prime Minister Modi discriminates against Muslims. It said the Act which claims to help refugees fleeing religious persecution from neighbouring countries discriminates against millions of Muslims who have come to India to flee wars in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim countries. The Saint Paul City Council intends to convey dissent against President Trump and the United States for failure to censure the Indian government for not protecting all Indian residents equally. The City Council believes it is the duty of ordinary people to oppose the dangerous rise of racist, nationalist, and authoritarian leaders around the world and believes that the Islamophobic authoritarianism of the Indian government in nuclear-armed India is of grave concern, not only to the 200 million Muslims in India, and to oppressed castes, women, indigenous, and LGBTQ people in India, but also to Saint Pauls South Asian immigrant community and to democratic government in the United States and around the world. The Indian American Muslim Council and The Council on American-Islamic Relations and hundreds of activists and organizers have spoken out against the CAA and NRC. The Saint Paul City Council believes that Indias Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens are inconsistent with the democratic values of the City of Saint Paul, and these Indian laws are threats to Saint Pauls South Asian communities of all castes and religions. The novel coronavirus is galvanizing the bigotry and violence against religious minorities in India. The economic relationship including trade, manufacturing, and technical support between the US and India is threatened by the instability of civil unrest due to the Indian governments exclusionary Ideology. Saint Pauls business, residents and economy could be impacted by the continued escalating unrest in India caused by the CAA and NRC laws. The Saint Paul City Council reaffirms Saint Paul as a welcoming city and expresses solidarity with Saint Pauls South Asian community regardless of religion and caste. Saint Paul City Council affirms that the integrity of the trade relationship between the Twin Cities and India must be founded continue to be based upon the democratic rights of our nations peoples, the rule of law and freedom of religion. JERSEY CITY, N.J., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blix Inc., a leading provider of messaging solutions to consumers and businesses, today announces its popular BlueMail client is now compatible with Debian and Red Hat Linux. With this expansion, BlueMail is now available on a dozen Linux distributions, including Arch Linux, CentOS, elementaryOS, Fedora, KDE Neon, Kubuntu, Manjaro, Linux Mint, openSUSE and Ubuntu. As the world faces an increasingly remote workforce, this expansion brings BlueMail's cross-platform productivity and safety features to a global network of consumers, companies, and IT business leaders. "As one of the world's most powerful email apps, we are very happy to announce our Linux distribution expansion. We're seeing more and more companies moving productivity online, and they are turning to us for that trusted, seamless combination of organized email, productivity tools, and communication among coworkers and individuals," said Dan Volach, co-founder at Blix. "The way we communicate online is facing a systemic change, and we are proud to be at the vanguard with our Linux partners." As a leader in the professional market providing services to over 100,000 companies worldwide, BlueMail is now able to serve its largest customer base yet. Its users benefit from a single, modern experience across all of their devices without compromising on premium features, security or privacy: Personalized Inbox: Focus on the most important emails in your inbox with automated filtering that separates services from real people and makes it easy to visualize long chains of correspondence. Unified folders also make it simple to organize email across multiple accounts. Focus on the most important emails in your inbox with automated filtering that separates services from real people and makes it easy to visualize long chains of correspondence. Unified folders also make it simple to organize email across multiple accounts. Powerful Email Clustering and Groups: Take productivity to the next level with inbox clusters that organize your email into easy-to-read categories and quickly group contacts together to avoid having to type out multiple recipients. Take productivity to the next level with inbox clusters that organize your email into easy-to-read categories and quickly group contacts together to avoid having to type out multiple recipients. Share Email: Easily share emails with colleagues and communities without starting a long chain of replies or forwards. Using a secure link, users can share their emails through corporate intranets, social media platforms, or mobile messaging clients and interact without revealing their email addresses. Easily share emails with colleagues and communities without starting a long chain of replies or forwards. Using a secure link, users can share their emails through corporate intranets, social media platforms, or mobile messaging clients and interact without revealing their email addresses. All the Essentials: Support for any email account (standards include IMAP, POP3, SMTP, ActiveSync and EWS), integrated calendar support for Google, Exchange, and CalDAV, email snoozing to prioritize tasks, and a secure direct connection to any email server without the use of an email proxy. Brothers Dan and Ben Volach founded Blix with the vision to provide an innovative, universally compatible, uncompromisingly private and secure messaging experience for businesses. This startup is not the first they have led together; they also built Followap, an early pioneer of mobile messaging that had over 200 million subscribers at its peak and laid the technical foundation for today's mobile messaging giants, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, QQ, and many others before it was acquired by NeuStar. BlueMail is available for Linux download here and on Snap. Small business and enterprise users can take advantage of priority support and advanced features, including a corporate management dashboard, BYOD compatibility, EMM support, remote device management, and more. Learn more at blixhq.com. About Blix Inc: Blix Inc. is a leading provider of messaging platforms for consumers and business customers, including BlueMail. Millions of people around the world use Blix products and services to increase productivity on the go and drive their business forward. Media Contact: Ben Wilsker [email protected] (212) 999-5585 SOURCE Blix Inc. Related Links https://blixhq.com/ A US military plane carrying dozens of donated American ventilators touched down in Moscow Thursday, with the precious cargo ready to be sent to a hospital treating coronavirus patients. The 50 ventilators are "the first part of a humanitarian donation of a total of 200 much-needed US-manufactured ventilators to Russia", valued at $5.6 million, the US embassy in Moscow said in a statement. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross posted a photo online of a US Air Force cargo plane after it arrived in the Russian capital's Vnukovo airport. "In times of crisis, the United States and Russia must work together to save lives," she wrote. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the rest of the ventilators were expected next week. Thursday's shipment will go to the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Centre in Moscow. The move follows a shipment by Moscow of Russian ventilators to New York on April 1. However they were never used and are unlikely to be after the same model was implicated in two fires in Russian hospitals. Five patients died in a Saint Petersburg hospital on May 12 and one died in a Moscow hospital on May 9 in fires that are suspected to have been caused by faulty ventilators. US authorities said the Russian ventilators were given to the states of New York and New Jersey but were returned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a precaution as Russia conducts a safety probe. Zakharova said both shipments were purely "humanitarian", though the US State Department had said Russia's shipment was a purchase not a donation. Russia is second to the United States in the total number of coronavirus infections with 317,554 reported cases and more than 3,000 deaths nationwide. Search Keywords: Short link: BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's statement congratulating Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, the ministry said in a statement, noting that the U.S. move has severely violated the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, gravely interfered in China's internal affairs, gravely jeopardized the development of relations between the two countries and their militaries, and gravely undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. "It is extremely wrong and very dangerous," said the statement. The ministry stressed that Taiwan question is China's internal affairs and concerns China's core interests and the national feelings of 1.4 billion Chinese people. "We strongly oppose any form of official exchanges and military contacts by any country with Taiwan," the ministry said, stressing "we will never allow anyone, any organization or any political party, at any time and in any form, to separate any part of the Chinese territory from China." The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has a firm will, full confidence and sufficient capabilities to defeat any interference by foreign forces and any secessionist attempt for "Taiwan independence" in any form, the ministry stressed. The PLA will take all necessary measures to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, said the ministry. Rental Assistance for Mom-and-Pop Property Owners and Tenant Households Help is on the way for households struggling to pay rent and mom-and-pop property owners struggling to pay mortgage amid the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 19, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas hosted a webinar to inform property owners about the new program and brief them on resources available through the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. The Supervisor is partnering with the Los Angeles Community Development Authority (LACDA) on a $1.8-million federally-funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program in unincorporated areas within Los Angeles Countys 2nd District, which include Athens, East and West Rancho Dominguez, Florence Firestone, Ladera Heights, Lennox, View Park, Windsor Hills and Willowbrook. One of the most disturbing elements of this pandemic has been its impact to the housing stability of our region and our nation at large, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas said. An unimaginable number of families are struggling just to feed their families. We must act with urgency and compassion to support residents and property owners weather these unspeakable circumstances. These grants will go a long way towards keeping hundreds of families housed. ADVERTISEMENT The COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program created by the Board of Supervisors will provide a dual benefit for two segments of our communities that are hurting, said LACDA Acting Executive Director Emilio Salas. For income-eligible renters that were impacted by the pandemic, it will provide a lifeline to assist in paying their rent, he added. For our property owner community, many of whom are mom-and-pop providers of rental housing, it will provide help to meet their mortgage obligations on rental properties. The LACDA is pleased to work with the Board, our partner agencies, and 2-1-1 to kick off this vital program. The US Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, provides emergency rental assistance grants to income-eligible households who suffered through a job loss, furlough, or reduction in hours or pay as a result of the pandemic. In the Second District, $1 million has been allocated to provide tenants with up to $1,000 towards their monthly rent for up to three months. LA County has contracted with the nonprofit St. Joseph Center and HOPICS to administer the program. Tenants can apply by contacting 211 L.A., either by dialing 2-1-1 or by going to the website 211LA.org/covid-rental-help. In order to qualify, a households income before COVID-19 cannot exceed certain thresholds for example, $63,100 for an individual, and $90,100 for a family of four. All applications must be received by May 31st, 2020. An additional $800,000 has been set aside for mom-and-pop property owners to help them pay the mortgage on their rental properties. LACDA will administer the program. ADVERTISEMENT The Board of Supervisors voted to extend LA Countys eviction moratorium to June 30, 2020, with consideration of additional extensions every 30 days thereafter. The moratorium will now apply to unincorporated areas countywide, as well as in jurisdictions that have not passed their own rent stabilization ordinances. For more information, please visit rentrelief.lacda.org and dcba.lacounty.gov. The Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors met Tuesday night to approve several items, listen to presentations from the technology director and the business manager, and get updates about graduation, the food program, and the conversation about the coming school year. With the Washington State legislature facing a possible $7 billion deficit, Superintendent Brent Freeman said, the talk about Wahkiakum receiving a $13-15 million bump to help renovate the high school was unlikely. I dont think were going to get a bond without a big match from the legislature, and I dont think were going to get a big match any time soon, Freeman said. Meanwhile, there have been four roof leaks in the last two months, and two of those leaks damaged IT equipment. Right now we cant afford to not do anything, and we cant afford to do anything, Freeman said. So hes been looking in a new direction. Apollo Solutions, a group that has worked with other school districts to find funding, had asked to give the school board a presentation sometime in the near future. The board agreed. The board also approved several items under new business: a 1.6 percent IPD (implicit price deflator) pay raise for the 2020-2021 school year, a new HR/Payroll Accountant position, $8,000 raises for the Transportation Supervisor and the Maintenance Supervisor, to make their salaries competitive with similar positions elsewhere, A four year contract with a base pay of $120,000 for Superintendent Brent Freeman, The 2020-2021 academic calendar, with the first day set for August 31, An annual resolution regarding membership with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Joyce Wilson and Cheryl Parkers retirements, and A continuous learning plan, a resolution to waive school annual hour requirement, and a WSD emergency school closure waiver application. These final three items will allow Wahkiakum School District, whose teachers began engaging students immediately after Governor Inslee closed schools throughout the state, to end the school year on June 12, instead of June 19 which was prescribed by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The teachers contracts end before June 19, and it has been the districts position that they should not be required to work without pay. Other districts took a lot longer to get started with remote learning and their school year will end on June 19. Paul Ireland gave an overview and history of the IT program at the district, which he has been instrumental in improving, campus wide. In the last year, they have taken their core infrastructure wireless, Ireland said. There is access to wifi all over campus and the district could now do live broadcasting for several sporting events at several locations on campus. Thats the good news, but upgrades are always needed, as well as questions about how to fund the fixes. Business Manager Shelby Garrett gave a presentation on the budget status. Were about 75 percent through the year, but weve only spent 62.8 percent of our budget, and that does include the buses, but not the scoreboards, Garrett said. Were doing pretty good. Enrollment is frozen at 491, Freeman reported. There is a lot of anxiety about what the future holds for us, Freeman said. What I will share is that were holding to the June 12 graduation date, and the June 12 end of school. He said they had been working with Chris Bischoff, the Director of Health and Human Services, Principal Stephanie Leitz and a couple students to work out the details of graduation, which they plan to livestream in the gym with just the seniors and necessary staff. The district has provided more than 5500 meals since Washington schools were closed in March, and will continue to do so until June 19, when a summer meal program will take over. They are figuring out how to transition at this time. Freeman said there were also discussions about what school might look like when it resumes in the fall. We like options that fit Wahkiakum, not options that are necessarily best for Seattle, Were fighting hard for that, and I think were getting some traction, Freeman said. The political head of Yemens Houthi rebels, Mehdi al-Mashat, vowed to release six Bahai prisoners during a lengthy televised address in March. Two months later, multiple sources have confirmed to Al-Monitor that the Yemeni rebels have failed to follow through and that all six prisoners remain behind bars. In a statement to Al-Monitor, Ambassador Sam Brownback, President Donald Trumps envoy for international religious freedom, said, "We urge the Houthis in Yemen to do the right and merciful thing and follow through on their March announcement to release Hamed bin Haydara and the other arbitrarily detained Bahais in their custody." Haydara had received a death sentence that Mashat overturned in March. Weve been concerned generally about the well-being of all prisoners, but in particular religious prisoners of conscience who arent violent, dont pose a threat to security and are in crowded prison conditions where they are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19, said Scott Weiner, a policy analyst at the congressionally mandated United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Why it matters: It remains unclear why the Houthis have failed to make good on their pledge to release the Bahai prisoners. But the US commission and the Bahai community speculate that Houthi leaders remain divided on their release. Anthony Vance, the director for the Office of Public Affairs for the Bahais of the United States, told Al-Monitor, Its also possible that because the persecution of the Bahais in Yemen and the kinds of accusations are similar to the kinds of accusations made against the Bahais in Iran, one might think that since the Iranians are strong supporters of the Houthis, that Iranian influence in Yemen is part of the reason why the Bahais were arrested and not released. Iran released some 20 Bahais last month as part of a furlough to depopulate its overcrowded prison system in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, but some 50 to 100 Bahais still remain in Iranian jail. Iran has a long history of harsh discrimination against the Bahai faith, a minority religion that originated in 19th-century Persia. Whats next: Weiner noted that UN envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths has advocated for the prisoners release as part of his reconciliation efforts between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. Know more: Naseh Shakir details efforts to get the Houthis to release their Bahai prisoners. Much of New York City has been idle since the coronavirus lockdown was declared two months ago, but not the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, an 88-acre shipping and distribution hub built in the 1960s on the east side of the citys inner harbor, opposite the Statue of Liberty. Day and night, trucks back up to loading bays while 130 workers scamper between three football-field-size warehouses, waving in drivers and inspecting their freight. The traffic here is no longer in goods arriving from around the world, however. It is in the dead. The corpses arrive from across the city. Since mid-April, the bodies of New Yorkers have been pulled from homes, hospitals and alleyways, zipped up in black body bags and brought here for processing. Some died hours earlier; others have been gone for days, or even weeks. One by one, they are examined and entered into a computer tracking system. Then they are pushed up a ramp to a loading dock and stacked on wooden racks with 90 other corpses inside one of dozens of 53-ft. refrigerated tractor trailers set at 37F to 39F for storage. The makeshift morgue is just one stop in a citywide cavalcade bearing an unfathomable number of bodies. Since March 14, COVID-19 has killed some 20,000 in New York City; at the height of the pandemic on April 7, two dozen people were dying every hour. But those figures dont capture the competing challenges that the scale of death has created on the ground. The first is logistical: How do you handle that many dead bodies in a safe and hygienic manner? The pandemic has overwhelmed the network of funeral parlors, mortuaries and morgues designed to process the dead. At the worst moments, hospitals loaded corpses onto refrigerated trucks with forklifts. Medical examiners set two-week limits to claim bodies before they were sent in pine boxes to paupers graves on Hart Island. Funeral homes stacked caskets in spare rooms, hallways and private chapels. Crematories brick ovens collapsed because of overuse. Story continues The harder challenge is psychological. How do you maintain your humanity in the face of so much dehumanizing death? Amid the crisis, the usually discreet network of humans entrusted with caring for our dead and helping us mourn has struggled. Reinforcements from the National Guard have been called in, with part-time soldiers like Senior Airman Steve Ollennu pulled off his job installing communications equipment to retrieve bodies as grieving family members say their last goodbyes. City officials like Frank DePaolo, who handled the dead after 9/11 and now oversees mortuary operations for the chief medical examiners office, are working 12-hour shifts trying to ensure a modicum of respect for those brought into the disaster morgues. Funeral directors like John DArienzo search for small symbolic steps to honor the deceased in rituals so anonymous and restrictive, they are no longer called wakes or visitations but rather identification ceremonies. TIME spent more than a month observing and traveling and speaking with more than three dozen people in New York Citys procession of death, gaining access to every step of the journey from body collection to mortuary inspection to burial. What emerged is a picture of professionals trying to balance the grueling practicalities of processing hundreds of bodies per day with the compassionate imperative to honor the deceased and offer survivors the chance to mourn and some semblance of closure. The virus has kept us from saying goodbye at a hospital bedside or finding peace at a funeral. We dont do this work for the dead, says DePaolo. We do it for the living. Clockwise from top-left: Jonathan Concepcion, Private First Class; Janusz Karkos, Green-Wood Cemetery Gravedigger; Ramon Jones, Master Sergeant; Barbara Sampson, Chief Medical Examiner | Natalie Keyssar for TIME The call for help comes in at 3:56 p.m. on May 2. The dispatcher with the medical examiners office tells Senior Airman Ollennu, 32, of the 105th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard that a removal is needed at a retirement home in Flushing, Queens. Twenty minutes later, Ollennu and his two team members arrive at the rear of the 10-story red brick building and park near the service elevator. Jumping to the pavement, they shed their hats and camouflage jackets and pull on white hooded jumpsuits, blue latex gloves and white plastic coverings over their combat boots. It is a spectacle for the New Yorkers enjoying the 72F day. A man walking a white and brown shih tzu stops midstride when he spots the troops looking like spacemen. He promptly moves to the other side of the street, watching as Ollennu and his group disappear into the service elevator with a stretcher. Wordlessly, the collection team heads to the basement morgue, where a staffer points a thermometer at each of their necks to ensure they arent running a fever. The body of an elderly woman awaits them. After a medical examiners official confirms her identity, the troops zip her into a body bag, then place her in a second bag to ensure no bodily fluids escape. The team wheels the corpse back the way they came, through the basement, into the elevator, out the service entrance to the back of the medical examiners truck, where they gently secure the womans body. Standing outside the truck, the troops ball up their protective equipment and toss it into a bucket marked bio-hazard. Then they take turns spraying themselves with disinfectant. Senior Airman Steve Ollennu, at left, leads a National Guard team of three. A May 2 removal call took them to Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx, the hospital where Ollennu was born. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME For two months, 30 three-person teams of National Guard members have joined officials from the medical examiners office in this ritual. Many of the troops had never so much as touched a dead body before. Now they see more corpses in a week than many soldiers see in a nine-month combat stint. Its not just the COVID cases. Theyve had to help on all New York City deaths: picking up a suicide jumper off the pavement; holding their breaths to haul out two-week-old corpses from hoarders apartments; and tiptoeing around blood spatter at murder scenes. Once you see it, you cant unsee it, Ollennu says. You cant unsmell it either. The National Guard has a chaplain and behavioral-health specialists available if the troops need to talk about the scenes they deal with all day. Ollennus military occupation is actually to install and maintain communications equipment. Hes had to learn body removal on the job. Apartment buildings are a challenge. Hallways are often narrow. Sometimes the elevator is broken, forcing the team to haul a lifeless body down multiple flights of stairs. Its hard when you have to handle a body thats been decomposing for an extended amount of time because the body is weak, its brittle in some areas, the skin is ready to peel off, Ollennu says. You try to handle it in a respectful manner, so the survivors can see that their loved ones werent just manhandled and thrown in a bag. Battalion leaders based in the medical examiner's disaster morgue in Manhattan; for the pandemic, four temporary morgues were added to the city's five permanent facilities. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME Grieving families are often present, which adds another complexity. Its often the last time relatives are able to see their father, mother, son or daughter. Many have a deep fear that their loved one will get lost among the thousands of corpses held by the medical examiners office. The team reassures them that they maintain a number-coded tracking system, so their family member or friend wont be misplaced. In one sense, Ollennu is doing this for his neighbors. He grew up in the city. His father, a taxi driver born in Ghana, still lives in Harlem. Sometimes he collects the dead from Lincoln Medical Center, the hospital where he was born. It was dusk by the time Ollennus team dropped off the last body of their shift at the makeshift morgue. As they pulled in, members of the medical examiners office checked their victim and took down her name, birth date and other information. Nearby, other workers wheeled unidentified bodies to the refrigerated truck dedicated to those who arrive unclaimed. The South Brooklyn Marine Terminal became a massive crisis morgue thanks to Frank DePaolo, 60. His COVID-19 response plan drew on his experience coordinating operations following the 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. The warehouse complex was previously used to sift through debris to find remains of missing 9/11 victims. Another COVID-19 morgue in Manhattan, in an area formally known as Memorial Park, also held the remains of victims in the attacks. Refrigerated tractor trailers outside the Marine Terminal, generators roaring. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME DePaolo, who worked as a paramedic before climbing the ranks of the medical examiners office, even lured back veterans from the 9/11 emergency response who had left. John Scrivani, 48, retired from New York City disaster-response management about a decade ago to enjoy a quieter life in Virginia. DePaolo persuaded him to temporarily leave his job with the Virginia department of transportation to help coordinate the recovery and transfer of remains from hospitals. When I saw what was going on, sitting at home wasnt an option, Scrivani says, standing on a morgue loading dock as soldiers, firefighters and emergency personnel scuttle back and forth. Over the past two months, the medical examiners office has transformed into a hub-and-spoke organization for the collection, transport and storage of corpses. It has installed more than 100 refrigerated trailers outside 58 hospitals in all five boroughs. A planning team plots out response calls in order of urgency. A fueling truck is sent around to fill up each refrigerated trailer once a day. All of it happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The core mission is to vastly expand the citys storage capacity, easing the burden on undertakers and gravediggers who are backlogged with bodies and inundated with requests. Before the pandemic, the medical examiners traditional morgues could store up to 900 bodies. Capacity is now at least five times that. On a recent Saturday, standing in front of more than two dozen refrigerated trailers holding hundreds of dead New Yorkers, DePaolo tried to find words to express what he is experiencing. The afternoon sun reflected off the trailers white panels. A breeze carried the whir of generators and the scent of gasoline. People have no idea this is going on, DePaolo says above the din. Its like another world. The logistical challenges are complicated by emotional ones. DePaolo is leading an effort that has no contemporary precedent; the number of dead far surpasses the casualties seen on modern battlefields. And the 12-hour shifts are taking a toll as all 800 medical-examiner employees, 350 U.S. troops and 75 federal personnel assigned to the office work at their limits to handle all the bodies. People will work seven days a week if you dont tell them to stay home, DePaolo says. We know from past experience thats not healthy. Soldiers from the 54th Quartermaster Company at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, which also served as a disaster morgue after the 9/11 attacks; by mid-May, COVID-19 has killed at least five times as many New Yorkers. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME The DArienzo Funeral Home in Brooklyn has never had long-term refrigeration capacity for the bodies it takes in, and for 86 years that wasnt a problem. I do about 100 funerals a year, which mathematically works out to about seven a month, says John DArienzo, 58, the third-generation director. I did 60 funerals in April. Hes done what he can to free up space inside. The furniture in a small, dimly lit chapel was removed to hold caskets, stacks of long cardboard boxes known as cremation containers, and cartons of much needed plastic protective equipment provided by the city. He had to use a spare room in back, behind the coffee-colored curtains in the visitation room, as an emergency space for up to six bodies. He sets fans and a cooling system to maintain 50F, which isnt cold enough to keep the bodies from decomposing after a day or so. DArienzo has worked to maintain a lifelong pledge, passed on from his father and grandfather, to help every mourning family that enters his front door. But that was before COVID-19. Now, most days, he keeps the door locked and his phone off the hook. Worst thing Ive ever done in my life, as a person and a funeral director, was to tell a family I couldnt help them, he says. And there were days I was telling 30 to 35 families, I cant help you. As president of the Metropolitan Funeral Directors Association, DArienzo hears from undertakers across the city. Everyone is overwhelmed, he says. Everyone is at full capacity. Everyone is trying to service anybody and everyone that they can. Clockwise from top-left: Frank DePaolo, Deputy Commissioner for Forensic Operations; Steve Ollennu, Senior Airman; Naraly Garcia, Specialist, Muhammed Qureshi, City Mortuary Technician | Natalie Keyssar for TIME Even the people he can help are not able to mourn their loss normally. Limits on public gatherings compound the pain of grief-stricken families, who must cover their mouths and noses with masks and refrain from touching one another or the deceaseds body. The polished dark wooden chairs in DArienzos carpeted visitation room have been separated 6 ft. apart and pushed to the oak-paneled walls. Rather than a traditional hours-long visitation service with flowers and clergy, funeral directors are holding identification services so a handful of immediate family members can say a prayer or two. It is a ceremony without catharsis. Some New York City funeral homes have arranged livestreams on platforms like Skype or Facebook. The struggle to keep up has turned ugly at some facilities. On April 29, at the Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, police found four rented trucks parked on a busy street with about 50 decomposing bodies inside. The discovery was made after a neighbor reported a foul odor and dripping fluids coming from the un-refrigerated vehicles. I have no idea in the world how any funeral home could let this happen, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. But its not that easy with every person trained to handle the dead in New York City overwhelmed. Green-Wood Cemetery sprawls out over 478 acres of rolling hills in west Brooklyn. Burials have jumped threefold, to as many as 69 per week. In my 48 years here, Ive never seen anything like it, says cemetery president Richard Moylan, 65, who started cutting grass on the grounds as a summer job in 1972. Moylans gravediggers wear face masks and hazmat suits for confirmed coronavirus victims. The family has to stay away from us, says Janusz Karkos, 43, who was raking soil over the newly covered grave of a COVID-19 victim. Things are very different for burials. So few people, so little ceremony. He motioned toward a single bouquet of red and white roses that says Uncle and Brother. Usually, the number of flowers on a grave like this would come up to our knees, he says. But theres no wake, no funeral, so no flowers. Social distancing regulations have made funerals lonely and rare. On May 4, Janusz Karkos tends the grave of a COVID-19 victim at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME Faced with limits on funeral attendance and social-distancing restrictions at grave sites, many families are opting instead for cremation. At Green-Wood, the number has tripled to more than 150 each week. New York State regulators realized in early April that demand for cremations would rise, so they loosened restrictions to allow crematories to operate around the clock. All five of Green-Woods cremation ovens now burn up to 1,800F for 16 hours a day. (The remaining eight hours are needed for recovery time.) The overuse has caused two of the ovens to break. All four city crematories have backlogs stretching to a month. None has ever had a wait list before. Funeral directors have resorted to driving bodies to crematories in Vermont, Pennsylvania, Connecticutanywhere thats not overwhelmed. What does the work of Ollennu, DePaolo, DArienzo and Moylan amount to in the end? In the most basic sense, it is about preserving public health. At a time when strangers are told not to come within arms distance of one another, these men are taking a risk by handling the dead. But in a moral sense, they have accomplished something more. Fabian Reyes, 49, called his daughter Fabiolas cell phone in the early afternoon of March 31, but she couldnt understand him. He couldnt breathe, says Fabiola, 28. I just told him dont give up. Then her phone pinged with a text message. I wont make it from this one please take care this virus is serious and is gonna wipe out a half the population, take care of your younger siblings please, the message read. It was sent at 2:43 p.m. on March 31. Fabian died two weeks later. A collection team removes remains from a residence in the Bronx on May 8. Twelve hour shifts have become routine. | Natalie Keyssar for TIME It took 24 more days for Fabiola Reyes to obtain her fathers ashes. A Catholic from a large and devout Ecuadorian family, she wanted to hold a traditional wake, funeral and burial for her dad. But once it was clear that they wouldnt be able to gather together, much less have a formal ceremony, the family settled on cremation. Finally, on May 7, they received Fabians ashes and convened a handful of family members outside St. Sylvester Church in Brooklyn for a short blessing ceremony. The ritual, with attendees masked and 6 ft. apart, was a far cry from what the family wanted. But it was something: a moment to honor and remember Fabian Reyes, whose remains had been borne to the service by people on the front lines. In one of the darkest periods in our history, they have carried their fellow Americans with quiet dignity. As Ollennu put it after a long shift, We try to treat everyone like they were our own family member. A former Arizona teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old student is divorcing her husband from prison after he stood by her side during the trial. Brittany Zamora, 29, filed for divorce from her husband, Daniel Zamora, nearly one year after she was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. In 2019, Brittany pleaded guilty to s.e.xual conduct with a minor, public sexual indecency and molestation of a child while teaching at Las Brisas Elementary School in Goodyear. Separate allegations accused the teacher of trying to groom another young boy by promising to send him naked photos of herself. AZ Central reports that a mother of a male friend of the victim told local authorities that Brittany promised to send her son nude photos over the summer. During class, Brittany reportedly asked the friend whether he was circumcised. When he did not understand Brittanys question, she allegedly showed him photos of genitalia on her phone. The friend said the teacher had never tried to touch or kiss him. Brittany filed for divorce from Daniel on April 28, according to People. In the court documents, Brittany checked a box reading, Our marriage is broken beyond repair (irretrievably broken) and there is no hope of reconciliation. As part of the filing, Brittany has relinquished her hold on the family home and all other shared properties. The couple married in 2015 after meeting when they were 16. They have no children together. After Brittany was arrested, Daniel remained by her side and even went so far as to call the victims family to plead on his wifes behalf. Court documents revealed the victims father told local police Brittany and Daniel were harassing him over the phone. Daniel called the victims father to say Brittany had made a mistake, but that she loved children. He reportedly asked the victims family to handle the situation out of court, adding that they should meet up and settle this. The victims father disagreed and ended the phone call. The victims family filed a lawsuit against Daniel for failing to alert authorities when he learned of the affair. It was settled for an undisclosed amount. Brittany was caught in March 2018 when the victims parents noticed he was acting strange, leading them to install an app on his phone called Sentry Parental Control, which monitors messaging apps for suspicious content or behavior. The Sentry app sends parents alerts when it detects suspicious images and messages on a childs device. It also detects whether or not a child is exposed to inappropriate online content through its web monitoring feature. When the teens parents started getting the alerts about inappropriate text messages, they confronted him. It was later revealed that Brittany may have also begun grooming another student around that time. Thats when the teen admitted to having sex with Brittany. The boys parents were devastated by the affair. During trial, an attorney read a victim impact statement written by the mother. Brittany Zamora betrayed our trust and changed Victim A forever, the statement read, according to the Arizona Republic. Before, he was an innocent child, and now she stole his innocence from him. I hate Brittany Zamora for what she did to my son and family. Brittany had flirted with the young victim via text messages, but it quickly escalated to inappropriate contact and sex on several occasions in 2018. In one X-rated back-and-forth, Brittany told the boy she wanted to have sex with him every day with no time limit. Wyd? she started one conversation with him, using the slang-abbreviation for what are you doing? He replied: Thinking about your sexy self and added two pink heart emojis. Aww baby (love heart eyes emoji) I wish you were with me, she responded. The boy replied: I want u bby. (sic).. when can we f**k again?, this time adding two red heart emojis to his message. Brittany hit back: I want you too baby so bad! Whenever we can you know Im down, with a red heart emoji. She went on: Like you for real get sexier to me every day lol. I want to f**k you so bad baby those times werent enough, the boy replied to her. She responded: Me neither baby! I want you every day with no time limit. In another message, she told him she would quit her job in order for them to be together. On two occasions, she drove to his grandparents home to have sex with him in her car while her husband was fishing. She and the boy performed oral sex on each other before her husband phoned to tell her he would be home soon, according to the records. They exchanged explicit photographs including images of Brittany in lingerie and naked and the boy gave her love notes on brightly colored post-its which contained messages including you are sexy, according to police. Brittany told police when she was arrested that she was nervous she would not survive behind bars. Im little. Theyre gonna tear me apart. She then asked Can I have an attorney? when the interviewer declared: Im going to give you an opportunity to explain what happened. Before being helped into a police car by an officer who warned her the step was large, she asked cops to help her move her hair in front of her face to avoid the glare of waiting media. Brittany even appears to be smiling at one point. It was previously reported that on February 8, three students at the school complained to administrators about Brittany favoring the 13-year-old. Some of the students went so far as to say that she was dating or in a relationship with the teen. Everyone talks about them having an inappropriate relationship outside of class and at recess, one of the students said, according to notes taken by Principal Tom Dickey in an interview. Ive heard other kids in my class say that they think they are dating, another note reads. The school district interim superintendent, Richard Rundhaug, said that they investigated the allegations at the time, but found no evidence of a romantic relation. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates SPRINGDALE, Ark., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- David J. Bronczek, 65, has been appointed to the board of directors of Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN), company officials announced today. Bronczek is the recently retired president and chief operating officer of FedEx Corporation, the global logistics and transportation company. He was part of FedEx for more than 40 years, starting as a courier and progressing into the companys management ranks. His roles included leading FedEx Express in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and later serving for 17 years as president and CEO of FedEx Express. A native of Ohio and graduate of Kent State University, Bronczek also has experience as an independent public company director, previously serving on the board of International Paper. He also previously served as United Way Mid-South Board Chairman. Dave is a seasoned leader and we believe his extensive experience managing the logistical operations of a large, global company will benefit our long-term growth efforts, said Chairman John Tyson. We look forward to his input and enthusiasm on the board. I was privileged to work with a great team at FedEx for more than four decades and I look forward to working with another great team at Tyson Foods, Bronczek said. In addition to Bronczek and Chairman John Tyson, other current members of the Tyson Foods board of directors are Les R. Baledge, Gaurdie E. Banister Jr., Tyson Foods President Dean Banks, Mike Beebe, Mikel A. Durham, Jonathan D. Mariner, Kevin M. McNamara, Cheryl S. Miller, Jeffrey K. Schomburger, Robert C. Thurber, Barbara A. Tyson and Tyson Foods CEO Noel White. About Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) is one of the worlds largest food companies and a recognized leader in protein. Founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson and grown under three generations of family leadership, the company has a broad portfolio of products and brands like Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, ibp, and State Fair. Tyson Foods innovates continually to make protein more sustainable, tailor food for everywhere its available and raise the worlds expectations for how much good food can do. Headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, the company has 141,000 team members. Through its Core Values, Tyson Foods strives to operate with integrity, create value for its shareholders, customers, communities and team members and serve as a steward of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it. Visit TYSONFOODS.COM to learn more. General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has strongly indicated that the opposition party is willing to fight tooth and nail against the Electoral Commission (EC's) quest to compile a new register for the 2020 general elections on December 7. According to the NDC Chief Scribe, his party is prepared to resist any unconstitutional means by the electoral body which will not promote a free and fair election and possibly disenfranchise Ghanaians in the upcoming general elections. Speaking on Okay FMs Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, General Mosquito as affectionately called "we are all part of the framers of the constitution and have placed the EC in charge of our elections in order to maintain the countrys democracy so that whoever becomes president is the only one duly elected by Ghanaians. Therefore if in the course of your duty we feel that you are not doing what Ghanaians are paying you to do, every Ghanaian has the right to say it as it is. Reiterating the determination of the opposition party to ensure that the right thing is done, Johnson Asiedu Nketia affirmed the NDC's decision to prevent the EC from conducting a new registration exercise unless it is in line with the constitution. We are telling the EC emphatically that they will not be allowed to begin the process of compiling a voter register. Let not the EC, NPP or any other body think that we are going to withdraw from the elections; it wont happen and they shouldnt also think that they can do things contrary to the 1992 constitution to scheme and cook up things to favour Akufo-Addo or any other person in the upcoming elections. That too, will not happen. We will insist on a free and fair elections, and then in the event of a registration exercise, it will be based on the respect of everybodys human and civic rights, while ensuring an even playing field for all . . . and we will participate and win as NDC, he assured. Mr Asiedu Nketiah was emphatic that the NDC will continue to publicly voice out the misdeeds of the EC as the electoral body appears not willing to heed to the advice of the NDC at Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meetings. All the things we are talking about in public, we have already discussed with them at the IPAC meeting but they refused to listen and so if they wont listen, should we say that since they have become block-headed, we should refrain from speaking out? We will continue to fight for the right things to be done. We are not saying that we are going to show EC something that the NDC had secretly planned to do," he fumed. Watch Video Below Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Chicago radio host's attorney moves to dismiss James MacDonald's defamation lawsuit Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The lawyer for a Chicago-area radio host, whose airing of former Harvest Bible Chapel pastor James MacDonald's words on a hot mic led to Macdonald's firing, has filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit. The attorney for WLS/AM 890 radio host Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller who was once a parishioner at HBC and former friend of MacDonald's has characterized a suit brought by MacDonald against his client as a "vindictive fishing expedition" and has moved for its dismissal. Muller's attorney, Michael J. Young, also alleged that the lawsuit was filed so that the former pastor, who led the multi-site megachurch for over 30 years before being ousted in February of last year, could continue living an opulent lifestyle. MacDonald's lawsuit claims that the radio host violated state laws pertaining to eavesdropping when Muller aired audio footage of comments MacDonald made while on a hot mic in which he was heard talking about planting child pornography on Christianity Today CEO's Harold Smith's computer, uttering crude remarks about independent investigative journalist Julie Roys including joking that she had an affair with then CT Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli and making a vulgar reference to Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. Young maintained that the law is on Muller's side in light of the circumstances. Muller, a media member, was within his rights and obligations to hold Plaintiff up to public scrutiny, to share disturbing information about Plaintiff as he saw fit, and air the tape of Plaintiffs own derogatory comments, he wrote in a memorandum that was filed Friday. Mullers opinions and statements may have been upsetting but were protected speech, privileged, or substantially true. He continued, (I)mmediately after Muller made the complained of comments, (Muller) shared audiotape of Plaintiff making statement to others about putting child pornography on the computer of one of (MacDonalds) critics." The attorney further argued that MacDonalds expectation of privacy was unreasonable, because the footage was recorded "in a public building, in a room designed for recordings, in the presence of several people, and while on a speakerphone. Young cited as supporting evidence the 2001 ruling in Bartnicki v. Vopper, a Supreme Court precedent which held that First Amendment free speech protections extend to the broadcasting of secretly-taped recordings if the recording concerns a matter of public importance. Thus, MacDonald "cannot now allege that Mullers commentary regarding MacDonalds criminal intentions to destroy someones reputation and credibility by planting child porn on a computer is a false fact. Muller has said that in January 2019, after he read several accounts of MacDonalds behavior and actions, including bullying and abusive speech, he started reconsidering a number of exchanges he had with him as recently as December 2018. Some of these private conversations allegedly were about child pornography. [On] at least three occasions, Muller said, MacDonald suggested to me that he wanted to plant child porn on the computer of his critics. He even asked me if I could find someone to do it. Muller also said that he had other conversations about hiring a hitman that haunted him even more. MacDonalds amended complaint states that footage Muller played on his radio show had been recorded while MacDonald was with several parties in a recording booth at the church. This recording was subsequently delivered anonymously to Muller at his home in mid-February 2019. Both parties are slated to appear in court on June 12 and Young has filed a demand for a jury trial. In December 2018, Roys published an expose in WORLD magazine called "Hard Times at Harvest," which documented extensive financial malfeasance and a culture of intimidation at the church, including abusive behavior from MacDonald. Prior to publication, she was preemptively sued along with two other former bloggers who had been posting criticisms of MacDonald and the church on a site called The Elephant's Debt for several years and their wives. The church discontinued pursuing the lawsuit after a county judge denied them two key motions. Bigg Boss 13 contestant Mahira Sharma has opened up about allegations of trying to buy Shehnaaz Gill's fan pages. She has further accused Shehnaaz Gill's fans for trolling her on purpose. Bigg Boss 13 might be over but the controversies are certainly not. The latest controversy surrounds none other than friends turn foes Mahira Sharma and Shehnaaz Gill. By the looks of it, it seems like the matter is not going to end anytime soon. It all started when a Twitter page named The Khabri accused Mahira of buying Shehnaaz Gills fanpages. As a response to which, Shehnaaz Gills fans too jumped the gun and started trolling Mahira. Even after Mahiras spokesperson issued a clarification, the trolling did not stop. Now, the lady in question, i.e Mahira Sharma has herself ended her silence over the entire matter in an interview with a news portal. Threatening to approach the cyber crime cell, Mahira Sharma said that she does not want fans to fight amongst themselves but Shehnaazs fans have been trolling her ever since Bigg Boss 13 has ended. These are only fake fans because the real ones dont do such a thing. The trolls have now targeting her family and it is traumatising for her mother and and her to read such comments every morning. Also Read: Mere Angne Mein actor Ashiesh Roy says he is battling for life in hospital on his birthday Also Read: Salman Khan makes a quick visit to Mumbai to meet his parents before returning to Panvel: Report She added that other Bigg Boss 13 contestants like Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Rashami Desai have also experienced the same thing. She had a fight with Asim but they never crossed the line. When asked about the accusations of buying Shehnaazs fan pages, Mahira said that they have no proof to substantiate their claim. This fake news is being circulated to malign her. She is being trolled and it is all being done on purpose. On the professional front, Mahira Sharma will be seen in an upcoming Punjabi film alongside Paras Chhabra. Also Read: Bala actor Bhumi Pednekar misses father on his birth anniversary, pens down heartwarming note For all the latest Entertainment News, download NewsX App CHERRY HILL, N.J., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic can be even more stressful and overwhelming for people living with chronic illnesses. As a trusted resource for the multiple sclerosis (MS) community, the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is committed to providing accurate, up-to-date information, and resources during this time. Webinars about COVID-19 and Multiple Sclerosis Streamed live on Monday, May 11, 2020 , MSAA's fourth program in our ongoing series of webinars addressing the COVID-19 pandemic features MSAA's Chief Medical Officer Barry Hendin , MD and the Chair of MSAA's Healthcare Advisory Council Carrie Hersh, DO, MSc. These top two professionals provide the latest updates and insights on the coronavirus and its impact on multiple sclerosis. MSAA will also be hosting a fifth program about COVID-19 and MS with Dr. Hendin and Dr. Hersh on Monday, June 8, 2020 . , in our ongoing series of webinars addressing the COVID-19 pandemic features MSAA's Chief Medical Officer , MD and the Chair of MSAA's Healthcare Advisory Council Carrie Hersh, DO, MSc. These top two professionals provide the latest updates and insights on the coronavirus and its impact on multiple sclerosis. MSAA will also be hosting a fifth program about COVID-19 and MS with Dr. Hendin and Dr. Hersh on . As reported in the news, the effects of COVID-19 in the United States has disproportionately impacted the health of racial and ethnic minority populations, especially within the African-American and Hispanic communities. Recognizing the need to address this critically important and urgent health issue, MSAA streamed a live webinar about health disparities in the MS community on Thursday, May 14, 2020 featuring MS expert neurologist Mitzi Joi Williams , MD. Toll-free Helpline & Chat MSAA provides a toll-free Helpline that allows individuals with MS, family members, care partners, and friends to speak directly with one of MSAA's experienced Client Services Specialists. These trained and compassionate individuals have a social services and/or counseling background. However, please note that our Client Services Specialists are not trained medical professionals any questions related to your medical care should be shared with your physician and clinical care team. Call (800) 532-7667, extension 154 . Helpline hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM, EDT . . Helpline hours are Monday through Friday, . Email [email protected] . . Chat live via your computer through the online chat feature. My MSAA Community My MSAA Community is a free, peer-to-peer online forum for individuals with MS, their families, and their care partners to share information, stories, and experiences with multiple sclerosis. If you're looking for a way to pass the time, put a smile on your face, or simply connect with someone who understands what you are going through, My MSAA Community is an excellent place to digitally interact with others during this isolating time. Updates to MSAA's Program Requirements MSAA has made several revisions to the MRI Access Fund as well as to our Cooling and Equipment Distribution programs. Each of these three programs requires income eligibility from the applicant's most recently filed income tax form. Recognizing the immediate financial crisis many families are now experiencing, MSAA has added a COVID-19 economic hardship statement to all three programs to account for this sudden need. Also, depending on the program, certain application documents are now optional if individuals cannot connect with their physician due to stay-at-home restrictions. To learn more about the free resources pertaining to COVID-19 that are available from MSAA, please visit https://mymsaa.org/covid. Additionally, you may also contact Kaitlyn Gallagher, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator at (800) 532-7667, ext. 122 or via email at [email protected]. About MSAA The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is a national nonprofit organization and leading resource for the entire MS community, improving lives today through vital services and support. MSAA provides free programs and services, such as: a Helpline with trained specialists; award-winning publications, including MSAA's magazine, The Motivator; MSAA's nationally recognized website, featuring award-winning educational videos and research updates; S.E.A.R.C.H. program to assist the MS community with learning about different treatment choices; a mobile phone app, My MS Manager (named one of the best multiple sclerosis iPhone & Android apps by Healthline.com); a resource database, My MS Resource Locator; safety and mobility equipment products; cooling accessories for heat-sensitive individuals; educational programs held across the country; MRI funding; My MSAA Community, a peer-to-peer online support forum; a clinical trial search tool; and more. For additional information, please visit www.mymsaa.org or call (800) 532-7667. About Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system (CNS), which consists of the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. MS damages or destroys the protective covering (known as myelin) surrounding the nerves of the CNS, and can potentially injure the nerves as well. This damage causes reduced communication between the brain and nerve pathways. Common MS symptoms include visual problems, overwhelming fatigue, difficulty with balance and coordination, depression and cognitive issues, and various levels of impaired mobility. The prevalence of multiple sclerosis is estimated at nearly one million people nationwide and most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 50. MS is not contagious and researchers continue to look for both a cause and a cure. SOURCE Multiple Sclerosis Association of America Related Links http://www.mymsaa.org In his first interview this year, Ambassador Evans talks to Lisa Burke at length on a range of topics, from space to this weekend's Memorial Day, how to understand Trump's psyche, thoughts on Climate Change, the right to carry firearms and healthcare in the US. Ambassador Evans hasn't seen his wife Linda since February. It's the longest they have been apart in marriage. And whilst COVID-19 continues to spread its net across the world, curtailing travel, work carries on at the American Embassy in Luxembourg as before. "I knew the Importance of Luxembourg" Like Linda, and their son, Randy Evans was an attorney - a very successful one - rising to become General Counsel to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. But when the opportunity arose for diplomatic work, Evans chose Luxembourg as his first choice and the couple have lived here since June 2018. I knew the importance of Luxembourg: in the EU; in the world financial markets; in terms of being an honest broker between the superpowers, Russia, China and the U.S. The skill sets I had well suited what the country is good at: space, financial transactions, and being a participant on the geo-political landscape. In his time here, Ambassador Evans has worked hard to nurture commonalities between the two nations, disparate in size. Space is clearly one of the fields which excites Randy the most. Evans would have been 29 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. With ebullience, he recalls the joy of having Buzz Aldrin in Luxembourg to celebrate American Independence Day and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing last year. And one day, he hopes to be interviewed on the moon! Memorial Day This Saturday, Ambassador Evans will lead Memorial Day at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. This is a US Federal Holiday to commemorate all those who died whilst in military services. Due to restrictions on crowds, the Embassy will livestream the event on their website and on Facebook, to which all are invited. There will be a special guest too: Cecile Jimenez, the medical provider charged with the health and safety of the US Embassies here in Luxembourg and in Brussels. Her presence will mirror the service given by one nurse buried in the cemetary: 2nd Lieutenant Nancy Leo. Both serving 'on the frontline' in different battles, if one views COVID-19 in that light. "Trump will do the most unusual, most unpredictable things" Our conversation went on to talk about the idiosyncrasies of President Trump. "Anyone who tries to understand President Trump as a typical politician is going to be completely confused. Hes not. He is results oriented. Always focussed not on the how, not on repeating, but getting the problem solved." Ambassador Evans has been a lifelong Republican Activist. In light of this, we went on to talk about his thoughts on climate change and the right to carry firearms. "Everything in our government is designed to be very inefficient because we dont want any one person to accumulate too much governmental power. An armed citizen can protect itself from a government which has decided to go too far." Ambassador J. Randolph Evans is the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the 23rd United States Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He had two Weimaraners called Reagan and Thatcher. (Photo : Rosie Nicolai/DPIE) Crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) (Photo : S Cohen/DPIE) Brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata), endangered species A time-lapse showed the Australian National Park in Northern New South Wales (NSW) recovering from a bushfire that raged Australia last summer. The impressive footage captured by the NSW Environmental Trust's Feral Cat Project team shows how life blossomed from the burned woodland, as shown by Daily Mail. The clip shows the ground turns to green as ferns and grasses grow, and the park returns to normal. pic.twitter.com/ILsgFAWs3E After devastation comes recovery. This timelapse caught by the NSW Environmental Trust's Feral Cat Project team shows how bushland in Northern NSW is recovering after last summer's fires. #NSWfires Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (@NSWDPIE) May 19, 2020 However, the Feral Cat Project researchers captured this by accident by tracking the behavior of feral animals in NSW national parks. It was then released on Twitter by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment on Tuesday, May 19. Last summer, bushfires charred over 5.5 million hectares of land in NSW, which is around 7% of the state's total land area. It was estimated to destroy the habitat of at least 293 endangered animals and 680 endangered plants.However, the government's early retrieval efforts included food drops for the state's Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies. An entire colony at Kangaroo Valley on the New South Wales South Coast survived because of such effort. NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean was ecstatic to hear that wallabies survived the blaze, as confirmed by monitoring cameras and GPS collars. 'It was great to hear the wallabies were in good health, with one wallaby identified as a joey that was not previously known,' said Kean. Meanwhile, firefighters are already preparing for the coming next bushfire season. NSW fire team already began its hazard reduction burn program after the worst bushfire season in the state's history officially ended on March 31. NSW's worst bushfire While some of the world's ancient rainforests lie in the Australian state of New South Wales, they are also imperiled by bushfires during summer. These forests are "normally vibrant, green and lustrous," NSW Nature Conservation Council ecologist Mark Graham told ScienceNews. He claimed these forests feed the soul and bring peace. Australia experienced the hottest and driest year last year after 120 years. It recorded drought and heatwaves, which burned over 50% of the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Area. Graham aired concern "about the long-term viability of these globally significant forests." Overall, the fire raged to about 115 threatened plant and animal species, particularly in eucalypt forests in southeast Australia. Meanwhile, some plant species do not just tolerate fire, but they even depend on it. Their seeds require the heat and smoke of bushfires to germinate and sprout. Over time, experts say some fire-tolerant forests could eventually grow into grasslands while wet forests and rainforests could gradually turn into dry forests. During this recent fire season, those changes may have been started already. "The margins and parts of the [rainforest] core have been compromised, which means future fire events can penetrate deeper into what were previously permanently wet refuges," Graham added. While scientists have not yet studied how the forests can look like after the recovery, a pyrogeographer at the University of Tasmania in Hobart David Bowman told Science News that only a continental-scale pyrogeographic experiment can foresee that. Read also: [VIDEO] New Footage of Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Found in Film Archives in Australia 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Supreme Court has awarded Rs 7.64 crore compensation to the next of kin of a 45-year old man who was killed when Air India Express Flight 812 from Dubai crashed on landing in Mangaluru on May 22, 2010 that killed 158 of the 166 passengers on board. The family members of Mahendra Kodkany, which includes his wife, daughter and son, who were earlier granted Rs 7.35 crore as compensation by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), will now get the enhanced amount along with 9 per cent interest per annum (on the amount yet to be paid). The amount has to be paid by Air India. Kodkany was the regional director for the Middle East for a UAE-based company. In its order, an apex court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi said it was unable to accept the reasons cited by NCDRC in making a deduction from the salary of the victim while calculating compensation. The bifurcation of salary into diverse heads may be made by the employer for a variety of reasons. However, in a claim for compensation arising out of the death of the employee, the income has to be assessed on the basis of the entitlement of the employee," it said. The accident, in which the aircraft overshot the runway, went down a hillside and burst into flames, killed 158 of the 166 passengers on board. The top court further held that Kodkany had been a confirmed employee entitled to adequate weightage in terms of determination of compensation in the event of untimely demise. In the event that the amount which has been paid by Air India is in excess of the amount payable under the present judgment in terms of our above order, we direct under Article 142 of the Constitution (discretionary power to the Supreme Court), that the excess, if any, shall not be recoverable from the claimants, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SIDE SHOW Hydroxychloroquine? Trump should really take the suppository version. He should give it to all his 1 percenter friends. After all, he gave the 1 percent the majority of the stimulus package while we the taxpayers and voters got peanuts at this three-ring circus. Wait till you see the sideshow. SICK AND TIRED OF BEING TIRED AND SICK DOCTORS ORDERS This is to Trump 2020, Riddlewood Ken and Boothwyn. Im hoping that youre following your fearless leaders advice and am taking the hydroxychloroquine drug that hes suggesting. Once youve been taking it a couple of weeks, why dont you call back to Sound Off and let us know how youre feeling? WORTH YOUR LIFE? This is in response to Joe Magee and everyone else who says that nursing home data needs to be removed from any equations used to determine when counties open. How do you plan to keep separate all of the employees working at those facilities, EMTs responding to those facilities, people making deliveries of essential items to those facilities, etc.? As an EMT, I can respond to an emergency at one of these facilities, contract COVID-19 and remain asymptomatic, go out for a drink in one of your bars and infect dozens of people all without any knowledge Ive done it and all while using all required PPE and using best practices. The financial effects to small businesses are devastating. But is it worse than death? Joe wants to open for 14 days, 10 days, five days, whatever it is, then hit the brake. How many people could potentially die in those 14 days, 10 days, five days, whatever it is, before we hit the brakes again? Please rethink your rally. It is irresponsible and dangerous. And please rethink your approach to reopening. Your life, and mine, are worth it. STAY SAFE BIG WORRIES Boothwyn talks about the IQ of Democrats. However, he is the one who supports the most inept, incompetent president weve ever had. He speaks on a fourth-grade level. He also supports the president who was stupid enough to suggest people ingest disinfectant as a way to kill the virus and that people take hydroxychloroquine, which medical experts have said is useless against fighting COVID and also has probably harmful side effects. So if I was Boothwyn I wouldnt worry about other peoples IQs. Id worry about my own. HEY THERE, BOB Its good to see Bob from Sharon Hill back in the Sound Off column. I thought he had moved. DONNIE THE DESPOT There are exceptions, but a boss is generally one who has to have complete control. The necessity for free-thinking personnel is not one of his qualities. President Trump will forever hold the record for dismissing administrators and staff at the drop of a hat. Despots, of countries we least admire, have similar qualities. True leaders recognize they dont have all the answers and surround themselves with administrators and a staff whom they respect, and trust, in their ability to perform the job entrusted in them. Joe Biden has been in government and politics for many years. If, in fact, he is the challenger for the presidency, he must, and I believe will do what every very good and great boxer has done surround himself with the best men (and women) available. That is how success is achieved. Egos tend to alienate the ability to work both sides of the aisle and facilitate the art of compromise. The best of our presidents possessed these qualities. Weve had enough of this constant ridicule and in-fighting that gets us nowhere. We deserve better. JOE, FOLCROFT NEW YORK STATE OF MIND Id like to know if the spike in the virus in Delaware County that was so high is because of so many people from New York who fled down here. Ive never seen so many New York plates on cars all over the place in Delaware County. Nobody ever speaks of this at all. WONDERING CHECK MATE I am at concerned citizen. Im wondering who I can call about the stimulus check. Its been a while and I havent received mine and Im very concerned. Thank you very much. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 01:05:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Zhang Yuliang, Tafara Mugwara HARARE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The visiting team of Chinese medical experts have toured the country's three provinces to share their experience with local medical staff who stand at the frontline to fight COVID-19 in the southern African country. The 12-member team, which arrived in Zimbabwe last Monday, comes from southern China's Hunan Province. The team is made up of experts from infectious diseases and respiratory illnesses, intensive medicine, infection control, traditional Chinese medicine as well as public health and nursing. In this week, they visited Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West provinces, covering more than 1,000 km. In Marondera Provincial Hospital, the main provincial hospital in Mashonaland East, the Chinese experts gave a lecture to the doctors and nurses, sharing their experience with their Zimbabwean counterparts to help them fight against the pandemic. Zhu Yimin, the leader of the Chinese team, said every country had the problem of inward transmissions and there was need to scale up health screening at ports of entry, closely monitor inbound travelers and compulsorily quarantine them. "The issue of transmissions that are inbound is affecting every country and there is need to ensure that people are thoroughly screened at ports of entry as well as quarantine them as per international standards," he said. Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital and Mvurwi Hospital are the COVID-19 isolation and treatment hospital in Mashonaland West and East provinces. During the visit, the Chinese medical experts toured the wards and isolation center of the two hospitals and provided recommendations on hospital infection control, laboratory testing among other issues. The team also donated medical supplies to the hospitals they visited including Marondera Provincial Hospital, Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital and Mvurwi Hospital. Provincial officials and medical staff highly praised the Chinese experts for helping Zimbabwe in its fight against COVID-19, saying they believed that it has greatly helped the provinces to fight the epidemic. Mary Mliswa, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs of Mashonaland West, expressed sincere gratitude to the Chinese medical experts for unreservedly sharing the experience with their Zimbabwean counterparts. Appollonia Munzverengwi, Mashonaland East's Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, hailed cordial China-Zimbabwe ties that date back to Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, adding that Zimbabwe had a lot to learn from China which managed to contain a huge outbreak of COVID-19. "As a province and as a country, we can get an insight and learn much from the Chinese who have always been our all-weather friends," she said. Enditem Newsfrom Japan Osaka, May 21 (Jiji Press)--Panasonic Corp. <6752> will shut down a washing machine and refrigerator plant near Bangkok, Thailand, in late March 2021, informed sources said Wednesday. Production there will be transferred to a plant near Hanoi, Vietnam, the sources said. The move is part of the Japanese electronics maker's efforts to keep it competitive against South Korean and Chinese rivals. The Thai plant started operations in 1979. It will end washing machine production in late September and refrigerator output in late October. Panasonic will also close a research and development facility at the plant in late September. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Welcome to Money Diaries, where were tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. Were asking women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period and were tracking every last dollar. Today: an engineer who makes $214,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on Justins Honey Peanut Butter. Occupation: Engineer Industry: Tech Age: 25 Location: San Francisco, CA Salary: $214,000 (Base Salary: 1$28,000, Cash Bonus: $16,000, Stock Bonus: $70,000) Net Worth: $200,000 in stocks and investments, $89,000 in a 401(k), $32,000 in an IRA, $8,000 in a HYSA, a car worth $9,000, and a bike worth $2,000 Debt: $0 Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $3,452 Pronouns: She/her Monthly Expenses Rent: $1,450 (I live in a four-bedroom apartment with three housemates (G., S., and U.). We all pay equally. When shelter in place/work from home started, S.s girlfriend, J., came to stay with us) Debt/Loans: $0 (I bought my car with cash. My bachelors degree cost about ~$100,000, which I split equally with my mom and dad. I paid off my third within a couple of months thanks to generous starting and relocation bonuses.) Climbing Gym: $87 (continuing to pay even though they are closed) NYTimes: $15 Phone: $0 (paid by work) Spotify: $0 (My mom pays for a family plan) Dental, Health, and Car Insurance: $0 (On my dads family plan) Utilities: $75 Pre-Tax 401(k) Contribution: $1,500 After-Tax 401(k) Contribution: $1,968 (I do a back door rollover into my Roth IRA every quarter) Company Stock Purchase Plan: $984 (I can buy our stock at 25% off, up to 10% of my paycheck.) Day One 8:30 a.m. I wake up and my stomach isnt feeling great. Probably because of all the wine and homemade snickers bars I had last night playing card games with my housemates. Or it could just be that sometimes my stomach feels bad in the morning. I make tea and get on my first call of the day. 11 a.m. I eat a banana, almond butter, and some TJs granola. Now that I spend all day within 15 feet of the kitchen, any semblance of a normal eating schedule has gone totally out the window. Story continues 12:30 p.m. I have a break in meetings and do half an hour of yoga. I really have no idea what Im doing, but yoga seemed like a nice new thing to try while I have more time. At the end, Im slightly closer to touching my toes and feeling way better than I did this morning. 3 p.m. I head out for an hour-long run. There are fewer people on the trails at odd hours, so I dont feel as bad not wearing a mask. When I get back, I rinse off and make some copycat Annies Goddess Tahini dressing. I eat a salad that is actually just a bowl full of arugula. I also eat a bowl of Ben and Jerrys and two frozen toffee cookie dough balls. They never stood a chance of becoming real cookies. 8 p.m. Im done with work and most of my housemates are done cooking in the kitchen. I start on my project for tonight. Ive been saving wine bottles with pretty labels to upcycle into candles. At first, I tried to score and thermally shock the bottles, but I only ever succeed in making shanks. Now I just peel off the labels and stick them onto glass jars. Close enough. I only have enough wax left to make two candles. I reheat some leftovers and join my housemates who are watching Free Solo on Disney+. I order another 10-pound bag of candle wax ($27.25 with shipping). $27.25 10:30 p.m. I do a bedtime meditation and rub my Curology prescription on my face. And there you have the extent of my quarantine beauty routine. Daily Total: $27.25 Day Two 7:30 a.m. I wake up at a more normal time today. I rarely use an alarm (even before shelter in place) and am very committed to getting eight hours of sleep every night. Sleep is so so so important for your health. I pull on the same leggings and sweatshirt I wore yesterday (new undies though!) and make a chai latte. U. and I unload the dishwasher it didnt go well last night. I clean the filter and we load the dishes that are still dirty back in. I take my latte back to my bedroom/office and start on emails. 10:30 a.m. I put on a mask and head to the corner store to get bananas. Bananas are a shared house item, so I Splitwise the cost. I eat a couple bites of banana and put the rest in a smoothie with soy milk, coconut milk, greek yogurt, protein powder, and some frozen peaches for later. $1.63 11:30 a.m. I change and go on a bike ride. SF has closed a bunch of roads to cars to make distancing easier. Its drizzling today and not many people are out. When I get back, I have just enough time to rinse off and grab my smoothie before a 1 p.m. review. 4 p.m. I eat another bowl of arugula with tahini dressing, pour a glass of kombucha, and make some popcorn with butter and nutritional yeast. I eat the popcorn with chopsticks and keep working. 8 p.m. Done with work! Especially since no one is in the office here in CA, we are relying a lot on our teams in China, so I tend to work later to interface with them. It makes me kind of uncomfortable my company has been following different local/international guidelines, which means the policies are different based on where you are located. I feel like my co-workers in China are expected to put themselves at risk just because its technically okay in China, even though I dont think its much safer than here. I reheat some leftovers (homemade whole wheat pasta with squash, tomatoes, and turkey meatballs in spring pea alfredo sauce). I have some Talenti strawberry sorbet for dessert. Its my turn to deep clean the bathrooms in our apartment this month. I put on some old paint-splattered PJs from the back of my closet and get to it. 9:30 p.m. J. is baking zucchini muffins and saves me a muffin-sized amount of batter. We all eat muffins and discuss if SF should municipalize the cities power infrastructure. This month, my goal is to close my Apple Watch move ring every day. I still have a tenth of my ring to go, so I do some hang-boarding before meditation and bed. Daily Total: $1.63 Day Three 7:30 a.m. I scroll through social media and the NYTimes for at least an hour. Its another rainy day and I love my bed. Once I start getting work texts, I get up and make a chai latte. 12 p.m. After an intense morning, I reheat the last of my pasta and meatballs. Reformation is having a sale. Tempting. I add two dresses, jeans, and a top to my cart before quitting out of the browser. I dont need any more fussy dresses and at this point who knows? Maybe I will never have to wear jeans again. 12:45 p.m. Its not currently raining, so I take a bike ride. When I get back, I brush out my hair with my trusty tangle teaser to get ready for a shower. I have a lot of hair, and showering is a process. In addition to Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner, I use one of those silicone spike-y scalp brush things, a wide-tooth comb, and a vibrating silicone face cleanser. Clearly Im easily convinced by Instagram ads. Its time for a new outfit sweatpants and a Madewell cashmere sweatshirt. 2:30 p.m. I sit down for a meeting with my manager microfiber towel still wrapped around my head. We discuss the timeline for me returning to the office. Looks like Ill be going in part-time starting in about a month, and he explains the process for getting me designated as a business-critical employee who can access our lab. To be clear, I am definitely not an essential worker in terms of keeping our country running. After the call, I eat a bowl of arugula (with Briannas poppyseed dressing this time), a banana, some PB, and cookie dough. Im running low, so I order another 28-ounce Justins Honey PB jar on Amazon ($7.99). S. texts our chat that hes doing a TJs run, so I have him pick up some soy milk for me ($9.25 for milk and my share of other communal items). $17.24 5 p.m. My next hour of meetings is audio only, so I put on a mask and go for a walk. 7 p.m. I pack up a weekend bag, some food, and drive to my boyfriends (A.) place for the weekend, stopping by my dads on the way. I sit outside while my dad sits in the garage and we catch up while my youngest stepbrother runs around outside. My dad is increasingly worried about his aging parents who dont really seem to grasp social distancing. We call them for a bit on speakerphone to check-in. My stepmom brings out a homemade rhubarb cobbler and a Costco pack of TP for me (hallelujah!). 9:30 p.m. I arrive at A.s house. He has three housemates and they are watching Knives Out. We decided after talking with all our housemates back in March that we would keep visiting each other during shelter in place. Ive already seen the movie, so I retreat to A.s bedroom and check in with our China team. Daily Total: $17.24 Day Four 7:30 a.m. Im up, but A. is still sleeping. He has refused to shave his face since the start of SIP. It looks bad, but the way the mustache feels is worse. I still think hes cute and will support his facial hair goals. I put on a mask and walk to the market by A.s house while it is still early. I get spinach, chicken, strawberries, mangoes, bananas, butter, avocados, and a cucumber. $32.65 11:30 a.m. I ordered a swimsuit from Aerie a month ago. It shipped, but havent seen any USPS updates in two weeks. I know everything is slow, but I feel like something went wrong and this package is lost forever. My size is now sold out in the rust color I wanted, but there are still a couple left in black. I order it if the original eventually shows up, I will return it. Its not like Im gonna be going to the beach anytime soon anyway. I email customer service and set a reminder to call next week if I dont hear anything about a refund. I have, throughout the course of the morning, eaten things including (but probably not limited to) a banana, herbal tea, Quaker oat cereal, and nachos. $39.03 1:30 p.m. After an hour of unproductive discussion about the exact wording and formatting of some slides, Im cranky. I take a walk around the block to calm down and help A.s housemate with a puzzle for a bit. I dont have to finish updating the slides until next week, but I dont enjoy making slides and want it to be done. 2:30 p.m. Done with slides. A. makes some lemon and white wine chicken for our lunch. My team has a new policy where we get half a day off per week because working from home is challenging. Im loving working from home, but I know some of my co-workers (especially those with kids) are having a rough time. Im absolutely still taking my free half-day, though. I hang up the hammock in the backyard and get my kindle. Im re-reading Dune (inspired by Timothee Chalamets posts about the new movie on Instagram). 4:30 p.m. A. is done with work, so we drive to our favorite park for a hike. We hike for a couple of hours until the sun starts to set and the wind picks up. 7:30 p.m. A. wants ice cream. I offer to drive to the store because I need to fill up on gas, which I do while he shops. A. ends up getting no less than three kinds of ice cream as well as various other groceries. When we get back home we sample all the ice cream flavors, pour some wine, and reheat some beans and rice. $48.19 9:30 p.m. We light a candle and snuggle in bed to read. Daily Total: $119.87 Day Five 9 a.m. A couple of our friends bike over and we catch up with them in the yard. They brought us some tomato seedlings! I have a mango, some Mini-Wheats, and soy milk with honey. 11 a.m. A. has gotten good at baking sourdough bread during SIP. Todays loaf is ready for scoring I opt for a smiley face and we put it in the oven. We bought a 50-pound bag of flour at the start of the pandemic and have no regrets. 2 p.m. After doing some kitchen cleaning and eating fresh bread with butter, we drive up to the hills for a bike ride. During the ride, I eat a cliff bar with a packet of Justins PB. 7 p.m. We are back and are hungry. I more than doubled my move goal on the bike ride alone. I snack on some chips and salsa while we start cooking lentils and spinach for dinner. Once the lentils are simmering, I take a shower. 8:30 p.m. I start making brown butter toffee cookie dough. A. reminds me that we cant bake anything tonight because the cleaning paste needs to sit in the oven overnight. I, of course, knew this, but feign surprise. I eat cookie dough for dessert with a glass of wine while we watch Blindspotting. Daily Total: $0 Day Six 9:30 a.m. After a lazy morning in bed, I make some tea before a FaceTime chat with a group of friends. I put on a sundress and my Rothys and head into the backyard. Several of my friends went home for SIP so we are all scattered around the country, but everyone is adapting to the changes and holding up well. 11 a.m. A. and I go for a casual bike ride around the neighborhood. All the roses are blooming and it smells divine. I have a bowl of arugula with real Annies goddess dressing and some sourdough. 12:30 p.m. A. works on his motorcycle and does some maintenance on my bike while I make scones. I make one batch of strawberry mint (Ive been really into fresh mint lately) and one batch of Arizmendi copycat cherry and corn scones (sounds like a strange combo but they are amazing). I bake a couple and freeze the rest. We split one of each kind of scone. I feel conflicted that A. was doing handy work while I baked since it is such stereotypical gender roles. Should I have been helping him? A. points out that feeling pressure to conform to anti-gender roles is not far from feeling pressure to conform to stereotypical gender roles, and that we should just do what we want. Today, I wanted to bake and he wanted to work in the garage. 3 p.m. I fry up sausage and some bell peppers before heading into the backyard to plant the tomato seedlings. A. makes Bloody Marys and we both read outside for a bit. 5 p.m. The Bloody Mary was strong, and its about all I can do is continue reading for the next hour or so. Then A. and I make tacos. 7:30 p.m. We do an hour-long yoga session and Im pretty tempted just to fall asleep after. My legs feel like noodles. I still have work to do on my move ring though, so I go out for a walk. 9:30 p.m. We watch a couple episodes of Midnight Gospel with the house before bed (free through a housemates Netflix). Daily Total: $0 Day Seven 8:30 a.m. Breakfast today is yogurt, an amazing mango, granola, and emails. 11:30 a.m. A. makes some very fluffy blueberry buttermilk pancakes. After we eat, he needs to go to his office to pick up some things from a coworker so we bike over together. Its pretty wild biking through all the totally deserted office parks. On the way back, we stop at Lowes and A. picks up a hummingbird feeder. 3 p.m. I take a break from work to FaceTime my mom and oldest brother. Hes in college and decided to stay in his apartment until his semester lease ended, so he just got back home. My mom got the virus but recovered without needing to go to the hospital. She is doing great, but my brother is a bit lost. His summer internship was canceled and it seems really unlikely that he will find another job in the current environment. We discuss him traveling to Montana to help our grandparents out, but the logistics of quarantining him first need some more work. I eat a banana with PB, arugula, and cookie dough after the call. 6 p.m. We pack up my car to head back to my place. As soon as I back out of the driveway, one of the rear tires pops. Ugh. We decide this is a future problem and move everything to A.s car. Now that his motorcycle is running again, its no problem for me to keep his car for the week. He will bike back down to his house at some point. 7:30 p.m. Done with my last meeting of the day! Every Monday, we rotate one person orchestrating dinner for our house. It is G.s turn and he is making Korean pork lettuce wraps with a refreshing soju melon cocktail. We all help with the final dinner preparation and sit down to build our wraps. 8:30 p.m. On to dessert! We make mochi balls with red bean filling and play some rounds of Code Names while we eat the mochi with ice cream. 10 p.m. Everyone pitches in to help clean up before heading to bed. Daily Total: $0 COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic. Go to the CDC website for the latest information on symptoms, prevention, and other resources. Editors Note: Refinery29 does not condone breaking social distancing rules. Please check your states website for updated rules and regulations. Money Diaries are meant to reflect individual womens experiences and do not necessarily reflect Refinery29s point of view. Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity or harmful behavior. The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend to try on your own, check out our guide to managing your money every day. For more money diaries, click here. Do you have a Money Diary youd like to share? Submit it with us here. Have questions about how to submit or our publishing process? Read our Money Diaries FAQ doc here: r29.co/mdfaqs Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? A Week In Boston, MA, On A $190,000 Salary A Week In Tennessee On A $70,000 Salary A Week In Washington, DC, On A $72,000 Salary A lack of federal and state guidance, coupled with limited availability of protective gear, is inhibiting Connecticuts nursing homes residents from getting to shower, with workers instead sponge-bathing many residents in their beds. Thats according to the union representing front-line staff at 69 nursing homes in the state, the operator of 24 long-term care facilities, and the leader of the state association representing providers of for-profit nursing homes. The issue came to the fore during a Connecticut Department of Public Health conference call last week with nursing home providers, where officials recommended that workers discard personal protective equipment, or PPE, after each shower or bath, as well as throughly clean the bathing facility. Assisting residents with COVID-19 showering can be high-risk, and staff should use full PPE, however the PPE will get all wet and will need to be discarded after each shower, Dr. Vivian Leung, an epidemiologist who oversees infection surveillance, pathogen containment and outbreak response at the states Department of Public Health, told The Mirror. Showers and baths enhance the burn rate of personal protective equipment, according to Matthew Barrett, president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, the for-profit state association leader. Despite a sizable recent PPE shipment to the state, its been perpetually in short supply throughout the pandemic. So in the interest of conserving their equipment, many nursing home providers have opted to clean some residents - often those who have a confirmed or suspected COVID-19-positive status - via sponge baths. On one hand, the state says that nursing homes have plenty of protection equipment. On the other hand, the state tells nursing homes that its totally acceptable to stop showering residents to save protection equipment, said Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199NE, which represents 7,000 nursing home workers. There has been a huge failure of communication around the supply and use of protective equipment. It has proven to be deadly for Connecticuts elderly, poor, and disabled communities. Baril said showers have been either scaled back or completely eliminated at many nursing homes because coveralls and other protective gear are not readily available to accommodate showering residents. It could be difficult to shower a resident because PPE could become moist, so great care would have to be taken, said Tim Brown, spokesman Athena Health Care Systems, which owns 24 nursing homes in Connecticut. We are encouraging staff to do a full bed bath for any COVID-19 positive confirmed patient or anyone on active precautions. For the remainder of nursing home residents, Brown said, Its looked at on a case-by-case basis. Where is shower located - do they have a private shower in their room or is it a shared area? Also, how much assistance is required, can the PPE remain dry, etc. He pointed out that many residents were already getting sponge baths pre-COVID-19 if they were not capable of having a shower or bath. Ryder Health Management, the owner of Aaron Manor, Mystic Healthcare and several other nursing homes in the state, declined to address whether residents are being offered showers and baths. All Ryder facilities follow strict guidelines for patient care. We do not discuss the day-to-day practices of patient care out of concern for our patients privacy. Our staff is well-trained and make patient care and safety our priority, said Andrea Obston, a spokesman for Ryder Health Management. Barrett, of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, agreed that the pandemic has complicated showering residents. Bed baths are becoming more common in nursing facilities that have higher incidences of COVID-19, he said. Its one of the many issues that present challenges for skilled nursing facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Barrett suggested that showering could create a greater risk of virus transmission. This is a high-touch, or high-risk activity, showering COVID-19 residents that require assistance, he said. It is virtually impossible to keep the PPE that is protecting the employee and the resident from becoming wet and compromised. For these reasons, he continued, nursing homes under guidance from public health officials are much more often bathing residents in their beds, in accordance with CDC guidance. Official word from the Connecticut Department or Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control is limited on the topic. We havent seen common showers as an epidemiolgic link between cases in congregate living settings. We (CDC or DPH) have no formal recommendations about this at this time, and facilities can decide how they want to proceed, knowing the potential risks, said Leung. But when addressing the states nursing homes directly, she did advise caution. The unexposed residents should be able to shower in the common shower. I would say exposed residents can shower in common showers if the shower area and Hoyer lifts and high-touch surfaces can be carefully wiped down with disinfectant (following product label instructions) between resident use. Same would be for the COVID-19-positive cohort, she said. If a facility is unable to implement this well, then they can choose in-room hygiene. In general, showering is a good idea for hygiene purposes, but it can be a high-contact patient care activity. The CDC has not weighed in at all. CDC doesnt have specific guidance to showering in congregate settings, CDC Spokesman Bert Kelly said when asked about the states suspension of showers for certain inmates in prisons and jails, another congregate living environment. Individuals who are in medical isolation or quarantine should ideally have their own bathroom dedicated for their [use]. If people are cohorted, then this would mean having dedicated bathrooms for those in medical isolation, and dedicated bathrooms for each quarantine cohort. We do not state that showers should be limited for people in these situations, only that the locations should be segregated to prevent transmission. With the absence of concrete guidance coming from the state or federal government, state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the legislatures Judiciary Committee, said Connecticuts 231 nursing homes are being left to make the call themselves. What I know seems to suggest the rules are not necessarily hard and fast across all nursing homes. The concept of showers not being offered at a nursing home seems to be more likely an outgrowth of a lack of a rule, as opposed to a universal rule put out by an executive order, he said, adding that he and his legislative colleagues are feeling a rising level of frustration with what were doing with nursing homes. The state should issue clearer guidance for nursing homes to follow on residents bathing during the pandemic, Winfield said. If Im holding the guidance in my hands, it should be clear to me what I should be doing, and what I should not be doing. The NDC Action Movement has become aware of the intense horse-trading, lobbying and self-promotional gimmicks by some party stalwarts all in an attempt to get the flagbearer's attention and sway his choice of a running mate, even as the party prepares for election 2020. While we are vehemently opposed to the idea of the NDC attempting to gamble away its 2020 fortunes with unexciting running mate, the practicality of Mahama/Alex Mould ticket is very evident to all. The savviest of pundits will tell you that the NDC is going to run a defensive campaign come 2020. And as we've seen in recent times, Mahama and the party would have to swing into the defensive mood anytime Dr. Bawumia shouts incompetence and makes referral to the issues that led to the rejection of Mahama at the polls in 2016. Which is why Mahama needs a running mate with exceptional capabilities and policy brain. We are not talking about any high-profile flip-flopper or any of the pretenders out there briskly engaging in self-promotional gimmicks. The would-be veep must necessarily be a policy communicator - Someone who can lead and elevates the conversation and also engage in the contest of ideas in the open marketplace. The person must be someone with the ability to transcend generationally, and partisan divisions, someone with thoughtful approach to weighty issues and message of bipartisanship - Someone capable of outclassing Dr. Bawumia on the political stage - Someone with a reputation, experience, earthy charm, improvisation and style - Someone who brings political savvy and fighting qualities to the ticket-it must be a pick widely lauded. The Action Movement is of the view that, gifting the running mate to Alex Mould will put the NDC in pole position for power come 2020. The NDC must modernize. This means that a whole generation of NDC politicians must give way to a newer, more objective, and better-informed generation. Forget about the usual African deference to gerontology; its the reason why we had slavery and still have child labour in our culture. We are not saying the older generation of politicians must be locked up in a closet and the keys thrown into a KVIP. No. They are all welcome to participate in one way or the other in the continual edification of the nation. However, we all just have to realize that the time for meritocracy has come and is here to stay. The old and tired political nepotism practiced by Ghanas elite, both traditional and business, must give way to a more objective, merit-based system. Thats how nations unearth the best leaders, like Barack Obama of the U.S., David Cameron of the U.K., Manmohan Singh of India, and Naoto Kan of Japan. We will be circum-ambulating in the desert of penury, poverty, and backwardness forever if we fail to admit this fact and act accordingly. And who can undertake this Herculean task of bringing the NDC into the 21st Century? We strongly believe that Alex Mould is a powerful metaphor of the new generation of Ghanaians who are ready and willing to oversee this transitioning of governance systems. He must be seriously considered for leadership of the NDC at the highest level at the next elections, or at any other opportunity for that matter. There are scores of reasons why we give him our vote of confidence. Here are a few of them: 1. Alex Mould is an intelligent and tenacious person. He is self-made, and the epitome of the tried, tested and workaholic. 2. Alex Mould is righteous to boot and can make the case that needs to be made. He has a well-honed international outlook on life, unlike some of our present political class who cannot see beyond their villages and tribes. Alex Mould can relate to anybody from anywhere, be they child or adult, male or female, black or white, educated or uneducated, northerner or southerner, westerner or easterner, mediocre or talented. He can inspire a new generation to new heights of social responsibility with his exemplary biography. 3. Where else can Ghanaians find a comparable role model for their children, the future rulers of Ghana? No one can deny the fact that the decades of bad role models in political leadership have had a markedly negative impact on the psyche, discourse and behaviour of Ghanas youth. So much so that most young people have lost respect for themselves, their elders, and authority in general. Tro-tro and taxi drivers are screaming profanities at each other, popular music is openly touting promiscuity, and public discourse is rotten and full of abrasiveness. If the leaders can open their mouths and utter whatever untreated sewage, what do you expect the children to do? Speak and act like the Pope? When the fish begins to rot, it starts from the head. Alex Mould is obviously the darling boy of many political flowers both from within and outside the NDC, and the ruling party would feel threatened at Mahama/Mould ticket. He can sanitize public discourse with his civilized and polished oratory. We could go on and on, so we will conclude. If Ghana is to modernize culturally, economically, politically, and behaviourally, the most enlightened of her children must lead the way. Alex Mould can and will lead the way if given the opportunity. Alex Mould is noble, maybe not by birth, but certainly by virtue. Such are the people who should be allowed to lead, as John Fletcher pointed out over 500 years ago. He certainly has the wherewithal, the stature, the credibility, tenacity, personality, integrity and the sincerity to lead the NDC as would-be veep - An intellectual and a unifier who would bring many aggrieved members and the floating voters on board the NDC train. It must also be admitted that he is well-liked. He has the reputation for being affable and charming, and most Ghanaians alas-seem to have soft spot for him as a result of his philanthropic work. The NDC needs a new crop of selfless activists who looks ready for the future and really wants the job. The party has to move on and offer credibility to its presidential ticket. So there you have it; in order to make a mark in 2020, Mahama needs to shed the very attributes that once placed him a heartbeat away from it and nominate Alex Mould as his would-be veep. Signed: James Agbey (Leader of the Action Movement) Source: NDC Action Movement Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Burma Myanmar Finds 18 Imported COVID-19 Cases In a Week Migrants stranded in the UAE in Dubai on May 10 before flying to Myanmar on a relief flight. / The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yangon Myanmar has confirmed 18 imported cases of COVID-19 in those who returned from Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates from May 16 to 20, raising the countrys confirmed cases to 199. The health ministry said 41 out of the 199 coronavirus cases have been imported from other countries. Myanmar reported no new COVID-19 cases for two days on May 14 and 15. Then a 32-year-old man from Chin State, who was among 391 migrants deported by the Malaysian government on chartered flights on May 11, tested positive on May 16. On May 17, Myanmar announced positive tests for a 41-year-old migrant returning from Malaysia to Pazundaung Township in Yangon and a 57-year-old man in Yangon who had not left the country and had no contact history with a known COVID-19 patient. U Khin Maung Win, Yangon Regions lawmaker for Pazundaung, told The Irrawaddy that the patient was among nearly 100 migrants stranded in Malaysia who was brought back to Yangon on May 8 on a repatriation flight. On Monday, two COVID-19 cases were reported in Karen State, one in Tanintharyi Region and another in Rakhine State. The regional governments told The Irrawaddy that the patients were among the migrants deported from Malaysia. Myanmar also reported COVID-19 cases with three returnees deported from Malaysia on Tuesday. The other travelers tested negative, the health ministry said. Since April 30, Myanmar has organized flights to bring home nationals stranded by flight suspensions and COVID-19 restrictions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said by Wednesday 2,395 nationals had been brought home from countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, the UAE, UK and US. Tens of thousands more have returned overland from Thailand and China. A 34-year-old woman from Shan State and a 60-year-old woman from Yangon returning from the UAE tested positive on Tuesday while being held in government quarantine in Yangons Hlaing Township. On May 20, six returnees from the UAE also tested COVID-19 positive while being placed in quarantine in Insein Township, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports. It said by Tuesday that 61,883 people had been held in quarantine across the country. Dr. Than Naing Soe, a health ministry spokesman, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that all those who had returned since May 11 would be tested after returnees from Malaysia were found to be infected with the virus. The health ministry is conducting approximately 700 COVID-19 tests per day, he said. Those with known contact with a coronavirus patient were being tested as a priority followed by people reporting a fever or other COVID-19 symptoms. Finally, those placed under quarantine were being tested, said Dr. Than Naing Soe. The ministry said it had conducted 16,550 tests by Thursday morning, with six COVID-19 deaths and 108 recoveries. COVID-19 cases have been reported everywhere across the country apart from in Kayah State. You may also like these stories: Xi Hopeful on Belt and Road Projects in Myanmar During COVID-19 Hotels to Slash Wages in Myanmars Capital Because of COVID-19 Closures MP Warns Australian-backed Mining in Myanmars Far North May Spark Protest OTTAWA - Organizations that help Indigenous people living in urban areas and away from reserves and have been struggling to meet a surge in demand for their services during COVID-19 will soon be getting more federal aid. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government is giving $75 million to these organizations, which include friendship centres and Indigenous womens organizations. This news comes after growing calls from these groups for more help from Ottawa as they struggle to provide meals, clothing, shelter and mental health support to some of Canadas most vulnerable populations all while also dealing with fewer volunteers and the need for more protective measures due to the pandemic. Trudeau acknowledged this need as he announced the additional funding Thursday. Indigenous community organizations in our cities and off-reserve do crucial work year-round, but these days their services are in high demand because of the pandemic. We need to make sure they have the resources to adapt and grow their services so they can fulfil their important mission, he said. Trudeau noted that over one million Indigenous people live in urban settings and off-reserve, which is more than half the total population of First Nation, Metis and Inuit in Canada. If you live off-reserve or in a city, were working to make sure you dont fall through the cracks. You need and deserve services that are culturally appropriate and thats what were doing with todays investment, Trudeau said. In mid-March, the government created the $305-million Indigenous Community Support Fund, most of which went to organizations representing First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities to help them prepare for and cope with the pandemic. Only $15 million of that fund was allotted for off-reserve organizations. Earlier this month, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller acknowledged that was not enough. He says his department received dozens and dozens more applications than the 94 proposals it approved. The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), which represents some 90,000 off-reserve and non-status Indigenous Peoples, has gone to court over what it says is the inadequate and discriminatory funding it has received compared to other Indigenous groups. CAP is seeking $16 million, but has received just $250,000. National Chief Robert Bertrand reacted positively to the news but said the court action will continue until it is determined how the money will be allocated. This new funding is an improvement over the previously announced funding that I think we can all agree was quite inadequate, he said. The National Association of Friendship Centres told a Commons committee last week it has been delivering food, dealing with increased domestic violence, caring for elders and helping off-reserve Indigenous people find safe shelter and transportation and apply for emergency aid benefits, despite little financial help from Ottawa. The associations president, Christopher Sheppard-Buote, said those not living on a First Nation reserve or in an Inuit or Metis community have been left feeling unseen by the federal COVID-19 response. Miller said Thursday that these organizations, who have long been on the front lines in providing essential services to marginalized Indigenous populations, have been underfunded by every level of government for a long time. Its not something to be particularly proud of, obviously, but we note it, he said. Indigenous Services Canada knew that more money would be needed to help those living in urban areas, Miller said, but some internal advocacy work within government was necessary to secure more funds for these populations. The department will work with organizations that submitted proposals for the initial fund in determining how to allocate the $75 million in new funding. Organizations that received money previously could be eligible for more, Miller added. These funds are indeed the largest allocation of funds to those service providers to my knowledge in recent memory, he said. It is something that is still needed and will serve to protect those most vulnerable. Whether we could have done better is something that we will have to re-examine at a later date. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. John Legend has joked that he knew he was ready to marry Chrissy Teigen when he saw her at a runway show for the now collapsed fashion brand Ed Hardy, back in 2010. Teigen, 34, posted a throwback from the show on Thursday via her Instagram and Legend, 41, appeared to be having a little fun when he commented: 'This was the year I proposed to you.' He went on: 'After seeing you in the Ed Hardy show, I was convinced you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.' This is it: John Legend has jokingly revealed that he knew he was ready to marry Chrissy Teigen when he saw her at THIS Ed Hardy fashion show back in 2010. However, it was clearly a less memorable event for Teigen, who recalled in her caption that she was 'star struck' over seeing reality star Jon Gosselin sat in the front row. Although she mentions the year 2011, the Ed Hardy Swimwear 2011 fashion show actually took place on on July 16, 2010, during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim at the Raleigh in Miami Beach, Florida. Funnily enough, designer Ed Hardy also remembers Jon Gosselin, 43, all too well, as the tattoo artist said in 2013 that having the reality star photographed in his clothing led to the brand's downfall. 'That Jon Gosselin thing was the nail in the coffin,' he told the New York Post. 'Thats what tanked it. Macys used to have a huge window display with Ed Hardy, and it filtered down and thats why Macys dropped the brand.' Memories: The couple appeared to have different takes on the event Runway: Chrissy at the Ed Hardy Swimwear 2011 fashion show actually took place on on July 16, 2010, during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim at the Raleigh in Miami Beach, Florida. Looking good: John Legend was watching his then girlfriend from the audience Thankfully it wasn't really the first time Teigen and Legend laid eyes on each other. The model played Legend's love interest in his 2007 music video for Stereo, where they first met. She later revealed that when the shoot was over, they went back to his hotel room and ate In-N-Out burgers and 'hooked up.' 'We did the music video, we were together for like 12 hours,' Teigen told Wendy Williams in 2014. All worked out: The couple have two children together Miles Theodore Stephens, two, and Luna Simone Stephens, four. 'We spent the entire day together, me in my underwear and him in a full suit, and I went to go say goodbye to him, to his hotel and we didnt ever say goodbye that night.' Legend ended up getting down on one knee and proposing to Teigen during a 2011 vacation in the Maldives. The couple have two children together Miles Theodore Stephens, two, and Luna Simone Stephens, four. Updated: Two residents of a Direct Provision centre in Killarney, Co Kerry have tested positive for Covid-19. The two men at Linden House, one of three Direct Provision centres in the town, tested positive two weeks ago and were moved from the centre initially. However, news of the confirmed cases has only emerged locally now. It is believed that both have fully recovered. However, the failure by the Department of Justice to inform the community in Killarney has come under fire. The opening of what was a third Direct Provision Centre in Killarney, with very little notice, at the former guesthouse and restaurant opposite a number of primary schools and the towns garda station led to public protests in December 2017. Local councillor Donal Grady (Ind) who organised one of the marches at the time called for the building, which is privately owned, to be leased by the council and used for local homeless persons. He has now called for a detailed breakdown of all transfers of asylum seekers to centres in Killarney since the pandemic. He said the community should have been informed of the outbreak in the town and he was raising the matter at the weekly web meetings between councillors and management in Kerry. He also called on the department to clarify if the centre had been locked down because of the positive tests there. Cllr Grady also said he would be asking the the Department of Justice about movements to centres in Killarney during the pandemic. Why were public representatives and the public not informed of the outbreak at Linden House? Cllr Grady said. His criticism followed the apology from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to the people of Caherciveen for the anger and upset caused by the opening of a Direct Provision centre in the town. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said the figure for residents currently residing in accommodation centres in Kerry has not increased. As of May 10th, there were 517 people being accommodated in accommodation centres in Kerry. There is an overall total contracted capacity of 671 in the county. Final moves to centres centres nationwide were effected on April 14 and April 15, in conjunction with the HSE. The HSE said in any confirmed outbreak of Covid-19, consultants from the Department of Public Health are involved in an Outbreak Control Team and provide advice on the management of the outbreak. Where there are outbreaks in residential facilities which are not under our control (including Direct Provision centres), the local Department of Public Health gives clear advice to both the management and the residents of the centres to support them in responding appropriately, it said. In any case where someone has tested positive for Covid-19, they are asked to self-isolate for 14 days. Anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 is identified and also advised to self-isolate for 14 days, monitor themselves for symptoms and contact their GP if they develop symptoms. The importance of self-isolating is stressed to any confirmed with Covid-19 and their close contacts, as it is key to bringing any outbreak under control. [snippet1]987600[/snippet1] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to build 2,000 new ventilators for coronavirus patients that even the government says hospitals are unlikely to need. Instead, the plan, announced in April, appears to be more about bringing home manufacturing of equipment seen as key to the country's national security, a long-held focus for the Japanese premier that has deepened with the coronavirus crisis. Abe wants Japanese companies to build 2,000 ventilators to add to an unused stock of 4,700 already in hospitals. A further 8,300 are deployed in critical care units, of which ... [May 21, 2020] The Aliera Companies Donates Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta The Aliera Companies (Aliera) today announced it has donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). During the current health care crisis, the Aliera Companies feels it has a genuine responsibility to contribute to the safety of patients, their families and the medical professionals caring for these patients. When searching for masks to maintain the safety of Aliera employees and its clients, the company had the opportunity to purchase a significant quantity of extra masks, and when considering the best choice with whom to share, CHOA immediately came to mind. "Our company is grateful to have the opportunity to offer support to such a wonderful organization, especially during the current worldwide pandemic," said Shelley Steele, CEO of the Aliera Companies. "Children's has been a focal point of Atlanta for over one-hundred years, and along with the other great institutions around our nation, we're so appreciative of their efforts to make our community a better, and safer, place". CHOA's medical staff are specifically trained to treat children and adolescents, and liera believes there is nothing more important than protecting future generations from COVID-19 and other problematic infections. Aliera is confident this donation of quality PPE will be put to great use in protecting immunocompromised children and their families from COVID-19; the company also hopes this will serve as a small token of appreciation for the incredible work that CHOA does for the Atlanta community and beyond. About Children's Healthcare of Atlanta At Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, doctors, nurses and staff are specially trained to care for children under the age of 21. From colorful, friendly waiting rooms to equipment that fits patients of all sizes, every detail is designed specifically for kids. About The Aliera Companies At the Aliera Companies, we create better, more efficient ways to do business. Through various partners and subsidiaries, the company is a top provider of innovative solutions, from IT platforms, to health care delivery systems. The Aliera Companies is focused on the unique aspects of providing a full spectrum of revolutionary services to businesses and organizations that fit every need and budget. The company offers state-of-the-art technology platforms, top-performing sales teams, creative marketing and advertising, and streamlined management services. Founded in 2015, the company has grown exponentially over the past five years and currently employs more than 270. For more information, please visit AlieraCompanies.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005596/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] CHIPPEWA COUNTY, MI A Michigan man has been charged with 125 wildlife crimes following a monthslong investigation by the Department of Natural Resources. Kurt Johnston Duncan, 56, of Pickford, was arraigned in Chippewa Countys 91st District Court on Wednesday on numerous charges including illegally harvesting 18 wolves over the past 18 months and killing and disposing of three bald eagles. Wolves are protected in Michigan and are on the federal endangered species list. Bald eagles are protected under state law, as well as the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Duncan, who today pleaded not guilty to all charges, faces: Up to 90 days in jail and $1,000 fine for each wolf. Up to 90 days in jail and $1,000 fine for each eagle. Restitution of $1,500 per eagle and $500 per wolf. Up to 90 days in jail and $500 fine each for the other wildlife crimes. We had a team of conservation officers that worked well together throughout this investigation, said DNR Law Enforcement Division Chief Gary Hagler. Investigations like this require a long-term commitment from everyone involved. I want to thank the prosecutors in this case who worked with our officers. We are happy with the outcome and hope this case sets an example to prevent future natural resource crimes. Duncan was served four search warrants in March. Other species involved in the charges include deer, turkey, bear and bobcat. DNR law enforcement detectives said that Duncan was using the animals for a variety of reasons, including crafts, selling, or disposing of them, and stated that he was catching the animals because he could and likes to do it. Conservation officers collected evidence to support the charges and identified additional suspects who are expected to be charged soon, according to the DNR. Chippewa County prosecutors are seeking $30,000 in restitution to the state for the illegally taken animals. Duncans cash bond is set at $500. Other conditions of Duncans bond include having no contact with co-defendants, no possession of a firearm or dangerous weapon, and no engaging in hunting or fishing. More: NFL player sues United Airlines, claims he was sexually harassed, assaulted and violated by a female passenger WWE wrestler Shad Gaspards body found after he disappeared while swimming Pa. man who falsely claimed to be veteran blown up in Iraq learns fate for stealing valor from real vets Rhode Island residents who travel out of state for Memorial Day weekend will have to quarantine for 14 days upon returning. Gov. Gina Raimondo has issued a stern warning that while festivities will be allowed for Memorial Day, locals should avoid large gatherings and quarantine if traveling out of state to prevent another spike in COVID-19 infections. For the holiday the state is reopening East Matunuck and Scarborough state beaches but parking will be limited, bathrooms will be closed and there will be no lifeguards on duty. On Wednesday Raimondo said gatherings are still restricted to no more than five people and insisted, 'this is not the weekend to have a big party'. Gov. Gina Raimondo says anyone traveling out of state for Memorial Day weekend will have to self-quarantine for 14 days upon returning to Rhode Island 'It is not a weekend to have a big barbecue. Get together in a small group. Enjoy your family. Go for a walk. Go to the beach for a walk,' she said. She noted there will be a Memorial Day ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Exeter which will be primary virtual and televised. 'This is going to be hard. I can hear you complaining now,' Raimondo said at her press conference. Those traveling out of state will have to self-quarantine if traveling, whether by car or plane, however there is no longer National Guard presence at borders to remind people crossing to self-isolate. Under her previous orders anyone coming to Rhode Island from any other state for a non-work-related purpose by any mode of transportation must self-quarantine for 14 days. She warned that if Rhode Island residents defy the stringent social distancing orders in place, the state could reel from a second wave of infections. 'If you have big Memorial Day blowouts this weekend, with lots of people congregating, not wearing masks, not being socially distant, then two or three weeks from now, were going to see a spike in hospitalizations. And we don't want to see that,' she said. For the holiday the state is reopening East Matunuck and Scarborough state beaches but parking will be limited, bathrooms will be closed and there will be no lifeguards on duty. Scarborough State Beach above There are currently over 13,500 cases of coronavirus in Rhode Island and over 550 fatalities, with about 254 still hospitalized, according to government data. The news comes as Rhode Islands Department of Labor and Training announced that unemployment soared to 17 percent in April due to the pandemic, marking the lowest level since 1984. The states unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in March and 3.4 percent in February. The state lost almost 99,000 jobs from February to April but almost 89,000 of those losses were in April alone, according to WJAR. 'Todays jobs numbers convey the immense extent of economic hardship that the COVID-19 crisis has brought upon Rhode Island workers and families,' department Director Scott Jensen said in an emailed statement. 'As many look forward to getting back to work, it remains critical that we follow the orders of public health officials to wear masks and social distance so that we can prevent further spread and reopen the economy as quickly but as safely as possible,' he added. Not all states are taking people crossing state borders as seriously as Rhode Island. On Thursday Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that travelers flying to Texas from certain areas will no longer be required to self-quarantine for two weeks. He previously mandated 14-day quarantines for travelers flying from California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, as well as Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan and Miami, Florida. A federal judge trashed the Trump administration for changing course on Indian Country homelands policy during the worst public health crisis in decades. "For them to be talking about grammar, when they don't know the first thing about grammar, when they have typos throughout the whole thing, when they don't know how to spell Justice Stevens' name , is a joke," Friedman said during a proceeding that took place via video because the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the federal courthouse in the nation's capital. "And you can tell your client that," Friedman told a government attorney. "It's a joke, that March 5 document ." "Your honor, I certainly apologize," responded Sara E. Costello from the Department of Justice . "I certainly will convey the court's words regarding the March 5 opinion." I dont know how anyone could take that as guidance because its incomprehensible & so convoluted that it couldnt guide any lawyer in the field. AND it took 3 lawyers from Interior to write that thing": @USInterior memo has #StandWithMashpee judge onhttps://t.co/LIwkACeZuv pic.twitter.com/yPyOKHKWnx indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 Despite the offer of regret, Friedman, who serves as a senior judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, wasn't done with the verbal lashing. Instead of bringing certainty to the tribal homelands process, he said the legal memo makes matters more complicated for Indian Country. I dont know how anyone could take that as guidance, because its incomprehensible and so convoluted that it couldnt guide any lawyer in the field," said Friedman, who previously worked as a federal government attorney. "And it took three lawyers from Interior to write that thing," he said. "I'm gonna try to note all that down," Costello said. "We're gonna tell everybody," she added. "When they don't know the first thing about grammar, when they have typos throughout the whole thing, when they don't know how to spell Justice Stevens' name, is a joke. And you can tell your client that. It's a joke, that March 5 document."https://t.co/LIwkACeZuv pic.twitter.com/lbudtywMp5 indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 "Everybody" presumably includes the two career bureaucrats within Interior's legal arm -- Kyle Scherer and Eric Shepard from the Office of the Solicitor -- who signed the document. But "that thing" also bore a political touch, as the third attorney who put his name on it was Matthew Kelly, who serves as a Counselor to Secretary David Bernhardt , the top Trump administration official at the department. According to Friedman, the 31-page memo "makes it harder" for Indian nations to secure approval of their fee-to-trust applications . He said it imposes a new standard on tribes whose sovereign status was only recently acknowledged by the United States. More specifically, he indicated it would harm the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe , whose ancestors helped the first European settlers survive 400 years ago and are now facing a new crisis as the Trump administration attempts to take their reservation out of trust. He reacted negatively when Costello refused to provide clarity on some major issues, including whether the land will remain protected while the litigation continues. "Will the government agree to maintain the status quo pending a remand?" Friedman asked. "Yes or no?" Costello went silent for about five seconds, though the pause seemed much longer over the teleconference line the public was dialed into. "Your honor, I simply am not authorized" to answer, she finally said. "YOU CAN TELL YOUR CLIENT THAT. IT'S A JOKE." JUDGE IN MASHPEE WAMPANOAG TRIBE CASE IS ON #StandWithMashpee pic.twitter.com/0px1boyhkv indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 On a second matter, Friedman sounded surprised when Costello said the tribe would be forced to go back to square one should the matter be sent back to Interior for reconsideration. According to Costello, the department would review the request for a reservation in Massachusetts as a "pending application," instead of the one Mashpee leaders submitted way back in 2007 , during a prior presidential administration and well before the ongoing legal developments. "And so the new guidance would apply to pending applications," Costello said, referring to the March 5 memo the judge ended up trashing. "That's not what you say in your brief," Friedman quickly noted. "Well, then I guess we did not express it clearly," Costello responded. Friedman did not seem amused. "If I remand it to Interior, you want to apply a new guidance to them, which makes it hard for them to succeed," Friedman said. "We don't agree that it makes it harder for them to succeed," Costello asserted. "Sure it does," the judge shot back "They were not recognized by the federal government in 1934." "I am telling you that that's the agency's position," pleaded Costello. "The agency is gonna have a tough time with this judge if that's what they do," Friedman responded. "You're gonna have a lot of trouble with this judge," he added. "You're going to have a lot of trouble with this judge": Trump administration attorney rebuked for refusing to say whether the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's reservation will remain in trust pending resolution of litigation amid #COVID19 pandemic. #StandWithMashpee #Massachusetts indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 Friedman's critique comes after he said he was blindsided by the Trump administration's change in course on tribal homelands. Earlier this month, he blasted government attorneys for failing to inform him about the withdrawal of a legal document, known internally as an M-Opinion, and how such a development could affect the outcome of the Mashpee case. "The court frankly is shocked that the government did not bring this change to the courts attention and discuss its relevance, or lack thereof, to the pending motions for summary judgment and preliminary injunction," Friedman wrote on May 1. "The court was left to discover this change on its own less than one week before oral argument on the very question of whether the agencys application of the M-Opinion was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or contrary to law." The government responded by downplaying the implications of the withdrawal of M-Opinion 37029 , which had been written during the Barack Obama administration by Hilary Tompkins , who was the first Native American and the first Native woman to serve as Solicitor of the Interior. A May 4 filing claimed that publication of a single story on Indianz.Com and posting of relevant documents on Turtle Talk, a widely-read Indian law and policy site, provided sufficient notice. "The Solicitors Guidance appeared on the popular federal Indian law blog Turtle Talk and the news website Indianz.com thoroughly covered Interiors decision," Costello wrote in her response. Well they did it. The Trump administration withdrew a legal opinion that was meant to help tribes restore their homelands in the wake of a disastrous Supreme Court decision. #Carcieri #TribalHomelands https://t.co/DAZvUFdrgl pic.twitter.com/4v6GatwZoN indianz.com (@indianz) March 10, 2020 The March 10 story was titled " Trump administration changes course with withdrawal of pro-tribal homelands policy " and it described how Interior's decision -- which occurred with prior consultation or public notice -- would make it harder for recently-recognized Indian nations to go through the fee-to-trust process. Turtle Talk's post appeared on the same day. Another news article also was cited. "With respect to the courts inquiry as to whether plaintiff was aware of the withdrawal of the M-Opinion, the answer is yesthe tribe was aware," Costello said in reference to Mashpee. In the filing, Costello made another claim that also came under fire at the hearing on Wednesday. She indicated that the tribe's case should be judged under existing legal criteria. "Interior made clear that the Solicitors Guidance (including the Deputy Solicitors Memorandum) would not apply retroactively and that existing eligibility determinations need not be revisited," Costello wrote at the time. Costello instead said on Wednesday that the tribe's pending and future applications will be subjected to the new standards outlined by Interior in the March 5 memo from the three attorneys. Costello further declared that any promises Interior might have made to keep the tribe's reservation in trust pending resolution of litigation were linked to an entirely different matter . The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals issued the mandate in a separate case on March 19. Amid #COVID19 pandemic, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been told that its reservation will be taken out of trust. Chairman Cedric Cromwell: "Not since the termination era of the mid-twentieth century has a Secretary taken action to disestablish a reservation" https://t.co/dqvzH7sSrZ indianz.com (@indianz) March 28, 2020 Eight days later , the Trump administration informed the tribe via phone that the reservation would be going out of trust. "At 4:00 pm today -- on the very day that the United States has reached a record 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and our tribe is desperately struggling with responding to this devastating pandemic -- the Bureau of Indian Affairs informed me that the Secretary of the Interior has ordered that our reservation be disestablished and that our land be taken out of trust," Chairman Cedric Cromwell wrote on March 27. "Not since the termination era of the mid-twentieth century has a Secretary taken action to disestablish a reservation." Despite the bad news, the tribe believed the reservation would remain in trust for the time being as the lawsuit assigned to Friedman had not resolved. The pledge turned out to be a hollow one. "That's why it was such a shock," Mashpee attorney Tami Azorsky told the judge, "that the tribe was informed that he land would come out of trust and Interior would disestablish the reservation." 'Do your job': The Trump administration's face on Indian policy took a brutal beating as tribal leaders opened a meeting in the nation's capital with warnings about dire threats to their sovereignty. #ECWS2020 https://t.co/5x6pJKkxCr indianz.com (@indianz) February 12, 2020 The reservation in Massachusetts consists of about 321 acres. It includes 151 acres in the town of Mashpee, the location of tribal headquarters, and another 170 acres in the city of Taunton, where a gaming establishment is in limbo as a result of the changes in policy at Interior. The Bureau of Indian Affairs acquired the land in trust in September 2015, during the Obama administration. The action was taken in keen awareness of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, known as Carcieri v. Salazar , that injected uncertainty in the tribal homelands process In response to litigation initiated by non-Indian opponents of the casino, a federal judge eventually ruled that Interior did not adequately consider Carcieri in placing the land in trust. When it came time for another action, the Trump administration wasn't as welcoming as the Mashpee were to the Pilgrims back in 1620. "I walked into this decision," Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney told hundreds of tribal leaders in explaining why she determined that Mashpee would not able to reclaim its homelands because it was not "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934, as dictated by Carcieri. But in response to inquiries from Indianz.Com at the time, Interior said it did not have authority to take the land -- which had been declared a reservation in January 2016 -- out of trust. "BIA does not have a regulatory process to take land out of trust for tribes," the agency told Indianz.Com as a rally in the nation's capital drew attention to the controversy. Uh oh. Telephone line went dead in #StandWithMashpee hearing, just as rebuttal arguments were taking place on Trump administration's attempts to take Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's land out of trust amid #COVID19 pandemic. #Massachusetts indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 At one point, the Trump administration was considering regulatory changes that would have authorized a method to take tribal land out of trust. But the proposal was scrapped by Secretary Bernhardt himself in light of opposition from Indian Country. The lack of a formal process, however, hasn't stopped Interior from telling Mashpee leaders that their land would be taken out of trust. A more recent statement claimed the mandate from the 1st Circuit requires the disestablishment of the reservation. "On March 19th, the court of appeals issued its mandate, which requires Interior to rescind its earlier decision," the department said in a statement after news of the decision generated even more attention amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "This decision does not affect the federal recognition status of the tribe, only Interiors statutory authority to accept the land in trust." "Rescission of the decision will return ownership of the property to the tribe," the statement continued. "I will calm down by then": Judge awaits rebuttal arguments after blowing up at Trump administration attorney in #StandWithMashpee case. Hearing is on break as Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe seeks to prevent reservation from being taken out of trust amid #COVID19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/yeDiqgfFxr indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 The tribe owns the land in the town of Mashpee in fee, attorney Azorksy confirmed during the hearing on Wednesday. Besides the governmental headquarters, the property includes historic sites, burial grounds and a museum that was recently highlighted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to promote the Trump administration's "whole-of-government" response to COVID-19. The land in the city of Taunton is another story. Azorsky said the tribe could lose it since the mortgage is owned by a third party. "If it is returned to fee, they can," Azorsky said, "foreclose on the land." "How exactly that happens and how the deeds get recorded and what happens -- it's an unknown to us," Azorksy said of the unprecedented situation facing the tribe. Azorksy was presenting rebuttal arguments when the public participation line suddenly went silent with nearly 200 listeners on board. The operator of the teleconference -- it was AT&T -- attempted to reconnect with the court but was unable to do so. It's not clear how much longer the hearing went on for. Following inquiries placed by Indianz.Com, the court said it would not release audio of the hearing. A clerk directed any interested parties to purchase a transcript for an official document from the proceeding. Sorry, folks. The federal court will not make available the audio of today's #StandWithMashpee hearing even though public wasn't able to listen to it in full. Best bet is to purchase transcript when it's ready or contact the parties. @MWTribe #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/YSOGzC6F4F indianz.com (@indianz) May 20, 2020 Join the Conversation Related Stories Equal justice under law is engraved on the front of the United States Supreme Court building. The court and our country have never quite lived up to that ideal, and the Supreme Courts unprecedented telephonic arguments were no exception. Typically, Supreme Court arguments are a free-for-all where the justices speak as they please, with the chief justice moderating when multiple justices try to speak at the same time. But for its first-ever telephonic arguments, the court adopted a format where each justice was allowed to question each of the advocates in order of seniority. Advertisement That system forced Chief Justice John Roberts to do more than play traffic cop when multiple justices tried to talk. In the new system, the chief justice had to ensure each justices compliance with the allotted time for questioning each of the advocates. The court did not release any more guidelines about the telephonic arguments, but the chief may have set an amount of time for each justice to question a given advocate and planned to intervene when a justice got close to or exceeded that time. (Each side gets 30 minutes to argue, but the amount of time each advocate has depends on whether the argument is divided between more than two advocates.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the path-marking 2017 study Justice Interrupted: The Effect of Gender, Ideology, and Seniority at Supreme Court Arguments, Tonja Jacobi and Dylan Schweers showed that female justices may be three times more likely to be interrupted than male justices, and that conservative justices were more likely to interrupt than liberal justices. I decided to try to find out whether the same was true for telephonic arguments. I also sought to examine how well the chief justice did at keeping the different justices on schedule and ensuring that each justice had roughly equal opportunities to speak. I listened to all of the arguments and marked when the chief justice or a questioning justice ended the time for a justices questioning, and when the chief justice signaled for another justice to start their questioning. Advertisement Advertisement The data available for telephonic arguments was necessarily more limited than the data in Jacobi and Schweers study. Jacobi and Schweers analyzed decades of oral arguments, whereas the court has only held 10 telephonic arguments over a two-week period. Although I think that the chief justice tried and succeeded, in some respects, at being evenhanded, he fell well short in others. Several of these shortcomings were consistent with what Jacobi and Schweers observed in their study of the courts regular oral arguments. Advertisement There were striking disparities evident from the telephonic arguments. One disparity is the justices who had the longest and shortest questioning periods. The three longest questioning periods were all by male justices, and all by conservative justicestwo from Justice Samuel Alito and one from Justice Neil Gorsuch. The three shortest questioning periods that were ended by the chief justice (rather than by the questioning justice concluding their inquiry) were all by female justicestwo from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and one from Justice Elena Kagan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then there were the interruptions. The chief justice had to end most of the individual questioning periods rather than wait for the questioning justices to conclude them in a timely way. Over the 10 arguments, the chief justice ended 158 total questioning periods. Most of the time he did so by interrupting an advocate or saying thank you after an advocate paused or concluded their remarks. But occasionally he interrupted one of his colleagues, either as they were asking or beginning to ask a question or before an advocate had to respond to their question. Of the 11 times the chief justice interrupted a colleague, all 11 interruptions were of his more liberal colleagues. And nine of these interruptions were of women. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These interruptions were not more common because the liberal justices just happened to be more long-winded. Again, the three longest total questioning periods were all by male, conservative justicesone by Alito and two by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. While liberal justices had six of the 13 longest total questioning periods in a given argument, their total questioning times were far shorter than that of their more conservative colleagues. Alitos longest questioning time was nearly a minute longer than the longest total questioning time that a liberal justice received (Justice Sonia Sotomayor in Mazars) and nearly a minute and a half longer than the second-longest questioning time that a liberal justice received (Kagan in Our Lady). Kavanaughs longest questioning times were over a minute longer than Kagans longest questioning time, and 30 seconds longer than Sotomayors. Advertisement Despite these disparities, I think the chief justice tried to be evenhanded and succeeded in being evenhanded on some metrics. The justices who had the longest average questioning periods (per questioning periods they used) were Sotomayor and Gorsuch, who represent different sides of the court. And the chief justice did give additional time to some of the justices who followed Alitos often lengthy questioning periodsthough not nearly as much as Alito received. The May sitting was also a new format that all of the different justices were learning, and the chief was participating in the arguments at the same time that he was attempting to moderate them. Advertisement Advertisement Nonetheless, my study suggests there is room for improvement if the court sticks with telephonic arguments, particularly in this format, for its next term. The disparities among the different justices matter. What might seem like small differencessay, 20 seconds more per questioning periodmatter. They can be the difference between getting in an additional question or a rejoinder to something an advocate says. And the longer that a justice has to talk, the more opportunities they have to persuade their colleagues, including by showing them the weaknesses in a particular sides position. At his confirmation hearings, the chief justice likened the role of a judge to that of an umpire. But umpires need to be willing to enforce the rules against everyone, even Alito. Photo Courtesy : ANI Cyclone Amphan, one of the worst storms over the Bay of Bengal in years, has killed 12 people in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday. The situation is more worrying than the coronavirus pandemic. We don't know how to handle it," Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal - the worst-hit Indian state - told reporters late on Wednesday. In Bangladesh, officials confirmed six deaths including a five-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man, both hit by falling trees, and a cyclone emergency volunteer who drowned. What else we have to go through dis year 2020, dont know#CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/YH4O4aYfFf Smita (keep smiling) #SidHeart (@SmitaMadhuri) May 20, 2020 Video shared on social media showed electricity transformers sparking and exploding in the wild weather. Some reports said that 5,500 houses were damaged in one West Bengal district. Electric outage in Phool Bagan, Kolkata caused due to the cyclone. Please pray for the ones who are not fortunate enough to have proper shelter in these challenging times. #CycloneAmphan #CycloneAmphanUpdate #AmphanSuperCyclone #Amphan pic.twitter.com/Lx2FsOyc0e Akshay (@TheAkshayBothra) May 20, 2020 Some three million people were left without power, Bangladesh officials said. The cyclone is expected to weaken as it moves north and northeast, and recede to a tropical depression by Thursday afternoon, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said. #WATCH West Bengal: Rooftop of a school in Howrah was blown away by strong winds earlier today. #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/nJY0KhAC3Z ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020 This is scary. 2020 is the worst year for our planet. #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/M7X8iuwqlk Mohit saini (@mohitsaini77) May 21, 2020 The power of the wind and rain is indeed frightening! Just look at the fallen vehicle and the electric tower! #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/RTUMciF3RW Ananth Rupanagudi (@rananth) May 21, 2020 Somrita Ghosh By Express News Service NEW DELHI: With 534 new COVID cases, Delhi registered yet another new record in terms of the highest single-day spike of fresh cases so far. Surpassing Tuesdays tally of 500, the national capital registered more than 1,000 new cases in the span of 48 hours. According to the daily health bulletin presented on Wednesday, there have been 10 more fatalities with the death toll rising to 176 in the city. However, the recovery rate of the positive patients also remains on the higher side with 442 recovering on Wednesday, as per the bulletin. Owing to the high rate of recovery which is around 46 per cent, the active cases count in the state remained well above the 5 thousand mark. Meanwhile, after a gap of more than 20 days, there have been additions to the list of containment zones. Two new areas have been contained in the South district Dakshinpuri in Hauz Khas and Zamrudpur in GK. Till 11 pm, the state government had not disclosed the fresh list of containment zones. Cases have been reported in Dakshinpuri owing to which certain houses falling in the area from Main Gali of F block have been contained. CLICK HERE FOR COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES Several outbreaks of Covid-19 have been reported at 90C and 64C of Zamrudpur, Greater Kailash and therefore as per the expert medical opinion for the public interest and safety and to prevent community spread, the area from Main Road to 64C with the entire street from 90C has been contained, said the order. Over the past few days, several containment zones were de-sealed and prior to the addition of these two areas, there were 75 containment zones in the city. State Health Secretary Padmini Singla had issued an order a few days ago for District Magistrates to update the list of containment zones in the city. Upon going through the numbers regarding the spread of the virus, Singla stated that he had noticed 300-400 fresh new cases being reported each day but the declaration of equivalent containment zones by district magistrates was not taking place. The guideline to declare an area as a containment zone is pretty straight forward. Any area with three or more COVID positive cases is to be declared a containment zone by the authorities. Messages to the state DMs seeking their response to the order went unattended. Government Demarcates zones in the city The Delhi government has defined red, orange and green zones in the national capital. Earlier all the 11 districts were in the red zone but now it is down to eight. Depending on the corona positive patients load in a specific area a zone is decided by local authorities. The Delhi health department has started to demarcate the number of zones and all the de-contained zones fall under Green Zones where there are no active coronavirus cases. The head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group for the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Eastern Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, has addressed Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine Heidi Grau with the request to hold an urgent meeting of the TCG. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this at a press conference on Wednesday, May 20, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "To understand what Leonid Danylovych Kuchma is doing now, today, by the way, due to a statement made by [so-called 'LPR' leader Leonid] Pasichnyk, he wrote a letter with the request to convene an urgent meeting of the Minsk Contact Group. He signed this letter and addressed it to Ms. Grau," Zelensky said. Earlier at the press conference, the president said that Kuchma remained the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group. Oleksiy Reznikov, the first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG, told Interfax-Ukraine on May 20 that Ukraine had asked the OSCE to hold an extraordinary meeting of the security group. Reznikov said that accusations against the Ukrainian Armed Forces regarding the alleged shelling of energy infrastructure facilities in non-government-controlled areas in Luhansk region were untrue, provocative and completely unjustified. According to media reports, the leaders of "DPR" and "LPR" militants, Leonid Pasichnyk and Denys Pushylin, said that the units of the occupying forces in Donbas had been put on combat alert allegedly due to "intensified shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces." However, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in its daily report for May 19 recorded a decrease in the number of ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions on May 18. op The automated asteroid tracking system of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently tracking an asteroid with the size of a mountain hurling towards earth. According to the space agency, the asteroid is set to intersect with the planet's orbit by 4:45 in the after noon on MAy 21. Data collected by NASA classified the asteroid aspontentially hazardous and may cause cataclysmic impact if it crashes with the planet. However, NASA also noted that based on tehir monitoring system, the asteroid will fly past the planet at a safe distance. According to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS of NASA, the asteroid known as 1997 BQ is the biggest asteroid to approach the planet in the month of May. It also noted that the asteroid is twice as large as the tallest manmade structure, Burj Dubai in the Middle East, with a diameter of 1.5 km or 4921 feet. Moreover, CNEOS noted that the asteroid will approach Earth but will fly past at a distance of 0.04115 astronomical units or about 6.2 million kilometers away from the center of the Earth. In addition, it was noted that 1997 BQ is travelling across the solar system and is hurling towards the planet at a speed of more than 42,000 miles per hour. Asteroid 1997 BQ, was initally observed on January 16, 199, thus the name. According to NASA, based on the trajectory of the asteroid, travels around the sun following a wide orbit. The said orbit also takes the asteroid into the area between Mars and Jupiter. Read also: Mysterious Lava on Mars Reveals New Interesting Detail About the Planet As it journeys around the sun, the asteroid is observed to occasional cross paths with Earth. Because of the fact that its orbit intersects Earth, 1997 BQ has been labelled as one of the space rocks in the Apollo family. Despite the fact that it has a slim chance of colliding with the planet, 1997 BQ is classifies as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its Earth-crossing orbit and gigantic size. According to NASA, potentially hazardous asteroids are classified based on different parameters. These parameters measure the potential of the space rock ro make an approach to the planet which would threaten the human life. Luckily, CNEOS stressed that the asteroid will only fly by the planet and is not in any danger of colliding at the moment. In the past, many large asteroids flew past the lanet at a very close distance. Only more than 2 years ago, asteroidn 3122 Florence or also known as 1981 ET3 flew past Earth at a very dangerous distance. The same asteroid is also expected to make another trip near the Earth's ortbit 40 years after its recent appearance on September 2,2057. As of the moment, NASA scientists and astronomers are tracking about 2,000 space rocks and objects that pose a threat to our planet. In the vast universe, million of asteroids are in existence. Many of them are remnants of bodies within the solar ebua of the sun which did not become large enough to be considered planets, also known as planetismals. Related article: Scientists Spot an Earth-Like Plant But Is It Habitable? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. China said on Thursday that its relationship with Pakistan stood the test of the changing international landscape and remained "firm as a rock" as the all-weather allies celebrated the 69th year of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Pakistan recognised China in 1951, a year after India established diplomatic ties with Beijing. India became the first non-Communist country in Asia in 1950 to establish diplomatic relations with China. Though a late entrant, Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has emerged as Communist China's closest ally and the two countries in recent years firmed up their all-weather alliance with USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the biggest overseas investment by Beijing. "Today marks the 69th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between China and Pakistan. I offer congratulations, Foreign Ministry spokesman told a media briefing here on Thursday. "We are all-weather strategic cooperative partners. In the past 69 years, this relationship has stood the test of the changing international landscape, and has remained firm as a rock, he said. Zhao, who was earlier China's Deputy Ambassador to Islamabad, had a personal note of praise for his stint in Pakistan. "I had the pleasure of working in Pakistan. Before leaving the country, I said that Pakistan stole my heart. I believe it shows the deep-rooted friendship between the two countries, he said. "In future, we have every confidence in the development of bilateral relations. We will continue to put Pakistan a priority in our neighbourhood diplomacy and work together for high-quality CPEC development, Zhao said. India had protested to China over the CPEC as it traversed through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Two police stations have been sealed partially after a head constable was tested positive for COVID-19. According to police, the infected head constable was overseeing the arrangements to quarantine people who came from Mumbai. Auto refresh feeds RBI governor Shaktikanta Das will hold a press conference on Friday at 10 am. He is likely to take stock of the economic situation reeling under the COVID-19 impact and review implementation of various measures announced by the central bank. A total of 1,12,359 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India. 45,300 persons have recovered or migrated, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday. At least 76 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Indore on Thursday, taking the overall count in the city in Madhya Pradesh to 2,850 on Friday. The toll in the city has now reached 109, CMO Dr Praveen Jadiya informed. Jharkhand registered a total number of 308 COVID-19 cases on Friday after five more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bokaro, said Nitin Madan Kulkarni, State Health Secretary. "The directions came late Wednesday on night and the urban areas of Ghaziabad district are now in red zone. As per earlier classification by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the district was under orange zone. So now, the city areas have slipped into red zone where activities will be allowed but they will be restricted, said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer. The Uttar Pradesh government has categorised urban areas of Ghaziabad district under the red zone late on Wednesday night. The government has also listed the urban areas of Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut, Agra and Kanpur City under the red zone. "A meeting was held recently and it was decided that the sanction amount should be reduced. A lot of policemen are getting infected with the virus and the amount has to be distributed equally in such cases. So a decision was taken to reduce the amount from 1 lakh to 10,000," a senior police officer said. According to officials, over 250 police personnel have been infected with the virus. In April, when 25-30 policemen were infected, the Delhi police had decided to give Rs 1 lakh from the Delhi Police Welfare Society to the personnel. The Delhi police has decided to reduce the amount given to its personnel who test COVID-19 positive while on duty from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10,000. The decision was taken owing to the increased number of infected personnel in the force and the need to distribute the money equally, said a senior police officer. Delhi with 11,088 confirmed cases and 176 deaths is the fourth-worst affected state followed by Madhya Pradesh with 5,735 cases and 267 deaths. Maharashtra remained the worst-affected state on Thursday with cases rising to 39,297 and deaths at 1,390, followed by Tamil Nadu which has 13,191 cases and 87 deaths and Gujarat with 12,537 cases and 749 deaths. There is a widespread expectation that the governor may announce an extension of the loan moratorium for term loans for a few more months in the backdrop of extension of the nationwide lockdown till 31 May. This will be the third presser held by RBI governor Shatikanta Das in the context of COVID-19 related measures. The first one was on 27 March and the second on 17 April. Booking and cancellation of reserved tickets shall be available at Post Offices, Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra licensees and through authorized agents of IRCTC from Friday along with Passenger Reservation System counters of reservation centers and Common Service Centers, said Indian Railways. As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indian nationals were brought back home under the mission which began on 7 May. However, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till 13 June and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission. The government has said it will evacuate stranded Indians from abroad till 13 June and the extended phase will cover 47 countries. The second phase of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' was to end on 22 May. As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indian nationals were brought back home under the mission which began on 7 May. However, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till 13 June and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission. The government has said it will evacuate stranded Indians from abroad till 13 June and the extended phase will cover 47 countries. The second phase of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' was to end on 22 May. These included a sharp 75 basis points rate cut in March and liquidity measures worth at least Rs 5 lakh crore in two rounds. Besides, the RBI announced a three month moratorium for all term loan repayments between 1 March and 31 May. In the first two pressers, the RBI governor announced a series of measures to ease liquidity pressure in the banking system and cushion the economy from the COVID-19 shock. State health secretary Rajan Khobragade told PTI that three other people who travelled with the elderly woman in a car are under quarantine. A 73-year old woman, who returned to Kerala from Mumbai and tested COVID-19 positive, died in Thrissur late Thursday night, officials said. This is the fourth COVID-19 death in Kerala. The three other deaths include that of a four-month-old girl. While, 140 more COVID-19 patients succumbed to the infectious disease in the past 24 hours bringing the toll to 3,583. India saw an increase of of coronavirus cases by 6,088 number of infections in the past 24 hours. With this, the total confirmed cases across the nation climbed to 1,18,447 on Friday. India's COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 40.97 percent after 48,533 patients were cured of the infectious disease. Of the total 1,18,447 confirmed cases, there are 66,330 active cases across the nation, according to the latest figures by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will address the media at 10 am, the central bank said in a tweet. The press briefing will take place days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic relief package to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. "Over the last three days, the MPC reviewed the implications of COVID-19 on economy, it has been decided to reduce in repo rate to revive growth. This will be done by 40 basis points, from 4.4 % to 4%," said RBI chief. After an off-cycle meeting of the monetary policy committee over the last three days, MPC voted to reduce repo rate by 40 basis points to from 4.4 percent to 4 percent, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. The RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that the biggest blow from COVID-19 has been to private consumption. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that food inflation which had eased from January, 2020, peak in February and March has now surged to 8.6 percent in April. He furthe said that price of vegetables, oilseeds, and milk emerged as pressure points. MPC is of the view that inflation in first half of 2020 will be intact but, by 3rd and 4th quarter it may fall below the target of 4 percent in FY21, said the RBI governor on Friday. There will be gradual revival of activity and demand by the second half of FY-2021, said RBI governor. He added that gross domestic product will remain in negative territory this year with some pickup in pulses segment. He added that the lending institutions are being permitted to restore the margins for working capital to the origin level by 31 March, 2021. The loan moratorium will be extended till 31 August, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. This makes it a six month moratorium. This will provide additional liquidity support to the MSME sector, RBi chief said. In order to provide greater flexibility of SIDBI, another 90 days extension for the 90-day term loan facilities will be offered, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. Monetary policy transmission has improved, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. He added that an improvement in passing on a lower rate to borrowers has been noticed across various business segments. After one more COVID-19 death on Friday morning, the toll in the state rose to 152. Rajasthan registered a total of 6,281 COVID-19 cases after 54 more individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus till 9 am on Friday. Of the total, there are 2,587 active cases, said the state health department. Of the 54 new coronavirus cases in Rajasthan, the maximum was reported in Kota with 17 number of infections. This was followed by Dungarpur with 14 cases, Jaipur with 13, Jhunjhunu reported six cases, two in Ajmer while, one each in Dausa and Bikaner. Out of the 86 new COVID-19 patients, 80 were in quarantine centres, one in containment zone and five are locals who became the latest to get infected. 86 more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha taking the total confirmed cases to 1,189, according to the state health department on Friday. Of the total, there are 789 active cases. The rupee depreciated 24 paise to 75.85 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday tracking weak domestic equities and strengthening American currency overseas, PTI reported. Negative sentiment in the domestic stock market after the RBI's policy announcement weighed on the rupee. To maintain accommodative stance, the Central Bank has decide to cut reverse repo rate to 3.35 percent, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday. "The Punjab government has sought consent to send 59 more special trains to Bihar. Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh has written a letter to his Bihar counterpart Deepak Kumar to seek consent of the Bihar government in this regard," read the official release. The Punjab government has sought the consent of the Bihar government for sending 59 more special trains to facilitate the return of migrant workers stranded in the northern state. These included 11 from Malegaon town and eight from Nashik city. The remaining four patients are from outside the district but they are undergoing treatment in Nashik, according to an official statement issued by the local administration. With 23 more persons testing positive for coronavirus, the overall count in Nashik district of Maharashtra has gone up to 890, officials said on Friday. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant welcomed the mesaures taken by the RBI governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday and said, "great to see the repo rate cut by 40 Bps to 4 percent for extending the moratorium. Now we need a one time restructuring of loans for seriously impacted sectors." Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed everyoen to inform about suspect cases in villages and small towns. Amit Mohan Prasad, Principal Secretary, Health department, was quoted by The Hindu as saying, "So far 1,230 people, who had returned, had tested positive. Over 46,000 samples were also collected from them." The influx of migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh during the coronavirus-induced lockdown has caused COVID-19 positive cases to surge in the state, taking the positive case percentage around 22 percent among migrant workers. Nearly six lakh thousand migrant workers are put in home quarantine in Uttar Pradesh since they have returned to the state. Asha workers and village monitoring committees are going ahead with taking samples of suspected cases. Among the total people infected as on date, 3,204 have recovered and 138 have passed away. Uttar Pradesh reported 340 new coronavirus cases as of 8 am on Friday, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This brings the total reported cases of coronavirus in the state to 5,515. In a press release, Alok Ranjan, assistant director in the NPPA, which functions under the department of pharmaceuticals under the ministry of chemical and fertilizers, stated, "...in order to ensure availability of N95 masks at affordable prices in the country, NPPA hereby directs manufacturers, importers and suppliers of the N95 masks to maintain parity in prices for non-government procurements and to make available the same at reasonable prices." The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked makers, importers and suppliers of these masks to maintain parity in prices for all buyers to ensure availability at affordable and reasonable prices. The Tamil Nadu government has given permission to autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws to operate across the state, excluding Greater Chennai Police limits between 7am and 7pm, with effect from 23 May, reported The Times of India. Delhi reported 660 new COVID-19 positive cases and 14 deaths in the past 24 hours. Total positive cases stand at 12,319 and toll is at 208, reported ANI. Of the total 12,319, there are 6,214 active cases in the state. The Bombay High Court on Friday said the Mumbai civic corporation has power to designate any cemetery or burial ground for disposal of bodies of COVID-19 victims and noted there was no scientific study to show that the novel coronavirus spreads through cadavers. A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice S S Shinde made the observations while dismissing a bunch of petitions challenging an April 9 circular issued by the BMC designating 20 burial grounds and cemeteries here for disposing of bodies of persons who died due to COVID-19. Congress spokesperson said on Friday that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus and has home quarantined himself for the next 10-12 days. "I have tested positive for COVID-19. As I am asymptomatic I am in home quarantine for the next 10-12 days. Please dont underestimate transmission risks, we are all vulnerable," said the Congress leader. With 105 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Karnataka between 5pm on Thursday and 12 noon on Friday, the state reported a total of 1,710 confirmed cases, reported The Times of India. "The new drug, an injection which costs around Rs 20,000, will be given to 25 patients in the first phase and depending on the results, the Pune Municipal Corporation will decide on its further use," municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said. At least 25 COVID-19 patients, who are in a semi-critical condition at Pune's government-run Sassoon General Hospital, will be administered tocilizumab, a drug which has proven effective in treating the infection, an official said on Friday. Health officials in Manipur confirmed another COVID-19 patient on Friday, thereby taking the total number of infections in the state to 26. Of the total, there are 24 active cases. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that a minimum and maximum fare for three months has been set for the domestic flight services, which resume from 25 May. The airlines will operate a total of 8,428 flights each week for the next three months from 25 May to 25 August as the Central government has announced the resumption of domestic flights. Air India on Friday started booking for domestic flights amid the COVID-19 lockdown. "We have started bookings for domestic flights," said Air India in a statement. "Five members have been found positive for COVID-19 in Bokaro district. Four CISF personnel came from Bhubaneshwar and the remaining one from Mumbai. They have contracted the disease from their friends. Contact tracing is being carried out," he tweeted. Five CISF personnel have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bokaro district of Jharkhand on Friday, informed District Magistrate Mukesh Kumar. "Opening of all these booking facilities once again will mark an important step in the graded restoration of passenger railway services and making the task of ticket booking easy for all prospective travelers from all parts of India in reserved trains. Zonal railways may adhere to standard social distancing guidelines and observe the hygiene protocols in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the ministry said. Ticket reservation counters at railway stations will re-open in a phased manner beginning Friday, the railway ministry said on Thursday. The ministry has also allowed the booking of train tickets through Common Service Centers (CSCs) and agents. The ICSE or Class 10 exams will be held from 2 July to 12 July whereas the ISE exams for Class 12 will be held from 1 July to 14 July. The Council for the Indian School Certification Examinations (CISCE) on Friday announced the revised schedules for the remaining subjects/exams of the ICSE and ISC Year 2020 examinations. "The total number of buses with Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) is 6,348," the Delhi government said on Friday. "Movement of buses, DTC as well as Cluster, commenced from 19 May. Outshedding of buses on 19 May was 2259, which increased to 3535 on 20 May and further to 3983 on 21 May. Ridership has also been increasing from 1,57,731 on 19 May to 3,28,484 on 20 May and further to 3,52,661 on 21 May. The Telangana government said that 62 new coronavirus cases, three new deaths were reported in the state on Friday. "42 cases are from the GHMC limits, one from Ranga Reddy and 19 are migrants. A total of 118 migrants tested positive. Total cases in the state have now mounted to 1,761," India Today reported. Alert ~ Three more #COVID19 + cases detected, one each from Nagaon, Sivasagar and Tinsukia. Total cases 259 Recovered 54 Active cases 198 Deaths 04 Migrated 03 Update 9.15 pm / May 22 #AssamCovidCount pic.twitter.com/jBScpmgClH Reports said that 49 cases of coronavirus were reported in Assam on Friday till 10.30 pm. Government of Haryana issues SOP for hair cutting salons and barber shops and advisory for performing marriage function. Appointments or token to be adopted to stagger client's entry at salons/barber shops. All guests should have downloaded Aarogya Setu App on their mobile. pic.twitter.com/DI3KwnwTN4 "Appointments or token to be adopted to stagger client's entry at salons/barber shops. All guests should have downloaded Aarogya Setu App on their mobile," the statement said. Government of Haryana issued SOPs for hair cutting salons and barber shops, and also an advisory for performing marriage functions. PTI quoted sources in the government as saying that that over 66 lakh Indians made inter-state travels from 30 April to 12 May. "The Group of Ministers will hold a meeting for the second time at 5 pm on Saturday. The focus of the meeting will be on the coronavirus. The meeting will be held at defence Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. "A migrant worker, who was quarantined at a centre here in Gaighat Block, attempted to immolate himself because of personal issues. He is now under treatment at a hospital," said Muzaffarpur District Magistrate (DM) Chandrashekhar Singh. Jammu and Kashmir: Mosques in Srinagar remained closed today, as people offered 'Alvida namaz' at their homes, amid COVID19 lockdown pic.twitter.com/x2Yg0uMHjm Dr. Seth Cohen, an infectious disease expert at the University of Washington Medical Center-Northwest in Seattle, advised that people who do celebrate keep their distance from one another, wear masks and avoid sharing food and drinks. Medical experts warn that the virus wont take a holiday for the traditional start of summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend that people stay home, avoid crowds and connect with family and friends by phone or video chat. Millions of Americans are set to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns and take tentative steps outdoors to celebrate Memorial Day weekend at beaches, cookouts and family gatherings, raising concern among public health officials that large gatherings could cause outbreaks to come roaring back. Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Two police stations have been sealed partially after a head constable was tested positive for COVID-19. According to police, the infected head constable was overseeing the arrangements to quarantine people who came from Mumbai. "Yes," Superintendent of Police of Mandya district Parashurama K told PTI when asked about the head constable being tested positive for COVID-19. He said the two police stations have been sealed to disinfect them. The Maharashtra health department said that the state recorded its highest spike of coronavirus cases on Friday, with 2,940 new patients recorded. The total number of positive cases in the state are now 44,582. The Karnataka government on Friday said that it would bear the travel cost of migrant workers in the state returning to their home towns in Shramik Special trains till 31 May. The Government has considered the plea of migrant workers who were unable to bear the travel expenditure to go back to their hometown. The government considers migrant workers, who have come from far-flung parts of our country, as our own people and it is my firm belief that they too must be supported by the State, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said in a tweet. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President DK Shivakumar said, Thank you CM Yediyurappa for favourably considering the Congress partys demands to take up the cause of our nation builders. The BSF said that 24 new COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases in BSF to 108. Reports said that 42 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Kerala on Friday, which is the highest single-day jump in cases in the state. The update said that of the 42 new patients, 21 travelled to Kerala from Maharashtra while one each travelled from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. 17 arrived in the state from abroad. VK Paul, Chairman of Empowered Group 1, reading the number of coronavirus cases reported in cities across the country, said that the pandemic spread in India had been "contained in cities" by the measures implemented by authorities. "Current active COVID-19 cases (as of 21 May) are concentrated in a few states and cities/districts; around 80 percent in five states, over 60 percent in five cities, over 90 percent in 10 states and over 70 percent in 10 cities," he said. He added, "At the beginning of the lockdown, the doubling rate of the cases was .4, but today, it is doubling in 13 days. (13.3)." The Railways has ferried over 31 lakh migrant workers on board 2,317 Shramik Special trains since May 1, almost seven lakh more than the initial projection of 24 lakh, according to official data. The initial estimation of migrant workers to be transported back to their home towns were based on details provided by various state governments to the zonal offices of the Railways in late April when it was deciding on protocols to run the special trains, officials said. However, the national transporter said that it does not have current details of the total numbers of stranded migrant labourers who want to return to their homes and are operating trains based on the requirements of the states. The Shramik Special trains are being operated primarily on the requests of the states which want to send the migrant workers to their home states. The Railways is bearing 85 per cent of the total cost of running each of the trains while the share of the states is 15 per cent. The Council for the Indian School Certification Examinations (CISCE) on Friday announced the revised schedules for the remaining subjects/exams of the ICSE and ISC Year 2020 examinations. The ICSE or Class 10 exams will be held from 2 July to 12 July whereas the ISE exams for Class 12 will be held from 1 July to 14 July. Air India on Friday started booking for domestic flights amid the COVID-19 lockdown. "We have started bookings for domestic flights," said Air India in a statement. The airlines will operate a total of 8,428 flights each week for the next three months from 25 May to 25 August as the Central government has announced the resumption of domestic flights. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said that a minimum and maximum fare for three months has been set for the domestic flight services, which resume from 25 May. The Bombay High Court on Friday said the Mumbai civic corporation has power to designate any cemetery or burial ground for disposal of bodies of COVID-19 victims and noted there was no scientific study to show that the novel coronavirus spreads through cadavers. A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice S S Shinde made the observations while dismissing a bunch of petitions challenging an April 9 circular issued by the BMC designating 20 burial grounds and cemeteries here for disposing of bodies of persons who died due to COVID-19. Delhi reported 660 new COVID-19 positive cases and 14 deaths in the past 24 hours. Total positive cases stand at 12,319 and toll is at 208, reported ANI. Of the total 12,319, there are 6,214 active cases in the state. Rajasthan registered a total of 6,281 COVID-19 cases after 54 more individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus till 9 am on Friday. Of the total, there are 2,587 active cases, said the state health department. After one more COVID-19 death on Friday morning, the toll in the state rose to 152. The influx of migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh during the coronavirus-induced lockdown has caused COVID-19 positive cases to surge in the state, taking the positive case percentage around 22 percent among migrant workers. Amit Mohan Prasad, Principal Secretary, Health department, was quoted by The Hindu as saying, "So far 1,230 people, who had returned, had tested positive. Over 46,000 samples were also collected from them." Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has appealed everyoen to inform about suspect cases in villages and small towns. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is of the view that inflation in first half of 2020 will be intact but, by 3rd and 4th quarter it may fall below the target of 4 percent in FY21, said the RBI governor on Friday. The loan moratorium will be extended till 31 August, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. This makes it a six month moratorium. He added that the lending institutions are being permitted to restore the margins for working capital to the origin level by 31 March, 2021. After an off-cycle meeting of the monetary policy committee over the last three days, MPC voted to reduce repo rate by 40 basis points to from 4.4 percent to 4 percent, said RBI governor Shaktikanta Das. "Over the last three days, the MPC reviewed the implications of COVID-19 on economy, it has been decided to reduce in repo rate to revive growth. This will be done by 40 basis points, from 4.4 % to 4%," said RBI chief. India saw an increase of of coronavirus cases by 6,088 number of infections in the past 24 hours. With this, the total confirmed cases across the nation climbed to 1,18,447 on Friday. While, 140 more COVID-19 patients succumbed to the infectious disease in the past 24 hours bringing the toll to 3,583. The government has said it will evacuate stranded Indians from abroad till 13 June and the extended phase will cover 47 countries. The second phase of the 'Vande Bharat Mission' was to end on 22 May. However, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said the ongoing phase will last till 13 June and that India is looking at making Frankfurt a hub for the mission. As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indian nationals were brought back home under the mission which began on 7 May. This will be the third presser held by RBI governor Shatikanta Das in the context of COVID-19 related measures. The first one was on 27 March and the second on 17 April. There is a widespread expectation that the governor may announce an extension of the loan moratorium for term loans for a few more months in the backdrop of extension of the nationwide lockdown till 31 May. India may witness COVID-19 cases peaking in mid-July if the current lockdown is lifted on 30 May, a noted epidemiologist warned on Thursday as authorities announced guidelines to resume domestic air travel. Meanwhile, the toll from the virus rose to 3,435 and confirmed cases climbed to 1,12,359, according to health ministry figures. India, the ministry said in its 8 am update, registered 132 deaths and 5,609 cases in the last 24 hours with most of the new cases being people having returned from other states or in some cases from abroad. The mortality rate of COVID-19 patients in India, however, has remained less than half of the global average of 6.65 percent, the ministry said. Maharashtra remained the worst-affected state on Thursday with cases, as per Union health ministry, rising to 39,297 and deaths at 13,90, followed by Tamil Nadu which has 13,191 cases and 87 deaths and Gujarat with 12,537 cases and 749 deaths. Delhi with 11,088 confirmed cases and 176 deaths is the fourth-worst affected state followed by Madhya Pradesh with 5,735 cases and 267 deaths. Meanwhile, West Bengal is staring at fresh problems with Cyclone Amphan killing 72 people and leaving thousands homeless. Though the Central Government has promised all help to the state government, the fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years, is likely to mount problems for the state already grappling with the COVID-19 situation. West Bengal has reported 3,103 cases as per health ministry's data, but the mortality rate is relatively high with 253 patients having lost their lives from the virus. Bengal has the fourth highest number of deaths after Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. COVID-19 cases from sates Though the health ministry put the confirmed cases at 1,12, 359, as per a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and Union territories, as of 6.55 PM, showed a higher number of confirmed cases at 1,13,136 and recoveries at over 46,000. Several states and UTs continued to report new cases on Thursday, with the national capital itself recording a spike of 571 fresh cases to take its total to 11,659. This was the third consecutive day when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. Gujarat reported 371 new cases to take its tally to 12,910, while 233 fresh cases were found in Ahmedabad itself. Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani launched a week-long campaign to educate citizens on issues related to COVID-19 and said that people should learn to live with coronavirus while fighting against it. Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in India, recorded 2,345 new cases, taking the tally in the state to 41,642. This was the fifth consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases. New cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well, among other states. In many of these states, the new cases largely included people having returned from other states or in some cases from abroad. Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that migrant workers coming from other states are being monitored by health workers and a number of them have tested positive. "Over 5.42 lakh migrant workers were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," he said. In Barabanki itself, 245 samples were sent for testing on 15-16 May, out of which 95 have been found positive for the virus infection. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, while the remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with six infected persons and had been kept in isolation, district administration officials said. In Bihar also, detection of more than 1,000 cases in the last three weeks has been mainly attributed to the large-scale influx of people who have been returning to the state from places they had been stuck in during the lockdown. A similar trend has been seen across various states after special trains began operating on 1 May to ferry migrant workers back to their native places, while there have also been cases, including in Goa and Kerala, of those people testing positive who were brought back from abroad in special flights. Epidemiologist warns peak in mid-July A noted public health expert and epidemiologist, cautioned that India may witness COVID-19 cases peaking in mid-July if the current lockdown is lifted this month-end, but also hoped that there could be a "lower surge" in the wake of strong containment measures taken in the past two months. India is currently, the 11th worst-affected country in the world with India's tally of active cases at 63,624 as of Thursday, the fifth largest in the world after the US, Russia, Brazil and France. The government officials, however, stressed that the time taken in India for the case count to move from 100 to one lakh has been much better at 64 days, which was better than many other badly-hit countries and actually double the time taken in the US and Spain. India reported its first COVID-19 case on 30 January and reached 100 cases 45 days later on 15 March. However, the country crossed 1,000 cases reached much faster on 29 March and breached 10,000 cases on 13 April. India reached 50,000 cases on 6 May, while it took less than two weeks for the next 50,000 cases with the country crossing one lakh cases on 18 May. Globally, more than 50 lakh people have tested positive for the deadly virus infection since its emergence in China last December, while nearly 3.3 lakh have lost their lives. More than 19 lakh people have recovered so far. Mortality rate less than half of global average, says health ministry The Union Health Ministry also said that India's mortality rate is at 3.06 per cent, which is less than half of the global average of 6.65 percent. Timely case identification and proper clinical management have helped India keep its mortality rate lower, it said in a statement. It also said that more than 3,000 people have been cured in the last 24 hours itself and the overall recovery rate is improving continuously and has crossed 40 percent now. Close to 46,000 patients have recovered from the deadly virus in India. The Ministry said all patients are under active medical supervision, while around 2.94 per cent of all active cases in ICU. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said there has been a 1000-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 tests done per day in the last two months. More than 25 lakh tests have been done so far. Govt caps airfares, limits check-in baggage Meanwhile, authorities announced detailed guidelines for resumption of domestic flights after a gap of two months, while business activities and public movement gained further momentum on the fourth day of the much-relaxed fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown that has been in place since 25 March. Unveiling a set of detailed pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight guidelines to be mandatorily followed by airlines and passengers, the civil aviation ministry said that air travel resumes on 1/3 of the approved summer schedule for domestic routes and gradually scaled up. The government has also capped airfares as per seven price bands based on time of travel till 24 August, while also making baggage sanitisation, thermal screening and Aarogya Setu app must except for kids under 14. On Thursday, the Union Home Ministry sought strict adherence to its guidelines, including for wearing of face covers, ensuring social distancing at work, transport and in public places, while also asking states to ensure strict implementation of night curfew from 7 pm to 7 am, saying it has noticed violation of the restrictions at several places. With inputs from PTI HEBRON Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday that flexibility will be the key to the states deliberate, summer-long reopening process, and depending on how the coronavirus proceeds along with Connecticuts reaction to its unfolding freedoms he may slow down or speed up future segments of the public recovery. While Lamont admitted surprise during a late-morning Hearst Connecticut Media webinar at how small the response was to retail and restaurant openings on Wednesday, he said that consumers and corporations alike need to establish some confidence. Slow and steady is fine with me, Lamont said. I think that the people of Connecticut have been cautious, the governor said, noting that a month ago, Georgia allowed many businesses to reopen, and customers there remain reluctant as well. Its not like the governors are closing down the economy, Lamont said. The consumers have to feel a sense of confidence before they go back. Thats why, for example, maybe theyre going to walk by the restaurant once or twice and see if the waiters are wearing masks and gloves. I feel like the restaurants have done a very good job. I think theyll slowly be getting back to those restaurants and stores, not overnight. David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, a Norwalk-based human resources outsourcing and consulting company, said that most people continue to work remotely from home, as they have since mid-March. Judith Roll, the owner of Tabouli Grill and Judys Bar & Kitchen in Stamford, said Wednesdays outdoor dining-only reopening was quiet at her two restaurants. Look, COVID is changing everyday, Lamont told the webinar audience. It is fast moving. I wish I could tell you exactly what the world is going to look like in August, so you could plan on it accordingly. He said hundreds and hundreds of hair salon owners and workers told him they were unprepared to reopen this week, so he pushed back hair-care shops until June 1. The governor said hed keep an open mind on possibly allowing summer sleep-away camps to open in July, despite the current plan to let only day camps convene at the end of June. A key piece of that is testing, Lamont said. We can test everybody going into that camp, because then theyre in residence, in a tent and theyre all over each other. Were going to cautiously be looking at that and give you guidance in a couple of weeks. He said theres still a chance they may be allowed to open this summer. A month is a lifetime in COVID years, Lamont said during the webinar, hosted by columnist Dan Haar. Lamont called the reopening guidelines provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention incredibly vague. No swimming at freshwater parks During an earlier news conference in Gay City State Park here, Lamonts environmental chief said that behavior over the Memorial Day weekend, with sharp limits on park attendance, 15-foot distances between beach blankets on Long Island Sound and a ban on swimming in fresh water, including Indian Well State Park in Shelton and Squantz Pond in New Fairfield, could set the tone for a possible easing later in the summer. Connecticuts fatalities in the coronavirus pandemic rose to 3,582 on Thursday with 53 new deaths reported, the state Department of Public Health announced. For the 29th consecutive day, net hospitalizations declined. Hospitalizations were reduced by 71 patients, bringing the total to 816, the lowest since April 1. Lamont and Katie Dykes, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, suggested that park and beach goers arrive early because environmental conservation police will be banning cars, and even pedestrians, when about 25 percent of the usual capacity is reached in the more-popular parks. Weve got gorgeous parks that people arent as familiar with, Lamont said on the shore of a pond here, with the background of a beaver lodge and the chirping of red-winged blackbirds in the 1,569-acre park named for the family of early settlers who build lumber and woolen mills on the site. This is where we recommend that people focus over this weekend, because some of our parks and beaches may be loved to death, Lamont said. The chance to obtain some serenity in the state parks is a great stress-reducer during the pandemic, he said. I used to say stay home, stay safe. Now I say go to a little-used park. Go to one of the ones that arent in the mainstream. Keep your distance if you see a group of people coming up. If we do this carefully, were getting through this together. There is a new website for the state parks and beaches, which have remained open throughout the pandemic, even as business closed and hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs. Jim Little, development director of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association, which manages the 825 miles of blue-blaze hiking trails, said the public has a special getaway resource, including parking places at trail heads. Dykes said that for the parks to stay open, visitors need to maintain social distancing and carry face masks to wear when they are near other people. While concessions and restrooms at the parks will be closed, Dykes said that portable toilets will be available. Groups will continue to be limited to five or fewer. Campgrounds will remain closed but a decision will be made on possibly opening them around June 11. She said that so far, visitors seem to be paying attention to the social distancing rules, even on hiking trails in the more than 100 state parks. People did it, she told reporters. Dykes said that while lifeguards wont be on duty this weekend, the DEEP is in the process of hiring guards for summer work along Long Island Sound. The fresh-water beaches are too small to support social distancing, unlike the shoreline parks, Dykes said. If youre not feeling well, dont come to a state park, she said. If you have underlying health conditions and youre over 65, there are risks associated with getting out and coming to locations like this. Dykes said that operations are subject to change, depending on the response to the public, the future of the pandemic and the opinions of state health officials. Theres really no playbook for this, but were using all our experience from what normal summers look like and knowing where we do see a lot of visitors coming and challenges with crowds in normal times to guide a lot of our decision-making here, she said. As we go forward, you know, we can reassess based on how that works out. Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed to this report. Ten months after learning their daughter Maggie, then aged just four, would not survive past childhood, her shattered parents were dealt another devastating blow. They were told the same degenerative disease, Tay-Sachs disease, would rob them of their son Billy, then four, as well. In 2018, life for Kelly and Rory McElligott, both 35, felt perfect. They both had jobs they loved, a home in one Geelong's most beautiful streets, as well as their three children, Maggie, six, Billy, five, and Alice, three. All was great, besides one big concern. Maggie's ability to speak and walk was regressing. She had already been diagnosed with a genetic condition microdeletion syndrome, when she was three, meaning doctors expected delays in meeting milestones. But geneticists said this pre-existing illness did not explain her new symptoms. Kelly, 35, and Rory McElligott, 35, and their children Maggie, six, Billy, five, and Alice, three In April 2019, a test at Melbourne's Royal Children hospital revealed Maggie had another rare genetic disorder, Tay-Sachs disease. The McElligotts were told their daughter would progressively lose her skills, become increasingly unwell and die in late childhood. 'You go in and get your child's death sentence,' Ms McElligott told Daily Mail Australia. 'How do you process that?' 'It is such a horrible thing to happen to anyone, but it's happening to your five-year-old daughter.' 'I felt so isolated. You think to yourself ''why us? Why is something so terrible happening to our beautiful girl?" Siblings Maggie and Billy (pictured together) have both been diagnosed with the fatal rare genetic condition Tay-Sachs disease Tay-Sachs syndrome means her daughter has a faulty gene, which destroys the nerve cells in the brain and spinal chord. Those with the syndrome rarely celebrate their 15th birthday. But before that, they lose their ability to walk or go to the toilet themselves. Eventually, they lose their ability to eat, have constant respiratory seizures, and slip into a vegetative state. By May, Maggie started experiencing seizures, which progressed into full body seizures three months later. She would fall to the floor convulsing, leaving her parents feeling guilty each time they were not able to catch her fall. Towards the end of the year, just as they began to adjust to life with Maggie's symptoms, Billy's teachers raised concerns about his progression at school. The McElligotts knew all their children had a 25% change of having Tay-Sachs syndrome, so they had both Billy and Alice tested. On February 13, the McElligotts visited their geneticist in Geelong, where they were dealt a secondary blow- Billy has the same condition as his older sister. Alice was clear. 'It was soul destroying,' Mrs McElligott said. Mrs McElligott said Maggie used to love 'trotting around' and has become frustrated she has lost her ability to walk Billy has become slightly more clumsy, but he is yet to experience a dramatic decline in his abilities 'Before we went [to the office] we both thought he had it.' 'As we were going in I couldn't lift each leg up. It was like my intuition was telling me not to go in there. 'Even though we had a feeling, you just hope. We felt like we can process the grief of Maggie knowing we have two healthy children. 'Then knowing Billy, who is a beautiful boy, so full of life, was going to experience the same as Maggie was, it was devastating. After coming to terms with the shock, the McElligotts now focus on enjoying the time they have left with their children - and take each day as it comes. Maggie completely lost her ability to walk in March and can no longer go to the toilet independently or speak. The family fear the progression of her illness is far quicker than they hoped for. Although Billy has become a bit more clumsy, the family are yet to see a dramatic decline in his abilities. WHAT IS TAY-SACHS DISEASE? Tay-Sachs disease (TSD) is a genetic condition that affects the nervous system. To develop TSD, a child must inherit an altered HEXA gene copy from both parents. This means that both parents must be genetic carriers for TSD to have a child with the condition. Symptoms usually first appear at around six months of age in previously healthy babies and include movement problems loss of ability to smile, reach out, hold onto objects, crawl, turn over or sit up vision and hearing impairment exaggerated reactions to loud noises seizures The life expectancy for children with TSD is around five years of age. It becomes progressively worse over time. There is currently no effective treatment. TSD is more commonly seen in people who are of Ashkenazi Jewish or French-Canadian descent. Source: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au Advertisement The McElligotts have dedicated their focus to taking each day as it comes and enjoying the time they have left with their children While Alice does not have the condition, she carries the altered HEXA gene that causes the disease. With car modifications needed to accommodate their children's wheelchairs, the family has made the uncomfortable decision to start a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs. Mrs McElligott said they have received overwhelming support from friends, family and strangers. 'There's just no words. It's crazy and it's incredible and it's overwhelming,' she said. 'Photographers have reached out and said they would love to take photos of our family. 'People have been helping just by being there.' The family will eventually need to renovate their house to allow ramp access. Mrs McElligott, who works for the Department of Justice, has reduced her hours to care for Maggie at home, while her husband continues to work as a primary school teacher. Alice (right) does not have the condition like her siblings (left) but she carries the gene that causes Tay-Sachs disease Both Maggie and Billy are still in school, but they will be withdrawn in the end. The time frame of when they take a turn for the worse ranges from days to years, leaving the family in constant limbo. Despite their hardships, they feel 'incredibly lucky' to have their three beautiful children and feel the tragedy has allowed them to see kindness in the world they would not have otherwise known exists. 'At first you question ''why you?'',' Mrs McElligott said. 'But then you realise, why not us? There is so much adversity in the world that affects so many people. 'All we can see the kindness and love and support despite the fact we know we have two kids that are going to pass away in the next few years. 'I don't live in years anymore, I just live day to day and try to enjoy time with family and friends. It's nice to live more simply and not plan for the future in some ways. 'You have to take the small bits of beauty you get from each day.' Portia was rushed to nearby Starship Hospital but died a short time later Portia Lilly De Luen was at Karekare Beach with three other teenage friends A girl who drowned at a New Zealand beach on Tuesday was just 14 years old A 14-year-old girl has died after being caught in a rip while she was swimming with a group of friends. Portia Lilly De Luen was at Karekare Beach, on the North Island of New Zealand, with three friends when they were caught in a rip just after midday. Three of the girls managed to get back to shore without any treatment, while life savers brought Portia in. Portia Lilly De Luen died after being caught in a rip Portia was at Karekare Beach (pictured), on the North Island, with three friends when they became caught in a rip just after midday 'Surf Lifeguards carried out CPR on the patient for ten minutes until the Auckland Rescue Helicopter arrived and took the patient to hospital,' a statement said. Portia was rushed by helicopter to Starship Hospital but died a short time later. A De Luen family friend said Portia was known by extended family as a 'beautiful, caring girl'. A parent of one of Portia's friends said he and his son were devastated to hear the news. 'You will be forever in our thoughts and we will never forget the amazing person you are, were and always will be,' he wrote on Facebook. 'Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being such a great friend to my son,' he wrote. Rest in peace Portia.' 'Our beautiful girl Portia De Luen RIP angel fly high,' said another family member. The local community is now rallying to support Portia's parents, twin sister and a brother. Her father's boss at UMS NZ Ltd launched a fundraiser on Givealittle to raise funds for the heartbroken family. 'This fundraiser will help raise money to provide financial help to [his] family during this tremendously difficult and heartbreaking time,' the page read. United States Provides Additional Assistance for the Crisis in Venezuela and the Region Washington, DC - Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State: "The United States continues to be a catalyst for the international response to help the Venezuelan people and region respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the former Maduro regime. We are providing more than $200 million in additional assistance from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), including more than $138 million in humanitarian assistance, for Venezuelans in need. "This includes critical humanitarian support to Venezuelans inside Venezuela, as well as humanitarian and development support for those who have fled to countries across the region and the communities hosting them. The United States remains the largest single donor responding to the crisis, with over $856 million in total assistance since FY 2017, including nearly $611 million in humanitarian assistance. Our commitment has been matched in action by the 16 countries across the region who have opened their doors to their Venezuelan neighbors in need. "This assistance underscores our ongoing leadership to the response and continuing commitment to the Venezuelan people, including the more than five million Venezuelans who have fled their country to date due to the tyranny of the former Maduro regime. Our humanitarian assistance will meet critical life-saving needs, including food and nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and health, temporary shelter, cash assistance, education services; protection for vulnerable children, indigenous communities, the elderly, women, and other vulnerable populations; legal aid; registration and protection monitoring support; and research to track the evolving needs of Venezuelans across the region. "Development assistance is helping countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean meet longer-term needs caused by the regional crisis. Efforts include education and health systems strengthening, improving government capacity to manage migration and socioeconomic integration, human rights protection and access to justice, vocational training, and employment and entrepreneurship opportunities through the private sector. "The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) is investing $4.9 million in community-led efforts addressing longer-term needs of Venezuelan refugees and other migrants in refugee and migrant-receiving communities in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. IAF grantees encourage social and economic inclusion of displaced Venezuelans by increasing opportunities to earn income, promoting conflict resolution, and facilitating access to health and psychosocial services. "The United States remains the largest single donor of humanitarian and health assistance around the world, and for Venezuelans in need. We do this because our National Security Strategy prioritizes the reduction of human suffering and doing our part to respond to crisis situations makes Americans safer at home. We recognize all donors who have committed resources to these life-saving initiatives, including those who plan to contribute to the upcoming donors conference hosted by Spain and the European Union with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and encourage both traditional and new donors to increase their efforts to help meet growing needs of crisis responses." The Bharatiya Janata Party has sharpened its attack against the Maharashtra government alleging it not only failed to curb the spread of the corona pandemic, but was also lax in attracting investments to the state. On Thursday, BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state lacks a decisive government and that it needed protocols in place to restart the economy outside the red zones- the worst affected areas by the coronavirus. He said, with locals in Maharashtra not keen on taking up blue-collar jobs, the state must find a way to restart economic activity as it was an opportunity of a lifetime with businesses moving out of China and looking for investment destinations. Interacting with media persons through video-conference, he said the coalition government of the NCP, Congress and the Shiva Sena in the state was largely dependent on the bureaucracy to function. And there are warring factions in bureaucracy. The assertiveness of political leadership is lacking and they are scared of taking decisions, Fadnavis said. The BJP has accused the Uddhav Thackeray government of failing to increase the number of tests to detect new coronavirus cases, retain migrant workers and provide them with food and other necessities. On Monday, CM Thackeray had urged the locals to take advantage of reverse migration and urged people to be self-reliant by resuming industrial activities. He said local residents should come forward and start working in industrial units to take Maharashtra forward. For Coronavirus Live Updates Fadnavis,however, said migrant labourers had made a major contribution in the state , especially in the housing industry and there is an apprehension that they may not return anytime soon. This will have a bad impact on the real estate sector. They will have to bring them back. Each sector is different, will the local labour take their place, I dont think so, he said. Fadnavis also blamed the state government for not testing asymptomatic people while pointing out the possibility of community transmissions in Dharavi and Worli and added that 97% of those admitted in hospitals are asymptomatic. The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19 Maharashtra is among the most affected, 31% of all affected people in India are from the state and this number is going up. The state also accounts for 40% of the total deaths in the country, the former CM said, adding that strategic errors were made when the lockdown was first announced. Palestinians say sending medical aid through Tel Aviv is a cover for normalisation of ties with Israel. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has rejected an aid shipment from the United Arab Emirates, according to the Palestinian health minister. In a news conference on Thursday, Mai Kaila said her country refused to receive the medical aid as the Emirati side ignored to coordinate with them. The UAE has not coordinated with us regarding the medical aid, and we reject to receive it without coordination, said the minister. We are a sovereign country, and they should have coordinated with us first. Earlier on Thursday, Maan News Agency, known for being close to the PA, said citing informed sources the decision came as the aid arrived at Israels Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Cover for normalisation On Tuesday, an Emirati flight carrying medical aid for Palestinians landed at an Israeli airport after taking off from Abu Dhabi, marking the first public flight between the two states despite the UAE not having any official ties with Israel. Etihad Airways, the state-owned air carrier, confirmed the flight. Etihad Airways operated a dedicated humanitarian cargo flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv on 19 May to provide medical supplies to the Palestinians, the airline told The Associated Press news agency on Tuesday. Israeli journalist Itay Blumental tweeted two photos of the aircraft, with the caption: To Palestinians, with love from Abu Dhabi through Israel. The UAE authorities did not coordinate with the state of Palestine before sending the aid, the government sources said, adding that Palestinians refuse to be a bridge [for Arab countries] seeking to have normalised ties with Israel. They asserted that any assistance meant to be sent to the Palestinian people should be coordinated with the PA first. Sending them directly to Israel constitutes a cover for normalisation, they added. Covert ties with Israel Unlike Jordan and Egypt, both of which signed peace treaties with Israel in 1978 and 1994, respectively, other Arab states officially deny having ties with Israel, which has been occupying Palestinian territories for decades. In recent years, however, several Gulf states such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, have cultivated covert ties with Israel. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in January 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: There is an alignment of Israel and other countries in the Middle East that would have been unimaginable 10 years ago. Certainly in my lifetime, I never saw anything like it and Im at the age of the State of Israel more or less, so its an extraordinary thing. Two months later, in March, Saudi Arabia allowed an Israel-bound passenger plane to cross through its airspace for the first time ever, breaking a 70-year ban. In October the same year, Netanyahu met with Omans Sultan Qaboos in Muscat in a surprise, unannounced trip. Details added (first version posted on 15:57) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20 Trend: Azerbaijani citizens temporarily staying in Russia and wishing to come back to Azerbaijan return in accordance with the order of registration on the special website rather than due to availability of a ticket, Leyla Abdullayeva, spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, told Trend on May 20. If a person who has been registered to return to Azerbaijan does not have a ticket, it is necessary to buy it, the spokesperson added. If a citizen prefers to return to Azerbaijan by vehicle, it is also possible," Abdullayeva added. If a citizen prefers to return to Azerbaijan by plane, then it is possible to return via the charter flights. Of course, this process is based on the appeals of citizens registered in the diplomatic missions in the countries. One of the main points is the availability of the places in the quarantine zones, the logistic support and the continuous activity of medical staff in Azerbaijan, the spokesperson said. As every citizen who has returned to the country from abroad stays in the quarantine zones, this process is carried out taking into account Azerbaijan's readiness to receive newcomers." The charter flights are planned to be organized for Azerbaijani citizens staying in Europe, the CIS countries and other countries to return to Azerbaijan, the spokesperson said. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said the world recorded over 100,000 new cases of coronavirus over the last 24 hours. This was announced by the WHO director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, during a press 0conference at the agencys headquarters, Geneva. We still have a long way to go in this pandemic, he said. According to the WHO official, the majority of the newly confirmed cases are coming from the Americas, followed by Europe. He said the U.S. and Russia reported 45,251 and 9,263 new cases on Tuesday, respectively. Meanwhile, according to the world coronavirus worldometer, so far, the world has recorded over five million global cases and seen over 325,000 fatalities since the virus emerged in Wuhan, China, less than five months ago. Before now, the WHO has been warning world leaders that there can be no going back to business as usual following the COVID-19 outbreak, which has affected economies in nearly every country around the globe. The agency has told countries that they will need to live with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future even as cases level off or decline in some countries while peaking in others and resurging in areas where the pandemic appeared to be under control. The WHO officials said while social distancing measures put in place in numerous countries to slow the spread of the coronavirus have been successful, the virus remains extremely dangerous. More worries The new record in cases comes as President Donald Trump threatens to permanently pull funding from the agency, according to CNBC news. WHO officials said they are worried their emergency programs will suffer if Trump follows through on his threats. The executive director of WHOs health emergencies program, Mike Ryan said most funding from the United States goes directly to the programme that helps countries all over the world in all sorts of fragile and difficult settings, Well obviously have to work with other partners to ensure those funds can still flow, Mr Ryan said. This is going to be a major implication for delivering essential health services to some of the most vulnerable people in the world and we trust developed donors will, if necessary, step in to fill that gap. Mr Ghebreyesus also said the WHO is very concerned about the rise in cases in low-and middle-income countries. He said South Korea has been impressive building on its experience of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related (MERS) coronavirus to quickly implement a comprehensive strategy to find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace every contact. This was critical to the Republic of Korea curtailing the first wave and now quickly identifying and containing new outbreaks, he said. A public-private partnership dedicated to helping at-risk students was a noble idea. But when a mix of elected officials and private volunteers adhere to different transparency rules, the venture is bound to strike shoals. On Tuesday Gov. Ned Lamont and philanthropist Barbara Dalio announced the dissolution of the Partnership for Connecticut after just over a year. Dalio cited political fighting as a reason. The suddenness was a surprise, but the eventuality was not. From the start of the partnership formed with a generous $100 million contribution from Barbara and her husband Ray Dalio, to have been matched with $100 million in private contributions and $100 million in state funds over five years we urged complete transparency. The General Assembly gave the group exemption from Freedom of Information rules, never a good move; state leaders on the panel, however, had to follow FOI because they are public officials. Credit goes to state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, a member of the panel, for insisting on transparency. Democrats should have known better than to think they could get by without it. We repeat: A substantial amount of taxpayers money was involved. The Dalios had upright intentions and, as Lamont noted, conducted monthly meetings with transparency. But the board wanted to avoid FOI at certain times, such as when talking with at-risk youth. The situation came to a head in recent days when the private members of the board decided to put the chief executive officer, who had been on the job only two months, on leave for reasons not disclosed. The public members of the partnership were not included in the decision. The news leaked to the media, and the Dalios said any trust within the partnership was broken. The arrangement was not going to work. Even as the partnership was dissolving, the benefits became tangible the first of 60,000 free laptops with software were distributed this week for students in under-performing districts. The $24 million purchase happened more quickly than if it had gone through government channels. The timing is critical with schools closed for two months and students without computers for distance learning falling far behind. Access to the internet will be provided, if necessary. Of that $24 million expense, the Dalios are contributing $20 million and the state only $4 million. The remainder of the states $20 million first-year commitment will be returned to the state budget. With the economy in tatters over the pandemic every penny is welcome, though we do not begrudge education spending. Connecticut is fortunate that the Dalios will continue their philanthropy aimed at keeping at-risk students in school and preparing them for employment, albeit privately. In their $100 million commitment, they also aim to support teachers whove been thrust into delivering online learning with little training. Philanthropy and ideas from the private sector will always be welcome, but schools are fundamentally a public operation and when public funds are involved complete transparency is required. Inglewoods Learn4Life Center Provides Alternative Schooling for At-Risk Youth In the center of a newly renovated strip mall in Inglewood, California, that houses a McDonalds, a DDs Discount and a beauty supply store, lies an inconspicuous office building, housing a remarkable resource center for students in pursuit of their high school diploma called Learn4Life. The educational institution provides a safe space for young adults, many of whom have experienced trauma or adversity that discouraged them from traditional schooling, including homelessness, incarceration, and foster care, those who have aged out of the school system and young parents. Learn4Life, at a glance, is a network of nonprofit, tuition-free public schools that serve more than 49,000 students across California. It was founded to combat the growing concern around the country for students dropping out of school, and to give those students an alternative option to pursue an education. Around the country, schools are facing nearly 1.2 million dropouts annually. At a roundtable prior to the pandemic, sat three students at the Inglewood center. Jordan Williams, Dionjala Hardeman and Iefanyi Anoh ,alongside the schools principal, Norma Vijeila, their community liaison, Eunetra Rutledge and Learn4Lifes Senior Vice President of External Affairs Bob Morales. Each of the students and members of the executive team and faculty detailed their perspective of the center; how it has impacted them and their community. The Inglewood Learn4Life centers population of students is made up of predominantly African Americans whereas many of the other centers are majority Latino, ranging from ages 17-24. Students generally enroll with a 4th or 5th grade education and are at least one grade level behind in terms of credits. ADVERTISEMENT Anoh is considered an anomaly because of his age; he enrolled in the center directly from middle school. I feel safe here, said Anoh, who is a part of the centers leadership program. I come in here every day sometimes just to show my face. He is on track to graduate with his high school diploma a year early with aspirations of ultimately becoming a surgeon. His story, however, is unlike the majority of his fellow students at the center who have had some experience in a traditional high school setting. Williams stumbled upon Learn4Life after moving from Memphis, Tennessee, through a friend who had recently graduated from the center. When she moved to Los Angeles, she was dealing with the loss of her father who had passed away. Due to her circumstances, she missed school for nearly half a year and was in need of a fresh start. I do feel this school is a gateway and just an escape, eighteen-year-old Williams explained. In regular school, theres more distractions and more focus on other things rather than education. Here, I feel like you have more time to just really learn discipline and time management. ADVERTISEMENT Now, in her third year, she has taken advantage of the many offerings by the center, including the work study program, philanthropic field trips and traveling opportunities. This is not just a learning center, this is a second home, remarked Williams. Though her focus remains on her coursework and developing practical skills, along the way, she discovered a positive outlet to deal with her past. One of her teachers, Mrs. Wayne, gave Williams a journal when she opened up about her trauma and prompted her by asking, What are you going to do about it? She taught me how to express myself, Williams said. Out of this exercise of writing things down and confronting her feelings, birthed her passion for poetry. I found the poet in me through Learn4Life, she expressed. Learn4Life gives me purpose. In part, the school has been successful in impacting the lives of its students because each member of the administration and faculty is hired and vetted based on their investment in students success. Everything that we do here, from the teachers, the front desk, the principal, every person has to share that they care for the kids, said Vijeila, who has an unique connection to her students as a high school dropout. Her journey to ultimately earning a doctorate degree was unconventional. The empathy that she has for each individual student is what she requires of her entire staff. Our teachers are much more like life counselors, said Morales. Students come because they feel safe. They realize that they have resources, counselors and tutors available for them. We make them feel a part of these centers. Dionjala Hardeman, 20, was able to finally feel a sense of belonging at the center after years of jumping from school-to-school. Ive always had trouble, especially in high school, she stated. Hardeman was a product of the local Los Angeles school system. She attended Dorsey High School before her father fell ill with kidney failure and was hospitalized for months. At the recommendation of Dorsey, she enrolled back in continuation school at View Park Continuation High School, but struggled mightily as she attempted to assimilate back into the school system after a year off. I was falling behind, she said. I really wasnt doing my work and I just felt like I was lost. Once she saw a commercial advertising Learn4Life, she decided to give school one last try. From the moment I came, I was feeling like oh yes, this is the right choice for me, she expressed. In a short time at the center, Hardeman has found community through field trips, like a visit to Loyola Marymount University for a political rally. Prior to that day, she said she would attend her classes but had not forged any meaningful connections with her classmates. At school, we cant really talk, but when youre out somewhere you have the ability to talk with people, Hardeman smiled. Through this shared experience, she bonded with other students, it being her first time setting foot on a college campus. It was a different environment and I felt like we could be more free. Hardeman and Williams are both a part of the workforce program and are dually enrolled in an online college success seminar through West Los Angeles Community College. Once their school day wraps, they put on their blue vests, signaling the start of their work shift. For 15 hours a week, they help out around the center to keep it clean, restocking supplies and other miscellaneous tasks. It makes me feel like I have a purpose, stated Hardeman. I feel important now. I feel like Im doing something that will look good on my resume and Im doing something for my school that I really love. The work internship program was created for similar students who need to earn a living wage because of their financial responsibilities. Instead of work being another deterrent from attending school, it is a part of their weekly routine without the challenges of transportation or scheduling. The center has made it a part of the schools mission to eliminate as many barriers to a high school diploma as possible and that means providing resources to ease those challenges. Rutledge, who has served as the Inglewood campus Community Liaison for the last five years, has solidified partnerships with numerous corporate partners, nonprofits and community organizations. The beauty of it is we are able to assess the individual needs of our students, so when the teachers or the administration comes to me and says they have a student in need, even if its just one student, its my job to go out and find a partner or a resource that can help us serve that student. One such partnership was derived from the schools HOPE program, which is for students who are unable to attend a traditional school due to pregnancy, having to care for their siblings or who is a young parent. It is a 5-week cohort that teaches health and hygiene, healthy relationships, financial literacy and outlines a post-secondary plan. Their partnership with Baby 2 Baby, a nonprofit, provides products from diapers and strollers to wipes and car seats for students in need. Another distinct program based on the centers experiential learning model is it offers free international trips to students to explore China, Italy and Cuba for 10-12 days. Many of our students have not left their community, Morales stated. Many of our students have not been on an airplane before. For them to be able to go there, at no expense to them, is a life-changing experience. Give them opportunities that they would never otherwise have; its really something that we invest a great deal of effort and money into, so that our students have that opportunity to go. The long-list of partnerships include access to professional clothing for job interviews, food banks, eye exams, a workforce pipeline with UPS, and exposure to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Not to mention, the exhaustive on-campus resources like a school psychologist, school counselor who focuses on career planning, and one-on-one tutoring, along with peer tutoring and mentorship. The challenges that led many of these students into this alternative schooling still exist and due to the global pandemic, students are being faced with new ones. With students having to navigate the trauma associated with the pandemic, in addition to having their families marginalized due to loss of work, reduced access to hi-speed internet and a lack of suitable at-home learning accommodations, there is a fear that these students will be left further behind the achievement gap. The COVID-19 outbreak has led to nationwide school closures, which has forced Learn4Lifes coursework to transition to an online setup that allows students to schedule one-on-one meetings with teachers and tutors through Google Hangouts, a private YouTube curricular channel and instant messaging. With the future uncertain, Learn4Life continues to provide innovative adaptations that include offering hot spots and devices to accommodate the needs of its students. " " BrainStuff: Does Disease Have A Smell? HowStuffWorks You smell and it's perfectly natural. Each person's scent is part-and-parcel of their biological makeup. It acts as a unique identifier and offers clues about a person's physical or mental health. As our host Ben Bowlin explains in the BrainStuff video above, diabetes, for example, can make a person's body smell like rotten apples, while typhoid fever has the odor of baked bread. Yellow fever smells like a butcher shop, liver disease causes the breath to smell fishy and schizophrenia has the odor of the over-ripened fruit. Advertisement These smells all have to do with the way a diseased cell metabolizes. A diseased cell releases different chemicals volatile organic compounds (VOCs) than a healthy cell. As these compounds change, so do the smells that emanate from the body, especially the sweat, blood, breath and urine. A Swedish study recently found that the immune system's response to certain diseases can also produce scents. The smells of disease aren't a new discovery. It's believed that Hippocrates used smell to diagnose ailments as he sniffed people's breath and urine. And he probably wasn't the first. The ability to smell something has probably been an important evolutionary skill for ages, helping our animal ancestors and modern humans alike steer clear of diseased mates. The real news is that we're beginning to discover just how powerful this sense of smell is when it comes to sniffing out disease. For example, a woman in Scotland noticed her husband's body odor was changing, becoming increasingly musky as his Parkinson's disease progressed. Scientists at Edinburgh University put her nose to the test, asking her to identify whether a variety of test subjects had Parkinson's. She identified 12 people as having the disease 11 who were confirmed at the time, and a twelfth who developed Parkinson's eight months later leading to a 100 percent success rate. If some people can do such an astounding job of identifying disease based on smell, just think what canines can do. A dog's sense of smell could be as much as 100,000 times more acute than yours or mine. Dogs have been trained to detect blood sugar fluctuations, the onset of seizures and other adverse medical conditions. And they seem to be especially good at detecting prostate cancer. Several studies conducted by High Wycombe Hospital found that, out of 900 samples, dogs were able to correctly identify prostate cancer 98 percent of the time. The dogs were even able to tell the difference between prostate cancer and other types of cancer. And a recent Scientific Reports study showed mice were able to detect Alzheimer's by the scent of urine. " " Sometimes the nose knows, especially when it comes to disease. Henrik Sorensen/Flashpop/Sebastian Kaulitzi/Getty Images In the future, the training and natural instincts of these four- and six-legged finders could be channeled into a machine with extraordinary olfactory senses. A pocket-sized radio device called Cyranose (clearly, a nod to Edmond Rostand's play "Cyrano de Bergerac") takes in gas, analyzes it for certain VOCs and diagnoses certain conditions like pneumonia or sinusitis. Now That's Interesting Disease can have a smell, but it can also affect how you smell. Research from 2014 found that 50 percent of the Lyme disease patients in the study reported a heightened sense of smell. Home Just In Shree Airlines aircraft off to Tunisia to receive Nepali soldiers body Kathmandu, May 21 A Shree Airlines aircraft has left the Kathmandu airport for Tunisia on Thursday morning. The Nepal Army has chartered the aircraft to receive the body of its official who died there recently. The Nepal Army official was deployed in the North African country as a part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission. The UN is coordinating the repatriation of the body. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive back in Kathmandu on Friday morning. Just a few weeks ago, the aircraft has also collected the body of another army man who died in Sudan during the peacekeeping mission. Advertisement Brits took to parks as well as their doorsteps this evening as they once again paid tribute to the thousands of NHS staff and healthcare workers putting their lives at risk to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. Now in its ninth week, the Clap for Carers has seen people across the country take to their doorsteps and balconies to show their appreciation for the efforts of those on the frontline during the pandemic. However, this was the first time since lockdown restrictions were eased last week that large crowds were spotted at the time of the salute in public parks, such as London's Clapham Common and Highbury Fields. The nationwide campaign, which sees members of the public, politicians, celebrities and the emergency services applaud the key workers at 8pm every Thursday, comes as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases today passed the 250,000 mark. Boris Johnson again stood outside Number 10 this evening to applaud, and tweeted: 'Thank you to all of our wonderful carers for your work during the coronavirus pandemic. You make us all proud to have such a fantastic NHS.' People on Clapham Common applaud during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS. It is the first time large crowds have been spotted in a park for the salute since lockdown began The London park was still packed with people at 8pm this evening, in time for the salute, after another hot day in the capital People on Clapham Common applaud during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS. It is the first time large crowds have been spotted in a park for the salute since lockdown began Prime Minister Boris Johnson applauds from outside No10 this evening during the ninth week of the Clap for Carers salute Larry the Downing Street Cat watches as Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes part in the 'Clap For Our Carers' initiative Children's pictures of rainbows adorn the windows at 10 Downing Street in tribute to the NHS and key workers Sue Blair, left, plays harp and Abby Boynton plays flute during a performance to the neighbourhood in Walthamstow, London NHS workers at the Aintree University Hospital give a thumbs up from behind closed doors during the Clap for our Carers campaign NHS workers react at the Aintree University Hospital before the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease Nuns at the St Anthony's convent of Mercy Tunstall in Sunderland with a sign saying 'Peace' and a guitar join in the ninth clap for carers Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak applauds outside 11 Downing Street during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria applaud for key workers outside their home in London this evening Two young girls in traditional dress join NHS staff hold a sign saying 'NHS Stay Safe' outside Belfast City Hospital in south Belfast Locals in Haringey, north London, took to the streets this evening with pots and pans and rainbow-themed props to show their support Motorcyclists stand next to their bikes outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham as they take part in the clap for carers this evening The Prime Minister's fiancee Carrie Symonds also posted a powerful message, as she wrote: 'Clapping for our carers, particularly those going through so much on the frontline #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek' Larry the Downing Street Cat was also spotted watching on, in front of children's pictures of rainbows, which adorn the windows of Mr Johnson's home. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute, as well, writing: 'Key workers, NHS staff and care workers have kept our country going when weve needed them most. 'Its right we clap for them every Thursday but when we emerge from this crisis we owe them a better society where they are truly valued.' The opposition leader's predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, wore a 'Born in the NHS' T-shirt as he also took to the streets to applaud. Other cabinet members including Chancellor Rishi Sunak were also seen applauding, as was Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who tweeted: 'Great to #ClapForCarers tonight to thank health and social care colleagues from the Department for Health and Social Care.' Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took to social media as well to say: 'Another heartfelt thank you to all those working to keep us safe #ClapfortheNHS #clapforcarers #clapforkeyworkers' A small group of police officers participate in the national salute outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London Local people and NHS workers applaud key workers at Royal London Hospital in East London earlier this evening A couple bang pots and pans as they stand on their balcony in Saltburn, North Yorkshire, to applaud key workers this evening A woman in Saltburn-By-The-Sea pauses her evening exercise to applaud key workers during the Clap for Carers tonight A lady holds up a sign outside of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, calling for more funds for the NHS Members of the public take to the streets near Chelsea and Westminster Hospital this evening to show their support People gather to clap at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport this evening as part of the nationwide salute to frontline staff Nurses clap outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham this evening during the salute's ninth week A woman claps from her window in Blackwood, Wales, during this evening's nationwide show of support for key workers This young family and their dog were out to show their support for key workers at 8pm in Blackwood, Wales this evening Recovery vehicles sound their horns as they drive past the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport during the ninth Clap For Our Carers One girl jumps in the air as she uses a drum with strings to clap for carers with her family in Woodesford, Leeds Staff at Abbeydale Court Care home in Hamilton line the street and balconies to take part in the clap for carers campaign A care home worker wears a top and trouser set decorated with elements of the periodic table outside Abbeydale Court Care Home in Hamilton Millions of members of the public stepped outside at 8pm, with many bringing their own unique rituals and performances for the occasion. People of all age groups held aloft rainbow-themed props while the sound of banging saucepans again filled streets up and down the country. In Liverpool, NHS workers dressed in scrubs shared their support as they posed for a photo outside Aintree University Hospital for the nationwide campaign while some of their colleagues posed from inside the building, giving thumbs-up gestures. Other emergency service staff including police officers and firefighters again lined up to applaud during the salute. Meanwhile, a convoy of around 80 lorries, many decorated in colourful tributes, travelled from Chatteris to Peterborough City Hospital to demonstrate support. The truckers had raised some 14,000 for NHS charities even before setting off for the stunt this evening. In Wales, queues of recovery vehicles sounded their horns as they drove past the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport. There were also impressive musical displays, with people playing everything from the piano and violin to the harp from their front gardens. Eye-catching attire was also on show, as Irish dancers dressed up to perform, while others were spotted wearing a series of colourful outfits, including one care worker who donned a top and trouser set decorated with elements of the periodic table. Elsewhere, in Saltburn-By-The-Sea even cyclists out for some evening exercise were seen taking a short break to show their appreciation. A convoy of 80-plus trucks travel from Chatteris to Peterborough City Hospital for the 8pm Clap for Carers this evening The lorries were decorated in colourful tributes to the NHS, with messages reading 'Thank you to our transport workers' and 'Helping us all through Covid-19' The organised lorry convoy for this evening's tribute had already raised thousands of pounds for NHS charities before even setting off Paramedics outside of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham applauded colleagues and key workers this evening Northampton residents stand in the street to take part in the applause with one man using a metal bowl and stick A lady plays the violin in London while a man next to her plays the piano as they perform Somewhere Over The Rainbow A boy bangs a drum as the residents of Walthamstow join in on the Clap for Carers salute taking place across Britain A resident in Blackwood, Wales, claps for carers beside his dog with a rainbow flag hangs off a wall with NHS written in silver Members of the public take part in the clap for carers campaign this evening outside Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London A man in Betley, Staffordshire, uses as a drum during the weekly clap outside his house as they join in with the clap for carers campaign Members of the public as well as NHS workers gather outside the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the clap for carers campaign Two musicians put on a performance of Somewhere Over The Rainbow in London as members of the public watch and listen Residents in Lee-On-The-Solent, Portsmouth, show their support for the NHS and key workers from their balconies An Irish dancer performs outside the Belfast City Hospital in south Belfast, during Thursday's nationwide Clap for Carers initiative Staff clap outside of North Tees Hospital in Stockton, Teesside for the National 8pm Clap for Carers this evening Two paramedics standing beside their ambulance applaud outside of North Tees Hospital in Stockton, Teeside, this evening Staff applaud the NHS outside King's College Hospital in Camberwell, south London, to recognise and support key workers Staff smile as they clap for carers outside King's College Hospital in Camberwell, south London, as they salute local heroes Members of the public wearing face masks and 'Thank you' t-shirts with rainbows on them stand outside the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the clap for carers campaign Staff line up outside the Royal Hampshire County Hospital to join in the applause to salute those on the frontline fighting the pandemic Residents in Tonbridge, Kent, take part in the ninth Clap for Carers with saucepans and wooden spoons Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer applauds from outside his home this evening during the ninth week of the Clap for Carers salute The weekly salute came on another turbulent day of coronavirus developments: Nicola Sturgeon announced Scots could be able to have neighbours round for a BBQ and play tennis from next weekend; Almost 24million people entered the UK with no coronavirus checks in the first three months of 2020; NHS and care workers will finally get free coronavirus antibody tests after Number 10 agreed a deal with pharmaceutical giant Roche; Drug-maker AstraZeneca revealed it has capacity to make 1billion doses of the Oxford University's experimental COVID-19 vaccine; Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested the government could make taking a vaccine compulsory in the future; Coronavirus is still infecting 61,000 people every week in England but the outbreak is 'relatively stable', according to government surveillance figures; Fewer than half of Brits aged 19 to 30 say they are still sticking to the government's lockdown rules to fight coronavirus, a major study revealed; More than five million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide, with Latin America now seeing the largest rise in cases each day. Britain's daily coronavirus death toll dropped again today as health chiefs announced 338 more victims, meaning the official number of victims has now surpassed 36,000. The Department of Health toll - which takes into account deaths in all settings - is the lowest figure recorded on a Thursday since March 26 (103) and is even lower than yesterday's count of 363. NHS England confirmed one of the victims was a 14-year-old who had an underlying health condition - but officials did not reveal what medical issue the teenager had. Government data released today also showed another 2,615 people have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the official size of Britain's outbreak past a quarter of a million (250,908). Elsewhere this afternoon, Boris Johnson bowed to massive pressure to drop the NHS surcharge for foreign health and care workers. The PM declared that the 400-a-year levy will be dropped after senior Conservatives complained it was 'immoral' and 'mean-spirited' that those on the frontline of the coronavirus battle were being forced to pay. It also emerged today that almost one in five people in London - 17 per cent - have already had the coronavirus, according to surveillance testing. The shocking proportion means that around 1.53million people have been infected with the virus and recovered. Mr Hancock announced testing for antibodies among a sample of the population has given the government the first indications of how many people have caught the disease already. Meanwhile the rate across the rest of the UK appeared to be around five per cent, he said, which would equal 2.85million people. This suggests that the death rate in London is considerably lower - around 0.62 per cent - than it is in the rest of the UK around it, where it appears to be closer to 1.39 per cent. Two health workers at the Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool embrace each other during the Clap for our Carers tonight People gather outside St Thomas' Hospital and Westminster Bridge to clap for carers as a flag flies thanking the NHS and key workers Vicky McClure shows here appreciation for Care, NHS and other Key workers during the weekly applaud from your doorstep. Vicky appeared to shed a tear at one point after being overwhelmed by the rest of her street clapping Love Island couple Molly Smith and Callum Jones were out on their doorstep applauding for frontline workers this evening A painted rainbow thanking the NHS is displayed on the ground in a car park outside Frimley Park Hospital today ahead of the Clap for Carers NHS workers hold a banner at the Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool before the Clap for our Carers campaign tonight Jack, five, and sister Lucy Cassidy, 10, from Poulton le Fylde lends their support for the nationwide campaign earlier today 'Everyday my heart sinks but he is still HERE': Kate Garraway updates fans on husband Derek's COVID-19 battle while praising her kids for 'staying strong' as they lead the stars in weekly Clap For Our Carers salute by Rianne Addo and Charlotte Dean For Mailonline Kate Garraway put on a brave face as she joined her children for the weekly Clap For Our Carers applause on Thursday, while her critically-ill husband Derek Draper continues to fight coronavirus in hospital. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 53, gave an update on the 52-year-old's battle in a heartfelt Instagram post, revealing that while her 'heart sinks everyday', Derek is 'still here' as he remains in ICU. Host Kate also expressed her gratitude towards her kids Darcey, 14, and Billy, 10, for 'staying strong' during the difficult time, with her daughter surprising her by purchasing an NHS 'Better Together' T-shirt with her debit card. Thinking of you: Kate Garraway joined her kids for the Clap for Carers applause on Thursday as her husband Derek Draper continues to battle coronavirus (pictured with daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 10) 'I didnt even know Darcey had bought this t shirt on line ( with my card !) until she emerged tonight but I do know how grateful she is to the NHS', the TV veteran wrote on her social media account alongside a clip of the trio clapping outside. Kate shared insight into how she's coping with her long-time love's health issues, explaining: 'I couldnt be prouder of how she & Billy have coped with these past 2 horrific months for our family - always finding ways of lifting our spirits & staying strong even when they can see me wobbling. 'Its so wonderful to see little green shoots of hope that this dreadful disease is easing and that hopefully soon we might all be able to see each other again and hug our nearest and dearest.' [sic] Revealing author Derek is still fighting for his life, the Smooth Radio presenter added: 'But the journey for me and my family seems to be far from over as everyday my heart sinks as I learn new & devastating ways this virus has more battles for Derek to fight. But he is still HERE & so there is still hope. Critically-ill: Former lobbyist Derek, 52, remains in a coma as he continues his battle against the deadly virus (pictured in December) Staying positive: The host expressed her gratitude towards healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 by banging pots with a neon green spoon Touched: Amid the 52-year-old former lobbyist's health battle, the news anchor still appeared in good spirits as she engaged in conversations with her kids and neighbours 'My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who will be affected by this, not just for the next few weeks but for the foreseeable future. That will be the case for many who have suffered from the disease, but also the front line workers who have been helping to treat the worst affected. 'The physical and mental scars will run deep and so we need to stick together far beyond the end of lockdown. Thank you so much for all your messages. 'I am going to share more of the things that have been keeping me going on clubgarraway.com . And I would love to hear more of your challenges & thoughts there too. Sharing is such a comfort.' [sic] She shared her appreciation for the healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 by banging pots with a neon green spoon, no doubt thinking of her partner. 'I couldn't be prouder of them white these past two horrific months for our family': The TV veteran uploaded a video of the trio clapping on her social media account alongside a heartfelt caption Nearest and dearest: Kate's mini-me stood beside her as she clapped in support of the NHS, while young Billy joined his relatives on a brick fence 'The physical and mental scars will run deep and so we need to stick together far beyond the end of lockdown': The mum-of-two shared insight into how she's coping with her long-time love's health issues, while spreading positivity with her followers Attire: The I'm A Celeb star was dressed in a flowy white dress, a leather biker jacket and box-fresh trainers Amid the former lobbyist's health battle, the news anchor still appeared in good spirits as she engaged in conversations with her kids and neighbours. The I'm A Celeb star was dressed in a flowy white dress, a leather biker jacket and box-fresh trainers as she stepped out to support the important cause, which is relatively close to home. Kate's mini-me stood beside her as she clapped in support of the NHS, while young Billy joined his relatives on a brick fence. Kate's supportive husband Derek was taken into hospital on March 30 and is understood to be in an unresponsive critical condition as he remains in a critical care unit. Relaxed: Kate's eldest child ditched shoes as she went barefoot during her brief appearance in the street Hopeful: Her GMB colleague Piers Morgan recently revealed Kate has been given 'huge hope' as she hears stories from coronavirus survivors Thank you: For the ninth week in a row, National Health Service workers have been the recipients of the cheers and claps from the nation Her GMB colleague Piers Morgan revealed Kate has been given 'huge hope' as she hears stories from coronavirus survivors. The lead presenter, 55, spoke about his close friend after hearing from a woman called Jo Tillbrook who survived coronavirus after a long stint in hospital. He said: 'One of my colleagues, Kate Garraway, her husband has been very critically ill for a long period of time now. 'And these sort of stories, I have to say, think give Kate huge hope when she hears and sees them.' Jo's husband Clive had been told to 'prepare for the worst' by doctors, who were concerned that Jo wouldn't be able to recover - however she made a full recovery. Loved-up: Before the pandemic, the broadcaster revealed the couple were set to renew their vows later this year after 15 years of marriage (pictured in December) Piers added: 'She was in the very same position that Clive was in, you can't see your loved one. You just have to muddle through, I guess.' On Monday, the journalist acknowledged that Kate is 'going through a living hell' as she is unable to visit her sick partner. Piers said: 'We haven't talked about it much because Kate Garraway is going through a living hell like many people. Her husband has been in a very serious condition for many many weeks. 'We can all just hope and pray he comes through it, but it's been very, very difficult for Kate and her family. Well done! Vicky McClure was unable to hide her emotions as she wiped away tears while clapping for key workers on her doorstep Family affair: BGT judge Amanda Holden, 49, and her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, clapped and banged pans as they joined legions of families across the country 'We miss her here at the show, but obviously we stay in touch with her a lot. We send her and the kids all our love and we just wish Derek all the very best.' Susanna Reid added: 'We haven't said much, we leave it up to Kate, because she updates fans on Thursdays after the Clap for Carers and then Ben Shephard updates viewers the next day.' Mother-of-two Kate, who has regularly kept followers updated with Derek's progress, recently told how the messages of support have 'meant the world' to her. Writing in her latest blog post, she said the kind words were 'comforting' as she tries to remain strong for her family. Thank you: Victoria Beckham, 46, and her daughter Harper, eight, who was wearing a 'thank you' T-shirt, were also keen to show their appreciation during the weekly clap, with her mini-me enjoying a swing ride The ITV star said: 'I wanted to send a huge thank you to all of you who have sent me such wonderful messages wishing Derek well. It has meant the world to me. 'I am sorry I have not been able to reply to them individually, as I am sure you will understand that I am focusing on my family and Derek right now.' The blonde continued: 'In quieter moments I am reading all of your messages and they are so comforting and wonderful to read.' Before the pandemic, Kate revealed the couple were set to renew their vows later this year after 15 years of marriage. Clap because we care! Rita Ora shared a solitary video of herself clapping after revealing her mother Vera had gone back to work for the NHS as a medical professional Rainbow: The 'thank you' rainbow T-shirts proved a popular choice with celebs, as Lizzie Cundy (L) and Christine McGuinness (R) also sported the charity top We Are The Champions! This week, Katie Price, 41, was joined by her son Harvey, 17, who played a version of Queen's We Are The Champions on his keyboard as a special thank you Rainbow love: The mother and son duo were also rocking rainbow T-shirts which had the letters 'NHS', emblazoned across the front of the garments, designed by Harvey himself Nothing is enough! Stacey Solomon and boyfriend Joe Swash enjoyed a cup of tea after standing on their doorstep to clap for carers The broadcaster was stunned when Derek proposed to her for a second time following her appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. Vicky McClure also took part in the public applause, with the actress, 37, left unable to hide her emotions as she wiped away tears. The screen star followed in the footsteps of a host of celebrities, with Amanda Holden, 49, and her two daughters also showing support from their doorstep. BGT judge Amanda, 49, and her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, clapped and banged pans as they joined legions of families across the country. Well equipped: Michelle Heaton treated herself to a refreshing beverage as she grabbed a table to join in the nationwide clap Family first: The songstress, 40, was joined by her husband Hugh Hanley as they sat by their flashy black car Cheer! Imogen Thomas, 37, shared a clip of her daughters Ariana, seven, and Siera, four, banging pans during the minutes clap Love: Myleene Klass, 42, was joined by her children Ava, 12, Hero, nine and Apollo, eight months, during the clap The Heart Radio host showcased her legs in denim hot pants and a T-shirt, while her youngest Hollie was wearing a pair of adorable rainbow scrubs. The Clap For Carers campaign, which started online, has been staged because 'during these unprecedented times they need to know we are grateful', the organisers said. For the ninth week in a row, National Health Service workers have been the recipients of the cheers and claps from the nation. Last month the event, organised by the Clap For Our Carers campaign, was expanded to include all key workers, such as supermarket staff, the emergency services and teachers who are continuing to work. Britain's daily coronavirus death toll dropped again as health chiefs announced 338 more victims, meaning the official number of victims has now surpassed 36,000. The Department of Health toll - which takes into account deaths in all settings - is the lowest figure recorded on a Thursday since March 26 (103) and is even lower than yesterday's count of 363. A global trial is to begin in the UK of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine which has been endorsed by Donald Trump as a Covid-19 preventative. On Thursday, British Health workers in Brighton and Oxford who are in regular contact with Covid-19 patients will be enrolled in the three month programme, which will either give them active versions of the drug, or a placebo. In Asia, participants in the trial will be given chloroquine or a placebo. The trial aims to test whether use of the drugs can prevent those exposed to the virus from going on to contract the disease. Hydroxychloroquine, a derivative of chloroquine, is normally used for patients with acute malaria and specific types of arthritis. It can reduce inflammation, pain, and swelling and is widely used to treat rheumatic diseases. In the UK the trial will involve workers at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The British government has said currently neither chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are licensed to treat coronavirus-related symptoms or prevent infection. It said the drugs should not be used outside ongoing clinical trials which have reached no conclusions over the safety and effectiveness of the medicine on coronavirus. But despite the warnings, it is seeking to bulk-buy the drug in case it is an effective treatment. The government has invited pharmaceutical companies to supply 16 million tablets between June 2020 and January 2021 as part of a 35m contract described as an open opportunity put out to tender last week, The Guardian reports. The Department of Health said it had procured various drugs, including hydroxychloroquine, to support clinical trials aiming to establish if any existing medicines are effective against Covid-19. This week Mr Trump told reporters he had been taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off coronavirus, despite his own public health officials warning it may be unsafe. Im taking it for about a week and a half now and Im still here, Im still here, he said. I get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy, he said, adding: What do you have to lose? A spokesperson for Boris Johnson subsequently sought to distance the UK government from Mr Trumps decision, telling reporters on Tuesday: Its not something which our own medical experts are recommending. Dr Stephen Griffin, associate professor in the School of Medicine, University of Leeds, told the Press Association: Hydroxychloroquine is not licensed for the treatment or prevention of Covid-19 by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), or any other agency. In fact the weight of evidence from most recent patient trials shows it to be ineffective, with the potential for adverse side effects including those affecting the heart. Dr Griffin said Mr Trumps decision to take the drug at this stage was a staggering, irresponsible act that could very well also amount to self-harm. He said hydroxychloroquine was prescribed and monitored carefully due to potential side effects, and as such people following Mr Trumps example could endanger themselves. Former government chief scientific adviser Sir David King, said of Mr Trump: Every word he says should be ignored in terms of advice. Im sorry but these are not the pronouncements of a person who is listening to the scientists. He is making it up as he goes along. However, following a small uncontrolled trial in France which appeared to show positive results, with patients showing a reduced viral load after taking hydroxychloroquine, there has been greater focus on the drug. Though another test in France failed to replicate the earlier trial, Chinese scientists have also recently said hydroxychloroquine is among the drugs being investigated as a Covid-19 treatment based on promising lab results. However, they said their lab results have not been proven in clinical trials with coronavirus patients yet. The World Health Organisation has listed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine among the drugs being prioritised under its global Solidarity Trial an international study bringing together various nations efforts to test potential coronavirus treatments. Last month the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) said it was aware of 142 trials around the world involving chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, alone, or in combination. One such study involves a combination of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin an antibiotic in a trial aiming to test patients at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital in London. The University of Minnesota in the US has also launched a clinical trial on whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent people catching coronavirus. Additional reporting by PA The partnership with KWizCom is a natural process of extending our offer with other interesting tools dedicated to SharePoint environment. We are excited to be the first official KWizCom partner in Poland and we hope for long-term and fruitful cooperation between our companies KWizCom, a leading developer of SharePoint Forms & Workflows, as well as multiple other turn-key SharePoint web parts, add-ons and apps for Office 365 (SharePoint Online) designed to expand Microsoft SharePoint, is pleased to announce partnership with Softworks the companys first official partner in Poland. Softworks was founded in 2006 and the company is a prime software supplier in Poland with additional consulting and technical support services. Softworks constantly expands its range of producers in their offer following the development of trends and IT solutions. The partnership with KWizCom is a natural process of extending our offer with other interesting tools dedicated to SharePoint environment. We are excited to be the first official KWizCom partner in Poland and we hope for long-term and fruitful cooperation between our companies, advises Marcin Zakrzewski, the Sales Director of Softworks. Softworks and KWizCom will work closely to deliver Microsoft SharePoint based turn-key add-ons and apps for Office 365 for joint clients. We are happy to have joined forces with Softworks, our first official partner in Poland, and look forward to a continuous and mutually beneficial joint collaboration, adds Nimrod Geva, the Product Group Manager of KWizCom Corporation. Partnership with KWizCom facilitates reaching new customers with innovative leading-edge products achieving increased sales and profits for both companies. KWizCom Partners benefit from joint activities, a special discount program arrangement with sales incentives, training, licenses to KWizCom add-ons for internal use, technical support, sales and marketing support, and much more. KWizCom has a standing partnership invitation and any interested parties are encouraged to inquire further by visiting the KWizCom website. About Softworks Softworks based in Warsaw, Poland, was established in 2006. Softworks is a specialist supplier of software offering its clients IT solutions with additional consulting and technical support. Softworks has in its portfolio both innovative and unconventional tools which are not necessarily easily recognizable in the market. The company cooperates with organizations of different sizes including educational and governmental institutions. Softworks provides tools which enable companies to achieve better IT performance. The company specializes in solutions ensuring data protection, backup and IT environment audit. Additionally, Softworks provides tools supporting IT developers and add-ons for databases or SharePoint. To find out more information, please visit the companys website at http://www.softworks.pl. About KWizCom Corporation Since 2005, KWizCom has provided innovative solutions and services to make SharePoint even better for over 10,000 companies worldwide. KWizCom is a leading provider of SharePoint Forms, Mobile, Wiki solutions, and over 70 other add-ons for SharePoint on-premises and apps for Office 365. KWizCom is a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner is headquartered in Toronto, Canada to find out more about the company visit http://www.kwizcom.com. Follow KWizCom on Twitter @KWizCom Join KWizCom on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/kwizcom Become a fan of KWizCom on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KWizCom Contact a KWizCom Account Specialist at +1-905-370-0333/+1-855-KWIZCOM or info@kwizcom.com Since Tuesday, when restrictions were eased to allow movement of people during the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown, Delhis borders with Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram have become hot spots of chaos. Serpentine queues of vehicles, drivers honking constantly and the respective state police turning back people from Delhi have become recurrent scenes, with both Uttar Pradesh and Haryana refusing to unseal the borders that were sealed last month to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). With the Covid-19 case count rapidly increasing in Delhi it touched 11,659 on Thursday --- these states are insisting that allowing people from the national capital to enter would lead to a further spread of the virus. In effect, for those living in National Capital Region (NCR), lockdown 4.0 had brought no relief to their lives or movement. While the Delhi government has lifted the ban on passenger movement between Delhi and NCR, district administrations of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Sonepat and Faridabad are allowing only those with a valid interstate pass and essential service providers to pass through. Lack of clarity in rules adopted by the state governments has led to confusion and chaos at the borders. Senior Delhi traffic police officers said over the past two days, severe snarls have been reported at the border areas. On Thursday, long jams were seen on the Delhi-Noida-Direct (DND) Flyway. Long tailbacks were also seen near Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Faridabad borders. Near the Ghazipur border, too, vehicles began lining up from 5pm, trying to cross from the capital to Noida. S Aravindh, a banker who works in Delhi and lives in Noida Extension, said while he has a pass issued for emergency services, there is a long wait at the borders. The drive in the morning is still less cumbersome but by evening, on my way back to home (Noida), they (police) stop every car and argue with its occupants. They allow some and turn away the others, Aravindh said. Close to 1,000 people were turned back by the UP Police at the three entry points to NoidaUP Link road, DND Flyway and Kalindi Kunjon Wednesday, according to Noida additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP) Kumar Ranvijay Singh. On Thursday, Noida authorities allowed the movement of advocates following a Delhi high court order directing them to do so. Officials in Noida said they have sought clarification from the Uttar Pradesh government regarding the entry of people from Delhi. Till then, the borders will remain sealed. We are allowing people involved in essential services and those with valid passes to pass through. We dont have directions to allow everyone to enter Noida so far. We allowed advocates to travel on Thursday after the Delhi high courts directed us to do so. But we have asked them to get passes made. Nearly 1,000 people were stopped from entering Noida on Wednesday from Delhi, ADCP Singh said. Delhi traffic police washed their hands off the confusion saying they are allowing people from NCR towns to enter Delhi without restrictions. Since the Delhi government has allowed offices to function with a full workforce, we are not issuing any movement passes for intercity movement. However, there are restrictions at the borders because of which there are jams on the Delhi side. The governments of UP and Haryana will have to sort this out, a senior traffic police officer said. On Thursday, jams were reported since 4pm from National Highway-1, connecting Delhi to towns such as Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal, and NH-8 going towards Gurugram. Swati Singh, a resident of southwest Delhis Dwarka, who works in Gurugram, said she was called to work from Monday, but asked her office to allow her to work from home. There is so much confusion on crossing the border that it will be more productive to work from home. On Wednesday, I spent nearly an hour to cross over to Delhi, Singh said. Gurugram police commissioner Muhammad Akil said there were issues only during peak hours. The challenge is only in the morning as people try to sneak in before office hours. Our teams are vigilant and barricades have been set up. We are closely monitoring the situation and changes will be made only after the pandemic has been brought under control, he said. Noida police are advising residents to check the status of restriction before entering Delhi without a movement pass. But with railways scaling up its operations and the Centre all set to start domestic flights from May 25, residents of NCR say there should be some coordination between the state governments. Despite the relaxation in norms by the Centre, there is no coordination between various state governments in the NCR, Rejimon CK, member of the Dwarka Forum, said. Urban transport experts say relaxing restrictions, especially related to transport, in Delhi has little meaning until it is implemented in the other NCR cities. The influence area of a city (like Delhi) is much beyond the political or administrative boundaries. In the post-Covid scenario, there is a need to plan for Delhi Urban Agglomerate, which includes Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad etc. With Metro and other public transport between these cities yet to start, it is difficult to revive economic activity, said Amit Bhatt, director transport, WRI India. Transport experts say as people will have to take precautionary measures like social distancing, there is a need to have a detailed transport plan for the NCR. There are people who have to travel from Noida to Gurugram and are forced to take multiple passes from different authorities. There should be a single pass system for the NCR. This not only saves commuters time but also ensures smoother enforcement, Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, said. The Delhi government said it has requested the UP and Haryana governments to lift the ban on commuter movement. Jasmine Shah, vice-chairman of Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, said, We have requested the UP and Haryana governments to allow interstate movement of people now that the Centre has relaxed norms. Cities in the NCR, especially with which we share our borders, are interdependent. The stand taken by the governments is unfortunate. We have to now try and restore normalcy. KK Rao, Faridabad commissioner of police, said, The situation was under control but after two people, including a doctor, who were frequently visiting Delhi, tested Covid-19 positive, only health workers and ambulances have been permitted to cross the border without movement passes. SAN FRANCISCOGay adult streaming service NakedSword this Friday debuts the virtual adult game show Play, from award-winning director Marc MacNamara. Play is the result of a larger strategy for the company during the COVID-19 pandemic of producing virtual content to be released weekly free of charge as a part of "Weekends at NakedSword," which starts with Play on Friday. Fans can view the complimentary content at nakedsword.com/weekends. In the first episode, MacNamara welcomes controversial porn veteran Jarec Wentworth, in his first appearance since his release from prison after being convicted for blackmailing a tech tycoon. Also appearing will be Ty Mitchell, Calvin Banks and Bianca Del Rio. Play is all fun and gamesthat's what I needed right now so that's what I created. It's new and unique in the sense that porn stars are usually asked to play a character or act out a fantasy or a role, in Play they are themselves, MacNamara said. We get to see a personal side of the stars we love and then watch them go head-to-head with each other in a series of ridiculous and campy games. It's a new way to get into their heads before we get in their beds. We also have special guest stars from RuPaul's Drag Race each week and the finale of every episode ends in multiple cumshots, it was something I felt 'Must See TV' was sorely missing. Everybody say cum!" Besides more episodes of the show, NakedSword also has a variety of other virtual content that will be available free of charge as part of Weekends at NakedSword, including: naked cooking shows, workout videos, virtual sex videos with big name stars and more. "We are thrilled to launch our virtually produced 'Weekends At NakedSword' with Play from the talented Marc MacNamara, Tim Valenti, president of Falcon/NakedSword, said. It's genuinely sexy and entertaining and features an engaging A-list cast. Play is just the beginning of a lot of virtual content we have coming up produced by mr. Pam, Steve Cruz, Tony Dimarco, Chi Chi Larue and Trenton Ducatti." Valenti added: "While we continue to update our membership sites with new XXX scenes, we wanted to find creative ways to keep models and directors working while sheltering in place. I'm very proud of my entire production team and the talent for working together to create some very exciting, sexy, original scenes and special features. I hope audiences enjoy this free content as an escape from the craziness going on these days." For more information, visit www.NakedSword.com. The Mother of the three-year-old boy who was allegedly whipped by his biological father has rejected an out of court settlement request made by the accused person and his family. The accused, Ebenezer Osei Bonsu has not been able to meet his bail condition of 50,000 Ghana cedis with three sureties. Todays proceedings were held in camera at the Kumasi Circuit Court 2 and the case has been adjourned to tomorrow, Friday to allow for some amendments to be made to the docket. The three-year-old has been discharged from the hospital, but his mother tells Citi News her son is yet to recover fully. Mother of the child, Barbara Obeng, insists she will not accept the request for an out of court settlement on the matter. For his family they wanted us to settle it in the house but my Mom, my Dad and I personally don't want it settled that way so I want the court to deliver justice. He (Baby) cannot lay down on his back and he can't even walk well but he is ok for now. He can talk and move around a little bit but every night he cries that his back hurts and that he can't sleep. According to police the suspect, Ebenezer Nana Bonsu, who had a truncated relationship with the boy's mother, claims the victim damaged his phone and urinated on his bed. The boy lived with his mum until in April when she took him to spend time with his father and also celebrate his 3rd birthday. The constant abuse the boy suffered in the hands of his father pushed a neighbour to alert his mother who came immediately to pick up her child. She and other neighbours were shocked to see what the man had done to the little boy. The man was arrested while the little boy was taken to the Manhyia Hospital in Kumasi where he is currently receiving treatment. He was arraigned before a court in Kumasi on Thursday, May 14, 2020, and subsequently granted bail by the presiding judge , Patricia Amponsah, to the tune of GH50,000 with three sureties to be justified on the grounds of COVID-19. However, he failed to meet the terms of the bail. ---citinewsroom A Chinese expert has warned that the novel coronavirus will stay with human beings for a long time. Prof Feng Lushao, a researcher from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media that COVID-19 'will co-exist with us for a relatively long time in the future'. He called on Chinese people to change their lifestyles to suit a new normality, which involves regular virus control. A researcher from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention told state media that COVID-19 'will co-exist with us for a relatively long time in the future'. Chinese commuters wearing protective masks are pictured lining up in a crowd to catch a bus in Beijing on May 18 Prof Feng told Xinhua News Agency that the control and prevention of COVID-19 had become 'a norm' in China. The expert said that the country was still recording imported cases, local 'sporadic cases' and cluster infections. He stressed that the future of the pandemic was unclear, adding there were still 'some uncertain elements' in the health crisis. He urged citizens not to let their guard down against the killer bug and change their lifestyles to suit the new normality. Prof Feng's remarks echoed a Shanghai-based doctor, who called on people to get used to seeing sporadic COVID-19 cases. The expert called on Chinese people to change their lifestyles to suit a new normality, which involves regular virus control. A child wearing a head cover in the rain is pictured standing at a COVID-19 mass-testing site in Wuhan on May 14. The city is aiming to test every single resident Dr Zhang Wenhong, who has been advising on the financial hub's virus prevention works, said that occasional infections would continue to appear, especially after the resumption of international travels. Dr Zhang made the comments through his social media account after Shanghai, a megacity of more than 22million people, registered two new native cases in two consecutive days. Both patients had recently travelled to the city from elsewhere in China and were 'silent carriers', Dr Zhang said. 'Silent carriers', or asymptomatic carriers, are people who have COVID-19 but don't show any symptoms. They still can transmit the infection to others. Prof Feng and Dr Zhang's warnings come as Chinese officials step up their efforts in preventing a second wave of infections. Fears are growing that China could be hit by a second wave of infections after new clusters appeared in Wuhan and Jilin Province in the north-east. Pictured, workers line up for medical inspectors to take swabs for the coronavirus test at a large factory in Wuhan on May 15 Two cities in the province of Jilin recently went into Wuhan-style lockdown after a local cluster involving at least 40 confirmed cases continued to spread and threatened neighbouring areas. The contagious chain began in Shulan, a city of around 700,000 people, before spreading to the city of Jilin, home to some 4.5 million. All the infections are believed to have all linked to the same source. But officials are still unravelling how the first patient, a 45-year-old laundry worker, contracted the killer bug. Authorities from Shulan said that they 'will severely punish' the residents who flaunt quarantine rules after locking down the city on May 10. The city of Jilin also sealed off one of its districts this week after changing the area's emergency level to 'high-risk'. According to the Chinese authority, the virus has killed 4,634 people and sickened 82,967 Elsewhere in China, officials of ex-ground zero Wuhan have started to test every resident for COVID-19 after a cluster appeared earlier this month, stoking concerns of a resurgence of the disease. The Chinese National Health Commission today reported two new cases, including one imported case in Guangdong and one local infection in Shanghai. According to the authority, the virus has killed 4,634 people and sickened 82,967. Globally, more than 328,000 people have lost their lives, and over five million have fallen ill in the pandemic. The Milwaukee Police Department would like the publics help regarding reckless behavior. That reckless behavior is a man doing push-ups on top of a moving car. This past weekend, a man climbed out of the front passenger window of a moving vehicle, and climbed onto its roof to do push-ups. Heres video evidence of the highly unique workout: MPD requests the publics assistance regarding reckless behavior The Milwaukee Police Department is investigating an incident that occurred over this past weekend in the area of N. 91st Street and W. Capitol Drive regarding a man doing push-ups on top of a moving vehicle. pic.twitter.com/JyqBhPyOAQ Milwaukee Police (@MilwaukeePolice) May 20, 2020 Many people are missing the gym and being outside in general during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this probably isnt the smartest alternative way to get a workout in. Burma Xi Hopeful on Belt and Road Projects in Myanmar During COVID-19 Myanmar President U Win Myint (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) pose for a photo after the bilateral meeting in January. / Myanmar President Office YANGONChinese President Xi Jinping expressed hope that Myanmar will speed up cooperation with China to implement its ambitious infrastructure projects in the country during a recent call with Myanmar President U Win Myint. In the phone conversation on Wednesday, Xi said that he is expecting the two sides will cooperate closely and speed up the implementation of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that were agreed to during his visit to Myanmar earlier this year. During Xis visit to Myanmar, both sides agreed to speed up the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) backbone projects including the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in western Rakhine State, New Yangon City in Myanmars commercial capital and Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zones in Shan and Kachin states. He branded all three projects as crucial pillars of the CMEC that are needed to deepen result-oriented BRI cooperation and move from the conceptual stage to concrete planning and implementation of building the CMEC. In January, the two sides inked a concession agreement and shareholders agreement for Kyaukphyu SEZ, a letter of intent on the development of Yangon City and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate negotiations around the Ruili-Muse Cross-Border Economic Cooperation Zone. Among the backbone projects, the Kyaukphyu SEZ is crucial for China, as it is expected to boost development in Chinas landlocked Yunnan Province and provide China with direct access to the Indian Ocean, allowing its oil imports to bypass the Strait of Malacca. The two sides signed an agreement on CMEC in 2018 and the corridor is part of the BRI, Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy project. Unveiled in 2013, the international plan is also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The project aims to build a network of roads, railroads and shipping lanes linking at least 70 countries from China to Europe, passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia and fostering trade and investment. The estimated 1,700-kilometer-long CMEC will connect Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, to Myanmars major economic checkpointsfirst to Mandalay in central Myanmar and then east to Yangon and west to the Kyaukphyu SEZ. Xi said that as both countries implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures, the two sides should advance exchanges and cooperation and push for positive progress on CMEC projects. Though Myanmar is facing the possibility of a sever COVID-19 outbreak, China is pushing hard to implement CMEC projects in the country. In early May, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai and Myanmars Deputy Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Set Aung met for in-depth discussions on the implementation of CMEC projects. The two discussed how to move forward on the development of Chinas ambitious projects in Myanmar based on the Myanmar governments COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP). Myanmars CERP seeks to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic by implementing new measures and response plans. The measures include steps to expedite the solicitation of strategic infrastructure projects and to use fast-track procedures to approve and disclose large investments from reputable international firms that may be currently experiencing delays. According to a statement from the Chinese Embassy, U Win Myint thanked China for providing support and assistance to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries, including Myanmar, in their battles against the pandemic. U Win Myint said that Myanmar will continue to firmly uphold the One China policy and work with China closely to implement the outcomes of Xis most recent visit to Myanmar. He said Myanmar is committed to deepening friendship and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Myanmar and China. The Chinese government and Chinese companies have poured a massive amount of COVID-19-related medical supplies into Myanmar since late March. China also dispatched a team of experts to offer technical assistance and share Chinas experiences fighting COVID-19 with Myanmar medical experts. Both sides also discussed exchanging high-level visits in the post COVID-19 period to mark the 70th anniversary of China-Myanmar diplomatic relations. Xi said that China will stand ready to work with Myanmar and other countries to continue to support the WHO as it plays a leading role in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. He also called for coordinated efforts along Chinas border with Myanmar to safeguard peace, prevent and control the pandemic and resume work and economic productivity. Since late March, China has strictly control border gates between Yunnan Province and Myanmar to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. Myanmar farmers and traders have been hurt badly following Chinas restrictions and controls on the border. The Myanmar government has received criticisms from traders and farmers over the significant decline in border trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said the Myanmar Consulate in Kunming discussed the issue with Chinese officials on Wednesday. The Consulate reportedly raised the issue that Myanmars seafood and fruit industries have suffered losses due to the restrictions on the border. However, MOFA did not release the outcomes of the meeting. You may also like these stories: Taiwans Representative Vows to Help Myanmar Build Capacity to Fight COVID-19 New Chinese Ambassador Vows to Seek Practical Cooperation with Myanmar on BRI Projects Myanmar, China to Conduct Joint Boundary Inspection Next Year, Ministry Says Athens, May 21 : Greek authorities have announced that foreign tourists would be allowed in the country from July 1, when direct flights to tourist destinations were scheduled to gradually resume. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced the news during a speech on Wednesday, in which he introduced his administration's plan to re-launch tourism, a major contributor towards the country's economy, reports Efe news. Hotels will be able to open as of June 15. Tourists arriving in Greece will not have to quarantine themselves, but they may be subjected to random coronavirus tests and will have to follow a strict hygiene protocol during their trip. "Our strength is the certificate of safety, reliability and health that our country has earned. Its great fame. The health shield, hospitality everywhere and, of course, the passion of the Greeks," said Mitsotakis. He also announced a series of measures to support the tourism and hospitality sectors as well as the reduction of VAT from 24 per cent to 13 per centover the next five months on all public transport cards, coffee, non-alcoholic beverages and tickets to outdoor cinemas. The government will also subsidize wages and social security contributions of workers in the tourism sector and present a support program for domestic tourism thought for the country's most vulnerable citizens. Labour Minister Yannis Vrutsis said it would also finance, until September, 120,000 seasonal workers from the tourism sector who will find themselves jobless during the summer. In 2019, Greece received 34 million visitors - of which 24.2 million travelled to the country between April and September. They brought with them a 19 billion euros of income. The US Navy warships warn foreign ships in the Persian Gulf to keep away at 100 meters, or such ships will be considered a threat and be dealt with accordingly. It was issued as Iranian speed boats have harassed US Navy ships with high-speed maneuvers at close range that is too close for comfort. US warships take tougher stance On Tuesday, the US Navy announced that any ship that goes beyond the 100-meter demarcation line will be considered as hostile. Based on the US interpretation of violating this warning, any ships are threats and will be dealt with defensive measures that are not considered illegal. Currently, the US Navy has deployed ships in the Persian Gulf to do operations, to lend a US presence to the current row with Iran. A while back, Reuters News Agency reported that US President Trump issued a warning that US ships will fire upon hostile craft, like those of the Revolutionary Guard who will attempt to antagonize US vessels, with provocative intent as well. Since that time, navy ships have been avoiding fast craft or firing on them, but now the US is taking a tougher stance. The safe zone is 100 meters from any US naval vessel, get any closer and the US ship has an option to fire in defense because it is a threat. Also read: World War 3 Looms as Iran Rattles Sabers With the US in a Heated Row in the Middle East When is firing considered defensive? An unnamed US official agreed only to talk if it were anonymous. This notice to others plying the sea lanes should know, it represents no alteration of the rules of engagement that US forces adhere too. US Navy's right to defending its position was what President Trump stress when any ship faces possible destruction from adversaries, which was backed up by the Pentagon. This statement is meant to increase safety, lessen ambiguity, and most important avoiding miscalculations, or friendly fire which came from the US Naval Forces Central Command, based in Bahrain. A month ago, US Navy and Coast Guard vessels were faced, with 11 vessels from Iran. This incident drew the attention of the US military, which they branded as deadly behavior. The engagement During the incident, Iranian ships were too close for comfort and came to close at less than 10 meters of the US Coast Guard cutter Maui, confirmed by military sources. This prompted Trump to issue the threat because of the dangerous actions of Iranian ships. Later Tehran made the charge that the US was at fault. After Trump's issued threat, Iran's top of the elite Revolutionary Guard answered that all US warships will be destroyed should it endanger Iran's security. The tension between the US and Iran helped to escalate the going on in the Gulf since 2018, that was the cause of sanctions against Iran. Death of the Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, who was vocal about opposition to the US was killed in a drone strike that happened in Baghdad. On January 9, Iran fired missiles into an Iraqi base where the US personnel was billeted, no American died in the attack but many troopers suffered brain injuries during the aftermath. In 2016 and 2017, both US and Iranian ships were involved in incidents like shooting but not aiming for Iranian vessels. Related article: Trump Orders Navy to Destroy Iranian Vessels Which Threatens US, Iran Says They'll Crush Them @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Prince of Wales is spearheading a 'virtual memorial' for those whose lives have been tragically taken by the 'agonisingly painful' Covid-19 pandemic. Remember Me, is an online book of remembrance started by St Paul's Cathedral, in London, but open to mark the loss of loved ones of all faiths and creeds. In a video message to launch the project, Prince Charles says: 'This virtual book of remembrance is here to help us remember; not just to recall our loss and sorrow, but also to be thankful for everything good that those we have loved brought into our lives, and all that they have given to others.' From today family, friends and carers of those who have died can submit, free of charge, the name, photograph and a short message in honour of a deceased person via the Remember Me website. The Prince of Wales has backed a virtual book of remembrance for Covid-19 victims allowing families to express their 'loss and sorrow' but celebrate 'everything good' about their loved ones. Screengrab from the website of the Remember Me initiative, launched by St Paul's Cathedral in London and backed by the Prince of Wales The website (pictured) presents a virtual book of remembrance about those who have died from coronavirus It will remain open for entries as long as needed but the deceased person must have been living in the UK. In his address, the heir to the throne says: 'Together with the rest of the world, the people of the United Kingdom have experienced, personally, and in our community life, the shock of sudden change in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 'For too many among us, this has brought tragedy and heartbreak. For some, relatives have not been able to be present at the time of their loved one's passing. 'For many, the loss of their loved ones has been made all the more agonisingly painful by the necessary restrictions on funerals, travel and gatherings. 'For all of us, there has been anxiety in the present as we have wondered what the future will be.' He added: 'People of every faith, and of none, believe that each human being is unique and precious. We also believe it is essential that we remember: we recall how our lives, individually and together, are shaped by the joys and sorrows of the past, so that we may look forward with hope for the future. Charles, who recovered from the illness earlier this year, said the outbreak had 'brought tragedy and heartbreak' for 'too many'. 'We give thanks for how our lives have been woven together with theirs and, through this book, you are invited to share their lives with others - so that we and those who follow us can all remember what has been, and build together a better and more hopeful future.' The Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, the Very Reverend David Ison, added: 'We are all experiencing the devastating impacts of Covid-19 across the country and beyond. 'Remember Me is an opportunity to mourn every person we have lost to the effects of this terrible disease, an encouragement to offer compassion and support to those left behind, and an ongoing recognition of the impact of the pandemic on the UK.' Remember Me has the support of other faith leaders in the UK and is being supported by The Dorfman Foundation, founded by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Sir Lloyd Dorfman. To launch the project, the choristers of St Paul's Cathedral have recorded a beautiful piece of music to serve as an anthem for the book, Mendelssohn's Lift Thine Eyes, part of Psalm 121. St Paul's community has experienced loss during the pandemic with the mother of Oliver Caroe, surveyor of the fabric of the cathedral, dying on April 5 aged 81 due to Covid-19. Pictured: Mrs Caroe There are also plans for the Remember Me site to become a physical memorial at the cathedral. It already has approved designs for a new inner porch in the North transept and, subject to funding, it will serve as a memorial for all who have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. St Paul's community has experienced loss during the pandemic with the mother of Oliver Caroe, surveyor of the fabric of the cathedral, dying on April 5 aged 81 due to Covid-19. Mr Caroe, whose job was famously held by the architect of St Paul's Sir Christopher Wren, said about Mrs Caroe, a former GP and police surgeon: 'When my mum was sent off in an ambulance, we feared we would never see her again. 'Not having any of the closeness, face to face conversations or rituals that you would normally have in place with someone over their last days adds to the deep emotional impact.' He said his mother's family and friends were planning a party in her honour: 'In the meantime, I hope the Remember Me memorial will help us all look ahead, past the immediate, painful horizon, in hope.' The idea for the memorial project stemmed from a conversation the Dean had with the Bishop of London Dame Sarah Mullally in mid April when she mentioned an online book she had come across and he decided to create a virtual book of remembrance. Dr Ison, who has recorded a video to launch the project, said: 'It's important for people's spiritual, emotional and mental health to be able to express grief and have somewhere to put that grief and that remembrance.' And he said collectively expressing tributes following a death was vital as it helped people connect: 'Of course it's a personal tragedy and loss for people but to know that's shared and that's understood by other people in the country 'that we share this together' is a supportive thing.' www.rememberme2020.uk A CELEBRATION: Robin Claire Ross Robin Claire Ross was born to Barbara and Walter Buddy Wilkinson in New York City on August 21, 1954. Her spiritual and physical beauty were recognized early in life, and by the first grade she appeared on two, New York-area childrens television shows, Romper Room, and The Jewish Fourth R. She attended Taft and Columbus High Schools in the Bronx, and went on to Hunter College. After early jobs in the retail and service industry, she found a passion in acting, and enjoyed a successful career in commercial acting, as well as appearing in some films and theatre productions. After moving to Philadelphia in 1973, a highlight of her commercial acting career was her appearance in an often-featured Super Bowl commercial. She also appeared in many billboard and other advertisement venues throughout the Philadelphia and mid-Atlantic region. She made an appearance in the famous courtroom scene of the highly-acclaimed feature film Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington; she appeared in Clint Eastwoods In The Line of Fire as well. Later in her acting career, she would play the lead role as Anita Hill in an off-Broadway theatre production, to very positive reviews. Robins strongest and enduring passions, however, were her faith, and her family. Her life experiences in New York and Philadelphia, and later in life in San Diego and the Los Angeles area, were consistently anchored to activities in church and spirituality. In San Diego, she provided great support to legendary civil rights leader Reverend Dr. George Walker Smith of Christ United Presbyterian Church, as they operated The Catfish Club, a Friday luncheon at the church which provided a venue for civic meetings and conversations on themes of social justice. She also served on the Board of the Center for Community Solutions, an organization dedicated to the prevention of community and domestic violence. After moving to Los Angeles in the year 2000, she later became engaged with St. Marks Episcopal Church in Altadena, helping to lead the Altar Guild, and hosting a weekly Centering Prayer group for many years. She practiced the art of meditative and contemplative prayer in her daily life. Robin loved simple pursuits: enjoying spiritual readings and the scripture; spending quality time with her daughter Savannah with horses or at equestrian events; a glass of wine or a cup of tea with one of her sister friends in conversation; sitting on Hawaiis Ko Olina beach watching the waves come in; or just sitting on her backyard deck listening to the birds in Altadena. She leaves behind a loving, close-knit family: her husband of 23 years Robert K. Ross; Julius, her son from her first marriage to George Carey; daughter Savannah, who is about to head off to college; stepson Drew and stepdaughter Lindsay, along with grandson Gabriel; her loving parents Barbara and Buddy; and her brothers Chet and Morgan, with whom she enjoyed strong and powerful bonds. After a two-year battle with breast cancer, Robin Claire Ross passed away peacefully in her home on April 30, 2020. Her star and spirit will continue to shine for us all. ADVERTISEMENT Turn on your webcam, enable your microphone and share your computer screen, an anonymous voice told university student Emily Johnston as she sat her first online exam from her bedroom. Don't look away from your screen for too long, in case artificial intelligence scans your face and registers suspicious behaviour. Any noise or movement you make will be recorded, reviewed and stored for two years. Many university students have been unsettled by proctoring software being used to invigilate their online exams during the coronavirus pandemic. Emily Johnston is concerned about privacy after showing an anonymous exam supervisor around her room via webcam. Credit:Janie Barrett Ms Johnston watched with discomfort as her cursor moved around her screen, controlled by someone on the other side of the world. They closed her tabs, accessed her computer and disabled the screenshot function. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan was arrested Thursday morning for refusing to comply with a search warrant in relation to an earlier charge of obstructing an investigation in March. Just after 8 a.m., officers from the Espanola Police Department and a Taos County Sheriffs Office tactical unit gave Lujan a search warrant for one of his cellphones, to which the embattled sheriff refused to comply. Officers had originally decided only to detain Lujan while they retrieved the cellphone, but arrested him when he refused to give the password so detectives could open the phone. Because of his actions in choosing to resist, evade and obstruct our officers, thats why he was arrested, Espanola Police Sgt. Jeremy Apodaca said. Lujan also became physically resistant and attempted to pull away from the officers arresting him, Apodaca said. Lujan has been charged with two counts of resisting or obstructing an officer. The warrant stems from a March 21 incident where Lujan arrived at the scene of a SWAT standoff in plainclothes, allegedly drunk, and attempted to insert himself in the situation. That incident took place at the home of former city councilor Phillip Chacon, upon whom Espanola police were attempting to issue an arrest warrant following a stabbing incident. Lujan showed up and told Espanola interim police chief Roger Jimenez that he had been communicating with Chacon. Lujan also told officers at the scene that they needed to leave and he would arrest Chacon, a tense interaction captured on officers lapel cameras. Im not asking you, Im telling you (to leave), Lujan said to officers. Espanola police later charged Lujan with obstruction. Officers then attempted to serve a warrant May 12 for the cellphone of Espanola City Councilor John Ramon Vigil, who had communicated with Chacon. The complaint states soon after officers arrived, Lujan and Undersheriff Martin Trujillo arrived at the scene, despite not being called in. Lujan also used the phone subject to the warrant to call Vigils lawyer for him. Detective Saucedo and Detective Wright both advised me that Sheriff Lujan intimidated them specifically because of the previous incident, Jimenez wrote, adding that Lujan was once again obstructing officers. Two days later, Lujan reluctantly turned over both his personal and department-issued cellphones in compliance with an order from a magistrate judge. Lapel footage shows Lujan refusing to give his phones for the first 20 minutes, then appearing to attempt to leave out a separate door before finally complying. Jimenez wrote that after reviewing lapel footage of the standoff, he realized Lujan never relinquished the white iPhone used to call Chacon during the March SWAT standoff and requested another warrant for the third phone. Apodaca said Lujans actions during previous encounters prompted the department to request the assistance of the Taos County Sheriffs Office on Thursdays warrant. Ninth Judicial District Attorney Andrea Reeb was appointed special prosecutor in the Lujan case on April 29 after state Attorney General Hector Balderas and 1st Judicial District Attorney Marco Serna recused themselves, citing conflicts of interest. Reeb said in a Thursday phone conversation the two new obstruction charges could be added to the criminal complaint. Balderas sent an email to Reeb Thursday granting her the authority to prosecute any charges stemming from Lujans refusal to comply. No one is above the law, but all enforcement officials must work together to keep their communities safe, while ensuring justice and due process for all New Mexicans, Balderas said in a written statement to the Journal. Lujan spent the night at the Los Alamos County Detention Center and has an arraignment set for 9:30 a.m. Friday. Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Submit Write to the Point By JOHN McCALLUM Managing Editor Monday is Memorial Day. By tradition, its the 152nd anniversary of the day set aside to remember those who lost their lives serving our country. I say by tradition because the first incarnation of this observance, Decoration Day, started on May 30, 1868. According to History.com, there were other, smaller observances prior, many marking the end of the Civil War. There are three days we have set aside as official days to commemorate and recognize those who have served, and are now serving in our armed forces. Memorial Day, Veterans Day for those who served and still serve and Armed Forces Day for all those currently serving. So theres a bit of formal overlap, as you can see, but thats OK. Theres also informal overlap as we often honor and remember on these days both those who served and lived to talk about it and those who did not. Thats OK too. Its the honor and remembrance that are important. My father, J. Malcolm McCallum and my grandfather Hugh McCallum both served and made it home, and I intend to honor them this weekend. Both fought in World War II in the Pacific Theatre, something that must have been hard on Grandma McCallum as well as her three daughters, all of whom were younger than dad. Dad was in the Navy aboard a destroyer escort, the U.S.S. Kenneth M. Willett (DE-354). Grandpa McCallum was already serving with the Army before Dad enlisted and went to midshipmans school in late 1942. Dad used to tell me of his experiences from that time. The Willett escorted convoys from New Guinea to the Philippines in support of the landings there in 1944, and convoys from the Philippines to Okinawa in support of that invasion in April 1945, along with other patrol duties. But his dad seldom spoke about his experiences. All I knew came from Dad, who said Grandpa was with the Army in the Solomon Islands and Papua/New Guinea campaigns. It wasnt until long after they had both passed away that I got the opportunity to look into my grandfathers wartime life. In April 2018, one of my cousins came to my Moms memorial service and brought with her a small package she wanted me to have. I peeled off the brown paper wrapping to reveal a small, blue book with four numerals printed in gold on the front: 1943. It was Grandpa McCallums diary from that year, and Ive been reading and re-reading it since. He doesnt reveal much, partly because he only has about 2.5 inches by 4 inches per day to write. Hugh McCallum was an Army chaplain an occupation Ive always been intrigued about especially during wartime because of its dedication to peace and love in a time of violence and hatred and the diary begins virtually with him boarding a transport ship in New Caledonia bound for a destination code named Cactus. Ill leave it at that, partly because it gives you the opportunity to learn a little history if you wanted to look that up. But Granddads diary is interesting in what he says in the limited space he has, a mixture of the mundane with the not-so-normal, but expected experiences of those serving close to the front lines. Im lucky to have this background for which to base my Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances around. Im also lucky in that my wife is also ex-military, U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard, and I have that to be appreciative for, among many things. Others do not have this relationship to the military, but I think if you or they were to look closer, you would see we all have ties to our men and women in uniform. Its something we should be thankful for, their sacrifices and sense of doing their duty, even if they dont agree with what they are asked to do. The latter is in short supply these days among some in the civilian world. Memorial Day is the day we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to their country. Its also celebrated as the start of summer, and given what weve been through the past couple of months, I wouldnt be surprised if this year its extra busy from a recreational standpoint. I wouldnt want to throw water on that, but just for a moment on Monday, take time to appreciate those who served. John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com. An open letter has been sent out by a wide array of arts organisations, highlighting the plight of freelancers during the ongoing pandemic. Seventy per cent of those in the theatre industry are either freelance or self employed. The letter calls upon the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to be extended in line with furloughing measures to help these individuals while social distancing and lockdowns continue. Furthermore, the letter asks for a national task force of self-employed theatre and performance makers to be set up, to allow for further campaigning and 'strengthen the influence of the self-employed theatre and performance community'. Earlier today, producer Sonia Friedman warned that 70 per cent of theatre companies will be out of business by the end of the year if there isn't further help for the sector. The letter in full: This is a letter to self-employed and freelance theatre and performance makers in the UK. To the actors, playwrights, directors, choreographers, stage managers, designers, stage crews and set-builders to name just a few. We really miss being with you during this period of lockdown. Making theatre and performance is a collaborative endeavour, so we are particularly affected by having to be apart from one another right now. We're not able to come together, in the same space, to share the experience of a live performance. We're not able to practise and enjoy our artform in its most basic form. It's now looking increasingly likely that won't be possible for months to come, and we recognise that many freelancers face real uncertainty about if and how they will be able to continue to work in theatre. 70 per cent of people who work in theatre and performance in the UK are freelance or self-employed, and it's for this workforce, in all its diversity and complexity, that the impact of the current situation is most acute. During these past weeks we have had conversations with many of you to understand your needs and the ways you have been affected. We are writing to express our support for you, and to lay out some practical steps we are taking to improve the situation based on these conversations. As well as exploring ways of producing work with freelancers during lockdown, and using this time to develop new projects with freelancers for the future, we are also are working together to coordinate our response to the government, to articulate clearly what we can offer and what we need. Most urgently, we are calling for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme to be extended in line with furloughing, for all self-employed workers, and in the specific case of theatre and performance workers, until theatres are able to safely reopen. We also want to see criteria removed from the scheme which are stopping legitimate and much-needed claims. Some of you are already involved in these conversations. We welcome your voices and need to hear from more of you in the conversations to come. Your unique networks, skillsets, perspectives, and ideas are vital to the entire sector, and we need to work with you in our response to this crisis. Each of the organisations who've signed this letter are committed to reaching out to their family of self-employed and freelance theatre makers; listening to how this is affecting your work and lives, and to your needs and ideas for the future. More than that, we want to facilitate the establishment of a national task force of self-employed theatre and performance makers. The purpose of the task force is to strengthen the influence of the self-employed theatre and performance community. It would create ongoing points of connection between freelancers and organisations, and amplify the voice of the self-employed in the conversations to come. To help establish the task force, each of the organisations signing this letter will support a freelancer to join the group, ensuring they are paid for their time. We want to offer a message of hope and solidarity. Our well-practised ability to work together, to form connections, and build relationships will help us through this. One day, hopefully soon, we will all be able to meet together, as people have done for centuries, in a shared space, for a shared experience. In the meantime, we remain committed to working for you and with you towards a sustainable future for theatre and performance. Signed, Access All Areas Action for Children's Arts The Almeida Theatre ArtsAdmin The Actors Touring Company Battersea Arts Centre Birmingham Repertory Theatre Boundless Theatre Brighton Festival Bristol Old Vic Brixton House The Bush Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre China Plate Contact Dance Umbrella Derby Theatre Eden Court Highlands English Touring Theatre Fio Fuel Gate Theatre Graeae HOME Improbable Kiln Theatre Leeds Playhouse Leicester Curve The National Theatre National Theatre of Scotland National Theatre Wales National Youth Theatre of Great Britain The New Wolsey Theatre Northern Stage Nottingham Playhouse One Dance UK Paines Plough Rose Theatre Kingston Royal & Derngate The Royal Court Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Company Sadler's Wells Sheffield Theatres Spare Tyre Talawa Tangled Feet The Yard Theatre Peckham Theatre Royal Plymouth Tiata Fahodzi Yellow Earth 1927 Maharashtra Housing Minister and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urging him to take a decision on the redevelopment of Dharavi, which has emerged as a COVID-19 hot-spot in Mumbai. In his letter, the minister said most of the COVID-19 cases in the city were reported from the slums and Dharavi faced a severe shortage of health and hygiene facilities. The previous government had already announced the redevelopment of Dharavi and all formalities had been completed, the NCP leader said. Under the present circumstances, if a decision is taken about the redevelopment, it will be politically, socially and economically beneficial to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, the minister said. The redevelopment project would also generate employment and improve the economy, he said, urging the Chief Minister to call for a meeting to discuss the issue at the earliest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Thursday said that China was hindering normal patrols by its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly rejected Beijing's allegations that Indian forces trespassed into the Chinese side. The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities have been carried out on its side of the border and that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security. Several areas in Ladakh and North Sikkim witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese in the last few days, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. On Tuesday, China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an "attempt to unilaterally change the status" of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. He said all Indian activities were entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. "In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management," Srivastava said. "At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC," he said. Without elaborating, the MEA spokesperson said both sides were engaged to address any immediate issue. "The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues," he said. In the midst of the escalating tension between the two ides, the US on Wednesday said the latest border dispute in Ladakh was a reminder of the threat posed by China. China on Thursday dismissed as "nonsense" the comments by Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department. It is learnt that local commanders of both the sides held at least three meetings in the last couple of days to bring down the tension but there was no positive outcome from the exchanges. Sources said a top official in the government was in touch with Beijing as both sides were attempting to resolve the issue. "In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," said Srivastava. Sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan Valley and even brought in sizable number of additional boats to the lake. The two sides also have brought in additional troops to locations like Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie, the sources said The sources said the Chinese side has erected at least 40-50 tents in the Galwan Valley area following which India has also sent reinforcements to keep a hawk-eye vigil in the area. The sources said the Chinese side had taken strong exception to India undertaking construction of key road around the Galwan river. India maintains that the area where the road and a bridge were being constructed belonged to the Indian side. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of J-K, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Colombo, May 21 : Several rounds of discussions were presently underway as to when the indefinite curfew will be relaxed in Colombo and Gampaha districts, and health authorities are likely to suggest that curfew would continue till such time that all COVID-19 clusters in Sri Lanka were deactivated, a media report said on Thursday. A senior government official told the Daily Mirror newspaper that Colombo and Gampaha districts are likely to remain under curfew till all the clusters are deactivated and the patient count reaches zero. "We can only open up Colombo and the ports of entry completely after the patient count remains zero for 14 days. Till then we cannot say the risk from the virus had been eliminated," the senior official said. According to health authorities, the Welisara navy camp is the only active cluster remaining in Sri Lanka, and it has also transformed into the largest with sailors tested positive daily. However, a senior naval officer said that even within the naval cluster, things were under control and out of over 500 patients detected to date, over 200 had recovered and been released. Contact tracing within that cluster was ongoing and daily, said the Daily Mirror report. Those who had been identified as having associated with the patients were being asked to undergo quarantine process immediately. The spread now remains confined within this cluster alone, while some patients have been tested positive after returning from overseas, while being at the quarantine centres. A public spread has currently not been recorded. Sri Lanka has a total of 1,028 COVID-19 cases, with nine deaths. I would say I see maybe one or two people a week, she said. As long as I am comfortable with them and we are safe, I am OK with that for now. If I didnt have bills to pay or rent to pay I wouldnt see anyone but thats how it goes, and I know a lot of other people in my situation, not just sex workers, would understand. In a unique outreach initiative, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will talk to community radios in the country on May 22 at 7 pm. The talk will be simultaneously broadcast on all community radio stations of the country. The talk will be broadcast in two segments, one of each Hindi and English. Listeners can also tune in to FM Gold (100.1 MHz) to listen to the Minister, at 7.30 PM in Hindi and at 9.10 PM in English. The move comes as the government makes earnest efforts to reach all sections of the country for COVID-19 related communication. There are around 290 community radio stations in the country and together they provide a massive platform to reach the grass-root population. The talk is aimed at harnessing their power to reach the people in the remote corners of India. This is the first time the minister will address listeners of all community radio stations simultaneously. During the talk, the minister will also answer questions from community radio stations. By ANI NEW DELHI: Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Thursday announced that remaining exams of 10th and 12th Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) classes will not be held at external examination centres but at the student's respective schools. "Pending 10th and 12th Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exams will be held at students' schools and not at external centres," he said. The Union Minister further said that "results of the board classes will likely to be declared in July end." CLICK HERE FOR COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES The CBSE exams of Class 10th and 12th were postponed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19 while in North East- Delhi, class 10th exam was postponed due to violence. Notably, as per the new notification, the pending class 12th exams will be conducted nationwide, however, the class 10th exams will be only be held for North-East Delhi students. A CBSE official Said that "the schools have been asked to follow guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus and will also ensure social distancing between the students during the exams." In a makeshift bunker of sacks of rice beneath a tree, heavily-armed Togolese soldiers keep watch over villagers coming and going on foot or bike across the border with Burkina Faso. Just a dried-out river bed separates the two West African countries. In surrounding fields, peasant farmers are bent silhouettes, watering the sorghum and maize seeds sown before the arrival of the first rains. Soon, clouds will chase away the fine dust of the harmattan, the desert wind that each year sweeps off the Sahara southwards to the coast and chokes the air. Nothing dramatic, or so it would seem, ever happens at Yemboate, in Togo's far north. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border in eastern Burkina Faso, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. Those policemen, doctors and teachers who have not fled are being hunted down and butchered. "When I was small, we spent our time swimming in the river," says farmer Abdoulaye Mossi, leaning on his bike with a hoe, speaking to AFP before the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing dramatic ever seems to happen in Yemboate, the northern Togo border post with Burkina Faso. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law / AFP The arid channel separates his peaceful village of cob huts from a Burkinabe village on the other side. "Fear rules today," the farmer says. But fear does not stop people crossing between the two countries, especially on Tuesday's market day, when they sell crops and cattle. "They're never far away," he says, of the armed movements. "They often come to have their motorbikes repaired. They will never tell you who the jihadists are, but we know," says Mossi, part of whose family lives in Burkina Faso. The Togolese soldiers mount checkpoints and mobile patrols of the countless cross-border tracks through the bush that enable jihadists on motorbikes to blend into the civilian population. - Expansion south? - After the fall of Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore in 2014, Togo's northern neighbour fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali, fanned by the collapse of Libya. Today, jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as well as Togo. A year ago Benin witnessed the kidnapping of two French tourists and the murder of their guide in the Pendjari National Park. Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso / AFP In February, jihadists also attacked a police station near the border with Burkina Faso. In Ivory Coast, jihadist gunmen attacked the Grand-Bassam beach resort in 2016, leaving 19 people dead. Another jihadist group has been holing up in the Comoe national park in northern Ivory Coast for the past eight months after being pursued by Burkinabe troops. The coronavirus pandemic has inspired no ceasefires. In Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the number of clashes and attacks reached unprecedented levels last year. According to local and foreign security sources, many parts of rural Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin have seen the awakening of "sleeper cells" -- people indoctrinated and trained to encourage ever more radical peaching in mosques and Koranic schools. - Togo's fears - "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong we feel it a little more with each day," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February, while campaigning for re-election in Dapaong, the main northern town. Flying by helicopter from the capital Lome, 650 km to the south, the head of state touched down in what has become a "red zone" for tourists, missionaries and foreign aid personnel, whose work was cut short by a Spanish priest's murder at a Burkinabe customs post. Togo has been spared big attacks so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst. According to confidential military documents seen by AFP, almost 700 Togolese soldiers are deployed in the northernmost Savanes region on the border with Burkina Faso, engaged in Operation Koundjoare launched in 2018. "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong ," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February / AFP They keep guard at an invisible border of around 100 km, with Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. The territory serves smugglers, highway robbers and all sorts of contraband -- ivory, weapons, drugs and, above all, gold, one of the main resources of the region. In these remote areas far from coastal towns and economically developed zones, the trappings of state are mostly absent, so wildlife parks and dense forests have become a sanctuary for the jihadists. Less than 30 km from the border, a much feared group has seized control in Burkina Faso's Pama forest reserve. For two years, it has launched violent raids against travellers and security forces alike. The fighters -- linked to the Ansaroul Islam movement accused of terrorising northern Burkina Faso and central Mali -- are behind the kidnapping of several Westerners in recent years, according to French security forces. "The north of Togo can allow jihadists to rest up after long campaigns, or to fall back by merging into the population when pressure from the other side is too strong," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. - 'Culture of distrust' - Where deep poverty prevails, winning villagers' goodwill is indispensable in the fight against jihadists. The army provides free medical consultations, repairs damaged schools and builds wells. "Our passage must be visible," Gnassingbe declared in Dapaong, warning the military against both "bullying" and "petty corruption". Togo has been spared big attacks by jihadists so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst / AFP Elected mayors and district administrators work hand in hand with religious leaders and traditional chiefs to obtain and pass on information. Togolese authorities count on intelligence services equipped and trained by powers such as Israel, with whom Gnassingbe Eyadema, the president's father and political predecessor who ruled for 38 years, nurtured close ties. An intelligence network intercepting communications and putting spies on buses has helped to "dismantle" several "terrorist cells", with dozens of arrests, according to the government. Authorities claim that all those picked up are foreigners, mostly Burkinabes, who are extradited to their countries of origin. The armed forces of Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast and Ghana have taken part in joint military operations with Burkina Faso since 2017. "Cooperation is undermined by a culture of distrust between states," says Antonin Tisseron, an associate researcher with the Institut Thomas More, a conservative think tank. - 'Money and motorbikes' - Togo relies on an experienced army, which has taken part in several United Nations peacekeeping operations. Most recruits are from the Kabye ethnic group in the north, which has served the ruling dynasty for more than half a century. However, many people fear that the "struggle against terrorism" will also serve to silence critics of 53-year-old Faure Gnassingbe. In power since 2005, the president has solid support from international partners led by France, despite criticism by human rights organisations of repeated abuse of political foes and activists. Jihadists threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, as well as Togo / AFP Togo came through a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018, with mass demonstrations calling on Gnassingbe to resign, particularly from the predominantly Muslim centre of the country. Security forces cracked down hard. "The countries of the Gulf of Guinea present many internal weaknesses," Tisseron told AFP. "Poverty, the absence of jobs and prospects, the repression of all forms of social protest and the stigmatisation of Muslims create a breeding ground where jihadists can thrive." Jihadists tend to infiltrate communities in stages, starting with charitable works financed by Islamic organisations abroad. The newcomers preach a more radical form of Islam than the reputedly moderate faith long practised by about a quarter of the Togolese population and strictly monitored by the state. "It begins with 'raising awareness' among the masses, without open confrontation with the authorities," said a Western security source. Fear does not stop people crossing between Togo and Burkina Faso, especially on market day / AFP "Once they feel strong enough, they kill the moderate preachers and then they attack police and gendarmerie posts." Last year, a non-governmental organisation unknown to local Muslim authorities appeared in Dapaong, where Maman Amadou, the imam of the central mosque, is one of the rare religious leaders openly to challenge extremism. "They started to preach radical Islam in about 15 villages and to build mosques," he told AFP. "They even handed out money and motorbikes to young people. The people listened to them." "We didn't know them and they answered none of our summons. We ended up alerting the authorities," Amadou said. Under pressure, the organisation left town, added the imam, saying he had no more idea where they went than where they came from. "We never heard any more of them." SPRINGFIELD - A 20-year-old city man is facing drug, unlawful firearm, and assault charges after he reportedly rammed into an unmarked police car Wednesday afternoon during a traffic stop on Carew Street, police said. Kenen Monsanto-Maldonado of Bartlett Street is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm without an FID card, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving with a suspended license, larceny, and other charges. Police spokesman Ryan Walsh said narcotics detectives in an unmarked car attempted to pull Monsanto-Maldonado over on Carew Street, but he rammed their vehicle and then sped off. The officers were not injured. The car was recovered on Portland Street, and police found $8,740 in cash and 650 bags of heroin, Walsh said. The gun was found on Chestnut Street. Monsanto-Maldonado has arrested a block away on Main Street in the North End following a brief foot chase. He had in his possession a cell phone that he stole from a passerby during the chase, Walsh said. Walsh said Monsanto-Maldonado has a long history with the department, having been arrested five times previously by the Narcotics Unit in the last few years. His most recent arrest was in November when he was charged with drug trafficking. Police stopped his car and 1,100 bags of heroin and $5,400 in cash. He was out on bail and awaiting trial on those charges at the time of his arrest Wednesday, Walsh said. A man hailing from Telengana, who was alleged by the US of being an al-Qaeda operative, has been deported to India after air travel between the two countries resumed partially, officials said on Thursday. Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, an Indian-born US national, arrived at Amritsar airport on May 19 where he was questioned about the allegations levelled against him by the US authorities, the officials said. After questioning, he was sent for a 14-day coronavirus quarantine at a facility in Amritsar, the officials said, adding there was no evidence so far to link him to the global terror organisation al-Qaeda till now. Mohammad had arrived in the US in 2001 and married in 2006 after which he became a permanent resident of the United States. According to a release of US Justice Department of 2018, Ibrahim Mohammad, an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. In or around 2006, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a US citizen and became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in or around 2007. He along with two others had pleaded guilty to one count of concealment of financing of terrorism, especially to Anwar Al-Awlaki, a key leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who advocated violence against the United States and supported and was involved in attempted terrorist attacks against civilians, the US Justice Department release said. According to an order of the US District court for the Northern district of Ohio, Mohammad along with his brother and two others "did knowingly and intentionally provide material support and resources...including currency and monetary instruments, knowing and intending that they were to be used in preparation for, and in carrying out, violations" of the US laws. According to the order, Mohammad along with others "would corruptly alter, destroy, mutilate, and conceal records, documents...including email communications stored on accounts...with the intent to impair the integrity and availability of these records, documents...for use in an official proceeding; and would corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi, May 21 : A day after the UP Congress chief was sent to judicial custody for a case registered against him in Lucknow, the party on Thursday termed it as "ridiculous, smacking of political vendetta" and alleged that he was punished for helping the poor. "This is not just undemocratic, this is not just against every law of land, but, this also tells you how the UP government operates, why their ego, their personal satisfaction and their vendetta politics matter to them more than anything else," said party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate while addressing a press conference. "It (the UP government action) is beyond anybody's imagination at a time of emergency like this, when thousands of people are stranded, when lakhs of people are being forced to walk to their homes, from outside Uttar Pradesh. "Our offer to ply buses for the migrants was not only rejected, but the UP Congress Committee chief too was taken into custody. He has now been sent to 14-day judicial custody," Shrinate said. The Congress spokesperson said the time demanded that the government took the Opposition along to help the people. "But they chose to put our state party president behind bars, and for what fault? Is he being jailed because he offered help to people?" The UP police have registered a case against Ajay Kumar Lallu, the party's state president, and Sandeep Singh, an aide of Priyanka Gandhi, under Section 420 for giving a wrong list of buses. Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty to charges related to their role in the college admission scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues. Both parties agreed to serve jail time as part of their plea deals. The couple was accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, into the University of Southern California by passing them off as elite crew athletes. After months of preparing for trial and denying their involvement, the couple has reportedly carved out a plea agreement to these conspiracy charges. Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement to NBC News. Loughlins agreement involves pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and comes with two months in prison, a $150,000 fine, two years of supervised release, and a requirement to complete 100 hours of community service. Giannulli is expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud, for which he will serve five months in prison, a $250,000 fine, two years of supervised release, and 250 hours of community service. The couple was facing a maximum of 40 years in prison and over $1 million in fines for charges of conspiracy fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit bribery. Their defense was reportedly that the pair believed the money provided to USC was going to be considered a legitimate charitable donation. Given the way Operation Varsity Blues unfolded for others involved, a plea deal was the best option to avoid a hefty jail sentence. The scheme involved the offspring of over a dozen rich and famous people, including Gregory Abbott, Marcia Abbott, Jane Buckingham, Gordon Caplan, Robert Flaxman, Agustin Huneeus Jr., Marjorie Klapper, Peter Jan Sartorio, Stephen Semprevivo, and Devin Sloane. Last year, Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman pled guilty to paying $15,000 to have her daughters SAT scores improved and served 11 days in jail. Hot Pockets Heiress Michelle Janavs received a sentence of five months in prison earlier this year. Story continues Loughlin and Giannulli are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the case.We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told NBC News. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? The Feds Are Off The Hook In The College Scam Case Lori Loughlin May Get Break In College Scam Trial Lori Loughlin Seeks Dismissal Of Bribery Case Celebrating special moments during the on-going global pandemic may not be easy but it is the new normal for most of us. After the success of its recent campaign Maa Ke Haath Ka Khana, Mother Dairy wishes to spread smiles by encouraging people to cherish their special moments even during the lockdown. Along with its media partner Wavemaker, Mother Dairy conceptualised a radio social and digital campaign #RishtonkaCelebration, urging people to not miss out on their special occasions, especially those who are staying alone during the lockdown. As a part of Radio Citys on air campaign RJ Ginnie, through her popular breakfast show Suno Na Dilli, urges Delhiites to send in their #Rishtonkacelebration stories and share how are they celebrating the special day. Everyday 1 winner is selected basis the story and Radio City and Mother Dairy sends them a Mother Dairy special ice cream cake at their homes to add in their celebration. Mother Dairy also took this initiative a notch higher by offering an expression of gratitude to the frontline workers across Delhi -NCR who are ensuring safety of our citizens during these tough times and toiling in this sweltering heat, away from their families. Speaking on these initiatives, Mansi Datta, Managing Partner, Wavemaker India said, Mother Dairy has been embracing these tough times by acknowledging and extending its warmth and support to consumers. During these testing times, all we need is that extra cushion of love and support. We are extremely delighted to work with Mother Dairy and bring out such beautiful campaigns. Commenting on the idea of the campaign Mr. Sanjay Sharma, Business Head Dairy Products, Mother Dairy said, The lockdown has hit us emotionally too and being a consumer-conscious brand we took it as a responsibility to maintain smiles on the face of consumers as before. The idea behind this campaign is to spread positivity and happiness during this tough time and what is better than food. The celebrations should continue, people should enjoy their special occasions. Mr. Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City said, Radio City has always been a torch bearer for the benefit of the city and citizens. Currently we are all facing tough times, and are stuck at home also celebrations have taken a back seat due to the nationwide lockdown. Radio Citys association with Mother Dairy through #Rishtonkacelebration campaign ratifies the fact that for us our listeners and their happiness has always been a priority. We are elated to be associated with Mother Dairy and spread a smile and a positive vibe amongst Delhiites. In its endeavour to provide convenience and excellent customer experience, Mother Dairy has launched an AI based WhatsApp bot wherein users can directly message to know the nearest location to enjoy Mother Dairy ice-cream cakes in their vicinity. This was laser targeted to people who were celebrating their special days during lockdown across Delhi NCR via digital/Social with Facebook/Insta/Search/SMS/Emails Noida, May 21 : The district administration of Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar has issued guidelines for starting education through online classes in various educational institutes. District Magistrate Suhas L.Y. released the guidelines on social media late on Wednesday, so that students of colleges and universities could start their studies. The tweet from his official Twitter handle said, "Guidelines for educational institutions regarding online learning." According to the guidelines, 'No higher educational institution can allow the movement of students in the campus. Teachers and administrators can take online classes. Faculty members, researchers, non-teaching staff and managerial staff will be allowed to visit educational institutions. But no more than 33 per cent of the staff will be present in a day in the educational institution'. It further stated, "Employees of the educational institution residing within the district shall not require any pass from their home to the institute. However, to go to work from home, one has to carry the identity card of the concerned institution. At the same time, it will be necessary to follow the general rules while travelling." NEW YORKMichael Cohen, the disgraced former personal attorney to President Donald Trump, walked out of a federal prison in upstate New York on Thursday and quickly promised to dish on his former boss just not right now. I am so glad to be home and back with my family, Cohen tweeted after arriving at his Upper East Side home, where he will serve the remainder of his three-year sentence. There is so much I want to say and intend to say. But now is not the right time. Soon. Thank you to all my friends and supporters. Cohen, 53, wasnt supposed to get out until November 2021 at the earliest, but the Justice Department is letting hundreds of inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes serve their stints in home confinement in a bid to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Cohen, whos working on a tell-all book about Trump, left the federal lock-up in Otisville in the early morning and arrived at his posh Manhattan pad shortly before 11 a.m., wearing a face mask, a University of Miami cap, jeans and a black blazer. The presidents former lawyer, with help from his son, carried several boxes of legal documents into his luxury apartment building, which is just a few blocks from Trump Tower. He did not stop to talk with reporters. However, responding to a tweet from a journalist saying he had mumbled something, Cohen explained he had praised the gathered reporters. I thanked the media, he posted. The virus has infected at least 14 inmates and guards at the upstate facility that housed Cohen. Cohen was initially supposed to get out at the beginning of May, but his release was derailed at the last minute, sparking rumours that Trump had gotten involved. Having served as Trumps legal and political fixer for more than a decade, Cohen publicly broke with him last year after pleading guilty to a string of federal crimes, including facilitating illegal hush money payments to a couple of the presidents alleged mistresses shortly before the 2016 election. Cohen testified before Congress last year that Trump has committed several crimes since taking office, including fraud. He has called on lawmakers to hunt down Trumps tax returns, alleging the long-sought documents will prove the presidents crimes. Kevin Hickey, chef at The Duck Inn, which has a large outdoor patio in Bridgeport, said the news was not a big surprise to him. Immediately after Gov. Pritzker made the announcement, I heard that the mayor hoped for more time. I tend to try not to jump on any new information until I hear it at the mayors news conference. Hickey said he has been trying to get his patio prepared, but hes still waiting on information from the state and city. Days before this, I was measuring the tables and setting it up in a way that would adhere to the guidelines, even though we dont know exactly what they are, he said. Could China Communications Services Corporation Limited (HKG:552) be an attractive dividend share to own for the long haul? Investors are often drawn to strong companies with the idea of reinvesting the dividends. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful. In this case, China Communications Services likely looks attractive to investors, given its 3.1% dividend yield and a payment history of over ten years. We'd guess that plenty of investors have purchased it for the income. There are a few simple ways to reduce the risks of buying China Communications Services for its dividend, and we'll go through these below. Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on China Communications Services! SEHK:552 Historical Dividend Yield May 21st 2020 Payout ratios Companies (usually) pay dividends out of their earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, the dividend might have to be cut. So we need to form a view on if a company's dividend is sustainable, relative to its net profit after tax. Looking at the data, we can see that 30% of China Communications Services's profits were paid out as dividends in the last 12 months. This is a middling range that strikes a nice balance between paying dividends to shareholders, and retaining enough earnings to invest in future growth. One of the risks is that management reinvests the retained capital poorly instead of paying a higher dividend. We also measure dividends paid against a company's levered free cash flow, to see if enough cash was generated to cover the dividend. China Communications Services's cash payout ratio last year was 23%. Cash flows are typically lumpy, but this looks like an appropriately conservative payout. It's positive to see that China Communications Services's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Story continues While the above analysis focuses on dividends relative to a company's earnings, we do note China Communications Services's strong net cash position, which will let it pay larger dividends for a time, should it choose. We update our data on China Communications Services every 24 hours, so you can always get our latest analysis of its financial health, here. Dividend Volatility From the perspective of an income investor who wants to earn dividends for many years, there is not much point buying a stock if its dividend is regularly cut or is not reliable. China Communications Services has been paying dividends for a long time, but for the purpose of this analysis, we only examine the past 10 years of payments. Its dividend payments have declined on at least one occasion over the past ten years. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was CN0.11 in 2010, compared to CN0.16 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 3.6% a year over that time. China Communications Services's dividend payments have fluctuated, so it hasn't grown 3.6% every year, but the CAGR is a useful rule of thumb for approximating the historical growth. We're glad to see the dividend has risen, but with a limited rate of growth and fluctuations in the payments, we don't think this is an attractive combination. Dividend Growth Potential With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to see if earnings per share (EPS) are growing. Why take the risk of a dividend getting cut, unless there's a good chance of bigger dividends in future? China Communications Services has grown its earnings per share at 7.2% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share have been growing at a credible rate. What's more, the payout ratio is reasonable and provides some protection to the dividend, or even the potential to increase it. Conclusion To summarise, shareholders should always check that China Communications Services's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. It's great to see that China Communications Services is paying out a low percentage of its earnings and cash flow. Unfortunately, earnings growth has also been mediocre, and the company has cut its dividend at least once in the past. China Communications Services has a number of positive attributes, but it falls slightly short of our (admittedly high) standards. Were there evidence of a strong moat or an attractive valuation, it could still be well worth a look. Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Taking the debate a bit further, we've identified 1 warning sign for China Communications Services that investors need to be conscious of moving forward. We have also put together a list of global stocks with a market capitalisation above $1bn and yielding more 3%. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Beijing must find a way to live peacefully alongside a democratic Taiwan that will never accept Chinese rule, President Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday in an inauguration speech that also celebrated the island's successful fight against the coronavirus. Voters handed Tsai a second term with a landslide win in January, a vocal rebuke of Beijing's ongoing campaign to isolate the island. Tsai is loathed by Beijing because she views Taiwan as a de facto sovereign state and not part of a "one China". Since she first came to office in 2016, China has rebuffed offers of talks and ramped up economic, military and diplomatic pressure on the island. Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it by force if necessary. It envisages a "one country, two systems" model that -- like nearby Hong Kong -- would allow Taiwan to keep some freedoms while submitting to Chinese mainland rule. But Tsai made clear during her inauguration speech that the concept was a non-starter. "We will not accept the Beijing authorities' use of 'one country, two systems' to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo," she said. "We stand fast by this principle." Tsai renewed her offer of talks with Beijing and called on President Xi Jinping to work with her to lower tensions. "Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences," she added. Taiwan -- officially the Republic of China -- has been ruled separately from the mainland since 1949 after the Nationalists lost a civil war to the Communists and fled to the island to set up a rival government. For decades, Taiwan's leaders -- and many voters -- saw themselves as the true representatives for all of China, even as the vast majority of nations switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing. But as the island moved from an autocracy to a democracy from the 1990s, a distinct Taiwanese identity has emerged with many no longer seeking any kind of reunification with China. That has caused growing alarm in Beijing, which says any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan would cross a red line. - Virus response - Analysts said Tsai's speech was conciliatory. "She is telling China that her position has remained the same -- she will not provoke but she rejects any policy that downgrades Taiwan and 'you can talk to me if you are willing'," Fan Shih-ping, a political scientist at National Taiwan Normal University, told AFP. "She is also assuring the US that she won't be rash and won't become a troublemaker," he added. J. Michael Cole, a Taipei-based fellow with University of Nottingham's Taiwan Studies Programme, said Tsai's renewed offer of talks with Beijing would likely be spurned again. "I suspect that it will receive similar treatment this time around, especially given the high levels of positive publicity that Taiwan has received in recent months due to its handling of COVID-19," he told AFP. Despite its close proximity and economic links with China, Taiwan has managed to contain its own outbreak to 440 cases including seven deaths. Wednesday's ceremony in Taipei was a deliberately stripped-down affair with crowds of supporters asked to stay away and dignitaries sat in chairs 1.5 metres (five feet) apart. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:05:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Thursday held phone talks with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab over the situation in Libya. The two sides exchanged the two countries' visions for reaching a comprehensive settlement that will bring security and stability to the war-torn country, Ahmed Hafez, spokesperson of Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The two ministers have also discussed means of promoting bilateral relations and regional issues of common interests. They also stressed the importance of maintaining the two-state solution and discussed the recent developments regarding the Palestinian cause. Shoukry and Raab agreed on intensifying cooperation and coordination at the international level for fighting the spread of the COVID-19 and limiting its impacts at different levels. Enditem VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX:MBA)(OTCQX:MBAIF) ("CIBT" or the "Company") pledges its support to take a stand against racism. The following statement was issued today by the Business Council of British Columbia: B.C. business and community leaders take a stand against racism We Say No to Hate It Must Stop Now As business and community leaders, British Columbians, and human beings we cannot sit idly by. What we condone, we accept, and we cannot accept the growing racism and hate directed at people because of their ethnicity, culture, or faiths. Racism must be called out and it must stop now! We are all deeply disturbed by the violent, overt and subtle displays of racism we are increasingly seeing and some that are being reported in the media. This is an affront to what it means to be a citizen in our province and country. As a place that welcomes the world, what we are witnessing is not who we are or aspire to be as Canadians. Admitting this growing problem will enable us to address it. Brazen assaults on people of Chinese descent. Racist slurs directed at Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and people based on their faith. Hate messages written on buildings. The recipients of these deplorable behaviours are our family members, friends, neighbours, colleagues, fellow business and community leaders, philanthropists, and generations of people who have helped build our province. These incidents and actions come in sharp contrast to the many generous acts of kindness and tolerance exhibited by so many British Columbians every day and particularly the compassion that we have seen during this trying time. Our cultural mosaic is the envy of the world. It is comprised of generations who were born here and those who chose to come here to make a difference, to build a better life for their families and to contribute to a better province. It doesn't matter where British Columbians and their ancestors are from. As B.C. business and community leaders, we care deeply about our collective wellbeing and are standing up to say: this is wrong. Here in British Columbia, we have been fortunate thanks to the leadership of both our government and the Provincial Health Officer, and the measures each of us have taken during COVID-19 to do our part to plank the curve. This is a collaborative success that exemplifies our capacity to care for one another. Our primary job now is to dig out of this generational crisis together to create an even better province, with jobs and new opportunities for all. We need every British Columbian to be part of this rebuilding effort, working together with generous hearts, offering their solutions, intelligence, positivity, creativity and as Dr. Bonnie Henry so compassionately tells us: kindness. Division makes us smaller and weaker, at a time when strength and collaboration is required given the pain that so many face. Study after study has shown that rich diversity in our workplaces and communities results in stronger performance and a higher quality of life, from improved productivity and innovation to global connectivity and economic prosperity. Enough wrongs have been committed over the course of our province's history and this need not be another. Let's look back on this pivotal moment as a time when we turned our backs on racist tendencies and chose a different path that embodies our best character and shows our resilience and the humanity that has served us so well. We ask you join us to stop racism, educate others and celebrate the diversity that gives us strength and an advantage in the changing world we face together. The Business Council of British Columbia About CIBT Education Group: CIBT Education Group Inc. is one of the largest education and student housing investment companies in Canada focused on the global education market since 1994. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and U.S OTCQX International, CIBT owns business and language colleges, student housing properties, recruitment centres and corporate offices at 45 locations in Canada and abroad. The total annual enrollment for the group exceeds 12,000 students. Its education providers include Sprott Shaw College (established in 1903), Sprott Shaw Language College, Vancouver International College and CIBT School of Business. Through these schools, CIBT offers business and management programs in healthcare, hotel management, language training, and over 150 career, language and vocational programs. CIBT owns Global Education City Holdings Inc. ("Global Education"), an investment holding and development Company focused on developing education related real estate such as student hotels, serviced apartments and education centres. The total portfolio and development budget of projects under Global Education's GEC brand is over C$1 billion. The various GEC properties provide accommodations to over 1,500 students and other tenants. CIBT also owns Global Education Alliance ("GEA") and Irix Design Group ("Irix Design"). GEA recruits international students on behalf of many elite kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities in North America. Irix Design is a leading design and advertising company based in Vancouver, Canada. Visit us online and watch our corporate video at www.cibt.net. Toby Chu Chairman, President & CEO CIBT Education Group Inc. Investor Relations Contact: 1-604-871-9909 extension 318 or | Email: info@cibt.net SOURCE: CIBT Education Group Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590940/CIBT-Group-Pledges-its-Support-to-Take-a-Stand-Against-Racism Crenshaw Christian Center Steps Up in Fight Against COVID-19 Pastor Frederick K. Price, Jr. and the members of Crenshaw Christian Center are on the forefront in the battle against COVID-19 by hosting a range of activities to help the community. Their involvement began on March 24, when CCC opened their campus as a drive-thru testing site for the coronavirus. Every week, hundreds of motorists traverse the huge parking lot to learn if they contracted the disease and on April 30, more than 1,600 tests were conducted. Also, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti has televised his daily briefing on the grounds and he recently announced that over 10,000 residents have utilized the location. In addition, actor and humanitarian Sean Penn brought in volunteers from his nonprofit, CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), to assist with the effort along with the medical workers, L.A. fire fighters and police officers. CCC has also partnered with the Red Cross to sponsor three blood drives in April and May in their Youth Activity Center. Pastor Price was among the scores of participants on April 5, which resulted in a combined donation of 74 pints. According the Red Cross officials, that contribution could potentially save up to 222 lives. Even in the midst of the pandemic, the church continues to meet the spiritual needs of its parishioners through its online services. Worship is streamed live on Sundays at 10 a.m., and on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., on the EIFM app, Facebook, Roku, YouTube and at FaithDome.org. ADVERTISEMENT Stephanie Price Buchanan contributed to this article. ALTON Twenty-six eighth grade students of St. Marys School gathered in the middle school parking lot on Milton Road in Alton Monday evening with their families, teachers, principal, dean of students and the priests of Saint Marys for a graduation ceremony. Families parked in two semicircles in front of the parish center where a stage was erected and decorated for the ceremony. Families placed lawn chairs in front of their cars and took part in the ceremony from their socially-distanced places. Students receiving awards, scholarships and diplomas approached the stage individually. WASHINGTON (AP) The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed. The number of weekly applications has slowed for seven straight weeks. Yet the figures remain breathtakingly high 10 times higher than normal before the crisis struck. It shows that even though all states have begun reopening over the past three weeks, employment has yet to snap back and the outbreak is still damaging businesses and destroying jobs. While the steady decline in claims is good news, the labor market is still in terrible shape, said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said over the weekend that U.S. unemployment could peak in May or June at 20% to 25%, a level last seen during the depths of the Great Depression almost 90 years ago. Unemployment in April stood at 14.7%, a figure also unmatched since the 1930s. Over 5 million people worldwide have been confirmed infected by the virus, and more than 330,000 deaths have been recorded, including over 94,000 in the U.S. and around 165,000 in Europe, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University and based on government data. Experts believe the true toll is significantly higher. In other developments: President Donald Trumps approval ratings have remained steady amid the crisis, underscoring the way Americans seem to have made up their minds about him. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research says 41% approve of his job performance, while 58% disapprove. Thats consistent with opinions of him throughout his three years in office. Trump made a trip to Michigan to tour a Ford factory that has been retooled to manufacture ventilators, and he did not wear a face covering despite a warning from the states top law enforcement officer that a refusal might lead to a ban on his return. The president has been locked in a feud with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over the outbreak and also has threatened to withhold federal funds over Michigan's expansion of voting by mail. Story continues Whitmer has prevailed after Republican lawmakers sued over her authority to declare emergencies and order sweeping restrictions during the pandemic. The Republican-controlled Legislature didn't extend her declaration in late April but she acted anyway. That means her stay-at-home decree stands, which has drawn anger from gun-toting protesters and is likely to be extended beyond May 28. Across the U.S., some companies have begun to rehire their laid-off employees as states have eased restrictions on movement and commerce. On Monday, more than 130,000 workers at the three major American automakers, plus Toyota and Honda, returned to their factories for the first time in two months. Still, major employers keep cutting jobs. Uber said this week that it will lay off 3,000 more employees because demand for rides has plummeted. Digital publishers Vice, Quartz and BuzzFeed, magazine giant Conde Nast and the owner of The Economist magazine announced job cuts last week. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont, said the latest layoffs may be particularly worrisome because they are happening even as states reopen. Theres a high probability that those layoffs could persist for longer than those that were a function of (businesses) just being closed, Stanley said. The latest figures do not mean 38.6 million people are out of work. Some have been called back, and others have landed new jobs. But the vast majority are still unemployed. An additional 1.2 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week under a federal program that makes self-employed, contractor and gig workers eligible for the first time. But those figures arent adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesnt include them in the overall number of applications. Alexis Weber, laid off from her job as a bartender at an Atlanta restaurant, said it was a struggle to secure unemployment benefits she filed on April 1 and had to wait until early May to get her first payment. She is not sure when her employer will want her back, or if she will want to return. Social distancing doesnt really apply very well to the hospitality business, Weber said. I dont feel safe returning right now. One rehired worker, Norman Boughman, received an email last week from his boss at a secondhand clothing store in Richmond, Virginia, where he worked part time, asking him to return. But even with a mask, he worries about his health. Were having to sort through peoples things, and I feel like that puts us at a higher risk, he said. European countries also have seen heavy job losses, but robust government safety-net programs in places like Germany and France are subsidizing the wages of millions of workers and keeping them on the payroll. Meanwhile, doubts are growing over ambitious plans by European governments to use contact-tracing smartphone apps to fight the spread of the virus as they ease their lockdowns. The apps can help authorities determine whether people have crossed paths with those who are infected. British Security Minister James Brokenshire told the BBC that an app that was supposed to be introduced by mid-May is not ready, suggesting technical issues were to blame. Similarly, France delayed last week's roll-out of its app because of technical problems and privacy concerns. As for the search for a vaccine, drugmaker AstraZeneca said it has secured agreements to produce 400 million doses of a still experimental and unproven formulation that is being tested at the University of Oxford. It is one of the most advanced projects in the international race for a vaccine. AstraZeneca said it has received more than $1 billion from a U.S. government research agency for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine. Around the world, the effort to get back to business is raising worries over the risk of new infections, from hard-hit Milan, Italy, to meatpacking plants in Colorado and garment factories in Bangladesh. China's top economic official promised higher spending to revive the economy and curb job losses as the fight persists against the virus, which emerged in Wuhan late last year. The budget deficit will swell by 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) this year to help meet targets that include creating 9 million jobs, Premier Li Keqiang said at the country's ceremonial legislature. ___ Kirka reported from London. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Despite numerous reports, scientists have not found evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backwards. A number of outlets reported this week that researchers in Antarctica had found evidence for a parallel universe based on an experiment where scientists found particles that seemed to break the laws of physics. All of the reports cite the same source: a story from New Scientist from April 2020, about a finding made in 2016. The report focuses on findings from the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), which uses an array of radio antennas suspended from a helium balloon flying at a height of about 37,000 meters to detect radio pulses sent out by cosmic neutrinos during flights in December 2006 and December 2014. Normally, these are sent from space to the earth, but the researchers found some anomalous events where the neutrinos seem to have come from the planets interior something which cannot be explained by current physics. All this confirms, however, is that these are particles that deviate from the Standard Model (the theory that describes three of the four known fundamental forces in the universe, as well as classifying all known elementary particles) rather than evidence of a new universe. Another paper published in 2018, which showed more high-energy particles travelling upwards, said that the particles have a less than 1-in-3.5 million chance of being part of the standard model. Physicists have proposed multiple explanations for these cosmic rays, including sterile neutrinos to atypical dark matter inside the Earth. Alex Pizzuto from the University of Wisconsin, who has worked with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory that carried out a similar experiment in the 2018 study (but did not find similar results) suggested that it could be due to properties in the ice itself. In my opinion, the results are strongly suggestive of an association, but not conclusive yet, Princeton Universitys Maria Petropoulou said about the 2018 study. It could be possible, for example, that other sources lying in the same region of the sky could contribute to the neutrino flare detected by IceCube. Regardless, these results bring us one step closer to unveiling the sources of astrophysical neutrinos. Asked about such theories Peter Gorham, the Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii quoted in the New Scientist article, said that the research had nothing to do with the development of the parallel-universe idea. Unfortunately the journalism on this has not distinguished very well between our experimental work which identified some anomalies in the data, and the theory proposed by some physicists who are not a part of our collaboration, Professor Gorham told The Independent. While I am not opposed to free speculation regarding the anomalies we have observed, our own opinion is that they are more likely to be explainable in terms of physics that is likely to be much less exotic. A blog post by the University of Hawaii speculated in 2018: One possibility is that cosmic rays from a bright supernova blasted all the way through the earth. The diver who untangled a baby humpback whale from Gold Coast shark nets on Tuesday will not be fined for going within the 20-metre exclusion zone around all shark-control-program equipment. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has handed the man, known only as "Django", two infringement notices, but he will not receive monetary fines because he has a clean record. Django took to the water off Burleigh Heads about 7am on Tuesday after a drone operator reportedly spotted the whale entangled in the shark net. "I was going for a dive off Burleigh," he said. Black Knight's First Look: Past-Due Mortgages Increase by 1.6 Million in April, Largest Single-Month Increase Ever Recorded; Delinquency Rate Nearly Doubles - 3.6 million homeowners were past due on their mortgages as of the end of April, the largest number since January 2015 - The number includes both homeowners past due on mortgage payments who are not in forbearance, as well as those in forbearance plans who did not make an April mortgage payment - At 6.45%, the national delinquency rate nearly doubled (+3.06%) from March, the largest single-month increase ever recorded, and nearly three times the previous single-month record set back in late 2008 - Delinquency increases in Nevada (+5.2%), New Jersey (+5.1%), and New York (+4.9%) led the states, while Miami (+7.2%), Las Vegas (+6.2%) and New York City (+5.4%) topped the 100 largest metro areas - There were declines in cure activity among later-stage delinquencies as well, with the number of seriously delinquent mortgages (90+ days) increasing by 56,000 (+14%) from March - Both foreclosure starts and foreclosure sales hit record lows in April as moratoriums halted foreclosure activity across the country - Prepayment speeds jumped 23% from March to hit the highest monthly prepayment rate in 16 years 3 Tourism Companies That May Bounce Back Once the Pandemic Ends Of the many industries that have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the worst-hit has got to be tourism. The tourism industry had, in recent years, been booming due to higher disposable incomes and the emergence of low-cost carriers. But the erection of border closures and the curtailing of air travel have decimated the industry. Singapore Airlines Limiteds (SGX: C6L) April operating statistics are a good proxy for the tourism industry, with passenger volumes plunging a stunning 99% across all three of its key airline brands. Changi Airport has also suspended the operations for both Terminals 2 and 4 to reduce costs amid plunging visitor volumes. Companies that rely heavily on tourism for their revenues face the prospect of a long winter as there is no indication as to when the pandemic can be brought under control. However, if the borders reopen, business may return. Here are three tourism companies that may bounce back once the crisis abates. Straco Corporation Limited (SGX: S85) Straco is an owner and operator of tourism attractions in China and Singapore. The group owns two aquarium assets in Shanghai and Xiamen, China, named Shanghai Ocean Aquarium (SOA) and Underwater World Xiamen (UWX), respectively. Straco also operates a cable car service called Lixing Cable Car and owns the rights to develop the Chao Yuan Ge historical site in XiAn, China. In Singapore, the tourism operator owns 90% of the Singapore Flyer, an iconic giant observation wheel. Due to the initial spread of the virus in China, Straco had to temporarily shut all three of its China attractions from January 25. The SOA was re-opened on March 18, but it proved to be brief reprieve as it was forced to shut again on March 30 due to precautionary measures by the authorities who were eager to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections. SOA re-opened a second time on May 15 but has to maintain the number of visitors at not more than 30% of normal daily capacity. Story continues Lixing Cable Car resumed operations on March 20, while UWX resumed normal operations (but with restrictions similar to SOA) on May 17. Elsewhere, the Singapore Flyer encountered a technical fault and had to shut temporarily since 19 November 2019, but operations resumed on March 20 this year. However, due to the circuit breaker measures in Singapore, the giant observation wheel had to be shut from 7 April until further notice. Once some semblance of normalcy returns, Straco should be able to pick itself up again as visitor volumes ramp up gradually. Genting Singapore Ltd (SGX: G13) Genting Singapore operates and owns Resorts World Sentosa, an integrated resort (IR) that includes hotels, a theme park and a casino. The pandemic and resulting plunge in tourist numbers have affected the group badly. In its first-quarter 2020 business update, revenue declined by 36% year on year to S$406.9 million. Gaming revenue saw a plunge of 38% year on year, while non-gaming revenue fell by 34% year on year. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by a steeper 55% year on year. The group expects to face significant challenges soon and is pessimistic for the rest of 2020. One bright spot is the Japanese IR opportunity that the group continues to pursue. It plans to submit a request-for-proposal for the IR in Yokohama City in the second half of 2020. Sim Leisure Group Ltd (SGX: URR) Sim Leisure is a developer and operator of theme parks based in Penang, Malaysia. The group operates ESCAPE theme parks in Malaysia and has opened three such parks in Penang by late-2019. In February this year, Sim Leisure inked an agreement to develop and operate its ESCAPE theme parks in Sri Lanka. The signing of an MOU with Sri Lanka-listed Elpitya Plantations PLC marks the groups first foray outside Malaysia. In April, the group built on this momentum by signing a cooperation agreement with Guangzhou Daxin Water Park, granting its China partner the right to use Sim Leisure to secure theme park contracts in China. Sim Leisure will receive a 5% royalty payment from this agreement. Though the pandemic will surely throw a major spanner into Sim Leisures plans, the groups business development achievements should pay off handsomely once the crisis passes. With share prices battered to multi-year lows, many attractive investment opportunities have emerged. In a special FREE report, we show you 3 stocks that we think will be suitable for our portfolio. Simply click here to scoop up your FREE copy before the next stock market rally. Click here to like and follow us on Facebook and here for our Telegram group. Disclaimer: Royston Yang owns shares in Straco Corporation Limited. The post 3 Tourism Companies That May Bounce Back Once the Pandemic Ends appeared first on The Smart Investor. A primary school pupil in China has been left with severe injuries after he was whipped 1,500 times by two temporary guardians for allegedly making mistakes in his homework. The year-five student, known by his pseudonym Xiao Tang, was flogged for hours with a wooden ruler and a metal coat hanger by a couple who had been asked by the boy's mother to look after him full-time. On the next day, Xiao Tang revealed the incident to his headteacher who noticed the child struggling to walk. The school immediately contacted police. A primary school pupil in China has been left with severe wounds after he was whipped 1,500 times by his two temporary guardians as a punishment for 'making mistakes in his homework' Heart-breaking images released by local authorities Thursday show the primary schoolboy's back and arms covered with purple bruises. The two caregivers, known by their surname Lan and Zheng, were each handed a jail sentence of one year and six months on Monday, according to a court in Zhengjiang province of eastern China. The court did not reveal Xiao Tang's age, but year-five pupils in China are usually between the ages of 11 and 12. According to the court, Xiao Tang's mother initially met Lan, who was working as a tutor at an educational institution her son was attending after school. The parent found out that Lan's partner had also worked as a tutor previously. But neither of them had received any teaching qualifications, local media reported. Last December, Xiao Tang's parents opened a supermarket in another city nearby. The mother decided to let her son stay in their hometown and live with the couple. Lan and Zheng were asked by Xiao Tang's parents to look after the boy as temporary guardians and also help the child with his studies. The boy's parents had visited their son from time to time. They also kept in touch with Lan through text messages to ask about Xiao Tang's school performance. The parents didn't notice anything unusual, according to local officials. But they were unaware of a gruesome rule the couple had forced on the schoolboy. The Year five student, known by his pseudonym Xiao Tang, was flogged for hours with a wooden ruler and a metal coat hanger by a couple who were asked by the boy's mother to look after him full-time. The picture shows the wooden ruler used on the boy, Xiao Tang For each mistake he made in his homework, Xiao Tang must be flogged 50 times. Pictured, the metal coat hanger used by Xiao Tang's temporary guardians to punish the Chinese boy For each mistake he made in his homework, Xiao Tang must be flogged 50 times. If he left one question blank, he must be whipped 80 times. On the evening of January 7, the couple checked Xiao Tang's homework and decided that the boy needed to be beaten for a total of 1,500 times according to their 'secret agreement'. Lan and Zheng whipped the young child with a wooden ruler and a metal coat hanger till almost midnight, said the court. The couple eventually stopped the beating and told Xiao Tang that they would save the rest of the flogging for another time. A primary school pupil (not pictured) in China has been left with severe wounds after he was whipped 1,500 times by his two temporary guardians as a punishment for 'making mistakes in his homework'. The picture shows Chinese students working on their school work in Wuhan Lan and Zheng were asked by Xiao Tang's parents to look after the boy as temporary guardians and also help the child with his studies. Pictured, a group of young pupils in China studying in their classroom at the Xinjianlu primary school in Taiyuan, Shanxi province on May 12 On the next day, Xiao Tang's headteacher noticed that the boy was struggling to walk upstairs. The child eventually revealed the horrifying incident. The school immediately reported it to the police and phoned Xiao Tang's mother. The boy's parents rushed to return home upon receiving the news. Officials said that the young pupil had suffered multiple bruises, which covered over 20 per cent of his body. On May 18, Lan and Zheng were charged with the offence of intentional assault. They were each given a sentence of one year and six months. This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here. Sally Jane Rowleys birth name was Sara, but she preferred Sally. She found it more fitting for her free-spirited approach to life, which involved fighting for civil rights, living as a street artist and learning how to fly. My grandmother was a one-of-a-kind person, said Anika Pasilis, 20, a journalism student at the University of Arizona. She despised injustice and cherished freedom, for herself and for others. Ms. Rowley died of Covid-19 on May 14 after the virus spread into the Tucson, Ariz., nursing home where she lived, Ms. Pasilis said. She was 88. Her family said their goodbyes through a window at the facility. The Centre on Thursday asked states to ensure strict implementation of lockdown and night curfew protocols, saying it has noticed violation of the restrictions at several places. IMAGE: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel punish a biker for violating lockdown norms, while keeping vigil at Bhendi Bazaar, in Mumbai, on Thursday. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo In a communication to all states and union territories, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked them to strictly ensure prohibition of all non-essential activities between 7 pm and 7 am, saying the night curfew imposed to contain the coronavirus spread is an 'important element of the home ministry guidelines'. He said the night curfew has been imposed to ensure that people observe social distance. "Accordingly, local authorities should be asked to issue orders in the entirety of their jurisdiction, under proper provisions of law, for imposition of night curfew. Strict compliance of these orders should be ensured by the local authorities," he said. Bhalla said the Home Ministry has noticed reports of violation of its guidelines at several places. "I would like to emphasise that the MHA guidelines should be strictly implemented, and all authorities in states and UTs should take necessary steps to ensure the same," he said. These stipulations, such as wearing face covers, ensuring social distancing at work, transport and in public places, maintaining hygiene and sanitation etc., are important for containing the spread of COVID-19. "It is the duty of all district and local authorities to enforce the national directives," he said. "I would request all the chief secretaries of states and administrators of union territories to remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19 and ensure that all measures that have either been mandated by MHA or laid down by the States and UTs, are scrupulously adhered to at all levels," Bhalla said. After the lockdown was extended till May 31, the Home Ministry issued fresh guidelines relaxing some curbs that were imposed during the first three phases, except in the containment zones. Bhalla said a proper delineation of containment zones and effective implementation of containment measures is key to preventing the further spread of COVID- 19. In this respect, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare need to be followed and containment zones properly demarcated. 'States and UTs can now delineate various zones, and decide on the activities to be prohibited, or allowed with restrictions, in accordance with the MHA guidelines. 'Further, once the guidelines have been issued by the states and UTs, they should be strictly implemented, and action taken if any deviations are noticed,' the home secretary said in the letter. The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days. It was then extended till May 3 and again till May 17. The lockdown has now been extended till May 31. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,435 and the number of cases climbed to 1,12,359 in the country till Thursday 8 am, according to the Union health ministry. Central forces deployed in Dharavi, other Mumbai areas IMAGE: CISF personnel ask a person to cover his face properly while keeping vigil at Bhendi Bazaar, in Mumbai, on Thursday. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel were deployed in Dharavi and some other areas of Mumbai on Thursday to help the city police enforce lockdown to contain coronavirus, an official said. A company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed at Dharavi along with local police, the police official said. Earlier, on Wednesday night, personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar in south Mumbai to enforce a strict lockdown. On Thursday, CRPF personnel met police officers in Dharavi, a COVID-19 hotspot, and discussed deployment plan for the area, the official said. Five companies of CAPF, including personnel of CISF, arrived in Mumbai on Monday, he said. Armed with weapons, batons and shields, CISF personnel conducted a flag march in Bhendi Bazaar on Wednesday night, he said. The Maharashtra government had said that it had sought central forces so that the overstretched police force could get some rest. More than 700 Mumbai Police personnel have contracted coronavirus so far and ten of them have died. The central forces will assist the Mumbai Police in maintaining law and order and in prevention of any untoward incident during lockdown. Personnel of the Central forces have been deployed in zones 1,3,5,6 and 9 of the city covering some areas of south and central Mumbai and parts of eastern and western suburbs, the police official said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday sought inclusion of 2,092 villages in the eco-sensitive zone of the Western Ghats where development will be restricted. Thackeray made the demand during a video conference with Union minister Prakash Javdekar on the finalisation of the eco-sensitive zone, an official statement said here. Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Goa and senior officials from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat also took part in the meeting. The National Green Tribunal has directed the Ministry of and Forests to submit a report on the finalisation of theeco-sensitive zonein theWestern Ghats. The region, which covers the coastal Konkan area of Maharashtra, is one of the richest biodiversity areas and needs to be conserved, the tribunal had said. Thackeray said his government wanted to protect the while achieving development. Maharashtra wanted the eco-sensitive zone to be protected, he added. After the finalisation of eco-sensitive zone, hydro- power projects and certain industries will be allowed in such areas with some restrictions while mining, thermal power projects and big construction projects will not be allowed, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) St. Petersburg court declares books by U.S. missionary Branham extremist flickr.com/Christopher 19:19 21/05/2020 ST. PETERSBURG, May 21 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) Brochures authored by XX century U.S. missionary William Branham have been defined as extremist literature and banned for dissemination in the territory of the Russian Federation, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts informs RAPSI on Thursday. The ban on Branhams books was demanded by St. Petersburg Prosecutors Office, which submitted a claim against their publisher NGO Vecherny Svet (Evening Light) to the Pushkinsky District Court of St. Petersburg. Although the claim had been dismissed by the first instance court, the Prosecutors Office appealed in the City Court, which ruled in favor of prosecution. As it follows from the case materials, yet in 2012 Russias Justice Ministry inspected Evening Light NGO and paid attention to Branhams books, among them those published by Voice of God Recordings. In 2016 these materials were submitted to St. Petersburg Prosecutors Office, which in turn requested them to be inspected by the Center for Countering Extremism of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region directorate of the Interior Ministry. In April of 2017, an examination by experts of St. Petersburg State University revealed that the texts contained technics of neuro-linguistic programming aimed to set up the spectre of an enemy and insult the feelings of certain religious believers and priests. The results of the expert examination served as the basis of the claim, according to the statement. Xi Jinping (C, front), Li Keqiang (3rd R, front), Li Zhanshu (3rd L, front), Wang Huning (2nd R, front), Zhao Leji (2nd L, front), Han Zheng (1st R, front), and Wang Qishan (1st L, front) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Ju Peng] China's top political advisory body started its annual session Sunday afternoon in Beijing, raising the curtain of a key season in the country's political calendar. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People. Wang Yang, chairman of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivered a work report to more than 2,000 political advisors at the session. Wang commended the political advisory body's work last year, saying new advances have been made under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. "We gave full play to the CPPCC's role as a body dedicated to consultation and carried out our dual responsibility of offering suggestions and building consensus," Wang noted. Over the past year, the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee has focused on the central tasks of the Party and country and fulfilled its duties with commitment to pursuing unity and democracy. Political advisors have conducted consultations with a focus on fighting the three critical battles against potential risk, poverty, and pollution, and on promoting high-quality development, according to Wang. With regard to the CPPCC's major tasks in 2019, Wang said top priority will be given to studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The second task is offering high-quality suggestions on the central tasks of the Party and the country, which include completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening supply-side structural reform. Making greater efforts for unity and friendly ties is another important task, said Wang. Other major tasks include contributing wisdom and strength to the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, making solid progress in the self-improvement of the CPPCC, and holding celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the CPPCC's founding. This year is a critical year in China's bid to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects to reach its first centenary goal. "Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is a cause that benefits our population of more than one billion people," said Wang, highlighting the importance of harnessing positive energy for securing a decisive victory in this goal. Wang encouraged political advisors to focus on hotspot and difficult issues, promptly identify potential risks and dangers, and proactively report on social conditions and popular sentiment, so as to provide the Party and government with valuable proposals and suggestions to help resolve issues and defuse risks. Describing the formidable tasks, the many problems, risks and challenges, and the complex demands involved in decisively securing a moderately prosperous society in all respects as "unprecedented in scale," Wang pinpointed the need to build consensus and promote unity. It is necessary to strengthen theoretical and political guidance and build consensus on sensitive issues, points of risk, and matters of public concern in view of the fact that the CPPCC features a diversity of sectors, strata, and interests, he noted. A total of 5,571 proposals had been submitted by the CPPCC National Committee members over the past year, with 41 percent of them focusing on practicing new development concepts, deepening supply-side structural reform, and promoting high-quality economic development. As of Feb. 20, 99.2 percent of them had been handled, said Su Hui, vice chairperson of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, when delivering a report on proposals. The second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Yao Dawei] Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivers a report on the work of the 13th CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee at the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin] Members of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin] (Source: Xinhua) South Africa: WHO calls for universal access to COVID-19 vaccine World Health Organisation (WHO) member states have signed a resolution that calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be classified as a global public good for health in order to bring the pandemic to an end. This follows Chinas commitment made by President Xi Jinping during the two-day World Health Assembly to make the vaccine a global public good, once one is available. The landmark resolution underlines WHOs key role in promoting access to safe, effective health technologies to fight the pandemic, said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. In addition to a vaccine, the resolution highlights three other critical points. It calls for countries to ensure the fair distribution of all quality essential health technologies required to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, that relevant international treaties should be harnessed where needed, including the provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. The third point encourages collaboration to promote both private sector and government-funded research and development. This includes open innovation across all relevant domains and the sharing of all relevant information with WHO. The historic consensus resolution on COVID-19 and the way ahead comes as 106 000 cases were reported. In the last 24 hours, there have been 106 000 cases reported to WHO the most in a single day since the outbreak began. Almost two thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries, said Ghebreyesus on Wednesday. But, in good news, it has been particularly impressive to see how countries like the Republic of Korea have built on their experience of the Middle East Respiratory (MERS) outbreak to quickly implement a comprehensive strategy to find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace every contact. This was critical to the Republic of Korea curtailing the first wave and now quickly identifying and containing new outbreaks. At the assembly, WHO expressed concern about the rising numbers of cases in low- and middle-income countries. Governments in the assembly outlined their primary goal of supressing transmission, saving lives and restoring livelihoods. As the world continues to battle COVID-19, Ghebreyesus called on governments to ensure that health systems continue to function to avoid the risk brought on by the suspension of essential services, like child immunisation. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Airports this Memorial Day weekend are likely to be far emptier than usual, but people who plan to travel can expect to encounter lots of changes and new inconveniences. Take security. As travelers wait in line to be screened, they can expect to see signs and other markings reminding them to maintain their distance from one another, the Transportation Security Administration said on Thursday. The agents checking identification and boarding passes will be wearings masks, gloves and, in some cases, eye protection. Passengers will also be asked to scan their own boarding passes to limit contagion, the agency said. And because food often triggers alarms, travelers will have to place meals they bring with them in a separate bin so agents dont have to handle them. London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has flagged new measures to protect British technology in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, after being urged by a Conservative MP to rethink his decision to allow China's Huawei to build Britain's 5G networks. Johnson dramatically shifted his tone after a growing backlash among his own MPs against Chinese investment following the COVID-19 crisis. Conservative MP Richard Drax used Prime Minister's questions to urge Johnson to copy France's review of defence supply chains because of concerns China is buying up companies at risk of going bust during the pandemic. Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Credit:AP "Does my right honourable friend think it might be wise to consider doing the same thing here in addition to rowing back from his plans to allowing Huawei to roll out 5G?" Drax asked Johnson. By Kazeem Ugbodaga A police inspector, Okoro Charles has been arrested for shooting a man dead at Igando area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria. The victim, one Fatai Oladipupo was shot dead on Wednesday by the police inspector along Obabiyi, Igando road, Ikotun. Charles is attached to the Ikotun Police Division. A statement issued by Bala Elkana, Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, on Thursday said the culprit had been arrested. Elkana said Charles would be subjected to internal disciplinary procedures, known as Orderly Room Trial at the State Provost Department and that if found guilty, he would be handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department Yaba for prosecution in conventional Court. He added that investigation was ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident and that the Commissioner of Police condoled with the family and friends of the deceased and called for calm. In his words: Lagos State Police Command has on 20/5/2020 arrested Inspector Okoro Charles attached to Ikotun Division. The Inspector was arrested in connection with a shooting incident reported on 20/5/2020 at about 2205, along Obabiyi, Igando road, Ikotun which led to the death of one Fatai Oladipupo m 28 years old of Obabiyi area. The Inspector is subjected to internal disciplinary procedures, known as Orderly Room Trial at the State Provost Department and if found guilty, he will be handed over to the State Criminal Investigation Department Yaba for prosecution in conventional Court. Investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident. The Commissioner of Police condoles with the family and friends of the deceased and calls for calm. He assures them that Justice will prevail. Members of the Public will be updated on the outcome of the investigation. - The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commision seized the multi-million property registered under Governor Obado's proxy, Jared Kwaga - However, upon inquiry, it was established that governor's daughter had been receiving rent from the property's tenant - The anti-graft agency believes the property was acquired through funds embezzled from Migori county The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has obtained orders to sieze a KSh 35 million property linked to Migori governor Zachary Okoth Obado. The multi-million property which is located in Nairobi's Loresho estate was registered under Obado's proxy Jared Kwaga. READ ALSO: Ugandan minister cautions public against wearing face masks with political colors including black ones Migori governor Zachary Obado during a past public function. Photo: Daily Nation Source: UGC READ ALSO: 22 watengwa Kirinyaga baada ya dereva wa trela kutoka Malaba kupatikana na COVID-19 In a Twitter post on Thursday, May 21, the anti-graft agency said upon further investigations, it was established the property's tenant was paying rent to Obado's daughter. "It was, however, established that the tenant at the said Loresho property owned by Mr. Kwaga, actually paid rent to Evelyne Zachary, Governor Obados daughter. EACC has reasonable suspicion to believe that the governor is the true beneficiary," said EACC. According to the agency, Kwaga together with his family members had registered many companies under their names that were later used to embezzle money from Migori county government. READ ALSO: Court orders Kenyan journalist to pay ex-boss KSh 8M for calling him slay queen The anti-graft body said it would ensure the property was not transferred, disposed off or in any other way dealt with to defeat the course of justice before it completes its investigations and commences civil proceedings against the suspects. The case started in 2018, when EACC started investigating the county over allegations the governor used his 23 companies to swindle KSh 2.3 billion public funds. Kwaga's name was also mentioned in the case with reports indicating Obado was using the former's companies that were awarded various contracts worth KSh 1.6 billion between October 2015 and July 2018. READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 80 more test positive, national COVID-19 count jumps to 1,109 In February 2018, Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) CS Joe Mucheru nominated Kwaga as a member of the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) board. However, his appointment did not last long and was later revoked after it emerged he had an ongoing case against him. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke 21.05.2020 LISTEN The Alliance for Governance and Accountability (AFGAA) has observed with worry the allegations levelled against the former president of the Republic of Ghana H.E. John Dramani Mahama by the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party Mr. Kwame Boffoe Abronye also known as Abronye DC on Net2 TV program. As an organised group with young intelligent personalities, we hold the view that these allegations made by no other person than a Regional Chairman of a Political Party in Government, has damming consequences on the image of the former president, especially when he is the flag bearer and leader of the biggest opposition party seeking power in the upcoming elections. Mr. Boffoe has accused the former president of not only killing ex-president John Evans Atta Mills but also hiring hitmen to kill some executive members of the governing party. These allegations and utterances have the tendency of disturbing public peace. It also sends a negative signal about Ghana to international communities. Ghana is a country of laws, (Article 11 of the 1992 Ghana Constitution) and therefore if someone makes any serious and criminal allegations against another person, the one making the allegations must be asked to provide evidence to back it else must be dealt with according to the laws of the land. AFGAA, therefore, requests the former president, H.E. John Mahama to seek redress at the court in order to protect his image and that of the party he represents ( i.e. NDC). We came to this conclusion due to countless of allegations levelled against him (H.E. John Mahama) by the same person and some leading members of the NPP without any evidence but were left unconcerned by either H.E. Mahama or the NDC as a party. For example DKM allegation that coursed so much disaffection to him and the NDC party during the 2016 elections. Therefore, he who alleges must provide evidence to prove it. Long Live Ghana! Long Live AFGAA!! May God bless us to resist the oppressor's rule. Signed: Don Frank People fill the boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J., while enjoying the weather and the beach on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Ocean City is one of few beaches doing a dry run to test capacity management this weekend in preparation for Memorial Day. Read more The exact origins of Memorial Day are debated but date back to at least the Civil War era, when the holiday was created to honor members of the military who died. This Monday, we should honor all those who have died, including the 90,000 or so Americans, as well as the 300,000-plus around the globe felled by the pandemic And the way to do this is easy. Dont go to the beach, or to crowded public places, or out in public at all without protection and an abundance of caution and distance. Thats how we can honor the dead this year. The added benefit is that we keep ourselves and others safe. Since Marchs effective shutdown of much of society, we have all scrutinized the performance of our leaders from the White House to governors to mayors and town managers as they have navigated the public health and economic crises. Gov. Tom Wolf has gotten good marks on his caution, but not his transparency. Gov. Phil Murphy has also exercised caution, but New Jersey also has an alarming death rate in its nursing homes. How have the rest of us done? The performance of citizens is also a mixed bag. On the positive side, we have learned a new appreciation for frontline health-care and service workers, especially those whose working conditions low pay, little job protection, and sketchy health care should have concerned us long before this. The speed with which most people have adapted to this severe disruption is impressive, and widespread examples of community support and compassion is also cause for optimism. Still, given what we have seen in the past few weeks the performance of our fellow citizens also forces us to acknowledge many not-proud moments. Among them: armed protesters across the country and the state decrying loss of liberty and governmental overreach for being forced to wear masks. Gyms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey defying orders to stay closed. And last weekend, the unmasked hordes strolling the boardwalks in Ocean City and crowding the beaches of the Jersey Shore, a scene that is likely to be repeated this holiday weekend. We understand that two months of being shut down at home, with businesses dying is a terrible thing. But New Jersey is second in the nation in COVID-19 deaths which now exceed 10,000. People: What are you thinking? The devastation on lives and businesses has been terrible over the past 60-odd days. But for perspective, consider that was about the number of days the Germans dropped bombs on London during the Blitz of World War II. Every single day, for 57 days, leading to tens of thousands of deaths and millions of lost homes. That misery was compounded by severe shortages, rationing, evacuations, and other deprivations that lasted for years. This pandemic has caused true suffering death, hunger, loss of livelihood. But many remain in relative comfort, with food and shelter and nothing to complain about except being deprived of liberty and haircuts, of beaches and barbells. For them, its time to grow up and get a grip. Iran Hardliner Media Launch Attack On Oil Minister For Hiring Outgoing Lawmakers Maryam Sinaiee May 20, 2020 Iran's hardliner media have launched an orchestrated attack on Oil Minister Bijan Namdar-Zanganeh for employing lawmakers who have not made it to the next parliament, allegedly to show new lawmakers that supporting his ministry can have personal benefits for them in the future. Javan newspaper which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard on Monday alleged that a number of current lawmakers have now been offered employment in the oil ministry as a reward for supporting Zanganeh in the parliament. Many members of parliament were employed in government bureaucracy before getting elected and those who lose their seats in parliamentary elections often go back to government jobs. They are considered regime insiders and rotate between different positions. Fars and Tasnim, two news agencies that have close ties with the Revolutionary Guard, have published similar reports and commentaries in recent days and made similar allegations. In an unattributed commentary on May 9, Fars News Agency alleged that three outgoing lawmakers who all belong to the reformist camp will be joining the Oil Ministry. Fars also alleged that the reason for the great interest in joining parliament's Energy Committee for lawmakers is the prospect of future employment in the Oil Ministry and the high salaries paid by the ministry and its affiliated organizations in comparison with other government bureaucracies. Officials of the presidential administration claim that the allegations made by hardliners are politically motivated and not true. On Monday Ali Rabiei, Spokesman of the administration, said government organizations are not authorized to hire former lawmakers and only those who were in the employment of the government will be going back to government service. Rabiei also claimed that administration bodies are under pressure to hire outgoing lawmakers but the administration has banned any lobbying on behalf of former lawmakers. Rabiei also alleged that previous administrations had extensively hired unqualified former lawmakers as a measure to gain their support in the future if they were elected again. The Oil Ministry also refuted hardliner media's claims. Kasra Nouri, Head of Oil Ministry's Public Relations Department, on Tuesday said the hardliner media had not made a new discovery. "Those who have been named in the media have been in the employment of the Oil Ministry for a long time. Some of them had been government employees and were transferred from one organization to another. This is not unprecedented or odd", he added. On Wednesday Aftab-e Yazd, a reformist newspaper, defended Zanganeh and said he is targeted by hardliners because he is very experienced and knows how "to export Iran's oil despite multi-layered U.S. sanctions". The reformist newspaper's commentary claimed that the reformist oil minister has been successful in maintaining some oil exports despite U.S. efforts to bring Iran's those exports to a complete halt as well as having a good record in developing gas and oil fields. In 2017 hardliners published a list of twenty-four former lawmakers who held positions in the ministry and a sitting lawmaker criticized the Oil Minister in the parliament. At the time the media even alleged that some lawmakers had received salaries from the ministry during their term in the parliament. Accusations of paying salaries to incumbent lawmakers were never officially investigated or proven. While defending his performance in parliament in 2017 Zanganeh said that offering employment to former lawmakers was not done secretly and he was proud of hiring qualified people. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-hardliner-media -launch-attack-on-oil-minister-for-hiring- outgoing-lawmakers-/30622490.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. By Express News Service PATNA: Bihar's health department on Thursday confirmed that a 50-year-old man who had returned from Delhi and died on May 17 had tested positive for COVID-19, taking the toll in the state to 10. Newly appointed principal health secretary Uday Singh Kumawat tweeted that the man who died belonged to a village in Khagaria district. The department is in the process of tracking the man's contacts. Meanwhile, 37 persons including a woman operator of Begusarai jail tested positive on Thursday. According to official figures, the total count of COVID-19 cases in the state has reached 1782. So far, 571 patients have recovered and been discharged. Kumawat said that out of five confirmed cases in Purnia, three had a travel history from Delhi and Mumbai and all of them have been quarantined at the district headquarters. With these five confirmed cases, the total tally in Purnia has risen to 34. Two of them have been cured, leaving the number of active cases at 32. Earlier, on Wednesday, the samples of 144 people tested positive in different labs across the state. For goodness sake just wear a mask, Donald. Why does everything have to be so difficult? Two-thirds of American voters want Donald Trump to wear a facemask when he's out in public, while 27 percent say he shouldn't, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released May 20. Ninety percent of Democrats and 66 percent of independents want Trump to cover his mouth and nose when outside. Thirty-eight percent of Republicans say the same. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 guidelines state: "Everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities." Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell told CNN ahead of Trump's visit to her state: Leaders need to lead. I hope the president will follow the protocols, because people will see the importance of wearing those masks. It matters. And that's the nub. Presidents Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan and Carter certainly would have worn a mask during a pandemic, if recommended by the CDC. They considered themselves leaders of the government. Trump, in contrast, views himself as a non-president. The Washington Post's Greg Sargent reports that Trump plans to run for re-election as an "outsider" in a bid to dissociate himself from the mess that he made. That's pretty rich after occupying the White House for more than three years. A possible re-election slogan: "transitioning to greatness." That begs the question: Where is the US transitioning from: the depths of Hell? A face covering, according to the CDC, is meant to protect others in the event that the wearer has the virus. The narcissist-in-chief though doesn't care a lick about others. Americans get it. The Quinnipiac poll found that 56 percent of us say Trump doesn't care about average people. The president shuns the mask because he feels it somehow conveys weakness, or an acknowledgement that COVID-19 is a deadly virus. Trump's miserable response to the outbreak is the signature failure of his administration and the reason why the US death toll is moving to the 100K-mark. Fifty-six percent of Quinnipiac respondents disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic. That's up from 51 percent in April. Voters believe Joe Biden would have done a better job in handling COVID-19 by a 55 percent to 39 percent margin. Hopefully, we'll find out if that is true. Two can play that game. China has launched a Twitter barrage in a bid to distract attention from its cover-up of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its government has targeted the discredited report that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab, a false claim that is parroted by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. China's Foreign Affairs Ministry is spreading the conspiracy theory that the virus was born in the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, MD. "Why not open up Fort Detrick & other bio-labs for international review?" tweeted the Ministry. "Why not invite WHO & international experts to the US to look into the COVID-19 source & response." Twitter, which has promised to combat disinformation, is giving China a free pass. Here's the policy: Official government accounts engaging in conversation about the origins of the virus and global public conversation about potential emergent treatments will be permitted, unless the content contains clear incitement to take a harmful physical action." Relations between China and the US are as tense as ever. Twitter needs to step up because in these crazy times there is a possibility of harmful physical action between China and the US. It may be triggered by a tweet. Mary-Kate Olsen, 33, has been working since before she could walk or talk. The fashion mogul and her twin sister, Ashley, famously played Michelle Tanner on Full House when they were just babies and have continued working ever since from launching their own production company to now running a fashion empire. But according to a source, Olsen's focus on her career caused tension in her marriage to banker Olivier Sarkozy, 51. "Mary-Kate is extremely hard working and focused on her business. Her work schedule is beyond disciplined," a source tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "She is the type of person who would never complain about a 12 hour work day. Olivier never understood her drive and passion. He would have loved to have a stay-at-home wife." James Devaney/WireImage Mary-Kate Olsen, Olivier Sarkozy For more on Mary-Kate Olsen, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands now. On April 17, Olsen privately signed papers seeking a divorce from Sarkozy, but because of the coronavirus crisis, New York City courts havent been accepting divorce filings except in cases of emergency. On May 13, Olsen requested an emergency order to file for divorce, citing fears of being forced out of their apartment. Her request was later denied by a judge. RELATED: Mary-Kate Olsen and Olivier Sarkozy Clashed Over Having Kids: Source The source adds that Olsen, who runs two successful clothing brands, The Row and Elizabeth and James with sister Ashley, rarely takes a vacation. "Olivier loves traveling to tropical places with his French friends," says the source. "He traveled without her several times." Kevin Mazur/WireImage Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Last year, it was reported that their clothing brand The Row has sales of between $100 million and $200 million a year, while their other brand Elizabeth and James rakes in $89 million. The sisters have also won five prestigious CFDA awards including the 2019 award for Accessory Designer of the Year. Story continues RELATED: Mary-Kate Olsen's Career Put Strain on Marriage to Olivier Sarkozy: 'He Wanted Her to Be More Available' Adds a fashion insider: "Mary-Kate is super career focused and he wanted her to be more available. But you can't control a girl who has been on the billionaire track since her 20s." * With reporting by Pernilla Cedenheim BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Ilkin Seyfaddini Trend: Uzbekistan may significantly expand partnership with French Schneider Electric company, Trend reports citing Dunyo News Agency. Representatives of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Paris together with Uzeltekhsanoat Association and Foreign Investment Attraction Agency of Uzbekistan held a videoconference with the management of Schneider Electric. The videoconference discussed the development of investment cooperation in electronic and electrical industry. Schneider Electric's management noted Uzbekistan's huge industrial potential and expressed readiness to develop long-term cooperation with Uzbek partners. In particular, it expressed interest regarding production of circuit breakers of various capacities and switches. The company has agreed to to carry out further studies on the matter. The sides agreed to hold an additional meeting with representatives of Uzeltekhsanoat Association to further exchange detailed information on cooperation. Schneider Electric is a French power engineering company, manufacturer of equipment for power subcomplexes of industrial enterprises, civil and residential construction facilities, data processing centers. --- Follow author on Twitter: @seyfaddini Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:06:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close -The third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, opened on Thursday. -This year's "two sessions" are expected to highlight the nation's final push in poverty alleviation and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society, or "Xiaokang," in all respects. -National lawmakers and political advisors in China are also expected to discuss how to strive for improved performance in all areas of economic and social development as epidemic prevention and control becomes regular practice. BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday raised the curtain for its annual political high season after an over-two-month postponement as the country has turned the tide on the COVID-19 epidemic. The top political advisory body started its annual session Thursday afternoon in Beijing, kicking off the "two sessions," a major event in China's political calendar that also includes the annual gathering of the national legislature to open on Friday. This year's sessions are expected to highlight China's final push in poverty alleviation and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society, or "Xiaokang," in all respects. Aerial photo taken on May 14, 2020 shows a view of the county seat of Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Lu Boan) Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held at the Great Hall of the People. "The year 2020 marks the concluding phase for China's endeavor to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deliver on the 13th Five-Year Plan," Wang Yang, chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, told more than 2,000 political advisors at the meeting. The country's poverty alleviation tasks are near completion, as the number of impoverished people fell to 5.51 million at the end of 2019 from 98.99 million at the end of 2012. Wang called on political advisors to fulfill their duties focusing on coordinating epidemic control and economic and social development to make contributions to winning the battle against poverty and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. People work at a factory of Baoding Technology Co., Ltd. at Tangqi Town in Yuhang District of Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Facing mounting uncertainties both at home and abroad, national legislators and political advisors are expected to offer insights on how to secure the goal-achieving victory and lay good foundations for future development. Fairness and equality will be highlighted in this crucial year during discussions on "Xiaokang"-related topics such as housing, health and medical care, according to Xin Ming, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. This year's "two sessions" are expected to garner more attention from home and abroad as they shed light on how the country will march toward its centenary goal while navigating COVID-19 ravages. China has, through arduous efforts, achieved decisive results in curbing the epidemic and public health will be high on the agenda during the sessions. Lawmakers and political advisors are also expected to discuss how to strive for improved performance in all areas of economic and social development as epidemic prevention and control becomes regular practice. A firefighter conducts disinfection at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, April 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Min) "China demonstrated great vitality in its systems and I have great confidence in our nation's development despite uncertainties for the future," said Zhang Shuibo, a member of the CPPCC National Committee and head of the School of International Project Management at Tianjin University. On Friday, Premier Li Keqiang is expected to deliver a government work report to the legislative session, which will be closely watched since it will offer a series of solutions and new policy indicators in terms of how the world's second-largest economy is handling the fallout of the COVID-19 epidemic and global economic recessions. Also on the agenda is the deliberation of a draft civil code. Once adopted, it will help boost the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance, said Wang Yi, dean of the law school at Renmin University of China. (Video reporter: Liu Chunhui; video editor: Wu Yao) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, speaks to the media with Vice President Mike Pence in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday. (Associated Press) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is defending his administration's reporting of coronavirus data, after a state Department of Health manager said she was fired for refusing to manipulate COVID-19 tracking data as officials moved to reopen the state. Rebekah Jones, who was in charge of Florida's online COVID-19 dashboard, told West Palm Beach TV station CBS-12 that she was let go last week because she declined orders to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen." DeSantis, speaking alongside Vice President Mike Pence during a visit to a nursing home in Orlando, said that the website's COVID-19 reporting of new cases and deaths is public and transparent, and that Jones was at fault for insubordination and other personnel issues. "What she was doing was she was putting data on the portal which the scientists didn't believe was valid data," the Republican governor said. "She didn't listen to the people who were her superiors. She had many people who were above her in the chain of command, so she was dismissed because of that and because of a bunch of different reasons." The dashboard Jones oversaw was praised last month as "extraordinary" by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. "This is what every department of health should have," Birx said. Florida state Rep. Tracie Davis, a Democrat from Jacksonville and a member of the state House Health Committee, questioned whether data given to the public and officials are reliable. We were told the reopening Florida was built on studying the data. If that data was wrong or manipulated, that puts countless Floridians at risk for exposure to COVID-19," Davis said, according to the Associated Press. The issue of data reporting has turned into a sensitive political issue as some Republican-led states, including Florida and Georgia, have moved aggressively to ease social-distancing restrictions and restart their economies, despite warnings by federal health officials that moving too soon could spark a new rise in coronavirus infections. Story continues President Trump has long expressed support for fully reopening the country, and putting people back to work during the greatest jobless crisis since the Great Depression, sooner rather than later. DeSantis said that Florida hadn't seen new cases soar since the state started reopening, and that the death rate there is lower than in other states. He noted that the heavily populated Miami area reported 69 new cases Wednesday, down significantly from a high of 500 cases per day in early April. He slammed critiques of his reopening plans as "just typical partisan narrative." There have been more than 47,470 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Florida, including 2,096 deaths, according to the latest totals released Wednesday by the state's health department. Local and state public health officials rely on accurate tracking of novel coronavirus cases, testing and deaths to determine when and how quickly to relax restrictions. The office of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican, was forced to apologize for its bungling of COVID-19 data collection and reporting after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found mixed-up dates and other mistakes. Georgia's Department of Public Health published a graph this month that showed new coronavirus cases declining over time in severely affected counties. But the daily entries were not arranged in chronological order, but in descending order. The chart was soon taken down. Nationwide, confirmed cases climbed past 1,551,000 on Wednesday, with more than 93,400 deaths from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking cases. All 50 states have now at least partially reopened, with Connecticut becoming the last to do so on Wednesday. A poll of over 1,000 Americans conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research this month found that 83% of those surveyed were at least somewhat worried that easing restrictions in their own communities might lead to new infections. A federal judge in Texas cited similar public health concerns on Tuesday when he issued a ruling that would make all of the state's voters eligible to cast ballots by mail because of the danger of spreading the virus at polling places. But on Wednesday, a three-judge panel at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans temporarily blocked the expansion of mail-in voting in Texas, saying the court needs time to review the ruling and consider an appeal by the Texas attorney general. Local officials in a number of other states, including Maryland and Alabama, are starting to see consequences as their restless residents venture out more and attend gatherings that are larger than what experts consider safe. But with the loosening of restrictions in Alabama, some high schools have held graduation ceremonies that have drawn thousands of people, according to the Associated Press, with images showing graduates hugging and crowding together with no face coverings. Montgomery, Ala., Mayor Steven Reed warned that intensive care units at hospitals in the state capital were "maxed out" and that some patients are being diverted to facilities in Birmingham because COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks. "They're at a capacity that's not sustainable and that puts everyone our neighbors, our family, our friends, our church members, our colleagues in harm's way," the Democratic mayor said at a news conference Wednesday. There have been 950 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Montgomery County as of Tuesday, including 25 deaths, Reed said. Statewide, the number of cases surpassed 12,000 on Monday, with nearly 490 people dying from COVID-19, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. "We have to be honest with ourselves," Reed said. "Although we are ready to get back to work we're ready to get back to enjoying our friends and our family and get back to doing the things we were doing prior to March of this year we're not there yet." The Associated Press contributed to this report. Almost 16,000 people were refused visas to travel to Ireland last year, with almost half of all the applications received from citizens of Nigeria and Yemen declined. New figures from the Department of Justice show that 153,197 people applied for a visa to come to Ireland in 2019, with 89.6% of those granted. However, refusal rates vary enormously according to the country of origin, with people from some countries almost certain to be given a visa and other nationalities facing an uphill struggle. The Department of Justice said the visa process has a crucial role in supporting economic activity in the State, but has to be balanced against maintaining an effective immigration regime. Around 14% of the applications related to business, while 7.5% were planning to attend a conference or similar event. Just under 5% were taking up a role in employment or as a researcher while 47% 72,364 people were just coming for a visit. The figures show particular difficulties for citizens of some African countries in being allowed to come here. Last year, there were 7,597 visa applications from Nigeria but just 4,126 of those or 54.3% were granted. Similarly, only 58% of almost 2,000 applications from Sudan were approved. Some countries in Asia and the Middle East also had high refusal rates, with only 576 of 905 visa requests from Syrian citizens agreed to last year. Similarly, less than half of the 129 applications received in 2019 from war-torn Yemen resulted in a visa being approved. The largest number of applications just over 37,000 came from India. The grant rate for people from that country was 96%, the Department of Justice said. The next highest number (22,990) were from China, and 96.5% were successful. The third highest number of applications came from Russia and, of the 18,551 visa requests processed from that country, 96.6% were granted. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the visa process was key in supporting tourism, promoting Ireland as a destination for international education, facilitating those coming for business or work, and allowing family members to visit. He said: As with all visa services worldwide, the central concern in deciding on visa applications is to strike an appropriate balance between protecting the countrys vital national interests by maintaining an effective immigration regime while at the same time not placing unnecessary or unreasonable obstacles in the way of intending visitors. Currently, the entire nation has come to a halt as it is hit by the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. From the last two months, lockdown has been imposed all across the nation and it has affected film industry severely. Many films' shoot has been stopped abruptly and no movie is inching towards the theatres. Having said that, filmmakers are still sceptical about the fact that, even if the government allows to open the theatres in the upcoming months, people might still be afraid to rush to the theatres. Amid all the chaos in the film industry, rumours are rife that if celebrities start to take pay cut for their upcoming films, industry might save itself from loss. In a recent conversation, with Film Companion's Anupama Chopra, when Kartik was asked about the same, the actor said, "I wouldn't want to cut down on people's jobs. There has to be a solution wherein that problem also doesn't crop up and producers (who are getting hit), they too are saved. There has to be solution and a balance will come out. Whatever it takes for the industry to get together and start working, I think, I am up for it. I would do whatever collectively we decide to do." Kartik Aaryan Reveals Why He Deleted The Video With His Sister: It Was Blown Out Of Proportion "If that is something that is gonna help the industry, I think we all should do that. We should be up for it. We have taken a huge hit, as a country and as an industry also," said Luka Chuppi actor. On a related note, Kartik is doing his bit and is educating people about the pandemic through his Instagram page. The Love Aaj Kal actor has been conducting interviews with frontline warriors like doctors and cops on India's battle against the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. The problem with The 100 only airing 13 episodes every year is the long wait between seasons. And its not just because were all eager to watch it. So damn much happens every season, its a lot of info to retain for an entire year. If you need a refresher, heres last seasons finale recap. If youre lazy, heres my recap of the recap: Sanctum is bad. The Anomaly is bad (probably). Abby died. Madi is no longer the commander. Sheidheda, the evil commander from decades ago, is loose in the Matrix. And Diyozas unborn baby is now a hot, age-appropriate CW star who stabbed Octavia, which made her literally vanish. Got it? Well, you better get on board because From the Ashes picks up moments after O ghosts, with Bellamy screaming into the air for his sister. Then he starts flying through the air. When Echo runs out to find him, hes getting dragged away by a force (just like Katherine in Vampire Diaries!). She tries to help him, but gets knocked back by the wind? I dont know what to call this. Gabriel is still in the tent trying to read the symbols on Hopes face while shes unconscious but as soon as she wakes up, she runs out of there. Gabriel finds Echo and they try to go after Bellamy while dodging the angry ghosts? Hope has run in her own direction, but stops to tend to the pain in her arm. She pulls up her sleeve to find a giant gash in her forearm that has a vial stuffed in it totally normal. She pulls it out (gag) and finds a piece of paper in it. On one side is an anomaly scroll, on the other TRUST BELLAMY is scribbled. After attacking Echo and Gabriel, she decides to work with them when she hears they know said Bellamy. The three of them head off toward the anomaly, but ray guns are firing all around them. Theyre too close to the anomaly and its particles, so Echo gets visions of Roan (oh, hey, Zach McGowan) and Hope gets visions of Octavia, whom she doesnt remember. I will not even pretend to understand what happens next, but they figure out they can wait and attack these invisible forces, which turn out to be just normal humans with orders to capture Gabriel and Echo and kill Hope. Luckily, Echo is a badass and kills them all. Gabriel notices the anomaly is quieting, which means its closing. They run toward it and enter it together then they get taken up by a green light into the sky. Story continues Listen, I am here for this futuristic alien vibe thats going on with the anomaly. Its weird, and I think we deserve a break from the us vs. them / are we good? are we bad? themes that this show has overdone a bit by now. Speaking of Clarke and the rest of the crew are trying to settle Sanctum into something normal. The problem is that there are a few different factions: For one, theres Russell, whos in captivity and just wants to die. Then theres the Sanctum faithful, who want Russell free so they can worship him; the Children of Gabriel, who want Russell dead; the prisoners from Eligius IV, who just like to raise hell because they can; Wonkru, who think theyre protecting Heda; and then Clarke and our friends who know the truth about all of this. Indra and Miller are fully in the kill Russell camp, but Clarke has this Zen vibe going where she doesnt seem fazed at all that her mother died. Instead, shes setting up a homestead in a yellow farmhouse that Russell built for Simone. Shes letting Madi go to classes and theyre eating soup out of wooden bowls with bread (probably sourdough). They even have a golden lab! Hippy-dippy Clarkes main purpose is to protect Madi. Even though the young commander no longer has the flame, they have to pretend she does so Wonkru will stand by her. Youd think seven seasons in, they would have learned that honesty is the best policy, but what do I know? Anyway, we have all those groups and then theres Jordan. Poor guy doesnt really fit in anywhere, but hes leaning toward the Russell fanatics. And they trust him, so he goes to speak with Russell and verify that hes okay. Jordan tries to extend an olive branch by giving Russell the Mind Drive hes been holding on to, but Russell cant bring his family back, so he smashes it. And then he says he knows why Jordan is doing all this: He saw a glimpse. Its the anomaly spirals; Russell saw it once, too, and built Sanctums image in it, but then he gave it up. Hmm. In addition to the lie about Madi, most people still believe that Emori and Murphy are brother and sister duo Kaylee and Daniel Primes. Raven tells them they have to keep up the ruse because Sanctum is a powder keg. They dont want to do it but when Clarke tries to move Russell for his safety and the courtyard becomes a battleground, they step in. Kaylee appeals to the people of Sanctum with the phrase, We are one. Apparently, it was a slogan Kaylee used when she stopped oblation. Emori did her homework! But that peace doesnt last long. With Russell being kept at the palace, the Children of Gabriel are asking for blood. Clarke goes in to speak with Russell. Shes still being super chill. How do you go on after you lose everything? Russell asks her. You take a breath, she says, then another. Thats it. Im starting to think Clarke might be on that Red Sun drug when Russell hands over her mothers clothes and her necklace with her fathers wedding band on it. Thats all it takes for the dam to break. Zen Clarke is gone, and Wanheda emerges. She starts wailing on Russell and knocks over a kerosene lamp in the process. As a fire rages around them, she pulls a gun on him and asks, Is this what you want? She knocks him out instead of shooting him, and when Russell goes unconscious, he wakes up in a different consciousness. Hes the original Russell Prime and Sheidheda is there. Uh oh. Sheidheda slits Russells throat and says, Now, Im you. The dark commander wakes up with a gasp and a smile in Russells body. Clarke almost leaves Russell to burn in the room, but when he begs her not to let him die, she releases him. Then she walks out to the balcony of the palace and yells at her people: Sanctum is free. There are no kings or queens or primes here. We have no need for a palace. Were the last of the human race, and weve all made mistakes. Tomorrow, Russell Prime dies for his. Now this is the Clarke we know! Not sure its the best course of action for getting Sanctum to peace, but at least shes doing something instead of walking around without any feelings. My hope for season 7 is that the issues with in-fighting in Sanctum wrap up quickly so we can get to the big mystery of the anomaly. Any crazy guesses what it might hold? Id love to read them in the comments. Related content: New Delhi: Giving an update on the Vande Bharat Mission, which started its second phase from May 16, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava on Thursday (May 21) said that this will include places like Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh city, and Lagos, besides increasing flights to the US and Europe. The MEA Spokesperson said, "I will now give you an update on the Vande Bharat Mission. We have moved into the second phase of his Mission from 16th May onwards. This phase will last till 13th June. We are looking to bring back our nationals from 47 countries on 162 flights. In this phase, we are including places like Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh city, Lagos, etc, and increasing flights to the USA and Europe. We are also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub." Anurag Srivastava said that "We are also receiving our nationals stranded abroad onboard flights from other countries which are coming in to evacuate nationals of those countries. We are bringing back our nationals from far-flung areas like Argentina, South Africa, Peru, Mongolia, etc." "In fact, a flight from Buenos Aires arrived early this morning at 2.35 am with a total of 62 Indian nationals. About 300 pilgrims from Ladakh arrived on May 17 onboard Mahaan Air flight from Iran. Other flights from Djibouti and Hong Kong have brought in our nationals stranded in those places," he added. Notably, today is the 15th day of the Vande Bharat Mission. As of today afternoon, 23475 Indian nationals have safely returned under this Mission. They include 4883 workers, 4196 students, 3087 professionals among others. The statement said that there are 259001 people registered to return from 98 countries, adding "Most of those who have registered to return are workers 28%, students about 25%, professionals 14.5%, short-term visa holders like tourists 7.6%. Then there are others like fishermen, deportees, those granted amnesty, etc." In terms of numbers, among those with compelling reasons registered to return, 16991 are those facing medical emergencies and8746 pregnant women and elderly persons, the statement said. Anurag Srivastava further said, "We are also facilitating travel of our nationals as well as foreign nationals on outbound flights under Vande Bharat Mission. Three flights to the UK on 16th, 18th, and 20th May have already left. Two flights have departed to the US on 18th and 20th May. There are four more flights scheduled to the US and two to Frankfurt." Operations under this very large and complex exercise are going on smoothly. The ministry and its missions are working very closely in this whole of government exercise with the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Home Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Bureau of Immigration as well as with concerned state governments, Srivastava added. Authorities along Indias east coast and neighboring Bangladesh evacuated millions to safer places and shut some factories as the biggest cyclonic storm in two decades makes landfall, causing heavy rain and strong winds in the region. Amphan, now equivalent of a category 3 hurricane after weakening from category 5, crossed the coasts of India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, according to the India Meteorological Department. Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. has shut parts of its phosphatic fertilizer factory, the nations biggest, at Paradip in Odisha, according to the companys spokesman. The cyclone carried sustained wind speeds of 155 to 165 kilometers (96-103 miles) per hour, which rose to 185 kilometers per hour during the landfall, the Indian weather office said. Amphan has prompted Bangladesh to evacuate about 2.4 million people to storm shelters, said State Minister for Disaster Management Enamur Rahman. The cyclone also shut Chattogram port, the main port of the country. In Indias West Bengal, almost 300,000 people have been moved into relief centers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said. The storm is intense enough to damage crops, plantations, trees, mud houses and communication and electric poles, as well as disrupt road traffic and transportation of essential goods. Apart from the storm threatening lives of people and animals, authorities face another risk evacuating millions of people during a pandemic, which may lead to a jump in infections. At relief centers, we are providing masks and some food to people, Firhad Hakim, mayor of Kolkata, told reporters Wednesday. We have arranged for beds for them. There are so many people that it is difficult, but we are trying to maintain social distancing as much as we can. We will make sure that nobody catches coronavirus at the relief centers. Indias federal government has directed states to follow social-distancing rules to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 100,000 people so far in the country. In Bangladesh, the cyclone has brought another threat to the Rohingya refugees staying in crowded camps, said Mahbub Alam Talukder, the nations Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner. There are about 3,500 volunteers on the ground working to protect the Rohingyas from the storms path, he said. Saving lives comes first, Talukder said. Our priority at this moment is to protect the Rohingyas from the imminent threat of the cyclone. Its difficult to maintain social distancing at a time when another threat like cyclone Amphan appears. Well think about social distancing later, he said. At least four virus cases have been detected in the refugee camps. Blow to Economy The cyclone is set to cause further misery to India and Bangladesh, which are witnessing a slump in economic activity due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Indian economy is headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades, while Fitch Solutions in April lowered Bangladeshs GDP growth forecast. Amphan is forecast to be the worst storm over the Bay of Bengal since the 1999 super cyclone that hit the eastern Indian state of Odisha, according to Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of Indias weather department. The countrys worst-ever cyclone had killed about 10,000 people in the state two decades ago. The Bangladesh navy has kept 25 ships and two maritime patrol aircraft on standby for immediate rescue and relief efforts in the coastal areas of Chattogram, Khulna and Mongla. The air force has readied six planes and 22 helicopters to rescue people, provide first-aid and survey damage, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate. The country has advised Mongla and Payra ports to follow great danger signal 10. Most ports on Indias eastern coast have suspended inward movement of shipping vessels and advised them to shift to safe anchorage, according to an advisory issued by various ports. Adani Group-owned Dhamra port canceled inward movement of vessels and advised others at berth to shift to the sea. Cyclone Shelters Bangladesh has prepared more than 14,000 cyclone shelters in coastal districts for 5.19 million people. The south Asian nation suspended river transport, including ferry services from all five piers, as the storm moves closer to the coast, according to water transport authorities. Over 500,000 cows and goats have also been moved to safety. In India, about 39 teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed on the ground, while 26 others are on stand by. Odisha had evacuated 148,486 people as of Wednesday morning, said Pradeep Kumar Jena, special relief commissioner of the state. Odisha has about 560 permanent cyclone shelters and identified more than 7,000 public buildings as temporary facilities. State-run Indian Oil Corp., which has a coastal refinery in Odisha and another plant in West Bengals Haldia, is continuing operations normally with some precautionary measures. Berthing of vessels has been suspended, and it stopped all project and maintenance work for the cyclone to pass, according to a spokesperson. With assistance from Debjit Chakraborty, Dhwani Pandya, Swansy Afonso, Unni Krishnan and Jeanette Rodrigues. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Athens, May 21 (IANS) Greek authorities have announced that foreign tourists would be allowed in the country from July 1, when direct flights to tourist destinations were scheduled to gradually resume. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced the news during a speech on Wednesday, in which he introduced his administration's plan to re-launch tourism, a major contributor towards the country's economy, reports Efe news. Hotels will be able to open as of June 15. Tourists arriving in Greece will not have to quarantine themselves, but they may be subjected to random coronavirus tests and will have to follow a strict hygiene protocol during their trip. "Our strength is the certificate of safety, reliability and health that our country has earned. Its great fame. The health shield, hospitality everywhere and, of course, the passion of the Greeks," said Mitsotakis. He also announced a series of measures to support the tourism and hospitality sectors as well as the reduction of VAT from 24 per cent to 13 per centover the next five months on all public transport cards, coffee, non-alcoholic beverages and tickets to outdoor cinemas. The government will also subsidize wages and social security contributions of workers in the tourism sector and present a support program for domestic tourism thought for the country's most vulnerable citizens. Labour Minister Yannis Vrutsis said it would also finance, until September, 120,000 seasonal workers from the tourism sector who will find themselves jobless during the summer. In 2019, Greece received 34 million visitors - of which 24.2 million travelled to the country between April and September. They brought with them a 19 billion euros of income. --IANS ksk/ Former Love Island star Montana Brown made the most of the heatwave on Wednesday when she posed up a storm in a sexy bikini. The 24-year-old looked incredible in the black two-piece which had a halter design and skimpy briefs which flashed her bottom. Montana showed off her golden tan in two incredible snaps which she posted on Instagram soon after her outing. Heatwave: Montana Brown looked incredible when she posed in a skimpy halterneck bikini and flashed her bottom while sunbathing in the park on Instagram on Wednesday She showed off her incredible abs and golden skin as she sipped from bottles of water. Sharing some advice with her followers, she wrote in the caption: 'Stay hydrated kids.' But it's not all been smiles for the raven-haired beauty. Montana recently revealed she has been left fearing for her swimwear business amid growing economic uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. 'Stay hydrated kids': She showed off her incredible abs and golden skin as she sipped from bottles of water. Taking to Instagram with a short video, the beauty modelled one of her latest designs as she expressed her concerns. 'As a small business owner this is a really uncertain time and I was SO excited to share with you our next drop but we will be having a delay on everything,' she told fans. 'Absolutely gutted but I understand everyone is hurting by all of this as its a scary time for everyone. Just sending everyone lots of love and positivity at this hard time.' Bikini babe: Montana recently revealed she has been left fearing for her swimwear business amid growing economic uncertainty sparked by the coronavirus pandemic Montana is currently single following her split from model Elliott Reeder in January. She's sworn off dating for the foreseeable future after admitting she's still close and in regular contact with her ex-boyfriend. 'I'm taking a break from dating for now 100 per cent. I'm a bit nervous to go off into the big wide world now,' she told MailOnline in February. 'I was in a long-term relationship and we're still really close and I know I'm definitely not ready for anything. This time is for focusing on work. 'I am such a grandma, I'm not much of a party animal. My happy place is when I'm at home with my hair up watching a film in the comfort of my own home, so it can be hard to meet someone.' Special elections can be tricky to gauge the general election from. But when all of the results of them go just one way, it's pretty obvious the other party is in trouble. Latest news: Three Virginia Democrats in a reliably blue city have just gotten the boot. A local reporter called it 'stunning beyond belief.' The Daily Caller reports: Three Democratic members of the Staunton, Virginia, city council were ousted by Republicans on Tuesday despite receiving more votes than they did four years ago. Republican candidates Mark Robertson, Amy Darby, and Steve Claffey all joined incumbent Andrea Oakes in a four-seat GOP sweep, WHSV reported. The three incoming council members replaced Democratic incumbents Erik Curren, Ophie Kier, and James Harrington all almost doubled their vote totals from 2016, yet still lost. And it wasn't just that city where Democrats lost out, there was also this: Nearby Wayesboro also put two conservatives, Lana Williams and Bruce Allen, on their city council to give conservatives a working majority, Graham reported. The Caller noted that even the Democrats' huge turnout machine was no match for the high enthusiasm rate of the Republican voters. Why was that? Well, because Virginia has seen some fearsome abuse from its Democratic rulers -- gun control legislation that makes no sense in Virginia's hinterlands, and then the coronavirus lockdown, which was a death sentence on small business. Yet it also follows from a string of GOP special election pickups, some with lockdown on the table, some without. In deep blue Connecticut last March, two seats were flipped to Republicans in a state legislature election, one by a candidate with a difficult-to-sell last name ("Bizzarro") It was followed by the 'red shockwave' special election less than two weeks ago, that saw the election of Republican Mike Garcia to Congress, in a heavily ballot-harvested California congressional district, no less. There also was a comparable win in political battleground Wisconsin. They're all going one way -- towards red, and no ballot-harvesting nor mail-in ballot schemes has been able to stop them. Again, it's not a certainty that these special elections, all going the same way. are going to turn the sky red come November. but this is a sign of something big in the works. Image credit: Pixabay public domain Adds Industry Recognized Audio-Visual Products for the K-12 Education and Collaboration Market TOCCOA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) ("Galaxy" or the "Company"), a provider of interactive learning technology solutions, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire Classroom Technology Solutions ("CTS"), a designer, manufacturer, importer and integrator of audio-visual products, with headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. The terms of the "Asset Purchase Agreement" shall consist of Promissory Notes and/or Cash and Stock. The exact terms shall be covered in the "Definitive Agreement" and disclosed at closing, subject to pre and/or post agreement audits. CTS owns and markets under several industry recognized brands: "A-VisionMounts", projector and flat panel mounts, carts and stands "ClassCam", line of connected and wireless document cameras "ClassSlate", wireless interactive tablets "TouchWorks", interactive white boards CTS has a robust portfolio of new products that will be released over the coming year. Many of these products will enhance the current and future Galaxy product offerings. CTS is a leader in the development of sophisticated technologies used in the education marketplace and other collaborative environments. Many of CTS's products qualify for the "Made in America" distrinction while other are a combination of U.S. and offshore products. Recently, CTS received the 2020 Best of Jacksonville Award in the Audio-Visual Supplier category and has also been recognized as one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in Northeast Florida" as well as "Largest Technology Service Companies" and "Top Integrators" by the Jacksonville Business Journal. Gary LeCroy, Galaxy's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are excited to add CTS and its audio-visual product portfolio and customers to our organization, as we look to expand our K-12 classroom collaboration technology offerings and geographic footprint. We welcome Cy Marshall to our team and are confident he can help accelerate our growth, based on the greater than $35 million revenue he and CTS have generated over the past 11 years." Story continues Cy Marshall, Classroom Technology Solutions' Chief Executive Officer, stated, "I look forward to joining forces with the Galaxy team and becoming part of a like-minded organiztion that is focused on providing quality, cost-effective products to the K-12 education and collaboration market place. In the near-term, we will blend the more than 5,000 end users, dealers, and distributors of CTS with the Galaxy customer base to identify cross-sell opportunities where our combined offerings represent opportunities to upsell each other's products. In the future, our combined K-12 education offerings complement more of the total classroom solution and will give us a better opportunity to grow our top line revenue, increase our profit margin and reduce our operating cost allowing us to complete for new additional business." About Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. Galaxy Next Generation (OTCQB:GAXY) is a provider of interactive learning technology solutions that allows the presenter and participant to engage in a fully collaborative instructional environment. Galaxy's products include Galaxy's own private-label interactive touch screen panel as well as numerous other national and international branded peripheral and communication devices. Galaxy's distribution channel consists of 22+ resellers across the U.S. who primarily sell the Company's products within the commercial and educational market. Galaxy does not control where resellers focus their resell efforts, although generally, the K-12 education market is the largest customer base for Galaxy products - comprising nearly 90% of Galaxy's sales. For additional information, please visit our website at: www.galaxynext.us Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors Contact: IR@GalaxyNext.us p888-859-1274 SOURCE: Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/590810/Galaxy-Next-Generation-Executes-Letter-of-Intent-to-Acquire-Classroom-Technology-Solutions-Inc Bengaluru, May 21 : Hundreds of people are flocking to the nearest barber shop in their neighbourhood for a quick hair cut or a shave after waiting 57 days when an extended lockdown kept them away. Though the Karnataka government on May 18 allowed barbers across the state to reopen shops/salons from Tuesday, most of them could not as it was a weekly off for their employees and they were busy sprucing up their precincts for customers. "The rush of customers was so much on the first day of reopening the shop on early Wednesday, we sent away many of them and told others to try their luck in another salon rather than waiting for their turn here," seasoned barber Siddappa told IANS. Restricting the fourth lockdown since May 18 to May 31 to only Sundays, the state government allowed barbers to reopen shops but with riders that have upset many of them, as they are not used to so many dos and don'ts. "As part of our business, we keep our premises clean and hygienic, as no customer will step into our shop if it's dirty or messy. But to comply with so many guidelines is difficult as they add to our costs at a time when we have suffered a huge loss due to closure for nearly two months for the first time in life," lamented the 48-year-old Siddappa. Permitting barbers to reopen their shops, the state health department in an advisory said: "In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, all barber shops, hair cutting salons and parlours should follow the latest guidelines of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs when reopening for business across the state except in containment zones where positive cases are high." As per the standard operating procedures (SOP), customers with fever, cold, cough and throat pain should not be allowed to enter the shop, says one guideline. "How do we ensure this without a thermal camera to screen customers who are mostly regulars and have been coming to our shop for years? The government should give us the device free or on lease, as we can't afford to buy it. I don't even know where to get it. No customer risks going to a barber shop when having fever or is unwell even for a shave," asserted the barber. The barbers and their staff welcomed customers wearing a mask, keeping sanitisers at the shop entrance for customers to wash their hands before and after a haircut or shave though it added to their operational cost. "As we are desperate to revive our business, we have no choice but to follow the rules rather than face the wrath of health inspectors from the civic body and to avoid being fined," said S. Manjunath, another barber in the city's eastern suburb. As regular customers were willing to wait for their turn, many barbers kept a register at their shop entrance for taking their name and mobile number to allot a time slot so that they need not queue up or crowd the place in violation of the social distancing norm. "We are trying to attend to as many customers on first-cum-first served basis, as we are allowed to keep the shop open only for 12 hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and ensure we maintain 2 feet distance between two chairs inside for physical distancing," said Manjunath. With the state government enforcing a total lockdown on Sundays, the barbers are trying to serve as many customers as possible to make up for the lost business. "In normal times, it is on Saturdays and Sundays we have maximum business from morning to night, as customers have their weekend off. We hope the government will revoke the order after the fourth lockdown ends on May 31, which is a Sunday," reiterated Siddappa. To comply with the advisory, the barbers have bought additional masks, head covers and aprons to wear when serving their customers. "Though these things (wearing head cover and apron) are generally not followed in small shops like ours, we have decided to have them, as customers also expect us to wear them for our protection and their safety," noted Manjunath. The barbers have agreed to use disposable towels or a paper sheet for each client although it costs them more and cuts into their profit margin. "We are also sanitising all our equipment after each use on a client to comply with the advisory, avoid complaints from customers and fine by the civic body," noted Siddappa. On the state government giving Rs 5,000 to each licensed barber as compensation for suffering loss due to the lockdown, Manjunath said he was yet to get the amount credited to his bank account though he applied for it online as advised by his association. As part of the Rs 1,610-crore relief package to the Covid-affected sections of society, state chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa on May 6 announced Rs 5,000 each of 2,30,000 barbers registered with the state government across the state, as a one-time compensation for suffering huge loss due to closure of their shops during the prolonged lockdown since March 25. Qualcomm is expected to release a new Snapdragon 6-series chipset for entry level devices. Reliable Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station revealed some details about the sm6350 SoC which will also be 5G compatible. It will feature an eight-core CPU with two large cores clocked at 2.25Ghz and six power-efficient cores running at 1.8GHz. The chipset will also integrate the Adreno 615 GPU and is expected to launch sometime in Q2 2020. Meanwhile MediaTek and Huawei are also expected to release their own budget 5G chipsets with the MT6853 5G and Kirin 720 5G. Samsungs Exynos 880 5G is another budget 5G SoC expected to be announced soon. Source (in Chinese) | Via A total of 828 people working at meat processing plants in Ireland have been confirmed infected with COVID-19, Trend reports citing Xinhua. The report quoted health authorities as saying that of all the confirmed cases in the meat processing plants, 328 were reported over the last week, making such a place another potential hot spot for outbreaks of clusters of infections in the country. In the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in Ireland, most clusters of infections were reported in the long-term residential care facilities, especially nursing homes where the coronavirus has killed many elderly people. Meat Industry Ireland (MII), an organization representing the interests of meat processing plant owners, told RTE that they have taken a wide range of measures to tackle the outbreak of the disease. Earlier this month, a pork processing plant in County Offaly in central Ireland made it compulsory for its workers to take temperature screening, wear face coverings, and keep social distancing at worksite after nearly one tenth of its 600 employees were found infected with COVID-19, according to local media reports. MII Senior Director Cormac Healy said that meat processors in the country will continue to work with health authorities to contain the spread of the virus. He also said that 60 percent of the workers at meat processing plants who had contracted the virus had returned to work. According to MMI, there are an estimated 15,000 people working at meat processing plants in Ireland. The behavior of some trustees at this meeting has been called into question with Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham saying he wants to review the video, and that at least one trustee may not be reappointed based on what he has been told was said. Hundreds of online CofE services across Norfolk Hundreds of online CofE services across Norfolk There are now over 240 church services being shared digitally across Norfolk and Waveney every week by the Church of England. Barbara Bryant reports. When the Covid-19 pandemic caused churches to close their buildings on government advice, local churches rose to the challenge of being church in the era of self-isolation and social-distancing. Diocese of Norwich churches are now live streaming services, hosting virtual groups, and sharing content digitally via YouTube, Facebook, Zoom and others. From Sunday morning services to crafts and story-time for children, prayer meetings, PCC meetings and home groups or Bible study groups, the invitation is offered to tune in to from home and join with a community of people sharing the gospel. The offerings are varied as the churches offering them: from Norwich Cathedral and town-centre churches to smaller, rural communities; from traditional services to short reflections, interactive study groups and fitness sessions. In addition to the services, Zoom coffee meet-ups and virtual soup lunches have been held. There is growing anecdotal evidence that more people are joining in with digital services than might have come when they were held in a church building. Rt Rev Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, says: I have taken part in imaginative online worship and am in awe of colleagues who have learnt so many new skills and are reaching out to their communities with Christs message of hope. Many clergy are telling me that more people are attending online worship, whether live-streamed or pre-recorded messages than attended church physically. Perhaps we are reaching people who, through ill health, age or infirmity have had to self-isolate for years. Some good things are coming out of this. Rev Andrew Whitehead, Vicar of Cawston parish church reflected on their Easter service: We estimate that our attendance today was somewhere around 100 people (and it continues to grow) not bad for a village of 1,500 people where a regular Sunday would see 30-40 people in the pews. In our Zoom virtual after-service refreshments slot, we learned that we had people with us from London and Cardiff, and we welcomed former residents of Cawston who have long-since moved away. We also had people from Cawston who would not normally darken the door of the church; people who struggle with depression or mobility issues; people whose work or family life makes it hard to physically come to church. Rev Sally Kimmis, Team Rector of 13 churches in the heart of Norfolk tackled her first digital service for Easter Sunday: It was a technological challenge for me, but I was determined to gather as many people together as possible to celebrate this most important festival of the Christian year. Were now holding regular Sunday services using Zoom for the duration of lockdown and are experiencing good numbers. We were concerned about those who cannot access this technology, but they are joining by phone, and were also grateful for broadcast services, backed-up by regular phone contact by the ministry team to keep people connected. Rev Canon Catherine Dobson of the Coastal Group of churches describes the learning experience: Our first Zoom service was a wonderful way to get people worshipping together. Things didnt always work as planned people manage to unmute themselves by accident, dogs barked and we lost connection with a key person at one point, but the experience was an honest and real act of worship together as a community. Theyre now managing a fortnightly Zoom service. Were getting better all the time! Last Sunday it was a wonderful surprise to have two groups of people joining in from Spain a local family working out there for a year, and a couple who are unable to get a flight home, having been out there for the winter. Again, some of those joining are not the people we would usually see in church. Maybe joining a service from home is much less threatening than walking through the church door more like the anonymous cathedral form of worship. It is a great way to show what the church does, and for people to try it out. Unsurprisingly, God continues to be made known, even in lockdown. Click here to see a map on the Diocese of Norwich live streams Church engagement increases According to recent Tearfund research, during the Coronavirus outbreak, a quarter of UK adults say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown (on the radio, live on TV, on-demand or streamed online), this jumps to three quarters amongst regular churchgoers. One in 20 UK adults (5 per cent) who say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown has never gone to church. A third of UK adults aged 18-34 say they have watched or listened to a religious service since lockdown (on the radio, live on TV, on-demand or streamed online) this compares to one in five (19 per cent) adults aged 55+. While some may view religion as more appealing to the older generation, the research shows that younger adults aged 18-34 are significantly more likely to say they pray regularly (at least once a month) than adults aged 55 and over (30 per cent versus 25 per cent). You can read the full Tearfund report here. Pictured above is Rachel Seabrook of St Edmunds Taverham filming her weekly Wednesday evening Rectory Ramblings which is live streamed churchs Facebook page. You can view past broadcasts from St Edmunds here . This article is written by Barbara Bryant, Communications Officer for the Diocese of Norwich. Telangana on Thursday saw a sudden rise in the number of deaths due to Covid-19 with five persons succumbing while 38 others tested positive for the virus. The Telangana government kept the details of the deceased under wraps the official bulletin from the state medical and health department did not disclose where these deaths were reported from or the age group of the victims. With these five fresh fatalities, the total number of deaths due to Covid-19 in the last three days in Telangana since the Lockdown 4.0 came into effect shot up steeply by 11. The death toll which was 34 on Monday, climbed to 45 on Thursday. Of the 38 new cases, 26 were from Hyderabad and two from Ranga Reddy district, while the remaining 10 cases were that of migrants. In all, the total number of migrants who tested positive stood at 99 and the overall number of coronavirus positive cases increased to 1699 as many as 107 cases were reported in the last three days. At present, there are 618 active Covid-19 patients who are admitted to Gandhi Hospital while 1,036 people have recovered and have been discharged. According to the health officials, at present, there are 25 districts in the State that have not reported a single Covid-19 case in the last 14 days. The districts are: Karimnagar, Siricilla, Kamareddy, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Bhupalpally, Nagarkurnool, Mulugu, Peddapally, Siddipet, Mahabubabad, Mancherial, Nizamabad, Adilabad, Suryapet, Narayanpet, Warangal urban, Gadwal, Jangaon and Nirmal. Meanwhile, one more person died of Covid-19 in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh while 45 fresh positive cases were confirmed, taking the total number of infections in the state to 2,605 in the last 24 hours, an official bulletin said. The lone death was reported in Kurnool, taking the COVID-19 toll in the state to 54. Of the fresh cases in the past 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday, four were linked to the Koyambedu market in Chennai, the bulletin said. The bulletin said samples of 8,092 people were tested and 41 have been discharged from various hospitals after treatment, taking the cumulative recoveries to 1,680. The number of active patients now stands at 718. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Vatican Impeachment: an in-depth narrative concerning the popes call to power through election that proves to be a pivotal mark in ensuring the Roman Catholic faiths perpetuation or downfall. Vatican Impeachment is the creation of published author Alfred Lenarciak, a member of Cavalieri San Silvestro who was honored with the Silver Cross of Merit. Lenarciak shares, Democratic elections are a privilege of the people to choose their leaders in order to govern them through various levels of public administration. Elections are polarizing exercises of the political powers competing for popular votes, presenting their programs which are expected to be fulfilled. Every candidate must stand in front of the people demanding their approval, meaning votes, and the majority form the government. Democracy has been known for three millennia and today represents the most popular form of governmentwith one exception. The Catholic Church today is in crisis and very divided, trying to regain back the followers who are drifting away from the doctrine of the Pope. Most Catholics are confused if the Pope is their spiritual leader or a politician with radical ideology. He is implementing a revolution in the Church institutions following his own doctrine of purging those who disagree with him without forgiveness. The majority of the cardinals who elected the current Pope in March 2013 sincerely regret it and now are waiting for a miracle to end of this pontificate. How to elect the righteous one? Could an American cardinal be elected Pope? Could the Pope be impeached? Who could have the courage to change history? This is happening now. This story brings the reader behind the Vatican gates protected by Swiss Guards halberds and discovers the intrigues, hypocrisies, ruthless politics, cronyism, corruptions, cover-ups, and clashes of various interests. Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Alfred Lenarciaks new book unveils numerous idiocies revolving around the supremacy of the pope and the controversies that come with his position as one of the most powerful and influential human beings on the earth. This book hopes to address the limitations and scope of the popes administration and how thus greatly impacts individual and communal faith in the Roman Catholic Christianity. View the synopsis of Vatican Impeachment on YouTube. Consumers can purchaseVatican Impeachment at traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Vatican Impeachment, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disregarded the advice of high-level officials at the State Department, Pentagon and within the intelligence community in invoking an emergency waiver last year to circumvent congressional review of billions of dollars in arms sales to the U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf region, according to two former administration officials and three congressional sources. That decision was under investigation by a government watchdog who was fired last week at Pompeos urging, and it has fueled renewed accusations from lawmakers that the Trump administration bucked the will of Congress and even violated the law when it fast-tracked the weapons sales. The secretary of state is facing intense scrutiny over the inspector generals ouster, which has unleashed a flurry of negative stories and a torrent of criticism on Capitol Hill. In justifying the move to Congress, Pompeo wrote that "Iranian aggression and increasing regional volatility necessitated an urgent delivery of certain weapons to U.S. partners in the Middle East. But during meetings last spring of the National Security Council at several levels, high-level career and political officials from the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community agreed that there had been no change in Tehrans behavior to justify invoking emergency authorities and advised against doing so, according to a former administration official who attended the meetings. There is nothing going on right now that we could point to that would say it was any different than the month before, the former official said. Further, some of the weapons included in the sale $8 billion worth of guided missiles for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, bombs for Jordan, and other items would not come online for at least a year. Our conclusion was, Nobody supports this being an emergency, so we think that the declaration wouldnt have any grounds and we shouldnt do it, the ex-official added. Details of the meetings, including a May gathering of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, later made their way to Capitol Hill, reinforcing concerns among lawmakers about the arms sales and prompting legislative action to reverse the transactions. Story continues Pompeo decided to go ahead with the emergency invocation anyway after consulting with then-acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan during an informal breakfast meeting, the former administration official said. While the Pentagon supported the sale itself, at the time senior officials including Shanahan expressed concern with the decision to invoke emergency authorities given the resistance in Congress, said one defense official. However, looking back, Irans activities over the past year since the decision bore out the fact that there was an emergency, the official said. You look at Iranian behavior over the subsequent 12 months, including attacks on Saudi oil refineries, shooting down a U.S. drone, a ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq its clear that a reasonable argument can be made that there was a crisis pending when this sale was approved, the official said. Pompeo formally invoked the emergency authority on May 24. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. The move infuriated lawmakers from both parties. Current law requires the executive branch to formally notify Congress of an arms sale of this nature; the House and Senate then have 30 days to vote to block the sale. At the time, it was thought to be highly unlikely that a weapons sale to Riyadh would pass muster in Congress, where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have become increasingly skeptical of the U.S. relationship with the kingdom. The regimes killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its continued participation in Yemens bloody civil war have prompted several lawmakers to propose sanctions against the Saudi government, a longtime close but often nettlesome American ally. The issue was thrust back into the headlines this week when it was revealed that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, whom President Donald Trump fired last Friday, was investigating the arms sale. Pompeo reiterated Wednesday that he had asked the president to fire Linick, who was also looking into claims that the secretary and his wife improperly directed political appointees to run personal errands for him, including walking his dog and picking up his dry cleaning. Ive seen the various stories that someone was walking my dog to sell arms to my dry cleaner, Pompeo said, mocking the allegations. I mean, its all just crazy. Its all crazy stuff. But he did acknowledge that he had responded to written questions about another matter, an apparent reference to the Saudi arms sale. I responded to those questions. I dont know the scope, I dont know the nature of that investigation, other than what I would have seen from the nature of the questions that I was presented, Pompeo said. I did what was right. I dont know if that investigation is continuing. I dont know if that investigation has been closed out. I dont have any sense of that. Congressional sources on both sides of the Capitol said some aides and senators caught wind of the May 2019 meeting shortly after it happened specifically, that the gathering included mostly career officials who said there was no legitimate basis to declare a national emergency under the Arms Export Control Act. In the months that followed, several senators who sit on relevant committees had informal conversations with officials who were present at the May meeting, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Some congressional committees were later briefed on the State Departments internal deliberations at the time, according to aides, who said it was decided among the group that an emergency declaration was the easiest way to avoid a congressional vote. But through the official channels, lawmakers were in the dark about how exactly the Trump administration came to its decision to invoke emergency powers, including whether a legal analysis had been completed, the aides added. That led a group of senators to introduce 22 joint resolutions last June to overturn the emergency authorities, led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The cohort included Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally who has soured on the Saudis in recent years. At the time, the senators argued that the administration was deliberately ignoring longstanding precedents on consulting with Congress. All 22 measures ultimately passed both the House and Senate, but Trump vetoed them. Now is not the time to do business as usual with Saudi Arabia, Graham said last year. I am also very concerned about the precedent these arms sales would set by having the administration go around legitimate concerns of the Congress. One former administration official said the decision to declare an emergency in order to sell weapons to the three Middle Eastern states was made at the most senior levels of the administration. And by the time some relevant officials were read in, it was a foregone conclusion. Rather than hold multiple meetings at the State Department with numerous officials as is more typical of the process to greenlight arms sales Pompeo would summon individual subject-matter experts up to his office on the seventh floor for small conversations, per the official. And for months after making the declaration, he received detailed weekly briefings on the status of the weapons systems and the timeline for their delivery. Trump and Pompeo have maintained their support for Saudi Arabia despite these events. Trumps first overseas trip as president was to Riyadh, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he has cultivated a close relationship. Trump stood by his Saudi counterpart and resisted congressional efforts to impose human-rights sanctions even after U.S. intelligence officials briefed lawmakers on their conclusion that the crown prince directed the murder of Khashoggi. State Department officials were recently briefed about Linicks conclusions in the probe. Pompeo refused to sit for an in-person interview with the inspector generals office, POLITICO first reported, though he did submit written answers. SPECIAL NEEDS NETWORK GOES VIRTUAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH New Tele-Therapy Program Offers Virtual Consultations for The Disadvantaged In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, The Special Needs Network (SNN), one of the nations premier autism advocacy organizations, has launched a new telehealth program in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The swiftly developed, HIPPA-compliant program provides virtual evidence-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to children, mental health counseling for parents, and a 24-hour Emergency Hotline for marginalized communities throughout California. ADVERTISEMENT A new report from the countys health department reveals that the coronavirus is having an increasingly disproportionate impact on the poor and communities of color in Los Angeles County. Latinos make up close to half of all COVID-19 cases in the county and suffer the third-highest death rate when adjusted for age, not far below African Americans, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islanders. People who live in high-poverty areas of L.A. have died at a rate three times higher than those who live in the wealthiest areas. Despite the toll on poor minority communities, testing for COVID-19 lags that of wealthier communities. These disparities are coupled with staggering unemployment rates amongst African Americans and Latinos. Given the enormous toll that this public health crisis is having on vulnerable communities across the county, Special Needs Networks telehealth autism therapies and mental health counseling could not be timelier, says Special Needs Network founder and president Areva Martin. ADVERTISEMENT In conjunction with SNN, Ms. Martin is also featuring top experts from across the mental health spectrum on her tri-weekly Facebook show The Special Report. Mondays live show featured mental health expert Paul Gionfriddo, psychotherapist Soco Reynoso, attorney, author and mental health advocate Corey Minor Smith, and Family and Child Psychologist Dr. Monica Shahbazniaall of whom dispensed important information and advice on how to cope with mental health issues caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The show will continue to feature such experts throughout the pandemic. Special Needs Network has a team of more than 100 trained, experienced, and certified behavior therapists and clinicians delivering high-quality virtual therapy services to children, teens, and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. These virtual therapies are critical as the County of Los Angeles public health officials have extended the stay-at-home order, which was implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The County has stressed that people remain home, except essential workers that provide a range of critical services, including in-home medical health care such as behavior therapy. Special Need Networks new telehealth program will provide the critical care that many people with disabilities and their families need during this COVID-19 crisis and beyond, says Ms. Martin. Although Special Needs Network continues to provide in-home therapeutic services to families in South LA, the programs ABA therapy is also available online for youth currently receiving services at home and includes an expansion of therapy hours to address the greater need across California in light of school closures. Special Needs Network is a Medi-Cal provider, accepts private insurance, and is a regional center vendor. Johanna Erazo, whose son receives ABA therapy through the Special Needs Network, says the program has been key to his childs development. My child has been so responsive to his telehealth services. He anticipates his start time and is standing by his laptop waiting for his session to begin. His therapist even joins him virtually during meal breaks and when he goes for walks through a cell phone. Mireya Romeo, another parent from the Special Needs Network, has seen exponential growth in her daughters behavior. The Telehealth program has been an amazing experience. My daughters communication skills increased. Through the program, she discovered a new passion for coloring on the computer and wants to color all the time on weekends now. Im happy with how supportive the behavioral team has been for my daughter. Each year, millions of Americans face the reality of living with mental health or disability illness. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, the Special Needs Network joins the national movement to provide support to some of Los Angeles Countys most vulnerable families. For more information about Special Needs Network and its response to COVID-19, visit www.snnla.org. A 16-year-old girl was killed on Thursday when the roof of a dilapidated house collapsed on her in Lalli Dera village in Karora area here, police said. The girl, Sandhya, was sweeping the area near her house when the roof of the adjacent building collapsed, they said. She was trapped under the debris and by the time the villagers pulled her out and took her to her house, she had died, police said. The body has been sent for post-mortem, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A mother who gave birth to identical quadruplets amid the coronavirus pandemic has been dubbed a 'miracle' by doctors, after it was revealed that she beat odds of 1 in 15 million to safely deliver her four sons. Jenny Marr, 35, from Texas, welcomed her four newborns on March 15 after going into labor at 28.5 weeks-pregnant just as much of the country was going into lockdown, and hospitals were implementing incredibly strict restrictions on visitors. But despite the unique and stressful circumstances surrounding their arrival at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Jenny says that her baby boys were all delivered safely - revealing that the quads were all born within three minutes of one another. Excitement: Jenny and Chris Marr stunned doctors after conceiving and delivering identical quadruplets amid the coronavirus pandemic - without the help of any fertility drugs Shock: The new parents were initially told that they were expecting triplets, and they said they were 'absolutely floored' when they discovered that they were having four babies 'Miracle': Conceiving spontaneous identical quadruplets is incredibly rare, and doctors estimate there is between a 1 in 11 million and 1 in 15 million chance of it happening 'They were all born in three minutes. Its incredible,' the new mother told Today. 'We called them our baby birds because they really looked like baby birds.' Medical marvel: Jenny was initially concerned about giving birth during the coronavirus pandemic, but she said her C-section went very well and all babies were born within three minutes However, because the four boys - whom Jenny and her husband Chris named Hudson, Harrison, Henry, and Hardy - were born prematurely, they were sent to the neonatal intensive care unit, where they remained for 10 weeks before being able to go home with their parents. After their birth via C-section, three of the quadruplets needed oxygen, and they were all underweight, with first-born Harrison weighing 2 pounds 6 ounces, while the next brother, Hardy, came in at 2 pounds 10 ounces. Third sibling Henry weighed 2 pounds 6.7 ounces, while the youngest, Hudson, was just 1 pound 15 ounces. Thankfully, the babies are all now healthy and happy, having been brought home by their delighted parents in early May. But while Jenny and Chris, 35, are happily settling into new life as parents-of-four, doctors continue to marvel at their birth, which was described by one as a 'miracle'. While most mothers conceive quadruplets only after taking fertility drugs, Jenny's four boys were conceived completely naturally, something that medical experts believe only has a 1 in 11 million to 1 in 15 million chance of happening. Special care: The baby boys - named Hudson, Harrison, Henry, and Hardy - were born at 28.5 weeks, and they had to spend ten weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit Homeward bound! The baby boys all made great progress and were able to go home with their parents in early May Shocking: Jenny's OBGYN, Dr. Lauren Murray, said that the quadruplets' birth was 'unbelievable', noting that this kind of delivery will 'never happen again in her career' 'It's unbelievable,' Jenny's OBGYN Dr. Lauren Murray said of the quadruplets' birth. 'It'll never happen again in my career.' Dr. Murray even joked to Jenny that she should 'go buy a few lottery tickets because those are the kinds of odds we're dealing with', adding: 'What a miracle it was.' Jenny and Chris said they were in 'utter shock' at being told they were having quadruplets - after initially being told by doctors that they were expecting triplets. During her first ultrasound exam in November 2019, Jenny recalls Dr. Murray making a strange face - and she immediately thought that something might be wrong with her unborn child. 'I was like, "Oh no, there's no heartbeat,"' Jenny told Today. However, Dr. Murray quickly reassured the mom-to-be that there was indeed a heartbeat - in fact, the OBGYN could hear three, news that left Jenny and Chris 'absolutely floored'. Overwhelmed: When the expectant parents saw their ultrasound technician making an odd face, they were concerned that something was wrong with the pregnancy Surprise! However they were soon told that they were expecting multiple babies - although initially they were informed that they were having triplets Happiness: New dad Chris said that 'jumping from three to four' babies was 'easier to swallow' than when they were told they were having multiple children Tiny: At birth, Harrison weighed 2 pounds 6 ounces, Hardy came in at 2 pounds 10 ounces, Henry weighed 2 pounds 6.7 ounces, and the youngest, Hudson, was just 1 pound 15 ounces Just one week later, the couple - who say that they are both only children and have no known history of multiple births in their families - paid a visit to to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and received the news that they were actually set to welcome four babies, not three. 'The tech who was doing the initial [scan] she gave me a funny look. We were like, "Oh what's going on now?" We got worried again,' Chris revealed. 'She was really cute. She said, "Im not supposed to say this, but yall got four babies." 'We were just shocked. Jumping from three to four was easier to swallow. Just after that we heard they were healthy.' The new dad added that he joked he would refuse to be present for the next ultrasound in case they received the news that they were actually expecting five children. However, Jenny's pregnancy was further complicated by the fact that all four babies were sharing one placenta, which means that they were all relying on a single source of nourishment. Hard work: Now that the parents are home with their sons, they say that they are focusing on juggling feeds, helping the babies to gain weight - and working on telling them apart Tips: 'They each have little bitty characteristics,' Chris explained. 'When we sit down and look at them we can figure out who they are' Adorable: Jenny was initially worried how the pandemic would affect her sons' birth, but she says everything went as smoothly as possible Had there been issues with their ability to share, one, or more, of the unborn boys could have been at serious risk, with Chris explaining that in some cases, one baby will take much-needed nourishment away from its siblings. As luck would have it however, the four babies were all able to share incredibly well. In fact, the prospect of giving birth amid the pandemic was Jenny's only real concern as she went into labor, with the new mom admitting: 'For the first time, I anticipated the worst. 'Maybe we were going to have sick babies and they were going to be in the NICU.' Despite her concerns, the birth went incredibly smoothly and after spending 10 weeks in the intensive care unit, the quadruplets were able to go home with their parents, who admitted that their main focus these days is juggling feedings, helping their sons to gain weight - and telling their identical children apart. 'They each have little bitty characteristics,' Chris explained. 'When we sit down and look at them we can figure out who they are but if you just look at them from a distance, they all look the same. 'Thank God, Hudsons a little smaller than everybody else and quieter.' A baby who weighed just two pounds when she was born at 26 weeks old went home this week after spending 80 days in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU). The baby, Gloria Patten, was discharged from the NICU on Tuesday, two weeks before the due date of her mom, Alana Patten. "Shes right next to me now. That part has a been a relief," Patten told "Good Morning America." "I feel like we can be a full family now." PHOTO: Gloria Mariselda Patten was discharged from South Texas Health System McAllen after spending 80 days in the NICU. (South Texas Health System) Patten, of McAllen, Texas, gave birth to Gloria on Feb. 29, which also happened to be Leap Day. She was just 26 weeks into her pregnancy, her first, when she went into labor and had to have an emergency C-section. Gloria was quickly whisked away by doctors who kept the 2-pound newborn alive, eventually putting her on a ventilator. Patten was not able to even hold her daughter until nearly two weeks after giving birth. MORE: Husband holds sign outside for wife who has to go to chemotherapy alone because of coronavirus "She was so tiny and I just remember how painstaking of a process it would be just so I could hold her," said Patten. "Wed have to get the whole team to come over to transfer her from the incubator to my arms." PHOTO: Alana and Jon Patten's daughter Gloria was born premature, weighing 2 pounds at just 26 weeks old. (Alana Patten) Patten was discharged from the hospital three days after giving birth, but Gloria would stay in the NICU at the McAllen Medical Center for another nearly 12 weeks. Gloria's stay at the NICU became more complicated for Patten and her husband, Jon, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and the hospital put restrictions for visitors in place. The couple was only able to visit their daughter one at a time and only during certain hours of the day. Patten, who stopped working after giving birth, visited Gloria in the NICU more frequently because Jon, who works in home health care, was worried about possibly spreading any germs to his daughter and other babies in the NICU. "It was all to keep the NICU safe and we understood that, but as brand new parents, it felt like we were a world away from her," said Patten, who said she and her husband also had to pay attention to things like budgeting for gas for the 20-minute drive to and from the hospital. "My husband held her for the first time when she came home." Story continues PHOTO: Gloria Mariselda Patten was discharged from South Texas Health System McAllen after spending 80 days in the NICU. (South Texas Health System) The NICU nurses who cared for Gloria remember the ways Patten stayed connected to her daughter, even when she could not be with her, including calling the nursing station at the start of each shift to check on Gloria. "She provided breast milk all throughout the babys stay and she visited almost every day," said Enedelia Reyna, one of the registered nurses who cared for Gloria. "And they read to the baby all day, which is very important and was heartwarming to watch, to say the least." PHOTO: Alana and Jon Patten's daughter Gloria was born premature, weighing 2 pounds at just 26 weeks old. (Alana Patten) When it came time for Gloria to be discharged from the NICU, Patten said she wanted to celebrate her daughter's incredible achievement of beating the odds. She sewed a graduation cap and gown for Gloria -- because there were none on the market small enough to fit her -- and gave her daughter a strand of pearls to wear. MORE: Nurse plays tic-tac-toe with patient stuck in hospital room Reyna and the other nurses and doctors who cared for Gloria lined the hospital hallways to say goodbye. "This is our first baby who really stayed with us during this new [coronavirus] time," said DeeDee Cantu, a registered nurse and the NICU supervisor. "It was very emotional. There were a lot of tears." PHOTO: Gloria Mariselda Patten was discharged from South Texas Health System McAllen after spending 80 days in the NICU. (South Texas Health System) Gloria now weighs 6 pounds and is breathing on her own, though she did go home with oxygen for extra support, according to Patten. She will be monitored closely by doctors and early childhood specialists to make sure she continues to hit milestones as she grows, but is expected to grow and develop normally. Patten said she and her family plan to stay in touch also with the nurses and doctors who took care of Gloria in the NICU, calling them "part of our family now." "They loved on her. They knew her," she said. "She wasnt just a baby in bed 13. She was Gloria." Baby gets farewell graduation ceremony after 80 days in the NICU originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com (Photo : Screenshot from: Reuters Connect Official Website) NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will most likely be replaced soon. And eventually, a successor will come and take its place even it will still go on for at least another decade. The successor for NASA's Hubble is the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope and they just gave it a new name. Even though the instrument is still in development, it has already been named the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, or Roman Space Telescope for short. Read Also: American Astrophotographer to Capture Clearest Picture of Moon's Craters from Thousands of Lunar Terminator Images NASA's next great space telescope has been named: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Nancy Grace Roman started her work at NASA back in 1959 and died late 2018. She was often called the "Mother of Hubble" because that telescope would have never existed in the first place if it weren't for her and her hard work. Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator has said in a statement, "It is because of Nancy Grace Roman's leadership and vision that NASA became a pioneer in astrophysics and launched Hubble, the world's most powerful and productive space telescope. I can think of no better name for WFIRST, which will be the successor to NASA's Hubble and Webb Telescopes." Born on May 16, 1925, in Tenessee, Nancy Roman gave it all she can whenever challenges came and plagued many of the women in her generation that were interested in science. She came to NASA in 1959 just six months after the agency was established. There she served as the chief of astronomy and relativity where she managed astronomy-related grants and programs. Read Also: Do Female Astronauts Have a Greater Risk for Blood Clots Than Male Astronauts During Spaceflight? Study Examines the Evidence "Through Roman's leadership, NASA launched four Orbiting Astronomical Observatories between 1966 and 1972. She also championed the International Ultraviolet Explorer, which was built in the 1970s as a joint project between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the United Kingdom, as well as the Cosmic Background Explorer, which measured the leftover radiation from the big bang and led to two of its leading scientists receiving the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics," NASA said. The Agency described the new telescope as it was designed to have two instruments which are the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph Instrument. The latter will be performing high contrast imagine and spectroscopy, while the Wide Field Instrument will be having a field of view that is a hundred times greater than the Hubble. This will allow it to capture more of the sky with less time. Nancy Grace Roman was a born leader and advocate, and was dedicated to contributing to NASA however she can in the field of astrophysics. Read Also: NASA's X-37B Space Mission Will Be Joined By Space Force's Solar Power Transmission Test; Microwave Energy Will Be Converted Into Electricity 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell has asked a federal judge to move a civil case brought by one of the pedophile's victims to New Mexico, according to court papers obtained by DailyMail.com. Maxwell made the request in legal papers filed in the Southern District of New York last Thursday, raising new questions about Maxwell's whereabouts. Annie Farmer, who claims Maxwell and Epstein sexually assaulted her aged 16 at the disgraced financier's New Mexico ranch, is seeking damages from Maxwell and Epstein's $634 million estate. But Maxwell argues that Farmer, who is now 40, has brought up her complaint 'years too late' and it should be thrown out. To bolster her argument, Maxwell points out that the alleged assault is said to have occurred in New Mexico, so if the case were to proceed, it should be transferred there. The filing comes as Maxwell has largely been a ghost since Epstein's arrest last summer, as questions about her where she is continue to follow the British socialite. Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell has asked a federal judge to move a civil case brought by one of the pedophile's victims to New Mexico, according to court papers obtained by DailyMail.com. Annie Farmer (left), who claims Maxwell and Epstein sexually assaulted her aged 16 at the disgraced financier's New Mexico ranch, is seeking damages from Maxwell and Epstein's $634 million estate Farmer's suit claims that in the spring of 1996 Maxwell touched her intimate parts against her will during a massage at Epsteins ranch (pictured) and exposed her breasts to Farmer Maxwell was seen in public just once since Epstein was arrested last summer after DailyMail.com exclusively tracked her down to the small coastal town of Manchester-by-the-Sea in Massachusetts. She had been staying at the home of her boyfriend. Her sister, who lives in Texas, was later seen in the area packing up bags. But an image was released of Maxwell in California eating at an In-N-Out location shortly after DailyMail.com revealed that she she had been staying in Massachusetts. Ever since, Maxwell's whereabouts have been largely unknown but she had spent long periods of time at Epstein's Zorro ranch during their years together. Farmer's suit claims that in the spring of 1996 Maxwell touched Farmer's intimate parts against her will during a massage at Epsteins ranch and exposed her breasts to Farmer. In court papers from last week, Maxwell's lawyer states that Farmer's 'complaint is years too late, lacks the required specificity, and is filed in the wrong court.' The filing adds: 'It describes events that allegedly occurred nearly three decades ago, and it details alleged conduct by Mr. Epstein while referring to Ms. Maxwell as an afterthought. 'When the complaint does allege conduct by Ms. Maxwell, it alleges conduct that occurred in New Mexico, not New York. 'This Court, therefore, should dismiss the complaint or transfer the case against Ms. Maxwell to the District of New Mexico.' In court papers from last week, Maxwell's lawyer states that Farmer's 'complaint is years too late, lacks the required specificity, and is filed in the wrong court' Maxwell's lawyer states that Farmer's 1996 claims 'expired sometime in 1999' because New Mexico has a 'three-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions and minors have one year from reaching the age of majority to begin such an action'. Pictured: Farmer as a teen Maxwell's lawyer states that Farmer's 1996 claims 'expired sometime in 1999' because New Mexico has a 'three-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions and minors have one year from reaching the age of majority to begin such an action'. Five days after requesting to move the case to New Mexico, Maxwell's attorney, Laura Menninger asked to delay Farmer's case, saying it could interfere with the ongoing criminal case against the British socialite. The 58-year-old is also under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York after she was accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein. In a letter sent to federal judge, Menninger argued Maxwell's deposition in Farmer's suit could implicate her in the ongoing criminal case. 'The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York has publicly and repeatedly announced its "ongoing" criminal investigation into alleged Epstein "co-conspirators" on the same topic as [Farmer] alleges in this case,' Menninger said. 'Denial of a stay, particularly a stay of Ms. Maxwell's deposition, pending outcome of the criminal investigation could impair her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, extend criminal discovery expose the defense's theory to the prosecution in advance of trial, or otherwise prejudice the criminal case.' Maxwell is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York over allegations she helped facilitate Epstein's sex trafficking ring The lawsuit is just one of several civil cases that have been launched by Epstein's victims following his death last year Farmer's lawyer, David Boises responded to the request on Monday calling it 'meritless' and 'another attempt to unjustifiably delay this litigation.' He also argued Maxwell has not provided enough information on the criminal probe or her relation to it, to ask for delay in her deposition. 'Maxwell therefore cannot use the existence of a criminal investigation to dodge her discovery obligations in this matter, particularly while at the same time refusing to provide any details or reasons as to why the investigation is a reason to stay the action,' he wrote. The lawsuit is just one of several civil cases that have been launched by Epstein's victims following his death last year. Maxwell, meanwhile, has managed to lay low and is believed to be in hiding as the FBI's net closes around Epstein's circle. In March, she sued Epstein's estate claiming she knew nothing about his sex crimes. Maxwell is seeking compensation for legal fees and security costs incurred by her association with Epstein, who committed suicide in prison last year. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has long believed blasting Mars with nuclear warheads would terraform the planet, but a Russian space official is questioning the billionaires ambitious plan. A Twitter user shared Roscosmos executive director Alexander Bloshenko statement that Musk would need 10,000 maximum payload nuclear missiles based on modern-day technology to carry out the proposal. Bloshenkos comments were directed as Musks idea of detonating bombs over both of the Red Planets poles, which would release enough carbon dioxide to warm the atmosphere and transform it to something like Earth. But the billionaire is not one to back down from a challenge and simply replied to the tweet with no problem. Scroll down for video A Twitter user shared Roscosmos executive director Alexander Bloshenko statement that Musk would need 10,000 maximum payload nuclear missiles based on modern-day technology to carry out the proposal. But Elon Musk simple replied 'No problem' Musk has had his heart set on colonizing Mars for quite some time and has a few tricks up his sleeves to make it happen one being nuking the planet. He first revealed the master plan back in 2015 on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, stating that Mars is s is a fixer upper of a planet that could be made by Earth-like if it were warmer. Musk explained that this could be achieved slowly, as gradual release of greenhouse gases would fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide - with the help of nuclear bombs. These weapons of mass destruction emit large amounts of thermal radiation as visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, known as 'flash' when detonated. Bloshenkos (right) comments were directed as Musks (left) idea of detonating bombs over both of the Red Planets poles, which would release enough carbon dioxide to warm the atmosphere and transform it to something like Earth Heat accounts for between 35 and 45 percent of the energy released by the explosion, meaning a massive amount of heat is generated incredibly fast, which could potentially be harnessed to heat up the Martian atmosphere, according to Musk's fledgling theory. However, Bloshenko is not completely sold on the idea and shared his thoughts during an interview with TASS, a Russian news agency. If briefly analyzed, certain plans put forward by SpaceX simply cannot be implemented taking into account the short-term technological developments, Bloshenko said. For example, for a thermonuclear explosion on Mars pole, one of the plans of SpaceX, to have tangible results, more than 10,000 launches of missiles that can carry the largest payloads and are being developed now are needed. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is backing away from his calls to 'Nuke Mars' with a new -- if equally hypothetical -- proposal He continued to explain that humanity does not have the capabilities to alter the climates on Mars or even Venus another planet scientists speculate could be Earth-like. But Musk has been very adamant about sending missiles to Mars. Just last year, the CEO tweeted Nuke Mars, but along with it he included new a proposal to the plan. In a second thread of head-scratching tweets about Mars, Musk advanced a new theory of cultivating the planet for human habitation. This one seems to involve harnessing the suns rays using 'solar reflectors.' 'Might make sense to have thousands of solar reflector satellites to warm Mars vs artificial suns (tbd),' he wrote. While he offered little detail on how the reflectors might actually work, the plan offers an alternative to one reiterated by Musk this past week involving the use of nuclear bombs to heat the planet. Along with making the Red Planet inhabitable for space faring heroes, Musk has also laid out a strategy to get them there by building 1,000 Starships. An Ars Technica reporter took a trip to SpaceX in Texas where they learned the firm could soon develop a new craft every 72 hours to meet the goal. Along with making the Red Planet inhabitable , Musk has also laid out a strategy to get them there by building 1,000 Starships and could soon develop a new craft every 72 hours to meet the goal (pictured is an artist impression of a Starship craft leaving a Mars colony) Mars seems to be Musks white whale, but he has woefully admitted in the past that the feat may not be accomplished before he dies Musk also noted that each ship would be reusable and have a capacity of more than 90,000 pounds. Mars seems to be Musks white whale, but he has woefully admitted in the past that the feat may not be accomplished before he dies. Speaking at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington on Monday, Musk explained that the firm is not progressing as planned and noted it has taken '18 years just to get ready to do the first people in orbit.' 'We've got to improve our rate of innovation or, based on past trends, I am definitely going to be dead before Mars,' Musk said during the discussion. The lack of progress seems to have taken a toll on Musk, who previously said there is a 70 percent chance he will personally take a trip to the Red Planet. A British scammer who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from elderly Australians has been jailed for eight years. Myles Conners and two other men scammed three Sydney residents between January and March last year, posing as tradesmen using the business name 'Jordy's Roof Repairs'. The trio would tell the vulnerable residents their roofs needed repairing, only to then charge them huge amounts of money for fake 'materials'. One 62-year-old woman was scammed out of $524,000 by the group at her home in Denistone West. Myles Conners has been jailed for eight years after scamming three elderly residents into paying for fake roof repairs Conners, who held a fake passport and is believed to be the ring leader, was arrested along with his two accomplices last year then they tried to flee the country. Michael Hickson, 72, was another one of Conners' victims who has since passed away. Mr Hickson was conned into paying the group $42,000 in cash in which they said would go towards 'materials' for his roof. He said the group had even printed out a fake flyer for the business. 'They said they needed it to purchase materials,' he told Nine News after their arrest last year. 'And I believed them. They're scumbags.' Appearing at court, Justice North said the men's behaviour had no doubt caused 'heartache and misery' for their victims. Conners will serve four years in prison in Australia before being deported back to the UK for parole in 2024. Government yet to decide when borders, hotels, cafes and restaurants will fully reopen as operators brace for tough season. Spain and Greece are looking to reopen for tourism this summer but across Europe, the entire sector is preparing for a tough season. While some restrictions are being eased, it is expected to take until 2021 for the number of foreign visitors to rebound. The French government has yet to decide when borders, hotels, restaurants and cafes will fully reopen. Last week the prime minister announced a tourism rescue plan worth more than $19bn. Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler reports from Paris. Beijing slams Iran-related sanctions on Chinese company as 'illegal' Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 5:16 PM China has blasted the United States for its sanctions on a Chinese company over cooperation with Iran's Mahan Air, saying the bans violate international rules on beneficial cooperation between countries. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that the US Treasury had committed an illegal act by banning Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited, a company which Washington has accused of acting on behalf of Iran's Mahan Air. "It is legitimate and legal for parties in the international community to engage in mutually beneficial cooperation with Iran that is in accordance with international law," said Lijian at a regular media briefing. The United States has blacklisted Mahan Air, Iran's largest airline by the number of planes and seats, accusing the carrier of close cooperation with Iran's elite military force the IRGC which is also under US sanctions. Washington has done its utmost to pressure other countries to ban Mahan Air and even to deny it overflight rights. The policy has backfired except for several cases as governments around the world have boosted their cooperation with the Iranian airline. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Wednesday statement that sanctions imposed on Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited, which freezes assets of the company in the US and bars Americans from doing business with it, would force other companies to cease providing services to Mahan Air. However, Chinese spokesman Lijian said Beijing expects the US administration to "correct its mistake" and to lift the bans from the Chinese company. New US sanctions related to Mahan Air comes against the backdrop of reports suggesting that US authorities are extremely frustrated that they have failed to stop recent flights by the airline to Venezuela, a country also slapped with US sanctions which is seeking assistance from Iran to rebuild its energy sector. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Anything you touch is now gone, he said, referring to things such as magazines. We are reducing the number of customers that we would see in a day. Before COVID-19, the salon only booked four to five clients a day, Pruett said. Staff will wear masks the state requires all personal care employees to do so and customers will have the option of having a hand-held mask, he said. I personally feel this virus is with us and its part of our lives now and it may be the new level of health you have to live with in this world, Pruett said. He said many people who die from the coronavirus have underlying health issues that could have been prevented. Medical experts have also noted that young people who dont seem to have any underlying health issues have suffered severe complications from COVID-19. Ive always taken salon safety extremely seriously, he said. Weve been protecting people from HIV, MRSA, seasonal flu for the last 30 years that Ive been doing this. The state comes and checks that were doing that every year. Thats what our license on the wall is for. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 03:09:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), attends a press conference on the NPC session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xin) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China will introduce legislation for its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to safeguard national security. According to an agenda unveiled Thursday, a bill on reviewing a draft decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security will be submitted for deliberation to the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), which will open on Friday. The introduction of the bill came after Hong Kong was embroiled in prolonged riots last year as the city's opposition schemed with external forces in attempts to create a "color revolution." The unrest has laid bare the evident legal loopholes and lack of enforcement mechanisms in Hong Kong concerning national security. Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the NPC session, told a press conference on the eve of the session that the legislative move is "highly necessary." Explaining the consideration for the draft decision, Zhang said safeguarding national security serves the fundamental interests of all Chinese including Hong Kong compatriots. "The HKSAR is an inseparable part of the People's Republic of China, and the NPC is the highest organ of state power," Zhang said. In light of the new circumstances and need, the NPC is exercising the power enshrined in the Constitution to establish and improve at the state level the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security, and to uphold and improve the institutional framework of "one country, two systems," he said. A reporter asks a question during a press conference of the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua) NPC deputies and national political advisors from the HKSAR voiced firm support for the legislative move. Stanley Ng, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said Hong Kong has "very apparent" loopholes and legal vacuum in national security. "There is a pressing need to plug the loopholes," Ng said, adding that the draft decision shows the state has a firm resolve to safeguard national security. Maggie Chan, a lawyer and the founding president of a law firms association in Hong Kong, said it is imperative to set up, enforce and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for Hong Kong to safeguard national security so that it can better play its advantage to fully integrate into the country's development. If such system and mechanisms can be set up, it will be of great significance to safeguarding the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and pushing "one country, two systems" to go steady and far, said national political advisors from the HKSAR. Beyond its hard-hitting rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus, the White House on Wednesday issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report does not signal a shift in US policy, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the report and spoke only on condition of anonymity, but it expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. The media's focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge that's presented by the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report. China's been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didn't happen, he said. We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact. Later in the day, the State Department announced that it had approved the sale of advanced torpedoes to the Taiwanese military, a move sure to draw a rebuke from Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province. The department said it had informed Congress of the $180 million sale of heavy-weight torpedoes, spare parts, support and testing equipment , which will help improve the security of (Taiwan) and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. While pushing back on China, Trump has sometimes uttered contradictory statements. He has talked about having a great personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the virus from spreading across the world. He'll criticize China, then say he wants Beijing to sign Phase II of a trade deal and join the United States and Russia in a three-way nuclear arms control treaty. In the past 20 years, the US believed that if it opened its markets wider, invested more money in China, and provided greater access to top U.S. technology and training for Chinese military officers that somehow this would cause China to liberalize, the official said. Instead, China is more authoritarian than at any time since Beijing killed anti-government protesters on Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its political ideas across the globe. The US and China established diplomatic relations during the Nixon administration. More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China, the report said. Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed. According to the report, the Trump administration sees no value in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry. When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure on China. The latest example of US and China power competition is playing out at the World Health Organization. At the UN health agency's annual assembly this week, Xi joined by video conference to offer more money and support. Meanwhile, Trump railed against the WHO in a letter accusing it of covering up the coronavirus outbreak with China and threatening to permanently halt US funding that has been its main financial lifeblood for years. China also has been engaged in a military buildup, has engaged in cyber hacking and Beijing's pledge to end predatory economic practices is littered with broken and empty promises. China promised during the Obama administration that it would stop government-directed cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain and restated the same promise in the first two years of the Trump administration, the report said. In late 2018, however, the US and a dozen other countries reported that China was hacking computers to target intellectual property and steal business information. Since the 1980s, Beijing has signed multiple international agreements to protect intellectual property. Despite this, more than 63 percent of the world's counterfeits originate in China, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars of damage on legitimate businesses around the world, the report said. Under the Xi government, Chinese officials have purged political opposition; bloggers, activists and lawyers have been unjustly prosecuted; stringent controls have been imposed to censor not only media, but universities, businesses and non-governmental organizations; citizens and corporations have been targeted with surveillance; and people perceived as dissidents have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and abuse. China retains its non-market economic structure and state-led approach to trade and investment, the report said. Political reforms have likewise atrophied or reversed and distinctions between the government and the Chinese Chinese Party are eroding. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While some Torontonians yearn for life outside their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown, Mark Slapinski and his neighbours at a St. James Town highrise are finally able to once again relish the comfort of their apartments almost two years after being displaced by a fire. Although he would have rather not have gone through the ordeal of bunking with friends, family and in temporary abodes such as hotels while his 650 Parliament St., address was repaired, Slapinski is elated not to live a transient life in the midst of a global pandemic. Its better that were back at home than being somewhere else, he said. That would be extremely difficult because it was hard enough going through the fire without a pandemic. Thats a scary thought. He was among the first batch of residents who completed their moves back into the building before mid-March when non-essential businesses were closed across the country and people started preparing for a prolonged stay indoors. We probably were about halfway in getting people moved in when the pandemic hit, but we still managed to get it done, Slapinski said. I got in at the right time. He was among roughly 1,500 tenants who were displaced on Aug. 21, 2018 when a six-alarm fire ravaged the St. James Town highrise. A relocation effort started in early March and saw a handful of residents move in each day, starting with those on the upper-floors of the 22-storey building. While many Torontonians were being urged to stay home last month, Tyrel Olton preparing to move back into his ninth-floor unit for the first time in 20 months, ending stays at six different locations. Being home during the virus is less stressful than having to stay with my parents or having to crash at my friends house, said Olton. Tenants of the building have banded together because of the shared experience, he said, a well-needed morale boost when social distancing and isolation have become a necessity. Everyone is more friendly than they were before, Olton said. The landlord, Wellesley Parliament Square Property Management, confirmed that the final cohort of residents who opted to reoccupy the building,moved in this month. It was completed in May and that was always the intention, said Danny Roth, spokesperson for Wellesley Parliament Square. During the displacement period, management kept an open policy for residents who wanted to break their leases and move on. Tenants of more than 100 units took up the offer. Roth said the reoccupancy is now complete with more than 1,000 residents returning to their suites. Despite the virus, we managed to continue the buildings reoccupancy in a safe manner, Roth said. Though we certainly would have preferred to welcome residents home with a bigger sense of celebration, we were thrilled given current conditions simply just to welcome them home. The six-alarm fire, which did not cause any serious injuries, was later determined to have been caused by a failure in the buildings electrical system. Earlier this year, management estimated the total cost of repairs to be $60 million to $70 million. Restoration work has mainly focused on rebuilding the electrical system as well as plumbing. Many units, like Slapinskis, only needed minor facelifts; others, like Oltons have had kitchens and bathrooms replaced. This has been my home for five years, so its a part of me, Olton said. To have it taken away and then to finally get it back was a relief. Jason Miller is a breaking news reporter for the Star and is based in Toronto. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @millermotionpic T his shocking footage shows the moment a car crashed into a hijab shop in Sydney, injuring 12 people. The SUV hurtled into Hijab House in Greenacre, in the west of the Australian city, at around 6am UK time (3pm local time). Emergency services rushed to the scene where they treated the male driver and 11 pedestrians. Those injured inside the shop were mostly women, aged between 18 and 30, the New South Wales (NSW) ambulance service confirmed. Video shared on social media showed a dark four-wheel-drive, its tyres smoking, pushing into a white sedan before accelerating towards the glass front of the shop. NSW police said the car crashed into another vehicle stopped at traffic lights before smashing into the clothes store. They are now investigating whether the man had suffered a medical episode before the crash, local news outlet SBS News reported. The force said there is currently no indication the crash was terror-related. The driver has been arrested but there have been no charges. "This is obviously quite chaotic, with 10 people injured and a couple of people seriously injured," a police spokesman told reporters. "At this stage we will do some analysis on what caused it. I am grateful that no-one was killed. Very grateful." Hijab House said its community had been left shaken. It said in a Facebook statement: "At approximately 3pm today; a car slammed into our Flagship Store in Greenacre. Alhamdullilah, there are no fatalities at this stage. "A number of our customers and staff members were injured. "The community is shaken and HH management is working to make sense of this tragedy. "At this stage motives are unknown. The important thing is everyone is still alive. "Please avoid the area if you can and if anyone needs support or has questions, feel free to DM or email us. On behalf of everyone at HH, we send our love and dua to all involved including our beautiful staff and customers. #allahuakbar." The incident occurred just days before the start of Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday celebrated by Muslims around the world that marks the end of Ramadan. DUBLIN and LONDON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Fenergo, the leading provider of digital transformation, customer journey and client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions for financial institutions, has been awarded Best KYC Software for Client Onboarding at the A-Team Group's RegTech Insight Awards 2020. The award recognizes Fenergo's Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution for its ability to streamline evolving Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulatory processes, digitalize and accelerate client onboarding while optimizing client experiences. In response to the current market conditions, Fenergo recently launched its cloud-based Remote Account Opening solution that can be quickly deployed to allow banks to digitally onboard new customers while satisfying KYC and AML regulatory requirements. Fenergo's solution crucially enables banks to reduce the time to onboard and rapidly process small business loan applications. Andrew Delaney, Editor in Chief, A-Team Group, said "Our awards are voted for by our readership of over 20,000 senior technology officers and data specialists and are overseen by an independent advisory board. We are delighted that our cross-platform readership clearly rates Fenergo as the Best KYC Software for Client Onboarding in a very competitive field. We congratulate them on their prestigious RegTech Insight Award win". "Fenergo is well placed to help financial institutions solve any regulatory and digital transformation challenge they may face. Now more than ever a digital-first strategy that enables a seamless user experience will be crucial to establishing and maintaining relationships with clients. We will also see a clear shift in the industry towards digital solutions that enable financial institutions to better detect and prevent financial crime," said Conor Coughlan, Chief Marketing Officer at Fenergo. Fenergo's focus is 100 per cent on financial services and its regulatory analysts and R&D team are committed to solving and addressing the challenges faced by financial institutions. Fenergo's clients include more than 80 financial institutions across corporate and institutional banking, commercial, business, and private banking and asset management. This most recent market recognition follows awards by Regulation Asia for Best Solution in Regulatory Change Management, Best KYC and Client Onboarding Solution Award by Asian Private Banker and the award for Best Managed Company in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards. Fenergo was also selected as category leader in the Chartis Research RiskTech100 2020 Report. For further information about awards click here. About Fenergo Fenergo is the digital enabler of client and regulatory technology for financial services. It provides Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) software solutions for Financial Institutions including; Corporate & Institutional Banking, Commercial & Retail Banking, Asset Management, Private Banking & Wealth Management. Counting over 70 global Financial Institutions as clients, its award-winning CLM suite digitally transforms how Financial Institutions manage clients; from initial onboarding to KYC/AML and regulatory compliance, to data management and ongoing lifecycle KYC reviews and refreshes. Fenergo CLM empowers financial institutions to deliver a faster, compliant and digital customer experience while achieving a single client view across channels, products, business lines and jurisdictions. SOURCE Fenergo The Senate has confirmed Texas Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe to be Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, which oversees various spying and national security operations. Mr Ratcliffe was confirmed on a party-line 49-44 vote on Thursday and will replace Richard Grenell, the acting DNI who has headed the office since last summer. Mr Ratcliffe will assume his role at a politically precarious time for the intelligence office, which has been declassifying materials related to the FBI's 2016 counterintelligence investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and handing them over to Republican-controlled Senate committees that are investigating the Obama administration and former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumed 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, Mr Ratcliffe promised to "speak truth to power" and indicated his actions and intelligence reports won't be dictated by the whims of a mercurial president. Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide if confirmed will not be altered or impacted by outside influence, the incoming DNI said at that hearing. Those promises were not enough to sway any Senate Democrats to vote for him, with many citing his prominent public allegiance to Mr Trump and his long history of partisanship in House committees with broad oversight authority. Mr Ratcliffe was assigned to the House Intelligence Committee for this Congress. Democrats, along with a handful of Republicans, tanked Mr Ratcliffe's nomination to the same post last year amid concerns that he had dishonestly exaggerated his resume and has less experience prosecuting terrorism cases than he let on during his first campaign for the House. While Democrats did not vote to confirm Mr Ratcliffe, they could have delayed the vote on his nomination until June. But Mr Grenell, who took over for former DNI Dan Coats last August, is even more unpopular than Mr Ratcliffe. Still, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer did not mince words when expressing his displeasure with Mr Ratcliffe's confirmation vote. The DNI post "requires someone with unimpeachable integrity, deep experience, and the independence and backbone to speak truth to power. That's what Directors of National Intelligence, including the previous one, Dan Coats, did. Unfortunately, Mr. Ratcliffe doesnt even come close to meeting that high bar," Mr Schumer said in his opening floor remarks on Thursday. Republican leaders, meanwhile, were pleased to get Mr Ratcliffe confirmed without Democratic delays so they could continue to other matters mostly confirming other Trump political appointments and filling federal judge positions. "The President will have a Senate-confirmed DNI who can pursue the vital national-security work of our tireless Intelligence Community while also ensuring the IC stays out of politics and out of the papers," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Mr Ratcliffe's new position will thrust him straight away into a politically fraught position: Republican chairmen of the Senate Finance, Judiciary, and Homeland Security Committees are probing multiple threads related to Obama-era intelligence community decisions and actions undertaken by Mr Biden when he was vice president with regard to Ukraine, and have been asking the office of the DNI for declassified materials. The Democratic ranking members of those committees have scorned those investigations as partisan smear jobs with no merit or basis except the president's own unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. "It is such a gross misuse of the power of the majority," Mr Schumer said earlier this week of Republicans' investigations. "Senate Republicans are using their committees to hold fishing expeditions dictated by the presidents twitter feed, which even his supporters don't usually believe," the New York Democrat said. What's new: China's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has announced a national plan (link in Chinese) to improve the country's capacity for prevention and control of infectious diseases, including building more advanced laboratories to boost testing capabilities and expanding medical facilities designated for infectious disease treatment, in an effort to fill in gaps exposed in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak. What's more: NDRC released the plan on Wednesday, a day ahead of China's top annual political meetings starting on Thursday in Beijing, where national lawmakers are gathering to set policy priorities for the year. The country's response to the Covid-19 outbreak, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in central Hubei province and spread across the country, is expected to top the agenda. The plan also directed every provincial government to build up to three bases for major infectious disease treatments, upgrade county-level hospitals and medical equipment, and expand intensive care units (ICU) and convertible inpatient wards. Central government funding and special-purpose local government bonds will be mobilized to support the plan. Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com) The sum of N623 million has been approved by the federal executive council (FEC) for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to purchase computers in all its zonal and area commands. This was made known by Lai Mohammed, minister of information, while speaking with newsmen after the FEC meeting in Abuja on Wednesday. The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has ordered the release of 50 prisoners in the State as efforts to decongest prisons due to Coronavirus pandemic intensifies. Advertisement The governor in a statement issued on Wednesday in Lokoja, the state capital. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says overseas-based, politically-exposed and disgraced elements are responsible for promoting derogatory campaign against Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the agency. In a statement on Wednesday, Dele Oyewale, EFCC head of media and publicity, said the culprits are being investigated for unnerving acts of corruption. The speaker of the house of representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has met with vice president Yemi Osinbajo on proposal to address electricity as a palliative for Nigerians. According to Gbajabiamila who made this known via a statement on his official Twitter handle on Wednesday, he said various options were considered and a decision would be reached soon. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, says Nigerians must continue to comply with measures put in place to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the SGF told Nigerians that their future is now in their hands. The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has urged state governments to consider imams and pastors for palliatives to cushion the effect of COVID-19 measures on them. Ishaq Akintola, MURIC director, gave the suggestion in a statement, saying such move by government will address the agitation to reopen churches and mosques. The arrival of 15 Chinese medical experts to Nigeria has continued to stir controversies as the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the medical team came into the country to help in building and equipping isolation centres. This statement is contrary to that made by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, where he said that the Chinese health workers, were not guests of the Federal Government, but staff of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). According to reports, President Muhammadu Buhari and ministers are attending a virtual Federal Executive Council meeting. President Buhari is attending the meeting from the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai on Tuesday said there is no date yet for easing the lockdown imposed in the state to contain the spread of coronavirus. A total lockdown of the state was ordered by the state government on March 26, 2020, and was extended by another 30 days on April 26, 2020. AUSTIN, TX Words can fail in expressing gratitude to nurses and doctors on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus. One Austin sixth-grader's came up with a gesture of thanks that, while a study in word economy, spoke volumes. The young resident, Lindsay, chose Ascension Seton Medical Center as her muse to arrange 200 small flower vases in the shape of a heart on the lawn fronting the hospital. Each vase also included a note of thanks to staff members. And she didn't limit her gratitude to medical professionals, either. Her gesture also was meant for the unheralded members of the hospital staff too: "I know it takes more than doctors and nurses to be a hospital," she wrote. "There are janitors and cafeteria workers too." Lindsay studies her handiwork. Photo courtesy of Ascension Seton Medical Center. Lindsay told hospital officials of her wish that any staff member from doctors and nurses to cafeteria workers and janitors take a vase of flowers to enjoy. Dr. Bill Kessler thanks Lindsay for her unique thank-you gift to Ascension Seton Medical Center staff members. Photo courtesy of Ascension Seton Medical Center. Flowers are the music of the ground," the American poet Edwin Curran once wrote. "From earths lips spoken without sound. If this be true, Lindsay's gesture is surely a swelling symphony of the human spirit. This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch The Bank of Ghana (BOG) in its written Address dated 8th of May 2020 and Affidavit sworn on 6th May 2020 to the Human Rights Court failed to justify why it used the insufficiency of an alleged GHC30.33 million debt owed by the Government of Ghana to revoke the license of GN Savings. The BOG obviously could not take advantage of extended adjournments of the case filed by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and others in the Human Rights Court Accra granted to them by the presiding judge, Justice Gifty Agyei-Addo. On 30th August 2019, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and others filed motion at the High Court (Human Rights Division) to reverse the revocation of the license of GN Savings claiming that the BOG did not take into account the full value of money owed and due to the company by the Government of Ghana and its agencies. Dr. Nduom and his company have claimed that if even a fraction of what is owed had been paid, GN Savings would have been a very liquid financial enterprise. It will be recalled that Groupe Nduom has consistently claimed that the Government of Ghana and its agencies owe the company over GHC2.2 billion out of which it assigned over GHC900 million to GN Savings. The GHC2.2 billion was arrived at through an independent audit carried out by a reputable accounting and auditing company. This independent audit was carried out at the advice of the Ministry of Finance and at various points involved discussions between the auditor and officials of the Ministry of Finance. It has been the contention that had all the amounts due to GN Savings been taken into proper account, the company would have exceeded the capital requirements of the BOG not as a savings and loans company, but as a universal bank. Surprisingly, the Address and Affidavit of the BOG did not attack the GHC2.2 billion claimed by the Groupe Nduom. Even more so, it betrayed the Ministry of Finance by failing to provide any justification for the GHC 30.33 million contained in a letter from the Ministry of Finance it relied upon to revoke the license. The Central Bank rather made the argument that it was not required to verify the amount in the Ministry of Finance letter. This is an amazing admission from a Central Bank supposedly independent that it used a common letter from a ministry of state to revoke a savings and loans license it had independently granted only a few months earlier in January 2019. Interestingly enough, the BOG variously referred to much higher figures in its submissions to the Court. At some point it made reference to GHC102.73 million owed to Groupe Nduom, then GHC994.2 million in another. The BOG refers to a report that its own Governor admitted to a figure of GHC150 million plus interest at a meeting with representatives of GN Savings. The BOGs submissions refer to a letter allegedly written by the Minister of Finance to the Governor which confirmed a figure owed to Groupe Nduom of GHC644 million plus another GHC900 in uncompleted projects. In all this confusion of different accounts receivables, it is clear that the BOG rather supports the claim made by Dr. Nduom and others that the revocation of the GN Savings license was malicious; that the BOG did not do its homework to ascertain the veracity of the GHC30.33 million contained in the Ministry of Finance letter; that the debts of government and its agencies cannot be disregarded and are as good as cash; and that the decision to revoke the license cannot be justified. To many in the financial sector that have read the submissions of Dr. Nduom and others and the BOG, this case is a clear cut one - the GN Savings license should be restored and an order made by the Court for an independent confirmation of the debt owed by the Government of Ghana and its agencies to the Groupe Nduom companies. Source: Addea Mensah, Email: [email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Matt Lauer debuted a new tattoo with an inspirational quote two days after he penned a scathing critique of fellow journalist Ronan Farrow's coverage of rape allegations against him. The disgraced former host of NBC's Today host was spotted on Thursday while dropping his 13-year-old son, Thijs Lauer, off in Noyack, New York. Inked on his forearm in delicate cursive were the words: 'Hatred corrodes the container it is carried in.' It's unclear when Lauer got the tattoo, but fans were quick to speculate that it could have something to do with his fiery feud with Farrow. The 62-year-old appeared to have taken the quote from former Sen Alan Simpson's eulogy for President George H.W. Bush in December 2018. Simpson, 88, had said: 'You would have wanted [Bush] on your side. He never hated anyone. He knew what his mother and my mother always knew: Hatred corrodes the container it's carried in. The most decent and honorable man I ever met was my friend George Bush.' Matt Lauer debuted a new tattoo with an inspirational quote on Thursday while dropping his 13-year-old son off in Noyack, New York A close up of the tattoo shows the words: 'Hatred corrodes the container it is carried in,' written in delicate cursive Lauer has faced plenty of hatred in recent years. He was abruptly fired from NBC News for sexual misconduct in 2017 after his former colleague Brooke Nevils accused him of raping her in a Sochi hotel room during the Olympics in 2014. He made a rare public statement about the allegations on Tuesday in an op-ed for Mediaite where he slammed Nevils for 'false' claims and labeled Farrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who covered her story, as 'manipulative'. Lauer angrily questioned Farrow's reporting abilities and accused him of 'shoddy journalism' for the way he described Nevils' story in his book Catch and Kill. 'From start to finish Ronan is acting as Brooke's advocate, not as a journalist investigating her claims,' Lauer wrote. He said Farrow broke 'the cardinal rule of journalism' by 'coming to a self-serving conclusion first, and then he sees everything through the prism of that assumption'. The piece came following a New York Times article which asked: 'Is Ronan Farrow Too Good to Be True?' Reporter Ben Smith looked into Farrow's reporting techniques during his investigations into Harvey Weinstein. Several people took to Twitter to criticize Lauer's new ink after the photos surfaced Thursday Fueled by Smith's analysis, Lauer wrote: 'I believe Ronan knew his work on Catch and Kill would receive little in the way of scrutiny, from the very beginning. 'It's the only way to explain why he was so willing to abandon common sense and true fact checking in favor of salacious, and deeply flawed, material. 'I also believe that some of Ronan's sources felt they could make outrageous claims to him, knowing he (and thus their stories) would not be doubted.' Following the publication of the op-ed Farrow tweeted: 'All I'll say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. Catch and Kill was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself.' Nevils tweeted 'DARVO', an acronym used by academics to describe an abuser's behavior. 'The perpetrator or offender may Deny the behavior, Attack the individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim or the whistle-blower into an alleged offender', the University of Oregon's Jennifer J. Freyd says. Lauer, pictured on May 6, questioned Farrow's reporting in an op-ed for Mediaite Lauer accused Farrow (pictured in December) of 'shoddy journalism' for the way he described Nevils' story in his book Catch and Kill Farrow, a former NBC News employee who now works at The New Yorker, won a Pulitzer in 2018 for stories outlining sexual misconduct allegations against former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. In his book Catch and Kill Farrow makes the case that NBC may have shied away from the story because several of its executives and personalities, including Today co-host Lauer, also had sexual harassment allegations in their closets. But Lauer said Tuesday: 'At no time did Brooke Nevils ever use the words "assault" or "rape" in regards to any accusation against me while filing her complaint with NBC in November of 2017. That has been confirmed publicly.' He also hit out at Nevils, saying her allegation of rape against him was 'used to sell books'. He said Tuesday that Farrow had failed to speak with two of Nevils' ex-boyfriends for the purposes of fact checking in his book claims she had made. 'I was also disappointed, but not surprised, that Ronan Farrows overall reporting faced so little scrutiny', Lauer added. 'Until this week's critical reporting by The New York Times, many in the media perceived his work as inherently beyond basic questioning.' Lauer had already denied Nevils claims in an angry and defiant letter released by his lawyer last year and said that his public silence since his firing had been a mistake. Lauer wrote in Tuesday's op-ed: 'I was shaken, but not surprised, that few in the media were willing to thoroughly challenge the accusations against me, or the person making them. 'The rush to judgment was swift. In fact, on the morning I was falsely accused of rape, and before I could even issue a statement, some journalists were already calling my accuser "brave" and "courageous". 'While the presumption of innocence is only guaranteed in a court of law, I felt journalists should have, at the very least, recognized and considered it.' Lauer was abruptly fired by NBC News for sexual misconduct in 2017 after Brooke Nevils, pictured, accused him of rape in a Sochi hotel room during the Olympics in 2014 Matt Lauer has been terminated from NBC News. On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. As a result, weve decided to terminate his employment. pic.twitter.com/1A3UAZpvPb TODAY (@TODAYshow) November 29, 2017 On Tuesday he said Farrow 'consistently failed to confirm stories', 'failed to provide evidence of important communications he alleges took place between accusers and me' and 'used misleading language to manipulate readers'. Lauer says Farrow also 'routinely presented stories in a way that would suit his activist goals'. Answering claims he had a button under his desk to open and close his door, Lauer said Tuesday: 'Ronan writes that an unnamed female colleague had sex with me in my office after I pressed a button that remotely shut the door. (At least he stayed away from the myth that I had a button that could lock someone in my office a fact that NBC has publicly debunked.) 'He writes that during the sexual encounter, "She passed out. Lauers assistant took her to a nurse". 'Had he called my assistant, she would have told him that she never took anyone to the nurse, who had any kind of medical issue, while in my office. Ever. Following the publication of the op-ed Farrow tweeted: 'All Ill say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. Catch and Kill was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself' Nevils tweeted: 'DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender' on Tuesday after the op-ed was published Farrow's book said Nevils met her boss for drinks one night and Lauer joined them. Nevils said she had six shots of vodka and wound up going to Lauer's room. She said that Lauer pushed her onto a bed and asked if she liked anal sex. Nevils said she declined several times, but then Lauer 'just did it.' She described the encounter as 'excruciatingly painful'. 'It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,' Nevils told Farrow. 'It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn't want to have anal sex.' In his open letter last year, Lauer admitted to his extramarital affair with Nevils. He said on that night in Sochi that they performed a variety of sexual acts but it was consensual. 'She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner,' he wrote. 'At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do.' He claimed they had an affair that lasted after they returned to the United States. Nevils described the sex as 'transactional' and that she feared the effect Lauer could have on her career. In one case, she told Farrow that she had asked Lauer for help recording a goodbye video for a friend leaving NBC. He told her he'd do it in his office, and then demanded oral sex, Farrow wrote in the book, 'Catch and Kill.' Nevils said she felt she had to do something to protect other women at NBC News, leading to her filing the complaint against Lauer in November 2017. 'Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time,' NBC News said in a statement. 'That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.' 'From start to finish Ronan is acting as Brookes advocate', Lauer , pictured, said of Farrow NBC said then that Lauer had been fired for 'inappropriate sexual conduct.' The specific rape allegation did not become public until Variety reported that Nevils spoke to Farrow. Farrow indicated that Lauer's behavior was an open secret at NBC. He quoted Lauer's former co-anchor Ann Curry who left 'Today' on bad terms with Lauer saying she had told NBC executives that Lauer 'had a problem with women' and they had to keep an eye on him. Farrow said he'd learned of seven claims of sexual misconduct raised by women who worked with Lauer. 'Several said they had told colleagues, and believed the network knew about the problem,' he wrote. Nevils, pictured, said she felt she had to do something to protect other women at NBC News, leading to her filing the complaint against Lauer in November 2017 He quoted a former production assistant, Addie Collins, who told him Lauer aggressively pursued her in 2000 and 'ordered' her to perform sexual favors. 'She'd consented, but it had made her feel sick, afraid for her job, afraid of retaliation,' Farrow wrote. Lauer said that he had never assaulted anyone or forced anyone to have sex. In his letter, he said he ended his relationship with Nevils 'poorly,' but that 'being upset or having second thoughts does not give anyone the right to make false accusations years later.' Lauer acknowledged other extramarital encounters, and criticized the women involved for having 'abandoned shared responsibility' for the affairs to shield themselves from blame behind false allegations. 'They have avoided having to look at a boyfriend, a husband or a child in the eye and say, 'I cheated,' Lauer said. 'And I will no longer provide them the shelter of my silence.' More than 3,000 migrant workers, many of them from north India and employed in districts across Karnataka, assembled near the city's Palace Grounds in the wee hours of Wednesday to board a Shramik Special Train with a seating capacity of 1,700. The train was bound for Haridwar, Uttarakhand and was scheduled to depart on Wednesday evening, the Times of India reported. The migrant workers, wanting to go home, stood for close to ten hours in the sweltering heat. Some managed to get on the train that left from the Cantonment station at 8 pm. But many couldnt board it. Several workers were employed as cooking staff in hotels in various parts of the states, primarily Udupi, Belagavi and Mangaluru, the report added. The group included 50 women and children. My friends and I paid Rs 25,000 for a taxi ride from Gokak, Belagavi to Bengaluru hoping to find a seat in the train, Narendra Singh, a cook, with multiple leg injuries told ToI. Several migrant workers have fallen sick or died on their way home, either from exhaustion or in accidents, highlighting the risks the poor have been exposed to since the lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus was announced in March. "I came from Udupi on Tuesday by asking rides and paying people en route. I have been waiting here since 4 am, Manoj Negi, another migrant worker from Pithoragarh was quoted as saying. Police officials were grappling with the situation, trying to contain the crowd. Several migrants had registered online and had received text messages from the Uttarakhand government. A few, had not been granted permission but had come to try and secure a seat. Those queuing included workers from Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. In some respite, around 1,700 people, majority of them headed to Uttarakhand were packed into busses taken to Cantonment railway station. The remaining, carrying their belongings, walked back to their camps. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category These indictments were handed down by the Henry County Circuit Court grand jury this week. There were 138 total indictments 69 direct indictments and 69 regular indictments. Addresses of those indicted were not provided. Indictments reflect the charges as provided and do not mean guilt. Direct indictments James Michael ONeal King, 39, possess methamphetamine, drive suspended 2nd offense, unsafe lane change, Jan. 2. Kevin Lee Smith, 44, practice as contractor without a license, operate business without license between Aug. 19, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2019, grand larceny of Spencer-Penn Centre between Nov. 29, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2017. Bradley Franklin Ferguson, 41, possess sawed-off shotgun, Jan. 1. Johnny Lee McBride, 33, possess sawed-off shotgun, Jan. 1. Misty Hopkins Austin Moore, 46, obtain money by false pretense from TitleMax on Nov. 21, false statement to obtain a loan, obtain money by false pretense at Fast Auto Loans on Jan. 13. Tracy Allen Adkins, 33, petit larceny 3rd or subsequent offense on Nov. 14. Petit larceny 3rd or subsequent offense on Nov. 16. Homer Robert Sebastian, Jr. 59, false statement to a firearm dealer on Aug. 3. Laura Elizabeth Parnell, 51, possess hydromorphone, possess methamphetamine on Nov. 2. Chelsey Jhenine Wade, 30, contributing to the delinquency of a minor between Jan. 1 and Feb. 19. Zachary Andrew Shoup, 29, possess fentanyl, possess amphetamine, possess buprenorphine and naloxone on Nov. 5. Bobby William Murphy, 42, possess heroin with intent to distribute, possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possess cocaine with intent to distribute, possess marijuana on Sept. 5. Derrick Dwayne Ratcliff, 19, break and enter building with intent to commit larceny, grand larceny at Blackberry Baptist Church on Sept. 23. Collin Joshua Russell, 37, break and enter building with intent to commit larceny, grand larceny at Blackberry Baptist Church on Sept. 23. Thomas Joe Braxton III, 37, possess heroin with intent to distribute, possess firearm while possessing heroin on Jan. 1. Jeremy Allen Willis, 26, rape of a child under the age of 13 on Oct. 5, 2018. Brandon David Bowles, 38, possess methamphetamine on Oct. 23. Eric Monte Reynolds, 50, possess cocaine, possess firearm while possessing cocaine on Oct. 7. Larry Thomas Crotts, 73, object sexual penetration of a child under the age of 13, aggravated sexual battery, indecent liberties with a child under the age of 15 between Dec. 1, 2017 and March 30. Vershonda Tamika Renne Lewis, 36, use computer to commit larceny from Henry County PSA on Oct. 8, use computer to commit larceny from Verizon Wireless on Oct. 15 and Nov. 10, use computer to commit larceny from Credit One on Nov. 6 and Nov. 8. Ronnie Eugene Tunstall, 59, distribute cocaine 3rd or subsequent offense on March 6 and March 14. Anthony Brian Mitchell, 39, possess heroin on Oct. 26. Sierra Shauntel Jones, 23, contribute to the delinquency of a minor on March 30, April 1, April 4, permit serious injury to child on April 1 and April 4. Indecent liberties with a minor on April 4. Alan Jax Wagoner, 42, carry concealed weapon 2nd offense on Jan. 26. Bradley Franklin Ferguson, 40, two counts of break and enter dwelling with intent, grand larceny between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26. Heather Marie Toufas, 30, two counts of break and enter dwelling with intent, grand larceny between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26. Darold Shane Smith, 29, two counts of grand larceny of a motor vehicle, three counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, five county of felony destruction of property, petit larceny 3rd or subsequent offense on May 20, 2019. Regular indictments Megan Nicole Dalton, 26, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on Sept. 8. Joshua Samuel Fitzgerald, 47, assault and batter family/household member 3rd or subsequent offense on Jan. 1. Nelious Conrod Waller, 56, felonious violation of the habitual offender act 2nd or subsequent offense on Nov. 16. Kurt (NMN) Davis Jr., 30, robbery use of a deadly weapon on Dec. 12. Alicia Jenine White, 35, embezzlement 3rd or subsequent offense of Fraternal Order of Eagles between Nov. 5 and Nov. 17. Bradley Franklin Ferguson, 40, break and enter building with intent to commit larceny, two counts of grand larceny and grand larceny of a firearm between Dec. 24 and Dec. 26. Isaiah Catrell Hairston, 18, four counts of credit card theft, attempted credit card fraud on Jan. 10. Donald Ray Moore, 48, felony fail to appear on Dec. 4. Alia Martin Viles aka Alia Nicole Perkins, 36, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense at WalMart on Jan. 5. Thomas Joe Braxton III, 37, attempted capital murder of a law enforcement officer, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony 2nd or subsequent offense, possess firearm by violent felon, elude police speed 20 mph or more over limit on Jan. 1. Brandon Lee Moxley, 35, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense at Deluxe Pawn on Nov. 18. Michael Larry Prunty, 57, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense at Rural King on Dec. 4. Kenneth Austin Tatum, 26, elude police speed 20 mph or more over limit on Jan. 10. Christopher Ray East, 30, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense at Ace Hardware. Darius Montray Ellis, 27, strangulation on Dec. 9. Strother Talbert Fulcher III, 37, felon carrying a concealed weapon on Jan. 30. Justin Lee Lusk, 29, assault and batter family/household member 3rd or subsequent offense between Jan. 7 and Jan. 8. Jeremy Allen Willis, 26, two counts of carnal knowledge of a child 13 years of age or older but under 15 years of age on Dec. 28. Christopher Michael Fackler, 34, malicious wounding on Dec. 10. Alfred Lee Ward Jr., 28, grand larceny of a motor vehicle, larceny with intent to sell/distribute on Jan. 17, 2019. James Morris Adkins, 35, felony fail to appear on Dec. 4. Michael Thomas Brown, 45, felon carrying a concealed weapon on Dec. 23, four counts of felony fail to appear on Oct. 16. Christopher Ray East, 31, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense on Dec. 31, felony shoplifting on Jan. 3, Jan. 17 and Feb. 1 at Rural King. James Antonio Philpott, 43, assault and batter law enforcement officer on Aug. 2. Christopher Wayne Bowman, 32, grand larceny of a motor vehicle on Sept. 21, felony fail to appear on Dec. 16. Travis Lamont Hairston, 31, distribute cocaine 3rd or subsequent offense on June 6 and June 25. Jordan Thomas Hall, 31, three counts of felony fail to appear on Feb. 14. Kaylee Irene Minish, 30, three counts of felony fail to appear on March 4. James Eric Tyndall, 44, grand larceny of a motor vehicle on Nov. 16. Glynn Ocie Camp, 42, break and enter building with intent to commit larceny, felony destruction of property at Rangley Market on Jan. 13. Charles Junior McMillan, 32, possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possess firearm by violent felon, possess firearm while possessing methamphetamine on Feb. 16. Diagano Vittorio Bellano, 49, robbery, break and enter building with intent on Dec. 12. Thomas Eugene Doran, 67, robbery, break and enter building with intent on Dec. 12. Thomas Christopher McDowell, 36, second-degree murder, possess firearm by violent felon, use of firearm in the commission of a felony. Daniel Richard Spencer III, 42, shoplifting 3rd or subsequent offense on Feb. 1 and Feb. 5 at Family Dollar. Christina Ann Goins, 43, elude police speed 20 mph or more over limit on Jan. 30. Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at 276-638-8801, Ext. 236. Follow him @billdwyatt Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at 276-638-8801, Ext. 236. Follow him @billdwyatt Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks the press at the State Department in Washington, DC, on May 20, 2020. China said on Thursday U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is "blackmailing" the Hong Kong government with the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and that Washington's recent actions amount to blatant interference on China's internal affairs. Pompeo said on Wednesday the recent treatment of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong makes it harder to assess whether the territory remains highly autonomous from China, a requirement for special treatments the city gets under American law. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry's office of the commissioner to Hong Kong said in a statement Pompeo's actions cannot scare the Chinese people and that Beijing will safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests. Pompeo said a congressionally mandated State Department assessment as to whether the former British colony has such a degree of autonomy was still pending. "We are closely watching what's going on there," he told a news conference. Pompeo said pro-democracy lawmakers had been "manhandled" this week while trying to stop what he characterized as procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators, and added: "Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China." Pompeo announced on May 6 he was delaying the report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial center. He said this was to account for any actions Beijing might contemplate ahead of China's National People's Congress this Friday. On Sunday, Pompeo said he believed China had threatened to interfere with the work of U.S. journalists in Hong Kong, and warned Beijing that any decision impinging on Hong Kong's autonomy could affect the American assessment. U.S.-China tensions have spiked in recent weeks, with Pompeo and President Donald Trump slamming Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, in which the United States has been hardest hit. "This plague has cost roughly 90,000 American lives, more than 36 million Americans have lost their jobs since March; globally 300,000 lives. Could be as much as $9 trillion, according to our estimates, cost imposition on the world of the Chinese Communist Party's failures," Pompeo said. CNBC contributed to this report. Phone, wallet, keysand now, face mask. The most recent addition to our to-go checklist looks like it wont be going anywhere anytime soon, for us or for hamsters. Now that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all Americans cover their mouths and noses in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, pillars in the fashion industry like Christian Siriano and Louis Vuitton have retooled their operations to produce masks and gowns for front-line workers, while other designers are marketing to consumers instead. Advertisement Where there were few stylish choices for the masses just a few months ago, there are now so many fashion masks that a highly scientific ranking is in order. We based ours on a careful formula that factors in aesthetic, breathability, creativity, and ear-loopiness. Bonus points are awarded if the creator is offering a buy one, give one scheme to benefit essential workers or donating part of the proceeds to charity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement OK, Disney is not technically a fashion house, but they do own, like, everything, and I consider that a good reason to put them on this list. Their market dominance is still not enough to earn them anything but last in show for their pack of Star Wars masks. The only mask of the bunch worth buying, the one with Baby Yoda sipping soup, is unfortunately designed so that he looks like green ALF, snout and all. Baby Yoda deserves better and so do you. Advertisement Clothmyths is not exactly haute couture, but after seeing an ad for this mask-bandanna-balaclava thing, I simply had to include it. While I give whatever this is points for having the same print as every single item sold at the mall kiosks of my youth, it loses 10 times as many points for combining the sweaty-necked inconvenience of a scarf you wear because you forgot to bring your mask to the grocery store with the loops of regular masks that hurt your ears after a few minutes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At first glance, the face mask made by Kim Kardashian Wests shapewear company Skims (nee Kimono) looks entirely innocuous. Theres not a whole lot going on here, nor is there much to find fault with, and the company is donating 10,000 masks to charities. All fine and dandy. However, the rollout of these masks earns them a spot below their mediocre but serviceable compatriots: In her initial tweet announcing the launch of the masks, Kardashian West stated that they were available in shades of nudeexcept that the shade of nude available for the darker-skinned model is jet black. So close, Kim. So close. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Madewell and Reformations masks belong in the same aggressively fine category. Both these stores made sure to advertise the fact that since their masks are made from leftover fabric scraps, theres no knowing which pattern you might receive. While this fashion gamble is marketed as a fun, limited-edition, one-of-a-kind feature, Im deducting points for lack of consistency. Advertisement Advertisement Next up is another tie. Lilly Pulitzer and Vera Bradleys chipper prints both remind me of going to high school in the suburbs of Dallas, so, due to unpleasant memories, I cant rank them too highly. Nor, to be frank, can I really distinguish between the two brands, though Vera Bradleys comes with a nifty activated carbon filter that filters out everything from pollen to pollution, which is an asset to me and anyone else who suffers from seasonal allergies. Theyre also both currently sold out of all their masks, so clearly, theyre doing something right. Advertisement Now were getting into the fun ones. Lingerie brand Cosabella is selling a mask that, at first glance, seems like a leftover strip from a pair of very nice Italian lace underwear. However, because lace doesnt actually provide much protection from anything, it is double lined, which means it is probably very hot and likely to get damp from breath condensation. This is a mask made for aesthetics, not for activity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More lace! And sequins! And whimsical impracticality! Bridal designer Katie Mays lace mask, which looks like a single bra cup affixed to your face, renders the wearer a cross between a dominatrix and a very fancy Bane from The Dark Knight Rises. It not only gets points for bringing a level of class to the wearers villainy, but for having head straps so that buyers dont have to fiddle with irritating ear loops. Even better, a portion of the proceeds go to No Kid Hungry. Points are deducted for being double-lined and thus having the same sweaty problem as Cosabellas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lirika Matoshis face masks look like theyre made from the scraps of flower girl gowns, and I love it. Because it would be physically impossible not to smile at someone coming toward you wearing a mask with tiny sequin strawberries, this mask gets extra points for not only benefiting the wearer but society at large. Advertisement Advertisement This mask is a work of art. It is also $80. Im sure hand embroidery takes a lot of time and skill, and Roopa Pemmaraju works with artisans in Bangalore, India, and pays them above average wages. Still, paying $80 for a mask reminds me of how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the coronavirus is the great equalizer when it in fact is only throwing our deep societal inequities into sharper relief. Also, it seems like it would be difficult to breathe through. Still, if youre going to spend $80 on a mask, let it be this beautiful one. Advertisement Advertisement I love this utterly ridiculous fashion mask from Collina Strada with all my heart, not least because for every one of these $100 masks Collina Strada sells, it provides five to health care workers in New York. The fashion brand is also giving out masks for free to those who are sick who reach out to them directly. But back to the mask itself. From its giant floppy bows to patterns so loud they might as well be screaming to the fact that theres an opening to add a filter to it, this design more than earns its No. 1 spot. Wildlife is reclaiming their homes in national parks across the US, as humans are banned from visiting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pronghorn antelopes are roaming in the lowlands of Death Valley, the population of black bears has quadrupled in Yosemite and bobcats and deer are congregating around buildings and roadways. However, parts of the US have begun to reopen, leaving officials to wonder what is in store for these wild creatures once parks are teeming with visitors. Researchers have offered up solutions that include moving the animals to safe locations away from people or limiting the amount of visitors allowed in each day. Scroll down for video Pronghorn antelopes (pictured)are roaming in the lowlands of Death Valley, the population of black bears has quadrupled in Yosemite and bobcats and deer are congregating around buildings and roadways Earlier this month, officials at Death Valley national park, located in California, spotted a pronghorn antelope basking in the sun at lower levels of the park a display that has never been seen before, The Guardian reports. Kati Schmidt, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, told The Guardian: This is something we havent seen in our lifetimes. Weve known theyre in some of the higher elevation areas of Death Valley but as far as were aware theyve never been documented this low in the park, near park headquarters. The rare sighting is just one of many since national parks across the US closed their gates two months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, officials at Death Valley national park (pictured), located in California, spotted a pronghorn antelope basking in the sun at lower levels of the park a display that has never been seen before Yosemite National Park has also seen its fair share of wildlife that that usually sits in the corridors of the forest. More than 730,000 people flock to the park starting in March through May and many travel through the area by car. However, Yosemite closed its doors on March 20 until further notice in a statement that reads: The health and safety of our visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners at Yosemite National Park is our number one priority. 'The National Park Service (NPS) is working with the federal, state, and local authorities to closely monitor the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.' Ranger Katie, a biologist who's worked with black bears for over a decade, said in a Facebook live stream video that the animals are now having a 'party' since humans have been barred from visiting. There can be literally walls of cars, stop-and-go traffic or people in the park,' she said. An influx of coyotes, bobcats and bears that usually sit in the 'corridors' of the forest but have been spotted throughout Yosemite village. The population of black bears (pictured) in the open valley has also quadrupled since the park closed March 20 Healthy bobcats are congregating around buildings and along roadways now that they do not feel threatened by humans 'So, for the bears, they normally have to pick through these little corridors that they have to move through in the valley to get from Point A to Point B. ... Now, that there are no people the bears are literally just walking down the road to get to where they need to go, which is kind of cool to see.' Park rangers have also witnessed healthy-looking coyotes and bobcats also hanging around the cabins and apartments of employees who live on the park grounds. Dane Peterson, who works in Yosemite Village, said: 'The bear population has quadrupled.' 'It's not like they aren't usually here.' 'It's that they usually hang back at the edges, or move in the shadows.' Similar sightings have been reported in in other national parks including Rocky Mountain, in Colorado, and Yellowstone, located in Wyoming. Yosemite National Park (pictured) has also seen its fair share of wildlife that that usually sits in the corridors of the forest. More than 730,000 people flock to the park starting in March through May and many travel through the area by car Now, parts of the US have begun their re-opening phases in order to bring back normalcy to the country and reignite the economy leaving park officials to work on their own reopening plan for the parks. Pomona College professor Dr. Char Miller told LAMag: If I were a park ranger, what Id be worried about, is that the longer that the bears, for example, are aware that this is now their space again. 'Theyre not going to be happy when we come back. So I would imagine that bear-human interactions will be rough for a period of time. Miller explains that killing the creatures is not an option, but the best strategy would be to move them to safety away from humans. Which is kind of ironic given these spaces are supposed to be preserved for nature and we just visit, he said. Another part of the intricate plan could be closing the gates after a certain amount of people have entered the park. Parks could also reduce the number of days and hours they are open to the public, as well as cut off access to certain areas that are known to have the most wildlife. If the goal is really to protect these natural spaces as they seem to have been at another time, then I would slow the numbers down, said Miller. And its very easy to do. You just drop the gate. The Stud isnt dead. Its just moving on. San Franciscos longest standing, cooperatively owned LGBTQ+ bar will be vacating its present location on 9th St. in SoMa, where the nightlife venue has served as a hub for drag and burlesque, leather and karaoke since 1987. The bar will cease operations at the end of the month, co-owner and RuPauls Drag Race alum Honey Mahogany said during a press conference on Thursday afternoon. I know that there has been a lot of confusion and panic over the last 24 hours, and that certainly wasnt the way we wanted it to go, said Mahogany. A press release shared late Wednesday evening by the Stud collective relayed the bar would be permanently closing due to a lack of revenue during the pandemic and economic shutdown. What the original announcement didnt specify was that the bar plans to live on: as a virtual presence through its weekly online drag shows and history podcast, and when the current crisis ends, in a new physical space. This is real, said Mahogany. There is no plan currently to move it to another venue. We dont have any contract in hand. But one thing I do know is that we really are committed to continuing the legacy of the Stud, and we absolutely plan on finding a forever home. The collective of 17 people took over the Stud in 2016, saving the bar from extinction after it experienced a massive rent hike. But according to ownership, their landlord had extended the lease year after year and they knew it wouldnt be a permanent stay. As the pandemic forced the Stud to close its doors, the empty building continued to accrue debt. Leaving the current space is a move that will save the co-op tens of thousands of dollars as they prepare for the future. Constructing a new venue from the ground up is a possibility the collective is considering, but it's an effort that would cost them between $500,000 and $700,000. It was not an easy decision, said VivvyAnne Forevermore, a drag queen and worker-owner at the Stud. It is painful and sad and theres a lot of feelings about it, even within ownership and staff. Its a deep loss for us. Many beautiful things have happened there. It survived the AIDS epidemic, and now its the COVID pandemic thats forcing us to close. Over the years, the Stud was at the center of San Franciscos queer nightlife culture, hosting the likes of Sylvester, Etta James and Lady Gaga. Electronic composer Patrick Cowley recorded an album there. It was one of several bars in the neighborhood that would eventually become the Leather District. But in 1966, original owners George Mason and Alexis Muir the grandniece of John Muir carved out a space in the local queer community for drag queens and gender non-conforming individuals at a time when many of them were not allowed in gay bars. When the Stud's original location opened on Folsom Street, Muir placed a sign above the door that read, Everyone is welcome here a statement that became a rallying cry for five and a half decades worth of the citys counterculture. The Stud was and is a second home for so many people, Supervisor Matt Haney said during the press conference, joined by Sen. Scott Wiener. Our city will never be the same. I will do everything in my power to make sure the Stud returns. The venue will be eulogized with an online drag funeral on May 31, where the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will deliver a "goodbye blessing." Jinkx Monsoon, Alaska, Peaches Christ and Heklina are also slated to perform. Attendees will be encouraged to wear black or sequins, feathers and rhinestones. "We're drag queens, so we're gonna do it in style," said Mahogany. MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Amanda Bartlett is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: amanda.bartlett@sfgate.com | Twitter: @byabartlett When a group of villagers in the Ecuadorian fishing community of El Real came down with coughs and fevers in early April, nobody was sure if they had the coronavirus - and no health workers were available to diagnose or treat them. Their local doctor, like many of rural Ecuador's health workers, had been transferred to the country's biggest city, Guayaquil. There, the Covid-19 pandemic had overwhelmed hospitals and left authorities struggling to collect bodies. The villagers say they were only able to provide traditional remedies such as lemon and eucalyptus to the ill, 11 of whom died of what residents believe was the coronavirus. Their actual cause of death remains unknown because they were never tested. "We practically give them first aid with natural medicine. We don't have a health centre and I think that's why we have had those deaths," said Manuel Cruz (37), an artisanal fisherman who now spends much of his time helping other villagers get healthcare. "I ask the authorities to pay attention to those of us in remote areas," said Mr Cruz, who said that El Real usually records only two deaths in an entire year. Several settlements along the South American nation's Pacific Coast are facing similar situations, according to interviews with residents. In some 90 small coastal settlements that live off artisanal fishing and crabbing, residents say that doctors who had for years been assigned by the government to provide rural health services were sent away and have not returned. The situation suggests that moving doctors to cities may have exacerbated the impact of the disease in rural areas, where poverty is significantly greater and access to healthcare much more precarious. The health ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In early April, the government said it transferred almost 100 doctors from rural areas to hospitals in Guayaquil and other cities. "We are unprotected because the doctors have not come down for two months. They must be working in Guayaquil by now," said Angela Chalen (31), who lives by collecting crab and oyster. Authorities say Guayaquil's outbreak is coming under control but that the pandemic is expanding in the highland capital of Quito. Ecuador has officially reported more than 34,000 coronavirus cases and some 2,800 deaths, but authorities acknowledge both figures are likely significant underestimates because the health system is overstretched and many people died before they could be tested. [May 21, 2020] KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to WFCM 2020-C56 Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) is pleased to announce the assignment of preliminary ratings to 17 classes of WFCM 2020-C56, a $731.1 million CMBS conduit transaction collateralized by 44 commercial mortgage loans secured by 64 properties. The collateral properties are located throughout 30 MSAs, the largest three of which are New York (16.4%), East Bay (11.7%), and Dallas - Fort Worth (8.8%). The pool has exposure to all of the major property types, with two types representing more than 10% of the pool balance: multifamily (43.2%) and office (23.1%). The loans have principal balances ranging from $2.2 million to $52.7 million for the largest loan in the pool, Supor Industrial Portfolio (7.2%), is comprised of 27.1 acres of land underlying two industrial warehouses located in Harrison, New Jersey, approximately two miles northeast of the Newark CBD and 10 miles west of Manhattan. The assets together comprise 610,650 sf. The five largest loans, which also include The Grid (7.2%), KPMG Plaza at Hall Arts (6.0%), Panoramic Berkeley (5.7%), and Solitude at Centennial (4.9%), represent 30.9% of the initial pool balance, while the top 10 loans represent 51.4%. KBRA's analysis of the transaction incorporated our multi-borrower rating process that begins with our analysts' evaluation of the underlying collateral properties' financial and operating performance, which determine KBRA's estimate of sustainable net cash flow (KNCF) and KBRA value using our U.S. CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology. On an aggregate basis, KNCF was 8.4% less than the issuer cash flow. KBRA capitalization rates were applied to each asset's KNCF to derive values that were, on an aggregate basis, 42.3% less than third party appraisal values. The pool has an in-trust KLTV of 101.4% and an all-in KLTV of 111.1%. The model deploys rent and occupancy stresses, probability of default regressions, and loss given default calculations to determine losses for each collateral loan that are then used to assign our credit ratings. Click here to view the report. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here. Related Publications WFCM 2020-C56 KBRA Conduit KCAT U.S. CMBS Multi-Borrower Rating Methodology U.S. CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology Methodology for Rating Interest-Only Certificates in CMBS Transactions Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology Disclosures Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above. A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form located here. Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at www.kbra.com. About KBRA KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered as an NRSRO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider and is a certified Credit Rating Agency (CRA) with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered with ESMA as a CRA. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005684/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 21 May Angel Locsin is revealed to be one of the celebrities who would be joining the 2020 Shop & Share project, a fundraiser whose mission is to produce test kits for COVID-19. The actress shared the news on social media with a message from the organiser that read, "These are hard times, truly frightening times for the Filipino people, especially with corona virus cases still on the rise. Many have been doing their part in trying to give hope or just to make each day easier for those who are in need. And the hard truth is they will remain in need as Covid-19 remains the invisible enemy amongst us changing our lives and sadly disrupting livelihoods." "We would like to revisit the idea of artists coming together and helping those who need it the most. This time, with the funds we raise, we would like to purchase test kits and allow testing opportunities for the poorer sectors in the hopes of helping out in the efforts to provide mass testing in the country. Yes, in support of mass testing. Because in this way we can make a higher impact, by pushing the TEST-TRACE-ISOLATE/TREAT formula that is the only proven way to defeat the virus." The initiative was first introduced in 2009 in an effort to help those affected by Typhoon Ondoy. At the time, Shop & Share worked with various artistes who auctioned off their many personal items including designer bags, clothes, and jewellery to raise money for the people in need through the Philippine Red Cross. "If you are keen please do let us know. We do hope you can join us as we all work together to help flatten the curve in the Philippines in our little way," the statement added. Among other celebrities who will be joining this year's initiative include Angelica Panganiban, Bea Alonzo, Kathryn Bernardo, Richard Gutierrez, and Dingdong Dantes. (Photo Source: Angel Locsin Instagram) Scientists do not have the technology yet to rebuild someone with bionic body parts. But the new bionic eye technology developed brings cyborgs one step closer to reality. They said that they had created a proof-of-concept bionic eye that could surpass the sensitivity of the human eye. In an interview with Science News, Zhiyong Fan, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said that this new technology could be used for better vision prostheses and humanoid robotics in the future. A detailed paper about the bionic eye is published in the prestigious journal Nature, describing that the eye is a three-dimensional artificial retina that features a highly dense array of extremely light-sensitive nanowires. Fan and his research team installed tiny sensors made of perovskite-a light-sensitive material that has been in use for solar cells- to a curved aluminum oxide membrane. These wires mimic the brain's visual cortex, which sends the visual information gathered by these sensors to a computer for processing. Bionic Eye 2020 Night Vision Capability A human eye owes its wide field of view and high-resolution eyesight to the dome-shaped retina, which is located at the back of the eyeball covered in light-detecting cells. To mimic this, the researchers used very sensitive nanowires that could surpass the real eye's wavelength range, which allows it to respond to 800-nanometer wavelengths, the threshold between visible light and infrared radiation. That means that the new bionic eye has night vision capability when the human eye can no longer keep up. Fan told Inverse that, "a human user of the artificial eye will gain night vision capability," Furthermore, the scientists also claim that it can react changes in light quicker than the real human eye. It adjusts to changing conditions in a fraction of the time of about 30 to 40 milliseconds, rather than 40 to 150 milliseconds. According to the paper, each square of the artificial retina can hold about 460 million nanosize sensors. That is a lot compared to the 10 million retina cells in the human eye. Meaning, the bionic eye could indeed surpass the visual fidelity of a real eye. Read Also: Scientists Use Brain-Computer Interface to Study How Memory is Recorded as We Sleep, First Time in History How Successful is the Bionic Eye High-Resolution Vision? For the bionic eye to have a high-resolution vision, Fan and his team attached one by one, a small array of metal needles that are 20 to 100 micrometers thick using a magnetic field, to nanosensors on the synthetic retina. "It's like a surgical operation," Fan says. Fan told Inverse that they have yet to demonstrate its full potential in terms of resolution. He assures that eventually, a user of the bionic eye will be able to see smaller objects and further distance. However, Hongrui Jiang, an Electrical Engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that the method the researchers are using in creating individual ultrasmall pixels is impractical. According to him, a few hundred nanowires will be okay, but attaching millions would need a more efficient way to manufacture vast arrays of tiny wires on the back of the bionic eye to give it a superhuman sight. But he is hopeful for this project. How long does it take to get a bionic eye? Jiang said that maybe in 10 years, humanity would see some very tangible practical applications of the bionic eyes, Futurism reports. Read More: Muscle Signal Lets You Pilot A Drone To Survey Sites Or Inspect Off-Shore Platforms That Are Hard To Reach Doosan Portable Power (DPP) has appointed Muscat-based General Engineering Services (Genserv) as the authorised dealer for its generator and lighting tower ranges in Oman. Genserv joins a high class network of 11 professional DPP dealers in 10 countries in the Middle East. As an authorised dealer, Genserv supplies the complete range of DPP generators for the Middle East providing prime power outputs from 20 to 850 kVA. These diesel-powered generators are used wherever there is a need for electrical power, especially in areas where a public grid supply is unavailable, not powerful enough or even unreliable. Designed for use in higher temperature and more remote locations, DPP generators meet not only prime power production requirements, but also temporary/stand-by or more extended needs. Alongside the generators, Genserv is selling the Doosan LCV6-50Hz portable light tower. Designed for reliability and durability, the LCV light tower is ideal for providing lighting on road and bridge construction sites, all general construction applications as well providing lighting for special events, emergency and disaster relief, oil and gas drilling and for mining and quarrying locations.-TradeArabia News Service An image from a video taken by a delivery driver who says he was fired after being confronted by a homeowner. FedEx says it is investigating an incident said to have occurred in Leesburg, Georgia, on Tuesday between two delivery drivers and a homeowner. A video posted to Facebook and Twitter by a man named Antonio Braswell appears to show a black delivery driver arguing with a white homeowner while another man records the confrontation from inside the delivery truck. FedEx said the two men had been working for an independent service provider but would be employed directly by FedEx while it investigated the situation. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. FedEx says it is investigating an incident said to have occurred in Leesburg, Georgia, on Tuesday between two delivery drivers and a homeowner. The details of the incident are not entirely clear. A video was posted to Facebook and Twitter by a man named Antonio Braswell. It appears to show a black delivery driver arguing with a white homeowner while another man records the confrontation from inside the delivery truck. Update FedEx called and told me to take down this video and fired both of us Today .. Im reposting this video because people like him doesnt matter white or any race should never disrespect essential workers putting their lives in jeopardy especially with this covid-19 pic.twitter.com/Fw0S5gNRso antonio braswell (@Toniob38) May 20, 2020 Braswell wrote in a tweet alongside the video on Wednesday that "FedEx called and told me to take down this video and fired both of us today." "I'm reposting this video because people like him doesn't matter white or any race should never disrespect essential workers putting their lives in jeopardy especially with this COVID-19," he wrote. A FedEx spokeswoman, Allie Addoms, told Business Insider that the two men were employed by an independent service provider. She said FedEx was investigating the video. Story continues "FedEx Ground expects the highest level of conduct from service providers and their employees," the spokeswoman said in a statement. "We are aware of this incident and have reviewed the matter with the customer and the service provider business that employed the individuals depicted in the video." FedEx added that the two men had since been given employment at the company while the investigation was ongoing. "FedEx takes extremely seriously any allegations of discrimination, retaliation, or improper employment actions," the company said in a statement. "FedEx will be conducting a thorough investigation into these claims. While we conduct this investigation FedEx will provide employment for these drivers." Video: Teen pilot flies medical supplies to rural hospitals Business Insider At least 20 journalists have been charged or arrested under a controversial law in the past one month. Dhaka, Bangladesh At least 20 journalists in Bangladesh have been charged or arrested under the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) in the past month, raising concerns about free speech in the South Asian nation. A number of journalists have been arrested for social media posts critical of the government or reporting on the governments handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 60 cases have been filed against more than 100 people, including 22 journalists, under the DSA this year until May 6, according to a study by Article 19, a UK-based human rights body. Senior journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol disappeared on March 10, a day after a politician from the governing Awami League party filed a criminal defamation case against him for publishing false, offensive, illegally obtained and defamatory content on Facebook. A governing party legislator, Saifuzzaman Shikor, filed a defamation case against Kajol, a photographer and editor of the biweekly Pakkhakal magazine, and 31 others, accusing them of linking him to escort services run from a hotel. Kajol mysteriously turned up in police custody 53 days later on India-Bangladesh border. Monorom Polok, Kajols son, has pleaded for his fathers release [STR/AFP] He has been slapped with three cases under the DSA, a law rights bodies have described as draconian. Police have registered a fourth case against Kajol for trespassing into his own country. If punished, he faces seven years in jail. Another top editor, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury, was also charged in the same case. A prisoner of conscience Amnesty International said Kajol was detained for exercising his right to freedom of expression. Shafiqul Islam Kajol is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally, the rights body said in a statement released on May 6. Monorom Polok, Kajols son, has pleaded for his fathers release. My father still hasnt got the chance to appeal in front of a court as the courts are now shut due to COVID -19 lockdown, Polok told Al Jazeera. Out of humanity and out of kindness, we appeal to our government to consider my fathers pr-existing health conditions and his mental state and immediately release him and drop all charges against him, he said. Journalists filing reports critical of the governments measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus also seemed to have been targeted. On May 6, at least 11 people, including a cartoonist, two journalists, and a writer, were charged with spreading rumors and carrying out anti-government activities. Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil, US-based journalist Shahed Alam and blogger Asif Mohiuddin also have cases against them under DSA. On the same day, Didarul Islam Bhuiyan, a member of a politico-civic organization, Rashtrachinta, was arrested for a Facebook post. My husband was not involved in any criminal acts, but he was picked up by plain-clothes people who identified themselves as members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Dilshan Ara, wife of Bhuiyan, told Al Jazeera. He is innocent, who merely posted some write-ups on social media criticising the corruption in the relief distribution process; we all have that right to expression under the constitution. We want his immediate release, he may get exposed to coronavirus inside the jail. Police defend action Police officials have defended the cases against journalists. Masudur Rahman, Dhaka Metro Police deputy commissioner media, told Al Jazeera that cases filed on May 6 against 11 people, including journalists, and Bhuiyan were filed by paramilitary RAB for social media postings. He affirmed that the police would investigate the matter in accordance with the law. However, it will be up to the court to decide their fate in the end. All of them have been sent to Keranigonj central jail, pending a court hearing, Rahman told Al Jazeera. Rights activists have expressed grave concern over the rising number of cases being filed against journalists and critics of the government. They say the DSA law is being used to gag media and freedom of expression. We are alarmed by nature and procedure followed by authorities to prosecute people in some of the cases under The Digital Security Act (DSA), Saad Hammadi, South Asia campaigner for Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera. When a police officials justification for taking a DSA case against someone is based on only the fact that a ruling party leader is aggrieved as opposed to determining the necessity and proportion of the actions, it severely compromises the countrys commitment to promote and protect peoples right to freedom of expression, he said. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Bangladesh to urgently revise the DSA to ensure that it is in line with international human rights laws. Rising cases against journalists More than 1,000 cases have been filed in Bangladesh under the DSA since it was implemented in 2018. In the last two months, journalists have become more vulnerable, with many media outlets announcing lay-offs due to COVID-19 pandemic that has infected 25,121 and killed 370 people in the country of 160 million. A group of eminent citizens and journalists unions have called for the release of jailed media workers. Digital Security Act can be useful against those who commit cybercrimes, but it should not be used against journalists and media persons, Farida Yeasmin, general secretary of the Bangladesh National Press Club, told Al Jazeera. The Bangladesh Editors Council (Sampadak Parishad) has also expressed grave concern over the recent cases against journalists. No concern is being shown over the merit of the complaints before making arrests, the Editors Council said in a statement. Last month, Reporters Without Borders published a report that at least nine journalists had been physically attacked and six face charges under the DSA for collecting or publishing news on misappropriation of relief materials. The Paris-based media watchdog ranks Bangladesh 150 out of 180 countries in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, a four-point drop from its 2018 ranking. - Murkomen said the escalation of COVID-19 cases in Kenya was music to President Uhuru's government - The senator claimed Uhuru was taking advantage of the pandemic to tighten his grip on power and strengthen dictatorship - He further lashed out at the National Treasury for withholding funds to counties which had recorded COVID-19 cases while Senate was meeting to discuss Kindiki's removal Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has alleged President Uhuru Kenyatta is using the COVID-19 health crisis to strengthen dictatorship. The recently ousted majority leader in Senate said news of escalating coronavirus cases was music to the government's ears whose agenda, according to him, was to fight Deputy President William Ruto. READ ALSO: Anerlisa Muigai celebrates late sister Tecra's 30th birthday: "God must be happy to have you" Murkomen said escalation of COVID-19 cases was music to the government. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Watoto 13 wamefariki dunia kutokana ugonjwa wa kipindupindu, 550 wako hospitalini Reacting to the news from the Ministry of Health which indicated September would be the virus' peak, the senator said the Jubilee regime was taking advantage of the pandemic to impose fully-fledged dictatorship in Kenya. "COVID-19 is a perfect excuse for fully-fledged dictatorship. News of escalating cases of COVID-19 is music to the ears of the evil doors," the legislator claimed. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Visa jumla nchini Kenya sasa ni 1,109 Murkomen had earlier lashed out at the National Treasury for failing to disburse money to 22 counties which had recorded infections. He said it was ironic to withhold the funds while Senate was meeting on Friday, May 21, to discuss the removal of Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki. "The National Treasury is yet to disburse the KSh 5 billion to county governments. Yet the sick Senate is meeting on a Friday to discuss removes of Deputy Speaker. Foolish frivolity!" he said. READ ALSO: President Magufuli orders for reopening of universities on June 1, says COVID-19 cases have reduced in Tanzania Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka announced the special sitting would be convened Friday to discuss the ejection of Kindiki who is rumoured to be a DP's ally. Jubilee Party said it wanted the Tharaka Nithi senator removed from House leadership because he missed the State House Parliamentary Group meeting despite receiving an invitation. The Senate will hold a special sitting to discuss Kindiki's removal. Photo: Daily Nation. Source: UGC In the PG meeting, a section of senators supported the removal of Murkomen as Senate majority leader and his Nakuru counterpart Susan Kihika as majority whip. Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju said rebel members were being de-whipped for being against the government. Senators Samuel Poghisio and Irungu Kang'ata replaced the two key Ruto allies. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Kenyans lets pray for one another - CS Kagwe | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Political opponents have insisted Boris Johnson 'still has many questions to answer' following the police watchdog's decision not to open a criminal probe into his 'intimate' relationship with his alleged 'mistress' Jennifer Arcuri. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Thursday that it would not be launching a probe into the Prime Minister following claims of misconduct in public office, which he denies. The London Assembly said it will resume its own investigation into allegations that Ms Arcuri received thousands of pounds in public money and privileged access to three foreign trade trips led by Mr Johnson when he headed City Hall. Siobhan Benita, the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Mayor of London, described the timing of the decision as 'outrageous' and urged the Prime Minister to face the London Assembly. Jennifer Arcuri with Boris Johnson on a double-decker bus in 2012, when he was Mayor. The IOPC said on Thursday that it would not be launching a probe into the Prime Minister following claims of misconduct in public office, which he denies The Prime Minister pictured returning back to Downing Street today after his morning exercise. The London Assembly said it will resume its own investigation into allegations Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Southwark, tweeted following the IOPC's decision She said: 'It is outrageous that a decision as important as this comes so late, effectively kicked into the long grass during the general election. 'Boris Johnson may not be facing a criminal investigation but he still has many questions to answer. 'The Prime Minister should face the London Assembly so that his conduct can be thoroughly examined. Avoiding scrutiny may be his trademark but it should not be tolerated.' The review established there was a 'close association' between the pair and there 'may have been an intimate relationship'. Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Southwark, also tweeted: 'Boris Johnson faces an Oversight Committee inquiry to see if his handling of Jennifer Arcuri when Mayor of London breached conduct rules. 'They'll be looking at 'integrity, selflessness, openness and honesty' in his conduct. Anyone else suspect they won't find any?' Neither the PM nor Ms Arcuri have denied that they were involved in an affair. IOPC Director General Michael Lockwood said: 'While there was no evidence that Mr Johnson influenced the payment of sponsorship monies or participation in trade missions, there was evidence to suggest that those officers making decisions about sponsorship monies and attendance on trade missions thought that there was a close relationship between Mr Johnson and Ms Arcuri, and this influenced their decision-making.' The allegations were referred to the IOPC in September because the watchdog has a remit over the City Hall role, as head of the mayor's office for policing and crime. The IOPC stated: 'The Independent Office for Police Conduct today informed the Right Honourable Boris Johnson and the Greater London Authority (GLA) that it will not be conducting a criminal investigation into allegations that Mr Johnson used his position while Mayor of London to benefit and reward American businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri. 'The IOPC's Operation Lansdowne review found no evidence indicating Mr Johnson influenced the payment of any sponsorship monies to Ms Arcuri or that he influenced or played an active part in securing her participation in trade missions.' But the London Assembly said it would resume its own investigation, which it paused at the request of the police watchdog. The allegations were referred to the IOPC in September because the watchdog has a remit over the City Hall role (pictured: Boris Johnson and Jennifer Arcuri in 2014) A review established there was a 'close association' between the pair and there 'may have been an intimate relationship' between Ms Arcuri (left) and Mr Johnson (right, outside No10 today) A redacted part of the report, pictured above, which reads: 'The witness confirmed that Ms Arcuri disclosed to them that she and Mr Johnson were in a sexual relationship' Len Duvall, chairman of the Greater London Authority's oversight committee, said: 'The IOPC was looking specifically at whether he committed a criminal offence. 'That's not our remit and their decision doesn't have any real bearing on our investigation, which will focus on his conduct as mayor of London.' The Assembly's investigation will look at whether Mr Johnson 'conducted himself in a way that's expected' from a senior public official, said Mr Duval. 'The oversight committee will take into account the current emergency when looking at the timetable for the investigation,' he added. Johnson's Downing Street office said it welcomed 'that this politically motivated complaint has been thrown out'. 'This was not a policing matter, and we consider this was a waste of police time,' it added. When Boris met Jennifer: PM's 'intimate' relationship with tech adviser Arcuri October 2011: Johnson first meets Arcuri at a gathering of venture capitalists in central London, while he is Mayor of the capital city. April 2012: He is a keynote speaker at the first networking event in 2012 for Arcuri's firm. He visited her flat several times, where she has a dancing pole, during his tenure as Mayor between 2008 and 2016. September 2013: At a Conservative Party conference in Manchester she photographed Johnson speaking, posting it online with the caption: 'The laughter in the room makes this whole week worth it.' November 2014: Arcuri is delegate on Johnson's trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia. February 2015: Arcuri is seen at events during Johnson's trade trip to New York. November 2015: Arcuri joins the London Mayor on a trade trip to Tel Aviv in Israel at his request. May 2016: Johnson steps down as Mayor. June 2018: Arcuri moves to California. September 2019: Allegations about Johnson's friendship with Arcuri break in a piece from The Sunday Times. Mr Johnson denies any wrongdoing. September 24, 2019: London Assembly members give the PM a two-week deadline to provide 'details and a timeline of all contact with Jennifer Arcuri' during his time as Mayor of London. October 19, 2019: The London Assembly pauses its probe into the pair's relationship after a request from the IOPC. December 2019: Arcuri said she did not want to 'be pressured into admitting' to anything about her links to the PM during a GMB interview. May 21, 2020: The IOPC announced there was no evidence for it to launch a criminal investigation into allegations Mr Johnson may have committed an offence of misconduct in public office, with the London Assembly to resume its own investigation. Advertisement Ms Arcuri, 35, has admitted hosting the thrice-married 55-year-old at her flat in Shoreditch, east London, which featured a nightclub dancing pole, but has repeatedly refused to answer questions about sex. At the time Mr Johnson was married to barrister Marine Wheeler, the mother of four of his children, although Ms Arcuri said the visits stopped after he became Foreign Secretary. The couple later divorced and the Tory leader's 32-year-old fiancee, Carrie Symonds, recently gave birth to their baby boy, Wilfred. Ms Arcuri insists she and Mr Johnson 'did nothing wrong' and has previously said: 'I had every right to be on those trips as a legitimate businesswoman and stand by everything that happened because these allegations are completely false.' Ms Arcuri accompanied Mr Johnson on three official trade missions despite not qualifying as a delegate and her companies received 126,000 in public money. At the time they were allegedly having a four-year affair which he failed to declare. The IOPC began an investigation on the basis that Mr Johnson was the equivalent of London's police and crime commissioner at the time and Ms Arcuri agreed to give evidence 'to clear the matter up'. Mr Johnson has refused to answer questions about what happened but claims he acted with 'full propriety' and had 'no interest to declare'. He is also facing a standards investigation by the London Assembly's oversight committee. Ms Arcuri spoke about her 'very special' relationship with Mr Johnson in an astonishing series of TV appearances last year. Ms Arcuri swerved queries about her relationship with Mr Johnson, telling GMB hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid in December last year that she did not want to 'be pressured into admitting' to anything about her links to the Prime Minister. Later, speaking to Victoria Derbyshire, Ms Arcuri insisted Mr Johnson did not do her any 'favours' but said she wished he had declared her as an interest if it could have 'saved me this entire embarrassment and humiliation'. She said: 'I would love an apology for acknowledging the fact that given all those years, you know, that I was on the ground, hustling and working as a student. I mean he saw my arc, he saw my progression as a young woman, graduating and becoming, you know, a mature entrepreneur.' She also accused the Prime Minister of feeding her to the wolves. Asked if Mr Johnson 'had bigger fish to fry', she said: 'That's what you tell somebody when you meet them for the night, you don't know them, you haven't spent the hours with them, the investment into another person. 'And the fact that I'm called out, just on GMB, because 'why I am here if I'm not here to admit the affair?' 'Well wait a minute I'm not allowed to be upset because somebody that was very much a part of my life, who knew what I stood for, the calibre and integrity and merit that I work at. I mean all these things he knew and he sat back, why? 'He didn't have to ignore me, it could have been a 30-second phone call, just to let me know that he's acknowledging the fact that he, while he gets to be prime minister gets to feed me to the wolves - and I find that really disturbing.' Ms Arcuri pictured with Mr Johnson. Ms Arcuri spoke about her 'very special' relationship with Mr Johnson in an astonishing series of TV appearances last year Two weddings, three affairs, at least six kids, and a pole-dancing tech guru: The very busy love life of Boris Johnson The news that Boris Johnson's girlfriend Carrie Symonds is pregnant, and that the pair are engaged, marks the latest chapter in the PM's turbulent love life. His first marriage at the age of 23 to Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987 collapsed six years later after it emerged he was having an affair with childhood friend Marina Wheeler. Boris's subsequent marriage to Marina lasted 25 years - during which he had affairs with three women. Here, we outline the Prime Minister's colourful past relationships. 1987: The first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, whom he met at Oxford Boris married his Oxford University sweetheart Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987 when they were both aged 23. They divorced in 1993 after his affair with the woman who would become his second wife, Marina Wheeler. Boris Johnson married Oxford University sweetheart Allegra Mostyn-Owen (pictured together) in 1987 when they were both aged 23 The couple (above) divorced in 1993 after his affair with the woman who would become his second wife, Marina Wheeler The daughter of renowned art historian William Mostyn-Owen and flamboyant Italian writer Gaia Servadio, Allegra was a socialite and former Tatler cover girl whose beauty had besotted young men falling at her feet at Oxford University. 'When we got married, that was actually the end of the relationship instead of the beginning,' Allegra would later say. Their relationship ended after six years following revelations of his affair with Marina Wheeler QC, who was a childhood friend of Boris. Marina became pregnant with the first of their four children before his divorce from Allegra was finalised. Johnson later reconciled with Mostyn-Owen before they separated in February 1990 and divorced in 1993 - just 12 days before he married Marina Wheeler, whom he had a child with five weeks later. The daughter of renowned art historian William Mostyn-Owen and flamboyant Italian writer Gaia Servadio, Allegra was a socialite and former Tatler cover girl whose beauty had besotted young men falling at her feet at Oxford University. 'When we got married, that was actually the end of the relationship instead of the beginning,' Allegra would later say. Their relationship ended after six years following revelations of his affair with Marina Wheeler QC, who was a childhood friend of Boris. Marina became pregnant with the first of their four children before his divorce from Allegra was finalised. Johnson later reconciled with Mostyn-Owen before they separated in February 1990 and divorced in 1993 - just 12 days before he married Marina Wheeler, whom he had a child with five weeks later. 1993: Boris marries Marina Wheeler - the woman who stood by him for years... but left her just as he was on the brink of becoming PM Marina Wheeler married Boris on May 8, 1993 - just 12 days after his divorce from Allegra was finalised on April 26. Together, Boris and Marina have four children: Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. After first meeting Boris at the European School of Brussels, they also attended private boarding school Bedales in Hampshire together before she went to Cambridge. Marina Wheeler married Boris married on May 8, 1993 - just 12 days after his divorce from Allegra was finalised on April 26. (The pair are pictured in 2015) Together, Boris and Marina (above, in 2008) have four children: Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo Marina Wheeler married Boris on May 8, 1993 - just 12 days after his divorce from Allegra was finalised on April 26. Together, Boris and Marina have four children: Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo. After first meeting Boris at the European School of Brussels, they also attended private boarding school Bedales in Hampshire together before she went to Cambridge. 2004: Petronella Wyatt and the 'inverted pyramid of piffle' In 2004, Boris's four-year affair with journalist and society author Petronella Wyatt (pictured), the daughter of Labour grandee Lord Wyatt, became public Around seven years into his marriage to Marina, she became aware that Boris was having an affair with Petronella Wyatt, daughter of Margaret Thatcher's favourite journalist Woodrow Wyatt. In 2004, it was reported that 'Petsy' may have had an abortion, to which Boris declared to The Mail on Sunday: 'I had not had an affair with Petronella. 'It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle.' Boris was soon found to be lying and after days of publicity, Tory leader Michael Howard sacked Johnson from his position as Shadow Culture Minister. 2006: Emergence of liaisons with Anna Fazackerley In 2006, it emerged Boris had been having an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley (above) Alongside this, Marina was also alerted to another affair that Boris had been having with journalist Anna Fazackerley, which emerged in 2006. When the affairs garnered publicity, it also became public knowledge that Marina had become pregnant at the time that Boris was still married to Allegra, who was quoted saying: 'I divorced him for adultery. It enabled him to marry Marina.' The divorce had been finalised on April 26, 1993 and Boris married Marina on May 8 of the same year, with Lara Johnson being born on June 12. Marina threw her husband out of their home after his affair with Anna was publicised, but they soon worked things out. 2009: The love child with Helen Macintyre Mr Johnson is said to have fathered a child with art consultant Helen Macintyre (pictured) in 2009. It is understood Miss Wheeler again kicked him out of the family home In 2009, Mr Johnson is said to have fathered a child with art consultant Helen Macintyre. It is understood Mrs Wheeler had, again, kicked him out of the family home at the time. Mr Johnson's fatherhood of Miss Macintyre's daughter was first revealed by the Daily Mail in July 2010. In 2013, a court ruled that it was in the public interest for the Press to report Mr Johnson was the father. Boris Johnson's divorce from Marina Wheeler Boris Johnson and his estranged wife Marina Wheeler agreed a divorce settlement on February 18 this year, following a legal dispute over money. Judge Sarah Gibbons oversaw a private hearing in the Central Family Court in London, which neither party attended. During the short hearing, she gave Ms Wheeler permission to apply for a Decree Absolute, which would bring the marriage to an end. A case number revealed Mr Johnson, who is now living with Carrie Symonds at Downing Street, and Ms Wheeler were involved in a dispute over money or assets. Marina Claire Wheeler was named as the 'petitioner' and 'applicant' in the case, while Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson was named as the 'respondent'. Mr Johnson was said to have had 6.5million in cash and assets as of September 2018, but will have likely seen his wealth rise since becoming Prime Minister last July. It is therefore plausible that Ms Wheeler will be receiving around 4million if it is an equal split. However, the judge said no detail from the case relating to money can be revealed in reports, apart from what is already in the public domain. Judge Gibbons gave Ms Wheeler permission to apply for the decree absolute 'out of time'. This suggests that she was granted a decree nisi by the courts more than a year ago. Those who are successfully granted a decree nisi have up to a year to apply for the next stage of divorce, the decree absolute. Carrie Symonds moves into Downing Street The Prime Minister's fiancee moved into Downing Street in July of last year, before the pair announced they were expecting their first child and engaged in late February - making Mr Johnson the first British PM to marry in office for 200 years. Mr Johnson pictured walking with his partner Carrie Symonds as they arrive at The Midland, a covention complex in Manchester, on the eve of the 2019 Conservative Party Conference He is believed to have proposed during the couple's romantic break in the Caribbean island of Mustique over Christmas. Ms Symonds, who is the first unmarried partner of a Prime Minister to live in Downing Street, added that she felt 'incredibly blessed'. She gave birth in London late in April with the Prime Minister at her side, days after he himself had been released from medical care following a lengthy battle with coronavirus. The couple revealed the boy's full name as Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, with the first name a tribute to Mr Johnson's paternal grandfather, Osman Wilfred Kemal, and Lawrie a reference to Ms Symonds' grandfather. The new family are planning to live in their Downing Street flat along with their dog Dilyn. DUBAI, UAE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world faces the impact of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, Webb Fontaine stands with its partner-countries by donating breathing support medical equipment to local authorities in Africa and Asia, along with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help limit the spread of the virus and ease the burden faced by the communities. As a long-standing partner of the government in these nations, the company announces its commitment to provide a total of 324,000 3-ply protective masks plus 145 hospital grade 9L per minute oxygen concentrators to support severely ill patients. This gesture of almost 6 tons of cargo for a total volume of 46 cubic meters aims at supporting and protecting local communities. "We are in the midst of a global health crisis and understand the need for immediate and significant donations, especially to communities that are already facing health and economic disparities. We need to all come together to support one another and provide essential supplies to some of our most vulnerable and at-risk groups," said Didier Reymond, CEO of Webb Fontaine. The spread of the pandemic is putting additional pressure on health systems that are already stretched. Webb Fontaine will thus deliver this essential medical equipment to the local authorities for further dispatch to front-line medical facilities as they deem fit in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Congo, Guinea, Senegal, RCA, Ethiopia, Nepal and Maldives. The total shipments including oxygen concentrators, connection cannulas kits, spare filters for maintenance and protective masks are already manufactured and the logistics to airfreight them to the various destinations started since 15th of May 2020. Building on the long-standing relationships already established with these nations, the donations are part of Webb Fontaine's larger vision to help support and nurture communities for a better and brighter future. About Webb Fontaine: Trusted?by governments globally, Webb Fontaine provides industry wide solutions?to?accelerate?trade development?and modernization. The company uses?unique?technology including Artificial Intelligence to?enable?countries to?emerge as?leaders?in the?future of trade. Knowledge transfer?is at the core of Webb Fontaine; comprising of a team of experts who work across the world, empowering local communities and?governments. As an industry leader with the largest R&D centres in the industry, Webb Fontaine is constantly developing international trade practices connecting countries, borders and people. For more information visit www.webbfontaine.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171568/Donation_Shipment.jpg A n antibody surveillance study suggests 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent of the rest of the nation have coronavirus antibodies, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said. He told the daily Downing Street briefing: This has told us that around 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent or higher in the rest of the country have tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. Antibody tests tell people whether they have had the virus and whether antibodies have developed, Mr Hancock said. But he warned that the Government is not yet in a position to say those who develop antibodies are immune to the virus. UK returns to work as Coronavirus restrictions are eased - In pictures 1 /38 UK returns to work as Coronavirus restrictions are eased - In pictures Londoners returning to work near London Bridge Jeremy Selwyn Emergency as Lockdown is slowly lifted at Victoria Station Nigel Howard Cyclists travel in central London AFP via Getty Images Emergency as Lockdown is slowly lifted at Victoria Station Nigel Howard Alan Price on his Penny Farthing this morning on Battersea Bridge Jeremy Selwyn Delivery men are seen outside a reopened McDonald's with take-out only deliveries in Dalston Reuters Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Worlds End Nurseries in Chelsea opens for business. Customer Nika Kucifer is shown flowers by Janson Lotery Nigel Howard Londoners going back to work at Waterloo Jeremy Selwyn People ride bicycles in a cycle lane in Chelsea PA Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases Nigel Howard Jubilee Line tube commuters as lockdown eases. Nigel Howard Matt Writtle Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Vehicles are seen on the M56 motorway near Manchester, Reuters Londoners going back to work at Waterloo Jeremy Selwyn Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Monty's first day back. West Highland Terrier Monty commutes to work on his bike on his first day back with owner Darragh McElroy. Monty, who's Instagram account is @monty_whitehall_westie, works at the Cabinet Office in Whitehall with his owner Darragh who is Deputy Director of Coronavirus Communications at the Cabinet Office Matt Writtle Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn A commuter wears a mask at Canning Town station Reuters Rush hour on the M6 at the junction for Birmingham/Walsall on the first morning of the eased Coronavirus lockdown PA Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Commuters, some wearing masks are seen on a London Underground tube, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease Reuters Londoners going back to work at Vauxhall Jeremy Selwyn Commuters, some wearing masks are seen at Stratford station, Reuters Cyclists in Chelsea today. Nigel Howard Mr Hancock said certification systems will be developed for people who test positive for antibodies. Its not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring," he said. Its that knowing that you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus. Were developing this critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given assurances of what they can safely do. Mr Hancock also said the Government has signed contracts to supply 10 million antibody tests, with the rollout starting with health and care staff, patients and residents from next week. Weve signed contracts to supply in the coming months over 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott," he said. From next week we will begin rolling these out in a phased way, at first to health and care staff, patients and residents. Government announces new coronavirus figures The UK Government has arranged supplies of these tests on behalf of the devolved administrations and each devolved nation is deciding how to use its test allocation and how testing will be prioritised and managed locally. This is an important milestone and it represents further progress in our national testing programme. One of the new antibody tests to be rolled out across the UK is being produced in South Wales. It is understood that Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, which has a factory in Pencoed, Bridgend, is the only firm producing the blood tests in the UK. The company's senior director of operations Paul Hales said: We have built a deep manufacturing expertise here in Wales over many years enabling us to produce these important products. The team has been working day and night to reach a mass scale of production of our Covid-19 assays. At Ortho, we believe every test is a life and are proud to see these kits being used in Wales. People wait in the queue outside of a coronavirus testing center amid concerns over coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Dhaka BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said on Thursday it had approved a $250 million loan to Bangladesh to help the country cope with the coronavirus pandemic. The project, which will be cofinanced by the Asian Development Bank, is intended to help Bangladesh's government with budget support to help the country's most vulnerable, according to a statement. It is intended to strengthen social safety nets and mitigate the effects of job losses in small and medium sized companies and the informal economy. "Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus given that it has one of the highest population densities in the world," said the release. The loan is part of a $10 billion funding facility the AIIB has announced to help public and private sector entities deal with the pandemic. (Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Kim Coghill) Turkey has warned of grave consequences if Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter acts on threats to attack Turkish assets in Libya, signaling a further potential escalation in the Libyan conflict. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a statement today that Turkey would see the putschist elements as legitimate targets if its interests came under attack. The warning followed threats from Hifters air force chief Saqr al-Jaroushi, who said, All Turkish positions and interests in all cities are legitimate targets for our air force jets and we call on all civilians to stay away from them. The mutual chest-pounding came amid reports that several Soviet-era fighter jets had arrived from Russian bases in Syria to the east of the country controlled by the renegade dual-citizen Libyan-American general. You are about to see the largest aerial campaign in Libyan history in the coming hours," Jaroushi claimed. Aksoy said it was noteworthy that Jaroushi had delivered his threats after new war planes are deployed in Libyas east with foreign support. Bloomberg reported that at least six MiG 29s and two Sukhoi 24s had flown into the east from the Russian-controlled Hmeimim air base in Syria, escorted by two SU-35 Russian air force jets. The deployment prompted fevered speculation that Russia has decided to redress the balance of Libyas nine-year civil conflict in favor of Hifter. Some analysts disparage the idea that Russia will risk a full-on confrontation with an increasingly combative Turkey. Rather said Emadeddin Badi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, What we are likely to see is once again a diplomatic rapprochement between Turkey and Russia that would be designed to shut all other powers out while Ankara and Moscow act as power brokers in western and eastern Libya, respectively. Todays telephone call between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, in which the pair called for an immediate cease-fire in Libya and a resumption of UN talks to end the war, suggests that Badis assessment may be right. Turkey has long pushed for a cease-fire and its military intervention was calculated to level the playing field before negotiations start. Ankara and its Government of National Accord (GNA) allies led by Fayez al-Sarraj received something of a boost from NATOs Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who told Italys La Repubblica that Hifter and Sarraj could not be placed on the same level, as the latter headed the sole Libyan government recognized by the United Nations. For this reason NATO is ready to support Tripoli, he said. The jousting between Ankara and Hifter came amid stark UN warnings about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Libya compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an address to the UN Security Council yesterday, Stephanie Williams, the world bodys acting special representative for Libya, said the chronic violence had sharply increased humanitarian needs for the countrys civilian population, including 400,000 internally displaced Libyans and 654,000 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Williams said, Just when we think that the bottom has been reached in Libya, we somehow manage to achieve new depths of violence, heartlessness and impunity with a massive influx of weaponry, equipment and mercenaries to the two sides. Turkey and Russias stab at brokering a cease-fire in Moscow on Jan. 13 failed as did a conference convened six days later in Berlin, in large part due to Hifters obduracy, as he believed he was winning the war. But Hifter has suffered heavy setbacks in recent weeks as a result of Turkeys escalating intervention on the side of Sarraj's internationally recognized GNA. Hifter is backed by Turkeys regional foes Egypt and the UAE as well as by France and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, whose owner is alleged to be close to the Kremlin. Moscow formally denies any connection to Wagner. Either way they are betting on what increasingly looks like a losing horse. Turkish Bayraktar drones have wrecked Hifters latest offensive started over a year ago to take Tripoli, destroying Russian-made Pantsir air systems as Turkish war ships patrol the waters around the capital. The GNA announced it had destroyed at least seven Pantsir S-1 and captured one other since May 17. Over the past month the GNA has wrested a string of small towns linking Tripoli westward to the Tunisian border. In a major coup earlier this week, it captured al-Wattiya, the LNAs sole air base within proximity of Tripoli. Turkey's defense minister took credit for the gains, saying the balance in Libya changed significantly as a result of Turkish training. The Turkish presence with at least 100 military officers and an unknown number of Syrian rebel proxies, thought to run into the thousands, rests on a pair of military and maritime accords signed in November between Ankara and the GNA. The agreements give Ankara legal cover for its overt intervention in the war. With the situation as it currently is, Turkey and Russia jointly have enough influence to alter the military landscape, Badi told Al-Monitor. Whether they can turn this clout into a new political road map is uncertain, but they do have an incentive to try. He continued, Some sort of deal could be reached whereby Turkey would guarantee its maritime demarcation zone [in the Eastern Mediterranean] while Russia secures its business and economic interests it wouldnt be unwelcome by the factions in Western Libya. But others view Russias calculations somewhat differently. The deployment of the [Russian fighter aircraft] along with other still unknown equipment thats been delivered over the past few weeks is designed to try and wrest aerial superiority from Turkey, said Tarek Megerisi, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Megerisi told Al-Monitor, In my opinion Russia is simply trying to keep the war going at a time when [Hifter] and [his army] look like they are on the brink of collapse. As Russia sees this as the vehicle it needs to continue entrenching, at least until they find a new Libyan to back. Megerisi contended that France would be quietly supportive of the Russian moves. And I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the UAE played a central role orchestrating this with the Russians. Both France and the UAE also opposed Turkeys expanding military presence in northern Syria. The stakes are high for foreign backers of oil-rich Libyas warring factions, and especially so for cash-strapped Turkey. Ankara is keen to revive around $16 billion worth of contracts awarded to Turkish construction companies before the fall of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Sarraj has pledged to honor the contracts. A GNA victory would also lock in the maritime agreements that challenge Greece and Cyprus claims over the Eastern Mediterranean, which contains large reserves of natural gas. Tensions have escalated since last year, when Turkey sent drill ships accompanied by naval escorts to effectively torpedo Cyprus efforts to commercially exploit the gas. But for any deal between the warring sides to hold up, Russia would have to constrain the UAE and Egypt or channel their interventions into a political rather than military format, argued Megerisi. For now, it remains unclear which way Russia will veer, though its dealings with Turkey in Syria suggest that it will pursue its strategy of simultaneously wielding both carrots and sticks. With elective, non-emergency surgeries set to resume, hospitals across New Jersey are working to cut through a backlog of cases after nearly two months of postponements caused by the coronavirus pandemic. What types of surgeries will be at the top of list? Hospital executives for two of the states largest health care providers Atlantic Health and Hackensack Meridian Health say they have the capacity and precautions in place to handle the demand, but patients will be scheduled based on priority. Its not really cut and dried as, If you need a joint-replacement surgery, you go on Tuesday. If you need a gallbladder removal, you go on Monday... Dr. Steve Sheris, senior vice president for Atlantic Health, told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday. "Its more a product of reprioritizing. If its a life-threatening or living-conditions situation, then surgery should be performed on an emergency basis. Anything beyond that really is an individual decision with the surgeon and the patient. Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Friday to permit elective surgeries and invasive procedures both medical and dental to start again at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers on May 26. Capacity at hospitals across the state continues to grow as the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients drops. As of Wednesday, less than 3,500 coronavirus patients remained hospitalized statewide, down from the mid-April peak of more than 8,000. That decrease has allowed hospitals to free up beds, staff and floors for surgeries and other procedures. Dr. Daniel Varga, chief physician executive for Hackensack Meridian Health, said surgical floors were converted to intensive care units for COVID-19 patients during the peak of the pandemic. Now, theyre being converted back. Varga said patients will be scheduled using a scoring system, with priority given to medically necessary and time-sensitive surgeries for cancer patients or patients needing cardiovascular procedures like heart valve replacements, pacemakers and bypasses. Priority then goes to patients with debilitating symptoms. Varga said an example might be a patient needing spinal surgery for a herniated disk or a joint replacement for an injured hip. Patients not dealing with debilitating symptoms should still seek care for arthroscopic surgeries, colonoscopies and other common issues that may or may not be time sensitive. With the governors order, we can do them all, Varga said. Theres no longer a prohibition against doing them, so thats a good thing. That just simply becomes a prioritization of getting people on the schedule and making sure we have the supplies and everything to do them. We dont have any problem with doing them. State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said hospitals will resume surgeries in phases and develop plans to test patients for coronavirus 72 hours before their procedures. Additionally, facilities must conduct symptom screenings on the day of the surgery and quarantine patients three days before the procedure. Varga said as COVID-19 units have been converted back to surgical units, theyve undergone exhaustive cleaning and will be cleared by an external national firm to assure theyre coronavirus-free. As testing has become widely available, Varga said Hackensack Meridian has tested every patient entering the emergency room, regardless of whether or not theyve show symptoms. Testing will soon increase to 100% of employees across the network, he said. In essence, what youll have is a test-negative space, a test-negative patient and test-negative team members and physicians. I dont know how you can be safer than that at this juncture," Varga said. That assurance is important for patients as they seek a safe return to operating rooms and hospitals across the state. Sheris said delaying surgeries is not only hazardous to patients in need of care, but also to hospitals relying on the financial boost elective surgeries provide. At the end of the day, that benefits no one, Sheris said. That hurts the health system, and more importantly, it does not benefit the patient because they will end up in a worse place than if they had got the care they needed before COVID and after COVID. The finances will take care of themselves. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Patrick Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com. Reuters Authorities in 23 countries across five continents have sought access to contact tracing technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Incs Google, the companies announced on Wednesday as they released the initial version of their system. But authorities would have to stop requiring phone numbers from users under the companies' rules, one of several restrictions that have left governments fighting the novel coronavirus frustrated that the world's top two smartphone software makers undercut the technology's usefulness by prioritizing user privacy. Apple and Google said several US states and 22 countries have sought access to their technology, but it is unclear how many will end up publishing mobile apps that use it. Using apps to accelerate contact tracing, in which authorities identify and test people who were recently near a virus carrier, has emerged as a tool to stem new outbreaks. It could help authorities test more potentially infected individuals than they would normally be able to based on patients recalling recent interactions from memory. But some governments contend their app-based efforts would be more effective if they could track users' locations to identify hot spots for virus transmission and notify them about possible exposure through calls or texts, rather than a generic push notification. Apple and Google have barred authorities using their technology from collecting GPS location data or requiring users to enter personal data. "We have a collision of tech, privacy and health professionals and the Venn diagram doesnt really have a spot where they all overlap," said Chester Wisniewski, a principal research scientist at cybersecurity company Sophos. Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries that have sought to develop their own technology are experiencing glitches, draining device batteries and seeing limited adoption. Apple and Google have said their system will more reliably use Bluetooth connections between devices to log users who are in physical proximity for at least five minutes. Developers of contact tracing apps for Austria, Germany and Switzerland told Reuters this week they were moving forward with the Apple-Google technology and were fine not knowing users' phone numbers. Other governments are hedging their bets. Norway plans to compare the effectiveness of its Smittestopp app with an Apple-Google-based app, Gun Peggy Knudsen, acting deputy director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in an interview. Smittestopp, which has a development budget of about $5 million, accesses GPS location and requires phone numbers. But it has seen limited use because of a low number of new infections. Contact tracing explained in under 3-minutes Apple and Google are working on a contact tracing tool; the Indian government has a contact tracing app called Aarogya Setu. But what does contact tracing mean and how does it work? pic.twitter.com/Ia8tggdKnS Firstpost (@firstpost) April 24, 2020 "If the tracing is so much better with the Apple-Google tool, then perhaps we should switch and we would consider what we need to do to do the switch," Knudsen said. North Dakota, which offered the first US contact tracing app, told Reuters on Wednesday it will leave its initial Care19 app as a location-tracking "diary" tool to help patients jog their memories. But it also will release a new Care19 Exposure app based on the Apple-Google technology. The Australian government said it was in talks with Apple and Google about enhancing its COVIDSafe app, which currently requires phone numbers, postcodes, and age ranges. (@FahadShabbir) The Constitutional Court of Moldova has recognized amendments to the law on the prosecutor's office as unconstitutional, according to a ruling read out on Thursday by the court's head Domnica Manole CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2020) The Constitutional Court of Moldova has recognized amendments to the law on the prosecutor's office as unconstitutional, according to a ruling read out on Thursday by the court's head Domnica Manole. In September, the Moldovan parliament approved amendments to the law on the prosecutor's office, which provided for reform in the selection process and the appointment of the country's prosecutor general. The amendments provided for the introduction of a new preliminary stage for the selection of candidates by the Justice Ministry commission. A group of lawmakers has previously appealed to the Constitutional Court to assess the constitutionality of such amendments. Another appeal on the same issue was sent to the court on Wednesday. "The Constitutional Court of Moldova decided to declare unconstitutional article 11 paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2, article 17 paragraphs 2-9.1 and 11.1, as well as article 58 paragraphs 7-9 of the law on the prosecutor's office. The decision is final and cannot be appealed," Manole said. Amendments allowing the Moldovan president to appoint an acting general prosecutor, as well as to initiate the creation of a commission to evaluate the activities of the prosecutor general, have also been recognized as unconstitutional. At the same time, the ruling of the Constitutional Court does not dispute the appointment of Alexandru Stoianoglo as the country's prosecutor general in November. As publishers try to deal with the massive disruption to the book industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are bracing for another big blow that could arrive over the coming weeks as more retailers open their doors. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus visit a book shop in Bozen, Italy, Monday, May 11, 2020. As publishers try to deal with the massive disruption to the book industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are bracing for another big blow that could arrive over the coming weeks as more retailers open their doors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Matthias Schrader As publishers try to deal with the massive disruption to the book industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are bracing for another big blow that could arrive over the coming weeks as more retailers open their doors. A massive return of books stemming from the two-month run of closed doors at bookshops and retail outlets could be a crushing financial hit for many domestic publishers, particularly the smaller independent variety. "Publishing has always been a precarious business," said Sarah MacLachlan, publisher of the Toronto-based House of Anansi Press. Books that don't sell often end up back in the publisher's warehouse, MacLachlan said, "and that's a big problem and it could sink people. There is absolutely no question about that." Noah Genner, the CEO of the Booknet Canada trade association, said while many retail outlets shifted in recent weeks to online sales, curbside pickup and delivery, there was still a major drop in sales at English-language bookstores across Canada for the eight-week period after mid-March. "If we just look at physical bookstores, so not online retailers, but mostly physical bookstores, they're down almost 63 per cent year over year for the period," Genner said from Toronto. "So 63 per cent in unit sales. That is hugely significant." Bookstores and retail outlets are now heading into a new season with much more product on hand than normal, with only so much retail space to showcase new items. Kate Edwards, the executive director of the Association of Canadian Book Publishers, said a full-credit return policy was established nearly a century ago. The premise, she said, was to allow retailers to take risks on new writers or stock up in anticipation of new releases. Rob Sanders, the publisher of Vancouver-based Greystone Books, said those returns may not come in until later in the year and can have a significant impact on the bottom line. While publishers are used to the ebbs and flows of seasonal production and demand, the onset of the pandemic presented a unique challenge. "Most publishers were just getting their books into the market," Sanders said. "The orders had been placed, the books were being fulfilled, or at least they'd been printed and then they got to the market, and things shut down." Sanders said he experienced a revenue drop of just over 50 per cent last month and was expecting a lot of returns from retailers. "It's not easy," he said from North Vancouver, B.C. "We don't know where we're going. We don't know what's coming." As bookstores and retail outlets have opened their doors over the last week or two as provincial restrictions have eased, staffers are dealing with balancing unusual inventory levels and it has publishers feeling anxious. "Expectations have changed and the books are coming back," Edwards said. "Whether the stores will reorder, what quantity they'll be reordering at for the rest of the year (is uncertain). The question about fall books is we're not close enough to when those orders would be placed by bookstores to have a sense of what that's going to look like. "So the last couple of months has been really challenging for us, especially for small publishers." Edwards, whose association represents about 115 Canadian-owned and controlled book publishers, also said some spring books either didn't complete their print run, didn't launch, or went on hold. There has been some financial relief, with the federal government announcing last month that it would provide $500 million in emergency support funding for cultural, heritage and sport organizations. "The Canada Council for the Arts is working closely with Canadian Heritage to appropriately direct eligible recipients who regularly receive funding from Canada Council, Canadian Heritage or other federal partners," the Council said in an email. However, the problem for many publishers is they could be feeling more pain over the coming weeks or months. "Our anxiety is around being flooded with books coming back into our warehouse," MacLachlan said. "So we're aware of that and we're trying to come up with some ideas about how to re-invigorate the stock that is actually in bookstores now and try to encourage booksellers not to send that back." She added that they are floating some marketing ideas, and discounts may be an option too. There have been some signs of optimism on the domestic book scene. Genner said there has been an uptick in ebook sales and overall book sales have been on a slow, steady rise after bottoming out in early April. However, he also reported that "huge swaths" of books that were supposed to be published this spring and summer are being delayed into the fall or next year. Long-term industry-wide question marks remain, he said. "The margins that we're all operating under as an industry, both on the publisher side and the retail side are very, very thin, as they are in much of retail," Genner said. "There's not a lot of room to compensate for downward trends. "If this goes on for a long time then I think we're all fairly concerned." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter. Tiara Show went to the mall last week in search of summer clothes - and a distraction from the pandemic that has kept her homebound since March. But there were coronavirus reminders everywhere: A greeter at American Eagle told her masks were mandatory and offered her a disposable one. Inside, shelves had been pared down and rearranged, with jeans in one area, shirts in another. Every other fitting room was closed. After paying for her purchase - shirts, shorts and earrings - through a plexiglass divider, Show tore the receipt from the printer herself. "Everything was so different," said the 23-year-old from Missoula, Montana. "If anything, it made the virus feel more real." UT RETURNS: University of Texas students to return to campus this fall Stores across the country are reopening to a changed reality. Retailers that have spent years trying to get customers to linger, in hopes they'll buy more than they need, are reimagining their stores for a grab-and-go future filled with deliberate purchases. Gone, they say, are the days of trying on makeup or playing with toys in the aisles. The focus now is on making shopping faster, easier and safer amid long-term shifts in consumer expectations and habits. Apple is checking shoppers' temperatures at the door. Best Buy is asking customers to shop by appointment. Macy's and Nordstrom are doing away with beauty consultations and alteration services, while the Gap is closing off bathrooms and fitting rooms. Cosmetics giant Sephora won't allow shoppers to test products anymore. Others are quarantining returns for as long as 72 hours before putting merchandise back on shelves. American Eagle Outfitters, meanwhile, is reimagining every part of the shopping experience. It has invested in curbside pickup and infrared machines that measure customers' temperatures as they walk by. Entryway displays once piled high with apparel have become "welcome tables" with bottles of hand sanitizer, disposable masks and sticky blue mats that clean shoe soles. Clothes are even folded differently, to encourage hands-off browsing. The new protocols, which already have been rolled out at 435, or nearly half, of its U.S. stores, offer a glimpse of how even the most innocuous interactions might be tempered. "From the moment you walk into our store, we want you to see something that's new," said Andrew McLean, the company's chief commercial officer. "The sticky mat, the welcome table - they're all triggers in the customer's mind that things are different now." The retailer, which now limits the number of people in stores, is using a mobile app to notify customers when it's their turn to shop. And it has spelled out its new protocols in a 65-page employee handbook, including how to fold jeans and T-shirts to allow shoppers to examine them in detail without touching them. The efforts illustrate the lengths to which retailers are going to reassure skittish consumers that it's safe to shop in person again, even as U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 92,000. The already bruised industry has been hit hard during the pandemic, as weeks-long shutdowns ushered the broader economy into recession. Four major chains - J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Stage Stores and J.C. Penney - have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month, and a fifth, Pier 1, is headed toward extinction. And analysts say many more retailers are teetering toward bankruptcy, raising the stakes on their public health response. COVID CONGREGATION: Houston church recloses after leaders, congregants get COVID-19 "Experience has shown us that loosening restrictions and shelter-in-place orders means a resurgence of disease," said Robert Bednarczyk, a professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. "Masks, temperature checks, hand hygiene - they're all important as stores reopen, but there are still risks for increased transmission." Retailers have spent years adding interactive displays, sample stations, even rock-climbing walls and full-service bars to their stores in hopes of offering shoppers an experience they can't get online. But analysts say many of those efforts have been deemed impractical or unsafe, requiring an overhaul that could ultimately make the shopping experience less enjoyable and further cut into an already weak retail environment. Many of the changes, they say, are as much about being overtly reassuring as they are pragmatic: If someone asks for a fitting room at American Eagle, for example, employees must disinfect door handles and fixtures in clear view of the shopper before allowing them in. "Retailers are starting to consider more than just the cleanliness of their stores," said Wendy Liebmann, chief executive of WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based consulting firm. "They're thinking about merchandising, about where things go. How can they make it easier for people to shop? This pandemic isn't going to level off. It's going to be a long roller coaster." At Child's Play, an independent toy store in Washington, D.C., owner Steven Aarons is preparing for fewer impulse buys - and fewer children. He is removing play tables and replacing Pokemon cards and jacks with bigger-ticket items - such as 1,000-piece puzzles and scooters - that parents can quickly pick up. "It feels like we're starting a whole new business," said Aarons, who opened the store 34 years ago. "It's painful to say we're going to take away the play tables and not let kids run around the store anymore, but it's also the right thing to do." It could be years, he says, before customers feel comfortable spending hours browsing aisles with their children. In the meantime, he has built up the company's website and added a delivery service that has been in high demand since the pandemic shutdowns began. Employees drop off about 60 orders a day from the company's Chevy Chase store, though overall sales are down about 50%. Pandora, a Danish jeweler that operates 375 stores in the United States, has moved its jewelry-cleaning machines from backrooms to the selling floor so that employees can sanitize each piece after it's been tried on, in full view of customers. Trying on jewelry comes with its own precautions. The retailer has created an elaborate system to ensure customers and employees don't come into physical contact. Customers are instructed to stand three feet from store counters. If someone wants to try on jewelry, the employee takes the item out of the case and places it on a tray on the counter. "The customer steps forward as the employee steps backward, so there's always that six-foot space," said Sid Keswani, president of the company's North American operations. The company also is limiting customers to five at a time and is developing new safety measures for the busy holiday season, which accounts for about 40% of its sales. "We feel it's a pretty safe journey," Keswani said. "But I say pretty safe because, as you know, there are no guarantees right now." Data show a steady increase in foot traffic since malls began reopening this month. An analysis of eight shopping centers that opened May 1, including in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia, shows that it went from a trickle - about one-fifth the number of shoppers a year earlier - to a quick acceleration that in some cases exceeded average daily rates a year earlier. By May 6, Midland Park Mall in Texas reported a 79% jump from the day before, according to Placer.ai, which analyzes foot traffic patterns using location data from 30 million devices. Macy's stores in South Carolina, meanwhile, saw traffic jump 9% from a year earlier. It's been a similar story at American Eagle, where shoppers returned cautiously at first, then with more gusto. Sales also are on the rise: Many reopened stores are selling as much merchandise as they were a year ago, according to Jay Schottenstein, the company's chairman and chief executive. "The customers who come in are coming in to buy," he said. "They are not coming in to look." American Eagle closed all 980 of its U.S. stores in March and furloughed the majority of its 40,000 workers. Reopenings began May 1, with a host of new guidelines created with help from doctors: Employees must wash their hands for 20 seconds at the beginning of each shift, then disinfect a store thermometer before taking their own temperature. Alongside new protocols are more open-ended considerations. Employees are encouraged to smile from behind their masks and pay attention to nonverbal cues. "With masks on, you may feel a bit awkward at first, but don't let that hold you up!" the employee manual says. "We don't want this to feel like a sterile or clinical interaction. Even though you may be 6 feet apart - it's your job to still create a connection!" There are tutorials for do-it-yourself face masks, and a guide to creating badges that include a smiling picture of each employee. The goal, executives say, is to reassure customers in an era of pandemic shopping. "This has been a two-month process of figuring out what it's going to take to make people feel secure," Schottenstein said. "It's a new reality: Customers want to come back in, but they want to come back where they feel safe." Former Starehe MP Bishop Margaret Wanjiru has been identified as the politician with Covid-19. According to The Star newspaper, the Bishop Margaret is currently admitted in a city hospital. She reportedly requires assisted oxygen to keep her alive. It is unclear whether the politician is on a ventilator or just an oxygen concentrator which would mean a less serious infection. The same newspaper reports that Margaret fell ill after hosting a group of 18 people at her house recently. From this crowd, 8 have also been diagnosed with Covid-19. The news comes on a day when Kenya recorded its highest single day rise in infections, with 80 people testing positive in the last 24 hours. Jean Dorval spent half of his life in a Rahway prison for a 1994 murder he didnt commit. The 47-year-old was in Georgia at the time of the crime committed in Elizabeth, nearly 750 miles away. But authorities charged him and he was convicted and sentenced to 70 years behind bars. Two years ago, after his co-defendant was found not guilty on a retrial, Dorval appealed his case, prosecutors dropped the charges and he was released. Now, Dorval is suing Elizabeth police officer Thomas Koczur and former Union County Prosecutors Office detective John Furda who led the investigation, seeking $1.2 million in damages, according to the federal complaint filed last month. The State of New Jersey Treasury Department is also named in the complaint. During the decades of my wrongful incarceration, I suffered greatly. I was deprived of the companionship of my family and other loved ones... I was also deprived of the right to pursue my education, or to learn a vocation or trade, Doval wrote in an affidavit he signed that is part of the suit. I have suffered emotional distress, including nightmares and terrors. Jean Dorval was wrongfully convicted in a 1994 murder that was committed while he was in Georgia. He was released in August 2018 after serving 24 years of his 70-year sentence.DiGioia Law Offices Koczur referred questions about the allegations against him to city hall. In a statement to NJ Advance Media, city spokeswoman Kelly Martins said, The Elizabeth Police Officer did nothing wrong in this investigation and declined to comment further. The Union County Prosecutors Office also declined to comment. Dorval and his friend and co-defendant Duquene Pierre, 46, were both arrested in April 1994 in the murder of 19-year-old Richard Jerry Myers in Elizabeth a month earlier. At the time of the killing, the two were in Georgia on their way to Florida to meet Pierres relatives. When a new Union County prosecutor, Michael A. Monaha, was sworn in at the beginning of 2018, the law firm of Weiseman DiGioia, representing Dorval asked him to review their clients case again. Prosecutors agreed and then dropped the charges. In Dorvals civil suit, he claims he was charged in 1994 despite evidence that documented his road trip and proved his innocence. Four hours prior to the killing, which occurred at 3:19 a.m. on March 20 in New Jersey, Pierre and Dorval were pulled over by state police in Yemassee, South Carolina for speeding. Pierre, driving his black Acura Legend, was going 81 mph in a 65 mph and was issued a speeding ticket at approximately 11:34 p.m. Hours later, around 1:30 a.m., the two were filling out a motel registration card in Savannah, Georgia, and had checked out later that morning on March 20. During the trip, Pierre also placed eight collect telephone calls to his girlfriend, the suit says, including one made in South Carolina off Interstate 95 two hours before the shooting, according to the suit. Jean Dorval was wrongfully convicted in a 1994 murder that was committed while he was in Georgia. He was released in August 2018 after serving 24 years of his 70-year sentence.DiGioia Law Offices When the pair returned to New Jersey, police were looking for two Haitian men who drove a Black Acura Legend, information gleaned from witnesses at the scene. Dorval and Pierre were Haitian and Pierre drove a Legend. Despite clear evidence showing (Dorval and Pierre) were nowhere near Elizabeth, New Jersey at the time of the shooting, they were arrested... and charged with murder and related offenses for the homicide, the suit says. Prosecutors argued that Pierres brother was the one in Florida with Pierres license and car, according to a previous NJ Advance Media report. But according to the lawsuit, the ticket listed Pierre as the driver and owner of the vehicle. In the complaint, Dorval also claims the investigators extracted false witness statements from a man charged in the murder through improper and unconstitutional means in order to charge him and his friend. The witness, Maguan Romelus, gave a statement that differed from multiple other witnesses recollection of events, according to the suit. Koczur and Furda also suggested Dorval and Pierre as participants in the shooting, the suit claims. Romelus and another man, James Louis, were convicted in the murder and remain in prison. (Koczur and Ford) knew that (Romelus) statement was false and unreliable, because its version of the pertinent events bore no relation to the events that had been reported by the numerous eyewitnesses immediately after the events, the suit claims. James Louis also gave a statement to police implicating Dorval that differed from other witnesses on the scene that day, the suit says. Louis did not mention that the shooters exited vehicles before the shooting," unlike other eyewitnesses, the suit says. After their convictions, Pierre and Dorval both tried to appeal their sentences for years unsuccessfully. Dorval gave up in 2007, but Pierre fought on and won a retrial in 2015. At his retrial, two witnesses who originally placed Dorval and Pierre at the scene acknowledged that they were not able to identify either of them. The defense team also learned that another witness who previously testified she saw Dorval in Elizabeth hours before the shooting was a police informant. According to the suit, investigators did not disclose that information to the defense team, a violation of a pretrial discovery rule that requires prosecutors to turn over all exculpatory evidence to the defendant in a criminal case. (Koczur and Ford) engaged in a custom and practice of allowing false arrests, coercion of witnesses, failure to turn over Brady material to defense, use of false and/or unreliable identifications at trial and the conduct of malicious prosecutions against citizens, which caused mistaken imprisonment of its citizens. The suit lists New Jerseys Mistaken Imprisonment Act, which if granted, gives Dorval a minimum of $50,000 a year for every year he was in prison. Dorval is also asking the state pay for the cost of vocational assistance, tuition assistance, counseling costs, housing assistance and health insurance coverage. Pierre also has a civil suit pending against Koczur, his original lawyers, and the state treasury department in federal court filed in 2018. After he was released, Dorval told NJ Advance Media that he was happy to be free and interested in taking classes in computer science after waiting 24 years for justice. But since then, he has struggled. He wrote in the recent lawsuit that he relies on his family for housing and had had difficulty securing well-paying employment. I always believed one day the truth would come out and Id be home," Dorval said after his release. I never lost hope. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo. By Carolina Mandl SAO PAULO, May 21 (Reuters) - Votorantim SA, one of Brazil's biggest diversified holding companies, posted a first-quarter net loss of 3.4 billion reais ($597 million), reversing a 4.4 billion real profit from a year earlier, as a weaker currency boosted debt servicing costs. The quarter's results were also hit by a $485 million impairment charge for reduced cash generation expectations for its Nexa Resources SA unit's Cerro Pasco zinc mine in Peru, Votorantim said in a statement. Mainly due to a sharp depreciation in the Brazilian real, Votorantim's net debt - much of it denominated in dollars - skyrocketed more than 60%, ending March at 16.2 billion reais. That is equivalent to 3.55 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), up from a multiple of 1.95 in December. The holding's Votorantim Cimentos and Nexa units also decided to draw down revolving credit lines totaling $500 million. While Votorantim Cimentos used the proceeds to prepay bonds and extend its debt maturities, Luxembourg-domiciled Nexa boosted its cash position to help weather the coronavirus pandemic. Votorantim Chief Financial Officer Sergio Malacrida said the indebtedness ratio is likely to fall by end-year, as a weaker real will tend to favor most of the group's sales in the coming quarters. Still, he declined to provide an estimate, as the consequences of the virus outbreak on demand remain unclear. Still, Votorantim's first-quarter revenues rose 2% year-on-year, to 6.8 billion reais, as higher cement sales and a weaker Brazilian currency offset lower metal prices. Malacrida said operations in Peru and Argentina, which had been partially halted in the first quarter due to the coronavirus-related lockdown, are resuming operations. nL1N2BI2X0 ($1 = 5.6929 reais) (Reporting by Carolina Mandl Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) 97116-3806;)) Hungarys government said on May 21 that it is shutting down the transit zones on its southern border with Serbia where asylum-seekers are being kept while their asylum requests are decided. Prime Minister Viktor Orbans chief of staff said that, as a result, some 280 asylum-seekers will be moved on May 21 to reception centers in the country. Gergely Gulyas also said that, in the future, those seeking to apply for asylum in Hungary will have to present their claims at Hungarian diplomatic missions. The government decision comes after the European Unions top court last week ruled that holding asylum-seekers in Hungarys transit zones amounted to detention and said it was allowed for a maximum period of four weeks. Hungary built fences protected by razor wire on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia and later a pair of transit zones on its border with Serbia in the wake of the 2015 migrant crisis, when some 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe.The measures were part of Orban's increasingly strict anti-immigration policies and the extreme minimization of Hungary's asylum system. The transit zones built from shipping containers were a frequent target for widespread criticism from domestic and international rights groups.They objected, for example, to the small number of asylum-seekers allowed to file claims, the prison-like conditions faced by those kept in the transit zones including families with small children and Hungarys frequent decision not to provide food to adults whose initial asylum claims were rejected but who remained in the transit zones while their appeals were heard. (Image credit: Representative Image) One of Vladimir Putin's closest allies has been urgently flown to Moscow with suspected coronavirus, say reports. The feared Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has 50 per cent damage to his lungs, according to one account. Kadyrov, 43, has been called the son Putin never had - but is portrayed by critics as a deeply divisive figure. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (centre) visits a hospital for suspected coronavirus patients in Grozny on April 20 Officially he has a respiratory infection but reports in Russia say he is suspected of suffering from coronavirus. Kadyrov, 43, (right) has been called the son Vladimir Putin (left) never had The father of twelve was rushed to Moscow from his regional capital Grozny and is now believed to be in an elite Kremlin clinic. More than 50 per cent of his lungs are damaged, according to Readovka Telegram channel. Only days ago doctors in his oil-rich republic who complained about PPE shortage were forced to go on TV to retract their statements as a 'mistake' and apologise. He threatened to fire the critical medics in his mainly Muslim fiefdom. Earlier he claimed people who flout coronavirus quarantine should be punished with death, calling them 'a million times worse than terrorists'. Kadyrov wears protective gear as he visits the Republican Clinical Hospital in Chechnya, designated to treat covid-19 patients, in late April Kadyrov (centre left) together with the Minister of Health of the Chechen Republic Elkhan Suleymanov, visited the Republican Clinical Hospital Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (second right) visits a hospital for suspected coronavirus patients in Grozny on April 20 without wearing protective equipment Kadyrov criticised people returning to his region from Mecca in March. 'If you ask my opinion, anyone who creates this problem for himself should be killed,' he said. Kadryov has claimed that he and his health minister Elkhan Suleimanov had already contracted Covid-19 in February. Suleimanov has new disappeared from view, say reports. Kadyrov is portrayed by critics as a deeply divisive figure and has a close relationship with Putin The father of twelve was rushed to Moscow from his regional capital Grozny and is now believed to be in an elite Kremlin clinic Kadyrov is suspected in the West of ordering a string of extra-judicial killings outside Russia, accusations he strongly denies. He is also accused of human rights abuses against his political opponents and gay activists. Supporters say he has brought order to his region in southern Russia. There was no immediate comment from his administration on the reports he had been flown to Moscow. Are Siddhant Chaturvedi and Navya Naveli Nanda dating? This viral fan theory is attracting a lot of attention A 55-year-old migrant from Delhi, who died in Begusarai district a couple of days ago, is Bihars 10th Covid 19 casualty, officials said here on Thursday. The health department said the total count of coronavirus positive cases has risen to 1872 in the state. According to State Epidemiologist, Ragini Mishra, the deceased belonged to Khagaria district and he had died at a hospital in Begusarai on May 17 where he was admitted upon a deterioration in his health. His test reports came out late Wednesday night, confirming that he was infected with the coronavirus, she told PTI-Bhasha The districts health society programme convenor Shailesh Chandra said the cause of the death was a cardiac arrest suffered by the 55-year-old at the Sadar hospital in Begusarai. The state has previously witnessed deaths of nine Covid-19 patients two each from Patna and Vaishali and one each from Munger, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Rohtas and Khagaria. Meanwhile, the state health department said 96 fresh cases have been reported, raising the states aggregate to 1872. Katihar district, situated in the states north-east corner and sharing its borders with Jharkhand and West Bengal, reported 19 cases. Rohtas and Gopalganj accounted for 17 cases each. Two girls, aged three and four years and residents of Kalyanpur village in Rohtas, were among those who have tested positive. Other districts with a noticeable number of fresh cases are Gopalganj and Samastipur (16 each), Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura (09 each), Purnea (05) and Munger (03). All the 38 districts in the state have reported Covid 19 cases and Patna, Munger and Rohtas happen to be the three worst affected, each of them having tallies in three digits. More than 1,000 cases have been reported in the state in the last three weeks, which has been attributed mainly to the large-scale influx of migrants who have been returning to Bihar from places they had been stuck in during the lockdown. Till Wednesday, the number of migrants testing positive to coronavirus, as stated by the health department, was 788. Global human rights advocates are monitoring the COVID-19 blockade at Manitoba Hydros Keeyask megaproject, as RCMP prepare to formally present protesters with a court injunction. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Global human rights advocates are monitoring the COVID-19 blockade at Manitoba Hydros Keeyask megaproject, as RCMP prepare to formally present protesters with a court injunction. "Amnesty International is calling on Manitoba Hydro to respect the rights of First Nations in northern Manitoba by complying with their request to restrict access to the Keeyask project," says a statement from the group. Amnestys Indigenous rights adviser, Ana Collins, said First Nations hold title to the land the work camp is on. "These communities have an inherent responsibility and right to control access into their territories to protect their communities from COVID-19 and prevent unsustainable pressure on health-care systems in rural and remote areas," Collins wrote. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Last month, Hydro convinced provincial health authorities to allow a new batch of workers to rotate in to the site, replacing 512, with as many as 1,200 workers. Thats despite a ban on travel north of the 53rd parallel that was issued in mid-April because of the pandemic. Fox Lake Cree Nation and Tataskweyak Cree Nation have put up blockades at the site near Gillam. On Monday, a judge issued an injunction that allows the RCMP to arrest anyone who blocks access to the work camp. Mounties notified the local bands they would arrive Wednesday evening to present the injunction, but said theyll only arrest people if safety is at risk. The RCMP took the rare move of issuing a statement to refute rumours they would arrest chiefs on Wednesday. Protesters at the blockade told the Free Press theyd seen at least one helicopter fly from the vicinity of the Gillam airport to the Keeyask site, raising speculation Hydro is evading the blockage by flying in workers. The utility did not respond when asked whether thats happening. Dylan Robertson ELKO Elko County residents can be tested for COVID-19 next week in an effort that officials say could bring the county closer to the states second phase of recovery and reopening. Nevada National Guard troops will be arriving in Elko to assist the county in meeting its Phase 1 goal of testing between 2,500 and 3,000 residents in four days. Testing slots will be available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 27 and 28, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 29, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 30 at the Elko Convention Center. The community-based testing is still in the logistics phase, said Elko County Public Health Officer Bryce Putnam, but approximately 60 to 100 people could be tested per hour, thanks to the multiple resources available. Were going to have some county employees, as well as the Nevada Gold Mines mine rescue team, Putnam said, and possibly some medical students from the University of Nevada, Reno, who have been wonderful in assisting us in our hotline. To register and select a time, visit the link at https://bit.ly/elkocv2020. For more information, call 775-777-2507. Individuals will be tested with a PCR nasal swab. The tests will then be shipped to the Nevada State Lab for analysis. Turnaround on the tests could take three to five days, Putnam said. Putnam and interim Elko County Emergency Manager Annette Kerr updated county commissioners on Wednesday, explaining the next steps the county needs for transitioning into the next phase of the states recovery plans. The testing is one of the requirements, Kerr said. Another involves maintaining patient capacity at the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, and having its ICU stocked with enough ventilators and personal protective equipment on hand. After the community undergoes testing, the county will test Highland Manor patients next. The manor has been good at keeping things locked down, Kerr said. That will be our next area to test those patients who are considered to be the vulnerable population. The community testing announcement came on the last day of drive-thru testing at Walmart, which lasted three days. The White House asked Walmart as a private entity to come out and test, Kerr said. About 21 vehicles entered Walmarts testing center on Monday, Kerr said, adding she did not know how many more came since then. The Walmart tests are returned to Quest Diagnostic labs, which are then shipped to the state lab, taking about four to five days. There are no limitations on who qualifies to be tested, Putnam added. It includes those who fear they may have been exposed or those who want to be tested to see if they are asymptomatic. The directive from the governor and health officials is to test as many people as we can to see how many people who look healthy and feel healthy right now, to see who is carrying it, Putnam said. All the tests we are going to conduct will give us a snapshot out of 3,000 people that are feeling well and could pass it along to members of our community. Putnam said the tests are 99% reliable. With the conclusion of community-based testing, the county could move into Phase 2, where the state will consider reopening schools, bars, and other areas. Extreme social distancing measures for public gatherings will remain in place, Kerr said. She stressed that Gov. Steve Sisolak had not yet confirmed those guidelines. He hasnt put out a specific plan for Phase 2, other than hes calling it the Silver State Stabilization, Kerr told commissioners. Their goal is making sure we have a downward trend. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Family tragedy: Mikee Plangca with a photo of her beloved dad with siblings Michael, John and Chekie and their aunt Fely. Photo: Frank McGrath FOUR children left orphaned by Covid-19 have been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers who donated to a fundraiser in their aid. Miguel Plangca, who was originally from the Philippines, passed away from the virus last week, leaving behind his children Mikee (21), Michael (19), John (14) and Chekie (12). Their mother Gilceria passed away from Cancer in 2015. Mikee shared the story of the familys heartbreak with Independent.ie on Tuesday and since then a GofundMe page set up to support her and her siblings has raised over 200,000. Read More We are overwhelmed by the donations, Mikee told Independent.ie. Complete strangers have given money to help us. These are people who dont know us and we are grateful to them all. We have been left stunned by the amount of help we have been offered and we want everyone to know how much it means t us. Expand Close Mikee Plangca holds a photograph of her father Miguel who was a factory worker and lost his life to Covid-19, leaving Mikee, and her 3 siblings, orphans. Photo: Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mikee Plangca holds a photograph of her father Miguel who was a factory worker and lost his life to Covid-19, leaving Mikee, and her 3 siblings, orphans. Photo: Frank McGrath Mr Plangca had been living in Naas, Co Kildare for the last 20 years and regularly sent money home to his family in the Philippines. After his wife died the couples four children came to live with him in Co Kildare. Mr Plangca also had a daughter Stephanie from a previous relationship. My father made a decision many years ago to come here to provide for us, said Mikee. He left so we could stay in the Philippines and have a better quality of life. Every month he sent money home to us. We were like many other families in the Philippines who had a parent in another country working to provide. Then when my mother died, we came here to Ireland to live with him. Mr Plangca became ill with a cough and a temperature in March. He was later admitted to hospital where he spent 41 days in ICU. Last year, the Green Isle pizza manufacturing site in Naas where Miguel worked was bought over by Birdseye. Colleagues at the plant, where Miguel worked night shifts, remember him as a kind and gentle colleague. When he recently became ill, the local Filipino community stepped in to look after his young family. Mr Plangca became an Irish citizen in 2015 and his children resided in Ireland as his dependents. We want to stay here in Ireland because this is now our home but we dont know what will happen, said Mikee. Its what we want, especially for my brother, Michael, who has special needs. We have friends here and we are part or a community. The children plan to use the funds raised for their future education. Thats what our dad would have wanted, said Mikee. Thats why he came here, to earn money so we could get an education and have a better life. Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/f/kuya-miguel-plangca039s-funds-for-his-treasures (Natural News) Over the past weekend, Texas, North Carolina and Arizona have all reported a steady increase in new cases, raising concerns on whether reopening early can lead to more damaging consequences. Texas reported 1,801 new cases on Saturday, its largest one day-increase in cases. North Carolina also saw its largest single-day jump, with 853 new cases on the same day. Meanwhile, Arizona reported 462 new cases, close to a record high. In addition, data from the New York Times revealed that weekly rolling averages in new cases in all three states have also been rising. According to public health experts, these figures reveal the challenges that come with reopening amid the pandemic. Texas and Arizona are already well underway with their reopening efforts, with states allowing restaurants and barbershops to reopen, provided they follow strict social distancing measures. North Carolina is following their lead, entering its first phase of reopening by allowing retail stores to reopen with restrictions. Upswing in cases due to more testing State officials, however, noted that the recent upswing in cases was also caused by an increase in testing. This meant that more people with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) are being identified. Still, the steady increase in cases even with testing is concerning, according to North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen. During a press briefing on Monday, she added that these figures come at a time when restrictions were being eased. When we see this kind of an increase in case counts, we also know that we are easing restrictions and folks are moving around more, Cohen said. She also urged residents to wear face masks, observe social distancing and wash their hands, even with more relaxed measures in place. Not all states who reopened early are reporting an upswing in cases. Georgia, which lifted its shelter-in-place orders on April 30, has not seen a spike in cases, while Floridas has been mostly flat. Its still too early to tell if state measures are working, as coronavirus data has a two-week lag. Similarly, it also takes time for a person with coronavirus to develop symptoms and get tested, which further complicates caseload data. Its also worth noting that while data from the national level shows a decline in new cases, the trendlines can greatly differ when adjusted for regional variation. In recent weeks, health authorities in New Jersey and New York the latter being the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S. have reported significant declines in new cases. In statements released by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, they stressed that increased testing accounted for the upswing in new cases in their states. All three states, however, have relatively low positivity rates in their testing, with both Texas and Arizona at five percent, and North Carolina at around six percent. The states have also expressed confidence in their hospital capacity, a key metric when it comes to handling the coronavirus. (Related: As the lockdowns are lifted, dont forget these 10 basic FACTS about the Wuhan coronavirus, or well all suffer a catastrophic second wave of deaths planned by the globalists.) Calculated risks Health experts say that reopening the economy can lead to an increase in cases, especially as people start to interact more and spread the virus. It is not surprising that we are seeing more reported cases given that we have started to reopen, people are more mobile and were doing a lot more testing, explained Aaron McKethan, a senior policy fellow at Duke University. In a Senate testimony last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, echoed a similar warning, saying that reopening too soon can lead to spikes in new cases and serious consequences. Experts have also called for a balance between public health and the economy as stay-at-home orders cant last forever. If we were only looking at public health considerations, we would of course maintain lockdown indefinitely, but thats not feasible, McKethan said. For Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health professor Michael Mina, the U.S. is on the brink of collapse if the economy doesnt reopen soon, despite the concerns from a health standpoint. Myself and many of my colleagues are very nervous about this idea of opening up this early, without the right pieces in place, but it does need to happen, he added. Pandemic.news has more stories on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Sources include: TheHill.com BusinessInsider.com Washington, May 21 : US Republican Senator Ben Sasse's recent commencement speech for a Nebraska high school has been slammed as "despicable". Sasse, in an eight-minute speech released to graduates over the past weekend, made comments on students' fitness and psychologists and also tried to blame China for the coronavirus pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency. "If you don't get that joke, talk to your mom and dad," Sasse said. "Back in the day, when we were a lot fitter than you people are, we used to have to climb ropes all the way up to the ceiling of the gym." Before encouraging students not to major in psychology, the senator said that "95 per cent of all gainfully employed psychologists ... their job is really just to help people forget high school". In response, Fremont School Board Member Michael Petersen urged Sasse to apologize. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Petersen told students they "deserved better than the graduation remarks from Senator Ben Sasse". "The racism, implying that our graduates are fat and lazy, disparaging teachers, and attacking the mental health profession are despicable," Petersen said. "You owe the graduating students of Fremont High an apology." Sasse graduated from Fremont High School in 1990 and was president of Midland University in Fremont before running for the US Senate. Sasse is running for a second term for his Senate seat and will be challenged by Democrat Chris Janicek this year. "It's hard for me to believe that a US Senator would make remarks like he did in that speech," said Janicek. "Ridiculing mental health care specialists, suggesting that the graduates are lazy slackers and using the platform to blame China for the pandemic we have now is beyond reprehensible." In a letter to Sasse, the Nebraska Counseling Association called his speech "tasteless and demeaning to our field and more importantly, our seniors". Montrose Apartments 2900 West Dallas is a Houston luxury apartment that continues to see immense growth and loyalty from residents, thanks in part to their ideal Houston location. The Montrose apartment community was developed, built, and managed by Houston real estate icon Marvy Finger of the Finger Companies, who has been profiled numerous times in the Houston Chronicle in regards to his business acumen. Understanding that location is the key to successful multi-family real estate, Finger builds his communities on the idea of Main and Main, which continues to prove as the highest selling point for apartment renters. Though these Montrose apartments arent technically built on Houstons Main Street a few miles away in downtown Houston, the concept of a central and convenient location rings true. The Montrose apartments are located directly next door to Montrose Whole Foods Market, across the street from the newly revitalized Buffalo Bayou Park, minutes from River Oaks, and walking distance to some of Houstons best restaurants. These apartments near the Medical Center are 4-miles from the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the largest medical center in the world and the 8th largest business district in the U.S. Location is especially key in a city like Houston, which ranks as the 9th worst traffic congestion in the U.S., according to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report. Quick and convenient access to grocery stores, restaurants and nearby highways is a top criterion for Houstonians when searching for apartments and homes, which is why Marvy Finger and his apartment communities are always at the top of many apartment hunters wish list. And its clear the residents love the location of 2900 West Dallas Montrose apartments as well. With above average retention rates and many original residents still living at the community, many have attributed their loyalty and lease renewals to the premier Houston location. The Montrose apartments have a Google rating of 4.5 with more than 150 reviews, with a high percentage talking about the Whole Foods next door location, as well as the proximity to Buffalo Bayou Park, and quick access to downtown Houston and TMC. About The Finger Companies Under the leadership of veteran developer Marvy Finger whose 60-year plus track record speaks for itself the Finger Companies has earned an undisputed reputation as the leading independent developer of luxury apartment homes in the country for one reason: unwavering commitment to excellence. With a visionary knack for finding the best locations, the Houston, Texas-based company has led the industry in the highest quality construction, cutting edge design, lush landscaping, envelope-pushing amenities, and unparalleled property management for six decades. 2900 West Dallas Montrose Apartments are owned and operated by The Finger Companies. (Newser) Kendall Jenner has agreed to pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit over the disastrous Fyre Festivalyou know, the one that spawned two documentaries and got its organizer sent to prison on wire fraud charges. Jenner was sued in an effort to recover money for creditors who invested in the boondoggle, People reports. A lawsuit filed by Gregory Messer, who's retrieving the funds, says Jenner was paid $275,000 for a single Instagram post promoting the 2017 festival. "So hyped to announce my G.O.O.D Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival," the model wrote, per Forbes. "Use my promo code KJONFYRE for the next 24 hours to get on the list for the artists and talents afterparty on Fyre Cay." story continues below Messer's lawsuit says Jenner failed to mention she was paid for the post and "intentionally led certain members of the public and ticket purchasers to believe" that Kanye West, her brother-in-law and founder of the G.O.O.D music label, would attend the Bahamas festival or even perform. But he was among the entertainers who never showed up. Instead, attendees found ramshackle FEMA tents, cheese sandwiches, and a chaotic atmosphere as the poorly-planned event came apart before their eyes. Organizer Billy McFarland, who raised $26 million for Fyre Festival, got 6 years in prison. Jenner denies any liability over the ill-fated scheme, per the Wall Street Journal. (Read more Fyre Festival stories.) Twenty-seven people tested positive for novel coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the total number of cases in the state so far to 138, officials said on Thursday. At least 15 of them returned either from Mumbai or West Bengal recently, they said. With 55 people cured, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state now stand at 79. Thirty-two of the cases are from Kangra, 26 from Hamirpur, five each from Solan and Bilaspur, four from Mandi, two from Chamba, two each from Sirmaur, Una and one from Kullu, they said. Four people have so far died of the disease in the state. Out of the fresh 27 patients, 16 have been reported from Hamirpur, six from Kangra and five from Solan district, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) RD Dhiman said. Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said six Mumbai returnees, including a woman, in Kangra district and five West Bengal returnees in Solan district have tested positive for the infection. They were in institutional quarantine, and are being shifted to Baijnath, he said. Out of the 16 cases reported in Hamirpur on Thursday, four of them had returned from Mumbai, whereas one was the primary contact of a person who tested positive two days ago. The details of 10 of 16 reported from Hamirpur were not available immediately. In Solan, all the five cases were from Solan's Ramshehar area and they returned from West Bengal on May 15, the special secretary said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nigerias A-list musicians, Davido and Burna Boy, are lining up alongside other African music stars to perform at an online concert to be hosted by Hollywood actor, Idris Elba. Tagged African Day Benefit Concert at Home, the concert is being held to celebrate the African Union which was established on May 25, 1963 to fight colonialism. It is also a humanitarian effort to raise funds for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The concert will be streamed on Africas giant music channel, MTV Base Africa, and YouTube on Monday, a statement by organisers said on Wednesday. The two-hour special will raise funds to support food and health needs for children and families in Africa affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the World Food Programme and UNICEF who are supporting COVID-affected communities across Africa, the statement read. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the potential impact of COVID -19 on food security in Africa is likely to exacerbate the already existing burden of malnutrition. As of Thursday morning, more than 95,000 people have been infected with the virus in Africa with 2,995 deaths resulting from it. The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, in a press statement said the impact of the disease is expected to be greater among those grappling with food scarcity and malnutrition. The World Food Programme (WFP) director for Southern Africa,Lola Castro, was also quoted in the statement as saying: We are concerned about the prospect of COVID-19 causing a hunger catastrophe. Buoyed by this fear, the humanitarian concert seeks to tackle challenges of food shortage and health. All funds raised will go to the World Food Program and the UNICEF who are supporting coronavirus-affected communities across Africa, according to the statement from YouTube and ViacomCBS Network Africa. The concert will feature musical performances from Nigerias Burna boy, Davido, Adekunle Gold,Niniola, Tiwa Savage,Teni, Yemi Alade and Ricardo Banks, Benins Angelique Kidjo, Kenyas Sauti Sol, South Africas Sho Madjozi. Other African stars to be featured are Toofan, AKA, Diamond Platnumz, Fally Ipupa, Nasty C, Sho Madjozi, StoneBwoy, Bebe Cool, Busiswa, C4 Pedro, M.anifest, Salif Keita, DJ Maphorisa & KABZA De Small. South African comedian Trevor Noah, reigning Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi are part of the concerts line up presenters. It will also feature messages from renowned personalities like Omari Hardwick, Ludacris, Sean Paul, Anthony Hamilton, Nomzamo Mbatha, Fat Joe, and Winston Duke, according to the organizers. Rise of virtual concert The music industry has been dealt a blow by COVID-19 as earnings from showbiz continue to plummet, prompting artists to explore the online space to keep up with their fans. From trying to remain in business to keeping up with fans, artistes are using music as a tool in the fight against coronavirus. Last month, Lady Gaga curated One World: Together at Home, a live-streamed and televised benefit concert in support of the World Health Organizations Covid-19 solidarity response fund and in celebration of health workers around. It was a star-studded concert with Nigerias Burna Boy joining the lineup of a-listers. Meanwhile across the continent, music stars have also created songs and talks to educate the public about the physical distancing and hygiene recommendations. 2baba, Waje, Davido, Asa and other acclaimed African musicians, including Grammy award-winning Angelique Kidjo, are performing free virtual concerts on Instagram and Youtube because of the coronavirus lockdown. Ms Kidjoare released a song in May to spread global awareness on the dangers of Covid-19. YouTubes Managing Director of Emerging Markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Alex Okosi, said in the statement that the concert would use African music to connect the world. Advertisements YouTube is proud to be a platform for the amazing talent that have come to celebrate Africa Day and play a role in helping raise funds for those affected by Covid-19 on the continent, he said. 21.05.2020 LISTEN The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Capital Bank, William Ato Essien, who is facing trial for the collapse of the bank, has begun negotiations with the Attorney General to have some of the charges brought against him dropped. His lawyers revealed that he has paid close to GHS1.4 million and also given out some 19 newly cleared cars from the port to the state. According to the lawyers, led by Thadeus Sory, engaging the AG based on section 35 of the Courts Act which allows for an offer of compensation or restitution in respect of some of the charges brought against the accused persons is currently ongoing. The lawyers have already indicated to the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) that their client was willing and ready to return about GHS27 million to the state. The Attorney General's office in response confirmed the negotiations and informed the court that they will consider it. The judge, Justice Kyei Baffour, adjourned the case to the 18th of June 2020 for the two parties to report back to him. Mr. Ato Essien is facing trial, with three former executives of the defunct bank; Fitzgerald Odonkor, Kate Quartey-Papafio and Tetteh Nettey for 26 charges levelled them. Background The prosecution, led by the Attorney-General (AG), Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, accused the four persons of engaging in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of the GH620 million liquidity support given to Capital Bank by the Bank of Ghana between June 2015 and November 2016. It is the case of the AG that Essien, with Odonkor's aid, transferred the liquidity support to certain companies either controlled by him or in which he had interest. According to the AG, GHS 130 million of the liquidity support was transferred to MC Management Services, which was later presented to the BoG as the initial capital to set up Sovereign Bank, another bank in which Essien had an interest. She further alleged that between June and October 2015, Essien, aided by Odonkor, appropriated GHc27.5 million of the liquidity support by carrying it in jute bags. The money was purportedly used as payment for business promotion, she told the court. Ms Akuffo also accused Essien of giving some liquidity support to his cronies in the form of a loan to be used to buy shares in Capital Bank. With regard to Quartey-Papafio, the A-G said as part of the scheme to further dissipate the GH620 million liquidity support, Essien transferred GHS 70 million of the money into Quartey-Papafio's bank account at Cal Bank. She further accused Quartey-Papafio of trying to withdraw the money in 2017, even though she was aware that Capital Bank had collapsed and was in receivership. The withdrawal, the A-G submitted, was, however, prevented by the receivers of Capital Bank. During his application for bail, counsel for Quartey-Papafio, Dr Dominic Ayine, a former Deputy A-G, rebutted the facts presented by the A-G. He described the case as a ground-breaking one in the country's jurisprudence. This is going to be the first case in the history of this country that stealing has occurred with the consent of the owner, counsel contended. Making his case, he argued that the GH620 million liquidity support was essentially a loan that was granted to Capital Bank by the BoG, which was supposed to be paid with interest. Essentially, this was money belonging to Capital Bank, he said. Counsel further submitted that per Section 60 of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), there was nothing wrong with a lending institution giving out loans for people to buy shares in that institution. ---citinewsroom Jacuzzis, steam rooms and swimming pools are "a thing of the past" in Ben Dunne's network of gyms as a result of Covid-19. The businessman said that he will be doing well if half of his 10 gyms reopen due to his stance on safety. Mr Dunne ruled out shared facilities like pools in any reopening scenario, because "you can't socially distance in them - it's impossible". All 10 of Mr Dunne's gyms closed within hours of Leo Varadkar announcing the first wave of restrictions on March 12th and he admitted yesterday he doesn't know when his gyms will be reopening - saying that it could be as much as two years away. Mr Dunne's gyms employ 90 and have 53,000 members and he said: "We will only open up when it is safe to do so and I really don't know when that is going to be." The business recorded revenues of almost 14 million last year and enjoyed operating profits of 4.3 million, according to Mr Dunne. "The business was going fairly well and I was happy with the performance and it was flattened out, for want of a better word, by the virus." Expand Close Safety first: Ben Dunne wants to ensure staff and customers are safe before reopening his gyms / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Safety first: Ben Dunne wants to ensure staff and customers are safe before reopening his gyms The Government's lifting of restrictions states that gyms can re-open from August 10th in a safe manner. But Mr Dunne said that he doesn't believe a two-metre rule is safe for anyone near someone running on a treadmill. "I must get over the first hurdle and that is how to make them safe and a piece of Perspex glass is not the answer," he said. "It took me 20 years to build the business up to 10 gyms. I don't think in my lifetime - I'm 71 now - I will have 10 gyms re-opened. He predicted: "I think I will be doing well if half the gyms re-open because of the stance I am taking on safety because I do think that people's lives do matter." I dont want to go to no doctor right now, Masas said by phone. In my condition, my sugar is going up high. If I go to a clinic or a hospital with all these things going around? I might be able to catch it, and Im afraid of it. Nigerias tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 6,677, on Wednesday, as 284 new infections were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Also, the death toll from the virus reached 200 as eight people were confirmed dead from the virus on Wednesday. The agency in a tweet late on Wednesday evening said the 284 new cases were reported in 13 states. These are Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) , Borno, Plateau, Jigawa, Kano, Abia, Ekiti, Delta, Kwara,and Taraba. Lagos State recorded the highest daily figure of cases reported on Wednesday. There was a slight increase in the number of infections reported on Wednesday (284) compared to the number reported on Tuesday (226). All the reporting states already had at least a case of the virus. NCDC said on May 20, 284 new confirmed cases and 8 deaths was recorded in Nigeria Till date, 6677 cases have been confirmed, 1840 cases have been discharged and 200 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory, the agency tweeted. The 284 new cases were reported from 13 states: Lagos 199, Rivers 26, Oyo 19, FCT 8, Borno 8, Plateau 7, Jigawa 6, Kano 5, Abia 2, Ekiti 1, Delta 1 , Kwara 1, and Taraba 1. Meanwhile, NCDC said that it made a correction on an error in its case computation for Zamfara on May 18. The agency said on May 18, 8 new cases in Zamfara were erroneously announced Therefore, as at the 20th of May 2020, Zamfara has recorded a total of 76 confirmed cases We apologise to @Zamfara_state for this error and reiterate our commitment to accurate and transparent reporting of data, it stated. BREAKDOWN Nigeria has so far tested 38, 231 persons since the beginning of the pandemic. A breakdown of all the confirmed cases so far shows that 4,637 cases are still active, 1,840 have recovered and have been discharged, and 200 deaths have been reported. A breakdown of the 6,677 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 2,954 cases, followed by Kano 847, FCT 435, Katsina 281, Bauchi 224, Borno 227, Jigawa 211, Ogun 178, Oyo 162,Kaduna 152, Gombe 136, Edo 119, Sokoto 113, Rivers 79, ,Zamfara 76, Kwara 66, Plateau 57, Osun 42, Nasarawa 34, Yobe 32, Kebbi 32, Delta 28, Adamawa 26, Niger 22, Ondo 20, Ekiti 19,Akwa Ibom 18, Taraba 18, Enugu 16, Ebonyi 13, Imo 7, Bayelsa 7, Abia 7, Benue 5, and Anambra 5 . There has been an increase in the number of cases reported across the states despite Nigerias low figure of people tested for the virus. The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, on Tuesday, expressed optimism that more COVID-19 test laboratories will be established in all the states in the country. WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr has installed a new top deputy over the federal prosecutor's office for Washington, raising concerns that a key U.S. attorney's office handling multiple investigations of interest to President Donald Trump is becoming further politicized. The arrival of Associate Deputy Attorney General Michael Sherwin - who won the conviction of a Chinese trespasser at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida in September - has triggered new accusations that Justice Department leaders are bypassing career prosecutors in the office and intervening in cases favoring the president's allies, current and former federal prosecutors in the office said. Barr's actions in cases handed off by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia probe and "packing" of senior supervisory positions with close associates "seriously undermines the U.S. attorney's office in D.C.'s . . . long-standing reputation for independence from political influence," said Charles Work, a former office prosecutor, Republican Justice Department political appointee and president of the D.C. Bar. "This represents a politicization of the U.S. attorney's office of the District of Columbia that is remarkable, and unique, and unprecedented," said Stuart Gerson, a Republican and former Barr aide who served as acting attorney general briefly under presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. "It's a political coup, there really can be no question about it." Barr selected Sherwin, a career U.S. prosecutor from Miami who specializes in national security cases, after first meeting and being impressed by Sherwin in the investigation into the deadly December shooting at a naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, officials said. Department leaders approved his move to the D.C. office after softening its sentencing recommendation for Trump political confidant Roger Stone in February. Sherwin started almost a month before Barr moved to dismiss the guilty plea of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, an action no career prosecutor joined. U.S. attorneys nationwide typically select their own top deputy, current and former prosecutors said. While the attorney general must approve all choices, making a selection himself, and drawing from senior Justice Department leadership to do so, is unusual, they said. The move's timing is also sensitive. As principal assistant to interim U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea, Sherwin is in line to take over the office through late December without need of Senate approval if Shea is not appointed by Washington's federal district court before his appointment expires June 2. The White House, Barr, or the court, however could appoint someone else. The Justice Department bars active prosecutors from speaking to media about cases without high level approval. But several assistant U.S. attorneys in the office - each with experience prosecuting violent crimes or public corruption who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss official matters - said they felt "defanged," torn and staggered by the personnel moves coupled with the appearance of special treatment for the president's friends. Some said they have lost credibility when asking for cooperation from defendants, witnesses and victims whose lives depend on their word. "How do I secure a plea now? How do I get victims to trust me? How do I get cooperators to trust me," one said. Others said they expect defense lawyers to seek to exploit reversals and exotic rationales to block cases. Some also fear jurors in a city with pockets of grinding violence will further lose trust in the criminal justice system and will be reluctant to deliver convictions. "Most of my defendants are people of color," one said. "This just reinforces that belief . . . that rules that apply to them, don't apply to the affluent and well-connected." "We're out here trying to hold people accountable, and you have these [president's] guys traipsing in and out of the courtroom like it's nothing?" another marveled. Shea and the Justice Department declined to comment on staffers' criticisms, a spokeswoman said. The upheaval comes as Barr has launched a criminal review into the handling of the 2016 inquiry into Trump's campaign, and taken steps to facilitate the president's calls to investigate his likely 2020 Democratic opponent, former vice president Joe Biden and his family. The U.S. attorney's office in Washington is a traditional choice to handle such cases. The office has 300 lawyers and jurisdiction to prosecute both national security cases and political corruption across the federal government along with local and federal felonies in D.C. Accusations that Justice Department leaders were exerting control over the office were galvanized in February when Barr shifted out initial Trump appointee Jessie Liu as U.S. attorney before Stone's sentencing. Liu had become a focus of Trump's anger after a grand jury balked at indicting former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe. Barr replaced Liu with his own counselor, Shea, as interim U.S. attorney. Shea brought in another aide of Barr's top deputy to serve as the D.C. office's chief of staff and the pair immediately stumbled into a crisis in Stone's case. Within days, all four line prosecutors withdrew from the case when Barr undercut their sentencing recommendation for Stone, Trump's longtime political adviser convicted of lying to a congressional committee investigating Russian interference. In an echo of Stone's case, Flynn prosector Brandon Van Grack, a former Mueller team member, refused to sign the department's April 30 motion to dismiss the former three-star general's prosecution, according to two people familiar with the matter. The other line prosecutor on Flynn's case, Jocelyn Ballantine, and the office's acting criminal division chief, John Crabb Jr., also declined to sign, two people said. That left Shea's signature on the filing alone, mistakenly accompanied by Liu's D.C. Bar identification number, as the New York Times first reported. Flynn had admitted under oath that he lied in a January 2017 FBI interview about conversations with Russia's ambassador related to easing U.S. sanctions. But a federal prosecutor Barr tapped to review the case said it should be dropped because the FBI had no legitimate basis to interview Flynn so his lies were immaterial. Neither Van Grack, who remains with the department's national security division as chief of a foreign lobbying disclosure and enforcement unit, nor Ballantine responded to requests for comment; Crabb declined to comment. Sherwin approved and communicated to prosecutors the decision to give Flynn's defense internal FBI records that the government cited in its dismissal motion, an official said. The decision to move to dismiss the case was Barr's, and approved and communicated to Flynn prosecutors by Shea, who showed them the motion on a day's or less notice, two officials said. Sherwin and a spokesperson for the D.C. U.S. attorney's office referred questions to the Justice Department, whose spokeswoman said it "does not comment on internal, deliberative conversations." A person familiar with the discussions said the disclosure of documents to Flynn "wasn't because of politics, Barr or Shea. It was Sherwin as a career prosecutor saying this is the right call." Line prosecutors said even if decisions came following internal discussions or disagreements, the Flynn decision has heightened concerns that office leaders are following orders from above instead of relying on subordinates' knowledge and training in the law. "This has knocked the wind out of us, that our office would do something like that," said one prosecutor. "The thinking is, we have more integrity than that. ... You file a pleading with the court and then someone sends out a tweet and it gets changed?" Jonathan Kravis, one of four D.C. federal prosecutors who quit Stone's case in February, called the undercutting of "career employees to protect an ally of the president an abdication of the commitment to equal justice under the law." Barr's decision to further "attack" his own silenced employees "sends an unmistakable message to prosecutors and agents - if the president demands, we will throw you under the bus," Kravis wrote. Not all office veterans have been critical of Barr, and many remain supportive, saying the attorney general is doing his job. Charles Roistacher, who served as its No. 3 official under former U.S. attorney Joe DiGenova from 1986 to 1989, said there was nothing improper about the department's latest actions in Stone's or Flynn's cases or personnel appointments. "It is typical when you have a new U.S. attorney that supervisory positions . . . will be replaced. It happened to me," Roistacher recalled, when DiGenova left. He lamented how politicized the office had grown, but said, "The whole process [against Flynn] stunk." Sherwin's supporters say he impressed Barr with his competence and not because of politics or White House connections. Sherwin "is a career prosecutor with a stellar reputation, background and merit," one official said. Three Justice Department officials confirmed he was Barr's choice to take the No. 2 slot in the district office in D.C. They cited Sherwin's work in the investigation of the December shooting in Pensacola, an act of terrorism that led Barr to call on Apple to unlock the shooter's phones. Sherwin, 48, joined the office of Barr's top deputy in October on a 12-month detail after prosecuting a Chinese business executive who breached security while carrying a cache of electronics into Mar-a-Lago. Secret Service agents whom Sherwin interviewed introduced him to Trump, one person said. In a brief chat, Trump discussed the importance of Chinese counterintelligence work and supported the prosecution team. Sherwin came to Washington after 13 years as a U.S. prosecutor in south Florida, eventually specializing in national security investigations. In 2011, he was asked by a deputy of Obama attorney general Eric Holder Jr. to serve in Afghanistan. Sherwin assisted Afghan prosecutors in conducting more than 120 criminal trials over 12 months of suspected terrorist detainees at Bagram Airfield. Prominent Miami white-collar defense attorney David Oscar Markus, who has handled cases against Sherwin and who founded a widely followed blog on South Florida's federal court system, called Sherwin one of only a handful of prosecutors for whom he would vouch. "If you were looking for the person to work a case and make the right decision about it, it would be Michael Sherwin," Markus said. "He's a five tool prosecutor: ethical, apolitical, smart, thoughtful, and unafraid of making the tough, but right, decision." Around 45 years ago, Mao Ran found himself in a boat headed to Koh Tang island. This was the first time the Khmer Rouge soldier had seen the Cambodian coastline or the Gulf of Thailand. He still remembers being seasick in the choppy waters. The group of Khmer Rouge cadre had been told they were being transported to Koh Tral, an island off the coast of Kampot province, which is now part of Vietnam and known as Phu Quoc. It was the first time that I went to the sea and islands, Mao Ran said. Instead, the boat was headed to Koh Tang, 60 kilometers off the coast of Cambodia. Unknown to Mao Ran, he would soon be at the center of an intense battle between the Khmer Rouge cadre and the United States military personnel on May 15, 1975. The deadly fighting on the island later was dubbed by American historians as the 'Last Battle of the Vietnam War.' A U.S. military attempt to rescue the crew of U.S. merchant ship SS Mayaguez, which had been captured by ultra-communist forces on May 12, 1975, was thwarted by heavily-armed Khmer Rouge soldiers on Koh Tang, resulting in heavy losses on both sides. Seated at his home in Kampong Speu provinces Borseth district in April, Mao Ran now grows rice, bananas, and coconuts on a two-hectare plot of land in Pongro village. Having lost an arm in a separate battle with Vietnamese military forces, Mao Ran told VOA Khmer he knew little of what was to unfold at Koh Tang and was only instructed to protect the island and the regimes interests We didnt know why they sent us to the island, Mao Ran said. We were Cambodian soldiers and we needed to protect our territory. If they came and violated our territory, we intercepted. Whether it was wrong or right, we had to intercept first. On May 12, 1975, Khmer Rouge forces had captured U.S. merchant ship SS Mayaguez near Poulo Wai island, 80 kilometers from the Cambodian coastline. The container ship was headed to Thailand and, according to historians, carrying items from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, which had fallen to Vietnamese communist forces on April 30, 1975. According to Mao Ran, he was unaware the U.S. ship had been captured or that American nationals had been taken captive. At the beginning, we were not aware of the [SS Mayaguez],'' he said. And when our soldiers got off from the ship, we knew that it was an American ship. The United States planned a major assault at Koh Tang on May 15 to rescue the Mayaguez and its crew. However, historians report that the Khmer Rouge had already planned to release the ship and crew hours before the U.S. rescue attempt. We didnt fight on the first day,'' Mao Ran said. We were just laying down and hiding. Historical reports show that U.S. forces, many of them were young and yet to complete their training, came under heavy fire from Khmer Rouge forces. This resulted in two U.S. CH-53 transport helicopters being shot down by the ultra-communist soldiers, with U.S. troops pinned on two nearby beaches, unable to gain ground. According to books written about the incident, the U.S. had to evacuate its soldiers after a day-long clash. The U.S. had already lost 23 personnel in a helicopter accident in Thailand. The battle on Koh Tang cost the Khmer Rouge at least ten soldiers, according to historians, whereas the U.S. lost 18 soldiers on the tiny islet, three of whom were accidentally left behind during a nighttime evacuation. Mao Ran remembered that his peers located one of the three U.S. soldiers, who was then shot on Koh Tang. We saw the footsteps of an American soldiers boots. He was hiding, we found him and when he was about to jump [at us], we shot him dead, the former Khmer Rouge cadre said. According to testimony provided to the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, which accounts for U.S. military personnel listed as missing in action or prisoners of war, two other soldiers were also located on the island by the Khmer Rouge weeks later, taken to Sihanoukville and killed. The battle -- four weeks after the Khmer Rouge had seized Phnom Penh and established Democratic Kampuchea -- has been mentioned in testimony provided before the U.N.-assisted Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and has been documented by a local research NGO, Documentation Center of Cambodia. Long Dany, a researcher at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said Khmer Rouge soldiers he interviewed admitted that they did not have knowledge about international maritime law. They said it was a mistake that the Khmer Rouge intercepted the ship in the international maritime, he said. The researcher added the event could have been averted had both sides been better at information gathering. There was confusion in receiving information, Long Dany said. Elizabeth Becker, an American journalist who lived and worked in Cambodia in the mid-70s and later authored When The War Was Over, said the SS Mayaguezs incursion into Cambodian waters happened to coincide with the Khmer Rouges recent victory in Phnom Penh, leading to nervousness over the ships intentions. Then both sides overreacted, she said in an email. It was a tremendous loss of life and is considered by the U.S. as the last battle of the Vietnam War. Mao Ran pegs the intense incident to Khmer Rouge and U.S. soldiers courageously standing their ground and following orders, but believes the U.S. was ultimately the provocateur. Who was wrong and who was right? It was hard to say, he said. If I were to hypothesize, the U.S. was wrong because we intercepted their [ship in Cambodian waters]. We didnt mistreat them, even though we intercepted their ship. Mr James Korsah-Brown, an aspiring parliamentary candidate for the Mfantseman Constituency branch of the New Patriotic Party ( NPP)has said difficulties in accessing loans by Small Scale business in the Country was real. He has therefore applauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the GHC 600m Small Scale Enterprises (SSE) fund to help grow small scale companies and businesses across the Country. Mr Korsah - Brown has in this regard, appealed to managers of the fund to make flexible conditions for accessing it to enable players in the SSE sector to expand their businesses and employ more people. The Parliamentary Aspirant who made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Saltpond expressed concern about how young people engaged in fishing, farming and trading were tagged by society as uneducated. According to Mr Korsah-Brown this wrong perception had killed the interest of many young people in that sector who found it difficult to get access to capital to start their own businesses, leaving many of them frustrated. Mr Korsah-Brown urged the youth in that sector to embrace the fund, which he said had the lowest commercial loan interest in the system to set up businesses to make them self-reliant. He also pledged his personal support to small enterprises to stimulate growth with his banking and international trade background. He appreciated governments efforts in bringing affected businesses and companies back to life. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Science/Medicine Coronavirus: World sees highest daily increase in virus cases BBC (furzy) Chinese expert says new virus cluster in northeast behaving differently Times of Israel (David L) The Public Do Not Understand Logarithmic Graphs Used To Portray COVID-19 LSE. Paging Edward Tufte. Modernas favorable coronavirus vaccine trial results are an example of publication by press release Washington Post Hydroxychloroquine research shows some promise in interim study conducted by Telangana Govt Times of India. Ignacio: Hydroxycloroquine is manufactured all around the world, but yes, India is not patent-friendly so they have incentives to push for this. Moi: Well see how careful the study is when its out. Ultraviolet Light to Be Used to Disinfect New York City Trains and Buses Complex (David L) iFixit launches massive repair database for ventilators and other medical devices The Verge Coronavirus: Afghan girls make ventilators out of car parts BBC House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on May 20, 2020. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo) House Committees to Review Senate-passed Bill That Could Delist Some Chinese Firms: Pelosi House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday that she will ask some House committees to review a bipartisan bill passed by the Senate which could delist some Chinese companies from the U.S. exchanges. Well review it in the House, she said during an interview with Bloomberg Television. Ive asked my committees to take a look at what it is. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent on Wednesday that would require Chinese companies to comply with U.S. auditing and reporting standards or face exclusion from U.S. stock exchanges. It would apply to those listed on American exchanges or raising capital in the country. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, sponsored by Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), would bar securities from Chinese companies from being traded on national exchanges if the PCAOB is unable to inspect their audit books for three consecutive years. Companies whose audits cannot be inspected by the board would also have to establish that they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government. I do not want to get into a new Cold War, Kennedy said on the Senate floor. All I wantand I think all the rest of us wantis for China to play by the rules. Currently, the Chinese regime blocks overseas regulators, including the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), from inspecting full audit reports of publicly traded companies headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong, citing national security and state secrecy. When asked about her plan for the Senate-passed bill, Pelosi firstly highlighted her records of decades in criticizing the Chinese regimes trade policy, human rights records, and Hong Kong policies. That takes second place to no one in the Congress, House or Senate, in my criticizing of China, she said. However, she emphasized that the United States need to maintain a relationship with China. We have to have a relationship with China and we judge every action as to what it means to us, as well as what it means to them. So I look forward to seeing that, Pelosi said. Its interesting that it has such unanimous support, though, in the Senate, she added. The Senate bill passed amid mounting pressure to increase the scrutiny of Chinese firms. President Donald Trump told Fox Business on May 14 that his administration is looking very strongly into this issue. But he noted a drawback to increasing oversight would be that these companies would simply say, Okay, well move to London or well go to Hong Kong. University of Melbourne researchers have quantified the toll that having multiple chronic diseases takes in China for the first time, which could have significant implications for its economic and health systems. Researchers say is also timely as COVID-19 has placed further pressure on the public health emergency management system in China. Published in The Lancet Global Health, the study is the first national longitudinal data set of its kind. Researchers found multimorbidity* - two or more mental or physical chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as stroke and cancer - was associated with higher health service use levels and greater financial burden. It increased with age, female gender, higher per capita household expenditure, and higher educational level. However, it was more common in poorer regions compared with the most affluent regions. The study used data from the three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study conducted in 2011, 2013 and 2015 with Chinese residents aged 45 years and older. Researchers analysed data from 11,817 respondents. Overall, 62 per cent of participants had physical multimorbidity in 2015. The study concluded that concerted efforts were needed to reduce health inequalities due to multimorbidity and its adverse economic impact. The Chinese Government is working towards universal health coverage by 2030, and around 1.2 billion of China's 1.4 billion citizens are already covered by one of three social health insurance programs. However, low levels of service coverage for some beneficiaries and high levels of patient cost-sharing from out-of-pocket fees for health services have raised concerns about the lack of adequate financial protection for patients with NCDs. First Author Dr Yang Zhao, a researcher at University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute for Global Health, said China's ongoing social health insurance reforms must reduce out-of-pocket spending for patients with multimorbidity. "Concerted efforts are needed to reduce health inequalities that arise due to multimorbidity, and its adverse economic impact in population groups," Dr Zhao said. "Social health insurance reforms must place emphasis on reducing out-of-pocket spending for patients with multimorbidity to provide greater financial risk protection." COVID-19 further complicates the situation. Dr Zhao said a national effort coordinated by the Chinese government has helped to contain its spread. "Some evidence suggests those with multimorbidity are more susceptible to COVID-19 and more likely to be at risk of severe cases and poor outcomes. However, that situation is temporary," Dr Zhao said. "The Chinese government has made unprecedented efforts and invested enormous resources and these containment efforts have stemmed the spread of the disease." University of Melbourne Nossal Institute for Global Health senior lecturer and senior author, Dr John Tayu Lee, said chronic conditions were a major contributor to China's health burden, outcome inequalities and economic burden. He said this was likely to increase rapidly with an ageing population and high levels of NCD risk factors. "Multimorbidity is costly to individuals and health systems," Dr Lee said. "Disease-specific guidelines are inadequate for the effective management of individuals with multimorbidity and new clinical guidelines for multimorbidity are needed in China." ### The study involved researchers at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, WHO Collaborating Centre on Implementation Research for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, Harvard University, Duke University, University of Edinburgh, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, National University of Singapore, and Imperial College London, London. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Police in districts around Nepal briefly detained at least four journalists in relation to coverage of the coronavirus pandemic since the government introduced containment measures on March 23, 2020, while at least six others reported being threatened or attacked by a range of actors seeking to suppress allegations of wrongdoing over the same period, according to CPJ reporting and news reports. On April 30, Lok Karki, a reporter for Radio Dhangadhi, was detained for six days in Doti district in the far western region of Nepal while filming a disagreement over distribution of food and other relief amid the pandemic, according to news reports and Hari Joshi, editor of the local station, who spoke to CPJ via phone. Joshi and the news reports alleged that Jaya Bahadur Dhami, chair of an electoral division of the district, hit Karki while the journalist was filming the disagreement. Joshi said Dhami forced Karki to delete photos and videos. When CPJ reached him by telephone in May, Dhami denied attacking Karki and said that Karki had attacked him while he was distributing rice. On April 28, the All Nepal National Health Professionals Association issued a public statement threatening that journalists in Chitwan city, Bagmati province, who reported on the alleged theft of medical supplies from a COVID-19 field hospital would be subject to physical attack, according to Freedom Forum, a local human rights organization. The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), a local press freedom advocacy group, said the statement was targeted at Subash Pandit, a correspondent for the news website Online Khawar, who had reported on irregularities involving hospital supplies. Mira Adhikari, a member of the association, denied threatening Pandit to CPJ and said that the statement was intended to highlight that an online video purporting to show hospital staff removing the supplies had been manipulated. On April 27, reporters Binod Babu Rijal, editor of the Kayakaran Daily, and Arjun Adhikari, a reporter for Radio Triveni, were detained for one hour in Chitwan for reporting during lockdown measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to Freedom Forum and FNJ. Police seized their cellphones, although they identified themselves as journalists, according to FNJ. Police in Chitwan separately detained Kantipur Daily reporter Pramita Dhakal for two hours the same day while she was photographing vehicles seized by police during the lockdown, according to Freedom Forum. Nanti Raj Gurung, chief of Chitwan district police, told CPJ that police had detained people who were violating restrictions on movement, but released the journalists immediately on finding out their profession. On April 19, reporter Rajkaran Mahato and cameraman Bibek Mahato with the Annapurna Post newspaper were reporting on illegal mining in the Mahottari district bordering India, Rajkaran Mahato told CPJ and the Kathmandu Post. He told CPJ that four people with their faces covered arrived on bikes and threatened him and his colleague as they were documenting the ongoing extraction of resources from a local riverbed, in defiance of a recent ban. He told CPJ filed a police complaint. On April 18, Manoj Mourbait, a reporter with the newspaper Janakpur Today, and Sibendra Rohita, a reporter with news website Khoj Kendra, were attacked by five assailants in the district of Dhanusha, according to Freedom Forum. Both were injured, and Rohita received a deep cut in his head, the report said. The journalists had been reporting on conditions in a COVID-19 quarantine facility in the municipality of Sahid Nagarwhere Mourbait has previously reported on allegations of mismanagement of city fundsand were attacked soon after seeking comment from officials, Mourbait told Freedom Forum. Udaya Barbariya, the local mayor, denied involvement and told CPJ by phone that police are investigating the attack, which he said could be gang violence. On April 12, Santosh Mudbhari, chair of an administrative division of the city of Dhangadi in western Kailali district, brought six supporters to the local Radio Dhangadhi office and attempted to attack reporter Nabaraj Dhabuk, according to station editor Hari Joshi and reports by Freedom Forum and FNJ. The attempt was deterred by local residents, according to Freedom Forum. Joshi told CPJ that Dhabuk had recently interviewed Mudbhari on alleged discrepancies in the distribution of supplies related to pandemic relief. CPJ called Mudbhari repeatedly to request comment but his phone was switched off. In a statement reported by Freedom Forum, he said he did not intend to picket the radio station. By Trend The prices for renting apartments have surged in Baku, director general of Azerbaijans MBA Group consulting company, expert in the field of real estate Nusrat Ibrahimov, told Trend. The prices rose by 2.98 percent while a decline of 0.78 percent was observed regarding rental of commercial facilities in April, the expert said. Ibrahimov emphasized that the reason for the rise in prices for renting apartments is the decrease in the portfolio of proposals because of the coronavirus. The expert added that people prefer to wait for the post-pandemic period for renting apartments. A decrease in prices for renting the commercial facilities has been stipulated by a decrease in demand for them, Ibrahimov added. The High Court has directed the Attorney General (AG) to provide lawyers of Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and Dr. Johnson Asiama all the evidence they will rely on in prosecuting their case involving the collapse of indigenous bank, uniBank. The two men alongside nine others were dragged to court for the various roles they allegedly played in the collapse of uniBank. Dr. Duffuor, founder of now-defunct uniBank has been charged with money laundering and dishonestly receiving, while Dr Asiama, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has been charged with willfully causing financial loss to the state. The State has accused Dr Duffuor, who was also a shareholder of uniBank of using the HODA Group, to take money from the bank and dishonestly transferring the money which was depositors funds. According to the Attorney General, Dr. Duffuor and HODA Group allegedly dishonestly received more than GH660 million from uniBank. In the case of Dr. Asiama, he has been accused of using his position as 2nd Deputy Governor of the BoG to approve the transfer of GH300 million which was an unsecured facility from uniBank to the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB). According to the AG, Dr Asiama knew that uniBank was in financial distress but he allegedly went ahead to approve the deal. The other accused persons in the case include the son of Dr. Duffuor, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor II, who was the CEO of uniBank before it collapsed, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis; the Chief Operating Officer of the bank, Elsie Dansoa Kyereh; Executive Head of Corporate Banking, Jeffery Amon; Senior Relationship Manager, Benjamin Ofori; Executive Head of Credit Control and Kwadwo Opoku Okoh; Financial Control Manager. The judge Justice Bright Mensah adjourned the case to the 18th of June 2020. uniBank's collapse uniBank went into official administration on March 20, 2018, and eventually collapsed on August 1, 2018. The local bank was one of five banks merged by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) into the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited. Official Administrator, KPMG, in the course of its duties discovered that about GHS5.7 billion was owed by shareholders of uniBank as of March 20, 2018. The GHS5.7 billion was the focus of a previous suit by Nii Amanor Dodoo who was acting as the Receiver. Among other things, the bank's interest income and other sources of income were said to be insufficient to cover the associated cost of funds of underlying borrowings and liabilities, as well as overheads of about GHS0.31 billion per annum. These claims have, however, been challenged by the bank's directors and Dr. Duffuor also sued to get the court to declare the license for the Consolidated Bank null and void. ---citinewsroom I f you ever needed another indicator that Greg James is just like us, when I got through to him last Friday afternoon, he tells me hes just been watching sh*t on my phone. The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show host had spent the morning with his beloved dog, Barney, who he rehomed from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in February last year and who, inevitably, has become the true star of James one million follower-strong Instagram feed. My routine, when I don't have a radio show to do, is to get up early, and go for a good long walk with my stupid, but wonderful dog, Barney, James says. Its nice to get out of the house and spend time with a creature that doesn't understand anything about a pandemic or Brexit or any sort of sadness other than losing a ball, like in the bush. I think it's a very nice thing to do. While he admits the first few months with Barney were a challenge, once he was trained and settled, James says the pup completely changed my life. He adds: I love him so much, I could not be without him. He really keeps you down to earth, like no matter what mad show biz-y element of my job Ive just gone and done, in the morning I wake up at five o'clock and have to go pick sh*t up from outside. And I know that sounds really gross but its a really great leveller, right? Greg and his dog, Barney Taking the breakfast show gig was not something James did lightly. He says, growing up, his only goal was to do radio as a job and when he realised it was a viable career he decided to go for it and see what happens. If you want to be on Radio 1, you want to end up doing the breakfast show. I really wrestled with it over a number of years being like, do I want it or not?, he adds. When I stopped asking myself that question, and got on with it and kept enjoying it, it was offered to me. I never thought I would be on there for more than a year or so. I think when you get that job, you're like, wow, its happened. How long is it gonna last? And I feel really lucky that Ive managed to last as long as I have done. The fact that Ive got my biggest challenge 10 years into a job is something really exciting to me. Being at the helm of one of the UKs biggest radio slots is a tough gig for anyone, especially at a time when media is changing so rapidly - James saw listeners decrease slightly at the end of last year to 4.9 million from 5.1 million in December 2018. But he isnt getting itchy feet. Its certainly been the biggest challenge of my career, doing the breakfast show, because it takes a whole new level of expectation, a different level of profile and national scrutiny and you've got a huge responsibility to be the spokesperson and be the frontman, James says. I feel like I'll just want to keep doing [this job] as long as I'm being challenged and I find it difficult. A good job is one that can really engage your brain, where you are certainly never bored. And I don't feel like I want to stop doing it any time soon. This challenge has only been amplified by the pandemic, but its a feat the presenter feels the breakfast team has risen to, and a deep end thats meant hes had to learn a sh*tload over the last few months. James still goes into the office on his show days, Monday to Thursday, with a producer but the rest of his team is working from home. I've had to get better and learn, and really dig deep and draw on all that experience that I've gained. But it's been a really extraordinary challenge for all of us to make sure that we're nailing it and getting the tone right and reflecting the lives of the listeners, James continues. We want to make sure that we're taking the pandemic seriously but not bringing the mood down too much because most people come to us for a laugh. I think radios powers and its uses are magnified during a time of crisis, and I think it's always there for people. And it's always keeping people connected and it always makes you laugh and its always sort of heartwarming, too. Barney and Greg, last summer To achieve the right balance and tone, James is making sure he stays as clued up as possible, listening to podcasts, and staying connected with the news, but radio is about escapism, too, which is why hes been so impressed that his listeners are up for the fun stuff and nonsense. If you can't laugh through life, there's no point doing it. The way I deal with everything in life, whether it's a happy thing or a sad thing is to try and find the funny side of stuff, James continues. It's been experimental. The show has changed and evolved over the last couple of months. I'm as frightened and saddened by it as everyone else is. I've always known that the listeners are the most important thing about the show but theyve sort of gone up another level in my estimation in terms of how much theyre giving to us at the moment. Theyre up for the fun stuff and theyre really up for nonsense and really up for being callers and doing stuff because we all want to be distracted and get through this together. Its something that, when I started doing radio shows in my bedroom, I never thought about. You'd never think about the potential of a radio station being there for a person when they are feeling low, and lonely. If you can't laugh through life, there's no point doing it. One thing hes learnt over the past few months, from his listeners and also by himself, is that lockdown has made people realise whats important to them. James adds: I certainly fell like I'm listening to the things that I listen to more intently, and making sure that they're definitely part of my routine and doing the things that make me happy. So I think people are taking stock and then going, oh yeah, the thing that I don't really think about that much on in the morning when Im getting ready for work or school or whatever, it's actually really important to my mental health. Mental health is something James, and his wife of nearly two years, author and journalist Bella Mackie, are big advocates of and he says its something they both struggled with when the pandemic first reared its head. It certainly hit us both quite hard at the start of lockdown because you're like, what does this mean? And when are we going to see our family again? Bella suffers badly with anxiety and for me, having to balance work, being happy every day trying to entertain people with desperately wanting to be at home and look after the person you love the most, is definitely tricky and a challenge for both of us, but it's something that brings you closer together and because we share a lot with each other, you become stronger through it, James says. That's the exciting thing about being in a relationship, is that you grow together and you work out coping mechanisms for each other. So it's been a challenge, certainly for everyones mental health, but something we're getting through together. It seems Barney plays second fiddle to Mackie when vying for James love. The presenter says marriage is f*cking great and before he met Mackie, marriage was something he hadnt thought about much or even thought he would ever do. And then Bella came along, and it was the easiest thing in the whole world, he says. We just get on so well and I love that we are allowed to have loads of time together now in the evenings, we can go for walks, and we can hang out. But we're also very independent, shes very active doing her own thing, and I really like doing my own thing. It's been great. Weve been doing a lot of DIY, painting spare rooms. I went mad last week and ripped up the carpet. It's a nice reminder of making sure you look after your actual life and not just to worry about work. While the pubs are shut, and with a quieter-than-usual social agenda, James has been keeping himself busy - by growing his hair. It started off because I literally couldnt get it cut but now I'm enjoying it and I am checking in on Jake Gyllenhaals Instagram every day, to see if he uploads a new photograph of himself because he is hair goals and Im not afraid to admit that. Im trying to go full Jake Gyllenhall, which is a nice aim for me at the moment, James laughs. A wee bit more to go yet, Greg / Getty/Instagram @greg_james I am also doing a lot of cooking so I'm going to become a celebrity chef after lockdown ... watch out Ainsley, Im coming for your gig. I've just realised for the first time in my life that actually making food is more enjoyable than eating it. That's the whole point. I never really understood why people spend hours making food. And now I do. Thats been a big discovery, a big sort of epiphany. Besides cooking and hair growing, James also has two other projects on the go: a new season of Rewinder on BBC Radio 4 and he and Chris Smith have just released the last instalment in their childrens book series, Kid Normal. As a self-described radio nerd, having at-home access to the entire BBC archive for Rewinder has been a dangerous resource for James to have and something he can spend hours and hours and hours combing through. In the second series, which started last week, James touched on dog training from the 80s, played a 130-year-old recording of Florence Nightingale and discovered that a Paul Hollywood handshake hasnt always been so hard to get. James says: Because everyone's baking at the moment, we decided that wed search for Paul Hollywood, and theres an example of him on an episode of the Generation Game in 2001, where he is the guest baker. He was really kind with the scoring, really generous. And the things that theyd created were sh*t. But he's really nice about it. And I was watching that being like, hang on, but in the Bake Off now hes suddenly turned into Mr. Nasty. Very, very harsh isn't he in the Bake Off? You can't you can't get the Hollywood handshake for any sum of money, but back in the early noughties, he was giving them out 10 a penny. While Radio 4 is a step away from his usual Radio 1 tone, James says hes excited that he can produce a show for the station where he can be himself. I have to switch my brain slightly into a more journalistic and a slightly more analytical mode, which is good. Its good for me to go out of my comfort zone. It's a very different field to Radio 1, but essentially, it's the same stuff, communicating something you're passionate about to an audience. Just happens that this audience is just a bit older than what I'm used to, but thats okay. I think the mums like me, James laughs. The presenter has also been able to add author to his CV with his Kid Normal series, and he and co-author Chris Smith dropped the fourth and final instalment, Kid Normal and the Final Five, last month. The kids series follows protagonist, Murph Cooper, who accidentally gets into a school for superheroes, even though he has no powers himself. We did the first one as an experiment, to see if we could write something like that together and we just wanted to write more, James says. It's been amazing. Its taken us all around the world promoting it and it's been translated into loads of different languages. With the final one, the only thing we are missing is going out and doing school events. We get a lot out of meeting the readers and doing shows for them and encouraging them to keep reading. The pair have already started thinking about ideas for their next novel. Were trying our best to come up with some ideas together over Zoom. Were not done just yet. Daily walks with Barney is a favourite past time for Greg One thing James has loved about lockdown is that its forced him to sit around more, something he says he doesnt do too often. He continues: Slowing down a bit and focusing on things I enjoy doing and the things I love, and radio shows, the podcast and writing, thats enough. Im learning to be better at that. And I'm making sure I'm spending time with Bella and time with Barney, and its nice to have the time to call my mum and dad, call my friends and actually have a life outside of work. So it's been a really timely reminder for me to just relax a bit more. When I ask him whats the first thing he wants to do when life returns to a semblance of normality, he laughs and says: I love thinking about this question, because it just feels so exciting. I promised my breakfast team that as soon as we're allowed to fly somewhere and go somewhere hot, I'm going to take them all to Ibiza, and we're going to lose our minds for a week. That's what I promised. I said whatever villa we want to stay in and whatever club we want to go to, we can pull any favours we want to get into anywhere. And we're just going to go and have an old school mad one. Oh, and before that go and see mum and dad. In that order: mum and dad, Ibiza. You can listen to the new season of Rewinder here and buy Kid Normal and the Final Five here. The survey of 700 Hoosiers, which was conducted in May by a partnership of healthcare consultants, CVR and Carmichael & Company, assessed COVID-19 awareness and subsequent fears in seeking care among a spectrum of providers ranging from hospitals to physician offices. While fears were higher for nursing homes, hospitals and stand-alone after-hour clinics, one-third surveyed had equally high levels of fear regarding care at pharmacy clinics, free-standing surgery centers and even physician offices. "Healthcare providers can't assume patients will immediately return to pre-COVID-19 behaviors when it comes to their health," said Julie Carmichael, President of Carmichael & Company. "While a small percentage will, it will take a well-designed and executed comprehensive safety communication strategy to assure existing and new patients. Building patient confidence is not only important from a business perspective, but it is critical for the long-term health of Indiana communities." "The survey confirmed that implementing both safe-practice communications and behaviors within the care environment are important," said Kevin Flynn, President and CEO of CVR, an Indianapolis-based marketing firm. "Hoosiers want to hear and see proof about safe practices. This goes beyond just posting safe COVID-19 policies on the front door of offices." In the full report, respondents provided guidance into ideal communication channels, preferred trusted spokespersons and favored safety priorities, including length of time spent in waiting rooms. For more information, email [email protected] or [email protected] . About CVR CVR is an Indianapolis-based, independent communications agency that Builds Brands That Matter. As an integrated advertising, public relations and digital agency, CVR uncovers the insights as to why customers should care about a brand. CVR solves business and communication problems with innovative solutions that can work in any channel. From video to websites, to social media and PR, CVR helps its clients' brands matter more. http://www.cvrindy.com About Carmichael & Company Carmichael & Company is an Indianapolis-based health strategy firm focused on helping define and execute strategy for healthcare organizations. Carmichael & Company's capabilities are diverse. While healthcare is a focus, Carmichael & Company leverages its creative, yet disciplined, approach to strategic thinking, planning and execution for clients across a number of industries. Media Contact: Kelly Young 317.753.3258 | [email protected] SOURCE Caldwell VanRiper Related Links http://www.cvrindy.com There is no sadder news to music fans than the realization that this may be the first summer where they wont hear live music at their favorite mass events elbow to elbow with like-minded enthusiasts. While Live Nation is considering experimenting with drive-in concerts and reduced-capacity shows, nothing beats sitting on the lawn with your friends at the Xfinity Theatre while enjoying an over-priced craft beer. So far, the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford has canceled its May 30 appearance by the Zac Brown Band. The Zac Brown Band was also supposed to co-headline the Greenwich Town Party. Organizers had initially hoped to delay the event until August but eventually called the whole event off. The annual all-day town music festival, which is traditionally held Memorial Day weekend and is the biggest event of the year in Greenwich, was also set to feature Mumford & Sons. And 2020 would have marked the Levitt Pavilions 47th Summer Season under the Stars; instead, organizers decided to cancel. It will be the first time in their history they will not produce a season. The Harbor Yard Amphitheater, being built to replace the old Stadium at Harbor Yard, delayed its opening until May 2021 because of supply issues with the coronavirus pandemic. Their scheduled summer concert season will not take place this year. The Music Mountain Board of Directors said they made the difficult decision to cancel the summer concert season in Falls Village and in-person education programs for the very first time in its 91-year history. The Milford Oyster Festival, with headliners that have included Blues Traveler, Blue Oyster Cult and Kansas, has canceled the August event. Similarly, there will be no Norwalk Oyster Festival, which has featured performances from Willie Nelson, Little Feat and The Monkees. The Branford Green, normally filled with jazz enthusiasts on Thursday evenings in July and August, will be barren of live bands as town officials nixed the Branford Summer Jazz On The Green Concert Series. While it has shelved its food truck events and summer concert series, Celebrate Shelton still plans to bring music to the masses this summer virtually. Celebrate Shelton, founded six years ago by Nicole Mikula, Michael Skrtic and Jimmy Tickey to promote the citys downtown, will hold a virtual summer concert event on July 24. In nearby Ansonia, the cultural commission director said the weekly summer concerts will not be happening, nor will Ansoni-con, the Harvest Festival and Rock The Valley, an afternoon and evening music festival. As for Derby, their weekly summer concert series on the green will be canceled. And in Stamford, both Alive@Five and the Wednesday Nite Live concert series have been axed. Stamford Downtown Special Services District spokesmen said they hope to develop alternative live music events. As for the casinos, Mohegan Sun Arena either canceled or rescheduled its events through June including Dave Matthews Band, Michael Bolton and Ozzy Osbourne. As for the rest of the summer, there are some concerts still on the books. While Barenaked Ladies has rescheduled, Harry Styles and Matchbox Twenty are listed for July and Rod Stewart in August. At neighboring Foxwoods Resort and Casino, all concerts through May were postponed or canceled, including Kesha. Later events, however, may still be possible, such as Lil Kim, Jackson Browne and Pink Martini. RACINE A federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday against City of Racine Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox and 20 other Wisconsin officials alleging that locally mandated Safer at Home orders are unconstitutional. The lawsuit, which lists a Racine resident as one of its 17 plaintiffs, asks the Eastern District of Wisconsin of the U.S. District Court to end all of Wisconsins local Safer at Home orders. The local orders unlawfully interfere with plaintiffs rights to work and to worship, to gather and assemble, in violation of their Federal Constitutional Rights, the complaint alleges. Other defendants in the case represent Dane, Outagamie, Winnebago, Green and Rock counties, the City of Appleton, the Grand Chute Police Department, the Wisconsin State Capitol Police and the City of Milwaukee, as well Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Andrea Palm and Gov. Tony Evers. The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph W. Voiland of Veterans Liberty Law, which is based in Cedarburg. Voiland served as an Ozaukee County Circuit Court judge from 2013-2019. Racine City Attorney Scott Letteney said Thursday morning that the city still has not been served with the lawsuit yet. As such, It would be premature to provide any comment, he said in an email. Racine womans allegations Among the plaintiffs is Sandra K. Morris of Racine. In the lawsuit, she claimed that two of her rights specifically have been unlawfully stripped. The first was her ability to worship. Places of worship in Racine are now allowed to legally hold services, albeit with limited numbers of attendees. Morris second claim, along with five of her co-plaintiffs, is that the Safer at Home order prevented her from circulating recall petitions for either state or local office holders. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many of those who are running for public office have held outdoor events or gathered signatures by mail, rather than collecting signatures by going door-to-door as is normally done, to ensure their nomination petitions are filled out with enough voters signatures. Statewide order overturned The statewide Safer at Home order was overturned on May 13 by a 4-3 vote by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. State Attorney General Josh Kaul and Letteney said afterwards that local orders were still legal if there was an ongoing public health emergency in a specific locality. Last week, Letteney argued that the Supreme Courts ruling on the statewide order did not declare that the order itself was unconstitutional, just the way it was implemented by the Department of Health Services. The courts decision did not say anything about what a local health officer may do under Wisconsin Statute section 252.03 or under any other law, Letteney said. Ryan Nilsestuen, the governors legal counsel, said that he is optimistic that this lawsuit will go nowhere. Heading into the Supreme Court hearing earlier this month, Nilsestuen had expressed confidence that DHS would win the case; he was later proven wrong when four justices sided with the Republican-led Legislature. Local situation Only a handful of local Safer at Home orders remain in place statewide, including in the cities of Racine and Milwaukee, and in Dane County. On Monday, Dane County announced its plans to roll back its order. Before the end of this week, the City of Racine plans to release its outline on how it will begin allowing businesses to reopen. Kenosha County, as well as several other municipalities, repealed its order after consulting with an attorney soon after the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision. Racine Council OKs extension of emergency declaration; mass gatherings restricted through July 31 RACINE The City Council and city staff spent quite a bit of time Tuesday night clarifying the differences between Safer at Home orders, the Confirmed cases of COVID-19 are rising in the City of Racine faster than the rest of the state, with more than 550 cases and five deaths in the city alone. The rate of increase in the greater Racine area ranks among the top 25 in the nation, according to data compiled by The Upshot and The New York Times. On Tuesday, the City of Racines emergency health declaration was extended until July 31 by the City Council per request of Mayor Cory Mason, as was a restriction on mass gatherings that need to be approved by the city per order of Bowersox. The local orders unlawfully interfere with plaintiffs rights to work and to worship, to gather and assemble, in violation of their Federal Constitutional Rights. Lawsuit against Dott-Kay Bowersox and other state officials Love 2 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 4 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The citys future has become a point of contention in the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States; on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was closely watching whats going on in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have directly appealed to Washington for intervention, frequently waving American flags on the streets, and see themselves as the last bastion of resistance against an increasingly assertive Beijing under President Xi Jinping. Kabul, May 21 : The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad reported he had a "constructive meeting" with senior Taliban leaders in Doha, and discussed counter-terrorism, intra-Afghan talks and the withdrawal of American forces from the country under the peace deal. "I held three constructive meetings with Mullah Berader and members of the Taliban Political Commission. Emphasized the US-Taliban agreement is inter-connected: CT (counter-terrorism) commitments, intra-Afghan negotiations, troop withdrawal, & gradual violence reduction leading to a permanent ceasefire," TOLO News quoted Khalilzad as saying in tweets on Wednesday. "On violence, I told the Talibs violence by all sides must fall. Innocent Afghans have borne far too much and for too long the costs of this war," Khalilzad tweeted. On the US-Taliban agreement, "the Taliban expressed their commitment to the agreement and its implementation", said Khalilzad. Regarding the missing Americans Mark Frerichs and Paul Overby, the Taliban said "they would do all they could to locate our citizens", he added. Khalilzad also met President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul and congratulated them on their agreement to form an inclusive government after proctracted negotiations. "We discussed next steps required to implement the agreement between the two leaders. On peace, we agreed that violence is much too high and there is a need to move urgently to reduce it by all sides," tweeted Khalilzad referring to his meeting with Ghani and Abdullah. "We also agreed on the importance of delivering (and soon) on other commitments made in the US-Taliban agreement and US-Afghanistan joint declaration including release of prisoners by both sides and the start of intra-Afghan negotiations," he said. Khalilzad's peace efforts come as the scale of violence has significantly increased in Afghanistan over the past few months and Ghani recently ordered the country's armed forces to return to "offense mode" and defend the nation against potential threats. Ghani's decision came in the aftermath of series of deadly attacks in the country including an attack last week on a maternity hospital in Kabul which killed 24 people. The Taliban denied involvement, but the Afghan government said that the militant group had plotted the attack. Meanwhile, in his Eid message, the Taliban's top leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada called on the US to ensure the full implementation of the Doha peace agreement, and to prevent attempts by other parties who want to disrupt the peace process. "We want to tell the US officials not to allow anyone to delay, restrict or scuttle the agreement between us and you--which also has international recognition. In the agreement, every issue has been explained in a clear manner, it has defined a good framework which is in the interest of the two nations in order to resolve the problems." live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More In times where companies are forced to cut salaries and announce layoffs, Hindustan Computers (HCL) will reportedly not cut salaries of its 15,000 employees for the time being. The software services firm will also go ahead with promised bonuses to its 150,000 employees to honour their previous years performance at the firm. In addition, HCL will also hire freshers and bring 5,000 of them onboard, The Economic Times reported. "We havent seen any cancellations (of projects,) but onboarding of new projects has been delayed by a little. However, we are seeing a lot of green shoots; today, we have 5,000 open requirements in some areas, which are good, neutral, and positive (areas)," Apparao VV, chief of Human Resources at HCL told the paper. The company does acknowledge some hurdles and problems. For example, transportation and manufacturing verticals are facing stress as clients struggle at their end. About the annual appraisal, the company said it will take a call in July when it is due. The company is also not considering salary cuts or cancel bonuses this year, said Apparao. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "Our belief is that the bonuses that we are paying are a function of what people have delivered in the last 12 months, and we should honour our commitment to our people," he added. The Noida-based firm did not cut employees salaries during the 2008 recession or other past crises, Apparao said. Another tech firm, Capgemini India, reportedly announced that it has given a single-digit salary hike to 84,000 employees, effective April 1, 2020. The number accounts for 70 percent of the companys workforce in India. The rest of the employees of Capgemini India will get their increments in July. On the contrary, other IT firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS have delayed salary hikes and put promotions on hold, citing uncertainty in business growth. Commercial vehicles maker Force Motors on Thursday said it has resumed operations at its plants at Akurdi, Chakan and Chennai following relaxation in lockdown. The company on March 21 announced suspension of operations at the plants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. "With effect from May 21, 2020, the company has resumed its operations in its plants at Akurdi, Chennai and Chakan. At present, operations have resumed with 33 per cent attendance and the same will be ramped up in future as per relaxations provided by regulators time to time," Force Motors said in a regulatory filing. The firm will continue to accord utmost importance to the health and safety of its workforce including compliance with all the directives of competent authorities issued in this behalf, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The gyrations of Australia's tech stocks over recent months has hidden a remarkable comeback by one of its former darlings, last-mile logistics provider Getswift. The stock has soared to a multi-year high of 90 this month. This is the highest it has traded since the disastrous share price crash in February 2018 which followed the company's confirmation that fewer than half the contracts it had been publicising were actually generating any revenue. Former AFL player Joel MacDonald has taken a few knocks since starting up Getswift. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo The 500 per cent gain since May last year represents a remarkable comeback for the company which was started by former AFL footballer Joel Macdonald to work out the best routes for his booze delivery service. A major trigger point appears to be the company's recent quarterly report with numbers that suggest it might finally be generating meaningful revenue from its customer contracts. Late last month Getswift revealed revenue had more than tripled quarter-on-quarter to $8.7 million "based on unaudited management results" for the three months ending March. This represented a 700 per cent increase on the previous March quarter. Hyderabad, May 21 : Three weeks after her husband died of Covid-19 at Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital and was cremated by the municipal authorities, a woman claimed he is missing and insisted that the authorities show proof of his death and funeral. Not convinced by the statement of the government-run hospital that her husband died on May 1, a day after his admission to the hospital, the woman and her two daughters believe that he is missing from the hospital. The issue came to light after Alampall Madhavi, a resident of Vanasthalipuram area in Hyderabad, tweeted to Telangana's cabinet minister K.T. Rama Rao late Wednesday that her husband who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 went missing from Gandhi Hospital. Gandhi Hospital Superintendent M. Raja Rao issued a statement on Thursday that Madhusudhan (42) was admitted to the hospital on April 30 with positive diagnosis of Covid, his condition was serious due to bilateral pneumonia with ARDS, and he expired on May 1. The hospital superintendent said as per the procedure, the body was handed over to police and since nobody from the family came forward to receive the body, the police handed over the same to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for cremation. The enquiry revealed that the GHMC performed the cremation. "All due procedures were followed. We sympathise with the family, but it is wrong to defame the hospital and doctors and other staff who are treating hundreds of corona cases risking their lives," Raja Rao said. Madhusudhan, an employee in a rice mill, took ill on April 27 and was admitted to King Koti Government Hospital for screening. Since he tested positive, he was shifted to Gandhi Hospital, the designated facility for treating Covid-19 patients. After his death, his family members were also quarantined and since they too tested positive, they were admitted to Gandhi hospital. Madhavi and her two daughters were discharged on May 16 after they recovered from Covid-19. "I enquired about my husband and they said he expired on May 1 and was cremated. I insisted on proof in the form of photographs or videos, but they had nothing," said the woman. She disputed the claim by hospital authorities that the family was informed about his death. "Let them show the evidence to whom they had informed and from whom they had obtained consent for performing the last rites", she said. She is not ready to believe that her husband died. "My daughters too believe that their father is alive. We will believe he is no more only if the hospital shows us some evidence," said Madhavi. A Co Clare farmer arrested by gardai on the same day his mother was buried - arising from a property dispute with a brother - is now charged with causing significant structural damage to the disputed property. In a new charge brought against John Morrissey (53), of Clonreddan, Cooraclare, yesterday, he is charged with "causing significant internal and external structural damage to the home/house of Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey at Alva, Cooraclare" on December 13. As part of the single criminal damage charge, John Morrissey is also charged with damaging the contents of the house of Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey. John Morrissey, who marked his 53rd birthday in custody on Tuesday, is accused of demolishing the external garage of the home "and damage to the septic tank of the property belonged to Mary Morrissey and Tom Morrissey". Giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution at Ennis District Court yesterday, Det Sgt John Farmer said John Morrissey made "no reply" to the new charge. Remand Det Sgt Farmer said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has recommended the case be heard in the circuit court. Those convicted of criminal damage in the circuit court can face prison terms of up to 10 years. Mr Morrissey has been on remand at Limerick Prison over the past two weeks after Judge Patrick Durcan refused to grant him bail concerning a separate criminal damage charge to a fuse box at the home of his brother, Tom Morrissey, on May 5. The Morrissey brothers' mother was buried the same day and John Morrissey was arrested after the alleged criminal damage incident. Sgt Aiden Lonergan told the court yesterday that the new criminal damage charge is connected to the alleged May 5 offence. He said the origins of the two alleged incidents are the same. He added that the DPP has yet to give directions on the alleged May 5 offence, but that the two charges "may travel together". When the first criminal damage charge came before the court two weeks ago, Stiofan Fitzpatrick, solicitor for John Morrissey, told the court: "It is obvious that this is a family dispute and a family matter and there is a lot of tension and strong feeling in relation to that. "My client believes that this isn't the property of his brother who is the complainant and he believes that this will be borne out in time when the estate is dealt with." Mr Fitzpatrick said the property is owned by Mr Morrissey's late mother. He added: "We don't know who that property has been passed onto. There is no information in relation to that." Mr Fitzpatrick said that John Morrissey farms all of the land surrounding the house. Giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution to the court on the earlier date, Det Sgt Farmer said that, after being charged and cautioned, John Morrissey replied: "That's not Tom Morrissey's f***ing home." Mr Fitzpatrick said: "Obviously the reply after caution isn't one that you would normally expect but it is obviously what my client believes and he is being up-front about it." The judge yesterday further remanded Mr Morrissey in custody to appear before the court next Wednesday, May 27, via video link. Our own Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone is hoping the play pods can free small children to play together again. Photo:Gareth Chaney/Collins It is surprising in times of difficulty how often the hard thing to do and right thing to do are the same. Our country needs a government now. Next week, it must rush through authorisation for billions of extra euro for social welfare payments. People are paralysed with anxiety about their future; hundreds of businesses are at risk of going to the wall. New noises from the UK suggest we face another cliff-edge on Brexit over border checks. Yet we still await a show of statesmanship commensurate with the challenges we face across the political divide. Parties are still looking out for themselves. Now the Green Party may be on the point of a leadership challenge as government formation talks take place. Such a move at such a time risks rocking the boat as it crests a wave. The past few months feel as if we have been trapped on an ever-spinning roulette wheel. The strangeness of it all has understandably produced an overwhelming craving for stability and normality. This remains out of reach for the foreseeable future. The new familiar may feel like a foreign land, but however fabricated it is, we will have to come to terms with it. For while new figures suggest the outbreak is on a downward trend, people may have a false sense of security. Our safety continues to depend on our respect for social distancing. New testing systems will be pivotal in future weeks. But who could have foreseen our emergence into a science fiction world of "flattening the curve" with its "double bubbles" and "pods" for the children. We have New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern to thank for popularising the social bubble system. It pivots on the notion get-togethers are far safer if the double bubble is confined to the same two households. The practical approach extends our circle without inviting a second wave of Covid-19. Our own Children's Minister Katherine Zappone is hoping the "play pods" can free small children to play together again. What freedoms we have tomorrow are still very much tied to what we are prepared to put on hold today. This is where true leadership and responsibility reveal themselves. And why new figures from the Department of Health on "risk perceptions" among the public give grounds for concern. When asked to rate how worried they are about the epidemic from one to 10, the number is on the slide, with most opting for 5.7 down from a high of 7.3. It is way too soon to drop our guard. Anyone doubting this should note yesterday there were 106,000 new cases of the infection recorded worldwide - the most in a single day yet. At the beginning of the pandemic the rallying cry was "we are all in this together". In case there is any doubt, those involved in government formation are not exempt. President Donald Trump says a full G7 summit bringing together the leaders of the world's major economies looks like it will be on. But he says the in-person event which had been scrapped in March because of the coronavirus will now take place primarily at the White House, with a piece of it perhaps taking place at the nearby Camp David presidential retreat. Trump made the comments while departing the White House for a trip to Michigan on Thursday. The District of Columbia remains under stay-at-home orders and U.S. travel restrictions remain in place on many Group of Seven nations. But Trump has said that holding the event would be a great sign to all that things are getting back to normal. He said a formal announcement will likely come early next week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A loggerhead turtle travels around 8,000 miles to return to where they were place where they were hatched. Scientists have always wondered how these animals are able to determine which way they should go. Some detect their way by smell and others by magnetism, but the entire process is not yet known known to us. (Photo : Pixabay) A lot of wildlife species, fish, and insects have been widely documented to be capable of traveling vast distances as part of their life and reproductive cycle. They migrate to distant destinations for resources, to escape the winter cold, or to breed. Scientists have always wondered how these animals can determine which way they should go. Some detect their way by smell and others by magnetism, but the entire process is not yet known to us. For animals that live in the water, many of them simply follow the water currents leading to the open sea. They have been found to use their sense of smell when they go back for their return journey for the breeding season. For example, lake sturgeon eggs hatch on the pebbles at the bottom of Kewaunee River in Wisconsin, after which the fry travel for up to a hundred miles until they reach the Great Lakes. This is the area where they stay until they reach maturity, which lasts for 10 to 20 years. After maturity, they again travel back to where they came from to breed and to lay their eggs. Some of them make pioneering diversions in the route and look for new areas, but these stragglers account for less than four percent of their entire population. WATCH THIS: Footage of the Last Tasmanian Tiger in Captivity Green Bay U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist Jessica Collier says that the sturgeons imprint or remember the river where they are born. The fishes could be using the barbels on their snouts, which look like whiskers, to detect proteins present in their aquatic environment, which allows them to smell their way to their destination. For other animals that travel vast distances, many species take advantage of the geomagnetism of the planet. For instance, Arctic terns can travel 12,000 miles to cover the distance between the two poles. Marine turtles such as Loggerheads travel 8,000 miles, with the starting point in Japan and the finish line in Baja. Insects such as Bogong moths can fly 600 miles to traverse Australia for their wintering cave habitats. These moths can precisely track their home to the extent that they can mate, hatch, and finally, perish on one specific area of rock. Swedish Lund University zoologist Eric Warrant says, however, that these moths do not entirely rely on geomagnetic guidance. He instead compared the insects to hiking mountaineers that are reading compasses. They plot their course using cardinal directions and then make adjustments visually with the use of physical landmarks. CHECK THIS OUT: The Friendly Personality of Snakes, Some Have Actual Friends Warrant adds that their use of several senses is enough to guide them accurately back to their original home. They were never taught by their parents where they should go because they die three months before the young ones can even begin to fly. Nonetheless, they still somehow have an inherited instinct to look for the right waypoints and correctly follow them. The answer may be genetically coded into the moths. If scientists can decode these genetically derived impulses, we can discover how these animals can navigate these long and winding routes. It can also help scientists determine if such genetically driven intuition can overcome anthropogenic obstacles such as light pollution and dams. If our interference is indeed keeping them astray, then researchers can start looking for a way to help these animals get back on track. READ NEXT: Rediscovered: Florida's Blue Calamintha Bee Spotted at Lake Wale Ridge QUINCY, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) today announced that, due to the public health impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and out of concern for the health and well-being of Titan's stockholders and employees, its 2020 annual meeting of stockholders will be conducted solely as a virtual meeting on the Internet. There will not be an in-person meeting. The date and time of the meeting will remain the same: Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Central Time. Titan stockholders of record at the close of business on April 14, 2020, will be able to attend and ask questions at the virtual annual meeting by going to www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/TWI2020 and entering the control number found on the proxy materials previously distributed to you. Stockholders may access the meeting platform beginning at 9:45 a.m. Central Time on June 11, 2020. If you encounter any difficulties accessing the virtual annual meeting during the check-in or meeting time, please call the technical support number that will be posted on the login page. Technical support will be available beginning at 9:45 a.m. Central Time on June 11, 2020. This change does not impact the ability of Titan's stockholders to vote in advance of the annual meeting by one of the methods described in Titan's Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement mailed to stockholders on or about April 28, 2020 (the "proxy statement"). We encourage Titan stockholders to vote in advance of the annual meeting as soon as possible using one of the methods described in the proxy statement. Attending the Annual Meeting as a Registered Stockholder (shares are held in your name) If your shares are registered directly in your name with Titan's transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company, N.A., you can find your control number on your proxy card, notice of internet availability, or the email with meeting materials you previously received, to enter the virtual annual meeting as a "Stockholder." Attending the Annual Meeting as a Beneficial Owner (shares are held through a broker) If your shares are held through a broker, bank, or other institution, as nominee, you are considered the beneficial owner of such shares, or a "street name" holder. If you are a street name holder and you wish to vote your shares at the virtual annual meeting, you must first obtain a legal proxy, broker's proxy card or voting information form from your broker, trustee or other nominee. To be admitted to the virtual meeting, you must log in using the 16-digit control number found in the proxy materials previously distributed to you. If you do not have a control number, you may attend as a "Guest," but will not have the option to vote your shares or ask questions at the virtual annual meeting. Even if you plan to attend the virtual annual meeting, please cast your vote in advance as soon as possible using one of the methods described in the proxy statement. Any stockholder attending the virtual annual meeting as a Stockholder as described above may revoke an earlier vote by proxy and vote at the virtual annual meeting. Titan's proxy statement for the 2020 annual meeting of stockholders and Titan's Annual Report to Stockholders, including Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2019, are available at Titan's website, ir.titan-intl.com/financials/sec-filings/default.aspx and at www.proxyvote.com. Titan's SEC filings are also available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. About Titan : Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI) is a leading global manufacturer of off-highway wheels, tires, assemblies, and undercarriage products. Headquartered in Quincy, Illinois, the company globally produces a broad range of products to meet the specifications of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket customers in the agricultural, earthmoving/construction, and consumer markets. For more information, visit www.titan-intl.com. SOURCE Titan International, Inc. Related Links http://www.titan-intl.com The president of China stated that the nation would recover from the coronavirus pandemic and emerge even stronger in an address he made to a crowd of university professors and students. President Xi also showed images of the Communist Party lore and their sacrifices and that the disaster was filled with opportunities for China to take. Progress amid crisis "Great historical progress always happens after major disasters," President Xi said in a recent trip to Xi'an Jiaotong University. "Our nation was steeled and grew up through hardship and suffering." The Chinese president was raised in adversity since he was a young man and is currently taking advantage of the global pandemic as a means to regain his administration's reputation. This comes after that government's initial response to the coronavirus has been less than adequate. The state propaganda machine is backing the Chinese leader in his efforts and is praising his government's fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to the New York Times. The Asian nation is being praised around the world for its efforts in the control of the COVID-19 infection. Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization gave his compliments to China for the "speed with which [it] detected the outbreak" and its "commitment to transparency." BBC reported, however, that despite all the praise and acclaim that the nation has garnered, many doubt the stories of success and apparent transparency of the Asian country. Senior British government minister Michael Gove told the BBC last that "some of the reporting from China was not clear about the scale, the nature, the infectiousness of the virus." Also Read: Chinese Wildlife Farmers Offered Money to Halt Illegal Animal Trade The president of the United States, Donald Trump, also noted that the death toll and infection rates seemed "a little bit on the light side" and might be downplaying the severity of the actual statistics. With the surge of cases that are infected with the coronavirus, the US has already surpassed the number of patients the Chinese nation has garnered, leading some to turn to the Asian country for advice on how to reduce the spread of the virus. Keeping his word President Xi now needs to put his words into action that will likely be the focus of the National People's Congress that is set to be conducted on Friday after being delayed for over a month. The Asian country looks to be bouncing back, as the president noted, as its economy began operating at 87% of the usual output on May 12, as stated by the Trivium National Business Activity Index. April saw imports go down by 14.2%, but it also saw the rise of exports by 3.5% that greatly exceeded all expectation. The shot up was mainly due to the increase in medical products being shipped overseas. The global pandemic is already showing signs of being a potential opportunity for change. In Shanghai, there are already plans to build more than 100 factories by 2025, which will be unmanned, being resistant to labour issues. JD Health, an online health care service, previously recorded only 10,000 consultations each day, but as the number of coronavirus patients filled up hospitals and clinics, their numbers went up to 150,000. This increase caused the firm's pharmacy to delivery prescription medicines to customers directly to their homes. "People have developed the habit of getting diagnosis and treatment online," says Xin Lijun, CEO of JD Health. "This greatly reduces the pressure on traditional hospitals." Related Article: New Chinese Drug Can Stop COVID-19 Pandemic Even Without Vaccine @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. MasterChef star Ben Ungermann has been dropped from the cooking show's opening title sequence following his arrest earlier this year. As reported by TV Tonight, Ungermann hasn't been seen in the titles since Monday, even though other eliminated contestants are still featured. On Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed Ungermann had been charged by Victorian sexual crime squad detectives on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault following an alleged incident on February 23 with a 16-year-old girl. Gone! MasterChef star Ben Ungermann (pictured) has been dropped from the cooking show's opening title sequence following his arrest earlier this year Earlier this week, Channel 10 and Endemol Shine Australia claimed they weren't fully aware of the charges laid against Ungermann when he was first arrested earlier this year. It came after MasterChef fans questioned why he wasn't edited out of the show after he was charged three months ago. A network spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday: 'Network 10 and Endemol Shine Australia were not aware of the nature of the charges laid against Ben Ungermann by Victoria Police. 'As this is an ongoing police matter, we will not be making any further comment.' Charged: On Tuesday, Daily Mail Australia revealed Ungermann had been charged by Victorian sexual crime squad detectives on March 6 with two counts of sexual assault following an alleged incident on February 23 with a 16-year-old girl On March 20, it was first reported that Ungermann had been arrested. At the time, a spokesperson for Endemol Shine described his arrest as being 'of a personal nature' but didn't provide further details. Endemol Shine is the production company behind MasterChef and other popular shows, including Married At First Sight. Maintaining his innocence: Ungermann will deny all allegations and has hired top criminal lawyer Adam Houda to represent him in court Ungermann will deny all allegations and has hired top criminal lawyer Adam Houda to represent him in court. He is listed to appear before Melbourne Magistrates' Court on June 25. Mr Houda, who has 24 years' experience in criminal law, told Daily Mail Australia his client was completely blindsided by the charges. 'My client is distressed by the charges, which came as a huge shock to him,' he said on Tuesday night. 'The allegations, I am instructed, are a complete fabrication and are denied.' Chennai, May 21 : In order to manage the financial strain of Covid-19, Tamil Nadu government on Thursday decided to go on austerity drive cutting down expenses under various heads and also putting a hold on leave travel concession (LTC) to its staff and teachers this fiscal. The government has decided on the cost cutting measures to mobilise resources and the allocations made in the budget estimates for 2020-21 will also be reduced. The austerity measures are due to the negative impact of Covid-19 on the state finances. The government has banned foreign travel for employees at the state expense. Domestic air travel outside the state is restricted and within the state, it is banned unless the airfare is less than or equal to the eligible train fare. The permission for official travel is restricted. At government functions, presentation of mementos, shawls and others will be avoided. The government has also decided to reduce its purchases and advertisement costs. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Express News Service KOCHI/MALAPPURAM: A 34-year-old pregnant nurse, who recently returned to Kerala from Kuwait, tested positive for Covid-19 on her arrival. But, it was later revealed that she had been undergoing treatment for the disease in the Gulf country. After her first result turned negative, she boarded the flight to Kerala, without waiting for the second. Three expats, all from Kollam, travelled from Abu Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram hiding their infection. They tried to hide the fact even after arrival, but were identified and isolated. A 24-year-old-woman and her son, both natives of Malappuram, came from Kuwait without waiting for test results though her father-in-law, with whom she and her family stayed, had tested positive.The instances of expats returning to Kerala by concealing their medical history, including Coronavirus infection, have sent the alarm bells ringing in the state. Lacunae in testing protocol followed by other countries and the returnees reluctance to reveal their medical condition have increased the chances of virus spread in the state. Its definitely a concern. It has come to the states notice that many countries are not following the standard operating procedure (SOP) of allowing only Covid-negative people to board flights. The state had alerted the Centre immediately after realising it. But 14 days of home quarantine and testing those arriving with Covid symptoms are the only options we have. We cant tell them not to come, said Dr B Ekbal, who chairs the state expert committee on Covid-19. Instances of patients hiding infection cast a shadow over evacuation of NRIs The instances have cast a shadow over the evacuation of NRIs from affected countries. Knowingly withholding information such as being under treatment for Covid or having tested positive will expose co-travellers, flight crew, health workers and others who may come into contact with them to the virus. As many as 4,355 people have returned to Kerala from abroad ever since the evacuation began on May 7. Of them, 65 have tested positive so far. Its a matter other countries must take care of. If theyre letting an individual board (the flight) knowing that he/she is positive, then its a heinous crime. Such acts risk all communities and steeply increase chances of widespread infection, said former health secretary Dr Rajeev Sadanandan, a member of the governments Covid special committee.He said one cannot rule out false negative cases. If they are false negative cases, then the problem is with the tests they underwent. The RT-PCR test is only 67 per cent accurate and we cant rule out chances of it going wrong, he said.The incident in which infected people are allowed to fly is in violation of the SOP laid down by the Centre, said a health department officer who is also a member of the states rapid response cell for Covid-19. The officer said the state had raised its apprehension with the Centre and wanted it to take the issue up with embassies/consulates and the countries themselves. As per the SOP, a passenger will have to share the details including Covid test. But this is not being followed in many countries. With 38 more flights set to arrive from various countries, including the high-risk UK, USA, France and Italy, in the second phase of evacuation, the concern is growing. Its worrying that only temperature screening is carried out on passengers before they board the flight. The state has limited power to intervene in such international missions, said the officer.(With inputs from Dileep V Kumar in TPuram) Consider states plea on test: HC to Centre Kochi: The High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to consider the request of the state government to conduct RT-PCR tests on returning expatriates in their countries before they board the flights to India. At the same time, the division bench comprising Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice M R Anitha said the Centre will undoubtedly do so. Chennai returnees hide disease Palakkad: Health authorities worst fears of coronavirus-infected persons from other states entering Kerala hiding their disease status came true when two persons from Chennai tested positive on Wednesday. Tough times ahead, says CM The chief minister has said that with a significant increase in the number of patients following the return of Keralites from other places, the state is moving to a serious situation. By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan topped the list of Georgias trading partners by exports in the first quarter of 2020, accounting $145.2 million from the total export, Georgias National Statistics Office has reported. The share of the top ten trading partners by exports in the total exports of Georgia amounted to 78.1 percent. The top partners were Azerbaijan with $145.2 million (increase 13.9 percent), China with $135.5 million (increase 207.9 percent) and Russia with $125.6 million (decrease 29.3 percent). According to the report, in January- April 2020, Georgias external merchandise trade (excluding non-declared trade) amounted to $3463.5 million, which is 11.8 percent lower compared to the same period in 2019. The exports equaled $1001.3 million (11.9 percent lower), while the imports stood at $2462.2 million (11.8 percent lower). --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz As it begins preparations for the conduct of the bypolls in 24 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to scale up efforts to reach to the workers and those involved in the farm sector that have been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic and quell discord over ticket distribution. The date for elections has not been finalised, as all elections have been put on hold because of the pandemic. A senior state functionary said the party has been asked to reinforce its ongoing relief work to ensure that the challenges faced by the workers, many of whom struggled to make their way home, do not impact the electoral outcome. To be sure, most of the workers are not registered as voters in the state and are natives of other states. While work done on the ground is important, so is the perception. The high command does not want the governments performance to be measured by a weak response to any challenge, said the functionary quoted above. Also read: Spurt in Covid-19 cases sees transfers of officials in Madhya Pradesh The bypoll was necessitated after 22 MLAs resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP and two seats fell vacant after the demise of one BJP and one Congress MLA. As per the rules for filling up vacancies, elections have to be held within six months. But since the outbreak of the pandemic, election processes have been halted. While the party is confident of winning with a comfortable majority whenever the bypoll is held, it has two major issues to cope with discord within its ranks and the states response to the pandemic. State unit chief, VD Sharma downplayed the reports of internal strife and said all decisions vis-a-vis ticket distribution will be taken by the parliamentary board of the party. It is true that the MLAs who quit the Congress have made a sacrifice, it cannot be overlooked, but the partys central leadership will take the call on ticket distribution, he said. The BJP was back in the straddle with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the chief minister in March when the Kamal Nath-led Congress government was voted out after 15 months in power following senior leader and former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 MLAs walking out. According a second functionary privy to the developments, the state unit is focusing on strengthening its outreach to help migrant workers and amplifying its social security programmes so that when it goes to people for seeking votes, it has a list of accomplishments to show. We are currently focusing only on the pandemic and meeting the needs of people. Not only are we setting up infrastructure in place to bring back those migrant workers who have moved out of MP but are also trying to encourage workers from other states to stay put, said the functionary. In the absence of physical meetings and gatherings, the state party unit has been making good use of technology to stay connected. Last week, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a meeting which had in attendance union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, party state president VD Sharma, general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, to chalk out the election strategy. On Saturday, several senior functionaries, including Sharma, spent time at camps set up by the party along the highways to provide food, aid and even footwear to the migrant labourers who were arriving. Will the states response to the pandemic and the workers crisis determine the political outcome? Amitabh Kundu, a distinguished fellow at the New Delhi-based think tank Research and Information System for Developing Countries, said, It is hard to say how much the voices of the workers will matter in the power corridors. But there is greater awareness now. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Eve Guerry and Jane Thogersen are museum curators of a different kind. They help curate a learning experience that connects students across all disciplines at the University of Sydney to its museum collection. The pair started sharing their job as academic engagement curators at the end of February, just a few weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown started. Eve Guerry (left) and Jane Thogersen. Its quite a unique role, Dr Guerry says. Our specific job is to make sure that all students that study at Sydney University, no matter what degree they are taking, will use the museum collections to enrich their studies. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:54:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has decided to suspend the recruitment of new civil servants for 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, Civil Service Minister Prum Sokha said on Thursday. He said Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen allowed the suspension until further notice. Ministries, national institutions, and sub-national administrations, that have not yet recruited new civil servants for 2020, must temporarily suspend their recruitment, Sokha said in a statement. The move was to reduce staffing costs during 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. The Southeast Asian country has so far reported a total of 122 COVID-19 cases and all of the patients have recovered. The kingdom has detected no new cases of the virus for more than a month; however, health authorities continue urging people to remain extra-vigilant to avoid a second wave of infections. Enditem KALAMAZOO, MI -- When Rita Raichoudhuri interviewed to become the new superintendent in Kalamazoo schools, she never could have predicted the pandemic that means children arent likely to return soon to the classroom and multimillion-dollar budget cuts are on the horizon. But shes up for the challenge. Raichoudhuri, 40, will take over the reins of Kalamazoo Public Schools on June 1. The plans she presented to the board of education three months ago for her first year in the role are out the window as she is now tasked with guiding the district through a pandemic and possibly making drastic budget cuts because of dwindling state tax revenue. Related: Meet Rita Raichoudhuri, Kalamazoo Public Schools next superintendent Preparing to step into this role doesnt come without anxiety, Raichoudhuri said in an interview with MLive Wednesday, May 20. My biggest source of anxiety is that Im going to be making decisions and offering recommendations in a world where people dont know me, she said. As Raichoudhuri unpacks and settles into the new home she purchased in Kalamazoo, she is also scheduling virtual meetings with administrators, watching virtual board of education meetings and reading everything she can find about the district. She has a lot to learn, and the governors stay-at-home order means she doesnt have easy access to documents stored inside school offices. There are plenty of unknowns going into the next school year, and she is weighing multiple different options for how best to deliver education to Kalamazoo students. Its very unlikely students will return to school as usual and continuing with remote learning has ramifications for both students and parents, she said. Parents need to return to work and students need the structure of regular schooling, she said. There is so much work for a parent to take on the role of an educator, Raichoudhuri said. A hybrid model of in-person and remote learning could work, she said. First, she wants to hear from parents and the community about what is working and what challenges students are facing during the pandemic. Raichoudhuris career in education began in 2004, when she started as an educator at Glenbook Middle School in the Mount Diablo Unified School District, located in Concord, California. In 2010, Raichoudhuri moved to Chicago and began working for Chicago Public Schools as a senior manager in its office of performance. Later, she became director of the office of professional learning, where she developed the professional development system for district leaders. In 2012, she became resident principal at Wells Community Academy High School. She began in her most recent role, executive director of early college and career education at Chicago Public Schools, in 2017. She holds a doctorate degree in urban education leadership from the University of Chicago, a masters degree in education and a bachelors degree in environmental science. In all of her years working in education, she has never faced a pandemic. Ill be coming in and having to work on solutions to a problem that didnt exist before, Raichoudhuri said. She will also be making tough choices -- financial and otherwise -- as a brand-new member of the Kalamazoo community and she must earn the trust of parents, teachers, staff and community members. KPS, like other districts across Michigan, could see major cuts to their school budgets as the tax revenue that funds public education plummets during the pandemic. Current Interim Superintendent Gary Start, who has worked more than three decades in school finance, said the possible budget cuts coming from the state are unimaginable. The districts board discussed these financial challenges at a recent meeting. Leaders could see a potential budget shortfall ranging between 10% and 25% for the 2020-21 school year, Start said. Related: Kalamazoo schools brace for potentially major funding cuts The State Senate Fiscal Agencys economic outlook and budget review released May 14 showed a $1.2 billion deficit in school aid funding for the 2019-20 school year compared to January consensus estimates along with a $1.1 billion decrease in School Aid Fund revenue anticipated for 2020-21. A 25% cut to the Kalamazoo school districts budget would equate to a cut of $2,070 per student, the interim superintendent said. A 10% cut would equate to a cut of $830 in spending per student. Beginning in June, decisions about how to rectify these losses will be Raichoudhuris to make. She will be tasked to find line items on the budget to cut or downsize, though Raichoudhuri said she wants to keep programs and services for students that leaders know make a real difference. But she fears people wont automatically trust her to make the best decisions for the district because the community hasnt seen her make any decisions yet as the new leader, she said. I dont have the established relationships, Raichoudhuri said. Raichoudhuri replaced Michael Rice, who served as superintendent in Kalamazoo for 12 years. Rice now serves as the state superintendent in Lansing. But one major point of Raichoudhuris original entry plan remains the same. She will engage all stakeholders to make the best decisions for KPS and the students, she said. Her plans for KPS go beyond the immediate effects of COVID-19. Issues such as equity of access and racial disparities in student discipline existed before the pandemic and still require the work of educators to right size, Raichoudhuri said. That just means that we are going to have to work harder and work smarter, Raichoudhuri said. Her approach to education goes beyond academics and social-emotional learning is at the core of her practice, she said. She remembered the wise words of a previous boss who said she must take time to sharpen the saw before attempting to cut down the tree, she said. I realized very early on in my first year of teaching that if I dont take the time to build relationships with students and their families, then it doesnt matter how amazing my lesson plans are -- very little learning with happen, Raichoudhuri said. She spoke of her belief in restorative practices and experience implementing the practice in previous jobs. No matter the size of a school district, the foundation of the practice remains the same its the belief that every individual student matters and every student comes to school with a different set of issues that hinders their ability to achieve their highest potential, she said. Raichoudhuri said school leaders know that some students will return to school having experienced abuse at home during the pandemic, while others may have learning disabilities or be bullied. The district must provide support and resources for the adults at school to address these issues, she said. A lot of other things are now required of adults, and we keep asking more and more of our teachers, our counselors, our building administrators, our other education staff, and we have to pair that with the equal amount of support and guidance and needed resources for them to be able to do what were asking of them well, Raichoudhuri said. Addressing a perception among parents of a lack of communication, the new superintendent also wants to increase parent involvement and set up a structure that exists to solicit parent engagement rather than passively wait for them to make a phone call or send an email, she said. She wants to empower parents and the community to be sure they feel heard and supported, she said. Raichoudhuri is thankful for both current and previous school leaders who are helping show her the reins and offering their support and advice along the way. The pandemic has been difficult on students, parents and teachers alike, she said. People are learning more about patience and grace and the hard work that teachers do to teach children every day, Raichoudhuri said. This is an unprecedented situation, Raichoudhuri said. Mistakes are going to be made. Just like young people have to be allowed time and space to learn and grow and get better, the same also applies to adults. Also on MLive: Kalamazoo reinstates in-person graduation after community requests 76 Kalamazoo County graduating seniors earn nearly $70K in scholarships Nearly 900K free meals delivered to Kalamazoo-area students during pandemic In Chicago it was a funeral, followed by a family birthday party. In Washington state, it was a choir rehearsal. In California, it was a nail salon. Before the United States shut down its economy and everyone sheltered in place, those were some of the earliest documented spots of coronavirus transmission. As the country emerges from its collective isolation and people begin to interact again, quickly identifying those sources and halting further spread will be key to preventing future large outbreaks. That work known as contact tracing will require balancing the needs of public health with individual privacy. People who are newly infected with the coronavirus need to trust that what they share with government disease detectives will remain anonymous. But there may come a time when the public needs to know where the virus is spreading so people can protect themselves and their communities. As we move forward with opening, we might be putting out information like there were X number of infected people at this grocery store on this day at this time, said Jessica Osorio, who runs the contact-tracing program for Contra Costa County public health. At the same time, added Erika Jenssen, deputy director of the department, We obviously have a big concern about privacy. We try to balance both of those so we can ensure that our community is able to protect themselves as best they can. When Gov. Gavin Newsom let slip earlier this month that a nail salon was involved with the first reported case of community spread of the coronavirus in the United States, he inadvertently raised that recurring question around disease control: When does the publics right to know supersede an individuals right to privacy? Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle In January and February, when the first coronavirus cases were being reported in the Bay Area, residents often demanded information on where individuals had been what flight had they taken from China to San Francisco International Airport, for example, or where they sought care when they started feeling ill. Public health officials refused to produce that information because, they said, the public would not benefit from knowing. Contact tracers investigated new cases and reached out to individuals who may have been exposed, such as airplane seatmates and Uber drivers. Alerting the public would cause undue alarm, authorities said. But rumors proliferated. People posted about known or suspected cases at large employers. They speculated on where patients may have been infected and whether enough was being done to prevent further spread of disease. Fending off rumors is a key part of public health communication. And with the coronavirus, infectious disease experts said, misinformation is especially rampant due to a combination of widespread concern and reliance on social media. Sometimes our work is separating that out, confronting, Ive heard that my neighbor went to this restaurant down the street and got it, said Dr. Nick Moss, acting director of the division of communicable disease control and prevention with the Alameda County public health department. Part of our job is to filter through that noise and see where there are documented cases and clusters of cases. Newsom refused to say whether the nail salon he mentioned during a daily coronavirus briefing was connected to a Feb. 26 Solano County case, which at the time was the first reported instance of community transmission in the United States. Earlier cases of community spread have since been identified in Santa Clara County. Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press Solano County public health officials also refused to confirm a connection between that first case and a nail salon. But public health officials around the Bay Area said that cluster was widely discussed at the time, in part to help them understand how the virus may spread in the community. Such reports known as case studies are key to controlling disease outbreaks, infectious disease experts say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued several reports on specific case clusters in large part so that public health officials can learn about the virus and prevent similar outbreaks. One cluster involved a choir rehearsal in Washington in February, in which at least 32 people were infected and two died. In another study published by the CDC, two Chicago family gatherings a funeral and a birthday party in March led to 16 infections and three deaths. A study published by the CDC on Tuesday reported more than 92 infections among people who attended a single Arkansas church service in March. No such report was published on the nail salon cluster, or on other Bay Area outbreaks that public health officials are aware of but wont discuss publicly. It comes down to protecting both the individuals who were infected or exposed to the virus and the businesses linked to known cases. This goes into the issue of privacy, and also it could affect a business practice, said Lee Riley, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley. In most cases of public transmission at a restaurant or other business its possible for public health officials to discreetly track down customers who may have been exposed, Riley said. And thats always preferable to a public broadcast. But as the Bay Area and the rest of the state slowly reopen, it may become necessary to occasionally make such clusters public. For some other infectious diseases measles, for example public health authorities will widely publicize where people may have been exposed to a virus or other pathogen. Thats especially true when infections are traced to large public spaces such as BART trains or specific large gatherings. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. In the coronavirus pandemic, some other countries have depended on public health alerts of known cluster locations to control spread of disease. Whether that happens in the Bay Area remains to be seen. The coronavirus spreads most easily among very close contacts, particularly people who live together. In the Bay Area, most of the cases reported during shelter-in-place have been in close living quarters nursing homes, for example and among household contacts of people who are essential workers. Thats made disease tracking fairly simple while everyone is sheltering in place. Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle But as the case studies have shown, it can also spread among people who share the same space for extended periods of time: The guidance that public health authorities use is closer than 6 feet, for at least 10 minutes. Activities like singing for example, at a choir practice or a church service can facilitate spread. As shelter-in-place is lifted, we have to be prepared for the possibility that its happening in other settings beyond households, Moss said. Were always looking for those clusters, those chains of transmission in other settings. Once people go back to work and school and start interacting again, identifying close contacts is going to become exponentially more challenging. At the moment, people who are newly infected tend to have two or three contacts. As restrictions are lifted, public health authorities expect some people to have up to 40. Getting people to share personal information about who theyve spent time with can take patience and understanding, public health experts said. Osorio said shell often get out a calendar and go day by day with the patients she interviews, and ask them to go through their cell phones and email to help them recall where theyve been and who theyve seen. Sometimes people may be reluctant to share information. They may fear repercussions for themselves or others if they reveal who they have spent time with. They may worry about naming close contacts who are the sole wage earners for their families and cant afford to be put under a two-week quarantine. That is why privacy is so important, said Moss. If people dont trust their information in the hands of public health, contact tracers cant do their jobs. I cant stress enough how important it is for us to be able to tell people that this is confidential, this is private, Moss said. We rely on those people to share with us the information we need to understand whats going on with the epidemic. Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Since the first day of the spread of the novel coronavirus the Armenian government has not provided any unverified information to the public, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during todays Cabinet meeting. There are some rumors within the public according to which the government is giving money to the people so that they agree to become a coronavirus patient. And this has a concrete explanation as if in order to get an international aid the number of patients and deaths is very important, the PM said, adding that the government has not provided any manipulative action and information to the public. Pashinyan said the situation is much more serious than they think, strict measures must be taken and quarantine conditions should be provided without declaring a quarantine. In the public administration bodies not wearing face masks is allowed only when there is one person in office rooms. The Commandants Office moves to a more intensive regime of operation, the Police should start a tougher control, he said, adding that social distance must be maintained. He also urged not to spread fake news over coronavirus. For me, there is one, super effective mean to fight the coronavirus, that is the personal responsibility, Nikol Pashinyan said. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Nollywood actress, Emilia Dike, is dead. She reportedly died on Wednesday in Enugu after slumping. Okechukwu Oku, a movie director, who expressed sadness over the news, took to his Instagram page on Thursday @okechukwuoku to announce the death of the actress. Why is death taking the best people???? Im confused oooo. Just filmed with Mama here on my 2 last projects, excited to release it and this horrible news today. A woman with a heart of gold, Aah noooo. Will miss you Mrs Dike. Nollywood has lost a gem in you. This is messed up, he wrote. Some Nollywood stars like Uche Ogbodo, Anita Joseph, Belinda Effah, Ken Erics and others have expressed shock at the news of her passing. Dike featured in Nollywood movies such as Ignorant couples, Dust of yesterday, Kings Guard, Where Money Never Sleep 1 and 2, and many more. (NAN) Nigerian model and TV host, Uti Nwachukwu, has taken to Twitter to dish out a piece of advice for business owners. According to him, some employees can destroy a business that someone spent years building, in the twinkle of an eye with their unprofessionalism. Uti advised that employers start calling their workers every once in a while to test their attitude. Read Also: Time For A Trim Uti Nwachukwu Considers Bringing Hair Down (Photo) Advertisement Sometimes call the people that work for u just to test their attitude towards the average customer. Ur workers can ruin ur business u spent years building in a heartbeat. Zero tolerance for rudeness and unprofessionalism. Especially now that A LOT of people are looking for jobs Police have seized more than 15m in cash, tonnes of drugs and guns including an AK-47 in a nationwide crackdown on gangs enabled by the coronavirus outbreak. The director-general of the National Crime Agency (NCA) said restrictions had made criminal groups take additional risks while moving cash and drugs. It has become harder for criminals to conceal the proceeds of their crimes, Lynne Owens told a remote press conference on Thursday. This appears to have resulted in criminals moving larger quantities in one go rather than smaller, and more frequent amounts. She said that during the lockdown period since March, at least 15m of cash believed to be the proceeds of crime had been seized across the UK. Other criminal assets were also discovered during the raids, at properties and on lorries and shipping consignments at ports. Ms Owens said several tonnes of drugs, including cocaine and heroin, had been seized before they can create harms to our communities in the UK. There has also been an increase in firearm seizures, with 39 guns including an AK-47 and Scorpion semi-automatics recovered in eight weeks. The NCA has made 130 arrests related to serious and organised crime during the period, and Ms Owens said taking away gangs cash would prevent them investing in further criminality. Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said the crisis had unexpectedly given officers extra capacity by reducing normal crime levels. Overall offences were down quarter in the month to 10 May, compare to the same period in 2019. Recorded shoplifting has fallen by more than half, vehicle crime by 41 per cent, residential burglary 36 per cent and assault by 30 per cent. Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick on violent crime during coronavirus lockdown Police leaders said the stark reduction was no surprise in light of the lockdown restrictions and closure of pubs and the night-time economy. Mr Hewitt said that only 7 per cent of officers and staff in England and Wales were absent due to coronavirus, leaving forces in excellent shape and with a greater ability to proactively police. As were able to focus more attention and resource on our intelligence sources, we with colleagues from the NCA have been successful in executing warrants around the country, clamping down on gangs, serious and organised criminality, the drugs trade and prioritising violence reduction, he added. Chief Constable Andy Cooke, the NPCC lead for crime, said it had falling crime had given police more time to investigate and resulted in some of the highest detection rates I can remember in my 35 years of policing. He added: Criminals are criminals - theyre not going to stop doing their business just because we have a pandemic. Your gangs, your burglars are still out there. The good news is that there are far more police officers proactively targeting them. Fraud is believed to have risen during the outbreak, including a spike in sales of fake or non-existent protective equipment, and Ms Owens said the NCA was monitoring phishing scams and the potential abuse of government financial schemes. The only other types of offences known to be rising during lockdown are domestic abuse, up 4 per cent in the month, and assaults on emergency workers including spitting and coughing incidents. Mr Hewitt acknowledged that the domestic abuse figure was much lower than the rises in reports to charities and helplines, and said police were monitoring data from partners. Police leaders are preparing for the further easing of coronavirus restrictions, and the impact of a financial recession caused by the global pandemic. Ms Owens said there was a strong possibility that smuggling gangs would target lorry drivers and port officials by preying on financial insecurity. There is no doubt that criminals do things for money and if theyre moving drugs, firearms or people they will see an opportunity, she added. Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures Show all 7 1 /7 Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset on 20 May PA Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures People enjoy the hot weather at Bournemouth beach in Dorset on 20 May PA Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures Beachgoers bask in the sun on Brighton Beach in Brighton on 20 May EPA Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures People enjoy the sunshine on Birling Gap beach on 20 May near Eastbourne Getty Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures Seagulls are perched on a street lamp as beachgoers bask in the sun on Brighton Beach EPA Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures People head to the beach as England basks in sunshine in Blackpool Getty Sunseekers head to beaches amid lockdown measures Parts of the country were expected to reach 29 degrees celsius, luring sunbathers and testing the capacity of parks and beaches to accommodate social distanced crowds. Getty If there is an economic downturn and an increase in migration that will be a risk and we need to be on top of it. Police are attempting to prevent violent crime from returning to pre-coronavirus levels, following a spate of stabbings and shootings in recent days. Officials said that work attempting to convince violent offenders to change their ways that was pioneered by the Metropolitan Police is being mirrored across the country. As measures ease, we will bear down crime and do all we can to try and prevent it rising to pre-lockdown highs, Mr Cooke said. We are confident in our resilience, and we will work closely with partners across law enforcement and the criminal justice system to meet challenges that arise as we move through the stages of the national response to Covid-19. Cyclone Amphan weakened Thursday, a day after tearing through West Bengal where 72 people were killed and two districts were completely devastated with thousands of people left homeless, bridges washed away and low-lying areas in waist deep water. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years destroyed mud houses and crops, and uprooted trees and electric poles. It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. Odisha government officials estimated it has affected around 44.8 lakh people in the state. "So far as per the reports we have received, 72 people have died in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. Two districts North and South 24 Parganas are completely devastated. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central government to extend all help to the state," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters after conducting a review meeting with officials. "I will visit the affected areas very soon. The restoration work will start soon. A large part of North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata are facing massive power cut since last evening. Even telephone and mobile connections are down," she said. "I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit Cyclone Amphan-affected areas. The chief minister also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for the family members of each of the deceased. Besides North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata, the districts of East Midnapore and Howrah were the worst hit as portions of several dilapidated buildings came crashing down in several places. Senior officials of the West Bengal government said it was too early to estimate the exact death toll or damage to property as the worst hit areas were still not accessible. In Kolkata, hundreds of cars were overturned in the strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph that also felled trees and electricity poles blocking key arterial roads and intersections. Large parts of Kolkata and other affected districts went without power. Mobile and internet services were also disrupted as the fierce cyclone had damaged several communication towers. Residents recalled "living through hell" for six hours as the winds howled incessantly. Windows buckled from the pressure of the storm, cars floated on water logged roads, bumping against each other. Parts of air conditioners were flying around like missiles "The worst was the wind. The six hours went very slowly yesterday," said Mithu Chatterjee who lives on the fifth floor of a 30-story building. Many residents who lived on the top floors wanted to come down but lifts were shut. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by the cyclone. "Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan," he tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal, the prime minister said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his West Bengal counterpart Banjerjee, and assured them of all entral help. Mobile and internet services were also disrupted as the fierce cyclone had damaged several communication towers.years. It said the cyclone has weakened significantly and moved to Bangladesh where 10 people have been killed. Chief Minister Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was "worse than coronavirus". The situation is very serious. We are in a state of disaster," the TMC chief was earlier quoted as having said in an official statement. No bridges exist, electricity lines have been completely disabled and damaged, Banerjee said while describing the situation in the worst hit districts. In several shelter homes in the affected districts, people were seen jostling for food and shelter ignoring the social distancing norms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than five lakh people were already evacuated to safety by the state government. It is not the city where I have grown up... it seems to be a destroyed one. It seems there was a war yesterday... I cannot believe that this is my Kolkata, said Sudhir Chakraborty, a resident of south Kolkata's Rashbehari area. Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, the cyclone barrelled through coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas of Bengal and Odisha on Wednesday unleashing copious rain and windstorm. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) reviewed the rescue and relief operations in West Bengal and Odisha at a meeting in Delhi and was told that minimal loss of lives was reported due to accurate forecast by the IMD and timely deployment of NDRF troops. Headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the NCMC was told by the chief secretaries of West Bengal and Odisha that timely and accurate forecast by the IMD and advance deployment of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) facilitated in evacuation of about five lakh people in West Bengal and about two lakh in Odisha. This has resulted in minimal loss of human lives, considering the fact that the intensity of the Amphan was next only to that of the super cyclone that struck Odisha in 1999 causing large scale devastation, an official statement said in Delhi. The NDRF is moving additional teams to West Bengal to speed up restoration work, especially in Kolkata. The Food Corporation of India will also ensure adequate availability of food grains, especially rice, to West Bengal so that marooned people are provided immediate sustenance. The Power Ministry and Department of Telecommunications will also assist in the early restoration of services in both the states. The Railways, which suffered major damages to its infrastructure, is in the process of restarting its operations at the earliest, the statement said. The West Bengal government informed there were major damages to agriculture, power and telecommunication facilities in the affected areas. Odisha informed that damages have been mainly limited to agriculture. At Kolkata central avenue, a small concrete temple situated at the base of a banyan tree was uprooted. According to officials, more than 1,000 mobile towers across the state and city have been completely destroyed. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. Embankments in Sundarban delta - a UNESCO site - were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the Island. Four jetties in South 24 Parganas also collapsed on Wednesday night due to the storm. According to the state agricultural department, paddy crop in districts of Burdwan, West Midnapore and Hooghly has been completely destroyed due to the savage cyclone. Teams of the NDRF and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have been working on a war footing to clear the roads blocked by the falling trees. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Love is in the air for South superstar Rana Daggubati and Miheeka Bajaj. After an official proposal, the two lovebirds have now exchanged rings in intimate traditional ceremony amid lockdown. To give his fans a pleasant surprise, Rana on Thursday shared two beautiful photos on Twitter, which are now taking social media a storm. In the first photo, Rana can be seen waving his hand towards his family and loved ones while Miheeka flashes a beautiful smile. In the second photo, he can be seen wrapping his arms around his wife-to-be. For the ceremony, Rana Daggubati opted for a crisp white shirt with a traditional white lungi. He paired his look with his signature bearded look and long hair. Miheeka Bajaj, on the other hand, looked opted for a pink and golden traditional saree, which she styled with golden necklace with matching earrings, two gold kangans, a small bindi and soft curly hair. Sharing the photos on his official account, Rana wrote, And, its official. Speaking about their wedding plans, Rana Daggubatis father Suresh Babu recently told a news portal that they finally have a reason to celebrate. Rana and Miheeka have known each other for a long time and the entire family is very happy for them. The family was earlier planning to schedule the wedding in December but it might happen before that. He added that they will share the details once everything is finalised. Miheeka Bajaj is an interior designer and is really close to Sonam Kapoors family. Congratulating the couple on their deciding to get married, Sonam Kapoor said that the duo are going to be amazing together and welcomed Rana into the family. Congratulations Rana and my lovely miheeka.. you guys are going to be amazing together! Welcome to the fam Rana! https://t.co/iwL0KePBWV Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) May 12, 2020 For all the latest Entertainment News, download NewsX App UBLY Kevin Messing previously sold the dry beans he grew to restaurants in Detroit, but now his crop is finding a nationwide customer base. Messing runs the Sheridan Acres farm in Ubly, where he grows his dry beans. It is also where he sells his beans online all across the country. Messing grew his first crop of beans in 2014. After visiting Oregon and discovering the heirloom variety of beans, he started growing those in 2016. I thought they would be fun to play around with, then I saw there is a market for these beans, Messing said. He realized there was a need for beans at restaurants in Detroit interested in farm-to-table methods. After supplying some restaurants with beans, word of mouth led him to sell beans to 20 Detroit restaurants. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting Detroit harder than any other part of Michigan, restaurants were forced to close their doors, with Messing saying this has hit his business harder than the 2008 recession. Some have take-out available, but there is no demand, Messing said. My sales (to restaurants) are at almost nothing. Messing also noted that moving the Detroit auto show to the summer instead of winter may have impacted those restaurants as well, as having the show in winter was an important business driver for them. While Messing did have his website for Sheridan Farms running before the pandemic happened, he did not pay much attention to selling online at first as he thought it would be a lot of extra work, before discovering how much fun it ended up being. Messing started taking online orders in March when Michigans stay-at-home orders went into effect. Since then, he has been able to sell the beans he grows not just in Michigan, but to 12 states across the country, from the west coast of California and Washington to the eastern states of New York, Virginia, and South Carolina. Its fun seeing new states, Messing said. When a new one comes up, I check it off the list. The beans are shipped out dry packaged in one- to two-pound sealed bags. Messing said this gives people a raw product ready to be cooked. Executive director for the Michigan Bean Commission Joe Cramer, said in an interview that demand for Michigans beans has jumped upwards of 300% since the pandemic started and that bean farmers are getting low on supply. People are stocking up their food pantries since the food service industry has taken a hit, Messing said. Were expecting an increase in acres grown with how demand has changed. While Messing hopes that the Detroit restaurants he sold beans will eventually reopen, he does plan on continuing to sell online. The fun part is to tell and show them that our beans are a local product, said Messing. More information about Sheridan Acres can be found at www.sheridanacres.com. India on Thursday rejected China's allegations that Indian troops crossed over to the Chinese side of the frontier in Ladakh and Sikkim, asserting that New Delhi has been taking responsible approach towards border management. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said it was the Chinese side that recently undertakook activities hindering India's normal patrols in the areas. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate," Srivastava said. "Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously. All Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC," he said. The LAC is the de-facto border between the two countries. "In fact, it is the Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security," he said. China has accused India of unilaterally attempting to change the status of the un-demarcated border in Ladakh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities lauds Gov. Ned Lamont for the collaboration his administration has had with local governments across the state as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state. But it is also important to be able to criticize our leaders even when we think they are otherwise doing a great job and are our allies. As Gov. Ned Lamont has said so well, Mayors and first selectmen are the closest on the ground in each community, and the best approach for our state is to have a unified strategy on COVID-19 with our city and town leaders. Gov. Lamont and his administration have consulted with CCM and our members extensively on the executive orders issued. And CCM has expressed strong support for the governors executive orders; and they are providing invaluable assistance to towns throughout the coronavirus pandemic. But CCM and its member municipal leaders must now register a strong criticism and sense of disappointment with our ally, Governor Lamont, over the state now expending $2 million for eight weeks of work by four consultants from the Boston Consulting Group, billing out at $140,000 a week on planning to help reopen Connecticut as the COVID-19 virus is slowing down. What do they know that we dont? The we could be a working group comprised of CCM leaders, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, General Assembly leaders, a top public health expert and maybe a local government planner to assist with land use regulations. We could get the same job done better and cheaper, and use the $2 million in federal money for something more productive than paying consultants to learn. It is also disappointing that the governor brushed off the $2 million cost by saying the federal government is paying for it anyway. The $2 million could have gone to help with the struggles our towns and nonprofit service providers are enduring through this pandemic. Towns and cities still have no idea if or how the state plans to share CARES Act funds with communities. Specifically, the federal stimulus package contained a Coronavirus Relief Fund, which is for state and local government expenditures regarding the pandemic. Connecticut received $1.38 billion from the fund. The law left it up to states to decide if and how much financial aid to provide to municipalities with populations under 500,000. Many states are entering into agreements to share funds with their towns and cities. So far, not Connecticut, a state containing three of the hardest hit areas in the country (Fairfield, New Haven and Hartford counties). In order to comply with social distancing measures, towns have had to pay for laptops so town employees can work from home. Municipalities have also spent thousands of dollars on protective gear for firefighters, police officers and others essential employees who must show up to work every day. Police, fire and EMS overtime continues to climb as do unemployment compensation costs. The coronavirus shutdown also has eliminated needed revenue from parks and recreation fees that would have increased during the warmer months. Just look to our neighbor, Massachusetts. Municipalities there are receiving very clear guidance from the state on how they can access funds to pay for local costs incurred in responding to the COVID-19 breakout. Aside from large local governments, the expectation is that the state will use their federal funds for its own expenses and those in all other municipalities. Massachusetts is setting aside 25 percent of its coronavirus funds for its towns and cities. It is sad that CCM was compelled to join the Big 7 coalition (the National Governors Association, National League of Cities, and five other national government associations) to fight for more pandemic-related federal funding when the funds already allocated are being used for these types of unnecessary contracts. Connecticut towns are continuing to push for direct federal funding for all local governments. But the clock continues to move forward on closing out municipal budgets for this fiscal year and enacting the most responsible town budgets for the new year beginning July 1. In response to the novel coronavirus, federal fiscal aid to towns and cities must be massive and immediate, CCM and several key groups argue, but Connecticut municipalities have yet to see any direct federal coronavirus stimulus money. The state needs to share federal pandemic-related aid with local governments now. Even though the rest of the world is hunkering down under the pandemic, all municipal services must continue. Connecticut municipal leaders are burdened by unexpected pandemic-related expenses while their revenues shrink. Yet no Connecticut municipality has yet to see a dime of funding though CARES Act aid that the state has received for municipalities. Joe DeLong is executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. DETROIT As more Americans stayed home in April because of COVID-19, they cooked more home meals. And they paid the price for it. Literally. Grocery store bills shot up April, showing the biggest monthly increase in nearly 50 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's monthly Consumer Price Index report. Though overall, the April CPI declined 0.8%, consumers on average paid 2.6% more for groceries. It's the largest one-month increase since February 1974. During the past 12 months, grocery prices rose 4.1%. Price increases in the meat, poultry, fish and egg category were the steepest. Mary Kay Ash of Clinton Township, Michigan, is among those who noticed their average weekly grocery receipts are on the rise. The 54-year-old mom says she typically spent $100 to $125 a week on groceries for a family of four adults before the pandemic. Now, she says, she spends $140 to $150. Target sales up 11%: Retailer's Drive Up and Shipt delivery grew by 278% fueled by COVID-19 'The new way': Businesses pivot by selling care packages, virtual events to survive coronavirus pandemic Mary Kay Ash of Clinton Township, Michigan, says she typically spent about $100 to $125 a week on groceries for a family of four adults before the pandemic. Now she spends $140 to $150. Her shopping plan means getting to the store early Sunday mornings. She shops in produce first, then heads over to the meat department to see what's available. Ash says she has noticed grocery prices are up on just about everything, including produce and especially meat. Regional CPI statistics are reported on a bimonthly basis. The most current report showed consumers in metro Detroit, for instance, paid 3.3% more for groceries from February to April, the Labor Department said. Increases reflect classic supply-and-demand economics. Disruptions in the food supply linked to meat processing plant closures and slowdowns, along with a shift in production from restaurants and institutions to retail, led to increases. You can also toss in panic buying. Several food categories had steep increases. Prices in the meat, poultry, fish and egg category had the biggest monthly increase as consumers paid 4.3% more for those items in April. Prices were nearly 7% higher over the past 12 months. Story continues When broken out into individual products, egg prices had the biggest jump as consumers paid 16.1% more in April than in March for eggs. Prices for eggs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were as high as $3 a dozen in April. Now, wholesale shell egg prices are at a level closer to what they are expected to be, says Trey Malone, an agriculture economist at Michigan State University. "Trend lines in eggs had a massive spike in April, and now, as of May 18, it's down," Malone says. Regulations by the federal government were relaxed to allow the shell egg industry to shift supply of eggs from restaurants to retail, Malone says. The USDA's Egg News Report on Monday has wholesale prices of eggs averaging about $1 a dozen. Though Malone is convinced overall prices have increased, it's not entirely clear how the CPI goes out and looks at prices in the middle of a pandemic. "What the CPI is telling you here is something that is changing rapidly," he says. Malone expects price increases to continue at least on the meat side because of a decrease in the supply of animals. Contributing to that is the euthanizing of animals by farmers because some processing plants were down with sick workers and an increase in exports. Malone cites a jump in demand for pork exports. Before COVID-19, China was hit with an African swine fever in hogs. Grocery pork prices were up 3% in April. What's also going on is a shortage of certain pork cuts. "In the U.S., we've gotten very comfortable with this proliferation of options at the grocery stores," Malone says. "Right now, the system is having to flex in a way that we are just going to have to expect there's a limited, smaller number of items in the market while simultaneously the prices will increase." Uncooked ground beef was up 4.8% in April, beef roasts were up 5% and beef steaks saw a 2.1% jump, the Labor Department said. Year over year, ground beef was up a whopping 9.7%. Ground beef prices took Ash by surprise. She has seen packages of ground round or chuck selling as high as $9 a pound. It's become a grocery store game for Ash and her fiance who try to find a cut of meat that's affordably priced and buy two. "Then I plan my meals from that," Ash says. "It seems pork was the best buy and still is, so I've been doing many dishes with boneless pork loin." Though food prices increased, they were offset by lower prices for energy. Year-over-year gas prices were down 32%. Other categories that showed decreases included apparel and transportation. Here's a sampling of items that increased the most in April: Apples: 4.9% Bread 3.7% Cookies 5.1% Fresh sweet rolls, coffeecakes, doughnuts: 5% Hot dogs: 5.7% Pork chops: 7.4% Poultry: 5.8% Follow Susan Selasky on Twiitter @SusanMariecooks. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus effect: April food prices rose 4%, biggest hike since 1974 By Akbar Mammadov Azerbaijani Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev has been dismissed from his post by the decree of President Ilham Aliyev on May 21, the president's official website reported. It should be noted that Deputy Minister of Culture Rafiq Bayramov and a number of other ministry officials were detained during the State Security Service's operation on May 8. Recently the State Security Service launched special operation against a number of officials in the country. Thus, head of the Imishli district Vilyam Hajiyev and head of the Bilasuvar district Mahir Guliyev were arrested for four months on charges of embezzlement, abuse of power, and bribery. Six local officials in three other districts were also investigated. --- Twenty-four more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand on Thursday in a record single-day spike since the return of migrants began in the state, taking the total number of cases to 146. The number of active cases in the hill state stands at 91, whereas 54 patients have been discharged after recovery and one dead, a health department bulletin here said. The latest cases are from the hill districts of Uttarakhand which were free from COVID-19 cases until the process of influx of migrants began. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As Pennsylvania edges out of its coronavirus lockdown, a federal judge Thursday refused to call even a temporary halt to Gov. Tom Wolfs orders that have kept the state all but closed to business during the pandemic. U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones IIIs ruling marks an early defeat for a GOP state House candidate from Perry County and several business owners who filed suit claiming Wolfs reaction to COVID-19 has been an unconstitutional economic disaster. It is not the place of this court to question the reasonable motives of elected officials, nor can we grant (the) petitioners motion based largely upon their political disagreements with the same, Jones wrote. This court will not micromanage public policy in the midst of a pandemic. The judge issued his decision rejecting the call for a temporary restraining order of Wolfs restrictions a week after GOP candidate William Benner and his allies filed the case seeking to overturn the governors edicts that had closed businesses deemed not to be life-sustaining as a means of curbing the spread of the disease. As of Thursday, there were 65,392 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania. At least 4,869 reported deaths from the virus were reported in the state. Benner was joined in his suit by Kraig Nace, owner of Detailed Attention in Duncannon; Nichole Missino, owner of Giovannis Media Barber Shop in Media, John Williams, a Chadds Ford real estate agent; and Stephen Cassel, a partner in Iacobucci Formal Wear in Havertown. Their move against the governors emergency business and school closure and stay-at-home orders, which took effect in March, comes as Republican politicians, business owners and others have called for the swift lifting of the restrictions, which they claim are unnecessarily strangling the livelihoods of Pennsylvanians. Similar protest have arisen in other states. In refusing to interfere with Wolfs edicts, Jones found the danger posed by COVID-19 justified the governors quick action. He concluded that under the circumstances the much-maligned waiver process developed for businesses seeking to remain open was legally adequate. Jones rejected the opponents claims that Wolf overstepped the authority of his office and that the governor is interfering with free speech rights. The judge also discounted their contention that COVID-19 is nothing more than a mild viral illness like the flu. Benner and his allies are not public health experts and provide no evidence to substantiate these claims, Jones wrote. Indeed (their) arguments fly in the face of generally accepted principles regarding the nature of COVID-19 and its transmission. In short, the judge found that the financial harms Benner, his allies and Pennsylvanian in general face due to the lockdowns are outweighed by the need to protect the publics health. NTO BHPian Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: TN-02 Posts: 204 Thanked: 1,216 Times re: Vento Elemento - 6 years with a VW Vento 1.6 TDi Exterior and Interior From one of the road trips The exterior of the car is unmistakably European. Clean lines and understated design. The use of Chrome is limited to the two slats in the grill, a simple U in the lower part of the bumper, the rings surrounding the fog lamps and a small strip on the boot lid. It takes a trained eye to distinguish between the Polo and the Vento of this iteration, from the front. The headlamps are strikingly similar, single barrel units with integrated indicators. The first giveaway is the lower part of the bumper or air dam as you may call it. The Vento has horizontal slats while the Polo has a honeycomb pattern on it. The second difference is the shape of the fog lamps. The Vento's fog lamps are round while the Polo's are rectangular in shape. Moving on to the sides, a line originates from the top part of the headlamp and runs all the way till the boot. This line accentuates and appears as a shoulder on the doors and the rear quarter panel. Another line runs in the lower part of the door and merges with the rear wheel arch. Clean and simple as I like. The wheel arches protrude slightly outside giving the car a slight muscular stance, not over pronounced but not subtle either. The wheels are well in line with the car's design. Simple and classy design. The next face lift which came with the 1.5 TDi, had a complex designed wheels. In my opinion, these wheels were an eyesore in an otherwise clean and simple design. Reference image of a friend's car. Mirrors were a two tone unit with body colored top and black plastic bottom. The entire glass area is surrounded by black including the rims around windows and the B pillar. Classy in my opinion. The indicators are placed on the fenders and not on the mirrors. Also the mirrors are not power folding. Both these were introduced in the 2015 face lift. The mirrors are India friendly and turn the other way. The mirrors of my car survived a side swipe by a bus. So, pretty solidly built. The cap with the body color flies out on impact but, you can pick it back and fix it. No issues there. Roof While all the other cars I see out there have rubber beading on the roof to cover the welding, VAG cars have laser welded roof with a clean appearance. This also improves rigidity, overall strength and ultimately safety. Rear From MY 2014 cars, VW stopped pasting the full "VOLKSWAGEN" nomenclature. The boot is clean with the name of the car on the left and the engine details on the right. The car comes with 4 parking sensors in the rear. These 4 make parking a breeze, even with limited rearward visibility (thanks to large headrests, small IRVM and high boot) and without a reversing camera. Later VW did cost cutting here by reducing it to three. Rear wheel arch. Look at the amount of gap! All the wheel arches are well protected with plastic cladding. These help reduce the road and tyre noise significantly and also makes cleaning easy during monsoons. The under body also comes with protection till under the engine bay. Very much required for the Indian road conditions. The hood also gets a fair bit of insulation with a neatly laid out engine bay. In spite of the insulation, you can still hear the engine clatter at idle and at all RPMs. However, the engine note at higher RPMs is very sporty. The only eyesore is the rear wheel arch. Under no load, the gap between the wheel and the arch in the rear is very large. It can be lowered with a suspension. Moving on to the interiors The understated, clean and simple design is carried to the inside as well. Nothing is awe inspiring but, everything is thoughtfully laid out. A clean simple steering wheel with VW logo in the centre, and a chrome ring around it. It is wrapped in leather and is very good to hold even today. I would have liked the steering to be slightly thicker but, no complaints here. The grip is phenomenal and the steering feels soft and great to hold. The steering wheel has control for Bluetooth telephony, volume up and down, track change and mute/ pause (same button). Simple layout and all controls are on the left. The right side is empty. The facelift later moved the controls from the wiper stalk to the right side of the steering. The horn pad is the only soft touch plastic in the car. Wiper Stalk Indicator Stalk The wiper stalks are on the right and indicator stalks are on the left, a direct lift from the left hand drive layout. Both these stalks exude quality and are built to last. You can control the speed of the wiper in three stages and in the first intermittent stage, you have 4 levels of adjustment for the wiper action frequency. There are three other buttons on the wiper stalk. Two are to toggle through the MID and one is to reset values in the MID. The indicator stalk is clean and simple with controls for high beam, low beam and flash. It also has lane change indicators. Speedo Console The speedo meter console has two rings. The left one is the rev counter and the right is the speedo meter. There is a small MID in the centre. The dials are clean and simple and easy to read. The dials are back lit in white and the needles are in red. The back light for the speedo meter and the needles are controlled with the headlamp switch. They are not always on like say, a Honda. All the tell tale lights switch on at ignition and go off unless there is some problem. The MID has distance to empty, average FE, average speed, engine running time, instantaneous speed and FE and trip computer. It also has a gear position indicator and and has an arrow pointed up or down signalling you to up-shift or down-shift. When you are in the right gear, there is a dot next to the gear number. Once you get the hang of driving the car, you seldom see the up or down arrow. The MID also displays days and kms left for the next service due. The headlamp on and off controls are on the dashboard on the right side of the steering wheel. Pull it our once to activate the front fog lamps and once more to activate the rear fog lamp as well. Headlamp leveling switch with three levels are placed next to the main headlamp switch. Both these switches are of excellent quality and could easily belong in a luxury car. Steering adjust Seat height adjust The steering can be adjusted for both reach and rake and the driver's seat offers height adjust. Both these together helps find a comfortable driving position in no time. Height adjustable seat belts - Front This also apparently helps aid a good driving position but, this is one feature that I have never used. While in the topic of the seat belts, they are of supreme quality, the same levels I have witnessed in cars costing 5X and their action while pulling and releasing back feels so silky smooth. The hood release is on the driver's side. A short but a sturdy lever. Fuse box and the pedals The pedals are neatly spaced and the rubber on top offers sufficient grip at all times, with/ without footwear. Also, notice the fuse box. Driver door controls Boor release switch The driver's side door has controls to mirrors, windows, door lock and unlock. All the windows in the car are one touch up and one touch down, with anti pinch (very rare in even the next segment) and the driver's door has controls to lock the remaining windows of the car. The boot release button is placed on the lower part of the door. It is essentially a re-badged window switch. Fuel lid can be opened by pressing on the lid when the car is unlocked. The door lock and unlock switch is placed on the driver door handle. The car gets speed sensing door locks. Opening the driver's door using the handle directly unlocks the car. Also, the individual doors can be unlocked by pulling the door handle lever twice. The lever is finished in dull chrome and feels sturdy and built to last. Bird's eye view of the central console To the left of the drivers seat is a short stubby gear lever with sure slotting action. The lever is finished in leather and feels to be of good quality and great to hold. There is a driver's arm rest with a storage under it. The storage is padded with rubber to prevent rattles. The top surface of the arm rest is cushioned and feels good to rest your left hand while shifting gears. The armrest can be set to any position as per your comfort while moving it up, like an infinite adjustment. No, the armrest isn't wide enough and either the driver/ the co driver can rest their hand and not both. That said, the handbrake is impossible to use with the arm rest in down position. It is an ergonomic failure and VW has not corrected it in their 100th special "TSi edition" also ! There is a 12V charging socket in the front of the gear lever and a large storage area ahead of it. There are two cup holders in the storage area as well. There is a movable adjustment which can be used when you are keeping tall cups in the cup holders, for support. Another thoughtful feature. Glove box The passenger seat does not get a height adjust. However, it is a very good place to be in. The glove box in front is XL size. It has a dedicated place to park the owner's/ service manual, coin holder and also a sunglass holder. The sunglass holder is better left unused as it is not padded and can scratch your expensive shades. THe glovebox cover feels heavy and opens and shuts with a nice premium damped action. Another nice touch. You cannot lock the glovebox though. Climate Control The car is equipped with automatic climate control. Just press on the auto button and the climate control is on. You can also turn it on by rotating the fan control. There is no dedicated on/ off button. Switching it off is a tricky job. You need to take the fan speed to zero, pause for a second and then again rotate to the left to turn it off. Not sure which brilliant mind at VW thought of this! The car has 7 speed settings for the fan. It is quiet at 1,2, audible at 3,4, loud at 5,6 and very loud and intrusive at 7. The car gets 4 vents on the dashboard and one in the rear. All the 4 vents in the front have air volume control and can be shut off completely. The flow from rear A/C vents can be set in two direction. All that said, the performance of the climate control is a notch below adequate. The rear passengers are bound to complain on a hot sunny day. The feeling is accentuated by the rear wind screen. The sun directly hits the neck area of the rear passengers and causes a burning sensation. To, reduce the woes to some extent, I have purchased magnetic sun shades for the rear windows which gives some amount of comfort. Rear window magnetic sunshade Rear Seat The rear bench is flat but supportive at the right places. It is nice and comfortable for two adults. However, the large central tunnel on the floor, the hard back rest because of the arm rest, lack of central head rest and only a lap seat belt will leave the centre passenger both uncomfortable and unsafe. Leg room is good even when the seat is pushed all the way back. The back side of the front seat is also soft so, no issues there. Also the front passenger seat can be slided from the rear with the help of a lever. A nice touch again! Headroom and under thigh support are at a premium for tall passengers. The rear arm rests are positioned at the right height and wide enough. Very comfortable to rest your arms and also feels sturdy and built to last. All the doors gets large door pockets and can hold 1 litre bottles easily. There is addition space for other stuff as well. There is only one gripe here. There are no soft padded surfaces to rest the hand on any of the doors. It's good quality but, hard plastic everywhere. The boot The boot is large 480 litres. The rear seats are fixed still, the boot has never felt inadequate in our usage so far. The boot is carpeted completely in high quality material and the spare wheel (space saver) is hidden under with the tools neatly arranged in Styrofoam. The inside of the bootlid is also nicely cladded with plastic. Not left open/ no cost cuttings here like say, Honda City! The boot can be opened with the boor release button on the driver's door or by long pressing the button on the key. The boot can be opened and close stand alone even when the car is locked. The lock Two interesting things with the lock. When you unlock the car and do not open any of the doors, the car gets locked again in one minute. Good for safety. Also, after you get out of the car, you can lock the car by closing the driver's door alone. the car gets locked completely when the other doors are closed, automatically. The infotainment The car's stock infotainment is nothing to write home about. It is an average unit with CD/ Radio, USB, Bluetooth, AUX and SD card connectivity. The sound output is strictly average from the 4 speaker setup. The speaker are on the door and the sound stage is pretty low. The stock unit is called RCG 320 and I upgraded it to RCD 340 G+ for the need of apple carplay. In the interim, I plonked a Pioneer 5190 BT. However, this unit spoilt the looks of the centre console and also the sound output from the stock speakers became a bit jarring. I later moved this system to my Civic. The bad bits of the interior 1. As mentioned earlier, all the door pads are hard and there is no soft pad to rest the hands on. 2. A/C is a notch below being adequate. 3. The centre A/C vents have been replaced twice so far. They cost 2K plus GST and keept breaking. Even now it is broken. 4. The side A/C vents stop holding their vertical position after few days of usage. They keep moving up. Notice a small piece of paper kept to hold them in place 5. The mirror controls feels flimsy to use. I am almost always afraid that they might break any time. 6. As mentioned earlier, the rear windscreen directs the sunlight directly on to the neck area of the rear seat occupants. A rear windscreen shade would've been a welcome addition. From one of the road tripsThe exterior of the car is unmistakably European. Clean lines and understated design. The use of Chrome is limited to the two slats in the grill, a simple U in the lower part of the bumper, the rings surrounding the fog lamps and a small strip on the boot lid.It takes a trained eye to distinguish between the Polo and the Vento of this iteration, from the front. The headlamps are strikingly similar, single barrel units with integrated indicators. The first giveaway is the lower part of the bumper or air dam as you may call it. The Vento has horizontal slats while the Polo has a honeycomb pattern on it. The second difference is the shape of the fog lamps. The Vento's fog lamps are round while the Polo's are rectangular in shape.Moving on to the sides, a line originates from the top part of the headlamp and runs all the way till the boot. This line accentuates and appears as a shoulder on the doors and the rear quarter panel. Another line runs in the lower part of the door and merges with the rear wheel arch. Clean and simple as I like. The wheel arches protrude slightly outside giving the car a slight muscular stance, not over pronounced but not subtle either. The wheels are well in line with the car's design. Simple and classy design. The next face lift which came with the 1.5 TDi, had a complex designed wheels. In my opinion, these wheels were an eyesore in an otherwise clean and simple design. Reference image of a friend's car.Mirrors were a two tone unit with body colored top and black plastic bottom. The entire glass area is surrounded by black including the rims around windows and the B pillar. Classy in my opinion. The indicators are placed on the fenders and not on the mirrors. Also the mirrors are not power folding. Both these were introduced in the 2015 face lift. The mirrors are India friendly and turn the other way. The mirrors of my car survived a side swipe by a bus. So, pretty solidly built. The cap with the body color flies out on impact but, you can pick it back and fix it. No issues there.RoofWhile all the other cars I see out there have rubber beading on the roof to cover the welding, VAG cars have laser welded roof with a clean appearance. This also improves rigidity, overall strength and ultimately safety.RearFrom MY 2014 cars, VW stopped pasting the full "VOLKSWAGEN" nomenclature. The boot is clean with the name of the car on the left and the engine details on the right. The car comes with 4 parking sensors in the rear. These 4 make parking a breeze, even with limited rearward visibility (thanks to large headrests, small IRVM and high boot) and without a reversing camera. Later VW did cost cutting here by reducing it to three.Rear wheel arch. Look at the amount of gap!All the wheel arches are well protected with plastic cladding. These help reduce the road and tyre noise significantly and also makes cleaning easy during monsoons. The under body also comes with protection till under the engine bay. Very much required for the Indian road conditions. The hood also gets a fair bit of insulation with a neatly laid out engine bay. In spite of the insulation, you can still hear the engine clatter at idle and at all RPMs. However, the engine note at higher RPMs is very sporty. The only eyesore is the rear wheel arch. Under no load, the gap between the wheel and the arch in the rear is very large. It can be lowered with a suspension.Moving on to the interiorsThe understated, clean and simple design is carried to the inside as well. Nothing is awe inspiring but, everything is thoughtfully laid out. A clean simple steering wheel with VW logo in the centre, and a chrome ring around it. It is wrapped in leather and is very good to hold even today. I would have liked the steering to be slightly thicker but, no complaints here. The grip is phenomenal and the steering feels soft and great to hold. The steering wheel has control for Bluetooth telephony, volume up and down, track change and mute/ pause (same button). Simple layout and all controls are on the left. The right side is empty. The facelift later moved the controls from the wiper stalk to the right side of the steering. The horn pad is the only soft touch plastic in the car.Wiper StalkIndicator StalkThe wiper stalks are on the right and indicator stalks are on the left, a direct lift from the left hand drive layout. Both these stalks exude quality and are built to last. You can control the speed of the wiper in three stages and in the first intermittent stage, you have 4 levels of adjustment for the wiper action frequency. There are three other buttons on the wiper stalk. Two are to toggle through the MID and one is to reset values in the MID. The indicator stalk is clean and simple with controls for high beam, low beam and flash. It also has lane change indicators.Speedo ConsoleThe speedo meter console has two rings. The left one is the rev counter and the right is the speedo meter. There is a small MID in the centre. The dials are clean and simple and easy to read. The dials are back lit in white and the needles are in red. The back light for the speedo meter and the needles are controlled with the headlamp switch. They are not always on like say, a Honda. All the tell tale lights switch on at ignition and go off unless there is some problem. The MID has distance to empty, average FE, average speed, engine running time, instantaneous speed and FE and trip computer. It also has a gear position indicator and and has an arrow pointed up or down signalling you to up-shift or down-shift. When you are in the right gear, there is a dot next to the gear number. Once you get the hang of driving the car, you seldom see the up or down arrow. The MID also displays days and kms left for the next service due.The headlamp on and off controls are on the dashboard on the right side of the steering wheel. Pull it our once to activate the front fog lamps and once more to activate the rear fog lamp as well. Headlamp leveling switch with three levels are placed next to the main headlamp switch. Both these switches are of excellent quality and could easily belong in a luxury car.Steering adjustSeat height adjustThe steering can be adjusted for both reach and rake and the driver's seat offers height adjust. Both these together helps find a comfortable driving position in no time.Height adjustable seat belts - FrontThis also apparently helps aid a good driving position but, this is one feature that I have never used. While in the topic of the seat belts, they are of supreme quality, the same levels I have witnessed in cars costing 5X and their action while pulling and releasing back feels so silky smooth.The hood release is on the driver's side. A short but a sturdy lever.Fuse box and the pedalsThe pedals are neatly spaced and the rubber on top offers sufficient grip at all times, with/ without footwear. Also, notice the fuse box.Driver door controlsBoor release switchThe driver's side door has controls to mirrors, windows, door lock and unlock. All the windows in the car are one touch up and one touch down, with anti pinch (very rare in even the next segment) and the driver's door has controls to lock the remaining windows of the car. The boot release button is placed on the lower part of the door. It is essentially a re-badged window switch. Fuel lid can be opened by pressing on the lid when the car is unlocked. The door lock and unlock switchis placed on the driver door handle. The car gets speed sensing door locks. Opening the driver's door using the handle directly unlocks the car. Also, the individual doors can be unlocked by pulling the door handle lever twice. The lever is finished in dull chrome and feels sturdy and built to last.Bird's eye view of the central consoleTo the left of the drivers seat is a short stubby gear lever with sure slotting action. The lever is finished in leather and feels to be of good quality and great to hold. There is a driver's arm rest with a storage under it. The storage is padded with rubber to prevent rattles. The top surface of the arm rest is cushioned and feels good to rest your left hand while shifting gears. The armrest can be set to any position as per your comfort while moving it up, like an infinite adjustment. No, the armrest isn't wide enough and either the driver/ the co driver can rest their hand and not both.That said, the handbrake is impossible to use with the arm rest in down position. It is an ergonomic failure and VW has not corrected it in theirThere is a 12V charging socket in the front of the gear lever and a large storage area ahead of it. There are two cup holders in the storage area as well. There is a movable adjustment which can be used when you are keeping tall cups in the cup holders, for support. Another thoughtful feature.Glove boxThe passenger seat does not get a height adjust. However, it is a very good place to be in. The glove box in front is XL size. It has a dedicated place to park the owner's/ service manual, coin holder and also a sunglass holder. The sunglass holder is better left unused as it is not padded and can scratch your expensive shades. THe glovebox cover feels heavy and opens and shuts with a nice premium damped action. Another nice touch. You cannot lock the glovebox though.Climate ControlThe car is equipped with automatic climate control. Just press on the auto button and the climate control is on. You can also turn it on by rotating the fan control. There is no dedicated on/ off button. Switching it off is a tricky job. You need to take the fan speed to zero, pause for a second and then again rotate to the left to turn it off. Not sure which brilliant mind at VW thought of this! The car has 7 speed settings for the fan. It is quiet at 1,2, audible at 3,4, loud at 5,6 and very loud and intrusive at 7.The car gets 4 vents on the dashboard and one in the rear. All the 4 vents in the front have air volume control and can be shut off completely. The flow from rear A/C vents can be set in two direction. All that said, the performance of the climate control is a notch below adequate. The rear passengers are bound to complain on a hot sunny day. The feeling is accentuated by the rear wind screen. The sun directly hits the neck area of the rear passengers and causes a burning sensation. To, reduce the woes to some extent, I have purchased magnetic sun shades for the rear windows which gives some amount of comfort.Rear window magnetic sunshadeRear SeatThe rear bench is flat but supportive at the right places. It is nice and comfortable for two adults. However, the large central tunnel on the floor, the hard back rest because of the arm rest, lack of central head rest and only a lap seat belt will leave the centre passenger both uncomfortable and unsafe. Leg room is good even when the seat is pushed all the way back. The back side of the front seat is also soft so, no issues there. Also the front passenger seat can be slided from the rear with the help of a lever. A nice touch again! Headroom and under thigh support are at a premium for tall passengers. The rear arm rests are positioned at the right height and wide enough. Very comfortable to rest your arms and also feels sturdy and built to last.All the doors gets large door pockets and can hold 1 litre bottles easily. There is addition space for other stuff as well. There is only one gripe here. There are no soft padded surfaces to rest the hand on any of the doors. It's good quality but, hard plastic everywhere.The bootThe boot is large 480 litres. The rear seats are fixed still, the boot has never felt inadequate in our usage so far. The boot is carpeted completely in high quality material and the spare wheel (space saver) is hidden under with the tools neatly arranged in Styrofoam. The inside of the bootlid is also nicely cladded with plastic. Not left open/ no cost cuttings here like say, Honda City! The boot can be opened with the boor release button on the driver's door or by long pressing the button on the key. The boot can be opened and close stand alone even when the car is locked.The lockTwo interesting things with the lock. When you unlock the car and do not open any of the doors, the car gets locked again in one minute. Good for safety. Also, after you get out of the car, you can lock the car by closing the driver's door alone. the car gets locked completely when the other doors are closed, automatically.The infotainmentThe car's stock infotainment is nothing to write home about. It is an average unit with CD/ Radio, USB, Bluetooth, AUX and SD card connectivity. The sound output is strictly average from the 4 speaker setup. The speaker are on the door and the sound stage is pretty low. The stock unit is called RCG 320 and I upgraded it to RCD 340 G+ for the need of apple carplay. In the interim, I plonked a Pioneer 5190 BT. However, this unit spoilt the looks of the centre console and also the sound output from the stock speakers became a bit jarring. I later moved this system to my Civic.1. As mentioned earlier, all the door pads are hard and there is no soft pad to rest the hands on.2. A/C is a notch below being adequate.3. The centre A/C vents have been replaced twice so far. They cost 2K plus GST and keept breaking. Even now it is broken.4. The side A/C vents stop holding their vertical position after few days of usage. They keep moving up. Notice a small piece of paper kept to hold them in place5. The mirror controls feels flimsy to use. I am almost always afraid that they might break any time.6. As mentioned earlier, the rear windscreen directs the sunlight directly on to the neck area of the rear seat occupants. A rear windscreen shade would've been a welcome addition. Last edited by NTO : 20th May 2020 at 07:29 . And, as I snap to, this clarity brings with it some disappointing news: Season 2 of the psychological thriller (streaming Friday in seven episodes) isnt nearly as captivating or complex as its predecessor. Rather than advance the story significantly (or startlingly), it functions more as an afterthought or a predictable epilogue. And although it adheres to the spooky, paranoid style of the first iteration (minus Robertss character, and also minus Sam Esmails direction), it simply isnt mysterious enough to satisfy. Its coolness has gone cold. School districts throughout the state have continued to provide for the needs of their students and families despite closing for the rest of the year. One of those needs is food. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is working with the schools to make sure they can continue to give meals to students and families through the food programs already in place. Those programs include the National School Lunch Program's Seamless Summer Option and the Summer Food Service Program. Recently, DPI surpassed 1 million meals given to students during this time. DPI said this shows how great the need is right now. "School districts just really went with it, they did what was best. They did it even if they weren't gonna get reimbursed for the meals and they just kept going because they knew the need was great and that they needed to take care of the children," Amanda Cullen, Director of Community Nutrition Programs at DPI, said. Schools reached out to families who participate in their food programs, but DPI said if families income situation has changed during the pandemic that families should reach out to their local school districts to apply to get those benefits. More information . Shes the best blend of her illustrious parents the late Shaukat and Kaifi Azmi. That also explains why Shabana Azmis a work in progress seeking expression and eloquence through dynamic mediums. Like she just shot for a dramatised recital of Tabish Khairs, River Of No Return, for director Michael Mayers corona-related virtual project. Before that shed flown off to Budapest to shoot for Steven Spielbergs sci-fi show Halo. Back home, Faraz Ansaris lesbian love story, Sheer Qorma, is waiting for release. The lockdown has unlocked her desire for culinary experiments. Just as its given her the leisure of sharing both animated conversations and extended silences with husband Javed Akhtar. Gratitude and compassion are the key emotions ruling her life post the accident and during the pandemic Excerpts A major change in you after the trauma of your recent accident? The accident happened after the three-day celebration we had for Javeds birthday. I had been dancing till 5 am. Who would have thought such a drastic turn of event was just around the corner! I realised the importance of being in the present and savouring it. Of living life to the fullest each moment without fretting about tomorrow or dwelling in the past. I was overwhelmed by the care and concern of not only my close ones but from people across the globe. The prayers and the good wishes washed away the physical pain. My family and friends rallied round me with so much love during the recovery period. Im still basking in the glow of their warmth. What was Javed saabs reaction to the mishap? Ive been told he was shaken up. Hes not given to being very expressive but he left all his work and was by my side in the hospital every day. The change I see in Javed now is that he gets tense if I so much as sneeze. When I joined my shooting in Budapest (for Steven Spielberg produced sci-fi show Halo), he made sure my nurse got her visa in record time to accompany me and that my friend Parna was with me. He was insisting I take my physiotherapist too. But I put my foot down. Did his humour help you heal faster? Yes absolutely. He has me in splits most of the time. Javed has this wonderful ability of being totally serious and becoming extremely flippant. He accuses my friend Bhawana and me of treating a joke like a riddle we must solve. Im hopeless at telling jokes. Invariably, I make a mess of the punch line. So that remains Javeds department. His wit and repartee are difficult to match. Would you say hes your best friend? Without doubt. We have many shared interests and a common worldview. The only thing I cant do is sit in one place. The only thing he cant do is to get up from the place hes ensconced in. Its the one thing about each other that drives both of us crazy. We have many arguments and disagreements too. When we were building our home, Sukoon in Khandala, I was in despair. The weekend getaway I had in mind was completely different from the mansion he was visualising. His best friend Farhan turned to me and said, Let him have his way Shabana. He has lived on the streets and gone hungry for days. You must let him realize his dream. Waise bhi hes Sholay and youre Ankur, he added mischievously. That made the penny drop. Every project of Javeds is a magnum opus. Im an art filmwallah at heart! What have you discovered about each other during the lockdown? That we enjoy each others company. That were comfortable with each other whether were being talkative or sharing silences. How are you trying to be productive in this lockdown period? Im participating in webinars, doing podcasts, reciting poetry, reading scripts watching movies... On a lighter note Im addicted to watching YouTube for kitchen hacks and trying different cuisine. Thats my down time. Ive also joined international stars to participate in celebrated Italian writer, Erri De Lucas, new project Decameron 2020 (the virtual project entails turning stories on the corona crisis, penned by writers across the world, into dramatised readings by actors). I did a dramatised reading of Tabish Khairs River Of No Return. It was an entirely new experience. I did it without having ever met the director Michael Mayer (of Out In The Dark fame). It was strange but an adventurous ride into the unknown. Im technologically challenged. I only have to touch a machine for it to cease to function or collapse completely. As an actor, Ive a cushy position because everything gets set up for me. Im only needed to learn my lines, take the light, hit my mark and rev up the emotion. But here I had to set up the entire shoot on my own with help from Ravi Vohra, my brother Baba Azmis colleague. Im used to the hustle bustle of a 100-strong crew on set because it gets the adrenalin flowing. Here it was only me okaying my own takes. Because of the difference in time, I couldnt get an immediate reaction from Michael. By the time he could watch the takes, the green chroma background and the lights had already been dismantled. Mercifully, he was satisfied with what he got. Faraz Ansaris Sheer Qorma is a lesbian love story. What did you find interesting about your role? Divya (Dutta) referred the director, Faraz, to me. Its a moving story. The whole concept of family is changing. Its no longer confined to a heterosexual couple with children they beget. The first Hindi film about two women falling in love, Fire, also featured you... Any recollections of the film? There has been a sea change in societys attitude towards the LGBTQ plus community. When Fire (1996) was released, it was a taboo topic. Now, it has much more acceptance and greater visibility which is as it should be. Why must the private life of a person be under scrutiny? Judge them for their work not for the love choices they make. We fear what we do not know and thus is created the other the other race, the other religion, the other gender. Who decides whats normal? We need to become a far more inclusive society. Whats special about your character, Admiral Margaret Parangosky, in Steven Spielbergs series Halo? Im not allowed to talk about it yet. But its a character whos conflicted. Thats always interesting to play. How do you think will the pandemic affect the business of films? Its going to be a huge upheaval for sure. Its going to take a long time for people to pick up courage and risk going to a cinema hall to watch a film. The OTT platform will become the preferred medium for a long time. How will a stars box-office worth be measured? Content must become king. I hope it does. Also work from home will be the new normal for production meetings, story sittings etc. Youve always been vocal about your social and political views on social media. How do you handle trolls? By blocking them. I dont entertain toxicity. Some nameless person with 10 followers tries to rattle me with an accusation that has not an iota of truth. Why should I dignify the troll with a reaction? Why should I fan the flames of their agenda? A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday claims the civil rights of the owner of a Westfield gym were violated when township police entered his business in early May and told him to shut down due to coronavirus restrictions. Two Westfield police officers entered Rowdells Fitness at 123 South Ave. East on May 6 and told the owner, Rowdell Petterway, to shut down his operation, the lawsuit says. The police also said they would conduct inspections at the property and issue a summons to him if he reopened, the suit claims. Gyms havent been immune to Gov. Phil Murphys coronavirus orders, which shut down businesses deemed non-essential in late March. But some gym owners, like the ones in Camden County who were ticketed Monday, have had enough and started to reopen. The suit says Petterway is the only employee at the gym and meets with clients one at a time, standing seven feet apart while both parties wear masks and equipment is sanitized regularly. The suit asks that Petterway be allowed to continue operating under those conditions. Petterway could not be reached and a call to his business Wednesday afternoon went unanswered. But an affidavit he signed that is part of the suit calls into question why nearby businesses like liquor stores, 7-Eleven and Home Depot are allowed to remain open but his gym is not. ...(Those businesses operate) with far greater absolute numbers and much higher population density, which would seem, logically speaking and if we accept the Governors rationale for closing businesses, much more dangerous than the operation of my small business utilizing the mitigation measures described above, he stated in a declaration. The suit, filed Tuesday, does not specify how many people were inside Rowdell Fitness gym when police arrived. Petterways business had been operating in the weeks leading up to May 6, but police had never raised a concern, the lawsuit says. Petterway is not a plaintiff in the suit, but his landlord SM 123 South LLC is. His business sits on the first floor of the Schiller McMahon law offices. Petterways landlord is Joshua McMahon, a former prosecutor-turned-private attorney who has often been a thorn in the side of Union County officials. The suit names Westfield Police Chief Christopher Battiloro and acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay Ruotolo as defendants. Spokespersons for the town and the prosecutors office declined to comment on the pending litigation. The lawsuit does not, however, name the governor as a defendant. Governor Murphys order, while likely motivated by good intentions, nevertheless is unsupported by science and did not take into account the strict scrutiny standard as it applies to Mr. Petterways business, McMahon, who filed the suit, told NJ Advance Media. However, Governor Murphy is not the one shutting down Mr. Petterways business. Thats Chief Battiloro with Ruotolos backing. The gym owner has not been able to pay rent to SM 123 LLC for the month of May since his business was shut down and he now fears prosecution, the suit said. Petterway has been in business in Westfield for 25 years and it is his sole way of supporting himself. Petterway called McMahon about an hour after police entered his business and the two went to the Westfield police station to petition their government to withdraw their order to close his business, the suit said. The police station was locked by the time they arrived around 4 p.m. and closed to the public. A person on a loudspeaker at the station told the two law enforcement had received a complaint from the health department about Petterways business. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Rebecca Panico may be reached at rpanico@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. About 2.4 million people filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department announced Thursday, bringing the nine-week total since the coronavirus crisis struck to more than 38 million. The weekly initial claims data continued on a downward trend, falling for the seventh straight week, but the overall level remains at historic highs. "The jobs numbers will be worse before they get better," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned earlier this week. Meanwhile, the debate over enhanced unemployment benefits which provide an additional $600 per week in support, over and above state-level payments continues in Washington. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-TN) reportedly said this week that the additional benefits were crazy policy that might motivate some people to stay on unemployment and avoid returning to work. Although critics have pointed out that workers arent able to make that decision on their own, McConnell nevertheless vowed Wednesday that the enhanced benefits "will not be in the next bill, referring to the next round of relief and stimulus funding currently under consideration. Top Republican leaders have repeatedly expressed their concerns on the issue and are joining forces with the White House and powerful business lobbies including the Chamber of Commerce to oppose any extension of the enhanced benefits, which expire at the end of July. Mnuchin said Thursday that the administration and lawmakers will need to fix the enhanced unemployment benefits, given what he called the quirk that in certain cases were actually paying people more than they made. Conservatives worry that any delay in workers returning to their jobs could slow the recovery. The government is competing with businesses for workers, and thats the craziest idea ever, said Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). We cant hurt our ability to reopen the economy. Democrats are pushing for an extension of the benefits, citing the ongoing need for aid amid the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. The economic need is not going away, Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures, told The Washington Post. The fact that we are two months into this, and were still getting multi-million claims numbers, speaks to how deep and intense the economic pain is right now. Whats next: The enhanced jobless benefits will be a point of contention in the next stimulus bill, which lawmakers are expected to negotiate in the coming weeks. The $3 trillion bill passed by House Democrats last week would extend the benefits through January, but Republicans appear to be unified in trimming those benefits back, if not eliminating them entirely. GOP staffers told the Post that in the end, they expect to see some kind of compromise on the issue, with Congress passing either a smaller weekly enhancement taking effect after July or a one-time bonus for workers who return to their jobs Like what you're reading? Sign up for our free newsletter. Chennai, May 21 : It is better to define what the self -reliance policy of the government is, so that over a period time it does not go back to the licence-permit raj, said a top official of industrial air compressor major Elgi Equipments Ltd. "Self-reliance has two aspects. First, production of critical items by India. Second, companies in India looking for local supplies. The latter should not lead to licence-permit raj. Self-reliance should be defined," Jairam Varadaraj, Managing Director told IANS. The global air compressor market is about $15 billion and the Indian market is about $700 million. The Coimbatore-based about Rs.1,873 crore (FY19) Elgi Equipment earns about half of its revenue from overseas. In the interview Varadaraj also said that cash will be king and companies will conserve cash as the product brand is not always a risk mitigator. He also said that there may not be a large-scale migration of companies out of China in the near term and spoke of how his company is gearing up to meet the post Covid-19 situation. Excerpts: Q: A lot is being said about multi-national companies (MNC) will be going out of China owing to Covid-19. Your view. A: It is true the whole manufacturing world gravitated towards China as a cheap source. But post Covid-19 and with China's opaqueness many companies will look at other alternative sources. Companies having factories in China may look at India. But their first priority will be to manage the crisis. So MNCs will not look at creating an alternate source for China immediately. Q: Will brand be a risk mitigator? A: A brand conveys certain attributes about a product. When industries and others are conserving cash flow, the premium given for a brand will be questioned. People's behaviour will also undergo a change. In certain segments there is bias in favour of foreign brands. But outside the country, the needle will shift slowly. So, there will be a compression in price. Q: Looking back at FY 20 - Your view. A: Last fiscal there were two problems - economy and Coronavirus. It was not a good year. But if there was no virus then the year was not bad. Indian economy started slowing down from August 2019 onwards and this had its impact. We at Elgi Equipments took the initiative to push up our market share. The month of March was a washout and impacted revenues. Nearly two-thirds of our monthly revenue was impacted. Q: Looking forward at FY21. Your take. A: The whole landscape has changed in FY21. Post virus, the impact is spread across the sector. Our assessment is that, all those businesses involved in supply essentials like food, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), and pharmaceuticals will do well. Industries may not be enhancing their capacities. For us, after-market services will be good. Q: What is Elgi Equipment's game plan? A: We are looking at a`V' shaped recovery. We have made two scenarios - recovery in a year's time or recovery over a prolonged period of time. We have made reasonable estimates based on each industry vertical that we serve. We are also looking at cutting costs while protecting jobs. A 12-16 per cent cost reduction will reduce the break-even point. It is back to basics, looking at the cost structure and bringing it down. When there is a huge compression in the topline, the bottom line will also get compressed. However, cost rationalisation will not impact long term capacity. Q: On the stimulus package announced by the government. A: All those loans which are part of the stimulus package will be to support cash flows for businesses. Every country is pumping in money for economic upliftment. As regards India's intervention of Rs.20 lakh crore, the direct cash transfer to the hand of people is low. Nearly 65-70 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) is on consumption. Hence, the small cash transfer will have not big impact. Q: Will there be consolidation in your sector? A: The weak ones will have to exit. But who will buy them is the key question. The focus for all players will be to conserve cash as the market behaviour is uncertain. It is time for each company to look at their long-term goals and act accordingly. Q: How are you gearing up to cater to that market shift? A: We will continue to be a complete-system player selling air compressors. We will not be selling components. Perhaps our foundry now for captive use may have some excess capacity due to the slowdown, which may be used for outside orders. 5G appears to be high on the Vietnamese governments priority list, with the earliest of services set to be commercialized in mid-2020 following trials conducted through 2019. A supportive government and regulator could boost 5G network deployments while domestic manufacturing of 5G handsets could lower device costs and lend tailwinds to adoption, according to Fitch Solutions, a subsidiary of Fitch Group. 5G is set to take off in the medium term in Vietnam. 5G appears to be high on the Vietnamese governments priority list, with the earliest of services set to be commercialized in mid-2020 following trials conducted through 2019. Fitch believes the impact will be greatest in the enterprise segment, particularly in Vietnams rapidly growing manufacturing sector, with government initiatives supporting industry uptake. At the consumer level, Fitch expected early launches to center on larger, higher-income cities, with operators likely to focus on both mobile and fixed-wireless services. While fiber-based broadband connections in Vietnam have grown significantly in recent quarters, it is expected that fixed-wireless 5G can still serve as a complement to existing fixed services and support the development and adoption of higher bandwidth services, such as virtual reality (VR) video streaming and cloud gaming applications. However, Fitch anticipated a potential delay to 5G launches as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced operators to increase investments into their existing 4G networks and raise bandwidth on existing fixed broadband connections; reportedly, Viettel had to double bandwidth for all fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) subscribers and, together with other state-owned operators Vinaphone and Mobifone, introduce bigger mobile data allocations. While these short term moves could put investments into 5G networks on the backburner, the Vietnamese government could pressure the state-owned operators to focus on 5G deployment. Licenses and spectrum are yet to be allocated, although the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) could convert 5G trial licenses, allocated in 2019, into commercial licenses. Viettel was the first operator to receive 5G trial spectrum, with bandwidth in the 2.6GHz, 3.6GHz, and 26GHz bands awarded to the mobile market leader in January 2019. This was followed by the award of trial spectrum to Vinaphone and Mobifone in April 2019. Smallest operator Vietnamobile, however, has not made any indication whether it has received 5G trial licenses, and appears unlikely to follow the three state-owned operators in commercializing services in the short term. Viettel announced in late-2019 that it will not use Huawei equipment in its 5G networks, and claims to have developed its own in-house equipment, which will be used to launch its network in mid-2020. Strong use of 5G in manufacturing sector Through Resolution 52, introduced in September 2019, the government aims to actively involve itself in the wider adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies to drive the countrys economic growth. Fitch expected the government to lend support to the wider 5G ecosystem through the creation of test beds, or through enterprise grants to adopt 5G technologies. The MIC is already looking at licensing certain frequencies to domestic manufacturers of 5G products, and has stated that it will support the development of 5G-capable chips, although further details have not been disclosed. Viettel has 5G partnerships with Ericsson and Nokia, while Mobifone has an agreement with Samsung. Vinaphone is working with Nokia. Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup signed an agreement with Fujitsu and Qualcomm in June 2019 to jointly develop and manufacture 5G-compatible handsets in Vietnam. Vingroup had already started manufacturing its own 4G-capable handsets in December 2018 following its acquisition of a majority stake in Spanish phone maker BQ. The company is likely looking to target cost-conscious and lower-income consumers who want to take up a 5G SIM, but are unable to afford a 5G smartphone given their relatively higher cost; the company is hoping that the expansion of its production capacity, which is set to reach 125 million units, will help it lower costs. The wider availability of low-cost 5G devices in Vietnam will support uptake, primarily among cost-conscious consumers. In terms of industry applications, Fitch expected to see strong use of 5G in the manufacturing sector. Adoption of 5G-enabled sensors across the production line is a certainty, although this will center most largely on the use of private networks in the short run, such as those developed by private players like Sigfox. Operators have made no indication of their 5G plans for the enterprise and industrial sectors, although Fitch expected them to look at developing 5G networks in key economic zones and industrial areas. Hanoitimes Hai Yen Vietnams second largest telco gets green light for 5G tech tests Vietnams second largest telco is ready in terms of technology, technology and network structure for deploying commercial 5G network. Every name on the BrandBucket marketplace is exclusively listed with BrandBucket. That means that all of our sellers are very responsive, making for quick domain transfers. A dedicated BrandBucket agent will manage your domain transfer from beginning to end, ensuring a secure and easy transaction. They will manage the receipt of the domain into one of BrandBuckets secure registrar accounts and then complete the transfer to you. 1. Verification and registrar choice After we receive the payment and verify it, we will reach out via email to confirm which registrar you want the domain transferred to. We also provide a link to our tracking system, where you can communicate with us, check on the status of your transfer, view your invoice, and download your logo files. In most cases, if a domain is moved between accounts at a single registrar, the transfer is quick and usually completes within 48 hours. If a domain changes registrars (in other words, you would like to move it away from where it is currently registered), the transfer is slower. The total transfer time can then be anywhere from 48 hours to 7 days. BrandBucket has vetted and supports the following registrars: GoDaddy Namesilo Uniregistry NameCheap Google Domains Network Solutions Name.com Dynadot Amazon Route 53 123 Reg Gandi 2. We request the name from the seller. Once we know where you would like the domain transferred, BrandBucket will request the domain from the seller. All of our sellers are very responsive, making for a quick process. 3. Transfer the name into your account As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process. 4. Verify with the buyer that the transfer is complete Once we confirm that you have received the name, we consider the escrow process to be complete. Only then do we release payment to the domain seller. [May 21, 2020] Ecwid Secures $42 Million to Democratize Access to E-Commerce Solutions for Small Businesses SAN DIEGO, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ecwid, a leading global software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-commerce company, today announced a funding round of $42 million led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and PeakSpan Capital. Ecwid provides online selling solutions for small businesses and enables them to establish a digital storefront in a matter of hours. In the past year, the company has seen strong momentum as a result of continued product innovation, expansion of their global partner ecosystem, and a powerful platform customers consider the easiest-to-use in the industry. The funds will in part be used to buy-out previous and early-stage investors, including Runa Capital and iTech Capital, as well as to fuel aggressive growth including an expected doubling of headcount. Joining Ecwids Board of Directors are PeakSpan Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Phil Dur, and Pete Chung, Managing Director and Head of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. The Covid-19 global health crisis has forced merchants to close physical storefronts and adapt to a new world of commerce and customer interactions. As a result, Ecwid has seen a surge in adoption of their free and easy-to-use solution; new customer sign-ups have tripled as merchants turn to Ecwid to transition their businesses online to survive during this time of uncertainty. Transaction volume amongst Ecwids hundreds-of-thousands of active customers increased more than 50 percent from April to March alone. High costs and complex technology have traditionally prevented the majority of small businesses from shifting their brick-and-mortar presence to digital. Ecwid is at the forefront of empowering small businesses to meet those challenges head-on, said Ruslan Fazlyev, Founder and CEO of Ecwid. The support early on from Runa Capital as we spun Ecwid out of a previous e-commerce company, X-Cart, played a massive role in the expansion of our partner channels, and iTech Capital was an important player in funding further growth. The new wave of funding gives us the resources and flexibility to accelerate the evolution of an e-commerce platform and to further expand internationally. We are playing an important role in enabling small businesses to survive, thrive and grow in this new Covid-19 world. Over the last decade, Ecwid has steadily built an expanding set of tools and signed up more than 1.5 million small businesses in more than 175 countries and supporting 54 languages. Ecwid has seen significant growth over the past two yers, with new customer sign-ups doubling in 2019 and jumping another 300 percent this quarter vs. 2019. Ecwid has also earned a Net Promoter Score of 60, far above the industry average. Industry and customer reviews consistently rank Ecwid favorably against all other e-commerce platforms. Covid-19 is reinforcing what we already knew: e-commerce is vital, and its available to even the smallest of merchants now with Ecwids free tools that even novice Internet users can adopt quickly, said Phil Dur of PeakSpan Capital. We have been watching Ecwid for many years.The companys impressive capital efficiency and very strong long-term market opportunity made it an easy decision for us to partner with them during this next phase of growth. Ecwid is truly helping its customers make the most of e-commerce enablement at a time when their traditional retail businesses have been disrupted so dramatically, said Pete Chung of Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. Ruslan is an e-commerce visionary who has built a team and beloved solution that allows any mom-and-pop shop to embrace the online world, dramatically expanding their revenue and market potential. We partnered with Ecwid in 2011 when the company reached their hundred thousand merchant milestone and operated primarily out of Russia, said Dmitry Chikhachev, co-founder and Managing Partner at Runa Capital. Today, Ecwid is one of the leading e-commerce platforms. powering over 1.5 million merchants across the globe and now headquartered in California. The founders and the team have transformed the company into a global leader, and we are proud of our work and collaboration to get them to this point. After five years of joint effort growing a truly international player, I am happy to transfer Ecwid to the reliable hands of PeakSpan Capital and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. They will help Ruslan and his team move forward in todays challenging times, said Gleb Davidyuk, co-founder and Managing Partner of iTech Capital. I am proud of iTechs ability to find and support talented founders in their ambitious desire to scale globally. Ecwid is a great example in this respect." Founded in 2009, Ecwids e-commerce solution was built to enable businesses to quickly and easily create a new online store or add shopping capabilities to an existing website at no cost. The platform offers merchants a comprehensive set of e-commerce tools, including access to key marketplaces, including Amazon and Google, access to a range of point-of-sales solutions and the ability to advertise and sell on social media channels such as Instagram and Facebook. About Ecwid Ecwid E-commerce is a global SaaS e-commerce platform company established in 2009. Ecwid provides online selling solutions for small businesses in over 175 countries and in 54 languages. For more information visit: https://www.ecwid.com About Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital is the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital target growth equity and credit investments within technology, healthcare, consumer, digital media and other high growth sectors. For over three decades, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital has successfully pursued growth investment opportunities and has completed investments in over 200 companies leveraging the global brand and network of Morgan Stanley. For further information about Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im/expansioncapital . About PeakSpan Capital Based in New York City and Silicon Valley, PeakSpan Capital is a growth equity firm with a singular mission to be the partner of choice for growth-stage entrepreneurial teams building amazing business software companies. PeakSpan combines deep domain expertise within a select number of themes with an active partner approach to help entrepreneurs drive excellent risk-adjusted growth and value creation. To learn more about PeakSpan Capital and its portfolio, please visit peakspancapital.com . Contact: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] DEARBORN (dpa-AFX) - Ford has temporarily closed two assembly plants because employees tested positive for Covid-19, media reports quoted the company's spokesperson as saying. The closures come just days after Ford reopened its U.S. plants. The reports said that the Chicago plant, which builds the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator, stopped operations Tuesday afternoon after two employees tested positive for Covid-19. Ford's plant in Dearborn Michigan that makes F-150 pickup also closed for the same reason on Wednesday. Ford had restarted its plants on Monday in the U.S., after shutting down them in late-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the reports said the Chicago assembly plant was back in operation Wednesday morning, but the plant was suspended again Wednesday afternoon, because of a shortage of parts from a supplier. It is expected the Dearborn plant will resume operations later Wednesday night, the reports said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. A San Antonio companys longstanding plans to build more townhomes on the near East Side are moving forward. The citys Historic and Design Review Commission OKd a certificate of appropriateness Wednesday for Terramark Urban Homes proposal to construct six buildings on an empty lot at Center, North Cherry and North Swiss streets. The three-story structures, a mix of duplexes and four-plexes, will include 18 row houses with an average unit size of about 1,670 square feet, documents submitted to the commission show. Its the second phase of the companys City Center development, which has been in the works several years. The first eight townhomes are under construction and expected to be finished this fall. Four have been presold, said John Cooley, Terramarks chief operating officer. The company anticipates starting work on the next stage later this year, with construction projected to take 12 to 18 months, Cooley said. Prices range from $390,000 to $415,000. Zoning also allows for live-work uses, so residents could use some of the space for an office or design studio, he said. The project is receiving a 15-year tax increment reimbursement grant worth $307,799 and fee waivers worth $8,223 under the Center City Housing Incentive Policy. The program emerged from former Mayor Julian Castros Decade of Downtown push aimed at promoting new housing and spurring economic development in the urban core. Courtesy of Terramark Urban Homes Thousands of high-end apartments and condominiums have sprung up, but critics said the program neglected the citys need for affordable housing. San Antonio officials revised the policy in 2018 to expand beyond downtown and add affordable housing requirements. The CCHIP agreement with Terramark was executed in 2016. Cooley said the incentives helped reduce the risk of building in the area at the time. It made it way more feasible, he said. There was less new construction going on on the East Side then. Terramark is known for building clusters of town homes and lofts in Dignowity Hill, Denver Heights, Government Hill and other neighborhoods around the urban core. madison.iszler@express-news.net China's map with the nine-dash line in Bayer Vietnam's internal document. The Malaysian CEO of Bayer Vietnam was fined VND30 million ($1,300) Thursday for forwarding staff a document containing China's infamous nine-dash line. The punishment, imposed by Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Information and Communications, came days after Lynette Moey Yu Lin, a Malaysian of Chinese origin, admitted sharing the document on Chinas successful Covid-19 campaign with nine department heads late last month. These managers were supposed to subsequently forward it to lower ranking staff. The nine-dash line, claiming 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, has met strong opposition from the international community. After protests from several Vietnamese employees, Bayer retracted the document. Bayer AG is a German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company. In Vietnam, the company has been present for over 25 years, employing about 700 people. Last year, Vietnam also fined several companies for their dissemination of the nine-dash line. Saigontourist, a leading Vietnamese travel company, was fined VND50 million ($2,200) for using brochures depicting Chinas illegal claims. CGV, Vietnam's largest cinema chain, was fined VND170 million ($7,400) for licensing the film "Abominable" that includes the nine-dash demarcation. Vietnam has repeatedly affirmed it holds legal and historical evidence to assert its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) islands in the East Sea, as well as its legal rights over its waters in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They recently announced they are expecting their first child together. And Gianluca Vacchi, 52, larked around with his pregnant girlfriend Sharon Fonseca, 25, in a fun clip on Thursday. Taking to Instagram, the playboy millionaire shared a clip comparing their 'bumps' as he pretended to deflate his stomach. Sweet: They are expecting their first child together. And Gianluca Vacchi, 52, larked around with his pregnant girlfriend Sharon Fonseca, 25, in a fun clip on Thursday The cute couple reached out and pretended to 'pop' each other's stomachs, with Gianluca sucking in to deflate himself, whilst Sharon's baby bump of course stayed pronounce. Gianluca captioned the video: 'Deflating mode doesnt work for everyone...' Last week, the couple took to Instagram to announce their happy news as they put on a very loved-up display together, before sharing a picture of Sharon's bump. Bumping along nicely: Taking to Instagram, the playboy millionaire shared a clip comparing their 'bumps' as he pretended to deflate his stomach Gianluca told his 15.2 million followers: 'Today is Mothers Day and of course my first thought goes to my mom. 'But I have to say that whenever I have thought of a potential mother for my son, that woman had Sharon's characteristics.' He then shared a picture of himself bending down on one knee as Sharon showed off her bump in a cropped shirt. He wrote: 'Thank you so much for the love you gave us. We are very grateful to life for this beautiful gift. ' Gianluca, famous for his Instagram dancing videos, was first linked to Sharon in April 2017. He was previously in a relationship with supermodel Giorgia Gabriele, but they split in 2017 - she first shared his dancing videos which went viral. The entrepreneur has a daughter called Ginevra Mavilla from a previous relationship, who was born on July 6, 2002, in Italy. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with his cabinet in the East Room of the White House in Washington on May 19, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Trump Considering Hosting G-7 Summit in the US WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump said Wednesday that hes considering holding a meeting in the United States with the leaders of the worlds major economies because it would be a great sign to all of things returning to normal during the CCP virus pandemic. The announcement was the latest effort by Trump to signal to the nation that the U.S. economy is humming again after months-long shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus are beginning to be lifted across the country. Trump had scheduled the Group of Seven summit for June 10-12 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. But in March, he announced he was canceling the annual meeting because of the pandemic and that the leaders would confer by video conference instead. Now that our Country is Transitioning back to Greatness, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David, Trump tweeted. The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to allnormalization! The G-7 optimism came as Trump met with Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) and Gov. Laura Kelly (D-Kan.) to discuss reopening plans in their states. The pair praised the administrations efforts to expand testing to critical industries, including meatpacking, in their states. Gov. Laura Kelly (D-Kan.) listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on May 20, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo) Separately, Vice President Mike Pence was in Florida for a meeting with tourism industry executives and a meal at a business recently reopened to dine-in patrons. Formal White House preparations for the meeting were halted two months ago when the summit was called off. And the Trump administration has maintained travel restrictions and quarantine requirements for travelers from Europe, home to four of the G-7 nations. Earlier this week the United States and Canada agreed to keep their shared border closed to nonessential travel through June 21. The District of Columbia remains under stay-at-home orders at least through June 8, though Maryland began relaxing the restrictions last week. At the same time, leaders of the G-7 member nations are in some cases still grappling with the virus in their own countries or in various states of reopening their economies. A senior White House official said Trump was seriously considering rescheduling the summit for some point in June, likely toward the end of the month, at either the White House or Camp David. The subject was discussed on a call between Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday morning, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked whether it would be appropriate to hold the G-7 while ordinary citizens cannot travel to the United States from Europe. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington on May 20, 2020. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo) America is reopening. The world is reopening and what a show of strength and optimism to have all the leaders of these countries come together at the White House and pursue business as usual as we move forward through this pandemic, McEnany said. If the summit happens, the United States would request that delegations be pared back to minimum personnel and would curtail nonessential events like the spousal program. A final decision would be needed in the coming days to ensure adequate time to prepare for the high-level meeting, the official said. Macrons office said in a statement that given the importance of the G-7 in the response to the crisis, the president is willing to go to Camp David, if the health conditions allow it. Whatever form the G-7 meeting takes, whether its a video conference or otherwise, I will definitely fight for multi-lateralism, thats very clear, both in the G-7 and the G-20, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it an interesting idea, but said leaders need a lot more details. He said its important G-7 leaders meet in June so they can discuss the pandemic and restoring economic activity. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for his daily news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic outside his residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on May 20, 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press) We need to keep meeting as leaders. Whether thats virtual or in person we will certainly take a look at what the U.S. is proposing as host of the G-7 to see what kind of measures will be in place to keep people safe, what kind of recommendations the experts are giving in terms of how that might function, Trudeau said. There are a lot of discussions to come, but we look forward to having those discussions with the American hosts. The United States holds the G-7s rotating presidency this year and gets to determine where the meeting is held and set the agenda. Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan are the other members. Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. As Election Day quickly approaches, the Trump reelection campaign faces natural and self-inflicted wounds that hurt Americans to the core of their very existence. Death tolls and unemployment rise as the economy sinks to new lows. News that former Vice President Biden has opened up a double-digit lead nationally according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday will only make President Trump more desperate and more reckless in the weeks and months ahead. The months that will lead to the November 3rd General Election will be filled with a steady escalation in the numbers of COVID-19 active infections, enormous numbers of fatalities and the worst recession since the Great Depression, if were lucky and McConnell and Trump dont Kill the U.S. Postal Service and displace 600,000 postal workers and crush millions of small businesses across the country. Allow States and local governments to lay off millions of police, fire, teachers, etc., etc. many other critical and non-critical workers. The unemployment rate could be at 25% on Election Day 2020. Start a cold war with China. Start a hot war with China. The unanimous Senate vote that could potentially delist scores of Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges with anyone else in the Oval Office would be seen as a bipartisan backing of a President. In this case, few if any Democrats believe Trump is anything but a mean unstable moron. President Trump has destroyed his credibility after trying to get away with over 17,000 lies and misrepresentations since being sworn as president. These lies to the American people intensified when he seized control of the coronavirus press conferences and turned them into his personal reelection campaign rallies. The Clorox and disinfectant exposed an dysfunctional mind and functionally childish comprehension of the consequences of swallowing or injecting disinfectant. Now he is publicizing that he is taking a medication that under the best of medical supervised conditions can be harmful. The thing I keep hearing from people is how could anyone be so stupid? The more President Trump keeps talking, threatening, ranting between now and the election, the better. He reminds me of Lenny Bruce, a comic genius who descended from the hottest stand-up act in America into an hour and a half of his ranting on how a cabal was persecuting him in the government. Sound familiar? The Quinnipiac University Poll shows Biden with an 11-point advantage over Trump in a national head-to-head match up. (*Quinnipiac University Poll: Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump 50 - 39 percent in a head-to-head match up in the election for president, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released today. Thats up from the 49 - 41 percent lead Biden held in an April 8th national poll, but the change is within the margin of error.) Fifty percent of those surveyed said they currently plan on voting for the former vice president, while 39% said they would vote for Trump. A survey conducted last month by Quinnipiac University showed a slightly tighter race, with Biden taking 49% and Trump notching 41%. The picture is going to worsen for President Trump as the numbers of the deceased climb, his big bounce back in the economy in July fails to materialize, and the lie about a vaccine being ready by years end becomes obvious. Trump could find himself at the 36% he hit during his Charlottesville quagmire. Todays news that 95,000 people have died of COVID-19 already and that over 39 million people are now officially unemployed while the unofficial number being bantered, by economists, put the actual number of unemployed at approaching 50 million. Reported United States coronavirus deaths: 80 days ago: 2 deaths 70 days ago: 38 deaths 60 days ago: 323 deaths 50 days ago: 3,834 deaths 40 days ago: 18,758 deaths 30 days ago: 42,295 deaths 20 days ago: 63,006 deaths 10 days ago: 79,525 deaths Right now: 95,656 deaths Republicans look so endangered the Democrats appear to have a genuine chance of not only winning the White House but expanding their majority in the House and have a legitimate shot of controlling a 60 seat majority in the Senate. Republican Senate seats that appear endangered include Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Maine, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and with the danger of Senator Burr being forced to resign, the second seat in Georgia at risk. The Dems retain their Alabama Senate seat held by Senator Doug Jones, with a big turnout from black voters in the state could end up with a 60 seat majority in the U.S. Senate. The chances of a 60 seat majority in the U.S. Senate, is tied to Trump netting 40% or less of the General Election turnout. If the President ends up at 38% or lower when all the votes are counted, we could see the stunning upsets in Alabama, Georgia x 2, Kentucky, Texas, and South Carolina. In short, the Trump party is facing extinction. *Quinnipiac University Poll Trump rants against George Conway after new ad airs Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Department of Labor and Employment is not discounting the possibility that 10 million workers in the country will lose their jobs this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III admitted this unemployment figure during yesterdays Senate committee of the whole hearing, after he was asked by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto. "I hate to say it but it's possible," said the Labor Secretary. At present, Bello reported that 2.6 million workers have already lost their jobs due to the temporary closure of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bello initially estimated that four to five million will be jobless as the pandemic continues to grapple the country. Karamihan po 'yan sa service sector. Malaki po ang tourism, 'yung allied businesses like restaurants, then transportation, said Bello. [Translation: Most of the job losses will be in the service sector. The tourism sector will also have big job reductions, including allied businesses like restaurants. The transportation sector will also be affected.] Recto agreed with Bellos projections on job losses, considering that only 50 percent of workers in some businesses are allowed to go back to work. Department of Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat mentioned in the same Senate hearing that last April, the tourism sector had no revenue due to zero tourist arrivals. She expects around 50 percent drop in revenue in the tourism sector by the end of the year. Puyat added the tourism sector provides jobs to 5.4 million Filipinos or about 15 percent of the total employment in the country. Despite the expected huge job losses in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bello said they are expanding its Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers or TUPAD program to assist those who will lose their jobs. The Labor Department also said government is bent on resuming pending infrastructure projects that can give jobs to those who will be jobless. We have talked to the leaders of the construction industry that when they start implementing these contracts, they should increase their workers by 10 percent to 20 percent, said Bello. Bello added the DOLE has requested for a 40-billion budget from the House of Representatives for its recovery programs. The national government imposed an enhanced community quarantine in the country last March 16, which included strict stay-at-home orders and suspension of on-site work operations to further avert the spread of the virus. Last May 16, the government eased quarantine measures in some areas in the country, including Metro Manila, and allowed some businesses to gradually resume their operations. DOLE continues to provide cash subsidy to informal workers affected by the quarantine through its COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program, where each worker will receive a 5,000 financial assistance. WASHINGTON - Since resuming their travel schedules, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have focused on battleground states crucial to their reelection chances, staging official government events at a time when likely Democratic nominee Joseph Biden and his top surrogates say they are unable to safely return to the campaign trail. Trump and Pence have used recent trips to thank factory and health-care workers and set the stage for reopening the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, but their itineraries have highlighted the political imperatives that have informed their response to the crisis. On Thursday, Trump toured a Ford Motor Co. factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, that has been temporarily converted into a ventilator production facility. The visit came after he traveled to manufacturing plants in Phoenix and Allentown, Pennsylvania, over the past two weeks. On Wednesday, Pence visited a nursing home in Orlando, Florida, and had lunch with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, at a local restaurant, and he also has traveled to Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin in recent weeks. Pence said he will return to Florida next week to attend a space launch, and DeSantis suggested Trump may make the trip, as well. The president's trips, in particular, have taken on clear campaign overtones as he pushes for states to move beyond the pandemic and restart their economies despite continuing public health concerns and the rising death toll. Supporters have lined the streets to greet his motorcade as they hold American flags and Trump campaign signs, disregarding social distancing rules and outnumbering a smaller set of protesters. Trump's campaign soundtrack played on the public-address system during his tour of the Owens & Minor medical supply plant in Allentown. At a Honeywell plant that was producing face masks in Phoenix, Trump invited a married couple he had met during a 2016 campaign rally to make brief remarks as he addressed the workers. And at the Ford factory, he held a "listening session with African-American leaders" that was composed of his supporters as he sat in front of a "Transition to Greatness" banner. When he has stood in front of a lectern with the presidential seal at the events, Trump has delivered the campaign-themed message that he has done great things for the country, the economic damage done by the pandemic will fade quickly and that he is the one to deliver prosperity again. "This country is poised for an epic comeback. This is going to be an incredible comeback. Watch. It's already happening," Trump told the audience at the Ford plant. He added: "I think we're going to do better the second time and it's very important that we win the second time or everything that we've done, including manufacturing jobs, all this it's going to be not in a very good position." Democrats have criticized the trips and sought to portray them as reckless attempts to push for a return to normalcy that could worsen the outbreak. "This was nothing more than a campaign trip for him," said Nancy Patton Mills, chair of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, noting that Allentown remains in a code red, the most restrictive setting in the state's phased reopening system. "We're all living our lives with caution because we don't want to get sick, and here comes Trump," she said. "Imagine what people would think if Biden all of a sudden came out visiting face-mask factories, disturbing local police and first responders to protect him. It was in very poor taste." Trump allies said the president was demonstrating leadership and rallying the country to begin to restart businesses amid a historic economic collapse that has forced more than 30 million Americans out of work. "Americans can see that President Trump is fighting to protect their safety and reopen the economy," Tim Murtaugh, communications director for Trump's campaign, said in a statement. "He is doing his job as president and critics would complain if he didn't go visit states. They are the ones playing politics." But Democrats said Trump has used the factory employees as props for his reopening push without demonstrating sufficient caution for public health. Reporters did not see Trump wearing a face mask on his trips to the facilities in Phoenix and Allentown, though he later asserted he did so in Phoenix while out of public view. At the Ford facility, Trump showed off a navy blue face mask with the presidential seal to reporters and said he wore it for some of the tour while out of the view of the press pool. "I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it," he said. A photo later surfaced showing that Trump did, indeed, wear one for part of the tour. Asked whether it was OK that Trump did not wear a mask for the public parts of the tour, Company Chairman Bill Ford told reporters, "It's up to him." The company later released a statement in Ford's name saying he encouraged Trump to wear one. "He's using this crisis and federal dollars to come here and have a campaign rally in a plant," Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said ahead of Trump's visit to the state. Laura Cox, chair of Michigan's Republican Party, argued that Trump was justified in offering public praise for Ford for helping build ventilators during the crisis. "They stepped up and built ventilators that are saving the lives of people every day, and the president wants to say, 'Hey, good job,' " she said. Democrats have sought to counter Trump's trips through Biden surrogates in the states, who have held conference calls with reporters and published newspaper opinion pieces critical of the president's handling of the pandemic. Biden has done remote interviews from his Delaware home with local television stations in swing states, and he released a statement to the Morning Call, a newspaper in Lehigh Valley, ahead of Trump's visit to Allentown, criticizing him for not having "done the work" to justify a safe economic reopening. Trump and Pence have been able to resume their travel schedules with the aid of rapid coronavirus tests that are administered to all who come in close contact with them. Biden and his surrogates, including former president Barack Obama, do not have access to enough of those tests to ensure they and others are protected. But Trump said in an interview last week that he would be willing to have his administration help provide the necessary coronavirus tests to the Biden campaign. "I'd love to see him get out of the basement so he can speak," Trump said on Fox & Friends. Biden's aides said they are not worried that Trump is exploiting an advantage with less than six months until Election Day. They pointed to national polling that has shown Biden with a consistent lead over Trump, although the results in battleground states have been far closer, and they cited widespread public disapproval of Trump's management of the pandemic, which has killed more than 91,000 Americans. A new Quinnipiac poll showed Biden leading Trump by 11 points nationally and that 56 percent disapproved of Trump's handling of the pandemic, up from 51 percent in early April. "This is not a time when people have a huge appetite for a whole bunch of political events," one Biden aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the campaign's strategy. Sharif Street, a Democratic Pennsylvania state senator, said Biden's roots in the state - he was born in Scranton - will remind voters that the former vice president has deep connections there, while for Trump the region is "just another stop on the campaign trail." Trump won Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida in 2016 over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and those states are expected to be crucial for him again this fall. Democrats are eyeing a potential upset in Arizona, which has voted for GOP presidential candidates in recent cycles. Trump has not held a campaign rally since March 2. With the election likely to hinge on public views of Trump's response to the crisis, he has sought to demonstrate confidence that the public health emergency is receding, even as the death toll has soared well beyond his administration's projections. Most states have begun some form of economic reopening. During his recent trips, Trump praised workers for producing crucial medical supplies for hospitals and compared the crisis to other moments of national resolve, such as World War II. But the partisan political flavor of the events was underscored in Phoenix when Trump, while addressing factory workers, called Jorge and Betty Rivas to the microphone. The couple, who own a Mexican restaurant in the Tucson, Arizona, area, had caught Trump's eye in 2016, when he brought Betty Rivas onstage at a campaign rally after seeing her in the audience holding a sign reading, "Latinos Love D. Trump." The Rivases also attended his rally in Phoenix in late February, where they appeared in the VIP section. "All the Latinos are going to vote for you because we think you're doing . . . a very good job," Jorge Rivas told Trump at the Honeywell plant, where he and his wife provided workers with 250 burritos. "I really appreciate it," Trump replied. "That's beautiful." - - - The Washington Post's Matt Viser and Scott Clement contributed to this report. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep red meat and poultry processing facilities open during the coronavirus pandemic. But for some ranchers, the shortage of meat on store shelves is an indication that meat processing procedures need reform. [May 21, 2020] Colleen Johnston, Former TD Bank CFO, Joins Q4 Inc. Board of Directors Q4 Inc. (Q4), a leading global provider of cloud-based investor relations solutions, announced today the appointment of Colleen Johnston to the company's board of directors, effective immediately. Colleen will serve as an independent director to guide the company's growth and evolution. A proven leader in investor relations, Colleen brings decades of experience in banking and capital markets to Q4. As Chief Financial Officer of TD Bank between 2005 and 2015, Colleen built out a robust IR program that brought accessibility, responsiveness and value-add to the investor and analyst community, making IR a competitive advantage for the Bank. During Colleen's tenure as CFO, TD was recognized as the top company in Canada for investor relations as judged by investors and analysts and Colleen was voted the top large cap CFO five years in a row. "We are delighted to welcome Colleen as an independent director to the Q4 board," said Darrell Heaps, CEO of Q4."Colleen is one of the most respected investor relations executives in Canada. When you combine this with her deep industry experience and knowledge, we are confident that she will provide valuable perspective as we continue to execute against our strategy, scale rapidly and capture the significant market opportunity before Q4." Colleen's purpose-driven leadership has earned her recognition as Canada's CFO of the Year, one of American Banker's 25 Most Powerful Women, and induction into WXN's Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Hall of Fame. She is a current board member of Shopify, McCain Foods, and Unity Health Toronto. "I am passionate about the power and importance of strategic investor relations," said Colleen Johnston. "Q4 is making thousands of companies more successful through their delivery of best-in-class cloud-based solutions and superb customer service. I am very excited to be part of their incredible growth story." Colleen joins existing board members Ned May and Daniel Kittredge from Napier Park Financial Partners, Tony van Marken (Chairman) from First Ascent Ventures, Robert Antoniades from Information Venture Partners and Neil Murdoch. About Q4 Q4 is a leading global provider of cloud-based investor relations, with the mission of partnering with customers to achieve their strategic IR objectives. Through best-in-class customer experience and an innovative suite of IR technology, Q4 is a trusted partner to over 2,200 of the world's largest brands. Q4's comprehensive portfolio of IR communications and intelligence solutions, supported by an industry-leading customer experience model, empower customers to build impactful and strategic IR programs. Q4 has offices in New York, Toronto, Copenhagen, and London. To learn more, visit: www.q4inc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005437/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] YouTube may have birthed some of the world's biggest stars in recent years, but surprisingly a channel featuring entirely animated videos has become the first to achieve the milestone of having over one billion viewers weekly. Jay Jeon, 55, and his anonymous wife, who live in Orange County, California, set up their first YouTube channel aimed at children 13 years ago, but didn't start to see such unprecedented success until they re-branded as Cocomelon in 2018. Since becoming Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes, the channel has gained over 82 million subscribers. US-based YouTube channel Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes, has become the first to achieve over one billion viewers weekly Boasting over 82 million subscribers, Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes is the most viewed YouTube channel this week.Pictured: Rain, Rain, Go Away Jay Jeon, 55, and his anonymous wife, had been running a children's YouTube channel for 13 years before they re-branded in 2018 A recent report of the most viewed YouTube channels, reveals the popular videos have become the first to achieve 'a ten-digit viewcount in a single seven-day span'. The unlikely achievement is equal to 'approximately 142.8 million views per day, 5.9 million views per hour, 99,000 views per minute, and 1,653 views per second,' according to Tubefilter. The family-friendly channel posts around two videos each week, featuring a reoccurring cast of characters in various scenarios including performing activities alongside nursery rhymes. With an estimated net worth of over $317 million, according to Stat Smash, Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes is among the most viewed channels across the globe and is the most watched in the U.S. Among their most popular videos is their recent Rain, Rain, Go Away and a Bath Song, which has been watched over 2 billion times. Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes has been listed to join Netflix in June. Pictured: Most viewed video, The Bath Time Song While Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes is the most viewed channel in the world this week, animated children's channel, Little Baby Bum - Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs has the highest viewership in the UK. Many parents have taken to social media to gush about watching the Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes with their children throughout lockdown. And they will get more opportunities to tune into the channel's popular clips when Cocomelon gets its own Netflix show on June 1. Writing on Twitter, one person said: 'By the time quarantine is over, I'll be able to sing cocomelon songs back to back' Another said: 'Again, this lockdown really forced me to watch along with the kid and I'm now a Cocomelon song and lyrics expert. Kids content is surprisingly nice? Very sweet, full of great messages, super music.' Massachusetts is now processing claims for extended unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic in what the Baker administration calls the largest expansion of unemployment assistance since the Great Depression. The Baker administration announced Thursday the states Department of Unemployment Assistance is accepting applications for extended benefits under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program. Congress created the PEUC program to as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security or CARES Act, following spikes in unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic. The law enables states to provide benefits to people who cannot work because of illness, quarantine or other restrictions related to COVID-19. More than 38 million people across the U.S. have filed for unemployment over the past two months, including 2.4 million people in the past week. Massachusetts surpassed 1 million unemployment claims, between the 865,000 workers who filed claims under the traditional system and the over 200,000 self-employed people who filed claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Theres no question that the virus and sort of response to it has created two enormous challenges for everybody, Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday on WGBHs Boston Public Radio, referring to the public health crisis and the economic fallout. Although the state started its four-phase reopening, only some types of businesses are allowed to reopen in the first wave. Those that did get the green light to resume business must implement safety guidelines first and, in some cases, have capacity restrictions. In Massachusetts, eligible applicants can get unemployment benefits for up to 30 weeks, but the extended unemployment program allows people who may soon exhaust their benefits another 13 weeks of paychecks. The extended benefits are available for people who are unemployed through Dec. 31. People who get unemployment benefits under the traditional system are automatically extended for the PEUC if they remain unemployed. Self-employed workers receiving unemployment assistance through the PUA, which runs for 39 weeks, will have to apply for the benefits. Those receiving funds under PEUC will receive another $600 a week through July 25, 2020 through the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program that was created under the CARES Act. The PEUC is 100% federally funded, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Related Content: Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:53:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TBILISI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) agreed to provide a 91 million-Euro loan (about 99.7 million U.S. dollars) to help Georgia respond to threats caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Georgia's Finance Ministry announced Thursday. The 91,340,000-Euro loan agreement signed Thursday is under World Bank's Emergency COVID-19 Response Project for Georgia, according to the Ministry. The Ministry said that the fund aims to support the country's health care sector, increase the capacity of the epidemiological research, expand general testing and facilitate access to critical medical devices to combat COVID-19, said the Ministry, adding that it will also be used to provide financial aid to the COVID-19-affected families and individuals in the country. Earlier in April, the World Bank forecast Georgian economic growth to slow down sharply this year, coming close to zero percent in 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenging external environment. The number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 721 on Thursday, according to the Georgian government. Enditem The state-owned Saigon Jewelry Company recorded VND52.45 billion ($2.25 million) in post-tax profits last year, up 88.8 percent year-on-year. Revenue rose 10.8 percent year-on-year to VND23.13 trillion ($990.68 million), which puts the jewelry firms net profit margin at around 0.3 percent, according to the firm's (SJC) newly released audited financial statements for 2019. The company has set revenue target of VND25.7 trillion ($1.11 billion) in 2020. SJC is Vietnams national gold brand and the sole producer of gold bullion in the country, a status assigned by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in mid-2012. Since then, the company has held around 90 percent of Vietnams gold bullion market. The bulk of the increase in profitability this year came from the reversion of SJCs science and technology fund, which resulted in VND12.8 billion ($550,000) being recorded as this years pre-tax profits for tax purposes. Under current regulations, a company may set aside up to 10 percent of its taxable income each year into a science and technology fund, used for the sole purpose of research and development. Income set aside for this fund is exempt from tax. However, if the enterprise does not use up this fund within five years, any excess will revert and be treated as taxable profit. Established in 1988, SJC is a wholly state-owned enterprise under the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. The company primarily produces and trades gold bars and jewelry, but also has investments in real estate, finance, and services. The companys profit making was at its highest between 2011 and 2013, when SJC made around VND200-300 billion ($8.57-12.85 million) in post-tax profits each year. This fell to less than VND100 billion ($4.28 million) after the SBV tightened regulations on gold trading, alongside a cooling of Vietnams domestic gold market, the company statement said. SJC is one of 27 state-owned enterprises awaiting equitization, following which the states stake will be less than 50 percent. The equitization is set to take place this year under a plan set out by the Prime Minister. Like the vast majority of the Lebanese who bear the burden of a heavy economic and financial crisis and the loss of their purchasing power, the military, once envied for certain social benefits they enjoy, now see the actual value of their salaries increasingly diminishing. An ordinary soldier who earns LL 1,292,000 per month sees now his purchasing power drastically reduced to a sum that can barely support his family in light of soaring prices of consumer products and foodstuffs, even those considered basic. My 32-year-old son (an officer), whose monthly salary is LL 2,200,000 (which, at the black market rate, is presently equivalent to $500-$600), has come to ask me for money for the first time, a former army officer said. Considered the central pillar of Lebanons stability, the military institution, dedicated to maintaining internal security in addition to its traditional border protection mission, is therefore faced with another major challenge, namely the daily survival of its most vulnerable personnel. This situation may, in the medium term, demoralize the troops who are usually called up for heavy, sensitive and risky tasks that the police often have difficulty taking on. Their mission is made even more difficult in the presence of more than two million Syrian and Palestinian refugees, also suffering from the precarious situation, and the prospect of an upsurge of instability and chaos due to poverty which now affects more than half of the Lebanese population. Although in a somewhat more enviable position than private sector employees, who have been hit hard by rampant unemployment, the military, specifically the steadfastness category (soldiers and non-commissioned officers, who carry the greatest weight on their shoulders), would in the near future risk having their availability for service seriously affected, military experts fear. Desertions Risk? Many of them would thus be tempted to look for a second job in parallel to make ends meet, warned a former officer, taking as an example the situation in 1984-1985, when the value of the pound had plummeted. At the time, many soldiers came to me for permission to support their families by doing small side jobs, he said. What should be feared most in times of acute crisis, however, is the issue of desertions or, worse, the issue of offenses or other crimes that soldiers would be tempted to commit if hunger was to knock on their doors, said an analyst who requested anonymity. In the 1980s, we encountered situations where soldiers came to us claiming that they had lost their personal weapon, when in reality they had sold it to the militias involved in the civil war. Such a scenario cannot be ruled out if the military were to reach this point of deprivation, the analyst added. He also fears in the long run some desertion as was the case during the civil war. Such a hy-pothesis does not seem for the time being very plausible, as long as security threats facing the military are still minimal and jobs are not easy to find. The difficulties encountered are leaving a number of military personnel discouraged while struggling hard to make ends meet. Others however seem resigned, still feeling lucky to be able to receive their salaries, which is no longer the case for many Lebanese in the private sector. But the anxiety is real concerning the future that looks bleak, especially in light of predictions and rumors that the Lebanese state, facing bankruptcy, may reach the point of no longer being able to pay the salaries of its civil and military personnel. I would even settle for LL 500,000 to be able to secure food for myself and my wife, provided that the state does not stop paying me my salary regularly, a retired soldier who currently earns LL 1,700,000 reportedly told his family. But what worries most is not the fate of the retirees who have become unproductive, said a retired officer.The concern within the army command is rather about the members of the steadfastness category, who constitute the majority of the personnel and contribute to maintaining stability in the country, he added. Relative Benefits The military personnel, who enjoy some financial benefits that raise their base salary by almost 10%, are generally considered to be relatively advantaged, compared to private sector employees and even other government employees. We must not forget that they take their meals at the barracks and have medical coverage, knowing that they also pay only half of the school fees for their children, in addition to other benefits, said a person whose family members are in the military. However, even if the situation has not yet reached an alarming point, army officials are now thinking of a solution that may anticipate disaster scenarios and protect the military institution so it continues to fulfill its strategic role. Forecasting is vital to be able to respond to the dangers and challenges that threaten not only the military, but all law enforcement agencies as well, said the former officer. This is why there is an urgent need for the troops to receive aid from third countries to enable them overcome this difficult period. The problem, however, is to be able to attract this aid without tarnishing the image of the troops, who would then become dependent on foreign powers for their daily survival. Such a scenario would become even more problematic if, for example, some mix between the multifaceted support currently provided by the United States to the Lebanese Army and the payment of military salaries by Washington... According to the retired officer, the solution lies in the government acting as a channel to receive the funds for not only the army, but also for all law enforcement agencies in a fair way so as not to incite sensitivities. This idea is already being considered by the army command and several countries that are closely monitoring developments in Lebanon, particularly as far as security is concerned. --- A Brief Overview of Army Salaries Below is an overview of army basic salaries as reported to LOrient-Le Jour by a retired officer: - Soldier: LL 1,292,000 - Student Officer: LL 1,345,000 - Lieutenant: LL 1,634,000 - Captain: LL 1,776,000 - Major: LL 2,000,000 - Colonel: LL 2,460,000 - Brigadier General: LL 3,600,000 - Major General First: LL 4,960,000 - Commander in Chief of the Army: LL 6,300,000 (This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour in French on the 20th of May) NORWALK As the citys list of restaurants approved for outdoor dining continued to grow, concrete barriers were installed Thursday on Washington Street to give people more space to eat and shop. The day after Norwalk reopened outdoor dining for restaurants, the city began installing the barriers on the south side of Washington Street to block parking spaces on one side of the road to allow full use of the sidewalks for outdoor dining and retail. Washington Street was closed Thursday and will reopen sometime Friday after the installation is completed. The citys public beaches also reopened to cars on Wednesday, although few people came out on the first day. Only eight merchants opened Wednesday at The SoNo Collection. However, the malls anchor stores are doing curbside pickup and are expected to open in the next week. Norwalk Police said there were no major instances during the reopening; the public had been asked to report any violations of social distancing guidelines they noticed. Police were stationed at the beach entrances and parking lots to prevent any issues. However, the citys barber shops and hair salons remain closed after Gov. Ned Lamont decided not to include these businesses in the first phase of the plans to reopen Connecticut businesses. Some salon owners were onboard with the decision, saying it was too soon, but others disagree. Dora Oppedisano, owner of Studio D Hair Salon on Cedar Street, spent Wednesday at a rally in Hartford, calling for Lamont to let salons open June 1 or even sooner. Unlike some businesses, Oppedisano said she hasnt received any financial aid and has been keeping herself afloat via savings and clients purchasing gift cards. Lamont announced on Monday that salons and barber shops would not be included during the initial phase, partly to align when Rhode Island businesses were reopening. He said part of his decision was also based on talking to stylists who felt it was too soon to reopen. But Oppedisano said they still shouldve received more notice, especially given how long these discussions had been going on. I was definitely ready to (reopen), Oppedisano said. My salon, its just me. Itd be one other human at a time coming in. ... Give us a little warning and dont just make a decision based off a biased opinion. Oppedisano said she began preparing to reopen her salon, which shes owned for five years, as soon as she found out earlier this month that hair salons would be included in the first phase. She already had many of the items shed need like gloves and disinfectant for her equipment. She booked clients through June and lost two weeks worth of appointments when Lamont pulled back on his decision. A lot of the group wants to go against the grain and open, she said. Im not willing to lose everything Ive invested, but theres a lot of us that are upset. Ultimately, it shouldve been a choice. They have no idea what theyve done schedule-wise and stress-wise along with monetary. Its very frustrating. If I can go to the grocery store with 20 people around me, theres no reason I cant open. Coronavirus isnt going away. Theyre pushing us off to shut us up. erin.kayata@hearstmediact.com Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. The Tennessee Department of Education and Trevecca Nazarene University announced Thursday that 8,000+ teachers already registered to participate in a free optional training on digital learning and teaching. The self-paced, online training began one week ago on May 15 and is available for free through August 1 to help teachers develop skills for digital learning, including how to design classes for remote instruction, use technology to enhance learning outcomes for all students, and more. "We are thrilled to see teachers utilizing this free resource specifically created to boost digital learning and teaching. Our educators continue to rise to the challenge of our times, and we are grateful for partners like Trevecca who are working to support them and our students, said Commissioner Penny Schwinn.This training will specifically equip teachers with digital skills to serve student needs and prepare for the next school year, which will be particularly important should digital instruction continue to be necessary. The department plans to release additional resources for teachers in the coming weeks and months.Tennessee educators can register for the free training online: www.Trevecca.edu/remoteinstruction.We are so thankful that this training is a resource for teachers within our community and across our state. Educators play such a role in the lives of Tennessee students, so its our joy to come alongside them and support them in their work, said Dr. Tom Middendorf, Trevecca Nazarene University provost.Teachers will learn a variety of skills to improve digital and blended learning including how to develop online classroom design, demonstrate effective use of instructional technology tools for digital instruction, create supplemental, blended or hybrid content deliveries, apply ADA Compliance and Accessibility for Universal Design, and implement a specialized IEP plan for content creation.The online distance course was amazing. I learned so many new things that I want to use in my classroom, regardless if we meet in person or online in the future, said Nicole Roning, Culinary Arts, Wilson Central High School. Some of the things we tried in the course were uncomfortable at first, such as creating a video of ourselves or voice recording, so we got to experience what our students might feel when we use new technology.I consider myself to be knowledgeable about educational technology, but through this course I have already learned several new tools and resources that I will be able to put to use in my classroom, whether it be in-person or online, said Beth Cantrell, computer teacher at Smithville Elementary. I have also developed a better understanding of various learning management systems, copyright laws, and the concept of universal design for learning. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is looking to gain new skills and become more comfortable with digital learning.The self-paced, online training will take place in four modules: Module 1: Participants will explore trends in instructional software, online resources, how to use technology for communication between teacher and students. Module 2: Participants will be introduced to learning management systems and explore selecting a learning management system for their environment and how to release the course to students. Module 3: Participants will explore the concept of universal design for learning and learn how to address any problems of exclusion from education, including supporting students with impairments. Module 4: Participants will learn to build engaging, interactive content including video, simulations or animation. For more information about the free training or to register, educators should visit www.Trevecca.edu/remoteinstruction. Dutch authorities will introduce mandatory coronavirus testing on all mink fur farms in the Netherlands after its believed a worker contracted the virus from one of the animals. The new measure was introduced after ongoing research found transmission of new coronavirus from mink to human. "On the basis of new research results from the ongoing research into Covid-19 infections at mink farms, it is plausible that an infection took place from mink to human," the Dutch government said, CNN reports. The research also found that a mink with COVID-19 was asymptomatic. Dutch authorities will introduce mandatory coronavirus testing on all mink fur farms in the Netherlands after its believed a worker contracted the virus from one of the animals. Source: Getty Euronnews reports that cases of the virus were found in two farms in the Netherlands in April after workers noticed some minks were having difficulties breathing. It was believed then the animals had been infected by humans but the new research suggest it happened the other way around. Although the Dutch government said the risk of the virus being transmitted from mink to human outside mink sheds remains negligible the Agriculture minister Carola Schouten has imposed restrictions on mink farm owners and veterinarians to report all symptoms pointing to COVID-19 to the health authorities. All employees are now required to wear protective equipment. Animals and manure on infected farms are not to leave the site Two mink fur farms in the Netherlands have been found to have animals infected with COVID-19. Source: Getty stock The research also found that antibodies to the virus were found in three out of 11 farm cats on one of the infected farms and is examining the potential role of farm cats transmitting the virus. Pending further research, mink-farm owners are advised to ensure that cats cannot enter or exit the site. The government also urged the public to keep pets indoors but stated the risk of people being infected by their pet remains small. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. Singapore's Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and his Malaysian counterpart Tengku Zafrul Aziz spoke in a video conference on May 19 to discuss the COVID-19 situation. (Photo: Heng Swee Keat/Facebook) In a Facebook post on May 20th, Heng Swee Keat, who is also Singapores Deputy Prime Minister, said the discussion was centred on the COVID-19 situation in both countries and around the world. "We shared learning points on this battle - from measures to contain the spread of the virus, to support for our companies and households," he wrote. The two ministers also discussed exploring areas to strengthen bilateral cooperation. They reaffirmed their longstanding and multi-faceted bilateral relationship and the need to collaborate with each other./. The sergeant made numerous verbal commands for the subject to show them his hands, Fausto Pichardo, the chief of patrol, said at a news conference. And once that individual was going to continue to attack and stab the victim, the sergeant discharged his firearm, striking the subject. Mr. Gomez, 44, was hit in the torso and died at the scene, the police said. The sister-in-law, who was 45, also died before she could be taken to a hospital. The superintendent, who is 39, was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Chief Pichardo did not provide the names of the victims, nor did he say if investigators had determined a motive for the attack. The police found a bloody chefs knife and a 9-millimeter Glock pistol in the apartment, he said. A second police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said that Mr. Gomez worked for the M.T.A. and was also an auxiliary police officer who was licensed to carry a gun. The M.T.A. declined to comment late Wednesday. Killings linked to domestic violence rose in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year. But domestic violence reports over all have decreased over the same period, particularly as restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus have forced more victims to stay home with their abusers and have limited their opportunities to report abuse. HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Cub Energy Inc. ("Cub" or the "Company") (TSX-V:KUB), a Ukraine-focused upstream oil and gas company, announced today its unaudited financial and operating results for the interim three months ended March 31, 2020. All dollar amounts are expressed in United States Dollars unless otherwise noted. This update includes results from Kub-Gas LLC ("Kub-Gas"), which Cub has a 35% equity ownership interest, Tysagaz LLC ("Tysagaz"), Cub's 100% owned subsidiary and CNG LLC ("CNG"), which Cub has a 50% equity ownership interest. Mikhail Afendikov, Chairman and CEO of Cub said: "In April 2020, we made a capital commitment to purchase two Jenbacher power generation units in order to better utilize the Company's RK field in western Ukraine to generate potential cashflow for the Company." Operational Highlights Achieved average natural gas price of $3.45/Mcf and condensate price of $36.25/bbl during the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to $7.11/Mcf and $42.57/bbl for 2019. The decrease is due, in large part, to increased volumes of gas stored in Europe and a warmer than expected winter in Europe. Production averaged 646 boe/d (97% weighted to natural gas and the remaining to condensate) for the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to 895 boe/d for 2019. In April 2020, the Company has signed a contract for the purchase of two Jenbacher gas power generation engines that should convert the natural gas produced from the RK field into power that can be sold in western Ukraine at local market rates. Each power generation unit will have the capacity to produce as much as 1.5 megawatts ("MW") of power each or 3 MW in total. The RK field was materially suspended on April 1, 2016 and this new plan should result in the restart of the RK field. Financial Highlights The Company reported a net loss of $706,000 or $0.00 per share during the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to net income of $962,000 or $0.00 per share during 2019. Netbacks of $5.40/boe or $0.90/Mcfe were achieved for the three months March 31, 2020 as compared to netback of $24.49/Boe or $4.08/Mcfe for 2019. The Company has implemented certain cost-cutting initiatives during the second quarter of 2020, including the layoff of eleven team members, salary and director fee reductions, the signing of office leases at lower rent levels and a general decrease in the use of external consultants. Reader Advisory With the current cash resources, negative working capital, suspension of the RK field, uncertainty surrounding the successful installation of the Jenbacher power generation units, fluctuating commodity prices, dividend uncertainty, currency fluctuations, reliance on a limited number of customers, and impact on carrying values, the Company may not have sufficient cash to continue the exploration and development activities. These matters raise significant doubt about the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern and meet its obligations as they become due. (in thousands of US Dollars) Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 Petroleum and natural gas revenue 66 49 Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue(1) 1,262 3,452 Revenue from gas trading(2) 2,204 4,479 Net income (loss) (706 ) 962 Income (loss) per share - basic and diluted (0.00 ) 0.00 Funds generated from (used in) operations 350 (35 ) Capital expenditures(3) - - Pro-rata capital expenditures(3) 851 56 Pro-rata netback ($/boe) 5.40 24.49 Pro-rata netback ($Mcfe) 0.90 4.08 March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 Cash and cash equivalents 6,100 6,206 Notes: Pro-rata petroleum and natural gas revenue is a non-IFRS measure that adds the Company's petroleum and natural gas revenue earned in the respective periods to the Company's 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas natural gas sales that the Company has an economic interest in. During the three and twelve months ended March 31, 2020, the Company recorded $2,204,000 (2019 - $4,479,000) and $2,070,000 (2019 - $4,240,000) in revenue for gas trading and $134,000 (2019 - $239,000). Capital expenditures include the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the purchase of exploration and evaluation assets. Pro-rata capital expenditures are a non-IFRS measure that adds the Company's capital expenditures in the respective periods to the Company's 35% equity share of the KUB-Gas and 50% equity share of CNG Holdings capital expenditures that the Company has an economic interest in. Supporting Documents Cub's complete quarterly reporting package, including the unaudited interim financial statements and associated Management's Discussion and Analysis, have been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and has been posted on the Company's website at www.cubenergyinc.com. About Cub Energy Inc. Cub Energy Inc. (TSX-V: KUB) is an upstream oil and gas company, with a proven track record of exploration and production cost efficiency in Ukraine. The Company's strategy is to implement western technology and capital, combined with local expertise and ownership, to increase value in its undeveloped land base, creating and further building a portfolio of producing oil and gas assets within a high pricing environment. For further information please contact us or visit our website: www.cubenergyinc.com Mikhail Afendikov Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (713) 677-0439 mikhail.afendikov@cubenergyinc.com Patrick McGrath Chief Financial Officer (713) 577-1948 patrick.mcgrath@cubenergyinc.com Oil and Gas Equivalents A barrel of oil equivalent ("boe") or units of natural gas equivalents ("Mcfe") is calculated using the conversion factor of 6 Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas being equivalent to one barrel of oil. A boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf: 1 bbl (barrel) or a Mcfe conversion of 1bbl: 6 Mcf is, based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead and is not based on either energy content or current prices. While the boe ratio is useful for comparative measures, it does not accurately reflect individual product values and might be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. As well, given that the value ratio, based on the current price of crude oil to natural gas, is significantly different from the 6:1 energy equivalency ratio, using a 6:1 conversion ratio may be misleading as an indication of value. The disclosure in this press release is prepared in accordance with NI 51-101 standards. Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Cub believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable; however there can be no assurance those expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Ukraine, the Black Sea Region and globally; political unrest and security concerns in Ukraine including the recent introduction of Martial Law in the Company's operating regions,; industry conditions, including fluctuations in the prices of natural gas and foreign currency; governmental regulation of the natural gas industry, including environmental regulation; unanticipated operating events or performance which can reduce production or cause production to be shut in or delayed; failure to obtain industry partner and other fourth party consents and approvals, if and when required; competition for and/or inability to retain drilling rigs and other services; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; volatility in market prices for natural gas; liabilities inherent in natural gas operations; competition for, among other things, capital, acquisitions of reserves, undeveloped lands, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, drilling, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs relating to the natural gas industry; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. This cautionary statement expressly qualifies the forward-looking information contained in this news release. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Cub Energy Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590923/Cub-Energy-Announces-First-Quarter-of-2020-Results Amid Covid-19 lockdown, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that the defence sector is more aggravated than other sectors as the only buyer of Defence products is the government. Acknowledging the hardships faced by the Defence industry, Rajnath Singh said, Manufacturing sector has been affected the most due to lockdown and disruption in existing supply chains and the defence sector is no exception to this. Rather, it can be said that the Defence sector is more aggravated than other sectors as the only buyer of defence products is the government. The Minister was addressing, via video conference, MSMEs E-conclave, jointly organised by SIDM, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Defence Production. The Defence Minister appreciated the role played by Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and other Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nations fight against global Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. I am very happy to know that SIDM has accelerated the manufacturing of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) designed PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits, masks, ventilator parts in the field of defence industry by efficient coordination and channelisation. Within less than two months, we have not only met our domestic demand, but we can also think of helping neighbouring countries in the coming time, he said.Singh termed MSMEs backbone of the Indian economy that accelerate GDP growth, earn valuable foreign exchange through exports and provide employment opportunities. There are more than 8,000 MSMEs, tiered partners of many of our organisations - Ordnance factories, DPSUs and service organisations. They contribute more than 20 per cent of the total production of these organisations, he said. The Defence Minister assured that the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will provide many opportunities to Indian industry and will help in restoring millions of jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for being vocal for local in this direction. I would like to say that we have to have our indigenous products, ie vocal for local, but before that in our own life, local has to be focal. That is, we have to adopt swadeshi products in our life. There is no doubt that MSMEs have a very important role in the goal of indigenous manufacturing, and in the goal of self-reliant India, he said. He also mentioned some of the measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman under Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme. The theme of the E-conclave was Business Continuity for MSMEs in Defence & Aerospace Sector in which more than 800 Defence MSMEs participated.Citing the example of the United States where domestic defence industry developed within a short span of two years during the World War-II, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said India should have its own defence industry. He urged the MSMEs to work for placing India among the top ten nations in defence technologies.Secretary (Defence Production), Raj Kumar in his address highlighted the measures taken to alleviate the hardships faced by defence manufacturing industry due to Covid-19. He said the DPSUs have been asked to clear payments of MSMEs, and also announced that their production targets have not been scaled down. Citing the reforms recently announced by the Finance Minister, he said these measures will help realise the target of achieving a USD 25 billion defence production by 2025. (ANI) A former Altona police officer sentenced to prison for child pornography offences has been ordered to serve another 18 months in custody after he continued to offend while on bail and parole. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A former Altona police officer sentenced to prison for child pornography offences has been ordered to serve another 18 months in custody after he continued to offend while on bail and parole. Tony Neufeld, 39, pleaded guilty Thursday to failing to comply with conditions of a recognizance and failing to comply with a prohibition order. "It is clear that Mr. Neufeld has an unhealthy relationship and addiction to pornography," Crown attorney Melissa Hazelton told provincial court Judge Dale Harvey. "His behaviour on release speaks to his instability and overall risk." In July 2017, Neufeld was sentenced to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of making child pornography in connection to three victims, one of whom he met in his capacity as a police officer. Neufeld had been on full parole for just two months last October when his parole was revoked and he was taken back into custody. Court heard during a meeting, Neufelds parole officer asked to examine his cellphone and found pictures of Neufeld and his girlfriend at Cirque du Soleil and nude pictures of Neufeld, violating conditions that he not attend locations where children are expected to be present and not possess pornography. A month later, Neufelds brother, who had been asked to look after Neufelds car while he was in custody, contacted the parole officer to say he had found two laptop computers and a USB stick in the trunk. A subsequent examination by RCMP uncovered 7,500 pornographic images and videos, including hundreds of images of bestiality. RCMP investigators were still analyzing Neufelds electronic devices on Dec. 9, 2019 when Corrections Service Canada alerted them Neufeld was to be rereleased on parole that day. According to Neufelds parole officer, the Parole Board of Canada "was not aware of the pornography found on these devices at the time they made the decision to release him," Hazelton said. Police arrested Neufeld that same day and transported him to D Division headquarters for an interview, where he denied ownership of the electronic devices. Further investigation revealed Neufeld had been active on pornographic websites four years earlier while on bail and last year while on day parole and posted nude and "Photoshopped" images of two women known to him. RCMP spoke to both women and "neither of them were aware the pictures had been posted," Hazelton said. Parole board documents describe Neufeld as having no difficulty with community supervision while on bail, a factor which was considered in granting his rerelease on parole. "As I turns out, he did have some difficulty, he just didnt get caught," Hazelton said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Because Neufeld remains on parole for his 2017 conviction, he was eligible for credit of 1.5 days for every day served prior to his sentencing Thursday. Defence lawyer Rachel Wood urged Harvey to sentence Neufeld to a combination of time served and house arrest, arguing anything longer would be "crushing" to someone suffering from a powerful addiction to pornography Wood said it was a sign of "progress" that Neufeld was found in possession of only adult pornography and not child pornography. "He is the first person to recognize he needs support," Wood said. "He recognizes that there has to be something in place to manage these urges." Harvey said he accepted Neufeld genuinely wanted to change, "but your failure to follow the court orders cant be excused by a sentence that would allow you to be released today." Harvey credited Neufeld for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to just under 10 months. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca Gurugram, May 21 : South Korean major Samsung on Thursday announced it has partnered with Facebook to train offline retailers in digital marketing and grow their businesses online across Facebook family of apps in the social distancing times. In the first phase, Samsung and Facebook have already trained more than 800 offline retailers, with more training sessions lined up in the coming weeks. The major focus of trainings is on enabling offline retailers build a digital presence across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. "Our partnership with Facebook is helping a large number of our retail partners go digital in a big way. By leveraging the Facebook training, our retail partners will be able to discover and target local consumers digitally," said Mohandeep Singh, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India. "Consumer too will benefit as they can now access product information and shop for Galaxy smartphones through social media pages of their local retailers," Singh added. The training is helping Samsung's offline retailers set-up their business pages and accounts on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. With the changing environment around COVID-19, people are spending more time on digital platforms. This has led brands to alter go-to-market models by adapting to changes in the value chain, rapidly digitising key journeys. "With our industry-leading digital skilling resources, we partnered with Samsung to skill their leading offline retailers, enabling them to reach out to consumers in their natural habitat of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp seamlessly, and helping the business adapt to the new normal," explained Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah, Vertical Head - Technology, Telecom, Automotive and New Business at Facebook India. According to the company, retailers can engage with potential consumers to share information such as e-detailers and e-catalogues on available Samsung phones. Consumers can order their favourite Samsung smartphone via WhatsApp by contacting the local retailers on retailer's WhatsApp Business app, who can home deliver phones, ensuring consumers don't have to step out from the comfort of their homes. Almost 24million people arrived in the UK from abroad in the first three months of this year when there were no checks for coronavirus, damning new figures show today. Some 23.7million 'passenger arrivals', including foreign visitors and Britons returning home, were clocked at UK sea and airports between January and March, the Home Office revealed. The number - equivalent to a third of the entire UK population - were down almost a fifth (18 per cent) on the same period in 2019 and showed 'with significant falls towards the end of the quarter' when the scale of the pandemic became clear and the UK lockdown started. But they cover a period in which coronavirus was spreading outwards from China into Europe - although a pandemic was only declared on March 11 - and no checks were made at airports, with arrivals simply advised to join the rest of the nation in self-isolating. The Home Office visa numbers reveal that arrivals included almost 35,000 Chinese nationals and 133,000 people from India, which has also seen a large number of reported cases. However, arrivals from EU nations with huge outbreaks were not counted because they are still arriving visa-free in the UK. The figures were released as it was revealed thermal imaging cameras which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are set to be rolled out at the country's busiest airport today. Heathrow will introduce the tripod mounted cameras in one of its immigration halls as part of a new trial as bosses look at ways to kick-start the travel industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. If successful, they hope the move will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return. It comes as the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye today showed tentative support for the government's plan for an automatic 14 day quarantine for travellers entering the UK - but called for a 'risk-based approach'. From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus. New thermal imaging cameras (pictured) which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are today set to be rolled out at Heathrow Airport From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus Passengers will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored If successful, airport bosses hope the cameras will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return They will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored. How do the thermal imaging cameras work and what will happen to passengers who show a high temperature? The tripod-mounted thermal imaging cameras read the temperature of passengers as they walk past. During the trial, they will be set up in the immigration hall of Heathrow's Terminal 2. The cameras can read temperatures at a distance of 8ft. If a high temperature or suspected fever is detected, checking systems will produce a warning signal. Heathrow bosses have previously stated that they are still in talks with Border Force, the Department for Transport and Public Health England on what action should be taken if a passenger with a fever is identified. Options include asking that person to go into quarantine. If the trial proves successful, Heathrow could roll out its temperature screening cameras in its departures, connections and staff search areas. Advertisement Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area. Similar systems have already been trialled in Italy. Regarding arrivals between January and March a Home Office spokesman said: 'We've followed scientific advice throughout. Enhanced border monitoring was in place since the early stages for arrivals from China, Japan, Iran and Italy. 'Once there was significant transmission here, the scientific advice was that border restrictions would have a very marginal impact as they contributed a tiny proportion of new infections. 'Now that the virus is coming under control, it's the right time to prepare new border measures.' At this stage the trial is to determine only whether the technology works, meaning any passenger arriving with a high temperature would not be stopped. Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine. Heathrow chief executive Mr Holland-Kaye today said the cameras could become the 'common international standard' to get people flying again. It comes as the airport boss today also signalled support for the Government's plan to quarantine anyone arriving into the UK from abroad - an idea which the Downing Street appeared to dismiss last night. However Mr Holland suggested 'risk-based' approach was needed to get people flying again. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The Government's got a tough job to do. 'If they think that quarantine is the right thing to do I think we have to go with that, but it has to be time-limited and we have to plan for what comes next. Thermal cameras monitors are used to check the body temperature of passengers at Fiumicino airport, near Rome, Italy on April 15 Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine 'As the level of transmission comes down in this country and in other countries, we need to find a way that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who don't have a disease can still fly.' What is an air bridge? An 'air bridge' is typically used by the military to reach and supply territory across enemy lines. One of the largest in history was used for the Berlin airlift after the Second World War. That kept the Western-held area supplied between June 1948 and May 1949 when it was cut off by Soviet forces. Another famous air bridge was 'The Hump', which was the route over the Himalayas from India to resupply Chinese forces working with the Allies. Advertisement It comes as yesterday the government poured cold water over the possibility of introducing so-called 'air bridges' between countries with low levels of infection, to provide a fillip to the beleaguered tourism sector. The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week. But with ministers expected to unveil plans tomorrow for a tough new quarantine regime requiring travellers to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK, No 10 said the 'air bridges' idea would not form part of the proposals. It would have seen the 14-day rule relaxed for certain countries and Greece and France had both expressed an interest in the idea. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye today said the cameras could become the 'common international standard' to get people flying again The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged however the Prime Minister's official spokesman said it was 'an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy' Blanket quarantine measures now appear likely to be introduced towards the end of the month, despite warnings they will wreck the holiday plans of Britons and damage the UK tourism industry. UK tourism firms facing 37billion coronavirus hit, warns Visit Britain boss UK tourism businesses could lose up to 15billion this year because of the coronavirus shutdown, an industry boss told MPs today. Patricia Yates, acting chief executive at Visit Britain, said huge sums were likely to be lost both from international and domestic holidaymakers. She told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee: 'Every time we do the modelling the figures get worse. So for inbound, I mean we were looking at the beginning of this year at about 26.6 billion coming from inbound tourism, we reckon a 15 billion drop on that. 'And for domestic, an industry that's normally worth about 80 billion, a 22 billion drop on that. 'And that's actually before we've factored in the quarantine because we don't clearly quite know what the measures are going to look like.' She said while it would be the hope that domestic tourism this summer could pick up the slack and help alleviate some of the losses from the international sector, a 'lack of confidence' among people around travelling is a concern. She said: 'You've got a collapse of the supply industry as well as collapse of demand and really to get British tourism up and running this summer, and the summer is hugely important, you're going to need that domestic audience. I think the worrying thing we see is the lack of confidence in the British public about travelling.' She added: 'So there's a real job to be done there, given that it has to be the year of domestic tourism, there's a real job to be done there in convincing people that it's socially responsible to travel and enjoy a holiday. And that it's safe to do so.' Advertisement Mr Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged on Monday when he told MPs he was investigating the possibility of allowing quarantine-free 'air bridges' to countries with low levels of infection. But yesterday the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'It's an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy.' A Whitehall source said: 'The quarantine rules will be reviewed every three weeks but I think people would be unwise to book a foreign holiday in the expectation that an 'air bridge' will open up in time for the summer holidays. 'It's the sort of idea you might look at as you exit a quarantine system. But we are just getting started.' Ministers are still finalising the details of the quarantine regime, but it is expected to include fines of at least 1,000 for those breaching the 14 days of self-isolation. A minister involved in the talks said all arrivals would be stopped by Border Force agents and told to download the Government's new coronavirus tracking app. They will be asked to provide their address or details of where they are staying, and police or local authority officials will carry out spot checks to ensure the quarantine is not being breached. Sources said there would be 'very few' exemptions. Critics have questioned why the Government is tightening the rules at a time when some EU countries are easing travel restrictions and when many airlines have resumed UK flights. Greek tourism minister Haris Theoharis had called on the Government to agree a no-quarantine pact with his country. He told the BBC: 'We feel that this is a time for us to start lifting restrictions and we urge other countries, the UK included, that as soon as we do that we would welcome reciprocity.' The Greek islands, visited by three million Britons a year, have been in lockdown since March but hotels are due to open there on July 1. With the Mediterranean nation's under-pressure economy heavily dependent on holidaymakers it has been making plans to refill deserted beaches and hotels in popular tourist areas like Corfu (pictured) Beachgoers enjoy the sun at a public beach in Piraeus near Athens, Greece, on May 18, after weeks of lockdown in the country The country has escaped the worst of the pandemic, with just 165 deaths, and is desperate to welcome tourists back. Ministers consider quarantine to be a vital part of efforts to prevent a second wave of coronavirus. But airline bosses fear it will devastate the crippled travel industry. British Airways wanted to restore large-scale operations in July, but this now looks unlikely. Virgin Atlantic have also indicated that flights will be pushed back to August 'at the earliest'. There are also concerns for the 20,000 British nationals still stranded abroad. It is likely many will have to go into quarantine after returning as the rule could come into force as early as May 28. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously warned foreign summer holidays were unlikely this year, while Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday that domestic holidays could be possible by the beginning of July, if the rate of coronavirus infection was kept down. Requiem for a Warrior, Lawrence Larry Aubry A Champion of the People On May 16, 2020, Larry Aubry passed away, and left a legacy that few can equal, but to which many should aspire. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in the time of southern segregation and came to Los Angeles at an early age, attending Jefferson High School. He returned to New Orleans to briefly attend Xavier University, but returned to Los Angeles and graduated from UCLA. He began his career as a County Probation Officer working diligently to help young men and women to redeem their lives beyond the criminal justice system. His passion for helping others combined with his quest for social justice led him to join the County Human Relations Commission where he was able to expand his commitment to community service on a larger scale. He became involved in education improvement, criminal justice reform, housing, economic justice, community and cultural affairs, immigrant rights, violence prevention and political accountability. He focused primarily on the issues affecting the inner cities of Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton and the adjacent areas. He remained a Commissioner until he retired. I met Larry in 1971 while serving as Dean of Students at Horace Mann Jr. High School and he was assisting parent outreach groups with implementing their expectations for educational justice. We became fast friends and mutual supporters of our common interests. He became heavily involved in mediation and interventions due to community unrest related to gang and drug activity, school bussing, racial conflicts, police confrontations with Black citizens and other societal challenges. Larry immersed himself in a myriad of situations, some quite challenging, to assist and support the neediest members of the community. In that regard, he became involved with a variety of institutions, organizations, and people, covering a wide spectrum including pastors, politicians, paupers, physicians, educators, homeless, labor, law enforcement, and activists. ADVERTISEMENT His commitment to improving society at all levels led him to run for office and he was elected to the Inglewood School District Board of Education in the late 1980s and early 90s when I also served as District Superintendent. He began writing a weekly column in the LA Sentinel and did so for nearly 30 years. His articles were always informative, objective and insightful, providing a needed source of facts, analysis and recommendations on important community issues. Larry was a true multi-dimensional renaissance man with a variety of skills and accomplishments. He was a musician, intellectual, public servant, writer and activist. Possessed of unimpeachable integrity and character, he refused to compromise his well earned values, and was always truthful. He remained devoted to and fought for the rights of all groups, but was unapologetically protective of the Black perspective, as he saw the quality of the treatment afforded to African Americans by the larger society as a barometer for the humanity of this country. He was loyal to his friends for life and remained connected to the Eastside Boys a group of young men from Jefferson High School. Larry Aubry was a life-long warrior on behalf of the weak, wounded and worn down; a great champion and voice of the voiceless, and a true servant leader where humility and authenticity endeared him to a large number of friends at all levels of society. He was ubiquitous throughout the community attending multiple cultural, political and civic activities, often occurring on the same day. He was literally everywhere, emboldened by an indefatigable energy that stayed with him throughout his life. A serious man who possessed a great sense of humor, enabling him to relate well to everyone, he was respected by all. Only age and illness slowed his pace, but he never stopped fighting for us, himself and his loved ones. He was my dear friend whom I will miss forever. I grieve because he has gone, but will celebrate that he came our way. He was unique and will be missed. Dr George Mckenna III ADVERTISEMENT LAUSD School Board Member District 1 China will propose national security laws for Hong Kong in response to last year's often violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony. The legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China's parliament, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest. Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby. Hong Kong people took to the streets last year, sometimes in their millions, to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China. The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city. "If Beijing passes the law ... how (far) will civil society resist repressive laws? How much impact will it unleash onto Hong Kong as an international financial centre?" said Ming Sing, political scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The Hong Kong dollar weakened on the news. The technical details of the proposals remain unclear but an announcement will be made in Beijing later on Thursday, one senior Hong Kong government source said. China's parliament, the National People's Congress, is due to begin its annual session on Friday, after being delayed for months by the coronavirus. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 6 he was delaying the report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant Washington's special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial centre. The delay was to account for any actions at the National People's Congress, he said. Tension between the two superpowers has heightened in recent weeks, as they exchanged accusations on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, souring an already worsening relationship over trade. BYPASS MECHANISM A previous attempt by Hong Kong to introduce national security legislation, known as Article 23, in 2003 was met with mass peaceful protests and shelved. Hong Kong has a constitutional obligation to enact Article 23 "on its own", but similar laws can be introduced by Beijing separately into an annex of the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. That legal mechanism could bypass the city's legislature as the laws could be imposed by promulgation by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government. "Some people are destroying Hong Kong's peace and stability. Beijing saw all that has happened," pro-establishment lawmaker Christopher Cheung, who is not part of discussions in Beijing, told Reuters. "Legislation is necessary and the sooner the better." National security legislation has been strongly opposed by pro-democracy protesters who argue it could erode the city's freedoms and high degree of autonomy, guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" formula put in place when it returned to Chinese rule. A senior Western diplomat, who declined to be identified, said the imposition of such laws from China, without any local legislative process, would hurt international perceptions about the city and its economy. Protesters denounce what they see as the creeping meddling in Hong Kong by China's Communist Party rulers. Beijing denies the charge and blames the West, especially the United States and Britain, for stirring up trouble. Cross-Straits ties likely to see 'a decoupling future' as Tsai enters 2nd term Global Times By GT staff reporters Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/20 18:08:41 Military conflict between mainland and Taiwan 'more likely than a China-US war' The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council has responded to the "inauguration speech" made by the separatist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, saying that the mainland wants to create broad space for peaceful reunification but will leave no space for any act of separatism. "We will show no tolerance for any secessionist act and foreign interference,"Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks after Tsai's speech on Wednesday. He said "the DPP authority refused to accept the 1992 Consensus on the one-China principle. It has unilaterally destroyed the political foundation for peaceful development between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan." Chinese mainland experts said that the worsening ties between China and the US, and the US' attempt to unilaterally push for the decoupling of the bilateral relationship will also lead the cross-Straits relationship to "a decoupling future," since the DPP authority sees the worsening China-US ties as a chance for it to realize its separatist political purpose, even though the mainland and compatriots of Taiwan want to maintain cooperation and a peaceful status quo. Ma said, "National reunification is inevitable as the Chinese nation marches toward its great rejuvenation and cannot be stopped by anyone or any force. Taiwan separatism goes against the tide of the times and is a dead end," and the DPP authority is ganging up with foreign forces to damage peace across the Taiwan Straits, and to use the coronavirus pandemic to achieve its separatist purpose. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on his Twitter account on Tuesday, "Congratulations to Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on the commencement of your second term as Taiwan's President" and "With President Tsai at the helm, our partnership with Taiwan will continue to flourish." The Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement on Wednesday expressing strong indignation and condemning the act by Pompeo and other US politicians, which seriously violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques as well as interferes in China's internal affairs. "The Chinese side will take necessary measures to respond to the wrong actions of the US, and the US should bear the consequences," read the statement. Li Fei, a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University in East China's Fujian Province, told the Global Times that this is the first time in decades that a US Secretary of State has openly sent a message of congratulations to the island's leader and even called her "president," which showed that the separatists on the island and the US now need each other as the US now treats China as its most important rival. Li Xiaobing, a Taiwan studies expert at Nankai University of Tianjin, said that now that the US is unilaterally pushing for decoupling with China, this will also influence the cross-Straits relationship, and if the DPP authority still refuses to accept the 1992 Consensus and carries out more separatist activities, in addition to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a "decoupling between the mainland and Taiwan." Currently, people-to-people exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan are virtually suspended due to worsening ties since the DPP took power in 2016, when the mainland suspended sending individual tours and students to Taiwan. Challenging the bottom line China's Defense Ministry also expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to US Secretary of State Pompeo's congratulatory statement to Tsai, reads a statement the ministry released on Wednesday. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has the firm will, full confidence and sufficent capability to thwart any form of interference by external forces and secession attempt by "Taiwan separatists," and will take any necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and maintain the Taiwan Straits' peace and stability, the Defense Ministry said. Li Fei said the US is encouraging the separatists on the island to test the mainland's bottom line again and again, and the DPP authority will be more provocative in the future, and "even though the possibility of a war between China and the US remained low, a military conflict between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits is much more likely." In the worst case scenario, the US is unlikely to intervene because of its shortage of money and the People's Liberation Army's overwhelming advantage in the region, said Li Fei. "According to the US response to Iran in January, the US is now unable and unwilling to afford a massive overseas military operation." The DPP authority is also seeking military strength to resist the will for reunification from the mainland. In terms of the "national defense reforms" that Tsai mentioned in her speech, she plans to bolster asymmetrical capabilities, including mobility, countermeasures and defenses against cyber warfare, cognitive warfare and "unrestricted" warfare. Taiwan's military reserves and mobilization systems as well as management institutions are also being targeted for reform and improvement. These reforms were only mentioned in Tsai's speech to boost morale and nothing more, Song Zhongping, a Chinese mainland military expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday. Taiwan's military equipment and systems rely heavily on the US and it will be very difficult for them to develop asymmetrical capabilities. The Chinese mainland is developing military capabilities much faster than Taiwan island, and the mainland already possesses an overwhelming military advantage over the island, Song said. According to Ma, a few separatists on the island have even called for "constitutional amendment" and an "independence referendum," which all seriously damage peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, Ma warned. Chinese analysts said the DPP authority and the US may understand the danger and keep from crossing the mainland's bottom line, but radical separatist groups within the island could bring uncertainty, and risk bringing about a direct military conflict. If the Chinese mainland decides to reunify the island by force, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) will quickly destroy all of its military bases, leaving the Taiwan military's aircraft, vessels and missiles with little chance to join the battle, Song said, noting that the PLA will also apply electromagnetic suppression on the island, rendering all of the Taiwan military's radars and communication systems useless. The military forces of Taiwan island will not be able to resist the PLA at all, and the PLA's military struggle preparations would instead be aimed at US forces, which could intervene, Song said. "If a war breaks out, we should worry about the Taiwan military and its weapons and equipment fleeing to US military bases in Japan under US orders. Intercepting this retreat operation is an important task for the PLA," he said. New relations? Ling Yu-shih, a Hong Kong member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, who was born in Taiwan and later emigrated to Hong Kong, is now in Beijing to attend the upcoming two sessions. She told the Global Times that she will raise Taiwan-related proposals. She noted that Taiwan authorities have renewed the notion of "Taiwan independence" from the legal, systematic, cultural and people's psychological perspectives, and they are good at wording when referring to relations with the mainland. For instance, they regard Taiwan as a "country" and call the mainland "China." "Therefore, we should be careful in using terms such as 'cross-Straits' and 'Taiwan Straits' that were defined by the Americans, as these terms signal governance division and confrontation on an equal footing," Ling said. The Chinese mainland will continue to unite the compatriots of Taiwan, and promote exchange and cooperation to push cross-Straits integration development, and will maintain dialogue and consultation with political parties on the island based on the 1992 Consensus and an anti-separatism political foundation to push for peaceful reunification, Ma said. Ling suggested changing the name of the "Mainland travel permit for Taiwan residents" to "Residence permit for People's Republic of China (Taiwan area) residents", and changing the administrative relations between the central government and Taiwan to relations between the central government and a province. "We previously emphasized that Taiwan is an integral part of China. In the future, we can put the emphasis on Taiwan as a province of China," Ling said. Ling believes regulating Taiwan-related terms will serve as a warning to Taiwan and also reaffirm the will of the Chinese people. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cambodia lifted the ban on entry of visitors from Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and the United States introduced amid COVID-19, Reuters reported. Despite the lifting measures, foreign visitors still need to have a certificate confirming that they are not infected with the new coronavirus, and proof of medical insurance worth $ 50,000 in Cambodia, the country's health ministry said. They will also be quarantined 14 days after arrival and checked for coronavirus. All passengers, both Cambodian and foreign, who are travelling to Cambodia, are admitted to waiting centres for the COVID-19 tests and that they are waiting for results from the Pasteur laboratory, health minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement. The health ministry said last Saturday that the last patient with COVID-19 had recovered and left the hospital. Cambodia reported 122 fatal cases of COVID-19. The United States announced its intention to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty that permits unarmed aerial surveillance flights over participating countries, saying Russia has repeatedly violated the pact's terms. Senior administration officials said the pullout will formally take place in six months, based on the treaty's withdrawal terms. It was the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to remove the United States from a major global treaty, following withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia last year. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to a small group of reporters, said the decision came after a six-month review that found multiple instances of Russian refusal to comply with the treaty. "During the course of this review it has become abundantly clear that it is no longer in America's interests to remain a party to the Open Skies treaty," said one of the official, saying Russia violates and implements the treaty in ways that can contribute to military threats against the United States and allies. At the same time, the officials said U.S. officials had begun talks in recent days with Russian officials about a new round of nuclear arms negotiations. "The goal is to get a robust set of teams together to begin crafting the next generation of nuclear arms control measures. The United States is committed to arms control. We are committed to European security. And we are committed to a future that puts meaningful constraints on nuclear weapons," said one official. "It will be incumbent on Russia to be comply with future arrangements. We go into this with eyes wide open," the official said. The Open Skies treaty, initially proposed by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002. The 35 state parties to the Open Skies Treaty are: Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland), Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. New Delhi, May 21 : The Resident Doctors Association of Maulana Azad Medical College and associated hospitals on Thursday wrote to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan against Delhi government's order for vacating the hospital-provided quarantine facilities. In the letter, the RDA cited the government order dated May 20 stating that doctors residing in Hotel Lalit have to vacate the rooms by 12 noon on May 21. "Apart from being given at a short notice, this order is inhuman and blatantly undermines the persistent effort put in by the corona warriors providing treatment at the largest COVID facility of Delhi government," said the association. "Doctors working here are at great mental stress due to the huge load of severely ill corona patients. Such an order has only worsened the mental state of doctors on COVID duty," said the association. Delhi Government's Health Secretary Padmini Singla on May 20 issued an order wherein it was written that regular quarantine of healthcare workers after performing duty in COVID-19 areas "is not warranted". Therefore, all categories of staff on quarantine are directed to vacate the hospital- provided accommodations in hotels and dharmashalas latest by 12 noon on May 21. The order was issued citing the revised guidelines on quarantine of healthcare workers by the Health Ministry. The RDA in the letter to the Minister said that there is abundant evidence of COVID positivity in asymptomatic HCWs wearing proper PPEs, some of them are reported positive on Day 11-14 even when their first report was negative. "We cannot risk transmission of infection to them and eventually to the community. Therefore, we request you to revoke the order or provide for alternative accommodation for the period of quarantine," said the letter. TORONTO, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FT Portfolios Canada Co. (First Trust Canada), a privately-owned company, announced today that it has launched the hedged units of the First Trust Cboe Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - May (TSX: MAYB.F) (the fund). The fund is sub-advised by Cboe Vest Financial LLC (Cboe Vest) using a target outcome strategy or pre-determined investment outcome. The fund seeks an outcome that provides investors with returns (before fees, expenses and taxes) that match the price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY or underlying ETF), up to a pre-determined upside cap, while buffering against potential losses. To achieve its objectives, the fund uses FLexible EXchange Options (FLEX Options) that reference the price return of the underlying ETF. FLEX Options are equity or index option contracts that trade on an exchange, but provide investors with the ability to customize key contract terms like exercise prices, styles and expiration dates. As the fund will invest in FLEX Options which are traded in U.S. dollars, the fund will, in respect of its hedged units, generally seek to hedge substantially all of its U.S. dollar currency exposure back to the Canadian dollar. The fund seeks to shield investors from the first 10% of losses (before fees, expenses and taxes), based on the value of the underlying ETF at the time the fund enters into the FLEX Options on the first day of a defined period known as the target outcome period. However, the fund can be held indefinitely as terms will reset at the end of each outcome period and the cap and buffer for each subsequent target outcome period will likely differ from the initial outcome period. The cap for the initial target outcome period has been set at 15.35%. We believe a buffer against a level of losses can help investors stay invested during volatile times. Recent market volatility may lead many investors to move money out of the market and sit on the sidelines until things calm down. Providing targeted equity market exposure to the S&P 500 Index combined with a defined downside buffer of 10%, may help remove some of the uncertainty and extreme volatility we have seen over the last several months with equity and fixed income investing, said Karl Cheong, CFA, Head of Distribution at First Trust Canada. The fund offers investors and advisors a way to gain access to outcome-based investing specifically to buffer against a level of downside risk while allowing growth to a maximum cap eliminating bank credit risk, in a convenient, flexible investment vehicle. We are pleased to work with First Trust Canada to offer the May series of Target Outcome ETFs. For investors who may want to reduce their equity risk in the market but retain potential for growth, MAYB.F provides an opportunity for upside returns to a maximum cap on U.S. Large Cap Equities while protecting against a targeted level of losses, said Karan Sood, CEO of Cboe Vest and portfolio manager for the fund. This new Canadian ETF represents the latest addition to the growing suite of Target Outcome Investments, providing advisors with a full arsenal of options-based risk management strategies, Sood added. Risk Considerations The funds investment strategy is designed to deliver returns that match the price return of the underlying ETF (before fees, expenses and taxes) if the funds hedged units are purchased on the day on which the fund enters into the FLEX Options (i.e., the first day of the applicable target outcome period) and held for the entire target outcome period, subject to a pre-determined cap, or until those FLEX Options expire at the end of the target outcome period. If an investor does not hold its hedged units for an entire target outcome period, the returns realized by that investor may not match those the fund seeks to achieve. In the event an investor purchases hedged units of the fund after the first day of a target outcome period or sells hedged units prior to the expiration of the target outcome period, the value of that investors investment may not be buffered against a decline in the market price of the underlying ETF and may not participate in a gain as a result of an increase in the market price of the underlying ETF up to the pre-determined cap for the investors investment period. About First Trust First Trust Canada is the trustee, manager and promoter of the fund. First Trust Canada and its affiliates First Trust Advisors L.P. (FTA), portfolio advisor to the fund, an Ontario Securities Commission registered portfolio manager and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registered investment advisor, and First Trust Portfolios L.P., a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately held companies that provide a variety of investment services. FTA has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately U.S. $127 billion as of April 30, 2020 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. About Cboe Vest: Cboe Vest is the creator of Target Outcome Investments, which strive to buffer losses, amplify gains or provide consistent income to a diverse spectrum of investors. Cboe Vests Target Outcome Strategies are available in mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), unit investment trusts (UITs), collective investment trusts (CITs), and customizable managed accounts / sub-advisory services. For more information about Cboe Vest and the evolution of Target Outcome Investments, visit www.cboevest.com, or contact Linda Werner at lwerner@cboevest.com or 703-864-5483. Further information about First Trust Canadas ETFs can be found at: www.firsttrust.ca Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with investments in exchange traded funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Exchange traded funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated. Target Outcome Investments, Target Outcome Strategies and Target Outcome ETFs are registered trademarks of Cboe Vest Financial LLC. For further information: Media Contact: Karl Cheong FT Portfolios Canada Co. 40 King Street West, Suite 5102 416-865-8053 or 1-877-622-5552 karlcheong@firsttrust.ca NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, reminds investors in AnaptysBio, Inc. ("Anaptys" or the "Company") of the May 26, 2020 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. If you invested in AnaptysBio stock or options between October 10, 2017 and November 7, 2019 and would like to discuss your legal rights, click here : www.faruqilaw.com/ANAB. There is no cost or obligation to you. You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. CONTACT: FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP 685 Third Avenue, 26th Floor New York, NY 10017 Attn: Richard Gonnello, Esq. [email protected] Telephone: (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330 The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all those who purchased Anaptys common stock between October 10, 2017 and November 7, 2019 (the "Class Period"). The case, City of Hallandale Beach Police Officers et al v. Anaptysbio, Inc. et al., No. 3:20-cv-00565 was filed on March 25, 2020, and has been assigned to Judge Thomas J. Whelan. The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and misleading statements regarding the purported efficacy of etokimab, and by touting data from the Company's Phase 2a trial in peanut allergies as showing a "remarkable efficacy result" and describing the drug as having a "pretty profound efficacy" in its treatment of patients with atopic dermatitis based on AnaptysBio's Phase 2a trial data for that indication. Specifically, on March 26, 2018, after the markets closed, the Company issued a press release, which it also filed on Form 8-K with the SEC, announcing data from an interim analysis of a Phase 2a trial for etokimab in adult patients with peanut allergy. The press release reported that six of 13 patients (or 46%) improved their peanut tolerance to a cumulative 500mg at day 14 after a single dose of etokimab compared to zero of three patients (or 0%) dosed with placebo. Based on the "positive" data from the study, the Company announced its plans to continue development of etokimab in a multi-dose Phase 2b trial in moderate-to-severe baseline peanut allergy patients. Later that day, however, an analyst from RBC Capital Markets issued a report questioning the reliability of the Company's Phase 2a peanut allergy data. The report stated that "[etokimab's] response rate in an [intent-to-treat] population does not appear to be meaningfully differentiated" relative to the placebo. Specifically, the report explained that since AnaptysBio excluded two patients from each arm of the trial due to having mild symptoms, the difference between the etokimab-treated arm and the placebo arm was only approximately 7% on a 500mg tolerated cumulative dose intent-to-treat responder analysis basissignificantly less than the 46% response rate of etokimab-dosed patients over placebo-dosed patients the Company reported from its subgroup analysis. When considering the patients the Company excluded from its trial data analysis, seven of 15 patients (or 47%) improved their peanut tolerance to a cumulative 500mg at day 14 after a single dose of etokimab compared to two of five patients (or 40%) dosed with placebo. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $113.83 per share on March 26, 2018 to $107.52 per share on March 27, 2018: a $5.31 or 5.54% drop. Then, on June 21, 2019, an analyst from Credit Suisse issued a report that questioned the veracity of the Company's Phase 2a atopic dermatitis data because of patients' use of topical corticosteroids as a rescue therapy during the study. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $67.02 per share on June 20, 2019 to $59.24 per share on June 21, 2019: a $7.78 or 11.61% drop. Finally, on November 8, 2019, the Company announced "very disappoint[ing]" data from its ATLAS trial, a Phase 2b multi-dose study which evaluated the efficacy of etokimab in approximately 300 patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis. Specifically, AnaptysBio revealed that each of the etokimab dosing arms "failed to meet the primary endpoint of the trial, which was demonstration of statistically greater improvement in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) relative placebo at week 16." The Company also revealed that, as a result of this data, it had postponed the initiation of its Phase 2b etokimab clinical trial in asthma. On this news, the Company's stock price fell from $36.16 per share on November 7, 2019 to $10.18 per share on November 8, 2019: a $25.98 or 71.72% drop. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding AnaptysBio's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Related Links www.faruqilaw.com We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Plans by Russia's government to merge the northwestern region of Arkhangelsk, the Nenets Autonomous District, and the Republic of Komi, have sparked protest among residents who fear losing their ethnic identity. Since leaders of the Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets Autonomous District signed a memorandum on merging their territories into one single administrative unit last week, protests have broken out in Naryan-Mar, the Nenets district capital. On May 19, the working group on the merger announced a proposal to add the Republic of Komi to the territorial unit as well. An online petition, which had been signed by almost 1,900 people as of midday on May 21, states that residents of the Nenets region "are categorically against this memorandum, hastily signed at a time when our country is in a difficult epidemiological situation and when its wide public discussion is absolutely impossible." Ethnic regions and republics in Russia are very sensitive to any changes of their status, fearing a loss of autonomy, which already has been weakened in recent years by Kremlin policies. Viktor Uiba, the acting head of the Republic of Komi, said in a video statement late on May 20 that the plan was unacceptable. "I am against such talks and such thoughtless actions. I believe that such an initiative must come from the people, the local population, and not imposed from above," Uiba said, adding that the status of republic is much higher than that of just a region. Some have said they fear a watering down of indigenous languages such as Uralic Komi, which has state-language status along with Russian in the Republic of Komi, a vast region that spans the Arctic circle and includes the frigid former Soviet prison-camp city of Vorkuta. Yasavei, the association of the Nenets people, issued a statement on May 19 warning the merger would cause economic problems for the oil-rich territory and lead to a weakening of their native language, Nenets -- which belongs to the Uralic language stem distantly related to Finish, Estonian, and Hungarian. All of the Russian Federations ethnic republics, except Tatarstan, have changed the titles of their leaders from president to head in recent years, while regional parliaments have lost their independence in adopting laws and regulations. The Kremlin's decision to abolish mandatory local language classes at regional schools three years ago was rubber-stamped by a majority of regional parliaments despite protests by residents who fear their languages will fade away without the rules in place. Hyderabad, May 21 : A Congress leader has lodged a police complaint against Tollywood actor Nagababu for praising Mahatma Gandhi's killer Nathuram Godse over social media. K. Manavatha Roy on Wednesday lodged a complaint with Osmania University police station against the actor for allegedly calling Godse a patriot. Nagababu is the younger brother of Telugu superstar and former Union minister K. Chiranjeevi and elder brother of another popular actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. The complainant sought booking of cases against Nagababu and his arrest for humiliating the father of the nation with a tweet praising Godse. "We have not yet registered a case. A complaint has been received and we have referred it for legal opinion," Osmania University police inspector S. Rajashekhar Reddy told IANS on Thursday. Manavatha Roy, who is the general secretary of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, stated in his complaint that the objectionable content posed from Nagababu's Twitter handle was widely circulated on social media and hurt the sentiments of people. He said he has also petitioned Telangana Director General of Police Mahender Reddy and Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar to take action against Nagababu. Nagababu, who also appears in various television shows, had unsuccessfully contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a Jana Sena candidate. Compared to many countries, China has rolled out little additional support for its economy that's been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, said former Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jim O'Neill. "It is striking when you look at China's contrast to so many other countries in the rest of the world so far, how little fiscal expansion China has introduced," O'Neill, now the chair of U.K. think tank Chatham House, told CNBC's Tanvir Gill on Wednesday. "I think they're being both prudent and very cautious and certainly, given the scale of the supply and the demand shock, China's policy has been quite timid so far," he added. According to the International Monetary Fund, China has announced around 2.6 trillion yuan ($365.97 billion) worth of fiscal measures to counter the impact of the coronavirus, as of May 14 this year. The amount includes unemployment insurance payouts and some tax relief and accounts for about 2.5% of its gross domestic product, according to the fund. Quantzig, a global data analytics and advisory firm, that delivers actionable analytics solutions to resolve complex business problems has announced the completion of its latest demand forecasting engagement for an e-commerce retailer. This success story explains how Quantzig helped an e-commerce firm to redefine its demand planning and demand forecasting framework to provide an effective response to the health crisis and cater to the dynamic demands of its customers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005354/en/ Demand Forecasting Engagement Summary (Graphic: Business Wire) Leveraging analytics to drive business outcomes has never been easy. Request a free brochure of our analytics solutions to learn how our supply chain analytics solutions can help transform your business. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, e-commerce retailers are rapidly redefining their approach to demand forecasting to drive better outcomes. The pandemic induced disruption has brought about several changes in the e-commerce sector in Germany. This is one of the reasons why leading e-commerce retailers are focusing on building a robust demand forecasting framework for examining data and forecasting demand for different product categories. Since analyzing demand is crucial to tackling the crisis, businesses have started to realize the importance of deploying a robust demand forecasting framework that can help capture demand data and provide updates on future demand patterns. This, in turn, can help e-commerce companies to provide an effective response to the health crisis and cater to the dynamic demands of its customers. At Quantzig, we understand the challenges faced by e-commerce companies in Germany. Unlike traditional approaches, our supply chain analytics solutions are designed to help you extract maximum insights to drive positive business outcomes. Are you looking to leverage demand forecasting to gauge the market value of products? Talk to our analytics experts to learn more about the use cases of demand forecasting in the e-commerce industry. The Business Challenge Tackling the crisis-induced challenges and generating accurate sales and demand forecasts was crucial for an ecommerce retail industry client based out of Germany. The pandemic outbreak had resulted in a huge surge in demand for certain product categories due to which the client faced several challenges in fulfillment and demand management. The client's challenges included: Inadequate workflow Incompetent demand forecasting frameworks High-cost pressures "Driven by the rise in internet penetration, smartphone usage, shift to digital wallets online payments, and language diversity on e-commerce platforms, the e-commerce retail industry in Germany has grown substantially and is poised to witness an accelerating growth margin in 2020," says a demand forecasting expert from Quantzig. A robust demand forecasting framework can help you generate accurate forecasts to optimize service efficiency and streamline operations. Wonder how? Gain limited-time complimentary access to our analytics platform and learn how we can help you. The Solution Offered Value Delivered In collaboration with Quantzig, the German e-commerce client gained actionable insights that helped them design and implement a robust demand forecasting framework. As a result, the client was able to gain granular demand and sales insights that enabled them to plan their inventories and manage the demand surge without affecting customer relationships. Quantzig's demand forecasting solutions also enabled the client to: Deploy holistic demand forecasting modules to analyze and model scenarios and set sales goals by infusing market data and e-commerce trends Increase average order value (AOV) by 52% Quantzig's demand forecasting solutions offered predictive insights on: Accurately forecasting the demand for each SKU based on the regions and zip codes Communicating expected orders for relevant products including essentials, disposables, and personal hygiene products in advance Are you ready to transform supply chain challenges into fruitful opportunities? If yes, Contact our analytics experts to learn more. Recent Success Stories: Redesigning The Pharma Logistics Supply Chain To Combat The Impact Of Covid-19 Capacity Planning And Optimization: Improving Profit Margins Amid The Covid-19 Crisis Marketing Mix Optimization: Creating Simulated Forecasts Of Marketing Scenarios To Withstand The Impact Of Covid-19 On The Health And Wellness Industry About Quantzig Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India. For more than 15 years, we have assisted our clients across the globe with end-to-end data modeling capabilities to leverage analytics for prudent decision making. Today, our firm consists of 120+ clients, including 45 Fortune 500 companies. For more information on our engagement policies and pricing plans, visit: https://www.quantzig.com/request-for-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005354/en/ Contacts: Press Contact Quantzig Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager US: +1 630 538 7144 UK: +44 208 629 1455 https://www.quantzig.com/contact-us Bidens aides said they are not worried that Trump is exploiting an advantage with less than six months until Election Day. They pointed to national polling that has shown Biden with a consistent lead over Trump, although the results in battleground states have been far closer, and they cited widespread public disapproval of Trumps management of the pandemic, which has killed more than 91,000 Americans. A new Quinnipiac poll showed Biden leading Trump by 11 points nationally and that 56 percent disapproved of Trumps handling of the pandemic, up from 51 percent in early April. South Carolina election officials could have counties cut ties to a Minnesota printer after about 20 Charleston County absentee ballots were found in Maryland this week. The ready-to-mail ballots have since made their way to Charleston-area voters, state and county election officials said, but it is just the latest problem with SeaChange Print Innovations, which prints and mails absentee ballots for 13 S.C. counties. Some Greenville County voters received the wrong absentee ballots this year when the Democratic presidential primary and a special election for sheriff were held 10 days apart, S.C. Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said. Some Charleston County voters received ballots that were folded in a way that could make them tougher to read by scanning machines, he said. The latest mishap has left the state election agency with little confidence that SeaChange can handle the surge in absentee voting this year as people practice social distancing to avoid contracting the coronavirus, Whitmire said. With less than three weeks before the June 9 primary for state and local seats, South Carolina has already issued 20 percent more absentee ballots than the total for the 2018 primary, he said. The general election, featuring a divisive presidential race, is expected to generate a record in absentee voting. "We're not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling that they can handle this," Whitmire said. "We are actively seeking sustainable solutions." The state could keep SeaChange from working in the state after the primary or at least discourage new counties from using the firm for the general election, he said. More heavily populated S.C. counties hire outside firms to handle printing and mailing of their large volume of absentee ballots, Whitmire said. Other S.C. counties that use SeaChange include Berkeley, Dorchester, Beaufort, Horry, Greenville, Spartanburg, Aiken and Orangeburg. Doug Sunde, SeaChange's vice president for election services, declined comment Wednesday on South Carolina possibly banning his company. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! Maryland election officials ran into their own problems with SeaChange, learning over the weekend that the printer failed to mail hundreds of thousands of ballots to Baltimore voters for that state's June 2 primary, The Baltimore Sun reported. U.S. Postal Service trucks brought the ballots to Maryland where they were mailed. That's when the Charleston ballots were discovered. Sunde said he received a different explanation of what happened from the Postal Service but declined to elaborate. (Update: SeaChange CEO Wendi Breuer said Thursday that a tray of Charleston ballots were accidentally picked up and included in the Maryland shipment. The ballots were spotted soon after they arrived and were mailed to Charleston from Baltimore. No voter failed to get their absentee ballot, she said. The same was true after an uploading error was discovered for Greenville County ballot earlier this year, Breuer said.) Joe Debney, Charleston Countys elections director, said about 20 voters received their ballots within a couple days after they were diverted from SeaChange's operation in Florida to Baltimore. "There was no lag for that, even though the box went to Baltimore, he said. The company knew who to address and mail the ballots to because Charleston County does what Debney described as a daily data drop to them of who has been cleared to receive a ballot. Charleston County has been dealing with SeaChange for some time, saying the original contract started when a different company ran the printing and mailing operation before SeaChange bought it. Debney said Charleston is ready to go with another printing and mailing business that is located in-state, though not specifically because of this misstep. Using a South Carolina firm would help speed sending out ballots. We want to go with an in-state printer and weve been wanting to for years, he said. Schuyler Kropf contributed to this report. Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings (HKG:520) shareholders are no doubt pleased to see that the share price has had a great month, posting a 33% gain, recovering from prior weakness. But shareholders may not all be feeling jubilant, since the share price is still down 25% in the last year. Assuming no other changes, a sharply higher share price makes a stock less attractive to potential buyers. While the market sentiment towards a stock is very changeable, in the long run, the share price will tend to move in the same direction as earnings per share. The implication here is that deep value investors might steer clear when expectations of a company are too high. Perhaps the simplest way to get a read on investors' expectations of a business is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). Investors have optimistic expectations of companies with higher P/E ratios, compared to companies with lower P/E ratios. See our latest analysis for Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings Does Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry? Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings's P/E of 30.81 indicates some degree of optimism towards the stock. The image below shows that Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings has a higher P/E than the average (15.6) P/E for companies in the hospitality industry. SEHK:520 Price Estimation Relative to Market May 21st 2020 Its relatively high P/E ratio indicates that Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings shareholders think it will perform better than other companies in its industry classification. Clearly the market expects growth, but it isn't guaranteed. So further research is always essential. I often monitor director buying and selling. How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios If earnings fall then in the future the 'E' will be lower. That means unless the share price falls, the P/E will increase in a few years. Then, a higher P/E might scare off shareholders, pushing the share price down. Story continues Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings saw earnings per share decrease by 38% last year. But over the longer term (5 years) earnings per share have increased by 9.9%. And EPS is down 8.0% a year, over the last 3 years. This could justify a low P/E. Don't Forget: The P/E Does Not Account For Debt or Bank Deposits One drawback of using a P/E ratio is that it considers market capitalization, but not the balance sheet. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. In theory, a company can lower its future P/E ratio by using cash or debt to invest in growth. Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof). Is Debt Impacting Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings's P/E? Since Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings holds net cash of CN856m, it can spend on growth, justifying a higher P/E ratio than otherwise. The Bottom Line On Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings's P/E Ratio Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings trades on a P/E ratio of 30.8, which is multiples above its market average of 9.7. The recent drop in earnings per share would make some investors cautious, but the relatively strong balance sheet will allow the company time to invest in growth. Clearly, the high P/E indicates shareholders think it will! What we know for sure is that investors have become much more excited about Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings recently, since they have pushed its P/E ratio from 23.3 to 30.8 over the last month. For those who prefer to invest with the flow of momentum, that might mean it's time to put the stock on a watchlist, or research it. But the contrarian may see it as a missed opportunity. Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. People often underestimate remarkable growth -- so investors can make money when fast growth is not fully appreciated. So this free report on the analyst consensus forecasts could help you make a master move on this stock. But note: Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20). Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. MILWAUKEE Lona Towsley had beaten cervical cancer at the age of 19, then uterine cancer at 28. She never doubted she would survive. For 23 years, she's been cancer-free. But on April 19, the day the doctor said she would need to be placed on a ventilator, the 53-year-old mother of two felt worn out from fighting COVID-19. She didn't think she could fight anymore. The survival figures for COVID-19 patients on ventilators inspire little hope. A study in China found that 86% of those who required mechanical ventilation died. A larger British study of 165 patients reported a death rate of 66% for those needing advanced respiratory support. As she lay there at UW Health University Hospital in Madison, Lona could feel her lungs filling with fluid. Lona Towsley was infected with COVID-19 and was placed on a ventilator. She survived perhaps because she had undergone an experimental plasma therapy. She is shown recovering May 12 at her home in Avoca, in Iowa County. "It's like slowly being strangled," she said. Nurse Britney Kershner suggested that before they hooked her to the ventilator, she might want to have a FaceTime talk with her husband, Lee. The talk was brief. Lee, a man who seldom weeps, broke down. They both did. Gathering his composure, Lee told his wife of 23 years that he loved her and was praying for her. He urged her again and again to stay strong. "I'll try," she said. Lona told her husband she loved him, too. Then a spasm of coughing jolted her body, bringing the talk to an end. Lona Towsley, right, with her favorite nurse, Britney Kershner. Twice as contagious as the Spanish flu The face of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has been largely urban. Think of the images. Overwhelmed hospitals in New York, Newark, Boston. Exhausted doctors and nurses risking their lives to help patients gasping for breath. The frightened sick, sequestered in rooms only entered by staff in full-body protective gear; visitors barred. And outside the hospitals, empty cities, walled-off in response to one of the most infectious viruses in modern medicine. A single COVID-19 patient spreads the disease to a median of 5.7 people, making it twice as contagious as the 1918 Spanish flu, according to a report in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Story continues But the pandemic is sweeping through rural America, too, small towns where the sickest patients must be transferred from local hospitals to distant, larger ones. While many hospitals have not experienced frantic scenes like those in New York, COVID-19 has challenged them like nothing before it. Lona Towsley and her husband live in Avoca, a village of 640 an hour's drive west of Madison. Her two children by a previous marriage are both grown and live in Illinois. Lona works 25 minutes away in Richland Center at a place called VARC Inc., which hires people of varying abilities to fill assembly and packaging contracts. In early April, one of VARC's clients, a man in his mid-40s, tested positive for COVID-19 and subsequently died. "We found out about him," Lona said, "and the next day I started coming down with symptoms." It was April 7. Weeks passed with no surge Although the staff at the Madison hospital had time to prepare, no one knew quite what they were preparing for. Founded six years after the 1918 Spanish flu, UW Health University Hospital reported its first positive case of the new coronavirus pandemic on Feb. 5. The patient was well enough to be sent home to stay in isolation. Weeks passed without the expected surge of new patients. UW Health established two special units for people hospitalized with COVID-19, but no patients arrived. Staff waited. Dr. Ann Sheehy is an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. "None of us have done this before," said Ann Sheehy, a doctor there for 15 of her 46 years. "We had to create new processes." Sheehy helped build a large backup team of doctors and other clinic staff who don't normally practice in the hospital but are certified to do so. They were offered special training and the chance to shadow hospital staff in preparation for COVID-19 duty. The UW Health nurses, who see patients more often than anyone else, readied themselves for what was to come. "You are the one, minute to minute, seeing the changes no one else sees," said Sara Schoen, a 34-year-old nurse manager who has worked at the hospital for 12 years. Nurses also provide care that goes beyond medicine, something essential when patients and families cannot visit. "The patient care, that human connection you get to have that with someone when they are at their most vulnerable," Schoen said. Nurse Sara Schoen leads a huddle with her staff at UW Hospital in Madison on May 6. COVID-19 would also test environmental services workers, among the most invisible of the invisible in a large hospital. Their work disinfecting the building would be more important than ever. The SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes coronavirus can survive for up to 72 hours on plastic, though the amount of virus will decline sharply during that period. The comparable figure for stainless steel is 48 hours, for cardboard 24 hours, and for air, three hours. The staff, known as EVS techs, disinfect everything in the building: patient rooms, operating areas, the ER, hallways, elevators. At the Madison hospital, that's a total of 1.7 million square feet. "I knew what I was signing up for. I knew the kinds of things I would be around," said Jeffrey Kaethner, a 31-year-old EVS tech. Stephanie Childs, a 34-year-old day shift supervisor, repeated a saying she often tells the techs whom she oversees: "The doctors make sure they get rid of the infection. We make sure it's not going to come back." Stephanie Childs, right, environmental services day shift supervisor, instructs Jeffrey Kaethner, an environmental services tech, on proper use of PPE before entering rooms at UW Hospital in Madison on May 6. After that first positive test for COVID-19 in early February, six weeks passed. Not until March 23 would staff be called upon to treat an infected patient sick enough to be hospitalized. Within eight days, the total hospitalized with the disease went from 1 to 21. 'Each day I was getting worse' The first day, Lona thought her symptoms were just allergies acting up in the spring weather. Two days later, when she returned from work, she had a fever and no appetite. That night she suffered chills. Her husband piled on the blankets. "I still couldn't stop shaking," she said. "It was like if you go out in the winter without a coat and you shake. It was like that, but I couldn't stop I was so cold." She didn't wake up until noon the next day, April 9. After calling the hospital in Richland Center, she was told to come for a drive-through COVID-19 test. She gave a nasal swab and had her pulse and blood pressure taken around 3:30 that afternoon. Two hours later, her family doctor called. She had COVID-19. Given her medical history the cancer treatments, a thyroid condition and her years as a smoker Lona was told to return to the hospital the next day. She drove herself. She was not struggling to breathe at this point, but doctors determined the oxygen levels in her blood were low. She had never been a worrier. She thought she'd be in the hospital a couple of days, then leave and go into isolation at home. Her stay at Richland Hospital lasted from April 10 to 16. "Each day I was getting worse," she said. "I was starting to feel short of breath. My chest was tight. My ribs were hurting from the strain of breathing." The hospital staff kept turning up her oxygen level. One of her doctors called a colleague at UW Health and learned that Lona might be a good candidate for a study examining the use of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients. On April 16, an ambulance carried her on the bumpy ride from Richland Center to the UW hospital more than an hour away. Christina Brahos, a 24-year-old nurse who began working at UW Hospital at the end of October, updates patient information at the hospital on May 6. In their eyes, one emotion: Fear On the day Lona arrived at UW Health, the cumulative number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had grown to 45. The university was helping the hospital staff to deal with equipment shortages. The School of Engineering was making face shields on 3-D printers. The UW School of Pharmacy was making hand-sanitizer. COVID-19 was already testing the nurses. Patient doors in the coronavirus units had to remain closed most of the time. Nurses couldn't poke their heads in to say "Hi." Christina Brahos, a 24-year-old nurse, who began working at the hospital at the end of October, felt the isolation of the patients and found herself tempted to enter rooms more often. But even when she was able to enter rooms, it felt harder to connect with patients while wearing the mask and other protective equipment. Under it all, she said, "the patients are basically seeing a set of eyes." In their faces, Christina saw mostly fear. As much as possible she tried to keep conversations with the COVID-19 patients "normal". There were times, though, when she felt helpless. "I've come into a patient's room and they're having a coughing fit," she said, "and there isn't anything I can do." The barriers were similar for the EVS workers, who pride themselves on being the people who enter patients' rooms, but never poke or prod them. Jeffrey Kaethner, an environmental services tech, disinfects one of the rooms at UW Health University Hospital in Madison on May 6. Jeffrey Kaethner made it a point to talk with his patients even when he was in full protective gear, even when the patients could not talk to him. One day, he was cleaning the room of one male patient who was fitted with a breathing tube and could not speak. He watched the patient write on his board, then hold it up so that Jeffrey could read the words. "Thank you for doing this." 'I should have a will' The doctors were also at a disadvantage against the virus. "Usually when we are taking care of patients we have several treatment options," Ann Sheehy explained. "With COVID-19, the standard of care is supportive care, giving the patient oxygen and allowing the body time to heal. I think we're all just hungry for things that we know will work." By mid-April, the hospital had joined the nationwide effort to use plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to help those still sick with the disease. Evidence supporting the use of plasma was promising but largely anecdotal. Two very small studies in China showed good results, but UW and dozens of other universities and hospitals were now using the treatment under the U.S. government's expanded use policy. They were also launching clinical trials. On April 16, Lona agreed to allow her doctors to treat her with survivor plasma. For the first few days she could see the nurses at the UW hospital peeking in at her through the window on the closed door. At times, doctors and nurses entered. "I kind of know what a cat or dog feels like in a pet store," she said. "Everybody is smiling and nice, but you can't touch them or talk to them." Still, she could hear, and she remembered what Kershner, her nurse, kept telling her: "You're doing it. Come on. You're going to kick this." She remembers nothing of the 50 hours she was hooked up to the ventilator; it is lost time. Right before the procedure she remembers thinking, "I should have a will." The same day Lona went on the ventilator she received the infusion of plasma. Relief, joy, and then a mint malt Her eyes opened on April 21 and the first thing she saw was Kershner smiling down at her as she took her vital signs. Lona was no longer on the ventilator. Her throat felt sore, but it was much easier to breathe. Her body did not ache as much as it had. "I've made it," she remembers thinking. At home, her husband, Lee, had spent the last two weeks thinking about his wife, running through the "What ifs?" and praying something that was not his custom. "She had to get through it," he said. "I didn't want to be without her." The nurses hadn't told him that Lona would be coming off the ventilator. They wanted it to be a surprise. And it was. When he saw her during their next FaceTime chat he felt enormous relief and joy. Lona Towsley was infected with COVID-19 and was placed on a ventilator. She survived perhaps because she had undergone an experimental plasma therapy. She is shown recovering May 12 at her home in Avoca, in Iowa County. Lona remained in the intensive care unit for a few more days, then moved to a regular room. On April 28, doctors allowed her to go home. They gave her an oxygen tank to help until her lungs regained their strength. Lee picked her up in the couple's 2014 Ford Escape. On the way home, she felt a sudden craving and Lee made a detour. They went to the drive-thru window at Culver's and she ordered a mint malt. Lee feared that he might get the virus at his maintenance job and pass it back to his wife, so for several days they both wore masks and she stayed in their master bedroom. "Last night was the first night we slept together in that bed in a month," Lee said on May 8. Lona has signed up to donate her plasma and urged other COVID-19 survivors to do the same. "That's what saved my life," she said. Follow Mark Johnson on Twitter: @majohnso This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee coronavirus patient won thanks to protection, plasma Plans for a Magee Medical School opening next year have been cast into doubt after the Economy Minister told a committee meeting that significant work is required and questioned Ulster Universitys financial stability. It comes just days after Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill announced that the long-awaited Derry medical school had been agreed by the Executive and said she expects students to enrol in September 2021. Speaking at yesterdays economy committee meeting, deputy chair and SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin said: It would be remiss of me not to thank you in relation to the Executive announcement regarding Magee, and I know theres still work to be done but there is an imminent deadline and obviously the first intake of students is September 2021 according to the announcement. Were delighted about that and the whole city is definitely celebrating that good news story. Hopefully whatever work has to be done in the next few weeks, everything will go through. In response DUP Minister Diane Dodds highlighted significant work that has to be done and said additional papers will be presented to the Executive. She commented: The announcement on the Magee Medical School was a good announcement for the Executive to make, a good announcement for the city, but more importantly just a good announcement for the whole of Northern Ireland. It is quite clear that we need more doctors and we want more of our young people to be able to train and re-train. However, she added: Im not pretending that the path ahead is easy, there is a significant amount of work to do in relation to the issues around capacity of Ulster University and the financial position of Ulster University. And there is a significant amount of work to do about that. But we have set ourselves on a pathway and we are working quite hard on that. There will be further papers to the Executive on that in due course. In February the Department of Finance confirmed that a 126m loan had been agreed in the form of an addendum to the business case for Ulster Universitys vastly over-budget Belfast campus. The Department for the Economy will be responsible for overall approval. The relocation of Jordanstown to Belfast city centre was initially expected to cost 254m but swelled to around 264m. FURTHER WORK On Monday, May 18, Deputy First Minister revealed that the medical school had been given the go-ahead. But, a short time later, the department responsible for its delivery said 'further work' is needed to guarantee student intake next year. An Executive Office spokesperson stated: The Executive has reaffirmed its commitment to establish a Graduate Entry Medical School at Magee, as set out in New Decade, New Approach. Further work is being undertaken to secure a sustainable outcome for the project within the fastest possible timescales. Plans are being progressed that would allow an initial student intake of 70 in September 2021 and the Executive will consider this issue again next month. To begin with the school will train 70 doctors within existing buildings on the Magee campus. Supported by City Deal money, a new Medical School facility is expected to be built along the riverfront but that is likely to lie some years ahead. When fully operational with 110 students in 2029/30 it will cost 27m to run per year, according to UU. Speaking at Mondays press conference Michelle ONeill said plans are being progressed that will allow the first student intake of 70 in September 2021. She added: This is a hugely important investment decision for the North West and it adds to the Executive's recent announcement on the Derry and Strabane City Deal and Inclusive Future Fund. "It will prove to be instrumental in the regeneration of the region and will help to support our health service who we much rely on at this point and into the future." GUARANTEE SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has asked for more detail and said a guarantee was needed that students will start in 2021. He believes student intake in 2021 is far from certain and there are a number of issues to be addressed, including the matter of recurring funding from the Executive. People dont have to be put through the hoops that weve been put through to get something for Derry but it is largely down to the need for recurring funding. Its hopeful, its positive, its good, but I do think we need to ask questions about how certain this is and I think were right to do that given all that weve been through. In terms of long-term goals for expansion, the Foyle MP added: We need to keep our eye on the big prize and that is 10,000 students. While welcoming the news DUP MLA Gary Middleton said he hoped the Magee Medical School would be delivered in 2021. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Derry University Group (DUG), which is campaigning for an independent university in the city, said it is proposing that all future Higher Education (HE) development in the North West be led and managed under the auspices of an independent university. He added: UU has neither the finance, capacity nor political will to deliver for Derry. To that end Derry and Donegal Councils should immediately establish their own HE Development and Scrutiny Committee. Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The World Bank has approved US$1 billion budget support for Kenya to help close the fiscal financing gap, policy reforms and to advance the economic growth agenda, battered by the coronavirus pandemic NHS Wales Chief Exec: We dont want to throw this away over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend and beyond This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 21st, 2020 The NHS Wales Chief Executive has today raised his concerns over potential future peaks of coronavirus, as well as urging people not to throw the work of the last few weeks away over the Bank Holiday weekend and beyond. Speaking at the daily Welsh Government briefing Dr Andrew Goodall explained how the NHS appeared to be coping, with hospitals generally at the usual green status with about 38% of acute hospital beds are empty, around 2600 beds. Dr Goodall noted that this is lower than last week because we are seeing a return to normal NHS activity. There are currently 493 people with confirmed coronavirus in hospital and a further 355 suspected cases in Wales. This is lower than last week but similar to the beginning of April. It was explained there are 55 people are being treated in critical care beds for coronavirus, this is lower than last week. Dr Goodall said: The majority of people being treated in critical care do not have coronavirus now, which also shows more NHS work is taking place. Up to yesterday based on our operational data, the total number of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus symptoms since the outbreak started was just over 7464 patients have been treated in critical care across Wales. More than 5000 patients have been discharged from hospital, and most people who have had Coronavirus of course have not needed hospital treatment. Ive been asked over recent weeks about how coronavirus varies across Wales. Community transmission is falling although daily cases continue to fluctuate. Over the last week there have been between 100-200 confirmed cases a day. There have been some recent increases in reported positive cases in the community in North Wales. This could be a late epidemic search, but we believe its linked to increased testing activity, and targeting specific settings like care homes. These have not converted into a higher level of hospital admissions, cases in hospitals, and critical care beds across North Wales have reduced from that peak. The number of cases in North Wales has remained generally lower in terms of proportion of cases than other areas of Wales. Dr Goodall spent part of his update focusing on critical care, explaining less than 10% of people admitted to hospital with coronavirus are admitted to critical care and the average age of those is just 56. Three quarters of people in critical care are mechanically ventilated within the first 24 hours, with 85% of people receiving advanced respiratory support, and 44% received basic respiratory support with the typical time for respiratory support being around 11 days. In some cases, people have been on a ventilator for up to three weeks as well as receiving support for their cardiovascular system. Dr Goodall added: We are seeing lots of people leaving critical care units and hospitals after many many weeks of receiving the most intensive care that the NHS can offer. Recovery from coronavirus varies from person to person but for those who spent more than a few days in critical care, they will require significant ongoing support. Access to rehabilitation is essential. Even today with 137 beds occupied, critical care continues to be under pressure and in some areas is operating above normal levels in surge beds. Weve seen some exceptional efforts from the NHS to treat people in Wales. We dont want to throw this away over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend and beyond. For the time being the advice remains to stay at home to protect yourself and your loved ones. Please continue to support our NHS and care system by following our advice to stay at home. And if you do go out please stay local. Dr Goodall also briefly spoke about modelling and future possible peaks of the virus, warning: As Ive openly said in these press conferences myself, I am still worried that the modelling, alongside how we exit from lockdown, could still indicate a second and possibly a third peak if were not careful. I know from a Welsh Government perspective and certainly from a First Minister perspective, an ongoing cautious and progressive approach is really important, but we will continue to need to rely on the support of the welsh population. You can view the full brief and Q&As below: Featured stories Ohio teen still missing after heading to a tanning salon Sunday (WOIO Channel 19) U.S. appeals court rules man cant be executed for 1985 murder of Warren boy (WJW Channel 8) At least 1,247 Ohio nursing home patients have died with coronavirus, 70% of total COVID-19 deaths, state reports (cleveland.com) As the coronavirus tears through Ohio nursing homes, families continue to agonize over visitation restrictions (cleveland.com) Ohio Senate rejects House plan to limit Dr. Amy Actons authority (cleveland.com) Ohio judge: State health department exceeded legal authority in ordering gyms closed (cleveland.com) Coronavirus in Ohio Ohio reported its first three cases of coronavirus on March 9. On Wednesday, the total reached 29,436.Rich Exner, cleveland.com 1,781 dead from coronavirus in Ohio: Wednesday update (cleveland.com) Mapping Ohios 29,436 coronavirus cases, updates, trends (cleveland.com) Models show a likely rise in coronavirus infections as Ohio reopens. The key is managing the risk, experts say (cleveland.com) Read Ohios new health orders that lift the states stay-at-home rule, set campground policies (cleveland.com) How restaurants and bars in Northeast Ohio will manage employee and customer safety when they open tomorrow (photos) (cleveland.com) Ohio prisons are again accepting new inmates even as coronavirus death toll rises (cleveland.com) How the Moderna vaccine works, and what it means for coronavirus pandemic (cleveland.com) Making social distancing green: Adding living walls, potted plants to restaurants (cleveland.com) Crime Cleveland man sentenced to 19 years in prison for shooting police officer, other man with assault rifle (cleveland.com) Cleveland firefighters find body in Whiskey Island marina, where man went missing on Friday (cleveland.com) Lorain man indicted on murder charges in girlfriends killing (Elyria Chronicle-Telegram) Avon Lake woman faces felony charge for allegedly leaving scene of I-90 crash (Lorain Morning Journal) Cleveland / Cuyahoga County Cleveland City Hall. Cleveland has 55 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus, 1 death (cleveland.com) Cuyahoga County Jails efforts to stem coronavirus spread a success, but pitfalls loom, officials say (cleveland.com) Ohio eased coronavirus restrictions, and Cuyahoga County overdoses climbed, medical examiner says (cleveland.com) Federal grand jury in Cleveland convenes as coronavirus pandemic continues to rage (cleveland.com) Cleveland will reopen most rec centers in July, but outdoor pools are closed through summer (cleveland.com) United Airlines partners with Cleveland Clinic, Clorox, to boost air travel safety, cleanliness (cleveland.com) Need a coronavirus pandemic face cover? Mystery masks litter I-90 in Cleveland (cleveland.com) Cleveland State University will reopen research labs May 30 (cleveland.com) Local news East 59 Warrensville Heights High School 2020 commencement ceremony Exterior renovation of Bull house in Solon to proceed; interior work delayed (cleveland.com) Warrensville Heights celebrates 2020 high school graduates with outdoor commencement ceremony (photos) (cleveland.com) Local news West Olmsted Falls City Schools to lose $700,000 in state funding (cleveland.com) Fairview Park mayor targets June 15 for Gemini Center reopening (cleveland.com) Akron / Canton area University of Akron releases revised plan for eliminating six colleges as cost-saving measure due to coronavirus crisis (cleveland.com) Akron Childrens Hospital loosens visitor restrictions in place due to coronavirus (cleveland.com) Summit County health officials working to contain cluster of COVID-19 cases at Akron halfway house (WOIO Channel 19) Blossom Music Center season lawn passes canceled, fans to receive refunds (cleveland.com) Akron launches socially distant summer programs including scavenger hunts, radio concerts (cleveland.com) Akron Zoo to offer virtual learning programs (cleveland.com) State Ohio House unanimously passes Aishas Law (cleveland.com) Ohio bill that would ban local plastic bag bans moves closer to becoming law (cleveland.com) Social Security numbers, personal data of Ohio unemployment claimants compromised, state says (cleveland.com) Carryout, delivery orders of alcoholic drinks would be permanently allowed under new Ohio legislation (cleveland.com) Ohio shoppers can use SNAP benefits for online grocery purchases starting this summer, USDA decides (cleveland.com) Ohio congressman seeks impeachment inquiry of judge in Michael Flynn case (cleveland.com) Federal judge orders Ohio to allow state issue campaigns to collect electronic petition signatures (cleveland.com) The Chairman of presidential taskforce on covid-19 boss mustapha explained briefly that Schools and churches will reopen after the second phase of lockdown Nationwide. Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said that President Muhammadu Buhari will open all economic activities, schools and religious activities after this second phase of lockdown. According to Mustapha, the first phase of the eased lockdown expired on Monday, May 18 and Buhari has now extended it by another two weeks until June 1. Boss Mustapha therefore urged all schools, places of worship, businesses, offices, should be patient that normality will be restored after this second phase of lockdown. He said the use of facemask is compulsory to all citizens of Nigeria and you must practice social distancing. My Advice to you 1) you must follow expert advice by practicing social distancing. 2) you must wash your hands frequently with soap and running water. 3) Once Nigeria economy reopen, if you dont have your facemask dont go out to avoid unnecessary fees forced by the police officer and unnecessary harrassment by police officers. New Delhi: Bhojpuri sensation Monalisa is now a famous television star. She makes sure to up her Insta game with each post. In her recent social media post, Monalisa shared her throwback airport diaries with a beautiful caption. Mona wrote: Once.... My Airport Diaries.... #goodmorning #goodvibes #happydays to come back soon... #smile #be #positive #think #good She moved to TV with a popular show 'Nazar' in which she played an evil force named Mohana. She has a solid social media presence with 3.1 million followers on Instagram alone. Monalisa is seen on supernatural fiction show 'Nazar 2'. Monalisa sure knows how to keep her social media fam happy and smiling. The stars are making sure to inspire people to stay indoors and maintain social distancing in this tough time. The deadly novel coronavirus has claimed thousands of lives globally. And to curb the situation, the government has called for lockdown phase 4. NORTHBROOK, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Global has issued a timely report on the present state of the craft beer industry, the outlook for existing brewers emerging from the current crisis, and how these dynamics may create certain opportunities for new entrants to the market. Indicators Suggest Modest Growth for Craft Brewers That Evolve, Connect and Prepare Now for Post-Pandemic Re-Start, authored by Adam Stump- Managing Director at Hilco Valuation Services, examines factors that have shaped the industry over the past decade and how brewers' own experiences and actions throughout the COVID-19 period may be the key to unlocking a profitable future for their businesses as the category recovers later this year. The report also discusses the impact of expected broad-based closures among craft brewers nationwide on industry asset valuations, and how those entering the market or looking to build out capacity may stand to benefit. "While many brewers may not survive this crisis, for those that do, a greater level of proactivity and innovation than ever before will likely be required to keep and attract customers," says Stump. "Balancing the cost of labor needed to deliver an on-premise experience that will draw customers back, with the realities of diminished guest levels due to continued social distancing requirements, may prove to be quite challenging for operators." To obtain a copy of the perspective or schedule an interview with Adam Stump, contact Gary Epstein- Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Hilco Global at [email protected]. About Hilco Global : Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com) is a privately held diversified financial services company and the world's preeminent authority on maximizing the value of assets for both healthy and distressed companies. Hilco Global operates as a holding company comprised of over twenty specialized business units that work to help companies understand the value of their assets and then monetize that value. Hilco Global has a 30-year track record of acting as an advisor, agent, investor and/or principal in any transaction. Hilco Global works to deliver the best possible result by aligning interests with clients and providing them strategic insight, advice, and, in many instances, the capital required to complete the deal. Hilco Global is based in Northbrook, Illinois and has 600 professionals operating on five continents. SOURCE Hilco Global Related Links www.hilcoglobal.com A version of this article first appeared in Emily Osters newsletter, ParentData. When I mentioned in my newsletter that Id be covering the question of seeing grandparents and decisions about summer camp and child care, a very large number of readers wrote to me to either a) tell me they were excited that I would tell them what to do, or b) ask could I please make sure to talk through the specifics of a particular situation. But I am not going to tell anyone what to do, and I cannot go through all of those individual questions. In fact, these points are closely linked: It is precisely because everyones considerations are different that I cannot tell anyone what to do. Advertisement What I can do, instead, is talk through a way to think about any of these types of decisionsday care, camp, grandparents, babysitters, play dates, house cleanersin the hopes that it can be broadly applied. The bottom line is that you do not need an answer from me. You need a way to decide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before we even get into how to decide, I would urge you to ask: Do you need to make this decision now? A lot of parents are grappling with questions like: I am due to give birth in October and my parents want to see the baby; they live two hours away and could drive here. What should I do about seeing them? Unless there are other decisions that depend on this one, I would urge you to put it off, despite what may be daily calls from your parents pestering you. It is tempting to try to plan all eventualities, but this decision doesnt have to be made now and you really cannot know what is going to be right in October. Advertisement Advertisement On the other hand, there are plenty of decisions you probably do need to make right now. And, for those, we can start with a framework. It will not be too surprising, given that Im an economist, that Im going to advocate a version of compare risks and benefits. But in this case that basic advice is far too vague. You need a framework, a systemsomething much more concrete. Heres my system: Advertisement 1. Frame the question 2. Mitigate risk 3. Evaluate risk 4. Evaluate benefits 5. Decide You will notice that this starts not with risks and benefits, but with framing your question. That is, you must start by figuring out what, precisely, you are considering and, just as important, asking what the alternative is. Say you are wondering, Should my kid return to day care when it opens next week? Its very hard to answer this without knowing what the choice is. Is the alternative returning in two weeks? In September? Never? Getting a nanny? Quitting your job? You will have a much easier time making the choice if you are making a choice of A versus B (or A versus B versus C) rather than trying to evaluate infinite possibilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beginning with this kind of framing can sometimes reveal holes in your thinking. Lets say youre wondering, Should we have our nanny come back now? In framing the question, you may realize that the options are: Should we have our nanny come back now, or should we keep her on retainer and reevaluate in three weeks? Clarifying the framing there forces you to consider not the ultimate safety, or even risks and benefits, of your nanny coming back now; instead it leads you to: What is likely to be different in three weeks? If you are waiting for a vaccine at the end of June, a quick perusal of the facts will tell you this isnt realistic. This may lead you to a decision or to reconsider your two choices, but either way it clarifies your thinking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition, being specific about the question may reveal some mismatch in expectations across decision-makers. If you see the choice as between seeing your parents now versus three weeks from now, and they see it as now versus when there is a vaccine, those are pretty different conversations. With the hopeful safety of a vaccine years away, we have to accept some uncertainty to move forward. I would venture that in at least some cases, framing the question alone may be enough to see the answer. If you ultimately decide the question is whether to see your parents for a socially distant visit this weekend or next weekendi.e., if you decide youre not waiting on a vaccine, or even waiting another monththats a pretty easy question to answer. But if the framing wasnt enough to resolve the question, you next move on to risks and benefits. Im going to argue that it makes sense to start this by first asking how you can mitigate risk so that the risks youre weighing are as small as possible. What is the safest way to do what you are considering? For this, Id refer you to our COVID Explained discussion of the path of the virus. If you understand better how this spreads, it may be easier to think creatively about avoidance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once youve done that, you can then think carefully about the actual risks (again, the risks assuming you do this as safely as possible), and then think about benefits. And then, finally, decide. There is no right or wrong answerno decision is guaranteed to stop anyone from getting sick, and no decision will doom you. But with the hopeful safety of a vaccine possibly years away, we have to accept some uncertainty to move forward. I would be remiss to move on without talking about societal risks. I am not suggesting that people think only about their own families in this decision-making. But one way to limit the spread of the virus outside your family is by protecting your family directly. If none of you gets sick, the virus doesnt spread. Being careful in particular about people who might get seriously ill is important for saving hospital space. Advertisement But probably the most important thing you can do to limit viral spread is to be careful when you go out to wash your hands, to wear a mask, and to socially distance. And if you decide, working through this process, to not only wave distantly to your parents at a park but to merge your isolation bubbles, then be careful with that new bubbles boundaries. Advertisement Advertisement So thats it. A five-step process. Useful for any COVID-19 choice. But frameworks are best used with examples, so lets talk through something that is on many of our minds: grandparents. Your question might be: My parents live locally or within a couple of hours drive, and we want to see them. Should we, and in what way? Advertisement This question could lead to very different decisions by way of framing. It could be: Theres no way were going a year without seeing them, so its either this weekend or three weekends from now. For someone else, it could be: Should we wait until a vaccine before we see them? Advertisement Advertisement How you evaluate the risks and benefits depends heavily on which of these choices you are actually making. And the adults involved may not all be on the same page about the choice at hand. Get on the same page first, and then figure out the options. Those options will depend on how you can mitigate risk. There are more and less safe ways to get together, and there are a lot of ways to make helping your parents see their grandchildren safer. Lets say youre considering getting your parents and your two school-age children together. You can make this as safe as possible by meeting outsideat a park or going for a hike togetherand wearing masks and staying distant. If you do this, the risk of spreading the virus even if one of you is infected is really, really, really small. Is it completely out-of-the-question impossible? No. But its likely to be well within the risks that you have implicitly accepted by, say, driving to the hiking location. Advertisement Advertisement Or maybe youre giving birth soon and youre deciding whether or not to have your parents drive from their home two hours away to meet your newborn. If they are able to quarantine for two weeks beforehand and so are you, and they drive up without stopping, this would really, really mitigate the risk on both sides. Some situations are harder. Lets say your parents would need to fly to see you. Being on airplanes and in transit entails risk to them, and then risk to you. But there are still things they can do. In transit: Wear a mask and wash or sanitize frequently. Do not buy food or eat in the airport. When they arrive: Is there a way to quarantine them even for a few days? Although official quarantine guidelines are 14 days, the median incubation period is five days. Could they self-isolate in an Airbnb for a few days before seeing you? Advertisement Advertisement Or flip the visit. The air transit piece of this is the riskiest. Given that the virus is less serious in younger people, it may make sense for you to travel rather than them, quarantine ahead of time, and then perhaps quarantine briefly again after landing. Advertisement Advertisement It is also worthwhile to think about the timing; this is part of the value to outlining the alternatives. Lets say you imagine that if camps open, your kids will go to them. Theyll be at higher risk of infection at that point than they are now. In that case, it may be safer to see your parents now, rather than in a month. If you feel you must see them sometime in the next few months, this should be part of the calculus. Advertisement Mitigating risks means making the risk as small as possible, but there will always be some riskotherwise these decisions would be easy. So the next step is to think about how large this risk really is in the best-case scenario. You can think of that risk as: [chance of someone infected] x [chance of spread] x [chance of serious illness or death] Its important to remember here that these chances are fractions or percentages, and when you multiply fractions by fractions, the result is smaller. If the chance of each of these conditionsinfection, spread, and illnesswere 1 in 10 (which is way higher than the actual value), the chance of your worst-case outcome would be 1 in 1,000. Advertisement Advertisement So if you think about the risk to your dad of visiting, it really comes down to the possibility youre infected, the risk of spreading it, and the risk that he becomes seriously ill. And you want to think about this risk for each person. There is a corresponding risk to your child from your parents visiting: the chance your parents are infected, multiplied by the chance of spread to your child, multiplied by the chance your child will be seriously ill. Advertisement For me, this breakdown is useful because it allows me to think concretely about each of these items. Im more likely to have my kids see my in-laws now, in our quarantine state, because our current risk of infection is low. A distanced hike is safer than having them in our house because of the very low risk of spread. If you live in a place with very low infection rates, that matters. If the risk of serious infection is higher for someone in your familybecause of age or health conditionsthat matters too. Advertisement This last piece of the equation is probably the most complicated to think about: What is the risk to each person of getting the virus? Note that Ive framed this as the risk of serious illness. The majority of people who get COVID-19 have mild or even asymptomatic illness. All else equal, wed rather no one get sick at all, but I think when we talk about being really worried about seeing our families, we must be worried about serious illness. Advertisement Advertisement We do not have a great sense of the actual COVID-19 risks. The available data is limited, and many cases of COVID-19 are undetected, making it hard to estimate these numbers. So most of the numbers we see are likely too high; this includes the estimates below. Advertisement But what we do know is that serious illness and death varies tremendously by age. One set of estimates of infection fatality rate comes from a recent Lancet paper. The risk of death (and serious illness) in younger people is much smaller than in older people (it also seems to be lower in women). If your parents are in their early 60s, they are at much less risk than if they are in their late 80s. Your kids are at quite limited risk. Advertisement These numbers are not very precise, and we also know that the risks depend on other factors, like underlying illness. But this is part of why it is so useful to frame the question at the start. Even if you cannot be precise about the numbers, you may well be able to think about the relative size of the risks. Advertisement But the risks are only half of the equation. We have been so focused on risk in all our COVID-19 discussion that I think we sometimes forget the benefits to seeing others. Only you can really say what these are. The benefits might be practical: Your parents could provide child care. They might be psychic, mental healthrelated. One of my colleagues has been isolating for two weeks so she can hold her newborn granddaughter for the first time. Joy is a benefit! This is a real thing. Advertisement This virus has taken a huge mental health toll, one we probably are only beginning to recognize. Circumstances that seemed bearable a week or two into social distancing may not be sustainable for months on end. It is possibleI would say even likelythat even if there is some risk to interactions, they are still worth it. Advertisement It is not easy to compare 0.5 percent risk of serious illness to joy. But in the end, this is what you will have to do. Take a deep breath, look carefully at your risks and benefits, and make a choice. When it comes to child care decisions, the same approach applies, with new considerations. A big difference is in risk mitigation: While you can make an extremely low-risk visit with grandparents (outdoors, masked, distanced), child care entails sustained, regular contact. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for day cares and camps, which I encourage you to read. They are pretty sensiblemonitor kids for fever, do not allow sick children to attend, have staff stay home when sick, wash hands. You should make sure that your child care solution is following something like these guidelines, though recognize that you cannot have a fully socially distant day care or campthere will always be some risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Id make a similar point about nannies. You can ask your nanny to wash her hands, and you can ask her to maintain social distance. You can learn more about her family situation and, if you have the choice, hire a nanny who lives alone rather than with other people. But you cannot control what another adult does when she is not in your house. (I would argue that trying to regulate a babysitters behavior when she is not at your home is a recipe for a bad relationship.) You can consider how you can mitigate the risks to your nanny or babysitter as well, such as by carefully limiting your familys contact with other people. If you send one child to camp and another is cared for by a nanny, everyones risks are higher, including the risk to other people you may encounter at the supermarket or out in the world. Advertisement That leaves the benefits to consider. What are the benefits to having your child out of the house or taken care of by someone else? (Are they infinite? I think maybe.) They could include your ability to return to work or to work more effectively at home. They could include your mental health. They could include your childrens mental health and physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. They could include access to food, if your household is food insecure and food is provided at child care. None of these decisions is easy. And there are so many others: dentist appointments, cleaning help, play dates, etc. Try to approach them the same way: What is the question? What can you do to mitigate risk? How big is the risk really? What are the benefits? Most of us are going to have to leave our homes before there is a vaccine. We need to do so thoughtfully, and carefully, but for most of usand for societythere is no choice to not make a choice. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. University of Houston-Downtown President Juan Sanchez Munoz has been hired as chancellor of University of California- Merced, according to university releases. The UC Board of Regents approved Munozs appointment, with a $425,000 salary, during a May 20 meeting. UC Merceds interim chancellor Nathan Brostrom will work with Munoz through July before returning to the presidents office to ensure a smooth transition. It is an honor and a privilege to lead UC Merced, a campus that distinguished itself in just 15 years as an exemplar of educational opportunity, Munoz said in a written statement. Having dedicated my career to student success and creating access to the transformational power of higher education across racial and social lines, Im excited to continue that work at the University of California, a world-renowned public institution. UH System Chancellor Renu Khator congratulated Munoz on the opportunity. The university has benefited significantly from his creative leadership and effective administration, which helped accelerate UHDs growing reputation as an affordable and accessible institution in the center of one of the nations most culturally diverse metropolitan areas, Khator said in a statement. Although he will be missed, Dr. Munoz leaves UHD very well prepared to continue its commitment to providing high quality education to students from a wide variety of backgrounds. The UH System plans to launch a national search for Munozs replacement soon, officials said in a release. A first-generation college graduate, Munoz began his presidential tenure at UHD, a minority-serving institution, in 2017, overseeing enrollment growth, increased retention rates and one of the colleges largest fundraising efforts. He led UHD through natural disasters, including Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storms Imelda, and oversaw new initiatives and degree programs, including UHDs bachelors of science degree in nursing and data science, and saw UHD become the only Texas college to receive a $1 million grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2018. I have been privileged to lead this great institution and work with a talented team to help it grow and further serve the students of this region, he said. Munoz, a native of California and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, previously served as senior vice president for diversity, equity and community engagement and vice provost for undergraduate education and student affairs at Texas Tech University. He was an assistant professor in the department of secondary education at California State University-Fullerton, and previously served as a high school teacher, a community college adviser and instructor. Munoz earned a bachelors degree in psychology from UC Santa Barbara, a masters of arts in Mexican American studies at Cal State University in Los Angeles, and a doctoral degree from UCLA, where he studied curriculum and instruction. As a scholar, Munoz has contributed to academic journals, books and encyclopedia. He contributed as an editor to the Handbook of Latinos and Education in 2010, and co-edited a 2015 volume of Perspectives in Interdisciplinary and Integrative Studies. brittany.britto@chron.com Photo credit: Ralph White - Getty Images From Popular Mechanics After a court battle, a salvage group plans to retrieve a priceless Marconi radiotelegraph from the wreck of the Titanic. International law allows for retrieval of artifacts that are in danger of deteriorating. Marconi's radiotelegraph was the first way to send wireless messages to and from ships on the ocean. A judge in Virginia has ruled that a designated salvage company can open up the hull of the RMS Titanic to retrieve a valuable piece of equipment: an original Marconi radiotelegraph. And as it has for over a century, the wreck of the Titanic continues to inspire strong opinions and deep curiosity. Is it right to open up what amounts to a mass grave to loot whats inside? Does the technological significance of that loot make a difference? These are hard questions, but even after this weeks ruling, the RMS Titanic company must still submit a funding plan for approval before it can begin any work. Guglielmo Marconi was a gifted, hardworking inventor following closely in the footsteps of fellow radio pioneers like Heinrich Hertzyes, hertz Hertz. Marconi began experimenting with conductors and radio waves and continued to move his stations farther and farther apart, and after filing a patent and starting a company, he went around pitching investors in largely the same way people do now. What he developed is called radiotelegraphy: a way to send messages in Morse code over the air instead of over interconnected wires. People believed radio waves could only travel in short distances before theyd fly off into space instead of hugging Earth's rounded surface. Marconi finally proved them wrong with a message from England to Canada in 1901. By 1912, The Marconigraph magazine advertised , Marconigrams are accepted by all public telegraph offices in Canada for transmissions to incoming or outgoing vessels fitted with Marconis wireless telegraphy. And, near the back of the issue: During the last two years all passenger ships of the P. & O. Orient, White Star, and Aberdeen lines have been fitted with Marconi apparatus. Story continues Titanic was the White Star flagship, and the Marconi radiotelegraph equipment would have taken up an entire room by itself. Its not the kind of thing divers can zip in and remove without leaving a trace. Photo credit: Cliff1066/Flickr/Creative Commons The Titanic receives a special amount of attention even among other tragic events and major shipwrecks, but it's still one among many wrecks with complex salvage laws. The agreement among the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France concerning the wreck of the Titanic [...] allows for managed dives of both an archaeological nature and to protect artifacts from significant degeneration, Economics of the Oceans author and researcher Paul Hallwood wrote in 2006. But, Hallwood explained, the deal requires that any recovered artifacts stay together and with public access. Legalities arent the only issue at play in this case. There are 1,500 people who died when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, and many consider the site of the shipwreck to be a burial site the same as any traditional cemetery. But the governing agreement allows the recovery of items at risk of significant degeneration, and thats where the Marconi radiotelegraph is positioned within the case. In Hallwoods 2006 analysis, his team concluded that most wrecks dont offer enough of a monetary reward for salvage groups to even be interested. But most wrecks arent the Titanic, and in this case, most wrecks dont have an original Marconi radiotelegraph. If the RMS Titanic group comes back with a budget and receives approval, it can begin opening the ship to remove the priceless piece of equipment. Even so, opponents insist, the cost is much too high. You Might Also Like New Delhi, May 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid tribute to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. Modi tweeted: "On his death anniversary, tributes to former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi." Gandhi was assassinated on this day in 1991 during a late night election rally in Sriperumbudur village of Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu ahead of the Lok Sabha polls when a suicide bomber struck. He was the youngest Prime Minister, who took oath at 40, following the assassination of mother and another former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 22:31:35 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 489 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC and BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Imagin Medical (CSE:IME) (OTCQB:IMEXF) (Frankfurt & Stuttgart Symbol:DPD2) ("Imagin" or the "Company") announced today that its financial results for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2020, will be released after market close on Thursday, May 28, 2020.Imagin management will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. ET to review the financial results and discuss business developments in the period.Fiscal Second Quarter 2020 Results Conference Call Details:Date: May 28, 2020Time: 5:00 p.m. ETLive Call: 844-369-8770 (Canada and the United States) 862-298-0840 (International)Replay: 919-882-2331Replay ID: 35004The call will also be broadcast live and archived on the Company's website at www.imaginmedical.com under "Events & Presentations." About Imagin MedicalImagin Medical is a surgical imaging company focused on advancing new methods of visualizing cancer during minimally invasive procedures. The Company believes its first product, the i/Blue Imaging System, with its proprietary optics and light sensors, will greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of detecting cancer for removal, helping to reduce recurrence rates. The Company's initial focus is bladder cancer. Learn more at www.imaginmedical.com Forward-Looking StatementsInformation set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward- looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Specifically, there is no assurance the Company's imaging system will work in the manner expected. In addition, there is uncertainty about the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the impact it will have on the Company's operations, global supply chains and economic activity in general. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.COVID-19 PandemicThe COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has affected economies and financial markets around the world resulting in an economic downturn. The effects of this pandemic on the Company may include interruptions to supply chains, manufacturing activities and research and development programs and increased government regulations or interventions. The duration and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is unknown at this time and it is not possible to reliably estimate the length and severity of these developments nor the impact of these developments on the financial results and condition of the Company in future periods.Contacts:Stephen Kilmer, Investor RelationsTelephone: 647-872-4849Email: stephen@ kilmerlucas.com Jim Hutchens, President & CEOTelephone: 833-246-2446SOURCE: Imagin Medical Michael Wing Editor and Writer Follow Michael Wing is a writer and editor based in Calgary, Canada, where he was born and educated in the arts. He writes mainly on culture, human interest, and trending news. By IANS LUCKNOW: With the lockdown set to complete two months, its impact is now being seen on the mental health of students, senior citizens and women, in particular. Students are in different phases of their academic year. Some have completed it and some are waiting to take their entrance examinations. The major entrance exams of 2020 have not been held yet. NEET, JEE Main has been postponed. For other exams, the application process has been extended. This uncertainty is causing considerable mental stress to the students. Yashika Singh, who is preparing for medical as well as engineering entrance exams, said, "I am at the threshold of a career and I am facing a blank future. I do not know when these exams will be held and whether I will get time to search for other options. I am obviously under severe stress and so are my parents." Alisha Siddiqui, a class nine student, is finding it difficult to adapt to the system of online learning. "The Internet is erratic and I miss out on the online classes. This adds to the stress because I will be taking the board finals next year," she said. Dr Pankaj Gupta, President, Indian Institute of Health Management Research, said that students should be counselled to accept reality and not bother much about the things that are not in their hands. "Parents, mentors, and educational institutions must undertake counselling sessions with students so that the stress level is minimized," he said. Senior citizens, who have been locked down for two months now, are also experiencing increased stress levels. "When the family came together in the beginning, there was euphoria and everyone enjoyed being together. But now we seem to be getting on each other's nerves. The children feel burdened with us and the grandchildren no longer seem to enjoying our company. We are also missing the solitude that we had earlier," said Sheila Srivastava, who has been staying with her two sons since the lockdown began. Anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite, and lack of physical activity are some of the biggest challenges that Sheila and her husband face and the couple admits that they have become apprehensive, resentful, anxious and prone to anger. Kewal Kapoor, Director CHAI Kreative and Return of Million Smiles, said, "Senior citizens tend to feel ignored by their grandchildren who remain preoccupied with their smartphones and computers or face bitterness due to their financial dependence. The government should launch a mental health helpline to assist seniors, and announce specific concessions for them." Women, too are now feeling the stress of the lockdown. "Initially, it seemed an ideal situation where the family was spending their time together and I was cooking for them because the domestic help was absent. But now, my husband has gone back to work and children are busy with online classes. My in-laws are unwell and all household chores are being done by me. No one has the time to help. I am feeling over-burdened and extremely stressed," said Ruchi Khanna, a young homemaker. Prakriti Poddar, an expert in mental health and managing trustee of the Poddar Foundation, said, "In the prevailing situation, stress is inevitable and more complicated in the pandemic where everyone is experiencing anxiety." Poddar added, "Those who have jobs and are working from home, are finding it difficult to negotiate the challenges of different spaces and managing different people while at work. Many of them are finding it difficult to manage their family lives where incidents of frequent outbursts are often reported." A New York man upset over the outcome of his divorce 15 years ago has been indicted for threatening to kill North Carolina judges, court staff and people in courthouses. Frederick Eli Knapp, 51, from Warren County, New York, allegedly sent a series of threatening emails and Facebook messages to workers at the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and the North Carolina Judicial Branch back in November, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. In the messages, the scorned man warned staff and judges he would 'find a way back' to North Carolina and 'make you all pay', called them 'a bunch of f**-ups' and told them 'you all suck at your jobs,' according to the criminal complaint. Knapp allegedly told authorities he sent the messages because he was angry with the court system's handling of his divorce 15 years ago when he and his ex-wife lived in the state. Frederick Eli Knapp, 51, from Warren County, New York, allegedly sent a series of messages threatening to kill court workers and judges because he was upset over the outcome of his divorce 15 years ago The campaign of terror began on November 17 when Knapp allegedly sent the first threatening email to two employees at the Administrative Office of the Courts, under the subject line 'You all suck at your jobs'. The email blamed the courts for him losing his home in his divorce proceedings and threatened to kill courthouse staff and judges, according to the criminal complaint. Later that day, Knapp sent a similar threatening email to a third court worker, saying 'I want my money, don't make me come down there and get it,' the complaint states. The court employees reported the abusive messages to their superiors, with one describing theirs as 'most extreme direct-threat email' they have ever received and saying they were 'horrified' and 'froze' when they read it. One of the other recipients said they 'sensed the anger of the author', the complaint says. Knapp then allegedly turned on the N.C. Judicial Branch, when he sent a threatening message to its Facebook account three days later on November 20. 'I have suffered through years of nightmares and hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial losses. All because you all are a bunch of f**-ups. Just like the courts here,' Knapp wrote in the message, according to investigators. 'And before I die I am going to make you all pay for your negligence.' The N.C. State Bureau of Investigations tracked the message to Knapp and New York state police paid him a visit at his home, according to the complaint. The Law and Justice Building in Raleigh, North Carolina. Knapp sent the emails and Facebook messages to workers at the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and the North Carolina Judicial Branch back in November The affidavit in the criminal complaint. Knapp has been indicted for threatening to kill North Carolina judges, court staff and people in courthouses Knapp told investigators on November 21 'that he was 'upset' because 15 years ago his wife divorced him while they were living in the state of North Carolina,' the complaint says. Knapp also 'felt the court system was unfair to him during that time.' After the visit from law enforcement, he then allegedly left threatening messages on Raleigh Police Department's voicemail later that day, blasting the officers as 'lazy' and 'good for nothing.' Knapp was indicted by a grand jury in Wake County Wednesday on charges of transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release. The suspect is also said to be undergoing an 'involuntary mental health evaluation' on a separate matter, after he was arrested in New York in May accused of threatening to kill police officers if a law firm didn't help him file a lawsuit against them, The News & Observer reported. A worried Swara Bhasker, who was staying in Mumbai, travelled via road to Delhi to see her injured mother, Ira Bhasker, who fell down and fractured her shoulder last week. Swara drove along with her cook and five pets and took two days to reach Delhi. While speaking to TOI, Swara said, "It was quite a task because I had to close my Mumbai house down and had to travel with my five pets. Three adult cats, one kitten (who has died now), my pet dog, and my cook. It was a long journey - a 14-hour drive from Mumbai to Udaipur, an overnight stay in Udaipur, and then 10 hours more from Udaipur to Delhi. It was quite a saga but luckily, my pets are well-behaved and we managed." Swara made sure to take authorities' permission and also kept herself in isolation after reaching Delhi. "I've gone through the necessary self-isolation and home quarantine protocols," said Bhasker. Currently, Swara is happy to reunite with her family and is grateful that she was allowed to travel amid the nationwide lockdown in the wake of Novel Coronavirus outbreak. Bollywood Celebs Condemn 'Barbaric' Palghar Mob Lynching Incident The Raanjhanaa actress said, "I didn't tell my parents as I knew they'd be worried and so when I arrived in Delhi, they were both taken totally by surprise. I am so glad to be with them and be able to help my mom a bit. I'm useless in the kitchen but I help my mother to comb her hair and change clothes." Speaking about her mom's fracture, Swara shared, "It is a fracture of the collarbone, so her whole torso is in a brace and she has to keep her right hand and right side of the torso immobilised." We wish a speedy recovery to Swara's mom. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PHARM CBD will be showcasing its line of CBD products at ECRM's Healthy Living/Vitamin and Nutrition Program for May. The Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM) Conference is a networking event geared towards matching established, as well as up-and-coming brands with potential retailers, and presents a big opportunity for PHARM. PHARM CBD started as a family-owned and operated business in Bedford, Kentucky, and maintains this model still today, but with an ever-expanding reach into new retail markets. PHARM founders come from a diverse range of backgrounds, such as chemistry, pharmacology, agriculture, marketing, and education. Jointly owned by its five founding members, PHARM utilizes the specialized skill sets of all of its team members in creating the best in modern CBD products. CBD sales have been on the rise throughout the United States over the past few years, with a projected spike in sales culminating in a five-year gain of 30% by 2024. But even in a market with so much competition, PHARM stands out for the product potency and consistency. PHARM backs all of its CBD products with verifiable research to show that they will deliver the quality they promise. This presents a big advantage for PHARM in an industry that is at the precipice of an e-commerce boom. As more people are ordering products online, rather than spending time shopping in person, the ability to back up product claims with real science is crucial for success. Even giants in the retail industry will be playing it safe, attending the May 18th - 21st program for ECRM virtually, through a web-based platform. This year's virtual ECRM conference is groundbreaking in the world of B-to-B networking, allowing for an extremely fast-paced, high action conference, completely online. Instead of meeting with potential buyers in person, companies like PHARM will have scheduled timeslots in which to display and discuss their products in a video conference with some of the biggest names in the retail world. More online relationship building, as well as online buying and selling, could be the way of the future for retail as convenience, comfort, and safety take precedence for American consumers. PHARM is prepared for an ever-changing market, with its all-in-one "seed to sale" model, which allows them to have a high level of control over their goods. PHARM grows, formulates, and manufactures its CBD products all in-house, so their products ship extremely fast. "Most people are surprised by how fast our products ship to them," says founder and CEO Evan Ogburn. "We're able to handle all aspects of the manufacturing process without relying on outside help." In a retail market that is hungry for reliable, safe, desirable products that are able to ship quickly, PHARM CBD is sure to be a major player at ECRM's Virtual Program. Please direct inquiries to: Jacinta Coulter (954) 357-2743 [email protected] SOURCE PHARM CBD Critically ill children have been ending up in intensive care units with shock-like symptoms in recent weeks, adding yet another mysterious layer to the coronavirus pandemic. New York health officials began issuing alerts on May 4, describing young patients, ages 2-15, with inflammation in multiple organ systems and features of Kawasaki disease, a childhood illness of unclear origin. They raised the count to 64 suspected cases on May 6. A few days earlier, officials in the United Kingdom notified doctors of similar cases there, also describing them as having features similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. Several of the children had tested positive for COVID-19. Drawing connections to Kawasaki disease, however, may be premature. Although there are some similarities between the illnesses, there are also many differences. My clinical practice is as a pediatric infectious disease physician. I also do biomedical research using the bodys immune responses, particularly the antibodies produced, to help find the cause of illness and to help design vaccines. Our group has been collecting samples from Kawasaki disease cases for years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we responded to the call for researchers and began developing tests to assess the antibody response during COVID-19. When we started on this path, I did not think these interests would overlap so directly. However, with recent reports of certain COVID-19 cases looking like Kawasaki disease, we are now running tests to see if there is a similar immune response between COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease cases. Kawasaki versus the new illnesses Kawasaki disease is an inflammatory condition in children who develop a prolonged fever, inflammation of the mouth and lips, rash, swelling of the hands and feet, inflamed eyes, and lymph node swelling that typically is only on one side of the neck. There can also be incomplete cases that do not have all these symptoms. Kawasaki disease can have serious consequences: Roughly one-quarter of children diagnosed with it will have inflammation in the vessels that feed the heart, and rarely children will present with heart attacks or shock and need prolonged intensive care. Story continues Unfortunately, we dont know what causes Kawasaki disease. A litany of viruses, bacteria, fungi and environmental factors have been proposed in the past, including other members of the coronavirus family. Despite not knowing what causes Kawasaki disease, we have found that timely treatments with pooled human antibody preparations intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG can significantly reduce the heart vessel inflammation. For the new COVID-19-associated cases showing a significant inflammatory response, many of the reports reflected in the media and public health announcements have not been published in medical journals. Instead, details have been shared among the medical community in conference calls, message boards and online meetings. Only one case I know of describing Kawasaki disease associated with COVID-19 has been published. This case, like many of the cases being discussed informally, had no cardiac vessel involvement and lacked a number of clinical symptoms of classic Kawasaki disease. Some overlap, but different symptoms There are a number of reasons why the new COVID-19-associated inflammatory disorder and Kawasaki disease seem to be different entities. Although there is some overlap, these COVID-19-associated cases have fairly different laboratory results. There also tends to be more severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting in new cases than would be usual for Kawasaki disease. The impact on the patients heart is focused more on the vessels in Kawasaki disease. The COVID-19-associated cases, in comparison, are globally dysfunctional with only a few describing any vessel inflammation. The ages and locations of the described new cases are also not typical for Kawasaki disease. Many of the children with severe COVID-19-associated shock are outside the typical age range for Kawasaki disease, which primarily targets children under 7. The annual case count of Kawasaki disease is also much higher in Asian countries, particularly in Japan, where it is roughly 10 times the rate in North America. I would have expected an association to be described during the first reports of the pandemic, but informal reports from Japan and China dont appear to describe this severe inflammation in children. That being said, some children with Kawasaki disease will test positive for the new coronavirus. In North America, there are estimated to be 5,000-6,000 annual cases of Kawasaki disease. Overlaying more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 throughout the United States, there will be some overlap. What we still need to learn Reports about these new pediatric COVID-19-associated cases are very preliminary. We will learn more as research and details about ongoing and future cases are compiled by the medical community and published for more complete review. Perhaps studying these new cases will shed much needed light on the cause of Kawasaki disease, a disorder that has perplexed pediatricians for a half-century. As both conditions appear to incite a large inflammatory response in certain children, continued research is needed to provide the how for the new COVID-19-associated cases and the what causes it for Kawasaki disease. States such as New York are making the right move by formally gathering data on severely inflamed children during this pandemic, as proper treatments for these new COVID-19-associated cases need to be found. This article was updated with new numbers from the New York Department of Health. [Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

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Mark Hicar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The 30-year-old woman who lost her boyfriend, her unborn baby, and her leg after their SUV was struck by a suspected DUI driver in Philadelphia will not be well enough to attend the funeral, set for today. Ive been crying literally all day. I wanna be able to go say bye to my boyfriend, my babys father and my baby, and I cant, Kimberly Hartz told Action News 6 ABC. The crash occurred around 10 p.m. May 13 on the 4900 block of Whitaker Avenue. Investigators say 42-year-old Charles Smith was high on PCP and under the influence of alcohol when he was driving at nearly 100 mph and crashed into an SUV, according to reports. Hartz, a passenger in the SUV, was seriously injured. Her boyfriend, Tony OConnor, was killed, as was their unborn child, reports indicate. The couple had known each other since high school. "He meant everything, he was my everything, you know when things got hard, he was always there for me," Hartz told 6 ABC. Her leg was amputated, and the hospital staff told her she is not well enough to go to the funeral. Her father, Van Newman, spoke to the station, too, from his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, telling them hes an Uber driver, and accidents like this are the reason he gets up at 3 a.m. "It's not worth it if you kill someone, or ruin somebody's life for the rest of their lives," Newman told 6 ABC. Smith is being held without bail, facing charges of murder, homicide by vehicle while DUI and related offenses, according to reports. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Pity Andrew Scheer. First, the Conservative leader lost the last federal election. Then his own party told him it was time to go. Now, as the Conservatives engage in a contest to pick a new leader to replace him, Scheer is left temporarily holding the fort. Youd think he would just keep his mouth shut until the new leader, whoever that might be, takes over in August. But that, it seems, is not Scheers style. He continues to demonize Justin Trudeau, even though polls suggest that most Canadians think the Liberal prime minister is doing a reasonable job. Scheer is also taking to task the popular Canada Emergency Response Benefit, a program intended to help those unable to work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a press conference this week, Scheer claimed with little evidence that the program is being abused by fraudsters and criminals. The CERB provides $500 a week, for up to 16 weeks, to those who have lost wages because of the pandemic. Citing Statistics Canada figures, the National Post reported this week that in April, the number of people who applied for CERB exceeded by about a million the number officially counted as unemployed or underemployed. Economists and statisticians are divided as to what, if anything, this means. For instance, not all of those who apply for CERB receive the benefit. As well, the StatsCan unemployment figures are not ironclad. They are based on a relatively small polling sample with a double-digit margin of error. But Scheers problems here have more to do with the politics of the aid package. For most workers hammered by the pandemic, the CERB has been a godsend. It may suit the Conservative base to focus on those who abuse the program. But I doubt that most beneficiaries think of themselves as fraudsters and criminals. Indeed, popular reaction to social programs generally has changed. The virus has reminded us of their utility. They are no longer so easily dismissed as boondoggles for the unworthy. But Scheer, and those Conservatives whose views he represents dont seem to understand this. So, too, the deficit. For Scheer the deficit remains a bugaboo. On Wednesday in the Commons, he chided Trudeau for running massive deficits in order to fight the virus. Its an argument that would have had considerable traction in the past. But it does not now. Even economists who usually espouse fiscal conservatism say that governments must be willing to run huge deficits if the economy is to survive. For Trudeau, it was easy to dismiss Scheer. The Conservative leader, he told MPs, was making the same, tired arguments, that his party used to make under Stephen Harper. Scheer, he said, doesnt understand that the world has moved on. And that is Scheers problem. He is still fighting the last war. He has never accepted the fact that Trudeau won the last election. As a result, he can never treat the Liberal government as legitimate. He focuses on issues, such as keeping the Commons physically open, that most people dont care about. He treats programs that people do care about, like CERB, as hotbeds of fraud. He remains fixated on debt and deficit. At one level, most of this doesnt matter. Scheer is on his way out. But until August he is the voice of his party, a voice that is increasingly strident and out of date. Conservative backroomers Jenni Byrne and Kory Teneycke, both former spear carriers for Harper, have called on Scheer to step down immediately. Yet tellingly, none of the candidates for the partys leadership have publicly echoed this demand. For all of his faults and missteps, it seems that Scheer still speaks for an important element of the Conservative base. De-materialised trading of Reliance Industries Ltd - Rights Entitlement (RIL-RE) continued to draw strong demand on day-two on the stock exchanges on Thursday, rising by nearly 28 percent in intra-day trading before closing with a gain of 15.6 percent Mumbai: De-materialised trading of Reliance Industries Ltd - Rights Entitlement (RIL-RE) continued to draw strong demand on day-two on the stock exchanges on Thursday, rising by nearly 28 percent in intra-day trading before closing with a gain of 15.6 percent. Oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries' Rs 53,125 crore mega rights issue opened for subscription by shareholders on Wednesday. It became the first issue where eligible shareholders got the rights entitlements (REs) in demat, which could be traded on stock exchanges. RIL-REs made an intra-day high of Rs 258.30 a spurt of 27.8 percent from the previous close, according to stock exchange data. On Thursday, RIL-RE opened trading at Rs 212 and closed at Rs 233.60 on NSE a gain of 15.6 percent, supported by strong underlying volume (13.1 million REs traded). The RIL-RE volume-weighted average price (VWAP) for the day stood at Rs 215.1, implying a 16.9 percent gain over Wednesday's of Rs 184. VWAP for RIL share on Thursday was Rs 1,444 the intrinsic difference of Rs 187 over rights issue price (VWAP of Rs 1,444 Rights Issue price of Rs 1,257). REs trading at a premium to the intrinsic value reflects continued strong interest. The total market value of all the Reliance REs stood at Rs 9,805 crore. The company will offer one share for every 15 shares held at Rs 1,257 per share. RIL is issuing new shares to existing shareholders at a price lower than its current market price. Also, an eligible shareholder will get 18 months to pay for the new shares over three installments. The eligibility date to get these shares on preferred terms was 14 May. This will be the first issue where the rights entitlements will be credited to eligible shareholders' demat accounts and will be freely tradable. (Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Firstpost) News airing on our channels recently about the governments interest in rebranding head porters popularly known as kayaye may look or sound good emotionally but a look at this in terms of what our economy needs indicate that we are playing in this country. Either intentionally or we just dont know what we are doing. The governments reason for rebranding kayaye is to make the trade a dignifying venture. Gender Minister, Cynthia Morrison said rebranding the trade has become necessary because it is dehumanizing and dishonours the countrys image in the eyes of the international community. We are going to brand their operations by getting them leaders and branding their head pans so that it will be easy to trace your item if it gets missing she again added. I have found the government's reason very unsatisfying and with no contribution to the kind of developmental efforts we need to be putting up. If their reason is that the trade is dehumanizing and dishonours the country then the steps we should be taking is to start building an economy that will not push people into such trades in the first place. Since independence, our politicians have been in the business of patronizing us rather than building balance so that the less privilege in society will also stay away from engaging in devaluing economic activities in their quest to feed their families. It seems our politicians have little understanding of what governance is and the voters who put them in power have no idea either, so the whole politics and election topic is just something which is there. It is not surprising though, looking at the New Patriotic Party and their activities since they won power, the renaming ceremony campaign they initiated and the creation of numerous positions or offices that, well, we know the economic benefit of that. We all know this rebranding agenda they are putting up is going nowhere, it is just a waste of time and a way to avoid their responsibilities. Another interesting thing you might want to know is that during the 2016 Presidential race, head porters in the Kumasi Metropolis donated Ghc 5, 000 to support the Presidential ambition of the New Patriotic Party. This could be the New Patriotic Party showing their gratitude with this patronizing gesture. One thing they (politicians) have not been seeing for years is the fact that gestures like this cannot save the economy, it takes planning and hard and smart thinking, which we lack. I suggest the government things about policies and strategies that will actually give this country the honour it deserves, and they should stop hiding behind rebranding and renaming. Muslim communities in the UK have been hard hit, but during Ramadan, the principle of zakat is a source of strength. Behind the coronavirus death toll numbers are individual stories of trauma and tragedy for family members and friends. Among the deceased in the United Kingdom are staff members of the National Health Service (NHS) who have succumbed to the virus. The fact that they died from the very disease from which they were trying to save others is particularly poignant. Many of the doctors who have been killed by the virus in the UK were experienced medics with decades of service behind them. And many of them were Muslims. This is an example of the disproportionate effect that the pandemic has had on Muslims. Although Muslims are not synonymous with an ethnic minority, many Muslims are from backgrounds that have been shown to be more vulnerable than others to the virus. For example, British Muslims are over-represented in the medical field. But even beyond the NHS, coronavirus seems to have hit the Muslim community in the UK particularly hard. One of the countrys youngest victims, Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, died at the age of 13 with no family members allowed to be present in his final moments. Because of the close-knit nature of many large Muslim families, as well as frequent religious gatherings, some have warned that virus transmission in the community is likely to have been higher than in broader society. There is also the devastating financial impact. Even before COVID-19 struck, it was the case that Muslims were more than twice as likely to be in poverty than others in Britain. With widespread job losses and bereavements, thousands will be pushed to despair. A high proportion of Muslims are self-employed, a group that will have to wait until June to receive government financial assistance from a support package announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. In the midst of all this trauma, many Muslims are turning to their faith for hope and inspiration. One key concept that we are reminded of, and that has been exemplified by the doctors who have lost their lives, is that of sacrifice. This sacrifice is built largely on the Islamic concept of sabr. Sabr is to have the patience to persist in doing the right thing even when it is hard, whether that is heading into a disease-ridden ward for a gruelling night shift or enduring self-isolation. Sabr is also resistance in the face of temptation such as the temptation to stockpile key supplies and to forget the needs of others in the rush to take care of oneself. Patience and sacrifice are in the DNA of Islam. The most obvious symbol of Muslim faith practice the five daily prayers is a sacrifice of time that reminds us of lifes fleeting nature and purifies the rest of our daily activities. Zakat, which is effectively a Muslim wealth tax, is a sacrifice of wealth. Muslims around the world pay 2.5 percent of their liquid assets each year to the needy. This is not just charity it is a core duty and one that purifies the rest of our wealth. Zakat has played an important role in the UK, where the National Zakat Foundations quick-access hardship relief grants to destitute people more than doubled. And now it is the month of Ramadan, a time when the community usually comes together and mosques and homes are even more lively. This year has been different. The mosques have been closed and many families have recently buried loved ones. Ramadan, with its discipline of fasting, has played a more important role than ever in helping us develop further our capacity for patience and sacrifice. As humanity suddenly finds itself in a long war against coronavirus, many will look inwards and ask searching questions about purpose and meaning in their lives. Perhaps we can all draw inspiration from the spiritual values that can help us through the loss of both lives and livelihoods in these most trying of times. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. The Department of Agriculture has issued an Orange level Forest Fire Warning arising from increased temperatures and recent low rainfall levels. The warning is in place for next two days until Friday, May 22 and covers areas of gorse such as in the Curragh Plains where the evergreen shrubs covers much of the 5,000 acres. The Department of Agriculture said: "Arising from increased temperatures and low recent rainfall levels, a high fire risk is deemed to exist in all areas where hazardous fuels such as dead grasses and shrub fuels such as heather and gorse exist. "Based on recent fire incidents, most ignitions risks appear to be associated with deliberate ignitions on public recreation lands and forest sites open for public recreation. "Fire behaviour during the lifespan of this warning is likely to be strongly influenced by strengthening south to south east winds on Thursday ahead of rain approaching from the south west, but may be moderated by increased live growth in vegetation. "Members of the public intending to visit forests and other public recreational sites are reminded of the requirement to remain within 5km of their homes and to adhere to regulations introduced to limit the spread of Covid-19. "Vehicles should not be parked at site entrances or impede emergency service access to forest roads." VANCOUVER, BC and BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Imagin Medical (CSE:IME) (OTCQB:IMEXF) (Frankfurt & Stuttgart Symbol:DPD2) ("Imagin" or the "Company") announced today that its financial results for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2020, will be released after market close on Thursday, May 28, 2020. Imagin management will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. ET to review the financial results and discuss business developments in the period. Fiscal Second Quarter 2020 Results Conference Call Details: Date: May 28, 2020 Time: 5:00 p.m. ET Live Call: 844-369-8770 (Canada and the United States) 862-298-0840 (International) Replay: 919-882-2331 Replay ID: 35004 The call will also be broadcast live and archived on the Company's website at www.imaginmedical.com under "Events & Presentations." About Imagin Medical Imagin Medical is a surgical imaging company focused on advancing new methods of visualizing cancer during minimally invasive procedures. The Company believes its first product, the i/Blue Imaging System, with its proprietary optics and light sensors, will greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of detecting cancer for removal, helping to reduce recurrence rates. The Company's initial focus is bladder cancer. Learn more at www.imaginmedical.com. Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward- looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Specifically, there is no assurance the Company's imaging system will work in the manner expected. In addition, there is uncertainty about the spread of the COVID-19 virus and the impact it will have on the Company's operations, global supply chains and economic activity in general. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has affected economies and financial markets around the world resulting in an economic downturn. The effects of this pandemic on the Company may include interruptions to supply chains, manufacturing activities and research and development programs and increased government regulations or interventions. The duration and impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is unknown at this time and it is not possible to reliably estimate the length and severity of these developments nor the impact of these developments on the financial results and condition of the Company in future periods. Contacts: Stephen Kilmer, Investor Relations Telephone: 647-872-4849 Email: stephen@kilmerlucas.com Jim Hutchens, President & CEO Telephone: 833-246-2446 SOURCE: Imagin Medical View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590934/Imagin-Medical-to-Report-Second-Fiscal-Quarter-2020-Financial-Results-on-May-28-2020--Conference-Call-to-Follow Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Over the course of Davey Albas career as a tech reporter, her beat has transformed from covering the latest gadgets and phones to investigating the creeping influence and massive power wielded by tech companies over peoples everyday lives. As the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the globe, Alba, who covers tech and disinformation at The New York Times, has also been reporting on how conspiracy theories about the virus have flourished on social media. Alba faced a vicious campaign of online harassment after she co-authored a recent story with reporter Sheera Frenkel about how social media companies were responding to President Donald Trumps comments suggesting that disinfectants and ultraviolet light could treat the virus. After The New York Times contacted YouTube about a video that appeared to support similar questionable scientific claims, YouTube removed the video. That incident became a focal point of the online harassment against Alba, as people lashed out at her, claiming that she was responsible for getting the video taken down. CPJ spoke with Alba via phone on May 11, 2020. Her answers have been edited for length and clarity. How did you get on the disinformation beat? Ive been a tech reporter for a decade. The field itself and the coverage of tech reporting has really evolved into dealing with issues such as democracy and techs invasive effects on our lives. Its more focused on people and how technology can be harmful to the lives of people, how it can be suppressive, and how it intersects with civil liberties. Disinformation is something I fell into. I grew up in the Philippines and about three years ago I noticed that my friends and family were really addicted to Facebook. They were taking news cues from Facebook in a really alarming way. Then there was the rise of the authoritarian [Philippine President] Rodrigo Duterte. His campaign really unfolded on Facebook. I did an investigation into that when I was at BuzzFeed News and I wrote a piece about how Facebook helped fuel the drug war in the Philippines because of so much pro-Duterte rhetoric on the platform. A lot of that reporting just was sorting out the rumors and the narratives about how this all unfolded in the Philippines. Did you face online harassment and abuse because of that piece? Definitely. Being a reporter on the internet, especially being a woman of color, gives you a little taste of harassment. That was my first exposure to organized harassment. After that was published in 2018, I was accused of not understanding the context properly in the Philippines because [some readers] saw me as Filipino-American. I think I did the best job I could do having grown up there and with most of my childhood friends and my close family still living there. I got a lot of digital safety tips after that episode. I locked down my accounts, I turned off DMs, I made my Facebook private. There were pretty niche tips I followed too, like deleting my cover photo on Facebook for some time, because your cover photo is still public to outsiders even if youve locked all the other things in your Facebook account. Your first story about the coronavirus was on March 8, 2020. Tell me about the early days of your coverage, and when you started to see that this topic would dominate your beat. Weeks before that piece was published, as soon as the virus was starting to be in the news regularly and when it came to the U.S., bad information about the virus really ramped up. In the early days, it was a free-for-all. We saw a lot of really weird things, all the basic tricks: Phishing campaigns, people squatting on domains for coronavirus [by registering websites]. Bad actors often exploit an information void and fill it with bad information that they use for their own purposes. That could be making money for a cure theyre selling on the internet or pushing an anti-vaccination agenda. That was a very vulnerable time. Then, a lot of more established conspiracy groups weaponized the virus information void and filled in the blanks, shoehorning details to make the pandemic fit neatly into their existing narratives. For example, QAnon, the conspiracy group, brought the virus into its narrative by branding it as yet another development of the global elites trying to wrest power and control the population. Its this narrative of the deep state and people who are tangentially in power wanting to make a play for power and undermining the president. As the virus progressed, [disinformation and conspiracy theories] became more organized and coalesced around certain topics, certain figures, certain specific rumors. Since then weve written specifically about [Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist] Bill Gates, and how a lot of conspiracists see him as one of these global elites who is trying to control the population given his past work on vaccines. Another one is [director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] Dr. Anthony Fauci. Once the false narrative about him went truly viral, he had to get a security team because he started getting death threats. The president of the United States is a very central figure in coronavirus conspiracies. That was another flashpoint and cause for that campaign of harassment against me. You tweeted about the large amount of online harassment directed against you based on your story about Trumps disinfectant comments, and the fact that YouTube removed a video that seemed to support these comments after The New York Times inquired about it. Why do you think this particular story touched a nerve? That story followed a televised coronavirus briefing involving the president. He had made comments throwing out the idea that disinfectants could be injected into the body and that UV light could be used as a treatment inside the body. We wanted to look at the disinformation that stemmed from those comments, trying to see whether people actually believed them and whether there were real world harms associated with them. In the process of reporting I had noticed a few pieces of information that had become weaponized by a lot of the usual suspect conspiracy groups. One that they latched onto was a video of a supposed technology of UV light that could be shone inside the body. A catheter would be inserted into a coronavirus patients breathing tube and that catheter would have LED lights and it could shine UV light into the body. I noticed that that video, an illustrated video of this technology, had been posted in so many replies and in discussions about the presidents comments, sort of justifying that this existed, suggesting that it could be effective. I asked our sources at various social networks whether the video violated their policies of coronavirus misinformation. All of these companies now have individualized policies about virus misinformation when it can potentially cause harm to the public. I dont have the power to just ask a tech company about a piece of information thats out there on the internet then have it automatically taken down. All I can do is ask about it and they make their own decisions. And yet people were accusing you of deliberately getting the video removed from YouTube. Was that what drove this recent campaign of harassment? The ability to write a headline that said, New York Times reporter censors TK piece of content is very seductive to people with a certain point of view. (Several far-right websites wrote about the videos removal from YouTube.) Hilariously, the very first piece written about me, and most other pieces, said I was a manthey kept saying he. It was hilarious because my Twitter profile picture was right beside the tweets that they embedded. I also kind of saw it as feeding into wider sexist dynamics on the internet, that only male reporters can be taken seriously. They dont really see women of color journalists as worthy actors in this space. Did the harassment you faced last month target you as a woman of color? Absolutely. As soon as there was that targeted harassment with people individually messaging me through all channels, through email, through Instagram direct messages, through my website, on all fronts, they started to make targeted insults. I got a lot of, Go back to the Philippines, and We dont want you here. A lot of really nasty anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-everything comments. But I think that talking about it openly, especially after time has gone by, is really helpful. Its getting power back from this whole incident. It can be so exhausting when its happening and talking about it can be re-exposing yourself. I got two waves of that, first when I was tweeting about it during the reporting process and second when the piece came out. I learned a lot. I was blocking a lot of people on Twitter for a while. That ended up being weaponized against me because people started making new accounts saying, Oh, of course you blocked me, you dont want to hear different points of view. So, I switched to muting accounts instead, and that was helpful. People cant see that you muted them, but you stop getting notifications about their hateful messages. How can journalists stay safe when were often encouraged to show our personalities and personal lives on social media? Its really tough because to have a career in journalism today and have your work out there requires you to give a little bit of personal information showing your voice, showing your personality. Newsrooms and editors sometimes want it both ways where they want these really voice-y, personality-driven reporters and at the same time, they dont want any of the controversy that may come with that. The people who end up being in the most vulnerable spot are the journalists themselves. For young journalists especially, its important to be aware of all these forces at work and protect yourself as necessary. You just have to be mindful of everything you post online. Finally, I want to keep this in perspective. Im not a journalist out there in the hospital covering the virus. Those people are my heroes, because they are really putting their lives on the line. For more information on protecting yourself online, journalists should look at CPJs advice on protecting against targeted online attacks and protecting your digital security during the pandemic. Read CPJs Safety Advisory on covering the coronavirus pandemic, available here in over 35 languages. [May 20, 2020] Pomp and Pandemic Circumstances Behind Bars: Graduating the Class of 2020 Incarcerated Students As high school seniors across the country hold drive-through, ZOOM and other socially distanced graduation ceremonies, Tiara Arnold, 27, will be celebrating her own graduation milestone, albeit, alone in her cell at Alameda County Santa Rita Jail, in Dublin CA (News - Alert). She's been quarantined since March to reduce the risk of a coronavirus outbreak. "I'm super excited and I keep saying to myself, 'I did it. I did it,'" said Tiara Arnold, who was arrested at age 17, placed in maximum security at Santa Rita, moved to a prison and is back on appeal. "When I got arrested, my life was really going in the wrong direction. I was really distracted and made a lot of poor decisions. But while life was progressing for everyone else, I didn't go to prom, I didn't graduate from high school and I didn't get to do the one thing my mom asked me to do which was to get my high school diploma. I was in the worst place my life could be. But now since people invested so much in me and helped me believe in myself, I am determined to lead a life that is meaningful and helpful to others. I plan to go to college and hope to help my mom with her business and help other at-risk kids who are struggling." Thanks to the creativity and exceptional adjustments of Five Keys Schools and Programs and local Sherriff's departments, Arnold's experience underscores that of other inmates who are graduating from high school at the Alameda jail and custody facilities in San Francisco and Sonoma County. This is despite COVID-19 challenges to education and roadblocks exacerbating the disruption: prisoners do not have access to the Internet, so unlike traditional high schools, they could not immediately shift their curriculums online. When the coronavirus started to spread, teachers, principals and corrections officers faced a dilemma - how to continue educating incarcerated students as jails shut down and education for most students in traditional schools moved online. It was a significant pivot, as getting a high school degree reduces a person's likelihood of re-incarceration by 43 percent, according to a report by the RAND Corporation. "It's an amazing accomplishment for the students who really took on the extra challenges, like being locked down in their cells and not be able to meet with their teachers on ite, to push through and get across the graduation finish line," said Lillian Stables, principal at Five Keys for the Alameda jail site. For nearly two months now, Five Keys teachers have engaged students through self-paced programs and alternative learning, by delivering packets of curriculum to the jails and pushing student inmates to study independently. "We just had to get creative and sent in letters of support and homework and in my case, I just told my students that they can call me when they needed extra help so we can get them into this home stretch," said Rose Kleiner, a teacher at San Francisco County Jail #4, at 850 Bryant Street in San Francisco. "Even in the best of times, it can be daunting for them, but now the teachers can't come in and they can't see their families and are confined to their cells. That makes it pretty tough." But the inmates who are defying the odds and graduating this month "are a tenacious and resourceful bunch," said Lisa Paoloni, a teacher at Sonoma County's two jail facilities, which typically hold 1,050 to 1,100 inmates. Five Keys teachers sprang into action to figure out how to provide remote learning for students, and most teachers scramble to create a detailed COVID-19 overhaul of their curricula. "We met with the teachers and coordinators at the facilities - everyone we could - to try to brainstorm how we are going to do this when both the teachers are sheltering in place and the students are on lockdown," said Kris Davison, also a teacher at Sonoma County's jails. At the Alameda jail, principal Stables and an administrative assistant are admitted into the jail to bring the educational packets to students who are in the high school program. In some cases like in the San Francisco jails, the custody facility staff arranged for phone calls where individual students could meet with their teachers and for course materials to be dropped off for students, then picked up to be graded by teachers - an elaborately staged system to meet COVID-19 safety standards. The packets undergo a thorough content screening process and are given to the representative at the jail where they sit for three days (for safety issues) and are then handed over to the inmates. Each student receives a personal packet, tailored to his or her educational curriculum. The response from the inmates has been powerful. "One of my students sent me a letter in return that said, 'you have no idea how much it meant to me to get your letter and to know someone cares,'" said Davison. Five Keys offers secondary education at jails across California, in "normal times," sending faculty to teach in-person classes. Unlike traditional high schools, classes are held year-round, because the life of inmates/students is so transitional. To accommodate short sentences, classes are offered year-round in intensive, one-month semesters, allowing students to earn credits more quickly. About Five Keys Schools and Programs Dedicated to getting people's lives back on track, Five Keys Schools and Programs and its more than 550 dedicated employees serve more than 25,000 individuals each year throughout the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and nine counties throughout the state of California. Five Keys was founded in 2003 by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department as the first accredited charter high school in the nation to provide diploma programs for adults in county jails. Today its efforts have grown exponentially. The organization interrupts the cycles of homelessness, substance abuse, violence, literacy and incarceration through our 80 community learning centers, transitional housing shelters, career centers, and community-based workforce networks by investing in their humanity so that they can be self-determined to change their lives. Five Keys also hires people directly into our transitional employment positions for formerly incarcerated individuals and people currently or formerly experiencing homelessness. Five Keys has been the recipient of many awards including Harvard Kennedy School's Innovations in American Government Award, and California Charter School of the Year. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005903/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Tech companies from Africa, Asia and Europe have teamed up with Facebook to build one of the largest subsea cable projects in the world. Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC have all partnered to build 2Africa said to be the most comprehensive subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region ever. The companies have appointed Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build the cable in a fully funded project which will greatly enhance connectivity across Africa and the Middle East. At 37,000km long, 2Africa will be one of the worlds largest subsea cable projects and will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa. The system is expected to go live in 2023 to 2024, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, with a design capacity of up to 180Tbps on key parts of the system. 2Africa will deliver much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin the further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for hundreds of millions of people. In countries where the 2Africa cable will land, service providers will obtain capacity in carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis. This will support healthy Internet ecosystem development by facilitating greatly improved accessibility for businesses and consumers alike. The 2Africa project, seeks to penetrate Africas internet market, where less than a quarter of its population of 1.3 billion people have internet connectivity says Kojo Boakye, Public Policy Director, Facebook Africa adding that 16 African countries including Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt in addition to seven others from Middle East and Europe will interconnect from the project. He said the project will offer enhanced engineering, resilience, more efficiency and capacity building and overall improved cost of connectivity will be strengthened. The 2Africa cable has been designed to improve resilience and maximise performance, including the option of a seamless optical crossing between East Africa and Europe. The 2Africa parties and Airtel have signed an agreement with Telecom Egypt to provide a completely new crossing linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the first in over a decade. This includes new cable landing stations and deployment of next-generation fibre on two new, diverse terrestrial routes parallel to the Suez Canal from Ras Ghareb to Port Said, and a new subsea link that will provide a third path between Ras Ghareb and Suez. The 2Africa cable will implement new technology, SDM from ASN, allowing deployment of up to 16 fibre pairs instead of the eight fibre pairs supported by older technologies, bringing much greater and more cost-effective capacity. The cable will incorporate optical switching technology to enable flexible management of bandwidth. Cable burial depth has also been increased by 50% compared to older systems, and cable routing will avoid locations of known subsea disturbance, all helping to ensure the highest levels of availability. Were excited to be collaborating with our 2Africa partners on the most comprehensive subsea cable that will serve the continent, says Najam Ahmad, VP of Network Infrastructure at Facebook. 2Africa is a major element of our ongoing investment in Africa to bring more people online to faster Internet. Weve seen first-hand the positive impact that increased connectivity has on communities, from education to healthcare. We know that economies flourish when there is a widely accessible Internet for businesses. 2Africa is a key pillar supporting this tremendous Internet expansion as part of Africas surging digital economy. Antibody tests for coronavirus will be provided on the NHS under a deal signed by the government, and trials are to begin for separate 20-minute tests. NHS staff and care workers are first in line for the antibody checks, which can tell whether a person has had the virus and produced the antibodies to fight it. It is hoped that people who have already had the virus have developed immunity to it. Scientists do not yet know what level of protection is built up. Experts say increased herd immunity to the disease is required to allow more people to return to normal life without disruptive lockdown measures. Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed at a daily Downing Street press briefing on Thursday that the antibody contract included provision for 10 million tests. They are being supplied by Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company Roche. Mr Hancock also announced the start of trials of a swab test to detect Covid-19 in just 20 minutes. A&E departments, GP testing hubs and care homes in the county of Hampshire will begin the 4,000-person trial. These tests involve taking a swab from inside the nose or the back of the throat. Some healthcare firms have suggested so-called immunity passports could be issued to people who have had the virus. They are in talks with the government over the policy. Other experts have, however, said such a system would be impractical and the World Health Organisation has urged caution, warning there is not yet any evidence that people who have had the disease are immune. Mr Hancock said that a study suggested that 17 per cent of people in London and around 5 per cent of the rest of the country have coronavirus antibodies. He also confirmed a certification system was being developed, telling the news conference: Its not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring. Its that knowing that you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus. Were developing this critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given assurances of what they can safely do. UK health authorities approved the use of new antibody tests in Britain last week they are said to be 100 per cent accurate, and Boris Johnson has previously described them as a game-changer. The governments separate test, track and trace programme to identify people with the virus and who they have come into contact with is due to start on 1 June. However, a contact-tracing app that is part of the programme is running behind schedule. Asked about the struggling pilot, the prime ministers official spokesperson told reporters: The whole point of piloting the app is to identify any issues with it in order to ensure they can be ironed out. That work is ongoing. They added: We believe well have an effective track and trace system in place by 1 June. Prof Stephen Powis, the NHS England medical director, urged caution over reliance on antibody tests at the Downing Street press conference on Wednesday. He said: What we dont absolutely know at the moment is whether having antibodies, and having the antibodies that are tested in those tests, means that you wont get the virus again. Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Show all 13 1 /13 Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Cheryll Mack, 46, a registered nurse in the emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The Covid-19 spread has affected a lot of livelihood, a lot of people's lives. It has created a crisis, death in general. So I would like to ask not one single person, but all people worldwide, to converge and join the platform that this is something that nobody can fight individually," said Mack. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Laura Bontempo, 50, an emergency medicine doctor wears her personal protective equipment she uses when she sees patients, while posing for a photograph after a nine-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moments have actually been separating families from patients, there is a no-visitor policy now and taking people away from their loved ones is very challenging," Bontempo said. "I'm used to treating sick patients. I treat sick patients all the time. It's very different knowing that the patient you are treating, is actually a risk to you as well. That's the main difference here. No one who works in hospitals is afraid of treating sick people. Just want to keep staff safe and the patients safe at the same time." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Ernest Capadngan, 29, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment during the shift was just seeing Covid patients die helpless and without their family members beside them," Capadngan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Martine Bell, 41, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a six-hour shift outside the hospital where she works. "The hardest thing in all of this, has been taking care of fellow healthcare providers. It really hits home and it's really scary when you see someone that could be you coming in and now you're taking care of them. It's also hitting home that once healthcare providers start getting sick, who is going to be taking care of the public," Bell said. "It's very stressful, everyone is on edge. We don't know who's coming in next, or how sick they're going to be, or if we are going to get a whole bunch of people or if we're not going to get no one. It's a really stressful and just a completely unusual time for all of us." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kaitlyn Martiniano, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital. "We have a lot of patients and they are pretty sick right now but we have not yet been hit as hard as New York or Seattle, so I feel like we are very lucky with that so far. Every day you have to just be optimistic." Said Martiniano. "I think the reason that we are not being hit as hard right now is because so many things are closed, and because so many people are staying at home." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tracey Wilson, 53, a nurse practitioner in an intensive care unit (ICU), poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I had a patient fall out of bed today and I had to call his wife and tell her and she couldn't come see him, even though she pleaded and begged to come see him," Wilson said. "There is a lot of unknowns and with that unknown is a lot of anxiety and stress that we're not used to dealing with." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Meghan Sheehan, 27, a nurse practitioner in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "I think the hardest moment has been the fear that lives within all of us. There is a lot of unknown right now. We fear what's going to happen tomorrow, how the emergency department will look next week when we come in. We have fears about our own colleagues, whether they will fall ill. We also fear that we could be asymptomatic carriers and bring this virus home to our families and our loved ones. There has been a lot of fear over our supplies and whether we'll run out. And then obviously there is the fear that we will see patients and not be able to do everything we normally can to help save patients' lives," Sheehan said. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Kimberly Bowers, 44, a nurse practitioner in an ICU, poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was a young woman who died and her family wasn't able to be here with her," Bowers said. "I think right now, it's just frustrating and scary just not knowing what comes next." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Tiffany Fare, 25, a registered nurse who works at a biocontainment unit poses for a photograph after a 13-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works. "One of the hardest moments was having to see a family member of a Covid patient, say goodbye over an iPad, rooms away. That was a tough one, I can't imagine how hard it would be to be saying goodbye, you can't see your loved one and then they're gone," Fare said. "My team has been really great to me. We've worked really well together and we've really come together in this crisis. We don't really know each other, we all come from different units within the same hospital, so for us to come together and work so well as a team, it's been a journey but I think that's what is giving me hope." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Dr Kyle Fischer, 35, an emergency medicine doctor, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift, outside the hospital where he works. "Since it's a new virus, we don't have any experience with it. For most diseases I am used to seeing it and taking care of it and this, I don't have any starting place. I know what I'm hearing from New York, I've read all of the papers it seems like, but no one knows what the correct answers are, so there's a huge amount of uncertainty and people are really, really sick. So it's hard to second guess whether or not you are doing the right thing when you think you are but you never quite know," said Fischer. Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Julia Trainor, 23, a registered nurse at a surgical ICU, poses for a photograph after a 14-hour shift, outside the hospital. "The hardest moment was having to put a breathing tube in my patient who could no longer breathe for herself and after the breathing tube went in, we called her family and the husband, of course, couldn't visit her because of visitor restrictions at the hospital. So I had to put him on the phone and hold the phone to her ear, as he told her that he loved her so much and then I had to wipe away her tears as she was crying," said Trainor. "I'm used to seeing very sick patients and I'm used to patients dying but nothing quite like this. In the flip of a switch, without the support, they're completely isolated. They're very sick. Some of them recover and some of them don't. But the hardest part, I would think, is them having to go through this feeling like they are alone." Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Lisa Mehring, 45, a registered nurse who works in a biocontainment unit with Covid-19 patients, poses for a photograph after a 12.5-hour shift, outside the hospital where she works in Maryland. "Seeing these new moms have babies has been the hardest moment along with having do their pumping for the new moms and them not being able to be with their newborn children, it's hard to think of the family that they are missing," Mehring said. Photos Reuters Inside US hospital: A day fighting the coronavirus Jacqueline Hamil, 30, a registered nurse in an emergency department, poses for a photograph after a 12-hour shift outside the hospital. "The hardest moment of my shift today, I was in charge, and we had a really sick patient that was in a really, really small room and usually, when we have sick crashing patients, we can have a ton of resources and a ton of staff go in and help with the nurse and the doctors that are taking care of that patient. But due to the patient being ruled out for the coronavirus, we could only have five or six people in the room at a time and putting on all the gowns and gloves and masks and face shields to protect us in case the patient does have coronavirus, it takes a while, so the nurse that was in there, ended up being in the room for you know 6, 7 hours with minimal breaks and it was hard being in charge and knowing that she was stuck in the room and really nothing I could do to help her," Hamil said. Reuters I wouldnt want people to think just because you test positive for the antibody that it necessarily means that you can do something different in terms of social distancing or the way you behave. Because until we are absolutely sure about the relationship between the positive antibody tests and immunity, I think we as scientists would say we need to tread cautiously. The prime ministers official spokesperson told reporters: The tests will be free for people who need them, as you would expect. NHS and care workers will be prioritised for the tests. Asked whether everyone will get access to an antibody test through the NHS, Professor Powis said: It is the early phase of these tests and where we will use them first is in health, and probably social care settings for patients, obviously, but also for staff in those settings where it is most important that we understand about infection. Superdrug is the first high street retailer to offer a home antibody testing kits. The 69 DIY kit requires users to take a blood sample at home, which is then sent off for laboratory testing. Online bookings for air tickets for domestic flights are likely to start from Thursday evening, as the government plans to resume air traffic from May 25, which was suspended since the nationwide lockdown restrictions came into effect from March 25 to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak A senior official from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said on condition of anonymity that a flight schedule would be made available for each domestic carrier after the regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), draws up the plan of the routes that would be allowed to operate initially. The government plans to resume domestic travel in a phased manner from May 25 because of the pandemic. The ministry has fixed the maximum and minimum cap for airfares. For example, the lowest fare for a Delhi-Mumbai flight will be Rs3,500 and the highest at Rs10,000. And, 40% of seats on a flight have to be sold at the mid-point of this band, which works out to Rs6,700. This fare will be applicable till 11.59 pm on August 24. The ministry has capped the domestic air travel capacity, which will be applicable between May 25 and August 24. In the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, flights have been allowed to operate one-third of their capacity. While in the metro to non-metro cities and vice-versa, where the weekly departures are more than 100, each flight can operate one-third of its capacity. And, for all other cities, airlines are free to operate on any route on one-third of its capacity. However, these restrictions are not applicable for UDAN flights that operate under the regional connectivity scheme. Airlines will decide on the frequency of the flights depending on the demand after the schedule is made available, said a private airline official. The MoCA has urged senior citizens and pregnant women to avoid travelling because of the viral outbreak. The ministry guidelines stipulated that passengers would have to report to an airport two hours before their flight is set to depart, and only those passengers, who have checked-in online, would be allowed to enter the airport terminal building with only one check-in bag and one hand baggage of a specified size. No passenger staying in a containment zone or who tested Covid-19 positive or have not been permitted to fly should not travel or else that person would be penalised, it added. A passenger needs to give a self-declaration by using the Aarogya Setu mobile application to show that h/she doesnt have any Covid-19 symptoms. Passengers with red status in the app wont be permitted to travel. Passengers must compulsorily wear face masks and airline crew members have been instructed to use personal protective equipment (PPE) kit. Airlines will not be allowed to serve meals on flights, newspapers, and magazines are also barred. The ministry has asked air passengers to wear face masks throughout their journey and carry minimum baggage, as few trolleys will be available. Passengers have been asked to complete the check-in and baggage drop process at least an hour prior to their flight departs. A passenger, who doesnt have Aarogya Setu application on his mobile phone, will be guided to a dedicated counter at the airport to download the app. Then, the passenger has to go to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) counter at the security checkpoint. The SOP for an air passenger states that after entering the terminal, the flier will have to download the baggage tag/baggage identification number, print it, and affix it on the bag at a prominent place. In case the passenger is not able to print the baggage tag, then he/she should mention the PNR number and his/her name on a thick piece of paper and affix it/tag it with a strong string, the SOP added. All biohazards will have to be disposed of in yellow bins at airports and social distancing norms must be strictly followed in the food and beverage (F&B) and retail sections. Hand sanitisers will be made available at all prominent places at airports. Passengers will have to wait in the baggage hold area until their baggage arrives in batches. Transit passengers will be allowed only in the transit hold area. The ministry has directed airlines to inform the passengers that only web check-in is allowed. All passengers body temperatures will be measured at airports during entry and before boarding a flight. Crew members also need to undergo frequent and random health check-ups. An aircraft has to be vigorously disinfected after every flight, it added. Universities and colleges should not receive additional state funding, the Galway-based head of one of the world's largest online learning platforms has said. Alison.com founder Mike Feerick said that the Covid-19 pandemic should act as a wake-up call to Government policy- makers on reorganising education. "Universities' business model is broken," Mr Feerick (right) told the Irish Independent. "If you look at their balance sheets, they've been investing more in accommodation and tourism than learning in recent years. In many cases, it's a real estate and tourism business." Mr Feerick said that Alison.com has signed up 600,000 registered learners on his online learning platform, which is free, since the start of the pandemic. He said that the 13-year-old online system now has over 1,500 online courses has 15 million registered members worldwide, with over 2 million graduates. He said that universities should begin putting courses online at little or no cost, possibly funded by the Irish State, for "everyone" to benefit. "A basic change in the system has been coming for years," he said. "There's a trend around the world where all knowledge and skills is trending towards zero, because as soon as the knowledge and skills are out there, they're being disseminated far quicker over the internet anyway." Asked whether university faculty could be paid the same rates under a more distributed system as currently, Mr Feerick said that it was unlikely. "They won't. And it's beyond time to be paying them what they're being paid now," he said. "It annoys me when they go on about needing more money, that this extra money is the solution. No. The Government needs to realise that this whole sector needs to be restructured. The university industry is a declining industry in terms of revenue." Universities and colleges in Ireland have long argued that they are finding it more difficult to compete with international peer institutions because of shortfalls in funding from the State and from enforced caps on collecting fees. Ireland's highest-ranked university, Trinity College Dublin, has continued to fall further away from the top 100 global universities with each year's rankings. The Cassells Report, commissioned by the government in 2016, recommended an extra 600m per year for higher level education, to be raised either through substantially more state funding or the introduction of a new student loan system. However, the report was referred to the EU and is still awaiting action from the Irish Government. And if the government says, Its OK, you can go out and shop, will people actually do it? Ive been looking at a very imperfect indicator, OpenTable bookings, and it turns out that even in states that have opened, nobody is going out anyway. Everything hinges on the epidemiology. In the 1918 influenza outbreak, there was a first wave that receded and then a monstrous second wave, and that unfortunately does look like a real possibility for us. If this virus hangs in there, then all my arguments about how the economic scarring from this is not so severe that we cant recover fast become irrelevant, because we cant recover fast if the virus is still hanging around. S.B.L.: Assuming that happens, what are some of the long-term risks youre concerned about? P.K.: The first one is if people are ready to go back and shop at their usual businesses, what if those businesses have failed? Im not going to go back shopping at the Pier 1 right by my Trader Joes because there is no Pier 1 anymore. Its liquidated. If families have dug into their savings, even when the virus is gone, they might be unable or unwilling to spend because theyre desperate to rebuild a bit of a cash cushion. And the real big risk Im concerned about is state and local governments, which unlike the federal government are not allowed to run budget deficits. Theyre bleeding revenue and have extra expenses, so they may be forced to cut. One of the really amazing things in this last job report was that weve already seen a million jobs lost in state and local governments, which is way more than we lost in the whole of the last slump. And more to come. All of those things could be managed if you provide enough disaster relief. For some of them, we partly have. After a very rocky start, the unemployment benefits are playing a big role. Theyre probably making up something like 75, 80 percent of lost wages. Were sustaining household finances, but the small-business support has been a disaster. And theres been no significant aid to state and local governments. So we could be making this into something that will last a long time. S.B.L.: Whats your most pessimistic prediction for the economy if the timeline for the pandemic is similar to that of the 1918 flu? YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan arrived today in the Republic of Artsakh to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected President Arayik Harutyunyan, the President-elect of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan said on Facebook. Just a while ago together with President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan we welcomed Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan at the Stepanakert airport. They are going to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected President at a special session of the Parliament in Shushi, Harutyunyan said. He also informed that on May 22 he and PM Pashinyan will hold their first official working meeting during which they will discuss broad range of issues relating to the upcoming activities. Arayik Harutyunyan was elected President of Artsakh based on the results of the voting in the second round of the presidential election on April 14. Reporting by Lilit Depuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan The World Health Organization has reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases, as US President Donald Trump proposed hosting world leaders for the annual G7 summit as a sign of "normalization." The WHO said Wednesday that more than 106,000 virus cases had been reported -- the most in a single day since the outbreak erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. Demonstrators display fake body bags during a protest in front of the White House in Washington, DC. By Eric BARADAT (AFP) The UN body's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "very concerned" about the situation in low- and middle-income nations. Latin America has seen infections surge in recent days and, in some cases, countries have reinstated lockdown measures that had been eased. Brazil has been hardest hit, logging the third-highest number of cases in the world. Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections. People enjoy the sunshine on the beach in Brighton, on the south coast of England, as the country's official coronavirus death toll rose to 25,079. By Ben STANSALL (AFP) Health officials in Brazil reported 1,179 new coronavirus deaths in a single day, although far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a "little flu." With the outbreak in the world's sixth-largest country expected to accelerate until early June, Bolsonaro has refused to accept experts' advice, pressing regional governors to end stay-at-home measures. Protesters gather in Barcelona against the Spanish government's measures during the national lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. By Pau Barrena (AFP) And like Trump, he has promoted the use of anti-malaria drugs against the virus despite studies showing they have no benefit and could have dangerous side effects. Trump, determined to reignite the troubled US economy ahead of his re-election bid in November, said Wednesday the country was "Transitioning back to Greatness" and announced he could host June's G7 summit at a presidential retreat, instead of holding it as a virtual gathering. Health workers carry a patient with symptoms of the new COVID-19 coronavirus from an ambulance into a hospital in Santiago. By MARTIN BERNETTI (AFP) "I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David," he said on Twitter. "The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all -- normalization!" G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- take turns organizing the annual summit. Crosses representing COVID-19 deaths are placed on the walls of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Balally, Ireland. By Paul Faith (AFP) French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would attend if "health conditions allow," while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would "wait and see what happens." Promising studies With a global death toll of more than 325,000 and nearly five million people infected, governments around the world are desperately hoping for a vaccine that would allow them to dispense with the lockdowns that have hammered their economies. A man wearing a facemask sells food at his stall on a street in Wuhan, China. By Hector RETAMAL (AFP) There was encouraging news on that front Wednesday, as experiments on monkeys offered hope that humans can develop immunity to the virus. Researchers reported progress from one study that looked at a prototype vaccine, and another on whether infection with COVID-19 confers protection against re-exposure. "We demonstrate in rhesus macaques that prototype vaccines protected against SARS-CoV-2 infection and that SARS-CoV-2 infection protected against re-exposure," said senior author Dan Barouch of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Europe hopes to save tourism Europe appears to be over the inital hump of infections, with the number of new cases and deaths on a steady decline, allowing some lockdowns to be eased. People enjoy a sunny day near the Grand Palais and the Pont Alexandre III bridge in Paris as France partially lifts restrictions. By Philippe LOPEZ (AFP) "I haven't seen the sea for two months," said Helena Prades at a beach in Barcelona. "We just really wanted to hear the sound of the waves." As Spain emerges from one of the world's toughest lockdowns, face masks are mandatory for anyone aged six and over in public where social distancing is not possible. European officials have now turned their attention to trying to save the summer tourism season, which is crucial for the continent's economies. A woman covers her children with a shawl to protect them from the sun as she waits in New Delhi with other migrant workers and families to get registered for travel to their home towns after the goverment eased its nationwide lockdown. By Prakash SINGH (AFP) European Union tourism ministers held a virtual meeting on Wednesday as Greece announced plans to restart its travel season. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said seasonal hotels could reopen from June 15 and international flights would resume from July 1. In Italy, airports were given the green light to reopen from June 3, including for international flights. Gradual reopening in Asia Countries in Asia are also gradually reopening. Armed protesters demonstrate outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan. By JEFF KOWALSKY (AFP) India said domestic air travel will resume on May 25 after a two-month shutdown, even as the world's second-most populous country reported its biggest daily jump in coronavirus infections, with more than 5,600 new cases in 24 hours. New Zealanders were finally able to go back to the pub on Thursday, but acknowledged that normality was still a way off. "I think we've got to be realistic and say it's going to be pretty rubbish for the next six months," said Kevin McAree, who runs an upmarket winery in Wellington. "People's habits have changed (during lockdown). They're used to maybe having a nice bottle of wine at home and spending a bit more on takeaway food. "But eventually they'll want to get out and enjoy themselves." burs-aph/hg President Muhammadu Buhari has terminated the appointment of Prof. Charles Uwakwe as the Registrar/Chief Executive of the National Examinations Council, (NECO). Similarly, he has dismissed four other Management Staff of the Council for various offences. In a Letter dated 11th May, 2020 and signed by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Arc. Sonny Echono on behalf of the Education Minister, Uwakwe was accused of violating the Public Procurement Act (2007) and pursuant to PSR 030402 and part 1 schedule 4 (i) of NECO Establishment Act. Part of the letter reads: after due consideration of the investigative panel on the allegation of unsatisfactory conduct levelled against you and some Management Staff of the Council, Mr. President in exercise of his powers, has approved your removal as Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of National Examinations Council with effect from the date of your suspension from duty. The Former Registrar was directed to hand over all Government properties in his custody to the Acting Registrar of the Council. Also, in another letter with reference NO: FME/S/1419/C.3/T/98, dated 11th May, 2020, and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono, its disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the dismissal from service of Four Management Staff for various offences. A Press Statement signed by Head Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani said the affected officers are: Mr. Bamidele Olure, Acting Director (Finance and Acounts), Dr. Shina Adetona, Head of Procurement Division, Mr. Tayo Odukoya, Deputy Director and Barr. Babatunde Aina, Head of Legal/Board matters. The letter stated that after due consideration of the Financial report of the Review Committee, Mr. President has approved the recommendations as follows. Mr. Bamidele Amos Olure, Acting Director (Finance and Accounts), dismissal from the service with effect from the date of his suspension from office having been found guilty of financial impropriety and not qualified to Head the Finance and Accounts Department. The letter also stated that Dr. Shina Adetona was dismissed from service with effect from the date he was suspended from office for acts tantamount to fraudulent practices, sabotage and suppression of official records pursuant to PSR 030402 (b & t). He is also to be prosecuted in line with section 58 (5) (a & b) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) (2007) for flagrant violation of PPA 2007 as Head of Procurement and misleading Management on Procurement. Also, Mr. Tayo Odukoya was dismissed from service for acts of serious misconduct which violates PSR 030301 and PSR 030402 (q) (t) (w). He is to be prosecuted in line with section 58 (5) (a) and (b) of the Public Procurement Act (2007) for flagrant violation of the Act. The letter directed the Management of NECO to Commence the process of recovering ill-gotten benefits/gains from Mr. Odukoya who acted as Director of a company (M/S I-web Solutions) while in service of Government. Barrister Babatunde Aina was dismissed from service for falsification of records and dishonesty in the sale of NECO Guest House, which violates section 2609 (a) of the Financial Regulations (FR) and PPA (2007) part X section 55 (2) (4) and section 56 which are tantamount to serious misconduct pursuant to PSR 030301 (g), PSR 030402 (a) and PSR 030402 (m). The letter indicated that the dismissal of Barr. Aina from service is without prejudice to the investigation being carried out by EFCC on the sale of the NECO Guest House. It could be recalled that Prof. Uwakwe and two of the dismissed Management Staff were on 10th May, 2018 placed on suspension while an investigative panel was constituted to probe the allegations of unsatisfactory conduct leveled against them. Ebonyi State Government says it would not hesitate to order a total lockdown of the state if the coronavirus pandemic cases continue to rise in the state. This is even as it noted that those who claimed that the virus was not real were jokers. It said the realities on ground proved that the virus is a reality. Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi stated this on Wednesday during the weekly statewide broadcast to give update on the Covid-19 pandemic. Umahi, who lambasted those saying the disease was a conduit for money making by politicians, urged the residents not to be deceived by social media enthusiasts who took to Facebook and other online platforms to castigate the state government. While revealing that the state recorded the 13th Covid-19 case on Tuesday, he appealed to Nigerians to take the instructions of the National Centre for Disease Control seriously, in order not to fall victims of the pandemic. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Hearing in a suit seeking to stop the infectious diseases control bill was on Wednesday stalled due to failure to serve Femi Gbajabiamil... Hearing in a suit seeking to stop the infectious diseases control bill was on Wednesday stalled due to failure to serve Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, with necessary court processes. Dino Melaye, former senator representing Kogi west, had filed the suit against Gbajabiamila, and four others seeking for the protection of his fundamental rights over the bill. According to Melaye, the bill threatens the dignity of person, personal liberty, right to private and family life, right to freedom of movement and right to own immovable property in Nigeria. Other respondents in the suit are the clerk of the national assembly, the clerk of the house of representatives, Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the federation, and Mohammed Adamu, inspector general of police. On May 13, 2020, Ijeoma Ojukwu, the judge, had refused an ex parte application by the plaintiff (Melaye) asking for an order directing parties to maintain status quo in the matter. Instead, the judge summoned all respondents in the suit to make appearances on Wednesday so as to give reasons why the bill should not be stopped as requested by the plaintiff. When the case was called on Wednesday, Nkem Okoro, counsel to Melaye, urged the court to order parties to maintain status quo on grounds that the respondents had failed to file their responses. Kayode Ajulo, counsel to Gbajabiamila, told the court that his client is yet to be served with court processes. Clerks of the national assembly and the house of representatives as well as the AGF were absent and their lawyers did not represent them. Delivering his ruling, the judge refused to grant the plaintiffs prayers on grounds that service of court documents had not been effected on all the respondents. She ordered that the speaker be served through his lawyer, Ajulo. The matter has been adjourned to June 1 for hearing. The provisions of the new bill seeks to repeal the quarantine act of 1926 and provide new regulations that would enable Nigeria to manage situations like the coronavirus pandemic. The proposed legislation, which has passed second reading, was sponsored by Gbajabiamila and two other lawmakers: Pascal Obi and Tanko Sununu. Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of four male youths over the alleged robbery of a woman at her residence in Ota Ward earlier this year, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (May 20). At around 3:45 a.m. on March 8, the youths gained access to the residence, located in the Shinkamata area, by using a concrete block to smash a window on the first floor. They then allegedly tied up the arms and legs of the woman, 63, and gagged her mouth with tape before taking 16,000 yen in cash. The woman suffered broken ribs in the incident, police said. All four of the suspects admit to the allegations. aI wanted money,a one of the suspects was quoted. According to police, three of the youths are 16, while the fourth, the ringleader, is 17. The ringleader recruited the others by posting a message about aunderground part-timea work on Twitter. The 16-year-old youths have already been referred to a family court, police said, according to TV Asahi (May 20). Police are now investigating whether the suspects were plotting other crimes. (Newser) Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents on Tuesday night searched the homes of the two men accused of murdering black jogger Ahmaud Arberythough it's not clear what kind of evidence they were looking for three months after the shooting. The GBI said that it executed a search warrant at the homes of ex-cop Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, who are being held without bail. ABC News reports that attorneys for the two men declined to comment on the searches in the Satilla Shores subdivision near Brunswick, Georgia. The GBI agents appeared to leave without items after searching homes, vehicles, and a backyard boat dock, WSB-TV reports. story continues below The McMichaels, who are white, told police they saw Arbery running through their neighborhood on Feb. 23 and, believing him to be a suspect in an alleged series of break-ins, got their guns and chased him in a truck. Police say they shot the 25-year-old after a confrontation. They were arrested this month after video of the incident sparked anger and calls for an investigation. Arbery family attorney S. Lee Merritt says William Bryan, the neighbor who filmed the video, should also be arrested for taking part in the "ambush," CNN reports. Greg McMichael says Bryan tried to block Arbery's path, but Bryan's lawyer says his client was unarmed and did not communicate with the McMichaels. (Relatives say a video shows Arbery had been harassed by police.) Amid tensions mounting with China along the LAC, and a controversy over Nepal's new political map, now Prime Minister KP Oli has blamed India for the spread of the novel Coronavirus in his country. This comes immediately after he defended Nepal's new political map that includes part of India as its territory. He claimed that the virus from India is more 'lethal' than that from China; and this even though just days earlier, 123 countries had overwhelmed China's clout and forced WHO to agree to a comprehensive evaluation to the origins of the COVID-19 virus. In a speech in parliament, Oli said: "Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing. It has become very difficult to contain COVID-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected," said the Nepal PM. READ | Indian Army deploys additional troops in Ladakh, days after Indo-China face-off along LAC Nepal's new map Even as Nepal's foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives, the country issued an official map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory. Oli reiterated that Nepal will claim Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapanias through 'diplomatic efforts'. Earlier, the country's president Bidhya Bhandarialso said that these parts belong to Nepal and appropriate diplomatic measures will be adopted to resolve the existing issues with India. Nepalese media quoted an official at the Ministry of Land Reform and Management as saying: "The new map was drawn on the basis of the Sugauli Treaty of 1816 signed between Nepal and then the British India government and other relevant documents, which suggests Limpiyadhura, from where the Kali river originated, is Nepals border with India." READ | After Nepal claims Indian territory in its new political map, PM KP Oli defends inclusion MEA rejects Nepal's claims As the new political map created commotion in New Delhi amid mounting tensions with China along the LAC, the Ministry of External Affairs slammed this "unilateral act". Maintaining that this move was not based on historical facts and evidence, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava observed that this was contrary to the understanding between the two countries to resolve boundary disputes through dialogue. He made it clear that India shall not accept such an "artificial enlargement" of territory. Thereafter, he urged the Nepal government to respect India's consistent position on this matter. Srivastava expressed hope that the Nepalese leadership would create a positive dialogue to resolve boundary issues. READ | Coronavirus cases in Nepal rises to 375: Health Ministry Recent row between India and Nepal India and Nepal are at loggerheads after India issued a new political map incorporating Kalapani and Lipulekh on its side of the border in October last year. The tension further escalated after India inaugurated a road link connecting Kailash Mansarovar, the holy pilgrimage site situated at Tibet, China, that passes through the territory that Nepal claims. The 80-km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this month is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said the road going through Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district "lies completely within the territory of India". After the new road was inaugurated on May 8 connecting the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand with Kailash Mansarovar route in China, Nepal had protested and said it is also considering putting up a security post in the area. Nepal's foreign minister also summoned the Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra and handed over a diplomatic note to him to protest against the construction of the key road. READ | India's Health Min Dr Harsh Vardhan set to be WHO Executive Board chairman: Officials Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Transition Metals Corp. (TSXV: XTM) ("Transition", "XTM") is pleased to announce that option partner Forum Energy Metals ("Forum") together with Rio Tinto Exploration ("RTEC") have announced plans to complete an extensive summer exploration program at Janice Lake, Saskatchewan. This work will include a 2,000 metre reconnaissance diamond drill program to test targets on known mineralized zones, systematic mapping and prospecting across the 52 kilometre strike extent of the property and the completion of a regional Audio-frequency Magnetotelluric (AMT) transect. Detailed geochemical and geophysical surveys will be carried out over known mineralized zones to aid in drill-target selection. In addition, RTEC and Forum will mobilize a Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drill rig to test for near surface bedrock copper showings in areas with poor bedrock exposure. As reported in the Transition news release of January 22, 2020 (and by Forum on January 21, 2020) RTEC received a permit to build a winter access trail and install a temporary 65-80 person capacity work camp. RTEC has completed a 110 kilometre trail to the project area and will now work towards completing the construction of a camp capable of supporting more focused programs drilling on the property in the future. Commenting on the plans, Transition CEO and President Scott McLean, P.Geo. stated, "We are pleased with the progress at Janice and with RTEC's commitment to more fully investigate the potential of what we consider to be an emerging copper district. While RTEC will be focusing its energy this summer at Janice Lake, Transition will be initiating similar property scale investigations at its 100% owned Wollaston Copper project located approximately 50 kilometres to the southwest with the vision of attracting a partner." About the Janice Lake Project Janice Lake project is under option from Transition to Forum which subsequently optioned a portion of its potential interest to RTEC whereby RTEC can earn up to 80% interest in the project by spending $30 million (see XTM news release; May 9, 2019). Transition receives 8,000,000 shares of Forum and is entitled to $250,000 cash payments ($100,000 received). If Forum earns its 100% interest in the project Transition will hold a 2% Net Smelter Return royalty and will be eligible for $6 million in milestone payments downstream (see XTM news release of February 6, 2018). About the Wollaston Copper Project Transition holds a 100% interest in approximately 150 square kilometres of mining claims about 50 kilometres, respectively, southwest along trend with the Janice Lake Property (see Transition news release dated May 9, 2019 and refer to Figure 1). The claims were staked to cover sediment hosted copper mineralization identified in the Fannon and Porcupine target areas, as well as lead-zinc mineralization identified at the Fable Lake. Drilling by Noranda in 1994 at the Fannon target area returned similar grades and thicknesses of copper mineralization to that being intersected by RTEC at Janice including 0.48% Cu over 8.6 metres. Transition is applying for permits that will allow it to complete a program of detailed mapping of the historical showings, reconnaissance mapping and sampling along strike with the known mineralization as well as orientation soil and biogeochemical sampling to assess the potential for hosting sediment-hosted copper mineralization. Although concentrating on the areas around the Fannon and Porcupine occurrences, this work will also include an examination of other mineral occurrences identified in the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index such as the Sommerfield and MacNeil Cu occurrences in the Fannon area and the Fable and George Zn occurrence in the Porcupine areas. Government of Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index Details: Mineral Property 0949B. Fig 1: Location of Wollaston Copper and Janice Lake Projects To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2766/56290_fad29db3a426a9e1_002full.jpg Qualified Person The technical elements of this press release have been approved by Mr. Thomas Hart, P.Geo. (APGO), a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Historical drill results reported herein have not been verified by Transition as seasonal weather conditions prevent a qualified person from accessing any part of the property or obtaining beneficial information from it, and hence should not be relied upon. Update from SPC Metals Transition reports that SPC Metals (~30% owned by the Company) will not be proceeding with the previously announced merger transaction between Edison Cobalt Corp. (EDDY) and Sudbury Platinum Corporation (SPC) that would have resulted in a reverse takeover of EDDY by SPC (see Company news release of 09-09-2019 and SPC Metals news release of 12-12-2019). SPC and EDDY have agreed to continue to seek the necessary financing to move forward with the reverse takeover transaction on a non-committed basis and may seek to re-enter into merger discussions in the future if an opportunity exists. SPC will continue to advance its AER-Kidd, Lockerby East and Janes projects as a private company with a vision of completing a public transaction in the future. About Transition Metals Corp Transition Metals Corp (TSXV: XTM) is a Canadian-based, multi-commodity project generator that specializes in converting new exploration ideas into Canadian discoveries. The award-winning team of geoscientists has extensive exploration experience in established, emerging and historic mining camps and actively develops and tests new ideas for discovering mineralization in places that others have not looked, which often allows the company to acquire properties inexpensively. The team is rigorous in its fieldwork and combines traditional techniques with newer ones to help unearth compelling prospects and drill targets. Transition uses the project generator business model to acquire and advance multiple exploration projects simultaneously, thereby maximizing shareholder exposure to discovery and capital gain. Joint venture partners earn an interest in the projects by funding a portion of higher-risk drilling and exploration, allowing Transition to conserve capital and minimize shareholder's equity dilution. The Company has an expanding portfolio that currently includes more than 25 gold, copper, nickel and platinum projects across Canada. Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding estimated capital and operating costs, expected production timeline, benefits of updated development plans, foreign exchange assumptions and regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are outside the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Further information is available at www.transitionmetalscorp.com or by contacting: Scott McLean President and CEO Transition Metals Corp. Tel: (705) 669-1777 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56290 BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: Turkeys export of cement to Kazakhstan increased by 2.5 times from January through April 2020 compared to the same period of 2019, exceeding $5.1 million, Turkeys Ministry of Trade told Trend on May 21. In April 2020, cement exports from Turkey to Kazakhstan also increased by 4.3 times compared to April 2019 and soared past $1.6 million. Turkeys export of cement to international markets from January through April 2020 made up over $1.1 billion, which equals the amount of the same period in 2019. The cement export from Turkey amounted to 2.2 percent of the countrys total export from Jan. through Apr. 2020. "Turkeys export of cement to international markets amounted to $231.7 million in April 2020, which is 25.5 percent less compared to the same month of 2019," the ministry said. In April of this year, Turkeys export of cement to international markets amounted to 2.6 percent of the countrys total export. "During the last twelve months (from April 2019 through April 2020), Turkey exported cement worth $3.5 billion," added the ministry. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Murrieta Genomics Over 400 life science investors are expected to attend. Murrieta Genomics has partnered with Life Science Nation (LSN) and the RESI (Redefining Early Stage Investments) Conference to offer startup companies a special discount rate to the Digital RESI 3-Day Global Conference being held June 8, 9 and 10. The RESI conference series was created by LSN to bring together startups with early-stage investors and strategic channel partners. The goal was to maximize the capability of these companies, from seed to series B, to find partners who are a fit for their technology and stage of development. Originally scheduled as a live event to be held in San Diego California, the coronavirus pandemic has forced LSN to shift to a digital platform due to the restrictions on travel. This is the second RESI conference that has gone digital after RESI Europe was moved to digital in March. LSN found that opening the conference to a virtual audience was a game changer. Digital RESI Global doubled our predicted attendee turnout with investment partners and fundraising CEOs. The metrics are actually quite interesting and surprised us in revealing the pent-up demand for action in the life science arena in these troubled times, stated Dennis Ford, founder and CEO of Life Science Nation. I never would have thought that these troubled times would have contributed to a new model that seems to be shifting the paradigm. What is unique about RESI is that the event is cross border and cross domain, connecting startups with 10 categories of global investors across the silos of drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital health, the 4Ds. RESI caters to both the earliest stage startups - those seeking grants, seed and angel capital and the early-stage firms who seek series A and B funding. Digital RESI June is a full-blown, three-day conference with investor panels, fundraising workshops, company presentations, an Innovation Challenge competition and will also feature elite life science tech hubs from around the globe. Over 400 life science investors are expected to attend. Registered companies have access to a digital platform in which they can invite create an online profile and invite investors to one on one video chat sessions. This provides benefit to both investors and startups, as the investors can choose who they meet with while startups know that the investors have an interest in hearing their story. In conjunction with the upcoming conference, LSN is offering a Fundraising Bootcamp webinar on Thursday, May 28th from 4-5pm (PST) to share more about the upcoming Digital RESI conference as well as a proven methodology for getting in front of as many investors as possible that are a fit for your company and product. The bootcamp will cover Messaging and Branding and Successful Partnering. This Bootcamp is open to all entrepreneurs at no cost. Registration is required click here to register. Interested life science startups can register for Digital RESI 3-Day Global Conference here and use the promo code RESIMG100 for $100 off a 3-Day pass. Companies that are part of a participating Tech Hub can receive an even greater discount. For more information on the conference, click here. About Murrieta Genomics Murrieta Genomics provides access to next generation sequencing technology for researchers in the health, veterinary, agriculture, forensics and direct to consumer industries. The company is a true business incubator, offering mentorship and guidance from both the scientific and business perspective to aspiring genomic-related entrepreneurs. The founders of Murrieta Genomics have extensive background in business, finance, science and technology. They are supplemented with a prestigious advisory board from both business and science. The company provides Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) services, hands-on consulting, review, appraisal and guidance. In addition, it provides help with company value propositions and potential seed funding support to qualified incubator graduates. For more information visit http://www.murrietagenomics.com. Murrieta Genomics is part of the Murrieta Innovation Center, a RESI Tech Hub dedicated to supporting life science companies. The Innovation Center has medical device, therapeutic, software, clinical research and of course genomic companies that are working hard to advance new ideas and innovations that can impact the world in a positive way. The Center is also a resource for all types of local startup companies, offering services and workshops from a local SBDC, several veteran organizations, a SCORE branch and more. About Life Science Nations RESI Conference The Redefining Early Stage Investments (RESI) conference series was created by Life Science Nation (LSN) to bring together startups with early-stage investors and strategic channel partners. The goal was to maximize the capability of these companies, from seed to series B, to find partners who are a fit for their technology and stage of development. What is unique about RESI is that the event is cross border and cross domain, connecting startups with 10 categories of global investors across the silos of drugs, devices, diagnostics, and digital health, the 4 Ds. RESI caters to both the earliest stage startups, those seeking grants, seed and angel capital, and the early-stage firms who seek series A and B funding. Two testing breakthroughs were unveiled last night to dramatically boost hopes of getting the UK moving. Matt Hancock revealed ministers are trialling an on-the-spot test to tell patients if they have the virus in just 20 minutes up from the current average of two days. This would let them return to work the same day if they were negative rather than self-isolating just in case while they awaited results. If deemed effective, it will be rolled out nationally within six weeks. The Health Secretary also announced the launch of ten million antibody tests from next week to tell patients if they have already had the virus. Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock eventually hopes to develop a certification system based on positive antibody results to tell people how they can safely go about their lives These fingerprick blood tests with results coming back the same day could enable tens of thousands to return to work confident they have built up some immunity. Mr Hancock eventually hopes to develop a certification system based on positive antibody results to tell people how they can safely go about their lives. Separately, he outlined preliminary findings from research involving antibody tests which suggest 5 per cent of people nationally, and 17 per cent in London, have already had the virus. The developments came as: Business leaders begged ministers to unlock the economy as figures appeared to show the virus coming under control; London has recorded fewer than 100 new cases every day for the past fortnight; Ministers prepared to publish the key scientific advice on schools reopening; Britain will press ahead with a tough 14-day quarantine plan for all ports and airports despite warnings it will wreck hopes of a summer getaway; It was claimed the Government's new 'test and trace' scheme will require people to self-isolate for 14 days if they come into close contact with a coronavirus sufferer; Boris Johnson was forced into a U-turn last night as he scrapped fees charged to overseas health workers to use the NHS; Criminals are cashing in on the pandemic by submitting fake furlough claims; Employers could be asked to pay pension and national insurance contributions for furloughed staff from the end of July. Mr Hancock eventually wants to develop a certificate system based on antibody test results which would inform people how to safely go about their lives. Katy Peters, of the London Vaccination Clinic, holding a client's positive result for a rapid antibody fingertip test for the detection of COVID-19, in Notting Hill, London This could allow an elderly patient with a positive result to go to hospital for hip surgery, in the knowledge that they were highly unlikely to catch the virus on the ward. Equally a doctor or nurse with a positive result could be redeployed to virus wards as they would also be at very low risk. Announcing the antibody test rollout at the Downing Street press conference yes - terday, Mr Hancock said: ' It's not just about the clinical advances that these tests can bring. It's that knowing you have these antibodies will help us to understand more in the future if you are at lower risk of catching coronavirus, of dying from coronavirus and of transmitting coronavirus. The Health Secretary has announced that ten million antibody tests (similar to the one pictured) have been ordered from Abbott, Roche and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics 'We're developing this critical science to know the impact of a positive antibody test and to develop the systems of certification to ensure people who have positive antibodies can be given assurances of what they can safely do.' The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said: 'This could be a game changer and it is great that we now have a reliable antibody test. 'As the Government acknowledges of course there are still unknowns. We don't yet know whether antibodies mean you are immune.' Earlier the Prime Minister's spokesman said the tests would be 'free for people who need them, as you would expect'. The Department of Health hopes to carry out 40,000 antibody tests a week although they will initially be performed in hospitals rather than at home. They will initially be offered to NHS staff and care workers but some patients will be able to request them via their doctors. These could include key workers teachers, train drivers or prison staff. Ten million of the tests have been ordered from Abbott, Roche and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The second type of test announced by Mr Hancock tells patients if they currently have the virus within just 20 minutes. It was launched yesterday in a trial involving 4,000 patients in Hampshire who will be swabbed at GP surgeries, hospitals and care homes. Crucially these tests can be assessed by hospitals on-site rather than having to be sent away to a lab. If the technique is deemed to be both successful and effective, it will be rolled out nationally within six weeks. Mr Hancock said yesterday: ' This new test could provide accurate results almost on the spot. This will enable health and care workers to carry on with their shift or immediately isolate on the same day.' Lome, Togo (PANA) - Togo recorded two new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 340, and three patients cured, for a total of 110 cases, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene on Thursday Drug raids net 1.5kg of ya ice, 6,500 meth pills PHUKET: Phuket Provincial Police have arrested nine drug suspects in a slew of raids with more than 6,500 methamphetamine (ya bah) pills and 1.5 kilogrammes of crystal meth (ya ice) seized as well as 50kg of kratom leaves and one firearm. drugspolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 21 May 2020, 09:46AM More than 6,500 meth pills and more than 1.5kg of ice were seized in the raids. Photo: Phuket Provincial Police According to a report made available on Tuesday (May 19), the raids were led by Lt Col Jaran Bangprasert. The report did not confirm when each suspect was placed under arrest. According to the report, four suspects were arrested at a house in Pruksa Ville housing estate, in Moo 1, Thepkrasattri, after they were found with 6,140 ya bah pills and 1.06kg of ya ice. The four were named as Wutthichai Bell Srimook, 32, originally from Chainat; Miss Anurak Noi Kongkaew, 37, originally from Udon Thani; Santichai Bird Kongcham, 32, originally from Nakhon Sri Thammarat; and Raphiphat Earth La-ongnuan, 23, originally from Bueng Kan. In conducting the raid, police also seized a .22 firearm, 50 .22 bullets, a bankbook and 17 other items of evidence that were not specified in the report. Police also seized a Bangkok-registered Nissan Almera, a Honda Click motorbike registered in Phetchaburi and a Bangkok-registered Honda Wave motorbike. All four suspects were taken to Thalang Police Station and charged with possession of a Category 1 drug with intent to sell, while Wuttichai was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm, noted the report. Somchai Ae Khidprasert, 39, originally from Udon Thani, after he was found with 415 ya bah pills, 432.78g of ya ice, and other 15 items of evidence, noted the report. Somchai was arrested in front of a motorbike repair and modify shop on Thepkrasattri Rd in Phuket Town, and police also searched his room at an apartment building in Soi Saithong in Moo 7, Kathu. Somchai was taken to Phuket City Police station and charged with possession of a Category 1 drug with intent to sell. Banlangthong Non Chuirueng, 21, originally from Trang, was arrested with 14.54g of ya ice and other five items of evidence at the toilet of the Bangchak petrol station on Phra Phuket Kaew Rd in Kathu. Banlangthong was taken to Kathu Police Station and charged with possession of a Category 1 drug with intent to sell. Police also arrested three suspects at a house in Srisuthat Rd Soi 10 in Moo 7, Phuket Town, noted the report. At the house Aphisit Boat Sae-ke, 20, and Surasit Son Chunchumsub, 26, were found with 30kg of kratom leaves. Monchai Chai Sirimueng, 51, originally from Ranong, was found with 22kg of kratom leaves. Officer also seized a scale as an item of evidence. All three were taken to Phuket City Police Station and charged with possession of a Category 5 drug with intent to sell, said the report. (Newser) President Trumps longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will be released from federal prison Thursday and is expected to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. Cohen has been serving a federal prison sentence at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress. He will be released on furlough with the expectation that he will transition to home confinement to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, the person said. Cohen, 53, began serving his sentence last May and was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021. story continues below A federal judge in March denied Cohens attempt for an early release to home confinement after serving 10 months in prison and said in a ruling that it "appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle." But the Bureau of Prisons can take action to move him to home confinement without a judicial order. Cohen was told last month he would be released to serve the rest of his three-year sentence at home in response to concerns about the virus. He had told associates he was expecting to be released earlier this month. (Paul Manafort and Michael Avenatti have also been temporarily freed.) LONDON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) has launched a global social media campaign under the hashtag LoveQatar in order to promote solidarity and connect the international community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series of videos send out a message of hope, togetherness and renewed spirit from Qatar and its people. Centered around the concept of 'love from Qatar', the campaign harnesses the fond memories Qatar has of its visitors from around the globe, as well as the rich cultural exchanges between peoples and the impression Qatar imprints in the hearts of its guests. LoveQatar has been launched during a transformative period for the State of Qatar, which has seen the country at the forefront of the international response to coronavirus. State-backed initiatives to support the international community have included the distribution of essential PPE across Asia, Africa and Europe, delivering field hospitals to Italy and leveraging its award-winning national carrier, Qatar Airways, to repatriate more than one million individuals stranded by border closings. His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, Secretary-General of Qatar National Tourism Council and Group CEO of Qatar Airways, said: "We in Qatar are proud to play a role in helping the international community respond to the pandemic. Tourism is undoubtedly going to change in a post-pandemic world, and QNTC is committed to continuing to evolve its tourism offering to meet these changing consumer and industry demands." YouTube LoveQatar: https://youtu.be/Llpk3ysL4Yc Related Files 20200521 Love Qatar - final.pdf Related Images loveqatar.jpg LoveQatar Qatar National Tourism Council. Museum of Islamic Art, Doha loveqatar.jpg LoveQatar Qatar National Tourism Council image3.jpeg Related Links With Love from Qatar LoveQatar driven by a compounded growth of 6. 1%. Fluoropolymers, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 4. 8%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. New York, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global High Temperature Plastics Industry" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05205322/?utm_source=GNW Poised to reach over US$8.7 Billion by the year 2025, Fluoropolymers will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth. - Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 7% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$348.3 Million to the regions size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$334.2 Million worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, Fluoropolymers will reach a market size of US$739.9 Million by the close of the analysis period. As the worlds second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 6% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$1.3 Billion in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders. Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific. All research viewpoints presented are based on validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other research methodologies. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05205322/?utm_source=GNW HIGH TEMPERATURE PLASTICS MCP-1 MARKET ANALYSIS, TRENDS, AND FORECASTS, MAY 2 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. MARKET OVERVIEW Recent Market Activity A Prelude Resurgence in Global Economy Extends Optimistic Outlook High Temperature Plastics Market Sustains Growth Momentum Current & Future Analysis Analysis by Product Segment HTPs Make Conventional Material Obsolete Competitive Landscape Global Competitor Market Shares High Temperature Plastics Competitor Market Share Scenario Worldwide (in %): 2020 & 2029 Impact of Covid-19 and a Looming Global Recession 2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS 3M (USA) Arkema Group (France) Asahi Glass Company, Ltd. (Japan) BASF SE (Germany) Celanese Corporation (USA) Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (USA) China Lumena New Materials Corp. (China) Covestro AG (Germany) Daikin Industries Ltd. (Japan) DIC Corporation (Japan) DowDuPont, Inc. (USA) DSM Engineering Plastics (The Netherlands) EMS-Grivory (Switzerland) Evonik Industries AG (Germany) Kuraray Co., Ltd. (Japan) Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Japan) Performance Plastics Ltd. (USA) Polyplastics Co, Ltd. (Japan) Radici Partecipazioni SpA (Italy) SABIC (Saudi Arabia) The Solvay Group (Belgium) Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Japan) Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan) Victrex Plc (UK) 3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS Innovation Sustains PTFE Market End-Use Markets Spur Demand Rising Demand for Fluoropolymers in Healthcare Sector Fluoropolymer Pricing Trends in the Recent Past Falling Capacity of Resin Producers Results in Supply Shortage in Recent Past Fluoropolymer Raw Materials - An Overview Regulations Affect Fluoropolymer Supply Strong Demand on Cards for Polyimide Films Polyimide Films Find Use in Medical Sector High Performance Polyamides Polyphthalamide - Driving HPPA Growth Potential Opportunity from Extreme High Temperature Thermoplastics Innovations: Cornerstone of HTP Market Development 4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE Table 1: High Temperature Plastics Global Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 2: High Temperature Plastics Global Retrospective Market Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 3: High Temperature Plastics Market Share Shift across Key Geographies Worldwide: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 4: Fluoropolymers (Product Segment) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 5: Fluoropolymers (Product Segment) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 6: Fluoropolymers (Product Segment) Market Share Breakdown of Worldwide Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 7: Polyimides (Product Segment) Potential Growth Markets Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 8: Polyimides (Product Segment) Historic Market Perspective by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 9: Polyimides (Product Segment) Market Sales Breakdown by Region/Country in Percentage: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 10: High Performance Polyamides (Product Segment) Geographic Market Spread Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 11: High Performance Polyamides (Product Segment) Region Wise Breakdown of Global Historic Demand in US$ Million: 2 to 2019 Table 12: High Performance Polyamides (Product Segment) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 13: Polyketones (Product Segment) World Market Estimates and Forecasts by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 14: Polyketones (Product Segment) Market Historic Review by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 15: Polyketones (Product Segment) Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 16: Polysulfones (Product Segment) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 17: Polysulfones (Product Segment) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 18: Polysulfones (Product Segment) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 19: Polyphenylene Sulfides (Product Segment) World Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2 to 2027 Table 20: Polyphenylene Sulfides (Product Segment) Market Worldwide Historic Review by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 21: Polyphenylene Sulfides (Product Segment) Market Percentage Share Distribution by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2 VS 2027 Table 22: Liquid Crystal Polymers (Product Segment) Market Opportunity Analysis Worldwide in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020 to 2027 Table 23: Liquid Crystal Polymers (Product Segment) Global Historic Demand in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012 to 2019 Table 24: Liquid Crystal Polymers (Product Segment) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 25: Electrical/Electronics (End-Use) Worldwide Sales in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 26: Electrical/Electronics (End-Use) Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 27: Electrical/Electronics (End-Use) Market Share Shift across Key Geographies: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 28: Automobile (End-Use) Global Market Estimates & Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 29: Automobile (End-Use) Retrospective Demand Analysis in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 30: Automobile (End-Use) Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 31: Chemical/Industrial (End-Use) Demand Potential Worldwide in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 32: Chemical/Industrial (End-Use) Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 33: Chemical/Industrial (End-Use) Share Breakdown Review by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 34: Aerospace (End-Use) Worldwide Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 35: Aerospace (End-Use) Global Historic Analysis in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 36: Aerospace (End-Use) Distribution of Global Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 37: Medical (End-Use) Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Years 2020 through 2027 Table 38: Medical (End-Use) Analysis of Historic Sales in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Years 2012 to 2019 Table 39: Medical (End-Use) Global Market Share Distribution by Region/Country for 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 40: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Global Opportunity Assessment in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 41: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 42: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Percentage Share Breakdown of Global Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 III. MARKET ANALYSIS GEOGRAPHIC MARKET ANALYSIS UNITED STATES Market Facts & Figures US High Temperature Plastics Market Share (in %) by Company: 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 43: United States High Temperature Plastics Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020 to 2027 Table 44: High Temperature Plastics Market in the United States by Product Segment: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 45: United States High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 46: United States High Temperature Plastics Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 47: High Temperature Plastics Historic Demand Patterns in the United States by End-Use in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 48: High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown in the United States by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CANADA Table 49: Canadian High Temperature Plastics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020 to 2027 Table 50: Canadian High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Review by Product Segment in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 51: High Temperature Plastics Market in Canada: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Segment for 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 52: Canadian High Temperature Plastics Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 53: High Temperature Plastics Market in Canada: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Million by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 54: Canadian High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 JAPAN Table 55: Japanese Market for High Temperature Plastics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 56: High Temperature Plastics Market in Japan: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2012-2019 Table 57: Japanese High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 58: Japanese Demand Estimates and Forecasts for High Temperature Plastics in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 59: Japanese High Temperature Plastics Market in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 60: High Temperature Plastics Market Share Shift in Japan by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CHINA Table 61: Chinese High Temperature Plastics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 62: High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Analysis in China in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 63: Chinese High Temperature Plastics Market by Product Segment: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 64: Chinese Demand for High Temperature Plastics in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 65: High Temperature Plastics Market Review in China in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 66: Chinese High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 EUROPE Market Facts & Figures European High Temperature Plastics Market: Competitor Market Share Scenario (in %) for 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 67: European High Temperature Plastics Market Demand Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 68: High Temperature Plastics Market in Europe: A Historic Market Perspective in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 69: European High Temperature Plastics Market Share Shift by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 70: European High Temperature Plastics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020-2027 Table 71: High Temperature Plastics Market in Europe in US$ Million by Product Segment: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 72: European High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 73: European High Temperature Plastics Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 74: High Temperature Plastics Market in Europe: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Million by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 75: European High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 FRANCE Table 76: High Temperature Plastics Market in France by Product Segment: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 77: French High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 78: French High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 79: High Temperature Plastics Quantitative Demand Analysis in France in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 80: French High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Review in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 81: French High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis: A 17-Year Perspective by End-Use for 2012, 2020, and 2027 GERMANY Table 82: High Temperature Plastics Market in Germany: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 83: German High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 84: German High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 85: High Temperature Plastics Market in Germany: Annual Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 86: German High Temperature Plastics Market in Retrospect in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 87: High Temperature Plastics Market Share Distribution in Germany by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ITALY Table 88: Italian High Temperature Plastics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 89: High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Analysis in Italy in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 90: Italian High Temperature Plastics Market by Product Segment: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 91: Italian Demand for High Temperature Plastics in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 92: High Temperature Plastics Market Review in Italy in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 93: Italian High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 UNITED KINGDOM Table 94: United Kingdom Market for High Temperature Plastics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2020-2027 Table 95: High Temperature Plastics Market in the United Kingdom: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Segment for the Period 2012-2019 Table 96: United Kingdom High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 97: United Kingdom Demand Estimates and Forecasts for High Temperature Plastics in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 98: United Kingdom High Temperature Plastics Market in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 99: High Temperature Plastics Market Share Shift in the United Kingdom by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF EUROPE Table 100: Rest of Europe High Temperature Plastics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2020-2027 Table 101: High Temperature Plastics Market in Rest of Europe in US$ Million by Product Segment: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 102: Rest of Europe High Temperature Plastics Market Share Breakdown by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 103: Rest of Europe High Temperature Plastics Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 104: High Temperature Plastics Market in Rest of Europe: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Million by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 105: Rest of Europe High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ASIA-PACIFIC Table 106: High Temperature Plastics Market in Asia-Pacific by Product Segment: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 107: Asia-Pacific High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2012-2019 Table 108: Asia-Pacific High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by Product Segment: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 109: High Temperature Plastics Quantitative Demand Analysis in Asia-Pacific in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 110: Asia-Pacific High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Review in US$ Million by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 111: Asia-Pacific High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis: A 17-Year Perspective by End-Use for 2012, 2020, and 2027 REST OF WORLD Table 112: Rest of World High Temperature Plastics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Segment: 2 to 2027 Table 113: Rest of World High Temperature Plastics Historic Market Review by Product Segment in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 114: High Temperature Plastics Market in Rest of World: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Segment for 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 115: Rest of World High Temperature Plastics Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Million by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 116: High Temperature Plastics Market in Rest of World: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Million by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 117: Rest of World High Temperature Plastics Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 IV. COMPETITION Total Companies Profiled: 84 Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05205322/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 The fiercest cyclone to hit Bengal in 100 yrs destroyed mud houses and crops, and uprooted trees and electric poles. Windows buckled from the pressure of the storm, cars floated on water-logged roads, bumping against each other. Parts of air conditioners were flying around like missiles. IMAGE: Mangled remains of a bus after a tree fell on it during Cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata, on Thursday. Several other parts of West Bengal wore a battered look after the extremely severe cyclone Amphan ripped through the state. Photograph: PTI Photo Cyclone Amphan weakened Thursday, a day after tearing through West Bengal where 72 people were killed and two districts were 'completely devastated' with thousands of people left homeless, bridges washed away and low-lying areas in waist deep water. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years destroyed mud houses and crops, and uprooted trees and electric poles. IMAGE: Milkmen wade through a flooded road after Cyclone Amphan, in North 24 Parganas district, on Thursday. Photograph: Ashok Bhaumik/PTI Photo It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. Odisha government officials estimated that the cyclone has affected around 44.8 lakh people in the state. "So far as per the reports we have received, 72 people have died in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. Two districts -- North and South 24 Pargana -- are completely devastated. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central government to extend all help to the state," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters after conducting a review meeting with officials. IMAGE: A passerby looks at car damaged by an uprooted tree in Kolkata, on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo "I will visit the affected areas very soon. The restoration work will start soon. A large part of North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata are facing massive power cut since last evening. Even telephone and mobile connections are down," she said. "I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit Cyclone Amphan-affected areas. IMAGE: A two wheeler tries to pass under an uprooted tree lying across a road, in the aftermath of super cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo The chief minister also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for the family members of each of the deceased. Besides North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata, the districts of East Midnapore and Howrah were the worst hit as portions of several dilapidated buildings came crashing down in several places. IMAGE: A water-logged fuel station is pictured after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters The death toll included 17 from North 24 Parganas, 15 from Kolkata, 10 from Basirhat and four from the South 24 Parganas-Sunderban region, officials said. "Never in my life have I seen a cyclone like this in Bengal," said 95-year-old Ashok Roy, a retired school teacher in Kolkata visibly shaken by the ferocity of the cyclone. IMAGE: A taxi damaged during Cyclone Amphan, in North 24 Parganas. Photograph: Ashok Bhaumik/PTI Photo Senior officials of the West Bengal government said it was too early to estimate the exact death toll or damage to property as the worst hit areas were still not accessible. In Kolkata, hundreds of cars were overturned in the strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph that also felled trees and electricity poles blocking key arterial roads and intersections. Large parts of Kolkata and other affected districts went without power. Mobile and internet services were also disrupted as the fierce cyclone had damaged several communication towers. IMAGE: Locals clearing an uprooted tree from the Ranaghat-Krishnagar state highway road, in the aftermath of super cyclone Amphan, near Taherpur in Nadia. Photograph: PTI Photo Residents recalled 'living through hell' for six hours as the winds howled incessantly. Windows buckled from the pressure of the storm, cars floated on water logged roads, bumping against each other. Parts of air conditioners were flying around like missiles. IMAGE: A man salvages his belongings from the rubble of a damaged shop after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in South 24 Parganas district in the eastern state of West Bengal. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Buses and taxis crashed against each other, small fishing boats turned turtle and grounded planes shook at the inundated Kolkata airport. "The worst was the wind. The six hours went very slowly yesterday," said Mithu Chatterjee who lives on the fifth floor of a 30-storey building. Many residents who lived on the top floors wanted to come down but lifts were shut. IMAGE: Slum dwellers residing along the railroad tracks clear tree branches from tracks in the aftermath of super cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by the cyclone. 'Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan,' he tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal, the prime minister said. IMAGE: A man walks over a collapsed wall after Cyclone Amphan made its landfall, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his West Bengal counterpart Banjerjee, and assured them of all central help. The Indian Meteorological Departmnt (IMD) said the cyclone has weakened significantly and moved to Bangladesh where 10 people have been killed. IMAGE: Water-logging at Kolkata airport due to Cyclone Amphan. Photograph: Twitter Chief Minister Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was 'worse than coronavirus'. 'The situation is very serious. We are in a state of disaster,' the Trinamool Congress chief was earlier quoted as having said in an official statement. "No bridges exist, electricity lines have been completely disabled and damaged," Banerjee said while describing the situation in the worst hit districts. IMAGE: People stand near a banyan tree that fell on a house during Cyclone Amphan at Layekbazar in Birbhum district, on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo In several shelter homes in the affected districts, people were seen jostling for food and shelter ignoring the social distancing norms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than five lakh people were already evacuated to safety by the state government. IMAGE: A car parked along a road damaged by an uprooted tree in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo It is not the city where I have grown up... it seems to be a destroyed one. It seems there was a war yesterday... I cannot believe that this is my Kolkata," said Sudhir Chakraborty, a resident of south Kolkata's Rashbehari area. Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said more than 14 lakh people in the city are living without electricity since Wednesday night. SEE: Kolkata brought to its knees by Cyclone Amphan "The entire city has been devastated. Around 4,000 trees have been uprooted in Kolkata. We are short of staff due to the Lockdown. It will take some time to restore normalcy," Hakim said. Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, the cyclone barrelled through coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas of Bengal and Odisha on Wednesday unleashing copious rain and windstorm. IMAGE: Vehicles ply on a water-logged road during rain after the landfall of super cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) reviewed the rescue and relief operations in West Bengal and Odisha at a meeting in Delhi and was told that minimal loss of lives was reported due to accurate forecast by the IMD and timely deployment of NDRF troops. Headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the NCMC was told by the chief secretaries of West Bengal and Odisha that timely and accurate forecast by the IMD and advance deployment of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) facilitated in evacuation of about five lakh people in West Bengal and about two lakh in Odisha. IMAGE: A makeshift shop destroyed by the sea waves at Bakkhali due to the landing of Cyclone Amphan, near Sunderbans area in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Photograph: PTI Photo This has resulted in minimal loss of human lives, considering the fact that the intensity of the Amphan was next only to that of the super cyclone that struck Odisha in 1999 causing large scale devastation, an official statement said in Delhi. The National Disaster Response Force is moving additional teams to West Bengal to speed up restoration work, especially in Kolkata. SEE: Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in Paradip The Food Corporation of India will also ensure adequate availability of food grains, especially rice, to West Bengal so that marooned people are provided immediate sustenance. The Power Ministry and Department of Telecommunications will also assist in the early restoration of services in both the states. IMAGE: People retrieve belongings from their damaged houses at a slum in Kolkata. Photograph: PTI Photo The Railways, which suffered major damages to its infrastructure, is in the process of restarting its operations at the earliest, the statement said. The West Bengal government informed there were major damages to agriculture, power and telecommunication facilities in the affected areas. IMAGE: Police officers carry a disabled man to a safer place following his evacuation from a slum area before Cyclone Amphan makes its landfall, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Odisha informed that damages have been mainly limited to agriculture. At Kolkata central avenue, a small concrete temple situated at the base of a banyan tree was uprooted. According to officials, more than 1,000 mobile towers across the state and city have been completely destroyed. IMAGE: Rescue workers cut tree branches that fell on a truck trailer after heavy winds caused by Cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. Embankments in Sundarban delta -- a UNESCO site -- were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the Island. IMAGE: A woman carries her son as she tries to protect him from heavy rain while they rush to a safer place, following their evacuation from a slum area before Cyclone Amphan makes its landfall, in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters Four jetties in South 24 Parganas also collapsed on Wednesday night due to the storm. According to the state agricultural department, paddy crop in districts of Burdwan, West Midnapore and Hooghly has been completely destroyed due to the savage cyclone. Teams of the NDRF and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have been working on a war footing to clear the roads blocked by the falling trees. MIDDLETOWN State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, was unanimously endorsed in a convention Tuesday evening to run for a second term. In all, 57 Democratic delegates, representing all five towns of the 9th Senate District, met virtually to endorse a candidate, according to a press release. The nomination motion was made by Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim. Other delegates included retiring Wethersfield state Rep. Russ Morin and former Newington state Rep. Sandy Nafis. The elephant in the room is the COVID-19 pandemic. The past two months have been the most difficult we have ever experienced. Its a public health crisis and an economic disaster, Lesser said in a prepared statement. My first, second and third goal is doing everything we can to support families and essential workers, hospitals and small businesses weather this storm. In accepting the nomination, Lesser cited his record and pledged to keep putting the district first. Weve been able to increase funding each year for each town in the district the first time thats happened in a long time. That means more funding for schools and services, and it means reducing our reliance on property taxes, he said. We were able to completely eliminate taxes on Social Security for most recipients. Weve saved open space on Cedar Mountain in Newington, rehabbed the Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry and honored our veterans in Middletown, Lesser added. Lesser, who serves as chairman of the Insurance Committee, committed himself to continue to work on his top priority: health care reform. As a cancer survivor, I know how important it is to make sure that prescription drug costs, high deductibles and high premiums dont stop anybody from getting the health care they need, he said. He is the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1, which will cap the cost of insulin at $50 and diabetic supplies at $100, saving diabetics thousands of dollars. In the richest state in the richest country on earth, nobody should die because they cant afford insulin or other life savings prescriptions. Not now, not any more. The 9th Senate District includes Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Newington, part of Middletown and part of Wethersfield. Lesser lives in Middletown with his wife Sarah, an attorney. Prior to his service in the Senate, Lesser served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Ukraine to launch unified e-system for construction sector 15:10, 21.05.20 1477 Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said the system would be technically ready in June. Her hit song Savage peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. So it was only natural that Megan Thee Stallion be the new face of top-tier lingerie line Savage X Fenty. The 25-year-old rapper took to Instagram to share some sultry snaps in her intimate wear as she was announced as the new brand partner of Rihanna's inclusive brand. Scroll down for video 'Thee savage for savage': Megan Thee Stallion shared two sultry images as it was announced that she was the new brand partner for Savage x Fenty She shared two very sexy images of herself in the lingerie as she captioned them: 'Thee savage for savage [devil emoji].' Savage x Fenty made the announcement on Thursday as she is featured in the summer 2020 social media campaign called #SavagexTheeStallion. Rihanna, 32, definitely seems excited about the partnership as she said in a statement: 'Meg is the energy we were looking for. She is a risktaker with an attitude, character, and personality.' The Diamonds hitmaker launched Savage x Fenty in 2018 to much success. Wow factor: The Hot GIrl Summer hitmaker also shared another one of herself posed up on all fours over a chesterfield Rihanna, 32, definitely seems excited about the partnership as she said in a statement: 'Meg is the energy we were looking for. She is a risktaker with an attitude, character, and personality' Megan absolutely scintillated in the promotional images she shared including one of her seductively seated on the corner of a dining table. She donned lacy yellow balconette bra and side tie pantie combination in the sultry snap. The Hot GIrl Summer hitmaker also shared another one of herself posed up on all fours over a chesterfield. In that one she donned a T-Shirt bra with matching booty shorts as she shot a sensuous look toward the camera. 'We've come so far': Last week she thanked her fans as Savage peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Of the new partnership, Megan said in a statement: 'Im so excited to work with a brand that embodies diversity and celebrates women in all their glory. 'In my Savage x Fenty, I feel sexy, comfortable and confident. We want all the hotties around the world to feel good about themselves exactly as they are.' As if beauty and talent wasn't already enough, Megan recently revealed that she is staying in school to honor the legacy of her mom, Holly Thomas, who passed away from a brain tumor in March 2019. Of the new partnership, Megan said in a statement: 'Im so excited to work with a brand that embodies diversity and celebrates women in all their glory Megan is currently studying online for a degree in health-care administration at Texas Southern University and dreams of opening an assisted living facility for the elderly in her home town. Of the motivation to stay on course to finish school despite superstardom, the Hot Girl Summer hitmaker - real name Megan Jovon Ruth Pete - told People last month: 'I want to get my degree because I really want my mom to be proud. 'She saw me going to school before she passed.' Touching: It was recently revealed that Megan (pictured in February) is continuing her studies to honor her late mother Megan is hoping to finish up all her coursework by next year and is planning to throw an elaborate graduation party. It hasn't been an easy road for the star - who recently released EP titled Suga - as her grandmother died shortly after her mother did. She also lost her father as a teenager. 'I want my big mama to be proud. She saw me going to school before she passed,' Megan said. 'My grandmother thats still alive used to be a teacher, so shes on my butt about finishing school. Im doing it for me, but Im also doing it for the women in my family who made me who I am today.' Manisha Koirala shows support for Nepals controversial new map, earns flak from Indians on Twitter Actor Manisha Koirala has earned flak for showing support towards the controversial new Nepalese map. The new map released by Nepal shows areas such as Lipulekh and Kalapani under its territory. (Read full story here) Anushka Sharma thanks fans for showering love on Paatal Loks dogs, urges everyone to support animal welfare groups Anushka Sharma has shared adorable pictures of the dogs from Paatal Lok, and thanked fans for showering love on them. She also urged them to donate to charities working towards helping stray animals live a life of dignity. (Read full story here) Swara Bhasker travels from Mumbai to Delhi by road after mother suffers fracture Actor Swara Bhasker has travelled to Delhi from Mumbai after taking special permission when she got to know that her mother has suffered a fracture. Swara had to travel from Mumbai to Delhi by road amid the ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Read full story here) Anurag Kashyap is auctioning off his Filmfare award for Gangs of Wasseypur to raise funds coronavirus test kits Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has decided to put his Filmfare trophy on auction to raise money for coronavirus test kits. His film Gangs of Wasseypur won the critics choice award for best film in 2013. (Read full story here) Mohanlal turns 60: Five non-Malayalam films in which the star proved his versatility It is a known fact that Mohanlal is one of the biggest stars in Malayalam cinema. With an illustrious career spanning over three decades, hes done some phenomenal, unparalleled work in Malayalam. However, he has proved his versatility in other languages as well. On the occasion of his 60th birthday, heres a look at five of his best non Malayalam films that are proof to his range. (Read full story here) Follow @htshowbiz for more In Bangladesh, at least 16 people were killed and more than 55,000 homes collapsed, authorities said. The storms path did not bring it directly over one of the worlds most vulnerable refugee populations: Instead, it passed northwest of Coxs Bazar, which meant that about a million Rohingya living in crowded camps were spared its worst effects. Members of one of Northern Ireland's oldest and most critically acclaimed musical societies have hit the right note to say thank you to all the key and essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. A new recording of Josh Groban's 'Thankful' has brought together almost 50 company members from St Agnes' Choral Society in Belfast. The track has been produced while the choir members have been in isolation in their own homes for the last two months. Members of the award-winning group came together to create the inspirational and emotional tribute to all those whose efforts they are 'thankful' for and they will also be raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support in the process. The song was chosen by St Agnes' following the cancellation of its 2020 theatrical production of 'Top Hat' which was due to open back in March, just one week after the lockdown was officially announced. Gareth McGreevy, chair of St Agnes' Committee, said: "This year has already been such a rollercoaster for everyone that we wanted to do something as a company to help bring people together and show our support for all the essential, key and frontline workers out there. "We had been rehearsing since before Christmas for our big production of 'Top Hat', which was due to open on March 24, so the costumes and wigs had all arrived and we were ready to go. "We have all really missed coming together regularly, so this has provided us with a fantastic project and cause that we can focus our energies on." Gareth added: "There are so many charities and organisations that are facing difficult and uncertain times at the moment, with their usual streams of income heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic. A number of our company members are also key workers, whether that's across the NHS, care or education sectors, so we wanted to give back in the only way that we know how - by singing!" Jan Forrest, head of regional fundraising for Northern Ireland and Scotland at Macmillan, said: "We are incredibly grateful to St Agnes' for choosing to raise money on our behalf during this uncertain time. "People living with cancer need Macmillan now more than ever and we are experiencing a huge demand for our services. "Thank you to the Society for helping us to make sure that no one faces cancer alone." The video of 'Thankful' was officially launched last night and can be viewed on Facebook page by searching for St Agnes' Choral Society. A link for donations to Macmillan Cancer Support will also be available. 21 May 2020 Type Media Article This week there are updates on the impact on crops of below average rainfall; common nutrient deficiencies in crops; watch videos on chocolate spot control in beans and weed control in fodder beet; listen to the latest podcast on grass weeds. By Mark Plunkett, Soil & Plant Nutrition Specialist Over the last 2 months rain fall amounts have been well below normal (15 to 39% of normal) which is resulting in very dry soils and high soil moisture deficits (SMDs) of >60mm nationally (see figure 1). Rain fall amounts for a number of met stations from the south east to the north east for the month of May have recorded very low rain fall amounts for example; Johnstown Castle 3.9mm, Oak Park 1.9mm & Dublin Airport 5.0mm to date. This is having both a negative and positive impact on crops. The positive is that disease levels are quite low for the majority of winter and spring crops. While the negative is that soils are very dry which is restricting the soil supply of both major and minor nutrients. Plants take up nutrients from the soil solution and a recovery in soil moisture levels is currently required to alleviate nutrient limits / stresses on the majority of crops at present. Rain is promised for Thursday night / Friday morning which hopefully will help soil nutrient supply issues at present and reduce the impact of dry soil conditions on both seed and grain yield development especially in spring crops. Figure 1:- Map showing soil moisture deficits (SMDs) for well drained soils (source Met Eireann). Figure 1.2:- Magnesium deficiency in spring barley & characteristic beading of the chlorophyll. The prolonged dry soil conditions have resulted in a range of nutrient deficiencies in crops with magnesium and manganese most widely reported in cereal crops. There are also a number of reports of mainly potassium (K) deficiency in spring cereal crops sown in freshly broken ley ground. At this stage many crops will have been treated for manganese deficiency due to field history and crops symptoms due to drought conditions. These crops may need a follow up treatment where there is a known soil deficiency and where dry soil conditions persist. Symptoms of magnesium deficiency (see figure 1.1) are widely reported on particular soil types due to the dry soil conditions. Research would show that unless soils are very deficient (Index 1 <25 mg/L) there generally tends to be very low yield responses to Mg applications. Where crops show continued Mg deficiency symptoms on low index soils inclusion of a foliar Mg in the spray programme will be required. Where K deficiency is present in spring cereal crops it is recommended to apply 125 to 200 kg/ha of 50% K (MOP) to solve crop deficiency problem. More information here Spring Barley crops are moving through crop development stages and crops range from mid tillering to 1st / 2nd node. In general disease levels are low at present and crops will require their 1st fungicide application to give 3 to 4 weeks protection. It is recommended to apply a 50% rate of product partners based on DAFM variety disease rating and diseases present in the crop at time of spraying. Spring Oats look quite good with good shoot numbers and good crop color despite the dry conditions. Many crops are due a growth regulator if not already applied at present plus a mildewicide + Azole for mildew & rust control, mildew levels are low but best to include a fungicide for protection. Spring Wheat crops are moving well with crops in stem extension (GS 31 to 33) at present. Watch spring wheat crops for yellow rust over the coming days / weeks. Crops are due a board spectrum disease control programme strong on mildew & septoria plus a growth regulator for lodging prevention if not already applied. Winter Wheat varieties in general are very clean (with exception of some crops in the south) with low levels of disease present to date due to only 1 or 2 septoria events (wet weather). Varieties such as JB Diego, Graham and Bennington have had yellow rust problems so keep an eye on these crops and tailor fungicides products to stop flag leaf rust infection. Crops have moved to flag leaf stage over the last number of days and are due their main fungicide application at present. When deciding on the flag leaf spray select products based on disease pressure and tailor fungicide rates accordingly to give persistent broad spectrum control over the next 3 to 4 weeks. Winter Oats are at growth stage 49 to 59 (boothing to heading). These crops are relatively short with low levels of disease present. Aim to apply final fungicide to protect the crop against powdery mildew and crown rust over the coming days to ensure good grain quality. Spring Beans are well established but like all other crops require rain. Disease levels are relatively low but there are some reports of ascohyta which is primarily a seed borne disease. There are few reports of chocolate spot but there have been a few cases of downy mildew reported. Most crops will receive a fungicide shortly as they approach early flowering. Disease control in beans is mainly preventative so the fungicides need to be applied at the first signs of disease or before flowering. In the below video Sheila Alves, Teagasc, Oak Park Research Centre, Carlow discusses chocolate spot control in beans. Fodder Beet crops have established well with good plant stands. To date weed control programmes have worked well with good levels of weed control evident in crops. Typically crops are at the 2 to 4 leaf stage which is ideal timing for applying any remaining nitrogen. Apply 30 to 40 kg N/ha as CAN (27%N). Check soil test results for minor nutrient such as boron, manganese and magnesium and apply where required. Manganese deficiency can occur as speckled yellows in beet especially where soil pH > 7.0 or under prolonged drought conditions as currently experienced. Magnesium deficiency can also been seen in beet crops especially on low index soils (Index 1 or 2), light sandy soils during dry soil conditions. Treat crops with recommended Mn or Mg foliar formulations where required & consider repeat applications. In the below video Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Crops Specialist outlines how proper weed control in beet is essential for good yield. Grass weeds are starting to appear in field margins (esp. bromes) they should be hand rouged where possible reduce the spread & return of seeds. Crop destruction should be considered as a viable option where a severe infestation is present. The timing of spraying off the crop is crucial in order to get positive results. Crops should be sprayed before the grass weeds have finished flowering to ensure that no weed seeds are viable. Black-grass will start to flower in April and in most cases will now be approaching the end of flowering so crops with a black-grass infestation should be prioritised and sprayed as soon as possible. Listen to the latest episode of The Tillage Edge Podcast where manager of the Enable Conservation Agriculture project in Teagasc tells us more about grass weeds here We have an ongoing survey to help inform us and the industry about the level of grass weeds and grass weed herbicide resistance in the country at the moment please click on the button below and fill out the survey - should only take about 10 to 15 minutes. CLEVELAND, Ohio Anne Mueller spent nearly 30 years feeding, bathing and lifting residents of nursing homes amid what she called significant staffing shortages. I was always told to move faster, move faster, said Mueller, who worked at facilities in Wooster and Parma. Today, care centers across Ohio face far greater staffing shortages because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has swept through nursing homes at such a rate that it has heightened the urgency of policymakers to act. In one key move, it has prompted the federal government to ease regulations on the hiring and training of nurses aides, who provide nearly all of a residents care. The move has highlighted an already contentious debate over staffing in nursing homes. Advocates for care centers said the move was needed to help exhausted, depleted staffs fight the spread of the virus among residents. They said that once the pandemic clears, the regulations will be tightened again. Others disagree, saying the addition of untrained staffers can only make things worse. Of course, its a bad idea, Mueller said. You need to know what youre doing. You need to know how to spoon-feed someone so that he or she doesnt choke. You need to know how to lift a person, so someone doesnt fall and get hurt. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month dropped the requirement that aides receive training and pass a test within four months of their hiring. That way, the agency said, facilities could hire people to help ease overworked caregivers. Ohio requires aides to go through 75 hours of study before taking the test. Advocates for residents of the states 900 nursing homes have long stressed how the standards of staffing are already below national averages. They also have maintained that the need for a well-trained workforce has never been more urgent. In Ohio, more than 1,200 residents of nursing homes have died from the coronavirus. Thats about 70 percent of the more than 1,700 residents who have died. The American Health Care Association, which represents most of the nations care centers, has provided an eight-hour online training course to help prospective aides. Peter Van Runkle is the director of the Ohio Health Care Association, which represents hundreds of nursing homes and assisted-living centers in the state. He said overtime has spiked in facilities, as some workers went into quarantine due to exposure to patients with the virus. He said some care centers had hired agency staffing services to fill in staffing gaps, but added that prospective aides could not get training or take a test to work in the facilities with the pandemic. The waiver, he said, offers an option. We need to get people care, Van Runkle said. This is a temporary workaround because of the crisis. Once the emergency is over, people will have access to the training and the testing. Beverley Laubert is the states long-term care ombudsman, an office that advocates for families and their loved ones in care centers. She said that even with the governments waiver, new hires should not get assigned tasks they cant handle. She said the waiver could allow an employee from another department of a facility, such as housekeeping, to fill in and learn enough to assist aides and help residents. Others arent so sure. Its plausible; it might help residents, and it might help workers, said Brian Lee, the executive director of Families for Better Care, a Texas-based nonprofit that advocates for residents in skilled-nursing centers. But it can be a very dangerous risk. The staffs are depleted, and the nursing homes are scrambling. I understand that. Some staff cant slow down long enough to spend 20 seconds washing their hands. But an unqualified workforce could be a recipe for disaster. Outside of a worldwide health crisis, this would be a terrible idea. Robyn Grant, the director of public policy and advocacy for the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, agreed. She said those who obtain jobs without the training could handle minor tasks, such as delivering food trays or helping residents to therapy. That would free up veteran aides for duties that require more experience. Its really concerning that someone with no training could come in and take over the role of an aide, said Grant, whose agency is based in Washington, D.C. Mueller, who retired a few years ago after spending her career attending to those in nursing homes, fears what residents are going through during the virus. She also worries about their care. You need to know how to help people, how to care for them, she said. To read other nursing home stories: Ohio nursing home residents account for 70% of the states coronavirus deaths As the coronavirus tears through Ohio nursing homes, families continue to agonize over visitation restrictions Ohios strategy to fight coronavirus at nursing homes: deploying testing, strike teams The attorney generals office issued a release Thursday stating, The law gives a defendant the right to remove a case to federal court when a plaintiff files a complaint in state court alleging a violation of rights that are enshrined (in) the U.S. Constitution, and we have done so in several other cases challenging the governors executive orders. Bars and pubs opened in New Zealand for the first time in months on Thursday, as restrictions to limit the spread of the coronavirus were eased further and the government looked to revive economic activity. Venues serving alcohol have remained closed across the country despite most other businesses re-opening last week. The government said they posed additional risks, citing South Korea where a fresh spike in cases was blamed on crowded nightclubs in Seoul. Were nervously excited, weve been closed for a really long time, which hurts, Matt McLaughlin, a pub owner and a member of industry group Hospitality New Zealand told 1News. But, you know, were in hospitality. We love our punters, we love our people; were excited to get the doors open and get some bums on seats hopefully. The hospitality and tourism sectors were worst hit by the pandemic, as New Zealand enforced some of the tightest social restrictions in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The measures helped limit infections to just over 1,500 people and 21 deaths, far fewer than many other countries. Prime Minister Jacinda Arderns government faces a tough task rebooting the $200 billion economy, with growth expected to slow significantly and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. The government announced a NZ$50 billion package last week, which included billions on infrastructure, healthcare, housing and wage subsidy schemes. With international travel still banned, Ardern has encouraged businesses to consider allowing a four-day work week so New Zealanders can travel around the country to help the battered tourism industry. Ultimately, that really sits between employers and employees, Ardern said, highlighting the increased workplace flexibility the pandemic has led to. Think about whether that is something that would work for your workplace, because it certainly would help tourism all around the country. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been officially asked by Joe Biden's campaign to submit materials to be vetted for the role of his running mate. CBS News first reported the development with a senior Biden campaign aide telling the network that the request for information from the Minnesota senator 'is underway.' At the March Democratic debate Biden vowed to pick a woman to serve as his vice president. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been asked by Joe Biden's campaign to hand over materials so she can be vetted for the role of running mate Joe Biden, who has had to 'campaign' from his basement due to the coronavirus pandemic, vowed in March that he would pick a female running mate THE WOMEN WHO COULD BE JOE BIDEN'S VICE PRESIDENTIAL PICK STACEY ABRAMS Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives She says, 'I would be willing to serve.' CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO Senator from Nevada She says she's 'honored' to be considered, while staff told CBS News she's 'not actively campaigning' for the job TAMMY DUCKWORTH Senator from Illinois Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said Duckworth would be interviewed by Biden's team 'soon.' KAMALA HARRIS California senator, former 2020 candidate She says: 'Obviously I would be honored if I were being considered.' AMY KLOBUCHAR Minnesota senator, former 2020 candidate She says: 'I'm just not going to engage in hypotheticals. ... Joe Biden was a great vice president. He knows what it takes to be a good vice president. He's going to make that decision.' MICHELLE OBAMA Former first lady She says 'I have no intention of running for office, ever,' in her 2018 memoir 'Becoming.' SUSAN RICE Former ambassador to the United Nation, Obama national security adviser She says she 'certainly would say yes' if Joe Biden asked. ELIZABETH WARREN Senator from Massachusetts, former 2020 candidate She answered 'yes' when asked by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in April if she would say yes, if asked GRETCHEN WHITMER Governor of Michigan She says, she's had a conversation with some people at the Biden campaign. 'It was just an opening conversation and it's not something that I would call a professional formalized vetting.' Advertisement Klobuchar ran her own campaign for president and endorsed Biden as she dropped out on the eve of Super Tuesday in early March, allowing him to win 11 of 14 states over the more progressive Bernie Sanders. President Trump has suggested that Biden was able to win the nomination because moderates including Klobuchar, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and ex-Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke backed him before the pivotal Super Tuesday primaries, while progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren sucked votes away from Sanders by staying in the race. If Biden were to pick Klobuchar as a running mate, he'd have someone ideologically in line with him on the ticket who could bolster turnout in the midwest. The downside of a Klobuchar pick would be that she wouldn't excite progressives who supported Sanders and Warren in the 2020 primary. She also has some baggage with how she treated staff. A number of unflattering reports and odd anecdotes came out when she first announced her bid for the White House in February 2019. 'I'm just not going to engage in hypotheticals. ... Joe Biden was a great vice president. He knows what it takes to be a good vice president. He's going to make that decision,' she said when asked about being picked for vice president. The bulk of other potential Biden veepstakes picks are, like Klobuchar, U.S. senators. He's also considering two other formal rivals: Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. He and Harris had a famous spat over busing during the Democrats' first primary debate last June, though she's endorsed the ex-vice president since then. Warren could help Biden with progressives, though she fell out of favor with some supporters of fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders for not endorsing his run before he dropped out. Two other senators Biden reportedly is looking at are Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who could help him do better with Nevada's Latino population, which tilted toward Sanders, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a military vet. Harry Reid, the retired Senate Democratic leader from Nevada, has pushed Cortez Masto as a contender. While Sen. Dick Durbin, the other Democratic senator from Illinois, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's No. 2, has pitched Duckworth. On Friday Durbin revealed that she was getting an interview with Biden's team. 'I support Tammy Duckworth. She's spectacular, a great colleague and I hope that she fares well in this interview, which I think is going to take place soon,' Durbin told Newsweek. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer confirmed earlier this week that she's talked to the Biden campaign about joining the ticket. 'I've had a conversation with some folks,' she told the 'Today' show's Craig Melvin. 'It was just an opening conversation and it's not something that I would call a professional formalized vetting.' Rep. Val Demings, a House member from Florida who served as an impeachment manager, is also getting some attention. Several women in the running are more non-traditional picks, as typically vice presidents are chosen from the nation's governors' mansions or the halls of Congress. Michelle Obama has been praised by both Biden and his wife Jill, but she's remained consistenly against running for office herself. 'I have no intention of running for office ever,' Obama wrote in her 2018 autobiography 'Becoming.' On the other hand, Stacey Abrams, who lost her election for Georgia governor in 2018, has been vocal about wanting the job. Prior to the gubernatorial race, Abrams was the leader of the minority party in the Georgia state House. Susan Rice, President Obama's first ambassador to the United Nations who moved into the role of his national security adviser, said in an interview last week that she 'certainly would say yes' if Biden asked her to appear on the ticket. A candidate's vice presidential pick isn't usually announced until the convention, which for Democrats is now taking place mid-August, after being moved from July due to continued coronavirus concerns. [May 21, 2020] Katalyst Technologies Inc. Named One of the 2020 Best Workplaces in Chicago by Great Place to Work EVANSTON, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Place to Work has honored Katalyst Technologies Inc. as one of the 2020 Best Workplaces in Chicago. The ranking considered over 27,000 responses from Chicago area employees. These included the extent to which employees trust leaders, the respect with which people are treated, the fairness of workplace decisions, and how much camaraderie there is among the team. Rankings are based on employees' feedback and reward companies who best include all employees, no matter who they are or what they do for the organization. Katalyst took the No. 24 spot on the list. "Recent events make us step back and reflect on what matters most: family, friends, and community," says Rahul Shah, CEO of Katalyst. "From the start of this unprecedented situation, we have prioritized the safety and comfort of our employees and customers, while maintaining and strengthening relationships. Our team may be physically apart, but we are closer than ever, thanks to every single person's dedication and hard work. I have no doubt these values will continue and help Katalyst evolve and improve moving forward." "When I started Katalyst 19 years ago, the foundational values focused on our employees and community we operated," Shah recalls. "Today, we are a global company with associates accross the world. We're so proud to have been able to build a company and community that our people love. It feels fantastic to be recognized by our people." "Best workplaces like Katalyst have built powerful foundations of trust and human connection to help carry their organizations through stressful and uncertain times," said Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work. "This gives companies on this list a powerful opportunity not just to do well for their people, but to do well for their businesses and for Chicago." The Best Workplaces in Chicago is one of a series of rankings by reat Place to Work and Fortune based on employee feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. Katalyst also was ranked as a Best Workplace in Chicago in 2019 by Great Place to Work and Fortune. About Katalyst: Katalyst Technologies Inc. is a leading technology service and solutions provider. Katalyst focuses on helping busineses with digital transformation through our products, platforms, and services. Katalyst's core area of expertise is ERP, Supply Chain Management, Engineering and Manufacturing, Digital & e-Commerce, Professional Services, and e-Publishing. To learn more about what makes Katalyst a Great Place to Work visit https://katalysttech.com/news/ About the Best Workplaces in Chicago Great Place to Work based its ranking on a data-driven methodology applied to anonymous Trust Index survey responses from over 27,000 employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area. This ranking was finalized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and does not reflect companies' roles or responses to their people or communities in addressing the impact of the coronavirus. About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. They help organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com, listen to the podcast Better by Great Place to Work, and read "A Great Place to Work for All." Join the community on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/katalyst-technologies-inc-named-one-of-the-2020-best-workplaces-in-chicago-by-great-place-to-work-301063676.html SOURCE Katalyst Technologies [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The White House on signaled an end to the U.S.' two-decades-old policy of engagement with China, vowing in a new strategy report to combat Beijing's attempts to impose a "new world order" based on its model of authoritarian government. Deepening engagement had done little to encourage fundamental economic and political change in China, the 20-page report said. "The Chinese Communist Party has chosen instead to exploit the free and open rules-based order and attempt to reshape the international system in its favor," the report said. It said Beijing's expanding economic, political, and military power was being used to "compel acquiescence" from other countries, and harming U.S. interests in the process. Rather than focusing on China's domestic situation, the U.S. will instead adopt a "competitive approach" to the country to resist growing Chinese influence and "compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States' vital national interests," the report said. Cooperation with China would be welcome where interests and values were shared, it said. It said the decision by General Secretary Xi Jinping to remove presidential term limits was emblematic of the direction he is taking China in. United Front tactics The report said Beijing "uses a range of actors to advance its interests in the United States and other open democracies," under the aegis of the ruling party's United Front. "United Front organizations and agents target businesses, universities, think tanks, scholars, journalists, and local, state, and Federal officials in the United States and around the world, attempting to influence discourse and restrict external influence inside [China]," it said. China's "malign behaviors" include the misappropriation of technology and intellectual property, failure to appropriately disclose relationships with foreign government sponsored entities, breaches of contract and confidentiality, and manipulation of processes for fair and merit-based allocation of Federal research and development funding, the report said. Chinese nationals on U.S. soil are often compelled to report on and threaten fellow Chinese students, protest against events that run counter to Beijings political narrative, and otherwise restrict the academic freedom that is the hallmark and strength of the American education system, it said. "The United States will continue to take a principled stand against the use of our technology to support Chinas military and its technology-enabled authoritarianism," the report said. Former Tsinghua University politics lecturer Wu Qiang said that far from being a weapon for President Donald Trump's re-election campaign,the report marks a turning point in China-U.S. ties. "This is a re-evaluation of the China relationship, particularly in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic," Wu said. "It will affect policy and have an impact for a long time to come, regardless of which party or candidate wins the presidential election." 'Hegemonic assertions and excessive claims' The report also focused on Chinese behavior toward its neighbors, including in the South China Sea, where China has undertaken massive land reclamation works on disputed features in the Paracels and Spratly Islands to establish military bases and advance its sweeping sovereignty claims. "Beijing contradicts its rhetoric and flouts its commitments to its neighbors by engaging in provocative and coercive military and paramilitary activities in the Yellow Sea, the East and South China Seas, the Taiwan Strait, and Sino-Indian border areas," it said. "As part of our worldwide freedom of navigation operations program, the United States is pushing back on Beijings hegemonic assertions and excessive claims. The United States military will continue to exercise the right to navigate and operate wherever international law allows, including in the South China Sea. Wu said the U.S. is opting to push back against China's bid for global influence. "It's kind of a blueprint for a new Cold War, but in a globalized economy," he said. "It is a counterattack against Chinese expansion, and against globalization with Chinese characteristics." Wu said the report will also influence which countries the U.S. develops alliances with in future. Hong Kong current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the report comes at a time when the U.S. is reviewing, under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, whether to continue to treat Hong Kong as a separate jurisdiction from China, given Beijing's growing insistence on wielding direct political power in the city. "Hong Kong really is the at the front line of the U.S.-China relationship," Sang said. "That has been made very clear throughout the anti-extradition movement since , 2019." Sang said the fact that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had recently issued a direct congratulatory message to Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen on her re-election, in spite of Washington's ongoing support for the "One China" policy under which Beijing refuses to see the democratic island as a separate country, suggested the White House report also had his backing. "The report also makes it clear that the United States must ensure that Taiwan has sufficient defense capabilities," Sang said. "[This means that] the U.S. will continue to support Taiwan, even if it moves further and further away from China, so this could be a major step forward for Taiwan as well." Reported by Qiao Long and Man Hai-tsan for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. The PanAfrican Organization for Research and Protection on Women and Children (PAORP-VWC) has begun a childbirth registration exercise in five districts in the Northern Region. The exercise estimated at GH30, 000 with funding support from Child Rights Africa of Germany, is expected to capture 500 children in Gushegu, Tolon, Kumbungu, Zabzugu, and Tatale-Sanguli Districts. The PAORP-VWC will bear 60 percent of the registration cost per child whilst the community would take care of the remaining 40%. Dr Peter Ndonwie, Executive Director of PAORP-VWC announced this at Kpugi, near Gushegu at the start of the childbirth registration exercise in the area. He said the exercise would enrich the childs document, history, and pave the way for the child to aspire to a higher level of education in the future. He said the documentation of a childs birth was critical and called on other NGOs and donors interested in the welfare of children to equally make it their priority, If we want the child to achieve holistic education. He called on the government to consider absorbing part of the cost of the amount involved in the acquisition of birth certificates to make it affordable for parents to access. Madam Hazia Mariama Yakubu, on behalf of mothers of the beneficiaries, thanked the organization for the initiative, saying it would facilitate the identification of children in the area. Mr Fusheini Yushawu, Gushegu Municipal Registration Officer commended PAORP- VWC for complementing the efforts of the government and indicated that women showed keen interest in registering their children and called on fathers and other men in the community to change their attitude, saying, children belonged to both husband and wife. Ndikal Lana, Salifu Mahama, on behalf of the Kpugi Traditional Rulers, thanked the organization for coming to ease some of their challenges involved in registering children and expressed joy at the establishment of a radio station by PAORP-VWC in the area, which he noted would open up the area and create jobs for the jobless in the area. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Satellite images show work progressing on Saudi reactor even though international IAEA inspectors are still frozen out. Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead to complete its first nuclear reactor, according to satellite images that have raised concern among arms-control experts because the kingdom has yet to implement international monitoring rules. Satellite photos show the kingdom has built a roof over the facility before putting in place International Atomic Energy Agency regulations that allow inspectors early verification of the reactors design. Foregoing on-the-ground monitoring until after the research reactor is completed would be an unusual move normally discouraged under regulations to ensure civilian atomic programs arent used to make weapons. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly pledged that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes, but Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman also said the kingdom would develop a bomb if its regional rival Iran did so. Those statements made in 2018 raised a red flag within the nuclear monitoring community which is uneasy that it has more ability to access nuclear sites in Iran than it does in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabias ministry of energy didnt respond to a request to comment. While Saudi Arabia has been open about its ambitions to generate nuclear power, less is known about the kinds of monitoring the kingdom intends to put in place. President Donald Trumps administration sent a letter to Saudi Arabia last year setting requirements to access U.S. atomic technology. The baseline for any agreement is tougher IAEA inspections. Saudi Arabia is aware of what their obligations are, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Feb. 5 in Washington after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Grossi dismissed Saudi suggestions that it would acquire nuclear weapons if Iran did. The situation hasnt changed since Grossi spoke, an IAEA spokesperson said by email, adding that other countries have completed the transition to stricter monitoring after scaling up nuclear programs. IAEA inspectors who account for gram-levels of uranium worldwide verify the designs of facilities to ensure that nuclear material is contained within and cant be smuggled out via trap doors or hidden tunnels, said Robert Kelley, a former IAEA director who led inspections in Iraq, Libya and South Africa. Theyre going to have to work with the IAEA forever if they want to move toward nuclear power and this would be the time to establish that relationship, Kelley, a nuclear engineer, said of Saudi Arabia. At issue is the weak and outdated set of IAEA safeguard rules, called the Small Quantities Protocol, or SQP, that Saudi Arabia continues to follow, according to Laura Rockwood, the IAEAs former chief lawyer who drafted stricter inspection guidelines to which the vast majority of countries adhere. The problem is that design-information verification has to be carried out while its being constructed, said Rockwood, who now directs the Open Nuclear Network in Vienna. Satellite images show that a thick lattice of roof beams is now covering the 10-meter (33 feet) high steel reactor vessel. Argentinas state-owned INVAP SE sold the low-powered research reactor to Saudi Arabia. While Saudi Arabia adheres to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the bedrock agreement that regulates the spread of material needed to induce fission, it still has to implement monitoring rules in line with its nuclear program development. Saudi Arabias agreement right now is completely minimal, out of date, and unequal to the task of providing the kind of transparency that the IAEA and other member states need about Saudi Arabias nuclear program, said Sharon Squassoni, a researcher and former diplomat on non-proliferation issues at George Washington University. With assistance from Verity Ratcliffe. PREVIOUS: N.J. gym owner defying shutdown order faces backlash over fatal drunk driving crash A gym in Bellmawr that reopened Monday, violating an executive order from Gov. Phil Murphy, was shut down Thursday morning by state and county health departments. Alright guys, so we arrived at the gym this morning to Governor Murphys dirty tricks, playing with his power in the health department," one of the owners said in a video posted to the gyms Instagram page Thursday. "For right now, the gym will be closed. We have a full cleaning crew inside, once again, going above and beyond. The Instagram story also included a typed message saying, Filing a suit against (Murphy) first thing this morning. Murphy declined to comment on the gym directly during a radio interview on WPG in Atlantic City on Thursday morning. Because its unfolding, I wont comment on the specifics of that particular facility," the governor said. Weve taken a whole lot of steps already to begin to open the state up, I think, responsibly," Murphy added. "The inside stuff is harder. The folks have to understand the virus is still out there. ... Well get there. Were just not there yet. Murphy did say during a separate interview on CNBC that he may allow more indoor businesses such as salons and gyms to reopen with restrictions in a matter of weeks. Orange stickers from the Camden County Health Department declaring an embargo and a four-page notice from the state Department of Health were taped to the door of Atilis Gym. Atilis Gym, in Bellmawr, is shutdown by state and county health departments, Thursday, May 21, 2020. The gym reopened Monday despite the state's order that all such facilities remain closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Tim Hawk | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com The signs were placed on the storefront with no inspection of the building or anything, Co-owner Frank Trumbetti told FOX 29. They did it overnight like cowards, Trumbetti told NJ Advance Media. He also vowed to reopen despite the states action. "Were opening up tomorrow morning no matter what, Trumbetti said. The Atilis Gym in Bellmawr was shut down by the Department of Health Thursday morning. (Rebecca Everett | NJ Advance Media) Trumbetti said he doesnt know what the embargo means and the state health department notice referred to a statute involving infectious disease. The sewer system serving the gym backed up Wednesday, right after [Gov. Murphys daily] briefing where they said the Board of Health would be involved, Trumbetti told FOX 29, forcing members to evacuate. A sewage remediation team was onsite Thursday, according to FOX 29. A call to an attorney for the gym was not immediately returned. The Camden County department of health spokesperson also could not be reached immediately. A spokesperson for the state Department of Health declined to comment beyond the order, which was sent NJ Advance Media. Although Atilis Gym "is purporting to take its own measures to address COVID-19 transmission the state cannot simply allow business owners to set their own divergent health measures, done without the approval of the state and its health officials, the order says. It also bans Atilis Gym from opening until further notice. Failure to comply with the order could result in criminal sanctions and/or civil penalties for violating the department of healths order and the for violating Executive Order 107. As of Wednesday, there were at least 150,399 cases of coronavirus in New Jersey and 10,747 deaths attributed to the virus. Indoor gyms and fitness centers present particularly high-risk settings for the spread of COVID-19, in part because customers of these facilities engage in physical activities that increase the customers respiratory activity, which in turn can increase the amount of respiratory droplets or aerosols in a confined setting, the order says. The prolonged and close person-to-person contact presented by personal trainers, spotters and the use of communal equipment also increase the risk of spread, the order says. The National Institutes of Health have found that the virus may live on plastic and steel surfaces -- such as barbells, dumbbells and treadmills, for up to 72 hours. The Atilis Gym in Bellmawr was shut down by the Department of Health Thursday morning. (Rebecca Everett | NJ Advance Media) Atilis Gym in Bellmawr allowed a limited number of members to use the facility beginning Monday. Their temperatures were checked as they entered and they were required to wear face coverings and follow other rules. Co-owner Ian Smith said they were limiting capacity to 20% or about 44 people at a time. Murphy was asked Monday during his coronavirus briefing about the gyms reopening and he suggested the efforts to enforce the closure order may ramp up. The owners of the gym said they opened it less than a year ago and the lockdown has strangled their business. They said they would continue to operate despite the tickets and a GoFundMe page started to pay their fines has raised more than $50,000 as of Thursday. The gym had been issued at least three citations since opening, each of which includes a fine of up to $1,000 and possible jail time. Trumbetti said the gym will remain closed but he encouraged members to come work out in the parking lot. This is a breaking news story and will be updated NJ Advance Media staff writers Brent Johnson and Rodrigo Torrejon contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. US to increasingly highlight Taiwan's national identity: analysts ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 07:10 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The United States is expected to help Taiwan highlight its national identity more actively during President Tsai Ing-wen's () second four-year term but "dramatic breakthroughs" are unlikely, political analysts in Taiwan said Wednesday. Tsai was sworn in for her second term as president of the Republic of China, Taiwan's formal name, on Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a congratulatory message Tuesday in which he addressed her as "president." "As we look toward the future, I am confident that, with President Tsai at the helm, our partnership with Taiwan will continue to flourish," Pompeo said in the statement. Pompeo is the highest-ranking U.S. official to congratulate a Taiwan president since 1979 when the U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, Tung Li-wen (), a researcher at Taiwan Thinktank told CNA. Taiwan-U.S. relations advanced at a fast pace under Tsai's first four-year term, Tung said, adding that barring catastrophic events, the two countries are expected to continue furthering their substantive relationship. Asked whether Beijing would seek to exert more pressure on Taiwan in response, Tung said this has been the case in the past, and often resulted in countermeasures from the U.S. "Given this cycle, the cross-strait relationship will naturally drift while Taiwan-U.S. relations get closer," he said, suggesting that Beijing should ask itself whether that is the outcome it wants. Meanwhile, Lee Che-chuan (), a senior researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, also expects steady progress in Taiwan-U.S. relations over the next four years. However, Lee added that Taiwan should not expect any "dramatic breakthroughs," such as re-establishing official ties with the U.S. Nevertheless, he believes that Washington will gradually bring pressure to bear on Beijing in a wide range of fields from trade, to the economy and technology to democratic values, while gradually increasing its support for Taiwan's national identity. This trend is evidenced by U.S. enactment of the TAIPEI Act in March and continued deliberation of the Taiwan Assurance Act, he suggested. As Taiwan-U.S. relations get warmer, Lee cautioned Taiwan's government to prepare for Beijing's response as Chinese leaders seek to ease internal political and economic pressures created by the COVID-19 outbreak. (By Chen Yun-yu and Emerson Lim) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Read next: CEO calls for PPP loans to include commercial insurance premiums Pandemics simply are not insurable risks; they are too widespread, too severe, and too unpredictable for the insurance industry to underwrite, said Charles Chamness, president and CEO of NAMIC. As weve seen in the past few months, pandemics are a national problem, and we need a national solution. NAMIC, APCIA, and the Big I had one goal in mind in developing the BCPP crafting a solution that would provide meaningful support for employees, businesses, and the economy as a whole. There has been a lot of dialogue in the industry over the past few weeks about the creation of a federally backed pandemic insurance program. Some have suggested a program modeled after the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), but NAMIC, APCIA and the Big I suggest that this doesnt go far enough. They state that a TRIA-like program, where the insurance industry plays a financial role, does not square with the fundamental notion that pandemics are uninsurable. We need a sustainable solution that provides simplicity, certainty, and immediate relief to impacted businesses, said David Sampson, APCIAs president and CEO. The BCPP is designed to bolster the countrys economic resilience through timely and efficient financial protection and payroll support in the event of a future public health emergency. We look forward to continued dialogue with the business community to meet their needs in this vitally important public policy discussion. Read more: Figuring out the new world post-coronavirus The BCPP has been designed to provide immediate relief for employers that are directed to close because of a pandemic. It would provide business revenue replacement assistance that would reimburse up to 80 percent of payroll, benefits, and expenses for three months. Bob Rusbuldt, Big I president & CEO, described the BCPP as a simple, efficient, and effective plan to provide the needed financial security for American businesses. Businesses would purchase their desired level of revenue replacement assistance through state-regulated insurance entities that voluntarily participate with the BCPP. FEMA would provide the mechanism of administering relief to businesses, and the BCPP would be able to purchase private reinsurance to protect federal taxpayers. More details about the BCCP can be found at the NAMIC, APCIA and the Big I websites. Jay Bhanushali has shared an adorable video of daughter Tara looking on in awe as she watched him host a television show. In the video, he is seen recording his bit for the music reality show SaReGaMaPa, as his little girl watches from the sidelines. Happiest moment for me when @tarajaymahhi saw me hosting for the first time and look at her reaction..the way she looked and reacted was priceless #trending #foryoupage #foru #babytalk #babylove #babygirl #baby #daughters #daughtersarethebest #daughtergoals #daughterandfather #girls #gharbaithoindia #lockdownextended #lockdownindia #lockdown2020 #lockdownfun #lockdownwork #workfromhome #stayathome #staysafe, he wrote in his caption. Jay and his wife Mahhi Vij welcomed their daughter, Tara, last year. The two are also foster parents to their caretakers children. In an interview with IANS earlier this year, Jay said that the first thing he does after waking up is go and see Taras face. He also joked that with all the daddy duties, he is learning how to be a pro father. Also read: Anushka Sharma gets legal notice over casteist slur in Amazons Paatal Lok First thing is I get up, see my daughters face, be with her for some time, then I go and work out and I make my other two kids study with me. I teach them and help them complete their homework, then we watch a couple of cartoons where they learn phonics. I am getting trained to be a pro father, he said. Without the support of my family, I would have been nowhere. Especially my wife, the way she has transformed me from a boy to a man. I absolutely love spending time with my little ones. Whenever Im not at work, I ensure that I spend most of my time with her. I take care of every little thing about her from feeding her to putting her to sleep and also do my part by helping Mahhi with whatever I can and it is the best feeling in the world, he added. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:08:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Misbah Saba Malik ISLAMABAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Daud Younas reached his home in Pakistan's east Gujranwala district on Thursday after spending over four good years of his life in China to pursue a degree in medicine from the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine in Wuhan. A day before his flight to Pakistan in January, after completion of his degree, Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, cancelling all international flights, and like many other Pakistani students, he had to stay in China till the situation came under control. "Psychologically it was very panicking as I was packing my bags to come back to Pakistan to stay with my family and start professional life here," the 22-year-old told Xinhua. "But through the over four-year experience I had in China, I was mentally satisfied that I will be well cared of by my university and the Chinese authorities because China is just like second home for me and other Pakistani students because of the warmth and affection we receive from the Chinese government and people." He said that during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Chinese government and his university staff took good care of him and his fellow Pakistanis to make them feel at home. They were provided with free food and free necessities of life right at their doorstep. Moreover, the university administration was in direct contact with them and checked their body temperature regularly to give medical aid to any suspected COVID-19 patient. "A Pakistani student in my university was a coronavirus suspect because he was suffering from high fever. When his health condition was noticed by the university administration, medical assistance came within no time and he was shifted to hospital where he was taken best care of for 14 days, and he told us upon his return that the people at hospital took care of him as if he was their family member." In January, COVID-19 was a new disease for the whole world including for Pakistanis, and parents of the students in Wuhan were very concerned about their wellbeing because of the outbreak. "I was so panicked, sometimes I used to think that my boy may contract the disease, and I would never be able to see him again. I visited Pakistan's ministry of health, and wrote letters to the government to bring my son back, but Daud kept telling me during all that initial phase that he is being well taken care of and was very satisfied with the way his university and the Chinese authorities treated him," Younas's father said. Over 28,000 Pakistani students are studying in China and most of them act as "ambassadors of China" after coming back to Pakistan because of the hospitality they receive from the government and people of China, Muhammad Raza Chohan, academic director general at the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan told Xinhua. Abu Bakar, 25, is one of the students who experienced the lockdown in Jingzhou of Hubei province. His flight was scheduled a few days after the lockdown, but the suspension of flight service in January bound him to stay longer in China. "Initially it was all panic, other Pakistanis and I wanted to rush back to our homes to escape the disease. Students of other nationalities were evacuated by their governments, making us more insecure of the prevailing situation, but all concerns died their natural death when the Chinese government took great care of us," he said. "We received everything from tooth paste to meals, free of cost during the lockdown period. Though we were not allowed to leave our rooms which sometimes caused emotionally turmoil, we knew that it was the only solution of curbing the spread, and we should stand with the Chinese government to defeat the disease." Upon his arrival in his hometown in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Bakar, who has completed his medical degree in China, is keen to apply as a volunteer to help his province fight against the pandemic as he believes that he has the firsthand experience and observation of the outbreak, management and control of the disease, and he can counsel the patients to adopt the right approach to defeat the infectious disease. "I learnt many things in China. Apart from being my second home, it made me what I am today by providing me good quality education and teaching me the true essence of friendship and hospitality during the last days of my stay in China during the lockdown." A special Pakistan International Airlines flight, carrying 274 Pakistani students, arrived in Islamabad from Wuhan on Monday night. The returning students told Xinhua that they were shifted to quarantine facilities in Islamabad for a day where they were tested of COVID-19 and were allowed to leave for their homes after all of them were reported negative. The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan said on the occasion of Pakistani students' return that the government of Pakistan highly appreciates the efforts of the government and people of China for extending full support and cooperation to the students, as Wuhan defeated COVID-19. Enditem Yet the countrys Supreme Court ruled Monday that the coronavirus apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan, and government officials, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, have suggested that the economic costs of prolonged restrictions outweigh the health costs of increased infection. The same influential religious leaders who called for the easing of restrictions for Ramadan are now demanding they be done away with completely for Eid, a holiday that marks the end of the holy month. Myanmar: How sand mining puts Southeast Asias farmers at risk by Skylar Lindsay May 21,2020 | Source: Asean Today This land was mine, it eroded slowly from the riverbank and after a while, the whole chunk of land totally collapsed, Than Zaw Oo, a farmer on the Salween River in southeastern Myanmars Mon State, told Reuters recently. He said hes lost three-quarters of his land to erosion and is now a few thousand dollars in debt from paying for embankments to try to preserve his farm. As COVID-19 shakes economies and lockdowns leave many without income, the pandemic raises questions about the security of our food supply. Agriculture in Southeast Asia is so far stable, though the regions farmers were already struggling with significant challenges from drought and climate change before the pandemic hit. But farmers are now also seeing impacts from sand mining, a sprawling industry fueled by demand for concrete and glass for cities and infrastructure projects. Along rivers and off coasts throughout Southeast Asia, miners use dredging machines to extract the sand, piling it on barges to be sent to megacities like Bangkok and Jakarta or further afield. The worlds largest sand importer is Singapore, which uses it for land reclamation projects. The biggest sources for sand mining in the region are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam. According to a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, the global demand for sand has tripled over the past 20 years to around 50 billion tonnes per year, more than any other natural resource. The same report shows that sand extraction drives pollution, flooding, lowering of aquifers and drought. The impacts of sand mining make Southeast Asias food system less resilient and make farmers in the region more vulnerable to the impacts of both climate change and shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic. As sand is scraped from riverbeds, it changes the hydrology of the river and damages its ecosystems. It destroys fish habitats and removes nutrients needed for animals as well as agriculture. Riverbed mining also drives erosion, both along the rivers where dredging occurs and also along coastlines, where sediment from the rivers normally replenishes the land. In river deltas, the impacts of dredging expose farms to the threat of saltwater intrusion. Southeast Asias farmers are losing land to erosion Erosion from sand mining is wearing away at the land of farmers like Than Zaw Oo and it may be jeopardizing Myanmars food supply. Residents along the Salween and in the Irrawaddy River region, where Myanmar grows the majority of its food, have told reporters and researchers that erosion has quickened rapidly since sand mining took off. Marc Goichot, an Asia Pacific water expert at WWF, told Frontier Myanmar that researchers from his team found the Irrawaddy Delta has already been worn away by the removal of sediment from the river system. In 2008, the delta was wracked by Cyclone Nargis, which left at least 138,000 dead. Goichot said that if the delta, a major food producing region, were hit by a similar storm today, the impact would be much greater. As climate change drives more frequent and more intense storms across the region, the risk for depleted deltas like the Irrawaddy increases. The current sand mining boom in Myanmar has taken off in part because the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam have restricted or banned exports of sand to Singapore, driving up demand in Myanmar. Sand mining allows salt water to swamp river delta agriculture The impacts of sand mining also make the regions vital and vulnerable river deltas vulnerable to saltwater intrusion from rising seas, especially the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is one of Southeast Asias most productive agricultural regions and is vital to the regional and global food system. Home to 20 million people, it produces nearly one-fifth of the worlds rice. But as sand mining deepens riverbeds in the delta, it allows saltwater to intrude further and further into the river system during the annual dry season. Deeper riverbeds and lower flows also mean that the saltwater stays in the delta longer, killing crops. Between smaller harvests and less income for farmers, the intrusion of saltwater poses a major threat to agriculture in the delta: this year, it damaged crops as far as 110 kilometers inland. The problem is exacerbated by drought and record-low water levels in the Mekong and in Cambodias Tonle Sap Lake, normally the source of about one-third of the deltas water supply. Without that added flow in the river, the saltwater is expected to push up 30-40% further into the delta during this years dry season. The delta is also more vulnerable to hydrological changes than previously thought, as a 2019 study at Utrecht University in the Netherlands showed that the elevation of the delta is on average only 0.8 meters above sea level, two meters lower than earlier measurements suggested. According to WWF and the Mekong River Commission, mining extracts over 55 million tonnes of sand from the Mekong every yearalmost double the amount naturally carried by the river. But the amount of natural sediment is also dropping quickly with the construction of hydropower dams: a study by UNEP and the Stockholm Environment Institute in 2017 showed that if Mekong governments continue with the 11 dams planned for the mainstream of the Mekong, it could block 94% of the rivers sediment from reaching the delta. The riverbed in many parts of the lower Mekong is dropping by 20-30 centimeters per year. Between sand mining and the impacts of dams, the Mekong Delta could lose much of the sediment that prevents it from being scoured by salt water. High demand drives illegal mining, even during COVID-19 Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam have all adopted bans or regulations on sand mining, some specifically targeting trade with Singapore. But much of the industry is illegal: between 2007 and 2016, only 3.5% of sand exported from Cambodia to Singapore was recorded by the Cambodian government. In Vietnam, the rate of illegal sand mining increased significantly during the countrys COVID-19 lockdown, according to local residents. Residents of Hanois Ba Vi District reported a large increase in the number of sand mining barges in their area of the Red River. Locals in the southern province of Binh Phuoc reported similar increases, with trucks entering and leaving their community every day. Vietnamese authorities have tried to crack down on illegal mining and have caught a number of violators but the problem persists as before. The governments next plan is to raise fines on illegal mining and possibly amend laws to reclassify the crime as theft. But in an otherwise precarious economy, sand mining offers quick payouts. A load of sand can bring in US$700-1000, compared to the average Vietnamese income of $269 per month. The price of sand is also rising fastin Vietnam, the price of sand quadrupled in 2017. With the economic impacts of the pandemic, governments that crack down will have to support sand miners to find alternative livelihoods. From erosion to saltwater intrusion, riverbed dredging introduces new risks that make farmers in the region more vulnerableat a time when many people are worried about the stability of our food supply. Sand mining is putting Southeast Asias agriculture in jeopardy, and without careful regulations, strong enforcement and steps to reduce demand, farmers in many areas will struggle to feed the region. Groups like Lazada must solve problems with vendors trying to capitalise on the demand for pandemic prevention items During the social distancing period fuelled by the ongoing pandemic, e-commerce platforms in the country recorded significant growth in the number of orders as all physical stores stood closed, and e-commerce applications became the only choice for shopping demand. According to the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), such platforms have seen a hike of 20 per cent at least since the health crisis broke out. Some have even experienced an increase of 150 per cent against normal days. Lazada Vietnam has witnessed the growing demand for hand sanitiser, toilet paper, and canned and prepackaged foods. These have increased by 160, 60, and 50 per cent respectively, since late February. Meanwhile, under common impacts from the outbreak, Shopee Vietnam also received an extra 5.2 million visitors during the first quarter, the third consecutive quarter of visitor growth. Similar to Lazada, hand sanitiser gels, medical face masks, and prepackaged foods have been the best sellers on Shopee Vietnam for months now. The latest report from iPrice Group, a privately-owned online shopping aggregator based in Malaysia, showed that consumption of grocery goods has grown by 45 per cent for the first three months of 2020. However, along with the impressive growth in online shopping, the prominence of low-quality and fake goods has become more apparent on e-commerce websites, especially Lazada and Shopee. In recent times, a great number of consumers have bought the wrong items from the platforms and failed to get compensation or protection from the service. Most recently, the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority (VCCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said that they are handling a large number of complaints from e-commerce consumers, including 568 complaints from last year. Accordingly, the authority has collaborated with relevant ministries to inspect violations related to fraud on e-commerce platforms, in which Lazada is the most highlighted name. Specifically, consumers have complained of receiving items that are different from the images on Lazadas vendors. Explaining this, Lazada said that the orders are outside of its system, so consumers are not entitled to policies like return of goods or refunds. After receiving some orders, vendors will cancel them, then contact customers to shift stuff that is different from the orders, VCCA reported in its latest document. That is also the reason Lazada cannot check the order on its system and consumers cannot ask for refunds. The VCCA also highlighted concerns that the company seems unable to control vendors that carry out fraud. Lazada has yet to comment on the issue. Similarly, Shopee the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia cannot avoid the shortcomings. In one instance, as soon as the coronavirus hit Vietnam, a package of 100 Japanese medical face masks was offered for VND2.7 million ($120) on Shopee, about 10 times higher than the market price from before the pandemic. After receiving complaints from customers about the unusual pricing, the company removed it from search results. Shopee is also enduring difficulties in keeping tabs on vendors flogging unauthenticated or downright fake goods to profiteer on the sky-high demand for face masks and hand sanitiser due to the coronavirus emergency. Talking to VIR, a representative of Shopee Vietnam said that it has been keeping a close eye on the performance of vendors selling these items and will block the accounts of vendors found in violation. Besides that, thousands of unauthenticated healthcare goods have been traded on e-commerce sites recently. The Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency under the MoIT reported that about 5,200 vendors with more than 21,000 pieces of fake and unauthenticated goods were discovered and handled on the two e-commerce platforms. Evacuations in response to worker protest at Basra Gas Co to demand payment of delayed salaries, say Shell executives. Royal Dutch Shell evacuated some 60 foreign staff from Iraqs Basra Gas Company (BGC) as a security measure following a protest over delayed pay, company officials said on Thursday, adding production was unaffected. The staff were flown out of the country on Wednesday after workers protested at the headquarters of BGC, a joint venture between state-owned South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi, to demand payment of their delayed salaries, officials said. Shell confirms that as result of a security breach at the accommodation camp of Basra Gas Company, we have temporarily relocated Shell secondees, Shell said in emailed comments. All staff and contractors are safe and BGC production is not impacted, Shell said. It said the staff, evacuated for security reasons, would work remotely and it did not anticipate any short-term impact on production from BGC, which project officials say is approximately 900 million standard cubic feet per day. Shell said it was working with its Iraqi state partner to solve the pay issue and hoped the evacuated staff could resume work onsite as soon as possible. Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said they were seeking a quick solution to pay the delayed salaries and that the gas project, overseen by Iraqi engineers, was functioning normally. Shells evacuation is a precautionary and temporary measure and its foreign staff will provide advice and perform their duties remotely for now, a senior BGC official said. Iraqi officials providing security at the BGC said Wednesdays protest, which was also close to a Shell compound, was limited and under control. Most energy companies in Iraqs south cut wages or laid off workers to cut costs after oil prices fell because of the coronavirus crisis. In April, benchmark Brent crude fell to its lowest levels in 20 years. Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch As one of the few white men who has broken the glass ceiling and attained a middle management position, I feel it is time to stand up and be counted on the matter of bigotry and intolerance. It is not OK to refer to pale males as stale. Sure some pale males have been standing in the sun longer than others, but that doesnt make them stale. Its just a bit hard on the sciatica. This particular insult was used against our very own Todd Muller the other day, in reference to him having a crack at the leadership of his political party. One of his own colleagues speaking to the media while hiding in the shadows of anonymity - basically believes that Todds skin colour should count him out of the popularity race. And presumably being of middle age is a black mark for a white man too. The thing is that this sort of bigotry is so ingrained in society and so accepted that it was not necessarily someone with sensible knickers making this statement. It could equally have been another pale male dumping prejudice on his brother. Shame on you. Details please This particular insult is specifically aimed at anyone who is pale and male obviously and the stale bit must be a reference to age because this comment is never directed at young men. My question is; How old do you have to be before you become stale? Todd is 51 so hopefully still has a few good years left. And how pale do you need to be? I know I fit this criteria because I went to Mount Maunganui College in the 80s and a fair chunk of the school roll were either uri Maori, or well-tanned surfers. My nick-name was Casper. But mark my words, one day pale males will rise to the top. They will run the banks and chair the boards and the world will be a friendly, inclusive place where skin colour doesnt matter and women dont boss us around. Awkward Now, am I the only one who thinks this whole Simon versus Todd thing is a bit uncomfortable? Its going to be kind of weird going to all the usual pale male events around here when this is all over. I mean can you be friends with both of them or do you have to pick a side? I know Simon is not pale but he does go to a lot of the same events and Ive always thought him and Todd were good together - a team. I just hate it when they fight like that. Moving along I will change tack here frankly Im running out of acceptable skin colour references so Im going to relate everything back to a nautical theme this is something that crosses all racial and gender boundaries. Its very inclusive. As you may be aware, the election is coming up in a few months. Until now Kiwis have largely been content with our boring brand of bland politics where two main parties squabble over the middle ground. Most far reaching ideas are shut down by the kind but conservative masses. Even our fringe parties are serious and bookish or just old fashioned and grumpy. Dont rock the boat please! Were drinking our tea. However, the boat has keeled over bowled by a freak wave and blown off course by a storm. The sail is torn, the mast is broken and the crockery is cracked and sloshing about in the cabin. But at least we are alive and are the right way up, which is more than can be said for some of the other poor souls on the ocean. Many passengers stayed in the cabins, numbed by rum and boredom; queasy, restless and nervous. But now we stand on the deck, bleary-eyed with an eerie calm sea and wondering which way to go. The skipper is beaming and full of encouraging words. The first mate has dried out the charts and assessed the damage. We will need to plunder our cargo to patch up the damage, but we have enough, I believe. But this is uncharted waters and we cant just go sailing off over the horizon. Who knows where we will wash ashore. What we need is someone who can fix things and someone who knows how to read the stars. We need specialist skills and good ideas. Its no longer about riding the storm. Its about sniffing the breeze, says a restless passenger. And in a few months time we will pick a crew to get us home. Basically, it doesnt matter what you look like, or how old you are. If you can read the stars we want you. daniel@thesun.co.nz Fifteenth Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh on Friday said all options should be open to the central government in discussion with the RBI to monetise fiscal deficit to fund the additional expenditure arising due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We need not foreclose any option," Singh said when asked about whether the government should go for monetisation of deficit. He said all options should be open to the sovereign in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Rs 20-lakh crore economic package, which includes government measures and RBI liquidity, according to experts, entailed less than 10 per cent cash outgo from government coffers. "The overall stimulus package amounted to Rs 20,97,053 crore, that is, nearly 10 per cent of 2020-21 GDP. However, it is to be financed only to a limited extent by additional budgetary resources which amount to 10 per cent of the overall package," EY has said in a note. The central government has earlier this month raised the estimated gross market borrowing to Rs 12 lakh crore from Rs 7.8 lakh crore as per the Budget Estimates for 2020-21. As part of the economic package, the Centre on May 17 raised the borrowing limit of states from 3 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5 per cent in 2020-21, which will make available an additional Rs 4.28 lakh crore. The higher borrowing will lead to a increased fiscal deficit of the Centre. The Budget pegged the deficit at 3.5 per cent of GDP and experts are now predicting the deficit to be around 5.5 per cent of GDP. Monetisation is loosely referred to printing of currency by the RBI, monetising the deficit is when the RBI directly purchases government securities (G-secs) in the primary market to help with the Centre's expenditure. In turn, the RBI prints more money to finance this debt. The practice of monetising deficit was in vogue till 1997, when it was discontinued by then RBI governor C Rangarajan. But, for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, Rangarajan and others, including former finance minister P Chidambaram and former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian, have said that monetisation of all or part of government deficit needs to be done. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Boris Johnson is coming under increasing pressure to waive a 624-a-year healthcare charge on migrants working in the NHS and social care during the coronavirus crisis, after a former chair of the Conservative party branded the levy immoral and monstrous. Chris Patten urged the prime minister to drop the charge, warning it would be madness and wickedness not to recognise the contribution which these people are making. His comments came after two senior Tory backbenchers spoke out against the prime ministers refusal to drop the fee, with veteran MP Sir Roger Gale warning that failure to do so would be mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty and select committee chair William Wragg calling for generosity of spirit on the issue. And it came as the Royal College of Nursing revealed that UK nursing staff born overseas will have to work for a whole month to pay off the fee when it rises from the current 400 to 624 for adults and 470 for children in October. A nurse with two dependents will be liable for a fee of 1,564 per year, leaving a newly-qualified nurse with 10 left over from pay of 1,574 for four weeks' work. Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Show all 30 1 /30 Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Shoppers observe a minute's silence in Tescos in Shoreham Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Firefighters outside Godstone fire station PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Salford Royal Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute's silence at University College Hospital in London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A school children's poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A man holds a placard that reads "People's health before profit" outside St Thomas hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus University College Hospital, London Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute's silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London An NHS worker observes a minute's silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London AFP via Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Belfast, Northern Ireland NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Plymouth NHS workers hold a minute's silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute's silence Getty Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Mater Infirmorum Hospital People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Waterloo Station, London AP Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus London Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy's Hospital Reuters Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Royal Derby Hospital PA Silence for key workers who lost lives to coronavirus Leicester, NHS workers during a minute's silence outside Glenfield Hospital Getty RCN general secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: Asking these professionals to pay twice is immoral, whatever the amount. But to ask them to work a month of gruelling shifts to cover this charge, especially right now, is outrageous. Hard-working nurses from overseas who give their all for patients in the UK must not be penalised in this way any longer. Meanwhile, Downing Street revealed that some NHS trusts are covering the cost of the charge for staff - meaning the health service is effectively paying to fund itself. Mr Johnson's official spokesman had no figures for the numbers of trusts making payments, but told reporters: "Many NHS trusts have schemes in place where they choose to cover the cost of the surcharge for their staff ... If NHS trusts choose to do that that is of course a matter for them. But the money raised does go into the NHS." And a Syrian refugee working as an NHS hospital cleaner who went viral with a video message to the PM on the treatment of migrant staff said that it will take him and his colleagues 10 days work to pay off the charge. Hassan Akkad, a film-maker who signed up to work on a Covid-19 ward during the outbreak, got more than 3 million views for his clip protesting at the exclusion of cleaners and porters from a scheme to allow leave to remain for the families of those who die in service during the crisis Within hours, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced a U-turn on the scheme. Mr Akkad told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Im immensely proud to be doing this job because I know we are helping the NHS. Cleaners are as vital in the NHS as doctors and surgeons and consultants. I have been working at the hospital for 50 days and spend my time with cleaners and porters and social care workers and I see the bravery in their faces and how much they risk to continue doing these jobs despite being on minimum wage. For me to pay this fee I have to work 10 days. I am doing this job despite the risk and for us to be charged to access the very same institution - the NHS - doesnt make sense. Its happening because the government doesnt necessarily go to the corners of hospitals to meet these people who are bottom of the pyramid when it comes to payment and value and respect. And Lord Patten told BBC Radio 5 Lives Emma Barnett show: Its appalling, its immoral. We depend in our care homes on people who come from other countries. I think this is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances arent treated properly. Theres a basic sense of fair play in this country which I hope Mr Johnson will recognise. It would be madness and wickedness not to recognise the contribution which these people are making. It would be awful if we were to make people pay more when they are making such a big contribution to the well-being of older people in society. Hospital cleaner Hassan Akkad says he has to work 10 days to pay NHS surcharge Labour leader Keir Starmer challenged Mr Johnson at prime ministers questions in the Commons on Wednesday to drop the immigration health surcharge - currently 400 a year per family member but due to rise to 624 - for health and care workers on the frontline of the Covid response. Introduced in 2015, the levy comes on top of the regular taxes paid by migrant workers to fund their healthcare. The PM insisted he understood the difficulties faced by foreign NHS staff, including those who frankly, saved my life when he was in intensive care with coronavirus. But he said the charge raises 900 million a year for the NHS which it would be difficult to find from other sources, which made it the right way forward. But Sir Roger today revealed that the 900m figure is the total amount raised from all immigrants and visitors to the country, while the sum paid by health and care workers amounted to probably not more than 50m. I am backing cross party calls for the Government to waive health charges levied upon immigrant workers in the NHS and social care services, said the Conservative MP for North Thanet. I strongly believe that the 400 charge should be waived for those immigrants currently working in the health and care services and saving lives. To do otherwise would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty and the prime minister has none of those failings. Mr Wragg, who chairs the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, also called for the charge to be waived, saying: Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. The Hazel Grove MP said he was sure that Tory colleagues would be supportive of his stance. Home Office minister James Brokenshire said the charge was under review, but insisted that the principle of migrants giving additional financial support to the NHS was important. He told the Today programme that it would be difficult to lift the charge for social care as they were not tied to a specific NHS trust and would have disparate levels of leave to remain in the UK. Im just saying that it is complicated, said Mr Brokenshire. We continue to keep this under review but the principle of the NHS surcharge, the support that it provides financially to the NHS, and indeed that sense of contribution to the NHS, I think is important, and the prime minister I think was right to underline that in what he said yesterday. Venezuelan Military to Escort Iranian Tankers Delivering Fuel - Defense Minister Sputnik News 21:17 GMT 20.05.2020(updated 21:40 GMT 20.05.2020) Venezuela's military will escort Iranian tankers delivering fuel to the country when they enter Venezuela's exclusive economic zone, the country's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino revealed Wednesday. In a state television interview, Padrino said the escort would "welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation," Reuters reported. Padrino also said that the Venezuelan government had been in contact with Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami. US sanctions on Venezuela have strangled the South American country's economy. In January, the country was forced to shut down its last oil refinery. Despite the fact that the primary export is petroleum, Venezuela is currently experiencing a fuel shortage. Last Thursday, a US official said that the country as a "high degree of certainty" that Venezuela is paying Iran tons of gold in exchange for fuel. "It is not only unwelcome by the United States but it's unwelcome by the region, and we're looking at measures that can be taken," the official said, Reuters reported. However, the official did not outline what measures are being considered but said that all options would be presented to US President Donald Trump. On Friday, an Iranian news agency warned the US against taking action against several Iranian-flagged tankers transporting fuel to Venezuela. "If the United States, just like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk and that will certainly not go without repercussion," Iran's Nour News Agency said, citing reports that US warships were en route to intercept the tankers in the Caribbean. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi on Sunday also warned that "the US itself will have to suffer repercussions that arise out of any unthinking measure [that it could take]" against Venezuelan-bound Iranian fuel tankers. "Should the Americans take any measure against our vessels' free and legal movement around, they would face our decisive response," Mousavi told reporters in Tehran. Last month, Tehran was slammed for helping Caracas restart its broken catalytic cracking unit at the huge Cardon refinery. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K S Eshwarappa criticised Congress leaders for commenting against the Union government and said that they are not worth to be the Opposition leaders. Eshwarappa was speaking to reporters after visiting Suttur Mutt seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swam, here, on Thursday. He said, "Commenting against the ruling party is the only job of the Congress leaders. They have been criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Rs 20 lakh crore special package." "I will urge the PM to get advise of Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, before announcing any programme. While the whole world is appreciating Modi for his efforts and measures to combat COVID-19, Congress leaders are speaking against him. We do not need a certificate from them, the minister slammed. Eshwarappa accused Congress leaders of going against the Indian Constitution and said Congress workers, led by Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, staged a protest in front of Vidhana Soudha, without obtaining permission. Siddaramaiah was chief minister and Shivakumar is Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, but they went against the Constitution," he accused. When asked about the Amendment to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, Eshwarappa said, "It is one of the reforms, which will provide adequate choices to farmers to sell their produce at attractive prices, without any barriers. But, the Congress leaders are opposing farmers' interest." As the gram panchayat elections are postponed, due to COVID-19, the government is thinking of appointing administrative committees, but, Congress leaders are opposition it also, he lamented. While there is little clarity on the reasons for the gas leak, the delay caused by LG Polymer to approach the right forum as well as the alleged lack of appropriate permissions required to run such a plant could amount to negligence towards the incident. As India battles with the COVID-19 pandemic, the people living in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh were forced to deal with another life-threatening hazard. On 7 May, 2020, sometime around 3 am in the morning, a toxic gas, believed to be styrene, leaked from a chemical plant owned by LG Polymers Ltd. at Visakhapatnam area killing 11 people and injuring several others. LG Polymers plant is located in a densely populated locality at RR Venkatapuram. The plant ceased operations in accordance with the national lockdown announced by the Government of India w.e.f. 25 March, 2020. Reports suggest that the plant was preparing to commence operations again when the leak occurred. The gas spread over 3 kilometres affecting five villages, viz. RR Venkatapuram, Padmapuram, BC Colony, Gopalapatnam and Kamparapalem. This early morning incident forced people to rush out of their homes on account of the spreading gas. Footage of people on the streets, collapsing on account of being unable to bear the gas and its pungent smell, surfaced on social media. Many people are believed to have collapsed within their homes as well. Immediate response of the authorities Due to the presence of the gas in the air, the police and medical authorities faced difficulties accessing the area around the plant even much later in the day. However, they managed to move hundreds of people to safer places and affected persons to hospitals. A team from the National Disaster Response Force was also pressed into service to evacuate people from nearby settlements. Few hours after the incident occurred, an FIR was filed at about 7 am at the Gopalapatnam Police Station. It did not identify the gas which had leaked, nor did it name any official of LG Polymers. The FIR vaguely states that some smoke came out of the plant which was foul-smelling and that it endangered life. National Green Tribunal intervention The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took cognisance of the gas leak incident and suo motu began a probe into the matter. By an order dated May 8, 2020, the NGT observed that LG Polymers had prima facie not complied with the provisions of the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 and accordingly said that the principle of strict liability would apply in this case to determine their liability for the incident. Based on its financial position, the NGT ordered LG Polymers to deposit an amount of Rs 50 crore with the district magistrate, Visakhapatnam. The company tried to dispute this amount before the Supreme Court, however, received no relief. The NGT also set up a committee to study the incident and submit its report to the tribunal for its consideration. Strict liability: an outdated concept? The suo motu action taken by the NGT is a welcome step and sets a good precedent for action to be taken by the tribunal in the future in similar situations. However, based on the fact that gas believed to have leaked, i.e. styrene is a hazardous chemical as defined under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989, the NGT noted that leaking of such a hazardous gas would require the rule of strict liability to be applied against LG Polymers. While the NGTs proactiveness is laudable, the application of the strict liability rule is a matter of concern. The rule of strict liability evolved in the year 1866 in a celebrated English case, Rylands v. Fletcher. The rule provides that a person who brings anything on his land which is likely to cause mischief if it escapes, keeps such thing at his own peril and is at first glance liable for damage which is the natural consequence of such escape. This rule had several limitations. For instance, it is applicable only in case of non-natural use of land. It also does not apply to cases where the hazardous substance escaped due to an act of God or an act of a stranger. This rule was considered by the Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1987), which pertained to a similar situation where another hazardous gas (oleum) escaped from a plant located in Delhi. The Supreme Court observed that the rule of strict liability evolved at a time when science and technology had not developed as much as it has today and it cannot be used to determine the standard of liability now. On this basis, the Supreme Court went on to formulate the rule of absolute liability, i.e. an enterprise engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous industry owes an absolute duty to the community that no harm results to anyone on account of hazardous or inherently nature of the activity undertaken and that the enterprise shall accordingly be absolutely liable to compensate for any harm caused. The enterprise will not be able to plead that it had taken all reasonable care or that there was no negligence on its part. Therefore, notwithstanding the fact that whether LG Polymers had taken all reasonable care or not, under the rule of absolute liability, it would be liable to compensate all persons affected by the gas leak. However, under the rule of strict liability, it may be able to plead that all reasonable care had been taken and no negligence can be attributed to it. If LG Polymers were to succeed on such a plea, it would completely exonerate the company from any liability. Accordingly, it would be prudent to apply the rule of absolute liability as expounded by the Supreme Court and not the rule of strict liability. Plant functioning without environmental clearance It was also reported that the LG Polymers plant in Vizag did not have the appropriate environmental clearance to run its petrochemical plant for a major period of its operation from 1997 to 2019. According to an affidavit submitted by them to the Andhra Pradesh Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), the company accepted that as of 10 May, 2019, the unit did not have a "valid environmental clearance substantiating the produced quantity, issued by the competent authority for continuing operations". Obtaining Environmental Clearance is a procedure to get authorisation from the government for installation and modification of certain types of projects. This process is compulsory for projects which have the potential for causing high environmental pollution. A list of such industries is provided in the Schedule under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006. Some examples of industries that require EC are mining, river valley projects, thermal power plant, etc. EIA Notification 2006 provides for two categories of projects -- Category A and Category B. These categories are set based on the spatial extent of potential impacts and potential impacts on human health and natural and man-made resources. Category A projects have to get clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and projects in Category B have to get clearance from SEIAA. The LG Polymer plant fell under Category A and was supposed to apply for EC from the ministry yet filed for clearance from SEIAA. This Andhra Pradesh SEIAA subsequently transferred the application to the Central government. While there is little clarity on the reasons for the gas leak, the delay caused by LG Polymer to approach the right forum as well as the alleged lack of appropriate permissions required to run such a plant could amount to negligence towards the incident. This negligence, if proven, only furthers the need to apply the rule of an absolute liability instead of strict liability to ensure adequate reparations to those affected and delivery of justice. Slate is making its essential coronavirus coverage free for all readers. Subscribe to support our journalism. As the U.S. begins to restart portions of what was daily life before the arrival of the coronavirus, a new model on the viruss spread estimates that if the country had responded more quicklyeven by a single weekin shutting down and social distancing, tens of thousands of lives could have been saved. The Columbia University model shows the importance of timing in containing the exponential growth of a virus; it also implicitly reaffirms the need for decisive leadership from engaged and informed public officials. Advertisement As things currently stand, with the U.S. having initiated a shutdown in mid-March, more than 93,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus (though that number is likely higher), out of more than 1.5 million confirmed cases. According to the new models tally, if that shutdown had been started a week earlier, the viruss spread would have been sufficiently curtailed to cut the number of deaths by roughly 36,000 peoplemore than half of the fatalities recorded through May 3, the timeframe the study examined. If the U.S. had responded two weeks earlier than it didso on March 1most of the countrys deaths could have been avoided; 54,000 lives would have been spared, an 83 percent reduction in the death toll. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These numbers will surely be debated, discussed, and dismissed by some, but as we collectively reemerge from isolation, they must help inform our collective decision-making in the months and even years to come. The first time around, in early March, Americas leaders floundered in different ways in the face of the coming pandemic. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on, Trump tweeted on March 9, minimizing the potential impact of the virus. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that! A week later, on March 16, the president was telling Americans to stay home to save lives. In New York, the citys mayor, Bill de Blasio, didnt close schools until March 15, and Gov. Andrew Cuomos stay-at-home order wasnt in place until March 22. We obviously know much more about the virus now and much more about ourselves: what were capable of when faced with individual and collective harm. While there appears to be a summer reprieve coming from isolation and a bulging curve, the Columbia model is a reminder that its not just how we respond that mattersits when. Crazy rich Asians are even more interested in Australian property during the coronavirus pandemic and they don't just come from mainland China. Cashed-up investors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan have spent more on Australian real estate during the past decade than buyers from the United States, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Germany, Foreign Investment Review Board data showed. Buyers from mainland China were allowed to snap up $113.2billion worth of Australian residential and commercial property in the decade to the 2018-19 financial year, making up 19.3 per cent of all foreign asset purchases. Crazy rich Asians are even more interested in Australian property during the coronavirus pandemic and they don't just come from mainland China. Pictured is a Mosman house on Sydney's lower north shore owned by Zhang Bo, an associate of Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo Buyers from five Asian countries have bought $186.2billion worth of Australian real estate during the past ten years, compared with $117.7billion from five Western nations. Foreigners buying Australian property 1. China: $113.222billion 2. United States: $53.435billion 3. Singapore: $37.147billion 4. Canada: $25.617billion 5. United Kingdom: $22.097billion 6. Japan: $12.712billion 7. Hong Kong: $12.318billion 8. Germany: $11.916billion 9. South Korea: $10.720billion 10. New Zealand: $4.672billion Source: Foreign Investment Review Board approvals for the ten years to 2018-19, Juwai IQI summary Advertisement It's little wonder Juwai IQI, which specialises in selling foreign real estate to Chinese investors, is now expanding to cater for the very rich in other parts of Asia. Executive chairman Georg Chmiel said COVID-19 had done little to diminish the determination of Asian property investors to expand their global portfolio. 'The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a painful blow to economies all over the world,' he said. 'One bright spot for real estate markets is that the pandemic has also given added motivation to cross-border buyers from Asia.' He also highlighted how potential buyers in Malaysia were eyeing Australian assets. 'You can live in Kuala Lumpur and want a home in Perth,' he said. Australia is the fourth most popular market for residential property for Asian ultra high-net worth individuals, behind the US, UK and Singapore, London-based property group Knight Frank's Wealth Report for 2020 found. Cashed-up investors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan have spent more on Australian real estate during the past decade than buyers from the United States, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Germany, Foreign Investment Review Board data showed. Pictured is the 'Yamba' house at Scotland Island at Pittwater on Sydney's Northern Beaches owned by Singapore property billionaire Philip Ng The survey of rich Asians, with assets of at least $US30million ($A45.6million), was taken before the onset of COVID-19. The very rich particularly liked Sydney's harbour and beach attractions. China has been Australia's biggest source of foreign real estate investment during the past decade 'Arguably unrivalled for lifestyle, Sydney combines all the first-class amenities of a tier-one city with an outdoor lifestyle in a waterfront location and although non-residents without an investor visa are restricted to new-build purchases only, prime demand remains robust,' the Knight Frank report said. While China has been Australia's biggest source of foreign real estate investment during the past decade, it wasn't in 2018-19. The US had the No.1 spot during the last financial year, with $19.6million worth of property purchases. Singapore was next on $9.8billion, followed by Hong Kong ($9.3billion) and mainland China ($6.1billion). When it came to approved foreign investment across all asset categories, the US was first, followed by Canada, Singapore, Japan and China. Buyers from mainland China were allowed to snap up $113.2billion worth of Australian residential and commercial property in the decade to the 2018-19 financial year, making up 19.3 per cent of all foreign property purchases. Pictured is a Mosman house owned by Zhang Bo Astronomers using European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have captured the birth of a planet around a star 520 light-years away. The image might not look like much at first glance. But among the swirling clouds of dust and gas is a little twist. That twist, astronomers hypothesize, is evidence of a planet forming as it rotates around its star. The parent star of the developing planet is AB Aurigae, found in the constellation Auriga, a familiar constellation in the Northern Hemisphere. It is about one to five million years old, far younger than our 4.5 billion-year-old sun, and roughly four times more massive. The spiral arms around the star were first detected five years ago using ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter Array telescope in Chile, but it wasn't able to observe this much detail. Using a special instrument on the VLT called SPHERE, astronomers were able to block out the star's bright light and conduct extremely precise observations. ESO, IAU and Sky & Telescope These types of spirals around young stars are indicative of newly forming planets and are created as these planets give the gas a "kick," which in turn creates a disturbance of the swirling disc and forms a wave. The twists observed are in a kind of s-shape as gas swirls around the planet. We do not see the planet yet, but we do see the material that is forming the planet, and we do see the mechanism at play for the formation of the planet. - Emmanuel Di Folco, astronomer and paper's co-author "These twists must be produced by a baby planet, which we don't see directly, but we see the influence of the planet onto the spiral," said Emmanuel Di Folco, co-author of the paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and an astronomer at the Astrophysics Laboratory of Bordeaux in Bordeaux, France. "We do not see the planet yet, but we do see the material that is forming the planet, and we do see the mechanism at play for the formation of the planet. And this was very exciting because the structure the shape of this structure that we have detected was exactly the shape that was predicted by theoretical models of planet formation." Story continues Astronomers hypothesize that stars and planets form after they're given a different sort of kick, perhaps by a relatively nearby supernova explosion. Gas and dust first form the star and what remains forms the planets. Origin story While more than 4,000 exoplanets planets orbiting a distant star have been discovered, it's rare to see one so early on in its formation. And Di Folco said that it's likely this planet might have some company. "In the [below] image on the right-hand panel there is a small red dot, which we believe is also a planet, and what you're really seeing is that this planet is at the outer edge of what we call a cavity in this disc," Di Folco said. Boccaletti et al/ESO The cavity is a region where there is much less gas and dust, potentially created by another planet. It's similar to the mechanism that creates gaps in Saturn's rings. "There may be other planets somewhere hidden behind the structure that we see here that we will detect later on, but we cannot yet interpret all the structure of that we see." The developing planet is roughly the same distance from its star as Neptune is from the sun, but it's not Earth-like. "It's going to be a giant planet. It's not going to be a terrestrial planet," said Anthony Boccaletti, lead author and an astronomer at the Laboratory for Space Science and Astrophysical Instrumentation at the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France. "It's really a massive one probably something like Jupiter or even more massive than Jupiter." 'That would be amazing' The image of this nascent planet is yet another step in better understanding how planetary systems form, including our own. "This is part of our origin," said Di Folco. "Here we have a snapshot of what could have been the formation of Neptune or or Saturn or Jupiter our giant planets in the solar system." Di Folco said that they hope to conduct further observations, perhaps even capturing the suspected other planets in the system. But he's also hoping that in the not-too-distant future, astronomers will be able to capture an image of an even younger planet. "We are coming into a new era in astronomy where we'll be able really to see in a few years or maybe even 10 years from now the direct formation of those planets around young stars," Di Folco said. "That would be amazing." Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 20:11:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NICOSIA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus took yet another step back to pre-coronavirus pandemic normality with the lifting of all restrictions on movement, the reopening of most schools and the resumption of restaurants and other recreation spots services, officials announced on Thursday. As of 6 a.m. local time, people drove to their jobs or to the shops without having to request prior permission by SMS. Police said they kept up their checks to the last moment, booking about 30 people for being out on the streets before the expiry of a night curfew. Cypriot authorities said they had given more than 16 million permissions to people to go out since March 26, mostly to buy provisions or for individual training and walking a dog. Owners of restaurants, taverns cafes, bars and pubs were busy since early Thursday morning in marking spaces and arranging tables in open spaces where they will receive customers, before resuming normal operation in about three weeks' time. They can have groups of no more than 10 people on the same table, but tables must have a space of at least two meters between them, which means that they can accommodate at any given time about half of the people they could receive. Staff members will be required to wear a mask and gloves. Restaurants will have a single-use disposable menu and disinfectants on the table for people who would like to clean their plates. Single-use knives and forks will also be offered as an alternative choice to regular ones. Bars and pubs were allowed to operate provided that they will not serve people on stools, but only to seated customers in line with social distancing regulations. City authorities said they would facilitate recreation spots by allowing them to seat people in public space. Cypriot Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou said that despite reservations by teachers' and parents' associations, almost all elementary and secondary education pupils returned to their classes. About 52,770 elementary education pupils and almost 23,000 gymnasia joined final grade lyceum students, who resumed classes since May 16. First and second-year lyceum students will continue to be taught by distance learning. Cypriot government spokesman Kyriakos Kousios told state television the activation of the second stage of restrictions easing was made possible by the discipline and responsible behavior by the people, who complied with Health of Ministry regulations. He urged people to behave in the same way during the second stage so as to make possible the third stage which mostly relates to the revival of travel and tourism, one of the most important sectors for the Cypriot economy, as it contributes 21 percent to the island's gross domestic product (GDP). Kousios refused to confirm that airports will resume operation as of June 9, saying that a final decision will be made on Friday by the Council of Ministers. "The scientific team has made positive recommendations for the resumption of airport operations and hotels, and what remains to be done is the fixing of dates and the publication of security protocols by the Health Ministry," Kousios said. State television has quoted officials as saying that hotels would reopen as of June 1 and flights in and out of airports would resume as of June 9. Enditem driven by a compounded growth of 4. 2%. Heavy Industrial & Utility, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 4. 4%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. New York, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Cooling Towers Industry" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05443587/?utm_source=GNW Poised to reach over US$2.3 Billion by the year 2025, Heavy Industrial & Utility will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth. - Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 3.2% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$46 Million to the regions size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$37.2 Million worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, Heavy Industrial & Utility will reach a market size of US$115 Million by the close of the analysis period. As the worlds second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 6.6% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$364.9 Million in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders. Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. All research viewpoints presented are based on validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other research methodologies. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05443587/?utm_source=GNW COOLING TOWERS MCP-2 MARKET ANALYSIS, TRENDS, AND FORECASTS, MAY 2 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. MARKET OVERVIEW A Popular Type of Heat Exchanger, Cooling Towers Play a Key Role in Industrial Process Heat Management Recent Market Activity With Global GDP Now Plateauing, It is a MixedBag of Opportunities & Challengesfor the Cooling Towers Market Global PMI Weakens Through the 12-Months of 2018, Triggering Concerns Over the Health of the Manufacturing Industry in 2019 Market Outlook Global Competitor Market Shares Cooling Towers Competitor Market Share Scenario Worldwide (in %): 2020 & 2029 Impact of Covid-19 and a Looming Global Recession 2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS Baltimore Aircoil Company (USA) BERG Chilling Systems, Inc. (Canada) Bell Cooling Towers (India) Brentwood Industries, Inc. (USA) B&W SPIG (Italy) Composite Cooling Solutions (USA) Cooling Tower Depot, Inc. (USA) Cooling Tower Systems, Inc. (USA) Delta Cooling Towers, Inc. (USA) Enexio (Germany) ENGIE Refrigeration GmbH (Germany) Evapco, Inc. (USA) Evaptech, Inc. (USA) HAMON SA (Belgium) Ilmed Impianti Srl (Italy) International Cooling Tower, Inc. (USA) Kelvion Holding GmbH (Germany) Liang Chi Industry (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Mesan Cooling Tower Ltd. (Hong Kong) Paharpur Cooling Towers Limited (India) REYMSA COOLING TOWERS, INC. (USA) Ryowo Holding Co., Ltd. (Hong Kong) SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc. (USA) Star Cooling Towers (USA) Superchill Australia Pty Ltd. (Australia) Thermal Care, Inc (USA) 3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS Key Market Trends, Drivers & Challenges Artificial Intelligence & Electronification of Controls Make a Disruptive Impact on Cooling Tower Performance Monitoring & Operation As Hidden Profit Centers, Energy Efficient Cooling Towers Grow in Prominence Medley of Factors Dole Out Challenges & Opportunities in Equal Measure for Cooling Towers in the Global Oil Refining Market Recovery in Construction Activity Spurs Demand for Rooftop Packaged HVAC Cooling Towers Focus on Renewable Energy: A Double Win for Cooling Towers in the Energy Sector Rising Global Energy Needs Drives Stable Growth of Cooling Towers in the Power Generation/Utilities Sector As the Icon of Thermal Energy Generation,Large Cooling Towers Will Continue to Find Attractive Opportunities in Coal Fired Power Plants Focus on Renewable Energy: A Double Winfor Cooling Towers in the Energy Sector Expected Revival of Nuclear Energy to Drive Opportunities in the Cooling Towers Market Uncertainties Resurface After Two Years of Recovery in the Mining Industry, Throwing MineCooling Towers Back Into Stress As Deep Mines Begin to Invade the Earths Forbidden Zone, Efficient Mine Cooling Towers Will Grow in Prominence Over the Long-Term Period Evaporative Credits Offered by Utilities Strengthens the Business Case for the Use of Cooling Towers Healthy Outlook for the World Chemical Industry Extends a Fillip to Cooling Towers Demand Healthy Market for Processed Food to Benefit Demand for Cooling Towers in the FoodProcessing Sector Stringent Environmental Norms & Worsening Water Shortages Drive Demand for Closed Circuit Dry Cooling Towers Hybrid Cooling Towers Rise in Importance & Commercial Value Technology Innovations Remain Critical to Growth Next-generation Factory Assembled Cooling Towers to Positively Impact Bottom Line of HVAC and Industrial Processes Advancements in Plume Abatement Technologiesand Drift Eliminators to Address EnvironmentalConcerns New Design and Material Innovations IncreaseCooling Efficiency Electric Pulse Technology, an Alternative to WaterTreatment Chemicals in Cooling Towers A Review of Innovations in Construction Materialsfor Cooling Towers 4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE Table 1: Cooling Towers Global Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 2: Cooling Towers Global Retrospective Market Scenario in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 3: Cooling Towers Market Share Shift across Key Geographies Worldwide: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 4: Heavy Industrial & Utility (End-Use) Global Opportunity Assessment in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 5: Heavy Industrial & Utility (End-Use) Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 6: Heavy Industrial & Utility (End-Use) Percentage Share Breakdown of Global Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 7: Air Conditioning/HVAC (End-Use) Worldwide Sales in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 8: Air Conditioning/HVAC (End-Use) Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 9: Air Conditioning/HVAC (End-Use) Market Share Shift across Key Geographies: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 10: Chemicals & Petrochemicals (End-Use) Global Market Estimates & Forecasts in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 11: Chemicals & Petrochemicals (End-Use) Retrospective Demand Analysis in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 12: Chemicals & Petrochemicals (End-Use) Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 13: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Demand Potential Worldwide in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 14: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 15: Other End-Uses (End-Use) Share Breakdown Review by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 III. MARKET ANALYSIS GEOGRAPHIC MARKET ANALYSIS UNITED STATES Market Facts & Figures US Cooling Towers Market Share (in %) by Company: 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 16: United States Cooling Towers Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 17: Cooling Towers Historic Demand Patterns in the United States by End-Use in US$ Thousand for 2012-2019 Table 18: Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown in the United States by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CANADA Table 19: Canadian Cooling Towers Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 20: Cooling Towers Market in Canada: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Thousand by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 21: Canadian Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 JAPAN Table 22: Japanese Demand Estimates and Forecasts for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 23: Japanese Cooling Towers Market in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 24: Cooling Towers Market Share Shift in Japan by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CHINA Table 25: Chinese Demand for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 26: Cooling Towers Market Review in China in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 27: Chinese Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 EUROPE Market Facts & Figures European Cooling Towers Market: Competitor Market Share Scenario (in %) for 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 28: European Cooling Towers Market Demand Scenario in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 29: Cooling Towers Market in Europe: A Historic Market Perspective in US$ Thousand by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 30: European Cooling Towers Market Share Shift by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 31: European Cooling Towers Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 32: Cooling Towers Market in Europe: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 33: European Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 FRANCE Table 34: Cooling Towers Quantitative Demand Analysis in France in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 35: French Cooling Towers Historic Market Review in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 36: French Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis: A 17-Year Perspective by End-Use for 2012, 2020, and 2027 GERMANY Table 37: Cooling Towers Market in Germany: Annual Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 38: German Cooling Towers Market in Retrospect in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 39: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in Germany by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ITALY Table 40: Italian Demand for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 41: Cooling Towers Market Review in Italy in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 42: Italian Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 UNITED KINGDOM Table 43: United Kingdom Demand Estimates and Forecasts for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 44: United Kingdom Cooling Towers Market in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 45: Cooling Towers Market Share Shift in the United Kingdom by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 SPAIN Table 46: Spanish Cooling Towers Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 47: Cooling Towers Market in Spain: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Thousand by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 48: Spanish Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 RUSSIA Table 49: Russian Cooling Towers Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 50: Cooling Towers Historic Demand Patterns in Russia by End-Use in US$ Thousand for 2012-2019 Table 51: Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown in Russia by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF EUROPE Table 52: Rest of Europe Cooling Towers Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 53: Cooling Towers Market in Rest of Europe: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 54: Rest of Europe Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ASIA-PACIFIC Table 55: Asia-Pacific Cooling Towers Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 56: Cooling Towers Market in Asia-Pacific: Historic Market Analysis in US$ Thousand by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 57: Asia-Pacific Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 58: Cooling Towers Quantitative Demand Analysis in Asia-Pacific in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 59: Asia-Pacific Cooling Towers Historic Market Review in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 60: Asia-Pacific Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis: A 17-Year Perspectiveby End-Use for 2012, 2020, and 2027 AUSTRALIA Table 61: Cooling Towers Market in Australia: Annual Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 62: Australian Cooling Towers Market in Retrospect in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 63: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in Australia by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 INDIA Table 64: Indian Cooling Towers Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 65: Cooling Towers Market in India: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Thousand by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 66: Indian Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 SOUTH KOREA Table 67: Cooling Towers Market in South Korea: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 68: South Korean Cooling Towers Historic Market Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 69: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in South Korea by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF ASIA-PACIFIC Table 70: Rest of Asia-Pacific Demand Estimates and Forecasts for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 71: Rest of Asia-Pacific Cooling Towers Market in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 72: Cooling Towers Market Share Shift in Rest of Asia-Pacific by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 LATIN AMERICA Table 73: Latin American Cooling Towers Market Trends by Region/Country in US$ Thousand: 2020-2027 Table 74: Cooling Towers Market in Latin America in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: A Historic Perspective for the Period 2012-2019 Table 75: Latin American Cooling Towers Market Percentage Breakdown of Sales by Region/Country: 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 76: Latin American Demand for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 77: Cooling Towers Market Review in Latin America in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 78: Latin American Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ARGENTINA Table 79: Argentinean Cooling Towers Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 80: Cooling Towers Market in Argentina: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 81: Argentinean Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 BRAZIL Table 82: Cooling Towers Quantitative Demand Analysis in Brazil in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 83: Brazilian Cooling Towers Historic Market Review in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 84: Brazilian Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis: A 17-Year Perspective by End-Use for 2012, 2020, and 2027 MEXICO Table 85: Cooling Towers Market in Mexico: Annual Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 86: Mexican Cooling Towers Market in Retrospect in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 87: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in Mexico by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF LATIN AMERICA Table 88: Rest of Latin America Cooling Towers Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 89: Cooling Towers Historic Demand Patterns in Rest of Latin America by End-Use in US$ Thousand for 2012-2019 Table 90: Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown in Rest of Latin America by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 MIDDLE EAST Table 91: The Middle East Cooling Towers Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 92: Cooling Towers Market in the Middle East by Region/Country in US$ Thousand: 2012-2019 Table 93: The Middle East Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 94: The Middle East Cooling Towers Market Quantitative Demand Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 95: Cooling Towers Market in the Middle East: Summarization of Historic Demand Patterns in US$ Thousand by End-Use for 2012-2019 Table 96: The Middle East Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 IRAN Table 97: Iranian Demand Estimates and Forecasts for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 98: Iranian Cooling Towers Market in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 99: Cooling Towers Market Share Shift in Iran by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ISRAEL Table 100: Israeli Cooling Towers Addressable Market Opportunity in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020-2027 Table 101: Cooling Towers Market in Israel: Summarization of Historic Demand in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2012-2019 Table 102: Israeli Cooling Towers Market Share Analysis by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 SAUDI ARABIA Table 103: Saudi Arabian Demand for Cooling Towers in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 104: Cooling Towers Market Review in Saudi Arabia in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 105: Saudi Arabian Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Table 106: Cooling Towers Market in the United Arab Emirates: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 107: United Arab Emirates Cooling Towers Historic Market Analysis in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 108: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in United Arab Emirates by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF MIDDLE EAST Table 109: Cooling Towers Market in Rest of Middle East: Annual Sales Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use for the Period 2020-2027 Table 110: Rest of Middle East Cooling Towers Market in Retrospect in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2012-2019 Table 111: Cooling Towers Market Share Distribution in Rest of Middle East by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 AFRICA Table 112: African Cooling Towers Latent Demand Forecasts in US$ Thousand by End-Use: 2020 to 2027 Table 113: Cooling Towers Historic Demand Patterns in Africa by End-Use in US$ Thousand for 2012-2019 Table 114: Cooling Towers Market Share Breakdown in Africa by End-Use: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 IV. COMPETITION Total Companies Profiled: Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05443587/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 Former Shiv Sena district chief Anurag Sharma, 40, was allegedly shot dead by two unidentified men in Rampur late on Wednesday night, the police said. Sharma was returning home on a motorbike after buying vegetables from the market when the assailants shot him in the back. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared brought dead. Rampur police chief Superintendent of Police Shagun Gautam said the incident took place at around 8 pm in Jwala Nagar area of the city yesterday while Sharma was returning home on a two-wheeler. Anurag Sharma was shot dead by two unidentified men yesterday evening while he was going home on a scooter. This happened at Jwala Nagar, Shagun Gautam said. Police officers are scanning footage from CCTV cameras in and around the market to ascertain the sequence of events and look for clues to identify the assailants. The Rampur police chief said the hospital where Anurag Sharma was taken had been vandalised by miscreants. We are verifying the facts with the chief medical officer, said Gautam. Anurag Sharmas family alleged there was no staff present at the hospital when Sharma was taken for the treatment, the police officer said. Sharma also has several cases registered against him. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Larry Aubry, Lying Down Like a Hill: Still Having Height, Always Pointing Upward It is the sacred wisdom of our ancestors that a great person lies down in death like a hill, still having height and always pointing the way upward, constantly calling us to the upward paths of our best ideas, values and practices as persons and a people. And so it is with our beloved and honored brother, Larry Aubry, an all-seasons soldier and uncompromising servant of his people, who made transition and ascension, Saturday, May 16, 2020 (6260), and now sits in the sacred circle of the ancestors, among the doers of good, the righteous and the rightfully rewarded. We know Larry by the many areas of life in which he did his self-defining work, by the enriching relationships we shared with him and by the dignity-affirming ways in which he presented himself. Thus, he was first and foremost in the context of community, an uncompromising servant of his people. Serving them in multiple ways, he was community leader, columnist, union activist, human relations and educational consultant and advocate, organizer and musician. And he was beloved husband, father and friend, negotiator, mentor, counselor and comrade and co-combatant in the righteous and relentless struggle for Black liberation and racial and social justice. Larry leaves an awesome life-time legacy of service, institution-building and righteous and relentless struggle. And thus, his passing is a great and irreplaceable loss to us all and to our ongoing struggle to expand the realm of freedom, justice and good in every area of life. But he can and must remain among us if we honor his life by embracing and living his legacy. Therefore, to honor him rightly, we must remember him rightly and act on that sacred memory. ADVERTISEMENT To rightly remember and honor Larry Aubry is to recognize, appreciate and strive to emulate the long length and value-grounded variousness of his service for the Good, the depth of love for his people, and his uncompromising commitment to them and their struggle for liberation and racial and social justice. It is also to understand, appreciate and emulate his profound commitment to his family and how he linked family and community and his obligations to both. He will be greatly missed and will, if we rightfully honor him, always serve as a model and mirror of dedication, discipline, sacrifice and honored achievement, It is an ongoing, ever-freshly felt honor to have worked together with him over the years as friends, fellow leaders, co-chairs, co-workers and co-combatants in this sacred and beautiful struggle for liberation to bring and sustain good in the world. We had met and worked together in the Black Freedom Movement of the Sixties during the Black Power Period. He was CEO of the Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC), founded by Rev. Dr. Leon Sullivan, a major civil rights leader, with branches in the U.S., Africa, Haiti and elsewhere, directed towards economic education, skill acquisition, employment and empowerment. I had served on his board as a representative of our organization Us, as part of our programmatic stress on operational unity, unity in diversity and struggle on many fronts. Having worked together on various Black united front projects in the Sixties, in the 80s we began to work together with Rev. Eric Lee, then president of SCLC-LA. And he became one of the early founders with us of the Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA), a Black united front engaged in the advancement of the interests of Black workers and the well-being of the Black community as a whole, and we served as co-chairs until his passing. We also shared conversations and planning in the policy discussion group, Advocates for Black Strategic Alternatives (ABSA), which he founded. Larry was an organic activist intellectual who loved studying, discussing and actively engaging the critical issues confronting our community. He joined his intellectual work with his activist initiatives, writing a column for the Los Angeles Sentinel for 33 years. Indeed, he noted this in his last column in the Sentinel saying, My writing has always been rooted in my activism in the community. It formed my choice of topics, the particular position I took and the evidence and arguments I gave to prove and explain the points I made. He was speaking here of drawing from a long-term lived experience and practice. And he wrote that he appreciated that the Sentinel had given him the space and opportunity to write from an unapologetically Black perspective on issues important to our community. Writing from the life he lived, the work he did and the struggle he waged as an all-seasons soldier, Larry, reporting from the frontlines writes, I wrote a lot on education because I do much of my work in this area and think it is critical to the development and success of our young people and the community as a whole. This work done over the years included fighting to desegregate Fremont High School as a student, and later serving as vice-president and chair of education in the Los Angeles NAACP, board member for the Inglewood United School District, and most recently chair of the Education Committee of BCCLA. He also advocated at the LAUSD and led the initiative through BCCLA to draft, support and elect Dr. George McKenna (District 1) to LAUSD, and to achieve a culturally responsive quality education and educational equity throughout the district. ADVERTISEMENT He also wrote and struggled against police violence, for its clearly a matter of life and death on a daily basis, he said, not only in terms of the targeting (miscalled profiling), shooting and killing Black males and females, but arbitrary arrests and brutal beatings, gang misidentification and suppression, and denial of the right of presence and security, even in our own homes. He wrote and worked also for just treatment and programmatic development for Black males, not to diminish or divert from needed programs for Black females, but for a balance of attention and initiatives to build family and community. He also wrote against sexism and domestic and communal violence and worked in and with organizations dedicated to issues of peace, security and cooperative building and struggle, for example, the Inglewood Coalition for Drug and Violence Prevention and the Community Call to Action and Accountability with internal and external initiatives. A long-time union activist, Larry wrote on labor issues and worked within and with unions and community organizations to achieve employment and economic justice, equity and empowerment initiatives for Black workers and the Black community. In addition, he served as vice-president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, member of the founding committee of the Los Angeles Black Workers Center, and again is a founding member of BCCLA, dedicated to the economic and related life issues of the Black community. Recognizing with Min. Malcolm, whom he admired, the national and global status and interests we have as an African people and the international reach of our oppressor, he spoke constantly of the need for alliances and coalitions across the country and internationally. Thus, he built multicultural alliances, including the Black/Latino Roundtable, the Black/Korean Alliance and the Multicultural Collaborative. And he stressed also the importance of working with and building mutual support of workers in other countries, given the international character of capitalism and labor issues. Seeing reparations as an important moral and economic issue, he advocated for reparations and criticized universities and colleges for their role in enslavement and the country for its legitimation, defense and practice of enslavement. As a member of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and the Black Immigration Network (BIN), he struggled to ensure inclusive and just immigration policies and practices, racial and gender equity, and the solidarity of African peoples, domestically and internationally. Larry was a man rooted in Black culture, not only in its creative and social practices, but especially in its values. He had observed that one of the great problems for both Black life and struggle are those who have internalized European values without access to their benefits. He maintained that we must reembrace strongly values that stress our collective interests and not continue to emulate whites individualistic and materialistic values. In this regard, he also saw our culture and our struggle calling for us to approach leadership as a moral vocation. It is a leadership, he said, that is ethical in its practice and pursuit of policies, committed and accountable to the people, and supported by a people that holds itself and its leadership accountable. For he understood and believed Dr. Mary McLeod Bethunes teaching that The measure of our progress as a race is in precise relation to the depth of faith in our people held by our leaders. In a reflection on return to New Orleans after having left at an early age, Larry reveals the early family and community sources of his sensitivity to others, his love of family and commitment to family and community. His grounding first comes from a strong and resourceful widowed mother, deeply rooted in the Catholic faith and Black cultural values of caring, sharing, sacrifice and struggle, and achieving the wholly impossible. It was his memory and model of Mama searching to find her way after daddy died, my seven brothers, struggling to order their lives in the midst of the Depression, but each unfailingly helping Mama. And sharing even our meager resources with our neighbors. And it was his Creole community in New Orleans in the 7th ward and a larger Black community in South Central L.A. that raised up and reaffirmed the good of close bonds and sharing and the striving and struggling together that grounded relationships and taught him the upward paths of his culture. Family, then, was central to him. And everyone who knew or heard about Larry, knew how he loved his wife, Gloria, and regardless, really irregardless, would stop, suspend and leave whatever else he was doing and rush home every Friday without fail to create and share the good of just being together and doing and feeling the beauty of it all. And he was also supportive and encouraging to all his children and worked for their success and strength. But again, he linked family and community and strived mightily to fulfill in his obligations to both. He remembered fondly when Central Avenue was alive with Black life, love and joyous celebration, with a strong sense of family and community and a profound sense of caring and sharing. And he urged us all to intensify our efforts to build and strengthen family and community. Indeed, he tells us that his visit home back to New Orleans in the 80s was a vivid reminder of how fortunate I am to be Black and part of a proud Creole family and culture. It reaffirmed a legacy of love, strength and caring for which I am forever grateful. He had rejected Creole color consciousness, clannishness and other negatives even as he had done so for the larger Black community. But he saw good in each and built on their strength. He constantly urged us to keep the faith and hold the line, to care and share, and struggle ceaselessly for a new community, society and world. In an interview, he said of this journey, We have a long way to go, but Im looking forward to getting there. And, of course, he will indeed get there when we do. For he will live in his work and achievement and by our advancing and winning the sacred struggle to which he and all our ancestors dedicated their lives. And as it is written in the sacred texts of our ancestors, The Husia, this is our commitment: he will always be for us a glorious spirit in heaven and a continuing powerful presence on earth. He shall be counted and honored among the ancestors. His name shall endure as a monument. And the good he has done on earth shall never perish or pass away. Deferring to Larry for the last word concerning his life, I end with a quote from his last column in the Sentinel. And he says to us, If theres one lesson summing up what Ive learned and would like to share, it is this: we must unapologetically take control of our own destiny, develop and pursue our own agenda, build appropriate coalitions and alliances, and continue to struggle for racial and social justice without compromise. We are a proud and resilient people, rich in internal resources, and whatever meaning and value this column and my work has had, its because I have continuously drawn from those resources and used them to strengthen and guide my efforts. Finally, I thank you, the community, and you the readership, and of course my wife and family, and my colleagues and friends for accompanying me on this gratifying journey and for your support and creative challenge, Unity, Strength and Determination. Hotep. Ase. Heri. Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, The Message and Meaning of Kwanzaa: Bringing Good Into the World and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org; www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org. Hi there, We have lost sense of time and remembering dates would have been impossible if not for the extension of lockdowns. Most of us now remember dates from one phase of the lockdown to the other. Everything in between is a blur. Even the memories of the last date we went on. That, of course, happened before the lockdown kicked in and kicked life out of our lives. But today, May 21, is an important date. Twenty-nine years ago, on this date, former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. He wasnt PM when that happened, but there was a strong chance of his return to power in the mid-term Lok Sabha elections for which he was canvassing at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991. (Photo: PTI) At about 6 in the evening when Rajiv Gandhi was supposed to take off from Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam to reach Tamil Nadu, Rajivs chopper developed a technical snag. Disappointed, Rajiv was headed for the guest house in Visakhapatnam when he got a call saying that the snag had been fixed. The former PM was now in a hurry to reach Chennai, then Madras, so he forgot to inform his own personal security chief OP Sagar that he was headed to Madras, and not the guest house. So, Rajiv reached Madras without his personal security team. A little after 8.30 pm, Rajiv was being greeted by his party members in Madras. At about 10 past 10 pm, Rajiv reached Sriperumbudur with other Congress leaders. One of those who greeted him was Santhan, disguised as a Congressman. He was part of the plot to assassinate Rajiv. The revelation about how the plot was hatched was found in the diary of one of the assassins. You can read about that diary and how the investigators reached the diary here. The day he was killed, in his trademark style, Rajiv went about meeting the crowd. Part of this crowd was a woman in her 30s trying to move towards Rajiv. Anusuya, a lady constable, tried to stop the woman but Rajiv directed that she be allowed to cross the fence. "Don't worry. Relax," Rajiv told Anusuya. These are believed to be his last words. Then, as you know, the blast happened. There was blood and there was flesh everywhere. Most people only found out what had happened only on the morning of May 22. (Photo: India Today) Indias former PM could only be identified because of his Lotto shoes and the Gucci wrist watch he was wearing. If you were old enough then, you would remember around the same time Rajiv was assassinated, a huge storm struck most parts of north India. Most people found out what had happened only in the morning, because there was an immediate power cut. Talking of the storm, cyclone Amphan you know has made a landfall and as is customary for cyclones, left a lot of destruction behind. Cyclone Amphan hitting Kolkata, Prayers for the safety of all #AmphanSuperCyclone pic.twitter.com/20a5BFd0Fl Narendra Modi fan (@narendramodi177) May 20, 2020 We got talking about Amphan because we were talking about the storm of May 21, 1991, the day Rajiv Gandhi died. Twenty-nine years later, his party is paying tributes to him in Karnataka with little care or caution and amid crowds. The event happened in the presence of recently appointed Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivkumar. But all those present at the event qualify to be our Covidiots Of The Day. The virus is omnipresent and so are Covidiots. A crowd proved fatal for Rajiv then; a crowd could prove fatal for more now. But Shivkumar has been at it for some time. He has been planning to go on a statewide yatra amid the pandemic. Now, we understand he is new to the chair and wants to prove himself, but any event that will gather a crowd currently will only prove that the person organising it and the persons attending it are all plain, simple idiots. Thankfully, neither the state nor the central leadership of the Congress has so far come around Shivkumars idea of going around the state amid the virus outbreak. We offer our condolences to the party on this solemn day. Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress leaders Dinesh Gundu Rao, DK Shivakumar and others pay tribute to former Prime Minister #RajivGandhi on his 29th death anniversary today. pic.twitter.com/sz3wsgOZ9A ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 Rajiv's children Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi too paid their tributes to their father through social media today. In memory of my beloved father, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, who was martyred this day in 1991. He was a wonderful father; gentle, kind, compassionate & patient. I miss him. But he will always stay alive in my heart & in the wonderful memories I have of him. #RememberingRajivGandhi pic.twitter.com/bFO8CZoExN Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2020 Taking of the day, today happens to be the birthday of Malayalam cinema's superstar Mohanlal. If its your birthday too, we extend our wishes. If you want, you can extend your wishes to Mohanlal. Totally up to you. Giving that name to the man was, however, totally up to his great grandfather. If you live in north India, you would find nothing unusual about the name. But remember, Mohanlal is from Kerala, where such names are not usual. We told you Mohanlal got his name from his great grandfather, who gave Mohanlal's brother the name Pyarelal. A fan of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the great grandfather expressed his fandom by naming his great grandson Mohanlal. By adding a lal to both Pyare and Mohan, he expressed his love for the kids too. But we wonder if the great grandfather liked Gandhi so much, why didnt he name himself Mohanlal. Maybe because we do not call ourselves by our names. We call ourselves, I, Me, Myself. So, its better to name others after people we like because then we can call them that. Anyway, we leave that at that because there is a serious issue we need to tell you about. Not that naming names is not serious business. But we want to talk about Nepal which has named India as the culprit for the coronavirus spread. KP Sharma Oli, PM of the neighbouring country, has said that people coming from India illegally are spreading the virus in Nepal. In his bid to play fair, and target enemies within and outside in one go, Oli has said that people in the country are helping people outside the country enter without proper screening. This sudden India blame has surprised many in India. The surprised lot is the lot that doesnt understand that Nepal is blaming India at the behest of China. Hindi-Chini could never become bhai-bhai, but Nepali-Chini are getting there. China is basically our local land encroacher. Only, it is not desi katta, but nuke-powered. It has been trying to turn regional countries against India. The issue that Nepal has raised with India, at the behest of China, is Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. You know when it comes to land disputes, they say, bhai, bhai ka nahi hota. There's no bigger example of that than Mahabharat. But what about behen? She has no land rights, so she stays out of the dispute. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Nepali countrepart KP Sharma Oli. (Photo: PTI) But the argument between these once-upon-a-time bhai and bhai, India and Nepal, shot off after an 80 km new road was inaugurated between Darchula to Lipulekh, the border pass near the trijunction with Tibet and Nepal. Now, Lipulekh is near Kalapani. In the map of the area that was shared between the two countries in 1954, Kalapani was shown as Indian territory. In 2019, India came up with a new map that marks J&K and Ladakh as Union Territories. Kalapani was still shown as part of India in the map. But Nepal, which did not protest then, has protested now. As part of the protest, Nepal has done its own cartography and shown Kalapani as its territory. This is the new map of our country. Thank you to the entire team, including the Prime Minister Oli. @PM_Nepal https://t.co/XuCH2s2y52 Dil Nisani Magar (@dil_nisani) May 18, 2020 Actor Manisha Koirala has called in the Big Brother in this two-brother fight. If China had its way, it would really mark the whole globe as China territory, including the seas and oceans. Also, including Nepal, which is cozying up to China. The Chinese cartography project marks Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and South China Sea as Chinese dominion already. Many parts of India too. The coronavirus pandemic, spread by China, may one day come to an end, but Chinese aggression wont. We will leave the unfolding of the dispute to time, but for now, we want to deal with cartography because that is what our Word Of The Day is. Cartography comes from the French word cartographie, where carte means map, and graphie means representation by. In the present sense, cartography is the making and studying of maps. The exercise dates back to 6th century BCE when ancient Greeks and Romans created maps from the time of Anaximander. In the times of corona, we thought the world would come together to fight corona, but the world is getting back to fighting over carte. Leave the world aside for now, no flights are going there anyway. Lets talk about the flights that will fly from May 25. Remember, its not going to be travel as usual. The SOPs are in place and strict. If you are one of those who take pride in telling your friends that you reached the airport just when the boarding was closing, stay home. Dont even bother booking a ticket. Chances are you will lose money. Domestic travellers in the country will now have to report at least two hours before the flight take-off. Domestic flights routes divided into seven segments to restart the domestic flight operations from Monday. #ITVideo pic.twitter.com/0kMzglsJNC IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) May 21, 2020 For others things you need to follow, read this. Remember this is only for domestic travel. Guidelines for global travel would be stricter whenever world travel resumes. World travel will resume when it resumes but World Bank has a new financial crisis expert - Carmen Reinhart. She has got the job but she wont be joining before June 15. Reinhart is a Harvard University professor considered an authority on international finance and financial crises. You may say this is a different kind of crisis, but then, remember she has written a book, on financial disasters, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. She wrote the book along with Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff. Can she fix the financial folly of the coronavirus? Keep track of time because time alone can answer that. We will see you tomorrow. Stay safe. Also read: DailyOh! Cyclone Amphan is here, but why we cant forget Cyclone Bhola Ghana has rejected the European Commissions (EC) proposal to include the country in its list of high risk jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes on 1st October, 2020. A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday said the decision did not reflect exactly the current status of Ghanas AML/CFT regime. This is unfortunate, and the Government of Ghana is always ready to engage with the EC about the true status of the countrys AML/CFT regime and efforts being made to strengthen same, the statement said. The European Commission on May 7, 2020 proposed to the European Union Parliament to add Ghana to its list of high risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. The statement said the European Commission had not engaged Ghana concerning any shortcomings that needed to be addressed nor was the country given the opportunity to implement corrective measures. On the contrary, when Ghanas progress report was being discussed at the last FATF Plenary meetings held in Paris, France on 19th to 21st February, 2020, no adverse comment came from the EC. It is, therefore, a surprise for the EC to mention Ghana as one of the countries to be added to her list of high risk third countries barely three months afterwards, the statement said. The statement said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard setting on AML/CFT, has always acknowledged Ghanas efforts in enhancing its AML/CFT regime at various platforms of which the EC is always represented. Just as the methodology used to publish a similar list on 13th February, 2019, which was eventually withdrawn due to lack of clarity and transparency in the process of identifying third countries, we consider the methodology used to come up with this new list once again unfortunate, it said. The statement said Ghanas Mutual Evaluation Report by FATF during their plenary meetings in October 2018, identified some strategic deficiencies in the countrys AML/CFT framework, and FATF has worked with Ghana to draw up a two year Action Plan (2019 -2020) to address same. It said the country has had periodic face-to-face meetings with the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) to assess the progress of implementation of the Action Plan. The last face-to-face meeting was from 15th to 17th January, 2020 in Rabat, Morocco. It is worth mentioning that, since the action plan was adopted, Ghana has consistently demonstrated a high-level political commitment to implementing the action plan and has always received positive commendations from the FATF, the statement said. Indeed, the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) in their report to the FATF Plenary meetings in February, 2020 acknowledged that all timelines due have been met and some action items addressed even ahead of their timelines, it added. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Wyoming is at a point where it needs more investment into its ageing infrastructure and the pandemic is the perfect excuse to do so, as long as the states legislature finally decides to open up spending some of its reserves. The pandemic has resulted a large number of people being laid off from their jobs. The oil and gas industry has been particularly impacted, though travel and tourism efforts across the state will likely see diminished returns as well. Less revenue means less work. However, if the state poured heavy investments into its highway system, as well as local governments see... It was agreed to transfer the second tranche of the previous, fourth macro-financial assistance program in the amount of 500 million euros to Ukraine in the coming weeks President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen discussed overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, financial assistance for Ukraine and restoration of the air connection with the European Union. This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian President. "Thank you personally for the 190-million-euro support package, announced by the European Commission, that is set for the fight against the effects of COVID-19. This money will be used to support the health care system and the economy, to help vulnerable groups, small and medium businesses, support civil society, judicial reform and to implement The European Green Deal," Zelensky said. President of Ukraine announced the signing of a law on banking activity in the near future that will open the way to a new cooperation program with the IMF. An agreement on the transfer of the second tranche of the previous, fourth EU macro-financial assistance program in the amount of 500 million euros to Ukraine was reached. As we reported earlier, on April 22, the European Commission announced its decision to provide Ukraine with 1 billion 200 million euros in order to support it during the COVID-19 pandemic. By PTI COLOMBO: At least three women were killed and eight others injured in a stampede on Thursday when a large number of people gathered at the residence of a wealthy businessman who was distributing cash to the families affected by the coronavirus lockdown. The Muslim businessman was distributing Rs 5,000 to people, who lost their livelihood in the coronavirus crisis, to mark the 27th day of the Ramzan fast, police said. A large number of people gathered at the businessman's house in Central Colombo's Maligawatta area violating the COVID-19 lockdown curfew, police said. Police said at least six people have been arrested. Sri Lanka, which has reported over 1,000 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, eased the lockdown rules allowing businesses and offices to re-open while complying with health regulations. The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Ninth National Assembly, Right Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, may have defied reason and public outcry against the infectious disease control bill undergoing legislation in the Lower Chamber. Accordingly, the House has placed notice of public hearing, calling for submission of memorandum from selected stakeholders in the country. The House Committee on Health Care Services In a notice of public hearing memorandum from the House of Representatives, calling for memoranda, indicated that following the resolution of the House of Representatives mandating the Joint House Committees on Health Care Services, Health Institutions and Justice to conduct a Two Day Public Hearing on A Bill For An Act To Repeal The Quarantine Act And Enact The Control Of Infectious Diseases Act, Make Provisions Relating To Quarantine And Make Regulations For Preventing The Introduction Into And Spread In Nigeria Of Dangerous Infectious Diseases, And For Other Related Matters (HB.836), the committee, therefore, invite memoranda from the public and, particularly, from the under listed stakeholders: 1) Nigerian Governors Forum. 2) Federal Ministry of Health. 3) Federal Ministry of Justice. 4) Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. 5) Chief Justice of Nigeria. 6) World Health Organization (WHO). 7) Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) 8) Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 9) National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA). 10) National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). 11) National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). 12) National Human Right Commission. 13) Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba. 14) Nigeria Medical Association (NMA). 15) Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. 16) National Association of Resident Doctor (NARD) 17) Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. 18) Board of Community Health Practitioners Council. 19) Medical Laboratory Council of Nigeria. 20) Pharmacy Council of Nigeria. 21) Optometry Council of Nigeria. 22) Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). 23) Nigeria Police Force (NPF). 24) Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS). 25) Nigeria Union of Allied Health Professional (NUAHP). 26) Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). 27) Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI). 28) Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ). 29) College of Pathologist of Nigeria. 30) Traditional Rulers of the 6 Geo-Political Zones 31) Traditional Medicine Association of Nigeria 32) National Association of Epidemiologists. 33) Nigeria Agriculture Quarantine Service. 34) National Association of Microbiologists. 35) National Association of Chemists. 36) National Association of Nigeria Nurses & Midwives (NANNAM) 37) Public Health Practitioners. 38) Association of Airline Operators. 39) Port Health Workers. 40) Shippers Council of Nigeria. 41) Vessel Owners Association. 42) Magistrate Association of Nigeria. 43) Lab. Scientist Association of Nigeria. 44) African Union through African Centre for Disease Control. 45) Dangote Foundation. 46) UNICEF. 47) Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria. 48) National Council of Women Society (NCWC). 49) Representative of Coalition of Civil Societies (CSOs) 50) General Public. Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, in a statement on Tuesday indicated that the Committee would also appreciate inputs from the intellectual class such as the Universities and Research institutions. We humbly request that you send One (1) soft copy in a flash drive and Fifty (50) hard copies of each typed memorandum which should be addressed to The Deputy Director/Clerk Committee on Health Care Services in H102, after Committee Room 17, 1st Floor, white House, House of Representatives Wings, National Assembly Complex, Abuja, not later than Monday 1st June 2020. The Committee Chairman stated that receipt of Memoranda will end on Friday 5th June 2020, while the Public Hearing will commence as follows: Date: Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th June 2020. Time: 10am Daily. Venue: Conference Room 028, Zero Floor, New Building, of Representative Wing, National Assembly Complex, Abuja. The committee chairman noted that the Public Hearing will be conducted in line with COVID-19 Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines with strict adherence to wearing of face mask and observance of social distancing. The General Public is also advised to follow the Public Hearing on the following social Media Accounts: YouTube live, Facebook and Twitter, the chairman said. There have been strong opposition to the bill, essentially on the inadequacies of breaching human rights, privacy right, property right, and craving dictatorship of the NCDC DG. Mumbai, May 21 : Australian pop music and siblings band, The Buckleys, is set to bring their virtual tour to India. They will be performing for Indian music lovers for the first time on May 29. The Buckleys consist of Sarah Grace, Molly and Lachlan. "India has such a rich culture of music and art, we are excited that through technology we can connect with you from all the way here in Australia. Not to mention, one of our favourite bands, The Beatles, wrote much of 'the white album' in India. So, we'll most definitely have to play Beatles in this set for you Beatles fans like us! We can't wait!" said The Buckleys in a joint statement ahead of their India debut. Earlier this month, the country stars recreated the personalised "live" experience during a time of social distancing, by performing virtual tours across North and South Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The Buckleys' show will be the second global virtual tour in the country after Willie Gomez's 'Mojados' virtual world tour, which concluded last week. A Republican-controlled committee in the U.S. Senate voted along party lines to subpoena documents related to Hunter Biden, the son of presidential candidate Joe Biden, in a case that President Donald Trump has used to bludgeon his rival ahead of the November elections. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to issue subpoenas related to Hunter Bidens work on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company. The subpoena targets documents from lobbying firm Blue Starr Strategies, which worked for Burisma during Bidens tenure on the companys board. Gary Peters, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the measure risks amplifying efforts of our foreign adversaries to interfere in the 2020 elections, in an apparent reference to Russia. Trump has made unsubstantiated allegations that the elder Biden used his position as U.S. vice president between 2009 and 2017 to pressure the Ukrainian government to oust a prosecutor to benefit his son and Burisma. The allegations were at the centre of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year that partially led to the presidents impeachment in December after accusations that he improperly pressured Ukraine in an effort to get an investigation into the Bidens. No evidence of wrongdoing has been uncovered in the Bidens dealings with Ukraine, which were supported by the international community at the time. The younger Biden has acknowledged his lucrative work for the gas company. The subpoena is one of a number of steps Republicans are taking to ramp up probes that support Trumps narratives on Russia and the Bidens as the presidential elections near. Lindsey Graham, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would release the findings of his committees investigation into the FBIs probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Russia and Trump campaign officials. Many in Trumps camp argue that the FBIs probe was biased against the president. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department is probing the origins of the Russia investigation, with some Republicans claiming the investigation will vindicate the president. (dpa/NAN) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:45:10|Editor: yan Video Player Close Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attend the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Xueren) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisory body started its annual session Thursday afternoon in Beijing, raising the curtain of a key season in the country's political calendar which also includes an annual gathering of the national legislature to open Friday. The session will pool the wisdom and strength of political advisors to help secure a victory in poverty eradication and complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan attended the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held at the Great Hall of the People. The session was attended by 2,057 CPPCC National Committee members. Attendees at Thursday's meeting paid a one-minute silent tribute to martyrs who died fighting COVID-19 and compatriots who lost their lives in the epidemic. The agenda for the session was reviewed and approved at the meeting. Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee to the session. Highlighting the Central Conference on CPPCC Work held by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in 2019, Wang Yang said that the speech by Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at the conference has charted the way forward for the cause of the CPPCC in the new era. He commended the contributions made by the CPPCC National Committee and its standing committee to the causes of the Party and the country under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core over the past year. In the report, he also noted the role of political advisors in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, saying that they have submitted more than 1,300 reports and suggestions on preventing and controlling the epidemic, resuming work and production, stabilizing public expectations and strengthening law-based governance. Giving full play to the role of the CPPCC as a specialist consultative body, 71 consultation meetings, 97 research trips as well as online consultations were organized in the past year, according to the report. Wang Yang said the year 2020 marks the concluding phase for China's endeavor to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deliver on the 13th Five-Year Plan. He called on political advisors to fulfill their duties focusing on coordinating epidemic control and economic and social development to make contributions to winning the battle against poverty and completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Attendees were also briefed on the handling of proposals submitted by political advisors. A total of 5,488 proposals have been submitted since the previous annual session of the top political advisory body, said Zheng Jianbang, vice chairperson of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, when delivering a report on the proposals. Veteran actor Mohanlal celebrated his 60th birthday on Thursday and wishes poured in from all quarters. Political leaders and film personalities took to the social media to wish the star. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan greeted the actor on twitter saying, "Dear @Mohanlal, wishing you the best on your birthday. May you have a wonderful day and a special year ahead." Mohanlal, who has acted in over 300 movies, is one of the most versatile actors in the film industry. Hashtags #HBDMohanlal, #HBDLalettan and others were trending on the internet. The actor's devoted fans in the state pledged to donate their organs with the health department under the organ donation programme. Tamil actor Kamal Haasan said he always envied the quality of Mohanlal's work. "Dear Mr.@Mohanlal I liked you from your first film. I envied you for the constant quality of your work, that too with detractors lurking in every turn. I liked you even more when I worked with you. Long live my younger brother," Haasan tweeted. In an audio message, 'Superstar' Rajinikanth said, "Many happy returns of the day. You are a wonderful person. I love you. God bless." Malayalam star Prithviraj Sukumaran posted an old picture of himself with Mohanlal and wrote, "Happy birthday Chettan!." Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Hansika, Manjima Mohan and other young actors also took to social media to wish the actor. Mohanlal has been honoured with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. He also became the country's first actor to be awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army in 2009. In an emotional video message to Mohanlal, Malayalam superstar Mammootty said they both have known each other for 39 years. "We first met on the sets of Padayottam in 1982 our first film together. From then to now, the bond has lasted," Mammootty said in the three-minute clip titled 'To my Lal', which has gone viral. "My dearest wishes to my dear friend Mohanlal, Keralas Lalettan, to the magical actor that Malayalam cinema has seen," he said. Fans are eagerly waiting to see Mohanlal on the big screen after the lockdown is lifted. His upcoming movies include noted director Priyardarshan's Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, Lucifer sequel Empuraan, Jeethu Joseph's Ram and his own directorial debut Barroz. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indias response to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has so far been effected predominantly by three different laws the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (EDA); the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DMA); and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). After the declaration of the pandemic as a notified disaster, the National Executive Committee of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), set up under the DMA, has been imposing the graded lockdowns and issuing periodic guidelines to states for enforcing the lockdowns. Simultaneously, both the central and state governments have fallen back on EDA to address the health aspect of this disaster. However, people violating lockdown orders are being charged under sections 188, 269 and 270 of IPC. The use of such an ad-hoc legal architecture with a multiplicity of statues has resulted in a patchwork response against the epidemic in several areas. The archaic three-page-and-four-section EDA does not define what constitutes a dangerous epidemic disease. It confers unbridled power to the executive to respond to the disease by the way of promulgating ordinances or regulations, but without due care to the social and reputational standing of the people affected due to the pandemic. Similarly, DMA, passed as an immediate response to the 2004 tsunami, is largely framed for effective preparation, mitigation and managing a natural or man-made calamity, mishap or a catastrophe such as tsunamis, earthquakes and cyclones. These events are normally geographically-localised catastrophic events, disrupting normal life for a few hours or days, but unlike a public health epidemic, do not last over a long period of time. In contrast to natural disasters, physical evacuation of people from an affected area to a relatively safe zone is not an option during a pandemic due to the likelihood of the spread of the infection. Cognisant of the lack of appropriate epidemic control and management law, in 2017, the Union ministry of health and family welfare prepared a comprehensive Public Health (Prevention, Control and Management of epidemics, bio-terrorism, and disasters) Bill to address the loopholes in the current laws including EDA. However, the Bill did not get tabled in Parliament. An Approach Paper on a new Public Health Act proposed by a 2012 task force is also gathering dust. A new and robust epidemic law must take into account the experiences and lessons learnt from the current crisis. First, the Act should provide for an NDMA like authority or body, having representation from both the Centre and states, responsible for designing and implementing well-coordinated surveillance, identification, contact-tracing, quarantine, isolation, testing strategy and treatment. The Act must also empower the body to plan a comprehensive and reasoned lockdown strategy, taking into account disruptions to supply lines, essential and non-essential services, human migration, relief and food support and all non-health services and utilities. Second, the Act must have provisions to allow for multi-sectoral emergency financial support and relief measures to local authorities, farmers, businesses and health care providers, and for animal care and livelihood safeguards. Third, the Act must provide adequate autonomy to states to design and enforce responses as per their local assessments, such as preparing health facilities to respond to various challenges at the district-, block- and gram panchayat-level. For example, the Odisha Governments conferment of powers of the Collector on sarpanches to enforce isolation and quarantine of the migrant workers returning home from outside. Fourth, the Act must put in a more robust disincentive scheme, which should include a combination of civil and criminal penalties for violation of authorities orders. Currently, it provides only for criminal penalties. This should also include stringent punitive action against people abusing or mistreating frontline workers like doctors, nurses, paramedics, village-level health workers, sanitation staff and police personnel, accompanied, of course, by sufficient safeguards against overuse or misuse. Fifth, the Act must also have provisions to protect every citizens rights such as privacy. The balance between public health and the right to privacy must not be sacrificed at the altar of an emergency response. Any government response which involves surveillance or collection of personal data of individuals must also have adequate checks and balances to ensure proportionality and reasonableness of data collection. It must have provisions of anonymising the personal data, rigorous record-keeping, non-disclosure of personal data publicly and its deletion when the purpose of collection has been exhausted. Most importantly, there must be a clear definition of an epidemic disease to ensure a strict and clear boundary between the operation of an emergency statute and the resumption of ordinary laws. Extraordinary times such as the coronavirus pandemic require extraordinary measures. But even in times of emergencies, the laws must not fall silent. Public trust is strengthened only when adequate transparency and accountability measures are put in place by governments so that the public itself is able to judge the proportionality and reasonableness of the governments actions. Amar Patnaik is Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Odisha, a former CAG official, with a Master in Public Management from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, an academic with a PhD in management Nikhil Pratap is an advocate The views expressed are personal WASHINGTON - A bitterly divided Senate panel voted along party lines Thursday to advance President Donald Trumps choice to head the Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded international broadcasters that have been the subject of harsh criticism from the White House. After rejecting eight Democratic requests to postpone the move, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent Michael Packs nomination to the full Senate on a 12-10 vote. Pack is Trumps choice to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and its sister outlets like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Cuba-oriented Radio and Television Marti. Democrats oppose the nomination of Pack, a former associate of Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, in part because of questions about his past business dealings. Recent criticism of VOA from Trump and the White House has intensified their concerns about his nomination. Trump has pushed for Packs confirmation while launching unprecedented attacks on the Voice of America, the venerable broadcaster created during World War II to air independent news and promote American values to the world, for its coverage of Chinas response to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats fear that Pack, a conservative filmmaker and former educator, could turn the organization into a Trump propaganda machine funded with more than $200 million a year in taxpayer money. Trump has mused about his desire to control a media outlet. Pack has dismissed concerns he would allow that to happen, but the recent furor has reignited those concerns. The top Democrat on the committee. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, and other Democrats said the vote should be delayed because Pack has not yet answered questions about discrepancies in tax returns related to a non-profit organization he runs. Yet, the uproar over Voice of America and its recent coverage of Chinas handling of the pandemic overshadowed the possible legal issues. It has become a touchstone in the Trump administrations efforts to criticize Chinese authorities for the outbreak and deflect criticism of the U.S. response as the 2020 presidential campaign heats up. Trump and his allies have long viewed VOA with suspicion, regarding it as an element of a deep state trying to thwart their policies. The hostility burst open on April 9 when Trump communications adviser Dan Scavino posted a VOA story about China to his official Twitter account with the comment American taxpayerspaying for Chinas very own propaganda, via the U.S. Government funded Voice of America! DISGRACE!! The story that VOA posted about the lifting of the lockdown in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus first emerged was actually an Associated Press report, but the following day, an official White House publication accused VOA of using taxpayer money to speak for authoritarian regimes. Trump weighed in several days later, calling VOAs coverage disgusting and demanding that the Senate confirm Pack. A planned vote on Packs nomination was delayed earlier this month after the Washington, D.C., attorney general informed Menendez and committee chairman Jim Risch, R-Texas, that it had an open civil investigation into the tax return discrepancies. Click here to read the full article. To outsiders, Disneyland Resort president Rebecca Campbell was a surprise choice to succeed Kevin Mayer as chairman of Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International. To Disney insiders, the timing of the shake-up in Mayers division was unexpected when the news hit after the stock market closed May 18. But the selection of Campbell for the high-profile job overseeing Disneys global streaming efforts and all international operations was hardly a shock: The executive has quietly been on the move at Disney for some time. Shes tenacious and shes a great executive, says Anne Sweeney, former president of Disney/ABC Television Group, who worked closely with Campbell for years. Shes a strong and thoughtful manager who really knows her [executive team] and their strengths and weaknesses. Mayers move to leave Disney and become CEO of buzzy social media platform TikTok would have been a natural opportunity to restructure the management of Disneys streaming portfolio under the Media Networks wing led by co-chairs Peter Rice (also chairman of Walt Disney Television) and Jimmy Pitaro (also president of ESPN). The Direct-to-Consumer & International unit was established in May 2018 as Disney was gearing up to launch Disney Plus and preparing for the integration of 21st Century Fox. But CEO Bob Chapeks move to promote Campbell affirms the existing structure despite some questions about the effectiveness of separating streaming distribution from the content production group. Unlike Mayer, who came out of the business development side, Campbell has operational experience. She ran the ABC Owned Television Stations Group from 2010 to 2017. Over the past three years, Campbell has had a whirlwind tour of Disney operations. In 2017 she was dispatched to London to serve as president of Disneys Europe, Middle East and Africa business. Last September, she shifted gears to become president of Disneyland Resort, overseeing Disneyland and California Adventure under then-Disney parks chief Chapek, who was promoted to succeed Bob Iger as Walt Disney Co. CEO in February. (Disney declined to make Campbell available for an interview.) Story continues That kind of movement for an executive is a clear sign of someone being groomed for a larger role. And today, theres hardly a more crucial job within the vast Disney empire than steering the growth of Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, Hulu and Indias Hotstar. Shes one of [Chapeks] lieutenants, says Morningstar senior equity analyst Neil Macker. I think its a positive they could get somebody like her to run things. Regarding Mayers exit, from the Disney point of view, its a loss of a talented executive theres no way around it, Macker says. He adds that Disney management couldnt have been surprised he left following Chapeks promotion, given that he was passed over for the CEO job, but that his exit was likely a bit quicker than expected. Campbell, however, has been readied for a larger corporate role. She was closely involved in the planning for the Disney Plus rollout in Europe and other overseas territories. In the near term, Campbell is unlikely to make any significant changes to DTCIs road map or strategy, analysts say. Through the second half of 2020, Disney Plus is scheduled to continue rolling out through Western Europe, Japan and Latin America. For now, her job is to keep the train running, Macker says. With the strength of Disney Plus, its going to be on [Campbell] to continue the forward momentum. He predicts that Campbell and other Disney top brass may reassess the structure of the business toward the end of 2021. Campbells roots in local broadcasting run deep. She got her start working in programming and production at TV stations in Pennsylvania: WFMZ-TV in Allentown and WGAL-TV in Lancaster. She joined Disney in 1997 as VP of programming for ABCs Philadelphia O&O, WPVI-TV. Scott Koondel, former chief corporate content licensing officer for CBS Corp., recalls being impressed by Campbell when he made syndication sales pitches to her in her WGAL-TV days. She is a great leader people like working with her, Koondel says. And after so many years in the Disney fold, she really understands the Disney consumer. Campbell rose to become president and general manager of WPVI in 2003. Four years later, she was elevated to lead ABCs New York flagship, WABC-TV. Sweeney recalls that one of Campbells first moves after taking the reins of WABC was to tear down the wall that for decades separated the stations operations from the rest of Disney-ABCs New York City headquarters in Lincoln Square literally. Ill always remember her as the woman with the sledgehammer who made that bold decision, Sweeney says. The solicitation drive received seven artworks from medical workers who aided Hubei in its fight against COVID-19 and their families. (Photo/Courtesy of Chengdu Public Transport Group Co., Ltd.) A number of retro trolley cars have recently been turned into mobile exhibition centers for artworks themed on the fight against COVID-19 in Chengdu, capital of southwest Chinas Sichuan province, Chinanews.com reported. The works displayed in these trolley cars are all selected from a solicitation drive jointly launched by Chengdu Public Transport Group Co., Ltd. and Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, according to credible sources. Photo showing the retro trolley car in Chengdu. The cars have proven popular among citizens. (Photo/Courtesy of Chengdu Public Transport Group Co., Ltd.) The solicitation drive was held both online and offline, and brought together works featuring giant pandas from around the world. The 19 artworks showcased in the trolley cars are selected works of participants from 13 countries, including the U.K., Japan, Romania, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea. I didnt think too much when I drew the picture. I just wanted to relax, because I was so tense before, said Ma Huan, a nurse in the medical team dispatched from the 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College (also known as Nuclear Industry 416 Hospital). Artworks solicited in the drive. (Photo/Courtesy of Chengdu Public Transport Group Co., Ltd.) Giant pandas always sleep well, and I envy that, explained Ma, who drew a picture of a giant panda enjoying a nap on a wooden stand. The exhibition is expected to last from May 18 to July 18. Artworks solicited in the drive. (Photo/Courtesy of Chengdu Public Transport Group Co., Ltd.) Doctors and nurses wave thanks as residents pay tribute to them during a drive-by rally honoring frontline heroes at Riverside University Health System in Moreno Valley. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) The percentage of those testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Riverside County has dramatically dropped over the past month, public health officials said. In mid-April, the average number of positive tests was about 12 for every 100 conducted, according to Dr. Geoffrey Leung, Riverside University Health Systems chief of medical staff. That number, known as the positivity rate, is now about 6%, he said. Having a low positivity rate of less than 8% over a seven-day period is among the latest criteria included in the state's modified reopening plan. Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom relaxed restrictions that counties must meet before having a more expansive reopening. Officials from Riverside County and neighboring counties including San Diego, San Bernardino and Orange were pleased with the new guidelines, as many called the previous benchmarks unattainable. The governor listened to the input received by our counties, said Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. I believe its because were meeting these metrics and showing downward trends that the governors office is working with us and assisting our counties in advancing the economy in a safe way while we fight this pandemic." In addition to meeting the state's positivity rate benchmark, Riverside County also has a low hospitalization rate, officials said. Hospitalizations had increased 3% over the past week, but were still below the state's fewer than 5% metric as of Tuesday, said Jose Arballo Jr., the county's senior public information specialist. A total of 189 people, including 69 in intensive care, are hospitalized, according to records. As of Wednesday, 3,884 people in Riverside County have recovered from the novel coronavirus. Supervisor Karen Spiegel said she's hopeful that the county's improved rates will help its case to reopen more sectors of the economy, adding that she wants to see more people tested. More testing is needed because no one wants the county to reopen and then have to stop, she said. "You still have to be aware and make sure that we are safe. ... We don't want to have an opening and take our eyes off the end goal ... and have everybody infected again." Story continues She added: "I tell people [getting tested] is going to help their business open quicker." Spiegel said the county is working to lower the number of deaths within the region, as well as implementing contact tracing. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 6,184 COVID-19 cases in Riverside County, which is 131 more than the day before. The county's death toll remained at 270. Nearly 90,000 residents have been tested for COVID-19 in the county thus far. Health experts said they have the ability to test about 3,200 people daily. The county added two walk-in testing sites this week, one in Moreno Valley at Crossword Christian Church and the other in Cathedral City at the public library, according to county spokesperson Brooke Federico. Officials will be adding two more next week in Corona and San Jacinto. Appointments are required to receive a test. More than 60 residents were displaced after a fire broke out overnight Wednesday at the YMCA of Greater Boston, officials said. The blaze started around 12:50 a.m. Thursday on the seventh floor of the building, located at 316 Huntington Ave., the Boston Fire Department tweeted. Damages to the building were estimated at $100,000, according to fire officials. Boston Mayor Marty Walshs office and the American Red Cross are working to aid the dozens of displaced individuals, the Boston Fire Department said. The department thanked the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for providing transportation to the residents. Thanks to the @MBTA for providing transportation for the displaced, the department tweeted. A coordinated effort by multiple city agencies, working together to ensure the safety of the residents. (TNS) Dr. Albert Hsiao and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego health system had been working for 18 months on an artificial intelligence program designed to help doctors identify pneumonia on a chest X-ray. When the coronavirus hit the United States, they decided to see what it could do.The researchers quickly deployed their program, which dots X-ray images with spots of color where there may be lung damage or other signs of pneumonia. It has now been applied to more than 6,000 chest X-rays, and it's providing some value in diagnosis, said Hsiao, the director of UCSD's augmented imaging and artificial intelligence data analytics laboratory.His team is one of several around the country that has pushed AI programs into the COVID-19 crisis to perform tasks like deciding which patients face the greatest risk of complications and which can be safely channeled into lower-intensity care.The machine-learning programs scroll through millions of pieces of data to detect patterns that may be hard for clinicians to discern. Yet few of the algorithms have been rigorously tested against standard procedures. So while they often appear helpful, rolling out the programs in the midst of a pandemic could be confusing to doctors and dangerous for patients, some AI experts warn."AI is being used for things that are questionable right now," said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and author of several books on health IT.Topol singled out a system created by Epic, a major vendor of electronic health records software, that predicts which coronavirus patients may become critically ill. Using the tool before it has been validated is "pandemic exceptionalism," he said.Epic said the company's model had been validated with data from more 16,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in 21 healthcare organizations. No research on the tool has been published for independent researchers to assess, but in any case, it was "developed to help clinicians make treatment decisions and is not a substitute for their judgment," said James Hickman, a software developer on Epic's cognitive computing team.Others see the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to learn about the value of AI tools."My intuition is it's a little bit of the good, bad and ugly," said Eric Perakslis, a data science fellow at Duke University and former chief information officer at the Food and Drug Administration. "Research in this setting is important."Nearly $2 billion poured into companies touting advancements in healthcare AI in 2019. Investments in the first quarter of 2020 totaled $635 million, up from $155 million in the first quarter of 2019, according to digital health technology funder Rock Health.At least three healthcare AI technology companies have made funding deals specific to the COVID-19 crisis, including Vida Diagnostics, an AI-powered lung-imaging analysis company, according to Rock Health.Overall, AI's implementation in everyday clinical care is less common than hype over the technology would suggest. Yet the coronavirus has inspired some hospital systems to accelerate promising applications.UCSD sped up its AI imaging project, rolling it out in only two weeks.Hsiao's project, with research funding from Amazon Web Services, the University of California and the National Science Foundation, runs every chest X-ray taken at its hospital through an AI algorithm. While no data on the implementation has been published yet, doctors report that the tool influences their clinical decision-making about a third of the time, said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, UCSD Health's chief information officer."The results to date are very encouraging, and we're not seeing any unintended consequences," he said. "Anecdotally, we're feeling like it's helpful, not hurtful."AI has advanced further in imaging than in other areas of clinical medicine because radiological images have tons of data for algorithms to process, and more data makes the programs more effective, Longhurst said.But while AI specialists have tried to get AI to do things like predict sepsis and acute respiratory distress researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently won a National Science Foundation grant to use it to predict heart damage in COVID-19 patients it has been easier to plug it into less risky areas such as hospital logistics.In New York City, two major hospital systems are using AI-enabled algorithms to help them decide when and how patients should move into another phase of care or be sent home.At Mount Sinai Health System, an artificial intelligence algorithm pinpoints which patients might be ready to be discharged from the hospital within 72 hours, said Robbie Freeman, vice president of clinical innovation at Mount Sinai.Freeman described the AI's suggestion as a "conversation starter," meant to help assist clinicians working on patient cases decide what to do. AI isn't making the decisions.NYU Langone Health has developed a similar AI model. It predicts whether a COVID-19 patient entering the hospital will suffer adverse events within the next four days, said Dr. Yindalon Aphinyanaphongs, who leads NYU Langone's predictive analytics team.The model will be run in a four- to six-week trial with patients randomized into two groups: one whose doctors will receive the alerts, and another whose doctors will not. The algorithm should help doctors generate a list of things that may predict whether patients are at risk for complications after they're admitted to the hospital, Aphinyanaphongs said.Some health systems are leery of rolling out a technology that requires clinical validation in the middle of a pandemic. Others say they didn't need AI to deal with the coronavirus.Stanford Health Care is not using AI to manage hospitalized patients with COVID-19, said Ron Li, the center's medical informatics director for AI clinical integration. The San Francisco Bay Area hasn't seen the expected surge of patients who would have provided the mass of data needed to make sure AI works on a population, he said.Outside the hospital, AI-enabled risk factor modeling is being used to help health systems track patients who aren't infected with the coronavirus but might be susceptible to complications if they contract COVID-19.At Scripps Health, clinicians are stratifying patients to assess their risk of getting COVID-19 and experiencing severe symptoms using a risk-scoring model that considers factors like age, chronic conditions and recent hospital visits. When a patient scores 7 or higher, a triage nurse reaches out with information about the coronavirus and may schedule an appointment.Though emergencies provide unique opportunities to try out advanced tools, it's essential for health systems to ensure doctors are comfortable with them, and to use the tools cautiously, with extensive testing and validation, Topol said."When people are in the heat of battle and overstretched, it would be great to have an algorithm to support them," he said. "We just have to make sure the algorithm and the AI tool isn't misleading, because lives are at stake here." When Muslim community was left behind in the field of education, he motivated the entire Muslim community to progress in Education. by Dr SLM Rifai I am shocked and saddened to hear that Dr M. A.M Shukri, Director of Jamiah Naleemiah has died peacefully at Delmon Hospital, Colombotoday. Marhoom Dr M. A. M Shukri is one of rare Islamic scholars that the Muslim community has produced. He is naturally talented with many skills. His primary education was in his hometown Matara: while he was attending his primary education, he was trained and educated by some of famous Islamic scholars of his time. He is graced and blessed with some natural talents. He excelled in his languages: namely Tamil, Arabic, English and Sinhalese languages. While he was a student at Colombo Zahira college, he won many awards in different competitions. Dr M. A.M Shukri During his undergraduate studies at Peradeniya university, he became famous for his oration and debating skills in Tamil language.He won many awards in Tamil language speaking competitions sometime defeating some Tamil students too. He was educated and guided by late prof Imam at Peradeniya University and awarded first class degree in his graduate studies. Subsequently, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies at Peradeniya university. He was the first Muslim scholar to be awarded a commonwealth scholarship to read for his Ph.D. at Edinburgh University from 1974-1978. He successfully completed his Ph.D. on the topic of one of greatest Muslim Sufi scholars in Islamic history and appointed as senior Lecturer on his return from Edinburgh. Marhoom Dr Shukri is a talented Sri Lankan Muslim scholar who has contributed immensely for Sri Lankan Muslim education in many areas. He dedicated entire his life for education. He loved to read, write, and do research in the field of Muslim education. In fact, he has contributed to hundreds of international and local conferences. He has contributed over 60 years in the field of education. His radio talks on various Islamic subjectshave attracted audience not only from Muslim community but also from non-Muslim communities as well. He produced some best research works on various topics related to Muslim history and Islamic topics. Moreover, he has produced hundreds of articles in Tamil and English languages. He was appointed as Director of Jamiah Naleemiah by Marhoom Al-Hajj Naleem in 1982. Since then, he dedicated his life for Jamiah Naleemiah and Its development. Naleemiah is fortunate enough to have him as its director for more than 40 years. During his time, he stimulated a research culture among students. He encouraged students to read and do research in the field of education. Undoubtedly, Sri Lankan Muslim student community in Sri Lankan universities and at Jamiah Naleemiah are motivated and inspired by this great personality. He has been a father of education for Sri Lankan Muslim community. He produced some excellent books on different Islamic topic and translated some good books too. When Muslim community was left behind in the field of education, he motivated the entire Muslim community to progress in Education. one of the greatest contributions that he has done for the Muslim community is the compilation of Sri Lankan Muslim history. He edited a historical compendium on Sri Lankan Muslim community: Muslims of Sri Lanka: Avenues to antiquity is one of greatest contributions of late Mahroom Dr M. A, M Shukri. The entire Muslim community owe him a great respect for this contribution. This was a timely needed academic contribution to trace the origin and the history of Sri Lankan Muslim community. Unlike Tamil and Sinhalese communities have their religious and historical texts to prove their historical connection with the Island of Sri Lanka and yet, the Sri Lankan Muslim community did not have such historical texts to prove their historical connection with Sri Lanka in the past, but, Marhoom Dr, M.A.M Shukri managed to consult some of best historians in Sri Lanka to collect the origin and the history of Sri Lankan Muslim community from ancient time to modern time. This historical document is one of the most important historical books on the history of Muslim community in Sri Lanka. I think this is invaluable contribution of Marhoom Dr M. A. M Shukri. In addition to his academic contribution, he closely interacted with Muslim community to engage in many social works and interfaith discussions. He earned a good will of many Sinhalese and Tamil academic communities. He developed his friendship with many leading Buddhist prelates and Tamil leaders. Today, the entire Sri Lankan Muslim community mourns for the lost of one of greatest Sri Lankan Muslim scholars. I am fortunate enough to study under his academic guidance and supervision. I can write pages about his life and contribution and yet, it is beyond the scope of this obituary note to do so. He is survived by his wife and children. May Allah forgive him and reward him with Jennath-Al-Firdous for his all deeds and works. We pray for him and console his family in this difficult time. Talk of a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks made headlines last week when Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a new bill including those payments. But another round of federal relief checks is far from a done deal. Americans should brace themselves for a potentially long wait for that money, if it comes at all. The Democrats' bill, called the HEROES Act, calls for a second set of $1,200 payments for people in the same income thresholds as the first round of checks. That would be $1,200 for individuals with up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income and $2,400 for couples who file jointly who earn up to $150,000. Those payments would be reduced for income above those levels, and ultimately phase out at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for couples. More from Personal Finance: Where's my stimulus check? Answers to your top questions New stimulus relief bill includes second round of $1,200 checks Families of dead Covid-19 victims may have to give back stimulus checks The proposal also would sweeten the deal for those with children, bringing those payments up from $500 to $1,200 per dependent, with a maximum of three dependents. That means that under the new bill, families could get up to $6,000. More dependents would also be eligible, because the age cap would be lifted to include those ages 17 and up. In addition, non-citizens would also qualify for the money. Those two groups would also qualify for retroactive payments for the first round of stimulus checks. The White House has signaled that it would be open to another round of checks. However, any proposal would have to make it through the Senate before it made its way to President Donald Trump's desk to sign. THE GREATER Accra Regional Branch of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is asking the Minister of Aviation, Joseph Kofi Adda, to as a matter of 'urgency' allow the Ministry of Health (MoH) to implement the Disinfection Health Service (DHS) at the various airports to curtail the spread of Covid-19. At a press conference addressed by its secretary, Nana Poku, at its office in Accra on Tuesday, GUTA claimed the ministry had not been proactive in the fight against Covid-19. According to them, the ministry was not liaising properly with the MoH and the relevant health agencies to carry out the DHS at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in particular. The DHS is a preventive system where vehicles, containers, goods, baggage, cargo and others are disinfected against harmful pathogens. Where did Covid-19 virus come from? GUTA quizzed? Did it come into Ghana from Tema or Takoradi ports where the MoH successfully executed the DHS with the help of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority? Or did it come from the airport where you have refused to assist the health officials in implementing the DHS? We, the same ill-informed group of people, can tell you that the Covid-19 came through the airport that you manage and it spread all over Ghana, they appeared to take a jibe at the sector minister. It does not require education to see that if you implemented the DHS like it was done at the ports, then Ghana would have been better prepared, had fewer cases and you could have saved Ghanaian lives, they stated. GUTA indicated that following several meetings with the MoH and other stakeholders, they were convinced about the importance of the DHS and how beneficial it would be to all traders and Ghanaians at large. GUTA said they were only interested in the health and safety of traders in the country, following a petition they received from their members to call on the relevant authorities to disinfect the airports. They described the actions of the Aviation Minister as unfortunate since the Ghana Health Service (GHS) engaged DHS more than a year after Parliament passed the Public Health Act (Act 851) which incorporated the International Health Regulations prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005 into law in 2012. The Greater Accra GUTA members also alleged that the Governing Board of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) had already approved the project and did not understand why it could not be implemented. ---Daily Guide The parent company of Victorias Secret and Bath & Body Works announced plans to close stores in the U.S. and Canada. About 250 Victorias Secret Stores will permanently close, along with 50 Bath & Body Works locations. No announcement has been made to which locations will be shuttered. On May 4, 2020, the company outlined its go-forward strategy to drive long-term shareholder value. As part of this strategy, the company remains committed to establishing Bath & Body Works as a pure-play public company and is taking the necessary steps to prepare the Victorias Secret Lingerie, Victorias Secret Beauty and PINK businesses to operate as a separate, standalone company, L Brands said in an announcement. USA Today reports total L Brands sales declines 37% in the quarter ending May 2 as almost all locations were closed during the coronavirus pandemic. The closures are just the latest in a string of retail woes related to sagging sales and COVID shutdowns. JC Penney announced it will close almost 250 locations as part of its bankruptcy proceedings; Pier 1 Imports is shuttering all its stores. Victorias Secret has 1,091 stores in the U.S. and Canada, including 144 Pink branded locations. WASHINGTON -- Researchers have developed a way to use smartphone images of a person's eyelids to assess blood hemoglobin levels. The ability to perform one of the most common clinical lab tests without a blood draw could help reduce the need for in-person clinic visits, make it easier to monitor patients who are in critical condition, and improve care in low- and middle-income countries where access to testing laboratories is limited. "Our new mobile health approach paves the way for bedside or remote testing of blood hemoglobin levels for detecting anemia, acute kidney injury and hemorrhages, or for assessing blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia." said research team leader Young Kim from Purdue University. "The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased awareness of the need for expanded mobile health and telemedicine services." Kim and colleagues from the University of Indianapolis, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the US and Moi University School of Medicine in Kenya report the new approach in Optica, The Optical Society's journal for high impact research. The researchers used software to transform the built-in camera of a smartphone into a hyperspectral imager that reliably measures hemoglobin levels (a measure of the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood) without the need for any hardware modifications or accessories. A pilot clinical test with volunteers at the Moi University Teaching and Referral Hospital showed that prediction errors for the smartphone technique were within 5 to 10 percent of those measured with clinical laboratory blood. Kim's lab focuses on developing healthcare technologies that are first designed and tested in the resource-limited settings of low- and middle-income countries. These innovations are then applied to important health challenges in developed countries such as the US. "This new technology could be very useful for detecting anemia, which is characterized by low levels of blood hemoglobin," said Kim. "This is a major public health problem in developing countries, but can also be caused by cancer and cancer treatments." Spectral information from a smartphone Spectroscopic analysis is commonly used to measure blood hemoglobin content because it has a distinct light absorption spectrum, or fingerprint, in the visible wavelength range. However, this type of analysis typically requires bulky and costly optical components. The researchers created a mobile health version of this analysis by using an approach known as spectral super-resolution spectroscopy. This technique uses software to virtually convert photos acquired with low-resolution systems such as a smartphone camera into high-resolution digital spectral signals. The researchers selected the inner eyelid as a sensing site because microvasculature is easily visible there; it is easy to access and has relatively uniform redness. The inner eyelid is also not affected by skin color, which eliminates the need for any personal calibrations. To perform a blood hemoglobin measurement with the new technique, the patient pulls down the inner eyelid to expose the small blood vessels underneath. A healthcare professional or trained person then uses the smartphone app developed by the researchers to take pictures of the eyelids. A spectral super-resolution algorithm is applied to extract the detailed spectral information from the camera's images and then another computational algorithm quantifies the blood hemoglobin content by detecting its unique spectral features. The mobile app includes several features designed to stabilize smartphone image quality and synchronize the smartphone flashlight to obtain consistent images. It also provides eyelid-shaped guidelines on the screen to ensure that users maintain a consistent distance between the smartphone camera and the patient's eyelid. Although the spectral information is currently extracted using an algorithm on a separate computer, the researchers expect that the algorithm could be incorporated into the mobile app. Clinical testing The researchers tested the new technique with 153 volunteers who were referred for conventional blood tests at the Moi University Teaching and Referral Hospital. They used data from a randomly selected group of 138 patients to train the algorithm, then tested the mobile health app with the remaining 15 volunteers. The results showed that the mobile health test could provide measurements comparable to traditional blood tests over a wide range of blood hemoglobin values. In a separate clinical study, the mobile app is being used to assess oncology patients at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center. The researchers are also working with the University of Rwanda to conduct further studies and are planning to partner with the Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital in India to use the mobile health tool to assess nutritional status, anemia, and sickle cell disease in their patients. "Our work shows that data-driven and data-centric light-based research can provide new ways to minimize hardware complexity and facilitate mobile health," says Kim. "Combining the built-in sensors available in today's smartphones with data-centric approaches can quicken the tempo of innovation and research translation in this area." ### Paper: S. M. Park, M. A. V. Visbal-Onufrak, M. Haque, M. C. Were, V. Naanyu, K. Hasan, Y. L. Kim "mHealth spectroscopy of blood hemoglobin with spectral super-resolution," Optica, 7, 6, 563 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.390409. About Optica Optica is an open-access, journal dedicated to the rapid dissemination of high-impact peer-reviewed research across the entire spectrum of optics and photonics. Published monthly by The Optical Society (OSA), Optica provides a forum for pioneering research to be swiftly accessed by the international community, whether that research is theoretical or experimental, fundamental or applied. Optica maintains a distinguished editorial board of more than 60 associate editors from around the world and is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Prem Kumar, Northwestern University, USA. For more information, visit Optica. About The Optical Society Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org. Media Contacts: Aaron Cohen (301) 633-6773 aaroncohenpr@gmail.com mediarelations@osa.org Love Leitrim is highlighting a live-stream webinar called "Frackland" which will see communities in Pennsylvania outlining the impact of fracking on their lives. This Friday May 22nd communities in Pennsylvania will make a direct plea to Irish politicians to say no to the importation of fracked gas and reject an industry that has done so much to damage public health in the US. At 5pm there will be a live-stream webinar called "Frackland" which will include personal testimonies of Pennsylvanian communities damaged by the fracking industry. Love Leitrim state that Irish politicians currently involved in government formation talks are been asked to listen to the moving testimonies of these communities and reject the importation of fracked gas into proposed projects such as Shannon LNG. The Pennsylvanian communities who will be online tomorrow are the same ones from which fracked gas could be imported. The event also aims to draw attention to the still present threat of fracking in Northern Ireland. Love Leitrim Chairperson Jamie Murphy said When we in Ireland were successfully campaigning to ban fracking we received tremendous support from American communities. We now need to return that support and say that we as a country will not import fracked gas from exploited communities in Pennsylvania through projects like Shannon LNG. That is the very least we owe them. "Many eminent scientists and climate experts, and the Youth Assembly on Climate amongst others have spoken of the threat of fracked gas. If there are still politicians out there who believe fracked gas in not a danger to our climate, environment and communities then they should listen to the first hand accounts of Pennsylvanian residents tomorrow at 5pm. We and our friends in the US need a clear policy opposing fracked gas in any programme for government." Murphy also encouraged people to keep contacting politicians about the issue via this online petition .https://www.foe.ie/ takeaction/no-to-fracking-gas- terminals/ You can watch the stream and join the discussion from a number of place such as the Uplift or Environmental Health Projects page at 5pm on Friday May 22nd. https://www.facebook.com/ UpliftIreland/ https://www.facebook.com/ EnvironmentalHealthProject/ (Natural News) The Yellowstone National Park has been reopened, with support from the administration of President Donald Trump. The neighboring Grand Teton National Park, located about 10 miles south of Yellowstone, has also been reopened. At noon on May 18, Yellowstone began its first phase of reopening by allowing visitors to enter through the parks south and east entrances. The park had been closed since March due to the ravaging effects of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). The visitors, many of whom werent wearing face masks or practicing social distancing, flocked to Yellowstone as soon as it opened. Many of the visitors were observed, according to the license plates of the cars, to be from far away states, such as Washington State, New York and even Alaska. We have been cooped up for weeks, said Jacob Willis, who was interviewed by The Guardian. Willis was among a crowd of onlookers at the Old Faithful Geyser. When the parks opened, we jumped at the opportunity to travel, he added. He had arrived from Florida. Signs and handouts provided by park authorities cautioned park visitors to wear face masks and to observe social distancing by staying at least six feet away from other visitors. The park is also only open for day use. Food, campsite and lodging services, as well as the visitor centers have also remained closed. Only the parks entrances in Wyoming have been opened. Yellowstone National Park officials are still in negotiations with authorities in Idaho and Montana over opening the entrances to the park in their respective states. However, it seems unlikely for the Montana entrances to open in the near future, as the state requires out-of-state visitors to observe a mandatory 14-day quarantine. (Related: As the lockdowns are lifted, dont forget these 10 basic FACTS about the Wuhan coronavirus, or well all suffer a catastrophic second wave of deaths planned by the globalists.) Listen to the Health Ranger Report by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he calls to end the lockdowns and launch the takedowns. Not a single mask in sight While many, including President Trump, have celebrated the reopening of Yellowstone National Park, others have raised concerns, especially upon observing the large mass of visitors who entered the national park on May 18. Some of the concerns include the potential for large groups of visitors to willfully skirt social distancing guidelines, to not wear face masks and for out-of-state visitors to possibly cause a new outbreak in their respective home states. Kristin Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), stated that she and her colleagues checked camera footage at Old Faithful on Monday afternoon. Not much physical distancing happening and not a single mask in sight, said Brengel. Brian Perry, supervisor of Yellowstones eastern entrance, said that about 300 cars entered the park in the first three hours, and around 500 were expected by the days end. This, park officials have said, is about average for an opening day. Tour buses and other large commercial vehicles are still not allowed into the park. The parks goal is to open safely and conservatively, ensure we take the right actions to reduce risks to our employees and visitors and help local economies begin to recover, said Cam Sholly, superintendent for Yellowstone. Other national parks beginning to reopen Along with Yellowstone and Grand Teton, 20 other national parks were reopened for potential visitors on Monday, such as Zion National Park in Utah, Joshua Tree and Redwood National Parks in California and Everglades National Park in Florida. Furthermore, an additional 11 parks are scheduled to reopen either at the tail end of May or sometime in June or July, such as the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Many of these parks, once they do reopen, will have limited capacity for their reopening. Many hotels, restaurants and visitor centers, much like those in Yellowstone, will remain closed. All restaurants and stores in Grand Teton National Park, for example, are closed, but many of the parks biking and hiking trails have reopened. Some travel experts have also warned visitors against going to the more popular national parks, such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, especially on holidays, such as the coming Memorial Day, as they will most likely be packed with large crowds, increasing visitors risk of contracting COVID-19. Marty Behr, a travel specialist, suggested that people who do want to visit a national park consider some of the less well-known ones. In Utah, everyone knows Arches and Canyonlands, but Capitol Reef is a spectacular area with bison trails, petroglyphs, and great hiking and it gets way less visitors than the others, said Behr, who further suggested that, instead of going to a national park, travelers who want to get out of their homes could visit monuments instead, such as the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Concerns raised over national park employees abilities to halt potential spread of coronavirus among visitors Many people have raised concerns about the reopening of the United States national parks. Superintendent Sholly has stated that, if a crowd refuses to practice social distancing, he will choose not to put his staff at risk by having them join the crowd to attempt to disperse them. Phil Francis, chair of The Coalition to Protect Americas National Parks, an advocacy group of current, former and retired national parks employees dedicated to promoting Americas national parks, has stated his disagreement with this kind of approach when it came to parks visitors. Due to furloughs and budget cuts made at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, national parks have to rely more and more on visitors to be personally responsible for how they behave. Despite this, Francis hopes that the countrys parks system can take a more active approach in safeguarding the health of visitors and that, if the opening leads to the spread of the virus, park superintendents will be allowed to shut down parks once again. That being said, Fracis, Behr and other experts are in agreement that, if visitors are not under lockdown orders, are feeling healthy, have done their research, abide by health guidelines such as the wearing of face masks and practicing social distancing and pledge to be responsible visitors, then there should be no reason they cant take a trip down to Yellowstone, Grand Teton or any other national park. Sources include: TheGuardian.com NPS.gov Buckrail.com WWLP.com YellowstoneInsider.com WhiteHouse.gov GearJunkie.com CNTraveler.com Romantics across the globe have confessed to the most embarrassing things they have done to get their crush's attention. Taking to anonymous confessions app Whisper, one woman - believed to be British - was left 'bleeding badly' after purposefully falling over in front of her love interest and mistakenly injuring herself. Elsewhere, an individual from California, confessed they once made a fake Facebook profile and pretended they were in a relationship to try and make their crush feel jealous Meanwhile, a man who lives in Arizona, revealed that he once went to extreme lengths to turn his suitor's head - getting very painful nipple piercings to impress the woman working in the tattoo shop. People from around the world revealed the mortifying things they've done to impress their crush, including. Speaking candidly, one person who is believed to be from the UK, confessed she pretended to fall down to get her crush's attention but skimmed her knee in the process 'bleeding badly' Meanwhile, a man from America spent his savings travelling abroad with a friend in the hopes of starting a relationship - before realising he was firmly in the friend zone A man who lives in Arizona, revealed that he once went to extreme lengths to turn his suitor's head - getting very painful nipple piercings to impress the woman working in the tattoo shop An woman from Ohio said she once splurged 'more money than she had done in her life' on her hair, makeup and outfit - only to later discover that her crush already had a girlfriend Another individual from California, confessed they once made a fake Facebook profile and pretended they were in a relationship to try and make their crush feel jealous And an anonymous contributor revealed they once damaged their ankle, while trying to climb a tree to impress their crush Elsewhere, a woman believed to be from America, confessed she started smoking marijuana to get her crush's attention but didn't succeed Another woman from New Jersey, revealed she wouldn't have gone on the world's tallest rollercoaster if she hadn't been trying to impress her crush A man from Georgia revealed he didn't like coffee but became a regular at Starbucks to chat to the barista - it paid off and he said he's now preparing to marry his crush A man believed to be from America, said he streaked at a party to impress a girl - but his assets clearly didn't impress her as she still left with another guy Another man, who lives in Connecticut, admits he struggled to fool his crush into believing that he enjoys shrimp after he 'choked down every piece' Connecticut health officials on Wednesday advised operators at nursing homes and other senior care facilities that they could transfer residents who test positive for coronavirus to one of four nursing homes designated as COVID-19 recovery centers. The transfers will be voluntary, according to Av Harris, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health. The news followed a Hartford Courant report that Athena Health Care Systems, which owns the four recovery centers across the state, was considering closing one or more of the facilities due to a low admission rate. It also comes as health officials have started a program to test every resident at all 215 nursing homes for the virus. Nursing homes and other senior care facilities have borne the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak in the state, with 70 percent of the more than 3,000 deaths reported statewide last Thursday involving nursing home or assisted living facility residents. In a letter to Athena, a DPH official said nursing homes will be able to transfer residents who test positive for the disease if the facility cannot physically quarantine sick residents within the home. The recovery centers were originally set up for patients recovering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus who needed somewhere to recuperate after being discharged from a hospital. A fifth center to treat patients recovering from the virus is set to open Thursday in New Canaan, according to the Waveny LifeCare Network. The recovery centers will also be able to take transfers of residents at assisted living facilities, which are managed differently than nursing homes and whose residents typically require a lesser degree of medical care. Transfers will also be allowed for patients from homes for people with intellectual disabilities, according to the DPH letter. But as the states hospitalization rate has dropped off, the number of patients at the recovery units has been low. And residents who test positive for the illness have mostly been treated at the home where they live, rather than going to one of the recovery centers. Nursing home residents diagnosed with COVID-19, within a nursing home typically have remained in place, unless their COVID condition is exacerbated and requires acute hospital care, said Timothy Brown, a spokesman for Athena, on Wednesday. Brown indicated two previously closed facilities in Westfield and Torrington that had been reopened amid the crisis, which now have the lowest census of patients, might close. The other two facilities, located in Bridgeport and Sharon, are existing homes that were converted to recovery sites, he said. Harris said the change is being driven by the need to enhance infection control within long-term care facilities, and the decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations meaning less admissions to the COVID-19 recovery facilities from hospital discharges. David Skoczulek, vice president of business development for iCare Health Network, which operates several nursing homes in the state, said coronavirus infections jumped after the recovery centers opened. It made sense to treat these residents in place, Skoczulek said Wednesday. We sourced the PPE, shored up the staffing and cohorted by COVID status. Once all of that was in place we saw we had the capacity to assist the hospitals in admitting COVID positive patients. It made sense to fulfill that role. And it appears that has happened in many locations statewide. Some nursing homes have been cited for poor practices when staff move between treating COVID and non-COVID residents. Inspections by state health teams found five nursing homes had failed to adequately test residents, and staff members who didnt change gloves while moving from the area for COVID-positive residents to the one for healthy residents. DPH staff and personnel from the National Guard have been sending test kits to nursing homes to find and quickly isolate residents who have gotten sick with the disease. The governors office has also indicated testing staff will be next. New federal guidelines released Tuesday called for nursing home staff and residents to be tested weekly as a condition to allow families to visit once again. Josh Geballe, Gov. Ned Lamonts chief operating officer, said during the daily briefing on Tuesday that it was in line with the states goals. What will be the limiting factor is the operations of getting into the nursing homes, having the repetitive system setup to do these screenings every week or every other week at least to start. So theres a lot of work underway to get that done, Geballe said. With duck season starting this weekend and 40,000 hunters participating across the country, it is also the weekend when most gamebird hunting accidents happen. "Over 40 per cent of duck shooting accidents occur on the opening weekend. All hunters, experienced or not, need to stop and take time to think about safety," says Federated Farmers firearms spokesperson Miles Anderson. "With excited hunters operating in the dark in a confined space there is always potential for an accident. Many hunters wont have had a chance to shoot a round of clays this season, and with all the focus on COVID-19 management it is easy to forget about basic firearms handling safety." It is not only about health and safety, many hunters are also recreating on a working farm. Hunters with dogs must dose them for worms at least 48 hours before entering a property to prevent the spread of sheep measles, and check their equipment for any weeds, seeds or other forms of biological contamination. For those hunting on private land it is important to remember that it is a privilege, and to always consider the wishes of the landowner, says Federated Farmers. Hunters must have permission to hunt, regardless of who owns the land - no permission, no access. "This time of the year is eagerly anticipated by duck shooters and landowners and we want everyone to enjoy themselves, respect the farm they are shooting on, and come back safe to their families and communities," says Miles. Governor of Cross River, Prof. Ben Ayade has lifted the ban on religious gatherings in the State. This was revealed in a statement issued by the governor on Wednesday. Also Read: Ayade Asks FG To Lift Ban On Domestic Flights According to the statement, the governor acknowledged the efforts and cooperation of religious leaders in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisement Ayade said he was conscious of the spiritual economy, and that his action was as a result of appeals by religious leaders in the state. He, however, said worshippers must ensure that they comply with the directive on the use of face masks, and that such gatherings must not exceed the building capacity. Cross River remains one of the two states in Nigeria not to have recorded a case of Coronavirus. Follow the latest coronavirus news in Ireland and across the world on the Independent.ie live blog. 23:00 21/05/2020 Ruby fears Covid will close racecourses Expand Close Ruby Walsh feels that some racecourses are going to struggle to stay afloat during unprecedented times. Photo: Barry Cregg / Sportsfile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ruby Walsh feels that some racecourses are going to struggle to stay afloat during unprecedented times. Photo: Barry Cregg / Sportsfile Ruby Walsh fears that an 11-week lay-off for Irish racing amid the Covid-19 pandemic could see "a racecourse or two go by the wayside" and be unable to reopen. Irish racing will recommence on June 8 at Naas after missing 87 fixtures and the retired jockey believes that some tracks will be crippled financially as a result. The 41-year-old feels that "some racecourses are going to struggle" to stay afloat during unprecedented times and that some may not race again due to the consequences of the current world health crisis. "Racecourses have lost a lot of meetings already, which means they've also lost the revenue - the sponsorship, hospitality, gate receipts, and media rights," Walsh told Paddy Power News. Read More 22:40 21/05/2020 US states accused of fudging coronavirus testing data Public health officials in some US states are accused of bungling coronavirus infection statistics or even using a little sleight of hand to deliberately make things look better than they are. The risk is that politicians, business owners and ordinary Americans who are making decisions about lockdowns, reopenings and other day-to-day matters could be left with the impression that the virus is under more control than it actually is. In Virginia, Texas and Vermont, for example, officials said they have been combining the results of viral tests, which show an active infection, with antibody tests, which show a past infection. Public health experts say that can make for impressive-looking testing totals but does not give a true picture of how the virus is spreading. In Florida, the data scientist who developed the states coronavirus dashboard, Rebekah Jones, said this week that she was fired for refusing to manipulate data to drum up support for the plan to reopen. In Georgia, one of the earliest states to ease up on lockdowns and assure the public it was safe to go out again, the Department of Public Health published a graph about May 11 that showed new Covid-19 cases declining over time in the most severely affected counties. 22:20 21/05/2020 White House launches scathing report against China The United States on Wednesday issued a wide-ranging attack on China highlighting Beijings predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report, which comes amid the two countries simmering feud over the coronavirus, does not signal a shift in US policy, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. But it does expand on the tough rhetoric Donald Trump hopes will resonate with voters angry about Chinas handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. The medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge thats presented by the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday before the White House released its report. 22:00 21/05/2020 'It was a big surprise because I haven't really left the house' - Watford star opens up on positive test Expand Close Watfords Adrian Mariappa will now self isolate (Mike Egerton/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Watfords Adrian Mariappa will now self isolate (Mike Egerton/PA) Matt Law Adrian Mariappa has revealed his shock at being told he was the Watford player who had tested positive for coronavirus, despite not displaying any symptoms or breaking social-distancing guidelines. Mariappa's was one of six positive results to come back from the first wave of Premier League testing this week, along with two members of Watford's staff and Ian Woan, the Burnley assistant manager. The 33-year-old defender, who lives with his partner and three of his four children, has spent lockdown dividing his time between following his Watford fitness programme and homeschooling. Speaking yesterday, Mariappa said: "Ever since I got my positive result back on Tuesday, I've been scratching my head to try to work out how I might have got coronavirus. It was a big surprise because I haven't really left the house, apart from some exercise and the odd walk with the kids. I've mainly just been homeschooling and keeping fit. Read More 21:40 21/05/2020 Health Minister Simon Harris wants to re-introduce cancer screening as soon as possible Expand Close Stock Image / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stock Image The Health Minister said he wants to re-introduce routine cancer screenings as soon as possible. It comes amid concern at a backlog following the pausing of Breastcheck, CervicalCheck and BowelScreen due to the pandemic. Labour leader Alan Kelly called on the HSE to confirm screening programmes will return. The fact that most public cancer screening programmes such as BreastCheck and CervicalCheck have been suspended for over ten weeks is causing a great deal of stress, particularly among women. Eleven thousand screens take place each month. One person dies of cancer every hour in this country. Some cant be prevented but some can if they are found early enough. 21:20 21/05/2020 Full-length court sittings may resume in Ireland from Friday Full physical court sittings could resume from Friday, the Courts Service has said. Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland The Chief Justice, the Hon Mr Justice Frank Clarke, announced on Wednesday that all physical court sittings are to be limited to two hours daily. However, the deputy chief medical officer said meetings lasting longer than two hours are not barred under coronavirus guidance for workplaces. Dr Ronan Glynns comments come after moves by the Dail and Irelands courts to use that timeframe in restricting the length of sittings and hearings. 21:00 21/05/2020 Matt Damon, Tiger King and Normal People: Covid has turned us into a bunch of fanatics Katie Byrne Expand Close Hollywood legend Matt Damon, armed with a Supervalu bag at the 40 Foot is staying in racing tycoon Eddie Irvine's plush pad in Dalkey during the Coronovirus lockdown / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Hollywood legend Matt Damon, armed with a Supervalu bag at the 40 Foot is staying in racing tycoon Eddie Irvine's plush pad in Dalkey during the Coronovirus lockdown My brother saw Matt Damon in Dalkey the other day. It was a brief and uneventful celebrity sighting - they drove past one another on the road - but it was more than enough to pique my interest when he told me about it afterwards. "What kind of car was it?" I asked. "Was he driving fast or slow? Was he in good form, do you think?" I'm not sure where this sudden fanatical interest in Matt Damon stems from, but I think it's fairly safe to conclude that I'm not alone. We've become a little obsessed with Matt Damon, in much the same way we've become collectively fixated on a series of predictable, yet inexplicable, lockdown distractions. It started with Tiger King, which is an undeniably brilliant piece of TV. The cast of characters are stranger than fiction, the plot is a creaking rollercoaster ride and Joe Exotic's shirt collection has to be seen to be believed. Full article here: Read More 20:40 21/05/2020 People with rare diseases concerned over impact of Covid-19, survey finds Almost three quarters of people living with a rare disease in Ireland are concerned that their condition may deteriorate due to the impact of Covid-19, a survey has found. A report, carried out by Rare Diseases Ireland, has revealed how the coronavirus crisis is hindering access to routine treatment and care for people with rare diseases. The findings has prompted Rare Diseases Ireland to call on the Government to ensure the provision of healthcare services for people with rare diseases. The report heard from 176 people living with a rare condition, their family members and their carers, in the two-week period leading up to May 6. Report launched, "Living with a Rare Disease in Ireland during the COVID-19 Pandemic" - https://t.co/FCSZUoGM8C YOUR VOICE MATTERS - COVID-19 hinders access to routine treatment and has a detrimental effect on the rare disease community's health and well-being. #ShareYourRare pic.twitter.com/bQWCE3K9hs Rare Diseases IE (@RareDiseasesIE) May 21, 2020 20:20 21/05/2020 Taoiseach hopes to accelerate reopening of society An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would like to be able to accelerate the reopening of the country, but said it is too soon to make the call. As Ireland eased into its first phase on Monday, which saw the opening of some retail stores and sporting activities, the impact on the potential spread of Covid-19 will not be known until early June. Leo Varadkar said the publics actions have worked as Ireland is reporting a very small number of new Covid-19 cases every day. We just need to monitor the situation now over the next two weeks. We have the plan, which everyones familiar with at this stage, he told Newstalk Breakfast radio show. 20:00 21/05/2020 Random blood testing should point to the real rate of coronavirus infection Eilis O'Regan Hundreds of thousands of people in this country are likely to have been infected by the coronavirus. The official figures of more than 24,300 diagnosed cases only relates to those confirmed in a laboratory. Taking a blood sample from a random number of people in the population and analysing it for antibodies should give some measure of the true rate of infection. Only people who have had the virus and recovered develop antibodies. The value of the exercise - which will aim to target a representative group of the population to provide a national picture - is that it would shed light on age groups and parts of the country where it has hit most. It will give a clearer insight into how lethal it is and the death rate from the virus. Read More 19:40 21/05/2020 It may not be possible for all pupils to return at same time teachers union Expand Close Plan: Children in Vietnam have already returned to the classroom wearing masks. Picture: Reuters / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Plan: Children in Vietnam have already returned to the classroom wearing masks. Picture: Reuters It may not be possible for all children to return to school at the same time in September, the head of a primary school teachers union has said. Schools and creches have been closed in Ireland since March. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Boyle has written to the Department of Education outlining a range of concerns. Speaking to RTE Morning Ireland, he said teachers have been supporting students for the past eight weeks so they can continue their learning. If the public health advice allows for schools to re-open in September then all the proper planning must take place. It is a mammoth task to have the plans in place. We have the largest class sizes in Europe, having 30 children in an 80 square metre classroom with one or two adults may not be possible initially in September. If we couldnt have large groups of students sitting in a room doing the Leaving Cert then having lots of children in a classroom was always going to be an issue. 19:20 21/05/2020 Key groups of pupils could return to school in Northern Ireland in August Schools should aim to reopen to key groups of pupils in the third week of August, Northern Irelands education minister said. All children are intended to restart classes on a phased basis, involving a mixture of physical attendance and remote learning, in September if enough progress is made in curbing coronavirus. Exams for entrance to post-primary schools are due to be held two weeks later this autumn to allow more time for primary teachers to catch up on lost lesson time since the lock down halted teaching in March. Minister Peter Weir said: This will not be a return to school as it was prior to Covid, but rather a new normal reflective of social distancing and a medically safe regime. For all pupils it will involve a schedule with a mixture of school attendance and remote learning at home. 19:00 21/05/2020 No sign of V-shaped bounce as Eurozone sees further collapse of business activity David Chance Economic activity in the Eurozone plunged again in May and although the decline was not as steep as in April when the pandemic hit the economy hard, there were few signs that a sharp recovery was in the offing. Having hit a record low reading of 13.6 in April, the IHS Markit Purchasing Manages Index rose to 30.5 in May. The Eurozone saw a further collapse of business activity in May but the survey data at least brought reassuring signs that the downturn likely bottomed out in April, said Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS. The index is among the most closely indicators globally and comes out before official data. A reading over 50 indicates an expansion, so the May reading was still well in negative territory thanks to the pandemic lockdowns. Read More 18:40 21/05/2020 Clarks to cut 900 office jobs in major turnaround plan Shoe retailer Clarks has said it plans to cut 900 office jobs as part of a major shake-up. The 195-year-old British firm said it has announced 160 redundancies globally today, including 108 job losses at its headquarters in Street, Somerset. The retailer said it expects that roughly 700 employees will leave the business over the next 18 months, after creating 200 new roles. Clarks said the move is intended to help the company operate in a lean, effective and quick manner. 18:20 21/05/2020 Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebooks record on coronavirus misinformation Mark Zuckerberg has defended Facebooks record of combating misinformation on the social network during the coronavirus outbreak. The Facebook founder and chief executive said the platform removed all content which puts people in imminent risk of physical harm. But he argued that freedom of expression was a factor around other content, such as posts around the anti-vaccination movement, which he called a more sensitive topic and did not, therefore, need to be completely removed. Social media and internet companies have come under increased scrutiny during the Covid-19 pandemic, with platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp being criticised for allowing misleading claims to spread. We break this (misinformation) into two categories: so theres harmful misinformation that puts people in imminent risk of physical harm, so things like saying that something is a proven cure for the virus when in fact it isnt, we will take that down, Mr Zuckerberg told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. 18:00 21/05/2020 Breakdown of latest figures Latest data from the HPSC, as of midnight on Tuesday (24,274 cases), reveals: 57pc are female and 43pc are male The median age of confirmed cases is 48 years 3,183 cases (13pc) have been hospitalised Of those hospitalised, 392 cases have been admitted to ICU 7,747 cases are associated with healthcare workers Dublin has the highest number of cases at 11,765 (49pc of all cases) followed by Cork with 1,386 cases (6pc) and then Kildare with 1,381 cases (6pc) Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 60pc, close contact accounts for 37pc, travel abroad accounts for 3pc 17:51 21/05/2020 12 more people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland as another 76 test positive for coronavirus The Department of Health have confirmed that 12 more people have died as a result of the coronavirus. It brings the total number of fatalities related to the virus in Ireland to 1,583. They also confirmed that 76 more people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in Ireland to 24,391. Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: We have experienced 6 consecutive days of under 100 new confirmed cases in Ireland. This is very positive and demonstrates the extent to which the publics actions have limited the spread of this disease. However, it is only through continued commitment to hand washing, respiratory etiquette and physical distancing that we will remain successful in suppressing the spread of COVID-19 through the community. Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said; Most indicators continue to improve, with ICU and hospital admissions, number of cases per day and number of deaths per day continuing to decline. Prevalence of the virus remains low in the community. The reproduction number is well below one, so our task remains to maintain low transmission of the virus. 17:40 21/05/2020 Welsh Government defends testing policy after referral to human rights watchdog The Welsh Government has defended its policy on coronavirus testing in care homes after it was reported to the human rights watchdog. The Older Peoples Commissioner for Wales reported the Welsh Government to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over delays to testing in care homes. But Waless health minister, Vaughan Gething, said the advice and evidence was that there wasnt a value in testing people who were not symptomatic. It comes after the EHRC said last week that it was deeply concerned about breaches of older peoples human rights across the UK during the pandemic. The watchdog said it is considering the use of all its powers to protect their rights both now and following the pandemic. 17:20 21/05/2020 Premier Inn owner Whitbread to raise 1bn to weather virus crisis Premier Inn owner Whitbread has revealed plans to raise 1 billion through a rights issue, as the vast majority of its hotels and all its restaurants remain shut in the face of coronavirus. The company said it has furloughed around 27,000 staff on full pay during the crisis. It said its UK hotels are ready to open when the Government advises but said its internal plans assume that hotels will be closed, or run at low occupancy, until September. Whitbread said it has tested new operational protocols at 39 Premier Inn sites which have remained open in the UK to provide accommodation to NHS staff. It said the operating model ensures strict social distancing, significantly enhanced hygiene standards and specific staff training which can be rigorously enforced across its hotels. 17:00 21/05/2020 WHO warns against use of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 A World Health Organisation official has warned against the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19, following President Donald Trump's claim on May 19 that he was taking the drug. Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, noted that health authorities including the US Food and Drug Administration have issued warnings about the drug's potentially lethal side effects. There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective for treating Covid-19. Dr Ryan said: "Warnings have been issued by many authorities regarding the potential side effects of the drug, and many countries have limited its use to that of clinical trials, or during clinical trials, or under the supervision of clinicians in a hospital setting. That's specifically for Covid-19 because of a number of potential side effects that have occurred and could occur." 16:40 21/05/2020 UK lab say they will begin supply of Covid-19 vaccine in September Expand Close AstraZeneca scientist at work in a laboratory (AstraZeneca/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp AstraZeneca scientist at work in a laboratory (AstraZeneca/PA) AstraZeneca has said it has the capacity to manufacture one billion doses of the University of Oxfords potential Covid-19 vaccine and will begin supply in September. The pharmaceutical firm said it has secured the first agreements for at least 400 million doses of the vaccine. It said it aims to conclude further deals in order to expand capacity over the next few months to ensure the delivery of a globally accessible vaccine. On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that if the University of Oxfords Covid-19 vaccine candidate proves successful, then up to 30 million doses for the UK could be available by September. The Oxford team is currently testing the vaccine candidate in humans. Read More 16:20 21/05/2020 EasyJet to resume flights from June 15 Expand Close EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15 (EasyJet/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15 (EasyJet/PA) EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15. The low-cost carrier announced that its initial schedule will involve mainly domestic flying in the UK and France. Further routes will be confirmed over the coming weeks as demand increases and coronavirus lockdown measures across Europe are relaxed, the airline said. UK airports to be served by easyJet from June 15 include Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast. The only international route from the UK will be between Gatwick and Nice, France. 16:00 21/05/2020 High-profile pubs co-owned by former Leinster star take High Court action against FBD Expand Close Former Leinster star Eoin O'Malley . Photo: Diarmuid Green / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Former Leinster star Eoin O'Malley . Photo: Diarmuid Green Amy Molloy A group of Dublin pubs co-owned and run by a former Leinster rugby star have taken High Court action against insurer FBD. Pressure is mounting on insurance companies from businesses in the hospitality sector as restaurants and pubs prepare for the big battle ahead as they look to recover losses suffered due to the coronavirus. Hyper Trust Ltd, trading as the Leopardstown Inn, is the latest to initiate proceedings. Read More 15:40 21/05/2020 Happy meal - why I'm no longer ashamed of loving a McDonald's Expand Close Cars queue at a reopened McDonalds drive-thru (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cars queue at a reopened McDonalds drive-thru (Brian Lawless/PA) Tanya Sweeney The Golden Arches. The Hamburglar. McNuggets. Happy Meals. It's a restaurant so beloved it pretty much has its own instantly recognisable lexicon, and after nine weeks of a McDonald's-free life, we can now return to its familiar fare. Well, sort of. Dubliners can enjoy McDonald's via one of six drive-thru restaurants. Naturally, the fast-food chain was trending on Twitter for much of yesterday. Those lucky enough to be within a chip's throw of one of the six outlets were proclaiming that it was "like Christmas". McDonald's is having a moment, but most of us have been 'lovin' it' for as long as we can remember. All those lovely childhood afternoons spent eating high-salt, high-carb, high-fat food while a giant plastic model of a clown presided over us. All those birthday parties spent chucking paper hats, thick milkshakes and Happy Meal toys at each other. Read More 15:15 21/05/2020 Time running out for testing plan before second wave, says top UK health figure The Health Secretary has been told time is running out for the Government to launch its testing and tracing system if a possible second wave of coronavirus is to be avoided. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a testing and tracing system considered essential for easing the current coronavirus lockdown will be up and running by June 1. But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, wrote to Health Secretary Matt Hancock because his members were concerned over an apparent lack of a clear strategy. 14.45 21/05/2020 WATCH: Face coverings could reduce the spread of virus Face coverings could reduce the spread of Covid-19, according to a new study by the University of Edinburgh. Research has found that wearing a face covering can reduce the forward distance of an exhaled breath by more than 90pc. As the breath could contain small droplets of water, some of which may contain traces of the virus, experts have said that covering up the mouth and nose could help combat Covid-19. Scientists testing the effectiveness of seven different types of face coverings, including medical grade and home made masks, say they could all potentially limit the spread of coronavirus. Oxfam to close operations in 18 countries with potential loss of 1,450 jobs Aid agency Oxfam International is to severely curtail its work because of the financial strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Its plans include the closure of operations in 18 countries at the potential cost of 1,450 jobs. The organisation, which currently operates in 66 countries and whose global work is coordinated via 20 affiliate offices around the world, said in a statement that it has had to accelerate changes as a result of the pandemic. Countries it will be exiting include Afghanistan, Egypt, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania. It said the changes will affect around 1,450 out of nearly 5,000 programme staff. Following the changes, it will retain a physical presence in 48 countries, six of which it will explore as new independent affiliate members, including Indonesia and Kenya. The organisation had started a 10-year strategic review in late 2018 in the wake of a sex scandal in Haiti that caused a global outcry and prompted many donors to withdraw their support, particularly in the UK, where it started operations in 1942. Many of its charity shops, particularly in western Europe, have had to close, a visible sign of the financial damage caused by the scandal. Haiti is another country in which it will be closing operations. "We've been planning this for some time but we are now accelerating key decisions in light of the effects of the global pandemic," said Oxfam International's interim executive director Chema Vera. Oxfam said the changes will enable it to be more effective in tackling global poverty and inequality and helping people to survive humanitarian crises. 14.29 21/05/2020 Cabinet to approve indemnity for teachers marking Leaving Cert Teachers and schools will be indemnified from any legal cases taken over the cancellation of Leaving Cert exams. The Cabinet will today meet in-corporeally to sign off on plans for the State to cover the cost of any legal action resulting from the decision to introduce predictive grades rather than exams this year. The Government cancelled the Leaving Cert earlier this month over concerns about holding exams safely during the coronavirus pandemic. The move prompted fears among teachers that parents and students, who may be unhappy with their grades, will take legal action if they are unhappy with their results. Read More Rugby giant Devin Toner uses lockdown to brush up on his cookery skills Expand Close Devin Toner and son Max at the kitchen counter where he has been busy cooking and baking. MAIN PHOTO: FRAN VEALE / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Devin Toner and son Max at the kitchen counter where he has been busy cooking and baking. MAIN PHOTO: FRAN VEALE What does a rugby player do in lockdown when there are no matches to play? Well, if you are Devin Toner and you have a huge interest in food, you start re-exploring the canon of Italian dishes you would normally have the night before games. Toner, the tallest man in rugby, standing at 6ft 11in, would usually have lasagne or another carb-loaded meal on the eve of lining out for Ireland or Leinster, his club for the last 14 years and for whom he has won 240 caps. Over the last few weeks, the second-row has rediscovered some of the more traditional cooking methods from Italy, including one that involves using milk in lasagne instead of tinned tomatoes. Read More 13.47 21/05/2020 'We're overwhelmed' - four children left orphaned by coronavirus thank public as fundraiser raises over 200K Expand Close Mikee Plangca holds a photograph of her father Miguel who was a factory worker and lost his life to Covid-19, leaving Mikee, and her 3 siblings, orphans. Photo: Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mikee Plangca holds a photograph of her father Miguel who was a factory worker and lost his life to Covid-19, leaving Mikee, and her 3 siblings, orphans. Photo: Frank McGrath FOUR children left orphaned by Covid-19 have been overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers who donated to a fundraiser in their aid. Miguel Plangca, who was originally from the Philippines, passed away from the virus last week, leaving behind his children Mikee (21), Michael (19), John (14) and Chekie (12). Their mother Gilceria passed away from Cancer in 2015. Mikee shared the story of the familys heartbreak with Independent.ie on Tuesday and since then a GofundMe page set up to support her and her siblings has raised over 200,000. Read More Fraudsters pose as nurses on dating sites as coronavirus scams soar in the UK Reports Henry Vaughan, PA Fraudsters are posing as nurses on dating sites as they seek to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic. National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK director general Lynn Owens said online shopping fraud is up 46pc since the lockdown, "making it one of the biggest growth areas in crime", with Covid-19 now linked to around 3pc of all scams reported. Criminals are playing on people's fears, offering fake or non-existent items for sale, including game consoles, personal protective equipment (PPE), medicines, hand sanitiser, and even puppies, she told reporters on Thursday. "We've even seen reports of a dating fraud where people are pretending to be... a nurse in a hospital and say, 'I need money to help me to get to work', and abuse people that way," she said. Investigators also fear organised crime gangs could try to exploit the Government's financial stimulus package. The NCA is working with the Cabinet Office, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC to identify fraudulent claims being made. Ms Owens said production of cocaine in South America and heroin in Asia has continued "almost unaffected" by Covid-19, but restriction of movement rules has allowed the agency to intercept large batches. The NCA was involved in the seizure of some 25 tonnes of Class A drugs around the world last month, including two tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Panama, another four tonnes off the coast of Spain and Portugal, and hundreds of kilos of heroin in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ms Owens said: "Restrictions have meant fewer opportunities for criminals to move drugs in smaller, more discreet amounts, especially through passenger traffic, which in turn means they've had to take more risks and move more drugs in bulk. "Criminals may believe that authorities are distracted, particularly at ports, and think there is an opportunity to import larger quantities. We have shown this is far from the truth." 12.55 21/05/2020 Martin criticises 'foolish' reopening decisions that 'make no sense' Expand Close Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin speaking to the media outside Leinster House, Dublin ahead of the first sitting of the 33rd Dail (PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin speaking to the media outside Leinster House, Dublin ahead of the first sitting of the 33rd Dail (PA) Reports Political Correspondent Cormac McQuinn Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said it's "foolish" that hardware stores have been allowed reopen but homeware shops have to stay closed as coronavirus restrictions were eased this week. He said reopening measures have to "make sense" and also that there should be "more nuance" suggesting people who live more than 5km from their local golf course should be allowed travel there for a game. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dail that the transmission of coronavirus has effectively been suppressed in the community. He said this week's easing of restrictions has seen people return to work and shops reopen. Mr Varadkar said there has been "broad compliance" with the new rules. Mr Martin pointed to Department of Health research showing that 85pc of people are willing to wear face covering where recommended and said that he doesn't believe that complacency has to be feared. But he said: "Rather, we have to have clarity in what is proposed so that measures make sense and are credible." He warned that it's "uncertainty and inconsistency which causes trouble." Mr Martin highlighted the rules on which retailers could open this week saying: "The division between, which shops are allowed to open, and those which must remain closed, simply makes no sense." "And in some cases it's damaging the credibility of the overall restrictions." He argued: "The distinction between hardware stores and homeware stores in my view is foolish. "And there's now no doubt whatsoever that stores which are allowed to open are actively trying to fill the gaps created by keeping other types of stores closed. "From a competition perspective, there has been a clear unfairness there." He also raised concern that the 5km limit on travel for exercise is "simply concentrating movement into a limited number of locations, the exact opposite of what we should want." Mr Martin said it makes it harder to sustain social distancing in areas with a higher population density" and doesn't appear to be part of the restrictions being used by other countries which are a similar stage in their response efforts. Mr Martin added: "I don't play golf, but if youre saying you can play golf on the one hand, but then you can't really play golf if your golf course is six kilometres away I think that's the kind of stuff we just need to refine maybe to be more nuanced in how we do things." He said there should be consultation with every sector on reopening as they may propose solutions that haven't occurred to officials. Businesses warned not to reopen unless 'allowed to do so' under Covid roadmap THE Government has warned businesses that they should not reopen unless they are allowed to do so under the roadmap as they risk undermining progress being made to curb the spread of Covid-19. Department of the Taoiseach senior official Liz Canavan said there are concerns that businesses which are not aligned with the roadmap are reopening earlier than set out in the Government's roadmap document. We understand the temptation to do so for retailers and for customers. But we have to be really clear: even if you're applying the return to work safety protocol you cannot open unless you're specifically allowed to do so under the roadmap, Ms Canavan told a briefing on Thursday. Along with essential services like supermarkets and pharmacies a limited number of retail outlets are designated as being able to reopen under phase one of the roadmap which came into effect on Monday. These include garden centres, hardware stores, IT and electrical shops, mobile phone shops, and car and bike mechanics. Read More 'Bonkers' - TD critical of health advice that people should be in the same room as each other for more than two hours Expand Close Alan Kelly of the Labour Party / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Alan Kelly of the Labour Party Public health advice insisting people should not spend more than two hours in the same room as each other has been branded bonkers. Labour Party leader Alan Kelly said the advice, which has limited the length of time Oireachtas Committees can sit, is creating a George Orwell situation where some are more equal than others. If it applies in here, it applies in the courts, it applies with the pharmacists, with the shops, with the meat factories, with the gardai and for everyone else, Mr Kelly said. The Labour leaders intervention came after it was suggested courts could only sit for two hours a day in line with advice the Houses of the Oireachtas received from the HSE on committee hearings. The Special Committee on Covid-19 Response had been told witnesses should not be in the chamber for longer than two hours at a time over fears about the virus being spread among those in attendance. Read More WATCH: Heathrow Airport trials new thermal screening measures Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said he backs the idea of air bridges between countries with low levels of infection, to provide a fillip to the beleaguered tourism sector. It comes as the airport begina trialling new thermal screening measures to detect elevated temperatures of arriving passengers, which Mr Holland-Kaye said could be part of a future common international standard to get people flying again. Clampdown coming on people who won't work in order to keep seeking pandemic payments - Varadkar Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that there will be a clampdown on people who are asked to return to work but refuse in order to keep receiving the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP). Speaking on this morning's Newstalk Breakfast programme, he said that if a person is offered their job back after the pandemic but refuse to take it, they will lose eligibility. "If somebody is offered their job back and they refuse to take their job back, they lose eligibility for the payment, he said. We will need to do a bit of enforcement around that but before we start to do any of these things, we wanted to make sure that people could actually [live]. 11.35 21/05/2020 Over 1bn in wage subsidy scheme payments made so far This morning's briefing from spokesperson at the department of taoiseach Liz Canavan at government buildings: 'Slow and steady will win the race' 'Do your exercise and go' in areas which may be busy, such as beaches Business: those reopening with safety protocols in place but not listed in phase one in the roadmap, 'are not respecting the spirit' of the map and are 'slowing down progress' 473,500 employees have received at least one payment under Wage Subsidy Scheme 1bn 48m worth of payments have been made so far Flu vaccine: available free of charge to over 70s each year - it will now be available to children and at-risk groups for this year's flu season Passport services: emergency passports are still being processed for those abroad and in Ireland Compliance: since April 8, new Covid regulation had to be invoked by Gardai 241 times. An Garda Siochana is reporting high levels of compliance from the public Funding of 1.4m allocated to support Tidy Towns, despite this year's competition being cancelled, will remain with the group 10.48 21/05/2020 Full court sittings to resume 'as soon as' tomorrow The Courts Service has confirmed that "full" court sittings may resume "as soon as tomorrow". Detailed advice was issued to the Service Presidents earlier this morning on the lengths of court sittings after public health advisors stated that meetings should not go on for longer than two hours. The Courts Service was seeking "urgent advice" yesterday regarding this advice and it issued the following statement this morning: "The Courts Service has received detailed advice earlier this morning on the question of the length of sittings. On the basis of that advice the Presidents are very hopeful that full sittings will be able to resume as soon as tomorrow, once certain additional procedures have been put in place. A further update will be issued in the near future." 10.14 21/05/2020 China bans hunting, breeding and human consumption of wild animals for five years The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global coronavirus pandemic is believed to have originated, has issued a total ban on the hunting, breeding and human consumption of wild animals. The move is in an apparent response to research showing the virus most likely originated among bats and was transmitted to people via an intermediary wild species sold for food at a market in the city. The regulation seeks to carry out measures passed at the national level covering protected land animals as well as sea life, promising financial relief to help dealers move into other lines of business. However, it contains numerous exceptions, including for animals used for traditional Chinese medicine, as long as they are not consumed as food for humans. That left it unclear whether the ban would cover pangolins, small mammals whose scales are used for traditional Chinese medicine but which are thought to have been the intermediary carrier of the virus. The regulation will be enforced immediately and will be in effect for five years. Contact-tracing app given boost by delivery of tech from Apple and Google Expand Close Pandemic: The Frontline Stays section for Covid-19 responders on the Airbnb app on a smartphone. Photo: Bloomberg / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Pandemic: The Frontline Stays section for Covid-19 responders on the Airbnb app on a smartphone. Photo: Bloomberg Apple and Google have delivered their contact-tracing technology to health authorities in 22 countries today, saying that they have provided the system to those who have requested access. A spokeswoman for the HSE declined to say whether Ireland has yet requested access to the interface. However, she said that the Irish app, which is based on the Apple-Google technology, will not be available to the public by the end of May. Instead, it is on track for the completion of its development at that time, with a large scale field test to follow before release. She said that the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) For the app will be made available in parallel with the field test and this will be followed by full launch of the app, subject to the necessary approvals from NPHET, HSE and Government. She did not say when the app expected to launch. Read More 09.01 21/05/2020 Taoiseach on reopening schools in September: there is no no risk option Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that there is no no risk option when it comes to reopening schools in September. The Fine Gael leader added on Newstalks Breakfast this morning that if the virus remains under control and all things remain equal, schools will reopen in September. There is the risk of the virus coming back again and spreading again, he said. Its not intended that schools will open until September but we are looking at how were going to do that now and it does require a bit of planning. Read More Irish consultant teams up with dressmaker and sail manufacturer to produce quality PPE for frontline workers Expand Close University Hospital Waterford (UHW) consultant ophthalmic surgeon Gareth Higgins. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp University Hospital Waterford (UHW) consultant ophthalmic surgeon Gareth Higgins. Ralph Riegel reports AN IRISH consultant has teamed up with an acclaimed dressmaker and a sail manufacturer to create hard-wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) which can be reused by frontline healthcare staff. It is hoped that the Irish product can now drastically reduce the country's dependence on PPE imports and long supply chains. University Hospital Waterford (UHW) consultant ophthalmic surgeon Gareth Higgins worked with Waterford dressmaker Colette McGrath and renowned sail manufacturer Richard Marshall to create the hard-wearing PPE gown which meets all criteria required for frontline healthcare staff. Mr Higgins, who also teaches medical students, said the high-quality gowns were produced thanks to a perfect coming together of skill sets in Waterford. Initially I asked them to make a batch - Richard Marshall had a machine that he could cut panels for Colette McGrath, so they made a batch of 100," he told WLRFM. "They were so ideal - they are light, they are much more robust than the paper gowns that we have and they feel very protective, so once I had them, I realised that this is absolutely ideal and they can be re-washed." "The (UHW) management were very much behind me and very interested so we managed to get an initial batch of 3,000 made up for the hospital." Critically, the new gown design not only offers perfect protection for healthcare staff but also lessons Ireland's dependence on imports and, potentially, can offer a local job creation boost. Their gown is comfortable and offers the reassurance of being much tougher wearing than light disposable gowns. The concept of reusable, high-quality medical gowns is nothing new. Reusable gowns which were sterilised in a long, hot wash cycle were once the bedrock of some hospital services. However, they were replaced over the years with disposable gowns. I think that long term, for everything, we are going to have to re-examine these really long supply chains, even if it is more expensive, if it can be produced locally, it can be scaled up," Mr Higgins said. "From a security health point of view I think it is a better idea to have re-usable kit and also have short supply lines. The quality of the gown produced by Colette and Richard made it very easy to see that this was the way to go, especially in terms of some of the quality of the gowns that have come in from China had been a bit mixed, in terms of sizes and the quality of the materials." "At least we knew we had the guaranteed quality local product and also re-usability means that its just a question of how quickly you can launder them and get them back on the floor. 08.18 21/05/2020 Charity calls for limits on funerals to be relaxed A charity has asked the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) to ease funeral restrictions. The call comes after a survey showed almost one in 10 believes being with extended family and friends is a key part of the grieving process. However, this may not be possible, with strict funeral restrictions and family members being unable to physically attend the funeral of a loved one amid the lockdown. A survey conducted by Behaviour and Attitudes for the Irish Hospice Foundation found 68pc think the pandemic has made society rethink the way it deals with death and bereavement. Read More WATCH: Trump accuses China of fake Covid-19 toll US President Donald Trump has again accused China of lying about its Covid-19 toll. Mr Trump said he "saw more problem on television than they were reporting just by looking at a picture". 07.11 21/05/2020 Number of cases worlwide reaches 5m The number of coronavirus cases across the globe has hit the 5m mark, according to a tally from the John Hopkins University. The United States remains with the highest number at cases, with 1,551,853. Russia is second with 308,705 confirmed cases, while Brazil has seen 291,579 cases. A total of 249,619 cases have been recorded in the United Kingdom and 232,555 in Spain. A total of over 327,000 people have sadly passed away from the virus worldwide. Rural residents forced to fight rampant virus alone after doctors sent to cities Expand Close Distraught: Relatives mourn the death of Martin Orrala (82) in Ecuador. Photo: Reuters/Vicente Gaibor del Pino / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Distraught: Relatives mourn the death of Martin Orrala (82) in Ecuador. Photo: Reuters/Vicente Gaibor del Pino When a group of villagers in the Ecuadorian fishing community of El Real came down with coughs and fevers in early April, nobody was sure if they had the coronavirus - and no health workers were available to diagnose or treat them. Their local doctor, like many of rural Ecuador's health workers, had been transferred to the country's biggest city, Guayaquil. There, the Covid-19 pandemic had overwhelmed hospitals and left authorities struggling to collect bodies. The villagers say they were only able to provide traditional remedies such as lemon and eucalyptus to the ill, 11 of whom died of what residents believe was the coronavirus. Read More Employers warned to limit staff meetings to two hours Expand Close Dr Ronan Glynn said there were ramifications for having meetings over two hours (Niall Carson/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Ronan Glynn said there were ramifications for having meetings over two hours (Niall Carson/PA) Employers have been warned they should limit gatherings of staff or meetings in a room to no more than two hours to minimise the risk of workers having to stay at home if one of them tests positive for the coronavirus. It may mean colleagues who were in the same room as the person who tests positive will have to remain out of work for two weeks as a precaution. The advice was clarified yesterday by Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, who said this will become more relevant as more people return to work. The rule applies to workers in a "closed space" like an office who are together for more than two hours if one of them is found to be diagnosed with the virus. Read More Public will be asked to give blood samples for antibody screening Expand Close Coronavirus: Taking a blood sample from a random number of people in the population and analysing it for antibodies should give some measure of the true rate of infection / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Coronavirus: Taking a blood sample from a random number of people in the population and analysing it for antibodies should give some measure of the true rate of infection Members of the public are to be asked to provide blood samples from next month for a test which can tell them if they have had the coronavirus. The screening for antibodies - which people who have recovered from the virus build up - is to be carried out at random to give the first indication what the rate of infection is in the population. Although the number of confirmed cases of the virus stands at 24,315, the real number who have been infected is likely to run into hundreds of thousands, with some scientists believing around 6pc of the population may have had the virus so far. Antibodies may provide immunity from re-infection, although the extent and duration of this is still unclear. In 2014, Tim Hottges was appointed CEO of Deutsche Telekom AG (ETR:DTE). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at other large companies. Next, we'll consider growth that the business demonstrates. Third, we'll reflect on the total return to shareholders over three years, as a second measure of business performance. This process should give us an idea about how appropriately the CEO is paid. View our latest analysis for Deutsche Telekom How Does Tim Hottges's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? At the time of writing, our data says that Deutsche Telekom AG has a market cap of 65b, and reported total annual CEO compensation of 6.5m for the year to December 2019. Notably, that's an increase of 12% over the year before. While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at 1.5m. We further remind readers that the CEO may face performance requirements to receive the non-salary part of the total compensation. When we examined a group of companies with market caps over 7.3b, we found that their median CEO total compensation was 4.7m. (We took a wide range because the CEOs of massive companies tend to be paid similar amounts - even though some are quite a bit bigger than others). Now let's take a look at the pay mix on an industry and company level to gain a better understanding of where Deutsche Telekom stands. Speaking on an industry level, we can see that nearly 50% of total compensation represents salary, while the remainder of 50% is other remuneration. Non-salary compensation represents a greater slice of the remuneration pie for Deutsche Telekom, in sharp contrast to the overall sector. As you can see, Tim Hottges is paid more than the median CEO pay at large companies, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Deutsche Telekom AG is paying too much. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Deutsche Telekom, below. Story continues XTRA:DTE CEO Compensation May 21st 2020 Is Deutsche Telekom AG Growing? On average over the last three years, Deutsche Telekom AG has seen earnings per share (EPS) move in a favourable direction by 37% each year (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 4.2%. This shows that the company has improved itself over the last few years. Good news for shareholders. It's nice to see a little revenue growth, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. It could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has Deutsche Telekom AG Been A Good Investment? With a three year total loss of 13%, Deutsche Telekom AG would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. It therefore might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously. In Summary... We compared total CEO remuneration at Deutsche Telekom AG with the amount paid at other large companies. Our data suggests that it pays above the median CEO pay within that group. However, the earnings per share growth over three years is certainly impressive. However, the returns to investors are far less impressive, over the same period. This doesn't look great when you consider CEO remuneration is up on last year. One might thus conclude that it would be better if the company waited until growth is reflected in the share price, before increasing CEO compensation. On another note, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Deutsche Telekom that investors should look into moving forward. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Despite a 60-day-long lockdown, COVID-19 cases continued to rise unabated in Mumbai, where the tally crossed the 25,000-mark on Thursday with the addition of 1,382 new infections, while 41 more patients succumbed to the infection, the city civic body said. According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC , with 1,382 new cases, the tally jumped to 25,317 in the city. It said samples of 142 of these 1,382 cases tested positive at private labsbetween May 18-19. In a release, the civic body said the toll in the city rose to 882 with 41 more patients dying due to the infection. The BMC said with the discharge of 285 more patients from city hospitals, the number of people who have recovered from the disease has gone up to 6,751. According to the civic body, of the 6,751 recovered COVID-19 patients, 5,524 have been discharged from various municipal hospitals and 1,227 from private hospitals. "Among the 23,847 admitted cases, 6,751 have been discharged from hospitals, meaning 28 per cent of the total. Also, 46 per cent of the discharged patients were women," the BMC said. The release said so far 481COVID-19 patients below the age of 10 were admitted in hospitals and 155 of them (32 per cent) discharged following recovery. However, only 15 per cent, meaning 249 out of 1619 COVID-19 patients over the age of 70, have recovered and discharged from hospitals, it said. It further said the highest 35 per cent COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals were in the age group 10 to 29 years. According to data from the BMC and a state government release, out of 11,726 recovered COVID-19 patients in Maharashtra - 6,751 (57.57 per cent) were from Mumbai. Similarly, out of 41,642 COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra 25,317 (60.79 per cent) were from Mumbai city, which is under lockdown like rest of the state for two months now. Also, out of 1,452 deaths due to COVID-19 in Maharashtra, 882 (60.66% per cent) were reported from Mumbai. According to the BMC, out of the 41 fresh deaths due to COVID-19, 23 patients had co-morbidities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When Super cyclone Amphan was tearing its way through Kolkata with wind speed gusting up to 130 km per hour, none could recollect any calamity to compare Wednesdays devastation with. The city had never seen such destruction in its recent memories. After every calamity, we tend to compare it with something in the past. We have seen cyclone Aila in 2009 and cyclone Bulbul in 2019. But Amphan was like hell. I have not seen anything of this sort in my life. It was as if the storm was whistling and bulldozing its way through, said Bibhutibhusan Dey, 70, a resident of east Kolkata. Many people said they got an earthquake-like feeling when the cyclone was battering the city. Some said they felt that buildings were swaying. The feeling was all the more intense in high rises in east Kolkata which was closer to Cyclone Amphans path. We felt as if the entire building was swaying. Initially, we thought that an earthquake was taking place even as the cyclone was raging outside. But then, we found out that it was because of the storm. It was really scary, said Arpita Pal, who resides on the 10th floor of a high-rise building in east Kolkata. Tollywood actor Ankush Hazra also shared his feelings on social media and shared glimpses of his damaged apartment. He wrote: Earthquake or Cyclone? On Thursday morning, the streets and lanes bore the scar marks left behind by the storm - uprooted lamp posts and traffic signals, broken pieces of glasses from shattered windowpanes and damaged vehicles trapped under broken tree-branches among others. Several houses were also damaged when uprooted trees fell on them. We are getting dozens of calls every second at the control room. Hundreds of trees, lamp posts and traffic signals have been uprooted. Several roads have been blocked. Power lines, cable wires and telephone wires have snapped. The city is in a mess, said an official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporations control room. As the storm passed away, the netizens started uploading horrific pictures and videos on social networking sites exploding transformers, trees getting uprooted, tin roofs and street-hoardings flying like paper sheets and a raging storm that Kolkatans had never seen. I saw at least two transformers exploding. It was like fireworks during Diwali night. Suddenly the entire area plunged into darkness and since then we have no power. No electronic gadgets are working, I could only charge one mobile with a power bank, said Arindam Biswas, a resident of Baghajatin area in south Kolkata. With roads blocked by fallen trees, hardly any traffic was seen and shops and markets, too, remained closed on Thursday in the aftermath of the storm. The city had virtually come to standstill. It was a real lockdown and everyone maintained social distancing. No going out, No mobile phones either, said Arindam Sen, a resident of Madurdaha in east Kolkata. In the slums, the situation was all the worse. While thousands of shanties were badly damaged as their roofs and walls gave way in the face of the storm and the intense rain, the people either took shelters in nearby schools or in some permanent houses. We never thought that the storm would be so intense. The civic officials told us to move to the nearby school building. But since we had seen Aila and Bulbul, we thought Amphan would be the same or with a little more intensity. But when it hit, we had nowhere to go. The school was too far. We decided to take shelter in a nearby two-storied house, said Sheetal, who works as a maid and lives in a shanty near Anandapur in east Kolkata. Several parts of Kolkata, including the NSCBI airport, remained flooded with rainwater. The local municipal corporation is yet to come out with the assessment of the damage. EDWARDSVILLE Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has been awarded $499,113 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a collaborative project involving the University of Illinois (U of I) and industry partners. The researchers aim to create a new modeling technique that will improve agricultural production systems and reduce postharvest loss by considering metabolic, environmental and genomic factors (MEG). SIUE Center for Predictive Analysis (C-PAN) Director Carolyn Butts-Wilmsmeyer, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, is principal investigator (PI) of the four-year project, entitled MEG Models: A Holistic, Systems-Based Modeling Technique for Improved Agricultural Production System Performance and Reduced Postharvest Loss. Co-PIs include Tiffany Jamann, PhD, and Martin Bohn, PhD, with the U of I at Urbana-Champaign. During this multi-institutional project, we will be studying a pathogen known as Fusarium graminearum, which causes Gibberella ear rot in corn and head blight in wheat, Butts-Wilmsmeyer explained. Each year in the U.S. alone, ear rots cause almost three-quarters of a billion dollars in postharvest losses. Fusarium is particularly problematic, because not only does it cause the seed to rot, but also it can cause the seed to harbor hidden mycotoxins, chemicals that have been tied to a number of negative health impacts in both animals and humans. As a scientist in the public sector, you hope you can give back to society, she continued. In a time of economic uncertainty and in a nation where agriculture is a major part of the economy, it is an honor to have the chance to remove one of the challenges that is hindering our farmers. According to the research team, in agriculture, and in all aspects of biology and human health, almost all of the traits and diseases of economic or societal importance are highly influenced by both genetics and the environment. However, almost all genetic models only make use of genetic data, dont often consider the environment in detail, and rarely consider metabolic factors that might be responsible for natural resistance to diseases. We are developing a highly-sophisticated model that looks at known metabolic factors that help deter the disease and prevent it from spreading, the environmental conditions that we know make this disease a bigger problem, and the genetic variation that is present in our corn varieties, Butts-Wilmsmeyer said. We are taking an approach that considers pathology, plant breeding and statistical modeling, so that we can build something that is even more predictive than the genomic selection models that are currently used across all disciplines of science. SIUE, U of I and industry partners will evaluate field trials across multiple states in the U.S. Corn Belt, looking at genetically representative corn lines both under natural conditions and intense disease pressure. Ultimately, they will develop and evaluate multiple models to determine which is best and why. Butts-Wilmsmeyer notes the research teams extraordinary, collaborative ability to successfully carry out this project. We are all bringing the best of what each of our institutions has to offer, she emphasized. We are utilizing the computational resources of SIUEs C-PAN, the excellent laboratory resources and expertise at the SIUE Biotechnology Laboratory Incubator and Shimadzu Laboratory. And, Drs. Jamann and Bohn with the U of I are highly-qualified scientists in the areas of plant pathology and quantitative plant breeding, respectively. Finally, the ability of our team to look at the entirety of Illinois and multiple states across the Midwest is possible thanks to the generous contributions of our industry partners. Despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the research team is charging ahead. They began planting the first part of the experiment in May and will evaluate the first field studies in summer 2021. MIDDLETOWN For the fourth consecutive year, Wesleyan has awarded its prestigious Hamilton Prize for Creativity to three students whose creative written works best reflect the originality, artistry, and dynamism of Hamilton: An American Musical, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda 02, Hon. 15 and directed by Thomas Kail 99. Brianna Johnson of The Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, N.Y., was awarded the grand prize: a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to attend Wesleyan, according to a press release. She was recognized for three songs comprising an album/mixtape titled, Tell Em The Truth. In addition, Wesleyan awarded two honorable mentions along with $5,000 stipends to Luka Netzel of Kansas City, Mo., (The Pembroke Hill School) for his musical, Heartful Dodgers, and Chiara Kaufman of Rye, N.Y., (Hackley School) for two works of flash-fiction, titled The Maid and The Burials. The winning works were chosen from a pool of over 400 submissions this year. Faculty members reviewed entries, while an all-star selection committee of Wesleyan alumni in the arts, chaired by Miranda and Kail, judged finalists, the release said. Johnson was honored for Tell Em The Truth, an album/mixtape comprised of three songs: Dreams to Reality, These Chains and Damages of Duality. She wrote these songs, among several others, in eighth and ninth grades as she struggled to acclimate to a predominantly white school as one of the only black students in her classes, according to Wesleyan. Around the same time, the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American man, by a white police officer, and many other senseless killings of black people left her feeling scared and resentful, the release said. My own America wanted to eradicate me, dehumanize me, make me feel like I was nothing. I was a blank corpse with no identity, no face and in America, no voice, she wrote in her submission for the Hamilton Prize. I wanted to change that, and so I traded in my anger and disappointment for a pen and paper. I transcribed my emotions into lyrics. When experiencing Briannas work, I was struck by the honesty, perspective and structure already present in what shes creating, Miranda said in the prepared statement. Im so glad that shes chosen Wesleyan as the place to continue developing her artistic talents. I look forward to following her artistic journey. Committee member and actress Beanie Feldstein 15 called Johnsons work a powerful, moving example of infusing ones own life-experience into art, with Johnson putting her whole being into each lyric, each melody, each performance. Her work is wholly raw, vulnerable and masterful. In addition, her art displays radiant strength and an essential commitment to morality that is inspirational. I was rapt and enthralled. It is the work of a young artist you know will do great things and help heal our society, Feldstein said. Netzel received an honorable mention for his musical, Heartful Dodgers. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1969, the play follows twins Barry and Fitz who decide to dodge the draft by joining a nearby Amish community after they are conscripted to serve in the Vietnam War. There, they meet Sarah Ann, daughter of the towns minister, who longs to experience the world outside the Amish community. Author Mary Roach 81 said she had a big goofy grin on my face while reading Heartful Dodgers. Everything about this piece is fresh, pitch-perfect, professional. Luka has so expertly and lovingly nailed the classical musical genre the stage directions, the characters moves and their back-and-forth singing. And the lyrics! Hilarious and charming. I could see and hear Lukas vision so clearly in my head as I read. I expect to one day be seeing some of that same creative vision on a Broadway stage, the news release continued. And Kaufman received an honorable mention for two works of flash-fiction. The Maid is a stream-of-consciousness narrative from a distressed woman, a wife and mother contemplating a grim future. Committee member Carter Bays 97, executive producer and writer of How I Met Your Mother, said The Maid captured the mature, complicated voice of a character that I cant imagine a teenager being able to access. Kaufmans other piece, The Burials, tells the story of a family, generation after generation, with a dark, secret history. The Wesleyan University Hamilton Prize for Creativity was established in 2016 in honor of Miranda and Kails contributions to liberal education and the arts and named for the pairs hit Broadway musical, which that year won 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score. A filmed version of Hamilton will be released on Disney Plus beginning July 3. For information, visit wesleyan.edu. The World Bank approved $500 million to help fight the worst desert-locust invasion in decades that's threatening food supplies in parts of Africa and the Middle East. Countries including Ethiopia Kenya, Uganda, Somalia and Yemen face a second wave of locust swarms from June. Failure to combat the pests in the Horn of Africa and Yemen could result in crop and livestock losses of as much as $8.5 billion by year-end, according to the World Bank. The lender estimates the intervention could limit the damage to $2.5 billion. Anxiety over the locust swarms, which are able to consume square acres of crops quickly, grew as the coronavirus pandemic emerged and decimated economies, further stretching governments. "This food-supply emergency combined with the pandemic and economic shutdown in advanced economies places some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people at even greater risk," the World Bank's President David Malpass said in a statement Thursday. More than 22.5 million people are already facing hunger in Eastern Africa, according to the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. A second wave of the locust swarms -- expected in June when farmers in the region prepare to harvest their crops -- could worsen food insecurity and put more people at the risk of losing their livelihoods, the Food and Agriculture Organization warned last week. Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Djibouti will access a total of $160 million in the first phase of the so-called emergency locust-response program from the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessional lending arm for poor countries. The funds will help curb the locusts invasion, provide farm inputs and other forms of relief to the most affected and improve preparedness to respond in future, according to the lender. Unusual weather patterns, which boosted vegetation over parts of the Horn of Africa and the Arab peninsula from last year, saw the pests fly southward, creating an unprecedented threat to food security. Ethiopia will get $63 million, half of which is a grant, to partly provide seeds, fertilizer and livestock feed In Uganda, $48 million will help create employment programs and activities to boost resilience including the conservation of water and soil Kenya, facing the worst locust invasion in 70 years, will receive $43 million mainly for grants to pastoral households and to help farmers rehabilitate crop and livestock systems disrupted by the pests Djibouti's $6 million will partly go to households in cash transfers Although Gov. J.B. Pritzker has downplayed an emergency rule that could mean misdemeanor charges for anyone who violates the governors stay-at-home order by operating a business, Republicans remain opposed the rule. Pritzker said the rule was meant to be a less punitive way to get businesses to comply than revoking licenses or seeking business closures. We dont want to have to pull licenses from people, Pritzker said. We dont want to have to shut a business down. What we want is for people to comply and we want to give them this type of citation as an alternative. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Pritzker said the rule now in effect wouldnt be that severe. Well again, this is a citation, youve heard of a traffic citation, Pritzker said. This is another kind of citation. State Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, said a Class A misdemeanor is not a citation. He also said prosecutors decide on criminal charges and judges determine sentences for convictions, not the governor. Wheeler said he is prepared to move to suspend the rule in a commission meeting today. He said the governor needs to work with the legislature. Let us put together a piece of legislation that makes it a petty offense, or a business offense, so it is completely taken away from being a regular person going to have to deal with jail time. Wheeler said the fact that the rule is in effect for 150 days, which puts its sunset into the second week of October, contradicts the governors reopening plan allowing businesses to open in phases. Phase 3 could come as early as the end of this month. These restrictions will be reviewed by the department in coordination with the different stages of the Restore Illinois plan and the latest public health guidance and metrics, the Illinois Department of Public Health said Friday in documents attached to its filing. If the rule is not blocked today by the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said there should be a court challenge. A few weeks ago we saw an overreach with the administration with the work comp commission and they will suffer the same fate with this rule change if that is going to be implemented, which I think it was a few days ago, but a court will throw it out, Durkin said. Metsa Tissue Files Environmental Permit Application for Doubling Tissue Production at Mariestad Mill in Sweden As a part of the environmental permit process, Metsa Tissue has signed a letter of intent on the purchase of a land area of approximately 30 hectares next to the current mill site. May 21, 2020 - Metsa Tissue on May 20 filed an environmental permit application with the Land and Environment Court in Vanersborg concerning its plans to increase fresh fiber-based tissue paper production at its Mariestad mill in Sweden. The investments planned to be implemented at the first stage would increase the annual tissue paper production capacity at Mariestad from 70,000 tonnes to 140,000 tonnes, starting fully in 2024. The Land and Environment Court will decide in the matter after reviewing the application and considering the opinions of authorities and stakeholders. The authority is expected to issue its decision on the matter within the regular processing time, 12?18 months. In September 2019, Metsa Tissue launched an environmental permit procedure and feasibility study, which would allow the production of tissue paper to be doubled at the Mariestad mill. The technical pre-engineering of the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020 and it is intended to create the preconditions for the final investment decision to be made in the second quarter of 2021 at the earliest. Obtaining an environmental permit is one of the prerequisites for the final investment decision. The plans and the scope of the project may change as a result of the feasibility study. The estimated value of the potential investments to be implemented in 2021-2023 is roughly EUR 230 million. The renewed mill will use best available techniques (BAT), and the key targets of the projects will be defined as part of Metsa Tissue's 2030 sustainability objectives. As a part of the environmental permit process, Metsa Tissue has signed a letter of intent with the municipality of Mariestad on the purchase of a land area of approximately 30 hectares next to the current mill area. In addition, Metsa Tissue has purchased approximately two hectares of land from a private landowner. More information on the project in Swedish is available at www.metsatissue.com/mariestad Metsa Tissue is a leading tissue paper products supplier to households and professionals in Europe and the world's leading supplier of greaseproof papers. Its main brands are Lambi, Serla, Mola, Tento, Katrin and SAGA. With production units in five countries, Metsa Tissue employs a total of about 2,800 people and had sales in 2018 of EUR 1 billion. For further information, visit: www.metsatissue.com . SOURCE: Metsa Tissue California legislators getting back to business amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic gave a colleagues technology bill a divided reception last week, though it survived to be heard by another committee hearing.Members of the state Assemblys Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection voted 8-3 to send a bill on facial recognition by its Chairman Ed Chau , D-Monterey Park, to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. Assembly Bill 2261 would give residents some control over this area of their personal information, but critics say the technology is biased and the bill doesnt go far enough. Among the takeaways: Chaus bill, which was voted on May 5, builds on the California Consumer Privacy Act to require a so-called processor providing facial recognition services to also make available an app or other tool to let controllers or third parties test those services for accuracy. Among its other requirements, it would require a controller to post notice whenever facial recognition is deployed in a physical presence open to the public and would mandate that the controller secure residents consent before acquiring their image, unless its for a security or safety purpose as specified. The bill would let residents discover whether a controller has acquired their image or facial template via facial recognition at a public place, and would give them the right to challenge that and have that image deleted.The bill would require a state or local agency intending to develop, procure or use a facial recognition service to let the public know at least 90 days beforehand. It would also require that agencies using facial recognition with legal or significant effects train the people conducting the facial recognition.The legislation "would prohibit an agency from using a facial recognition service to engage in ongoing surveillance, unless specified conditions are met relating to a law enforcement investigation of a serious criminal offense, and violations could result in injunctions and penalties ranging from $2,500 to $7,500. In an email to, Chau said facial recognition technology is unregulated in the state and its negative impacts will continue if nothing is done.I am working on this bill, because if we do nothing to regulate facial recognition technology in a comprehensive way, it will become increasingly costly and difficult to implement regulations since more entities will have developed infrastructures without consideration for these limits, Chau said. He indicated that the new bill builds in part on his AB 1281 last session, which he noted only requires businesses to disclose when theyre using facial recognition tech; and said it's likely to be heard in Appropriations in early June. The bill has garnered support from Microsoft , which in commentary praised it for a thoughtful approach which recognizes the need for safeguards to balance the opportunities and the risks associated with facial recognition technology." The company said it firmly believes that government must determine what regulations will permit the use of facial recognition technology to provide society with a whole host of benefits, while also addressing the challenges that facial recognition technology poses. However, it has drawn opposition from the California State Sheriffs Association and a coalition of more than 40 civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) California , the Electronic Frontier Foundation , and the California Immigrant Policy Center . In a statement provided to, the ACLU said the privacy committee rightfully acknowledged concerns with the serious shortcomings of this bill that would not protect Californians from invasive facial recognition.This bill seeks to create an illusion of privacy without real privacy protections, said Matt Cagle , technology and civil liberties attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. In an interview, he said it would legitimize police and corporate-faced surveillance that will outlast this crisis and unduly empower law enforcement and companies in its use. Theres a lot of words on the page, but the actual provisions do little to nothing to protect actual privacy, he added.Assemblymember Buffy Wicks , D-Oakland, cast one of the committees three no votes and aired her deep concerns" about consumer protections, racial bias and "the latitude afforded to companies in the bill.Facial recognition is demonstrably less accurate when used against women and people of color, and I dont believe the state should sanction technology that has built-in biases on these grounds, Wicks toldvia email. She said she would prefer a ban on the commercial use of facial recognition technology, unless someone explicitly opts in. Chau pointed out that a majority of the opposition admits state and private facial recognition is currently in use to target immigrants, people of color, and to oppress religious minorities and discourage free expression.This means, he said, the integration of facial recognition technology into our everyday lives is occurring now, but, under the current system, we have no way of knowing it, controlling its use, and there are no regulations or transparency requirements, for both public and private entities, to account for biases and inaccuracies. But banning facial recognition, he said, is not the answer, given its potential to locate missing children and human trafficking victims, and officials should collaborate on a solution.This bill provides individuals with controls over their facial image that do not exist now and regulates the technology in a comprehensive way, before it completely becomes increasingly costly and difficult to implement regulations, once additional entities stand up infrastructure without considering such limitations. Former Election Judge Pleads Guilty to Fraudulently Stuffing Ballot Box, Accepting Bribes A former judge of elections from Philadelphia has pleaded guilty to fraudulently stuffing the ballot boxes and accepting bribes to tamper with election results, according to the Justice Department. Domenick J. DeMuro, 73, served as an election official who oversaw the election process and voter activities in his division. Prosecutors say that during 2014, 2015, and 2016, DeMuro had fraudulently added votes for Democratic candidatesin a process known as ringing up votesin return for monetary payments. DeMuro admitted that he received the payments from a political consultant who would give a cut of his clients consultant fees to DeMuro in return for influencing election results. DeMuro would receive between $300 to $5,000 per election from the consultant to ring up votes for the consultants clients and preferred candidates. He would later falsely certify that the voting machine results were accurate. These candidates were running for judicial office or were running for various federal, state, and local elective offices. DeMuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear. This is utterly reprehensible conduct. The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. McSwain said during a virtual press conference that DeMuros votes added between 27 to 46 votes during that time period. Those votes represented 22 percent of the total votes in his division in 2014, 15 percent in 2015, and 17 percent in 2016. Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. If even one vote is fraudulently rung up, the integrity of that election is compromised, he added. DeMuro pleaded guilty to two charges related to fraud on March 16: conspiring to deprive persons of civil rights and using interstate facilities in aid of bribery. The matter was unsealed by the court on May 21. This defendant abused his office by engaging in election fraud for profit, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division said in a statement. Todays conviction makes it clear that the Department of Justice will do all in its power to protect the integrity of elections and maintain public confidence in all levels of elected government. McSwain said the investigation is still active and ongoing. DeMuros sentencing is scheduled for June 30. Headline updated on May 22 to reflect the defendant is a former election judge. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has given validity to the D.El.Ed (open distance learning) programme conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in keeping with the Patna High Court order. This would bring relief to a large number of candidates who had done the 18-month D.El.Ed) course from NIOS, but were earlier not found eligible for the post of primary teachers in the Bihar government schools after the NCTE made it clear to the government in 2019 that the 18-month NIOS course was meant only for the in-service teachers and it could not be extended for future appointments. In a letter to additional chief secretary, department of education, RK Mahajan, NCTE deputy secretary Dr Vijay Kumar R wrote on Tuesday that the institution had decided to accept the verdict of the Patna High Court in the matter. The decision is taken pursuant to appropriate directions from the ministry of human resource development, the letter said. A senior official of the education department said the Bihar government would also abide by the government order after the NCTE validity. The government had only gone by the NCTE earlier orders in the past, he said, adding that in the midst of pandemic, however, fresh recruitments are unlikely to begin too soon and teachers eligibility test (TET) was also a mandatory requirement for teachers. Hearing a bunch of petitions involving over 450 petitioners, the Patna HC bench of Justice Prabhat Kumar Jha had in January directed the government of Bihar to allow the petitioners to apply within one month and consider the case of the petitioners for appointment on the post of primary teachers. The primary education directors earlier order that certificates of the teachers/candidates working in government/ govt-aided / private unaided schools who have completed D.El.Ed. training through NIOS during their service, will not be valid/ considered for selection of primary teachers in the government of Bihar, citing the NCTE letter that the course was only for 18 months and not in keeping with NCTE regulations that mandates two-year course, was termed illegal, unsustainable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. From bare perusal of the decisions, it is apparent that the NCTE recognized one-time the course in D.El.Ed. conducted by NIOS. The relaxation of some period was only granted to the in-service teachers who had not obtained the required degree training course such as B.Ed./D.El.Ed. which is made minimum requisite qualification for appointment on the post of teachers in elementary and primary schools, but it is nowhere mentioned that the said course cannot be treated at par with the two years training course, the court had observed. Nearly three-lakh teachers were enrolled with the abridged 18-month DLEd programme of NIOS. According to a senior official of the department, many candidates carried the ambition of joining government service after completing the NIOS programme, which was hit by controversy over duration of the programme. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Maharashtra government on Thursday imposed a price cap on private hospitals treating coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients after allegations were flying thick and fast that many of these healthcare facilities were charging exorbitant fees in a bid to compensate for a 90% dip in the admission of non-Covid-19 patients. Restrictions have also been imposed on the billing of medicines in private hospitals. Earlier in March, the state government had only imposed a price cap on the general bed charge at Rs 4,000 daily for private hospitals. However, the state health department is yet to clarify when the new rules will come into effect. On May 4, HT had reported how private hospitals such as Mumbais Nanavati Hospital charged between Rs 8,000 and Rs 9,800 for a personal protective equipment (PPE) unit from Covid-19 patients. Usually, a PPE unit costs between Rs 350 and Rs 1,000, depending on its quantity. In another case, a person complained that the same hospital charged Rs 16 lakh for the treatment of his father for 15 days, who later died of Covid-19. Private hospitals have been allowed to charge up to Rs 4,000 daily for the treatment of Covid-19 patients on a general bed, Rs 7,000 for intensive care unit (ICU) and Rs 9,000 for a ventilator, according to the new guidelines issued by the state health department. This will include the fees of treatment, doctors consultancy along with other expenses. Private hospitals cant charge extra than the fixed amount, said Dr Sudhakar Shinde, chief executive officer (CEO) of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana. Private hospitals have also been found to charge up to 50% more than the actual cost price of drugs. Some patients may need moderately costly medicines. Private hospitals cant charge more than 10% extra for such drugs, Dr. Shinde said. State health department officials said that they had to face stiff resistance from private hospitals regarding the governments bid to impose a price cap on Covid-19 treatment. In March, private hospitals were allowed to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients. The health department had imposed a price cap on a general beds daily charge at Rs 4,000. However, no restrictions were imposed on the price of drugs, which led to rampant exploitation of Covid-19 patients, said a state health department official. All private hospitals come under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and are liable to follow the rules of the state government amid the pandemic. We havent received the state health department order yet. Well abide by it, said Dr. V Ravishankar, CEO of Mumbais Lilavati Hospital. Rais Sheikh, a politician, who has been critical of private hospitals for fleecing Covid-19 patients, said, The state government is planning to take around 80% of beds of private hospitals. The authorities need to take a call on the daily charge of these private hospital beds. Private hospital authorities have to contend with 90% less of non-Covid-19 patients because of the viral outbreak. Now, Covid-19 patients are their only source of income. Theyre resorting to unethical practices to exploit unsuspecting patients. Besides, many Covid-19 patients, who are senior citizens, cannot avail of medical insurance because of their advanced age, said Dr. Manohar Kamath, general secretary, Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI). The state government offers three kinds of facilities to treat Covid-19 patients. Government-run hospitals are offering treatment for free, while 1,000 hospitals are covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, which provides insurance coverage of Rs 1.5 lakh. Private hospitals have to provide treatment as per the concessional rate decided by the state government. By PTI CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday met with some of the legislators who had objected to the "unacceptable behaviour" of the chief secretary during a meeting over excise revenue. Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, MLAs Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Pargat Singh and Sangat Singh Gilzian met the chief minister, who is learnt to have invited them for a meeting over lunch at his Siswan farmhouse near here. State Congress president Sunil Jakhar was also present at the meeting, Randhawa said. According to an official statement, the chief minister invited them for an informal lunch, during which discussions were held on the prevailing COVID-19 crisis and the prolonged lockdown in the state. Randhawa told a news conference that he had raised with the chief minister the issue of Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh's alleged "unacceptable behaviour" with ministers during a meeting held here a fortnight ago. "When he (CM) asked about the chief secretary issue, we told him that the chief secretary's attitude was not right and the way he spoke (with ministers) cannot be tolerated by anybody," Randhawa said. The chief minister was told about what had happened on that day and why ministers had walked out of the meeting, Randhawa said, adding that the CM assured them to look into the matter. The crisis was triggered by a showdown on May 9 between two ministers and the chief secretary at a meeting where the state's post-lockdown excise policy was being discussed. After Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi opposed any relief for liquor vend owners, the chief secretary allegedly made some "curt remarks". Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Channi had then walked out. Later, Badal and Channi had even announced not to attend any meeting where the chief secretary was present. Though the chief secretary was divested of the additional charge of the financial commissioner of taxation, at least 10 Congress legislators, led by Warring, had sought a probe against the chief secretary after blaming him for excise revenue loss. Warring said on Wednesday that it was the responsibility of the chief secretary who was heading the department for the "downfall" in revenue. "I think leakage is there. Hundred percent, there is problem somewhere," said Warring when he asked whether he blamed illegal smuggling for revenue loss. Pargat Singh said there was no harm in setting up a corporation for excise if the state's revenue goes up with it. He had reportedly lashed out at his own government earlier, demanding setting up an excise corporation to boost excise revenue and stop liquor smuggling. Meanwhile, a government statement said the chief minister had invited only a handful of party leaders due to the social-distancing norms amid the COVID-19 pandemic. State-run Airports Authority of India has advised passengers-to reach airport 2 hours prior to departure. In its standard operating procedures (SoPs), the state-run firm also asked passengers to install the Aarogya Setu mobile app without which they wont be allowed entry into the terminal building. Even those passengers coming from non-green zones will not be allowed entry. Besides, all passengers will be required to go in for a thermal check before entering the terminal. The AAIs SoPs comes a day after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said: Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, 25th May 2020. All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May, he said. Furthermore, the minister said the SOPs for the passenger movement would be issued soon. Ever since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country on March 25, passenger air services were sus pended for both scheduled domestic and international flights. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organisation has expressed great concern about the rapidly growing number of new coronavirus cases. According to reports, the global health body says it has record 1,06,000 new coronavirus cases across the world in only 2 hours, this is the highest rise in the number of cases in a single day since the virus pandemic began. Cases worsen in low- and middle-income countries As per reports, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, while speaking at a news conference said that the world still has a long way to go before it is able to put this pandemic behind it. He also added that the world health body was particularly worried about the rising cases in low- and middle-income countries. According to reports, the WHO has recently been heavily criticized by U.S. President Donald Trump who has accused them of seriously mishandling the outbreak and also shielding Chinas role in the alleged cover-up. Trump has even threatened to withdraw from the global health body as well as withholding crucial funding. As per reports, the Director-General of the WHO has claimed that he has been searching from funding from other avenues because the $2.3 billion budget allocated to it is extremely small for a global health agency. Read: 'Further Damages WHO's Credibility': US Condemns World Health Assembly's Taiwan Exclusion Read: Isolated At World Health Assembly, Xi Jinping's Bigger Challenge Is Coming At Home The US again criticizes WHO The United States on May 18 condemned Taiwan's exclusion from the World Health Assembly saying that WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus chose not to invite the country under pressure from China. "The United States condemns Taiwan's exclusion from the World Health Assembly. At a time when the world continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, we need multilateral institutions to deliver on their stated missions and to serve the interests of all member states, not to play politics while lives are at stake," US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said in a statement. Read: Chinese President Xi Jinping To Deliver Speech At Opening Of World Health Assembly Read: Taiwan: Won't Press For World Health Assembly Participation KABUL - The first visit to Kabul by Washingtons peace envoy since Afghanistans squabbling political leadership reached a power-sharing agreement comes amid increased violence blamed mostly on an Islamic State affiliate that has been targeted in stepped-up U.S. bombing. Zalmay Khalilzad, in a flurry of tweets Thursday, told of his meetings in Doha earlier in the week with Taliban representatives and on Wednesday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and fellow leader Abdullah Abdullah. All were aimed at resuscitating a U.S.-Taliban peace deal signed in February. Khalilzad returned to Washington late Wednesday. Khalilzad called for a reduction in violence by all sides in Afghanistans protracted conflict that has kept America militarily engaged for 19 years. He also said too much time has been wasted getting to the second and critical phase of the peace deal, which calls for talks between the Taliban and Afghanistans political leadership. Abdullah will head those efforts as part of the deal he signed with Ghani to end their monthslong dispute over who won Afghanistans presidential election last September. He conceded the win to Ghani but as part of a power sharing agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump said again last week that American soldiers have wrongly been tasked with policing the country and called on Afghanistan to step up. The U.S. has about 12,000 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, split between counter-terrorism and the NATO-led Resolute Supports 16,500 troop mission, which trains and aids Afghanistans National Security Forces. Washington currently pays about $4 billion annually to keep Afghanistans military in fighting form. U.S. Department of Defence officials have told The Associated Press their biggest worry in Afghanistan is an increasingly active IS affiliate headquartered in the east. The group has ties to Middle Eastern affiliates as well as militant groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Chinese Uighur group, East Turkestan Islamic Movement. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, say the IS affiliate in Afghanistan has been linked to foiled plots to attack America in recent years. The U.S. also blamed IS for a brutal attack on a maternity hospital earlier this month in Kabul that left 24 people dead, including two infants and several mothers. The increased IS activity in Afghanistan has added urgency to U.S. efforts to resuscitate the peace deal, which commits the Taliban to fight terrorist groups in Afghanistan. The same Department of Defence officials said they want the Taliban in the battle to rout IS from Afghanistan. Without intra-Afghan negotiations, the cease-fire Washington wants between the Taliban and the government wont happen . Taliban representatives say a cease-fire will be on the agenda in any intra-Afghan talks, which were to start by mid-March. The delay has been blamed on Afghanistans squabbling leadership in Kabul and disruptions in prisoner releases, which were promised as part of the peace deal ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations. In his tweets, Khalilzad called for the prisoner release to be completed. He also reiterated he is seeking Taliban assistance with U.S. citizens missing in Afghanistan, including U.S. contractor Mark Frerichs who disappeared in January. Several Taliban leaders contacted by The AP said they are not holding Frerichs and have told Khalilzad repeated times. Suhail Shaheen, Taliban spokesman in Doha, said Wednesday the Taliban are committed to the deal and demanded its prisoners be released. Meanwhile, in eastern Nangarhar province, where IS is headquartered, a suicide bomber targeted a district chief and his son Thursday as they were driving through Chaparhar district, said Attaullah Khogyani, the provincial governors spokesman. Sediq Dawlatzai and his son were wounded in the attack and transferred to a hospital in the capital Jalalabad. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. ____ Gannon reported from Islamabad An argument has erupted between India and Nepal, after an 80 km new road between Darchula to Lipulekh, the border pass near the trijunction with Tibet and Nepal, was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The road is expected to be used by the Indian pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar, some 90 km from the pass, as well as the local traders, Lipulekh being one of the three authorised land ports between India and China. PTI said: "The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory." Kathmandu handed over a diplomatic note protesting against the construction of this vital road to Vinaya Mohan Kwatra, the Indian Ambassador to Nepal; who was then called by Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Nepal's Foreign Minister. Issue at hand India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denied that the road was crossing Nepal's territory: "The recently inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in the state of Uttarakhand lies completely within the territory of India. The road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra," said South Block. It is in Delhi's interests to find an amicable solution with Nepal for the areas where there is no agreement. (File Photo: Reuters) Last November, Kathmandu protested, "unilateral decisions on border issues won't be accepted," it was in reference to the new Political Map of India published by Delhi after two new Union Territories - Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh - came into existence on October 31. Kathmandu formally protested over the inclusion of the Kalapani area in the new map. The new Indian map is exactly the same as the one published in 1954 in the Atlas of the Northern Frontiers of India, the official reference till today for India's boundaries. Kathmandu didn't protest against the old map and apart from the new UTs, there was nothing new in the 2019 maps. The case is complicated by the political struggle within the ruling party in Nepal and by the lack of historical consistency in Kathmandu's position. Tracing the history After a War between British India and Nepal in 1814, the Nepalis were sent back across the Kali River in May 1815 and subsequently the Segowli Treaty was signed on March 4, 1816. Article 5 of the Treaty stated: "The Rajah of Nepaul renounces for himself, his heirs and successors, all claim to or connexion with the countries lying to the West of the River Kali, and engages never to have any concern with those countries or the inhabitants thereof." Unfortunately, there was no map attached, which could have authoritatively shown the exact alignment and source of the Kali River. It was only by the mid-1800s that the Himalayan border was properly surveyed by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (a precursor of the Survey of India). India-Nepal border. (Photo: Reuters) The "Boundary Treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Nepal" signed by President Liu Shaoqi of China and King Mahendra of Nepal on October 5, 1961: "The Chairman of the People's Republic of China and His Majesty the King of Nepal, was of the agreed opinion that a formal settlement of the question of the boundary between China and Nepal is of fundamental interest to the peoples of the two countries," said the preamble. Article I (1) defined the China-Nepal boundary line, which "starts from where the watershed between the Kali River and the Tinkar River meets the watershed between the tributaries of the Mapchu (Karnali) River on one hand and the Tinkar River on the other hand" The precise maps attached to the Treaty and signed by both parties show Kathmandu seems to have forgotten that the location of the river on the maps of the Sino-Nepali treaty matches with the Indian one, which implies the road is on Indian territory. What must be negotiated is the area south of the river, where the British (and later Indian) cartographers have taken into account, the watershed principle and the land revenues of Gunji village on the Indian side. What compounds the issue is the rift within the ruling party's leadership in Nepal and the role played by China through Hou Yanqi, Beijing's Ambassador to Kathmandu, the new 'Queen' of Nepal, who arranged a rapprochement at the top level of the ruling Nepal Communist Party. Future impact An Op-Ed in The Indian Express noted: "Shedding its image of being a reluctant player in the internal politics of Nepal, China has been playing an active role these past few days in Kathmandu's power games." Ms Hou Yangqi brokered a truce, with KP Sharma Oli keeping his prime ministerial seat; its said President Xi Jinping had a 40-minute phone conversation with Nepal counterpart Bidhya Devi Bhandari, "ostensibly to promise all support to fight the Covid-19 pandemic." According to onlinekhabar, on May 12, "In contrast to his foreign affairs minister's statement that the government was aware of India constructing a link road to Manasarovar encroaching on the Nepali territory in Kalapani region, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli says he was not told about it." There is no doubt about the location of the river and that the new road is inside Indian territory. It is in Delhi's interests to find an amicable solution with Nepal for the areas where there is no agreement; it could avoid China interfering in bilateral affairs between Delhi and Kathmandu in the future. (Courtesy of Mail Today) Also read: Indian appeal stays intact even as China takes baby steps in the Nepali daily life The Delhi High Court has dismissed Monsanto Holdings Pvt Ltd's pleas challenging the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order to investigate activities of the company and that of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) over complaints that they abused their dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices for the Bt Cotton technology. The technology is aimed at genetically modifying hybrid cotton seeds to instill a particular trait resistance to bollworms. Apart from the CCI's February 10, 2016 direction to investigate the activities of Monsanto, the company had also challenged the commission's order issuing notice to it on February 18, 2016 on an application by the informants, including Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd (NSL). Justice Vibhu Bakhru rejected the challenge to the first order saying that it was an administrative direction and unless it was found to be arbitrary and unreasonable, no interference would be warranted. "In view of the above, this Court finds no reason to interfere with the impugned order," the judge said. On the second CCI order under challenge, the high court said it was "not maintainable" as the commission had merely issued notice and afforded Monsanto an opportunity to be heard before considering the application by the informants. "This Court finds no reason whatsoever to interfere with the said order," the judge said. Monsanto had challenged CCI's orders on the ground that it does not have any jurisdiction to examine the issues raised before it as they relate to the exercise of rights granted under the Patents Act. The issue raised before it was that Monsanto was abusing its dominant position by charging excessive and unfair prices for the Bt Cotton technology. Monsanto had contended that the remedies against alleged abuse of any rights by the patentee would fall exclusively within the remedies as provided under the Patents Act and, therefore, the jurisdiction of the CCI to entertain such disputes is impliedly excluded. The high court said the contention was "unacceptable" and "bereft of any merit". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A San Antonio H-E-B employee has tested positive for COVID-19, the grocery chain said Monday. The employee was last working in the McCreless Market H-E-B Plus store, located at 4100 S. New Braunfels Avenue, on May 5. H-E-B said it has deeply cleaned and sanitized multiple times since then and all employees who may have been exposed have been notified. It is unclear when the employee tested positive. READ MORE: The latest news and features about coronavirus in San Antonio "As COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, our H-E-B family of more than 120,000 Partners has not gone unaffected," H-E-B said in a news release. This is not the first positive case for an H-E-B employee in the region. Five others in San Antonio tested positive and another at a store in New Braunfels in May. H-E-B said they are continuing to practice good social distancing and requiring that masks are worn inside their stores. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on schools, stores, businesses and events. With in-person concerts, talks, comedy shows, food festivals and other gatherings cancelled, we have turned our events column into a "nonevents" column. It will remain this way as long as social distancing and stay-at-home orders are in effect. During this difficult time, please consider contributing to your local arts organizations or to individual artists and performers. The three-day weekend ushers in the unoffical start of summer. A number of SoCal restaurants are offering holiday to-go specials. The Airborne Toxic Event, Scarypoolparty and Sublime all perform virtually. CHIRLA holds a star-studded music festival. And there's a drive-in movie at The Muck and a drink-in screening of The Thin Man. Friday, May 22; 7 p.m. Let Your Light Shine with Ernie G The En Casa con LA Plaza series continues with comedian Ernie G. Watch via Zoom or Facebook Live as he chronicles his journey from comedy clubs to high schools and corporate TEDx Talks, advancing his messages of inspiration and purpose. COST: FREE admission; MORE INFO Learn how to make homemade gnocchi through an online workshop with the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles. (various brennemans / Flickr Creative Commons) Friday, May 22; 12 - 1:30 p.m. PDT Making Gnocchi at Home The Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles presents a Zoom cooking lesson with Elisabetta Ciardullo, founder of Think Italian! Events. She'll teach you how to make homemade gnocchi. The Zoom invite and ingredients will be sent upon registration, and the session will be recorded. COST: $25; MORE INFO A statue in memory of Johnny Ramone stands at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on January 14, 2005. (Matthew Simmons/Getty Images) Friday, May 22; 5 p.m. PDT Los Angeles Tourism's Magic Hour Film historian Karie Bible takes viewers on a visit through Hollywood Forever Cemetery. As the only sanctioned tour guide of the cemetery, Bible leads a Zoom tour of its nooks and crannies as well as examines the lives and final resting places of both stars and lesser-known personalities. COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO A hiker stretches on the trails at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. (Andrew Cullen for LAist) Friday, May 22; 7 p.m. Discovering Griffith Park: A Local's Guide The Autry hosts a virtual book launch by Casey Schreiner, founder and editor of Modern Hiker. He'll talk about his book, Griffith Park, its history and lesser known spaces. COST: FREE, but registration required; MORE INFO Friday, May 22; 12 p.m. PDT Scarypoolparty Sofar Sounds' Listening Room continues its series of live, online performances as a way to support independent artists during the pandemic. While all shows are free, optional donations can be given directly to the featured performers or to the Sofar Sounds global artist fund. 100% of the money donated will be distributed to artists. In addition to Pomona's own Alejandro Aranda (Scarypoolparty) performing on Friday, other performers this weekend include: Tuyo from Brazil, at noon on Saturday; and Yasmin Williams from Virginia at 3 p.m. on Sunday COST: FREE; MORE INFO Friday, May 22; 6 p.m. Indie Indoors: Asembl (not so) live This livestreaming series allows audience interaction from a safe distance. Check out performances by indie musicians Andy Cook and duo Megan Mahoney & Mariah Mercedez. COST: Donations suggested $5 - $30; MORE INFO The Airborne Toxic Event returns with a new release and as a quartet (since violinist Anna Bulbook left the band). (Courtesy of the artist) Friday, May 22; 7 p.m. PDT The Airborne Toxic Event While the band has pushed back its tour to 2021, they're still going to perform songs from their new album, Hollywood Park, on Friday. The livestreamed event will be available on Facebook and YouTube. COST: FREE; MORE INFO Saturday, May 23; 5 p.m. PDT Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy Q&A To celebrate the virtual cinema release of a documentary about Kennedy, a award-winning master of Mexican cuisine, join a virtual Q&A with director Elizabeth Carroll, chef Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), chef Gabriela Camara (Tale of Two Kitchens), food writer David Tanis (New York Times) and moderator Lesley Tellez (author, Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City's Streets, Markets and Fondas). COST: FREE (donations encouraged); MORE INFO Saturday, May 23; 6 p.m. Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl This music documentary tells the story of the pop songstress as she goes punk in an attempt to take back control of her career. Nash rocketed to pop stardom at 18, was defrauded by her manager and wound up nearly homeless. Directed by Amy Goldstein, the film blends performance footage and dramatized sequences. It's being released via Alamo on Demand beginning on Friday, May 22. A live performance and Q&A with Nash (aka Britannica on Glow) takes place on Saturday at 6 p.m. for ticket holders COST: $9.99; MORE INFO Lupillo Rivera performs at RiseUp AS ONE at Cross Border Xpress on October 15, 2016 in San Diego. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for Univision) Saturday, May 23; 4 p.m. PST Cuidate y Cuentate (Take Care and Be Counted) Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles hosts a virtual concert that features artists, medical care experts, educators and influencers. Participants include Lupillo Rivera, Ozomatli, Miami Symphony Orchestra, Edward James Olmos, Kate del Castillo, Veronica del Castillo, Omar y Argelia, Henry Zakka, El Piolin, Elisa Beristain, Javier Ceriani, Pepe Garza, Gustavo Adolfo Infante, Erazno y la Chokolata, Chikilin and Anthony Valadez. Watch on LATV Network, KWHY Channel 22, IGTV, FB livestream and YouTube. COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO Saturday, May 23 Film Festival Day Enjoy a virtual screening of Angela Pinaglia's documentary Life in Synchro, focusing on the women of synchronized skating. The event benefits several film festivals around the country. The film is available to rent from May 22 to 31, with a live virtual Q&A on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT with Pinaglia and cast members. COST: $10; MORE INFO Andrew McMahon performs at Riviera Theatre on March 2, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Ryan Bakerink/Getty Images) Saturdays, May 23 and 30; 4 p.m. OC Parks Sound Checks OC Parks continues its virtual concert series on Facebook (@OrangeCountyParks) or Instagram (@OCParks) for the next two weeks. This Saturday, listen to the music of Justin Ratowsky from Cali Conscious, followed by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on May 30. COST: FREE; MORE INFO Saturday, May 23; 3 p.m. PST Sublime with Rome Join a virtual BBQ (BYOB and food, obvs) plus band performances that benefit the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, helping musicians and artists through this tough time. COST: $9.99 - $14.99; MORE INFO Britney Spears performs on NBC's "Today" show on June 30 2000. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images) Saturday, May 23; 10 a.m. - noon Virtual Dance Class If you've always wanted to dance like Britney Spears, this virtual workshop is for you. Choreographer Zae Northy, who has worked with both Spears and Janet Jackson, will teach moves to the best Britney jams. A session for beginners will kick off and run for 45 minutes followed by a session for intermediate/advanced dancers. These classes are for all ages. COST: $15; MORE INFO The Risk! storytelling show returns, virtually, this weekend, hosted by founder Kevin Allison. (Risk! Storytelling) Saturday, May 23; 5 p.m. RISK! Livestream Online Show Host Kevin Allison leads a fantastic lineup of storytellers who tell tales they never thought they'd reveal in public. The show is accessible via Zoom and will feature stories from Allison, William Mullin, Jiji Lee, Katie Featherston and Ophira Eisenberg. COST: Pay what you can but $12 suggested donation; MORE INFO This 1934 studio shows the first drive-in theater in Los Angeles, which was located at 10860 West Pico Blvd., near what is now Westwood Blvd. Automobiles wait in line outside the theater, which has a sign advertising the movie "Handy Andy," starring Will Rogers. The adjacent property is planted with low crops. (Dick Whittington Studio/Huntington Digital Library) Saturday, May 23; 6:30 p.m. PDT Drive-In at The Muck The Muckenthaler Cultural Center - 1201 W. Malvern Ave, Fullerton Drive-in movies are making a comeback and the Muckenthaler Cultural Center partners with the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana to screen Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride. The film starts at 8:15 p.m., and please remember to maintain social distancing guidelines. Bring your own snacks and food. Limited capacity. COST: $20 per car; MORE INFO Alec Mapa performs on stage during Voices For The Voiceless: Stars For Foster Kids on June 29, 2015 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Voices for the Voiceless) Sunday, May 24; 7:30 - 9 p.m. PDT Uncabaret: Zoom Edition #5 Beth Lapides hosts a night of live music and comedy via Zoom. This week's guests include Julia Sweeney, Alec Mapa, Abby McEnany, Moon Zappa, Alex Edelman, Hannah Eibinder and Jamie Bridgers. Plus, music from Mitch Kaplan and the band. COST: FREE; MORE INFO Monday, May 25; 5 - 8 p.m. Drink-In Theatre: The Thin Man Watch the 1934 film starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as detective duo Nick and Nora Charles. Attend a virtual watch party on the Facebook Live channels at Thirsty in LA and Art Beyond the Glass. Join other guests for a cocktail at 5 p.m. before the movie starts streaming. There's a 15-minute intermission so you can remotely mingle. COST: FREE; MORE INFO Monday, May 25; 10 a.m. Virtual Memorial Day Each year, Forest Lawn's annual Memorial Day commemoration draws thousands of visitors to its six memorial parks to honor those military members who have given their lives to protect our country. While we are still under stay-at-home restrictions, Forest Lawn holds a live virtual ceremony on Facebook with Scottish bagpipes and drums, guest speakers, a benediction and patriotic music. COST: FREE admission; MORE INFO Monday, May 25; 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Operation SoCal Strong To commemorate soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice as well as COVID-19 frontline workers, historic planes and WWII warbirds are doing a slow flyover 19 locations in Southern California. Beginning with Loma Linda University Medical Center, the flight plan includes Newport Beach, the Queen Mary, Riverside National Cemetery and USC Medical Center. COST: FREE; MORE INFO Tavern offers a special Memorial Day meal offering: harissa chicken dinner for two with sides and dessert. (Javier Espinoza) Dine & Drink Deals Who doesn't miss going out to eat or stopping by a bar for a drink? Here are a few options from restaurants and bars as we work our way back toward normal. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Credit Suisse AG ("Credit Suisse") announced today that it has exercised its right to call its Credit Suisse X-Links Multi-Asset High Income ETNs ("MLTI" or the "ETNs"). As described in the related pricing supplement for MLTI (the "Pricing Supplement"), Credit Suisse, as the issuer of the ETNs, may, at its option, call all issued and outstanding units of MLTI. Credit Suisse has exercised this right by delivering a call notice via the Depository Trust Company on May 21, 2020. The call settlement date is expected to be June 12, 2020. On the call settlement date set forth above, MLTI investors will receive a cash payment per ETN in an amount equal to the call settlement amount. The call settlement amount will be calculated on the call valuation date of June 9, 2020 in accordance with the terms of the ETNs as set forth in the Pricing Supplement. The call settlement amount will include MLTI's coupon amount, if any, with respect to the scheduled coupon valuation date of May 29, 2020. As of today, Credit Suisse will no longer issue new units of MLTI. Credit Suisse expects that NYSE Arca will allow MLTI to continue to trade until June 11, 2020. Investors who buy MLTI at any time for an amount that is greater than the call settlement amount (including paying any premium to the call settlement amount, once this amount has been determined) will suffer a loss on their investment. Furthermore, investors who sell MLTI at any time for an amount that is less than the call settlement amount (including selling at any discount to the call settlement amount, once this amount has been determined) will suffer a loss. In either case, such loss could be significant. Investors will not receive any other compensation or amount for the loss of the investment opportunity of holding MLTI and investors may be unable to invest in other securities with a similar level of risk and/or that provide a similar investment opportunity as MLTI. None of the other ETNs offered by Credit Suisse are affected by this announcement. All dates referenced above are subject to change, including postponement due to certain events. Title of ETN Ticker Symbol ETN CUSIP Credit Suisse X-Links Multi-Asset High Income ETN MLTI 22539T399 Press Contacts Karina Byrne, Credit Suisse AG, telephone +1 212 538 8361, [email protected] Credit Suisse ETNs Telephone +1 800 320 1225, [email protected] Credit Suisse AG Credit Suisse AG is one of the world's leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as 'Credit Suisse'). Our strategy builds on Credit Suisse's core strengths: its position as a leading wealth manager, its specialist investment banking capabilities and its strong presence in our home market of Switzerland. We seek to follow a balanced approach to wealth management, aiming to capitalize on both the large pool of wealth within mature markets as well as the significant growth in wealth in Asia Pacific and other emerging markets, while also serving key developed markets with an emphasis on Switzerland. Credit Suisse employs approximately 48,500 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse AG's parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com. SOURCE Credit Suisse AG Related Links https://www.credit-suisse.com/ It has been said, and it is indeed true that, The horns cannot be too heavy for the head of the cow that must carry them The process of human change begins with us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand for humanity. This has been the case of this successful entrepreneurial giant. I am not talking about Bill Gates, neither am I referring to Steve Jobs; and definitely I am not addressing Aliko Dangote. I am referring to Ghanas hidden gem, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Founder & Executive Chairman of JOSPONG Group. He is revered by many as Ghanas most successful entrepreneur currently and the next big thing to happen to Africa and the world in general. Jospong as he is affectionately called, is a business magnate, investor and a serial entrepreneur. He is a lethal combination of genius, hard work and commitment. Born over four decades ago on March 20, Dr. Agyepongs drive for business started in 1995, when he transformed his mothers simple exercise book business into a Printing Press (Jospong Printing Press), out of which today they have become a conglomerate. His vision is to build his conglomerate to become the most successful African holding company, leading in every sector they operate in. And he has executed this successfully thus far by giving the company a fresh and vibrant air of transformational leadership. A leadership that has inured to a globally recognized company. Since then, he started building his business empire which today is a conglomerate with over 60 companies operating in 14 sectors of the economy including Waste Management, Banking and Finance; Education; ICT and Software Development; Printing and Publishing; Building and Construction; Manufacturing; Ports Services and Logistics; Quarry and Mining; Oil and Gas; Agriculture and Agro Business, International Business; Hospitality and Multimedia among others. In Ghana, he has presence in all 260 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. Operation in 6 African countries as well as China, India and Dubai. In-depth management training and experience have been one of the major strengths of Dr. Agyepong. He is also a down to earth personality par excellence. His humility has won the admiration of many. At a recent gathering of the business community, in his soft spoken voice, he said, In 1995, when this dream started, I had no idea where the Lord was leading us, but today I am humbled by the achievements our company has chalked in keeping with our mission of improving lives. He leads his team diligently and makes sure that what is to be done is done appropriately. He is also very logical, decisive, prudent and critical in his problem-solving activities. He has a very creative and active mind that is always fixated on the brighter and broader prospects of endeavors rather than cosmetic considerations that retard progress. With hindsight, his businesses employ a core staff of over 6,000 directly; and has created over 300,000 job opportunities along the value chain. In 2006, this humble servant revolutionized waste management in Ghana with the introduction of the famous Zoomlion Ghana Limited, utilizing simple modern technologies. Today Zoomlion Ghana Limited provides total and integrated waste management solutions including solid and liquid waste treatment facilities in Ghana and beyond. As an influential advocate in the transformation of his conglomerate, his sterling leadership and contribution to national and continental development has earned him recognition by governments and institutions including the Award of the Order of the Volta, one of the highest honours in Ghana. Also, in 2016, he was awarded a Lifetime African Achievement Prize in Sustainable Development in Africa. Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong is a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for African Studies of Harvard University, President of the Environmental Service Providers Association in Ghana, and a Council member of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). Dr. Agyepong believes that giving back to society is fun and fulfilling. Through his Zoomlion Foundation (ZLF), he has given donations to many individuals and institutions to support a wide range of initiatives. Notable amongst them is the Zoomkids Club made up of environmental sanitation Clubs operating in schools across the country. It provides grants towards payment of school fees for brilliant but needy students in Senior High Schools and Tertiary Institutions with over 1,000 clubs nationwide. Additionally, school teachers who double as Zoomkids Club Patrons may obtain scholarship assistance to pursue a postgraduate degree course at our African Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management (AISWAM-KNUST). The Foundation also support basic infrastructure development related to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) activities/projects using simple innovative technologies. He also focuses on supporting individuals with very serious sickness and diseases. And will identify, partner and support under resourced public hospitals or community clinics, prisons, disability related organizations, orphanages, religious institutions etc. As he has always maintained, building a sustainable business for the future does not happen overnight, we must continue to work harder, harnessing our collective efforts to build the future together, putting value on our Human Capital, our intellectual capital as well as our financial capital. Ghana has gained considerably from the dexterity and entrepreneurial capabilities of this affable man and stands to even gain more and in a better fashion by partnering with him to develop the nation. He has demonstrated that if given the push by government, he can do more the help his country and continent. The 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was right when he postulated in the speech: Citizenship In A Republic that, It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat." I am incredibly excited about Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepongs success story so far and truly believes the best of him is yet to come. He has indeed blazed the trail of inspiration amongst the youth of Africa through his entrepreneurial skills and unrelenting will to succeed even when the odds are against him. The world should watch out for Africas next big revelation after Aliko Dangote. NB: The writer is a Law Student, Political Researcher, a practicing Customer Experience (Service) Specialist, a Business, Financial, Brands & Communication Consultant, a Writer, and a Youth Activist. Source: Prince Anuwar-Sadat Amadu, [email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By Mary Jo Daley Unfortunately, ticks do not abide by shutdown orders. The COVID-19 pandemic is troublesome enough, but spring is in full swing. More and more, were mixing warm and sunny days. And while spending time outside in nature is among the preferred ways to combat the anxiety that accompanies this coronavirus crisis, it is tick season. Thats of particular importance in Pennsylvania, which reported 73,610 tick-borne disease cases between 2004 and 2016, the highest of any state in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, tick-borne illnesses are on the rise across the United States, and that means prevention needs to be on everyones mind. These tiny arachnids feed on the blood of mammals, birds and other creatures. They can be infected with bacteria, viruses or parasites, and the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania recognizes 11 different tick-borne illnesses that have been identified in this state. The leader, of course, is Lyme disease, but we must also be aware of the following: Deer Tick Virus, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, mycoplasmosis, bartonellosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, tularemia and Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness. You dont need to memorize the names of these diseases, but its wise to know that not all of them are treatable. So, as you and your loved ones spend more time outdoors this spring and summer, please understand the risk of tick-borne illness and know how to protect yourself. That means wearing appropriate clothing, using environmentally safe insect repellent, and taking other precautionary measures, like checking your hair and body for ticks after outdoor time, particularly in wooded areas, bushes, high grass or leaf litter. Also, be on the lookout for symptoms associated with tick-borne diseases, which can include body and muscle aches, fever, headaches, fatigue, joint pain, rash and more. If you find a tick attached to your skin, do not panic. Remove it as soon as possible. The most common way to do so is with fine-tipped tweezers, with which you should grasp the tick as close to the skins surface as possible, then pull upward with steady, even pressure. Clean skin thoroughly afterward with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. Never crush a tick with your fingers. If you can save the tick and would like to have it tested, place it in a sealed plastic bag. Make note of when the bite occurred and where you most likely acquired the tick. Visit ticklab.org and choose which diseases to test the tick for, and then mail the tick to the tick lab at East Stroudsburg University. Once the tick is received, you will receive your results within three business days. This information will be invaluable to your doctor if you develop a rash or fever within several weeks of removing the tick. Call your doctor and share the Tick Labs report with him or her. The report will provide valuable information to your doctor as they determine the most appropriate treatment for you. Youll also want to report all tick-borne diseases confirmed or suspected to the Pennsylvania Department of Health disease surveillance system, PA-NEEDS, at https://www.nedss.state.pa.us/nedss/default.aspx. State Rep. Mary Jo Daley, a Democrat, represents Montgomery Countys 148th Legislative District. She serves on the Health Committee and the Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, and is the Democratic chair of the Womens Health Caucus. In 2020, Memorial Day is Monday, May 25. Its an official federal holiday, so government offices are almost universally closed. Additionally, while they arent required to, some retailers chose to close their doors on Memorial Day as well, giving their employees a day off. But others stay open, hosting exciting sales to entice shoppers. Since every retailer can choose what to do, theres usually some confusion regarding what is or isnt open on federal holidays. If you are wondering is Costco closed on Memorial Day 2020, heres what you need to know. Is Costco Closed on Memorial Day 2020? Costco is closed on Memorial Day. While Costco warehouse stores are usually open on Mondays, this is one of the holidays where the retailer decides to shut its doors and give its employees a day off. Additionally, Costco Business Centers close as well for Memorial Day. The Costco corporate office makes the holiday closures universal across the brand. As a result, those locations follow the same holiday schedules as the warehouse retail stores. However, you can still get fuel at Costcos self-service gas stations. Since those dont require employee assistance, they are still operational on the holiday. Get a $10 Costco Shop Card Costco Holiday Schedule 2020 In comparison to many other retailers, Costco closes much more often. For example, Sams Club and BJs Wholesale open on Memorial Day. But Costco doesnt close for every holiday, regardless of whether they are on the federal calendar. Heres a look at the Costco holiday schedule for 2020: New Years Day Wednesday, January 1: Costco is closed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday, January 20: Costco is open Valentines Day Friday, February 14: Costco is open Presidents Day Monday, February 17: Costco is open Patricks Day Tuesday, March 17: Costco is open Good Friday Friday, April 10: Costco is open Easter Saturday Saturday, April 11: Costco is open Easter Sunday Sunday, April 12: Costco is closed Easter Monday Monday, April 13 (Monday): Costco is open Mothers Day Sunday, May 10: Costco is open Memorial Day Monday, May 25: Costco is closed Fathers Day Sunday, June 21: Costco is open Independence Day Saturday, July 4: Costco is closed on Labor Day Monday, September 7: Costco is closed Columbus Day Monday, October 12: Costco is open Halloween Saturday, October 31: Costco is open Veterans Day Wednesday, November 11: Costco is open Thanksgiving Day Thursday, November 26: Costco is closed Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24 (Thursday): Costco is open, but closes early Christmas Day Friday, December 25: Costco is closed New Years Eve Thursday, December 31: Costco is open, but closes early New Years Day Friday, January 1: Costco is closed On the two early closure days, Costco locations usually shut their doors at 6:00 pm instead of the usual closing time. However, certain stores may close earlier or later, so you may want to check with your nearest location in advance to confirm its hours. Additionally, Costco warehouses usually have extended Black Friday hours. Exactly when the retailer will open and close for Black Friday is typically announced close to the event. It is also important to note that shoppers can use Costco.com any time, regardless of whether the warehouse stores are closed for a holiday. This can be a convenient option for those who want to handle some shopping on a day off. What Are the Normal Costco Hours of Operation? In most cases, Costco locations follow a similar operating schedule. For 2020, Costco stores are commonly open: Monday through Friday: 10:00 am to 8:30 pm (temporarily closing at 6:30 pm due to COVID-19) Saturday: 9:30 am to 6:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm While the schedule above is an average one for Costco stores, not all locations follow them precisely. Additionally, they are subject to change, particularly while the coronavirus pandemic is still a factor. The retailer only recently went back to its usual closing times. Previously, they had altered them, opting to close at 6:30 pm instead during practically all of April. Special Operating Hours For Covid-19 Costco is still maintaining special operating hours for older individuals and those with certain medical conditions or impairments. This allows vulnerable populations the ability to shop while reducing their health risk. Usually, these begin at 8:00 am or 9:00 am, Tuesday through Thursday, and last until the normal opening time. Starting on May 4, Costco shoppers also have to wear face masks. Plus, following social distancing requirements is mandatory. If you plan on heading to a Costco Business Center, those locations follow different hours. Heres a look at the typical schedule at a Costco Business Center: Monday through Friday: 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Saturday: 7:00 am to 4:00 pm Sunday: Closed The Salt Lake City Business Center follows its own schedule, which is unique from all other locations: Monday through Friday: 7:00 am to 8:30 pm Saturday: 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm As with the warehouse locations, Costco Business Centers may alter their hours based on the COVID-19 pandemic. If you plan on visiting one, it may be wise to call ahead and confirm the location will be open. Does Costco Have a Memorial Day Sale? Even though Costco doesnt open its warehouse stores on Memorial Day, that doesnt mean you cant find some amazing deals. The current appliance sale, which runs until June 3, has some outstanding discounts, for example. Youll also find price reductions on select electronics, food items, and more. If you want to find out more about the Costco Memorial Day sale, check out the latest sale flyer. You can explore it online or in stores, giving you a chance to spot deals that can help stretch your budget for this upcoming holiday weekend. Do you ever wish Costco was open on Memorial Day? Have you been going to Costco more or less due to COVID-19? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Give the gift of savings! Learn more Read More: If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started. Two sessions 'in cloud': expected to inject confidence, unite people in wake of COVID-19 Global Times By GT staff reporters Source:Global Times Published: 2020/5/20 23:23:40 Public health mechanism to get special attention After a 78-day delay, China entered a "two sessions" mode on Wednesday as the country's top advisory body held the first online press conference of this year's two sessions - a special arrangement in line with epidemic prevention and control work - while thousands of deputies and members from China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as well as two special administration regions (SARs) arrived in Beijing. Holding China's most important annual political meetings as the world is still battling a coronavirus pandemic sent out a clear and strong signal to the world that the country has made significant progress in its anti-epidemic battle, some deputies said. Some participants of the two sessions noted that they would witness the strictest epidemic prevention and control work during the meetings, as the work would become routine to accelerate social development. Deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) from East China's Jiangsu Province, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Central China's Hubei Province, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as well as Hong Kong and Macao SARs arrived in Beijing on Wednesday. According to some who spoke to the Global Times, all of them received nucleic acid tests twice - one at the place of their departure and another in Beijing. This year's annual meetings of China's top legislative body and its top consultative body, delayed for the first time since the country adopted the early March schedule in 1995 due to the epidemic, will kick off on Thursday and Friday with special arrangements in line with epidemic prevention and control work. Deputies and members to the two sessions from different places across the country have mixed feelings about this year's two sessions. Despite the delay, opening the meetings would show that the Chinese people, after fighting the anti-COVID19 battle, have seen hard-won results, some lawmakers and political advisers said. While expecting the return to normalcy, Chinese policymakers are still facing a tough road ahead in drawing lessons from the unprecedented public health crisis, and pushing forward the resumption of production and businesses to achieve economic and social development targets. Special 'two sessions' After Huang Xihua, an NPC deputy from South China's Guangdong Province, arrived at a hotel in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon, she took several pictures of the capital's blue sky and posted on her WeChat Moment. "As I arrived in Beijing, embracing the green trees, blue sky and white clouds, I felt how special this year's national two sessions are. They were postponed for more than two months. I believe many people have special expectations for this special event, hoping that the two sessions could give people new confidence and introduce more policies to benefit the people," Huang said. More than 200 Hong Kong delegates went to Shenzhen through the Shenzhen Bay Port on Tuesday, where they underwent nucleic acid tests and furnished health records for the past 14 days. All passed the tests and took a chartered Air China flight to Beijing Wednesday. After they arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport, no tests were carried out and shuttle buses took them directly to their designated hotel, where they underwent another nucleic acid tests. Each person eats at one table with a certain distance between each another. Witman Hung Wai-man, a Hong Kong deputy to the 13th NPC, told the Global Times Wednesday that the Hong Kong delegation has a WeChat group to disseminate news and exchange ideas. Wu Zhiliang, a Macao member of the CPPCC National Committee, told the Global Times Wednesday that the Macao delegation flew to Beijing directly and underwent nucleic acid tests at a Beijing airport and the hotel twice. The flight which took participants of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region for the two sessions arrived in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon. The deputies and delegates say this year's two sessions after the COVID-19 epidemic would further unite people of different ethnic groups in the country, according to a statement Tibet's publicity department sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. Doctor Penpa, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, could not hide her excitement after arriving in Beijing. It is her third year to take part in the two sessions. A doctor from Tibet's disabled rehabilitation center, Penpa vowed to make more valuable suggestions to fulfill her duty. Lawmakers and political advisors from Central China's Hubei Province - the region hit the hardest by the outbreak - have arrived in Beijing. The province will be represented by 111 deputies to the NPC and 41 members to the CPPCC, according to chinanews.com. Some deputies told the Global Times in an earlier interview that they had to undergo a week of quarantine in Wuhan, the provincial capital, before flying to Beijing. "2020 is a significance year. It is necessary to do a good job in the prevention and control of the epidemic situation while ensuring the completion of the decisive battle and the task of overcoming poverty and attacking key points, and to build a well-off society in an all-round way," Guo Weimin, spokesperson of the third session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, told a press conference on Wednesday afternoon conducted via video link. Considering the requirements of epidemic prevention work, the third annual session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee will last seven days, four and a half days shorter than previous sessions, Guo said, noting that an opening meeting, a closing meeting and two general assembly speeches will be convened, one of which will be held via video link. Foreign envoys in China will be invited to attend the opening and closing meetings, Guo noted. Nigeria's Ambassador to China Baba Ahmad Jidda told the Global Times on Tuesday that a diplomat from the Nigerian Embassy who was invited to attend the two sessions checked in early at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where important guests such as heads of foreign states and governments are usually accommodated. The process lasts two nights and requires a nucleic acid test before entering the conference, Jidda said. All attendees including all envoys and invited guests will be required to undergo nucleic acid testing for COVID-19. At 5 pm on Wednesday, Minister Counselor from the Serbian Embassy in China Ivan Kandijas was prepared to head to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where he will stay for two nights to participate in the opening ceremonies of the two sessions. This is the second time Kandijas will participate in the two sessions. He told the Global Times he felt excited as the two sessions are the most important events in China. He took one nucleic acid test Wednesday night. If it turns out negative, he will be transported to the Great Hall of the People to participate in the two sessions by an arranged shuttle bus. Reform and targets The number of reporters covering this year's two sessions has been greatly reduced in line with the COVID-19 epidemic control work. Delegations also canceled their "open day" and group interviews, and a majority of interviews would be carried out through videoconference and email, which some called "the two sessions in cloud." Barred from face-to-face interviews, Chinese reporters decided to conduct "cloud interviews" together with some high-profile lawmakers and political advisers. In a WeChat group where hundreds of reporters gathered to help each other cover the two sessions, some listed their names, agencies and topics and set up an online conference room, in which they realized the real "group interview" similar to a face-to-face one. Some of the key issues the general public will focus on during the meetings are a review of the country's COVID-19 response, economic and social development targets, poverty alleviation and the establishment of a moderately prosperous society in an all-around way, moving closer to a civil code, ensuring people's livelihood and countering uncertainties of the external environment, media reported. "Holding this year's meetings also indicates the significant progress in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. However, when the situation improves, we need to discuss how to prevent a resurgence while improving our public health crisis response," Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong's deputy to the NPC, told the Global Times in an earlier interview. Political advisers have also made many suggestions on how to improve the country's public health emergency management system, Guo said at the press conference on Wednesday. Many NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members have also proposed the establishment of a mechanism for direct communication between the central and local governments in major public health emergencies, and to improve the current infectious disease reporting system. They said the heavily invested system, set up after the SARS outbreak in 2003, was believed to have failed to properly function during the earlier stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal New Mexico residents will have more time to express opinions about oil and gas drilling near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Wednesday. Bernhardt said he will extend the comment period for the Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement most likely for 120 days. Chaco Canyon is in the area covered by the plan. The 90-day public comment period ends May 28. Obviously, the pandemic is an issue, Bernhardt told the Journal after meetings with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and the All Pueblo Council of Governors about efforts to fight the pandemic and other challenges in Indian Country. I was moved when I came here to Chaco and met with the pueblos, President Nez and Sen. (Martin) Heinrich, he said. After visiting with Assistant Secretary (for Indian Affairs) Tara Sweeney, I anticipate that requirement will be extended. That will be welcome news to U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, who said earlier in the day that he hoped Bernhardt would do the right thing and extend the comment period. New Mexicos congressional delegation sent a letter to Bernhardt on March 20 requesting the 120-day extension. The All Pueblo Council of Governors and the state also sent letters asking for the extension. I have heard the voices of the pueblos; I heard the voice of Sen. Heinrich, who feels very strongly about this, Bernhardt said. And I heard the voice of Assistant Secretary Sweeney, who feels strongly about this. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs held virtual meetings between May 14 and 18 during the comment period. Udall voiced concern over the possibility that people were unable to participate because of the COVID-19 outbreak in San Juan and McKinley counties areas most impacted by the plan and because many people in the regions Native American communities do not have access to the internet. The tribes, the pueblos and the communities in the area need to have a voice in the process, Udall said. Bernhardt put on hold any oil and gas leasing of federal land within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park for one year after visiting the park last year. Members of the congressional delegation have proposed banning future oil and gas development on federal land within a 10-mile buffer zone of the park, which has support among some in the Native American community. The ban would not apply to private or tribal land within the zone. Bernhardt said buffer zones were options included in the management plan, but he stopped short of endorsing any. We have a number of alternatives, he said. My favorite park as a kid was Mesa Verde, and I was blown away when I went to Chaco. I had no idea. That said, we have laws that require we balance multiple uses one thing that is appropriately balanced is our cultural resources. Its a factor when we make planning decisions. Its a factor when we make management decisions. And energy is a factor, too. Early Data Shows Encouraging Census Response Rates in Hard-to-Count Cities Early data is showing cities in California with some of the hardest-to-count census tracts are among places with above-average U.S. Census response rates so far. Many of them are areas where African Americans live. Invitations to fill out the Census 2020 questionnaire started going out to Californians in mid-March. At the time, the deadline for completion was July 31. But because states across the country issued emergency shutdown orders about two months ago responding to the global coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has pushed the self-response deadline to October 31. ADVERTISEMENT Now, as California begins to phase in the reopening of offices, businesses and public spaces, census advocates are reminding people that even with the extension, it is still urgent that they submit their questionnaires as soon as possible. The data coming in suggests that response rates are encouraging, but we cant get comfortable, said Walter Scott Hawkins, a senior research associate at NewHawk, a southern California-based data collection firm. African Americans across the state have to push each other and make sure every person they know completes his or her form, Hawkins said. Until we have the actual numbers for those hardest-to-count places in the state, which can sometimes be as small as several blocks, we dont have the full picture. In California, 60.6% of all residents have submitted their 2020 Census forms. A total of 51.1% of that number completed their questionnaires on the internet. The state has a response rate of 59.5%. So far, among the top 13 counties in California with the highest African American populations, Contra Costa County has the highest response rate at 69.1%. Kern County has the lowest at 54.5%. Across the United States, approximately 79 million households have already responded to the 2020 Census online, by phone or by mail. The estimated 55 million that havent should be receiving dont forget to respond postcards soon. ADVERTISEMENT Hawkins, who spent 30 years in the California State University system, recently authored California Black Medias Counting Black California: Counting the Hard to Count study. The report identified areas in the state where African Americans are least likely to be counted by the 2020 Census. Several cities with pretty good response rates are areas with large numbers of hard-to-count populations, said Hawkins. Among Californias cities with the highest numbers of African American residents, Elk Grove in Sacramento County has the highest response rate of 73.7%. The Black population in Elk Grove, one of the hardest-to-count areas in Sacramento County, is more than 11% nearly two times the percentage of African Americans in the state. Other cities with sizable Black populations and above average response rates include: Carson (64.8%); Sacramento (63.3%); Riverside 62.7%; Oakland (61.8%); Rialto (60.7%); and Long Beach (59.3%). In the greater Los Angeles area, including parts of Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire, the number of Black residents is more than the number of African Americans in the rest of the state combined. The response rate in several Los Angeles area cities are slightly lower than the states total number. They include Victorville (59.3%); Fresno (59.1%); Bakersfield (58.8%); Stockton (57.7%); San Bernardino (54.7%); Compton (54.5%); Inglewood (54.3%); and Los Angeles (49.2%). For African-American community-based organizations, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has thrown their outreach plans off track, many of them say. So, news that the Census Bureau has moved its deadline to later in the year was a gift they had been anticipating. We know that working-class Black people in Oakland already face barriers to being counted in the Census. The extension of the Census deadline will give the Black community the opportunity to prioritize adjustments to their livelihood, while also giving us more time to complete the Census, said Laneisha Butler, field manager for Oakland Rising, a community-based civic engagement organization. Butler is optimistic the extension will enable her organization to find new ways to reach people where they are. Recently, the organization conducted tens of thousands of wellness checks via text that revealed the alarming amount of African Americans throughout Oakland and Alameda County who have lost their homes, jobs, and even loved ones as a result of the coronavirus crisis, according to Butler. On top of this, many Black people lack access to adequate proper medical attention and other resources to help them get through this quarantine, she continued. According to the Census Bureau, some areas where census takers were originally going to hand deliver forms will now receive a reminder letter in the mail. The agency will drop off invitations for those who dont receive mailed letters, until its safe enough to return to business as usual. Like other advocates working to ensure a robust Black count, part of Oakland Risings efforts include a new text banking program on top of its current phone banking program to be able to directly reach out to Hard-to-Count communities, specifically Black and other communities of color, according to Butler. This is a new strategy we developed in order to be able to check-in on our neighbors who have been more than likely burdened by the impacts of COVID-19, said Butler. In Inglewood, the California Black Womens Health Project says the census extension brought great relief to them, too. Although its hard to make major adjustments with partners, said CEO Sonya Young Aadam. A couple of the organizations partners were able to push forward because of their associations with food banks or other places where food is distributed, Aadam said. This gave the group an opportunity to distribute information by slipping them in care packages. According to Aadam, the California Black Womens Health Projects faith-based approach to the census targets Christian, Muslim, and elderly Black female communities. It also works with partners focused on improving the lives of marginalized youth. Extending it just gives us time because right now our community is very much focused on something other than the census, and its going to take time before people start to think about things that are more civic engagement-related, continued Aadam. Around 7,500 migrant workers were sent to various parts of the country through 210 Shramik Special' buses of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) in the last four days, an official said on Thursday. RSRTC chairman Naveen Jain said a maximum of 129 buses have been sent to Uttar Pradesh, 40 to Madhya Pradesh and 31 buses to Uttarakhand for cities like Hathras, Mandsaur, Shivpuri, Morena and Haridwar. He said three buses have been sent to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh and about 100 workers of Rajasthan were brought back. Fifty buses will be sent to bring stranded labourers in Delhi and these buses will leave Delhi in a couple of days with workers of different districts of Rajasthan. Three buses from Pratapgarh depot have reached Yavatmal of Maharashtra to bring 95 labourers of Rajasthan. Similarly, buses are being run to bring 36 workers of Bikaner's Nokha from Surat and drop 32 workers to Surat, Jain added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BILLINGS, Mont. A Canadian company has built the first piece of the disputed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline across the U.S. border and started work on labor camps in Montana and South Dakota. But it has not resolved a courtroom setback that would make it hard to finish the $8 billion project. The 1,200-mile (1,900-kilometer) pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska was stalled for much of the past decade before President Donald Trump was elected and began trying to push it through to completion. Environmentalists and Native American tribes are bitterly opposed to the line because of worries over oil spills and that burning the fuel would make climate change worse. Work finally started in April at the border crossing in remote northern Montana. That 1.2-mile section has now been completed except for some site reclamation activity, TC Energy spokeswoman Sara Rabern said. The Calgary-based company has started site work for labor camps near Baker, Montana, and Philip, South Dakota, but it has not set a date to occupy them. Montana officials have not yet received plans requested from the company to make sure it can prevent the camps from spreading the coronavirus, said Erin Loranger, a spokesperson for Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. The state expects to receive the plans before the camps are occupied, she said. The companys three-year construction timeline was put into doubt following a May 15 ruling from a federal judge in Montana that cancelled a key permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The permit is needed to build the line across hundreds of streams, wetlands and other water bodies along its route. The ruling affected all new oil and gas pipeline construction and was appealed by the Trump administration and TC Energy. We look forward to a resolution that allows us to advance our construction in 2020 without any further delay, Rabern said. The work in South Dakota began amid high tensions between South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and two Native American tribes that have been outspoken opponents of the pipeline. The governor is trying to force two tribes the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes and the Oglala Sioux Tribe to remove coronavirus checkpoints they have set up on federal and state highways in an attempt to keep infections away from their reservations. The highways that the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes are monitoring connect to several potential construction sites of the proposed pipeline route, which skirts tribal lands. The tribe has a policy of not allowing vehicles from any oil company on the reservation and with the checkpoints set up, they would stop those vehicles. Noem initially threatened to sue the tribes. This week she appealed to the White House to investigate the matter. Members of several tribes in Montana and North Dakota traveled to the border crossing for a small protest against the pipeline earlier this month, said Angeline Cheek, an activist from Montanas Fort Peck Tribe and organizer for the ACLU of Montana. Large protests against Keystone XL had been anticipated following the months-long protests, sometimes violent, against another oil pipeline project several years ago near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on the North Dakota-South Dakota state line. Cheek said TC Energy appeared to be taking advantage of the pandemic to run all over us while public attention was focused on the virus. ___ Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this story from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. ___ Follow Matthew Brown at https://twitter.com/matthewbrownap International travellers could face spot checks and 1,000 fines if they fail to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK under measures to guard against a second wave of coronavirus. Home Secretary Priti Patel is expected to outline the plans which will be introduced early next month at the daily Downing Street briefing on Friday. Exemptions for road hauliers and medical officials will apply, while the common travel area with Ireland will be unaffected. Arrivals from France will not be exempt, a senior Government official confirmed, following confusion earlier this week. Priti Patel is expected to outline the plans at the Downing Street press conference (Pippa Fowles/10 Downing Street/Crown Copyright) The plans come as official figures showed Government borrowing has surged to the highest figure for any month on record, with swathes of the economy ground to a halt by the lockdown. Travellers will be asked to fill in a form with their contact information, and health officials will perform spot checks to ensure compliance with the measures. Ms Patel is likely to be asked to address concerns from the aviation industry, with Virgin Atlantic warning the plan would keep planes grounded. (PA Graphics) The safety and security of our people and our customers is always our top priority and public health must come first, a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said. However, by introducing a mandatory 14-day self-isolation for every single traveller entering the UK, the Governments approach will prevent flights from resuming. We are continually reviewing our flying programme and with these restrictions, there simply wont be sufficient demand to resume passenger services before August at the earliest. The airline instead called on the Government to introduced a multi-layered approach targeted public health and screening measures to allow the safe restart of international travel. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis warned that the quarantine period would apply to British citizens returning from abroad, but said the plans will be reviewed every three weeks. Story continues The reality is we are saying to people, if you are going abroad, you need to look at the fact you may well need to quarantine when you come back, he told BBC Breakfast. The move will anger some sectors, with Ryanair boss Michael OLeary earlier this week branding the plan idiotic and unimplementable, while trade body Airlines UK has previously said a quarantine would effectively kill international travel to and from Britain. Many other countries already require arriving passengers to enter a 14-day quarantine, including New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the US. This is despite the World Health Organisation saying in February that measures which significantly interfere with international travel may only be justified at the beginning of an outbreak. (PA Graphics) Meanwhile, the scientific advice given to the Government which informed proposals to send some pupils back to school from June 1 will be published. The Sun newspaper reported that the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) papers will suggest teachers are at no greater risk of catching coronavirus than other key workers. The publication of the advice follows concern from teaching unions and council leaders about the Governments plans to allow children in nursery, reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to return to school from next month. In other developments: Office for National Statistics figures showed that Government borrowing hit 62.1 billion in April, as the Treasury supported businesses and workers after vast areas of the economy ground to a halt Ministers came under sustained criticism from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sir Paul Nurse, who said the Government had been too much on the back foot throughout the crisis National testing co-ordinator Professor John Newton said there are no plans yet for weekly testing of care home residents and staff, amid continued criticism over the protection of vulnerable individuals. It comes after Boris Johnson performed a U-turn in the face of widespread criticism and exempted overseas health and care staff from the fee levied on migrants to pay for the NHS following mounting pressure from senior Tories. Downing Street said the Prime Minister has asked officials at the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care to remove health and care workers from the surcharge as soon as possible. Full details will be announced in the coming days, a Number 10 spokesman said. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - FenixOro Gold Corp. (CSE: FENX) (formerly, American Battery Metals Corp.) ("FenixOro" or the "Company" or "we" or "us" or "our") is pleased to announce that we have been approved for listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") following the closing of our acquisition, through amalgamation with our wholly-owned subsidiary, (the "Transaction") of Fenix Gold Inc. ("Fenix"). The Transaction was previously announced and described in our news release dated March 6, 2020. The Company expects to commence trading with the name FenixOro Gold Corp. and under the symbol "FENX" on the CSE on May 21, 2019 (the "Listing Date"). Fenix Gold Inc. was previously a private Canadian company focused on acquiring gold projects with world class exploration potential in the most prolific gold producing regions of Colombia. Fenix's flagship property, the Abriaqui project, is the nearest high-grade gold exploration project to Continental Gold's Buritica project, located 15 km to the west. FenixOro VP Exploration Stuart Moller led the discovery team at Buritica from 2007 - 2011 which included drilling the first 270 holes and a significant high-grade gold discovery. The project is in Antioquia State at the northern end of the Mid-Cauca gold belt, a geological trend which has seen multiple large gold discoveries in the past 10 years including Buritica and Anglo Gold's Nuevo Chaquiro and La Colosa. (See About FenixOro Gold Corp paragraph below for more Technical details). Under terms of the agreement, the Company issued 29,000,000 common shares to the shareholders of Fenix in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding shares of Fenix, representing 1.041414 (the "Exchange Ratio") shares of the Company for each one (1) share of Fenix. The Company also issued 2,000,000 common shares pursuant to a finder's fee agreement. In addition, the Company issued 4,006,095 common share purchase warrants in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding share purchase warrants of Fenix. The directors and officers of the Company have entered into escrow agreements (the "NP Escrow Agreement") with the Company in accordance with National Policy 46-201, Escrow for Initial Public Offerings. Certain other shareholders have entered into a voluntary escrow agreement (the "Voluntary Escrow Agreement" and together with the NP Escrow Agreement, the "Escrow Agreements") with the Company and the escrow agent. A total aggregate of 23,981,061 shares (the "Escrowed Shares"), have been placed into escrow pursuant to the Escrow Agreements. Fifty percent of the Escrowed Shares held pursuant to the Voluntary Escrow Agreement will be released in four months following the Listing Date, and ten percent of the Escrowed Shares will be released every thirty days thereafter. The Company also announces the appointment of Mr. John Carlesso as Chief Executive Officer, following the resignation of Jeremy Poirier. Mr. Carlesso has over 25 years of international business experience in the financing, development, and stewardship of companies in the mining, technology and special situations sectors. Mr. Carlesso has been a founder and director of both public and private companies and has had a particular focus on mining in Latin America for the past 18 years. Mr. Carlesso was Vice President of Corporate Development for Desert Sun Mining, which was acquired by Yamana Gold in 2006 for $750 million, and was Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Explorator Resources, acquired by Sociedad Punta del Cobre in 2011. Mr. Carlesso is a graduate of Western University with a B.A. in Economics About FenixOro Gold Corp. FenixOro Gold Corp is a Canadian company focused on acquiring gold projects with world class exploration potential in the most prolific gold producing regions of Colombia. FenixOro's flagship property, the Abriaqui project, is located 15 km west of Continental Gold's Buritica project in Antioquia State at the northern end of the Mid-Cauca gold belt, a geological trend which has seen multiple large gold discoveries in the past 10 years including Buritica and Anglo Gold's Nuevo Chaquiro and La Colosa. As documented in "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Abriaqui project Antioquia State, Colombia" (December 5, 2019), the geological characteristics of Abriaqui and Buritica are very similar. The report also documents the high gold grade at Abriaqui with samples taken from 20 of the veins assaying greater than 20 g/t gold. Abriaqui has not yet been drilled but surface and underground geological mapping and sampling as well as a preliminary magnetometry survey have been completed. The property is drill-ready pending finalization of the government permitting process. Fenix's VP of Exploration, Stuart Moller, led the discovery team at Buritica for Continental Gold in 2007-2011. The Buritica Mine currently contains measured plus indicated resources of 5.32 million ounces of gold (16.02 Mt grading 10.32 g/t) plus a 6.02 million ounce inferred resource (21.87 Mt grading 8.56 g/t) for a total of 11.34 million ounces of gold resources. Buritica is scheduled to commence production in 2020 with annual average production of 250,000 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of approximately US$600 per ounce. Resources, cost and production data are taken from Continental Gold's "NI 43-101 Buritica Mineral Resource 2019-01, Antioquia, Colombia, 18 March, 2019"). Continental Gold was recently the subject of a takeover by Zijin Mining in an all-cash transaction valued at C$1.4 billion. Corporate Office: FenixOro Gold Corp 350 Bay St. Suite 700 Toronto, ON Telephone: 1-833-ORO-GOLD Website: www.fenixoro.com Email: info@fenixoro.com Technical Information The comparison between Abriaqui and the nearby Buritica project is meant only to indicate the similarities between the two in terms of geological setting. FenixOro does not imply that exploration results and/or economic characteristics of a potential future mine at Abriaqui will be similar to those seen at Buritica. The sampling done at Abriaqui is in the form of rock chip and channel samples on surface and in shallow underground workings on vein exposures. The samples were prepared and analyzed at ALS laboratories in Medellin and Lima respectively. Samples were taken, prepared, shipped and analyzed following, industry standard QA/QC protocols and were submitted with certified reference standards. Stuart A Moller, P. Geol. (British Colombia) Vice President of Exploration of FenixOro and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained within this press release. Mr, Moller is a geologist with over 40 years of experience in world-wide mineral exploration including 10 years in Colombia. Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of FenixOro's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will", "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to information concerning the Transaction including the Listing Date, Abriaqui and the Escrowed Securities. Although FenixOro believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. In particular, there is no guarantee that that the Company will successfully list its securities on the CSE on the Listing Date or at all, that Abriaqui will be drilled or produce viable quantities of minerals, that the Company will pursue Abriaqui or that any mineral deposits will be found.. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this press release, and FenixOro does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Not for dissemination in the United States or for distribution to U.S. newswire services To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56253 - The government indicated the affected families would be relocated to a land in Kamulu area in Machakos county - A high ranking official in the Lands Ministry reportedly summoned the families to the said property for sub-division - However, the individuals were met with a terse warning from Kamorock Housing Society which claimed the piece of land Hundreds of families who were evicted from Ruai in Nairobi county may continue to spend their nights in the chilling cold despite the ongoing heavy rains. It emerged that land which the government had earmarked for resettlement of the evictees belonged to a private developer, Kamorock Housing Society, operating in Machakos county. READ ALSO: Senator Moses Wetang'ula's brother buried in Bungoma A section of Ruai residents were left homeless after bulldozers demolished their houses at night. Photo: Bonface Mwangi. Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Francis Atwoli says Musalia Mudavadi is undisputed Luhya political kingpin Initially, the squatters had been informed they would be issued with documentations for ownership of the property located in Kamulu. The Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning maintained the controversial piece of land belonged to Kenya Broadcasting Corporations and had been identified for the relocation. "We were asked to be here in the morning to be issued with legal documents for the land ownership. The information was that a certain PS was coming to distribute the land the same size as what was demolished in Ruai," one resident said. However, upon their arrival at the site, the private property developer sent out a warning to the individuals asking them to keep off. "The government is the one that brought its people here. There was allotment and rates that was being paid on this land and it is the same government that is receiving that. How can you now wait to be taken to KBC. You can imagine this place in 1989, if it is looking like this. In 1989, it must have a bush," another affected evictee lamented. The evictions which were carried on the night of May 15, left over 60 houses flattened, the government claimed the Ruai settlers built on public land meant for the sewerage plant. Agitated Kenyans who got wind of the happenings castigated the government for ordering the eviction of people with little care of curfew hours and ongoing heavy rainfall. Water Principal Secretary Joseph Irungu said the ministry had genuine title deeds of the said land and anybody who laid claim to it would have to prove otherwise. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. My wife pushed me to marry another woman - Pastor Habil Were | Tuko Talks | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke YouTube CPAC UPDATE 8:49 a.m. Prime Minister Trudeau announced Thursday morning that the Government of Canada recognizes that Indigenous peoples have unique needs and today rolled out $75 million in new funding for Indigenous organizations providing services to Indigenous peoples in urban centres and off-reserve. COVID-19 is having unique impacts on First Nations, Inuit, and Metis across our country. For Indigenous peoples living off reserve, in urban centres, or separated from their communities, it can be even more challenging to access the help they need. We are listening to Indigenous peoples and organizations, and providing them with support to respond to this crisis, says Prime Minister Trudeau. This additional funding will support more community-based projects that address the critical needs of Indigenous populations during this crisis, including food security, mental health support services, and sanitation and protective equipment. It could also help with other needs, such as support for Elders, transportation, and educational materials for Indigenous children and youth. Funding for projects will start rolling out in the coming weeks. UPDATE 8:41 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is sending $75 million to organizations that help Indigenous people living in urban areas and off reserves through the COVID-19 pandemic. The government had previously promised $15 million in funding for services such as counselling, health care, food and supportive housing. More than a million Indigenous people live in cities or off reserves, Trudeau says, and they deserve good services that are culturally appropriate. ORIGINAL 8:00 a.m. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses Canadians from outside his home in Ottawa about the federal government's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. -with files from the Canadian Press This summer, the Symba team is working to #SaveInternships by continuing to collaborate with pioneers, like the San Diego Regional EDC, to empower businesses with the tools and resources they need to host meaningful remote internship programs during this unprecedented time. Symba (https://symba.io) today announces its partnership with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (https://sandiegobusiness.org/) to help small businesses host remote internship programs this summer. Due to COVID-19, businesses across the board are changing their original plans to host interns in their office. A recent poll by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reported that over 80% of employers are now adapting their internship programs for this summer and are working to make the transition to host their interns in a remote setting. This shift, in such a short timeframe, may seem like a daunting task. San Diego Regional EDC President & CEO, Mark Cafferty shares that when the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality in early March, we were mid-way through recruiting small businesses interested in hosting interns. Businesses of all sizes were hurting, but many small companies (those with fewer than 100 employees) were bearing most of the economic burden...We wondered how they would even have the capacity to think of hosting interns, even if we were taking care of the wages. Quickly, the team got together and pivoted the messaging. We would work to find a way to help small businesses host successful internship programs, and do it all remotely. Symba has been at the forefront of remote internships since 2017 and pioneered the best practices to design remote internship experiences and to onboard, nurture, and manage talented interns. Symba, a Techstars Anywhere (https://techstars.com/accelerators/anywhere) startup, is passionate about supporting the San Diego community and San Diego Regional EDC - through its Advancing San Diego (https://www.sandiegobusiness.org/about-edc/our-initiatives/advancing-san-diego/) initiative - in this effort. Symba first learned about the valuable work EDC is doing to support businesses through Ryan Kuder, Techstars Anywhere Managing Director, who is also a San Diego Native. We are excited to be working closely with the San Diego Regional EDC on this incredible initiative to help support their businesses and young professionals in San Diego. In the short time we have been working together, it is clear how the Advancing San Diego initiative is making a positive impact in the community, Ahva Sadeghi, Co-Founder and CEO of Symba, said. A key focus of Advancing San Diego is connecting diverse, qualified talent to work opportunities at small companies. Advancing San Diego interns come from university, community college, and non-traditional education backgrounds, and many are first-generation college students who came up through San Diegos K-12 system. The remote model has tremendous potential as a more inclusive approach to internships that allow students and companies to work together while being respectful of scheduling, space, and geographic constraints. Amidst the many challenges small businesses are facing, there is a silver lining. While there certainly will be challenges along the way and we will need to adapt to, I believe that this will cause us all to rethink workforce programs and training, and perhaps emerge an even stronger and more resilient region on the other side, says Mark Cafferty, President & CEO, San Diego Regional EDC. This summer, the Symba team is working to #SaveInternships (https://www.saveinternships.org/) by continuing to collaborate with pioneers, like the San Diego Regional EDC, to empower businesses with the tools and resources they need to host meaningful remote internship programs during this unprecedented time. To learn more about Symba and how you can take your internship program remote, please visit Symbas website: https://symba.io. About Symba Symba is the leading remote internship platform as recently featured on the Washington Post and TechCrunch. Symbas platform connects companies with talented remote interns and helps them manage the entire remote internship experience. Symba has designed over 5,000 internship experiences and partnered with over 400 universities. Contact us at https://symba.io/. About San Diego Economic Development Corporation San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation EDC for short is an independently-funded economic development organization that mobilizes business, government, and civic leaders around an inclusive economic development strategy in order to connect data to decision making, maximize regional prosperity, enhance global competitiveness, and position San Diego effectively for investment and talent. City Council extended San Antonios stay-at-home order to June 4 ahead of a new wave of reopenings this weekend a way for the city to keep a measure of local control even as Gov. Greg Abbott asserts greater control. Abbott has increasingly stripped cities and counties of their ability to put in place their own restrictions to limit the spread, taking it upon himself to set the pace of how and when business resumes. Until recently, Abbott had given local governments a lot of room in establishing restrictions. Council members approved the extension by a unanimous vote at their Thursday meeting. But it remains unclear whether city officials can enact greater restrictions than the state if San Antonio sees a spike in novel coronavirus. On ExpressNews.com: Testing for novel coronavirus speeding up in San Antonio District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran asked whether cities can extend their own orders if Abbott allows his to expire. That depends on whether Abbott says they can, City Attorney Andy Segovia said. Abbott has taken a more thoughtful approach than weve seen in other places around the country when it comes to reopening, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. He pointed to carve-outs that Abbott made for El Paso and Amarillo to allow them to reopen businesses at a slower pace. Each had spikes in novel coronavirus cases. Nirenberg pointed out that the citys COVID-19 case figures including available hospital beds and a reduction in the time it takes for the number of local cases to double look good. In the event that goes in the wrong direction, were going to have a very candid conversation with the governor, Nirenberg said. With nearly every kind of business now allowed to reopen, District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry questioned whether the citys instructions to residents to stay home unless theyre essential workers or buying groceries or gas are misleading. He pushed city officials to consider changing the name of the order from Stay Home, Stay Safe, a move Nirenberg said he was open to considering. Were still hanging onto this stay-at-home order, Perry said. I think thats creating some confusion out there. But others pointed out the contradiction is on Abbott, whose own order still requires people to stay home unless its absolutely necessary to go out. I really believe the confusion is at the level of the state, District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval said. Most of the citys order is literally cut and paste from Abbotts executive orders, Segovia told council members. About the only difference is that the city requires local public and private laboratories to report results of COVID-19 tests to Metro Health. The citys order also warns residents about taking antibody tests that arent FDA-approved. Violating the citys order carries the possible punishment of a $1,000 fine. For a business that routinely flouts the order, the city can pull its certificate of occupancy. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio City Council, staff brainstorm ideas on spending $270 million in federal funds to recover from coronavirus pandemic The order extended Thursday was amended to align with Abbotts directive. The citys order previously required residents to wear masks in settings such as grocery stores and pharmacies where keeping 6 feet of social distance from others is difficult. But Abbott forbade cities and counties from imposing penalties for any violations. As a result, the extended order states that people age 10 and older are strongly encouraged to wear masks. The city no longer requires businesses to provide face coverings and masks to their workers if they reopen. Attorney General Ken Paxton told the city and county last week that doing so would be in violation of Abbotts directives. Starting Friday, restaurants may allow more customers to dine in, up to 50 percent of their allowed capacity, Abbott decided this week. Bars, bowling alleys and aquariums can reopen Friday at 25 percent capacity. Drive-in concerts and amateur sporting events without spectators also are allowed. Abbotts order allows libraries to reopen at 25 percent capacity, but San Antonio has not reopened its libraries yet. City Manager Erik Walsh told council members he intends to lay out a plan to reopen them by the end of next week. Separately, City Council voted to allow CPS Energy to waive late fees for residents who are on payment plans for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. San Antonio Water System has already done so. Probe: Gardai at the scene of the shooting at Cromcastle Drive in Coolock, Dublin. Photo: Steve Humphreys A 33-year-old criminal was shot in the leg in his own home yesterday as part of a "deeply personal dispute". Notorious criminal Michael Brennan was recovering from his injuries in hospital last night after being shot at 2pm in the house in Cromcastle Drive, Kilmore, north Dublin. A young man who was arrested near the scene shortly afterwards was quickly released from Ballymun Garda Station when detectives were satisfied he had no involvement in the shooting. Brennan was targeted in a downstairs room of the house by a lone gunman in what senior sources say was "more than likely a punishment attack or a warning". "Brennan is a criminal who is extremely well-known to gardai, but he is not suspected of being involved in the wider gangland disputes in that locality," a senior source added. "Instead, gardai are working on the theory he has been involved in a row with someone who is very well-known to him and that yesterday's incident was not an attempt to murder him in his own home." There have been no further arrests following the attack, which is being investigated by Santry gardai. They appealed to the public yesterday for information about the attack. "A man in his 30s was injured in the shooting and was removed by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital where his injuries are described as non-life-threatening," a Garda spokesman said. Brennan is the younger brother of John Paul Brennan (40), who has survived a number of attempts on his life, including when he was cornered in his girlfriend's home in Kinsealy and shot in the leg and neck in 2009. Both brothers were previously closely linked to major drugs trafficker Paul 'Burger' Walsh (37), from Baldoyle, who made a major settlement with the Criminal Assets Bureau in 2007. Yesterday's victim was jailed for 10 years in March 2010 for attempting to murder another man over a 200 drug debt. Brennan was convicted by a jury in 2009 of the attempted murder of James Egan and of possession of a sawn-off shotgun. The jury heard that he was a teenager when he went to Mr Egan's home and carried out the shooting on April 29, 2006. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 12:05:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and six others were injured as whirlwind destroyed hundreds of houses in Indonesia's western Lampung province, a disaster agency official said on Thursday. The natural disaster struck the districts of Tulang Bawang and Mesuji on Wednesday night, Head of the Provincial Disaster Management Agency's Operation Unit Seno Aditarta disclosed. The casualties and the wounded persons were reported in Tulang Bawang district where the disaster damaged nearly 250 houses, Aditarta revealed. "But, for Mesuji, we have so far not received any report about the impact of the whirlwind. We will find it out soon," he told Xinhua by phone. Relief aids have been flowing into Tulang Bawang district and will immediately be delivered to the other district, said Aditarta. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency has warned of heavy downpours with thunders in the province and western parts of Sumatra Island on Friday, urging the residents to take precautionary strides. Enditem Tiwari in wheat field, Credit: University of Maryland We are in a unique position, and I always say that to our stakeholders, says Tiwari. In different places where I have been, they may be leaders in wheat breeding, but they do not have the type of collaborations that we have or expertise across all the aspects of small grains." Vijay Tiwari, assistant professor in Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland, recently received the Leadership Award from the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), a collection of 2,800 scientists across 70 countries dedicated to the production of high-quality wheat through high-quality genomics. This award is given annually to a few scientists who are critically impactful in the field of wheat genomics. This year, Tiwari was the sole recipient for his leadership and expertise in Radiation Hybrid mapping or RH mapping, a technique that was used to validate the entire wheat genome assembly. This work was integral in cracking the full genome sequence of wheat, published by the IWGSC in Science. With UMD spearheading this work and acting as one of the ten leading institutions in the IWGSC globally, Tiwari has not only elevated UMDs reputation in wheat genomics, but has revitalized the Maryland Small Grains Breeding and Genetics program. By bringing together other experts across plant science to create a unique collaboration, the program is on the verge of rolling out new varieties of wheat to serve the state of Maryland and Mid-Atlantic region while helping combat global hunger. We are taking a big step forward for wheat breeding and genetics here, and people should know that Maryland has an active and exciting wheat and small grains program, says Tiwari. IWGSC took me by surprise with this award. Some of the previous leaders are world-renowned scientists with thousands and thousands of citations, so Im honored. It is with great pleasure that I am presenting Vijay with this Leadership Award for his work on RH mapping for structural genomics, said Kellye Eversole, Executive Director of IWGSC, at the award ceremony as part of the Plant and Animal Genome Conference featuring thousands of international scientists in agricultural genomics. Vijay is a two-time former recipient of an IWGSC Early Career Award, and we are delighted to see the accomplished scientist and leader he has become. There are multiple approaches used by the IWGSC to sequence the wheat genome, and we helped them with the validation of some of those approaches, explains Tiwari. RH mapping provided an independent control to validate some new methods never used in wheat before, and to validate the assembly of the entire genome, so it was an essential component. Moving forward, we are taking the RH mapping resource that we developed over the years and combining with the whole genome sequencing data to develop a very useful resource for the wheat community to help with the functional characterization of genes in the wheat genome. With the wheat genome now sequenced, Tiwari is taking this knowledge forward into his work in the Maryland Small Grains and Genetics program to develop new varieties for Maryland and beyond. We are now applying this knowledge, says Tiwari. What are the important genes, and how can we use those to get the agronomically important traits improved in wheat that can help us feed a growing population? In order to accomplish this and create new and improved varieties of wheat and other small grains that are of interest to Maryland growers, Tiwari has assembled a gene bank with more than 30 thousand different small grain germplasms, harboring immense genetic diversity for wheat improvement. He has also created unique collaborations within Plant Science and Landscape Architecture to bring together expertise in breeding, disease resistance, gene editing, and Extension education to systematically determine what traits are desirable, what genetic material from the gene bank is useful, and how this can be used to create new varieties for local farmers. We are in a unique position, and I always say that to our stakeholders, says Tiwari. In different places where I have been, they may be leaders in wheat breeding, but they do not have the type of collaborations that we have or expertise across all the aspects of small grains, like a dedicated person working on plant gene editing like Yiping Qi who is at the top of his field, Nidhi Rawat as one of the top-notch scientists working on wheat diseases, and Nicole Fiorellino who ties in Extension as an agronomist, so we have such a wonderful team. The team is further bolstered by accomplished plant physiologists, virologists, and scientists working on plant microbe interactions. Tiwari adds that UMD has an active Small Grains Trial Center that helps the small grain breeding program perform field tests. These resources and experts provide us a one-stop shop to find solutions for critical questions in small grain crops in Maryland, says Tiwari. We are very excited, all of us coordinating on these efforts because we all are young in our careers, enthusiastic, and have great ideas, adds Nidhi Rawat, assistant professor in Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. Its not only what we can do in the lab, it is how we can apply it. For example, one of the major goals of our efforts is to test everything in the gene bank for resistance against wheat diseases of concern to Maryland farmers. There is a lot of the promising genetic material really focusing on disease resistance, which is a global goal for any new variety, but we are really taking into account the opinions and needs of the stakeholders for physical characteristics like tall, short, flowering early, and other traits as well, says Nicole Fiorellino, assistant professor and Extension specialist in agronomy Plant Science and Landscape Architecture. They [Tiwari and Rawat] do years of work in the lab and take it out to the field and test it, and I get to be the bearer of good news and tell our stakeholders about all the promising work the team is performing. According to the team, this excitement is being felt all across the state for the revitalized Maryland Small Grains and Genetics program, with growers eagerly anticipating new varieties and grateful for the expertise and support that Tiwari, Rawat, and Fiorellino are providing. The program is actively working with the Maryland Crop Improvement Association and the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board to fulfill the needs of the growers and stakeholders. And with expertise across genetics, breeding, plant disease, and agronomy, the program under Tiwari has the potential to make measurable impacts both locally and globally. Number of entrepreneurs in Ukraine's IT sector grows by 22% in 2019 (Infographics) 15:55, 21.05.20 1333 The largest growth in the number of specialists was recorded in the city of Kyiv and Kyiv region. Virginia Hardin Hawfield, a 60-year resident of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, passed away on May 21, 2020, following a very brief illness. She was born in Wilmington, NC on Sept. 15, 1921, to Edward Manning Hardin and Virginia Farmer Hardin. She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, William Dallas Hawfield, and her two sisters, Mary Lauriston Hardin Clarkson and Helen Hardin Luck. She left Wilmington with her mother, stepfather Pete Purdue and her sisters in 1936. She met Bill Hawfield in Raleigh, NC. They married in 1942. After his Army service, Bill and Gin moved with the DuPont Company to Richmond and Waynesboro, VA; Camden, SC; Chattanooga, TN; Buenos Aires, Argentina and Wilmington, DE and Londonderry, N Ireland. They settled in Chattanooga in 1970 and stayed. She is survived by her four sons: William Dallas Hawfield, Jr., Edward Hardin Hawfield, Robert Clark Hawfield, and John Haywood Hawfield; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. After her husband died in 1985, Virginia remained on Signal Mountain surrounding herself with close friends. She loved her St. Timothy's Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain, attending services regularly or receiving communion at home. She adored her bridge groups, often playing with two different groups every other week until the Covid virus restrictions. She actively supported her local Signal Mountain Library. She treasured her "Monday Lunch Bunch." She was a loyal friend to those she loved. She always had to have "something on the calendar" and loved traveling. Her travels took her to Europe, South America, Australia and to exotic Pacific islands. She treasured visits from her sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and every niece and nephew. The door was always open. All of her family and friends will miss her terribly. The family wishes to acknowledge her son and daughter-in-law Bob and Anita Hawfield, Betty Ewing and Suzette Konsavage for their devoted support which allowed Virginia to stay independent as long as possible. Thank you. A memorial service will be held at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 630 Mississippi Ave, Signal Mountain, Tn. 37377, in her memory. Arrangements are by Lane Funeral Home, 601 Ashland Terrace, Chattanooga, Tn. 37415, 423 877-3524, Lanefh.com. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 12:22:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican Senator Ben Sasse's recent commencement speech for a Nebraska high school has been lambasted as "despicable." Sasse, in an eight-minute speech released to graduates over the past weekend, made comments on students' fitness and psychologists and tried to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak, which was considered inappropriate and offensive by many. "If you don't get that joke, talk to your mom and dad," Sasse said. "Back in the day, when we were a lot fitter than you people are, we used to have to climb ropes all the way up to the ceiling of the gym." Before encouraging students not to major in psychology, the senator also said that "95 percent of all gainfully employed psychologists ... their job is really just to help people forget high school." In response, Fremont School Board Member Michael Petersen urged Sasse to apologize. In a Facebook post, Petersen told students they "deserved better than the graduation remarks from Senator Ben Sasse." "The racism, implying that our graduates are fat and lazy, disparaging teachers, and attacking the mental health profession are despicable," Petersen continued. "You owe the graduating students of Fremont High an apology." Sasse graduated from Fremont High School in 1990 and was president of Midland University in Fremont before running for the U.S. Senate. Sasse is running for a second term for his Senate seat and will be challenged by Democrat Chris Janicek this year. "It's hard for me to believe that a U.S. senator would make remarks like he did in that speech," said Janicek. "Ridiculing mental health care specialists, suggesting that the graduates are lazy slackers and using the platform to blame China for the pandemic we have now is beyond reprehensible." In a letter to Sasse, the Nebraska Counseling Association called his speech "tasteless and demeaning to our field and more importantly, our seniors." "This time of graduation should be to celebrate our seniors, to praise them for the world that they have done, and to bring us together as a society. You missed the mark. We would welcome an opportunity to further discuss mental health with you when you are next in Nebraska," read the letter. Enditem Addressing a victory celebration on Tuesday, Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse eulogised the military for its part in Colombos 30-year communal war and declared that he would continue to oppose all war crime indictments against the armed forces. The event was held at Battaramulla, in the Colombo suburbs, near a memorial to mark the 11th anniversary of the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The war ended on May 19, 2009 in a bloody assault that lasted several weeks. The United Nations estimates that about 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed during the final weeks of the conflict. Hundreds of those who surrendered, including LTTE fighters, simply disappeared and some 300,000 civilians were incarcerated in military-controlled camps. About 11,000 young men and women were herded into so-called rehabilitation centres. Others participating in Tuesdays event included the presidents brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, and the commanders of Sri Lankas army, navy and air force. The Rajapakses directly oversaw the bloodbath, with Mahinda serving as president and Gotabhaya as his defence secretary. Along with the military leadership, they are implicated in the war crimes committed. This years celebration was held amid the deepening COVID-19 crisis and rising class tensions in Sri Lanka and internationally. While Rajapakse has reopened the economy and is demanding people return to work, his government and big business backers are nervous about the growing working-class opposition to unsafe working conditions, massive job and wage cuts and attacks on other rights. This is what lies behind the presidents boosting of the military on Tuesday. Under the banner of combatting the coronavirus, he has initiated a wartime deployment of forces in Colombo to maintain social distancing. Rajapakse and the Sri Lankan ruling elite are preparing for another warthis time against the working class. I will not allow any room for attempts to discredit and destroy the dignity of our war heroes. It is a national responsibility to defend their rights, he declared on Tuesday. Even the leaders of powerful countries have emphatically stated that they would not allow any action against their war heroes. If any international body or organisation targets our country and our war heroes, using baseless allegations, he said, Sri Lanka would withdraw from these organisations. Rajapakses threats echo the thuggish methods used by the US and other imperialist powers. US President Donald Trump withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in June 2018 and declared immunity for the American militarys numerous war crimes over the last 40 years. Rajapakse has rejected the UNHRCs 2015 resolution calling for a war crimes investigation, as well as the previous Sirisena-Wickremesinghe governments call for toothless domestic investigations into human right violations. In a direct appeal to his Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist base, President Rajapakse declared that Sri Lanka was nourished by Buddhist philosophy [and] possesses a form of administration that is an oasis for all religions and all nationalities. He then falsely insisted that Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher have had equal rights during the countrys history. Rajapakses claims turn history upside down. Since formal independence from Britain in 1948, successive Colombo governments have systematically used anti-Tamil communalism to defend capitalism by dividing the working class along ethnic lines. The Sri Lankan ruling class, which abolished the citizenship rights of Indian-origin plantation workers in 1948, has consistently responded to militant industrial and political action by the working class with communalist measures against the Tamil minority. This included making Sinhala the official national language and Buddhism the state religion. The political betrayal of the working class by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in 1964, when it joined a bourgeois coalition government with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, strengthened the Sinhala elites communal assault and saw a nationalist reaction by the Tamil capitalist class in an attempt to protect its privileges. These developments led to the emergence of armed Tamil groups, including the separatist LTTE, and further anti-Tamil provocations that culminated in full-scale war in 1983. The war, however, was not just to suppress the Tamil masses but was aimed at suppressing the democratic rights of the entire working class. It was a manifestation of the Sri Lankan elites inability to meet any of the social and democratic rights of working people. Rajapakse also claimed on Tuesday that the end of the war in 2009 had produced an environment where people could live without fear or anxiety and enjoy their human rights freely [W]e built an atmosphere for free and fair elections and where people can travel freely without any restrictions. This is another canard. De facto military rule still exists in the North and the East, with a military occupation of over 100,000 soldiers, security camps at every strategic point and the masses under continuous surveillance and harassment. While the war killed more than 100,000 people, mostly Tamils, in 198890, the Sri Lankan government unleashed its armed forces to quash rural unrest in the countrys south, killing an estimated 60,000 youth. Thousands of poverty-stricken Tamils still live in substandard, makeshift homes that lack the most basic facilities, while some of the land seized by the armed forces during the war has not yet been returned to its previous owners. About 90,000 war widows struggle each day to maintain their families without any real income. In the countrys south, the Sri Lankan military and police are being increasingly used to suppress social struggles by workers and the poor. After becoming president last November, Gotabhaya Rajapakse rapidly moved to militarise his administration, inserting retired senior military officers into key position of the government. Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne was made defence secretary and Army Commander Major General Shavendra Silva appointed to head the countrys National Operation Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19. Large numbers of armed forces personnel have been stationed in Colombo schools. Rajapakse also used Tuesdays victory celebration to elevate 177 army officers into senior positions, including as major generals, brigadiers, lieutenant colonels and majors. Army Commander Silva revealed that more than 14,600 soldiers of lower ranks would become military officers. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was even more explicit in his victory celebration statement. He denounced calls by opposition political parties for a distinction between military and civilian bodies as artificial, declaring: When our government is in power former members of the security forces will inevitably occupy various positions within the government. Once again, the government and its Sinhala-chauvinist allies are stoking anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim communalism to derail mounting social opposition. As Colombo was celebrating the war victory on Tuesday, the police and military banned commemorations in the North and East for the Tamils killed during the war. The police obtained court orders forbidding mass gatherings under the pretext of stopping the spread of COVID-19 and the military declared that it would prevent people from commemorating terrorists. Armed police and military were deployed to block Tamils from participating in any event. This included the dispersal of people attempting to participate in a commemoration at Mullivaikkal in Mullaithivu, where tens of thousands were killed in the final stages of the war. The Tamil media reported that soldiers were armed with knives and sticks at roadblocks and that journalists and others were questioned and checked at many points. Tamil politicians, such as former Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V Wigneswaran, were blocked at checkpoints and prevented from attending these events. Workers and youth must to take President Rajapakses victory celebration speech as a warning, and another indication that he and his brother are preparing dictatorial forms of rule. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during his daily news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic outside his residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Ontario, on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government will look into the issue of airlines providing travel vouchers instead of refunds for cancelled flights, as thousands of Canadians sign petitions calling for a ban to the practice. Speaking to reporters at his daily briefing on Thursday, Trudeau said the government is working with all concerned parties to try to find a solution, adding that it was an important issue for Canadians. (We recognize how) impacted air travel and airlines are by this COVID-19 pandemic. We also recognize that many Canadians are out of pocket for tickets that they are obviously not going to be using, Trudeau said Thursday. I think we need to have some very careful discussions with airlines, the air travel sector and indeed with Canadians who are concerned to try to figure out a way forward where we can ensure that Canadians are treated fairly and our airline industry remains there for when our economy picks up again. Thousands of Canadians have signed several petitions circulating online calling on airlines to provide refunds instead of travel vouchers. Trudeau would not say whether the government would require Canadian airlines to refund customers for cancelled trips, but said it is looking at what other countries are doing as well as discussing solutions with the airlines. Were looking to make sure Canadians are supported financially through this time but that also were going to come back with airlines that function here in Canada for the long term, he said. Getting that balance right will be delicate, but its something well be working on. While U.S. and European Union officials have ordered airlines to reimburse passengers for cancelled flights, Canadian airlines are not obligated to do the same. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), a quasi-judicial organization that resolves disputes related to air travel, issued a statement in late March allowing airlines to provide vouchers or credits for future travel instead of refunds. Story continues None of Canada's major airlines are offering to return cash to passengers for the hundreds of thousands of flight cancellations since mid-March, opting instead to dole out 24-month vouchers that have left many customers frustrated over a service they paid for but have not received. The International Air Transport Association, an industry group that represents 290 airlines around the world including Air Canada and WestJet, has previously said that refunding tickets is an unbearable task for airlines as they grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. We are perfectly conscious of the difficulty for the passenger not to be refunded immediately, IATA chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said last month. But the point is that it is a matter of survival for us. We have no cash to refund the upfront ticket. With files from the Canadian Press Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android and sign up for the Yahoo Finance Canada Weekly Brief. Stocks in Asia Pacific mostly declined on Thursday as investors continued to monitor the reopening of economies amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mainland Chinese stocks dipped on the day, with the Shanghai composite 0.55% lower at around 2,867.92 while the Shenzhen component declined 0.94% to 10,845.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.51%, as of its final hour of trading. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.21% lower at 20,552.31 while the Topix index finished its trading day 0.23% lower at 1,491.21. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.44% to close at 1,998.31. Shares in Australia slipped by the close, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.41% to 5,550.40. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was 0.24% lower. Japan's trade data for April released by the country's Ministry of Finance on Thursday showed exports in April plunging 21.9% as compared to a year earlier. That was less than the 22.7% drop predicted by economists in a Reuters poll. Tapas Strickland, director of economics and markets at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note prior to the release that economic data "continues to take a back seat as markets look to higher frequency data to gauge how quickly activity is returning." "All eyes on the global PMIs to see whether economic activity troughed in April and if the easing of lockdown restrictions is seeing a bounce back in activity as indicated by the high frequency data such as Apple/Google mobility indicators," Strickland said. Investors also likely continued to watch for developments on the coronavirus pandemic, as the World Health Organization said the number of newly reported cases globally hit a daily record this week, amid authorities around the world attempting to ease lockdown measures put in place to curb the virus' spread. Markets had gotten a boost earlier in the week after Moderna announced a positive development for a potential coronavirus vaccine. On Wednesday, in response to a STAT News report that vaccine experts were skeptical of Moderna's new vaccine data, the firm's chairman told CNBC that it would never put out data on its potential vaccine for the coronavirus that was different from "reality." MINNEAPOLIS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Law, a global legal network that includes nearly 3,000 lawyers worldwide, is pleased to announce the 2020-2021 Executive Board. The election was held during Ally Law's recent Annual General Meeting. In its regularly scheduled election, the membership of Ally Law has elected Andrew Parlour (Russell Kennedy; Melbourne, Australia) as Treasurer, and James Turner (McVeagh Fleming; Aukland, New Zealand) as Vice President. Parlour practices clients primarily in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and business structuring, advising on corporate compliance matters and negotiating a range of commercial agreements. Turner helps businesses and individuals with dispute resolution and employment advice, acting as an external Human Resources resource for several small business clients. Said Bjorn Welinder, President of Ally Law and a partner in Lund, Sweden-based law firm Lindmark Welinder, "I welcome Andrew and James to the Executive Board. I look forward to working with them and the rest of the team to fulfill Ally Law's mission to provide cost-effective, high quality legal and business counsel around the world." Paul Franke (Moye White LLP; Denver, Colorado) continues to serve as First Vice President, and Roger Franklin (Edwin Coe; London, United Kingdom) as Secretary. Continuing one-year terms as Vice Presidents are: Erich Gibel (Gibel Zirm; Vienna, Austria), Ronald Hack (Evans & Dixon; St. Louis, United States), Marc Landis (Phillips Nizer; New York, United States), Ewa Lejman (Izabella Zyglicka and Partners; Katowice, Poland), Martin O'Hara (Much Law; Chicago, Illinois), Paola Sangiovanni (Gitti and Partners; Milan, Italy) and Ramesh K Vaidyanathan (Advaya Legal; Mumbai, India). About Ally Law Ally Law, a Chambers and Partners Band 1 Global Law Firm Network, provides sophisticated legal services to major corporations, with a sharp focus on value. Our 70+ firms include nearly 3,000 lawyers in 100+ business centers worldwide. For more information, visit www.ally-law.com. Press contact: Wendy Horn Ally Law +1 612 770 6046, [email protected] SOURCE Ally Law A representative from Google Asia-Pacific, Vietnam is making efforts to recover the tourism industry after the epidemic wascontrolled in the country. According to Google, the travel demand to Asia-Pacific countries has reduced 8.6% over the same period last year. However, Vietnam's relentless efforts in the fight against Covid-19 has resulted the first signs of recovery in tourism since mid-April, mainly from domestic travel demand. Googles reported showed that over past month, the search result related to domestic flights in Vietnam has increased 85% compared to the same period last year. The destinations that visitors have looked for most are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Da Lat, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Hue and Quy Nhon. The form of Sea and island tourism has received the biggest attention of domestic tourists, with searches doubling over the past six weeks. In addition, Vietnamese people have also been interested in parks such as Ba Vi National Park in Hanoi, Phong Nha Ke Bang and Son Doong cave in Quang Binh and Cuc Phuong in Ninh Binh. Notably, Vietnamese tourists have paid special attention to discounts of air tickets and hotels services, which has showed the positive signals in the recovery of domestic tourism in the country. Although she was introduced to the series through Lisa Rinna, Sutton Stracke from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has yet to see the inside of Rinnas home. Sutton Stracke, Kyle Richards, Lisa Rinna | Kathy Boos/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Stracke revealed on the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen After Show she lives near Rinna but hasnt received an invitation to come over. Host Andy Cohen wondered how far they lived from each other in Los Angeles. Not far, maybe 10 minutes, Rinna says. Stracke confirmed she lives in Bel Air. Rinna then shared shed been in her home for the last 28 years. I love this house, she remarks. I really do. Id never lived in a house. I mean, I lived in apartments. And I moved into this house and never left. But she hasnt had Sutton Stracke over yet Although Rinna has been settled at home, shes yet to extend an invite to Stracke. Im still waiting on my invitation, Stracke says showing her fingers are crossed. To come [over]. Ive never been invited. At this point, Cohen looks half delighted, half cringing. RELATED: RHOBH: Sutton Stracke Is so Rich, She Insisted on Flying Her Piano to Her New Home Oh look at that shady shade, Rinna exclaims. Ok, alright. Stracke laughs insisting shes just telling the truth. But then Rinna makes Stracke a promise. Well as soon as the corona is over, Ill have ya over. Stracke laughs and says, Yay. Rinna dishes about whether any of Harry Hamlins ex-wives lived in her house Rinna said husband Harry Hamlin actually built the home. Cohen wondered if any of his ex-wives lived there prior to Rinna. [Hamlin] built it with his first wife and then they got divorced, Rinna said recalling the timeline. RELATED: RHOBH: Harry Hamlin Put His Divorce Lawyer on Speed Dial After Wife Lisa Rinna Told Him She Wanted to Join the Show And then his second wife would not live in this house, Rinna says. She refused to live in his house. So he moved out and lived with her and when they broke up, he moved back in and I was like, f**k I dont care. Ill live in your house! As she speaks, Cohens expressions go from shock to laughing. Rinna confirms that Hamlins first wife was Laura Johnson. Ursula [Andress] is his baby mama, Rinna says. So clearly, the ex-wife who refused to live at the home was actress Nicollette Sheridan. Last season, Sheridan, Hamlin, and Rinna had a Twitter war when the story of Hamlin and Sheridans breakup came up on the show. Nicollette Sheridan wasnt happy about being brought up on the show last year Last season, Rinna and Denise Richards shared a crazy story about how their husbands and lives were interconnected. Richards husband Aaron Phypers and Rinnas husband were both once married to Nicollette Sheridan. RELATED: Lisa Rinna from RHOBH Opens a Can of Worms Between Husband Harry Hamlin and Ex-Wife Nicollette Sheridan Rinna told a story about how Sheridan and Hamlin broke up because Sheridan ran off with musician Michael Bolton while she was still married to Hamlin. I thank Michael Bolton to this day, are you kidding me, Rinna said as she toasted Bolton. I would not have these beautiful children. Sheridan disagreed and tweeted, FAKE NEWS! Harry and I ended our marriage nose to nose in CanadaMichael was a long time friend that was invited to our weddingHappy Harry found happiness with housewife. The tweet set off a back and forth exchange that involved Hamlin and Rinna. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Analysis Protein bars are nutritional bars which are high in plant based or animal based protein content. It provides extra carbs and proteins which help in building muscles and improve workout results by speeding up recovery from exercise. Moreover, to enhance the taste of the bars, manufacturers add various flavors to the product including Chocolates, Peanut Butter, Savory, Fruits, Spices and others. The high protein value of the product is driving the protein bars market. Increasing number of working population followed by the hectic lifestyle of consumers is adding fuel to the growth of the protein bars market. However, there are large number of product substitutes available in the market which may have a negative impact on the market growth. Nevertheless, all these factors are projected to contribute to the expected CAGR of 4.6% of Covid-19 Analysis on Protein Bars Market during the forecast period, 2017-2024. Protein bars are an effective way to reduce cravings and prevent constant snacking. The trend of consuming protein bars as snacks between the meals is gaining popularity among all age groups which is driving the market of protein bars. Moreover, increasing population of health conscious individuals is propelling the market growth of protein bars. Leading Key Players Trend Some of the key players profiled in the Global Protein Bar Market are Kellogg Co. (U.S.), Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. (U.S.), Lenny & Larry's Incorporated (U.S.), Premier Nutrition (U.S.), Clif Bar & Company. (U.S.), General Mills Inc. (U.S.), Mars Incorporated (U.S.), Quest Nutrition (U.S.), Caveman Foods LLC (U.S.), Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc. (U.S.) Browse Complete Half-Cooked Research Report Enabled with Respective Tables and Figures is Available @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/protein-bars-market-5417 Segment Protein bars market is segmented on the basis of type such as plant protein and animal protein. Among them, plant protein is anticipated to gain substantial growth over the coming years due to increasing demand for gluten-free plant sources among the population suffering from celiac diseases. On the basis of flavors, protein bars are segmented such as chocolates, fruits, savory, peanut butter, spices and others. The chocolate segment is witnessed to be dominating among others. However, the fruits and peanut butter segments are expected to have a steady growth over the forecast period. Based on the distribution channel, protein bars are segmented as store based and non-store based. Protein bars are, however, mainly sold through store based distribution channel among which grocery wholesalers and retail stores are the major contributors. Regional Analysis Protein Bars Market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and rest of the world (RoW). North America is anticipated to be dominating the protein bars market followed by Europe. High inclination towards portable convenience foods followed by growing health conscious population is driving the growth of the market in this region. Moreover, in Europe, there is high inclination towards functional foods and nutritional products which is driving the growth of the market in this region. Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest growing region for protein bars in which China and Japan are the major contributors followed by India. Moreover, Australia is also witnessed to have a steady growth over the forecast period owing to the increasing trend of health and fitness. Protein bars is further estimated to grow rapidly over the rest of the world on account for the growing health awareness. Related Covid-19 Analysis on FnB Reports: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-frozen-fruits-vegetables-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-herbal-toothpaste-market CHICAGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Sustainable Plastic Packaging Market by Packaging Type (Rigid, Flexible, Industrial), Packaging Format (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary), Process (Recyclable, Reusable, Biodegradable), End-use Sector, and Region Global Forecast To 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Sustainable Plastic Packaging Market size is projected to grow from USD 89.0 billion in 2020 to USD 117.3 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. Request for PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=147972697 Browse in-depth TOC on "Sustainable Plastic Packaging Market" 248 Market Data Tables 44 Figures 205 Pages View Detailed Table of Content Here: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/sustainable-plastic-packaging-market-147972697.html The market is projected to grow in accordance with the growth of various end-users of sustainable plastic packaging across the globe. The sustainable plastic packaging industry has been growing as a result of stringent laws and regulations levied by governments and governing bodies, as well as a shift in consumer preference toward recyclable and eco-friendly packaging materials. Apart from these factors, downsizing of packaging and breakthrough in new technologies are also driving the sustainable plastic packaging market globally. In terms of value and volume, the biodegradable segment is estimated to be the fastest-growing process in the sustainable plastic packaging market between 2020 and 2025. Biodegradable plastic decomposes naturally in the environment. This is achieved when microorganisms in the environment metabolize and break down the structure of biodegradable plastic. It is less harmful to the environment than traditional plastics. Biodegradable plastics can be composed of bioplastics manufactured from renewable raw materials. Innovation plays a key role in the biodegradable plastic packaging market. Several companies are investing in R&D in search of new packaging materials that are beneficial in use and non-toxic to the environment. The food & beverage segment is estimated to be the largest end-use sector in the sustainable plastic packaging market in 2019. The food & beverage industry is a major one in the sustainable packaging market. The primary function of food & beverage packaging is to reduce food loss and increase the shelf-life of food products. The global players are aiming at using innovative packaging materials developed from degradable and recyclable materials in order to achieve sustainability. Consumers seek convenience food solutions due to lack of time. The expectations of food quality, hygiene, and growing health awareness are driving the sustainable packaging market in the food & beverage sector. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=147972697 APAC is projected to account for the largest share in the sustainable plastic packaging market during the forecast period. The APAC region is projected to lead the sustainable plastic packaging market, in terms of both value and volume, between 2020 and 2025. According to the World Bank, in 2017, APAC was the fastest-growing region in terms of both population and economic growth. Countries such as India and China are expected to post high growth in the sustainable plastic packaging market due to growing developmental activities and rapid economic expansion. The growing population in these countries presents a huge customer base for FMCG products and consumer durables. The growing awareness among the masses about the importance of eco-friendly, renewable packaging, the growing food & beverage industry, and low manufacturing and labor costs are driving the sustainable plastic packaging market in APAC. The key players in the sustainable plastic packaging market included in this report are Amcor PLC (Australia), Sonoco Products Company (US), Sealed Air Corporation (US), Huhtamaki OYJ (Finland), Smurfit Kappa Group PLC (US), Mondi Group (South Africa), Uflex Ltd. (India), Berry Global Inc. (US), Constantia Flexibles (Austria), and AptarGroup (US). Acquisitions and new product developments are some of the major strategies adopted by these key players to enhance their positions in the sustainable plastic packaging market. Browse Adjacent Markets: Packaging Market Research Reports & Consulting Related Reports: Sustainable Packaging Market by Material (Paper & Paperboard, Plastic, Metal, Glass), Process (Recycled, Reusable, Degradable), Function (Active, Molded Pulp, Alternate Fiber), Application (Food & Beverage, Healthcare, Others) & Layer - Global Forecast To 2020 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/sustainable-packaging-market-177372752.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. 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Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/sustainable-plastic-packaging-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/sustainable-plastic-packaging.asp SOURCE MarketsandMarkets A staff member at Raffles Hotel in Singapore, wearing a face mask and gloves, is ready to receive guests. / Courtesy of Accor By Jun Ji-hye Accor, a global hospitality operator based in France, has formed a strategic partnership with insurance firm AXA, in a bid to provide unique medical assistance to guests across 5,000 Accor hotels worldwide. Accor, which runs brands such as Raffles, Sofitel, Rixos, Novotel and Ibis, said the partnership will enable its guests to benefit from the expert medical support systems of AXA Partners, the insurance firm's international entity specializing in assistance services, travel insurance and credit protection, by the end of July this year. Among others, Accor guests will be able to benefit from AXA's most recent advances in telemedicine through free access to medical teleconsultations. Guests will also have access to AXA's extensive medical networks with tens of thousands of vetted medical professionals, which will allow hotels to make the most relevant referrals, for example language and specialization, to their guests in Accor's 110 destinations. Accor has been one of many in the tourism and hospitality sectors to have been hit hard by the COVID-19 global pandemic. As the hotel company now prepares for a post COVID-19 rebound, the medical service complements its overall global recovery plan, it said, noting that the new service is included in the enhanced health and prevention protocols that Accor has put in place through its ALLSAFE Cleanliness label in preparation for reopening its hotels across different regions. From AXA's point of view, the partnership will give an opportunity to strengthen its "payer-to-partner" strategy which aims to provide innovative services to its customers. "Welcoming, safeguarding and taking care of others is at the very heart of what we do and who we are as hoteliers," Accor Chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin said. "This distinctive partnership with AXA, which we have been working on for several months, makes even more sense in today's context. In an increasingly complex environment, our team members on the ground will be able to assist our guests and ensure their safety during their stays, turning our hotels into shelters." AXA CEO Thomas Buberl said partnering with Accor was a unique opportunity to enlarge people's access to his firm's healthcare expertise and systems. "AXA's ambition is to move from a payer to a partner with its customers, notably by providing them with innovative systems in health. This is why AXA has become over the last year a world leader in telemedicine systems," Buberl said. "As we are facing an unprecedented health crisis with COVID-19, this ambition has never been more relevant." Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 18:15:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo of a model of the Beidou Satellite Navigation System. (Xinhua/Liang Xu) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The services provided by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) are wide-ranging and will benefit the world through more international cooperation, the chief designer of the system said. The BDS services are used in various fields including transportation, agriculture, fishing, disaster reduction and relief, said Yang Changfeng, chief designer of the BDS and a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body. The services are available in more than 70 percent of smartphones in China, making people's lives smarter and more convenient, he said. Over half of the countries in the world are using the BDS services, he said. "After the global system is completed this year, the BDS can provide satisfactory services to every corner of the world," said Yang. The satellite-based augmentation system of the BDS will provide high-precision and high-integrity services to users with meter, decimeter and centimeter-level real-time positioning, Yang noted. China plans to complete the BDS constellation with the launch of its last satellite scheduled in June. The satellite has already arrived at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Bloomberg photo by Demetrius Freeman. Macy's is in talks with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's office to reopen its Manhattan flagship for limited service. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said Thursday that his company is working to introduce curbside pickup at its Herald Square location. Getting the store generating revenue again is a big deal for Macy's: The location is the largest department store in the U.S. and a vital part of the retailer's fleet. He expects service to begin in the next couple of weeks. Amwell, a Boston, MA-based national telehealth company, closed its Series C financing round, adding $194m in funding across two tranches. Many early investors and strategic partners participated in this round, including Allianz X and Takeda. The company will use the funds to expand its investment in technology and services. Led by Ido Schoenberg, CEO, Amwell is a telehealth platform in the United States and globally, connecting and enabling providers, insurers, patients, and innovators to deliver access to care. The company offers a comprehensive platform to support all telehealth needs from urgent to acute and post-acute care, as well as chronic care management and healthy living. Amwell powers telehealth solutions for over 240 health systems comprised of 2,000 hospitals and 55 health plan partners with over 36,000 employers. FinSMEs 21/05/2020 A species of European lobster makes a unique noise which can be detected underwater almost two miles away, a new study claims. The sound is created when the European spiny lobster scrapes the fleshy end of their antenna against file-like plates covered in microscopic ridges below its eye. The exact purpose of these long-travelling rasps is unknown but scientists believe it is to either communicate with other lobsters or deter predators. Scroll down for video A species of European lobster makes a unique noise which can be detected underwater almost two miles away. The noise is created when the European spiny lobster rubs part of its antennae against a protrusion under its eye Pictured, a close view of a juvenile spiny lobster laying on the hand of a scuba diver. The authors found that only large individuals could be recorded at 100m distance, whereas intermediate, small and very small individuals could not be recorded at distances above 50, 20 and 10 m, respectively Twenty-four lobsters were tracked in the Bay of Saint Anne du Portzic, France. Corresponding author Youenn Jezequel, a doctoral student in marine biology at the European Institute for Marine Studies (IUEM), said: 'Spiny lobsters produce these sounds to startle predators, such as octopuses and fish. 'Interestingly, they can still produce sounds during the period following a moult - all crustaceans grow by changing their carapaces. The little lobster with a mighty sound The European spiny lobster is a nocturnal crustacean, whose scientific name is Palinurus elephas. It is also one of the world's most prized gourmet seafoods - leading to a dramatic decline in stocks. Because of its high commercial value, Palinurus elephas has been historically overfished in many European waters. This is especially due to the use of highly invasive and intrusive trammel nets, which bought this species to its current status of 'Vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List. It is also known as the crawfish, crayfish or rock lobster. Instead of typical large pincers, it has two small hook-like claws. Almost two foot long, it's found around the South West of England, Wales and along the West Coast of Scotland. Spiny lobsters are related to crabs and barnacles and live in crevices and caves amongst the rocks in shallow waters down to around 70m. They gets their name from the spines that cover their shell, or carapace. They stay in their hidey-holes during the dayt and come out to feed at night. They are scavengers and will feast on whatever they can find including crabs, worms, starfish and any dead animals. Advertisement 'This is when they are most vulnerable to predation because their exoskeleton is soft. 'They may even use these sounds as a means of communication - and to warn other lobsters if a shark is in the area, for instance.' The research, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, involved recording 1,560 antennal rasps using eight underwater microphones. They were placed at various distances away from the lobsters, ranging from 16inches to 300 feet. It revealed that the range of the noise was limited by the size of the animal. Sounds from bigger lobsters travelled further than rasps from smaller individuals. The biggest and loudest lobsters, more than five inches long, were heard clearly at a distance of 300 feet during this experiment and researchers estimate that, if they'd have had more microphones, would have been able to detect the sound 1,300ft away. This is despite high ambient noise levels in the shallow waters of the busy harbour of Brest where the study was carried out. Taking this into account the spiny lobster may be heard over several kilometres in quieter coastal waters, the researchers speculate. Mr Jezequel said: 'In conditions of low background noise, rasps produced by the largest individuals could be detected up to 3 km (1.86 miles) away.' Pictured, the defensive behaviour of two spiny lobsters. Scientists found the sounds produced by bigger lobsters travelled further than rasps from smaller individuals MIDLAND COUNTY, MI -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer late Wednesday sought federal emergency aid for the catastrophic flooding that has hit parts of mid-Michigan. Whitmer, in a letter to President Donald Trump, asked him to declare an emergency in Midland County on an expedited basis. In her Wednesday, May 20 letter, she notes the failure of the Edenville Dam following six to eight inches of rain over 48 hours and the over-topping of the Sanford Dam. Whitmer went on to say that 10,000 residents were being required to evacuate their homes due to the imminent danger of a 500-year flood. The letter also said that while a damage estimate was not immediately available, Midland Countys 2018 FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan" estimates the building impacts from a failure of the Edenville Dam at 5,745 parcels with a total building value of $878,974,848. Whitmer details a myriad of local and state efforts to help in the disaster. "Despite our efforts, local and state resources have been insufficient to respond to the situation. The availability of equipment and personnel is further limited due to the ongoing effects and response requirements of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,'' she said. "Therefore, additional federal assistance is required to protect public health, safety, and property, and to lessen or avert the threat of more severe and persisting impacts to the community.'' As part of Whitmers letter, she specifically seeks resources for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance. She notes that mobile bridges and technical assistance and sandbags from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may also be needed. The management of debris will be critically important to recovery in the days immediately following this flood disaster, the letter states. The wet, heavy, contaminated flood debris from damaged homes and businesses will create dangerous and unsanitary conditions in the affected areas. More from MLive Midland officials give flooding update, say river to crest 3 feet lower than expected Michigan flooding: One, two, three punch of rain overwhelms soggy state Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break Similar calls are being made across the country, from California to Massachusetts. As states start to emerge from the strict shutdowns imposed as part of the effort to fight the novel coronavirus, they are scrambling to hire tens of thousands of people to trace the path of the deadly infection. Notifying those who have been exposed and persuading them to isolate and get tested has been a vital part of curbing the pandemic in countries around the world, including South Korea and Germany, public health experts say. As many as 106,000 new coronavirus cases were added to the world total in just 24 hours on Thursday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the most in a single day since the outbreak. Almost two-thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries. The surge in global Covid-19 infections past the 5-million mark now suggests the pandemic is still a long way from getting over. Experts warn that the true number of infections might be far higher but unreported because of low testing rates in many countries. Read more here. Lets look at the ... Millions of Americans are still waiting to receive their coronavirus stimulus payments, and some are wondering how they will see their payments when they are finally sent. The IRS has issued new guidance for people who arent sure if they will get a direct deposit, a check or a payment to a debit card , or even a brand new debit card for their stimulus payments. Here are the latest answers from the IRS website, which was updated on Wednesday. What if the bank account number I used on my tax return is closed? If the account is closed or no longer active, the bank will return the deposit, the IRS said. Then you will be issued a check or, for a smaller group, a prepaid debit card that will be mailed to the address we have on file for you. The IRS did not specify which beneficiaries would get the debit card, and it is not clear why someone get one. The check or card would be sent to the address on your most recent tax return or as updated through the United States Postal Service (USPS), the agency said. You do not need to call the IRS to change your Payment method or update your address at this time. If you receive a debit card and have any questions regarding how to use the card please go to EIPcard.com for more information. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Businesses that are open | Homepage The IRS said people will receive a letter about the payment will be mailed to their last known address within 15 days after the payment is made. The letter will provide information on how the Payment was made and how to report any failure to receive the Payment, it said. What if I dont have a bank account? The IRS said it will mail your stimulus payment to the address it has on file for you. This is generally the address on your most recent tax return or as updated through the United States Postal Service (USPS), it said, repeating that your payment will be made by check or prepaid debit card. Who will get the prepaid debits cards? The IRS said some payments may be sent on a prepaid debit card, known as The Economic Impact Payment Card. It said the card is sponsored by the Treasury Departments Bureau of the Fiscal Service and managed by Money Network Financial, LLC. Its issued by Treasurys financial agent, MetaBank, N.A., the agency said. If you receive an Economic Impact Payment Card, it will arrive in a plain envelope from `Money Network Cardholder Services,' it said. The Visa name will appear on the front of the Card; the back of the Card has the name of the issuing bank, MetaBank, N.A. Information included with the Card will explain that the card is your Economic Impact Payment Card. Please go to EIPcard.com for more information." Can I request a prepaid debit card? Nope, not right now, the IRS said. Those who dont receive their payment by direct deposit will mostly receive a check, and some, in a few cases, will receive the debit card," the IRS said. The determination of which taxpayers receive a debit card will be made by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS), another part of the Treasury Department that works with the IRS to handle distribution of the payments, the agency said. BFS is sending nearly 4 million debit cards to taxpayers starting in mid-May. At this time, taxpayers cannot make a selection to receive a debit card. Please go to EIPcard.com for more information. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Karin Price Mueller may be reached at bamboozled@njadvancemedia.com. PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia has lifted a ban on entry of visitors from Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the United States that had been put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Despite the easing, foreign visitors would still need to have a certificate no more than 72 hours old confirming that they are not infected with the novel coronavirus and proof of $50,000 worth of health insurance while in Cambodia, the ministry said. They also would be quarantined for 14 days after arrival at government designate place and tested for the coronavirus, a ministry statement said, but did not specify where. All passengers, both Cambodian and foreign, who are travelling to Cambodia, are admitted to waiting centres for the COVID-19 tests and that they are waiting for results from the Pasteur laboratory, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement, referring to respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The Health Ministry said on Saturday that the last patient with the coronavirus has recovered and left hospital, leaving the Southeast Asian country with zero cases. Cambodia has reported 122 cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 and no deaths from the disease since it emerged in China and started spreading around the world, infecting more than 4.5 million and killing about 300,000 since January. Ministers are facing calls to bring more unaccompanied child refugees to the UK after it emerged the Home Offices scheme for offering sanctuary to lone minors in Europe has ended despite the fact that thousands remain stranded on the continent. In the first figures published on the Dubs amendment since the Calais Jungle camp was demolished in 2016, the Home Office revealed the 480 places that were offered under the scheme four years ago have been filled. Of these, 478 children are now settled in Britain, with two more set to be transferred from Italy when travel restrictions ease. Charities have raised concerns that an end to the scheme will leave more children in rapidly deteriorating conditions in camps in Italy, Greece and France, and increase the risk of minors being pushed into the hands of smugglers or risk their lives in dangerous crossings. The Dubs Amendment, passed in May 2016, required the government to act as soon as possible to relocate and support unaccompanied refugee children in Europe. It was required to consult with local authorities to determine the number of children each council has the capacity to help. The scheme was initially envisaged as offering settlement to 3,000 child refugees, but the Dubs amendment was capped at 350 places, and later increased to 480 in 2017 after the government admitted that due to an administrative error, 130 places had been overlooked. The government has no other scheme for providing sanctuary for unaccompanied minors in Europe who do not have relatives in Britain, so the end to the scheme effectively means an end to Britains offer of protection for these children. Lord Alf Dubs, who proposed the amendment and who himself came to Britain as a child refugee during the Second World War, said he was pleased for the 480 accepted under the scheme, but heartbroken for the many more unaccompanied children who he said now have no hope of reaching safety in the UK. He added: When parliament voted for the Dubs scheme, we hoped thousands of children would benefit but instead the government capped the scheme at 480 places. I know there are local authorities that are ready to welcome child refugees, and I will keep calling on the government to lift the arbitrary cap and give more children sanctuary here. Beth Gardiner-Smith, chief executive of Safe Passage, which helps refugees access safe and legal routes to asylum, said: We know that without safe and legal routes like the Dubs scheme, theres a real risk more children will be pushed into the hands of smugglers or risk their lives in dangerous crossings. The UK must replace this scheme with a long-term alternative that offers more children in Europe the same lifeline. We know communities have the spaces local councils have pledged more than 1,400 places for such a programme. Maddy Allen, advocacy manager at Help Refugees, which supports child refugees in northern France, said: Tonight over 200 unaccompanied children, the youngest just 11 years old, will be sleeping outside in Calais and Dunkirk. Adding a global pandemic to an already dire situation has left everyone struggling. The UK must provide legal routes of passage for these children immediately. Recommended Calais refugees taking more dangerous risks to reach UK It comes after campaigners accused Boris Johnson of tearing up a separate government pledge to protect child refugees in Europe seeking to reunite with family in the UK, after the new withdrawal agreement bill which set out plans for the UKs exit from the EU scrapped a previous commitment to negotiate a new deal for refugee children after Brexit. The number of unaccompanied child migrants arriving in Britain is said to have risen significantly in the past year, with the leader of Kent County Council telling the BBC the number of young asylum seekers in the county had doubled in a little more than a year. This has led to renewed fears that children are being trafficked into modern slavery, with the number of child trafficking in the UK continuing to rise year-on-year. Charities said there are currently around 5,000 unaccompanied refugee children in Greece, including over 1,600 on the islands, and around 200 in Calais and Dunkirk in northern France, as well as hundreds more in Italy. Minister for Immigration Compliance, Chris Philp, said: We have made clear that protecting vulnerable children is a key priority for this government and the progress we have made with generous support from local authorities - underlines our commitment to that. The UK provides a number of legal routes for those seeking protection and we will continue to offer a range of support for those who often need it most. We granted protection to over 7,320 children in the year ending March 2020 and more than 44,900 children since 2010. Somehow, an Australian-born investment banker in England went to South Africa and got mixed up with the Americans. The gang, that is, in one of Cape Towns most dangerous townships (known outside of South Africa as shantytowns). And with them, the Hard Livings and Clever Kidz. Called by God into a life far from his Christian but comfortable existence, Andie Steele-Smith has recently won international acclaim as the gang pastor crossing rival lines. Serving the last five years in 2018s second-highest homicide city, he has led murderers and drug lords to cooperate amid the coronavirus pandemic as a new distribution network for soap and emergency food delivery. In addition to endemic crime, Cape Town counts 10 percent of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in all of Africa, and 60 percent of South Africas cases. With both mass media and the masses desperate for good news amid the pandemic, his story has been told by the Associated Press, the BBC, CBS News, and even earned a quip (at the 12:30 mark) on Comedy Centrals The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, himself a South African from Johannesburg. CT spoke with Steele-Smith, who attends Hillsongs Cape Town campus, about his calling, the spiritual impact of his ministry, and whether 15 minutes of fame makes the situation better or worse: Image: Andie Steele-Smith You started out as a successful investment banker. How did you end up in South Africa? I grew up in a strong Christian home and church, but until I was about 40 years old, my life was all about building my own empire. Around 12 years ago, I visited San Diego to buy a coffee company. Invited to what I thought was a megachurch, little did I know it was a Christian rehab center. The Holy Spirit convicted me, and I spent the rest of the day crying like a baby. First, that these people are the same as me, but then, that they are actually better than me. I was the rich arrogant fool, and my life turned upside down. I began volunteering with the homeless and drug addicts in the US and the UK. But in 2012, I visited South Africa for business, and felt God speaking to me and saying this is where youre meant to be. God gave me a very clear, but blurry, picture: a circle with four corners. The circle had the Great Commission at the center. The corners were justice, entrepreneurship, education, and safe church communities. You are still a businessman? I run a couple different businesses, and this supports what we do. But as the needs multiplied after COVID-19, buying soap and food for thousands of people, it was bigger than we could do alone. Were members of Hillsong Church, and their Hillsong Africa Foundation came alongside to help as has a Christian NGO called Chanan54. But at first, I assumed God would have me sit on the boards of a few Christian charities. I purposefully didnt join any ministries for a year, so we could look, listen, and learn. The last thing South Africa needed was another white savior, saying he knows what the answer is. A year later, we joined a small church plant in a township near our house in Cape Town. These were created during apartheid, when the white people told everyone they didnt want living near them, Heres your hellhole. Stay there. I was asked if I would run a Bible study, and I asked to meet the person who ran it before. They said, No one ever has. Everyone has been too scared. But I had hung out with some of the gangs in Los Angeles, and thought, This isnt safe, but its not scary. So I set up a barbecue and started cooking. I invited six young men, and eight turned up. By Week 6, we had 150 around the fire, and started building community. What have you seen God do in these communities? The No. 1 lesson is just turn up. You dont need a project or a program, but if you turn up every day you are no longer just a white person. All of a sudden, you are one of us. It is a massive difference. But you have to be prepared to be there at any time, especially when the ambulances often wont enter these neighborhoods after dark. So the second lesson is to run into the flames, rather than do the natural thing and run away from it. Image: Andie Steele-Smith Underpinning all of this is that we can lift them up and give them the privilege of leading their own communities. Three years ago, there was a massive storm with thousands of dwellings destroyed. We helped them rebuild for the next six weeks, but almost all the work was done by these young men. Now they are walking in their community with their heads held highcalled hero, or leader, or even pastor. When a 12-year-old boy is called a pastor, that is a pretty radical thing. Were these gang members? No, they were ordinary people. But as we served in that township for a couple of years, we started seeing needs in other communities. After a fire in a different location, hundreds of people lost everything they owned. The young men actually called me, and said lets go and help them. We stayed there for a month, rebuilding 700 homes. But by far the most valuable thing we brought was solidarity. Image: Andie Steele-Smith We had been praying with the young men to get involved in gang ministry. These impoverished boys rarely leave their own community, let alone go somewhere more dangerous to minister. What does ministry look like in this context? Beside my four children, I have two local boys, Franklin and Junior, whom I call my adopted twins (age 19 and 14 when we started), even though they have a wonderful mother and father. They do all the hard work, Im just a glorified taxi driver with crazy ideas. I drop them off in a community, and after half an hour they come out with 50 others trailing behind them like the Pied Piper. The young men are wonderful instinctive leaders. As they give practical instruction in how to use a hammer and nail, they are also discipling them, spreading the gospel. In one township, we met a local gang boss already serving an elderly man in a wheelchair, who was trying to rebuild his house. He was just released from jail after being sentenced for armed robbery and murder. If he has an innate desire to do good, there is hope, and we can work with that. Two weeks later, when he wasnt working alongside us, six young men from another gang came to attack us with knives drawn. I pulled my boys behind me, and on autopilot I grabbed the leader, hugged him, and kissed him on the forehead. He burst into tears, put his knife in his pocket, and said, Uncle, can we help build with you? More than anything, these boys just need a dad figure. They have been gang members for five or six generations. They are not the bad guys. They have done terrible things, but they are also victims. Image: Andie Steele-Smith Have you seen people saved? We regularly stop while we are working to invite people to follow Jesus. Ive lost track, but maybe 5,000 to 10,000 have told us theyve repented and are turning to follow Jesus. But I dont call this success, it is just a small piece in the overall cause of what we Christians are called to do. Weve seen hundreds of gangsters give their lives to Jesus, and Hillsong runs a bus to bring them to church. The pastors sit in the first rows, and the gangsters right behind them. Its pretty cool. But we get the credit where hundreds of other pastors have already invested in these communities. We just get to see the harvest. Do these young men wind up leaving their gangs? Is there less violence in their communities? Weve seen transformation, but we are at an early stage of where I think this could go. Were trying to address the causes of gangsterism, and Hillsong helps with the discipleship component. But before COVID-19, I would have thought the next step would be to provide an avenue to get people out of the gangs, off the street, and into a safe environment. But now, by virtue of them turning up to work in cooperation, this has given them a cause to pursue in their own communities, rather than go elsewhere to get their minds transformed. When people are set free from alcoholism, they still need to drink something. Gangsterism identifies the best entrepreneurs in a community. But they need legitimate enterprise so they can use their same skills and hustle for Gods kingdom and their community. How has this season of publicity impacted the community? The community has been happy and supportive, because they see a real change in terms of these gangs. For the young men, it has been incredible. Ive tried to be cautious with the media, because I imagined they might come in and use the boys by sensationalizing things. But the Holy Spirit told me this is a good thing, and a God thing, and I should not stop it from happening. These boys have grown up believing what they see on TV, about anything. Now they are seeing themselves on the world news, portrayed as heroes. They are heroes, but now they are starting to believe it. If I tell them, it makes an impact. But when the reporter says so through the TV lenssometimes with tears in their eyesthey stand a foot taller. Image: Andie Steele-Smith How are you personally interpreting these 15 minutes of fame? To be honest, it is a distraction for me. I already have 20 hours a day of things to do, six days a week. It doesnt personally add anything to me. Instead it detracts because it makes me more tired, giving me less sleep and time with the family. It is amusing, and fun for a second, but it is an additional thing I have to do. It exposes me personally to the world, and Id rather not do that. But now that these boys are seeing themselves as heroes, and starting to act every day as heroes, there has been a good consequence. Jesus says we have to not do good deeds in front of others, but also to let our light shine before men. How have you lived in this tension? I try not to talk about what I do, but about what the boys do. I feel more comfortable when I am letting the light shine through them. Ive stuck to this from the first time media approached me. Nothing that we do, or that the boys do, is done to get praise. We are doing it to see transformation. Feeding people, or building houses, or fighting fires, these are the unintended consequences of turning up and showing solidarityshowing that God loves them. The things that people see in the media and say are amazing? No, these are the unintended consequences; theyre irrelevant in a sense. Thats not actually what we are there to do. It is to love someone who might not have felt loved. Editors note: This article has been updated to note that the proper name in South Africa of a shantytown is a township. Advertisement Kate Garraway put on a brave face as she joined her children for the weekly Clap For Our Carers applause on Thursday, while her critically-ill husband Derek Draper continues to fight coronavirus in hospital. The Good Morning Britain presenter, 53, gave an update on the 52-year-old's battle in a heartfelt Instagram post, revealing that while her 'heart sinks everyday', Derek is 'still here' as he remains in ICU. Host Kate also expressed her gratitude towards her kids Darcey, 14, and Billy, 10, for 'staying strong' during the difficult time, with her daughter surprising her by purchasing an NHS 'Better Together' T-shirt with her debit card. Thinking of you: Kate Garraway joined her kids for the Clap for Carers applause on Thursday as her husband Derek Draper continues to battle coronavirus (pictured with daughter Darcey, 14, and son Billy, 10) 'I didnt even know Darcey had bought this t shirt on line ( with my card !) until she emerged tonight but I do know how grateful she is to the NHS', the TV veteran wrote on her social media account alongside a clip of the trio clapping outside. Kate shared insight into how she's coping with her long-time love's health issues, explaining: 'I couldnt be prouder of how she & Billy have coped with these past 2 horrific months for our family - always finding ways of lifting our spirits & staying strong even when they can see me wobbling. 'Its so wonderful to see little green shoots of hope that this dreadful disease is easing and that hopefully soon we might all be able to see each other again and hug our nearest and dearest.' [sic] Revealing author Derek is still fighting for his life, the Smooth Radio presenter added: 'But the journey for me and my family seems to be far from over as everyday my heart sinks as I learn new & devastating ways this virus has more battles for Derek to fight. But he is still HERE & so there is still hope. Critically-ill: Former lobbyist Derek, 52, remains in a coma as he continues his battle against the deadly virus (pictured in December) Staying positive: The host expressed her gratitude towards healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 by banging pots with a neon green spoon Touched: Amid Derek's health battle, the news anchor still appeared in good spirits as she engaged in conversations with her kids and neighbours 'My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who will be affected by this, not just for the next few weeks but for the foreseeable future. That will be the case for many who have suffered from the disease, but also the front line workers who have been helping to treat the worst affected. 'The physical and mental scars will run deep and so we need to stick together far beyond the end of lockdown. Thank you so much for all your messages. 'I am going to share more of the things that have been keeping me going on clubgarraway.com . And I would love to hear more of your challenges & thoughts there too. Sharing is such a comfort.' [sic] She shared her appreciation for the healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 by banging pots with a neon green spoon, no doubt thinking of her partner. 'I couldn't be prouder of them white these past two horrific months for our family': The TV veteran uploaded a video of the trio clapping on her social media account alongside a heartfelt caption Nearest and dearest: Kate's mini-me stood beside her as she clapped in support of the NHS, while young Billy joined his relatives on a brick fence 'The physical and mental scars will run deep and so we need to stick together far beyond the end of lockdown': The mum-of-two shared insight into how she's coping with her long-time love's health issues, while spreading positivity with her followers Attire: The I'm A Celeb star was dressed in a flowy white dress, a leather biker jacket and box-fresh trainers Amid the former lobbyist's health battle, the news anchor still appeared in good spirits as she engaged in conversations with her kids and neighbours. The I'm A Celeb star was dressed in a flowy white dress, a leather biker jacket and box-fresh trainers as she stepped out to support the important cause, which is relatively close to home. Kate's mini-me stood beside her as she clapped in support of the NHS, while young Billy joined his relatives on a brick fence. Kate's supportive husband Derek was taken into hospital on March 30 and is understood to be in an unresponsive critical condition as he remains in a critical care unit. Relaxed: Kate's eldest child ditched shoes as she went barefoot during her brief appearance in the street Hopeful: Her GMB colleague Piers Morgan recently revealed Kate has been given 'huge hope' as she hears stories from coronavirus survivors Thank you: For the ninth week in a row, National Health Service workers have been the recipients of the cheers and claps from the nation Her GMB colleague Piers Morgan revealed Kate has been given 'huge hope' as she hears stories from coronavirus survivors. The lead presenter, 55, spoke about his close friend after hearing from a woman called Jo Tillbrook who survived coronavirus after a long stint in hospital. He said: 'One of my colleagues, Kate Garraway, her husband has been very critically ill for a long period of time now. 'And these sort of stories, I have to say, think give Kate huge hope when she hears and sees them.' Jo's husband Clive had been told to 'prepare for the worst' by doctors, who were concerned that Jo wouldn't be able to recover - however she made a full recovery. Loved-up: Before the pandemic, the broadcaster revealed the couple were set to renew their vows later this year after 15 years of marriage (pictured in December) Piers added: 'She was in the very same position that Clive was in, you can't see your loved one. You just have to muddle through, I guess.' On Monday, the journalist acknowledged that Kate is 'going through a living hell' as she is unable to visit her sick partner. Piers said: 'We haven't talked about it much because Kate Garraway is going through a living hell like many people. Her husband has been in a very serious condition for many many weeks. 'We can all just hope and pray he comes through it, but it's been very, very difficult for Kate and her family. Well done! Vicky McClure was unable to hide her emotions as she wiped away tears while clapping for key workers on her doorstep Family affair: BGT judge Amanda Holden, 49, and her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, clapped and banged pans as they joined legions of families across the country 'We miss her here at the show, but obviously we stay in touch with her a lot. We send her and the kids all our love and we just wish Derek all the very best.' Susanna Reid added: 'We haven't said much, we leave it up to Kate, because she updates fans on Thursdays after the Clap for Carers and then Ben Shephard updates viewers the next day.' Mother-of-two Kate, who has regularly kept followers updated with Derek's progress, recently told how the messages of support have 'meant the world' to her. Writing in her latest blog post, she said the kind words were 'comforting' as she tries to remain strong for her family. Thank you: Victoria Beckham, 46, and her daughter Harper, eight, who was wearing a 'thank you' T-shirt, were also keen to show their appreciation during the weekly clap, with her mini-me enjoying a swing ride The ITV star said: 'I wanted to send a huge thank you to all of you who have sent me such wonderful messages wishing Derek well. It has meant the world to me. 'I am sorry I have not been able to reply to them individually, as I am sure you will understand that I am focusing on my family and Derek right now.' The blonde continued: 'In quieter moments I am reading all of your messages and they are so comforting and wonderful to read.' Before the pandemic, Kate revealed the couple were set to renew their vows later this year after 15 years of marriage. Celebs galore: Love Island's Molly Smith and Callum Jones (L) stood outside their lovenest to clap, while Caprice put on a cheery display with her sons Jett and Jax, six Clap because we care! Rita Ora shared a solitary video of herself clapping after revealing her mother Vera had gone back to work for the NHS as a medical professional Rainbow: The 'thank you' rainbow T-shirts proved a popular choice with celebs, as Lizzie Cundy (L) and Christine McGuinness (R) also sported the charity top We Are The Champions! This week, Katie Price, 41, was joined by her son Harvey, 17, who played a version of Queen's We Are The Champions on his keyboard as a special thank you Rainbow love: The mother and son duo were also rocking rainbow T-shirts which had the letters 'NHS', emblazoned across the front of the garments, designed by Harvey himself Nothing is enough! Stacey Solomon and boyfriend Joe Swash enjoyed a cup of tea after standing on their doorstep to clap for carers The broadcaster was stunned when Derek proposed to her for a second time following her appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!. Vicky McClure also took part in the public applause, with the actress, 37, left unable to hide her emotions as she wiped away tears. The screen star followed in the footsteps of a host of celebrities, with Amanda Holden, 49, and her two daughters also showing support from their doorstep. BGT judge Amanda, 49, and her daughters Alexa, 14, and Hollie, eight, clapped and banged pans as they joined legions of families across the country. Well equipped: Michelle Heaton treated herself to a refreshing beverage as she grabbed a table to join in the nationwide clap Family first: The songstress, 40, was joined by her husband Hugh Hanley as they sat by their flashy black car Cheer! Imogen Thomas, 37, shared a clip of her daughters Ariana, seven, and Siera, four, banging pans during the minutes clap Love: Myleene Klass, 42, was joined by her children Ava, 12, Hero, nine and Apollo, eight months, during the clap The Heart Radio host showcased her legs in denim hot pants and a T-shirt, while her youngest Hollie was wearing a pair of adorable rainbow scrubs. The Clap For Carers campaign, which started online, has been staged because 'during these unprecedented times they need to know we are grateful', the organisers said. For the ninth week in a row, National Health Service workers have been the recipients of the cheers and claps from the nation. Last month the event, organised by the Clap For Our Carers campaign, was expanded to include all key workers, such as supermarket staff, the emergency services and teachers who are continuing to work. Britain's daily coronavirus death toll dropped again as health chiefs announced 338 more victims, meaning the official number of victims has now surpassed 36,000. The Department of Health toll - which takes into account deaths in all settings - is the lowest figure recorded on a Thursday since March 26 (103) and is even lower than yesterday's count of 363. [May 21, 2020] The Weather Network Launches "A Brighter Day," a Good-News-Only Content Hub 'Positive news' platform to provide a breath of fresh air to Canadians in need of hope and inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic OAKVILLE, ON, May 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Today, The Weather Network announces the launch of "A Brighter Day," a feel-good content hub dedicated solely to positive news. Designed to bring a smile to the faces of Canadians and lift our collective spirit during this unprecedented time, "A Brighter Day" will highlight acts of kindness in communities from coast to coast and share unique stories of resilience, creativity and heroism. "Now more than ever, it's important to seek out stories that give us hope," said Sam Sebastian, President & CEO, The Weather Network and its parent company, Pelmorex Corp. "Watching Canadians come together throughout this crisis has been truly inspiring. We created "A Brighter Day" to highlight the uplifting stories coming out of our communities and remind everyone that, together, we'll weather this storm." "A Brighter Day" will be available to Canadians on The Weather Network website at theweathernetwork.ca/brighterday, as well as on dedicated social media channels on Instagram, @ToABrighterDay, and Twitter, @Brighter_Day. The Weather Network's morning and evening TV programs will also feature highlights. Viewers are encouraged to submit their stories through Instagram and Twitter using the Brighter Day handles. "Although it's impossible to predict what comes next with COVID-19, our expertise as a weather content company tells us that after every storm come clear skies," added Sebastian. "We hope this initiative provides a breath of fresh air to anyone who has been feeling a little overwhelmed, and we are looking forward to hearing from Canadians across the country and sharing their good news stories." As a company on the front lines of devastating weather events, The Weather Network's long-standing commitment to telling positive stories inspired by local communities is reflected in "A Brighter Day." The positive news platform also supports its parent company's corporate mental health mandate, PelmorexCares - a corporate and employee donation program supporting mental health initiatives. About Pelmorex Corp. Pelmorex Corp., founded in 1989, is an international weather content and technology company. Pelmorex owns and operates the weather brands The Weather Network, MeteoMedia, Eltiempo.es, Clima, and Otempo.pt. It also operates Canada's National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System, part of Alert Ready. Through constant innovation and entrepreneurship, Pelmorex has grown to reach consumers around the globe, has become one of the largest weather information providers and has broken new ground in providing data solutions and insights to businesses. Through harnessing the value of weather, Pelmorex is driven to make the world smarter and safer for consumers and businesses. SOURCE The Weather Network [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] COLUMBUS, Ohio - New data released by the Ohio Department of Health says at least 1,247 patients of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have died with coronavirus, representing about 70% of known COVID-19 deaths in the state. Overall, the state reported Wednesday a total of 1,781 Ohioans are known to have died with coronavirus. Of these, 53% were at least 80 years old and another 25% in their 70s. Nursing homes were identified as particularly hard hit early in the coronavirus crisis in Ohio, resulting in restrictions on visitation and increased monitoring. But it wasnt until recently that the oversized share of the fatalities became publicly known. Weekly reports released by the Ohio Department of Health track cases and deaths since mid-April. The new report posted to the states COVID-19 website Wednesday night said 878 nursing home residents had died with coronavirus April 15 or later. Additionally, there were 369 deaths from the facilities before April 15, health department spokeswoman Melanie Amato said in a Tuesday email. That brings the current total to at least 1,247. Amato said the earlier deaths are not included in the weekly long-term care facility reports to keep the death data consistent with case data for the facilities that began being collected on April 15. The nursing home patient deaths since April 15 are detailed by county, not by facility, with the most in Franklin County with 123, followed by Lucas County (121), Mahoning (87), Summit (72), Cuyahoga (63) and Stark (52). The number of cases are provided by facility since April 15 for both patients (4,666) and staff (2,124). Excluding those who have died, are hospitalized or have recovered, 1,410 patients and 643 staff currently have coronavirus, according to Wednesday nights report. Below is a listing by facility. If you are having trouble viewing the list, use this link instead. Read previous coverage As the coronavirus tears through Ohio nursing homes, families continue to agonize over visitation restrictions Low staffing, citations for infection control issues in nursing homes foreshadowed Ohios high rate of coronavirus deaths Ohios strategy to fight coronavirus at nursing homes: deploying testing, strike teams' DeWine: Ohio unlikely to be able to follow White House recommendation on coronavirus testing in nursing homes Amsterdam, May 21, 2020 - Bladder cancer is associated with significant illness and mortality, particularly if treatment is delayed. Writing in the journal Bladder Cancer, researchers have outlined recommendations for treatment of both muscle invasive (MIBC) and non-muscle invasive (NMIBC) bladder cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic based on data from trials and prior studies, and taking into account the current strains on the healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the paradigm of healthcare in many ways. Hospital resources are stretched thin as the number of cases continue to climb daily. In cancer care, treatment must be weighed against the issues of viral transmission, resource utlization, healthcare access, and community safety. "The COVID-19 epidemic has forced doctors to prioritize patients with time-sensitive illnesses and defer those with conditions that can wait. We know some patients with bladder cancer simply can't wait on treatment without compromising their oncologic outcomes," explains senior author Lambros Stamatakis, MD, Director, Urologic Oncology - MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Assistant Professor of Urology - Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. "Our hope with this paper is to provide a framework that can help clinicians navigate treatment decisions for their bladder cancer patients in the setting of the COVID-19 epidemic." First author Filipe L.F. Carvalho, MD, PhD, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA, adds "Many institutions have stopped performing elective surgery and outpatient procedures during the COVID-19 epidemic. This can be problematic for patients with NMIBC who need frequent cystoscopies, bladder biopsies/tumor resections, and intravesical therapy. For patients with MIBC, delay of treatment may unfortunately result in missing the window of opportunity for cancer cure." Risk stratification is key in helping clinicians manage this cancer. The authors note that several studies recommend that patients with low risk NMIBC can be safely managed with active surveillance after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT), generally the first treatment for bladder cancer. "Given the inevitable shift of resources diverted to treat patients with COVID-19, and to prevent viral exposures during medical visits, we propose surveillance for all patients with a history of low risk tumors, and those with non-high-grade intermediate risk NMIBC, reserving TURBTs for symptomatic patients." says Dr. Stamatakis. On the contrary, patients with high risk NMIBC should proceed with active treatment. Since hospitalization after TURBT is uncommon, and the risk of aerosolization of virus during these procedures is low, the authors recommend that these surgeries should be continue if possible, within a hospital system. MIBC is a more lethal disease, and studies show that delayed treatment leads to significantly worse outcomes. One of the standard therapies is radical cystectomy with urinary diversion. However, the authors observe that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the urologic community to reconsider standard practices. Radical cystectomy is resource intensive, with the need for ventilators, masks, and other equipment. Moreover, the need for human resources is extensive when a hospital system is performing major surgeries. These factors all need to be considered during this period when material and human resources are scarce and may be needed elsewhere. The authors believe that radical cystectomy is one of the procedures that should be prioritized during the COVID-19 epidemic. They recommend that the choice of treatment for MIBC should be individualized, with specific consideration given to patient symptoms, tumor volume, access to cancer treatments such as infusion centers and radiation centers, access to post-hospitalization care (i.e., rehab/skilled nursing facilities), and the current status of the virus in the community. They note that enhanced recovery after surgery protocols should be implemented to allow for improved convalescence. Telemedicine should be feasible for pre- and postoperative visits in most instances. Currently there are multiple clinical trials available for patients with NMIBC and MIBC, however, recommendations from governments and other institutions regarding these trials are evolving. The authors recommend that for patients already enrolled in therapeutic trials, all efforts should be made to continue providing the appropriate treatment if safe for the patient and local healthcare community. While non-therapeutic trials focused on biomarker discovery or relying on tissue banking should be placed on hold, "we encourage clinical investigators to consider novel approaches to patient monitoring and disease management. Looking forward, recommendations will inevitably need to evolve with the quickly changing landscape of medicine during the COVID-19 epidemic," comments Dr. Carvalho. ### By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's purge of several internal watchdogs at U.S. agencies could hobble anti-fraud oversight for the $3 trillion in federal relief measures aiding businesses, state governments and others hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's purge of several internal watchdogs at U.S. agencies could hobble anti-fraud oversight for the $3 trillion in federal relief measures aiding businesses, state governments and others hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. These inspectors general, known as IGs, have been appointed by presidents or agency heads since the late 1970s to serve in various federal departments and agencies to guard against illegal conduct and mismanagement. An oversight board, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), was established by lawmakers with an $80 million budget and broad reach to ferret out "fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement" in the massive coronavirus response measures. Its membership includes IGs tasked with monitoring and informing the public https://pandemic.oversight.gov about the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, from public health to doling out money. Trump's firings have raised questions about how effectively the board can provide oversight at a time when IGs may fear for their jobs. In the past six weeks, Trump has ousted five IGs after saying he lost confidence in them. Three IGs serving on the committee were among them: the Transportation Department's Mitch Behm, the Pentagon's Glenn Fine and Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services. The other two IGs were involved in high-profile investigations involving Trump or his allies: the intelligence community's Michael Atkinson and the State Department's Steve Linick. Fine had headed the PRAC before Trump removed him as acting IG and demoted him to another post. "It really is kind of a reign of terror that is unleashed for the IG community and at a time when their oversight is more needed and more necessary than frankly any time that I can remember," said Michael Bromwich, a Justice Department inspector general under Democratic former President Bill Clinton. "That is bad for everyone, but it's worse for the public." Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of targeting the IGs in a bid to ensure that only political loyalists serve in these key posts. For example, it was Atkinson who last year deemed "credible" a whistleblower complaint against the Republican president that set in motion events that led to his impeachment in the House of Representatives in December. Trump was acquitted and left in office by the Senate in February. Trump on Monday suggested that any IG appointed by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama should be dismissed. 'THE RIGHT REASON' Federal decisions during the pandemic will have lasting economic and public health consequences, said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of CREW, a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog group. "You have to know these are being made for the right reason," Bookbinder said. A $700 billion bailout package after the financial crisis more than a decade ago was implemented with little fraud or abuse, Bookbinder said, in part due to a "fully empowered IG, oversight provisions and aggressive oversight from Congress." Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have raised questions about the legality of Trump's actions toward IGs. Pelosi said on Sunday firing an inspector general as political retaliation "could be unlawful." While the Democratic-led House has launched inquiries into some of the IG removals, the Republican-controlled Senate has shown less appetite to do so. IGs sit inside executive branch agencies, having a unique duty to report their findings to both Congress and agency heads. Their job is meant to be nonpartisan, but a president has a right to remove them for any reason. U.S. law requires a president to notify Congress within 30 days of such action. There was only one previous attempted mass firing of IGs. Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981 moved to fire IGs installed by his Democratic predecessor Jimmy Carter, but rehired some after a political uproar. Trump's targeting of IGs who were in office before he became president is not a new development. Before taking office in January 2017, his transition team informed several IGs that they would be removed. The White House dropped those plans after IGs expressed concerns to lawmakers. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Heather Timmons and Will Dunham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram Berlin, May 21, 2020 Bulgarian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalist Dimiter Petzov and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 2, police in the town of Silistra, in northeastern Bulgaria, pulled over Petzov, a freelance investigative journalist, and searched his car, according to a report by the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Petzov told the broadcaster that the officers performed an imitation of a search and within one minute found a bag containing heroin, amphetamines, marijuana, and ecstasy, which Petzov said he had never seen before. On May 13, prosecutors in Silistra charged Petzov with drug possession, and a local court ordered him not to leave town without authorities permission, according to regional news website Balkan Insight. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to five years, according to the Bulgarian criminal code. The journalist told RFE/RL that his arrest came after he submitted a freedom of information request on April 28 to the regional directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Silistra, seeking to reveal the identity of an anonymous donor who provided food and drinks to police officers guarding checkpoints in the city. He said he suspected that the arrest was an attempt to intimidate him. On May 11, the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police, ordered an investigation into the circumstances of Petzovs arrest, according to RFE/RL. It is quite a coincidence that Bulgarian police allegedly found Dimiter Petzov possessing drugs days after he sought information for an investigation into the police force, said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said, in New York. Bulgarian authorities must thoroughly investigate the circumstances of Petzovs arrest, drop the charges against him, and allow him to report and travel freely. Petzov publishes his reporting in regional outlets including the Silistra-News website, where he recently covered local politics and alleged government corruption in the town. He also writes reports and files freedom of information requests relating to local government issues for the Anti-Corruption Fund, an independent nongovernmental group, according to the U.S. broadcaster. In February, he reported to authorities that the local coordinator for the ruling GERB party threatened to crush him, but authorities refused to initiate proceedings against the coordinator, according to RFE/RL. CPJ emailed the press office of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior for comment, but did not receive any reply. Fired Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn's name was never redacted in an FBI report about his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, including to a new report. The revelation comes as congressional Republicans continue to push for information on which Obama administration officials' 'unmasked' Flynn and had his name revealed from within intelligence documents. According to a Washington Post report, Flynn's name was included in FBI reports of his conversations with Kislyak. Mike Flynn's name was reportedly included in an FBI document of his conversations with Russia's then-ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak in December 2016 The revelation follows the Trump administration's declassifying of documents that reveal which Obama administration figures sought unmasking information on Flynn in the final days of Obama's term. Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who is probing the Flynn prosecution and start of the Russia probe, asked Tuesday in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Ric Grennel 'did not contain a record showing who unmasked' Flynn in the Kislyak calls. A number of the dates shown among those requests occurred before Flynn's December 29, 2016 calls with Kislyak raising questions about what intelligence intercepts he was showing up in. The FBI, not the National Security Agency which has its own network of high-tech eavesdropping techniques, that scooped up Flynn, former officials told the paper. The bureau included Flynn's name in documents it circulated because it was necessary to understanding the content. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Kislyak. President Trump has attacked 'dirty, filthy cops' for the prosecution of his former aide. The development comes as former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice and other Democrats called for transcripts of Flynn's conversations with Kislyak to be released. On Wednesday Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell also called for called for transcripts to be released. Parts of the conversations has been publicly reported. Former FBI Director James Comey warned President Barack Obama of the potential incoming national security advisor Mike Flynn might pass information to the Russians, according to a newly declassified memo. The memo, which Rice sent to herself on her final day in office, memorializes a White House meeting several days earlier where Obama and top officials discussed potential risks posed by Flynn. A portion of the document formerly classified as 'Top Secret' has now been revealed. Former FBI Director James Comey warned President Barack Obama in 2017 that Mike Flynn had an 'unusual' amount of communication with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. before taking office as Donald Trump's national security advisor 'From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak,' Rice wrote about the January 5, 2017 meeting. 'Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing sensitive information. President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the [National Security Council] should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn,' she continued. Comey's response was that was 'potentially the case.' According to Fox News, Comey continued that there weren't indications Flynn passed on classified information to the Russina ambassador, but noted 'the level of communication is unusual.' U.S. President Barack Obama (3rd L) meets with Vice President Joseph Biden (2nd L), Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and National Security Adviser Susan Rice (R) in the Oval Office of the White House January 7, 2015 in Washington, DC. President Obama spoke on the gunmen attack at the office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France. Two days earlier, top Obama administration members discussed Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador Vice President Joe Biden was present during the 2017 meeting President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017 'From a national security perspective, Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak,' Rice wrote in an email to herself Also present at the meeting were then-Vice President Joe Biden and deputy attorney general Sally Yates. The memo was partially declassified in 2018. In it, Rice states that Obama wanted the matter handled 'by the book.' 'President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the intelligence and law enforcement communities by the book, wrote herself. The president stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book. Comey 'affirmed that he was proceeding "by the book" as it relates to law enforcement,' according to the memo. 'The President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would,' Rice concludes. The network obtained the memo from Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's office. U.S. intelligence intercepts had already picked up communications between Flynn and Kislyak. Numerous officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, sought to 'unmask' Flynn's name from intelligence reports, including to information declassified by the Trump administration last week. Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell declassified the document, as well as the unmasking information. Trump at a cabinet meeting Tuesday praised Grenell unreservedly. 'What a job. I think youll go down as the all time great acting ever at any position,' said Trump, after Grenell gave remarks calling for transparency. One Trump ally concluded that the memo proves that Flynn was being targeted by Obama' inner sanctum. But it has been previously reported that Obama warned Trump not to hire Flynn months before the meetin, and that Trump proceeded anyway. He would fire Flynn after just weeks on the job. He said he did so because Flynn was not truthful with Vice President Mike Pence about his own Russia contacts. Former Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak A National Security Agency document signed by Director General Paul Nakasone lists then-Vice President Joe Biden as among those who requested and may have received information on Flynn in the final days of the Obama administration or were otherwise involved in his unmasking. The leaked memo immediately set off a clash in Washington, with Trump tearing into Biden, his presumed 2020 opponent, for unmasking, which he connected to the prosecution of Flynn, which he termed a disgrace. 'When I see what is happening to him, it's disgraceful,' Trump said of Flynn. 'And it was all a ruse. And by the way the FBI said he didn't lie,' Trump said at the White House Wednesday. The new unmasking document appears to reveal which official or officials ordered Flynn's name be 'unmasked' from intelligence reports, although it also includes hedging language. U.S. citizens have their names blacked out in such reports, although certain officials have the authority to unseal the information. In Biden's case, he gained access to the documents on January 12, 2016 a little over a week before he left office. Almost all of the other requests were before the December 29 call. A newly declassified memo lists officials who submitted requests to the NSA to unmask Gen. Mike Flynn in intelligence documents Biden's name appears last on the chronological list, with many requests before December 29 It listed those who 'may have received' Flynn's identity William Shatner once played Captain James T. Kirk, who led the voyages of the starship Enterprise so that he and the rest of the Star Trek crew could boldly go where no man has gone before. Now Shatner is once again itching to return to the final frontier only this time on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule as it prepares to send American astronauts to the International Space Station. The historic May 27 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, will be the first time in a decade that American astronauts will be sent to the ISS from American soil. It will also be the first time in history that a manned space flight will be overseen by a private company, SpaceX, founded and run by Tesla boss Elon Musk. Shatner, 89, on Wednesday jokingly lobbied NASA to consider him as a replacement in case one of the two astronauts who will fly the manned space mission Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley cant make it. William Shatner on Wednesday jokingly lobbied NASA to allow him onto the historic May 27 launch of two American astronauts into space. On Twitter, the actor photoshopped his face into a space suit Bob Behnken, one of the two astronauts who will be sent to the International Space System, tweeted: How many people can say William Shatner offered to stand in at work for them? I appreciate the offer Captain! Hope youre watching us live when we lift off! To which Shatner replied: What are you talking about, Bob? I'm going to be sitting beside you. Shatner became a cultural icon in the late 1960s, when he starred as Captain James T. Kirk on the popular Star Trek television series BTW (by the way) NASA just in case; the suit does fit! Shatner tweeted. Shatner included a photoshopped image of his face inside a space suit. Behnken responded: How many people can say William Shatner offered to stand in at work for them? I appreciate the offer Captain! He added: Hope youre watching us live when we lift off! To which Shatner replied: What are you talking about, Bob? I'm going to be sitting beside you. Shatner has been one of space explorations biggest fans. In 2014, NASA awarded the actor with its distinguished public service medal, the space agencys highest honor for non-government people. Shatner was given the prize for his outstanding generosity and dedication to inspiring new generations of explorers around the world, and for unwavering support for NASA and its missions of discovery. NASA and Shatner have collaborated numerous times. The actor narrated a documentary about space shuttles. He also recorded a wake-up call for the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 2011. Shatner also provided a voice-over for a video about the Curiosity Mars rover. The curtain rises next Wednesday with the scheduled liftoff of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule with two NASA astronauts, a test flight years in the making. The drama unfolds from the exact spot where men flew to the moon and the last space shuttle soared from Kennedy Space Center. While Florida's Space Coast has seen plenty of launches since the shuttle's farewell tour in 2011 - even at the height of the coronavirus pandemic - they were for satellites, robotic explorers and space station supplies. A handout photo made available by NASA on Thursday shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard as it is raised into a vertical position on the launch pad as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission on May 27 The May 27 launch will be the first time in a decade that American astronauts will be launched into space from American soil. The astronauts, Bob Behnken (left) and Doug Hurley, are seen above The only route to orbit for astronauts was on Russian rockets. NASAs newest test pilots, Hurley and Behnken, are launching from home turf with SpaceX presiding over the countdown. 'Getting a chance again to see human spaceflight in our own backyard,' Behnken said. "That's the thing that's most exciting for me.' The cosmic-size shift to private companies allows NASA to zero in on deep space travel. The space agency is busting to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 under orders from the White House, a deadline looking increasingly unlikely even as three newly chosen commercial teams rush to develop lunar landers. Mars also beckons. 'We're building momentum toward a much more exciting future,' said John Logsdon, founder of George Washington Universitys Space Policy Institute and a professor emeritus. The Russian launch site in Kazakhstan is out of the way and out of sight. Launching crews again from Florida is sure to fire up the public, Logsdon noted. Adding to the appeal is the flash generated by Musk, SpaceXs chief executive, designer and founder who shot his red Tesla Roadster into outer space two years ago during the first flight of a supersized Falcon Heavy rocket. In a touch of Musk showmanship - he also runs the electric car company - Hurley and Behnken will ride to the launch pad in a gull-winged Tesla Model X, white with black trim just like the astronauts spacesuits and the rocket itself. The Dragon riders appreciate Musks hands-on approach. 'On more than one occasion he has looked both Bob and I right in the eye and said, "Hey, if theres anything you guys are not comfortable with or that you're seeing, please tell me and we'll fix it",' Hurley said. It will also be the first time in history that the space flight will be overseen by a private company, SpaceX, founded and run by Tesla boss Elon Musk While trumpeting the return of astronaut launches, NASA is urging spectators to stay away because of the pandemic. But beaches near Kennedy are now open, and the local sheriff is welcoming visitors even though inside the space center, the number of guests will be severely limited. Among the exceptions: both astronaut wives - who have flown in space themselves - and their young sons. Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the National Space Council, is also going, and President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he's thinking of attending, too. Liftoff is set for 4:33pm Eastern time on Wednesday. 'It's going to be a great inspiration to the country next week to see you two go aloft from the Kennedy Space Center,' Pence told the astronauts Tuesday. It will be just the fifth time NASA astronauts strap into a spanking new US space system for liftoff - following Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle. NASA owned and operated all those spacecraft, built by contractors to NASA's precise specifications. The commercial crew program, by contrast, calls for private businesses to handle and own it all, with input and oversight by NASA. Only three countries have launched humans - Russia, the US and China in that order - making SpaceX's attempt all the more impressive. 'My heart is sitting right here,' SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said, pointing to her throat at a news conference earlier this month, 'and I think it's going to stay there until we get Bob and Doug safely back from the International Space Station.' Hurley, 53, a retired Marine, and Behnken, 49, an Air Force colonel, will spend one to four months aboard the orbiting lab, currently down to a three-man, half-size crew. Hurley (foreground) and Behnken work in SpaceX's flight simulator at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the horizontal integration facility It will be just the fifth time NASA astronauts strap into a spanking new US space system for liftoff - following Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle Theyll lend a hand with experiments and possibly spacewalks, before ending their mission with an Atlantic splashdown, a scene not seen for a half-century. As liftoff looms, the two are hesitant to consider their place in space history. 'It seems premature until we've pulled it off,' Behnken said. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the US needs its own access to the space station in order to take full advantage of the $100billion lab - the sooner, the better, pandemic or no. When shuttle Atlantis soared for the final time on July 8, 2011, with Hurley as the pilot under commander Chris Ferguson, NASA envisioned a gap of three to five years. Ferguson now works for Boeing, the other company hired by NASA in 2014 to transport crews. Plagued with software problems, Boeing's Starliner capsule is still a year from launching with Ferguson and two NASA astronauts. While disappointed Boeing is trailing, Ferguson said he'll cheer Hurley and Behnken from the sidelines. The SpaceX duo will lay claim to a small U.S. flag that flew on NASA's first and last shuttle flights, and was left on the station by Ferguson and Hurley for the first commercial crew to arrive. 'Regardless of who might get there first, it's a win for America,' Ferguson said NASA's commercial crew effort builds on industrys space station shipments, now in the eighth year. In this Saturday, March 2, 2019 file photo, Elon Musk (left) CEO of SpaceX, speaks accompanied by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (center) and Doug Hurley during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida SpaceX led the field with its original Dragon cargo capsules. Musk's California-based company was also first out the gate with its souped-up, tricked-out Dragon crew capsule. Crew Dragon made its debut early last year, launching successfully to the space station with a test dummy named Ripley after the Alien films' hardcore heroine. But the next month, the capsule exploded on the engine test stand at Cape Canaveral, a monumental setback. Boeing's Starliner capsule made its premiere last December with Rosie the mannequin, but ended up in the wrong orbit. Boeing will repeat the demo this fall, on its own dime, before putting Ferguson and the others on board. Wayne Hale, a retired space shuttle flight director and program manager who serves on the NASA Advisory Council, views SpaceX's upcoming astronaut flight as an experiment with lessons carrying over to Artemis, NASA's new-generation, moon-landing effort. Hale and others contend SpaceX and Boeing could be flying astronauts by now if Congress had provided more funding early on. The contracts with NASA are worth billions. NASA's inspector general has estimated the per-seat cost for SpaceX at $55million, while the price of a Russian Soyuz seat has averaged $80 million in recent years. Boeing's Starliner will top that: an estimated $90million a pop. An earlier NASA test pilot, Robert Crippen, wishes at least one space shuttle had kept flying until a replacement was ready. The longest previous hiatus between astronaut launches stretched six years - from Apollo-Soyuz in 1975 to the shuttles debut in 1981 with Crippen and John Young. Crippen also wishes the shuttles replacement was more futuristic-looking and landed on a runway. The capsule has the familiar cone shape, but inside touchscreens replace the customary, countless switches. President Trump said he was thinking of going to the launch next week of the SpaceX rocket and spacecraft, which will be taking American astronauts to the International Space Station The walls are gleaming white, not dull gray. Theres even a curtained-off toilet. It has built-in escape engines designed to fling the capsule off the rocket in an emergency, from the time Hurley and Behnken strap in until they reach orbit. 'This crew will have a good escape system,' Crippen said. 'John and I had our ejection seats, but they wouldn't have done much for us on liftoff,' sending them straight through the rockets' trail of fire. A capsule is generally simpler and thus safer than a winged spacecraft like the shuttle, Hurley and Behnken noted. In terms of launch power, the relatively small Falcon 9 has far less than the space shuttle did, another layer of safety. But it's still just the second flight of the crew capsule, and 'the statistics will tell you that's riskier than the 15th flight or 20th flight of the vehicle,' said Hurley, a former fighter pilot. At the suggestion of its technicians, SpaceX added photos of Hurley and Behnken to every work order as a constant reminder that lives - not just freight - are at stake. 'I don't think I need to remind my employees how important this is,' Shotwell, the company president, said. 'They remind themselves.' The journey next week to the International Space Station from Florida's Cape Canaveral will be the first from US soil since the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011. Pictured is the unmanned SpaceX Dragon on approach to the the International Space Station last year Stacker mined 2020 data from the CIA World Factbook and U.S. Census Bureau International Data Base to find out which countries in the world have the highest and lowest populations. This article was first published on Stacker Washington, May 21 : US President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding to the states of Michigan and Nevada over their plans to use mail-in voting in elections. In a number of tweets on Wednesday, Trump claimed that Michigan is "illegally" sending absentee ballot applications to millions and that Nevada is creating "a great Voter Fraud scenario" by sending out "illegal vote by mail ballots", Xinhua reported. "Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing ... they're subject of massive fraud," Trump told reporters at a White House event. Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state, called Trump's accusations "wrong". "Every Michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail," Benson tweeted on Wednesday. "I have the authority & responsibility to make sure that they know how to exercise this right." In a statement on Tuesday, Benson said sending mail-in applications to Michigan's registered voters would ensure their safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. "By mailing applications, we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote," she said. "Voting by mail is easy, convenient, safe, and secure, and every voter in Michigan has the right to do it." Democrats have supported mail-in voting as a way to protect voters from potential exposure to the coronavirus, while Trump has frequently voiced his opposition to it, claiming that the ballots are riddled with fraud and are "corrupt." The 2-trillion-U.S.-dollar bipartisan relief package that Trump signed into law in late March provides 400 million dollars for states to prepare for upcoming primaries and the November general election during the public health crisis. US Senator and former Democratic presidential contender Amy Klobuchar questioned Trump's ability to freeze funding to states. "Last time I checked, the Constitution gives Congress the power to appropriate money, not you," she tweeted on Wednesday. "We provided $400 million to help states protect voters from this virus. A bill you signed! You can't take money back because you think you should be the only one allowed to vote by mail." Trump's tweets came a day before his scheduled trip to a Ford manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to highlight the company's efforts in manufacturing ventilators to help fight the coronavirus. President Donald Trump speaks to the press after meeting with Republican Senators in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 19, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Trump Prescribed Hydroxychloroquine By White House Doctor, McEnany Says President Trump was prescribed antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine by his White House physician, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed May 20. Yes, the doctor did prescribe it for him. And he took it after having several discussions with Dr. Conley about its efficacy, McEnany told David Brody of CBN News. And he believed, Dr. Conley, that the benefits outweigh the risks for the President. And, you know hydroxychloroquine, its worth mentioning, is a drug that has been approved for at least three other conditions. Malaria is one of them as a prophylaxis (preventative measure) Lupus is another example. McEnany referenced the right to try act Trump signed into law May 30, 2018, which allows patients who have been diagnosed with life-threatening diseases or conditions who have tried all approved treatment options and who are unable to participate in a clinical trial, to access certain unapproved treatments. So you know, you do have a right to try it, in essence, to reflect on the language of the presidents previous legislation that gives people the right to try and the waning days of their life or when theyre facing a fatal illness, she said of hydroxychloroquine. However, the press secretary stressed that Americans should not take the drug unless it has been prescribed by their doctor, adding, its very important to say that. Only your doctor can say that this is for you and prescribe it to you. But nevertheless, to completely act as if this is some sort of poison when there are many, many Americans and many people around the world taking this for Lupus and other illnessesit just does more harm than good. McEnanys comments came two days after the White House released a letter from White House physician Dr. Sean Conley to McEnany stating that the president was in very good health and was receiving regular testing for COVID-19, which have all been negative to date. After numerous discussions he and I had regarding the evidence for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risk, Conley wrote. The letter did not explicitly state that the doctor had prescribed hydroxychloroquine, nor did it include information about Trumps dosage. Trump told reporters earlier Monday he had started taking the controversial drug, which he has regularly championed as a potential game changer in the fight against coronavirus despite limited evidence from the medical community. Speaking at a roundtable event at the White House, Trump told reporters, I happen to be taking it Im taking it, hydroxychloroquine. Right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it cause I think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. Youd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the front-line workers, before you catch it. The front-line workers, many, many are taking it, he added. Trump also said that he is taking zinc, and that he has taken an initial dose of the antibiotic azithromycin, or Z-Pak. His disclosing his taking of the drug comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month issued a warning that hydroxychloroquine should not be taken outside of a hospital or clinical trial after it became aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with the virus who were treated with the malaria drug, often in combination with azithromycin. A 20-year-old amateur porn star has been accused of ties to an online network which creates and shares child abuse material. Alec McGeary's apartment in Botany, Sydney's south, was raided by officers from the NSW Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad and Australian Federal Police on Wednesday. Police allegedly found at least 11 videos on electronic devices during the search, The Daily Telegraph reported. Alec McGeary (pictured), 20, has been accused of ties to an online network which creates and shares child abuse material The IT worker, originally from Hobart, was arrested and charged with possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service and using a carriage service to access child abuse material. McGeary's Instagram page links to subscriber porn site OnlyFans and the blond-haired 20-year-old often posts shirtless selfies. The Tasmanian-raised man said some of his hobbies include gaming, science, maths, gym, and pole dancing. He was remanded in custody on Wednesday evening before appearing in Central Local Court on Thursday. McGeary was granted strict conditional bail by Magistrate Philip Stewart and his mother was required to pay a $2,000 surety to ensure he remained in New South Wales. The IT worker, originally from Hobart, was arrested and charged with possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service and using a carriage service to access child abuse material He is also banned from using the internet. The magistrate told the court that the case against McGeary was 'overwhelmingly strong'. Officers were allegedly led to McGeary after a tip-off from the United States' National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led to an investigation in February. McGeary is due to return to court on July 22. An ancient piece of literature from modern-day Iraq was illegally brought to the United States and must be forfeited, a New York City court ruled today. A tablet including part of the Epic of Gilgamesh a tale from the ancient civilization of Sumeria and one of the world's oldest pieces of literature entered the United States illegally and was then sold, the Department of Justice US Attorneys office for the Eastern District of New York said in a release Monday. Whenever looted cultural property is found in this country, the United States government will do all it can to preserve heritage by returning such artifacts where they belong, the districts attorney Richard Donghue said. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a long poem written the Akkadnian language that was found in 1853 in the ruins of a library of the Assyrian King Assurbanipal, located in the modern-day Nineveh province of northern Iraq. The story of a king is one of the oldest known epics in human history. The tablet in question is a clay cuneiform tablet bearing part of the epic about a dream being recanted to the protagonists mother. The delicate piece is one of hundreds of thousands of artifacts looted from Iraq since the 1990s, according to court documents. The issue with the tablet began in 2003, the year the United States invaded Iraq. At that time, an unknown antiquities dealer purchased the tablet from a Middle Eastern antiquities dealer in London. It was revealed to be part of the Gilgamesh epic after being cleaned. In 2007, the dealer falsely stated that the tablet had been acquired via an auction in 1981 and sold an auction house. In 2014, the US arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby bought the tablet and it was then displayed at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, according to the release. Reuters revealed yesterday that the international auction house Christies sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby, citing a fraud claim filed by Hobby Lobby against Christies. Christies told Reuters the company had no knowledge of the illegality of the acquisition. The Museum of the Bible cooperated with the investigation, the Department of Justice said. The tablet was seized by US officials back in September, but the forfeit order was filed Monday, according to the release. The looting of antiquities is a major issue in Iraq and the government has worked for years to retrieve items from its rich cultural heritage. Poor economic and security conditions have contributed to theft of artifacts in the country. Iraqi law stipulates that objects like the tablet are the property of the state. The United States also has laws forbidding the transfer of such objects from Iraq, according to the court documents. Confirmed coronavirus cases around the world passed 5 million early Thursday as infections continue to accelerate in the Americas. The U.S. alone accounts for 1.5 million cases of the virus and more than 90,000 deaths of the global death toll. In China, where the virus outbreak was first detected late last year, government officials said there will be no official growth targets set for this year due to the uncertainties of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Japan's central bank outlined details for a new scheme aimed at boosting lending to small and medium-sized businesses who are struggling with the economic fallout. The coverage on this live blog has ended but for up-to-the-minute coverage on the coronavirus, visit the live blog from CNBC's U.S. team. Global cases: More than 5.1 million Global deaths: At least 333,323 Countries with the most cases: United States (more than 1.5 million), Russia (326,448), Brazil (310,087), United Kingdom (252,246), Spain (233,037) The data above was compiled by Johns Hopkins University. George Soros warns Covid-19 threatens EU's survival 11:30 a.m. (London time) Billionaire investor and liberal political activist George Soros has suggested the European Union may not be able to survive the coronavirus outbreak in the absence of perpetual bonds. "If the EU is unable to consider it now, it may not be able to survive the challenges it currently confronts," Soros said in an emailed transcript to reporters, according to Reuters. "This is not a theoretical possibility; it may be the tragic reality," he added. Sam Meredith George Soros OLIVIER HOSLET | AFP | Getty Images Russia reports record daily increase in deaths 4:03 p.m. (Singapore time) Russia reported 150 additional fatalities that were related to the coronavirus in the last 24 hours a record daily jump that brought the country's death toll to 3,249, according to a report by Reuters. The number of confirmed cases in Russia rose by 8,894 in the last day to a total of 326,448, reported Reuters, citing the country's coronavirus crisis response center. Russia's total cases remained the second-highest globally behind the U.S., and some experts have questioned its relatively low death rate from the virus. Yen Nee Lee People wear masks as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia on March 17, 2020. Sefa Karacan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images China decides against setting a growth target this year 11:39 a.m. (Singapore time) China will not set a GDP target for 2020 as Premier Li Keqiang said the world's second-largest economy faces "factors that are difficult to predict in its development," due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak. Li's remarks were part of China's annual parliamentary meeting that had been delayed by about two months this year due to the disease. In the three months that ended in March, the economy contracted by 6.8% and unemployment stayed near historic highs. Data showed some recovery last month but officials have raised concerns about a drag on growth due to the infection's spread overseas. Last year, the Chinese economy grew 6.1%, which just about made the official target set by Beijing of between 6% and 6.5%. Evelyn Cheng, Saheli Roy Choudhury Japan's central bank outlines details for new scheme to boost SME lending 9:41 a.m. (Singapore time) Japan's central bank on Friday said it decided on the details of a new scheme designed to boost lending to small and medium-sized businesses affected by the pandemic. The measure will make available an estimated 30 trillion yen ($279 billion) in new funding support to eligible financial institutions. The Bank of Japan said it would provide loans for up to a year at zero percent interest to lenders that participate in government programs to provide interest-free and unsecured loans for smaller firms that desperately need cash to withstand the economic fallout. BOJ said it has already implemented two other measures that include purchase of corporate bonds. The three measures comprise a special program to support Japan's economy and is estimated to be about 75 trillion yen in size. Saheli Roy Choudhury Marc Lasry says the market will eventually realize the U.S. will be in a recession 'for a while' 7:45 p.m. ET Billionaire investor Marc Lasry told CNBC on Thursday that the U.S. is going to be in a recession "for a while," a reality not currently reflected in the market. More states now opening indoor dining at restaurants 6:41 pm ET Both Ohio and West Virginia expanded restaurant services by allowing indoor dining starting Thursday. West Virginia also reopened indoor shopping malls and state park campgrounds as part of its "West Virginia Strong The Comeback" plan. For more on states' reopening progress, click here.Hannah Miller How long it could take before a second stimulus check is in your hands Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images 5:50 p.m. ET Americans who are hoping for a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks should be prepared to wait. Though the House of Representatives recently passed a bill that includes that second round of checks, experts say it could take time for Americans to get that money, even if the Senate and President Donald Trump sign off on those payments. Senate Republicans have indicated they are reluctant to vote yes on the Democrats' latest $3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package until they see a need for more money. Negotiations on Capitol Hill could take up until they break for July 4, one expert says, unless an economic emergency prompts them to act earlier. What's more, like the first round of payments, it would likely take the IRS months to deploy the payments. That could mean some will have to wait until they file their taxes in 2021 to get all of the money due to them. Lori Konish Trump says he won't close the country if a second wave of coronavirus hits President Donald Trump holds a mask as he speaks during a tour of the Ford Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 21, 2020. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images 5:15 p.m. ET President Donald Trump said "we are not closing our country" if the U.S. is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections. "People say that's a very distinct possibility, it's standard," Trump said when he was asked about a second wave while touring the Ford factory in Michigan. "We are going to put out the fires. We're not going to close the country," Trump said. "We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we are not closing our country." Kevin Breunninger CDC's dashboard includes data that could inflate test numbers CDC headquarters in Atlanta Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg via Getty Images 5:05 p.m. ET The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest dashboard on the state of coronavirus testing in the U.S. combines statistics on two different kinds of tests that could be altering key data points. The CDC confirmed that its site combines numbers for diagnostic tests, which identify infected people, and antibody tests, which determine whether someone has been previously infected. Epidemiologists look at the percent of people testing positive with the former to indicate the state of the outbreak, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University Robert Bednarczyk said. "If we're testing more people and not finding as many cases, that would be a sign that things are getting better," he told CNBC. "But if that's happening because we're artificially inflating the test numbers, then we are not seeing the true picture." Will Feuer Trump doesn't wear coronavirus mask in public at Ford plant, does wear one for private part of tour U.S. President Donald Trump holds a protective face mask with a presidential seal on it that he said he had been wearing earlier in his tour at the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant that is manufacturing ventilators, masks and other medical supplies during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Ypsilanti, Michigan, May 21, 2020. Leah Millis | Reuters 5 p.m. ET President Donald Trump did not wear a face mask during the public part of a visit to a Ford Motor plant in Michigan, despite the company requiring masks for others. "Not necessary," Trump said, when a reporter asked why he was not wearing a mask, despite the policy and despite Michigan's attorney general saying he was obligated by state law to wear one. Trump said, "I had one [a mask] on before," in an area that was not visible to reporters, but added: "I didn't want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it." Ford later issued a statement saying: Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The President later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit." Trump was visiting Ford's Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, which is making ventilators in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Dan Mangan Clarification: This blog entry was updated to to reflect that Trump did wear a mask in private at the Ford plant. Georgia reopening has been 'a mixed bag,' Atlanta Fed President Bostic says 4:45 p.m. ET Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic called the state's reopening a "mixed bag" of some who are ready to "get back to where they were pre-crisis" and others who are still afraid to go out. Going back to the mall is going to look different 4:25 p.m. ET Mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which owns properties such as Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, and Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, is preparing to reopen its properties across the country in phases. And shopping at the mall is going to look a lot different than what it did in a pre-Covid-19 world. Among the changes URW is making, shoppers will be able to book appointments on an app to visit stores at its malls, people will be able to order delivery from vendors in the food court and they can check online to see how many people are in a mall at any given moment in time. Other U.S. mall owners including Simon and Macerich are also beginning to reopen their properties. Lauren Thomas Best Buy puts new spin on hands-on shopping during pandemic A view of a Best Buy retail store on August 29, 2019 in San Bruno, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images 4 p.m. ET Best Buy is known for its hands-on displays of gadgets that people can touch and see. With the pandemic, though, the retailer has had to come up with new ways to sell items to customers that may worry about getting sick. It's offering curbside-pickup outside of its stores. This month, the company also began reopening stores to customers -- but by appointment only. At about 700 of its 1,000 U.S. stores, customers can visit for a one-on-one consultation. A mask-wearing employee escorts the customer around the store, wipes down everything he or she touches and offers advice. Each customer gets a half hour appointment, though they can book more time. So far, CEO Corie Barry said large appliances and home theater systems have been popular. She said the company will continue to test new ways to serve customers and may tailor them to different regions. And she said it'll offer customers choices to put them at ease. Melissa Repko How new coronavirus cases are trending by state 3:43 p.m. ET With all 50 U.S. states now reopening their economies in some capacity, coronavirus case data shows outbreak trends vary across the country. The map below shows how cases are rising or falling, by state, as measured by the change in the seven-day average of daily new cases. The data compares new cases reported between May 14 and May 20 with the same metric from May 7 through May 13. More than a third of the country has seen a rise in new cases during that period. In the CDC's guidelines for states to reopen, the agency listed a "downward trajectory (or near-zero incidence) of documented cases over a 14-day period" as one of the gating criteria for states to move through each of the three phases outlined in its plan. Nate Rattner Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Universal Orlando reopening plan would open park to some guests on June 3 Guests wearing face masks visit the Universal Orlando's CityWalk as sections of the entertainment and retail district opened today for limited hours for the first time since Universal Orlando closed on March 15, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Paul Hennesy | Barcroft Media | Getty Images 3:38 p.m. ET The Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force voted to approve Universal Orlando's park reopening plan, which includes making the park accessible to employees on June 1 and June 2, and will allow some guests to enter on June 3 and June 4. Guests' temperatures will be taken at all entrances and employees and visitors will be required to wear masks. Most of the park has been closed since March. Select venues at Universal Orlando Resort's CityWalk reopened May 12. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is expected to endorse reopening of the park and will send his recommendation Friday morning. Demings expects to have a plan from Disney World next week. Hannah Miller Cloud index hits record high 3:36 p.m. ET Cloud services like Everbridge, Twilio and Zoom have seen demand increase as the coronavirus sent workers and students home. That has benefited one grouping of cloud companies, the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, and an exchange-traded fund based on it, the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund. Both hit new highs this week. WisdomTree has $110 million in assets under management and is up more than 30% for the year, outperforming all three major U.S. indices following its debut in September. Jordan Novet The Mall of America hasn't paid its mortgage in two months 3:28 p.m. ET Retail real estate owners are reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, as their tenants are struggling to pay rent. The Mall of America has missed two months of payments on its $1.4 billion mortgage. The mall, operated by private developers Triple Five Group, skipped loan payments in April and May. It is unclear at this point if the loan will be pushed into forbearance. Mall of America- and American Dream-owner Triple Five Group previously told CNBC that it was concerned about some of its tenants not paying rent, which was going to hinder its ability to make mortgage payments. Lauren Thomas Facebook expects 50% of employees will work remotely by 2030 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the F8 Facebook Developers conference on April 30, 2019 in San Jose, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images 2:28 p.m. ET Facebook will ramp up its hiring of remote workers and allow certain existing employees to continue working remotely moving forward after coronavirus restrictions ease, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. The company expects 50% of employees to work remotely within the next five to 10 years as a result of this decision, Zuckerberg said. Moving forward, employees who meet specific criteria and are interested in permanently working remotely will be able to request that approval. Employees who move to permanent remote work and relocate may have their salaries adjusted based on their new locations, Zuckerberg said. Salvador Rodriguez Billionaires see their wealth grow during pandemic Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk dances onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, China, January 7, 2020. Aly Song | Reuters 2:22 p.m. ET While the pandemic has introduced greater economic uncertainty for many Americans, some of the country's richest individuals have only added to their wealth. U.S. billionaires grew their fortunes by $434 billion between mid-March and mid-May, with CEOs like Tesla's Elon Musk and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg nearly doubling their individual net worth, CNBC's Robert Frank reports. Amazon's Jeff Bezos also saw his wealth surge by 31% to $147 billion, illustrating how the pandemic has favored large, tech-focused companies. Hannah Miller May unemployment was worse than expected and could signal another bad jobs report 2:12 p.m. ET Economists were hoping the number of Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits would flatten out or even dip in the latest government weekly report. But the fact it rose by 2.5 million to 25 million, for the week ending May 9, suggests state reopenings or government aid to small business were not yet resulting in a lot of rehirings. The continuing unemployment data trails by one week data on new claim filings, which totaled 2.4 million in the week ending May 16, down slightly from 2.7 million the week earlier. Jefferies economists said the claims data suggests that the employment picture in May was worse than expected, and their model shows job losses of 10.3 million for the month. That number is not their official forecast, as they await more data. They expect a hiring rebound in June. Patti Domm Will Smith and Kevin Hart bet coronavirus will accelerate shift toward virtual events Will Smith and Kevin Hart pose backstage at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros. Studios on April 9, 2016 in Burbank, California. Jason Kempin | MTV1415 | Getty Images for MTV 1:59 p.m. ET Run The World, a platform for hosting online events, has bagged $10.8 million from a flock of high-profile investors including Will Smith and Kevin Hart. Co-founded by former Facebook employee Xiaoyin Qu, the company has seen a hundredfold climb in users in the last three months alone. The firm's headcount also doubled over the last two months. The start-up's Series A round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, while Smith and Hart also participated through their venture funds. The celebrities "are passionate about the mission of using online events to connect people and build communities," Qu told CNBC. "We believe their guidance can be very critical for Run The World to create this new category of engaging online events that the world is seeing for the first time." Ryan Browne Tesla HR tells employees they are returning to 'normal operations' at car and battery factories this week 1:49 p.m. ET Tesla HR told employees, in a memo obtained by CNBC, that the company is returning to "normal operations," and resuming its regular attendance policy this week at its Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant and battery factory outside of Reno, Nevada. Elon Musk's electric vehicle company will be giving employees the option to take unpaid leave until May 31, with HR approval, if they are worried about exposing a household member to Covid-19. Tesla wound down operations at its U.S. car plant in Fremont as of March 24, under local health orders. But at Musk's behest, Tesla resumed vehicle manufacturing at the factory the weekend of May 9 in defiance of the health orders. Lora Kolodny NY Gov. Cuomo: Schools should plan as if they are reopening in September, but it's too early to decide Governor Cuomo makes an announcement and holds briefing on COVID-19 response at Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Lev Radin | Pacific Press | Getty Images 1:40 p.m. ET New York public schools should begin preparing to reopen this fall but it may be too early to know for sure whether that can happen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. The state plans on issuing guidelines to schools in early June on what they will need to do in order to reopen. "The state will approve those plans in July, all in preparation for an opening in September," Cuomo said at a news briefing. As the number of cases of a new Covid-19 complication in kids continues to rise, reopening schools remains an uncertainty. The governor said further research into the disease is needed before a decision can be made about summer camps and schools in the fall. Jasmine Kim Officials plan for busy Atlantic hurricane season amid the pandemic 1:28 p.m. ET The National Hurricane Center is predicting an above-normal Atlantic season, with up to 19 named storms, three to six of which could become major hurricanes. The forecast is further complicating the job for the country's disaster response officials, who are already dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. Agencies across the country are being forced to adjust how they would typically respond to future catastrophes. "How do we care for what could be tens of thousands of people in need of a major evacuation in a major hurricane?" said Trevor Riggen, senior vice president for disaster cycle services for the American Red Cross. "We know we're going to have to open a shelter at some point, and so we've been working to adjust our protocol to make sure we can open safe shelters." The Red Cross, FEMA and state agencies are stockpiling personal protective equipment and creating new protocols including temperature checks as well as designating isolation areas for any evacuees who are showing symptoms of Covid-19. Jared Moskowitz, Florida's head of emergency management, told CNBC the state is deploying an app to help track and distribute necessary PPE items, including masks. Katie Young Coronavirus leads to 'inflection point' for auto sales A customer looks at a newly purchased Toyota Motor Corp. vehicle at the Brent Brown Toyota dealership in Orem, Utah, on Monday, April 6, 2020. George Frey | Bloomberg via Getty Images 1:07 p.m. ET The coronavirus pandemic has upended auto sales, and many don't think they will ever be the same again. Dealers and automakers are changing business strategies and investing millions in new digital sales tools as consumers demand more online and personalized services. That doesn't mean showrooms won't be needed going forward. It'll just be different, including new sanitization processes and a larger combination of online and in-person sales, according to officials. "For digital, this whole disruptive period with corona is an inflection point from which there's no turning back," Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation, the country's largest auto retailer, recently told investors. What that means for consumers is being able to choose how much or how little of the process they want to conduct online. That includes scheduling a test drive or delivery of a vehicle to appraising a trade-in and getting prequalified for financing. More importantly, it should result in less, if any, time waiting at dealerships and flexible options such as having the vehicle picked up or delivered something Tesla Motors and other newer auto retailers such as Carvana have been doing for years. Michael Wayland McConnell says new unemployment benefit will not get extended Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images 12:44 p.m. ET Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told House Republicans that the next coronavirus relief legislation would not extend the $600 per week federal unemployment benefit, a source familiar with his remarks said. The enhanced unemployment insurance, passed as part of the $2 trillion rescue package in March, aims to provide a financial backstop as shutdowns designed to slow the pandemic led to more than 38 million people filing jobless claims since March. Last week, House Democrats approved a bill that would extend the strengthened unemployment insurance through January. The disagreement reflects a broader partisan divide over how and when to use more federal money to try to blunt the economic crisis created by the outbreak. Jacob Pramuk New York City mayor says 'all roads are leading' to begin reopening in first half of June A travel direction sign is seen in Bryant Park during the coronavirus pandemic on May 20, 2020 in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images 11:55 a.m. ET New York City is on track to begin its phased reopening in the first half of June as the number of people admitted to the city's hospitals and those currently in intensive-care units for Covid-19 continues to decline, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The percentage of people citywide testing positive for Covid-19 has remained below 15% for 10 days now, he said. For more than a week, the city has been around or below the annual average for people administered to the hospitals for the category of diseases related to the coronavirus, which is "very powerful," De Blasio said. "I want to signal as clear as a bell, all roads are leading to the first half of June. The city indicators, the state indicators, we're seeing very clear progress," de Blasio said at a press conference. Phase one of the state's reopening plan would allow for curbside pickup and in-store drop off at retail stores and the resumption of construction and manufacturing jobs. New York City has met four of the seven health criteria required by the state to begin its phased reopening. Noah Higgins-Dunn Contactless temperature-checking kiosks are coming. Here's what it's like to use one 10:57 a.m. ET As states begin to reopen, venues like movie theaters, theme parks and sports stadiums are looking for ways to keep staff and visitors safe. Part of that strategy involves checking temperatures to prevent people who are sick from entering populated locations. However, for venues that typically have large crowds, trying to do mass temperature checks can be an overwhelming undertaking. To handle that, tech companies IntraEdge and Pyramid have created a contactless kiosk that can check the temperature of up to 1,500 people per hour. A kiosk called "Janus" uses thermal imaging technology to scan a person and determine if their temperature is above the allowed 100.4-degree mark set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This camera has an error margin of less than one-tenth of a degree Fahrenheit. The kiosk encrypts the result and sends it to the user's phone, but will show on the screen whether they have been granted access to the venue. These units cost around $7,500 each and can be deployed by a venue within four to six weeks of ordering. Sarah Whitten April home sales plunge nearly 18%, while drop in inventory pushes prices to record high 10:47 a.m. ET The economic fallout from the coronavirus hit the housing market hard in April. Sales of existing homes fell 17.8% month-to-month to the slowest pace in 9 years, according to the National Association of Realtors. The supply of homes for sale hit a record low for April, as fewer people listed their homes, and those already on the market pulled their listings. That pushed the median price of an existing home to a record high of $286,800. Diana Olick Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen released from prison into home confinement 10:44 a.m. ET President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen became the latest high-profile federal prisoner to be released into home confinement as part of an effort by officials to reduce the risk of coronavirus among inmates. Cohen, 53, joins former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and the controversial attorney Michael Avenatti in being freed in recent weeks due to Covid-19 concerns. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to financial crimes and felonies related to hush-money payments to women who claim they had sex with Trump, will serve the remaining part of his three-year prison term at his apartment in Manhattan. Cohen's release originally was expected on May 1 but was delayed for unknown reasons after reports that he is writing a tell-all book about Trump that is planned for release before the 2020 presidential election. Cohen's sentence is due to end in November 2021. Dan Mangan TSA changes screening procedures for pandemic era A TSA officer wears a protective mask while screening travellers at Orlando International Airport. In the past 14 days across the nation, 58 TSA screening officers have tested positive for COVID-19, including 9 in Orlando. Paul Hennessy | Barcroft Media | Getty Images 10:36 a.m. ET Travelers headed to U.S. airports in the coming weeks will have to scan their boarding passes themselves at security checkpoints and face longer lines, under new procedures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. Air travel, which normally picks up in the late spring before peaking in July, is starting to recover from more than six-decade lows hit in April, a slump driven by the virus and measures to avoid it like stay-at-home orders. Air travel, even with the recovery, is still down 92% compared with last year, but TSA is urging passengers to arrive at the airport early because of some new screening protocols and staffing changes. Travelers will also have to put their carry-on food in a clear plastic bag to avoid setting off an alarm, lessening the chance a TSA officer will have to touch their items. TSA Precheck members do not need to remove items from their bags. TSA is also telling travelers to wear a mask, which major U.S. airlines have mandated for crew members and passengers, though carriers have stopped short of forcing travelers to wear masks on board. Six TSA employees have died from the virus, while 590 have tested positive and 386 of them have recovered. Leslie Josephs NJ Gov. Murphy says further reopening in a 'matter of weeks' 10:32 a.m. ET New Jersey hopes to reopen gyms, barbers, indoor restaurants and other nonessential businesses that remain shuttered in a "matter of weeks," Gov. Phil Murphy told CNBC. New Jersey, which is the second hardest-hit state in the country in terms of Covid-19 cases, has taken a more cautious approach to reopening than some other states that have not seen as large of outbreaks. Retail businesses in the state were allowed to reopen for curbside pickup on Monday and the state will open its beaches Friday for Memorial Day Weekend. "We chose to rip the band-aid off the economy, which has been extraordinarily painful for job loss, for small businesses, for many of our sectors," Murphy said. "This is a delicate balance without question." Will Feuer Amazon reportedly delays Prime Day sales event until September 10:29 a.m. ET Amazon is postponing its annual Prime Day event until September, according to The Wall Street Journal. Prime Day, first launched in 2015, is Amazon's marquee shopping event and it typically uses the discount celebration to secure new Prime members, as well as to promote its own products and services. The company moved to delay the event because it continues to face a surge of online orders due to the coronavirus. Amazon's supply still hasn't caught up with demand and many household goods are still out of stock or showing delayed shipping times. Brands and sellers have been preparing for Amazon to delay this year's Prime Day. Reuters reported in April that Amazon would move the event, usually scheduled for July, until at least August. Anne Palmer Latest hot spots of new U.S. cases Starbucks CEO says U.S. and China sales improving as chain reopens cafes 9:41 a.m. ET Starbucks customers are gradually returning to the chain's cafes in U.S. and China. The company has regained about 60% to 65% of its U.S. same-store sales over the last week, compared with the same period a year ago, CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a letter to employees. Cafes in China have regained about 80% of their same-store sales, according to Johnson. About 99% of cafes in China have reopened, while more than 85% of U.S. locations are open again with modified hours and operations. Amelia Lucas Stocks slip as investors digest latest weekly jobless claims data. 9:37 a.m. ET Stocks fell slightly as investors digested sharp gains from earlier in the week along with the latest weekly jobless claims data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded just 28 points lower, or down 0.1%. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% as well while the Nasdaq Composite was flat. Read updates on stock market activity from CNBC's Fred Imbert and Thomas Franck. Melodie Warner Summer driving season is starting, but it's unclear how many people will hit the road A customer gets ready to fill his car with gasoline at a Shell gas station in San Francisco, California. Getty Images 9:15 a.m. ET Memorial Day is the traditional start to summer, but it's unclear whether drivers can, or will, take to the road as states reopen. Gasoline demand is still down about 30% even as all 50 states resume some level of activity. How much drivers fuel up is an important indicator that has been closely tied to employment. U.S. gasoline use is also important for oil prices since American drivers normally count for about 10% of world oil demand each day. Analysts who are watching the gasoline market are tracking mobility data and traffic congestion data, in addition to traditional supply and demand metrics. The uneven reopening of the economy has made it difficult to assess what fuel demand will be like. AAA, which normally projects Memorial Day travel, has said it would not make a forecast this year. Forty-three million people traveled last year, according to AAA. Patti Domm A vaccine might be ready by early 2021. It's far from guaranteed 9:08 a.m. ET U.S. officials and scientists are hopeful a vaccine to prevent the virus will be ready by early next year. But it's far from guaranteed, scientists warn. The fastest-ever vaccine development, mumps, took more than four years and was licensed in 1967. Additionally, scientists still don't fully understand key aspects of the virus, including how immune systems respond once a person is exposed. The answers may have large implications for vaccine development, including how quickly it can be deployed to the public. Berkeley Lovelace Jr. More than half of small businesses are looking to have PPP funds forgiven, survey says 9:00 a.m. ET A National Federation of Independent Business survey found that 80% of businesses polled have applied for PPP loans and 90% have received funding. But while more than half believe they will have all loan expenses forgiven, many are struggling to comply with the law as written. Nearly half say using the loan in the eight-week window is difficult and the same percentage says it's challenging to get employee headcount back to where it was precrisis. This comes ahead of a vote in the House of Representatives next week on potential changes to PPP around forgiveness and usage guidelines. Kate Rogers Weekly jobless claims rose 2.438 million, seventh straight week of a declining pace Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards 8:52 a.m. ET Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 2.44 million last week, representing the seventh straight week of a declining pace following the record peak of 6.9 million in late March. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 2.4 million claims. In the nine weeks since the coronavirus-induced lockdown shut down large parts of the U.S. economy, some 38.6 million workers have filed claims. Read more about the U.S. weekly jobless claims from CNBC's Jeff Cox. Melodie Warner Most Americans will be vaccinated by summer 2021, Morgan Stanley biotech analyst predicts 7:17 a.m. ET Most Americans will be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the middle of next year, Morgan Stanley biotech analyst Matthew Harrison told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange." "We've talked about spring to summer of 2021 as when we would expect to see the vast majority of the U.S. population vaccinated," he said, adding that he's watching Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, CanSino and GSK-Sanofi as major players in the race for a vaccine. A vaccine could be approved for broad distribution sooner, he said, but it will take time for any company to ramp up manufacturing and distribution capacity. Moderna, which is leading the pack, is already building manufacturing and could produce tens of millions of doses by the end of 2020, with that increasing to a rate of 1 billion doses per year by the middle of 2021. Will Feuer 'The worst is behind us,' Italy's prime minister says A rider of delivery food Just Eat runs in Piazza Duomo on April 23, 2020 in Milan, Italy. Pier Marco Tacca 7:09 a.m. ET Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy, which was the first epicenter of Europe's epidemic, has overcome the worst part of its crisis. "We can say that the worst is behind us. ... We cannot stop to wait for a vaccine, otherwise we would find ourselves with an irreparably compromised society and production system," Conte told the Italian Parliament, Reuters reported, as the country looks to lift more lockdown measures. He also warned the public that "now is not the time for parties" after scenes of young people gathering at night in some cities, and also appealed to the public to take their vacations in Italy. Holly Ellyatt Graceland is set to reopen The spirit of the award-winning distillery 505 Spirits LLC rests in lovebirds Anna Jones and Robert Houston, husband-and-wife owners of the company. 505 Spirits has been a love story in the making. Houston and Jones met in 1994 and worked together in an art studio in Chicago. We had an instant connection and felt really drawn together, but then I moved away, Jones said. In their time apart, they had each carried on with their lives but knew their connection was something that doesnt happen often, Houston said. He had settled in New Mexico, but they stayed in touch. They decided it was time to meet again: Houston headed up to Chicago and the rest was history. They later had a daughter and moved back to New Mexico, Jones said. I loved New Mexico and just wanted to come back, and I convinced her to do it, Houston said. The couple has been working on flavors in their distillery, and their experiences have influenced those flavors, they said. They are eager to open the doors to 505 Spirits and cant wait for the community to come together and enjoy each others company after these trying times, they said. The two have been working since January of 2019 to bring a distillery and tasting room to Placitas, Houston said. The tasting room is going to be at the site of the original Thunderbird Bar, which is in the historic Placitas building right next to the post office, and its been sitting empty for the last 20 years, he said. The couple said they anticipate being able to open in July at 664 NM 165, but it depends on how quickly the quarantine passes and they are able to finalize their licenses with the state. The location has a history as a blues and jazz club, a cafe and, since about 2000, a special-event venue. Jones and Houston said the property is beautiful and the perfect place to open a tasting room to combine their love of good food, yummy drinks and socializing. Jones is a formally trained chef and pastry chef, and has worked in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, according to a flyer by 505 Spirits. They plan to have lots of local flavors, produce and meats from around the area, Jones said. The two planned on serving not only their own liqueurs made at the distillery, but also other New Mexico beer, wine and spirits. Their tasting room will have a family-friendly and inclusive atmosphere, live music, poetry reading and more, they said. They will feature four of their award-winning spirits from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, including a Cacao Liqueur, Jones said. Houston said they feel as though their products are not competing with other local products, but complementing them. In the distillery, they plan on coming out with a line of products, with four being liqueurs and three of those based on New Mexico ingredients, Houston said. In New Mexico, the old question of red or green will once again be asked at 505 Spirits, as he and Jones have created a red and green sauce liqueur. 505 Spirits has a business plan to keep it local, they said. Their local sourcing includes chiles, prickly pear fruit, wine grapes and meats, and construction work, according to a flyer. Jones plans to add an educational component to the company with a cooking internship program for culinary students, pastry production and meal prep during non-business hours, according to the flyer. The opening of the tasting room and distillery will create about 14 new jobs, with plans to add four more the following year. With Joness background as a chef, not only will she create tasty food, but she also has a specialty of combining flavors, she said. Its not just sticking red or green chile in something and having those flavors; I have also added herbs and spices to enhance the experience, Jones said. Adding the extra ingredients contributed to the taste of the chile and supported its structure, she said. They use sun-dried Hatch red chiles and local Wagner Farms roasted green chile. Both chiles are mild to having a slight kick, Jones and Houston said. For more information, email info@505spirits.com, or call Jones at (312) 823-9640 or Houston at (505) 203-1857. Journalists from non-government owned media outlets were barred from covering Malaysias lower-house parliamentary proceedings May 18. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM) urge the parliament to give equal access to all journalists. As a result of the media ban, journalists from organisations other than the national news agency Bernama and Radio Television Malaysia were forced to wait outside the Malaysian Parliament in Kuala Lumpur, in the heat. After the two-hour sitting, journalists approached members of parliament for their response. At around 11.30 am a journalist from Kwong Wah Yit Poh, a local Chinese daily, fainted and fell on the ground. Soon after the journalist regarding consciousness and was attended to by police and media personnel. NUJM said a more conducive environment should be provided to journalists if they are not allowed to enter parliament. If journalists are not given access or entry to Parliament, then provide them with a place with shade or a waiting room, especially during a time when we are facing a pandemic, NUJM added. The IFJ said: The IFJ expresses disappointment at parliaments failure to reconsider the decision to ban journalists from covering the lower-house parliamentary proceedings. The IFJ urges the government to consult with journalist unions and media freedom organisations to create a safe environment that will facilitate journalists access to information. BALTIMORE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Versant Health's Elizabeth Klunk, Senior Vice President of Medical Management, was named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award in the "Lifetime Achievement - Business Services Industries" category in The 18th Annual American Business Awards. The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.'s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning "crowned," the awards will be virtually presented to winners during a live event on Wednesday, August 5. More than 3,600 nominations from organizations of all sizes, and in virtually every industry, were submitted for consideration in a wide range of categories. Elizabeth Klunk won the Silver Stevie Award for "Lifetime Achievement - Business Services Industries" based on her extensive experience in improving clinical healthcare operations. Her career has been driven by the purpose of helping people, from spearheading investment in nursing informatics, to overseeing medical management for managed vision care. Judges for the award category say that Elizabeth's contribution to the healthcare industry is admirable and to be commended, and her education and achievements make her a well deserving candidate for this title. "We are extremely proud that Liz has been honored by the Stevie Awards," said Kirk Rothrock, Chief Executive Officer of Versant Health. "Our executive leadership team is always working toward innovating healthcare for our members, and we are honored that Liz's contributions to the managed care industry are being recognized." More than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year's Stevie Award winners. "Despite the toughest business conditions in memory, American organizations continue to demonstrate their commitment to innovation, creativity, and bottom-line results," said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher. "This year's Stevie-winning nominations are full of inspiring stories of persistence, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and compassion. We celebrate all of their stories and look forward to showcasing them during our virtual awards ceremony on August 5." Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2020 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. About Versant Health Versant Health is one of the nation's leading managed vision care companies serving more than 33 million members nationwide. Through our Davis Vision plans and Superior Vision plans, we help members enjoy the wonders of sight through healthy eyes and vision. Providing vision and eye health solutions that range from routine vision benefits to medical management, Versant Health has a unique visibility and scale across the total eye health value chain. As a result, members enjoy a seamless experience with access to one of the broadest provider networks in the industry and an exclusive frame collection. Commercial groups, individuals, third parties, and health plans that serve government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are among our valued customers. For more information visit versanthealth.com . About the Stevie Awards Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com. SOURCE Versant Health Related Links versanthealth.com The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has noted that he is considering conducting the upcoming G7 summit in the country. Trump further stated that he will prefers an in-person meeting rather than a teleconferencing session. Following the outbreak of Coronavirus all over the world, leaders and their ministers at different times have held video meetings about coronavirus. The US President in March cancelled the in-person meeting with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy due to the coronavirus pandemic. The parley was rescheduled to hold in June. Now that our country is Transitioning back to Greatness, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, DC, at the legendary Camp David, Trump tweeted on Wednesday. Following the announcement of Trump, the Prime Minister of Canada, at his daily briefing, stated that he was open to discussing an in-person meeting. Emmanual Macron, President of France, said he would attend if proper health precautions are in place. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said: No matter whether in the form of a video conference or otherwise, I will definitely fight for multilateralism. Share this post with your Friends on I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Napa Valley School District, and in particular to Dr. Mucetti. I have been speaking with friends who have kids in school systems throughout the country, from Long Beach to southern Georgia to Massachusetts and Illinois. From what I have heard from them, NVUSD has been doing an amazing job at keeping kids connected, providing each child with the technology necessary to participate in class, and accommodating such a rapid transition from schools to distance learning. The teachers have been going above and beyond with their work, having to learn completely new systems to integrate into their lessons and figure out what will work best for their classes. I know that the board and Dr. Mucetti have had to make many difficult and controversial decisions recently, some of which I don't agree with either, but in these trying circumstances, they have really risen to the occasion. I have heard from my friends about school districts that haven't communicated a thing since March 13, or packets of work sent home with virtually no support, or districts where the relationships are so stressed that teaching staff have refused to work under these new conditions. I am thankful that has not been the case here in Napa, and that our children are being supported. Thank you, teachers; thank you, administrators; and thank you, Dr. Mucetti. We appreciate all of your hard work and dedication. Katherine Fleming Napa The Access Bank branch in Ho, Volta Region has donated bags of rice, tin tomatoes, tin fish, cooking oil, hand sanitizers, facial masks, liquid soaps and toilet rolls worth GHC 15,000.00 to the Municipal Assembly. Mr Alphonse Somi, Head of Business, Ho Branch of the Bank, said the gesture was to demonstrate love for the vulnerable and to help kick out the Coronavirus disease. Mr Prosper K. Pi-Bansah, Ho Municipal Chief Executive, on behalf of the Public Health Emergency Committee of the Assembly thanked the Bank for its benevolence and said the items would help ameliorate the effects of the pandemic on the vulnerable. --GNA Hailey Bieber describes battle with guilt for not always being a good girl Christian Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Supermodel Hailey Bieber opened up about her years-long battle with guilt because of the pressure she felt to be a good girl from her Christian upbringing. Superstars Justin and Hailey Bieber recently launched a Facebook video series giving fans a glimpse into their lives while in quarantine. Over the weekend, the model also appeared in an interview with her church on the Hillsong YouTube channel, as part of a four-part series, in which she candidly spoke of her new marriage to Justin. She revealed that a few months into her marriage she struggled with a lot of guilt from her past. "I think where it stems from for me is that I was raised in a Christian household. I grew up with Christian parents and I put extra guilt on myself to be this good girl, to fill this role of being like this goody two-shoes, good girl, and what I learned leading up to being married is it's just not realistic, Hailey told Hillsong TV host of Now With Natalie and friend Natalie Manuel Lee. The entertainer said everyone wishes they hadnt made mistakes in the past so she had to come to terms with that and work through it and let it go. "What I learned, being married, is that every mistake that I made and bad decision that I made, and everything that I was making myself feel guilty for, led to me being married and me being a wife, Hailey testified. I think in the beginning, especially for the first six or seven months of being married, I was just ridden with guilt. I wish I hadn't done this. I wish I had just walked into this clean and free and [with a] clean slate, but what it taught me is that it's just a) not realistic, and b) we all have guilt and we all feel shame for things we've done, but it doesn't have to define who we are, and it didn't have to define me in my relationship. Were constantly evolving especially in Jesus, she added. Our relationship with Christ is going deeper and deeper Where I was before I was a wife and who I was before I was a wife is not who I am now. In the four-part series of season 2 of Now With Natalie, Lee visits the home of the Biebers for an intimate catch up. In their conversation, Hailey also opens up about the challenges of being newlyweds and she divulges details of their wedding. She stressed that getting married is not to be taken lightly, saying, Its very, very, very serious. It was a very thought-out life decision and it took every ounce of my faith in Jesus to step forward in that," she said. The TV personality was also featured in season one of the Hillsong show where she revealed that her true purpose in life is not to promote beauty or fashion but to reflect Jesus in the world. Hailey revealed that she always wanted to make sure she carried the famous Baldwin legacy in a positive way and its why she avoided trouble. Her father, Stephen Baldwin, is a devout Christian who has now dedicated his acting career to making faith-based content. The 23-year-old, meanwhile, is one of the most recognized faces in mainstream modeling. I obviously believe in modesty but a big part of my job is body and face and vanity and that is the whole premise of what I do so its actually really difficult to try to be like, OK, this is what I do for my job but on Sunday Im in church and thats like a real thing for me, thats a real lifestyle for me and Jesus is a real thing for me, without it looking like Im compromising everything, she admitted to Lee in season one. I think my bigger purpose is to be a light. Im here to represent Jesus through me for other people, for His will to be done. Community Health Centers (CHCs) are supported by both Republican and Democratic leaders as front-line providers of urgently needed medical, dental and mental health services across our country. Approximately 28 million Americans turn to these not-for-profit organizations for affordable accessible primary care in 1,400 urban and rural communities. The men and women who dedicate themselves to this mission are some of the most respected people in Americas health care system. Congressional leaders in both parties, and President Trump, specifically targeted vital resources to Community Health Centers to combat the ravages of SARS CoV2 throughout Wisconsin and our entire nation. It was deeply disturbing to learn about baseless personal and professional attacks that have been leveled against Joe Clark, president of the Kenosha CHC Board, by an extreme faction of Kenosha County Republicans. Clark has brought invaluable skills and an abiding compassion for people throughout our community to his service on behalf of the KCHC. All members of the KCHC Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers. It is unseemly for any member of our County Board to lead a vicious smear campaign against a private citizen who has so generously donated his time, talents, and hard work; to the benefit of thousands of our Kenosha neighbors. Lydia Spottswood Kenosha Founding Director, KCHC Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Anthony Okolie, a man illegally detained for 10 weeks by the State Security Service (SSS), has commenced the process of recovering a N10 million judgement debt from the service. This is coming a week after the Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, slammed a N10 million fine against the SSS over a sim card controversy lawsuit involving President Muhammadu Buharis daughter. Hanan Buhari, the SSS and telecoms firm, MTN, were sued for human rights abuse by Mr Okolie, who was detained for 10 weeks over the use of a sim card previously used by the presidents daughter. Mr Okolie, through his lawyer, Tope Akinyode, had demanded N500 million as general and aggravated damages for the gross and unlawful violation of the applicants right to acquire moveable properties, freedom of movement and self-dignity. Legal tussle After a legal tussle that lasted for months, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba awarded the sum of N10 million against SSS for the abuse of Mr Okolies fundamental human rights. He, however, said that there was no substantial evidence against Hanan and MTN. On Wednesday, Mr Okolies lawyer sent a letter to the Director-General of the SSS to forward the cheque as settlement within 24 hours of receiving the letter. We are Solicitors to Mr Anthony Okolie on whose behalf we write you and who we shall hereinafter refer to as our Client. As you must have been informed by E.E Daubry, Esq., who represented you in the case of Anthony Okolie V DG SSS & 2 ORS; FHC/ASB/CS/3/2020, the Federal High Court, Asaba slammed a fine of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) against you for violating the fundamental human right of our Client who was detained in your custody for 10 weeks over an MTN SIM Card once used by Hanan Buhari, the daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari. We have been instructed by our Client to recover the said debt of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) from you. You are therefore requested to forward your Cheque to us forthwith in settlement of the judgment debt. Mr Okolie also said the failure of the SSS to obey the court judgement will lead to instituting contempt proceedings against the security department. TAKE NOTICE that unless we receive your Cheque in settlement within 24 hours receipt of this letter, we shall have no choice but to take all steps available under law to recover the said sum. This will include but will not be limited to instituting contempt proceedings against you and going after the assets of your establishment. We are certain that you will want to avoid the costs and embarrassment which our next course of action will entail and we hope that good counsel will prevail, the letter acknowledged by the SSS on Thursday and obtained by PREMIUM TIMES read. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday did a U-turn as he ordered his Cabinet ministers to work out an exemption of a surcharge on foreign medics, including Indians, working in the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS). The move comes just a day after he had dismissed the possibility of a review into what has been repeatedly branded as an "unfair" burden on professionals already contributing directly to the health service in Parliament. "The Prime Minister has asked me and the Home Secretary [Priti Patel] to look at how NHS and care workers can be removed from this as soon as possible," said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, when asked about the annual Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) imposed along with a visa to raise additional funds for the state-funded health service. "But the purpose of the surcharge is a fair one, to raise funds for the NHS," he said. The Opposition Labour Party, which had thrown its weight behind the doctors' organisations campaigning against the surcharge, welcomed the "U-turn". "Boris Johnson is right to have U-turned and backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers," said Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer. "This is a victory for common decency and the right thing to do. We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next," he said, in reference to the weekly clap for frontline workers which takes place in the UK every Thursday at 8pm local time. On Wednesday, Starmer had challenged the UK prime minister in the House of Commons during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions on whether he thought it was "fair" to add the surcharge on healthcare workers. "I have thought a great deal about this and I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff. I have been a personal beneficiary of people and carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life," replied Johnson, making a reference to his COVID-19 hospitalisation last month during which he was cared for by foreign medics. "I know exactly their importance. On the other hand, we must look at the realities that this is a great national service, a national institution which needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900 million pounds. It is very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources, so I do think that is the right way forward," he said. However, a rebellion began brewing right after within his own party ranks, with the Conservative chair of the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, William Wragg, saying he would be backing an Opposition amendment to the Immigration Bill calling for an IHS exemption for NHS and care workers. "We have consistently highlighted the unfairness of the immigration health surcharge and called for its removal, so this recognition of the enormous contribution of our migrant colleagues to the health service is welcome but long overdue," said the British Medical Association (BMA), among the groups campaigning for the removal of the surcharge for NHS workers. The IHS, introduced in April 2015, is imposed on anyone in the UK on a work, study or family visa for longer than six months and is set for a further hike from GBP 400 to GBP 624 per year. With the charge applicable on each member of a family, the overall cost is seen as prohibitive, over and above the tax contributions. In a letter to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel by the Doctors Association UK earlier this week, Indian-origin chair Dr Rinesh Parmar had yet again branded the surcharge as "deeply unfair". "At a time when we are mourning colleagues your steadfast refusal to reconsider the deeply unfair immigration health surcharge is a gross insult to all who are serving this country at its time of greatest need," noted the letter. According to a recent Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) study, Indians make up one in 10 of all foreign-born doctors in the NHS and the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which represents this group, is among the organisations campaigning against the "discriminatory" surcharge for some years now. Maharashtra allows home delivery of liquor, but with a catch Explainer: Do you really have to give up alcohol before getting COVID-19 vaccine? Explained: Why people in north India should avoid consumption of alcohol during cold wave? Is it okay to drink alcohol after Covid shot? Can you drink between doses? Alcohol gets cheaper in Maharashtra as State cuts excise duty on imported scotch by 50% Swiggy begins home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi, in talks with other states India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 21: Food delivery platform said that it has started home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi. The delivery platform said that it is in talks with various state governments to provide support with online processing and home delivery of alcohol in their states. The service has gone live in Ranchi and will also be launched in other major cities in Jharkhand within a week, Swiggy said in a statement. Delhiites gulp liquor worth about Rs 170 crore in 10 days The company is also in advanced stage of discussions with multiple state governments to provide support with online processing and home delivery of alcohol, it added. Railway Minister: More trains will resume to restore India to normalcy| Oneindia News To ensure safe delivery of alcohol in compliance with applicable laws, Swiggy has introduced measures such as mandatory age verification and user authentication to complete deliveries, the statement said. "By enabling home delivery of alcohol in a safe and responsible manner, we can generate additional business for retail outlets while solving the problem of overcrowding, thereby promoting social distancing," Swiggy Vice-President (Products) Anuj Rathi said. Taking advantage of the company's existing technology and infrastructure to enable hyperlocal deliveries, it has been working closely with the local authorities to support them with initiatives like expansion of grocery delivery and COVID-19 relief efforts, he added. Maharashtra allows home delivery of liquor, but with a catch Swiggy is partnering with authorised retailers after validating their licence and other required documents as outlined by respective state governments, the statement said. The online processing and home delivery of alcohol is through the 'Wine Shops' category on the company's app, it added. The Omanhene of Sunyani, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II, has donated Ghc10,000 to the Sunyani Municipal Assemblys COVID-19 Task Force to support its campaign against the spread of the disease in the area. Making the presentation, the Omanhene commended the municipal assembly, especially the MCE, Justina Owusu Banahene, for working tirelessly over the last couple of months to deepen awareness about the disease and how to prevent it. He entreated the good people of Ghana to religiously observe all the protocols outlined by government and the Municipal Assembly to ensure that our fight against this dreadful Covid-19 will yield positive results. Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II advised parents and guardians to keep their children at home so that the government's objective of closing down schools will be achieved. For her part, Justina Owusu Banahene, MCE for Sunyani who received the donation on behalf of the Assembly, thanked Omanhene and the entire traditional council for recognizing the effort of the Assembly and the Covid-19 Task Force, and coming to their aid. She described the donation as timely as it would go a long way in the fight against the disease in the municipality and hoped that the gesture by the Omanhene would be emulated by other leaders and organizations, especially churches and corporate bodies. WASHINGTON, May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadening accessibility to its Digital Workforce, Blue Prism (AIM: PRSM), a global leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), today announced that is has partnered with the ImmixGroup to deliver intelligent automation solutions to the U.S. Army via its CHESS (Computer Hardware Enterprise Software and Solutions) Program. Blue Prism's software has previously been available to Federal, state and local government agencies through the ImmixGroup General Service Administration (GSA) Schedule. As the demand for RPA software within the U.S. Army increases, Blue Prism is working with ImmixGroup to simplify its procurement. As the main provider of commercial enterprise information technology (IT) solutions for the U.S. Army, CHESS allows authorized commissioners to procure a wide array of IT services and solutions, including RPA. Blue Prism is now a CHESS-approved software provider, making it easy for end-users to purchase Blue Prism's Digital Workforce. "Blue Prism is excited to partner with ImmixGroup to support the U.S. Army through this strategic contract initiative," says Mike Pullman, Regional VP of Alliances & Channels, Public Sector for Blue Prism. "By making Blue Prism's Digital Workforce available on the ITES Software vehicle, this team can provide the transformative intelligent automation solutions the U.S. Army requires." Blue Prism's connected-RPA offering provides government agencies with an intelligent Digital Workforce (software robots) capable of self-learning and continuous improvement, that provides access to a rich array of AI and cognitive capabilities through a drag-and-drop interface. By pairing a Digital Workforce with a nimble, up-skilled Federal workforce, the U.S. Army and other government agencies can keep their missions cost-effective, streamlined and sustainable through task automation that works within existing governance and security policies. Government agencies can use Blue Prism to help deliver more output, with fewer resources, while freeing up human employees' time from repetitive tasks to focus on higher-value cognitive work. This enables a more citizen-centric approach, by increasing the overall quality of the services provided to citizens, coupled with improved consistency and overall faster delivery. It also gives agencies a game changing way of staying viable by easily accessing and exploiting leading-edge cloud, AI and cognitive capabilities. Through partnerships with the world's foremost cognitive computing and AI technology companies, Blue Prism is rapidly evolving the capabilities and intelligence of its Digital Workforce so they can apply their multiple skills to any functional area of an organization. As an off-the-shelf solution, government agencies can integrate Blue Prism into their processes, leveraging the intelligent automation platform of their choice. Blue Prism is secure and compliant supporting industry-leading standards such as CERT Secure Coding as well as achieving Veracode Verified Continuous Accreditation. Leading organizations also trust Blue Prism to support their compliance with PCI and HIPAA processes. For more information on how Blue Prism's Digital Workforce can support your business or government agency, visit: https://www.blueprism.com/solutions/industry/public-sector. About Blue Prism Blue Prism's vision is to provide a Digital Workforce for Every Enterprise. The company's purpose is to unleash the collaborative potential of humans, operating in harmony with a Digital Workforce, so every enterprise can exceed their business goals and drive meaningful growth, with unmatched speed and agility. Fortune 500 and public-sector organizations, among customers across 70 commercial sectors, trust Blue Prism's enterprise-grade connected-RPA platform, which has users in more than 170 countries. By strategically applying intelligent automation, these organizations are creating new opportunities and services, while unlocking massive efficiencies that return millions of hours of work back into their business. Available on-premises, in the cloud, hybrid, or as an integrated SaaS solution, Blue Prism's Digital Workforce automates ever more complex, end-to-end processes that drive a true digital transformation, collaboratively, at scale and across the entire enterprise. Visit www.blueprism.com to learn more or follow Blue Prism on Twitter @blue_prism and on LinkedIn. 2020 Blue Prism Limited. "Blue Prism", "Thoughtonomy", the "Blue Prism" logo and Prism device are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Blue Prism Limited and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved. SOURCE Blue Prism Related Links http://blueprism.com/ Grants Empower Aussie Small and Medium Enterprises to Diversify and Expand Global Exports Hundreds of Australian small and medium-sized exporters (SME) are set to receive a much-needed boost from the federal governments newly delivered $4.9 million grant scheme, as they scramble to bounce back from the severe disruption caused by the CCP virus pandemic. Launched in 2019, this second round of grants provided through the SME Export Hubs Initiative will empower ten export hubs across five states to enhance their capabilities to help local exporters harness diversified opportunities globally. This is especially the case in the areas where Australia has large growth potential including food and agribusiness, energy, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing. Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology Karen Andrews said promoting Australian SME exporters competitiveness abroad is an important part of driving economic growth and job creation at home, given the nation has started to shift the focus to post-pandemic recovery. Im confident demand for Australian goods and services will be even stronger when we come out the other side of this pandemic, she said in a statement on May 11. We want to put Australia in the best position possible so we can thrive after this pandemic is finished. Gippsland Producers One of the successful grant recipients is Food & Fibre Gippsland in Victoria, a local industry body of food and agribusiness servicing a dynamic rural production area that occupies 18 percent of the state of Victoria. With a long history in food production, Gippsland has dedicated 28 percent of its land for agricultural purposes, contributing $7 billion annually to the regional economy. Sallie Jones , one of the owners of Gippsland Jersey with kids and calves. Gippsland Jersey, a participant in Gippsland Connect Programme, is a shining example of Gippsland producers who have created amazing products that put the region on the map. (Supplied) Nicola Pero, the CEO of Food & Fibre Gippsland is confident that the funding injection will open more opportunities for local businesses to shine in the international markets. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt transits the Pacific Ocean while conducting training off the coast of California. WASHINGTON The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday that the aircraft carrier sidelined for two months due to a coronavirus outbreak was back at sea. The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier was forced to dock in Guam after some of the nearly 5,000 crewmembers aboard the vessel became infected with the deadly virus. During the nearly two months that the Roosevelt was moored, the U.S. Navy tested every crewmember, provided treatment to those infected and cleaned the vessel from bow to stern. "It feels great to be back at sea," said Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander, Carrier Strike Group 9. "Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew." The U.S. Navy said the crew will execute social distancing as well as other Covid-19 prevention and mitigation policies. The latest revelation comes as the Pentagon conducts a deeper investigation into the handling of a coronavirus outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt which subsequently led to the firing of U.S Navy Capt. Brett Crozier and the resignation of then-acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly. [May 21, 2020] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, a Leading Securities Fraud Law Firm, Announces Investigation of Ryder System, Inc. (R) on Behalf of Investors Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM"), a leading national shareholder rights law firm, today announced that it has commenced an investigation on behalf of Ryder System, Inc. ("Ryder" or the "Company") (NYSE: R) investors concerning the Company and its officers' possible violations of the federal securities laws. If you suffered a loss on your Ryder investments or would like to inquire about potentially pursuing claims to recover your loss under the federal securities laws, you can submit your contact information here or contact Charles H. Linehan, of GPM at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, via email [email protected] or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com to learn more about your rights. On October 29, 2019, the Company disclosed that "our residual value estimates likely exceeded the expected future values that would be realized upon the sale of power vehicles in our fleet. As a result, Ryder recorded $177 million in additional depreciation expense in connection with the significantly lower residual value estimates. On this news, Ryder's stock price fell $6.68, or more than 12%, over two consecutive trading sessions to close at $48.44 per share on October 30, 2019, on unusually heavy trading volume. Then, on February 13, 2020, the Company reported that it had incurred a total of $357 million in additional depreciation expense for 2019 due to lower residual values of its fleet, as well as a loss of $58 million on the sale of used vehicles. For fiscal 2020, Ryder expected to incur an additional $275 million in depreciation expense and an additional $20 million estimated loss on used vehicle sales. On this news, the Company's share price fell $10.07 per share, or 20%, over two consecutive trading sessions to close at $40.12 per share on February 14, 2020, thereby injuring investors. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Whistleblower Notice: Persons with non-public information regarding Ryder should consider their options to aid the investigation or take advantage of the SEC (News - Alert) Whistleblower Program. Under the program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Charles H. Linehan at 310-201-9150 or 888-773-9224 or email [email protected]. About GPM Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP is a premier law firm representing investors and consumers in securities litigation and other complex class action litigation. ISS Securities Class Action Services has consistently ranked GPM in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report. In 2018, GPM was ranked a top five law firm in number of securities class action settlements, and a top six law firm for total dollar size of settlements. With four offices across the country, GPM's nearly 40 attorneys have won groundbreaking rulings and recovered billions of dollars for investors and consumers in securities, antitrust, consumer, and employment class actions. GPM's lawyers have handled cases covering a wide spectrum of corporate misconduct including cases involving financial restatements, internal control weaknesses, earnings management, fraudulent earnings guidance and forward looking statements, auditor misconduct, insider trading, violations of FDA regulations, actions resulting in FDA and DOJ investigations, and many other forms of corporate misconduct. GPM's attorneys have worked on securities cases relating to nearly all industries and sectors in the financial markets, including, energy, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, real estate and REITs, financial, insurance, information technology, health care, biotech, cryptocurrency, medical devices, and many more. GPM's past successes have been widely covered by leading news and industry publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times (News - Alert), Bloomberg Businessweek, Reuters, the Associated Press, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Forbes, and Money. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005664/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] - The bank's total operating income grew by 12.5% from KSh 11.1 billion to KSh 12.5 billion - There was an 8.5% increase in net interest income, from KSh 6.9 billion to KSh 7.5 billion - Non-interest income rose from KSh 4.2 billion to KSh 5 billion as total operating expenses grew by 20.6% from KSh 6 billion to KSh 7.3 billion - Total assets grew to KSh 470.4 billion from KSh 425.7 billion recorded in Q1 2019 while net loans and advances book grew to KSh 276.2 billion from KSh 251.6 billion during same period under review in 2019 Co-operative Bank Group has reported a profit before tax of KSh 5.1 billion for the first quarter of 2020, a performance similar to the one recorded a year ago in the first quarter of 2019. Profit after tax was KSh 3.6 billion. READ ALSO: Analysis: William Ruto failure to travel abroad since 2018 shows he's unwanted home and away Coop Bank CEO Gideon Muriuki. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 80 more test positive, national COVID-19 count jumps to 1,109 The group noted the historically unique operating environment occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought about unprecedented economic and social disruption throughout the world. The bank said it had put in place a comprehensive mitigation strategy intended to ensure full banking services continued being accessible to customers in a safe environment consistent with the Ministry of Health guidelines. READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 80 more test positive, national COVID-19 count jumps to 1,109 The lender said it was leveraging its digital channels while ensuring that all branch outlets remained open to offer services with due regard to the health and safety of both customers and bank teams. The group noted the strong performance in the first quarter of this year and continues to pay close attention to the enormous challenge posed by the pandemic with a view to sustaining full and uninterrupted business operations in the days ahead. READ ALSO: Police arrest William Ruto's ally, arraigns him in court for distributing relief food Key financial highlights include; 1. Profit and loss Total operating income grew by 12.5% from KSh 11.1 billion to KSh 12.5 billion. Total non-interest income increased by 19% from KSh 4.2 billion to KSh 5.0 billion. Net interest income increased by 8.5% from KSh 6.9 billion to KSh 7.5 billion. Total operating expenses grew by 20.6% from KSh 6.0 billion to KSh 7.3 billion on account higher loan loss provision and staff expenses. Cooperative Bank headquarters in Nairobi. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: Twitter 2. Balance sheet Total assets grew by KSh 44.7 billion (+10.5%) to KSh 470.4 billion from KSh 425.7 billion recorded in first quarter 2019. Net loans and advances book grew by 24.5 billion (9.8%) to stand at KSh 276.2 billion compared to KSh 251.6 billion in 2019. Investment in government securities grew by KSh 11.9 billion (+11.5%) to KSh 115.9 billion compared to KSh 103.9 billion in 2019. Customers' deposits grew by 6.9% from KSh 317.8 billion to KSh 339.6 billion. Borrowed funds from development partners grew by KSh 3.7 billion (+15.5%) to KSh 27.4 billion compared to KSh 23.7 billion in 2019. Shareholders' funds grew to KSh 82.0 billion (+12.7%) from KSh 72.8 billion in 2019. This has enabled the bank to continue to pitch for big-ticket deals. MCo-opCash Mobile Wallet has continued to play a pivotal role in the growth of non-funded income. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: UGC 3. Innovative customer delivery platforms Through its multi-channel strategy, the bank has successfully moved almost 90% of all customer transactions to alternative delivery channels, an expanded 24-hour contact centre, mobile banking, 584 ATMs, internet and over 16,700 Co-op Kwa Jirani banking agents. A successful Universal Banking model and the implementation of Sales Force Effectiveness has seen the group serve over 8.8 million account holders across all sectors. Key focus on digital banking, with the all-telco MCo-opCash Mobile Wallet continuing to play a pivotal role in the growth of non-funded income with 5.6 million customers registered and loans worth over KSh 16 billion disbursed in the first quarter of 2020. Customers' deposits grew by 6.9% from KSh 317.8 billion to KSh 339.6 billion. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: UGC Over 85,252 customers have taken up the MSME packages that the bank rolled out in 2018 and 5,000 have been trained on business management and planning. The bank has earmarked KSh 15.2 billion for MSME lending, with KSh 12.4 billion disbursed to date. Its unique model of retailing banking services through Sacco FOSAS has enabled the bank to provide wholesale financial services to over 479 FOSA outlets and issue over 1.18 million Sacco-Link cards. 4. Subsidiaries Co-operative Bank of South Sudan that is a unique Joint Venture (JV) partnership with the government of South Sudan (Co-op Bank 51% and GOSS 49%) made a profit before tax of KSh 29.7 million in the first quarter of 2020. Co-op Consultancy and Insurance Agency contributed KSh 250.5 million as of March 31, 2020. Co-op Trust Investment Services contributed KSh 20.5 million in PBT with funds under management at KSh 106.6 billion as at March 31, 2020, compared to KSh 85.2 billion at as at March 31, 2019. Coop Bank donated KSh 100 million to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: UGC 5. KSh 15 billion loans restructured to support customers on COVID-19 pandemic With the COVID-19 crisis, the bank has proactively engaged all the customers and reviewed the following; Customers requiring an interest moratorium period Customers requiring a better structure or a longer repayment period Customers requiring additional funding to manage the crisis In total, a portfolio of over KSh 15 billion has been re-aligned to offer customers this needed support. With the COVID-19 crisis, the bank has proactively engaged all the customers on various pain points. Photo: Coop Bank. Source: UGC 6. Proposed acquisition of 100% shares of Jamii Bora Bank Limited The Board of Directors of Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited reported on March 11, 2020, having approved the progression of discussions with Jamii Bora Bank Limited, which if successful, would lead to the Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited acquiring the 100% shareholding in Jamii Bora Bank Limited. Jamii Bora Bank is a Kenyan bank incorporated under the Companies Act with over 350,000 customers in 17 branches and an asset base of KSh 12.5 billion. The acquisition offers Co-op Bank the opportunity to cross-sell and deepen product offering to the enhanced customer base and create a niche bank to offer specialised credit offerings that include MSME Banking, Microfinance, Youth and Women Banking, Asset Finance and Leasing. Due diligence for the acquisition is ongoing. Co-operative Bank has plans afoot to acquire 100% shareholding in Jamii Bora Bank Limited. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC 7. Corporate Social Investment Co-operative Bank Foundation has provided scholarships for gifted but needy students from all regions of Kenya. The sponsorship includes; fully paid secondary education, full fees for university education, internships and career openings for beneficiaries. The foundation is fully-funded by the bank and has so far supported 7,657 students since inception. The bank gave a cash donation of KSh 100 million to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. 8. Accolades Co-operative Bank was named Overall Winner of the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) 2019 Sustainable Finance Catalyst Award. The awards recognize institutions that practice sustainable finance which has a direct positive impact on the financial sector, the economy, the environment and the society. The bank scooped two more awards in the green energy space; being named Best Bank in Sustainable Finance in Kenya at the 2019 Energy Management Awards hosted by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers and also named Overall Winner in Environmental Sustainability Reporting at the 2019 East African Financial Reporting (Fire) Awards. The bank was also named Best Bank in Kenya by EMEA Finance African Banking Awards 2019. The Co-operative Bank Group joins the nation and the global community of goodwill in fighting the pandemic and supporting mitigation efforts with, among other measures, a key KSh 100 million cash donation to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. The lender has put in place an impact mitigation strategy to ensure full business continuity that guarantees uninterrupted access to banking services by customers. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Kenyans come to the rescue of man whose wife chose alcohol over their children | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke KITCHENER, ON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Quarterhill Inc. ("Quarterhill" or the "Company") (TSX: QTRH) (OTCQX: QTRHF), announces its financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2020. The Company historically prepared its consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP and in U.S. dollars. Effective January 1, 2020, the Company has adopted IFRS and the Canadian dollar as its reporting currency. The Company has consistently applied the same accounting policies in its opening IFRS statement of financial position at January 1, 2019, and throughout all periods presented as if these policies had always been in effect. All financial information in this press release is reported in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise indicated. First Quarter 2020 Highlights Revenue was $26.0 million , including recurring revenue of $6.2 million , including recurring revenue of Adjusted EBITDA* was $0.8 million Net loss was ($5.1) million , or ($0.04) per basic and diluted common share , or per basic and diluted common share Cash generated from operations was $9.1 million Cash and equivalents were $103.1 million at March 31, 2020 at Jury awarded US$85.2 million in damages to WiLAN in its patent suit re-trial against Apple in damages to WiLAN in its patent suit re-trial against Apple Appointed Paul Hill as President and Chief Executive Officer of Quarterhill, effective June 1st as President and Chief Executive Officer of Quarterhill, effective Announced on May 19th that it had completed the sale of its total investment in VIZIYA, which represents its Enterprise Software segment, for total cash proceeds of $49.4 million that it had completed the sale of its total investment in VIZIYA, which represents its Enterprise Software segment, for total cash proceeds of Announced today its intention to undertake a Substantial Issuer Bid ("SIB") and Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB"), which follows the Company's review of alternatives to return capital to shareholders Effective today, Mr. Paul Hill and Dr. Michel Fattouche have been appointed to Quarterhill's Board of Directors "In Q1, we made operational progress on several initiatives to strengthen the business and drive shareholder value," said John Gillberry, Chair of Quarterhill. "These included WiLAN winning its second jury trial verdict versus Apple, the Company making significant progress on its CEO search and the Board launching an initiative to return capital to shareholders. Both the CEO search and the initiative to return capital to shareholders were concluded subsequent to quarter-end. Regarding our financial performance, Q1 results reflect some of the variability inherent in the revenue model of our licensing business, as well as the favorable impact from some of the cost-cutting initiatives we have undertaken throughout the organization in recent years." "Q1's operational and financial results were achieved against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, a factor which led us to pause our M&A strategy in March to focus on our team and on our existing operations. We have taken safety precautions to protect our employees and the communities we serve, and all of our businesses remain in operation, doing their best to serve clients, identify new opportunities and close new business. The enhanced precautions we have taken combined with the current economic environment means that in certain circumstances there is some delay in activity related to providing ongoing services or initiating new engagements; however, overall, the operational prospects for all of our businesses remain sound and are backed by the strong financial position of Quarterhill. We will revisit our M&A strategy as the broader situation evolves and with our new CEO coming onboard in June." "Subsequent to quarter-end, we announced that Paul Hill will be joining Quarterhill as President and CEO and will start on June 1st. Paul is the ideal leader for our business today. He has extensive experience driving growth in the technology industry and has both run organizations as well as led M&A transactions. Paul will initially focus on enhancing operations with our existing portfolio companies, engaging with employees, customers and the investment community, and updating our growth strategy." Subsequent Event - VIZIYA Sale On May 19, 2020, Quarterhill announced that that it had completed the sale of its total investment in VIZIYA, which represents its Enterprise Software segment, for total cash proceeds of $49.4 million. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to support the Company's growth initiatives. The sale of this business segment and all IFRS 5 - Non-current assets held for sale and discontinued operations disclosure requirements will be reported in the second quarter financial statements. Originally acquired in May 2017, VIZIYA is a software and services provider that helps companies optimize their asset performance and uptime. VIZIYA has been a solid performer and the Company was not proactively looking to sell this investment; however, this opportunistic transaction provides several strategic benefits to Quarterhill. This sale generated significant cash proceeds and delivered a strong internal rate of return on our initial investment. In addition, it enables us to drive our future growth and return some capital to shareholders as further discussed below. Subsequent Event - Substantial Issuer Bid Quarterhill is announcing today its intention to make a Substantial Issuer Bid ("SIB") pursuant to which the Company will offer to purchase for cancellation up to $20.0 million of its outstanding common shares ("Shares") from shareholders for cash (the "Proposed Bid"). Subject to market and other conditions, the Company expects that the Proposed Bid, by way of modified-Dutch auction with a price range of not less than $1.95 per Share and not more than $2.15 per Share (in increments of $0.05 per share within that range), will commence in early June 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in early July 2020. The Company intends to fund the Proposed Bid with cash on its balance sheet. Upon completion of the SIB, the Company intends to apply to the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") for a Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB"), subject to regulatory approval. Mr. Gillberry added: "With the search for our new CEO complete, we can now turn our undivided attention to Quarterhill's portfolio companies and capital allocation strategy announced in March. In light of the cash-flow generating potential of our portfolio companies and the pause in our M&A strategy, our Board of Directors has approved the launch of a Substantial Issuer Bid. This decision reflects our solid financial position, further enhanced by the recently announced divestiture of VIZIYA, strong ongoing earnings potential and confidence in Quarterhill's underlying value. Commencing a Substantial Issuer Bid followed by a Normal Course Issuer Bid are part of our return of capital to shareholders." In the view of management and the Board of Directors, the recent trading price of the Shares is not fully reflective of the value of the Company's business and future prospects and therefore, the purchase of Shares under the Proposed Bid represents an attractive investment and an equitable and efficient means of providing value to its shareholders. Quarterhill's management and its Board of Directors have agreed not to tender any Shares to the Proposed Bid. Quarterhill has engaged CIBC Capital Markets as its financial advisor and dealer manager in connection with the Proposed Bid. Subsequent Event - Board of Directors Appointments Effective today, Mr. Paul Hill and Dr. Michel Fattouche have been appointed to Quarterhill's Board of Directors. "We are very pleased to add these two to our Board," said Mr. Gillberry. "Each is an accomplished technology-industry veteran with Board and leadership experience, and we look forward to leveraging their expertise in areas such as operations, licensing, governance and M&A." Mr. Hill, as previously announced, will be joining Quarterhill on June 1st as its President and CEO. Dr. Fattouche, who co-founded Wi-LAN Inc. in 1993, is currently a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Calgary where his work has focused on 5G cellular standards. Dr. Fattouche previously served on the Quarterhill board from 2006 to 2018. Mr. Gillberry continued: "We are very excited to have Michel back on our Board. He is an entrepreneur and true innovator whose inventions on 3G and 4G cellular standards led to some of the most commonly used wireless technology today. Michel remains one of Quarterhill's largest shareholders, and we look forward to once again being in a position to benefit from his insightful and trusted counsel as we execute on our growth opportunities." Approval of Eligible Dividend The Board of Directors has declared an eligible quarterly dividend of $0.0125 per common share payable on July 3, 2020, to shareholders of record on June 12, 2020. Q1 2020 Consolidated Financial Review Consolidated revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2020 ("Q1 2020") were $26.0 million, compared to $53.0 million in Q1 2019. Virtually all of WiLAN's licenses are one-time in nature and accordingly significant fluctuations in revenue, gross margin, and Adjusted EBITDA can result when the volume or dollar value of licenses changes from one period to the next. Revenue was lower year-over-year due primarily to the closure of larger licensing contracts in Q1 2019 in comparison to Q1 2020 wherein WiLAN completed smaller sized contracts. This was offset, in part, by an increase in revenue at VIZIYA. Recurring revenue was $6.2 million in Q1 2020 compared to $7.5 million in Q1 2019. Certain revenues characterized as recurring have a timing component to them and are recognized when the related work is completed. As such, the decrease in recurring revenue in Q1 2020 is primarily a timing-based issue and does not reflect lower renewal or retention rates. Gross margin for Q1 2020 was $11.0 million, or 42%, compared to $26.6 million, or 50%, in Q1 2019. Gross margin was lower year-over-year due primarily to lower revenue at WiLAN as described above. Operating expenses include selling, general and administrative costs ("SG&A"), research and development costs ("R&D"), depreciation and amortization of intangible assets and special charges. Operating expenses for Q1 2020 were $16.6 million, compared to $19.5 million in Q1 2019. Operating expenses in Q1 2020 were lower year-over-year due primarily to lower SG&A, amortization of intangibles and special charges, offset, in part, by higher R&D at IRD and VIZIYA. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2020 was $0.8 million compared to $17.1 million in Q1 2019. The decrease in Adjusted EBITDA reflects the lower revenue at WiLAN and IRD, offset in part, by higher revenue at VIZIYA and lower corporate expenses. Net loss for Q1 2020 was ($5.1) million, or ($0.04) per basic and diluted common share, compared to net loss of ($0.05) million, or ($0.00) per basic and diluted common share, in Q1 2019. The year-over-year change was due primarily to the factors described above that impacted Adjusted EBITDA. Cash generated from operations for Q1 2020 was $9.1 million, compared to ($16.0) million of cash used in operations in Q1 2019. Cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments increased to $103.1 million at March 31, 2020, compared to $89.4 million at December 31, 2019. The Company had debt of $2.7 million at March 31, 2020, compared to $4.4 million at December 31, 2020. Conference Call and Webcast Quarterhill will host a conference call to discuss its financial results today at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Webcast Information Live webcast: https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1311913&tp_key=42224f724d Dial-in Information To access the call from Canada and U.S., dial 1.888.231.8191 (Toll Free) and U.S., dial 1.888.231.8191 (Toll Free) To access the call from other locations, dial 1.647.427.7450 (International) Replay Information Webcast replay will be available for 90 days at: https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1311913&tp_key=42224f724d Telephone replay will be available from 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on May 21, 2020 until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on June 4, 2020 at: 1.855.859.2056 (Toll Free) or 1.416.849.0833 (International). The telephone replay requires the passcode 5071549. The table below highlights financial performance for the Company's Licensing, Intelligent Systems and Enterprise Software segments. For detailed results and discussion related to these segments, please refer to the Management's Discussion and Analysis document, which will be filed on SEDAR and at www.quarterhill.com in the investor section. For the three months ended March 31, 2020 Licensing Intelligent Systems Enterprise Software Corporate Total Revenues $ 10,183 $ 11,406 $ 4,433 $ $ 26,022 Direct cost of revenues 5,767 8,416 871 15,054 Gross profit 4,416 2,990 3,562 10,968 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 61 168 31 15 275 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 16 203 43 5 267 Amortization of intangibles 3,484 1,259 1,015 5,758 Selling, general and administrative expenses 979 3,482 1,910 1,832 8,203 Research and development 870 1,026 1,896 Special charges 213 213 Results from operations (124) (2,992) (463) (2,065) (5,644) Finance income (100) (1) (121) (222) Finance expense 39 52 10 5 106 Foreign exchange loss (gain) 1,244 (689) 79 (1,133) (499) Other income (378) (378) Loss before taxes (1,307) (1,976) (552) (816) (4,651) Current income tax expense (recovery) 1,186 80 (29) 1,237 Deferred income tax (recovery) expense (1,402) (783) (343) 1,752 (776) Income tax (recovery) expense (216) (703) (372) 1,752 461 Net loss $ (1,091) $ (1,273) $ (180) $ (2,568) $ (5,112) Adjusted EBITDA 3,467 (1,336) 596 (1,914) 813 Other reconciling items: Stock-based compensation 30 26 (30) (82) (56) For the three months ended March 31,2019 Licensing Intelligent Systems Enterprise Software Corporate Total Revenues $ 37,391 $ 12,415 $ 3,158 $ $ 52,964 Direct cost of revenues 17,004 8,904 408 26,316 Gross profit 20,387 3,511 2,750 26,648 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 300 173 29 15 517 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 55 402 41 5 503 Amortization of intangibles 4,691 1,258 1,006 6,955 Selling, general and administrative expenses 532 3,140 2,062 2,573 8,307 Research and development 738 782 1,520 Special charges 1,724 1,724 Results from operations 13,085 (2,200) (1,170) (2,593) 7,122 Finance income (24) (3) (242) (269) Finance expense 4 94 5 4 107 Foreign exchange (gain) loss (255) 255 44 278 322 Other income (98) (98) Income (loss) before taxes 13,360 (2,448) (1,219) (2,633) 7,060 Current income tax expense 5,194 226 5,420 Deferred income tax expense (recovery) 2,565 (796) (437) 355 1,687 Income tax expense (recovery) 7,759 (570) (437) 355 7,107 Net income (loss) $ 5,601 $ (1,878) $ (782) $ (2,988) $ (47) Adjusted EBITDA 19,827 (327) (75) (2,363) 17,062 Other reconciling items: Stock-based compensation (28) 40 19 210 241 *Non-IFRS Disclosure Quarterhill has historically used a set of metrics when evaluating our operational and financial performance. We continually monitor, evaluate and update these metrics as required to ensure they provide information considered most useful, in the opinion of our management, to any decision-making based on Quarterhill's performance. This section defines, quantifies and analyzes the key performance indicators used by our management and referred to elsewhere in this press release, which are not recognized under IFRS and have no standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. These indicators and measures are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. In this press release, we use the Non-IFRS term "Adjusted EBITDA" to mean net income (loss) from continuing operations before: (i) income taxes; (ii) finance expense or income; (iii) amortization and impairment of intangibles; (iv) special charges and other one-time items; (v) depreciation of right-of-use assets and property, plant and equipment; (vi) effects of deleted deferred revenue; (vii) stock-based compensation; (viii) foreign exchange (gain) loss; and (ix) equity in earnings and dividends from joint ventures. Adjusted EBITDA is used by our management to assess our normalized cash generated on a consolidated basis and in our operating segments. Adjusted EBITDA is also a performance measure that may be used by investors to analyze the cash generated by Quarterhill and our operating segments. Adjusted EBITDA should not be interpreted as an alternative to net income and cash flows from operations as determined in accordance with IFRS or as a measure of liquidity. About Quarterhill Quarterhill is focused on the disciplined acquisition, management and growth of companies in dedicated technology areas including, vertical market software and solutions, intelligent industrial systems and innovation and licensing. Quarterhill's emphasis is on seeking out acquisition opportunities at reasonable valuations that provide a foundation for recurring revenues, predictable cash flows and gross margin, profitable growth, intimate customer relationships and dedicated management teams. Quarterhill is listed on the TSX under the symbol QTRH and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol QTRHF. For more information: www.quarterhill.com Forward-looking Information This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other United States and Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are based on estimates and assumptions made by Quarterhill in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and the expected effects of new business strategies, as well as other factors that Quarterhill believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause Quarterhill's actual performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Such factors include, without limitation, the risks described in Quarterhill's February 27, 2020 annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2019 (the "AIF"). Copies of the AIF may be obtained at www.sedar.com . Quarterhill recommends that readers review and consider all of these risk factors and notes that readers should not place undue reliance on any of Quarterhill's forward-looking statements. Quarterhill has no intention, and undertakes no obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. All trademarks and brands mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners. Quarterhill Inc. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Loss (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except share and per share amounts) Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Revenues License $ 10,729 $ 37,199 Systems 8,003 7,448 Services 1,043 859 Recurring 6,247 7,458 26,022 52,964 Direct cost of revenues License 5,740 17,026 Systems 5,980 5,043 Services 867 386 Recurring 2,467 3,861 15,054 26,316 Gross profit 10,968 26,648 Operating expenses Depreciation of right-of-use assets 275 517 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 267 503 Amortization of intangibles 5,758 6,955 Selling, general and administrative expenses 8,203 8,307 Research and development expenses 1,896 1,520 Special charges 213 1,724 16,612 19,526 Results from operations (5,644) 7,122 Finance income (222) (269) Finance expense 106 107 Foreign exchange (gain) loss (499) 322 Other income (378) (98) (Loss) income before taxes (4,651) 7,060 Current income tax expense 1,237 5,420 Deferred income tax (recovery) expense (776) 1,687 Income tax expense 461 7,107 Net loss $ (5,112) $ (47) Net loss per share Basic $(0.04) $(0.00) Diluted $(0.04) $(0.00) Quarterhill Inc. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars) Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Net loss $ (5,112) $ (47) Other comprehensive income (loss) which may be reclassified to net loss: Foreign currency translation adjustment 21,094 (4,599) Comprehensive income (loss) $ 15,982 $ (4,646) Quarterhill Inc. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars) As at March 31, 2020 December 31, 2019 January 1, 2019 Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 101,596 $ 87,870 $ 87,029 Short-term investments 1,550 1,550 1,551 Restricted short-term investments 2,995 Accounts receivable (net of allowance for doubtful accounts) 24,535 42,925 14,719 Other current assets 351 108 124 Unbilled revenue 8,883 8,965 5,432 Income taxes receivable 99 137 270 Inventories (net of obsolescence) 8,653 8,570 8,114 Prepaid expenses and deposits 2,349 2,242 2,927 148,016 152,367 123,161 Non-current assets Accounts receivable 4,076 3,846 565 Right-of-use assets 4,404 4,502 3,972 Property, plant and equipment 2,975 2,826 3,614 Intangible assets 89,833 89,534 119,015 Investment in joint venture 5,952 5,233 5,203 Deferred income tax assets 36,538 33,270 36,948 Goodwill 35,911 32,977 34,446 179,689 172,188 203,763 TOTAL ASSETS $ 327,705 $ 324,555 $ 326,924 Liabilities Current liabilities Bank indebtedness $ 2,379 $ 4,026 $ 3,537 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 15,047 25,755 24,644 Income taxes payable 254 203 Current portion of lease liabilities 1,022 998 1,120 Contingent liabilties 1,265 Current portion of deferred revenue 9,834 8,638 6,357 Current portion of long-term debt 65 59 407 28,601 39,679 37,330 Non-current liabilities Deferred revenue 1,617 1,513 1,954 Long-term lease liabilities 3,364 3,550 2,604 Long-term debt 288 271 236 Deferred income tax liabilities 3,121 3,297 5,905 8,390 8,631 10,699 TOTAL LIABILITIES $ 36,991 $ 48,310 $ 48,029 Shareholders' equity Capital stock $ 570,577 $ 570,553 $ 570,553 Contributed surplus 31,955 32,011 31,252 Accumulated other comprehensive income 32,030 10,936 22,112 Deficit (343,848) (337,255) (345,022) 290,714 276,245 278,895 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 327,705 $ 324,555 $ 326,924 Quarterhill Inc. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars) Three months ended March 31, 2020 2019 Cash generated from (used in) Operations Net loss $ (5,112) $ (47) Non-cash items Stock-based compensation (recovery) expense (56) 241 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 275 517 Interest expense on lease liabilities 56 49 Depreciation and amortization 6,025 7,457 Foreign exchange loss (gain) 266 (82) Equity in earnings from joint venture (378) (98) Gain on disposal of assets (4) Deferred income tax (recovery) expense (776) 1,687 Accrued investment income 110 Embedded derivatives (222) 93 Changes in non-cash working capital balances 8,907 (25,756) Cash from (used in) operations 9,091 (15,939) Financing Dividends paid (1,481) (1,502) Bank indebtedness (1,812) 96 Payment of lease liabilities (317) (451) Repayment of long-term debt (107) (32) Common shares issued from Performance Stock Units 24 Cash used in financing (3,693) (1,889) Investing Proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment 4 Purchase of property and equipment (371) (210) Purchase of intangibles (17) (27) Cash used in investing (384) (237) Foreign exchange gain (loss) on cash held in foreign currency 8,712 (1,670) Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 13,726 (19,735) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 87,870 87,029 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 101,596 $ 67,294 Quarterhill Inc. Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Changes in Shareholders' Equity (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars) Capital Stock Contributed Surplus Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income Deficit Total Equity US$, US GAAP - January 1, 2019 $ 419,111 $ 22,957 $ 16,243 $ (253,443) $ 204,868 Balance - January 1, 2019 $ 570,553 $ 31,252 $ 22,112 $ (345,022) $ 278,895 Net loss (47) (47) Other comprehensive loss (4,599) (4,599) Stock-based compensation expense 241 241 Dividends declared (1,502) (1,502) Balance - March 31,2019 $ 570,553 $ 31,493 $ 17,513 $ (346,571) $ 272,988 US$, US GAAP - January 1, 2020 $ 419,111 $ 23,527 $ 16,797 $ (247,391) $ 212,044 US$, IFRS adjustments $ (85) $ (85) US$, IFRS - January 1, 2020 $ 419,111 $ 23,527 $ 16,797 $ (247,476) $ 211,959 Balance - January 1, 2020 $ 570,553 $ 32,011 $ 10,936 $ (337,255) $ 276,245 Net loss (5,112) (5,112) Other comprehensive income 21,094 21,094 Stock-based compensation expense (56) (56) Common shares issued from performance stock units 24 24 Dividends declared (1,481) (1,481) Balance - March 31,2020 $ 570,577 $ 31,955 $ 32,030 $ (343,848) $ 290,714 Quarterhill Inc. Reconciliations of Net Loss to Adjusted EBITDA (Unaudited) (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except share and per share amounts) Three months ended March 31, Adjusted EBITDA 2020 2019 S Per Share S Per Share Net loss $ (5,112) $ (0.04) $ (47) $ Adjusted for: Income tax expense 461 7,107 0.06 Foreign exchange (gain) loss (499) 322 Finance expense 106 107 Finance income (222) (269) Special charges 213 1,724 0.01 Amortization of intangibles 5,758 0.05 6,955 0.06 Depreciation of property, plant and equipment 267 503 Depreciation of right-of-use assets 275 517 0.01 Stock based compensation (recovery) expense (56) 241 Other income (378) (98) Adjusted EBITDA $ 813 $ 0.01 $ 17,062 $ 0.14 Weighted average number of Common Shares Basic 118,857,433 11,817,466 SOURCE Quarterhill Inc. Related Links www.quarterhill.com driven by a compounded growth of 6. 7%. Test Strips, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 7. 9%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. New York, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Diabetes Diagnostics Industry" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p04368322/?utm_source=GNW Poised to reach over US$11 Billion by the year 2025, Test Strips will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth. - Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 5.6% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$497.8 Million to the regions size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$418.2 Million worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, Test Strips will reach a market size of US$404.9 Million by the close of the analysis period. As the worlds second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 10.1% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$4 Billion in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders. Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. All research viewpoints presented are based on validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other research methodologies. Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04368322/?utm_source=GNW DIABETES DIAGNOSTICS MCP-3 MARKET ANALYSIS, TRENDS, AND FORECASTS, MAY 2 CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. MARKET OVERVIEW Diabetes Diagnostics: Towards Easier, Economic, and Efficient Management of the Global Diabetes Epidemic Evolution of Diabetes Testing over the Years with Key Features in Each Period Growth Drivers in a Nutshell Recent Market Activity Alarming Levels of Diabetes Incidence Worldwide Drives Demand for Diabetes Diagnostic Devices Diabetes Emerges as One of the Leading Causes of Death Etiological Factors Causing Diabetes Future Prospects Remain Favorable for Diabetes Diagnostics Market Developed Regions Remain Primary Revenue Contributors Developing Countries Continue to Offer Significant Growth Opportunities Key Factors Driving Sales of Diabetes Diagnostics in Developing Regions Global Competitor Market Shares Diabetes Diagnostics Competitor Market Share Scenario Worldwide (in %): 2020 & 2029 Stable Economic Scenario to Underpin Market Expansion Impact of Covid-19 and a Looming Global Recession 2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS A.Menarini Diagnostics Ltd. (UK) Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc. (USA) Acon Laboratories, Inc. (USA) AgaMatrix, Inc. (USA) Apex Biotechnology Corporation (Taiwan) ARKRAY, Inc. (Japan) Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings AG (Switzerland) B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany) Becton, Dickinson and Company (USA) BIONIME Corporation (Taiwan) Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (USA) Danaher Corporation (USA) Beckman Coulter, Inc. (USA) HemoCue AB (Sweden) DexCom, Inc. (USA) Diazyme Laboratories Inc. (USA) EKF Diagnostics Holdings Plc (UK) LifeScan, Inc. (USA) Medtronic PLC (Ireland) Nova Biomedical Corporation (USA) OSANG Healthcare Co., Ltd. (South Korea) Roche Diabetes Care, Inc. (USA) Sanofi S.A. (France) Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co, Ltd. (Japan) Siemens Healthineers (Germany) Sinocare, Inc. (China) PTS Diagnostics (USA) Trividia Health, Inc. (USA) TaiDoc Technology Corporation (Taiwan) Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. (USA) Terumo Corporation (Japan) Tosoh Bioscience, Inc. (USA) Trinity Biotech plc (Ireland) Ypsomed AG (Switzerland) 3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS Growing Prominence of Real-Time Glucose Sensing and Monitoring Drive Robust Demand for Minimally-Invasive CGM Devices CGM Market Gradually Breaks through Barriers to Adoption Intensive Care Units: A Highly Promising Market for CGMs Proven Efficacy for Development of Intervention Strategies Drives Demand for HbA1c Testing Devices Rising Popularity of Near Patient Testing Benefits Prospects for HbA1c Devices Myriad Benefits of POC HbA1c Tests over Lab Tests Drives Widespread Adoption Home HbA1c Testing: An Overview Glycated Albumin: A Potential Threat to HbA1c? Approval for HbA1c Testing for Diabetes Diagnosis: An Opportunity to Tap Is HbA1c Test Right in Being Recommended for Diagnostic Purposes? HbA1c Tests for Diabetes Diagnosis Need to Address Issues Related to Hemoglobin Variants ESC and ADA Release Revised Guidelines for HbA1c Testing Undiagnosed Diabetes: A Major Healthcare Challenge Offering Huge Untapped Potential Undiagnosed Diabetics: More Prone to Cardiovascular Diseases Increased Vulnerability of Diabetics to Various Health Complications Boosts Demand for Diagnostic Devices Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) Lead to Cardiovascular Complications High Risk of Diabetes in the Fast Expanding Aging Population Benefit Market Expansion Demographic Statistics of the Global Aging Populace: Unfurling the Market Potential Glycosylated Hemoglobin Tests Pave the Way for Early-Stage Diabetes Diagnosis Increasing Healthcare Expenditure Aids Diabetes Diagnostics & Testing Market Rising Expenditure on Diabetes Care Drives Diagnostic Devices Sales Increasing Obesity Levels Underpins Market Growth Despite Competition from CGM Systems and HbA1c Testing Devices, BGM Devices Continues to Dominate Sales Cost: The Ultimate Factor Favoring Growth in Demand for Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems Self-Monitoring/Household Blood Glucose: Sustaining Growth in Demand Key Trends in the Glucose Meter/Monitoring Systems Smartphone Penetration Favors SMBG Market Demand for BGM Products to Witness Varying Patterns in Developed and Developing Markets Barriers to Adoption of New Technology in BGM Products Accuracy Issues Plague Blood Glucose Meters Market Advancements in Glucose Monitoring Devices Offers a New Ray of Hope 4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE Table 1: Diabetes Diagnostics Global Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 2: Diabetes Diagnostics Global Retrospective Market Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012-2019 Table 3: Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Shift across Key Geographies Worldwide: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 4: Test Strips (Product Type) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 5: Test Strips (Product Type) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 6: Test Strips (Product Type) Market Share Breakdown of Worldwide Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 7: Lancets (Product Type) Potential Growth Markets Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 8: Lancets (Product Type) Historic Market Perspective by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 9: Lancets (Product Type) Market Sales Breakdown by Region/Country in Percentage: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 10: Analog Glucose Monitor (Product Type) Geographic Market Spread Worldwide in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 11: Analog Glucose Monitor (Product Type) Region Wise Breakdown of Global Historic Demand in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 12: Analog Glucose Monitor (Product Type) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 13: Continuous Glucose Monitor (Product Type) World Market Estimates and Forecasts by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 14: Continuous Glucose Monitor (Product Type) Market Historic Review by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 15: Continuous Glucose Monitor (Product Type) Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 16: Syringes (Product Type) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 17: Syringes (Product Type) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 18: Syringes (Product Type) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 19: Pens (Product Type) World Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020 to 2027 Table 20: Pens (Product Type) Market Worldwide Historic Review by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 21: Pens (Product Type) Market Percentage Share Distribution by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 22: Pumps (Product Type) Market Opportunity Analysis Worldwide in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020 to 2027 Table 23: Pumps (Product Type) Global Historic Demand in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2012 to 2019 Table 24: Pumps (Product Type) Market Share Distribution in Percentage by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 25: Injectors (Product Type) World Market by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020 to 2027 Table 26: Injectors (Product Type) Historic Market Analysis by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012 to 2019 Table 27: Injectors (Product Type) Market Share Breakdown of Worldwide Sales by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 III. MARKET ANALYSIS GEOGRAPHIC MARKET ANALYSIS UNITED STATES Market Facts & Figures US Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share (in %) by Company: 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 28: United States Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 29: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in the United States by Product Type: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 30: United States Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CANADA Table 31: Canadian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 32: Canadian Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Review by Product Type in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 33: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Canada: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Type for 2012, 2020, and 2027 JAPAN Table 34: Japanese Market for Diabetes Diagnostics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 35: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Japan: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2012-2019 Table 36: Japanese Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 CHINA Table 37: Chinese Diabetes Diagnostics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 38: Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in China in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 39: Chinese Diabetes Diagnostics Market by Product Type: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 EUROPE Market Facts & Figures European Diabetes Diagnostics Market: Competitor Market Share Scenario (in %) for 2020 & 2025 Market Analytics Table 40: European Diabetes Diagnostics Market Demand Scenario in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 41: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Europe: A Historic Market Perspective in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 42: European Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Shift by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 43: European Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020-2027 Table 44: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Europe in US$ Million by Product Type: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 45: European Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 FRANCE Table 46: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in France by Product Type: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 47: French Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 48: French Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 GERMANY Table 49: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Germany: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 50: German Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 51: German Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ITALY Table 52: Italian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 53: Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in Italy in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 54: Italian Diabetes Diagnostics Market by Product Type: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 UNITED KINGDOM Table 55: United Kingdom Market for Diabetes Diagnostics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 56: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in the United Kingdom: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2012-2019 Table 57: United Kingdom Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 SPAIN Table 58: Spanish Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 59: Spanish Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Review by Product Type in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 60: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Spain: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Type for 2012, 2020, and 2027 RUSSIA Table 61: Russian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 62: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Russia by Product Type: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 63: Russian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF EUROPE Table 64: Rest of Europe Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020-2027 Table 65: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Rest of Europe in US$ Million by Product Type: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 66: Rest of Europe Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ASIA-PACIFIC Table 67: Asia-Pacific Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 68: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Asia-Pacific: Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Region/Country for the Period 2012-2019 Table 69: Asia-Pacific Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Region/Country: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 Table 70: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Asia-Pacific by Product Type: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 71: Asia-Pacific Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 72: Asia-Pacific Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 AUSTRALIA Table 73: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Australia: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 74: Australian Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 75: Australian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 INDIA Table 76: Indian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 77: Indian Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Review by Product Type in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 78: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in India: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Type for 2012, 2020, and 2027 SOUTH KOREA Table 79: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in South Korea: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 80: South Korean Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 81: Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Distribution in South Korea by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF ASIA-PACIFIC Table 82: Rest of Asia-Pacific Market for Diabetes Diagnostics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 83: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Rest of Asia-Pacific: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2012-2019 Table 84: Rest of Asia-Pacific Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 LATIN AMERICA Table 85: Latin American Diabetes Diagnostics Market Trends by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2020-2027 Table 86: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Latin America in US$ Million by Region/Country: A Historic Perspective for the Period 2012-2019 Table 87: Latin American Diabetes Diagnostics Market Percentage Breakdown of Sales by Region/Country: 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 88: Latin American Diabetes Diagnostics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 89: Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in Latin America in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 90: Latin American Diabetes Diagnostics Market by Product Type: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 ARGENTINA Table 91: Argentinean Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020-2027 Table 92: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Argentina in US$ Million by Product Type: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 93: Argentinean Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 BRAZIL Table 94: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Brazil by Product Type: Estimates and Projections in US$ Million for the Period 2020-2027 Table 95: Brazilian Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Scenario in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 96: Brazilian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 MEXICO Table 97: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Mexico: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 98: Mexican Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 99: Mexican Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF LATIN AMERICA Table 100: Rest of Latin America Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type: 2 to 2027 Table 101: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Rest of Latin America by Product Type: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 102: Rest of Latin America Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 MIDDLE EAST Table 103: The Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Region/Country: 2020-2027 Table 104: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in the Middle East by Region/Country in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 105: The Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Region/Country: 2012, 2020, and 2027 Table 106: The Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 107: The Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market by Product Type in US$ Million: 2012-2019 Table 108: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in the Middle East: Percentage Share Breakdown of Sales by Product Type for 2012,2020, and 2027 IRAN Table 109: Iranian Market for Diabetes Diagnostics: Annual Sales Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 110: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Iran: Historic Sales Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2012-2019 Table 111: Iranian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Analysis by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 ISRAEL Table 112: Israeli Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Forecasts in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020-2027 Table 113: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Israel in US$ Million by Product Type: A Historic Review for the Period 2012-2019 Table 114: Israeli Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 SAUDI ARABIA Table 115: Saudi Arabian Diabetes Diagnostics Market Growth Prospects in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 116: Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in Saudi Arabia in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 117: Saudi Arabian Diabetes Diagnostics Market by Product Type: Percentage Breakdown of Sales for 2012, 2020, and 2027 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Table 118: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in the United Arab Emirates: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 119: United Arab Emirates Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 120: Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Distribution in United Arab Emirates by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 REST OF MIDDLE EAST Table 121: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Rest of Middle East: Recent Past, Current and Future Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type for the Period 2020-2027 Table 122: Rest of Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Historic Market Analysis in US$ Million by Product Type: 2012-2019 Table 123: Rest of Middle East Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 AFRICA Table 124: African Diabetes Diagnostics Market Estimates and Projections in US$ Million by Product Type: 2020 to 2027 Table 125: Diabetes Diagnostics Market in Africa by Product Type: A Historic Review in US$ Million for 2012-2019 Table 126: African Diabetes Diagnostics Market Share Breakdown by Product Type: 2012 VS 2020 VS 2027 IV. COMPETITION Total Companies Profiled: Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04368322/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 DOYLESTOWN, Pa., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FlowMetric Diagnostics, Inc., a division of FlowMetric Life Sciences, Inc. focused on providing immune monitoring testing, announces the expansion of their testing services to include validated serological antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) exposure. In response to the continued fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, FlowMetric has been working with corporations, hospital networks, and municipalities to provide serological testing for their employees. These groups are interested in offering their employees serological screening for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies for peace of mind as well as supporting an organization's "return to work" strategy. Serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 can help identify individuals with exposure to the virus, including those that may be asymptomatic or who have recovered and induced an immune response to the virus, as indicated by the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The presence of these antibodies is highly indicative of past exposure and will be useful information to support informed decision making on how to return employees to the workplace safely. "Consistent with FlowMetric's focus on quality and compliance within FDA guidelines, we have completed a comprehensive validation of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoglobulin assay on an ELISA platform," said Renold J. Capocasale, the founder and CEO of FlowMetric. He added, "For the past ten years, we have been at the forefront of interrogating the immune system as part of our Contract Research Organization services supporting major pharmaceutical and biotech corporations, so this new assay is a natural extension of our scientific expertise." The assay is useful for epidemiologic screening to identify exposure to SARS-CoV-2. However, it does not diagnose COVID-19 disease, nor does it document infection or immunity to the virus. Understanding if an individual has the presence of antibodies and an appropriate immune response can be a beneficial component, among several factors, to support informed decisions about how to return employees to the workplace most safely. FlowMetric's headquarters and its CLIA-registered, high complexity labs are located in Doylestown, PA; the company also has a laboratory facility located in Bresso, Italy, just outside of Milan. FlowMetric can run their validated assay on over 3,000 samples per week and provide results within 24-48 hours from receipt of samples. FlowMetric Life Sciences, Inc. is a globally recognized Contract Research Organization(CRO) providing world-class analytical services and flow cytometry capabilities to many of the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies. For additional information regarding the availability of the tests and if they are appropriate for your organization, please contact Mark Maxwell at [email protected] or (267) 638-8910. Please, visit our website www.flowmetric.com for more information. SOURCE FlowMetric, Inc. Related Links https://www.flowcytometryservices.com GARY In an attempt to flee police, a man crashed into a traffic sign and jumped out of his car through the drivers side window, police said. Aaron L. Pointer, 33, from Ford Heights, Illinois, faces charges including dealing in a schedule 1 narcotic drug, possession of a schedule 1 narcotic drug, resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, resisting law enforcement, carrying a handgun without a license, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving, according to Indiana State Police. At 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, Indiana State Police Trooper A. Hamed was patrolling Interstate 80/94 near Cline Avenue when he saw a silver Chevrolet traveling at 94 mph in a posted 55 mph zone. As the trooper drove to catch up to the Chevrolet, he saw the vehicle swerving and making unsafe lane movements. Hamed pulled the driver over just east of Burr Street, where he smelled a controlled substance coming from the vehicle. During the traffic stop, Pointer sped off, and a short chase ensued, police said. Pointer exited at Grant Street and crashed into a traffic sign, police said. When Gianluca Conte, 20, a TikTok star with more than 2.4 million followers, left his home in Charlotte, N.C., on April 1 to move into a Los Angeles mansion with seven influencers, he didnt expect to be largely confined to the property for months. Sure, California was under statewide stay-at-home orders, but home was where he would be working anyway making videos with his new housemates and the precautions had to be lifting soon. The way most young creators see it, to make it big on the internet you need to be in Los Angeles, even if youre stuck indoors in the midst of a pandemic. Youre just surrounded by influence, Mr. Conte said. In L.A., if you talk to four people, one is probably going to have over 100,000 followers on Instagram. Even people that dont prioritize social media have 20,000 followers from just being here in L.A. That feeling has driven the rise of dozens of TikTok influencer collab houses: palatial dorms where the platforms young stars live, work and hustle to expand their social media empires. Influencer collab houses are nothing new several generations of YouTubers, Vine stars and streamers have lived and worked together since 2009 but Gen Z TikTok stars have embraced them to an extent that their predecessors did not. Collab houses make it easy for new arrivals to Los Angeles: They have a nice place to live, a built-in friend group and constant access to collaborators. And, if a management company or brand is sponsoring the house, the tenants may only have to produce a few TikToks and a YouTube video every week as a form of in-kind rent. F urloughed workers should be trained up with new skills, Tony Blairs son said today. Euan Blair, who runs an apprenticeship start-up, said there was a real crisis for young people who were not going into further education. He told BBC Radio 4s Today Programme: At the moment, as we know, the government is spending tens of billions for people to effectively sit at home on furlough. But, instead, we could be directing them towards the training that will actually help them get jobs and help them solve the wider skills and productivity crisis as we start to move to the post-Covid world. He said it was already happening in Denmark, Austria, France and the Netherlands. He added: The labour market is facing an unprecedented level of challenge. The son of the former prime minister also wrote for The Times today, saying: We are in danger of overlooking a solution that is right in front of us: retraining can give people a purpose and fuel our recovery. "It is helped by a remorseless logic: if we are paying people not to work, shouldnt we pay for them to do something useful? Paul Johnson, director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies economic think tank, estimates the furlough scheme will have cost nearly 100bn by October. Pennsylvania coronavirus cases surpassed 64,000 and the death toll is drawing nearer to 5,000. Meanwhile, one Lehigh Valley hospital group is reporting fewer patients with COVID-19 than expected. Also, real estate has restarted. Here is your Pennsylvania coronavirus update for May 20, 2020. (Cant see the map? Click here.) Coronavirus in Pa. There were 746 new coronavirus cases and 143 more deaths reported Wednesday in the daily update from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which was delayed until the evening due to problems with its data-reporting system. Pennsylvanias case count now totals 64,412 with 4,767 deaths. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) The rate of new cases, measured as a seven-day average, has held fairly steady the last few days at around half its peak rate from early April. Pennsylvania has not tracked coronavirus recoveries, although the state has said it now plans to do so. At least 293,244 tests have come back negative to date. The state is working to increase testing. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Coronavirus in the Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley, which remains under a stay-at-home order, now has a combined 6,329 coronavirus cases and at least 370 deaths, up 58 cases and 12 deaths from the day before. That breaks down to 3,550 cases and 188 deaths in Lehigh County, and 2,779 cases and 182 deaths in Northampton County, according to the states report. The health department also reported more deaths Wednesday in nearby counties: (Cant see the table? Click here.) LVHN reports decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations Lehigh Valley Health Network on Wednesday said that the number of coronavirus patients at its regional hospitals has declined faster than predicted. In a Facebook post, the hospital network attributed the drop to the effectiveness of social distancing and mask-wearing. Look at that steep decline in the number of COVID-19 patients in LVHN hospitals! Its even better than predicted. Proof... Posted by Lehigh Valley Health Network on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 Pennsylvania real estate resumes In-person real estate is resuming in Pennsylvania. New guidance from Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday allows real estate agents to begin showing properties again, with some restrictions on scheduling and the number of people present. Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors report that across Northampton, Lehigh and Carbon counties, new listings dropped by 81% year over year in April. Pending sales were down 76% year to year. Coronavirus in Pa. nursing homes Pennsylvania released coronavirus data about individual nursing homes for the first time on Tuesday. The data tallies the number of cases among residents, cases among staff and deaths at facilities across Pennsylvania. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for roughly one-fifth of Pennsylvanias coronavirus cases and at least two-thirds of deaths. The Philadelphia Inquirer has noted, however, that there are problems with Pennsylvanias nursing homes report. Where can I get tested for COVID-19? The Pennsylvania Department of Healths map of testing sites is embedded below. In addition to medical facilities, some drug stores offer testing. Northampton County residents have access to a drive-up test site at Easton Hospital until June 5. (Cant see the map? Click here.) For more information on the coronavirus, consult your state health department at health.pa.gov and the CDC website. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Two people who are homeless sleep in the baggage claim area of Terminal A at Philadelphia International Airport. City officials want to clear the airport on Friday. Read more Homeless service providers and advocates are contemplating suing the City of Philadelphia to prevent it from moving homeless people living at Philadelphia International Airport into shelters on Friday without first testing them for the coronavirus. Late Wednesday, providers and advocates met by phone, with at least one of them decrying as disastrous the citys plan to disperse as many as 150 individuals. Those who serve and house the homeless cited Philadelphias decision in late March to clear a homeless encampment at the Convention Center and place some of the people in a Center City shelter, Our Brothers Place. A subsequent outbreak of coronavirus there infected more than three dozen residents, and a 46-year-old man died on April 2. He is the only known coronavirus fatality among more than 5,000 individuals living in shelters. If the airport people are placed in shelters without being tested, the city is almost guaranteeing the same thing will happen again, said David Fair, a member of the board of SELF, the largest provider of emergency housing in the city. He was the citys deputy commissioner for AIDS in the early 1980s. Its a no-brainer to test these people before putting them in a building where they could infect others. Weve decided to sign on to any potential lawsuit. READ MORE: A COVID outbreak and a death at a Philadelphia homeless shelter after the city broke up encampment at Convention Center He added that SELF president and COO Michael Hinson was asked by the city this week to take in airport residents and that he told them no unless the city tested for the virus. Hinson said in a statement that he believes that individuals accessing emergency shelter should be tested for COVID-19 prior to shelter placement, including individuals currently at the airport. It will likely decrease the risk of exposure for homeless individuals already living in emergency housing and the team members at our and other emergency housing sites. While city spokesperson Mike Dunn declined to comment on possible litigation, he said it is unsafe for people who are homeless to live at the airport. He said that outreach workers have identified beds for all the individuals there, and that those living at the facility are being screened for illness. People who need medical care are getting it, he said. We are confident," Dunn said, "that moving forward will lead to a solution that meets the needs of these individuals for a safe place to stay and other supports, while allowing ... [the airport] to fulfill its primary mandate to maintain and operate a functional facility that enables safe air travel. Disastrous Marsha Cohen, executive director of the Homeless Advocacy Project, an advocacy group, said that because doctors know that many patients afflicted with the virus are asymptomatic, placing the airport population into congregate settings could be disastrous. I dont want to sue unless its necessary," she said. "But what happened at Our Brothers Place is uppermost in peoples minds. And there have been other outbreaks. Its really troubling. READ MORE: 150 homeless people camped out at Philadelphia airport will be relocated, officials say People who are homeless are more likely to succumb to the coronavirus, she said, because they see doctors infrequently, live in rough environments, and often suffer from underlying conditions that exacerbate illness. Its possible, Cohen added, that all homeless care providers will decide not to accept people from the airport, following SELFs lead. The result, she said, is that well have avoided the threat to shelter populations, but the individuals from the airport would still be without a place to go. Earlier Wednesday, an airport spokeswoman said that the airport would begin enforcing new regulations at 7 a.m. Friday allowing only employees and travelers access to the facility. Those without airport business wont be welcome in the terminals and will be strongly urged to leave, she said. Many not from Philly Many of those living at the airport come from Delaware County and other locales outside Philadelphia, both advocates and city officials said. Advocates added that a large group of those who are homeless at the facility are mentally ill and unwilling to live in shelters. Many of the people in the airport encampment dont stay there all day, advocates said. Quite a few leave in the morning, and return at night only to sleep. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. The airport had permitted people to shelter there during the coronavirus crisis, and had directed them to Terminal A-East, which has not been in use for flights. But, advocates said, they were told that the terminal will be used again starting around June 4. A serious security breach occurred at the airport on May 2, when a man who was believed to be homeless was found in the bathroom of a Southwest Airlines plane as the flight crew prepared it for boarding. At the same time, tensions have been rising between city officials and those who serve and house the homeless. The death in April of the resident at Our Brothers Place roiled advocates and providers, who pointed out that the city had disbanded the Convention Center encampment after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a ruling stipulating that such groupings should not be cleared during the coronavirus crisis. This increases the potential for infectious disease spread, the CDC said. Eva Gladstein, deputy managing director of health and human services for the city, disputed the idea that moving people from the street hastened the virus spread through Our Brothers Place. Its a false correlation, she said. The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org. Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect correct dates for when certain services can begin in Michigan. LANSING, MI -- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Thursday morning lifting some restrictions on business and social activity. Gatherings of 10 people or less are now permitted, starting immediately, as long as participants practice social distancing, the governors office announced. Starting Friday, May 29, health care providers can perform nonessential medical, dental, and veterinary procedures, and starting Tuesday, May 26, retail businesses and auto dealerships across the state will be allowed to operate via appointment only. Retail businesses and auto showrooms are limited to 10 people inside at a time. The data shows that Michigan is ready to phase in these sectors of our economy, but we must stay vigilant and ensure were doing everything we can to protect ourselves and our families from the spread of COVID-19, Whitmer said in a news release. On behalf of our brave first responders on the front lines of this crisis, we must continue to all do our part by staying safer at home. We owe it to them to do what we can to stop the spread of this virus. The signing of Executive Order 2020-96 comes three days after Whitmer announced all restaurants and shops in the Upper Peninsula and in several counties in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula will be allowed to reopen starting Friday. Thursdays order means many will be able to gather for the Memorial Day holiday, which didnt appear likely when the stay-home order was extended until May 28. As daily coronavirus case numbers and deaths continue to drop, the state has begun relaxing some restrictions. Still, officials remind shoppers and business owners to use caution and for those gathering socially to practice proper distancing. They also remind medical providers to ensure the safety of their patients as they return to doctors offices across the state. As businesses continue to reopen, its crucial that they adopt strict safety measures to protect their employees, customers, and their families, said MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun in a press release. I know that as medical professionals begin offering nonessential procedures again, they will do everything in their power to protect patients and their families from COVID-19. I will continue to work with Governor Whitmer and our partners across Michigan to protect our families and lower the chance of a second wave. The order allows for reopening outpatient health care facilities, including clinics, primary care physician offices, and dental offices. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs will issue guidance to aid those medical facilities in adopting appropriate safeguards, the state said. With todays announcement, physicians and health care providers in Michigan are ready to resume taking care of patients, said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, in a press release. It is time for patients to catch up on the care that has been deferred for the past two months. We encourage the citizens of Michigan to tend to their health and protect each other by following public health guidance to prevent spread of this virus." Bars, restaurants, salons, barbers and other industries not specifically mentioned in the order will not be permitted to open under the latest order. Things that were not included in the list today are not included in the list today, Whitmer said during Thursdays press conference when asked about those businesses. What we know is that this virus is still very present in the vast majority of our state. And so, we are asking people to be really smart as we take these steps so we dont have to take a step backwards, we can keep moving forward. The order requires all businesses to follow the states guidelines for protecting workers and customers. That includes providing COVID-19 training to workers that covers, at a minimum, workplace infection-control practices, proper use of personal protective equipment, steps workers must take to notify the business of any symptoms of COVID-19 or any suspected or confirmed diagnosis. Customers will be expected to comply with the states order to wear masks in confined public spaces if they can medically tolerate a face covering, the governors office said. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Thursday, May 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Supervisor Jonah Eaton, and two staff attorneys, Maggie Kopel (in black) and Lilah Thompson, at Philadelphia City Hall on Wednesday, May 20. Facing pandemic-driven budget deficits, the Kenney administration has eliminated $200,000 in funding for the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project, which provides free legal representation for migrants facing deportation. Read more Last summer, Philadelphia joined an innovative program that helps immigrants facing deportation by providing the one asset guaranteed to give them a fighting chance in court: a lawyer. Now, however, as the Kenney administration faces painful tax hikes, layoffs, and service reductions to fill a pandemic-driven chasm in the city budget, gone is the $200,000 for the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project (PAIFUP). The money is key to the projects mission of offering free legal counsel to immigrants, for whom removal from the United States can have deadly consequences. I was about to be deported to a country where Id probably get murdered the first two days home, said J.R., 25, who said his sexuality put him in danger in his native Jamaica, and who agreed to speak only if identified by his initials. PAIFUP lawyer Lilah Thompson took on J.R.s case this year, winning him not only freedom from detention after three months at the Pike County Correctional Facility, but also a court ruling that he was not legally removable from the U.S. He returned to his job as a HVAC worker in Philadelphia, and now seeks to become a naturalized citizen. The right to publicly funded legal representation seems an ingrained part of American law. But federal Immigration Court is different. Defendants generally have no right to court-appointed counsel, and even children can be made to serve as their own lawyers. One immigration judge famously described the system as doing death penalty cases in a traffic court setting. The cases tend to be complex and time-consuming, making it hard for poorer immigrants to find a lawyer willing to work free and even harder to find one while held in ICE detention at places like Pike and the York County Prison. As a result, many are left to represent themselves against highly trained, well-financed government lawyers, often with deportation to dangerous homelands hanging in the balance. The consequences are really dire for many people, said PAIFUP lawyer Maggie Kopel. As the Trump administration has gone all-out to block and limit immigration restricting asylum, cutting refugee admissions, building a border wall coalitions of elected leaders, university scholars, and philanthropic organizations have pushed to create a defender-like system. READ MORE: A dark milestone: More than 1,000 migrants in ICE custody now have the coronavirus The impact of having a lawyer is dramatic. In a Penn Law Review study of 1.2 million deportation cases, only 37% of all immigrants and 14% of detainees had legal representation. Among migrants with lawyers, the odds of obtaining relief from removal were 5 times greater than for those without counsel. Mayor Jim Kenney announced the new project in July at the National Constitution Center, saying it would help Philadelphia push back on the hate being driven by the White House and remain a place where everyone, including immigrants, feels safe and welcome. The city is among 18 communities across the country to partner with the Vera Institute of Justice, a New York-based justice advocate. The institutes two-year-old SAFE network, an acronym for Safety and Fairness for Everyone, is similar to the public-defender system in criminal courts. Since its inception, clients represented by SAFE lawyers were permitted to remain in the U.S. in 35% of completed cases. READ MORE: Guatemalan girl and her father freed from Berks immigrant detention center In its first year of providing free counsel to detained immigrants in Pennsylvania, PAIFUP represented 38 clients, successfully getting 13 released to their families and winning one case outright. Then the pandemic hit. Immigration lawyers argue that while ICE detention is always unpleasant, its now become life-threatening, with more than 1,000 detainees testing positive for the coronavirus. PAIFUP is holding out hope that Philadelphia City Council will restore the local funding when it considers the mayors budget in June. Were back on our heels right now, said Jonah Eaton, whose duties as supervising attorney at the Nationalities Service Center include overseeing PAIFUPs legal work. He said he doesnt blame the Kenney administration, which faces $650 million in budget cuts, five times the deficit the city faced following the Great Recession of 2008. READ MORE: Activists fear many more ICE detainees are infected with the coronavirus than limited testing shows Unfortunately, said Irene Contreras Reyes, deputy communications director for the mayors office, COVID-19 has presented the administration with incredible challenges and tough decisions. One of them was not to allocate funds to this program. PAIFUP argues that it produces a lot of good for not much money, that immigrants released from custody are able to work, pay taxes, and support families that often include U.S.-citizen children, lessening the need for public assistance. Some PAIFUP clients fled violence in Central America. Some are seeking asylum. Some are lawful permanent residents who lived here for decades, but now face deportation because of a criminal charge. About a third of the clients live in Philadelphia, home to about 50,000 undocumented immigrants. Many Americans, Eaton acknowledged, disapprove of spending public money to defend people who lack official permission to be here. But determining whether someone deserves to stay in the U.S., he and others said, often is a question for the courts. Every person who is detained should have a lawyer, said Thompson, of PAIFUP. This gives so much dignity to the process, even if it results in someone not being able to stay in the country. PAIFUP draws staff from both the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Immigrant Resource Center in York. Other than pre-K and criminal-justice reform, there has been no more important policy initiative than making sure that legal, proper protections are in place for the immigrants in Philadelphia, said Mustafa Rashed of Bellevue Strategies, a consultant retained by Vera to navigate the budget process. Im confident well find a way to restore funding. Kathiria hopes so. Shes a 32-year-old U.S. citizen whose husband, a mechanic originally from the Dominican Republic, was arrested by ICE outside their Philadelphia home this year. Hes eligible to stay in the U.S., but for now is detained at Pike. She has moved to Reading to stay with family, she said, agreeing to speak only if her last name was withheld. And shes counting on PAIFUPs Kopel to get her husband released. Shes been helping me a lot, Kathiria said. From one day to the next, everything changed. He had been paying for food, paying the bills, taking care of me. We were really happy together. With Latin America's largest economy reeling from simultaneous health, political and economic crises, President Jair Bolsonaro has been quietly forging an alliance with a powerful group of centrist lawmakers he used to despise. The deal, which entails congressional support in exchange for positions in the administration, for now may shield Bolsonaro from meaningful defeats in Congress, as well as any impeachment attempts against him. It's an about-face for a president who was elected in 2018 promising to put an end to the "old politics" that those centrist parties have come to represent. Known in Brazil as centrao, or big center, the group has been in a cozy relationship with whomever held the nation's top job for the past three decades. The more Bolsonaro digs himself into a deeper political hole -- clashing with former allies, losing Cabinet members and fighting off allegations of interfering in probes surrounding his family -- the more powerful the group becomes. As the coronavirus pandemic pushes the economy into a historic recession, the government will need all the support it can get to navigate the crisis. Q: Who is part of centrao? A: Centrao currently comprises about 200 lawmakers from 10 center-right parties, representing about 40% of votes in the lower house of congress and roughly a third of the parties registered in Brazil. They're mostly conservative, though they don't strongly adhere to any ideological orientation. Traditionally, the group is never in the opposition -- it always negotiates with whoever is in power, exchanging support for political advantages and extra cash. Q: How was the group created? A: Centrao emerged during the discussion of Brazil's constitution in 1987, following decades of military dictatorship. Back then, it helped President Jose Sarney block the passage of a more progressive law and extended the presidential term in exchange for government positions. The group played key roles during the administrations of leftist leaders Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff -- supporting the former, and helping take down the latter. They later backed her successor Michel Temer, barring impeachment proceedings against him even as his popularity sank into the single digits. Q; Why is Bolsonaro turning to them? A: In a fragmented Congress with about 25 different parties, Bolsonaro needs to build a majority to approve legislation and stop possible impeachment proceedings. Lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia, who's sitting on more than 30 requests to ouster Bolsonaro, isn't a member of the group but has a strong rapport with centrist parties. It's a risky strategy that may alienate Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and sabotage his fiscally conservative agenda, as centrist parties are eager to see the government loosen the purse strings. So far, however, the government's strategy to negotiate with similarly-minded caucuses including agribusiness and pro-guns groups has been hit or miss -- it worked during the approval of a crucial pension overhaul last year, but since then other reforms have made little progress in Congress. Q: What have they gotten in exchange for their support? A: The leaders of these parties are asking for -- and receiving -- government positions, as well as extra cash to be used in their respective constituencies. The group has taken control of an education development fund known as FNDE and a government body responsible for fighting droughts in Brazil's northeast region -- each of them with a budget worth billions of dollars. There are also discussions about posts at a regional bank and ports. In exchange, Bolsonaro asked for the approval of a list of about 20 projects -- and loyalty. Q: How much power do they actually have? A: While centrist parties alone don't ensure majority in congress, they also operate behind the scenes, building bridges with other groups. That makes them one of the biggest forces in congress, especially when it comes to setting a voting agenda. Q: Can they provide the political stability Bolsonaro needs? A: Centrao can be a source of stability or instability, depending on whether the government honors agreements made with them. The parties usually demand more when the president gets weak, and may abandon him entirely if public opinion turns against the administration. The alliance may also hurt Bolsonaro's re-election chances in 2022 if voters see him repeating old political practices they disapprove of. A social activist on Thursday alleged that newly-elected BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar violated social distancing norms while attending some public events, including a felicitation programme and a wedding, in Sangli district of Maharashtra. Santosh Bichukale, a city-based activist, said he wrote to Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sangli district collector on Wednesday, demanding that Padalkar and his associates be home quarantined for 14 days. He said the MLC came to Sangli on Tuesday night after travelling to Mumbai and Pune, which are severely affected by COVID-19. "On Wednesday, Padalkar attended public events, including a programme to felicitate him and a wedding, and also met his supporters at some villages in Atpadi tehsil of Sangli," he claimed. Bichukale said he has filed a complaint with the Sangli district administration and the Chief Minister's Office, and sought that the MLC and his supporters be home quarantined for 14 days. "I have all the videos and photos which I have forwarded to the district administration," he said. Padalkar, who hails from Padalkarwadi in Atpadi tehsil of Sangli, and eight others were last week elected unopposed as members of the state Legislative Council. The MLC could not be contacted for comments in the matter. Virgin Orbit is finally ready to try a proper launch demo. The spaceflight outfit now expects the launch demo mission to take place on either May 24th or May 25th between 1PM and 5PM Eastern each day. If theres enough of a launch window, the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft will release LauncherOne over the Pacific, where the rocket will fire its engine in mid-air for the first time. It will sustain that flight for as long as possible and deploy a payload in orbit if successful, Virgin said. The company is aware this is risky. No one has previously lit a liquid-fuelled rocket in a horizontal position at a 50-mile attitude this could go well, or it could go spectacularly wrong. While the company is a long way from regularly deploying rockets, a successful flight would demonstrate the viability of using aircraft to assist rocket launches. That could lower the cost of putting payloads into space and make that frontier more accessible. A manuscript by Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater Countys Dr. Banu Symington will be published Thursday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The manuscript, When Less IS More or Acknowledging the Value of Tincture of Time, will be published online May 14, at https://ascopubs.org/journal/jco. The print version will be published this summer. The Journal of Clinical Oncology is the most prestigious journal for cancer specialists, said Symington, a hematologist/oncologist and medical director at Sweetwater Regional Cancer Center. Publication in this journal is competitive and ha... BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Tamilla Mammadova Trend: Georgian Minister of Economics and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava discussed economic cooperation with Ambassador of Hungary to Georgia Victoria Horvath, Trend reports via the ministry. The meeting was also attended by deputy ministers Gennadi Arveladze and Irakli Nadareishvili, as well as the head of the National Tourism Administration Mariam Kvrivishvili. Particular attention was paid to the restoration of direct air links between the two countries, as well as to cooperation in the implementation of safe standards in the field of tourism and the creation of a bilateral green corridor. At the meeting, Turnava informed the Hungarian ambassador about Georgias successful efforts to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hungarian ambassador expressed interest in the steps taken by Georgia to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the field of tourism, and hope that tourist flows between Georgia and Hungary would be restored soon. Georgia is coping well with the problems of the coronavirus pandemic. We positively evaluate the initiatives of the Government of Georgia. We will be one of the first countries to send business and tourists to Georgia, said the Hungarian ambassador. The participants also discussed the issue of concluding an agreement on investment and mutual defense between the two countries, which will contribute to bilateral economic cooperation. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356 Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Thursday inaugurated the state's first Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at the STNM Hospital near here. The tiny border state of Sikkim does not have a single COVID-19 case till now. With the establishment of the VRDL in Sikkim, samples related to COVID-19 will no longer have to be sent to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri, West Bengal, for RT-PCR testing, the chief minister said. Speaking on the occasion, he thanked the engineering cell of the health department, in particular, for building infrastructure for the VRDL on the ninth floor of the STNM hospital in a short span of 26 days after approval of the project by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The STNM Hospital here has been conducting regular tests through TrueNat machines and out of 583 samples tested till Wednesday , 459 samples have tested negative for COVID-19 while the results of the remaining samples are awaited. Similarly, out of the 759 samples tested through RT- PCR machines at the North Bengal Medical College, 543 were found to be negative and the rest is pending. The VRDL laboratory will be able to test 90 samples daily. Initially, the facility will be manned by a microbiologist and two laboratory technicians, health officials said. Subsequent batches of laboratory technicians are being trained, they said. Seventy-five per cent of the cost of construction and establishment of the VRDL was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), while 25 per cent was borne by Alkem Laboratories Pvt. Ltd. from its CSR fund, the officials said. The ICMR procured the equipment for the laboratory through the National Institute of Pathology, Noida. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police in Lagos have reportedly arrested an actor for allegedly stabbing his neighbour to death in the Ikotun area of the state. ... Police in Lagos have reportedly arrested an actor for allegedly stabbing his neighbour to death in the Ikotun area of the state. Actor Temitayo Phillips Ogunbusola, 30, allegedly stabbed his neighbor, Oladotun Johnson Opeyemi, to death over a PHCN bill. Reports say the incident happened on Saturday May 17 at their residence located at 4 Sebil Kazeem, Cele-Igbe, Ikotun, Lagos. According to an eyewitness, Banjo Lateef, whos also living at the residence, the actor was owing N21,500 and the neighbors suggested that his power supply be disconnected. The eyewitness, whos also in charge of PHCN bill for the compound, reportedly went to the actors apartment, together with another tenant, and an altercation ensued leading to the actor bringing out a pestle and threatening to kill the PHCN caretaker. Continue his account below: The National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hon. Joshua Hamidu Akamba hosted former appointees and Ambassadors of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday. According to a statement issued in Accra yesterday, the meeting was called by the NDC stalwart to acknowledge the toil and contribution of the former appointees to governance and the sustenance of the NDC party. It said the meeting was also a platform for Hon. Akamba to thank them for their invaluable service to the party and the Nation at large. Mr. Joshua Akamba uses the platform to discuss plans for the crucial 2020 election. Mr. Akamba and his deputies went further to charge the former appointees of the NDC to adopt a branch and start working towards the winning of the 2020 election. "We are not in normal times at all to relent so please let's work hard for the NDC to come to power with the small that we have," furious Akamba charges. The National Organiser for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joshua Hamidu Akamba, has said the Akufo Addo-led government is very cunning and deceptive. He stressed that the NPP has nothing good to offer Ghanaians. "Ghanaians had so much hope in President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP government, yet their tenure so far has been nothing but disappointment after disappointments for that reason we must be more United to work towards the rescue mission agenda outlined by the flag bearer of the NDC. We must work hard for Ghanaians to vote out the Corrupt Akuffo Addo and the NPP," Akamba emphasised. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. (TSXV: AGH.H) ("Canadian Silver Hunter" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire the "Lost Dog" property, located in the West Timmins area of Northern Ontario. The Lost Dog property consists of 52 contiguous mining claim units covering close to 3000 hectares. The property is located in Denton Township, approximately thirty kilometres south-west of the Timmins city center, and 12 km west of Pan American Silver's Timmins Mine, in the Porcupine Mining Division of Northern Ontario. The Lost Dog Property has had considerable exploration work completed to date including line-cutting, surface work and sampling, and more importantly, a major Induced Polarization (IP), Very Low Frequency (VLF) and Magnetic MAG) survey (Exsics Exploration 2011). The IP and MAG report findings outlined that the program was successful in locating a major fault structure, with significant cross cutting structures. The Company is planning the follow up program of detailed geology and geochemical sampling which will be performed this summer/fall, before drilling. Soil sampling has been proven to be a very cost effective and reliable follow up tool to defining drill targets over the IP zone. The Company will pay a total of $65,000 and 1,000,000 common shares over a three-year period to earn a 100-per-cent interest in the property, subject to regulatory approval. The Vendor will retain a 2% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) that the Company has the right to purchase 1% of at any time, for $1,000,000. The Vendor of the property is a director of the Company and the former CEO of Silver Shield Resources Inc. Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold and silver exploration on their three properties; the Silver Centre-Keeley Frontier property, located near Cobalt in Northern Ontario; the Coopers property, located near Lebel-sur-Quevillon in Northern Quebec; and the Lost Dog property, located near Timmins, in Northern Ontario. For further details about the Company's projects and plans please visit the Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. website at www.canadiansilverhunter.ca CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, the NEX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe Harbor. For more information please contact: Jeffrey Hunter President & CEO (416) 707-4230 jhunter@cshi.ca To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56322 Previous Apple contractor now turned whistleblower spills the beans regarding the tech giant's insider program that actually picks up on the user's Siri recordings. The whistleblower revealed the secrets last summer and has now made himself known to the world. A certain Thomas le Bonniec has previously worked under a Siri "grading project" that is tasked with gathering certain snippets or audio clips in order to help improve the program's accuracy. Just a year ago, le Bonniec suddenly revealed to The Guardian that while he was working for Apple, he was actually able to hear private and sometimes even intimate recordings with criminal activity, medical discussions, intimate moments, and even official corporate talks. This whistleblower initially kept his identity anonymous but has then decided to reveal his identity as a form of protest against the nonexistent or slow action taken against Apple for major violations of the "fundamental human rights." The open letter Le Bonniec sent an open letter to the European privacy regulators with statements regarding his concerns. He also said to the guardian that there is still no constructive list of those involved as well as the amount of data that was actually breached. Le Bonniec also said that identifying the persons that they were listening to is also not hard since there are accidental details like addresses, names, and etc. that pop up every once in a while. The letter that was sent includes concerns that Apple repeatedly ignores and violates certain fundamental rights while continuing its massive data collection methods. The letter also expresses extreme concerns over big tech companies that are actually wiretapping the whole population despite the European citizens being assured that the EU is protected by one of the strongest existing data protection laws around the world. Read Also: Hackers Now Use Bluetooth to Penetrate Secured Device Is Apple still reliable? According to the Whistleblower, all of this was done even without the user's own consent. The data collection was said to spread beyond the user but also included relatives, children, friends, and even colleagues. Apple had already admitted to these unreported practices after being exposed back in July of 2019. There is also a small portion of Siri that requests data to analyze and improve Siri and its dictation. These user requests are actually not associated with the user's personal Apple ID according to the company. It was also announced that Siri's responses are actually analyzed in private and secure facilities and all of the reviewers are under Apple's strict confidentiality requirement with sensitive data. Apple has acknowledged the many concerns and has suspended any existing human grading of Siri requests in order to begin a thorough review of their practices and their policies. They also stated that they plan t6o make certain changes to Siri in order to guarantee the safety and privacy of their users. Read Also: [Scoop] Apple Users Alarmed Over iOS 13.5 Public Beta with Contact Tracing Update Amid Privacy Issues - Emperor Mansa Musa, the 14th-century emperor of Mali, is regarded as the wealthiest man of all time - Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world, but the Malian emperor is the richest man ever - Mansa Musa, who ruled from 1312 to 1337, was worth $400 billion having made his fortune from gold and salt PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed! Businessman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. He is the wealthiest man in modern history with a net worth of $149.4 billion, but not the wealthiest man of all time. According to BBC, Mansa Musa, the 14th-century emperor of Mali, is believed to be the richest man ever with a net worth of $400 billion. Legit.ng notes that the emperor, who made his fortune from gold and salt, ruled from 1312 to 1337. Rudolph Butch Ware, associate professor of history at the University of California, said it is almost impossible to describe how wealthy and powerful the ruler truly was. Mansa Musa, who was born in 1280 into a family of rulers, inherited the throne when his brother Mansa Abu-Bakr abdicated to go on an expedition. The emperor was able to grow his kingdom under his rule, annexing 24 cities, including Timbuktu. However, after his death in 1337 at the age of 57, the empire which was taken over by his sons could not be held together, leading to its fall. PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read the best news on Nigerias #1 news app In other news, the CEO and owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, may become the world's first trillionaire by 2026 and not any time soon as many media reports claim. It should be noted that the only wealthy man close to Bezos mouth watery $143 billion (N54,070,800,000,000) net worth is Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, who is valued at about $102 billion (N39,394,440,000,000). Born in New Mexico in 1964, the Amazon chief has always been passionate about computers and that influenced his decision to study computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University. Some years into school, he quit and started an online bookshop from his garage called Amazon in 1995. The initial success of the business was inspiring as it sold across 45 countries within the first 30 days. Would you rather have money or be poor and have a good family? | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said the state government is proposing regulated farming in the state so that farmers can get a higher price for their produce by cultivating crops which have high demand in the market. The government is suggesting cultivation of crops in a regulated manner so as to prevent farmers from suffering losses by cultivating the same crop (in excess), he said. He held a meeting with ministers and officials on the proposed regulated farming, an official release said. Rao said he would like farmers in the state to benefit by getting good price for their produceby cultivating crops as per the regulated farming being proposed and throughthe Rythu Bandhu investment support scheme. The state agriculture department and the agriculture university would make appropriate suggestions to the farmers on the crops to be cultivated, he said. The government is making suggestions to the farmers as per the advice of agri scientists who decided on the crops to be cultivated as per season, among otheraspects. The agro-business wing has decided on the crops that have demand in the market. Recalling that paddy was cultivated in 40 lakh acres during rainy season last year, Rao said it should be cultivated in the same area this year also. Among a number of suggestions, he said farmers conventions should be held in the coming four-five days on a cluster basis to create awareness among farmers on regulated farming. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WINSTED The American Mural Project (AMP) is suspending its five-week Summer @AMP programs for children age 7-12, but is continuing to offer two weeks of Outdoor Design & Building, a program for youth ages 10-16, and a two-week Digital Story Work internship program for young adults age 17 and older. The Outdoor Design & Building program and Digital Story Work internship dates have been changed to July 27-Aug. 7, with limited enrollment of 4-6 participants per week. The programs will be held on AMPs campus at 90 Whiting St. Following revised guidance from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) and the governors office, AMP determined it would not be possible to operate the Summer @AMP programs, while still ensuring the health and safety of its youngest participants, members said in a statement. The Outdoor Design & Building program, as well the Digital Story Work internship program, serve older participants in an outdoor setting, allowing for easier social distancing compliance for a smaller group of participants, members said. Strict attention to hygiene and cleaning will also be integral to these programs, along with daily health screenings for both staff and participants. The Outdoor Design & Building program, originally scheduled for June 29-July 2 and July 7-10, will now be held July 27-30 and Aug. 3-6. Limited to six participants per week, this program is ideal for aspiring builders, landscape designers, architects, and artists. Participants will work with experienced craftspeople to learn basic skills in design and woodworking, and will design and create structures for AMPs property. Register for one or two weeks, 9:00am-3:00pm, $225 per week (Monday-Thursday). The program is open to ages 10-16. For full program details, schedules, ages, costs, and registration, go to americanmuralproject.org/summer This year, the Digital Story Work internship enters its fourth summer, with a two-week, full-day program for youth ages 17 and older who are either attending school or who have entered the workplace, now offered from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., July 27-30 and Aug. 3-6. This program was originally scheduled for June 29-July 10.) Interns will work with an AMP teaching artist to learn the basics of video production and compelling storytelling by creating short documentaries, interviews, and marketing videos. Daily workshops offer collaborative project work under the mentorship of experienced professionals in the fields of journalism, communication, and film, who will help participants develop skills in interviewing, story development, and documentary video production. Four internships are available. Each intern will receive a nominal stipend after completion of the internship and assigned project work. Interns should apply online by 5 p.m. June 12 at americanmuralproject.org/internships. While curtailing some of our programs this summer was a difficult decision to make, we plan to use this time strategically, said Michelle Begley, programs director at AMP, in a statement. We will continue to build and prepare ourselves to host the growing community of families whose children love to create, grow, tinker, and dabble at AMP. To date, the Outdoor Design & Building program is sponsored in part by the Torrington Savings Bank Foundation. About the American Mural Project: Launched in 2002 by artist Ellen Griesedieck, the American Mural Project (AMP) is creating the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the worlda mural 120 feet long, 48 feet high, and up to ten feet deep. The mural is a tribute to American workers and highlights what has defined the country over the last century. It seeks to inspire, to educate, to invite collaboration, and to reveal to people of all ages the many contributions they can make to American culture. Nothing like it exists in the world. More than 15,000 children and adults have helped create pieces of the mural, which will be housed in two former mill buildings on Whiting Street in Winsted, Connecticut. Scope Construction finished renovations on the mural building in fall 2018, and the lengthy process of assembling and installing the mural is now underway. Programming is currently offered for schools and teachers, after-school partnerships, summer enrichment camps, and an apprentice-style internship program. Lead funding for the American Mural Project has been provided by the Newmans Own Foundation, Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation, and the Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Community Foundation, the Maximilian E. and Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, Eversource Foundation, and Northwest Community Bank. Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyepong says he is the architect behind the arrest of controversial tele-preacher Bishop Obinim. Bishop Daniel Obinim, the founder of the International God's Way church, was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service over the publication of false news and falsification of documents. According to the police, "He has been charged with the offences of Publication of false news and Forgery of document contrary to sections 208 and 159 of the Criminal and other offences Act, 1960 (ACT 29) respectively". Speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based Hello FM, Kennedy Agyepong said he has also "forwarded the issue to EOCO". He has however urged Ghanaians to "focus on their work and stop following pastors like Bishop Obinim for spiritual guidance." Bishop Obinim was arraigned before a Magistrate's Court, in Accra, and granted a GHC100,000.00 bail with three sureties - one to be justified. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Osburn and Monaghan often spend each night talking to each other about what they will do after shelter-at-home orders are lifted. He dreams of taking her to the restaurant in the Beverly Hills Gucci store, which is run by one of his favorite chefs, Massimo Bottura. Monaghan cant wait to take in simple pleasures together, like sharing breakfast, grocery shopping and going to the park. But Osburn is restraining himself from getting too far ahead of events. Im just getting ready for what life is like now, Osburn said. Im not trying to plan months and months out. I just know that this is what I have to do to have a social interaction with Shelby. To the Editor: Re Waiting to Lock Down Cost 36,000 Lives, Estimate Says (front page, May 21): If the C.E.O. of a large company received certain knowledge of toxic conditions in the workplace that put the lives of employees at serious risk of death, and the C.E.O. did nothing, and workers died as a result, then he or she would be liable for negligent or reckless homicide. President Trump has sovereign immunity. Nevertheless, his inaction for months after being informed by credible intelligence reports of the threat of Covid-19, his statements encouraging citizens to risk their lives by taking unproven drugs, his encouragement of large groups of protesters who risk exposure to the coronavirus and his continuing failure to adopt a coherent national plan of defense are at least the moral equivalent of negligent mass manslaughter. Eric W. Orts Philadelphia The writer is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After industrialist Anand Mahindra backed the armys proposed tour of duty (ToD) model last week, industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on Thursday supported the proposal that seeks to allow the countrys youth to serve the military for three years, an army officer familiar with the move said. The scheme has also elicited positive response from some other industrialists. The industry body, in an email to the army on Thursday, described the ToD initiative of the government as a game changer, said the official cited above. He said that the Assocham has communicated to the army that it will work with the government to promote the ToD scheme not just as an employment opportunity but as a nation building initiative where the industry will send existing employees for a three-year tour of duty with job security when they return. Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani said his company would even consider hiring candidates first and then let them do the military internship as it will help us groom our work force in the ethos of the army. The ToD model is similar to the short-service commission that allows officers to serve the armed forces for 10 to 14 years. If the proposal is accepted, the army could implement the ToD model - essentially an voluntary internship after military training - on a trial basis for both officers and other ranks in a limited number of vacancies. Last week, Mahindra said the ToD exposure would give young people an added advantage in their next workplace. In an e-mail to the army, Mahindra said his group would be happy to consider the candidature of ToD optees for corporate jobs. I definitely think military training will be an added advantage for Tour of Duty Graduates as they enter the workplace. In fact, considering the rigid standards of selection and training in the Indian Army, the Mahindra Group will be happy to consider their candidature, Mahindra wrote. The ToD proposal, reviewed by Hindustan Times, stressed that the internship model would result in savings for the organisation. It said it will also brighten the prospects of the ToD optees in the corporate world. The cumulative cost of pre-commission training, pay/allowances, proposed severance packages, leave encashment and other costs is nearly 5.12 crore and 6.83 crore for short-service commissioned (SSC) officers released after 10 and 14 years of service. However, similar costs for those released after three years will be just 80 to 85 lakh, the proposal stated. It said the ToD model would eventually result in significant reduction in salary and pension budgets, too. The proposal cites a survey that has indicated that corporate houses would prefer employing individuals who have been trained by the military and join them at the age of 26-27 after a three-year ToD rather than college graduates. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The head of NASA's human space flight resigned a week before the first manned launch on US soil in almost a decade, citing a "mistake" reported to be over the rush to land on the Moon by 2024. Saying he took risks for which he must now bear the consequences, Douglas Loverro announced his resignation just six months after joining the space agency to lead the Trump administration's Artemis programme. It came just eight days before the 27 May launch of two astronauts to the International Space Station in Elon Musk's SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket. Congresswoman Kendra Horn, who chairs the subcommittee that oversees NASA, said "we need answers". "I am deeply concerned over this sudden resignation, especially eight days before the first scheduled launch of US astronauts on US soil in almost a decade," Ms Horn said. In an all-hands note to the NASA Human Exploration and Operations Directorate on Tuesday, first reported by SpaceRef, Mr Loverro said that leaders were sometimes called on to take risks, which turned out to be a mistake. "Our mission is certainly not easy, nor for the faint of heart, and risk-taking is part of the job description," Mr Loverro wrote. "The risks we take, whether technical, political, or personal, all have potential consequences if we judge them incorrectly. "I took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfil our mission. Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences." Quoting two people with knowledge of the situation, The Washington Post reported that the resignation was spurred when Mr Loverro broke a rule during NASA's procurement of spacecraft capable of landing humans on the moon. On 25 March, NASA's Office of Inspector General announced it was auditing the acquisition strategy for the Artemis missions. The Artemis programme was announced by the Trump administration in 2019 with the mission to land astronauts on the moon by 2024. The timeline has been criticised for being unrealistic. In announcing the resignation, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine was vague but praising of Mr Loverro, saying he hit the ground running and made significant progress. "His leadership of HEO [Human Exploration and Operations] has moved us closer to accomplishing our goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024," he said in a note to staff. "Next week will mark the beginning of a new era in human space flight with the launch of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station." In partnership with SpaceX, the mission will be the first time since 2011 that humans have reached orbit from US soil. Mr Loverro, who was reportedly scheduled to lead a final technical review meeting on Thursday ahead of the launch, had been a vocal advocate of the Artemis programme right up until his departure on Monday. Retired naval aviator, Ken Bowersol will step up into the role of acting head of human space flight from his existing role of deputy associate administrator. NEW YORK and HONG KONG, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Bridge Group ("ABG"), a leading global life science investment group, has announced that it led three investments in the U.S. -- two medtech and one telehealth -- in April, 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of the three companies is a commercial-stage leading innovator re-setting the standard of care in its respective category. They include: Vida Health ( San Francisco, CA ) A leading all-in-one virtual care platform managing polychronic physical and behavioral conditions covering diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and mental health among others, which are all at high risk of complications from COVID-19. Vida now covers, on its virtual platform, 1.4 million lives suffering from one or multiple chronic conditions. ABG led a US$25 million investment in Vida in April 2020 , ABG's first private investment in telehealth, which is playing an ever-increasing role in healthcare in the U.S. and worldwide, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Website: https://www.vida.com/ ( ) A leading all-in-one virtual care platform managing polychronic physical and behavioral conditions covering diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and mental health among others, which are all at high risk of complications from COVID-19. Vida now covers, on its virtual platform, 1.4 million lives suffering from one or multiple chronic conditions. ABG led a investment in Vida in , ABG's first private investment in telehealth, which is playing an ever-increasing role in healthcare in the U.S. and worldwide, as highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Website: https://www.vida.com/ Rapid Micro Biosystems ( Lowell, MA ) A leading life science tools company that offers innovative products for automated, fast, highly accurate, and cost-efficient detection and data tracking of bacterial contamination in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, water and food processing, and personal care products. ABG led a US$60 million equity investment in Rapid Micro in April 2020 , which represents ABG's first private investment in life science tools. Website: https://www.rapidmicrobio.com/ ( ) A leading life science tools company that offers innovative products for automated, fast, highly accurate, and cost-efficient detection and data tracking of contamination in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, water and food processing, and personal care products. ABG led a equity investment in Rapid Micro in , which represents ABG's first private investment in life science tools. Website: https://www.rapidmicrobio.com/ Pulmonx (Redwood, CA) A commercial-stage medical device company which is the world's leader in minimally-invasive treatment for patients with severe emphysema, a progressive and life-threatening form of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). ABG led a US$66 million investment in Pulmonx in April 2020 , one year after ABG led a US$65mn equity financing by Pulmonx. Website: www.MyLungsMyLife.com "The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly a watershed event for life science and healthcare around the globe, and further strengthens ABG's commitment to leading high-impact investments in game-changing innovations in this space," said Frank Yu, Founder, CEO and CIO of Ally Bridge Group. "Vida and Rapid Micro represent ABG's first private investments in telehealth and life science tools, respectively, and are extensions of our investment franchise currently focused on medtech and biotech." "While these three new investments highlight ABG's focus on addressing some of the fundamental healthcare challenges exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, several of ABG's existing biotech portfolio companies are at the forefront of developing novel therapeutics against the coronavirus," adds Yu. About Ally Bridge Group Ally Bridge Group ("ABG"), founded and led by Frank Yu (previously at Goldman Sachs and Och-Ziff Capital) and based in New York and Hong Kong, is a global healthcare investment firm focused on funding and supporting the world's most innovative life science technologies benefiting many millions of human lives and leading high-impact transactions. Over the past four years, ABG has led over US$4 billion investments in world-leading life science companies in the U.S., China and Europe. For more information, please visit www.ally-bridge.com. Contact: Charles Chon Partner, Managing Director -- Medtech Ally Bridge Group Tel: +852-3121-9699 [email protected] SOURCE Ally Bridge Group Related Links http://www.ally-bridge.com On April 26, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak (head) Mohan Bhagwat addressed swayamsevaks for the second time in a month. While not unusual, this time it was different. He called Indias 1.3 billion people his own. Critics may think this was just a convenient turn of phrase. But his sentiments are a true reflection of the Sanghs thinking. People who heard the three-day lecture series at Vigyan Bhavan two years ago will know that this is no new development. Bhagwat expressed similar thoughts in his annual Vijayadashami address as well. The Sangh considers every Indian to be a Hindu. Since this is the foundation of its thinking, then the mistakes of a few shouldnt be seen as a reflection on society as a whole. And those who have made mistakes should accept them, and move on. ALSO WATCH | PM Modis stimulus for self-reliant India. Enough to reboot Indian economy? Bhagwat spoke of swadeshi (indigenous) and self-reliance. Sangh-inspired organisations such as the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch have also been making efforts to realise these objectives. Recently, in his Panchayati Raj Day address, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi also spoke about being self-sufficient right from the village level. On May 12, the PM spoke about Aatmnirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). RSS ideologue, Dattopant Thengadi, who was instrumental in creating these organisations, was one of the most vociferous proponents of swadeshi and Aatmnirbhar Bharat. Thengadi, in his book Third Way, laid out a road map for a self-dependent India. Most critics of swadeshi are confused about the concept. For them, swadeshi implies turning the wheel back to the 19th century. Thengadi said, we require computer chips and not potato chips. Swadeshi is the practical manifestation of patriotism. Patriotism should not be seen as isolationism. Patriots are not against internationalism. He added, Their pleas for national self-reliance are not incompatible with international cooperation, provided that latter is on equal footing with due regard to the national respect of every country. In his lectures, he quoted the effect of Mahatma Gandhis influence on Motilal Nehrus lifestyle that was initially considered lavish by that eras standards. But Motilal Nehru switched to khadi at the Mahatmas request. In his address to the nation, the PM also emphasised the use of local brands. The origin of the coronavirus disease in China and the subsequent news about the supply of substandard Chinese goods to different countries have given India a big push to become self-reliant. On the other hand, India has given appropriate aid and assistance to many countries following the spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family). Indian scientists and industrialists have also contributed towards making India self-reliant. The Sangh chief also urged the government to fulfil its obligations in this regard. He said that the administration will have to become more responsible and people-oriented. Recently, the Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, an organisation inspired by the Sangh, also announced a competition for an indigenous video conferencing app. Both the Sangh and the PM are unanimous about the economic direction of the country. According to the PM, in a post-Covid-19 world, the country should head towards self-reliance, organic farming and a swadeshi-based economy. These are issues that the Sangh chief mentioned in his Vijayadashami speech. He also mentioned that foreign investment should also come to India only on Indias terms. The government has rightly made recent changes in its foreign investment policy in this context. The lockdown has resulted in huge improvements in the quality of the environment. The clear air and clean flowing rivers are proof. The need for a lifestyle based on the conservation and the protection of nature is imperative for India. The sarsanghchalak has also emphasised the need for society to move forward without exploiting nature. At this crucial time, the swayamsevaks are engaged in several services to help all Indians, irrespective of differences, who are vulnerable at this time. Today, more than 340,000 swayamsevaks are offering services at about 67,000 locations across India. Apart from delivering ration kits to more than five million families, they have delivered over 300 million cooked food packets to people and have made over 22,466 blood donations. The government and administration can maintain the lockdown in the country only for a certain amount of time. Society can emulate the practices of the Sangh to maintain disciple post the lockdown. Even after the lockdown is lifted, people have to learn to stay away from crowded places. Similarly, the State and the administration too will have to change according to the needs of society. Overall, we must move towards a new nature-based self-reliant society and governance. Rajiv Tuli is a member of the RSSs Delhi state executive The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON OTTAWA - The Wu-Tang Clan is raising money to help three Ottawa charities "Triumph" over COVID-19. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA - The Wu-Tang Clan is raising money to help three Ottawa charities "Triumph" over COVID-19. The New York City-based rap collective announced its official partnership with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Food Bank and the Ottawa Mission shelter this morning. The group is selling T-shirts, hand sanitizer, and meals through their online 36 Chambers store, with proceeds from all three items going to the charities. The Wu-Tang Clan began supporting the Ottawa Food Bank on April 2, after they were tagged in a tweet by Adam Miron, a local businessman. The group replied to Miron's tweet saying they had contributed to the Food Bank and encouraging others to join them. The rap group says that led to an additional $280,000 being donated within the next 48 hours. Considered hip-hop pioneers after their debut album "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan draws creative inspiration from kung-fu movies, Buddhism and comic books. Sales of a T-shirt with the Wu-Tang Clan's distinctive yellow and black "W" logo, altered to say Ottawa in its centre, will have all profits go to the Ottawa Food Bank. A hand-sanitizer called Protect Ya Hands a reference to the hit single "Protect Ya Neck" is being produced for the Wu-Tang Clan by Jusu Body, a Victoria-based manufacturer. For every bottle purchased, another will be donated to The Ottawa Mission Foundation and other homeless shelters across Canada, with additional profits being donated to the shelters. The Saga Continues Bowl will be sold by Pure Kitchen restaurants in the Ottawa area, with the Wu-Tang Clan saying they will donate all their profits from the bowls to meals for front-line workers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020. When you look at Mario what do you see? A character in a video game? A cultural icon? An embodiment of raw, masculine, sexual energy? I too see all of these things, but what I also see is a giant question mark. Specifically, I see that question mark about two and a quarter inches down his right thigh. I'm talking, of course, about whether Mario is circumcised. And, after compiling the research and consulting with my pastor and God, I have determined that Mario's circumcision is dun dun dun ... dependent on whether you think he's Italian, Italian American, or from the Mushroom Kingdom. I know, it's not a concrete answer, but it's the best we've got right now, as there is no 1000% ironclad proof that Mario is or isn't circumcised. We have seen Mario's penis, but the visual (NSFW) doesn't provide that much detail. (Although, we're leaning uncircumcised and it's leaning slightly to the right.) The best we can do is to determine Mario's country of origin and then use their circumcision statistics to make a probabilistic ruling. So let's start with the theory that Mario is Italian-American. Mario's name is a reference to Mario Segale, an Italian-American who was the landlord for Nintendo of America. There's also the infamous Super Mario Bros. film which shows Mario and his brother Luigi as plumbers from Brooklyn. So there's a decent case there. The WHO estimates that the male circumcision rates within the United States are somewhere between 76 - 92%, so it stands to reason that if you take the film's depiction of Mario to be canon then you can probably assume he's circumcised. Prithviraj Sukumaran, the multi-faceted talent of Malayalam cinema and the Aadujeevitham crew are finally all set to return back to Kerala. As per the latest reports, Prithviraj, director Blessy, and the rest of the team members will be arriving on May 22, 2020, Friday. The sources suggest that a special flight has been arranged for the Aadujeevitham crew. According to the updates, the 58-members crew will land in Delhi and will take another transit to Kerala. The entire Aadujeevitham team who visited Jordan for the shooting of the project, including lead actor Prithviraj Sukumaran and director Blessy will be quarantined for 14 days as a preventive measure, once they reach Kerala. The Aadujeevitham team members traveled to Wadi Rum, Jordan in March 2020 for the third schedule of the movie. The principal photography began in the desert region of Wadi Rum on March 16, 2020. But the team had to cancel the shoot in mid-way on April 1, 2020, after the permit was canceled by the Jordan government. Prithviraj Sukumaran and Blessy had immediately contacted the Indian authorities for help, the Aadujeevitham team couldn't travel back due to the cancellation of international flights. However, the Jordan government granted permission to shoot after a few days, and the crew resumed the filming of the project. Aadujeevitham, which is the dream project of director Blessy, will feature Prithviraj Sukumaran in the role of Najeeb Mohammed, an abused immigrant labourer who gets stranded in the desert of Saudi Arabia. The actor had shed around 30 kilos for his character in the movie. The Blessy directorial will mark the comeback of AR Rahman, the veteran musician to Malayalam cinema after a long gap of 28 years. KU Mohanan handles the cinematography, while A Sreekar Prasad handles the editing. Aadujeevitham is bankrolled by KG Abraham, under the banner KGA Films. Also Read: Mohanlal Celebrates 60th Birthday: This's How The Malayalam Celebs Wished Their Dear Lalettan! The United States has denied allegations of an incursion into Venezuela in early May. "The United States has not entered Venezuela and categorically rejects any claims to the contrary. The United States was not involved in the alleged armed incursion of May 3rd and 4th," said ambassador Kelly Craft. The meeting, requested by Russia was prompted by a letter that Venezuela sent to the Security Council on May 13 in which it alleges that there was an attempt by groups of mercenaries to infiltrate Venezuela. Rosemary DiCarlo, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, introduced the letter at the meeting. Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian representative, alleged that two American citizens planned to take Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro hostage and bring him to the U.S., adding: "For what purpose, may I ask?" - The elders said the country needed President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to unite in the fight against COVID-19 - They observed the current political stalemate in the Jubilee Party had made it difficult to deal with numerous challenges facing Kenya - The elders said Uhuru had the right to make changes in the Senate leadership but it was not the right time to do so - They said Mt Kenya region voters were free to support whoever they wanted in the 2022 elections Disgruntled elders from the Kalenjin community has called for an immediate truce between the warring factions in the ruling Jubilee Party saying the wrangles were threatening peace and stability of the nation. The elders asked President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to hold serious talks on the state of the nation instead of engaging in premature internal politics that won't help Kenyans. READ ALSO: Magufuli aamrisha shule kufunguliwa na michezo kuanza kurejelewa Deputy President William Ruto and President uhuru Kenyatta laughing together during a past event. Photo: William Ruto Source: UGC READ ALSO: It's been rough: Comedian Jalang'o says Boys' club expose' has broken families, cost him business According to Daily Nation, the elders observed it was not the right time to engage in political games given the nation was facing many challenges including the coronavirus pandemic and floods. "This country is at war with COVID-19, locusts and floods hence political games should be put aside but it is very unfortunate that it is taking place when people are suffering," said Myoot Council of Elders chairman Emeritus John Seii. Seii who is also a member of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) taskforce said the two leaders should be united now more than ever before in a bid to win the war against the coronavirus before they can resume their wrangles. READ ALSO: Interpol reports on increase in the use of drones by criminals The leaders lamented the lack of unity in the Jubilee Party had made it difficult to deal with the current problems that the country was facing as the leaders seemed to have shifted focus to the 2022 succession politics. "When leaders are divided, driving the country becomes very hard, more so during this time when we are witnessing a virus crisis, locust and floods. Let the country be united without anyone being sidelined. Those who want to politick [should] wait until 2022," added John Yego, a member of the council. The elders expressed the Rift Valley region was ready to go ahead with its 2022 plans without necessarily having backup of the Mt Kenya region saying the region was free to vote for whoever it wanted. Kalenjin elders observed it was not the right time to eject Kipchumba Murkomen from Senate leadership. Photo: Citizen Source: UGC READ ALSO: No amount of food donations can replace Arror, Kimwarer - Junet jeers at DP Ruto If our friends from Mt Kenya will not rally behind DP Ruto in 2022 to succeed the president, from the point of the elders, we will accept it because politics will be here today and somewhere else tomorrow. It is not a game of mathematics that you can add one plus one to know where it is going, said Seii. The elders expressed that while the president as the party leader had the powers to make changes in the Senate leadership the way he wanted, it was not the right time to effect the changes. They said the removal of Senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen had raised unnecessary political temperatures in the region which was not healthy for the country's economic progress. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke Its been seven days. 12 days. 26 days. 47 days. 55 days. Alone in my house. Every morning in quarantine, I wake up at 7:00. OK, maybe at 8:00, or at least before 9:00. I try my best to shower first, or maybe I should exercise first or maybe I should eat first. But theres nothing in the fridge except for five jars of Indian pickles. I should write first. Maya Angelou always wrote first thing in the morning. And Susan Sontag. And Ernest Hemingway. But fuck Hemingway. Did my unemployment card arrive yet? No? OK, deep breath. Ill just meditate. Everything will be better if I meditate. Well, its 11:00 a.m. now and all Ive done is text my ex-boyfriend and overbrew a cup of green tea. I should get some sun. The sun fixes everything, simplifies things. Ill stand in that alley with my face up to the light and savor the colors behind my eyelids orange, green, red, like a mango. My dad grew up on a mango grove in Pakistan, and hes described it so vividly to me the rustling of the trees, the shade keeping him cool on the hottest Shikarpur days that I often find myself nostalgic for the mango grove. Even though Ive never been to my dads childhood home. Even though it doesnt exist anymore. Nostalgia is a funny thing. I used to think it was reserved for the distant past. But what Ive learned in quarantine is that you can be nostalgic for things that never happened your 27th birthday party, the family trip youd planned to Peru. Nostalgic for running down a New England hill with your six-year-old niece. Driving through the Midwest to meet the newest member of your family. Plans so clear that when they fall apart, they still feel like memories, as vibrant and loud as if theyd really happened. At 1:00 p.m. I look up at the telephone wires above my house. Perfectly perched on them is a hummingbird, his heart beating 1,260 times per minute. I stay as still as possible, bracing myself for him to fly away. But he stays and stays and stays. And I get to study him. His elongated beak, like a question posed for the flowers. His insanely electric colors. I count 256 shades of blue. As each minute expires, I find myself beginning to trust him, that he wont leave. And then that asshole flies away, and Im alone again. And I wish I was better at being alone. [PHONE RINGING] You definitely always wanted to be held. You wanted to be on my arms, on my hip, in my lap, in anyones arms, actually. You just really wanted to have, I think, touch. Some experts say that to survive this time, we should turn to the field of polar psychology, to the strategies of Antarctic dwellers. Antarctica, home to researchers and future astronauts. They train for life in space on the white continent, an analogue for off-planet existence, as close to Mars as we can get. Life on Antarctica means isolation, dependence on external supplies, confinement to small groups and spaces, restricted mobility, and limited social contact, a total disruption of routines, recreational, social, professional, sexual. Sounds kind of familiar. Winter-over syndrome is what they call the psychological condition that creeps up during the six sunless months of Antarctic winter insomnia, depression, irritability, reduced physical and cognitive acuity and fugue states. People see ghosts, brains manufacturing social experiences as a last-ditch attempt to preserve sanity. Or they hallucinate. The lack of stimuli making internal experiences appear external. And then theres the Antarctic stare. A 20-foot stare in a 10-foot room. But even when time unravels and the days disintegrate, indistinguishable, and when just the thought of reaching out and touching someone you love causes your heart to ride the elevator from your chest to your throat where it barely fits, even then, what the Antarctic expeditioners and the space explorers tell us is that there is still beauty. Even in microgravity, when the 10% drop of Earths governing force causes astronauts eyeballs to flatten, blurring their vision, there is still beauty. Flowers smell extraordinary in space. Crystals grow larger. Flames are shaped differently, spherical at the top, softened without that same burden of gravitational pull. And then for many, theres a kind of beauty that follows them when they return home. They call it post-return growth, owing to a newfound cosmic perspective spurred by reflections on purpose and fundamental questions of value. As one explorer wrote in 1912, What is worth what? When quarantine is over, Ill be a different person. One who doesnt take for granted the feeling of bumping up against a stranger in the supermarket. One who touches her friends a lot, maybe too much. And I wont wish I needed other people less, to see them up close, to hear our laughter rising towards the same ceiling, blending into a singular sound, because Ive been to space. Ive waited out winter in Antarctica. And I know what is worth what. [MUSIC PLAYING] YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. At the initiative of the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Armenia Mohamed AlZaabi, a charity program has been carried out with the support of the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and in partnership with the Armenian ministries of Foreign affairs, Labor and social affairs, Territorial administration and infrastructures. Within the frames of the project, packages containing 70 food products (a total of 1,3 tons of food) have been provided to the needy families of Armenias Shirak province. On the sidelines of the program numerous families living in 10 provinces of Armenia will be provided with more than 13 tons of food. Reporting by Armenuhi Mkhoyan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Wall Street retreated as the tensions between the US and China escalated, setting up the ASX to edge lower at the open. Near 7am AEST, futures are pointing to a drop of 7 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open. 1. Geopolitical tensions rise between the US and China: Risk-assets dipped overnight, with global stock markets failing to extend the weeks rally. US and China trade and diplomatic tensions were largely responsible for the cooling-off of risk-appetite. Wall Street went backwards as US-China trade tensions escalated. Credit:AP The threats and war-of-words between the two countries escalated last night, prompted by the announcement from the Chinese Communist Party that it will today table a new Hong Kong security law, designed to clamp-down on sedition and public disorder in the administrative region. The bill brought calls for new sanctions from US Congress on Chinese officials, prompting push-back from Chinas leadership, whore accusing the US of infringing upon Chinas sovereignty. 2. Stocks dip, but weeks trade remains in positive territory: The ratcheting-up of geopolitical tensions has forced market participants to price-in the heightened risk of a renewed trade-war between the US and China. European stocks dropped as the public slanging-match unfolded yesterday, with the DAX and FTSE100 falling 1.41 and 0.86 per cent respectively. Victorias Secret will permanently close about 250 stores in the U.S. and Canada this year, its parent company L Brands announced Wednesday. Tammy Roberts Myers, L Brands Chief Communications Officer, told NJ Advance Media that a list of store closings is not going to be released. There are more than 1,000 Victorias Secret stores in the U.S. and 42 in New Jersey, according to the companys website. L Brands said it is closely evaluating all locations, especially more vulnerable centers for risk of closure, according to the companys quarterly earnings commentary. Last year, Victorias Secret shuttered dozens of stores nationwide, although none in New Jersey were affected. Victorias Secret was sold for $525 million to private company Sycamore Partners in February, but the deal has since been terminated, according to a report by CNBC. L Brands also announced that 51 Bath & Body Works stores in the U.S. and Canada will shutter this year. There are currently 1,635 stores in the U.S., according to companys website. L Brands total sales declined by 37% this quarter. The company said the drop in sales was impacted by temporary store closings from the coronavirus pandemic. All of L Brands stores in North America closed March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the company did not pay rent for April and May. Select stores are now beginning to reopen. L Brands says its now preparing for Victorias Secret and PINK to operate as a separate, standalone company. RELATED STORIES ABOUT RETAIL AND CORONAVIRUS: Wayfair has a huge Memorial Day 2020 clearance sale JCPenney files for bankruptcy: Here are some of the best online deals right now Pier 1 Imports to close all stores due to profound impact of COVID-19 Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Nicolette Accardi can be reached at naccardi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @N_Accardi. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in China Geothermal Industry Development Group Limited (HKG:8128). Do Insider Transactions Matter? It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise. Check out our latest analysis for China Geothermal Industry Development Group China Geothermal Industry Development Group Insider Transactions Over The Last Year insider Yiying Zhang made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for HK$20m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.08 each. That means that even when the share price was higher than HK$0.056 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. It's very possible they regret the purchase, but it's more likely they are bullish about the company. In our view, the price an insider pays for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when insiders have purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. While China Geothermal Industry Development Group insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Story continues SEHK:8128 Recent Insider Trading May 21st 2020 There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Insider Ownership of China Geothermal Industry Development Group Looking at the total insider shareholdings in a company can help to inform your view of whether they are well aligned with common shareholders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 28% of China Geothermal Industry Development Group shares, worth about HK$72m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment. So What Does This Data Suggest About China Geothermal Industry Development Group Insiders? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded China Geothermal Industry Development Group shares in the last quarter. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Insiders do have a stake in China Geothermal Industry Development Group and their transactions don't cause us concern. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with China Geothermal Industry Development Group (including 1 which is significant). Of course China Geothermal Industry Development Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. With early voting starting in just six weeks for primary runoff elections, it remains unclear whether Texas will expand the use of mail-in ballots to protect voters from contracting the novel coronavirus at the polls. The Texas Supreme Court held its first hearing on the matter Wednesday, even as the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a San Antonio judges temporary order that made mail-in voting more accessible during the pandemic. The Fifth Circuits intervention marked the fourth reversal in a week of ping-ponging rulings as judges in different venues overrule each other, and the availability of mail-in voting to most Texans has been widened, then contracted, then widened, then contracted again. The cases are likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which Gov. Greg Abbott predicted will happen pretty quickly on Tuesday in an interview with Austin ABC-affiliate KVUE. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox In the meantime, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who contends that more mail-in ballots means more chances for voter fraud, applauded the Fifth Circuits ruling. Protecting the integrity of elections is one of my top priorities, and allowing universal mail-in ballots would only lead to greater fraud and disenfranchise lawful voters, Paxton said. Law established by the Legislature must be followed consistently, including carefully limiting who may and may not vote by mail. But this is hardly the end. The cases now stand before appellate courts at the state and federal level that have taken opposite approaches to the issue so far: the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit, known as the most conservative circuit court in the nation; and the Texas 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, which has a Democratic majority. The matter before the state Supreme Court on Wednesday was separate from the ongoing state and federal cases. It was prompted by Paxton who, in an unusual move, asked the court to order clerks in five counties, including Harris, not to accept mail-in ballot requests from those citing risk of COVID-19 infection as their reason. The state-level case has not yet made it before the Texas Supreme Court. That means the justices are now in the awkward position of having to decide whether the county clerks are breaking a law before theyve officially been asked to interpret the meaning of that law though its possible they could use this opportunity to opine on both. The justices waded into the politically charged debate over voting during the pandemic with a reality check. When a voter fills in a box claiming a disability and requesting a mail-in ballot, Texas county clerks would have a very limited ability to determine whether the voter is permanently disabled or simply fearful of the disease. Are you suggesting that the clerk would go out and investigate this claim? Justice Debra Lehrmann asked Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins. Hawkins said no but the state expects clerks to reject such applications if additional information is provided indicating that COVID-19 was the reason for claiming a disability. He acknowledged that most mail-in ballot applications do not ask for that information. The Legislature has allowed only a small subset of voters to vote by mail and the language the Legislature chose in the disability provision of Chapter 82 does not include otherwise healthy individuals who would prefer to avoid going to a polling place, Hawkins said. Attorney Scott Brister, who represented most of the counties, called it ironic that the state was arguing remotely, via videoconference because of the pandemic, while saying voters need to go to polling places in person. We cannot ignore that this year the elections are different than they have been at any time since World War II. This is a different climate with a different kind of disease, Brister said. We think the election code has been, for 85 years, broad enough to cover the once-in-a-century global pandemic. The justices did not take any action Wednesday. Early voting in Texas primary runoffs begins June 29. Nationally, the issue of mail-in voting has quickly become a major political battle with similar court cases in several states. Proponents, most often Democrats, say it's necessary for voting to occur safely during the ongoing pandemic. Many Republicans join Paxton in warning of voter fraud. President Donald Trump threatened early Wednesday to "hold up funding to Michigan where the Secretary of State there is sending absentee ballot requests to registered voters. Its unclear what kind of funding Trump was referencing. He made a similar comment about Nevada. State of Nevada thinks that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S., Trump wrote. They cant! If they do, I think I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. Little evidence exists to support the claim that mail-in voting causes widespread fraud. Studies have shown that voter fraud, including with mail-in ballots, is exceedingly rare. The issue doesnt divide cleanly on partisan lines: Republican state officials in Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia have all moved to make it easier for voters to access mail-in ballots, heeding health officials advice. Almost nine summers ago, I met the painter Chris Martin, known for his colorful, often glittery abstract works, at a group show at a rented house in Bridgehampton, N.Y. Martins contribution an ocean-blue background with vibrant orange shapes that looked like either reeds growing out of a salt marsh or alien spaceships catching fire as they entered the earths atmosphere was hung outside, on the houses porch. When I asked him about this placement, he told me, in so many words, that paintings are tough and can handle more than one might expect, even exposure to the elements. It was a brief encounter that has stuck with me all these years. But Im especially thinking of it again now, with a new online group show that Martin has curated for Timothy Taylor gallery called Painting the Essential: New York, 1980-Present. Largely made up of works by those in the painters milieu including his former roommate Katherine Bradford and his friend Amy Sillman, who both share Martins penchant for lush colors and outre scene-setting the show maps an alternate history of New Yorks art scene, in which painting, a medium that is perpetually falling out of style, argues that its tougher than whatever we can throw at it. Painting the Essential: New York, 1980-Present is on view online through June 20, timothytaylor.com. Spritz This A Perfumers Plant-Infused Skin and Fabric Sanitizer Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:56:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MACAO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of visitor arrivals to Macao in April tumbled by 99.7 percent year-on-year to only 11,041, the special administrative region (SAR)'s statistic department said here on Thursday. The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) said that under the tightened quarantine measures for visitors to Macao, both overnight visitors (6,383) and same-day visitors (4,658) showed year-on-year decreases of over 99.0 percent. The average duration for same-day visitors was 0.1 day. But under medical observation measures, overnight visitors stayed 21.1 days on average, which was significantly longer and led to a surge of 6.2 days year-on-year in the average length of stay for all visitors to 7.3 days. The number of Chinese mainland visitors in April sank by 99.6 percent year-on-year to 10,500. Meanwhile, there were only 328 visitors from Hong Kong SAR and 210 from China's Taiwan. In the first four months of 2020, visitor arrivals totaled 3,230,211, a drop of 76.6 percent year-on-year. The number of same-day visitors and overnight visitors fell by 77.1 percent and 76.0 percent respectively to 1,702,995 and 1,527,216. The average length of stay for all visitors extended by 0.3 day year-on-year to 1.4 days, with that of overnight visitors rising by 0.5 day to 2.7 days, and that of same-day visitors staying unchanged at 0.2 day. Analyzed by source market, visitors from Chinese mainland (2,303,729), Hong Kong SAR (650,196) and China's Taiwan region (81,150) slid by more than 70 percent, and those from the United States (13,469), Australia (7,904) and Canada (6,175) also registered declines. Enditem Yarlott's pace had to be accelerated, though; she finished four classes during one period in the ILC, alongside her other courses. I think it says that not only is she an extremely hard worker, but it shows that she wants to do better and create a better life for herself, Bulluck said. It took more than hard work. Yarlott had to again open up and learn to be willing to ask for help. For a kid to go from not wanting to open up, to struggle to open up, to knocking down those walls that just shows she wants to grow as a person, Bulluck said. When those walls come down, she can really shine. The COVID-19 pandemic and school closure forced another abrupt transition as schools shifted to distance learning, but Yarlott completed her graduation requirements while taking on extra child care duties for her younger siblings. In some ways, learning how to take on a daunting academic courseload prepared her for the overwhelming societal shift; she was well-practiced breaking a large task into incremental goals and focusing on what she could control. Chandigarh, May 21 : Convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Ibrahim Zubair, found guilty of raising funds for the terrorist organisation in the United States, has been deported to India after completing his sentence, intelligence sources said. Zubair was deported two days back along with 167 other Indian deportees, intelligence officials said on Thursday. According to intelligence officials, the deportees were brought on a special flight to Amritsar on May 19. Since then India-born Zubair, 38, has been quarantined at a centre in Amritsar, an official told IANS, requesting anonymity. Investigative agencies sources confirmed that after Zubair was deported to India, he has been questioned security officials to find out his links to terrorists in India. According to intelligence officials, Zubair, an engineer from Hyderabad, was arrested in 2011 on charges of terror financing. He was convicted for raising money for Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in 2009. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair has been accused of financing terrorism in a bid to support violent jihad against the US military in Iraq. "Ibrahim Mohammad (Zubair), an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. In or around 2006, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a US citizen. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States around 2007," the US Justice Department said in a press release in 2018. The Justice Department further stated that Zubair was a citizen of India and brother of Farooq Mohammad, who was also arrested for the terror crimes. Citing his role in the terror funding, the US Justice Department said that Zubair, exchanged several mails between 2005 to 2009 with his brother, about the funds and the jihad against the US. The two discussed jihad in detail over 50-60 mails exchanged between them during 2005 to 2009. The US Justice Department also stated that Zubair joined the terrorist organisation after watching videos of al-Awlaki. And on directions of his brother, he received money from two Pakistani associates -- Sultan Salim and Asif Salim -- and deposited it into his brother's accounts. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair also tried to hide the high value transactions with his brother by telling authorities that he has sold his car and other stuff to his brother. The US Justice Department further alleged that Zubair's brother also travelled to Dubai, and used Zubair's US address for bank transactions while Zubair also facilitated in transferring the money to his brother there so that it could be handed over to the Al Qaeda leader. It further said that in 2009, Mohammad along with two people had travelled to Yemen and gave around a huge amount to al-Awalki's associates. According to the US Department of Justice, Zubair had pleaded guilty for terror crimes and was sentenced to five years in jail while his brother was given 27 years imprisonment. Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications, has directed a report on the fire incident which occured today at the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) be produced. Naija News reported earlier that a part of NIPOSTs corporate headquarters in Abuja was affected. Pantami gave this directive when he paid a visit to the scene to assess the extent of the damage. He was received by the Postmaster-General, Dr. Ismail Adewusi, the Chairman, Governing Board, Mrs. Maimuna Yaya-Abubakar, and members of NIPOST management. He thanked God that the fire was quickly contained and prevented from spreading to other offices in the building and from destroying sensitive documents of the organisation. Share this post with your Friends on Testing efforts have been ramped up as the Government has announced it will trial antigen swabs than can tell if someone has coronavirus 'on the spot', and 10million antibody tests have been ordered. Around 4,000 patients in a pilot study in Hampshire will be the first to try the new antigen test, which looks for signs of current coronavirus infection. The Covid-19 LAMP assay test, developed by UK-based manufacturer Optigene, can turn around results within 20 minutes. It means people don't have to wait days to find out if they can go back to work or self isolate. Current PCR tests take 48-72 hours to produce a result because they need to be sent to a laboratory. But the LAMP test can be processed in a GP surgery, care home or hospital. Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed the trial while also confirming 10million antibody tests had been ordered at the daily Downing Street briefing. NHS and care home staff will be the first to get the free COVID-19 antibody test, which detect if someone has ever been infected with the disease, from next week. Number 10 agreed a deal to buy kits from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche and US-based healthcare company Abbott. With most viral infections, the presence of antibodies reduces or removes the risk of reinfection. But this has not yet been proven with coronavirus and there is no guarantee they will show people are immune. Experts say positive tests should not simply be seen as a 'green light' to reduce PPE or other protections for staff. The Covid-19 LAMP assay test, developed by UK-based manufacturer Optigene, can turn around results within 20 minutes The Roche test, called Elecsys (pictured), produces results in a laboratory and is said to be 100 per cent accurate WHY IS ANTIBODY TESTING IMPORTANT? WHAT IS AN ANTIBODY TEST? Unlike tests to diagnose diseases, antibody tests show who has been infected and recovered. The body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses and infections, including other coronaviruses. New blood tests are being developed to identify antibodies unique to SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the new coronavirus. The tests look for two kinds of antibodies: immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG). The body quickly produces IgM antibodies for its initial attack against infections. It makes IgG antibodies more slowly and retains them longer; IgG antibodies suggest possible immunity. HOW CAN ANTIBODY TESTS HELP END LOCKDOWNS? Antibody tests can help calculate what portion of the population has already been infected, as well as whether infections were mild or severe. Governments and companies could use antibody tests to determine who would most likely be safe to return to work and public interactions, and whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders all at once in some regions or in stages based on infection risk. People with negative antibody tests or very low antibody levels would likely have higher risk of infection than people with high antibody levels. DO ANTIBODIES TO THE NEW CORONAVIRUS CONFER IMMUNITY? While antibodies to many infectious diseases typically confer some level of immunity, whether that is the case with this unique coronavirus is not yet known. And how strong immunity might be, or how long it might last in people previously infected, is not clear. With some diseases like measles the immunity can be lifelong. With others, immunity can wane over time. Scientists cannot know with certainty that reinfection is not possible until further research. Antibody tests could inform not just lockdown exits, but the best approach to treatments and vaccines. Advertisement The Department of Health today announced the study of a new, quicker antigen test that boasts results in just 20-minutes. The trial of the LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal amplification) test began in Hampshire today after being proven effective in clinical settings. In contrast to the widely used PCR tests, which need be processed at different temperatures, the LAMP swab test does not require a change in temperature to detect results. It means it can be processed on site - and will be first trialled at a number of A&E departments, GP coronavirus testing hubs and care homes across Hampshire. Receiving results quickly and on site will mean people with symptoms will be given immediate certainty as to whether or not they have the virus. Up to 4,000 people of all ages and backgrounds will participate in the pilot, which will run for up to six weeks. It will be led by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Following a successful clinical trial, the rapid test will then be rolled out more widely if the pilot in Hampshire proves effective. Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Alex Whitfield said: 'We are tremendously excited to be able to support the governments efforts for ever more accessible, faster coronavirus testing.' Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: 'This new test could provide accurate results almost on the spot. 'This will enable health and care workers to carry on with their shift or immediately isolate on the same day, and could eventually offer the same benefit to the whole country. 'This could change the way that we control COVID-19 across the country, getting those with negative results back into society as quickly as possible.' Mr Hancock also revealed today at the daily briefing that antibody testing will soon be underway. He said: 'We've signed contracts to supply in the coming months over 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott. 'From next week we will begin rolling these out in a phased way, at first to health and care staff, patients and residents. 'This is an important milestone and it represents further progress in our national testing programme.' The Prime Minister's official spokesman said earlier today: 'The tests will be free for people who need them, as you would expect. NHS and care workers will be prioritised for the tests.' Hundreds of thousands of frontline health workers will be offered the tests, which detect if someone has ever been infected with the disease. Priority will be given to frontline hospital staff in coronavirus specific wards, as well as ICU and A&E departments. These staff members will be monitored by scientists to see whether they fall ill again and paint a clearer picture of the protection antibodies provide. But it is not clear how they will reach NHS workers or the public in the future. Known as the 'have you had it' tests, antibody tests reveal whether someone has been infected with COVID-19 in the past and recovered from it. But it's still not clear whether this means a person is protected from catching the virus again, therefore some scientists say antibody tests have limited value. Dr Claudia Paoloni, president of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, urged caution to those who test positive for antibodies. She told The Guardian: 'As we learn more about the role of antibodies, this could open the door to different ways of working and reduce the level of risk to NHS staff by allocating those who have had the virus to care for Covid-19 patients. 'But we must be clear that huge uncertainties remain while we do not know the level and length of any immunity which antibodies will offer. 'The new tests arrival should not simply be seen as a green light to reduce PPE and other protections for NHS staff who test positive.' The Roche test, which is called Elecsys, was given the seal of approval by Public Health England on 14 May after scientists at its Porton Down facility evaluated how reliable it was. Abbott's test also looks for antibodies, substances produced by the immune system in response to COVID-19. It is believed deals are also being worked up with Welsh company Ortho Clinical Diagnostics which also makes an antibody test given the green light by PHE. The Welsh firm's test is the only UK-validated device which is manufactured in Britain. Roche and Abbott both produce their devices overseas, which can cause delays in the supply chain. The Roche test, which is called Elecsys, was given the seal of approval by Public Health England on 14 May after scientists at its Porton Down facility evaluated how reliable it was Roche said the amount of tests it would be able to make each month for the US and countries accepting the CE mark would be in the 'high double-digit millions'. Pictured: Prime Minister of Bavaria holding the Elecsys test on May 4 According to Roche, their COVID-19 antibody test has 'a specificity greater than 99.8 per cent and a sensitivity of 100 per cent' - as long as it is used at least 14 days after someone has developed symptoms. The Roche test has a 'specificity' of 99.8 per cent, meaning it generates very few 'false positives' - when it indicates someone has been infected when they have not. For every thousand people who take the test only two will be given a false positive result, according to its claim. Sensitivity is the rate of all positive samples that are truly positive. A rate of 100 per cent suggests very few, potentially zero, will get an inaccurate result - known as a false negative result. Sensitivity is considered the area authorities can afford to compromise on - not specificity. False positives, caused by poor specificity, may lead people to believe they are immune when they're not, causing their behaviour to become riskier, or to receive treatment that they don't need. The FDA gave the Roche test the green light on May 3, allowing laboratories across the US to use it even though it has yet to be formally approved. German officials already signed a deal at the beginning of May to buy five million of the Roche kits every month. Roche said the amount of tests it would be able to make each month for the US and countries accepting the CE mark would be in the 'high double-digit millions'. But neither Roche nor the Government has revealed how much the antibody test will cost to purchase in bulk at this stage. It is not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home - referred to as the 'pregnancy test' style kits. The test requires blood samples to be taken by trained health professionals, and then it will be processed by machines already used in NHS labs across the country. Medics can get results in just 18 minutes. Experts say the fact the test needs to be sent off to a laboratory is a limitation of the test because it could lead to delays in results. 'It will be important to understand how widespread this equipment is and how testing could be organised regionally and locally to provide a rapid and high throughput system,' said Dr Colin Butter, an associate professor and programme leader in bioveterinary science, University of Lincoln. The Government's track record for testing has been abysmal so far. The UK tests fewer people per capita than most European countries. Experts blame this on PHE's 'control freakery' in reluctance to involve private labs that offered to help process tests. The agency has denied this. The three new antibody tests are the first to be ratified as accurate by PHE. The body does not 'approve' tests, just evaluate how good they are. As well as detecting which healthcare staff have previously been infected, antibody tests are considered key to easing lockdown. They are able to paint the clearest picture about how widespread COVID-19 is in the community by seeing how many individuals have already had the disease. The true size of Britain's outbreak is a mystery because health chiefs abandoned a mass antigen-testing regime early on in the crisis. PHE is conducting a surveillance programme to understand how many of the population have had the virus using their own, high accuracy antibody test operated at their Porton Down science campus. Results have not been published yet but suggest that less than 10 per cent of people in the UK have antibodies, with more in London than rural areas. All three antibody tests approved by ministers are laboratory-based and can take up to a day to produce results. No home 'pregnancy-test' kits that can be done in the comfort of someone's own home and without processing by a lab, have yet been approved. That's despite promises in March that one would be available and ministers buying millions of pounds worth of commercial tests from overseas. None of them have met the high accuracy standards set out by PHE after an Oxford University trial found they returned inaccurate results. The failure was a significant setback because it had been hoped the antibody tests would be the route out of lockdown. However, versions of Abbott's test have been launched on various websites for a fee of 69 - 100. Superdrug were the first high-street retailer to launch Abbott's antibody test for 69, which sold out within hours with Brits eager to find out if they have any kind of immunity. It is not a 'home testing' kit because the blood sample, which a person collects in their home, has to be sent to a laboratory. But medical giant Abbott, which makes Superdrug's tests, has insisted that its tests were not intended to be used by people taking their own blood samples. Instead, the Illinois-based firm says its tests have only been evaluated to be accurate on blood samples taken by trained healthcare providers directly from patients' veins. Commenting on the launch, scientists said they would not buy the tests themselves because the results are meaningless. Even if the results return as positive, they may be inaccurate and there is no proof the person has immunity and therefore return to work. The idea of immunity certificates has been shelved for now because of this, although No 10 said it was still exploring the idea. How accurate is Roche's newly-approved antibody test and will it show you if you are immune? by MailOnline Health Reporters Here, MailOnline reveals everything you need to know about Roche's antibody test, from how accurate it is to how it will be used in the UK. HOW WILL IT BE USED IN THE UK? The kits are lab-based tests and require blood samples to be taken by trained health professionals. The blood sample kit can be processed by machines already used in NHS labs across the country. Medics can get results in just 18 minutes. Health minister Edward Argar said the tests would mainly be given to NHS and social care workers to start with. Insiders say it is also likely to play a role in the government's 'surveillance' schemes, which will help track how far the virus has spread in Britain. Ministers are currently clueless about the true size of Britain's outbreak because health chiefs abandoned a mass-testing regime early on in the crisis. One of the current antibody schemes already underway has seen nurses take blood samples from a thousand households. Early results - not yet published by officials - suggested up to four per cent of Britain has developed antibodies to the coronavirus. CAN I USE THE ROCHE TEST MYSELF? The Roche test, which is called Elecsys, is simply not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home. Ministers have promised 'pregnancy-test' style kits, which would see Brits take their own blood sample and get a result in as little as 10 minutes. But no DIY test - scientifically called an immunoassay - has yet to be approved by officials despite promises one would be available back in March. One firm - awarded millions of pounds by the government to produce home-testing kits - hopes to have its product ready by the start of June. Mologic's serology test will be available for Britons to purchase online, from retailers such as Boots and Amazon, according to reports. It has not yet been approved by the Bedfordshire-based company is in 'urgent talks' with ministers to fast-track approval, The Telegraph says. HOW MUCH WILL THEY COST THE GOVERNMENT? Roche - which plans to produce millions of the kits each month - has not revealed how much the antibody test will cost to purchase in bulk. Britain did, however, pay two Chinese firms around 16million for 2million antibody tests that failed strict accuracy tests - suggesting each kit cost around 8. No details of any deals struck between Roche - based in Basel - and other countries have been made public. This means it is not known whether Britain will pay more or less than other nations desperately seeking the antibody tests as draconian lockdowns are eased. Roche - which operates two offices in Britain - has not revealed if it will manufacture the tests in the UK. The firm says it has 'extensive global manufacturing capabilities' to meet demand. Following the announcement today, shares for Roche rose slightly to 44.95, the highest in several weeks, according to Yahoo! Finance THE TIMELINE OF UK'S ANTIBODY TESTING DEVELOPMENTS March 25: Professor Sharon Peacock, the director of the national infection service at PHE, told MPs antibody kits would be ready within days. But confusion was sparked when chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty told revealed the tests would not be ready to buy online within days. March 26: Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, told MPs she expected home antibody tests to be available within a 'couple of weeks'. April 1: In the Downing Street press conference, Professor Doyle disputed the claim that PHE was 'dragging its feet' in approving antibody tests. She said: 'The important thing about theses antibody tests, this is not a matter of dragging our feet, its important that the test is valid, that it does what it says it does.' April 6: Sir John Bell, one of the Oxford University team evaluating antibody tests for the government, revealed none of them performed well. April 17: The New York Times reported that Britain was seeking a 16million refund after two antibody tests it had bought from Chinese companies were not accurate enough to be rolled out. April 21: University of Oxford experts published anonymised results of the nine tests the government had bought - they showed all were deemed too weak to use. Their sensitivity ability to correctly spot people who had had the disease - ranged from 70 per cent to just 55 per cent. May 3: US regulators gave the 'game-changing' antibody test made by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche the green light. May 4: German health bosses announce a deal with Roche to buy 3million of its kits in May, as well as 5million per month from June. May 13: Public Health England follows suit, approving the test to be used. It was revealed that health chiefs were planning to buy millions. Advertisement WILL PRIVATE FIRMS BE ABLE TO BUY THE TESTS? Officials have yet to come forward with a concrete plan about how the tests will be used, or whether private firms will be able to buy them. Many companies keen to restart operations want to use antibody testing kits to work out how much of their staff may be immune to the virus. Insiders say it is unlikely the Roche tests will be available to purchase privately, at least initially. This is because officials wouldn't be able to access the data they desperately need to plot the spread of the virus. It remains unclear exactly how much the lab-based tests could cost, if and when they can be purchased. WHO ELSE HAS APPROVED THE ROCHE ANTIBODY TEST? Roche first announced it was developing the antibody on April 17, revealing it had plans to put it on the market in early May. At the time, it announced it was working the US health regulator the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an 'emergency use authorisation'. The FDA gave it the green light on May 3, allowing laboratories across the US to use it even though it has yet to be formally approved. Roche also announced that the blood sample kit was also granted the vital 'CE mark' that shows it is safe to use within the EU. German officials already signed a deal at the beginning of May to buy five million of the Roche kits every month. Roche said the amount of tests it would be able to make each month for the US and countries accepting the CE mark would be in the 'high double-digit millions'. SO WHY HAS IT TAKEN THE UK SO LONG TO APPROVE ANY TEST? Sir John Bell, an immunologist at Oxford University involved in evaluating antibody kits for the government, admitted approving tests takes 'longer than it should'. He suggested officials wanted to be completely sure that the tests were accurate, telling BBC Radio 4 Today's programme: 'I think you have to be a bit cautious.' Sir John accepted it has 'taken a week or two longer than it might have', while other experts have said 'every day counts' amid a pandemic. But he pointed out the failure of DIY antibody tests, which were described as 'terrific' and offered hopes of a way out of lockdown - but none turned out to work. Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline: 'In the grand scheme of things, 11 days would be nothing.' But he added that 'when you are in a situation like this when every day counts, it is indeed concerning'. HOW ACCURATE IS THE TEST? As long as it is used at least 14 days after someone has developed symptoms, it has a 100 per cent sensitivity rate, Roche claims. Sensitivity is the rate of all positive samples that are truly positive. For example, if a test has an accuracy rate of 99 per cent, it means 99 out of every 100 people who test positive have actually been infected. The other one person, however, would have been given an inaccurate result - known as a false negative result. The Roche test also has a 'specificity' of 99.8 per cent, meaning it generates very few 'false positives' - when it indicates someone has been infected when they have not. For every thousand people who take the test only two will be given a false positive result, according to its claim. Sensitivity is considered the area authorities can afford to compromise on because testing errors in that area lead to false negatives people being told they haven't had the disease when they actually have which would lead to relatively few consequences for most. False positives, however, caused by poor specificity, may lead people to believe they are immune when they're not, causing their behaviour to become riskier, or to receive treatment that they don't need. HOW COME THIS ONE WORKS WHEN OTHERS HAVE FAILED? Roche scientists have managed to develop a test that only picks up the virus that causes COVID-19, scientifically known as SARS-CoV-2. Previous tests assessed struggled to differentiate COVID-19 antibodies from four other types of human coronaviruses which cause the common cold. The body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses and infections, including other coronaviruses. But independent experts have also called for transparency over the results, which haven't been made publicly available. Professor Carl Heneghan, from Oxford University, said: 'Without seeing the study methods and the data it's impossible to verify these claims of accuracy.' Professor Sheila Bird, a bio-statistician at Cambridge University, also called on the government to reveal the study design to allow scientists to scrutinise the work. Turkeys daily coronavirus cases drop below 1,000 Turkeys daily COVID-19 cases dropped below 1,000 with 23 deaths on Wednesday. The total number of recovered patients has surpassed 113,000, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced. According to the figures the minister shared on his Twitter account, 972 people were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Wednesday. The total number of patients rose to 152,587 as the total number of fatalities hit 4,222. The number of patients in intensive care unit (ICU) stands at 877 while the number of intubated patients reached 445. Turkey succeeded in the first phase of the fight against coronavirus, it will succeed in this phase as well, Koca told a press conference following a meeting with the science committee earlier on the same day. Turkey has been reporting a continued downward trajectory in COVID-19 deaths and confirmed infections over the recent days. Turkey does not risk a second wave of infections from the new coronavirus at the moment, Koca said, adding that Ankara was preparing to start what he called controlled health tourism with 31 countries as of Wednesday. The minister also said travel restrictions for senior citizens will be eased in the coming days. Sources: Daily Sabah/https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr/ Turkish Airlines extends flight suspension into June amid pandemic Turkeys national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY) announced late Wednesday it was extending the cancellation of its flights amid the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic flights will be grounded until June 4 and international flights until June 10, the carrier said in a statement. The company, which carried more than 74 million passengers last year, had previously suspended all domestic and international flights until May 28 as a public safety measure against the pandemic. Budget carrier Pegasus, which had already canceled international flights until June 14, said it would also cancel domestic flights until June 3. Read more here: https://www.dailysabah.com/business/turkish-airlines-extends-flight-suspension-into-june-amid-pandemic/news EasyJet to resume domestic flights across UK and France Is there a small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel? EasyJet is to resume a small number of flights on 15 June. The flights will be on domestic routes in the UK and France where there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/21/easyjet-to-resume-domestic-flights-across-england-and-france Coronavirus vaccine: First evidence jab can train immune system The first hints that a vaccine can train peoples immune system to fight coronavirus have been reported by a company in the US. Moderna said neutralising antibodies were found in the first eight people who took part in their safety trials. It also said the immune response was similar to that in people infected with the actual virus. Larger trials to see whether the jab protects against infection are expected to start in July. Read the full article here: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52677203 Global statistics There are now 5,124,996 confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, of which 2,043,139 have recovered. The number of fatalities stands at 330,840. Source: Worldometer. Follow Fethiye Times on social media for regular updates. Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Todays featured image: Cruising in Fethiye Bay by Lyn Ward Candidates to succeed Roberto Azevedo as head of the WTO will have one month from June 8 to submit their nominations, the global trade body said following the Brazilians surprise resignation. After July 8, candidates will be invited to meet with WTO members, the World Trade Organization said in a statement Wednesday after a decision by its 164 members. The Brazilian last week announced he will step down on August 31, a year before his term ends, despite the Covid-19 pandemic ravaging the global economy. Azevedo said it had been a personal decision reached with his family, and stressed that he was not leaving to pursue political opportunities. His abrupt departure leaves WTO members with less than three months to appoint a successor, a process which usually takes nine months. Many observers are betting on a candidate from Africa -- and against a WTO insider. Azevedos departure comes at a bad time with the WTO already in crisis before the pandemic hit, dealing with raging trade wars and scathing criticism by the United States under President Donald Trump, who has pushed for reforms of the Geneva-based body. The procedure for appointing the director-general of the WTO is not an election but a process of elimination carried out in consultation with members. Azevedo, who in 2013 succeeded Frenchman Pascal Lamy, was selected after three elimination stages. On Azevedos watch, WTO members concluded their first-ever multilateral agreement when they reached a deal in Bali in late 2013 on overhauling global customs procedures. But since his second term began in 2017, countries have failed to reach further multilateral agreements, and the WTO has struggled to deal with a US administration openly hostile to its multilateral approach. The WTO was also forced to put its dispute settlement appeal system on ice last December after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges, preventing it from reaching a three-judge quorum. apo/lpt/mtp/jah A customer has ranted at retail worker after she asked him to give his name and phone number before entering a pet store. Norm Collins filmed his run in with the young employee at Animates in Nelson, New Zealand, and posted it online, explaining he was 'standing up for privacy rights'. In the video, the staffer said she could not allow him inside the store unless he provided her his personal information for contact tracing. She said the store was following government guidelines following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions. 'It is not my choice - I am following what my company has told me, and what they have been told by the Government,' she said in the video. The woman suggested Mr Collins shop online if he were opposed to handing over his details. Instead, Mr Collins compared her request to Nazi Germany. He said her claim that she was just following orders was similar to the defence used by Nazi war criminals who were tried in Nuremberg following World War II. The video was filmed on May 13, when business owners had, in fact, been asked to collect data from customers to make contact tracing easier in the case of an outbreak. Those orders have since been relaxed as New Zealand succeeds in flattening the curve of infections. While Mr Collins believes he acted within his rights throughout the encounter, other viewers of the footage think he was out of line. Norm Collins filmed his run in with the young employee at Animates in Nelson, New Zealand, and posted it online, explaining he was 'standing up for privacy rights' 'She did really well to deal with such a difficult lettucehead - I would not have been so polite,' one YouTube viewer wrote. Mr Collins shared a new video in which he noted his critics are simply 'shooting the messenger'. 'I was standing up for everybody - shoot the messenger - that's fine - I'm standing up for not only my rights, but your rights as well,' Mr Collins said. 'The point I was making there was, out of the Nuremberg trials came the fact that breaching people's individual human rights in 'just doing your job' is no excuse.' 'Rules are not laws, and when you're being asked to follow rules that breach people's individual privacy and their rights, then you need to be questioning the individuals who are asking you to.' According to the new wave of the Ipsos COVID 19 survey, only 1 in 2 Indians (50%) are comfortable about returning to workplace amid corona virus pandemic. At the same time, when it comes to the children, majority of urban Indians were seen to be uncomfortable about allowing kids to resume school 45% were uncomfortable, 18% were keen to postpone it by a few weeks, and only 37% claimed to be comfortable. Indians are moving forward with utmost caution. So, while re-opening is the next logical step, Indians are gearing up, to resume work but will like to defer attending of school by kids. COVID-19 is highly infectious and has no vaccine for its prevention and the drug for its cure; its understandable for parents to feel protective. Adults can still take the necessary precautions and of course they are the bread winners, said Amit Adarkar, CEO, Ipsos India. Global findings Majority in 9 out of 16 countries are comfortable with returning to workplace but only two countries are comfortable with kids back at school. More people say they are comfortable going back to their place of work in the coming weeks, but they dont feel the same about allowing their children to return to school amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest Ipsos survey. In a survey nearly 16,000 people conducted from May 7 to 10, a majority of people in 9 out of 16 countries say they are comfortable going to their workplace in the coming weeks with those in South Korea (82%), Australia (71%), China (65%), Russia (63%) and Germany (58%) at the top of the list. The countries most uncomfortable with returning to the workplace were Brazil and Spain (48%). In fact, one in five people (20%) in Brazil say they definitely would not do this in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, respondents most divided on this were in South Africa with a 3 percentage-point difference between those that were comfortable and those that were not, followed by Spain and Japan (4), the United Kingdom and Mexico (7). In terms of allowing children to return to school, a majority of people in Italy and South Africa (56%), Canada and Spain (53%) are not comfortable with doing this in the coming weeks, while more people in 10 other countries feel the same way. People in Brazil were most against this with more than two in five respondents (44%) saying they definitely wouldnt do this in the next few weeks, followed by Japan (30%), and the United States (28%). There are only two countries where people are more comfortable with allowing their children to return to school in the coming weeks Australia (59%) and South Korea (49%). The countries most divided on this were some of the worlds biggest emerging markets including China with 3 points separating those that were comfortable from those that are not, followed by Russia (6) and India (8). Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell has asked a federal judge to delay a lawsuit filed by one of his victims, claiming it could interfere with the ongoing criminal case against her. Maxwell's attorney, Laura Menninger last week asked to stay a civil case brought by Annie Farmer, who claims Ghislaine and Epstein sexually abused her at age 16. The 58-year-old British socialite is also under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York after she was accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, has asked a federal judge to delay Annie Farmer's (right) lawsuit, claiming the deposition could interfere with the ongoing criminal case against her. Farmer is seeking damages from Epstein and Maxwell's estate claiming the two sexually abused her when she was 16 In a letter sent to federal judge, Menninger argued Maxwell's deposition in Farmer's suit could implicate her in the ongoing criminal case. 'The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York has publicly and repeatedly announced its "ongoing" criminal investigation into alleged Epstein "co-conspirators" on the same topic as [Farmer] alleges in this case,' Menninger said. 'Denial of a stay, particularly a stay of Ms. Maxwell's deposition, pending outcome of the criminal investigation could impair her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, extend criminal discovery expose the defense's theory to the prosecution in advance of trial, or otherwise prejudice the criminal case.' Maxwell is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York over allegations she helped facilitate Epstein's sex trafficking ring Farmer's lawyer, David Boises responded to the request on Monday calling it 'meritless' and 'another attempt to unjustifiably delay this litigation.' He also argued Maxwell has not provided enough information on the criminal probe or her relation to it, to ask for delay in her deposition. 'Maxwell therefore cannot use the existence of a criminal investigation to dodge her discovery obligations in this matter, particularly while at the same time refusing to provide any details or reasons as to why the investigation is a reason to stay the action,' he wrote. Farmer, now 40, is suing Epstein and Maxwell claiming they sexually assaulted her at the disgraced financier's New Mexico ranch, and is seeking damages from their $634million estate. The lawsuit is just one of several civil cases that have been launched by Epstein's victims following his death last year. Maxwell, meanwhile, has managed to lay low and is believed to be in hiding as the FBI's net closes around Epstein's circle. In March, she sued Epstein's estate claiming she knew nothing about his sex crimes. Maxwell is seeking compensation for legal fees and security costs incurred by her association with Epstein, who committed suicide in prison last year. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Punjab government, which has been rattled by recurring incidents of liquor smuggling and losses in excise collection, deputed school teachers at distilleries to keep a check on the supply. Hours later, it withdrew the orders after media reports sparked an outrage. It all began when the Gurdaspur district administration on Wednesday asked 24 teachers to keep an eye on smuggling of popular brands such as Rass Bhari, Rano Sofi, Asli Mota Santra and Punjab King. The Gurdaspur deputy commissioners office posted the teachers outside four distilleries owned by prominent liquor barons. The orders were issued by the assistant commissioner (general) Raman Kochar, on behalf of deputy commissioner Mohammad Ishfaq. But the district administration revoked its decision on Thursday afternoon after facing flak for the decision. Kochar, in his order on behalf of the DC, said, Teachers duties at liquor factories have been cancelled with immediate effect. With schools closed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are already stretched thin with conducting online classes, distributing mid-day meals, books, facilitating online admissions, screening migrant labourers at bus stops and railway stations and checking at inter-state borders. WAS SAFEGUARDING REVENUE: DC The earlier order said that in view of the Covid-19 crisis, teachers have been deployed at liquor factories as executive magistrates and will submit their report to the Batala tehsildar daily. In case of negligence, a first information report (FIR) under Section 188 (disobeying a public servants order) of the Indian Penal Code will be registered against them, the order had said. Backing the earlier decision, Ishfaq said, Theres nothing wrong in using the services of teachers. We deployed teachers at liquor factories to utilise manpower. The state government has declared each government employee an executive magistrate. The decision was taken to curb liquor smuggling. We are only trying to safeguard the governments revenue, said Ishfaq, a lateral entry Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was formerly an engineer in public health and has no experience in civil administration. ORDER RAISES EYEBROWS Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner of another district in Punjab, requesting anonymity, said, There is no way I would allow this in my district. It is not for teachers to keep an eye on the supply of alcohol. Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) president Davinder Singh Punia said, This is against the dignity of teachers. We demanded the immediate revocation of this order and strict action against officials who assigned these duties. Has the Punjab government fallen on such hard times that they are using teachers to check liquor smuggling? When contacted, state education minister Vijay Inder Singla said, The deputy commissioner has taken this decision at his own level. I have told the secretary to speak to him. Women wear face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus as they stand near an Apple store in Beijing, Friday, April 24, 2020. China reported no new virus deaths for the ninth straight day, and just six new cases on Friday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) A former Apple contractor called on EU privacy watchdogs Wednesday to investigate the firm's "past and present" use of Siri recordings nine months after reports emerged of the firm listening in without users' knowledge. I request that you, as a data protection authority, set out to protect a fundamental right recognized throughout the Union, to take action and investigate Apple's past and present practices (and of other tech companies following the same practices), wrote Thomas Le Bonniec, who from May to July 2019 worked on a Siri transcription project in Cork, Ireland. Last summer, the Guardian reported that contractors reviewed recordings made by Siri, Apples voice assistant, without the users knowledge, including when Siri was accidentally activated. The investigation followed similar reports about Amazons Alexa and Googles home assistant, as both companies also employed human reviewers to listen to recordings in order to improve the artificial intelligence technology's efficiency. Since then, Apple said it moved to an opt-in system that requires users to proactively agree to have their recordings reviewed. Asked about the current program, a spokesperson for the company redirected POLITICO to blog posts from August and October which explain the changes made by the iPhone maker after the reports. "By default, we will no longer retain audio recordings of Siri interactions. We will continue to use computer-generated transcripts to help Siri improve," Apple said. Amazon said it would allow users to opt out from the human reviews and Google paused the reviews, which haven't resumed since. But despite the three companies publicly acknowledging that users might not have been fully aware of the listening programs at the time, no investigation was opened by the privacy regulators in charge of the companies. Le Bonniec chose May 20 to send his letter because the date is days ahead of the European flagship privacy reforms second anniversary, he told POLITICO. The former Apple contractor hopes his public letter will pressure regulators to act and says hes ready to testify in future probes. He reached out to all European data protection authorities, to the European Data Protection Board, the European Data Protection Supervisor and privacy regulators in Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Story continues Two years in, privacy regulators have yet to impose meaningful fines under the General Data Protection Regulation, raising questions about the ability and, sometimes, the willingness of data protection authorities to enforce the legislation. [The timing of the letter] is a reminder that we have legislation at EU level that is supposed to be good for something. Up until now, were under the impression that there was no repercussion after the Apple, Google revelations. And if we dont put pressure on Ireland, nothing will happen, he said, adding that he was breaching his nondisclosure agreement to help regulators investigate. Under the GDPRs one-stop-shop mechanism, Irelands Data Protection Commission is responsible for Apple and Google, while the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection is responsible for Amazon. Last summer, both regulators said they had questions for Apple and Amazon, but decided not to initiate probes, arguing that the European Data Protection Board, the grouping of Europes privacy regulators, was working on EU-level guidelines on how to deal with voice assistants, which are expected later this year. A spokesperson for the Luxembourg data protection authority said it was in regular contact with Amazon on a range of issues but declined to further comment on why it did not launch an investigation on Alexa because it was "bound by the obligation of professional secrecy." A spokesperson for the Irish privacy regulator said, "Were still engaged with Apple on a number of fronts, were still getting answers to questions." According to Hamburgs data protection authority, which was very vocal when the reports came out and is among the authorities in charge of drafting the guidelines, not enough has been done on privacy violations related to voice assistants. Unfortunately, last years momentum appears to be lost by now. Some corrections were applied to voice assistants, but not consistently within the industry, a spokesperson for the regulator said. Moreover, the underlying questions if and under what circumstances user data may legitimately be used to improve products (which is a key element to a wide range of AI systems, voice-based and beyond) are far from solved, the spokesperson added. Indeed, both Apple and Amazon still have reviewing programs in place. A spokesperson for Amazon said: We annotate a fraction of 1 percent of interactions to improve the Alexa experience for customers. For example, this information helps us train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems, so Alexa can better understand your requests, and ensure the service works well for everyone." The spokesperson declined to comment on how many users had opted out. Apple resumed its own Siri program in October with changes: Recordings are no longer stored by default, unless users agree to do it, and only Apple employees, instead of contractors, have access to the samples. The company declined to disclose how many users had opted in. According to Le Bonniec, regulators should "verify" that Apple indeed stopped processing samples without the users' knowledge. He also argues such listening programs shouldnt exist in the first place. "Mozilla's [crowdsourcing] Common Voice project asks people to voluntarily participate and give their voice. It's done in a transparent way, which is proof there is no need to spy on people," he said. President Donald Trump, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk to participate in a group photo at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019. WASHINGTON The Trump administration intends to withdraw from a 18-year-old arms-control treaty that allows the U.S. and Russia, among other countries, to conduct reconnaissance flights over each others' territory and collect data on military activities. The withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty was expected to be confirmed on Friday, according to the New York Times, which first reported the development. The move marks the third time President Donald Trump has abandoned international arms-control agreements following the U.S.'s exit from the Iran nuclear accord and the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty, which worked toward eliminating the U.S. and Russia's stocks of nuclear-capable intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. JCPOA: Iran reduces nuke deal compliance, warns 'not much time left' to save accord Thirty-five countries are signatories to the treaty. Trump has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the pact's terms. It is designed to try to limit the possibility military miscalculations could lead to war. The formal pullout may not take place for six months. Democrat critics in the Senate and House previously condemned such a move as "yet another gift from the Trump Administration to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" that would undermine U.S. efforts to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression. The decision could further fuel questions about Trump's commitment to helping Ukraine fight off Russia's attacks. Russia annexed part of Ukraine in 2014, and Ukraine faces ongoing battles with Russian separatists in its eastern region, though the two sides have been holding on-and-off again peace talks. The treaty formalized in 2002 after negotiations were started by President George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State, James Baker, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union permits each country to conduct "short-notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights" to monitor military forces and other activities, according to the Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan group that supports effective arms control policies. Story continues In a letter sent last year warning against withdrawal from the pact, top Democrats in Congress said the treaty has been "an essential tool for United States efforts to constrain Russian aggression in Ukraine." The letter was signed by the top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., as well as the chairmen of respective House committees, Reps. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Adam Smith, D-Wash. Reagan-era nuclear pact: U.S. formally withdraws from treaty with Russia The lawmakers noted when the Ukraine-Russian conflict began, the U.S. used images collected by U.S. surveillance missions, conducted under the Open Skies Treaty, to prove that Russian forces had invaded Ukrainian territory. "Withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty would be perceived as casting further doubt on the status of the United States commitment to Ukraines security and would advance the Russian narrative that the United States is an unreliable partner in the region," the lawmakers wrote. If the exit from the Open Skies treaty goes ahead, the U.S. will only be involved in one major arms-control treaty with Russia. New START, a nuclear-arms reduction treaty, is due to expire in 2021. Trump has not committed to staying in the pact. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Open Skies Treaty: Trump expected to exit arms-control pact: report [May 21, 2020] Momentum Telecom Selects 128 Technology to Deliver New Session Smart Enabled Unified Communications and SD-WAN Services 128 Technology, the leader in Session Smart Routing, today announced that Momentum Telecom has selected 128 Technology's Session Smart Router to enable a new era of software defined network services for its thousands of enterprise customers and partners. The 128 Technology Session Smart router allows Momentum (News - Alert) to deliver cloud-native solutions for managed networks, Unified Communications (UC) and Software-Defined Wide-Area Network (SD-WAN) to its customers. The solution will allow Momentum Telecom, a leading provider of unified communications and network services, to deliver improved customer satisfaction while strengthening network service level agreements (SLAs) and business continuity. 128T Session Smart routers deliver tunnel-free SD-WAN enabling massive scale, breakthrough economics, and seamless application delivery. 128 Technology (News - Alert) enables Momentum Telecom to collapse legacy network functions and deliver new levels of simplicity, agility, performance, and savings to its customers and partners. "Partnering with 128 Technology enables us to offer new, differentiated services for our customers with faster time to deployment and improved customer response time. We're excited to deliver the 128 Technology solutions to our customers," said Todd Zittrouer, CEO, Momentum Telecom. "128 Technology's Session Smart Router reduces our premise footprint to a single appliance," said Mark Marquez (News - Alert), executive vice president of technology, Momentum Telecom. "Additionally, using the 128T Conductor to consolidate edge services, we can now upgrade a UC customer to SD-WAN, delivering best-in-class business continuity services without the need to add additional customer premise equipment." "We are excited to work together ith an innovator like Momentum Telecom to profitably grow sales and deliver true software defined network and UC solutions to their customers," said Andy Ory, co-founder and CEO, 128 Technology. "Our solutions will allow the company to support a wide range of deployment models scaling from small branch offices to a hyper-scale software-defined data center." To learn more about 128 Technology's mission to set the network free, visit here. About Momentum Telecom Momentum Telecom empowers human connections through developing, streamlining and integrating cloud voice and cloud-based applications in order to enable others to thrive. An industry leader in customer experience, Momentum Telecom uses superior technology, a geo-redundant network and a nationwide network of more than 500 white label and channel partners to empower businesses to communicate better, faster and more efficiently. To learn more visit momentumtelecom.com or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or visit our blog. About 128 Technology 128 Technology, a software-based networking company, is on a mission to radically reinvent companies' digital futures based on a new model for virtual networking called Session Smart. Session-smart networking enables enterprise customers and service providers to create a service-centric fabric that's more simple, agile, and secure, delivering better performance at a lower cost. Whether your enterprise is moving your business to the cloud, modernizing the WAN edge, seeking more reliable unified communications or pursuing an industrial internet of things (IIoT) initiative, Session Smart networking re-aligns networks with digital transformation initiatives. Headquartered in Burlington, Mass. along Route 128, 'America's technology highway', the company also has operations throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about 128 Technology, visit www.128technology.com and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005012/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] (Newser) For more than a year, it looked like Lori Loughlin would fight the charges against her in the college admissions bribery scandal. Apparently, she's changed her mind: Per the Los Angeles Times and ABC News, the 55-year-old Full House actress and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, according to a plea agreement filed in a Massachusetts federal court. Per the agreements, Loughlin will serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine, and be required to perform 100 hours of community service. Her 56-year-old husband will see five months behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service. The terms must be accepted by US District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton. story continues below If the deals go through, then bribery and money laundering charges against the spouses will be dropped. Prosecutors had accused the two of forking over half a million dollars to make sure their two daughters were deemed recruits of the USC women's crew team to help get them into the college, per the New York Times. "Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling says in a release from the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions." (Read more Lori Loughlin stories.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 20:00:00|Editor: Xiaoxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese culture of truly respecting people's health and life, a system to ensure the solidarity of the whole society, and ever-growing national strength were key to China's effective containment of the COVID-19 epidemic, a leading medical expert said Thursday. Wang Chen, president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, made the remarks in his capacity as a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, on the sidelines of its annual session which started on Thursday. Chinese culture truly values people's health and life and such values have been reflected in the public's unified commitment to life-saving actions, decisiveness in policy making, and professionalism of medical workers who are always ready to serve the people, Wang said. China has a system to ensure that when facing major difficulties and challenges, its people can unite as one to overcome difficulties. Under such a system, the country can pool resources and mobilize various forces to deal with severe challenges, he said. Remarkably improved national strength over the past 70 years also played a significant role in curbing the epidemic, he added. Wang, also a renowned respiratory specialist and vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, had joined other leading experts to guide the anti-virus work in the hard-hit city of Wuhan since February. "As frontline workers, we could really feel the strength of our culture, our system and our nation that helped lay a solid foundation for winning the fight against the epidemic," he said. He made suggestions related to improving the country's public health system from now on. China should enhance medical education and establish a sound mechanism to attract talent to study medicine and foster more health care practitioners, Wang said. He proposed to build a higher-level national institute of medical science, which can lead and coordinate overall medical research and innovation for the development of health and life science. It is also vital to establish a national fund dedicated to medical and health science research, he said. "Another important point is to enhance the combination of medical treatment and prevention. Only through the integration of the two aspects can we better cope with major challenges," he said. Enditem SAN DIEGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Private Lenders Association (NPLA) and Mercy Housing have joined as community partners in a national fundraising campaign. The fundraiser will launch on Thursday, May 21, and continue till July 6. The NPLA membership consists of private lenders and service providers facilitating commercial real estate investment throughout the United States. The NPLA is proud to join with Mercy Housing, whose mission is to create stable, vibrant, and healthy communities by developing, financing, and operating affordable housing. The fundraising initiative will make a difference to Mercy Housing residents who are experiencing the real and immediate impact of COVID-19. Funds raised will also go toward operating pop-up food pantries and purchasing PPE to ensure residents can transition back into society safely. Jane Graf, the President & CEO of Mercy Housing, expressed her appreciation by stating, "Thank you, Mr. Rosen and the NPLA for the partnership and support of Mercy Housing. It is through the generosity of individuals and organizations that Mercy Housing is able to provide stable housing as well as essential services to our residents." Alongside Mercy Housing, the NPLA will pursue the goal of creating healthy, sustainable communities where every person has a place to call home. This fundraising campaign will help our organizations reach that goal. "We are inspired by the services Mercy Housing provides communities, and we are grateful for the opportunity to join forces. Our members, as leaders in the industry, understand the urgency of this moment, and we encourage additional organizations and associations to join us in this effort." -Leonard Rosen, Executive Director of the NPLA. About the NPLA: The NPLA is a trade organization that represents and protects the interests of Private Lenders in America as it pertains to legislation and public policy. The NPLA represents more than 50 lenders, capital providers, and real-estate service providers across the U.S. Join the Fundraising Initiative: https://info.mercyhousing.org/npla Contact Leonard Rosen, Executive Director National Private Lenders Association 202-922-9070 [email protected] https://nplaonline.com/ Media Inquiries Amy Kame, Managing Director [email protected] Related Images national-private-lenders.jpg National Private Lenders Association SOURCE National Private Lenders Association Related Links https://nplaonline.com By Donald Kirk GWANGJU The memories never fade. The stories of the 10 days of defiance, of suffering and bloodshed, live on in a city that still seethes with resentment 40 years after the uprising that began with a student demonstration on May 18, 1980. A generation or two has grown up since, but the tales are enshrined in two major museums here, one at the old provincial government building that the students and others had taken over as their headquarters, the other at the May 18 Memorial Park where the remains of more than 200 of those killed in the massacre are enshrined. Other museums and displays around the city mark the places where the soldiers attacked, where people were killed, where protesters acted out their grievances for accumulated wrongs by military leaders responsible for dictatorial rule. Together they tell the story of the massacre, day by day, hour by hour, in words, photographs, artifacts and other imagery. The tragic saga is sure to endure in the minds of those who visit many years later, but the story is not over. Now President Moon Jae-in has ordered an investigation intended to come up with more answers. Who, exactly, ordered the soldiers to open fire, not only in the final assault on the provincial building but in isolated shootings, in seemingly random killing and wounding, over the entire 10 days between May 18 and May 27? Moon, as he explained in a speech on May 18 in front of the government building, believes "as truth is revealed to the world piece by piece, the pent-up agonies in hearts will be relieved one by one, and we will be able to move toward the path of forgiveness and reconciliation." There will, he said, be no reason "for distortion and denigration." It's unlikely this investigation, in its broad outline, will go much beyond what's already clear from exhibits that are open for everyone, but the details should really be interesting. It so happens, two or three days before May 27, 1980, that I visited the provincial building where protesters had established their headquarters. They were eager to publicize what they were doing. Someone there issued me a press card. An official gave an impassioned briefing to several of us, including Bill Chapman of the Washington Post and Norman Thorpe, who covered the entire 10 days mostly from inside the city for the Asian Wall Street Journal. The next time I was there, a day or two after the army had regained complete control, I saw coffins around the entrance to the building. There was a deathly silence, then outbursts of grief from family members discovering loved ones. I'm pretty sure those whom I met earlier did not survive the onslaught, but I've always wanted to know exactly what happened to them, who was responsible for the killing. Maybe, as a result of this final investigation, the truth will be known. Did Chun Doo-hwan personally issue the "open fire" order? The answers to some of these questions are already known, but for sure there's a lot we don't yet know. Another thing I've always wanted to know was more about the American role. For sure, the Americans were caught flat-footed. They hadn't known what was coming and didn't know what to do about it. The American general, John Wickham, technically had operational control over all forces in Korea, but Chun had only to notify him of the removal of a division of troops and send them to Gwangju and Wickham couldn't stop him. Or so he said. The American position has been the uprising was an internal matter and there was nothing they could do about it. Wickham has said he had not imagined Korean troops would fire on Korean civilians. If nothing else, the investigation might come up with more evidence of American incompetence, which would not be surprising. We can also expect simple eye-witness descriptions. An American Peace Corps volunteer, Paul Courtwright, has chronicled, all these years later, what he saw in a book called "Witnessing Gwangju," published in English and Korean versions by Hollym. It's an enthralling read, not just from what he remembers of the violence but also from his descriptions of Korean life, his conversations with ordinary Koreans and other Peace Corps types. He also provides other details that might be of interest for instance, that helicopters had opened fire, all denied by Chun. The Gwangju uprising was brief. There have been far bloodier episodes in Korean life. Nonetheless, as a definable event, within a precise time frame, experienced and witnessed by many, the tragedy endures as a point in history that scholars and investigators will want to study for years to come. Far from being forgotten, relegated to some dark closet of the past, Gwangju lives on in the minds of those who never saw it but still want to know how and why it happened. Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) writes from Seoul as well as Washington. TV actor Arjun Bijlani and his wife Neha Swami celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary with a lot of colour and warmth at home. The actor shared a number of pictures on Instagram. Taking to the photo-sharing platform, he wrote: A Happy anniversary should always have a happy life .. Neha swami ab toh saath mein pandemic bhi dekh liya . I here by give u all awards for all these years. thank you everyone for all your wishes and a special thank u to all my friends who sent me so many cakes . Return gift : THE SAME CAKE. In the picture, the couple are seen in black and white easy western casuals, sitting in their living cum dining space. They sit by a large table, which has been decked up with candles and indoor potted plants. There is a home-made cake; the mirror behind them is decorated with lights and pinups of their family pictures. In some pictures, the couple poses together, while in some others, their son joins them. On display are several cakes. On Wednesday, the actor had shared a video of their moments as a family as a celebration of their times together. He had written: 7 years . @nehaswami ... Many of his industry colleagues such as Mouni Roy, Hina Khan, Karan Tacker among others had wished the couple on the occasion. On the workfront, Arjun had seen the release of his web series, State Of Siege: 26/11 in March. Speaking about its success to IANS, he had said, Its ironic how this has worked out so beautifully because first, we faced hurdles on the release date and when we actually released, coronavirus in India had only just broken out. Also read: Surbhi Chandna says she was almost replaced in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah Its been a surreal experience from then to now and Id like to congratulate the entire team - the cast, crew and Abhimanyu Singh, Roopali Kadyan and our director Matthew who have put a great piece together. This story had to be told and were glad audiences are streaming in and positively receiving it, without them it wouldnt have been possible, he said. Arjun along with Arjan Bajwa and Vivek Dahiya, play NSG Commandos in State of Siege: 26/11. It is based on Sandeep Unnithans book Black Tornado: The Three Sieges of Mumbai 26/11 and tells the untold stories and the different events that took place during the attacks of 26/11. (With IANS inputs) Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Event Today's business environment of the hospitality and tourism industry is very complex and volatile. In order for organisations in hospitality and tourism to stay competitive, a research-based decision making is critically important for hospitality and tourism strategists, policy makers and business managers. A significant amount of academic research studies are conducted annually in the field of hospitality and tourism and they are often disseminated through publications in academic journals. Many of such research papers may have direct or indirect relevance to industry practices but they do not typically reach out to industry practitioners because the scientific language commonly used in academic journals is not "user-friendly" to the industry community and industry practitioners are not accustomed to reading academic papers. The Hospitality and Tourism Research Centre (HTRC) at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is dedicated to bridging the gap between research in the academic community and industry practices by regularly organising a dedicated conference with the aim of "connecting the dots between academic research and industry practices". The SHTM is pleased to announce the inaugural conference of the HTRC in collaboration with the STR on 21-22 May 2020 at Hotel ICON in Hong Kong. The aim of the conference is to promote an academic-industry interface by showcasing the highlights of academic research undertaken by the HTRC using a user-friendly language for industry practitioners. The conference will enable researchers and industry practitioners to inspire each other with their own insights and experiences, with an aim to paving the way for diversified and sustainable development of the industry. Who Should Attend The Conference? High-level decision makers in hospitality and tourism firms Policy makers in hospitality and tourism organisations High-level managers in operations, strategies, marketing, finance, revenue management and technology Academics in hospitality and tourism education and research Postgraduate and research students in hospitality and tourism Financial institutions and investment firms Consultants in hospitality, tourism and real estate sectors Others with an interest in hospitality and tourism industry development PolyU Hospitality and Tourism Research Centre is organized by Once states began implementing emergency limitations and guidelines on the amount of hydroxychloroquine that could be prescribed and dispensed for acute use, the complaints from pharmacists and state boards of pharmacy decreased significantly, Mr. Carter added. Mr. Trump may have been referring to front-line workers who are participating in clinical trials on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in preventing Covid-19 infection. Thousands are currently enrolled in these trials, and many are still recruiting eligible volunteers. Participants in these trials, however, represent a tiny fraction of the health care and front-line workers across the country. There are over one million active doctors and nearly three million registered nurses alone. Researchers conducting these trials also said that interest in taking the drug, even in a clinical setting, had waned recently. One of the largest trials coordinated by Duke University School of Medicine and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a nonprofit established by the Affordable Care Act that funds clinical research, has enrolled 550 health care workers, out of a goal of 15,000. Among a larger group of 12,000 front-line workers who have been sharing their experiences through the schools website, two-thirds were previously interested in participating in the hydroxychloroquine trial, but that is down to about half since the media hype, said Dr. Adrian Hernandez, who directs the Clinical Research Institute at Duke. Another doctor conducting a clinical trial who spoke on the condition of anonymity said many colleagues had stashes of hydroxychloroquine in their offices and used it as a preventive measure in the early days of the pandemic. Use is continuing but is no longer as widespread, the doctor said, especially after the F.D.A. warning and as supplies of personal protective equipment became less scarce. The doctors clinical trial, too, has lost recruitment because people got scared, the doctor said. Dr. H. Michael Belmont, a professor of medicine at New York University, said his study had recruited 125 participants out of a capacity of 350, partly because of strict eligibility requirements, partly because cases in New York had decreased and partly because studies showing the drugs ineffectiveness reduced somewhat the enthusiasm. Taking hydroxychloroquine as a prophylactic should really be done only in a research setting, Dr. Belmont emphasized. You do it outside a clinical trial, you lose the opportunity to answer scientific questions, he said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:03:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) announced on Thursday that it will launch a smart-phone app for job seekers who have lost their jobs during the COVID-19 outbreak. "The app will match the laid-off employees with other companies looking for similar qualifications," said TCC chairman Kalin Sarasin. He added that member companies of the TCC have all expressed the willingness to assist employees who have lost their jobs during this difficult period. Kalin said he believes that the COVID-19 crisis will prevail for about a year or two, and that there will be more lay-offs and hiring of staff as Thailand progresses into a new norm of life. He said that because of the benefit of social-distancing, he asked TCC members to allow at least 50 percent of their employees to work from home. Meanwhile Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said Thais may have to live with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak for more than a year and that it may even take to three years before the economy recovers. "Therefore working from home is the new norm unless a vaccine emerges, which I believe will take up to at least a year," said Somkiat. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 01:33:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday urged the halting of bank dividends and buybacks in light of the COVID-19 induced economic contraction, noting that such actions could help reinforce bank buffers. In an opinion piece published on the Financial Times, the IMF chief said even though the resilience of the financial system has been significantly strengthened after the 2008 financial crisis, as the world braces for a deep recession this year, "this resilience will be tested." "Having in place strong capital and liquidity positions to support fresh credit will be essential. One of the steps needed to reinforce bank buffers is retaining earnings from ongoing operations. These are not insignificant," Georgieva said. According to IMF calculation, the 30 global systemically important banks distributed about 250 billion U.S. dollars in dividends and share buybacks last year. "This year they should retain earnings to build capital in the system," she said. Noting that the interests of bank shareholders are aligned with those of bank supervisors and customers, Georgieva said all stakeholders will also ultimately benefit if banks preserve capital instead of paying out to shareholders during the pandemic. The global fiscal support to fight COVID-19 has totaled about 9 trillion dollars, 1 trillion dollars more than the estimates over a month ago, according to an IMF blog published Wednesday. The breakdown looks like this: direct budget support is currently estimated at 4.4 trillion dollars globally, and additional public sector loans and equity injections, guarantees, and other quasi-fiscal operations amount to another 4.6 trillion, the blog said. Central banks, meanwhile, have also provided extraordinary liquidity support to a wide range of markets. "The public sector is doing what it can to help prevent another banking crisis from happening again. Shareholders have both an interest and an obligation to do the same," Georgieva said. The IMF chief pointed out that in some countries, banks have voluntarily decided to collectively suspend shareholder payouts and buybacks, and in others, authorities have had to push. "The need to preserve capital is already being recognized and needs to be so more widely," she said. "Collective decisions are vital." Enditem Rishi Sunak could ask thousands of British businesses to pay National Insurance and employer pension contributions for furloughed workers as the Chancellor tries to reduce the cost of the coronavirus wage support scheme. The Treasury said this week that there are now an estimated eight million workers who have been furloughed across the UK. The scheme has cost more than 11 billion already but the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the bill is likely to hit 50 billion by the end of July. Rishi Sunak, pictured in Downing Street on March 17, has extened the furlough scheme to the end of October but businesses will be asked to share the cost The furlough package was originally due to expire at the end of June but Mr Sunak announced earlier this month that it is being extended to October. Levels of support will remain the same until the end of July and then from August to October 'greater flexibility' will be introduced so that furloughed employees can return to work part time. Businesses will be expected to share the costs of paying staff salaries in the later months of the scheme to reduce the final bill on the taxpayer. That could leave some shuttered firms having to choose whether to make people redundant. The Treasury is expected to set out its plans in detail by the end of this month as it tries to figure out how to share the support burden with businesses. But Bloomberg today reported that under one plan being considered by officials companies could face bigger tax bills. They could be asked to pay National Insurance and employer pension contributions for all of their furloughed staff, according to a source familiar with what is being discussed. The current scheme sees the Government pay 80 per cent of a furloughed worker's wages up to a monthly cap of 2,500. Businesses warned before the initiative was extended that they will need support long into the future after the outbreak forced many to shut or dramatically curtail their operations. Speaking in the House of Commons on May 12, Mr Sunak said he was taking a 'measured' approach to reducing the support. 'I can announce today that the job retention scheme will be extended for four months, until the end of October,' he said. 'By that point, we will have provided eight months of support to British people and businesses. 'Until the end of July, there will be no changes whatsoever, from August to October the scheme will continue for all sectors and regions of the UK, but with greater flexibility to support the transition back to work.' Maame Yaa Konadu, mother of the late Kumawood actor, Bishop Nyarko, has disclosed that her son always visits her in dreams and tells her he is in a better place. According to her, since Bishop Nyarko died on May 2, 2020, he always appears in her dreams to encourage her to be strong. In a recent interview with Adom TV, Maame Yaa Konadu said even though she is distraught about her son's death, she finds solace in the belief that her son is in a better place. "The demise of my son has really left me completely shattered. I barely eat and anytime I sleep, he reveals himself to me in dreams, tells me not to be sad. Since his death, I have been seeing his ghost every day," she stated. A very popular face in Kumawood, Bishop Nyarko rose to fame in movies such as Ultimate Betrayal, Masakyere, Awurade Wo Nkae, The Family's Pride and Sidechic Gang. Until his death, the actor was known to be a father of three but his mother disclosed during the interview he had five children. "I only knew him to have three children until I returned from London and he told me he has a child who lives in Kumasi and he had named him after me. We went looking for the boy, who is four years old. "His other child, who came around during the one-week observance of his death, is 18 years old," she stated. Bishop Bernard Nyarko died on Saturday, May 2 at the Ridge Hospital in Accra after battling colon cancer. He will be buried on June 27, 2020, at Obosomase in the Eastern Region. Source: Graphic Showbiz Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has warned that Israeli annexations in the occupied West Bank would spell the end of all security coordination, as international opposition to the plans grows. Palestinians say any annexation would put an end to their hopes of an independent state alongside Israel, the so-called two-state solution. In a speech late Tuesday, Abbas said the annexation plans showed Israel was no longer abiding by peace accords between the two. As such, he said, the Palestinian government was "absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments and of all the obligations based on these understandings and agreements, including the security ones." Abbas did not go into detail about the implications of such a step, but it is his strongest card in a very weak hand as he seeks to pressure Israel to hold back. Mahmoud Aloul, vice-president of Abbas's Fatah party, told AFP that implementation of the decisions would be finalised in the coming days but "as of last night all communications with the Israeli side, including security cooperation, were stopped". Abbas, 85, has been in power since 2005 and has made multiple previous threats to end security cooperation with Israel without following through. A genuine end to such coordination could jeopardise the relative calm in the West Bank, where 2.7 million Palestinians live alongside more than 400,000 Israeli settlers. Israel controls all access to the territory where Abbas's government is based and even basic tasks require coordination between the two sides. Abbas even needs coordination to travel from Ramallah, where the government is based, to any other Palestinian city. Tareq Baconi of the International Crisis Group think-tank said the Palestinian leadership had provided little clarity about what ending security coordination would mean. "The impact isn't just freedom of movement, it is everything, even where food supply lines come from," he said. "It can't be dismantled overnight." In reality, he said, Abbas was seeking to build pressure on Israel to tone down annexation plans. Hugh Lovatt, Israel-Palestine analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, agreed. "We have been here before, many times. Abbas has yet to follow through, emptying such threats of any potential deterrence," he said. "Yet, as annexation looms, his declaration should nonetheless be interpreted as one last desperate shot across the bow." - International opposition - Netanyahu has been emboldened by the staunch support of President Donald Trump, whose controversial peace plan released in January gave Israel US blessing to annex swathes of the West Bank. US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday came out against Netanyahu's plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements and the strategic Jordan Valley, which makes up around 30 percent of the West Bank. Under the coalition agreement Netanyahu signed with rival-turned-partner Benny Gantz, the two can bring annexation to cabinet for discussion from July 1. King Abdullah II of Jordan, one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace deal with Israel, warned last week annexation would put Israel on course for a "massive conflict" with his country. The UN's special Middle East envoy Wednesday called on Israel to "abandon threats of annexation". "The continuing threat of annexation by Israel of parts of the West Bank would constitute a most serious violation of international law," envoy Nickolay Mladenov warned a meeting of the Security Council. Mladenov said he would speak Thursday with Palestinian leaders about the practical consequences of their announcement, which were not spelled out by Abbas. The European Union, Arab League and individual European governments have also come out in firm opposition to the annexation plans. Netanyahu's centrist coalition partner Gantz is seen as less keen on annexation than the right-wing prime minister. Yossi Beilin, an Israeli architect of the early 1990s Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians, said the cumulative effect of the EU and Arab League criticism, as well as statements by Biden, Abdullah and now Abbas, "will have an impact, in my view, on the Israeli government". "It might at least sharpen the internal debate between the two main parties." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have discussed the coordination of efforts to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the coordination of steps for a gradual lockdown exit. The two leaders had a telephone conversation on Wednesday, May 20, the press service of the head of state reported. "Due to timely measures, we managed to prevent the worst-case scenario of the epidemic. We are closely following the EU's pandemic measures. Thank you personally for the 190 million euro support package for Ukraine announced by the European Commission to overcome the consequences of coronavirus," Zelensky said. During the conversation, the parties discussed the enhancement of cooperation in the medical field, the provision of "green corridors" for the unimpeded circulation of goods across Europe, the possible resumption of air traffic, and the involvement of Ukraine as an observer in the EU Health Committee. The sides also agreed that the crisis caused by coronavirus should not impede the free movement of goods and restrict bilateral trade. Zelensky also thanked von der Leyen for the European Commission's decision to launch another program of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 1.2 billion euros. "We need bilateral assistance from the European Union to stabilize the economy and public finances. We are ready for constructive cooperation in order to quickly launch and implement this macro-financial assistance program," Zelensky said. He also said that in the near future he would sign the law on banking activities, paving the way to a new IMF program. It was agreed that in the coming weeks Ukraine will receive the second tranche of the previous, Fourth Macro-Financial Assistance Program in the amount of 500 million euros. At the same time, the sides paid special attention to the security situation in eastern Ukraine. Zelensky thanked the European Commission for unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Von der Leyen, in turn, congratulated Zelensky on the first anniversary of his inauguration and noted Ukraine's progress in implementing reforms. The leaders of Ukraine and the European Commission noted the active political dialogue between Ukraine and the EU, which continues despite the current crisis, and agreed on further contacts. op Matthew Cory, 33, has been charged with assault after he allegedly tried to choke a female hiker in her 60s on trail in Everett, Washington A convicted felon from Washington state who was released from prison ahead of schedule earlier this month due to coronavirus concerns was re-arrested last week after allegedly attacking a female hiker. Matthew Cory, 33, was back behind bars on Friday, charged with assault stemming from the incident that took place along the popular Interurban Trail in Everett earlier that evening. According to officials, a woman in her 60s was hiking in the 11200 block of the trail after 7pm when she stopped to rest. As she was sitting on a log, she said a stranger, later identified as Cory, came up from behind her, wrapped his hands around her neck and started choking her, reported Q13 Fox. The hiker managed to free herself from the attacker's grasp and screamed so loudly that the man fled. Police officers who were called to the scene observed the suspect running through the woods and apprehended him. When questioned by police after his arrest, Cory reportedly told them he had been using methamphetamine for two weeks, had not slept in a week and had no memory of choking the victim on the trail. The victim was on the Intraurban Trail on Friday evening when Cory allegedly sneaked up behind her and put his hands around her neck Cory's criminal record includes 11 arrests. When he was granted early release on May 2, he had been serving a sentence for an unlawful possession of a firearm conviction. As of Thursday, he was being held in the Snohomish County jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. Cory was among some 1,000 inmates in Washington state who have been released up to six months early since the outbreak of the coronavirus. Under the conditions of his release, the 33-year-old felon was supposed to be under house arrest and electronic monitoring. But according to officials with the state Department of Corrections, 10 days after regaining his freedom, Cory removed his GPS ankle monitor and they lost track of him. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's office released a statement defending the decision to release some inmates early in order to reducing overcrowding, and so stop the spread of COVID-19 in lockup. Cory was released from prison early on May 2 after serving a sentence for a firearms conviction. He later removed his ankle monitor and escaped from house arrest 'The decision to release individuals from DOC was based on weighing the risk to incarcerated individuals and public safety. These were extremely difficult choices to make, but they were necessary in order to meet our obligations to allow for minimal social distancing in our more crowded living areas in the prisons.,' the statement read. 'In reviewing individuals for potential release, we focused on those individuals who were incarcerated for less serious crimes and focused more on offenses involving property rather than crimes against persons. This group was chosen to reduce the risk to public safety, but no choice could be made to guarantee that there would never be a new crime committed. ' Kolkata, May 21 : Scenes of large uprooted trees, damaged houses and flown off roofs were just the beginning when Super Cyclone Amphan made its appearance less that 24 hours back, as it pummelled through the night over Kolkata and large parts of West Bengal it left behind a trail of deaths as at least 12 people were killed. Scenes from Kolkata airport showed the damage left behind as large airliners stood in a river of water with facilities damaged. This is the most devastating cyclone that struck the city in centuries, some wondered since the 1737 when the Calcutta cyclone killed many, while others said nothing like this have they crossed in the past few decades. Houses were flattened, massive number of trees uprooted as many feared damage to iconic structures in the city as well, and reports still pour in Amitav Ghosh, the renowned author, who along with many others tweeted concern for their old parents stuck alone in the city amid the covid-induced lockdown. Ghosh said: "The terror they have been through is evident in their voices," as he was finally able to touch base with his folks. With landlines severed and no electricity for hours as the people managed through the raging storm, many tweeted photos of destruction to property, waterlogging right inside their kitchen as they paddled through pools of water. A taxi stand in Maniktala was completely submerged. End of Days-kind of scenes were witnessed as wind at 185 kmph blew through the railings of the iconic Howrah Bridge. The severe cyclonic storm on Thursday weakened and lay centered over Bangladesh about 270 north-northeastwards of Kolkata with a wind speed of 27 kmph. The super cyclonic storm Amphan (pronounced as UM-PUN) moved "north-northeastwards with a speed of 27 kmph during the past six hours, further weakened into a cyclonic storm and lay centered at 5.30 a.m. on Thursday over Bangladesh near latitude 24.7AN and Longitude 89.5AE about 270 km north-northeast of Kolkata, 150 km south of Dhubri and 110 km south-southeast of Rangpur (Bangladesh)", the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. "It is very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and weaken further into a deep depression during the next three hours and into a depression during subsequent six hours," the IMD said. It said that the Cyclone is now centred over Bangladesh and it will have no adverse impact over West Bengal and Odisha -- a good sign as it cut a swathe through northern Odisha before bearing down on West Bengal where it claimed 10-12 lives, flattened houses and cast aside trees and electricity poles like matchsticks in six-and-a-half hours of monstrous fury that left Kolkata and most of south Bengal pulverised. While Odisha was spared the worst of Amphan, the Sunderbans region and six south Bengal districts felt the full impact of winds gusting at 155-165 kmph along with torrential rain after the cyclone made landfall near Sagar Island around 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday and entered Kolkata, about a 100 km north, around 5 p.m. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said, "We are not getting proper reports as the connections have been completely cut off due to the storm. But the total losses are likely to amount to thousands of crores. It will take at least 3-4 days to do an initial assessment of the losses. Many bridges and kutcha houses have been completely ravaged." Heavy rains and huge gush of wind storms damaged the roofs of several buildings and uprooted a massive number of trees across Kolkata and its adjoining Howrah district. Among the dead, were a girl in Howrah who died after a wall collapsed on her at Shalimar locality. In North 24 Parganas districts, a 56-year-old woman in Minakhan and another youth in Basirhat were killed by uprooted trees. In Kolkata, a mother and her son died at the Regent Park area in south Kolkata. In the first few hours Amphan already destroyed over 5,000 houses in Minakhan, Haroa, Basirhat Hingalgunj and Hasnabad areas of North 24 Parganas district. Most of the areas in Howrah and North 24 Parganas faced massive power cuts due to heavy rainfall. Roofs of several houses also collapsed as a result of the strong winds during the cyclonic spell. There have been damages inside the state secretariat building Nabanna as well. Two teams of NDRF have already started road clearance work at Shyampur Block in Howrah district, sources said. "We will ask the Centre to look at the extent of damages with a humane face. As per our initial estimates, 10-12 people have died. We feel the loss of lives could even surpass that caused by the Covid-19 pandemic," Banerjee said. Amphan, a Thai name means sky, is the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal since the Odisha super cyclone of 1999. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Another 2.43 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, the Department of Labor said on Thursday. Why it matters: Americans are still filing jobless claims at historically high rates as the coronavirus crisis takes a record toll on the economy. The big picture: The pace of weekly unemployment filings has slowed from the peak, but the number of newly filed claims continues to be devastatingly high. For comparison, the record number of filings before the pandemic was set in 1982, when 695,000 people filed for unemployment. New York state's Labor Department told reporters on Tuesday it has paid out 4.5 years worth of unemployment benefits in just over two months. By the numbers: Continuing claims, which show the number of Americans collecting unemployment after their initial application, jumped by 2.5 million to another record 25 million a sign unemployment is lingering even as states reopen. Of note: This figure reports with a 2-week lag. The backdrop: The federal stimulus bill passed in late March grants an additional $600 in benefits per week to jobless Americans. These more generous benefits are set to stop at the end of July. The bill also created "pandemic unemployment assistance," which extends unemployment benefits to self-employed and gig workers. The main jobless claims figure doesn't count people applying for this program. A separate part of the release shows 2.2 million people across 35 states applied for this program last week. It also excludes jobless Americans whose applications weren't yet processed. Florida is among the states whose unemployment systems are still seeing delays, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. The bottom line: Economists warn job losses meant to be temporary could become permanent. Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Wednesday (May 20) launched a new Artificial Intelligence-powered mobile app called the National Test Abhyas' for mock tests for JEE Main, NEET 2020. NTA has developed the AI-powered app to allow the aspiring candidates to take mock tests for upcoming exams under the purview NTA. "The app has been launched to facilitate candidates access to high quality mock tests in the safety and comfort of their homes since there was a demand for making up the loss to students due to closure of educational institutions and NTAs Test-Practice Centers (TPCs) due to the continuing lockdown," said PIB in a press release. "With this facility for the students, India has taken the lead in restoring a semblance of normalcy in one more crucial area test preparations even as we tackle these unprecedented times that have led to significant changes in life around the world," it added. The free of cost app can be used by students across the country to access high quality tests. The tests are easily downloadable and can be completed off-line too. Speaking at the occasion, the HRD Minister said, This timely launch is designed to ensure that no student is left behind in getting exposure to practice testing, especially when Students loss due to closure of educational institutions is to be compensated and NTAs Test-Practice Centers are shut due to the Covid-19 lockdown. "The app will make available practice tests on smartphones or computers for all students in India irrespective of their level of access to devices and quality of network. The app also has an offline mode where students, on downloading the mock tests, can attempt the test without the internet. The app works on Android-based smartphones and tablets and can be downloaded from Google Play Store. The app will be soon available on iOS," said the PIB press release. After downloading the app, the students will need to sign-up or register with some basic details, create a free account, and then start accessing mock tests free of cost for their selected examination(s). Its evident that one of the apps major benefits is that once student downloads the test, it works perfectly even without internet connectivity, which will prove advantageous for students even in areas with low bandwidth and remove obstacles in the way of large-scale online test preparation. In addition to that NTA has developed extensive support system at http://nta.ac.in/abhyas/help. The NTA has also instituted live support from 10 AM to midnight for the first seven days of the release to ensure that any issues experienced by student are proactively addressed, said the HRD Minister. Rejecting charges by opposition Congress and BJP that it was not doing enough COVID-19 tests, the Telangana government on Thursday said its emphasis has been on accuracy and screening primary contacts of positive cases or those with symptoms. "Is it possible to conduct tests just like that,by collectingswab,though the concerned persons do not have any symptoms like cold... Can swab collection be done without infection, Health Minister E Rajender told reporters here. The guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) state that if a positive case was found in a house, all members of the house need not be tested, he said. Telangana, right from the beginning, we said no to rapid kit tests. Who is proved right? Secondly, we said we will not conduct tests just like that. We said we will not test unless there are symptoms or a person is a primary contact (of an infected person). We did that. Thats why, we find 6.1 to be positive out of 100 tests, he said. BJP and the Congress have slammed the TRS government, accusing it of conducting less number of COVID-19 tests. State BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao has demanded resignation ofRajender for 'endangering' the entire population by "intentionally conducting the lowest" number of tests than any other states in the country. According to data released by the state government on May 17, the cumulative number of samples tested as on May 16 was 23,388. As on Wednesday, the number of positive cases in the state stood at 1,661 with 608 active cases. Replying to a query, Rajender said the ICMR guidelines suggest tests can be conducted on senior citizens and those suffering from other illnesses. Those not not having symptoms should be put in isolation, he said. Tests need not be conducted for all secondary and tertiary contacts, but only if anyone is found with symptoms, he said. Citing an example, he said the first positive case in the state had 89 contacts but only one or two of them were found to be positive. Such a fear had existed then but not now, the Minister said. He referred to media reports that only 6.3 per cent of cases needed treatment at hospitals and ICU facilities. The COVID-19 fatality rate in Telangana was 2.1 per cent while at the national level it was 3.5 and in the U.S it was six per cent, he claimed adding it depended on the virulence of the virus in a particular country. Replying to another query, he said a NITI Aayog report says that testing should be accurate. If tests are not conducted, wont thousands of cases come? Is there a possibility of hundreds dying? Does such a situation exist?, he said. The number of virus-related deaths in the state stood at 40 and most of them were patients with comorbidities such as kidney and heart ailments and senior citizens, he said. The Minister also said at least 30 deaths per day used to be reported at the state-run Gandhi hospital due to accidents, cancer and other disease before it was converted into a full- fledged COVID-19 facility. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) German luxury carmaker Audi expects sales to revive towards the end of this year, around the festive season, while anticipating headwinds in the next few months. The company does not expect any growth until 2021. In an interview with T E Narasimhan, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, said that the company is planning a slew of launches across segments and want to accelerate its used car business. Edited excerpts: What has been the impact of Covid-19? Sales of the overall automobile industry have been impacted. April was a month of zero sales, something none of us have ... C hris Hemsworth has sent a special message to a survivor of the Manchester bombing, who he has invited to attend the next Thor premiere in London. Appearing on The Morning Show on Australias Channel 7, Hemsworth told Martin Hibbert he felt inspired by meeting Hibbert when he was in Australia to receive treatment for his spinal injuries. Hi Martin, hope you're doing well buddy. Just wanted to say the time that we spent together in Australia was truly inspiring, said Hemsworth. To meet someone who had faced such adversity and such dramatic challenges, but to see someone like yourself with such a positive attitude was incredible. In pictures: Chris Hemsworth 1 /16 In pictures: Chris Hemsworth Happy couple Chris Hemsworth and his pregnant wife Elsa Pataky Jason Kempin/Getty Images Oscar news Chris and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announce the nominees at the 86th Academy Awards Nominations event Kevin Winter/Getty Images Behind the scenes Chris is interviewed after his Oscars announcement Kevin Winter/Getty Images Super hero Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Chris as Thor (2011) Fresh-faced Chris as Kim Hyde om Home and Away (2006) Channel 5 Perfect pair Chris and Elsa Pataky at the Rush premiere in Rome Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Rough and ready A less preened look for A Perfect Getaway (2009) Allstar High School hit Chris tries his hand at horror in The Cabin in the Woods (2012) Saving the universe It's Thor to the rescue in Avengers Assemble (2012) Protective Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) with Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Chris as Eric Phwoar Thor! Chris suits his armour so well All action Red Dawn (2012) wit Dean Morgan AP Photo/Film District He continued: To face the road to recovery with such determination and commitment is absolutely inspiring and youre one of a kind, and I can't wait to see you soon as we walk down the red carpet together. Speaking to 7news, Hibbert, who was at the Ariana Grande concert with his daughter Eve, explained he suffered 22 shrapnel wounds, one of which left him unable to walk. The two more serious injuries were a bolt that severed my spinal cord about midway down my back, which means Im paralysed from the bellybutton down, he said. After two trips to Australia for revolutionary treatment, Hibbert has miraculously regained some movement in his legs. During his second trip, which was four months long, Hibbert befriended Hemsworth, who invited him to the premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder in 2021 when he is back on his feet. Youve brought a tear to my eye, Hibbert told The Morning Show presenters Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies. He explained Hemsworths promise in full to 7news, saying his aim is to be walking over the next couple of years. I told [Hemsworth]... that we should maybe meet up when he is over in London, he said. His latest Thor film was due out in 2021, so he said if Im walking in 2021, we would walk down the red carpet at Thor 4 in London. So that is a big motivation for me to have that - its something to really hold onto. Production has temporarily suspended on Thor: Love and Thunder, which is being directed by Taika Waititi. The film will feature Natalie Portman returning to the franchise to play female Thor New Delhi: Rishi Kapoor's daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni has constantly been sharing moments spent with her father on Instagram. On Thursday, she posted a string of throwback pictures, recalling her and actor brother Ranbir Kapoor's childhood days. The never-seen-before pictures will make you smile and emotional at the same time. In one of them, little Ranbir Kapoor is seen sitting cutely in Rishi Kapoor's lap while Riddhima is sandwiched between her parents. In another monochrome picture, Riddhima is cradled in her mothers arms. We also loved a close-up or her and Rishi Kapoor in which the actor appears to be showing her something and little Riddhima seems to be amused. Here are the memories of Rishi Kapoor from Riddhimas album: Riddhima is married to industrialist Bharat Sahni. She lives in Delhi. She couldn't attend her father's final rites due to the lockdown. However, after acquiring the travel passes for herself and her daughter Samara, Riddhima travelled to Mumbai via road. She is currently by her mother Neetu Kapoors side in Mumbai. Rishi Kapoor died on April 30 at the age of 67. He had been battling leukemia for the past two years. His prayer meeting was organised some days ago in Mumbai in the presence of close friends and family. A team of researchers from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and peer institutions has been awarded a $5.75 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the correlation between obesity, inflammation and pancreatic cancer. The scientists hope their findings may help people avoid getting this cancer. "We know that the biological mechanisms of obesity, such as inflammation, can lead to the development of pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Guido Eibl, professor-in-residence in the department of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher. "This study will help us better understand not only how those mechanisms influence the formation of pancreatic tumors but also how we can develop preventions that help people who are at a higher risk for this cancer." The five-year study will be structured into three projects, with participating researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the University of California, San Diego, joining the team at UCLA. Each project's leader is highly experienced in the study of pancreatic cancer. The first project, overseen by Eibl, will examine the inflammation of body fat and how this chronic condition can lead to pancreatic cancer. The second, led by Jonsson Cancer Center researcher Dr. Enrique Rozengurt, who holds the Hirshberg Memorial Chair in Pancreatic Cancer Research at UCLA, will focus on the use of medications, and their mechanisms, in helping to prevent pancreatic cancer from developing in high-risk people. The third project, led by Dr. Stephen Pandol of Cedars-Sinai, will study the pancreatic cancer microenvironment, which includes cancer tissues and surrounding tissues that support the cancer's growth, to understand how the environment is changed as a result of obesity and inflammation. ### The UCLA pancreatic cancer study is funded by the National Cancer Institute's P01 grant. These grants support research programs that include multiple projects and investigators working together toward a common goal. The UCLA research team also includes Dr. David Dawson, Dr. Vay Liang Go, Dr. Oscar Joe Hines and Gang Li. It was a tantalizing story, written by the New York Times freshly poached media columnist and published with an attention-grabbing headline: Is Ronan Farrow Too Good to Be True? In it, the columnist, Ben Smith, suggests something troubling about the New Yorkers Ronan Farrow: What if one of the countrys most seemingly unimpeachable reporters wasnt actually telling the whole truth but, instead, prioritizing storytelling to the point of ignoring necessary facts? Reporters everywherebut at the New York Times especiallycould hardly contain their glee. Nearly everyone, it seemed, had been waiting for someone to take the first swing at one of the most widely praised journalists working today, and it made sense that one of the first attempts should come from Smith. Advertisement Coming to the Times after an eight-year stint as editor in chief of BuzzFeed, Smith has impressed readers as an unflinching critic of the journalism business, unafraid to call out inconsistencies and hypocrisieseven if means going after his own publication (in his debut column, no less). This most recent piece sets out to paint Farrow as occasionally incautious or even negligent, driven by his tendency to prioritize what Smith (and some of his new Times colleagues) like to call resistance journalism. Smith describes this mentality as one where, if reporters swim ably along with the tides of social media and produce damaging reporting about public figures most disliked by the loudest voices, the old rules of fairness and open-mindedness can seem more like impediments than essential journalistic imperatives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But an examination of his Ronan Farrow column reveals a shakiness in his indictment. Had Smith taken a more rigorous approach to presenting his findings, he would have undermined his own argument. So instead, Smith chose to perform broad-mindedness, sacrificing accuracy for some vague, centrist perception of fairness. And in doing so, he opened the door for Matt Lauer to build on Smiths own debatable representations, granting Lauer the legitimacy bestowed by the Times in the process. Some of the flaws in Smiths arguments are apparent even without additional context. In one instance, Smith complains that in Farrows initial report on Harvey Weinstein, Farrow writes that Lucia Evans, one of Weinsteins accusers, told friends some of what had happened, but felt largely unable to talk about it. Later, a friend of Evans who had been with her when she met Weinstein told a New Yorker fact-checker that something inappropriate happened, between Evans and Weinstein, but didnt elaborate. Smith confirmed to me over email that he sees no inconsistencies between those two accounts. Advertisement The supposed issue, instead, is that the witness later told a New York Police Department detective something more problematic: That Ms. Evans had told her the sexual encounter with Mr. Weinstein was consensual. This eventually resulted in the judge dismissing the charge. But as New Yorker website editor Michael Luo noted in a Twitter thread pushing back on several of Smiths claims, that happened after, and apart from, Farrows reporting for the New Yorker. 14/ We disclosed that the friend could not confirm specifics, except that she had witnessed the meeting between Weinstein and Evans. That the friend later said something different to prosecutors does not make our reporting any less diligent. Michael Luo (@michaelluo) May 18, 2020 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Smith wrote to Slate, The point I made is that reporters typically make an effort to be transparent about what they know. Its true that there was room for Farrow to be more specific about the extent of the corroboration he had, though its not clear how doing so could have possibly prevented what happened later in court. Directly after that, Smith recounts a part of Farrows book that describes Matt Lauer assaulting Brooke Nevils, a junior employee, who afterward ran to tell a producer whom shed recently started dating. Smith learned the identity of this anonymous NBC producer, who told Smith (on the condition he not be named) that neither Farrow nor his fact-checker ever called him to corroborate and that he doesnt remember the scene that was portrayed in the book. Still, Farrow told Smith over email that he was confident that the conversation took place as described and it was verified in multiple ways. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can certainly argue that Farrow should have been more transparent about what those verification methods were, or at least could have indicated if he was unable to do so for the sake of protecting his sources. Smith, however, takes issue with something else entirely: Mr. Farrow did not share his methods. But this much is clear: Mr. Farrow and the fact checker never called the producer. And if they had, that element of the story would have been much more complicatedor would never have appeared in print. A lot happens on the journey from one side of that dash to the other. Its true that Farrows account would have been complicated if it had included a source who said he had no recollection of the scene in which he appeared. But without knowing what methods Farrow used to verify Nevils accountits worth noting that, in the book, Farrow writes that Nevils told friends as well as colleagues and superiors at NBC of the assaultits a big leap to suggest the scene would have been knocked out entirely, unless you want to claim that Farrow is lying about the verification. Smith, however, does not seem to want to do that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One point in Smiths story in particular that seemed to receive vigorous, near-universal head-nodding across Twitter was the 500 or so words he dedicated to Farrows recounting of his experience with Hillary Clinton during the course of his Weinstein investigation. Heres how Smith characterized Farrows argument (bolding ours): Mr. Farrows other irresistible conspiracy has even less to support it: that Hillary Clinton, whom Mr. Farrow had once worked for at the State Department, also sought to kill his reporting and protect Mr. Weinstein. In Catch and Kill, Mr. Farrow described receiving an ominous call from Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, in the summer of 2017 saying his Weinstein reporting was a concern. Its remarkable, Mr. Farrow told The Financial Times about Mrs. Clinton during his book tour, how quickly even people with a long relationship with you will turn if you threaten the centers of power or the sources of funding around them. Advertisement Smith then goes on to say that Farrow had misinterpreted the call and that Smith had spoken to Merrill, who explained that in fact he was merely trying to figure out whether he should have Clinton pull out of her planned documentary with Weinstein. Smith then says that while Merrill was unable to corroborate that version of things, another reporter [Merrill] spoke to at the time about Mr. Weinstein shared with me text messages that back Mr. Merrills account, and contradict Mr. Farrows. Advertisement Advertisement Its an awful lot of effort to go through to disprove something that, as far as I can tell, Farrow has never once claimed. Here, again, is Smiths description of Farrows claim about Clinton: Advertisement Mr. Farrows other irresistible conspiracy has even less to support it: that Hillary Clinton, whom Mr. Farrow had once worked for at the State Department, also sought to kill his reporting and protect Mr. Weinstein. Advertisement Advertisement It leaves very little room for interpretation. Any reasonable person reading these words would walk away believing that, at some point, Farrow made the argument that Hillary Clinton had actively attempted to shut down his reporting on behalf of Harvey Weinstein. Until Monday, I hadnt read Catch and Kill, and I was curious to see exactly what words Farrow had used in his accusation of Clinton. After repeated scouring of both Farrows book and every interview on the subject I could find (surely I must have missed something, I kept telling myself), it was clear that Farrow had never made any such claim. Advertisement He begins the relevant portion of the book by discussing his plans to interview every living secretary of state for a separate project, and how an interview with Clinton had finally been set after some back-and-forth. He then goes on to describe the call: Advertisement The afternoon of the meeting with Harris, as I pushed through the downpour and into my buildings front door, a call came in from Nick Merrill, Clintons flack. We discussed the book briefly, and then he said, By the way, we know about the big story youre on. I sat down on one of the chairs in my buildings lobby. Well, Nick, Im probably working on a lot of stories at any given time. You know what I mean, he said. I really cant say anything. Well, you know, its a concern for us. I felt a rivulet of rain run down my neck. Can I ask who said this to you? I said. Maybe off the record, over drinks, he replied. Lets just say people are talking. When I turned the conversation back to the interview with Clinton, he said that she was really busy with the book tour. I pointed out that this was why wed scheduled the interview for before the book tour. Like I said, he reiterated, as if he hadnt heard this, really busy. Over the ensuing weeks, every attempt to lock a date for the interview yielded another terse note that shed become suddenly unavailable. Shed injured her foot. She was too tired. Clinton, meanwhile, was becoming one of the most easily available interviews in all of politics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its here that, were Farrow alleging a Weinstein-Clinton conspiracy, he might lay out exactly how he believed these powers to be working together against himhow Clintons apparent reluctance to cooperate with the secretaries of state project he was reporting demonstrated that she was also trying to kill his Weinstein reporting. Instead, and as Farrow himself pointed out on Twitter, he offers Merrills version of events, something Smith makes no mention of. Later, Merrill would swear up and down that Clintons sudden reticence was coincidental, Farrow writes. What Smith does use, however, is a single word from the sentence that followed. Stripped of context, Smiths column makes it sound as though Farrow simply told of an ominous call as a way of setting the scene, an attempt to make Clintons lackey sound as nefarious as possible. But Farrows full context presents something that feels altogether different: Advertisement Later, Merrill would swear up and down that Clintons sudden reticence was coincidental. Whatever the motivation, it felt ominousanother screw turning, another sign of my life outside the story shrinking. It was hard not to sense a pattern forming: each time we came back to our bosses with more reporting, word of the story seemed to spread farther. Advertisement Again, nowhere is there any assertion that Clinton was working with Weinstein or trying to prevent Farrow from continued reporting. It does imply that powerful people dont like to be inconvenienced and theyll resent you for it, but that was never really in question. The closest Farrow gets to making this explicit was during an interview with the Financial Times, which Smith partially quotes (that portion in bold): Advertisement In 2011, when Clinton was secretary of state, she appointed Farrow as her special adviser for global youth issues; the pair worked together for years, he says. But when word got around that Farrow was looking into the Weinstein story, he felt that his relationship with the politiciana beneficiary of donations from the producerstarted to cool. Was that a painful revelation? Its remarkable how quickly even people with a long relationship with you will turn if you threaten the centers of power or the sources of funding around them, says Farrow evenly. Ultimately, there are a lot of people out there who operate in that way. Theyre beholden to powerful interests and if you go up against those interests, you become radioactive very quickly. Advertisement Advertisement In context, its clear Farrow is talking about their suddenly strained relationship. How Smith got an irresistible conspiracy by Clinton to kill his reporting and protect Mr. Weinstein from what you see above is unclear. The only other major outlet I could find that seems to have reached a similarly incorrect conclusion was National Review, which ran the erroneous headline Ronan Farrow: Clinton Associates Attempts to Kill Weinstein Story Show How Power Protects Power over an otherwise correct piece. Advertisement Advertisement I asked Smith where he had seen Farrow making this claim, as I assumed there must be some interview where Farrow at least got closer to saying what Smith has accused him of saying. Instead, Smith wrote back: Id refer you to the FT quote I used. He described Clintons pressure on him as an example of power protects power in the same context. Thats also the clear implication of the passage in the book in which he describes Merrills call as ominous. Advertisement But in the interview where Farrow talks about how power protects power, he also says, There have been a lot of politicized headlines saying, you know, Hillary Clinton squashed the Weinstein story, and thats not really what the book asserts. As for the power protects power, quote, the full context does not seem to support Smiths conclusion: It is an example of how power protects power. And Harvey Weinstein was one of Hillary Clintons big Hollywood bundlers, he brought in a lot of money for her, they were friends. And it was a personal moment of gut punch to me, like so many of these plot twists in this book, where people that I thought would support that kind of reporting actually were very leery of it. Advertisement Advertisement It seems fairly clear here that Farrow is talking about how Clintons close relationship with Weinstein caused her to see his reporting as a threat to her, personally, and that he was troubled that she, like many powerful individuals, seemed more concerned with her own reputation than with finding justice for Weinsteins victims. That is a far, far cry from implying that she was somehow involved in a conspiracy to kill his story with Weinstein himself. But then, thats what happens when a new columnist wants to tell his stories as dramatically as he can. Farrow, for his part, told me, Bens conclusions here just arent supported by what I have actually written or said. Advertisement Advertisement This Clinton episode, as many have already pointed out, would also seem to go against Smiths depiction of supposed resistance journalism. If readers are eager to read stories that denounce Donald Trump, how would a story that made Hillary Clinton look bad serve to pander to them? In an effort to figure out exactly what he understood the term to mean, I asked him about a similar episode that occurred during his time at BuzzFeed. In January of 2019, BuzzFeed ran a report titled President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress About the Moscow Tower Project. In it, reporters Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier claimed that Michael Cohen had told the special counsels office that the president personally instructed him to lie to Congress, citing two federal law enforcement officials as their source. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cohens testimony, they wrote, marks a significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia. Twenty-four hours afters the post went up, the special counsels office issued a rare denial, saying that BuzzFeeds description and characterization are not accurate, the first public statement regarding potential evidence since the offices creation in May of 2017. In a defense of BuzzFeeds initial story after the release of the Mueller reportwhich stated that investigators were unable to establish that Trump had told Cohen to lieSmith revealed precisely what their characterization had been based on: Our story was based on detailed information from senior law enforcement sources. That reporting included documentsspecifically, pages of notes that were taken during an interview of Cohen by the FBI. In those notes, one law enforcement source wrote that DJT personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT. Joint lawyer team reviewed letter Cohen sent to SSCI about his testimony about Trump Tower moscow, et al, knowing it contained lies. The law enforcement source also wrote: Cohen told OSC the Office of Special Counsel he was asked to lie by DJT/DJT Jr., lawyers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While this makes very clear why Cohen believed he was being directed to lie, theres nothing there that precisely counts as Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia to Congress. It is, however, damaging reporting about public figures most disliked by the loudest voices that made for a very compelling story. Surely this was the sort of resistance journalism Smith was referring to, right? No, Smith told me over email, and Im glad you asked because I think there is a relevant element there. The story was accurate, specific reporting thats been borne out by subsequent disclosures. The part of this that tied into what I see as the resistance thread was the way in which the rest of the media reflexively embraced Robert Muellers spokesmans vague claims about the story without any evidence, at a moment when Mueller was the icon of the resistance. Advertisement In other words, Smith argued that that the resistance mentality had motivated people to uncritically believe the government, even when the government was knocking down a story damaging to Donald Trump. Its hard to imagine how Farrow or anyone could bend their reporting to fit a doctrine if the doctrine were that much of a moving target. I then asked if he believed that Muellers status as a resistance hero really held more sway than Trumps status as a resistance enemy. Smith responded: I guess Im not confident about that weighting of those things. To put it differently, I was surprised that reporters at mainstream outlets took a prosecutor at his word in the context of a vague denial that, without the resistance narrative that elevated Mueller, reporters wouldnt take on its face. If Smith is surprised that mainstream reporters would reflexively defer to the judgment of prosecutors, I have some bad news for him about the New York Times. For more of Slates news coverage, listen to What Next. For Devendra, moving from Nepal to New Zealand was a big life decision. He arrived in February and had just started studying at Toi Ohomai when the lockdown was announced. While he was fortunate enough to find some other Nepalese students to share a flat with, with no job secured, this new challenge put him in a critical position. Struggling to pay for his accommodation and food, he reached out to the Nepalese Association in BOP - a non-profit group representing the Nepali community in the Bay of Plenty Area. The primary objectives of the organisation are to promote mutual support and cooperation between individuals of Nepalese descent on matters of common concern and promote Nepalese social and cultural heritage in New Zealand. Through the alert levels, they have been delivering grocery packs filled with food like rice, curry grains, vegetables and canned goods to Nepali newcomers and students. For those who may not have an employer to assist with any wage subsidy, or may be struggling to secure accommodation, the support has been a lifeline. With continued hard work, and the help of Nepalese Association in BOP, Devendra has found work kiwi fruit picking and is continuing his education online. Now able to support himself, he has volunteered to help support others delivering grocery packs to other needy individuals. He says he is hugely grateful for the support the Nepalese Association in BOP provided, helping him get through a situation he would not have survived on his own. I am so thankful for the Nepalese Association in BOP helping me, providing me groceries two times so that I could survive. I faced a problem that many other students and individuals faced in lockdown - these helping hands make such a significant difference in our community, their work is crucial. Nepalese Association in BOP General Secretary Anish Paudel says while the lockdown affected every person in New Zealand, those who had just arrived before lockdown started have been struggling immensely. The Nepalese are really hardworking and friendly individuals. Many moved here to study as international students, and others have been contributing to our community through their trade, whether that be medical, accounting or managerial positions. The majority of people we have helped are involved in the horticulture and hospitality industries, and particularly for those in hospitality who have lost work, it has been difficult. Some are still hunting for a job and decent accommodation. The group have delivered 195 grocery packs so far and have gone above and beyond to support those in need. Our Vice-President volunteered to go all the way to Rotorua and Te Puke to deliver the food parcels to peoples doorsteps. They were so happy. No one should go to sleep with an empty stomach, so we are pleased we have been able to help ensure that doesnt happen. We also started a helpline right after the lockdown. We provided the numbers of all our executive team and asked anyone in need to get in touch with us if they had any problem or concern with COVID-19. This way, we can redirect them to the correct government department and advise them how they can seek help. Nepalese Association in BOP President Pawan Poudel and Vice President Tak Gurung are in regular touch with affected students and have even helped some find jobs in the Horticulture sector. While the group usually works closely with the community to organise different cultural programs, sports, and other awareness-raising programs, they did not have the funds necessary to provide such a large, and ever-increasing, demand for grocery packs. Local funders TECT, Acorn Foundation, BayTrust and Tauranga City Council provided the group with $3,000 in funding through the Rapid Response Fund; enough to produce 60 grocery packs for those in need in the Western Bay of Plenty. TECT General Manager Wayne Werder says newcomers to the region have faced numerous challenges since the lockdown. It has been a difficult time for so many in New Zealand. But for those who had just moved here from overseas to start a life, to join our community and contribute to our region, the challenge of having no wage subsidy and no usual support systems like family nearby; it would be incredibly overwhelming. Its fantastic to see a community group like the Nepalese Association in BOP working together to help their people, to be that support system, and offer their hand as a second family for those who have made the Western Bay of Plenty their new home. To learn more about the Nepalese Association in BOP, visit https://nabopnz.org. THE residents association serving those in a retirement village in Castletroy have moved to clarify their role in a dispute with the management company. They say their aim is to start a dialogue with management so we can live alongside each other in peace and harmony. And the group has stated all decisions are taken collectively by committee and not by individuals. As revealed by the Limerick Leader, residents of the Castletroy Park Retirement Village set up a committee in response to letters last November informing them of a rent hike, as well as a loss in the amenities available to them. They have since secured a judgement from the Residential Tenancies Board which will halt their rent increases for the time being. In a statement, the committee said: Our aim, as a committee who represent the residents, is to try to get a dialogue going with the management so that we can all live alongside each other in peace and harmony. Recently the residents of the Park Village became very worried and unsettled by the withdrawing of facilities, by the management, which were included in their tenancy agreements. This was done without any consultation or agreement with the residents. In their concern they decided to set up a Residents Association to approach the Management and seek clarification on the changes, they added in a statement. The committee claimed all approaches by telephone and letter were ignored by the management company of the Park retirement village, including a letter signed by 77 occupants. We called a third meeting of the residents and there were people there who had not been at previous meetings. Dr Kevin Ryan was one of them. He participated in discussions and when some time later our then secretary had to step down from her post, due to ill health, we the committee, approached Dr. Ryan and he kindly offered to help out in that position. All decisions taken following discussion are made by the committee together, the group has stated. The group pointed out that Dr Ryan, as secretary to the Park Retirement Village residents association, writes letters and makes statements to the media on behalf of all the residents living in the complex. This includes recent statements from the committee as reported by the Limerick Leader, in particular the story on April 17, which carried a headline of Fresh twist in dispute at retirement village. The statements and quotations given were those of the residents association and not the personal views of Dr Ryan. Those people living in the Castletroy Park Retirement Village complex are mainly aged over 55 years. The committee says theyve retired to live out their lives in peace and harmony in comfortable surroundings. The United States has deported Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Ibrahim Zubair to India who had pleaded guilty to concealment of financing of terrorism. Zubair, who is from Hyderabad, has been brought back to India on a special flight, and security agencies will question the Al Qaeda operative after the mandatory quarantine period ends. Zubair, 40, is an Indian citizen who studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. He moved to Ohio in 2006 and married a US citizen, becoming a lawful permanent resident of the United States in or around 2007. The Al Qaeda operative helped in concealing the provision of thousands of dollars to Anwar Al-Awlaki, a key leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in an effort to support violent jihad. Al-Awlaki is known for advocating violence against the United States and was involved in attempted terrorist attacks against civilians, according to US court documents. Al-Awlaki was later designated a terrorist and killed by a US drone in 2011. The indictment order, states that he, 'Provided material support & resources to Awlaki to wit, currency and monetary instruments, tangible property, services and expert advice and assistance, knowing an intending that they were to be used in preparation for and in carrying out 'violent Jihad' against United States and United States military in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world' Read: 2 BSF Personnel Martyred In Terrorist Attack In Srinagar; Read BSF Statement Here Facilitated transfer of money Farooq Mohammad, one of the Al Qaeda terrorists, had travelled with two other people to Yemen in 2009 to meet Awlaki but were unsuccessful. He travelled to Sanaa to meet one of his associates where they gave him approximately $22,000 to be given to Awlaki. Zubair facilitated the transfer of the money to Farooq Mohammad overseas for him to take to Awlaki in Yemen. According to the US Department of Justice, Zubair attempted to conceal the source of the funds provided to Awlaki by lying to investigators and deleting emails from their accounts that were related to the transactions. Read: Srinagar: 2 Hizbul Terrorists, Including Divisional Commander, Eliminated Read: Over 300 Terrorists In Launch Pads Across LoC, 240 Active In Hinterland: DGP OTTAWAAs Canada slowly emerges from COVID-19 lockdowns, its chief public health officer told the country on Wednesday to temper expectations and continue to take precautions to prevent a resurgence of the illness. Dr. Theresa Tams caution which included an updated recommendation for Canadians to wear non-medical masks in public came as Alberta announced more intense screening for international travellers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also struck a tougher tone, saying stricter border controls would likely be needed to prevent long-term economic damage. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Trudeau emphasized the need to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus in Canada. The heightened vigilance, Tam said, is necessary to buy time so that a vaccine and other therapies could be found to better curtail the spread of the virus over the coming months. I know this may not be the grand reopening we might have liked, but we wont get through this on hope alone, Tam said. Tam also said the differing paces provinces are taking towards reopening are to be expected. Ontario and Quebec still account for the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases and the Maritimes in particular, have emerged as an oasis of good pandemic health. Across Canada as of Wednesday, there were 80,081 cases of COVID-19, including 6,027 deaths, with 40,686 cases resolved. Whatever pathway down this curve, there is no one size fits all, said Tam. Theres a balance between the need to reduce the spread of disease compared to all the other needs from a health, social and economic perspective. Albertas Kenney acknowledged that balance as he announced that starting immediately, foreign travellers arriving at airports in Edmonton and Calgary would have their temperatures checked using an infrared camera. New arrivals will also be asked to provide detailed plans on how they plan to self-isolate for 14 days, he said. Thats in keeping with federal requirements imposed weeks ago. In two weeks, a similar screening process will be set up at the Coutts border crossing on the Alberta-Montana border. Canada and the U.S. have extended their border closure to non-essential travel to June 21 but truckers with goods are allowed through, as are certain workers and Canadians returning home. Countries that most successfully avoided severe outbreaks, like South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, closed their borders from COVID-19 hot spots weeks before Canada did, said Kenney. Given that airports and border crossings remain a high-risk vector for transmission, and at the same time a crucial part of the infrastructure we need to get our economy moving, we need to do more especially as we move toward relaunch. Kenney said that while the Trudeau government has taken laudable action on shutting down the border it was needlessly late to the task. Trudeau said the federal government, in talks with the provinces, is considering tougher surveillance measures for new international travellers in the coming months, especially if Canadas border restrictions are eased and more travellers are allowed into the country. A key part of reopening and keeping our economy going and controlling future spreads of COVID-19 will involve being very, very careful that were not importing new cases, even as our economies open up, even as border restrictions are potentially loosened down the road, the prime minister said. We need to make sure we have the measures in place to be able to ensure new cases arent arriving and spreading through the general population. Trudeau also leaned on reluctant commercial landlords, urging them to apply for rent-relief programs in higher numbers and dangling a post-pandemic scenario of empty offices if they dont start playing nice with struggling tenants trying to keep their businesses afloat. With many people discovering that we can work from home to a much greater degree there may a lot of vacancies in commercial buildings over the coming months and years. Who knows what the post-pandemic world will look like, exactly? Trudeau mused. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, for one, has pleaded with vicious landlords to be flexible with business tenants during the pandemic. On Wednesday, Ford railed against low COVID-19 testing numbers and warned he would bring back old restrictions if new cases continue to rise one day after Ontario started the first stage of its reopening plan that includes retail stores allowing restricted access to customers. Fewer than 10,000 tests had been completed in each of the last three days, which represented half or even a third of last weeks testing rate. Thats partly due to the provinces finishing a push to test everyone in long-term care settings. But the number of news cases remained steady in Ontario. Were watching the trends like a hawk right now, Ford said. We wont hesitate to roll things back if necessary. In Quebec, Deputy Premier and Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault said limited outdoor gatherings will be permitted as of Friday, while dentist offices across the province and hair salons outside the Montreal and Joliette regions can reopen on June 1. Quebec, Canadas worst-afflicted province, continues to record a downward trend of new COVID-19 cases. Manitoba announced no new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, after registering one in the last eight days. As of Friday, the province will allow larger gatherings of people 25 for indoor events and 50 outside, up from the current limit of 10. New Brunswick, meanwhile, took a victory lap as the province marked two weeks without any new COVID-19 cases. The provinces chief health officer said all 120 people with confirmed cases in the province have recovered, with no deaths. And that, declared Dr. Jennifer Russell, has made New Brunswick the envy of Canada and much of the world. Read more about: New Delhi: Doctors and scientists from across the world are striving hard to find medicine for coronavirus. Currently, over 100 research groups are busy in researches against this deadly virus. Some vaccine companies have also achieved initial lead but they will take at least two years to achieve the final success. Even if scientists are able to make a vaccine for coronavirus in the next few months, it will take a lot of time to reach 750 crore people of the world. In such a situation, doctors around the world are trying a few already available medicines on COVID-19 patients and some of these drugs have shown results. In Bangladesh, a team of medical doctors reportedly had astounding success in treating patients suffering from COVID-19 with two commonly used drugs, Doxycycline and Ivermectin. Dr Tarek Alam from the Bangladesh Medical College Hospital, and one of the senior members of the team, reportedly stated that a combination of the two drugs were administered to 60 patients, all of whom experienced full recoveries within four days. The patients were stated to have been suffering from respiratory problems, as well as other symptoms of SARS-CoV-2. Dr Alam along with the team is stated to be preparing a scientific paper discussing the effectiveness of the treatment to be published for peer-review. Dr Alam has reportedly stated that antiprotozoal medicine called Ivermectin in a single dose with Doxycycline, an antibiotic, yielded the near-miraculous result in curing COVID-19 patients. He further stated that his team was prescribing the two medicines only for coronavirus patients, most of them initially reporting with respiratory problems with related complaints, later to be tested COVID-19 positive. Ivermectin sticks to the parasite present in the body and the parasite is not able to excrete its larvae in the body, and thus is killed by this drug. Even in India, the drug is being used in some states on coronavirus patients and doctors are hopeful that this easily available medicine would prove an effective weapon in the fight against coronavirus. This is too early to come to a conclusion, but to get answers on why the world is looking at this medicine with great hope, Zee Media spoke to medical experts. Dr Aarti Lal Chandani, Principal of Kanpur Medical College, told Zee Media "Ivermectin is a drug that is part of the World Health Organization's deworming programme, and is considered safe in the WHO's Safety List. It is also used as a de-worming tablet and is used to treat coronavirus patients. Many Indian hospitals in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur and Delhi are also trying this medicine on COVID-19 patients." According to Health expert Dr Kaushal Kant Mishra, studies conducted at Monash University Australia and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Lab found that Ivermectin eradicated the coronavirus within 48 hours. The study also found that the use of the drug also weakened the RNA of coronavirus by almost 93 per cent. Although the drug was not tried on humans in the study, the same was done by doctors of a private hospital in Bangladesh. Doctors of a private hospital in Bangladesh gave Ivermectin as well as an antibiotic drug Doxycycline to 60 coronavirus patients and after 72 hours, they found that all the patients were COVID-19 negative, said Dr KK Mishra. Ivermectin is considered an antimicrobial drug to increase immunity. If it proves effective in the treatment of coronavirus, it would certainly become a miracle drug, but for that a major trial is needed. Above all, the drug has shown a ray of hope to the global medical fraternity in the fight against the deadly virus. Tensions between the U.S. and China will likely get worse ahead of the American presidential election this November, experts told CNBC on Thursday. The world's two largest economies have been embroiled in a long-drawn trade war and are now in a tussle over issues surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed Beijing for a lack of transparency over the true extent of the Covid-19 outbreak in China, where cases were first reported. In response, Beijing suggested that the U.S. might be the real source of the global pandemic. With Trump campaigning for a second term in office, "the end game for the Trump administration is crystal clear and that is winning the election," said Yale University senior fellow, Stephen Roach. "This is not about improving economic security for Americans, American companies, no matter what they say. This is a politically motivated trade conflict," said Roach, who is a former chairman at Morgan Stanley Asia. Roach added he "wouldn't rule anything out" in terms of actions that the Trump administration may take, be they new tariffs on Chinese imports into the U.S. or defaulting on debt to China, as some have suggested. The Trump administration has been ratcheting up the rhetoric on China recently as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, Trump blasted China over the origin of the coronavirus in a tweet, saying that it was the "incompetence of China" that caused "this mass Worldwide killing." @realDonaldTrump: Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the "incompetence of China", and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing! Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said the $2 billion that Beijing has pledged to fight the pandemic was "paltry" compared to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and trillions of dollars of damage that the coronavirus caused. Pompeo also rejected Chinese President Xi Jinping's claim that Beijing had been transparent about the outbreak in China. "President Xi claimed this week that China is acting with openness, transparency responsibility. I wish it were so," Pompeo said during a State Department news conference, adding that Beijing continued to withhold virus samples and access to facilities. The Chinese government is also censoring discussion on the outbreak, he said. Roger Anderson and son Trey, 11, enjoy breakfast at Busy Bee Cafe on Main Street in downtown Ventura Thursday morning. "This is one of our favorite paces to eat so we made a point to swing in." Said Anderson (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) More than two-thirds of Southern California counties have received approval to more quickly reopen their economies as the state continues to loosen coronavirus-related restrictions. Those that have received the green light to move deeper into Phase 2 clearing them to reopen restaurant dining rooms and more retail businesses for in-store shopping, with modifications include San Diego, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, according to the state. Local officials cheered the development, which will allow them to more broadly restart segments of their economies that have been shuttered under California's stay-at-home order. Ventura County Executive Officer Mike Powers said he was "so happy for our county, businesses and employees," adding that there's still "a long way to go, but this is a major milestone." COVID-19 has had devastating impacts on both community health and our economy," he said. "We want businesses to be able to reopen, and we believe they can and will do so safely. Eddy Guevara power washes the sidewalk of Cafe Fiore on South California Street near Main Street in downtown Ventura Thursday morning in preparation for reopening as Ventura County has become the largest county in Southern California to resume dine-in service. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) This doesn't mean it's back to business as usual in those counties, however. Officials cautioned that residents should still follow measures meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus such as physical distancing and wearing face coverings and that stores need to abide by the guidelines for reopening. The county is enormously grateful for the publics effort to date," San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said. Dr. Penny Borenstein, San Luis Obispo County's health officer, said that before retail businesses can open their doors or restaurants can start offering dine-in service, they must perform a risk assessment, train their workers to counteract the spread of the virus and perform temperature checks on employees and, in some cases, patrons. The county will inspect businesses that reopen to be sure theyre in compliance, she said. She also asked tourists to stay out of San Luis Obispo County. While officials have performed spot checks with local hotels to deter tourism, Borenstein said the county would cite visitors only in the case of egregious violations. Story continues All told, 40 of California's 58 counties had received state approval to more quickly reopen certain businesses as of Thursday morning. Here's the full list: Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo and Yuba. The list of counties that have been cleared to more fully enter Phase 2 does not include Los Angeles which continues to be the epicenter of California's coronavirus activity. Officials there have set a goal to more fully reopen by July 4. Nor does the list, at this point, include Orange County where officials said earlier this week they planned to petition for permission to reopen quicker even if they didn't meet the exact letter of all the new rules. Gov. Gavin Newsom foreshadowed the avalanche of attestations when he unveiled the state's new reopening criteria earlier this week. On Monday, he said the revised rules would allow 53 California counties to move further into the second of four stages toward reopening if they so chose. Under the state's earlier criteria, the ability to reopen quicker was effectively restricted to more rural, less-populated counties that have not seen the same level of coronavirus activity as their urban counterparts. A Times data analysis earlier this month found that 95% of Californians lived in counties that didn't meet those previous standards. The new rules, however, made it easier for urban counties to qualify. For instance, under the revised metrics counties are no longer kept from loosening the shutdown rules if there have been COVID-19 deaths in the previous two weeks. Counties also will be able to move toward a more expansive reopening if they can show fewer than 25 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents in the last 14 days, or show that fewer than 8% of residents tested for the virus over a seven-day period were positive. Despite the relaxed criteria, some counties have still opted to reopen faster and more broadly in defiance of the state's orders. Times staff writer Matthew Ormseth contributed to this report. Xi says China opposes disruption of int'l anti-epidemic cooperation PLA Daily Source: Xinhuanet Editor: Chen Zhuo 2020-05-21 01:15:55 BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China opposes acts that disrupt international cooperation against the COVID-19 pandemic and undermine the world's and especially developing countries' anti-epidemic efforts. In a telephone conversation with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Xi added that China is willing to continue to work with the international community, including Bangladesh, to support the World Health Organization in playing a leading role, promote international cooperation on joint prevention and control, and safeguard global public health security. Xi said that at the critical moment in China's fight against the coronavirus disease, various sections of Bangladeshi society extended support to China in different ways, which has demonstrated the profound friendship the Bangladeshi people share with the Chinese people. As the epidemic is currently spreading in South Asia, the task of prevention and control remains arduous, said Xi, adding that China will continue to provide firm support and as much assistance as its capacity allows for Bangladesh's anti-epidemic efforts in line with the latter's needs, and will also send a medical team to Bangladesh in the near future. He said he is confident that under Hasina's leadership, the Bangladeshi people will prevail over the epidemic at an early date. Expressing gratitude for the Bangladeshi government's help for Chinese nationals in the country, he said China will also continue to ensure the safety and health of Bangladeshi citizens in China. China and Bangladesh are neighbors with traditional friendship and also important development partners, Xi said, suggesting that the two countries strengthen their strategic cooperative partnership and deepen cooperation in the joint construction of the Belt and Road. He added that China stands ready to work with Bangladesh, on the basis of putting in place proper epidemic prevention and control measures, to gradually create favorable conditions for the two sides to resume the implementation of key cooperation projects and maintain the stability of industrial and supply chains, and lay a sound foundation for them to expand cooperation in various fields after the pandemic. For her part, Hasina said that Bangladesh and China have a long-standing and profound friendship and Xi's successful state visit to Bangladesh in 2016 elevated bilateral relations to a new height. When Bangladesh was experiencing a difficult time in its fight against the epidemic, China provided valuable support and assistance which has strengthened Bangladesh's capability for the epidemic prevention and control, and shored up Bangladesh's confidence in overcoming difficulties, for which Bangladesh is deeply grateful, Hasina said. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge which should be jointly addressed by all countries, she said. The Bangladeshi prime minister thanked China for taking care of Bangladeshi nationals in China, especially Bangladeshi students in Wuhan, adding that her country will provide a good guarantee for the life of Chinese nationals in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is ready to jointly build the Belt and Road with China and promote the continuous development of the strategic cooperative partnership between Bangladesh and China, she added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Amid the rising coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Delhi, the state-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital has asked its doctors and health staff working in COVID-19 wards to vacate the accommodations provided to them in hotels across Delhi by 12 noon on May 21. The hospital authorities had issued the order under the directions issued by Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare on May 18. The order by the LNJP Hospital dated May 20, stated that regular quarantine of health care workers after performing duty in COVID-19 areas is not warranted and staff on quarantine must vacate the accommodation provided in hotels and dharamshalas across the national capital. The letter further stated that all categories of staff on quarantine are directed to vacate the hospital-provided accommodations in hotels/dharamshala latest by 12 noon 21st of May, 2020". In the order, LNJB Medical Director Dr Suresh Kumar has said that if anyone stays in the hotel beyong the deadline then the person will have to bear the cost in their own and hospital will not be liale to make any payment. Meanwhile, the doctors of the hospital have written a letter to Union Home Ministry Dr Harsh Vardhan expressing objection against the order. The King Georges Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow has decided to study the efficacy of BCG vaccine in Covid-19 prevention by conducting vaccine trials on 170 people belonging to the high risk group. We are selecting people in the high risk groups (HRGs) to be administered BCG vaccine. This will include healthcare workers attending to Covid-19 patients and immediate family of coronavirus patients, said Dr D Himanshu, senior faculty of the medicine department at KGMU. KGMU is the only centre in the state to have undertaken such a study. The stock of vaccine vials have arrived and the selection of people to participate in the trials has begun. The trial, being done in association with the Serum Institute in Pune, is premised on a belief that several Indians could have been shielded by coronavirus because of BCG vaccine taken during the childhood, unlike countries such as America where the vaccine is optional. Immunity conferred through BCG vaccine may be used against Covid-19, Dr Himanshu reasoned. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is known to provide a broad spectrum of immunity against TB and other diseases. Himanshu said two sets of people belonging to the high-risk groups have been identified for the trials. First are the healthcare workers and second are the immediate family members of Covid-19 positive cases. For Coronavirus Live Updates We have started identifying such healthcare workers and once the list is finalized, we hope to administer them the vaccine by the start of the next week, said Himanshu. He added that family members of the positive cases will be administered the vaccine after consent. Each member in both the groups will first be checked to see whether they are already infected with the virus. If so, then they shall not be included in the study as it is being done to check the preventive capacity of the BCG vaccine, Himanshu said. The HT Guide to Coronavirus COVID-19 The entire trial is likely to get complete in 3 months time. In India, several medical centres are conducting similar trials. The results of all the centres will be evaluated individually and then collectively to ascertain whether this will work or not. The final call will be taken only when all the centres submit reports, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON This broad industry is crucial to providing the economy with the energy it needs. It's also an important one for investors to understand. The energy sector is vital to the global economy by producing and supplying the fuels and electricity it needs to keep humming along. The energy industry includes companies involved in the following activities: Hundreds of public companies focus on the production and distribution of energy. However, a few leaders stand out because of their size and financial strength. Here are three of the best energy stocks to consider buying: Heres a closer look at some of the best energy stocks in the industry. ConocoPhillips ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) is a diversified oil and natural gas producer. It has operations around the world and uses several methods to produce oil and natural gas. ConocoPhillips stands out for its low operating costs. It has an average cost of supply of less than $30 a barrel. The company made two acquisitions in 2021 -- Concho Resources and Shells (NYSE:RDS-A) Permian Basin assets -- to increase its scale and help to further reduce costs. ConocoPhillips complements its low cost of supply with a strong balance sheet. It has an investment-grade bond rating backed by a low leverage ratio. That provides it with plenty of cushion to weather periods of low oil and gas prices, which happen quite frequently in the industry. ConocoPhillips low operating costs position it to generate significant cash flow in the coming years. The oil and natural gas company estimates it can produce a cumulative $80 billion in free cash flow by 2031. That assumes oil prices average $50 per barrel. The company anticipates returning nearly all of that money to investors in the coming years via dividends and share repurchases. NextEra Energy NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) is one of the country's largest electric utility companies. It's also the global leader in producing power from the wind and sun through its energy resources segment. That business sells clean energy to other utilities and end users around the country. Both businesses generate relatively stable cash flow. It sells and distributes power backed by government-regulated rates and fixed-price contracts with customers. This business model is very resilient because businesses and households need a steady supply of power. The company has one of the best financial profiles in the electric utility sector, and it has one of the highest credit ratings in its peer group. NextEra also has a conservative dividend payout ratio for a utility, which adds to its strong financial profile. Those factors enable NextEra to pay a stable and growing dividend, making it an excellent renewable energy dividend stock. TC Energy TC Energy (NYSE:TRP) is one of the largest natural gas pipeline operators in North America. It has natural gas pipelines in the U.S., Mexico, and its home country of Canada. In addition, the company owns a premier liquids pipeline system, making it one of Canada's leading oil exporters. Its also one of the countrys largest power producers with a focus on nuclear energy and renewables. These energy infrastructure assets generate relatively stable cash flows. The company leases its capacity under fee-based contracts and regulated rates. This low-risk business model has proven to be highly durable as TC Energy generates steady cash flow in all market environments. Meanwhile, the company has a conservative dividend payout ratio. It also has one of the top credit ratings in the pipeline sector. Those factors give it the financial flexibility to continue expanding its pipeline network and its dividend. They also make TC Energy one of the lower-risk companies in the energy sector. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov discussed measures to counter COVID-19 separately with Foreign Minister of Canada Francois-Philippe Champagne and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and international cooperation of the Italy Manlio Di Stefano, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenistans State News Agency. During the conversation with the Canadian side, views on the prospects of Turkmen-Canadian cooperation in the political and diplomatic sphere were exchanged. The consequences of coronavirus on the economic situation in the world were touched upon. The sides also discussed coordination of actions in this direction. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. Turkmenistan and Italy also reviewed the implementation of agreements in political and diplomatic, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian fields. The parties noted a desire to increase cooperation of foreign ministries of the two countries. During the visit of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Italy in November 2019, 37 bilateral documents aimed at expanding the Turkmen-Italian dialogue in all fields were signed. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva Every day, MySA.com compiles the latest headlines and helpful links on the COVID-19 pandemic in the San Antonio area. Coronavirus cases update: Forty-nine more San Antonio area residents have tested positive for novel coronavirus, Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported Thursday, increasing the countywide total to 2,371. There was one new death, increasing the total to 64. Nirenberg noted that testing has increased, which is driving up the number of positive cases. Abbott lifts travel restrictions: Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order lifting travel restrictions he put in place in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The new order removes mandatory quarantines for air travelers arriving from COVID-19 hot spots around the country like California and New York. Stay-home order extended: City Council extended San Antonios stay-at-home order to June 4 ahead of a new wave of reopenings this weekend but it remains unclear whether city officials can enact greater restrictions than the state if San Antonio sees a spike. COVID-19 cases update: Testing of San Antonio area residents for COVID-19 is fast approaching the 50,000 mark, Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported Wednesday at the daily city-county briefing. As of Tuesday evening, 46,333 people had been tested in Bexar County. Wednesday, Nirenberg reported there were 44 new positive cases of COVID-19, pushing the total of confirmed cases of the disease to 2,322. There was one new death, a Hispanic woman in her 50s who was a resident of the Buena Vida nursing home, Nirenberg said. That increased the death toll to 63. The Good Newsletter: A weekly dose of inspiring San Antonio stories, delivered to your inbox How to help the hungry in San Antonio: Several food pantries have popped up around town, and heres how to donate to them. Stipend planned for area unemployed: Bexar County and San Antonio officials are looking to put $450 per week into the hands of thousands of unemployed workers while they train for new, post-coronavirus careers. COVID-19 Tracker: Interactive maps track coronavirus cases in San Antonio, Texas counties and the U.S. THE GOOD NEWSLETTER: A weekly dose of inspiring San Antonio stories, delivered to your inbox Plans for a near 40m RDS-style exhibition centre on the outskirts of Cork city have been shot down to protect the 'greenbelt' and to protect any attempts to deliver similar facilities in the city. The details are contained in a ruling from An Bord Pleanala on the appeals against the grant of planning by Cork County Council earlier this year for the Munster Agricultural Society's (MAS) proposed venue on its 48-acre site in Curraheen. The Bord said it took into account the site's "unserviced remote rural location" just south of the N40 Ballincollig bypass and the various zoning objections for the greenbelt. But it said the proposed development would "contribute substantially to the erosion of the greenbelt", would undermine the orderly development of such facilities in Cork city, and would also add substantially to traffic volumes using an inadequate road network, and increase volumes at heavily trafficked junctions leading to the N40, thereby posing a traffic hazard. MAS director, Gerard Murphy, said the not-for-profit charitable organisation was disappointed with the decision but accepted it. "This is a concept we have been working on since the early 2000s," he said. "We have never been shy about putting our best foot forward and we spent in the region of 500,000 putting this planning application together. "We will have to assess this decision, and then liaise with Cork City Council on the future zoning of this site to see what their intentions are for the future development of this site, to see if they want to support the project on this site. "If they want housing on it, then we may have to consider selling up and moving on. "But if similar projects proposed in Waterford or Limerick happen, then this Cork project will not be viable and Cork will lose out." The MAS applied to Cork County Council last summer for planning permission to build the two-storey facility overlooking its existing Curraheen show fields - home to Cork Summer Show. While Cork City Council became the planning authority for the site under the city boundary extension last May, the planning decision remained with county planners. Local residents flagged concerns, including traffic volumes and flooding risk, and the city council flagged concerns about the project's impact on its stalled efforts to deliver an events centre in the city centre. County planners granted planning in January with 42 conditions, including that the venue could not be used as an examinations hall. The decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a number of local residents. The MAS also appealed the condition banning exams hall use. Senior Bord Pleanala inspector Kevin Moore said the development of a multi-purpose sports, exhibition and education facility at this location would constitute "an incompatible use within the greenbelt, would significantly intensify non-showground and commercial operations in this greenbelt, would contribute substantially to the erosion of the greenbelt, and would constitute an undesirable precedent for development of this nature" in the area. He also said it would undermine the viability and development of events centres within serviced urban areas in the wider area. Almost 240 Vietnamese arrived in Da Nang on board a Vietjet flight on Thursday as part of Vietnams drive to bring back citizens stuck in foreign countries because of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the central government. The flight was coordinated by Vietnamese and Myanmarese authorities. The returnees included people under 18 years old, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women, religious groups, tourists, workers whose visas had expired, and students who had finished their academic studies. The Vietnamese Embassy in Myanmar worked with local authorities to streamline paperwork and sent staff to the airport to assist the citizens in boarding their flight. All aboard the Vietjet plane were subject to health checks and transferred to a centralized quarantine camp after their flight landed at Da Nang International Airport. The plane had transported some Myanmar nationals back to their country in the departure leg. Commercial flights between Vietnam and foreign countries are still suspended but the Vietnamese government says it will arrange for more flights to bring home citizens stranded in other countries on account of COVID-19. The Southeast Asian country has documented 324 coronavirus cases, with 266 recoveries and no deaths, according to the Ministry of Healths latest statistics. Vietnam has recorded no community-based transmission over the past month but the government has repeatedly urged everyone to keep a watchful eye on the virus, particularly when almost all businesses have been allowed to reopen. People are still advised to wear face masks and keep a physical distance in social interaction. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress. Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions. Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. Gov. Gavin Newsom told a panel of filmmakers that the state will introduce guidelines on Monday that could potentially help restart Hollywood production, but he offered few details and cautioned that Los Angeles County might not be ready to implement the new rules. In what Newsom is calling his "Economic Recovery & Reinvention Listening Tour," the governor solicited feedback from director and producer Ava DuVernay ("Selma"), actor Jon Huertas ("This is Us") and Netflix executive Ted Sarandos, among others. The panelists in Wednesday's online conversation said that while they're eager to return to work, there are still no industry standards on workplace safety, which could delay restarting production until 2021, especially if film and TV sets are opened prematurely. "Of course people want to get back to work now, because we have to work in order to sustain ourselves," Huertas said. But he said in conversations with the producer of his NBC series, he was told, "We may not go into production until January if there's a second wave." Sony Picture Studios halted film and TV production amid coronavirus fears. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images) Newsom's industry session came on the heels of a report outlining the breadth of unemployment in Hollywood. Board of Supervisors chair Kathryn Barger said that nearly 900,000 industry employees have lost their jobs during the pandemic. DuVernay reminded the governor that some of the most affected are crew members who go from one job to the next as gig workers. "I can comfortably sustain myself through these times," she said, but noted that her brother, a barber, "has nothing." icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Netflix currently has more than 200 projects in various stages of post-production, Sarandos said, with much of that work happening in people's homes. He said that while a small documentary crew might be able to start filming soon, it's an altogether different question for a movie with a crowd scene of several hundred. But proving that there are no uniform guidelines for physical production, Netflix is currently filming in South Korea, Iceland and Sweden. With no industry safety standards in place, and the cost of implementing any such measures bound to cost time and money, one panelist worried that future productions could leave California to film in states and countries with looser rules. "Someone needs to pay for all this," said Danny Stephens, who works as a grip. "But the last thing we want to do is price ourselves out of the business." Newsom ended the conversation by noting that even if the state on Monday unveils a framework for the resumption of production, "that doesn't mean the light goes on everywhere." He singled out Los Angeles County for its continued high level of coronavirus cases. "It remains a challenging part of the state, still." By Online Desk Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to take an aerial survey of cyclone 'Amphan'-hit areas in West Bengal and Odisha on May 22. The information comes hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested the PM to visit the locations worst hit by the 'Amphan' that has claimed 72 lives in the state so far and left a trail of destruction. Banerjee has also announced compensation of Rs 2- 2.5 lakhs for kin of the victims. Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also came forward on Thursday to provide all possible assistance to West Bengal. A day after the extremely severe cyclonic storm rolled past the Odisha coast and made landfall in the Sunderbans, Patnaik expressed deep grief at the loss of lives and massive damage to property caused by the calamity in West Bengal. He directed the chief secretary to remain in touch with his West Bengal counterpart and ensure all possible assistance to the neighbouring state, an official statement issued by the chief minister's office said. "The people of Odisha stand with the people of West Bengal at this hour of crisis," Patnaik said. Amphan is considered to be the second major cyclone in the Bay of Bengal after the super cyclone of 1999, which had claimed around 10,000 lives in Odisha and devastated vast areas in the state. Earlier in 2018, Odisha had rushed men and resources to the southern state of Kerala, which was severely hit by floods. The rescue-and-relief teams from Odisha actively took part in the rehabilitation and resettlement of the flood-hit people in Kerala. (With PTI inputs) At least 88 killed, thousands of homes destroyed and millions remain without power as the cyclone batters the region. Amphan, the most powerful cyclone to strike eastern India and Bangladesh in 20 years, has killed at least 88 people, officials said, as rescue teams scoured devastated coastal villages, hampered by torn down power lines and flooding over large tracts of land. In the Indian state of West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that at least 72 people had perished most of them either electrocuted or killed by trees uprooted by winds that gusted up to 185km per hour (115 miles/h). In neighbouring Bangladesh, the official toll was put at 16. Mass evacuations organised by authorities before Cyclone Amphan made landfall undoubtedly saved countless lives, but the full extent of the casualties and damage to property would only be known once communications were restored, officials said. Millions across India and Bangladesh were left without power. Residents in the Indian city of Kolkata, the capital of the hard-hit West Bengal state, awoke to flooded streets with some cars window-deep in water. Television footage showed the airport inundated. The impact of Amphan is worse than coronavirus, Banerjee told local media. Villagers salvage items from their house damaged by Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal [Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP] Everything is destroyed In neighbouring Bangladesh, officials said 16 people had died, including a five-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man who were hit by falling trees, and a cyclone emergency volunteer who drowned. The United Nations office in Bangladesh estimates 10 million people were affected, and some 500,000 people may have lost their homes. I have never seen such a cyclone in my life. It seemed like the end of the world. All I could do was to pray Almighty Allah saved us, Azgar Ali, 49, a resident of Satkhira district on the Bangladesh coast told Reuters news agency. Al Jazeeras Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from the capital Dhaka, said the cyclone was one of the most intense in a decade to hit Bangladesh, with authorities expecting losses of more than $1bn. Five million people are without power. There has been heavy damage, especially in southwestern Bangladesh in the Sundarbans mangrove forest which got the direct hit thousands of houses have been washed away due to the tidal surge, Chowdhury said. People are definitely going to lose croplands and fisheries. That area is known for shrimp culture and other aquaculture, so these people are going to lose their livelihood. Bangladesh officials said they were waiting for reports from the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed for its mangrove forest and population of endangered Bengal tigers. Working the phone since early this morning. Spoke to dozens of my colleagues across Bengal, from many districts. Catastrophe. Calamity of rare severity Emergency telephone numbers. #CyclonAmphan pic.twitter.com/x3y9sgMicv Derek O'Brien | ' (@derekobrienmp) May 21, 2020 The ecologically fragile region straddling the Indian-Bangladesh border is best known for thick mangrove forests that are a critical tiger habitat. Houses look like they have been run over by a bulldozer, said Babul Mondal, 35, a villager on the edge of the Indian side of the Sundarbans, which is home to approximately four million people. Everything is destroyed, he said. Widespread relief that the evacuation of more than three million people from coastal villages had averted the horrific death tolls of past storms was tempered by fears of the coronavirus pandemic spreading in crowded shelters. Authorities in both countries sent masks and sanitiser to the shelters, but physical distancing was virtually impossible as families packed into reinforced schools, government buildings and community halls. Azmat Ulla, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Bangladesh office, said a national disaster response team of 200 people on the ground was carrying out relief efforts. The coronavirus restrictions have obviously made things much more difficult, especially with regards to evacuation to cyclone shelters, he told Al Jazeera from Dhaka. Amphan is the most powerful cyclone to have hit in more than 20 years [Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters] Heavy rains and fierce winds The cyclone weakened as it moved along the Bangladesh coast but still unleashed heavy rains and fierce winds in Coxs Bazar, the district which houses about one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The cyclone brought a storm surge a wall of ocean water that is often one of the main killers in large weather systems that roared inland. In southwest Bangladesh, a 1.5-metre-high (five-feet) surge broke an embankment and swamped farmland, police told AFP news agency. Cyclones are an annual hazard along the Bay of Bengal coast. Amphan was the first super cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal since 1999. In 2007, Cyclone Sidr killed more than 3,500 people in Bangladesh. Bangladeshs low-lying coast, home to 30 million people, and Indias east are regularly battered by cyclones that have killed hundreds of thousands of people in recent decades. A 1999 super cyclone killed nearly 10,000 people in Indias Odisha state, eight years after a typhoon, tornadoes and flooding killed 139,000 in Bangladesh. In 1970, half a million perished in Bangladesh a nation of 160 million. 2.4 million people and more than half a million livestock were brought to shelters in Bangladesh [Abu Sufian Jewel/AP Photo] Faster evacuations, better technology While the frequency and intensity of storms have increased blamed partly on climate change casualties have fallen, thanks to faster evacuations, better technology and more shelters. Enamur Rahman, Bangladeshs junior minister for disaster management, told AFP 2.4 million people and more than half a million livestock were brought to shelters. India evacuated more than 650,000 people in West Bengal and Odisha states. Because of the coronavirus, authorities used extra shelter space to reduce crowding, while making face masks compulsory and setting aside isolation rooms. Infection numbers are still soaring in both countries. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for airports as the government announced resumption of domestic flights. The air travel was halted two months ago on account of a lockdown imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Apart from other things, the SOPs say that Aarogya Setu mobile application is not mandatory for children below 14 years of age. The app is being widely promoted by the government as it helps in tracing Covid-19 infection in the vicinity. Other passengers, however, are required to install the app on their phone and it will be verified by the airport staff or Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel stationed at the gate. Passengers who dont show green on the app, wont be allowed to enter. They have also been asked to wear masks and gloves. Passengers must compulsorily walk through thermal screening zone on city side before entering airport terminal building. Airport operators must make appropriate arrangement for sanitisation of passengers baggage before entry into terminal building, the SOPs released by AAP say. The AAI has asked parking and kerb areas to be strictly monitored in coordination with CISF and traffic police to prevent congestion and maintain social distancing. Only personal vehicles and authorised taxi services will be allowed to enter. It has also asked state governments and local authorities to ensure availability of public transport and taxis for providing connectivity the the airport for passengers as well as staff of the airlines. Passengers have been advised to reach airport two hours before the scheduled time of departure of their flights. Passengers who have departure in next four hours will only be allowed to enter the building, the AAI says in the document. However, the civil aviation ministry has categorically stated this will not be the final SOPs on domestic air travel. The ministry has said the final guidelines on resumption of air travel will be issued by the ministry later in the day. The government on Wednesday announced the resumption of domestic flights from May 25. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for passenger movement are also being separately issued by civil aviation ministry, civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri tweeted. The governments plan for the resumption of services may feature recommending a price band for different routes keeping in mind the interest of both the consumer and the airline, a civil aviation ministry official who did not want to be named said. Inside planes, middle seats might not be left vacant though such a proposal was initially on the table, according to the official, who also said measures will be taken to maintain social distancing at airports. On completion of travel, passengers will have to abide by the guidelines laid down by the destination state. In the first phase, the flights are likely to cater to all major Tier-1 cities. Tributes have been paid to a Belfast-born minister who has died from Covid-19 in a Canadian nursing home. Rev Hugh Hanna Gorman, who was in his early 80s, passed away peacefully on Monday morning in Calgary. He is survived by his two sons Wesley and Timothy. His South African-born wife Joan died in 2015. Close friend Rev Ronnie McCracken told the Belfast Telegraph that Rev Gorman had led a remarkable life after a turbulent youth that saw him kicked out of the Army and thrown in prison for burglary. Brought up in Sandy Row, with little work around he joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers as a teenager. Disliking authority from the start, he was dishonourably discharged after being shipped out to Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956. "Hugh told me he didn't get any medals as he spent most of the time locked up in a military prison," said Rev McCracken. His crime was raiding the stock of a local bar for a party, and grabbing the gun off a young military police officer when confronted. "They told him: 'Gorman, you're the biggest disgrace this regiment ever had.'" He eventually found work with Belfast Corporation as a binman on the Malone Road. "The only problem was that when people were on holiday, Hugh burgled the houses," added Rev McCracken. He was arrested and served 18 months in Crumlin Road Gaol. "He was just a typical tough guy, you know. When he was released even his father didn't want him home." His life changed after a local minister convinced him to attend a church meeting. "From that point he never looked back," Rev McCracken said. He met his future wife Joan when he decided to study at a Bible college in Glasgow, with the couple marrying in 1959. Emigrating to Canada, he spent his final two years in a care home. "He never lost his Belfast wit," Rev McCracken said, who last visited him in July. "He would ask me: 'Is that hotel I used to live in on the Crumlin Road still there?' "I had hoped he could travel home to give his life story in the Crumlin Road visitor centre." Taking ill with Covid-19 two weeks ago, Rev Gorman had suffered from a high fever and coughing. "His son Wesley hadn't been able to visit him for about two months because of the virus. But they were able to let him in last week dressed in all the protection gear," Rev McCracken explained. "When he was leaving on Sunday he told his dad he loved him and he was able to say 'and I love you, son'. So, that was the last words they were able to share." The number of people on the African continent infected with Covid-19 has reached 95,201, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, as the number of cases to continue to rise. Governments feeling the strain of the poorest felt the need to lift lockdowns this month, recognizing that this could contribute to rising case numbers. Nearly 3,000 people have died. In South Africa alone, where a lockdown is still taking place, scientists have estimated through their modelling predictions that up to 40,000 people could die in the country over the next few months. Some estimate that the lockdown has been extremely severe, including a ban on cigarettes and alcohol. Some measures have already been lifted this month, and children are expected to go back to school in June. Minister of Health Dr. Zweli Mkhize said that the rate of infection would need to slow down before all aspects of the lockdown are lifted. On Thursday, Mkhize said the country lost its first newborn to Covid-19. "Sadly we have recorded the first neonatal mortality related to Covid-19. The baby was two days old and was born prematurely," said South Africa's Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. "The baby had lung difficulties which required ventilation support immediately after birth, added. The country's death toll now stands at 339. South Africa is the worst hit with the most number of cases, at 18,003, but north African countries have had a higher death toll-- Egypt has had 680 and Algeria has 568 fatalities. West Africa While European officials have warned about the second wave of infections after lockdown restrictions are lifted, African leaders have had to weigh the economic and social aspects of lockdowns. Preventing people from working has also created greater food insecurity issues, as many, especially in large cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, live hand-to-mouth. Story continues Numbers of infected have grown since the Nigerian lockdown was liftedNigeria has registered 6,677 cases and 200 deaths. Senegal experienced a 30 percent surge in cases just one day after restrictions were lifted on 11 May. It has registered 2,812 cases, with 30 deaths. Ghana also saw a rise in cases after the stay in place order was lifted on 10 April, but President Nana Okufo-Addo noted in part that this was a necessity in order to prevent the countrys poorest from going hungry. It now has 6,269 cases, up from 408 cases on 10 April. In an address on Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for international action to strengthen Africas health systems to accommodate for the big surge in cases that scientists have predicted are coming. Ending the pandemic in Africa is essential for ending it across the world, said Guterres. A member of the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation takes a picture of the computer of David Timothy Deakin, from Peoria, Ill., who was later convicted of possession of child pornographic materials, during a raid at his home in Mabalacat, Philippines, April 20, 2017. Cases of sexual exploitation of children on the internet more than tripled over three years in the Philippines, making the Southeast Asian country a global hotspot for such crimes, according to findings of a study released Thursday. The report by the U.S.-based International Justice Mission said that 149 of every 10,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses linked to child sexual exploitation in 2017 originated in the Philippines, three times higher than the rate of 43 of every 10,000 in 2014. This makes the Philippines a global hotspot for online sexual exploitation of children, said IJM, which completed the study in partnership with the U.S. State Department, the Philippine government and a dozen law enforcement partners around the world. The results of the study show that OSEC is a growing and heinous crime, Philippine Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said, referring to online sexual exploitation of children. We need to act as a global community ending impunity in both source countries like the Philippines and demand countries, said Aglipay-Villar, who heads the justice ministrys Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking. She said the Philippines was committed to strengthening its international collaboration to fight the menace. Data from participating law enforcement agencies showed that the Philippines received more than eight times as many referrals as any other country during the studys baseline period, said IJM, an international NGO which focuses on human rights, law and law enforcement, in a statement. IJM said the study was unable to measure the prevalence of internet abuse because of inconsistencies in the quality of reporting by electronic service providers and because internet providers were not detecting abuse that goes live online. Livestream abuse here comes to light only when foreign law enforcement partners identify a suspected offender, such as in cases of trading pictures and videos of the act, the study said, adding that 64 percent of cases in the Philippines had been initiated by referrals from foreign authorities. There are children who need rescue now, but rescue starts with timely detection and robust reporting, IJM Philippine chief Samson Inocencio Jr. said as he urged the tech industry to help by reporting livestreaming of these materials. The report said 90 cases of internet sexual exploitation of children were investigated between 2011 and 2017, involving 381 victims. Of this total, authorities were able to determine the exact length of abuse ranging from two months to four years for only 43 victims. An analysis of victims profiles further showed that the median age was only 11 years old, with the youngest less than 1 year old, the IJM report said. Another unsettling finding is that 41 percent of victims abuse was facilitated by biological parents and 42 percent by other relatives. Encouraged by success John Richmond, who heads the U.S. State Departments Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said Washington had dedicated significant resources to battling the scourge. We are encouraged by the success of our partnership with the Philippines. Together we are working to ensure traffickers are prosecuted, victims and survivors are protected, and this crime is prevented for future generations, he said in a statement. In 2018, a court in the southern Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro sentenced an Australian citizen, Peter Gerard Scully, and his Filipino partner, Carmen Ann Alvarez, to life in prison for operating a cybersex business that abused children. Police said the couple forced children to perform sexual acts which they streamed online to clients outside of the country. Washington Beyond its hard-hitting rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus, the White House on Wednesday issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report does not signal a shift in U.S. policy, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the report and spoke only on condition of anonymity, but it expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. "The media's focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge that's presented by the Chinese Communist Party," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report. "China's been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organization as a developing nation. That didn't happen," he said. "We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact." Later in the day, the State Department announced that it had approved the sale of advanced torpedoes to the Taiwanese military, a move sure to draw a rebuke from Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province. The department said it had informed Congress of the $180 million sale of heavy-weight torpedoes, spare parts, support and testing equipment , which "will help improve the security of (Taiwan) and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region." While pushing back on China, Trump has sometimes uttered contradictory statements. He has talked about having a great personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the virus from spreading across the world. He'll criticize China, then say he wants Beijing to sign Phase II of a trade deal and join the United States and Russia in a three-way nuclear arms control treaty. In the past 20 years, the U.S. believed that if it opened its markets wider, invested more money in China, and provided greater access to top U.S. technology and training for Chinese military officers that somehow this would cause China to liberalize, the official said. Instead, China is more authoritarian than at any time since Beijing killed anti-government protesters on Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its l ideas across the globe. The U.S. and China established diplomatic relations during the Nixon administration. "More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China," the report said. "Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed." According to the report, the Trump administration sees "no value" in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry. "When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure" on China. The latest example of U.S. and China power competition is playing out at the World Health Organization. At the U.N. health agency's annual assembly this week, Xi joined by video conference to offer more money and support. Meanwhile, Trump railed against the WHO in a letter accusing it of covering up the coronavirus outbreak with China and threatening to permanently halt U.S. funding that has been its main financial lifeblood for years. China also has been engaged in a military buildup, has engaged in cyber hacking and Beijing's pledge to end predatory economic practices "is littered with broken and empty promises." China promised during the Obama administration that it would stop government-directed cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain and restated the same promise in the first two years of the Trump administration, the report said. In late 2018, however, the U.S. and a dozen other countries reported that China was hacking computers to target intellectual property and steal business information. "Since the 1980s, Beijing has signed multiple international agreements to protect intellectual property. Despite this, more than 63 percent of the world's counterfeits originate in China, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars of damage on legitimate businesses around the world," the report said. The Trump administration also is upset at how China continues to argue to the World Trade Organization that it is a "developing country," even though it is the top importer of high-tech products and ranks second only to the U.S. in terms of gross domestic product, defense spending and outward investment. By ANI PATNA: Leader of Opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, has slammed the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, stating there aren't enough testing centres in the state and that quarantine facility for migrant workers reaching the state are very poor. "As the opposition, our role is to make the state government realise their shortcomings and take up issues related to people through constructive criticism. We have been telling and requesting the government that it is far behind in terms of conducting COVID-19 tests. There was only paperwork in the name of screening. Till there is not enough testing, it is neither possible to assess the severity of the problem nor to find its solution," said a press release translated from Hindi. "We have requested the Chief Minister that ideally there should be corona testing centres in every district. We have even said that at least in every division, a testing center should be made available as soon as possible. Each division should have a corona dedicated hospital," it said. FOLLOW CIOVID-19 LIVE UPDATES HERE The release also alleged that Bihar's health system has been destroyed in the last 15 years and that there is a shortage of PPE kits, testing kits and ventilators. "We have called for testing of migrant workers entering the state and that there should be proper arrangement for their quarantine. Social distancing is not followed in quarantine centres in Bihar and also there are no masks, etc. The situation of quarantine centres is such that they themselves have become a spot for spreading the infection," the RJD leader said. "The government is not paying any attention to corruption and loot going on in the name of relief operations," he said. READ| Bihar principal health secretary shunted out amid growing COVID-19 cases He further said that most migrant workers are not quarantined. For many, the tests were not conducted. "Some have escaped from quarantine centres due to lack of facilities there. Thousands of migrants reached their homes without any primary testing. The government lacks the will to keep people in quarantine. Food and lodging facilities are poor in the quarantine centres." "There are some videos and audios in which the government officials are asking migrants to go to their home instead of staying in quarantine centres. Even after getting information about the migrants directly going to their homes, the administration is not taking any note of it," the press release said. "Due to the state government's negligence, coronavirus is tightening its grip in the state. The government is relaxed regarding screening, testing, cure, prevention and spreading awareness about the coronavirus. We have asked the government to strictly implement four important steps of Test, Isolate, Treat, and Trace. The government had three months time to prepare but neither its preparations are seen nor its seriousness on the issue," it further said. "It is sad that the government has put the governance itself in lockdown. The Chief Minister is conducting meetings and issues press releases one after another but the real management of the situation has shown no improvement," the press release said. "Did the government have no idea about testing and quarantine of migrant labours and about providing them with basic facilities. Why the government is not serious on this issue and inviting infection to spread further," Tejashwi questioned. Oakland Police Department U.S. marshals arrested a 26-year-old man wanted in connection to a hit-in-run in Oakland that killed a mother of seven who was crossing the street on her way to pick up one of her children from school, authorities said Wednesday. Henry Melendez was arrested in Southern California in connection with the death of Miesha Singleton less than a week after officials released his identity and photo, according to Oakland police. Melendez was in the process of being extradited to Oakland, and it was not clear whether the Alameda County district attorneys office had filed charges as of Thursday morning. Dhaka/Agartala, May 21 : To boost trade, economic activity and connectivity, India and Bangladesh have added five more "ports of call" on either side and increased the protocol (water) routes from 8 to 10. "These additions to the protocol will facilitate bilateral trade with improved reliability and cost effectiveness for the business community and the people of both the countries," an official release said. The release issued after signing of the Second Addendum to the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade, in Dhaka on Wednesday, said the extension of protocol routes, inclusion of new routes and declaration of new "ports of call" would facilitate trade. The Second Addendum was signed by Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das and Bangladesh Shipping Ministry Secretary Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury. There are six "ports of call" each in India and Bangladesh. The new five "ports of call" on the Indian side are Dhulian, Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura and Jogigopha and on the Bangladesh side Rajshahi, Sultanganj, Chilmari, Daudkandi and Bahadurabad. Two more extended 'ports of call" -- Tribeli (Bandel) and Badarpur in India and Ghorasal and Muktarpur in Bangladesh -- have been added. According to the release, connectivity provided by the existing and the new protocol routes is all the more pertinent in the Covid-19 scenario. They will provide economical, faster, safer and greener mode of transport for trade and business. The new agreement will help improve movement of cargo vessels in an organised manner on the protocol routes. The Indian transit cargo is mainly coal, fly-ash, POL and heavy machineries for power projects in the northeast. The other likely cargo is fertilizers, cement, grain, farm products and containers. The export cargo from India to Bangladesh is mainly fly-ash (around 30 lakh tonnes per annum). Around 638 inland vessels (including 600 Bangladeshi flag vessels) do 4,000 loaded voyages annually. Both the countries have also agreed to introduce trade between Chilmari (Bangladesh) and Dhubri (Assam, India) through the use of shallow draft mechanised vessels. It will allow export of stone chips and other Bhutanese and northeast cargo and easy access for traders to the hinterland of Bangladesh, enhancing the local economy in Bangladesh and the lower Assam region. Inclusion of Jogigopha (India) and Bahadurabad (Bangladesh) as new "port of call" will provide connectivity to Meghalaya, Assam and Bhutan. Jogigopha (in western Assam) also becomes important as a multi-modal logistics park is on cards there. The new "ports of call" will enable loading and unloading of cargo transported on the India-Bangladesh Protocol Route and stimulate economic development of new locations and their hinterland. Inclusion of Sonamura (Tripura)-Daudkhandi (Bangladesh) stretch of the Gumti river (93 km) as IBP route number 9 and 10 in the protocol will improve connectivity of Tripura and adjoining northeastern states with India and Bangladesh's economic centres and will help the hinterland of both the countries. Before signing of the Second Addendum, Indian and Bangladesh officials had meetings in October 2018 in New Delhi and in December 2019 in Dhaka and finalised extension of protocol routes, inclusion of new routes and declaration of new "ports of call". According to the release, this protocol, first signed in 1972 soon after independence of Bangladesh, is a reflection of shared history, trusted friendship and mutually beneficial partnership. It was last renewed in 2015 for five years with a provision of automatic renewal for the next five years, giving long-term assurance to stakeholders. Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina for the signing of Second Addendum to improve connectivity and trade between the two neighbours. A drug claimed to have the potential to bring the spread of the novel coronavirus to a standstill is being engineered by a Chinese laboratory. The first confirmed coronavirus case was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year before prevailing across the globe. Thus, an international race to develop vaccines and treatments was prompted. For a long time, China remained the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. Scientists at the prestigious Peking University in China are currently testing the drug. According to them, it will provide short-term immunity from the coronavirus and reduce the recovery duration for infected patients. Director of the university's Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics Sunney Xie remarked that the drug has been effective in undergoing the animal testing stage. To prohibit the virus from infecting cells, the drug utilizes neutralizing antibodies produced by the human immune system. Xie's team isolated the infected cells from 60 recovered patients' blood. Scientific journal "Cell" published on Sunday indicated a study on the research team's work. The team suggested that using the antibodies offers a probable cure for the respiratory illness. According to Xie, "Our expertise is single-cell genomics rather than immunology or virology. When we realized that the single-cell genomic approach can effectively find the neutralizing antibody we were thrilled." Xie affirmed that they are looking at a clinical trial underway. The trial will take place in other countries such as Australia. This is due to the fact that cases have decreased in China and are offering fewer human guinea pigs to be tested. Also Read: China's Batwoman Says Wuhan Lab Not the Source of COVID-19 A health official remarked last week that China already has five coronavirus vaccines lined up and are undergoing the human trial stage. But creating a vaccine could take 12 to 18 months, cautioned by the World Health Organization (WHO). In China, over 700 patients have been serviced by plasma therapy. Authorities said the process revealed "very good therapeutic effects." However, Xie said that plasma is limited in supply. The approach of using antibodies in drug treatments is not newly-discovered. It has been effective as a treatment for numerous other viruses including Ebola, HIV, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The researchers had an early heads up since the coronavirus outbreak was first detected in China before prevailing to other nations. If the neutralizing antibody was administered before the mice were contracted the virus, the study revealed that the mice remained infection-free and no virus was ascertained. It might offer short-term protection for health officials for a few weeks. Xie and his team are hoping to extend the protection to a few months. Xie affirmed that "We would be able to stop the pandemic with an effective drug, even without a vaccine." Recently, China but has been on the dubious side regarding a probable second wave of infections. This coincided with lockdowns being lifted and eased restrictions. But overall, the country has brought the pandemic under control. A month has passed and China has not declared any new fatalities from the coronavirus. Related Article: PETA Video Reveals Asian Wet Markets Still Selling Bats, Monkeys @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Pressure is mounting on a Houston oil equipment builder to return $10 million in federal funding intended for small businesses after a corporate watchdog group revealed Wednesday that a business entity controlled by Purdue Pharmas Sackler family is the companys largest shareholder. Piton Capital Partners, a company managed by Sackler family investment fund Kokino, owns a nearly 12 percent share in Gulf Island Fabrication. The billionaire family also controls one of 10 board seats in the company through Kokino portfolio manager Robert Averick. Gulf Island received a $10 million loan in April through Congress Paycheck Protection Program. The federal program offers forgivable loans to small businesses with the agreement they do not lay off their employees during the pandemic. Public Accountability Initiative, a corporate watchdog group based in Buffalo, N.Y., first reported the Sackler family connection to Gulf Island in a report published Wednesday. Members of the Sackler family founded and own Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn.-based maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin that was a target of numerous lawsuits in the wake of the nations opioid crisis. The family, which Bloomberg estimated to have a net worth of $13 billion in 2018, is not involved in the day-to-day operations of Gulf Island, however. PPP: Struggling energy firms get a temporary lifeline in paycheck loans The PPP was created to help struggling small businesses, not big corporations with access to major investors and borrowing capacity, said Derek Seidman, a research analyst with Public Accountability Initiative. A worldwide leader in the energy industry should not be taking bailout money that small struggling businesses desperately need. Gulf Island, which has a market value of nearly $43 million, is the latest publicly traded company facing scrutiny for requesting and accepting a PPP loan. Other firms that have come under fire for taking federal funding earmarked for small businesses include Ruths Hospitality Group, the parent of Ruths Chris Steak House; New York-based hamburger chain Shake Shack; and Houston-based Lubys Inc. Ruths and Shake Shack have returned their PPP money. Lubys has not said what it plans to do with its loan proceeds. Gulf Island, which makes ships and heavy equipment for offshore oil and gas drilling, was asked this month by House Democrats to return its $10 million loan and allow truly small businesses which do not have access to alternative sources of capital to obtain the emergency loans they need to avoid layoffs, stay in business and weather the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis, according to a letter sent by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis to Gulf Island on May 8. FUEL FIX: Get our energy news in your inbox each weekday The company reported $48.6 million in cash and access to a $40 million revolving line of credit during its most recent quarter that ended March 31. The company, which has more than 900 employees, reported a loss of nearly $49.4 million and revenue of $303 million in 2019. Gulf Island did not respond to requests for comment. The Sackler family did not respond to a request for comment. Averick, the portfolio manager of Sackler family investment firm Kokino and a member on Gulf Islands board, declined to comment. Anita Mancini, who with her husband owns Bugs Inc., an insect extermination company in Katy, said she is angry that large corporations are taking federal dollars earmarked for small businesses like hers. The Katy resident applied for a PPP loan last month but had to wait six weeks before receiving a $61,000 loan on May 11, enough to cover two and half months of payroll for her seven employees. That $10 million thats going to one company could have helped 100 small businesses, Mancini, 52, said. Its despicable that companies are taking more than their fair share. These are companies you rely on to step up and put money in when youre in a crisis, not take it out. paul.takahashi@chron.com twitter.com/paultakahashi It was only last week that we lambasted a Foreign Policy article which had to engage in truly creative writing in order to depict Swedens no lockdown, no tracing, and confused guidance approach to Covid-19 as something worth copying. Before then, even the firmly pro-business Wall Street Journal had cleared its throat and depicted the Swedish experiment as a bust: far more lives lost than its neighbors, with no benefit for the economy. Yet shortly after the factually-challenged Foreign Policy piece ran, so did an oddity in VoxEU, The underpinnings of Swedens permissive COVID regime, whose headline too-cleverly make Swedens laid back approach to Covid-19 sound like result of its sexual freedom. But if you look at the list of factors that supposedly engendered Swedens dodgy approach, they are not only decidedly non-carnal, but it is hard to see how the cultural ones are much different from those of Finland or Norway. The ones buried in the middle of the piece seem to be the most important: Keep the economy going The present government is a coalition led by the Social Democrats, but all eight parties in parliament generally favour the approach taken to COVID. The Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, formerly head of the metal-workers union and now with high approval ratings (Novus 2020), is proving himself to be on the more pragmatic side of the Social Democrats. There is wide consensus in Sweden on the value and moral significance of working. Sweden is also sensitive to its dependence on exports and needs to maintain its service to the world economy. The crisis of the early 1990s is important here: Sweden responded by liberalising, and the reforms have succeeded. The bumblebee has continued to fly despite the heavy tax load. Aiming for herd immunity? There have not been official pronouncements about herd immunity, but it is likely part of the broader strategy. Swedish experts have primarily considered the risk groups and have looked to targeted action, with mixed results. Deaths have been especially high among those in elderly care homes despite strict restrictions on visiting.2 Immigrant neighbourhoods have been especially vulnerable as well. However, there has been more success in maintaining intensive-care capacity. The ambition is to have hospital staff on the job; hence, childcare and schools for children up to high schools continue to operate. Needless to say, not only does more and more evidence indicate the death cost of the Swedish is still vastly higher than that of its neighbors, the financial costs could increase as a direct result of letting the infection propagate with relatively few checks. The Financial Times described yesterday how the countries on Swedens borders are considering keeping restrictions in place even as they open up to other countries. The frictional cost of border restrictions will put Sweden at a disadvantage for commerce and tourism. A version of this phenomenon is happening now with New York City. Even though the Federal bankruptcy courts in New York (the Eastern and Southern district) have long been the preferred venue for corporate filings, with the result that the heavyweight bankruptcy firms also have most of their top professionals in Manhattan, the recent big bankruptcy filings, such as J.C. Penny, are being lodged in Texas instead. Lawyers apparently dont want to go to the leper colony of New York City if they can avoid it. From the Financial Times: Denmark, Finland and Norway are debating whether to maintain travel restrictions on Sweden but ease them for other countries as they nervously eye their Nordic neighbours higher coronavirus death toll. Sweden has the highest mortality rate per capita at this stage of the epidemic, according to a Financial Times tracker that uses a seven-day rolling average of new deaths The FT tracker shows that Sweden had 6.4 deaths per million people 61 days after its death rate first climbed above 0.1 deaths per million. That contrasts with the UKs 6.2 deaths per million at the same stage, Italys 5.5, and Spains 4. Denmark is weighing whether to open its borders with Germany and Norway but not to Sweden. Several opposition parties, which have a majority in Denmarks parliament, have said the borders need to be opened to help the countrys tourism industry but that the high death rate in Sweden was worrying. Sweden has not closed its borders and cross-border travel is still allowed in many areas for work purposes including health personnel. Norwegians are allowed to visit Sweden but have to go into 10 days quarantine when they return. Norways centre-right government will decide in June whether to maintain the restrictions or not. Other newspapers have taken note of Swedens death leadership. From the Telegraph, in Sweden becomes country with highest coronavirus death rate per capita: Sweden has now overtaken the UK, Italy and Belgium to have the highest coronavirus per capita death rate in the world, throwing its decision to avoid a strict lockdown into further doubt. According to figures collated by the Our World in Data website, Sweden had 6.08 deaths per million inhabitants per day on a rolling seven-day average between May 13 and May 20. This is the highest in the world, above the UK, which have 5.57, 4.28 and 4.11 respectively. The only saving grace is that Sweden has only just obtained the status of highest death rate; if you look over longer periods, countries like Italy and the US are ahead. Oh, and that herd immunity? Fuggedaboudit. A lot of government reports from European countries on seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2 this week and they all show the same it's low. Spain ~5% Italy ~5% Sweden ~5% Denmark ~1% Norway < 1% Let's end the discussion about miracles and natural herd immunity? The data is in. Kristian G. Andersen (@K_G_Andersen) May 20, 2020 So anyone still trying to sell Sweden as a success is either badly informed or, as readers speculated on our earlier post, has an anti-lockdown agenda. And if this is the best evidence they can muster, workers look to have every reason to want none of it. Melania Trump will appear on a CNN town hall Thursday night, the same network President Donald Trump blasts as 'fake news.' The first lady will appear on the network's weekly global town hall on coronavirus, which is hosted by Anderson Cooper, a frequent critic of the president. Melania Trump's remarks will be prerecorded and she is expected to address the nation's students, CNN announced. Melania Trump will appear on a CNN town hall Thursday night, the same network President Donald Trump blasts as 'fake news' Melania Trump will appear on CNN's weekly global town hall on coronavirus, which is hosted by Anderson Cooper, a frequent critic of the president President Trump frequently blasts CNN as 'fake news' and did so again during a Wednesday event at the White House Melania Trump also addressed children's health in a call Wednesday with approximately 3,000 state, local, and tribal officials. 'Whether in quarantine or on the front lines of the fight against the virus, many Americans - including children - are experiencing an increase in anxiety, depression, loneliness, isolation, and fear, ' she said in remarks released by her office. Cooper has been a frequent critic of Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 1.58 million Americans and killed more than 100,000 people. He did so again on Wednesday night, blasting the president for threatening MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and threatening to with hold federal funds from Michigan over mail-in ballots while a national pandemic was taking place. 'Today seeing the largest single-day increase in global cases of coronavirus with more than 93,000 Americans now having lost their lives, and states reopening with new cases still rising. And a majority of Americans, from both parties, saying they'd prefer going slow. You would think that the president would be concerned about this and this, alone. You might think he would feel the weight of the responsibility he has for 350 million Americans' lives. Or, then, you might look at his Twitter feed,' Cooper said. And, in late April, Cooper asked if the president thinks Americans are 'morons' after Trump suggested research into whether injecting disinfectants into people could be a cure for the coronavirus. After coming under fire for his idea, Trump said he was being sarcastic when he made that suggestion. 'The president is claiming he was speaking sarcastically to reporters, sarcastically suggesting that. There was no sarcasm. We have the tape,' Cooper said. He called Trump's idea 'idiotic,' 'dangerous,' and 'ludicrous,' and added Trump was trying 'rewrite what we all know and saw as though we are all morons.' Trump, meanwhile, is a frequent critic of CNN, both on Twitter and in person. He criticized the network again on Wednesday, when White House reporter Kaitlan Collins asked him about a report he was angry with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'It's fake news, Kaitlan. Fake news. Therefore, you can report it on CNN,' the president told her. He has targeted Collins before. During a press briefing at the end of April, when she tried to ask him if he's had contact with Kim Jong Un, amid reports the North Korean leader was ill or dead, he shot her down. 'CNN is fake news, don't talk to me,' he told her. At a later briefing, White House staff tried to move Collins from her front row seat in the briefing room to one in the back of the room. Both she and the reporter seated in the back refused to move. Trump also has had battles with White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He regularly labels news coverage that is critical of him or he doesn't like as 'fake news.' Melania Trump will pre-tape her remarks to CNN and focus on students The first lady wore a face mask in a social media post to remind people of the importance of wearing them to help combat coronavirus Melania Trump's pre-taped appearance on the network Thursday night are her first solo remarks since the onset of the pandemic. The town hall will be co-hosted by Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Part of its focus will be on students who have had their lives and educations altered with schools closed and graduation ceremonies canceled because of the coronavirus. The first lady's Be Best program focuses on the well being of children. Melania Trump has recorded several PSAs during the pandemic, where she has offered tips on getting through the pandemic and urged Americans to follow CDC guidelines on the matter. She has taken a stronger approach to the coronavirus pandemic than her husband, ordering her staff to work from home from the early days and imploring American to wear masks. Her office released a photo of her wearing a face covering but she has not sported one in her public events in the past month, when she has been a silence presence at her husband's side as he planted a tree on the White House South Lawn, hosted faith leaders for National Day of Prayer, honored veterans at the World War II Memorial, and rewarded girl scouts and others at a White House recognition ceremony for those who have aided in the coronavirus response. Melania Trump, meanwhile, has warned Americans that as the country reopens to continue to practice social distancing and wear masks. 'As some states slowly start to open businesses, please be sure to check CDC guidelines, continue to practice social distancing & wear a face cover. We need to make sure we slowly get back to normal while still fighting to keep the virus suppressed,' the first lady tweeted at the end of April. STATEN ISLAND BUSINESS STRONG: This is the ninth in a series of stories about Staten Island small business owners reinventing their products/services to try to remain profitable during the coronavirus pandemic. Each week during this crisis, Business Writer Tracey Porpora will profile businesses adjusting to the situation. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- At the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, twin brothers Sebastian Jr. and Corrado Cina, feared losing all their father, Sebastian Cina, Sr., had built during the last 25 years at their family-run auto shop business. Despite auto repair shops being deemed essential during the coronavirus pandemic, the Cinas knew they had to figure out a way customers would feel comfortable bringing their cars in to be serviced at Auto Pro Collision, which has a flagship location in Grasmere and three satellite locations in New Jersey. We have never seen anything like this before, so I was not sure what would happen, said Corrado. Would any of my employees get sick? Would everyone be OK financially? Would we be able to make it through this tough time as a company? I was really worried, it kept me up at night," he added. To top it off, the Cinas grandfather, Frank Cina, 79, was in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze for 33 days battling coronavirus. He has recently been taken off a ventilator and is in recovery at a rehabilitation center, they said. REINVENTING THE BUSINESS Soon after the the coronavirus mandates went into effect, the Cina brothers came up with a way to reinvent their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Auto Pro Collision, which has a flagship location in Grasmere and three satellite locations in New Jersey. (Courtesy of PRcision LLC) Auto Pro Collision -- which offers body repair, refinishing, and dent repairs and is a certified Tesla Repair Shop -- is now providing a free mobile estimating tool that allows customers to send pictures of their vehicles damage for an estimate through text or email. We are also offering pickup and delivery of customers vehicles from our tow truck for repairs, said Sebastian. This is a tough time for everyone -- for our customers, employees and their families. The best thing we can do is stay strong and continue to keep a safe environment in our workplace to service our customers while keeping our employees safe. EXPEDITING THE PROCESS The catalyst for the mobile estimates was to provide a streamlined process where consumers would have limited in-person contact. We are offering a lot of online communication, whether it be through text, email or phone calls. We are making sure customers are in our building for the least amount of time possible. We are having the rental car company here waiting for them and paperwork is already filled out, said Sebastian. And their loyal customers have really appreciated the service. There has been some very positive feedback regarding our recent change in service. Our industry is already an inconvenience on a normal day, so at a time where safety is a major concern, I think providing our customers with a much safer way to still perform our services is great, said Corrado. And business has picked up in recent days as there are less reported cases of coronavirus on Staten Island. We are seeing more people come in now than when this quarantine started, said Corrado. I think that people are more prepared now than they were in the beginning. I also think we are doing our best to limit customer interaction and have procedures in place to ensure the safety of the customers as well as our staff. GIVING BACK The Cinas said they feel fortunate to be deemed essential workers, and will also give back to the community. This is about humanity, more than business. We are planning to launch a campaign in partnership with non-profits to help give back and help, said Corrado. ***** CLICK HERE FOR MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE **** AUTO PRO COLLISION AT A GLANCE Address: 65 Grasmere Ave., Grasmere Website: www.autoprostatenisland.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AutoProCollisionNY/ *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK*** This column will temporarily replace SILive/Advances New Businesses in Focus column. If you are a Staten Island Business owner who has reinvented services/products/offerings during the coronavirus pandemic, e-mail porpora@siadvance.com. Please put Staten Island Business Strong in the subject line of your email. REALTED COLUMNS Coronavirus: Staten Island radio DJs spin music from home Coronavirus: Martial arts, dance classes for kids go virtual Pilates, yoga studios go virtual during coronavirus pandemic Coronavirus: Staten Island wine shop boosts business via doorstep delivery Life amid coronavirus: Yoga studio turns to streaming classes live on Zoom Yaymaker franchise owner launches virtual paint classes Trainer keeps clients fit during coronavirus crisis FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - International Zeolite Corp. (TSXV: IZ) (OTC Pink: IZCFF) (FSE: ZEON) (the "Company") an international marketer and supplier of natural zeolite and zeolite products, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Hatem Kawar, P.Eng, MBA, as CFO of International Zeolite Corp. and Earth Innovations Inc. effectively immediately. Mr. Mark Groenewald will be stepping aside from the role of CFO and joining the Company's Strategic Advisory Committee. The Board of Directors extends its thanks to Mr. Groenewald for his many years of service and welcomes his continued association with the Company as an advisor to the Board. Mr. Kawar has been actively involved with mineral exploration and production companies for nearly 30 years, bringing both technical operational experience and years of finance and accounting to bear. Following the completion of an Engineering degree at the University of Liverpool in the UK, Mr. Kawar was project manager for an industrial mineral operation in Saudi Arabia. Upon moving to Canada, he completed his MBA in Finance at the Schulich School of Business of York University, and for the past 20 years, has served as controller and/or CFO of several public mineral exploration companies in Canada. "I have had the pleasure to work with Hatem over the past two years through his involvement with Earth Innovations. His skill set and experience along with his diligent attention to detail and proactive approach to operations has proved to be a valuable asset to the Company," said CEO Ray Paquette. "The consolidation of Earth Innovations accounting and administrative functions with those of International Zeolite is a natural progression to improve synergies within both entities. I am pleased that Hatem has agreed to take on the role of Chief Financial Officer. I also wish to extend my personal thanks to Mark Groenewald for his efforts and counsel over the past years and I'm pleased he is continuing on in an advisory capacity to the Company." The Company is also pleased to announce the moving of its head office to Toronto. This move follows consolidation of its sales and marketing operations to Eastern Canada and will assist in further streamlining corporate management activities of the Company and its subsidiary Earth Innovations Inc. On Behalf of the Board "Ray Paquette" President & CEO 604.684.3301 For further information, please visit www.internationalzeolite.com For Investor Inquiries: info@internationalzeolite.com For Sales and Commercial Inquiries: sales@earthinnovations.ca Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures. International Zeolite does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56303 WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hamilton Pacific Chamberlain (HPC), a general contractor headquartered in Waldorf, MD, recently completed the construction of an isolation unit within the Baltimore VAMC. The project, which was part of a federal undertaking to combat the spread of COVID-19, was an emergency project which was completed within 35 days of project development. The isolation unit will also act as an intensive care unit for veterans battling the novel coronavirus. The unit will enable medical experts to safely treat patients without risking the spread of the virus to veterans attending the VAMC for routine treatments. HPC has taken the necessary protective measures to ensure its team are protected during the renovation process through the use of N95 face masks and various other forms of PPE. Griffin Hamilton, HPC's President, said of the project, "We are honored to have built this for our veterans. To have a safe place specifically for the treatment of this virus will undoubtedly help so many people in these very uncertain times. Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure the timely completion of this very important project." In addition to the Baltimore COVID unit, HPC has recently been awarded multiple federal contracts for national cemeteries and VAMCs across the country. To learn more about HPC's work with VAMCs or national cemeteries across the USA, please visit www.hpcvet.com Hamilton Pacific Chamberlain is a Federal Government contractor headquartered in Waldorf, Maryland. HPC focuses on renovations, demolition, and new construction of government and military structures. To learn more about Hamilton Pacific Chamberlain and its work with government and military structures, visit www.hpcvet.com. This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com. SOURCE Hamilton Pacific Chamberlain Related Links http://www.hpcvet.com The Member of Parliament for Odododiodioo, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has described the demolition exercise conducted by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in Jamestown as inhumane and without fellow feeling. The demolition exercise was to make way for the construction of the Jamestown fishing harbour. Over 400 temporary and permanent structures were pulled down by the assembly. Speaking to Citi News, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye said such an action is borne out of the refusal of the current administration to conduct the necessary consultations for the smooth execution of the project. He bemoaned that the way and manner they [the government] are proceeding is worrying. Despite representing the community in Parliament, he said he has never been invited to one single meeting on the project. The MP further stressed that the engagement was critical in handling the demolitions for the project. People are living there. What you are supposed to do is to engage with the people. Give them enough notice so they can find another place. We have schools for deprived people. We have churches. For some people, that is the only place they have shelter. You just come in one early morning without notice and demolish everything. It is inhumane. It doesnt augur well for a society like ours, Mr. Vanderpuye remarked. The Jamestown Fishing Harbour project has three major phases. It involves the dredging of about 118,000 cubic metres of harbour basin and shipping channels. There will also be the construction of seawalls an administration, production and supporting facilities, including an office building, kindergarten, trading market, processing area, commercial area among others. ---citinewsroom [May 21, 2020] Healthenly Launches - Enabling Patients and Caregivers to Help Each Other SEATTLE and WILLIAMSBURG, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the COVID-19 pandemic limits access to regular medical facilities and professionals, Healthenly.org has launched to provide a free space for peer-to-peer health guidance and knowledge-sharing. The platform enables people with experience as patients or caregivers to contribute their knowledge to health conversations across a diverse set of acute and chronic diseases and wellness topics. Healthenly members can ask and answer questions, vote on content to make the highest-quality contributions rise to the top, and build reputation through participation and positive contributions to the community. The platform allows contributors to become Healthangels, serving as beacons for specific diseases or medical situations. Healthangels can participate in small, private teams to provide guidance and wisdom to patients and caregivers who want a higher level of support. "People with health knowledge and experience should have a no-nonsense place to contribute that knowledge in support of others," said Nicolas Boillot, Healthenly co-founder. "Several people I've known have wrestled with chronic and acute conditions, and I've watched as they and their communities gained an enormous amount of valuable knowledge. Putting that knowledge to use for others can help create new meaning from difficult lessons." Yale Professor of Psychology Dr. Laurie Santos notes in her popular podcast, The Happiness Lab, "Doing nice things for others can help us feel really good." Santosexplains that behavioral studies show that when doing good for others, we "help the people who need it most while improving our own mental health and building communities of trust around us." "It takes time and energy to manage a chronic health condition," said Cindy Tenner, a new Healthangel on Healthenly. "I have been dealing with a complex cardiac issue for many years. After diagnosis and as symptoms evolved, I could have used the support and ideas of others who were knowledgeable and ahead of me in the journey. Now, Healthenly is here to provide this to individuals with newly diagnosed illnesses and those coping with ongoing conditions. I'm glad to be a Healthangel and mentor to others who might benefit from my experience." "We designed this community to create an opportunity for patients and caregivers with hard-won health lessons to guide others," said Deirdre Tomlinson, Healthenly co-founder. "While this cannot replace professional medical care, it can fill a meaningful gap as patients face a consolidating, and increasingly specialized, health care system with shorter office visits and fewer primary care physicians." About Healthenly - Healthenly, LLC, is a Massachusetts-based company providing a platform for health and wellness conversations. Healthenly also produces the Healing Together podcast, which offers essential health conversations with patients, caregivers, medical professionals, and alternative healthcare providers. Media Contacts: Nicolas Boillot, Co-Founder [email protected] Mobile: 617-448-8085 Deirdre Tomlinson, Co-Founder [email protected] Mobile: 609-462-0073 Related Images healthangel-profile-example.jpg Healthangel Profile Example This shows how patients or caregivers can create a Healthangel profile on Healthenly Related Links The Healthenly Web Site View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthenly-launches---enabling-patients-and-caregivers-to-help-each-other-301063757.html SOURCE Healthenly [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The coronavirus pandemic that forced the shutdown of businesses across Rhode Island sent the states unemployment rate soaring to 17% in April, the state Department of Labor and Training announced Thursday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The coronavirus pandemic that forced the shutdown of businesses across Rhode Island sent the states unemployment rate soaring to 17% in April, the state Department of Labor and Training announced Thursday. Thats up from 4.7% in March and 3.6% last April. The state shed almost 99,000 jobs from February to April, the agency said, but almost 89,000 of those losses were in April alone. Rhode Islands April unemployment rate was higher than the national rate of 14.7%, and higher than anything the state saw during the 2008 recession, when unemployment peaked at about 11.3%. Todays jobs numbers convey the immense extent of economic hardship that the COVID-19 crisis has brought upon Rhode Island workers and families, Scott Jensen, the state labour department director, said in a statement. ___ VIRUS CASES Raimondo suggested Thursday the state is out of crisis mode and moving into the recovery phase, based on the latest statistics on the virus spread. There is a light at the end of this tunnel," she said. "We're in good shape with containing the virus. The state Department of Health on Thursday reported 189 new positive cases of COVID-19, and 18 more deaths. That brings the states totals to nearly 13,600 cases and more than 550 fatalities. The number of people hospitalized with the disease declined slightly to 254, according to the latest figures. ___ MEMORIAL DAY The states virus-related travel restrictions remain in effect as Memorial Day weekend approaches, Raimondo said Thursday. That means anyone coming to Rhode Island from out of state still has to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Meanwhile, businesses on the popular tourist destination of Block Island are bracing for a tough summer with fewer visitors than years past, Steven Filippi, president of the Block Island Tourism Council, told WPRI-TV. Filippi, who owns Ballards Beach Resort, also said a number of island businesses might not open until after the holiday weekend in order to meet new state guidelines for reopening safely. If we have a poor year, where were down 30% or 40%, youre going to see economic damage that is permanent, and Im afraid Block Island will never recover, he told the station. __ SUMMER CAMPS The state is releasing guidelines for the opening summer camps on June 29. Among the requirements to be posted on reopeningri.com is that camp participants must be screened each day, Gov. Raimondo said Thursday. They also must be kept in small, stable groups of no more than 15 children that are supervised every day by the same adults. Camps must also submit a COVID control plan to the state before opening, Raimondo said. ___ CASINOS REOPENING? Rhode Islands two casinos may not open until mid-June or early July, Raimondo said Thursday. The continued closure of Twin River Casino in Lincoln and the Tiverton Casino Hotel in Tiverton comes as Connecticuts Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos announced this week plans to reopen on June 1. Massachusetts, meanwhile, has ordered its three casinos Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park closed at least until June 1. ___ OSCAR WINNER HELPS OUT Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis partnered with the Frontline Foods non-profit to sponsor 100 meals for staff at two Rhode Island hospitals. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Davis, who grew up in Central Falls, was joined by members of the cast of How to Get Away With Murder, which stars Davis, in sponsoring the meals Wednesday for workers at Hasbro Childrens and Rhode Island hospitals, The Providence Journal reported. The meals were provided by South Kingstowns Matunuck Oyster Bar. ___ PROVIDENCE SCHOOLS Layoffs, furloughs and salary freezes are possible in the Providence public schools if anticipated state and city aid increase does not come through, officials said at a school board meeting. If the district does not receive the full funding increase, it will have to make additional reductions in order to make the necessary investments for the upcoming school year, Chief Operating Officer Zack Scott said at Wednesdays meeting, WJAR-TV reported. The coronavirus pandemic forced California to venture into a strange new market for masks, an enterprise it undertook with all the grace and deliberation of a pop-up Halloween store. Gov. Gavin Newsoms well-meaning global hunt for medical-grade masks and other protective gear has drawn justified criticism in the Legislature and come perilously close to frittering away hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on phantom goods. Its been a testament to the value of government transparency even amid crisis as well as the price of delegating a national crisis to state and local governments. The governors latest budget asks the Legislature to give him free rein to spend almost $3 billion more on protective equipment and other emergency pandemic needs, which led state Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, to urge the administration to recognize the role the Legislature must play in such decisions. The nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office rightly warned lawmakers to protect their power over spending, noting, In many cases, we are very troubled by the degree of authority that the administration is requesting that the Legislature delegate. That wariness is well-earned. After Newsom took to Rachel Maddows MSNBC show last month to announce a deal with the Chinese electric-car maker BYD for hundreds of millions of N95 and surgical masks, he refused to disclose the billion-dollar contract to lawmakers or the public for about a month. The company has yet to deliver the bulk of the masks because the federal government has not certified them. The delay means it owes the state a refund worth about a quarter of the contracts price, half of which the state delivered upfront. Some of Californias other adventures in protective equipment procurement didnt even go that well. An $800 million deal for masks and face shields with a company headed by a former Alabama attorney general fell apart after most of the equipment failed to materialize, the Los Angeles Times reported, though officials say they didnt pay for any of the missing supplies. The state did send more than $450 million to another politically connected company promising N95 masks, CalMatters reported, only to frantically retrieve the money hours later. Now that company, Blue Flame Medical, is reportedly under federal investigation. California wasnt alone in this. Maryland had an abortive contract, albeit for much less, with the same company, and an Illinois official recounted rushing a $3 million check to a mask vendor for a dodgy exchange in a McDonalds parking lot. States, cities and hospitals are competing for masks in an international market that the Washington Post recently described as rife with fraud and price-gouging. With most of the Bay Area and the United States still experiencing shortages of vital protective equipment for health care workers, the Newsom administrations urgency was more justifiable than its methods. But the circumstances call for more rather than less pubic and legislative scrutiny to avoid squandering the states scarce resources in the inevitable confusion. The fundamental failure here is the lack of a national strategy to procure, manufacture and distribute masks while preventing counterproductive competition among the states. Although California is better equipped for that competition than its counterparts, its missteps spring partly from a scramble to fill a federal leadership vacuum. This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters. BRONX, N.Y., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine are the first sites in the nation to begin evaluating an investigational drug in two separate, FDA-approved trials: one to treat mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19, and the other to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients. They are hopeful that the drug, leronlimab may prevent the "cytokine storm" that inflames and fatally damages the lungs and other organs of many COVID-19 patients. Harish Seethamraju, M.D., an organ transplant specialist and a member of the department of medicine at Montefiore and Einstein, researched leronlimab early in the pandemic, and realized its potential for treating his transplant patients who had COVID-19. He then obtained "compassionate use" permission from the Food and Drug Administration so that he and his colleagues could use leronlimab on 10 severely ill COVID-19 patients, six of them transplant patients from various organ transplant programs. "By calming the overactive immune systems of these patients, leronlimab halted the inflammation and blood clotting that are so damaging to the lungs, liver and kidneys of severely ill COVID-19 patients," said Dr. Seethamraju. All 10 patients had extremely high blood levels of CCL5, which are inflammatory molecules known as cytokines. This is why the extreme inflammatory response is known as the "cytokine storm." Leronlimab interfered with those CCL5 molecules, preventing them from directing immune cells to swarm into and inflame the lungs and other organs. On May 5th, a study describing promising results for those 10 severely ill patients was made public on the website, MedRxiv, a resource especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic to make research quickly available to the scientific community. Co-authored by Dr. Seethamraju, the study reported that five of the 10 patients treated with leronlimab survived; the study also described the drug as "a novel approach" to resolving unchecked inflammation. Based on the positive results with those patients, the FDA approved Dr. Seethamraju's application for a phase 2 trial of leronlimab. That trial began enrolling both inpatients and outpatients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 on April 2. A total of 75 will participate. "Such patients all too often seem to be recovering, but then crash and burn when their lungs are overwhelmed by an inflammatory reaction that makes breathing impossible, "says Dr. Seethamraju. "The FDA is concerned that there is no treatment for those people." Patients in the multicenter trial receive two injections, one week apart, of either leronlimab or a placebo and are assessed periodically over six weeks for fever, muscle pain, difficulty breathing and cough. Dr. Seethamraju is a co-principal investigator of the Montefiore trial site, along with Scott A. Scheinin, M.D., surgical director of advanced pulmonary failure and lung transplantation, division chief of thoracic surgery and surgical oncology, and director of the Bloodless Heart Surgical Program at Montefiore. On April 16th, Montefiore enrolled the first patient in a second FDA-approved leronlimab clinical trial: a randomized, double blind trial to assess the optimal dose, safety and effectiveness of leronlimab in treating severely ill COVID-19 patients. The 390 patients taking part in this multicenter trial will receive two weekly doses of either leronlimab or a placebo; there will be twice as many patients receiving leronlimab as those receiving the placebo. The trial will evaluate the patients' survival at 14- and 28-days following treatment. The two leronlimab clinical trials are being conducted under the direction of the departments of cardiothoracic surgery and medicine at Montefiore and Einstein. Leronlimab is a monoclonal antibody drug developed by CytoDyn Inc., a biotechnology company based in Vancouver, WA. About Montefiore Health System Montefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 11 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and more than 200 outpatient ambulatory care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org. Follow us on Twitter and view us on Facebook and YouTube. SOURCE Montefiore Health System; Albert Einstein College of Medicine Related Links https://www.montefiore.org Oleksii Malovatskyi, Deputy Chairman of the High Council of Justice Judicial reform one of the favorite topics of the domestic politicum, expert environment and public activists. Ukrainian Themis does not have time to recover from one innovation, as the next one is suggested. And after it appear regular reformist ideas of group of experts on creation the new legal order that is capable to satisfy interests of only their clients. Unfortunately, the goals of such "reforms" are purely applied nature: to dismiss a judge who made the "wrong" decision, to change the composition of judicial governance bodies (HCJ, HQCJ and CJU) in which "wrong were elected." Or to remove the state from the function of justice altogether, trying under the slogan "All judges are dishonest and courts are unfair" to replace national courts with foreign - international commercial arbitrations in London, Paris or Stockholm. Such reforming has nothing to do with solving the urgent problems of the Ukrainian judiciary, such as lack of staff, chronic underfunding, imperfect legislation, a complex of dependence of judges on political power. And most importantly - the lack of strategic planning and ideas about the future model of the judiciary. As a result, there is only a game in "reform", which creates even more problems and deepens the crisis of power. Today, the information space is once again spreading messages about the next plans to "improve" the judicial system. "At the moment, there is no globally developed judicial reform," mentioned the other day the Minister of Justice, but it "will continue as part of separate steps." Such steps, according to the official, should be the introduction of mechanisms to verify the integrity of members of the High Council of Justice and improve disciplinary procedures. Although, two months ago by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was recognized unconstitutional a number of provisions of the Law of Ukraine On making amendments to the Law of Ukraine On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges and certain laws of Ukraine regarding the activity of judicial governance bodies (Law No. 193-IX). Among them also Article 28-1 of the Law No. 193-IX, that provides the formation of the commission on integrity and ethics issues under the HCJ, that should be established to ensure the transparency and accountability of members of the High Council of Justice and members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. The CCU emphasized that the HCJ as a constitutional body, cannot be accountable to an unconstitutional body, which explained the peculiarity of the status of the HCJ. It should be understood that the decisions of the CCU have prejudicing significance, and therefore in case of a change in legislation are binding for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Therefore, the restoration of the mechanism of dismissal of members of the HCJ proposed by the Head of the Ministry of Justice is, in fact, a future step into the unconstitutional past. By the way, the Council of Europe, the EU, the HCJ, the Supreme Court and a number of professional national organizations warned about the inconsistency of the provisions of Law No. 193-IX with the Constitution of Ukraine. But this did not prevent it from being adopted. The question may arise: how is accountability of members of the HCJ to society ensured? And at all - are they subject to verification? The answer to "reformers": yes, of cours, they are! Prior to appointment, the members of the HCJ undergo a special verification in 36 public authorities and receive a certificate of possibility to hold office. During exercise of their powers, members of the HCJ are subject to scrutiny by the NAPC, NABU, SSB, prosecutor's office, police, STI and other authorized state bodies of state powers. Besides, the Law of Ukraine On the High Council of Justice empowers the HCJ with the authority in case of oath violation by one of its members to take decission on his/her dismissal from office if 14 members of the Council voted for it. For comparison, the same number of votes is required for the High Council of Justice to appoint a candidate to the position of judge, and, accordingly, the procedure is clear and understandable. The final decision on dismissal of member of the HCJ shall be made by the body that appointed him/her: the President, the Verkhovna Rada, the Congress of Judges, the Congress of Advocates, the Conference of Prosecutors, the Congress of Representatives of Higher Education and Research Institutions in the Area of Law. In the practice of the High Council of Justice, which existed before establishment of the HCJ in 2017, there were decisions on dismissal of members of the HCJ from their posts for oath violation. That is, the mechanism of responsibility of members of the High Council of Justice is a working one. And, therefore, innovation that provides for establishment of any ethical commissions under it does not meet the stated goal - implementation of still absent mechanism of responsibility of members of the High Council of Justice. So, it has a different task - to change composition of the HCJ in an unconstitutional way. Reforming by way of reform is the road to nowhere. Reform cannot be an end in itself. Her task is gradual change for the better. This logic should be applied to transformations in the judicial system. But first you need to analyze and highlight the actual problems of legal proceedings. Reforming by way of reform is the road to nowhere. Reform cannot be an end in itself. Its task is progressive change for the better. This logic should be applied to transformations in the judiciary. But to begin it is necessary to analyze and highlight the pressing problems of the judiciary. The most acute of these is still a long period of court proceedings. How to solve this problem when courts lack 30% of judges? The answer is simple - to appoint judges. However, the appointment process is too complicated and long, so, it needs to be simplified, while increasing the requirements for candidates for judges. The problem of administering justice in courts under the quarantine declared in connection with the OVID-19 pandemic is also an urgent one. Legislative changes have been made, cases in courts can be considered remotely, instead of obtaining certificates of absence of the Internet in court. That is, there are no barriers to online justice. There is only worldview problem. And this problem is not insurmountable: the best professionals, young and promising candidates committed to the ideals of justice need to be brought into the judiciary. As for the problem of unfair court decisions, it needs to be addressed at the legislative level. "Unfair decision should give impetus to legislative changes, and not force the court to seek a fair or unfair rule and apply them selectively, creating a new law. Judicial practice is not a source of law, except of legal position of the Supreme Court. And the latter is not a court of fact. It should create a general practice and, if it is unfair, respond: appeal to the CCU or to the Parliament with initiative for changes (unfortunately, such a function does not exist). Clear and stable practice of applying the legislation established by the Supreme Court will ensure the effectiveness of disciplinary procedure, arbitrary deviation from which will be considered as disciplinary offense and, accordingly, will allow the HCJ to respond to "unfair" decisions. However, none of these problems will be resolved by the next point reform. And, as we see, this goal does not pursue. "Money Heist" star Itziar Ituno will make her English-language debut in the short animation film "Salvation Has No Name". Ituno broke out on the world stage with her performance as Inspector Raquel Murillo aka Lisbon in the hit Netflix series. According to Deadline, the 16-minute stop motion project comes from producers Delaval Film and is being partly-funded by the British Film Institute (BFI). The film will also feature the voice of Yasmine Al Massri, who starred in ABC thriller series "Quantico". Joseph Wallace is attached to direct and the team includes animators from Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr Fox" and Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie". The short was being filmed at Aardman Animations, the studio behind "Wallace And Gromit", before the coronavirus pandemic hit. The makers have now launched a kickstarter to help the project resume post-pandemic. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Compare-autoinsurance.org (https://compare-autoinsurance.org/) is a top auto insurance brokerage website, providing car insurance quotes online from trustworthy agencies all over the United States. This website offers car insurance info about different coverage types, available discounts, and money-saving tips. Paying the monthly bill for car insurance can be a burden for drivers. Many of them are struggling to gather enough money to pay their monthly insurance bills. Luckily, car insurance doesn't have to be expensive. To make car insurance more affordable, car insurance companies are offering various types of discounts that can be earned by drivers after meeting the requirements. The most important discounts offered by providers are the following: Demographic and geographic-based discounts . Factors like age, gender, marital status can significantly affect the price of car insurance. 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Choosing to go paperless also saves the insurer some money. Story continues For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Getting car insurance discounts will help you keep insurance costs under control. Always ask the insurer's rep about these discounts", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing Company Person for contact: Gurgu C Phone Number: (818) 359-3898 Email: cgurgu@internetmarketingcompany.biz Website: https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ SOURCE: Internet Marketing Company View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/590875/Cheap-Car-Insurance--The-Most-Valuable-Auto-Insurance-Discounts-And-How-To-Qualify-For-Them An elderly retired priest with dementia is to remain subject to High Court orders aimed at keeping him, and others in his community, safe in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The orders were sought last month because the priest, arising from his dementia, continued, despite the Covid-19 lockdown, to seek to visit elderly parishioners and was not adhering to social distancing rules when moving about in the community. This prompted concerns among clergy and friends in his diocese and a solicitor holding a registered power of attorney concerning the priest. The solicitor applied to the High Court, in the context of an intended wardship, for orders requiring the priest to remain in his home with carers attending and supervising him on a daily basis. Those orders were granted and a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent the priest's interests. When the matter returned before High Court president Mr Justice Peter Kelly this week, David Leahy BL, for the solicitor, said the priest's welfare situation has stabilised. There were reports concerning provision of some form of long term support for him as his cognition is not improving but hee had not previously accepted a proposed nursing home placement, counsel said. Mr Leahy said his side has concerns about the mounting costs of the court application and may seek to get the HSE involved as the court's intervention had been sought for protection of both the priest and the public. There may have been an issue whether the application could have been brought under emergency public health laws introduced in response to Covid-19, he added. A solicitor appointed as the priests guardian ad litem said he had not comprehended written instructions from his diocese concerning behavior around Covid-19. She said there was a huge improvement in his physical condition when she saw him earlier this week. He was "in good form" and now working well with his carers concerning personal hygiene. There were no issues about his returning to his home from his daily walk and it was hoped he would be able to attend daily Mass if plans to resume that at his local church proceeded. When she asked about his view on wardship, he had said he would be guided by his Bishop and, when asked about a possible nursing home move, indicated he wished to stay where he was, the guardian added. In his ruling, Mr Justice Kelly said it appeared, from all the medical evidence, the priest no longer has capacity. He said the wardship jurisdiction was invoked in unusual circumstances because the priests very good friends had some months previously, because of his developing dementia, encouraged him to appoint an enduring power of attorney. That power was in the process of being registered when the Covid 19 emergency arose and it was then necessary to invoke the wardship jurisdiction to protect the priest and protect public health. This was for reasons including the priest continued to try and visit elderly parishioners during the Covid-19 emergency, which was detrimental for his health and theirs, and a number "quite rightly" refused to admit him into their homes. The level of support the priest has received from his diocese is "commendable" and he is also very well served by his nominated attorney, a close friend who had devoted much time and attention to his welfare, the judge noted. He directed a hearing next week to determine whether the priest should be taken into wardship and to address costs issues. The guardian might explore whether an intervention from the Bishop might assist with the priest's approach to wardship and with long-term care options, the judge said. Students gear up for PE on May 20, 2020, their first day back at Gyungbuk Girls' High School in Daegu, South Korea, after a lengthy closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daegu was at the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) They'd been rehearsing for this moment for days. It was a complex choreography with more than 300 unpredictable moving parts, the stage a labyrinth of multiple wings and floors. The timing and precision were made trickier still by a wheelchair, a potential wardrobe change and months of pent-up teenage energy. The blocking was fussed over. Red and blue tape was pasted in measured intervals on the floor. Stand-ins made dry runs to anticipate any mishap. Videos with instructions were disseminated ahead of time to be studied and memorized. Then early Wednesday, as a clatter of footsteps approached, it was showtime. Futures were at stake, public health hung in the balance. A missed cue could undo it all. The school was ready to open its doors. :: Gyungbuk Girls' High School is smack in the middle of Daegu, which was at the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak. In late February, the southeastern city known for its scorching summers and sweet apples instead became infamous for what was then the largest cluster of the deadly virus outside China. Students at Gyungbuk Girls' High School await the first bell on their first day back after school closures in Daegu, South Korea, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. High school seniors were the first to resume classes in the country. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) The outbreak that started at the Sunday services of a cult-like Christian group crept across the city. Thousands fell ill, hospitals were overwhelmed; some died at home waiting for hospital beds to open up. Streets and marketplaces emptied out overnight, giving the city the air of a ghost town. The U.S. State Department categorically advised Americans to stay away. The surge in cases came on the eve of the new school year, which in South Korea typically starts March 2. The start of classes was pushed back a week, then two, and then again and again. Similar fates would befall schools across the world as the pandemic spread; by latest count, 1.2 billion students in 153 countries were being kept out of school by lockdowns to contain the virus. Where classes did resume as the epidemic has ebbed, cautionary tales arose a preschool in Singapore, schools in northern France and a boarding school in Australia were each forced to shut down when infections cropped up. Story continues As the virus swept through Daegu, Lee Hwa-jeong, vice principal at Gyungbuk, showed up day after day to the deserted high school. She and other educators around the country were navigating countless directives from education officials, all the while wondering when, and how, students would once again stream through hallways. Students at Gyungbuk Girls' High School chat during a break on their first day back in school in Daegu, the city that was at the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) She knew anxiety was building for seniors facing a tough battle ahead in South Korea's unforgiving college entrance race. Also weighing on her mind were the school's few dozen special-needs students, for whom time away from the classroom would be even more detrimental. And the underprivileged students who she knew got from teachers and friends the love and attention they didn't get at home. :: Hauling backpacks and rubbing bleary eyes, the first students walked through the school's gates shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning under crisp blue skies. Teachers holding orange traffic control batons directed them to walk single file along a roped-off corridor into the school's west entrance, where they were shuffled past a thermal imaging camera. It was at once surreal, yet seemed oddly second nature to the kids, a rite of passage altered. College counselor Kim Jung-ae wearing two masks, one over the other, as an extra precaution enthusiastically welcomed most students by name even though only their eyes were visible. To minimize crowding in hallways, half the students were directed to use one staircase; the other half, stairs on the opposite end of the building. Across South Korea, high school seniors resumed classes this week; other grades were scheduled to return in phases in the coming weeks. At Gyungbuk, that meant 310 restless 17- and 18-year-olds would be first to undergo the experiment that is post-pandemic school life. As the girls filtered into their homerooms, teachers had the unenviable task of enforcing the virus' heartless mandate: no hugs or touching friends whom the students hadn't seen in months. "Walk separately!" "Break apart!" they interjected as gleeful girls greeted one another. At Gyungbuk Girls' High School in Daegu, South Korea, seniors shed their masks to dine on kimchi fried rice and katsu in the cafeteria on May 20, 2020. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) Kim Kyung-mi and Moon A-reum, friends since the 10th grade, hadn't seen each other since the start of winter break in December. Even though they'd talked almost daily on their smartphones, they appeared amazed to be seeing each other in the flesh and blood, chatting up a storm about how they'd spent the months cooped up at home and the latest YouTube videos they'd seen. "There's so much we have to talk about," Kim said. Other girls putzed around with an infrared thermometer, touched one another's hair, remarking on the length, and used disinfecting tissues to wipe down lockers plastered with stickers bearing K-pop stars' names. Many hugged or clutched hands before jumping back when admonished by a teacher. Students at Gyungbuk Girls' High School clean their personal space before class on the first day of school in Daegu, South Korea, on May 20, 2020. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) "Kids will be kids," principal Nam Young-mok said, remarking to fellow teachers how hard if not impossible it was to keep the kids distanced from one another. "If we get just one, we'll have to shut the entire school down." :: Elsewhere in South Korea on Wednesday, 66 high schools in one district in the city of Incheon abruptly sent kids home after just two periods when a student tested positive for the virus. At Gyungbuk, none of the students showed a fever. Desks were spaced out, and plastic barriers lined the desks in the front of the room directly facing the teacher. To minimize students' movements, classes were shortened to 40 minutes with five-minute breaks, down from the typical 50 minutes with 10 minutes in between. A student passes by a thermal imaging camera at the start of the school day at Gyungbuk Girls' High School, in Daegu, South Korea. Classes resumed on May 20, 2020. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) During the months that school was out, Kim, the college counselor, received daily phone calls and messages from students and their parents concerned about what the continued delays would mean for the kids' futures. Many of her students are ambitious on a vision board on her wall where students scrawl their future aspirations, one student wrote across the top: "President." Farther down, another had scribbled: "Biggest star in the universe." "They say they were studying hard on their own at home, but there's only so much they can do," Kim said. Schools had been conducting online classes through apps, videoconferencing and prerecorded lectures since April. Choi Da-young, a 17-year-old senior, said she'd been stuck at home with her two siblings both middle schoolers all three of them resigned to online classes. Staring at a screen for long stretches gave her a headache, she said. The school year didn't feel like it had actually started until she saw her teachers and friends on Wednesday. "Now it really hits home that I'm a senior," she said. :: Girls stood evenly spaced out on red tape marking the gym floor. The masks would prove a challenge: This was fourth period, PE. "Let's just do five jumping jacks, since you have the masks," the teacher said. After the brief warm-up, the girls each grabbed a badminton racket and shuttlecock and paired up in twos. They spread out across the room and squealed as they volleyed back and forth across a net, appearing to momentarily forget college, masks and even the coronavirus. Students get ready for class at Gyungbuk Girls' High School in Daegu, South Korea, on May 20, 2020. (Woohae Cho / For The Times) "Exercise is the best medicine," a teacher had written on a white board on one side of the gym. At the end of the day, after seventh period, came the hour school administrators had been most anxious about: lunch. Masks would have to come off, and the kids were going to be the most relaxed and chatty. The school had adjusted the class schedules for a late lunch at 1:40 p.m. after the final bell to prevent kids from milling about after eating. "Keep a distance of at least a meter!" "This way!" "Line up off to one side!" "Stop!" yelled frantic teachers trying to usher the students into the cafeteria in a steady stream. The kids lined up at blue lines taped to the floor and rubbed their hands with sanitizer before entering the cafeteria. They dined on kimchi fried rice, pork katsu and apple juice in tables sectioned off by clear plastic barriers. They then headed home for the day, bidding friends goodbye until hopefully the next morning. Did you know that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016? You may have seen #theresistance types reminding us of this every day since November 9th. But Curtis Sittenfeld's Rodham, the new novel where Hillary rebuffs Bill's marriage proposal and launches a political career as a single woman, takes this grievance further by creating an alternate universe for Hillary to thrive in. It's meant as a commentary on American politics, but it comes across as a bizarre form of escapism that doesn't augur well for 2020 unless you sell $37 t-shirts that portray Trump as an overweight Chester the Cheetah wearing a diaper. Rodham has received positive coverage in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and other publications that don't let me say things like "gluttonous dong," despite the fact that it features scenes where a young Bill regales Hillary with nude saxophone performances and explores her "honey pot" while he's driving. But there's far more to Rodham than Hillary dumping Bill because of his gluttonous dong, and you might as well be baffled by it now before you hear stirring endorsements in your book club. Rodham opens with a relentless examination of why Hillary was attracted to Bill at Yale -- she appreciates that he considers her an intellectual equal, but also that she has "such a strong sense of wanting him to come inside me, wanting no barriers between us" -- before they move to Arkansas to pursue Bill's political career. But, in witnessing Bill kiss another woman despite him telling Hillary how great her nipples are, Hillary is forced to wonder "Had his erection been inside another woman's body and then had he pulled out and come on her stomach, or had he taken the risk of coming inside her?" (Meanwhile, the reader is left pondering the reaction of the real Hillary, whenever someone gets around to telling her this passage exists.) Continue Reading Below Advertisement The turning point comes when Hillary is approached by a volunteer on Bill's 1974 House of Representatives campaign who says Bill "forced on her." Eventually, a tearful Hillary leaves him. This unnamed woman is a proxy for Juanita Broaddrick who, in 1999, accused Bill of raping her in 1978, when Clinton was Arkansas' attorney general and on the cusp of becoming governor. Hillary Clinton always had little to say about Broaddrick's accusation, but Hillary Rodham gets to walk away. Lewis Hamilton said Niki Lauda is with him "in spirit at every race" as the six-time world champion hailed the Austrian F1 legend on the first anniversary of his death. Three-time champion Lauda passed away just before last year's Monaco Grand Prix at the age of 70. As well as his battles on and off the track, Lauda played a key role in persuading Hamilton to leave McLaren for Mercedes seven years ago. "With Niki, bringing me to a team, convincing me to come to a team that at the time had a lot of success to come. I am grateful for the opportunity and forever love Niki," said Hamilton. "I know he is with us every race in spirit." Hamilton, speaking in a video tribute released by the world champions on Wednesday, admitted it was still tough to discuss the impact of Lauda, 12 months after his death. "Niki is someone who I miss and who I think we all miss dearly," said the British driver. "Probably the most fond memories I have are from my first conversations. We started talking some time in 2012 and I just remember being home during the day, having a call from Niki and he is trying to convince me to come to the team. "It was very cool to have a call from a world champion and an icon like Niki." Close relationship: Hamilton with Lauda at the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka Mastercard Inc will not ask employees to return to its worldwide corporate offices until they are comfortable that the sometimes fatal coronavirus is under control with vaccines or other measures, a senior executive told Reuters on Wednesday. The world's second-largest payment processor is also looking at its real-estate footprint and considering consolidating offices, Chief People Officer Michael Fraccaro said. "We expect in the coming weeks and months that more employees will continue to work from home than come into office," he said. "And we are OK with that. We support that choice." While some Mastercard staff have young children or parents to look after, others are concerned about taking public transport to work. "We have stated upfront to all our employees, that it is their choice ... we want them to make the decision on when they feel comfortable returning to the office," he said. Also read: Work from home to blame for clocking out late? This survey suggests so The company employs nearly 20,000 people globally, with its main headquarters in Westchester, a New York City suburb. Mastercard owns that campus, which it purchased from IBM in 1994. When the situation stabilizes, companies around the world may find that their offices are only about 30% full, Fraccaro said, leading Mastercard to think about its future real-estate needs. Mastercard joins other technology and financial firms that have said they do not plan to implement widespread get-back-to-the-office initiatives any time soon, including its main rivals American Express Co and Visa Inc. Mastercard has created a "future of work" task force that is figuring out how best to handle real estate and employee needs, Fraccaro said. Also read: Visa allows majority of employees to work from home through 2020 About 90% of its workforce is operating remotely, including those based in overseas locations including Beijing and Shanghai, Fraccaro said. Employees who work in offices must follow social distancing rules, wear masks and undergo temperature checks, he said. "Once there is adequate testing and there is a vaccine and people feel comfortable to return, then we may see more," he said. "But in the early phases it will be vastly less than what we had." Two Maritime premiers are interested in building a travel bubble like one introduced in Europe to help restart their provincial economies reeling from COVID-19, but it's a move public health experts say needs to be done cautiously. In a travel bubble, anyone who has not travelled in the past two weeks, is not infected and has not been in contact with somebody who has tested positive for the disease may travel freely to other countries or regions participating in the bubble. After months of travel restrictions, people living in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can move freely by land, air and sea within the region as part of the European Union's first travel bubble. Border guards continue to ask screening questions but there's no mandatory two-week quarantine period to ensure travellers don't develop symptoms of COVID-19. "We had a little celebration here because the border is now open again," Estonian police and border guard officer Martin Maestule said after a cake-cutting late Friday. Infectious disease trackers say every country or region participating in a travel bubble must have a low infection rate for the bubble to hold. Serge Bouchard/Radio-Canada In the Baltics, the three countries combined have reported fewer than 150 deaths from COVID-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Canada's northern territories, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and P.E.I. have reported no new cases for at least a week. The low infection rates have led both New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and P.E.I. Premier Dennis King to raise the possibility of eventually forming a regional travel bubble involving the two provinces. "It'll be a few weeks out, two months I would say, probably the end of June, July," Higgs said in a CBC News virtual town hall last week. Risk looms Since new cases could occur at any time, public health officials want to ensure testing, contact tracing and physical distancing are maintained before travel bubbles are considered. Story continues Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health, said a travel bubble could only happen once outbreaks are under control and there are no active cases. Even then, the risk looms of travel-related cases imported from outside the province. "If you were to include a province that had their numbers under control, then you would treat them like a citizen of your own province," Russell said. "I think we would only really consider relaxing the border measures in jurisdictions that have similar numbers or similar controls like ours right now." Shane Fowler/CBC Currently, Russell said those coming from outside New Brunswick, with few exceptions, have to self-isolate for 14 days, the incubation period for COVID-19. Eventually, Russell said, if N.B. and P.E.I. form a travel bubble, it could extend through the Maritimes if Nova Scotia's case count drops and the common criteria are met. For now, New Brunswick's emergency declaration bans all non-essential travel into the province to prevent COVID-19 spread. Border protest On Tuesday, some Quebecers protested at a bridge linking to New Brunswick, arguing against the Maritime province's travel restrictions barring entry for reasons other than to go to work. They're advocating for travel for essential goods such as groceries, as well as family reunification. Travel bubbles may sound good in principle, but experts say they're harder to implement. Craig Jenne, an associate professor in microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary, said the low case burden and ability to restrict travel through New Brunswick to other Maritime provinces could help in establishing a travel bubble for that region. "The safest is still a quarantine, even if you're screening everybody." Jenne would like to see more random screening done in Maritime communities before a travel bubble forms to ensure officials have a representative sample of what's happening more broadly. He's concerned people in remote areas of the region may not have timely access to diagnostic testing. 'Virus does not ride the wind' "A virus does not walk around on its own. The virus does not ride the wind from one part of the world to another. It comes with us," Jenne said. In Australia and New Zealand, there are also discussions about creating a travel bubble involving the two countries in an effort to stimulate their economies. On Wednesday, Vietnam's tourism board also expressed interest in joining when it is safe. Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at the University of Otago in Wellington, N.Z., called the idea of a travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand "aspirational." Baker said despite active discussions by politicians in both countries and low rates of transmission, there are open questions about how low they need to be to permit people to cross the border without a quarantine. "It could be something along the lines of two weeks. I say four weeks with no cases at all," Baker said. "It's quite a high bar." WATCH | What's a travel bubble and why the concern? Wuhan officially kicked off a campaign on 14 Ma to look for asymptomatic carriers infected people who show no outward sign of illness after confirming its first cluster of COVID-19 infections in early May for the first time since it was released from the lockdown. Wuhan: Back in March when I was in Wuhan as it opened up after over two months in lockdown, I often went past the Minyi vegetable market. Blocked by 2-metre-high yellow barricades, it was a constant reminder of how the citys life had come to a crashing halt during the pandemic. Last week, the barricades were gone and the locksmith and egg shops that fronted it were open as Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, celebrated emerging from the worst of the pandemic. The street was filled with hawkers selling turnips and fresh pork. Traffic jams have returned in the city of 11 million and there is mass dancing in its open-air plazas by the Yangtze River. The hotel where I stayed, which used to spray me from head to toe with disinfectant before entering, has done away with the practice. Restaurants have resumed allowing patrons to dine in and the city has launched an ambitious plan to test all its residents for the virus. But amid the relief that the worst was over, it was in the snaking queues of people lining up before hazmat-suit clad medical workers that I encountered a lingering fear. Wuhan officially kicked off a campaign on 14 Ma to look for asymptomatic carriers infected people who show no outward sign of illness after confirming its first cluster of COVID-19 infections in early May for the first time since it was released from the lockdown. In the largest such exercise in the world, over 2 million people have been tested since it started and 71 have been found to be virus carriers. Some people fretted that the clustering and long queues at test sites could expose them to the virus again. In March, many neighbourhood community workers, perhaps overcome with relief and exhaustion after the virus battle, were generally friendly and open to talking about what life had been like. This time, community organisers dressed in bright red vests were reluctant to talk to journalists and told us to leave a test site where a packed queue of migrant workers stood in line to get tested. Wuhan city officials did not respond when asked why reporters were being told to leave the sites. Despite the return of some public life and commerce, many Wuhan residents spoke of a continued fear of a second wave of the virus, saying they were going out less than before. You can say that there are two types of people now in Wuhan, said one resident, who, like others, declined to be named on a topic that remains sensitive. The first are no longer that worried and some even go out without wearing masks. Others, like me, remain careful. We only want to meet in open-air areas and we ask if it might return. China has confirmed 82,967 cases of COVID-19 and 4,634 deaths, with about 80 percent of them in Wuhan. They are the scandal hit firm at the centre of the government's maligned contacting tracing efforts. But Serco, which is one of the companies contracted to train call centre staff for the government's 'vital' contact tracing scheme, has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past. The Hampshire-based private contractor has been hit by a string of controversies in the past few years, including claims in 2013 that it had charged the government for electronically monitoring people who were either dead, in jail, or had left the country. Yesterday, Serco, whose chief executive is Sir Winston Churchill's grandson Rupert Soames, faced fresh criticism after accidentally sharing the email address of 300 of its recruits for the government's contract tracing efforts. Serco, which is one of the companies contracted to train call centre staff for the government's 'vital' contact tracing scheme, has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past Serco, which is based in Hampshire (pictured: Serco's head office) has been hit by a string of controversies over the years, including claims in 2013 that it had charged the government for electronically monitoring people who were either dead, in jail, or had left the country Yesterday, Serco, whose chief executive is Sir Winston Churchill's grandson Rupert Soames (pictured), faced fresh criticism after accidentally sharing the email address of 300 of its recruits for the government's contract tracing efforts But the blunder, which will do little for the confidence of millions of Britons who will be asked to hand over their personal details as part of the contact tracing system, is far from the first time Serco has faced criticism. In July 2013, Serco, along with security firm G4S, who are also in the running to provide call centre staff for the contact tracing app, were accused of overcharging for their work tagging criminals. RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY 'SECURITY FLAWS' IN NHSX APP Security researchers have highlighted a number of potential flaws in the coronavirus contact tracing app. The issues have been flagged to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is involved in the app's development, and it said it is in the process of fixing them. The researchers also warned legal protections around data use are needed in order to better protect personal privacy on the app, which is currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight. They say data associated with the app should be protected by legislation 'from use by law enforcement, or any usage not directly related to Covid-19 prevention'. Harriet Harman, chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, said on Tuesday that new laws to protect the privacy of personal information gathered by the app are a 'no brainer'. Ms Harman, who has prepared a Bill on the issue which is ready for introduction, said assurances by Health Secretary Matt Hancock do not provide any protection after he wrote to her saying the Government believes legislation is unnecessary because there is already the Data Protection Act. In their study of the contact tracing app, which was shared with the NCSC last week, security researchers Professor Vanessa Teague and Dr Chris Culnane identified a number of issues, including a weakness in the app's registration process which could be exploited by hackers and used to manipulate data or create logs of fake contact events. It also highlighted a flaw which means storing unencrypted data on a user's phone could potentially be used by law enforcement agencies to determine when two or more people met. The research added that generating new random ID codes for users once a day, rather than every 15 minutes like in other systems, makes it theoretically possible to determine intimate details about an app user's lifestyle, such as whether they 'woke up and went to bed with the same person, or more revealingly, if they did not'. Dr Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC, thanked the researchers and confirmed the app development team is addressing all the issues raised. 'The intent of being open before national launch was to show what the app will do, how it will do it, and to get some peer review from security and privacy researchers,' he wrote in a blog post. 'Thank-you to everyone who's taken the time to look at the design and the beta code and provide us with useful feedback, whether that's directly, on GitHub or through the NCSC's vulnerability disclosure programme. 'Everything reported to the team will be properly triaged (although this is taking longer than normal).' Dr Levy added the NCSC would not comment on specific legal issues raised by the researchers. In a further statement, a spokesman for the NCSC said: 'Responsible security researchers are an overwhelming force for good and their feedback was openly requested for the quickly developed beta app. 'It was always hoped that measures such as releasing the code and explaining decisions behind the app would generate meaningful discussion with the security and privacy community. 'We look forward to continuing to work with security and cryptography researchers to make the app the best it can be for the public.' Advertisement Reports revealed that up to one in six of the 18,000 tags the government was billed for every day were not real. The tags had been placed on criminals who were either dead, in jail or had left the country, it was claimed. The accusations prompted Whitehall to scrutinise every government contract given to the two private firms. Serco and G4S were both stripped of their respective contracts by the government over the claims. G4S agreed to pay back more than 100million in 2014, while Serco was fined nearly 19.2million and pay costs of 3.7million in 2019 as part of a settlement with the Serious Fraud Office. In September 2013, just months after the tagging allegations emerged, a Serco-run immigration centre was stung by sexual abuse allegations after a 23-year-old Roma woman claimed she was assaulted. The woman - who wasn't identified - was awaiting deportation at Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire after committing an unspecified crime. Two male members of staff were sacked a month later due to 'inappropriate behaviour' with a detainee. Despite the troubles, the Home Office awarded Serco 70million in 2014 to keep operating Yarl's Wood for another eight years. In August 2014, campaigners claimed Serco was among a list of private contractors who used immigrant detainees for cheap labour. Corporate Watch, the organisation behind the report, alleged Serco, G4S and others were 'exploiting their captive migrant workforce'. The Guardian reported some detainees held at detention centres were paid as little as 1 an hour. Serco claimed at the time that the paid work was voluntary and in accordance with strict government rules. Just months later, in January 2015, a refugee charity claimed female immigrants being held at the Serco-ran Yarl's Wood were 'treated like animals and sexually abused by staff'. Women for Refugee Women said females held at the centre were watched by male staff in intimate situations including when using the toilet. The charity interviewed 38 women who were recently or currently detained in Yarl's Wood. Six women claimed staff had made sexual suggestions and three alleged they were touched sexually. Seven reported being physically assaulted. Serco hit headlines once again in November 2017, when leaked Paradise Papers revealed a law firm branded Serco a 'high risk' client for its troubled past. The Guardian reported that concerns had been raised about Serco's 'history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging'. In August 2018, Serco sparked fury after it emerged it planned to evict hundreds of asylum seekers living in private accommodation in Glasgow without court orders. Officials provide free housing for asylum seekers until their applications are accepted. Serco paused the move to evict tenants whose application was denied after the criticism over the planned action, the BBC reported. The firm was taken to court over the move, which furious activists described as a form of 'housing apartheid'. But Scotland's highest court ruled in November 2019 the eviction of asylum seekers without court orders was lawful. Yesterday, Serco was forced to apologise today after accidentally sharing the email address of 300 of its recruits. The blunder will likely be a confidence blow for Britons who will be expected to hand over their private details to companies like Serco in the coming weeks as the country exits lockdown. It came as the Government's test and trace plan was embroiled in fresh chaos yesterday, with a cabinet minister admitting the NHSX app won't be ready for weeks. Contact tracers are already working in countries like Belgium, above, in the UK, 21,000 people have signed up to help track Covid-19 The Government will launch a widespread contact tracing scheme to track down people who have been in touch with infected patients Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said during a round of interviews today that the contact tracing app - which was promised to be rolled out from mid-May - would not be ready until at least next month. Meanwhile Sitel, the other company involved in training contact tracing call centre recruits, faced criticism yesterday. HOW WILL CONTACT TRACERS WORK ALONGSIDE THE APP? The bulk of contact tracing work will be contracted out to at least two companies, including Serco, who are being asked to provide 15,000 call centre staff. They will designated specific areas of the country and will receive alerts when NHSX app users come into contact with suspected patients. It is their job to phone these people and advise they self isolate and be vigilant about changes in their health and about social distancing. If they become ill, they will be tested. If a contact becomes infected, the same process begins for them and their social network. The idea is to keep track of how the virus moves through social circles and to try to stay a step ahead of it and prevent wider spread. Ministers have also promised an additional 3,000 former doctors and nurses who have been recruited from the pool of retired NHS staff who volunteered to return to help during the pandemic. They will be able to provide medical advice to confirmed and suspected patients. The tracers will make a list of people considered to have been put at risk by the patient, and those people will be notified that they might have the coronavirus. The NHSX app would need more than 70 per cent of the UK population to download and use it for it to be effective. But ministers say physical contact tracing will make up for the shortcomings of the app if update is below 70 per cent. Advertisement The privately owned contact centre company headquartered in the United States, last month faced questions from Labour MP, Luke Pollard, after claims from a whistle-blower suggested staff were not properly social distanced while working at one of its Plymouth call centres. But yesterday it came under fire over claims call centre recruits for the government's contact tracing system were paid for three days, despite doing 'virtually no work and receiving little training'. The trainee contract tracer, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed he was employed as a 'Work at Home Customer Service Adviser' after applying through the job website Indeed. The man was invited for a day of online training run by outsourcing firm Sitel on Sunday, where there was just one trainer for around 100 tracers. 'We had a chat [box] where we could ask him questions, but the first hour and a half of the training was just people writing, 'I can't hear anything',' he said. The trainees were told they were being hired as agents in the contact-tracing team acting as the first point of contact for suspected COVID-19 cases. The man added: 'After the full day of training, people were still asking the most basic things. Someone also asked what they should do if they spoke to someone whose relative had died of the virus and he said we should look on YouTube where there are lots of videos about empathy and sympathy when talking to someone.' 'Then I looked at the rota and it said I was starting the next morning at 9am.' The man logged in first thing on Monday to an email telling him to standby for instruction. He did nothing all day, but was assured he would still be paid. One female recruit told the Guardian she had spent three days trying and failing to log into the Sitel system, despite Matt Hancock's assurances it was already up and running smoothly. Another told the BBC: 'I've never been so bored in my life, it is an extremely expensive way to sit around doing nothing for the state.' A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care insisted recruits were being thoroughly trained before being asked to make calls. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on Monday that 21,000 tracers would be receiving 'rigorous' and 'detailed' training needed for the important role, seen as crucial for getting the country back up and running. Contact tracers are being employed to track down people by phone or email who have been exposed to an infected coronavirus patient to advise them to self-isolate. They are set to be deployed along with the NHSX coronavirus app, which alerts users when they have been close to someone with the illness. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier this month that the goal was to roll out the regime in 'mid-May', but following a series of blunders has since refused to set a date. A number of potential security flaws suggesting the software can be easily hacked have been flagged to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which are thought to be partly to blame for the hold-up. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland conceded yesterday that the scheme may not be ready for another month. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said earlier this month that the goal was to roll out the regime in 'mid-May', but following a series of blunders has since refused to set a date The NHSX app is another critical piece of the puzzle. People will be asked to download the software, and it will use bluetooth to detect whether they have been near anyone who has been diagnosed. They can then be told to isolate to stamp out flare-ups of the disease. The director for Public Health Sheffield Greg Fell warned that test and trace is 'fundamental to breaking chains of transmission and reopening society'. He admitted he did not 'know the final details of how it will work', and insisted properly trained staff would have to do the 'heavy lifting work'. Mr Fell highlighted the dangers of relying on the app and call centres alone, saying detailed engagement with communities was key. 'That can't be managed only by people working in a call centre 250 miles away,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Downing Street again refused to give a date for when the new contact tracing programme will begin. The blame game was also in full swing this week as a Cabinet minister claimed blunders in the coronavirus response were down to 'wrong' science advice. Therese Coffey insisted the government had just been following the guidance from experts as she fended off damning criticism from MPs over 'inadequate' testing. The Science and Technology Committee found hospital staff, care home workers and residents were put at risk because of a lack of capacity for screening 'when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant'. Routine testing for those with symptoms was abandoned on March 12, when the government shifted to its 'delay' phase, with checks reserved for hospital patients and health staff. The analyst covering The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HKG:45) delivered a dose of negativity to shareholders today, by making a substantial revision to their statutory forecasts for this year. Revenue estimates were cut sharply as the analyst signalled a weaker outlook - perhaps a sign that investors should temper their expectations as well. The stock price has risen 6.0% to HK$7.40 over the past week. We'd be curious to see if the downgrade is enough to reverse investor sentiment on the business. Following the latest downgrade, the sole analyst covering Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels provided consensus estimates of HK$2.6b revenue in 2020, which would reflect a stressful 56% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. After this downgrade, the company is anticipated to report a loss of HK$0.65 in 2020, a sharp decline from a profit over the last year. However, before this estimates update, the consensus had been expecting revenues of HK$3.4b and HK$0.64 per share in losses. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analyst making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also making no real change to the loss per share numbers. Check out our latest analysis for Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels SEHK:45 Past and Future Earnings May 21st 2020 the analyst has cut their price target 9.9% to HK$7.75 per share, signalling that the declining revenue and ongoing losses are contributing to the lower valuation. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. The most optimistic Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels analyst has a price target of HK$8.20 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at HK$7.30. With such a narrow range of valuations, analysts apparently share similar views on what they think the business is worth. Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with the forecast 56% revenue decline a notable change from historical growth of 1.4% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 13% next year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels is expected to lag the wider industry. Story continues The Bottom Line Unfortunately the analyst also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. The consensus price target fell measurably, with the analyst seemingly not reassured by recent business developments, leading to a lower estimate of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels' future valuation. Given the stark change in sentiment, we'd understand if investors became more cautious on Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels after today. That said, this broker might have good reason to be negative on Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, given its declining profit margins. For more information, you can click here to discover this and the 1 other risk we've identified. Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. A public holiday has been moved forward to create a new long weekend in Queensland as the premier pushes to boost domestic tourism. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Thursday the usual mid-week public holiday for Ekka - the Royal Queensland Show - is being moved back to Friday August 12. 'The Ekka public holiday will move from Wednesday, 12 August to Friday, 14 August to support our tourism industry,' Ms Palaszczuk tweeted. 'For one year only, Peoples Day will become the Peoples Long Weekend and Im calling on Queenslanders to use it to boost local tourism.' Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Thursday the usual mid-week public holiday for Ekka - Royal Queensland Show - is being moved back to Friday August 12 A public holiday has been moved forward to create a new long weekend in Queensland as the premier pushes to boost domestic tourism. Pictured: People having a picnic in Brisbane over the weekend The show has been scrapped this year because of COVID-19, but it is hoped the creation of a long weekend will encourage families to further explore their local region. Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday has also urged the state to plan winter holidays within their regions during the upcoming school break. She said there had been confusion over the school holiday restrictions, but that Queenslanders would be permitted to travel up to 250km. 'They can holiday in Queensland in their regional areas so I really want to encourage people as much as possible to start planning those holidays and support our tourism industry,' she said. The announcements come as she faces pressure from the tourism industry and other stakeholders to open the borders. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has repeatedly pushed for Queensland to relax the rules to allow interstate travellers to visit the Sunshine State for a holiday. 'The Ekka public holiday will move from Wednesday, 12 August to Friday, 14 August to support our tourism industry,' Ms Palaszczuk tweeted But Queensland is holding firm, saying the borders will remain closed until the southern states can bring their COVID-19 cases under control. Transport Minister Mark Bailey said on Thursday the government won't take health advice from NSW, which has recorded 49 deaths from the virus and is still regularly recording new cases. 'We won't be lectured to by the worst performing state,' he said. 'It's time for Gladys and the NSW government to get their act together and start performing as well as Queensland has on the health front.' Ms Palaszczuk agreed. 'I hope they get their community transmission under control because that means we will be able to open up sooner,' she said. Ms Palaszczuk on Thursday has also urged the state to plan winter holidays within their regions during the upcoming school break. Pictured: Brisbane residents out and about after Corona restrictions were relaxed The premier is also facing pressure from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson who has engaged a pro bono constitutional lawyer to represent businesses affected by the border closure in a High Court challenge. 'It is unconstitutional for Premier Palaszczuk to close Queensland's border and her actions are causing me a great deal of concern for the economic viability of our state,' Senator Hanson wrote on Facebook. Ms Palaszczuk said a court challenge was a matter for Ms Hanson. 'But, by the time any action gets to the High Court, I'm quite sure the borders would be open.' Queensland recorded no new cases of COVID-19 overnight. There as 12 active cases remaining. A judge has jailed a 28-year-old Co Clare man who beat his wife black and blue with a belt and buckle. At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan jailed the man for 13 months after describing the man as a savage. Judge Durcan told the court: The mark on the womans back from the belt and buckle reminds me of the savage brand used by landlords in this country in the past when dealing with tenants who didnt comply with their requirements in a system of justice that wasnt just. The judge stated that the unfortunate woman was further marked on the back of her leg by another strike of the belt and buckle during the assault in the upstairs of their home on May 2. Judge Durcan stated: I have not in my time on the bench seen such violence, thuggery and criminality perpetrated on a woman and a lady as has been evidenced in this case. The judge stated: Nobody should be subject to that type of treatment. He stated: If a farmer had treated an animal in that fashion he would be subject to the most serious rigours of the Dept of Agriculture. Judge Durcan stated that the accused had the intimidatory weapons of the belt and buckle that he was prepared to use to beat his wife black and blue. Judge Durcan stated that the assault by the man at the home with the belt and buckle against his wife really showed the kind of savage that he is. The judge said that the brutality of the assault involved the enforcement instrument of the buckle and belt. Judge Durcan stated that there was a Safety Order in place against the man that was granted to the woman in September 2017. Judge Durcan stated that a plea of guilty to the two offences was only offered mid-trial and this was the hollowest plea of guilt and I am giving no credit for that. Judge Durcan stated that at the outset of the case I could see a frightened woman who was very clearly intimidated and did not want to give evidence. However, after Sgt Aiden Lonergan read out her statement of complaint concerning one charge, the man changed his not guilty plea to a guilty one to the two offences. Sgt Lonergan stated that the man has 61 previous offences that includes a previous assault conviction. Judge Durcan imposed a nine month jail term of the belt and buckle assault on May 2 last and a consecutive four month separate offence on April 8th where her husband pushed her up against a car In court the man apologised to his wife for the two offences. In the event of an appeal, Judge Durcan set recognisance at the accuseds own bond of 500 and an independent surety of 1,000. Judge Durcan stated that if bail is taken up pending an appeal, the court will fix other bail conditions in light of the savagery and intimidation in this case". Sinn Fein and the DUP are being asked to "see sense" and end their opposition to virtual Belfast City Council committee meetings. People Before Profit councillor Fiona Ferguson said she will raise the issue at a party group leaders' meeting tomorrow. Alliance, SDLP and Greens support the proposal, which they say is vital for accountability, scrutiny and democracy. They are perplexed as to why City Hall hasn't followed the example of other councils and the Stormont Assembly by holding online committee meetings. The council last night said it hoped virtual committee meetings will be held from August. Ms Ferguson said she was stunned when council management asked party group leaders to hold online public sessions with constituents, while not facilitating online committees. At the start of the coronavirus crisis the council voted for decisions to be made by its chief executive Suzanne Wylie with input from the party group leaders. A new law paved the way for virtual committees to take decisions. However, this was blocked by the DUP and Sinn Fein. Ms Ferguson said: "Hundreds of thousands of people log on to work from home but we haven't held committees for months. We're told technology isn't in place but councils across Ireland and Britain are meeting quite regularly, so this doesn't hold up. "Moreover, we've been asked if we would hold online meetings with constituents, begging the question: why can we do this but aren't permitted to hold committee meetings? The issue will discussed again tomorrow. We are urging Sinn Fein and the DUP to see sense." The council said: "It was agreed at the council's party group leaders' meeting on May 12 to trial a virtual meeting of its strategic policy and resources committee in June as part of a phased approach to establishing committee meetings. "It was also agreed that council meetings will take place in June (separate to the annual meeting) and July to ratify committee decisions for May and June. As part of this, it is intended that virtual meetings for all established committees will be introduced from August 2020 onwards." Did people say no to you before? They might say yes now. Were they afraid of your idea before? Maybe not anymore. And what about you, personally? Did you think something was once impossible, or that youd reached your limit? Now you might discover otherwise. I am seeing this pattern over and over of entrepreneurs and companies and even industries rapidly shedding what used to seem like dogma. What a massive opportunity that is. Heres an example. Aziz Hashim owns more than 700 franchise units in North America, and a few years ago, he had a crazy idea to make more money. Even during normal times, his restaurants (and most restaurants!) tend to have extra kitchen capacity. Thats a problem: They had spent millions of dollars to build the facility and didnt have enough customers to fully maximize it. Meanwhile, many brands want to expand into new markets but cant afford to build a new space. So whats the solution? Sell one brands food out of another brands kitchen! Meals from The Captains Boil, a seafood brand in Canada, can be made in a Ruby Tuesday in America and delivered to a customer who ordered online. Hashim built a platform to enable those kinds of swaps, and originally envisioned it as a tool to help his own franchises. When the pandemic hit, however, he decided to open the platform up to any brand. He thought it might help the industry at large. When Aziz and I spoke recently, I was intrigued by his disruptive potential. His idea challenges the very notion of what a restaurant is, and it seems like the first step in a mashed-up world where anything can come from anywhere. I could imagine the restaurant industry hating it in normal times, that is. So I asked him: Have people been faster to adopt this now, because of the pandemic? His answer: Significantly. Significantly. In fact, his company is struggling to keep up with requests. Theyre being flooded from restaurants in need, yes, but also stores and hotels. If people had reservations about his concept before, they dont now. Theyre hungry for new ideas and new options, and he has them. Thats one example of change being sped up. And heres a much smaller, but more personal one: For the past few years, Ive been writing a column much like this one inside every issue of Entrepreneur magazine. I love doing it, and Ive been grateful for the feedback I get from readers. Maybe, Id often thought, I could write even more columns. Maybe I could create a weekly version that runs online! But then Id stop myself. I dont have time for that, Id say. I have too much to do already. Will I even have enough ideas? Frankly, Im maxed out. When this crisis struck, however, I realized I had an opportunity. People wanted information and perspective, and I felt I had something to offer. So I told the team here: Im writing a weekly newsletter. How would it happen while Im at home with two little kids and an ever-growing mountain of work? I didnt know. But it felt possible and thats all I needed. And I'm so glad I did it. This is the crazy magic of entrepreneurs. We live in a world of challenges and setbacks, and weve been dismissed (or dismissed ourselves!) repeatedly. We are told no, or told to stay in our lane, or told to wait our turn. But we dont listen. When the moment is right, we somehow clear our memories; we forget the boundaries that others had drawn, or that wed drawn for ourselves. Then we think: Nows the time. Or Nows the time to try again. Or Now wont be the last time I try. This pandemic feels stifling and is causing great hardship. But thats not the end of it. Theres a freedom here, too a freedom to navigate a shaken-up world, to provide solutions to people newly in need, and to forget whatever negativity we carried over from the old world. A lot may be wrong right now, but a lot is possible as well. And possibility is all we need. This column was part of Mid-Week Motivation, a weekly letter I send out to Entrepreneur's newsletter subscribers. Sign up to receive it! You can also contact me directly on Instagram or LinkedIn Related: Facebook to Reopen Offices in July With Limited Capacity A Navy SEAL's Guide to Thriving in Close Quarters, Part 3: Manage U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Hit 2.4 Million, Bringing 9-week Total to Nearly 39 Million Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The government on Wednesday said 2010 sanctions against North Korea imposed over the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan are virtually no longer in effect. The sanctions "no longer pose any obstacle to cross-border exchange and cooperation," Unification Ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key said. They were imposed on May 24, 2010 after the North torpedoed the Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean officers and sailors in waters off Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea. The remarks come amid quixotic government efforts here to engage the North in some kind of business. "The impact of the sanctions has been weakened and exceptions were made during previous administrations, so much of their validity has been lost," he said. The move is largely symbolic since international sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program are in fact much more comprehensive. But the 2010 sanctions ban "all inter-Korean exchange and cooperation" except then Kaesong Industrial Complex, which has since been shut down. They were never officially lifted because North Korea never apologized for the attack or even admitted it. When a North Korean delegation and cheerleaders turned up for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the government made clear it was lifting the sanctions only on a "temporary and exceptional" basis. Last May, a ministry spokesman said, "We can be flexible in reassessing our own 2010 sanctions within the framework of the international sanctions on North Korea, but they still remain effective" in response to the torpedo attack. In Wednesday's remarks, the official made no reference to the sinking of the Cheonan, which remains a rallying point for hawkish conservatives here. Some critics feel that lets North Korea off the hook over the attack, but in practical terms it makes very little difference. The government has been desperately trying to engage North Korea with offers of cooperation, from tourism to forestry, but there has been no reply and much of it is banned under global sanctions and looks like token politics. Iraqi intelligence has arrested Abdulnasser al-Qirdash, the potential successor of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, former leader of the dreaded terrorist organisation ISIS, according to multiple reports. Today, the terrorist named Abdulnasser al-Qirdash, the candidate to succeed the criminal al-Baghdadi, was arrested. [The arrest] came after accurate intelligence, the statement from the Iraqi National Intelligence Service read, according to a report in Al-Arabiya. The latest raid that led to the capture and arrest of al-Qirdash comes a month after Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Iraqs former intelligence chief, became the countrys prime minister, reported the outlet. Baghdadi was killed in the Idlib province of northwestern Syria in an operation by the US in October last year. The Islamic State had last year confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, days after US President Donald Trump said that the terrorist blew himself up during a raid by the American military. Karine Jean-Pierre attends the discussion "Inspiring Activism" at Build Studio on January 17, 2020 in New York City. - (Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)By MOLLY NAGLE and JOHN VERHOVEK, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- With just over five months until the general election and facing a barrage of public advice on how to move forward with a campaign in the midst of a global pandemic, former Vice President Joe Bidens team is pushing ahead with a new strategy, focusing on hiring new leaders amid increased outreach to key, diverse voting groups they consider critical to build a winning constituency against President Donald Trump in November. The campaign, which has recently announced plans for a major expansion in the coming weeks, is aiming to revamp its team to reach communities of color, in particular Latinos, a group Biden struggled to court throughout the Democratic primary. Bidens campaign signaled they would be intensifying their outreach with new and diverse senior leadership, and announced Wednesday the hire of Karine Jean-Pierre, a former Obama administration official and the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn, a progressive public policy group. Jean-Pierre will join the highest ranks of the Biden campaign as a senior advisor developing programs to engage with key communities, as well advising on strategy and communication. Her hiring drew praise from both establishment Democrats and progressive groups like MoveOn, who called her a trusted friend and colleague and a tremendous asset to the campaign. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for her. I really believe that she brings the kind of stature to this campaign that will make all of us proud. I'm a big fan of her, Rep. James Clyburn told ABC News Wednesday. She's got a very sophisticated understanding of politics. She also obviously can help build relationships within the progressive community, within the communities of color, among women, David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to President Obama, told ABC News. Jean-Pierres hiring comes the day after the Biden campaign announced they were bringing on board Julie Chavez Rodriguez as a senior advisor to help with its outreach to the Latino community -- a group the former vice president struggled to gain traction with during the Democratic primary -- and expand the campaigns state-based operations. Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, previously served as a co-national political director for California Sen. Kamala Harris presidential campaign, and worked in the Obama White House as a liaison to leaders in the LGBT, Asian-American, Latino, veterans, youth, education, labor, and progressive communities. The additions of Jean-Pierre and Chavez underscores the campaigns efforts to ramp up for a general election battle against President Trump. As the campaign plows ahead to November, they continue to grapple with the unprecedented nature of running a campaign remotely. In a recent op-ed for the New York Times, Axelrod, along with President Obamas 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, gave public advice to Bidens campaign, imploring the campaign to engage surrogates, and organize voter outreach programs virtually. [Jen OMalley Dillon] could have written a piece that David Plouffe and I wrote in the New York Times, and you know just now for her, it's a matter of executing on all of that while in the position of coming to the campaign at a time when you have to operate remotely, Axelrod said of Bidens campaign manager, adding there isnt a better person in the Democratic party to lead Bidens campaign. The challenge of virtual campaigning is not lost on Jean-Pierre, who agreed the campaigns efforts needed to expand beyond Bidens virtual endeavors. I also think that weve got to get surrogates out there. Weve got to get people who support our candidate, who support the Democratic Party, support what we're trying to do out there speaking on behalf of the campaign. I think it's going to take really an army, a village to get this right because we do have to be innovative, we do have to reimagine how you run a campaign, Jean-Pierre said. On a call with reporters last week, OMalley Dillon suggested that the former vice president had a pathway to victory though 17 battleground states, and would build a winning coalition of voters that would draw from three key groups: young and minority voters, suburban women, and disaffected voters who backed Trump in 2016 or did not vote. OMalley Dillon said Bidens team is focusing on creating customized messages to specific groups in states on their battleground map, with tailored approaches for registering, persuasion and turnout--a focus Axelrod agreed with. I think it's really a matter of mobilization. I don't think there's a danger of progressive voters or voters of color in large numbers to migrate to Trump. It's a matter of getting them out to vote and feeling invested in this election, Axelrod said. There has to be a focus on states because the election will be decided in a handful of battleground states where margins matter. And we saw that in 2016. So, it seems to me that just the math of contemporary politics dictates that you have a state by state focus, Axelrod said. Bidens struggles with Latino voters have come into focus as a general election matchup with Trump approaches. Latinos are poised to become the largest racial or ethnic minority during a presidential election cycle, according to the Pew Research Center. Public polling indicates that Biden indeed has significant ground to make up with Latinos. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday afternoon showed Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump nationally, but just a 7-point lead with Latinos, a group former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by 38 points in 2016. Dr. Jill Biden has participated in several virtual campaign stops targeting swing states in recent weeks, including two in Arizona and Colorado that specifically targeted Latinos billed as Charla con Biden, or Chat with Biden events, and the campaign also organized a press call Wednesday morning focused on the unemployment disparities the Latino community is facing during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. One prominent Latino group said that the Biden campaign still has more work to do in its efforts, to reach the critical voting bloc, but welcomed the new hires. Julie and Karine are a unity ticket. I have had the pleasure of working with both of them in different capacities. They are friends, Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, a grassroots political organization focused on engaging and turning out Latinx voters, told ABC News. While the Biden campaign still has more work to do in its efforts to reach Latinx voters, these are welcome additions and I look forward to seeing them in action, she added. The campaign is also seeking to maintain strong support with the minority voters who helped carry Biden to a resounding win in South Carolina, setting off a chain of victories on Super Tuesday that exceeded even the campaign's expectations for the night. It takes a coalition to win in a general election, but I think that you have to continue to talk to African American voters, black voters and other communities as well, and what that means is that you have to have a message that resonates, Jean-Pierre said. Throughout his career, Biden has enjoyed strong support among the voting bloc--support that appears to persist, with Quinnipiac poll Wednesday showing him leading the president by 78 points with African American voters. The onus on the campaign is that we have to keep that energy, we have to keep that excitement. We have to make sure that people are going to come out and not feel suppressed because their vote is going to be suppressed...That is what the campaign is going to have to really zero in and be clear about, Jean-Pierre said. In recent weeks as Bidens vice presidential search has officially gotten underway, there has been much speculation about the pick, and the signal it could send to rest of the party. Several African American leaders, like Reverend Al Sharpton and Clyburn, who many credit with Bidens campaign revival in South Carolina, expressed their hope that Biden would choose the first African American woman to serve as his running mate, as a way to signal his commitment to the base that helped him become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Others have suggested placing Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the ticket would serve as an outreach to progressive Democrats, and signal Bidens ability to move towards the policies they championed during the primary According to Jean-Pierre, Bidens nominee will be a critical piece to building a ticket that will create a movement in the Democratic Party. I think that's gonna be really exciting, that ticket, She said. I think it'll be a strong Democratic ticket, it'll be a ticket that we will all be proud of and I think that's going to be a great way...to show how future looking, future forward we are as a party and that Joe Biden is. So I think that's going to be an interesting place to make some ground and to get the base excited. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. A further four Covid-19 clusters have been confirmed in meat processing plants in the past seven days, bringing the total to 16. They account for 828 cases, an increase of 328 over the week. The Delhi administration on Wednesday added two more areas to its list of Covid-19 containment zones. This comes after nearly 3 weeks since any new zone was added as a containment zone in Delhi. Both areas, Zamrudpur in Greater Kailash and Dakshinpuri, are in South Delhi. The South Delhi district administration on Wednesday issued the orders on the two containment zones after the health department directed all district magistrates to create such zones as per the existing guidelines. The departments direction came after a mismatch between the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital and the number of containment zones was observed. While the Covid-19 cases in Delhi recently breached the 10,000-mark in Delhi, the number of containment zones have seen a falling trend. According to government data, the number of Covid-19 containment zones in the city stood at 76 on Monday, 70 on Tuesday and 69 on Wednesday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, earlier this week, urged the residents of the national capital to show discipline during the fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown. The chief minister said that people must learn to live with coronavirus while protecting themselves and others around them. This came as economic activities and public transport, other than Delhi Metro, resumed in the national capital this week amid lockdown 4. The number of coronavirus cases in Delhi crossed the 11,000 mark on Wednesday with 534 more people testing positive, while the death toll climbed to 176, news agency PTI reported. (With inputs from PTI) Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 20, 2020) - Argo Gold Inc. (CSE: ARQ) ("Argo Gold" or the "Company") invites investors to join CEO, Judy Baker, for a webinar presentation on Argo Gold and update on the company's activities for both a summer field exploration program and follow-on drill program of its flagship Uchi Gold Project. Live Webinar The Argo Gold webinar will take place on Thursday, May 21 at 12:00pm EST. The link provides online registration to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iwqVKjK0RCK0QAuZ11X56g After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. The webinar event is facilitated by Paul Benwell & Associates (PBA). Argo Gold also announces that it has granted an aggregate of 400,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share and expiring on May 21, 2023 to a director and consultants of the Company. About Argo Gold Inc. Argo Gold is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company, focused on gold exploration projects in central and northwestern Ontario. Argo Gold's flagship Uchi Gold Project is comprised of 22 km2 of multiple mineralized trends and widespread gold mineralization. High grade gold intercepts from the Company's winter 2019 drilling program include 132 g/t Au over 1.8 metres at the Woco Vein. All of the Company's projects are 100% owned and have the potential for economic mineralization. Information relating to the Company and its properties can be obtained from SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.argogold.ca. Argo Gold is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (www.thecse.com) under the ticker ARQ, on the OTC under the ticker ARBTF and on the FSE under P3U. For more information please contact: Judy Baker CEO (416) 786-7860 jbaker@argogold.ca NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56276 COHOES The U.S. Navy says it is suspending all shipments of toxic firefighting foam to the city. The decision was made following a Times Union story earlier in the week, about plans, later abandoned, to send 58,000 gallons of the foam, known as aqueous film forming foam, to be incinerated in the Norlite plant in Cohoes. All shipment of AFFF to Cohoes has stopped, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumers office. The New York Democrat had been calling the Navy and Department of Defense urging them to halt shipments to Norlite where the chemicals, in 2018 and 2019, unbeknownst to the city, were being incinerated. Worried about the health and environmental effects, Cohoes officials earlier in the spring imposed a year-long moratorium on AFFF incineration. AFFF has long been in used in chemical fire suppressants. But its use has stopped amid worries about the potentially toxic PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the foam. Earlier: Feds backoff shipping PFAS to Norlite - for now PFAS remain in place, Schumer wants to keep it that way Norlites parent company, Tradebe Environmental Services, has a contract with the defense department to incinerate AFFF from military installations across the eastern states. But they havent been burning any AFFF this year as their kiln and smokestacks were closed for renovation. They also say they will adhere to the moratorium. Worries about a new round of incineration erupted earlier in the week though, with discovery of Department of Defense and Navy orders calling for 58,000 gallons, or about 12 tanker trucks of AFFF, to be sent to Norlite for incineration. The company hadnt yet been told of those orders but once authorities including Schumer learned of it, they urged a halt to the shipments. As of Thursday morning, Schumers office said the Navy will be storing the 58,000 gallons in place and will look at alternative sites to accept it. It wasn't immediately clear, however, if the DOD's Defense Logistics Agency, which handles the details of AFFF shipments for all the military branches, has agreed to stop all shipments. Tradebe's contract is with the DOD. Known as forever chemicals, PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have raised concerns due to their enduring chemical makeup. The chemicals can persist in a persons bloodstream for years. Tradebe in earlier emails to the DOD said they had reached out to the seven other sites nationwide that could burn the AFFF but were turned down due to worries about its safety and effectiveness. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The EarthJustice environmental group is suing the DOD in efforts to stop all incineration of the foam. New York's other senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, also weighed in on Thursday, sending a letter to the DOD seeking more information about the practice of burning PFAS chemicals at Norlite. Some of the questions focused on whether there were test burns prior to the longer incinerations to gauge the potential safety hazards. In another, unrelated development, the Environmental Protection Agency fined Norlite for earlier violations of the Clean Air Act dating back to 2012. That centered on instances in which they exceeded the parameters of their technology for controlling pollutants such as dioxins and furans, as well as hydrogen chloride, chlorine gas and particulate matter. The company also told EPA they had exceeded limits for chromium, arsenic, and beryllium during a test they conducted in 2017. More for you Feds backoff shipping PFAS to Norlite - for now rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU Japan's economy minister says experts have approved a government plan to remove a coronavirus state of emergency in Osaka and two neighboring prefectures in the west where the infection is deemed slowing, while keeping the measure in place in the Tokyo region and Hokkaido. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters that experts at the meeting approved the plan to lift the measure in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo. The measure will be kept in place in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, as well as Hokkaido, where the infections have slowed but need further improvement. The three are among the eight prefectures still under the emergency status after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted the measure last week in all but eight of the 47 Japanese prefectures. Abe declared the state of emergency on April 7 in parts of Japan including Tokyo and later expanded it to nationwide. Under Japan's state of emergency, which does not enforce lockdowns, many people have followed the social distancing requests but others had to continue commuting, while a sizeable minority continued to dine out or picnicked at parks. More stores, restaurants and bars have started to reopen recently, under new anti-infection guidelines. Abe will formally announce the plan later Thursday after approval by parliamentary committees. Japan has about 16,424 confirmed cases and 777 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the health ministry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Washington A former Green Beret and his son were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail. The Taylors were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Harvard. They appeared before a federal judge from jail via videoconference, wearing orange jumpsuits and tan face coverings due to the coronavirus pandemic. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hassink said Japan plans "as quickly as possible" to submit a formal request to extradite the Taylors. The tale of the daring escape began on Dec. 28, 2019, when Peter Taylor arrived in Japan and met with Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for about an hour, authorities said. Just before 10 a.m. the next day, Michael Taylor flew into Osaka, Japan, on a chartered Bombardier Global Express jet from Dubai with another man, George-Antoine Zayek, carrying two large black boxes with them. The elder Taylor was experienced with sticky situations. Over the years, he has been hired by parents to rescue abducted children, gone undercover for the FBI in a sting on a Massachusetts drug gang and worked as a contractor for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last assignment had landed him in a Utah jail for 14 months, caught in a federal contract fraud case that upended Taylor's family and finances before he agreed to plead guilty to two charges. It's not clear yet how Ghosn hooked up with Taylor. At their arrival, Taylor and Zayek, his Lebanese-born colleague, told airport employees they were musicians carrying audio equipment. Meanwhile, Ghosn, who was out of custody on a hefty bail, headed to the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and met up with Peter Taylor in his hotel room, authorities said. The elder Taylor and Zayek joined after a brief stop to rent a separate room near the airport. Soon after their arrival, the group left the Grand Hyatt and split up. Peter Taylor headed to the airport to hop on a flight to China, court documents said. The others hopped on a bullet train and arrived at the Shin-Osaka train station about four hours later, authorities said. They hailed a taxi and went back to the towering luxury hotel where Taylor and Zayek had booked a room earlier in the day. They all went in; only two would be seen walking out. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Authorities say Ghosn was inside one of the big black boxes, lugged by the two men to Japan's Kansai International Airport, authorities said. The boxes passed through a security checkpoint without being checked and were loaded onto a private jet headed for Turkey, the documents say. At 11:10 p.m., the chartered Bombardier, its windows fitted with pleated shades, lifted off with Ghosn stowed aboard. The flight went first to Turkey, then to Lebanon, where Ghosn has citizenship but which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Two days later, Ghosn announced publicly he was in Lebanon. He said he fled because he could not expect a fair trial, was subjected to unfair conditions in detention and was barred from meeting his wife under his bail conditions. Ghosn maintains he is innocent of allegations he underreported his future income and committed a breach of trust by diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. He says that the compensation was never decided on or received, and that the Nissan payments were for legitimate business purposes. Peter Taylor had traveled to Japan at least three times since July 2019 and met with Ghosn at least seven times during those visits, according to court records. Japanese officials had also issued a provisional warrant for Zayek's arrest. Lebanese authorities said Ghosn entered the country legally on a French passport, though he had been required to surrender all three of his passports to his lawyers under terms of his bail. He also has Brazilian citizenship. Lesotho's former finance minister, Moeketsi Majoro, was sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday, a day after the resignation of Thomas Thabane, who quit after being accused of conspiring to murder of his wife. The tiny southern African kingdom was plunged into crisis after the June 2017 killing, and pressure had built relentlessly for 80-year-old Thabane to step down. On Tuesday, he confirmed his resignation, clearing the way for 58-year-old Majoro, a seasoned economist, to take the reins. Thabane attended Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony at the royal palace of King Letsie III, handing Majoro a copy of the constitution to formally signal the transfer of power. The men tapped elbows instead of shaking hands, and Majoro wore a face mask as a precaution against coronavirus. "I will be a true and faithful prime minister, so help me God," said Majoro, who previously worked as a executive director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in one of its Africa offices. Thabane stepped down following months of calls for his resignation over the murder of his estranged wife Lipolelo Thabane in 2017, just two days before he took office. He denies any involvement in her death. The couple were in the midst of a bitter divorce when she was gunned down outside her home, sending shockwaves through the kingdom. Two months later he married his now wife Maesaiah Thabane, 43, who is considered a co-conspirator ni the killing. She has been charged with murder and is out on bail. - 'I may have erred' - Maesaiah was absent from Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony, where her husband apologised for his shortcomings during his nearly three years in office. "In as much as I tried my level best to serve His Majesty and Basotho with dedication and loyalty... I may have inadvertently erred in several ways during my tenure as prime minister." "Consequently I sincerely wish to ask you to forgive me for my mistakes," said Thabane. His election in 2017 had brought hopes of stability to Lesotho, which has a long history of political turmoil. Majoro, who was first appointed into cabinet by Thabane in 2013, vowed Wednesday to usher in "a new version" of leadership and "bring back their (people's) trust to the government". He will serve out Thabane's remaining term before the next round of elections in 2022. "We don't have much time on our side. We only have two years left before the elections yet there is a lot of work ahead of us. "Fifty-four years after independence, the scourge of hunger and poverty is a serious issue in this country and we need to deal with this issue decisively," he said. Majoro, who was aligned to Thabane in the divided ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC) party, emerged a consensus candidate to take over from Thabane. Political instability and coup attempts have meant that no premier has served out a full five-year term over the past decade in Lesotho, a country of 2.2 million people surrounded by South Africa. (@ChaudhryMAli88) ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 20th May, 2020) The United Arab Emirates today sent an aid plane carrying four metric tons of medical supplies to Gambia. The aid will assist approximately 4,000 medical professionals as they work to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Commenting on the aid delivery, Omar AlMeheiri, Charge d'Affaires of the UAE Embassy in Senegal, said, "We are honoured to extend assistance to Gambia today as part of the UAEs efforts to enhance the campaign against COVID-19 throughout Africa." "Protecting frontline medical professionals around the world is a main pillar of the UAEs strategy to help other countries overcome this crisis," he added. To date, the UAE has sent over 627 metric tons of aid to 52 countries, supporting more than 627,000 medical professionals in the process. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiter released personal information for more than 1,300 current and former American University students who participated in an online career fair last week, angering students and raising concerns about the risks posed by virtual events. The novel coronavirus forced the university's annual spring job fair online, where candidates and recruiters spoke via video chat and instant message. Before the event, the university asked participants to register and provide personal information, including university ID numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and whether they needed visa sponsorship to work in the United States. Students said they believed the data would be shared only with employers they expressed interest in. But it was sent to all of the 100-plus employers who participated in the virtual fair, including CBP, said Natasha Abel, a university spokeswoman. Students and graduates who signed up for the fair agreed to have that information shared with participating employers, Abel said. After the event, Roman Jacquez, a recruiter from Customs and Border Protection, sent an email to everyone who signed up for the fair, regardless of whether they expressed interest in working for the agency. The email, which was viewed by The Washington Post, included information about law enforcement positions but also contained the entire data set of candidates' personal information. Jacquez did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The Rival American, a campus publication, first reported the breach. In a written statement, CBP said the inclusion of that data was unintentional and that the agency is investigating. The agency not say whether Jacquez has been disciplined. After the recruiter sent the email, a Customs and Border Protection supervisor emailed the students affected by the breach and said the agency is taking steps to prevent similar errors. "I would like to assure you that this is not standard practice and we take the dissemination of this information very seriously," the supervisor wrote in an email viewed by The Post. The university's career center later apologized for the mistake and asked students to delete the email that contained their peers' personal information. "The Career Center will continue to emphasize the importance of the confidentiality and privacy of your information with employers we engage with in the future and hope this never happens again," Gihan Fernando, executive director of the school's career center, wrote to current and former students. Connor Reitler, who graduated from AU this year, was one of the 1,370 people who submitted personal information upon registering for the career fair. "I was under the impression that it would only go to corporations that I was interested in," he said about his data. "A lot of students are feeling very betrayed." Reitler also shared concerns about what might be done with the data collected. "They saw who does and doesn't need a visa," which could have implications for undocumented job-seekers, he said. AU College Democrats, a campus organization for students affiliated with the Democratic Party, criticized the school for sharing students' information. "No student should ever be put in a place where they have to share their personal information to get a career opportunity," according to a statement. The campus group is also asking students to sign a petition calling on the university to sever its relationship with the federal agency, citing incidents of "abusive treatment of immigrants and people of color." The data breach raises privacy concerns at a time when nearly every facet of university life - classes, graduations, campus events - are taking place online. "As American University is planning its next virtual Job and Internship Fair in the fall, we will make every effort to prevent such errors," Abel said in an email. "We have heard from many attendees who shared their appreciation for the opportunity to connect with so many employers at a difficult time." - Uganda's Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatisation, Evelyn Anite, said the government would not buy masks with political party colours from manufacturers - The official also warned her countrymen against buying and wearing such items made of blue, black, yellow or red colours - Anite's warning was received with mixed reactions by Ugandans Uganda's Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatisation, Evelyn Anite, has warned the public against buying and wearing masks with colours and symbols representing political parties. The minister who sent the warming during a meeting with manufacturers at the Uganda Manufacturers Association grounds on Wednesday, May 20, also advised manufacturers not to produce masks with colours allied to political parties. READ ALSO: It's his private life: Tahidi High actor OJ defends comedian Jalang'o READ ALSO: Group of creative friends build KSh 20k homemade Ferrari According to New Vision, Anite threatened the government would not buy face masks with political party colours including yellow, red, black and blue. ''Be sure that we shall not buy your masks if they have political party colors like yellow, red, blue and black'' she said during the meeting. The minister added she was only backing what President Yoweri Museveni had earlier asserted in his bid to keep politics off the fight against coronavirus. READ ALSO: DJ Krowbar unveils face of newborn son months after complicated delivery READ ALSO: Vita dhidi ya CIVID-19: Museveni asema kila mwananchi kuanzia miaka 6 atapewa maski bila malipo ''We will only take those with neutral colors, because we do not want to politicise the masks,'' Anite added. The Ugandan government had announced intention to buy face masks in bulk to be distributed freely to the public. The warning on colours of face masks came just months after the country warned its citizens against wearing red berets associated with firebrand opposition MP and musician Robert Kyagulani alias Bobi Wine. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. My life is in danger, get me out of Saudi Arabia- Sheila Andalo | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Credit card giant Mastercard will not ask staff to return to its worldwide corporate offices until a vaccine is available for the coronavirus, a senior executive flagged on Wednesday. The world's second-largest payment processor is also looking at its real-estate footprint and considering consolidating offices, Chief People Officer Michael Fraccaro said. "We expect in the coming weeks and months that more employees will continue to work from home than come into office," he said. "And we are OK with that. We support that choice." Mastercard staff won't have to work at its offices until a coronavirus vaccine is available, its HR chief says. Credit:Jim Rice The company employs nearly 20,000 people globally, with its main headquarters in Westchester, a New York City suburb. Mastercard owns that campus, which it purchased from IBM in 1994. GRAND BLANC, MI -- A 35-year-old Grand Blanc man is accused of sending more than a dozen threatening emails to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Mott Community College and a Michigan Adult Protective Services social worker, according to a U.S. Eastern District Court filing. Jeffrey David Cox is said to have sent 18 threatening emails Saturday, May 16, from his personal email to Mott Community Colleges admissions office, Monroe (New York) Community Colleges presidents office and the Navys Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, according to an affidavit filed by Jeffery Brook, a special agent with the United States Secret Service (USSS). The document included excerpts from emails Cox sent. In them, Cox wrote: I will steal an aircraft and crash it into the U.S. Naval Reservation in San Diego, California. There is a bomb in the White House set to detonate Monday, May 18, 2020 at 12:00 PM. I either placed it near the main white house gates or in the White House itself. I plan to assassinate the President and the Vice President. Nobody can stop me. I will place a bomb in all Mott Community College campuses set to detonate on Monday, May 18, 2020. This time it is for real and I am dead serious about it. I will also go on a shooting spree and kill all of the students and staff at all of the campuses of Mott Community College sometime next week. This time it is for real and I am dead serious about it. I wont tell you when I will do it because I dont want the police to catch me or stop me, but rest assured I will do it and this time it is for real. I am doing this because I think it is extremely funny and I just love the thrill of killing people and destroying buildings and stirring up trouble. There is nothing you or the police can do to stop me! Ha Ha Ha! Grand Blanc Police Department detectives and USSS special agents executed a state search warrant at Coxs residence in Grand Blanc, according to the document. His mobile phone and laptop were seized and the threatening emails were found in his sent email folder. He admitted to sending the emails. Cox denied an intent to carry out the specific threats in the emails, though. Cox claimed that he had no negative feelings toward the protectees nor the White House, and he did not intend on carrying out those threats, the affidavit reads. Cox said he picked those email addresses by doing public internet searches and sent the emails to help calm himself down, the document states. Offenses include use of interstate communications to make a bomb threat, making threats against the president and vice president of the United States and use of interstate communications to make threat to injure another person, according to the affidavit. When searching records of Coxs email address, special agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service found the address was previously used by Cox during to threaten MCC in 2017, according to the affidavit. Email threat of bomb, shooting spree at Mott CC deemed not credible Cox admitted to police he sent threatening emails to MCC in 2017, according to the affidavit. This affidavit does not contain all of the investigative facts known to me, Brook states in the affidavit. Cox is being held at the Genesee County Jail. Court records show he was arraigned Wednesday on state charges of false report of terrorism and using a computer to commit a crime. He was given a $50,000 cash or surety bond at that time, the records show. It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Chinese Strategic Holdings Limited (HKG:8089). What Is Insider Buying? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year. Check out our latest analysis for Chinese Strategic Holdings The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Chinese Strategic Holdings In fact, the recent purchase by insider Young Lai Tse was not their only acquisition of Chinese Strategic Holdings shares this year. They previously made an even bigger purchase of HK$1.5m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.25 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than HK$0.12 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares is very important. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. Young Lai Tse was the only individual insider to buy during the last year. Young Lai Tse bought 21.01m shares over the last 12 months at an average price of HK$0.19. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! Story continues SEHK:8089 Recent Insider Trading May 21st 2020 Chinese Strategic Holdings is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying. Does Chinese Strategic Holdings Boast High Insider Ownership? Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Chinese Strategic Holdings insiders own about HK$7.1m worth of shares. That equates to 24% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders. So What Does This Data Suggest About Chinese Strategic Holdings Insiders? It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. Insiders likely see value in Chinese Strategic Holdings shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. To help with this, we've discovered 6 warning signs (4 make us uncomfortable!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in Chinese Strategic Holdings. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Acclaimed Israeli film director Amos Gitai, a critic of extremists in his country, said the coronavirus pandemic should force people to rethink values and their lifestyle's impact on the planet. "At a time of crisis, it's a good thing to seize the moment to try to find some perspective," he told AFP. "Maybe the overlying message of this virus to humanity in general terms (relates to) the destruction of the environment." An award-winning documentary-maker, Gitai has made films exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the 1995 assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo peace accords. Gitai said in an interview via the online video chat service Zoom that he had been in New York to screen some of his work in early March when the city shut down to curb the virus outbreak. He flew to Paris and remains in the French capital "trying to think what can be done", while striving to write during the lockdown. Gitai, who hails from the northern Israeli city of Haifa, narrowly escaped death while fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War when his helicopter was hit by a Syrian missile. "We know wars, especially in the Middle East," Gitai told AFP. But he said the "invisible" threat of the coronavirus marked a new challenge, and required a different response. "Greed and advanced capitalism destroy... the planet," he added. "Green space is being taken over for economic reasons." - 'Freedom of culture' - A file picture of Israeli film maker Amos Gitai at a press conference at the College de France in Paris on September 11, 2018 / AFP/File Gitai is one of 200 prominent artists who co-signed a widely circulated petition headlined "No to a Return to Normal". The piece -- spearheaded by actress Juliette Binoche and co-signed by Robert de Niro, Cate Blanchett and others -- calls for an overhaul of post-pandemic global values to stave off an "ecological disaster". For Gitai, the call was intended to force people to rethink consumption habits as a sense of normalcy returns. Gitai has previously warned that policies pursued by the Israeli right were pushing the country towards "suicide". He has blamed the assassination of Rabin, a leader of the left-wing Labour party, on an atmosphere of hate he says was whipped up by the right, including by then opposition figure Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu on Sunday extended his record-long tenure as Israeli prime minister when parliament swore in a new unity government. The terms of the coalition see Netanyahu staying on as prime minister for 18 months, before vacating the premier's office for his election rival, Benny Gantz. Gitai has accused Netanyahu-led governments of seeking to stifle dissent from those critical of the right's agenda, including its effort to expand Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. He said he has followed political developments at home from Paris and voiced hope Israel "will not be manipulated (and) that there will be freedom of education and culture". Gitai has also accused the Israeli right of "constant harassment and attempts to silence" peace activists who are trying to strive for a settlement with the Palestinians. The repressions against the Constitutional Court of Armenia which gained momentum in the beginning of this year and the state of emergency declared in the country havent undermined the efforts of the Court. Sixty-two applications were entered into the Constitutional Court by the Government of Armenia, the President, courts, natural and legal persons in the first four months of this year alone. In response to a written inquiry from Armenian News-NEWS.am, the Constitutional Court informed that out of all the applications, decisions on accepting cases for examination were rendered for 38 applications and decisions on rejecting cases for examination were rendered for 18 applications. Last year, 248 applications related to constitutional-legal problems were entered into the Constitutional Court, and only 41 of them were sent by the government. After shift of power, Nikol Pashinyans cabinet and the ruling My Step faction of the National Assembly have been disputing the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court and its members. The referendum for constitutional amendments to discontinue the powers of President of the Constitutional Court and six members was supposed to be held on April 5, but the holding of the referendum was postponed due to the state of emergency declared on March 16. In accordance with Article 208 of the Constitution of Armenia, a referendum shall not be held during a state of emergency. New Delhi, May 21 : The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has been engaged in procuring the rabi crops, pulses and oilseeds quite effectively even during the lockdown. NAFED Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Chadha told IANS that despite the lockdown, the procurement of chana (gram) and mustard is going on smoothly and payment is being made to the farmers within 3 days. Chadha said the procurement sites in Rajasthan which is a major producer of mustard have been increased by three fold and that in Madhya Pradesh by two fold. Procurement sites in Maharashtra, Gujarat and other states have also been increased. The need for increasing the procurement sites has arisen to maintain social distancing in mandis and agricultural markets in view of the outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus. Chadha said in the year 2020-21, the procurement of chana and mustard is more than 10 lakh tonnes. According to the latest figure, 5,89,769 tonnes of chana have been purchased from 5,97,076 farmers. Similarly, 4,99,655 tonnes of mustard have been purchased at the minimum support price. According to NAFED, Rs 5,088 crore have already been paid to the farmers for the two crops. The MSP for chana is Rs 4,875 per quintal, while that of mustard is Rs 4,425 per quintal. The NAFED chief said the government target for procurement of chana is 24-25 lakh tonne while the same for the mustard is 10-12 lakh tonne. NAFED, while procuring the rabi crops, also has the responsibility to provide succour to the poor under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY). The government is providing 1 kg of pulses under the food security scheme through the public distribution system to all the poor having ration cards. Chadha said this was a challenge initially due to the lockdown, but NAFED eventually managed to supply pulses to the ration card holders. Chadha said 4 lakh tonnes of dal have been provided to the state governments to be distributed to the poor during the lockdown. He said 57 lakh tonnes of dal will be sent to the state governments by May 31 to be distributed for three months as promised by the government. The government has also decided to provide free ration for two months to migrant workers who have moved to the villages from cities. Under the scheme, 5 kg grains and 1 kg chana will be provided to the migrants. The NAFED chief said the process of providing free ration and chana to migrants has already started. "Backlog has considerably simplified the management of projects and communication across different time zones. By increasing our productivity, Backlog helps us make the smartest decisions that ultimately lead us to successful business outcomes." Backlog, the online work management platform created by fast-growing startup Nulab, announced that it surpassed 1.7 million active users and 10,000 paying customers. The news follows only months after the announcement of $5 million in funding to boost Nulab's core mission: reinvent team productivity by making it easier and more visual. Backlog is a cost-efficient centralized hub that supports the work organization of teams of all sizes, from single users to corporations. Created as an aid for software developers only, over the years, Backlog has increasingly shifted towards a broader market. Today, marketers, sales teams, designers, HR, and anything in between use the platform to organize their work. "With over 300 employees and clients located in different countries, coordinating and keeping track of tasks and deadlines had turned into a nightmare," says Rahul Agarwal VP of Engineering at the international tech company Droisys. "Backlog has considerably simplified the management of projects and communication across different time zones. By increasing our productivity, Backlog helps us make the smartest decisions that ultimately lead us to successful business outcomes." In addition to hitting the customer and user milestones, Backlog celebrated several other achievements in the past months: Backlog was selected as an Overall SaaS Award winner in the international 2019 APPEALIE Awards. Backlog was named Leader in the project management market by G2, the world's largest tech marketplace. Backlog added the new Kanban-style board, empowering team leaders to have greater visual control over workflow and tasks. Backlog released a new Slack integration and a new custom status option. "Surpassing 10,000 paying customers and having over 1.7 million users active on Backlog is an exciting moment for our team," said Shinsuke Tabata, CMO and co-Founder of Nulab. "We are humbled by the trust and loyalty of our clients. We are celebrating these important milestones by committing, even more, to support our users in the achievement of their business goals. These milestones energize us, and we look forward to rolling out the new plans we have for Backlog." So far, Backlog has significantly been broadening its portfolio of features and integrations tailoring them for the specific needs of its different customers. Among the next steps on Backlog's roadmap: The release of a new mention feature that will make communication more smooth among teams. Nulab users, including Backlog's, will be able to quickly and safely sign in to multiple applications with just one ID and password after the launch of Nulab Pass this Summer. Backlog will soon offer an Education plan to become more accessible and affordable to teachers and students. About Nulab Founded in 2004 in Japan, Nulab creates productivity software used by over 4 million people in over 190 countries. The company has offices in New York, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Fukuoka. Nulab's products include the online project management and bug tracking software Backlog, the cloud-based diagramming software Cacoo, and the chat app Typetalk. Donald Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen currently serving a three-year prison sentence for lying to congress and campaign finance violations involving hush money to women who have claimed to have had affairs with the president will serve the remainder of his sentence at home during the coronavirus pandemic. He is among non-violent offenders released by federal corrections agencies as prisons become vulnerable to viral spread. Cohen is expected to be released as early as Thursday, according to reports. Paul Manafort, the presidents former campaign chairman, was released from prison last week after serving only a fraction of a seven-year sentence following his conviction and guilty plea on charges related to tax violations and foreign lobbying. Both men were central to special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in 2016 elections. Manafort, whose attorney said he was at risk for Covid-19 complications because of respiratory and liver issues, was set to be released in 2024. Attorneys for both men had sought their early releases, although Cohen was abruptly prevented from his release earlier this month after being notified in April that he would spend his sentence at home. The White House has denied playing a role in their releases. The presidents former personal attorney was among his steadfast defenders before implicating Mr Trump in payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claimed to have had sexual affairs with Mr Trump. The president has denied the affairs. On behalf of Mr Trump, Cohen said he paid Ms Daniels $130,000, and he arranged $150,000 to Ms McDougal from the publisher of the National Enquirer in an effort to prevent politically damaging stories from reaching the public prior to the 2016 election. Behind bars, Cohen while seeking home detention wrote that he was an enabler for the Trump Organisation, lured by its magnetic, charismatic and powerful figurehead. In a six-page sworn affirmation filed in a US District Court in December, Cohen said that everything he thought was important and valuable has been painfully revealed as derived from a Faustian bargain in which he cast the president as the Devil, to whom Cohen sold his soul and foolishly frittered away his integrity on behalf of the president. Tropical forests face an uncertain future under climate change, but new research published in Science suggests they can continue to store large amounts of carbon in a warmer world, if countries limit greenhouse gas emissions. The world's tropical forests store a quarter-century worth of fossil fuel emissions in their trees alone. There are fears that global heating can reduce this store if tree growth reduces or tree death increases, accelerating climate change. An international research team measured over half a million trees in 813 forests across the tropics to assess how much carbon is stored by forests growing under different climatic conditions today. The team reveal that tropical forests continue to store high levels of carbon under high temperatures, showing that in the long run these forests can handle heat up to an estimated threshold of 32 degrees Celsius in daytime temperature. Yet this positive finding is only possible if forests have time to adapt, they remain intact, and if global heating is strictly limited to avoid pushing global temperatures into conditions beyond the critical threshold. Lead author Dr Martin Sullivan, from the University of Leeds and Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "Our analysis reveals that up to a certain point of heating tropical forests are surprisingly resistant to small temperature differences. If we limit climate change they can continue to store a large amount of carbon in a warmer world. "The 32 degree threshold highlights the critical importance of urgently cutting our emissions to avoid pushing too many forests beyond the safety zone. "For example, if we limit global average temperatures to a 2C increase above pre-industrial levels this pushes nearly three-quarters of tropical forests above the heat threshold we identified. Any further increases in temperature will lead to rapid losses of forest carbon." Forests release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when the amount of carbon gained by tree growth is less than that lost through tree mortality and decay. The study is the first to analyse long-term climate sensitivity based on direct observation of whole forests across the topics. The research suggests that over the long-term, temperature has the greatest effect on forest carbon stocks by reducing growth, with drought killing trees the second key factor. The researchers conclude that tropical forests have long-term capacity to adapt to some climate change, in part because of their high biodiversity as tree species better able to tolerate new climatic conditions grow well and replace less well-adapted species over the long-term. But maximizing this potential climate resilience depends on keeping forests intact. Co-author Professor Beatriz Marimon from the State University of Mato Grosso in Brazil studies some of the world's hottest tropical forests in central Brazil. She noted: "Our results suggest that intact forests are able to withstand some climate change. Yet these heat-tolerant trees also face immediate threats from fire and fragmentation. "Achieving climate adaptation means first of all protecting and connecting the forests that remain." Professor Marimon notes the clear limits to adaptation. "The study indicates a heat threshold of 32 degrees Celsius in daytime temperature. Above this point tropical forest carbon declines more quickly with higher temperatures, regardless of which species are present. "Each degree increase above this 32 degree threshold releases four-times as much carbon dioxide as would have been released below the threshold." The insights into how the world's tropical forests respond to climate were only possible with decades of careful fieldwork, often in remote locations. The global team of 225 researchers combined forests observations across South America (RAINFOR), Africa (AfriTRON) and Asia (T-FORCES). In each monitoring plot the diameter of each tree and its height was used to calculate how much carbon they stored. Plots were revisited every few years to see how much carbon was being taken in, and how long it was stored before trees died. To calculate changes in carbon storage required identifying nearly 10,000 tree species and over two million measurements of tree diameter, across 24 tropical countries. According to Professor Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds and University College London: "The amount of carbon absorbed and stored by forests is a crucial element in how the Earth responds to climate change." "The study underlines why long-term research collaboration is essential for understanding the effects of environmental change. Scientists need to work together more than ever, as monitoring the health of our planet's great tropical forests is vital for all of us." Cutting carbon emissions enough to keep forests within the safety zone will be very challenging. Study author Professor Oliver Phillips of the University of Leeds said: "Keeping our planet and ourselves healthy has never been more important. Right now, humanity has a unique opportunity to make the transition toward a stable climate. "By not simply returning to 'business as usual' after the current crisis we can ensure tropical forests remain huge stores of carbon. Protecting them from climate change, deforestation and wildlife exploitation needs to be front and centre of our global push for biosecurity. "Imagine if we take this chance to reset how we treat our Earth. We can keep our home cool enough to protect these magnificent forests - and keep all of us safer." ### Further information: The paper Long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth's tropical forests is published in Science 22 May 2020 (Embargo 21 May 19:00 BST/ 14:00 ET) (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7578) Link to images/video (captions and credits included) : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZJLFfqJfJWyfQRjD1iknLnZTrbk7Nr9u For additional information or to arrange interviews please contact University of Leeds press officer Anna Harrison at a.harrison@leeds.ac.uk Press release translations in Spanish, Portuguese and French available. University of Leeds The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with more than 38,000 students from more than 150 different countries, and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. The University plays a significant role in the Turing, Rosalind Franklin and Royce Institutes. We are a top ten university for research and impact power in the UK, according to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and are in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings 2020. The University was awarded a Gold rating by the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework in 2017, recognising its 'consistently outstanding' teaching and learning provision. Twenty-six of our academics have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships - more than any other institution in England, Northern Ireland and Wales - reflecting the excellence of our teaching. http://www.leeds.ac.uk Acclaimed filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan, as well as writer-comedian Varun Grover and Kunal Kamra are auctioning their awards to help fight coronavirus. The artists have invited fans to bid on their awards in order to raise Rs 13 lakh to help COVID-19 patients. Taking to Twitter, Kamra posted a link to the donation page where he put his YouTube Button award for auction and asked other artists to do the same. Following the example, many artists have come forth to declare their awards fro bidding. Kashyap has put up his Filmfare award which the director had won for Gangs of Wasseypur in 2013. While each ruppee counts I appreciate the hell out of Comrade @anuragkashyap72 who is giving away his 2013 gangs of Wasseypur critics award to the highest donor of this charity with my YouTube button Link - https://t.co/xm5mNd2qDZI urge other artists to help in their own way! https://t.co/izrv9CaxQT Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) May 20, 2020 National Award-winning director Ghaywan has put up three awards for bidding including the TOIFA best debut director award that he won for Masaan, the Filmfare award that he won for his film Juice as well as a signed copy of the Prix de lAvenir, he won for Masaan at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. I am offering my awards for a charity auction to raise funds for COVID test kits. - TOIFA Best Debut Director (Masaan)- Filmfare Best Film (Juice)- Signed copy of the jury prize- Prix de lAvenir (Masaan) that I won at Cannes Film festival, 2015.(Details in the tweet) https://t.co/mIZ7vBzuaO pic.twitter.com/RZJqlu0VkE Neeraj Ghaywan (@ghaywan) May 21, 2020 Varun Grover has put his YOIFA award for best lyricist, which he received for the song 'Moh moh ke dhaage' from the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha. While posting the same on Twitter, the writer said, "Putting it up on eBay in 2050 was my retirement fund plan but i believe now is a better time to use it to secure India's future". Adding the TOIFA trophy I won for 'Moh Moh Ke Dhaage' (DLKH, 2015) for charity auction to raise funds for Covid test kits. Putting it up on ebay in 2050 was my retirement fund plan but i believe now is a better time to use it to secure India's future. https://t.co/t0Q6YJMCkg https://t.co/2xqDEakmKA pic.twitter.com/hu6Yig2G7p (@varungrover) May 20, 2020 The fundraiser is being conducted by Burda Media India in collaboration with Mylab Discovery Solutions and Milaap Foundation to raise funds for RT-PCR Test Kits for donation to some of the worst affected areas in India. "The cost of each testing kit is 1.2Lacs + GST and each testing kit has the capacity to test 100 samples. We aim to donate ten testing kits, which will help 1000 people get tested for COVID-19, free of cost," the donation page reads. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise in India with over one lakh total number of confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths. Pro-democratic winning candidates gather outside the campus of the Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong, China November 25, 2019. Xinhua said a preparatory meeting for a Chinese parliament session adopted an agenda that included an item to review a bill "on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security". The report confirmed what three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. China will propose national security laws for Hong Kong in response to last year's often violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, state news agency Xinhua said. The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony. The legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China' parliament, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest. Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby. Hong Kong people took to the streets last year, sometimes in their millions, to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China. The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city. "If Beijing passes the law ... how (far) will civil society resist repressive laws? How much impact will it unleash onto Hong Kong as an international financial centre?" said Ming Sing, political scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The Hong Kong dollar weakened on the news. The technical details of the proposals remain unclear but an announcement will be made in Beijing later on Thursday, one senior Hong Kong government source said. China's parliament, the National People's Congress, is due to begin its annual session on Friday, after being delayed for months by the coronavirus. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 6 he was delaying the report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant Washington's special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial center. The delay was to account for any actions at the National People's Congress, he said. Tension between the two superpowers has heightened in recent weeks, as they exchanged accusations on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, souring an already worsening relationship over trade. A security team neutralized an active shooter early Thursday at a Texas naval air station, the US Navy said. The security team responded at the Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi at about 6:15 am. One security force member was injured, the Navy said. It did not immediately release any additional details. All gates remained closed and the facility remained on lockdown Thursday morning. The station had a similar lockdown last December. In another incident at the base last year, a man pleaded guilty to destruction of US government property and possession of a stolen firearm for ramming his truck into a barricade at the Corpus Christi station. Demonstrators dumped fake body bags outside the White House and held up signs that read Trump Lies, People Die, in protest at president Donald Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The demonstration coincided with a separate protest outside the White House on Wednesday that called for the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to approve the use of therapeutic drugs to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Demonstrators protesting the coronavirus response laid down fake black body bags, while the ALS protesters laid inside white ones across the street. Some of the coronavirus protesters held up signs which read Trump Lies, People Die, according to Newsweek, for what was called a National Day of Mourning for those who have lost their lives to Covid-19. One of the co-organisers of the demonstration, CPD Action, tweeted that the protests were part of a mock funeral that put the blame for coronavirus deaths at the door of the Trump administration. Activists across the country are holding a mass #NationalFuneral to hold the Trump administration and Republican elected officials accountable for their failure to protect people from Covid-19, the tweet read. The Trump administration has been widely criticised for its response to the coronavirus crisis, and many believe the government has been too slow to react to the pandemic. The US now has the highest coronavirus-related death total in the world, and earlier this month Forbes reported that since the start of the outbreak in the US, Mr Trump has lied 23 times per day. The president has also faced criticism for backtracking on claims he has made during the crisis, and last month falsely told US citizens that injecting bleach could help treat the virus. This week, six sources from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told CNN that the Trump administration has followed ideology over science in its response. Recommended National Guard deployments end day before they can claim benefits A current CDC official told CNN that the organisation planned to put out a global advisory that warned about the dangers of flying abroad, a week before the Trump administration formally recognised it. If the advisory had been published when the organisation planned, US lives would have been saved, the official added. Weve been muzzled, the officials said. Whats tough is that if we would have acted earlier on what we knew and recommended, we would have saved lives and money. In the time between their proposal and the publishing of the advisory, more than 66,000 Europeans arrived at US airports. At the ALS demonstration protesters climbed into white body bags. Twitter user @LuchaEla posted a picture of the body bag protest and asked for the FDA to approve drugs to treat ALS. Do for #ALS what you did for #COVID. #ALS is 100 percent fatal! Help ALS patients access promising treatments NOW! We do not have time to wait! she tweeted. According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 1.5 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 94,994. OTTAWAIn Friday mornings early darkness, Marc-Andre Blanchard will catch his first new glimpse of New York Citys sparkling skyline from behind the wheel of a modestly priced rental car. For Canadas ambassador to the United Nations, the moment will mark not only the home stretch of a long, solitary car ride from Toronto, but the start of a big round of politicking the final push to win Canada a temporary seat on the UN Security Council next month. Since mid-March, Blanchard has been running the UN mission remotely from Toronto, directing staff that have been working at home since COVID-19s assault on New York shut them out of their Manhattan embassy as it ground life to a halt at the epicentre of the pandemic. But with less than a month to go before a vote that will pit Canada against Norway and Ireland for two available temporary seats on the council, Blanchard said Thursday it is time to get to back to New York even it means doing diplomacy a little bit differently. Diplomacy during COVID-19 has been a steady stream of video conferences from early morning to late evening, sometimes punctuated with virtual Zoom dinners with small groups of fellow ambassadors. On Thursday morning, Blanchard spoke to a few of his international colleagues about his impending return. For the first time, we were raising the prospect that maybe well go for walks in Central Park together and observe social distancing, Blanchard said in an interview. But at least try to start again, to work, to see others and have those conversations that are so important in diplomacy. He said Canadas campaign for the council rests on what it has been doing to help fight the pandemic convening like-minded countries to ensure food security in developing countries, keeping vital supply chains open across the globe and working on new financing models to help struggling countries whose economies have been decimated by the pandemic. Canada also convened a meeting of smaller embassies in New York in March to help them set up work-at-home systems as the pandemic was in process of crippling the city. If you ask me, Whats your campaign? Well, this is our campaign, he said. The best campaign possible for Canada is let Canada be Canada. Canada lost its last bid for a security council seat in 2010 when tiny Portugal won more support. Canada had held a seat on the council six times, one each in the six previous decades. In 1999-2000, Canada ran and won on the human security platform espoused by Lloyd Axworthy, who was the foreign affairs minister leading up to the campaign. We did that with protection of civilians when we were last on the security council. Were going to do this with inequality and economic security when we get to the security council, he said. Inequalities are a very, very big source of conflict and instability. The security council needs to look at conflicts through the prism of the economics of it. In addition to its five permanent members the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China the council comprises a rotating cast of 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms. Blanchard said Canada hopes to leverage its nine other non-permanent members to focus the big powers on something they might agree on the need to elevate economic conditions in all countries. Were strong enough to be able to reach out to other member states, but were small enough to know that we need to be acting together if we want results. Blanchard is clear-eyed about the failings and limits of the Security Council, including its inability to stop a decade worth of carnage in Syria because of Russia and Chinas opposition as veto-wielding permanent members. There are issues on which we will never agree with China or Russia, and other members of the Security Council, maybe, Blanchard said. We saw that in Syria we see that in COVID with China and the United States. Blanchard, 54, is a not a career diplomat. He was a successful lawyer who supported the Liberal party and was given the UN job in 2016. Hes not the first political appointee to win a plumb diplomatic post, but he has become a natural at the delicate balancing act of diplomacy, said Stephen Lewis, a New Democrat who served as Canadas UN ambassador in the 1980s under Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. If Canada wins a seat, it will be because of Blanchard, said Lewis, who remains active in UN circles as the head of an organization that is trying to stamp out abuse by peacekeepers. We have an ambassador in New York who happens to be intelligent, articulate, persuasive, very highly respected and regarded by the colleague ambassadors in the UN. And that makes all the difference in the world, Lewis said. Blanchard holds his UN colleagues in equally high regard. Hes looking forward to seeing them after he arrives alone and drops his rental car at LaGuardia Airport. The biggest perk of this job is the relationship I build with my colleagues, individually. Everybody is very special, he said. Everybody brings a lot to the table, whether its a big country or a small country. This is what we miss. With Cyclone Amphan wreaking havoc in West Bengal, including Kolkata, senior medical practitioners at the frontline in the war against COVID-19 are apprehensive that the number of cases would rise substantially in the days ahead as the social-distancing norms would go up in smoke and there would be curbs on the spending to tackle the pandemic. At least 72 people were killed and lakhs rendered homeless as the extremely severe cyclonic storm cut a path of destruction through half-a-dozen districts of Bengal including the state capital, blowing away shanties and uprooting thousands of trees, besides swamping the low-lying areas. The districts of East Midnapore, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas, along with Kolkata, are the worst hit by the cyclone. With lakhs of people rendered homeless in the districts of East Midnapore, Howrah and North 24 Parganas, the state administration has put them up at several shelter homes and temporary relief camps, where the words "social distancing" sound like a luxury. "The way the number of cases is going up in the state, the cyclone will bring in catastrophe. At most of these shelter homes and camps, there is no scope for maintaining any form of social distancing. You can imagine the level of infection it will cause," said a senior doctor of a government hospital, who did not wish to be named. East Midnapore, Howrah and North 24 Parganas were identified as COVID-19 hotspot districts earlier. A senior state health department official said West Bengal is apprehending a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the days to come. The number of confirmed cases in Bengal stood at 3,103, with 252 deaths, including 72 due to comorbidities, till Wednesday evening. The state government has so far evacuated over five lakh people to safer places due to the cyclone. "We feel that the government spending on COVID response will come down in the days to come as funds will be needed for restoration. We had just crossed the one-lakh testing benchmark and we were moving in the right direction after a lot of mistakes. I feel this cyclone will derail everything," another doctor of a private COVID-19 hospital said. The government has distributed more than two lakh face masks among the evacuees and personal protective equipment (PPE) kits were handed out to the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel who have been deployed in the vulnerable areas, a senior official said. "We had distributed masks, but right now, the priority is to save lives rather than social-distancing norms or infection. Most of the cyclone centres are filled up with the migrant labourers who have returned from other states and are undergoing quarantine. There is a lack of pucca houses where we can keep the evacuees," a senior official said. The doctors feel that with several parts of the state being waterlogged, cases of water-borne diseases are also likely to go up in the days to come, which will put additional pressure on the state's health infrastructure, which is already stretched due to the COVID situation. "The increase in the number of water-borne diseases would put additional pressure on the state's health sector," internal medicine specialist Rahul Jain said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) T he UK economy performed better than expected this month, but it remains in the grip of a severe recession, a business survey has showed. Coronavirus has caused the economy to tank over the past two months as businesses and people remain in lockdown. An index measuring activity in the dominant services sector and in manufacturing rose to 28.9 in Mays from 13.8 in April. Under normal circumstances any reading below 50 is considered bad. Neil Wilson at Markets.com said: "Given the easing of lockdown restrictions, huge government and central bank support if it hadnt bounced back aggressively it would be a signal of total disaster. You have to remember that PMIs only tell you whether those surveyed think things are better or worse or the same as the previous month." But despite the slight uptick IHS Markit, which publishes the data, said the pace of decline remained far worse than at any point during the global financial crisis. Companies reported a severe lack of new business and many firms said they were worried it would take a long time to recover. The graph shows the severe dropoff in manufacturing and services activity / IHS Markit Some service sector companies in particular remained deeply pessimistic about their near-term prospects as restaurants and bars are likely to remain closed for sometime to come. Chris Williamson, economist at IHS Markit, said: "The UK economy remains firmly locked in an unprecedented downturn, with business activity and employment continuing to slump at alarming rates in May. Although the pace of decline has eased since Aprils record collapse, May saw the second largest monthly falls in output and jobs seen over the surveys 22-year history, the rates of decline continuing to far exceed anything seen previously. "Travel and tourism firms, hotels, restaurants and producers of consumer goods such as clothing were again the hardest hit, reflecting virus containment measures, but this remains a shockingly broad-based downturn with very few companies left unscathed by the COVID-19 pandemic." Scotland has become the latest country to block companies based in tax havens from accessing coronavirus bailout funds, in a move that will increase pressure on Boris Johnsons government to introduce similar measures. MSPs approved new rules on Wednesday night that will mean companies that are registered in tax havens, or are a subsidiary of an offshore company, cannot apply for government grants. France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Wales and Argentina have applied similar policies to their coronavirus business-support packages. A second amendment to the Scottish legislation, introduced by the Green Party, would have required companies taking bailout money to commit to country-by-country reporting in their accounts. However, the amendment was voted down. Country-by-country reporting has long been a central policy request of the tax justice movement because it would open up to public scrutiny any shifting of corporate profits into tax havens. Campaigners welcomed the Scottish parliaments move but warned that it would not prevent large firms that avoid billions in tax from accessing bailout funds. Scotland, like other European countries that have introduced tax-haven clauses, is relying on the EUs blacklist of tax havens that does not include some notable tax-avoidance hotspots, such as Jersey, the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The Tax Justice Networks chief executive, Alex Cobham, said this would leave the door open to companies registered in many of the worlds most dangerous corporate tax havens. He said: The EU tax-haven blacklist, which Scotland and other European countries are relying on to stop Covid-19 bailouts from ending up in tax havens, is based on an old-fashioned notion of tax havens as small, palm-fringed islands and ignores the reality of modern-day tax havenry. Many of the biggest corporate tax havens are based right here in Europe. According to the Tax Justice Networks research, Luxembourg is responsible for 11 times more corporate tax avoidance risk than the EU-blacklisted Seychelles. The network estimates that Luxembourg costs EU members over $12bn (9.8bn) in lost corporate tax per year. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the grave costs of an international tax system programmed to prioritise the interest of corporate giants over the needs of people, Mr Cobham said. For years, corporate tax havens like the Netherlands and Luxembourg have fuelled a race to the bottom, handing over wealth and power to the biggest corporations and taking it away from the nurses and public service workers risking their lives today to protect ours. Scotlands measures, which were backed by the SNP and the Conservatives, cover a 120m fund that provides grants for small- and medium-sized firms, and a 30m bailout fund for creative, tourism and hospitality businesses. Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green Party co-leader, said: Any company which avoids its responsibility to contribute to society should not be getting handouts when things go wrong. Thats why many European nations and Wales have already made this commitment. Im delighted that ministers finally saw sense on this basic issue of fairness. This move isnt the final word, but it marks the beginning of a new approach to tackling the companies which shamelessly avoid paying tax, and we will continue to build on whats been achieved today. A 22-year-old pearl diver who died on just his second day on the job may leave a lasting legacy on the industry after an eight-year fight by his family for new industry protocols. Jarrod Hampton died after getting the bends on a dive near Eighty Mile Beach off Western Australia's north-west coast, on April 14 2012. An inquest into his death found there was 'appalling chaos' in the moments after his cry for help, delaying efforts to save the young diver's life. The WA state government has proposed a new safety code for the pearl diving industry, but Mr Hampton's devastated parents don't believe it's enough. 22-year-old pearl diver Jarrod Hampton (pictured) who died on his second day on the job may finally get a legacy, after an eight year fight by his family for new industry protocols. Jarrod's father Tony Hampton told ABC News there should be more of a focus on fines and penalties for companies working in the industry. 'We can try and make it sound nice, that things that have happened since Jarrod's death have helped save other people, but the truth is I don't believe that's the case yet. 'Until the law is enforced and enforced strongly with severe, suitable penalties, it won't be enforced. 'And that's the only thing going to actually save lives in the long run.' WA's pearl diving industry currently operates off general workplace safety laws, and any form of industry guidelines work on a voluntary basis (pictured: stock images of oysters hauled in off a diving boat) Jarrod Hampton died while diving off Eighty Mile Beach (pictured) off Western Australia's north-west coast, on April 14 2012 He said putting some teeth in the new measures, with the threat of legal penalties and loss of operating licences, would be a genuine legacy. The proposed laws will require operators to establish written emergency management plans, extra training and install new equipment on dive boats for rescue, evacuation and first aid. Currently, the WA diving industry operates off general workplace safety laws, and industry-specific guidelines only operate on a voluntary basis. The new code would land employers in the courts or ban them from operating if they breach safety measures. The WA state government is still consulting the industry on the draft proposal. When the changes are adopted in legislation, Mr Hampton's parents would like the new measures to be named 'Jarrod's law'. Jarrod Hampton was working as an employee for the Paspaley Pearling Company when he died in April 2012. Jarrod Hampton (pictured) was working as an employee for the Paspaley Pearling Company when he died in April 2012 The company faced legal proceedings in the wake of his death, and while they were not found responsible for his death they were convicted and fined $60,000 for failing to provide a safe workplace. They were ordered to follow a new set of safety recommendations imposed by the WA Police Dive Squad. At the time of the May 2017 inquest, Coroner Barry King said he hoped the measures would give the family some solace. 'I can only hope that the changes that have been made to occupational safety in relation to pearl diving as a result of his death can provide his family with some comfort for their profound loss,' Coroner Barry King wrote. The boss of Paspaley pearls James Paspaley previously blamed himself for not giving staff adequate training for retrieving injured divers after Mr Hampton's death. Proposed changes to Western Australia's pearl diving sector will require operators to establish written emergency management plans, extra training and install new equipment on dive boats for rescue, evacuation and first aid (pictured: stock image of pearls) Skipper Ronald Watson jumped into the water to bring the 22-year-old back to the boat and the crew then struggled to get him up the ladder because the deck was too high. Mr Hampton's colleagues tried to revive him for about 50 minutes but were unsuccessful and a post-mortem concluded he had drowned. Mr Watson admitted the winch used to pull up shell bags should have been used to lift Mr Hampton, estimating the time it took between realising something was wrong and getting him on deck was between five and 10 minutes. Executive director James Paspaley, whose grandfather founded the business, told the court the delay was unacceptable. Mr Paspaley, who had input in the Pearl Producers Association Code of Practice and is the association's chairman, said his company had not been holding twice-yearly drills for retrieving incapacitated divers, as recommended in the code. He admitted it should have, saying the company was wrongly focused on just the medivac to Broome. James Paspaley (pictured) says he blames himself for the death of a diver in 2012, as his employees were not properly trained in how to retrieve an incapacitated diver from the water 'It's got to be my fault. We read it. We missed it. I missed it,' Mr Paspaley said. 'It's not a document that we didn't read regularly. 'When I read it, I think of how to get him from a ship to a hospital, not from the water to the boat. 'It hadn't crossed our minds... what was screamingly obvious after the 14th of April ... how do we move a bloke from over there onto the deck?' Mr Paspaley accepted the safety of employees was his responsibility. He said the company had since improved its safety procedures, including assuming an emergency situation if a diver surfaces and gives no clear signal that they're OK. Paspaley pleaded guilty in 2015 to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and was ordered to pay a $60,000 fine plus costs of $5000 Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Watson admitted he never thought about how to rescue an incapacitated diver before the tragedy and other dangers had taken priority. 'We're more focused on irukandji stings, bailing out and the compressor stopping,' he said. The court heard earlier in the inquest Mr Hampton had lost his working line on an earlier dive that day and told a colleague he'd almost drowned. Paspaley pleaded guilty in 2015 to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and was ordered to pay a $60,000 fine plus costs of $5000. HOUSTON - Prosecutors announced Thursday they expect to dismiss at least 91 more drug convictions tied to an indicted ex-Houston police officer whose cases are being reviewed following a deadly drug raid. This comes after the Harris County District Attorneys Office had announced in February it would dismiss 73 cases connected to the former officer, Gerald Goines. We will continue to work to clear people convicted solely on the word of a police officer who we can no longer trust, said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. We are committed to making sure the criminal justice is fair and just for everyone. Goines work with the Houston Police Departments narcotics unit has come under scrutiny following the January 2019 drug raid in which Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58, were killed. Prosecutors allege Goines, 55, lied to obtain the warrant to search the couples home by claiming that a confidential informant had bought heroin there. Goines later said there was no informant and that he had bought the drugs himself, they allege. Five officers, including Goines, were injured in the raid. Goines, who is free on bond but under home confinement, is accused by authorities of lying in other drug cases, including those of two brothers, Otis and Steven Mallet, who were declared innocent by judges in February. Nicole DeBorde, Goines attorney, accused Ogg of using the ex-officers case for political gain. Ogg is up for re-election in November. Her office does not have a shred of new information to support her decision in these cases - just a pending trial she wants to politicize, and she does not handle post-conviction investigations similarly for any other citizens, DeBorde said. Prosecutors have begun filing motions asking judges to appoint attorneys for the 91 individuals so that their cases can be reviewed. Prosecutors say they would agree to requests to dismiss the cases. In the 73 cases announced in February, Goines was the only witness to alleged drug buys. In the 91 cases announced Thursday, Goines wrote affidavits that were used to secure search warrants in drug cases. All of the individuals in the 164 cases being dismissed are minorities and the majority are African American, prosecutors said. Prosecutors have concluded that every conviction in which Goines was the major player, for the past 11 years, needs to be flipped, said Josh Reiss, chief of the Post-Conviction Writs Division of the district attorneys office. The number of cases may grow. Since the raid, prosecutors have been reviewing thousands of cases handled by the Houston Police Departments narcotics division, Goines and another ex-officer, Steven Bryant, connected to the raid. Goines is facing two counts of felony murder in state court for the deaths of Tuttle and Nicholas and is facing seven counts in federal court over allegedly providing false information in the raid. Bryant is also facing state and federal charges in the deadly raid. Both men were relieved of duty after the shooting and later retired. ___ Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70 Russias coronavirus death data is accurate, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNBC. According to an article on the CNBC website, Peskov "hit back at claims that the Russian data was inaccurate and insisted to CNBC that Russia is not misreporting virus fatalities." "We conceal nothing," CNBC cited the Russian presidential spokesman as saying. "(The) cause of death is identified by autopsy. It is autopsy that helps us count precisely, and on this basis (a) diversification of death causes happens," he stressed. "That is the difference between Russia and many Western countries, where they do not do postmortem examinations," the Kremlin sSpokesman emphasized. Leading Chinese vaccine developer CanSino Biologics Inc. has inked a deal to test and sell a separate Canadian vaccine candidate as the race for immunization intensifies globally. In addition to developing its own vaccine together with the Chinese military, CanSino will partner with Vancouver-based Precision NanoSystems Inc. to co-develop another potential vaccine, according to a joint press release Wednesday. The Chinese company will conduct testing of Precisions experimental vaccine and has the right to commercialize it in Asia excluding Japan, said the statement. Widely viewed as one of the front-runners in the race to develop a successful vaccine, the new deal adds to CanSinos chances of being among the first to deliver immunizing shots. Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to make any effective vaccine against the coronavirus that is developed by China accessible and affordable globally as a public good. CanSinos own vaccine is currently in the second of three phases of human testing and is among five Chinese candidates to have reached that advanced stage -- more than the U.S. and Europe combined. CanSinos stock surged in Hong Kong on Thursday morning before abruptly reversing gains in the afternoon. Overall, the companys head start in coronavirus vaccine development has made it the second-most overbought stock among mid-cap and big-caps in Hong Kong. The Tianjin-based company was set up in 2009 by vaccine industry veterans who had previously worked for global pharmaceutical firms like Sanofi and AstraZeneca Plc. The companys partnered with the Chinese military before, developing a shot against Ebola that was approved domestically in 2017, although it was not deployed internationally. The vaccine that CanSino will co-develop with Precision Nanosystems harnesses an experimental approach also being used by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. Known as mRNA vaccines, they contain the viruss genetic sequence to instruct cells to make antigens that elicit a response from the immune system.Governments, research institutes and companies around the world have accelerated vaccine development that usually takes years into several months as pressure grows for scientists to find a way out of the pandemic. A vaccine is considered a crucial step toward lifting social-distancing measures and safely reopening economies, schools and events around the globe. Despite growing tensions between China and some western countries who have faulted it for a delay in sharing information about the pandemic, Chinese vaccine developers have inked cooperation pacts with foreign companies. Chinese drugmaker Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. announced in March a partnership with Germanys BioNTech SE to help test its mRNA vaccine in China. Besides the new partnership, CanSino has also already received approval to conduct human clinical trials in Canada for the vaccine it is co-developing with the Chinese military. Donald Trump has warned that voting is an honour as he continued attacks on states attempting to introduce postal voting at Novembers 2020 election. Mr Trump said on Wednesday that voters should not send back a pile of stuff meaning a postal ballot as he moves to discredit the voting method used worldwide. If you can you should go and vote, but voting is an honour. It shouldnt be something where they send you a pile of stuff and you send it back, said Mr Trump. That came as the US president threatened to withdraw federal funding from two states on Wednesday after misunderstanding the difference between Michigan sending out postal ballots and applications for ballots. Whilst he was later corrected, Mr Trump maintained that Michigans actions were illegal. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State, wrote Mr Trump on Twitter. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path! Meanwhile, the president said Arizonas attempt to introduce postal voting was an attempt to cheat at elections. Mr Trump told journalists during Wednesday evenings news conference that If people mail in ballots theres a lot of illegality. He added that common sense will tell you its massive manipulation that can take place, massive. You have cases of fraudulent ballots where they actually print them and give them to people to sign, maybe the same person signs them with different writing, different pens, continued Mr Trump. I dont know, a lot of things can happen No exact evidence was provided. Last month, the president commented that Republicans should fight against the introduction of mail voting because for whatever reason, doesnt work out well. The Fifteenth Amendment of the US Constitution states that voting in the US is a right, rather than an honour. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:47:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's poverty relief authority has teamed up with Pinduoduo, one of the country's e-commerce giants, for sales promotion of agricultural products from poverty-stricken regions via livestreaming. According to the program, jointly launched on Wednesday by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development and Pinduoduo, there will be a one hundred live online sales promotion activities for poverty relief purpose on Pinduoduo's platforms. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, agricultural product sales were hard hit. Livestreaming is effective in boosting such sales and can help more people rise above poverty, said Hong Tianyun, deputy head of the leading group office. This came as the country stepped up efforts to achieve its goal of eliminating absolute poverty this year. Prior to this initiative, Pinduoduo launched an anti-poverty program which, with local officials as livestreaming hosts, helped boost sales of agricultural products from poverty-stricken regions. More than 425 million kilograms of agricultural products had been sold as of May 14, according to the company. Enditem Updated May 21, 2020, at 7:16 p.m. EST. WASHINGTON The Trump administration has made a final decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, sources confirmed to Defense News on Thursday. The news was confirmed by U.S. President Donald Trump midday, followed by a formal announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the administration will make a formal notification on Friday, kicking off a six-month clock before a formal exit occurs. We may, however, reconsider our withdrawal should Russia return to full compliance with the Treaty, Pompeo said in a statement. What full compliance means, however, is unclear. Chris Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, told reporters there are many variables as to what that would entail, particularly as a number of American complaints about Russian activities involve behaviors that, Ford acknowledged, are not in fact violations of the treaty. As an example of the latter, Ford pointed to restrictions on flights over Kaliningrad. Russia has in the past restricted the length of flights over the city, which is not a direct violation but contradicts the confidence-building nature of the agreement, Ford said. That Russia will sometimes loosen those restrictions, such as earlier this year for an Open Skies flyover by Estonian, Lithuanian and American observers, is proof that the Kremlin clearly regards its Open Skies legal obligations as something akin more to guidelines, or options, for them, he argued. Its the combination of all those things that has led to this decision. And so were Russia to return to compliance, we would have to presumably make that decision at the time about what to do with it, do in response to that, on the basis of the circumstances that have changed at that time, Ford said. Just as our decision now has many variables, we have to sort of see what the net impact of Russian behavior at that time in the world is. But thats a conversation we would very much like to have, if Russia would give the world the opportunity to see that happen. Story continues In a statement released online, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the move very regrettable" and hit at the Trump administrations general policy of going after arms control agreements. #MFA on info of US decision to leave #OpenSkiesTreaty: If it does happen, it will be very regrettable. Unfortunately, it goes w/ general policy of current US Adm. to derail all arms control agreements. Treaty is crucial for ensuring mutual trust in Europe & on a larger scale pic.twitter.com/OjxiKcbdok Russian Mission to NATO (@natomission_ru) May 21, 2020 International discussions The administration Thursday morning began informing the other 34 members in the agreement, which allows mutual reconnaissance flights over the member nations, including Russia. An emergency meeting of NATO members is scheduled for Friday in Brussels, per multiple reports. The move, first reported Thursday by The New York Times, was not a surprise, as administration officials signaled to European allies toward the end of last year that unless major changes were made to the overflight agreement, the U.S. would consider withdrawing. However, there had been little movement in the months since, giving advocates hope that a decision to exit the treaty had not been finalized. It was pretty clear from meetings that it was basically a done deal and it was just a matter of when, one European source said. Allies generally argue the treaty is a valuable channel for transparency and dialogue between Russia and the United States, the worlds top two nuclear superpowers. Critics of the treaty have argued that the U.S. gets better intelligence from satellite systems and that the funding to replace the aging OC-135 aircraft can be spent elsewhere. A second European source acknowledged that Russia has not always complied with the treaty, but said there was a sense that those issues could be resolved. The source predicted that those NATO members who are also part of the treaty will remain, but was unclear what Russia will do next. If youre Russia, you can stay in and take the moral high ground, say, We still honor international treaties, even if America doesnt, or you can say the treaty is diminished beyond usefulness and you pull out. I dont know which theyll do, but neither is good for NATO," the source said. The source added that while it is true the U.S. gets its best intelligence from its satellites as opposed to OC-135 flights, focusing entirely on that is selfish because a lot of NATO allies rely on Open Skies for visibility into what goes on in Russia. The Pentagon released a statement late on Thursday, saying The United States has been in close communication with our Allies and partners regarding our review of the Treaty and we will explore options to provide additional imagery products to Allies to mitigate any gaps that may result from this withdrawal. Key Democrats and arms control advocates quickly denounced the administrations withdrawal plans as dangerous and destabilizing to Americas relationships with allies, with former CIA director Michael Hayden, a frequent Trump critic, decrying the move as insane. This is insane. I was the director of CIA. Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) May 21, 2020 Conservative voices applauded the move as Trump standing up to Russias violations of the treaty. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., expressed his belief the funding that would have gone into repairing the OC-135 should now go toward broader nuclear modernization. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and House Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., blasted the administration for defying a requirement in the 2020 defense policy law that Trump first give Congress 120 days notice. Multiple communications with Congress on the issue had gone unanswered, they said. The Administrations decision to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty is a slap in the face to our allies in Europe, leaves our deployed forces in the region at risk, and is in blatant violation of the law, they said in a joint statement. This decision weakens our national security interests, isolates the United States since the Treaty will continue without us, and abandons a useful tool to hold Russia accountable." When signing the defense policy legislation into law, Trump indicated he didnt consider himself bound by the requirement, citing his executive powers. I reiterate the longstanding understanding of the executive branch that these types of provisions encompass only actions for which such advance certification or notification is feasible and consistent with the Presidents exclusive constitutional authorities as Commander in Chief and as the sole representative of the Nation in foreign affairs," the presidents Dec. 20 signing statement read. Throughout its term, the Trump administration has been skeptical of arms control agreements. The U.S. and Russia walked away from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty last August, and officials have expressed skepticism about renewing the New START nuclear agreement with Russia, which expires in 2021. We could see a mass exodus of people leaving these hot spot states to begin a new chapter of their lives for different opportunities for them and their families, says Our Town Americas CEO Michael Plummer. Call it the Epicenter Exodus. As the U.S. starts reopening in time for Mays National Moving Month and the busy summer moving season, a just released survey reveals a good chunk of residents from coronavirus hot spot states would voluntarily pack up and move out to areas not as crippled by the virus. Its not only the city slickers in cramped quarters who want out. Spread-out suburbanites want to hit the road, too. The Our Town America national survey of 1,000 Americans reveals a large percentage of residents living in the ten states with the most Covid-19 cases would consider moving even though many have lived in their state for more than twenty years, or even their whole lives. The states with the most coronavirus cases are New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana, Connecticut, and Florida. The survey, commissioned by Our Town America, the nations leading new mover marketing franchise, reveals: More than 40% of folks polled say theyd consider moving because they live in a coronavirus hot spot state. More than half polled live in the suburbs and more than 30% live in the city. Of those who would move, more than 1/2 (53%) say they say they would move to an area of the country less affected by the coronavirus for peace of mind (44%) and because theres less chance of a resurgence of coronavirus (40%). Some also say its important to live somewhere their kids will be able to start school sooner. When would they move? Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) say theyre ready to move NOW as quickly as possible. More than 3 in 5 (64%) say theyd want to move by the end of the year. Numb Nation The new survey of 1000 American adults from the 10 hotspot states reveals a country shell-shocked by Covid-19. As America reopens, more than 3 in 4 polled (76%) say theyre still worried about the virus. Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) say theyre also concerned about the future and 1 in 3 (33%) said they dont believe the state they live in will ever get back to pre-pandemic normal. Folks are most worried about their families, health, and finances. More than 1/3 (35%) say they or someone in their family lost work or a job. And almost half (46%) say they want better mental health. Those with kids also ranked their childrens well-being as a top worry. The South Atlantic states rank as the top areas people would move to right now- states on the east coast from Florida up to Delaware. (DE, MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, WV, FL) More than 1 in 4 (28%) eager to move say theyd move to a warmer climate. More than 1/2 (53%) of those folks say warm weather is better for their physical and mental health and more than 1 in 6 (17%) believe the virus has less chance of spreading in warmer temperatures. Pandemic Prisoners Want Out! Folks polled say the country cant open soon enough. Nearly 1/3 (30%) say the Stay-At-Home orders in their state were too severe. They describe their neighborhoods during quarantine as the Apocalypse, Armageddon and Hitler-esque. Nearly 2/3 (65%) of respondents are ready for the country to open now! And when asked if the lockdowns were necessary, more than 1 in 4 (28%) say they would have preferred NO Stay-At-Home orders and would have taken their chances on contracting the virus. Almost a third (27%) of those eager to move say theyd relocate as a chance to move on from the virus in a new place, for a fresh start. Its clear the coronavirus has scarred people physically, mentally, financially and geographically. We could see a mass exodus of people leaving these hot spot states to begin a new chapter of their lives for different opportunities for them and their families, says Our Town Americas CEO Michael Plummer. Our new mover welcome packages stuffed with certificates to try out new area businesses is more critical than ever because social distancing may keep neighbors away from new families so there wont be anyone to welcome them. Covid Concerns In fact, in the survey, people who want to move from hot spot states fear new neighbors will keep their distance for fear of contracting the virus. More than 2/3 (68%) say they worry neighbors might stay away because they come from a state heavily infected with the virus. More than 2/3 (69%) say receiving a housewarming gift would make them more comfortable, but more than half (60%) also say the best way for neighbors to welcome them is to flag them down in the front yard and introduce themselves following social distancing guidelines. In this coronavirus era, we probably wont see neighbors welcoming new families with dinner invitations and home baked goods because people will keep their distance, says Plummer. A free meal, haircut or service that comes in our envelope, will be the boost and welcome new movers need to feel part of the community. The survey suggests Americans agree with Plummer as respondents say theyll continue supporting local businesses after the Coronavirus chaos dies down, especially the places that stick to curbside/takeout and share more information online. More than 4 in 5 (81.4%) say theyll take advantage of a proven offer (i.e. free meal, haircut, etc.) from a local business that welcomes them to their new community but nearly 1/2 (49%) say theyll be sticking to takeout and curbside when they do. The responses also prove folks are craving a new online directory that lists restaurants open for takeout and delivery (such as https://www.takeoutopen.com/). More than 7 in 10 (70.6%) say they would have used that type of directory while living in quarantine and even more (73%) say theyll use it when the quarantine is lifted. For more information on Our Town America, please visit https://www.ourtownamerica.com/. For more information on the Our Town America franchise opportunity, please visit https://www.newmoverfranchise.com/. *Editors Note: *Please cite Our Town America as the source for this survey *This online survey of 1,000 American men and women was conducted by a third party and commissioned by Our Town America *Survey participants have no affiliation with Our Town America About Our Town America For over 48 years, Our Town America has been providing new movers with traditional hospitality by mailing warm housewarming gifts from local neighborhood businesses in a premium Welcome Package. Since the company started franchising in 2005, Our Town America has consistently been placed in the Franchise Top 50, ranking top in their category for franchisee satisfaction. Our Town Americas dedication to the sponsor exclusivity concept, meaning Our Town America will only recommend one of each business type in any specific zip code within its Welcome Packages, has been one of the key catalysts for the companys long-term success. In addition, sponsors consistently rave about other unique aspects of the new mover marketing program such as their ability to reach a brand-new audience of impressionable new movers each month and the insightful data/metrics delivered by Our Town Americas innovative pinpoint tracking system. Due in large part to Our Town Americas devotion to those concepts, thousands of satisfied business owners throughout the United States attest to the success and effectiveness of the program. Additionally, dozens of locally owned franchisees validate Our Town Americas concept as a viable business opportunity. It is Our Town Americas mission to assist new movers adjusting to their community, help businesses gain new and loyal customers and provide franchisees with an excellent opportunity. The eight million households who receive Our Town Americas Welcome Packages each year prove that Our Town America is committed to following through on that mission statement. For more information, visit the Our Town America website at https://www.ourtownamerica.com or call 1-800-497-8360. A triple ballot was held in Burundi where the presidential election overshadowed the other two, legislative and communal elections. The election is meant to usher in the first democratic transition in 58 years of independence for the impoverished east African nation, after widespread international criticism of its last election in 2015, when Nkurunziza ran for a third term. Without much suspense, the candidate for power Evariste Ndayishimiye is given the victory because of the stranglehold of his party on the state, this election was expected because it allows to turn the page on Pierre Nkurunziza, in power for 15 years. Yet his shadow still hung over this vote. The BBC has confirmed that Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter are not accessible since the vote day. Only those using Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which mask a users identity, can access the social media sites. The party of Agathon Rwasa, the main opponent of Evariste Ndayishimiye denounced on Wednesday massive fraud including ballot box stuffing, multiple votes, and a real manhunt against his representatives, arrested or chased by hundreds of polling stations. The electoral commission and the police speak for their part of elections that went very well, in a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Twelve more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in British Columbia, one of whom is in the Interior Health region. The new cases bring the total number of positive tests in the province to 2,479, with 183 in the IH region. As of Thursday, 307 active cases remain in the province, after 2,020 patients fully recovered. Forty-three of these patients are being treated in hospital, with just eight in critical care. Just one COVID-19 patient remains in hospital in the IH region. During her daily press conference Thursday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said another three people have died from the virus, bringing the total in the province to 152. The three new deaths come from the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health regions and two were residents of long-term care homes. A new outbreak has been declared at the Matsqui Institution federal correctional facility in Abbotsford, where one inmate has been diagnosed with the virus. Dr. Henry said the case was caught early, and the individual did not have many contacts with others before the diagnosis. There remains outbreaks at 14 long-term care home and three acute care facilities, after an outbreak at a Vancouver care home has been declared officially over. To date, 329 residents and 208 staff members of these facilities have tested positive for the virus. Dr. Henry said more than 40,000 Canadians returning to B.C. from international travel have been screened, to ensure they have appropriate isolation plans. Returning travellers must still isolate for 14 days upon their return. Additionally, she added that of the 152 COVID-19 deaths in the province, 62 per cent have been men. As a long-standing partner of the government in these nations, the company announces its commitment to provide a total of 324,000 3-ply protective masks plus 145 hospital grade 9L per minute oxygen concentrators to support severely ill patients. This gesture of almost 6 tons of cargo for a total volume of 46 cubic meters aims at supporting and protecting local communities. "We are in the midst of a global health crisis and understand the need for immediate and significant donations, especially to communities that are already facing health and economic disparities. We need to all come together to support one another and provide essential supplies to some of our most vulnerable and at-risk groups," said Didier Reymond, CEO of Webb Fontaine. The spread of the pandemic is putting additional pressure on health systems that are already stretched. Webb Fontaine will thus deliver this essential medical equipment to the local authorities for further dispatch to front-line medical facilities as they deem fit in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Congo, Guinea, Senegal, RCA, Ethiopia, Nepal and Maldives. The total shipments including oxygen concentrators, connection cannulas kits, spare filters for maintenance and protective masks are already manufactured and the logistics to airfreight them to the various destinations started since 15th of May 2020. Building on the long-standing relationships already established with these nations, the donations are part of Webb Fontaine's larger vision to help support and nurture communities for a better and brighter future. About Webb Fontaine: Trusted by governments globally, Webb Fontaine provides industry wide solutions to accelerate trade development and modernization. The company uses unique technology including Artificial Intelligence to enable countries to emerge as leaders in the future of trade. Knowledge transfer is at the core of Webb Fontaine; comprising of a team of experts who work across the world, empowering local communities and governments. As an industry leader with the largest R&D centres in the industry, Webb Fontaine is constantly developing international trade practices connecting countries, borders and people. For more information visit www.webbfontaine.com SOURCE Webb Fontaine Related Links https://webbfontaine.com/ Attempts by Russia to instill into the world tolerance towards Russia's occupation of the Crimean peninsula through its fake emissaries at various international events are futile, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea. "At a time when repression continues in Crimea, the Russian Federation, abusing procedural opportunities, manipulatively sends its fake emissaries to various international events. Their main task is to justify aggressive policies and instill international tolerance for Russia's occupation of the Crimean peninsula. These efforts are futile," the statement reads. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that neither such openly propaganda operations of the Kremlin nor insignificant quasi-legal acts of the occupying power can change the legal status of Crimea as an integral part of Ukraine's territory within internationally recognized borders or change the common position of the international community in support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukrainian diplomats called on the international community to step up joint efforts to debunk the myths of Russian propaganda, which is an element of Russian aggression and destabilizing actions against Ukraine and other democracies. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also called unacceptable Russia's blockade of proper and unhindered access of international monitoring missions, primarily the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol pursuant to UN General Assembly resolutions 71/205, 72/190, 73/263 and 74/168. The Russian delegation to the UN earlier initiated the holding on May 21 of an "informal videoconference" of the UN Security Council "with the participation of residents of Crimea." op Sher Bahadur Deuba to take oath as new Prime Minister of Nepal today Our friendship with India and China remains of 'paramount importance': Nepal at UN Refrain from unjustified cartographic assertion, India tells Nepal India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 21: A day after Nepal made public its new map, claiming territory under India's control, the government has hit back saying that the revised official map was a unilateral act and not based on facts. Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson Ministry of External Affairs said that what Nepal did was contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India, he also said. Union health Minister Harsh Vardhan set to chair WHO Executive Board | Oneindia News India also urged Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We hope that Nepalese leadership will create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues, the MEA spokesperson also said. Border row with India worsens as Nepal approves new map with Lipulekh On Tuesday Nepal's cabinet endorsed a new political map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory, amid a border dispute with India. The move announced by foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali came weeks after he said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives. Nepal's ruling Nepal Communist Party lawmakers have also tabled a special resolution in Parliament demanding return of Nepal's territory in Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh. The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. Gyawali said that the official map of Nepal will soon be made public by the Ministry of Land Management. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese, Italian: Nepal PM Indian officials say that they are upset that Nepal did not wait for the foreign secretary-level talks. The government had assured Kathmandu that the talks would take place once the threat from COVID-19 subsides. Nepal, on the other hand, claimed that a dialogue was sought in November last year itself. It may be recalled that India had donated the antimalarial drug HCQ and 30,000 test kits to Nepal. As the United Statess response to the coronavirus pandemic splits along partisan lines, a Reuters news agency analysis may help explain why: death rates in Democratic areas are triple those in Republican ones. By Wednesday, US counties that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election reported 39 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis of demographic and public health data. In counties that voted for Republican Donald Trump, 13 of every 100,000 people had died from the virus. The uneven impact reflects the disproportionate toll the infectious disease has taken in densely packed Democratic-voting cities like New York. Rural areas and far-flung suburbs that typically back Republicans have not seen as direct an impact. The pattern holds beyond New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak. Democratic counties in 36 of the 50 US states collectively reported higher death rates than Republican counties. In Maryland, where the disease has killed more than 2,000 people, the death rate in the Democratic suburbs of Washington is four times higher than in the conservative counties in the Appalachian panhandle. In Kansas, which has reported 152 deaths, the death rate is seven times higher in the two counties that backed Clinton than in the rest of the state. There are exceptions. Republican counties report a higher death rate in Delaware, Nebraska and South Dakota, where the disease has raced through meatpacking plants. Republican counties have been harder hit in Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota and Texas, where rates are well below the national average. Partisan attitudes reflect the geographic divide. A Reuters/Ipsos survey of 1,115 US adults conducted Monday and Tuesday found nearly half of Democrats were very concerned about the virus, compared with one-third of Republicans. Other polls have found Republicans more eager to lift restrictions aimed at slowing the coronavirus in the US, which leads the world with more than 92,000 deaths and 1.54 million infections. Divide visible in Michigan The contrast is especially sharp in Michigan, where refrigerator trucks store corpses in Detroit hospital parking lots, while armed men protest here business restrictions at the state capitol. Sheriffs in several Republican-leaning counties have said they will not punish businesses that defy rules put in place by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. A protester at the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan [Paul Sancya/AP Photo] Trump, who narrowly won Michigan in 2016, is due to visit the state on Thursday. He has pressed Whitmer to lift restrictions in hopes of reviving the economy before the November election. Michigan counties that backed Clinton in 2016 collectively have reported 79 deaths for every 100,000 people. Counties that backed Trump have reported 25 deaths per 100,000. Republican pollster Steve Mitchell said voters in the state were sharply split along partisan lines. Democrats are afraid they will catch the disease, while Republicans worry more about the economic damage from nationwide shutdowns that sent unemployment soaring. They are not seeing a high caseload in their area and theyre wondering why theyre being treated the same as the city of Detroit, he told Reuters. Conservative activist Michelle Gregoire said in an interview with Reuters that people should not change their behaviour to avoid the coronavirus. You cant put yourself in a bubble, she said. Democratic state Representative Leslie Love, whose district includes part of Detroit, said the partisan divide reminded her of the statewide response to previous problems like crack cocaine and high auto insurance rates that hit hardest in black neighbourhoods. It is that same type of disconnect: If its not happening to me, if its not in my back yard, then thats their problem over there, and not ours,' she said. Its going to be your problem, though. New Delhi, May 21 : As cyclone 'Amphan' is currently whirling at a speed of 70 kmph over Bangladesh a day after leaving a trail of devastation across a wide swath of West Bengal and Odisha, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is setting up special teams to visit these states and assess the damages. These teams - separate for West Bengal and Odisha, reportedly headed by Deputy Secretary or above rank official and comprising a total of almost a dozen people from various ministries, and are expected to arrive in these states by Thursday evening or Friday, informed sources said. These teams, learnt to comprise officials from the Disaster Management, Finance, Jal Shakti Ministries, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) among others, will assess the damage and "submit an early report" to the MHA. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, in a review meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) here on Thursday, also said that the Home Ministry teams will be sent to these states to carry out early assessment of damages and submit a report. The visiting teams will meet those evacuated timely from the two states before the cyclone ravaged the regions, killing over a dozen people and destroying houses, roads and public utilities. Chief Secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal informed the Cabinet Secretary on Thursday that timely and accurate forecast by the IMD and advance deployment of NDRF facilitated the evacuation of about five lakh people in West Bengal and about two lakh in Odisha. The Home Ministry teams will submit the report based on which Central assistance will be declared. However, the states informed in the NCMC meet that there was minimal loss of human lives, considering the fact that the intensity of 'Amphan' was next only to that of the super cyclone that struck Odisha in 1999 causing large scale devastation. The teams will also meet the residents in the presence of the state administrations, which along with the NDRF and other rescue teams, have done commendable relief work as the cyclone pummelled its way over large parts of West Bengal and Odisha through the night, leaving behind a trail of deaths and damages. West Bengal has informed the Centre that there were major damages to agriculture, power and telecommunication facilities in cyclone-affected areas. Odisha informed that damages have been mainly limited to agriculture. Reviewing the rescue and restoration efforts, the Cabinet Secretary directed that officers of Central ministries and agencies should remain in close touch with Odisha and West Bengal state governments and provide all required assistance expeditiously. Meanwhile, the NDRF has moved additional teams in West Bengal to speed up restoration work, especially in Kolkata. A total of 36 NDRF teams were earlier deployed in both the states, while rescue and relief teams of the Army and Navy along with ships and aircrafts of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have been involved in relief operations. While Odisha was spared the worst of 'Amphan', the Sunderbans region and six south Bengal districts felt the full impact of winds gusting at 155-165 kmph along with torrential rain after the cyclone made landfall near Sagar Island around 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday and entered Kolkata, about 100 km north, around 5 p.m. In the first few hours 'Amphan', a Thai name means sky, already destroyed over 5,000 houses in Minakhan, Haroa, Basirhat Hingalganj and Hasnabad areas of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. Most of the areas in Howrah and North 24 Parganas faced massive power cuts due to heavy rainfall. Roofs of several houses also collapsed as a result of the strong winds during the cyclonic spell. There have been damages inside the state secretariat building Nabanna as well. Heavy rains and huge gush of wind storms damaged the roofs of several buildings and uprooted a massive number of trees across Kolkata and its adjoining Howrah district in West Bengal. The Food Corporation of India, meanwhile, is on the job to ensure adequate availability of food grains, especially rice, to West Bengal so that marooned people are provided immediate sustenance, a Home Ministry official told IANS. The Power Ministry and Department of Telecommunications have been assisting in early restoration of services in both the states. However, the Railways, which suffered major damages to its infrastructure, is in the process of restarting its operations at the earliest, said the official. Barrelling in from the Bay of Bengal with wind speed of up to 185 kmph, Amphan on Wednesday cut a swathe through northern Odisha bearing down on West Bengal and moved north-northeastwards on Thursday, before weakening into a cyclonic storm and lying centered at 5.30 a.m. over Bangladesh. (Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text President Ram Nath Kovind became Indias first head of state to receive and accept diplomatic credentials of seven foreign envoys in an e-ceremony, heralding digital diplomacy because of the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Elaborate physical ceremonies for the presentation of credentials have been put on hold during the national lockdown with Covid-19 protocols firmly in place at Rashtrapati Bhavan and President Kovind minimising his engagements. But it was felt necessary to conduct the credential presentation online, as it is a vital part of diplomatic culture which shouldnt be overlooked, said a senior Rashtrapati Bhavan official who asked not to be named. The ambassadors of DPR Korea, Senegal, Cote dIvoire, and the high commissioners of Trinidad & Tobago, Mauritius, Australia and Rwanda came to South Block on Thursday morning and stood one by one in front of a large screen, through which President Kovind welcomed them. The distance between South Block and Rashtrapati Bhavan is less than 200 metres. These were the first batch of envoys who presented their credentials after the Covid pandemic swept India leading to a federal lockdown since March 25. Secretary (west) of the ministry of external affairs, Vikas Swaroop, was present with the envoys during the ceremony, the official cited above said. The envoys read out their letters credence and the President accepted them on the TV screen. They also nodded at the President as per the protocol, and some envoys even extended an invitation to the President on behalf of their head of state to visit their countries. The President accepted them and, at the end, he delivered a short speech welcoming them in India and also mentioned how our country is fighting against Covid, said a second official aware of the matter. As per protocol, envoys do not begin their formal duties until their credentials are accepted, and their precedence within the diplomatic corps is determined by the date on which the credentials are presented Usually, the presentation of credentials is an elaborate ceremony with strict rules and rituals. The envoys come to Rashtrapati Bhavan accompanied by a foreign ministry official; they have to sit in a specific seat in the car with the protocol officer next to them; the diplomat is received at the forecourt of the presidential palace by the commander of the Presidential Guard; there is a guard of honour in the middle arc of the main entrance, and the police band plays the national anthem of the diplomats country. Once inside the ceremonial hall, the diplomat sits two metres away from the President; does not shake hands or exchange any words, but gives a gentle bow. While these arrangements could not be done due to Covid restrictions, a new beginning was made. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saubhadra Chatterji Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies. ...view detail Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and community leaders appealed to people to celebrate upcoming Eid festival and offer Namaz at home in a bid to prevent further spread of Covid-19 in Mumbai, the worst-affected city in the country. Singh said, So far we have received good co-operation from people during the holy month of Ramzan. We expect the same cooperation from our brothers during Eid as well. No permission is being given for organising any religious activity or Eid namaz or prayers in public places. This is being done to prevent further spread of the virus in Mumbai. Together, Mumbaiites will win this battle against Covid-19. Pranaya Ashok, DCP (operations) and Mumbai Police spokesperson, said, We have informed all 93 police stations across Mumbai that no permission shall be granted to any organisation for any religious activity which is in violation of lockdown order. MLA and cabinet minister Aslam Shaikh said, Eid will be celebrated either on May 24 or May 25 as per sighting of moon. As the curfew has been extended, our community will follow lockdown orders and offer Namaz at home and not in mosques. We have obeyed the rules, and also made frequent announcements from mosques during Ramzan requesting people to stay home and to celebrate Eid and pray at home, said Suhail Khandwani, trustee of Mahim dargah and Haji Ali dargah. 2.86 lakh people sent back, 2.29 lakh on waiting list Till Thursday afternoon, a total of 2,86,247 stranded people, mostly migrants, have been sent back to their home states while 2,29,915 are still on the waiting list of the Mumbai Police. In all a total of 5, 16, 162 people have been registered with Mumbai Police. In this 2, 42, 899 have been sent back by train and 43, 348 left by other modes of transport like buses and cars. Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops), confirmed the figures. In a related development, 2,000-odd migrants from slums in Kandivli (West) who had registered with Kandivli police had to return back to their shelters in Mumbai as two trains that were to leave from Borivli station to their home states were cancelled on Thursday by railways. 750 personnel positive in Mumbai Police, 519 quarantined The total number of Mumbai Police personnel who tested positive for Covid-19 rose to 750 on Thursday afternoon. A total of 10 personnel have died so far in Mumbai Police. On Thursday, a constable from Thane Police and another constable from Pune Police succumbed to the infection, taking the total death toll to 16 in state police. Another 448 police constables and 71 officers have been quarantined. Third covid care centre for cops at police gymkhana A 50-bed Covid care centre will be soon set up at Mumbai Police gymkhana, Marine Lines for all police personnel who tested positive. A senior police officer confirmed the development. There are two existing Covid care centres for cops in the city; one at Vakola with 300-beds and one at Marol with 250 beds. 113 booked, 57 arrested for lockdown violations on Wednesday A total of 113 FIRs against the same number of people have been registered on Wednesday and 57 have been arrested. A maximum of 90 FIRs were for gathering in one place, 13 for not wearing masks, five for unnecessary use of vehicles and two against shops for operating despite being a non-essential service. A maximum of 47 FIRs were in south Mumbai, followed by 24 each in eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai. 15 FIRs were registered in central Mumbai and 3 in north Mumbai. 78 inmates released from Arthur Road jail Seventy eight inmates were released on bail from Arthur Road jail, where at least 184 people have tested positive for Covid-19 and been quarantined within the overcrowded jail premises in the past three days. Similarly, 89 inmates were released from Byculla District Prison, 57 from Thane Central Jail and 76 from Taloja Jail. In the past one week, around 534 inmates were released on bail across Maharashtra. Till May 21, based on the decisions made by the high-powered committee, 7,876 prisoners have been released either on parole or on bail from jails across the state since lockdown started. According to an official release by the Maharashtra prison authorities, the state prisons still have 30,416 more inmates. Man arrested for trying to send unlisted migrants in train Sakinaka police arrested a 30-year-old man from Kajupada slum in Andheri (East) for charging 1,100 from unlisted migrants to get them on-board Shramik special trains in place of listed migrants who have left on their own after waiting for several days. Kishor Sawant senior inspector of Sakinaka police station, said, The accused, Madan Lal Yadav, and his aides knew most of the migrant group leaders in our jurisdiction. He used to be keep in touch with them to find out if there are any registered migrants from their group who left on their own. He then used to take 1,100 from unlisted migrants to send them in place of the listed migrants. The accused used to lie to group leaders saying the police would cancel their registration if they find people missing from the list. Due to huge crowds, we only check the details of the group leaders. However, on Wednesday we started calling each migrant by their name and found few 18 unlisted people were in one group, said an officer. We also suspect they may have charged more than 100 migrants for this service. We have booked them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Epidemic Diseases Act, Sawant added. (With inputs from Jayprakash S Naidu, Vijay Kumar Yadav and Suraj Ojha) FIA president Jean Todt is not worried Ferrari will wield its unique and controversial 'veto' to derail Formula 1's course through the corona crisis. The most contentious measure - the reduction of the $175 million budget cap for 2021 - is finally set to be voted on after a delay and much discussion. Although Todt has reserved the potential use of emergency powers to push through changes to protect the sport and its teams, Ferrari's historic veto power remains intact. "I hope everyone will be able to demonstrate the common sense necessary to allow us to get the best outcome for the sport in such a delicate moment," the FIA president told Italy's Sky Sport. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not afraid of Ferrari's potential veto. I appreciate their history and their contribution to the sport, so I am equally convinced that they too will give us a hand," Todt added. He was also asked about the future of departing Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, who as a 32-year-old quadruple world champion could actually retire at the end of 2020. "Maybe he would be a good president of the FIA in the future, you never know," Todt smiled. When asked about Vettel's current predicament, he added: "We must be more optimistic than that. "Sebastian is one of the great talents of motor racing. It has been announced that he will no longer drive for Ferrari after 2020, but he will have many other opportunities. "Any team that will take him will be very lucky," Todt said. (GMM) Ashwini M Sripad By Express News Service BENGALURU: As migrant labourers return to their villages, mostly in North India, construction projects in the state have been hampered, which has escalated costs. Thousands of migrants, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, were hired by builders in Karnataka. Suresh Hari, Karnataka Chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), told The New Indian Express that most of these migrants were working as tile, wood and interior design workers. We can get the regular work done by local workers, but these skilled migrants gave the finishing touches. Most of them are gone and we do not know when they will return, he said The delay in works will mean an escalation in the price of materials, labour cost and interest on loans, which will impact the price paid by the customer. The increase will at least be 10-15 per cent, industry watchers said. Housing Minister V Somanna said they are soon forming a RERA sub-committee which will discuss many issues including cost escalation. When thousands of migrants were stranded in Bengaluru, these builders did not come to their rescue. Now that they have gone, they cannot increase the cost. We will not allow builders to burden people, he said. Government works too have been affected. The National Highways Authority of India is carrying out works of Rs 30,000 crore in Karnataka, which includes the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. The contractors had hired many migrants and as they are gone, the work will get delayed, a PWD official said. The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Lagos State branch has ordered its members to resume work after it had declared a stay-at-home on Wednesday following police brutality. The NMA on Wednesday ordered its members to stay at home after over-zealous police authorities ordered arrest of essential workers, such as doctors and journalists during curfew on Tuesday. However, the association, in a statement issued by its Chairman, Dr. Saliu Oseni and the Secretary, Dr Ramon Moronkola on Thursday said it gave the earlier stay at home order to her members following the continued harassment by the officers and men of the Nigerian police force. The association said the decision was a necessary doctrine of self-preservation as it was unbearable combining the continued threat to life from the officers and men of the police force with the existing daily threat of COVID 19. The leadership of the Association has followed the turn of events while monitoring the situation. The Nigerian police force has reached out to the Association to clarify and give assurance of cooperation with all health-workers. This, they have also done in the media. The executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu was exemplary as his timely intervention from the late hours of May 19th helped prevent worsening of the situation. The association has further received assurances from Mr. Governor and the top hierarchy of the Police that no health workers will be further harassed in the course of their lawful efforts to sustain services in the middle of the pandemic. Above all, the passionate appeal from the good people of Lagos state is difficult to resist considering the fact that they will be most hit by the situation, it stated. Following a holistic consideration of the above development, the Association stated that doctors in Lagos State, under the auspices of NMA, has, and takes seriously, a responsibility to partake actively in the fight against Covid-19 and the delivery of quality healthcare to the citizenry for the entire period of the ongoing lockdown/ restriction of movement and beyond. That the sit at home order issued on the 19th of May is hereby reversed and our members are hereby directed to resume work from 6 pm today, 21st of May, 2020. That the Lagos state government should ensure clarity at all times, on the exempted status of healthcare and other essential workers for the entire period of the ongoing lockdown/restriction of movement. That the Association will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to take any action to protect the safety of our hardworking members. The NMA commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his timely intervention and continued assurances in ensuring that the health-workers who were held by the police were released immediately and in preventing subsequent recurrence. Tokyo, May 21 : The Japanese government on Thursday lifted a state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures as the number of COVID-19 infections has remained low. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters that the emergency measure may end in Tokyo and its three prefectural neighbours of Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa as well as the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido as early as May 25 after a fresh review by a government panel of health experts, reports Xinhua news agency. Abe first declared a month-long state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on April 7, but this was expanded to cover the entire nation on April 16. The state of emergency was originally scheduled to end on May 6, and the government extended it through May 31. Last week, the Japanese government decided to lift the state of emergency ahead of the planned deadline for 39 of the country's 47 prefectures as the coronavirus has been less prevalent in those areas. Japan has reported a total of 16,385 COVID-19 cases with 771 deaths. TOWN OF DOVER The traditional Memorial Day ceremony held at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery has been canceled this year in the interest of the health and safety of the community. While there will be no in-person, public ceremony, a virtual commemoration is scheduled to take place online. In addition, there will not be a large public event to place flags. However, arrangements have been made to ensure that there are flags on graves for Memorial Day. At 9 a.m. on Monday, the WDVA plans to host a state-wide Memorial Day observance online featuring speakers, music, and history for remembering and honoring those who have gone before. The commemoration is available online at WisVetsMemorialDay2020.com. As a nod toward public ceremonies, the WDVA has invited those who are elected to represent districts that include the Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemeteries and the Wisconsin Veterans Homes to participate in the commemoration. Their messages can be found in the Tribute Gallery. We will still honor and express our sincerest gratitude to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and coastguardsmen who died in defense of our nation and our values with a beautiful online ceremony, said WDVA Secretary Mary Kolar. Be assured that while we cannot gather, we will honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in a worthy manner. The commemoration will culminate with the 3 p.m. observance of the National Moment of Remembrance, an annual event that asks Americans to pause for a duration of one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Kolar will lead the Moment of Remembrance Live on Facebook. The WDVA is calling on people across Wisconsin to join in playing Taps as part of the National Moment of Remembrance. All are encouraged to participate by sounding Taps from their home, porch, or front yard. A video of Taps is available to play on WisVetsMemorialDay2020.com. The Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 21731 Spring St. (Highway C), will be open and accessible to the public from sunrise to sunset every day over the holiday weekend. The WDVA encourages visitors to observe social distancing guidelines when visiting. Families and friends should also consider visiting on another day when there are likely to be fewer visitors. Commemorate at home resources In this time of social distancing, the WDVA is also bringing Memorial Day to people in their own home. In addition to the virtual ceremony, resources are available to help families and individuals as are tools to encourage public participation and social media interaction. Resources and activities are available for children and adults to use to commemorate, honor and respect those who have died in military service. In the same vein as the Happy Heart Hunt effort, the WDVA is providing a printable American flag for coloring. Individuals may color the flag or draw their own and post it in a window. They can also draw a flag with chalk on a sidewalk or driveway. Educational resources include the lyrics and history of Taps, proper flag etiquette and information about the Missing Man Table. Social Media Memorial Day has been a time for gathering with friends and family. While spending time apart this year, an online community can join together. A Wisconsin Memorial Day profile frame is available for download on Facebook. The flag and flowers of the Facebook frame represent the flags and flowers traditionally placed on a fallen heros headstone. The hashtag #WIRemember can be used to tag any Memorial Day related posts. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Ever since Paatal Lok premiered on Amazon Prime Video on May 15, 2020, the crime thriller web series has been garnering rave reviews. Great hype was created on social media in the lead-up to the series premiere. Actor Anushka Sharma, whose film studio Clean Slate Films has produced Paatal Lok, took to Twitter to heavily promote her web series, such as inverting her display image and her bio, using images from her own films to create memes depicting Swarg Lok, Dharti Lok and Paatal Lok. Popular Youtuber Bhuvan Bam, too, joined the conversations on Twitter, asking netizens to watch the web series and also cheekily adding that he was not mentioning the name of the platform streaming the series as it would look like a paid tweet. Amazon Prime Videos response to this was equally tongue-in-cheek, Hum bhi nahin bolenge kahan stream ho raha hai, warna lagega paid tweet hai. A live-action teaser was released, where the faces of the starcast was not revealed, but given the violent setting of the series, a man on a bike is shown attacking someone with a hammer, even as the text reads Hell breaks loose. Then there was the inevitable comparison with Netflix series, the trendsetting Sacred Games, another crime drama starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Saif Ali Khan. Netizens are hailing Anushka Sharmas show and calling it the Baap of Sacred Games and Mirzapur. #PaatalLok binge watched the show whole night , this show is baap of sacred games and mirzapur. Jaideep is gem. Very engaging show. Must must must watch show. Johny Balraj (@JohnyBalraj) May 15, 2020 Not surprisingly, more and more brands are associating with Paatal Lok, promoting their brands by leveraging the Swarg, Dharti and Paatal Lok. From food and beverage company Swiggy, Mojo Pizza to PayTM, dating app Tinder, Baskin Robbins India and contraceptives brand like Durex and Manforce looks like the whole brands circuit is rushing to bring their own synonymous pop-culture brand take. Some creative marketing strategies that caught the netizens eye include: Though not a brand, Mumbai Police has played the social media game well to highlight various issues and caution people to comply by the rules. It decided to turn its message topsy-turvy to ask people to stay at home during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by the tweet of Mumbai Police, playing on the raging dialogue which explains that the whole world is divided into three Loks. Sugar Cosmetics started with a trend of Alexa, take me to SwargLok Please on social media. View this post on Instagram Alexa, take me to Swarg Lok please. . . #TrySUGAR #SUGARCosmetics #Trending #Trend #TrendingFormat #PaatalLok #StaySafe #MakeupMeme #InstaFun #InstaLove #OnlineShopping #StayHome #StaySafe #InThisTogether #AmazonPrime #TopicalPost #AmazonVideoIn #Dogs #WebSeriesMemes #OutOfStock #SoldOut A post shared by SUGAR Cosmetics (@trysugar) on May 19, 2020 at 8:01am PDT View this post on Instagram We're always up for Swarg Lok, aren't we? Enjoy a heavenly taste with our 2X Toppings Pizzas #MojoPizza #PizzaLove #2XToppings #SwargLok A post shared by MOJO Pizza (@mojopizza) on May 18, 2020 at 10:25pm PDT View this post on Instagram Make this Lockdown a SwargLokdown. Stay recharged with MobiKwik. #Billpayment #BroadbandBill #PrepaidRecharge #OneTapPayment #OneTouchPayment #ElectricityBill #DataRecharge A post shared by MobiKwik (@mymobikwik) on May 18, 2020 at 2:01am PDT View this post on Instagram For the most important cases of your life. #PaatalLok A post shared by Durex India (@durex.india) on May 19, 2020 at 7:02am PDT View this post on Instagram #PaytmKaroSafeRaho in every lok. A post shared by Paytm (@paytm) on May 19, 2020 at 2:27am PDT View this post on Instagram Well, that's how we have always liked! #PataalLok A post shared by Manforce Condoms (@manforceindia) on May 18, 2020 at 7:39am PDT View this post on Instagram Humne yeh whatsapp pe padha tha A post shared by Tinder India (@tinder_india) on May 17, 2020 at 2:01am PDT View this post on Instagram They said lockdown, I heard lokdown @primevideoin #PaatalLok A post shared by Swiggy (@swiggyindia) on May 16, 2020 at 8:29am PDT View this post on Instagram Everyone is stuck in #PaatalLok for now! . . . . . #PaatalLokMemes #AmazonPrime #MemeOfTheDay #TravelMeme #Covid19 #LockdownMemes #Coronavirus #TravelAgain #Travellers #IndianMemes #AnushkaSharma #QuarantineAndChill #AmazonPrimeVideo #paatallok #paatallokmeme #humour #memeoftheday #stayhome #staysafe #coronavirus A post shared by FabHotels (@fabhotels) on May 19, 2020 at 1:00am PDT Paatal Lok, starring Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi, Abhishek Banerjee, and Gul Panag in key roles, explores the dark realm of the underworld, especially in North India. Created by Sudip Sharma, the series is directed by Avinash Arun & Prosit Roy, and is divided into 9 episodes. NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The findings of a new national survey conducted by All In Together , a non-partisan civic education organization, in partnership with Lake Research Partners and Emerson College Polling, reflects 1,000 registered female voters' feelings toward the election amid the COVID-19 crisis. It is the most comprehensive study to date of women voters in 2020 as they adapt to the pandemic. Lauren Leader, Co-Founder and CEO of All In Together said of the study findings, "No other study looks as deeply at the way COVID-19 may impact the turnout and participation of women in this Presidential election year. What we find is that most women are highly motivated to vote. Even given the heavy burdens of the COVID-19 crisis, women believe their votes matter and plan to participate in the election in November. That said, they certainly do not all agree on who they will vote for and some deep divisions are evident. The President retains strong support among some groups of women, even as his overall favorability is low." Overall, President Trump has a large favorability gap with women: 48% hold a very unfavorable view of him v. 31% very unfavorable for Biden. However, women voters who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 continue to find President Trump favorable (49%) vs. Biden (32%): A majority of women who have lost jobs supported Trump in 2016 (50% compared to 42% who supported Clinton) and are likely to continue their support: 51% of still support Trump (compared to 44% for Biden). These women differ from the general voting population in that 43% think of themselves as Republicans, 36% identify as Democrats and 19% are independent (vs. 45% Democrat, 19% Independent, 29% Republican overall). Women who lost wages due to Covid-19: These women broke for Clinton in 2016 by 17 points, and currently break for Biden at a higher rate, 53%, compared to 31% who support President Trump. Women, both Republican and Democrat, are highly motivated to vote in the 2020 election: Republican women are more motivated (86%) vs. 80% Independent and 79.5% of Democrats. White women (88%) are most likely to say they are certain to vote compared to 78% of Black women and 72% of Lantinx women. African American women solidly supporting Biden: The African American female vote is the base for Democrats and is the most solid voting bloc for Biden, breaking for Biden with 83% compared to 14% for Trump. Further demonstrating loyalty to the party nominee, 90% report that they are strongly supporting Biden, compared to 64% of white Biden voters reporting strong support and 26% of Latina Biden voters reporting strong support. Latina women are under-engaged: Latina voters are less interested in the election 20% are definitely not going to vote (compared to 4% of women overall). Undecided women voters break for Biden but may not vote: When forced to decide who they lean towards for this November, undecided women appear ready to break for Biden 63% to 37%. However, getting these voters to show up at the polls in November will be a challenge, as a third (33%) of undecided voters report not voting in 2018, and 16% did not vote in the 2016 election. This group is mostly likely to categorize themselves not as Independents (19%), but rather as having no political affiliation (28%) at all. Women struggling to manage work and family amid COVID-19 still see their vote as important: Women voters who reported that they are struggling to manage their work and family obligations are united in perceiving themselves to have a very important role in protecting their families and communities (60%). Struggling women voters are more likely to have lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 crisis (27%). The COVID-19 crisis has also increased the amount of care these women are providing to their children (50%), spouse/partner (28%), and parents or other relatives (28%). Leader further explained, "Women are as diverse as the nation and their political views are not uniform nor are their experiences with the COVID-19 crisis. Burdens of care, unemployment and underemployment are clearly huge factors in how and if women will vote this November. We will continue to closely follow these trends over the coming months. Women's votes are critical to the election outcomes in 2020." About All In Together All In Together (AIT) encourages, equips, educates, and empowers voting-age women to participate fully in America's civic and political life. AIT is the only non-partisan women's organization committed to delivering cross-sector, innovative solutions to advance the progress of women's political, civic and professional leadership in the United States. SOURCE All In Together omersukrugoksu/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News (WELLINGTON, New Zealand) -- New Zealand's popular prime minister floated the idea of a four-day workweek to promote domestic tourism as the industry -- and country -- looks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. During a Facebook Live broadcast earlier this week, Jacinda Ardern said she had heard "lots of people" suggesting a four-day workweek following a hospitality meeting in the tourist hub Rotorua. Ardern noted that 60% of the country's tourism industry is supported by domestic tourism. "The question for me is, how do we encourage Kiwis to make sure that they go out and they have that experience? And when they go and visit somewhere, they don't just stay with family and friends, but they get out and about and visit some of the amazing places and tourism offerings that we have," Ardern said. The prime minister said that ultimately a shortened workweek is a decision between employers and employees, but that there are lessons to learn from the pandemic, such as the flexibility of people working from home. "The productivity that can be driven out of that really encouraged people to think about, if they're an employer and in a position to do so, to think about whether or not that is something that would work for their workplace. Because [a four-day workweek] certainly would help tourism all around the country," Ardern said. Several countries, including France and the Netherlands, have reduced working hours. A trust company in New Zealand, Perpetual Guardian, also instituted a four-day workweek in 2018 after research found it was successful in reducing stress without decreasing productivity, Fast Company reported. Last week, workplaces in New Zealand were able to reopen, as Ardern lifted most of the country's restrictions. In addition to offices, all businesses, including restaurants, bars and retail stores, as well as schools, were able to open with social distancing guidelines in place. Residents are also allowed to travel between regions and hold events with up to 10 people. Known COVID-19 infections have largely stabilized in the country over the past few weeks. New Zealand has had no new confirmed COVID-19 cases for two days in a row as of Wednesday. The South Pacific nation of five million has reported just 1,503 cases and 21 deaths. In part thanks to her pandemic response, Ardern is New Zealand's most popular leader in a century, according to a Newshub-Reid Research poll released Monday. Nearly 60% of those surveyed preferred her party, Labour. A Newshub-Reid Research poll also found that an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders backed the government's lockdown measures. Last week, the leader warned that the Southern Hemisphere nation will have a "very tough winter." "But every winter eventually is followed by spring, and if we make the right choices we can get New Zealanders back to work and our economy moving quickly again," Ardern said. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. by Melani Manel Perera The civil war ended on 18 May 11 years ago with the Sri Lankan Military defeating the Tamil Tigers. Politicians and journalists have been blocked from attending memorial ceremonies. Tamils feel discriminated by the central government. Christian activists want Tamils to be integrated into Sri Lankan society. Colombo (AsiaNews) Sri Lankas Defence Ministry has prevented the Tamils in the north of the country from commemorating fellow Tamils who died during the countrys brutal civil war (1983-2009). Memorial ceremonies were scheduled for Monday, the 11th anniversary of the end of the conflict. The authorities justified their decision as part of the lockdown measures they imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. For the government, 18 May is Victory Day and marks the defeat of the Tamil Tigers by the Armed Forces. Led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was later killed, Tamil rebels fought for the creation of an independent Tamil state in north-eastern Sri Lanka. In the mainly Tamil northern and eastern regions of the island nation, tensions remain high. Unlike the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese, the trauma of the civil still lingers among the mostly Hindu Tamils. C.V. Wigneswaran, a former head of the Northern Provincial Council, was stopped at a military checkpoint as he made his way to Mullivaikkal for the commemoration. He was detained for 30 minutes and questioned. Some journalists were given the same treatment. Christian and secular activists want the government to free the Tamils from the chains of oppression by encouraging reconciliation and Tamil integration into Sri Lankan society; for them this is the only way to achieve real peace. Critics accuse the government of ignoring the legitimate demands of this part of the population. In their view, it is necessary to solve the problem of Tamil political prisoners, who have been detained for years without formal indictment. Land restitution is another sore point. Catholic activists expect agricultural land in the north to be cultivated by local Tamils, not by soldiers. They want the authorities to end the military occupation of the region, block the resettlement of ethnic Sinhalese families and allow Tamils to commemorate their war dead. The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Texas GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence, giving President Trump the loyalist defender he nominated after abandoning an earlier push after encountering opposition. Democrats have been strongly opposed to Ratcliffe's nomination, and voted against it en masse on a strict party-line vote. Ratcliffe was confirmed by a vote of 49-44, not even getting support of half the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-seat majority. He will step into overseeing the nation's sprawling intelligence services at a time of intense scrutiny of the Russia probe and related matters and an ongoing effort by acting DNI Ric Grenell to declassify materials that Trump and his allies have seized upon. In this May 5, 2020, photo, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee during his nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. He was confirmed to the position on a party-line vote Thursday He now will have oversight over politically charged decisions over declassifying secret documents relating to the Russia probe and its aftermath. Acting DNI Ric Grenell has declassified information on Obama officials who sought 'unmasking' information on fired National Security Advisor Mike Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but Trump and his allies consider his prosecution part of the 'witch hunt.' Republican senators have begun their own investigations of the origins of the Russia probe. Despite their opposition, Democrats dropped their usual objections to holding a quick vote as members of both parties want a Senate-confirmed nominee in the job. President Trump has called for prosecutions in what he calls the greatest crime in history, in a reference to the start of the Russia probe Ratcliffe confronted special counsel Robert Mueller at a July hearing Ratcliffe was confirmed on a strict party-line vote Democrats usually force procedural votes that slow the nomination process, but are allowed a quick vote Thursday before the Senate leaves town for the next week during its Memorial Day recess. The post is now filled by Grenell, a Trump loyalist who has overseen a shakeup in the intelligence community and has raised concerns on Capitol Hill. While Ratcliffe has been similarly loyal to President Donald Trump, he promised in his Senate confirmation hearing to be an independent head of the nation's intelligence agencies and said he would keep Congress informed of important developments. Ratcliffe will replace former DNI Dan Coats, a former Indiana senator who had a good relationship with his former colleagues but frequently clashed with Trump. Since then, Trump, who has long been skeptical of the nations intelligence community, has installed acting heads and ousted and fired multiple intelligence officials. The Texas Republican was first picked by Trump for the post last summer, shortly after Coats resignation, but then withdrew after some Senate Republicans questioned his experience. He had been on the Intelligence panel for just six months at the time. GOP senators warmed to Ratcliffe after Trump unexpectedly nominated him again in February, as concerns grew about Grenell and the turnover in the intelligence community. Ratcliffe now faces the task of making sure Trump gets the intelligence information he needs, while overseeing a sprawling information apparatus that spans from the Pentagon to the CIA. He takes over on a day it was reported that senior intelligence officials carefully tailor the president's daily briefing on the nation's secrets by bringing up information on autocrats and economic development to spark his attention, while dancing around freighted topics like Russian election interference, according to a new report. Donald Trump continues to 'rarely if ever' read intelligence reports according to the New York Times. The story describes myriad ways the intelligence community tries to convey critical information to a president who comes through as lacking in attention and unable to remain on task. President Donald Trump doesn't read his daily intelligence brief, causing U.S. intelligence officials to seek out ways to hold his attention during oral briefings, according to a report Ratcliffe had been a vocal defender of the president's during the Russia probe and the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report blasting Mueller during his July 2019 appearance before the Judiciary Committee. Most Republicans have praised Ratcliffe since his second nomination. But Democrats have been skeptical that he will serve with the independence they say is crucial for the job. At his hearing, Ratcliffe worked to separate himself from the president, including by saying he believed Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, a conclusion Trump has often resisted. He said he would communicate to Trump the intelligence communitys findings even if he knew Trump disagreed with them and might fire him. Democrats were not convinced. The top Democrat on the panel, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, told Ratcliffe at the hearing that "I dont see what has changed since last summer," when his nomination was withdrawn. Conformation: DNI nominee John Ratcliffe, who has been ardent defender of President Donald Trump, was passed by the Senate intel committee on a party line vote. He was confirmed by the full Senate Thursday Ratcliffes nomination was approved 8-7 in a closed committee hearing Tuesday, with all Democrats voting against it, according to a committee aide. Ratcliffe sits on the House intelligence, judiciary and ethics committees. He was a member of Trumps impeachment advisory team last fall and aggressively questioned witnesses during the House impeachment hearings. He also forcefully questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller last summer when Mueller testified about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He was a U.S. attorney and mayor of Heath, Texas. Congress created the DNI position following intelligence failures before the Sept. 11th attacks. Avengers, assemble... these new Marvel-themed Lego playsets that is. One year after the release of the Infinity Saga-capping Avengers: Endgame, the toy brick company is celebrating Marvels mightiest team with a new line of sets inspired by scenes from the four Avengers films but with a few new twists. (All sets will be available at Target in June.) Lego Marvel Avengers Wrath of Loki Building Kit (Photo: Disney Parks, Experiences & Products) For example, the Wrath of Loki building kit recreates the Avengers vs. Loki fight that closes out the original 2012 team-up. Iron Man, Thor and Hulk are joined by Captain Marvel in this particular version of the fight, and Carol brought her speedy red jet to keep Loki from escaping on his green glider. (Not to be confused with the green glider used by a certain Spider-Man villain.) This 223-piece set retails for a cool $59.99. Lego Marvel Avengers Iron Man Hulkbuster Versus A.I.M. Agent Building Kit (Photo: Disney Parks, Experiences & Products) Lego also busts out an Avengers: Age of Ultron callback with Iron Mans Hulkbuster outfit. The set comes with two Iron Man minifigs, each of which can sit easily in the plus-sized armor. Instead of the hard-punching Hulk, ol Shellhead is facing off against two agents from the Hydra-affiliated science group, Advanced Idea Mechanics. The 456-piece set retails for $39.99. Lego Marvel Avengers Helicarrier (Photo: Disney Parks, Experiences & Products) Almost all of S.H.I.E.L.D.s helicarriers plunged from the skies in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but the Avengers ride is looking A-OK in this 1,224-piece behemoth. Your team of minifigs if you choose to accept them are Nick Fury, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Thor and Black Widow (RIP) and theyre squaring off against the mental mastermind M.O.D.O.K. You can fly the Helicarrier home for a cool $119.99. Lego Marvel Avengers: Avengers Tower Battle (Photo: Disney Parks, Experiences & Products) Bring the fight back to Avengers HQ with the Avengers Tower Battle, an all-out brawl that features the return of Captain Americas No. 1 nemesis, the Red Skull. Cap himself is apparently taking a time out from this rematch, though: the dynamic duo of Iron Man and Black Widow are defending Avengers Tower on their own. This five-story set retails for $89.99. Lego Marvel Avengers Iron Man Helmet (Photo: Disney Parks, Experiences & Products) Last but not least, pay tribute to Robert Downey Jr.s fallen Avenger with a 480-piece recreation of his classic red-and-gold helmet. Retailing for $59.99, the helmet belongs on the desk or bookshelf of anyone who claims to love Iron Man... 3000. Story continues Legos new Marvel Avengers playsets will be available at Target in June Read more from Yahoo Entertainment You are here: World Flash France's coronavirus death toll increased by 110 on Wednesday, bringing the tally to 28,132, data released by the Health Ministry showed. In total, 17,941 people remain hospitalized in France for a COVID-19 infection by Wednesday evening, with 1,794 patients in intensive care, said the ministry in a statement. Since the start of the epidemic, 99,616 people have been hospitalized for coronavirus infection, including 17,607 in intensive care. And 63,354 people considered to be cured were able to leave the hospital. On the tenth day after the nearly two-month lockdown ended, "the virus remains active and still spreads in France," the ministry warned, urging strict respect of barrier gestures and social distancing. Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has said he could not travel to Cahirciveen to apologise directly to the people in Direct Provision in the Skellig Star hotel because of Covid-19 restrictions. The minister was commenting after he issued an apology to the people of Cahirciveen and Kerry through a letter in the form of an advertisement in local newspapers, a copy of which was obtained by the Irish Examiner. I am subject to the same restrictions as everybody else, he told RTE radios Today with Sarah McInerney show. I didnt deem it appropriate to address people in Direct Provision through the Kerryman, he said. Mr Flanagan said he felt he needed to explain the situation to the people of Kerry and to apologise for not alerting the locals sooner when it was confirmed that there was a case of Covid-19 in the direct provision centre. Remember we were in the middle of a pandemic. Action had to be taken swiftly which meant that the usual protocols such as informing locals had not been taken, he said. The minister said that either he or officials from his department are in contact with management of the Direct Provision centre in the former Skellig Star hotel on a daily basis. Mr Flanagan acknowledged that there had been problems with a boiler for hot water in the former hotel, this issue has still not been dealt with because of the difficulty in having it repaired during a pandemic. But, he said that every room had been furnished with an electrical heater and there were heaters in communal spaces. Where possible social distancing is observed in the centre and ever family has their own room. Unfortunately, he said not everyone could have their own room. We dont have a bedroom for everybody, ideally we would have an apartment for everybody, but we dont have the resources for 7,000 apartments. The people in Direct Provision are not refugees, said Mr Flanagan. They are people who have arrived in country suddenly and the State is obliged to offer them board, shelter and accommodation, he said. The minister said and his officials had always sought to make life as comfortable as possible for people in direct provision. The Skellig Star hotel had been assessed last September after the Department of Justice had sought expressions of interest in providing accommodation which could be used for direct provision. It was designated as suitable, but it was not until March when the need became acute that the hotel was required, he said. Because of the pandemic we werent able to consult with locals. I regret that locals were not alerted sooner. He regretted that locals were not alerted sooner about the case of Covid-19 and he said that he accepted the matter had not been handled in the manner in which it would had there not been a pandemic. As soon as anyone tested positive they were relocated to a place of greater safety. I dont believe there was secrecy, he said, but because of the pandemic the usual mechanisms by which information is shared had not been observed. Mr Flanagan said he had no problem addressing the issue again in the Dail. He said he had no problem apologising to the people in the centre, but would not do so through the local newspaper. Nifty50 broke below its 200-Days Simple Moving Average (SMA), or popularly known as the long-term moving average, in February. Meanwhile, there are more than 120 stocks with market capitalisation of over more than Rs 10,000 crore that are trading below this level. The 200-DMA of Nifty50 is placed at 11,056 levels according to daily charts, and its short term moving average or 50-DMA is placed at 9199, as of data collated on May 19. Nifty50 is trading below both its short term and long term moving average which is slightly bearish in nature. 200-Day SMA is considered as a crucial level by technical chartists to define the long term trend of the market. There are 122 stocks from the mid & large-cap space that have a market-cap of more than Rs 10,000 cr which are trading below their 200-Days SMA include names like TCS, HUL, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki, and Asian Paints, etc. among others. It is essentially indicating the weak structure of the market. This time around even the large-cap stocks havent been spared and probably bearing the brunt of the selling, Ashish Chaturmohta, Head of Technical and Derivatives, Sanctum Wealth Management told Moneycontrol. Volumes especially delivery volumes should be tracked with a price to see where accumulation or distribution is happening, he said. Note: Here is the list of top 50 stocks that are trading below 200-Days SMA filtered based on M-cap. Source: Moneycontrol Stock Screener Prices below 200-DMA do give an indication about the trend but traders should not look at just one parameter in isolation, but instead take a decision by combining other relevant parameters such as RSI, stochastic, volume, delivery, etc. among others. Theory suggests that as long as prices stay above 200-Day SMA, the stock is considered to be in an overall uptrend and vice-versa in case it started trading below this crucial long term moving average. However, investors 200-day MA is basically an average price of the stock of the last 200 days. If the stock is above the 200-day MA, its major trend is bullish and vice versa. Another parameter that can be handy in trading can be RSI on larger timeframes (weekly & monthly), Rajesh Palviya, Head - Technical and Derivative Research, Axis Securities Ltd told Moneycontrol. RSI is a momentum indicator that shows the relative strength of the stock. Whenever the RSI reading goes above 70, it says that the stock is highly overbought and may experience some profit booking in the near term. Whereas, whenever the RSI reading goes below 30, it says that the stock is highly oversold and we may experience some pullback in the near term, he said. The technical structure of the Midcap and the Smallcap indices suggest that the broader market space has also completed the short-term pullback, and is poised to align with the larger downtrend. The 200-DMA is definitely an important parameter which underscores their strength. However, that is just one of the pieces in the entire puzzle. A trader should never use any tool in isolation, Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas told Moneycontrol. An ideal approach is to use a combination of tools (not more than 4-5), and adopt the weight of evidence to arrive at a conclusion. Price patterns is a very useful tool as it helps in identifying a proper trade set up with specific stop loss and targets. Traders should be looking for such trade setups with Risk Reward of minimum 1:2, he said. : The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. The outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic has brought a forced break in everyones lives. Several industries have suffered a huge hit and the movie business too is in the same boat. While other industries have a hope to open soon slowly, the film industry will have to wait longer before returning to normalcy, as shooting and even watching movies at theatres, the whole process of this business involves mass gathering, which in turn increases the possibility for the spread of the virus. Due to the show business being stalled, a huge amount of daily wage labourers have lost their jobs and are facing a lot of difficulty. However, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray offers a silver lining to tinsel town as he met several delegates from the film industry last evening and has decided that if proper action plan is taken for the shooting premises and the number of staff and crew limited, shooting might resume sooner than possible. While shooting in red-zones will be still prohibited, the green and orange zones can begin shooting but a proper action plan has to be implemented. The government would consider an action plan on how shooting and post-production activities can be resumed in a limited way by adhering to social distancing and other norms, said the CM last evening. He further added about the red zones to be prohibited for shooting and how hygiene will have to be the utmost priority if shooting resumes. Now lets hope that shooting resumes sooner as the halt on the shoot has made several daily-wagers stressed and almost fighting for daily needs. The lockdown clearly is not that simple for everyone, as people are finding it tough to survive without jobs. The country's first spring 'Damara' fat tailed lambs have been born as part of a project looking at the feasibility of rearing the exotic breed in the UK. Two Welsh farmers have bred a sheep native to Africa and the Middle East to help satisfy growing demand for its unique-tasting meat. The sheep are known for their large fatty tails and hindquarters, and are commonly found in arid, desert-like regions. Peter Williams, from Anglesey and Snowdonia farmer Bedwyr Jones have welcomed their first two batches of both pure-breed and cross-breed Damara lambs. In the early 1990s, Mr Williams left home to work on a 30,000 sheep farm in Saudi Arabia. He was determined to broaden his horizons and learn as much as he could about different ways of sheep rearing and shepherding. His quest for knowledge also took him to work on sheep enterprises in New Zealand and Australia before in 1993, he returned home to work on the family farm. Little did he think as he worked in Riyadh with the massive flock of intensively farmed Romney ewes, imported from Australia and crossed with Saudi Arabias native fat tailed rams, that almost thirty years later, he and Bedwyr Jones would be the first farmers to bring the fat tailed breed over to the UK. They both explained that there was a daunting amount of red tape to go through, with copious amounts of paperwork needing to be approved by several authorities from different countries. The groups determination paid off. Frozen embryos conceived naturally in New South Wales before being frozen, transported and then defrosted in readiness for embryo transplant, have already produced six healthy pure-bred Damara lambs three ram lambs and three ewe lambs. Close on their heels are the cross-bred lambs, the frozen semen having been artificially inseminated into a number of Peter and Bedwyrs flock of mainly Texel, Lleyn and Romney cross ewes last December. With more than 50 ewes successfully impregnated - and a 75% plus success rate already resulting in more than 65 healthy lambs, with more to come - the future is looking positive. There are many types of fat tailed sheep not surprisingly their fat is deposited largely in their tails," explained Peter Williams. "All are renowned for their lean, distinctive tasting meat which I knew from my experience of working overseas, is particularly popular among ethnic communities. Recent research with numerous retailers, restaurateurs and abattoirs convinced me that this speciality meat, already popular in many countries, could also appeal to a niche market in the some of the UKs biggest cities. Both farmers said they are delighted that all the progeny are thriving and if all goes to plan, they plan to retain the majority of lambs as part of an ongoing breeding programme to build up numbers of this relatively rare breed. As the flock is thriving well so far, were optimistic that we can now increase numbers steadily, see how they progress and then start to set up our supply outlets, both directly and through wholesale buyers, Mr Williams said. Geraint Hughes, their appointed European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Wales innovation broker, helped both farmers oversee all the animal health and husbandry issues. Mr Hughes also submitted an EIP group application for financial support and the additional specialist knowledge needed to turn their ideas into reality. It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are experiencing some financial distress away from the monarchy, so much so that they are allegedly still receiving funds from U.K. taxpayers. As soon as their HRH titles were stripped from them as part of Megxit, Prince Harry and Meghan pledged not to receive public funds and use U.K. taxpayers' money to cover their expenses away from the monarchy. But far from what they have agreed on, a royal commentator claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex still got 2 million from Prince Charles despite leaving their senior royal positions. A part of the said amount reportedly came from the funds given by U.K. taxpayers. According to royal expert Charles Rae, the heir to the throne sent the Sussexes such a huge amount to help in their security costs after the couple chose to live in the United States. "We are still as far as we know paying out a bit for their security, aren't we?" talkRADIO host Mike Graham asked Rae, per Express. In response, Rai said: "We are because at the moment Prince Charles is giving them 2million a year. It is going to be looked at in 12 months." The royal commentator added that Prince Harry and Meghan need to have funds to cover their security expenses, most especially since they are planning to start their careers soon. Rae also expressed his belief that Meghan had planned to return to Hollywood all along. However, the coronavirus pandemic came in and ruined her plans -- including her vision to be financially independent. However, since the plans "have been screwed up," they are expected to face more instabilities in the future due to a limited source of income. Upon relocating to Los Angeles from Vancouver Island, U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear that he will never allow the country and its people to cover their security expenses. It only means that the Sussexes need to cash out an average cost of 600,000 per year to safeguard their family of three, including their 1-year-old son Archie. Prince Harry, Meghan's Liability Aside from the staggering safety and security expenses they need to pay, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex still need to settle all their debts after they left the monarchy. Megxit prevented the couple from using several state funding they enjoyed before. It also pushed them to return the massive funds from the Sovereign Grant that they spent to renovate their home at Frogmore Cottage. Queen Elizabeth II, in fact, urged them to pay back the multi-million expenses they spent on their home. But since they remain unemployed right now and only depend their lives on small-scale engagements, a royal insider recently claimed that they are already running out of funds. "This debt is a blow to their ambitious plan to become freewheeling billionaires in the world," the said source told U.S. tabloid National Enquirer. "Meghan is terrified that her dreams of being a Hollywood queen will be destroyed by this financial nightmare, and she is insisting that Harry make a move and resolve the crisis." Currently, the royal couple is reportedly paying $21,780 per month for the Frogmore Cottage expenses. A social activist on Thursday alleged that newly-elected BJP MLC Gopichand Padalkar violated social distancing norms while attending some public events, including a felicitation programme and a wedding, in Sangli district of Maharashtra. Santosh Bichukale, a city-based activist, said he wrote to Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sangli district collector on Wednesday, demanding that Padalkar and his associates be home quarantined for 14 days. He said the MLC came to Sangli on Tuesday night after travelling to Mumbai and Pune, which are severely affected by COVID-19. "On Wednesday, Padalkar attended public events, including a programme to felicitate him and a wedding, and also met his supporters at some villages in Atpadi tehsil of Sangli," he claimed. Bichukale said he has filed a complaint with the Sangli district administration and the Chief Minister's Office, and sought that the MLC and his supporters be home quarantined for 14 days. "I have all the videos and photos which I have forwarded to the district administration," he said. Padalkar, who hails from Padalkarwadi in Atpadi tehsil of Sangli, and eight others were last week elected unopposed as members of the state Legislative Council. The MLC could not be contacted for comments in the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's industrial economy is expected to continue recovery in the second quarter with progress on business resumption and policy incentives in place to unleash domestic demand, an official said on Wednesday. Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said 99.1 percent of Chinese industrial enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.82 million U.S. dollars) had resumed production as of Monday. About 95.4 percent of employees in such enterprises had returned to work, he said. The ministry has ramped up efforts to fast-track work and production resumption across the complete industrial chain, said Miao. Leading enterprises are encouraged to lend a hand to their upstream and downstream enterprises while supportive measures are taken to smooth transportation, he continued. Noting that the auto sector, pivotal in propping up the national economy, has borne the brunt of the COVID-19 epidemic, Miao said the ministry has taken multiple steps to help relevant enterprises overcome difficulties. The epidemic will only have a temporary impact on the auto sector and the upward trend of the industry in the long term has not changed, he said. An assessment by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics indicates that Nigerias economy will go into a recession at an average of -4.4 per cent, the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, has said. Ms Ahmed spoke while addressing journalists after the National Economic Council meeting on Thursday. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has made an assessment. So, it is the NBS assessment that Nigeria will go into a recession measuring at an average of -4.4%. But with the work that the Economic Accessibility Committee is doing bringing stimulus packages, we believe that we can reduce the impact of that recession. And if we applied all that have been proposed and we are able to implement it we may end up with a recession that is -0.4 per cent. In any case, we will go into recession but what we are trying to do is to make sure that it is shallow so that we will quickly come out of it come 2021, Mrs Ahmed said. A countrys economy goes into recession when its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduces for two consecutive quarters. Nigerias GDP figure for the first quarter of 2020 is yet to be released. Mrs Ahmeds statement suggests Nigerias GDP would reduce for the first quarter of 2020 and reduce further for the second quarter, indicating an official recession. Nigeria is one of the countries hardest hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. A large part of its budget is funded by oil revenue which makes up over 90 per cent of its export. The sharp drop in oil prices globally has meant reduced income for the West African country. Nigeria also closed a large part of her economy to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. All its airports are still closed except for essential flights while businesses are only partially reopened. Mrs Ahmed also spoke on why Nigeria was gradually re-opening its economy despite a daily increase in coronavirus cases. This is a very difficult time because the challenges we have now are double. There is health challenge, there is an economic challenge. Even as we are addressing the current health challenge, we still have to look at how we can support the economy so that the economy does not fall into a depression, she said. We have to feed the people and you can only feed the people if people go out and farm. We are a very large population, we dont want to take the risk and we dont have enough fund to cushion the effect, she said. The global death toll from the coronavirus is almost 330,000 with more than 5 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the new respiratory illness. Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions. Pakistan A legislator in the provincial assembly of Punjab and a former provincial governor died on May 20 in separate hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus. Shaheen Raza, 60, a member of the ruling Tehrik-e-Insaaf Party, passed away in a hospital in Punjab province, marking the first death of a lawmaker from coronavirus in Pakistan. Pakistani President Arif Alvi expressed grief over her death and offered condolences to her family. I would like to console the death of Punjab MPA Ms Shaheen Raza Chheema, the Pakistani president said in a tweet on May 20 The official Radio Pakistan station reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan had also sent condolences. Separately, the former governor of Balochistan Province, Syed Fazal Agha, who had tested positive for the coronavirus and was admitted to a hospital in Karachi, Sindh Province, died on May 20, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported, quoting hospital sources. Pakistan has recorded 45,898 infections and 985 deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Pakistan has relaxed the lockdown, and people are freely shopping in the markets for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr festival. Meanwhile, mosques have also been opened for the prayers, and many people have gathered without proper precautions. Khan has repeatedly expressed his opposition to a complete lockdown, arguing that this will result in serious financial problems for lower-paid workers. Several Pakistani parliamentarians and government figures have tested positive for the coronavirus. Prominent among them are Sindh Province Governor Imran Ismail, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, and former provincial minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. North Caucasus Authorities in Russia's North Caucasus regions of Chechnya and Daghestan have imposed restrictions to deter people from gathering in groups this weekend as the mostly Muslim-populated regions mark the Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday, known locally as Uraza Bairam, to mark the end of the month of Ramadan. Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said on May 21 that all movements, except for emergency services, will be banned from May 23 to 26 across the republic, adding that a violation of the rule "will be punished in accordance with the law." In neighboring Daghestan, authorities announced on May 21 that two cities, Kizlyar and Kizilyurt, will be locked down during the four-day celebration of Eid al-Fitr. A decision on Makhachkala, the capital, had yet to be taken. A day earlier, President Rustam Minnikhanov, head of the mostly Muslim-populated Republic of Tatarstan in the Volga region, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the republic's residents will mark the holiday at home due to the pandemic. Usually, Muslims gather in mosques for mass prayers to mark Eid al-Fitr but in many former Soviet republics and other countries, Muslims are set to mark the holiday at home because of the outbreak. Central Asia Authorities in Turkmenistan, where no coronavirus cases have been officially reported, have cancelled traditional ceremonies and celebrations marking the end of the academic year at schools and school-graduation events. RFE/RL's correspondents reported on May 21 that education authorities made the decision without elaborating. Several senior students of secondary schools in Ashgabat told RFE/RL that their teachers had told them there wouldn't be graduation ceremonies and banquets this year, but did not explain why. Turkmenistan remains the only nation in the Central Asian region that has not officially admitted a single coronavirus case, though experts are skeptical of the claim given the lack of transparency and the absence of an independent media in the country. In Kyrgyzstan, authorities in Bishkek said that as of May 25, fitness clubs, swimming pools, and sports centers will resume operations on condition of complying with regulations to prevent the spread of the virus. Sports venue personnel will be required to wear masks and gloves, while customers will be provided with hand sanitizer and instructed on how to keep a distance of at least 2 meters from others. Sports venues specializing in contact and group sports will remain closed. Health authorities said on May 21 that the number of coronavirus cases in Kyrgyzstan was 1,313, including 14 deaths. In Uzbekistan, authorities said that as of May 22, arts galleries, museums, and parks in some selected towns and cities will be open for those who take sanitary precautions such as masks and social distancing. In Tashkent, the Tashkent City Park resumed operations on May 20. As of May 21, the number of coronavirus cases in the country was reported at 2,950, including 13 deaths. In neighboring Tajikistan, officials said on May 20 that the number of coronavirus cases in the country was 2,140, including 41 deaths. Tajikistan did not officially register a coronavirus case until April 30, just ahead of the arrival of a mission from the World Health Organization. Still, many in the country doubt the data and believe the government has been underreporting figures. In Kazakhstan, where the largest number of COVID-19 cases in Central Asia have been reported, the latest figures are 7,234 cases with 35 deaths. With reporting by RFE/RL's Turkmen, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, and North Caucasus services and RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal Pennsylvanias top elections official, Kathy Boockvar, said voters have submitted about 1.6 million applications for mail-in and absentee ballots for the June 2 primary election. That number is off the charts and beyond most expectations, she said. Applications are pouring in ahead of next Tuesdays deadline to apply, as counties make plans to reduce the number of physical polling place locations because of the coronavirus. The fear of infection has made it difficult to recruit polling workers, and state and federal health guidelines have made it difficult to find polling places that can accommodate the demands of social distancing. In a conference call on election issues organized by U.S. Sen. Bob Caseys office, Boockvar said she does not expect to see lines at polling places in most locations, given the number of mail-in and absentee ballots requested and considering Gov. Tom Wolfs restrictions that might be in place in some parts of Pennsylvania. Some counties have already received more mail-in ballot applications than the entire vote total that they were expecting in the June 2 primary election, Boockvar said. More than 3.2 million people cast ballots in the 2016 presidential primary election. However, this time around, the presidential nominations are uncontested. Still, Boockvar conceded that the volume of mailed-in ballots will make it impossible to produce a result in close races on election night. It will depend on how many ballots are actually submitted, she said. Some counties have received about 50% of the ballots for which voters applied, and those numbers vary tremendously across the state, she said. To help with counting a surge of mailed-in ballots, a new state law moved up the time that counties can start preparing the mailed-in ballots to be counted, to 7 a.m. on election day, although the ballots cant actually be counted until polls close. I dont think its going to to be sufficient for many counties, Boockvar said. So ... some of the races that are not close we will get results quickly, but if there are close races, it may take a couple of days. In the meantime, counties are scaling back on polling places. Allegheny County, the states second-most populous county behind Philadelphia, received state approval to set up 211 polling places, down from about 830. Montgomery County, the third-most populous county, is planning to set up 140, down from 352. Ankara warns renegade commanders LNA against attacks on its Libya interests after Turkey-backed GNA makes advances. Turkey has warned that attacks on its interests in Libya by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftars forces will have grave consequences after advances by the countrys Turkish-backed government. Ankara has provided military support to the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya, which has been battling to fend off a year-long offensive by Haftars forces to take control of the capital Tripoli. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy on Thursday said Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) had received warplanes with foreign support and that they had vowed to target Turkish positions in Libya with an air campaign. In the event Turkish interests in Libya are targeted, this will have very grave consequences, Aksoy said on Thursday, adding that the LNAs statements were delusional. Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Hami Aksoy in Response to a Question Regarding the Statements of Haftars Militia That They Will Target Turkish Forces and Interests in Libya https://t.co/tMjZEtFE6H Turkish MFA (@MFATurkey) May 21, 2020 Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin was also quoted as saying by broadcaster NTV that attacks on Turkish positions would prompt heavy retaliation. In what could be their most significant advance for nearly a year, the GNA took control of the al-Watiya airbase southwest of Tripoli on Monday. Earlier on Thursday, GNA military spokesman Mohamed Gnunu said the Tripoli-based administration of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj continued to target several LNA positions in western Libya, including the city of Tarhouna, Haftars last stronghold near the capital. Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency said the GNA carried out five air operations against forces loyal to Haftar in the past 24 hours. A day earlier, the LNA announced it was withdrawing 2-3km (1-2 miles) to ease conditions for the Tripoli residents at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. Turkish drones and air defences appear to have played a key role in GNA advances in recent weeks, with repeated claims of attacks on LNA supply chains from the east. Turkeys Defence Minister Hulusi Akar on Wednesday said the balance in Libya changed significantly as a result of Turkish training and advice. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival factions based in Tripoli and in the east, in a sometimes chaotic war that has drawn in outside powers and a flood of foreign arms and mercenaries. Haftars LNA, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Russia, has been unable to make significant progress since early on in its campaign. But it still controls eastern and southern Libya, including most of the countrys oil facilities, and the city of Sirte, at the centre of Libyas Mediterranean coastline. Turkey, which has had frayed ties with the UAE and Egypt for years, has accused Abu Dhabi of bringing chaos to the region through its interventions in Libya and Yemen, and has called on Russia to halt its support for Haftar. Bella Thorne knows how to heat things up. And the former Disney Channel star did just that in some sultry new at-home selfies she shared to Instagram Thursday. Miss Thorne, 22, stripped down to her skivvies to show off her thin pins, jokingly asking in the caption: 'What % of my body are legs?' Saucy: Bella Thorne showcased her long legs in a new Instagram post on Thursday Bella continued to set pulses racing as she pulled up her lacy black shirt to reveal her taut midriff. She rocked a messy-chic hairstyle, showing off the chunky new highlights framing her face. While Hollywood production has come to a halt, Bella still has several project in the works. The trailer for her soon-to-be released action thriller Infamous dropped yesterday, promising a Bonnie and Clyde story set in the social media age. Bella is back: Bella Thorne uses her social media wits to gain a following and terrorizing the south in the first trailer for Infamous The film follows Arielle (Bella) and Dean (Jake Manley), a young couple from a small Florida town who go on a bank-robbing rampage. They turn into folk heroes along the way, as the couple begin to grow a massive social media following during their exploits. Coronavirus hasn't stopped the film's release. Infamous is set for a digital release, with additional screenings in select 'virtual cinemas', on June 12. Putting her dukes up! Before lockdown she was filming the Malin Akerman-fronted action comedy Chick Fight Heaven sent: Thorne also has four different film projects in the post-production stage: Habit (seen behind the scenes above), Leave Not One Alive, Girl, and The Babysitter 2 Before lockdown she was filming the Malin Akerman-fronted action comedy Chick Fight, in addition to the thriller Masquerade. Thorne also has four different film projects in the post-production stage: Habit, Leave Not One Alive, Girl, and The Babysitter 2. Exo, Salem State, The Friendship Game, and The Uncanny are all in pre-production. In addition, the actress will soon return to TV with the upcoming series Paradise City. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the opening of the 73rd World Health Assembly via video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 18, 2020. [Xinhua/Li Xueren] BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday announced concrete measures to boost global fight against COVID-19 including providing international aid and making the country's COVID-19 vaccine a global public good when available. Xi made the announcement as he addressed the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) via video link. "China will provide 2 billion U.S. dollars over two years to help with COVID-19 response and with economic and social development in affected countries, especially developing countries," Xi said. China will work with the United Nations to set up a global humanitarian response depot and hub in China, ensure the operation of anti-epidemic supply chains and foster "green corridors" for fast-track transportation and customs clearance, he said. Besides, China will establish a cooperation mechanism for its hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals and accelerate the building of the Africa CDC headquarters to help the continent ramp up its disease preparedness and control capacity, said Xi. "COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good," said the president. "This will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries," he added. Moreover, China will work with other G20 members to implement the Debt Service Suspension Initiative for the poorest countries, Xi said, adding that China is also ready to work with the international community to bolster support for the hardest-hit countries under the greatest strain of debt service so that they could tide over the current difficulties. The WHA is the decision-making body of the WHO. The 73rd session of the WHA, scheduled from Monday to Tuesday, is held via video link due to the impact of the current pandemic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), its agenda was condensed only to essential issues, such as COVID-19 and the executive board members selection. Currently, COVID-19 has hit over 210 countries and regions, affected more than seven billion people around the world and claimed over 300,000 precious lives. "China stands for the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Xi, adding that China takes it as its responsibility to ensure not just the life and health of its own citizens, but also global public health. China has all along acted with openness, transparency and responsibility in the fight against COVID-19, said Xi, adding that the country "has done everything in our power to support and assist countries in need." Noting that "nothing in the world is more precious than people's lives," Xi urged all countries to put the people first and do everything they can for COVID-19 control and treatment. He expressed China's staunch support to the WHO, calling on the international community to increase political and financial support for WHO so as to mobilize resources worldwide to defeat the virus. "At this crucial juncture, to support WHO is to support international cooperation and the battle for saving lives as well," Xi said. Xi called on the world to provide more material, technological and personnel support for African countries, saying that "helping them build capacity must be our top priority in COVID-19 response." Furthermore, Xi said the international community must strengthen global governance in the area of public health. "China supports the idea of a comprehensive review of the global response to COVID-19 after it is brought under control to sum up experience and address deficiencies," said Xi. "This work should be based on science and professionalism, led by WHO and conducted in an objective and impartial manner," he added. He also proposed to restore economic and social development and strengthen international cooperation. Noting that the mankind is facing the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II, Xi said "solidarity and cooperation is a sure way through which we, the people of the world, can defeat this novel coronavirus." He called on the international community to work as one and make concerted efforts to protect the life and health of people in all countries, safeguard planet Earth and build a global community of health for all. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and leaders from other countries addressed the opening via video link, expressing their support to the WHO and multilateralism, as well as enhanced joint efforts in the global fight against COVID-19. (Source: Xinhua) By Easton Sanders May. 21, 2020 | 05:21 PM | PADUCAH On Wednesday, Beshear announced that his team was loosening restrictions on funeral homes. Milner & Orr Funeral Homes owner, Andrea Orr, says she feels the new guidance is moving things in a positive direction. "The more support they can get at the time that a loved one passes away, the better it is for them on their grief journey. It's definitely a positive. As a country begins to open up, it only makes sense that a funeral home opens up for that support for families." Orr continued, "We'll continue to clean, we'll continue to wear masks, and we'll continue to monitor the health of our staff. Everything we can do to keep to keep families safe." Previously funeral homes were offering private services limited to 10 immediate family members. Orr says they would also record the services, and upload them online for anyone unable to attend. Under the new guidelines, moving forward, funeral homes will be allowed to have in-person services as long as they are operating at one-third capacity. Orr says their Paducah funeral home will be allowed to have approximately 150 people in the building at once. Aside from the capacity restriction, Orr says they will still be encouraging social distancing of at least six feet, and limiting the body contact of family members. Food is off-limits as well. Although restrictions have been loosened, Orr says they will continue to provide their virtual services, including their mobile visitations and the Hugs from Home program, for those that are at a greater risk. Orr asks that everyone wear masks when visiting any of their funeral homes, and asks that no one bring food. You can see additional information at the link below. Under new guidance from Governor Andy Beshear, funeral homes are now allowed to operate at a reduced capacity. Houston is one of several cities in the South that could see spikes in COVID-19 cases over the next four weeks as restrictions are eased, according to new research that uses cellphone data to track how well people are social distancing. The updated projection, from PolicyLab at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, found that traffic to non-essential businesses has jumped especially in Texas and Florida, which have moved aggressively to reopen. In Harris County, the model predicts the outbreak will grow from about 200 new cases per day to more than 2,000 over the next month. Some areasparticularly in the Souththat have moved more quickly to reopen are showing a higher risk for resurgence, the researchers wrote in a blog post. If people in Houston and Palm Beach, Fla., for example, arent being cautious with masking in indoor crowded locations and with hygiene and disinfection, local governments may need to intervene again should they lose control of the epidemic. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, will also see an increase in COVID-19 cases according to the projection, but would still be below 100 new cases per day. Bexar reported 44 new cases on Wednesday, a Hearst Newspapers data analysis shows. And in north Texas, UT Southwestern Medical Center found in a study last week that Dallas County could see 800 new cases a day -- about three times what its seeing now by late June if restrictions are relaxed. Scientists from across the country have been warning for some time of a possible second wave of COVID-19 this fall, but few have pointed to a timeline as early as June. One epidemiologist interviewed by Hearst Newspapers cautioned that modeling is not a perfect science because of the limitations of the data it takes time for a person to develop symptoms, get tested, and get results. Of course, scientists also cant predict how policy choices will play out and how people will react to them. REOPENING TEXAS: Texas Medical Center leaders support latest phase of Abbotts reopening of Texas Texas has been doing well by some measures as it reopens hospitalizations are mostly steady and the rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 has fallen as access to testing expands. The state reported about 26,000 tests per day over the past week, nearing Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts goal of 30,000. But daily new cases remain at their highest point since the outbreak began in March. Outbreaks are especially hitting El Paso and meatpacking plants in the Panhandle. Abbott has sent in surge response teams to help contain local outbreaks, but as more of the state reopens, public health officials worry that infections will spread too quickly. Abbott has said all along that he expected the number of Texans testing positive for COVID-19 to increase as the states ability to test improved. But as he reopens the state, hes said hes focused on the states declining positivity and hospitalization rates. All the trends are going good in Texas, Abbott said during a Monday interview on Fox News. The PolicyLab research is tracking 389 large counties across the country with active outbreaks. It found that projections are best in places that are relaxing restrictions selectively in areas with fewer cases and less transmission. Given these cautious actions by our governments, we have already seen that the predicted resurgence has not occurred in most places that are beginning to reopen rather, daily cases are either plateauing or falling, the researchers wrote. But the picture our models are painting for Texas and Florida provide ample evidence to others who would choose to move too quickly. We see these concerns even as we adjust for additional testing capacity that might have inflated our forecasts. Several research institutions across the country have models for forecasting COVID-19 deaths, and in general they show that states tallying large numbers of deaths are more likely to see substantial rises in fatalities in the future. One of those models comes from the University of Texas at Austin, where Lauren Ancel Meyers, who leads the schools COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, said whether cases and deaths increase in the weeks ahead depends on whether people take the recommended precautions. The cell phone mobility data clearly shows that people are leaving their homes for more of the day and going to public places like parks, grocery stores, and restaurants more often, Meyers said in an email interview. If most people are being cautious wearing face coverings, keeping physical distance, and staying home if they have even mild symptoms then we may not see an immediate spike in transmission. Meyers said its difficult to speculate about a resurgence in June, or even fall as has been predicted by other epidemiologists, because theres a significant lag in the data. Deaths often occur three or more weeks after an infection, and its yet to be seen how reopenings will go. Our forecasts only go three weeks into the future because we cannot predict policy and behavior, Meyers said. As policies are relaxed, the choices people make and our capacity for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and isolation will determine the future of the pandemic. Anna Naghdalyan, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia, has issued a comment on the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan regarding the inauguration of the newly elected President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in Shushi town. Naghdalyans comment reads as follows: Its worth mentioning that the threats of war or military posturing communicated either through statements or large-scale military exercises in violations of international commitments, represent traditional components of Azerbaijan's destructive stance, which has no impact either on the positions of the Armenian sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue or on the ongoing democratic processes in Artsakh. Nevertheless, they definitely undermine the establishment of an environment conducive to peace, which is necessary for the consideration of substantive issues. Armenia is committed to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Once again congratulating the people of Artsakh on the formation of authorities as result of democratic processes, we would like to reiterate that the Republic of Armenia will continue to closely cooperate with the new authorities, which represent the people of Artsakh in the peace process, and in this context we will consistently protect the exercise of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination without any limitations. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:36:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SEOUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign debt rose in the first quarter as banks secured foreign liquidity on worry about an economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak across the world, central bank data showed Thursday. Foreign debt totaled 485.8 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of March, up 18.8 billion dollars from three months ago, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Short-term debt increased 14 billion dollars to 148.5 billion dollars, while long-term external liability grew 4.8 billion dollars to 337.3 billion dollars in the first quarter. Banks secured foreign currency liquidity to prepare for the financial market volatility caused by the COVID-19 spread across the globe. The ratio of short-term foreign debt to foreign currency reserves stood at 37.1 percent as of the end of March, up 4.2 percentage points from three months earlier. It was the highest in seven years. The ratio of short-term foreign debt to the total external liability rose 1.8 percentage points to 30.6 percent in the cited period. Enditem PHILADELPHIA, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Carisma Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies, today announced that the company will present and take meetings at upcoming virtual healthcare investor conferences in May and June 2020. 6 th Annual Digital Immuno-Oncology Innovation Forum, May 26-27, 2020 : Annual Digital Immuno-Oncology Innovation Forum, : Carisma will take meetings and Steven Kelly , CEO, will present virtually on May 27, 2020 , at 11:00 am EST . The presentation will be accessible via a live webcast. , CEO, will present virtually on , at . The presentation will be accessible via a live webcast. Jefferies Healthcare Conference, June 2-4, 2020 : : Carisma will take meetings and Steven Kelly , CEO, will present virtually on June 3, 2020 , at 4:00 pm EST . The presentation will be accessible via a live webcast. , CEO, will present virtually on , at . The presentation will be accessible via a live webcast. BIO Digital, June 8-12, 2020 : : Carisma will take meetings for the duration of the digital conference. Xcelerating Life Sciences: Becoming the Cell & Gene Therapy Hub, June 11, 2020 : : Michael Klichinsky , Co-founder and Vice President of Discovery Research, will present virtually on June 11, 2020 , at 2:00 pm EST . The presentation will be accessible via a live webcast. About Carisma Therapeutics Inc. Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing a differentiated and proprietary cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages, cells that play a crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune response. The first applications of the platform, developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, are autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-macrophages for the treatment of solid tumors. Carisma Therapeutics is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit www.carismatx.com To schedule investor meetings with Carisma Therapeutics, please contact: Kara Collins 215-847-3440 [email protected] SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc. Related Links http://www.carismatx.com An alert by the SNPs shadow chancellor that the delay to private sector IR35 reform due to the coronavirus outbreak must be used wisely is being echoed by industry advisers. Glasgow Central MP, Alison Thewliss, issued it to HMRC as by reforming a rule found last month by peers to be flawed, the taxman is building a house on the sand, she said. But industry says it too should put the 12-month delay to good use. Businesses must continue their preparations, says Qdos, speaking after an attempt to delay the reform failed. With less than a year until IR35 reform arrives in the private sectorcompanies that havent started yet, must get to work. The IR35 advisory added: By taking a measured approach and prioritising accurate assessments, firms can continue to compliantly engage genuine contractors outside IR35. 'Very clear' The advice comes just 24 hours after Treasury minister Jesse Norman said: determinations must be based on individuals contractual terms and actual working arrangements. Speaking to MPs on Tuesday to rule out delaying the reform beyond April 2021, the minister claimed the government has been very clear on the compliant way to make determinations. Actually, there have been a few iterations from HMRC of what it regards as law-abiding status decisions, including a practice it once deemed appropriate being changed to correct. That is in addition to its latest stance that blanketing is compliant if a decision on one PSCs contract is applied to all other PSCs, where those others have identical terms and practices. 'Change their contractor balance' But in his address to MPs, Mr Norman failed to acknowledge that the hassle of getting SDSs right (and the tax risk if they dont), is driving many engagers to no longer engage PSCs. Some organisations have clearly decided to change the balance of their employees and their contractors, the minister began, sounding like he was going to make the acknowledgement. [But] this can be for many reasons, he added, seeming to suggest reform isnt the driving one. For example, where that better suits the evolving business model of that organisation. 'Organisations might be blanketing' Moving to a topic he has form on -- blanketing, which advisory WTT Consulting today writes on exclusively for ContractorUK, the minister stuck to his stance that it still isnt definitely happening. In fact, he said his fellow MPs have concerns that organisations might take a blanket approach -- only for the MPs to then say organisations have blanketed, and are still blanketing. Labour MP Meg Hillier said: Since the government announced the extension of IR35 [reforms] to the private sector, many companies in my constituency are already takinga very risk-adverse approach. [They are] designating all contractors as requiring and needing to go under the IR35 umbrella. And that is having this negative downward drive on those technical, skilled individuals. 'Treasury is intent' In his comments, Mr Norman indicated that the existence of a strong contractor lobby, and the client-led disagreement process, should help call out non-compliant status decisions. Its clear, from listening to [the minister], that the Treasury is intent on raising tax receipts and sees IR35 as an area in which to do so, says Qdos Dominic Johns. With this in mind, private sector businesses mustn't pin their hopes on another last-minute extension. The status firm added: Its therefore imperative that private sector businesses continue preparing for next year's roll-out. Meanwhile, the businesses that have banned contractors altogether or blanket-placed these workers inside the legislation should reconsider their stance. 'Dramatically negative effect' These reforms are actually likely to have a dramatically negative effect on our [countrys] freelancers and contractors, says Ed Molyneux, CEO of accounting platform FreeAgent. Manywill essentially be pushed into quasi-employment but without any of the protections that they would receive if they were actual employees. He added: The government had a great opportunity to provide some much-needed relief for this sector during these challenging times, but instead it chose to doggedly push on with an agenda that is likely to harm the UK economy. For the second time this week, Karnataka registered over 100 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the the state's tally to 1,578 till Thursday afternoon. According to the health department, as many as 116 cases, most of them returnees to the state, were added in the state from since Wednesday evening. With 41 deaths and 570 discharges, there were 966 active coronavirus cases in the state, the department said in its mid-day situation update. Fourteen patients were discharged so far on Thursday. Breaching the century mark for the first time, Karnataka on Tuesday had recorded the biggest single-day spike of 149 new positive cases. Like in the last few days, most of those tested positive had travelled from other states and were under quarantine. About 75 out of 116 cases are with inter-state travel history from Maharashtra, five from Tamil Nadu, four from Telangana, three from Jharkhand, two from Rajasthan, and one each from Kerala and Chattisgarh among others. Six had arrived from the United Arab Emirates. Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Udupi accounted for 25 followed by Mandya (15), Hassan (13) and Ballari (11). Uttara Kannada and Belagavi nine each, Bengaluru urban (seven), Shivamogga and Dakshina Kannada (six), Dharwad (five) Davangere (three) Gadag and Chikkaballapura (2), and one each from Vijayapura, Mysuru and Tumakuru shared the other cases. A report from Mangaluru said all the six who tested positive in Dakshina Kannada district had arrived from Dubai on the second repatriation flight to the city on May 18. Five of them belonged to DK district, while a 29-year-old who tested positive hails from Kalaburagi. All the six have been shifted from their quarantine facility to the Wenlock COVID-19 hospital, it said quoting officials. In Udupi district, as many as 21 people are returnees from Maharashtra, three from Telangana and one from Kerala. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) [May 20, 2020] CapBridge Financial Secures Investments From SGInnovate and Hong Kong Cyberport Macro Fund In Series A Extension; Set To Accelerate Tech Development And Expand Presence In Hong Kong Investments from Singapore government-owned SGInnovate and Hong Kong SAR Government-owned Cyberport signal strong government support of the CapBridge private market solution government-owned SGInnovate and Hong Kong SAR Government-owned Cyberport signal strong government support of the CapBridge private market solution Disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the urgency for companies to have alternative fundraising pathways, enabled by Deep Tech and enhanced connectivity and embodied by the CapBridge private market eco-system With the entry of SGInnovate and Cyberport as shareholders, CapBridge is expected to accelerate the development of its technology solutions and further scale up its presence in Hong Kong to serve the growing interest in private markets from the region. SINGAPORE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CapBridge Financial ("CapBridge"), Singapore's leading integrated private market eco-system comprising over US$2 billion of investable deals and Singapore's first regulated securities exchange for private companies, today announced that it has received equity investments from SGInnovate and Cyberport Macro Fund, further attesting to its strong government support and growing regional network. SGInnovate is a private-limited company wholly owned by the Singapore Government that helps entrepreneurial scientists build and scale Deep Tech startups through equity-based investments, access to talent, and business-building advice. Hong Kong Cyberport is the digital technology flagship with more than 1,500 start-ups and technology companies. Launched in 2016, Cyberport Macro Fund is a testament to its pledge to give start-ups that extra push they need to excel and go global, by connecting with overseas partners and investors to co-invest through the extensive Cyberport network. Mr Johnson Chen, founder and CEO of CapBridge, said, "We are very encouraged by the confidence in CapBridge demonstrated through the investments from SGInnovate and the Cyberport Macro Fund. The global economy has been severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, creating unprecedented challenges for many companies seeking growth capital. With the support of SGInnovate and Hong Kong Cyberport, as well as our other shareholders, CapBridge is committed to supporting the needs of these companies in an increasingly interconnected and digitalised global capital markets environment." Dr Lim Jui, CEO, SGInnovate said, "The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the urgency for alternative fundraising pathways, enabled by Deep Tech and enhanced connectivity. The CapBridge platform has the potential to optimise the capital raising experience for growth companies in Singapore and the region. We are pleased to support them as they look to improve access to private markets through technology, for companies and investors alike." With the support from SGInnovate, CapBridge is expected to accelerate the development of its technology solutions, and deploy blockchain technology to optimise share tracking, private equity investments, and securities trading settlements for private companies. Dr George Lam, Chairman of Cyberport said, "As the largest digital tech community in Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to fostering digital tech development and entrepreneurship. We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with CapBridge and this co-investment will help to unlock value for private companies and family businesses, as well as the investors keen on pursuing private market diversification. I believe Hong Kong's development in innovation and technology will continue to march forwards while seizing new opportunities arising from other international cities. We look forward to building a closer relationship with CapBridge and believe it will add vibrancy to Hong Kong's capital markets." Along with the investment from Cyberport Macro Fund, CapBridge expects to further scale up its presence in Hong Kong to serve the growing interest in private markets from the region. The CapBridge Financial private markets solution helps companies and investors unlock value via a uniquely integrated primary syndication and secondary trading approach. Based in global leading financial hub Singapore and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS"), CapBridge Financial holds a Capital Markets Services Licence through its primary online syndication platform, and the Recognised Market Operator licence through Singapore's first regulated private securities exchange, the blockchain-based 1exchange ("1X"). The CapBridge primary syndication platform and the 1X secondary private equity trading exchange represents an integrated and holistic solution to growth companies, family-owned businesses, as well as private investors wishing to unlock and gain value from the private markets. About CapBridge Financial CapBridge Financial ("CapBridge") provides private markets solutions that help companies and investors unlock value via a uniquely integrated primary syndication and secondary trading approach. Based in global financial hub Singapore, CapBridge is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The CapBridge primary online syndication platform holds a Capital Markets Services Licence (CMSL), while Singapore's first regulated private securities exchange, 1exchange (1X) holds a Recognised Market Operator licence to facilitate secondary trading. CapBridge works with late-stage growth or pre-IPO private companies seeking growth or expansion capital. The online platform intelligently seeks and matches companies with private capital and facilitates the entire capital raising process with technology. Private investors on CapBridge gain access to institutional grade private opportunities, previously limited to large institutional investors. CapBridge also deploys the lead and co-lead business model to ensure institutional grade transactions. Visit www.capbridge.sg for more information. CapBridge also owns Singapore's first regulated private securities exchange 1exchange ("1X"). Widely regarded as the third board in Singapore, 1X is a "light-touch" and cost-effective private exchange designed specifically for family owned businesses, growth and pre-IPO businesses. With market-oriented solutions such as direct private listings and employee share option and trading, 1X provides growth companies, founders, and business owners options for partial exits while retaining control. Private equity investors on 1X can securely and freely trade in and out of their private positions to achieve liquidity anytime, anywhere. Visit www.1x.exchange for more information. Singapore Exchange is a strategic partner and shareholder of CapBridge. Key investors in CapBridge include South Korea-based Hanwha Investment and Securities Co., Singapore government-owned SGInnovate, and HKSAR government-backed Hong Kong Cyberport. CapBridge partners include regional banks such as CIMB (Malaysia), UOB (Singapore), financial groups such as Hana Financial Group (Korea), as well as professional services firms such as Deloitte, Dunn & Bradstreet, and Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau. About SGInnovate At SGInnovate, we build and scale Deep Tech startups into high potential companies with global impact. We believe that hard global problems can be solved using Deep Tech, and Singapore, where we are based, is uniquely positioned to realise Deep Tech innovations that can tackle these challenges. Our Deep Tech Nexus Strategy is focused on adding tangible value to the Deep Tech startup ecosystem in two key areas development of Human Capital and deployment of Investment Capital. With the support of our partners and co-investors, we back entrepreneurial scientists through equity-based investments, access to talent and business-building advice. Our efforts are prioritised around emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Tech, MedTech and Quantum Tech, which represent impactful and scalable answers to global challenges. SGInnovate is a private-limited company wholly owned by the Singapore Government. For more information, please visit www.sginnovate.com About Cyberport Cyberport is an innovative digital community with around 1,500 start-ups and technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With a vision to be the hub for digital technology thereby creating a new economic driver for Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing a vibrant tech ecosystem by cultivating talent, promoting entrepreneurship among youth, supporting start-ups on their growth journey, fostering industry development by promoting strategic collaboration with local and international partners, and integrating new and traditional economies by accelerating digital transformation in the public and private sectors. For more information, please visit www.cyberport.hk SOURCE CapBridge Financial [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] CLAYTON St. Louis County will not invest any of its $173.5 million in federal relief money to help locate and isolate people who are infected with the coronavirus in St. Louis, the top adviser to the countys relief effort said on Thursday. The adviser, Cindy Brinkley, reiterated an assertion last week by County Executive Sam Page that the county was prohibited by federal rules over the stimulus money from spending it outside the county. Brinkleys comments came during a County Council committee hearing in response to statements by Dr. Will Ross, chairman of the citys Joint Boards of Health and Hospitals, that were published online earlier Thursday by the Post-Dispatch. Ross said a lack of cooperation between the city and county at the highest levels has hampered our ability to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. He said he did not see anything in the law that prevented the county from using the money to invest in a regional contact tracing effort. The city has not asked the county for help and the county has not offered. But local public health officials and some city leaders have suggested the county should do more to close the disparity between the entities contact tracing efforts. The city has a higher infection rate than the county but just a fraction of the federal relief funds to spend. While the county has plans to hire 100 contact tracers, the city, which has a higher infection rate, has a staff of 10. The disparity has become more of a concern as both begin lifting stay-at-home orders, and allowing more businesses to reopen this week. Ross said the first he heard about the county not being permitted to spend money to help the city was when he read Pages comment in the Post-Dispatch. So I actually went online through the website of the CARES Act and Im still reading it but frankly I did not see that type of restriction. I didnt see anything that would obviate not necessarily the county necessarily sending contact tracers into the city but working on a broader contact tracing program that was more regional than countywide. Dr. Fredrick Echols, the citys health director, has said he is confident in the citys ability to trace the steps of people who test positive with the coronavirus. The city uses a software program that automates part of the process. Ross said on Thursday, I see no reason why we cant proceed to expend the number of contact tracers on the street. Theres every reason that could benefit in terms of mitigating the spread and containing this. So, Im in support of getting more personnel. Echols told a city aldermanic committee on Wednesday that he intended to hire contact tracers later in the year, but Ross said Thursday he thought it was best to get these people in early to get them in service and engage with other people and other contact tracers so they can build their relationships. Ross told members of the health board that he would be calling Page and Dr. Emily Doucette, the county health department co-chair, this week. Im hoping that in the spirit of true collaboration in the regional response to this pandemic that well have the ability to at least have some sharing of resources, he told the health board. Talking to the county leaders is my next order and really to clarify the actual requirements of sharing contract tracers with St. Louis County. Merger proponent Ross, a nephrologist and associate dean of diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, has long been an advocate for merging city and county services. He had served as vice chairman of Better Together, an effort to merge the city and county that sputtered and failed after releasing its plan to the public last year. But he ended up quitting the organization one year ago and expressing concern that the group was planning to go ahead without public input. Ross said that the city and county succeeded in coming together with stay-at-home orders in March, but the cooperation has digressed and that a reporter would have to ask Page and Mayor Lyda Krewson about why that happened. He said the city and county health departments have great working relationships and unprecedented interactions and collaboration. It just needs to be more systemic and more at the higher level. Asked what needs to happen, he answered, We need less political fragmentation. We should have one health department addressing this type of (crisis) going forward. We need to have a unified public response to crises like this. County budget The city and countys coronavirus efforts continued on diverging tracks.The city, which has less than a third of the population of the county, is getting just $35 million in assistance through the state. The city and county on April 23 each launched online transparency portals, where people could track how the entities are spending relief dollars. The last expense logged on the citys portal was dated April 17. Asked during an aldermanic committee on Tuesday how spending decisions for the federal funds were being made, Krewsons chief of staff, Stephen Conway, said, The CARES Act funds arent being spent at this time. In the county, Page appointed Brinkley, a retired Centene executive, and other volunteer advisers in April to help lead the countys effort, and the four Democrats on the County Council voted against the three Republicans to hand Page the purse strings to the federal aid. Pages council allies ran out of patience earlier this week during a COVID-19 oversight committee meeting, criticizing his administration for failing to communicate its plans and questioning how decisions were being made. The committee scheduled a special meeting for Thursday for the administrations response. During an 80-minute hearing, the council got its first look at the Page administrations budget for the pandemic response and a diagram of who is running it. While some council members expressed more comfort with the countys efforts on Thursday, the budget outline also exposed divisions. For example, it included $47 million that may be divided among the countys 88 municipalities to help defray their coronavirus costs. The Municipal League of Metropolitan St. Louis asked for that amount in a May 7 email to Page. Councilman Ernie Trakas, the Republican whose 6th District comprises mostly unincorporated south St. Louis County, said during the meeting he wasnt in favor of that. Councilman Tim Fitch, R-3rd District, said in an interview after the meeting that it looked like Page could be placating mayors who had been critical of his administration. The budget also included $5 million for child care centers, a provision that Chairwoman Lisa Clancy, D-5th District, and Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, D-2nd District, had sought. Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray, D-4th District, said she didnt understand why money was carved out for child care, and Councilwomen Rita Heard Days, D-1st District, said she was already evaluating applications from child care centers in her district that had applied for the countys small business relief program. I cant see them double-dipping, she said. Trakas, who has been furious about the council giving up its power to review individual expenses, had a dramatic shift in tone on Thursday. He asked Dunaway for permission to make a comment and said the council should back Page, who is facing hard decisions. Lets give the county executive the benefit of the doubt as we go forward, he said. Updated at 7:15 p.m. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. China Education Group Holdings (HKG:839) shares have had a really impressive month, gaining 34%, after some slippage. And the full year gain of 16% isn't too shabby, either! Assuming no other changes, a sharply higher share price makes a stock less attractive to potential buyers. In the long term, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, but in the short term prices bounce around in response to short term factors (which are not always obvious). The implication here is that deep value investors might steer clear when expectations of a company are too high. One way to gauge market expectations of a stock is to look at its Price to Earnings Ratio (PE Ratio). A high P/E implies that investors have high expectations of what a company can achieve compared to a company with a low P/E ratio. View our latest analysis for China Education Group Holdings Does China Education Group Holdings Have A Relatively High Or Low P/E For Its Industry? China Education Group Holdings's P/E of 32.95 indicates some degree of optimism towards the stock. You can see in the image below that the average P/E (15.6) for companies in the consumer services industry is lower than China Education Group Holdings's P/E. SEHK:839 Price Estimation Relative to Market May 21st 2020 Its relatively high P/E ratio indicates that China Education Group Holdings shareholders think it will perform better than other companies in its industry classification. The market is optimistic about the future, but that doesn't guarantee future growth. So further research is always essential. I often monitor director buying and selling. How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios Earnings growth rates have a big influence on P/E ratios. If earnings are growing quickly, then the 'E' in the equation will increase faster than it would otherwise. Therefore, even if you pay a high multiple of earnings now, that multiple will become lower in the future. So while a stock may look expensive based on past earnings, it could be cheap based on future earnings. Story continues China Education Group Holdings increased earnings per share by a whopping 40% last year. And earnings per share have improved by 14% annually, over the last five years. So we'd generally expect it to have a relatively high P/E ratio. Remember: P/E Ratios Don't Consider The Balance Sheet It's important to note that the P/E ratio considers the market capitalization, not the enterprise value. So it won't reflect the advantage of cash, or disadvantage of debt. Theoretically, a business can improve its earnings (and produce a lower P/E in the future) by investing in growth. That means taking on debt (or spending its cash). Spending on growth might be good or bad a few years later, but the point is that the P/E ratio does not account for the option (or lack thereof). So What Does China Education Group Holdings's Balance Sheet Tell Us? China Education Group Holdings's net debt is 4.5% of its market cap. So it doesn't have as many options as it would with net cash, but its debt would not have much of an impact on its P/E ratio. The Verdict On China Education Group Holdings's P/E Ratio China Education Group Holdings trades on a P/E ratio of 32.9, which is multiples above its market average of 9.7. The company is not overly constrained by its modest debt levels, and its recent EPS growth is nothing short of stand-out. So on this analysis a high P/E ratio seems reasonable. What is very clear is that the market has become significantly more optimistic about China Education Group Holdings over the last month, with the P/E ratio rising from 24.6 back then to 32.9 today. For those who prefer to invest with the flow of momentum, that might mean it's time to put the stock on a watchlist, or research it. But the contrarian may see it as a missed opportunity. Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. People often underestimate remarkable growth -- so investors can make money when fast growth is not fully appreciated. So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold. But note: China Education Group Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20). Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Delaware Builder Insight Homes Dominates Statewide Awards Rob Elliott, president of Insight Homes says, Many builders put their focus on things besides the actual house. These awards are truly gratifying as they exemplify who we are as a company, which is all about the homes engineering, construction, and performance. The Home Building Association of Delaware (aka BRAD), hosted its 28th annual Regal Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 15, 2020.Insight Homes is proud to have been awarded a total of 18 awards, more than any other builder in the state. Rob Elliott, president of Insight Homes says, Many builders put their focus on things besides the actual house. These awards are truly gratifying as they exemplify who we are as a company, which is all about the homes engineering, construction, and performance. Delaware Community of the Year And Sussex County Community of the Year The Hawthorne Community Best Community Green Home Insight Homes won all four levels in this Category! The Whatley The Morgan The Brenner The Kramer Best Affordable Community Home The Vandelay Best Single Family Community Home The Drake and The Frank both won in this category Best Informational Brochure Insight Homes Blue Book Other notable winning categories are: Best Exterior Merchandising Community Home Best Exterior Merchandising Community Best Interior Design Best Clubhouse Design Best Bathroom Design Best Kitchen Design Best Master Suite Design Best Billboard Design HBADE/BRAD Regal awards have been awarding Delaware Builders for their excellence in Building for the past 27 years. Each submission is reviewed by an independent panel of three judges and assigned scores based on specific criteria. Each home is judged on several technical elements as well as sales success, design thoughtfulness, and overall value of the home depending on the category. INSIGHT HOMES is a trusted Delaware home builder with over 20 communities located throughout Southern Delaware and Maryland. These communities range north from the town of Milford to as far South as the Beach towns of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Ocean View, Bethany Beach, and portions of Maryland. If you can't find the perfect location in our list of new communities in Sussex County, we have a "build on your lot" program that will help you find the ideal homesite or walk you through the process to build your dream home on a lot you already own. Insight Homes urges consumers to keep checking their website http://www.itsjustabetterhouse.com to stay up to date with new projects. For more information, interviews, or images contact dbrunner@insightde.com For three days without internet or phone service this month, Rouf Ahmad found himself cut off from his family in Indian-administered Kashmir while his mother was receiving treatment for the deadly coronavirus. The 23-year-old sociology student is under quarantine in a hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir's main city, and could not contact the rest of his family to tell them about his mother's condition as she was treated in the same hospital. "I used to update my sisters and father many times a day about my mother's status," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over the phone. "My frustration knew no bounds when I couldn't do so for three days." Communications blackouts imposed by the government as part of an effort to quell political turmoil and armed conflict in Kashmir are hampering the fight against the novel coronavirus, warn health experts and residents. Weeks of slow or no internet are a regular occurrence in the disputed region. The latest restriction on high-speed internet access has been in place since August last year, when India revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status. The Indian government reinstated low-speed 2G internet services in January, but a blackout earlier this month massively set back health services and contact tracing efforts to curb the new coronavirus, health experts said. "The shutting down of the internet is not new to Kashmir," said one Srinagar-based hospital doctor, who asked not to be named. "But, this time around, we were shocked that we had to work without the internet even during the pandemic for a week," he said, noting that the government had told health professionals not to talk to the press. "We are pushed into the primitive world when the internet is shut down abruptly." When contacted for comment, police officials directed the Thomson Reuters Foundation to an official order posted on the police website. It said the shutdown on May 6, implemented the day after security forces killed militant commander Riyaz Niakoo in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, was necessary due to the "likelihood of misuse of data services by anti-national elements". Knowing Kashmir's history of communication restrictions, Ahmad anticipates further shutdowns - mobile internet was again halted on Tuesday - but hopes he and his mother can get out of the hospital before then. "I can't bring myself to deal with another blackout. Our family is already facing an awful situation as my mother is battling COVID-19," he said. CONTACT TRACING Kashmir is among the Indian regions worst hit by COVID-19, with confirmed cases increasing sharply from four in mid-March to more than 1,200 by mid-May and about 16 deaths, according to official figures. Health professionals at two major hospitals in Srinagar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that during the recent communications blackout they were unable to consult with colleagues about coronavirus cases. A health department official, who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the press, said the three days without mobile phone service put added strain on the country's already stressed health system. The blackout affected all but phones on pay monthly contracts, which are mainly used by government officials. Doctors normally use messaging services like WhatsApp to send each other information about cases and communicate with patients, the official explained, adding that relying on phone calls in the shutdown was often inconvenient and time-consuming. He noted that there was no way for health workers to carry out contact tracing, which involves tracking down infected people and finding everyone who has been near them, so they can get tested too. "It was impossible to trace the contacts of COVID-positive cases in those three days as there was no way of reaching out to people," said the official. It was also impossible for Kashmiris to install the government's contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said everyone in the country should download onto their phones in a televised address last month. Health experts say contact tracing is key to keeping the virus in check. Even a single day's delay in contact tracing could be the difference between getting the virus under control and suffering a resurgence, according to researchers from the University of Oxford in Britain. Owais Ahmad, the Officer on Special Duty at Kashmir's COVID Control Room, where he helps monitor the spread of the virus in the region, confirmed that the three-day blackout had impacted the rate of installation of the app. About 100,000 people in the region have so far downloaded the app, he estimated. But he added that he thinks it will pick up now that internet and mobile phone services have been restored. "This is an extremely important app in the fight against COVID," Ahmad said during an interview in his office. RISE IN INTERNET SHUTDOWNS India has said it cuts communications to prevent unrest in Kashmir, where a separatist insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people since 1989. Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, which have gone to war twice over it. Each rules parts of the scenic Himalayan region. The internet blackout in Kashmir which started in August and lasted 175 days, was among the world's longest internet shutdowns implemented last year, according to digital rights group Access Now. Last year, India experienced 121 shutdowns, out of a global total of 196, the group said in a recent report. International rights groups have decried the rise in the use of communications shutdowns in recent years as governments from the Philippines to Yemen said they were necessary for public safety and national security. The United Nations has said such measures cannot be justified as the world is trying to tackle a pandemic. "Internet access is critical at a time of crisis," David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression, said in a statement in March. "Human health depends not only on readily accessible health care. It also depends on access to accurate information about the nature of the threats and the means to protect oneself, one's family, and one's community." Ahmad at the COVID Control Room rejected the claim that shutting down internet and mobile services had impacted healthcare in the region. He said the communication blackout had been "managed by health workers", without specifying further. BEIJING, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) ("Sunlands" or the "Company"), a leader in China's online post-secondary and professional education, today announced that it has expanded its offering by establishing a new business vertical designed specifically to provide online employee training services to corporations. Towards the end of 2019, Sunlands' B2B training services offered mobile-based learning infrastructure, numerous training courses and other related services designed for corporations. Primarily targeting medium to large enterprises while leveraging the Company's existing teaching resources and online infrastructure, Sunlands helps enterprises train their employees online through providing not only a standardized and pre-established curriculum but also customized curricula to better suit the specific needs of certain strategic clients. Further, Sunlands plans to leverage its foundational expertise in academic degree- and diploma-training and professional certificate programs to develop new B2C users from its B2B user base, creating synergies between the two business models. Since its initial launch, Sunlands' B2B training services have received positive feedback. The Company's B2B customers currently include 360 companies and institutions, including many renowned names such as Huazhu Hotel Group, Midea Real Estate, Red Star Macalline, SF Logistics and Beijing ZJS Express. Tens of thousands of employees have already signed up for Sunlands' B2B training services. Mr. Tongbo Liu, Chief Executive Officer of Sunlands, commented, "We are very excited about this new B2B training opportunity, which is a natural extension of our well-established B2C vertical. The market for corporation employee training is vast, driven by strong incentive for companies to invest in their employees, since the competitiveness of enterprise workforce has become more bottom-up dependent on each employee's individual level of competency given the gradual disappearance of the demographic dividend in China. As such, we anticipate a growing need for continuous employee development as enterprises continue to grow and compete. In addition, our B2B online live streaming courses are well positioned to cater to the increasing demand of cost effective and efficient employee training by multi-regional corporations. Despite its current relatively small scale, I am confident that our B2B training services have tremendous upside potential and can eventually become a key growth driver over time." About Sunlands Sunlands Technology Group (NYSE: STG) ("Sunlands" or the "Company"), formerly known as Sunlands Online Education Group, is the leader in China's online post-secondary and professional education. With a one to many, live streaming platform, Sunlands offers various degree and diploma-oriented post-secondary courses as well as online professional courses and educational content, to help students prepare for professional certification exams and attain professional skills. Students can access its services either through PC or mobile applications. The Company's online platform cultivates a personalized, interactive learning environment by featuring a virtual learning community and a vast library of educational content offerings that adapt to the learning habits of its students. Sunlands offers a unique approach to education research and development that organizes subject content into Learning Outcome Trees, the Company's proprietary knowledge management system. Sunlands has a deep understanding of the educational needs of its prospective students and offers solutions that help them achieve their goals. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Sunlands may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Sunlands' beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: Sunlands' goals and strategies; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of its brand and services; its ability to retain and increase student enrollments; its ability to offer new courses and educational content; its ability to improve teaching quality and students' learning results; its ability to improve sales and marketing efficiency and effectiveness; its ability to engage, train and retain new faculty members; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; its ability to maintain and improve technology infrastructure necessary to operate its business; competition in the online education industry in China; relevant government policies and regulations relating to Sunlands' corporate structure, business and industry; and general economic and business condition in China Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Sunlands' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Sunlands does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law. For investor and media enquiries, please contact: Daisy Wang Head of Investor Relations Tel: +86 182 5691 2232 Email: [email protected] The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente Tel: +1-212-481-2050 Email: [email protected] Ross Warner Tel: +86-10-6508-0677 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Sunlands Technology Group Related Links www.sunlands.com Many internet tools seek to identify what disease a person has based on symptoms described by the user. A new study finds these online symptom checkers are rarely correct and could be harmful. Australian researchers at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia did the study. Their results were published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Online symptom checkers are commonly found through major search engines. Google, for example, gets an estimated 70,000 health-related searches every minute. The study examined 36 international internet-based symptom checkers. The tools ask a series of questions about the symptoms users are experiencing and then use that information to identify conditions the users might suffer from. Some tools also advise users on whether to seek medical attention. The study found that overall, symptom checkers produced the correct diagnosis as the first result 36 percent of the time. The tools predicted the right diagnosis within the top three results 52 percent of the time. Michella Hill is a student at Edith Cowan and a leader of the research. She says the findings demonstrate why users should be very careful about using the systems for diagnostic purposes. "While it may be tempting to use these tools to find out what may be causing your symptoms, most of the time they are unreliable at best and can be dangerous at worst," Hill said. She said one of the main problems with online symptom checkers is that they depend on too little information. They do not look at the whole picture -- they don't know your medical history or other symptoms. Hill added: "For people who lack health knowledge, they may think the advice they're given is accurate, or that their condition is not serious, when it may be." The Australian study did find the symptom checkers produced more accurate results for advice on when and where users should seek medical attention. The advice for emergency and serious medical cases was correct about 60 percent of the time. That number dropped to 30-40 percent accuracy for non-emergencies. Hill said she does think online symptom tools can effectively fill a need in the modern health system. "These sites are not a replacement for going to the doctor, but they can be useful in providing more information once you do have an official diagnosis," she said. Internet searches related to information about the new coronavirus topped all others in recent months on Google, the Google Trends website reports. Many users have also turned to Google for information on virus symptoms. The top-searched coronavirus symptom by far over the past four months was fever, Google Trends shows. This was followed by sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of taste and loss of smell. Google also provides a tool for users to check their symptoms related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The company says the tool is designed for informational purposes only, and not meant to provide a medical diagnosis. The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month it is planning to launch its own symptom checking tool. A WHO official told the Reuters news agency the wireless device tool is expected to be popular in countries lacking their own development resources. Engineers and designers including former Google and Microsoft employees have been volunteering their time to develop the WHO app, Reuters reported. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on reports from Edith Cowan University and online sources. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. Quiz - How Effective Are Online Symptom Checkers? Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story symptom n. a change in the body that shows a disease is present diagnosis n. a doctors opinion of what is wrong with someone who is sick tempting adj. having an appeal unreliable adj. not able to be trusted or depended on accurate adj. correct or exact fever n. a high body temperature caused by sickness A Brick woman accused of killing her wife with a wine chiller was apprehended in Texas, officials announced Wednesday. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, 48, was charged with the murder of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, 32, and arrested in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, according to the Ocean County Prosecutors Office and Brick Township Police Department. Officials believe Gavilanez-Alectus traveled to Houston from New York City by bus. She was arrested by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Marshals Service, and Houston Police Department. A warrant for Gavilanez-Alectus arrest was issued on May 18, after the county prosecutors office and Brick Township police determined she was responsible for the May 17 death of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, who is also from Brick. It is the county prosecutors office understanding that the women were married, according to Bryan Huntenburg, a spokesperson for the office. On May 17, Brick Township Police went to a residence on Creek Road, after receiving a report of an unresponsive female. Once there, officers found the lifeless body of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus in an upstairs bedroom, according to a release. An autopsy was performed the next day, and officials determined Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectuss death was a homicide. Officials investigated and found both the victim and defendant lived at the Creek Road address. The investigation further revealed that a cylindrical container used for the purpose of chilling wine was utilized in the commission of the murder, the release said. Officials determined Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectuss injuries were consistent with the object, and Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus caused her death. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus was tracked down and taken into custody in Houston, officials said. She is currently in the Harris County jail pending extradition to Ocean County. I am extremely grateful for the support of our Federal law enforcement partners, as well as our law enforcement partners in Houston Texas, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a release. It is extremely satisfying when law enforcement works together and we are able to get a dangerous person like Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus into custody. We will immediately begin extradition proceedings to bring Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus back to Ocean County to answer for these charges, he said. Justice for Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus weighs heavy on all of our minds. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Santanu Dutt, ASEAN Head of Technologies, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Digital transformation is the new norm. If you look at the industries today, it is not just startups or certain enterprises that are transforming themselves digitally and are using technology or public cloud platforms like AWS. It is a constant across all customers and industries, through traditional industries like manufacturing, education, healthcare, and agriculture, or mainstream commercial industries. These industries are now employing cognitive services, analytics, machine learning, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to transform operations and almost all of this is happening on public cloud. AWS is at the forefront of transformation and helping customers transform is in our DNA. We believe that we have a culture where we move fast and operate almost like a small company, although we have 700,000 employees in amazon.com. This mode of operation keeps us on the edge with constant releases of new offerings, services, and technologies. Technology trends and new solutions Machine learning is at the core of many industry trends and it is maturing into what we call wise technology. We also see trends to adopt developer productivity. We are trying to make this much easier with our service offerings like intelligent search which even small customers can integrate into their websites, ridding them of the need to hire large tech personnel. Through our offerings, they can become more productive within days. For example, we released Amazon Kendra in last December. It is not a search engine in the traditional sense, like others in the market it is an engine which makes customers search engines much more powerful. Another example is our suite to create 3D, AR, and VR applications called Amazon Sumerian, which will help customers develop creative applications and engage customers. Take our customer called Maxis in Malaysia as an example, who transformed their retail stores in Kuala Lumpur by installing digital screens packed with impactful technologies that are actually learning to engage customers automatically. This not only made store operations completely digital, it also increased customer engagement and the entire transformation took them only a few days. In the future, Maxis is planning to add a conversation interface. Today, the digital images only wave to say hello, but later on, they will be able to communicate with customers, peruse their purchase history and information on what the customer is interested in, and maybe even receive inputs about problems so that by the time the customer gets to the customer service desk, 30 or 70 per cent of the problems had already been solved. Machine learning powerful tool today Machine learning is a focus of our development with a number of new functions and services announced in recent years such as Amazon Polly, Amazon Connect, Amazon Rekognition, Amazon Transcribe, and others, which help solve customers problems or enable businesses to make predictions and forecasts, automate processes, and integrate voice services, voice recognition, and computer vision, among others. Machine learning is commonly seen as something too futuristic that can only be used for prediction. However, it is also utilised to solve real-life business problems. It has gone beyond simple prediction: it is now used for forecasting, supply chain management, and is a core part of automation and robotics. It is used in computer vision, natural language processing, and gaming, and many other tangible real life areas. An example of this is Seoul, where a petrochemical company decided to use AWS face recognition technology to ensure employee security at its work sites. They input all employee ID cards and taught the software to recognise whether a human is wearing a helmet. They then connected this with Amazon Polly, which can issue voice messages addressing workers by name and reminding them to wear helmets, without the need for a security guard. Modern technology is becoming incredibly popular, especially in Asia. In countries like Indonesia or Vietnam, there is such vast agricultural land that traditional farming methods cannot yield to optimal results. A Vietnamese company, WeatherPlus, monitors the weather through more than 300 weather stations. They collect data from IoT sensors and transfer it to the AWS cloud, which is known for its scalable computing capacity to analyse the information. They also try to predict rainfall and analyse the images to predict the spread of diseases for agricultural crops in Vietnam. With this technology, farmers will have better information on weather patterns to increase yields. Machine learning has a great role to play in the industry that is in the limelight of our current time, healthcare. The uses of computer vision a part of machine learning are becoming increasingly apparent. We can now feed in high-quality pictures and train software to detect anomalies and irregularities, helping to diagnose diseases at a much earlier phase. Why AWS? In todays world, there are multiple vendors offering competing products in any field. We do not bring out products and services keeping the competition in mind we focus on the customer and work backwards from there. AWS started offering cloud services, even before the pioneers in this industry. Our first official set of public offerings started in 2006, when the industry did not even know about cloud computing or web services. Having 14 years of experience makes a massive difference. We always expect other players to actually use and come up with cloud computing platforms because the value proposition for end customers is immense. But you need certain experience to run things at very large scale. In cloud, you're not onboarding a single customer. We have billions of customers, and the security this requires as it is essential that there are no outages. All of this comes with experience, which cannot be replicated. We also have the broadest and deepest functionality, with 175 different products and services, running on have data centres or infrastructure across 24 different geographical regions in 24 different cities across the globe. The scale of AWS is unparalleled, which is hugely appealing for international giants and small-time businesses alike. Millions and millions of our customers say that culturally AWS is different. We are not a company that focuses on competition and ends up on a customer's doorstep on the last day of the month to make a quick sale and reach the monthly quota. We are customer-obsessed, and our pay per use model ensure that customers pay us only for what they use. There is no long-term licensing cost or any fixed-term contracts. In addition, we have a pay per use pricing model that actually helps customers run more experiments to try innovative projects. If it does not seem to work, they can discard it and move on to the next project. Imagine if our pay per use public cloud platform did not exist, how difficult and costly it would be in the old world to innovate? On AWS, you literally pay by the minute, and after an hour or two, if something is not working, you shut it down and you stop paying. Many a customer told us about how their pricing has reduced. In 14 years, we've actually lowered pricing across our different services. While most vendors in the industry are looking at inflating costs, your AWS bill almost always goes down. A lot of people actually underestimate operational expenses like power, manpower or cooling costs. You have to upgrade, patch, and manage there are so many other operational expenses that people tend to ignore. Through AWS solutions, it is entirely possible to use the cloud to innovate at a much lower cost, using technologies like machine learning that allow vendors to get into new business avenues and stage digital transformations at a much lower cost. Soon, we will add Indonesia to our regions, the second one in Southeast Asia after Singapore. This is a precursor to further investment in other regions in Southeast Asia. Having said that, we already have lots of use cases where business customers have been utilising our services through our Singapore branch. We have a great many customers globally on the AWS platform who have been enjoying our seamless services without any issues. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Getchell Gold Corp. (CSE: GTCH) (OTCQB: GGLDF) ("Getchell" or the "Company") a leading Nevada focused Gold and Copper exploration company is pleased to report its progress at its flagship gold asset Fondaway Canyon in Nevada. The highlights from the most recent drill programs conducted in the South Mouth open pit area in the western portion of the Project are provided below. In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has staked 35 more claims to better cover the extensive mineralizing system at Fondaway Canyon. Key Drilling Highlights: Hole FC17-06 ended in gold mineralization grading 1.29 g/t Au over 6.1 m, remains open in all directions and is a major step-out from the closest on-trend Mid-Realm zone drill hole; Hole FC17-07 intersected 6.0 g/t over 1.2 m within an interval of 2.06 g/t Au over 5.2 m; Two holes drilled on the pediment west of the range front fault intersected broad gold mineralization of 27.4 m grading 0.82 g/t Au and 36.6 m grading 0.52 g/t Au; The gold mineralization encountered in the Pediment holes is hosted in limestone and represents a significant 'Stand Alone Carlin Style Target'; and The drill results support the potential that a larger gold mineralizing system at Fondaway has yet to be revealed. Key Corporate Highlights: The Company is currently planning for the 2020 drill program at Fondaway Canyon; and An additional 35 claims were staked to cover the possible extension of the Pediment mineralization at Fondaway Canyon to the west of the original claim block and to provide land for operational flexibility. "There is no doubt as to the presence and open extent of the gold mineralization at Fondaway Canyon." states Bill Wagener, CEO Getchell Gold Corp., and "The results from the past two drill programs have only enhanced the indications towards its potential". The two most recent drill programs at Fondaway, conducted in 2002 and 2017 by previous operators, saw four holes drilled in the western extent of the Project area along the major four-kilometre-long gold mineralizing trend (Figure 1) described as follows: Two vertical holes were drilled in 2002 west of any historic drilling to test targets hidden beneath the pediment (a gently sloping plain at the erosional base of a mountain front consisting of a veneer of soil, sands and gravels that completely blanket the underlying bedrock); and Two wide spaced holes were drilled in 2017 under the South Mouth open pit, the site of a historic small-scale mining operation that has only been subjected to very shallow exploration drilling and remains open to depth. Figure 1: Fondaway Canyon West - South Mouth Area Plan Map To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/56279_c035504ff4314894_001full.jpg South Mouth Area The South Mouth area was the site of small-scale open-pit mining in the late 1980s and is the most western surface expression of the extensive four-kilometre-long gold mineralizing system at Fondaway Canyon. At South Mouth the gold mineralization occurs within a 300-metre-wide east-striking steeply dipping shear zone, hosting shear-type veins within a broader disseminated lower grade halo. The historical drilling was quite shallow and primarily tested the near surface mineralization in support of the open pit operation. The abundant gold mineralization encountered fully warrants targeting the deeper potential mineralization that remains untested. Hole FC17-06 tested the eastern part of the South Mouth open pit area. Multiple low-grade gold mineralization was intersected in the upper parts of the hole. However, it was the last few core boxes that are of keen interest. Consistent mineralization grading 1.29 g/t Au over the last 6.1 metres, from 364.5 to 370.6 m, was intersected at the bottom of the hole. The FC17-06 intersection is on trend with the Mid-Realm zone, is a 200 metre west and 200-metre-deep step-out from the closest Mid-Realm drill intercept, and is open in all directions. Additionally, this intersection represents significant potential for the under-explored Mid-Realm area as well as demonstrates another positive indicator for the untapped extents of the gold mineralizing system across the Project. Hole FC17-07 tested the western part of the South Mouth area 400 m west of hole FC17-06 and was designed to cross below the mineralized vein-stockwork zone evident in the pit at this locale. However, the hole was abandoned prematurely as it reached the southern edge of the target mineralized zone due to drilling difficulties caused by broken ground within the shear zone. An interval of stockwork quartz veins near the bottom of the hole assayed 2.06 g/t Au over 5.2 m, containing 6.0 g/t over 1.2 m. While hole FC17-07 was not completed, the noted intersection supports the potential continuation of gold mineralization to depth in this area. Figure 2: Fondaway Canyon Long Section, Pediment to Mid-Realm Zone looking north To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/56279_c035504ff4314894_002full.jpg Pediment Area The Pediment target area is on trend with the South Mouth gold bearing shear zone and is located west of the range front fault that is situated at the western margin of the Stillwater range. The area is completely blanketed by a broad alluvium cover which is typical of the range and basin geomorphology for the area. Two vertical drill holes completed in 2002, 02FC-10 and 02FC-11, 185 metres apart and 100-150 metres on the Pediment and west of the range fault, were designed to target potential gold mineralization beneath the sediment cover. Both holes successfully intersected thick lower grade gold intersections (Table 1) with hole 02FC-10 intersecting 27.4 m grading 0.82 g/t Au and 02FC-11 intersecting 36.6 m grading 0.52 g/t Au. Of note, the gold mineralized intervals are hosted in limestone, which is distinctly different than the siltstone-mudstone hosted mineralization east of the range fault at South Mouth and represents a significant target in its own right. Carlin type gold deposits, with prominent examples in the vicinity of Fondaway Canyon, are characterized by the gold mineralization hosted in silicified decarbonated limestones. The limestone gold intercepts are another major indicator that Fondaway Canyon may form part of a larger gold mineralizing system that has yet to be revealed. Table 1: Highlighted Drill Intersections - South Mouth and Pediment Zones To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/56279_c035504ff4314894_003full.jpg Downhole sample interval lengths reported in this news release are not representative of true width and true width will be less than the reported core length intervals by a certain factor. Getchell has performed insufficient work to determine the attitude of the mineralized zones and an estimation of true width. Table 2: Summary of Highlighted Drill Holes - South Mouth and Pediment Zones To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3941/56279_c035504ff4314894_004full.jpg The 2017 drill samples were analyzed by Bureau Veritas Minerals of Sparks, Nevada, an ISO-certified lab that meets the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015. The laboratory employed a QAQC protocol that included insertion of control samples at a rate of 1 per 100 feet of core, approximately 1 per 22 samples, and conducted duplicate analyses of core pulps and rejects. Control samples included a blank and four gold standards at various grades. A qualified person from Getchell has verified that the 2017 drill program results disclosed have been generated with proper procedures, have been accurately transcribed from the original source and are suitable to be used. The 2002 drill samples from the two reverse circulation drill holes were split with a Jones splitter when dry and a rotary splitter when wet. Quality control samples from the field (i.e. field duplicate samples) were not submitted for analysis and the sample sizes and security measures were not documented. The samples were analyzed for total gold by American Assay Laboratories of Sparks, Nevada Assays using the fire/A.A. finish method on a 30-gram sample. The QAQC protocol employed by the laboratory was conducting duplicate analyses of core pulps, approximately 1 per 11 samples. The laboratory did not insert blanks and standards, a current NI 43-101 standard. A qualified person from Getchell has verified that the 2002 drill program results disclosed used procedures that are non-NI 43-101 compliant, however, the results have been accurately transcribed from the original source and are considered suitable for their current use. Claim Staking The Company staked 35 additional claims, totaling 248 hectares (612 acres), to the west and north of the original Fondaway Canyon claim package to cover the possible extension of the pediment mineralization to the west and to provide land for operational flexibility. 2020 Exploration Program at Fondaway Canyon There are numerous exploration targets with significant merits and blue-sky potential. The evidence of Carlin Style mineralization at Fondaway demands further drilling to test the expanse of the gold mineralization. "The Company is excited to drill on the impressive 3.5 kilometre Fondaway Canyon gold trend with a known width of up to 800 metres and a vertical range of 670 metres from the higher elevations in the east to the range-front in the west" said Bill Wagener CEO. The Company is currently planning for the 2020 drill program at Fondaway Canyon. The drill program will be designed to provide "high value enhancement relative to cost" and set the stage for the further advancement and development of the Project. Scott Frostad, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person (as defined in NI 43-101) who reviewed and approved the contents of this news release and has verified the data disclosed herein. About Getchell Gold Corp. The Company is a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company trading on the CSE: GTCH and OTCQB: GGLDF. Getchell Gold is primarily directing its efforts on its most advanced stage asset, Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historic resource estimate. Complementing Getchell's asset portfolio is Dixie Comstock, a past gold producer with a historic resource and two earlier stage exploration projects, Star Point and Hot Springs Peak. Getchell has the option to acquire 100% of the Fondaway Canyon and Dixie Comstock properties under an agreement with Canarc Resources Corp. (see January 7, 2020 news release for further details). For further information please visit the Company's website at www.getchellgold.com or contact the Company at info@getchellgold.com. Mr. William Wagener, Chairman & CEO Getchell Gold Corp. +1 303 517 8764 info@getchellgold.com The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States. Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the private placement and the completion thereof and the use of proceeds. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "will" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, use of proceeds from the financing, capital expenditures and other costs, and financing and additional capital requirements. Although management of Getchell have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56279 According to an article, 2019 wins the top spot as the year where a lot of violence was reported in Mexico. One of the alarming parts of this report is the number of women being a victim of crime and violence in the country. Based on an article, there has been an inclining trend of violence on women in the country. It means that there is an increasing number of women being victimized by violence and crime in Mexico. Femicide in Mexico Before the coronavirus pandemic hit Mexico, activists have been rallying to see actions and policy changes in the country to help protect the women in Mexico from femicide. Even during the pandemic, protesters rallied to make everyone see the alarming issue of femicide in the country. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been criticized for his insufficient support on the country's fight against the violence on women in the country. However, his leadership had not overlooked these issues as during his first few days in office, a law was passed in the country that declares femicide as a separate criminal offense, according to an article. This had also led to his leadership devising a plan to combat gender-based violence in the country. What is Femicide? Femicide is a crime that affects women which are commonly inflicted by men, according to an article. Based on the World Health Organization or WHO, violence on women also includes verbal and emotional violence. It means that violence on women is not only through physically hurting women as it also includes pain inflicted through verbal means and emotional abuse. WHO defines femicide as the killing of women or girls due to their gender by either a man or another female. According to WHO, most of the cases of femicide are women who are in abusive relationships. Furthermore, women who experience violence are often hurt by their former relationships. The Difference Between Male Homicide and Femicide WHO says there is a difference between male homicide and femicide because femicide focuses commonly on the partner living with a woman who verbally, sexually, physically, and emotionally abuses her where the woman is left powerless to defend herself from the continuous abuse from her partner. Check these out: Types of Femicide Femicide can be classified into different types, according to WHO. Those women who experience violence from their partners or former partners is called intimate femicide. Another type of femicide is called murders in the name of honor. This classification of femicide is made due to sexual relationships with a partner outside a relationship, pregnancy from a partner outside marriage, and adultery. Also, WHO states that another event under this classification is rape. It means that some women get killed for being raped in the name of the honor of the man or partner. Furthermore, WHO states that another type of femicide is called dowry-related femicide. This occurs when women get killed by their in-laws. The seen cause of the killing is related to dowry. The common type of femicide that occurs in Latin America is the systematic non-intimate killing of women. This type of femicide occurs when a planned murder to done to women. It is not intimate because women are murdered by people whom they have no relation with. Bangkok, May 21 : Thailand's National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday called for a one-month extension to the emergency rule currently enforced against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, is scheduled to consider on Friday approving the NSC-proposed extension until the end of June, reports Xinhua news agency. The nationwide emergency rule, which features varied anti-pandemic measures and five-hour curfew, was earlier scheduled to last until the end of May. According to NSC Secretary General Somsak Rungsita, it resolved on Thursday to have the emergency rule extended for another month on grounds that such stringent measures have been considered necessary to deter the possibilities of a second wave of the pandemic in Thailand. He said public health officials and representatives of the private sector, who attended Thursday's NSC meeting, agreed to the emergency rule extension. Thailand, which has confirmed 3,037 infections and 56 deaths so far, is currently in the second phase of ease in measures amid decreasing number of fresh cases. A rape charge was brought against a 37-year-old Cork man earlier today arising out of an alleged incident at a house during Christmas 2018. Garda Francis ORiordan formally arrested the man and cautioned him that he did not have to make any reply, but that anything he might say would be taken down in writing and given in evidence. The accused replied: I was not with her. Judge Olann Kelleher noted that this was the reply made by the accused. The single charge brought against the young man was one of raping the woman at an address in Cork on St Stephens Day, 2018. The case was dealt with today at an in-camera hearing of Cork District Court. Sergeant Gearoid Davis said the DPP had directed trial by indictment at the Central Criminal Court and also consented to the defendant signing a plea of guilty at the district court for sentencing at the Central Criminal Court. That is not going to happen, defence solicitor, Diarmuid Kelleher said as he indicated that a book of evidence would be required in the case. The prosecution did not object to bail being granted to the defendant, but conditions required him to sign on every Saturday between 9am and 9pm at his local Garda station and have no contact, direct or indirect, with the complainant. Judge Kelleher said that included having no contact with the complainant by social media and that to do so would put him at risk of going to jail. No background details relating to the allegations being made by the prosecution in the case were given in Cork District Court. New Zealands first ever medicinal cannabis for pets product range is being launched with the establishment of Helius Animal Health. Managing Director of Helius Animal Health, Leila de Koster, says the countrys new Medicinal Cannabis Scheme, allowing for local cannabis production, also provides the opportunity to develop therapeutic cannabidiol (CBD) products for pets. With Helius Animal Health focused on companion animals, common health conditions to treat pets with non-psychotropic CBD include anxiety, stress, nausea, skin conditions, arthritis and seizures. CBD is a major compound found in cannabis plants grown by Helius. CBD is highly effective for treating the likes of pain and inflammation in humans, and its no different for animals. They have an endogenous cannabinoid system just like us, meaning cannabis therapeutics work in a similar way for pets, says Leila. Helius Therapeutics chief executive Paul Manning says while medicinal cannabis products for pets is a novel concept in New Zealand, the sector is experiencing rapid growth globally, with significant untapped opportunities locally. Home to at least 1.1 million dogs and 1.5 million cats, New Zealands pet owners alone already spend $1.8 billion on pet products and services each year, and demand is increasingly shifting toward natural health products. To have high-quality, locally-produced therapeutic cannabis products readily available in New Zealand will be a game-changer for many Kiwi pet owners, desperate to alleviate their companions pain and suffering naturally, he says. Helius Group has invested $2.5 million to establish Helius Animal Health and has partnered with Auckland businesspeople, Leila and Karl de Koster. The new entity comes as Helius announced in February it had raised a further $20m from private investors. The 100 per cent Kiwi-owned company has attracted the most investment in New Zealand by far, achieving a market capitalisation of $105m. This is an incredibly exciting development for us, and pet owners. Having established ourselves as an industry leader in medicinal cannabis, expanding into animal health builds on the capabilities weve developed," says Paul. "Our team, which includes scientific experts from the animal health sector, have already completed substantial product development and regulatory groundwork in this space. Were thrilled to be the first licensed cannabis producer in New Zealand to launch in the animal health category." Cementing this partnership now ultimately ensures cannabis-derived wellness products for New Zealand pets will become available in the near future. Pets are family members too. Animals suffering from arthritis or anxiety, for example, may well benefit from natural, New Zealand Grown and manufactured cannabis and hemp products." Leila says while Helius Animal Health continues to conduct extensive research into CBD-based medicines for veterinarians to prescribe, the companys immediate focus is ensuring off-the-shelf nutraceutical products will soon be in vet clinics and pet retailers across New Zealand, with an eye also to export. Well be starting with a range of premium supplement products made from natural ingredients, then well be moving to deliver cannabis focused products, including clinically-proven animal medicines. "Thanks to this partnership, the large-scale manufacturing facility at Helius will allow us to produce full spectrum, New Zealand Grown cannabis oil and medical-grade products at real scale, she says. While our range of premium pet supplements will enter the market shortly, creating New Zealands first range of CBD-based approved medicines is central to our overall strategy. We will continue to work with regulators to gain ACVM (Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines) registration for New Zealands first prescription medicinal cannabis products for animals, says Karl de Koster, Managing Partner of Helius Animal Health. With pain the leading reason for vet visits, the first product submitted for clinical trials and approval is expected to be a CBD extract for osteoarthritis pain management in dogs. This will extend to a range of other conditions over time. Future products by Helius Animal Health could include cannabinoid chews to help with pet anxiety, and shampoos and conditioners to help with skin conditions. Export opportunities, they anticipate, will be significant, particularly to Asian countries where New Zealands reputation in quality health products is strong. Helius is also the first cannabis company in the world to be licensed New Zealand Grown through Buy New Zealand Made. Our R&D is underway, our product concepts are established, and all the regulatory work is progressing well. With Helius Animal Health now funded and in full swing, were only months away from getting a range of premium pet supplements to market, with cannabis focused products to follow, says Leila. As medicinal cannabis is set to become more widely accessible for human patients, were delighted that New Zealands many suffering companion animals are set to benefit from this plants extraordinary potential, says Paul. Helius Animal Healths consumer brand will be confirmed and launched in the coming months. The Trump administration notified international partners on Thursday that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other's territory overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict. The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from US or commercial satellites. Exiting the treaty, however, is expected to strain relations with Moscow and upset European allies and some members of Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed that the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each other's territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but President George H.W. Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Currently, 34 nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) KOCHI: Kerala is witnessing a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 cases as more expats are returning to the state. As per the state governments assessment, the third wave of virus transmission will be very dangerous as most of the non-resident Keralites are returning from worst-hit containment and red zone areas. As the exodus of expatriates begun, the government has intensified the preventive and control measures. The number of infected persons could reach 2000 in coming months, if the inflow of Malayali expatriates continues at the current pace, assessed the state cabinet. Expatriates are returning by rail, road, air and water routes. Health minister KK Shailaja had earlier warned that the fresh wave of virus infection would be dangerous as the situation will go out of control if those coming from red zone areas ignore Covid-19 health protocol. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while denying reports of community spread in the state, said that the rapidly increasing cases will create a serious situation. Keralites living outside state have all the right to come back to their native state and the government will not prevent them. But, all of them should follow the quarantine guidelines and it is the responsibility of local bodies ward level committees, police and health authorities and residents associations to ensure that no one is flouting the guidelines. Kerala is the state where home quarantining has been successfully implemented, the chief minister said during the daily press conference. Though Kerala could maintain a graph of slow increase of cases, low mortality rate and high recovery rate, the number of cases witnessed a sudden surge after the repatriation of NRKs began. The state could effectively manage the virus spread and since the first week of April, the rise in number of new cases has almost stabilised. But the situation suddenly changed after the arrival of special flights carrying NRKs from abroad and the opening of state borders. On May 8, only one new case was reported and the number of active cases was just 16. But the number jumped to 10 on May 13 and 26 on May 14, the highest number since March end. On May 18, the number further increased to 29. Most of the infected persons are returnees from abroad or other states. Currently, there are 160 active cases in the state, which is a ten-fold increase from the May 8 figure of 16. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. The Palais Garnier might have had the Phantom of the Opera. But the Hollywood Bowl has the Sax Man. At least it used to. If you've passed through the tunnel that bores under Highland Avenue on your way to or from a show at the Bowl in the past 36 years, you've heard the sweet sound of an alto saxophone belonging to one Ken Warfield, aka "Sax Man." But with the cancellation of the 2020 season at the hundred-year-old amphitheater -- compounding the crushing blow to musicians, audiences, and paid staff -- comes the silencing of this unsung Hollywood legend. "I was so looking forward to my 37th year," Warfield said by phone this week, audibly crying. "But that's not gonna be at this time. But when they open again, by God's grace I look to be there to see all of my friends." Warfield's repertoire is a mix of jazz standards -- Coltrane, Miles -- and original tunes like "Hollywood Bowl Days and Nights." He plays an alto because it has "the best sound for the tunnel," as well as a keyboard. His dog, a dachshund/chihuahua mix named Sandy Blue II, sits on his lap. "Every now and again," he says, "she'll jump off and go say hi to the people." Warfield grew up in Los Angeles and is no stranger to heartache. Music has always been the cure. When he was 2 years old, he ingested some lye, which put him in the hospital for three months. His mom brought him a ukulele, and he taught himself how to play. He sang in the choir and played baritone horn in school, but says he left music to run track in high school because the band director was late to class. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy In 1968, Warfield was operating computers at Rexall Drugs when he heard Jimi Hendrix come on the radio. "I decided, 'Uh-oh, I gotta get into music.' I forgot about music," he says. He bought a bass guitar and started a band, Acapulco Soul. They played all over L.A., including for Mayor Tom Bradley at City Hall. His highest profile gig came when Solomon Burke, a founding father of soul music, took him on a world tour. Warfield started street performing around 1980 during his time as a custodian at the La Brea Tar Pits. "When I ventured out into the world, I started playing on Wilshire and Fairfax in front of the May Company," he says. "But at the time, the police were a little difficult. They told me, 'Get outta here! Go back to San Francisco.' Well... I was born and raised here." In 1983, he was playing in front of Canter's Deli on Fairfax, and a guy came by and said, "Hey, why don't you go up to the Hollywood Bowl? Everybody's up there." So he did, on a night during the Playboy Jazz Festival -- Count Basie and Herbie Hancock were on the bill that year. He set up near the Bowl side of the tunnel, but a security guard told him he couldn't play there. "I kept saying, 'Well, thank you sir, but where can I play?'" Warfield recalls. "And finally he said, 'On the other side of Highland.' As I was walking down the stairs in the tunnel, I was singing 'cause I was so happy that I would be able to play." With the official blessing of the Bowl, Warfield has been down there every summer since, nearly every night during the four-month seasons. He used to set up shop near the stairs leading to the buses, but the fumes made him sick so he moved in just a little west. He arrives two hours before every show starts, and is "pretty much the last person to leave after all the people have gone home." Music from the venue doesn't penetrate the tunnel ("unless they're playing too loud"), and Warfield keeps on playing even during the show. "I play because I love the music," he says. On a few occasions, he's ventured above ground to hear the likes of Ella Fitgerald and Miles Davis take the Bowl -- he has a standing invitation from operations director Ed Tom -- "and then back into the tunnel." Every night, a migrating audience of thousands hears a free Warfield concert. Many just walk by, some sing along, some smile and throw in a buck or a pocketful of change. "There's one fellow who walks by and said, 'I've been watching you for 20 years!'" Warfield says, "and then he throws a couple of dollars in my box. Even though everyone doesn't walk by and tip me, that's okay, because I'm still giving myself to the people, and they find their way to help me make my life wonderful." This is Hollywood, so naturally the Sax Man has seen his share of weird. There was the guy who came into the tunnel "howling like a wolf" and getting right into Warfield's face. "So I headbutted him," he says. Another time, a pair of ticket scalpers stood in front of Warfield, blocking him from the crowd. He kindly asked them to move aside. "The next thing I know, some guy had grabbed me, basically picked me up and slammed me on the ground," he says. "While I was falling down, I was thinking, Well, I hope I don't break my saxophone, 'cause then I'm really gonna be mad. All of a sudden the guy got up. I looked to my left, laying there on my back, and there was a gentleman standing there, and he had just shown the unruly character his badge. He was a security guard at the Hollywood Bowl -- Art Aguilar is his name -- and he basically saved my life that night." All in all, though, "I've had nothing but wonderful experiences," Warfield says. "Mainly playing my horn, making a few dollars, and making a lot of friends." An average night yields anywhere from $4o to $100, which he prudently saves and stretches for the year. In the off-season, he roams the streets of Hollywood with Sandy Blue, playing his recorder or harmonica. At 72, Warfield is on Supplemental Security Income, which provides almost enough to cover his rent (He lives about five miles from the Bowl.) Losing this summer's yield is certainly a blow -- a friend surprised him by starting a GoFundMe campaign -- but he says he'll be okay. The harder loss is the sound of music, Warfield says with a lump in his throat, and he tells me a story. He started playing the sax in 1975. That was the year his brother, a gifted saxophonist, turned 23. He was supposed to sit in with Warfield's band on the night of his birthday, but he never showed. At 3 a.m., Warfield got a call from the police to come down to Santa Monica and Genesee, "and there was my brother laying on the floor with a bullet hole in his head." "The night that he died, my mom came," he remembers. "I was 27 years old. I said, 'Mommy, Mickey's dead!' And she looked me in the eye, and she said, 'Pull yourself together, son.' And I said, 'I can't even go crazy! That's the worst thing I ever had to see.' And then I said, 'But Mom, I got a gig tonight.' And she said, 'The show must go on, son.' And we had a great gig that night." "Even though it's the worst thing I ever had to see, it's one of my best blessings," says Warfield, whose mother recently turned 90. "My mom says, 'If you worry, don't pray. But if you pray, don't worry.' And the Hollywood Bowl is probably one of the biggest blessings that I've had. I look forward to the Bowl opening again when it does. The people at the Bowl have been my true blessing -- hundreds and hundreds of people come through that tunnel every night, and I have so many friends there that it brings tears to my eyes. I say it's only tears of joy." LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION OF THIS STORY FROM TAKE TWO: Beijing's annual political pageant has finally begun, two months after the ravages of the first COVID-19 outbreak forced the government to postpone. The National People's Congress - a showcase for President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party - is now being unveiled as the launch pad for its narrative of containment and control after suppressing the coronavirus curve. A member of the Peoples Armed Police sets up barriers in Tiananmen Square ahead of the national flag lowering ceremony. Credit:Sanghee Liu The drones have been grounded, the barricades have been set up, the critics have been detained and thousands of delegates are heading to Tiananmen Square on Friday. They will hear proposals on everything from paid paternal leave, rural teacher pay and wildlife hunting bans to signature items such as the defence budget - a key indicator of China's military muscle and how it wants to flex it. This Friday (May 22, 2020), Arabs and Muslims celebrate International Jerusalem Day. Since it will undoubtedly include anti-Israeli demonstrations and religious-political propaganda, it is important to dispel some myths about the Al Aqsa Mosque's history. The Umayyad Dynasty, based in Damascus, built Al Aqsa in the 8th century in order to divert Muslims from pilgrimage to Mecca. Later, in the 20th century, Jerusalem was elevated, in the Islamic communal imagination, to sanctify the Palestinian Question after the Arab defeats in the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars. This tactic turned the Palestinian-Israel political conflict into a religious crusade that made it a sacred duty for the whole Muslim Umma to engage in. When the Umayyad caliph Abdul Malik bin Marwan came to power in 685 A.D., his authority was challenged by the so-called anti-caliph, Abdullah bin Al Zubair, who had led a rebellion against the Umayyads and ruled Hijaz and parts of Iraq and Egypt for a decade, with Mecca as his seat of power. Some Muslims who went to Mecca for pilgrimage pledged allegiance to the anti-caliph. Renowned for their shrewdness and pragmatism, the Umayyads had to do something innovative in order to undermine the anti-caliph's legitimacy and power. They built a magnificent mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Al Aqsa Mosque, and invoked a verse from the Quran that talks about Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (in Arabic, al Masjid al Aqsa) "revealed" to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, more than half a century before Aqsa was built. Some scholars believe that al Masjid al Aqsa was a mosque in Jirana, northeast of Mecca in Arabia, not the Holy Land. In particular, al-Waqidi located Aqsa in Jirana. That debate about the location is beyond this short article. In any case, mainstream Islamic scholars believe that, according to the Quran, the first direction of ritual Islamic prayers (Salat) was Jerusalem. But since those verses were supposed to have been revealed to Muhammad around fifty years before the construction of Al Aqsa, this common interpretation raises more problems than solutions and poses the question: was Muhammad a Jew praying toward the Temple Mount, or was he imitating the Jews in Medina? The Umayyads might have had a hadith narrator at their disposal who legitimized the Umayyad's innovations with a fabricated Muhammad's prophetic statement. It is curious that the narrator of the famous hadith that sanctified al Aqsa, Ibn Shihab Al Zuhri, served in the Umayyad court: Do not undertake journey but to three mosques: this mosque of mine, the Mosque of al-Haram and the Mosque of Aqsa (Bait al-Maqdis [classical Arabic for Jerusalem]). Indeed, the Umayyads were able to create an alternative for their followers who desired a shrine, as a place of pilgrimage, until the anti-caliph was defeated, beheaded, and crucified in Mecca in 692 A.D. However, the Umayyads maintained Damascus as their seat of power (and never moved their capital to Jerusalem) until their demise in 750 A.D., when the Abbasids took over the leadership of the Islamic world and established Baghdad as their capital. Myths are hard to dispel, whether in Islam or other religions. Al Aqsa Mosque lingered as a place of religious Islamic significance but not political importance. The coastal ports of Ottoman times and British mandated Palestine, in particular Haifa, had been more important in commerce and politics than Jerusalem. Even Israeli Arab academic Raef Zreik, an activist who works to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish State, called Haifa "the heart" of mandated Palestine. In 1948, the Arab League rejected the United Nations resolution that decreed the foundation of Israel and five Arab armies attacked the nascent, Jewish State. The Arabs were served a shocking, humiliating defeat. But Jordan captured East Jerusalem and annexed the West Bank. From 1948 until 1967, the Jordanian government "took actions to accentuate the spiritual Islamic status of Jerusalem," according to Ghada Hashem Talhami, a Palestinian-American academic. Indeed, Arab leaders have resorted to Islamic religion in times of turmoil and defeat. In 1967, after the Israeli forces crushed the Arab defenses in the Six-Day War, many Arabs were disillusioned with the Pan-Arab nationalism that late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser had peddled, and resorted to Islamic religion. Later, Nasser himself, a secularist, called for a role for Islam in the lives of Egyptians, before his death in 1970. Also, late Egyptian president Muhammad Anwar Al Sadat, who succeeded Nasser and worked toward a military build-up against Israel, called himself the Believer President. Sadat encouraged an Islamic revival by releasing the Muslim Brotherhood members who had been jailed during Nasser's rule and enlisted their help against Leftist parties. Ironically, Sadat was assassinated by a radical group that was an offshoot of the Brotherhood. Later, deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, a Baathist socialist, would use the same Islamic tactics to garner support for his failing regime. Saddam added the words "Allah Akbar" (God is Greater) on the Iraqi flag during the Gulf War, and started promoting propaganda showing him performing Salat (prayers). The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas (founded in 1987), might exemplify the worst of that tactic. By using Islamic religious rhetoric, focusing on liberating Jerusalem, because it is the third holiest place in Islam, Hamas's ideology shifted the Palestinian struggle from the realm of nationalism to that of a jihad, holy war, against the Jewish State. In that context, any road map for peace, like land for peace, would be either rejected as being an abdication of the Muslims' duty towards bringing back Jerusalem to the fold of Islam or disingenuously accepted merely as a tactical ploy and a step toward a further plan for the annihilation of Israel. The Islamic Republic of Iran, which initiated International Jerusalem Day on the last Friday of Ramadan, has been jockeying for the leadership of the Islamic World against Saudi Arabia since 1979. Since its inception, this Iranian Islamic regime has been using Islamic symbols for political gain while also wantonly supporting many Islamist terrorist groups. Clearly, Jerusalem Day is merely a ploy in the hands of those who preach extreme violence, religious fanaticism, and spiteful anti-Semitic hatred and promote a culture of death. No doubt, there are grievances in the Islamic world that may cause the victimhood and the defeatism mentalities that make a celebration of Jerusalem Day and blaming Israel for all the maladies of the Middle East attractive to the masses. Most Muslims languish in poverty and are suffering under autocratic governments and see no light at the end of the tunnel. Such circumstances further fatalism and belief in conspiracy theories. There is likely no solution for how the emotional Muslim masses are exploited, through the manipulation of religious Islamic symbols, unless church and state are separated in Islam and leading Muslim institutions embrace equality, freedom of faith, and religious pluralism. Islamic societies should take responsibility for and ownership of the Arab defeats and backwardness in modern Islamic history, instead of promoting conspiracy theories, as well as hurling anti-Semitic and Western tropes, in order to justify political stagnation and impotence. Otherwise, as the Arabic proverb says, "it is pointless to treat partial paralysis." Image: Rhododendrites via Wikimedia Commons. HISTORY Coffeeland : A History By Augustine Sedgewick (Allen Lane 25, 448 pp) Have you ever scanned the blizzard of drinks on offer at your nearest Costa and thought, I just want a cup of coffee? If so, then maybe this book more than 350 pages of dense political history of the erogenous little bean isnt for you. But on second thoughts, perhaps we should know the extraordinary story behind our morning cortado. Where would we be without coffee, the wonder drug of the world? The great French writer Honore de Balzac was a manic consumer. He worked relentlessly through the night, kept going by a continual stream of strong black coffee, often up to 50 cups. He died at 51, not unsurprisingly of caffeine poisoning. Where would we be without coffee, the wonder drug of the world? And the best sitcoms on TV would be lost without it And the best sitcoms on TV would be lost without it. Curb Your Enthusiasms Larry David opened his own coffee shop, called Latte Larrys, naturally; the cappucino-sluicing twenty-somethings of Friends lived on the stuff on the sofa at Central Perk (Phoebe drank the most, if youre interested, which might explain her general excitability). As for Frasier and all the Cranes, they were regulars at the Cafe Nervosa, ordering pretentious macchiatos. But the theme of Augustine Sedgewicks hugely detailed book is considerably darker than all that. A Leftist New York historian, Sedgewick wants to portray the coffee industry as a metaphor for worldwide exploitation. Coffee, he writes, is one of the most important commodities in the history of global inequality. Phew! But is that true? Certainly the story of this book, focusing largely on one plantation owner in El Salvador and his family since 1889, has its fair share of exploitation and brutality. But it doesnt mean that globalisation is the universal evil Sedgewick implies. We enjoy our morning coffee; the Brazilian coffee farmers grow it because they want to build a decent life for their families. For Frasier and all the Cranes (pictured), they were regulars at the Cafe Nervosa, ordering pretentious macchiatos Billions of cups of coffee are drunk around the world each year, bringing in billions of pounds in exports. The word itself is one of the most widely used on the planet. In the American Civil War, soldiers diaries referred to coffee far more frequently than bullets or rifles. Coffee was native to Ethiopia, then took root in Yemen and was exported to the world from the port of Mocha. Of course. The first recorded coffee shop was in Constantinople in 1554. In the middle of the next century it took off in Europe, where its medicinal qualities giving the drinker a massive pick-up were quickly appreciated. By the 1660s, hundreds of coffee houses were growing up all over London, places where men could escape their wives and put the world to rights and wrongs. But it was more than two centuries later that coffee started to spread across the world and it was an Englishman who was behind it. James Hill was born in 1871 to a Manchester family in textiles and brought up in the teeming heart of the Industrial Revolution. By the time he was 18 he was on a boat to Central America and made his way to the tiny country of El Salvador, arriving in 1889. The coffee industry was beginning to take root and Hill, in marrying a local girl, inherited some plantations. El Salvador was a stable farming community, with its rich soil perfect for growing guavas, papayas, avocados, mangoes, tomatoes and much else. But if Hill was going to get his coffee plantations to operate at full steam, he had to make sure that the local Indians needed work. Which meant making sure they couldnt eat for free. Which in turn meant taking over common land and removing all the fecund trees and bushes. The cappucino-sluicing twenty-somethings of Friends lived on the stuff on the sofa at Central Perk (Phoebe drank the most, if youre interested, which might explain her general excitability) (far right) Hills workers had to turn up at 5.30am for a 6am start. He knew that, being hungry, they would work in order to eat, so a breakfast of tortillas and beans with coffee was delivered as part of the pay. Brutal capitalism certainly, and effective in the short term. Within decades Hill had built up a vast coffee empire. He had also built up a colossal fortune. The work was backbreaking and the workers conditions were terrible. In 1932, the inevitable explosion came: a few thousand Indian farmers revolted, equipped with just machetes, and were swiftly put down by the National Guard armed with machine guns. The death toll may have been as high as 50,000. Forget the coffee house, this was a charnel house. The decades after were a period of growing instability in Central America. Tens of thousands died in the Salvadoran civil war of the 1970s and 1980s and, in 1979, Hills grandson Jaime Hill was kidnapped by guerrillas. He was freed after a $4 million ransom was paid. Now there is relative peace and Salvadoran coffee is a high-end product. Billions of cups of coffee are drunk around the world each year, bringing in billions of pounds in exports. Pictured: Marilyn Monroe Its a rich and complex story and the book is full of glances at the history of the times, including the movement that legalised your morning coffee break, which has been enshrined in U.S. law since the mid-1950s after a chewy legal tussle. Coffeeland: A History By Augustine Sedgewick (Allen Lane 25, 448 pp) Phil Greinetz owned a weaving business in Denver, employing young men to work his looms in what was a very draining job. When the men went off to war, Greinetz hired some middle-aged women who were quickly exhausted by the primitive looms. Eventually, broken by fatigue, they suggested a couple of 15-minute breaks twice a day. With coffee. Greinetz agreed and quickly noticed a rapid improvement in his workers, but he deducted 30 minutes a day from their pay. In the ensuing legal actions Greinetz argued it was free time and he shouldnt pay for it. Eventually, the Court of Appeal said that was rubbish: coffee breaks counted as work time and should be regarded as such. Which was good news for us all. This is clearly a staggeringly well-researched piece of work. You suspect it started life as a dissertation: the Bibliography alone is nearly 20 closely printed pages. I would have liked some illustrations: the story is peopled with vivid characters and scenes but you want to see them. It is a serious book and not an airport read at all but then we wont be going to airports any time soon. Gardai had to keep an eye on six McDonald's drive-throughs across Dublin yesterday as demand for fast-food led to traffic chaos. Tailbacks caused long delays for hungry motorists as Big Macs became available for the first time in eight weeks. A line of traffic filled Kyle- more Road in Inchicore, Nutgrove in Rathfarnham and Artane after the drive-throughs opened at 11am yesterday. "Cars have been moved on if they were causing an obstruction to traffic. There are no issues outstanding at this time," a garda spokesman said last night. Queuing was minimal at Malahide Road in Coolock early in the morning, and the Herald managed to grab a Big Mac meal in just 10 minutes, but traffic grew shortly afterwards. One customer took to social media to complain about the volume of cars later in the day. Expand Close Angie Gallegos and Virginia Garcia at Krispy Kreme, Blanchardstown / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Angie Gallegos and Virginia Garcia at Krispy Kreme, Blanchardstown Insane "There are currently five staff outside directing traffic for McDonald's on the Malahide Road. Absolutely nuts. I just wanted to go to the pet shop," they wrote. A driver in Nutgrove wrote: "The queue into McDonald's here is insane. People can't even get into Nutgrove itself. Traffic is mental down that way." A young woman posted a frustrated tweet yesterday evening as queues showed no sign of easing off. "The queue for McDonald's Artane is actually madness. There have to be better things to be doing today," she wrote. McDonald's had said before opening that if there were any queues causing "disruption at busier sites", it would consider closing some drive-throughs. A number of drivers became so frustrated that they sounded their horns in an attempt to hurry queues along. The first customer to bag himself a McDonald's yesterday in Coolock was electrician Darren Mulligan (33). "I've been dying for a McDonald's, so I made sure to get here early," he said. "It's like Christmas to get one. My girlfriend is going to be so jealous. "I got chicken nuggets and I can't wait to tuck into them. It's just a small thing, but this is how we're living now, so any little treat helps. "I wasn't put off by the PPE because this is the new normal now, isn't it? If we can try to enjoy the smaller things as much as we can, it's going to get us through this until things improve." There were steady queues at the drive-throughs throughout the day. Each restaurant was opening until 11pm, and staff were praised by customers for their professionalism. At 11am, a staff member wearing a surgical mask removed a barrier to open up the drive-through in Coolock and a line of cars nosed into the two-lane service area. Meanwhile, American doughnut franchise Krispy Kreme opened its drive-through in Blanchardstown to give frontline workers a sweet treat. Gardai, healthcare workers and members of the fire brigade were all welcome to drop by and pick up doughnuts and hot drinks. From Monday, the outlet will open to the public for a takeaway-only service. In May of 1940, 80 years ago this month, German tanks and troops were racing through France, defeating French and British forces at every turn. By the end of the month, the Germans had trapped over 400,000 of these soldiers in the port of Dunkirk. In what became known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, nearly 340,000 of these men escaped capture, thanks in part to the hundreds of small privately owned vessels from England that came to their rescue. Another miracle occurred in that disastrous month. On May 10, Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain. British statesman and prime minister Winston Churchill waving to the crowds at Downing Street on August 19, 1941. (Keystone/Getty Images) The Splendid and the Vile Over the years, I have read several biographies of Churchill as well as his autobiography My Early Life. The William Manchester trilogy, The Last Lion, completed by Paul Reid after Manchesters death, remains my favorite, though Boris Johnsons The Churchill Factor also fascinated me, more because of the insights it provided about the present British prime minister than those about Churchill. Despite my long interest in Churchill, I doubt whether I would have tackled Erik Larsons The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz were it not for a friends enthusiasm about the book. We talk frequently by phone, Anne and I, and after she brought up Larsons biography a third time, I decided to give it a go. Portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, 1946, by Douglas Granville Chandor. Gift of Bernard Mannes Baruch, National Portrait Gallery Collection, Smithsonian Institution. (Smithsonian Institution) From the opening lines of The Splendid and the Vile, we are gripped by the dire circumstances faced by Churchill and his people as they confront the Nazi war machine. By his skillful use of detailwe learn about everything from Churchills hatred of whistling to descriptions of the rooms in which he conducted businessLarson breathes life into the figures and events of that desperate time. A splendid biography of Winston Churchill. A Visit to Churchills Classroom As I read through The Splendid and the Vile, and as I recollected my other encounters with Churchill, it occurred to me once again that we, especially our young people, might find in historical figures like Churchill virtues and values worthy of emulation. We post-moderns (that strange description always jars on the ear) often tear apart such figures, murdering their reputations by dissection, judging them not by their circumstances and culture but by our own often self-righteous chauvinism. Churchill, for example, was and still is attacked as an impetuous man who failed more often than not, a drunkard, a spendthrift, a jingoist, and an old-fashioned believer in empire. And yet this was the man who rallied Britain and paved the way to finishing off Nazism. So what might Churchill teach us about leadership and character? Here are just a few lessons, some trivial, some important, he might impart to us. Churchill amid the London rubble during the Blitz, on New Years Eve 1940. (J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) Joy and Courage Look facts in the face. When British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich in 1938 to announce that he had met with German leaders and had brought back Peace for our time, Churchill responded by standing up in the House of Parliament and replying, I say we have sustained a tragic and unmitigated defeat. More than any other major political figure on either side of the Atlantic, Churchill had studied the Nazis, knew well their duplicitous nature, and scorned those too ignorant or too fearful to see the truth. Maintain a sense of joy in living. Churchill earned much of his money by writing articles and books, and in 1953 won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values. But he also laid brick, painted canvases, played polo, and raised a variety of farm animals, and he found pleasure in all these activities. He became engrossed in whatever he did. At one point, he walked into a room where some boys were playing with an electric train, clapped his hands together and boomed, Oh good! Lets have a crash! Painting beside Lake Geneva. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) Throughout his life, he kept in his heart a childs sense of wonder. Love and Tears Love your spouse. For Churchill, Clementine (pronounced Clementeen) was his chief adviser as well as his wife and mother to his children. Their surviving correspondence reveals his deep love for her and his abiding trust in her decision-making. (In that correspondence, he often calls her Cat while she addresses him as Pig, both terms of endearment.) Winston and Clementine Churchill at Epsom racecourse for the Derby, June 4, 1949. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Be manly enough to shed tears. Churchill was a self-described blubberer. Anything might bring on the tearsthe sight of a flag, a poem, the bravery of the British people during the Blitz, a motion picture about a dying donkey, the death of a friend or a child. His giving way to the water-and-salt reminds his fellow blubberers, including me, that a man can shed honest tears without shame. Punches and Mercy Take the punches. We remember Churchill for his time as prime minister during the war, but we may not know that in other events he was scorned as a failure. He was blamed for the debacle at Gallipoli in World War I. Many politicians and news reporters criticized him for his efforts to keep the British Empire intact. He spent the 1930s in the wilderness, isolated politically, in part because his constant warnings about the Nazi threat made him seem a warmonger. Churchill suffered depression from some of these fights, labeling his dark moods his black dog. But he took the hits, shook them off, and continued to fight for what he believed best for Britain. Be merciful to your enemies. When Neville Chamberlain resigned and Churchill became prime minister, he allowed Chamberlain to remain for a time at 10 Downing St. and even brought him into his cabinet. He treated this man with whom he had often disagreed with dignity and respect. In the Arena Fight the good fight and persist in a good cause. Most of us are familiar with Churchills wartime speech to the boys of Harrow, his alma mater: Never give in, never, never, nevernever, in nothing, great or small, large or pettynever give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Sometimes the last sentiments of that quotationhonor and good senseare omitted, yet they are wisdom distilled. Battle for your principles, Churchill is telling both those boys and usbut recognize when you have crossed the boundaries of common sense. Emulate the Best There are many other famous men and women who can serve as examples for our young. Moreover, we have around us family and friends who daily live out some of the virtuesthat uncle and aunt who adopt six children, that contractor who works six days a week to keep his wife and children fed, that woman who once a week prays outside of an abortion clinic. When we seek out such exemplary souls and encourage our children to do the same, we add to the storehouse of character and virtue. A Timeline Born in an age of horse carts and steam engines, Winston Churchill lived a long and adventure-packed life. His accomplishments, the ways in which he shaped our world, and his failures are too numerous to list here. Below is a timeline of just some of his works and deeds. Nov. 30, 1874: Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is born in Blenheim Palace, the elder son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife, Jennie Jerome, Lady Churchill. 1888: Churchill enters Harrow School, where his academic performance is mediocre, but he continues to pursue his passion for military history and displays a prodigious ability to memorize poetry. 1893: After two failed attempts, Churchill enters the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Here he excels, grading eighth out of a class of 150. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, age 19, in the uniform of the Fourth Queens Own Hussars, when he left the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a second lieutenant. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 1895: Lord Randolph dies. Though his father showed him little affection, Churchill felt a lifelong admiration and love for him. 18951899: Churchill begins his career as a journalist in Cuba, where he covers the fighting between the government and the rebels, and sends articles to the Daily Graphic in London. During these years, he sees military action in India and participates in one of the last cavalry charges by the British army at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan. After the Boars in South Africa capture him, he makes a dramatic escape and becomes a hero to the British people. 1900: Churchill is elected to Parliament. 1908: Churchill marries Clementine Hozier. The couple has five children: Diane, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold (who died before reaching her third birthday), and Mary. 1915: Churchills plan to strike at Turkey, an ally of Germany in World War I, ended in disaster for the British and their allies at Gallipoli. This failure haunted him for the rest of his life. 1916: Churchill serves on the Western Front. 1940: Churchill becomes prime minister and takes over the effort against the Nazis. 1943: Franklin Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Casablanca and decide on an unconditional surrender policy regarding Germany. 1945: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin meet in Yalta to discuss the post-war organization of Europe. 1945: The war with Germany comes to an end. That year also saw Churchills party fall from power, whereupon he lost his position as prime minister. 1947: Churchill gives his Iron Curtain speech at Westminster College in Missouri, warning against the aggression of the Soviet Union and its tyranny over those Eastern European countries under its control. 1951: Churchill again becomes prime minister. 1955: Churchill resigns as prime minister, but he remains a member of the House of Commons. 1963: Congress and President John F. Kennedy confer honorary American citizenship on Churchill. 1964: Churchill steps down as a member of Parliament. 1965: On the 70th anniversary of his fathers death, Jan. 24, Churchill passes away. He lies in state for four days while over 300,000 people file past his casket. The procession of the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C., Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick.com to follow his blog. The first flight carrying expatriates from Rajasthan will arrive at the Jaipur airport from London on Friday, officials said. All the arriving passengers will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine, Additional Chief Secretary Subodh Agarwal said on Thursday. He urged the relatives of the incoming passengers not to visit the airport and quarantine facilities to meet them. Agarwal took stock of the arrangements made at the Jaipur airport before the arrival of flight. He asked officials to follow all protocols including thermal scanning, social distancing, medical check-up, custom clearance and sanitisation of luggage. He informed that 100 percent compliance of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs will be ensured during the quarantine. Agarwal said that it will be necessary to download the Aarogya Setu and RajCovidInfo when the passengers reach the Jaipur airport. Directives have been issued to the hotel management to display guidelines prominently. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON - Travel between Canada and the United States is still restricted but businesses, diplomats and communities that depend on cross-border traffic are urging the two countries to join forces in a co-operative approach to thriving in the new post-pandemic global economy. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The United States border crossing is seen Wednesday, March 18, 2020 in Lacolle, Quebec. A prominent cross-border lobby group wants Canada and the United States to join forces for an integrated North American approach to the new post-pandemic global economy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz WASHINGTON - Travel between Canada and the United States is still restricted but businesses, diplomats and communities that depend on cross-border traffic are urging the two countries to join forces in a co-operative approach to thriving in the new post-pandemic global economy. The Washington-based Canadian American Business Council launched a new online campaign Thursday to convince states, provinces and federal officials on both sides of the border to team up in their battle back from the impact of COVID-19. The primary goals of the council's "North American Rebound" campaign are to encourage Canada and the U.S. to work together to secure personal protective equipment, replenish and maintain each other's medical stockpiles and defend critical cross-border supply chains. Expanding market opportunities in both countries would speed recovery efforts and better equip both to compete in a world that promises to be dramatically different, said Scotty Greenwood, the council's CEO and a veteran of the perpetual battle to represent Canadian interests stateside and U.S. interests in Canada. In many ways, the effort is an early hedge against the perils of protectionism, not only from the famously insular Trump administration. "It's not just the U.S.," Greenwood said in an interview. "There's a political tendency which is understandable, but it doesn't really work to say, 'We're going to be self sufficient, we're going to reshore everything and we're going to go it alone, we don't want to be dependent on somebody.' When you think about the Canada-U.S. context, it's not efficient, and it's not workable." Diplomats, business experts and scholars who specialize in Canada-U.S. matters have been virtually unanimous over the last two months in their praise for the mutual ban on non-essential travel, which since mid-March has been aimed at curbing the spread of the virus without impairing the movement of trade, business and essential workers. Early kinks in the system, largely the result of border guards' having broad discretion to determine what constitutes "essential" traffic, have largely now been smoothed out, said Mark Agnew, senior director of international policy with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. One of the next challenges will be dealing with congestion when the border reopens, as well as ensuring adequate testing and tracing of the contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19, Agnew said. "As commercial activity increases, border wait times are a potential pain point if staffing levels are not ready to meet increased demand," he said. "Economic activity is also not a lightswitch; companies need lead-in time to prepare." Specific direction on the safest way to travel and what measures are required in various parts of each country where face masks, gloves and other forms of protective gear are mandatory, for instance will be vital, as will having supplies ready at border crossings to prevent people being turned away because they don't have their own, he added. "Lots of travellers still forget they even have a water bottle in their carry-on." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed earlier this week that current border restrictions would persist until at least June 21. But as businesses reopen and personal mobility restrictions ease on both sides of the border, talk is turning towards what it will look like when the agreement is finally allowed to lapse. Kathryn Friedman, a law professor and Canada-U.S. border expert on the Buffalo campus of the State University of New York, said fear of so-called "Buy American" or "Buy Canadian" requirements in forthcoming stimulus efforts have been a common theme in her discussions with stakeholders. A truly united North American approach, she said, could prove a boon to border towns and cities that have been brutalized by the drop in travel over the last two months. "Given that now there's a real push for companies to bring suppliers back home, to really get out of China and reshore back in the United States or Canada, there's a real opportunity for places like Detroit-Windsor, Buffalo, Niagara, maybe even Seattle and Vancouver, to position themselves as a new platform in each region for reshoring of supply chains," Friedman said. As for the challenges of border logistics in a pandemic, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Canada Border Services Agency may enforce the rules, she added, "but it's really the local folks who come up with the creative solutions." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Greenwood has championed the idea of an "essential commerce traveller" program, based on existing trusted-traveller programs like Nexus and Global Entry, that would cut the risk of border officers' using their broad discretion to deny access to people who should be allowed to cross. The Canada-U.S. relationship isn't strictly a federal affair, Greenwood said the bulk of the trade and commerce that transits the shared border tends to have the greatest impact at the regional and even local level, which is why the statement has been endorsed by more than 24 business councils, diplomats and community stakeholders on both sides. "We know from our experience, and we know from what's happening now, that it requires a constant drumbeat reminding policymakers and reminding everybody about how truly integrated we are, and how that's a good thing." www.cabc.co/rebound, that allows supporters to add their names to the effort. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. Follow James McCarten on Twitter @CdnPressStyle CropLife India, an industry body for agro chemical firms, on Thursday opposed a draft proposal to ban 27 pesticides that have a 15 per cent market share, saying it will hurt the farmers' interests. The association said that it was "surprised" by the draft gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and termed it "major setback". These pesticides continue to be used for mitigation or control of pests and diseases of a wide range of crops in India and in several other countries. "Farmer woes will increase during the approaching kharif season and at a time when locust attack is looming over the border areas of Punjab and Rajasthan," it said in a statement. These products were duly registered in the country after scientific evaluation for their safety and efficacy. Asitava Sen, chief executive officer of CropLife India, said, "CropLife India, as a leading industry association of crop science companies, will submit our refutation to the concerned ministry on the draft order." "The order has certain factual errors, inconsistencies and incomplete claims; as per the data submitted by our member companies and other original registrants for some of these molecules. We emphasise that the process of review should be science-based and consultative," he said. As per a third-party study, the proposed molecules together constitute about 18-20 per cent of the Indian market. "Sudden ban of 27 molecules generate negative sentiments for investments," he said. "We hope the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will take a holistic view and not pursue the draft ban order at this challenging time, keeping in mind the best interest and welfare of Indian agriculture and farmers," Sen said. CropLife India is an association of 15 research and development-driven member companies in crop protection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Being included in Enterprise Networking Magazine's Top 20 Consulting Services this year is a tremendous honor, said Richard Hicks, founder and principal consultant at Richard M. Hicks Consulting. Richard M. Hicks Consulting has been helping organizations large and small mobilize their workforces for the past five years. Today, we are excited to announce that Enterprise Networking Magazine, a leading magazine and web site dedicated to the enterprise networking industry and its professionals, has recognized us as one of their Top 10 VPN Consulting Services for 2020. Initially focused on Microsoft DirectAccess, Richard M. Hicks Consulting has expanded their service offerings to include planning, design, and implementation services for Microsoft Always On VPN, NetMotion Mobility, Palo Alto Global Protect, Cisco AnyConnect, and many more. In addition, Richard M. Hicks Consulting offers consulting services to implement Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Multifactor Authentication (MFA). Hands-on training courses for Microsoft Always On VPN are also available. Being included in Enterprise Networking Magazine's Top 20 Consulting Services list this year is a tremendous honor, said Richard Hicks, founder and principal consultant at Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc. Weve worked diligently over the years to sharpen our skills in this highly specialized area, and it is wonderful to be recognized for our efforts. The full write up on Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc. at Enterprise Networking Magazine's web site can be found here: https://vpn.enterprisenetworkingmag.com/vendor/richard-m-hicks-consulting-enabling-secure-enterprise-mobility-cid-408-mid-49.html. Based in Southern California, Richard M. Hicks Consulting works with customers all around the world and across all verticals including retail, finance, manufacturing, legal, education, and more. Visit https://www.richardhicks.com/ for more information. About Richard Hicks Richard Hicks is a widely recognized enterprise mobility and security infrastructure expert. He has more than 25 years experience implementing remote access technologies for some of the largest organizations in the world. He understands that providing visibility and control for field-based devices and ensuring the highest level of productivity for a mobile workforce are essential keys to successful business strategy. Richard is the founder and principal consultant at Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc., founded in 2015 to address unique challenges enterprise organizations face as mobility and security technologies evolve. Richard has produced video training courses for Pluralsight and is the author of Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 (Apress Media, ISBN: 978-1-4842-2058-0). Contact Information Richard M. Hicks Founder and Principal Consultant Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc. (949)287-8683 https://www.richardhicks.com/ Pacific Rocket, who joined the stallion ranks for owners Dr. Andrew and Suzanne Daniels at their Calderwood Farm in Albion Park, North-South Wales in 2008, succumbed to a sustained bout of colic and had to be humanely euthanized today (Thursday, May 21). 'Rocket,' as he was affectionately known, had a successful stud career in both the U.S. and New Zealand. He was a lovely black horse standing just over 16 hands and was always a pleasure to handle and be around, which made stud duties a dream, as long as you were quiet. His last foals in Australia were born in the 2013/2014 season. He had a respectable record in Australia with 140 starters for 89 winners at an average of $21,000 (AUD) in stakes. Pacific Rocket was a star on the track. He took his mark in 1:50 and retired with 30 victories, 52 on-the-board finishes from 64 career starts, and banked $2.33 million in purses. During his career, he set and equalled world records on half and five-eighths-mile tracks and held a string of track records. As a three-year-old, Pacific Rocket won $1.4 million racing against top horses such as Cams Card Shark, Magical Mike, Armbro Macintosh, Falcons Future and Hi Ho Silverheels, amongst others. As a sire in the U.S., Pacific Rockets sired progeny with massive earnings of over $33 million. These included the dual Breeders Crown champion Boulder Creek (1:48.2), who earned $2.3 million. Notable performers sired by Pacific Rocket in Australasia include Shardons Rocket, Rocket Reign, Pacific Warrior K and Mister Skye Rocket, among many others. He also left his mark as a broodmare sire, as he was the broodmare sire of exceptional mares Dont Think Twice (1:51.2), Dynamite Denn Nee and Our Els Dream. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Pacific Rocket. (Lorraine Barnes) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 02:05:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A medical worker takes a sample from a man for COVID-19 testing in Sadr City district in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 20, 2020. The Iraqi Health Ministry on Thursday recorded 153 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily increase so far, bringing the total number of infections to 3,877 in the country. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood) BAGHDAD, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Health Ministry on Thursday recorded 153 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily increase so far, bringing the total number of infections to 3,877 in the country. The new cases were recorded after 6,151 test kits were used across the country during the past 24 hours, and a total of 169,760 tests have been conducted since the outbreak of the disease, the ministry said in a statement. It added that 113 new cases were registered in Iraq's capital Baghdad, 15 in Basra, nine in Diyala, eight in Erbil, three each in Najaf and Sulaimaniyah and one each in Maysan and Wasit, the statement added. So far, 140 people have died of the virus, while 2,483 have recovered, the statement said. On May 18, Iraqi Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said at a press release that the health authorities decided to impose a curfew on six districts in Baghdad for two weeks to curb the latest increase in COVID-19 cases. The curfew is scheduled to start on Wednesday in the districts of Sadr City, Habibiyah, Kamaliyah, Hurriyah, Shula and Ameriyah, al-Tamimi said. Since the outbreak of the disease, Iraq has been taking measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, including a nationwide curfew. On May 10, the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, decided to partially lift the curfew, while full curfew will continue for Friday and Saturday in addition to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in late May. Eid al-Fitr is the festival of breaking the fasting after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. On April 26, a Chinese team of medical experts left Iraq after a 50-day stay to support Iraq in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. China has also donated batches of medical supplies to Iraq to help combatting the coronavirus. ROME (AP) Italy's restaurants and pizzerias, for foodies the world over a key reason to visit, are facing an existential threat. Those that didn't fold after 10 weeks of a strict coronavirus lockdown are emerging to find that new social distancing requirements might yet drive them out of business. While Italians reveled this week in being able to sit down to a plate of spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) at their local trattoria for the first time since March, a slew of studies suggest that as many as a third of Italy's bars and restaurants risked closing. The reasons? Financial losses already incurred by the lockdown, a projected tourism downturn, reduced table capacity and Italians' own fears about eating out. Venice's famed Harry's Bar the birthplace of the Bellini cocktail of white peach juice and prosecco has closed until further notice. We can't think about opening with just five or six people" allowed inside at a time, said owner Arrigo Cipriani. Milan chef Matteo Fronduti, who won the first Italian edition of Top Chef," announced that his Manna restaurant wouldn't reopen for now, given lingering questions about the continued risk of contagion and the Italian government's confusing regulations for restaurants. Only when those questions were answered, Fronduti said, would he consider reopening Manna, which features unusual, wildly named dishes like "Against the wear and tear of modern life," (artichokes, raw jumbo shrimp and lemon) and All talk" (spaghetti, broccoli rabe, herring and horseradish). Until then, I'll continue listening and making meatballs," Fronduti wrote on Facebook. As it is, the lockdown in the birthplace of the Slow Food movement has already cost Italy's food and beverage sector 14 billion euros ($15.1 billion) in lost revenue, the Bain consultancy said. It estimated the full-year losses could reach 30 billion euros ($32.4 billion) in an industry that is worth 4% of Italy's gross domestic product and accounts for 5% of its jobs. Bain projected that up to 300,000 jobs were at risk. Story continues It is a situation that is a bit apocalyptic, said Manuela Paiella, owner of the Corsi Trattoria in downtown Rome, a popular lunchtime spot for tourists and Romans alike. Never would we ever have thought in the restaurant business, in the historic center of a European capital, that we could ever live through something like this. Corsi reopened for business on Monday, the first day that restaurants were allowed sit-down customers. But half of the tables were removed due to social distancing rules. Hand sanitizing gel was placed at the entrance and a new ordering system was installed to let customers see the menu on their phones. No longer do waitresses squeeze between tightly packed tables to recite specials. We have to turn upside down all the activity that we did before, lamented chef Raffaele di Cristo, who now must wear a mask and latex gloves to cook. Everything is changed." Nearby Pierluigi, one of Romes fanciest restaurants, had to renovate its kitchen because workplaces also have to respect social distancing. Italys main farm lobby estimated this week that Italian restaurants and pizzerias saw an 80% drop in consumption during the lockdown, with the ripple effects hitting the vital wine and agricultural sectors particularly hard. Coldiretti said prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Italians spent 35% of their food budgets outside of the home, from morning cappuccinos to pizza dinners, pumping 84 billion euros ($90.7 billion) a year into the Italian food and beverage industry. But now, many Italians are too terrified to eat out. An SWG poll this week found that 32% of Italians considered going to a restaurant unsafe," particularly places with only indoor seating. Their fears are not unreasonable. For two months, Italy was the epicenter of Europe's coronavirus outbreak, with a surge of patients overwhelming some hospitals in the north and soaring deaths scarring Italian families and psyches. Italy has seen over 32,000 deaths in the pandemic, behind only the United States and Britain. While Italians have welcomed the easing of lockdown restrictions, many fear a predicted second wave of infections and deaths amid uncertainty that the government has the outbreak under control. For those staying home, at least there's Massimo Bottura's Kitchen Quarantine," a weekly YouTube cooking tutorial from the Michelin three-starred chef, who just won a Webby Award for inspiring home cooking and uplifting spirits" during the COVID-19 crisis. The show is charming. Narrated in English by his daughter Alexa and featuring cameos of Bottura's American wife and son in their home kitchen, Bottura takes viewers through easy recipes. Bottura's Osteria Francescana in Modena, one of Italy's best known restaurants, is scheduled to reopen June 2. But the loss of tourists is hitting the industry hard. Seven out of 10 restaurants on Rome's picturesque Piazza Navona were still shuttered Wednesday. They cater mostly to tourists, so many will likely stay closed at least until Italy reopens to European visitors on June 3. At L'Isola del Pescatore in the Santa Severa beach resort near Rome, up to 40% of the clientele had been foreigners. Certainly we have to be stronger than before and try to restart," said owner Stefano Quartieri as he readied tables to meet the government's new regulations. Restaurant owners had harshly criticized preliminary government recommendations that their tables be spaced 4 meters (13 feet) apart, arguing it would decimate the industry. If you want 4 meters, better to keep us closed," warned Lino Enrico Stoppani, president of the FIPE federation of restaurant owners. The government eventually relented and agreed to a 1-meter (3-foot) distancing rule, and moved up the original June 1 reopening by two weeks. Diner Francesco Lapenta joined some colleagues for a lunch at Corsi on Monday, sitting widely spaced apart. He read off the menu items from his phone, speaking loudly so his friends could hear. We will have to yell more, said Lapenta as he rattled off the pastas of the day: carbonara, cacio e pepe, gricia. We will make more noise! ___ Barry reported from Soave, Italy. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak China on Thursday termed as nonsense a senior US diplomat's remarks blaming it for using constant aggression on the border with India to try to change the status quo and said consultations were going on through diplomatic channels between the two countries which has "nothing to do" with Washington. Responding to a question on the flare-up of border tensions between India and China, Alice G Wells, the senior US diplomat for South and Central Asia, on Wednesday described Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accused it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour" to try to shift the status quo. "There's a method here to Chinese operations, and it is that constant aggression, the constant attempt to shift the norms, to shift what is the status quo. It has to be resisted, Wells told the Atlantic Council think-tank at an event on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that China's position on China-India boundary issue had been consistent and clear. The US diplomat's remarks are just nonsense, he said when asked about Wells' comments. "China's border troops firmly safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and security, and firmly deals with the Indian side's crossover and infringement activities," Zhao said. "Our troops firmly safeguard the peace and stability in the border region. We urge the Indian side to work together with us, abide by our leadership's important consensus, comply with the agreements signed, refrain from unilateral actions complicating the situation," he said. "We hope they will make concrete efforts for peace and tranquillity in the border region. There are consultations and diplomatic channels between the two sides that has nothing to do with USA, Zhao said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Voters enter and exit the Austin City Hall during the presidential primary in Austin, Texas, on Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images) Appeals Court Halts Ruling to Allow Texans Afraid of Catching COVID-19 to Vote By Mail A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a Texas federal judges ruling that all of the states 16 million voters can request absentee mail-in ballots during the CCP virus pandemic if they have health concerns. The 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals on Wednesday temporarily put on hold District Judge Fred Bierys Tuesday ruling that all registered voters who lack immunity from COVID-19 and fear infection at polling places would be able to cast a ballot by mail under the disability provision in the states vote-by-mail election code. Absentee mail-in ballots in the state are generally limited to those aged 65 and above or those with a sickness or physical condition that prevents in-person voting. Americans now seek Life without fear of pandemic, Liberty to choose their leaders in an environment free of disease and the pursuit of Happiness without undue restrictions, Biery wrote in his order on Tuesday. There are now some among us who would, if they could, nullify those aspirational ideas. The Court finds such fear and anxiety is inextricably intertwined with voters physical health. Such apprehension will limit citizens rights to cast their votes in person, he said. The Court also finds that lack of immunity from COVID-19 is indeed a physical condition. Biery wrote that the ruling would remain in effect until the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic subsides, or until the case goes to trial. A three-judge panel stopped that decision from taking effect for now while the case is reviewed. The Texas Democratic Party has been asked to respond to the courts order by Thursday afternoon. Two-thirds of all election fraud cases prosecuted by my office involve mail ballot fraud, also known as vote harvesting. Allowing widespread mail-in ballots will lead to greater fraud and disenfranchise lawful voters.https://t.co/HSwIuJYW6c Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) May 20, 2020 The move to temporarily halt Bierys ruling followed an emergency motion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Shortly after Bierys ruling, Paxton filed an appeal demanding immediate review of the order. Paxton welcomed the decision to temporarily halt Bierys ruling, saying that allowing everyone to vote by mail would only lead to greater fraud and disenfranchise lawful voters. Biery on Tuesday dismissed claims that expanding mail-in voting would invite fraud in Texas. The fight in Texas is just one of several court battles across the country over efforts to expand access to mail-in ballots amid the pandemic. Trump Could Delay State Funding President Donald Trump has publicly criticized voting by mail, saying it paves the way for potential voter fraud. Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it, Trump tweeted last month. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesnt work out well for Republicans. Absentee Ballots are a great way to vote for the many senior citizens, military, and others who cant get to the polls on Election Day. These ballots are very different from 100% Mail-In Voting, which is RIPE for FRAUD, and shouldnt be allowed! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020 Absentee Ballots are a great way to vote for the many senior citizens, military, and others who cant get to the polls on Election Day, he added. These ballots are very different from 100% Mail-In Voting, which is RIPE for FRAUD, and shouldnt be allowed! The president on Wednesday threatened to request to withhold federal funding to Michigan and Nevada over widespread mail voting schemes. All Michigan voters will receive applications for absentee voting, while all Nevada voters will receive mail-in ballots. Supporters of voting by mail say it enables people to exercise their rights while not risking getting infected with the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19. Dozens of people who voted or worked at Wisconsins April 7 primary elections became infected with the virus, state officials said. The next election date in Texas is July 14, for a primary runoff. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A lifeguard had noticed that the father and son were struggling in the water and set out to rescue them. Aryeh was closer to the shore, so the lifeguard was able to reach him first, the authorities said. The lifeguard went out on a two-person rescue in that rip current, 75 yards off shore, Chief Haskett said, adding that Mr. Gaspard had seen the lifeguard and pointed him to Aryeh. His last few words were just secure my son, rescue my son, Chief Haskett said. The lifeguard brought the child to shore and ran back out to rescue Mr. Gaspard, who was struggling in five- to six-foot waves but still floating. In 60 seconds, the lifeguard went back out to go get Shad, Chief Haskett said. He saw him and then a wave came and pushed him under. Mr. Gaspard did not resurface again. Lifeguards began to search for Mr. Gaspard on Sunday but could not locate him. The search continued the next day with divers and sonar equipment. On Tuesday, the Coast Guard called off its search, but the Los Angeles County Lifeguards continued to look for Mr. Gaspard, Chief Haskett said. Cork County Council's chief executive is to provide councillors with a robust account of why he and his senior planners believe it's right to support the construction of a 100m Kildare Village-style shopping centre in an East Cork town. The move comes after the watchdog Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) stated that the Rioja Estates' plan for a Tourist Outlet Village (TOV) should not go ahead in Carrigtwohill. A special meeting to hear chief executive Tim Lucey's summary of his and his executive's views on the Rioja Estates proposal is being held in County Hall on Friday morning. It will be held in the public foyer, rather than the debating chamber, to allow safe social distancing for any of the 55 councillors attending. Rioja Estates claims that 850 permanent jobs and a further 640 during construction are at stake, along with the potential for the TOV to attract 220,000 additional tourists to the region annually. The British-based company maintains that the TOV will not have a detrimental impact on local shops. It believes a proportion of the visitors will be cruise liner passengers from ships tying up at the deep water quay in Cobh. The OPR made an objection to a proposal made by the council for a variation of the County Development Plan to allow Rioja Estates to lodge planning permission for the project. A report seen by the Irish Examiner states that Mr Lucey will today say there is capacity for such a retail outlet in the Cork Metropolitan Area, which includes Carrigtwohill. The report states: "It is considered the provision of such a facility of regional significance has the potential to deliver economic benefit to the metropolitan area, county and region by meeting an identified need, retaining spend that would otherwise be expended in the only retail outlet centre in the State (Kildare Village), and attracting new visitors to Cork and extending the stay of visitors that would have been attracted by existing tourism sites/products." The vast majority of councillors are in favour of the plan. When a vote was previously taken on varying the County Development Plan to facilitate the Rioja Estates planning application, 42 councillors voted in favour, while one abstained and four voted against. Mr Lucey is expected to say the OPR view is fundamentally flawed as the project satisfies all statutory requirements; is in the interests of the proper planning and sustainable development of the area; and is not premature pending the making of an updated Joint Retail Strategy by Cork County Council and Cork City Council. Mr Lucey will reaffirm that there is a justification for the TOV in the region and that it is justified to build it off the N25 at Carrigtwohill, close to the IDA estate in Killacloyne. He will give councillors the opportunity to add their own views to a report he is compiling which will be sent by the local authority to Damian English, junior minister for Housing and Urban Development, as a response to the OPR stance. Mr English will have the final say on whether Rioja Estates will get the chance to proceed to the planning stage. Mr Lucey is expected to also point out that councillors may also make individual submissions on behalf of the project to Mr English. Latest technology was used to monitor cyclone movement, says IMD Chief Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today took an aerial survey of districts affected by cyclone Amphan PM Modi will take part in review meetings where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed: PMO Bandhan Bank services impacted in some areas of West Bengal, Odisha due to cyclone Amphan Cyclone Amphan, one of the strongest cyclonic storms in decades, caused havoc in the states of West Bengal and Odisha . Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to West Bengal on Friday to conduct an aerial survey of the damage caused by Cyclone Amphan. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that 72 people have died so far. The Bengal government has announced a compensation of 2 lakh to the families of the deceased. Odisha reported two deaths and NDRF Chief SN Pradhan said that situation in the state is under control. NDRF Chief SN Pradhan also said that around 5 lakh people have been evacuated from West Bengal and 2,37,296 have been evacuated from Odisha. Here are the latest updates on Cyclone Amphan The US State Department accused China on Thursday of turning its back on commitments to keep Hong Kong semi-autonomous, after Beijing announced it was proposing national security legislation that would effectively limit opposition activity there. We urge Beijing to honour its commitments and obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, said State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus in a statement, referring to the bilateral treaty signed in 1984 that guarantees a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong until at least 2047. Those commitments, said Ortagus, are key to preserving Hong Kongs special status in international affairs, and, consistent with US law, the United States current treatment of Hong Kong. The legislation, which would effectively bypass Hong Kongs own legislative process, is expected to ban all seditious activities in the semi-autonomous city, the South China Morning Post earlier reported. The proposal on the legislation will be formally introduced in the National Peoples Congress (NPC) on Friday, the first day of the legislatures annual session. NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui confirmed at a Beijing news conference earlier on Thursday that the legislature would be considering a resolution regarding a decision on establishing a sound legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Ortagus said that Beijings moves undermine the [Peoples Republic of Chinas] commitments and obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Government officials in Europe and Britain also issued statements in support of Hong Kong similar to those made by the US. The proposals likely passage votes in the legislature rarely stray from the Communist Party line would pave the way for the national security legislation itself to be voted upon as early as next month, when the NPCs standing committee is expected to convene. Story continues Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilising, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community, said Ortagus. Beijings announcement of yet another attempt to bring an end to the one country, two systems framework in #HongKong is deeply alarming. Attempting to circumvent the HK legislature shows a complete disrespect for the rule of law. Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) May 21, 2020 The State Department remarks came soon after US President Donald Trump promised a strong response from his administration if China followed through on the proposal. If it happens well address that issue very strongly, Trump told reporters while departing the White House for Michigan, though he prefaced his remarks by saying that he did not know about the substance of the proposal. I dont know what it is, because nobody knows yet. Outrage at Beijings proposal was palpable on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers of both parties last year rallied almost unanimously to swiftly pass legislation increasing US scrutiny concerning affairs in Hong Kong. Signed into law in November, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act requires that the US State Department determine within six months of its enactment whether the city maintains a sufficient degree of autonomy to justify continued special trade status by Washington. Ortagus did not address whether the proposed legislation, if ultimately passed, would mean that Hong Kong no longer enjoyed sufficient autonomy to justify treatment different from any other Chinese city. But the development is all but certain to be addressed in the State Departments coming determination, given Secretary of State Mike Pompeos announcement earlier this month that the report was being postponed to allow consideration of any Hong Kong-related policy initiatives announced during the NPC session, which had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Representative Jim McGovern, chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, urged the Trump administration to respond using authorities provided by the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and said that the US should lead a global coalition to support the people of [Hong Kong]. Beijings move to bypass Hong Kongs legislative council struck at the heart of the one country, two systems framework, McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, said on Twitter. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said on Twitter that Beijings announcement was deeply alarming, while its attempts to bypass Hong Kongs legislature showed complete disrespect for the rule of law. Other lawmakers went further, rapidly introducing resolutions condemning the proposal, as well as bills calling for sanctions against Chinese officials despite the fact that the administration already has authority to sanction foreign individuals deemed responsible for the erosion of autonomy in Hong Kong. One resolution, introduced by Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, and already backed by nine other senators, would make it Congress official position that the measure was in violation of the Joint Declaration, and would call on the Trump administration to use all diplomatic means available, including sanctions, to dissuade Beijing from pursuing it. EU is following very closely developments related to #HongKong. We attach great importance to 'One country Two Systems principle. Democratic debate in Hong Kong and respect for rights & freedoms are the best way to preserve it in context of poss. national security legislation Virginie Battu-Henriksson (@VibattuEUspox) May 21, 2020 In Europe, meanwhile, current and former political figures joined in the global chorus of concern about the legislations ramifications for Hong Kongs future, particularly its international standing. Virginie Battu-Henriksson, foreign affairs spokeswoman for the European Union, tweeted that the bloc attached great importance to the one country, two systems model, and said that democratic debate in Hong Kong and respect for rights & freedoms are the best way to preserve it. Chris Patten, Britains last governor of the former colony, called Beijings proposal a comprehensive assault on Hong Kongs autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms. At best, the integrity of one country, two systems hangs by a thread, Patten, now chancellor of the University of Oxford, said through a spokesman. Unless the Chinese Communist regime sees sense, this will be hugely damaging to Hong Kong's international reputation and to the prosperity of a great city. Hong Kongs last British governor, Chris Patten, shown in October, called the proposal a comprehensive assault on Hong Kongs autonomy. Photo: Now TV A spokesperson for Britains Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was monitoring the situation closely, and expected China to respect Hong Kongs rights and freedoms and high degree of autonomy. As a party to the Joint Declaration, the UK is committed to upholding Hong Kongs autonomy, the spokesperson said. Tom Tugendhat, chair of the British Parliament's foreign affairs committee, cast doubt on Beijings intention to stick to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Unilateral changes could undermine Hong Kongs autonomy and bring into question the rule of law that has underpinned the territorys prosperity, Tugendhat, who also heads the Conservative-led China Research Group, said. Britain, the US and others who are supporting the rules-based system that has allowed countries including China to prosper in relative peace over recent decades need to remind Beijing the world is watching. Help us understand what you are interested in so that we can improve SCMP and provide a better experience for you. We would like to invite you to take this five-minute survey on how you engage with SCMP and the news. More from South China Morning Post: This article US says Beijings new proposal undermines Hong Kongs semi-autonomy, with Donald Trump vowing to respond very strongly if its enacted first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. Asserting that returning migrant workers are "our brethren", Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said he would welcome them with open heart in the state and that they cannot be blamed for the rise in coronavirus cases. IMAGE: A migrant woman plays with her child as they wait to board a train to Madhya Pradesh, during the ongoing COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, at Tadepallii in Guntur district. Photograph: PTI Photo "Migrants are humans too. They are our brethren. We do not have any objection in migrants coming back to the state and we will embrace them (unhe gale lagayenge)," Chouhan said. He also rejected reports that have hinted possible increase in coronavirus cases due to migrants and asked, "Did corona not spread at places where migrants were not there?" "There has been an increase in COVID positive cases in Madhya Pradesh. Migrants and other stranded people too have come to the state. Why do we blame migrants for increase in coronavirus cases? It will not be appropriate to blame them for the rise in coronavirus cases. Any increase in cases is not only due to the movement of migrant workers," Chouhan said. He said the entire issue of migrants returning to their native places need to be seen with the prism of humanity. "There is humanity and sensitivity involved in this crisis. Who are these migrant workers? They are our brothers and sisters. They went out for earning livelihood. If they want to come back, Madhya Pradesh will welcome them with open heart," the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state said. He said arrangements have been made not only for the workers of the state but for those from other states as well. "We have brought back a large number of migrants of our state. As many as 1,000 buses of Madhya Pradesh have been pressed into service to drop migrant workers of other states to our state borders so that they don't have to set off their journey on foot. Whether they are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand or those coming from south-western states, we are looking after each one of them," Chouhan said. The chief minister said around 4 lakh workers have been brought back to Madhya Pradesh from other states so far. "We have decided to provide an amount of Rs 1,000 to 7,000 workers of other states who are stuck in Madhya Pradesh. We have provided them medical facilities for check-up and we are also providing them food. We are also sending them through buses and trains and in addition to it we are ensuring that all the expenses are borne by the state. No labourer should be charged for this," he emphasised. Chouhan had recently written to the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh highlighting the practical difficulty in the movement of labourers -- that the state "does not get to know how many labourers from other states are coming to the border of Madhya Pradesh and at what time". He said the state government has initiated work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the benefit of such workers. "We are trying to provide employment to labourers under this keeping all the care under the corona precaution guidelines. We are trying this so that workers of the state get employment. Till now, we have provided employment to more than 19.48 lakh workers. We will certainly help workers in every possible way, the chief minister said. Hinting at the possible rise in coronavirus cases, Chouhan said one need to learn to live with it. "There is no doubt that coronavirus cases will increase. We need to learn to live with it by taking all precautions. We are arranging all facilities for its treatment in medical facilities across the state," he said. Chouhan also suggested the use of traditional ayurvedic system to increase immunity as a counter measure against coronavirus. "Allopathic treatment is available for all. But there is a need to increase people's immunity as well. We will emphasise on the usage of ayurveda also by the people. We have distributed over two crore packets of 'kadha' (decoction) to help people increase their immunity," he added. Breaking with a tradition begun four decades ago when Jimmy Carter invited Gerald Ford to the White House for the unveiling of Fords official presidential portrait, President Donald Trump will not unveil the portrait of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump denies any part in the refusal to unveil the portrait, adding, I dont know anything about the moustache and missing tooth someone drew on it with a Sharpie, either. The move is the latest example of Trumps psychological obsession with Obama, which has led the president to promote a series of false accusations and conspiracy theories, from the racist birtherism movement to the more recent Obamagate. It is also the latest in a long series of norms and traditions violated by Trump, whose racially-tinged divisiveness and incivility towards reporters and political opponents have been well documented; a Brookings Institute survey of political scientists and historians found Trump the most divisive president in American history. Apparently referring to another presidential traditionthe annual White House Christmas tree ornamentTrump reportedly told staffers, Obamas only legacy here will be hanging from a tree. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Research Future Published a Half-Cooked Research Report on Global Ink Resins Market Research Report - Global Forecast Till 2025 Global Ink Resins Market Segmentations The Covid-19 Ink Resins Market Analysis has been segmented into four main dynamics to widen the scope of understanding, By Type: Modified Resin, Cellulose, Acrylic, Polyamide, Hydrocarbon, Polyurethane, and others. By Printing Process: Flexographic, Lithographic, Gravure, Digital, Letterpress, and others. By Application: Printing & Publication, Corrugated Boards, Flexible Packaging, and others. By Regions: Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Rest-of-the-World. Global Ink Resins Market - Competitive Landscape Highly competitive, the Ink Resins Market appears to be fragmented due to the presence of several large and small-scale players. To gain a significant competitive share in the market, players initiate strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, collaboration, and innovations. Manufacturers strive to deliver high quality and reliable products developed with innovative technologies and best industry practices. They make substantial investments to drive R&D required for the new product and technology launch and to develop a cost-competitive product portfolio. For business expansion, they acquire small yet promising companies in the emerging markets, focusing on optimized situational awareness for customers. Rising strategic initiatives are changing the market structure by increasing the profit of the acquiring company and reducing market competition significantly. Major Players: Players Leading the Global Ink Resins Market include Arakawa Chemical Industries, Ltd (Japan), BASF SE (Germany), DowDuPont Inc (US), Royal DSM NV (Netherlands), Hydrite Chemical (US), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Lawter (US), Indulor Chemie GmbH (Germany), Arizona Chemical Company, LLC (US), IGM Resins, Inc. (The Netherlands), US-Polymers-Accurez LLC (US), and Kraton Corporation (US), among others. Get Free Sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5093 Industry/Innovation/Related News: November 09, 2019 - Ingevity (the US), a specialty chemicals and materials manufacturer & supplier, launched its new environmentally friendly ink resin product line - AltaPrint. The new ink resin product line is developed using more renewable raw materials such as phenol and formaldehyde-free modified rosin resin. It is designed for use in heatset and sheetfed inks for the packaging & commercial printing markets. Now available globally, The AltaPrint family of products offers customers a more eco-friendly solution without sacrificing gloss and film hardness performance characteristics. Launching such an innovative product line, Ingevity has showcased its commitment to meet the industry's evolving environmental trends and regulatory demands. Global Ink Resins Market Geographical Analysis The Asia Pacific region dominates the Global Ink Resins Market. The largest market share attributes to the growing demand from the packaging industry and expanding production capacities in the region. Besides, factors such as the rising trend of on-the-go packaged food items & online shopping and the burgeoning eCommerce market in the region drive the market growth substantially. The presence of dynamically emerging economies in the region such as India, Japan, China, Singapore, and South Korea impacts the regional market growth positively. India and China markets account for the major shareholders in this region, witnessing massive consumption of ink resins. APAC is estimated to retain its leading position in the Global Ink Resins Market throughout the assessment period. North America stands second in the global ink resins market due to the spurting growth in the packaged food, other retail products, and growing F&B industry. Besides, the augmenting demand for heatset and sheetfed inks from the packaging & commercial printing industries drives the growth of the regional market significantly. The US is the leading market in the region, which is growing due to the rising eCommerce market. Additionally, substantial investments in the end-use industries drive regional market growth. The Ink Resins Market in Europe is observing a steady growth over the last couple of years. Major growth contributors to the regional market are countries such as the UK, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Stringent regulations imposed by the regional governments promoting the use of eco-friendly resins are encouraging the development of bio-based ink materials. Moreover, the increasing innovations and advances in manufacturing techniques foster a large share of the market. COVID-19 Study in Detail: COVID-19 Impact Analysis on Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Market @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-pvc-market COVID-19 Impact on 3D Printing Materials Market @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-3d-printing-materials-market COVID-19 Outbreak Impact on Carbon Black Market @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-carbon-black-market NOTE: Our team of researchers are studying Covid19 and its impact on various industry verticals and wherever required we will be considering covid19 footprints for a better analysis of markets and industries. Cordially get in touch for more details. About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. Contact: Market Research Future +1 646 845 9312 Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Recently, the President of the United States, in the midst of a global pandemic, just admitted to the world that he's been taking hydroxychloroquine for the past week and a half. Reactions have been, to put it mildly, mixed. The leader of the free world is effectively poisoning himself. This is a guy in his mid-70s who's already not in the best shape, and this is a drug that has been shown to make people sick when they don't have malaria and lupus, the diseases it's actually meant to help. Holy shit. He's doubling down on it, too, even in the face of the FDA ... ... and his friends at Fox News. There's a fair-to-decent chance he's either lying for some reason about taking hydroxychloroquine (is someone slipping it into his cheeseburgers?), or deliberately obfuscating, but both of those options might be giving him too much credit. This is a rabbit hole no historian could've fallen far enough into -- when Hitler took poison on purpose, it was with the intent of dying because he knew how fucked he was. With Trump, he shows no signs of that kind of chickening out. Continue Reading Below Advertisement What makes the most sense is that this is a borderline Shakespearean tale about a king type drinking poison just to prove it isn't poison, when it's totally unnecessary. "Act III: King Trump Denies Poison Is Poison, Drinks Poison." Your English teacher would explain that the poison would be symbolic of giving in to hubris or machismo, and it wouldn't totally make sense until your friend explains it's like playing a dangerous drinking game just to prove how alpha you are. An Ontario Provincial Police officer was legally justified to shoot and injure a man during a violent takedown last October, the Special Investigation Unit says. On Oct. 9, shortly before 2 p.m., OPP officers in unmarked cars had surrounded the 26-year-old suspect, who was driving a Mercedes sedan on Berry Road in Etobicoke, near Park Lawn Road. There was a warrant for his arrest, but the SIU report released Thursday doesnt specify what he was wanted for. When officers tried to arrest the man, he drove his car at them, the SIU report said. One of the police officers drew his gun and fired at the windshield, injuring the suspects hand. The officer explained that he fired his weapon believing it was necessary to thwart an imminent risk of death or serious injury to him and his fellow officers from the car, the report said. The SIU said some evidence suggested that the suspect feared for his safety because he thought he was surrounded by a street gang. But the suspects passenger was immediately aware that they were police, the SIU said. SIU director Joseph Martino said that one could conclude that the suspect had little regard for endangering the officers lives, as the car then continued to ram a police truck in front of him in an effort to escape. The other officers surrounding the Mercedes sedan as it repeatedly struck the truck in front of it also believed their lives and the lives of their colleagues were in peril. I am satisfied that the (officers) apprehension of the danger that existed and the necessity of a resort to lethal force were reasonable in the circumstances, said Martino. The SIU is an arms length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. Raneem Alozzi is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @r_alozzi Press Release May 21, 2020 Tolentino urges DOT to formulate roadmap, stimulus package to revive tourism sector The Department of Tourism (DOT) must formulate a roadmap and stimulus package that will help the tourism industry recover from the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, administration Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino. During the Senate hearing on COVID-19, Tolentino said the DOT should prepare a roadmap for the recovery of the tourism sector before the lifting of all restrictions imposed by government to stop the spread of the deadly virus. "This year was supposed to be the golden year for Philippine tourism but the pandemic happened. Domestic tourism must be promoted to revive the industry and provide livelihood to 5.4 million employees affected by COVID-19," said Tolentino. The lawmaker said several countries already have their respective roadmap and stimulus plan for their tourism industry. Tolentino said Indonesia has already opened its domestic tourism while restaurants and hotels in Greece will resume operation on May 25 and June 1, respectively. "Tourism in US states like Florida and California and countries like Cyprus, Italy. Iceland, Carribean Islands (Saint Lucia), Spain and Aruba are expected to resume next month," Tolentino added. According to Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat, they have prepared a tourism response program that will help resuscitate the sector. Tourism Undersecretary Art Boncato informed Tolentino that around 1,000 hotels all over the country with more than 64,000 rooms are now functional, providing accommodation to those under quarantine. Boncato said 50 percent of these hotels will be allowed to operate under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). Tolentino also called on DOT to formulate a stimulus package for the tourism industry, particularly small hotels, to enable them to stand on their feet. During the hearing, Tolentino encouraged all government agencies concerned to adopt a digital health passport to make travel easier and less worrisome. Tolentino explained that the digital health passport will contain the health record of its holder so it would be easier for any country to access the person's health history even while on transit. "Bago pa man makarating sa kanyang destinasyon, malalaman na ng kanyang pupuntahang bansa kung ano ang estado ng kanyang kalusugan," Tolentino said. Power outage and frequent fibre cuts have disrupted telecom connectivity in Cyclone Amphan hit areas, particularly Kolkata, North and South 24 Pargana districts of West Bengal. Industry players told PTI that still around 70 per cent of the telecom network in the worst affected areas is working and around 85-90 per cent of the connectivity will be restored by Friday evening. "There has been very minimal impact on telecom towers. Major problems have been fibre cuts due to felling of trees that has led to some disruption and power outage has made the situation challenging," industry body COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said. Mobile towers are connected to each other through optical fibre cablesand any damage to themleads to the breakdown of the network. Mathews said that there have been an average of around 100 fibre cuts every two hours due to felling of trees and operations to clear the way from the disruption roads. "It is very important to get the power restored because mobile towers are working on diesel generators only and they cannot continue to operate for more than eight hours. DG sets will have to be switched off. "Batteries also cannot run for a long time without power; they also need to be charged. If the power outage continues then there can be disruption in telecom networks," Mathews said. The cyclone-hit areas have around 8,500 mobile towers on which around 36,000 base stations of different operators run. At present around 866 mobile towers, accounting for 70 per cent coverage, are operating on DG sets in the Amphan-hit area. According to Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association(TAIPA), both Airtel and Vodafone Idea have been asked to get 1,000 sites working in the next 24 hours by the Department of Telecommunications Secretary Anshu Prakash. "Around 70 per cent of the sites are working on DG's and after every 8 hours, DG set has to take rest, so restoration of power is very critical for getting sites back to functional especially in Kolkata. "Also, in a few situations, we have come across the issue of manpower not being allowed because of the road blockages, we have requested state authorities to resolve this issue at the earliest," Taipa Director General TR Dua said. He said that due to advance preparations by the DoT, there has been a minimal direct impact on telecom infrastructure per se. "DoT secretary coordinated with all the authorities because of which the entire flow of machinery was very smooth. The connectivity can be up and running in a very short time if power issues are resolved," Dua said. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years destroyed mud houses and crops, and uprooted trees and electric poles. It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. Odisha government officials estimated that the cyclone has affected around 44.8 lakh people in the state. "Connectivity in Odisha has almost been restored," Dua said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Read on for the most recent top news you may have missed in Sacramento. Sacramento County allows restaurants to reopen for dine-in customers starting Friday Read the full story on CBS13 CBS Sacramento. Sacramento parks officials expecting large crowds at river Memorial Day weekend despite coronavirus pandemic Read the full story on ABC Sacramento, KXTV. West Sacramento mayor asks Yolo County to slow down reopening plans due to lack of testing Read the full story on FOX40. Grocery store opens in Sacramento County community during COVID-19 pandemic Read the full story on KCRA 3. Sacramento Area Museums working to adapt a post-coronavirus strategy Read the full story on ABC10. This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback. Some restaurants may open slower, while others plan to begin seating customers right away. Sacramento County Park officials will have additional staffing in the parks and on the river to help ensure a safe weekend. With approval by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state public health officials, Yolo County stay-at-home restrictions can begin loosening as soon as May 26. Residents of one Sacramento County community aren't letting coronavirus restrictions take away from the excitement over a grand opening Wednesday. I ts fifteen years since the Londoners favourite satire, The Thick Of It, was broadcast. Creator Armando Iannucci told us: Malcolm Tucker was an amalgam of a whole load of henchmen who would go around bullying ministers into sticking to the No 10 line. Sound familiar? Dominic Cummings is all that rolled into one. Except my impression is, rather than feared, he is despised. Iannucci feels the show could work today. The Department of Health and Social Care would be a good ministry to set it in now, but it would feel more tragedy than comedy. Actor Chris Addison, who played special adviser Ollie Reeder, said: When we made the show, there was still a veneer of competence about front-line politics, but thats just not the case anymore. The idea of a minister at sea is a little pointless when we have the daily briefing where we can see one in real life. There is one recent incident Iannucci wishes had featured. I do wonder about an episode where the party leader gave a speech, while losing their voice with letters dropping off the set behind them. Wed base the rest around what happened in the next 24 hours. Those conversations must have been priceless. --- For the chop: Daisy Edgar-Jones (Photo: CBS via Getty Images) / CBS via Getty Images DAISY EDGAR-JONES, star of Normal People, reveals how not getting a job she really wanted changed the course of her career. I actually did the thing you do when you break up with someone: a break-up hair cut, which was my fringe. She told Elizabeth Days podcast it was the best decision Ive ever made ... its the only reason I got Marianne. --- ACTORS union Equity held digital hustings last night for the role of general secretary. One of the two male candidates said it should be a matter of marginal embarrassment that the unions first female general secretary is certainly going to be followed by a bloke. Awkward. Especially as Sandi Toksvig, the Womens Equality Party co-founder, was hosting the event. SW1A Robert Halfon (Photo: ISABEL INFANTES/AFP via Getty Images) / AFP via Getty Images TORY MP Robert Halfon wonders on Conservative Home about the overseas aid budget: Given the pandemic, is it really conceivable that it should continue to be spent in the same way? What happend to Compassionate Conservatism? --- KEIR STARMERS new adviser Anneliese Midgleys first job was at The Beatles Shop in Liverpool when she was 13. Once she was starving and ate a Ringo gingerbread man. Turned out it was a relic from 1963. Help! Glamour revisited with sun, shades and sequins Lily James soaked up yesterdays rays, simply telling her Instagram followers this sun. What more can you say? Meanwhile Gillian Anderson said she was so excited for viewers to join her for the National Theatre Live showing of A Streetcar Named Desire. And Kate Beckinsale posted a throwback snap for jewellery designer Markus Molinari on his birthday. I love yew and I long for your bunny slippers, she added. The glamour of life before lockdown... The majority of COVID-19 deaths recorded in Nigeria were as a result of complications arising from underlining ailments such as hypertension and diabetes. The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this at the daily Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Thursday. He said about 70 per cent of fatalities recorded were persons over 60 years of age. The morbidity of fatalities we have had with COVID-19, 70 per cent of them had hypertension or diabetes and the rest were kidney disease, HIV, cancer, tuberculosis and other challenges. A finding from the analysis of the death pattern shows 30 per cent of male and female around that ratio and about 70 per cent of fatalities were persons over 60 years old while majority of positives were persons between the ages of 29 and 49, he said. According to the World Health Organisation, (WHO), most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Also, older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. As of Wednesday, 6,677 cases had been recorded in Nigeria. Out of these, 1,840 have been discharged and 200 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory. No symptoms Mr Ehanire said nearly half of the 200 COVID-19 deaths recorded in the country occurred at home. He noted that about 50 per cent of persons who died as a result of the virus at home did not display any symptom. READ ALSO: He appealed to everyone who tests positive to immediately report for treatment. He advised those who have taken the test and awaiting result to heed the advisory to self-isolate from friends, wear face masks and observe hand and respiratory hygiene until their result was released. By so doing, their family, friends community would be protected from contracting the virus, he said. Testing capacity The minister said only 1,500 tests were being conducted daily despite the capacity to conduct 2,500 tests daily. This he said is due to inadequate surveillance and contact tracing in states. He urged state governments to increase the number of surveillance teams, so that more testing could be conducted in the laboratories. He noted that new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been developed to help track surveillance strategic directions and programmes. CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland jumped this year from 35th to 29th place in the nonprofit Trust for Public Lands ParkScore ranking of parks in the 100 most populous U.S. cities. Its good progress for Cleveland, Shanelle Smith Whigham, the Ohio director for the Trust, said in an interview earlier this week. Were moving up in the rankings. The trust, which announced the new rankings Wednesday, raised Clevelands standing based largely on increased spending on parks, the organization said in a news release. The organization said Cleveland spent $137 per resident annually on parks, in comparison to the national average of $89. The trust wasnt able to provide immediately Clevelands prior spending level. Whigham said the city also received a higher ranking for having improved parks including Miriam Ortiz-Rush Park in Detroit Shoreway and Glenview Park in Glenville. A spokesperson for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson did not acknowledge receipt of an email seeking comment about the park ranking. The trust compiles self-reported data from cities to create its ParkScore rankings. Minneapolis topped the 100 cities listed by the trust, pushing Washington, DC, into 2nd place. Founded in 1974 and based in San Francisco, the trust helps communities conserve and assemble land for parks. In Ohio, since 1978, it has conserved 17,500 acres in 117 separate projects representing nearly $183 million in fair market value. In Cuyahoga and six surrounding counties, the trust has conserved nearly 7,500 acres in 82 projects with a fair market value of $121 million. Those projects have benefited the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, and Rivergate Park and Canal Basin Park on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. The trust completed a study in January identifying five Cleveland neighborhoods most in need of a park. It is also collaborating with the City of Cleveland and the Urban Land Institute on a $40,000 grant from the nonprofit National Recreation and Park Association to help train city employees in how to gather and interpret data for park planning. Whigham said that the coronavirus pandemic has underscored the significance of urban parks in America as a form of public space designed to improve health. Frederick Law Olmsted, who co-designed of New Yorks Central Park during frequent cholera outbreaks in the 19th-century, called the park, the lungs of the city. The principle holds today, Whigham said. She said the Trust for Public Land recognizes that people are losing jobs in an economy damaged by the pandemic and witnessing deaths caused by COVID-19, the illness that can result from coronavirus infections. But at a time when municipal budgets are strained, she urged that parks should remain a high priority. Parks may not be top of mind for many in our communities, she said, but getting outdoors in nature is good for coping and recovery. Parks should be seen as a solution and not be cut from city budgets. Note: An earlier version of the story mentioned Morgana Bluffs Nature Preserve, a project of West Creek Conservancy that did not factor in the Trust for Public Land ranking. Close to half of Dublin's pubs plan to reopen next month as restaurants, according to a new survey by the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA). The industry association, which represents around 75pc of Dublin pubs, revealed that 44pc of the capital's 750 pubs - or 330 establishments - plan to take advantage of their restaurant certificates and operate as licensed restaurants to reopen on June 29. The survey of 300 publicans conducted between May 18 and 19 also found that 72pc of Dublin pubs currently serve food on site. As a result, the LVA is lobbying the Government to allow its members to open, along with restaurants, as part of the State's five-phase reopening plan. "This again highlights the urgent need for the Government to engage with the pub sector," said LVA chief executive Donall O'Keeffe. "More than four out of every 10 pubs across Dublin are gearing up to reopen as restaurants next month. This reflects the strong emphasis many pubs throughout Dublin have put on food service. "These venues have restaurant certificates and are just as capable of following the public health guidelines as restaurants and cafes. "Food is a major aspect of their business so why should they be treated differently to other venues serving food and alcohol? "We expect there will be a strong demand for these venues, with many pubs reporting a significant public appetite for when they will be serving food again. "Bord Bia research also shows more people eat out at pubs than they do at full service restaurants or cafes." The Government has yet to say if pubs with restaurant licences can reopen along with restaurants and cafes. However, LVA managing director Jimmy Healy said it was crucial that the Government engages with the sector as soon as possible. Bullet "In the absence of specific guidelines there is nothing to stop them [opening as restaurants]," he said. He said pubs serving food should not be treated any differently than cafes and restaurants. However, some publicans said they don't have the facilities or the necessary licence. Ollie Hayes, owner of Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Co Offaly, who served former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle in 2011, said he had no choice but to bite the bullet and wait until August 10 when pubs can reopen if they practise social distancing. "If it stays as it is we'll be down to about a quarter capacity," he added. Like it or not, youre probably stuck with your cable company even if you cut the cord on pay TV. Cable companies, after all, still provide the home internet service thats necessary for streaming video. Mobile internet plans are still no substitute for cable-based internet, and much-hyped alternatives like 5G home internet and high-speed satellite internet are still years away from being widely available. That doesnt mean saving money on your cable bill is a lost cause. Whether you havent quit cable yet or remain tethered to cable internet service, you can still maximize your savings in several ways. Here are some ideas: Dont fear slower speeds If you try to cancel cable TV, you might encounter some scare tactics as your provider tries to upsell you on speed boosts. But even for streaming video, upgrading your internet speed might be unnecessary. [ Further reading: Cord-cutting myths busted ] Lets look at Comcast as an example. The cable giant charges a non-promotional price of $78 per month for 100Mbps Performance internet, versus $93 per month for 200Mbps Blast internet. While doubling your speed might be nice, 100Mbps is more than enough for streaming, even in 4K on a few TVs at the same time. (Netflix recommends a connection speed of at least 25Mbps for 4K video, and that is the FCCs minimum spec for broadband internet.) Mentioned in this article Roku Streaming Stick+ Read our review Best Prices Today: Cox, meanwhile, charges a non-promotional price of $66 per month for 50Mbps speeds, which is $18-per-month cheaper than 150Mbps service and should also be fine for one or two simultaneous streams. If youre having streaming problems at these speeds, Id wager the problem is with your Wi-Fi router, not a lack of internet bandwidth. (More on that shortly.) Beware of free internet upgrades Related to the above, cable companies sometimes try to sneak in speed upgrades that appear to be free, but can cost more later if youre not careful. When you bundle TV and internet with Spectrum, for instance, you might get an offer for 400Mbps service at the same price as 200Mbps service. After a two-year promo period, however, the faster plan becomes $20-per-month pricier than the cheaper one. Comcast goes further, promoting 200Mbps speeds at a lower price than 100Mbps service. While the slower tier costs $78 per month, the faster service costs $40 per month for one year, but jumps to $93 per month after that. In both cases, the cable companies are hoping you wont bother to downgrade in the end. Return your cable boxes Credit where due: After years of dragging their feet, both Comcast and Spectrum have stopped making cable boxes mandatory, so even if you stick with cable TV, you can save money on rental fees by watching TV through a streaming device. Mentioned in this article Amazon Fire TV Recast (75-hour model) Read our review Best Prices Today: Documentary photo The Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine held a tree planting ceremony at the Embassy's headquarters on the occasion of Uncle Ho's 130th birthday on May 19th. Moc Lan (Magnolia flower), a flower that symbolizes prosperity and stability was chosen to plant on this occasion. On this occasion, the embassy also cooperated with the high school No 251, which is named after President Ho Chi Minh to launch an online writing contest to learn about the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh and the country and people of Vietnam. *** The Vietnamese Embassy in Algeria on May 19th held an incense offering ceremony to mark the 130th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh, with the participation of the staff of the embassy and Vietnams representative offices. *** An incense offering for President Ho Chi Minh was held in Vientiane, Laos, on May 19th by the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos and the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association to mark the Vietnamese leaders 130th birthday. Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung highlighted the life, career and great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh as well as the time-honoured traditional relations between Vietnam and Laos, which were founded by President Ho Chi Minh and President Kaysone Phomvihane and have been nurtured by generations of leaders and the people of the two countries. *** The Vietnamese embassy in Germany on May 19th held an incense offering ceremony to pay tribute to President Ho Chi Minh. *** Earlier on May 18th, the Embassy of Vietnam in Mexico offered flowers at the statue of late President Ho Chi Minh in the embassys campus. At the event, Ambassador Nguyen Hoai Duong highlighted the Presidents remarkable contributions to the cause of national revolution. The diplomat called on the Vietnamese community in Mexico to study and follow President Ho Chi Minhs ideology, morality and style, as well as to actively implement the Vietnamese Party and States foreign policies, and contribute to the reinforcement and development of the traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Mexico. Delegates at an incense offering to President Ho Chi Minh held by the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia (Photo: nhandan.org.vn) *** A webinar on President Ho Chi Minh, a hero of national liberation and a cultural celebrity, was held in Cairo, Egypt on May 18th, bringing together a number of diplomats and friends of Vietnam from Egypt and other countries. Former Egyptian Ambassador to Vietnam Reda El Taify showed his respect for Ho Chi Minh in his presentation, saying the President was a symbol of the liberation movements around the globe and one of the worlds most influential leaders in the 20th century. *** On this occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia hosted an incense offering to President Ho Chi Minh. Delegates at the event paid tribute to President Ho, the great leader of the Vietnamese nation, the brilliant soldier of the international communist and worker movements, and a global cultural celebrity. *** In Thailands north-eastern province of Udon Thani, Mr. Hoang Ngoc Son, Vietnamese Consul General in Khon Kaen, joined 100 overseas Vietnamese in offering incense to President Ho Chi Minh at the Ho Chi Minh relic site. The site is the first of its kind in Thailand and was opened in 2006. Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Udon Thani Luong Xuan Hoa said that after arriving in the province, President Ho Chi Minh established a revolutionary movement and opened classrooms for the Vietnamese community during the 1928-1929 period. *** Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Consulate General in the Russian city of Vladivostok laid wreaths at the President Ho Chi Minh monument in the city to commemorate his 130th birthday. *** The Venezuelan Government held a ceremony to mark the 130th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh on May 19th, with the participation of officials of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). At the event held at the bust of the late President in Caracas, PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello highlighted the Vietnamese leaders contributions to the struggle for national independence, as well as the Vietnamese peoples strong sentiments for him. Meanwhile, on his Twitter account, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro spoke highly of the patriotism and steadfastness of the Vietnamese people nurtured by the President Ho Chi Minh, which helped the country emerge victorious from past struggles. In addition, foreign media have highlighted the morality and intelligence of Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh as well as his invaluable ideas, on the occasion of his 130th birthday. *** An article, published in the Egyptian Gazette, praised President Ho Chi Minhs morality and thoughts as well as his contributions to Vietnams national liberation and reunification, and liberation movements across the world. *** In a 2,700-word article published on May 19th, German daily Junge Welt cited studies and assessments of President Ho Chi Minh by international politicians, historians, and researchers. The article traced the life and career of President Ho Chi Minh, from his departure to seek national salvation until the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and then the adoption of policies for reconstruction and national development. A tree-planting event at the Vietnamese embassy in Ukraine to mark President Ho Chi Minh's 130th birthday (Photo: nhandan.org.vn) *** Cuban media agencies also ran congratulations from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba to its Vietnamese counterpart on the memorable milestone, emphasising the sincere and unbreakable friendship between the two countries. *** The portal of South American TV channel TeleSur has an article on the Presidents important position in global history, saying he is remembered as one of the smartest and most effective leaders in the socialist struggle. Vietnams struggle and its heritage relating to President Ho Chi Minh serve as inspiration for countries that have been occupied or suffer from military violence, it said. *** Meanwhile, Indias Moderndiplomacy magazine spotlighted his ideas on world peace, saying he always expressed a desire for common interest and loyalty to the nation. President Ho Chi Minh was equally concerned with regard to peace in Asia and the world, it said. The resonance in President Ho Chi Minhs ideas was primarily aimed at bringing about global peace through anti-colonialism and reducing the influence of imperialist powers so that development and growth could be ushered in among newly-independent nations, it noted. In letters the President sent to various leaders, he always strived for global peace and development, it added. *** The Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) news agency of Laos have ran articles highlighting President Ho Chi Minhs life and revolutionary career, and his close relationship with the Lao revolution, on the occasion of his 130th birthday. The countrys media also praised the leader for his great contributions to the national liberation movements of oppressed nations worldwide. In its article, the news agency said President Ho Chi Minh was one of the outstanding activists of the international labour and communist movement to liberate Vietnam from the yoke of old and new colonialism. *** Meanwhile, Laos Pasason newspaper emphasized great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh to the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) during the two countries struggles for national liberation, saying that his contributions were particularly appreciated by international friends. *** The UZ newspaper and the website Redglobe.de of Germany also ran articles on the leader on the occasion of his 130th birthday. They recalled his life and glorious revolutionary career. The German Communist Partys Central Committee also sent congratulations to its Vietnamese counterpart on the occasion, affirming that President Ho Chi Minh is one of the outstanding politicians of the 20th century. ***A documentary film on President Ho Chi Minh was aired on May 18th on Venezolana de Television (VTV), the state-run television station in Venezuela, to commemorate his 130th birthday. Ho Chi Minh Chan dung mot con nguoi (Ho Chi Minh: a Portray of a Man) by Vietnamese director Bui Dinh Hac was broadcast as part of the Latin American countrys activities to introduce the life and revolutionary career of the Vietnamese leader and national hero to its people. The documentary tells stories about Vietnams struggle for national independence and portrays President Ho Chi Minh as a simple and devoted man who had great love for his nation and fought for its independence and freedom to the last breath. *** Meanwhile, Venezuelas radio station Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV) has also aired a special show, featuring journalist Angel Miguel Bastidas who used to work in Vietnam for years, to talk about the late President and Vietnams revolutions in the past and national reconstruction and development today./. Education Minister Peter Weir has revealed his plans for some school pupils to return to school in late August. Pupils in key years, such as those taking GCSEs or A-levels, and those transitioning from primary to secondary schools, will be the first to return. A wider phased return for other pupils is to follow in September, but Mr Weir said this would involve a mix of learning at school and from home. If medical evidence allows, younger pupils may also be able to return to school full-time. Teaching unions have said members remain highly concerned over health and safety. Mr Weir said: "This will not be a return to school as it was prior to Covid, but rather a new normal reflective of social distancing and a medically safe regime. "For all pupils it will involve a schedule with a mixture of school attendance and remote learning at home." Teaching unions have welcomed Mr Weir's calls for a collaborative approach on the arrangements, but said that pupil safety must be a priority. Speaking at the daily Executive briefing, Mr Weir said any steps would be strictly guided by medical advice and the coming weeks would be used to establish the details. He warned that schools could not be the same as before the pandemic. "It's too early to say how particular measures will work out but we want to bring people along with us and talk to the experts both in schools, and indeed the wider medical community, as we move ahead," he said. "There will be major challenges that are out there and it's about trying to balance out all these things." At present around 1,700 pupils, including vulnerable children and those with parents as key workers, are attending 450 school settings on a daily basis with supervision from 2,000 staff. Mr Weir also set out measures to support disadvantaged children during the pandemic. This is the biggest public health crisis we have faced in living memory, and the Executive's role is to support those who face real hardship Peter Weir This includes 24,000 digital devices such as laptops and tablets being made available for children to assist with remote learning. Priority will be given to pupils studying for GCSEs, A-levels and those children going into P7, and "also those who are considered vulnerable and in disadvantaged groups, including those entitled to a free school meal and newcomer children". Free school meal provision has seen 10.7m set aside for around 101,500 children but is due to end on June 30, with the Executive to decide on provision for the summer months. "This is the biggest public health crisis we have faced in living memory, and the Executive's role is to support those who face real hardship," Mr Weir said. He acknowledged that existing inequalities within the education system would continue to be a challenge. "I think there's a range of mitigating measures that will want to be put in place to try to ensure that whatever disadvantage is there, that gaps are closed," he said. "Is there still likely to be some level of inequality within our society? Yes, that is likely. In and of itself this will not solve it, it will be part of a wider package of measures. "In an imperfect situation, all we can try and do is to ensure that we have as much mitigation to give as much opportunity for every child as possible." Mr Weir recognised the strain on mental health for some pupils after the disruption of Covid-19. "Challenges will be there for mental health across society but particularly for children, that will be a major challenge as we move ahead," he said. "I have ensured that [in] the budget as we move ahead, there is some additional money and support for mental health. "But it's got to be tackled on a cross-departmental and cross-sectional regard. I think we'll only be in a position to fully assess what needs to happen ... when there's a greater level of recovery within society." Another seven deaths involving Covid-19 were announced on Thursday, bringing Northern Ireland's total to 501. An extra 42 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 4,481. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:02:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus poses enormous challenges for Somalia, where the humanitarian situation is already dire, said the top UN envoy for the country on Thursday. Somalia, like the rest of the world, is focused on confronting COVID-19. There are more than 1,500 recorded cases although the actual figures are almost certainly much higher, said James Swan, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Somalia. The consequences for Somalia are acute given the already dire humanitarian situation in the country, he warned. Even before COVID-19, more than 5 million Somalis required humanitarian assistance. The 2.6 million internally displaced persons are particularly at risk. Nearly 1 million Somalis are now affected by flooding. And the country also faces its worst desert locust infestation in some 25 years, he told the Security Council in a briefing. In addition to the medical and humanitarian effects, COVID-19 is also having a severely negative economic impact on Somalia. Revenue generation and remittances from the diaspora have dwindled. The federal government projects an 11 percent decline in nominal GDP for 2020, said Swan. The federal government and federal member states have responded quickly to the crisis within their means. A national COVID task force was established in early March. Federal member states have created similar structures and also participate in national-level coordination. The UN family is working to reinforce the government's response. UN agencies have re-oriented their activities to give priority to COVID-19, he said. Enditem Arizonas jobless rate spiked to a potentially record high of 12.6% last month. And its certain to go higher as the figures reflect data only through the second week of April. Since that time, there have been another 230,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance. The news comes as Republican legislators quashed efforts by Democrats to increase the benefits available to the more than 577,000 people who have applied for unemployment insurance since the COVID-19 pandemic and the statewide orders by Gov. Doug Ducey shutting down many businesses. GOP lawmakers also blocked a vote on a proposal to allow people to get unemployment payments if they leave their jobs due to unsafe working conditions. Whats behind the sharp increase in unemployment in April is the shedding of 276,300 jobs in the private sector from the prior month. The state normally adds 7,800 workers in April. The biggest loss is in the leisure and hospitality industry, which includes bars and restaurants that were ordered closed except for takeout. It also includes hotels, motels and resorts as many have been unwilling to travel. That is reflected in data from the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which found tax revenues from these businesses dropped 57.5% from March. The category also includes movie theaters, amusement parks and sporting events. Other sectors of the Arizona economy also have been hard hit. Retail trade shed 43,800 jobs about 13.4% of total employment as only essential businesses were allowed to operate. There also was the loss of 27,800 jobs in professional and business services. A two-month-old boy died of coronavirus in Punjab, taking the death toll to 39, while 23 fresh infections pushed the total number of cases in the state to 2,028, officials said on Thursday. The infant, who was suffering from pneumonia, died at a hospital in Amritsar on Wednesday, a health official said in Amritsar. His test report came back positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, the official said. Of the 23 fresh cases, seven were reported in Hoshiarpur; five in Amritsar; four in Gurdaspur; two each in Ludhiana and Pathankot; and one each in Barnala, Kapurthala and Patiala, a medical bulletin said. Batala senior medical officer Sanjiv Bhalla said two pregnant women are among the four who tested positive for COVID-19 in the city. The pregnant women have been admitted to an isolation ward, he said. The other two women gave birth on May 19, Bhalla said. Blood samples of the two newborns would also be taken for testing, he added. According to the bulletin, 25 coronavirus patients -- 13 from Jalandhar; eight from Muktsar; two each from Fazilka and Mohali -- were discharged after recovering from the infection. With this, the total number of cured persons in the state has reached 1,819. There are 170 active COVID-19 cases in the state, the bulletin said. Amritsar has the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in the state at 313, followed by 210 in Jalandhar, 171 in Ludhiana, 155 in Tarn Taran, 129 in Gurdaspur, 105 in SBS Nagar, 104 in Patiala and 102 each in Mohali and Hoshiarpur. Sangrur has reported 88 cases, Muktsar 65, Faridkot 61, Rupnagar 60, Moga 59, Fatehgarh Sahib 56, Fazilka and Ferozepur 44 each, Bathinda 41, Kapurthala 34, Mansa 32, Pathankot 31, and Barnala 22. A total of 59,618 samples have been taken for COVID-19 testing so far in the state. Of these 53,871 samples are negative and reports of 3,719 are still awaited, the bulletin said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) San Francisco, May 21 : Microsoft has introduced several new capabilities in its video meet app Teams which has become a hub for teamwork combining meetings, calls, chat, and collaboration into a single tool. Now, one can create teams quickly with customizable templates. "Choose from common business scenarios, like event management and crisis response, as well as industry-specific templates, like a hospital ward or bank branch. Each template comes with pre-defined channels, apps, and guidance," said By Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365. Admins will also be able to create new custom templates and templatize existing teams in their organization, allowing them to standardize team structures, surface relevant apps, and scale best practices. "Templates in Teams will roll out in the next few months and appear automatically," Spataro announced during the 'Build 2020' developer conference on Wednesday. Now Teams users can easily create and manage chatbots and integrating with Teams is also easier than ever. "Just select the bot you want to use and then click Add to Teams. For additional convenience, Power Virtual Agents now supports single sign-on (SSO), so users will no longer have to reauthenticate when using Teams for the first time," informed Spataro. Developers and admins will soon be able to add their custom applications from Power Apps to Teams with a single click of the Add to Teams button. "Meanwhile, new Power Automate business process templates for Teams will allow creators to streamline workflows using pre-built templates, or as a base to customize their own," said Microsoft. Organizations will now be able to schedule, manage, and conduct business-to-consumer virtual appointments through the new Bookings app integration in Microsoft Teams. According to the tech giant, un healthcare alone, there were more than 34 million Teams meetings in the past month, including virtual visits. Microsoft introduced new Network Device Interface (NDI) support and Skype TX interoperability for Teams. It offers a more advanced set of production options for both public and private, customized, high-scale broadcasts. Coming soon, NDI for Microsoft Teams will transform a Teams meeting into a virtual stage by converting each participant's video into a discrete video source that can be used in the production tool of your choice. The company also announced new features in Microsoft 365. At Ignite 2019, Microsoft announced the public preview of Microsoft Fluid Framework - a new set of experiences designed to make collaboration seamless by breaking down barriers between apps. "The first Fluid Framework integrations in Microsoft 365, coming to Outlook and Office.com, will enable you to collaborate on dynamic content and create connected components that can be shared simultaneously and seamlessly across apps," said Spataro. Tables, charts, and task lists can be easily inserted in Outlook for the web, so your sales numbers, project tasks, and research reports are always up to date. Within Office.com, Fluid workspaces can be created and managed, including within your document activity feed, Recommended list, and @mentions-or search for them across Office.com. Fluid Framework is now open source and can be used to instantly make apps collaborative. Outlook on the web can now help compose email messages with text predictions. "Using intelligent technology to infer meaning and intention, Outlook can help you compose faster, avoid typos, and craft polished email messages," said Microsoft. The company also launched a new Lists app which is smart information tracking app across Microsoft 365. With Lists, users can easily track data and information to stay updated on the latest status. (TRUMP) "We are going to help Michigan. Michigan is a great state." U.S. President Donald Trump changed his tune, Wednesday... walking back his threat to withhold funding from Michigan over its efforts to send mail-in voting applications to all voters. (TRUMP) "I don't think it's going to be necessary." Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that Michigan would send "absentee ballots" to 7.7 million people, and, without citing any law, wrote that "this was done illegally and without authorization, by a rogue Secretary of State. That Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, responded, writing: "We sent sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia." Benson had said the move was to ensure residents could vote - AND stay healthy. The question of how to conduct elections amid a coronavirus pandemic is playing out nationwide. Last month's voting in Wisconsin was a test case, and media reports linked several new cases of the illness to in-person voting. Even so - Trump on Wednesday repeated his opposition to voting by mail, leaning on baseless claims of fraud: (TRUMP) "And you do, you have cases of fraudulent ballots where they actually print them and give them to people to sign. Maybe the same person signs them with different writing, different pens, I don't know. (flash) A lot of people in certain districts don't ever get their ballot. They keep calling 'where's my vote? Where's my ballot?' And election day passes and they forget about it. And that can happen in the thousands - I'm not saying it does, but it can. It probably has." Although the president himself voted by mail in March. (TRUMP) "Now if you need a mail in ballot, if you need a specific like as an example I'm in the White House and I have to send a ballot to Florida - that makes sense. So if you need it for some reason or if somebody's not well, that's one thing, but..." Republicans claimmail-in voting not only leads to fraud but favors Democrats, while Democrats say it allows a wider group of people to participate safely - in elections. Story continues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made that point on Wednesday. (PELOSI) We do have a fight over funding for elections vote by mail, which is a health issue." Trump narrowly won the state of Michigan in 2016, and it will be a battleground again in 2020. His threat to withhold aid to the state comes a day after two dams failed, forcing residents around the city of Midland to flee. Michigan has also been hard-hit by the pandemic. Trump has previously threatened to withhold federal coronavirus relief aid from states, particularly Democratic ones, unless they cooperated with his administrations immigration policies. [May 21, 2020] Sogou Introduces World's First 3D AI News Anchor BEIJING, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sogou Inc. (NYSE: SOGO) ("Sogou" or "the Company"), an innovator in search and a leader in China's internet industry, today jointly launched the world's first 3D AI News Anchor with Xinhua News Agency, a national news agency in China. The 3D AI News Anchor features the latest generation of the Sogou AI Vocational Avatar technology, which employs 3D modeling and cutting-edge AI technologies to create true-to-life avatars of human beings. The breakthrough demonstrates comprehensive improvements in movement and flexibility, interaction capability, and applications, which will further drive innovation in the news industry. The debut of the 3D AI News Anchor marks a milestone for the Sogou Vocational Avatar technology. Sogou achieved this breakthrough by bringing together 3D and AI, which enables the avatar to be more flexible and adaptive to different settings, creating a seamless experience for viewers. Compared with previous generations of Sogou's AI News Anchors, the 3D AI News Anchor communicates visual and audio information more naturally and smoothly in real time and in a real-life setting. Not only can the 3D AI News Anchor walk around during a broadcast, it can also perform complex gestures. Sogou applied cutting-edge algorithms and high-fidelity 3D technologies used in movie productions to create the 3D avatar of Zhao Wanwei, a real-life Xinhua reporter. Sogou's leading AI technologies, including multi-modal recognition ad synthesis, facial recognition and animation, and transfer learning, allow the avatar to intelligently imitate human voices, facial expressions, lip movements, and mannerisms with only text inputs. The 3D AI News Anchor will be reporting for Xinhua News Agency on the Two Sessions, China's largest annual legislative meetings, creating a new and dynamic viewing experience. Since the introduction of its first 2D AI News Anchor in November 2018, Sogou has cooperated with trusted partners at home and abroad to develop avatars that are reshaping communications in various industries, including in media, financial services, and the cultural industry. Leveraging its language-centric AI technologies, Sogou also developed the first Russian-speaking AI news presenter in 2019. Sogou's Vocational Avatar technology has undergone multiple upgrades to become more capable of capturing linguistic expressions, facial expressions, and body movements. With the development of 5G technology and holograms, Sogou will continue to explore the application of advanced AI avatars in order to transform the way people communicate and acquire knowledge. Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates, and projections, which involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, intense competition in the market for search and search-related services; our need to continually innovate and adapt in order to grow our business; our reliance on Tencent platforms for a significant portion of our user traffic; uncertainty regarding the extent and reach of PRC governmental regulation of sponsored search; and the effects of the COVID-19 virus on the economy in China generally and on our business in particular. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Sogou's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2019 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2020, and other documents Sogou files with or submits to the Securities and Exchange Commission. About Sogou Sogou Inc. (NYSE: SOGO) is an innovator in search and a leader in China's internet industry. With a mission to make it easy to communicate and get information, Sogou has grown to become the second-largest search engine by mobile queries and the fourth largest internet company by MAU in China. Sogou has a wide range of innovative products and services, including the Sogou Input Method, which is the largest Chinese language input software for both mobile and PC. Sogou is also at the forefront of AI development and has made significant breakthroughs in voice and image technologies, machine translation, and Q&A, which have been successfully integrated into our products and services. For media enquiries, please contact: Yadan Ouyang Brunswick Group Tel: +86 10 5960-8600 Email: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sogou-introduces-worlds-first-3d-ai-news-anchor-301063330.html SOURCE Sogou Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 17:42:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh saw the highest single-day hike of 22 deaths of COVID-19 patients Thursday. Prof. Nasima Sultana, a senior health ministry official, told an online media briefing in Dhaka that "22 COVID-19 deaths including 19 men and three women were confirmed in a 24-hour period, bringing the total number of fatalities in the country since March 18 to 408." Earlier on May 18, Bangladesh reported 21 deaths of COVID-19 patients within a day. According to the official, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 28,511, with the biggest daily rise of 1,773 cases reported in the last 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time on Thursday. Bangladesh earlier recorded the highest 1,617 cases in a 24-hour period on May 20. According to the official, 10,262 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in labs across Bangladesh. During the last 24 hours, 395 more patients were released from hospitals and clinics, bringing the number of recovered patients in the country to 5,602, said the official. Enditem Online food ordering platform Zomato, too, has launched home delivery of alcohol like rival Swiggy. To begin with, the service will be available in Jharkhand and the company was in talks with multiple other states, Zomato said on May 21. "With due permissions and licences in place, we are starting home delivery of alcohol in Jharkhand," the Gurugram-based company has said. "We will go live in Ranchi later today and seven other cities in Jharkhand over the next couple of days." Earlier in the day, Swiggy, too, chose Ranchi, the capital of the eastern state, to go live. Like its immediate competition, the Bengaluru-based company is also talking to other states for liquor delivery. With their core business hit badly by the lockdown, the two companies have already diversified into grocery deliveries. Customers will have to submit a government-approved proof of age to be able to place an order for liquor. Sale of alcohol was banned along with several other purchases when the lockdown was announced on March 24. The government lifted the ban in May, which led to serpentine queues outside shops, creating fears of the virus spread. Several states, desperate to boost their revenues, then suggested home delivery as an option. WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, 89% of hospital and health system executives predict their organizations' revenues will be lower at the end of 2020, according to a Guidehouse analysis of a survey conducted by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Among respondents, almost two-thirds expect decreases of greater than 15%, while one-in-five forecast decreases of more than 30%. The survey of 174 hospital and health system executives conducted May 4 May 8, 2020, also shows: Half of executives anticipate it will take through the end of the year or longer for their organizations' elective procedure volumes to return to pre-COVID levels. Just 11% of all executives and only 3% of health system respondents believe federal funding will be enough to cover COVID-19-related costs. Twenty-nine percent of executives say the pandemic has increased the likelihood of their organization participating in M&A activities (15%) or seeking new partnerships (14%). To offset COVID-19's financial impact, executives cited reductions in capital expenditures including new and existing construction (76%), labor adjustments such as furloughs, layoffs, and hiring freezes (76%), and canceling or renegotiating contracts and co-management agreements (69%) as areas they'll most likely target for intermediate and long-term cost reductions. "Healthcare has largely been insulated from previous economic disruptions, with capital spending more acutely affected than operations," said David Burik, partner and payer/provider consulting division leader at Guidehouse. "But this time may be different since the COVID-19 crisis started with a one-time significant impact on operations that is not fully covered by federal funding. "Providers are facing a long-term decrease in commercial payment, coupled with a need to boost caregiver and consumer-facing digital engagement, all during the highest unemployment rate the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression," Burik said. "For organizations in certain locations, it may seem like business as usual. For many others, these issues and greater competition will demand more significant, material change." Acceleration of Telehealth, New Working Arrangements Removal of regulatory barriers, more lucrative reimbursement models, increased startup funding, and rapid shifts in access have catalyzed telehealth adoption. While 67% of provider executives predict their organizations will use telehealth at least five times more than they did pre-pandemic, only one-third of them believe their organizations have all needed telehealth capabilities. Executives are also preparing for significant changes to their organizations' working arrangements. According to survey results, just one-in-five executives expect their organizations will return to the primarily onsite work arrangements established before the pandemic. Moreover, 22% have already made the decision to increase work-from-home options and reassess future space-use needs. "Through all the uncertainty COVID-19 has presented, one thing hospitals and health systems can be certain of is their business models will not return to what they were pre-pandemic," said Guidehouse Partner Chuck Peck, MD, a former health system CEO. "A comprehensive consumer-facing digital strategy built around telehealth will be a requirement for providers. Moreover, shifting hardware and physical assets to the cloud and use of robotic process automation has proven to be successful in improving back-office operations in other industries. Providers will need to follow suit." Looking forward, digital strategies, including telehealth and contact centers, are the most often cited tactics executives say their organizations will implement or enhance to grow future revenues, followed by such service line strategies as growing core businesses and exiting losing businesses, and revenue cycle improvements (57%) including enhancing accounts receivable and collections. Guidehouse acquired Navigant in October 2019. About Guidehouse Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public and commercial markets with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. We help clients address their toughest challenges with a focus on markets and clients facing transformational change, technology-driven innovation, and significant regulatory pressure. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and technology/analytics services, we help clients create scalable, innovative solutions that prepare them for future growth and success. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company has more than 7,000 professionals in more than 50 locations. Guidehouse is a Veritas Capital portfolio company, led by seasoned professionals with proven and diverse expertise in traditional and emerging technologies, markets, and agenda-setting issues driving national and global economies. For more information, please visit: www.guidehouse.com . For more information, contact: Alven Weil Guidehouse +1.704.995.5607 [email protected] SOURCE Guidehouse LLP Related Links http://www.guidehouse.com WINNIPEGA threatening wildfire has prompted a First Nation in Manitobas Parkland region to declare a local state of emergency. The Pine Creek First Nation says flames and smoke near the community 430 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg have people on edge. Crews have been fighting the fire since the weekend, but warm, windy weather is making their job a challenge. The province says the fire covers about 100 square kilometres of land. Helicopters and water bombers are buzzing over the area, providing support to crews trying to contain and put out the flames from the ground. About 100 people in the community on the western side of Lake Winnipegosis had to self-evacuate over the weekend but were allowed to return to their homes on Tuesday. Pine Creek Chief Karen Batson said dealing with the situation during COVID-19 has been a challenge. It is a stressful time, Batson said Wednesday. We also are trying to access some mental-health services with having COVID-19 as well. Batson said the state of emergency will help the community bring in more resources to deal with the wildfire. She said what they really need is rain. Things can change fairly quickly, Batson said. So thats why we have to have our community members on alert, have bags packed in case they have to leave quickly we can get them out of the community and to safety. In nearby Camperville, Mayor Joseph Klyne said community members are also on alert. Read more about: Ghanaian Evangelist and Marriage Activist, Owurayere Nanapanin Kyeiwaa Arhin has advised Gospel Musician Patience Nyarko to stop the unnecessary competition and attacks on her colleague Joe Mettle. In an interview with FNN24.com, Owurayere, as she is popularly known, has insisted that Patience Nyarko should rather focus on her divine calling than roaming from one radio station to another just to badmouth other people. According to her, one does not compete unnecessarily when he or she knows their calling in life and this something Patience Nyarko must be told. My brother, I dont know if Patience Nyarko is envious or jealous of Joe Mettle but as children of, were not supposed to do what she is doing. Tell her that you dont compete unnecessarily if you know your calling in life. The Ambassador For Post Marital Counseling further stated that this is a good time for the Obi Nyanime hitmaker to do some self-assessments on her career to know what she isnt doing right. On Joe Mettle, Owurayere just described him as a man who is full of wisdom for maintaining a calm posture by not replying to Patience Nyarko. Joe Mettle is a wise man. He should continue to remain calm and God will take him to greater heights. Lady Evangelist Owurayere Nanapanin Kyeiwaa Arhin has asked the Ghanaian youth to make time and listen to her Obaasima program on Onua 95.1 FM every Saturday 6:30 am 8:30 am to transform their relationship and marriage. Source: www.Fnn24.com The GAO presented a more mixed picture regarding promotions, saying that women are less likely to be promoted overall, but that female commissioned officers have consistently been more likely to be promoted than their male counterparts. Female enlisted troops were also less likely to be promoted than men over the entire period studied but surpassed men in promotions slightly between 2015 and 2018. Advertisement Shocking footage has emerged of the devastation left by the collapsing of a Michigan dam. Wixom Lake, a reservoir of the Edenville Dam was entirely drained after record flooding cause the embankment to fail on Tuesday. Brendan Gutenschwager took a look at the damage for himself and videoed the destruction as he walked along the M-30 highway in Edenville. The road lies immediately downstream of the failed dam. Gutenschwager came across a point where a massive chunk of the road had simply been washed away leaving a huge gap. Footage has been taken that shows a Michigan highway completely washed away after the Edenville dam burst At one point in the road, a huge gap was left after the sheer force of the water washed away part of the bridge Brendan Gutenschwager took a look at the damage for himself and videoed the destruction as he walked along the M-30 highway in Edenville The road was highway M-30 in Edenville, Michigan which completely collapsed. The hard shoulder also appeared to break away from the main roadway and sink several feet. The clip shows the damage caused to the highway and a bridge over the Tittabawassee River in Edenville. 'An entire part of the road collapsed altogether,' a shocked Gutenschwager can be heard saying in the clip. 'This is absolutely insane. An entire chunk of the road fell into the river and washed away.' The video also shows footage of the Wixom Lake bed. The lake ended up being drained after Edenville dam collapsed. Damage to a lake marina can also be seen in the video. The force of the water softened the ground so much that the bridge ended up completely collapsing The hard shoulder also ended up falling away from the side of the road. On some parts of the road the asphalt also cracked The National Weather Service said the area was hit with 'extremely dangerous' flooding after the failures of the Edenville and Sanford dams. Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Midland County on Tuesday and encouraged residents to evacuate their homes or move to local shelters. Mass evacuations also took place across the county, including in the towns of Edenville and Sanford. Around 10,000 people were forced to leave the area because of rising waters, although no deaths have been reported . Wixom Lake, a reservoir of the Edenville Dam was also entirely drained after the water was allowed to flow out A boat was left high and dry - stranded by one of the docks on the lake which is now nothing more than a muddy mess On Thursday it was revealed that the company which operated the hydroelectric dam had its license revoked by federal regulators due to history of safety violations. Boyce Hydro Power's history of violations lasted throughout the 14 years the company was authorized to run the nearly century-old Edenville dam, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The commission said it repeatedly raised concerns about the dam's ability to prevent flooding during extreme conditions because of its inadequate spillway capacity. The dam on the Tobacco and Tittabawassee rivers, about 140 miles north of Detroit, was among several barriers overtaken Tuesday by floodwaters that chased more than 10,000 people from communities in central Michigan. No injuries or fatalities related to the flooding have been reported. The commission ordered Boyce Hydro to form an independent team to investigate three other dams it owns on the rivers that were vulnerable to a 'cascading failure scenario.' Among them was the Sanford Dam, which also was damaged. Boyce Hydro Power's history of violations lasted throughout the 14 years the company was authorized to run the nearly century-old Edenville dam, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Windover High School is seen surrounded by flood waters in Midland The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it repeatedly raised concerns about the dam's ability to prevent flooding during extreme conditions because of its inadequate spillway capacity. In this aerial image, Northwood University is seen surrounded by floodwaters in Midland, Michigan, on Wednesday This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows homes and other buildings surrounded by floodwaters in Midland Don Thomas rows Nick Maki (right) and son Jason Thomas past Jason's red 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee that's barely visible above the flooding, after picking up Jason's two family cats from his flooded home in Midland Cars scattered and upended in downtown Sanford, Michigan, amid flooding along the Tittabawassee River An aerial photo made with a drone shows floodwaters from the Tittabawassee River in the downtown area of Midland on Thursday The commission planned to send a staff engineer to the site to assist with the investigation as soon as it could be done safely, Chairman Neil Chatterjee said in a statement. Gov Gretchen Whitmer investigate the dam operators and review 'every possible legal recourse'. 'The initial readout is that this was a known problem for a while and thats why its important that we do our due diligence,' Whitmer said. Lee Mueller, architect and co-member manager of the company, did not return calls for comment Wednesday from The Associated Press. The Edenville dam, in Michigan's Gladwin and Midland counties, includes a series of earthen embankments totaling about 6,600 feet long, with a maximum height of nearly 55 feet. It forms a 2,600-acre reservoir known as Wixom Lake, a popular boating and fishing spot. The dam has two reinforced concrete spillways to carry away excess water when reservoir levels get too high. In its 2018 order revoking Boyce Hydro's license, the commission said its primary concern about the dam was its inability to handle 'the probable maximum flood' - the type of event that could be expected from 'the most severe combination of critical meteorologic and hydrologic conditions that is reasonably possible' in the area. Commission guidelines require that dams be able to withstand such a flood or have enough spillway capacity to prevent reservoirs from rising dangerously high. The Edenville dam's spillway capacity was only about 50 per cent of the probable maximum flood, the commission said. Inadequate spillway capacity is a common problem for US dams, an Associated Press investigation found in 2019. The dam on the Tobacco and Tittabawassee rivers, about 140 miles north of Detroit, was among several barriers overtaken Tuesday by floodwaters that chased more than 10,000 people from communities in central Michigan. This image shows the Sanford Dam An aerial photo shows debris piled against the Sanford Dam spillway on Thursday after the dam collapsed on the Tittabawassee River in Sanford, Michigan This aerial image shows what remains of the Sanford Lake Dam and spillway after its collapse on the Tittabawassee River The Edenville Dam upstream was breached draining a large part of Wixom Lake near Edenville, Michigan, on Tuesday. The dam gave way after heavy rains, sending water downstream and causing the Sanford Dam (pictured Thursday) to give way Water is seen flowing freely past what remains of the Sanford Dam and spillway after it collapsed on the Tittabawassee River The commission said it warned the dam's previous owners of the need for improvements in early 1999, but no changes were made before the license was transferred to Boyce Hydro in 2004. Boyce Hydro said it planned to build an auxiliary spillway on the Tittabawassee River that year and was studying the need for another on the Tobacco River, the commission said. But the company failed to complete either project, repeatedly seeking extensions and missing deadlines, the agency said. Among its other violations: performing unauthorized dam repairs and earth-moving and failing to file an adequate public safety plan, maintain recreation facilities or monitor water quality. For more than a decade, Boyce Hydro 'knowingly and willfully refused to comply with major aspects of its license ... with the result that public safety has been put at risk, and the public has been denied the benefits, particularly project recreation, to which it is entitled,' the commission's order said. 'The record demonstrates that there is no reason to believe that Boyce Hydro will come into compliance,' the commission added. The company 'has displayed a history of obfuscation and outright disregard of its obligations.' The company twice lowered Wixom Lake's level without permission after the federal license was revoked, said Nick Assendelft, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which has overseen the Edenville barrier since its federal license was withdrawn. The department was pursuing enforcement action for the violation and resulting damage to natural resources when the dam gave way, Assendelft said. A lawsuit filed April 30 says the lengthy drawdowns in 2018 and 2019 killed 'thousands, if not millions' of freshwater mussels, many listed as endangered species. The Four Lakes Task Force, an authority formed by the two counties and area property owners, agreed to buy all four dams on the rivers from Boyce Hydro last December and was planning to close the deal within the next couple of months, spokeswoman Stacey Trapani said. The group planned to raise $32million for the purchase and for major upgrades and maintenance, she said. Now, the status of the deal is unclear. 'We're still in emergency mode at the moment,' Trapani said. 'As soon as we are able, we'll start assessments so we can determine a path forward.' Floodwaters also mixed with containment ponds at a Dow Chemical plant and could displace sediment from a downstream Superfund site, though the company said there was no risk to people or the environment. Dow said the ponds held only water, and it has detected no chemical releases from the plant in Midland where the company was founded, though the Environmental Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when they're able. Once the flooding recedes, Dow will be required to assess the Superfund site - contaminated with dioxins the company dumped in the last century - to determine if any contamination was released, the EPA said. But the danger isn't over, and Midland officials asked that residents not return yet. The National Weather Service (NWS) said communities farther downstream were bracing for flooding in the coming days. Not to mention, more rain is coming to the area on Saturday, There's a 30 per cent chance of rain, with more moving into the area Sunday and Monday. 'It's going to continue downriver,' Sara Pampreen, a weather service meteorologist, said. 'Just exactly how much, that's the question.' A car lies buried on Thursday after flood waters from heavy rains caused mass damage in Sanford, Michigan An overturned pontoon boat lies among the debris next to what remains of the Sanford Lake Dam and spillway after its collapse on the Tittabawassee River in Sanford A car is left on a river bank as floods from heavy rains caused mass damage in Sanford, Michigan, on Thursday A washed out West Saginaw Road in Sanford, Michigan, on Thursday after the area saw heavy flooding and damage from heavy rains Dow Chemical has been headquartered in Midland for more than 120 years, and its main plant sits on the city's riverbank. The company, with 9,000 employees and contractors in Midland, on Tuesday shut down all operating units except those needed to contain chemicals, spokesman Kyle Bandlow said. No chemical releases have been detected, he said. But the flooding likely will pose a significant setback to the Superfund cleanup, said Allen Burton, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan. Dioxins released by Dow contaminated sediments and floodplains along 50 miles of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers to Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. The federal Superfund program investigates and cleans up toxic waste sites. Dow and the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy will have to determine where the floodwaters have moved the dioxins, Burton said. 'They knew where all that stuff was, but the power of water is unbelievable and it's going to move things around,' Burton said. Meanwhile, more than 13 million people are under flash-flood watches across the Mid-Atlantic states. Residents in parts of North Carolina and Virginia have been put at risk of floods and dam failure after more than seven inches of rain fell on the area. Rivers in South Carolina and Illinois were also at flood stage, forecasters said. City officials in Roanoke, Virginia, announced Thursday morning that 13 homes had to be evacuated due to heavy rain threatening the Spring Valley Dam. An Italian accountant whose son bought her the raffle ticket as a Christmas present won a Pablo Picasso oil painting valued at 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in a charity draw Wednesday. Claudia Borgogno summed up her amazement in one word: Incredible. I have never won anything before, the 58-year-old told The Associated Press from her home in Ventimiglia, northern Italy. She said she likes Picasso, and the prospect of being able to hang one of the 20th Century masters paintings on her wall was still sinking in. Her son, Lorenzo Naso, bought two tickets in December, sending one to his mother. It was maybe the best decision in my life, he told The AP. The ticket was picked out in an electronic draw at the auction house Christies in Paris. Organizers valued the painting, Nature Morte, or Still Life, as being worth 1 million euros. The billionaire art collector who provided it, David Nahmad, said the work is worth at least two, three times that. Claudia has won this extraordinary painting tonight that is worth one million and so is a millionaire, organizer Peri Cochin announced after Borgognos name and winning ticket number were displayed on a screen. The 51,140 tickets sold online for 100 euros ($109) each. Proceeds are going to provide water for villagers in Madagascar and Cameroon. The draw was originally scheduled for March but delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Naso told The AP that he hadnt realized it was taking place Wednesday and wasnt watching the live broadcast. The call from organizers to say that his mother had won came as shock. She didnt believe it. A cameraman, wearing a protective face mask, stands in front of the painting "Nature Morte, 1921" by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso before the charity raffle official draw to designate the winner of the Picasso oil painting for 100 euros at Christie's auction house in Paris, May 20, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (REUTERS) When I arrived and I told her she has won she was like, Please dont joke, he said. She is not going to sleep tonight. Naso, an analyst for the European Unions securities markets regulator, lives in Paris but has been staying with his mother in Italy during the coronavirus lockdown. It was a pretty awful period for us during this lockdown and now its great news, he said. Nahmad will be paid 900,000 euros for the work. The painting was the smallest of 300 works by Picasso that he owns, the largest private collection of works by the Spanish artist. The small still life measuring 9in by 18in (23cm by 46cm), which is signed Picasso, shows a newspaper and a glass of absinthe on a wood table. Picasso painted it in 1921. Tickets were bought in more than 100 countries, with the bulk sold in France, the United States, Switzerland and Italy. The 1 Picasso for 100 euros project organised by French charity house Aider les Autres (Help the Others) aims to raise funds for various humanitarian projects. The winner of a similar raffle in 2013 was a 25-year-old fire sprinkler worker from Pennsylvania who took home Picassos 1914 work LHomme au Gibus (Man With Opera Hat), valued at more than $1 million. -- with inputs from Associated Press Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Raghu Das, IDTechEx CEO advises, "If you can get your battery, supercapacitor or solar power from area, you do not need the highest efficiency. This is often the logic behind the new plastic-film forms of new thermoelectrics, piezoelectrics, triboelectrics, electrets and photovoltaics and of wide-area cuttable, printed or painted sensors. Biodegradable papertronics with ink and pens using, resistive, conductive, light-emitting and semiconductive inks are also part of this." Ubiquitous Electronics University of Tokyo researchers demonstrate plastic film hybrid electronics saying, "You can do more than just cut this sheet into fun or interesting shapes. It is thin and flexible. You can mold it around curved surfaces such as bags and clothes. Our idea is anyone could transform various surfaces into wireless charging areas." See the IDTechEx report, "Flexible Hybrid Electronics 2020-2030: Applications, Challenges, Innovations and Forecasts." Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has polymer-sheet batteries you cut to shape for chosen energy storage and locations. They work even after being shot and soaked. The University of Buffalo fabricates kirigami-inspired stretchable electronics you cut and shape and that also alters electric and mechanical properties three things. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore shows a fabric-like wearable supercapacitor that can be cut, folded, or stretched and it even demonstrates customisable stretchability of its wearable electronics. Microgrid Carpet Unrolling like a carpet, Renovagen photovoltaics will soon be available up to a huge 300kW output. You choose power by choosing length and width. It can unroll across a field as a temporary microgrid for outdoor events or charging the farmer's new robots in distant places. The basic copper indium gallium diselenide CIGS technology has been applied as film to buses and building facades competing with the more colourful, less-efficient Heliatek organic photovoltaic film which both refreshes a building and makes it greener. A German grouping plans to double the CIGS efficiency so it can usefully be applied to many more locations. Buy a Pot of Solar Power Get your electronics and electrics as paint or ink? NYU Tandon, University of Buffalo, Peking University and others have demonstrated painted photovoltaics and now seek efficiency high enough to commercialise them. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology even has solar paint that creates hydrogen fuel. Stamping Cars From Reels of Electrics Cars were made with huge rolls of steel stamped into bodywork by the car factory. One day they may be stamped out of huge reels of solar + supercapacitor sourced by the car factory from materials companies. "Free" electricity reducing the weight, taking no space, more reliable and lasting much longer. What's not to like? Then aircraft, trains, ships, laptops? Self-healing supercapacitor bodywork has been demonstrated by Lamborghini. See the IDTechEx report, "Solar Cars, Buses, Trucks, Trains 2020-2030." The more savvy materials companies sense a new megatrend in all this, perfect for them. For more information on this report, please visit www.IDTechEx.com or for the full portfolio of related research available from IDTechEx please visit www.IDTechEx.com/research/EH. IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Consultancy and Event products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information on IDTechEx Research and Consultancy, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1171646/IDTechEx_Infographic.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/478371/IDTechEx_Logo.jpg Media Contact: Jessica Abineri Marketing Coordinator [email protected] +44-(0)1223-812300 SOURCE IDTechEx Related Links https://www.idtechex.com WASHINGTON -- The coronavirus vaccine, now in the earliest stages of its development, "might take some time" before it is ready to go on the market, Congress was told this past week. Our nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is advising the Trump administration in the battle against the deadly virus, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the cure for the COVID-19 disease must first be "focused on the proven public health practices of containment and mitigation." Earlier, in an interview with The New York Times, Fauci also warned that "moving too quickly to ease restrictions on business and social life will put lives at risk from the coronavirus pandemic and hamper the economic recovery." And in a sharper warning to the administration, he told the Senate panel that "states should not forge ahead without first meeting administration guidelines for 14 days of declining cases." "If we skip over the checkpoints ... we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told the Times. "This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal." The 79-year-old Fauci was originally scheduled to testify before the health committee in the House, until the White House blocked him from appearing before the Democratic-controlled panel. Fauci received a friendlier reception from the GOP-run panel, where Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer couldn't resist telling MSNBC on Monday that "Dr. Fauci will have the opportunity to testify for the first time without Donald Trump lurking over his shoulder." As it turned out, Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman, was back home in Tennessee, self-quarantining after a staff member had tested positive for the coronavirus. Nevertheless, Fauci leveled his warnings as many, if not most, states were ignoring some of the guidelines about reopening their businesses and social restrictions -- after Trump lectured them that the were moving too slowly. "If some areas, cities, states or what-have-you, jump over those various checkpoints and prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently, my concern is that we will start to see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks," Fauci told the committee. "I have been very clear in my message -- to try, to the best extent possible, to go by the guidelines, which have been very well thought-out and very well delineated," he said. This was Fauci's first testimony before Congress since the president declared the pandemic virus a national emergency on March 13, but seemed to play down the severity and potential national spread of the coronavirus infection and its lengthy impact. At one point in his testimony, Fauci contradicted the president's false claims that the virus would die out on its own and "miraculously" disappear. "That is just not going to happen," Fauci said. "It's a highly transmissible virus. It is likely there will be virus somewhere on this planet that will likely get back to us." While Johnson and Johnson and other pharmaceutical companies are racing to identify and produce an effective vaccine, medical experts like Fauci and two federal government colleagues "cautioned that neither a vaccine nor surefire treatments would be available when schools are slated to reopen in the fall -- a grim reminder that it is unlikely life will soon return to normal even if Americans try to resume their routines," the Washington Post reported. "If SARS-CoV-2 establishes itself as a stubborn, endemic virus akin to influenza, medical experts say, there almost certainly will not be enough vaccine for at least several years," the newspaper said. Donald Lambro has been covering Washington politics for more than 50 years as a reporter, editor and commentator. There is growing turbulence in the political atmosphere in China. With the Big Two as the plenary meetings of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National Peoples Congress (NPC) are known scheduled for May 21 and 22 respectively, opposition to Chinese President Xi Jinping is visibly increasing. The CPPCC and NPC plenums, held in Beijing each March but delayed this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will have almost 7,000 deputies and officials from across the country gathered to discuss and approve laws, the national budget anticipating the economic situation for the coming year, and the national defence and security budgets. Xi Jinpings opponents appear to perceive this as an opportunity to widen the ambit of criticism and gather the assembled deputies support. Criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sparked when Xi Jinping, in March 2018, abolished the term-limits for top posts, allowing him and others chosen by him to continue beyond the accepted retirement age. A large number of serving and retired party members and cadres who suffered during the violent cultural revolution decade, apprehending a return to the one-man rule of Mao Zedong, are opposed to it. Other factors too contributed to the spread of dissatisfaction with the regime. Mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan and the death of Doctor Li Wenliang, punished for making public the news of the coronavirus, provoked a surge in public discontent and criticism. Add to that the instances of apparent subtle protest by some publications of provincial party organisations. Criticisms centred mainly on the Party controlling everything; incrementally stringent and intrusive security controls; the pervasive Social Credit Management system which evaluates the loyalty and trustworthiness of each individual to allow or withhold benefits; expanding the Partys surveillance; imposition of the Party ideology on educational institutions; undue centralisation of the authority; and discarding of Deng Xiaopings policy of lie low, bide your time. The perception that the China Dream was slipping out of the leaderships grasp was also growing because of the protest movements in Hong Kong, the re-election of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan, and tensions in the South China Sea. A number of Party cadres, academics and officials in Chinese think-tanks privately blame Xi Jinpings aggressive foreign policy for Chinas growing international isolation and rapidly deteriorating relations with the United States (US). The unemployed, whose number went up from around 20 million in 2019 to an estimated 70-80 million by March this year, and complaints by ex-Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) personnel, added to the widening discontent. This has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemics impact on Chinas economy. Despite Chinese President Xi Jinpings exhortations to cadres since early February to resume production, the economic revival has been slow. Discouraged by government policies and the expansion of State-owned Enterprises (SoEs) into all sectors of the economy, prominent Chinese businessmen have publicly voiced complaints and, in late March, delivered a letter to Xi Jinping seeking reforms. These included a call for the return to Deng Xiaopings policy of lie low, bide your time. Prominent Chinese economists have stated that unless the US and European economies start picking up, China cannot expect its economy to revive. Amid this and almost without precedent in communist China people blamed the CCP and Xi Jinping. Many senior Party cadres, officials, intellectuals, academics, students and others have risked punishment to criticise Xi Jinping on their social media. Intellectuals and Professors such as Xu Zhongrun, Xu Zhiyong, Zhang Xuezhong and Yu Linqi have demanded on WeChat that Xi Jinping step down. These posts have gone viral. A major indication of a serious inner-Party discontent was seen in a March 22 WeChat report when princelings, the children of high-level veteran Party cadres, called for an Emergency Enlarged Meeting of the Chinese Communist Partys (CCPs) Politburo to discuss Xi Jinpings replacement. A May 5 essay in PLA Daily described the bleak economic and political situation as having reached a high explosive point, which foreign powers could use to provoke social upheaval. Concerned at the evolving situation, Xi Jinping established a new high-level Small Group, with nine of his loyalists as members to prevent and crack down on activities that endanger the political security of the country. He came down hard on Hong Kong, increased pressure on Taiwan, and enhanced Chinas presence in the South China Sea. Xi Jinping is mentally tough and, as a princeling, has strong connections to the Party veterans. His trusted loyalists occupy crucial powerful positions. He is unlikely to back-off quietly in the face of inner-Party opposition. The new Small Group is a clear warning to opponents, princelings and Party veterans to fall in line. But whether they do so depends on the extent of the opposition in the middle and higher echelons of the Party and its veterans. Jayadeva Ranade is a former additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India. Currently, he is president, Centre for China Analysis and Strategy The views expressed are personal New York The state is extending its March 20 sales tax filing deadline again, this time to June 22. The state previously extended the March deadline for businesses to send sales taxes they collected until May 19. The new June date is meant to help small businesses as they continue to confront the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today during a press conference in New York City. "We understand that they have financial issues, obviously," he said. "We're trying to do everything we can on a state level." Contact tracing calls New York's program to trace the contacts of people infected with the coronavirus is ramping up. Cuomo said phones will identify calls from the state's tracers as "NYS Contact Tracing." If you get one of those calls, answer it, he said. It likely means you've been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus and you may want to get tested or isolate yourself. "It's not a hoax. It's not a scam. It's not a fraud," Cuomo said. "It's for your health. It's for your family's health." Got complaints about a business? Employees who believe their companies aren't following state guidance on protective equipment, hygiene or social distancing should call the state's coronavirus hotline at 1-888-364-3065. Rockland County ready for surgeries Rockland County, outside New York City, is ready to restart elective surgeries and ambulatory care, Cuomo said. The state ordered health care facilities to cancel elective procedures in March to free up hospital bed space for coronavirus patients. Many parts of the state, including the Syracuse area, have been allowed to restart the procedures in recent weeks. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Ask Syracuse.com: When can we visit the parents? When will the DMV, gyms reopen? Syracuse University announces fall return date and adjusted academic schedule Central NY coronavirus hospitalizations at all-time high, Cuomo not concerned yet Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 Louisiana engineers and scientists awarded $20M in federal funding to find and test the best 3-D printing materials using machine learning Louisiana State University is leading an innovative $20 million project that will introduce new technologies and materials to boost a range of manufacturing industries, with federal support from the National Science Foundation, or NSF. 3-D printing technology holds the potential to reinvent the manufacturing industry, but the materials currently available do not meet the needs for structural safety and integrity. To solve this, LSU scientists and engineers, along with collaborators throughout the state, will be discovering and testing the composition, processing, microstructure, performance and structural integrity of materials that can be used in advanced 3-D printing. "This game-changing work is at the frontiers of science, engineering and education. We are committed to connecting our research discoveries to industry, so they can have real-world impacts," said Michael Khonsari, the Dow Chemical Endowed Chair in Rotating Machinery in the LSU Department of Mechanical Engineering, who is the project director for the newly established Louisiana Materials Design Alliance, or LAMDA, in his capacity as Associate Commissioner for Research at Louisiana Board of Regents. LAMDA is comprised of scientists and engineers at five Louisiana universities - Louisiana Tech, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Southern University A&M, Tulane University and LSU. The Louisiana Board of Regents is administering this grant. "This is a great win for Louisiana and the economy that will provide a much-needed boost to the manufacturing industry in our state and across the U.S. We are thankful for the National Science Foundation's support of the research expertise at LSU and throughout Louisiana," said LSU Interim President Tom Galligan. NSF has funded the project for five years. "This project is a superb example of synergistic, inter-related research and educational activities that support a larger national scientific priority area," said NSF Established Program to Stimulate Collaborative Research Director Ann Stapleton. LAMDA researchers will develop and use state-of-the-art machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to efficiently hone in on the specific materials that can deliver the best performance metrics and structural integrity for 3-D printing. "Any trial and error in the lab would take days and years of design. This is why the team will use machine learning to figure out what type of materials to use, and how to optimize them. Essentially, LAMDA will develop a framework for material design guided by machine learning," Khonsari said. At LSU, the researchers involved include co-Principal Investigator and the Jack Holmes Professor in Mechanical Engineering Shengmin Guo; co-Principal Investigator and the Major Morris S. & DeEtte A. Anderson Memorial LSU Alumni Professor of Mechanical Engineering Guoqiang Li; Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Genevieve Palardy; the A. K. & Shirley Barton Professor of Mathematics Blaise A. Bourdin; LSU Chemistry Professor Leslie G. Butler; the Oskar R. Menton Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Center for Computation & Technology Xin "Shane" Li; the Smiley and Bernice Romero Raborn Chair in Mechanical Engineering Wen Jin Meng; Assistant Professor in the Division of Computer Science & Engineering Mingxuan Sun; Associate Professor in the Division of Computer Science & Engineering Jian Zhang; the Alexis and Marguerite Voohries Professor of Mechanical Engineering, the Richard J. and Katherine J. Juneau Distinguished Professor and Department Chair of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering Dimitris E. Nikitopoulos; LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy Professor Phillip T. Sprunger; and LSU Chemistry Professor John A. Pojman. "This alliance brings some of the top talent at LSU and around the state together to do what we do best: discover, innovate, test and deliver. All along the way, LAMDA will work closely with key industry leaders and educate the workforce," said LSU Vice President of Research & Economic Development Sam Bentley. In addition, the faculty will develop new courses and student-led LAMDA research projects to grow the skilled and diverse STEM workforce in Louisiana. Summer training programs for community college faculty will also provide them with educational tools in 3-D printing methods and software, which can be incorporated into community college classrooms. The NSF grant will support 14 new faculty at the five universities that are part of LAMDA. "We want an influx of new faculty as well as industry partners to come and work with us," Khonsari said. ### The election for the Portland City Council seat currently held by Commissioner Chloe Eudaly will extend into November as voters have forced the incumbent into a runoff with political newcomer Mingus Mapps. As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Eudaly led with 31.3% of the vote and Mapps with 28.6%. Former Mayor Sam Adams missed out on a spot in the Nov. 3 general election, capturing 56,933 votes or 27.7%. Just 1,764 votes separated Mapps and Adams in the race. Its the second time Eudaly will be in a runoff election. She finished second with 15% of the vote as a first-time candidate in the 2016 primary election to then-incumbent Commissioner Steve Novicks 43% tally. That November, she captured 54% of the vote to become the first city council candidate to beat an incumbent in more than two decades. Now Eudaly is the incumbent facing a first-time candidate in Mapps, a former city employee of the Office of Community and Civic Life, which Eudaly oversees. Eudaly faced seven challengers vying for her city council seat. Four of the five seats on the Portland City Council were contested in Tuesdays election. Carmen Rubio was elected to the seat currently held by Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who opted not to run for reelection after three terms. Loretta Smith and Dan Ryan advanced to an Aug. 11 runoff to see who fills the remainder of late Commissioner Nick Fishs term. Mayor Ted Wheeler also faces a November runoff against urban policy consultant Sarah Iannarone. Eudaly wrote on her campaign Facebook page Wednesday that Adams called her to concede the race. She commended him on his campaign, said they have different approaches to policy making but shared many of the same values and noted that she was initially puzzled he chose to run for her city council seat. She described Mapps as someone significantly to the right of both Sam and I. While it would have been preferable to get to turn 100% of my focus back to my work, campaigns are opportunities to define and challenge yourself, Eudaly wrote. Thank you for your support! I look forward to continuing to work with our community toward a better Portland for all of us. A former bookstore owner who is a strong advocate for disability and renters rights, Eudaly while in office has spearheaded two renter protection policies, one requiring landlords to provide evicted tenants with relocation payments and the other lowering barriers to securing a rental home. She ordered code enforcement officers to limit punishing people sleeping in RVs or tiny homes on private property, and championed the city financing free legal defense for Portlanders in Immigration Court. And she recently launched the Rose Lane Project, an initiative meant to more quickly move buses through city streets. But her attempt to change the citys neighborhood association structure alienated many of the systems supporters. Ultimately, the city delayed the proposed changes and elected to embark on a years-long process to further review the citys role in engaging residents. Among Eudalys pledges in a second term are full funding for the citys rental services office, improved and safer infrastructure to get closer to Vision Zeros safety goals, increased electric vehicle infrastructure, more funding and oversight for the city to consistently provide accommodations for people with disabilities and in need of language supports and changes to the citys arts tax to require more tax revenue from higher-income earners. Mapps, a community organizer and former political science professor, was a supervisor for the citys crime prevention program and later the neighborhood association system until he was fired last June. He said it was because he refused to discipline an employee and said Eudaly didnt play a hand in him being let go from the city. Mapps has been critical of Eudalys management style as being too divisive, saying that he believes hed be a more constructive alternative. He said he wants to preserve the neighborhood association system but tweak it to increase civic engagement in historically marginalized communities and throughout the city. Mapps has said he would favor the city moving away from its current form of government, offering more incentives to builders of affordable housing such as a streamlined building permit process and fee reductions, funding more police officers and curtailing their roles as first responders to incidents involving people in apparent mental health crisis. He also called for the city to build more high-density housing particularly along heavy traffic areas near public transit. Mapps told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Tuesday evening that he was encouraged by his second-place finish in a race against an incumbent and former mayor and liked his chances against Eudaly in November. "Itll be pedal to the metal for us until November or someone makes us stop, he said. Adams served as chief of staff under former Mayor Vera Katz for 11 years and was first elected to the Portland City Council in 2004 as a commissioner. He was then elected as mayor in 2008 marking the first time an openly gay man held the position in a major U.S. city. Adams served one term as mayor, which included him admitting to lying about a sexual relationship with an 18 year old he met as a commissioner and surviving two attempts to recall him from office. In an email to supporters, Adams said he called to congratulate both Eudaly and Mapps and that he looked forward to their race. He noted how close he was to making the runoff, that he launched his city council bid two months before the coronavirus pandemic impacted Portland and that his father died in the midst of his campaign. Adams thanked his loved ones and his team and said he was proud of the race he ran. You all stepped up your support for this campaign, Adams wrote. And, together, accomplished a tremendous amount, and I am proud that we helped focus City Hall on actionable local policies that even right now can help us. -- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The attorney for Seattle Seahawks defensive back Quinton Dunbar claims to have evidence that Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker was at a party last week where he allegedly lost $70,000, despite Bakers representatives adamantly denying that claim, following Bakers arrest on armed robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm charges. Michael Grieco, Dunbars attorney, posted a screenshot of a text message on Twitter, alleging to be Baker: 1/2 If, according to the accusers, our client Quinton Dunbar lost a bunch of money earlier in the week at some gambling party (suggesting he had motive)..why did the organizer text Dunbar about not knowing about the prior party and what went down? Answer: because he wasnt there. pic.twitter.com/X5em5EmQRB Michael Grieco (@Mike_Grieco) May 20, 2020 Bakers attorney, Patrick Patel, says Baker will take legal action against Grieco for posting the photo. Baker is going to immediately file a lawsuit against Grieco for libel and slander, making everybody believe that Baker is in that picture, because his name is in the text, Patel told The New York Post. Introducing Giants Extra: Sign up for a free trial now. Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text directly with reporters Sunday, Baker was released on $200,000 bond from the Broward County Sheriffs Office Jail, and entered a not guilty plea on all eight counts. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, multiple witnesses claim Baker and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar stole upwards of $12,800 dollars along with an $18,000 Rolex, $25,000 Hubolt, and a $17,500 Audemars Piguet watch. Baker allegedly flipped a table following an argument while playing cards, brandished a semi-automatic firearm and pointed it at a party guest in Miramar, Fla. Baker allegedly ordered a third assailant -- wearing a red mask -- to shoot an individual just walking in the door. Buy Giants tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek Bakers alleged actions at the party come two days after a witness in the affidavit says Baker and Dunbar lost $70,000 at another party in Miami. Patel vehemently denies Baker was at the party in Miami, and that it is his client in the tweeted photo. The text is complete bullst, Patel said. Read a text posted by the New York Post. You can say anybody is that person. Wasnt it everybodys bullst at the beginning that my client Baker lost $70,000? Now go read the text. The text is saying Baker won $10,000. So what are we doing? Look at the size of the arms and the tats, Patel said. Its not him. Get Giants text messages from reporters: Cut through the clutter of social media and text directly with the Giants beat writers. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now for a free trial. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Follow Matt Lombardo on Twitter at @MattLombardoNFL. US President Donald Trump, approaching his longest stretch without a political rally since he announced his candidacy five years ago, has taken to blaming Democrats for grounding his campaign. But even as several states begin relaxing their coronavirus restrictions, Mr Trump has not scheduled any rallies in Republican-led states and his campaign has not reached out to governors in swing states to enquire about holding large political events. The claim of politically motivated closures was outlined most directly by Mr Trump's son Eric, who accused Democrats of trying to strip the president of his greatest re-election weapon. "They're trying to deprive him of his greatest asset, which is the fact that the American people love him - the fact that he is relatable, the fact that he can go out there and can draw massive crowds," Eric Trump told Fox News on Saturday, echoing the president's charge. "Joe Biden can't get 10 people in a room. My father is getting 50,000 in a room. And they want to do everything they can to stop it." The president has accused Democrats of "playing politics" with their plans to reopen their economies. He has also said that Mr Biden, the former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee, is benefiting from the closures because they have kept him out of the spotlight. And now, despite a pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people in the US and forced economic shutdowns, the president has said he will soon be filling arenas. But that prediction might be more optimism than reality, raising the possibility that Mr Trump will be unable to deploy his trademark political events for some time. A survey of governors' offices in 10 swing states showed none had received a request from the president's campaign to hold a rally and that most are operating under reopening plans that would not allow large gatherings any time soon. "Not aware of any such request," a spokeswoman for Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp said when asked whether the Trump campaign had reached out about holding a rally in the state. Mr Kemp was the first governor to relax coronavirus restrictions, but large gatherings like rallies remain prohibited unless attendees can maintain six feet of distance from one another. "The Trump campaign has not reached out to the governor's office" about holding a rally, said Helen Ferre, a spokeswoman for Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Even though Mr DeSantis has begun easing restrictions in the key swing state, social distancing rules are still in force. It has been 80 days since Mr Trump last held a campaign rally, and he could soon surpass the 92-day stretch that began in December 2017 for the longest drought since he launched his presidential campaign in June 2015. Mr Trump has held 400 rallies since first announcing his candidacy and regularly credits the raucous events with powering him to the White House. Breaking with precedent, Mr Trump continued to hold political rallies in the weeks after his 2016 victory, launched his re-election campaign on the day of his inauguration and has held dozens of rallies each year since the beginning of his term. In the weeks before the coronavirus outbreak shut down dozens of states, Mr Trump had been holding one or two rallies each week, part of a strategy touted by his campaign as critical to its data and turnout operations. Campaign advisers said they had built an entire apparatus around the rallies, turning them into week-long events bracketed by surrogate appearances, bus tours and tailgate-style parties. The campaign launched a mobile app last month that aims to capitalise on the rallies. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said that Mr Trump "connects best with the American people" on the campaign trail, adding that rallies would resume "as soon as it is possible". He declined to say whether the campaign had determined which states the president would focus on or if officials had been in touch with specific states to plan out rallies. ( Washington Post) Chelseas new book, The Girl Next Door, will be released on May 26. She stopped by to give us some recs for some other small town romances. Thanks Chelsea! Im from a small town. When I say that, I dont think a lot of people have a concept of HOW small I mean. Im talking less than 3,000 people. I went to the same school for kindergarten through eighth grade. Many of the teachers I had are still teaching there, some of them with friends of mine who are now teachers themselves. Our town dump used to be on one road, but was moved probably twenty years ago. People still call that road the Dump Road. Theres a comfort in small towns, of things changing, but remaining the same. I have a sense of security every time I go back and visit and see the same faces at the gas station, or the bank (where I worked as a teller), or the library. In my book, The Girl Next Door, I wrote a love letter to small towns like mine, where everyone knows everyone elses business, but where you can always count on people to take care of their own. Iris, the main character thinks that she cant possibly belong where she grew up, but she comes to find that there are people just like her, even in the most unlikely of places. One of my most favorite reads that I think fits under the definition of small-town romance is Tikka Chance on Me by Suleikha Snyder. Im a HUGE fan of books where the character has left home, but has to return (which happens to be what The Girl Next Door is about!). Pinky comes home to help her parents at their restaurant and runs into a guy she knew from high school, whos also back in town. This novella is DELICIOUS in so many ways. Another I loved that really made the town feel like an entire world is When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore. Its an utterly gorgeous book about people who dont really fit in finding comfort in each other, and that resonates so strongly with me, because its how I always felt. A recent read that ranks as one of my favorite Beverly Jenkins books is Vivid. It takes place in Michigan in the 1870s, featuring a female physician and the mayor of a town his family founded. I love meddling family and neighbors who all conspire to make the two main characters realize theyre meant to be. This might be considered more of a small village romance, but the last book I read was A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant, and it knocked my socks off. A widow and a rake conspire together to save her land (and the people on it) from being inherited by her husbands evil brother. Both of them are aristocrats who get completely entangled in the lives of their tenants, and are changed for the better for it. About the Book Title: The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron New York Times bestselling author Chelsea M. Cameron is back with the opposites-attract, sweet-and-sexy small-town romance youve been waiting for. Iris Turner hightailed it out of Salty Cove, Maine, without so much as a backward glance. Which is why finding herself back in her hometownin her childhood bedroom, no lesshas the normally upbeat Iris feeling a bit down and out. Her spirits get a much-needed lift, though, at the sight of the sexy girl next door. No one knows why Jude Wicks is back in Salty Cove, and thats just how she likes it. Jude never imagined shed be once again living in her parents house, never mind hauling lobster like a local. But the solitude is just what she needsuntil Iris tempts her to open up. A no-strings summer fling seems like the perfect distraction for both women. Jude rides a motorcycle, kisses hard and gives Iris the perfect distraction from her tangled mess of a life. But come September, Iris is still determined to get out of this zero-stoplight town. That is, unless Jude can give her a reason to stay One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance youre looking for with an HEA/HFN. Its a promise! Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters. A new Carina Adores title is available each month: Buy Links Amazon B&N iTunes Kobo Google About the Author Chelsea M. Cameron is a New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author from Maine who now lives and works in Boston. Shes a red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader, and worlds worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, tweeting, and playing fetch with her cat, Sassenach. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is. Visit her at www.chelseamcameron.com. Connect with Chelsea M. Cameron Website: https://chelseamcameron.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chel_c_cam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelccam/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chelsea-M-Cameron-Official-Author-Page-304422529610919/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5752359.Chelsea_M_Cameron Like this: Like Loading... There is still uncertainly about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He disappeared from his usual schedule of public events on April 12th and did not reappear until May 1st , when he made several well-publicized public appearances. But since then nothing. Satellite photos do not show the movement of Kims private train, which is his usual means of transportation around the country. The train carries his limousines and a large security team. Kim appears to be working from one of his country estates, perhaps to avoid covid19, which officially does not exist in North Korea. There are also doubts about the May 1st appearances because of the possibility that Kim has a body double that could have been used for the May 1st photos. After Kims April heart surgery China sent some medical specialists in, but these were officially there to help deal with covid19. Some of the Chinese doctors sent were known to be specialists in other areas. China is not saying anything but is concerned about its unstable, unruly and often disobedient neighbor. Other Medical Emergencies North Korea continues to regard all information relating to covid19 as state secrets. Officially North Korea denies that covid19 is a problem in North Korea. This seems to be a practical attitude because North Korea has no real public health capability, especially the ability to monitor the overall impact of covid19. The only data collected about the disease was what impact it had on the military. That data was secret, but because just about every family in the country has someone in the military, the data got leaked. By early March several thousand North Koreas soldiers appear to have been quarantined on suspicion of having the virus. These cases were almost all along the Chinese border. North Korea cannot afford to test many people for covid19. Instead the army has been ordered to isolate any soldiers who exhibit symptoms of the virus. This probably puts some non-covid19 patients in quarantine with those who do have it. Hundreds of soldiers have died recently of fever and families are being told the bodies were cremated. As of mid-May North Koreans continue to get covid19 but there are not enough deaths to generate widespread panic. China has evidence of North Korean smugglers or legal Chinese visitors to North Korea coming back infected and reviving the spread of covid19 on the Chinese side of the border. Compared to China and North Korea, South Korea has suffered a much lower death rate for people infected. China admits to a death rate of three per million people while South Korea has a well-documented rate five per million people. China claims only 58 cases per million people while South Korea has 217 per million. During the first two months of 2020 China seemed to accurately report cases and deaths and that trend indicated an infection and death rate two or three times that of South Korea. But after February China suddenly reported a sharp decline in cases and deaths. This was contradicted by many reports from people living in China. Such reporting was declared a crime and there is now much less of it. China claims that there is no longer any covid19 danger in China. Unofficial reports getting past Chinese censors and out to the rest of the world indicate that covid19 is still infecting and killing people in China and people are resisting government offers to pretend that the covid19 epidemic has passed. Similar situation in North Korea where the government insists there has never been a covid19 epidemic, just a few isolated cases that were quickly taken care of. North Korea does have one advantage in restricting the spread of covid19; poor transportation networks. Government mismanagement of the economy has left the roads, and railroads in poor shape and it is very difficult to travel in North Korea. So covid19 could not spread much from the few active entry points on the Chinese border and a few ports. Even with that there were some large outbreaks along the Chinese border and in some military units. By any measure South Korea has an excellent health system. As a result South Korea has been able to cope and has already contained the virus, with the number of new cases declining and fewer deaths. Despite this superior performance North Korea will not accept any South Korean help in this matter because the official word in the north is that the government kept the virus out. In most of the country that is true. But along the still porous Chinese border it is no secret with the locals that covid19 got into their part of North Korea. People living near the Chinese border increasingly ignore government propaganda and take their own precautions to avoid the disease. While the military has a rudimentary health system for their personnel and some resources to deal with covid19 infections, modern health care is only available to the most senior officials both military and non-military. These officials also have access to the outside world and what is really going on with covid19 in other countries. North Korea is going through the covid19 epidemic the old fashioned way and that is not all that shocking in the north, where people are perplexed by all the fuss. After all the North Korean government took no precautions during SARS (2003) and MERS (2015) virus outbreaks. What is different about covid19 is that it spreads more easily and quickly. Not to the extent that it could be described as an exterminating disease. Only a few percent of those infected die and these are mainly the very old or already very sick. In North Korea you have to add a fourth vulnerable group; the malnourished. Food shortages have been worse the past few years and a lot more people are simply not getting enough to eat. There are also more homeless children and adults in urban areas and they tend to be in poor health. Some of these deaths may be from other causes but even North Korea medical personnel, at least outside the capital, do not have the diagnostic equipment to confirm covid19 deaths. Officially there is a national health-care system but the reality is that only the capital and the military have any significant medical resources. The only place where you see a lot of people wearing face masks is the capital where only key security personnel and the most elite officials (the one percenters) were issued masks. Other people improvise. North Korea has suppressed any official, or unofficial, news of what is really happening. But North Koreans still have their cell phones, although they have to use carefully selected code words to pass on covid19 related news. Information brokers on the Chinese side of the border are still getting plenty of business even though much less information is getting out since the government began restricting movement within North Korea and across the border in January. On February 20 all schools (except for a few elite science programs) were shut down for a month. Long distance travel by train, plane, automobile or boat was restricted or banned. The border ban includes North Koreans arrested in China for being there illegally. It is also illegal to leave North Korea without permission and these prisoners are usually transferred back to North Korea for punishment. That has been halted until the covid19 danger has passed. The only legal crossings from North Korea are foreign diplomats being expelled on suspicion of having covid19. The military has banned leave for soldiers and restricted who can leave the base. New recruits are being turned down if they have any indications of sickness, especially lung related. Lacking the resources to test for covid19, military doctors are using cruder method that see more conscripts having their induction delayed for months or longer. The military only takes in new recruits twice a year but one of those induction periods occurs in mid-January and lasts about a month. The military also discharges soldiers who have completed their enlistments (of up to ten years) at the same time. These discharges have been delayed as well, for a month or more. Same deal for officers retiring or completing their mandatory active service before going into the reserves. In early February North Korea halted all Chinese tourism, despite the fact that this is a major source of foreign currency and curbed normal (business and government) travel to China. North Korea is also very poor and in no condition to deal with an outbreak of the new virus. Yet North Korea still has a lot of smugglers operating along the Chinese border and in some coastal areas. The border with China has been closed to major traffic since January 30th and that means bulk imports of food and fuel are not arriving. These are legal imports that China is the major supplier of. North Korea cannot afford to maintain much in the way of food or fuel reserves and what reserves do exist are for the military, in case there is a war or other national emergency. These supplies may already have been released to provincial security forces (soldiers and police) but they wont last long if the Chines border remains closed. May 18, 2020: While the stricter 2017 economic sanctions have cut most North Korean foreign trade, the cuts in China trade have been somewhat less. China has always been North Koreas largest trading partner and before the 2917 sanctions China accounted for over 80 percent of North Korean foreign trade. Now it is 95 percent. Even with that the sanctions still hurt. Trade with China was up 15 percent in 2019 to $2.84 billion after hitting an all time low in 2018. Most (over 91 percent) of 2019 trade exported to China. That China trade was down a third during the first two months of 2020, compared to 2019, because of a border shut down to deal with covid19. A major reason why the 2017 sanctions were so effective was because China agreed to enforce them. In the past China tolerated a lot of smuggling and illegal trade with North Korea. Not so much after 2017. China wants North Korea to concentrate more on economic reform and less on ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. One of the legal imports from China is food and North Korea will need a lot of it in 2020 because problems (natural and manmade) with agriculture in the last year resulted in North Korea producing 16 percent less food than it needs to feed its population. Spending remains high for missile and nuclear weapons and this has produced a severe shortage of foreign currency for essential imports, like food. In response to this North Korea has resumed offering government bonds, which can only be purchased using foreign currency. The government wants its legal entrepreneurs (the donju) to buy these bombs. May 15, 2020: South Korea has handled its covid19 economic crises far better than the north has. It appears that the South Korean GDP will shrink less than two percent in 2020 and robust normal growth in 2021. North Korean economic problems continued to grow with covid19 adding to the sanctions related problems. May 14, 2020: Satellite photos show a new North Korean ballistic missile research and production facility being completed outside the capital. North Korea has not halted work on new missiles and several of the 31 missile firings since 2019 involved very long-range missiles. North Korea appears determined to perfect an ICBM (missile that can reach the United States) as well as a ballistic missile carrying submarine. These missile projects consume resources desperately needed for infrastructure maintenance and repair. It is considered treason to criticize the weapons programs or the military. Younger North Koreans are much less accepting of this than their elders. May 13, 2020: in North Korea the head of military intelligence (the GBR or General Reconnaissance Bureau) has been unexpectedly replaced. Also replaced was the army general commanding Kim Jong Uns personal bodyguards since 2010, two years before Kim Jong Un took power. The GBR is responsible for selecting, training and sending agents into other countries for special missions. For example, back in 2013 GBR selected several hundred young soldiers (late teens to early 20s) and trained them to speak better Chinese and how to operate undercover. This was in order to seek out defectors in China, kidnap them and return them to North Korea where they go straight to a labor camp, possibly for life. This was meant to make North Koreans less willing to flee the country. The GBR teams were ordered to concentrate on those defectors attempting to get to South Korea via South Korean embassies in places like Thailand. China tolerated the GBR agents as long as they did not carry weapons or create much fuss. In return the Chinese expect to receive any information about illegal activity inside China that the GBR teams might run across. GBR has also trained and displaced agents to South Korea, Japan and even the United States and Western Europe. May 12, 2020: China is again imposing covid19 restrictions in cities near the North Korean border. Some of the new cases were people who had recently been in North Korea legally or illegally. Because many Chinese and North Korean smugglers regularly cross the border secretly it has been impossible to completely close the North Korean border. China and North Korea have similar problems along their Russian borders. Covid19 is still very active in Russia. May 9, 2020: North Korea ordered a crackdown on corruption in the military. This came after a series of audits were conducted and found many military food and fuel reserve stockpiles had been plundered. Worse, some commanders were stealing food supplies meant for their own troops. The stolen items were sold in the legal markets using falsified documents to disguise their source. There will be arrests and several guilty (or just accused) officers will be executed. That will reduce the thefts for a while but after a year or less the corrupt practices will return. Some of the thefts are not discovered because those involved were able to alter enough documents to prevent auditors from finding anything missing. These thefts have been going on for over a decade and despite regular audits and executions the plundering of military supplies continues. In addition to the thefts there is the widespread practice of troops, or their families, paying commanders bribes to get a soldier into a better job or a non-military job. At the same time the government is also cracking down on people assigned to work for state-owned operations, including the military, actually spending most of their time working in free-market enterprises and earning a lot more money. These entrepreneurs pay bribes to the government managers they are supposed to be working for and those managers also steal the small salary the missing worker is still being paid. This theft also includes military personnel. Government run operations are much less efficient than those managed by donju (entrepreneurs). These legal free markets and other enterprises began to appear over a decade ago because the government was desperate to improve economic productivity. As more and more North Koreans became donju and began to replace less efficient government run operations, national leaders feared they were losing control of the economy. Now donju deemed guilty are being fined or imprisoned. Those who appear to be leaders of the growing number of donju associations are being executed. North Korean leaders wont admit the truth that this sort of thing was inevitable, but they do believe the only solution is nuclear weapons that will enable North Korea to extort cash and goods from South Korea, Japan and the Americans. That plan also has several flaws, some of them fatal for the Kim dynasty. Any senior officials who point out these flaws risk demotion or execution. In North Korea the truth can get you killed. While waiting for the nuclear salvation the government is developing new ways to finance itself. This involves cracking down on foreign currencies (mainly dollars and Chinese yuan) taking over the economy. The latest scam involves issuing government bonds and pressuring cash rich donju and government operations to buy them. The bonds are seen as another government tax because few of the targeted buyers expect that government to ever redeem (buy back) the bonds. Discussing this publically can get you executed, as the government has already demonstrated when the leader of a donju association was found to be trying to organize a boycott of the bonds. Managers of state owned factories have been ordered to come up with local solutions to raw materials and investment capital shortages. Many, if not most, of the competent managers have left to become donju. Those managers now running the state owned enterprises are notable for their inability to innovate and do what the government is now demanding. May 8, 2020: North Korea has resumed legal raw materials exports to China. These exports had been halted earlier in the year to reduce the spread of covid19. At the same time government approved smuggling of these raw materials continued, as did the illegal imports. May 3, 2020: On the DMZ North Korea soldiers fired on a South Korean guard post. There were no injuries from the four 14.5mm bullets accidentally fired from an anti-aircraft gun. South Korean machine-guns fired about 30 rounds before all firing stopped. South Korea protested and North Korea later revealed that the shooting was an accident by inexperienced troops. North Korea did not apologize but did express regret about the poor discipline of its troops. On the South Korean side there was concern because attempts to use a remotely controlled 12.7mm machine-gun failed because of a system problem. May 1, 2020: Supreme leader King Jong Un resumed making public appearances after last seen in public on April 11th absence. A lot of North Koreans believed their troublesome leader was dead. This was encouraged by South Korean news videos that had been smuggled into North Korea and rapidly passed around. Now the speculation in the north is about what health problems the obviously overweight supreme leader is suffering from. On April 12 Kim was seen entering a hospital noted for performing heart surgery. He was believed to have had a relatively simple procedure and then spent the next two weeks recuperating at one of his country estates, where satellite photos spotted his personal railroad cars. Apparently Kim, or one of the senior officials, noted the role illegal South Korean videos played in spreading embarrassing news or speculation on what was going on with leader Kim. The result was another crackdown on the possession and distribution of such videos by high school and college students with cell phones. The new crackdown involves random inspection of cell phones carried by students. This is conducted in areas where the students congregate outside of school. April 30, 2020: In southeast North Korea (Kangwon Province) there has been another outbreak of African Swine Fever, which is highly contagious for pigs and other farm animals. Kangwon province border the DMZ and South Korea, where Swine Fever broke out in mid-2019 and apparently infected wild pigs that inhabit the five kilometers wide DMZ and eventually spread it to animals in North Korea. So far some 6.000 pigs, ducks, geese, goats and sheep have died and the government is trying to isolate the outbreak before it spreads further. These measures often fail because the farmers are so poor and desperate that sick animals are not destroyed (burned) but butchered and the meat sold in local markets or consumed by the farmers family and friends. As a result the livestock disease had spread by mid-May to at least two other provinces. This was in spite of growing government efforts to contain the problem as happens in South Korea and China. China is a source of similar animal killing disease. In 2019 farmers on the Chinese border suffered huge livestock losses from an outbreak of swine flu. Like human flu, this disease is easily spread (via the atmosphere) from pig to pig and although some pigs might survive they must be destroyed (killed and buried) to prevent the spread of the disease. The same tactics are used to halt the spread of Swine Fever. It is difficult to get farmers to cooperate because pork is a major source of meat in North Korea and desperate farmers will butcher and eat or sell the meant of diseased pigs and not kill and bury swine that survive. That means the epidemic keeps spreading. Earlier in 2019 North Korean farmers suffered heavy losses from another outbreak of hoof and mouth disease. This one came in via China, which can afford to cope with these outbreaks. North Korea cannot, especially not just now. Worse, the first cases, which were near the Chinese border, where the virus can get across the rural border areas because it is airborne. Farmers tried to hide the flu by insisting that the cattle deaths were from malnutrition. Thus this early misdiagnosis led to the rapid spread of hoof and mouth. Most (about 80 percent) of North Korean farmers use cattle for plowing and, very rarely as a source of milk and meat (which fetches a high price on the markets) but cattle that die from hoof and mouth must be buried or burned for the dead animal harbors the virus. Killing cattle without government permission is a capital crime in North Korea thus an uncontrolled hoof and mouth outbreak is a potential disaster. Outbreaks of these farm animal diseases are common throughout the region but North Korea suffers the most because they lack the resources to quickly contain the diseases. All their neighbors can deal with the problem and control their losses. North Korea cannot afford the losses and these diseases are more a disaster than just a nuisance in neighboring nations. April 26, 2020: North Korea has ordered North Koreans working in China illegally to remain there until the end of the year and to increase the portion of their pay they hand over to the North Korea government as a loyalty tax. In January the U.S. provided evidence that North Korea had failed to comply with the December 22 deadline to bring all foreign workers home. This was mainly about 50,000 North Korean workers in China and 30,000 in Russia who were supposed to be back in North Korea by December 22nd, as per the UN sanctions. Russia had sent home all the North Korean workers officially still in Far East Russia, where there is a labor shortage and cheap North Korean workers have been popular. Many of the departing North Koreas said they expected to return soon and they did with tourists or other deceptive visas. Using various visa and other deceptions China and Russian managed to keep or replace (with other North Koreans) all their North Korean workers. The UN economic sanctions on North Korea called for all North Korean workers employed in other countries (mainly China and Russia) to be sent home by late December. That did not happen in China, which has been allowing more North Korean workers to enter and work, many with no visa at all. Half of the workers pay goes to the North Korean government as tax but the North Korean workers are still making more than they could in North Korea and most of that pay supports family back in North Korea while the exported workers have more food and heat than they would back home. China and Russia are officially supporting the sanctions but are unofficially tolerating all manner of smuggling and sanctions evasion. The end result is that China and Russia cooperated with North Korea to ignore these economic sanctions. North Korea earns about $500 million a year via this exported labor. North Korea has recently sent more security personnel to China to ensure that the North Korean workers do not try to escape from China and North Korean control. The U.S. subsequently put individual sanctions on two China-based but North Korean controlled companies that provided various support (housing and transportation) services for the foreign workers and the security personnel who keep them under control. April 23, 2020: China has sent a team of medical experts to North Korea to help with unspecified problems. This apparently has to do with recent heart surgery North Korea dictator Kim Jong Um had. There were complications and the patient has not been seen or heard from since the surgery eleven days ago. It was known that Kim suffered from diabetes, obesity and unspecified heart problems. April 22, 2020: The 2020 World Press Freedom ratings were released showing North Korea in last place (out of 180 nations). This is largely because of decades of dictatorial rule which silences all criticism of anything. South Korea came in at 42nd. This as one of the better showings that most other nations in the region. For example Japan is 66th while Russia is 149, Thailand is 140, Afghanistan is 122, Burma is 139, Pakistan is 145, India 142, Bangladesh 151, China 177 and Iran 173. Some were better as in. In contrast Britain was 35, France 34, United States 45, Canada 16 and Germany 11. Top five were Norway in first place followed by Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Netherlands. Bottom five were Djbouti, China, Eritrea, Turkmenistan and North Korea. These rankings are mainly about professional journalists and play down the impact of the Internet and many non-professional, but often well qualified, individuals who are now supplying a lot of the news, especially accurate reports of what is actually happening. The conventional media, which employs most professional journalists, has lost more than half its staff in the last twenty years as more people prefer non-professional or semi-pro reporters on the Internet. Governments find it easier to restrict the professional journalists, leaving the Internet based reporters as the main source of accurate reporting in many countries, like Thailand. April 16, 2020: The government has been using sharp increases in electricity prices to encourage rural households to depend more on solar panels. The increases are often accompanied by a special tax on various electronic devices each household uses. This often leads to a household paying 20-30 times more than before for electricity. In addition to the higher power costs there are also more hours each day when there is no power at all. The electrical supply system has been falling apart since the 1990s. Lack of money for maintenance or new construction is the primary reason and the government has no solution. April 15, 2020: For the first time since 2003 North Korea is issuing state-backed bonds. State-owned companies will be allowed to use these bonds to buy raw materials and other goods from other North Korean state-owned operations. April 14, 2020: North Korea has allowed North Korean university students studying in China to return to China and resume their studies. These students have been ordered back to North Korea earlier in the year as part of an effort to prevent a large covid19 outbreak in North Korea. These students were tested for covid19 when they got back to North Korea and will be tested again before returning to China. Bismah Malik By Express News Service BENGALURU: After the food delivery sector, its the online ride-hailing firms that are now downsizing headcounts to save cash and restructure businesses, as revenues have plummeted by over 80 per cent since April. Ola and Uber, the two major cab-sharing service platforms in the country, have said that they will fire thousands of employees across various departments since the Covid-19 crisis is likely to spell a long-lasting impact on the shared mobility sector, with travel restrictions and work-from-home models more prevalent now than ever. While Uber announced trimming its workforce by 27 per cent globally (6,700 employees), Ola on Wednesday said that its laying off 1,400 staff (25 per cent of workforce) as a cost-cutting measure. In a blogpost, Ola CEO Bhavish Agarwal said the lay-offs will happen within the companys mobility business in India (this week) and across Ola Foods and financial services in the following week. He added that the company saw revenues drop by 95 per cent in the last two months, when the country was under a strict lockdown due to the pandemic. The impacted workforce will have one-on-one conversations with the HR teams and will be provided with at least three months of payment, along with a slew of health and ESOP benefits as well as future career support, he added. On Monday, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, while announcing the closure of its start-up incubator programme and Artificial Intelligence lab, said the firm will now focus on its core mobility and food delivery businesses. In a regulatory filing, Uber said that various cost-cutting measures will save it nearly $1 billion cash. The San Francisco-headquartered company said it is closing nearly 45 offices globally, even as Khosrowshahi sounded optimistic on Uber Eats business. In India, following a Ministry of Home Affairs advisory, Ola and Uber were allowed to resume operations across 160 cities during the fourth phase of the lockdown with various safety protocols in place, including limiting the number of passengers to two for a ride. Cutting wage costs 6,700 employees will be sacked by Uber globally 1,400 employees in Ola will be given the pink slip WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- An F-35 fighter jet crashed at a military base in Florida Tuesday night, the U.S. Air Force said on Wednesday. The F-35A Lightning II crashed upon landing around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday (0130 GMT on Wednesday) at Eglin Air Force Base in western Florida, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement. The pilot, who is in hospital for evaluation and monitoring, is in stable condition after a successful ejection from the jet, which was participating in a routine night training sortie, according to the statement. The accident is under investigation, it said, adding that there was no loss of life or damage to civilian property. The incident came less than a week after an F-22 fighter jet crashed near Eglin Air Force Base. New Delhi, May 21 : An officer of Delhi's Mandoli jail has tested positive for novel Coronavirus, an official said on Thursday. The Deputy Superintendent, posted in Central Jail number 11, Mandoli, is currently suffering from the highly contagious COVID-19. "He has been on leave since May 11 as he had fever. Later he got his COVID-19 test done which has come positive. The contact tracing exercise is underway," said a jail official. On May 19 another jail official, who lived in Tihar jail campus and posted as Assistant Superintendent in Rohini jail, had tested positive for COVID-19. This is the eighteenth case of coronavirus in Delhi's jails and first case of Mandoli jail. At least 15 prisoners and three staff members of various jails in Delhi are suffering from coronavirus disease so far. The first case had come in Delhi's Rohini jail where the head warden had tested positive for the disease. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Bihar Board 10th Result 2020 declared: The Bihar Board released the Class 10 exam results today (Tuesday, 26 May). The results were likely to be released on Monday, but got delayed due to last-minute arrangements. Bihar Board 10th Result 2020 declared: The Bihar Board released the Class 10 exam results today (Tuesday, 26 May). The results were likely to be released on Monday, but got delayed due to last-minute arrangements. The BSEB announced the results of Class 10 students after scrutiny of the answer copies of students who scored the highest marks. The Bihar Board started verifying the answer scripts of top-scoring students after an incident in 2016, where toppers did not know answers to basic questions. The verification process of half of the toppers has been completed. As soon as the process for all the 38 districts is over, BSEB will declare the Class 10 results. Once declared, students can check their Class 10 Bihar board examination 2020 results on biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in as well as biharboard.online and via SMS. The board completed the compilation process of marks after the submission of evaluation results to it. The Bihar Board Class 10 examination 2020 was held from 17 to 24 February. The results were scheduled to be announced by March but the evaluation of more than 15.29 lakh answer scripts was postponed till 3 May due to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. The evaluation process began on 6 May. Here's how to check your result: Step 1: Visit the website of Bihar Board - biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in Step 2: On the home page, click on the 'Results' Step 3: Tap on Class X Matriculation results Step 4: Select your stream and click on 'Result' Step 5: You will be directed to a new page where you will have to key-in your credentials Step 6: Enter the captcha text Step 7: You can now check and download your BSEB Class 10 Result 2020. Students can also check their BSEB Class 10 Results 2020 via SMS. For this, you will need to go to the message option of their phone and type - BSEB10 -space- ROLL NUMBER and send it to 56263. Last year, the Bihar Board Class 10 Result pass percentage was 80.73 percent. Bihar board Class 12 Result 2020 was released by BSEB on 24 March. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. Dileep V Kumar By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After a lull, hospitals in the state are witnessing crowded corridors again. The rush at hospitals is turning out to be a new challenge for the health department amid apprehensions of coronavirus transmission happening within hospitals. With norms like social distancing being difficult to practise in letter and spirit at these points, demands are coming in from various quarters to implement full-fledged telemedicine and to fix a doctor-to-patient ratio. The number of people visiting hospitals has risen due to infections, mainly fever and dengue, triggered by pre-monsoon showers. The inflow of patients is a challenge and it makes hospitals a potential hotbed of transmission, a health department official told TNIE. Though some people pay heed to instructions like wearing facemasks and practising social distancing, others ignore the same. This puts health workers and other hospital staff at risk. Among the cases in hospitals, vector-borne diseases like fever, dengue and chikungunya are reported to have symptoms which are very similar to those of Covid-19. This makes attending to out-patients a risky affair. The health official cited the first Pathanamthitta COVID case as a reminder. Two persons there went to a primary health centre with fever. That they came into contact with a positive person was revealed only after an inquiry. Similar incidents happened at various places. Thus the transmission of infection in hospital settings is a threat which will have to be dealt with in all seriousness, the official said. Echoing similar sentiments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday urged the health department to step-in to address crowding at hospitals. KGMOA responds with a slew of suggestions Meanwhile, to plug the potential route for the nosocomial spread of Covid-19, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association is planning to submit a slew of suggestions to the government. This includes fixing the doctor-to-patient ratio at 1:50, augmenting telemedicine, chalking out an institution-based plan for dealing with cases according to its strengths and weaknesses, strengthening the workforce and introducing staggered working, among others. Earlier, a study published by the Journal of Hospital Infection had pointed out that social mingling represents a potential route for the spread of infection at hospitals because patients outside the isolation ward may not be subject to movement restrictions and share common facilities. Experts also point out that, while social distancing is crucial for containment, the practice of the same within hospitals is equally vital in reducing nosocomial spread. Especially so in hospitals where the majority of patients are nursed in multi-bedded cohort rooms, rather than single-occupancy rooms. T hirteen people are being held in custody after a 19-year-old student was shot dead in the street as she walked to a Lidl supermarket. Police said they have been working round the clock to find out who killed Aya Hachem in a drive-by shooting in Blackburn on Sunday. Miss Hachem, described by her family as "the most loyal, devoted daughter", was an innocent bystander who was hit by one of several shots fired from a vehicle as she walked to a Lidl supermarket near her home, Lancashire Police said. She died from a single wound to the chest. Detectives have been granted extra time by magistrates to continue questioning three men, aged 33, 36 and 39, all from Blackburn, on suspicion of her murder after their arrests on Monday. Police believe Miss Hachem was not the intended target of the attack / PA On Wednesday, police said they had made eight more arrests. Three men aged 28, 31 and 35 were held on suspicion of murder and two women aged 19 and 26 and a 29-year-old man were detained on suspicion of assisting an offender. And a further two people - a 29-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man - were arrested on Wednesday afternoon. Two more men, aged 34 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of murder on Thursday, police said, taking the total number in custody to 13. Police believe Miss Hachem was not the intended target of the attack, which took place in broad daylight on a busy main road near a Lidl supermarket in the town centre. Miss Hachem was a second year law student at the University of Salford / PA The Lebanese-born teenager died in hospital a short time after emergency services were called to the scene in King Street at around 3pm. Senior Investigating Officer, Det Supt Andy Cribbin, said: This is a very fast moving investigation, with information coming in from various places which we are reacting to swiftly. I continue to appeal to people who think they know who was involved in the tragic shooting of Aya but havent spoken to us yet to do the right thing and make contact. "Aya, the innocent victim in all of this, along with her family, deserve justice and it is people telling us what they know that will help us find the people or person responsible." Miss Hachem's family described her as "the most loyal, devoted daughter" who died in the "most horrific circumstances". Police are continuing to appeal for information about the shooting / PA "She excelled in her studies both at Blackburn Central High School and at Salford University where she was in her second year and dreamed of becoming a solicitor," her family said in a statement. "She had just completed her exams and was learning to drive. "We her parents are absolutely devastated by her death and would like to take this opportunity to plead with any members of the public who may have any information however small that may bring those responsible to justice." Anybody with information should contact 101, quoting log number 0412 of May 18, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. The Cast of "Monologue Theater" with Wahida Clark We created the Monologue Theater with Wahida Clark event to raise awareness and funds for the PSD COVID-19 Relief Fund, which focuses on the 3 Ts: Testing, Tracing and Treatment. We believe these are the three pillars that will help us survive this pandemic. Four-time New York Times bestselling author Wahida Clark, aka, The Queen of Street Lit, joins forces with renowned actress Kim Coles to co-host Monologue Theater with Wahida Clark, featuring legendary actor/director Bill Duke. The event will raise awareness and funds for the PSD COVID-19 Relief Fund for first responders, essential workers and underserved residents impacted by the pandemic in New Jersey and Georgia. The event is directed by Antonio Faison and will be LIVE on Instagram at instagram.com/wahidaclark on May, 24th, from 3:00 8:00 p.m. EST. This Dance and De-stress Live Party also features DJ Suss One and DJ Easy Mo Bee who will be playing music while announcing this important Call to Action. Actors around the globe will have the chance to participate in the live event by using the hashtag #MonologueTheaterwithWahida, which incorporates dialogue from the characters in Clarks popular Thug Love Book Series. The event is produced in association with Clarks non-profit organization, Prodigal Sons & Daughters (PSD) for its PSD COVID-19 Takedown initiative. PSD expresses its gratitude to the Atlanta Hawks for recent donations made to the non-profit for its COVID-19 fundraising efforts. Wahida Clark, aka the Queen of Street Lit, went from prisoner to 4-time New York Times bestselling author and leading urban publisher who has sold millions of books. Clark is also the vice president of the non-profit Prodigal Sons and Daughters Redirection Services (PSD), which offers proven rehabilitation and has a focused mission to pursue all intelligent means at their disposal to assist socially disadvantaged persons, communities and nations. Clark says, We created the Monologue Theater with Wahida Clark event to raise awareness and funds for the PSD COVID-19 Relief Fund, which focuses on the 3 Ts: Testing, Tracing and Treatment. We believe these are the three pillars that will help us survive this pandemic. Well be going into underserved hot spots to support the people who need it most. The 3 Ts are a pathway to supporting residents who dont have the means to get help, including those incarcerated in our jails and prisons. The mission of the initiative is for increased: Testing PSD will be making test kits available via its mobile clinic. Tracing By identifying those who test positive, PSD will help the Department of Health trace origins of the virus and limit the spread of COVID-19. Treatment PSD will be ensuring that underserved communities are getting the appropriate access to resources and treatment. This also includes mental health support for people who are struggling from anxiety and mental health issues. (According to Newsweek, Alcoholic beverage sales rose by 55% in late March, compared to sales in 2019.) Clark adds, There are so many people who dont have access to the necessary resources or support to get through this pandemic, so its our mission at Prodigal Sons & Daughters to support as many people in our communities as possible. About Wahida Clark Clark is the vice president and business development officer of the non-profit Prodigal Sons and Daughters Redirection Services, which offers proven rehabilitation. The organization has partnerships with the Atlanta Braves, Falcons and Hawks through contracts with Delaware North and Levy Restaurants. Clark will next be taking her fans on a raw and riveting journey in an upcoming docu-series, The Queen of Street Lit, a moniker she proudly wears for having initiated the Thug Love Fiction sub-genre. She has been featured in USA Today, Essence, Ebony, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Vice, and NPR. Instagram: @wahidaclark Twitter: @wahidaclark Facebook: facebook.com/TheRealWahidaClark Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 00:30:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Aerial photo taken on Jan. 16, 2019 shows the Piraeus port, Greece. In 2016, China's COSCO SHIPPING purchased a 67-percent stake in Piraeus port, which was then struggling. (Xinhua/Wu Lu) "We make donations to all of the cities in the Attica area. We wish them to be living in happiness and also in good health." ATHENS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Greek government and local mayors of municipalities in western Athens welcomed on Wednesday a donation of sanitary material made by Piraeus Port Authority S.A. (PPA) and COSCO Shipping to be used by municipal employees in the ongoing battle against the COVID-19. During an event held at Peristeri municipality, 10,000 protective masks and 10,000 gloves were delivered. They will be distributed to municipal staff of the cleaning sector of seven municipalities. "This shows solidarity, this shows commitment to the community. This is an act that is highly appreciated by us because it shows that COSCO is here to stay and engage with the local community," Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, who attended the ceremony, told Xinhua. Aerial photo taken on Sept. 6, 2019 shows a cargo ship of COSCO SHIPPING Lines transporting Italian products to participate in the 2019 China International Import Expo (CIIE) to Shanghai berths at the Port of Piraeus, Greece. (Photo by Lefteris Partsalis/Xinhua) COSCO Shipping acquired a majority stake in PPA in 2016 after an international tender, while the group's subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. (PCT) manages the port's container terminal since 2009, posting remarkable results in both cases. Since the start of the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in Greece on Feb. 26, PPA and PCT have made many donations to local authorities to assist in the common challenge. The new donation aims to highlight the significance of the role of cleaning personnel in this fight. "All the lights have been spotting the hospitals and the nurses and the doctors. These people were also exposed to dangers throughout the crisis, but they never ceased to work and operate. We want to say to them a big thank you for their commitment and their work," Varvitsiotis stressed. File photo taken on May 7, 2017 shows a COSCO ship leaving the Pireaus Port's container terminal in Greece. (Xinhua/Panos Tomadakis) "China and Greece have a very good relationship. As the management of PPA, we are running PPA very well, but all of the works have to be done by the employees," PPA S.A. Chairman Yu Zenggang said on his part, noting that several PPA employees' families reside in these municipalities. "We make donations to all of the cities in the Attica area. We wish them to be living in happiness and also in good health," Yu told Xinhua. On behalf of the local administration, Mayor of Peristeri, Andreas Pachatouridis, expressed the local communities' gratitude for the donors. "They have passed the test of solidarity. They are helping people a lot and on this occasion. We would like to thank them for bringing here today in western Athens tens of thousands of gloves and masks to offer to those serving in sanitation services. We thank them a lot," Pachatouridis said. China's COSCO Shipping Taurus docks at Piraeus port, Greece, Feb. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos) Mayors and representatives of all seven municipalities, as well as other PPA SA managers, attended Wednesday's event. According to the latest official data provided by the Health Ministry, so far Greece has registered 2,840 infections, including 165 fatalities. From March 23 until May 4 the entire country was in lockdown. In the past few weeks, authorities have started easing restrictions and Greece is gradually going back to normal. Roger Misso criticized one of his former foes in the 24th Congressional District race and, for the first time, indicated he may endorse a candidate before the Democratic primary election in June. Misso, a Syracuse Democrat, said in a statement Thursday that he intended to remain neutral in the primary race. He ended his bid for the Democratic nomination in March. At the time, he said the two Democrats in the race Dana Balter and Francis Conole would have to earn his vote. But Misso revealed that he's been asked by "multiple people over the past 24 hours" to endorse Balter, who was the Democratic nominee in 2018. He also expressed disappointment with Conole for "negative and demonstrably false attacks" coming from his campaign. Specifically, Misso referred to a mailer sent by Conole's campaign that falsely claimed several national organizations are refusing to support Balter for Congress. One of the groups, Planned Parenthood, endorsed Balter on Wednesday. The other organizations mentioned in the mailer End Citizens United, Our Revolution, SEIU and the Sierra Club either said that they don't endorse in primaries or haven't completed their endorsement process. Misso urged Conole to apologize for the mailers and to commit to an issues-focused campaign. "The level of hatred and negativity they have caused should be condemned by any decent candidate," he said. "As a veteran, honor is important to me. Winning without honor is no victory at all." Conole, like Misso, is a U.S. Navy veteran. An endorsement by Misso wouldn't decide the congressional primary, but it could help Balter or Conole show they can unify the party during and after the nominating process is over. Balter and Conole tout their strengths. For Balter, it's her experience in 2018, she gave Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko his toughest race yet and policy knowledge. Conole highlights his central New York roots and the support he's received from the Democratic committees in Cayuga and Onondaga counties, where a vast majority of the district's Democratic voters live. Balter's campaign released a poll in late March that found her leading Conole by 43 points in the primary race. Even after respondents received more information about Conole, Balter held a 26-point lead. The Democratic primary is Tuesday, June 23. Absentee ballot applications are being sent to eligible primary voters in the four-county district. Early voting begins Saturday, June 13. Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding. Love 9 Funny 2 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. International Tea Day or World Tea Day is annually observed on May 21 to highlight the importance of the economic significance of tea worldwide. This day also aims to raise awareness of the iconic history and the deep cultural significance of tea in many countries around the world. In India, tea is generally consumed in about 64 per cent of home and over 80 per cent of Indians prefer to have their tea with added milk, according to a study. A study conducted by the Tea Board of India reportedly revealed that 80 percent of Indian tea drinkers consume it either with or before breakfast. READ: Italians Enjoy Coffee Again As Restrictions Ease READ: Jacqueline Fernandez Shares Her Bulletproof Coffee Recipe With Fans; See Video Agr Apko Chai Nhi Pasand to mujhe apki raay nhi Pasand...#InternationalTeaDay Danish Khan (@DanishK09554299) May 21, 2020 #InternationalTeaDay A perfect way to celebrate the #InternationalTeaDay is with a cup of tea. Heartfelt wishes to the tea garden workers and everyone associated with the tea industry. pic.twitter.com/AlhA1iZPhp Payal Shukla (@Payal83388794) May 21, 2020 For all the tea lovers out there.#InternationalTeaDay pic.twitter.com/n4BAZaDsr7 Tejas Kad (@TejasKad1) May 21, 2020 #InternationalTeaDay When someone asks me why do you take tea? Me : pic.twitter.com/x1gUuOYNsz TARUN VIRAJ (@virajtarun) May 21, 2020 Happy International Tea Day To All Tea Lover Tea ... is a religion of the art of life.#InternationalTeaDay#tealover pic.twitter.com/tVoXEj3zA1 Himanshi Waghmare (@Himanshi__137) May 21, 2020 About the Tea Day The day has been celebrated since 2005 in tea producing countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda, and Tanzania. It was scheduled on the very day with the aim to draw global attention of governments and citizens to the impact of the global tea trade on workers and growers and has been linked to requests for price supports and fair trade. M. Subbu (New Trade Union Initiative), Shatadru Chattopadhyay (CEC), Samir Roy (HMS), Ashok Ghosh (UTUC) and Paramasivam (INTUC) orchestrated the observance of the day at the World Social Forum in 2004. The first International Tea Day was celebrated in New Delhi in 2005, with later celebrations organised in Sri Lanka in 2006 and 2008. Back in 2015, the Indian government proposed expanding the observance of International Tea Day through the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. READ: Tusshar Kapoor Says He Is In A Great Place Right Now Because There Is Coffee At His Place READ: Kane Williamson Lauds Steve Smith's Unique Coffee-making Style; Watch Video KENT COUNTY, MI A motorcyclist was killed Wednesday, May 20, when he hit a vehicle then was thrown into the path of another vehicle, Wyoming police said. The victim is a 50-year-old Wyoming man. His name has not been released. The crash happened around 4:40 p.m. in the 3900 block of South Division Avenue. The motorcyclist was riding north on South Division when he struck another northbound vehicle. After impact, he was thrown into the path of a southbound vehicle. Wyoming police said that excessive speed by the motorcyclist appears to be a factor but said the investigation continues. Read more: Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order Reopening day: Northern Michigan restaurants expect surge, as hotels fill fast Parts of Kalamazoo should expect flooding through Memorial Day weekend New Delhi: Even while India has dismissed reports of recent border skirmishes with China as a result of the difference in perception of the LAC, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells said, Whether it is in the South China Sea or along the border with India, we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that poses questions about how China seeks to use its growing power. This was in response to a question on the recent border flare up in a one of Wells farewell press briefings on Wednesday. She said, The flare-up on the border is a reminder that Chinas aggression is not always just rhetorical. She said that it was one of the reasons for rallying of like-minded nations whether through ASEAN or diplomatic groupings like the Quad. India is part of the Quad with US, Japan and Australia. However, India has publicly maintained that the Quad is not to counter China after Beijing had objected to the grouping as one that would target China. PM Modi while speaking at the Shangri La Dialogue in 2018 had said, India does not see the Indo-Pacific Region as a strategy or as a club of limited members. Nor as a grouping that seeks to dominate. And by no means do we consider it as directed against any country. On the other hand, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also lashed out at China saying that the Chinese Communist Partys response to the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan has accelerated our more realistic understanding of communist China. He also added that The Chinese Communist Party chose to threaten Australia with economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. Its not right. India was also part of the over 120 nations that backed the World Health Assembly resolution that was adopted on the May 19 in a virtual meeting. In fact, just ahead of the World Health Assembly meeting Pompeo had held a video conferencing, among other countries, with those of the Quad as well. China was discussed during this meeting. Theres a powerful case to be made that the coronavirus crisis with its mounting evidence that earlier and more aggressive U.S. intervention in March could have saved thousands of lives isnt the first or only time that people have died needlessly because of Donald Trumps unfitness for the presidency. For more than two years, civilians in Yemen where a humanitarian crisis caused by a ceaseless Saudi Arabian military campaign has killed tens of thousands and exposed millions to the risk of starvation and disease have successfully convinced top Americans in both political parties that it was past time for the United States to stop its substantial support for the Saudi bombing campaign. The turning point well, what should have been the turning point came on August 9, 2018, when the Saudi Air Force dropped a massive bomb on school bus carrying Yemeni summer school kids on a much-anticipated field trip. I was screaming in anger and all around me women were throwing themselves on the ground, Zeid Al Homran whose two sons were murdered by the bomb later told CNN. People were screaming out the names of their children. The 500-pound munition that killed his sons was a U.S.-supplied MK 82 bomb, made in America by the Lockheed Martin Corp. READ MORE: SIGN UP: The Will Bunch Newsletter The horrific incident was one of dozens of times that American-made bombs have slaughtered innocent civilians in Yemen. To be clear, U.S. backing for the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen was initiated during the Barack Obama administration, in what now can be seen as possibly the most shameful decision of his presidency. But after the August 2018 school bus bombing, a bipartisan group in Congress aimed to cut off the American lifeline to the Saudi dictatorship only to see the Trump administration, led by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, take extraordinary and increasingly questionable measures to make sure U.S. bombs continue to rain down on the Yemeni people. The latest twist should alarm scandal-numbed Americans. The State Department inspector general, Steve Linick, was fired earlier this month shortly before he could release a report into why Pompeo signed an emergency declaration to allow $8 billion in new American arms sales, mostly to the Saudis and their closest ally, the United Arab Emirates, one year ago not only bypassing certain opposition in Congress but even voices within the Trump administration who could see no emergency. The lethal aid to the Saudi regime and its de facto leader, the murderous Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, known to all as MBS, is the exclamation point on one of the alarming patterns of U.S. behavior that Ive seen in my lifetime. Its a pattern that started during the 2016 campaign when a veteran emissary of the Saudis and UAE showed up at Trump Tower with an Israeli psy-ops expert offering to help the GOP nominee win, and has continued for four years while the 45th president made Riyadh his first official stop and while his son-in-law-aide opened a direct WhatsApp line to MBS and has inexplicably still gone on after MBS goons killed and hacked up a Washington Post journalist and MBS himself hacked into the phone of the Washington Posts owner (despised also by Trump), rounded up and tortured his political rivals, and continued to buy U.S. weapons to slaughter woman and children in Yemen. (In the past three years, Ive written practically a book on the Trump Tower meeting, Jamal Khashoggis murder, and the Jeff Bezos affair.) Now Linick part of a network of government watchdogs that was created in the 1970s after Watergate to prevent similar abuses of power has been canned right before we could find out if he was on the brink of explaining some of the inexplicable. Incredibly, Linick is also just one of five count 'em, five D.C. inspectors general with fired or pushed aside in the last six or so weeks, either as apparent retribution (for the Ukraine probe and Trumps impeachment) or before they could unravel new scandals like Transportation Secretary Elaine Chous seeming bias toward Kentucky, home state of her husband who happens to be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And yet somehow we have to strain to see the true meaning of the Linick firing through the pea-soup-thick fog of Trumps nightmare presidency. And there are multiple layers. Many of the initial reports on the ouster of the State Department IG focused on other apparent probes of Pompeos all-around awfulness, including alleged use of a government employee to walk his dog, get his dry cleaning, etc., and lavish taxpayer-funded dinners aimed at bolstering the Kasans political future. Those things are bad, and easy for the typical voter to understand and get outraged over but Id argue they pale to the bending of the entire government to a murderous dictatorship overseas. Indeed, in a simpler time, the vanishing of Linick and his investigations, along with his four IG comrades, would dominate the headlines much as Richard Nixons Saturday Night Massacre" the last time a corrupt president fired the people investigating him riveted the nation in October 1973. Instead, as the coronavirus death toll relentlessly climbs toward the 100,000 mark, and with more than 38 million jobless, the Current Occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is babbling like a madman about taking an unproven drug thats been known to cause hallucinations and other psychoses in people who take it. But Trump isnt the only one struggling to focus so is the media, and the nation. But heres the thing: Again and again during Trumps presidency weve seen a phenomenon where Americas dangerous long-term trends of the last 40 years (or longer) including rampant income inequality, racism in the criminal justice system, denial of climate change were already raging dumpster fires on January 20, 2017. Its just that Trump with his toxic mix of narcissism, unchecked authoritarianism, and lack of any ethical or moral compass arrived to drop napalm on the preexisting blaze. The tangled U.S.-Saudi relationship combines all of the worst of this. If the pompous and lethally corrupt Saudi monarchs reigned on a rocky desert isle, America would not give them the time of day, but their endless supply of oil has made them the pusherman for our fatal addiction, and then weve also tossed the greed of our military-industrial complex onto the mix. Last week, the New York Times published a withering expose on how the massive defense contractor Raytheon Corp. has continued to make billions of dollars on its Yemeni-killing bombs a money machine that benefits from a former Raytheon lobbyist, Mark Esper, serving as Defense Secretary (so much for draining the swamp, huh?) and from the defense giant hiring Pennsylvanias own David Urban, a Trumpist who frequently defends the president on cable TV, as its new lobbyist. We dont know how much more fired IG Linick had uncovered. Nor can we explain why the Saudis keep getting a free pass for the unfortunate tendency of some of their citizens to find new and horrible ways to murder Americans. OK, you can debate whether that list includes the gruesome, premeditated murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the American-based Washington Post columnist living here on a green card (and killed in Turkey.) But while the new secrets of Pompeo, Team Trump, and the MBS gang remain buried, old ones keep bubbling up. Coincidentally, we also learned this month the identity of the Saudi government official, Musaed Ahmed al-Jarrah, who aided two of the 9/11 hijackers. William Barrs Justice Department fought for two years to keep that name secret. Why? And we also learned that an Saudi Air Force officer allowed into the U.S. for training had been working with al-Qaeda terrorists in plotting his 2019 attack and the murder of three American sailors in Pensacola, Fla. And yet for some reason Team Trumps plan for the Persian Gulf is not to confront Saudi Arabia but threaten war with the Saudis enemy, Iran. Why? Its been clear since 2016 that the real threat posed to democracy by Donald Trump isnt his rude tweets but the ease with which he, his ethically unmoored family, and the sycophants around him with Mike Pompeo the epitome of that repulsive species have been willing to sell out the American Experiment to whichever foreign dictatorship is offering the highest bid. which on any given day might be Turkey or Vladimir Putins Russia ... or Saudi Arabia. READ MORE: How the Trump family sold U.S. foreign policy to the highest bidder | Will Bunch For 40 months now, no one inside the current government has been asking about this. Nor has anyone within the White House bothered to ask who killed Jamal Khashoggi, or why our friends the Saudis just cant quit their ties with anti-American terrorists. And when Congress finally, belatedly, took it upon itself to ask why were complicit in the murder of so many Yemenis, the Trumpists bent and maybe broke the law to keep the dirty plates spinning. And when one honest man implanted inside the government, Steve Linick, sought answers, they fired him. Why? What worries me is that theres too many excuses the coronavirus, the economic depression, Trumps now-possibly-drug-addled insanity and optimism (naive? who knows?) that his presidency will be over in eight months not to press for answers. At the end of the day, Trumps massive kowtow to MBS and the Saudis is the defining scandal of his president. We must urge Congress well, House Democrats, at least to get to work and uncover the truth that Steve Linick could not. A Cairo court on Thursday renewed the detention of Egyptian TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam for 15 days pending investigations into charges including "inciting debauchery" and "human trafficking," a judicial source said. Hossam, 20, was arrested on 21 April after posting a video on social media app TikTok encouraging women to publish live videos and talk with strangers in exchange for money. In the video, Hossam, who has 1.2 million followers on the social media app, said she was seeking to recruit women to join a group she created on short video sharing platform Likee, with the purpose of promoting the platform. She offered them the chance to earn up to $3,000 for making "respectable" friendships with the app's followers. The prosecutor-general's office said she has been working with an "organised criminal group" to lure young women to carry out acts "violating public morals," exploiting the economic problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Before her arrest, Hossam posted a video dismissing claims she was calling for "debauchery." Hossam, a second-year archaeology student at Cairo University, could face expulsion, the university said last month. Video-sharing platforms like TikTok have been gaining notoriety in Egypt in recent years, with content creators being condemned for making videos where they dress and behave in a way that many in the conservative country deem suggestive or inappropriate. On 7 May, the Tiktok influencer was ordered released on bail of EGP 50,000 (approximately $3,150) but prosecutors appealed the court decision two days later and her detention was renewed for 15 days. Thursday's decision is the second renewal of her detention since her arrest. Search Keywords: Short link: Vedanta group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) on Thursday reported a 33.4 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1,339 crore for the quarter ended March 31. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,012 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2018-19, Hindustan Zinc Ltd said in a filing to the BSE. Its total income declined to Rs 4,861 crore in the January-March quarter, compared with Rs 6,030 crore in the year-ago period. HZL Chief Executive Officer Sunil Duggal said, "Industrial activity across the globe is undergoing a level of disruption never seen since the Second World War. In these challenging times, our focus is business continuity and safety of people and operations and supporting our communities affected by the pandemic." He added that the company has ramped up its operations back to normal levels and is confident of delivering good performance in 2020-21. Its Chief Financial Officer Swayam Saurabh said the company is accelerating its sustainable cost-reduction programmes and finding new opportunities to control costs and conserve capital in rapidly-evolving ecosystems. "We are confident to emerge stronger from the current economic crisis and generate superior returns for our shareholders," he said. The company said it has taken a pro-active approach to keep its assets and people safe while increasing engagement with its communities during these difficult times of COVID-19. The company's operations were halted from March 22 and most employees were encouraged to work from home, barring some who attended the call for duty to keep production assets safe including critical care and maintenance. To ensure business continuity, a committee 'COVID-19 Response War Room' was created to identify and implement critical business decisions to restart mines and plants in a safe manner and ramp up while ensuring restoration of supply chain. "We gradually restarted our operations from April 8 and all our mines and smelters were operational in a couple of weeks. In April 2020, we ramped up our mines and smelters to 40 per cent and 80 per cent of capacity, respectively," the statement said. The company's mined metal production for the quarter was up two per cent year-on-year to 2,49,000 tonnes despite operations shutdown from March 22 onwards due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Owning to uncertainty around ongoing lockdowns and business disruption risk, it said, "We are deferring guidance for 2020-21 to the end of the first quarter. Our current focus remains around sustaining normal level of productions, active management of costs and capital conservation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) MARANA, ARIZONA - MAY 16: Decommissioned and suspended jetBlue commercial aircrafts are seen stored in Pinal Airpark on May 16, 2020 in Marana, Arizona. Pinal Airpark is the largest commercial aircraft storage facility in the world, currently holding increased numbers of aircraft in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Delta Air Lines (DAL) on Thursday pushed back against accusations from a group of Democratic senators who called out the air carriers for cutting wages by cutting hours, which the senators contend is a violation of terms laid out in coronavirus rescue funding. More than a dozen Senate Democrats including former presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders released letters on Wednesday to JetBlue and Delta, accusing them of illegally cutting employee compensation via forced reduction in hours. The CARES Act is clear that, as a condition of receiving this assistance, your company must refrain from conducting involuntary furloughs or reducing pay rates and benefits until September 30, 2020, the senators wrote to JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes and to Delta CEO Ed Bastian. Your decision to cut employee hours is inconsistent with congressional intent and is a blatant and potentially illegal effort to skirt your requirements to keep workers on payroll, and you should reverse this policy immediately, the letter added. However, in a JetBlue statement emailed to Yahoo Finance, the discount air carrier said its use of the funds is consistent with the intent of the law. Given that our flights in many cities are completely suspended and are significantly reduced in others, there are quite literally no hours for our crew members to work in many cases, the company said. According to JetBlue, demand for air travel had contracted to 10-15% of its full schedule, and the payroll support funds it is allocated under the Act covers approximately 76% of its employee costs. With little new cash revenue coming into JetBlue, we need to make payroll support funds last until September 30 so that going into October we can preserve as many jobs as possible, which is consistent with the intent of the CARES Act, the statement said. Delta partly echoed JetBlues disagreement with the senators contentions. In a statement to Yahoo Finance a spokesperson for the airline said, Deltas work hour reductions, which comply with the CARES Act, ultimately protect jobs. Story continues Yet in the letter, the Democratic senators disagreed with JetBlues interpretation. This view is impossible to reconcile with the clear intent of the law, the lawmakers wrote. Still, JetBlue maintains that it is in full compliance with the conditions attached to the federal assistance by allocating the money using a standard for minimum guaranteed hours consistent with union agreements. It added that none of its programs aim to reduce full-time crew members to part-time status, and that health and retirement benefits had been maintained for crew members still working, and those staying home because there are no customers to serve. The lawmakers demanded that JetBlue answer a series of questions by June 3, including whether the company consulted with the Treasury Department or workers unions before adopting its current policies, and how it intends to modify its labor policies to comply with the Act. On May 6, United Airlines (UAL) reversed a decision to reduce worker hours after a union representing more than 25,000 of its workers filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that in doing so it had violated the act. Alexis Keenan is a reporter for Yahoo Finance and former litigation attorney. Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed. [Click here for more of Yahoo Finances coronavirus coverage: Personal finance tips, news, policy, graphics & more from Yahoo Finance] Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit. Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news. Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan has commended the orchestrators of the 1995 "Kume Preko" demonstration. The ''Kumepreko'' protest was held on Thursday, May 11, 1995 and had in attendance over hundred thousand demonstrators. What led to the Uprising? Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, who came to power in a 1992 military takeover, had cemented his hold through harsh repression of the masses, silenced his critics and suppressed free speech. Under his military rule, dissenters were either given prison sentences or faced the sentence of death. Mr. Rawlings' regime was also characterized by hardships and an imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on items which resulted in high cost of living. This and other reasons fueled the demonstration against his reign. It is reported that some unidentified assailants fired gunshots into the protesters leading to the death of many and several others seriously injured but the leaders of the protest escaped unscathed. Reunion 25 years down memory lane, the architects of the biggest demonstration in the history of Ghana reunited at the private residence of Mr. Agyeri Blankson at 3rd Circular Road, Cantonments in the Greater Accra Region to celebrate their anniversary. The meeting was to commemorate their past achievement in ensuring fairness for the people under the military leadership of Mr. Jerry John Rawlings and also to remember lives that were lost during the demonstration. Honouring the gallantry of the protesters Kwamena Duncan, speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' hailed President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, seasoned journalists Abdul Malik Kweku Baako and Kwesi Pratt, Dr. Nayarko Tamakloe (Politicians), Akoto Ampaw (Politician), Victor Newman (Politician), Kwaku Opoku (Politician), Napoleon Abdulai (Politician) and Agyeri Blankson (Politician) who led the demonstration against a tyrannical rule by former President Jerry John Rawlings. He stated that their gallant role in standing up for the rights of the people has left an indelible mark on Ghana's democracy. "These are the guys, 25 years ago. You've done well. You've played an instrumental role in our democracy. Your names are written in letters of gold," he stated. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Theres no need to explain the Toyota Land Cruiser, one of Toyotas earliest successful products. The 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition celebrates some 60 years of popularity of a vehicle that has survived the segments mall wagon phase and the rise of crossovers. Its already-sterling reputation has received an additional recent push from the rise of overlanding an outdoor pastime that has always existed but only recently got a press agent. By comparison, the Lexus LX is a more recent development. Debuting in 1996, the LX 450 was little more than an 80-series Land Cruiser with cladding, a Lexus badge and a higher price. The amount of styling differentiation and luxury specialization has increased over the years to the point that the newest LX 570 actually seems like a completely different vehicle. In truth, the 2020 Lexus LX 570 and the 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser are both 200-series Land Cruisers under the skin. They share the same thirsty 5.7-liter V8 engine and the same frame that features a double-wishbone suspension at the front, a five-link coil spring suspension at the rear and a 112.2-inch wheelbase in the middle. The styling is strikingly different, of course, but so are the hidden details of their suspensions. The Land Cruiser employs a simple set of coil springs and shock absorbers, but with an interconnected pair of automatically disconnecting stabilizer bars called KDSS (Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System). The Lexus, on the other hand, has fixed stabilizer bars and coil springs, but its shocks are really hydraulic cylinders that perform height adjustments and transmit suspension movements via piping to remote electronically-adjustable damper valves mounted along the frame rails. All of the above begs a question: Which of them will go farther up my RTI ramp and, by extension, offer better suspension articulation in an authentic off-road situation? Right away, the very approach to the ramp demonstrates a huge difference and a serious issue for the LX. Its normal cruising height (there is a lower height, but this isnt that) doesnt provide enough approach clearance to attempt the ramp. The front spoiler contacts the nasty grating before the tire does. Its a close-run thing, but from this point on, clearance gets SMALLER as the left front suspension compresses on the way up. If it's touching now, its only going to get worse if I go forward. Story continues It must be noted that this LX570 test sample is fitted with the optional Sport Package that consists of, among other things, an even more aggressively-styled front fascia with built in spoilers that do a fantastic job of living up to the primary definition of the word by ruining approach clearance directly in front of the tires. Things surely would have been different if this LX 570 lacked this $2,510 appearance package. But our LX 570 isnt out of this fight yet. Its four-wheel height control system includes a switch that raises the front 2 inches and the rear 2.4 inches. Thats more than enough to give it the clearance it needs to drive up the ramp. But I discovered a problem when I pressed the switch to put it in high mode: The system raises the rear axle first, which has the effect of driving the barely-touching nose firmly into the ramp. The front doesnt begin to rise until after the rear is fully raised. This seems backwards. You approach obstacles at the front, so the front should lift first. Meanwhile, the Land Cruiser, which only has one fixed height, has no trouble motoring right on up the ramp. The Land Cruisers advantage is clear. It is able to drive about 8 inches farther up the ramp than the LX before the left-rear tires of both vehicles lose contact with my driveway and start spinning. Such a visual comparison isnt always meaningful when different makes and models compete for honors on the ramp, but it works here because they have precisely the same wheelbase. Even when set to high mode, the LX is still in worse shape at the top of the ramp than the Land Cruiser. I can barely swipe my index finger through the gap, and only if flat; it wont fit sideways. This reaffirms my decision to award zero points to the LX in normal mode because the vehicle would drop 2 inches and crush its front bodywork if I were to engage it now. Meanwhile, the Land Cruisers front fascia stands high enough that I can fit my whole hand in there with room to spare. Im not worried about the flap in the background because it is flexible enough to move out of the way. Its also a hidden unpainted piece that sits farther back. This comparison illustrates that the LX's spoiler isnt just harming the approach angle because its lower, its also causing difficulty because it juts farther forward. The spoiler is about the same distance from the camera even though the LXs tire (and its general bulk) are some 8 inches farther away down the ramp. The opposite corner passenger side rear is at full compression, with both suspensions resting on their bump stops. There doesnt seem to be much of a difference in flex back here. That said, a small difference is apparent if I put my fingers in above the tire. I can fit three in the LX, but I have to bend one back to do the same in the Land Cruiser. Call it 2 1/2 or 2 3/4. Both tires are said to have the same overall rolling diameter, but the Land Cruisers sidewalls are 1.5 inches taller. Theyll compress more at the bottom, so I suppose they could likewise distort upward at the top a small amount. Lower down, the seam in my driveway and the warp in the mudflaps further illustrates how much farther the Land Cruiser was able to climb and pitch its nose up. The amount of flex looks to be quite similar from this side, too. But the tires really stand out here. The LX 570 comes standard with 20-inch wheels and tires, but this one has the optional 21-inch upgrade. The term upgrade is debatable on a whole host of fronts, but it's a clear negative when it comes to off-highway performance. The Land Cruiser, on the other hand, rides on 18-inch wheels and tires that make much more sense off road. The Heritage Edition comes with special BBS forged wheels that are lighter than the standard Land Cruiser 18-inch fitment. The difference in suspension flexibility is most apparent up front, where the Land Cruisers front tire tucks much farther up into the wheel well. This extra flex is why it can drive farther up the ramp, as evidenced by my two pieces of blue tape. The Land Cruisers disconnectable KDSS stabilizer bars may deserve credit here, but Im not able to confirm that because I couldnt drive the LX 570 up the ramp in its normal height mode to make a direct comparison. Why does this Hi mode matter to this measurement? Height-adjustable suspensions typically articulate more in normal height mode than they do in any raised mode. The mechanism that makes the vehicle rise does so by making the suspension stiffer, which lessens the amount of suspension compression for a given level of force. The LXs front tire would almost certainly compress farther up into the fender in normal mode and climb higher up the ramp, but there isnt enough approach clearance to attempt that measurement. Heres what all of this boils down to in terms of Ramp Travel Index, which is the distance a vehicle climbs up the ramp divided by its wheelbase multiplied by 1,000 to remove any pesky decimals and make things more interesting. Here are the results: LX 570, normal mode: 0 inches of climb 112.2 x 1,000 = 0 points LX 570, high mode: 66 inches of climb 112.2 x 1,000 = 588 points Land Cruiser: 74.2 inches of climb 112.2 x 1,000 = 661 points Conclusions: First, the Land Cruiser is very capable right out of the box; 661 points is no joke. Thats more than a Gladiator Rubicon can manage with its stabilizer bar disconnected. Also, the LX 570s high mode score of 588 points is still impressive in its own right. A TRD Tacoma cant manage 500 points, if you need a reference point. But the LXs so-called Sport Package absolutely ruins the approach angle in normal mode, and its barely passable even in high mode. Do not get the Sport Package if youre eyeing the LX 570 for any sort of off-pavement touring. Its hard to know what the lack of the Sport Package would mean to the LX. The extra chin clearance would certainly allow it to make a ramp attempt in normal mode, and it would certainly score higher. Would it be enough to match the Land Cruiser? Its hard to say, but 661 points is only 8.2 inches away. It is the same chassis, so it might manage it if the fixed stabilizer bars dont get in the way. Id love to conduct that test, but I can already tell I wouldnt bother with the LX 570 if I had overlanding in mind. Its adaptive variable suspension and street-focused wheel and tire package are there to please pavement cruisers, and the sheer complexity of the system makes it impossible to install a spring and shock upgrade without ripping it all out and dealing with the blinking warning lights that would inevitably mark its absence. The answer is right there in the name: if you want to get out there and cruise on some land, get the Toyota Land Cruiser. Related Video: You Might Also Like Judge Hughes has insisted that the DPP review the files of a case in which two gardai were violently assaulted, as the incident was not being taken seriously enough. Hugh Myers, 18 Ardleigh Crescent, Mullingar, Martin Nevin Jnr, 1 Knockloughlin, Co Longford, and Martin Nevin Snr, 1 Knockloughlin, Co Longford, were both charged with the incident, which took place on August 10, 2019. Martin Nevin Jnr was present in court last Friday. Hugh Myers was not present as he is currently serving a prison sentence. Sgt Paddy McGirl told the court that gardai in Granard received a call from the Nevin family on that date at approximately 9pm, asking them to remove Martin Nevin Jnr from the premises because he was beating his pregnant wife. Gardai arrived at approximately 9.15pm and there were four females outside the premises, shouting and upset and requesting that Mr Nevin be removed, said Sgt McGirl. Gda Angela Keegan went inside and observed Mr Nevin Jnr and Mr Myers sitting on the couch, both intoxicated. She was also approached by Martin Nevin Snr who wanted Martin Nevin Jnr to be removed from the premises. Gda Keegan spoke to Mr Nevin Jnr and, at that point, Mr Myers became abusive and instigated that Mr Nevin not be removed from his own premises, Sgt McGirl explained. Gda Keegan asked Mr Nevin to leave and at that point he was leaving. Gda Shane Carr was outside and when Gda Keegan came out with Mr Nevin, Mr Nevin approached Gda Carr and became abusive, calling him a cancerous, dying b******, said Sgt McGirl. Mr Myers was encouraging and inciting this behaviour. Mr Nevin then lunged at Gda Carr who prevented a headbutt. Gda Carr and Gda Keegan attempted to arrest Mr Nevin but Mr Myers intervened and the two gardai and Mr Nevin fell to the ground. There was then a violent struggle on the ground. Mr Nevin attempted to gouge Gda Carrs eyes. There was also kicking and spitting by Mr Nevin, Sgt McGirl continued. While they were on the ground, Martin Nevin Snr and Hugh Myers jumped in on top of them. There were now five on the ground in the struggle. It was only at this point, Sgt McGirl added, that Gda Keegan managed to call for assistance. She and Gda Carr were unable to effect arrest on Mr Nevin Jnr due to the obstruction of Mr Nevin Snr and Mr Myers. The struggle continued for a considerable amount of time. When they eventually got to their feet, Gda Carr and Gda Keegan tried to arrest Mr Nevin Jnr, but Mr Nevin Snr held Gda Keegan by the arm to prevent her from effecting arrest, said Sgt McGirl. Gda Keegan informed Mr Nevin Snr that she was going to deploy pepper spray. When she was doing that, Mr Nevin Snr pushed his arm forward to deflect the pepper spray into Gda Carr. This diffused the situation somewhat and allowed Gda Carr and Gda Keegan to ensure their own safety. Mr Nevin Jnr, at this point, ran into the house and garda assistance arrived. The whole struggle lasted ten to 15 minutes. Gda Keegan was off duty for a month, the court heard, and suffered an eye injury. She has an eye infection which she explained still persists to this day, causing inflammation and pain, which she treats with eye drops. But, she explained, she also suffers occasional blurred vision, for which she has to receive treatment in a clinic. Gda Carr, the court heard, suffered a back injury in a serious road traffic collision a number of years ago, which was aggravated by this incident. He was off work for five months. Addressing Judge Hughes, Gda Carr explained that his back was still very sore and that he has to get injections, which help with the pain for a few days before it flares up again. In mitigation, solicitor Fiona Baxter explained that Mr Nevin Jnr had received a very serious eye injury as a result of an assault a few days earlier. He said he couldnt cope with the disability and he started drinking, she explained. This happened in August 2019. The injuries received by these gardai are lifelong injuries. There was serious harm caused to them, said Judge Hughes. Garda Carr was off duty for five months. Thats a significant matter. Im asking you to refer the file back to the DPP. I most certainly would refuse jurisdiction but my hands are tied. The nature of the alleged obstruction by these people was at the high end of the anticipated criminal offence - even if there was no injury to the guards. To attempt to gouge out the eyes of the guard is very serious. Ms Baxter explained again that Mr Nevin Jnr had lost the sight in one of his eyes and wanted to protect it from pepper spray. He lost the sight in his eye, so he decided to try and do the same to someone else - a garda and a keeper of the peace, Judge Hughes snapped. I would ask that the DPP be furnished with the facts and to adjourn this to September 18, 2020, to allow the DPP to reconsider the extent of the charge to be prepared. In the current climate of economic uncertainty, many of us simply dont have the money to shell out for expensive wines. But that doesnt mean we have to compromise good taste. You can find perfectly lovely wines for $10 or lesswell-balanced, well-made, widely-available ones that are a pleasure to drink. You just need to know which bottles to buy. Sure, wine at that price isnt as complex and cerebral as fancier cuvees. But they might surprise you. With that in mind, here are a variety of styles Id recommend, starting with a new listing at the LCBO. The 2018 Canyon Road Sauvignon Blanc, California (LCBO 12589 $10.00/750mL) hit shelves in March and offers brilliant value for money. Each sip starts with gutsy aromas of lime zest before a brisk attack of mixed citrus invigorates the senses. The bold entry quickly shifts to reveal a subtle herbaciousness a touch of cut grass maybe, which is a classic nuance in Sauvignon Blanc. This dry-tasting, well-balanced expression is better than most whites at this price. Score: 93 The 2019 Concha y Toro Frontera Sauvignon Blanc from Chile (LCBO 113019 $14.95/1500mL) is also an excellent buy. Although its no longer available in Ontario in the 750mL size, this larger format is still on shelves and a steal at less than $10/750mL. Ive recommended the 2017 and the 2018 vintages of this wine, and Ill do the same for the current vintage. This sassy Chilean Sauvignon Blanc delivers a dry, delicate flourish of green apple and damp herbs on the nose and palate. It tastes crisp and instantly appealing. Then, it tapers to a salted lime zest finish thats quite fetching. Score: 93 These Sauvignon Blancs are good on their own but better with fresh asparagussteamed and buttered, roasted and salted, or poached and chilled with a bit of goat cheese crumbled on top. Pour a glass with those tender local spears now appearing in green grocers and supermarkets and be prepared to crave that combinationSauvignon Blanc and fresh asparagusfor the rest of your life. A California Cabernet Sauvignon to know about is the ripe, velvety 2018 Canyon Road Cabernet Sauvignon, California (LCBO 552505 $9.95/750mL). This is hands down a red that could sell for twice the price. Robust aromas of raspberry jam and blackcurrant liqueur waft effortlessly from the glass and lead to a swirl of raspberry compote layered with dried plum and melting milk chocolate. This is compelling, well-balanced wine with an affable, easy-to-enjoy nature. Score: 94 Pour this velvety Californian Cabernet with grilled burgers, or even a square of good, dark chocolate. For a slightly leaner, drier expression of this grape variety, look to 2019 Concha y Toro Frontera Cabernet Sauvignon (LCBO 116426 $8.95/750mL) that hails from the Central Valley of Chile. From the gentle cherry perfume to the mixed berry and poached plum entry laced with suggestions of coffee, walnut, and olive, this medium-bodied red offers more complexity than most at this price point. And this particular vintage is the best Ive tasted. Score: 92 Pour this wine with empanadas, pasta with tomato sauce, or nachos and chipotle salsa. For a brawnier, more savory expression of red wine, theres the 2018 Luccarelli Negroamaro from Puglia in Italy (LCBO 380972 $8.95/750mL). Negroamaro, which means black and bitter in Italian, is a dark-skinned grape variety that has been grown in Puglia for centuries. And this bottle is just deliciously good value. From the heady aromas of blackberries and cocoa powder, to the saturated swirl of the same on the palate threaded with espresso and smoked almonds, this grippy, grown-up tasting red is a real find. Score: 92 Pour this red with pizza for a little piece of Italy. Also from Italy and certainly worth the money is the NV Riunite Lambrusco Frizzante from Emilia, Italy (LCBO 13492 $9.95/750mL) launched earlier this year in Ontario. This sweet fizzy red with just eight per cent alcohol tastes like a whack of ripe wild berries with the perfect balance of ripe grape sugar and tart acidity. While its not complex or delicate, its bright, quenching, and a pleasure to drink chilled or even on the rocks as a casual aperitif or to enjoy with a sandwich. Score: 89 Also falling squarely into the casual quaffer category is the NV Carlo Rossi California White (LCBO 72041 $14.95/1500mL, LCBO 234666 $28.00/3000mL). Though this wine only comes in two large-format sizes here in Ontario, theyre smart value and work out to less than $8/750mL. Its an off-dry, mouthwatering blend of French Colombard, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc chockful of elderflower and lemon curd appeal. This juicy, saturated-tasting white winewith an attractively low 10.5 per cent alcoholis the perfect thing to chill down and enjoy on its own with a handful of salty snacks such as plain potato chips or roasted nuts. Outstanding value for money. Score: 91 Heres to tasty wine that doesnt cost a bundle. Judge Keenan Johnson yesterday afternoon labelled the crude circumcision of a ten-month-old baby a "barbaric act of cruelty" after hearing evidence against the man who had carried out the procedure. Philip Ogbewe, Green Lanes, Drogheda, Co Louth, appeared at Longford Circuit Court yesterday charged with "intentionally and recklessly" engaging in misconduct, namely the circumcision of a young Longford boy, and falsely representing to be a medical practitioner. Mr Ogbewe, who called himself Dr Philip, and has been performing circumcisions since he was 14 or 15, pleaded guilty to the count of endangerment, but it was the case of the defence that he never told the mother of the child that he was a registered doctor. The court heard that, on December 4, 2015, Mr Ogbewe, who is originally from Nigeria, but has been living in Ireland for 20 years, performed the cultural circumcision on a ten-month-old baby, without anaesthetic, while the child was being held down. Later, the mother noticed a lot of blood in the baby's nappy and he was rushed to hospital, where he was cared for. He later made a full recovery but his parents, who thought Mr Ogbewe was a doctor, took action against the former grocer and fridge technician. It is a barbaric act of cruelty, there is no question about it, on a 10-month old, even allowing for cultural norms, said Judge Keenan Johnson, having heard the evidence. For the full report, see next week's Longford Leader. Job Title: Head of Administration Organisation: Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda About US: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is a multi-lateral development financing institution located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1973 by the Finance Ministers at the first Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now called the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) with the support of the king of Saudi Arabia at the time (Faisal), and began its activities on 20 October 1975. Job Summary: The Head of Administration will manage the day-to-day employee relations and office administrative issues at the Regional Hub to ensure all issues are resolved in a timely manner in coordination with the HR Decentralization Partner (HRDP) and Decentralization Facilitation Unit Business Partners. Act as the local representative for Human Resources Department and Administrative Services Department at the Regional Hub and provide local support in the key HR and Administration processes to improve work efficiency and employee morale to enable achieving the Hubs strategic objectives. Key Duties and Responsibilities: Day-to-day Operations: Supervise day-to-day operations of HR and Administration related activities to ensure that work processes are implemented as designed and comply with the established policies, processes and procedures HR Policies, Processes and Procedures: Support HRMD at the HQ in the review of the internal HR policies and procedures and make the necessary recommendations to ensure consistency of practice and compliance with the Governmental and Labour regulations in the Region. Administrative Policies, Processes and Procedures: Support ASD at the HQ in the review of the internal Administrative policies and procedures and make the necessary recommendations to ensure consistency of practice and compliance with the practices and regulations in the Region. Recruitment, On-boarding and Off-boarding: Compile recruitment plan for the Regional Hub in consultation with the Hub Manager and coordinate with the Sourcing and Recruiting CoC to ensure timely sourcing and recruitment of talent to help Regional Hub achieve its strategic objectives. Manage employee on-boarding and off-boarding processes as per the established policies, processes and procedures of IsDB. Performance Management: Ensures the proper adoption of HRMD procedures and forms within the Regional Hub in order to guarantee alignment to the Performance Management System. Learning & Development: Assist the Hub Manager and other Managers in identifying training needs for the Hub employees and ensures provision of appropriate training in a timely manner. Office Administration: Supervise timely provision of various administrative services, office supplies, office equipment etc. to enable conduct of business in an efficient manner. Facilities Management: Ensure all office facilities like office space, furniture, HVAC System, Electrical System, Telecom System and other facilities are maintained in a timely and effective manner to enable the Regional Hub conducting its business in an efficient manner. Protocol and Public Relations: Assist in providing efficient protocol services to the President and Senior Leadership visiting the Regional Hub. Maintain close and effective relations with all the local Government bodies. Ensure execution of all immunities and privileges granted to the Regional Hub employees in close coordination with relevant units in the Bank. Safety, Security, Quality & Environment: Ensure compliance to all relevant safety, security, quality, and environmental management policies, procedures and controls across the Regional Hub in order to guarantee employee safety, legislative compliance and a responsible environmental attitude. Budget: Participate in the development of the overall administration budget while taking into consideration current and future needs, and monitors the financial performance versus the budget so that the organization is aware of anticipated costs, areas of unsatisfactory performance are identified, and potential areas of cost reduction or performance improvement opportunities are capitalized upon. Qualifications, Skills and Experience: The ideal candidate for the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Head of Administration job vacancy must hold a Bachelors degree in Business Administration, HRM or related field At least five years of experience in Human Resource and Administrative Services, preferably in a multilateral institution. Minimum 2-3 years in the managerial / supervisory role. Building Relationships Passion for Excellence Problem Solving Stakeholder Management Customer Service Orientation Employee Relations Vendor Management SAP ERP skills Advanced MS Office skills. Excellent knowledge of the local regional markets and work culture in the specific Region. Competencies: Core/ Behavioural: Adaptability Teamwork Client Centricity and Stakeholder Management Motivation to Learn and Share Knowledge Drive for Results Leadership Change & Transition Management Solutions and Result Management Innovation and Future Orientation Leadership and People Management International and Multicultural Collaboration Communication and Partnership How to Apply: All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the Islamic Development Bank are encouraged to apply online at the link below. Click Here Deadline: 10th June 2020 For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline The contract between GSIL and Lotte E&C was signed to prevent safety accidents from occurring inside the tunnel. GSIL will be installing its smart safety management system in the tunnel to strengthen safety management. The system includes real-time verification of worker locations (per tunnel section) and cross-checks the information provided by the real-time tracking system with the information provided by the CCTVs located onsite. GSIL's independently-developed smart safety management system aims to prevent safety accidents and eliminate safety "blind spots" at construction sites. It is equipped with a function that can pinpoint a worker's current location as well as an emergency rescue system (SOS-enabled). The system that GSIL will be providing not only tracks worker locations but also collects environmental data and real-time updates on levels of oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, combustible gas, and hydrogen sulfide. This makes it possible to prevent injuries or fatal accidents resulting from low oxygen levels or the influx of harmful gases into an airtight setting. The facial recognition-based entry and exit function of GSIL's system creates a more comfortable work environment. Records of workers entering or exiting the worksite can be viewed at any time. The system also has a function that manages the drilling of the tunnel and a rescue system that is activated in the event of an emergency. In the event of an emergency, if a worker presses the SOS button on his/her sensor, an SOS alarm immediately sounds on all connected mobile and web devices, ensuring that everyone can quickly be made aware of the situation. System implementation is expected to enable: preventive and preemptive responses to safety accidents in the tunnel; early responses to potential dangers at the worksite; systematic processing (web/app) for construction-related processes (drill volume, etc.); increased viewing (by both managers and workers) of safety-related history at the worksite, and; speedy response in the event of an emergency. Lee Jung-woo, CEO of GSIL, said, "Based on the increasing number of underground structures and tunnels being constructed as part of Korea's infrastructure, we anticipate that there will also be an increase in the number of worksites for construction, maintenance, and management. By applying a smart safety system to tunnels and underground sites, which have many dangerous elements, we will be able to secure both worker safety and increase work efficiency. Together with KEPCO and Lotte E&C, we will do our best to preemptively apply new smart construction technologies to worksites to create an environment where workers feel safe." KEPCO has consistently created safety policies for on-site application, based on its assessment that sealed tunnel environments may potentially compromise worker safety during an emergency (i.e., exposure to harmful gases, fire, etc.) due to prolonged working periods. The newly-introduced GSIL system's real-time monitoring of oxygen/harmful gas concentrations and worker locations will not only help prevent safety accidents but will also be of invaluable help in the event of a crisis/emergency by securing enough "golden time" to prevent serious human causalities. Founded in 2016, GSIL has established and is operating smart construction management systems for work sites affiliated with the Korea Rail Network Authority (Gangwon branch), Korea Midland Power, and Samsung Engineering. It is also preparing to enter the Middle Eastern market and has already signed an agent contract with a subsidiary of the Bayan National Construction Contracting Company, a general construction company that is based in Kuwait. GSIL is also currently involved in negotiations for the application of its safety system and/or collaborative endeavors related to the F1 circuit (Kuwait Motor Town) and a smart city in Kuwait, PEPCO in the USA, Long Son Petrochemical in Vietnam, and a power plant in Indonesia. On March 20, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) promulgated a revised version of the Enforcement Rule of the Construction Technology Promotion Act that expanded the list of safety management fees that are required for the introduction of smart safety equipment. The revised rule's addition of establishment/operation fees for safety management systems that utilize wireless communications/equipment to the list of official safety management expenses creates the necessary foundations for the use of cutting-edge technology at construction sites, namely through the application of smart safety equipment (based on IoT, big data, etc.). When passing the revised legislation, the MOLIT stressed its commitment to prioritizing the safety of on-site personnel by establishing a "quick response" basis for the early detection and removal of construction site dangers. The revised enforcement rule is expected to diversify the environments that can be equipped with GSIL's smart safety management system. For more detailed information on GSIL, visit http://www.gsil.net/. Media contact Jane Shin Manager, GSIL [email protected] Jina Lee PR Manager, Born2Global Centre [email protected] SOURCE Born2Global Centre Related Links http://www.born2global.com/ President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China of spreading disinformation about the Covid-10 pandemic on orders emanating from the top, a reference perhaps to President Xi Jinping. Trump and his Republican allies have railed against China in effort to shift the blame the roiling epidemic in the United States and the severe toll it has taken on the economy. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace, Trump tweeted late night, reacting to a statement from a Chinese government spokesperson. It all comes from the top, he went on to say in a rare attack on the Chinese president. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! Thursday morning, the US labor department reported more than 2.4 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, taking up the total of those laid off in the nine weeks of Covid-19 lockdowns to 38.6 million. The new weekly layoff number was lower than the revised total for last week of 2.6 million. Though it has continued to decline from the peak of 6.7 million in March end, layoffs have not ceased with businesses downsizing operation or shutting down completely every day, taking a severe toll on the economy. New infections and fatalities have also dropped considerably allowing all 50 states to reopen by partially lifting restrictions. But normalcy is not in sight yet. The United States is now staring at the 100,000 fatalities mark, as the toll went up up to 93,471 Thursday with 1,518 deaths in the last 24 hours. Infections rose by 23,285 to 1.55 million over the same period. Democratic congressional leaders have asked the president to order the national flag to fly at half most on public buildings when the toll crosses 100,000. Though New York city, the epicenter of the American epidemic, continues to improve. But governor Andrew Cuomo has said new coronavirus cases continue to spread among lower income and minority communities. Of 8,000 antibody tests conducted in those areas found an infection rate of 34% in the Bronx, 29% in Brooklyn and 25% in Queens; which were way higher than the citywide average off 19.9%. Meanwhile, a new study has shown that thousands of lives would have been saved if the United States had started locking down its cities earlier than it did. If the lockdown had started on March 1, 54,000 fewer people would have died, the study by Columbian University said. And toll would have been 36,000 less if the curbs went into effect just a week before they did on March 16. And Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said he cannot rule out a second wave of Covid-19 cases later in the year during the usual flu seas next winter. Weve seen evidence that the concerns it would go south in the southern hemisphere like flu (are coming true), and youre seeing whats happening in Brazil now, Redfield told Financial Times Wednesday. And then when the southern hemisphere is over I suspect it will reground itself in the north. He had earlier said the second wave could be more devastating. In a shocking statement, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that people entering Nepal illegally through India were responsible for spreading coronavirus COVID-19 in the Himalayan nation and that Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. "Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing. It has become very difficult to contain Covid-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected, Oli said in Nepal parliament. Oli asserted that necessary measures were taken by Nepal government at the right time to stop the spread of the virus, adding that his government was committed to make Nepal coronavirus free. It is the main priority of the government to make the country free from coronavirus, he said. Notably, Olis comments days after he praised India for assistance in fighting COVID-19 and India had also granted testing kits to Nepal few days ago. Indo-Nepal relations are currently at the lowest ebb following the Himalayan nation's decision to release a controversial map showing several Indian territories as its own. India on Wednesday (May 20) rejected the new map and asked its neighbour to respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Reacting strongly to the map, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stated that Nepal's unilateral action is not based on historical facts and evidence. India, however, reiterated that these disputes should be resolved through dialogue. / -- Vogue Institute of Art and Design collaborates with University of Sunderland, UK, an innovative, forward thinking British University which provides high standards of teaching, research and support. Through this collaboration, Vogue Institute of Art and Design aims to create a curriculum in alignment with international pedagogy and enhance the global exposure for students in the field of design This collaboration will help students gain knowledge at par with global peers. Students are getting the best of both worlds in terms of academic and cultural diversity. The school has a distinctive range of art and design programmes. Students at Vogue Institute of Art and Design get to travel to UK for master degree courses with scholarship opportunities from University of Sunderland. Students can apply for 1 year Honours Top Up Degree Programme post completing their degree at Vogue. The association offers summer courses with certification from University of Sunderland. Due to the collaboration, students at Vogue gain access to international at University of Sunderland, UK at an attractive affordable cost. This collaboration is a step to widen students' professional networking, and boost their scope for career advancement. The curriculums are mapped from both universities to offer progression courses and meet industry requirements. University of Sunderland is extending their academic knowledge to students through live-streaming virtual classes or recorded lectures with international faculty. Faculty from Vogue Institute of Art and Design, and University of Sunderland will exchange their knowledge and practices and join hands for academic research. Students can broaden their horizon while interacting with foreign students and understand cultures and ways of undertaking business from a global perspective. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Vijaya Kumar, Director, Vogue Institute of Art and Design stated, "It gives us immense pleasure to associate with an international institute like University of Sunderland that is known for its teaching methodologies and research. Vogue Institute of Art and Design always attempts to bring more value-added programs for its students. This collaboration aims at enhancing the international exposure for students. With our synergized efforts, we aim to raise the quality standards in the field of design education." Professor Kevin Petrie, MA(RCA) PhD - National Teaching Fellow, Head of the School of Art & Design, University of Sunderland stated, "The School of Art & Design at University of Sunderland, UK are very pleased to be exploring collaborations with Vogue Institute of Art and Design in Bangalore. We see particular affinities between our Graphics, Animation and Fashion departments and are looking forward to sharing international perspectives with students and colleagues on the importance of design creativity in shaping a better world." The School of Art & Design at University of Sunderland has a wide range BA programmes covering Graphic Design, Animation and Games Art, Fashion, Illustration, Fine Art, Photography and Glass and Ceramics. The school also has MA programmes in Design, Fine Art, Glass and Ceramics and Photography. Sunderland was a pioneer of PhD in art and design and currently has around fifty research students in the school. The programmes are career and industry focused which features live and industry led projects, and regular sessions with top speakers to talk about their creative lives. About Vogue Institute of Art and Design: Vogue Institute of Art and Design is a unit of Manduda Educational Trust, a charitable organization registered under the provisions of charitable trust vide no. 352-98/99. The institute has created a niche for itself in the country in the realm of design education. The institute was the first to initiate a degree program in fashion designing in the year 1999 with Bengaluru University. Vogue has one of the finest art and design campuses in the country with nearly 800 students studying in various disciplines doing their undergraduate and post-graduate studies in the fields of Fashion, Gems and Jewellery, Interiors, Animation and Graphic designing. Apart from being ISO 9001:2008 certified, the courses are affiliated to Bengaluru North University. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) She was the woman at the centre of a landmark Supreme Court case that legalised abortion in the United States, one of the most controversial pieces of legislation of its day. Norma McCorvey, otherwise known as 'Jane Roe' of Roe v Wade, had been the face of the abortion rights movement in the '70s before suddenly switching sides in 1995 after claiming she had found religion. It has now emerged in a deathbed confession that rather than having a change of heart, she was paid up to $US500,000 ($781,000) by anti-abortion rights groups for her U-turn. "I felt disrespected": Norma McCorvey from in FX documentary AKA Jane Roe. Credit:FX "I took their money and they'd put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say. That's what I'd say," she told makers of the documentary AKA Jane Roe, which is due for release this week. File photo: Amazon fulfillment center in Kenosha MILWAUKEE At least 32 workers at the Amazon campus in the nearby city of Kenosha have contracted coronavirus in the past two months, according to messages sent to employees and shared with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Amazon officials have not fully cooperated with public health workers trying to track cases, inform workers who might be at risk or offering testing and other safety measures, said Jen Freiheit, health officer for Kenosha County. Were at the point now that since were not getting that, were going to look into what other measures we can take for Amazon, because we are not getting as far with compliance as we would like, Freiheit said. If Amazon officials do not cooperate with health officials, Freiheit said she would consider attempting to shut down the Kenosha facilities, located in Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. T-Mobile's free service deal: Provider wants to connect first responders with free cellular and data deal Costco mask clash: Customer asked to leave after refusing to wear a face covering Amazon has not provided an official total number of cases at its Kenosha facilities to county health officials and declined to provide the number to the Journal Sentinel. "We are supporting the individuals who are recovering," Amazon spokeswoman Jen Crowcroft said in a statement. "Our top concern is ensuring the health and safety of our employees." The Journal Sentinel confirmed at least 32 cases at the Amazon facilities based on screenshots of text messages and voice messages sent by Amazon managers to employees as new cases were confirmed. Those messages were provided to the Journal Sentinel by workers. Workers told the Journal Sentinel they believe the number of positive cases is higher. Amazon management has refused to say how many workers have tested positive nationwide at its workplaces. But Jana Jumpp, who is on leave from her job at an Amazon facility in Indiana, has been tracking cases across the country with the help of workers. Story continues As of Wednesday, Jumpp said she had confirmed 941 cases using screenshots of text messages and other verification methods. She was working on confirming another 94, she said. Seven Amazon employees, including a 50-year-old who worked at a Waukegan warehouse, have died from the virus, she said, the same number reported last week by the Indianapolis Star. Growing cases and not enough protection Amazon operates two facilities on its grounds east of Interstate 94 in Kenosha: MKE1, a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center where workers receive products and send off packages; and MKE5, a sorting center thats half that size. Workers concerned for their safety or needing to care for family members were temporarily able to take unlimited time off due to the pandemic, but that policy was suspended May 1. Workers can still request a leave of absence, but some have reported being unable to get through on the phone lines to apply or being told they dont qualify, according to Jumpp and social media posts. The first cases of coronavirus were confirmed at both facilities in late March, according to workers who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. A spokesperson for Amazon said the company started recommending workers wear masks April 4 and started requiring them April 16. At the smaller facility, MKE5, Amazon did not provide enough masks for everyone until masks were required, according to a worker there who serves on a Bubble Brigade a team thats supposed to enforce social distancing and other safety measures. Amazon officials said the company expects to spend $800 million in the first half of this year on COVID-19 safety measures, including personal protective equipment, disinfectant spraying, social distancing measures that slow down productivity and in-house testing. But the MKE5 worker on the Bubble Brigade said safety measures haven't worked as well in practice as she had hoped. For example, she is one of several employees now tasked with monitoring thermal cameras that measure employees temperatures as they enter. But she said she can't always catch everyone. If theres several people coming through, sometimes theyre through before you can see them, she said. The worker, who falls into an at-risk category for coronavirus, said she volunteered to be part of the Bubble Brigade because she hoped it would be safer than other jobs where workers are in closer proximity to each other. But she said its hard to enforce safety measures without more support from managers, who she said often arent wearing masks. People continually take down their face masks and talk; they wear them on their neck, she said. When people go in the break room, they take off their face masks and we have a whole break room full of people without face masks. Coronavirus: Amazon warehouse worker in New York died of COVID-19 Workplace activism: Amazon VP quits in protest over warehouse employee firings A worker at the larger facility, MKE1, said the masks provided by managers are too large for many workers and often slide down. She also said its impossible to keep a safe distance of at least 6 feet away from other workers. With all the volume weve been getting, all the lines the packages come down get overpacked, she said. Theres been points where theyd have 17 people on one line shoulder to shoulder. Freiheit said she didn't know whether workers had proper masks or were properly distanced. "Thats why we would like to get in there," she said. Health officials unable to trace cases At the Kenosha County Division of Health, Freiheit said she is aware of 14 to 16 cases, but she only finds out about people who live in Kenosha County and many employees live elsewhere. Staff members have been unable to get consistent numbers from Amazon. Amazon officials have said the rates of infection in their facilities are at or below rates in surrounding communities. In Kenosha County, about 0.5% of the population has tested positive for coronavirus. Amazon officials would not say how many people work at the Kenosha facilities but said the company has more than 3,500 workers in Wisconsin, which also includes three Whole Foods stores and six other facilities. A conservative estimate of 32 cases out of 3,500 workers puts the rate at 0.9%, higher than the county rate. Freiheit, who has not been able to find out the total number of employees, said she can't tell how severe the outbreak is without having these numbers. Health Department staff have also faced roadblocks with contact tracing, she said, the process public health workers use to track down people who may have had contact with coronavirus patients. For every positive Amazon employee from Kenosha County, staff has asked Amazon managers for a list of employees who had contact with the person. In some cases, they have not received a list, Freiheit said. In an open Facebook group for the facilities, employees discussed never being contacted despite working near other workers who tested positive. A county health department offer to help with on-site safety measures was rebuffed, Freiheit said. The department has helped with worker protection at more than 260 businesses in the county, she said. Freiheit would like to be able to test every worker at Amazon. She said her staff has extended that offer over the phone, but shes never sure if theyre reaching the right manager at the facilities. She could get assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard to conduct testing, she said. If theyre open to it, I can immediately get the National Guard to come. Freiheit said ordering the facility to close would be a last resort if Amazon officials do not cooperate. I wouldnt want to strong-arm anybody, she said. We want Amazon to work with us. Were just having a difficult time even getting to that conversation. Amazon workers elsewhere are organizing Workers are frustrated by the companys response to the pandemic. Initially, managers at the Kenosha facilities were telling workers exactly how many people had contracted the virus. But after May 10, the texts to workers at MKE1 stopped specifying a number, causing workers to worry about how much the virus was spreading. We have additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 at MKE1, read a text delivered Tuesday. Jumpp said managers at other facilities also changed the way they report cases after May 10, when CBS aired a "60 Minutes" program about Amazon's treatment of employees. Though many workers at the Kenosha facilities are unhappy with the communication and working conditions, they have not been as active in protests as workers at other Amazon facilities, who have walked off the job. Everybodys afraid, said a worker at MKE5. They can make life real miserable for people doing any kind of activism. In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for an investigation into Amazons dismissal of Chris Smalls, a worker who helped organize a worker walkout. Smalls, who was not an organizer before the pandemic, said hes now working to form an organization: The Congress of Essential Workers. He plans to ask Amazon workers to donate $1 per paycheck to the group for a strike relief fund and a food pantry for workers, with the ultimate goal of negotiating with Amazon executives over employee pay, benefits and treatment. Smalls is now circulating a petition to extend hazard pay and unpaid time-off options for Amazon workers. The pay bump of $2 per hour is set to expire at the end of this month. The worker at MKE5 said its hard to organize workers at Amazon. Theres talk of it all the time, she said. The problem is were all strung out, pushed to the limit, theres just no energy left. They wear people out, wreck their knees, shoulders, backs and replace them. But, she said, In my mind, if you were going to organize, this would probably be the best time to do it." Follow Rory Linnane on Twitter @RoryLinnane. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Coronavirus: 30-plus workers at Wisconsin Amazon facilities had virus Reporter Debra Pressey is a reporter covering health care at The News-Gazette. Her email is dpressey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@DLPressey). Online virtual conferences help American spirits industry through the new normal Distillery 291 and online wholesale alcohol distributor, LibDib, have collaborated on a new series of online virtual conferences specifically designed to help American alcohol retailers navigate the latest market challenges in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The series comprises six one-hour conferences, and each will provide an opportunity for operators in the alcohol industry to get insights and advice from business leaders and experts. They will focus on the key issues facing the industry as it operates through the current extraordinary circumstances, and aim to guide operators through the process of emerging into a new retail alcohol environment. Michael Myers, founder of Distillery 291, commented: For the people on the front lines in our industry who are facing new challenges and uncertainty, we want to stand with them and navigate into the future together. Distillery 291 and LibDib decided to co-host the events after seeing their fellow industry members struggling in the new market conditions. Now, more than ever, our industry needs thought leadership and imagination. We are big believers in a forward-looking approach to business, and thats what this conference is all about, said LibDib CEO Cheryl Durzy. The free one-hour events all start at 2pm ET / 11am PT, and will include an open forum Q&A period. Alcohol retailers and other attendees can register for the events at www.distillery291.com/newnormal/ . The events will be recorded and available post-conference. 21 May 2020 - Bolivia's health minister, Fernando Navajas, speaks at press conference in La Paz on April 13, 2020. AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty Images Bolivia's health minister, Marcelo Navajas, was arrested Wednesday on charges he paid millions over the going rate for 170 ventilators. Authorities began investigating after doctors complained the machines didn't work well enough for an ICU. "I will seek jail and order the full weight of the law against those who have taken a single cent," interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez tweeted. Navajas' attorney said the contracts were legal and everything was done "above board," the Financial Times reported. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Bolivia's health minister, Marcelo Navajas, has been arrested after just six weeks on the job for allegedly overspending millions of dollars on substandard ventilators. Bolivian police investigating the ministry's spending arrested Navajas on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The government purchased 170 ventilators from a Spanish firm, GPA Innova, using funding from the Inter-American Development Bank. Each ventilator cost the government about $27,683, even though the manufacturer was offering the devices for a maximum of $11,941. The difference equates to more than $2.5 million in all. The ventilators first garnered attention last week, when doctors complained that they weren't good enough to use in an intensive care unit, according to The Telegraph. Interim President Jeanine Anez said the graft investigation will be thorough, "no matter whom it brings down." Gaston Brito Miserocchi/Getty Images Bolivia's interim president, Jeanine Anez, ordered an investigation on Tuesday, after local news reported on the price discrepancy. Anez said the inquiry would be thorough, "no matter whom it brings down," according to Reuters. "I will seek jail and order the full weight of the law against those who have taken a single cent," Anez wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night. "Every penny of corruption must be returned to the state." Story continues The following day Navajas was detained by police in La Paz. He was also fired. Navajas' attorney Rosario Canedo called the arrest "an infamy," according to the Financial Times. She said the contracts were all legal and that her team was going to prove everything was done "above board." "Are we living under the rule of law or are we living in a dictatorship and under a totalitarian government?" She told reporters. Navajas was dismissed from his position in the government and four health officials were also detained, according to Reuters. Authorities say the investigation will also examine individuals outside of Bolivia. On Wednesday, Anez tweeted that the ventilator contract was for roughly $4.8 million, Bloomberg reported. The government had paid a little more than $2 million, she added, before she ordered payments to stop and the investigation to continue. As of May 21, Bolivia has 4,919 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 199 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned in November after 14 years in office following protests over the results of the October 20 presidential election. Stay-at-home orders were instituted in March, but critics have claimed Anez's administration is using the lockdown to delay another election, The Washington Post reports. Read the original article on Business Insider Major Boakye Gyan 21.05.2020 LISTEN Reignier: I am a soldier, and unapt to weep, Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness I am a soldier and am unable to cry or to accuse inconstancy of fortune. Henry VI Part 1, Act 5, Scene 3 - William Shakespeare MAJOR BOAKYE GYAN and I may have met at the University of Ghana Language Centre where we were together being taught the 'ABD' of Vegbe for our individual purposes. He may have been Captain. Two years later, he was heard all over the air as having staged a coup d'etat and released J.J. Rawlings from custody and made him 'leader of the Revolution' and he (Boakye Gyan) as Spokesman for the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). We do not want to recall the atrocities meted out to Ghanaians at that time. The young men (aged between 25 and 34) of the AFRC with Rawlings, Mensah Gbedemah, Apaloo, Mensah Poku and Boakye Gyan, acting on an adhoc basis, had executed Kutu Acheampong (48), Utuka (42), Fred Akuffo (42), Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa (43), Roger Felli, (38), Joy Amedume, Robert Kotei, George Yaw Boakye. Yes, executed at those very young ages! And the reign of terror! Curfew at 6:00pm to 6:00am! Haba! And now, Major Boakye Gyan will not behave like Captain Acheamfour who openly heaps condolences upon the bereaved families of the slain men, but will not let sleeping dogs lie, rather will talk about civil war, justifying this on the grounds that other nations which had made it had passed through that kind of belligerence before! Daily Guide captures Boakye Gyan's situation well in its editorial of Friday, May 15, 2020 (the 41st anniversary of Rawlings's botched coup): Ghana has grown past the time when he was hopping all over the place lying about a better Ghana he and the junta were going to usher the country into but which never came For him to threaten mayhem in the country should the wish of the NDC not be achieved is, of course, one of the symptoms of psychosis he is manifesting. Boakye Gyan's brother, Kyeremeh Djan, was tortured, after he, Boakye, had left the country with a handsome booty by the Limann government. How would it taste to be a victim? Boakye Gyan must be a grandfather now, so what advice does he give to his children, his grandchildren? Or does he not know that there are men in the families of the persons he slew in 1979? Or does he not know that when there is a conflagration, it can consume all of us indiscriminately? Again, Daily Guide editorial of Tuesday (not Wednesday) May 19 is relevant: At such a respectable age, this man is still basking in the shadows of the court martial offences he committed, and which in the 80s compromised the age-old discipline in the Ghana Armed Forces. Is Boakye Gyan still relevant? Agya Dum, the leper in my village, would advise us: Meye abrantee no mahooden nti na yebo gye me so: Odum ye barima, Odum ye barima, ene gann (when I was young, because of my strength, people would hail me: Odum is a man, Odum is a man. Now see me-a leper). True, ever since Cain treacherously killed his brother Abel and lied to God (Am I my brother's keeper), the world has lived through violence upon violence. Nations have risen against nations, empires above empires. Grecian, Egyptian, Roman, Chinese, Japanese, BritishIn the 220BC in ancient Rome, Cato the Censor always ended his speeches: Carthago delenda est (Carthage must be destroyed). He would scream: Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam (Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed). In contradiction, Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, the son-in-law of Scipio Africanus, would conclude his speeches: Carthago servanda est (Carthage must be saved). Cato won the debate, and, with Carthage attacking Massinissa, the casus belli (cause of war) was provided. In modern history, but for the fortitude of great leaders like Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Charles de Gaulle, Franklin Roosevelt, the world would have been smarting under the foot of Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German's Reich and suzerainty. In Africa, Nigeria was plunged into a civil war when Biafra (Igbo state) formed a de facto independent state in 1967. Ojukwu became a common nickname in Ghana. In the two-and-a-half year war, 100,000 people perished and about two million died out of starvation. Liberia's Charles Taylor subdued Samuel Doe in the war that lasted between 1989 and 1997 killing over 250,000. In the 1991-2001 Sierra Leonean civil war, erupted when Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia got involved in an attempt to overthrow the Jospeh Momoh government. The civil war that ensued led to the death of over 50,000 people. People's hands were severed, and fleeing Liberians and Sierra Leoneans were given a haven at Budumburam in Ghana. The civil war in Cote d'Ivoire wars in two parts: the first which began in 2002 ended in 2004 with the country split in two. That was after the death of Houghoet Boigny after 33 years of reign. The second one was brought by the 2010-2011 post-election dispute between former President Laurent Gbagbo and Allasane Quattara. A total of 3,000 persons perished. The Rwandan 'genocide' in which the Hutus slaughtered the Tutsis, the Twa and moderate Hutus kept concerned Africans asking, like Dr. Armattoe: What is 'inside the Blackman's mind'? The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) composed of Tutsi refugees in Uganda, initiated the Rwandan Civil War of 1990. The President, Juvenal Habyarimana, signed the Arusha Accords with the RPF. Habyarimana was assassinated on 6th April, 1993, and a power vacuum was created. The genocide did not spare even those seeking refuge in churches (as for example 5,000 people hiding in Ntamara Church were killed). Tutsis suffered severely (about 70% of Tutsi's population were killed); also killed were 'moderate' Hutus who were considered 'traitors' or 'soft' people. The Hutus were ordered: Begin your work; spare no one, not even children or fellow church members who were found to be Tutsis. Hutu villagers who defied orders to kill Tutsis were classified as Tutsi sympathisers and they themselves were killed till the heavily-armed Tutsi-backed RPF led by Paul Kagame took control. Casualties: 1,000,000. Gory pictures, these- for everyone to sit wiser. The pogrom, once started, may not end peacefully. Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah says: If I were in his (Mahama's) shoes and this thing (Airbus bribery scandal) hangs on me, I will not dream of coming back. And who says the choice is not Mahama's? Mahama wants to make history: Assemblyman, Member of Parliament, Minister, Vice-President, President then another President. Some of his colleagues may not even have been section leaders or class prefects. Les Crane in 'Desiderata' sings: Go placidly amid the noise and haste. And remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender. Be on good terms with all persons If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter You are a child of the universe. No less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be hereTherefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be Keep peace with your soul. Boakye-Gyan needs our prayers. He should master the words of 'Desiderata'. [email protected] From Africanus Owusu-Ansah By Mei Mei Chu KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia voiced its commitment to further strengthen diplomatic and trade ties with India, after the world's largest edible oil buyer renewed purchases of Malaysian palm oil, in a sign of improving relations between the two countries. Indian buyers contracted up to 200,000 tonnes of Malaysian crude palm oil for June and July, after a four-month gap following a diplomatic row. Malaysia's exports to India in January to April fell to 96,145 tonnes, down 94% from the same period in 2019, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said on Thursday. But crude palm oil prices falling below Malaysia's palm oil duty threshold level and New Delhi's decision not to extend restrictions on refined palm oil imports have led to an increase in purchases, he said. Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer and exporter, slashed the June palm oil export duty to zero, lowering its price against rival Indonesian palm. Palm oil futures traded on the Bursa Malaysia spiked 47% to 66,427 lots on Wednesday compared to the daily average of 45,200 lots last week, Mohd Khairuddin said. He added that Malaysia's readiness to address a trade deficit between the two countries has also led to more Indian buying. Malaysia contracted to import a record 100,000 tonnes of rice from India for shipment this month and next. "The government expects this positive development to strengthen palm oil prices in the market," Mohd Khairuddin said, adding that it will also support the industry, especially smallholders. Smallholders in Malaysia and Indonesia - which together account for 85% of global palm oil production - are reducing fertiliser use due to a plunge in fresh fruit bunch prices, a risk to next year's output. (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christian Schmollinger) As the entire country grapples with COVID-19 situation, anti-Coronavirus robots were deployed in a containment zone in Chennai on Wednesday to sanitise the area. These robots were carried by a three-wheeler auto which was also, incidentally, based on Coronavirus theme. The designer of the robots, Gowtham said, "It can store around 30 litres of disinfectant. This is a prototype, we are building better ones." The city is grappling with the deadly pandemic like many in India as it was witnessed that 552 out of 688 new COVID-19 cases in the state on Wednesday are from Chennai alone. Of the 688 cases, 87 are those who returned from other states and abroad. Among the people found positive were returnees from Dubai, Maldives, Malaysia and Kuwait, while those returning from other states were from Maharashtra and Kerala. READ | FM Sitharaman Slams Cong Over 'migrant-bus' Row; Points '300 Trains To UP, 7 To C'garh' READ | MEA Disapproves Of Nepal's New Map, Urges India's Territorial Integrity To Be Respected Koyembedu market situation The biggest contributor to the cases in the city of late, the Koyembedu market, has been shifted to a location in the outskirts of the city. One of Asia's largest vegetable, fruits and flower markets, Koyembedu had become an epicentre in the state when at least 300 COVID-19 cases were reported from the market alone, thus becoming a separate cluster on its own. It is also said that the people who visited the market travelled back to various places in the state, carrying the virus. Hence, the Chennai metropolitan development authority, the government body that manages the Koyembedu market, shut the market and has temporarily given it a different location at Thirumazhisai which is in the outskirts of the city to continue the trade since the vegetable and fruit supply to the Chennai should not be curtailed. However, the vendors don't seem to be moving from the existing location to the new one. READ | Cabinet Approves 'AtmaNirbhar' Bharat Package After FM Sitharaman's 5-step Announcement READ | Resumption Of Domestic Flights Possible If States 'allow', Says Aviation Minister Puri Politics over Koyembedu Tamil Nadu Opposition leader and DMK president MK Stalin slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for putting the blame of Koyambedu Covid-19 cluster on the vendors and labourers. During a brief press conference on Wednesday, Chief Minister E Palaniswami said that the government officials including the Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had multiple rounds of talks with the vendors of Koyembedu fruits and vegetable market, but then they were not ready to move out since they will incur a heavy loss if they shift out and it's not the government which is responsible for the Covid-19 Koyembedu cluster and its the vendors who were responsible as they allegedly didn't wear masks or follow the social distancing norms. 12,448 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Tamil Nadu while 84 deaths have been reported in the state due to the disease so far. A total of 1,06,750 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discusses details for economic relief during the daily CCP virus response briefing as Small Business (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza listens at the White House in Washington, on April 2, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Senators Urge Secretary Mnuchin to Prevent the Chinese Regimes Predatory Business Practices A group of Republican Senators urged the Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from buying up U.S. companies that are suffering from financial hardships caused by the CCP virus. U.S. Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) sent a letter Wednesday, to Mnuchin after receiving information that the CCP is exploiting the economic crisis to buy U.S. and foreign companies. In both Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PRC policy documents, Beijing has made no secret of its intentions to dominate strategic industrial and emerging technology sectors as well as influence standards at the expense of liberal, rules-based governance, the senators wrote. As the pandemic unravels the worlds economy, they continued, the CCPs selfishly motived lending practices, including the use of non-disclosure agreements for bilateral loansnot only damage the fiscal situation of recipient countries but also undermine the international communitys ability to respond effectively to the crisis. The lawmakers said the United States must hold the CCP accountable for exploiting vulnerable countries. Such countries will face the risk of default or a currency crisis, leaving the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and Western countries to clean up the PRCs mess, the senators said. The other legislative chamber has also taken up this issue, U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-Tenn.) shared his concern about this type of predatory behavior in April. China is looking to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis and gobble up distressed companies that are vital to our national defense while they are economically vulnerable and looking for capital, Green said in an April 22 statement. We cannot let this happen. China seeks to use the pandemic to advance its economic goals, according to a March report by U.S.-based independent consultancy Horizon Advisory, which analyzed recent policies and notices announced by Chinese government agencies, regional governments, and research institutes. Recently, UK lawmakers also expressed concerns when Chinese state-owned investment firm China Reform sought to appoint four new directors to the board of Imagination Technologies, a leading British semiconductor chip designer. The firm was acquired by U.S.-based private equity firm Canyon Bridge in 2017, with the latter backed by China Reform. What we think is going on is the Chinese are trying to export the technology base from here to China, and thats inappropriate, British lawmaker David Davis told Reuters on April 14. Other governments around the world have also raised the alarm about Chinas desire to buy companies that are suffering financial losses due to the pandemic. Last week, India announced that investment from countries with which it shares a land border will need to obtain government approval, in an effort to curb opportunistic takeovers and acquisitions, according to Reuters. The new investment screening is widely viewed as focused on Chinese companies. Two unnamed senior Indian government sources told Reuters that investments coming from Hong Kong would also be screened. Meanwhile, Germany is on high alert over any possible attempts by China to exploit the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus to take over companies, Reinhard Hans Butikofer, a member of the European Parliament, told the Nikkei Asian Review in early April. Australias Foreign Investment Review Board also is wary about foreign takeovers, particularly by Chinese firms, of financially distressed local businesses, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on March 26. Frank Fang contributed to this report. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As an extension of their digital and experiential learning resources, Junior Achievement is partnering with the Brian Hamilton Foundation, the Mark Cuban Foundation, and Microsoft, to host "Why Entrepreneurship Now: A Virtual Event for America's Teens" on May 27 at 3 p.m. ET. Hosted by Harris Faulkner, anchor of Fox News Channel's "Outnumbered Overtime" and co-host of "Outnumbered," this unique interactive event will give teens across America the opportunity to ask questions of some of the country's most experienced entrepreneurs. The panelists will offer simple, straightforward strategies to empower participants to start the entrepreneurial journey in their youth and lay the foundation for a successful future. Panelists include: Brian Hamilton , National Entrepreneur Educator, Co-founder of Sageworks, Philanthropist, Founder of the Brian Hamilton Foundation and Inmates to Entrepreneurs , National Entrepreneur Educator, Co-founder of Sageworks, Philanthropist, Founder of the Brian Hamilton Foundation and Inmates to Entrepreneurs Mark Cuban , Co-star, ABC's "Shark Tank," owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and Author, "How to Win at the Sport of Business" and "Kid Startup" "The nation depends on entrepreneurs and startups to drive innovation and job growth," said Jack E. Kosakowski, President and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. "Given the challenges businesses are currently facing, the next generation may have questions about the future of entrepreneurship. This Virtual Event with Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Cuban is the ideal opportunity for teens to ask those questions." "Many kids in our nation lack exposure to the benefits of entrepreneurship," said Charlie Bradley, CEO of the Brian Hamilton Foundation. "It is more important than ever to help all of our youth discover that they are never too young to start their own business. I can't think of two better people to lead this conversation than Mark Cuban and Brian Hamilton." Students, parents, and teachers interested in participating in the virtual teen entrepreneurship event can learn more and register here . About Junior Achievement USA (JA) Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA programs are delivered by corporate and community volunteers, and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Today, JA reaches nearly 4.8 million students per year in 105 markets across the United States, with an additional 5.2 million students served by operations in 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. Visit www.ja.org for more information. About the Brian Hamilton Foundation The Brian Hamilton Foundation's mission is to open the door to entrepreneurship for all Americans by sharing with them the resources necessary to start, run, and grow successful businesses. To learn more, visit https://brianhamilton.org. About the Mark Cuban Foundation Mark Cuban is an entrepreneur, investor, proprietor of the Dallas Mavericks, and "Shark" on the hit ABC show "Shark Tank." Mark gives back to the communities that promoted his success through The Mark Cuban Foundation. The Foundation's AI Bootcamps Initiative hosts free Introduction to AI Bootcamps for low-income high schoolers, starting in Dallas, Texas. Learn more about the AI Bootcamps Initiative at: http://www.markcubanai.org . About Microsoft Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Visit Microsoft.com to view current product and service offerings. Related Links https://www.ja.org https://brianhamilton.org http://www.markcubanai.org SOURCE Junior Achievement USA Related Links www.ja.org New Delhi: British multinational telecommunications company Vodafone has launched unlimited mobile phone calling plan for 3G and 4G post paid customers price starting from Rs 1,699 per month. "The postpaid customer's usage behaviour has evolved significantly with higher usage of roaming and data. With the new Vodafone RED, we are offering our postpaid customers an all-in-one plan that addresses their roaming, data, and voice needs comprehensively," Vodafone India Director-Commercial Sandeep Kataria said in a statement issued on . Under the Rs 1,699 plan, Vodafone customers will get free incoming calls while roaming, unlimited voice calling and 6 GB of 3G or 4G data. Just when you think theres nothing left to discuss in the world of Netflixs Tiger King, more details emerge. This week new evidence surfaced in the case of Carole Baskins missing husband, Don Lewis. Is it enough to solve the crime or lead to Baskins arrest? Heres what we know. Carole Baskin is cashing in on the coronavirus pandemic Carole Baskin | Netflix RELATED: How One Tiger King Star May Have Led to the Creation of Scarface Tony Montana CDC guidelines currently recommend everyone wear a mask or face covering when leaving the house. It was only a matter of time before someone crashed in on Tiger Kings fame. Some have created masks with the bottom half of Tiger King stars faces. The show which focused on a longtime rivalry between Joseph Maldonado Passage (aka Joe Exotic) and Baskin has inspired Baskin to sell masks of her own. The Big Cat Rescue owner is selling two cat-themed masks (one black and one leopard print) on Tread365.Com for $11 each. Proceeds from the sale of each mask benefits big cats and first responders. Baskins sanctuary currently is closed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Don Lewiss case remains unsolved, Baskin maintains innocence RELATED: Tiger King Star Saff Says Joe Exotic Killed at Least 100 Animals: Monster Is a Relative Term As shown in Tiger King, Baskins second husband, Don Lewis, went missing in 1997. He was declared dead five years later though his body has never been found. Baskin is not a person of interest in the case. She maintains that Lewis planned to travel to Costa Rica (where he went regularly), suggesting he willingly left the country. We were not heading for divorce, she previously told Oxygen.com. Don was suffering mentally and I was desperately trying to get him help. Tiger King fans speculated whether shes as innocent as she proclaims. Theories surrounding Baskins meat grinder and big cats still circulate. The rescue owner and her third husband, Howard Baskin, have maintained her innocence. In April, Baskin uploaded multiple YouTube videos defending her side. Another theory pointed to Baskin possibly enlisting her brother. He worked on the police force at that time. Some say he may have helped kill, and/or dispose of Lewiss body. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister spoke with Fox Nations Nancy Grace about the matter saying those claims are false. He added that Baskins brother was on another call that night and couldnt have been wherever Lewis was. Any type of theory of cover-up is dispelled when you can track back and see that his actions that night were accounted for, Chronister said. Baskin said her car broke down at 3 a.m. on her way to the grocery store the night of Lewiss disappearance. She called her brother for help. [Baskins brother] had asked for one of his other friends, another deputy to please take her home, Chronister told Grace. Another deputy sheriff did pick her up from the Albertsons and give her a ride back to the animal sanctuary. New evidence suggests Lewiss will was forged RELATED: Tiger King: Carole Baskins Missing Husband May Have Been Strangled, Thrown out of a Plane, According to His Attorney Despite Baskin repeatedly trying to clear her name, new evidence recently surfaced about Lewiss will and its validity. The document contains notary Sandra Wittkopps signature but theres a problem with that. I dont remember a will at all, Wittkopp told the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. I was the housekeeper. Some states require notaries to keep journals to keep up with best practices in recordkeeping. Florida Law (where the will originated) does not. Along with that, handwriting experts reviewed the will and concluded that Lewiss own signatures on both his will and his power of attorney were traced from his 1991 marriage record, the Center stated. Theyre all virtually identical, handwriting expert, Thomas Vastrick of Florida said. Theyre all from a model signature. Even if this is true, The Center said the statute of limitations has run out. That means no one can be prosecuted for the crime now. Still, if prosecutors pursue Baskin, the forgery evidence may come into play. Tampa Bay Times also added fuel to the Baskin fire. They reported that, Susan Aronoff Bradshaw said that after Lewis disappeared, Carole Baskin asked her to testify that she was there for the will signing when she was not. Regardless of what becomes of those signatures or Baskin, Chronister believes there are multiple people who couldve benefited from Lewiss death. He added that, despite reported possible sightings of Lewis in Costa Rica, This individual was murdered and this individual never left the country, he said. I think it was staged and meant to appear like someone had just pulled up, parked, and I think they wanted us to believe that he would never [have] intended on returning and that he had left. It sounds like theres a lot more to uncover with this one. Well keep you posted. Azerbaijans first national tanker 'Lachin', built at Baku Shipyard, set off for its first run today, press-service of SOCAR reported on Facebook. From Baku port the ship will depart to Georgian port Kulevi. After passing through the Volga-Don canal through the inland waters of Russia, the vessel will reach the port of Kulevi, where after additional loading of cargo will go to Turkey. The cargo carried by the tanker is planned to be delivered to the Turkish port of Gebze. From now on, the ship will carry liquid cargo in the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins. The new generation tanker, will play an important role not only in strengthening Azerbaijan's position in international cargo transportation, but also in the representation and promotion of country in foreign waters. The length of the tanker is 141 meters, width - 16.9 meters, height of the board - 6 meters. The vessel is designed for transportation of crude oil and oil products with density up to 1.015 tons per cubic meter, including gasoline, and chemical products (methanol, acetone, ethylene glycol, ethyl tret butyl ether, ethyl alcohol, etc.). The capacity of six cargo tanks and two lagoon tanks is 9,190 cubic metres. With the commissioning of Lachin, the number of ships sailing outside the Caspian Sea reached 15. Out of them 12 are dry cargo ships and 3 are tankers. A frog no bigger than a 5p coin has been discovered in Madagascar - and already classed as critically endangered by conservationists. The new species of stump-toed frog, named Stumpffia troschaueri, is brown in colour with black spots on its side, in an apparent attempt to camouflage itself among the leaves around it. Four specimens were pulled from Sahamalaza forests, on the north-west coast of the island, after researchers spent day and night painstakingly combing through leaf litter. The tiny frog is already severely threatened by logging, drought and forest fires in the region, which has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2001. The stump-toed frog, or Stumpffia troschaueri, was identified by scientists in Sahamalaza, on the north-west coast of Madagascar Four specimens of the less than half-an-inch amphibian have been found. Pictured above is the holotype, or frog used to describe the species Dr Samuel Penny, pictured examining the frog, was part of the team from the University of Brighton that made the discovery The unique frog is only known from three patches of forest which are all 'severely threatened', said researchers from the University of Brighton, which made the find. It was defined as a new species following analysis of its colouration, body form and genetics, according to a study published in ZooKeys. DNA in its mitochondria, which are the part of cells that produce energy, forms a genetically-distinct group. Genes from cell nuclei also formed a separate group to 18 frog species in the same genus, indicating a different species. The researchers said the frog was critically endangered because threats to its habitat fitted the IUCN's definition. The unique frog, pictured, has been found in three patches of forest in the region which are all 'severely threatened' by logging, drought and forest fires The new species of frog was identified in three forests in Sahamalaza, Madagascar Stump-toed frog, Stumpffia troschaueri Length: 0.4 inches Habitat: Leaflitter in forests Coloration: Brown, possibly with a single stripe down its back Eats: Thought to feast on small insects Where does it live?: Three patches of woodland in Sahamalaza, north-west Madagascar Threats: Logging, drought and forest fires Status: Considered 'critically endangered' under IUCN definition Advertisement Dr Samuel Penny, a lecturer at the University's school of pharmacy and biomolecular sciences who was on the expedition, said: 'This small and inconspicuous frog measures around 0.4 inches in length and inhabits the leaf litter of relatively undisturbed forests. 'Habitat loss across its limited range suggests it should qualify as critically endangered. 'The species name honours Christoph Froschauer (ca. 1490 - 1564), a renowned printer whose family name means the man from the floodplain full of frogs.' 'It's amazing to find a completely new variety of frog but it's worrying to know they are already threatened with extinction.' Scientists are constantly finding new species. At least 71 new creatures were uncovered in 2019 including flowers, fish, spiders, ants and lizards, according to the Californian Academy of Sciences. An additional 270 new species were found in 2018, said the Natural History Museum. The species was named in honour of Christoph Froschauer, a renowned printer whose family name means 'man from the floodplain full of frogs' Madagascar is famed for its unique fauna and flora, which has evolved due to its varied habitats and isolation from mainland Africa for more than 160 million years. A stunning 95 per cent of its reptiles, 89 per cent of its plants and 92 per cent of its animals live nowhere else on earth. The native wildlife is, however, under threat due to the illegal trade in species, deforestation and degradation of forest habitats. Kipland P. Kinkel continues to challenge his prison sentence of nearly 112 years for fatally shooting his parents and then killing two students at Thurston High School and wounding 24 others more than 20 years ago. The U.S. Supreme Court last year refused to review Kinkels sentencing, meaning the Oregon Supreme Courts ruling upholding his sentence stands. This year, though, Kinkel, now 37, filed a new motion in federal court, seeking to certify two questions before the states high court that would affect his sentence. Both stem from his age 15 at the time of the mass shooting. First, does the Oregon Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision have authority to release him -- a juvenile offender -- to post-prison supervision? Second, does state law allow the parole board to consider whether hes capable of rehabilitation after serving 25 years in custody, which would be May 2023? Kinkels sentence now doesnt allow for his release until Jan. 21, 2110. Kipland P. Kinkel, 37, is an inmate at the Oregon State Correctional Institution. Kinkels lawyers argue that the lengthy sentence amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because it affords a juvenile offender no possibility of release where no finding was made by the sentencing court that Mr. Kinkels crimes reflected irreparable corruption. Oregon Assistant Attorney General Samuel A. Kubernick counters that Kinkels request should be denied because hes not entitled to a parole or murder review hearing until after he has served a minimum of 25 years. Only then, if Kinkel seeks such hearings and the state parole board denies him, would Kinkel be able to seek judicial review, Kubernick wrote. A federal judge hasnt yet ruled on the request. Kinkel remains in custody at the Oregon State Correctional Institution. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Subscribe to Facebook page Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter SANTA FE State health officials said Thursday that 11 more New Mexicans have died amid the coronavirus pandemic, eight of whom lived in group care facilities. The statewide death toll is now 294. Health officials also said testing has confirmed 163 additional cases of the virus, pushing the total to 6,472. The new cases include 19 state inmates at the Otero County Prison and 40 new cases in Dona Ana County, which borders Texas. Earlier this week, state health officials said they were concerned about travel to and from Texas contributing to outbreaks in New Mexico. The 11 deaths announced Thursday include adults ranging in age from their 40s to their 90s. Four were people from Bernalillo County who were residents at Uptown Genesis, the Robin House Assisted Living Center and the Village at Alameda. The deaths also included adults at group living facilities in Gallup and Farmington. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state health officials said this week that New Mexico is making progress in controlling the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, . But they also are urging people to stay home when they can, wear masks and practicing social distancing to help limit transmission of the virus. Fred Parker, who with his younger brother, Jim, turned a fistful of old family recipes into the Hard Times Cafe chain of chili restaurants, died April 26 at his home in Alexandria, Virginia. He was 78. The cause was esophageal cancer, said his wife, Carol Christensen. Parker, who fancied western attire such as a bolo tie and cowboy boots with spurs, opened the Hard Times Cafe on Old Town Alexandria's King Street in 1980 with his brother Jim and restaurant manager Barry Thompson. The menu featured chili inspired by the brothers' grandfather who they said once worked as a chuck-wagon cook in Texas, an aunt who ran a Depression-era roadhouse diner in Oklahoma, and chili from Hazel's Texas Chili Parlor in Washington. Fred Parker was working as a graphic designer at the National Gallery of Art in the 1970s when he began experimenting with chili recipes in the kitchen of his Alexandria home and inviting friends over for taste tests. He left his day job in the mid-1980s to focus on the restaurant and its promotions and special events, such as organizing chili cook-offs and catering for civic groups, fundraisers and charities in the District of Columbia area. The business expanded to include 16 restaurants in the metropolitan region, as well as eateries at Capital One Arena and Nationals Park in D.C. Parker kept a 1941 Chevrolet pickup truck fitted with a large American flag and a seasonally decorated life-size fiberglass horse parked outside the original restaurant. He regularly drove the truck in Alexandria's annual George Washington Birthday Parade with flag-waving children sitting under the horse and a rider in Revolutionary War attire. For 30 years, Parker played the spoons and washboard in a band called the Del Ray Desperados. Not long after his brother died in 2014, Parker sold his interest in Hard Times Cafe. In retirement, he ran a mail-order business selling Hard Times Cafe chili spices, vinegar and hot sauces. "Fred thought chili was a food of the people to help them get through the hard times," his wife said. Frederic Goodfellow Parker was born in Pensacola, Florida, on Nov. 12, 1941. His father was an Army engineer, and the family settled in the Washington area in the early 1950s. Parker graduated in 1959 from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, attended the University of Arizona and spent a summer working on a ranch in Oregon. In addition to his wife of 36 years, of Alexandria, survivors include two sons, Jonathan Parker of New York and Ned Parker of Alexandria. Regulatory News: TechnipFMC plc (the "Company") (NYSE:FTI) (PARIS:FTI) (ISIN:GB00BDSFG982) announces that, on 21 May 2020, it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its Current Report on Form 8-K ("Form 8-K") announcing that on 19 May 2020, the Company, pursuant to the confirmation received from the Bank of England that the Company is an eligible issuer under the U.K. Government's COVID Corporate Financing Facility (the "CCFF"), entered into a dealer agreement (the "Dealer Agreement") with Bank of America Merrill Lynch International DAC (the "Dealer") and an Issuing and Paying Agency Agreement (the "Agency Agreement", and together with the Dealer Agreement, the "Agreements") with Bank of America, National Association, London Branch, relating to the European commercial paper program being established under the CCFF as a source of additional liquidity to the Company (the "CCFF Program In addition, the Company also announced in the Form 8-K that on 19 May 2020 (the "Signing Date"), the Company, as borrower and guarantor, together with its subsidiary, Technip Eurocash SNC, a company incorporated under the laws of France as a societe en nom collectif (together with the Company, the "Borrowers"), entered into a 500 million senior unsecured revolving credit facility agreement with HSBC France, a company incorporated under the laws of France as a societe anonyme, as Agent, and the lenders party thereto (the "Facility Agreement 600 Million CCFF Program Under the CCFF Program, COVID Corporate Financing Facility Limited, an entity operated by the Governor and Company of the Bank of England on behalf of The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, will purchase at a minimum spread over reference rates, newly issued European commercial paper in the primary market via dealers and after issuance from eligible counterparties in the secondary market. The Agreements provide the terms under which the Company may issue, and the Dealer will arrange for, the sale of short-term, unsecured commercial paper notes (the "Notes"). The Notes contain customary representations, warranties, covenants, defaults, and indemnification provisions, and will be sold at such discounts from their face amounts as shall be agreed between the Company and the Dealer. The Notes will be fully payable at maturity, and the maturities of the Notes will vary but may not exceed 364 days. The principal amount of outstanding Notes may not exceed 600 million. The Notes will be guaranteed by the Company's subsidiary, FMC Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and will rank pari passu with the Company's other unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness. The Notes are in addition to other borrowings incurred by the Company in the ordinary course of business as necessary to finance working capital for general corporate purposes. The Agency Agreement provides for the terms of issuance and payment of the Notes. The Notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. The Company may issue Notes under the CCFF Program to reduce existing debt or decrease overall borrowing costs. 500 Million Facility Agreement The Facility Agreement provides for the establishment of a six-month Euro revolving credit facility with total commitments of 500 million, which may be extended by the Company for two additional three-month periods. Borrowings under the Facility Agreement, if and when drawn, would bear interest at the Euro interbank offered rate for a period equal in length to the interest period of a given loan (which may be three or six months), plus an applicable margin. The Facility Agreement contains usual and customary covenants, representations and warranties, and events of default for credit facilities of this type, including financial covenants. A copy of the Current Report on Form 8-K can be found on the SEC website (www.sec.gov) and on the TechnipFMC website (investors.technipfmc.com). About TechnipFMC TechnipFMC is a global leader in subsea, onshore/offshore, and surface projects. With our proprietary technologies and production systems, integrated expertise, and comprehensive solutions, we are transforming our clients' project economics. We are uniquely positioned to deliver greater efficiency across project lifecycles from concept to project delivery and beyond. Through innovative technologies and improved efficiencies, our offering unlocks new possibilities for our clients in developing their oil and gas resources. Each of our more than 37,000 employees is driven by a steady commitment to clients and a culture of purposeful innovation, challenging industry conventions, and rethinking how the best results are achieved. TechnipFMC utilizes its website www.TechnipFMC.com as a channel of distribution of material company information. To learn more about us and how we are enhancing the performance of the world's energy industry, go to www.TechnipFMC.com and follow us on Twitter @TechnipFMC. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005693/en/ Contacts: Investor relations Matt Seinsheimer Vice President Investor Relations +1 281 260 3665 Matt Seinsheimer Phillip Lindsay Director Investor Relations (Europe) +44 (0) 20 3429 3929 Phillip Lindsay Media relations Christophe Belorgeot Senior Vice President Corporate Engagement +33 1 47 78 39 92 Christophe Belorgeot Brooke Robertson Public Relations Director +1 281 591 4108 Brooke Robertson Somatey killed his wife after accusing her of cheating on him A 60-year-old man, Yikatey Somatey has killed his wife, identified as Bora Bonbiatey, 57 at Gando near Nyanyema, a suburb of the Sawla-Tuna Kalba District of the Savannah region in Ghana after accusing her of having affairs with another man in their community. Information gathered by Ghanaweb, an online news medium in Ghana, indicated that the man lured his wife to the bush in the name of performing a family ritual. While in the bush, he poured pepper in her face before using a machete to inflict multiple wounds on her, leading to her death. He was then said to have disposed off the body at a nearby bush and absconded. He was however arrested a few hours later. According to the Sawla District Police Commander, ASP Degraft Armah Adjei who confirmed the news to journalists, the womans uncle reported the incident to the police. When the police got there, the deceased was lying lifeless with multiple wounds on her head believed to be from cutlass. The body of the deceased has since been handed over to the family for burial, he added. Italian wins Picasso in charity raffle 'Picasso painting for 100 euros' at raffle yesterday in Paris (ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 21 - An Italian, Claudia Borgogno, 58, from Ventimiglia, has won a Picasso painting worth over one million euros at a charity raffle organized Wednesday in Paris by Christie's, the event's organizers announced. The raffle ''1 Picasso for 100 euros'' raised money for water projects in a number of African villages. The painting won by Borgogno is a 1921 oil-on-canvas still life - ''Nature morte'' - signed and dated by the artist. The painting was provided by collector David Nahmad and is the smallest of the 300 Picasso artworks in his possession. Nahmad has the largest private Picasso collection. Over 51,000 people bought the 100-euros ticket through the project's website, raising 5.1 million euros that will go to charity. Borgogno received a ticket as a Christmas present from his son who had bought two.(ANSAmed). Two months ago the COVID-19 pandemic swept through Washington state, disrupting work schedules, shutting down everything except non-essential businesses, and making pajamas the official at-home work outfit. So how are people adjusting to our world still standing still? Even with Washington entering Governor Jay Inslees four-phased approach to opening up again, for some the world still feels just as closed off as it did in March when shutdowns first happened. COVID UPDATES: Houston stay-at-home order extended Jaime Denise, a wedding photographer, said on a Facebook post that she lost over 50% of her income when the shutdowns happened, since photography is not an essential business. The kicker is I had bought a house two weeks prior to the shutdown, she said. Its been a big nightmare for wedding vendors that do this as a full-time job. Denise said she has also lost a significant amount of her income for the coming months since very few of her clients have rescheduled photo sessions with her despite Phase 2 of Inslees reopening plan including photography businesses. But its not just the impact on Denises business that has been hard on her. As awful as its been, its been harder watching the couples that have had this planned for years to have to scramble or give up their dream day. There isnt any part of this situation that isnt heartbreaking, she said. Allison Joelle is one of the people who had to put her big day on hold because of the pandemic. My hurry-up-and-wait has involved scurrying around trying to replan a wedding multiple times, she said. Joelle is also a medical social worker at Pullman Regional Hospital and works to try and keep patients safe. Im hurrying to take care of patients and planning a wedding while waiting to see how this pandemic plays out in our town and hospital, she said. And waiting to be a bride. CAMPUS CHANGES: Colleges plan to open, but campuses won't look the same Ally Lang, an early education worker, is also frustrated with the impact of her pandemic. Lang is considered an essential worker, but because of the pandemic her company is furloughed aside from the few staff members that are needed. We dont know when parents will want to put their children back in our care, she said. I am now on call and have to check my phone at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. and most of the time Im not needed. Mostly, Lang said, she misses seeing her kids every day. I dont know how my families or children are doing and as a teacher that makes me so sad, Lang said. However, there are some people liked Eric Holt who said for him, life hasnt changed very much. Holt lives in a rural area, and works in the lumber industry, so he said, Apart from not being able to go into bars and restaurants, nothing changed. RuthAnn Henshaw said her and her husband, both retired, along with their son have all stayed home during this pandemic and have made a point to practice better meal planning. No excuses, especially at first as we hadnt figured out how to order online, she said. They also started getting their groceries delivered to them, Henshaw said, and have made a point to do more activities together as a family. But when things start to feel overwhelming, they make a point to try to get away, even if for a few moments. Each of us goes through periods of depression and snappish-ness, she said. That is when we take a drive to nowhere and back. Marilyn Wigen said that she observed that those around retirement age seem to be handling the stay-home orders better than others of different age groups. Possibly because we grew up in a slower-paced world, she said. Or possibly because we are if retirement age and stay home more often anyways. Erika Rattray said the shutdown may mean the end of her business as a restaurant owner in a small town. I think this might be the end of us, she said. We are doing about $100 to $250 in sales a day. DEWHURST BATTERED: Girlfriend accused of injuring former Texas Lt. Gov. Dewhurst Rattray said after her Paycheck Protection Program runs, shes not sure what shes going to do. Bruce Honda, who works as a process control advisor for Weyerhaeuser, said the biggest change for him is not being on airplanes to travel for work. Back in 2008 we installed remote capabilities that allowed us to support our manufacturing operations remotely as best we can to reduce travel costs, he said. So while working remotely hasnt altered Hondas life too drastically, he is hopeful to be back up in the air doing his normal job routine soon. On Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold aid from Michigan and Nevada because of purportedly illegal activity related to absentee ballots. In reality, the states are doing nothing illegal - they are trying to ensure voters can exercise their right to vote without jeopardizing their health during a pandemic. Even putting aside the likely unconstitutionality of the president conditioning aid to states upon acceding to his political demands, Trump's unsupported claims are exceedingly troubling because they seek to cast doubt on the legitimacy and fairness of the upcoming elections without reason. Trump may not realize it, but they are also politically counterproductive for him: Rural Republican voters, even in blue states, may be the ones most hurt in November by attacks on mail-in balloting. Let's start with the facts. On Michigan, Trump wrote: "Breaking: Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!." On Nevada, he wrote: "State of Nevada 'thinks' that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can't! If they do, 'I think' I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections." But Michigan is not sending absentee ballots to all 7.7 million registered voters in the state, as Trump's claim suggests. Instead, as Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson explained, officials are sending absentee ballot applications to voters. These forms have to be filled out and sent back to election officials, who verify that these voters are, indeed, eligible to obtain ballots. Republican election officials in states such as Iowa and Nebraska have done the same thing. Political parties send such applications to voters all the time. Trump has offered no evidence that sending absentee ballot applications leads to the fraudulent casting of ballots. In Nevada, the state has shifted to all-mail balloting for a primary next month in light of the pandemic. As the state explained to a federal court when this decision was challenged by the right-wing group, True the Vote, the change aimed "to maintain a high level of access to the ballot, while protecting the safety of voters and poll workers - who belong to groups who are at high risks for severe illness from COVID-19." In Paher v. Cegavske, challengers claimed that Nevada's decision to conduct an all-mail primary in response to the pandemic "disenfranchised" them because their votes would be diluted by fraudulent votes cast by mail. The court concluded that plaintiffs' claim of voter fraud was "without any factual basis." Absentee ballot fraud is very rare - there were 491 prosecutions related to absentee ballots in all elections nationwide between 2000 and 2012, out of literally billions of ballots cast. When someone tries an absentee ballot scheme - as appears to be happening now in Paterson, New Jersey - it is hard to hide, and the folks tend to get caught. So why is Trump tweeting out baseless fraud claims and making threats he probably cannot follow up on to withhold aid from states that help voters exercise their constitutional rights? I cannot get into the president's head to know whether he actually believes there is something illegal or fraudulent going on in these states. (He voted by mail in Florida's primary this year and in New York in 2018, so he must not think all absentee ballots are phony.) What I do know is these claims serve to undermine his supporters' confidence in the fairness and integrity of the election process. By claiming Democrats cheat, he is laying the groundwork for instability and a potential political crisis in November should he lose. Democracy depends upon the losers of an election accepting the election results as legitimate and agreeing to regroup to fight to regain political power in the next election. If large numbers of voters believe the winning side cheated in elections, we could have unrest and resistance to lawful government orders. I am particularly worried about states like Michigan, which for the first time will see a tsunami of absentee ballots in November. These states do not have long histories of counting absentee ballots, which takes much more time than counting in-person ballots (because absentee ballot envelopes need to be checked and processed before ballots can be counted). It will be the big Democratic cities like Detroit that will take the longest for ballots to be counted. It is entirely conceivable Trump could be ahead in the ballot count on election night based on votes cast in person, only to see his lead disappear and Democrat Joe Biden declared the state's winner days later. What if Trump claims victory on election night and claims without evidence that the later-counted ballots are infected with massive fraud? As I explain in my book "Election Meltdown," he made just such an unsubstantiated claim about a disputed U.S. Senate race in Florida in 2018. He could use the period during delayed counting to rile up his supporters. The president's dangerous tweets stand to undermine our democracy. In a recent report, a committee of election experts that I chaired issued 14 recommendations to ensure that we have a fair election during the pandemic and that the vast majority of voters will accept the results of the election as legitimate. Among the key recommendations are that states should reduce delays in the counting of absentee ballots and that the media should help inform the public that because of increased absentee voting, "delays in election reporting are to be expected, not evidence of fraud, and that the 2020 presidential election may be 'too early to call' until days after Election Day." But, ironically, Trump's claims about voter fraud also increase the chances that he is going to lose in November. We know rural Republican voters had a harder time voting by mail in Wisconsin when it held its recent primary under pandemic conditions. As political scientist Michael McDonald pointed out, rural counties are going to have the hardest time dealing with an absentee ballot surge because these areas are more likely to lack adequate resources and training. Why would Trump voters jump through extra hoops to vote by mail if they believe, as the president is telling them, that the system is rife with fraud? The voters Trump is hurting is his own. Trump is throwing fuel on the fire and undermining the November election. It is up to the rest of us to keep dousing his flames with the truth. - - - Hasen is the chancellor's professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine and the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy." WASHINGTON - The Senate confirmed Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, as the next director of national intelligence on Thursday, capping an unusually protracted process that saw the congressman withdraw his nomination last year in the face of bipartisan opposition, only to have President Donald Trump challenge members of his own party and nominate Ratcliffe again seven months later. The Senate voted 49-to-44 to confirm Ratcliffe. He received more votes against his confirmation than any DNI in the 15-year history of the office. Ratcliffe will assume leadership of a sprawling federation of 17 intelligence agencies, with a collective budget of at least $60 billion, at an acutely vulnerable moment for U.S. national security. Still in the throes of a pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people in the U.S. and wrought economic devastation, the U.S. is facing a dramatic escalation in tensions with China, the source of the viral outbreak; the prospect of repeated Russian interference in the 2020 election, which the intelligence community Ratcliffe will lead has said is all but certain; and painful decisions about how to support security and defense budgets when the government is spending trillions of dollars to keep the economy from collapsing. When Trump first tapped Ratcliffe for the post last June, Democrats and Republicans alike were cool to the choice. Ratcliffe had never worked in the intelligence community. And his connections to national security more broadly proved both tenuous - a few years as a federal prosecutor - and exaggerated. To bolster his nomination, Ratcliffe pointed to his service, beginning in 2004, as the chief of anti-terrorism and national security in the Eastern District of Texas, a position created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in a jurisdiction that didn't see a high volume of terrorism cases. President George W. Bush later appointed Ratcliffe as the interim U.S. attorney. But former colleagues and records showed that Ratcliffe didn't play a significant role in any terrorism cases, contrary to his public claims. In a news release, Ratcliffe had touted his "special appointment as the prosecutor" in a high-profile terrorism financing case in 2008, U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation. But a spokesperson later acknowledged that Ratcliffe's assignment wasn't to prosecute the case but rather "to investigate issues related to" why an initial prosecution of Holy Land Foundation resulted in a mistrial. Ratcliffe also distorted his record on immigration enforcement, a key policy priority of the Trump administration, boasting during his campaign and on his congressional website that he "arrested 300 illegal immigrants in a single day." That wasn't true. Trump's desire to put Ratcliffe in charge of all U.S. intelligence agencies, which he announced in a tweet, came as a surprise even to White House aides, who had not vetted the three-term congressman and thought the president favored him for a different position, possibly homeland security secretary, officials said at the time. Trump had been eager to replace former senator Daniel Coates as the DNI. The two had a rocky relationship, and Trump was furious at Coates for subtly but unmistakably criticizing the president's credulous approach to Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, particularly on the facts of the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 election. Trump had long expressed doubts about Russia's actions, but Coats made clear, on more than one occasion, that the entire intelligence community spoke with a single voice when it assessed that Russia did interfere, and with the goal of helping Trump's campaign. Coats resigned on July 28. Trump thought Republican lawmakers would be pleased when he quickly picked Ratcliffe to replace Coates, officials said at the time. The congressman had been a strident critic of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference, which Trump derided as a partisan "hoax" designed to undermine his presidency and aid Democrats. But key Republicans quickly signaled that Ratcliffe lacked the national security expertise that is required by law to serve as DNI. And the congressman's colleagues described him as one of the least involved members of the House Intelligence Committee, one of two bodies that conducts oversight of the intelligence community and is routinely briefed on classified matters. Ratcliffe, who had only served on the committee for seven months, hadn't traveled overseas to get an up-close view of intelligence operations, as committee members typically do, particularly when they are new to the subject. Even by the tumultuous standards of the Trump administration, Ratcliffe's nomination, which fell apart in less than a week, was a spectacular flameout. Ratcliffe withdrew his nomination on Aug. 2, saying he remained convinced that if confirmed by the Senate he would have served "with the objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve." In tweets, Trump had blamed the media for Ratcliffe's decision, saying he'd been treated "very unfairly." "Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people," Trump wrote. "John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country." Ratcliffe will now replace Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, who has served as the acting DNI since February. Democrats were outraged by Trump's decision to pick a fierce partisan combatant as his acting intelligence chief. Grenell, a former State Department official and communications executive, had been a Trump confidant and outspoken defender on Twitter, where he frequently sparred with journalists. Grenell's critics warned that he was leading a politically motivated purge of the intelligence director's office, which had received a whistleblower complaint alleging that Trump pressured the government of Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, charges that helped spark Trump's impeachment. In April, Trump fired the intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who handled the whistleblower complaint. Concerns that the Trump administration is attempting to use classified intelligence to political ends flared again last week, after Grenell gave Attorney General William Barr a list he had declassified of former Obama administration officials, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's presumptive opponent for November's election, who may have received intelligence documents identifying former national security adviser Michael Flynn. With some lawmakers' fearing political interference by the nation's top intelligence official, congressional aides said Trump presented the Senate with two unpalatable choices when he nominated Ratcliffe a second time: Stick with Grenell, who publicly devoted more attention to attacking his and the president's opponents than speaking about national intelligence, or accept Ratcliffe, who would not be the most experienced DNI but would, as a confirmed official, be more accountable to Congress. Earlier this month, in an extraordinary confirmation hearing where Ratcliffe and members of the Senate Intelligence Committee sat far apart from each other to avoid potential spread of the coronavirus, the nominee faced repeated questioning about whether he would stand up to Trump and if he agreed with the president's stated belief that a rogue "deep state" of career government officials is trying to undermine his administration. Several senators, including Susan Collins, R-Maine, whose support was key to Ratcliffe's confirmation, pressed him on whether he agreed with Trump's statement last year that the intelligence community had "run amok" and needed to be "rein[ed] in." After initially not answering the question, Ratcliffe conceded that he did not agree. However, when pressed repeatedly by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., if he would publicly disavow such a claim by the president, he did not commit, saying only: "I don't think the men and women of the intelligence agencies are running amok." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former committee chairwoman, pressed Ratcliffe on his previous accusations that the intelligence community employee who filed the whistleblower complaint about Trump and Ukraine "made false statements" and "didn't tell the truth." Ratcliffe, who was one of Trump's most reliable defenders during impeachment hearings, said he didn't want to "re-litigate" the issues and that he had been concerned Trump didn't receive "due process" before the House of Representatives. "I want to make it very clear, if confirmed as DNI, every whistleblower, past, present and future, will enjoy every protection under the law," Ratcliffe told senators. Whatever his past statements and actions as a partisan, elected legislator, Ratcliffe said he understood that being the intelligence director demanded he hold no allegiances to party or politics. "Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide if confirmed will not be altered or impacted by outside influence," Ratcliffe said. - - - The Washington Post's Paul Kane contributed to this report. Washington: An Indian-American couple has donated USD 100,000 to a top American university to support graduate students studying Sikh and Punjabi culture there. The endowment by Harkeerat and Deepta Dhillon, to University of California, Riverside, will help attract graduate students with an interest in Sikh and Punjabi culture, and support fieldwork on Sikh communities in the United States, the univestity said in a statement. This gift is a testament to their commitment to higher education, their passion for the arts and humanities, and their desire to expand the knowledge base about Sikh and Punjabi culture, said Milagros Pea, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. The Harkeerat and Deepta Dhillon Endowed Research Award for Sikh and Punjabi Studies in the Arts and Humanities will provide much-needed support for dissertation research and writing on arts and humanities topics that relate to Sikh and Punjabi culture, said Pashaura Singh, professor and Jasbir Singh Saini Endowed Chair of Sikh and Punjabi Studies, and chair of the Department of Religious Studies. Dhillon, a prominent Riverside orthopaedic and hand surgeon, had earlier helped raise funds needed to launch the endowed chair in Sikh Studies in 2008. We believe that establishing this award will enhance the belief that this is an educational institution that recognizes diversity and teaches diversity, he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Norwegian Air has secured a 221million state-backed loan after completing a huge refinancing that virtually wiped out existing shareholders. The budget airline will now go into hibernation for a year, cutting staff, grounding or returning most of its fleet, and only flying between Scandinavian countries. The Covid-19 outbreak has brought flights to a standstill as countries scramble to contain the virus. Loan deal: Norwegian Air will now go into 'hibernation' for a year, cutting staff, grounding or returning most of its fleet, and only flying between Scandinavian countries Ryanair and British Airways are among the airlines planning mass job cuts, while Easyjet has secured a 600million loan from the Treasury. Although the money from the Norwegian government will help in the coming months, the company has warned it could need more. And it had already been given 24.5million at an earlier stage in the crisis. To receive the latest loan, Norwegians bondholders, bankers and aircraft lessors took control of the company through a debt restructuring known as a debt-for-equity swap. It sold 400m new shares at 8p each, raising 32million. It was in a precarious position after it rapidly over-expanded from being a European budget airline to offering transatlantic flights for 150. Flights using Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes were disrupted by problems with cracks in blades in the engines, which were supplied by Rolls-Royce. And Norwegian was also affected by the worldwide grounding of Boeings 737 Max planes over safety fears following two deadly crashes. Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Culti Milano S.p.A. (BIT:CULT) as an investment opportunity by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Culti Milano The model We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 Levered FCF (, Millions) 700.0k 800.0k 1.20m 1.16m 1.15m 1.14m 1.14m 1.15m 1.16m 1.18m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -3.06% Est @ -1.56% Est @ -0.51% Est @ 0.23% Est @ 0.75% Est @ 1.11% Est @ 1.36% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 12% 0.6 0.6 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 5.0m Story continues We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 10-year government bond rate (2.0%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 12%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2029 (1 + g) (r g) = 1.2m (1 + 2.0%) 12% 2.0%) = 12m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 12m ( 1 + 12%)10= 4.1m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is 9.1m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 3.4, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. BIT:CULT Intrinsic value May 21st 2020 Important assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Culti Milano as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.967. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Next Steps: Whilst important, DCF calculation shouldnt be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Culti Milano, We've put together three relevant aspects you should look at: Risks: Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Culti Milano you should be aware of. Future Earnings: How does CULT's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every IT stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. The Congress on Thursday lodged a strong protest, on social media, against the arrest of its Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Kumar Lallu following a call by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The development came a day after the party sent back buses it had offered to the Uttar Pradesh government to bring back migrant labourers and subsequent eruption of a row over it. The Congress claimed that 50,000 partymen protested against Lallus arrest and also raised their voice for the cause of migrant labourers through Facebook live. Earlier, Priyanka told partymen through a message: You have seen Yogi governments way of fighting Covid-19. It has sent the UPCC president to jail levelling false charges at a time when the Congress had arranged buses to carry migrant labourers. At a time when the whole country is fighting unitedly against Covid-19, the UP government is putting all those in jail who are making arrangements for buses, train tickets, food and food grains for migrant labourers. Speaking on the row aver the buses, SK Dwivedi, former head of department political science, Lucknow University, said: It appears both sides played politics and did not have fair intentions. Cooperation from all sides is the need of hour. BJP government should have used the buses offered by the Congress. The Congress too should have been careful in sending a correct list of buses to the state. Both the sides erred in this case. In her message, Priyanka also reminded partymen about her father and former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhis love for the poor and said true homage for him his 30th death anniversary would be to protest against the state governments oppression. Today (May 21) is 30th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, who laid down his life for the country. He used to love his countrymen and was deeply moved by the pain of the poor. We have inherited his thoughts. We have learnt it from Rajivji to help the poor. No one can frighten us. UPs 50,000 Congress workers will raise the voice of labourers through Facebook Live while remembering Rajivji on May 21 and protest against the state governments oppression. This will be a true homage to Rajivji, she said. Those who protested on Facebook live referred to the sequence of events in the past three days and explained how the party has been lending a helping hand to migrants by distributing food and food grains across the state. Congress legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra said the call for protest evoked a good response and added that the UPCC presidents arrest was illegal and his re-arrest reflected on the state governments intensions. Lucknow police arrested Ajay Kumar Lallu soon after he got bail from Agra court. This reflected on the narrow mindset of UP government, she said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close A health worker handles a blood sample on the first day of a free Covid-19 antibody testing event in Florida. Paul Hennessey | Barcroft Media | Getty Images U.S. officials and scientists are hopeful a vaccine to prevent Covid-19 will be ready in the first half of 2021 12 to 18 months since Chinese scientists first identified the coronavirus and mapped its genetic sequence. It's a record-breaking time frame for a process that normally takes about a decade for an effective and safe vaccine. The fastest-ever vaccine development, mumps, took more than four years and was licensed in 1967. A lot has changed since then that gives scientists reasonable hope a Covid-19 vaccine could be available early next year. It's far from guaranteed. Even the most optimistic epidemiologists hedge their bets when they say it could be ready that quickly. And a lot can go wrong that could delay their progress, scientists and infectious disease experts warn. "There's never been this amount of firepower directed at making a vaccine before," said Dr. Harry Greenberg, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He's hopeful scientists can create a proven vaccine for the coronavirus in record time. President Donald Trump's newly appointed vaccine czar in "Operation Warp Speed," Moncef Slaoui, the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline, said he wouldn't have agreed to take the job if he didn't think it could be done in under 18 months. But even he admitted to The New York Times that the timeline is "very aggressive." Scientists still don't fully understand key aspects of the virus, including how immune systems respond once a person is exposed. The answers may have large implications for vaccine development, including how quickly it can be deployed to the public. "There's a lot of optimism. There's a lot of hope. But that doesn't make a vaccine," Dr. Rick Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, told members of a House health subcommittee last week. The world's best researchers and richest nations are devoting virtually unlimited resources to finding a vaccine or cure. In the U.S. the Trump administration is removing all the normal regulatory barriers to get a vaccine to market in record time. Scientist Xinhua Yan works in the lab at Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 28, 2020. David L. Ryan | Boston Globe | Getty Images Fast track Health regulators have fast-tracked approvals for coronavirus research and development, allowing scientists to skip through months of red tape. More than 100 vaccines were in development globally as of April 30, according to the World Health Organization. At least eight vaccine candidates are already in human trials. On Monday, biotechnology firm Moderna released data from its phase one human trial on its potential vaccine, showing patients enrolled produced binding antibodies seen at similar levels those in people who have recovered from the virus. The vaccine produced neutralizing antibodies, which researchers believe is important for acquiring protection, for eight of the patients whose data was available so far. The company said it expects to begin a phase 3 trial in July. The optimism is making a lot of assumptions. Dr. Jonathan Abraham Harvard Medical School's Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology Even though human trials for a potential vaccine are progressing, key questions remain and may not be answered before a vaccine is rushed to market. "A lot of optimism is swirling around a 12-to-18 month time frame if everything goes perfectly. We've never seen everything go perfectly," said Bright, an immunologist who recently filed a whistleblower complaint after being ousted as director of BARDA. "My concern is if we rush too quickly and consider cutting out critical steps, we may not have a full assessment of the safety of that vaccine." Immunity question One critical question among scientists is whether antibodies produced in response to Covid-19 offer protection against getting infected again, said Dr. Jonathan Abraham, a professor at Harvard Medical School's Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology. Scientists have had success producing vaccines for other viruses where a person acquires natural immunity after exposure, Abraham said. "If you have a vaccine that's good enough, you know mimics what you would see with the real virus, that vaccine may protect you," he said. Covid-19 was discovered in December. While numerous research papers and studies have been produced on it, scientists still don't fully understand how it affects the body or how well someone is protected from reinfection after recovering from this coronavirus. In general, antibodies that help the body fight off infections are produced in response to invading foreign particles or antigens. Vaccines work by inducing the immune system to produce these molecules. Health officials have said there is not enough data to indicate that coronavirus antibodies ensure immunity against the virus. 'A lot of assumptions' "Four months into this pandemic, we're not able to say an antibody response means someone is immune," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the World Health Organization's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said during an April 27 news conference. The World Health Organization's Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove talks during a daily press briefing on Covid-19. on March 11, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini | AFP via Getty Images There have been multiple reports of patients who tested positive for the coronavirus after having recovered. Experts say it's unclear if the tests were simply picking up on dead fragments of the virus left in the body or if the virus was able to infect someone more than once. "I would say there's a lot of optimism," Abraham said. "But I think the optimism is making a lot of assumptions. The assumptions include that what we're seeing now is a type of infection where if you get infected and you're reexposed shortly after that you won't be infected again." Researchers from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report this week that studied patients who became reinfected with Covid-19 after recovering and getting discharged from isolation. They found that re-positive cases carried the antibodies that would protect them from falling ill again and few people exposed to the reinfected patients contracted Covid-19 themselves. That led researchers to conclude the reinfected people were "re-detected" and not a threat if released from isolation. That should be good news for those who have recovered and wish to head back to work, but it's not definitive proof yet. Additionally, scientists don't know how long immunity lasts if antibodies do provide protection, said Dr. Bruce Walker, a professor at Harvard Medical School. He also noted that some viruses, like influenza, mutate frequently and require vaccinations each year. A recent study from researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory said the coronavirus has already mutated at least 14 times and a new, dominant strain that's spreading is even more contagious. While some experts said it was plausible, others were skeptical about the study's findings. Second wave If the coronavirus emerges again in the fall as expected, scientists wonder whether the people who have survived the first wave of infections will have enough antibodies to fight off another infection, Walker asked. "And that's just going to take time because we have to see what happens after two months, four months, six months and then we have to monitor people to see what's going to happen then," he said. Assuming a vaccine can be developed, manufacturing it in large quantities may also be an issue, said Stanford's Greenberg. Some promising vaccines under development are using genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, that was produced in a lab. Messenger RNA vaccines, which are capable of being produced more quickly than traditional vaccines that use a killed or weakened form of the virus, have never been licensed for infectious diseases before, he said. There are still unknowns, Greenberg said, adding that producing enough for the world's 7.6 billion people in 18 months would be "totally ludicrous." Moderna said it hopes to produce about 1 billion doses of its vaccine per year. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which is also using mRNA technology, hopes to produce "millions" of vaccines by the end of this year and expects to increase to "hundreds of millions" of doses next year. Cautious optimism As restrictions lightened in Gage County this week, the Beatrice community is acclimating to businesses reopening while wearing masks and following social distancing. According to local business owners, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. It wasnt packed by any means, but I think we surpassed what we expected to do, Ron Tegtmeier, owner of Legends of Nebraska in Indian Creek Mall, said about their reopening on Monday. We were pretty happy with it. Everybody seems to be extremely happy with the way weve arranged the restaurant. Tegtmeier called the new restaurant layout social distanced dining at its best. Seating has been changed so display cases, bookshelves and other dividers keep patrons at least six feet apart, and that every other booth is allowed for seating. Similarly, beauty and body art parlors have made additional sanitary efforts. Kim Pittman, owner of the Cutting Edge beauty salon, said clients and workers are wearing masks, and that capes are not being reused. She illustrated opening day was like shearing sheep, due to the amount of hair that was cut. Other businesses have delayed reopening or are continuing to solely have drive-through or pick-up options. However, Pittman and Tegtmeier both said they were glad to be open again. The relaxation of Directed Health Measures was also a topic of discussion during an online Beatrice Board of Health meeting Thursday morning. Mayor Stan Wirth said he has only heard positive comments about reopening thus far. Beatrice Police Chief Bruce Lang said hes fielded some questions wishing to explain the DHM, but that there has been no issues with people violating the rules. The board continued their discussion of reopening the pools and water parks in town, reiterating that the ultimate decision will be made by Governor Pete Ricketts. The governor has indicated in his news conference yesterday that as of June 1, there will be some new directives regarding water parks, but hes not indicated exactly what those were, Wirth said. City administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer said hes had discussions with other administrators across Nebraska to see what they are planning to do. He said of the 67 responses, four administrators indicated they were opening, 19 said they were not opening, and 44 were still undecided as of May 11. Tempelmeyer said the city is moving forward with opening the swimming pool, but that a date has not been set. He explained the opening date of the Splash Pad is dependent on when the new bathroom installation there is completed. Everything is ready, so its whether or not we want to have a bunch of kids up there while were trying to crane in a bathroom at the same time. That may delay the opening, Tempelmeyer said. The board decided to meet again next week, as Lang said he expects things to rapidly change in coming weeks as far as new DHMs. He noted that Beatrice does not have any additional directives in place besides those affecting the entire state. So when we say were waiting to see what they do, thats because we currently dont have any specific restrictions in place locally with our health boardNot to say we might not do something later, but as of now well see how it is, Lang said. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 2 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. ARLINGTON, Va., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The members of the American Waterways Operators, the national tugboat, towboat and barge industry association, elected a new slate of leaders this week during the association's Spring Board of Directors / Annual Membership Meeting, which was held virtually due to COVID-19 precautionary measures that resulted in the meeting not taking place in Washington, DC this year. AWO Chairman Art Mead Arthur F. Mead, Vice President and Chief Counsel at Crowley Maritime Corporation, was elected Chairman; Del Wilkins, President of Illinois Marine Towing, Inc. was elected Vice Chairman; and Clark Todd, President & Chief Operating Officer of Blessey Marine Services, Inc. was elected Treasurer. Mr. Mead succeeds outgoing Chairman Scott Merritt, former Chief Operating Officer with Foss Maritime Company, LLC. AWO President & CEO Jennifer Carpenter welcomed and thanked the newly-constituted Board of Directors: "My vision is of an AWO that is, and is experienced by our members as, your indispensable organization, crucial to enabling your companies and our industry to survive, adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing business and public policy environment. COVID-19 is the latest challenge and is one for the history books, but it is not the only one, and it won't be the last." Mr. Mead emphasized the resilience and adaptability of the tugboat, towboat and barge industry as it continues to serve the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic: "The response to this crisis by AWO member companies, staff and our mariners has been nothing short of extraordinary While shelter in place and work from home orders proliferated from State-to-State, our mariners and our workers continued delivering millions of tons of needed raw materials, consumer goods and energy. But during COVID-19, our industry has shown the Nation what we've always known to be the case: That our industry is resilient and adaptable." The industry's workforce, Mr. Mead continued, has long been indispensable to the prosperity and security of the United States: "Today, the mariners of the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry carry on, at risk of infection to themselves, the selfless effort to transport the nation's cargo on the water during this pandemic. They are accustomed to serving their country in the regular course of their work, operating as part of the safest, greenest and most efficient form of freight transportation in the country. And they are proud contributors to the nation's security The quality of their character, their work ethic, their commitment and their capabilities were not just forged over the past two months they have always been there." Mr. Mead concluded by highlighting the enduring priorities for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry beyond the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic: "We're going to need to be adaptable and collaborate to continue weathering the COVID-19 crisis, but perhaps more importantly, also to confront the other challenges we face in the future The Jones Act is an important element of America's defense maritime industrial base and should be maintainedSubchapter M transition is still happening. State activism and the need for uniformity in maritime regulations is a growing priority. We need to continue working with Waterways Council, Inc. to secure necessary funding for waterways infrastructure at a time when competition for federal funds among industries and sectors will be intense AWO remains critical to all of this." About the American Waterways Operators The American Waterways Operators is the national trade association representing the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, which operates on the rivers, the Great Lakes, and along the coasts and in the harbors of the United States. Barge transportation serves the nation as the safest, most environmentally friendly and most economical mode of freight transportation. SOURCE American Waterways Operators Related Links https://www.americanwaterways.com Bengaluru, May 21 : In a relief to hundreds of brides and bridegrooms in Karnataka, the state government allowed their wedding on Sundays, which will otherwise see full lockdown, an official said on Thursday. Marriages pre-fixed on ensuing Sundays - May 24 and May 31 as auspicious occasions - can be performed despite the full lockdown, adhering to the safety guidelines of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the official said. Restricting the fourth phase of extended lockdown from May 18-31 to Sundays, the state government relaxed the guidelines for week days. "Weddings fixed on Sundays -- May 24 and May 31 -- can be performed despite lockdown across the state on those two days as per the guidelines, including limiting guests to 50, maintaining social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands with a sanitiser," Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Member-Secretary T.K. Anil Kumar said in an order. "Only essential services will be allowed on the next two Sundays while all other activities are not permitted," he said. "Marriages scheduled on ensuing Sundays will be allowed by the district Deputy Commissioners at the venue having good ventilation, sun light and fresh air," said Kumar in the order clarifying the exemption. As people from containment zones are not allowed to attend the wedding, they should not be invited, it said, adding that senior citizens above 65 years, pregnant women and kids below 10 years are also barred. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has protested against the adoption by the Bulgarian parliament of a declaration on administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly protests against the adoption on May 20, 2020 by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria of a declaration on administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine and the protection of the rights and integrity of the Bulgarian community," the statement said. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the issue of administrative and territorial organization belongs to the exclusive competence of the Ukrainian authorities, whereas attempts by a foreign state to interfere in internal affairs are absolutely unacceptable. "Manipulative unreliable allegations about the impact of the reform on the national identity of ethnic Bulgarians in Ukraine are surprising and incomprehensible. We emphasize that protecting the rights and freedoms of representatives of all national minorities of our state, including the Bulgarian minority, is one of the fundamental priorities of the Ukrainian authorities and is carried out in strict accordance with the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995)," the ministry said. It recalled that the Ukrainian side had repeatedly proved its openness and readiness to promote the development of the national identity of Ukrainian citizens of ethnic Bulgarian origin. The rights of national minorities in Ukraine are enshrined in national legislation and are strictly protected by the state in accordance with the latest European practices. "The issue of Bolhrad district will be resolved in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, taking into account the position of local residents, including a large Bulgarian community. We believe that any issues can be resolved through a constructive dialogue, which is happening at the level of the foreign ministers of the two countries," the statement reads. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also called on Bulgarian lawmakers to act in accordance with the principles of friendship and good neighborliness that traditionally exist between Ukraine and Bulgaria. The Bulgarian parliament adopted a declaration on administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine and the protection of the rights and integrity of the Bulgarian community, in which it opposed the division of the Bolhrad district of Odesa region. The Bulgarian parliament stressed the need to hold an urgent intergovernmental meeting to protect the rights and observe the administrative unity of the Bulgarian minority in Ukraine in accordance with existing bilateral agreements, including those ensuring education in Bulgarian. op Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock from his wrestling days, made a heartfelt tribute to WWE star Shad Gaspard after his body washed up on Venice Beach Wednesday. Gaspard had been missing for three days after he was swept out to sea by a riptide while swimming with his 10-year-old son. Johnson said 'This one hurts,' in a post on Instagram, where he admitted the loss was hard to process. Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock from his wrestling days, made a heartfelt tribute to WWE star Shad Gaspard after his body washed up on Venice Beach Wednesday. Pictured is an image of Gaspard (left) and Johnson that was included in the tribute on Instagram Johnson praised Gaspard as a 'great guy' and loving father for asking lifeguards to save his boy first before him, just before the wrestler was overtaken by the surf. 'My deepest condolences and love to Shad Gaspards wife, son and family, wrote Johnson in the post. 'Shad drowned in the ocean, but not before instructing lifeguards to save his 10yr old son first,' explains Johnson. 'Thats the love of a father,' he adds. 'This is a tough one to process.' Johnson signs off with 'Love and light to Shads family,' and saying to Gaspard, 'Your warrior spirit lives on through your son. The devastated wife and family of Gaspard gathered at Venice Beach on Wednesday, hours after the missing father's body washed up on the shore. The 39-year-old wrestler's remains were discovered earlier Wednesday morning, three days after he was swept out to sea by a riptide while swimming with his ten-year-old son. Los Angeles County Coroner's office said Gaspard was found on the surfline at 2600 Ocean Walk - one mile north from where he was believed to have drowned on Sunday. His wife of 11 years, Siliana Gaspard was seen hours later standing at the spot where her husband washed up overnight, surrounded by loved ones. Heartbroken friends and relatives were photographed embracing and consoling each other as they gathered together on the sand to mourn the athlete. Gaspard's young son Aryeh was not with them. Heartbroken friends and family gathered at Venice Beach on Wednesday, hours after Shad Gaspard's body washed up ashore The pro wrestler's wife of 11 years Siliana Gaspard was seen looking distraught as she mourned her husband on Wednesday Siliana had been enjoying a day at the beach with her husband and their young son on Sunday when tragedy struck. The grieving mother and family members returned to the spot where Gaspard was last seen Video footage taken at the scene Wednesday morning showed authorities surrounding Gaspard's lifeless body as it lay on the sand. LAPD and LAFD were called to the beach around 2am after two people discovered a body on the sand halfway between Venice Beach pier and lifeguard headquarters at 1.25am, police said. 'The decedent was identified as Shad Gaspard and next of kin was notified,' LAPD said in a statement. Gaspard, 39, had reportedly told lifeguards to save his son first, who was pulled from the water in good condition and did not require hospitalization. But lifeguards were unable to rescue Gaspard, who was about 50 yards offshore when a wave crashed over him and pulled him out into the ocean. His body was identified and transported to the LA County Coroner's office, Kenichi Haskett, Section Chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Lifeguard Services said. Haskett revealed Gaspard had been pulled out about 75 to 100 yards off shore in just a moment's notice. With Memorial weekend approaching, he warned beachgoers to stay safe and informed about the water conditions. Former WWE star Shad Gaspard, 39, has been missing since Sunday after being pulled into sea while swimming at California's Venice Beach with his son At one point, Siliana and a friend were seen entering the water near where Gaspard disappeared The devastated mom is seen with friends and family at Venice Beach on Wednesday. Gaspard's young son Aryeh was not with them Relatives and loved ones were seen embracing and consoling each other in the wake of the tragedy Authorities revealed Gaspard had been pulled out about 75 to 100 yards off shore by a rip tide in just a moment's notice Police were called to the scene after two people discovered the body on the sand around 1.30am LA County lifeguards confirmed the body matches the description of missing father and wrestler Shad Gaspard Although most beaches generally have signs or flags to indicate safe or unsafe swimming conditions, this type of warning system does not work on the Venice Beach coastline. 'Having been an ocean lifeguard since 1994 and worked Venice Beach during this time frame to now a full-time lifeguard and chief, I can say our conditions change on an hourly, if not a moment's notice,' he told DailyMail.com. 'It could be yellow where we put that flag, and then within a moment it's red because a rip current has now surfaced. So what we do instead is staff the lifeguard towers in those areas. 'The flag system at this time isn't the best system to save people's lives and protect people. It's us talking to people, it's us warning people, it's us making the preventive measures as to where people can swim.' Siliana Gaspard had issued a statement on Instagram on Tuesday thanking authorities for their efforts, while holding on to hope for her husband's safe return. 'We would like to express our gratitude to the first responders who rescued Aryeh and to the lifeguards, coast guard, divers, fire and police departments for their continued efforts to help find our beloved Shad,' the statement said. 'Shad is a fighter, a warrior and a magical soul. We are hoping and praying for his safe return. As a family we thank you all for your concern and well wishes. Please continue to keep sending your positivity and prayers to our beloved Shad.' Gaspard's distraught wife Siliana Gaspard was seen leaving Venice Beach in her Mercedes SUV, Wednesday morning Gaspard married wife Siliana Gaspard in 2009 and they share one son together. Gaspard had launched an acting career since leaving the wrestling world in 2010 Gaspard's wife Siliana Gaspard was seen leading a small group of family and friends near the site where her husband's body washed up on shore at about 2am LA County Fire Department Lifeguard is seen at Venice Beach, hours after Gaspard's body was found The US Coast Guard confirmed on Tuesday it was no longer assisting in the search and the investigation was being led by LAPD. Tributes have poured in from wrestling stars including Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Titus O'Neill and Triple H, after news broke of the discovery. 'My prayers and hope for Shad Gaspards wife, son and family during this unthinkable time. Man, this is a tough one. A really tough one. Great guy,' The Rock tweeted. 'I join fans around the world as we remember Shad Gaspard as a beloved performer and a caring father. In absolutely tragic circumstances, please keep his loved ones in your thoughts,' Triple H said. Friends released a statement on behalf of the family on Monday night thanking the public for their support. '[Shad's] family appreciates all the love, support, and concern through this horrible ordeal. At this time they are not ready to make any public or official statements to any media outlet And ask all to respect their wishes', Fellow wrestler Kofi Kingston tweeted. Gaspard's wife Siliana Gaspard shared a statement on Instagram on Tuesday, thanking authorities for their efforts, while still holding on to hope Gaspard's wife posted this missing flyer to his social media accounts and hers asking the public for help in finding her husband Several friends and members of the wrestling community, including Montel Vontavious Porter, also tweeted the message at the request of the family. Fellow WWE star JTG, who performed alongside Gaspard in wrestling tag team, 'Cryme Tyme', took to Twitter to share a screenshot of a heartfelt conversation he had the missing wrestler in January. 'If ever I die tomorrow just know I love you as a brother and friend for ever even past this life', Gaspard wrote, to which JTG replied: 'Love you too brotha #Nohomo'. DailyMail.com was there as multiple lifeguards were on the scene on Sunday, along with divers, rescue boats, paramedics on standby, the coast guard flying back and forth and helicopters hovering over the crowded beach for nearly three hours. 'I saw the young boy who was inconsolable and his mother who had her arms wrapped around him,' said one onlooker. 'The whole thing was just heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking to see this mother and child in complete despair.' Shad Gaspard's wife, Siliana Gaspard, was seen leaving Venice Beach being comforted by close friends after a tragic incident Sunday Siliana was seen flanked by close friends as they left Venice Beach while divers continue their search for Shad Gaspard On Monday afternoon Gaspard's wife Siliana was seen on the beach being consoled by close friends as the search continued for her husband. The boy was unharmed and later walked off the beach with an adult friend for about fifteen minutes, while his mother Siliana Gaspard remained on the beach painstakingly staring out into the ocean. Gaspard is best known as a member of the wrestling team Cryme Tyme with fellow WWE star JTG. Since leaving the wrestling world in 2010, Gaspard pursued an acting career starring in several movies including Think Like A Man Too and the 2015 Kevin Hart comedy, Get Hard. He married wife Siliana Gaspard in 2009 and they share one son together. Friends of Gaspard released a statement on behalf of the family thanking the public for their support. Former fellow wrestler Matt Morgan took to Twitter to shared photos of him and his friend through the years (pictured) The mother and a few friends left the beach at about 12:30pm. The rescue station was also shut down at the same time. Prior to leaving, Siliana was seen sitting on the beach with some friends and possible family members who were consoling her and rubbing her back. Their son had left about 30 minutes prior with an adult and another young boy. Officials wouldn't confirm whether or not the body had been found. Helicopters can still be heard hovering over the beach and many locals are asking the question why the beach wasn't closed off if the rip currents were so strong. 'There were unusually strong rip currents the day before this happened. Two girls were pulled out because of the riptide. I am not sure why swimmers weren't warned,' Daisy Godfrey tells DailyMail.com. 'Lifeguards were there immediately but the helicopter took almost an hour to get there.' 'If you feel a strong pull, that's the time to get out of the water. But many swimmers may not think anything of the pull, especially if they don't go to the beach a lot.' My dad just wanted to be a free-thinker," said Ismats son, Sami, "who had to leave behind everything he owned. Weve been surprised by all the outpouring after his death, especially in the Arab press. You wouldnt expect it about someone who has been gone for eight years. But my dad has been very much in the news in Syria. It has helped us understand how impactful he was. Struggling Somerset based footwear firm Clarks has said that about 900 employees will lose their jobs over the next 18 months, but did not mention whether it would shut any of its shops for good. Clarks revealed today that more than 100 staff at the company's headquarters in the village of Street would be dismissed, along with about another 50 of its global workforce. The British retailer, which is five years off celebrating its 200th anniversary, said the redundancies are part of its 'Made To Last' turnaround strategy and will enable the firm to have 'a sustainable and successful future.' In its latest full-year results covering the year to early February 2 2019, the group registered an 82.9million post-tax loss on the back of sales dropping 4.5 per cent It said the move on jobs is intended to help the company operate in a 'lean, effective and quick manner.' The layoffs will be partially mitigated by the creation of 200 new roles at the business. No mention of any store closures was made by Clarks despite the considerable financial losses that it has recently made. In its latest full-year results covering the year to early February 2019, the group registered an 82.9million post-tax loss on the back of sales dropping 4.5 per cent. The company blamed the loss on 'specific weather events and poor product execution,' whilst its chairman Thomas O'Neill declared that a 'climate of uncertainty' had hurt its sales. Finance chief Paul Kenyon said in response to the figures that a 'meaningful' number of Clarks' establishments would cease operations in the coming five years. Later in the year, Clarks proclaimed that 170 employees would be let go, including 80 at its Street base. This was the first round of job losses to happen under the leadership of CEO Giorgio Presca. Clarks operates about 1,400 stores in 75 countries, with around 500 in the UK alone In response to the news on job cuts, Presca remarked: 'There are exciting opportunities ahead for our business, and we are having to make some difficult decisions to get there. 'We thank all affected staff for their contribution to our business, and they leave their roles with our heartfelt respect and support.' He added that the business would focus on three specific parts of its brand portfolio Clarks Originals, Clarks Collection and Cloudsteppers by Clarks. He said: 'This is helping us move fast to get ahead of the changes in the ways that our consumers live their lives, so that we are there for them every step of the way.' 'We are a business that walks its own path, and we are evolving to put our brand and consumers at the heart of everything we do. 'This will ensure that our organisation is made to last, empowering our people to contribute to a great future for the company.' Clarks operates about 1,400 stores in 75 countries, with around 500 in the UK alone. Many of these shops were closed following the outbreak of the coronavirus, but some have now begun to reopen their doors in China and Europe. [May 21, 2020] BGL Consumer Insider -- eCommerce is Thriving Amid a COVID-Induced "New World" CLEVELAND, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital commerce is capturing a growing share of consumer and business-to-business sales, and COVID-19 is accelerating that trend, according to the Consumer Insider, an industry report released by Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL). Access the full report here. Market experts project the online channel will penetrate 16 percent of U.S. retail sales by 2023, an increase from 10 percent in 2018. U.S. B2B eCommerce share is projected to reach 17 percent by 2021, up from 12 percent in 2018. As a result of COVID-19, BGL's Consumer eCommerce team anticipates a faster rate of growth and a shorter timetable to achieve these milestones as more brands and businesses go direct. Consumer categories and chanels are clearly seeing this shift: Digitally-driven, enthusiast brands, particularly those focused on at-home (e.g. fitness, car restoration) or socially-distant activities (e.g. hiking, camping), are thriving in today's environment. Passionate consumers are continuing to pursue their interests and hobbies, with enthusiast product demand more resilient to economic changes. eCommerce is disrupting the luxury goods category, and not just the "value" end of the market. Globally, the online channel accounted for 12 percent of the luxury market in 2019, and by 2025, is expected to reach as high as 30 percent, more than doubling over the period. The struggles of luxury retailers like Barneys and Neiman Marcus are contributing to this shift, with direct-to-consumer selling strategies now critical for premium brands hoping to survive and thrive. are contributing to this shift, with direct-to-consumer selling strategies now critical for premium brands hoping to survive and thrive. Specialty retailers are seeing a dramatic drop in foot traffic with the switch to online shopping. Niche brands with compelling brand stories are increasingly finding success by going direct and seeing a huge payoff both in customer loyalty and increased margins. Investors are optimistic about the growth prospects for thriving online brands. Recent private equity investment activity in the enthusiast space illustrates this trend, such as J&P Cycles, acquired by Comoto Holdings (portfolio company of Prospect Hill Growth Partners) and Cortec Group's investment in Enthusiast Auto Holdings, both completed this year. About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company Brown Gibbons Lang & Company is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bgl-consumer-insider----ecommerce-is-thriving-amid-a-covid-induced-new-world-301064017.html SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By ANI MUMBAI: A 26-year-old doctor working in the coronavirus ward at the Nair Hospital sitauted in Mumbai sustained head injury after a ceiling fan fell on him on Tuesday. He was immediately rushed to the emergency medical department of the hospital for treatment. "The injured is a first-year resident doctor from the anaesthesia department. The CT scan was done and the reports came normal. He has been kept for one day observation. He is doing absolutely fine," said Dr Mohan Joshi, Nair Hospital Dean while speaking to ANI. Full physical court sittings could resume from Friday, the Courts Service has said. The Chief Justice, the Hon Mr Justice Frank Clarke, announced on Wednesday that all physical court sittings are to be limited to two hours daily. However, the deputy chief medical officer said meetings lasting longer than two hours are not barred under coronavirus guidance for workplaces. Ireland moves to Phase 1 Reopening. Here are the 5 main things you need to know about phase 1 of the reopening of Ireland, beginning on 18th May. Full details of what is to happen on phase 1 are at https://t.co/VEaxCeKNdH #IrelandPhase1#InThisTogether pic.twitter.com/iIkbgLte7r MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) May 16, 2020 Dr Ronan Glynns comments come after moves by the Dail and Irelands courts to use that timeframe in restricting the length of sittings and hearings. In a statement, the Courts Service said it had received detailed advice on Thursday on the question of the length of sittings. On the basis of that advice the presidents are very hopeful that full sittings will be able to resume as soon as tomorrow, once certain additional procedures have been put in place. A further update will be issued in the near future. The decision to shorten court sittings does not apply to remote hearings which will continue as planned. Joe's Gluten-Free Foods is expanding for a second time its recall of Joe's Gluten-Free Foods brand Potato & Onion Perogies to include additional formation. The product contains milk, an allergen not declared on the label. One adverse reaction has been reported associated with the consumption of the recalled product. The following item, sold throughout Canada, is being recalled: Brand Product Size UPC Codes Joe's Gluten-Free Food Potato & Onion Perogies 360 g 6 28451 40002 8 All best before dates up to and including 2021OC20 where milk is not declared on the label What to do Customers who purchased the recalled product and have a milk allergy should not consume it, but discard or return it to the store where purchased. Consumers with questions may contact the company at (306) 347-8221 or by email at info@joesglutenfree.com. W&M grad students dissertation breaks historical convention, offers new possibilities for telling stories Fighting against historical limits: Caylin Carbonell's dissertation on early New England households upends conventions for writing history On-the-ground research: Among the households Carbonell examines is the Hempstead House in New London, pictured above Repopulating burial grounds: Carbonell's work brings to light the stories of those who buried the bones and built the tombstones at sites like the Antientist Burial Ground, adding more names to history than those inscribed on tombstones Photo - of - Hide Caption Caylin Carbonell, a Ph.D. candidate in history at William & Mary, recalls her academic path with a laugh about its inherent irony. She wrote her undergraduate thesis in New England at Bates College about Colonial Virginia; now, surrounded by Colonial reenactors and a rich source of Virginia history, her dissertation focuses on households in New England. Carbonell, who has been awarded various fellowships for her work on power and authority in 17th and 18th century New England households, is completing a dissertation that challenges longstanding historiographic trends and reconsiders how to document the past. Its a project about households in early New England, which I think, to some extent, sounds different from what the project actually is, said Carbonell. Carbonells project is not just a project on households, the conventionally imagined archetypal institutions for organizing society, she explained; her story is about power, authority and the often unexamined relationships between non-head individuals within households. What began as an interest in womens authority as mistresses has transformed into a broader project about the various household dependents whose relationships and perspectives dont feature prominently in the historical record. Why examine the household to historicize dynamics of authority and power? The household is in many ways the most important unit of the society and the economy in New England, said Carbonell. Because the household was not only the place where individuals resided, but also where they worked a dynamic Carbonell points out as especially visible in the contemporary moment the space serves as a critical lens into the study of race, gender and social hierarchies. To uncover these dynamics and reconsider households static role, Carbonell began by sifting through archives of court records at the Connecticut State Library, where a large repository is collected. She spent hours examining everything from slips of paper that reflected on-the-ground relationships to dense court records that summarized elements of cases, photographing the archive and transcribing texts. Her receipt of multiple fellowships enabled her to expand her research to the Massachusetts Historical Society and American Antiquarian Society, where she accessed family papers, letters, diaries, account books and supplementary records. These fragments allowed her to understand how families interacted over spatial divides and how men primarily the keepers of diaries represented their own experience, as well as the experience of the household dependents. According to Carbonells advisor, Executive Director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture and Professor of History Karin Wulf, this type of rigorous methodology is path-breaking. A lot of historians are thinking about how to deal with the fact that a lot of those records were generated with a different purpose than we want them to speak to, Wulf said. Court records, for example, are generated around conflicts. Those records were not made to show us the lives of people within households, for example. Carbonells research contributes to a growing body of work fighting against these limits, she explained. Caylin has taken this really interesting approach to reading for the people who only appear fleetingly in those records to tell us a little bit about their experiences and their household situations, said Wulf. By reading into these tiny, marginal glimpses, shes able to repopulate these domestic spaces. Methodologically, thats really cool. While Carbonell has worked to refine her methods to expose the hidden dynamics and relationships in households, upending conventional historical traditions is subject to challenges. The biggest challenge is remembering constantly that these are constituted by erasure, she said. Its so easy to be enamored by our sources and to get absorbed by your archive because, in a way, its a world that we want to know intimately. Yet theres a constant challenge of reminding myself that I am a foreigner, writing against narratives that have been so established. The challenge, she explained, often manifests itself in the selection of language. Because her secondary sources are written largely from the perspective of white, male heads-of-household, she must find new language to inhabit the subject position of dependents. Thats something particularly challenging, but also particularly important, said Carbonell. Being really careful about the language we use, which is continuing to shape our interpretation. After defending her dissertation in June, Carbonell will engage in the Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society. Reflecting back on her years writing her dissertation, she recalled what she often heard about the importance of a dissertation: that often, these works would just be a line or, at best, a paragraph in a textbook. I dont see my project that way, she said. I see my project as a shift in the way we approach records, outlining the possibilities for telling these stories in a different way. We need to nuance our telling of these stories. Crossing points on Ukraine-EU borders are gradually being put back into operation, Avakov noted. Ukraine will be able to fully open borders with neighboring states around mid-July of this year, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov suggested. The Minister emphasized that crossing points on Ukraine-EU borders were gradually being put back into operation, according to the government web portal. The Cabinet earlier approved relaunch of 66 checkpoints on the borders with the Republic of Poland, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova. Read alsoAir travel to resume from June 15 in Ukraine "We have bilateral relations with our partners and we're looking at what rules they have there and we're reopening checkpoints, step by step. But now only those who are holders of a passport of those countries or a residence permit can cross into Romania or Poland. We expect that this regime will change somewhere in the middle of July and we will be able to fully restore this," said Arsen Avakov. Also, the minister suggested that Ukraine will continue the practice of "soft steps" in easing quarantine until a vaccine against coronavirus and guaranteed is available and guaranteed treatment protocols are in place. Public Masses will resume for all parishes in the Dioceses of Saginaw on Saturday, May 30, but individual pastors may, at their discretion, begin celebrating Mass publicly as early as Monday, May 25, according to new directives issued by Bishop Robert D. Gruss. As public Masses resume, Bishop Gruss says strict social distancing and safety guidelines must be in place in order to open for services. When you return to the celebration of the Eucharist, you will see things done differently, and things will feel different than when you last attended two months ago, Bishop Gruss shared in a letter to the Faithful. It is imperative for all of us pastors, parish life directors, parish staff, volunteers, and all the faithful to work together during these times. We all know that this pandemic is not over, and therefore, each of us must do our part to help ensure the health and safety of everyone in our communities. Hunger to return Acknowledging a hunger and desire among the Faithful to return to the sacramental life of the Church, Gruss expressed the need to continue practicing social distancing and rigorous sanitation. These past two months have been very challenging times, Gruss said. This pandemic and the requirements for social distancing has reshaped society. There will be no return to the old normal. A new normal will emerge from this historic moment in history and in our Church. Directives All of the faithful over the age of 2 will be required to wear face coverings to Mass, keep at least six feet apart at all times when inside a parish church or on parish grounds (excluding those of the same household) and capacity inside churches may not exceed 20- 25%, according to the directives issued this week. The 25% figure follows state guidelines for other types of buildings, such as retail stores. The bishop also announced that the Sunday obligation the moral and canonical precept that requires weekly Mass attendance would continue to be suspended for all of the faithful until at least Sunday, Aug. 30. Parishes are encouraged to continue offering Masses via live stream. Gradual reopening This gradual reopening of churches for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist comes several months after the diocese suspended public liturgies in order to help stem the spread of COVID-19 virus. As the State of Michigan allows for the gradual reopening of some businesses and as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths from it continue to decrease, the church is making preparations as well. The directives also offer suggestions about how to keep Mass attendance at 20-25% capacity, including scheduling Masses with greater frequency, allowing attendance on a first-come first-served, a rotation based on the first letter of last names or an online ticketing system. Additionally, as the weather gets warmer, outdoor Masses are encouraged as a way to maintain social distancing. Current guidance These liturgical Guidelines and Protocols are based upon current guidance issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health authorities, Gruss said. They also integrate the requirements of the Catholic Church teaching, liturgical law, and Canon law. These have been formulated with great care to preserve the respect and reverence due to the Holy Eucharist and the powerful liturgical sacramental symbolism of the rites of the Mass. Baptisms, weddings and funerals also may resume without individual permission, in keeping with social distancing rules. Non-liturgical gatherings on parish grounds should continue to be suspended, although pastors may grant special permission to groups of less than 10 people. Processed by Victoria Ritter, vritter@mdn.net Domestic flights in India will have a cap on fares with both an upper and lower limit for three months when flights resume on Monday, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. While the upper price limit is aimed at preventing any sharp rise in fares due to pent-up demand, the lower limit will help ensure that financial viability of airlines does not suffer amid high costs, Puri said at a news conference. This is the first time that the Indian government has implemented such a measure for an extended duration. Caps on airfares were generally restricted to about a few days during calamities like floods, officials at private airlines said, adding that they are still to receive an official communication from the government on the move to cap fares. So far, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has enforced tariff rules for the broadcasting sector. The regulator also initiated a process last year to ascertain the need for a minimum or floor price for mobile calls and data. Puri said the domestic flights will connect all cities from next week, though airlines will be allowed to use only one-third of the capacity approved for this years summer schedule. The number of flights will gradually be increased (after 24 August)," he said. The government has created seven major fare sections/zones, based on the distance and time taken to cover the distance. Flights between cities that are under 40 minutes have been classified under section one, while those under 40-60 minutes are under section two. Section three consists of destinations 60-90 minutes apart by flight, section four comprises cities 90-120 minutes apart, section five consists of cities 120-150 minutes apart. Destinations between 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes have been classified under sections 6 and 7, respectively. With the capacity falling from 100% to 30%, fares could have skyrocketed. Once we exit the three-month period (on 25 August), we can have a market-based system or a pre-covid kind of arrangement," Puri said. Explaining the mechanism of a lower and upper fare bracket on various routes, he said the move will mean that the lowest fare between Delhi and Mumbai, the busiest route in the country, will be capped at 3,500 and 10,000 at the higher end. Airlines will however have to make available 40% of total seats in an aircraft at less than the mid-point price between the highest and lowest fares, aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said, adding that this is a temporary measure. We are ensuring that the fare does not go out of hand and at the same time, it is viable for airlines also. It is only for the period of scarcity," he said. Airlines are elated with the government decision but expect demand to surge initially followed by an elongated slump due to covid-19 related implications, two senior airline officials said. If intrinsic demand is muted, then the minimum fare will help in general and maximum fare will not be that relevant. However when demand is muted and minimum fare is higher than what it would otherwise have been, the weakest or least attractive player suffers the most as they cannot use pricing as a tool to steal market share," said a senior official at a no-frills carrier. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Security researchers say hackers have infiltrated developers of popular online games in an effort to manipulate in-game currency and infect players with malware. As reported by ArsTechnica, the cyber security firm ESET detailed the hacks in a recent blog post, describing how a hacking group was able to infiltrate multiple game developers based in South Korea and Taiwan. According to ESET, who didn't name the companies, the developers run massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and have thousands of active daily users. The compromises affect multiple game developers based in south Korea and Taiwan but it's unclear which companies were breached (stock) Breaches were discovered in February and relevant companies were notified, they say. Researchers say that in one recorded case, hackers who gained privileged access to a developer's servers could have offloaded malware into 'video game executables' which are available to players. 'In at least one case, the attackers were able to compromise the companys build orchestration server, allowing them to take control of the automated build systems,' the researchers write. 'This could have allowed the attackers to include arbitrary code of their choice in the video game executables.' In another instance, ESET says hackers who compromised game servers would have been able to manipulate in-game currency for financial gain. ESET researchers attribute the work to a hacking collective called the Winnti Group who have previously infiltrated other games developers, including Nfinity Games in 2018. It's unclear how many users, if any ,were affected by the hacks, according to researchers. Trump vs. Michigan and Nevada President Trump on Wednesday escalated his campaign to discredit the integrity of mail balloting, threatening to hold up federal funding to Michigan and Nevada in response to the states plans to increase voting by mail to reduce the publics exposure to the coronavirus. Without evidence, Trump called the two states plans illegal, and he incorrectly claimed that Michigans rogue secretary of state is planning to mail ballots to all voters. The state is planning to send applications for mail-in ballots to all voters not ballots themselves. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State, Trump tweeted about Michigan. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path! The presidents aggressive and unfounded rhetoric drew immediate rebukes from Democrats and voting rights activists, who accused Trump of intentionally sowing mistrust in U.S. elections. (Washington Post) Featured stories Lockdown delays led to at least 36,000 more deaths, models find (New York Times) Trumps promise of Warp Speed fuels anti-vaccine movement in fertile corners of the Web (Washington Post) CDC quietly releases detailed plan for reopening America (NBC News) Pandemic hits another grim milestone as global cases top 5 million (ABC News) Pompeo admits to answering questions in investigation as reporters ask him about IG firing (CNBC) National news Nearly 600 workers from North Carolina Tyson chicken processing plant test positive for COVID-19 (CBS News) Republican senators still cool to more coronavirus relief spending, but willing to talk about PPP revamp (NBC News) Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey removed from House session for refusing to wear a face covering (Chicago Tribune) Florida scientist says she was fired for refusing to change Covid-19 data to support reopen plan (The Guardian) Coronavirus does not spread easily by touching surfaces or objects, CDC now says. But it still may be possible (USA Today) Survey finds 87% of Americas nurses forced to reuse protective equipment (The Guardian) Supreme Court blocks release of Mueller grand jury documents to House (CNN) Warner asks intel chief to fork over underlying unmasking intel on Michael Flynn (Politico) Michigan dam failures force 10,000 to evacuate and could leave one city under 9 feet of water (CBS News) Oregon Republicans just nominated an avowed QAnon conspiracy theorist for the U.S. Senate (CNN) World news Thousands in India and Bangladesh left homeless as Cyclone Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit communities (CNN) Carbon emissions fall 17% worldwide under coronavirus lockdowns, study finds (CBS News) Chinas new outbreak shows signs the virus could be changing (Bloomberg) White House report criticizes Chinas economic policies, human rights violations (Associated Press) Saudi Arabia, other gulf states reimpose strict measures after coronavirus cases spike during Ramadan (Washington Post) Coronavirus: South Korean seniors return to school (NBC News) New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern suggests 4-day workweek to recover from pandemic (ABC News) The number of new jobless claims in Oregon climbed last week for the first time since March, underscoring that the economic toll of the coronavirus outbreak is far from over. The state fielded nearly 16,000 new jobless claims, according to new state data out Thursday. That brings the total number of benefits applications during the coronavirus outbreak to nearly 412,000 more than 1 in 5 Oregon workers altogether. Although the number of new claims is much lower than it was in the early days of the epidemic, it rose by 1,800 last week. New jobless claims are running nearly four times higher than an average week last winter. Additionally, the Oregon Employment Department said Thursday it is now ready to begin processing extended benefits authorized by Congress in March. Workers who had exhausted the standard 26 weeks of benefits can now apply for a 13-week extension retroactive to March 29. Oregons jobless rate spiked to 14.2% in April, the highest point on record. It had been at a historic low of just 3.5% in March, before the coronavirus outbreak hit Oregon. Forecasters expect the unemployment rate will top 20% within the next few months and then rebound. However, state economists warned Wednesday that they expect full recovery will take years likely until 2024 or 2025. The outlook will be much worse, they say, unless public health efforts succeed in extinguishing the coronavirus. Job losses have fallen most heavily on relatively low-paid service workers, particularly those in bars, restaurants, hotels and retail shops. Those sectors took the brunt of the hit in March when the state shut down to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Those businesses are now reopening in many parts of the state but it is likely to be many months, and likely years, before shoppers and diners return to stores and restaurants in the numbers they did before the outbreak. Meanwhile, job losses have begun spilling over into manufacturing, construction and other core sectors as the broader economy cools. The state forecasts an 11% shortfall in its coming budget cycle, which could trigger more cuts. The catastrophe created by the sudden job loss and been exacerbated by a meltdown at the employment department. The state has a backlog of 45,000 regular claims at least a third of them stretching back more than a month. The backlog results from the surge in claims and an obsolete state computer system that has been unable to adapt to changes in the benefits program or correct chronic errors in claims processing. That tally of backlogged claims doesnt include thousands of self-employed workers and contractors, who are newly eligible for unemployment benefits. Congress funded those payments in March but the state has struggled to process applications. The employment department wont say how many such applications are pending. Underlying the crisis is a dysfunctional phone system that has been overwhelmed by the number of people calling to check the status of their claims or correct the departments processing mistakes. The vast majority of calls dont go through and those that do spend an average of three hours on hold. Even among those, most are disconnected before reaching a claims processor for assistance. Members of Oregons congressional delegation and leaders from both parties in the state Legislature have called for urgent steps to address the crisis within the employment department. -- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:13:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Guo Yage BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- As China, like other countries, has taken a hit by the shock of the coronavirus pandemic, pessimists in the West rushed to draw a dark picture for the Chinese economy. U.S. TV network NBC News said last week that the Chinese economic contractions in the first quarter threaten "China's status as an economic heavyweight," while Iris Pang, chief economist of Greater China for the global financial institution ING, anticipated in a March report that "the nightmare" for China's economy is to continue. However, those pessimists have failed to grasp that such hits are temporary and manageable, and that the world's second largest economy is resilient enough to ride out this crisis in the long run. The very first reason is that the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth remain sound and steady despite the ravaging pandemic. With an orderly resumption of production, economic recovery in China is already underway. In April, the country's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, returned to growth as factory activities gradually normalized, pointing to an across-the-board improvement in the macro-economy. In addition, the index measuring service sectors and retail sales of consumer goods fell 4.5 and 7.5 percent last month respectively, narrowing from 9.1 and 15.8 percent in March, according to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics. Secondly, China has been good at locating opportunities and fostering new sources of growth in times of crisis, such as in the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial meltdown. In the first two months of this year, when China was in the thick of its battle against the deadly virus, internet services and related sectors in the country recorded total revenues of 18.4 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.5 percent year-on-year, out of strong demands for online working, teleconferencing and education services. Digital economy and e-commerce have also embraced a new surge. Livestreaming sales, which allow consumers to buy all kinds of goods from houses to clothing during live internet streams, are becoming increasingly popular. The third is China's irreplaceable role in global supply chains and the country's unique comparative economic and manufacturing advantages. It is natural for the international community to reflect on the deficiencies of the current global supply chains exposed in this global health crisis, and consider ways to make this globalized economy more risk-proof. Yet, selling a decoupling theory, which seeks reshoring outsourced jobs and a clean breakaway from China, by a bunch of zero-summers in Washington is both irresponsible and impossible. One major reason why China is going to remain an important part of global supply chains is that it has been the world's only country with all industrial categories of the UN industry classification, while its manufacturing accounts for nearly 30 percent of the world's total. China also has the world's most populous consumer market, with over 400 million middle-incomers, and has pledged to further open up and continue leveling its domestic playing field for both Chinese and foreign businesses. A flash poll in March by the Beijing-based American Chamber of Commerce showed U.S. businesses remain bullish on Chinese consumers, despite the impact of the virus. And China has witnessed foreign direct investment into its mainland rebounding in April, up 11.8 percent year-on-year. The fourth is China's ample policy elbow room to cushion the impact of the crisis. To keep businesses afloat, the Chinese government has provided additional liquidity to the market and granted targeted support to small and medium-sized enterprises and companies operating in critical supply chains, said World Bank Country Director for China Martin Raiser, adding that it certainly has much room for expanding and modernizing the social protection system, as well as increasing targeted investment in non-traditional infrastructures. At Friday's meeting focusing on a draft government work report, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided that the country's proactive fiscal policy should be more positive, its prudent monetary policy should be more flexible and appropriate, and its employment priority policy should be further strengthened. In mid-April, the International Monetary Fund predicted China's economy would grow by 1.2 percent this year despite a contraction in the first quarter. And for 2021, the agency projected a strong rebound to 9.2 percent, leading all major economies. Those projections have signaled the world's confidence in a resilient Chinese economy in the post-pandemic world. Just as the president of Washington-based think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics Adam Posen told Xinhua, "China's objective economic status will rise" in the post-coronavirus era. In today's world of hyper interconnectedness, a rising tide either raises or sinks all boats. As a dynamic Chinese economy is in every way good news for the world economy, members of the global community should jointly make sure that they will be the rising boats amid the turbulent waves. Enditem After hearing from county governments concerned about COVID-19 costs, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is asking that 45% of federal aid to states automatically go to local governments. There have been problems for the counties with rising health department costs and revenue lost to canceled events, said Joe Briggs, Cascade County commissioner and board member of the National Association of Counties. States have been receiving federal aid, but counties are still waiting for their share. In almost all jurisdictions, its the cities and the counties that operate the health departments, which is where the huge hit expenditures is required for the direct fighting of the COVID, Briggs told Lee Montana Newspapers on Wednesday. Its overtime. Its contact tracing to track down who people have had interface with, with an infectious disease. Its the expenses for the personal protective equipment necessary for the first responders, on and on and on. Those are not costs that are being borne by the state. Amazon has forayed into the country's food delivery segment currently dominated by food tech unicorns Swiggy and Zomato. The Jeff Bezos-led e-commerce firm will start its operations in Bengaluru and allow customers to order food from local restaurants and cloud kitchens. It is currently delivering to four pin codes in the city. The company said that it is "adhering to the highest standards of safety" amid the coronavirus crisis and has constructed a proprietary hygiene certification bar. Amazon plans to provide 'contactless delivery' from local restaurants, around the vicinity of the customer. "Customers have been telling us for some time that they would like to order prepared meals on Amazon in addition to shopping for all other essentials. This is particularly relevant in present times as they stay home safe. We also recognise that local businesses need all the help they can get. We are launching Amazon Food in select Bangalore pin codes allowing customers to order from handpicked local restaurants and cloud kitchens that pass our high hygiene certification bar," said an Amazon spokesperson. The government recently allowed the e-commerce players to deliver both essential and non-essential items in red zones as well. Earlier, the e-tailers were only allowed to sell non-essential items in green and orange zones only. On Monday, Swiggy announced that it will be laying off around 1,100 of its employees to absorb the impact of coronavirus pandemic. In a blog post, the company revealed that it will scale down businesses that are not going to be relevant for the next 18 months. They have also stated that the company will provide financial, emotional and career-related support to the impacted employees. Meanwhile, Swiggy has reportedly announced home delivery of alcohol in Ranchi today. Liquor would be delivered through the 'Wine Shops' category on the app. The feature was launched after the app received the nod from the Jharkhand government. The service would be extended to other cities within a week. Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: SoPs for domestic flights! Aarogya Setu app mandatory; cases-1.12 lakh Also read: Domestic flights to resume on Monday: What to keep in mind when you go to airport? Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen delivers her address to soldiers amid the coronavirus pandemic during her visit to a military base in Tainan, Taiwan, on April 9, 2020. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) US Approves Sale of Advanced Torpedoes to Taiwan Amid China Tension TAIPEI, TaiwanThe U.S. State Department has given preliminary approval for a new arms deal with Taiwan, on the day Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen began her second term in office. The arms package requested by the Taiwan government includes 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes, spare parts, test equipment, operator manuals, training, and technical and logistics support services, according to a May 20 statement by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Defense. The estimated cost is about $180 million. The torpedoesfeaturing advanced sonar and technologies that can lower detection, search widely for targets, and reduce noiseare manufactured by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon. The package still requires approval from Congress. If approved, the U.S. Navy would supply Taiwan the torpedoes from its stockpiles, instead of from a third-party supplier. This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipients [Taiwans] continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability, the statement says. We look forward to the future and our continued partnership with #Taiwan toward peace and security across the Taiwan Strait and the region. #TaiwanRelationsAct https://t.co/DE8EFBViWX R. Clarke Cooper (@AsstSecPM) May 20, 2020 U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are guided by the Taiwan Relations Act and the United States is committed to the islands defense because Taiwan is a force for good, according to the U.S. Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, an agency within the State Department. The United States switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979. Since then, the relationship between Washington and Taipei has been based on the Taiwan Relations Act, which enshrines the U.S. commitment to supporting Taiwans defense capability. Taiwans national defense is positioned mainly against military threats from the Chinese regime, which views the island as its territory, even as the self-ruled island boasts its own democratically elected officials and military. In recent years, the United States has sold Taiwan other defense equipment, including F-16V fighter jets, M1A2T Abrams tanks, and Stinger missiles. America will keep Taiwan secure and free from coercion, so it can confidently engage in dialogue with the PRC (Peoples Republic of China), the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs stated on Twitter. China firmly opposes the sale, Zhao Lijin, a spokesperson for Chinas Foreign Ministry, said at a daily briefing on May 21. He also called on the United States to end arms sales to Taiwan, lest it should further harm ChinaU.S. relations and cross-straits peace and stability. Joseph Wu, Taiwans foreign minister, explained during a Parliament committee meeting on May 21 that the torpedoes will be used on future domestically built submarines, and called the torpedo sale a sign of the U.S. commitment to Taiwans security. Taiwans Vice Defense Minister Chang Che-ping told local media the torpedoes would surely upgrade the islands defense, and it would also help regional peace and stability. As a Pacific nation, Taiwan will continue to work with the US & other like-minded countries to promote lasting peace and prosperity across the Indo-Pacific through employing effective deterrence, Taiwans ruling party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu wrote on Twitter. The timing of the State Departments announcementfollowing Tsais inaugurationis a sign of the U.S. governments trust in her administration, Su Tzu-yun, a researcher with Taiwans government-run think tank Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said in an interview with local Central News Agency. Su explained that the United States is trying to balance the naval capabilities between China and Taiwan, given Chinas increasing number of submarines. Tsai, who won a landslide victory in the islands presidential election in January, was inaugurated for her second four-year term on May 20. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and many U.S. lawmakers sent congratulatory messages to Tsai, which didnt sit well with Beijing. China will take necessary measures in response to the U.S. erroneous practices, and the consequences will be borne by the U.S. side, said Zhao during a daily briefing on May 20, when asked about the messages. The messages, which included Pompeo addressing Tsai as Taiwans President, are a serious violation of the One China principle and interfere with Chinas internal affairs, Zhao said. More than half a century ago a fellow grad student invited me into his laboratory to show me his doctoral research. He introduced me to the science of animal reflexes. A novel stimulus induces in an animal, however briefly, a freeze reaction. This is called an orienting reflex. What happens next depends on the animals response to the potential threat. If the novel stimulus does not seem to be a threat the animal gradually relaxes. Repeats of this type of stimulus gradually habituate its orienting reflex so that the animal, in effect, learns to ignore this particular stimulus. On the other hand, in the case of a real threat, the animal can only respond in one of two ways: It can freeze for an extended length of time or it can panic and run to escape. Humans, too, experience the orienting freeze reflex to novel stimuli. If the stimulus is a threat, a person may freeze in place for a substantial time, or the person may flee in panic. Or, and this is what makes humans different from all animals, some people may become coldly rational and plan out, and execute, an appropriate course of action. Training, especially, helps create this rational response. The important thing to note is that the orienting reflex is so essential to survival that it evolved very early in the history of life. Its creation was back so deep in time that we share the orienting reflex with insects, with spiders, and with even more primitive creatures. Society emulates an organism. An animal is a collection of functioning elements, all working in cooperation. It is useful to consider a society, such as America, as a kind of organism analogous to an animal. Individual people make up the cooperating functional elements of society. I postulate that our society has an orienting reflex, as well. Consider the response of America to Japans attack on Pearl Harbor: Shock! Freeze! Anger! That was the first orienting response. Then, since we are human, came coldly rational plans, then fully unified action to destroy this threat to our existence. Consider Americas first response to 9-11. Initially it was the same, but soon different factions chose to use the event to promote their ideologies. Instead of unity we had disunity. America has changed and not for the better. Think of Americas response to COVID-19. We indeed have had the orienting reflexive freeze. What is this new threat? We wondered. What are its characteristics? What should we know about it? Because of the novelty of this virus we knew too little to make rational plans. Our natural reaction was to continue the orienting freeze reflex until we could find a way to defeat it. We did know at the beginning a few things about this new disease: We knew that this virus is exceptionally contagious. One thing we thought we knew (but maybe were wrong about) was that this virus is exceptionally deadly. The thing we were certain of was that a really serious pandemic would overload our medical facilities. Rational response required a temporary lockdown to flatten the curve so as to not overload our medical establishment. This we did successfully. But then politics intervened big time! There are people in our society who lust for power and luxuriate in it once they have it. Some are elected, many are not. Call them governors, call them mayors, call them health administrators, call them bureaucrats, call them journalists, the power mad have become a potentially lethal plague on America. They have suspended our civil liberties for the duration. So what is the duration? These power-mad people have moved the goal posts to the undeterminable far future when a vaccine cure will be available. There has never been a successful vaccine for an upper respiratory corona virus. So dont count on it this time. If we do get one an instant Nobel prize awaits. Waiting for a vaccine is just an excuse for continued suppression of our liberties. Moving the goal posts is profoundly dishonest and un-American. In the name of science some governors forbade experimentation with various pharmaceutical treatments. When President Trump suggested that early experiments indicated that a combination of hydroxychloroquine, zinc and azithromycin was effective in stopping an early stage infection, the Left: left academics, left journalists, left bureaucrats, and left politicians, went berserk: Politics (I spit the word out)! It is commonplace to say that the pandemic is a science problem. No it is not! Science has to do with fundamental understanding. Figuring out the molecular action of this coronavirus is science. Defeating the pandemic is not science. Defeating the pandemic is engineering! When I was just starting my career as an engineering physicist I was told a story. The story is likely apocryphal, but it illustrates the profound difference between science and engineering: One day the ancient Romans decided to bring fresh water down from the mountains to the city. Naturally they hired the best hydraulic specialists the Greeks the masters of the science of hydrostatics. The Greeks said that the pressure in a tall waterpipe would be very great. They were right, of course. Therefore, buttress the outside of your filled pipes, they advised, to prevent their explosion. The Romans did as suggested. However, when the water started to flow the pipes imploded instead of exploded. No one knew why this happened. The Romans simply shrugged their shoulders and buttressed the inside of these water pipes with great success. About two thousand years later the Bernoulli brothers found the scientific explanation. So, science is nice, but engineering works. Who are the engineers in this pandemic? The doctors on the front line, of course. These are the pragmatic guys who are willing to try anything to save the lives of their patients even if the academic scientists say dont. Lets also give credit to the hands-on lab scientists who are working, often with great ingenuity, to find a vaccine. That too is engineering, only at the molecular level. Now that the pandemic is easing up a bit I was able to chat about this with a highly regarded infectious medicine specialist. This is a man who once saved my life by working in his lab to devise an antibiotic cocktail for me. This, after all conventional treatments had failed. This good doctor has spent almost every waking hour of the last two months saving the lives of COVID patients, some of whom were in intensive care. He has found that the hydroxychloroquine cocktail works with patients in the early to mid-phase of infection, but not much in the intensive care phase. He uses other techniques in the late phase. His experience with the cocktail corresponds to that of other doctors. The hydroxy cocktail is therefore a very effective prophylactic, or curative, depending on the stage of infection. But not later on. When I mentioned the notion that, in this pandemic, he was an engineer, not a scientist, he most emphatically agreed. Then this mild mannered man surprised me by using very strong language with respect to the science advisors to the politicians. Science has its place. Ultimately we will understand this new contagion and eliminate its threat. In the meantime, it is the medical engineers who are the key to defeating this invader: the medical doctors on the front line; the people working on vaccines and other medications. And, of equally great importance, let us not forget the business owners, small and large, who are the engineers of our economy. All these practical people should be the ones guiding society back to normality not the power hungry politicians and, most especially, not the technocrat scientists. The firm is proud to congratulate Bill on achieving this prestigious designation and honored for him to represent both DiSanto, Priest & Co., and the State of Rhode Island, as an advocate for the accounting profession and its members. DiSanto, Priest & Co. is proud to announce that its Partner, Bill Pirolli, has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He will serve in this role until May of 2021, and will also hold a position as a board member for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the joint effort of AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accounts (CIMA). Emilio Colapietro, Managing Partner of DiSanto, Priest & Co., says, The firm is proud to congratulate Bill on achieving this prestigious designation and honored for him to represent both DiSanto, Priest & Co., and the State of Rhode Island, as an advocate for the accounting profession and its members. Bill joined as Partner at DiSanto, Priest, & Co. in 2007 and has over 40 years of experience serving clients in public accounting. He has been an active volunteer to the profession on both the state and national levels for the past two decades; he is a former President of the Rhode Island Society of CPAs and has held multiple senior positions on AICPA committees, including a three-year term on the Board of Directors. In 2018, Bill was awarded the Sustained Contribution Award by the AICPA for his many years of service to the organization and the accounting profession at large. When asked about his election to Vice Chairman, Bill said, I am looking forward to working with the leadership of the AICPA and CIMA, and all of our members and students, as we reimagine what our profession, businesses, and lives will look like in the near future and beyond. Never have our roles as Trusted Advisors been more critical. About DiSanto, Priest & Co. DiSanto, Priest & Co. serves as business advisor for todays leading privately-held companies, with teams dedicated to serving the construction, commercial fishing, cannabis, distribution, manufacturing, precious metals, professional services, real estate, retail, and technology industries. As a firm purposely built to serve privately-held businesses, it provides the full array of tax planning, tax compliance, assurance and wealth advisory services to the owner operators of those closely-held entities. Learn more at disantopriest.com. About American Institute of Certified Public Accountants The AICPA is the worlds largest member association representing the accounting profession, with over 430,000 members across the globe. Since its inception in 1887, the AICPA has served the public interest, promoting integrity with its national rules and standards. It is responsible for developing auditing standards for private firms, the Uniform CPA Examination, and more. The AICPAs specialty credentials are widely trusted and used across the accounting profession. AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education, and consulting. Learn more at AICPA.org. Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Thursday said it has approved the proposed acquisition of Emami Cement by Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, which is a Nirma promoter group company. In February, Nuvoco Vistas -- formerly Lafarge India Limited -- announced that it would acquire the 8.3 million tonne per annum cement business of Emami for an enterprise value Rs 5,500 crore. Emami Cement, part of the Emami group, owns and operates cement manufacturing units in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha. Nuvoco Vistas operates cement manufacturing units in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Haryana. "The proposed combination pertains to the acquisition of 100 per cent of the total issued and paid up share capital of Emami Cement Limited on a fully diluted basis by Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited," an official release said. CCI keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) First, the new bill would add language to the state constitution that makes it harder for Missouri citizens to gain legal standing to challenge a gerrymandered map in court. Voters living in districts intentionally packed with members of one political party which allows a mapmaker to hand the surrounding seats to their own side would not be eligible to argue that their rights have been harmed by a statewide plan, because they were still able to elect a member of their choosing within their own specific district. Second, under the new plan, if a legal challenge did make it into the courts, the state constitution would limit the remedies available to judges. A judge would not be able to throw out the entire map as unconstitutional but merely to order smaller changes to individual districts essentially retaining most of the advantages embedded into the map by partisans. The Clean Missouri proposal required the state demographer to draw a map that reflected Missouris overall political balance. The legislatures new plan would have insiders drawing a map that prioritized compactness. In a state like Missouri, where Democratic voters are concentrated in two cities at opposite ends of the state, weighting the criteria in favor of compactness would artificially benefit the party whose voters are spread more efficiently across the state. While the Clean Missouri plan required a map that achieved partisan fairness as closely as practical, the Republican plan allows for a much looser calculation of partisan fairness which would allow for a map that is more gerrymandered than some of the nations most one-sided maps in Wisconsin and North Carolina. Perhaps most dramatically, the Republican plan would open the door to drawing state legislative districts in a way that could shift the essence of representation itself. The longtime standard has been to count everyone the total population when drawing up equally populated legislative districts. Republicans, however, have urged states to redistrict based on voting-age population instead and so count only American citizens over the age of 18. What impact would this switch have? Before his death in 2018, the Republican redistricting mastermind Thomas Hofeller completed a study to assess the impact of drawing political maps that were based not on a states total population the current practice virtually everywhere in the nation but on citizens of voting age. Looking at Texas, he concluded that the switch would pull power away from cities and toward older, rural populations. It would also, he said, be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites. KELA's Threat Hunting Platform Helps Partners Automatically Detect Threats from Images in Instant Messaging Groups TEL AVIV, Israel, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- KELA announced today the capability of automatically searching through images and chatter in instant messaging groups, through DARKBEAST, their proprietary Dark Net threat hunting platform. The expansion of KELA's data lake to include instant message groups, such as closed Telegram groups and Discord channels, is meant to provide partners and clients with added intelligence from different high-quality and curated sources. KELA's DARKBEAST allows enterprises and law enforcement agencies to retrieve unique and relevant intelligence straight from the Dark Net in real time. KELA's technologies go further than just enabling users to search for text within these instant messaging groups. Threats actors are often attempting to hinder detection efforts by posting sensitive content within images instead of outright in text, therefore KELA's experts understood that making these images searchable is essential. Now, DARKBEAST automatically identifies images containing a keyword searched, making images fully searchable for users. Irina Nesterovsky, Head of Research at KELA, explains the nature of the sources that are cached into KELA's data lake to be automatically monitored. "The Dark Net is quite a tricky term that's commonly used in the threat intelligence sector. At KELA, when we say Dark Net, what we are really referring to is any source that provides valuable and relevant intelligence for our partners," explains Nesterovsky. "We understood the value of intelligence that can be found in instant messaging groups, and even more so in images posted in them, so we immediately decided that we need to create a way for our partners to have access to this type of intelligence." KELA shares that since they've begun monitoring instant messaging groups they've been seeing a wide variety of illicit activities occurring in these groups that could very well serve their entire client base, from enterprises in the private sector, to law enforcement agencies, and other organizations in the public sector. These activities range from chats where actors are selling stolen credit cards and checks, compromised credentials and PII, and even breached servers. These platforms have also turned into an excellent platform for actors to share hacking methods and information on other topics of interest. KELA guarantees that these capabilities are just as significant for law enforcement agencies. KELA's experts have detected thousands of images of forged documents and drugs for sale, as well as propaganda in different extremist groups. Here, KELA says that they have been yielding great results for their clients, and that many of these activities would likely have remained undetected if not for DARKBEAST's image-searching capabilities. KELA does not stop after the automatic detection phase. KELA's tools allow further interactions with threat actors to gain more actionable intelligence from them. By doing so, KELA fulfills their commitments of providing 100% actionable intelligence to all partners. To learn more about KELA's solutions or request a demo, visit us at https://ke-la.com/contact-us/ About KELA An award-winning Dark Net threat intelligence firm, KELA's mission is to provide 100% actionable intelligence on threats emerging from the Dark Net. Our success is based on a unique integration of our proprietary automated technologies and qualified intelligence experts. For more information, visit www.ke-la.com. Contact Information Sharon Bitton +972-3-970-2720 Marketing@ke-la.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1094213/KELA_Logo.jpg Coronavirus fears closed a Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles location near New Orleans the same morning that it reopened after a two-month pandemic closure. The office in Harvey was notified that someone in the building might have been in contact with somebody who had COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Deputy Commissioner Keith Neal said. Neal said he did not know whether the notification was from a state Department of Health contact tracer. The health department reported that more than 35,000 people have been diagnosed with the disease, 1,004 of them are hospitalized and 2,458 have died. About 26,200 are presumed recovered. He said the office one of 11 that reopened statewide on May 18 after being closed since March 20 will be sanitized before reopening. As far as the Office of Motor Vehicles knows, Neal said, nobody in the building, whether an employee or otherwise, had been infected with the novel coronavirus. We just wanted to play it safe not put any of our citizens in harms way, not put any of our employees in harms way, he said. He said another office in the New Orleans area was scheduled to open on May 20 to help alleviate the strain of this office being closed. Although keeping three out of every four stations closed means the offices are opening with about one-quarter of their usual workers, staffing is the main reason most of the 79 offices statewide remain shuttered, Neal said. In addition, he said, the department wants to install plastic barriers at each station to be opened. He said reopenings around the state will be located to help fill in the spaces between the offices that have opened so far. In addition to one just outside New Orleans in Metairie, the open offices are in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Livingston, Mandeville, Monroe and Shreveport. He said reasons for staffing problems vary and include quarantine, lack of child care, and medical conditions that put employees at greater risk from COVID-19. If we dont have enough to staff the office, were not going to open, he said. We do have a lot of online options, he noted. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 Louisiana Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA, USA) has signed an exclusive deal with vaccine innovator Bharat Biotech International (Hyderabad, India) to develop a new vaccine candidate for COVID-19 invented at Jefferson.Under the license agreement, Bharat Biotech gains exclusive rights to develop, market and deliver Jeffersons vaccine across the world excluding countries such as US, Europe, Japan etc., where Jefferson continues to seek partners. With support from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, Bharat Biotech aims to get into human trials as soon as December 2020.Of the 90 or so coronavirus vaccines in development, about 25% use an established vaccine to act as a carrier or vector for the target virus, in this case, the coronavirus SARS-COV-2 spike protein. Not every vaccine produces the same level of the immune response. The vector used in this new vaccine is a deactivated rabies vaccine that is known to generate a rigorous but safe immune reaction that confers life-long protection, and has been proven safe for all populations, including children and pregnant women. The vaccine developed in January this year recently completed preliminary tests in animal models and showed a strong antibody response in mice receiving the vaccine. The researchers are currently testing whether vaccinated animals are protected from SARS-CoV-2 infection with results expected in June.We are leveraging the properties of a very effective vaccine one that provides life-long immunity against one of the biggest global threats of our time, said Dr. Mark Tykocinski MD, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of Thomas Jefferson University, and Dean of its Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Rather than go with an untested approach, we have a leg-up by using a vaccine that is safe, effective, and exceptionally good at creating a strong immune response which is something not every vaccine can do.Our partnership with Bharat Biotech will accelerate our vaccine candidate through the next phases of development, said Infectious Diseases expert Professor Matthias Schnell who directs The Jefferson Vaccine Institute and chairs Jeffersons Department of Microbiology and Immunology. We will be able to complete animal testing and move to phase 1 clinical trial rapidly.In view of the imminent demand for an effective vaccine, Bharat Biotech is pleased to collaborate with Thomas Jefferson, USA towards developing a new vaccine for COVID-19 using an inactivated rabies vector platform, said Dr. Krishna Mohan, Chief Executive Officer of Bharat Biotech. We are particularly excited about this technology since the basic proof of concept has been established while using it for other pandemic infectious diseases. Bharat Biotech is committed to global public health and will be involved in an end to end development of the vaccine including comprehensive clinical trials to achieve commercial licensure. The property market has not perished from Covid yet, if the new type of lockdown-based bidding war witnessed online this week is anything to go by. A small 0.3-acre site in Maynooth with permission for two four-bedroom houses became the first Irish site to sell via online paperless disposal when it went for 42pc above the reserve price in a hard-fought bidding war on Tuesday between 10 prospective buyers, all safely ensconced in lockdown. The property was sold and contracts signed in roughly an hour, representing what was likely the fastest disposal of a site from bidding to signing of contracts ever in Ireland. The auction by Sherry FitzGerald Brady O'Flaherty was conducted through the new Offr all-in one auction and sale closing system launched here late last year. While online auctions have recently become commonplace, contracts always had to be signed in person. Plenty of homes have been sold through Offr since its launch last year, but the Maynooth property is the first development site to be Offr-ed and the first time that developers have bid together on it in a group. The site at the junction of Old Greenfield and Straffan Road is 300m from Maynooth Railway Station and within walking distance of the town's university. Sixteen parties registered to bid remotely, each paying a deposit of 20,000 for access to the bidding button on their devices at home. The site was guided at 150,000 and 10 of the registered parties fought it out from noon when bidding kicked off at the guideline. Registered bids turned green at 190,000 to signify the reserve had been reached. Bids continued to fly in with many of the anonymous parties (each denoted only by an identity number) waiting until late in the process to swoop in. After a rapid-fire session of 25 remotely-placed bids in 5,000 increments, the property sold at 1pm to bidder number 886 for 270,000 in what was that party's second bid of the session. The successful buyer had waited until the property reached 250,000 before placing their maiden and only other offer. At this point, the Offr technology applied both sets of pre-supplied signatures automatically to contracts and from that point the sale became legally binding. At 42pc above the reserve, the final price paid and the number of bidders was reminiscent of Celtic Tiger-era auction room sessions when properties regularly exceeded guideline prices by 20pc and more. It also contradicts notions that most developers and builders are in serious trouble due to Covid. The buyer is believed to be a local developer. Maynooth is notoriously tight for housing supply. It's a university town and has rail access to Dublin. Auctioneer Eamon O'Flaherty said: "It demonstrates the appetite currently for small- to medium-sized in-fill sites, even during these extraordinary times. "The Offr platform embraces cutting-edge technology and offers an efficient and transparent experience for all involved. Indeed the auctioneers, solicitors, buyers and sellers were able to participate from the comfort of their own homes due to the current Covid-19 restrictions. I expect we'll see more of these sales going forward." Developed in Ireland by ex-Allsop Space and BidX1 executive Robert Hoban and former REA network chief Philip Farrell, Offr is set to launch next month in the UK and Australia. Mr Farrell added: "Over 50 homes have sold on Offr since we launched in September but this was the first site to sell using the technology package. The response was fantastic and what can I say other than we're very happy indeed." Tehran, May 21 : Iranian Defence Minister Amir Hatami warned the US of threats against the Iranian oil tankers carrying fuel to Venezuela. Any threats for the tankers will trigger Iran's harsh response, Xinhua news agency quoted Hatami as saying to local media on Wednesday. Causing any insecurity to the oil tankers and maritime trade routes is in violation of the international law and will draw reaction of international institutions and countries, said Hatami. "Our policy is also clear, and we won't tolerate any disturbance for our tankers," he noted. Ali Rabiei, government spokesperson, said on Monday that Iran was ready for the worst-case scenario over US threats against the shipment of Iranian fuel to Venezuela. The remarks by the Iranian officials came after the White House announced last week that the US was considering measures it could take in response to Iran's shipment of fuel to crisis-stricken Venezuela. A Chinese political advisor has proposed endorsing assisted reproductive rights for unmarried women, such as allowing them to freeze their eggs. The proposal quickly stirred heated online debate after it was made public. The proposal was put forward by Peng Jing, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, and partner of the Chongqing Jingsheng Law Firm. According to current regulations, assisted reproductive methods, such as freezing eggs, are only accessible to married couples and not to single women, while men have access to those methods, such as freezing their sperms, regardless of their marital status, said Peng. Peng noted that the current situation has given rise to illegal operations of assisted reproductive methods, where single women seek help from unqualified, underground hospitals, or go abroad for such operations. She suggested that the government revise its current regulations, expand access to reproductive methods for single women who meet certain qualifications, and give them equal opportunities for giving birth with assisted methods. Peng also advised health experts to work out systematic rules in order to prevent side effects or other risks from those assisted reproductive methods. She said civil affairs and education departments should work out policies for registration and schooling for children born from such methods, and to end discrimination against single women in terms of reproductive rights. Although this is not the first time such a proposal had been made, Peng's proposal led to a new torrent of discussions online, with the hashtag "promoting expansion of assisted reproductive methods for single women" being viewed 380 million times on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, as of press time. Many hailed the proposal, as more and more women nowadays are missing the "golden age" for giving birth due to heavy workloads, and if they are deprived access to assisted reproductive methods, this is tantamount to denying them the opportunity to have children. Others were concerned that if the proposal is passed, it will lead to a surge in illegal surrogacy and related black markets. At the end of 2019, a Chinese woman surnamed Xu sued a Beijing hospital after doctors refused to freeze her eggs as she was unmarried. A court in Beijing's Chaoyang heard Xu's lawsuit against the hospital in a case that is expected to continue for several months. Gandhinagar, May 21 : The number of positive Covid-19 cases in Gujarat mounted to 12,910 on Thursday with the addition of 371 new cases. The state also reported 24 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking its Covid-19 toll to 773. There are 6,649 active cases in the state at present, out of which the condition of 6,597 is stable, whereas 52 critical patients are still on ventilator support. The increasing trend of cases surfacing from outside the three major cities -- Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara -- continued on Thursday, causing worry for the health authorities. Of the 371 cases reported on Thursday, the most came from Ahmedabad at 233, followed by Surat (34), Vadodara (24), Mahesana (13), Banaskantha (11), Mahisagar (9), Aravalli (7), Gir-Somnath (6), Gandhinagar (5), Kutch (4), Sabarkantha, Jamnagar, Dahod, Navsari and Surendranagar (3 each), Narmada and Junagadh (2 each), and Panchmahals and Kheda (1 each). Meanwhile, the state's death toll climbed to 773 on Thursday. Since the beginning of this month, the state has been reporting over 20 deaths daily. Continuing the trend, 24 patients succumbed to the dreaded virus on Thursday, out of which Ahmedabad reported 17 fatalities, while the other deaths were reported from Vadodara, Kheda, Mahesana, Surat and Anand. Out of the 24 deceased, six did not have any comorbidity. Till date, Ahmedabad has reported 619 deaths (80 per cent of the state's death toll), followed by Surat (57), Vadodara (32), Gandhinagar (11), Anand (9), Bhavnagar (8) and Panchmahals (6), among others. On Thursday, a total of 269 patients were discharged, taking the total number of people getting discharged so far to 5,488. Health authorities have so far carried out a total of 1,66,152 tests in the state, out of which 12,910 have been found positive while 1,53,242 returned negative. Right now, 4,96,730 people are quarantined in the state -- 4,85,051 at home, 11,049 at government facilities and 630 at private facilities. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has been served a legal notice by migrant workers over non-payment of dues. The notice served to the institute on May 20 on the behalf of these workers by advocate Anandvardhan Yagnik said that wages have not been paid for the past two months. However, refuting these charges, the institute said in response that all due payments have been made. "Our records are open for verification," said the institute. The legal notice mentioned that in spite of repeated requests between April 28 till date neither the institute or the contractor made any arrangements to repatriate the workers from Jharkhand and West Bengal. "We invite those who believe this statement to check the applications given to the public authorities and the process followed to achieve the objective that workers are allowed to return to their home states," said the institute said in response to this allegation. On May 19, workers had clashed with police authorities outside the IIM Ahmedabad campus. Several workers were detained post this. A day later the institute was served a legal notice by these workers. The legal notice said that among those detained, two workers have tested positive for Coronavirus and yet IIM-A and the contractor has not begun testing for other workers in contact with these two members. To this, IIM-A said that no positive cases were reported by the health authorities during the last two months. It added that if two workers have tested positive, then the contractor will comply with whatever steps are required for isolation and quarantine of the other workers. The legal notice had also alleged that the institute and the contractor do not want migrant workers to go back to their home states. Responding to this, IIM-A said that the restrictions on construction activity were lifted on April 15 and after sanitisation of the site and checking the health of the workers construction activity was renewed in phases from April 21. "By the beginning of May once the government announced its intention and special trains to allow migrants to return to their homes workers expressed an interest to not continue with work. Work on the construction site stopped by May 7 in deference to the wishes of the workers. The contractor co-ordinated with the administration for the repatriation of the workers," said the institute. However, IIM-A clarified that while workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were provided trains but unfortunately the public authorities did not arrange for trains to Jharkhand and West Bengal. IIM Ahmedabad said that the institute has not violated any regulations and has been fair to workers. It added that if there has been a slippage on their part, the institute is ready to make amends and take responsibility. Further, the institute said that the unrest of the workers from the construction site is not about wages and living conditions. It said that it is about the delay in obtaining travel permits and the arranging of transportation by the public authorities to take them to the respective home states. "We are committed to doing what is possible from our side to see that happen," said the institute. The Indian Railways had on May 1 launched 'Shramik Special' Trains for stranded workers to go back to their home states amidst the Coronavirus outbreak. Till date, about 1,600 such trains have been operated so far. The true number of coronavirus infections in Egypt could be over 71,000, Egypts Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said Thursday, adding that the number of confirmed cases in the country is predicted to reach 20,000 next week. As of Wednesday, Egypt recorded 14,229 confirmed coronavirus infections, including 680 deaths. But the minister said the country was likely to have many more coronavirus cases than what has been officially confirmed, estimating the country could have 71,145 or more infections. This estimated outbreak size is, according to Abdel Ghaffar, on the assumption we are fivefold lower [in official records] than numbers existing now. Assuming [the number of infections] is five times the figure we are counting every day this means we do not have [around] 14,000 cases today, we have 71,145 or more, the minister said in a televised conference attended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Under that scenario, the figure would reach 100,000 by the end of May, he said. This is a hypothetical model that we say can be a reality and [the figure] can be even higher. Abdel Ghaffar said it is impossible for any country to have an accurate tally of true infection rate with the existence of a substantial but unknown number of asymptomatic cases, adding nonetheless that death rates cannot be suspected. Egypt is expected to register 20,000 Covid-19 cases, around 40 percent up from the current tally, on 27-28 May, the minister said. The tally of infections will continue to rise through the first week of June, the minister said, with authorities hoping it would start to drop as of 7-10 June. From 15 April to 20 May, the average rate of the daily increase in new infections in Egypt stood at 5-5.6 percent, down from 8-10 percent in the first two weeks of April. Abdel Ghaffar sought to reassure the public that authorities are still able to contain the virus. The daily growth rate [in cases] remain within a safe range and within the capability of the health system, the minister said, adding that it would be worrying if the rate of the daily rise in cases reaches 15-20 percent. Each person infected with coronavirus in Egypt is passing the disease on to an estimated 1.4 people, as opposed to three people on average at current transmission rates in some countries, Abdel Ghaffar said. When that number is below one percent, the pandemic can be considered to be receding, he added. Out of the total confirmed cases in the country, 2,000 patients are being treated in isolation hospitals, 250-300 are in intensive care units (ICUs) and 50 need ventilators, the minister said. The minister was speaking at the opening ceremony of a national housing project in Alexandria attended by El-Sisi and other top government officials. The president said the infection rate is normal, adding that the behaviours of citizens can be decisive in helping decrease the rate of infections and alleviate the burden on health workers. El-Sisi called on people to pay attention and not take things casually." Search Keywords: Short link: (Newser) The man accused of carrying out the honor killings of two of his female cousins in Pakistan over a video of them being kissed is now in custody following a five-day manhunt. Muhammad Aslam has been arrested on charges that he shot the women, ages 18 and 16, last week in the village of Shamplan, North Waziristan. A district police chief tells the AP that Aslam was angered by the video that spread online in recent weeks. The 52-second clip showing three veiled women in the company of 28-year-old Umer Ayaz, who kisses two of them, "came as a shock" in the Waziristan region, where tribal codes "mean that the mixing of the sexes is unheard of," reports the BBC. The AP notes kissing in public is illegal in Pakistan. The third woman in the video is believed to be Aslam's wife, who is now in hiding. story continues below Ayazbelieved to be married with two childrenand the man whose phone was used to make the video are also in police custody along with one victim's father and the other victim's brother. They failed to report the killings and concealed evidence, according to the police force established only two years ago to combat tribal law. "We are also questioning the father and brother of the two girls to determine whether they played any role in the murder," says a local police chief. The bodies have yet to be found. They were reportedly taken by family members to the neighboring South Waziristan region and buried. Investigators are searching for the graves. (Read more honor killings stories.) Americas top diplomat launched a verbal salvo against China on Wednesday that was anything but diplomatic, attacking Beijing for its policies on health, defence, Taiwan and 5G and its brutal regime as he expressed US concern over certifying Hong Kongs autonomy. During a regular press briefing in Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited US worries that pro-democracy legislators in Hong Kong were manhandled this week while trying to stop an irregular legislative procedure by pro-Beijing legislators. Pompeo, also a former CIA director, also called out the move to have leading Hong Kong activists like United Democrats founder Martin Lee and entrepreneur and media owner Jimmy Lai hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China, Pompeo said. Were closely watching what is going on there. Under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, the US has until the end of this month to assess whether Hong Kong remains suitably autonomous from China, a prerequisite for extending the citys preferential US trading and investment privileges. Comments by Pompeo, who is sometimes referred to in Washington as President Donald Trumps attack dog on China, come as the administration ratchets up blame on Beijing and the World Health Organisation (WHO). This dovetails with an effort to deflect attention over its own delayed response to the coronavirus as Trumps poll numbers wobble and his re-election campaign ramps up. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump lashed out on Twitter at some wacko in China for blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people, he wrote. Please explain to this dope that it was the incompetence of China, and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing! It was not immediately clear whom Trump was referring to. The White House did not comment on the object of Trumps ire. But it came a day after Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian issued a lengthy defence of Chinas role during the pandemic. Story continues Martin Lee (left), founder of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, and Jimmy Lai, chairman of Next Media, arrive for a court hearing in Hong Kong on Monday. Photo: Reuters During a media briefing, Zhao said the US was targeting the WHO in a bid to shift the blame from its own incompetent response to the coronavirus pandemic. Within minutes of taking the podium on Wednesday, Pompeo cited a laundry list of US concerns ranging from Chinas domestic and foreign policies to its overall governance approach. Chinas been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime, since 1949, he said, citing the challenge of getting the Chinese Communist Party and China to behave in a way thats consistent with how we ask every nation to behave. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Pompeo devoted considerable time to a critique of Beijings handling of the coronavirus crisis, adding that the media was missing the bigger picture by focusing on the disease rather than Chinas role. The secretary of state, a close confidant of the president, may have his own reasons for shifting the focus. In recent days, after the firing of a State Department inspector general, he has faced growing questions over allegations that he misused taxpayer money and government aircraft and had diplomatic security agents walk his dog and pick up restaurant takeout food. An agency whistle-blower cited agent complaints last year that serving Pompeo was turning them into UberEats with guns, referring to a popular food delivery service. Pompeo has denied wrongdoing. Pompeo said on Wednesday that Beijing destroyed live virus samples rather than sharing them, denied investigators access to its labs, censored discussion within China about the virus and resisted calls for an independent investigation into the origin of the disease. He directly faulted China for the loss of more than 92,000 American lives, 36 million lost US jobs, 300,000 deaths globally and US$9 trillion in economic damage worldwide, calling out President Xi Jinping by name. President Xi claimed this week that China has acted with openness, transparency and responsibility I wish it were so, Pompeo said. If the Chinese Communist Party wants to demonstrate real openness, real transparency, it could easily hold press conferences, like this very press conference, and allow reporters to ask him anything that they would like. Turning to other thorny bilateral issues, Pompeo slammed Beijings island building activities in the South China Sea, its sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat, threats to a Malaysian energy prospector and unilateral fishing ban in the region. He also vowed to redouble efforts to keep Huawei Technologies out of the US 5G telecommunications system and condemned Chinas effort to threaten Australia with economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus, Pompeo said. Its not right. Additional reporting by Owen Churchill Help us understand what you are interested in so that we can improve SCMP and provide a better experience for you. We would like to invite you to take this five-minute survey on how you engage with SCMP and the news. More from South China Morning Post: This article Mike Pompeo rips into Beijing with a litany of US grievances first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. The Irish Army Air Corps door fell from a passing helicopter into the grounds of Moyle Park College in Clondalkin. Photo by Steve Humphreys, 21st May 2020 AN investigation is underway after the door of an Air Corps helicopter fell off mid-flight and landed in the grounds of a Dublin school. The incident happened in the Clondalkin area this evening and gardai are currently at the scene. It's understood a number of people were on the grounds of Moyle Park College secondary school when the door landed on a green area but no injuries have been reported. A Garda spokesperson said: "An Garda Siochana were alerted to an item falling from the sky this evening Thursday 21st May, 2020 at approximately 6.20p.m. Expand Close Gardai and members of the army at the scene at the grounds of Moyle Park College in Clondalkin where a door fell off an army helicopter. Photo by Steve Humphreys, 21st May 2020 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai and members of the army at the scene at the grounds of Moyle Park College in Clondalkin where a door fell off an army helicopter. Photo by Steve Humphreys, 21st May 2020 "A number of witnesses contacted Gardai in Clondalkin to confirm a large item landed in the grounds of Moyle Park College. No persons were injured. Gardai remain at scene." Read More The Air Corps helicopter had just completed an air ambulance journey to Tallaght Hospital and was returning to refuel when the incident happened. During the return trip the door came loose and plummeted several hundred feet towards the ground. Expand Close Gardai and members of the army at the grounds of Moyle Park College in Clondalkin where a door fell off an army helicopter. Photo by Steve Humphreys, 21st May 2020 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai and members of the army at the grounds of Moyle Park College in Clondalkin where a door fell off an army helicopter. Photo by Steve Humphreys, 21st May 2020 A local source told Independent.ie: "The door just fell from the sky and thankfully nobody was hit by it or you'd be looking at a fatality." The helicopter later managed to land safely and the aircrew were uninjured. An internal investigation within the Air Corps will now be carried out to establish how the incident occurred. A Defence Forces spokesperson said that the rear door of an Emergency Aeromedical Service helicopter detached while returning to Casement Aerodrome. "Nobody on the ground, or in the air, was injured in the incident.The crew of the AW139 helicopter had successfully completed a life saving mission to a Dublin hospital and were returning to Baldonnel for fuel," they said. "The area in which the door fell was secured by Defence Forces personnel and An Garda Siochana within five minutes of the incident and an investigation team were on scene within thirty minutes. Once the area has been analysed the door will be removed and transported to Baldonnel. "The EAS service will recommence tomorrow, as normal, with a replacement aircraft and crew. A full investigation will be conducted into the cause of this incident." A spokesman for Defence Minister Paul Kehoe said that the minister has been fully briefed on the incident and that the matter is being investigated. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:54:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in Zambia on Thursday announced the lifting of a ban on the capture and translocation of wild animals from protected areas. Zambia banned the translocation of animals from protected areas in October last year after reports that some foreigners were getting the animals. The government was forced to institute the ban after residents of Mfuwe district in Eastern Province blocked trucks carrying animals from leaving the area. Minister of Tourism and Arts Ronald Chitotela said the decision to lift the ban has been made in order to promote transparency in the capturing and translocation of wildlife. He told reporters at a press briefing that the government has put in place modalities and processes after reviewing the situation, adding that other stakeholders will be involved in the process. The government, he said, was hopeful that the decision will help boost the tourism sector and help create jobs. Enditem (Newser) China is about to clamp down on Hong Kong with a controversial new law, a move expected to trigger more pro-democracy protests and possible retaliation from the US. Critics fear it could end or drastically curtail the unique political freedoms the city enjoys. Coverage: The law: When China's parliament convenes Friday, it will pass a national security law to ban sedition, secession, and treason, reports the BBC. But the law is "tailor-made for Hong Kong," per the South China Morning Post. It would give authorities broad power to stop the type of anti-government protests that took place in Hong Kong last year. When China's parliament convenes Friday, it will pass a national security law to ban sedition, secession, and treason, reports the BBC. But the law is "tailor-made for Hong Kong," per the South China Morning Post. It would give authorities broad power to stop the type of anti-government protests that took place in Hong Kong last year. Big moment: This could be "a turning point for (China's) freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest," per Reuters. Beijing is essentially bypassing Hong Kong's own legislature on the issue. story continues below Background: Since the UK handed back Hong Kong in 1997, relations between the city and Beijing have been laid out in the "Basic Law," notes Axios. China is now amending that law. This "could mean the end of the relative political freedoms that Hong Kong's people have enjoyed under the Basic Lawand thus the effective end of the 'one country, two systems' framework," according to Axios. Since the UK handed back Hong Kong in 1997, relations between the city and Beijing have been laid out in the "Basic Law," notes Axios. China is now amending that law. This "could mean the end of the relative political freedoms that Hong Kong's people have enjoyed under the Basic Lawand thus the effective end of the 'one country, two systems' framework," according to Axios. From the US: On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the US is keeping a close eye on Hong Kong's autonomy as China brings leaders of last year's pro-democracy protests to court, reports Time. He suggested the US might end the special economic treatment Hong Kong enjoys if China fails to honor the city's political freedom. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the US is keeping a close eye on Hong Kong's autonomy as China brings leaders of last year's pro-democracy protests to court, reports Time. He suggested the US might end the special economic treatment Hong Kong enjoys if China fails to honor the city's political freedom. Trouble: Online posts already were encouraging protests, reports Reuters, which adds that dozens of pro-democracy protesters were seen shouting slogans at a shopping mall Thursday with riot police looking on. And this week, pro-democracy legislators in Hong Kong's legislature were dragged from the chamber. They've been clashing with pro-Beijing legislators for a while now over control of a crucial committee. Online posts already were encouraging protests, reports Reuters, which adds that dozens of pro-democracy protesters were seen shouting slogans at a shopping mall Thursday with riot police looking on. And this week, pro-democracy legislators in Hong Kong's legislature were dragged from the chamber. They've been clashing with pro-Beijing legislators for a while now over control of a crucial committee. Xi's move: All this comes amid the backdrop of strained US-China relations because of the coronavirus. The New York Times reports that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is using international criticism of China over the pandemic to rally the country around him and strengthen his position. (Read more China stories.) A woman who authorities say fatally beat her wife with a wine chiller inside their New Jersey apartment last weekend has been captured in Texas. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus. (Ocean County Prosecutor's Officev) Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, 48, was arrested Wednesday in Houston, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Brick Township Police announced in a joint statement. "It is our understanding that Gavilanez-Alectus traveled to Houston, from New York City by bus," Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in the statement. She was arrested by members of the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Houston Police Department. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus is charged with murder and two weapons offenses in the slaying of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus, 32. Police in Brick Township, about 50 miles east of Trenton, found the lifeless body of Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus in a bedroom when they responded Sunday to a report of an unresponsive female. An autopsy determined that she was killed with a "cylindrical container used for the purpose of chilling wine," and her death was ruled a homicide. Authorities have not said what prompted the attack or what led them to believe Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus was responsible for it. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus praised her partner in a Facebook post on Mother's Day, writing in Spanish, "I love you. Today, tomorrow and always." She is being held in the Harris County Jail pending extradition to Ocean County. President Tsai Ing-wen enters a second term in office - AP Taiwan will not accept Chinese rule or attempts to downgrade its status as a democracy, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday in an inauguration speech that also celebrated the islands internationally recognised success in managing the coronavirus. President Tsai won a second term in the presidential election in January, in a landslide that was widely seen as an assertion of Taiwanese identity and rejection of Beijings attempts to intimidate and isolate Taiwan on the global stage. Her speech was firm but conciliatory, offering an olive branch to Beijing that Taipei was ready to peacefully negotiate a path through ongoing tensions on an equal footing but would not tolerate being undermined. Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences, she said. Beijing deeply mistrusts President Tsai, suspecting that her ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) may attempt to push for independence, and it has refused to engage with her government since it first took power in 2016, ramping up economic, military and diplomatic pressure on the island of 24 million. Seats at the inaugural address were kept 1.5m apart - Reuters China seeks to annex Taiwan, which functions like any other nation with its own government, currency, military and foreign policy, and it has threatened to use force to do so. The Communist regime has touted its one country, two systems principle already in place in Hong Kong - as a possible future arrangement with Taiwan. But the model gains little traction with Taiwans population, the large majority of whom identify as Taiwanese not Chinese, who have had a ringside seat to Beijings attempts to crush Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement during months of street protests in the Asian financial hub. We will not accept the Beijing authorities' use of "one country, two systems" to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo. We stand fast by this principle, President Tsai warned China in her address. Story continues Her comments drew a swift rebuke from Beijing, which said it would never leave any room for any form of 'Taiwan independence' activities. President Tsai said Taiwan would not accept Chinese rule - AFP Only 15 countries, mainly small Pacific, Central American and African nations, have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but Taipei enjoys strong international support from informal allies including the US, UK and Japan. Joe Biden, the Democrat presidential candidate, and Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, congratulated President Tsai on Twitter. Taiwans vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world, said Mr Pompeo. In recent weeks, a US-backed coalition pushed for Taiwans inclusion as an observer at this weeks virtual World Health Assembly, in part in recognition of its successful strategy in combatting Covid-19. Taiwan has kept infection numbers at a low 440, and deaths at seven, while donating millions of face masks around the world. Many key health workers were granted a coveted place at the inauguration ceremony, where seats were spaced 1.5 metres apart, and singled out in Ms Tsais speech as heroes of the crisis. REGINA - The Saskatchewan government says restaurants, gyms and nail salons can reopen in about two weeks. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Scott Moe, premier of Saskatchewan, speaks while Jim Reiter, minister of health, looks on at a COVID-19 news update in Regina on March 18, 2020.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell REGINA - The Saskatchewan government says restaurants, gyms and nail salons can reopen in about two weeks. Starting on June 8, restaurants will be allowed to operate at half capacity and restrictions will also lift on some personal care services, childcare centres and places of worship. The government also plans to increase its 10-person gathering limit to 15 people indoors and to 30 for those outdoors. The increase wasn't supposed to happen until a later date. Premier Scott Moe said while 30 may not seem like a lot of people, it could allow for a wedding or a graveside funeral to take place. "Just because it's 30, doesn't mean that every gathering has to be 30," Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer with the province, told a news conference Thursday. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "You still want to maintain physical distancing. You shouldn't go if you're unwell. You still need special precautions around people who are elderly or may have other risk factors, in terms of hugging." The province reported Thursday two new cases of COVID-19 in the far north region, bringing its total number of infections to 622. So far, 509 people having recovered and seven have died. Another five people are in hospital. Earlier this week, hair salons, barbers and retail stores opened their doors for the first time since they were shut down in March due to the pandemic. Although reopenings so far seem to be going well, Shahab said there have been some reports of crowding. "We really need to work with business owners who've gone a long way to reopen in a safe manner," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020 Marks & Spencer has warned it may shut more shops to survive in the post-pandemic world, as it grapples with a growing mountain of unsold clothes. The 136-year-old chain revealed it had been forced to write off 145million on clothes it has been unable to sell during the lockdown, with profits collapsing to a three-decade low. The situation has become so desperate during the lockdown that the retailer announced it would be 'hibernating' 200million of stock in the hope it will be able to sell it next year. M&S chief exec Steve Rowe said the crisis has 'given us the chance to cut back harder' Clothing sales fell by three-quarters in the six weeks to May 9, as strong online sales failed to offset the collapse in business at its physical stores. Non-essential retailers had to shut down from March 23, meaning M&S has only kept its food outlets open. But even food sales were down 8.8 per cent, as its cafes have closed and demand fell at stores in airports and railways. M&S clothing sales fell by three quarters in the six weeks to May 9 The retailer is already closing up to 120 of its 1,035 stores but the coronavirus has forced bosses to reconsider the future of dozens more locations, raising fears about thousands of jobs. Chief executive Steve Rowe said the crisis has 'given us the chance to cut back harder', adding: 'The world will never be the same again. Where we haven't got viable stores, that will lead to closures.' Annual profits before tax slumped by a fifth to 67.2million on sales of more than 10billion after being hammered by 213million of costs and stock writedowns related to the pandemic. Excluding these 'exceptional items', profits were still down 21.2 per cent to 403.1million in the year to the end of March the retailer's lowest level in three decades, and well below the 1.1billion it made in 2008. M&S has over 1billion of stock and orders on its books, meaning 200million of clothes will be resold next year. But some will also need to be discounted to shift it, and the company took a 145million charge to account for this. M&S's 300,000 private investors were dealt yet another blow as bosses said they do not intend to pay 340million in dividends in the year to March 2021, just weeks after the 130million year-end dividend for 2019/20 was cancelled. The group, which was fighting for relevance even before coronavirus struck, has been hit hard by the lockdown. Its supermarket business has grown in the 'high single-digits', with growth strong at stores with car parks. But city centre locations, which usually sell sandwiches and ready meals to workers, are struggling. Some 27,000 staff are on furlough, saving 50million, and at the height of the virus there were 16,000 staff at home sick or self-isolating. M&S is also benefiting from 172million of business rates relief. Chief executive Steve Rowe will still take his full 810,000 salary and a long-term bonus, but will not take an annual bonus for 2019/20 or 2020/21. The company has set a target of doubling the size of its food business in a partnership with Ocado, which will start delivering M&S food to homes in September. Customers will be able to order 1,600 items of clothing through its website, and 6,000 food items. Rowe is bringing forward plans to invest in city centre stores and streamline ranges. Head office roles may also be cut. The shares rose 10.8 per cent, or 9.24p, to 95.04p. Best button An RAAF fireman, who reported a button missing from his overalls, has been commended. The missing button could have destroyed one of Australias F111 bombers which cost $6.5m. Sergeant Kevin Cummins, of the Amberley base, reported the button missing after a safety exercise. An inspection around the aircraft failed to find it. The cockpit was searched and it was found lodged in a throttle control. Sergeant Cummins was given a good show award. A new Dawn If theres a girl in Sydney who can down a schooner, scale a flagpole, swim like a fish and look good in a Speedo, international fame may be around the corner. These are some of the attributes a film company is looking for in a girl to play the role of the great Dawn Fraser in a feature film. The film, titled Dawn, is an authentic story about the life of the three-time Olympic gold medallist. Dawn Fraser, 37, will be a technical advisor on the film. Your song The Shiv Sena on Thursday hit out at the BJP for its planned protest against the Maharashtra government, saying the opposition party was trying to politicise the coronavirus pandemic. The BJP has appealed for a state-wide protest on Friday against the Sena-NCP-Congress government, alleging that it has failed to contain the pandemic in Maharashtra. The Sena said on Twitter that Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis should give suggestions about how to carry out the fight against the virus. The protest will gather people and will be counterproductive, the former BJP ally said. "We shouldn't allow a repeat of what happened in Gujarat and put strain on the state police," the Sena said. Referring to Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil's statement to his party workers about how to carry out the protest, the Sena said "we condemn this". "Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeals to people to unitedly fight corona and the state BJP is politicizing the crisis," it said. Senior Sena leader and state industries minister Subhash Desai said the BJP should first advise its chief minister in Gujarat about how he should handle frequent protests by migrants who are stranded in Surat and elsewhere. "The BJP leaders should advise its Gujarat CM on how to pacify those people," he said. As of Thursday evening, Maharashtra had recorded over 41,000 coronavirus cases and more than 1,400 deaths. "The state government and people here are helping each other to contain the outbreak of coronavirus. The BJP should speak to people and offer support instead of doing fear- mongering," Desai said. "The BJP leadership is completely misguided...they should not forget that next state elections are four and a half years away," he added. State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said while healthcare workers, police and the government were fighting "an enemy called COVID-19", the BJP was fighting the government. "It is unfortunate that in the time of crisis, BJP is seeking to play a political battle,"he said. Earlier, Fadnavis tweeted that till May 18, the total number of tests done nationally was 23,02,792 and positive cases were 96,169. "While in Maharashtra, total tests were 2,82,000 and positive cases 35,058. In Mumbai, total tests were 1,62,000 and positive cases 21,335. "The ratio of positive cases in Maharashtra is 3 times that of national average andin Mumbai it is even more. This shows that the spread is much more in Maharashtra," he said. "If we eliminate repetitive tests of a single person... Mumbais positivity rate stands at around 22 percent. In such a scenario more focus should be on testing in Mumbai. But despite having facility of 10,000 tests per day, only 4000 to 4500 tests are being done," the former chief minister claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Flash Xi says China to continue to support WHO playing leading role in COVID-19 fight - Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China stands ready to work with Myanmar and other countries to continue to support the World Health Organization (WHO) playing a leading role in the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. In a phone conversation with his Myanmar counterpart, U Win Myint, Xi also called for concerted efforts to firmly uphold international fairness and justice as well as the basic norms in international relations, and jointly win the battle for global public health. Recalling that after the coronavirus disease broke out in China, the Myanmar government and all sections of society extended a helping hand to the Chinese side, Xi said the outbreak in Myanmar is pulling at the heartstrings of the Chinese people. The Chinese side has donated multiple batches of anti-epidemic supplies to Myanmar and sent two groups of medical experts to fight side by side with Myanmar medical workers, he added. That, he pointed out, has fully demonstrated the "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship of standing together and helping each other between the people of the two countries, and vividly illustrated the spirit of a community with a shared future that features China and Myanmar sticking together through thick and thin. China will continue to provide firm support and as much assistance as its capacity allows for the Asian neighbor in line with the latter's needs, Xi said, adding that he is confident that the Myanmar people will eventually overcome the epidemic. Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of China-Myanmar diplomatic relations, Xi recalled that he paid a successful visit to Myanmar in January, during which the two sides agreed to build a China-Myanmar community with a shared future and usher in a new era of bilateral relations. He expressed the hope that the two sides will closely cooperate to implement the results of the visit. Xi suggested that on the basis of putting in place COVID-19 prevention and control measures, the two sides should appropriately advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields and push for positive progress in China-Myanmar Economic Corridor projects. The two sides, he added, should also make good use of their joint prevention and control mechanism for border areas, and make coordinated efforts to safeguard peace and tranquility along the border, prevent and control the epidemic, and resume work and production. For his part, Win Myint said that under the strong leadership of Xi, the Chinese government and people have succeeded in putting the epidemic under control and the national economy and social life have been fully restored, which Myanmar is grad to see. The Myanmar president thanked China for providing support and assistance to the WHO and other countries including Myanmar in their fight against the epidemic. In the face of the epidemic, all countries should strengthen cooperation and uphold international justice as well as each country's right to development, he said. The sound cooperation between Myanmar and China is a reflection of the two sides' efforts to build a community with a shared future, Win Myint said. Myanmar will continue to firmly uphold the one-China policy and work with China to earnestly implement the outcomes of Xi's visit to Myanmar in January, continue to deepen "Paukphaw" friendship and cooperation in various fields and promote the continuous development of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Myanmar and China, he added. Carnival Glory docks Cozumel with another 76 Mexican crew workers Cozumel, Q.R. Another group of Mexican cruise ship workers have landed at Cozumel after being stranded at sea due to the global health pandemic. On Wednesday, Carnival Glory docked at Puerta Maya carrying 76 Mexican cruise ship workers, 25 of whom are from the state of Quintana Roo including three who live in Cozumel. Island mayor Pedro Joaquin Delbouis says that although the ship docked around noon Wednesday, the Mexican crew members will disembark Thursday. He explained that as before, the process will be carried out under strict sanitary security measures and protocols so as not to risk the health of residents. The three Cozumel ship workers will be transferred to their homes via a private vehicle provided by city council. When crew members begin to disembark, personnel from the Port Authority, Cozumel City Council, the State Secretariat of Health with staff, the National Institute of Migration (INM), the Islands Naval Sector, Port Pilots, Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture will be on site to ensure all those disembarking will do so with the proper paperwork. The same as last week, cruise ship workers will be verified by officials before leaving the dock I want to make clear that the Carnival company cruise ship will not arrive with tourists, but with Mexican workers, all of them free of Covid-19 who at this time, were left without their source of employment due to the crisis caused by the pandemic of coronavirus. We are proud to be part of this process so that the countrymen reach their homes with their families, which in these difficult times, is when they need them the most, he said. The cruise ship employees will leave the island for Playa del Carmen from where they will travel to their places of origin. Last week, a Disney cruise ship arrived with 68 Mexican crew members who returned to their homes. Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye said about 11 out of the 16 regions had not recorded new infections since the country's last update. He explained that from the last update between May 18 and May 19, 2020, a total of 173 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded, of which the Greater Accra Region accounted for 46, Central-27, Eastern-6, Ashanti-35, and Western-57, leaving the remaining regions with no new records of infections. This, he said, brought Ghana's cumulative number of COVID-19 count presently to 6,269, cases, out of which there were 31 fatalities, who were made up of 17 males and 14 females, with the Greater Accra Region alone recording 20 of the total number of deaths. Dr Kuma-Aboagye, giving an update on Ghana's COVID-19 case count and management at the Ministry of Information's midweek press briefing in Accra, stated that there were 144 more recoveries over the same period, bringing the current cumulative number to 1,898, an indication of a recovery rate of about 30.2 per cent, with only eight persons currently in critical condition. He said, Ghana did 187,929 tests from both routine surveillance, contact tracing on persons under mandatory quarantine in their first testing, and achieved 6,269 on a follow up testing of the total number, showing a positivity rate of 3.34 per cent. He said a large pool of people were currently still waiting for their second test results, which would mark their final certification of total recovery from the infection, and hoped that within the next few days the results would be released for them to be free. Dr Kuma-Aboagye said on case management, all the 16 regions had identified and set up isolation, quarantine and treatment facilities. He said there were a total of 71 treatment and isolation centres of which 50 were functional, as the other areas did not record any case. He said the largest isolation centre, which was the Pentecost Convention Centre had 251 persons there, which was a reduction from the over 450 that were recorded since the setup of the place for holding people who had tested positive to COVID-19. According to the Director-General, the number of admissions in all other isolation and quarantine centres at both regional and district levels, witnessed decreases in the past week, including; the initial total of 31 critical cases that were managed in various Intensive Care Units (ICU), where six persons with critical underlying conditions died. He said there were only eight persons still in the ICU ; four of which were at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, and two each at the Ga East Municipal Hospital and the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, but the remaining 16 persons had already been discharged. The Director-General said, notwithstanding the slight decreases in the number of new positive cases, there were occasional increases in strategic areas such as; in the Obuasi, Tema and Bibiani incidences in the past two weeks. However, the GHS has strengthened its forces to be able to identify the hotspots and contain the situation, to present possible spread of the virus. ---GNA Evervault co-founder and CEO Shane Curran. Evervault At 19 years of age, Irish entrepreneur Shane Curran grabbed the attention of some of the world's top venture capital firms. He managed to raise over $3 million in seed funding last year from the likes of Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, household names in Silicon Valley. Less than a year later, Curran has already gotten more investors on board and one name in particular sticks out. Evervault, his data privacy start-up, now counts Facebook's former chief security officer, Alex Stamos, as a backer. Stamos participated in a $16 million investment round announced by the company on Thursday. The deal was led by Index Ventures and also backed by Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Frontline Ventures. The firm has now raised more than $19 million just under two years since it was founded, despite not yet having a product that's commercially available. Explaining how he managed to convince Stamos to invest, Curran said the computer scientist was won over by Evervault's fundamental premise: that privacy should be built into every company's app from the get-go, rather than discarded as an afterthought for their compliance teams to deal with. "For him, he's coming from a security background at Facebook where privacy was much more of a regulatory problem," Evervault's co-founder and CEO told CNBC. "Obviously he's experienced first hand what the pain in the ass is with privacy and security in general." Alex Stamos Brendan Moran | Getty Images Stamos left Facebook in August 2018, a few months after the social media giant suffered a huge data scandal involving controversial data firm Cambridge Analytica. Since then, he has joined Zoom as an advisor to help the company address privacy and security issues that surfaced recently following a surge in popularity for the video-conferencing app. Curran said that talks with Stamos were done entirely over remote meetings and he still hasn't met him in-person to this day due to lockdown restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. He had already met with lead investor Index in a Dublin coffee shop last fall. "We were immediately super intrigued," Ari Helgason, principal at Index, told CNBC. "Who was this 19-year-old who has won lots of science prizes, just finished high school and then jumped right into building heavy-duty, enterprise-grade encryption? That was already very unusual and enough to pique our interest." Funding talks between Index and Evervault properly kicked off around late February and early March, Curran said. Presentations were made and term sheets agreed remotely, and the round closed earlier this month. Alongside Stamos, other angel investors in the financing included Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz, Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel and Figma CEO Dylan Field. Evervault is still in the "development phase," Curran said, and its software isn't yet publicly available. It's developing what's known as an application programming interface, or API, a system that will be integrated into companies' apps to ensure privacy is baked in from the start. Starting your Canadian studies online in fall 2020 can make you eligible to work in Canada. It can also improve your chances of obtaining permanent residence under Express Entry, the PNP, or other immigration programs. Want to work in Canada and immigrate? Starting your Canadian studies online in fall 2020 can make you eligible to work in Canada. It can also improve your chances of obtaining permanent residence under Express Entry, the PNP, or other immigration programs. Want to work in Canada and immigrate? Starting your Canadian studies online in fall 2020 can make you eligible to work in Canada. It can also improve your chances of obtaining permanent residence under Express Entry, the PNP, or other immigration programs. Want to work in Canada and immigrate? Starting your Canadian studies online in fall 2020 can make you eligible to work in Canada. It can also improve your chances of obtaining permanent residence under Express Entry, the PNP, or other immigration programs. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A In recent years, obtaining a Canadian permanent residence (PR) visa has become more competitive. Under various programs, immigration candidates are often ranked against one another, with the highest scoring candidates receiving invitations to apply for PR. Candidates who want to improve their chances to become Canadian permanent residents may wish to consider an education pathway if they have the financial means to study in Canada. Canada offers a very attractive package to international students Canada offers one of the best packages to international students in the world, if not the best. This package has become even more attractive following Canadas major recent policy update. Canadas new policy will allow students to begin their Canadian education online in fall 2020, and still be eligible to obtain a Canadian work permit after their studies. If your main goal is to obtain PR, an education pathway can help you in a number of ways. See if you are eligible to study in Canada in fall 2020 First, we need to understand what is important in Canadas immigration points system. Canada evaluates criteria such as your age, language skills, education, and work experience. Studying in Canada will strengthen your immigration candidacy in three of these areas: language, education, and work experience. Of course, most international students are also young in age. Pursuing an education pathway enables you to immerse yourself in an English and/or French environment which will support your economic and social integration in Canada. You will also gain a quality educational credential which will help your career in Canada and also help you obtain more points under various immigration streams. Whether you seek PR under an Express Entry program, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), or another federal or provincial stream, Canadian credentials receive more points than foreign ones. Work in Canada during and after your studies One of the things that makes Canada so unique is it allows international students to work while they are studying in Canada, and also obtain a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) after their educational program has been completed. A typical study permit will enable you to work for up to 20 hours per week for any employer during your studies, and full-time during breaks, such as summer and winter holidays. Many students then go on to be eligible for a PGWP, which can be valid for up to three years, depending on the length of the students program in Canada. The PGWP also enables you to work for any employer of your choice (an open work permit). In addition, spouses and partners of international students and PGWP holders are eligible to get an open work permit. Gaining Canadian work experience is also highly beneficial for international students, since the qualifying work experience that they get with a PGWP can make them eligible for a variety of different immigration programs. Again, such immigration programs often award more points for Canadian work experience over foreign experience. How you can study in Canada and then gain PR An education pathway to PR can look something like this: Rohan goes to a Canadian designated learning institution and pursues a 2-year college diploma program in Business Administration. After completing the program, Rohan becomes eligible for a three-year PGWP, which is the maximum length of time for a PGWP. He then goes on to work as a Business Analyst for a Canadian technology company. After gaining one year of full-time work experience, Rohan has the qualifying Canadian work experience he needs to become eligible for the Canadian Experience Class program under Express Entry. After submitting his Express Entry profile, Rohan receives an invitation to apply for PR, and achieves his Canadian immigration goal. This opportunity is now more available to individuals who want PR through an education pathway. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Canada is making it easier for international students to begin their Canadian education this fall. See if you are eligible to study in Canada in fall 2020 New PGWP policy will help students begin their Canadian PR journey in fall 2020 Even if you are unable to travel to Canada in time for the start of your program in the fall, you can still begin the program online, and remain eligible for the PGWP. There is still plenty of time to begin your Canadian immigration journey in the fall of 2020. You can go ahead and submit your applications to Canadian designated learning institutions (DLIs) in the coming weeks, and also have time to obtain a study permit. DLIs are post-secondary institutions such as colleges and universities that are recognized by the government to host international students. As long as you complete a qualifying program at a DLI of at least two years in duration or more, and arrive to Canada by December 31, 2020, you can still be eligible for a three-year PGWP after you complete your program. One of the biggest concerns among international students has been addressed, since even if they cannot arrive to Canada by the fall due to a coronavirus interruption (e.g., they cannot find a flight to make it to Canada in time for the start of their program), students can start the program online without being penalized. Online learning in fall 2020 will make studying in Canada more affordable Having the financial means to study in Canada is important. Fortunately, Canadas new policy makes it even more affordable to study in the country, since a student can save on living expenses by studying online in their home country for several months this fall, and then eventually move to Canada by the end of 2020. Once they move to Canada, they can work while studying to help support themselves financially and also save money for their future. In addition, Canada is already one of the least expensive destinations for international students in the western world, and the Canadian dollar is more affordable than other currencies such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, and the British Pound. There are also scholarships available in Canada for international students. Hence, students who begin their Canadian educational program online this fall will be able to obtain a high-quality and affordable education, the right to work in Canada during and after their studies, and a major competitive advantage when they submit their permanent residence application. See if you are eligible to study in Canada in fall 2020 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Randy Diamond, Staff photographer Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday lifted all air travel restrictions for people coming from cities and states that had been considered hotspots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abbott on Thursday said travelers from California, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Washington are now once again allowed to fly into Texas without having to quarantine themselves for up to two weeks. He also lifted the restrictions on travelers from Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Detroit and Miami. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:11:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MALE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Maldives rose to 1,216 on Thursday, the Health Protection Authority (HPA) said. According to the HPA, 30 new infections were recorded on Thursday as of 2 p.m. local time, including 14 Maldivians, 10 Bangladeshis and six Indians. In a televised address on Wednesday, President Ibrahim Solih announced plans to gradually ease the lockdown imposed on the Greater Male region and resume operations of business, schools and religious gatherings. President Solih noted that the spread of the virus in Maldives has been slower than what was initially projected thanks to restrictive measures taken in consultation with health authorities. Frontline workers including healthcare professionals, the Maldives Police Service, the Maldivian National Defence Forces, and Red Crescent volunteers were thanked by the president for their tireless efforts. Maldives has reported four COVID-19 related deaths and 91 recoveries so far. Enditem Update: Flint schools will pay $207,000 to ousted superintendent, void disciplinary record FLINT, MI -- The Flint Community Schools Board of Education expects significantly better performance from the districts superintendent, according to a formal disciplinary notice the board added to his personnel record following his suspension with pay in mid-April. The memorandum was added to Superintendent Derrick Lopezs personnel file following his formal paid suspension, which was approved by the board Wednesday, April 15. At the time, the district did not provide any information about the investigation into Lopez or what the board discussed in closed session. The Flint Journal-MLive obtained the memo via a Freedom of Information Act request. Flint schools superintendent suspended with pay amid investigation The district cannot provide additional details regarding personnel matters per board policy, Board President Casey Lester said in a statement. Continued failure to perform your duties at an acceptable level may result in additional discipline pursuant to the terms of your Employment Agreement with the Flint School District, reads the memo. Flint schools bond proposal is 2nd of its kind in Michigan since 1994, expert says The board listed and detailed the following reasons Lopezs suspension in the memo: Lack of plan while reopening the districts Northwestern school building as a junior high school. Lack of documentation on the relationship between the district and the McCree Theater. Lack of documentation on the relationship between the district and the Sylvester Broome Center. Issues with the termination of a former district director of operations and ancillary services. Failing to develop relationships with local partners to help amend an agreement with the Michigan Department of Education. The allegations against Lopez are completely without merit, said attorney Jim Rasor, whose firm is representing Lopez. Everyone can be extremely proud in the city of Flint of the improvements Superintendent Lopez brought to the school district, Rasor said They can also be proud of themselves for agreeing to support the school system with the millage that Superintendent Lopez worked diligently and tirelessly to pass so the children in Flint can have a quality public education which Superintendent Lopez and I very much believe is their right and which the taxpayers pay for and expect. All allegations by the board are from events prior to the Oct. 17, 2019 date on the memorandum. Lopez started his position as superintendent in August of 2018. Lack of Junior High School Plan A new Flint Junior High School opened at the start of the balanced calendar school year at the site of former Northwestern High School. Parents call conditions at Flint schools 'deplorable The conditions of the Junior High School since the beginning of the current school year are chaotic and educationally inadequate, the memorandum reads. These conditions are caused by poor building leadership, and insufficient oversight by district administration. There have been several complaints regarding the treatment of students at the Junior High School of which you are aware, and that, in the opinion of the board, you did not timely address. The board approved the reopening upon Lopezs recommendation, the document states. The plan was that the junior high school would offer technology and specialized programs and that it would help develop social needs of seventh and eighth grade students while preparing them for high school. Undocumented relationship with McCree Theater The McCree Theater had access to the Northwestern school building during the summer of 2019 and the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year, according to the memorandum. However, the board only learned about the relationship between the district and the theater upon board inquiry, which had not been reduced to a written lease document." The board states it was unclear if people with the theater were vetted before entering the building. Not providing written documentation to the board over the agreement violated a board policy regarding conveyance of interests in vacant district property, according to the document. Flint school board postpones proposal to eliminate one of two policy guides Undocumented relationship with Sylvester Broome Center Lopez attempted to collaborate with the Sylvester Broome Center on a program to provide alternative services to behaviorally and academically challenged seventh and with grade students, according to the memorandum. Lopez allegedly did not prepare or present for board approval a memorandum of understanding, describing the district and centers roles and responsibilities in the partnership. The center opted out of the plan after Lopez moved it forward. Not having documentation reflects a lack of commitment to transparent board-administration relations" and placed the district at risk of recourse, the memo states. Issues with employee termination The board also had a problem with the way in which Lopez conducted the severance process of a former Flint schools staff member the school board called insubordinate. The board and Lopez both supported a reprimand. Lopez conducted another investigation after new allegations, but never reveled the results of the investigation to the board, according to the document. The staff member later left the district and Lopez negotiated a severance agreement with him without board approval or oversight, according to the document. Issues regarding Michigan Department of Education Partnership Flint schools is one of multiple districts struggling in a partnership agreement imposed by the state, which requires the district to increase attendance, reduce suspensions and improve test scores. In April, the MDE informed the district it would have the opportunity to amend the partnership agreement, which presented the opportunity to leverage additional support from other stakeholders, the memorandum states. Rather than engaging with partners, Lopez allegedly shared a request for signatures only a few days before a Sept. 16 due date. Many partners did not sign because they had not had time to consider and revise the agreement, which resulted in a the submission of the revised agreement to MDE without signatures, the memorandum states. Maintaining and developing relationships with community partners is a key role of the superintendent, it states. Your failure to engage with community partners has jeopardized longstanding, important relationships and complicated the development of new partnerships, the document reads. Lopezs attorney responds Rasor said he is in negotiations with the district attorney to reach an amicable resolution and believes they can reach an agreement that is best for all parties. He declined to comment further on the status of negotiations at this time. In the meantime, Rasor pointed out that Lopez spearheaded the bond proposals that resulted in $30.62 million for the district. The money will go directly toward eliminating the deficit of the school district, according to the district. The proposals were passed by voters in March of 2020. It allows the district to pay off a $22 million loan taken out in 2014 in seven years instead of 18, according to the district. After an audit relieved millions of dollars in structural deficit, Lopez proposed multiple ways to reduce the districts structural deficit. The bond tackles a loan taken out by the district after it found itself in a $21.9 million deficit in 2014. In addition to working to pass the March bond, Lopez worked with the budget, cutting costs by in-sourcing departments and suggesting ways to reach financial stability, Rasor said. The attorney added that Lopez should be proud of his work with teacher unions and creating a positive learning environment for children. The matter has yet to be settled. In the meantime, Assistant Superintendent Anita Stewart is serving as interim superintendent. Read more here: Westwood Heights schools continue online option into fall semester Streets surrounding Flint elementary schools to receive $1.3M in upgrades Clio Schools offers free WiFi at football field to students and parents through end of school year First Lady Melania Trump speaks to Fenton first-graders over Zoom Voters approve Genesee County school bonds in smooth sailing election with big turnout The CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is what you might call the bible of the public-health establishment assuming the bible were to be updated every seven days based on the best research available. On March 27, the CDC posted an article from the MMWR concerning the deadly outbreak of COVID-19 a month earlier at a nursing home in Washington State. The article said of the disease, also known as SARS-CoV-2, that Once SARS-CoV-2 is introduced in a long-term care skilled nursing facility (SNF), rapid transmission can occur. It went on to say that the study of the Washington case indicated very rapid spread, despite early adoption of infection prevention and control measures. Two days after that, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicine, which certifies specialists in the field, put out a press release based on that MMWR article. It was harshly critical of an order adopted the week before by New York State that told directors of nursing homes, No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. The Societys press release stated, Based on what we currently know this action by a state will put the many frail and older adults who reside in nursing homes at risk. Two days later, on March 31, the Health Department of New Jersey sprung into action the wrong action. The department sent out a letter to long-term-care facilities ordering, No patient/resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the post-acute care setting solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. Those long-term-care facilities were totally unprepared for the crisis, as documented in detail in an article in the Wednesday Star-Ledger. It was headlined 5,368 dead and counting: An investigation of state failures as crisis rampaged through N.J. nursing homes. New York was no better. The results are illustrated on the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Medicines heat map of COVID-19s spread through long-term-care facilities in the U.S. Not surprisingly, the hottest of the hot spots are in New Jersey and New York. When I discussed this with the executive director of the Society, Christopher Laxton, he said that the governors of the two states made the common mistake of confusing long-term-care facilities with hospitals. Compared to a hospital, its a very, very different picture, Laxton said. Nursing homes are not staffed the way hospitals are. There are about 15 residents to one nurse. Its one to one in an intensive care unit. It was to free up hospital space that COVID-19-positive patients were sent to long-term care facilities. But the two states never even took advantage of the hospital space available on that ship the Comfort, which was a floating ICU, Laxton said. That hospital ship was rushed up there, but they didnt even really need the ship, he said. After sitting idle, it sailed away. Meanwhile the rapid spread of COVID-19 through long-term care facilities actually exacerbated the problem for hospitals, he said. Why would you send someone who may be a carrier into a place without proper controls only to infect people who would then be sent to a hospital for care? he asked. Why indeed? The governors of other states saw this coming. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a point of keeping COVID-19 patients out of long-term-care facilities, Laxton said. He said DeSantis was familiar with the nature of long-term-care facilities because his state has the most nursing homes per capita in the U.S. As a result, Florida had only about a fifth of New Jerseys long-term-care fatalities - despite having more than twice the population. What it underlines for us is that when governors offices work closely with clinical specialists they get better policy, he said. When you make policy in a vacuum, thats when bad things start happening and you get these really terrible situations. Vacuum? In Trenton, its more of an echo chamber. At his daily briefings, Murphy surrounds himself with yes-men and yes-women. He also throws in the odd Democratic Congressional candidate now and then to score points with the voters. Last week, the 15 Republicans in the state Senate moved to set up a legislative inquiry into Murphys handling of the nursing-home issue. That move was rebuffed by the majority Democrats. But one of the Republicans, Declan OScanlon of Monmouth County, said the way in which the administration ignored that CDC study shows a probe is long overdue. The policy shouldnt be to ignore all the health facts and roll the dice, OScanlon said. It shouldnt be. But it is. With economic activity coming to a standstill due to the COVID-19 crisis, total slippages in the banking system may rise up to Rs 5.5 lakh crore in the current fiscal, says a report. While slippages from the corporate sector may rise by Rs 3.4 lakh crore, for non-corporate segments it may increase by Rs 2.1 lakh crore in FY21, India Ratings and Research said in the report. The rating agency said most sectors in the county are likely to experience varying degrees of revenue contraction during FY21 due to demand and supply disruptions. "COVID-19 may drive total slippages of up to Rs 5.5 lakh crore (5.7 per cent of the gross bank credit)," it said. Banks faced elevated provisions resulting from the corporate stress cycle over FY16-FY20 and they had largely provided for the existing corporate stress and were progressing towards a more moderated credit cost cycle, the report said. However, the COVID-19 related situations are likely to result in another cycle of stress. The rating agency said as per a stress analysis of 30,000 corporates, the total standard-but-stressed corporate pool may increase from 3.8 per cent of the total bank credit as of December 2019 to up to 6.6 per cent in this fiscal. Out of this, the agency estimates corporates exposures of up to 3.2 per cent of total bank credit are at a high risk of slippage. The report further said the growth slowdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak will aggravate the stress and slippages in the non-corporate segments -- retail, agriculture and micro, small and medium enterprises. "About 40 per cent of the incremental slippages could come from the non-corporate segments," it said. The rating agency said the pre-COVID credit costs estimates for FY21 show an increase of up to 60 per cent, which would bring the profitability of most state-run banks under pressure in FY21. The credit costs for the system could increase up to Rs 2.7 lakh crore in FY21; around 70 per cent of which could be attributed to PSBs. "If the accelerated provisioning regime is reinstated, then there could be additional credit costs of 0.3-0.6 per cent. This could require the government to infuse additional capital into PSBs," it said. The report expects the capital requirement for PSBs in the range of Rs 30,000-55,000 crore in FY21 under a benign provisioning regime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Northwest Indianas legendary Three Floyds Brewing has shuttered its brewpub indefinitely due to safety concerns during the coronavirus pandemic. Even as Indiana allows businesses to reopen, brewery founder Nick Floyd said he chose to furlough staff at his Munster pub, which has become one of the nations quintessential brewpubs. Aiming to help customers handle growing on-premises workloads, VMware and Dell EMC have bolstered their co-developed cloud software. First introduced in 2018, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC is intended to help enterpise customers move on-premises infrastructure and workloads to the cloud. Version 2.0 of VMware Cloud on Dell EMC bri-gs improved support for high-density and high-performance data-center applications. VMware Cloud on Dell EMC consists of VMwares high-performance compute, storage and networking software, powered by VMware vSphere, vSAN and NSX, tightly integrated with Dell EMC VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) hardware, and delivered as a service all managed by VMware. Organizations can migrate existing VMware-based workloads immediately to this cloud service, eliminating any re-development, re-factoring, or architectural rework and related costs, said Fidelma Russo, senior vice president and general manager, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC in a statement. The 2.0 release broadens the number of Dell EMC VxRail instances available on VMware Cloud on Dell EMC. The companies have added a larger, full height 48 core Intel SP processor rack that includes redundant Dell EMC network switches, smart power distribution units, 768 GB RAM and 23 TB of NVMe all-flash storage. Version 1.0 came in half-height rack and supported half the number of cores. The new package is capable of handling workloads with heavier CPU, memory, and storage demands such as databases, AI/ML applications, and virtual desktops, said Wei Wang, director of product marketing for VMware Cloud on Dell EMC. In a blog about the announcement VMware vice president and CTO Kit Colbert stated that 2.0 will also include a technical preview that will help customers migrate bulk workloads to the VMware Cloud on Dell EMC service. The feature will use the VMware HCX application-mobility platform to let customers migrate hundreds of live workloads at once with no downtime in order to reduce deployment time and operational complexity, Colbert stated. This is a highly utilized feature on VMware Cloud on AWS and within data centers when corporations have a strong need to move large numbers of workloads from one environment to another, Colbert stated. Version 2.0 can let customers manage VMware Cloud on Dell EMC and VMware Cloud on AWS from one on-prem location. Colbert noted that VMware supports a variety of on-prem options to support customers hybrid-cloud deployments VMware Cloud on AWS, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, and in the near future, VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts. A common hybrid-cloud control plane fuels all three products underneath and provides a single pane of glass for visibility and control, he stated. Other new features in 2.0 include certified support for VMwares virtual desktop infrastructure, Horizon. VMware Horizon lets enterprise customers offer remote workers secure access to desktops and applications especially valuable in highly regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services, Colbert stated. VMware Cloud on Dell is now fully certified for VMware Horizon to deliver virtual desktops on-premises, at the edge or in the data center, Colbert stated. Additionally, a big part of VMware Cloud on Dell EMCs cloud experience is being able to order new racks online, Colbert stated. Customers make the order and a few weeks later, one or more racks show up where they want. However, after the racks were ordered, there wasnt an easy way to add additional nodes, Colbert stated. "With this release, weve now added support to expand node capacity from the self-service order interface. Customers can now start small and easily expand capacity as their application needs demand. VMware Cloud on Dell EMC available now. Sabah Mashaly, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), told Al-Monitor over the phone that the electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be launched in mid-June. She explained that the project cost is estimated at about $1.6 billion. The Saudi side bears $1 billion and Egypt will finance the rest, as each country bears the value of the work done on its lands. The project aims to exchange 3,000 megawatt (MW) of electric power daily at peak times, she said. Mashaly noted that the implementation of the project will begin in June after contracts are signed with the companies that win the bids for the construction of the infrastructure to enable electricity interconnection between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In 2013, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed a cooperation agreement to establish the electricity interconnection project between the two countries, but the project was repeatedly postponed, most recently because the connection lines overlapped with those of the Saudi NEOM project. The new route for the electrical interconnection project with Saudi Arabia has been set, after modifying the main route for the NEOM project. Egypt has been seeking in recent years to increase its exports of power energy and meet the needs of neighboring countries, since it has a surplus of about 20,000 MW. By doing so, Egypt also seeks to increase its national income and become an attractive market for future energy investment, which offsets the costs that have been spent on those projects and then achieves net revenue. Egypts parliamentary Committee for Energy and Environment, chaired by Talaat al-Sewedi, welcomed the establishment of a joint Arab electricity market between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, stressing that it is a serious step toward economic cooperation. Sewedi told Al-Monitor that the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energys vision to establish a unified Arab electric network has been extremely important, and Egypt's aspiration to establish a joint Arab electricity market will have significant economic benefits. The project consists of three stages. The first includes the building of two alternating current transformer stations, with 500 kilovolt in Badr city, and a station to connect the antenna to the sea cable in the city of Nabq in Egyptian territory. The projects first phase is expected to be completed by 2023 with a capacity of 1,500 MW, gradually increasing in order to reach 3,000 MW, Sewedi noted, without adding more details on the other two phases. Amr Mohsen, energy expert and chairman of Lotus Solar Technologies, told Al-Monitor that the interconnection project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has many promising factors, explaining that the idea of exchanging electricity between the two countries is based on the varying demands in the respective countries; in Saudi Arabia, the demand for electricity is at its full peak before sunset, while the demand peaks after sunset in Egypt, which leads to a suitable environment for energy exchange, Mohsen said. According to Al-Borsa News, an Egyptian economic website, the EETC invited in February seven companies to participate in the tender to build the electrical interconnection with Saudi Arabia, noting that the tender was raised and offers were received from companies and then canceled due to the lines route and the cable landing point to implement the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia. But technical and financial offers from companies are expected to be received in one envelope within two months at the latest. According Al-Borsa News, the list of companies that have been invited are the same as those that participated in the previous tender, namely Elsewedy Electric, State Grid Corporation of China, Kalpataru, Hyundai, NCC, L&T and KEC. Adel Bishara, an expert in renewable energy, energy planning and rationalization, told Al-Monitor that any electrical interconnection between the two countries aims to reduce loads and provide energy continuously, noting that the maximum load in Egypt for electricity is during the night due to the use of household appliances, while Saudi Arabia reaches its maximum load in the morning as citizens use air conditioners to escape the heat. And since the maximum load between the two countries falls at different times, an interconnection can be made, he added. Speaking about the benefits for both Egypt and Saudi Arabia on this interconnection line, Bishara said, First, it will be through the exchange of energy at different times, during the so-called peak time; second, through the establishment of an electricity reserve to get it at a cheaper cost than building new plants. He noted that this project will achieve a surplus of electrical energy for Egypt, and then this surplus will be exported and foreign currencies will be obtained, in addition to providing job opportunities for technicians, engineers and workers. On March 3, Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker gave a speech at the launch of a workshop titled, Developing services and service centers in the electricity sector under Egypt's vision 2030, during which he cited a 2020 report indicating that Egypt has improved its ranking in the index of obtaining electricity from the 145th place in 2015 to the 77th place, thus advancing 68 places within five years. The government-affiliated Information and Decision Support Center published April 8 an infographic highlighting the production of electricity in Egypt, which will be leading the scene in the Middle East during the next nine years. The infographic showed that Egypt will turn into a regional hub for energy export with many countries of the world, as Egypt's production of electricity in 2020 will increase to 231.5 billion kilowatt per hour, and in 2023 it will rise to 265 billion KW per hour. Today, cybersecurity researchers shed light on an Iranian cyber espionage campaign directed against critical infrastructures in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.Bitdefender said the intelligence-gathering operations were conducted by Chafer APT (also known as APT39 or Remix Kitten), a threat actor known for its attacks on telecommunication and travel industries in the Middle East to collect personal information that serves the country's geopolitical interests."Victims of the analyzed campaigns fit into the pattern preferred by this actor, such as air transport and government sectors in the Middle East," the researchers said in a report (PDF) shared with The Hacker News, adding at least one of the attacks went undiscovered for more than a year and a half since 2018."The campaigns were based on several tools, including 'living off the land' tools, which makes attribution difficult, as well as different hacking tools and a custom-built backdoor."Known to be active since 2014, the Chafer APT has previously taken aim at Turkish government organizations and foreign diplomatic entities based in Iran with the goal of exfiltrating sensitive data.A FireEye report last year added to growing evidence of Chafer's focus on telecommunications and travel industries. "Telecommunications firms are attractive targets given that they store large amounts of personal and customer information, provide access to critical infrastructure used for communications, and enable access to a wide range of potential targets across multiple verticals," the company said.APT39 compromises its targets via spear-phishing emails with malicious attachments and using a variety of backdoor tools to gain a foothold, elevate their privileges, conduct internal reconnaissance, and establish persistence in the victim environment.What makes the Kuwait attack more elaborate, according to Bitdefender, is their ability to create a user account on the victims' machine and perform malicious actions inside the network, including network scanning (CrackMapExec), credential harvesting (Mimikatz), and move laterally inside the networks using a wide arsenal of tools at their disposal.Most activity occurs on Friday and Saturday, coinciding with the weekend in the Middle East, the researchers said.The attack against a Saudi Arabian entity, on the other hand, involved the use of social engineering to trick the victim into running a remote administration tool (RAT), with some of its components sharing similarities with those used against Kuwait and Turkey "While this attack was not as extensive as the one in Kuwait, some forensic evidence suggests that the same attackers might have orchestrated it," the researchers said. "Despite the evidence for network discovery, we were not able to find any traces for lateral movement, most probably because threat actors were not able to find any vulnerable machines."The attacks against Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are a reminder that Iran's cyber espionage efforts have shown no sign of slowing down. Given the crucial nature of the industries involved, Chafer's actions continue the trend of striking countries that act against its national ambitions."While these two are the most recent attack examples happening in the Middle East, it is important to understand that this type of attack can happen anywhere in the world, and critical infrastructures like government and air transportation remain very sensitive targets," Bitdefender said. The Australian government and our major iron ore producers are desperate to characterise Chinas decision to change its iron ore customs procedures as, at worst, meaningless and, at best, a positive for streamlining the trade. Neither the government nor BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue want to join the dots connecting the increasingly toxic diplomatic relations between the two countries and the iron ore trading relationship. However, it certainly sent a shiver through the prices of all three iron ore heavyweights. But the Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party certainly made the link. "China amends inspections of iron ore imports as trade tensions with Australia rise", was its headline on Thursday. China can't explode the Australian iron ore trade without blowing up its own economy. Having witnessed the Chinese introduce an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley imports earlier this week, which comes hot on the heels of the ban on beef imports from four abattoirs, it isn't a huge leap of logic to assume China is looking to its trade big guns to issue another threat. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: An upcoming plenary meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament will be held on May 31, Trend reports on May 21 referring to the parliament. The agenda of the meeting includes 11 issues. [May 21, 2020] More People Turning to Psychics for Emotional Support During Lockdown NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Online psychic advisors from platforms such as Kasamba are busier than ever in these uncertain times. Owing to the lockdown that has taken hold of the world, many people are gradually becoming more emotionally vulnerable; having to juggle between harsh lockdowns, being isolated, and the reality of financial instability as companies have been forced to close. With this new reality, people are finding comfort by turning to psychic and spiritual advisors for guidance and clarity. Unsurprisingly, the isolation and lockdown have left many people with question marks regarding their future. Forced lockdowns have left many relationships strained. Additionally, some people cannot afford to go to clinical professionals as financial woes have also made an impact. What's The Solution? A top advisor from the world's leading online psychic platform, Kasamba, weighs in. Sascha White Owl has been working around the clock to comfort and guide people in recent weeks. She's had an influx of new clients recently, explaining, "Because of the currently enforced lockdowns, people cannot leave their homes to seek guidance from clinical professionals such as psychologists and psychiatrists." She explains that while she works from home and all readings are solely done online, she has more time for her clients as her work allows her to do readings at any hour of the day. Another psychic from Kasamba, Mystic Devin, says that thanks to his years of experience in mentoring people, he can quickly get to the issueat hand and guide a person to a more enlightened path. He adds, "We all come from different walks of life. I've had wealthy CEOs turn to me for relationship advice and others turn to me for guidance and advice regarding their future and the security of their career. At the end of the day, the mental challenges that have surfaced thanks to these trying times, aren't discriminatory. Everyone is mentally affected." On the flipside, do these services make a positive impact on people? A couple of users who have chosen to remain anonymous have shared their views. Katy S. from New York gave some insights, explaining, "Since I'm in the epicenter here in the states, I found that I became a ball of anxiety overnight. I am in lockdown with my fiance and it was proving to be tough to juggle all these feelings and having someone with you 24/7. I started seeing many 'flaws' in our relationship. I reached out to an online psychic and she shared ways to cope and look at things from a different perspective. I now am calmer, more empathetic, and I'm using my time to try new hobbies such as oil-painting." Audrey S. from Austria lost her job and desperately needed advice and comfort on what her career would look like post-corona. "I reached out to a psychic who gave me insights about my career. She told me I could actually find a better job and explained that I should use my free time taking online courses to brush up on my accounting skills. The lockdown in Austria has been partially lifted and I have a great CV to send out! I feel really confident right now." Where To Find A Trusted Psychic Advisor? Psychics like Mystic Devin and Sascha White Owl work through a unique platform that has been operating for 20 years and has garnered millions of 5-star ratings. Kasamba offers readings with hundreds of verified, experienced, and most-loved psychics. What's more, one can choose a psychic that is relevant to one's personal preferences, including budget and experience factors. It's important to note that using a third party platform is much safer as payments are secure while ensuring that users will always remain anonymous. Related Images psychics-for-emotional-support.jpg Psychics for Emotional Support Related Links Kasamba View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-people-turning-to-psychics-for-emotional-support-during-lockdown-301063496.html SOURCE Kasamba [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] French prosecutors are investigating five care homes for health violations after complaints by families about the treatment of elderly residents during the coronavirus outbreak. The probes come after several families filed complaints about the treatment provided to their loved ones during the coronavirus pandemic after four elderly residents died in care, adding to the mounting death toll in France's retirement homes. On Tuesday, 110 new fatalities were recorded at hospitals and care homes, with the country's death toll now surging beyond 28,000. The same day, the public prosecutor in Nanterre on the outskirts of Paris opened a preliminary investigation against three care homes in the Ile de France region for offenses including manslaughter, endangering the lives of others and failing to assist a person in danger. During the period between 25 March and 12 April, an 80-year-old man and three women aged between 89 and 96 lost their lives as a direct and an indirect result of the pandemic. Hiding danger The granddaughter of one of the four victims, Olivia Mokiejewski, told French daily Liberation she had tried to get information about her grandmother's health but was met by a "wall of silence." When Mokiejewski raised concerns about the lack of protective equipment for staff and residents at the Bel Air care home in Paris run by the Korian group, she was told not to worry. On 25 March she spoke to her grandmother via video conference and found her coughing and complaining of a headache. Mokiejewski said that the care home still minimized the gravity of the situation until she was forced to bring in a doctor herself on 31 March, who concluded that her grandmother was sick with Covid-19. She died days later. Mokiejewski, who has since founded the 9471 group, corresponding to the number of people who have died in care as of 5 May--nearly two-fifths of the country's official Covid-19 death toll, filed a complaint for negligence along with three other families. Justice for families Given the complexity of the task, the public prosecutor in Nanterre has combined the four complaints into one civil lawsuit. Korian care home provider has told French media it would not comment on the investigation, but would "keep its response for investigators and the public prosecutor," its lawyer said. Across France, bereaved families are turning to the courts to determine whether staff negligence and protective equipment shortages may have caused the virus to spread and kill residents. On Wednesday, two new probes were opened into the handling of the coronavirus response in two more care homes in Paris. For Mokiejewski, the legal action represents a small victory. "This won't bring back our loved ones but at least we have the impression we're finally being listened to." Advertisement The USS Theodore Roosevelt has finally returned to sea after being sidelined for nearly two months in Guam, following a massive outbreak of coronavirus among crew members and the controversial firing of its captain who raised the alarm. The aircraft carrier left the Apra Harbor naval base in Guam and headed out to the Philippine Sea Wednesday for training as it prepares to return to active duty. Its return comes despite at least 14 sailors becoming infected with the deadly virus for a second time last week while serving aboard the coronavirus-stricken ship. The Roosevelt has been stationed in Guam since March 27, following the devastating virus outbreak aboard the ship that infected 1,102 of its 4,900 crew members and killed a petty officer. It has been at the center of controversy since commanding officer Captain Brett Crozier was fired after a memo he sent to Navy leaders calling for help in tackling the outbreak was leaked to the press. The scandal continues to rage on with then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly also stepping down from his role following the backlash over Crozier's firing and the outcome of the investigation into the captain's actions is expected to be announced next Wednesday. The USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippine Sea Thursday. The aircraft carrier has returned to sea after being stuck for nearly two months in Guam, following a massive outbreak of coronavirus among crew members and the controversial firing of its captain who raised the alarm The coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier is pictured leaving the Apra Harbor naval base in Guam and heading out to the Philippine Sea Wednesday for training as it prepares to return to active duty 'It feels great to be back at sea,' Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, said in a statement as the carrier set sail Wednesday. 'Getting Theodore Roosevelt and Carrier Air Wing 11 one step closer to returning to their mission in the Indo-Pacific is a great achievement for the crew.' The ship will carry out carrier qualification flights for Carrier Air Wing 11 for around two weeks, which will include recertification of the flight deck and fighter squadron, including fighter jet take-offs and landings. It is sailing with a scaled-back crew of about 3,000, leaving almost 1,900 sailors on shore, Navy Captain Carlos Sardiello confirmed Monday. Sardiello, a former Roosevelt captain who took over the ship in April following Crozier's departure, told Associated Press he was confident the ship will be able to conduct its missions following its two-month halt. The Roosevelt is pictured out at sea Thursday. Its return comes despite at least 14 sailors becoming infected with the deadly virus for a second time while serving aboard the ship The aircraft carrier is pictured departing Guam for the first time in two months following the outbreak on board 'Do I have a crystal ball? I do not. But I think we have set the conditions for a high probability of success, and we're going to go to sea and do our mission,' he said. Considerable precautions are being taken on board the carrier to prevent a new outbreak, including extensive cleaning, social distancing measures in place, regular medical checks for crew and limiting the number of sailors in the mess halls at one time. Special black neck gaitors have also been provided for the flight deck crew, because wearing regular masks wouldn't be safe. After the fortnight's training, it will return to Guam and pick up healthy crew members who continue to remain on land in quarantine before the Navy hopes the ship and crew can head home to San Diego. The crew left in Guam includes 14 sailors who last week tested positive for the virus again, just days after they had been cleared to return to the carrier. The reinfected sailors had each tested positive for the virus and completed a 14-day quarantine before testing negative for the virus at least twice. The Roosevelt (pictured out at sea Thursday) has been stationed in Guam since March 27, following the devastating virus outbreak aboard the ship that infected 1,102 of its 4,900 crew members and killed a petty officer Crew members stand to attention during morning colors on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Thursday morning The ship was thrown into the center of controversy after its commanding officer Captain Brett Crozier was fired after a memo he sent to Navy leaders calling for help in tackling the outbreak was leaked to the press People watch the warship set off into the sea. The scandal continues to rage on over the firing of Captain Crozier with then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly also stepping down from his role following a backlash over Crozier's firing and the outcome of the investigation into the captain's actions expected to be announced next Wednesday They were then allowed to board the ship where they contracted the virus again, the Navy announced at the weekend. Another 30 crew members who came into contact with the reinfected group have also been sent ashore for quarantine. It is unclear whether some of the tests produced false negative readings when those infected sailors were initially cleared or whether the sailors contracted the virus after spending two weeks in quarantine in Guam. There also are questions about whether the virus level can sometimes be too low for detection by the tests. 'It feels great to be back at sea,' Rear Adm. Stu Baker, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, said in a statement as the carrier set sail Wednesday The ship (pictured Thursday) will carry out carrier qualification flights for Carrier Air Wing 11 for around two weeks, which will include recertification of the flight deck and fighter squadron, including fighter jet take-offs and landings The crew starts the training in the Philippine Sea. On Sunday, the USS Roosevelt simulated being at sea while still moored at Naval Base Guam to prepare to return to active operations In recent weeks, sailors have been methodically brought back on board the aircraft carrier ahead of its departure to sea. On Sunday, the USS Roosevelt simulated being at sea while still moored at Naval Base Guam to prepare to return to active operations. 'Our Sailors have tested all of the ship's systems individually, but this is our opportunity to integrate all of that together and show that Theodore Roosevelt is ready and able to go back to sea,' Sardiello said at the time. The aircraft carrier found itself at the center of a public storm last month when its captain penned a scathing letter to Navy leaders on April 2 calling for stronger action to address the COVID-19 outbreak he said was threatening his sailors' lives. Crew members stand to attention in masks. Considerable precautions are being taken on board the carrier to prevent a new outbreak, including extensive cleaning, social distancing measures in place, regular medical checks for crew and limiting the number of sailors in the mess halls at one time Some of the scaled-back crew can be seen on the deck as it leaves the port. In recent weeks, sailors have been methodically brought back on board the aircraft carrier, while the others who had remained went ashore for quarantine Rear Admiral John Menoni, Commander, Joint Region Marianas, is seen explaining the equipment and capabilities of the aircraft to Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero and Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio before it sets sail The email was leaked and hit headlines, leading Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly to fire Crozier from his command of the nuclear aircraft carrier four days later. Crozier left the ship as a hero - with his crew cheering and giving him a raucous send-off in a video that went viral online. Mody faced a backlash over his decision to oust the commander, with the move dividing the public, the military and politicians. He flew out to the Roosevelt and gave a speech branding Crozier 'naive' and 'stupid' for allegedly sharing his letter outside the chain of command, which sparked further criticism. The ship has been at the center of major controversy after its previous captain Brett Crozier (left) was fired on April 2 for allegedly creating panic by sending a memo pleading for help to too many officials. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly (right) resigned on April 7 for his handling of the virus outbreak and for removing Crozier from his post The secretary stepped down from his role just hours after the visit. Crozier went on to emerge as a hero from the saga as his fears over his crew's safety proved real as the outbreak ravaged the crew and killed one. After a preliminary review last month, Admiral Mike Gilday, the Navy's top officer, recommended that Crozier be reinstated as ship captain. But the Navy is instead conducting a broader investigation, the outcome of which is expected to be released Wednesday. A photo provided by the US Navy shows Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., 41, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, who died from the coronavirus on Monday at US Naval Hospital Guam More than 4,000 crew members went ashore for testing and quarantine in Guam at the height of the outbreak, while about 800 remained on the ship to protect and run the high-tech systems, including the nuclear reactors that run the vessel. One sailor who tested positive for coronavirus while aboard the aircraft carrier died last month. Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., 41, died in Guam on April 13, 11 days after Crozier's firing. Thacker died at the US Naval Hospital in Guam of COVID-19, as his wife flew 6,200 miles from her San Diego military base to be by his bedside in his final moments. He was the first active-duty military member to die of COVID-19. He had tested positive for coronavirus on March 30 - the same day that Crozier's letter begging the Navy to evacuate the virus-stricken vessel was leaked. Thacker was taken off the ship and placed in 'isolation housing' along with four other sailors at the Guam Navy hospital. On April 9, Thacker was found unresponsive during a medical check and was moved to the Navy Hospital's intensive care unit. More than 1,100 crew members tested positive for the virus - almost a quarter of its crew. Crozier also tested positive for the infection. It's believed sailors originally picked up the virus during a port call in Da Nang, Vietnam on March 5. The third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission, Indias massive programme to repatriate nationals stranded across the globe because of the Covid-19 crisis, is expected to involve private airlines to increase the number of flights. The third phase is set to begin after June 13, when the second phase will end. India is bringing back about 32,000 citizens on more than 160 flights from 47 countries during the second phase, which began on May 16. There will be a third phase of repatriation. The second phase will last till June 13, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told an online news briefing. We are very receptive to the idea [of involving private airlines] and the ministry of civil aviation is already in discussions with private airlines to see how they can be included under the Vande Bharat Mission so that we can increase the number of flights, he said. All flights in the first two phases were being operated by state-run Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. The government has also used air force transport aircraft and naval warships to repatriate nationals from some countries. As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indians have been repatriated under the Vande Bharat Mission. They include 4,883 workers, 4,196 students and 3,087 professionals. The second phase has included destinations such as Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City and Lagos, and increased flights to the US and Europe. We are also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub [for Europe], Srivastava said. Several flights from other countries, coming in to evacuate citizens of those countries, have ferried stranded Indians. A flight from Buenos Aires that arrived on Thursday morning carried 62 Indians, while a flight operated by Irans Mahaan Air on May 17 carried about 300 Indian pilgrims from Ladakh. Other flights have brought back Indians from Argentina, Djibouti, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Peru and South Africa. A special Tunisian military evacuation flight took off from Tunis on Thursday with 25 Indian nationals and it is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Friday morning. A total of 259,001 Indian nationals in 98 countries around the world have registered to return under Vande Bharat Mission. Most of them are workers (28%), students (25%), professionals (14.5%), and short-term visa holders such as tourists (7.6%). Fishermen, deportees and Indian nationals who benefited from visa amnesties have also registered. The government has already said priority will be given to those with compelling reasons for returning, such as loss of jobs, medical emergencies and senior citizens. Among those with compelling reasons who registered to return are 16,991 facing medical emergencies and 8,746 pregnant women and senior citizens. Following a spat between the Central and West Bengal governments over the lack of flights to the state, 169 Indian nationals were repatriated from Dhaka to Kolkata on May 18. Two more Dhaka-Kolkata flights are scheduled for May 27 and June 1, and further flights to West Bengal are planned from Europe, the UK and other destinations. Srivastava said India is also facilitating the travel of foreign nationals on outbound flights under the Vande Bharat Mission. Three flights were operated to the UK on May 16, 18 and 20 and two flights to the US on May 18 and 20. Four more flights are scheduled to the US and two to Frankfurt. Wherever possible, passengers have to undergo testing before boarding flights and in a few instances, those who tested positive for Covid-19 werent allowed to board. There is full medical screening and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed on board, Srivastava said. ... SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A staggering 5.6 million workers lost hours in April, according to the latest ABS data. Of those, single parents with young or dependent children were more significantly impacted than other demographics. By location, Queensland was the worst affected state while Sydney was the hardest-hit capital city. Visit Business Insider Australia's homepage for more stories. Terrible jobs figures are beginning to feel a whole lot like Groundhog Day. But as a rising jobless tide sweeps Australia, some regions are doing it worse than others, with some surprising realities emerging. According to the ABS, a staggering 5.6 million workers lost hours in April suggesting the underemployment rate has a way to rise yet. "Lone parents, with young or dependent children, have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19," Indeed Asia Pacific economist Callam Pickering said in a tweet. "Employment has fallen to a much greater degree than for other family groups. Worth remembering as we think about policy support going forward." https://twitter.com/CallamPickering/status/1263293394157109248 Just as certain groups are hurting more than others so too are certain regions. While the Victorian government might have been the slowest to relinquish its lockdown, it's far from actually being the worst affected by it. Instead, it is Sydney that has seen the biggest plunge in employment relative to the population, as evidenced by the below chart. In fact, the southern state actually fared relatively well on balance, with Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth in worse shape than Melbourne. Meanwhile, regional Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia are all worse for wear than the rest of Victoria. Zooming in even further, it's possible to identify the exact regions reeling from COVID-19 the most, with Toowoomba and Wide Bay in Queensland, New South Wales' Mid-North Coast, and Shepparton in regional Victoria all experiencing double-digit jobless rates. Story continues https://twitter.com/CommSec/status/1263340670527270912 Queensland is overrepresented in the list, making up nearly half of the worst 15 regions in Australia to find a job right now. Given the state of its regional economy, it's no surprise the Palaszczuk government recently introduced especially lenient measures for their pubs, cafes and restaurants. Queensland's economy was hardly alone in taking a beating, however. Unemployment rose across the board, with the only exemptions in regional Victoria and Western Australia falling by 1% and 1.7% respectively. What the data shows however is the headline unemployment figure is a poor indication of the actual health of the labour force. Around the country, the participation rate the proportion of Australians in work or in want of it has fallen for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, of the almost 600,000 Australians who lost a job last month, 75% didn't go looking for a new one. Many have been been able to access increased government payments in the former of JobSeeker. That brings us to chart number two, which shows that the Australians content to remain unemployed for now went up in every single part of the country. It speaks for itself, really. Dean Baquet, a New Orleans native and the executive editor of The New York Times, will deliver Xavier University's virtual commencement address Saturday. Xavier's 93rd commencement will celebrate 547 undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional students. It is being held virtually because of coronavirus-related restrictions. Watch the commencement live here at 10 a.m. Saturday. The livestream is open to the public. Baquet will receive an honorary degree from the New Orleans university during the ceremony. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was born and raised in the Crescent City. He is the son of the late restaurateur Edward Baquet and a 1974 graduate of St. Augustine High School. He left New Orleans to study English at Columbia University before coming back to work at The Times-Picayune as a reporter. In 1984, he joined the Chicago Tribune, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism. Aside from serving as managing editor and editor of the Los Angeles Times from 2000-2007, Baquet has worked for The New York Times in various positions since 1990 and is the paper's first African American executive editor. While the Government continues working out how to reopen schools in phases, starting with public examination classes, as Zimsec finalises plans for the late June examinations, some teachers unions are concerned. Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education Mrs Thumisang Thabela on Wednesday told Parliament that the mid-year Zimsec examinations would be written between June 29 and July 22. But teachers unions believe that safety measures might not be ready in time. Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Dr Sifiso Ndlovu said holding the examinations might not bring the intended outcome under the current circumstances. Scheduling examinations is not a panacea to Covid-19. This is a pandemic that has claimed many lives in the world and continues to do so. A declaration means nothing if the necessary health protocols recommended by the World Health Organisation are not followed, Dr Ndlovu said. We are not ready for June examinations. Teachers are not willing. If the authorities go ahead with their plan, we are headed for industrial conflict. We cannot have pronouncements that ignore environmental dictates, Dr Ndlovu said. He urged Government to look at what other examination systems have done and compare their response. Government should consider what Cambridge, an international examinations body has done. They cancelled their June examinations and this is something we should consider. Our learners are not in the right psychological space to write examinations. They are fearing for their lives, so are our teachers. Writing an examination at this point may end up defeating the purpose behind examinations, unless we are doing them just to tick boxes, Dr Ndlovu said. Teachers are also suggesting that Government pays them a risk allowance. Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) president, Mr Obert Masaraure, said the June examinations should be written when conditions are right. There is no rush really. We do not want to lose lives, we should not force premature reopening of schools. Learners, teachers and everyone involved in the processes should be tested before there is any activity at schools be they exams or lessons, said Mr Masaraure. He said the idea that this June examination was the last sitting that would be allowed under the old curriculum was immaterial in picking a date. The papers that need to be written will just be written when it is safe. Nothing changes, the same paper these learners are supposed to write this June is what they will write when it is safe to do so, he said. In his report back to his constituency, Mr Manuel Nyawo of Zimbabwe National Teachers Union (Zinatu) said June was not the best month to reopen. People will need to travel from various parts of the country to the examination centres and given the conditions prevailing, most of those who registered for June exams will find it difficult to meet the examination timelines due to serious mobility challenges, said Mr Nyawo. There were also concerns that the months of June and July in which schools are expected to reopen carry a high probability for infections of ordinary flu. Parents seem to be divided on the matter. Mr Samson Makumbirike of Kuwadzana said it was better if we forfeited the whole academic year. Our children are not the most careful, we will have a crisis if they reopen. Children love playing and get in contact all the time. Sending them to school is sending them in harms way, he said. But another Harare resident, Mrs Charlotte Mverechena, backed moves by President Mnangagwa to start reopening schools. Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon. We need to accept that. There is no guarantee that next year Covid-19 will not be there. Let us ensure children go to school safely. If adults are going to work, then children can learn and write exams too. This is the new normal, she said. St. Louisans should be apoplectic and demand answers after revelations that a wireless company, whose identity is being withheld by its law firm, didnt pay taxes for years and is arrears by more than $1 million. The city counselors office has known about the case for months. But it was news to top city officials and law-abiding taxpayers until a Board of Estimate and Apportionment meeting Wednesday. The law firm, Bryan Cave, hopes to strike a bizarre deal with the city. The scofflaw wireless company, which has operated here since 2014, sought to pay only three years of gross-receipts taxes even though it might not have paid a dime in taxes ever, including earnings taxes. Barbara Birkicht, an attorney for the city, told the board that a proposed settlement would allow the company to pay four years of back taxes and fines exceeding $1.1 million. But theres a catch: The city must agree not to tell other taxing authorities. Nor can the city know the identity of the company until after officials sign off on the settlement. No. No. A thousand times no. Paying taxes is a legal requirement, not subject to secret backroom deals. Failing to pay taxes is a violation of the law. By Bryan Caves design, details of this case remain sketchy, and questions abound. Which officials in the city failed to notice that such a large corporation wasnt paying its taxes? Those officials need to be held to account. Even before the pandemic shutdown, St. Louis was scrounging for every dollar it could find. I dont think its a surprise to anyone, certainly in the city but across the state, that were in trouble, and we need additional revenue, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed stated during a separate segment of Wednesdays board meeting in which he sought action to force a $5 million transfer of city parking funds under Treasurer Tishaura Jones control. It would stand to reason any company evading its lawfully required tax payments should be held fully accountable, even if it means taking the company to court to force full compliance. Since the company began operating here in 2014, that narrows the field significantly of wireless companies that registered and obtained a business license around that time. A thorough audit of taxes owed among registered wireless companies should reveal who the culprit is. Krewson suggested hiring a consultant to investigate. Reed accurately noted that city officials blindly signing off on the agreement could open them to accusations of having a conflict of interest, especially if, say, a family member was employed by the company or it had made campaign contributions. The main mission now is to identify this company, demand that it pay every dime it owes, and let all other taxing authorities know that this scofflaw is on the loose. Advertisement Some corals emit a 'sunscreen' in the form of a dazzling colourful display in a 'fight for survival' against rising sea temperatures, according to new research. Coral bleaching the process of coral expelling algae triggered by hotter waters usually turns coral a ghostly shade of white. But some bleaching corals undergo what had been described as a mysterious transformation by emitting bright neon colours. UK scientists say internal light levels as a result of the bleaching triggers the production of colourful, 'photoprotective' pigments. This funky display, captured on video by underwater drones, is a way of encouraging the algae, which provide coral with a crucial energy source, to return. Scroll down for video Coral of the acropora genus undergoing a stunning multi-coloured bleaching event in the Philippines in 2010. Despite the attractive display, the coral are actually undergoing a fight for survival Bleached corals are not dead, but are at a higher risk of dying, and these bleaching events become more common under climate change. 'Bleaching is not always a death sentence for corals, the coral animal can still be alive,' said Dr Cecilia DAngelo, lecturer of molecular coral biology at the University of Southampton. 'If the stress event is mild enough, corals can re-establish the symbiosis with their algal partner. 'Unfortunately, recent episodes of global bleaching caused by unusually warm water have resulted in high coral mortality, leaving the worlds coral reefs struggling for survival.' The relationship between coral and the tiny algae embedded in coral cells is a mutually beneficial symbiosis, the researchers said. Purple coral reefs of the acropora genus as seen in the waters of New Caledonia in 2016. Bleaching is not always a death sentence for corals and the emission of colour can be a sign it is fighting to stay alive The algae gain shelter, carbon dioxide and nutrients, while the corals receive the products from the algae's photosynthesis, providing them with up to 90 per cent of their energy. However, if ocean temperatures rise just 0.8F (1C) above the usual summer maximum, this symbiosis breaks down. Warmer waters stress corals, causing them to release algae that live inside them. The corals white limestone skeleton shines through its transparent tissue to produce the effect known as coral bleaching, which can be fatal. Once its live tissue is gone, the skeleton is exposed to the eroding forces of the environment. Within a few years, an entire coral reef can break down and much of the biodiversity that depends on its complex structure is lost. But one effect of this that had puzzled scientists was the emission of bright colours blue, pink, green, purple and more, to form an incredible rainbow reef. Colourful coral reefs of the acropora genus as seen in the waters of New Caledonia in 2016. During colourful bleaching events, corals produce what is effectively a sunscreen layer of their own, showing itself as a colourful display To learn more, the researchers conducted a series of controlled laboratory experiments at the coral aquarium facility of the University of Southampton. During colourful bleaching events, corals produce what is effectively a sunscreen layer in the form of a colourful display that relies on special pigments, they report. These pigments offer an alternative to the glare of white light during bleaching that can deter the algae from ever returning. 'Our research shows colourful bleaching involves a self-regulating mechanism, a so-called optical feedback loop, which involves both partners of the symbiosis,' said Professor Jorg Wiedenmann, head of the University of Southamptons Coral Reef Laboratory, which replicates colonies of corals for experiments. 'In healthy corals, much of the sunlight is taken up by the photosynthetic pigments of the algal symbionts. 'When corals lose their symbionts, the excess light travels back and forth inside the animal tissue reflected by the white coral skeleton. File photo taken in October 2016 shows coral bleaching without the colourful effect at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, a World Heritage Site 'This increased internal light level is very stressful for the symbionts and may delay or even prevent their return after conditions return to normal. 'However, if the coral cells can still carry out at least some of their normal functions, despite the environmental stress that caused bleaching, the increased internal light levels will boost the production of colourful, photoprotective pigments. 'The resulting sunscreen layer will subsequently promote the return of the symbionts.' Once returned, the algae starts using the light for photosynthesis, light levels inside the coral drop and the coral cells lower the production of the colourful pigments. The researchers believe corals that undergo this process are likely to have experienced episodes of mild or brief ocean-warming or disturbances in their nutrient environment rather than extreme events. The University of Southampton's Coral Reef Aquarium Facility, which is on its Waterfront Campus. The Coral Reef Laboratory consist of a coral nursery facility that replicates colonies of corals for experimental purposes and an experimental aquarium facility for long-term experiments with reef building corals The scientists are encouraged by recent reports suggesting colourful bleaching has occurred in some areas of the Great Barrier Reef during the most recent mass bleaching there in March to April this year. This raises the hope that at least some patches of the worlds largest reef system may have better recovery prospects than others. However, only a big reduction of greenhouse gases at a global scale and sustained improvement in water quality at a regional level can save coral reefs beyond the 21st century, they warn. The research has been published in Current Biology. SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Carrum Health , the first cloud-based platform connecting employers and employees with Centers of Excellence (COEs) for surgical procedures, today announced a new collaboration with Tenet Healthcare's Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. This agreement is the latest milestone in Carrum Health's national expansion, making it easier for self-insured employers to lower healthcare costs for employees while also working with providers to improve patient outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic put a temporary halt on elective surgeries, and as state restrictions are lifted, local health systems are rescheduling much needed surgeries that had been deferred. Through this collaboration, Carrum Health will work with Northeast Baptist, their physicians and patients, to reschedule procedures in accordance with strict safety guidelines. Northeast Baptist, which is a designated COE, has certified to the State of Texas that it meets all requirements to resume scheduled procedures. Carrum Health's technology-powered platform helps employers avoid variation in cost and guide patients to the most appropriate care options. This agreement with Tenet makes it easier to provide patients high quality, more affordable care. Carrum's existing customers across the country many of whom have employees living and working in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana can now receive world-class bariatric and hip or knee replacement surgeries at Northeast Baptist for little to no out-of-pocket costs. "We started Carrum Health to change how we pay for and experience healthcare. We exist to move the system away from the inefficient and wasteful fee-for-service model and toward one that focuses on value," said Sach Jain, Founder and CEO at Carrum Health. "The COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified how important it is for us to push for better health outcomes and appropriate costs. We're thrilled and lucky to be able to work with leaders like Tenet Healthcare and Northeast Baptist Hospital who are paving the way for this all-important goal." "Our collaboration with Carrum Health expands direct-to-employer offerings so we can offer high-quality and affordable healthcare to a larger population," said Phillip Young, CEO at Northeast Baptist Hospital. "We are excited about bringing Northeast Baptist's orthopedic and bariatric care to Carrum Health's customers and their plan members in Texas and beyond." "We share Carrum Health's commitment to enhance the patient experience, improve the quality of care and provide patients with multiple options for affordable care," said Clint Hailey, Tenet's Chief Managed Care Officer. "We look forward to serving Carrum's customers through our large network of facilities that offers convenient access to excellent inpatient and outpatient services." About Carrum Health Carrum Health was founded in 2014 with a mission to "bring common sense to healthcare" through a value-based healthcare model that benefits providers, employers, and their employees. Headquartered in San Francisco, Carrum's award-winning Centers of Excellence (COE) technology connects self-insured employers with providers under payment arrangements to better manage healthcare costs. By aligning provider incentives with quality performance, Carrum drives improvements in patient experience and health outcomes. Customers include large Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations. For more information, visit carrumhealth.com . About Baptist Health System Baptist Health System is a Community Built on Care. A trusted provider of hospital, health and wellness services in San Antonio and South/Central Texas, the system includes six acute-care hospitals (Baptist Medical Center, Mission Trail Baptist Hospital, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital and St. Luke's Baptist Hospital in San Antonio, and Resolute Health Hospital in New Braunfels), which offer more than 1,700 licensed beds. The hospitals have all earned Chest Pain Center Accreditation and Primary Stroke Center Certification. St. Luke's Baptist is a Comprehensive Stroke Center. The system also includes the Baptist Children's Hospital, Baptist Orthopedic Hospital, Baptist Cancer Care Services and HealthLink fitness and physical rehabilitation centers. Other affiliated entities include seven MedPost Urgent Care Centers, seven Baptist Emergency Hospitals, the Baptist Physician Network, Baptist M&S Imaging Centers, ambulatory services, medical office buildings and the Baptist School of Health Professions. Baptist Health System is part of Tenet Healthcare based out of Dallas, Texas. Learn more at baptisthealthsystem.com. SOURCE Carrum Health Related Links http://carrumhealth.com He maybe silent and his moves mechanical but he can pull you a pint without the slightest concern about contamination: meet Beer Cart, the robotic barman serving beer in Seville. He made his debut when the southern city began enjoying new freedom as Spain eased a two-month lockdown, with bars and cafes in half of the country allowed to reopen their terraces. Sitting in the middle of the bar at La Gitana Loca (The Crazy Gypsy), the giant robotic arm with a Captain Hook pincer smoothly reaches over to a dispenser, takes a plastic cup then spins around to hold it at an angle under the tap. Gradually straightening the cup as it fills, the robot then places it on the counter for the customer to pick up. Serving up small draft beers or canas for just over a week in the center of Seville, the bionic barman has drawn a steady stream of both customers and curious onlookers. VIDEO: A Spanish bar is experimenting in contact-free beverage delivery with 'Beer Cart', a robotic barman serving up beers to customers in Seville. The robot assistant made his debut when the southern city began enjoying new freedom as Spain eased a two-month lockdown pic.twitter.com/7O5wwo0GzC AFP news agency (@AFP) May 21, 2020 Spain has lost more than 27,700 people to the virus and taken a very cautious approach to lifting the lockdown, with bar and cafe terraces operating at a reduced capacity and under strict hygiene conditions. Alberto Martinez, owner of La Gitana Loca where a small 200ml beer sells for 0.70 ($0.75), said he had bought the robot before the epidemic took hold, hoping some mechanical manpower would increase sales. But because of the crisis, it was never put into use although he realized it would be perfect in the new environment where people need to stay apart. We thought it would be ideal for reopening in phase one, he said. As the aim is to avoid contact between customers and items (in the bar) we realized the robot would be good using (disposable) plastic cups to serve beer, so its all very self-service. Even so, the bar is far from making a profit, with only 12 customers allowed at one time on the outdoor terrace. At the moment, its not profitable to open for the few seats were allowed. Now that we have to compete with other bars we have to do something different, he said. So (with the robot on show) people can see that the bar on the corner is open and that were doing something different. But not everyone is quite so enthusiastic. I think the relationship between the customer and the barman who serves you, who looks you in the eye and watches how the beer goes into the glass has an appeal thats missing with this robot, said 33-year-old lawyer Manuel Fernandez. I am not in favor of this kind of machine, I prefer to take risks and have them serve me beer the way theyve done it all my life. Leaders of South African opposition parties said in a meeting they held on Wednesday with President Cyril Ramaphosa it wasnt made clear to them when the country will further relax its coronavirus-related lockdown. It was suggested that metropolitan areas, where the bulk of infections have been detected, could remain at the so-called level 4 while the rest of the country would be moved to level 3, two people who attended the meeting said. They asked not to be identified because an announcement hasnt been made. At least one opposition leader objected to this plan because the bulk of economic activity takes place in cities, they said. Under stage 4 most people arent allowed to return to their workplaces and the sale of alcohol, cigarettes and a range of other products is banned. The government placed the country under a stringent lockdown on March 27 known as stage 5 and relaxed that on May 1. Photo: Icon Sportswire/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Police in Canada have charged a teenager accused of stabbing a woman to death in a massage parlor not just with murder, but with committing an act of terrorism, because the suspect (who cannot be named because he is 17) identified with incel ideology. The move to add the charge is being considered the first-ever instance of incel terrorism, and could signal a wider shift in Canada and beyond to tackle an uptick in gender-based violent attacks. The teenager is accused of barging into a Toronto massage parlor in February with a machete, killing 24-year-old Ashley Noelle Arzaga and injuring two others. At first, the suspect was charged with first-degree and attempted murder, but on May 19, authorities upgraded the charges to murder terrorist activity based on his ties to the incel movement, a largely online, loosely connected group of men that blame women for their grievances surrounding romantic and sexual rejection. It is the first time that the incel ideology has been connected to the legal concept of terrorism, which is most often applied to religious extremists. Its only the second time, in Canada, that terrorism charges have been filed against someone for activities not tied to Al Qaeda or inspired by the Islamic State. Terrorism comes in many forms, and its important to note that it is not restricted to any particular group, religion, or ideology, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when they announced the new charges. This is not the first time someone with ties to the incel movement has committed an act of mass violence in Canada in the past few years: In 2018, a man named Alek Minassian drove a van into a crowd, killing ten people, and told police that the attack was motivated by years of rejection from women. He also referred to himself as an incel on Facebook, and praised the actions of Elliot Rodger, the gunman who killed six people in Santa Barbara in 2014 and wrote a lengthy, misogynistic manifesto. Minassians case is currently before the Canadian court, though he was not charged with terrorism. Kent Roach, a law professor at the University of Toronto, told CTV News that the incel-terrorism charges could be groundbreaking, helping to shift the public perception of what constitutes a violent ideology. There has been this sense that its only terrorism if it looks like 9/11, he said. Terrorism charges, which are meted out by a countrys government, also reflect who the state affords the most protection; extending that concept to the incel movement acknowledges that women are specifically targeted in these attacks. After Minassians attack, Nicole Kobie wrote in Wired, Because violence against women inexplicably isnt seen as terrorism, [incel] sites and their messages are viewed as mere curiosities, as though we dont know the danger of allowing hate speech. Coronavirus: The alcohol industry is continuing to step up By John Timothy, chief executive, Portman Group As the world continues to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, alcohol producers of all sizes are playing their part to aid frontline healthcare workers and support those in the industry and local communities impacted by ongoing closures to contain the virus. At the start of the pandemic, producers of all sizes were quick to switch production lines to provide alcohol for hand sanitiser and disinfectant and so far, our members have produced enough alcohol for these purposes to fill around 10,000 bathtubs. We applaud the solidarity and efforts shown by producers and groups across the industry to make a difference during this unprecedented and difficult time. Just some of the actions taken by Portman Group members in response to Covid-19 include: Aston Manor Cider: A longstanding commitment to Grocery Aid who have launched a dedicated Covid-19 Fund. The fund is backed by 1.5million to provide enhanced support for grocery colleagues on Mental Health, Bereavement Financial Assistance and Crisis Grants. Asahi: Across the world, Asahi has invested in the development of hand sanitisers. In the UK, it has donated 5,000 face masks and 1,5000 gloves and products (including low and no alcohol) to several thousand hospitals, care homes and community facilities. It has partnered with the National Emergencies Trust and committed to match-fund donations made by consumers up to 50,000 alongside committing a percentage of its online sales per case of Meantime product to their charity partner Only a Pavement Away . Bacardi: Globally, Bacardi has a commitment to produce more than 1.1 million litres of hand sanitiser. In the UK, the Laverstoke Mill distillery in Hampshire is producing a small quantity of hand sanitizers to be donated to local doctors, chemists and care homes; whilst the Dewar distillery in Aberfeldy is helping to produce hand sanitisers for the Scottish Ambulance Association among other local community groups. Brown-Forman: In the UK, Brown-Forman has donated to The Drinks Trust Covid-19 Fund and launched a virtual tip jar to support the Drinks Trust. It has also launched The Last Shift competition for bartenders who are currently unable to work due to the pandemic and have partnered with Healthy Hospo to launch The Lockdown Lowdown to help support bartenders around the world maintain overall health and wellbeing during the lockdown. Budweiser Brewing Group: In the UK, it has distributed free of charge more than 10,000 litres of hand sanitiser and disinfectant to the Metropolitan Police, Gwent Police, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. It has also gifted products (including low and no alcohol) to frontline workers. Meanwhile its Save Pub Life campaign which allows pub goers to purchase a gift card to use at a later date and so far they have match-funded more than 824,000 to the trade and its Bud Light brand is keeping people connected with the UKs largest virtual pub quiz. Carlsberg: Globally, the Carlsberg Foundations has donated DKK 95 million (approx. 11 million) in response to Covid-19, with recipients including three internationally recognised Coronavirus research teams. In the UK, it has frozen certain payments for the on-trade, donated 580HL of alcohol from its Kent brewery to making hand sanitisers, and launched the Love My Local platform which enables pubs, bars and restaurants to set up to offer takeaway food and drink. It has also made 10,000 available for the Northamptonshire Community Foundations Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund to help the local community and donating bottled beers including alcohol free to health care workers in Northampton. Diageo: Globally, Diageo has pledged to donate up to two million of litres of alcohol to create more than eight million bottles of hand sanitiser to help protect key frontline healthcare workers, including 500,000 litres in the UK and Ireland. Diageo has also donated 1 billion to support the wages of bartenders in UK pubs and bars and is offering free training to hospitality workers through the Diageo Learning for Life: Virtual Academy. Heineken: Is supporting its 2,500 leased Star Pubs and Bars by suspending the collection of rent and associated charges. It is also providing support to grassroots communities through the Heineken Community Fund in partnership with Neighbourly.com to help vulnerable people up and down the country. Mast-Jagermeister: In Germany, Mast-Jaegermeister has donated 50,000 litres of alcohol for the production of disinfectant. In the UK, Jagermeister UK has made significant donations to the Drinks Trust Covid Relief Fund including through the Livery Emergency Action Fund. Pernod Ricard: Within the UK it has so far pledged around 200,000 litres of hand sanitiser to the NHS and local community groups. It has donated 250,000 to the Drinks Trust, through Chivas Brothers it has donated 300,000 to NHS Charities Together, donated 25,000 to the Moray Emergency Relief Fund. Pernod Ricard has also partnered with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust o offer Level 1 Spirits courses online for free. SHS Drinks: To help those severely impacted by the pandemic, SHS Drinks has provided 14 foodbanks and local charities with monetary donations. This has aided the collation of care packages for households and vulnerable groups within the community. As part of its Wellness Wednesday employee health & wellbeing campaign it has provided guidance, support and information resources to promote responsible drinking during the pandemic. To aid efforts, the Scotch Whisky Association has created an online portal to connect distillers who can produce high-strength ethanol and/or hand sanitiser with packagers, distributors and organisations who are in need of hand sanitiser. Other trade bodies are playing their part in co-ordinating support for the hospitality industry and workers effected by the prolonged shutdown. The Wine and Spirits Trade Association, Society of Independent Brewers and National Association of Cider Makers have created online hubs bringing together key pieces of advice for businesses, whilst the Campaign for Real Ale and SIBA have launched the Pulling Together campaign to help consumers continue to support their local pubs and brewers. Finally, the independent charity Drinkaware is encouraging consumers to drink in moderation and to be careful not to use alcohol as a coping mechanism for stress and anxiety while in isolation. These are just some of the actions taken to date, with many producers committed to further steps in the days and weeks ahead. Together, we will pull each other through this, and we encourage everyone to look out for each other and look after their own physical and mental health. Related articles: Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April 2018. (Thomas Coex / Pool) Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo headed to Jerusalem on Tuesday to bolster besieged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and bestow a U.S. blessing on his country's proposed de facto annexation of West Bank land claimed by Palestinians. The visit coincides with Netanyahus formation of a new coalition government following his indictment on criminal corruption charges and several inconclusive Israeli elections that failed to deliver power to either Netanyahu or his rival. It is the first high-level U.S. visit to Israel since President Trump in January unveiled his long-anticipated plan for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a pro-Israel proposal that was roundly rejected by Palestinians, who were not included in its drafting, as well as most of the Arab world. To avoid what would have been the fourth national election in a little over a year, Netanyahu and his chief rival, retired army Gen. Benny Gantz, agreed to share power for the next several years. The agreement could clear the way for the new government to extend Israeli sovereignty over large parts of the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want for a future independent state. Israel seized the land during the 1967 Middle East War and proceeded to build scores of Jewish settlements, now housing hundreds of thousands of Israelis. The settlements are widely considered illegal under international law. Were glad that there is a now fully formed government in Israel, Pompeo said ahead of the trip. As for the annexation in the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. Many believe annexation will be the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution, the long-cherished notion that creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel would be the best formula for a peaceful end to one of the most intractable conflicts in the Middle East. It would make it much harder to dismantle some Jewish settlements, as had been envisioned in some past peace plans. Story continues The Trump administration, reversing decades of U.S. foreign policy, is ready to welcome Israel's unilateral annexation of the Jewish settlements, despite fierce opposition by Palestinians, senior U.S. officials said. Pompeos visit seems designed to give that approval. Theres always a lot to talk about with the Israelis, assistant secretary of State for the Near East, David Schenker, said when asked about the timing of the trip. I think its fortuitous timing, but this was something that was in the works before we learned of the date of the government formation. Under the Trump plan, Israel would also be allowed to take control of the Jordan Valley, the section of the West Bank along the Jordan River and abutting Jordan. Critics, including many Israelis and U.S. lawmakers, say unilateral annexation will have numerous dangerous ramifications, including damage to long-standing peace treaties that Israel has with Jordan and Egypt, the only neighbors who recognize its existence. It could also undermine the already-weak Palestinian Authority, the leadership of West Bank Palestinians that has refused to even speak to the Trump administration after its various pro-Israel moves, including the transfer of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a city also claimed by the Palestinians as their capital. The Trump plan would leave a Swiss-cheese patchwork of Palestinian villages that most experts say could not form a viable state. Critics say annexation would also accentuate the inequities between Jewish settlers and Palestinians, all of whom will continue to live under Israeli control in the West Bank. This will be the end of the idea of Israel as a Jewish democratic state and it will be an apartheid state, said Shaul Arieli, a retired Israeli army colonel and part of a group of former military officials who seek peace with the Palestinians. The Trump administration has provided a good umbrella for Netanyahu and pro-settlement advocates to push away from compromise with the Palestinians, he said. Israel can do almost everything it wants, said Arieli, also a senior advisor to two-state advocate Israel Policy Forum. Only the U.S. has leverage on Israel, and if they are on [Israel's] side, the right wing can do everything it wants to cancel the viability of a two-state solution. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has said that the U.S. would recognize annexation "within weeks." Pompeo will also use his brief time in Israel to discuss Iran. Since Trump pulled out of the international Iran nuclear deal, Iran has continued to build up its proxies in the region, some of which, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, are seen by Israel as particular threats. Pompeo "is making this trip because he recognizes the United States and Israel have much to learn from each other as we address current threats, whether those threats stem from a global pandemic or from Irans malign regional influence," Schenker said. Pompeo will spend barely eight hours on the ground in Israel. His only other international travel since the coronavirus outbreak was a similarly brief trip to Afghanistan in February when the U.S., the Afghan government and the Taliban were attempting to reach agreement on a cease-fire in the United States' longest war. IVNP Prasad Babu By Express News Service ONGOLE: Even though several relaxations and exemptions for industries were announced in the revised lockdown guidelines, 80 per cent of granite units in Prakasam district are facing a tough time. Apart from strict implementation of lockdown, the industry is presently facing a major manpower crisis after the mass exodus of migrant workers. The district has three main clustersGalaxy granite in and around Cheemakurthy, steel-grey granite in Ballikurava-Martur region and Black Pearl in Gurijepalli- Santhamaguluru mandal limits. At Cheemakurthy, mining for the world famous Galaxy granite is carried out in 60 quarries. Around 600 factories and 20 crushing units provide livelihood to around 20,000 workers, most of whom belong to Rajasthan, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. With 16,000 to 17,000 workers going back home, the industry has been paralysed; all the machine operators and drillers are migrant workers.Though we have been living in critical times since six months, now, the migrant workers returning to their native places is a big jolt for us. It may take a long time for the industry to come out of the present crisis, Andhra Pradesh Granite Federation chairman Siddha Venkateswara Rao told TNIE on Wednesday. Apart of Cheemakurthy, nearly 400 Gundlapalli - District Industrial Growth Centre-based granite industries are also facing a problem of shortage of workers. In fact, this year has not been good for the industry. We are suffering in the form of issuing notices on payments of heavy penalties regarding violation of rules and regulations and now the issue is under consideration, Venkateswara Rao observed. On the other side, lockdown and subsequent troubles hampered the regular operations of all quarries, factories and crushing units. Only 20 per cent of the industries are continuing work with very minimal/skeletal workforce, General Galaxy Granite Quarry Owners Welfare Association, Cheemakurthy secretary Mohammed Abdul Azeem, owner of Shaheen Granites, explained. This article is part of a series focusing on the grads of the Dalhousie Class of 2020. Visit our Class of 2020 virtual space to share in the excitement with our newest graduates. David Hung was sitting in Kanye Wests office when he learned he would be attending Dalhousie Medical School. Born in Palo Alto, California, and raised in Halifax, David originally set his sights on becoming a skateboard video director. Armed with a camera at a young age, David and his friends started to make music videos, commercials, short films and even a feature film, in addition to medical education videos with his physician father. I feel like in film theres these really fast-paced and high-stake environments, says David. That was where I thrived. While working on filmmaking projects in Halifax, David completed a BA with Honours in Theatre at Dalhousie but decided to follow that need for high-stakes into a career as a paramedic. Although working as a paramedic allowed him to follow his passion for a fast-paced environment, combined with his inherent interest in medicine filmmaking options in Halifax were limited. The road to L.A. David, and his friends Tyler and Jacob, made the incredible decision to move to Los Angeles to follow their filmmaking dreams. Over a span of two years, they made the right connections and began working with rap superstars such as Kanye West and Travis Scott, and celebrities like Kylie Jenner. Tyler worked with Kanye West on tour, and then toured with Travis Scott, which eventually led to the Netflix original documentary, Look Mom I can Fly, which David worked on as an editor and cinematographer. Even with this burgeoning success in the industry, the pull to practise medicine remained. So with the support of mentors such as Dr. Ron Stewart, who was supportive of Davids Arts career and passion for pre-hospital and emergency medicine, David finally decided to apply for medical school. He was a huge inspiration for me to not only pursue this as a career but also to keep rooted in my creative outlets and mediums, says David. Fast-forward to sitting in Kanye Wests office. At the time they were just finishing up work on the music video for the hit song Famous, but uncertain what the next job would be and where the next paycheque would come from. When I got that letter, it was a huge relief, says David. It was something that not only represented hard work and determination that everyone who applies puts in, but it represented stability which is something I think I was looking for at the time. Staying grounded Four years later, and David is set to graduate from Dalhousie Medicine School as valedictorian of the Class of 2020 and preparing to start his residency in Emergency Medicine in Halifax. Hes travelled the world learning what makes a strong leader and observed the collaboration it takes to make a hit record which is a nice correlation to working successfully in interprofessional teams. While from the outside it seems that he has been chasing the thrill of filmmaking with stars, or the high-acuity world of emergency medicine, its been those closest to him that have kept him grounded and helped him survive medical school. My wife-to-be, Meghan, was a huge part of my success. Being able to have a person to talk to, to go on adventures with and experience life together outside of the hospital was the key to my wellness, says David. Now we have a beautiful daughter, Violet, and spending time with her is all that matters. Avalon Beach Patrol lifeguard Zachary DeVoe (left) a 12-year veteran, and Alyssa Sittineri, on the force for three years, wait Wednesday as some of the guards get ready to run a mile for their certification. Read more AVALON, N.J. The lifeguards at the Avalon Beach Patrol were picking up their equipment from headquarters earlier this week so they could go straight to assigned beaches on Saturday, skipping the traditional roll call with the big group. There will be other changes as well, said Lt. Erich Wolf, son of Avalons legendary Beach Patrol Capt. Murray Wolf, 81, who, yes, is back again for another season his 65th a ski buff pulled up over his mouth and nose the other day. (Some things never change.) Avalon will post one guard per stand, with the partner either in a boat or roaming the beach. Masks will be worn during activities that put lifeguards in close proximity, like carrying boats and moving stands. As to protocols when people need rescuing in the ocean, where masks will be of little use, the guards said they would undoubtedly come in contact with people. Thats the role we have to take, said Luke Pellucci. Were built different, assured Gunnar Bogo. Were really just trying to get back on the beach, Pellucci said. So, it seems, is all of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. With nonessential travel bans somewhat paradoxically still in place, the Jersey Shore will usher in its traditional unofficial start of summer this weekend, with the repeated blessing of Gov. Phil Murphy, undeterred by reports of crowded boardwalks last weekend. READ MORE: Jersey Shore beaches: Whats open, whats allowed, and what you need to know first Not everybody is on board. In some Shore towns, officials envisioned a gradual ramp up in June, only to have Murphy spring Memorial Day weekend on them. Others, particularly in Cape May County, were itching for floodgates to be opened. With a typical iffy weather forecast and a chilly ocean, Memorial Day weekend will have a familiar feel. Short-term rentals wont start until after the holiday at the earliest. But things will look different, as beach towns and beach patrols try to adapt their raucous cultures to a time of caution, their compressed economic metabolisms to a still-mostly-restricted retail and restaurant scene. Heres some of what to expect: Frank Rizzo on a horse on the beach with a nightstick? Social distancing on a crowded beach has its skeptics. Its never going to happen, said Ventnor Fire Chief Michael Cahill, a veteran beach-goer and father of four who says he personally will skip the beach scene this year. As fire chief, Cahill will station two fully geared EMTs on the beach to take over from the lifeguards once they get people in need of rescue back on shore. As soon as it gets crowded, itll be like Fourth of July every day because theres nothing else for anybody to do," Cahill said. Their little clans or herds will get together. When you try to tell them you need to social-distance, are you going to be like Frank Rizzo and ride a horse down the beach and swing a nightstick? Or leave it up to the individual? Police in some Shore towns have tended toward heavy-handedness when the issue at hand was just alleged MDW underage drinking (see: then-20-year-old Emily Weinman and the Wildwood police; suburban teens being thrown into the sand by Margate police on a crowded beach; also: Club Wa). But most towns say they will rely on education, signage, personal responsibility, and gentle suggestion by police, ambassadors, and beach-tag checkers to keep crowds spaced out. Some towns will space lifeguards out to allow swimming in more spots to further spread people out. READ MORE: Can I get my Shore house deposit back? What about senior week? As Jersey Shore attempts reopening, not everyone is ready. Capt. Wolf, when pressed, suggests that the notoriously short-leashed Avalon lifeguards may be more proactive than usual and not let people in much deeper than waist high. Like many towns, Avalon has EMTs already on its beach patrol, who will respond to rescues, but the goal is to prevent the need for rescues in the first place, he said. While towns wont be selling daily beach tags, none have yet put limits on the sales of seasonal passes, which towns rely on for revenue. Our beach-badge people will be out there, said Sea Isle City Police Chief Tom McQuillen. When we reach a certain capacity, there may come a time when they may advise people the beach is pretty full, why dont you head to another beach. There may come a time when you close off access. Drinking will be weird Just in the nick of time, New Jersey OKed to-go cocktails. This plays nicely into the hands of places like the Atlantic City Biergarten, which has already been dishing out beer and takeout to a friendly crowd that just migrates to regular Boardwalk benches. Social-distance minders have mostly looked the other way, though some benches have been blocked off with police tape. At Atlantic Citys Back Bay Ale House, theres a sunset view of boats and a parking lot for tailgating. The absurdity of not allowing a limited amount of people into the outside seating areas of places like the Biergarten, right there on the Boardwalk, where tables could be distanced, or just removed, seems clear. But even though Atlantic City has toyed with allowing open containers on the Boardwalk, it is still not technically allowed. In North Wildwood, however, the town council voted this week to relax open-container laws in reaction to the to-go cocktail law that had people drinking their way through the Shore town anyway. Mayor Patrick Rosenello said the town will now allow people to get their drinks to-go and drink them in the area of the bars and restaurants, with tables and chairs now allowed in public rights-of-way. He wants his police officers dispersing crowds, not ticketing Vodka Red Bulls in the wild. READ MORE: New Jersey allows cocktails to go in a bid to help bars idled by coronavirus In Sea Isle City, they are taking the opposite approach: Additional rules about the to-go alcohol, including requiring it be carried in brown bags marked as alcohol, said McQuillen. We choose to maintain whatever sense of order we can, said McQuillen. Even with drinks to-go. We dont want it to turn into an overgrown outdoor walking bar. In any case, in anticipation of Murphys loosening restrictions on outside dining sooner than later, Margate, among others towns, is looking to expand outside footprints and allow restaurants to use parking lots and sidewalks for tables. That requires relaxing zoning laws and tweaks to liquor licenses, said Margate Commissioner John Amodeo. Hes also hoping for relaxed rules for nonessential retail, now limited to curbside pickup. Shops, he said, are barely hanging on. Trash, curbside fudge, and lines Rosenello, of North Wildwood, said the inability of restaurants to open for on-premises dining has contributed to long lines and overflowing trash cans throughout the town. There are 10,000 restaurant seats in the Wildwoods that now are off-limits, he said. People are getting takeout, he said. Theyre tailgating. Theyre congregating. And then the trash. We dont have enough trash cans in the city of North Wildwood to handle the volume of trash that is now not going through the restaurants. At the Surfing Pig in North Wildwood (where Chum Bucket Bloody Marys are making a comeback), owner Bill Bumbernick is trying to get permission to use a second-floor deck to eventually expand outside seating, but warned customers that wait times might be long this unusual Memorial Day weekend. Theres going to be challenges, he said. Were built to service people in seats, not to service people on streets." The truth is, this year, the summer people went down the Shore long before Memorial Day. Our second home owners came down with the kids when Jersey shut down the schools, said McQuillen, the Sea Isle chief. Were just trying to get through it and get through it together. The BJP dismissed the 'Kisan Nyay' scheme launched on Thursday by Congress president Sonia Gandhi for Chhattisgarh farmers as not 'nyay' (justice) but "anyay" (injustice) for tillers, and said the entire money should be paid to them at once and not through instalments. In a statement, BJP vice president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh said the Congress has failed to fulfil its 2018 assembly poll promise of waiving loans of farmers and helping them financially despite being in power for over 18 months. "The Congress government in the state is paying farmers the money due to them in parts. Nobody knows how long it will take before they get the complete payment. We demand that they be paid all the money in one go... What the Congress has done is 'anyay' to farmers," Singh said. Sonia Gandhi launched the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay scheme in Chhattisgarh through video conferencing and said this was a true tribute to the former prime minister. Addressing the launch event on Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary, she lauded the scheme, saying it will bring a change in the lives of farmers and help them become self-reliant. The BJP said the Modi government in contrast has announced a package of Rs 20 lakh crore in a sign of its sensitivity and foresight. The Congress has brought a package of Rs 5700 crore for Chhattisgarh farmers but is spending only one-fourth of the amount, Singh said. This is disrespect to farmers, he alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Rochelle, NY, May 21, 2020 "What is autistic burnout has been a term frequently used by autistic adults? Its characteristics, and what may cause or alleviate it, are discussed in Autism and Adulthood. Autistic adults use the term to describe a chronic state of exhaustion, loss of skills, and reduced tolerance to stimulus. These characteristics are long-lasting and permeate peoples lives. According to the study, autistic adults say chronic life stress and a mismatch of expectations and abilities without adequate supports is very difficult. Autistic burnout had a negative impact on autistic adults health, capacity to live independently, and quality of life, including suicidal behavior. Autistic burnout has been a matter of extreme and under-examined urgency for far too long. I hope our work opens a new avenue of research into understanding, relieving, and preventing it in our community, says coauthor Dora Raymaker, PhD, Portland State University. While the autistic community frequently talks about autistic burnout, the concept has been almost completely absent in the scientific and clinical literature. Its time we start listening to autistic adults and pay attention to what may be an important mediator of poor outcomes, says senior author, Christina Nicolaidis, MD, MPH, Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, and Editor-in-Chief of Autism in Adulthood. ### Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Number1R21MH112038 and by Oregon Health & Science University/Portland State University Collaboration Seed funding. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. About the Journal Autism in Adulthood is a new peer-reviewed journal dedicated to research and scholarship on the most pressing issues affecting adults on the autism spectrum, from emerging adulthood to later life. Led by Editor-in-Chief Christina Nicolaidis, MD, MPH, Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University, the Journal is the premier source for original research, in-depth analysis, and inter-professional dialogue, providing new insights and evidence to promote practice, systems, and policy change. For complete information, please visit the Autism in Adulthood website. About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and Brain Connectivity. Its flagship publication, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firms 90 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website. Senate Republicans escalated their investigations into Donald Trump's political rivals on Wednesday when Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted on party lines, 8-6, to subpoena a company that retained Ukrainian energy company Burisma as a client when Hunter Biden was serving on its board. Hunter Biden is the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. But the company that was subpoenaed on Wednesday, Blue Star Strategies, wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, that it has "eagerly cooperated to date" with the panel's probe into whether the former vice president wielded his political influence in Ukraine to help his son's financial position within Burisma, a theory that so far has not been substantiated despite intense media and political scrutiny. "At every opportunity we have indicated to the Committee that it is our intention to cooperate," Blue Star CEO Karen Tramontano wrote in the letter to the committee on Wednesday. "At no time have we ever stated or indicated in any way that we would not cooperate. Therefore, we are puzzled, despite our willingness to cooperate, why the Committee is proceeding to vote on a subpoena," Ms Tramontano wrote. Blue Star which lobbied on behalf of Burisma in DC while Hunter Biden was on the board has "every intention" to cooperate with the ongoing investigation moving forward, the CEO wrote. Mr Johnson pushed back later on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News against Blue Star's contention that it has cooperated with the probe. The consulting firm has "not complied" with the committee's broad request for information, he said. "Recently they've given us a few more pieces, but we know it's not even close to being complete," he said. The Republican theory which also postulates that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election holds that Joe Biden sought to oust then-Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin to protect his son from an investigation into Burisma by Mr Shokin's office. That anti-corruption investigation into Burisma had previously been shelved and preceded Hunter Biden's appointment to the board. The intelligence community and former Special Counsel Bob Mueller uniformly concluded in 2017 and 2019, respectively, that Russia interfered extensively in the 2016 election. No evidence has emerged that Mr Biden sought Mr Shokin's ouster to shield Burisma and his son from investigation. Mr Shokin was removed from his government post in 2016 due to pressure from western governments and politicians including some of the same Republican senators who are now accusing the Bidens of wrongdoing over concerns that Mr Shokin's office, which was supposed to be rooting out corruption in the country, was itself corrupt. Blue Star's letter to the committee on Wednesday outlines the steps it has taken to cooperate with the panel's probe into the Bidens' actions in Ukraine. On 3 Dec 2019, the committee sent a letter asking Blue Star to assist in its probe into "certain officials within the Obama Administration." The firm responded "immediately and agreed to cooperate," Ms Tramontano wrote. On 17 Dec 2019, Blue Star submitted written answers to the committee's questions and sent over documents about its meetings with US officials regarding Burisma. Months later, on 19 March 2020, the committee asked Blue Star to provide additional information. Wednesday's letter maintains that the Covid-19 pandemic delayed Blue Star's response, but that this past Sunday, 17 May, it provided "answers and additional supporting documents" to all the committee's questions from the initial 3 December 2019 letter. The committee subsequently requested more information and documents from Blue Star, which the company says it provided on Tuesday, 19 May, just one day before Republicans voted to authorise the subpoena. Blue Star also offered to be interviewed by the committee, according to Ms Tramontano's letter. A spokesman for the committee's Republican majority released a statement on Wednesday witha much different narrative of events. Blue Star "has delayed our efforts for more than five months, and even refused to let our staff speak to their attorney until last week despite the fact that he was speaking with the Ranking Member's staff," the spokesman said. "Their only real efforts came after we noticed this markup, and we know even those have been woefully incomplete," the statement continued. "The American people deserve to know the extent to which the U.S.-based, Democrat-led consulting company leveraged its connections within the Obama administration to try to gain access to and influence U.S. government agencies on behalf of its corrupt client, Burisma," the spokesman said. The investigation into the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine is one of a pair of Senate investigations aimed at the former vice president that Democrats argue are cynical, political hit jobs. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has been investigating the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 and whether it was appropriate for the Justice Department to subsequently appoint Mr Mueller as special counsel. Mr Graham plans to begin issuing subpoenas for more than a dozen former Obama administration officials in early June and release a report on his findings in October, mere weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried the Homeland Security panel's subpoena vote on Wednesday as "yet another attempt to smear Vice President Biden." "Even more shameful, the company my colleague from Wisconsin wants to subpoena is cooperating with the committee and providing documents. It appears the subpoena is just for show, a way to create the false impression of wrongdoing. It's like in a third world dictatorship, a show trial with no basis in fact, with no due process, with no reality," Mr Schumer said. Amid the misery wrought by the pandemic and a deep recession, Oregon colleges are handing out a little happiness -- in $3,000 increments. Portland State University is in the process of giving away more than $7 million to students, In Eugene, the University of Oregon is still devising its plan to disburse $8 million. Oregon State has already dispensed about $7.5 million and is looking for deserving students to take home the last $295,000. The money is coming from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a $2 trillion economic relief package signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27. The legislation allocated more than $12 billion of the stimulus for colleges all over the country. In all, 73 colleges and community colleges in Oregon will divvy up over $116 million for emergency cash grants for qualifying students. Even students at the states comparatively well-heeled private schools will have a chance at the cash grants. The University of Portland got $2.67 million, spokesman Michael Lewellen said. Students have to show evidence that theyre in need. Some schools will rely on students federal financial aid application and the expected family contribution calculation. The EFC, as it is known, is a measure of a familys financial strength. At PSU, administrators will approve applications from students with family contributions of $10,000 or less. Students must also convince administrators their financial distress stems from the pandemic. Our students are a resilient bunch, said Chuck Knepfle, PSU vice president for enrollment management. But at this point, many of them are really struggling. In Corvallis, students descended on Oregon States administration building practically before officials could even begin getting the word out about the program. The need is so great, I think people were right on top of it, OSU spokesman Steve Clark said. Students were engaged in multiple jobs, thats nothing new. But most of the campus jobs are gone. Even after giving away the $7.7 million it was allocated, OSU officials figure their students need an additional $20 million to remain in school, Clark said. Jeremy Maly and Julie Nhem know plenty about need. Both are PSU students, both are parents, both are out of work. Maly, 38, was hoping to graduate next fall with a quadruple major in history, arts and letters, liberal studies and social sciences. But hes lost two jobs at brewpubs in recent months. The first unexpectedly shut down, the other was forced to close in March after Gov. Kate Brown issued her stay-at-home order. Nhem, 41, is a film studies major whose job on a television film crew came to an end when production was halted. Malys primary pursuit was no longer his Latin or Greek language classes, it was keeping his family fed and housed. Like many Oregonians, hes been unable to negotiate his way through the overwhelmed Oregon Employment Department to get unemployment benefits. And hes still waiting for the $1,200 bonus check -- another stimulus bonus contained in the CAREs act -- to arrive from the federal government. Nhem has fallen two months behind on her rent. Her landlord gave her three months forbearance. But hes made it clear in July he expects her to cover the current rent and the three months of back rent. Maley and Nhem both applied for the emergency grants. He got $2,850. She got $2,950. Ive been living paycheck to paycheck for a long time, Nhem said. This money has given me some peace of mind. Jeff Manning 971-263-5164 jmanning@oregonian.com A powerful cyclone Amphan that tore into West Bengal has killed 72 people and completely devastated two districts as Kolkata and several parts of the state wore a battered look on Thursday a day after the storm left thousands of people homeless, washed away bridges and swamped low-lying areas. The fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years that destroyed mud houses and agriculture crops, and uprooted trees and electric poles also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. Odisha government officials estimated it has affected around 44.8 lakh people in the state. "So far as per the reports we have received, 72 people have died in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. Two districts North and South 24 Parganas are completely devastated. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central government to extend all help to the state," Banerjee told reporters after conducting a review meeting with officials. "I will visit the affected areas very soon. The restoration work will start soon. A large part of North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata are facing massive power cut since last evening. Even telephone and mobile connections are down," she said. "I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit Cyclone Amphan-affected areas. The chief minister also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh for the family members of each of the deceased. Besides North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata, the districts of East Midnapore and Howrah were the worst hit as portions of several dilapidated buildings came crashing down in several places. Senior officials of the West Bengal government said it was too early to estimate the exact death toll or damage to property as the worst hit areas were still not accessible. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said no stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by the cyclone. "Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan," he tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal, the prime minister said. Top officials are closely monitoring the situation and also working in close coordination with the West Bengal government. No stone will be left unturned in helping the affected," he said. "Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy. The prime minister also said his thoughts are with the people of Odisha as the state bravely battles the effects of the cyclone. Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to chief ministers of Odisha and West Bengal -- Naveen Patnaik and Mamata Banerjee -- and assured them of all central help to deal with the prevailing situation. In Kolkata, hundreds of cars were overturned in the strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph that also felled trees and electricity poles blocking key arterial roads and intersections. Large parts of Kolkata and other affected districts went without power. Mobile and internet services were also disrupted as the fierce cyclone had damaged several communication towers. According to the India Meteorological Department(IMD), Amphan is the fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in the last 100 years. It said the cyclone has weakened significantly and moved to Bangladesh where 10 people have been killed. Chief Minister Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was "worse than coronavirus". The situation is very serious. We are in a state of disaster," the TMC chief was earlier quoted as having said in an official statement. No bridges exist, electricity lines have been completely disabled and damaged, Banerjee said while describing the situation in the worst hit districts. In several shelter homes in the affected districts, people were seen jostling for food and shelter ignoring the social distancing norms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than five lakh people were already evacuated to safety by the state government. It is not the city where I have grown up... it seems to be a destroyed one. It seems there was a war yesterday... I cannot believe that this is my Kolkata, said Sudhir Chakraborty, a resident of south Kolkata's Rashbehari area. Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, the cyclone barrelled through coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas of Bengal and Odisha on Wednesday unleashing copious rain and windstorm. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) reviewed the rescue and relief operations in West Bengal and Odisha at a meeting in Delhi and was told that minimal loss of lives was reported due to accurate forecast by the IMD and timely deployment of NDRF troops. Headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the NCMC was told by the chief secretaries of West Bengal and Odisha that timely and accurate forecast by the IMD and advance deployment of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) facilitated in evacuation of about five lakh people in West Bengal and about two lakh in Odisha. This has resulted in minimal loss of human lives, considering the fact that the intensity of the Amphan was next only to that of the super cyclone that struck Odisha in 1999 causing large scale devastation, an official statement said in Delhi. The NDRF is moving additional teams to West Bengal to speed up restoration work, especially in Kolkata. The Food Corporation of India will also ensure adequate availability of food grains, especially rice, to West Bengal so that marooned people are provided immediate sustenance. The Power Ministry and Department of Telecommunications will also assist in the early restoration of services in both the states. The Railways, which suffered major damages to its infrastructure, is in the process of restarting its operations at the earliest, the statement said. The West Bengal government informed there were major damages to agriculture, power and telecommunication facilities in the affected areas. Odisha informed that damages have been mainly limited to agriculture. At Kolkata central avenue, a small concrete temple situated at the base of a banyan tree was uprooted. According to officials, more than 1,000 mobile towers across the state and city have been completely destroyed. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. Embankments in Sundarban delta - a UNESCO site - were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the Island. Four jetties in South 24 Parganas also collapsed on Wednesday night due to the storm. According to the state agricultural department, paddy crop in districts of Burdwan, West Midnapore and Hooghly has been completely destroyed due to the savage cyclone. Teams of the NDRF and State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) have been working on a war footing to clear the roads blocked by the falling trees. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) CVS Health is opening drive-thru COVID-19 testing Friday at 11 Houston-area CVS Pharmacy locations, the company said. Retail locations in Houston, Cypress, League City, Seabrook and Spring will hand out testing materials at the drive-thrus. To qualify, consumers must meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for symptoms of a COVID-19 infection and register online at CVS.com. Store associates will hand customers a self-swab test at the pharmacy drive-thru window, and a clinician will watch as they swab their upper throat for specimens. The customers do not enter the pharmacy or its HealthHUB locations during the test. Testing will be covered by insurance accepted at CVS Health, and uninsured patients will be covered by a federal funding program, said Monica Prinzing, a CVS Health spokesperson. "However, under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act approved by Congress, patients should not have any out of pocket costs with their insurance," she said. Each site can conduct up to five tests per hour, and up to 50 per day. The test kit is sent to a third-party lab and consumers are given results in approximately three days, according to CVS Health. While the large-scale test sites weve been operating since early April have proven successful, this new approach allows us to utilize our presence in communities across the country and bring testing closer to home, CVSHealth President and CEO Larry J. Merlo said in a statement Thursday. VERTICAL EXPANSION: CVS, Walgreens aggressively move into delivery of health care services In April, CVS Health opened five large testing sites in Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island. More than 130,000 tests have been administered at those locations. The company plans to open new COVID-19 drive-thrus Friday at 44 of its Texas stores and nearly 350 nationwide. By the end of May, it plans to have 1,000 drive-thru test sites open. The 11 Houston-area locations adding drive-thru testing on Friday are located at: 26265 Northwest Freeway, Cypress, TX 77433 12550 Louetta Road, Cypress, TX 77429 15010 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079 1003 Richmond Avenue, Houston, TX 77006 5402 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77056 2469 Bay Area, Houston, TX 77058 5603 FM1960 W, Houston, TX 77069 5002 West Main Street, League City, TX 77573 2232 Repsdorph Road, Seabrook, TX 77586 25110 Grogans Mill Road, Spring, TX 77380 8754 Spring Cypress Road, Spring, TX 77379 CVS Health, based in Woonsocket, R.I., has made major expansions in the consumer health care space in recent years. In 2006, CVS introduced MinuteClinics, a clinic where customers could come into its retail stores and receive care for short-term illnesses. A year later in 2007, the company acquired Caremark, which negotiates drug prices between insurers and pharmaceutical companies, and in 2018, it purchased insurance giant Aetna. gwendolyn.wu@chron.com twitter.com/gwendolynawu The University of Bolton plans to open in September with airport-style temperature checks and compulsory wearing of face masks for students and staff. In a glimpse into the future of campus-life, there will be strictly observed social distancing and bikes available for students so they can avoid crowded public transport. The raft of safety measures was announced by Vice Chancellor and President Professor George Holmes yesterday, and also include a one-way system and providing social distanced tutorials. It comes as universities face a potentially 760bn funding black hole as a fifth of prospective students say they may defer their studies for a year due to the impact of coronavirus. The study, by the University and College Union (UCU), shows up to 20 per cent could defer for a year, which would mean there would be 120,000 fewer students joining in autumn. Experts from consultancy firm London Economics said that even a 17 per cent drop in prospective students would cost the sector 763m in lost tuition fees and teaching grants, The Guardian reported yesterday. The University of Bolton said under the new measures it would 'provide a 'Covid secure' working and learning environment for you'. The raft of safety measures was announced by Vice Chancellor and President Professor George Holmes yesterday, and also include a one-way system and providing social distanced tutorials In addition to the temperature-style temperature checks - that are currently being trialled by Heathrow Airport in Terminal 2 - a new scheduling system will limit the amount of students on campus at any one time. There will also be 'additional sanitiser stations' and 'cafe-style takeaway food and drink stations to minimise queues'. In a statement on the website, Professor George Holmes added: 'Workshops, laboratories, studios etc. will all be adapted over the summer to ensure they can be used, while at the same time observing the correct social distancing requirements. 'The University of Bolton prides itself on its student-first approach. Transforming its campus and creating a safe and happy environment to ensure you enjoy #UniAsItShouldBe. 'In the meantime, please stay safe and we look forward to welcoming you on campus in September.' It comes as The University of Manchester was the first to announce that all its lectures would be online for the autumn term. The University of Edinburgh is planning to use 'a hybrid approach' - a blend of on-campus teaching with online elements - as travel restrictions may prevent some students from being on-site. Cyclists and pedestrians move along Trinity Street past St Johns College, University of Cambridge (file photo from 2014) Glasgow University said it is planning to restrict the numbers in lecture theatres, classrooms and laboratories in the autumn. The start date for some postgraduate courses could be delayed but the university expects most undergraduate students to start in September. They anticipate courses to involve a 'blend of remote and on-campus teaching'. It comes after Nicola Dandridge, chief executive at the Office for Students, urged universities not to make any promises to students that everything will be back to normal in the autumn if this is not the case. Addressing a virtual Education Select Committee on Monday, Ms Dandridge said students should be told what kind of experience they will receive when they accept a university offer. The Russell Group, which represents 24 leading institutions in the UK, has called for the UK Government to work with other governments to ensure there is a global recognition of online courses. Some countries do not recognise international degrees with significant elements of online learning, which can be an issue for overseas students studying in the UK, the organisation has warned. Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said: 'Universities are worried about loss of income and students being poached by other institutions. 'The Government needs to step in and underwrite income lost through fees and teaching grants and, in response, universities must promise to work together on plans for safely reopening and when to recommence face-to-face teaching.' Against the backdrop of e-learning adopted by some schools, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant closure of schools, some parents and pupils on Thursday appraised the effectiveness of e-learning. The parents and pupils, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said that the online study was meant to keep pupils busy during the lockdown. They, however, noted that online study could not be compared with physical teaching and learning in the classroom. NAN reports that the Federal and State Governments in the wake of the lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 initiated various online learning platforms for conventional education to continue. Ndidi Ofodile, the Proprietress of Nitabel Nursery and Primary School Ojo, Lagos, one of the private schools into e-learning, said that though parents were informed about it through text messages, not all pupils were participating in the online learning. Mrs Ofodile said the online learning would have been more comprehensive if parents had made devices available to enable the pupils receive the study worksheets sent through WhatsApp, Google classroom and zoom networks. Parents are billed half of the pupils regular school fee to pay the teachers and procure other essential devices to aid the online learning sessions, she said. John Williams-Lawal, whose two children in another private school had been participating in their schools online classes, noted that the online teaching lacked coordination. It is just like sending a text message to someone at the other end and expecting a reply from the person. This variant of teaching and learning is incomplete. Most time, the channel or the platform gets crowded with responses from participants and that of the teacher will be blurred in the system, making it difficult for pupils to know what the teacher says on a particular topic. The challenges are numerous; physical teaching is far better. In a physical class, the teacher employs different teaching aids to enhance the pupils assimilation. In the class, a teacher compels pupils to learn by intuition which is difficult to implement online, he said. Mr Williams-Lawal urged parents to provide the required learning materials like textbooks for their children to study before the schools reopen, saying that one rarely forgot knowledge acquired physically. Janet Alaobi and Adeola Arowolo, both pupils of a public school in Lagos, said that they seldom watched and studied on television channels organised by the state ministry of education. Ms Alaobi in Basic Four said that because she rarely understood what the teachers on television were teaching, she did not show interest in the sessions. She noted that the teachers were unlike her school teachers. She wished that schools should reopen to enable them continue normal academic works, noting that staying at home was no longer exciting. (NAN) LTI Corporate Headquarters "Laser Technology, Inc. is a great example of how exporting goods and services can expand your global footprint and increase profitability for Colorado businesses," said Katie Woslager, Senior Manager, Advanced Industries at OEDIT. Laser Technology, Inc. (LTI) was awarded the 2020 Governors Award for Excellence in Exporting on May 4, 2020 for their performance in advancing Colorados economic international trade. LTI is a Colorado-based company that designs and manufactures innovative laser-based speed, distance, and measurement products for professionals and field workers to help solve problems. LTIs core business model was started in 1985 by David Williams, CEO, whose passion revolves around serving diverse markets and new product innovation that increases safety and efficiency. The catalyst of LTIs diversified and innovative product portfolio, Jeremy Dunne, CFO, provides an unparalleled understanding of laser measurement holding over sixty patents and counting. LTI has a history of product and market breakthroughs since beginning established export activities in 1990. LTI introduced the first commercial speed laser, the LTI 20/20 Marksman, was asked by the government to create a laser system to measure inflight distances between planes for de-icing training and refueling, created a custom space station docking system for NASA, patented distance-between-cars technology, and developed the worlds first hand held reflectorless total station for GIS mapping. LTIs distribution channel spans over 100 countries across all seven continents. Today, LTI is comprised of three divisions: Traffic Safety, Professional Measurement, and Industrial Sensors. LTI engineers and manufactures products for a variety of job applications, including: crash, crime, and fire mapping, speed enforcement, pole audit, stockpile measurements, blast design, water/waste water management, forestry, mining, electric utilities, construction, and more. Founded in 1970, The Governors Award for Excellence in Exporting honors Colorado-based companies for their economic advancement through international business. Colorado exported $8.1 billion in 2019 alone, making exports an essential role in business for the states economy. "Laser Technology, Inc. is a great example of how exporting goods and services can expand your global footprint and increase profitability for Colorado businesses. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDITI) is honored that they are a recipient of this prestigious Governor's Award in Exporting," said Katie Woslager, Senior Manager, Advanced Industries at OEDIT. Company Qualifications: Companies must export a product or service for a minimum of two years, Companies must be new to exporting or are expanding their exporting territory, Companies must be based in Colorado or have at least 50% of their staff based in Colorado, Companies must have a minimum of two years domestic sales experience, Companies must have a commercialized product/service that is ready to be exported, and Companies must be registered and are in Good Standing with the Colorado Secretary of State. Laser Technology, Inc. is honored and excited to have won the 2020 Governors Award for Excellence in Exporting. We are extremely proud of our local workforce in Centennial for their dedication, perseverance and flexibility in supporting our International business, said Eric Miller, COO and President of LTI. It is not easy to custom configure and ship products to over 100 countries around the world with a team of only 100+ individuals in suburban Colorado! We also want to recognize our excellent worldwide sales and distribution network, many of which we have worked with us for over 20 years. This award is for all these individuals that have helped us excel in the global market as we couldnt have earned it without all their hard work. Companies who receive this award are determined by an independent review committee that is comprised of various Colorado trade experts. Read the Governors Announcement, here. To learn more about Laser Technology, Inc. product portfolio, or speak directly with an LTI representative, please call 1.303.649.1000 About Laser Technology, Inc. Laser Technology, Inc. is a Colorado-based manufacturer devoted to the design and manufacture of innovative laser-based speed and distance measurement instruments to address real-world needs and applications, including speed enforcement, incident investigation, forestry, mining, utilities, surveying and industrial process control. Visit http://www.lasertech.com for additional information. Acting General Secretary of the Convention People's Party (CPP), James Kwabena Bomfeh also called Kabila, says the current voters' register is creditable to be used for the 2020 elections. According to Kabila, any attempts to discredit the register is unacceptable because the register cannot be said to be tainted. Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Kabila explained that it was the same register that has since 1992 produced Presidents for the country and that, to him, "what is really wrong with the country's electoral system is the biometric data equipment which needs an upgrading." He noted that the credibility of the register shouldn't be undermined by proponents for a new voters' register and that they should be measured in their claims against the current register. "To discredit the register we presently have is not sustainable. The register we have used since 1992, none can compare in terms of credibility to what we had under the biometric system. I therefore plead with those who are for the new system to be measured in supporting their claims by veering into an attempt to appear that the register we have is discredited. It is not!" the CPP acting General Secretary strongly held. Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission says it will go ahead with the compilation of a new voters' register and assured all Ghanaians and stakeholders in the electoral process of the Commission's "determination to deliver free, fair and credible Presidential and Parliamentary Elections on December 7, 2020 as mandated by law". Listen to Kabila's submission in the video below Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video [May 21, 2020] Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon on How the COVID-19 Downturn is Different than the 2008 Financial Crisis; Why There is no "Normal" in Commodities Markets; Early Signs of Economic Recovery and Why Pandemic Will Change Capital Allocation Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon talks about the swiftness of economic relief by the world's governments being "laudable"; why restoring balance to energy markets will take time and how the repercussions of pandemic will make capitalism "more inclusive" in the latest edition of the CERAWeek Conversations series. In a conversation with Lance Uggla, chairman and CEO, IHS (News - Alert) Markit (NYSE: INFO), Solomon talks about how COVID-19 has impacted his perspectives on leadership, what gives him optimism for the future, how Goldman Sachs is partnering with small businesses to support local economies and more. The complete video is available at: www.ceraweek.com/conversations Selected excerpts: (Edited slightly for brevity only) Comparing the current financial crisis to 2008 and governments' responses : "Central banks and governments around the world have responded very quickly to try to dampen the economic impact of the crisis-and I think successfully, and I think laudably, especially with respect to the speed that they've responded. "There are significant parts of the playbook of response that's similar to the financial crisis. There are some differences, too. One of the biggest differences is it's happening very quickly. I think one of the reasons why it can happen more quickly, and I'll say in the United States, just for starters, is that in the 2008 financial crisis financial institutions were at the center of it. There were issues around lending and bad practices that played a role in exacerbating that. I think the way it's sometimes portrayed doesn't fully take in the complexity of the scope of what happened, broadly. But here you have a situation where it's affecting everyone in a very even-handed way-and it's hard. So, there's not the political blockage to getting that monetary and fiscal stimulus moving. "Governments have been very, very quick and swift to get monetary and fiscal stimulus going and that's helped significantly in calming markets, opening markets, and allowing markets to function very smoothly. There's a real benefit to that. "As we go forward, we're going to start to get into the debate, which I think is appropriate. Governments can't underwrite all the economic pain that's caused by the decrease in output. So, we've got to find the right balance as we move forward between protecting people and keeping people healthy-being compassionate. But also, being pragmatic about the fact that we need economic activity to also keep people healthy. Now that we're through the first stage of this, I think policymakers are going to have very, very difficult decisions as they try to strike that balance. "But I think it's been laudable that governments have moved quickly. And I do think right now we're supposed to be doing everything that we can-that is the role of government. And will have to deal with the consequences of that when we get to the other side. And there will be consequences and difficult decisions to make when we navigate forward." Deconstructing the energy market shock and his outlook for markets rebalancing : "I don't know what normal is when you're talking about commodity prices. Certainly, we have both seen over long periods of time imbalances in commodities and what we have right now is we've got an imbalance. There certainly was action by certain market participants, coupled with a massive demand shut down. And it was a very interesting time to take an action that would put pressure on supply right at the time that we're having a massive demand shutdown. But that's basically what we had. "We're also in a place where we're running out of storage capacity and therefore there's only one thing to do, which is cut production until you get supply and demand into balance and you free up storage capacity. That obviously puts an enormous amount of downward pressure on prices. "There's going to be enormous pressure on the price of the commodity here until we get supply and demand in balance. Given the economic picture of the world that's going to take some time. "So, one of the things for sure that it's going to do is it's going to require a thoughtful process on deciding what capacity to take out. I think it's going to lead certain governments to decide what kind of support they want for that capacity while it's out of service. But ultimately, you've got to get supply and demand into balance. That will happen, but it's going to take some time." On the pace of recovery in Asia and the contrasting trajectory with Europe and North America : "There's no question that economic activity is picking up (in Asia). It is market-by-market. But they're generally ahead of the trajectory of the United States. In Hong Kong this week we had about 30 percent of our employees in the office. My guess is we'll get to about 50 percent there in the coming weeks. Hong Kong has done a very, very good job. They haven't had a case of the virus I think in 22 or 23 days. I would say after a long haul-and you have to remember Hong Kong was also very disrupted by the protests in the fall-after a long haul there's some sense of normalcy returning in Hong Kong, but with caution. "There's no question when I talk to companies like Nike and Apple (News - Alert) that are operating in China, they would say their foot traffic is back to 80 or 90 percent. They would say their business is not quite what foot traffic is, but it's ramping up-Starbucks, etc. You're seeing an improvement in economic activity now and it's encouraging now. "There are a number of things that have helped there. I think one of the things that has helped-and I think we'd be in a very, very differen place in the United States and Europe-masks are part of the culture there. They did at the beginning, they got through the crisis and we were just very late to that in Europe and the U.S. I think that made a big difference. It's not that we would have alleviated this entirely but as this was starting back in February, if people would have started wearing masks that would have been a different impact on the way this scaled, particularly in the New York area where millions of people were coming from Europe on flights into New York, which is really, I think, the key reason why New York has been such an epicenter." On climate, sustainability and how capital allocation will change in a post-COVID world : "I talk broadly about the sustainability platform that we emphasize at Goldman Sachs-and climate is a part of it. But we talked about sustainability in a much broader context and it includes a range of things, including climate, but it includes affordable and accessible healthcare and includes economic opportunity in a more open and equal way. It's a very broad definition-making our society more sustainable for everybody. "This crisis will accelerate a bunch of the pillars that we put into our broad sustainability platform and I think it will change the allocation of capital. And that's my big point in all this: capital is going to shift to help make our world stronger. We are going to see capital allocation change with respect to energy to try to find ways to have a greener future. We are going to see capital allocation shift around making sure healthcare supply chains are better prepared for something like this, and also to make sure that healthcare more broadly is more accessible, more available for people around the world. We are going to see capital allocation try to make sure that opportunity improves for all and the capitalism broadly is more inclusive. And so, I think this crisis accelerates that. I think that a crisis has a tendency to accelerate trends. "There's no question that the private sector has been focused on a transition to thinking broadly about how it can use its capital in ways that improve the sustainability of our society. And the reason they do it, that people are thinking about it, is because it's good business. If you want to take care of shareholders you better take care of your people, and you better take care of your planet, and you better take care of your communities. And if you do that your business will be stronger and you'll perform better. That's a trend that's been in place. I think the crisis accelerates it a little bit. "I think we all want a better, stronger world for everyone. This crisis will amplify that." On his guiding principles of leadership and organizational management during the COVID-19 crisis : "This is first and foremost is a humanitarian crisis. It's a health crisis. We have to take care of people, but we also need to make sure we continue to participate in economic activity because economic activity keeps people healthy. And so I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to get our organization focused on three simple things that I think really matter at a time like this. They can keep everybody managing forward. And I do think one of the things that's important from a leadership perspective at a time like this is that you communicate a lot, and you communicate clearly. "At Goldman Sachs, we've been talking a lot about taking care of our people; we've been talking about taking care of our clients; we've been talking about taking care of our communities and making sure as an organization that we're communicating around those three pillars and finding ways to do as much as we can to move forward." On Goldman Sachs partnering with small businesses to support local economies : "We've been very, very supportive of small businesses broadly, especially in the United States and in the U.K. as we're programmed with 10,000 small businesses for over a decade. I think that this is an area where we can use this platform to really make sure capital is getting to small businesses, especially the very small businesses that don't have access to banks and financial institutions and support. "This is particularly true in what I'll call underserved communities where the financial infrastructure isn't the same. So, we're trying to get our capital out in loan form to these micro-businesses in the United States who work from community development financial institutions. Both in the U.S. and the U.K. we're trying to find ways that we can use our balance sheet, our capital and our intellectual capital to help these small businesses." On Goldman Sachs's adapting to the COVID-19 era's new operating environment : "I'm incredibly proud of the people of Goldman Sachs for their nimbleness, their flexibility, their agility-the resilience through this crisis. If we were talking back in January when we were last together. If you had said to me "do you think this is going to spread around the world, and if it does, can we get all of our people working from home?" I would have told you I don't know how we'll do it. There's no way we can get most of our people working from home, but we're between 98 to 99 percent of our people operating remotely. "They've done a good job navigating through that. I'm surprised by how flexible the organization is. I'm thankful for how prepared we were on so many fronts which allowed us to accelerate very quickly to that and I'm humbled be leading a group of people that's really energized and motivated and focused on each other, focused on our clients, focused on our communities at a time that they're all having a difficult struggle. "People are resilient, society is resilient. It's one of the reasons to be very optimistic when we do get to a place that we can make people secure that they're safe and they're healthy. It's a reason to be very optimistic as to what follows. On the role that organizations can play to promote inclusion and personal support amid the public health crisis : "What we can do in an organization like ours, we can provide resources, we can provide tools, we can find advice, we can let people know that everyone's different. There are people that are young and have no other responsibilities and they have more flexibility to be very absorbed with work and there are others that are juggling caring for parents, caring for children, homeschooling children, they have family members that are sick, they have both spouses working and they need more flexibility. "You've got to offer that flexibility and offer that support and make sure people know they have avenues to ask for help through the organization when they need it and that it's granted in an appropriate way. I think that helps from a mental health perspective enormously-that security I think makes a difference." Watch the complete video at: www.ceraweek.com/conversations About CERAWeek Conversations: CERAWeek Conversations features original interviews and discussion with energy industry leaders, government officials and policymakers, leaders from the technology, financial and industrial communities-and energy technology innovators. The series is produced by the team responsible for the world's preeminent energy conference, CERAWeek by IHS Markit. New installments will be added weekly at www.ceraweek.com/conversations. Recent segments also include: Leadership Dialogue with Dr. Fatih Birol - Executive director of the IEA interviewed by IHS Markit vice chairman Daniel Yergin Leadership Dialogue with Sec. Dan Brouillette - U.S. Secretary of Energy interviewed by IHS Markit vice chairman Daniel Yergin Leadership Dialogue with Mike Wirth - Chevron (News - Alert) chairman and CEO interviewed by IHS Markit vice chairman Daniel Yergin Leadership Dialogue with Hon. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan - India's minister of petroleum and natural gas and minister of steel interviewed by IHS Markit vice chairman Daniel Yergin. Competing Today, Innovating for Tomorrow - Mark Little, chairman and CEO, Suncor interviewed by Carlos Pascual, senior vice president, global energy, IHS Markit A complete video library is available at www.ceraweek.com/conversations. About IHS Markit (www.ihsmarkit.com) IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 business and government customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world's leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth. IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. and/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners 2020 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005109/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Delhi High Court Thursday gave the AAP government two weeks to take action against Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) chairperson Zafarul Islam Khan as directed by the Lieutenant Governor on April 30 with regard to an allegedly objectionable social media post by him. A bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula gave the Delhi government two weeks to take the decision as no steps have been taken till now after LG Anil Baijal's letter of April 30 to the administrative department of the Delhi government to initiate action against Khan under Section 4 of DMC Act. The section provides for removal of the DMC chairperson after giving him a proper hearing. The high court's order came on the plea by a social worker, Vikram Gahlot, challenging the constitutionality of the DMC Act and seeking Khan's removal. Gahlot's lawyer, Dhananjai Jain, said the court issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi government and the LG's office seeking their stand on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on June 22. Delhi government additional standing counsel Anupam Srivastava said the bench has issued notice in the matter to the extent it challenges the validity of the DMC Act. He said that regarding the removal of Khan from his post, the court has given the Delhi government two weeks to take a decision. The detailed order of the court is awaited. During the proceedings held via video conferencing, Srivastava placed before the court a status report which stated that the administrative department has processed the file "for taking action as per law with the proposal to seek reply from the Secretary, DMC regarding reply from Zafarul Islam Khan" with regard to the social media post by him. Gahlot, in his plea, has contended that the Delhi Legislative Assembly did not have the powers to enact the DMC Act and therefore, the statute be declared ultra vires of the Constitution and struck down. He has also contended that since the Act was not valid, the appointments made under it, including that of the chairman, would also be invalid. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The president was not wearing a mask when he walked off Air Force One at the Detroit airport, nor when he arrived at the plant near Ypsilanti. His first public remarks there made clear that the visit, his third in as many weeks to a battleground state, was partly about talking up his response to the covid-19 pandemic and attempting to turn the page on the ongoing pandemic. The Nigerian Correctional Service has announced that it has so far freed 3751 inmates across the country. This, it said, is in compliance with President Muhammadu Buharis pardon of the inmates in April. Also Read: Inmates Set Delta State Correctional Service On Fire; Attempt Jail Break (Video) A statement from the Public Relation Officer of the service Mr Augustine Njoku said some awaiting trial inmates benefitted from the list of fresh inmates pardoned by some State Governments. Advertisement Njoku said a total of 1,011 Awaiting Trial inmates have been released so far as they met the criteria set by the government. Mummy blogger Zoe George is set to shake up the Big Brother house next month when the reality TV series airs on Channel Seven. But this isn't the first time the 39-year-old mother-of-two and woodwork teacher has been in the limelight. The Melbourne-based brunette went viral when she declared that childbirth 'broke her vagina' in a post written on her personal blog, The Subtle Mummy. Screen queen! Mummy blogger Zoe George is set to shake up the Big Brother house next month when the reality TV series airs on Channel Seven My first child broke my vagina ... I need a mechanic trained as a gynecologist to fix it, she wrote in the post at the time. Zoe says she wants to go on Big Brother so 'Australia can see a regular mum-of-two can be fun.' She thinks she has always had a personality primed for the small screen. 'My whole life people have always said I'm funny and I would be good on Big Brother,' she said. Fun lover! 'I want Australia to see a regular mum-of-two can be fun,' Melbourne-based Zoe said, who is mother to Ari and daughter Ambrosia (both pictured) Zoe thought her chance to be on the show was over, but the revamp of the series means she now has the opportunity to shine. She describes herself as someone who 'loves talking about all the taboo subjects that come with motherhood and being a wife'. Zoe has already amassed a massive social media following, including 17,000 followers on Instagram. No filter: The brunette describes herself as someone who 'loves talking about all the taboo subjects that come with motherhood and being a wife' Her blog bio adds that 'she's a firm believer that life is as fun as you make it'. Zoe is one of several confirmed housemates to appear on the reboot, including AFL player Daniel Gorringe and Angela Clancy. Raunchy model Chad Hurst, Think Tank star Mat Garrick and 80s aerobics icon Marissa Rancan will also join her in the house. The revamped Big Brother is yet to have a premiere date. 'My first child broke my vagina ... I need a mechanic trained as a gynecologist to fix it,' she wrote in her blog post, which went viral back in 2017 NORTON SHORES, MI -- As restrictions against some business operations begin to lift, following weeks of lockdown against the spread of COVID-19, an independent movie theater has announced that its screens may once again be aglow within a month. Taylor Theatres, which operates Harbor Cinema, 3450 Henry St., in Norton Shores, and Fremont Cinemas, 1027 W. Main St., in Fremont, plans to reopen to patrons on June 19, the company announced on social media. This presumes that theaters statewide will be allowed to reopen on May 29, the end of the latest statewide shut-down order, the announcement said, allowing the cinema to implement new procedures and training. The news comes after the local chain organized community fundraising campaigns, selling tacos and popcorn to go, and seeking crowdsourced donations. So far, the business has raised more than $9,900 of a $10,800 goal on the crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe, with 240 people donating small amounts - mostly ranging from $5 to $100 apiece - to support the small business. MLive/Muskegon Chronicle was unable to reach the owners for comment. That money will go towards theater costs and projector fixes, according to the fundraising page. The cinema will also open a gift shop, with themed shirts, posters and coffee mugs. When the theaters reopen, new COVID-19-minded procedures will be in place, including deep cleaning of all areas of the theater, especially bathrooms and other shared surfaces, and limiting audience in each screening. Seats and armrests will be disinfected between screenings, and employees will be offered face masks and gloves. The cinemas doors closed on March 16, a week before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued her first stay-at-home order. We had hoped to remain a place where people could forget about the world for a few hours but its just not in the cards right now, the business wrote on Facebook at the time. Harbor Cinema is the latest iteration of a historic movie theater that operated on Lakeshore Drive for decades, weathering business ups and downs since first opening as the Rivoli in 1921. It was renamed Harbor Theater in 1975, and closed in June 2001, reopening again in 2008 and closing again in 2012. In 2013, it opened in its current iteration, under the ownership of David Taylor and Jason Tubergen, and relocated to its current Norton Shores location in September. In 2014, the couple purchased the Fremont Cinema, which had closed in 2013. Read more on MLive: West Michigan Symphony cancels live performances through the summer Set photos from 1979 show filming of Somewhere in Time on Mackinac Island Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival canceled due to coronavirus crisis Aligarh: A Samajawadi Party leaders nephew was stabbed to death here after which mobs went on a rampage and ransacked half a dozen shops. Mohammad Adil (20), nephew of SPs district vice president Sagheer Ahmad, and his friend Faheem Chaudhary were stabbed by about six armed men in Civil lines area last night, police said here today. The two were rushed to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College where Adil succumbed to his injuries. One of the assailants was nabbed by locals, while the others escaped. As the news spread, protesters took to the street and ransacked several shops and also attacked a police picket. Police said that the motive behind the killing was still not clear but it was working on important clues. Additional Superintendent of Police A K Srivastava said that an FIR had been filed this morning on the basis of the complaint filed by the victims family. The main accused in the FIR is Sameer Chaudhary, Kakrala, who has a long criminal history. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Baghdad, May 21 : A key Islamic State (IS) leader identified as Abdel Nasser Qardash, thought to be a possible candidate to succeed the terror groups late leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been arrested in Iraq, the country's intelligence services said on Thursday. In a statement, the Iraqi Security Information Cell confirmed the arrest ofQardash, who it said had a major role in the Battle of Baghuz in March 2019, in which the IS lost its last remaining stronghold in Syria, reports Efe news. The Iraqi forces said that Qardash was responsible for the manufacture and development of mustard gas for use inside Iraq; that Baghdadi made him the emir of manufacturing and development; and that he was sent to Syria to manufacture weapons, explosives and equipment. At various points he was also a governor, was involved in attacks on Kobane, Palmyra, Aleppo and Damascus, and was the supervisor of all administrative boards and the organization's manufacturing and processing sections, the statement added. It also highlighted the commitment of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service to pursue members of these terrorist groups and "hunt them one by one and bring them to justice". The news of the arrest was reported by the Al Iraqiya newspaper and the INA news agency, which said Qardash was a candidate to be the new caliph after the death of Baghdadi last October in a US operation in the north of Syria. In October 2019, US President Donald Trump announced that the US Special Operations Forces conducted an overnight raid targeting al-Baghdadi in northwestern Syria, during which the IS leader killed himself by igniting a suicide vest. Al-Baghdadi, 48, whose real name is Ibrahim Awad al-Badri, announced the establishment of a caliphate, or the so-called IS, in June 2014. After Baghdadi's death, the IS announced the appointment of Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi as the new "emir of believers and caliph of jihadis". Qurashi has never appeared in a voice or video recordings broadcast through the IS propaganda media as Baghdadi did, and his appearance and location have remained secret. Western intelligence services have doubts about the authenticity of his name since it does not match that of any known senior commander under Baghdadi. Qardash is one of the names attributed to the new IS leader in Iraq, where the extremist group has stepped up its operations in the past few weeks, coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Iraqi security forces and intelligence have had information for weeks of the presence of this leader in Iraq and have tracked his location, sources from the Joint Operations Command of the Iraqi Forces told Efe news earlier this month. A Myanmar doctor who criticised conservative Buddhist monks has been charged with insulting religion, officials said on Thursday, as a debate heats up over a proposal to teach sex education at school. Kyaw Win Thant, 31, was arrested on Tuesday after angry scenes at a monastery in the central city of Meiktila, where he apologised to monks for deriding them in Facebook posts. His attacks stemmed from comments posted by numerous other monks denouncing the government's proposal. Footage shared widely on social media showed hundreds of people who had come to the monastery denouncing Kyaw Win Thant and chanting "arrest him, or kill us". Several sources, including two officials from the Ministry of Religion, confirmed on Thursday that Kyaw Win Thant had been charged with insulting a religion or religious beliefs. He faces up to two years in prison if found guilty. His Facebook posts, which have since been deleted and could not be verified by Reuters, used language deemed offensive to monks and questioned whether they were in a position to pass judgement on sex education. The issue has been a hot topic on social media but remains taboo in the conservative, mainly Buddhist country where monks have long been an influential source of moral guidance. Sex education has broad support from women's groups, activists and among the younger generation but is largely opposed by nationalists, conservatives and many parents. U Warama, a Meiktila-based spokesman of the State Sangkha Maha Nayaka, a body of high-ranking Buddhist monks, said the monks had no opinion. "We had never said whether we agree or do not agree on the new curriculum. It is not monks' business," he said. Win Tun, a former politician and vocal supporter of nationalist groups, said there could be trouble ahead if the doctor went unpunished, and said sex education was unacceptable. Aside from attracting the widespread condemnation of the political opposition, a deal signed yesterday between Spains coalition government and Basque radical left party EH Bildu has had more tangible consequences for the executive. Spains largest employers association, the CEOE, today broke off talks with the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos administration, in protest at the agreement that committed to repealing a labor reform introduced in 2012 by the then-Popular Party government, and that, among other measures, made the Spanish job market more flexible by lowering the cost of firing employees. The agreement was signed last night by the PSOE, Unidas Podemos and EH Bildu in exchange for the latter partys abstention at a vote by lawmakers in the Congress of Deputies to extend Spains state of alarm by another two weeks. The government has been arguing that the exceptional circumstances, first implemented on March 14, are still essential for limiting mobility during Spains coronavirus deescalation phases, which are being implemented asymmetrically across the country. The commitment to overturning the 2012 labor reform was included in the governing deal signed by the PSOE and Unidas Podemos ahead of the formation of the coalition government earlier this year. The deal signed with EH Bildu on Wednesday specifically committed to repealing the entirety of the legislation before the end of the exceptional measures in place due to the coronavirus crisis. Late last night, the PSOE offered an explanatory note and watered down that commitment, saying instead that it would recover the labor rights taken away by the 2012 labor reform rather than an outright repeal. At around the same time as the content of the deal with EH Bildu was made public, a social dialogue meeting was just finishing, an encounter that aimed to study extending furloughing schemes known in Spain as ERTEs implemented during the coronavirus crisis beyond June 30. One of the participants at that meeting was the CEOE, which, during a video conference meeting today, decided that it is suspending talks with the government, due to what it described in a statement earlier in the day as its major irresponsibility and shocking contempt for social dialogue for having committed to repealing the 2012 labor reform with EH Bildu. A meeting that was scheduled today between the CEOE and Spains social security minister has already been canceled. The aim of the encounter was to examine the governments plans to introduce a minimum basic income scheme, which is aimed at protecting family units living in poverty. PSOE explanations Meanwhile, Adriana Lastra, the PSOE spokesperson in Congress and the signatory of the EH Bildu deal for her party, said today on Spanish TV network La Sexta that the group was surprised at the interpretations of the document agreed with Bildu. She went on to say that the PSOE was not signing anything different from what had already been agreed with Unidas Podemos. But logically nothing will take place without social dialogue, she continued. But yesterday what we were voting on was the extension of the state of alarm, and there was a lot at stake. We want to save many lives, she said, justifying the deal on the basis that it helped ensure that the state of alarm would be extended. That said, if EH Bildu had voted against the measure, the government still would have won the vote. All of the parliamentary groups know that we are negotiating with many people because we need the state of alarm to continue, because we have the PP, [far-right] Vox, ERC [the Catalan Republican Left], the CUP [a small Catalan separatist party] and [left-wing Valencian bloc] Compromis voting against The priority of the PSOE was to get the state of alarm passed. Lastra continued by saying that the explanatory note was released by the government when we saw that the CEOE and the Cepyme [a confederation of SMEs] was interpreting something different. Every step that this government takes, it does so hand-in-hand with social agents. With the unions and business leaders. Reaction of Ciudadanos Meanwhile, center-right party Ciudadanos (Citizens), which fiercely opposes independence for Spanish regions such as Catalonia or the Basque Country, said today that it was still open to negotiating with the government, despite being blindsided by the pact with EH Bildu. Ciudadanos lent its support to the government yesterday at the vote to extend the state of alarm, partly in order to ensure that the PSOE-Unidas Podemos coalition would not have to make concessions to the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) in exchange for votes from its lawmakers at the debate on Wednesday. The ERC is pushing for talks on the future of the Catalonia region to restart, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Ciudadanos was unaware that the government had signed the deal with EH Bildu which also wants independence for the Basque Country and was surprised to learn of its existence. But despite anger among the partys ranks today, a spokesperson for the group, Edmundo Bal, said today during press interviews that it would continue to negotiate with the government on a case-by-case basis, making clear that we are not partners in the Frankenstein government, a phrase that refers to the assortment of parties that have to unite in order for the minority government to be able to pass legislation. With reporting by Manuel V. Gomez, Miguel Angel Noceda and Elsa Garcia de Blas. English version by Simon Hunter. 2 dams break in central Michigan, thousands evacuated By CARLOS OSORIO, COREY WILLIAMS and TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press MIDLAND, Mich. Floodwaters have overtaken dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from communities in central Michigan, where the governor warned that the hometown of Dow Chemical Co. could end up under about 9 feet of water by Wednesday evening and said the state will investigate the dam operators. Families living along the Tittabawassee River and connected lakes in Midland County were ordered to leave home Tuesday evening, the second time in less than 24 hours. By Wednesday morning, water several feet deep covered some streets, parking lots and parkland and had reached a hotel near the river in downtown Midland. The river topped a previous record reading of 33.9 feet set during flooding in 1986, the National Weather Service said. Its flood stage is 24 feet, and it was expected to crest Wednesday at about 38 feet. The Weather Service urged anyone near the river to seek higher ground following catastrophic dam failures at the Edenville Dam, about 140 miles north of Detroit, and the Sanford Dam, about seven miles downriver. Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said Wednesday that the Sanford Dam is overflowing but that the extent of the structural damage is not yet known. If the entire dam structure is gone, as opposed to portions of it, there would be a much higher surge that will come down the river and that could raise the level much more quickly than what were seeing right at the moment, Kaye said. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said downtown Midland, a city of 42,000 people, faced an especially serious flooding threat. In the next 12 to 15 hours, downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water, the governor said during a late Tuesday briefing. We are anticipating an historic high water level. On Wednesday, Whitmer told reporters that her office has been in touch with the federal government and will ask FEMA for support. This is an event unlike anything weve ever seen before, she said. Whitmer said the state would investigate the operators of the dams and pursue every line of legal recourse we have. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it has directed Boyce Hydro to establish an independent investigation team to determine the cause of the damage to Sanford Dam, and that it would reach out to state officials regarding the Edenville Dam and send a staff engineer to assist with the investigation when its safe to do so. In 2018, the commission revoked the license of the company that operated the Edenville Dam due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to pass the most severe flood reasonably possible in the area. In 2018, the state rated the Edenville Dam, which was built in 1924, in unsatisfactory condition. The Sanford Dam, which was built in 1925, received a fair condition rating. Both dams are in the process of being sold. This incredible damage requires that we hold people responsible and we are pursuing and going to pursue every line of legal recourse that we can, Whitmer said. The initial readout is that this was a known problem for a while and thats why its important that we do our due diligence. There were 19 high hazard dams in unsatisfactory or poor condition in Michigan in 2018, ranking 20th among the 45 states and Puerto Rico for which The Associated Press obtained condition assessments. Dow Chemical Co. has been headquartered in Midland for more than 120 years, and its main plant sits on the citys riverbank. It is a quintessential company town with downtown parks located at the confluence of the Tittabawassee and Chippewa rivers and is known among architecture buffs for its midcentury modern structures first introduced by architect Alden B. Dow. One high school is named after the companys founder. The other high schools mascot is the Chemics. A Dow foundation has funded many community amenities such as a botanical garden. Dow Chemical, with 9,000 employees and contractors in Midland, on Tuesday shut down all operating units except those needed to contain chemicals, spokesman Kyle Bandlow said. By Wednesday, floodwater was mixing with on-site containment ponds and the company and U.S. Coast Guard activated emergency plans, Dow said in a statement. Only essential staff was on site and no injuries have been reported, the company said. Steve Carlson, 61, said he and his wife, Patty, fled their Midland home about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after an evacuation order was issued for a large swath of the city, and they noticed neighborhood creeks were spilling over local roads and threatening some homes. They had risen a lot and the worst was yet to come, Carlson said Wednesday morning. One couple in their neighborhood decided to stay put, but Carlson said everyone else had evacuated their homes. The Carlsons spent the night in a hotel. He said theyve been wearing face masks in the hotel to guard against the spread of the coronavirus. The hotel was very happy to see people coming in. There were refugees coming in, he said with a laugh. Further down the Tittabawassee River, communities in Saginaw County were on alert for flooding. Its going to continue downriver, Sara Pampreen, a weather service meteorologist, said Wednesday morning. Just exactly how much, thats the question. Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Midland County and urged residents threatened by the flooding to find a place to stay with friends or relatives, or to seek out one of several shelters. Emergency responders went door-to-door early Tuesday warning residents living near the Edenville Dam of the rising water. Some were able to return home, only to be told to leave again following the dams breach several hours later. The towns of Edenville, Sanford and parts of Midland have been evacuated, according to Selina Tisdale, spokeswoman for the city of Midland. There have been no reported injuries or fatalities due to the flooding, and no reports of anyone trapped by the high water, Tisdale said Wednesday. The Weather Service issued flood warnings because of widespread rainfall of 4 to 7 inches since Sunday. Heavy runoff pushed rivers higher. This coming Saturday, theres a 30% chance of rain, with more moving into the area Sunday and Monday. Our hope is we get a little time for the water to recede, Tisdale said. Lets keep our promise to South L.A. There are certain things you just dont do. You dont run with scissors. You dont stick your finger in a light socket. And you dont cut funding for a hospital doing a great job serving one of the sickest communities in California. Yet soon, state lawmakers may vote to do precisely that, forced into a corner for lack of federal support. ADVERTISEMENT The results will be devastating for Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH), which serves a safety-net population of over 1 million highly-vulnerable people in South Los Angeles. MLKCH has been a shining success story. It has repeatedly received an A grade for patient safety from the prestigious Leapfrog group. Its patient satisfaction scores rank in the top 10% of hospitals nationwide. Its all-digital, state-of-the-art systems puts it among the top 6% of hospitals nationwide for technological excellence. Its compassionate care and excellent results have garnered headlines nationwide and been a source of pride for our community. That could end soon. Currently lawmakers are considering a proposal by the Governor to revise the State Budget. Part of that revision involves stripping MLKCH of supplemental funding that enables it to provide high-quality carefunding established as legislation in 2010, key to making the dream of quality health care for an underserved community a reality. Those cuts may be reversed if federal funding comes through. MLKCH patients are 80% Medi-Cal and uninsured. Without that, the scope of services will be dramatically reduced. The quality the hospital is known for throughout the state and nation will diminish. We are not naive. We know Gov. Newsom and California legislators face terrible choices to keep our state going during this economically perilous time. And we know that the federal government is stalling on a relief package to support state governments. It is critical that we assist the Governor and our state lawmakers in advocating for federal support for California and other states. ADVERTISEMENT Both federal and state lawmakers need to ask themselves two questions. The first is: How vulnerable is the population that will be affected? By any measure, South Los Angeles is one of the most vulnerable communities in Californiaand the nation. Decades of neglect and lack of access to care have produced a population that is sicker than most on almost every measure. The poverty rate in South L.A. is double the rest of California. There is a huge burden of chronic disease diabetes prevalence is more than three times higher than the state average. Life expectancy is 10 years lower. Much of this has to do with decades of economic and social neglect. Underinvestment has taken its toll. Medi-Cal, the public insurance for the poor, pays doctors such a low rate that few can afford to work in South L.A. Not surprisingly, the gap in physicians is 1,200. It could now grow even larger. A lack of doctors to treat our community means poor outcomes, advanced chronic conditions and preventable disability and death. MLKCH was created to change these outcomes, by bringing high-quality doctors and healthcare professionals into our community through a unique funding arrangement with the state. We also opened clinics to offer the kind of primary and specialist care that can prevent and manage the chronic conditions that plague and undermine our patients. If this funding arrangement goes, so too will the doctors that this community desperately needs. Heres the second question lawmakers should ask: Is this an effective way to help the most vulnerable? Theres no point, after all, in funding things that dont work. But MLKCH does work. Further, it is the embodiment of a promise: that South L.A. would never again be left without a hospital and without access to the kind of care it needs and deserves for all its communities. Behind that promise was the acknowledgment that something was owed to a place that had survived riots, racism, and the repeated failure of the institutions that were supposed to protect them. Its rare when a clear need and an effective remedy exist together. It does in South L.A., right now. If you care about South L.A., find your federal Congress person and ask them to support federal legislation to help the states. Also, find your assembly member and state senator and tell them to support our hospital. Contact Gov. Newsom and urge him to protect the health of South Los Angeles: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/ Its not too late. If we raise our voices now in a clear and urgent protest, we can help our leaders keep the promise they made when our hospital opened just five short years ago. We can continue the process of healing not just patients, but an entire community. If the national security legislation is not done during the annual session of the National Peoples Congress or shortly afterwards, is there any guarantee that it can be passed by the Legco in the next two years? the source said. We can no longer allow acts like desecrating national flags or defacing of the national emblem in Hong Kong. A source familiar with the situation said the citys Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor arrived in Beijing on Thursday evening, but would not join the delegates for their meeting with Xia. Consider national security law and fair Legco elections, Hong Kong leader told Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, on Thursday called on Hong Kong delegates to strengthen their sense of political responsibility to more firmly uphold the one country, two systems policy. However, his work report omitted mention of the principles of Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong and the citys high degree of autonomy. Sources have told the Post that a draft of the national security resolution will be shared with delegates on Thursday night and presented as a motion to the NPC, on Friday afternoon. The NPC is then expected to vote on the resolution at the end of the annual session, likely to be on May 28. The resolution will then be forwarded to the Standing Committee of the NPC to chart out the actual details of the legislation. The Standing Committee, which last met on April 26 to 29, meets every two months and is expected to hold its next meeting as early as June and this could be the earliest date at which the legislation could be advanced. The NPC decision will delegate the NPC Standing Committee to draft the new legislation for Hong Kong, which would be included in Annex III of Hong Kongs Basic Law, the source said. The new law will be introduced in Hong Kong through promulgation, without the need for local legislation. If the process as outlined by sources is confirmed, Hong Kong will finally have national security laws, 23 years after the handover of the city from British to Chinese rule. It would also mark a significant departure from Beijings earlier decision to allow Hong Kong to draft and enact the legislation within its own legislature. Chinas two sessions of parliamentary meetings opened on Thursday. How Hong Kong can get Article 23 over and done with The Basic Law , or the citys mini-constitution, requires the Hong Kong government to enact its own national security law prohibiting acts of treason, secession, sedition, or subversion under Article 23. But the law has been in abeyance since 1997. In 2003, the Hong Kong government was forced to shelve a national security bill after an estimated half a million people took to the streets to oppose the legislation, which they warned would curb their rights and freedoms. protests triggered in June 2019 Since then, the government has steered clear of introducing such legislation. However, pressure to do so has been mounting afterby the now-withdrawn extradition bill morphed into a wider anti-government movement, with Beijing officials suggesting foreign hands were involved in violent activities akin to terrorism. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has reportedly been taken ill with Covid-19. Rumours of the iracund strongman's evacuation to Moscow on private jet have been circling in anonymous social media channels since Wednesday. But firm reports came only a day later, with Russian news agency Interfax citing an unnamed hospital source that Mr Kadyrov, 43, had been hospitalised with suspected Covid-19. Mr Kadyrov's press secretary was unavailable for comment at the time of publication. Akhmed Dudayev, an assistant to the Chechen leader, later claimed he remained "in control" of decision-making, but did not specifically deny his illness. According to Baza, a social media channel closely linked to Russian law enforcement, the Chechen president arrived in Moscow on Wednesday evening, and has been diagnosed with viral pneumonia in both lungs, with results of a Covid-19 test pending. "Kadyrov was evacuated to one of the best clinics in the Russian capital on [Wednesday]," the channel reported. "He complained of the first symptoms a few days ago. Later his condition deteriorated and doctors recommended he receive medical help in Moscow." Other media suggest the Chechen leader made the trip to Moscow a day later, on Wednesday, noting a special flight left Grozny for the capital at 2.30pm local time. Chechnya, a war-scarred republic in Russia's southern mountains, has been under strict lockdown since early April. Official statistics suggest a total of 1026 have been infected locally. Given issues over testing accuracy, it is likely the number is several orders higher. Recommended Russian celebrity presidential candidate in surprise visit to Chechnya It is immediately not clear how the Chechen leader could have been infected. Both he and his officials made televised trips to hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in recent weeks though only with the protection of expensive hazmat suits and respirators. In late April, Mr Kadyrov reported that the head of his epidemic task force had fallen ill with the virus. The Chechen leader was already rumoured to be in bad health, with reports suggesting serious illness earlier this year. Mr Kadyrov assumed power in 2004 after his father, Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated in a bomb blast in Grozny stadium. Since then, the tiger-loving warrior has forged a reputation for extravagance and terror, with several high-profile critics meeting their ends in suspicious circumstances. The Chechen president was considered the driving force behind several waves of persecution of LGBT+ people, beginning in 2017, that saw at least three men killed and hundreds tortured. Vet meets Vets (left to right): Olga Wuerz, Commander, DAV, Big D Chapter 57, Karen Fling, DVM, President of East Lake Pet Orphanage, Tom Bouressa, Adjutant, DAV, Big D Chapter 57 signing ceremony. "Its an exciting time at East Lake, this dream has been decades in the making." -Karen Fling, DVM Karen Fling, DVM and president of East Lake Pet Orphanage (ELPO), a Dallas-based, no-kill animal shelter, has successfully completed the purchase of the approximately 3,200-square-foot building adjacent to the existing East Lake Veterinary Hospital and East Lake Cat Care Center buildings. The newly acquired building has been home to the local DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Big D Chapter 57. For years, East Lake Pet Orphanage has operated through volunteer foster homes and inside East Lake Veterinary Hospital. Now, plans are underway to build a new multistory facility. Karen Fling says, Its an exciting time at East Lake, this dream has been decades in the making. After our best year of adoptions ever, and thousands of homeless pets rescued, rehabilitated and re-homed since 2001, we are happy to announce that East Lake Pet Orphanage will have a new standalone facility designed specifically to meet our growing needs! The new facility will be located between East Lake Veterinary Hospital and the new East Lake Cat Care Center, at 8630 Thurgood in Dallas. The DAV will continue to operate on the first floor of the existing building; our plan is to build five floors above the DAV meeting space to house East Lake Pet Orphanage needs. In an exciting collaboration with the veterans of Big D Chapter 57, our new facility will also serve as a shared community meeting space, volunteer activity center, and continue to be a meeting space for the chapter, Karen Fling, DVM says. We are also excited to announce plans to extend East Lake Pet Orphanages nonprofit mission to include veterinary care for veterans animals when the veterans themselves need medical care. A representative of the VA hospital recently confirmed that despite having excellent medical care available, the greatest barrier to veterans receiving in-patient treatment is the need for pet care. The veterans dont want to leave their animals at home alone. Also, while veterans enjoy a variety of governmental support, no provision exists for general veterinary care. Veterinary care for veterans is critically important, especially given that many veterans have service or emotional support pets, as well as pets that simply help give them a better quality of life. East Lake Pet Orphanage is grateful for the incredible community support which has allowed us to rescue and rehabilitate thousands of homeless pets since 2001. Now, were seeking contributions to help us move our pet rescue efforts to a facility designed specifically for the needs of the animals we help. Our dream, five-story building will have a cat floor, a dog floor, an inclusive exercise floor, a boarding floor, and a convalescent/intensive care floor. Funding needs are especially critical currently in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Were seeing a 10-fold increase in requests from owners to surrender their pets. People are afraid because of economic challenges and increased unemployment rates due to the coronavirus that they will be unable to care for their pets. We are asking for help, no matter how small your donation might be. Every penny will go to helping us achieve our dream of delivering a higher level of pet rescue and care than ever. Please help at whatever level you can, concluded Dr. Fling. Project partners include: Shelter Design: Chase Corker General contractor: Toby Anderson Visit or volunteer at East Lake Pet Orphanage, or by calling 214-342-3100, https://www.eastlakepetorphanage.com/ or email Gerad@welovepets.net. Donate at: https://elpo.networkforgood.com/ A prominent Labor MP has accused Scott Morrison of 'offending' China by calling for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus. Joel Fitzgibbon, the opposition party's agricultural minister, said the Australian government was damaging relations with its biggest trading partner. He accused the Morrison government of deliberately 'offending the Chinese' by making a series of calls for the inquiry, which China has finally agreed to. Mr Morrison's remarks were met with disdain by some Chinese government officials, with an unprecedented 80 per cent tariff since slapped on barley exports. China is Australia's biggest trading partner, buying 35 per cent of all exports. 'The world was always going to have an inquiry into COVID-19. Of course it was,' Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC. The relationship between Australia and China has become tense during the former's calls for an independent coronavirus inquiry (pictured, a wet market in Guangzhou on May 4) Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon (pictured) accused Australia of 'offending the Chinese' 'And China was always going to agree to an inquiry because its in Chinas interests too, in the medium to long term. 'So what was the interest the prime minister was pursuing? 'Running out there, in front of the pack, not knowing what model he was talking about, without consulting anyone How did that help Australia? 'We didnt need to be out there in front, offending the Chinese.' China has insisted the barley tariffs are unrelated to the cornavirus inquiry, but are instead the result of a long-standing investigation into dumping - where prices are artificially altered. Vendors are seen wearing face masks as they sell prawns in Wuhan (pictured on April 15), with wet markets believed to be the source of COVID-19 A man wearing protective gear walks past shops in Wuhan, where the virus began in December, on May 18 (pictured) after restrictions were lifted In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping was one of the last world leaders to sign the World Health Assembly resolution to hold the inquiry. But it is a period of tense relations between the two nations, with Chinese officials making a series of barbed remarks about Australia. Chinese foreign minister Zhao Lijian last week accused Australia 'politicising' the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for an inquiry. Mr Fitzgibbon also accused Mr Morrison, as well as his predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, of 'demonising China' by tightening foreign investment rules. His comments go against the Labor party's agreed position on the situation, The Australian reported. A worker in protective suit takes body temperature measurement of a woman in the Chinese city of Jilin on May 17 (pictured) as the country recovers from coronavirus The party's leader, Anthony Albanese, has shown strong support for taking action on China in response to the barley tariffs, as well as praising the idea of an inquiry. 'We supported (the review) on day one We supported it consistently. In the end, this was a EU resolution. Its a good thing,' he told Sky News on Wednesday. It comes after a Chinese commentator accused of Australia of being a 'frustrating' and 'un-friendly' trading partner. The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the communist government, accused Australia of 'exploiting' China and presenting itself 'as a victim'. On Monday, China announced the 80.5 per cent levy on barley exports would start on Tuesday, after weeks of threatening to boycott Australian industries. Chinese commuters are seen wearing face masks a they cross the road in Beijing on May 18 (pictured) after restrictions were lifted Australia sends between half and two-thirds of all its barley to China, making the tariff decision a massive blow to the $600 million a year industry. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham revealed the government was given no advanced notice of China's decision and called it 'deeply disappointing'. 'From China's perspective, Australia has never been a friendly trading partner,' a piece in the state-run Global Times said. 'And consultations with the country on trade issues have always been frustrating, which has apparently weakened its motivation to promote bilateral trade. 'The Australian government seems more interested in exploiting China's suspension of some beef imports and its potential imposition of tariffs on Australian barley to describe itself as a victim of trade sanctions.' Scott Morrison (pictured in parliament on May 14) has pushed for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak The COVID-19 outbreak is thought to have begun at a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan (pictured, a similar market reopened in Guangzhou on May 4) China claimed Australia was dumping barley and subsidising farmers, insisting the tariffs are nothing to do with coronavirus. AUSTRALIAN BARLEY: IN NUMBERS Between half and two-thirds of all Australian barley is sold to China. Barley is grown across 4,035,000 hectares, with the largest amount being grown in Western Australia. Australias grains industry accounts for more than 170,000 jobs across Australia from farm to export dock. About 65 per cent of Australias overall grain produced is exported. This includes up to 90 per cent of that grown per in Western Australia and South Australia. Source: National Farmers Federation Advertisement 'We learnt through the official notification that the Chinese Government made. It's a deeply disappointing decision particularly for Australian barley farmers,' Mr Birmingham told Today on Tuesday morning. 'This is a decision that reflects on the Chinese Government. We'll look at the details of it carefully and closely. It is a deeply disappointing decision. 'We'll analyse all the details of it thoroughly and reserve all our rights in terms of how we appeal, how we respond.' The tariff, to remain in place for five years, is set to cripple Australia's drought-affected grain farmers. Australia is the biggest barley supplier to China, exporting between $1.5 billion and $2 billion worth a year, which is more than half its exports. If the state governments really wanted to bring reforms, first they should have focussed on the poor labourers, says BMS national general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay. Amid COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, when the labour force across the country is at the receiving end due to suspension of work and no wages, three BJP-ruled states Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have suspended labour laws for three years by issuing ordinances. The RSS-affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), undertook a nationwide agitation against ordinances on Wednesday, demanding their immediate revocation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly emphasised that the ongoing crisis is an opportunity to rebuild and emerge better. The message appears to be lost on states that seem to be in an indecent hurry to bring in anti-labour policies, at a time when the plight of migrant workers should have spurred sympathetic thinking on the life and living condition of the workers, who keep the economy moving. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the national general secretary of BMS, Virjesh Upadhyay discusses the fallouts of the ordinances issued by the BJP-ruled states, a gross violation of labour laws, problems of migrant workers and the action plan. Edited excerpts: Where does the problem lie? Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have suspended labour laws for three years by issuing anti-worker ordinances. Law is meant to protect the weak and the poor, and withdrawing the support of law from poor means they would face exploitation. Whats the justification behind the suspension of labour laws? The labourers and factory workers wont be protected by labour laws in these three states. If the state governments really wanted to bring reforms, first they should have focussed on the poor labourers, who have suffered the most due to COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Second, they should bring reforms in the enforcement mechanism to make labour laws more effective and far-reaching. Instead the governments have come up with the fantastic idea of completely doing away with labour laws. This act will give industries a free-hand to do whatever they want to do, which anyway they have been doing so far. The presence of labour law is a kind of mental assurance and protection for the workers. But now due to suspension of laws, a worker cant move labour court against exploitation of any kind. In a nutshell, this move is crushing the workers rights. What changes does BMS want in the ordinances issued by these states? BMS doesnt want any changes in the ordinances, but complete withdrawal. We want the governments to bring reforms for better implementation of labour laws by developing better infrastructure. Has any state responded to the letter written by the BMS regarding the withdrawal of the ordinance? The state general secretaries of the BMS have written to the chief ministers of respective states concerned. However, except Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the others didnt respond. Only Chouhan has shown the courtesy to have a meeting with the BMS and discuss the issue. Some states have also extended the working shift from eight to 12 hours per day for workers in industrial units... Yes, its a major problem again. Fourteen states, both BJP and non-BJP ones like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, etc., by unilaterally changing labour laws, have either extended or decided to increase the mandatory working hours for labourers from eight to 12. The workers are human beings and not machines. They work to earn their livelihood and improve their quality of life. Why should they be compelled to work compulsorily for 12 hours? Even today, if the need arises they work 10 to 16 hours but it shouldnt be made mandatory. International Labour Organisation, the first specialised agency of the United Nations, mandated eight hours of working per day or 48 hours per week in 1919 on the basis of several parameters like the physical and mental health of workers, their hygiene, family life, etc. This compulsory 12-hour shift isnt acceptable. We dont want to know the reason but the justification behind such arbitrary decisions taken by the states. But Uttar Pradesh has recently withdrawn its order of 12-hour shifts for workers. Yes, the Uttar Pradesh government has done it after a notice from the Allahabad High Court. But that doesnt solve the problem as the state government has suspended key labour laws for three years. This pandemic and lockdown have brought the problems of migrant workers to the surface in a big way. Isnt the law regarding the migrant workers strong enough to protect them? The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979 was enacted to prevent exploitation of inter-state migrant workers and, to ensure fair and decent conditions of employment for them. However, there has been gross violation of the act by successive governments for more than four decades due to lacunae in the enforcement mechanism. Thats the reason why after so many years, questions regarding the existence of migrant workers have arisen who are they, from where they have come, how to reach them, etc. India is a developing nation, but what kind of development is this? Were not even aware of our workforce. There is no comprehensive data about these migrant workers. Even if government wants to reach out to them with benefits, how is it going to do so? Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on several occasions said on TV channels that his government had fed 5 lakh people or one crore in a day; whereas people complained of not getting food. Where is the money going? In the past, it was said that during a disaster, money used to get consumed by the system. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had rightly said that of every rupee spent by the government, only 15 paise reached the intended beneficiary. It seems its still continuing. Several state governments announced that they would facilitate the migrants in reaching up to the state borders, but no transport was provided to them. Like, the Maharashtra government didnt provide transport to labourers to reach Madhya Pradesh border. As a result, they had to walk hundreds of kilometres and 16 died on a railway track. Its so pathetic. Only after this pandemic, people at large have come to know that theres something called migrant labourers. But again, its a temporary phenomenon. Once the pandemic gets over, migrant workers will be out of mind. Who knows someday this act may also get repealed as happened with the labour law. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has recently announced a slew of measures and packages. Will it benefit migrant workers? I try to see merit in the announcements, not problem. They may have the will to deliver ration to migrant labourers. The Centre has given money to the states, asking the latter to distribute ration, but do they have proper infrastructure to reach out to all the migrant workers? The irony of our system is that a person drawing Rs 1 lakh salary per month holds a BPL ration card, whereas a true beneficiary runs from pillar to post to get a BPL card. From day one, I have never questioned the intention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During his first term, when he announced the opening of bank accounts for those in the unorganised sector, it was highly criticised by various social actors, who act differently due to vested political interests. These social actors (also activists) can move the Supreme Court with a petition at midnight, but unfortunately, no one cares for the relief of labourers and workers. Whether in opposition or in power, one shouldnt resort to playing political games during this pandemic. Cases have been reported where labourers were beaten up by contractors when they asked their wages to go back home. Its not only about contractors. The question is about the kind of development that has taken place in the last 70 years. A fear pandemic was created immediately after the lockdown was announced on 25 March. The industries started saying that it would be extremely difficult to run units and pay wages. Are our industrialists so poor that they cant pay wages to workers during a month-long lockdown? The reason is that our system is driven by greed and is an outcome of capital-driven economy. These forces want to get benefitted at the cost of poor labourers. In many states, contractors, employers or agencies didnt pay salary or wages for the month of April. In addition, crores of workers have lost their jobs. We have decided to fight for our workers. What is your action plan ahead? BMS staged a nationwide agitation on Wednesday, by hitting the streets with our demands as a Nationwide Protest Day while following the norms of social distancing and lockdown. The aim is to put pressure on state governments to withdraw their anti-worker ordinances and revoke the order of 12-hour working schedule. We have sent letters to district authorities on issues like payment of wages, job losses, relief measures to unregistered workers, etc. Were strongly against unbridled privatisation of public sector undertakings. Today protest demonstration took place in various parts of the country and included tea plantation workers in Assam, copper mine workers of Madhya Pradesh, electricity employees of Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, insurance and National Health Mission workers of Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir, construction workers of Odisha, beedi workers of Telangana, marine fish workers of Kerala, coal mines workers, employees of several PSUs, railways and defence sector, and migrants workers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The BMS has urged the Central government to issue stringent directions for immediate payment of wages to labourers, and simultaneously intervene and halt changes in the labour laws being initiated by the state government. Well hold conventions involving states and industries on workers demands on 30 and 31 May. The people Democratic Party(PDP) has released a statement claiming that some top politicians working for the All Progressive Congress(APC) plan to foist an emergency rule in Rivers state. This was made known via a statement on the official Twitter handle of the party on Wednesday, 20th May. The PDP has warned against the exposed plots by certain unpatriotic and disgruntled individuals, working for the APC to orchestrate a security situation and push for the imposition of a state of emergency in Rivers State. Read Also: Lockdown: Nigerians Still Awaiting Your Broadcast PDP Tells Buhari Advertisement The party said it has been informed of plots by such power-hungry politicians to sponsor their misguided youth to unleash violence and unrest in certain parts of the state to create an impression of security breakdown so as to validate their plot for the imposition of emergency rule in the state. The PDP said such anti-people elements include some individuals who were rejected by the people of Rivers State in the 2019 governorship election, as well as their godfathers, who believe they have the backing of power mongers at the federal level, and now seek to manipulate situations with the COVID-19 pandemic to cause confusion and push their plot to take over the governance of the state through the back door. It is clear that the actions of the Government of Rivers State under Governor @GovWike in protecting the state against the spread of COVID-19 in the state are targeted at nothing but to protect lives, and such have continued to yield very positive results. Nigerians are also not unaware of the politicization of the fight against COVID-19 by the agents of the Federal Government, who appeared uncomfortable with the management of the pandemic by Rivers State government and other states just because they are controlled by PDP governors It is instructive for those power mongers to note that this is a time of global pandemic when our country needs her unity. Our party, therefore, warns those seeking to cause confusion and disaffection to steer clear of Rivers state as they will be firmly resisted. More so, our nation is a democracy and as such, it is guided by rules. The PDP however calls on the people of Rivers state to remain calm, alert and united in resisting all attempts by such agents of violence who are seeking to cause trouble in the state. At least three women were killed and eight others injured in a stampede on Thursday when a large number of people gathered at the residence of a wealthy businessman who was distributing cash to the families affected by the coronavirus lockdown. The Muslim businessman was distributing Rs 5,000 to people, who lost their livelihood in the coronavirus crisis, to mark the 27th day of the Ramzan fast, police said. A large number of people gathered at the businessman's house in Central Colombo's Maligawatta area violating the COVID-19 lockdown curfew, police said. Police said at least six people have been arrested. Sri Lanka, which has reported over 1,000 COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, eased the lockdown rules allowing businesses and offices to re-open while complying with health regulations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - As Friday prayers began in the main mosque here last week, worshipers filled the front courtyard. Late arrivals squeezed into the back and into overflow areas, disregarding the tape on the stone floor showing people where to stand to maintain social distance. It wasn't just in Rawalpindi. Despite a rising number of coronavirus cases throughout Pakistan, officials in other major cities - Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore - described similar scenes during the holy month of Ramadan, which ends Saturday. The large religious gatherings reflect the conflict between Pakistan's powerful imams, who successfully lobbied the government last month to allow congregational prayers, and health officials, who warn that country's fragile health system could be overwhelmed if current trends continue. "This is the house of God," said Mullana Hafiz Muhammed Iqbal Rizvi, the imam at the Jamia Mosque in Rawalpindi. "It's our responsibility to make sure more and more people will come here." The number of coronavirus cases in this country of 230 million has quadrupled in the past month, jumping from 12,000 to over 48,000. And the rate of new infections is steadily rising: The number of cases increased 30% in just the past week. More than 1,000 people have died. Yet the country's Supreme Court ruled Monday that the coronavirus "apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan," and government officials, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, have suggested the economic costs of prolonged restrictions outweigh the health costs of increased infection. The same influential religious leaders who called for the easing of restrictions for Ramadan are now demanding they be done away with completely for Eid, a holiday that marks the end of the holy month. The eased restrictions on religious gatherings put Pakistan at odds with other Muslim countries. In Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, mosques were closed during Ramadan to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and curfews are planned during Eid. Mufti Muhammad Hanif Qureshi, a religious scholar in Karachi, said he expects people to participate in Eid prayers at his mosque "in huge numbers." "We demand the government to avoid any confrontation," he said. "Otherwise, it will be held responsible for any law and order situation." Qaiser Sajjad, the secretary general of the Pakistani Medical Association, is in touch with doctors and hospital directors across the country. As each shutdown restriction has been lifted, he said, the medical community has become increasingly worried. "This is a very bad time," Sajjad said of the combination of accelerating infections and lifting of restrictions. Even with a low death rate, he said, Pakistan may not have enough doctors to care for all the sick. On a recent visit to the Jamia Mosque in Rawalpindi, the number of worshipers was significantly smaller than a normal Friday turnout, but none of the government guidelines - social distancing, mandatory use of face masks and the elimination of prayer mats - were strictly enforced. Many of those who came to pray said they believed God would protect them from infection inside a house of worship. Others said the global pandemic made it more important for Muslims to attend mosque. "This is a punishment from God, and we must ask his forgiveness," said Raja Nasib Ali, a 46-year-old businessman wearing a surgical mask over a long beard dyed with henna. Naveed Paracha, a 35-year-old garment-shop employee, said he came to the mosque because he feels his faith is stronger than any virus. "Diseases come and go, but for Muslims you always have to stand in front of God," he said. The Pakistani government never issued a countrywide lockdown, but by late March it had banned all international flights, and nearly all Pakistani provinces were under some form of shutdown, although most restrictions were poorly enforced. Restrictions began to formally ease in early May. This week, schools and restaurants remained closed but markets, factories, tailors, salons and most public transit across the country had reopened. And in markets and along commercial streets across Pakistan, the crowds are even greater than in the mosques. On May 11, images emerged of shoppers filling markets that stretched for blocks. People were packed so tightly together there was little room to move, let alone maintain distance. "This is terrifying," Waseem Khawaja said of the images. Khawaja, the senior doctor at the main hospital in Islamabad treating coronavirus patients, said he had seen a sharp increase in the rate of new infections since Ramadan began. With the approach of Eid, when people traditionally buy new clothing and visit distant relatives, Khawaja predicts infection rates will continue to rise. Many Pakistani families are also growing concerned. Fida Hussain, a father of three, has watched the virus spread through his neighborhood in Islamabad over the past two months, infecting more than a dozen people. "This is very disturbing for us," he said of the reopening. "It's dangerous." For his family, Ramadan has been a time of stress, anxiety and isolation. Hussain said he made the decision not to return to normal life after seeing the devastating impact of the virus on countries with much stronger health-care systems, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Hussain's brother-in-law, Taimoor ul-Islam, looked deflated when describing his decision not to pray at the mosque during the holy month, for fear of spreading the virus. "There is not the kind of satisfaction as I had previously," he said of praying at home. But, he added, "if I survive by not going to the mosque, I have the rest of my life to pray there." - - - Shaiq Hussain in Rawalpindi and Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report. VANCOUVER, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - GoldMining Inc. (the "Company" or "GoldMining") (TSX: GOLD;OTCQX: GLDLF) is pleased to announce that at its annual general meeting held on May 21, 2020 (the "Meeting"), all nominees listed in its management information circular dated April 3, 2020 were elected as directors of the Company. Each of the following six nominees proposed by management was elected as a director on a vote by show of hands. The proxies received by management with respect to the election of directors were as follows: Director Percentage of Votes For Percentage of Votes Withheld Amir Adnani 99.30% 0.70% Garnet Dawson 99.29% 0.71% David Kong 99.33% 0.67% Gloria Ballesta 99.04% 0.96% Hon. Herb Dhaliwal 99.02% 0.98% Mario Bernardo Garnero 99.28% 0.72% In addition, at the Meeting, shareholders approved the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, as the Company's auditor for the ensuing year and the authorization of the board to fix the auditor's remuneration. A total of 54,434,203 common shares of the Company were voted at the Meeting, representing 37.30% of the votes attached to all outstanding common shares. Detailed voting results for the Meeting are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About GoldMining Inc. GoldMining is a public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of gold assets in the Americas. Through its disciplined acquisition strategy, GoldMining now controls a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, U.S.A., Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Additionally, GoldMining owns a 75% interest in the Rea Uranium Project, located in the Western Athabasca Basin of Alberta, Canada. SOURCE GoldMining Inc. Related Links www.goldmining.com An Ikeja High Court has sentenced a bricklayer, Ibrahim Olaore and a mechanic, Nurudeen Moshood, to 21 years in prison for snatching the handbag of a banker in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that during Thursdays virtual proceeding, Justice Yetunde Adesanya held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and found the defendants guilty of a two-count charge of conspiracy and robbery. Section 297(1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011 provides that anyone found guilty of the offence of robbery shall be sentenced upon conviction to imprisonment of not less than 21 years. The above is a mandatory prescribed term of imprisonment and the position of the law is that where no discretion regarding sentence is to be exercised the period of incarceration before the accused is found guilty cannot be taken into consideration when sentence is being pronounced. My sentence is as follows, you Ibrahim Olaore and Nurudeen Moshood are hereby sentenced to a mandatory 21-year term of imprisonment with effect from today Thursday 21st May 2020. This is the judgment of the court, Justice Adesanya said. Earlier before the sentence, the counsel to the defendants, A. Onalaja, in her allocutus (plea for mercy), told the court to temper justice with mercy. She noted that the defendants were young men in their twenties who still had their lives ahead of them. The defendants are in their prime of life, they are barely starting their lives. It is unfortunate that they have to start on this kind of note. I humbly plea that the court considers the ages of the defendants, the time they have spent in incarceration and also the fact that the second defendant (Moshood) is a father to a young child, Ms Onalaja said. According to the prosecution led by Adenike Oluwafemi, the defendants alongside Segun Ogunmola who is at large, committed the offences at 6.20 a.m. on April 24, 2016, at Foursquare Bus-stop, Ikotun, Lagos. The two defendants were on an unmarked motorcycle which was being driven by Ogunmola. They snatched the handbag of one Ms Blessing Popoola, who was on her way to church that Sunday morning. They were, however, apprehended about 30 minutes later by some youths who were on high alert due to the spate of motorcycle robberies in the area. READ ALSO: Ms Popoolas handbag containing her mobile phone, a Sterling Bank identity card and N4, 000 cash were recovered from the defendants, Ms Oluwafemi said. NAN reports that during the trial, Ms Popoola, the complainant, and Adekunle Adeshina, a police inspector at the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) unit, testified on behalf of the prosecution while the two defendants testified in their defence. Ms Popoola, while testifying in court, positively identified the defendants as the men who robbed her on her way to church. The banker noted that hours after the robbery, she called her mobile phone which was picked by one Sgt Emeka who told her that the men who attacked her had been apprehended. Ms Popoola noted that she was summoned to Ikotun Police Station to retrieve her belongings. Messrs Olaore and Moshood in their testimonies denied committing the robbery and also knowing each other. The defendants had said they were passengers on a motorcycle and they were accosted and overpowered by some youths along Governor Road, Ikotun, Lagos, and falsely accused of robbery. (NAN) This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. China is set to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong, provoking fears of further protests as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The measures will allow for widespread crackdowns on anti-government sentiment and are expected to ramp up hostility between Beijing and pro-democracy protesters in the former British colony. Riot police in a Hong Kong shopping mall on May 1. Credit:Getty Images The National Peoples Congress, which will begin in Beijing on Friday, is expected to circumvent the Hong Kong government by establishing national security laws that would ban sedition, secession and treason. Under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong has been unable to pass its own national security legislation. China has so far resisted imposing its own regulations. SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. (OTCPink: GRSO) -- Today Pure Roots Urban Farms has announced that it will be donating all fresh produce to the Saskatoon Food Bank that is currently being grown in the Farm Boys Design Corp., research and development unit operating at Innovation Place. "This is a unique and innovative opportunity for us to give back to the Saskatoon community," said Bailey Fischl, President and CEO of Pure Roots Urban Farms. "After almost 8 weeks of coordination and growing our team was eager to finally deliver our first crop of produce for the Food Bank this week." The first harvest weighed in at 28 pounds of mixed leafy greens, and Ms. Fischl expects the donation to average 30 pounds per week as more plants come into production. "This initiative speaks to the power of innovation, a core value of the SFBLC (Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Center). When people with good hearts and great ideas come together in a collaboration that benefits community, we know that anything is possible!" states Deborah Hamp, Director of Operations and Engagement with the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Center. "This wonderful donation helps the SFBLC provide another layer of fresh, nutrient dense, locally grown food to those who need it most. We are so excited to see this project grow, and grateful for all those involved who are offering their time and resources in support of our beautiful community." Pure Roots joined forces with other local organizations to make sure that the project became a reality. FarmBoys Design Corporation covers the operational costs, Grow Solutions Holdings/Pure Roots Urban Farms pays for labour, grow media, and packaging, The Better Good donates the seeds, Meewasin Valley Authority donates the water, and the fertilizers are donated by the University of Saskatchewan's Department of Plant Sciences. Pure Roots believes in connecting people to their food and educating the community on the benefits, history, and prevention that whole foods can provide. Read more about Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Pure Roots Holding, Ltd., on our official website, as well as further information about the Company and its latest news releases at http://www.aerogrowmanufacturing.com, www.purerootsfarms.com, www.grsoinvest.com. Chad Fischl Chief Executive Officer and Director PO Box 2869 Jackson, WY 83001 (360) 612-0180 Source: Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. (GRSO) Released May 21, 2020 OTCPink: GRSO This press release may include certain statements that are forward-looking in nature and that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc., current expectations and projections regarding future events, which are based on currently available information. The forward-looking statements in this press release may also include statements relating to Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc.'s anticipated new developments, business prospects, financial performance, strategies and similar matters. Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law. SOURCE Grow Solutions Holdings, Inc. More than half of the staff at the controversial direct provision centre in Caherciveen, Co Kerry, had not been Garda vetted by May 7, almost two months after the residents moved in, the Irish Examiner has learned. It has also emerged that most, if not all, of the staff had not completed a mandatory Tusla course required of anybody working in a centre with children by that date. It is not clear if all the staff have now been Garda vetted and have completed the Tusla course at this stage, with a number of questions to the Department of Justice going unanswered by the time of going to press. Local residents have claimed those working at the centre were hotel staff and wholly unprepared to deal with the risks and had no medical expertise in controlling the spread of Covid-19. Charlie Flanagan, the justice minister, had an unprecedented open letter of apology to the people of Kerry and Caherciveen published in local newspapers in which he admitted mistakes in how he and his department handled the relocation of the 100 asylum seekers from Dublin to Caherciveen on March 18. More than 25 people, including three staff, have tested positive for Covid-19 to date. He also took to the airwaves yesterday when he extended that apology to include the residents. But he stood over the decision to relocate the residents, and rejected calls to close the centre at the Skellig Star Hotel in the town. However, the apology appears to have backfired, with locals and opposition parties saying it does not go far enough and reiterating calls for the centre to be closed. Residents in Caherciveen went as far as taking out a full-page advertisement in todays Kerrys Eye newspaper rejecting the apology. The 1,000-word response from the Caherciveen Community and Business Alliance says the minister did not address the real issue. Residents of the Skellig Star DP Centre in Caherciveen emerge from the Centre on Wednesday after a four week lockdown. Picture Alan Landers. The crux of the issue for us, minister, is that there has been concealment of the risk to the residents of the hotel, to the staff and to the people of Caherciveen and Kerry since March ... there was a clear conflict of interest here Profits v Management of Public Health Risk. The response says staff were hotel staff and wholly unprepared to deal with the risks and had no medical expertise in controlling the spread of Covid-19. A major issue, according to the letter, was the failure to inform people that some residents displayed symptoms soon after arriving at the centre, and local people were not informed about the dangers for three weeks. That was 3 full weeks that the residents didnt know there was an immediate risk in this over crowded hotel where strangers were sharing rooms, 3 full weeks that the local staff were going home to their families and other villages in S Kerry, 3 full weeks that Cahersiveen or Kerry didnt know of the real risk of the presence of Covid19 in the hotel. And 4 weeks before the HSE got involved on the ground. Neither HSE nor HIQA have any remit over a DPC run by a For Profit company. A statement from asylum seekers at the centre, provided to Radio Kerry, thanked the minister for accepting the move to the hotel was wrong, but they said the decision to move people on March 18 still needed to be addressed. The residents, who had been in lockdown for the past three weeks, were allowed out for the first time yesterday. A protest is being held at the hotel today. Flanagan's statements - fact or fiction? Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan made a number of statements yesterday about the direct provision centre in Caherciveen, Co Kerry, which contradict the version of events confirmed by the Irish Examiner through extensive documentation and interviews with parties intimately aware of the circumstances around the setting up and running of the centre in the Skellig Star hotel. STATEMENT: There was a full assessment carried out as to the suitability or otherwise. Charlie Flanagan on Kerry Today with Jerry OSullivan. Absolutely, there was a full assessment (of the Skellig Star hotel). Charlie Flanagan on Today with Sarah McInerney. THE FACTS: An official from the department visited the hotel on September 18, 2019. There was no inspection of any element of the hotel. When queried by the Irish Examiner about an inspection, a statement from the department said that elements of the hotel were identified. STATEMENT: We discussed it with the health authorities and the HSE (in relation to moving asylum seekers to Caherciveen). Charlie Flanaganon Kerry Today with Jerry OSullivan. THE FACTS: In a letter to councillor Michael Cahill, a HSE official wrote the following on the move to Caherciveen. The decision to open a direct provision centre, the location of the centre, and the decision to transfer people into that centre at a time of a pandemic was entirely a decision of the Department of Justice. The HSE received limited notice in regard to the opening of the centre and voiced its concern at the time in regard to the timing of the move and the access of the centres residents to health services at a time when all of our healthcare services are being stretched to their limit. STATEMENT: Any single person who had a desire to have a room on their own have one we have accommodated people on that basis. Charlie Flanagan on Today with Sarah McInerney. THE FACTS: This was not done at the outset and for a number of weeks at least due to the numbers of residents. Some rooms have remained empty because residents dont want to stay in rooms from which infected people have departed. There has been no deep cleaning of the hotel despite reports. STATEMENT: We made arrangements for people to self-isolate. Charlie Flanagan on Today with Sarah McInerney. THE FACTS: The department was informed by April 2 there was no more room for self- isolating due to the numbers obliged to do so by then. STATEMENT: Social distancing measures were acted on pretty speedily. Charlie Flanagan on Today with Sarah McInerney. THE FACTS: For at least 10 days after arriving, residents ate in the communal dining area and queued up for their meals. STATEMENT: The process about opening the centre began last September, is that right? Sarah McInerney on Today with Sarah McInerney. No, thats not right. Mr Flanagan. THE FACTS: That is right. STATEMENT: In fact, and this I believe is a really crucial point, it was well over a fortnight [the incubation period] before any of our residents in Caherciveen began to show symptoms or were confirmed as positive for Covid-19. Mr Flanagan in open letter to the people of Caherciveen, explaining why none of the residents could have contracted the virus in Dublin prior to arrival in Kerry. THE FACTS: The first display of symptoms was on March 21, three days after arrival. The department was informed of this on March 24. The first symptoms that resulted in a positive diagnosis for the virus was on March 29, 11 days after the asylum seekers arrived. Nine more nurses and midwives have tested positive for Coronavirus, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) has confirmed. The figure takes the number from 32 to 41 with one death, the GRNMA said, adding that 288 others have also been quarantined countrywide. According to the GRNMA, the numbers do not include members at the Covid-19 treatment centers, adding that a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infections from patients for the outbreak contribute to the staggering figure. What is more interesting is that those that have been infected are not at the Covid-19 treatment centers, they are those at the periphery, said Dr. David Tenkorang Twum. Lack of PPE Like many countries, Ghana is grappling with a severe shortage of PPE for its workers, especially at peripheral health facilities. The countrys Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu, for instance, had said at a press briefing in Accra that the government has selected some companies to locally produce some personal protective kits as announced by President Akufo-Addo. The companies are to produce a total of 3.6 million masks which will be distributed across the country. But Dr. Twum wants the government to prioritize the safety of health workers, especially in community health facilities in high-risk areas. We believe that the government has the responsibility of providing the necessary logistics in terms of PPE and not focusing on the isolation centers but decentralizing the items to even periphery But we are talking to our members to practice the universal precautions of infection prevention, Dr. Tenkorang who was speaking on Accra-based Joy FM stressed. 30 health workers test positive for Covid-19 in Ashanti Region Already 30 health workers in Ghanas Ashanti Region have already tested positive for the virus. Director of Health Services in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang who made this disclosure at a press briefing Wednesday, however, disclosed that the medics are responding to treatment. This figure is part of the regions total case count which currently stands at 886 with seven deaths as of May 20, 2020. The Health Director also said that 25 out of 43 Districts and Municipal Assemblies have reported cases of the virus. Obuasi still leads with 587 cases in the region, but Dr. Emmanuel Tenkorang told reporters that the situation is under control. We have a total of 30 health workers having Covid-19 in the region and all of them are doing very well, said Dr. Tenkorang said adding: We have new infections however the good news is that the new infections are going down especially in Obuasi. Ghanas Covid-19 case count At least 125 more persons have recovered from COVID-19 in Ghana making it a total of 1,898 as of Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The death toll is still 31. According to the Ghana Health Service, 173 new cases have been confirmed, increasing the tally to 6,269 in the West African country. There had been an increase in the number of cases in four regions -Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Central Regions. The Greater Accra Region still has the highest number of confirmed cases, followed by the Ashanti, Central, and Western Regions. Eight persons are still in critical condition with the number of tests administered in the region of 187,000. Regional breakdown: Greater Accra Region 4,582 Ashanti Region 921 Central Region 285 Western Region 170 Eastern Region 106 Western North Region 57 Volta Region 41 Northern Region 31 Oti Region 26 Upper East Region 26 Upper West Region 21 North East Region 2 Bono Region 1 Savannah Region 0 Ahafo Region 0 Bono East Region 0 Source: Daily Mail Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An operator works in a call centre dedicated to Covid-19 tracing in the N-Allo offices in Brussels A contact tracing programme to track the spread of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland will rely on large-scale public compliance, the Health Minister has said. Robin Swann confirmed that the pilot scheme has now been officially rolled out to trace contacts linked to all confirmed virus cases here. The region is the first part of the UK to run such a programme. Contact tracing involves identifying people in close contact with someone who has tested positive, and informing them of the development. It is seen as a key route out of lockdown. Contact tracing in the UK largely stopped on March 12 as the number of cases soared and the country switched its strategy from 'contain' to 'delay'. Read More On April 27, health officials in Northern Ireland began an "enhanced" contact tracing pilot. Contract tracing for all cases here began on Monday. Speaking at Stormont's health committee yesterday, Mr Swann revealed that since Monday, 36 positive Covid-19 cases had been handled by the programme, with 35 successfully completed. Read More He said the scheme - which is the first of its kind in the UK - will likely be in place for at least a year, adding that the contact tracing programme was a "major commitment". "This work is designed to break the chain of transmission of the virus by identifying people with Covid-19, tracing people who have been in close contact with them and supporting those people to self-isolate, so that if they have the disease, they are less likely to transmit it to others," he said. Stressing participation is voluntary, Mr Swann said the success of the programme lies on wide uptake by the public. "Support from the public will be absolutely critical to the success of this strategy as we will be relying on citizens to report symptoms, be tested and to follow self-isolation advice if recommended," he added. Mr Swann hailed the scheme as having an important role in the "fightback" against Covid-19, adding: "This is another example of the herculean work right across the HSC system to fight back against Covid-19 and keep people safe." Dr Jackie Hyland, consultant in health protection at the Public Health Agency, said anyone who participates in the programme will be engaged by contact tracing staff if they are confirmed to have Covid-19. "We will ask them if there are people they have been close to who may be at risk of becoming ill (their contacts)," she said. "A contact tracing team member will then phone these contacts and talk to them about their risk of infection. Everyone who has the infection and who is a close contact will have to self-isolate." Mr Swann said he was aware of data privacy concerns relating to the NHSX phone app - which is being piloted for use in England - insisting that a separate app here will be developed which will be able to interact with the Republic's app. Writing in today's Belfast Telegraph, public health expert Dr Gabriel Scally said the UK Government's decision to suspend the 'find - test - trace - isolate' (FTTI) approach in March has been disastrous. Urging cross-border collaboration, he states: "Northern Ireland has an opportunity to decide how best to implement the FTTI program and it could do worse than exploiting the resources and expertise on its doorstep." Yesterday, the Prime Minister said he believed a testing and tracing system will be up and running elsewhere in the UK by June 1, but the roll-out of the app will come later. Boris Johnson said 25,000 staff would be in place by the start of next month - the earliest possible date earmarked for the gradual reopening of schools and shops in England - and they would be capable of tracking the contacts of up to 10,000 new Covid-19 cases a day. The government's deputy chief scientific adviser, Professor Dame Angela McLean, has said that the modelling for changes to the lockdown were based on a "highly effective track, trace and isolate system" being in place. At Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson said: "We're making fast progress in testing and tracing and I have great confidence that by June 1, we will have a system that will enable us, that will help us very greatly to defeat this disease and move the country forward." Some major newspapers in Laos (Photo: VNA) In particular, on May 19th-20th, the Pasason newspaper (People) published two editorials with the titles "President Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Indochinese Communist Party" and "About the establishment of the Indochinese Communist Party. Meanwhile PathetLao newspaper on May 15th-20th issued a series of articles about President Ho Chi Minh, including "President Ho Chi Minhs speaking and doing to Laos", "Ho Chi Minh, the great and beloved leader of the Vietnamese people", "Studying President Ho Chi Minhs revolutionary morality" and "President Ho Chi Minh with the Lao revolutionary cause". Part of the editorial in Pasason newspaper wrote that in finding a way to save the country, President Ho Chi Minh followed Marxism-Leninism, joined the establishment of the French Communist Party in 1920 and became the first Vietnamese member of the communist party. Since then, he led the establishment of the Indochinese Communist Party, the precursor of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao Revolutionary People's Party, and those contributions of President Ho Chi Minh were especially appreciated by international friends. On the occasion of President Ho Chi Minh's 130th birthday, many international friends highly appreciated the role of the Communist Party of Vietnam under the leadership and direction of President Ho Chi Minh. They know that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese people have an increasingly prosperous, happy and developed life. PathetLao's articles "President Ho Chi Minhs speaking and doing to Laos" and "President Ho Chi Minh with Lao revolutionary cause" confirmed that President Ho Chi Minh is one of the excellent activists of the international labor and communist movement to liberate the country from the oppression of the old and new colonialism. President Ho Chi Minh closely followed the struggle movement of Lao revolutionaries. In 1951, he proposed an initiative for Laos and Cambodia to establish their own communist parties. Since then, President Ho Chi Minh continued to lead Vietnamese cadres, soldiers and people to help the Lao revolution in all areas. The newspaper stressed that President Ho Chi Minh always reminded Vietnamese cadres and Party members that they must preserve the special solidarity between Laos and Vietnam like preserving their own eyes iris. The article concluded that the tradition of special solidarity between the Laos and Vietnam Parties, States and peoples, founded by President Ho Chi Minh, must be protected and respected by all./. 80% of Luxembourg's population growth can be traced back to immigration. Over the past decade, around 80% of population growth in Luxembourg has been due to migrants moving to the Grand Duchy. The first waves after the end of World War II consisted of Italian, and later Portuguese movements. Today, people are coming from all around the European Union. They are often and young, looking for job opportunities, and a place to settle with their families. As a result, the average age of the national population has decreased. Economic opportunities are the country's greatest immigration incentive Luxembourg's economy is consistently growing, raising interest in qualified personnel. Many of the country's immigrants are thus opting for the Grand Duchy, as it offers a variety of job opportunities in various fields with elevated chances of qualifications meeting demands. Another advantage is Luxembourg's size and its proximity to the neighbouring countries. The economic evolution thereby counts as the country's greatest incentive for immigration. The French are in the lead Even though a major part of Luxembourg's population is made up of Portuguese people, the French have been leading consistently over the last couple of years when it comes to moving to the country. In 2019, 982 Portuguese citizens have migrated to Luxembourg, compared to 1,637 French citizens. They thus represent 14.8% of the total migration number, followed by Italians (9.2%), and Portuguese (8.9%). Out of non-EU countries, India has the largest number of people moving to the Grand Duchy, 531 in the year 2019. Another significant number is represented by Eritrea, 375 people, who are mostly asylum seekers. The number of people coming from Brasil adds up to 313. Luxembourgish citizens tend to emigrate More of the Grand Duchy's people opt for a live abroad than those who decide to come back. In 2019, 1,067 citizens emigrated from the country. Most of them stay in proximity of the border however, as they continue to work in Luxembourg, but decide to move due to housing prices, according to Statec. Over the last half century, around 630,000 people have moved to Luxembourg, whereas 394,000 people have left the country. Immigrants prefer the capital and its suburbs Luxembourg's most populated regions are the most attractive ones to immigrants. Between 2010 and 2019, 9,495 people moved to the capital, while only 1,400 people settled in Esch-sur-Alzette, and 800 in Differdange. Grosbous attracted the fewest people (12), followed closely by Saeul (13), and Wahl (14). Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 12:45 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9664c8 1 World diplomacy,health,politics,World-Health-Assembly,COVID-19,Australia,Indonesia,China,WHO,UN Free As Australian officials hailed the unanimous support for the adoption of a resolution at Tuesdays World Health Assembly (WHA), Indonesia insisted that its backing had nothing to do with the neighbors contentious agenda, steering clear of the politicization of the global health crisis. At least 135 countries backed the COVID-19 resolution on Tuesday, which, among other things, highlights the importance of strengthening global cooperation and universal, timely and equitable access to affordable health technologies. Read also: US savages WHO as it promises pandemic review, but China pledges $2 billion Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said that Indonesia had thrown its support behind the resolution based on the points that were highlighted, as well as others such as assistance for low and middle income countries and the participation of women. "Indonesia has been very consistent in reminding all members of the importance of cooperation among countries, to set aside differences and not to politicize the meeting and its issues," Retno said during a virtual briefing in Jakarta on Wednesday. The resolution was first introduced by the European Union and had been negotiated since early April. It was coopted by critics of China later on, particularly by the United States and Australia, that sought to campaign for an independent inquiry that would hold Beijing accountable for the spread of the virus. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has spread around the world, infecting nearly 5 million people and killing more than 323,000, is believed to have emerged at a local market selling wild animal meat in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The move has prompted strong opposition from China and had led nations to distance themselves from the resolution, including Indonesia, according to people familiar with the situation. Read also: Australia and China spat over coronavirus inquiry deepens In late April, Minister Retno said she had spoken with her Australian counterpart Marise Payne about the matter, but said that Indonesia was more concerned about mitigating the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Acting ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah also insisted it was wrong to mistake Indonesias support for the resolution as an indication that it was party to a coalition led by Australia that was calling for an independent investigation into the pandemic, as reported by Australian media. Indonesia was actually a cosponsor of the resolution [...] from the beginning. If we look at the resolution as a whole, there is no specific call for an independent investigation or inquiry, but a global effort to foster cooperation to respond to COVID-19, he told the media in a separate briefing on Wednesday. Faizasyah said Indonesia did not want to politicize a resolution made with good intentions for international cooperation. He also pointed out that because China had also cosponsored the resolution, there were no longer any contentious matters that could cause debate and politicization. Leading up to the annual meeting of the WHA on Monday and Tuesday, member countries were knee-deep in negotiations to come up with a draft resolution acceptable to all. Along with dozens of other countries, Indonesia agreed over the weekend to endorse a version of the draft that proposed that an independent evaluation be carried out at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with member states and using existing mechanisms. The text does not mention China by name. This obviously is good enough for China, said Anggia Valerisha, who teaches international relations at Parahyangan Catholic University. In a speech at the assembly on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country supported a comprehensive evaluation of the global response to the pandemic, Reuters reports. The seven-page document was finally adopted by consensus on Tuesday. Hasan Kleib, Indonesias permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, said Indonesia appreciated the fact that some of its own views, such as ensuring equitable and affordable access to medical supplies, were accommodated in the resolution. Meanwhile, Australias Payne said the resolution was an important part of the conversation we started, and expressed her gratitude to all the drafters involved in the past few weeks. Read also: Australia welcomes growing support for COVID-19 inquiry at WHO meeting But Reuters also reported that the Chinese Embassy in Canberra called out Australias vindication at the WHA as a joke, with a spokesman saying that the global resolution was different from what Australia had proposed. The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization. Anggia argued that Indonesia showed the most reluctance in echoing Australia's earlier call because it put the blame on China, which in turn sent a strong message to Canberra. I think Indonesias response at the time was reasonable because it was facing extraordinary COVID-19 problems and had no energy to get dragged into a 'drama' with China, she said. Indonesia is not equipped to be treated harshly by China, especially in the economic field, at a time when the domestic economy is sluggish. Read also: World Bank warns pandemic could push 60 million into extreme poverty The pandemic has proven detrimental to the global economy, with countries teetering at the edge of recession. Some have been emboldened enough to look for a scapegoat, experts say. On whether Indonesia will openly criticize China, I dont think [it will], Anggia said. Surely Indonesia will try to be very constructive when dealing with China, bearing in mind the two countries have strong economic ties and interests. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media at the State Department in Washington on May 20, 2020. (Nicholas Kamm/Pool via Reuters) Pompeo Calls China Virus Response Paltry Compared to Damage Done WASHINGTONU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China over the CCP virus on Wednesday, calling the $2 billion Beijing has pledged to fight the pandemic paltry compared to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and trillions of dollars of damage. Pompeo rejected President Xi Jinpings claim that Beijing had acted with transparency after the outbreak in China, and said if Xi wanted to show that, he should hold a news conference and allow reporters to ask him anything they liked. President Xi claimed this week that China is acting with openness, transparency, responsibility. I wish it were so, Pompeo told a State Department news conference, charging that Beijing continued to withhold virus samples and access to facilities, to censor discussion, and much, much more. U.S.-China tensions have spiked in recent weeks, with Pompeo and President Donald Trump slamming Beijings handling of the outbreak. Trump has proposed quitting the World Health Organization over its response and called it a puppet of China, while Xi has pledged it $2 billion. World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom (L) shakes hands with Chinese regime leader Xi jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan. 28, 2020. (Naohiko Hatta/AFP via Getty Images) I look forward to seeing them fulfill that $2-billion commitment, Pompeo said. Chinas contributions to fighting the pandemic are paltry, compared to the cost that they have imposed on the world. This plague has cost roughly 90,000 American lives, more than 36 million Americans have lost their jobs since March; globally 300,000 lives. Could be as much as $9 trillion, according to our estimates, cost imposition on the world of the Chinese Communist Partys failures, Pompeo said. In Beijing, CCP officials called Pompeo extremely irresponsible, and urged him to explain shortcomings in the U.S. response to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Pompeo also accused China of threatening Australia with economic retribution for seeking an independent inquiry into the outbreaks origins and charged that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had had unusually close ties to Beijing long before this current pandemic, something deeply troubling. The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pompeos accusations. By David Brunnstrom and Humeyra Pamuk Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. The Supreme Court Thursday sought Uttar Pradesh government's reply on a batch of pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict which upheld the state's decision to keep higher cut-off marks for the appointment of 69,000 assistant basic teachers. The top court asked the state government to explain through a chart detailing the vacancies and the chronology of events in the process which was undertaken for the appointments. A bench of Justices U U Lalit, MM Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran which initially declined to interfere with the high court verdict later modified its order and issued notice to the state government and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6. It asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain as to why it changed the earlier criteria of 45 per cent cut-off marks for the general category and 40 per cent for the reserved category. The bench sought a detailed reply before July 6. The top court said the matter required detailed hearing as there were many parties to the litigation and it would be better if the pleas are adjourned till open court hearings resume. Several petitions, including those by individuals and Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Association, have been filed challenging the May 6 decision of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for one Ram Sharan Mauraya, said that single bench order of the high court was in their favour but the division bench order went against them. He said cut-off marks cannot be fixed after the exam is over as they have to be decided before the examinations are conducted and therefore the process was wrong. Rohatgi said the issue also deals with nature of contract and changes made regularly in the appointment process. He said that after the examination on January 6, 2019, the cut-off was made 65 per cent for the general category and 60 per cent for the reserved category, from the earlier 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. To this, the bench told Rohatgi that due to cut-off some of Shiksha Mitra's examinees were not able to qualify but the point is some of them did not even have the required marks. The senior lawyer said that salary of Shiksha Mitra's is very less and if the cut-off marks is fixed at 45 per cent for general category and 40 per cent for reserved category, then many more people will get the chance. The bench said it would like to hear the matter at length as there are too many counsels appearing in the matter and it would not be possible through video conferencing. It then adjourned the matter for further hearing after the open court hearing resumes and refused to pass any interim order or status quo. Senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, CA Sundaram and other lawyers, appearing for another set of Shikhsa Mitras', objected to the adjournment and said that court should hear it now as it is an important issue impacting lakhs of people. Dhavan said the exam results should be recalculated and re-computed on the basis of the earlier cut-offs. The bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, as to why were the rules and criteria changed after the examination was held. Mehta said that he needs to take instruction on the issue but these people (Shikhsa Mitras') want to ride on the back of meritorious candidates. The bench said that Mehta should file the reply before July 6. The high court's final verdict of May 6 this year had paved the way for completing the process for appointment of 69,000 assistant basic teachers in Uttar Pradesh. It had directed the state government to complete the process of appointment within the next three months. The process is almost already complete on the strength of the interim directions of the division bench issued on May 29, last year and only result is to be declared finally. The division bench has set aside the single bench order that had quashed the government order by which it had fixed the criteria of 65 per cent qualifying marks for general category candidates and 60 percent for reserved category candidates for appointment as basic teacher. The single bench had said that the minimum cut-off marks would be 45 per cent for general and 40 per cent for reserved candidates. On July 25, 2017, the top court had asked the state government to cancel the recruitment of 1,37, 517 teachers on the post of TET Assistant Teacher but give them the benefit of experience in two recruitment process. Six months later, on January 17, 2018, the government had issued the order for the written examination for the assistant teachers' posts for the first time to hire 69,000 teachers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Wednesday marked the commercial sectors slow return to normal, but what about the spiritual? A wide-ranging group of statewide religious leaders organized by a Bridgeport pastor has begun challenging Gov. Ned Lamonts authority to dictate when and how they can safely re-open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Is there an equity in the treatment of different types of communities the faith community versus the business community? asked the Rev. Carl McCluster of Shiloh Baptist Church in Bridgeports South End. The idea we dont have the ability to exercise order in houses of worship in a superior or more effective manner than a grocery store or mall why would one think that? McCluster helped organize the CT Faith Leaders Collaborative of Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal, Jewish, Lutheran, Methodist, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal institutions, plus independent Hispanic and African American congregations. Although restaurants, stores and offices welcomed limited numbers of customers and workers back Wednesday under Phase 1 of Lamonts lifting of coronavirus stay-at-home restrictions, faith organizations were excluded. So McClusters collaborative in a statement Wednesday insisted members could begin re-opening and worshiping in person under each of our attendance limits and public health care requirements ... in a responsible manner and to assert our Constitutional and God-given rights to pursue religious freedom. Technically, faith organizations never fully lost that ability during the health crisis. Lamonts executive orders from early spring eventually reduced gatherings to the current five persons, but spiritual events stayed capped at 49 attendees. Still, numerous religious organizations voluntarily closed completely and offered online services for members to view from home. But the Rev. Cass Shaw, another member of the CT Faith Leaders Collaborative, argued Wednesday it is time for the state to reconsider its 49-person, one-size-fits-all limit, particularly as the weather warms and services can be offered outdoors. Their prohibition against more than 49 people, whether outside or inside, seemed too onerous to us, said Shaw, president of the Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport. Their (the states) position is 50, no matter what construct, said another collaborative participant, Chris Healy, head of the Connecticut Catholic Conference. Theres debate on the size of venue, spacing. The governors office did not return requests for comment Wednesday. Healy, Shaw and McCluster all emphasized that their joint statement should not be viewed as a declaration they and their colleagues were recklessly rushing to pack their buildings this week and endangering health and safety. Its not were all necessarily on the same timetable, said Healy. The states four Catholic dioceses are experimenting with modest outdoor services while, McCluster said, Shiloh was looking to use the parking lot of Bridgeports Klein Memorial Auditorium. Of course we want everyone to be safe, Shaw said. Pastors love their people and want no harm to come to them. At the same time, not raising our voices at all ... about whether or not (we) can reopen flies in the face of what we understand are basic rights. Part of the frustration, McCluster said, is he and other collaborative members felt excluded from Lamonts planning process. No religious leaders were on the nearly 50-person Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group the governor formed in late April. Its the faith community that bears so much of the emotional and physical burden of a pandemic where people are dying and people are emotionally torn apart, McCluster said. He said the Faith Leaders Collaborative had reached out to the Lamont administration to begin a dialogue. And while some progress was made, when the governor on May 9 unveiled Wednesday's Phase 1 re-opening plans, they only applied to retail/malls, restaurants, offices, museums/zoos and hair salons/barbershops. This week hair salons and barbershops were taken off the list because of continuing health concerns. Despite the challenging tone of the collaboratives statement Wednesday, Healy made it clear discussions with Lamont and his staff continued: Theyve been very accommodating in talking and working with us. Were just trying to do the best we can to protect people of faith, no matter their faith, so we can eventually return to active ministries. Even before McCluster and his colleagues spoke out, Lamont was being pressured to place tighter restrictions on them. On May 5, the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State urged the governor not to exclude faith groups from stay-home orders. The Constitution not only permits it, but demands it, the group said. Such restrictions do not violate religious freedom; they ensure religious freedom is not misused in ways that risk peoples lives. On Monday, Boise Kimber, president of the Greater New Haven Clergy Association and senior pastor of First Calvary Baptist Church, said this is not the time for us to go back until we receive more testing, until the positive (case) count has dropped. And hours after CT Faith Leaders Collaborative issued its statement Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Connecticut urged Muslims to avoid congregating for prayers to mark the end of Ramadan: Even though new cases of the virus are on a decline, Muslims in the state do not wish to cause a spike in infection rates by large scale communal gatherings, the group stated. Shaw sympathized with the challenges the Lamont administration has faced in dealing with different faith groups. Its got to be hard for state officials to wrap their heads around this, she said. There are so many styles of worship and traditions. DEARBORN, MI -- Ford Motor Company had to temporarily shut down its Dearborn truck plant Wednesday after a worker tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Associated Press. It was the second time this week Ford closed a plant due to an employee testing positive for the virus. On Tuesday, workers at Fords Chicago plant were sent home twice after two employees tested positive for COVID-19, AP reports. Ford told AP all three workers contracted the virus outside the workplace. Production workers returned to their jobs Monday after a two-month layoff due to the pandemic. Workers at the Dearborn plant assemble the F-150 and Raptor pickup trucks. Production was expected to resume Wednesday night after a deep cleaning, and anyone who came in contact with the employee was told to self-quarantine for 14 days, Ford told AP. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Wednesday, May 20: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Court ruling favors Whitmer in lawsuit over emergency orders Expressing his skepticism about the utility of widespread coronavirus testing, President Donald Trump recently said: When you test, you find something is wrong. With people. The truth is that one doesnt need a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to observe and record the ordinary human behaviors the president hasnt mastered. We may never have the tests to determine exactly what is wrong with Trump himself. But we know that something is wrong, and we have known this for a long time. We know that he fails to exhibit emotional qualities we reasonably expect of a leader, particularly in times of crisis. Most notably, he fails to have empathy for (or, at a minimum, awareness of) human illness, suffering, and death. We also know something is wrong because we have heard, seen, and read statements by the president that are inconsistent, factually incorrect, tangential, and more than occasionally incoherent. Depending on the topic and setting, these behaviors range from intermittent to continual. Years have been wasted in an intramural debate among mental health experts over whether to diagnose the president remotely, and what such a diagnosis might be. But that, too, is a distraction from what is directly in front of our eyes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is, even as the president blurs the line between reality and fantasy while talking about a lethal pandemic, a tendency to puzzle over the presidents actions, to wonder if they are somehow part of a complex political strategy. Is the presidents behavior genius, as a recent Washington Post commentary chose to call it, while still labeling it irrational? A simpler explanation is that both his distracting tweetstorms and incompetent leadership arise from the same underlying cause, even if we cannot label it, and the correct descriptor is not brilliant. But despite years of largely uninformed incoherence, its still difficult for many of us to resist the temptation to find order in the mess. In the absence of psychiatric or cognitive tests Trump may never undergo, we cannot establish that some affirmative condition accounts for his daily shortage of rational output. This leaves us in the uncomfortable position of having to document only what Trump lacks. And while proving a nullity seems impossible, the truth is that one doesnt need a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to observe and record the ordinary human behaviors the president hasnt mastered. Any rational observer can do it. The burning question is why we dont. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone and everyone charged with reporting on this president should make a fundamental commitment that describing or interpreting this presidents statements and actions must highlight, on an ongoing and even repetitive basis, what they dont see. Reporters, public intellectuals, and pundits should stop filling in Trumps gaps for him and should allow as full a picture as possible to emerge of his cognitive and personal incompleteness. Not doing so explicitly has resulted in four years of rationalizing, contextualizing, and indeedin popular parlancenormalizing a president few of us would trust to take care of a pet over the weekend. Advertisement Advertisement Why does our public commentary about Donald Trumps words and deeds so seldom start or finish with the honest observation, familiar from fairy tales, that he isnt wearing any clothes? This unwillingness to mention the nakedness of his character, the absence of what is practically and morally required of presidents, becomes an act of draping layers of cloth over an unadorned and oblivious leader. And why do journalists and pundits keep doing this? The primary reason must be that news and its consumers and producers abhor a vacuum. Reporters and commentators are routinely tempted to supplement what Trump saysor imply that there is more to what he says than is in evidencewhen instead the absence of factual support is the essential insight. The minds eye routinely fills missing details in what we see in order to generate familiar or desired images, and it seems that covering for this president has magnified this human tendency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some problems derive from the workflow of conventional reporting, particularly the sound bite nature of television news. It feels necessary to present Trumps words in short bursts, which usually renders them more intelligible, while editing out the surrounding incoherence. It took a foreign correspondent from Australia, listening in 2017 to the president struggling to describe his proposed border wall, to realize how much routine editing in daily news coverage tended to normalize the content and cadence of Trumps speech. It is also common among media outlets to reproduce parts of Trumps answers to media questions particularly when he sounds combative (which is often)without also representing the question. So audiences dont see Trumps frequent inability to grasp what he is being asked (not to be confused with rationally refusing to answer) and his tendency to offer nonresponsive musings for which no semblance of a larger context exists. Both indicia of Trumps irrationality were harder to conceal during the hourlong solo Q& As after the White House coronavirus briefings that received wire-to-wire live coverage. The president relished these exchanges, but the sessions made it amply clear that Trump neither heard nor understood simple press questionsa fact that is not new but had been airbrushed out of years of daily reporting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sheer volume of Trumps Twitter activity presents a related problem: Individual statements are often deemed newsworthy, reported, and then discussed, but public attention is only occasionally drawn to the abnormality of Trumps overall output, including his frequent tweeting at unusual hours in the late night or early morning. After three years, moreover, even his most outrageous messages attract only fleeting notice (this past week he tweeted approvingly of a mob threatening a journalist at an anti-lockdown protest and accused a former congressman of murder), because many reporters following Trump on social media have decided to regard his tweetstorms as performative rather than unhinged. It has taken years for some members of the mainstream press to note explicitly in headlines that Trump utters false statements. For most of Trumps demonstrably untrue pronouncements, reporters typically work out contradictory factual information in the story, not the headline. But the current national crisis has underscored how insufficient this strategy is: There can be grave consequences from relying on readers to identify presidential misinformation through lengthy he says/she says reportage. Advertisement The nation repeatedly saw Trump walk to the podium, read a short, seemingly unfamiliar script in a flat monotone, and then wing it for an hour or more of questions from the press. COVID-19 has brought Trumps irrationality and incoherence into clearer focus, but it will take energy and commitment among both media sources and their audiences to continually center that fact. Typically, reporting as breaking news an impromptu presidential statement on a topic of unquestioned public importancesuch as the projected number of pandemic-related deaths or the expected timetable for vaccine production and distributionassumes a centurieslong but suddenly contestable predicate: that presidents try to be truthful, and their version of knowable facts is newsworthy. Trump, however, has uttered approximately 20,000 false or misleading statements since taking office, a substantial number of which have been traced to random Fox News hosts or fringe conservative websites. Advertisement Advertisement Early COVID-19 coverage repeatedly ignored these prior probabilities. When Trump offered a specific number or a certain date, or announced a supposedly miraculous scientific breakthrough, media reports showcasing those statements implied, perhaps unintentionally, that his saying meant knowing. More recent coverage, however, takes account of Trumps declared intent, which is that regardless of the risks, he would like to make America once again a nation of salespeople and shoppers, and finally regards his rosy declarations that fly in the face of widespread illness and death with skepticism. When the president claimed to be taking an unproven anti-malaria drug to prevent COVID infection, even some Fox News pundits acknowledged that this was uninformed, dangerous behavior. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To be sure, the cure for media credulousness is better media. Journalists who once believed that presidential announcements reflected special knowledge have learned via detailed reporting that Trump refuses to receive or understand nuanced information about the pandemic. The original White House plan contemplated daily meetings of the presidents coronavirus task force to be followed by public briefings. Trump, however, stopped attending the task force meetings. Then he stopped inviting experts to speak at the briefings. The nation repeatedly saw Trump walk to the podium, read a short, seemingly unfamiliar script in a flat monotone, and then wing it for an hour or more of questions from the press. Since those faux briefings ceased, Trump has repeatedly demonstrated contempt even for medical expertise from within his own administration. And so, many news outlets no longer present Trumps medical statements verbatim in close to real time. Perhaps COVID-19, as part of its human devastation, has finally laid bare more of the presidents cognitive black holes. Advertisement Advertisement COVID-19 has done less to break another journalistic habit that conceals Trumps vacuity: conflating impulse with strategy. Why does media coverage rush to supply rational motives that may not exist? Because the demands of continuous media attention require storytelling, and the power of narrative lies in laying out motivation and conflict. A leaders expected focus in this pandemicto build common purpose, save lives, and restore confidence in economic activitydoes not motivate Trump. So, reporters and commentators assume that something equally significant must be motivating him instead, like campaign strategy. Accordingly, Trumps endless, chaotic disputes and frequent outbursts are routinely described as intentional distractions from his own incompetence or malfeasance, as dog whistles to rally his base, or as veiled signals to members of his own administration. Advertisement Advertisement The better explanation is that he is just talking, on impulse. Certainly, Trump has a pervasive sense of self-interest, whether reflected in power, adulation, or immunity from criticism. But the frequency and character of his attacks suggest they are the consequence of poor impulse control more than any deep strategy. They evidence Trumps own distraction; they need not have the purpose, and should not have the effect, of distracting others. COVID coverage has been increasingly cynical in the motives it supplies for Trumps impulsessuch as Chris Cuomos interpretation of Trumps use of hydroxychloroquine to make Republicans seem braver than Democrats. But it has not reduced the medias basic attribution error: There is no grand strategy here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Finally, COVID coverage intensifies the mystery of the elephant in the room. If the president of the United States is not a rational actor, how can we expect rational action? The pandemic may have reduced journalistic tendencies to paper over daily examples of Trumps missing pieces, but news coverage continues to excuse itself from connecting the dots of Trumps episodic irrationality into a larger demonstration of incapacity. Scattered lay commentary suggests that a crisis of the magnitude facing America has caused a mental or emotional collapse on the presidents part, but few if any lines are traced to the persistent irrationality of Trumps entire presidency. This continues to be the case even though pandemic coverage has featured a near-continuous parade of physicians, epidemiologists, and other scientific experts willing to opine on countless other matters of health and medicine. Many of these experienced, informed clinicians have talked about Trumps penchant for offering, with supreme self-confidence, potentially lethal guidance to the public regarding COVID-19 countermeasureshis touting of hydroxychloroquine, his prediction that the virus would disappear like a miracle, his musings about internal administration of bleach and light, his dismissiveness regarding testing and contact tracing. They have not hesitated to criticize and even countermand Trumps specific health recommendations. But they refuse to apply that same expertise to explain why anyone would repeatedly concoctand apparently believesuch utterly bizarre medical advice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It seems that an arguably outdated, likely irrelevant professional taboo on mental health diagnosis has overshadowed, and ironically nearly obscured, the pathology of this presidency. Still, no psychiatric diagnosis is needed to assess the president, just more explicit acknowledgment of the causal possibilities and their associated risks. If a sixth grader can look at Trumps behavior and conclude that he is emotionally challenged, unmoored from facts, and unable to speak the truth, why are informed, trained adults barred from saying the same thing? Imagine dozens of medical experts watching Trump, an overweight man in advanced middle age, repeatedly struggling to climb flights of stairs on his various journeys. Imagine that he pants and wheezes, breaks into a cold sweat, clutches at his chest, and often stops to regroup, unable to proceed. Few clinicians would hesitate to suggest that, for both his benefit and the nations, a cardiac evaluation might be indicated. With respect to Trumps persistent irrationality regarding COVID-19, only a handful of medical authorities have dared do so on broadcast television. Ultimately, Trumps deficiencies are our problem to deal with. The gaps, the absences, the holes in the commentary on this presidency map perfectly onto the empty spaces within the president himself. There are many explanations for our collective blinderslong-standing expectations of presidents, respect for wealth, receptivity to salesmanship, partisan division, financial opportunism, media echo chambers, foreign interests, aggressive lawyers, nondisclosure agreements. Still, we must find ways to report on his increasingly dangerous irrationality, and we must do so without inadvertently rationalizing it. In order to understand it, we have to stop trying to make sense of it. For more of Slates coverage of COVID-19, listen to What Next. We at Think Tank look forward to working with Amplis to supply Canadian dealers and photographers with the very best camera carry solutions available. Andrew Hutchins, Think Tank Photo President Think Tank Photo announced today that it has appointed Amplis Foto, Inc. as the exclusive distributor of its camera and video bags and photo accessories in Canada. Founded in 1983, Amplis has grown to be the leading photographic supplier in Canada and is perfectly suited to be the distributor of Think Tanks complete line of premiere camera bags, rollers, backpacks, and products. In addition to its nation-wide distribution supply chain, Amplis is also the publisher of PHOTONews, Canadas largest imaging enthusiast magazine with quarterly print issues in excess of 100,000 copies. Think Tank Photo is proud to announce our new partnership with Amplis Foto Inc. Amplis is the leading distributor supporting the Canadian photo industry with a family of premium products as well as a legacy of exceptional service, said Think Tank President, Andrew Hutchins. We at Think Tank look forward to working with Amplis to supply Canadian dealers and photographers with the very best camera carry solutions available. Think Tank Photo is a perfect brand partner for Amplis, said Amplis President, Hayley Ohlig. Their products are renowned in the industry and have become synonymous with a dedication to quality and attention to detail that Amplis strives for in its own business. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Think Tank. The Think Tank Photo team would like to express their thanks to Nadel Enterprises Inc, and Executive VP, Brenda Nadel, for their role as the Think Tank Photo distributor for the last ten years. They wish Nadel Enterprises and their staff the best in the years to come. ABOUT THINK TANK PHOTO Headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, Think Tank Photo is a group of designers and professional photographers focused on studying how photographers work and developing inventive new carrying solutions that meet their needs. They are dedicated to using only the highest quality materials and design principles and employing materials that are environmentally benign. ABOUT AMPLIS FOTO INC. Founded in 1983 by Hans Ohlig, Amplis Foto Inc. is a family-owned marketing and distribution company in the imaging, consumer electronics, outdoor and fine art spaces in Canada. Amplis drives consumer demand through its unique position of publishing Canadas largest imaging enthusiast magazine, PHOTONews. The first pictures have emerged showing the nurse disciplined for wearing only underwear beneath her see-through gown at a Russian hospital. Nurse Nadia, 23, has won a wave of support, with demands for her hospital bosses to rescind disciplinary action against her. Doctors and other medics claimed there were shortages of safe undergarments for use under protective gowns in coronavirus wards at Tula Regional Clinical Hospital. Head of Miss X lingerie brand Anastasia Yakusheva said: 'We want the Tula nurse to become a model of our underwear brand. 'We are ready to deliver several sets of exclusive new products for fitting, and in the future we plan to conclude an annual agreement with her.' Nurse Nadia, 23, today won a wave of support, with demands for her hospital bosses to rescind disciplinary action against her. She is pictured left in the same 'LOVE FLIRT' bra she wore in the viral hospital pictures A campaign was also launched against patients taking pictures of hospital staff in wards. Two images showing the nurse wearing only lingerie under the see-through gown went viral. They were taken by a Covid-19 patient in a male ward. The nurse, who studied at Ryazan State Medical University, was reprimanded for 'non-compliance with the requirements for medical clothing'. Two images showing the nurse wearing only lingerie under the see-through gown went viral. They were taken by a Covid-19 patient in a male ward She has so far not commented on the furore. Earlier it was reported that she told hospital bosses she was 'too hot' wearing her protective gown, and did not realise how transparent it was. Colleagues also said she was not provided with proper scrubs to wear underneath the thin gown, which was also too thin to offer proper protection from the virus. Colleagues say the nurse was not provided with scrubs to wear beneath the gown leading to the 'embarrassing' situation, and should not be punished Officials at Tula Hospital have said they will take disciplinary action against the nurse for violating uniform codes, without specifying what the punishment will be. Male patients on the ward said they had 'no complaints' about the uniform, but admitted there was 'some embarrassment'. 'Now she is under big stress,' a colleague told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. 'She is in a state of shock and afraid of losing her job altogether.' Officials at Tula Hospital have said they will take disciplinary action against nurse Nadia (pictured) for violating uniform codes, without specifying what the punishment will be Head of the Doctors' Alliance, Dr Anastasia Vasilyeva, who has been critical of the Russian response to coronavirus, offered to back the nurse in appealing against her punishment. 'If she turns to us, we will protect her,' she said. 'The fact that the costumes are of such a quality that do not meet the standards is a problem for management, not the nurse. 'The picture shows that she was wearing some kind of plastic suit. 'We need to pay attention not to her lingerie, but that the gown does not meet the necessary standards. Officials at Tula Hospital (pictured) threatened the nurse with disciplinary action for violating uniform codes after images taken by patients went viral 'Firstly, a plague-proof costume is never transparent. 'And it must be made of a completely different fabric.' She did not break the law and 'why should she, if it is hot, put herself in any kind of danger?' One nurse who works with the punished woman said her colleagues 'do not want to say more as they are afraid to harm her. 'It is all very simple in Tula. Bullying will start against her.' The incident happened because there was a shortage of medical clothing to wear under the protective gown, she said. 'In general we are supplied with PPE, but from time to time we run out of something.' Nurse Oksana Drybo, from the same hospital, said it was important to understand 'why this happened'. There were insufficient supplies of disposable or reusable undergarments for nurses to wear as they treat coronavirus patients, she said. She complained: 'Medics do not like to be in transparent suits, but there are no others. 'And some do not have even transparent ones.' Former professional boxer, now a pro-Vladimir Putin MP, Nikolai Valuev, urged patients to write to the authorities in her support. 'Let's hope that the nurse with her appearance aroused in male patients the desire to live,' he said. 'They found strength in order to resist the disease even more actively. 'As a rule, good emotions always contribute to recovery.' Another politician Vitaly Milonov said: 'No disciplinary methods should be imposed on the (nurse). There was no malicious intentI'm sure she herself was embarrassed. 'In no case should the girl be punished, I am sharply against this.' Senator Vladimir Krugly said there was a 'violation of the mode of wearing of this protection' but there should be no 'reprisal' against the nurse. But she would have to stop her work as a nurse, said Yakusheva. Trade Union leader Andrey Konoval said: 'It is clear that in this case there was a violation of generally recognised norms of the dress code and appearance at the workplace. 'In our opinion, it was possible to do without disciplinary action.' Drybo added: 'If patients photograph and spread (the pictures) so joyfully, then they are either not sick or they are being treated well and they should go home. 'Recovering patients should be grateful to the doctors who cured them.' Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, has been asked by Joe Biden to undergo a formal vetting to be considered as his vice presidential running mate, one of several potential contenders now being scrutinized by his aides ahead of a final decision, according to people familiar with the moves. The request for information from potential running mates like Klobuchar "is underway," a senior Biden campaign aide tells CBS News. If a potential contender consents, she should be poised to undergo a rigorous multi-week review of her public and private life and work by a hand-picked group of Biden confidantes, who will review tax returns, public speeches, voting records, past personal relationships and potentially scandalous details from her past. While several are expected to consent to a vetting, at least one potential contender has bowed out. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who is running for reelection this year, declined Biden's invitation to be considered, according to a person familiar with her decision. But Senator Maggie Hassan, the other New Hampshire senator, has agreed to be vetted, according to local news reports. Biden asks Amy Klobuchar to undergo vetting to be running mate Hassan said in a statement Thursday that she's "flattered Vice President Biden publicly mentioned my name as someone he would consider. I am not going to comment about his process, whatever that may be. My focus each and every day continues to be serving the people of NH in the US Senate." Biden committed during a March primary debate to pick a woman as his running mate and has previously said the list of women is around a dozen. The selection process is expected to be closely tracked given that Biden's choice could set the course of Democratic Party politics for the next several years. The 77-year old former vice president would be the oldest man ever elected to the White House and has not committed to seeking a second term if he wins the presidency, meaning his vice president would be a presumptive front-runner in the 2024 election, or positioned to lead the pack in 2028. Story continues Biden has publicly credited Klobuchar for strong debate performances and for helping him win Minnesota, a victory that came only after she and other contenders dropped out just hours before March's Super Tuesday primaries that helped propel Biden into the lead. He is on track to officially clinch the Democratic presidential nomination next month after several states hold primaries rescheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Confirmation that the process is underway comes as several potential running mates have confirmed or dropped hints in recent days that they're in the mix. On Thursday, Representative Val Demings, Democrat of Florida, who represents an Orlando-area district and once served as that city's police chief, said in a radio interview that "I am on the short list and I'm honored to be on the short list." "If Vice President Biden asked me to serve along with him, I would be honored to do just that," Demings told SiriusXM's "The Dean Obeidallah Show." News outlets have also reported that New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has told associates she's being vetted for the job something her aides have strongly denied. And Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, told reporters last week that his Land of Lincoln colleague, Senator Tammy Duckworth, is also set to be interviewed by the Biden team a statement Duckworth aides also disputed. The "veepstakes," as they're known, include a certain level of public campaigning, fueled by glowing profiles in magazines and newspapers and public pressure campaigns by interest groups. VoteVets, a liberal veterans organization, is pushing for Duckworth's consideration, while Latino leaders are pushing for Lujan Grisham and Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, the nation's first Latina senator. Several prominent African-American leaders close to Biden are pushing for Demings, Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, former Georgia lawmaker Stacey Abrams or former national security adviser Susan Rice. Biden has entrusted a four-person team to lead his selection process: Former Senator Chris Dodd, of Connecticut; Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, Democrat of Delaware; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; and Biden's former White House and Senate counsel, Cynthia Hogan. Former White House counsel Bob Bauer, campaign general counsel Dana Remus and former homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco also will be providing Biden with background and information on the candidates, according to the campaign. Biden has said he expects the vetting to be completed by July and appears to be taking advice from the man who once tapped him for the number two role, former President Barack Obama. "I need someone who's going to be, as Barack said, 'simpatico with me,' who is a real partner in progress and is ready to be president on a moment's notice," Biden said recently. "There are a lot of women out there with the experience to do that job." Nicole Sganga contributed to this report. Investigators to examine safety issues that may have worsened Michigan flooding Eye Opener: Gunman opens fire at Arizona shopping complex Former CDC Director Dr. Frieden discusses his nonprofit's recommended guidelines to reopen U.S. Two years ago, Caplan launched Code Your Dreams, an after-school program built out of her side job as a tutor. She and about 25 volunteers have partnered with community centers on the South and West sides to teach coding to about 250 youths so far a needed service, as students in the poorest high schools tend to have the least access to computer science classes. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian violations make it untenable for the U.S. to stay in a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct observation flights over each other's territory, but he hinted it's possible the U.S. will reconsider the decision to withdraw. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In this June 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk to participate in a group photo at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The Trump administration is notifying international partners that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each others territory overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict. The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from U.S. or commercial satellites. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian violations make it untenable for the U.S. to stay in a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct observation flights over each other's territory, but he hinted it's possible the U.S. will reconsider the decision to withdraw. Trump's announcement comes as the U.S. begins new nuclear arms control talks with the Kremlin aimed at replacing an expiring weapons treaty with a modern and potentially three-way accord that brings China into the fold. Senior administration officials say Trump's willingness to leave the Open Skies Treaty is evidence of how prominently arms control verification and compliance will feature in the new talks. The Open Skies Treaty that governs the unarmed overflights was initially set up to promote trust and avert conflict between the U.S. and Russia. The Trump administration informed other members of the treaty that the U.S. plans to pull out in six months which is after the presidential election because Russia is violating the pact. The White House also says that imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from U.S. or commercial satellites. Russia didnt adhere to the treaty. So until they adhere, we will pull out, but theres a very good chance well make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together, Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for Michigan. So I think what's going to happen is were going to pull out and they (the Russians) are going to come back and want to make a deal," Trump said. He added: "I think something very positive will work. The U.S. announcement that it plans to leave the treaty is expected to upset some members of Congress and European allies, which benefit from the imagery collected by Open Skies flights conducted by the U.S. Ending such agreements without anything to replace them could result in destabilizing activities such as a dangerous new arms race leading to possible miscalculations," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. President Donald Trump talks to reporters before departing the White House for a trip to Michigan, Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko criticized the U.S. decision. Our position is absolutely clear and is invariable: The withdrawal of the US from this treaty will come as yet another blow to the system of military security in Europe, which is already weakened by the previous moves by the administration," Grushko told state news agency Tass. Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien said the president has made clear that the United States will not remain a party to international agreements being violated by the other parties and that are no longer in America's interests. He noted that Russian violations are also what prompted Trump last year to pull out of a 1987 nuclear arms treaty with Russia. That treaty, signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, banned production, testing and deployment of intermediate-range land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,410 miles). New START Treaty, which expires in February shortly after the next presidential inauguration, now is the only remaining treaty constraining the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. It imposes limits on the number of U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear warheads and launchers. Russia has offered to extend the treaty, but Trump is holding out in hopes of negotiating a three-way agreement with Russia and China. It is our expectation that Russia will help us to bring China to the negotiating table, Marshall Billingslea, special presidential envoy for arms control, said Thursday during an online event hosted by the Hudson Institute think-tank . He said he began talks a few days ago with his Russian counterpart and that negotiations will take place, as soon as possible given the COVID-19 pandemic, in a yet-to-be announced venue in Europe. President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each others territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but President George H.W. Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Thirty-four nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control and other agreements. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights and share all the imagery collected, yet Russia has restricted flights over certain areas. Alexandra Bell, a former State Department official and currently the senior policy director at the nonpartisan non-profit Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said withdrawal from Open Skies will rub allies the wrong way. I absolutely cannot see a single upside to abandoning this treaty against the advice and wishes of our allies, other than for the people who never liked this treaty and dont like the idea of the transparency and openness the treaty provides, Bell said. The U.S. has been working on a proposal to share with partners and allies imagery the U.S. would have shared from its Open Skies flights, said senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to explain Trumps decision. Last month, top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in the House and the Senate wrote to Trump accusing him of ramming a withdrawal from the treaty as the world grapples with COVID-19. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. This month, 16 former senior European military and defence officials signed a statement supporting the treaty, saying a U.S. withdrawal would be a blow to global security and further undermine the international arms control agreements. If the U.S. and Russia exit, all U.S. and Russian territory would be off limits to the overflights. That prompts arms control experts like Steve Pifer at the Brookings Institution to ask What would be the point?' On the other hand, he said, Moscow could opt to stay in the treaty, which would at least allow it to continue overflights of American facilities in Europe. Senior administration officials said Russian violations include restricting flights over Moscow and Chechnya and near Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian restrictions also make it difficult to conduct observations in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland that is home to Russias Baltic fleet, they said. Russia uses illegal overflight restrictions along the Georgian border in support of its propaganda narrative that the Russian-occupied enclaves of Georgia are independent countries. Moreover, the senior administration officials said Russia is using Open Skies flights to gather information on critical civilian infrastructure in both the U.S. and Europe, but declined to offer additional details. ___ Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee and AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington, Edith Lederer at the United Nations and James Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report. Montana On Tuesday, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced he is dropping the 14-day quarantine rule for out-of-state travelers on June 1, which will be a blessing for businesses like fishing outfitters. The so-called Phase 2 of Montanas reopening process could also include the opening of the three Montana gates to Yellowstone one each at the gateway communities of West Yellowstone, Gardiner and Cooke City. There are some things we still need to work out with the state and counties, Sholly said, A lot we have addressed or are addressing. The park needs to be self-sufficient on testing and surveillance to satisfy Montana, he said. Although the governor was asked about a limited opening of Montanas entrances to Yellowstone, Sholly said that doesnt make sense. The park could cap entrance at a certain number of visitors, but he said that could create more problems for gateway communities as tourists back up into the small towns instead of visiting the park. Hanging on Amid India and Nepal's tension over Nepal's newly released map, several Nepalese workers on Thursday, protested at Uttarkhand's Banbasa area in Chapawat district. The 500 protestors alleged that Nepal was not allowing them to return home. BJP MP Ajay Bhatt claimed that he had spoken to MoS Nityanand Rai, but Nepal is yet to give permission for their return. Nepal's PM blames India for spreading COVID, says 'Indian virus more lethal than Chinese' Nepalese workers protest in Uttarakhand Nepal government has not yet given permission. People are coming here after getting passes by saying they are from this area, even though they are from Nepal. I have spoken to MoS Home Nityanand Rai, will also speak to Home Minister Amit Shah: Ajay Bhatt BJP MP https://t.co/t7aKndPsGb pic.twitter.com/V2gAdwChmP ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2020 Indian Army deploys additional troops in Ladakh, days after Indo-China face-off along LAC Nepal blames India for COVID-19 spread Fuelling to the India-Nepal tensions, Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli blamed India for the spread of the novel Coronavirus in his country, in his speech at the Nepalese Parliament. He said that the virus from India is more 'lethal' than that from China, even though major countries in the world, including the United States, is accusing China of the spread of the deadly COVID - 19. Nepal has announced a lockdown till June 2 with 444 cases and 2 deaths. After Nepal claims Indian territory in its new political map, PM KP Oli defends inclusion In a speech in parliament, Oli said: "Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing. It has become very difficult to contain COVID-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected." Massive finding at Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi: Shivaling, broken idols & pillars excavated Nepal's new map Even as Nepal's foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said that efforts were on to resolve the border issue with India through diplomatic initiatives, the country issued an official map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura under its territory. Oli reiterated that Nepal will claim Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapanias through 'diplomatic efforts'. In response, the Ministry of External Affairs slammed this "unilateral act", stating that this was contrary to the understanding between the two countries to resolve boundary disputes through dialogue. Recent row between India and Nepal India and Nepal are at loggerheads after India issued a new political map incorporating Kalapani and Lipulekh on its side of the border in October last year. The tension further escalated after India inaugurated a road link connecting Kailash Mansarovar, the holy pilgrimage site situated at Tibet, China, that passes through the territory that Nepal claims. The 80-km new road inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this month is expected to help pilgrims visiting Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet in China as it is around 90 kms from the Lipulekh pass. CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As parent student loan borrowing rates continue to rise to historic levels, an especially large portion of those funds are going to art schools and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), according to a new report from student debt resource platform Student Loan Hero . The report's data indicates that art, music, and design schools are among the institutions where parents are borrowing the most for their children's college education. In addition to those schools, the other college segment that kept popping up on the list was that of HBCUs . Four HBCUs were among the top 10 schools where parents take on the most PLUS debt, and eight were in the top 50. "HBCUs tend to have smaller endowments than other colleges, which can lead to less financial aid and fewer scholarship opportunities," said Rebecca Safier, certified student loan counselor and higher-education expert. "Given this reality, combined with the racial wealth gap in the U.S. , it's unfortunate but not surprising that parents have to take on greater debt to send their children to these schools." Additional Key Findings Art, design and music schools make up half of the 10 schools where parents take on the most parent PLUS loans for their children as well as 23 out of the top 50 schools with the most such debt. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) comprise 4 of the top 10 schools for parent PLUS debt, and 8 of the top 50. The average parent PLUS borrowing for full-time students ages 24 and under at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York was about 10 times higher than the average amount borrowed across the other schools. Spelman College , a noted HBCU in Atlanta , has 47% of students have parents borrowing PLUS loans on their behalf. Parents often borrow significantly less for public HBCUs than for private ones. SEE THE FULL SURVEY RESULTS HERE Study Methodology Using data from the National Center of Education Statistics and Federal Student Aid for the 2017-2018 academic year, analysts calculated the number of parent PLUS loan borrowers per undergraduate, ages 24 and under, as well as the average amount borrowed per school. The analysis was limited to the 1,329 schools that were reported by Federal Student Aid, and which had at least 100 undergraduates under the age of 22 and where at least 50% of the undergraduate body were full-time students ages 24 and under. About Student Loan Hero Student Loan Hero , a subsidiary of LendingTree, combines easy-to-use tools with financial education to help the millions of Americans living with student loan debt manage and pay off their loans. The website provides information about repayment options, including refinancing, income-driven repayment, and deferment. Student Loan Hero has helped more than 250,000 borrowers manage and eliminate over $3.5 billion in student loan debt since 2012 and assists over 3.5 million people in becoming more financially healthy every year. Founded in 2012 by CEO Andrew Josuweit, who himself had over $100,000 in student loans, Student Loan Hero operates on the belief that all loan help and recommendations should come with honesty and no hidden agenda. For more information, visit https://studentloanhero.com . MEDIA CONTACT [email protected] SOURCE Student Loan Hero Related Links https://studentloanhero.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:14:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Thursday expressed strong indignation over and condemned a recent online speech by Chris Patten at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong, which heaped accusations onto the HKSAR government's governance, distorted "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law, smeared the Chinese central government's Hong Kong policy, and tarnished China's international image. The spokesperson of the commissioner's office said it is both ridiculous and despicable that Chris Patten, the pathetic "last governor of Hong Kong," should still cling to colonialist mentality and overreach himself to meddle with Hong Kong affairs nearly 23 years after Hong Kong's return to its motherland. Since the unrest following the proposed amendment bill last year, Chris Patten and his ilk have eagerly twisted the truth, slung mud at the HKSAR government's law-based governance, and venomously attacked the Hong Kong police's restrained law enforcement efforts, in a bid to sow social division and trample law and order, the spokesperson pointed out. At the critical juncture when the united efforts of the Hong Kong community against COVID-19 have made initial progress, Chris Patten again anxiously thrust himself forward and applied his familiar tactic. Turning a blind eye to the well-being of the Hong Kong residents, he instigated the youth to continue acting as willing pawns of the rioters for the latter's political gains, and incited confrontation against the Hong Kong police who are committed to protecting people's life and property safety, the spokesperson said. He tried to turn the HKSAR against the central government, endorsed the anti-China troublemakers in Hong Kong, and even fired groundless accusations at the Chinese government's achievements in COVID-19 response, the spokesperson said. "By doing so, Chris Patten has pit himself against all Chinese people, including our Hong Kong compatriots. He has and will continue to be condemned by the international community, and will only end up as a historical notoriety," said the spokesperson. Enditem The company's three-year construction timeline was put into doubt following a May 15 ruling from a federal judge in Montana that cancelled a key permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The permit is needed to build the line across hundreds of streams, wetlands and other water bodies along its route. The ruling affected all new oil and gas pipeline construction and was appealed by the Trump administration and TC Energy. "We look forward to a resolution that allows us to advance our construction in 2020 without any further delay," Rabern said. The work in South Dakota began amid high tensions between South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and two Native American tribes that have been outspoken opponents of the pipeline. The governor is trying to force two tribes - the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes and the Oglala Sioux Tribe - to remove coronavirus checkpoints they have set up on federal and state highways in an attempt to keep infections away from their reservations. Mr Trump has been careful to protect his relationship with Mr Xi - CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/REUTERS Donald Trump stepped up his attack on China over the coronavirus pandemic, appearing to blame Chinese president Xi Jinping for a campaign of "disinformation" that has helped spread Covid-19 around the world. In a rare direct shot at his Chinese counterpart, the US president said: "It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt!" Mr Trump has been careful to maintain his relationship with Mr Xi, singling him out for praise early on in the crisis. He has intensified attacks on China, meanwhile, for covering up the scale of the initial outbreak and failing to prevent its spread. He said on Wednesday night that China was "trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace" before appearing to turn on Mr Xi. It comes as China opened its annual rubber stamp parliamentary sessions Thursday after a delay of nearly three months due to the pandemic. The weeklong event heavy on political spectacle and light on actual legislating is largely aimed at shoring up Mr Xis power as leader of the Communist Party following mass protests in Hong Kong and the coronavirus outbreak. It is also his first opportunity to lay out policy plans, reprioritise sidelined goals, and outline a growth roadmap. The White House on Wednesday night issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. Mr Trump said blame goes to the very top in China - Evan Vucci/AP The 20-page report expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. "The media's focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge that's presented by the Chinese Communist Party," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday before the White House released its report. Story continues Earlier in the day Mr Trump lashed out at China on Twitter over the coronavirus pandemic, blaming Beijing for "mass Worldwide killing." The early morning tweet, which also referred to an unidentified "wacko in China," in a further sign that Trump is making attacks on Beijing a centerpiece of his November reelection bid. "It was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing," the president tweeted. The virus first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December and spread rapidly around the world, killing more than 323,000 people at the latest count, and triggering huge economic damage. Mr Trump initially played down the seriousness of the threat and said repeatedly that China was addressing the outbreak, marking our Mr Xi for personal praise. The US president passed up recent opportunities to criticise the Mr Xi directly. During a Fox News town hall event May 3, Trump described the Chinese president as a strong leader with whom he had a good relationship. The White House has also suggested, without offering evidence so far, that the virus originated in a laboratory and was accidentally released. Trump has made repeated but vague threats of retaliation against the chief US economic rival. He has also threatened to break off US funding to the World Health Organization or WHO over what he says was its assistance to China in covering up the extent of the outbreak. China offered a low-key rebuttal to United States President Donald Trump's accusation of mass killing on Thursday, with a foreign ministry official insisting the country did its best to protect lives during the pandemic. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing: "We have persisted in speaking the truth, presenting the truth and speaking with reason, doing our utmost to protect the lives and health of the people." Zhao reiterated China's stance that it has "always had an open, transparent and responsible attitude" as it battled the pandemic. He added the country has been doing its best to promote international cooperation against the pathogen. China has blamed Washington for using Beijing as a scapegoat to cover for its own virus mishandling. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 01:29:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIRUT, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon approved on Thursday 1.2 billion Lebanese pounds (800 million U.S. dollars) in loans to support families through social assistance, the National News Agency reported. The decision provides loans to stimulate the industrial sector at a value of 200 million U.S. dollars, small industrial enterprises for 92.5 million U.S. dollars, agriculture for 89 million U.S. dollars which would support 30,000 farmers in addition to 20 million U.S. dollars to support 6,700 craftsmen. Head of the Budget and Parliamentary Committee Ibrahim Kanaan said these loans aim to address the economic and social situation in Lebanon by contributing to reducing unemployment. The social assistance will also allocate 400 million U.S. dollars to benefit 200,000 Lebanese including the elderly, public schools students, and people with special needs, with 400,000 Lebanese pounds monthly. Lebanon is suffering from an unprecedented economic and financial disaster, leading to the bankruptcy of thousands of businesses and the lay-off of thousands of employees. Enditem NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Perhaps no one is more surprised by the existence of the new book Ancient Secrets of a Master Healer: A Western Skeptic, An Eastern Master, and Life's Greatest Secrets (Wisdom of the World Press) than its author, Clint G. Rogers, Ph.D. Before Dr. Clint spent a decade traveling the world with the legendary Indian master healer Dr. Pankaj Naram, the university researcher was a skeptic when it came to alternative medicine. Clint Rogers Clint Rogers But after witnessing Dr. Naram in action and watching him cure Dr. Clint's father, the researcher's attitude changed; sharing Dr. Naram's wisdom with people all over the world became his priority. In the book's introduction, he writes, "The journey took me from the Lowes Luxury Hotel in Hollywood, California, to the best pizza restaurant in Italy; from the devastation of Ground Zero in New York City to the slums of Mumbai, India; and from my research at the clean and tidy University of Joensuu, Finland, to helicopter rides visiting fire pits and hidden temples in remote areas of the Himalayan mountains. "I also recorded many of my countless conversations with Dr. Naram. They reveal secrets passed down by masters for centuries. To my surprise, I discovered that so many life-changing remedies for our health challenges can be found in our very own homes and kitchens, if we just know what to do." Dr. Naram, who counted among his patients the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, and Nelson Mandela as well as many ordinary people, passed away on Feb. 19. With Dr. Naram gone, Dr. Clint believes it is more important than ever to share these ancient secrets with the world. Volunteers are already translating the book, an Amazon bestseller, into 30 languages. In an interview, Dr. Clint can discuss: Boosting your immune system with things in your home Instantly reducing anxiety and releasing stress Healthy and lasting weight loss Reducing blood pressure to normal in minutes Easing arthritis and joint pain with food Improving memory and focus by pressing certain points on your body Praise for Ancient Secrets of a Master Healer "Remarkable stories of people reversing all kinds of illness and diseases are not 'medical miracles.' These results are predictable when you follow certain principles. Health is your right. Clint is a seeker of truth with a curiosity that has led him on a unique path and mission. He has an impressive knowledge of useful but generally unknown ancient healing techniques." Joel Fuhrman, M.D., president, Nutritional Research Foundation, and New York Times bestselling author "Once I started reading, I didn't want to put it down! This book brilliantly bridges the East and West, like Autobiography of a Yogi did, in a way that is sincere, engaging, and refreshing. This book will spread all over the world, touching millions of lives, as the ancient secrets Dr. Naram shares change our beliefs about health and deeper healing." Pankuj Parashar, artist, musician, and Bollywood film director About the Author Clint G. Rogers, Ph.D., is a university researcher whose TEDx talk on Dr. Naram has been viewed by millions. Dr. Clint designed and taught with Dr. Naram a university certification course in Berlin, Germany, for doctors. Dr. Clint is the CEO of Wisdom of the World Wellness and a trustee of the Ancient Secrets Foundation. Contact: Dr. Clint G. Rogers, (914) 215-4792; [email protected]; www.MyAncientSecrets.com SOURCE Clint Rogers Ranvir Shorey Claims His Car Was Impounded On Wednesday, the actor tweeted, "@MumbaiPolice My car being impounded for taking my household help for his wife's delivery to hospital. Officer in charge says a child being delivered is not an emergency. Please advise." "He said the wife and doctor could have handled it. I told him the hospital was refusing paperwork without the father. He's not listening. Exasperating," read his next tweet. Ranvir Calls Out The Officer In Charge Elaborating further, the Angrezi Medium actor wrote, "Even as other officers have understood the situation and are sympathetic, the OIC, Vijay K Kadam at Jogeshwari highway police chowki decided to file an FIR and impound my car. This is plain harassment." The Actor Claimed That The Officer In Charge Spoke To The Media About Him "Turns out apart from harassing me by impounding my car and registering an FIR against my poor driver, PI Vijay Kumar Kadam is also talking to the press about my car being impounded. Is this SOP, @CMOMaharashtra? Saddened and disappointed that the transgression and highhandedness of one policeman is going to cost me my car, and an FIR against my innocent driver. Even after 3 hours, there has been no redressal of my complaints," he wrote on Twitter. Ranvir Claimed He Was Detained For More Than Six Hours He tweeted, "3 hapless people made to wait for more than 6 hours. What are we being punished for? @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice @DGPMaharashtra." Finally, The Matter Got Resolved After more than eight hours, the police allowed Ranvir to go, and neither an FIR was filed nor his car was impounded. He conveyed his gratitude to the police personnel for understanding his side of the story albeit a bit late,' and wrote, "After more than 8 hours, we have been let go. No FIR, car not impounded. Thank you, @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice for listening, albeit a bit late. I may have lost 8 hours, but not my faith in you." Ranvir Praised Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray After Aaditya took note of Ranvir's tweets and asked the Mumbai Police to ensure the delivery of his car, the actor called him a shining light' in the government. Ranvir wrote, "Whoa! Just saw this. Thanks so much. You really are a shining light in this govt. ." EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15 (EasyJet/PA) EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15. The low-cost carrier announced that its initial schedule will involve mainly domestic flying in the UK and France. Further routes will be confirmed over the coming weeks as demand increases and coronavirus lockdown measures across Europe are relaxed, the airline said. UK airports to be served by easyJet from June 15 include Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast. The only international route from the UK will be between Gatwick and Nice, France. As part of new safety and hygiene measures, passengers and crew will be required to wear masks in airports and on aircraft. There will be no food sold during flights, enhanced cleaning of planes, and disinfection wipes and hand sanitiser made available to passengers. A number of other airlines have announced tentative plans to ramp up their operations from the skeleton schedules currently being used due to the coronavirus pandemic. The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey Johan Lundgren, EasyJet chief executive Ryanair plans to restore 40% of its flights from July 1, while British Airways is due to make a meaningful return to service in the same month. EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: I am really pleased that we will be returning to flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to gradually resume operations. We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that, when more restrictions are lifted, the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand, while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want. The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey, from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks. Expand Close EasyJet will introduce a number of measures to enhance safety (EasyJet/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp EasyJet will introduce a number of measures to enhance safety (EasyJet/PA) These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. EasyJet admitted on Tuesday that nine million of its passengers had their email addresses and travel details exposed in a highly sophisticated. An additional 2,200 customers also had their credit card details stolen. The airline insisted there is no evidence that any personal information of any nature has been misused. On Friday, easyJet shareholders will vote on whether to remove Mr Lundgren, chairman John Barton and two non-executives from their positions. This is part of a bitter battle between founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and the companys management. A Liberal MPP has a tip for Premier Doug Ford: cut the hefty fees that food delivery services charge restaurants to help the pandemic-stricken hospitality industry. Amanda Simard (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell) has written to Fords minister of small business and red tape reduction Prabmeet Sarkaria to urge a cap on the levies by Uber Eats and other delivery firms. I am writing today about important issues restaurant owners are facing with some food delivery services and the commission they are charging during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, wrote Simard. Some of these platforms are charging up to a 30 per cent commission on sales during a time where restaurants are dependent on delivery services as they are not able to physically be open and serve Ontarians, the Liberal MPP continued. This fee is impacting numerous small business owners across Ontario and impacting their ability to pay staff and cover critical operating expenses such as rent. Many of these businesses are at risk, she added. Other jurisdictions, such as New York, have tabled and are in the process of passing legislation to cap the fees that can be charged by delivery services to ensure that restaurants can survive. To that end, Simard requested Sarkaria consider issuing an emergency order limiting these commissions to 15 per cent, as New York City has done, while Ontarios state of emergency is in effect. In an email to the Star, the minister reminded the companies were all in this together and implored them to be reasonable. Food delivery platforms have become a vital part of ensuring some of our local restaurants stay in business, said Sarkaria, suggesting the government will not consider any heavy-handed intervention. Its my hope and expectation that these platforms will work as partners alongside hardworking local businesses so that we shoulder the weight of this recovery together, he said. The province has been in a state of emergency since March 17 and that was recently extended to June 2. During the crisis, restaurants and bars are only allowed to serve takeout meals, although Ford loosened liquor licensing laws to permit them to sell wine, beer, and spirits to go. That popular measure is temporarily in place until Dec. 31, though Progressive Conservative officials privately admit it will be difficult to remove because Ontarians will be accustomed to the convenience and hard-hit restaurateurs will need the revenue. Simard sent copies of her request to Sarkaria to Toronto Mayor John Tory and to Tony Elenis, president and CEO of the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association as both have criticized the food delivery fees by Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, and DoorDash. While some companies have voluntarily cut their charges, Simard said government direction is required. Last month, Tory said the stiff charges means restaurateurs are actually sort of losing money in some cases. I hope that we can get one of those delivery companies to show some leadership. I hope we can see one of them come forward and say we are going to take the lead here and say that for a temporary period during the emergency we are going to reduce our commissions so that these restaurants can stay in business, the mayor said on April 21. On Wednesday, Los Angeles city councillors voted unanimously to cap delivery app fees at 15 per cent as San Francisco has also done. Los Angeles council also mandated that 100 per cent of delivery tips go to drivers. The temporary measure is in place until 90 days after Los Angeles lifts its current ban on dining in restaurants. While Uber has seen its ride-sharing business plunge during the pandemic with revenues down by more than $4 billion, forcing the lay off of 3,700 workers its food delivery service has jumped by 54 per cent. Simard made headlines across Canada in November 2018 when she resigned from the Conservative caucus to protest Fords cuts to French-language services. After sitting as an Independent, she joined the Liberals this past January. Read more about: Journalists in Malaysia are concerned at increasing controls on press freedom as they advocate for much-needed reforms to protect media workers from political power changes in the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) together with its Malaysian affiliate, the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJM), today launched the media advocacy campaign #MYMediaMatters to highlight the ongoing challenges faced by journalists in Malaysia. The IFJ and NUJM campaign is the launch action out of a major multi-year media development project, funded by the European Union. Strengthening Malaysias Media for Changeis a five-year project aimed at strengthening the capacity of media organisations to instigate and lead sustainable media development in Malaysia, undertake national industry consultation and engagement, support media innovation and drive needed media reforms, including the development of the countrys first press council as key priorities. The #MYMediaMatters campaign includes insights from Malaysian journalists on media freedom issues. Among them: Alyaa Alhadjri, a senior reporter at Malaysiakini.com, says archaic legislation and government controls continue to restrict press freedom; Sin Chew Daily journalist Chin Sung Chew and general secretary of NUJM, laments the historic control of media in Malaysia by ruling governments; independent broadcast journalist Tehmina Kaoosji argues for commitments to remove censorship and self-censorship by abolishing repressive laws and addressing journalist harassment; and journalists Farah Marshita,and Noor Hayati highlight the need to strengthen public trust in media and increased support strategies for journalists to perform the vital role of informing and supporting a democratic and open society. The Malaysia project launches as media workers globally face increased job insecurity and legal restrictions under Covid-19. As a priority, the project will examine the impacts of Covid-19 on media workers in Malaysia and develop strategies to counter those issues and support journalists right to organise collectively. Her Excellency Maria Castillo Fernandez, head of the European Union Delegation to Malaysia stressed: Journalism plays an essential role in upholding freedom of expression in democratic societies and fostering transparency and accountability. A free and independent media means citizens have access to reliable information that is fact-checked and without undue interference and influence, contributing to a more resilient society. The EU fully supports the work of committed and courageous journalists to counter self-censorship and restrictive legislation, and who are promoting trustworthy journalism. The NUJM said:Journalists need to strengthen capacity to organise and lead on key governance issues. As the main journalist union in Malaysia, the NUJM welcomes the opportunity to work with our stakeholders in contributing to legislative reforms and transforming the media landscape. The IFJ said: Much remains to be achieved on media reform in Malaysia and certain fundamental protections must become non-negotiable, including laws or regulations that permit censorship or chill the practice of journalism. Importantly, journalists should be free to form unions and there is a critical need for comprehensive defamation law reform and development of a press council. Through this project the IFJ and NUJM will work with journalists, media organisations, unions and civil society to advance a strong, independent and diverse media in Malaysia. As the journalists have said #MYMediaMatters and that message is fundamental for all society. For more information contact melanie.morrison@ifj-asia.org See more on the #MYMediaMatters campaign and IFJs global work here. Join the IFJs self-paced online reporting course Reporting on COVID-19: SAFETYhere The Navajo Nation has a higher rate of reported COVID-19 cases than New York City, according to an analysis of state and local data sources. In fact, it appears to have the highest rates in the country, surpassing previous hot spots New York state and New Jersey. According to the Navajo Department of Health, the reservation had 4,253 cases of the illness caused by coronavirus as of Wednesday night. This means it has a rate of 2,449 cases per 100,000 based on 2010 census data that reported 173,667 people living on the reservation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. One hundred forty-six people have died and at least 1,026 have recovered. New York City which is home to more than half of its states cases has a slightly lower rate of COVID-19 than the Navajo Nation, according to an analysis of data provided by the citys Health Department. The city has 192,374 confirmed cases, or a rate of 2,290 per 100,000 residents. By contrast, New York state has 356,179 cases for a rate of 1,822.6 per 100,000 residents, according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Jersey has 149,013 cases, for a rate of 1,672.7 per 100,000. In a virtual town hall Tuesday, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez pushed back by pointing out that the Navajo Nation is testing mass amounts of people at a time, which means theyre finding more positive cases than other entities. So, of course, if you test a lot of people youre going to have positive cases, he said. Nez said more than 25,000 tests had been given, including rapid tests that provide preliminary results in minutes and the nasal swab tests, which take longer. Lets also tell people that we are testing aggressively, Nez said. This past weekend, I heard Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo say that he has tested a little over 7% of his population in the state of New York. Thats one of the highest of all the 50 states throughout the country. Do you want to know what Navajos percentage is? 11.5%. Let that sink in. As of Wednesday night, the percentage was even higher, with 13.2% of residents being tested. He said that, across the country, states are generally testing less than 10% of their population. We are No. 1 in terms of testing throughout this country, Nez said. Thats because of the help from front-line workers. He said that recently, fewer positive cases have been reported each day, which he took as a good sign that the strict stay-at-home orders and curfew are having an effect. The past two days weve seen a decrease in COVID positives, Nez said. Its because of you, ladies and gentleman, my people. Its because of you holding people accountable to stay home these numbers are going down. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 16:12:10 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1050 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 DESTIN, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Florida members of the Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA), an alliance of restaurants, hotels, fishermen, and seafood dealers tied to the Gulf of Mexico's fishing economy, are beginning to safely reopen their businesses, prioritizing preventing the spread of COVID-19 and supporting those affected by the pandemic. Members are adhering to Florida's reopening guidelines, which require restaurants to restrict indoor seating to 50 percent capacity and to space all dining groups at least six feet apart.GCSA member Dewey Destin, the owner of two seafood restaurants in Destin, Florida, and a third in Navarre, Florida, first reopened his restaurants on May 4, saying he is comfortable with reopening "as long as it is done in a safe manner." Mr. Destin made clear that his top priority is the health and safety of his staff and customers. To that end, all of his restaurant staff are required to wear masks, wash their hands every half hour, and have their temperature taken every day. His staff are also sanitizing condiment containers and menus between each use, and marking the floor near bathrooms to keep people properly socially distanced in line.Fishermen are still working, but prices are 30 to 40 percent lower than they were before the COVID-19 closures. To reopen his restaurants, Mr. Destin sourced grouper, snapper, oysters, blue crab and shrimp from local Gulf Coast dealers."This is obviously a very tough market for seafood producers," Mr. Destin said. "We're trying to do our part to help local fishermen continue the essential work of providing Americans with fresh, healthy seafood." Cheyenne Poynter washes her hands before entering Dewey Destin's Seafood in Navarre, as requested by the restaurant of all customers entering the building.GCSA member Miller Phillips, the owner of Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House in Destin, just reopened his restaurant on Monday, May 18. In addition to opening at 50 percent capacity inside and keeping all tables outside at a safe six-to-eight feet distance apart, the restaurant has installed hand sanitizer stations throughout the property and has "disinfectant hostesses" constantly cleaning door handles, tables, chairs, and bars.While Mr. Phillips has had trouble getting some seafood and meat products and has been forced to remove several items from his menu, for the most part, he said his normal seafood suppliers have been able to meet the restaurant's needs.Mr. Phillips' biggest fear is the long-term impact of lost revenue from the beginning of the spring season, usually a boon for the region after slow winter months. Boshamps spent much of the money it made last season on updates and repairs for the restaurant, expecting to make the money back in the spring."I don't know how we'll get through next off season with that loss of revenue," Mr. Phillips said. "Only time will tell." Server John Gamer greets a customer reading social distancing guidelines outside of Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House in Destin.GCSA member Chatham Morgan of Local Market and La Paz in Destin has offered all of his employees paid sick leave, no questions asked, so they don't have to decide between their jobs and their health. The Morgan family also owns Harbor Docks and Harbor Docks Seafood Market in Destin. Mr. Morgan said the seafood market was down 90 percent in March and April and prices are still lower than usual. While restaurant sales are up slightly in May, he is uncertain of what to expect in the long run."We've adjusted our model to focus on reduced dining capacity, increased outdoor dining, take out, and delivery," Mr. Morgan said. "If that's what it takes, that's what we're going to do. But we hope to eventually be able to get back to the way things were before COVID-19." The Morgan family continued to operate their non-profit American Lunch food truck throughout the shutdowns and restrictions. American Lunch offers hot meals from the kitchens of Morgan-family restaurants and other local restaurant partners to people in need in Destin. During the pandemic, "anyone and everyone is welcome to stop by and pick up a free lunch, no questions asked," said Mr. Morgan.In Destin, Harbor Docks prepared for lunch service on May 18 by distancing tables and reducing the seating capacity of their harbor view deck before opening.GCSA member David Krebs, the owner of Ariel Seafood, a high-volume seafood supplier in Destin that primarily targets red snapper and grouper, said heis still limiting the number of trips his fishing boats are taking. Many dealers along the Florida panhandle let their boats go fishing in anticipation of higher volume of consumption, only to find demand lower than in previous years, according to Mr. Krebs. Florida's plan to initially open restaurants at 25 percent indoor capacity - now 50 percent - has also prevented some smaller establishments from reopening, further decreasing overall seafood demand.Throughout the shutdown, Mr. Krebs has seen sales of seafood to retail markets remain consistent, but a hard drop in sales to restaurants."Traditionally Americans eat higher end seafood in restaurants only," Mr. Krebs said. "They don't prepare it at home." GCSA member Billy Martin, the owner of Crabs on the Beach, Flounder's Chowder House, and McGuire's Irish Pub in Pensacola, Florida, as well as McGuire's in Destin, said that he has been able to maintain his staff throughout the shutdowns and restrictions. Mr. Martin said he is happy with the reopening and that customers are continuing to buy local seafood.GCSA member Greg Abrams, the owner of Abrams Seafood in Panama City, Florida, supplies seafood to restaurants as well as large regional and national chain stores. While restaurant sales have gone down during the closures, Mr. Abrams said that he has gotten creative to maintain his business, producing ads featuring his fresh caught Gulf seafood. As a result, his retail sales have gone up."As things change, you've got to change with them," Mr. Abrams said.Kristin Allen takes an order from a customer at Dewey Destin's Bayside location behind a newly installed plexiglass shield.About the Gulf Coast Seafood AllianceThe Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance (GCSA) unites fishermen, seafood dealers, and restaurants to advocate for the fair distribution of fish across the Gulf Coast. A Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday set up a revolving fund of Rs 218.49 crore for over 35,000 families to promote self-employment. This fund under the Rural Livelihood Mission, will help those engaged in sewing, embroidery,production of disposable plates, spices, masks, an official spokesman said. A revolving fund is continually replenished as withdrawals are made. The purpose of the revolving fund is to promote self-employment and self-reliance in rural areas, the spokesman said, adding that on the occasion, the chief minister also interacted with migrant workers and women of self-help groups from different districts through video conferencing. Most of the women associated with these self-help groups belong to the families of migrant workers and labourers. On the occasion, the chief minister also announced deploying 'Banking Correspondent Sakhi', under which 58,000 rural women will get employment. The chief minister said through 'Banking Correspondent Sakhis' women of the village will connect with banks and make money transactions by visiting door to door. There will be no need to visit banks. All these transactions will be digital. This will not only reduce the risk of corona infection, but will also provide employment to women of the villages, the chief minister said and directed the officials to make arrangements for immediately deploying Sakhis. Total of Rs 4000a month will be paid to the Sakhis for the next six months and Rs 50,000 will be given for the device that would be used by them. In addition, the bank will also give them commission on the transaction, which will be a source of their fixed income every month. The Chief Minister said that even at the time ofcoronavirus crisis, women voluntary organizations are making every possible contribution and there are some voluntary groups who have also produced PPE kits in this difficult time. This proves that such groups are extremely talented, who, if given some guidance and support, are capable of doing anything. He said that if we make timely revolving funds and community investment funds available to women self-groups, then they can emerge as a perfect example of rural self-reliance. The chief minister said that the state government will provide employment to all migrant labourers and workers in the state according to their skill. In addition, they will be provided every possible help so that Uttar Pradesh gets the benefit of their talent. Uttar Pradesh will be at the leading position in each field across the country and the world. He said that we can make Uttar Pradesh a hub and brand of readymade garments. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) DECATUR Macon County officials announced two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the county's total to 174. Of those, 64 people have been released from isolation. Three are hospitalized, 90 are recovering at home and 17 residents have died. More data about the cases is here: Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. Do not go to an emergency room or doctor's office unless it is a true emergency. Call your primary doctor first. If you don't have a primary doctor, you can call: DMH Medical Group at (217) 876-2856 HSHS Medical Group Patient Advocate at 844-520-8897 Crossing Healthcare at (217) 877-9117 SIU at (217) 872-3800 For COVID-19 screening, the following resources are available: Crossing Healthcare (217) 877-9117 HSHS St. Marys Hospital 24/7 COVID-19 Hotline at (217) 464-2966. HSHS Medical Group offers free virtual assessments for COVID-19 at www.anytimecare.com PHOTOS: Everyday life during COVID-19 in Central Illinois Contact Allison Petty at (217) 421-6986. Follow her on Twitter: @AllisonAPetty Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Youlian Zhang is the CEO of Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. (HKG:8139). This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. Then we'll look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. Check out our latest analysis for Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology How Does Youlian Zhang's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. has a market capitalization of HK$94m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth CN472k over the year to December 2019. That's a notable increase of 76% on last year. While this analysis focuses on total compensation, it's worth noting the salary is lower, valued at CN258k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under CN1.4b, and the median CEO total compensation was CN1.6m. Now let's take a look at the pay mix on an industry and company level to gain a better understanding of where Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology stands. On a sector level, around 63% of total compensation represents salary and 37% is other remuneration. Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology is largely mirroring the industry average when it comes to the share a salary enjoys in overall compensation At first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Youlian Zhang is paid less than the average total compensation paid by similar sized companies. Though positive, it's important we delve into the performance of the actual business. You can see, below, how CEO compensation at Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology has changed over time. SEHK:8139 CEO Compensation May 21st 2020 Is Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. Growing? Story continues On average over the last three years, Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. has seen earnings per share (EPS) move in a favourable direction by 10% each year (using a line of best fit). It achieved revenue growth of 11% over the last year. This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently. A good result. This sort of respectable year-on-year revenue growth is often seen at a healthy, growing business. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow. Has Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. Been A Good Investment? Given the total loss of 54% over three years, many shareholders in Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously. In Summary... It looks like Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology Co., Ltd. pays its CEO less than similar sized companies. Considering the underlying business is growing earnings, this would suggest the pay is modest. Unfortunately, some shareholders may be disappointed with their returns, given the company's performance over the last three years. We're not critical of the remuneration Youlian Zhang receives, but it would be good to see improved returns to shareholders before the remuneration grows too much. When I see fairly low remuneration, combined with earnings per share growth, but without big share price gains, it makes me want to research the potential for future gains. Taking a breather from CEO compensation, we've spotted 4 warning signs for Zhejiang Chang'an Renheng Technology (of which 2 are a bit concerning!) you should know about in order to have a holistic understanding of the stock. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. On Thursday, May 12, 2020, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Shani Cooper-Zubida called on the National Chief Imam, Sheik Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu. The meeting was to celebrate with the Muslim Community in Ghana as they observe the Holy Month of Ramadan and prepare for Eid al Fitr. On behalf of the State of Israel in Accra, H. E. Shani Cooper also donated three sheep to His Eminence to share among the vulnerable under his care. In her interaction with His Eminence, Ambassador Cooper expressed her delight for the opportunity to meet him and fulfill the commandment of Zakkah (charity), which is one of the five pillars of Islam. Ambassador Cooper also added that in these trying times of COVID-19, all human beings should stand by each other, without differences of religion or skin color. In return, his Eminence Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu shared a prayer with Ambassador Cooper and welcomed her warm gesture. His eminence said the prays for peace among the world. Israels Muslim population consists primarily of about 18% of the population (about 1.4 million) Sunni Arabs, who mostly live in northern Israel. Circassians and Bedouins are members of Israels Muslim sector. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which contains the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is Islams third-holiest site. Another notable site is the El-Jazzar mosque in Acre. Israel funds more than 100 mosques and pays the salaries of their imams. In addition, Israel purchases the Korans used in mosques. The Israeli government also funds Arab schools as well as numerous Islamic schools and colleges. Arab-operated schools teach Islamic studies and Arabic, in addition to the Israel Ministry of Educations general curriculum. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Simon Bridges' leadership is under threat, more than 2000 jobs will be axed by two of NZ's biggest employers, a tracing app made traction - and another day of no new cases. There are no new cases of COVID-19 in the country on Wednesday and by early afternoon 92,000 people had downloaded the Health Ministry's contact tracing app on its first official day of release. Bay of Plenty MP wants to be party leader Simon Bridges has not fared well during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a disastrous poll this week showing only 4.5 per cent want him to be prime minister and the National Party's support has fallen to 30 per cent. Simon threw down the gauntlet on Wednesday morning, saying he's confident he has the numbers to win a leadership vote which was later confirmed for Friday. Shortly after 4pm, MP Todd Muller sent an email to colleagues signalling his intent to challenge for the party leadership. The email went on to say that a majority of the caucus did not believe Bridges could win the 19 September election. One well placed MP - a Simon supporter - told RNZ it was a "line call" on who would win the vote. Senior MP Judith Collins and former leadership contender says she will not be mounting a challenge. Major job losses The day began with Fletcher Building announcing it would slash about 1000 jobs in New Zealand as it moves to reduce staffing by 10 per cent. The company said the COVID-19 crisis was likely to have a significant impact on its business in New Zealand and Australia, with about 500 jobs to be cut across the Tasman. In New Zealand more than 400 operating sites were closed during the level four lockdown and the group's New Zealand businesses were trading at 80 percent of forecast May revenues. Chief executive Ross Taylor says the news would be hard for staff to hear. Meanwhile, more than 1300 cabin crew workers for Air New Zealand have been told their jobs are being cut, E tu union announced this afternoon. E tu says cabin crew were told yesterday how many job losses they faced. Of the long and mid haul crew, 950 are being made redundant, as well as 300 domestic crew in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and just under 100 across the regions. On Monday, the airline announced 300 engineering and maintenance jobs will go. One cabin crew member, who wished to remain anonymous, says they're "absolutely devastated by the news". The union says the process is being rushed and heavy-handed. Another zero day New Zealand has recorded a third consecutive day without a new COVID-19 case, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announced at the Beehive. The number of confirmed cases remains at 1153, and the combined total of confirmed and probable cases is 1503. There are 35 active cases with one person in hospital. App ready to use The government's new COVID-19 contact tracing app is now available. Ashley says the NZ COVID Tracer app will be helpful for getting the country towards alert level one, but not critical. He says the number of cases is still the biggest factor. The app's main function is a QR code reader to identify when people visit venues like cafes, with the information stored for up to 28 days. A bluetooth option was also expected to be ready next month. Size of gatherings may increase Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Cabinet will consider increasing the limit of 10 people at gatherings on Monday. Jacinda says COVID-19 is still in the community. "One case can become 90, and it would only take a few cases of those for us to go back into lockdown." She says the data suggests the approach taken is the right one. Global cases of infection edge towards 5 million There are almost five million cases of coronavirus globally, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, with 4,897,567 confirmed. World Bank president David Malpass warned up to 60 million people will be pushed into "extreme poverty" by the coronavirus. He says the bank expects global economic growth to shrink by five per cent this year as nations dealt with the pandemic and 100 countries - home to 70 per cent of the world's population - had already been granted emergency finance. Australia reduces restrictions Australian officials announced a raft of plans on Wednesday to speed up the resumption of public life to boost the ailing economy amid a diplomatic spat with major trading partner China. The government is also talking with Australian universities about allowing the return of some international students, a sector that contributes more than $A30 billion ($NZ32.1b) to domestic coffers. New South Wales will allow people to resume recreational travel from next month, effectively reopening tourist regions on its southern coast that were badly damaged by huge bushfires before the epidemic. Authorities in 23 countries across five continents have sought access to contact tracing technology from Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, the companies announced on Wednesday as they released the initial version of their system, as reported by Reuters. But authorities would have to stop requiring phone numbers from users under the companies' rules, one of several restrictions that have left governments fighting the novel coronavirus frustrated that the world's top two smartphone software makers undercut the technology's usefulness by prioritizing user privacy. Apple and Google said several U.S. states and 22 countries have sought access to their technology, but it is unclear how many will end up publishing mobile apps that use it. Using apps to accelerate contact tracing, in which authorities identify and test people who were recently near a virus carrier, has emerged as a tool to stem new outbreaks. It could help authorities test more potentially infected individuals than they would normally be able to based on patients recalling recent interactions from memory. But some governments contend their app-based efforts would be more effective if they could track users' locations to identify hot spots for virus transmission and notify them about possible exposure through calls or texts, rather than a generic push notification. Apple and Google have barred authorities using their technology from collecting GPS location data or requiring users to enter personal data. "We have a collision of tech, privacy and health professionals and the Venn diagram doesn't really have a spot where they all overlap," said Chester Wisniewski, a principal research scientist at cybersecurity company Sophos. Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries that have sought to develop their own technology are experiencing glitches, draining device batteries and seeing limited adoption. Apple and Google have said their system will more reliably use Bluetooth connections between devices to log users who are in physical proximity for at least five minutes. Developers of contact tracing apps for Austria, Germany and Switzerland told Reuters this week they were moving forward with the Apple-Google technology and were fine not knowing users' phone numbers. Other governments are hedging their bets. Norway plans to compare the effectiveness of its Smittestopp app with an Apple-Google-based app, Gun Peggy Knudsen, acting deputy director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in an interview. Smittestopp, which has a development budget of about $5 million, accesses GPS location and requires phone numbers. But it has seen limited use because of a low number of new infections. "If the tracing is so much better with the Apple-Google tool, then perhaps we should switch and we would consider what we need to do to do the switch," Knudsen said. North Dakota, which offered the first U.S. contact tracing app, told Reuters on Wednesday it will leave its initial Care19 app as a location-tracking "diary" tool to help patients jog their memories. But it also will release a new Care19 Exposure app based on the Apple-Google technology. The Australian government said it was in talks with Apple and Google about enhancing its COVIDSafe app, which currently requires phone numbers, postcodes and age ranges. A local MP has called for a resolution on identity verification issues that have resulted in some people being unable to access the Self-Employed Income Support scheme. The scheme, launched yesterday, hopes to replicate the support available to employees who have been furloughed. Grants will be calculated at 80% of average monthly profit over a period of up to three years and cash should be paid into applicants accounts within six days of applying. Applicants must fill out an online application form that includes an ID verification check, but the site does not accept an Irish passport or Northern Ireland driving licence. Mid Ulster MP Francie Molloy has written to HMRC after many self-employed workers were unable to use the online application as they do not hold a British passport or driving licence. He said: It is absolutely unacceptable that these people are excluded at present from accessing the HMRC online application. The number of Irish passport holders in the North is over 700,000 and there are also various other nationalities that make up our self-employed workforce. It is absolutely unacceptable that these people are excluded at present from accessing the HMRC online application. "I have written to the HMRC asking that the matter be resolved immediately and also contacted the Finance Minister to ask that he raise this matter with the British Treasury. This is a time of immense economic uncertainty and financial hardship; many self-employed people are feeling the financial strain of this pandemic. Self-employed workers have had to wait several weeks for applications for this scheme to open, this itself has caused immense concern and anxiety. There must not be additional stress placed upon these workers due to issues around identity verification. This must be resolved without a moments delay. A HMRC spokesperson said: We want to reassure those in Northern Ireland that they will not be excluded from the scheme. Anyone can check their eligibility for the scheme using our eligibility checker, and if they meet the criteria, can apply. Anyone who has engaged with us online before, to file their return for example, should be able to use their existing credentials to claim online, she said. Anyone going online with us for the first time can use the multiple-choice questions option to attempt to verify their identity, they said. If they are unable to verify, they are still able to claim their grant using our telephone helplines. HMRCs Covid-19 helpline can be contacted by calling 0800 024 1222. The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday decided to pay full salaries to government employees for the month of May. The decision was taken by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at a review meeting. He directed the finance department to pay full salary for May to the government employees. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government had deferred payment of certain percentage of the amount for March and April salaries, said a statement from the Chief Minister's office. Meanwhile, Secretariat Employees' Association president Venkatrami Reddy welcomed the decision of the chief minister. He said payment of 50 per cent salaries for March and April was deferred due to the financial crisis caused by the lockdown. The government had asked all employees to attend their offices from Thursday. Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses were arranged for the convenience of employees travelling to the secretariat from Vijayawada. As several employees are stranded in Hyderabad due to the lockdown, the association demanded the government to arrange special buses to bring them to Amaravati. Schools in New Jersey will not be open prior to the end of this academic year, but may reopen this fall with potential capacity limitations or modified in-person learning methods to continue curbing the spread of the coronavirus. But, with a vaccine still at least several months away, many parents and guardians who have been homeschooling their children or watched them adapt to remote learning since the onset of the outbreak may be pondering the same question: Is it worth it to send my kids back to school in the fall? Under New Jersey law, it is legal for parents or guardians to pull their children out of school if they can ensure that they receive an education that is academically "equivalent to what they had been receiving in their classes. Still, from the perspective of J. Allen Weston, the executive director of the National Home School Association, homeschooling does not provide students with a form of education that is equivalent to what they would receive in a school but with one that is altogether superior to it. Homeschooling is a lifestyle dedicated to the joy of learning, and understanding that life and learning is an adventure to be cherished, not a chore to muddle through to get a grade which is what public school or even private school in some cases has become, Weston said. Children have been taught now that learning is all about retaining information long enough to take a test and get a grade on it, and that thats the process of learning. Well, thats not the process of learning. Unfortunately schools have robbed the children of that ability to be able to experience the joy of learning, and homeschooling is all about bringing that back," he added. According to the National Home Research Institute, homeschoolers on average tend to score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. While the NHRI found that approximately 2.5 million children in the United States are currently being homeschooled, Weston argued that this number is more likely between 4 and 4.5 million because 26 states do not require families to notify school districts that they are homeschooling their children, or do not keep count of the ones who do. Regardless of where the number of homeschooled children currently stands, in the next year it is likely to greatly expand. The number of emails and calls to the National Home Association from families seeking to pursue homeschool instruction has increased one hundred-fold" since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Weston confirmed. In the last two weeks in particular, its exploded, Weston said. I think a lot of families are coming to the realization that giving their kids busy work to do, or making them sit on the computer all day long and doing online classes given to them by the school districts, is not working for them. Of the ones that are contacting us, probably 70% are saying, Were not sending our kids back.' " Weston homeschooled all three of his children, two of whom have careers in business. The third makes a living as a script writer and author of young adult fantasy books. Reflecting upon his personal success in homeschool instruction, Weston said that the first thing all families interested in homeschooling their children should do is understand what it means to homeschool" and mentally prepare for it. That doesnt mean setting up a desk and chalkboard and clearing the room to become a school, because that is creating school at home; thats not homeschooling, Weston said. Additionally, parents and guardians should become familiar with their childrens particular learning styles and needs, which Weston said will go a long way really fast. (Some) may learn through kinesthetic learning they can only grasp a concept if they have something in their hands and if theyre doing something," Weston explained. "(Others) may be auditory learners, where they can flourish from sitting and listening to someone talking at them. And some might be visual learners; they just tune out whatever theyre listening to, but if you put something in front of them to look at a diagram or a worksheet or a book, then theyll get it. Still, Weston emphasized that just as important as thoroughly preparing for their childrens learning is for a parent or guardian to get out of their kids way. Most kids will teach themselves if theyre interested in something. And if theyre not interested, theyre not going to retain it anyway, Weston said. And maybe its comic books. And most parents would go, Oh, Im not going to use comic books to teach my kids. Thats ridiculous. But if their whole interest is in Captain America, then use that. Take that interest and find out how to incorporate it in lessons of history. Its just natural discussions, and those are the best things that kids will remember, he added. To support families interested in homeschooling their children, the National Home School Association offers both a virtual handbook for homeschoolers, as well as 10 1/2-hour video teaching course that tackles the ins and outs of homeschooling. Beyond these resources, the New Jersey Homeschool Association provides a few of its own. The organization lists texts about homeschooling and explains multiple different methods of homeschooling on its website, providing reading materials for the latter. Moreover, students who value a form of instruction more similar to an experience they would receive in a classroom can register for tuition-free schools like the Connections Academy and Discovery K12, or state-based schools that require payment like the New Jersey Virtual School. Parents or guardians can also seek information about the curricula of local schools from these districts boards of education, which must be provided at their request under state law. The New Jersey Homeschool Association recommends parents and guardians interested in shaping the homeschooling of their children with a curriculum package to investigate several types of programs prior to locking into one. Make notes on what you want, what you need and what you just cant deal with, the website of the New Jersey Homeschool Association states. Are deadlines imposed on students? How much flexibility is there in grade level? Exactly what does your payment include? Use those notes to help you choose a program thats a good fit for your family. While Weston said that he largely allowed his childrens interests and curiosities to drive the path of their learning, he acknowledged that there are other forms of homeschooling that may be as successful for other children. All three did really well. They took to it, always seemed to have fun, always were able to pursue things that were interesting to them, and it was never boring," Weston said. But there certainly are lots of other methods that are really working well for different families. Still, of the many educational methods that families can pursue, Weston argued that those positioned in the home are of the greatest benefit to children even if the coronavirus should be altogether wiped from the earth come this fall. Homeschool families ... turn everything into a learning adventure going to the grocery and examining the labels on the cans, they learn about nutrition, they learn about chemicals and chemistry," Weston said. "And they use all sorts of different tools and techniques to turn literally anything a walk in the park, a drive down the street, going to visit a relative into learning experiences and opportunities. It doesnt even seem like a choice to me; it seems like the only obvious thing the parents would want to do. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com. The president appointed an ally of Vice President Mike Pences, Stephen J. Akard, to be the acting inspector general. Mr. Akard went to the office on Monday, despite the mandatory 30-day congressional review period over Mr. Trumps actions, and told people there that he would keep his ambassador-level State Department job, as head of the foreign missions office, while serving as inspector general. In his new post, he would oversee a staff of hundreds working on inquiries into fraud and waste at the agency. Congressional aides said holding both positions was a conflict of interest. The State Department did not answer questions about the blending of Mr. Pompeos official travels with his personal political agenda during the reporting of this article. Late Thursday night, after it was published online, the department released a statement that said: The secretarys travel is governed by the same series of laws, rules and procedures that have been in place under previous secretaries. The office of the secretary consults consistently across the department to ensure all travel is conducted appropriately and well within the bounds of each of those requirements. Mr. Pompeo has said in the past that his domestic travels are aimed in part at explaining the administrations foreign policy to audiences nationwide. Questions have grown in recent days about Mr. Pompeos use of agency resources because of news reports that the Pompeos hosted about two dozen lavish Madison Dinners at the State Department for hundreds of guests since Mr. Pompeo began his job as top diplomat in April 2018. NBC News, which obtained guest lists, reported the invited attendees included many prominent executives and Republican donors, as well as conservative media figures and Supreme Court justices. The only lawmakers invited were Republicans. Contact information from the dinners is sent to Mrs. Pompeos personal email address. A State Department political appointee who is a longtime friend of the familys, Toni Porter, helps organize the dinners as well as domestic trips and meetings for the Pompeos. Ms. Porter had been a focal point of Mr. Linicks investigation into potential misuse of agency resources. Over the past few months, Mr. Pompeo has met frequently with Brett ODonnell, a Republican political consultant who has advised the secretary of state for six years, going back to when Mr. Pompeo was a congressman. Mr. ODonnell, who declined to comment, has worked for several Republican presidential campaigns, including those of George W. Bush in 2004, John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. He was with Mr. Pompeo last July at a speech in Orlando, Fla. Last month, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent campaigns a 57-page strategy memo written by Mr. ODonnell advising candidates to attack China while generally avoiding defending Mr. Trump on his pandemic reaction. Mr. Pompeo has taken the most vocally aggressive stand against China among top administration officials. Coronavirus The Lagos state Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi has explained why there are more cases of Coronavirus in the state than Kano which it shares a similar demography with. Abayomi who spoke at a press conference on Thursday May 21, debunked claims of a dramatic increase of Coronavirus cases in the state. He stated that though Lagos state is yet to reach its peak in Coronavirus cases, however the number of cases recorded is following the trend which was defined in its module. Abayomi also disclosed that Lagos has increased its testing capacity, whereas Kano has only one testing center which became functional recently. The health commissioner who revealed that there are 4 functional testing centers in Lagos, averred that more cases are diagnosed when increased testing is carried out. Abayomi also talked about decentralized sample collection in the state. According to him, people no longer need to wait for the states epidemology team to come to their house for sample collection or go to isolation centers for Coronavirus tests. Abayomi said there now 20 decentralized sample collection centers in the state which residents can easily walk into, to provide their samples for testing. As at May 20, Lagos has 2954 confirmed cases of Coronavirus while Kano has 847 cases. [The stream is slated to start at 3:20 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] President Donald Trump is expected to deliver his remarks at the Ford Rawsonville plant Thursday. His plans go against a signed executive order from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that prohibits nonessential visits to manufacturing facilities in the state to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel said that Trump has a "legal responsibility" under state law to wear a mask during his factory visit. So far, Trump has refused to wear a mask at public events. "I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford and across this state by wearing a facial covering," Nessel wrote in a letter to Trump. Ford's own policy requires that visitors and employees wear masks while inside. The company said it has informed the White House about that policy. Trump's visit comes a day after he threatened to withhold funding from Michigan for expanding its mail-in voting services in an effort to avoid crowded polling centers in November. The outbreak has spread to dozens of countries, with more than 5 million confirmed cases worldwide and over 328,471 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There are at least 1.5 million cases in the United States and at least 93,439 deaths, according to the latest tallies. -- CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Lawyers for Venezuelas central bank said Thursday they had launched legal action against the Bank of England, demanding the release of gold reserves to be used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. London-based firm Zaiwalla & Co said it had been instructed by the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) to issue a claim against the Bank of England for the release of USD $1 billion of Venezuelas gold reserves to help the country combat COVID-19. It said BCV wrote last month to the Bank of England requesting the gold be transferred to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which is working to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the cash-strapped country. The BoE refused to confirm it would act on instructions on the basis that it does not recognise the authority of the current management of the BCV and the Venezuelan government, the firm said. In February last year, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro accused the Bank of England of holding onto more than 80 tons of gold that belonged to his country. But opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognised as Venezuelas true leader by around 50 countries including Britain, has asked London not to release it. In submissions to the High Court, revealed at a remote hearing on Thursday, the Bank of England said it was caught in the middle of rival claims to control the BCV. Its lawyer Brian Kennelly said that if the BCV board appointed by Maduro was not the duly authorised representatives of the BCV, then it would be unlawful for the Bank of England to deal with the gold in accordance with their instructions. Samuel Moncada, Venezuelas ambassador to the United Nations, accused the Bank of England of a crime against humanity. It is not the first time that the Bank of England has acted as a looting agent against the people. Now it violates contracts and swindles nations by taking advantage of the pandemic, he tweeted. The case was adjourned for a trial in June. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:44:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A total of 21 militants were confirmed dead as fighting planes struck a Taliban gathering in the northern Jawzjan province on Thursday, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said. According to the official, the fighting planes dropped bombs on the Taliban gathering and their hideout in two parts of Manjik district of Jawzjan province in the wee hours of Thursday, killing 21 insurgents. The official said the security forces would continue to target the insurgents elsewhere in the country. Taliban militants who had lost six fighters in similar air raids in the northern Kunduz province late Wednesday night have yet to make comment. Enditem When it comes to Kate Middletons titles, royal watchers know her best as the Duchess of Cambridge, a title she received after tying the knot with Prince William in 2011. Although most fans recognize her as Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, she actually goes by a different name in certain parts of the United Kingdom. Heres a look at all of Kates titles and why they change depending on the location. Kate Middleton | Victoria Jones WPA Pool/Getty Images Is Kate Middleton a princess? Members of the royal family often get a slew of titles over time, some of which mark important milestones. For example, Queen Elizabeth usually grants new titles following weddings. In 2018, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they got hitched, and Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were named the Duke and Duchess of York following their wedding in 1986. The rules are different, however, in regard to who is called a prince or princess. Only individuals who are born into the royal family carry those styles. This means that Kate will never be known as a princess, regardless of the fact that William will be the King someday. RELATED: Kate Middletons New Down-to-Earth Approach Confirmed By Body Language Expert as She Continues to Step Up Her Royal Duties That said, when William takes the crown, there is a good chance that Kate will receive the title of Queen Consort, something Camilla Parker Bowles will likely never get. When she exchanged vows with Prince Charles in 2005, Clarence House revealed that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will be called Princess Consort when Charles is on the throne. As a side note, Princess Diana was not actually a princess. Her full title was Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. The only reason she was known as Princess Diana was that the media referred to her as a princess and it stuck. The Duchess of Cambridge has different titles depending on where she is in the world Kate is best known as the Duchess of Cambridge, but she goes by a different title depending on where she is staying. According to Express, Kates title in Northern Ireland is Lady Carrickfergus while she goes by the Countess of Strathearn in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth bestowed these titles on Kate upon her marriage to William in 2011. William holds the same titles as Kate, though he also has the style of a prince since he was born into the royal family. RELATED: Prince William and Kate Middleton Become the Face of the Royal Family Amid News Harry and Meghan Are Never Coming Back Kates three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis also have HRH titles. But not all who are born into the royal family received HRH styles. Princess Annes children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips did not receive the titles of prince or princess when they were born, and neither did Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Harrys son, Archie Harrison. The reason they did not get these titles is that they are not grandchildren of the sovereigns sons. Harry and Meghan also decided against giving Archie a royal title as they wanted him to have a more normal upbringing. This will be Kate Middletons title when Prince William is king Camillas complicated history with Charles is why she will probably not get the title of Queen Consort once he is on the throne. When he was still married to Diana, Charles and Camilla had an ongoing affair that destroyed his marriage and damaged their public image. Although they have worked hard to rebuild their public image, naming Camilla Queen Consort remains a touchy subject in the UK. This is one reason why Clarence House has already issued a statement regarding Camillas future title. RELATED: Will Kate Middleton Have to Curtsy to Prince William When He Becomes King? Kate, on the other hand, does not have to worry about facing that sort of backlash. In an interview with Express, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams explained why he believes Kate will be the next Queen Consort, not Camilla. Camillas become popular in the country because they realize that she does a good job, he shared, adding that her future title is an issue which is hypersensitive and remains a problem. Kate will be Queen Consort without any question. Kate Middleton has not commented on the reports surrounding her titles. William is currently second in line to the throne following Charles. By PTI KOCHI: The deadly coronavirus, which has claimed thousands of lives the world over, seems to be wreaking havoc on marital relationships too going by an incident in Kerala's Ernakulam district where a man has allegedly scooted with the wife of his childhood friend who gave him shelter during the lockdown period. Ironical is the fact that the 32-year-old lothario, hailing from Munnar in Idukki district and working in a private company in Ernakulam, came in touch with his friend after 20 years when he got trapped in Muvattupuzha town following the COVID-19 lockdown announcement in March. The man got the friend's number from his relatives in Munnar. When he telephoned him seeking help for staying in Muvattupuzha, the friend took him to his house provided him shelter and food there till the end of April. The husband became suspicious about their affair following his friend's reluctance to leave the house even after Ernakulam district turned a 'green zone' (no COVID-19 case) on May 1, police said. Police said the man and the 30-year-old woman had taken her two children along with them when they allegedly went missing from her husband's house last week. When the police intensified the investigation based on the complaint of the woman's husband, the duo along with the children presented themselves before the police in Muvattupuzha this week. In the presence of police, the woman had to yield to her husband's argument that he has also right over his children, police sources said She, however, decided to go with her husband's friend, they said. The woman and her now estranged husband had a love marriage. According to the police, the duo had made an attempt to flee in an autorickshaw earlier but returned hours later following police intervention based on her husband's complaint. They abandoned their plan after police threatened legal action against them under the Juvenile Justice Act. The husband happily accepted his wife when she reunited with him, police said. However, a few days later, she allegedly eloped with her lover and took her children also along with them in the car bought by her husband in her name, police said. She also allegedly took her jewellery. LOS ANGELES Karen Fisher is the featured guest on the Danglin After Dark show with host Dick Dangle. Karen Fisher: Episode #271 features the "Ultimate MILF." She shares a lot of industry info, advice, and memories with Dangle. The second half of Danglin After Dark features an interview with the performer, and during the conversation, she discusses keeping busy during this time and handling multiple content platforms and social media. Fisher also dives into staying busy during the quarantine with her OnlyFans, SextPanther, weekly live shows for subscribers, Skype shows, and producing solo content and custom videos. The two also discuss her love of the outdoors, going to conventions to meet fans and shoot content, and her civilian jobs before entering the industry. Check out Karen Fisher: Episode #271 here. This is one of the best interviews of my career. Dick really did his research and asked me very unique questions. Many interviewers ask the same questions over and over, but not Dick. My fans will definitely learn more about me if they check it out, says Fisher. The CDC was shunted out of the limelight, even though the agency has the explicit job of pandemic preparation and management and has such experienced crisis managers as Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat. Mr. Trump preferred his own ill-informed predictions the virus will disappear to the hard truths of scientists. Dr. Redfields political skills in the Washington power game have been sorely lacking, and he may have feared Mr. Trumps wrath, but he should have been more forceful in asserting the CDCs primacy. It is true that the CDCs data systems are outdated, but instead of complaining about it, Congress and the administration ought to fix what has been known and neglected for too long. While schools and universities discuss plans to reopen, new warnings have emerged concerning the effects of the COVID-19 virus on youth. Several recent deaths of young students demonstrate the basic fact that, despite efforts by the media and politicians to downplay the dangers, the virus can pose a deadly threat to young people. On April 25, in Lancaster, Texas, 17-year-old Lancaster High School student Jameela Dirrean-Emoni Barber died from liver and blood clots after she tested positive for coronavirus. Barber, who would have been a senior this fall, suffered a sudden and tragic death. Reports indicate that she had no underlying health conditions. Similar cases are emerging throughout the country. Another tragic example can be found at Wheeling High School in a northwestern suburb of Chicago. Sophomore Zach Leviton, who was just 16 years old, died after falling severely ill. After being put on a ventilator, Leviton died on April 13 at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois. State health officials are investigating Levitons death, which is believed to be linked to COVID-19. Leviton initially tested negative for the virus; however, doctors found his symptoms to be characteristic of an early-stage coronavirus infection. Jameela Dirrean-Emoni Barber (Lancaster ISD) COVID-19-related deaths have also been traced to college campuses and stem from university administrators lack of preparation for and communication regarding the virus, as well as the general state of severe underfunding for both public education and health care. Located in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, the City University of New York (CUNY) has identified four faculty, 10 staff, and three students who have died from the virus. Furthermore, students, faculty, and staff have complained that university officials have not been forthcoming with information on CUNYs coronavirus cases. Students have also raised criticism over the delay in CUNYs response to the pandemic as well as its lack of financial support for students who have lost campus jobs. In the state of Michigan, one of the virus epicenters in the US, students and youth also face dire conditions. A student at Western Michigan University (WMU), 25-year-old Bassey Offiong, tried multiple times to get tested for the virus after showing COVID-19 symptoms. He was denied at every attempt. This was at a time when test kits were largely unavailable in the country, meaning that many with the virus were not able to receive a diagnosis and corresponding treatment. When Offiongs conditions worsened, he traveled to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, which has been ranked among the best hospitals in the state. He died on March 29, spending the last week of his life on a ventilator. Offiong would have graduated from WMU and received his degree in chemical engineering just a month from the time of his passing. He appeared to not have any underlying health conditions. Another youth from Kalamazoo, Cornelius Frederick, contracted the virus and died at just 16 years old while staying at the foster care group home Lakeside Academy. Lakeside Academy is a facility that treats youth in need of intensive behavioral and mental therapy. Frederick, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had lost his mother when he was 10, and, after his stepfather was incarcerated, spent four years in the foster care system. On April 30, Frederick was physically restrained by Lakeside Academy staff after he had thrown a sandwich. Frederick reportedly told staff, I cant breathe! before passing out. He was transported to Bronson Methodist Hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19. Zach Leviton, 16, of Wheeling, shown in a 2018 photo.(Pam Jelaca/HANDOUT) Since May 4, nine staff members and 39 students also tested positive for the virus at Lakeside Academy. Foster care systems have seen a surge of outbreaks in states across the country. These systems are notorious for being understaffed and under-resourced. Facilities are often crowded, making social distancing next to impossible. Children and youth within these systems are often moved from one foster home to another. Such conditions often leave the mental and physical well-being of foster children and youth in neglect, making them particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. Moreover, very few states have issued a moratorium on aging out, when a youth is no longer provided services, usually between the ages 18 and 21. More than 20 percent of youth who age out of the system will struggle with homelessness, meaning they will likely be forced to stay in crowded and unsanitary shelters, being placed at a much higher risk for COVID-19 infection. While it is true that the virus is significantly more lethal to older people, the rate of infection among youth is significantly higher than what was originally anticipated. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40 percent of American COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized were under 55and 20 percent were between ages 20 and 44. And in rare cases, even children have died after falling ill with COVID-19. In addition, recent reports have also revealed a dangerous condition, which doctors are calling multisystem inflammatory syndrome, that is thought to be related to COVID-19. The condition has shown up in children across the USand internationally. Reopening schools and universities in the summer and fall months without proper preparations will force students to decide between continuing their education and their own health and the health of their loved ones, both young and old. For older students, the threat is increased. Two fatal cases at Wayne State University in Detroit have underscored the deadly conditions created on crowded campuses. On April 3, Darrin Adams, a 51-year-old Wayne State student studying sociology, died. Adams was also a custodian at the university. Antoinette Bell was 50 years old when she passed on May 7. She was studying social work. The drive to reopen schools is unfolding under conditions in which the virus has yet to be controlled. The United States, with barely 4 percent of the worlds population, has 32 percent of the worlds cases and 29 percent of the worlds deaths. Furthermore, the full effects of the virus are still largely unknown. Despite the almost daily claims by the Trump administration and the media that this or that vaccine or treatment has been discovered, no viable vaccine has been developed. There is no known cure. Schools and universities are in the midst of unveiling plans and procedures for safely reopening in the fall. However, none of the plans include any serious measures to protect students and their loved ones from the virus. The coronavirus is extremely infectious, spread through aerosolization or on surfaces. There is no doubt that crowded schools, hosting people from all over the country and the world, have the potential to turn into COVID-19 hotspots very quickly, and with deadly consequences. DGAP-News: SAF-HOLLAND SE / Key word(s): AGM/EGM The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. SAF-HOLLAND SE: Extraordinary General Meeting passes the resolution to transfer the registered office to Germany - New registered office: Bessenbach - Conversion to a dualistic board system with a Management Board and a Supervisory Board - Proposed candidates elected to the Supervisory Board - Share capital increased and new authorized capital approved Luxembourg, May 20, 2020. The two Extraordinary General Meetings of SAF-HOLLAND SE today passed, by a large majority, the most important resolutions proposed to the shareholders - a capital increase from Company funds, the terms of transfer and the new version of the articles of association of SAF-HOLLAND SE contained therein, with the future registered office in Bessenbach, Germany. Dr. Martin Kleinschmitt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAF-HOLLAND SE says: "Transferring the registered office concludes the spatial consolidation of the registered office of SAF-HOLLAND SE, as the holding company, with the operating functions of SAF-HOLLAND GmbH. This will make it easier to manage the SAF-HOLLAND Group overall and at the same time lead to cost-savings. Moreover, transferring the registered office to Germany will result in the Company having its registered office in the country in which its shares are listed. As a next step, it is planned to simplify the legal structure of the Group." Conversion to a dualistic board system with a Management Board and a Supervisory Board Within the framework of the new articles of association, the board system of the Company will be converted from a monistic system to the dualistic system customary in Germany, consisting of a Management Board as the management body and a Supervisory Board as the surveillance authority. The transition will be executed upon the entry of SAF-HOLLAND SE in the commercial register at the Local Court in Aschaffenburg. Proposed candidates elected to the Supervisory Board The future Supervisory Board of SAF-HOLLAND SE will comprise the former members of the Board of Directors, Ingrid Jagering, Dr. Martin Kleinschmitt, Martina Merz and Carsten Reinhardt. The Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Webasto SE, Matthias Arleth, will join the Supervisory Board as a new member. The members of the Supervisory Board are elected for four years. Share capital increased and new authorized capital approved As a result of the resolved capital increase from Company funds, the Company's share capital now amounts to EUR 45,394,302.00 and is divided into 45,394,302 nominal value shares with a nominal value of EUR 1.00 each. The articles of association authorize the Management Board, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, to increase the share capital by a total of up to 50 per cent until May 2025. In principle, the new shares shall be offered to the Company's shareholders for subscription. However, the Management Board is under certain circumstances authorized, with the approval from the Supervisory Board, to exclude the subscription rights of the shareholders. Annual General Meeting approves all proposed resolutions Immediately prior to the two Extraordinary Shareholder Meetings, the fourteenth Annual General Meeting approved all the resolutions proposed to it by the Board of Directors by a large majority. These included in particular the presentation of the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2019, including the management report and the Group management report as well as the report of the independent auditor, discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the approval to appoint Ingrid Jagering to this supervisory body. The Annual General Meeting also discharged the auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Societe cooperative, for the 2019 financial year, who was then reappointed as the auditor for the 2020 financial year until the transfer of the registered office to Germany has legally taken effect. The voting results of the Annual General Meeting and the two extraordinary general meetings can be viewed on the website of the SAF-HOLLAND Group at: https://corporate.safholland.com/en/investor-relations/general-meeting/annual-general-meeting/2020 https://corporate.safholland.com/en/investor-relations/general-meeting/extraordinary-general-meeting/2020 About SAF-HOLLAND SAF-HOLLAND SE, located in Luxembourg, is the largest independent listed commercial vehicle supplier in Europe and primarily supplies the trailer markets. With sales of around EUR 1,284 million in 2019, the Company is one of the leading international manufacturers of chassis-related assemblies and components, primarily for trailers but also for trucks, buses, and recreational vehicles. In addition to axle and suspension systems, the product range includes fifth wheels, coupling systems, kingpins and landing legs, which are sold under the SAF, Holland, Neway, KLL, V.Orlandi and York brands. SAF-HOLLAND supplies original equipment manufacturers (OEM) on six continents. In the Aftermarket business, the Group supplies replacement parts to manufacturers' service networks (OES) and, with the help of distribution centers, to end customers and service centers via an extensive global sales network. SAF-HOLLAND has a broad international base and is present in almost all markets worldwide. With the innovation offensive "SMART STEEL - ENGINEER BUILD CONNECT", SAF-HOLLAND combines mechanics with sensors and electronics and is driving forward the digital networking of commercial vehicles and logistics chains. Around 3,500 committed employees worldwide are already working on the future of the transport industry today. Contact Michael Schickling Director Investor Relations and Corporate Communications Tel: +49 (0) 6095 301 617 michael.schickling@safholland.de Future-oriented statements This press release contains certain future-oriented statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts made by the management of SAF-HOLLAND SE. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may lead to the actual results, financial position, development or performance of the company deviating considerably from the appraisals specified here. The company assumes no obligation to update future-oriented statements of this nature or adapt them to future events or developments. Note This announcement is for information purposes only and does neither constitute an offer to sell, purchase, exchange or transfer any securities nor a solicitation of any offer to sell, purchase, exchange or transfer any securities. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. SAF-HOLLAND SE does not intend to register any securities referred to herein under the Securities Act or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction in the United States in connection with this announcement. Contact: SAF-HOLLAND Group Michael Schickling Hauptstrae 26 63856 Bessenbach Phone +49 6095 301-617 michael.schickling@safholland.de 20.05.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de HURON COUNTY With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging across Michigan, the majority of Huron Countys Memorial Day events have been canceled. The only community in the county that plans on going forward with its event is Bay Port, where all veterans are welcome to attend a service at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at the Bay Port park. Specialist gardai carried out searches in the Blessington area yesterday as part of an ongoing investigation into an allegation of a bogus legal firm offering immigration services to persons subject to immigration law in Ireland. During the course of these searches, a significant number of files and computers were seized by members of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB). Gardai discovered that, in many cases, the victims of this bogus legal firm were persons desperate to regularise their status in this jurisdiction. These persons paid significant fees (between 1,000 and 3,000 in many cases) to this firm in the belief that they had the legal expertise to address their immigration status. Approximately 60,000 has been frozen in a bank account as a result of this investigation. A male was arrested and detained at Naas Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. He has since been charged to appear before Naas District Court, this morning Thursday 21st May, 2020. Detective Chief Superintendent Pat Lordan of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau said, "We are concerned that people in vulnerable positions are being taken advantage by fraudsters." "We are advising persons seeking legal advice on immigration services or otherwise to check to ensure the person or persons they are dealing with have the appropriate qualifications and experience to provide such services." Nearly a month after rejecting charges of illegality in its IT contract with a US firm for processing data related to COVID-19 patients in the state,the Kerala government on Thursday informed the High Court that the US-based IT firm Sprinklr will have no role in analysing the data. In an affidavit, the state government has submitted that it has now "full and exclusive ownership of the data" which will be analysed by state-owned CDIT. "There is no basis for apprehensions on the use or abuse of data," the government said in its counter filed to deny the averments made in a batch of writ petitions seeking quashing of the state government's contract with Sprinklr. The government submitted that the data collected is stored in the Amazon Web Server (AWS) account owned fully by CDIT, which is a Government institution. It also stated that the Amazon Cloud Web Server, which has signed a Non Disclosure Agreement with the Goverment of India, is one among the 12 cloud providers empanelled by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and subjected to audit by STQC, an internationally recognized Assurance Service providing organization. "...insofar as the data is residing in C-DIT control and with it being processed in the servers in the control of C-DIT through the use of the third respondent's software deployed in the control of C-DIT, there is no transfer of data to third party," the state government said. On April 24, the High Court had restrained the US-based IT firm from analysing or processing the data related to COVID-19 patients and directed it to retransfer to the state government, any data it has obtained. In an interim order on a plea seeking to quash the state government's contract with Sprinklr, the High Court had also directed the state government to anonymize all data of COVID-19 patients collected by it and allow the IT firm to access data only after completing the anonymization process. The state government had entered into a contract with the IT company based out of the US, owned by a non resident Keralite, wherein the data of suspected and actual patients of the COVID-19 virus will be collected using government machinery and is uploaded to the foreign firm's web server on a daily basis. The IT company in turn will provide actual data to the State machinery after analysis, for better understanding and treatment of the pandemic. Earlier, the Kerala government had filed a statement in the Court,rejecting charges of illegality in its IT contract with a US firm for processing data related to COVID-19 patients in the state and contended that initiation of penal action for breach would fall within the ambit of Indian IT Act. The main demand of the opposition Congress and the BJP was to stay and cancel the agreement. The Centre had also filed a preliminary statement in connection with the case, saying sharing of sensitive data, especially of health related information of large number of people, is to be resorted to in a very careful manner. In his plea, petitioner Balu Gopalakrishnan had said the only concern is whether the data stored in the web server of company is safe and whether it can be used by the company for monetary gains. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Partnership helps those facing financial hardship due to COVID-19 & supports top-rated nonprofit assisting Veterans, Military, Wounded & their families PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 02:34:52 Press Information Full Spectrum Debt Solutions 16420 N 92nd St Suite 212 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Kurt Jensen Partner, Business Debt Settlements 877-297-2440 email http://www.FullSpectrumDebt.com Published by Kurt Jensen 877-297-2440 e-mail https://fullspectrumdebt.com # 487 Words 16420 N 92nd St Suite 212 Scottsdale, AZ 85260Partner, Business Debt Settlements877-297-2440Kurt Jensen877-297-2440 Full Spectrum Debt Solutions has announced their partnership with Soldiers Angels to help Veterans, business owners and fellow Americans with their current financial hardship, likely worsened by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.We are proud to partner with Soldiers Angels, knowing how incredibly efficient they are (96.5%) with the donations they provide the true heroes of our great country. said Kurt Jensen (Partner, Business Debt Settlements) of Full Spectrum Debt Solutions. Our mission is to help as many businesses and consumers as possible now struggling with overwhelming debt, which this current crisis only made much worse. We are looking forward to this incredible partnership with Full Spectrum Debt Solutions, said Amy Palmer, President and CEO of Soldiers Angels. The challenges many of our Veterans are facing during this historic time may seem unsurmountable, but with help from organizations like Full Spectrum Debt Solutions, we can all come together to really make a difference in the lives of our Veterans. The Full Spectrum Debt Solutions / Soldiers Angels partnership details include: Program discounts for all Veterans & Military clients. (Business owners and consumers) For every debt settlement program provided for a client, Full Spectrum Debt Solutions donates $100 to Soldiers Angels to support U.S. Veterans & Military. Full Spectrum Debt Solutions is hiring from the U.S. Military community, including Veterans & military spouses. Those with previous sales experience, send your resume to HR@ FullSpectrumDebt.com Full Spectrum Debt Solutions is a 10+ year old debt settlement firm with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, specializing in business and personal debt settlement programs. Their business debt negotiator is one of the best in the country, with over 35 years of debt settlement experience, including the 20 years he ran his debt collection and business litigation law practice. Full Spectrum Debt Solutions 2 senior personal debt negotiators have a combined 50+ years of consumer debt settlement experience, as well.About Soldiers Angels: Soldiers Angels has earned a reputation as one of the highest-rated nonprofit organizations in the country. Founded in 2003, Soldiers Angels has an amazing 96.5% Efficiency Rating. Awards include: GuideStar Platinum Participant; 2019 Top-Rated Nonprofit from GreatNonprofits; Four Star Charity from Charity Navigator; and meets all 20 Standards for Accountability from the Better Business Bureau.For more information on Full Spectrum Debt Solutions partnership with Soldiers Angels, please contact Kurt Jensen at 877-297-2440 (Commercial Debt Department) or Kurt@ FullSpectrumDebt.com Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect our views with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We furthermore disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statement made herein. Samajwadi Party, BSP and AAP will not join the top Opposition leaders' meet on Friday to discuss Narendra Modi government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as "inadequate" financial package and "bulldozing" of states. Eighteen parties have confirmed their attendance at the meeting that will be chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and will be attended by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief MK Stalin and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. SP, BSP and AAP have chosen to distance themselves from the meeting as they "do not find politically prudent" to attend a meeting convened by the Congress. However, National Conference has agreed to attend the meeting while JD(S) gave its green signal on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether Farooq Abdullah or Omar Abdullah would be attending the video conference. If they choose to do so, this would be their first high-profile political deliberation since their release from detention. The Abdullahs were in detention since August 4 last year as the Centre moved swiftly to abroagate special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two union territories. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata would join the meeting late as she would be touring the state hit by cyclone Amphan, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to be in Bengal on Friday. Trinamool's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien will hold the party in the meeting till Mamata joins. During the meeting, the top leaders are expected to discuss the way ahead for the Opposition in presenting a united face while taking on the Modi government. Those attending the meeting include CPI General Secretary D Raja, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav, RLD's Ajit Singh, LJD's Sharad Yadav, Hindustan Awam Morcha's Jiten Manjhi, RLSP's Upendra Kushwaha and Swabhiman Paksha's Raju Shetti among others. Leaders of AIDUF, Muslim League, Kerala Congress and RSP will also attend. Sources said the meeting would discuss the government's COVID-19 response, states "being bulldozed" by the Centre on COVID-19 response, trampling upon the federal structure and the Rs 20,000 lakh crore financial package announced by the government, including raising the fiscal deficit limit to 5% but with conditions. The meeting will provide the leaders a chance to analyse the political situation in the country and draw a strategy to "expose" the Modi government's "inadequate" response to Covid-19. The leaders will also be discussing the migrant workers' problem and job-loss during their meeting. Sources said the leaders decided to meet on Friday after taking into consideration that the West Bengal administration would be busy in handling the super cyclone situation on Wednesday and the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi falls on Thursday. They speak Spanish and Turkish, Mandarin and Gujarati and even Khmer. They are wide-eyed kindergarteners to high school-bound eighth graders. And they are all Maria Montroni-Currais students at Somerdale Park School in Camden County, speaking as many as 10 different native languages as they try to learn English during the coronavirus pandemic. But remotely, all-important immersive conversations have shortened and stalled. In real life, at least I can see them face to face, Montroni-Currais said. When youre trying to have a conversation and teach conversation skills, nonverbal gestures and facial expressions are a huge part of it. Trying to do a speaking lesson is really tough. As teachers pivoted to remote learning in March in response to the coronavirus crisis, many worried how students would keep up particularly those who need special education accommodations or did not have internet access at home. Lost in the discussion were the English language learners who speak a different tongue at home. Remote education challenges them, their parents and their teachers. Its definitely been a struggle," said Kathleen Fernandez, executive director of NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. There were many students who didnt have access to technology in their homes. An added barrier is, when the teachers were reaching out to parents, they didnt speak the same language, or they werent familiar with how to manage the technology. Some 99,000 students in New Jersey fall under the category of English language learners, according to the state Department of Education. Thats about 7% of the states student body. Even as teachers settle in to a new normal, waiting out the end of the academic year and hoping they can return to school in the fall, they find theres really no normal in online coursework. Not all of Montroni-Currais students have computers or tablets, a parent at home during the day or tools, like LEGOs, for counting. She had to innovate, thinking, What can they read on their own and use around the house to learn? So she started working on a PDF students could download or print and then complete offline, ESL at home, tech-free. Translators have provided it in 20 different languages, and other teachers around the country have contributed, too (still, she says, more translators are needed, and teachers have reached out asking for materials in languages she did not know existed). She also makes Facebook Live videos, hops on Zoom or will call students she has a harder time engaging virtually. To reach parents with updates or concerns, she uses a texting app that will translate her messages into the languages parents speak. Its all an experiment, one she hopes will result in students learning as much English as possible. My lesson planning is not exactly anything close to what you might see in the classroom. Its really on the fly and completely depends on who is in the session at the time," she said. I dont know exactly what Im going to need to talk about that day, but its given me the ability, even though its not face to face, to see them on almost a one-to-one basis. Thats led to some students engaging at higher rates than others. You have students who are participating, and you have students who are not participating, Fernandez said. I think its similar to every other student in New Jersey: You absolutely have parents who are out working. You have parents who have multiple children, and they may not have enough technology. And just being overwhelmed by the amount of school work, with that added component of not really understanding the language that it has to be completed in. She said teachers across the state have met and discussed ways to engage students virtually over the summer, or to have packets sent directly to their homes, to try to minimize a learning gap they could see in September. For English language learners, that personal connection with a teacher who stays in touch can make a big difference in their progress. Appreciation post for the cool teachers out there trying to make this time interesting and fun for the kids... My mom is a Spanish / ESL teacher in NJ & kids have been super bored lately.... so guess who she dressed up as for todays Zoom chat pic.twitter.com/qYYSSMSKrM +++ SELF CONFLICT +++ (@DubzMusic) May 5, 2020 Some districts, like Somerdale Park, have only a few English language learners all working with the same teacher. And others, like New Brunswick, have thousands. Andrea Fonentez, the director of the ESL and bilingual program for the district, said it acted quickly to close the digital divide, making sure the more than 3,000 ESL and bilingual students had Chromebooks, hotspots for internet access and tech support for parents learning how to use the devices. But she said students could still risk falling behind. It could happen. It depends on the families and those students, she said. If they are not engaging, it may happen for a few. Even when students complete all of their work and sign in for daily Zoom chats, they lose out on much of the social aspect of attending school, where they speak English with peers in the classroom or on the playground. The second language, or the third language, is absolutely supported in a very big way by practice in social settings, said Ronald Chaluisan, the executive director of the Newark Trust for Education. You get that language fluidity because you are interacting with others and using that language. But he cautioned against seeing the crisis as a loss in education or language acquisition. Educators instead should find ways to help students process the coronavirus crisis when they return to school, rather than immediately trying to make up for lost time in traditional instruction. We as educators know that learning is happening every single day, Chaluisan said. We have the formal learning opportunities and informal opportunities. How do we make the entry into the next phase a positive experience for students? Montroni-Currais said she deals with some language loss every year, as many students leave her classroom and then do not use English regularly for two months. But each fall, she relies on the connections she has built with students and their families in her little classroom community to get them back up to speed. Its something she hopes has held up virtually, and can thrive again in the classroom. Its typical for me to have to start almost all over again, she said. I think one of the biggest things that helps me personally with bringing the kids back up, is the relationships that Ive built with them and their families. I might have some of these kids for seven or eight years. These are my family. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. (TNS) New York College campuses in the upstate area remain on lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic and the summer camps that would make them hubs of activity in the summertime are on pause.At Utica College, all academic camps have been canceled and academic camps through July 31 are also shut down, said Christine Leogrande, director of media relations.It's a similar situation at Hamilton College, which is at a minimal operating status. Summer camps and programs are currently suspended, said Vige Barrie, senior director of media relations.At SUNY Polytechnic Institute, camps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics better known as STEM will be held virtually this year, said Steve Ference, director of university communications. The camp leaders are currently creating a schedule for the camps, with more information in the coming weeks, Ference said.Mohawk Valley Community College already has the framework in place to offer virtual camps, specifically focused on coding and science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, said Sara Vivyan, program specialist of College for Kids and Teens.MVCC typically would be offering a lineup of 60-70 in-person camps in the summer, beginning on July 6 and running for six weeks, Vivyan said. This year, the available virtual camps will be divided into two age groups 8-11 years old and 11-14 years old with focus on Roblox, Minecraft modding and similar computer-based pursuits."So there's some of them that we've run on campus before and some new ones," Vivyan said.Another in-person camp favorite, Kids in the Kitchen, will be heading online as well, though the details are being worked out. Other camps moving into the virtual space will center around Disney, Harry Potter, Star Wars and similar topics.The decision to take some of the camps online came after planning for the possibility earlier into the pandemic, Vivyan said. Many of the instructors are school teachers or professors at MVCC who have been flexible in adapting to the circumstances, she said."It's taken a little bit of work," Vivyan said. "It's gone really smoothly just because we have a wonderful group of instructors who have been with us for a long time."With the social benefit of in-person camps off the table, Vivyan said camp instructors have been encouraged to hold ice breakers and other socialization so kids can still connect with new friends.If the camp format is successful, online offerings may remain on the table in future years, Vivyan said."We will always keep our in-person camps, but we're kind of testing the waters to see if in addition to that, next year maybe we'll offer some online as well," she said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:48:31|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China will complete the goals of poverty alleviation as scheduled this year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, a spokesperson said on Thursday. The epidemic has presented new challenges and difficulties to the work of poverty eradication, Zhang Yesui, the spokesperson for the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), told a press conference. "For instance, poor migrant laborers cannot go out to work, poor households suffer from financial losses in their operations, work of poverty-relief teams is disrupted, and anti-poverty businesses and programs have been put on hold," he said. Important measures have been put forward to support the employment of poor laborers, boost sales of products in poor regions, support the resumption of local industries and projects, and provide assistance to those who are impoverished or fall back to poverty as a result of the epidemic, Zhang said. "These measures, when they have been implemented and taken hold, will minimize the damages caused by COVID-19 and China's target on poverty alleviation will surely be met as scheduled," he said. Once this is realized, it will be a milestone in the cause of poverty reduction both in China and in the world, he added. The NPC and its standing committee will give priority to poverty-related legislative and supervision work and also leverage the roles of deputies of all levels, in a bid to contribute to building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and winning the battle against poverty, he said. Enditem I tried to say, Youre in a prime location here, Hawkinson said, noting the hybrid cafe-bookshops proximity to a planned pedestrian plaza and Dupont Circles historic fountain and gathering place. Here we are a year later, and theyve managed to make it work through a pandemic. So, I dont know how dire the situation really is over there. We would obviously love for them to stay the course and stay in Dupont Circle. A man accused of killing his parents with a sledgehammer allegedly claimed he returned home from a jog to find their bloodied bodies on the floor. The case against Christopher Puglia, 31, was briefly mentioned in the Pine Rivers Magistrates Court on Thursday. Puglia has been accused of killing his parents Frank and Loris Puglia, both 59, on Saturday at their Joyner home, north of Brisbane. The pair had suffered fatal head injuries and their bodies were found in the blood-splattered lounge room. It is alleged a wheelbarrow was used to move the bodies a short distance. The court was told Puglia will also be charged with attempted arson after police found a burning towel in the bathroom. Christopher Puglia, 31, was arrested in northern Sydney - 900kms from where his parent's bodies were found at their home in Joyner, north of Brisbane Christopher Puglia, 31, (left) was arrested on Sunday night - just hours after the bodies of Loris and Frank Puglia (centre and right) were found Speaking outside court, Puglia's lawyer Brendan Beavon told the Courier Mail his client had not indicted how he planned to plea. The case was adjourned until July 13. Puglia was arrested on Sunday evening in Sydney's northern outskirts - more than 900km from his parent's home - after their bodies were found by a relative. He was taken into police custody in Sydney before being extradited to Queensland. According to the Courier Mail, police will allege Puglia told them he returned from a jog on Saturday afternoon to find his parents dead. Police will allege he told detectives several doors were wide open when he got home and and the smoke detector was ringing. He allegedly told police he became covered in blood after checking his mother for a pulse, deciding to take a shower and change clothes before leaving the home. It is understood he told police he thought his parents' killer was still at the property. It is understood Christopher had been living with his parents at the bed and breakfast at the time of the alleged incident after leaving Sydney during the coronavirus pandemic Queensland Police allege Puglia killed his parents on Saturday evening before driving his father's white 2020 model RAV4 to Southport on the Gold Coast. Christopher had only recently moved back in with his parents, after travelling from Sydney to isolate with them during the COVID-19 pandemic when Queensland announced it would close state borders in March. Prior to the pandemic, the 31-year-old was working in Sydney as a car detailer, and police were investigating whether he was laid off as businesses were forced to close during the COVID-19 lockdown, The Australian reported. Police will also investigate whether drug use was a factor in the alleged murders. It is understood Mr and Mrs Puglia died from blunt force trauma to their heads. The couple and Christopher - the eldest of two boys - had reportedly been arguing more in recent months. Detective Superintendent Tony Fleming, who said a disturbance at the property was called in to police in March, said the trigger for the weekend violence was still under investigation. Christopher Puglia (pictured) was arrested in Berowra, Sydney, on Sunday night and has been charged in relation to their deaths 'We are very much interested to know why this has happened,' Det Supt Fleming told The Courier Mail. 'We obviously will be looking at the history, but there's nothing that jumps out right at the moment that overtly says this was a foreseeable event.' Mrs Puglia had sent a moving birthday message in 2018 to the son now accused of murdering her. 'We love you unconditionally and congratulate you on your achievements to date and I know you will have many more,' she wrote in a message wishing Christopher a happy 30th birthday. The couple will be missed within their tight knit community, who have paid tribute to the 'amazing... supportive couple'. A 49-year-old Dorchester man has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting that occurred in broad daylight Monday afternoon in Boston, authorities said Tuesday. Officers responded around 12:04 p.m. to a call of a person shot outdoors in the area of 45 Bernard St. in Dorchester, according to a statement from the Boston Police Department. Derek Fitzpatrick was found by police with multiple gunshot wounds. The Dorchester man died at the scene, the departments statement said. The Boston Police Department has urged anyone with information relating to the fatal shooting to call homicide detectives at (617) 343-4470. Related Content: Man shot and killed Monday afternoon in Boston China hindering India's normal patrol across the Line of Actual Control: MEA India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 22: India on Thursday said China was hindering normal patrols by its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly rejected Beijing's allegations that Indian forces trespassed into the Chinese side. The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities have been carried out on its side of the border and that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security. China dismisses US diplomat's comments on Sino-India border issue as 'nonsense' Several areas in Ladakh and North Sikkim witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese in the last few days, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. On Tuesday, China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an "attempt to unilaterally change the status" of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. He said all Indian activities were entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. "In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management," Srivastava said. "At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC," he said. Without elaborating, the MEA spokesperson said both sides were engaged to address any immediate issue. "The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues," he said. In the midst of the escalating tension between the two ides, the US on Wednesday said the latest border dispute in Ladakh was a reminder of the threat posed by China. China on Thursday dismissed as "nonsense" the comments by Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department. It is learnt that local commanders of both the sides held at least three meetings in the last couple of days to bring down the tension but there was no positive outcome from the exchanges. Sources said a top official in the government was in touch with Beijing as both sides were attempting to resolve the issue. "In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," said Srivastava. Sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan Valley and even brought in sizable number of additional boats to the lake. The two sides also have brought in additional troops to locations like Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie, the sources said The sources said the Chinese side has erected at least 40-50 tents in the Galwan Valley area following which India has also sent reinforcements to keep a hawk-eye vigil in the area. T he sources said the Chinese side had taken strong exception to India undertaking construction of key road around the Galwan river. India maintains that the area where the road and a bridge were being constructed belonged to the Indian side. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. Trump trying to shift blame from his 'incompetent response' to contain COVID-19: China China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of J-K, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 17:12:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Thursday firmly opposed and condemned the groundless comments by certain U.S. politicians against the Chinese central government and the HKSAR government. Certain U.S. politicians, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Marco Rubio, made groundless accusations against and exerted pressure on the central and the HKSAR governments, the spokesperson of the commissioner's office noted. While the central and the HKSAR governments are bringing Hong Kong society together to fight COVID-19 and restore the economy, some U.S. politicians have kept making unwarranted allegations against the HKSAR legislative and judicial authorities' performance of duty, and tried to whitewash the anti-China troublemakers' criminal acts, the spokesperson said. The last thing these politicians want to see is that Hong Kong heals social divisions and returns to the right track. But the evil intention of these "black hands" has already been laid bare, the spokesperson pointed out. By either citing or alluding to the so-called "Hong Kong human rights and democracy act," a domestic legislation of the United States, Pompeo has blatantly intimidated the HKSAR government and obstructed its law-based governance, meddled with Hong Kong affairs, which are purely China's domestic affairs, and trampled international law and basic norms governing international relations, the spokesperson said. The Hong Kong residents firmly supporting "one country, two systems" and all the 1.4 billion Chinese people who are united as one are not to be frightened, the spokesperson said. "The Chinese government is firmly committed to upholding national sovereignty, security and development interests, to implementing the 'one country, two systems' policy, and to opposing any external interference in Hong Kong affairs," the spokesperson added. Enditem Iran will support any nation or group that fights Israel, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, ahead of this week's annual observance of Quds (Jerusalem) Day to express support for Palestinians. "We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this," Khamenei said in a post on his official English-language Twitter account. Iran, Israels arch-enemy in the Middle East, has been a key supporter, along with Russia, of President Bashar al-Assad during Syrias civil war, sending military advisers as well as material and regional Shiite militias. Israel, which monitors neighbouring Syria intensively, has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria targeting suspected arms and troop movements by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas that Tehran sponsors. Separately, Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran's enmity toward Israel was not the same as hostility toward Jewish people. "The elimination of the government of Israel does not mean the elimination of Jews. We don't have an issue with Jewish people," Khamenei said in a post on his official Farsi-language Twitter account. "'Elimination of Israel' means the Muslim, Christian and Jewish people of #Palestine choose their own government themselves and push out foreigners and thugs like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu," the post added. Be it any religion, the rituals of saying final goodbyes to the dead run deep in every faith. But the pandemic has robbed families of this tradition, as priests and closed ones have started relying on technology for funerals. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also ruled out that in case of funerals, congregation of more than twenty people will not be permitted. Recently, it was reported that fashion designer Riddhima Kapoor Sahni also attended the last rites of her father actor Rishi Kapoor virtually through a video call. And actor Sanjay Suri took to twitter about how he attended his wifes grandmothers funeral through a zoom call. Indeed, lockdown has changed the way the country mourns its dead. Cyril Benedict, a bank manager in Delhi, had to watch his 88-year-old uncles funeral online recently as he was unable to go to his native city Patna due to travel restrictions. He says, Unable to see or touch a loved one in their final hours or grieve together with family is hard. However, the tech workaround made a good option and I could at least pay my last respects through a WhatsApp video call. He adds, After lockdown, we will hold a memorial and celebrate my uncles life who died of a terminal disease. Its not cremations but hearts that connects families. Similarly, 80-year-old Mahadev Ekka of Ranchi who died due to old age ailments had a quiet funeral with only six family members. His elder son Jahaan Ekka, who works in Delhi, couldnt reach his village and thus had to watch the funeral pyre on his laptop screen. Jahaan says, Showing compassion from the far end of a laptop or mobile is strange but it made me feel closer to my family. If I had been there, I would have probably not been as sane as I am now. We understand the gravity of the situation and would be there for each other, at least virtually. Read: Vienna funerals go online amid coronavirus fears Even before lockdown, when extended families couldnt join the last rites, neighbours poured in to offer their condolences. However, all they can do now is a phone call. Ours is a very close-knit colony and we celebrate each loss and happiness together be it birth or death. But after lockdown, when a neighbour of ours passed away, we decided it wasnt safe to visit the family so resorted to offer virtual condolences. We would make up for it once things improve, says Shahid Md, a resident of Geeta Colony, Delhi. All such rituals, mass or prayers have to wait till after the lockdown, say those that perform such services. Pandit Jitender Sharma, a Hindu priest says, My whole generation has been conducting last rites and never have we seen such a time where people had to attend last rites virtually. We have seen people break down and hug each other at cremation grounds, its what brings comfort. But they cant do that now. Bahut bura lagta hai dekh kar ki aise samay mein log akele rote hai. A few days ago, Fr. Satya, a Roman Catholic priest performed the anointing rites of an elderly woman as she lay on her final hours in her home in Delhi. Her son used video call to patch in the priest who put on his cloak and did the virtual anointing and prayer. The Vatican has also waived the requirement of in person prayer and said prayers delivered over video calls would have the same spiritual effect. Its the best we can do at the moment. We havent lost the religiosity per say but just adopted a practical way to keep people safe. Follow @htcity for more Michael D. Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer and fixer, was released from a federal prison on Thursday on furlough and returned to his home in Manhattan, one of his lawyers said. He had asked to be released over health concerns tied to the coronavirus. Mr. Cohen, 53, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other crimes, had been serving his sentence at a minimum-security camp next to a medium-security federal prison and detention center in Otisville, about 75 miles northwest of New York City. Mr. Cohens projected release date was November 2021, according to the bureaus website, but he had sought to be released sooner because of medical issues and the risk that they would be exacerbated by the viruss spread at the prison. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Most of the national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges have stayed open during the COVID-19 pandemic in some capacity. And more are expected to open in the coming days, U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Thursday before touring Petroglyph National Monument and Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in the Albuquerque area. Most of the states are moving toward varied plans for reopening, he said. Ive directed the Department of Interior to move right with those states. That includes New Mexico. Nature areas at places such as the Petroglyph National Monument have remained opened throughout the pandemic, but indoor facilities have remained close. Monument Superintendent Nancy Hendricks said the visitor center on the West Side may open as soon June 8. As we consider reopening the visitors center, we will be asking people to continue to space apart, she said. Well be asking folks to wear their face masks when they come into the visitors center. Well be limiting the number of people in the visitors center at one time. Bernhardt said his departments policy is to align with precautions put into place by the communities and states where they are located, although there may be some differences. Bernhardt said input from communities led to the decisions on which areas were closed and which remained open. He said capacity and resources available at local medical facilities played a role. He said his department did not want to put its employees, visitors or the communities at risk. We looked at every unit, every facility, every service provided and analyzed what we could do, he said. Bernhardt said he will be visiting the Grand Canyon in the next couple of days. He said he talked with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez on Wednesday about the park, which has begun to reopen. It borders the Navajo Nation, which is the site of one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the country. Theres an entrance and an exit area that is important to them that will not be open, he said. Were working with them and having discussions with them (about what other precautions may be taken). Parks and monuments that have remained open during the pandemic in New Mexico have seen different results when it comes to visitors. Weve seen quite substantial increases in visitations at our major trailheads, Hendricks said. She said visits to the volcanoes and canyons more than doubled during March. Its slowing down slightly for us now that it is getting hotter during the day. But we anticipate things leveling off as more places start to reopen. But White Sands National Park ranger Kelly Carroll told the Journal during an earlier interview that visits to the park in southeast New Mexico started to slow at the beginning of the outbreak after seeing a spike in visitors after it was upgraded from monument status at the end of last year. And March, he said, is usually one of the busier times there because of spring break. Haruna Iddrisu, the minority leader in Parliament has hinted of his desire to occupy the highest political office of the land in the future. According to him, though he has his eyes on the ball, he is presently not fit to step forward to join the race for a Vice Presidential slot as purported. In an interview on The PM Express with Evans Mensah on Joynews, the Tamale South Member of Parliament(MP) suggested now is not the right time for him to want to be Vice President or President but will take up such a challenge in the future with the guidance and direction of God. I know a lot of people exaggerate Harunas dreams and ambition. Im not as ambitious as people are thinking, trust me. I will walk to where Grace and Allah defines me at his own time, he said. He discounted speculations that he would have picked forms to contest former President Mahama in the 2016 election, a claim he stated was untrue. In a response to a question on whether he is interested in being President of Ghana some day, he replied that I dont know about the future and therefore I cant conjecture into the future so we leave it to Allahs Grace . . . I have my eye on the ball. Haruna Iddrisu has an enviable record of occupying various positions in the political circles including National Youth Organiser for the National Democratic Congress since 2002 and entered parliament for the first time in 2004 to represent the then newly formed Tamale South constituency. He retained his seat in the 2008 parliamentary election through to 2016. He was Minister for Communications under the Mills and Mahama administration as well as Minister for Trade between 2013 and 2014. He was also one time Minister for Employment and Labour Relations by President Mahama in July 2014. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Washington and its NATO allies are continuing to escalate military tensions with Moscow, as the coronavirus pandemic unleashes political crises in both the United States and Russia. In May, the US Navy made a show of force in the Arctic beyond anything witnessed in decades, sending vessels into strategic waters bordering Russia. The US also just announced it is proceeding with DEFENDER-Europe 20, military exercises involving NATO allies, which had been scheduled for March but were postponed over concerns about the spread of COVID-19 among troops. In a little over two weeks, 6,000 US and Polish troops will simulate ground and airborne attacks about 35 miles from the Russian territory of Kaliningrad. Involving tens of thousands of pieces of equipment, the US government says that DEFENDER-Europe 20 is aimed at testing capacity to respond to regional crises and border security. The operation is heavily reliant on participation by Germany, which in this first phase is serving as a transit hub for troops and materiel into Poland. Further exercises are planned for the Black Sea and the Balkans, where in March the mini-state of Northern Macedonia gained admittance to NATO. Georgia, which borders the Black Sea on its west, will play a central role in the ongoing war games. American forces are working to boost the countrys ability to respond to aggressive energy blockades, covert intelligence operations, and cyber-misinformation, the latter being one of the central charges leveled against Russia in the COVID-19 pandemic. DEFENDER-Europe 20 equipment arrives at Bremerhaven, Germany On Tuesday, the head of Russias navy, Mikhail Yevmenov, announced upcoming plans to stage exercises off the countrys Baltic coast involving six warships with short and mid-range weapons capacities. According to the Kremlin, DEFENDER-Europe 20 will ultimately involve 37,000 troops and be the largest US military exercise staged on European soil in 25 years. Moscow has strenuously objected to the war games along its border and what it describes as NATOs growing efforts to draw formally neutral European Union countries such as Sweden and Finland into an overtly anti-Russian military campaign. On May 19, the Kremlin also warned against the redeployment of NATO nuclear weapons to Poland from Germany. DEFENDER-Europe 20, whose first stage will take place from June 5 to 19, follows on the heels of a sharp uptick in American naval activity in the Norwegian and Barents Seas. In early May, US destroyers and nuclear submarines, along with a British frigate, conducted exercises in the waters off Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the far north. Shortly thereafter, three American ships entered the Barents Sea, where Russias northern fleet is stationed in the coastal city of Murmansk. Washington insists that its actions are a response to Moscows operations in the area, where Russian special forces recently conducted the first-ever Arctic parachute drop from a height of nearly 33,000 feet. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on government policy in the Arctic aimed at increasing its security operations. Russia and Chinas economic cooperation in the region has also increased in recent years, as the Chinese have stepped forward to finance the transport of energy resources through the Arctic. Whatever tactical capacities and experience the Russian military has in the Arctic, however, are far exceeded by the combined military might of the US, its NATO allies and the Nordic states, which since 2018 have become ever-more involved in American-led exercises geared at securing domination of the far-northern waters against Russia as well as China. Among ordinary people, however, these policies are deeply unpopular. A recent poll found that in only three NATO countriesGreat Britain, the Netherlands and Lithuaniadid a majority of the population want NATO to respond to a Russian attack. Meanwhile, Washington continues to press ahead with shredding military agreements with Moscow. The US is expected to withdraw soon from the Open Skies Treaty, a 2002 accord involving 35 states, including Russia, that allows countries to conduct unarmed fly-overs of member states with the purpose of monitoring each others military facilities. Last year, the US scrapped the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia and immediately began testing the previously-banned weapons. The last nuclear arms deal between the US and Russia left standing, the 2010 New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), is set to expire next year, and Trump administration officials have given no grounds to believe that the US will agree to its renewal. The US escalation of tensions with Russia comes as the two countries have become the world leaders in terms of COVID-19 infections. American cases now top 1.5 million and Russian cases have crossed the 300,000 mark. While the US accounts for nearly one-third of all coronavirus deaths around the globe, Russia continues to report a remarkably low, and highly questionable, death rate. The American media has sought to use COVID-19 to stoke up further anti-Russian sentiment. There are widespread claims that Russia is behind false information about the origins of the coronavirus, which it is allegedly pumping out in an effort to interfere in the upcoming US elections. Moscow has also been accused of seeking to foment international schisms and deepen the domestic political crises in other foreign states. As coronavirus sweeps through nursing homes across Europe and the US, and states on both sides of the Atlantic fight over desperately-needed medical supplies, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg denounced Russia for taking advantage of the obvious by trying to portray NATO allies as if we are unable to, for instance, protect our elderly or that we are not able to work together. The oddly-low COVID-19 death rate in Russia has also been the subject of a barrage of commentary about the Kremlins nefarious methods for suppressing information, with little acknowledgment that the United States, and every other country, is involved in similar efforts to hide the spread of the disease and cover up the political rot fueling the deadly virus. While the Democratic Party attempts to outdo the Republicans in anti-Russian hysteria, the war drive is supported by both parties, which see it as essential to efforts to project American power around the world. On May 8, in a crude display of anti-Russian sentiment, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to laud the United States and Great Britain for their victory over the Nazis! Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced the statement on the 75th anniversary of Hitlers defeat in Europe for failing to acknowledge the decisive role played in the event by the Soviet Union, which bore the brunt of the fighting in Europe and sustained millions more casualties than any other country. London, May 21 : The publication of Queen Elizabeth IIs Birthday Honours has been delayed until the autumn amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government has announced. Speaking during Wednesday's daily No 10 press conference, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said it has been pushed back so it can fully reflect the work of frontline staff during the coronavirus pandemic, reports the Metro newspaper. "As a way of showing our national gratitude to these every day COVID-heroes, we're announcing today that we're delaying Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday Honours list until the autumn so that they can be recognised and celebrated," he said. Dowden said when the nation "looks back on the coronavirus, one of the things we'll remember is the incredible contribution made by so many people". Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on the Queen to get all those involved in the COVID-19 effort recognised in the next round of Honours. In a written statement to the House of Commons, Johnson said: "There is, understandably, huge appetite across the country to say thank you to all those on the front line, within our communities and in our public services, who are supporting the nation through these unprecedented times. "The honours system recognises exceptional contributions made across every part of the UK and will play a key role in demonstrating the nation's gratitude to all those involved in the response. "In this context, the Queen has graciously agreed that the Birthday Honours list, due to be published in June, should be postponed until the autumn. "This step will allow us to ensure that the list, agreed before this public health emergency developed, reflects the COVID-19 effort, and comes at a time when we can properly celebrate the achievements of all those included." Honours recipients can sometimes take months or even years to be available to collect their awards but it is rare for the list, published twice a year in June and the new year, to be postponed, the Metro newspaper report said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Today in India and Bangladesh, millions of people are hunkered down in shelters, many with masks on their faces - a chilling reminder of the COVID-19 outbreak that still grips the densely populated countries. Forced to flee their homes, families, some migrant workers who have only just arrived from the cities after walking hundreds of miles to escape the pandemic, wait with agonising uncertainty for the onslaught of super cyclone Amphan. And in this emerging pandemic reality which has already closely acquainted us with a new type of disruption and hardship, it is hard to imagine the added predicament of the curveball from nature approaching Asia with the record-breaking wind speeds of a category 5 hurricane. The data from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center is worrying. Amphans storm winds and heavy rainfall is expected to affect 33.6 million people in India and 5.3 million in Bangladesh, and target some of the most vulnerable and least developed regions. In a pre-COVID-19 world, evacuation and preparedness for a disaster of this magnitude would have been fraught with challenges. In todays reality those challenges are exacerbated and multiplied. Both India, which has more than 100, 000 coronavirus cases and Bangladesh, which has more than 26 000, have been successful in managing the pandemic, but are still battling the outbreak with social distancing and other restrictions. This means that shelters in some places are only able to accommodate less than half the usual capacity. So, as the Commonwealth rallies around the governments and people of India and Bangladesh, we are once again forced to face the persisting reality of climate change and natural disasters. Actually, we are now presented with a new question, how do we analyse and understand the interplay between pandemics, economies, and the environment, and respond to the deadly concoction of disease and disaster? Indeed, coronavirus crept up on us in the midst of growing skepticism about the effectiveness of multilateral cooperation - reminding us that its a small world after all, and eliminating any doubts about the need to collaborate across borders. And Amphan, in the midst of the pandemic, is now demanding that this spirit of interconnectedness must also inspire our problem solving approaches. This is a lesson that the Commonwealth has had to learn very early on, mainly because of the vast diversity of challenges and opportunities represented in our membership. So, recently, when Commonwealth Health Ministers met to decide how they could join forces against COVID-19, instinctively their discussion went beyond strategies to ensure everyone can access PPEs, ventilators and testing kits, to also address the economic and environmental aspects of the issue. We have long understood that nothing short of a robust, multinational, multisector and multi-agency strategy can drive innovation and provide solutions to our complex and multidimensional challenges. Actually, it is this coordinated, out-of-the-box thinking that inspired UNITARs Operational Satellite Application Programme (UNOSAT) and the Commonwealth to create our bespoke CommonSensing platform. Already rolled out in the Pacific where islands are most vulnerable to devastating cyclones, the project uses satellite based information to help countries anticipate and plan for disasters, successfully apply for funding for climate action, boost resilience to climate change, and enhance food security. The Secretariat is also actively engaging with UNOSAT to connect their experts with member governments impacted by extreme events; and will be collaborating on a series of webinars on rapid mapping and population exposure analysis to help countries plan evacuation and rebuilding strategies. Currently, UNOSAT is supporting Bangladesh with a population exposure analysis as part of a suite of responses that the country can use to manage the impact and aftermath of Cyclone Amphan. So, as we explore specific steps to support countries who face the twin challenge of a natural disaster and a pandemic, CommonSensing is an excellent example of the kind of collaboration that will save lives and help us bravely enter the much anticipated new normal. But it is just part of the holistic, complex, clever and creative strategy that we will need to tackle our emerging challenges from every angle, anticipate the intersection of multi-events and protect economies, people and livelihoods. It is clear that we need more of resources such as the Commonwealth Disaster Risk Finance Portal to help countries facing hurricanes and cyclones to have, at their fingertips, a range of preparedness financing options. We need a robust debt relief and management strategy to support those who are on the verge of crisis. We need schemes to empower marginalised groups such as youth, women and migrants. And we need to ensure that governments are able to recover from recession without undermining environmental protection and climate action, through measures such as tax incentives for investors to use renewable energy, and climate smart technologies to enhance agricultural production. We also need to be brave enough to embrace innovative solutions such as the Commonwealth Common Earth initiative, which leverages the resources of governments and the genius of environmentalists, climate change experts and indigenous groups to create tailored, country-led, regenerative and holistic solutions to climate change. In the Commonwealth, we will continue to use our convening power, partnerships, innovation and advocacy to support and stand in solidarity with India and Bangladesh, our nations in other regions that are bracing themselves for hurricane and cyclone seasons, and those who face the often forgotten challenge of drought. But we cant do it alone. We need a global effort that is big enough to take on this goliath challenge of intersecting and multiple threats to our planet and people. In a shocking case of negligence, a COVID-19 positive man was found dead at a bus stand in Ahmedabad, days after he tested positive for the virus. The 67-year-old was admitted at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on May 10 where he tested positive for COVID-19. BCCL But on Saturday he along with five others were discharged from the hospital and was to be sent to home isolation as they were asymptomatic. All were to observe seven-day self-isolation according to ICMR discharge protocol. They were taken on an AMC bus and the 67-year-old was dropped at the Danilimda BRTS bus stand after reportedly told the staff that he lives nearby at Rohit Park Society, and he would walk home. His body was discovered by a security guard, who tried to wake him up, thinking that he was sleeping. The body was taken to the hospital and the doctors found a note in his pocket which had his son's number written on it. Jignesh Mewani When contacted by the hospital, the family was left shocked to know about his death. They also alleged that they were kept in the dark for days about his health condition after he was admitted in the hospital. They also claimed that they were not informed that their father was discharged from the hospital. One of his sons also told the media that despite his father testing positive for COVID-19 no safety protocol was followed in his cremation. He alleged that the hospital asked them to warp the body with plastic sheets and conduct the cremation. Bloody what the hell is going on? Gunawant Makwana, a 70 year old Covid-19 patient was admitted at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on 10th May and now his body is found on the street! Yes, bloody on the street! Mr. Rupani take moral responsibility and step down. This is just criminal. pic.twitter.com/CkgA2GheRz Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) May 17, 2020 After the incident triggered massive outrage in the state, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani appointed J P Gupta, commissioner, commercial tax, to probe the incident and submit a report within 24 hours. Jayanti Ravi, principal secretary (health & family welfare) said that stringent action will be initiated against those responsible. BCCL/ REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE This is the second time the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital has been accused of negligence when it comes to dealing with COVID-19 patients. Last month there was an incident at the hospital where around 25 coronavirus patients had to spend six hours on the streets after they were denied admission to the hospital. The authorities had sprung into action only after one of the patients recorded a video and shared it on social media. This comes at a time when the number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat has touched 11,380 out of which 8,420 were reported from Ahmedabad. A shooting at a Texas naval air station that wounded a sailor and left the gunman dead is being investigated as terrorism-related, the FBI said Thursday. The shooting began around 6:15 am Thursday at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi. The shooter tried to speed through a gate at the base in a vehicle, but security personnel put up a barrier in time to stop the shooting, US officials told The Associated Press. The man then got out of the car and opened fire, striking and wounding a Navy sailor who is a member of the security force at the base. During the exchange of gunfire, the shooter was killed by security personnel, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details about an ongoing investigation. The FBI is investigating the shooting as terrorism-related, FBI Special Agent Leah Greeves said at a conference Thursday afternoon, and investigators were working to determine whether a second person of interest was at large in the community. We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism related, Greeves said. We are working diligently with our state, local and federal partners on this investigation, which is fluid and evolving. Greeves did not elaborate on a potential motive or specify what led investigators to believe the shooting is related to terrorism. Federal investigators also did not provide any information about the "potential second related person of interest at large in the community or why they believe that is the case. Officials were still working to process the crime scene, Greeves said. The FBI's field office in Houston has taken the lead on the investigation and neither investigators nor the Navy provided details on the shooter or a possible motive. Attorney General William Barr was briefed on the shooting, a Justice Department spokeswoman said. The facility was on lockdown for about five hours Thursday morning, but that was lifted shortly before noon. The station had a similar lockdown last December. In another incident at the base last year, a man pleaded guilty to destruction of US government property and possession of a stolen firearm for ramming his truck into a barricade at the Corpus Christi station. The shooting also comes months after a Saudi Air Force officer who was training at a Navy base in Pensacola, Florida, killed three US sailors and wounded eight other people in a shooting that American officials described as an act of terrorism. The country's top federal law enforcement officials said this week that the gunman in December's attack, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, had been in touch with al-Qaida operatives about planning and tactics in the months before the shooting. Alshamrani was killed by a sheriff's deputy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Colonel Tom Moore, aged 100, and Dame Vera Lynn, 103, have both released hit records this year. Dame Vera's album '100' reached number 3 in the Official Album Chart, while Captain Tom Moore (since promoted) had a number 1 in the Singles Chart, duetting with Michael Ball on You'll Never Walk Alone. But what of the other Oldies who have made their mark on the Top 20 over the years? Here are eight things you didn't know about Oldie chart-busters: 1. The unexpected success of Colonel Tom and Dame Vera has prompted many ancient bands to reform, among them The Backache Boys, Vestlife, The Zimmer Sisters, Gums N' Roses, Walk DMC, Deaf Leppard, The Mild Chili Peppers, and Earth, Wind and Indigestion. In October, 1973, Great Uncle Bulgaria led the Wombles to number 4 in the charts with The Wombling Song 2. In October, 1973, Great Uncle Bulgaria led the Wombles to number 4 in the charts with The Wombling Song. At the time, he was well over 300 years old, or 200 years older than Colonel Tom and Dame Vera are now. The following year Great Uncle Bulgaria enjoyed further chart success when Remember You're A Womble rose to number 3. Sadly, the sudden fame and fortune went to his head, and, after being arrested by police for disorderly and offensive behaviour on the premises of a hotel, Great Uncle Bulgaria spent Christmas 1974 in a drug rehabilitation centre in San Fernando, California. The Great Western Hotel Chain later successfully sued him for damage to their Courtesy Car, which he had driven into the hotel's swimming pool shortly before his arrest. 3. In 1975, after an on-stage scuffle with fellow band member Orinoco, Great Uncle Bulgaria split up with The Wombles, citing 'musical differences'. Subsequently, he attempted to establish a solo career for himself, recording a darkly autobiographical concept album, Womblephrenia, with The Who's John Entwistle on bass, but it failed to chart. Earlier this month, unconfirmed reports suggested that, envious of the acclaim accorded to Dame Vera and Colonel Tom, Great Uncle Bulgaria was planning to raise money for the NHS by duetting on a new version of his classic 'Wombling White Tie And Tails' with TV's Amanda Holden. Captain Tom Moore (since promoted) had a number 1 in the Singles Chart, duetting with Michael Ball on You'll Never Walk Alone Subsequently, he attempted to establish a solo career for himself, recording a darkly autobiographical concept album, Womblephrenia, with The Who's John Entwistle on bass, but it failed to chart. Earlier this month, unconfirmed reports suggested that, envious of the acclaim accorded to Dame Vera and Colonel Tom, Great Uncle Bulgaria was planning to raise money for the NHS by duetting on a new version of his classic 'Wombling White Tie And Tails' with TV's Amanda Holden. It was later reported that the two of them had fallen out, and so far nothing has come of their joint project. 4. Today, experts estimate the collective age of the four Rolling Stones at 302 years, with Charlie Watts the elder statesman, at 78, and Ronnie Wood the baby, at 72. Three hundred and two years ago, in 1718, King George I still sat on the throne. Notable inventions of the time included the fire extinguisher. By all accounts, The Rolling Stones are still full of get-up-and-go. At his home in West Wittering, Keith Richards is determined to beat the record set by Colonel Tom Moore, so is busy puffing his way through 60 untipped cigarettes a day 'to help save our NHS'. 5. When Clive Dunn performed his hit single Grandad on Top Of The Pops, he was just 50 years old, or 26 years younger than Mick Jagger is today. 6. Unconfirmed reports suggest that former MP Ann Widdecombe was the chubby little girl who sang the lead on the number one hit single There's No One Quite Like Grandma back in 1980. Widdecombe's next major hit did not come until 15 years later, when Stuff And Nonsense reached number 5 in the charts in September, 1995. Its B side, Life (Must Mean Life), was played as she strode onto the stage at the Tory Party Conference in Blackpool later that year. 7. There's No One Quite Like Grandma was written to celebrate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who had topped the charts in 1965 with a cover version of Sonny and Cher's I Got You. Re-titled I Shall Receive You In Due Course, at the insistence of Royal etiquette expert Godfrey Talbot, it featured the Queen Mother duetting with former private secretary, Sir Alan Lascelles. 8. The only other member of the Royal Family to appear on Top Of The Pops was The Duchess of York in 2017. At the time, the Duchess was 57 years old. Her cover version of the old Barbra Streisand/Neil Diamond number You Don't Bring Me Flowers was billed as a protest against what she regarded as her increased ostracisation by the Royal Family. Coincidentally, her former husband, The Duke of York, is now said to be recording the Sam Cooke classic, Working On A Chain Gang. These new sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, announced April 27 . CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity. The 47 test sites in Florida are part of a total of nearly 350 locations across 14 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. "As we move into a new phase of combatting the pandemic and as communities begin to safely open up their local economies, we need testing to be easily accessible," said Troyen Brennan, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, CVS Health. "By further expanding the number of drive-thru test sites available across our retail network, more people can be tested closer to home in a familiar setting." Once fully operational, more than half of the company's 1,000 test sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index. The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing that may weaken a community's ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks. Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 22 to schedule an appointment. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients. The additional new testing sites in Florida include: CVS Pharmacy, 1 South Missouri Avenue, Clearwater, FL 33756 33756 CVS Pharmacy, 30387 US Highway 19 North, Clearwater, FL 33761 33761 CVS Pharmacy, 4000 East Bay Drive, Clearwater, FL 33764 33764 CVS Pharmacy, 1700 South Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 33316 CVS Pharmacy, 120 S. Johns Commons Road, Jacksonville, FL 32259 32259 CVS Pharmacy, 4475 San Juan Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32210 32210 CVS Pharmacy, 430 State Highway 13, Jacksonville, FL 32259 32259 CVS Pharmacy, 4280 Southside Boulevard, Jacksonville, FL 32216 32216 CVS Pharmacy, 3634 Rogero Road, Jacksonville, FL 32277 32277 CVS Pharmacy, 8954 Lantana Road, Lake Worth, FL 33463 33463 CVS Pharmacy, 12701 SW 42nd Street, Miami, FL 33175 33175 CVS Pharmacy, 8740 Bird Road, Miami, FL 33165 33165 CVS Pharmacy, 591 NE 79th Street, Miami, FL 33138 33138 CVS Pharmacy, 12401 Miramar Parkway, Miramar, FL 33027 33027 CVS Pharmacy, 2375 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Naples, FL 34108 34108 CVS Pharmacy, 3771 Tampa Road, Oldsmar, FL 34677 34677 CVS Pharmacy, 906 Blanding Boulevard, Orange Park, FL 32065 32065 CVS Pharmacy, 5899 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32839 32839 CVS Pharmacy, 8025 Lee Vista Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32829 32829 CVS Pharmacy, 1101 Scenic Highway, Pensacola, FL 32503 32503 CVS Pharmacy, 44 Gulf Beach Highway, Pensacola, FL 32507 32507 CVS Pharmacy, 1501 South Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, FL 33062 33062 CVS Pharmacy, 1300 S.W. St. Lucie W. Boulevard, Port St. Lucie, FL 34986 34986 CVS Pharmacy, 2400 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 33950 CVS Pharmacy, 8001 9th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702 33702 CVS Pharmacy, 5905 US Highway 301 S., Riverview, FL 33578 33578 CVS Pharmacy, 1708 North Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32303 32303 CVS Pharmacy, 5466 Thomasville Road North, Tallahassee, FL 32312 32312 CVS Pharmacy, 4401 West Gandy Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33611 33611 CVS Pharmacy, 2911 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33615 33615 CVS Pharmacy, 5357 Ehrlich Road, Tampa, FL 33618 33618 CVS Pharmacy, 4120 #2 Henderson Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33629 33629 CVS Pharmacy, 611 South Howard Avenue, Tampa, FL 33606 33606 CVS Pharmacy, 245 South Military Trail, West Palm Beach, FL 33415 33415 CVS Pharmacy, 839 North Orlando Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789 32789 CVS Pharmacy, 5650 Red Bug Lake Road, Winter Springs, FL 32708 32708 CVS Pharmacy, 5208 East CR 466, The Villages, FL 34484 A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here. More information on steps CVS Health has taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including support for health care providers and clinicians facing financial and administrative strain, is available at the company's frequently updated COVID-19 resource center . For downloadable COVID-19 testing media assets, including photos, video and interviews with CVS Health executives, please visit the Media Resource Center. About CVS Health CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company in the world. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contacts Tara Burke, (646) 765-4971 [email protected] Joe Goode, (401) 378-5220 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com A high school in Virginia has come under fire after unveiling a graduation banner to celebrate the class of 2020 where the faces of black seniors were positioned in the dark outline of the school's logo. The banner featured a group photo of only some of Yorktown High School's graduating seniors superimposed over a giant 'Y'. It was put on display at the Arlington high school earlier this week, but it has since been removed after being widely panned as racist by African-American students at the school. This banner celebrating Yorktown High School's graduating seniors sparked outrage when it became apparent that the faces of black students were used as the dark outline of the Virginia school's logo This closeup of the banner shows that the printing company that created the computer-generated banner repeatedly used the same senior portraits and grouped the black seniors in the outline 'I thoroughly dont understand how Yorktown put forth such a racist banner,' said one student in an online post. 'I understand they were trying to do something nice for the seniors, but the execution was horrible. [People of color] shouldnt be the outline and there are better ways to highlight the Y.' Yoni Yohannes, an African-American senior at the majority white school, called the banner 'shocking and disappointing' on Instagram, as ARLnow.com first reported. Principal Kevin Clark issued an apology for the banner, insisting that it does not reflect the values of the school. According to most recent demographic data, more than three quarters of Yorktown High School's students are white. An Arlington Public Schools spokesman explained in a statement that the banner was generated by computer software, which grouped hundreds of individual senior portraits to match the colors in the background, and then superimposed them over the school logo. 'The printer sent a proof to the school by email, so it was difficult to see how the photos were placed to create image,' spokesperson Frank Bellavia stated. The banner was later taken down and the principal issued an apology, admitting that school officials failed to notice the problem with the photo while reviewing it Joseph Ramos, outgoing editor-in-chief of the Yorktown Sentry student newspaper reported on the controversy on Twitter on Wednesday, showing photos of the controversial banner hanging near Arlington's Greenbrier Park. Ramos also shared an email that senior Natavan Karsh sent to the assistant principal, drawing attention to the fact that not all the graduates are featured in the banner, and that African-American and Hispanic students appear to be grouped together to create the outline of the logo. 'I do not know if this was intended, but if the pictures were at all organized by skin color that is absolutely disgusting,' the senior wrote. Assistant Principal Suzanne Evans replied by saying that the way the banner was printed 'was definitely not planned to have the students grouped as they appear and we had been told that all seniors would be on it.' Evans reassured the senior that the banner will be taken down and reprinted 'in a way that will show all our seniors and not have concerns with where students are on the banner in terms of the design.' In his letter to students and parents addressing the scandal, the principal said that while it was an outside printing company that created the banner, school officials reviewed the finished product and failed to recognize the problem. 'Therefore, it appears that our students of color seem to make up the darker areas of the photo,' he wrote. 'Upon realizing our oversight, we immediately removed the banner and notified the printing company of this issue. 'This banner does not appropriately reflect our graduating class or our values, and we sincerely apologize to any student who felt offended or marginalized. We do not condone any activity or imagery that offends our students.' Emma de Souza has announced she is withdrawing her legal appeal after a three-year court battle to be recognised by the Home Office as Irish under the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). It comes after Mrs De Souza and her husband Jake secured a concession from the Home Office last week that British and Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland will be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes. As a result the Home Office will no longer force people to renounce British citizenship in order to access rights to which they are entitled and will instead accept the people of Northern Ireland can identify as British, Irish or both. However, the changes are only temporary as any third country national who wishes to apply for settled status will only have until June 2021 to do so, the date the EU settlement scheme closes. The couple had appealed to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland after a ruling that people born in Northern Ireland were automatically British citizens under law. "When we began this legal challenge it was on the grounds that I, an Irish citizen born in Northern Ireland, should be entitled to the same rights and entitlements as all other Irish and EU citizens in the UK and that my right under the GFA to be accepted as Irish should be respected by the Home Office. "The Home Office now accept our argument and has conceded that principle," Mrs De Souza said during a press conference on Thursday morning. The changes to the immigration rules whilst enormously welcomed and beneficial to many do not fully address all the underlying issues plaguing this region. Emma de Souza The changes conceded by the Home Office will allow the Derry woman's US-born husband to remain in the UK on the basis of his wife's Irish citizenship. The campaigner said the foundation of her legal complaint had been conceded by the British Government, therefore the couple had no choice but to withdraw their legal appeal, which was due to be heard next month. "We have been left with no other option," she said. "We know that many will be disappointed by this news as our work to address the inconsistencies in the implementation of legislation from the GFA has highlighted that there is so much more at stake here than just the changes we achieved in our case. "We recognise and share in your disappointment. The changes to the immigration rules whilst enormously welcomed and beneficial to many do not fully address all the underlying issues plaguing this region. "The British Government has failed to give domestic legal effect to the birthright provisions of the GFA and continue to automatically confer British citizenship on all the people of NI, even if they identify as Irish." Expand Close Emma De Souza and her Husband Jake have been supported by politicians across the political spectrum in NI. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emma De Souza and her Husband Jake have been supported by politicians across the political spectrum in NI. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press Jake De Souza added: "This disappointment however, should not overshadow what is an unbridled win worth celebrating. Families have and will continue to be reunited thanks to these changes and everyone in NI will benefit from the government's recognition of the rights provided under the GFA. "It is the families being forced apart which inspired us to keep going well after my own residence was secured. We wanted to be the last people the government would be allowed to deny their rights before someone made them accountable. The people of NI deserve better and after 20 years of mistreatment, are another step closer." Mrs De Souza said the couple will continue the "We Are Irish Too" campaign in order to push for what they say is "full implementation of the GfA", including the right to identify and British, Irish or both. It is so important that you have achieved your win around the basis of people identifying as British, Irish or both and crucially as they so choose. SDLP MP Claire Hanna She added: "Going forward we will continue to work with political parties across NI, civil society and rights organisations, along with the Irish government as well as members of Congress in the United States with the help of the Ad Hoc committee to protect the GFA so that we can see the work of the GFA complete. We are not giving up." SDLP MP Claire Hanna, speaking during the press conference, said: "It is so important that you have achieved your win around the basis of people identifying as British, Irish or both and crucially as they so choose. "I firmly believe that the unity is in the diversity and people being able to choose their own identity and choose one or two of those and to co-exist with one and other. "It is also a win for the principles contained in the GFA which were the right set of principles and the right approach 20 years ago and still are now. It is a good underlining of the fact that that is a living breathing document." Alliance MP Stephen Farry said it was a "huge victory" for the couple. "Anyone from this part of the world understands that identity is incredibly complex," he said. "There are people with mixed multiple identities but also people who are very clear that they have a sole identity and this is all about mutual respect and creating that framework so everyone is acknowledged in terms of who they are without other people putting labels on them." Mr Farry said that someone else may take up the legal battle after June 2021, when the interim arrangements expire. "We need to have a much wider conversation about how we can respect the GFA commitments in law right throughout these islands," he added. A UK Government spokesperson said: "These changes deliver on the promise we made to the people of Northern Ireland in the New Decade New Approach agreement earlier this year and demonstrate the UK Governments continued and unwavering commitment to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. The Home Office said the upper tribunal upheld the British Government's position that UK law is consistent with the GFA that the Home Office's policy on this has not changed. The Home pointed out that Mrs De Souza lost her court case and the court had ruled that her nationality derived from the jurisdiction she was born in under the law. The Home Office said it would start accepting applications on 24 August and only those who are living in the country at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December this year would be eligible. If there were any doubts about the Pallister governments true motive for handing out $200 cheques to seniors, Manitobas premier laid them to rest last week. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. If there were any doubts about the Pallister governments true motive for handing out $200 cheques to seniors, Manitobas premier laid them to rest last week. Brian Pallister raised eyebrows earlier this month when he announced that all Manitobans age 65 and older would receive the non-taxable benefit regardless of income. He was rightly accused of misusing tax dollars to boost his personal profile during a pandemic. Mr. Pallister defended the move which will cost taxpayers $45 million by claiming seniors are disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus. He argued the cheques are meant to show respect to those who "built this province." Its a tenuous argument, especially since only 14 per cent of Manitoba seniors fall below the poverty line. The premier eliminated any uncertainty about the true motive behind the payouts when he revealed last week the cheques would include personal "thank you" letters signed by him. "Im going to send a letter with (the cheques) to thank and congratulate our seniors, and Ill probably sign that, darn right," Mr. Pallister said. Im going to send a letter with (the cheques) to thank and congratulate our seniors, and Ill probably sign that, darn right. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister Even if there were good policy reasons behind Mr. Pallisters Seniors Economic Recovery Credit (if, for example, it was income-tested and directed at those struggling with pandemic-related costs), it is highly unusual for a premier to send out thank-you notes to the recipients of government cheques. This is a clear case of Mr. Pallister using tax dollars to curry favour with seniors. While the premier loosens the provinces purse strings for his own political gain, he has offered only limited support to those facing economic hardship from the pandemic. He is also planning cuts to the public service and to government-funded agencies. The premier has been reluctant from the very beginning of this crisis to provide financial support to those hardest hit by the coronavirus-ravaged economy, including small and medium-sized businesses. For the most part, Mr. Pallister has let the federal government absorb those costs, whether through Ottawas wage-subsidy program or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, which the premier has wrongly characterized as "paying people to stay out of the workforce." Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Even the provinces $6,000 one-time grant for struggling companies, unveiled earlier this month, is limited to businesses that are ineligible for federal aid. When it suits him politically, Mr. Pallister advocates austerity. When it doesnt, he signs off on selfserving, discretionary expenditures. The premier claims the province is reeling from the effects of plummeting tax revenues because of the downturn in the economy, yet he reduces those revenues further by cutting taxes. Mr. Pallister argues that cuts to government-funded agencies and reduced hours for civil servants, as well as limited aid to businesses, are necessary to limit provincial government borrowing. The province estimates it may be saddled with a $5-billion deficit this year because of the pandemic (although the provinces fiscal estimates have been widely disputed by analysts). Despite that, the premier saw fit to spend $45 million on a scheme to promote himself among elderly voters. He is also going ahead with an estimated $103 million in tax and fee cuts this year, including eliminating the provincial sales tax on property insurance premiums. These tax cuts are broad-based and are not directed at those in need. When it suits him politically, Mr. Pallister advocates austerity. When it doesnt, he signs off on self-serving, discretionary expenditures. The premier claims the province is reeling from the effects of plummeting tax revenues because of the downturn in the economy, yet he reduces those revenues further by cutting taxes. There is probably no worse time for a politician to lose credibility in the eyes of the public than during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. For Mr. Pallister, the erosion of trust during this crisis has been significant. The updated text says "unidentified persons, driven by personal motives, decided to create an extremely reverberating event aiming at further provoking massive protests" and "attracted "Antonenko, Duhar, and Kuzmenko to this end. Charges pressed against suspects in the investigation into the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet have been amended, says Ukrainian lawyer Leonid Maslov, whose firm Smysl Consulting represents one of the defendants, a Ukrainian musician and frontline volunteer Andriy Antonenko. "Charges amended, in short: Motive. They've removed 'ultranationalist ideas', 'greatness of the Aryan race', and other trash like that. Now it's 'unidentified persons, driven by personal motives, decided to create an extremely reverberating event aiming at further provoking massive protest'." Those persons allegedly "attracted" A. Antonenko, Yu. Duhar and Yu. Kuzmenko. Not for money (there's no mention of a mercenary motive in the qualification of the murder or references to paragraphs 6, 11, Part 2 Article 115 of the Criminal Code a mercenary or motive or contract)," he declared. Maslov says the investigation is now seeing Antonenko as an organizer, but rather an executioner of the crime by conspiracy, while Kuzmenko is now seen as the one who "only laid the explosives along with Antonenko, but didn't press the button". Read alsoZelensky: Avakov must bring Sheremet murder case to end "Now they also destroyed the Subaru and, under unclear circumstances, had stocked unidentified explosives. This adds two more articles to the indictment. It is surprising that they didn't add obstruction of journalists' professional activities because Mr. Sheremet was driving to work pardon my dark humor. It seems that tomorrow the investigation will be completed and all evidence will be revealed," said the lawyer. As UNIAN reported earlier, Sheremet was assassinated in a car blast in the center of Kyiv on the morning of July 20, 2016. On December 12, 2019, police said they suspected five persons of complicity in the crime: former Donbas war volunteer and musician Andrii Antonenko, army volunteer and pediatric surgeon Yulia Kuzmenko (nom de guerre "Lysa," or "Fox"), nurse with a paratrooper unit Yana Duhar, and a family couple of army volunteers Inna Hryshchenko ("Puma") and Vladyslav Hryshchenko ("Bucha"). Law enforcers claim that the goal of the Sheremet assassination was to destabilize the social and political situation in Ukraine. Antonenko, Kuzmenko and Duhar were notified of suspicion on December 12, 2019. The court decided to remand Antonenko and Kuzmenko in custody, while Duhar was placed under house arrest during hours of darkness. 21.05.2020 LISTEN Sadiku Katadatu clarifies ........... "Let's forget about the oil money. Let's forget about gold. Just put those resources they've had aside. I just want to focus on statistics. How much money have they borrowed since they've been in office in the last seven years? When they came in, Ghana's debt was 9.5 billion Ghana cedis. Today, after seven years, they've increased it from 9.5 billion, which is from independence to 2008. Today, they've increased it to 90 billion cedis." ~ Dr. Bawumia on Ghana's May 2015 debt stock I have taken a keen notice in recent times of a calculated attempt by the NPP communicators and footsoldiers on social media to mislead the ordinary innocent Ghanaian on the country's debt stock issues. What these funny footsoldiers seek to do is to compare in percentages wise, the debt stock in the 8 years administration of the NDC to the 3 years of this insensitive Nana Addo government. To start with, please let's consider this scenario; Dr. Bawumia in December 2008 went to the market and bought a toy that was sold for GHS10. He went back to the market in December 2016 and bought the same product at GHS20 (thus GHS10 increase or 10/10*100=100% increase). Now in May 2020, the toy is sold for GHS35 (thus GHS15 increase or 15/20*100=75% increase). So should Dr. Bawumia be concerned about the GHS15 increase (from 2016-2020) or the 100% increase (from 2008 to 2016)??? Interestingly, these NPP guys are telling Dr. Bawumia to be angry at the 100% increase instead of the GHS15 increase. Because to them, 100% is greater than 75%, and nothing else. Very funny, right? VARIABLES NDC (AS AT DEC 2016) NPP (AS AT MAR 2020) Total debt stock GHS 120 billion GHS 236 billion Debt increment GHS 120 billion - GHS 9.5 billion = GHS 110.5 billion GHS 236 billion GHS 120 billion = GHS 116 billion Average per year GHS 110.5 billion/ 8 years = GHS 13.81 billion GHS 116 billion/3.3 years = GHS 35.15 billion Incremental percentage - GHS 116 billion/GHS 120 billion*100 = 96.6% Debt to GDP ratio (after rebase) 56% 62% From the table above, it is clear that this NPP government has done Ghanaians more harm than good, so far as Ghanas current debt stock is concerned. Now to the main subject matter [I'm not interested in what the monies were used for by the various governments for now], please take note of these facts: The debt stock of Ghana as at December 2008 stood at GHS9.5 billion It increased to GHS120 billion at the end of December 2016 (An increase of GHS110.5 billion in 8 years of the NDC administration) The debt stock at the end of MARCH 2020 which was released by the Bank of Ghana stands at GHS236 billion (an increase of GHS116 billion in 3 years and 3 months of this NPP administration). On the average, the NDC increased the debt stock by GHS13.81 billion yearly in the 8 years of its administration WHILES the NPP has so far increased it by GHS35.15 billion yearly in the last three years and 3 months; thus even if the stock remains at GHS236 billion till the end of December 2020. And we all know that it will definitely increase because the government continues to secure more loans since April 2020 in the name of COVID-19 fight and stimulus packages for businesses. Now where these NPP guys sought to mislead the innocent Ghanaian is, they take the percentage of the stock increase under the NDC in 8 years which is 110,500,000,000/9,500,000,000*100=1163% and jump the gun and take that of the NPP against the December 2016 debt stock, thus 116,000,000,000/120,000 ,000,000*100=96.6%, without considering and talking about the real amounts involved within the time periods in question. So shamefully for them, they are making noise on social media over the 1163% in 8 years of the NDC instead of the all-time record of GH116 billion figure in less than 4 years of this their reckless administration. Please let's all be vigilant; percentages can be misleading sometimes if one is not smart. Now, imagine if Nana Addo had inherited president Kufuor and has increased the debt stock by this his GHS116 billion in less than 4 years, what would have been the increase in percentage-wise? Look at it: 116,000,000,000/9,500,000,000*100=1221% So can we now compare the 1163% increase in 8 years of the NDC against the 1221% increase in less than 4 years of the NPP? I'm sure they won't talk about this. I, therefore, call on Dr. Bawumia to urge those his NPP boys on social media to stop their mediocre propaganda on the debt stock subject and provide solutions if any to the Economic Management Team so as to curb the horrible and terrible rise in the country's debt stock under his watch. Credit: Sadiku Katadatu NDC Youth Activist Ejura-Ashanti Blue Flame Medical, the supply company started this spring by two Republican consultants, has asked the state of Maryland to restore a canceled $12.5 million contract with the firm to provide equipment used in the fight against coronavirus. The contract was canceled by Maryland officials earlier this month who said Blue Flame failed to deliver medical masks and ventilators on time. The firm's lawyer, Douglas Gansler, a former Maryland attorney general, said Thursday that Maryland officials made a mistake. Gansler said 27 of 110 mechanical ventilators promised by Blue Flame were delivered Thursday to a Maryland Emergency Management Agency office in Sparrows Point, a sign of the company's good faith effort to fulfill its obligation. Nick Cavey, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of General Services, acknowledged the delivery of 27 ventilators but said the state had not accepted it "pending legal deliberations. At this time, we continue to work through the very concerning legal issues surrounding Blue Flame, which is the subject of separate federal, state and congressional inquiries. We are awaiting more information from the company regarding the 1.55 million masks and remaining ventilators that the state ordered." Gansler said the state has no grounds to kill the deal. "There is absolutely no defense for canceling this contract," Gansler said in an interview Wednesday night. He filed a claim with the state Department of General Services noting that the contract required delivery by June 30, a deadline he said the recently formed company is prepared to meet. "I would like to believe that the government will rescind the termination and reinstate the purchase order and get 1.5 million masks and 110 ventilators in to the state as the contract calls for." Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's (R) spokesman Michael Ricci said in an email Thursday that the state does not need additional ventilators now. "There are currently 1,765 ventilators available in Maryland hospitals, well above our target," he said. State officials have previously said the agreed-upon shipping date for the masks and ventilators was April 14, and the original order only referred to June 30 because it marks the end of the fiscal year. A Blue Flame invoice obtained by The Washington Post indicates April 14 as the shipping date. The U.S. Justice Department launched an inquiry into Blue Flame less than a month ago after becoming aware of concerns from Maryland and California, where state officials contracted with the firm to deliver 100 million N95 medical masks. California officials halted that contract and received a refund hours after the state wired a down payment of $457 million to a Blue Flame bank account in Northern Virginia. State and local officials across the country have encountered problems as they have entered the global market to purchase mask, gowns and other medical supplies. In many instances, orders have fallen through or been secured only at inflated prices. Although Maryland officials confirmed receiving subpoenas from federal prosecutors, Gansler said he had no information about the Justice Department inquiry and did not believe it would amount to anything. "There is no allegation that Blue Flame Medical committed any crime of a civil or criminal nature," he said. In fact, the fledgling company already had established a record of delivering vitally needed products in a difficult environment, he said. "There have been many obstacles created by the Chinese government and other foreign manufacturers that have prevented top quality products from entering the U.S." during the pandemic, Gansler said. "Yet Blue Flame Medical has been able to deliver. It delivered bulk orders of personal protective equipment to New York, Nevada and Florida - and there is going to be a major delivery to Chicago." Blue Flame received a down payment of nearly $6.3 million from Maryland in early April and agreed to provide masks and ventilators within a few weeks, state officials said. Gansler said that while there was hope of quick delivery, the contract states that the masks and ventilators will be delivered by June 30. "Blue Flame can and will meet that obligation once Maryland reinstates the purchase order," Gansler said. Blue Flame was started in late March by Michael Gula, a fundraising expert in national Republican politics and John Thomas, a California political consultant. Gula's firm raised money for Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Patrick Toomey (Pa.) among others. He stunned clients in March when he suddenly announced he was leaving the political fundraising world to start a medical supply company, a field in which he had no experience. Thomas recently worked as a strategist and fundraiser for Republican Don Sedgwick, who sought to run against Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., but lost in the March primary. The two GOP operatives incorporated their firm in Delaware on March 23 and a week later received the contract from Maryland. The company made its initial pitch for the sale directly to a staffer in Hogan's office, according to one Maryland official. Gula then began using that staffer's name on a reference sheet to seek contracts with other states. The staffer referred the matter to the chief legal counsel for Hogan, Mike Pedone, on April 9. Several weeks later, Pedone referred the matter to the Maryland Attorney General's Office for review. Gansler's formal request to restore the state contract detailed the company's communications with the state before and after the contract was signed. He said that the company's behavior revealed "no impropriety at all." But he faulted state officials for providing information about the cancellation of the contract to news organizations before letting the company know or hearing its response and commitment to meeting the terms of the contract. Child care assistance for working parents, more emergency housing for the citys homeless and a multi-government alliance to make sure the poorest students have internet access are ways San Antonio officials could use $270 million in federal stimulus dollars intended to help blunt the effects of the novel coronavirus. District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval even suggested the city could help pay for the areas smallest employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers who may get COVID-19 symptoms. Ideas flew at Wednesdays brainstorming City Council session as officials try to bang out a plan for how to use the money. City staffers laid out a wide-ranging blueprint for the funds including assistance to needy families struggling to make mortgage and rent payments, retraining workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic and expanding internet access for those who dont have it. Several council members had their own ideas. Some have seized on the federal funds as a way to make sure many of the citys shortcomings, particularly its pervasive poverty, arent as severe coming out of the crisis. Direct cash payments, free supplies and more loan programs were among the suggestions. Were not trying to get back to the way things were, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said during Wednesdays council meeting. Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News On ExpressNews.com: As coronavirus recovery begins, questions and fault lines emerge about what post-COVID-19 San Antonio should look like The outline presented by Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger, though light on many specifics, calls for expanding existing programs, including its domestic violence prevention strategies, and starting new ones. Of the $270 million given to the city out of the federal CARES Act, San Antonio already has spent about $75 million on immediate expenses related to the pandemic, including public safety and Metro Health. The city could use the money to bolster existing rental assistance programs. The council already boosted the amount of dollars in San Antonios primary housing assistance program dubbed the risk mitigation fund to $25 million and expanded its purpose to cover costs of utilities, groceries, gas and internet access. But at least half of that money already has been spent. District 9 Councilman John Courage called for putting another $25 million into the program, using the new stimulus dollars. Another idea is to give area college students stipends to cover costs like housing and tuition. That way, they can afford to live and and go to school at the same time, Bridger said. Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer The city also is looking at pumping more dollars into workforce training programs. That money could be used to help those out of work find jobs and for employers to provide on-the-job training in high-demand fields. District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry questioned how much demand the city would see for workforce training programs as restrictions on business activity continue to ease. The people that Ive talked to that have lost their jobs, theyre not looking to retrain, Perry said. They dont want to go out in to a different field. They want their jobs back where they used to work. Bridger pitched a collaborative, citywide, multigovernment agency network to expand fiber capability and student access to the internet in a way to bridge the citys digital divide and to make sure poorer students can complete their assignments online if schools still are shut down. The city could give more direct cash payments to struggling families by expanding an existing program done in collaboration with the nonprofit Family Independence Initiative. It also could expand a loan program set up earlier this year that gives residents the amount of money they expect to receive in their annual tax refund, which they later have to repay, Bridger said. For small businesses, the city is weighing grants to help businesses with no more than 20 workers get back on their feet, including rehiring employees laid off during the crisis. The city also is looking into setting up resource centers and hubs for residents and businesses to access services like mortgage and rental assistance and asset building programs. For those who fear they could catch the virus if they go out in public, the city is weighing a FaceTime for government so they still can tap those services, Bridger said. On ExpressNews.com: Bexar County set to offer $450 stipend to those participating in retraining program To some council members, the suggestions put forth Wednesday sounded like a lot. Each idea is excellent individually, but there are a lot of ideas, Sandoval said. I realize we do have a lot of money. But Im having some problems seeing how we would accomplish all of it and how we can make real change with so many ideas happening at the same time. Others worried the city could create more bureaucracy in a time that calls for quick action. My concern is that we have a lot of areas that were setting up programs and processes for thats going to chew up a lot of this available money instead of getting the money out to the businesses and people that really need it the most, Perry said. City Manager Erik Walsh tried to quell those concerns. I want to make sure that we're putting the money where its most needed and not necessarily creating overhead expense, Walsh said. Thats the last thing that I think the federal government envisioned when they pushed this money down. Recovery from the economic havoc the virus wreaked on the citys economy could require leaders to come up with new ideas, instead of relying on ones that havent worked in the past, District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez said. If were going to start solving old problems with the same solutions weve always been trying to solve them with, we might be disappointed with the results at the end of the day, Pelaez said. City staffers will present a more detailed plan with dollar figures next week. The council is expected to vote on a final package at its June 4 meeting. Joshua Fechter is a staff writer covering San Antonio government and politics. To read more from Joshua, become a subscriber. jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFReports Advertisement The Syrian refugee hospital cleaner whose tearful tweet shamed Boris Johnson into a U-turn on migrants' rights is a Bafta-winning filmmaker who is documenting his work on the NHS' Covid-19 wards for his 25,000-plus Twitter and Instagram followers. Hassan Akkad, 31, recorded a video message for the Prime Minister telling him he felt 'stabbed in the back' after learning low paid staff, mostly from abroad, had been barred from the UK bereavement scheme meaning their families could be deported if they die from coronavirus. After forcing a Home Office U-turn on that issue last night, today he hit out at Mr Johnson's 'inhumane' decision to charge foreign NHS staff 624-a-year from October to access NHS services themselves. The scheme will be extended to many EU nationals from January. The PM yesterday defended the government's Immigration Health Surcharge as 'right' while also revealing 321 NHS and social care workers, many who were born outside Britain, have perished after contracting Covid-19. The policy has been branded 'immoral' and 'monstrous' by his MPs today. Critics say foreign NHS staff, from 200 countries around the globe, are being 'charged twice' because they also pay income tax and national insurance that funds the UK's hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists. Speaking to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain this morning on his way to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London, Mr Akkad, who says he is cleaning wards 'to help the country through the pandemic', insisted that the Prime Minister must now change his mind on the healthcare levy. He said: 'It's unfair, it's unjust and I would argue that it's inhumane. For most cleaners and porters this is two weeks' salary they have to pay to access the very same institution they are working for during the worst public health crisis in modern history'. The photographer and filmmaker, who fled Syria in 2012 where he was imprisoned and tortured for protesting against the Assad regime, won a BAFTA award in 2017 for his BBC documentary Exodus: Our Journey to Europe charting his three-year journey to Britain via the Calais Jungle camp. He made it to Britain in 2015 on a fake passport. This month singer Dua Lipa chose her friend Hassan as her 'hero of 2020' for GQ magazine, and he has been documenting his time cleaning in an east London hospital on his Twitter account, which now has 20,000 followers. And on his popular Instagram page Mr Akkad, who is engaged to his Syrian fiancee Farah, is pictured with stars including Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Noel Fielding and Sam Smith who have supported his 'Choose Love' refugee rights campaign. Hassan Akkad, pictured with Eddie Redmayne and Clemency Burton-Hill at a refugee event at the Grove in London, has become a household name after forcing the PM into a U-turn on rights for migrant NHS workers Mr Akkad has also been pictured with Benedict Cumberbatch at a charity event and also Sam Smith at Bestival In his award winning documentary he paid 3,500 for fake passports such as this Czech one (pictured) after attempts to get to the UK in lorries failed. He landed at Heathrow using bogus documents in 2015, where he claimed asylum at customs before settling in London Today Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad (pictured in scrubs cleaning a toilet) said he been'stabbed in the back' after learning low paid staff were excluded from the NHS bereavement scheme in a video message sent to the PM, forcing a U-turn last night The Bafta-winning photographer and filmmaker, pictured with his trophy in 2017, who took a job as a cleaner at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London 'to help the country through the pandemic', has said his partner could have been deported if he dies What is the Immigration Health Surcharge? How much is it and who pays? Workers coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area are required to pay the fee in order to be able to use the health service. The NHS surcharge costs 300 per year for student visas and 400 per year for all other visa and immigration applications. It is being put up to 624-a-year from October. And from next January, it will be extended to all EU citizens who move here after Brexit is completed. For students it is 300 a year, while for workers it is 400. The charge must also be met for dependents. Arrivals have to pay up front for the total period of the visa they are being granted - so a two year permit would mean an 800 bill. Part-years are counted as half the charge. Critics have questioned the need for people to pay it if the person is also paying income tax and national insurance contributions while working in the UK. Who needs to pay? Any national of a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) not in an exempted category; Or anyone applying for a visa to work, study or join your family in the UK for more than 6 months; For immigration applications made from within the UK, you need to pay if: You're a national of a country outside the EEA or if you're making an immigration application for any length of time, including applications for 6 months or less. Who does not need to pay? You're applying for indefinite leave to enter or remain You're a diplomat or a member of a visiting armed forces; You're a dependant of a member of the UK's armed forces or the dependant of a member of another country's armed forces; You're a family member of a European national You're applying for a visa for the Isle of Man or Channel Islands You're a British Overseas Territory citizen resident in the Falkland Islands You're an asylum seeker A victim of slavery or human trafficking or domestic violence - or their relative; Advertisement But the PM is today under huge pressure to change his mind and is also facing a rebellion from his own backbenchers who also believe NHS and care workers from outside Europe should be exempt from paying the the government's Immigration Health Surcharge, which will be extended to EU staff from January when Brexit is confirmed. Mr Akkad added: 'Piers when I'm in the hospital I'm observing what's going on around me and you can see people are genuinely discouraged by these policies the government keeps coming up with. The pandemic hasn't finished yet, all these policies are coming through and the pandemic isn't done, these people are still risking their lives'. Yesterday Mr Akkad, a Bafta-winning photographer and filmmaker who took a hospital cleaning job 'to help the country through the pandemic', fought back tears as he recorded a message for the Prime Minister after completing his shift. He said it was a 'betrayal' that the lowest paid staff in the NHS had been barred from the UK bereavement scheme meaning their families could be deported if they die from coronavirus. Hours after his extraordinary message the Home Office confirmed that they had changed the policy to include all staff. Asked about the U-turn Mr Akkad told GMB: 'I feel very proud and honoured to have played a small role in doing this, there was a lot of pressure from the unions and alot of people spoke out including Piers, which I congratulate him for doing. 'I went out and did that video not knowing it would be shared thousands of times and viewed by millions of people. I'm so incredibly grateful to know the public is on our side'. Hassan Akkad arrived in Britain on September 27 2015, after completing a three-year journey after fleeing Damascus in 2012. He had been arrested by President Assad's secret police and tortured for protesting against the murderous regime. In Syria he had a passion for photography and worked as a high school English teacher before fleeing with his Aunt. He initially stayed in the Middle East, believing he could soon return to his home country, but it descended into civil war. So instead he travelled to Turkey and then on to Europe via Greece, where he was crammed on to a packed dinghy that began sinking and was only saved when everyone on board threw all their belongings and bags into the Mediterranean. Refugee cleaner's message to the PM about his NHS 'betrayal' has been viewed 4m times On Wednesday, Hassan Akkad posted a short clip of himself addressing the Prime Minister on Twitter in his car dressed in his scrubs expressing his feelings of shock and betrayal at being excluded from the policy. Within the day, the Home Office confirmed the scheme had been extended to include cleaners, porters, social care and care home staff and will be effective immediately and retrospectively. Addressing the Prime Minister, Mr Akkad said in the clip: 'I have been really enjoying the clapping that you and your fellow ministers in the Government do every week but today however I felt betrayed, stabbed in the back. 'I felt shocked to find out that your Government decided to exclude myself and my colleagues who work as cleaners and porters and social care workers. 'We are all on minimum wage, you have decided to exclude us from the bereavement scheme, so if I die from coronavirus my partner isn't allowed indefinite leave to remain.' Mr Akkad, who is also a Bafta-award winning filmmaker and photographer, added: 'This is your way of saying thank you to us. 'Now I am sending you this message hoping you will reconsider because I did see a humble Boris after you were discharged from hospital, I saw a different Boris. 'So us migrants are on the frontline doing these very demanding jobs to help this nation overcome this pandemic and the least you can do is if we die is give our families indefinite leave to remain. 'Please reconsider and I hope to hear back from you. Thank you.' He captioned the clip 'I hope you can help me get this message delivered to Mr PM Boris Johnson' and it has been viewed 3.7 million times and been retweeted nearly 50,000 times. Advertisement After travelling across Europe to Paris by train and lorry, he was then trafficked to Calais and stayed in in the camp for months, calling it a 'graveyard of hopes'. He said: 'I made over 50 attempts to get across on lorries, but they all failed. It was a dire experience.' Each night he also tried swimming to clamber on to ferries and boats crossing the Channel to Britain, but always failed. It was only when he paid 3,500 to people smugglers that he was able to enter the UK illegally, three years after leaving Syria. He was handed fake Czech and Bulgarian passports, flying from Brussels to Heathrow. When he arrived at customs he claimed asylum and settled with a family in Brixton. Six months later he was granted right to remain in the UK for five years. His journey was charted after the BBC game him and other migrants small cameras to film their journeys, and was made into the film Exodus: Our Journey to Europe. It was nominated for a BAFTA in 2017 and won best factual film. Collecting the award Mr Akkad said: 'Exodus was my yesterday, but it's somebody's today and tomorrow' before breaking down as he dedicated the Bafta to all the world's migrants and their 'untold stories'. Since then he has made another BBC documentary where he returned to the Calais Jungle to see if life had changed since his time there. He has also campaigned for the rights of refugees and has used social media to be critical of Government policy and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to back air strikes on Assad. He has also spoken all over the world about his experiences as a migrant, and looks to be documenting his time in the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic. Downing Street today confirmed the planned increase in the surcharge from 400 a year to 624 would go ahead despite the opposition within the Conservative ranks to the fee being levied on overseas NHS and care staff. Tory peer and former party chairman Lord Patten called the Government's position 'appalling' and 'monstrous'. Former Conservative Party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that not to waive the current surcharge 'would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty'. Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee chairman William Wragg called for an immediate change in policy, adding 'now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good'. The senior Tories echoed calls for the Government to scrap the NHS surcharge for migrant care workers coming from outside the European Economic Area. Mr Akkad, pictured with his fiancee Farah Haddad, who is also from Syria, has been demanding the Government to be more open to welcoming refugees to the UK, called the Choose Love campaign This month popstar Dua Lipa chose her friend Hassan as her 'hero of 2020' for GQ magazine because of his work to clean on the Covid-19 wards Hassan with friends including Noel Fielding in London, which was captioned 'My peeps' Tory revolt against Boris Johnson's refusal to drop NHS charge for foreign health workers Boris Johnson is facing a furious Tory revolt over his refusal to drop the NHS surcharge for foreign health and care workers today - as experts dismissed suggestions the move would cost nearly a billion pounds. Senior Conservatives demanded that the government show 'generosity of spirit' amid an outcry over those on the frontline of the coronavirus battle being forced to pay. Tory MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration select committee, led a backlash from Mr Johnson's own side overnight. He tweeted: 'I will support the nhs fee exemption for migrant nhs and care workers. Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. I am sure that @conservatives colleagues will be supportive.' Security Minister James Brokenshire defended the PM's position this morning, saying the situation is 'complicated'. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Well, I think, on the issue of the health surcharge, firstly it is obviously there to provide funding for the NHS and the basic principle that if you come to this country, that you are working, that you make that contribution. 'But we have very firmly listened to the sort of situation in relation to the NHS. We've already put in place extensions to visas for health professionals, NHS health professionals, where they do not pay the NHS surcharge in that situation.' Advertisement Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Royal College of Nursing have expressed the view that health workers should be exempt from the 'unfair' charge. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'It is grossly hypocritical to clap our carers one day and then charge them to use the NHS the next. 'Labour is calling for an end to this injustice and we would urge all Tory MPs who agree with us to back us.' The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the scheme had raised 900 million since it was launched in 2015 - and the increase was a key manifesto pledge by the Tories. The spokesman said: 'Income from the surcharge is distributed between the four devolved health administrations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the purpose of health spending. 'Money that we put into our health service has a direct impact on improving people's lives and ultimately saving people's lives.' He added that the increase 'was a very clear manifesto commitment made by the Government'. 'It's on the basis of that manifesto that the Prime Minister won a significant majority.' Security Minister James Brokenshire said Mr Johnson was 'right' to reject the calls on Wednesday as the issue is 'complicated'. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The situation in relation to those people working within different functions in the NHS is more complicated because of the visa and immigration system that they are likely to be within. 'In other words, if you are a doctor and nurse then you are on a specific visa when we have that direct contact with the NHS trust. 'For those in social care, it is more disparate, which makes it more complicated and more challenging in terms of the situation.' He added that the Government 'continue to keep this under review'. In his BBC film Exodus, he filmed the moment his packed dinghy began filling with water as he travelled to Europe via Greece He paid 3,500 for fake passports such as this Czech one after attempts to get to the UK in lorries failed. He landed at Heathrow (pictured) using bogus documents in September 2015, where he claimed asylum A year later he accepted a BAFTA for Best Factual Series in 2017 - for Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, charting his dangerous journey Are you sure about that Boris? IFS says exempting foreign NHS workers from UK healthcare levy would only cost 90m after PM said '900m' Boris Johnson's reasoning for refusing to exempt foreign NHS workers from the healthcare surcharge began unravelling tonight when a top economist slapped down his suggestion it would cost hundreds of millions. The Prime Minister hailed the 400 annual fee for migrants as a 900million revenue raiser, as he swatted away calls for the government to waive the levy for NHS staff from overseas. But Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said scrapping the charge for these workers would only shave off a tenth of the total revenue raised. He put the cost to the Exchequer at nearer 90million, raising eyebrows as to why the PM used the overall 900million figure during Prime Minister's Questions. Advertisement The Government's NHS bereavement scheme was launched last month and is open to almost all health and social care workers who have died after caring for those contracted Covid-19. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government will pay 60,000 to families of those who die in service. And those from outside Europe would also receive indefinite leave to remain. Those included in the scheme were any full-time and part-time employees, agency and locum workers, as well as retired staff who returned or students who had taken up paid frontline roles to support the coronavirus response. But the Home Office has since confirmed that social care workers, hospital cleaners and porters, either employed directly by hospitals or agencies, are not included. Many of these lowest paid workers are from outside the EU. The death toll among NHS staff has hit 181 and among care workers it is 131, Mr Johnson revealed in PMQs in the House of Commons this afternoon. 'I know the thoughts of the whole House are with their families and friends,' he said. But the Prime Minister came under fire from Labour MPs and nursing unions after he refused to back calls for care workers to be exempted from the Immigration Health Surcharge - saying the charge was 'right'. Ministers have been accused of 'penalising' the very healthcare workers who for the past three months have been treating many of Britain's coronavirus patients on the NHS frontline. In a bruising PMQs encounter with Labour leader Keir Starmer, Mr Johnson was urged to rethink the charge. But the Prime Minister defended the policy, saying: 'We must look at the realities - this is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900 million, and it's very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. 'So with great respect to the point (Sir Keir Starmer) makes, I do think that is the right way forward.' Approaching 200 NHS health and care workers have died on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic Mr Starmer said he was 'disappointed' by the response and promised to table an amendment to the Immigration Bill to exempt NHS and care workers from the charge. A nursing union has said it is 'alarmed' to learn there are no plans to exempt foreign health workers from the NHS surcharge. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has written to the Home Secretary Priti Patel urging her to reconsider the decision and waive the charge 'as a matter of urgency' as it ramped up calls it has been making on the subject for two years. Under immigration rules, workers coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area are required to pay the fee in order to be able to use the health service. The NHS surcharge costs 300 per year for student visas and 400 per year for all other visa and immigration applications, according to the Government's website. A migrant's dependants usually need to pay the same amounts. Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the union which represents 450,000 health and care workers across the UK, said: 'We are urging the Home Secretary to reconsider and waive this charge for healthcare staff from overseas as a matter of urgency. 'We have already received devastating accounts from members who are struggling to pay the charge, and the impact that it is having on their families' lives. 'The current pandemic has served to reaffirm the importance of our internationally educated staff. 'Without them here, patient care would be at risk. 'This charge undermines the dedicated care overseas health and care staff provide to us all.' New Zealand nurse Jenny McGee, 35, (pictured) and Portuguese nurse Luis Pitarma cared for the PM in hospital Mr Johnson's video message from inside no 10 after he was discharged from hospital. He singled out his foreign nurses for praise during his message. But the Government has 'no current plans' to review the policy known as the immigration health surcharge (IHS) Carlos Sia (pictured left), who worked for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, died on Friday, May 15, in the hospital where he worked. Tributes have also been paid to Neil Ruch (right), the first paramedic from the East of England Ambulance Service to lose his life to Covid-19 Sadeq Elhowsh, 58, an orthopaedic surgeon who worked at St Helens and Knowley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, died from coronavirus. Pictured with his sons Josephine Peter, a nurse at Southport and Formby District General Hospital, leaves behind her husband Thabo, her two children Bongani and Buhle and a granddaughter Juliet Alder, who worked at the Hammersmith and Fulham Mental Health Unit, died from coronavirus aged 58 on Tuesday, April 14 The latest NHS and care worker death figures come as tributes flooded in for the two most recent healthcare workers known to have died after contracting Covid-19. Khulisani Nkala, 46, worked as a mental health nurse for the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and died from the virus on Friday Carlos Sia, who worked for the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, died on Friday, May 15, in the hospital where he worked. The 'much-loved' 62-year-old, who had worked for the trust for five years, had spent several weeks in intensive care. He has a wife and daughter in the UK, and three sons living in the Philippines. In a letter to staff, chief executive Matthew Hopkins said: 'His quiet, gentle and respectful nature, his generosity of spirit, his sense of humour and his calming influence also made him popular with patients. 'We have lost a valued member of our Trust family - and in Carlos's case, the word 'family' has a special relevance as his wife Cindy works on Avon 2 as a healthcare assistant and his daughter Clair is a nurse on our acute stroke unit. 'Cindy and Clair are particularly in our thoughts at this sad time, as are all Carlos's colleagues who worked alongside him and those who cared for him through his illness.' A ban on religious gatherings in France is unlawful, according to Frances supreme court for administrative justice. The French Council of State ruled Monday that the general and absolute prohibition [on religious gatherings] is disproportionate because the government is allowing secular gatherings of fewer than 10 people, The Christian Post reports. The Council of State said in its ruling that the policy constitutes a serious and manifest violation of the freedom of worship. The government has eight days to lift the ban on religious gatherings. The policy banned all gatherings in worship places until June 2, except for funerals, which only allow up to 20 people. The ruling came after complaints from organizations and church members. Supporters of overturning the ban said the ruling was good news. The decision of the Council of State to order the lifting of the ban on assembly in places of worship is good news for freedom of worship which is a fundamental right, tweeted Sen. Bruno Retailleau, leader of the right-wing Republicans. In February, France had an outbreak of coronavirus cases and officials pointed to an international evangelical conference for causing the cluster of cases. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control said that religious organizations considering reopening in-person services should be aware of the potential for high rates of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. These organizations should work with local health officials to determine how to implement the U.S. Governments guidelines for modifying activities during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent transmission of the virus to their members and their communities," the CDC advised in its report. Some churches in the U.S. have tried to reopen but have then shut their doors to in-person gatherings because of a resurgence of coronavirus cases. A Georgia church that reopened stopped its in-person services again after several families became infected with the novel coronavirus. Also in Houston, a Catholic church stopped its in-person gatherings after learning that some members became sick after the churchs reopening in early May. Photo courtesy: Anthony Choren/Unsplash Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 07:40 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9586ca 1 Politics Constitutional-Court,COVID-19,Perppu,state-budget,finance-minister,Sri-Mulyani-Indrawati,Yasonna-Laoly Free The government has asked the Constitutional Court to reject a petition for a judicial review of Regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) No. 1/2020 on the COVID-19 pandemic response, saying that the Perppu has already been passed into law. Finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly and Attorney General ST Burhanuddin attended a hearing on Wednesday to represent President Joko Joko Widodo after the Constitutional Court summoned him and a delegation from the House of Representatives last week to give their testimony. The legislative body did not send a delegation to the hearing. The House has given its approval in a plenary session to pass Perppu No. 1/2020 into law," Sri Mulyani told the bench during Wednesday's hearing, "The government has ratified the House's approval through the issuance of Law No.2/2020." With the passing of the Perppu into law, the plaintiffs -- comprising five groups of anticorruption activists, including the Indonesian Anticorruption Community (MAKI) may have failed in their legal objective as they specifically filed the judicial review against the Perppu. Kurniawan Adi Nughroho, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, demanded the finance minister provide documentation as evidence that the Perppu had been passed into Law no. 2/2020. Read also: Govt rolls out $43b stimulus in bid to rescue economy Another lawyer, Ahmad Yani, also argued before the court that the passing of the Perppu was too quick as it was decided only in one sitting period. The Perppu was signed by President Joko Jokowi Widodo on March 31 and passed by the House into law on May 12. Article 22 Paragraph 2 of the 1945 Constitution clearly stipulates that [a Perppu] must obtain the House's approval in the next sitting period. Since this Perppu was approved or issued by the President during the [House's] third sitting period, it means that [the approval] should be in the fourth sitting period," Ahmad said. Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman, who presided over Wednesday's hearing, said the court would discuss the finance minister's testimony and would soon notify the plaintiffs and the President regarding the results. The hearing session ended after only 15 minutes. The Perppu, now Law No. 2/2020, allows the government to extend the state budget deficit beyond the normal 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) limit and allocate the spending to programs related to COVID-19 relief. Article 27 of the Perppu contains provisions that protect officials who make the fiscal and monetary decisions from any legal charges, as long as they act in good faith and according to the law. Read also: Indonesia will emerge out of pandemic highly indebted. Every rupiah counts Critics and antigraft activists fear that this provision might lead to budget misappropriation and embezzlement. Filing the petition on April 9, the plaintiffs argued that Article 27 violated the 1945 Constitution and several prevailing laws, including the 2003 State Finances Law and the 2006 Supreme Audit Agency Law. However, Yasonna has denied that the Perppu would provide officials with impunity from graft charges if corruption were to occur, adding that Article 27 was only meant to ensure that the government could make swift decisions in mitigating the health crisis. Speaking after Wednesday's hearing, MAKI coordinator Boyamin Saiman said that the plaintiffs had filed another petition for a judicial review against Law No. 2/2020 on Wednesday. This petition was filed as an indication of our insistence on revoking the impunity for financial officials as stipulated in Article 27 of the law, Boyamin said in a written statement. The main purpose of this petition is solely to achieve equality before the law that applies to all people, including officials, and to provide an assurance that officials will be careful in issuing policies and decisions in managing state finances in the face of the pandemic, in a proper, correct and corruption-free manner." (Photo : Screenshot from: Android APK Facebook Account) The Google Pixel 4a would have been out by now if it weren't for the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. The launch event being postposed was unavoidable and Google has not announced a new date yet, or any kind of hint on when they will be releasing the new smartphone leading to a lot of rumors. Read Also: Google and Apple Launch 'Exposure Notification' API to Help Notify Public Health Officials of Potential Coronavirus Exposure Google itself is holding the launch date back Some of these rumors talk about Google having to cancel the larger version, the Pixel 4a XL model, and just switch to the basic Pixel 4a model. According to Tech Radar, "Pixel 4a received a vote of confidence from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who recently said that his company was "super committed" to the beleaguered hardware division, that has seen less-than-expected sales of its flagship smartphones." It was also tipped off that the launch for the Google Pixel 4a event may not be coming anytime soon. Jon Prosser, a Tech Analyst, has said that the release date has been pushed to July 13 which is a two-month delay than they originally planned. Prosser also said in his tweet that he speculated that the Pixel 4a is ready to be released, but Google is holding everything back. Apparently, the company has decided that they will give out a release date based on market analysis. Google does not want the new model to be welcomed with a lukewarm response. Read Also: Are Hackers Taking Advantage of COVID-19? Google Block 18 Million Coronavirus-Related Phishing Emails Everyday It will not support 5G networks Prosser also stated that the Pixel 4a will not be supporting any kind of 5G network and that the feature will be reserved for the Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 5 XL. The device is rumored to come with a $349 price tag in the United States and will be released in two colors, Naked Blue and Pure Black. It should be noted that Transparent White has been dropped. "Reports coming through leaks and other forms in the build-up to the launch suggests that the Pixel 4a is equipped with a 5.8-inch OLED display with a thinner bezel and perforated design, something which Google has not tried previously on its design," Tech Radar added. When it comes to Google Pixel 4a's chipset, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 will be powering the device and should have a huge boost in performance since the Pixel 3a was powered by the Snapdragon 670. It will also come with a standard 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, 2,080mAh battery which will be supporting 18W fast charging. However, the Google Pixel 4a will only be sporting the Android 10. Read Also: Hidden Features on Your Android Phone? Here are Some of Android's Cool Features That You Might Not Even Know Existed! 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. By PTI NEW DELHI: The decisions taken by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday were focused on welfare of migrant workers, senior citizens, easier availability of credit and harnessing opportunities in the fisheries sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. "During today's Cabinet meeting, important decisions were taken which are focused on welfare of migrants, senior citizens, easier availability of credit, harnessing opportunities in the fisheries sector," he wrote on Twitter. The decisions, he said, will benefit several citizens. Referring to the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, Modi said it will revolutionise the fisheries sector. "It will invigorate it with latest technology, infrastructure and ensure financial assistance. Our hardworking fishermen will gain immensely," the prime minister pointed out. He said another important decision of the Cabinet will contribute to a vibrant food processing sector. "It will also strengthen the efforts towards Atmanirbhar Bharat (a self-reliant India)," he said. According to the Food Processing Ministry, the Union Cabinet's decision on scheme for formalisation of micro food processing enterprises will provide a big boost to the self-help groups, cooperatives and micro food businesses and ensure adequate livelihood for rural-urban communities. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday also extended the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY), a social security scheme for senior citizens, for three years till March, 2023. The PMVVY scheme, implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), is intended to give an assured minimum pension to senior citizens (60 years and above) based on an assured return on the purchase price/subscription amount. The quaint downtown of Lake Geneva, Wis., looked unremarkable on a quiet, rainy Monday morning: Businesses were starting to open, traffic was light. Clusters of teens, elders with dogs and people carrying bundles of mail for the post office strolled down the street almost none wearing protective masks over their nose and mouth. I broke quarantine to bear witness to Wisconsins mixed status. Many of the states larger metropolitan areas such as Madison and Milwaukee are retaining most of the governors safer-at-home measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. Meanwhile, the rest of the state is taking advantage of the Wisconsin Supreme Courts decision to strike down the order to stay closed giving them the option to roam free. Tiny towns bordering Illinois took a turn in the Chicago media spotlight as refugees from the Windy Citys far-off exurbs crossed the border to sit at bars with others who just needed a cold beer and a cheeseburger amid all this COVID-19 craziness. Over the weekend, the resort town of Lake Geneva was reportedly hoppin with visitors from both sides of the border, and many of them were promenading down the main drag, hitting the beach and taking cruises on the lake. All for it, Dave Gragnani of close-by McHenry, Ill., told the Wisconsin State Journal. He added he planned to visit a coffee shop and a skate park without a mask or hand sanitizer. People should have a choice. Im having a wonderful time. Truth be told, I, too, had a wonderful time Monday, as the rain fell softly outside of Jonis Diner, a local favorite that bills itself the Best Breakfast in Lake Geneva. Walking into the 50s themed replica rail car after months of eating at home or while driving in the family minivan was, well, a relief. The experience was a little weird, though there was no counter seating, and each set of visitors had an empty booth between them and the next diners. There was also only a limited number of items on the table (no creamer, ketchup or mustard sitting out, for instance). The small, mom-and-pop business relies almost entirely on seasonal tourists to get through the year financially, but the waitress said they were wading back into sit-down service slowly and carefully. The staff seemed just as relieved to be back to work as I was to have delicious diner coffee and a fresh, crisp golden Belgian waffle with full-sugar syrup. None of the staff wore masks, and though my husband and I wore masks in, we kept them off during the meal. We also kept our distance, if thats even a sufficient manner of avoiding infection. Condemn me if you will, but I had an opportunity to venture out of my hiding hole and took it. I relished it, thanking the universe for keeping me from political confrontation. In some places, like the grocery store, you get the glare or side-eye if youre not wearing a mask over your face. In others, like Walmart, the hardware store or the gas station, you might get a weird look if you are wearing a mask. Some assume those who wear a mask are weak willed, easily brainwashed and possess socialist leanings. Instead, the person wearing the mask might instead just be covering their mouth and nose as a courtesy to others, including the elderly and immunocompromised. Those who do wear masks might look at those without a face covering and think he or she doesnt believe in science and is a selfish supporter of President Donald Trump. And those who dont wear masks might rebut this with sincere beliefs about individual liberties and choice. The war on masks is a way of taking a public health crisis a situation that demands political unity and best practices in governance and reshaping it into a culture war competition, wrote Zack Beauchamp on Vox.com. The question is not are we doing a good job handling this so much as whose team do you want to be on, the namby-pamby liberals or the strong fearless conservatives? Masks and restaurant and bar visits have become a point of contention all over the country, fueling violence against innocent front-line food and restaurant employees who are just doing their best to stay healthy while working a high-touch, minimum wage essential job. Its a tough time all around. Just remember, as we start venturing out of quarantine, to be nice and follow the golden rule. It stands up well through times of trauma: Treat others the way youd want to be treated. estherjcepeda@washpost.com Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Energy Regulatory Commission is set to release an advisory that will guide consumers on payment of electricity bills falling due during the quarantine period, it said during the Senate committee of the whole hearing on Thursday. This is amid an on-going investigation by the commission and the Energy department into reports of Manila Electric Companys sudden spike in billed amounts. In so far that ERC is concerned, we are coming out with an advisory, of course with consultation with the Department of Energy. The advisory is being finalized right now for the guidance of our consumers, ERC Chairperson Agnes Devanadera said when asked by Senate energy committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian whether consumers should pay their bills despite the said investigation. So saan ka ba? (Where do you fall?) Doon ka ba sa (Are you in the) four monthly installments or sa (in the) six monthly installments? And our advisory will also say that for the installments, you pay every 15th of the month starting June para hindi rin napakabigat (so that it will not be too burdensome), Devanadera said. The ERC Chair explained that those who will be classified under the six-monthly installments are those who are consuming 200 kilowatt hours or less per month, or what she called the lifeliners, while those exceeding this will be under four-monthly installments. Some sectors recently voiced out their concern over the sudden spike of their electricity bills during this quarantine period, which started mid-March and is expected to last until May 31 assuming COVID-19 cases do not spike again. Meralco earlier explained that this is a result of higher consumption since consumers are forced to stay in their houses during the quarantine, requiring the use of cooling devices such as air-conditioners to cope with the hot weather. On Monday, a group of lawmakers also filed House Resolution 879 that directed the Committee on Energy to investigate the matter despite overcapacity of electricity supply. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that in their initial investigation, the bills in March and April were estimated, while the bill in May was an accumulation of all the previous months' consumption. Both the DOE and the ERC have asked the power distributor for an explanation on the basis for the billings. Our deadline is actually tomorrow but even if we dont have yet we already met with Meralco and required them to explain the bill because if we look at it we dont see the installment payment. All we see is a big amount, so iyon kung bakit nagre-react ang mga tao (that is the reason why people are reacting), Devanadera said. Hinihintay ko lang yung (We are just waiting for the) formal reply ng (of) Meralco doon sa sulat namin sa kanila (on our letter to them) and in due time, maybe by tomorrow, well be able to be more definite kung ano ang nangyari sa (on what happened to the) bill shock, Cusi said. ~ Marines blocked beach access and access to Fort Amsterdam.~ PHILIPSBURG:--- Residents on St. Maarten are not allowed to use a section of Divi Little Bay Beach as the Marines that are currently housed at the hotel ensured the placed a tape blocking local residents from using parts of the beach that they are allowed to use as they vacation on St. Maarten. The access road to Fort Amsterdam is also blocked with the same red and white tape that is placed throughout parts of the property. SMN News visited the location and spoke to some residents that took their children to the beach as they try to escape the heat and destress from the deconfinement. A former Member of Parliament and also Minister told SMN News that he was personally stopped on Wednesday by the marines who claim to be in possession of the countrys beach policy. The former MP, Minister, and currently a senior civil servant dispatched a letter to the Chief of Police asking him to look into the matter since all beaches and the access road to the fort must remain open at all times. Click here to see more photos. Bluestone Announces Results from Annual General Meeting and Appoints New Director Posted by Publisher Internet Bluestone Resources Inc. (TSXV:BSR | OTCQB:BBSRF) (\Bluestone\ or the \Company\ -? https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/bluestone-resources-advancing-cerro-blanco-gold-project-towards-production/ ) is pleased to announce the results of voting at its annual general meeting of shareholders which was held on May 20, 2020 by conference call (the ?Meeting?). ?Full details of all the voting results for the 2020 Meeting are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The nominees for directors listed in Bluestone?s management proxy circular dated April 15, 2020 were elected as set out in the following table. Jim Paterson did not stand for re-election to the Company\-\-s board of directors (the ?Board?) at the Meeting.? Jim served on the Board Audit Committee, the Board Corporate Governance and Nominations Committee, and as Chair of the Board Compensation Committee. John Robins, Board Chair commented, \Jim has served on our Board since 2011, prior to the acquisition of the Cerro Blanco gold project, which transformed the Company to what it is today. He has been a strong Board Member, providing insightful feedback and leadership experience. On behalf of Bluestone?s senior management team and our Board, we would like to thank Jim for his contributions and wish him the best in his future endeavours.\ Dave Dicaire has been appointed to the Board effective immediately. Jack Lundin, CEO, commented, \We are extremely pleased to have Dave Dicaire join the Board of Directors. Dave?s diverse experience and highly successful career in mine development projects, coupled with his technical background will be valuable assets for Bluestone as we continue to advance the Cerro Blanco Gold project. On behalf of the Company and the Board we wish to welcome Dave to the team. I would also like to take a moment to thank Jim for his valuable contributions to the Bluestone Board.? Dave Dicaire Dave Dicaire has over 40 years of experience in the mining, engineering, and construction industry on a variety of global projects leading both the Owners and EPCM teams and is currently the VP Projects and General Manager at Lundin Gold Inc. Prior to joining Lundin Gold, he was with Freeport-McMoRan Inc. as the Project Director for the highly successful US$4.6 billion Cerro Verde Expansion Project in Peru. Prior to moving to Freeport, Dave was the General Manager, Project Development for South America for Xstrata Copper (now Glencore plc) based in Santiago, Chile. His experience covers all facets of project management for all types of mining projects ranging from managing pre-feasibility studies to large EPC/EPCM projects. About Bluestone Resources Bluestone Resources is a mineral exploration and development company that is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Cerro Blanco Gold and Mita Geothermal projects located in Guatemala. A Feasibility Study on Cerro Blanco returned robust economics with a quick pay back. The average annual production is projected to be 146,000 ounces per year over the first three years of production with all-in sustaining costs of $579/oz (as defined per World Gold Council guidelines, less corporate general and administration costs). The Company trades under the symbol ?BSR? on the TSX Venture Exchange and ?BBSRF? on the OTCQB. On Behalf of Bluestone Resources Inc. \Jack Lundin\ Jack Lundin | Chief Executive Officer & Director For further information, please contact: Bluestone Resources Inc. Stephen Williams | VP Corporate Development & Investor Relations Phone: ?+1 604 646 4534 info@bluestoneresources.ca www.bluestoneresources.ca? Forward Looking Statements This press release contains ?forward-looking information? within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and ?forward-looking statements? within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, ?forward-looking statements?).? All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Bluestone Resources Inc. (?Bluestone? or the ?Company?) believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation: to the market for Bluestone?s common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, subscription receipts, units, warrants and share purchase contracts; the conversion of the inferred mineral resources; increasing the amount of measured mineral and indicated mineral resources; the proposed timeline and benefits of further drilling; the proposed timeline and benefits of the Feasibility Study; statements about the Company?s plans for its mineral properties; Bluestone?s business strategy, plans and outlook; the future financial or operating performance of Bluestone; capital expenditures, corporate general and administration expenses and exploration and development expenses; expected working capital requirements; the future financial estimates of the Cerro Blanco Project economics, including estimates of capital costs of constructing mine facilities and bringing a mine into production and of sustaining capital costs, estimates of operating costs and total costs, net present value and economic returns; proposed production timelines and rates; funding availability; resource estimates; and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to Bluestone and often use words such as ?expects?, ?plans?, ?anticipates?, ?estimates?, ?intends?, ?may? or variations thereof or the negative of any of these terms. All forward-looking statements are made based on Bluestone?s current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by Bluestone and information currently available to Bluestone.? Generally, these assumptions include, among others: the presence of and continuity of metals at the Cerro Blanco Project at estimated grades; the availability of personnel, machinery, and equipment at estimated prices and within estimated delivery times; currency exchange rates; metals sales prices and exchange rates assumed; appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in economic analyses; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operations; the availability of acceptable financing; the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); anticipated mining losses and dilution; success in realizing proposed operations; and anticipated timelines for community consultations and the impact of those consultations on the regulatory approval process. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of Bluestone to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Bluestone. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: risks and uncertainties related to expected production rates; timing and amount of production and total costs of production; risks and uncertainties related to the ability to obtain, amend, or maintain necessary licenses, permits, or surface rights; risks associated with technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities; risks and uncertainties related to the accuracy of mineral resource estimates and estimates of future production, future cash flow, total costs of production, and diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources; risks associated with geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in Guatemala; risks related to global epidemics or pandemics and other health crises, including the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); risks and uncertainties related to interruptions in production; the possibility that future exploration, development, or mining results will not be consistent with Bluestone?s expectations; uncertain political and economic environments and relationships with local communities and governmental authorities; risks relating to variations in the mineral content within the mineral identified as mineral resources from that predicted; variations in rates of recovery and extraction; developments in world metals markets; and risks related to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. For a further discussion of risks relevant to Bluestone, see ?Risk Factors? in the Company?s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2019, available on the Company?s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Bluestone disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Bluestone believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.? There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures The Company has included certain non-International Financial Reporting Standards (?IFRS?) measures in this news release. The Company believes that these measures, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company and to compare it to information reported by other companies. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. All-in sustaining costs The Company believes that all-in sustaining costs (?AISC?) more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The Company calculates AISC as the sum of refining costs, third party royalties, site operating costs, sustaining capital costs and closure capital costs all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce amount. Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise due to a different definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining capital. AISC reconciliation AISC and costs are calculated based on the definitions published by the World Gold Council (?WGC?) (a market development organization for the gold industry comprised of and funded by 18 gold mining companies from around the world). The WGC is not a regulatory organization. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains ?forward-looking information? within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and ?forward-looking statements? within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, ?forward-looking statements?).? All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Bluestone Resources Inc. (?Bluestone? or the ?Company?) believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including, without limitation: to the market for Bluestone?s common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, subscription receipts, units, warrants and share purchase contracts; the conversion of the inferred mineral resources; increasing the amount of measured mineral and indicated mineral resources; the proposed timeline and benefits of further drilling; the proposed timeline and benefits of the Feasibility Study; statements about the Company?s plans for its mineral properties; Bluestone?s business strategy, plans and outlook; the future financial or operating performance of Bluestone; capital expenditures, corporate general and administration expenses and exploration and development expenses; expected working capital requirements; the future financial estimates of the Cerro Blanco Project economics, including estimates of capital costs of constructing mine facilities and bringing a mine into production and of sustaining capital costs, estimates of operating costs and total costs, net present value and economic returns; proposed production timelines and rates; funding availability; resource estimates; and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to Bluestone and often use words such as ?expects?, ?plans?, ?anticipates?, ?estimates?, ?intends?, ?may? or variations thereof or the negative of any of these terms. All forward-looking statements are made based on Bluestone?s current beliefs as well as various assumptions made by Bluestone and information currently available to Bluestone.? Generally, these assumptions include, among others: the presence of and continuity of metals at the Cerro Blanco Project at estimated grades; the availability of personnel, machinery, and equipment at estimated prices and within estimated delivery times; currency exchange rates; metals sales prices and exchange rates assumed; appropriate discount rates applied to the cash flows in economic analyses; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the proposed mining operations; the availability of acceptable financing; the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); anticipated mining losses and dilution; success in realizing proposed operations; and anticipated timelines for community consultations and the impact of those consultations on the regulatory approval process. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of Bluestone to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, Bluestone. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: risks and uncertainties related to expected production rates; timing and amount of production and total costs of production; risks and uncertainties related to the ability to obtain, amend, or maintain necessary licenses, permits, or surface rights; risks associated with technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities; risks and uncertainties related to the accuracy of mineral resource estimates and estimates of future production, future cash flow, total costs of production, and diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources; risks associated with geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in Guatemala; risks related to global epidemics or pandemics and other health crises, including the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19); risks and uncertainties related to interruptions in production; the possibility that future exploration, development, or mining results will not be consistent with Bluestone?s expectations; uncertain political and economic environments and relationships with local communities and governmental authorities; risks relating to variations in the mineral content within the mineral identified as mineral resources from that predicted; variations in rates of recovery and extraction; developments in world metals markets; and risks related to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. For a further discussion of risks relevant to Bluestone, see ?Risk Factors? in the Company?s annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2019, available on the Company?s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made, and except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Bluestone disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although Bluestone believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.? There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures The Company has included certain non-International Financial Reporting Standards (?IFRS?) measures in this news release. The Company believes that these measures, in addition to measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company and to compare it to information reported by other companies. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. All-in sustaining costs The Company believes that all-in sustaining costs (?AISC?) more fully defines the total costs associated with producing gold. The Company calculates AISC as the sum of refining costs, third party royalties, site operating costs, sustaining capital costs and closure capital costs all divided by the gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce amount. Other companies may calculate this measure differently as a result of differences in underlying principles and policies applied. Differences may also arise due to a different definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining capital. AISC reconciliation AISC and costs are calculated based on the definitions published by the World Gold Council (?WGC?) (a market development organization for the gold industry comprised of and funded by 18 gold mining companies from around the world). The WGC is not a regulatory organization. "Stay Safe!" Eduardo Galvan, CEO of First Aid Global LLC delivers donated PPE to The Salvation Army in downtown Los Angeles Visit https://www.firstaidglobal.com/social-distance-warrior to help. Think about the safety of your loved ones and those Americans who have compromising health problems as you visit restaurants and other businesses that are now opening In todays news cycle we often hear things that only lead to confusion. Whether or not to wear masks; to touch or shake hands with others; to avoid restaurants, movie theaters, concerts, sporting events or schools; or to lock yourself away in your home and get comfortable with your Netflix, AppleTV+, YoutubeTV or Prime Video subscriptions. But as things begin to return to normal Americans will still feel the effects of continuing transmission and bad news during this current health crisis. "The best advice we can give is for people to stay vigilant, especially when it comes to making yourself vulnerable to disease transmission," says Todd West, co-owner of First Aid Global LLC in Tarzana, CA. His company, 'First Aid Global' supplies Personal Protective Equipment and has been warning of supply shortages for years. "The best time to prepare is obviously before a particular disaster and not when everybody else is buying or hoarding and depleting supplies. We look forward to putting current times behind us so that we can all go back to normal production." "Stay safe our there," West says. "Think about the safety of your loved ones and those Americans who have compromising health problems as you visit restaurants and other businesses that are now opening." Tehran: The coronavirus has infected more than 10,000 health care workers in hard-hit Iran, news outlets reported on Thursday, as health officials in war-ravaged Yemen and Gaza expressed mounting concern about waves of new cases. Iran's semi-official news agencies cited Deputy Health Minister Qassem Janbabaei, who did not elaborate. Reports earlier in the week put the number of infected health care workers at only 800. Iran says more than 100 of those workers have died. Women volunteers wearing protective clothing prepare the body of a victim who died from the new coronavirus, at a cemetery in the city of Ghaemshahr in north of Iran, Friday. Credit:AP Iran is grappling with the deadliest outbreak in the Middle East, with at least 7249 fatalities among more than 129,000 confirmed cases. Those figures include an additional 66 deaths announced on Thursday by Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. As Memorial Day approaches, 60 percent of Americans surveyed are looking forward to traveling again. Americans aren't alone globally 56 percent of the 4,600 travelers surveyed plan to travel the same or more once COVID-19 travel restrictions ease and most want to travel by air according to consulting firm Oliver Wyman. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005761/en/ 56% of Global Respondents Will Travel the Same or More Than Planned for Leisure Post-COVID (Graphic: Business Wire) Half of American survey respondents are waiting for their government or the World Health Organization to indicate when it is safe to travel. Only 20 percent are holding out for acquired immunity or a vaccine before traveling. "Though the timing of the return to travel is dependent on when government authorities deem it safe, the desire to travel is strong and comfort levels are surprisingly high," said Jessica Stansbury, a partner with Oliver Wyman. "This pent-up demand for leisure travel will spark the initial recovery of the industry." These findings hold true globally, as well. Data from across Europe, China, Australia, and Canada confirm reason for cautious optimism in the travel industry. Travelers are tired of quarantine and are eager to make up for lost vacations, though most will now stay closer to home and away from crowded activities. Travelers Are Comfortable Returning to the Skies Globally travelers are significantly more comfortable flying than with any other mode of transport besides driving. US travelers are more comfortable flying (51 percent) than doing anyof the following staying in a hotel (48 percent), dining in restaurants (46 percent), using rideshares (25 percent) or going on public transportation (23 percent). Travelers in the US and Australia fall just behind China in being the most comfortable to take a flight. Italians are the least comfortable flying and are also the least comfortable overall using any other mode of transportation post-COVID. In the US, travelers between the age of 30-44 are more comfortable taking a flight than younger people (ages 18-29) and older people (ages 45+). Respondents said that the airlines' response to COVID-19 was the most important reason, after price, for choosing to fly in the future. In fact, almost 70 percent said that the airline response so far has been positive. This is especially true among elite travelers, with almost 80 percent feeling that their primary airlines' response to COVID-19 was favorable. In terms of hotels, globally, 64 percent said that improvements in health and cleaning of rooms and public spaces will significantly impact their decision to stay at a hotel. Almost 70 percent of travelers globally trust their primary hotel brand's enhanced cleaning policies. "There is no longer a middle ground when it comes to cleanliness, and this -- combined with the customer experience -- will be a key differentiator," said Bruce Spear, a partner with Oliver Wyman. "Trusted brands define and can ensure a consistent standard, giving them an advantage moving forward. We expect the expansion of the sharing economy to slow as travelers favor brand name hotels or staying with friends and family as opposed to independents and private rentals." In fact, we found 80 percent of global travelers prefer to stay at a large hotel compared to 57 percent for home rentals. For US travelers, 83 percent would like to stay at a large hotel and 61 percent in home rentals. In China, 94 percent prefer large hotels with 49 percent looking at home rentals. Local Destinations Preferred People in China, Italy, Spain, and the US are the most likely to travel domestically for their next leisure trip. In the US, this means travel closer to home such as other US states, Canada, and the Caribbean instead of Europe, Asia, or Africa. Oliver Wyman also examined business travel trends and found a strong desire to return to business travel. Approximately 75 percent of Americans who travel by air for business intend to travel the same or more when restrictions are lifted. However, this doesn't consider possible changes in corporate travel policies. "While there will not be an immediate recovery and traveler preferences and expectations have likely shifted for good, we see a light at the end of the tunnel for the industry," concluded Stansbury. This study will be repeated every six weeks over the summer to determine global traveler preferences. Please email francine.minadeo@oliverwyman.com if you are interested in learning more about this or any upcoming travel surveys. About the survey The survey was administered to a nationally representative sample of the population by using the profiled data (triple/double opt-in panels) and confirming demographic data within the survey. Quota caps were monitored and adjusted live during fielding to achieve demographic representation. Respondents took one or more roundtrip flights in 2019 and frequent traveler respondents having taken four or more roundtrip flights in 2019. The survey was conducted between April 24th through May 10th of nearly 4,600 total respondents across nine countries including: US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, and China. About Oliver Wyman Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With offices in 60 cities across 29 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. The firm has more than 5,000 professionals around the world who work with clients to optimize their business, improve their operations and risk profile, and accelerate their organizational performance to seize the most attractive opportunities. Oliver Wyman is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh McLennan Companies [NYSE:MMC]. For more information, visit www.oliverwyman.com. Follow Oliver Wyman on Twitter @OliverWyman. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005761/en/ Contacts: PR: Francine Minadeo Direct: 212-345-6417 Mobile: 917-573-8826 Francine.Minadeo@oliverwyman.com On May 19, Hungary's parliament voted to stop intersex and transgender people from changing their gender on any legal documents. This move has officially banned people from changing gender as rights groups said that this move could further discriminate against the LGBTQ community in the country. Banning transgender and intersex people The Hungarian lawmakers voted with 134 votes who are in favor of banning gender change, 56 votes were against it and four abstained. The lawmakers wanted to define gender as the "sex at birth" and as registered on a birth certificate. Krisztina Tamas-Saroy, an Amnesty International researcher, said in a statement that the decision pushes the country backward and it prevents transgenders and intersex people in the country to exercise their rights. She added that the move may expose the community to further discrimination and it can deepen intolerance and the hostile environment that is already faced by the LGBT community. Hatter Society, a Hungarian rights group, said that the law violated a fundamental right of the constitution and had been opposed by both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and European Parliament. Numerous LGBT organizations are now requesting the law to be reviewed by the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court decides on the constitutionality of acts of parliaments and it protects the democratic state through the rule of law. Hungary is a member of the EU, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been doing things his own way for years, passing laws that the leaders of the EU have warned will hurt the democracy of the country. Also Read: Worldwide Lockdown Can Drop Carbon Emissions to Their Lowest in 15 Years Despite the criticisms, the government defended the law and said that it does not prevent men and women in the country from living how they want to live their lives. The government also stated that the newly passed law does not prevent anyone from living according to their identity and exercising their rights. LGBT rights in Hungary In early May, Hungary dropped in the ranking of countries in Europe that are LGBT friendly because of the policies targeting that community. The co-chair of the ILGA-Europe executive board, Darienne Flemington, said that the proposed ban legally changing gender was just one of the alarming signs of how governments with authoritarian tendencies are confident enough to limit the rights of minorities and vulnerable groups. Although Hungary recognizes same-sex couples and their legal union, the ruling of the Fidesz party and its leader is opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2019, Coca-Cola was criticized by conservatives and politicians in Hungary after running ads that included same-sex couples holding bottles of Coke and kissing. One leading politician from the conservative party and media outlets called for boycotting Coke products and banning the campaign. In 2018, the stage musical "Billy Elliot" was canceled by the Hungarian State Opera due to criticism by conservative media outlets. However, in 2017, a poll by the International LGBTI Association found that more than 60% of Hungarians are in favor of equal rights, and it should be given to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. Related Article: Anti-Lockdown Protests in Chile Erupt as Hungry Protesters Clash With Police @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Starting this spring, accomplished Nurse Injector Mukta Rane RN, BSN-BC, will administer dermal fillers and BOTOX at the New Jersey practice WESTFIELD, N.J., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Are there aspects of your face that you wish you could changeor at least tweak slightly? If you want to address wrinkles or lift flattened, drooping areas, nonsurgical facial rejuvenation treatments can make a noticeable difference. As pointed out by Dr. Carlos Burnett and the Burnett Plastic Surgery team based in New Jersey, dermal fillers and BOTOX are two of the most frequently requested options for restoring youthful-looking, smooth skin. As of spring 2020, patients can enjoy expanded options for these aesthetic treatments at Burnett Plastic Surgery, where they are excited to announce that in addition to Dr. Burnett, experienced nurse injector Mukta Rane has also started providing dermal fillers as well as BOTOX for patients. She will be available for appointments again as the office re-opens following the COVID-19 closures. Dermal fillers are soft gels designed to add volume to specific parts of the face in order to reduce the depth of etched-in wrinkles or plump up areas like the lips and cheeks, depending on the goals of the patient. BOTOX, on the other hand, is a neuromodulator, meaning it inhibits the muscle movements that cause dynamic lines, such as crows feet or frown lines, to form. Fillers and neuromodulators can be administered separately as needed or desired, or can be combined to rejuvenate several areas of the face for an overall more youthful look. When choosing a provider, Dr. Burnett recommends selecting someone who is knowledgeable in both the aging process and the nonsurgical options to address visible signs of change. Such an injector can provide information and guidance on the most effective options to meet cosmetic goals. To that end, Nurse Injector Mukta originally graduated from Syracuse University and later attended the College of New Jersey, where she earned her baccalaureate in nursing. She continued to hone her skills in medicine, taking on many leadership roles in the industry, and now brings her expertise and love for beauty to the Burnett Plastic Surgery team. In addition to injectables, the practice also offers a wide range of surgical procedures and non-surgical treatments for the face and body. Cha Ji-yeon performs as the pilot in a scene from the play "Grounded" at Wooran Art Scape 2 in Seoul. / Courtesy of Wooran Foundation and Project Group Ilda By Kwon Mee-yoo The play "Grounded," staged at Wooran Art Scape 2 in Seoul through Sunday, throws a few well-timed questions on gender, warfare and technology. The one-hander by American playwright George Brant revolves around a fighter pilot whose life takes an unexpected turn as she gets "grounded" from flying for being pregnant and delivering a baby. After years of maternity leave tending her family, she reports her return to her commander, expecting to fly, but instead gets assigned as a member of the "Chair Force" who operates remote-controlled drones over the opposite side of the world. Instead of actually flying over the sky of faraway lands, the pilot works a 12-hour shift at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. Her new day begins at a home near Las Vegas, where her husband works as a blackjack dealer, and the pilot drives across the desert, in the safety of remoteness, to control her drone that is flying over the deserts of the Middle East. The freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital is now a joint venture of Premier Health, the largest comprehensive health system in southwest Ohio known for its award-winning medical care, and Encompass Health, the nation's leading provider of inpatient rehabilitation services. The freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital includes 60 private patient rooms, a spacious therapy gym, an in-house pharmacy, courtyard, dialysis suite, three bariatric rooms, an isolation room, dining room and dayroom areas. "We are excited to begin serving patients in our new hospital location, which is specifically designed with our patients' needs in mind," said Barb Jacobsmeyer, executive vice president and president of inpatient hospitals at Encompass Health. "Our partnership with Premier Health will continue to strengthen the exceptional, life-changing rehabilitation services being provided to our patients." Complementing local acute care services, the hospital will care for patients overcoming debilitating illnesses and injuries including strokes and other neurological disorders, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations and complex orthopedic conditions. It offers physical, occupational and speech therapies as well as 24-hour nursing care that aim to restore functional ability and quality of life. "This project unites the strengths of both our organizations under one roof," said Mary Boosalis, president and CEO of Premier Health. "As the region's only Level I trauma center, Miami Valley Hospital must maintain a significant number of inpatient rehabilitation beds to serve trauma patients and others from across the region. This joint venture will help us serve that community need while delivering great value and care for our patients." About Encompass Health As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facility-based and home-based patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 134 hospitals, 245 home health locations, and 83 hospice locations in 37 states and Puerto Rico, the Company is committed to delivering high-quality, cost-effective, integrated care across the healthcare continuum. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter and Facebook. About Premier Health Based in Dayton, Ohio, Premier Health has a mission to improve the health of the communities it serves. The health system operates five hospitals: Miami Valley Hospital with an additional site at Miami Valley Hospital South and Miami Valley Hospital North; Atrium Medical Center; and Upper Valley Medical Center. In addition, the health system offers a large primary and specialty care network, along with home health services. The health system is the second largest employer in the region and is the largest health-care system in Southwest Ohio. ENCOMPASS HEALTH MEDIA CONTACT: Hillary Carnel, 205 970-5912 [email protected] PREMIER HEALTH MEDIA CONTACT: Sharon D. Howard, 937 208-2725 [email protected] SOURCE Encompass Health Corp. Related Links http://www.encompasshealth.com What will Europe's fishing industry look like post-COVID? May 20,2020 | Source: euronews To find out more about what Europe is doing to help the continent's fishing industry cope with the coronavirus pandemic, Ocean's Denis Loctier spoke to Virginijus Sinkevicius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries. Denis Loctier, Euronews: "When this health emergency is over, can this crisis be a chance to relaunch our economy, including fisheries, in a more sustainable way, to move away from some old habits? Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries: "Absolutely, a few months ago, the Commission launched the Green Deal, which I would like to mark, that it is a EU growth strategy, long term growth strategy, up to 2050, which includes all the major components - sustainability, zero pollution aspects, decarbonisation of our economy, circular economy. "I think first mistake going out of the COVID-19 crisis would be backing track on that, but also mistake would be restoring the status quo. I think we have an opportunity to go out of this crisis stronger, to foster our change, to make Europe economy more sustainable, self-sufficient and most importantly, competitive around the world. "And the blue economy is playing a very important part in the green deal. And sustainability is going to be a key aspect. This crisis showed us how our fishermen and women can be exposed to very unexpected threats. And the best way to deal with it is the strong blue economy strategy, which European Union is going to put shortly under the green deal." euronews 2020 Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:55:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DUBLIN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Europe's largest budget airline Ryanair on Thursday called on the Irish and British governments to drop their 14-day quarantine measures for international arrivals, describing such measures "unimplementable and ineffective". In a statement, Ryanair Group's CEO Michael O'Leary said that "14-day quarantines are ineffective and unimplementable. Requiring international arrivals to quarantine only after they have used multiple public transport providers to get from the airport to their ultimate destination has no basis in science or medicine." "We strongly urge Europe's governments, especially those in Ireland and the UK, to mandate to the wearing of face masks for airline, train and underground passengers, as this is the best and most effective way to limit the spread of COVID-19 in public transport environments where social distancing is not possible," he said. The statement said that Ryanair welcomes the European Union's recommendation on face masks and calls again on the Irish and British governments to abandon their 14-day quarantine restrictions. Ryanair has announced that all passengers and cabin crew on board Ryanair flights will have to wear face masks or coverings when it will resume 40 percent of its flight service starting from July 1. Enditem The novel coronavirus 'hijacks' our body's cells by blocking certain genes that fight against infections, a new study suggests. Viruses, such as the flu, usually interfere with two sets of genes: one that prevents viruses from replicating and the other that sends immune cells to the infection site to kill viruses. But researchers found SARS-CoV-2 behaves differently, inhibiting the genes that stop the virus from copying itself but allowing the genes that call for immune cells to behave normally. This causes the virus to multiply and an overproduction of immune cells to flood the lungs and other organs, which leads to unmitigated inflammation. The team, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, says treatment for patients in the early throes of the disease should be focused on restoring the pathway being blocked by coronavirus rather than focusing on inflammation. A new study had found that coronavirus blocks interferons, genes that typically stop the virus from replicating, but allows other genes to still get the call to go to the site of infection. Pictured: RNA ( green) from coronavirus taking over an infected cell This overproduction of immune cells leads to over-inflammation and causes dangerous cytokine storms, in which the body attacks its own tissues. Pictured: Nurse Katie Canina cares for a patient in the Special Pathogens Unit ICU at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, April 27 Dr Benjamin tenOever, a virologist and professor of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine, told DailyMail.com that an infected cell has 'two jobs to do'. 'One job is to tell all the cells around you to fortify...and the second job is to recruit the more professional immune cells to that site of infection,' he said. Typically, our body's cells have two groups of virus-fighting genes: interferons and chemokines. Interferons are signaling proteins released by infected cells and are named for their prowess to 'interfere' with the virus's ability to multiply itself. Chemokines are small molecules that call for immune cells to go the site of an infection so they can target and destroy the virus. According to tenOever, the first set of genes control virus replication for about seven to 10 days so the second set has enough time to get immune cells to attack. He refers to interferons as the 'call-to-arms' genes and to chemokines as the 'call-for-reinforcement' genes. 'The vast majority of viruses that you encounter in nature are readily neutralized and destroyed by these systems,' tenOever said. 'Even the very first defense, the "call-to-arms," is often enough to completely stop replication and neutralize the infection without even generating the second response.' But, unlike the flu or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the coronavirus blocks one set of genes and activates the other. For the study, published in the journal Cell, the team looked at healthy human lung cells and an animal model in ferrets. They found a very mild response from the 'call-to-arms' genes - which block the virus's replication - and a large introduction of the 'call-for-reinforcement' genes. 'A combination of these two is a bad combination,' said tenOever. When they looked at lung cells from two COVID-19 patients that died, they found the exact same response. 'Basically people are contracting the disease, SARS-CoV-2 enters the lungs and it begins to replicate and, at that site of replication, those cells that are infected, they don't do a good job of spreading the word about their infection which allows it to essentially fester in the lungs,' tenOever said. This means the virus is replicating because there are not a lot of interferons, but those cells still call in for reinforcements. So different types of immune system cells - neutrophils, macrophages and lymphocytes - arrive to fix the job, but, by the time they arrive, there has been nothing to control that virus. 'That virus has continued to replicate and continue to spread, getting to higher and higher numbers in the lungs, but they're calling for reinforcements,' tenOever said. Now, the lungs have immune cells such as macrophages and neutrophils, which leads to inflammation that induces more inflammation. Essentially the immune system is turning against itself. This is likely what leads to cytokine storms, which occur when the body attacks its own cells and tissues instead of just fighting off the virus. TenOever says the way this virus behaves is 'nothing like I've seen in 20 years' of studying how cells respond to viral infections TenOever says there are two ways to treat patients. The first group is made up of people who are just developing symptoms and have tested positive. They can get drugs that induce the missing 'call-to-arms' genes so the virus can behave more like a flu. 'They can try treatments that restore the pathway that is being blocked by the virus, he said. For those that are hospitalized and intubated it's already too late for this treatment so they would be more benefited by classes of drugs called interleukin-6 and interleukin-1 inhibitors. These could help mitigate cytokine storms and reduce inflammation throughout the body. This follows the outbreak of the pandemic in the country and the subsequent banning of public gatherings and the institution of social distancing and other preventive protocols by the government and the Ghana Health Service to contain the spread of the virus. The situation forced some traders in the business district to come out openly to lament over poor sales of their goods ahead of the festivities. The traders, mostly in the clothes, fashion design, food and beverages sector, said the inability of Muslim families to organize outdoor events to mark the festivities, was the cause of their problems. Mr Haruna Osman, a cloth seller at Alabar in Kumasi, told the Ghana News Agency that this year was difficult for traders, especially those who dealt in Muslim clothes and fabrics. He said the directive by the government for Muslims to observe the festivities quietly in their homes, compelled them to relax their purchases since there would be no need for that. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 9th address on COVID-19 to the nation, advised Muslim families to observe the Eid prayers and festivities with their families at home in order to aid the government efforts against the further spread of the virus. Mr Osman said most Muslim families saw no need to spend so much on purchasing lavish things which they would not get the opportunity to display in the public. Maame Akua Birago, a road side vendor said, the usual hustle and bustling resulting in heavy traffic in the business district ahead of the festivities was absent because shoppers were not in town. ---GNA New York: If the United States had begun imposing social distancing measures one week earlier than it did in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the coronavirus outbreak, according to new estimates from Columbia University disease modellers. And if the country had begun locking down cities and limiting social contact on March 1, two weeks earlier than most people started staying home, the vast majority of the nation's deaths about 83 per cent would have been avoided, the researchers estimated. Donald Trump, US President. Credit:AP Under that scenario, about 54,000 fewer people would have died by early May. The enormous cost of waiting to take action reflects the unforgiving dynamics of the outbreak that swept through American cities in early March. Even small differences in timing would have prevented the worst exponential growth, which by April had subsumed New York City, New Orleans and other major cities, the researchers found. The Southern Connecticut Conference (SCC) annually recognizes two seniors from each member school for their outstanding efforts in the classroom, in their school, on the field, and in their local communities. Adalyn Schommer, 20 of Cheshire and Sydney Walsh, 20 of Seymour were selected to represent Sacred Heart Academy. In the fall, Adalyn plans to attend Vassar College and double major in Biology and Greek & Roman Studies and Sydney plans to enroll at Villanova University in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, where they will continue to be scholar leaders. Adalyn Schommer: Leader in her class and a standout academically 2020 Salutatorian and Summa Scholar An executive board member of Student Council, Freshman Class Treasurer and Junior Student Council Treasurer Integral member of the Campus Ministry team, Adalyn was responsible for developing and strengthening the faith aspects of the Academy Member of our May Crowning Enthronement Court; she was selected by her peers as a leader in our school as a young woman who lives our mission faithfully. Sydney Walsh: Four-year member of Student Council, Sydney is a natural born leader Academically talented 2020 Summa Scholar Selected to be a member of Charism Connection; eight students who work closely with eight from Cor Jesu Academy, Sacred Hearts sister high school in St. Louis, to share the mission of Sacred Hearts founding congregation, the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Voted by her classmates to be the Enthroner at May Crowing, which is very significantthat senior that the entire class and faculty feels best embodies the mission of our school. Founded in 1946 by the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Sacred Heart Academy successfully prepares young women in grades 9 12 for learning, service, and achievement in a global society. Sacred Heart welcomes 500 students from more than 80 schools and 60 towns in Connecticut and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Visit sacredhearthamden.org to learn more. (Photo : REUTERS/Anton Vaganov) A scientist examines COVID-19 infected cells under a microscope during research for a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a laboratory of BIOCAD biotechnology company in Saint Petersburg, Russia May 20, 2020. An American scientist said that governments should not rely on having a reliable COVID-19 vaccine anytime soon when deciding whether to ease the coronavirus restrictions. They should, instead, focus on managing the disease. Instead of waiting for a vaccine, scientist William Haseltine who researched cancer, HIV/AIDS, and the human genome urged the government to focus on having careful contact tracing and strict isolation methods to better manage the virus, according to an interview with CNN's Elizabeth Cohen. Haseltine pointed out that even without an effective treatment or vaccine, the virus can be controlled by the detection of infections, tracing the exposed people, and isolating them. He also highlighted the significance of wearing masks, washing hands, cleaning surfaces, and social distancing. HIV scientist criticizes coronavirus vaccine; Urges governments to focus on social distancing He pointed out the success of these measures in Asian countries like China, South Korea, and Taiwan, although the same cannot be said for the United States, Russia and Brazil where not enough rigidity has been applied to "forcibly isolate" those who have been exposed to the virus. Meanwhile, Haseltine said he would not count on a COVID-19 vaccine anytime soon. According to the scientist, previously developed vaccines for other types of coronavirus failed to protect the mucous membranes as the virus typically enters the body through the nose. While animal testing of some COVID-19 vaccines has shown success in reducing the virus in the lungs, the infections have remained in the body. Also, some countries are now testing various treatments like infusing patients with antibody-rich plasma from COVID-19 patients who have recovered from the illness. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are working at producing refined and concentrated versions of the serum, called hyperimmune globulin, said to be "the first real treatments" for COVID-19. Making a vaccine takes years While pharmaceutical companies race to develop vaccines against the coronavirus, experts say the time constraint may derail efforts to raise questions on the drug's security and effectivity. Normally, TechTimes said a vaccine takes about 10.7 years to create and has a 6% market entry probability. However, researches about a coronavirus vaccine have been moving at a remarkably rapid rate. Some companies are claiming to release one in as soon as 18 months. "People are moving very, very quickly with this," said Walter Orenstein, associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta to the WallStreet Journal. Orenstein added that he has not seen any vaccine that has been developed within such a short period as identifying the pathogen takes years. Moderna's success TechTimes reported earlier this week that American firm Moderna has now moved on Phase 2 after its COVID-19 vaccine had 100% success in phase 1 of its human trials. The biotechnology company has been developing a new vaccine and claimed successful results as all patients developed antibodies against the virus. It is now moving on to the next phase which involves 600 volunteers that may expand to 1,000 in July. Public health officials vow to thoroughly evaluate the data before releasing the vaccine for public use, which may be within the year or early 2021. According to the Boston Globe, Moderna's stock price rose by 20% hours after releasing a press statement about the finding. By the end of the day, the biotech company helped in driving a 4% stock market increase. Read also: Drug Trafficker Sentenced to Death via Zoom Call During Coronavirus Lockdown 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 21, 2020 | 12:06 PM | MAYFIELD A Mayfield man was arrested Wednesday night on drug and theft charges. The Mayfield Police Department says officers responded to a convenience store on West Broadway in reference to complaint of an intoxicated man. Officers were able to obtain a description of the suspect, and located him just east of the store. Officers said 47-year-old Jeffrey Cope, of Mayfield, displayed slurred speech, improper balance, and smelled of alcohol. When officers searched Cope, they reportedly found stolen merchandise from the service station. Store employees told police that Cope had tried to sell them marijuana while in the store. Upon further search of the area, a small plastic container was found that contained suspected marijuana. Cope was placed under arrest and transported to the Graves County Jail. He is charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place 3rd or more offense in 12 months, theft by unlawful taking, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) - The Department of Interior and Local Government is considering the possibility of requiring the beneficiaries of Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program to undergo COVID-19 test before they can return to their home provinces. DILG Undersecretary RJ Echiverri told the House Committee on Health hearing on Thursday that some provincial governors are worried about the possible surge in coronavirus cases in their localities from migrants who may be infected by COVID-19. The fear of some of our governors is it might cause, probably, infection of the population because of the Covid, Echiverri said. So we are now looking into a more strict testing before allowing the newcomers to come into the provinces. The Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa program was approved by President Rodrigo Duterte early this month under Executive Order No.114. The program aims to reverse migration to the National Capital Region and promote development and opportunities in the countryside. This initiative of the government already kicked-off on May 21, with more than 100 Leyte natives returning to their hometowns. They are part of the first batch of beneficiaries, who will receive allowances as they re-settle to the provinces. The mayor of a small town in Peru tried to play dead after being caught by police violating coronavirus lockdown rules while drinking with friends. Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres was pictured lying in an open casket wearing a face mask by officers who came to arrest him on Monday night in the town of Tantara, in the south of the country. Police say he violated curfew and social distancing laws in order to drink liquor with his friends, and was drunk when he was arrested. It is not clear exactly where he and his friends were drinking, or why there were open caskets close at hand. Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of a small town in Peru, jumped into an open casket and pretended to be dead when police arrived to arrest him for breaking curfew Police failed to fall for the ruse and instead arrested Jaime (left and right), who they said was drunk, for breaching lockdown rules Torres has previously been accused by locals of failing to take the threat of the virus seriously and failing to implement safety precautions in the town. The town, along with the rest of Peru, was officially placed into lockdown 66 days ago by the central government. But angry locals say Torres has spent just eight days in the town since the start of the lockdown, and has failed to put in place any local safety measures. The absentee mayor was hauled to a town meeting on May 9 to defend himself, when he unleashed a series of angry tirades against locals. According to local media, he was repeatedly shot down by his own officials when he gave excuses for failing to open emergency coronavirus quarantine shelters. He was also accused of failing to put in proper safety checks to ensure people from outside the town cannot enter it. Torres (pictured left) has been accused by locals of failing to take coronavirus seriously, and say he went missing for 46 days during lockdown The Americas is now at the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic, with the region seeing coronavirus case totals and deaths rise faster than any other region. The region currently has 2.1million cases of coronavirus, a higher total than previous epicentre Europe which has 1.9million. Europe still has the most deaths of any region at more than 169,000, but deaths in the Americas are increasing at a faster rate. Peru has recorded a total of 104,020 cases and 3,024 deaths, and is among the top four countries in terms of the rate at which deaths are increasing. Brazil and Mexico, also in the Americas, are also on the list along with Russia. In total, there are now more than 5million cases of coronavirus confirmed worldwide after the WHO reported the single-largest daily increase of the pandemic Wednesday at 106,000. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and the Greens are discussing plans to give up to 17,000 undocumented migrants legal status in Ireland as part of their programme for government talks. The parties are in talks to establish a regularisation scheme for undocumented migrants in Ireland. Under draft plans, the criteria for a such a scheme would be set out, subject to it being compliant with EU and Common Travel Area obligations, within 18 months of the new government taking office. While there has been no final agreement, a source involved in the talks said a commitment to setting up a scheme would be a "big win" for migrants' rights campaigners. Fianna Fail and the Greens have previously supported calls for a regularisation scheme for the estimated 15,000-17,000 undocumented people in Ireland, including 2,000-3,000 of these who are children. Fine Gael has been more sceptical of such a measure, previously arguing it could have "unintended and expensive consequences". Its manifesto said it would work to identify "appropriate legal pathways" for the undocumented to regularise their status. A second source involved in the discussions said the current Covid emergency would be the ideal time to set up a scheme as these migrants cannot leave the country at present. Undocumented migrants are typically those who have arrived on a time-limited visa but who remained in the State after it expired. The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) says 93pc of undocumented migrants are in work, including as many as 29pc who work as carers. Many others work in essential sectors like construction, agriculture, food production and retail, according to Neil Bruton from the MRCI. "It's a good time to do it because a lot of people can't travel. Undocumented people are here long term - 75pc of people are here over five years. We are leaving them in the shadows," he said. The MRCI has proposed a scheme that would be open for a six-month period with any applicant having to prove they have no serious criminal conviction, that they have been resident in the State for three years, or two years if they have a child or dependant, and be able to show evidence of employment or a job offer in an area which has a skills shortage. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has apologised to the people of Cahersiveen in Co Kerry for the "speed" in which a direct provision centre was opened in the town. In an open letter published in 'The Kerryman', he said the Covid-19 pandemic is why the centre at the former Skellig Star Hotel was opened on March 18 with "little or no engagement" with the local community. "It was fast. I admit that. It left little or no time for engagement. I admit that. It was presented as a fait accompli. I admit that too. All I can say in my department's defence is we simply did not feel we had a choice," he said. Mr Flanagan denied his department knew about a positive case being transferred into the hotel from Dublin in March, and rejected calls to close the centre. Meanwhile, it was reported last night that two residents of a direct provision centre in Killarney tested positive for Covid-19. The two men tested positive a fortnight ago and were moved from the Linden House centre initially. Both are said to have fully recovered. Fannie Grant Krevsky has served in many public roles in Harrisburg, including over two decades on the citys school board, during her lifetime. She was very active in politics, with campaigns both on a local level and a national level," said Sanford Krevsky, Fannies son. "She was very active with the American Red Cross, she was a volunteer with the Johnstown flood and with the Dauphin County Library. So shes been very active. In recognition of a long life of public and philanthropic service, the citys top brass were among those who gathered to wish her a happy birthday as she turned 104 years old last week. And as a traditional gathering wasnt possible due to social distancing restrictions, Krevskys family and friends got a bit creative. Instead of visiting in person, the Harrisburg police helped to coordinate a parade of over 50 cars to drive past Krevskys Harrisburg home. Harrisburg mayor Eric Papenfuse, Dauphin County judge John Cherry and Dauphin County commissioner Jeff Haste were among the officials who stopped by to wish Krevsky well, as were family friends Rabbi Elisha Friedman of Kesher Israel, attorney Corky Goldstein and television producer Carmen Finestra. Sanford noted that the coronavirus isnt his mothers first pandemic - she was a child during the outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918. He noted that she still had a passionate political mind, and that she was at one point a very powerful political figure. And now for the people in the community to recognize that, even though hes no longer in that position, is so respectful for my mother and such a compliment to her. She spent her whole life in Harrisburg, Sanford added. She loves Harrisburg. She really does. Sanford gave a specific shout-out to the Harrisburg police who provided traffic direction for the dozens of vehicles that drove through to wish Fannie a happy day. She was absolutely overwhelmed by it, to be honest, Sanford said. She kept thanking people and saying, go home, I dont want you to get rained on. It looks like its going to rain. But people were glad to be there, not that they were doing us a favor. They were glad to be included in the event. That was very touching to me. Spain's governing coalition descended into a war of words on Thursday after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez courted a small, nationalist party to secure support for a two-week extension to a state of emergency. The rift started Wednesday evening, after parliament approved Sanchez's request. Following the vote, EH Bildu, a left-leaning, pro-independence Basque nationalist group, said it had agreed to abstain from the vote in exchange for a commitment from Sanchez's Socialist party to scrap labor reforms. By midnight, the Socialist party had contradicted Bildu's statement, saying the agreement was simply to review the regulation. The law, which loosened labor market rules, making it easier to hire and fire workers, was passed in 2012 during the economic crisis. Tensions increased Thursday morning when Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, head of Unidas Podemos, the coalition government's junior partner, said in an interview that the agreement with Bildu was to reverse the law. Jose Luis Abalos, the transport minister and one of the Socalists's leading political operatives, contradicted him in a separate interview, saying the deal was simply to review the law. This is not the first time that the labor law has sparked tensions between the Socialists and Podemos. The issue had already been raised when the two parties where negotiating the formation of a government at the start of the year, with Podemos demanding it be scrapped. Sanchez has already seen his support slowly dwindle over the management of the national lockdown. The disagreement also threatens to alienate other possible partners, most notably the liberals of Ciudadanos and the PNV, a centrist Basque nationalist group, which are both highly critical of Bildu. To gain support for the proposed extension of the emergency, the Socialists had negotiated the support of Ciudadanos and the PNV. In both cases the agreements were made public before the vote, unlike what happened with Bildu. Why do carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere wax and wane in conjunction with the warm and cold periods of Earth's past? Scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years, and thanks to chemical clues left in sediment cores extracted from deep in the ocean floor, they are starting to put together the pieces of that puzzle. Recent research suggests that there was enhanced storage of respired carbon in the deep ocean when levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were lower than today's levels. But new research led by a Texas A&M University scientist has reached back even further, for the first time revealing insights into atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the 50,000 years before the last ice age. "One of the biggest unknowns about past climate is the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide variability over global warm-cold cycles," said Franco Marcantonio, lead author of the study and professor and Jane and Ken R. Williams '45 Chair in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Texas A&M. "Here we investigated the 'how' of varying carbon dioxide with the 'where' -- namely, the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean, which is an important region of the world ocean where, today, significant carbon dioxide is exhaled into the atmosphere and the greatest rates phytoplankton growth are found." The National Science Foundation-funded research was recently published in Scientific Reports, a Nature Research journal. To examine ancient carbon dioxide levels, Marcantonio and a team of researchers analyzed an ocean floor sediment core extracted from the deep Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. The 10-meter long core spans about 180,000 years, and the chemistry of the layers of sediment provide scientists with a window into past climates. The chemical measurements they make serve as a proxy for oxygen levels of the deep sea. Measuring minute traces of uranium and thorium isotopes, the team was able to associate periods of increased storage of respired carbon (and low deep-sea oxygen levels) with periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the past 70,000 years. "By comparing our high-resolution sediment record of deep-sea oxygenation in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific with other areas of the Pacific and Southern Ocean, we find that the Pacific Ocean, like the Southern Ocean, is a location for deep-ocean respired carbon storage during periods of decreased global atmospheric CO 2 concentrations," he said. "Importantly, we put constraints on the location in the water column of the extent of the respired stored carbon pool during cold periods. "Understanding the past dynamics of Earth's carbon cycle is of fundamental importance to informing and guiding societal policy-making in a warming world with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide." Co-authors of the study were Ryan Hostak, a former Texas A&M graduate student who earned his master's degree in geology in 2019; Jennifer E. Hertzberg, who received her Ph.D. in oceanography from Texas A&M in 2015 and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Old Dominion University; and Matthew W. Schmidt, associate professor of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Old Dominion. Marcantonio and his colleagues designed the study, he and Hostak performed the isotope analyses, and the team interpreted the data. "By performing similar studies in sediment covering a wider swath of the deep Pacific Ocean, we'll be able to spatially map the extent of this past deep pool of respired carbon," Marcantonio said, looking forward to future research. The study's radiogenic and trace element analyses were conducted in the College of Geosciences' R. Ken Williams Radiogenic Isotope Facility. The sediment core was extracted by Marcantonio and colleagues on an NSF-funded research cruise aboard the R/V Melville in 2010. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have published a pair of studies in a COVID-19 special issue of the Harvard Data Science Review, freely available via open access, describing new methods for accelerating drug approvals during pandemics and for providing more accurate measures of the probabilities of success for clinical trials of vaccines and other anti-infective therapies. Randomized clinical trials--where patients are assigned randomly to two groups, one receiving a new treatment and the other receiving a placebo or reference treatment--are the gold standard for determining the safety and effectiveness of a treatment. Only when the treatment group shows significant improvement over the control group, will regulators approve the therapy." He adds, "the current process is designed to protect the public by minimizing the chances of "false positives" (approving ineffective and unsafe therapies), and by and large, it's been very successful." Andrew Lo, Ph.D., the study's senior author and the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management But there is a trade-off between false positives and false negatives (not approving a safe and effective therapy), and Lo and his collaborators have developed a framework that uses an epidemiological model of COVID-19 to calculate the optimal statistical threshold for approving a drug during a pandemic. "In the midst of an outbreak, many lives are at stake so we need to be less concerned about false positives and more concerned about false negatives than during normal times," says Lo, "In response, we've developed an analytic framework that allows regulators to make this trade-off systematically, transparently, and rationally." At the core of this new framework--which was jointly developed in collaboration with MIT students Qingyang Xu and Danying Xiao, and former MIT student Shomesh Chaudhuri, Ph.D. (now at QLS Advisors)--is an explicit optimization algorithm designed to minimize the expected loss of life across various scenarios generated by a statistical model of an infectious disease. This algorithm, says Xu, will lead to more drug approvals during outbreaks, not unlike the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) program. "Our framework complements the EUA, allowing regulators to incorporate loss-of-life considerations quantitatively during periods of extraordinary stress," explains Xu, the lead investigator of the study. In a companion study authored by Lo and MIT Ph.D. students Kien Wei Siah and Chi Heem Wong, the MIT researchers estimated the probabilities of success (PoSs) of clinical trials for vaccines and other anti-infective therapies using the Citeline dataset provided by Informa Pharma Intelligence, part of UK-based publishing company, Informa. This dataset includes 43,414 unique triplets of clinical trial, drug, and disease over the past 20 years, yielding over 2,500 vaccine programs and more than 6,800 nonvaccine, anti-infective programs, the largest dataset of its kind. "The PoS is a key input into each major decision of every biopharma company about which disease to tackle and how much resources to devote to it," observes Lo. Because a successful clinical trial can mean billions of dollars in revenues, small changes in PoS can lead to very different business decisions. Therefore, having timely and accurate measures of PoS is critical--and often, these better measures of risk and reward allow investors to put more capital to work. The overall estimated PoS for industry-sponsored vaccine programs is about 40%, which is the highest among all disease groups (by comparison, the PoS of cancer trials is, historically, less than 5%), and 16.3% for industry-sponsored nonvaccine, anti-infective programs. Viruses involved in recent outbreaks--Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola, and Zika--have had 45 nonvaccine and 35 vaccine development programs initiated over the past two decades, and there have been only two approved vaccines to date (for Ebola). This points to a clear need for new policies to address this gap. "As governments around the world begin to formulate a more systematic strategy for dealing with pandemics beyond COVID-19, these estimates can be used by policymakers to identify areas most likely to be underserved by private sector engagement and in need of public sector support," said Wong, the study's lead author. These results are part of Project ALPHA (Analytics for Life-sciences Professionals and Healthcare Advocates)--an ongoing initiative at the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE) where Lo is director--to help make the biomedical funding ecosystem more efficient. "We now provide this information on a regular basis, it's not just a one-shot deal," Lo says. Users can obtain the most current PoS estimates at https:/ / projectalpha. mit. edu. New Delhi [India], May 20 (ANI): Amid oppositions criticism of the comprehensive economic package announced by the Centre to deal with the challenges posed by COVID-19, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the stimulus was aimed at greater multiplier effect and sincere efforts have been made to provide relief to various sections including poor and migrant workers. In an interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash, Sitharaman also hit out at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her barbs at the UP government on the issue of migrant workers, saying that States, where Congress was in power, had seen few trains arriving with migrant workers, which shows the hypocrisy of the Congress.She said the approach of BJP-led Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never been supportive of any cronyism in any way. The Minister indicated that the government will make plans for migrant workers to return to cities and towns as industrial and economic activities resume with easing of restrictions amid the COVID-19 induced lockdown. She said that opposition parties can choose their words to target the government but it has made sincere efforts to provide relief to people and asked about the performance of the State governments headed by opposition parties in dealing with the issues relating to migrant workers. Also Read: Delhi HC asks AAP govt to renew registrations of labourers falling under eligible category Also Read: Cyclone Amphan: 12 dead as storm hits Bangladesh coast, restoration work underway in West Bengal Answering a query, Sitharaman said that every Finance Minister gets criticism and because there is much stress at the ground-level due to challenges posed by the coronavirus, there is a lot of criticism and she does not mind it and has to take it. Asked if the Central government considered more immediate measure such as direct income support to spur demand and consumption, she said that a lot of suggestions were discussed. We have discussed a lot of suggestions which had come over. We thought it was important to give stimulus to business to start off, particularly to small and medium, which are all over the country, she said. The Finance Minister continued: PM Garib Kalyan Yojana was introduced soon after the lockdown was announced. In fact, we have given some cash transfer. It may not be adequate but still, we managed to give. So, with that done at that time, we were not closing the option. For cash transfer, we thought it was far more effective because the way in which weve planned it, we thought there will be a greater multiplier effect, and therefore, it should be through banks, businesses for meeting the fixed cost expenditure. It should be money which is given for working capital. It should also be money for loans so that they can buy raw materials, she added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this month announced Rs 20 lakh crore special economic package to deal with the situation created by the coronavirus and to make the country self-reliant. Sitharaman said that she did not initially react to Congress calling her press conferences on the comprehensive Rs 20 lakh financial package a drama and TV serial but decided to hit back on the party on the issue of migrant workers. If the Congress can call Government of India announcing a package at a time like thisone said its like a TV serial, every day she comes at 4; other said its a drama. I didnt respond to anyone of them. Even on the fifth day when I was announcing, I didnt respond to any of them, she said. But somebody asked me on migrants, I had to say. If ours official press conferences telling what package govt wants to give is called a drama, stopping migrants when theyre walking, at that time you go, sit and have a gupshup. Dont I have a right to comment on it, she asked. The Finance Minister said the Narendra Modi government came up with the PM Garib Kalyan scheme within hours after the first phase of lockdown in March. In opposition, you can always use any words that you want. This was the government, which gave the PM Garib Kalyan scheme within hours after the lockdown was brought in. That Garib Kalyan meant that they would have food so that no one goes hungry, the minister said. They have not flattened the curve; they have not had the migrants handled in a very exemplary way that all of us can learn from them, she added. She asked opposition parties about their handling of issues pertaining to migrant workers in the States ruled by them. We thought of giving them cooking gas and some amount to run the house. I would ask the opposition Have those state governments, where theyre in power, handled this matter any better? Wont the attention be towards those governments where their party or alliance partners are in power, she asked. Asked if she faced excessive criticism because she is a woman Finance Minister, Sitharaman said: There is definitely a lot of criticism. I suppose every Finance Minister gets it. But now because the stress is in the ground so much and affected people are probably a lot more. So there is a lot of criticism and I dont mind it. I have to take it, she said. Sitharaman held five press conferences to give out details of the special comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh crore announced by Prime Minister Modi to help various sections of society deal with COVID-19 situation and make India self-reliant. Taking a dig at the Congress, she said that there was no complaint about us calling and instructing banks. This government and Prime Minister Modis approach has never been supportive of any cronyism in any way. In the last five years, you have seen clearly. No one had any complaint about us calling and instructing banks, she said. So, I think that is not an issue. If anything that the banks are hesitant to extend loans, which may go bad for which the way we have devised the schemes that we would definitely guarantee any loss that happens. We dont promote corruption or cronyism. Banks have to take genuine decisions. They will take and I am giving them guarantee about decisions going wrong that they will not be held responsible. But if at a local level, somebody does cronyism, it is for the banks to say no. Answering a query, she said that if Priyanka Gandhi was really focused about UP government, she should see why 300 trains arrived in the State when not even five to seven trains arrived in Chhattisgarh. The Minister said that she does not want to politicise the issue and everyone should work together in the extraordinary situation created by the coronavirus crisis. If shes really focused about UP government, she should see why 300 trains arrived in UP when not even five-seven arrived in Chhattisgarh. Dont want to politicise this as migrants are Indians and all of us in this extraordinary situation should concentrate and work together, she said. Three hundred trains as opposed to seven (trains). Im not saying the size of the populations is comparable but the migrants probably are comparable. Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand the numbers may be comparable to entire UP put together. This is unfair, dirty and clearly shows the hypocrisy of the Congress, she added. The Congress had on Wednesday slammed the Yogi Adityanath government over 1,000 buses arranged by the party not being allowed to enter the State to carry migrant workers to their homes. Priyanka also spoke on the issue on Wednesday through the partys social media platforms. Answering a query on the return of migrant workers, she said: We will have to see how best we are going to work this out with the companies and also with migrants, who may want to return. So there is a lot of work to be done by the Centre, the States and the companies. Sitharaman said that a lot of companies have had queries from the workers to check if the lockdown is going to be lifted soon and when the production is likely to commence. She said Prime Minister Modis vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat is aimed at making Indian companies globally competitive. On a question related to cash transfers, the Finance Minister said the government was helping people in a targeted manner. She said the economic stimulus announced by the government had been announced after extensive consultations including with economists in the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council. If I give it to a farmer and his family also gets cash through Ujjwala, Jan Dhan account holder for running the house and also I frontload the farmer Rs 2000, I am also ensuring that those formerly employed can also take it out from the EPF, which is their money no doubt but is normally kept in a fund. So I am also trying to ease up on that giving of cash but cash giving whilst it may convince us today that the government has been generous in giving money; will it have that multiplier giving impact, she asked. There can be a lot of people who can say yes it will have immediately they will go out buy things and thereby demand will get triggered. Maybe, there is a sense in that argument. But we have considered various different suggestions, which came and also applied our mind. Eminent economists are there in the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory Council, NITI Aayog; Finance Ministry has economic advisors. All of us have worked together and thought that this will be the best, she added. Asked about the possibility of deficit financing, she said it was not under consideration at the moment. At this stage, we have not even considered it, said Sitharaman. Also Read: Indian Railways to run 200 trains from June 1, bookings start tomorrow For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 20) An adviser of President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at several doctors who warned employers against the use of rapid antibody test for COVID-19 as a requirement to physically go back to work. Problema nitong mga doctor, salita nang salita wala namang ginagawa, complain nang complain, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion told a Laging Handa briefing on Wednesday. [Translation: The problem with these doctors is they are all talk, no action. They keep on complaining.] Concepcion was reacting to the collective stand of medical societies that include the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID), the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM), the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians (PSPHP), the Philippine Society of General Internal Medicine (PSGIM), and the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP). Saying it is "better to test than not to test," Concepcion insisted more people should be tested especially with the country preparing to further ease lockdown restrictions. By the end of the month, we are expected to move towards general community quarantine," he said. "The more you open the economy, kailangan lalago yung testing mo (your testing must improve). The PSMID on Tuesday said there is no added value requiring antibody testing for workers who do not show COVID-19-like symptoms. READ: Medical societies: Do not use antibody tests on returning workers Dr. Issa Alejandria, president of PSMID, said that rapid kits could yield false positive results, as it cannot detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. She added that this method is a waste of resources, such as the much-needed personal protective equipment. Instead of COVID-19 testing, the PAFP has recommended a clinical examination of employees to check if they are fit to work. This includes an assessment of a persons exposure to a COVID-19 patient, travel history and symptoms in the past 14 days. Concepcion said he supports the use of both the rapid and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests to further increase the countrys testing capacity. An RT-PCR test is considered to be the gold standard as it could definitively diagnose if a person is infected with COVID-19. However, he pointed out the challenge with RT-PCR is the cost. A rapid test kit costs around P450 while a PCR test is valued at about 4,000 to 8,000, he noted. He defended companies that use rapid test kits as a clearance to return to work, saying they see this as a way to protect both their livelihood and employees. Firms trust the rapid test because aside from being proven to be effective, it is cheaper, he claimed. Matagal na itong mga rapid tests, proven na rin ito (These rapid tests have been around for a long time. They have also been proven), Concepcion said, adding that China has used these kits as a diagnostic tool and was able to contain the highly infectious disease. The presidential adviser later on apologized for his remarks against the medical societies, adding that he has nothing but the utmost gratitude and admiration for those at the frontlines of the crisis. I apologize if my words were perceived to criticize doctors in general. I hope we will be united in our efforts, he said in a statement. Concepcion said, however, that the country must make use of all available resources, including rapid test kits, to fight the virus and augment testing capacity. The government said on Monday it does not require employers to test their workers, but if they wish to do so, they must shoulder the fee. Economic activities may have resumed in the NCR during the much-relaxed lockdown 4.0, but the restrictions on the interstate movement of people have severely impacted the traders and professionals of the national capital and its satellite cities, their associations have said. In Delhi, several markets are now opening on the odd-even basis, but they are facing problems since interstate public transport, including the Metro, is not functional, making it difficult for traders and professionals to commute. For those engaged in the essential services, commuting across the border seems a lesser hassle, but people in other sectors are finding it difficult to move between cities. Those working in Delhi and residing in the satellite cities or vice-a-versa face an uphill task on daily basis as they try to reach their workplaces. Earlier this week, when the Delhi Transport Corporation started its operations, many of its buses did not hit the road as the drivers residing in neighbouring cities could not report for work due to restrictions. On Wednesday, a group of workers clashed with the police in Gurgaon after they were stopped from crossing the city borders. The neighbouring cities have sealed the borders with Delhi to check the spread of coronavirus. The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration has sealed the Noida-Delhi for movement except for emergencies or essential services and for people having administration-issued passes. Same is the case with adjoining Ghaziabad. The move is aimed at combating COVID-19 transmission as several of the two districts coronavirus cases could be traced to Delhi. People having e-passes or passes issued by the district administration are being allowed to commute as usual. The police check their passes on the borders. No person would be allowed to enter Ghaziabad without valid passes, Ghaziabad District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told PTI. A Delhi Police officer at the Noida border said the traffic is increasing by the day and they are only allowing people who have passes. However, those who don't have passes, but have to go to the office on urgent basis are also being allowed. In normal days, there is a substantial movement of people between these two cities. Traders said the decision to restrict movement has hit several shop and showroom owners in Noida who reside in the national capital. They are unable to travel to their stores even though economic activities resumed on Thursday. Shops in Gautam Buddh Nagar reopened on Thursday following the odd-even formula. Restaurants were allowed home delivery of services while strictly adhering to lockdown rules of social distancing and sanitisation, according to district administration. In some cases, traders live in Noida or Greater Noida and have their shops in Delhi. They are unable to go there due to the lockdown curbs, said Sushil Kumar Jain, the Convenor of the Delhi-NCR unit of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). Delhi NCR is an economically bustling region and it was conceptualised as a single region despite three states and multiple satellite towns of Delhi being part of it. Now inter-state travel restrictions between say Noida-Delhi, or Delhi-Ghaziabad, or Delhi-Gurgaon, or Faridabad is defeating that concept, he told PTI. There's a need for Delhi-NCR planners to take into account the situation and find a way to help movement of people and traders, Jain, also the president of Noida's biggest Sector 18 market traders' association, said. Ashok Bhardwaj, who lives in Delhi and works in Gurgaon, said his office has resumed with 50 per cent staff and he was asked to report. There is utter confusion. There is no clarity on who is allowed entry. Now the cops are telling me at the border that only essential services people are allowed, Bharadwaj, who works with an e-commerce company, said. Rohit Sharma, an architect who wanted to go to Delhi, said he has an e-pass but the queue on the border is often too long and he has to plan at least an hour before his usual time to avoid delays. There is no traffic issue. The whole chaos is because of the order. And over the years, Gurgaon and Delhi have become such places that it is impossible to disconnect the two places now with the kind of mobility needed, Sharma said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Treasury has allocated Ksh27 billion to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service for the coming financial year 2020/2021. In a letter addressed to National Assembly, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said the funds are part of the Sh53.7 billion Economic Stimulus Package which President Uhuru Kenyatta approved for post-COVID-19 for the 2020/2021 financial year. In the proposed amendments to the national government budget estimates, NMS will get Sh18.6 billion for recurrent expenditure and Sh9.32 billion for development expenditure. The Head of Public Services submitted the Budget Estimates for Nairobi Metropolitan Services after our submission to Parliament. In this regard, we request for inclusion of NMS budget estimates in the National Government Budget under the presidency, he said. The cash-strapped NMS is also set to receive a further Sh1.5 billion for the Mukuru slums Renewal Project should the National Assembly approve Yatanis request. The new development comes after Director General Major Mohammed Badi raised concerns over lack of funds. This after Governor Mike Sonko had declined to assent to the Nairobi City County Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2020. The governments decision to make the coronavirus (Covid-19) tracking application, Aarogya Setu, mandatory in many spheres of life brings constitutional challenges such as the right to privacy of citizens. The Supreme Court (SC) has deliberated on the issue of privacy on numerous occasions. In Govind Vs State of MP in 1975, the Court recognised that the right to privacy is a part of a citizens personal liberty. The Court also held that this right deserved to be examined with care and must only be denied when an important countervailing interest is shown to be superior. In 1996, in PUCL Vs Union of India, the Court formulated guidelines imposing substantive and procedural restraints, while holding that the right to privacy includes informational privacy and confidentiality. However, in the 1998 Mr X Vs Hospital Z case, the Courts view was that the right to privacy is not absolute and is subject to restrictions as may be lawfully imposed for prevention of crime or disorder, or protection of health or morals, or protection of rights and freedoms of others. In 2017, in the KS Puttuswamy Vs Union of India case, a nine-judge SC bench held that a menu of tests should be applied, depending upon the rights that may be infringed. It recognised the importance of a data protection law and its absence as a void in the enforcement of privacy laws. It held that there should be a rational nexus between the objects sought and the means adopted to achieve it, to ensure the extent of interference is proportionate to the need for such interference. The Centres directions are executive in nature, deriving their power from the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which doesnt have any provision to deal with surveillance. However, as the statute is worded in the broadest possible terms and, as it is meant to deal with emergent and unforeseen situations, the authority given can be construed liberally. Still, the Act and the directions thereunder have to be tested on the touchstone laws infringing fundamental rights. The app has not specified the security practices it follows to protect the collected data. A mere declaration that data, being encrypted, is secure is not sufficient. The app requires the users Bluetooth and locations services to be switched on at all times. It is not clear if the collected data or, specifically, the locational surveillance will be shared with any other agency. In 2018, the ministry of home affairs had authorised 10 agencies to intercept and monitor information and individuals. As most of them are intelligence agencies, they are not liable to disclose information. Currently, there is no legal framework that governs the app beyond its privacy policy and terms of use. The terms and conditions clearly state that the user agrees and acknowledges that the Government of India will not be liable for any unauthorized access to your information or modification thereof. The app does not satisfy the menu of tests laid down in the Puttuswamy judgment. It also does not comply with the requirements of the Information Technology Act, 2000 or the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 as far as protections against surveillance are prescribed under these statutes. The lack of regulatory measures, absence of clear legislative authority, and multiple levels of delegation make the app susceptible to misuse. It is similar to the situation when the government had made the Aadhar cards mandatory, without necessary legislation. Once the government brought the Aadhar Act, it allowed citizens to approach the Court, which eventually stuck down parts of the Act it construed extra-constitutional. In the absence of any anchoring legislation, the governments decision to make the app mandatory lacks legislative competence, besides failing the test of proportionality. The burden is now on the government to prove that the app satisfies the test of proportionality. As the app is mandatory, it could, in essence, allow the government to use it as a surveillance tool to keep track of social contacts and whereabouts of any user which would be a clear violation of citizens right to privacy. Amit Anand Tiwari is an Advocate on Record, Supreme Court The views expressed are personal Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, May 22 2020 Indonesian coal miners are struggling with slow demand this year as businesses in India, one of the countrys major coal markets, hit the brakes due to a prolonged lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, a data firm has said. The South Asian countrys coal imports, a commodity mostly used for power generation, is projected to decrease by 19.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 149 million tons, according to IHS Markit. As Indias demand slows, IHS Markit projects a 10 percent yoy decline in Indonesian coal exports to 406 million tons this year, from last years figure of 451 million tons. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Almost from the day it was announced, restaurant owners have been complaining that the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program doesn't work for their industry. Congress has clearly heard them. Last week, Reps. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act, which would extend the period in which small businesses can use the money and ease restrictions on the amount they can spend on non-payroll expenses such as rent. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signaled that she would be willing to hold a vote next week on the act, a shift from her recent strategy to focus only on major coronavirus relief bills, according to a Politico report. The effort appears to have bipartisan support in the House and Senate as a quick fix to the Small Business Association program that has drawn widespread criticism from restaurateurs whose PPP money would convert to a two-year loan if they don't follow the terms of the program. What's more, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced a bill Wednesday that aims to help restaurants ride out the pandemic as they face a future of limited dining capacity, public fear and rising costs to cover masks, gloves and cleaning products. The Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive Act of 2020, or simply, the Restaurants Act, would create a $120 billion grant program to help an estimated 500,000 independent restaurants survive a potentially long period when they may earn only a fraction of their former revenue. Under the act, money would be administered by the Treasury Department and available only to independent establishments with fewer than 20 locations under the same name, a caveat designed to avoid a repeat of PPP embarrassments in which chains such as Potbelly, Shake Shack and Ruth's Chris received funds meant for small business. (Some of the companies, such as Shake Shack, gave back the money.) The National Restaurant Association has made a similar plea to Congress, but the Restaurants Act would target only small independents, which represent 70 percent of all restaurants. The grants would cover the difference between revenue from 2019 and those projected for 2020, with a cap of $10 million per grant. Restaurants are "uniquely vulnerable as we face the covid-19 pandemic," Blumenauer said in a statement. "Few industries have been as uniformly ravaged as the food service industry, which is why I am working with a coalition of culinary experts and advocates and pushing my colleagues in Congress to provide support. Local, independent restaurants are the beating heart of our communities. They need relief now." The legislative efforts come after weeks of lobbying from the National Restaurant Association and the recently formed Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC), as well as a Monday meeting at the White House, where 10 restaurant executives expressed their concerns to President Donald Trump. Last month, the IRC sent a letter to both chambers of Congress, asking for the restaurant stabilization fund. Will Guidara, a founding member of the IRC and the former owner of the Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park in New York City, alluded to the grant program in the meeting Monday with the president. The program, Guidara said, "will put all of those people that are currently unemployed back to work, such that, by the third quarter of this year, we're going to be looking at unemployment reports that are astonishingly good, not to mention the supply chain that we represent. . . . Our plan helps bring unemployment back to where it needs to be, and it supports a lot of our other industries that rely on independent restaurants for their survival." Naomi Pomeroy, the James Beard Award-winning chef behind Beast in Portland, Oregon, said that although the PPP had good intentions, it doesn't do much for independent restaurants, 40 percent of which are closed, and the rest limping along as carryout and delivery operations. As originally written, the PPP required operators to spend their money over an eight-week period, use 75 percent of the funds on payroll and hire back their employees by June 30, or risk converting the money into a two-year, low-interest loan. The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act would extend deadlines and eliminate restrictions. "I am sitting on it and crossing my fingers that the change is coming fast enough for me," Pomeroy said about her PPP money, which remains untouched in the bank. "I feel relatively optimistic about that right now, to be honest." If the changes aren't made, she added, she will give the money back because she cannot afford the debt. To Pomeroy, the stabilization program is key. It would provide relief funds to get through the pandemic, not just an eight-week window. This is particularly important for a place like Beast, a small, fine-dining destination in a city that has yet to reopen restaurants. But even when it does reopen, Beast could potentially seat only 10 guests because of social distancing requirements, making it next to impossible to stay afloat without breaks in rent, government assistance or both, while the coronavirus continues to spread unchecked and owners spend more money on sanitation and protective gear. "I mean, right now, we've got a bridge halfway over the water, right? Thank you," Pomeroy told The Washington Post. "Yes, a halfway-built bridge is better than no bridge. But we have to figure out how to get us to the other side of that, and that's really going to happen through the stabilization fund." Just as important, the funds will help chefs and owners like Pomeroy figure out how to reinvent themselves in a landscape that is expected to change dramatically in the months leading up to a vaccine, and maybe even after. "The deal is this: I have to change the model of my restaurant, and so do almost everybody else that I know. I have to reconfigure my tables, possibly even change to being almost like a meal-delivery service. . . . So we need to restructure," she said. The fund "will get me to the other side, where I can start to really figure out a game plan that's going to make sense and push us forward. Our industry is important, and we need to save it, and we just need that bridge to be built all the way." MasterChef Australia fans slammed Laura Sharrad for 'gloating' about her success in Tuesday night's pressure test. And it's possible the other contestants also didn't appreciate her cocky attitude. There was a telling moment during the challenge when Sarah Clare seemingly called Laura a 'b***h' under her breath. Setting the record straight: MasterChef's Sarah Clare (right) has denied calling Laura Sharrad (left) a 'b***h' under her breath as tensions simmered during Tuesday night's pressure test In the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Sarah looked visibly frustrated after Laura visited her bench to see what errors she'd made with her 'Black Box' dessert. On Thursday, Pedestrian published an article suggesting Sarah had uttered 'b***h' to herself after this awkward encounter. Sarah insisted this wasn't the case, however, telling Daily Mail Australia on Thursday: 'It definitely didn't happen. I'm pretty sure I said "eek" and it was just that I'd left a [stove] element off - nothing to do with Loz.' 'Also I don't use that word as it is only aimed at women - and if you ask anyone I know, I hate it!' she clarified. Denial: There was a moment during the challenge when Sarah seemingly called Laura a 'b***h' under her breath - but she told Daily Mail Australia this 'definitely didn't happen' Tense: In the blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Sarah looked frustrated after Laura visited her bench to see what errors she'd made with her dessert. But she insists she said 'eek', not 'b***h' MasterChef fans had already turned on Laura during Tuesday's episode. In particular, they didn't like the way she confronted a visibly upset Sarah Tiong, who was already disappointed with her performance in the challenge. 'Sarah! Tiong! Come on... what's wrong? What's wrong? Did you get everything in? What did you miss? What did you miss? What did you miss?' asked Laura. After Sarah politely asked for a second to compose herself, Laura walked off and said: 'Okay, I'm going to hug everybody else.' Controversial: MasterChef fans had already turned on Laura (pictured) during Tuesday's episode. In particular, they didn't like the way she confronted a visibly upset Sarah Tiong, who was already disappointed with her performance in the challenge 'Laura, read the situation. Sarah T needed space and doesn't need you repeating the same question that's doing nothing but rubbing in her face that this wasn't her best cook,' one viewer tweeted. 'Laura's gloating little dance at the end of the cook, where she asked everyone if they'd finished and delighted in their stress was just ugh,' another added. 'How annoying was it when Laura was all like, "What'd you miss?" to Sarah T. Let her have a moment please,' a third fan wrote. Others simply told Laura that 'the attention can't always be on you'. 'What did you miss?' Laura peppered Sarah with annoying questions as she started to cry 'I'm going to hug everybody else': After Sarah politely asked for a second to compose herself, Laura decided to speak to the other contestants STANDISH, MI Catastrophic flooding in Midland County prompted 11,000 people to be evacuated, numerous road and bridge closures and a visit from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday, May 20. Neighboring Saginaw County saw damage and evacuations, too. Experts have called it a 500-year flood event. Midland and Saginaw counties werent the only ones to suffer flood-related damage this week. Arenac County declared a state of emergency after severe flooding harmed infrastructure and property. The northern Michigan county has 50 bridges under repair assessments and preliminary damage cost assessments could exceed $2.25 million, The Arenac County Independent reports. Arenac County, located on Lake Hurons Saginaw Bay, has a population of about 15,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The county seat, Standish, is located about 30 miles north of Bay City. Standish City Manager Jerry Nelson said the city received about 6.5 inches of rain and hundreds of homes were flooded. Flooding primarily affected basements, but some residents experienced main-floor flooding, too. One resident with a finished basement estimates the flood caused $50,000 in damage. Many lost major appliances, including washers and dryers, freezers and water heaters, and most of the residents Nelson has spoken with are learning their homeowners insurance wont cover the damages. We probably had somewhere between 150 and 200 homes that had basements that were flooded," Nelson said Thursday, May 21, noting that Standish has a total of about 750 to 800 homes and 1,500 residents. Most of the people I talked to (said) its not being covered because most people dont have flood insurance because its so expensive. Nelson said some residents will struggle to afford to replace their damaged property. One woman he spoke with lost her furnace, water heater and freezer totaling thousands of dollars in damages. She was going to put everything on her credit card and she was going to max it out because she had no other choice, he said. Jacquob Littlejohn, 23, of Standish was displaced by the flood on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. He had seven feet of water in his basement, shown here, and one wall caved in. His furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and breaker box were all submerged.Courtesy | Jacquob Littlejohn Jacquob Littlejohn, 23, of Standish was displaced by the flood and is staying with family in Gladwin until he can safely return home. He had seven feet of water in his basement and one wall caved in. His furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and breaker box were all submerged. He doesnt have flood insurance. Where I live, I was told I dont need flood insurance. Im not in the flood zone, he said. Were looking at thousands and thousands of dollars thats going to have to come out of my pocket. An Arenac County sheriffs deputy and member of the National Guard, Littlejohn said he never expected to be in this situation. I thought when something like this happened Id be the one evacuating people, not the one being evacuated, Littlejohn said Thursday, May 21. Littlejohn, who was speaking as a citizen and not in any official capacity, said his neighbors homes also flooded and one family with a baby had to be evacuated by boat. Hes thankful no one was hurt and that he has family members who can help him rebuild. I understand Midland got hit horribly, horribly bad and I feel so sorry for them, but I hope we arent forgotten in the mix, he said. Its a tragedy. Nelson urged anyone who has suffered flood damage to call Standish City Hall at 989-846-9588 to speak with him or Clerk/Treasurer Peggy Burtch. Nelson said city officials are collecting information and damage estimates to provide to state officials. In addition, Arenac County Emergency Management Director Ed Rohn is assisting Michigan State Police in assessing damage throughout the county, he said. Despite widespread flooding and damage in Standish, no injuries were reported. Property, you can always replace or get back. People you cant," Nelson said. Arenac County emergency officials shared a map of flooding and road closures Wednesday night via the Arenac County Facebook page. The map highlighted numerous road closures throughout the county, including in Standish, Arenac, Clayton, Sims, Mason, Deep River, Moffatt, Turner and Lincoln townships. In addition, Nelson said, the bridge in Omer, which serves as a main thoroughfare to get up through the northeast side of the state, is expected to be closed through the weekend. And the Arenac County Sheriffs Department shared a photo of one of its sergeants carrying a child to safety from a flooded apartment complex in AuGres where nearly 40 residents and pets were evacuated by officials with the sheriffs office and AuGres police and fire departments. Nearby Gladwin County also dealt with a deluge of water from the flooding event, with numerous roads throughout the county affected by floodwaters. The area near the Chappel Dam, which holds back Wiggins Lake, in Gladwin County was under the pressure of potential flash flooding earlier this week. Gladwin County Emergency Management on Monday, May 18, ordered residents near the Cedar River, south of Chappel Dam and along the Tittabawassee River to evacuate. The order included the southern and northwestern portions of the city of Gladwin. Residents were directed to evacuation centers, including the Gladwin Save-A-Lot and Fruchey Family Market parking lot and Grace Christian Church. The area received three to four inches of rain by Monday night. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning alert for the Cedar River/Chappel Dam area, indicating the situation was particularly dangerous. It read, Move to higher ground now. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order. Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize the dangers of flooding. On Tuesday, May 19, the Gladwin County Sheriffs Office was advising residents and travelers to avoid the area of Gladwin County near the Midland County line on M-30 near Strykers Lakeside Marina. M-30 was reported to have water and debris covering the road. M-30 remains closed to both northbound and southbound traffic between Curtis and Dale roads, near Wixom Lake, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation. East Townline Road 16, which straddles the boarder between Midland and Gladwin counties, is also reported to be closed. Gladwin County also has a comprehensive list of closures to help residents as they plan their travels throughout the area and MDOT has an interactive map detailing road closures in areas affected by flooding. On Wednesday, Gladwin County officials urged residents to remove their boats and personal watercraft from the Tittabawassee River, Smallwood Lake and Secord Lake to allow Boyce Hydro to inspect the dams along the waterways. Boyce Hydro, the same company that owns the Edenville Dam, has come under scrutiny after news reports revealed federal energy regulators pulled the dams operators license in 2018 out of concern the spillway couldnt pass enough water to avert a failure during a historic flood. Officials have asked residents to move their boats as soon as possible, as water levels were expected to begin receding at 8 a.m. Thursday. At this time, there is not a determined date in which the water levels can be restored to seasonal levels, due to the possible need for repairs after the inspections are complete, Gladwin County officials said in a statement. Gladwin County officials also compiled a list of resources from the Department of Insurance and Financial Services to help residents as they begin working with insurance companies to file claims and repair damages. RELATED STORIES: Video shows Michigan dam break as it happened: Catastrophic is the only thing I can call it Midland officials give flooding update, say river to crest 3 feet lower than expected Flooded roads, neighborhoods and businesses in Saginaw County community of Shields Officials work to dispel rumors amid record-breaking Michigan flooding Pilot captures aerial footage of roaring water as Edenville Dam bursts in Midland County Record flooding that broke dam in Midland County will surpass 1986 level Feds warned years ago Edenville Dam couldnt handle a historic flood A few Sundays ago, Camerata Pacifica artistic director Adrian Spence, aided by his tech-savvy son Keiran, went live on Facebook to broadcast a previously recorded performance of Mozart's Trio in E flat (K. 498), aka the "Kegelstatt" trio. At least they tried to. The recorded performance was one of many that Spence had drawn from the Camerata's extensive video archives. When the covid-19 crisis abruptly canceled its season, Spence launched a weekly series of rebroadcasts to fill the silence. These broadcasts, even with their modest virtual attendance of 100 or so viewers per stream, have been essential to keeping Spence's Santa Barbara, California-based chamber organization engaged with its audience. That is, until that recent Sunday, when his audience started to disappear, one by one, all the way down to none. "What the hell is going on?" Spence recalls shouting to his son across the living room as the viewer count conspicuously dropped. Just minutes into the airing of the concert, Facebook issued Spence a notification that his video - an original performance of an hour-long piece composed by Mozart in 1786 - somehow contained one minute and 18 seconds of someone else's work, in this case, "audio owned by Naxos of America." Spence, and presumably Mozart, would beg to differ. "They're blocking my use of my own content," Spence said later in a phone interview, "which feels dystopian." As covid-19 forces more and more classical musicians and organizations to shift operations to the internet, they're having to contend with an entirely different but equally faceless adversary: copyright bots. Or, more accurately, content identification algorithms dispatched across social media to scan content and detect illegal use of copyrighted recordings. You've encountered these bots in the wild if you've ever had a workout video or living room lip-sync blocked or muted for ambient inclusion or flagrant use of Britney or Bruce. But who owns Brahms? These oft-overzealous algorithms are particularly fine-tuned for the job of sniffing out the sonic idiosyncrasies of pop music, having been trained on massive troves of "reference" audio files submitted by record companies and performing rights societies. But classical musicians are discovering en masse that the perceptivity of automated copyright systems falls critically short when it comes to classical music, which presents unique challenges both in terms of content and context. After all, classical music exists as a vast, endlessly revisited and repeated repertoire of public-domain works distinguishable only through nuanced variations in performance. Put simply, bots aren't great listeners. After the removal of his clips, Spence's only recourse was to file a dispute with Facebook by filling out a single-field form. This was followed by six hours of fruitless chats with various Facebook representatives. It took nearly four days to clear the spurious claim, and in the interim, Facebook suspended Camerata's access to live-streaming. Clearing copyright claims has since become part of Spence's new routine, casting emails into an opaque dispute system he describes as "the DMV on steroids." And the hits keep coming: YouTube blocked a recent live stream of a recorded Camerata performance of Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet, Op. 43, after it attracted a swarm of five automated copyright claims from different record companies. It's gotten to the point where Camerata videos are prefaced by a warning screen, explaining their anticipated disappearance in advance. "I have no protection for my own produced material," Spence says. "If you want to put a copyright claim against me, I'm happy to take the time to write back to you and say, 'This is an erroneous claim and here's why.' But when you're immediately blocking videos or streams, that's negatively impacting our very mission in a time where this now has become mission critical." These systems aren't just disrupting the relationships between classical organizations and their audiences; they're also affecting individual musicians trying to stay musically present - and financially afloat - during the crisis. Michael Sheppard, a Baltimore-based pianist, composer and teacher, was recently giving a Facebook Live performance of a Beethoven sonata (No. 3, Op. 2, in C) when Facebook blocked the stream, citing the detection of "2:28 of music owned by Naxos of America" - specifically a passage recorded by the French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, whom Sheppard is not. The takedown led Sheppard into what he describes as "a byzantine web of ridiculousness" starting with Facebook's dispute form: "Beethoven died in 1827," he responded. "This music is very much in the public domain. Please unblock it." And this wasn't Sheppard's first run-in with Facebook, which has blocked or muted past performances of Faure, Chopin and Bach for being too digitally reminiscent of other performances of Faure, Chopin and Bach. Frustrated with the intrusive claim of infringement, the imposed busywork of defending himself, and the helplessness he felt trying to get these issues recognized and resolved, Sheppard took to Twitter. "Dear @naxosrecords," he tweeted May 9, "PLEASE stop muting portions of works whose composers have been dead for hundreds of years. It does 0% of people any good, especially musicians like myself who are trying to make a living in time of crisis. #UnmuteBeethoven." Two days later, Naxos tweeted back, thanking Sheppard for his request and confirming that his video had been "whitelisted." "There are people worse off than me whose only income is their performances," says Sheppard, who accompanies his streams with a "virtual tip jar." "But if it's muted, what's the point? Other people are doing the same thing and getting stymied by this." The covid-19 crisis has certainly driven more classical musicians online to experiment with streaming, but the struggle between bots and Bach isn't new. The pianist James Rhodes went viral after Sony claimed ownership of the living room performance of Bach's First Partita that he posted to Facebook in 2018. The same year, musician and blogger Sebastian Tomczak received multiple copyright claims against a 10-hour stretch of white noise he uploaded to YouTube three years prior. And in January 2019, students of conductor Jonathan Girard at the University of British Columbia presented a live-streamed program of orchestral works by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky that Facebook cut off and blocked midstream. "This is a real, viable way of reaching audiences and communicating art to the world," Girard says. "And it's going to be blocked by copyright algorithms that don't actually fairly look at what's happening. That's a serious problem for musicians that are playing music that's in the public domain." It might be tempting to glance at the copyright claims and simply blame the names listed at the bottom - the seemingly aggressive record companies issuing them all. But many of those companies are as helpless against the system as the targets of their claims. Take Naxos, the classical mother ship that represents about 2.5 million tracks and, according to senior manager of video and new media Duncan Hammons, considers copyright protection "among our chief duties per our relationship with our distributed label clients." "We're at the mercy of automation in order to uphold our obligations to our clients," Hammons says in an email. Like other record companies, Naxos relies on Facebook's and YouTube's content identification systems to track potential illegal use. "Though the technology works most of the time in terms of correctly identifying instances of our clients' content on-platform, it still generates a not-insignificant amount of mismatches that require human review to differentiate," Hammons says. "The chances of conflicts with this amount of content are considerable. For these reasons there is always a volume of potentially erroneous auto-generated claims that unless contested, I may never be made explicitly aware." Hammons says that most claims contested by Facebook and YouTube users are cleared within a week of dispute, and that arrangements can be made for channel owners who are able to prove "the legitimacy of their status as a performing arts entity, (or) that their channel constitutes a low risk for abuse of the privilege." "We would love to work with these platforms to improve their technologies so that they are better adapted for classical music," Hammons says, "but as the situation stands, our input on the issue is limited." For its part, YouTube has invested more than $100 million to refine its proprietary Content ID technology, according to a company representative. And its apparatus for handling disputes - which, according to several musicians, is more robust than Facebook's -has managed to resolve nearly all copyright issues before they escalate to legal matters. YouTube doesn't actively mediate content disputes, but it does passively enable them. And this week, Facebook posted updates to its music and video policies, including clarified guidelines concerning the use of music in video. It highlighted its free Sound Collection library of thousands of unrestricted tracks, and announced pending improvements to the notification system "to give people time to adjust their streams and avoid interruptions if we detect they may be approaching our limitations." But the finer points of those limitations remain mysterious. Facebook scans uploaded content through two systems: its own platform-tailored Rights Manager, which, according to Facebook, can be used to protect only copyrighted works, and a third-party platform called Audible Magic, which helps automatically block audiovisual uploads that match content in its database. Audible Magic advertises services that allow such social media platforms as Twitch, SoundCloud and Vimeo to "identify content in real-time with unparalleled accuracy" and "operate in 'fire-and-forget' mode using a simple end to end solution." Despite the robustness of such databases, classical performances remain sitting ducks for erroneous challenges. And in general, the "solutions" to these growing problems seem more tailored to rights holders than to, say, pianists. Lowly disputers are left to fight their own battles, whether they started them or not. "There is no good solution right now," says Meredith Rose of the Washington, D.C.-based intellectual property advocacy group Public Knowledge. "Maybe in another couple of years they'll get the technology to the point where it can actually distinguish between two recordings of Beethoven's Fifth or whatever. But they're not there yet." Likewise, the faith that platforms and record companies invest in these technologies may be as flawed as the systems themselves. "We built these systems around the presumption that everybody is either: A, a pirate, or B, should be a copyright expert," Rose says. As it stands, the relationship between classical musicians and copyright bots is a study in contradictions, as newborn technologies police music that has been with us for centuries and individual musicians battle back against the indifference of massive corporations. But this unhealthy dynamic also presents a consequential conundrum in terms of how the arts engage with social media as they grow more and more dependent on each other. "These (classical) organizations have been cultivating large audiences through these social media sites," notes Girard, the conductor, "and now they effectively can't access those audiences with their most prized content. "Considering everything that's going on, it just seems like just yet another thing that's marginalizing artists' ability to communicate with the world." Listening to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his team announce Walzs eagerly anticipated but extremely disappointing new edict on bars and restaurants at his press briefing yesterday (video below), I had the thought that we have reached the San Marcos phase of emergency rule as depicted in Woody Allens Bananas. Hear me! I am your new president. From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish, the power-crazed revolutionary president of San Marcos declares. In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Churches remain subject to the facially unconstitutional provisions of Executive Order 20-56, paragraph 6(c). Thus the resistance from Minnesotas Catholic bishops and Lutheran leaders on the continuing restrictions placed on church worship. See the letters of the Catholic bishops here and the Lutheran leaders here. One can hear echoes of San Marcos in yesterdays briefing as related by MinnPosts Walker Orenstein in What to know about Minnesotas latest guidelines for reopening bars, restaurants and salons. Orenstein takes up the issue of religious worship: In [future] Phase 3, outdoor religious services with up to 100 people will be allowed if everyone involved wears masks and can maintain 6 feet of social distancing. (Until Phase 3, people can gather in groups of 10 or fewer indoors or outdoors for religious services.) [Steve] Grove, the DEED commissioner, said there will be even more restrictions, including on singing. Grove said singing is one of the worst things you can do, because it can project infectious particles further into the air than talking. Mark that down: Singing is one of the worst things you can do (at about 25:00 of the video). There is no singing, no singing in the archdiocesan Cathedral of St. Paul (capacity 3,000). Its based on the science. Walz had no good answer to the question about the disparate treatment of church services (at about 40:00 of the video): I will acknowledge the logic of the arguments is sound. Thank you, kind sir. Now will you please remove your boot from our necks? The authorities attributed 29 new deaths to COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total to 717. Reminder: Minnesota Model 3.0 released last week projected 1,441 deaths by the end of May. The age breakdown of new decedents followed the pattern. Two were in their 100s, 7 were in their 90s, 8 were in their 80s, five were in their 70s, five were in their 60s, one was in his 50s, and one was in his 40s. You wouldnt know it from yesterdays briefing, but 26 of the 29 new deaths occurred among residents of long-term care facilities, bringing the total to 635. Nursing home/LTC deaths now approach 82 percent of all deaths attributed to COVID-19. Were number 1! University of Connecticut students who still have belongs left in residence halls at the Storrs campus will have the first two weeks of June to pick up their stuff. Emails were sent to about 7,500 students asking them to select a date and time to move out. The question was posed bluntly to the nearly 100,000 members of a Facebook group devoted to ending Pennsylvania's stay-at-home orders, with a user writing, "if there was a vaccine for coronavirus would you be likely to take it." "Absolutely not." "No." "Never." The resoundingly negative answers streamed forth, generating 1,700 comments and providing a window into brewing resistance to a potential coronavirus vaccine that experts say offers the surest path back to normal life. Some of the same online activists who have clamored to resume economic activity, echoing President Donald Trump's call to "liberate" their states from sweeping restrictions, are now aligning themselves with a cause on the political fringe - preemptively forswearing a vaccine. To further their baseless claims about the dangers of vaccines and to portray the scientific process as reckless, they have seized on the brisk pace promised for the project, which the Trump administration has branded "Operation Warp Speed." "We're looking to get it by the end of the year if we can," the president said Friday Both movements represent the views of a small minority of Americans. But leading medical experts fear that the ability of their adherents to spread misinformation online could plant seeds of confusion and distrust in the broader public - and undermine future efforts to distribute a vaccine. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he has grown increasingly concerned that the name of the initiative has led to misconceptions about what is being put at risk by speeding up the effort - only financial investments, not safety or efficacy. "People don't understand that, because when they hear 'Operation Warp Speed,' they think, 'Oh, my God, they're jumping over all these steps and they're going to put as at risk,' " Fauci said in an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post. No steps would be eliminated, he vowed. Rather, multiple steps - from collecting data to preparing to scale up the number of potential doses - would be pursued at once, creating "risk for the investment" but not for the patient or the "integrity of the study." "You're doing things in a totally unprecedented way, and you're going really fast but not compromising safety because you haven't cut out any of the steps you would have done had you done it the traditional way," Fauci said. But such guardrails have gone unmentioned on some of the most active platforms for coordinating opposition to measures designed to slow the spread of the virus. One participant in a 2,000-member reopening group on Facebook suggested Trump was "pandering to the left" by speeding a vaccine to market. Another, addressing more than 26,000 fellow users, called the effort "mad," linking to a video outlining a conspiracy theory about Bill Gates. The views, though they reflect an extreme position, are a sign of looming obstacles to public trust for the Trump administration and governments around the world rushing to complete a process in a matter of months that typically takes years. In a Yahoo News-YouGov poll this month, nearly 1 in 5 Americans said they would not take a coronavirus vaccine. The online activity illustrates how anti-vaccine stalwarts have found common cause with those protesting stay-at-home measures, flocking to their demonstrations and staging their own. The two movements are also drawing on a common online organizing infrastructure, increasingly merging in the fluid corners of Facebook. Their groups and pages, which frequently boast followings in the six figures, easily swap out one target of perceived government overreach for another, in an early sign of how misinformation could thwart efforts to immunize the public from a disease that has killed 90,000 Americans. Matthew Ferrari, an epidemiologist at Pennsylvania State University, said there were already indications that anti-science sentiment flaring in the early days of the pandemic could be "eroding confidence in existing vaccines." A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that vaccination rates for children in Michigan fell steeply in May, including to fewer than half of infants 5 months or younger. Reduced access to immunizations could have been a result of the stay-at-home order designed to contain the outbreak, the report noted, though the state order halting elective procedures did not specifically include vaccinations. The decline in up-to-date status for recommended vaccines threatens herd immunity against highly contagious infectious diseases such as measles, the CDC warned. Ensuring the interruption does not become permanent is a priority, Ferrari said, requiring clear science communication. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said his initial modeling suggests "a significant number of Americans" will need to be vaccinated against the coronavirus to interrupt transmission. "I'm worried that the anti-vaccine movement is going to be so strengthened to the point where we won't have those numbers, and part of this may just be people opting out because of mixed messaging," he said. "You'd think the anti-vaccine movement would go into retreat with everyone wanting a vaccine, but it's been energized over 'Operation Warp Speed' and over biotech and pharma companies sending out irresponsible news releases." The central tenets of the anti-vaccine movement, Hotez said, are that vaccines cause autism, which they do not, and, "second, that vaccines are rushed, third that they're not adequately tested for safety and fourth that there's an alliance between the federal government and the pharmaceutical companies." "This 'Operation Warp Speed' plays right into three of those four things, and there's been no attempt to refute that messaging," he said. Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump adviser tapped to lead communications for the initiative as the freshly minted head of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, said he was responsible for the branding. He drew the name "Operation Warp Speed" from the terminology scientists were already using internally to describe their efforts, he said, after initially toying with names from Greek and Roman mythology but struggling to find a fitting title. Of efforts to paint the process as overly hasty, Caputo said, "This is a concern that everyone in the operation is taking to heart." A White House spokesman declined to comment. The protests against a possible vaccine extend far beyond the group focused on Pennsylvania. A similar question appeared in a Facebook group dedicated to reopening Arizona, where a user suggested that resisting a vaccine was a reason "to keep this Facebook group strong and going," even as states begin to lift their stay-at-home orders. "Will you take it?" she asked. Among answers spouting debunked theories about the dangers of vaccines, one user weighed in to say she was newly skeptical, in light of how the development process was proceeding. "Although I have been vaccinated myself and vaccinated my kids for the typical childhood diseases (and have no issue with that) the thought of a vaccine being rushed through trial and forced on us makes me very nervous," she wrote. On Twitter, more than three-quarters of posts since Monday using the hashtag #OperationWarpSpeed have pushed conspiracy theories about the effort. Others suggested hydroxychloroquine was a more suitable option, even though the Food and Drug Administration has warned of the antimalarial drug's possible side effects. Trump on Monday said he was taking the drug as a preventive measure, prompting some of his supporters to double down on the unproven drug, which has been linked to increased risk of death for certain patients. "I would take Trump's hydroxychloroquine . . . before I would be vaccinated by the left's new covid-19 vaccine!" read a meme posted Tuesday in a pro-Trump Facebook group with more than 82,000 members. Brad Parscale, who is managing the president's reelection campaign, also touted the drug after the president's revelation about taking it. On Twitter, he shared a news release from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a right-wing group that has lobbied in favor of broader exemptions from inoculation requirements for religious and other beliefs. Its periodical has published reports falsely tying child vaccination to autism and advancing a discredited link between abortion and breast cancer. A spokesman for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Jane Orient, the group's executive director, said AAPS contends that "vaccines should be fully tested and voluntary." Similar views animate an online petition against a mandatory coronavirus vaccine sponsored by LifeSiteNews, a right-wing website that the fact-checking website Snopes calls a "known purveyor of misleading information." The petition, which has racked up nearly half a million signatures, has been posted in some of the largest "reopen" groups on Facebook. Hotez said the activity showed Facebook is not doing enough to weed out dangerous misinformation putting public health at risk. Changes introduced by the technology giant last year were aimed at surfacing authoritative content about vaccines, including by altering what sort of pages and groups appear in the News Feed and search features. Andrea Vallone, a Facebook spokeswoman, pointed to a March news release from Nick Clegg, the company's vice president for global affairs and communications, saying, "We remove COVID-19 related misinformation that could contribute to imminent physical harm." Misinformation about vaccines is still rampant on the platform, said Kolina Koltai, a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington who has been studying anti-vaccine groups on Facebook for five years. She first learned about the coronavirus in January, she said, because the online communities she tracks were already portraying the outbreak as a tool of government control. The conspiracy theories that sow distrust of immunization rely on some well-founded concerns about profit and the role of industry, she said. Moncef Slaoui, a former Moderna executive tapped to lead the White House's vaccine initiative, on Tuesday divested his stock options in the Massachusetts biotechnology company, which a day earlier had announced promising early results from its first human safety tests. Moderna did not respond to a request for comment. "The anti-vaccine movement is really good at drawing people in," Koltai said. "They'll use whatever half-truth or slogan they can to convince people of their conspiracy beliefs." - - - The Washington Post's Carolyn Y. Johnson contributed to this report. Extra funding for farm businesses struggling with the coronavirus pandemic in Northern Ireland is a "lifeline", Stormont minister Edwin Poots has said. The 25m boost for the beef and dairy sectors is the most generous made by any UK or EU administration for agriculture during the emergency, he added. Mr Poots and First Minister Arlene Foster visited Hollowbridge Farm, near Hillsborough in Co Down, yesterday and said the official intervention reflected the deep and complex challenges the industry faced. He said: "We know that with falling demand and prices for beef and dairy products, many farm businesses have been amongst the hardest hit, so the funding I have secured will certainly go some way towards helping the sectors. "This will be a lifeline for many businesses and reflects the Executive's commitment to supporting the sectors." The sector employs 100,000 people and has been badly affected by the shutdown of restaurants during the pandemic. The minister previously warned that a 10% contraction in agriculture represented the loss of 10,000 jobs. He said the red meat industry had been hit because closure of restaurants meant less demand for higher-end cuts of meat. The milk industry had also suffered because people were not drinking milky coffees in cafes. Yesterday, the minister added: "I have vowed to do all I can to support the agriculture industry during these very difficult times." A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking release of 916 foreign nationals, who participated in the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz event and are held in institutional quarantine since March 30 despite being tested negative for COVID-19. The petition, which is likely to come up for hearing on Friday, has challenged a May 9 order of Delhi government's Department of Revenue which had directed for handing over of 567 foreign nationals, presently held in institutional quarantine, to the custody of Delhi Police after being tested negative for the virus. It said the order is ultra vires to the right to equality before law and right to life and liberty. The petition has been filed by 20 of the 916 foreigners saying the continued detention violates the very fabric of liberty. The reason for extreme urgency is that the holy month of Ramadan is going to end and the festival of Eid is coming in another two-three days, if the 916 foreign nationals, including the petitioners are allowed to remain in alleged quarantine all confined and isolated, the same will result into an infringement of their fundamental rights, the petition, filed through advocate Ashima Mandla, said. The plea said FIRs were lodged by the Delhi Police in relation to the Markaz congregation against unknown persons. It said the Delhi government's Revenue Department's order directing for handing over custody of 567 foreign nationals under institutional quarantine to the custody of the Delhi Police, upon being tested negative for Covid-19, is prima facie illegal and untenable in law. After being exposed to a large gathering in March amid the COVID-19 or coronavirus lockdown many members of Tablighi Jamaat from Markaz Hazrat Nizamuddin were taken out by the authorities and lodged in different quarantine centres in Delhi. Some of them were sent to the centres a few days later after being detained from various mosques. In April, COVID-19 cases in Delhi spiked after hundreds of many Tablighi Jamaat members, who had attended a large congregation in Nizamuddin, tested positive. The other members were directly taken to quarantine centres to contain the spread of COVID-19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Michelle Obama hopes her biggest impact in the 2020 election will come at the polls: Not in pushing who Americans should vote for (although shes previously promised to campaign for the Democratic presidential nominee), but by urging them to simply make their voice heard. The former first lady, 56, became a voting activist ahead of the 2018 midterm elections when she launched her When We All Vote initiative and she is looking to elevate the group's impact on the upcoming 2020 elections. On Thursday, the group launched a new coalition of mayors from across the United States who will work together to create and promote ways for Americans to safely and securely their vote in November. Voting is bigger than any one party, one issue, one candidate, or one election, Mrs. Obama told mayors and activists on a Zoom call Thursday afternoon. Weve got to strengthen our democracy from the bottom up and ensure that more Americans participate in every single election, from the local school board to Congress. On the organizing call, to which PEOPLE was given access, Mrs. Obama spoke with 31 Democratic and Republican mayors who are founding members of the "Civic Cities" plan. The mother of two and bestselling author/activist, said the group will continue to push for safe voting policies, including online voter registration, early in-person voting, and vote-by-mail which President Donald Trump has claimed in recent weeks contributes to voter fraud. "No matter what party or ideology, we want everyone to participate, and we need your voices in this with us and your constituents desperately need your leadership," Mrs. Obama told the local leaders on the call. "It's why Im going to keep pushing to help get you what you need to run a safe and fair election." RELATED: An Election Postponed? Historic Mail-in Ballots? What to Know About the Coronavirus and Voting DEREK R. HENKLE/AFP via Getty Elections Chief Inspector Mary Magdalen Moser runs a polling location in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in full hazmat gear as the Wisconsin primary kicks off despite the coronavirus pandemics on April 7, 2020. Story continues KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty A voter casts their ballot in a Democratic presidential primary election at the Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7. Trump himself voted by mail as recently as March when he cast an absentee ballot in the Republican primary elections in Florida. But he has since gone on to try to discredit the method. "Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because theyre cheaters, Trump told reporters ahead of Wisconsin's controversial state primary, which went on last month despite efforts to delay the vote because of safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. The mail ballots are corrupt in my opinion." Despite his own use of mail-in voting, Trump has threatened this week to "hold up" funds to Michigan and Nevada after he claimed, without evidence, that the states "illegally" sent ballots to voters this week. In reality, the states sent applications for voters to use to register for mail-in voting capabilities. RELATED: Michelle Obama's New Project After Bestselling Memoir & Tour: A Voting Rights Push amid Coronavirus Michelle Obama Former First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during an Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Illinois on October 29, 2019. Trump told reporters on Thursday morning that voting by mail is only acceptable if you are sick or if you "live in the White House." "Now, if somebody has to mail it in because theyre sick or, by the way, because they live in the White House and they have to vote in Florida and they wont be in Florida if theres a reason for it, thats okay," Trump, 73, said. "If theres a reason." One gigantic reason looms amid the latest push for mail-in voting access: the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the nation's top voting experts told PEOPLE last month that the coronavirus pandemic poses an unprecedented threat to the November 3 election. Though the experts point out that the election is Constitutional and won't be delayed, it will likely hinder voter turnout as Americans worry about gathering publicly in light of the fast-spreading disease may opt to avoid voting booths out of concern for their own personal health. We dont know what we dont know," Tammy Patrick, a senior advisor to the elections program at the bipartisan Democracy Fund Voice foundation, which focuses on adjusting the U.S. electoral system to face new challenges, told PEOPLE. "Were hearing conflicting information on whether [the coronavirus] is going to come back in the fall, if it goes away at all, and so the issue is that the way in which the November election is conducted needs to be decided now. RELATED: Republicans 'Will Not Be Holding a Virtual Convention' Despite Coronavirus Risks Some states have pushed to implement drive-up voting at local polling places, while others have sought to push for broader use of absentee-voting to give voters another option on how to cast their vote come November if there's still public concern about contracting the COVID-19 illness. In the state's primary last month, Wisconsin Public Radio reported that more 1.2 million people requested absentee ballots amid worry about the pandemic. That was more than double the number of people who opted to do so in the state's 2018 midterms. Only five U.S. states conduct their elections via mail-in voting and 16 states still require a reason (such as an illness or being out of state for work) for a voter to receive an absentee ballot. Betsy Price, the Republican mayor of Fort Worth, Texas, told Mrs. Obama and her 30 mayoral peers on Thursday that voting by mail is a matter of safety, not politics. We want voting to be as safe as humanly possible," Price said. "During this pandemic, we have to take our bully pulpits and ramp up our voices because nobody knows their community better than mayors. Lets get these voters out. Voting is not a partisan issue, nor should it ever be. It does get there sometime, but we simply cant let it not in this critical election and this pandemic. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, click here. More than nine out of 10 teachers and principals have expressed fears about returning to work, according to a survey for a union. Some who responded to the poll for the Ulster Teachers' Union, which represents 6,000 teachers here, said they were considering retirement rather than return to their schools. However, the UTU said teachers were keen to get back to work - although it has to be done safely. The survey was published as the Department of Education set out its plans for a phased restarting of the education system in August. Read More Members were asked to respond regarding their own circumstances, fears and concerns about the Covid-19 situation. The survey of more than 2,500 UTU members, the majority of them working in primary schools, carried out this month found that: 96% of teachers and 98% of principals expressed a degree of concern around returning to school. A quarter (25%) of teachers said they would not be available for work under current Government shielding advice, as well as a third (33.3%) of non-teaching staff. 91% think schools won't be able to adhere to 2m social distancing of children.; 75% of teachers who responded said they have had no discussion with their board of governors about how their school would return to operation after lockdown, and 64% said there had been no discussion with principals. 67% of principals who responded said they were "very concerned" about returning to school. More than 80% said children's temperatures should be regularly tested. 75% of teachers surveyed said they were available for work. Those who said they weren't either had personal health issues or were shielding a vulnerable person. Over 80% of respondents believed gloves and/or masks should be worn by teachers on returning to work. Writing in Friday's Belfast Telegraph, Ulster Teachers' Union president Stephen McCord said: "Although we all want to see children back in class, this will involve a balancing act between their learning and their health and wellbeing, for what happens in schools in terms of the virus will inevitably be reflected in the wider community, in the children's families - in our families. Read More "Young people need to be in class, but not at the expense of health and lives. Too many have been lost already. "The last thing we want is for schools to open too soon or unprepared and then have to close again, throwing families into yet more turmoil. "The collaborative approach the department and the EA [Education Authority] are taking with us will enable us all to be assured that areas of concern are being thoroughly investigated and resolved." The survey also highlighted a range of other issues: Concerns over hygiene and hand-washing facilities. Challenges around overseeing pupils in class while liaising with those working from home online. Children's possible erratic attendance due to symptoms. Concern that children who had been engaging with online learning would come back to school at the earliest opportunity while those who didn't would stay away. One teacher told the survey: "If school budgets are anything to go by currently then staff will not be protected efficiently. "I feel school staff are going to be used as 'guinea pigs' regarding reopening of schools whilst there still is no treatment/vaccine. "Staff sickness is already high in schools and so there will be even more staff shortages which will put even more pressure on those who are in work. Read More "Schools struggle to get enough soap, paper towels at the best of times - there needs to be a severe ramping up of PPE provided for teachers as well as allowing cleaning staff to have appropriate time to deep-clean each classroom effectively." Teachers were also worried about managing hygiene issues, and shared their fears about how difficult they felt it would be for schools and equipment to be kept free from contamination by Covid-19. "Who will ensure surfaces are cleaned regularly?" one teacher asked. "How can we mark work that children are handling safely? "How can we enforce social distancing in dinner hall? "How do we ensure items children bring in from home are virus free, for example school bags, coats, food, homework, pencils, etc?" Yunusa Dahiru, who abducted Ese Oruru, took her to Kano and forced her into marriage, has been sentenced to 26 years imprisonment. Dahiru was sentenced on Thursday by a Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State. Justice Jane Inyang sentenced Dahiru to 26 years in prison in a judgment she delivered on Thursday. Inyang acquitted Dahiru on Count one but jailed him five years (count two), seven years (count three) seven years (count four) and seven years, count five. The sentences, according to the judge, would run concurrently. How she was kidnapped The kidnapping of Ese Oruru, the youngest child of Charles Oruru and Rose Oruru, occurred on 12 August 2015 at her mothers shop in Yenagoa local government area, Bayelsa State. Ese, who was 13 years old at the time, was abducted by a man named Yunusa Dahiru (alias Yellow) and taken to Kano, where she was raped, forcibly Islamized and married off without her parents consent. The conversion and marriage took place in the palace of the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Eses story first caught the attention of media outlets when her parents pleaded with the public for her release. Efforts to return the young teenager to her parents proved futile. However, on 29 February 2016, Ese was reported to have been rescued by Kano State Police and placed in custody of the Nigerian government. She was later revealed to be five months pregnant with her kidnappers child after being released. Various leaders, public figures and youth groups condemned Dahirus actions. Human rights lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, called the incident a clear case of child trafficking and a worse form of corruption. Kano State government denied any involvement and demanded the culprit be prosecuted since the Constitution and Islamic teaching abhor abduction and forced marriage. Chris Hemsworth has invited a Manchester bomb survivor to accompany him to the premiere of his next Thor film. Martin Hibbert was with his daughter when Salman Abedis suicide attack killed 22 people and injured hundreds of others after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 2017. Mr Hibberts spinal cord was severed, leaving him paralysed below the waist, but he has since undergone treatment in Australia, where he became friends with Hemsworth. We were left so inspired by our chat with Manchester bomb survivor @MartinHibbert - and his story has certainly left an impact on @chrishemsworth, who sent him a special message for our interview. #TMS7 pic.twitter.com/baTaaivtsw The Morning Show (@morningshowon7) May 21, 2020 Speaking from Bolton, Mr Hibbert told The Morning Show in Australia: I told him (Hemsworth) my aim is to be walking over the next couple of years, and that we should maybe meet up when he is over in London. His latest Thor film was due out in 2021, so he said if Im walking in 2021, we would walk down the red carpet at Thor 4 in London. So that is a big motivation for me to have that its something to really hold on to. Hemsworth sent a special video message to Mr Hibbert on the show. The time we spent together in Australia was truly inspiring to meet someone who had faced such adversity and such dramatic challenges but to see someone like yourself with such a positive attitude was incredible, the star said. Video of the Day To face the road to recovery with such determination and commitment is absolutely inspiring, the Australian actor said. Youre one of a kind and I cant wait to see you soon when we walk down the red carpet together, mate. Be well, stay strong and speak soon. Mr Hibbert said: Youve brought a tear to my eye. Im going to try to hold it together! Democracy! Now Two Indigenous tribes there, the Cheyenne River Sioux and the Oglala Sioux, established checkpoints on roads leading into their territories, ensuring all those seeking entry onto tribal lands are traveling for an approved, essential reason and dont exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. On May 8, Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, one of only eight governors nationally who refused to issue a stay-at-home order, demanded they remove the checkpoints or face state government intervention. The checkpoints remain in place. The main purpose of these checkpoints is to keep our people safe, Harold Frazier, the elected Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe chairman said Tuesday on the Democracy Now! news hour. With our population, with our lack of medical facilities, we look to our relatives to the south, the Navajo Nation, and see whats going on there. That could easily be us, he added, commenting on the massive COVID-19 outbreak on the Navajo reservation. "Dear President Trump": First Kristi Noem made a legal threat. Now Republican @govkristinoem of #SouthDakota is asking the White House for help in taking down #Coronavirus checkpoints on two reservations. #COVID19 #Sovereignty #HonorTheTreaties https://t.co/I7j8FPVU62 indianz.com (@indianz) May 21, 2020 The Cheyenne River Sioux reservation has eight beds in its clinic, and no Intensive Care Unit. The nearest hospital, in Rapid City, is three hours away. Oglala Sioux Tribe President Julian Bear Runner explained his decision to create checkpoints in a Facebook live video, saying, Governor Noem miscalculates our level of dedication to protect our most vulnerable people from crony capitalism, threats to force us to open our economy as they chose to. There is no way to place a value on what we have to lose if we let them insult us this way. My relatives, we have been here for millions of years. Whatever they brought to our lands has proven to be poison. Governor Noem is a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, and a frequent guest on the rightwing Fox News Channel. Applauding the largely white, heavily-armed groups protesting stay-at-home orders in several state capitals in April, Noem told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, So many people give up their liberties for just a little bit of security and they dont have to do that. Even though South Dakota currently has one of the fastest growing infection rates in the U.S., Noem is promoting a return to normal, risking a surge of COVID-19 deaths. Sioux Falls is home to a massive Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse, where 3,700 workers process close to 20,000 hogs daily. That plant became the most intense COVID-19 hotspot in the country. Indianz.Com Live with Kevin Abourezk: An Interview with Bryan Brewer from 'Checkpoint Batesland' Of the states 3,723 confirmed positive cases and 39 deaths, 3,017 of them and 34 of the deaths are from Minnehaha County, home to Sioux Falls and the Smithfield meatpacking plant. Gov. Noem rejected pleas from local elected officials, workers and union leaders to close the plant, relenting only when the outbreak became too huge to ignore. Then, on April 28th, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the wartime Defense Production Act, preventing state and local governments from closing meatpacking plants. The Smithfield plant reopened on May 7th. The number of coronavirus infections is still climbing. Our Back to Normal plan doesnt include new government programs, more red tape, proscriptive phases, tight controls, or anything of the like, Noem said in a statement. Our plan continues to put the power of decision-making into the hands of the people where it belongs. Noems stalwart defense of liberty, however, stops at the reservation boundaries. She supports armed white vigilantes who threaten Democratic governors in states like Wisconsin. But if Native Americans dare to protect public health on their sovereign territory, Gov. Kristi Noem suddenly becomes a fan of Big Government. We've been working for weeks to find a solution to the tribal checkpoints issue that respects both tribal and state sovereignty while following federal law. Unfortunately, the tribes have continued to operate checkpoints on State and US highways. (1/6) Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) May 20, 2020 The checkpoints work, by the way. One person stopped responded that they had been in a known COVID-19 hotspot, which tribal authorities duly noted. Not long after, she reported feeling ill, and within eight hours had a positive COVID-19 test result. Tribal health officials performed rapid contact tracing and quarantined those who had been near the infected individual. The data collection at the checkpoint expedited the response and, hopefully, prevented further spread of the virus. The Ogala Sioux have just reported their first case this week, and immediately imposed a reservation-wide, one day curfew. These two tribes, part of the Oceti Sakowin people, are no strangers to the depredations of white settlers. The love of possessions is a disease in them, Sitting Bull observed in 1877. They claim this mother of ours, the Earth, for their own use, and fence their neighbors away from her, and deface her with their buildings and their refuseAll this is sacrilege. The Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux are doing all they can to stop the coronavirus from impacting their reservations. Their efforts at self-protection and mutual aid themselves are spreading, however. The Omaha Nation, not far to the south in Nebraska, has just established check points of its own. Good morning relatives! The Omaha Tribe has began conducting checkpoints as of today 5/07/2020. The checkpoints will be... Posted by Omaha Tribe of Nebraska on Thursday, May 7, 2020 This article originally appeared on Democracy Now! on May 14, 2020. The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License Join the Conversation A 'violent thug' with a machine gun tattooed on his forehead has been arrested on suspicion of murder, after allegedly shooting dead his male lover in a row over sex photos. Deputies responding to a 911 call on the 3000 block of 25th Street Southwest in Lehigh Acres, Florida, discovered the victim's body laying in his front yard with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers have since arrested Benjamin Austin Paige, 22, on suspicion of second-degree murder. The victim has been named by family members as Terence Brown, local media Winknews said. Paige's (left) arrest comes just four months after he was released from a nearly four-year prison stint in January on weapons charges. Terence Brown (pictured right) was found dead in his front yard on Sunday, deputies said During a press briefing on Wednesday, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno described Paige as a 'violent thug' and ex-convict. Paige had been allegedly communicating with Brown through social media for around a week and the pair were 'sexually involved', Marceno said. Paige's arrest was caught on camera as armed officers frogmarched him into custody Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno (above) described Paige as a 'violent thug' and ex-convict, and claimed he 'became angry over the victim's refusal to delete sexually explicit images between the two' It is claimed Paige 'became angry over the victim's refusal to delete sexually explicit images between the two'. The gunshots were allegedly fired when Brown went to leave his home to meet an acquaintance. Paige's mugshot shows a heavily-tattooed face and neck, including an angel pointing a machine gun toward his left eye with the word 'BANG' exploding out of it. He also has two firearms tattooed on his right cheek and black teardrops under each eye - widely recognized as symbolic of a spell behind bars. Terence Brown's Facebook page is filled with photos of him wearing flamboyant make up, as above. He was a part time cosmetology student and self-taught freelance makeup artist, according to his Youtube Channel, where he uploaded makeup tutorials Victim Terence Brown's Facebook page says he was single and studied at Tallahassee Community College TCC. He was a part time cosmetology student and self-taught freelance makeup artist, according to his Youtube Channel, where he uploaded flamboyant tutorials. Brown had posted a heartfelt tribute to his grandfather and said 'I am always going to blessed and succeed in whatever I do' just days before his murder. Paige is no stranger to law enforcement, Mercano said. His arrest comes just four months after he was released from a nearly four-year prison stint in January on weapons charges. He has a string of other arrests in Charlotte County that date back to 2011, including charges of theft, drugs, weapons and burglary, Fort Myers News Press reported. The 22-year-old also faced drug and loitering charges in April, though those were later dropped, YourSun said. Paige will now be transferred to Lee County to face charges of second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, Marceno added. Second-degree murder differs only from first-degree murder in that it is not deemed to be premeditated or planned in advance, and carries a prison sentence of life without parole. Death Angel drummer Will Carroll says he went to hell and 'met Satan' while in a coma fighting coronavirus. The heavy metal rocker, 47, tested positive to COVID-19 in mid-March after he returned home to San Francisco following a tour in Europe. On March 18, he was rushed to California Pacific Medical Center where he was hooked up to a ventilator and placed into an induced coma when doctors discovered liters of fluid in his lungs. Carroll spent the next 12 days comatose, during which time 'he saw himself leave his body and plummet down to hell, where Satan punished him for the deadly sin of sloth'. He told The San Francisco Chronicle that the female devil 'morphed him into a Jabba the Hutt-like-monster who vomited blood until he had a heart attack'. The experience has prompted the musician to re-evaluate his life. He says he has adopted a belief in a 'higher power' and has now given up hard alcohol and 'bong rips'. 'I don't think Satan's quite as cool as I used to,' the Death Angel drummer stated. Death Angel drummer Will Carroll says he went to hell and 'met Satan' while in a coma fighting COVID-19 in March Caroll (pictured center) is the drummer in heavy metal band Death Angel. The group toured Europe in February and March, which is where Carroll believes he contracted the coronavirus Carroll's treating doctors told The San Francisco Chronicle that they 'chemically paralyzed' the drummer so his body could handle being on a ventilator. The star's 'heart failed during the first few days because the medication needed to keep him on a ventilator was so taxing on his body.' The doctors treated him with hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir and flipped him onto his stomach for 18 hours a day in order to improve oxygen flow throughout his body. He was finally able to come out of the coma and off the ventilator on March 30. 'I don't think Satan's quite as cool as I used to': Carroll says his coronavirus battle has forced him to reevaluate his life The rocker was treated at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He was one of the facility's first critically-ill coronavirus patients 'I woke up on the hospital bed with tubes coming in and out of me, and there was a nurse right there and my first words were, "Am I still in hell?" She ignored me,' he told The San Francisco Chronicle. In the six weeks since, Carroll has completely changed his life. He says he will no longer smoke marijuana or indulge in hard alcohol - although he will continue to eat edibles and occasionally drink ciders. 'I'm still going to listen to satanic metal, and I still love Deicide and bands like that,' he stated. '[But] as far as for my personal life and my experience of what I went through, I don't think Satan's quite as cool as I used to.' He says he now also believes in 'a God' following his near death experience, because 'he feels the prayers from his family and friends helped him pull through.' Carroll was one of the first critically-ill coronavirus patients to be treated at California Pacific Medical Center. In the months since, the virus has infected thousands more people across San Francisco. As of Thursday morning, more than 1.5 million Americans have tested positive to COVID-19 throughout the country. This situation shows that Taiwan has been accepted as a full fledged country all over the world , though U N O denied membership to it. by N.S.Venkataraman While W.H.O is the wing of the U N O, there is subtle difference between the functioning style of W.H.O and expectations from it. U N O is essentially a politically tinted organization with membership for some countries being denied in U N O due to political reasons. For example, Taiwan is not a member of U.N.O. since China claims that Taiwan is part of China and China would seriously object , if Taiwan would be given membership of U N O. President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan Obviously, membership of U N O is being denied to some countries in view of the objections from powerful country. Several decades back, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. After the bitter war, Bangladesh declared itself to be an independent country and was admitted as member of U N O. Pakistan could not prevent Bangladesh from becoming a full fledged member of U N O since Pakistan is a weak country. Later on, Pakistan itself recognized Bangladesh as a matter of inevitability. After a bitter internal war in China several decades back, the mainland China was occupied by rebels and Taiwan was split from mainland China. While present Chinese government claims that Taiwan should be part of China, the government of Taiwan claims that it has been evicted from mainland China unjustifiably and mainland China should be part of it. Which is correct in this scenario? While Taiwan has been denied membership of U N O due to objection from mainland China, almost every country in the world has trade and business relations with Taiwan including the Chinese government. Many industries from Taiwan have invested in mainland China and Chinese government has no objection to it. This situation shows that Taiwan has been accepted as a full fledged country all over the world , though U N O denied membership to it. W.H.O is founded with the objective of protecting the health of the world community, covering all citizens of the world. Therefore, W.H.O should represent the interest of every member of the world community, whether the community belongs to a country admitted in U. N.O or not or even stateless persons. For example, W.H.O is extremely concerned about the health issues of Rohingya refugees, though they are deemed to be stateless persons as of now, as they are refugees who have run out of Myanmar and staying in Bangladesh territory. without anyone knowing as to whether they would go back to Myanmar at any time or would permanently stay in Bangladesh, even without being given citizenship in Bangladesh , which mean that they should be deemed as stateless persons. When W.H.O expresses concern about the health issues of Myanmar refugees, is it right for W.H.O to keep its eyes closed with regard to Taiwan ? As a world organization, it is the responsibility of W.H.O to monitor the health of world community, W.H.O cannot deny admission to any country in the world and it should not follow the practice of U N O, which is a politically tinted organization. W H O should not buckle under the pressure of Chinese government to keep Taiwan out of W H O. If W H O were to continue this practice, it would mean that W H O would not represent the world community in toto. At present , Taiwan is a well advanced country with strong technology background and it is very well evident from the fact that Taiwan pointed out the impending COVID 19 crisis quite early and brought it to the attention of W.H.O. If W.H.O had listened to Taiwans voice and heeded to its warning about the COVID 19, probably , the world could have been saved from the loss of thousands of lives and serious economic slow down that is confronting the world due to COVID 19 at present. Whatever may be the political relationship between Chinese government and Taiwan, there is no need for W.H.O to take note of it or being concerned about it. W. H. O has the responsibility to protect the health interests of the entire world community and the citizens of Taiwan are part of the world community. By excluding Taiwan from membership, W. H. O remains as an incomplete and flawed organization. Santander Consumer Bank, the Belgian branch of the bank, had a misconfiguration in its blog domain that was allowing its files to be indexed. Our new research recently discovered a security issue with Santander, the 5th largest bank in Europe and the 16th largest in the world. This Spanish multinational bank controls approximately $1.4 trillion in total assets globally, and has a $69.9 billion total market capitalization on the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Our analysts found that the Belgian branch, Santander Consumer Bank, has a misconfiguration in its blog domain, allowing its files to be indexed. When we looked through these files, we were able to see sensitive information, including an SQL dump and JSON file that can be used by hackers to potentially phish Santanders bank customers. We contacted Santander immediately when we discovered the misconfiguration on April 15. Representatives from the leading European bank responded to our emails and seem to have fixed the issue, as we are presently unable to access the information. A Santander Consumer spokesperson said: The incident highlighted relates specifically to the Santander Consumer Bank Belgium blog only. The blog contains only public information and articles, and therefore no customer data or critical information from the blog has been compromised. Our security team has already fixed the issue to ensure the blog is secure. What exactly is wrong with the Santander website? When we visited the Santander blog on its Belgian domain, we noticed that the www endpoint of the blog subdomain had a misconfiguration that allowed all of its files to be indexed by search engines Included in these indexed files was an important info.json file that seemed to contain its Cloudfront API keys. Cloudfront is a Content Display Network (CDN) created by Amazon. Websites use CDNs to host large files, such as videos, PDFs, large images and other static content, that would normally slow down their own websites. Because these large files are hosted on the CDNs instead, websites are faster for users. If a hacker were to get a hold of Santanders apparent Cloudfront API keys, they would be able to switch out the content hosted on Cloudfront with any other content. For example, if a PDF or Word document was hosted on Cloudfront, and this document contained sensitive information such as what accounts a customer should send money to then the hacker would be able to switch that document out with their own version. In that way, theyd be able to change the real account number to his own, and thereby steal the customers money. If a static HTML file was hosted, then the hacker would be able to switch that out with an entire webpage, allowing them to create a phishing page to steal the users financial information, all while on Santanders official Belgian domain. How to protect yourself On April 15, we notified Santanders Belgian website of the misconfiguration, and on April 24 they responded and seem to have fixed the issue. Their CyberSecurity Team stated: We take cyber security seriously and strive to maintain the highest security standards and best practices and welcome responsible disclosure attitudes in security researchers. When we checked for the misconfiguration again on April 27, we received the following message: Forbidden You dont have permission to access this resource. For Santanders customers, as well as all other banking customers, wed recommend that you always check the domain and subdomain that a suspicious bank email is sending you to. Make sure that the domain is the banks real domain, but also know that important financial information requests would never be hosted on the blog subdomain of a bank. Editors note: this article was updated on May 19 to reflect new information in collaboration with BitSight that the keys may not have been active Cloudfront API keys at the time of our discovery. Original post: https://cybernews.com/security/one-of-biggest-european-banks-leaking-sensitive-data-on-website/ About the author: Bernard Meyer Bernard Meyer is the Senior Researcher at CyberNews. He has a strong passion for security in popular software, maximizing privacy online, and keeping an eye on governments and corporations. Hes been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Wired, Mirror, TechRadar and more. You can usually find him on Twitter arguing with someone about something moderately important. Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs Santander, hacking) Beirut (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Thursday of a worsening crisis in northeast Syria, where water cuts, food shortages and depleted health services are proving as dangerous as coronavirus. Home to sprawling displacement camps hosting tens of thousands of people, including families of Islamic State group members, the Kurdish-held northeast has been hard hit by nine years of war. A COVID-19 outbreak, which the United Nations says has infected six people and killed one in the region, has only added to a litany of challenges in the area, the ICRC said. "For millions of people in northeast Syria, consequences of fighting, shortages of water, food and medicine, a lack of electricity, the economic downturn with job losses and price hikes are as much of a worry as coronavirus," said Karim Mahmoud, ICRC office head in the city of Hasakeh. Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC's regional director, said "there's a risk that profound crises will worsen, hidden in plain sight, while the world's attention is on" the COVID-19 pandemic. Under pressure from Russia, the UN Security Council in January reduced the number of border crossings authorised to deliver humanitarian aid to northern Syria from four to two, both on the Turkish frontier. The Yarubiya entry point on the Iraqi border, used mainly to deliver UN-funded medical aid to the northeast, was one of those scrapped, causing an aid shortage. Only one out of 16 hospitals is fully functioning, while eight are partially operational and seven are out of commission, the ICRC said. Over 50 percent of the local population in northeast Syria is believed to be food insecure, which means they consume less than 2,100 calories a day, the World Food Programme says. That high proportion was "due to the heavy fighting that took place in this part of Syria over the past few years," said WFP spokeswoman Jessica Lawson. Kurdish-led fighters for years battled IS, before Turkey and its Syrian proxies seized Kurdish areas on the Syrian side of the border last year. "Many households were displaced a number of times and frequently most of their belongings have been destroyed or looted, heavily affecting livelihoods in the area," Lawson said. Venezuelas military will escort Iranian tankers delivering fuel to the gasoline-starved nation as soon as they enter the South American countrys exclusive economic zone, defense minister Vladimir Padrino said. When they enter our exclusive economic zone, they will be escorted by Bolivarian National Armed Forces boats and planes to welcome them in and thank the Iranian people for their solidarity and cooperation, Padrino said on state television, adding that the government was in touch with Irans defense minister. His comments came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said the shipment should alarm Latin America. Both OPEC members are U.S. adversaries whose oil industries are under U.S. sanctions. Trump administration officials say Washington is considering a response to the shipment, Reuters reported. The tankers - Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon and Clavel - are carrying around 1.5 million barrels of fuel, and passed the Suez Canal in the first two weeks of May, Refinitiv Eikon data show. They are expected to arrive in Venezuela between late May and early June. Her third owner, an Iraqi surgeon, woke her one night and had her dress and put on makeup so four Saudi men could inspect her. One didnt like her ankles; another, a member of the IS religious police, paid nearly $6,000 for her. That owner posted pictures of his slaves online and, every day, they were paraded before potential buyers. It was like a fashion show. We would walk up and down a room filled with men who are checking us out, Taloo said. With each owner, she fought to keep her children safe. One man took photos of her then-2-year-old daughter, threatening to sell her to an Iraqi woman who couldnt have children. IS was known to separate children from their mothers, using them as household slaves or child soldiers, changing their names and forcing them to convert to Islam. One owner forced Taloo to have a baby then changed his mind and forced her to have an abortion. He also forced her to remove a tattoo she engraved on her skin carrying her husbands name. Another owner forced her to use contraceptives. A third owner got her pregnant and she forced her own abortion. The uncertainty over holding online examination of various undergraduate and postgraduate courses has upset the students of Kashmir University, who in protest, have decided to boycott the online classes. The students have written to the vice-chancellor demanding the university to follow the recommendation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding the examination. In wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UGC had recommended that the university exams should be conducted for final semesters only, while the students in intermediate semesters should be graded based on an internal assessment of the present and previous semesters. The varsity has failed to implement the UGC guidelines for conducting examinations so we have decided to boycott the online classes from Thursday onward, said Syed Ahtisham Qadri, a spokesperson at Kashmir University Students Committee (KUSC). He said, The university is yet to take a call on the examination schedule as we are already running behind the schedule. Even the postgraduate students of 2018-2019 batch had only appeared in their lone semester examinations to date. The letter to the VC further stated, The students are not demanding mass promotion but evaluation as per the UGC protocol that is based on the internal assessment and previous records only. The students in the letter also demanded fee concession for this year due to the hardships faced by them due to the coronavirus enforced lockdown. There will be no filling up of any online examination forms until the current situation is over. There are many students who cant afford the telecom charges to hold the online classes, the letter stated adding that the varsity has been giving too many assignments to students hence putting extra burden on them. Dean Academics Affairs Kashmir University, Akbar Masood said that the varsity has not yet taken a call on conducting exams. Currently, we are holding online classes and monitoring the situation, he said. Students of Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) Awantipora and Central University of Kashmir (CUIK) Srinagar have raised similar demands asking the authorities to conduct the examination of various courses at the earliest. In a private phone call with House Republicans Wednesday afternoon, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, vowed that Republicans would clean up the Democrats crazy policy that is paying people more to remain unemployed than they would earn if they went back to work. Democrats have repeatedly slammed Republicans for what Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, referred to on Thursday as a staggering level of inaction on coronavirus legislation. The Atlantic lays off 17 percent of its staff. The Atlantic will lay off 68 workers across events, sales, and editorial, David G. Bradley, the chairman of Atlantic Media, said in a staff email on Thursday, as the publication struggles with the same forces mostly a drop in digital advertising that have affected tens of thousands of jobs in news media during the coronavirus crisis even as it has experienced a sharp rise in subscribers. Those laid off represent 17 percent of the total staff, The Atlantic said in a statement. Executives will have their pay cut, and there will be general pay freezes. A long-term strategic pivot to a business model that relies predominantly on reader revenue, Mr. Bradley said, is accelerated and made necessary by the overnight and near-complete undoing of in-person events and, for now, a bracing decline in advertising. The Atlantic instituted an online paywall last year, and has since added 160,000 new subscribers, Mr. Bradley said. More than 90,000 of those have been added since March. The magazine, which is 163 years old and was once edited by Ralph Waldo Emerson, has drawn widespread praise for its coverage of the pandemic. Three years ago, Mr. Bradley sold a majority stake in Atlantic Media to Emerson Collective, the organization founded by the billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs. RALEIGH, N.C., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marius Pharmaceuticals announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued two key patents related to its lead asset, Kyzatrex*. Kyzatrex is an oral Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) that uses an innovative formulation to improve effectiveness and safety. These allowed claims will provide strong IP protection to December 2030, over 8 years of potential commercial runway. They supplement Marius Pharmaceuticals already robust global patent portfolio for Kyzatrex, which includes granted patents in the European Union, Canada, China, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand and other key markets, and pending applications in India, and US. Marius Pharmaceuticals patent portfolio includes filings that extend protection to 2033, with the potential to extend protection out to 2040. The allowed claims protect Kyzatrex, an innovative formulation designed to increase bioavailability and provide a favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) profile compared to other therapeutic alternatives. Om Dhingra, Chief Executive Officer of Marius commented This innovation is truly exceptional as we have created a formulation with a unique PK profile which we believe drives important clinical significance. Marius Pharmaceuticals Chief Financial Officer Shalin Shah said We are very pleased to strengthen the intellectual property portfolio for Kyzatrex and excited that it has tremendous potential to be differentiated and unique option in the TRT space. We are also drawing a line in the sand between a new treatment paradigm and old testosterone therapies. Marius Pharmaceuticals has recently completed its pivotal Phase 3 study for Kyzatrex and intends to submit its New Drug Application (NDA) to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). About Kyzatrex Kyzatrex is an experimental therapy for the treatment of primary and secondary hypogonadism (congenital or acquired). Testosterone is a crucial hormone that plays key roles in human growth and development and a wide range of other functions including metabolic and cardiovascular. Sources estimate that 15 million men in the United States suffer from hypogonadism, but only approximately 10% are currently treated. The co-morbidities of men suffering from hypogonadism are also a significant burden on patients and the healthcare system, these include Type 2 Diabetes and other serious chronic conditions. Story continues Current marketed treatments are dominated by painful injections and messy topical applications with transference risk. Kyzatrex is an orally administered therapy, which avoids those drawbacks. Market research points to 93% of patients indicating they would ask their physician about Kyzatrex and more than half would consider a switch from their current regimen. About Marius Pharmaceuticals Marius pharmaceuticals is a cutting-edge biopharma company focusing on treating widespread conditions that have been triggered primarily through Androgen deficiency. Our pipeline consists of assets focused on inflammation while our commercial arm is at the forefront of data science technologies core to our commercialization of our lead asset Kyzatrex. *Kyzatrex is a tentative Tradename currently under review with the FDA The president is being criticised for tweeting on 9 March that 'nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on': Getty Donald Trump has ordered the US withdrawal from a three-decade-old arms control treaty that allows countries to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over each others territory, blaming Russia for failing to stick to the agreement. Russia and us have developed a very good relationship, but Russia didnt adhere to the treaty. So until they adhere, we will pull out," the president said. He added that there was "a very good chance" a new agreement would be forged, without providing further details. The Open Skies treaty was signed in 1992 in an effort to promote trust and avert conflict between nations by allowing overflights to monitor signs of military activity and build-up. Some 35 nations are signatories, including Russia, Canada and the United Kingdom. But US officials have long complained that Russia has not fully complied with the agreement and Mr Trump has made the decision to withdraw, according to the New York Times. Officials said the same information could be gleaned from satellite imagery at a lower cost. The withdrawal marks the third time Mr Trump has ended major arms control agreements with other world powers since taking office, despite opposition from Washingtons European and Nato allies, who have argued that leaving the agreement would harm global security and threaten other such pacts. In 2018, Mr Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement, an international deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama which aimed to limit Tehrans ability to acquire nuclear weapons. Last year, he withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty. The Open Skies treaty was initially proposed by Dwight Eisenhower in 1955. It was finally signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002. Explaining the decision to withdraw from the agreement, senior US officials told the Associated Press that Russia had restricted flights over Moscow and Chechnya. They claim Russia had also made it difficult to monitor major military exercises and an important nuclear site, according to the New York Times. The officials also claimed that Russia has been using its own overflights of American and European territory to identify critical US infrastructure for potential attack in a time of war. Story continues General Michael Hayden, who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency between 2006 and 2009, criticised the decision on Twitter, writing: This is insane. Samantha Power, former US ambassador to the United Nations in the Obama administration, said the decision further chips away at decades of arms control progress. Mr Trumps decision to abandon Open Skies may signal that he will soon also withdraw from the New START treaty with Russia, which limits the number of nuclear weapons each country can have to 1,550. That agreement lapses in February. The man who filmed Ahmaud Arbery's shooting has been arrested on charges including murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday. William 'Roddie' Bryan Jr., 50, was arrested on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, officials announced. No other details were given and a press conference is scheduled for Friday. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis McMichael, 34, were charged this month with murder and aggravated assault for the shooting death of unarmed Arbery, 25, in Brunswick, Georgia, on February 23. Bryan, a neighbor of the McMichaels, watched and shot the footage of the attack. It was his cellphone footage that exposed the brutal killing of the jogger. He will be booked into the Glynn County Jail. Ben Crump, an attorney for the victim's family, had already called for Bryan's arrest for aiding and abetting the McMichaels in Arbery's murder. 'This is William 'Roddie' Bryan who we believe may have been the third person in pursuit of #AhmaudArbery. If he chased down Ahmaud and filmed his execution, he should be arrested and charged with aiding and abetting them in committing this crime of murder. #RunWithMaud,' Crump wrote in a Twitter. Pictured: William 'Roddie' Bryan, a neighbor of the father and son who killed Ahmaud Arbery, who filmed the shooting in Satilla Shores, Georgia Ahmaud Arbery, pictured, was killed February 23; a white father and son told police they pursued him in their truck because they suspected him of being a burglar Bryan lives just a few houses away from the McMichaels, close to where the killing took place. He has said he was only a 'witness' and not an accomplice in the shooting. The killers evaded prosecution for more than two months, after the father and son team initially claimed they thought Arbery was a burglar after a spate of thefts in the area, and that he attacked them when they tried to make a citizen's arrest. But shocking cellphone footage - taken by Bryan - was leaked months later, showing the two men chasing and gunning down the victim in the street. The lawyer for Arbery's family said the 25-year-old was chased for four minutes before being gunned down. Gregory (left) and Travis McMichael (right) have both been charged with murder and aggravated assault over the February 23 shooting of Ahmaud Arbery The harrowing video showed the men 'ambushing' Arbery as he tried to run past their pickup truck. The leak of the video sparked outrage across the nation with LeBron James, Justin Bieber and Kendall Jenner all leading cries for the McMichaels to be charged with murder. Arbery's mother, in an interview with Dr. Phil, hit out at Bryan. Wanda Cooper Cooper said she wants 'all hands' involved 'to be prosecuted to the highest', telling Dr Phil she 'strongly believes' Bryan was involved. Harrowing video showed the men 'ambushing' Arbery as he tried to run past their pickup truck Bryan's attorney Kevin Gough has previously denied claims his client was armed at the time of the killing and insisted he is 'not a vigilante'. Bryan claimed there had been a 'number of crimes in the neighborhood in recent weeks - despite cops saying there were no burglaries reported in the two months leading up to the young man's death. Gough also said the shooting simply 'start[ed] happening in front of him' and Bryan had handed over the footage to police 'immediately' after the incident. He told Weekend TODAY Bryan had arrived at the scene after he saw Arbery running through the neighborhood and being pursued by the McMichaels in their truck. 'He was in his yard and this just starts happening in front of him,' said Gough. 'He gets in his car and is trying to document that.' Exclusive photos show the moment Gregory McMichael (pictured) and his son Travis McMichael were arrested at their home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Thursday An officer with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is seen leading 34-year-old Travis McMichael out of the home in handcuffs When asked why Bryan followed and filmed the attack, his attorney said 'he was trying to get [Arbery's] picture... because there had been a number of crimes in this neighborhood and he didn't recognize him and a vehicle that he did recognize was following him.' 'From day one Mr Bryan has fully cooperated with law enforcement officers investigating this matter,' he said in the First Coast News footage. Gough said Bryan handed the cellphone footage to police as soon as officers arrived on the scene. Bryan 'disclosed the existence of the videotape and invited a responding Glynn County police officer to sit with him in his truck where they watched the video together,' Gough said. 'Mr Bryan went home and came back out to the crime scene shortly after at the request of law enforcement to further assist them and then later Mr Bryan voluntarily went to the Glynn County Police Department where he answered all the questions they had for him without a lawyer during a lengthy interview.' Ahmaud Arbery and his mother Wanda Cooper Jones. Bryan may also face arrest for his part in the shooting after he watched and shot the footage of the attack, authorities said Friday Gough branded reports that Bryan had a firearm with him when he arrived on the scene 'irresponsible' and insisted he was 'unarmed'. He said the 'family man' 'does not understand' why he is being investigated over the shooting. 'Despite his cooperation and for reasons he does not understand Mr Bryan has learned the family and apparently their lawyers are demanding he be arrested,' said Gough. 'He is not and never has been a vigilante.' The attorney who leaked the footage shot by Bryan to the press said he did it because he believed it would clear the McMichaels of any crime. Attorney Alan Tucker told Inside Edition that he was a close friend of the two men charged with Arbery's murder. 'I really thought releasing the video would put the truth out to the public,' Tucker stated. 'If he [Arbery] had just froze and hadn't done anything, then he wouldn't have been shot.' Arbery is pictured right with his mom Wanda Jones, The lawyer for Ahmaud Arbery's family said the 25-year-old was chased for four minutes before being gunned down However after the video was uploaded to the internet it quickly went viral and sparked nationwide outrage. Gregory McMichael retired last year after more than two decades as an investigator for the local prosecutor's office. Because of those ties, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case. Two outside prosecutors assigned the case have also stepped aside. The McMichaels weren't arrested until May 7, after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the shooting investigation from Glynn County police. Soon after the GBI's involvement was announced, a Brunswick attorney with access to the shooting video released it to a local radio station and copies soon proliferated online. The McMichaels remain jailed in Glynn County waiting for a preliminary court hearing and for a judge to decide whether to free them on bond pending trial. Attorneys for the father and son have urged people not to rush to judgment in the case. Rich with eggs, cream, bacon, and cheese, this savory French tart is a classic for a reason With a buttery crust and silky custard filling, full of cheese and studded with bits of smoky bacon, the quiche Lorraine is classic French cooking at its best. Born in the historical Alsace-Lorraine region of northeastern France, this savory tart is today one of the cuisines most highly sought-after recipes. But like many popular European dishes, it began as humble peasant food. Its said that local bakers used to test the temperature of their ovens by throwing a disk of bread dough inside and seeing how long it took to bake. To not waste anything, the baked test-bread would then be topped with a mixture known as migaine, made from eggs, milk, and cream, and speckled with dots of butter, then placed back in the oven to finish cooking. The finished result was an early version of quiche Lorraine. In the early 19th century, local home cooks and chefs began substituting the butter with bits of smoked bacon, giving the quiche Lorraine its signature salty bite. In 1871, after the Franco-German War, the Alsace-Lorraine territory was ceded by France to Germany, pushing a part of the local population to migrate to Paris and other French cities. Alsatians brought with them their culture and local recipes, including the quiche Lorraine, contributing to building its national popularity. Today, the quiche Lorraine is a cornerstone of the classical French repertoireso much so that a special organization exists to protect and promote its traditional recipe. According to the Syndicat National de Defense et de Promotion de lAuthentique Quiche Lorraine (National Society for the Protection and Promotion of the Authentic Quiche Lorraine), an authentic quiche Lorraine may contain only shortcrust pastry, eggs, bacon, creme fraiche, pepper, and nutmeg. Modern takes on the quiche Lorraine sometimes use milk as a lighter substitute for creme fraiche, and we often add cheese as well. I opt for a combination of both milk and creamyou cant skip out on good old creme fraiche, in my opinionso that the filling isnt too heavy but still tastes rich and creamy. Good quality Swiss cheese provides the final touch. Essentials of a Quiche Lorraine This recipe is a home cooks favorite, as its an all-in-one-meal thats a welcome addition to any table, be it for brunch, lunch, or dinner. Bonus points if you make the pie crust from scratch! If you are new to making quiches, know that there is nothing to be afraid of here. A quiche simply consists of a crust encasing a savory custard made of egg, cream, and extra fixingsnamely, bacon and cheese, in the case of a quiche Lorraine. There are no difficult techniques or special skill sets involved; success relies more on the choice of good ingredients, and how to properly prepare them before you start assembling the quiche. The Crust Make your own crust, if you have the time. Although you can use a store-bought pie crust for convenience, making your pie crust from scratch will go a long way. My recipe only takes about 15 minutes to make, and guarantees a flaky, buttery crust that will be the perfect vessel for the creamy custard. The Bacon (Sticks) In France, home cooks commonly make quiche Lorraine with lardons, pieces of thick, smoked bacon cut into matchsticks. Lardons can be found in any grocery store in France, and are popular in French cooking as they are convenient to use and packed with flavor. But for some reason, they are much harder to find in North America, where large bacon strips are more common. So to make your own lardons, simply slice thick-cut bacon or pancetta into 1/4-inch-thick sticks, then cook them slowly over medium heat until most of their fat has been rendered out. But dont go overboardyou want your lardons to be cooked but still with a tender bite, not as crisp as bacon bits. The Creme FraicheNot Sour Cream Do not mistake French creme fraiche for sour cream. In France, creme fraiche is made from unpasteurized cream that naturally contains bacteria to sour and thicken it. In North America, due to different health regulations, the cream is pasteurized, so a bacterial culture must be added to sour ita similar process to sour cream. But compared to sour cream, creme fraiche has a higher fat content (30 to 45 percent), and tastes richer and less sour. Sometimes, the two ingredients are interchangeableif you plan on using them uncooked to top off a baked potato, for instance. But since sour cream has less fat and more protein, it is less stable than creme fraiche when heated and can curdle. For quiche Lorraine, using creme fraiche ensures that the filling will be smooth and creamy, and wont separate when baking. The Cheese Be sure to use a hard Swiss-made cheese such as Gruyere or Emmental, both of which should bear an AOP (Appellation dOrigine Protegee) seal. This sign on the label shows that the cheese was made according to strict government-mandated rules and quality standards. Both cheeses are subtly salty with lovely nutty notes. They are pricier than cheddar, but well worth it as the finishing touch to a quiche Lorraine. Classic Quiche Lorraine The amount of filling in this recipe is just right for a shallow 9-inch tart pan. Do not fill the crust to the rim; the filling will puff up as it bakes, and then deflate slightly as it cools down. It is best to use a tart pan with a removable bottom, which will support the crust when you lift out your tart. Quiche Lorraine can be enjoyed hot from the oven or served in cold slices. It also freezes very well, and can be quickly reheated in the oven. Serve it for brunch, lunch, dinner, or anytime in between. It is especially good paired with a fresh green salad. Makes one 9-inch quiche For the pie crust: 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup (150g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 4 tablespoons cold water For the filling: 6 ounces bacon, cut into 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese 4 large eggs 1/2 cup creme fraiche 1/2 cup whole milk 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Pinch of grated nutmeg To make the crust: Mix the flour, salt, and butter with your fingers in a large bowl, or pulse in a food processor, until you get a crumbly consistency, with pea-size bits of butter still visible. Mix the flour, salt, and butter with your fingers until crumbly. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix until the dough roughly comes together into a ball; do not overmix. Add a few more splashes of water if you feel the dough is too crumbly and dry. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Add the water and mix until the dough roughly comes together; do not overmix. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Grease and flour a 9-inch tart pan. Transfer the dough onto a floured working surface and roll it out to a 12-inch circle. Roll out the dough. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Transfer the crust to the tart pan. Cut any excess crust that hangs over the edges, and poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork (to prevent it from puffing up when baking) Transfer the crust to the tart pan. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Trim the excess crust and tuck in the edges. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle. In a frying pan, fry the bacon strips for 3 minutes, until just cooked (but not too brown). Drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Scatter a third of the bacon and a third of the shredded cheese evenly onto the pastry crust. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, creme fraiche, whole milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add another third of the bacon and another third of the shredded cheese into the mixture. Pour the mixture into the crust. Sprinkle the top evenly with the rest of the bacon and cheese. Fill the crust with the custard mixture, bacon, and cheese. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the crust is beginning to turn golden. The middle of the filling will be slightly wobbly and puffy, and will firm up and deflate as it cools down. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Bake until the crust begins to brown, and the middle of the filling is still slightly wobbly. (Photo by Audrey Le Goff) Audrey Le Goff is a French food writer, photographer, and creator of the food blog Pardon Your French, where she shares recipes and stories from her beloved home country, France. She is the author of the cookbook Rustic French Cooking Made Easy (2019). She currently lives in Niagara, Canada. Follow her on Instagram @pardonyourfrench [May 21, 2020] SpotX Brings Comprehensive Measurement and Attribution Suite to CTV Advertising Inventory NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SpotX , the leading global video advertising platform, today announced the expansion of its comprehensive Measurement and Attribution Suite. The extensive offering provides advertisers the ability to accurately attribute ad spend across video channels including connected TV (CTV) and is the most robust in-market for video. By uncovering valuable audience reach metrics like brand lift, incremental reach and frequency, and outcome-based measurement, advertisers can more accurately pinpoint the value across all video channels. With the largest number of measurement relationships in-market among SSPs, SpotX is able to provide a 360-degree view of campaign KPIs. SpotX has relationships with 11 leading measurement and analytics companies including Comscore, Kantar, Nielsen, STAQ, and Tru Optik. Kantar and Comscore also act as brand lift partners, allowing advertisers to gauge how viewers feel about a brand, measure brand recognition, and test creative assets. Outcome-based measurement partners, such as Comscore enable advertisers to link CTV exposure to digital actions, such as online purchases or website traffic. Additionally, through attribution relationships with NCSolutions (NCS), NinthDecimal, Placed powered by Foursquare, and PlaceIQ, brands can accurately measure foot traffic to brick and mortar locations and in-store purchases from digital video ads. SpotX's comprehensive suite ensures that advertisers spending across CTV are able to accurately attribute ad spend to digital. "Through our preferred partnership with SpotX, our mutual clients have been able to use NinthDecimal's Location Conversion Index (LCI) for footfall attribution to clearly measure and understand the value and power of their digital video ad capaigns," said Patrick Doyle, VP, Partner Revenue at NinthDecimal. SpotX also offers capabilities through Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) for CTV, including next-day view of audience demographics and ad delivery for mobile web, mobile app, desktop, and connected devices. Nielsen's metrics help brands understand the incremental reach of a campaign's ad on connected TV and linear TV. SpotX's partnership with Tru Optik allows advertisers to leverage mid and post-campaign reporting to identify if ads are reaching behavior and interest-based targets. "Brands and media buyers have known the value of CTV inventory, however, there hasn't been a concrete way of showing how these ads drive actions or purchases," said Kristen Williams, VP, Strategic Partnerships at SpotX. "By collaborating with the most respected measurement and attribution companies in the industry, we can help brands provide meaningful experiences for consumers, as well as effectively measure and accurately attribute how video ad spend across OTT channels leads to tangible online and in-store conversions." MBuy, a leading media planning and buying applied-technology service company, is one of several advertising agencies opting in to SpotX's offering. MBuy provides advertisers with media buying and planning services that reach and engage audiences within specific channels. "Evaluating metrics like brand lift performance and cross-screen measurement validation are just a few of the many key insights important to our clients," said Michael Parent, SVP, Strategy, Media & Operations at MBuy. "The comprehensive studies provided by SpotX allow us to deliver valuable resources to help our clients make smarter ad decisions." For more information on SpotX's Measurement and Attribution Suite and capabilities, visit https://www.spotx.tv/data-enablement/ . About SpotX SpotX is the leading video advertising platform shaping digital video and the future of TV globally. The company's solutions enable media owners to monetize content across all screens and streams while providing advertisers with direct access to brand-safe, premium inventory. With best-in-class technology purpose-built for video, SpotX's trusted, GDPR/CCPA-compliant solutions are employed by some of the largest media owners in the world including A+E Networks, Crackle Plus, The CW Network, Dentsu CCI, Discovery, Electronic Arts, Fox Corporation, fuboTV, Gannett, Microsoft, Newsy, Pluto TV, Roku, Sling TV, and Vudu. In the US, SpotX works with nearly all major OTT stakeholders and reaches 4 out of 5 viewers of ad-supported CTV, or 42 million households. In early 2019, SpotX acquired Yospace which powers server-side ad insertion (SSAI) for all live and video on demand content streamed to connected devices. SpotX is a subsidiary of Bertelsmann's RTL Group and is headquartered in Denver with 12 offices throughout the US, EMEA, and APAC regions. Learn more at www.spotx.tv . Media Contacts: Tammy Blythe Goodman Sr. Director, Communications [email protected] Josie Urwin Sr. PR Manager [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spotx-brings-comprehensive-measurement-and-attribution-suite-to-ctv-advertising-inventory-301063437.html SOURCE SpotX [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] More than 100 research teams around the world are taking aim at the virus. Companies like Inovio, Moderna and Pfizer have begun early tests in human subjects. Researchers at the University of Oxford in England, who are also testing vaccines in people, say they could have one ready for emergency use as soon as September. And researchers at a Harvard Medical School hospital, working with Johnson & Johnson, just published research showing that a prototype vaccine effectively protected monkeys from infection with the virus. So great is the urgency that researchers are combining trial phases and shortening a process that usually takes years, sometimes more than a decade. And they are using a range of techniques, some that are well established and some that have never been approved for medical use before. Reopening, but on edge: Coronavirus infections have dropped sharply in Paris after a strict two-month lockdown and a growing contact tracing effort, health officials say. But the citys reopening has been muted, in keeping with the national mood: fearful of what lies ahead and angry at the government. Global tally: Here are our updated world maps tracking the virus by country. And here are our latest updates. YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives joined Congressional Armenian Caucus leaders yesterday in ringing alarm bells over Azerbaijans large-scale military exercises this week, sharing with US leaders and international mediators their grave concerns that Bakus reckless actions amidst a global pandemic can destabilize the Caucasus, ANCA reported. We want to thank Congressman Frank Pallone and all who joined with him in this Armenian Caucus initiative to alert the Administration and the international community to Azerbaijans reckless march toward a renewed regional war amid a global pandemic, said ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan. This powerful bipartisan legislative initiative reflects and reinforces the thousands of messages that concerned Americans are sending to Washington via the ANCAs online platform www.anca.org/alert. In two separate letters the first to Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Esper, and the second to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone and Congressional leaders noted that these exercises are dangerous, violate diplomatic agreements and have the potential to destabilize security in the South Caucasus at a time when the COVID-19 global pandemic has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and threatened the health of many more. The letters call on the US Administration and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to publicly condemn Azerbaijans military exercises. The letter to Secretary Pompeo and Esper specifically expressed concern about a $100 million allocation in US security assistance to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans Armed Forces are holding large-scale tactical military exercises this week from May 18th to 22nd. The Armenian Defense Ministry condemned the exercises noting that they exacerbate the security environment in the region, under the conditions of a global imperative for joint actions against the COVID-19 pandemic and despite the call for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish a global ceasefire. Over 15 lakh migrants hailing from Uttar Pradesh, who were stranded in different parts of the country due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown, have returned to the state in 881 trains since the Shramik Special' service was launched, an official said. The railways had started the migrant special trains on May 1 after the central government gave its approval for transportation of stranded workers on the railway network during the lockdown. In the next two days, 313 more trains carrying migrant workers will arrive in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Information, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, told reporters here. He said, "881 trains have arrived in the state with over 15 lakh migrants. In next two days, 313 trains are likely to arrive. Till now, over 20 lakh migrants have arrived in the state on trains, buses and by other means of transports. Of the total special trains run in the country, 50 per cent were for Uttar Pradesh, Awasthi said. The additional chief secretary also said of the total trains that have reached Uttar Pradesh, the highest 142 arrived in Gorakhpur besides 64 in Jaunpur, 62 in Lucknow, 50 in Varanasi, 51 in Gonda, 41 in Basti, 38 in Pratapgarh, 34 each in Ballia and Prayagraj, 10 in Agra and 27 in Ayodhya and other stations. The highest 355 trains have arrived in the state from Gujarat, 144 from Punjab, 28 from Rajasthan, 181 from Maharashtra, 33 from Karnataka, 36 from Delhi, he said, adding that over two lakh people are coming to the state each day. "We are taking it as a challenge and our district magistrates are working day and night to receive migrants, who are being tested (for the novel coronavirus) and those with symptoms are being isolated. We have got 70,000 to 1 lakh migrants in many districts," he said. The official said after their home quarantine is completed, the state government will be providing them jobs as per their skill, data of which is being collected. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Turkmenistan among other Central Asian countries, Russia and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) discussed issues related to coordination of joint actions during the pandemic, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The heads of the Ministries of Health of the Central Asian countries and Russia held a meeting via videoconference with representatives of WHO/Europe on May 20, 2020. The Turkmen side was represented by officials of the Ministries of Health and Medical Industry and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The sides discussed issues of interaction between the Central Asian countries and Russia with WHO/Europe during the coronavirus pandemic alongside issues of prevention and control of infectious diseases. The participants stressed the importance of ensuring equal access to medical data at the national and interregional levels, as well as the exchange of expertise between specialists in the region. The WHO Country Office in Turkmenistan was established in November 1995 in Ashgabat to assist the government in developing its health policy, health system and public health programs to address the main health needs of the country. The office is the focal point for WHO activities in Turkmenistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva - President Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaians to learn to live with the coronavirus pandemic - According to him, this is because research has proven that the disease might stay longer than expected - He said the COVID-19 outbreak should not be a reason for Ghanaians to put a stop to whatever agenda they have set for development Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in President Nana Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaians to learn to live with the coronavirus pandemic since research has proven that the disease will stay much longer. Akufo-Addo said the COVID-19 outbreak should not be a reason for Ghanaians to put a stop to whatever agenda they have set for development. Speaking at a meeting with the chiefs and elders of the Anlo Traditional Area of the Volta Region, Akufo-Addo said individuals must take it upon themselves to ensure strict adherence to the various measures outlined by the Ghana Health Service. President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Source: UGC Source: Twitter READ ALSO: COVID-19: Ghana records more recoveries; as case count rise to 6,269 He however, reiterated social distancing, not shaking hands, among other practices, are the short to long term solution to stopping the spread of COVID-19. We are going through a very difficult time in our country that all of us are aware of. Nevertheless, it doesnt mean that our lives must come to a stop. The virus is there, but we have to find a way to live with it. Ghanas business must continue. , Akufo-Addo said. READ ALSO: Even in 100 years NDC cannot achieve what Akufo-Addo has in 3yrs NPP General Secretary Meanwhile, with regards to the virus not going away, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease otherwise known as the COVID-19 may never go away. Speaking at a news briefing on Wednesday, the Emergencies Director for WHO, Dr. Mike Ryan, he said that even if a vaccine is found, controlling the virus will require a massive effort. Dr Ryan just like HIV which has not gone away after all these years, people have to come to terms with the virus which has already killed many. READ ALSO: Asiedu Nketia describes Akufo-Addos government worse than military regime President Akufo-Addo has extended the ban on public gatherings till the end of May | #Yencomgh Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh T S Tirumurti, India's new Permanent Representative to the UN, presented his credentials virtually as he assumed charge as the Ambassador amid the coronavirus pandemic. Privileged to take over...as Permanent Representative of India to the UN in New York. During these COVID-19 times, I was the second Ambassador/ Permanent Representative to the UN to present virtual credentials! Tirumurti tweeted Wednesday. Tirumurti arrived in New York on May 19 to assume charge as India's new Permanent Representative to the United Nations. A 1985-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Tirumurti succeeds Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, who retired on April 30 and returned to Hyderabad. Tirumurti previously served as Secretary, Economic Relations at the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters in New Delhi. Before leaving for New York, Tirumurti called on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. The UN General Assembly will hold elections next month for the five non-permanent seats of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term. India's seat as a non-permanent member on the 15-nation Council for the two-year term is assured as it is the sole candidate vying for the lone seat from the Asia Pacific grouping. New Delhi's candidature was unanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping, including China and Pakistan, in June last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PREVIOUS: N.J. gym owner defying shutdown order faces backlash over fatal drunk driving crash A gym in Bellmawr that reopened Monday, violating an executive order from the governor, was shut down Thursday morning by the state and county health departments. Alright guys, so we arrived at the gym this morning to Governor Murphys dirty tricks, playing with his power in the health department," the gyms owners posted on its Instagram page Thursday. "For right now, the gym will be closed. We have a full cleaning crew inside, once again going above and beyond. Orange stickers from the Camden County Health Department declaring an embargo and a four-page notice from the state Department of Health were taped to the door. The signs were placed on the storefront overnight with no inspection of the building or anything, Co-owner Frank Trumbetti told FOX 29. The Atilis Gym in Bellmawr was shut down by the Department of Health Thursday morning. (Rebecca Everett | NJ Advance Media) Trumbetti said he doesnt know what the embargo means and the state health department notice referred to a statute involving infectious disease. The sewer system serving the gym suddenly backed up Wednesday, right after [Gov. Murphys daily] briefing where they said the Board of Health would be involved, Trumbetti told FOX 29, forcing members to evacuate. A sewage remediation team was onsite Thursday, according to FOX 29. A call to an attorney for the gym was not immediately returned. The county and state department of health spokespersons also could not be reached immediately. The Atilis Gym in Bellmawr was shut down by the Department of Health Thursday morning. (Rebecca Everett | NJ Advance Media) Atilis Gym in Bellmawr allowed a limited number of members to use the facility beginning Monday. Their temperatures were checked as they entered and they were required to wear face coverings and follow other rules. Co-owner Ian Smith said they were limiting capacity to 20% or about 44 people at a time. Murphy was asked Monday during his coronavirus briefing about the gyms reopening and he suggested the efforts to enforce the closure order may ramp up. The owners of the gym said they opened it less than a year ago and the lockdown has strangled their business. They said they would continue to operate despite the tickets and a GoFundMe page started to pay their fines has raised nearly $50,000 as of Thursday. The gym had been issued at least three citations since opening, each of which includes a fine of up to $1,000 and possible jail time. Trumbetti said the gym will remain closed but he encouraged members to come work out in the parking lot. This is a breaking news story and will be updated Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. China will introduce a draft resolution for a new national security law in Hong Kong proscribing secession, terrorism and foreign interference in the specially administered region (SAR), a top official announced late on Thursday night. The move could escalate tension in the city, which has seen largescale pro-democracy protests since last June. The draft resolution will be introduced as a motion and discussed during the opening session of Chinas Parliament, National Peoples Congress (NPC) on Friday. The announcement was made at a late-night press conference by the NPC spokesperson, Zhang Yesui. The passing of the motion is expected to be a formality as NPC is largely a ruber-stamp parliament under the ruling Communist Party of China. Zhang said that because of new circumstances and need, the NPC is exercising the power enshrined in the constitution to establish and improve a legal framework and mechanism for safeguarding national security and upholding the institutional framework for one country, two systems. He added: Hong Kong is an inseparable part of the Peoples Republic of China The NPC is the countrys highest organ of state power. National security is the bedrock underpinning the stability of the country. Safeguarding national security serves the fundamental interest of all Chinese, and Hong Kong patriots included. This also shows that the central government would safeguard Chinas core interests at all costs, a state media report said. The writing in of the new security law into Hong Kongs special charter, or Basic Law, could see the mainlands control over the SAR tighten substantially. The city has violent protests since last June on that very issue: Beijings apparent tightening of control over the city and its impact on freedoms including that of free speech and expression. The one country, two systems system that governs Hong Kong has t been thrown into question by student-led pro-democracy protests that went on for months last year and have shown signs of building up again in recent weeks The new law would ban all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and external interference in Hong Kongs affairs. It would also target terrorist acts in Hong Kong, an earlier report by the South China Morning Post said. The move to introduce the draft resolution comes as the citys delegates to the NPC sessions, beginning Friday, were said to have met Xia Baolong, director of the State Councils (Chinas cabinet) Hong Kong and Macau Office (HKMAO) on Thursday evening. The implementation of the new law if it is carried out would mark a significant departure from Beijings earlier decision to allow Hong Kong to draft and enact the legislation within its own legislature, the SCMP report said. Separately, China said Thursday it supports improving the system and mechanism related to the constitution and basic law of Hong Kong and Macau. The former European colonies (Hong Kong was under the British and Macau under the Portuguese) returned to Chinese rule in the late 1990s under a system aimed at preserving their economic systems and ensuring their autonomy, known as one country, two systems. Kirinyaga County Governor Anne Waiguru has applauded President Uhuru Kenyatta for taking disciplinary action against Jubilee Party rebels. Speaking to the press after distributing relief food donated by the national government to residents of Kithiriti village at Kithiriku Primary School, Waiguru said she fully supports the ongoing purge. She urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to extend the purge of party rebels to the National Assembly and County Assemblies for the effective running of House business. I thank the President for cracking the whipWe cant allow individuals with divided loyalty to be chairman of critical committees trusted to push the presidents agenda, she said. If we dont do that we will not be able to pass bills in Parliament and county assemblies, Waiguru added. The county chief further told disgruntled National Assembly and Senate members who are not satisfied with Jubilee to shape up or ship out. Waiguru noted that its impossible to run the country with indiscipline, adding that members who dont respect President Uhuru Kenyatta will not be entertained in the party. We have people who do not give respect to the resident, we have seen cases where he is frequently insulted by members of the party. You dont see members of the Orange Democratic Movement, Maendeleo Chap Chap and Narc abusing their party leader in public, said Ms Waiguru. UPDATE (5/22): End of shutdown in sight for Lehigh Valley, Philly, Poconos; 1st green-phase counties announced Pennsylvania coronavirus cases increased by 980, the most daily cases in almost a week, and 102 more deaths from COVID-19 were reported, according to Thursdays daily report from the state health department. That brings Pennsylvanias coronavirus case count to 65,392 with a death toll of 4,869. (Cant see the map? Click here.) Meanwhile, the state addressed serious questions media reports have raised about some of its data regarding testing and nursing homes. A Lehigh Valley gym plans to reopen in defiance of the stay-at-home order. And Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law now allowing the temporary sale of cocktails-to-go from bars, restaurants and hotels with liquor licenses. These are your Pennsylvania coronavirus updates for May 21, 2020. Coronavirus cases in Pa. New Pennsylvania coronavirus cases havent broken 1,000 in a day since May 10. The seven-day rate of new cases has held steady this week at about half its peak rate from mid-April, though its overall descent has flattened at least briefly. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Of the states 65,000 cases, 4,871 are in health care workers. Nursing home residents account for about 22% of Pennsylvanias coronavirus cases and 66% of deaths statewide. The state has had three straight days with more than 100 deaths reported. The COVID-19 death toll broke 1,000 on April 19. Now, a little over a month later, it is approaching 5,000. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) Pennsylvania has not tracked coronavirus recoveries, although the state has said it plans to begin doing so. At least 303,514 tests have come back negative to date. The state is working to increase testing. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday addressed media reports questioning the validity of some of its data. The Atlantic on Thursday reported that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a handful of states including Pennsylvania are conflating viral tests, which diagnose current infections, with antibody tests, which can tell if someone has ever had the virus. The report says that could potentially and significantly distort important metrics used for reopening. State health department spokesman Nate Wardle told lehighvalleylive.com that Pennsylvanias daily report of total cases includes both kinds of test, thought the department can distinguish between confirmed and probable cases. A probable case involves a positive antibody test combined with symptoms or high-risk exposure, Wardle said. Health Secretary Rachel Levine told media that the department will more clearly delineate between the two kinds of tests, and that only confirmed cases are used when considering reopening a region. (Cant see the chart? Click here.) The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported that the departments recently released data on coronavirus in nursing homes was riddled with errors. Wardle told lehighvalleylive.com that not all facilities reported data as they were supposed to and that the health department found other ways to get the information. Facilities will be mandated to report data going forward, and Levine said the nursing home report will be updated with new and corrected information. Next counties going yellow (and green?) Gov. Wolf expects to add to the list of yellow-phase counties on Friday, and maybe even announce Pennsylvanias first green counties. The announcements will follow Wolfs three-phase approach to reopening from the statewide shutdown. In separate virtual sessions with media on Thursday, Levine and Wolf said the health department is preparing its recommendations for the governor. Wolf said he will announce a range of counties moving from red to yellow there are 18 left in the red phase, including the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and parts of the Poconos. (Cant see the map? Click here.) He also said there may even be an announcement about some counties moving from yellow to green. The criteria for counties making that move has not yet been publicized. Carbon County officially moves to the yellow phase at 12:01 a.m. Friday, the only county in the area to do so. Coronavirus in the Lehigh Valley The state reports at least 6,400 coronavirus cases in the Lehigh Valley, where 378 residents have died. Thats 71 more cases and eight more deaths from the states previous report. That breaks down to 3,586 cases and 192 deaths in Lehigh County, and 2,814 cases and 186 deaths in Northampton County, per the health department. These figures may differ from what that counties themselves are reporting. The state on Thursday also reported more deaths in surrounding counties: (Cant see the table? Click here.) Lehigh Valley gym plans to defy Pa. order SuperSets gym in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, plans to reopen Sunday despite the ongoing stay-at-home order in the Lehigh Valley. Owner Ed Frack said he is doing it to stave off bankruptcy and will operate at 20% capacity. He is inviting other small business owners to rally at his gym on Sunday. Gyms are to remain closed even in the yellow phase of the shutdown. Experts say COVID-19 spreads quickly in poorly ventilated spaces where people are breathing heavily, shouting or talking, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Cocktails-to-go now available You still cant sit down for a drink in a bar or restaurant, but you can now order mixed drinks to go. Wolf signed an order Thursday immediately allowing the temporary sale of cocktails from bars, restaurants and hotels with liquor licenses. Beverages must be sold in containers with a secure lid in quantities from 4 oz. to 64 oz. before 11 p.m. An additional seal is required on the straw opening of a lid. Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Lehighvalleylive.com staff writer Sara K. Satullo contributed to this report. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Today, Samsung is announcing its Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition. The company calls it a mission-ready solution tailored to the unique needs of operators in the federal government and Department of Defense. The Galaxy S20 TE has highly customized software to work in unison with existing tactical equipment along with DualDAR architecture, offering two layers of encryption. Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition specs: Display: 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 3200 x 1440 px QHD+; 60Hz or 120Hz 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 3200 x 1440 px QHD+; 60Hz or 120Hz Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Memory: 12GB/128GB; expandable up to 1TB via microSD 12GB/128GB; expandable up to 1TB via microSD Network: LTE Cat 20 w/ support for sub-6 5G LTE Cat 20 w/ support for sub-6 5G Software: Android 10 with One UI 2.0 Android 10 with One UI 2.0 Dimensions and weight: 68.6 x 152.4 x 7.6mm; 162g 68.6 x 152.4 x 7.6mm; 162g Camera: 12MP f/1.8 main camera; 64MP 3X zoom, f/2.0; 12MP ultra wide f/2.2 12MP f/1.8 main camera; 64MP 3X zoom, f/2.0; 12MP ultra wide f/2.2 Front camera: 10MP f/2.2 10MP f/2.2 Video recording: 4K up to 60fps front and rear; 8K @ 24fps 4K up to 60fps front and rear; 8K @ 24fps Battery: 4,000 mAh; "super-fast" charging and wireless fast charging Multiple forms of communication can be performed with the Galaxy S20 TE including 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Private SIM, and CRBS radio to cover all bases in the field. Hardware features include a night-vision mode, a body-wearing mode that lets you unlock the screen in landscape mode, and a Stealth mode which is a cool way to describe airplane mode. The Galaxy S20 TE also has features from the standard edition flagship including DeX interface, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, and 12GB of RAM. Samsung once had its Active variants of Galaxy S flagships since the Galaxy S4. These were AT&T exclusives all the way until the Galaxy S8 when T-Mobile began selling the Galaxy S8 Active in the US. With the Galaxy S9 and S10, there were no rugged Active versions of the phone, but there was a Tactical Edition Galaxy S9. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition will be available from authorized IT channels sometime in Q3 of 2020. Source Kazakhstans crude oil production has fallen below 1.7 million bpd of crude and condensates, oil analytics firm OilX told Oilprice.com, noting that the giant Tengiz field has seen a jump in Covid-19 cases among workers, at 935. The Tengiz field is one of the biggest in the country and normally produces 600,000 bpd of crude. Kazakhstan is a member of the OPEC+ group and earlier this year agreed to cut some 400,000 bpd in oil production as part of international efforts to stymie the drop in oil prices resulting from the combination of excessive production at a time of falling demand. Most of the Central Asian countrys cuts were to come from the Tengiz field as well as from the offshore Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. The situation was unique in the oil world because the operators of both Tengiz and Kashagan are supermajors: Chevron for Tengiz, and Shell, Total and Exxon as partners in Kashagan. Kazakhstan was not alone in this unprecedented position of negotiating production cuts with private field operators. Neighbour Azerbaijan with whom the country shares the Caspian Seas oil riches, asked the BP-led consortium that operates the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli offshore field system to start reducing its output from May. Last year, the ACG group produced some 542,000 bpd. Now, BP and its partners would need to reduce this by between 75,000 bpd and 80,000 bpd to fill the countrys reduction quota, which stands at 164,000 bpd. The total amount of daily oil output OPEC+ agreed to take off the market was 9.7 million, but OPEC leader Saudi Arabia said it would cut an additional 1 million bpd to stimulate oil prices. The effort has worked, supported by production cuts in Norway and the United States and Canada, which have together cut somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 million bpd in oil production since the start of the crisis. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Read this article on OilPrice.com Police identified the man killed Wednesday morning in a west Houston apartment as 19-year-old Wilson Martinez. Martinez was shot around 9:10 a.m. inside the Brisa at Shadowlake apartments on Shadowbriar Drive near Westheimer. A man and woman were inside the apartment with Martinez when the two men began arguing, according to Houston police. OFFICER IN RECOVERY: Houston ISD cop was rear-ended near downtown At some point, the man pulled a gun and shot Martinez before running away with the woman. A witness who called 911 initially told dispatchers that the shooter fled with a TV in hand, according to police. The two were last spotted leaving the apartment in a red SUV, possibly a Jeep. Detectives did not release a detailed description of the pair. It is unclear if Martinez lived at the apartment or was visiting. Anyone with information is urged to call HPD homicide division at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com Caracas: Venezuela's defence minister said on Wednesday that planes and ships from the nation's armed forces will escort Iranian tankers arriving with fuel to the petrol-starved country in case of any US aggression. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Venezuela's navy and air force will welcome the five Iranian tankers, seeing them through the nation's maritime territory and into port. He compared the fuel tankers to humanitarian aid that China and Russia have sent to help Venezuela combat the new coronavirus pandemic. Five Iranian tankers are now sailing to Venezuela, part of a wider deal between the two US-sanctioned nations. Credit:AP A force of US vessels, including Navy destroyers and other combat ships, patrol the Caribbean on what US officials call a drug interdiction mission. Venezuelan officials paint them as a threat, but US officials have not announced any plans to intercept the Iranian tankers, or threatened to try that. Both countries have been hit with US economic sanctions. Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, also lashed out at the US, saying any attempt to stop the tankers would be illegal. The Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), an industry body representing the interests of the private FM channels, has written to Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar seeking a relief package worth Rs 300 crore. According to the letter, without immediate support of MIB the private FM players might incur a loss of Rs 600 crore by September. AROI President Anuradha Prasad stressed in the letter that the relief package would be critical in keeping the radio industry afloat in the coming months. She also expressed her dissapointment that the financial packages announced by Government of India until now had no effect on private FM channels. This is the third time that the AROI has written to the government. Dr. George Diaz was at home in Edmonds, Wash., on Jan. 20 at 8:30 p.m., when his phone rang with news that he was both anticipating and dreading. On the line was his hospitals infection-prevention manager, who had just received a call from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency wanted Providence Regional Medical Center to admit a patient who was infected with the novel coronavirus, which at that point had been reported only in China (where the first reported cases had emerged in December), Thailand, Japan and South Korea. The patient was the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. They didnt force us, Diaz says. We never considered saying no. Because this was the first known patient in the country with the new infection, CDC scientists wanted to admit him for observation, in case his disease worsened. Back in 2015, Providence Regional had been designated to receive people with Ebola infections, so administrators were prepared to convert hospital space into physicalisolation units as well as deploy a team, led by Diaz, trained to manage highly infectious patients. Still, they were essentially flying blind when it came to the new coronavirus. In January, little was known about the virus, only that it had originated in China and appeared to be infectiousalthough it wasnt clear how infectiousand potentially deadly. There was no treatment and no playbook to help doctors decide how to care for patients. Diaz instructed his team to rely on their training and to use the same safety precautions they would in caring for an Ebola patient: they donned full protective gear, isolated the patient and limited any direct contact. These decisions proved prescient. The patient, who wishes to protect his privacy and remain anonymous, lives in the Seattle suburbs and had just returned from a visit with family members in Wuhan, China. He seemed relatively healthy when he was admitted to the hospital; he had a cough but no fever. But that quickly changed. Over the next few days, he developed a fever that spiked to 103F, his cough worsened, and he complained of trouble breathing. Diaz gave him supplemental oxygen, but his condition continued to deteriorate. We made contingency plans to move him to the ICU if he got worse, he says. Story continues Before doing that, however, Diaz tried something else: remdesivir. In lab studies, the 11-year-old experimental drug had shown promise in fighting SARS and MERS, two illnesses caused by coronaviruses in the same family as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. But there was no reason to believe it would work against this new coronavirus. We really had no idea what to expect, says Diaz. There was no evidence, zero experience in humans with this [disease]. But, given the circumstances, Diaz was willing to try anything with even a glimmer of scientific grounding. Technicians at Gileads remdesivir-manufacturing facility in La Verne, Calif., on March 18 | Gilead Sciences Inc/Reuters What began as a hope-for-the-best decision in a hospital in Washington has since mushroomed into a worldwide rush for the drug, which has become a beacon of hope in a pandemic that has driven people into home confinement, shuttered entire industries and hobbled national economies. TIME conducted dozens of interviews with the doctors involved in the first human studies of the drug in the sickest patients, public-health experts and industry insiders to create the most comprehensive chronicle yet of how a new therapy can emerge in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic when the urgent need to treat patients clashes with normally time-consuming regulatory requirements to ensure safety and efficacy. Remdesivir could be the first real treatment for COVID-19 that finally gives man even a slight upper hand against microbe. Remdesivirs journey from idea to treatment is unprecedented. That path, by necessity, has taken advantage of innovative regulatory pathways toand is telescopingthe normal drug-development time-line, to meet urgent medical needs while producing a safe, effective drug. Diaz, local public-health officials and the CDC scientists who advised him published an account of their experience, and word quickly spread in the medical community about the potential promise of remdesivir. Chinese researchers, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the pharmaceutical company behind the drug, Gilead, all launched studies of remdesivirs efficacy in treating COVID-19. In April, Gilead revealed both the NIAID study and its own were looking positive. (Trials are ongoing.) Based on those encouraging signs, on May 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency-use authorization that allows doctors to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients with remdesivir. Japanese health officials issued a similar clearance days later. Remdesivir was initially investigated as a treatment for another lethal viral disease, Ebola. In animal studies, the experimental drug seemed to control Ebola infections. But in a head-to-head trial of four Ebola treatments on humans, remdesivir did not seem to improve chances of survival compared with two of the other experimental therapies. Unwilling to give up on its investment in the drug, however, Gilead remained hopeful that remdesivir might be useful in treating Ebola patients soon after infection, even if it didnt work so well on those who had become really sick. We were basically on hold with the drug, waiting to see if there would be another outbreak to see if we could test it earlier in the infection, says Dr. Merdad Parsey, chief medical officer at Gilead. When, in early 2020, researchers reported a link between a newly identified coronavirus and a mysterious, pneumonia-like illness surfacing in China, Parsey and his team at Gilead saw an opportunity. In their yearslong investigation of remdesivir for Ebola, they had also tested the drug in the lab against coronaviruses like SARS and MERS. In those studies, remdesivir actually showed stronger activity than it had against Ebola. Parseys team quickly picked up that research where it had left off, trying to understand if remdesivir could potentially treat COVID-19. By the time Diazs patient flew from Wuhan to Seattle on Jan. 15, the virus had penetrated deep into most parts of China. Other countries, including the U.S., were bracing for COVID-19 to breach their borders but were still unsure how dangerous a threat it posed. While the patient felt fine during the trans-oceanic flight, he felt feverish the next day, and after trying to recover at home he went to an urgent-care center on Jan. 19. Aware of the escalating number of cases in Wuhan, he shared his travel history and raised the possibility that he might be infected with the novel coronavirus. The urgent-care team notified Washington State and county health officials, who then alerted the CDC, where experts recommended testing the patient for COVID-19. The urgent-care staff took samples from the back of the patients nose and throat as well as from his mouth, then told him to return home and remain in isolation while they sent the samples to the CDCs Atlanta labs. Technicians at the agency ran the test overnight and confirmed the following day that he was positive for SARS-CoV-2. CDC infectious-disease experts then called Washington State health officials as well as Diaz and his Providence Regional infectious-disease teamwho hadnt yet heard about the casesuggesting that the patient be admitted to the hospital for observation. Relying on his hospitals infectious-disease training, which included patient transport, Diaz contacted a local emergency medical service, whose staff knew how to be properly protected against potential infection when they picked up the patient from his home, then waited for him in Providence Regionals shipping bay; using that entrance allowed the hospital staff to get the patient directly to the readied special-pathogens unit with minimal contact with others. Following their Ebola training, Diaz and his team protected themselves from head to toe. The patient arrived in an isopod, an isolation system in which a person is essentially zipped into a clear plastic cocoon with filtered breathing equipment to minimize the risk of spreading infection. He was obviously scared, says Diaz. Hes the first guy in the U.S. with coronavirus, and hes super isolated, and everyone around him is wearing Ebola suits. Its super stressful. He was concerned about stories he heard about people there dying and getting very sick. He was very aware that the situation in the areas from where he had come was not good. His room wasnt exactly inviting either. He was admitted to a separate unit with filtered, pressurized air that flowed into but not out of the room in order to reduce the chance of any virus circulating into the rest of the hospital. The medical team could see and communicate with him through a large window, but to further protect themselves from infection, the staff relied on a robota computer screen on wheels equipped with devices for measuring vital signs, as well as a microphone. Diaz used the robots stetho-scope to listen to the patients heart and lungs from the next room. For the first five days, Diaz gave him cough medicine, acetaminophen for his fever and fluids to keep him hydrated. On Jan. 26, his sixth night in the hospital, the patient started having trouble breathing. The following day, Diaz put him on supplemental oxygen and ordered X-rays, which indicated to him that the patient had developed pneumonia; his oxygen levels also began to drop. The CDC team suggested Diaz call Dr. Tim Uyeki in Atlanta. Uyeki, chief medical officer for the CDCs influenza division, has extensive experience working with the World Health Organization through various flu and respiratory-disease outbreaks, including SARS in 2003 and the H5N1 bird flu that swept many parts of the world in the early 2000s. After hearing about the patients deteriorating health, Uyeki suggested that Diaz consider remdesivir. He based that idea on a paper published in January by a team led by coronavirus expert Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina and including scientists at Gilead, which showed that remdesivir seemed to control the MERS coronavirus in mice, as well as a 2017 study from some of the same researchers showing that the drug helped mice infected with SARS and MERS improve. The Ebola studies showing that remdesivir was generally safe for people added to Uyekis conviction. So did a conversation hed had with Baric earlier in the month about remdesivirs potential to treat COVID-19; based on Barics response, Uyeki says, it seemed worth a try. Back at Gileads headquarters in Foster City, Calif., there was only a limited supply of remdesivir on hand. Diaz had to request that the company provide the drug on a compassionate use basis, which allows drugmakers to release unapproved drugs like remdesivir on a case-by-case basis to doctors who ask for them, as long as the FDA sanctions it. That federal agency wanted a bunch of clinical information, which we provided, says Diaz. There were folks looking at all of this data from [the patients] clinical charts basically overnight. Around 5 a.m. on Jan. 27, the FDA gave the go-ahead, and Diaz called Gilead. That afternoon, a shipment of 11 100-mg vials of the drug, enough for a starting dose of 200 mg and 100 mg for 10 days, arrived in Everett. Beginning at around dinnertime that day, the patient received his first intravenous infusion of remdesivir. He didnt seem to show any immediate adverse reactions to the drug, so at around 9 p.m., Diaz decided to go home. The next morning, he returned not knowing what to expectat best, Diaz thought, his patient would have remained in stable condition. But when he got to the special unit, Diaz was shocked, surprised and happy, he says. The patients temperature had dropped, his oxygen levels improved, and by the end of the day he no longer needed supplemental oxygen to breathe. Almost immediately, global efforts to study the drugs effects on COVID-19 started to speed up. Researchers in China, where reports suggested thousands of new cases were mounting daily by late January, reached out to Gilead asking about remdesivir. The pharmaceutical company made the drug available to them under a compassionate-use program, and the Chinese researchers and doctors initiated a formal trial to compare remdesivir with a placebo. Doctors around the world began asking for the drug to treat COVID-19 patients on a compassionate-use basis. We got inundated with a large number of requests, says Gileads Parsey, and because each case needed to be reviewed individually, it got to the point where we were unable to ethically keep going because it was taking so long to process each patient and we had a backlog of patients, he says. After treating more than 1,700 people, mostly in the U.S., the company made the controversial decision on March 22 to stop the initial compassionate-use program and instead develop and direct patients to an expanded-use program to better manage the backlog of requests. Severely ill patients could also participate in one of the two company studies or the NIAID trial, begun on Feb. 21 and now under way at various medical centers around the world. It is heartbreaking for usI cant tell you the number of times we get people asking for the drug, says Parsey. Its incredibly challenging for us. At the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Dr. Andre Kalil carefully monitored the case report of Diazs patient, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 5. His interest was more than cursory; the previous week, Kalil had begun caring for COVID-19 patients flown from the cruise ship Diamond Princess, anchored at Yokohama, Japan, to the university for quarantine and medical care. Two of the patients developed pneumonia, which qualified them to become the first to receive remdesivir infusions in the NIAID study when it was launched. For Kalil, any information about how people responded to remdesivir was welcome. Some 1,000 patients at 68 other hospitals around the world (including 47 sites in the U.S.) quickly followed. At Emory University in Atlanta, Dr. Aneesh Mehta, associate professor of infectious diseases, and his team enrolled 103 people with severe COVID-19 symptoms. For me as a clinician, and as a clinician-scientist, science is hope, he says. Once we launched the trial, there was a definite sense of hope and excitement amongst our clinical teams, and also the patients. One of those patients was Bill Clark, a retired attorney from Atlanta, who began feeling sick with fever, chills, coughing and lethargy on April 6. A little over a week later, worried he might have COVID-19 and at the suggestion of his personal physician, he went to the emergency room at Emory St. Josephs Hospital, where doctors decided to admit him even before his COVID-19 test results were complete. Chest X-rays showed early signs of pneumonia. That was the first time a sense of fear started creeping in, he says. Everybody I saw was fully gowned, fully gloved, with N-95 masks plus a full face shield over their masks. Left: Bill Clark in the ER of Emory St. Josephs Hospital, before he was admitted for suspected COVID-19 on April 15 | Right: After completing a remdesivir clinical trial, Clark celebrates his discharge to the Rocky theme on April 19 | Courtesy Bill Clark At midnight, a nurse woke him up with some difficult news. I awakened to see somebody in a full hazmat suit, and she took my vitals and grabbed my hand and said, Mr. Clark, your COVID test came back early, and you are positive. And then she said, I promise you everything is going to be O.K. That was pretty important at that time to hear, he says. After a sleepless night, one of Clarks first calls the next morning came from the director of Emorys clinical-trials unit, offering him the opportunity to join the NIAID study. Volunteers would be randomly assigned to receive either an experimental but promising drug called remdesivir, he was told, or a placebo, and neither the doctors nor the patients would know what they were getting. Clarks first reaction was, I want to be helpful, but Im pretty sick. I really want a treatment; I dont want a placebo. I want something to treat this condition, get me well and get me the heck out of this hospital. He called his personal doctor, who urged him to consider the trial, and after discussing it with his wife, Clark decided to enroll. If I might be helpful to the research process, then I was all in, he says. That afternoon, Clark received his first infusionhe has no way to know if it was remdesivir or a placebo. Im pretty sure I never prayed so hard over a medical procedure in my life as I watched that fluid going into my arm, he says. I was awfully hopeful that whatever was going in was going to be the treatment for what I was dealing with. He still doesnt know whether he received remdesivir or a placebo, but over the next three days, as he received daily infusions, he began feeling better. His two main symptoms, fever and diarrhea, started to improve, and by the third day he didnt feel as tired and was able to sit up and watch TV. I remember telling my wife, Whatever they are giving me must be making a difference. Because Im not completely there yet, but Im starting to feel like a new person,' he says. The next day, April 19, Clark was well enough to be discharged from the hospital, and following his doctors instructions he began a 14-day period of self-isolation at home so he wouldnt spread the infection to his wife and daughter. Around the time Clark was discharged, doctors were getting their first hints of how effective remdesivir might be. The media outlet STAT obtained a video call updating doctors at the University of Chicago on the study at that institution. It hinted that the support for remdesivir was well placed: the Chicago researchers, who were part of one of Gileads sponsored studies, reported that their severely ill remdesivir patients improved enough for most of them to be discharged from the hospital. A week and a half later, on April 29, Gilead announced that an early review of data from the first 500 patients in the NIAID trial was equally encouraging. It was enough to prompt NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci to say, This will be the standard of care What it has proven is a drug can block this virus. People taking the drug recovered after an average of 11 days, compared with 15 days for those assigned the placebo. The people taking remdesivir also had a lower death rate8% compared with 11.6% for those in the placebo group. On the same day, Gilead released other promising data from one of its two sponsored studies. Those include only patients treated with the drug, without comparing them to a placebo, and are designed to answer questions about dosing. This study showed that a five-day regimen is as effective as 10 daysthats important, doctors say, since it could mean shorter stays in the hospital, which could alleviate some of the burden on the health care system. Of course we will have to wait for the final review of all the data, but it would be very nice to have an anti-viral thats efficacious in this terrible illness, says Dr. Aruna Subramanian, a clinical professor of medicine at Stanford and an investigator on the study. At least we know that we can help patients with this, and thats really the bottom line. That optimism is still tempered with a sizable amount of caution, since researchers have outstanding and important questions about which patients might benefit most, and when in the course of a COVID-19 illness the drug will work best. The study begun in China, for example, did not find the same positive results among severely ill patients. In that study, people taking the drug did no better than those given a placebo. However, the researchers had to end that trial early because cases started to wane in China and they could not enroll enough people with advanced COVID-19; that means the resultsdespite being discouragingmay not be statistically significant. In any case, the results from the NIAID study were strong enough for the U.S. FDA to issue the emergency-use authorization so more sick patients might benefit from it. The NIAID study will also continue, but the researchers will offer the drug to all volunteers. The signal is so strong that we are [no longer] going to offer the placebo in our trial, says Kalil. In the second part of the trial, we and other sites are going to offer remdesivir to all patients. The next phase of studies will focus on amplifying remdesivirs benefits by combining it with other medications to address symptoms of the disease. NIAID announced that the first combination will be remdesivir with baricitinib, an anti-inflammatory drug made by Eli Lilly and Co. and approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Its an oral medication that could help tamp down the inflammatory reaction responsible for some of the more dire respiratory complications of COVID-19. Whatever role remdesivir ends up playing in controlling COVID-19, it could be the first approved treatment that helps some coronavirus patients fight their infections. The trial gave us one answer, and that is that remdesivir helps patients to get better faster, says Mehta. But one of the great things about science is that when you get one answer, you get 10 more questions. Those include when remdesivir can be most effective after infection; both the NIAID and Gilead studies hint that giving people the drug earlier in the course of the disease allows them to fight off the infection sooner. Logistical concerns also have to be worked out. Gilead has donated more than 600,000 vials of remdesivir to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which will distribute the drug to state health departmentsdepending on whether a five-day or a 10-day regimen is used, thats enough to treat anywhere from 55,000 to 100,000 people. The company currently has enough additional stock of the drug to treat 30,000 people. Thats not nearly enough to meet the expected demand opened up by the FDAs emergency clearance for the drug. By the end of May, the company expects to produce enough drug to treat 140,000 peopleand by the end of the year, enough to treat more than 1 million. And then there is the question of remdesivirs price, which industry analysts have estimated could run from as low as tens of dollars for a 10-day course (if provided at cost) to $4,500 (if priced based on market need and effectiveness). As with the drugs development pathway, Gileads decisions about how to address both supply and pricing will be precedent-setting. A company spokesperson said Gilead was committed to making remdesivir both accessible and affordable to governments and patients around the world. Under the FDAs emergency-use authorization, the company will work with the U.S. government to prioritize providing the drug to hospitals with the heaviest burden of sick patients. No other drug in recent medical memory has been tested in the crucible of an ongoing pandemic in the way remdesivir has and will continue to be. How accessible it becomes could set the standard for developing and equitably distributing pandemic treatments for decades to come. The first person in the U.S. treated with remdesivir will never know if he would have recovered without the drug, but for now, it doesnt matter. He is back home, returning to his normal life. Clark, meanwhile, will eventually learn whether he received remdesivir or a placebo, but he is in no rush to find out. After his two-week quarantine on the second floor of his home was over, Clark got to hug his wife and daughter for the first time in a month. For him, the chance to try something that might have brought him into their arms made all the difference. Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh presented a proposal from the State President to the National Assembly (NA) for ratifying the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), at the ninth session of the 14th NA in Hanoi on May 20. The Vice President said that with four chapters, 92 articles, and 13 annexes, the pact will replace 21 existing investment encouragement and protection agreements between Vietnam and EU member countries. The deal prescribes certain regulations to ensure relations between Vietnam and the EU develop in a spirit of respecting independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unity. Such principles are in accordance with targets agreed upon in the EU-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Framework Agreement (PCA), she added. The implementation of the EVIPA will contribute to enhancing economic, trade, and investment ties between the two parties while consolidating and deepening relations, Thinh went on. Along with the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the EVIPA is expected to further affirm Vietnams important role and geopolitical position in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific at large. It will create momentum for Vietnam to perfect its institutions and policies in order to improve its investment environment. Vietnam hopes to attract more investment in such areas as high-tech processing and manufacturing, clean and renewable energy, high-quality services, and banking and financial services, in which the EU has strength and potential, Thinh said. On the same day, Nguyen Van Giau, head of the NAs Committee for External Relations, presented an assessment on the ratification of the EVIPA. Most opinions agree on the necessity of proposing the legislature ratify the EVIPA at the same time as the EVFTA, he said. Joining the EVIPA is in line with guidelines and policies on international integration from the Party and the State, and will help to bolster Vietnams prestige and profile in the international arena. Rapid ratification of the pact and the EVFTA at this session would increase reliability and create an important premise for EU member countries to quickly complete internal legal procedures for the agreement to take effect, Giau said. Both Thinh and Giau pointed to challenges given the pressure of competition from foreign investors, which requires Vietnam to perfect its institutions and policies and improve the capacity of competent agencies and businesses to respond to investment disputes in line with the EVIPA. The committee proposed the NA ratify the EVIPA and issue a resolution recognising and allowing the enforcement of the final decision of the investment dispute settlement body under the EVIPA at this ninth session. It also proposed the legislature step up cooperation with the parliaments of EU member countries to push ahead with ratification./.VNA The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Prince Charles urged students and furloughed workers to "Pick for Britain" in a video posted on Twitter. The Royal Family Channel/ YouTube In a video posted on Twitter, the UK's Prince Charles called on students and furloughed workers to help farmers by picking fruits and vegetables for harvest. Since the pandemic has made it difficult for migrant workers to travel to Britain and harvest food, the "Pick for Britain" campaign hopes to recruit British citizens to work in the agricultural sector. The campaign echoes the UK's World War II Land Army, in which women and girls took on agricultural duties while mostly men fought in the war. "If we are to harvest British fruit and vegetables this year, we need an army of people to help," Prince Charles said in the video. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Prince Charles, the 71-year-old heir to the British throne, has called on furloughed workers and students to help the UK's agricultural sector by picking fruits and vegetables for harvest. The UK government launched the "Pick for Britain" campaign as a way to fill gaps in the labor market that were caused by the coronavirus pandemic. "At this time of great uncertainty, many of our normal routines and regular patterns of life are being challenged," Prince Charles said in the video posted on Twitter. "If we are to harvest British fruit and vegetables this year, we need an army of people to help." Britain typically relies on tens of thousands of migrant workers to harvest food, but travel restrictions put in place to halt the virus have kept seasonal workers from entering the country. Seasonal worker Anna Maria from Romania tends to raspberries inside a Polytunnel ahead of the fruit picking season at a farm on March 31, 2020 in Rochester, Kent. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images The campaign aims to refocus those who have lost their jobs in the pandemic including waiters, chefs, and retail assistants into varying roles within the agricultural sector. In the video, Prince Charles compares the initiative to Britain's Land Army, a movement during World War II in which women were sent to work on farms throughout the country, while mostly men fought in battle. Story continues "If the last few weeks have proved anything, it is that food is precious and valued," Prince Charles said. A team of Land Army girls rakes down and load for transportation home-grown flax to the factory, a whole 100 ton rick, on August 10, 1942. AP Photo Charles said thousands of people will be needed to harvest crops in the coming months. He referred to the work as "unglamorous," but stressed the importance in mobilizing the UK in order to keep crops from going to waste. Without the proper number of workers, the UK could see millions of tons of fresh produce rot, The Independent reported. Jobs within the "Pick for Britain" campaign range from forklift drivers to food pickers and packers. The work could involve being located directly in the field, working out of a distribution warehouse, or tending to plants. According to The Independent, the type of job depends on a person's location in the country and previous work experience. Pay rates are determined by the employer. "It is of the utmost importance, and at the height of this global pandemic you will be making a vital contribution to the national effort," Prince Charles said. In March, Prince Charles became the first UK royal to test positive for the coronavirus. He has since recovered in good health. Read the original article on Insider On a windswept hill in Gibraltar, Robert C. Haller planted an American flag Wednesday afternoon at the grave of a World War II veteran in St. Johns United Church of Christ Cemetery. One way or another, I was going to put flags out, insisted Haller, senior vice commander of VFW Post 411 in Birdsboro. I was going to see that your veterans get the respect they deserve. Hallers annual pilgrimage to St. Johns and other cemeteries in Plowville and Geigerstown was made a little easier when the Wolf administration recently granted a waiver to COVID-19 restrictions allowing a Gilbertsville company to distribute flags to veterans organizations. Restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the coronavirus had prevented FlagZone, a flag maker, from selling its red-white-and-blue banners. The companys request for a waiver was denied earlier this month. Under pressure from legislators and veterans groups, the administration granted the company a waiver on Monday. Coming a week before Memorial Day, the reversal cleared the way for veterans groups and volunteers to place an estimated 50,000 American flags on veterans graves throughout Berks County. On Wednesday afternoon, the Berks County Veterans Affairs office began distributing flags to veterans groups. More than 200 boxes of flags were distributed. The distribution continues Thursday and Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. at 726 Cherry St., Reading. Ken Lebron, veterans affairs director, said at one point the lineup of vehicles was so long it interfered with BARTA buses leaving the Reading terminal. The backup was only temporary, he said, but the turnout was evidence of the dedication of Berks County veterans groups to honor their comrades who died in combat. Veterans affairs will distribute about 28,000 flags to veterans groups. FlagZone will send another 22,000 flags directly to the three largest cemeteries in Berks County Charles Evans in Reading, Gethsemane in Muhlenberg Township and Forest Hills in Reiffton. Lebron stressed COVID-19 related safety procedures were in force during the drive-thru distribution. Volunteers with the Veterans Riders Association, wearing masks and gloves, loaded flags into vehicles, whose occupants remained inside. Veterans Affairs instructed recipients on safety measures to be adhered to while placing the flags on veterans graves. The volunteers handled the distribution with grace and style in a safe social fashion, Lebron said. Aided by Birdsboro VFW commander Jesse Rohrbach and family members, Haller placed about 430 flags on graves at St. Johns and Plow Church cemeteries. In Plow Church Cemetery, they replaced a marker on the grave of a Revolutionary War soldier. Haller, 73, who did a tour of duty with an Army construction engineering unit in Vietnam in 1969, said he was worried that flags might not be available this year. I feel relieved, he said, now that the veterans got their remembrance for Memorial Day. EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands, May 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI) today announced that its most recent radio frequency front-end (RFFE) solution, designed with Wi-Fi 6 standards, is now designed into the Xiaomi Mi 10 5G smartphone. Advanced 5G devices make steep demands in terms of performance, integration, size and Wi-Fi 6 capability. NXPs RFFE solution is highly integrated and tightly packed in a 3 mm x 4 mm package. It is designed with Wi-Fi 6 capability to support advanced portable computing devices, including premier 5G smartphones, and to enable 2x2 MIMO functionality with the highest performance. NXPs compact high performance RFFE solution can reduce the design time and improve time to market significantly for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Xiaomi is very pleased to work with NXP in support of developing an RFFE with Wi-Fi 6 support for our flagship 5G smartphones, said Lei Zhang, Vice President of Mi Smartphone and General Manager of Hardware R&D, Xiaomi. NXP RFFEs are fully qualified and offer excellent Wi-Fi 6 performance which reduces design time for getting to market faster. NXPs Advanced RF WLAN11ax Portfolio NXPs high performance WLAN11ax portfolio supports customers in fulfilling the ever-increasing need for more bandwidth by providing both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands that fit the 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 standard. NXP offers a flexible portfolio that scales across these specifications. NXP offers 2x2 multiple input multiple output (MIMO) support for IEE802.11a/n/ac/ax applications. Xiaomis speedy adoption of this RFFE technology will enable them to meet the rapidly rising global demand for Wi-Fi 6 in 5G handsets, said Paul Hart, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NXPs Radio Power. Designed with the latest Wi-Fi 6 standards, NXPs highly integrated RFFE solutions have the right combination of performance for mobile applications such as Xiaomis. NXPs RF Font-end Module Features: Story continues Small-size 2 x 2 MIMO RFFE module for IEEE802.11a/n/ac/ax applications. Full high band 2402 MHz to 2482 MHz and 5150 MHz to 5925 MHz. Integrated power amplifiers with multiple operation modes for dynamic power efficiency and linearity control. Integrated low noise amplifiers supporting high gain and bypass modes. Integrated SPDT switches for single antenna RX and TX operation. Integrated directional couplers for precise transmit power control. Requires no external matching components, DC free input/output ports. Availability and Pricing The new RF front-end modules are available now. For more information, contact your local NXP sales representative. To learn more visit our growing wireless local area network (WLAN) portfolio, http://www.nxp.com/products/rf/wlan-front-end-modules:WLAN-FRONTEND-MODULES About NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. enables secure connections for a smarter world, advancing solutions that make lives easier, better, and safer. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has approximately 29,000 employees in more than 30 countries and posted revenue of $8.88 billion in 2019. Find out more at www.nxp.com. NXP, EdgeVerse, and the NXP logo are trademarks of NXP B.V. All other products or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. 2020 NXP B.V. For more information, please contact: Americas Europe Greater China / Asia Jacey Zuniga Jason Deal Ming Yue Tel: +1 512 415 2681 Tel: +44 7715228414 Tel: +86 21 2205 2690 Email: jacey.zuniga@nxp.com Email: jason.deal@nxp.com Email: ming.yue@nxp.com NXP-Mobile A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1b8d72e7-c83c-403a-a586-dcbbab3e2957 Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. By Trend The number of coronavirus tests conducted in Azerbaijan has been revealed, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Management Union of Medical Territorial Units (TABIB). As of May 20, 5 389 tests were conducted to detect new cases of infection. In accordance with the data, in general, 245 609 tests were conducted throughout the country. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz HADDAM Local firefighters were kept busy Sunday by two separate crashes that each caused temporary lane closures, officials said on Wednesday. Units from the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company were first dispatched at 10:05 a.m. for a reported car that had crashed into a tree on Ponsett Road. Officials said the first arriving crews found a fully-involved vehicle fire. Pro-democracy protesters gesture the slogan 'five demands and not one less' during a vigil outside the Pacific Place shopping mall in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong on May 15, 2020, to mark the 11 month anniversary since a man fell to his death from a scaffolding, during a protest against the Hong Kong government's extradition bill last year. (Anthony Wallance/AFP via Getty Images) US to React Strongly If Beijing Moves Ahead With Hong Kong National Security Law: Trump President Donald Trump said on May 21 the United States would react strongly if China follows through on plans to impose a new national security law on Hong Kong. Critics say the move would further erode the citys autonomy and allow the regime to crack down on dissident voices under the pretext of safeguarding security. Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the regimes rubber-stamp legislature, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), announced on May 21 evening that the body will propose a bill to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding the national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. If it happens, well address that issue very strongly, Trump told reporters Thursday before leaving the White House. Further details of the law will be released on Friday, Zhang added. Hong Kong media outlets, citing insider sources, reported that the legislation would ban secession, terrorism, foreign interference, and other external interference that could pose threats to the regimes power. The measure could be headed for a formal vote next Thursday and take effect as early as August, local media reported. The bill, which would allow the regime to bypass Hong Kongs legislature, is all but guaranteed to be passed, given the NPCs role as a ceremonial rubber-stamp that approves directives promulgated by the Chinese Communist Party. Pro-democracy lawmakers and activists in Hong Kong condemned Beijings latest move and pledged protest action. This is the end of Hong Kong, said local lawmaker Dennis Kwok at a press conference on Thursday night. This is the end of One Country, Two Systems, he said, referring to the framework Beijing promised to rule Hong Kong upon the citys transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Make no mistake about itI foresee that the international status for Hong Kong as a city, an international city will be gone very soon, Kwok continued. And that has all to do with Beijings walking back and breaching its promise to the Hong Kong people. Pro-democracy protesters light candles during a vigil outside the Pacific Place shopping mall in the Admiralty area of Hong Kong on May 15, 2020. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images) Hong Kong previously scrapped proposals to enact Article 23, an anti-subversion bill, after Hongkongers protested that it would further allow Beijing to erode the citys autonomy and threaten peoples civil liberties. First proposed in 2003, Article 23 was shelved in July that year after hundreds of thousands came out in protest. From time to time, pro-Beijing lawmakers in Hong Kongs legislature have suggested reintroducing the bill. The city is still reeling from mass protests last year against a now-scrapped extradition bill that would have allowed the Chinese regime to transfer people in Hong Kong for trial in courts controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. In the past few weeks, Hong Kong police arrested over 200 pro-democracy demonstrators, while brawls between pro-Beijing and pro-democracy lawmakers have broken out in the legislature amid deepening fears that the regime is tightening control over the city. Pro-democracy and pro Beijing lawmakers scuffle at the House Committees election of chairpersons, presided by pro-Beijing lawmaker Chan Kin Por at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, on May 18, 2020. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images) Prominent local activist Joshua Wong wrote on Twitter: Although the law is highly contentious in Hongkong, and widespread backlash broke out when [Hong Kong government] introduced the law in 2003, Beijing this time deliberately chooses to ram through this unpopular law by completely ignoring the will of Hongkongers. He said the move has deadly implications and saw it as a direct retaliation to the protest movement last year. Beijing is attempting to silence Hongkongers critical voices with force and fear, he said. Police (R) take part in a clearence operation during a pro-democracy demonstration calling for the citys independence at a mall in Hong Kong on May 16, 2020. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images) Johnny Patterson, director of U.K.-based advocacy group Hong Kong Watch, agreed, citing concerns that vague national security charges could allow the Chinese authorities to impinge on human rights and suppress dissidents at will. Will NGOs and charities like Amnesty International and Hong Kong Watch become illegal? he asked. Will the political opposition be accused of subversion? A broad-brush interpretation of this law would signal the end of Hong Kong as we know it. U.S. lawmakers were also swift to denounce the plan. China made an agreement to allow Hong Kong to remain autonomous until 2047. Now, its attempting to take control over the people of [Hong Kong], Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote on Twitter. Last year, Congress passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, by overwhelming majority. Signed into law in late November, it requires the State Department to certify annually whether Hong Kong is sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special U.S. trading privileges distinguishing it from mainland China. Referring to the law, she said any erosion of Hong Kongs autonomy will result in decisive action. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 6 he was delaying the release of this report to take into account any actions at the NPC. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), responding to Beijings announcement, said he will introduce a resolution to the Senate later today to stop this attempted crackdown [and] call on all free nations to stand with Hong Kong. China saying it wants to improve Hong Kong by stripping all its peoples rights [and] liberties, he wrote in a tweet. This is exactly how China wants to improve the world. USA must say NO. The coronavirus pandemic is certainly an inflection point for Texas barbecue and will have lasting effects on both business operations and traditions. The good news is that most of these changes, as I see them, will be positive. For instance, one genie thats not going back in the bottle is online ordering. In the early days of the pandemic (barely two months ago!) when the stay-at-home orders were issued, restaurants were required to transition to curbside service, with orders placed and paid-for online. The speed with which many pitmasters transitioned from meat cookers to I.T. specialists in setting up their online ordering systems was impressive. CorkScrew BBQ, Pinkertons Barbecue, Killens Barbecue and Tejas Chocolate & Barbecue to name a few transitioned to mostly online pre-orders meant for pickup. Remarkably, customers were happy to place orders this way and many of these barbecue joints only experienced a small decrease in daily revenue. This adoption of online ordering will have several repercussions. More Information Pinkerton's Barbecue 1504 Airline Online orders: orderpinkertonsbbq.com See More Collapse Standing in line for an hour or more to get barbecue has been one of the most celebrated and disparaged aspects of the craft barbecue revolution. Some see it as a rite of passage and communal way to experience the tradition of Texas barbecue. Others see it as a marketing ploy to drum up business. The good news for barbecue line adherents is that online ordering will not be an extinction-level event for this beloved tradition. Not everyone will have the desire, ability or time to pre-order online, so there will always be a line to contend with at the most popular spots. For those who are not as enamored of barbecue lines, online pre-orders are a godsend. Though Im a big fan of commiserating with fellow barbecue fans while queuing up, the frequency with which I eat barbecue means I dont always have time to wait. I recently decided to try out the online ordering system at Pinkertons Barbecue. Two hours before arrival, I logged into their website and placed an order for the usual Texas trinity of brisket (moist, lean or mixed), pork ribs (wet or dry), and sausage (regular or jalapeno). Side dishes and condiments were also specified. A credit card was entered and the entire process took no more than a few minutes. I showed up at the appointed time and approached the front of the restaurant. The dining room was still closed so there was a long table set up in the covered entryway outside. Trays and bags were lined up with a name and time stamped on them. A staff member in charge of the pickup table was nearby if assistance was necessary. My order was on the table. I gathered it and headed to the outdoor patio where I unpacked it and ate with friends among socially-distanced picnic tables. The time from parking to eating was all of five minutes. And the barbecue was as exemplary as always. Obviously, there is also the option of a true take-away I could just have easily have picked up the order and taken it home. Once dining rooms return to full capacity, there will undoubtedly be a need to establish pre-ordering etiquette when it comes to dining in. For instance, if you pre-order for pick-up at a particular time, can you claim a table inside immediately after picking it up, in effect leap-frogging those customers who have been waiting in line and who expect to get a table too? Will pre-ordering for dine-in even be an option? In this case, it in effect becomes a reservation system by another name. For those restaurants with large outdoor patios, the problem is less of a concern. Like my experience at Pinkertons, picking up a pre-order and heading for an outdoor picnic table seems like fair game. As someone who patronizes a lot of barbecue joints on a regular basis, online pre-ordering is a game-changer. Fortunately I will always have the option to experience the barbecue line tradition when schedule and convenience allows. jcreid@jcreidtx.com twitter.com/jcreidtx Venezuela's defense minister said Wednesday that planes and ships from the nation's armed forces will escort Iranian tankers arriving with fuel to the gasoline-starved country in case of any US aggression. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lpez said Venezuela's navy and air force will welcome the five Iranian tankers, seeing them through the nation's maritime territory and into port. He compared the fuel tankers to humanitarian aid that China and Russia have sent to help Venezuela combat the new coronavirus pandemic. A force of US vessels, including Navy destroyers and other combat ships, patrol the Caribbean on what US officials call a drug interdiction mission. Venezuelan officials paint them as a threat, but US officials have not announced any plans to intercept the Iranian tankers, or threatened to try that. Both countries have been hit with U.S. economic sanctions. Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, also lashed out at the U.S., saying any attempt to stop the tankers would be illegal. Forbidding those boats from reaching their destination would thus constitute a crime against humanity, Moncada said at a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss recent turmoil in Venezuela. The five Iranian tankers now on the high seas are expected to start arriving to Venezuela in the coming days. They are carrying gasoline to help alleviate days-long lines at service stations even in Caracas, which had normally been immune to shortages as the capital and seat of political power. Earlier Wednesday, Iran's ambassador to Venezuela defended broadening trade relations between the two nations, which includes the five tankers, as their right to trade freely. International conventions protect the expanding ties between the two US-sanctioned nations, Ambassador Hojjatollah Soltani said. This relationship between Iran and Venezuela doesn't threaten anybody. It's not a danger to anyone," Soltani said in a meeting with reporters at the Iranian Embassy in Caracas. In addition to sending the tankers, Iran has flown in shipments of a chemical needed to restart an aging Venezuelan oil refinery with the goal of producing gasoline. While Venezuela sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, its oil production has plummeted in the last two decades, which critics blame on corruption and mismanagement under socialist rule. Recent U.S. sanctions designed to force President Nicols Maduro from power have also hurt Venezuela's production. Trump's National Security Council tweeted Monday that few financial lifelines remain for Maduro. The US is among nearly 60 nations that recognize opposition leader Juan Guaid as Venezuela's legitimate leader. Our maximum pressure campaign, which includes financial & economic sanctions, will continue until Maduro's tyrannical hold ends, the council said. The humanitarian & economic crisis endured by Venezuelans is the fault of 1 person Maduro. For Iran's government, the business ties with Venezuela represent a way to bring money into its cash-starved coffers and apply its own pressure on Washington. Soltani denied claims that Iranian planes returned from Venezuela loaded with gold to pay for Iran's support. He accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of spreading fake to undermine the trade, which the ambassador called a win-win for both Venezuela and Iran. They can sanction whoever they want, Soltani said. Iran will always advance. Adm. Craig Faller, the top U.S. military official in Latin America, said Monday that he was concerned by the reports that Iran was shipping gasoline to Venezuela. He said it fits a larger pattern of Iran trying to gain positional advantage in our neighborhood in a way that would counter U.S. interests. I've seen those same reports that the tankers are in route, Faller said in a webcast event. We see the long hand of that Iranian malfeasance at work each and every day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Trump expressed eagerness to start holding campaign rallies again, at the same time local officials are urging him to stay away. 'The demand has been incredible to get going with the rallies,' Trump said during his Thursday trip to Michigan, adding he would plan one in whatever U.S. locale 'opens up first.' But even gatherings that won't bring out droves of supporters are spooking local officials, with Baltimore's Mayor Jack Young asking Trump to skip his planned Memorial Day trip to the city because it 'sends the wrong message.' President Trump said Thursday that 'the demand has been incredible' for him to come to cities and perform campaign rallies, at the same time local officials are asking him to stay away President Trump said Thursday he wanted to host a rally, like this one in New Hampshire in February, in whatever U.S. jurisdiction 'opens up first,' though he might face local pushback On Thursday, Baltimore Mayor Jack Young asked President Trump to 'please stay home!' The president and first lady planned to mark Memorial Day in Baltimore The president and first lady are planning to visit Baltimore's Fort McHenry to mark Memorial Day on Monday In a longer statement, Baltimore's mayor asked the president to 'set a positive example and not travel during this holiday weekend' Young wrote in a tweet to Trump 'please stay home!' In a longer statement, the mayor explained that the city is still under a stay at home order and city officials have worked hard to educate constituents about the importance of social distancing and staying home, only leaving for an essential reason. 'I wish that the president, as our nation's leader, would set a positive example and not travel during this holiday weekend,' Young wrote. 'In addition to the president sending a conflicting message to our residents, his visit requires personnel and equipment, and has a price tag that our city, which is still dealing with the loss of $20 million in revenue per month, simply can't afford to shoulder.' 'I would hope that the president would change his mind and decide to remain at home,' Young said. The mayor said the city would 'be prepared for his visit' if Trump decides to keep it on the schedule. The president and first lady Melania Trump planned to visit the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine on Monday to mark Memorial Day. Fort McHenry has been closed to the public since March 28 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The president has a history of feuding with Baltimore officials. Last July he went off on Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died in October, about the state of his city after Cummings criticized a top Trump immigration official at a Congressional hearing. The president called the city a 'disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess' and said it was 'dangerous & filthy.' But the president also experienced resistance on his Thursday trip to Michigan, with Democratic officials from that state asking him to please wear a mask while he toured a Ford plant. Trump showed reporters a mask that he allegedly wore off-camera for portions of the tour. Shanghai: As China's parliament prepares new laws to ban the trade and consumption of wildlife, local action plans published this week suggest the country's fur trade and lucrative traditional medicine sectors will continue as usual. A vendor unloads boxes of goods at the Baishazhou wet market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Credit:Bloomberg After identifying exotic animals traded in a Wuhan market as the most likely source of COVID-19, Beijing imposed a temporary ban on the wildlife trade in late January. Parliament followed up in February with a resolution promising to enshrine a permanent ban in law. Though legislative changes are expected to be discussed at the national session of parliament starting on Friday, regions are already taking action to implement the February ruling. Wuhan, where the original coronavirus outbreak has been linked to the city's wet markets, has issued a total ban on the hunting, breeding and human consumption of wild animals for the next five years. The 2020 KPMG Irish Independent Property Industry Excellence Awards have been postponed for this year due to the Covid-19 crisis. Instead, the awards programme will kick-start in January 2021 with the gala awards night taking place on November 25, 2021, when the organisers look forward to the industry reconvening to honour and recognise the excellence exhibited during the post-Covid rebuilding of Ireland. Speaking at the announcement, Jim Clery, a partner at KPMG, explained that the postponement follows the impact of the crisis on the real estate sector and the challenges facing all stakeholders. "We remain fully committed to promoting excellence and integrity across all sectors of Ireland's real estate industry and fully committed to the relaunch of the awards programme in 2021," he said. Paul Muldoon of the Irish Independent said: "We trust that property businesses across Ireland will continue to support each other at this difficult time and that, together, we will kick-start the rebuilding of Ireland." The team suggests a recovery scenario whereby all players plan for focus on preparedness and agility. Several countries, like Ireland, are providing temporary relief to property owners and occupiers. European banks are encouraged to give forbearance. In some locations, commercial and residential tenants have had mortgage and rent holidays. With Ireland returning to building let's support developers and construction workers and applaud this sign of recovery. The price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia on the global oil market may start again when prices return to the level of $50-55 a barrel, Department Director of S&P Global Ratings in Russia Alexander Gryaznov said. "Some kind of a pause has been taken in this war. It is disadvantageous for both players, Saudi Arabia and Russia, to continue the price war in this situation," the expert said. "However, when the price returns to $50-55 [per barrel], I would not exclude that the struggle for markets will continue," TASS cited him as saying. According to S&P Global Ratings estimates, Brent oil prices will be at the level of $30 per barrel until 2020 year-end with subsequent recovery to $50 per barrel in 2021. Experts believe prices will be at the level of $55 per barrel in 2022 and later on. Oil prices plummeted in March after Russia and Saudi Arabia failed to negotiate oil production cuts. Ex-allies intended to proactively ramp up production in April. Observes called it the price war." However, OPEC+ countries managed to finalize the deal on oil production cuts in May - June at their extraordinary meeting on April 12. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Thursday issued new guidelines urging residents to stay home when possible, even as Gov. Greg Abbott reopens most businesses. The extended Stay Home, Work Safe order is in effect through June 10, though it bears little resemblance to the original directive in March that closed most businesses and ordered residents to remain at home. San Antonio and Bexar County extended their own stay-home guidelines through June 4. Abbotts orders reopening Texas businesses override any rules from local officials. The governor also barred cities and counties from enforcing facemask requirements, as Hidalgo had attempted. The county judge said her order reminds residents to keep practicing social distancing. I dont want the community to get the message that were done, Hidalgo said. We may well be in the eye of the hurricane. Theres still no cure, no vaccine. Starting Friday, the governors phased reopening plan will include bars, which will be permitted to operate at 25 percent capacity with table-only seating. Even with those rules, Hidalgo said the wise choice may be for residents to stay away. Will I be going to the club? No, she said. Hidalgo continues to walk a fine line with Abbott. She again praised her relationship with the governor and pledged to do what she could to help his orders succeed, even as she expresses concern that he is reopening Texas too soon. Hidalgo warned the virus could surge at any time. She announced Thursday that cases in Harris County had surpassed 10,000 since the outbreak began and deaths have exceeded 200. Though health experts had projected the virus to peak here at the end of April before declining, Dr. Umair Shah, the county health director, said cases reached a plateau several weeks ago and have yet to significantly decrease. The risk of resurgence grows, he said, as more businesses reopen. Its restaurants at 25 percent. Then its barber shops. Then you come back and add in nail salons now we have bars, and restaurants at 50 percent, Shah said. Our concern is, from a public health standpoint, that that does not lead to a decrease in cases. Thats the key message. Texas Medical Center leaders on Tuesday expressed support for Abbotts plan, acknowledging the economy cannot stay shuttered indefinitely. Some Houston health experts, however, said the governor was moving too quickly. Harris County has not come close to exceeding its hospital capacity. The region has experienced a far milder outbreak than those in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle. Hidalgo on Thursday also unveiled a series of guidelines meant to protect employees returning to their jobs and help businesses create safe workplaces. They include staggering shifts to avoid congregating workers, taking employees temperatures, providing face coverings and never requiring anyone to come to work if they feel ill. Retail firms should clean and disinfect shops before reopening and give employees a break every hour so they may wash their hands or take other safety precautions, she said. Employers also should keep attendance of all workers on-site each day, so contract tracing can easily occur in the event of an outbreak. State Rep. Armando Walle, whom Hidalgo appointed the countys coronavirus recovery czar, said it is hoped the worker guidelines will prevent outbreaks like those discovered at meatpacking plants in the Texas Panhandle. Hidalgo said the public also can play a role in encouraging business to protect workers: If a restaurant is not taking safety measures, she suggested, eat somewhere else. Joshua Fechter contributed reporting from San Antonio. zach.despart@chron.com In the first 30 days since seeing their first patient, the number of children testing positive to COVID-19 at an Australian tertiary paediatric hospital has been low and none who contracted the virus required in-hospital treatment, according to a new study. The research, led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in Emergency Medicine Australasia, is the first Australian study to examine the rate of COVID-19 in children and adolescents presenting to an Australian hospital. MCRI's Dr Laila Ibrahim said the study was reassuring for parents with children presenting to hospital with the usual childhood acute respiratory illnesses such as asthma, croup and bronchiolitis, that at this time it was very unlikely they have COVID-19. Dr Ibrahim said parents should also not delay seeking hospital treatment for their children due to fears of contracting the virus. "The data shows that many worried parents are coming to the hospital when their child has a cough or fever, but of over 400 children tested, only four tested positive to COVID-19," she said. "This study shows that Australia has responded extremely well to the threat. Hospitals are a safe place with a very low risk of being exposed to COVID-19, and community transmission over the course of the study period was also low." But Dr Ibrahim said despite the low number of cases to date locally, overseas data had shown that children could still become severely unwell with COVID-19 and there shouldn't be complacency. The four-week study included 434 patients, aged 0-18 years, who presented with COVID-19 symptoms to the emergency department or the respiratory infection clinic of a major paediatric hospital. The study started after the first positive case was confirmed at the hospital on March 21. None of the four positive children were admitted to hospital, developed severe symptoms or had significant additional medical conditions. They all recovered within two weeks after experiencing mild upper respiratory symptoms like a sore throat. Only one was managed under the Hospital-in-the-Home program. MCRI Dr Shidan Tosif, who oversaw follow-up with the families, said the data highlighted the success of outpatient management for COVID-19 positive patients. "The patients were not admitted to hospital after having a clinical assessment, knowing that their COVID-19 test may later return a positive result," he said. "We were confident that treating children with COVID-19 in the home was the best option." Dr Tosif said so far there were no reported cases of the multisystem inflammatory syndrome similar to Kawasaki disease that have been described overseas. "Australians have participated so well in physical distancing measures that we expect to see no or low numbers of patients with this rare complication, even though we are watching very, very carefully for it," he said. ### Researchers from the University of Melbourne, The Royal Children's Hospital and Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital in South Korea also contributed to the findings. The research study was approved by the institutional Human Research Ethics Committee. Publication: Laila F Ibrahim, Shidan Tosif, Sarah McNab, Samantha Hall, Hyun Jung Lee, Stuart Lewena, Nigel Crawford, Andrew Steer, Penelope A Bryant and Franz E Babl. 'SARS-COV-2 Testing and Outcomes in the First 30 Days after the First Case of COVID-19 at an Australian Children's Hospital,' Emergency Medicine Australasia. DOI: 10.1111/1742-6723.13550 Available for interview: Dr Laila Ibrahim Dr Shidan Tosif Dallas, Houston, Southeast Florida's Gold Coast, the entire state of Alabama and several other places in the South that have been rapidly reopening their economies are in danger of a second wave of coronavirus infections over the next four weeks, according to a research team that uses cellphone data to track social mobility and forecast the trajectory of the pandemic. The model, developed by PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and updated Wednesday with new data, suggests that most communities in the United States should be able to avoid a second spike in the near term if residents are careful to maintain social distancing even as businesses open up and restrictions are eased. But the risk for resurgence is high in some parts of the country, especially in places already seeing fast-growing numbers of cases, including the counties of Crawford, Iowa; Colfax, Nebraska; and Texas, Oklahoma, and the city of Richmond, Virginia. Since May 3, Crawford County has seen its caseload increase by 750 percent, and Colfax County's has increased 1,390 percent, according to state data compiled by The Washington Post. This is an anxious moment for the nation as people emerge from shutdowns and communities try to reinvigorate economic activity. Scientists and public health experts are monitoring rates of infections and hospitalizations, but it is difficult to forecast during this transitional period because models struggle to capture how people actually behave, including adherence to social distancing and hand-washing practices. There are preliminary signs, however, that hot spots - new clusters of coronavirus spread - could soon flare across parts of the South and Midwest. "As communities reopen, we're starting to detect evidence of resurgence in cases in places that have overreached a bit," said David Rubin, director of PolicyLab. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said last week that the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area could see a spike in cases this summer, with a tripling of daily active cases of covid-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes, if there is a significant easing of mitigation efforts. And PolicyLab projects that in the next month, Harris County, which includes Houston, will go from a couple hundred cases a day to over 2,000. The overall national picture remains ambiguous: The daily death toll from covid-19 is dropping, but increased activity and travel in a population that remains susceptible to infection means the coronavirus has new opportunities to spread. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday he has "no doubt" there will be new waves of cases. "The virus is not going to disappear," he said in an interview with The Washington Post. "It's a highly transmissible virus. At any given time, it's some place or another. As long as that's the case, there's a risk of resurgence." He said the country has time now to prepare for new caseloads, which could mount considerably in the fall. A presentation prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency - and reviewed by The Post - suggests new waves could be steep enough in some places to overwhelm ventilator capacity. For instance, the data indicates that only 866 ventilators are in use in Georgia, which has pursued one of the most aggressive reopening plans. But the state's supply of 2,853 ventilators could be outstripped as soon as the end of the month by the projected number required for covid-19 patients, according to the federal modeling. States from Arizona to Colorado to Tennessee could face similar shortages, according to the projections. An "ensemble" model that incorporates 20 leading pandemic models, developed by biostatistician Nicholas Reich of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, shows a gradual decline in projected covid-19 deaths over the next four weeks, from about 9,000 this week to 4,000 in the second week of June. His model shows that by mid-June, the United States should expect to reach 113,000 deaths. But Reich said Wednesday that this is a particularly difficult phase of the pandemic to capture in models because of uncertainty about how people will behave as restrictions are lifted. "There's so much complexity and so much that could change," Reich said. Some communities seem to be abiding better by social distancing, Rubin said. They include Denver, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Ohio, and the Research Triangle of North Carolina, all of which look good in the new forecast. But South Florida, which has the bulk of that state's cases, looks worrisome in the four-week projection, Rubin said. "That Southeast coast, they're just starting to open up and relax. It's a densely crowded area. There's a lot of tinder down there," he said. Alabama will probably see a steep increase in cases in nearly every county over the next month, according to the PolicyLab model. State Health Officer Scott Harris said this week that Alabama's numbers were "not as good as we could hope for." The state began easing its stay-at-home order and other restrictions this month. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, who has allowed restaurants, bars, retail businesses, churches, gyms and salons to reopen, is expected to outline further steps this week. In a news conference Wednesday, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said the city is facing a shortage of intensive care beds and being forced to divert patients to Birmingham. "They're at a capacity that is not sustainable," he said. "Our health-care system is maxed out." In upstate Monroe County, New York, home to the city of Rochester, hospitalizations of covid-19 patients have risen by about 70 percent over the past 10 days and 18 percent since reopening began on Friday. PolicyLab projects that cases in Monroe County will rise through the end of May before falling precipitously through mid-June. Michael Mendoza, Monroe County's public health commissioner, told reporters Tuesday that he believed hospitalizations have risen in large part because the county dramatically increased testing in May and is doing more testing in nursing homes and in hospitals. The number of covid-19 patients in intensive care and on ventilators has "remained relatively stable," he said. In Texas, there has been an outbreak of cases in El Paso and in meatpacking plants in the Panhandle. The positivity rate in coronavirus tests has gone down as the number of tests has increased, and hospitalization rates are holding steady. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has sent "surge response teams" to places where there are spikes in infections. But the number of daily active cases is still rising in some parts of the state. Dallas and nearby Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, each had its highest single-day death toll Tuesday. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health, said he has seen "slight upticks" but not "a significant increase thus far" in cases. He is concerned, however, about the state's reopening. "There's mixed messages from the federal, state and local levels," Shah said. "It's summer, it's 90 degrees right now outside - for people to start getting complacent and feel, 'Oh, the virus is yesterday's news' . . . we have that concern." Lauren Ancel Meyers, who directs the Covid-19 Modeling Consortium at the University of Texas at Austin, said her group looks at cellphone data. "It's telling us the same thing we see when we look out our windows," Meyers said. "We are seeing a big change in people's mobility." The increased activity so far has not led to an increase in hospitalizations. "If the changes in behavior that started in May really did accelerate transmission, we will begin to see that in the case data, the hospitalization data, the death data very soon," she said. One fundamental problem for scientists is that the virus does not reveal its presence readily. There is a lag in data. On average, it takes about five days for a person infected with the coronavirus to develop symptoms. That incubation period can be even longer - up to 14 days. Then there is another lag before a symptomatic person gets tested and gets the results or perhaps needs hospitalization. "We're looking at potentially a month or two later that we're going to see the impact" of the reopening, said Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner. "You have not seen the impact of reopening yet. I think there's going to be a very significant lag." - - - The Washington Post's Arelis R. Hernandez in San Antonio, Cleve R. Wootson Jr. in Tampa, Fla., and William Wan in Washington contributed to this report. Airline Lufthansa said on Thursday it is in advanced talks with the German government's economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros (8 billion pounds), including the state taking a 20% stake in the company. Lufthansa said in a statement that the deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its voting rights as a whole in exceptional cases such as protection against a takeover. Lufthansa has been in talks with the government for weeks over aid to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected to be a protracted travel slump, but it has been wrangling over how much control to yield in return for support. Lufthansa said it expected conditions of the deal to include the waiver of future dividend payments and limits on management compensation, adding the package would have to be approved by the European Commission. The concept includes a 3 billion euro loan from the state-backed bank KfW and a convertible bond, which can be exchanged for a further 5% stake plus one share in the event of a public takeover offer by a third party. Lufthansa said it hoped the deal could be concluded promptly to secure its long-term solvency. German media had reported late on Wednesday that a deal had been done and Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects an agreement on a rescue package soon, but did not elaborate. The airline said on May 7 it was negotiating a 9 billion-euro bailout with the German government to ensure its future, confirming an earlier Reuters report. ($1 = 0.9108 euros) Andrew Scheer, the leader of Canadas official opposition Conservative Party, denounced the Liberal government at a press conference Tuesday for practicing appeasement towards China. His inflammatory remarks, likening the Liberal governments policy towards Beijing to British imperialisms attempt to reach an accommodation with Nazi Germany in the late 1930s, marks a new high point in the anti-China campaign that has gripped the entire Canadian political establishment. Don't be fooled by Mr. Trudeau's phony statements about China right now, declared Scheer. We have been raising the alarm about this government's failure to stand up for Canada and its policy of appeasement to the regime in the People's Republic of China. Scheer, who made a point of publicly accepting a donation of 500,000 face masks from Taiwan last week, directed his comments at the Trudeau governments support for a Trump administration-led initiative to grant Taiwan observer status at this weeks World Health Organization assembly. They were also aimed at Trudeaus public criticisms of Chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which Scheer labelled disingenuous. After the Liberal government indicated this week its support for an investigation into the World Health Organization and Chinas reaction to the initial coronavirus outbreak, Trudeau remarked, I think as we move through this crisis ... we will have to be asking questions about the independence and the strength of those organizationsThere will be some real questions around China, of course, in the coming months and years that need to be answered, and we will be part of that. Trudeaus criticism of Beijing, albeit somewhat more restrained than Scheers, is just the latest example of how Canadas entire ruling elite has swung full square behind Washingtons aggressive bi-partisan anti-China campaign, which was launched with Obamas Pivot to Asia. North Americas imperialist powers are now using the coronavirus pandemic to escalate their attacks on Beijing. In close alliance with Trumps aggressive denunciation of the Chinese authorities and calls from his far-right supporters to force Beijing to pay reparations for the damage done by COVID-19, the Canadian Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) co-sponsored an open letter last month that labelled the coronavirus Chinas Chernobyl moment. The letter, which was signed by Scheer and the two main contenders to succeed him as opposition leader, Erin OToole and Peter McKay, also attacked the WHO for allegedly downplaying the threat posed by the virus. (See: Canadian elite promotes anti-China campaign over coronavirus) The vicious anti-China campaign is aimed in part at covering up the responsibility of the US and Canadian ruling elites for the devastating impact COVID-19 has had in North America. Contrary to the MLIs claims, China informed the WHO as early as January 3 about the existence of a new coronavirus and published the genome sequencing of the virus on January 11. The WHO issued its highest state of alert on January 30. Yet Canadian authorities did nothing to prepare for the inevitable outbreak of infections, shown above all by their failure to purchase supplies of medical equipment and protective gear in time. Only on March 10 did Ottawa even formally ask the provinces about the availability of critical medical supplies and potential shortages. Later the same week, governments across Canada were announcing unprecedented lockdowns in a desperate attempt to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19. Beyond the immediate goal of blaming China for the current health, social, and economic crisis, the driving force of the anti-China campaign is Canadian imperialisms intimate military-strategic partnership with the United States. The Liberal government has aligned itself closely with Trumps economic and military push to isolate and prepare for war with China. The Trudeau governments conclusion last year of an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement with the US and Mexico was aimed at consolidating a North American trade bloc under Washingtons leadership to confront its global rivals. That this principally means Beijing was shown by the new deals effective ban on free trade agreements with non-market economies, a euphemism for China. On behalf of the Trump administration, the Trudeau government also ordered the December 2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, on the basis of bogus charges of violating Washingtons sanctions on Iran. Beijing retaliated by detaining two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, a fact that has been seized upon by the corporate media and right-wing politicians to bolster disingenuous claims that Canada is the target of Chinese aggression and intimidation. With support from Trump administration officials, who have threatened Canada with a downgrading of intelligence-sharing if it fails to fall into line, right-wing media outlets and Conservative politicians have demanded Ottawa ban Huawei from Canadas 5G network. The Liberal government is currently studying the issue. Under the Liberals, Canada has also vastly expanded its military activities in the Asia-Pacific region, including in the highly contested South China Sea. The Trudeau government is increasing military spending by over 70 percent by 2026, and the military and leading defence policy experts are pushing for additional funds to upgrade the North American Aerospace Defence command (NORAD). This project will raise the question of integrating Canada into the United States nuclear-capable ballistic missile defence shield and is viewed as critical to strengthening Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, where China is seen as a direct competitor. This record underscores the fact that, far from appeasing China as Scheer claims, the Trudeau government is playing an important role in supporting US imperialisms aggressive economic and military-strategic offensive against Beijing. The Stalinist Communist Party bureaucracy in China, which restored capitalism by viciously suppressing the working class during the late 1980s, has nothing to offer in opposition to this imperialist war drive but the whipping up of reactionary nationalism and militarism. Even so, sections of the ruling elite believe Trudeau has not gone far enough and are demanding that Canada take an even harder line. In addition to Scheer, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has spoken out in favour of disconnecting the Canadian economy from China and consolidating strategic production capabilities in North America. In remarks echoing Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Kenney has declared that China must face a great reckoning for the COVID-19 pandemic. Richard Fadden, the former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the countrys top domestic spy agency, was cited in a front-page Globe and Mail article this week as saying that the planned purchase of a gold-mine in Canadas far north by a Chinese company represents a threat to Canadas national security and must be stopped. Michael Byers, a professor of international relations at the University of British Columbia who ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party in the 2015 federal election, added that the potential takeover raises concerns of national sovereignty. Byers told the Globe, As a very large powerful authoritarian state acquiring assets in the Canadian Arctic, that concern is legitimate. Fadden added that gold should be included in the Canada-US strategic cooperation plan to ensure supplies and reduce dependence on China for militarily and economically crucial rare earths and metals. He noted that in addition to its economic value, gold plays a critical role in nuclear weapons technology. (See: Canadas involvement in US-led war drive against China: an election non-issue) In the National Post, Derek Burney, a long-serving senior diplomat who was also chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, urged the government to take advantage of the mounting criticism of China over the coronavirus to escalate the simmering conflict over Meng. The minister of justice should use all the power of his office to obtain a speedy verdict on the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, wrote Burney, who provided a lengthy list of inflammatory steps the Trudeau government should undertake. Once the Meng extradition is resolved, summon the Chinese ambassador and give him an ultimatum demanding that the two Michaels be released within two weeks. Failing that, the ambassador will be declared persona non grata and expelled from Canada. While all factions of the ruling elite support the campaign against China, the explosive character of the tactical differences over how far to go in supporting Trumps incendiary declarations cannot be underestimated. A recent editorial in the right-wing Post Media group of newspapers implicitly threatened Trudeau with removal from office if he fails to adopt a sufficiently hard line against Beijing. Now that the pandemic has only heightened Canadians concerns about China, stated the editorial, Trudeau will need to pivot and decouple Canada from China. If he cant or wont do it, then Canadians may opt for another Prime Minister who can. Iran is slowly pulling out of Syria in response to Israeli strikes, as well as growing domestic discontent linked to the economy and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the Israeli military said Thursday. Israel and Iran have for years been engaged in a shadow war that has recently been playing out in Syria, where Israel says Iran has been boosting its military presence along the frontier. Amid the chaos of the Syrian civil war, Israel has carried out repeated strikes aimed at pushing back Iranian forces and preventing the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group that is also fighting in Syria. The Israeli military described the withdrawal as a backward movement from various locations to other locations that are further away and in reduced numbers. It said the movement was not massive, not overwhelming," but that it was also undeniable. The military shared its findings in a briefing with reporters and said they were based on classified intelligence, without elaborating. The military partly attributed the pullback to growing discontent in Iran, where the economy has cratered under U.S. sanctions and authorities have struggled to contain the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. Israel and Iran have tangled in the open on a number of occasions in recent years, with the latest incident in November, when Israeli fighter jets hit multiple targets belonging to Iran's elite Quds force in Syria following rocket fire on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and it has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Hezbollah. Iran portrays its actions in Syria as support for an allied government battling terrorist groups, and says its support for Hezbollah is aimed at defending Lebanon from Israel, which occupied parts of southern Lebanon from 1982 until 2000. It rarely comments on the Israeli strikes. The Israeli military also said it would be prepared to respond to any Hezbollah attack by striking homes, factories and other civilian infrastructure used by the group. The military said it had no interest in an escalation and believed the same was true for Hezbollah. Iran has forces based in Syria, Israel's northern neighbor, and supports Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In Gaza, it supplies the militant Islamic Jihad with cash, weapons and training. It also supports Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the coastal territory. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The New Jersey man who has gotten national attention for opening his Bellmawr gym in defiance of the states shutdown orders is now facing some backlash after word circulated online that he also broke the law 13 years ago in an incident that cost a young man his life. Ian A. Smith was a 20-year-old Stockton University student in 2007 when he drank 10 to 12 beers and in the morning ran a stop sign, killing Kevin Ade, 19, of Galloway Township, according to 6ABC reports at the time. He pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison, court records show. Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym, addressed the incident in an Instagram video Wednesday, saying he was responding to a lot of postings about a tragedy in the past that I was the cause of. Smith and partner Frank Trumbetti have reopened their gym for three days, arguing the state shutdown of gyms is unconstitutional and that they can take steps to keep members safe, like taking temperatures and limiting capacity. For each of the three days, they and patrons have been cited by police for violating Gov. Phil Murphys executive order. A Gofundme pledging to pay their legal fees had raised over $40,000 by Wednesday afternoon. Smith said the fatal crash in 2007 happened after he had been drinking at his dorm room at night and didnt realize when he got up in the morning that he still had alcohol in his system. Its something that I accept full responsibility for. And to anyone out there who hates me, you are completely justified in doing so, but I do want to set the details straight, Smith said in the video. My actions caused the death of a young man and broke the hearts of an entire community, and thats something theyll never ever fully recover from, he said. Theres nothing I can do except try to live a good life and give back and promote as much love and positivity in the world as I can. But some members of Ades family said that while they hoped Smith would turn his life around, his decision to reopen his gym despite the governors executive order and the risk it poses to members shows he has not. It shows he has no regard for the law, said Robert Henchy, Ades uncle. He drove drunk, killed somebody, gets probably one of the lightest sentences Ive ever seen, said Henchy, a retired Absecon police officer. And now 13 years later, youre out defying the law once again. I just dont get it. He already killed somebody and now hes going to put other peoples lives in jeopardy by opening the gym. Beth Henchy, Robert Henchys wife and Ades aunt, said she doesnt want to be angry with Smith, but she feels his actions now show he still does not value others lives. I used to drive in my car and say, I forgive. I forgive Ian Smith, hoping if I said it, I would feel it, she said in an interview Wednesday. And then I look at this and ... Im angry again. Beth Henchy, a radiology technician at a South Jersey hospital, said she understands how much small businesses are suffering now. But as she and her family members work in hospitals, law enforcement and other essential jobs, she just cant agree that opening a gym is that essential, especially given the risk asymptomatic gym members could spread the virus. Maybe he should come hang out with me and my coworkers dealing with Covid-19 patients, she said. As were holding someones hand as they take their dying breath. She said one positive thing has come out of the development: people have started to make donations in her nephews name to The HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers, which has honored Kevin Ade as one of the victims of drunk driving who died too young. Ade, a 2006 graduate of Absegami High School, was attending Atlantic Cape Community College at the time of his death and dreamed of being a radio deejay. At 19 years old, Kevin Ade was killed by a drunk driver, leaving his family to mourn his loss and carry on his... Posted by HERO Campaign on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 James Mermigis, an attorney representing Atilis Gym, declined to comment for this story. Attempts to reach Smith for comment were unsuccessful. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Ask Syracuse.com: When can we visit the parents? When will the DMV, gyms reopen? Syracuse University announces fall return date and adjusted academic schedule Central NY coronavirus hospitalizations at all-time high, Cuomo not concerned yet Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Officials are conducting a large-scale search across a Massachusetts town after a resident reported a monkey in her backyard. Police arrived at the home in Tewskbury, north of Boston, Monday where the alarmed local showed officers a photo she had snapped that reportedly showed the primate sitting beside a tree. Tewskbury Lt. James Williams told The Lowell Sun that he couldn't be sure the animal was a monkey, but said the witness was 'very convinced' and 'stranger things have happened'. The Tewksbury Police Department and Animal Control subsequently scoured the town, deploying ATVs and drones to try and capture the creature. Officials are conducting a large-scale search across a Massachusetts town after a resident reported a monkey in her backyard 'She was very convinced': Alarmed local Diane Charlton was stunned to see what she believed was a monkey in her backyard Another resident also told 7 News they spotted the monkey, claiming it clambered over the back fence and disappeared into nearby woods No monkey - or any other unusual animal - was located, and the search remains ongoing. Rumors of a rogue monkey roaming through Tewksbury has captured the imagination of the town's 31,000 residents. The local Shawsheen Animal Hospital shared the blurry image the witness took of the 'monkey' to its Facebook page Wednesday and it quickly went viral. Hospital employees warned townspeople to steer clear of the creature should they see it. 'Typically, they are not dangerous, but if you try to capture it, it could try to bite or scratch and they carry a disease herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans,' hospital vet Dr. Michele Caruso stated. Shawsheen Animal Hospital vet Dr. Michele Caruso urged the public to stay away from the creature as it could carry fatal diseases. She is pictured She stressed that the Shawsheen Animal Hospital does not treat monkeys and is baffled by the image. 'They're not legal... but if someone did have it as a pet and it escaped, I would imagine they would be fearful to come forward,' she stated. Dr. Caruso told The Lowell Sun that it is unlikely the animal escaped from a research facility as 'the public would be notified'. She later told 7NEWS Boston that the animal certainly appeared to be a monkey. As the search remains ongoing, residents are left to speculate about the animal. 'Could be a Baby Bigfoot,' one wrote on Facebook. Another summed up the situation by humorously stating: 'This is all monkey business!' Asmara, Eritrea (PANA) Amnesty International has decried the overcrowding and the filthy conditions in which detainees in Eritrea are held amid the global coronavirus outbreak Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:33:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The role of Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist with the Central Hospital of Wuhan who warned of a potential outbreak, "has been distorted without regard for fact," a faculty member at Yale University wrote in an article published by Project Syndicate on Monday. Stephen Roach, also former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, wrote "the first Chinese doctor to report the novel coronavirus was not Li but Zhang Jixian," a doctor in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. On Dec. 27, 2019, three cases of pneumonia of unknown cause were immediately reported by Zhang after she received the patients, the first reporting of suspected cases of a new disease by local authorities in China. Three days later, Li posted in one of his WeChat chat groups text messages including "seven SARS cases were confirmed at Huanan fruits and seafood market", a photo and a video clip. "President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have fanned the flames by accusing China of covering up the outbreak and knowingly allowing the novel coronavirus to spread," said Roach. "But their supposed smoking gun, the tragic fate of the heroic whistleblower, Li Wenliang, fires only blanks." "Contrary to the Western narrative, the initial response of (China's) local authorities was prompt, albeit not without error," Roach added, mentioning that on Dec. 30, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued internal documents ordering efforts to treat patients with pneumonia of unknown cause. On Dec. 31, China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) China Country Office of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan. On Jan. 3, 2020, China began sending regular, timely updates about the novel coronavirus to the WHO, and other countries, including the United States. Li, 34, died of the novel coronavirus on Feb. 7. He was later identified as a martyr, the highest honorary title awarded to citizens who bravely sacrifice their lives for the nation, society and the people. "Li's death plays a central part in the conspiracy theories that drive the anti-China discourse of Trump's Republican Party," said Roach, noting a leaked 57-page GOP campaign 2020 strategy document is "filled with distorted accounts of the so-called intimidation of Li." "The more the U.S. struggles with the ravages of COVID-19, the more desperate Trump and his loyalists are to blame China," said Roach. Enditem The flight operations resumed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in Kolkata on Thursday noon after Cyclone Amphan had completely left the runway inundated. The operations resumed from 12 noon on Thursday after the cyclone ravaged the airport at a wind speed of 130 kmph. The first flight, a Russian chartered plane landed at 2.31 pm for the evacuation of stranded Russian nationals. The first departure was a SpiceJet cargo flight headed for Delhi. The effective planning and teamwork have minimised the effects of the cyclone at the airport. Operations resume at #KolkataAirport after severe #CyclonicStormAmphan. Effective planning and team work has minimised the effects of Cyclone at the Airport and our teams are working round the clock to ensure uninterrupted services. pic.twitter.com/9L0wviHTTy Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) May 21, 2020 #KolkataAirport springs back to operation from 12 noon today after severe #CyclonAmphan ravaged at wind speed of 130kmph. First flight,a Russian chartered plane landed at 1431 hrs for evacuation of stranded Russian nationals. First departure was SpiceJet cargo flight for Delhi. pic.twitter.com/O0iF69Utll Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) May 21, 2020 Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the official page of Kolkata Airport said, "Kolkata Airport springs back to today after severe Cyclon Amphan ravaged at a wind speed of 130kmph. The first flight, a Russian chartered plane landed at 1431 hrs for the evacuation of stranded Russian nationals. The first departure was SpiceJet cargo flight for Delhi." "Operations resume at Kolkata Airport after severe cyclonic storm Amphan. Effective planning and teamwork has minimised the effects of Cyclone at Kolkata Airport and our teams are working round the clock to ensure uninterrupted services," it added. A day after Amphan, one of the most powerful cyclones in over a decade, hit West Bengal, the Kolkata airport suffered major damages. The runway was completely inundated with floodwater. An Air India hangar collapsed, while floodwaters left one Air India aircraft damaged. The cyclone has killed at least 72 people in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday. Out of the total 72 deaths, 15 of them were from Kolkata, the Chief Minister said. ''72 people have died in West Bengal so far. I have never seen such a disaster before. I will ask PM Modi to visit the state and see the situation,'' West Bengal Chief Minister said. She also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for those killed in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. The cyclonic system has since passed to Bangladesh leaving a trail of destruction in India, but heavy rains are expected over North Bengal all day on Thursday. Clear skies can be seen from Friday, an official from Alipore Meteorological Department said. Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday reviewed the situation at cyclone-affected areas of Odisha and West Bengal with the states and central agencies concerned. West Bengal informed the secretary that there were major damages to agricultural lands, power and telecommunication facilities in cyclone-affected areas of the state. While Odisha informed that damages have been mainly limited to the loss of agriculture. One of Americas biggest oil hotspotsTulsa, Oklahomahas found a novel way to advertise itself to Tesla, which is looking for a location for a new car factory. The city has started work on one of its landmarks, the Golden Driller statue, to make it look like Teslas chief executive, Elon Musk. The statuea tribute to oil drilling--was built in 1953 and has this inscribed at its base: The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from Gods abundance a better life for mankind. And thats not all, some are even hopeful Musk will relocate the companys headquarters to Tulsa, a city that is advertising itself as a low cost of living and low-tax rate heaven. The hope that Tesla might choose to relocate came after Elon Musk lashed out at California county authorities that had ordered a suspension of all non-essential business, including carmaking. The order, by the health authorities of Alameda County, infuriated the Tesla CEO, which threatened to relocate the company. Tesla is filing a lawsuit against Alameda County immediately. The unelected & ignorant Interim Health Officer of Alameda is acting contrary to the Governor, the President, our Constitutional freedoms & just plain common sense! Musk tweeted on Saturday. This was the same day that Tesla said in a blog post that it would reopen the Fremont factory in accordance with strict rules for safety. Frankly, this is the final straw, Musk continued on Twitter. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately. If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependent on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA. Separately, the company is looking for a location for its new factory, where it will make the Cybertruck, and Tulsa is on the short list, along with Austin, Texas. Tulsa is hard at work to win Teslas favor: the citys mayor recently said on Twitter that the Tulsa police would buy Cybertrucks if they are produced there. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Press Release May 21, 2020 Tolentino allays fears of utility companies on 'Three Gives' proposal Administration Senator Francis "Tol" Tolentino allayed fear of utility companies that his so-called "Three Gives" proposal would lead to loss of income. "We are not pushing for non-payment of bills, not waiver, not default, not abandonment of bills," Tolentino clarified during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship on his Senate Bill No. 1473. "What we are after is only a slight delay in payment of consumers and small industries on their utility bills, electric, water or even telephone bills," he pointed out. Tolentino's measure seeks to allow a scheme of three installment payments for electric, water and telephone bills during a state of calamity. He insisted that utility companies would only have to wait before getting hold of the payments while consumers affected by calamities recover from its effects on their finances. "Makukuha pa rin naman nila iyan nang buo. Mahahawakan din nila yung bayad, made-delay lang para mapagbigyan ang mga consumer na wala nang pambayad," said Tolentino. Tolentino made the pronouncement after various utility firms expressed worry that the passage of the measure would lead to loss of income. Other utility companies admitted that they are heavily dependent on the cash flow coming from the payments they receive from consumers. Amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Tolentino said various countries have taken steps in helping customer deal with their monthly billings for utilities. In United Kingdom, all energy suppliers have agreed to emergency measures to help customers who are most at risk during the coronavirus crisis. "Depending on the type of bill, they may be able to arrange a payment plan, or have schemes in place for people in financial hardship," Tolentino explained. Italy, for its part, suspended the payments on electricity, water and gas bills until April 30, 2020 while Lithuania allows the installment payment for up to one year. Canada has deferred electricity and natural gas bills until June 18, 2020 without any late fees or added interest payments, Czech Republic postponed energy payments for up to three months and Pakistan allowed three monthly installment payments on electricity bill without any late payment charges. A Syrian migrant worker has thanked the public for "restoring his faith" in the country after the Government agreed to remove foreign NHS and care workers from the immigration health surcharge. Boris Johnson was forced into an embarrassing U-turn on Thursday after strong warnings that the Government looked mean-spirited and petty. Hassan Akkad, a hospital cleaner, had shared a passionate plea on Twitter on Wednesday to ask the public to help deliver a message to the Prime Minister about the lack of support for foreign workers. Mr Akkad said he had felt "betrayed" and "stabbed in the back" after the Government initially refused to remove foreign workers from the surcharge or extend the bereavement scheme to all NHS support staff and care workers. But, following the U-turn on both policies, Mr Akkad thanked unions, journalists and members of the public for "restoring his faith" in the country and for sharing his message. "I hoped I played a very small role in making this happen," he said in a video on Twitter. "Britain is great because of you," he said, adding that he will continue to use his platform for the "greater good". Mr Akkad's initial video to Mr Johnson went viral, clocking up more than four million views, and the hospital cleaner said his colleagues had been giving him "virtual high fives" at work. A carer from Jamaica who works in the West Midlands also welcomed the move, but called for it to be extended further. It should be extended further to everybody, because its not easy finding 1,000, they said. It affects everybody, not only frontline workers. I know a few guys, one of them works for a company and hes the only security for that company, and hes not at work. One minute silence to NHS heroes who lost lives to the Coronavirus 1 /25 One minute silence to NHS heroes who lost lives to the Coronavirus London Ambulance Staff observe the minute silence today at their HQ in Waterloo Road Jeremy Selwyn Staff stand outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Shoppers queue in the rain outside Costco in Thurrock during a minutes silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA A minute silence in honour of key workers who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 Sky News London Ambulance Staff observe the minute silence today at their HQ in Waterloo Road Jeremy Selwyn Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA A staff member reacts outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Members of the public, NHS staff, and Police offices, some wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) of a face mask as a precautionary measure against COVID-19, pause for a minute's silence to honour UK key workers AFP via Getty Images A police officer observes a minute silence in honour of key workers who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 outside 10 Downing Street, Reuters London Ambulance Staff observe the minute silence today at their HQ in Waterloo Road Jeremy Selwyn Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA A minute silence in honour of key workers who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 Sky News London Ambulance Staff observe the minute silence today at their HQ in Waterloo Road Jeremy Selwyn Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Staff stand inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA National Shop Stewards Network protesters outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, during a minute's silence which was to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute's silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew's House in Edinburgh to observe a minute's silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak PA Even though hes getting that 80 per cent, thats the only thing he can get from the Government. His visa is going to expire any time soon as well. The carer, who hasnt been able to work for two months due to absent pay, said they dont know if they will be exempt due to their circumstances. Mr Johnson's call to remove the surcharge is a victory for new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who spotlighted the burden placed by the charge on low paid hospital porters and care workers in the Commons. Number 10 said work was "under way on how to implement the change" but full details would not be ready for some days. Regarding EPA is sued for suspending pollution rules (May 14): Bob Egelko aptly highlights the connection between air pollution and infection risk for COVID-19. Prevailing medical research has shown that exposure to air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is damaging to peoples lungs and makes them more likely to get sicker or die from COVID-19. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that roughly 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air. A promising bipartisan bill in Congress, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR763), puts a price on carbon that aligns incentives across businesses, individuals and governments to act sustainably by reducing emissions. The bill then distributes the net revenues as a monthly dividend to American families to cope with increasing energy costs. Regional Economic Models Inc. economists estimate that a carbon fee and dividend policy like this would prevent 230,000 premature deaths due to a reduction in air pollutants that often accompany carbon emissions. So why is the Environmental Protection Agency suspending pollution rules? Todd Osborne, San Francisco Curbside retail debacle Regarding Health or wealth? GOPs economic focus might win (Willie Brown, May 17): As the owner of 28 clothing stores throughout California (eight in San Francisco), I want to applaud Willie Brown for pointing out that curbside retail is an absurd concept. How is a retail store supposed to function when customers are not allowed in the store? The answer is that they cant. Politicians and health officials are patting themselves on the back for allowing retail stores to open, and its incredibly irritating. Clothing stores and other non-essential retailers need the same rules as Target, Walmart, Home Depot, grocery stores, take-out restaurants, ice cream stores and doughnut shops. Let the customers come in and abide by social distancing and sanitation rules. Curbside retail does not work. Believe me, weve tried. David Berbey, San Rafael Saddened by closures Concerning Outbreak could close 13% of museums worldwide (May 20): Its depressing to read that 1 in 8 museums around the world could face permanent closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. These institutions are valuable repositories of great fine artworks and important historical artifacts. Inside the Louvre Museum in Paris, I imagine that Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa is weeping due to this news. Barbara Sandstrom, San Francisco A call for acceptance Im not surprised to read in $9.6 billion (Number of the Day, May 20) that the leading title in this first-quarter video games sales number is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. After all, this game allows players to customize the appearance of their characters. It doesnt limit hairstyles or facial features to specific genders, and it also lets players select their characters skin color. If only people in real life were less concerned with each others physical appearances and more accepting of gender fluidity, the world would be a better place in which to live. Sasha Englander, San Rafael Unfair COVID-19 testing Regarding Tests in nursing homes lagging (Page 1, May 20): Doesnt it seem grossly unfair that our states nursing homes are still struggling to test all of their vulnerable elderly residents for the coronavirus, while a senior citizen in the Oval Office, the 73-year-old President Trump, brags that hes getting tested every day (while stating that testing for COVID-19 could be ... overrated)? Again, this president shows himself to be both an elitist and a hypocrite. Janice Davies-Gottehrer, Alameda Pious pandering Regarding Feds: State must open churches (May 20): Is there no end to Team Trumps pious pandering to religious conservatives? Probably not, where the presidents reelection hopes hinge on evangelical Christians continued pervasive support. So look for President Trumps Justice Department lackeys to keep criticizing states for prudently protecting churchgoers from COVID-19 contagion. The Justice Department letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom took the theocratic cake. It advised him that the states plan to gradually reopen public gatherings unlawfully delays churches resumption of in-person worship services. Most incredibly, the letter acknowledged that federal courts already have upheld the legality of Newsoms plan. I suggest a new title for this report: Feds: Heed our grandstanding piety, not federal courts rulings. Edward Alston, Santa Maria Show the statistics Thank you for the news story LGBTQ statistics left out of tracking (May 20). As a gay man, Id like to know how the coronavirus is affecting members of the LGBTQ community, and support helping health officials identify pockets of outbreaks among us and tailor specific messages on how to avoid spreading this contagion. LGBTQ people who are HIV-positive already have compromised immune systems and would be more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 than the general population. Lonnie Haley, who is also known as drag queen Mercedez Munro and has recovered from the coronavirus, certainly gave us the T (truth) when stating (about the identifying LGBTQ coronavirus cases) that knowledge is power. Vincent McCullers, San Jose Magical city Regarding Books capture truths about our vibrant city (May 19): Barbara Lanes article really hit home. Stationed overseas, I waited for mail containing more chapters of The Chronicle series Tales of the City which had just started before I left. Season of the Witch has been my go-to present for visitors once they tire of my stories about growing up in the city. Like Lane, my wanderings most days take me along Ocean Beach headed toward the ruins of the Sutro Baths and a stop at the Lands End gift shop for a look at books on the neighborhoods of this city. Honestly, this city still has the magic for any writer. It is very humbling to have the opportunity to review and judge the work of some of the very best SEO work in the country, if not the world, remarked Mr. Hindle Each year, the US Search Awards celebrates the very best in PPC, SEO, and Content Marketing from across the United States. Judges will be looking to acknowledge and reward the best agencies, campaigns, and individuals working in the search industry. We are so excited to have Karl represent Wellspring Digital at this years search awards as a head judge, remarked Wellspring Digital CDMO Jon-Mikel Bailey. He continued saying, he works tirelessly for our clients getting them qualified traffic and leads. Karl lives and breathes SEO. It was a matter of time, in my opinion, before he was recognized at this level for his expert SEO skills. Karl Hindle brings 20+ years of SEO experience to this years bench of judges. It is very humbling to have the opportunity to review and judge the work of some of the very best SEO work in the country, if not the world, remarked Mr. Hindle. Judges review and score approximately 50 entries during a two week period. The judging is a robust, credible, and transparent two-step process, where each judge pre-scores their designated entries and then participates in a judging session where the whole panel gets together to discuss each entry in detail. The awards organizers ensure the judging panel is balanced and fair, with both in-house and agency-based professionals on the panel. The awards ceremony will be held on October 15th, 2020. For more information about this years search awards, visit the US Search Awards homepage. About Wellspring Digital Wellspring Digital is a full-service digital marketing firm with locations in Fairfield, PA, Frederick, MD, and Newport News, VA. We specialize in marketing automation, SEO, paid search, content and social media marketing, email marketing, and website design & development with a managed hosting platform. Washington: President Donald Trump is celebrating a new addition to his immediate family: a lawyer. His youngest daughter, Tiffany Trump, recently graduated from Georgetown Law School. Just what I need is a lawyer in the family. Proud of you Tiff!, Trump said on Wednesday in a congratulatory tweet. Congratulations to my daughter, Tiffany, on graduating from Georgetown Law. Great student, great school. Just what I need is a lawyer in the family. Proud of you Tiff! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2020 Tiffany, 26, is Trump's daughter with his second ex-wife, actress Marla Maples. Tiffany Trump had to give up the traditional commencement ceremony after schools shut down and shifted to on online instruction because of the coronavirus outbreak. Georgetown honoured its Class of 2020 with weekend video tributes and a virtual ceremony during which degrees were conferred, according to its website. Tiffany Trump is the first lawyer among the US President's five children. Her older siblings, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, followed their father into the world of business. Don Jr. And Ivanka are graduates of their father's alma mater, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Eric is a Georgetown graduate. Don Jr. And Eric stepped in to run the Trump Organization, the family business, after their father became president, while Ivanka serves him as a White House adviser. Barron Trump, the President's fifth child, is 14 and enrolled at a private school in Maryland. His mother is first lady Melania Trump. Lift buttons, restaurant tables, stair rails and ATMs are among the surfaces most likely to spread coronavirus, the New South Wales Chief Health Officer said today. Surfaces that are touched by lots of people could allow the virus to spread as economic activity increases due to the easing of lockdown restrictions. In a message to businesses, Dr Kerry Chant said extra cleaning is required to protect customers. Businesses need to thoroughly clean lift buttons, restaurant tables, ATMs and stair rails to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the New South Wales Chief Health Officer said today Surfaces that are normally touched by lots of people could allow the virus to spread as economic activity increases due to the easing of lockdown restrictions 'People need to be conscious of surfaces. We say make sure cleaning is increased in high-touch points,' she said. 'What we mean by that is maybe ATM machines, lifts stair rails, surfaces where people are going to be sitting down at. 'All businesses need to re-think the way they provide services and usual cleaning has to be turned around to consider what are the risks to my patrons in a COVID environment. The NSW premier has flagged there could be an increase in people allowed to dine in restaurants and cafes in the coming weeks as the government works to boost the economy after its battering by the COVID-19 lockdown. Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday said her government has been working with the industry on increasing patronage in restaurants and cafes in June and July. 'The government will have more to say in the very near future about what restaurants and cafes will look like in June and July,' she told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. Currently, dining venues can allow up to 10 patrons if they maintain social distancing, including alcohol table service with a meal at NSW pubs and clubs. Increasing patronage in June would align with the easing of regional travel restrictions across the state and the opening of museums, galleries and libraries from June 1. In a message to businesses, Dr Kerry Chant said extra cleaning is required to protect customers The premier has also flagged plans to allow international students back into NSW, potentially through the hotel quarantine system in place for Australians returning home. This would help support regional towns and universities relying on the sector for economic activity and employment, she added. 'We have demonstrated our capacity to process people in quarantine,' Ms Berejiklian said. 'It's opportune for us to consider when we can safely welcome back foreign students.' 'People need to be conscious of surfaces. We say make sure cleaning is increased in high-touch points,' said Dr Kerry Chant The premier noted this wouldn't be happening until after July and discussions are still underway with the federal government. On Thursday the state reported two new COVID-19 cases from more than 9700 tests, Three people are in intensive care. One of the new cases was a student from Saint Ignatius' College in Riverview and another person who acquired the infection in Victoria. The premier on Thursday also defended her calls for other states to re-open their borders, insisting it's in the best interests for Australia. 'This isn't personal. This is about doing what we believe is in the best interest of our citizens,' she said. FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2015, file photo, tourists take photos of the Potala Palace beneath a security camera in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. China said Tuesday, May 19, 2020, that a boy who disappeared 25 years ago after being picked by the Dalai Lama as Tibetan Buddhism's second-highest figure is now a college graduate with a stable job. (AP Photo/Aritz Parra, File) BEIJING (AP) China said Tuesday that a boy who disappeared 25 years ago after being picked by the Dalai Lama as Tibetan Buddhisms second-highest figure is now a college graduate with a stable job. Very little information has been given about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima or his family since he went missing at age 6 shortly after being named the 11th Panchen Lama. China, which claims that Tibet is part of its territory, named another boy to the position, Gyaltsen Norbu, who is rarely seen and is believed to spend most of his time in Beijing. He is generally viewed as a political figure under Beijing's control and shares none of the Dalai Lama's global fame. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Gedhun Choekyi Nyima received free compulsory education when he was a child, passed the college entrance examination and now has a job." Zhao said neither the now-31-year-old man or his family wishes to be disturbed in their current normal lives. No other details were given. The tussle between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959, concerns who will determine the future of Tibetan Buddhism, which still commands heavy sway over the people of the Himalayan region that China says has been its territory for centuries but which many Tibetans believe was largely independent. Tibets self-declared government-in-exile in India marked the 25th anniversary of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima's disappearance by calling on Beijing on Sunday to account for his whereabouts. Chinas abduction of the Panchen Lama and forcible denial of his religious identity and right to practice in his monastery is not only a violation of religious freedom but also a gross violation of human rights, the Tibetan parliament in northern India, known as the Kashag, said in a statement. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also issued a statement on Monday calling on China to immediately make public the Panchen Lamas whereabouts and to uphold its own constitution and international commitments to promote religious freedom for all persons." The Dalai Lama named the original Panchen Lama with the help of Tibetan lamas trained in reading portents and signs. China claims the reincarnate can only be chosen by pulling lots from a golden urn, a method it used to pick its own candidate under the control of the officially atheistic ruling Communist Party. Traditionally, the Panchen Lama has served as teacher and aide to the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhisms highest leader who is now 84 and is accused by Beijing of seeking independence for Tibet. The Dalai Lama denies that and says he advocates greater autonomy for the region. A lawyer in Karnataka's Shivamogga district filed a complaint against Congress president Sonia Gandhi for tweets sent out against the PM Cares Fund from the official party handle. The complainant, Praveen, said the tweets falsely represented the fund by calling it 'PM Cares Fraud'. The Congress' official Twitter handle @INCIndia had post a series of tweets on May 11 wherein it targeted the PM Cares Fund through graphs and pictures and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the purpose and location of the money being collected. One of the posts also alleged that the money collected is being used to sponsor Modi's many overseas trips. Another one said it the 'Ultimate Jumla'. "The tweets were made from the party's official twitter handle and it also has the picture of Sonia Gandhi, hence, for any communication (sic) that is uploaded or put on this page, she (Sonia Gandhi) is solely responsible. Hence, she is named in the FIR," Praveen said. The FIR has been lodged at the Sagara New Town Police station in the district also native to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. Charges under the IPC section 153 (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 505 (1) (Statements conducing to public mischief) have been filed by the police. Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar wrote to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state deputy general of police and Shivamogga superintendent of police urging them to suspend and sue the officer of Sagara Police Station who registered the FIR on the basis of false information provided by a BJP activist. In the letter, Shivakumar said the complainant has filed the FIR with a political motive based on false information. "Filing the FIR is a blatant misuse of the process of law with an intention to snub the right to healthy criticism," the letter said. Uttar Pradesh reported 181 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases to 5,356 while 127 people have died of the disease so far, officials said. Many of the fresh COVID-19 cases were attributed by officials to migrants who returned from other states recently. Principal Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad told reporters that migrant workers coming from other states are being monitored by health workers and a number of them have tested positive. "Over 5.42 lakh migrant workers were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have bene sent for testing," Prasad said. The state government has asked the migrants to strictly follow home quarantine while the 'village/mohalla nigrani samitis' are keeping an eye on them, he said, adding that in home quarantine, they have been asked not to come in contact with elderly people, children and pregnant woman. "There are 2,130 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. As many as 3,099 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovery. The total number of deaths reported due to the virus is 127," the officer said. Prasad said a total of 6,740 COVID-19 tests were conducted across Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours and the state is also ramping up its pool testing facility. "We are emphasising on surveillance and over 3.43 crore people have been surveyed by 85,471 teams in Uttar Pradesh," he said. Prasad said the Centre's Aarogya Setu mobile application is being used and alerts are being sent to people. "We have made 26,512 calls on the basis of the alerts generated by the mobile app and 401 people have been quarantined, while 74 have tested positive for coronavirus," he said. He said in hospitals, there are 78,500beds and their numbers are being increased to over one lakh to ensure treatment of every patients. Of the total 127 deaths, 27 were reported in Agra, 21 in Meerut, 11 in Moradabad, eight each in Aligarh and Kanpur, five each in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Firozabad, four each in Varanasi, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mathura and Jhansi, three in Prayagraj and two each in Basti, Jalaun, Mainpuri and Ghaziabad. One death each has been reported in Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Bijnor, Pratapgarh, Amroha, Bareilly, Shrawasti, Azamgarh, Etah, Kanpur Dehat, Mahoba, Kushi Nagar and Lalitpur. Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Information, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said per day, about 2 lakh migrants are coming to the state and state government is trying to test and isolate them, if they show symptoms of the virus. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Express News Service MANGALURU: A man who returned from Mumbai on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide at a quarantine centre in Moodbidri taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. Meanwhile, it is suspected that he took the extreme step over fear of coronavirus. The deceased, 55-year-old Dhananjay Poojary, is a resident of Kadandale in Moodbidri. Although Moodbidri taluk health officer Dr Shashikala said that the deceased had some family issues due to which he ended life. He had arrived from Mumbai on Wednesday evening and was sent to Kadandale school which is used as quarantine centre for those arriving from other states. The incident occurred at around 3 am in the wee hours of Thursday. However the exact reason for the suicide is yet to be ascertained. A case has been registered at Moodbidri police station. The body has been sent to district Wenlock hospital for post mortem. An aged care home where a woman with cerebral palsy was left to die in horrific circumstances has been fined $12,600. Ann-Marie Smith, 54, died on April 6 in Royal Adelaide Hospital from septic shock, multiple organ failures from severe pressure sores, and malnourishment. Integrity Care SA which had provided care for Ms Smith failed to report her death for two weeks and has now been fined by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Quality and Safeguards Commission. It's believed Ms Smith may have been stuck in a cane chair, 24 hours a day for up to a year in her home in Kensington Park and police have now launched a manslaughter investigation. She went into surgery to have rotting flesh removed from sores on her body before going into palliative care the day before she died. Her carer who has been identified as Rosa Maione was sacked by Integrity Care last week. Ann-Marie Smith, 54, died on April 6 in Royal Adelaide Hospital from septic shock, multiple organ failures from severe pressure sores, and malnourishment Ms Smith lived alone in Adelaide's leafy eastern suburbs and required care for up to six hours a day. She was admitted to hospital on April 5 after her carer found her in a semi-conscious state. The NDIS Commission on Thursday said Integrity Care is required to notify the commission within 24 hours of a death. They were notified of Ms Smith's death on April 20. NDIS Commissioner Graeme Head said Integrity Care could choose not to pay the infringement notice by law but the Commission may initiate court proceedings. 'The maximum penalty that a court could impose for a contravention of failing to notify us is $262,500,' he said. 'There have been clear failings in the support given to Ms Smith that warrant our thorough and careful investigation. It's believed Ms Smith spent more than a year confined to one wooden chair in her home (pictured) in Kensington Park, Adelaide 'Our sympathies are with the family and friends of Ms Smith and we acknowledge the widespread community concerns about the circumstances of Ms Smith's death.' Detective Superintendent Des Bray said Ms Smith had died in 'disgusting circumstances'. 'Ann was living her days and sleeping at night in the same woven-comb chair in her lounge room for over a year,' he said. 'That chair became her toilet, and there was no fridge and investigators were unable to locate any nutritional food in the house. 'We have to make sure something like this never happens again.' Ms Smith had been cared for everyday since 2013 with Superintendent Bray guessing she hadn't been outside in years. Despite needing six hours of care a day, neighbours told the ABC they saw carers spend 'two hours at most' at the home. 'It's been going on for as long as we've been here 12 or 13 years,' Bram Fynnaart said. 'We saw her initially in a wheelchair outside in the sun, but apart from that in the last 10 or 11 years we haven't seen her.' On Friday Ms Maione was interviewed by detectives who searched her home and seized items for investigation, the publication reported. 'We trusted our carer and believe that we have been completely misled by her,' a statement from Integrity Care on Sunday read. 'Integrity Care SA extends its heartfelt sympathy to Ms Smith's family and encourages anyone with relevant information or concerns to contact Crime Stoppers or the NDIS.' The coronavirus pandemic is expected to see more young adults move back home to live with their parents. The Reserve Bank fears Australia will suffer an sharper economic contraction than the Great Depression. It sees gross domestic product plunging by 10 per cent in the first half of 2020, the same level of decline that occurred during the entire 1930-31 financial year. The worst economic conditions in almost 90 years are expected to have social consequences with the Reserve Bank of Australia predicting a surge in young people moving back home to live with their parents, or opting for large share houses. The coronavirus pandemic is expected to see more young adults (stock image) move back home to live with their parents. The Reserve Bank of Australia discussed this situation at its May board meeting 'Members also discussed the effect of a possible increase in the number of people moving back home or living in larger households for financial reasons,' it said in the minutes of its May meeting. A plummet in immigration levels, as a result of Australia's borders being closed, was also expected to diminish demand for new housing for years to come. 'Lower incomes and confidence, as well as lower expected population growth, were expected to affect demand for new housing for an extended period,' the RBA said. The Commonwealth Bank, Australia's biggest home lender, fears house prices in Australia's biggest cities could crash by 32 per cent by 2023. In a worst-case scenario, this would see Sydney's median house prices plummet by $328,454 to $697,964 going by CoreLogic data for April. Despite that dire prediction, property market commentator Michael Yardney argued a return to high immigration would boost demand for housing in Australia. A plummet in immigration levels, as a result of Australia's borders being closed, was also expected to diminish demand for new housing for years to come. Pictured are houses at Cecil Hills in Sydney's outer, south-west 'Since 60 per cent of our growth is dependent on immigration, in the short-term population growth will fall, but they should increase again as soon as overseas immigrants will be allowed to come to our shores,' he said. COVID-19 labour market at a glance Unemployment: it surged from 5.2 per cent in March to 6.2 per cent in April - the highest since September 2015 Number unemployed climbed by 104,500 to 823,300 In April, 489,800 people left the labour force, which meant 594,300 either lost their job or gave up looking for one Underemployment soared by 4.9 percentage points to record 13.7 per cent Tally of underemployed Australians surged by 603,300 to 1.8million Participation rate plunged by an unprecedented 2.4 percentage points to 63.5 per cent Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Advertisement 'Considering how long it takes to build new estates or large apartment complexes, we're going to experience an under supply of well-located properties in our capital cities in the next year or two.' The RBA expected the worst downturn on its watch to cause a 15 per cent plunge in household consumption in the first half of 2020. Wages have also fallen as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions on non-essential businesses. In the seven weeks to May 2, wages fell by an average of 5.4 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics COVID-19 payroll data showed. Those aged 20 to 29 suffered a 3.9 per cent drop in their pay, compared with six per cent for those in their thirties. The only group to see the pay increase were teenagers, with their wages surging by 16.8 per cent, thanks to the government's $130billion JobKeeper program, which until September 27 is providing $1,500 fortnightly subsidies to six million workers. Can there be any sweeter sound than the bleating of little lambs in spring? Is there a more uplifting sight than the British countrysides verdant patchwork of fields in May and June, banksides laced with cow parsley, and hedges and verges splashed with pink campion and foxgloves? The blue skies of past days have only accentuated the allure of our rural fabric, and those souls confined to urban areas during the lockdown are itching to get out and enjoy it as soon as they are allowed. The Troutbeck Valley in the Lake District is pictured above. The fact is that, because of the elevated cost of producing high-standard food, Britains farmers simply could not compete with dirt-priced products dumped here by Americas factory farmers Whether we yearn for the dry stone walls of the Yorkshire Dales; the lush pastures of West Wales; the fells and tarns of the Lake District; or village greens everywhere, with their irresistible pubs and churches, we have a visceral love of our nations landscape a landscape that has been shaped by family-farming practices going back centuries. I am lucky. Greenery is all around me. I live and work on my familys sheep and beef farm in Monmouthshire. It is a wonderful time of year. Lambing is done. The animals are out in the fields. The nearby brook where we see kingfishers and otters is looking its best in the dappled sunshine. Lush But there is a dark cloud overshadowing Britains idyllic countryside one that threatens it as never before. The danger comes in the form of politicians who seem determined to achieve a fast and clean trade deal with other countries but particularly the U.S. in our post-Brexit world, at any cost. If they do so, as proposed in legislation that has passed through the House of Commons, they could consign the family farms that make up the backbone of our rural economy to oblivion. And the damage to the countryside we love would be irreparable, with thousands upon thousands of farmers going out of business. The problem is that the all-powerful farming lobby in America is bent on flooding Britain with cheap, inferior food from the U.S. as part of that trade deal. On intensive farms in America they use antibiotics and other drugs as a matter of course, often adding them to the food whether the animals need them or not [File photo] And the Department for International Trade appears only too happy to allow it to happen if this is what is needed to secure the deal. Yet the imported food would come from an agricultural industry where welfare and environmental standards are woefully less stringent than those on our farms, where the use of drugs such as antibiotics and growth hormones banned in Britain is routine, and where GM crops also banned here are considered perfectly acceptable. The food is cheap precisely because of these lower standards. It costs money to look after animals well. On our farm we only use antibiotics when absolutely necessary. We even have a poo lab where we inspect sheep droppings for worm eggs to see whether they should receive a dose of wormer. On intensive farms in America they use antibiotics and other drugs as a matter of course, often adding them to the food whether the animals need them or not. Our high standards are enshrined in legislation that we have adopted from the EU post-Brexit, so we could not drop down to U.S. standards even if we wanted to (which we dont!). And, in any case, the EU will insist on high standards for our future exports. The mere presence of substandard U.S. imports here could even cause EU countries to refuse to take produce from Britain on the grounds that we have contaminated our food supply chain, which would be yet another body blow. The danger comes in the form of politicians who seem determined to achieve a fast and clean trade deal with other countries but particularly the U.S. in our post-Brexit world, at any cost [File photo] The fact is that, because of the elevated cost of producing high-standard food, Britains farmers simply could not compete with dirt-priced products dumped here by Americas factory farmers. For make no mistake, factory farming is what happens across the Atlantic. While industrial farming units only account for a small proportion of Americas two million farms, they dominate animal production. Last year, The Guardian reported that the U.S. has around 250,000 factory farms. Pigs, cows and chickens are crammed by the thousands into rows and rows of barns. After slaughter, the chickens are chlorinated another process not allowed here to kill the bugs that flourish among birds living at such close quarters. Muddled Multinational corporations with huge lobbying power have taken over vast swathes of the animal production industry. The biggest pig farmer is a company that raises more than ten million hogs every year. Ten million! This is the food system whose produce the Department for International Trade is prepared to usher in to this country, sacrificing Britains farmers and our rural way of life in its eagerness to secure a deal. But, to make matters worse, the Government is changing the financial support system for farming. Instead of farmers being paid a flat-rate subsidy per acre, as they are in EU member countries, there will now be an increased focus on environmental standards (something you wont find happening in the U.S.). On the face of it, this is not such a bad idea. The trouble is that the Governments thinking appears muddled, and there does not appear to be enough attention being paid to food production and improving the UKs self-sufficiency levels. The concern is that farmers incomes will plunge dramatically as a result and given the desperately thin margins we all operate on, thousands could go to the wall. I know that this all sounds like a special plea for farmers. But it is far more than that. It is a plea to save the Britain we love and take for granted when we go for country walks, before it is too late. Catastrophe If farmers go out of business in these terrifying numbers, entire countryside communities the very communities that make up the rural Britain all of us treasure will collapse. Feed merchants, equipment suppliers, vets, fencing contractors, small abattoirs and countless other traders are dependent on family farms. If they suffer, so too will the local shops, butchers and pubs. Our homestead near Abergavenny has been a farm since the 13th century. Our son, 21, and daughter, 19, will be the fifth generation of the family to farm it. We came to modest prominence on BBC2 a few years ago when our hectic daily and nightly routine during the lambing season was filmed for Lambing Live. Sheep are our livelihood. But its not all about our 1,000 ewes, 1,500 lambs and 50 head of cattle. We hold open days and gatherings, sometimes fuelled by our home-grown cider. Our workshops educating people about rural life bring people into the area, which boosts the local economy. That would all disappear. Multiply the equivalent loss by the thousands of farms that could go out of business and you are looking at a rural catastrophe. What is so shocking is that only six weeks ago, when food shortages were in the headlines and queues developed outside supermarkets, the Government was stressing the importance of national food security. Politicians called farmers heroes for keeping us fed in lockdown. Now they seem happy to abandon any notion of self-sufficiency and toss farmers aside for a U.S. trade deal. Multinational corporations with huge lobbying power have taken over vast swathes of the animal production industry. The biggest pig farmer is a company that raises more than ten million hogs every year. Ten million! [File photo] There is one glimmer of hope. The legislation, which is contained in the Agriculture Bill, has not finished going through Parliament. It is true that the Commons has rejected an amendment to the Bill although only marginally which insisted on U.S. food imports meeting our food standards True, too, that a proposal for a food standards commission to scrutinise the production methods of any American food brought into this country has so far been denied us. But I just pray the scale of the imminent crisis is finally dawning on our legislators. The House of Lords, which is now looking at the Bill, might approve the food standards commission, as well an amendment on subsidy payments. They could then send the bill back to the Commons, where MPs might have a change of heart. If none of this happens, however, our glorious countryside is doomed, as it will be too late to save the family farm. The saying There are no atheists in foxholes suggests that in stressful times people inevitably turn to God (or indeed gods). In fact, non-believers have their own set of secular worldviews which can provide them with solace in difficult times, just as religious beliefs do for the spiritually-minded. The aim of my research for the Understanding Unbelief programme was to investigate the worldviews of non-believers, since little is known about the diversity of these non-religious beliefs, and what psychological functions they serve. I wanted to explore the idea that while non-believers may not hold religious beliefs, they still hold distinct ontological, epistemological and ethical beliefs about reality, and the idea that these secular beliefs and worldviews provide the non-religious with equivalent sources of meaning, or similar coping mechanisms, as the supernatural beliefs of religious individuals. The number of non-believers is growing, with at least 450-500 million declared atheists worldwide about 7% of the global adult population. But since non-believers can include not just atheists but also agnostics and so-called nones the religiously unaffiliated, who might tick no religion in surveys this number is likely to be much bigger. Here, we use non-believers to refer to individuals who do not believe in God, and who do not consider themselves religious. Rationalising the fear of death The idea that beliefs or worldviews support us in difficult times is the foundation of Terror Management Theory. This holds we fear death because we are consciously aware of the future and therefore our own inevitable demise. This fear can be so great that it can paralyse us when we try to live our everyday lives. But we can manage this fear through belief in God and the afterlife, for example, but equally through the knowledge that death is natural. Knowing that one day we will die, worldviews reinforce our beliefs and the identities that we build around them, and can provide comfort by providing us with so-called symbolic immortality, for example, or feelings of connectedness to something bigger than ourselves. Here, it is the meaningfulness of the belief rather than its (religious) content that is important: among non-believers, increased stress and reminders of ones mortality are associated with an increased belief in science. Story continues Secular beliefs worldwide With a team of international collaborators, I designed an online survey to ask non-believers about the worldviews, beliefs or understandings of the world that are particularly meaningful to them. We gathered 1,000 responses from people from the UK, US, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Turkey, Brazil, Canada and Australia. We found that across these ten countries, the six most common beliefs and worldviews were those based on science, humanism (or belief in humanity and human ability), critical thinking and scepticism (including rationalism), being kind and caring for one another, and beliefs in equality and natural laws (including evolution). This overlap was striking. Despite huge geographical and cultural differences, we found these categories came up over and over again. Frequently mentioned worldviews included statements like: I believe in the scientific method and the ethical values of humanism. I reject all beliefs that are not evidence based, and We have one life. We have this one opportunity to enjoy our brief moment in the sun, while doing the most good we can to help our fellow creatures and protect the natural environment for future generations. But we also found variation. While responses from countries such as the Netherlands and Finland focused particularly on caring for the Earth, responses from countries such as the US and Australia focused on the general improvement of human well-being. Supportive worldviews We also asked non-believers to think of challenging times in their lives: when someone close to them passed away; when they or someone close to them had a serious injury (an accident) or discovered they had a serious physical illness; when they felt particularly alone or disconnected from others; and when they felt particularly down or depressed. Asked to recall whether any of their worldviews were helpful at the time, we found that what helped most often were worldviews based on science, detachment and acceptance. These included beliefs in the naturalness of death, the randomness of life, humanism, free will and taking responsibility. For example, people suggested knowing that family members live on in their descendants, through personality traits and memories helps when dealing with a bereavement, while enduring an illness was just randomness. Stuff like that happens. Beliefs about the nature of life and death helped many, including the view that suffering and isolation are universal experiences, and that these states will pass: Things change, and this situation isnt always going to be like this. Many indicated that a humanistic worldview was highly important to them, valuing my relationships with those close to me, and understanding that life can be all too short so we must value the one life that we know we have. How atheists cope But how do these worldviews help in times of crisis? Most frequently, the respondents said they helped cope with the situation, reduced anxiety, created an increased feeling of control and sense of order, and explained or gave meaning to the situation. Many participants indicated that understanding a difficult situation proved paramount to accepting it and coping with it. One said that understanding the process of loss and moving on via understanding psychology helps. Others stated that my belief in science explained what was happening and I also trusted in modern medicine that we could overcome it, or that it helped to consider that depression [is] a condition that responds to time and care. What this research suggests is that worldviews and beliefs, whether religious or secular, can provide comfort and meaning in even the very toughest situations. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The Conversation Valerie van Mulukom has received funding from the Understanding Unbelief programme, funded by the John Templeton Foundation. Four Covid patients died while 96 new cases were recorded in the city on Thursday, the second highest one-day spike. The total number of cases in the city is 1,560 with 61 total deaths. Two medical officers and three staffers of the health department of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have tested positive following which 35 employees are quarantined. The total number of Covid positive healthcare workers from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj hospital in Kalwa has reached 21. Sandeep Malvi, deputy municipal commissioner of TMC, said, Three men and one woman died on Thursday. A 52-year-old woman from Khopat, a 80-year-old man from Kalwa, a 51-year-old man from Lokmanyanagar Sawarkarnagar and a 60-year-old man from Anandnagar in Kopri died after testing positive for Covid. Twenty-three new cases were recorded in Lokmanyanagar Sawarkarnagar ward followed by 18 in Naupada-Kopri and 17 in Wagale Estate ward. The five people who tested positive from the health department of TMC had come in contact with a medical officer from Kalwa hospital who had come to TMC for a meeting. An officer requesting anonymity said, Around 35 people, including the health officers, are in quarantine. All of them will be tested. The department has been sealed again. The number of positive cases in Kalwa hospital has increased to 21, which includes around nine doctors. Some of the departments in the hospital are also sealed. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chennai, May 21 : The Madras High Court on Thursday said the menace of misusing the criminal defamation law by the state as a tool to settle scores should be curbed, as it quashed 28 cases against media. Deciding on a batch of writ petitions filed by media challenging the launch of prosecution of criminal defamation against them by the Tamil Nadu government, Justice Abdul Quddhose said this menace will have to be curbed and nipped in the bud. The 28 cases were filed by the AIADMK government when it was headed by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The criminal defamation law is meant for a laudable object in real cases of necessity and cannot be misused by using the state as a tool to settle scores of a public servant/constitutional functionary over his/her adversary, the court said. The court said the state should not be impulsive like an ordinary citizen in defamation matters and invoke Section 199(2) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to throttle democracy. Only in cases where there is foolproof material and when launching of prosecution under Section 199(2) is inevitable, the said procedure can be invoked, the court said. The court also said it has the powers to quash criminal complaints involving criminal defamation either under Article 226 of the Constitution or under Section 482 of the CrPC. The high court has got the constitutional power to quash government orders sanctioning prosecution under Section 199(2), if the competent authority, without any material as to how the state is defamed, has sanctioned prosecution. Drawing an analogy, the court, contending the state is like a parent for all citizens in so far as defamation law is concerned, said: "It is normal for some parents to face vituperative insults from their children. Despite those insults, parents don't disown their children quite easily. They always have the hope that their children will mend themselves in the near future." According to the court, the state should have high tolerance level towards its citizens when it comes to defamation, similar to that of parents. "When the state is having other avenues under law to make the offender realise the mistake if any, the criminal defamation law under Sections 499 and 500 IPC (Indian Penal Code) should be sparingly used by the State," the court said. Noting that 226 defamation cases were filed in Tamil Nadu between 2012 to 2020 in various sessions courts and are pending, it said: "Even as seen from these batch of writ petitions, within a short period, the State has filed a slew of Criminal defamation cases." "As seen from the data, irrespective of political party who is in power, cases under section 199(2) Cr.P.C. have been filed. In many cases, the High Court has stayed the prosecution," the court said. The court opined that a public servant/constitutional functionary must be able to face criticism. "As public servants/constitutional functionaries, they owe a solemn duty to the people. The state cannot use criminal defamation cases to throttle democracy." On the role of a Public Prosecutor, the court said that he/she cannot act like a mere post office, but should independently apply his/her mind before prosecuting the criminal complaint and should also be fair to the court. As a word of advice to the media, the court said: "Our nation has always respected the role of the media and has highest regard for their independent and truthful reporting." "But of late for quite number of years, there seems to be some decay happening in every sphere of democracy including the media. If the rottenness is not removed sooner than later, it will spread like fire causing great peril to our robust democracy," the court said. OTTAWA - In Friday morning's early darkness, Marc-Andre Blanchard will catch his first new glimpse of New York City's sparkling skyline from behind the wheel of a modestly priced rental car. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canada's U.N. Ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters, Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Richard Drew OTTAWA - In Friday morning's early darkness, Marc-Andre Blanchard will catch his first new glimpse of New York City's sparkling skyline from behind the wheel of a modestly priced rental car. For Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, the moment will mark not only the home stretch of a long, solitary car ride from Toronto, but the start of a big round of politicking the final push to win Canada a temporary seat on the UN Security Council next month. Since mid-March, Blanchard has been running the UN mission remotely from Toronto, directing staff that have been working at home since COVID-19's assault on New York shut them out of their Manhattan embassy as it ground life to a halt at the epicentre of the pandemic. But with less than a month to go before a vote that will pit Canada against Norway and Ireland for two available temporary seats on the council, Blanchard said Thursday it is time to get to back to New York even it means doing diplomacy a little bit differently. Diplomacy during COVID-19 has been a steady stream of videoconferences from early morning to late evening, sometimes punctuated with virtual "Zoom dinners" with small groups of fellow ambassadors. On Thursday morning, Blanchard spoke to a few of his international colleagues about his impending return. "For the first time, we were raising the prospect that maybe we'll go for walks in Central Park together and observe social distancing," Blanchard said in an interview. "But at least try to start again, to work, to see others and have those conversations that are so important in diplomacy." He said Canada's campaign for the council rests on what it has been doing to help fight the pandemic convening like-minded countries to ensure food security in developing countries, keeping vital supply chains open across the globe, and working on new financing models to help struggling countries whose economies have been decimated by the pandemic. Canada also convened a meeting of smaller embassies in New York in March to help them set up work-at-home systems as the pandemic was in process of crippling the city. "If you ask me, what's your campaign? Well, this is our campaign," he said. "The best campaign possible for Canada is let Canada be Canada." Canada lost its last bid for a security council seat in 2010 when tiny Portugal won more support. Canada had held a seat on the council six times, one each in the six previous decades. In 1999-2000, Canada ran and won on the "human security" platform espoused by Lloyd Axworthy, who was the foreign affairs minister leading up to the campaign. "We did that with protection of civilians when we were last on the security council. We're going to do this with inequality and economic security when we get to the security council," he said. "Inequalities are a very, very big source of conflict and instability. The security council needs to look at conflicts through the prism of the economics of it." In addition to its five permanent members the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China the council is comprised of a rotating cast of 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms. Blanchard said Canada hopes to leverage its nine other non-permanent members to focus the big powers on something they might agree on the need to elevate economic conditions in all countries. "We're strong enough to be able to reach out to other member states, but we're small enough to know that we need to be acting together if we want results." Blanchard is clear-eyed about the failings and limits of the Security Council, including its inability to stop a decade worth of carnage in Syria because of Russia and China's opposition as veto-wielding permanent members. "There are issues on which we will never agree with China or Russia, and other members of the Security Council, maybe," said Blanchard. "We saw that in Syria we see that in COVID with China and the United States." Blanchard, 54, is a not a career diplomat. He was a successful lawyer who supported the Liberal party and was given the UN job in 2016. He's not the first political appointee to win a plumb diplomatic post, but he has become a natural at the delicate balancing act of diplomacy, said Stephen Lewis, a New Democrat who served as Canada's UN ambassador in the 1980s under Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. If Canada wins a seat, it will be because of Blanchard, said Lewis, who remains active in UN circles as the head of an organization that is trying to stamp out abuse by peacekeepers. "We have an ambassador in New York who happens to be intelligent, articulate, persuasive, very highly respected and regarded by the colleague ambassadors in the UN. And that makes all the difference in the world," said Lewis. Blanchard holds his UN colleagues in equally high regard. He's looking forward to seeing them after he arrives alone and drops his rental car at LaGuardia Airport. "The biggest perk of this job is the relationship I build with my colleagues, individually. Everybody is very special," he said. "Everybody brings a lot to the table, whether it's a big country or a small country. This is what we miss." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. Findings in a study reveal that pillows are repositories for the coronavirus and presymptomatic COVID-19 patients are the source of these infections. Researchers investigated the pre-symptomatic transmission of the coronavirus by designing a test based on these principles. Samples were obtained by checking swabs from a room with two Chinese students as quarantine subjects. These students came from abroad, one called patient A was back on March 19, and the patient-B came on March 20 of this year. Both students were taken into quarantine when they arrived in China with both not having symptoms associated with COVID-19. They were quarantined in a hotel for two weeks wherein both were examined by medical staff, checking their temperature and whether effects of infection have set in. Soon after, they were tested positive for coronavirus detection, but neither was feeling anything weird. To double-check the diagnosis, all the checks were done on them and they were highly infectious, with sky-high levels of COVID-19. They are walking viral sacs that will be dangerous to others more vulnerable. Forty-eight hours since getting placed in the hospital, patient A acquired a fever and cough. With patient B, same as A, she had fever and cough, thought a deadly turn because she had lung infections. Immediately, samples were taken from the rooms occupied by patient A and B, when a positive result was detected. Specific places were gleaned for samples like the pillows, sheets, duvet covers, and towels, including all surfaces that the coronavirus can latch on to. Info-wise, these two are the only occupants to reside in the hotel, which was locked down from January 24. Some insurance for the data, with one room that was free and unoccupied. This was to counter-check result take from the other room. Also read: How Coronavirus Infection Starts in the Body, Leading to Death Tale of the samples Researchers made these observations from about 11 samples that were collected from 22 rooms in a study to check how the spread of the coronavirus. A total of 8 positive detections was confirmed for contamination. The room of patient A had six detected hits of the coronavirus which were on sheets, duvets, pillowcases, and the towel. For the room of patient B, it was the faucet and the pillowcase again. As a contrasting result, the extra room was not used. The big reveal is that the pillow cause carried a mother-load of highly infectious COVID-19. In a statement by the researchers, they said that presymptomatic patients were living with viruses (virions) which happened in prior studies. It proved that any presymptomatic carriers will release more viruses, and leave tons of viruses behind. Creating a highly infections environment in a brief span of time. Touching infected objects that are highly contagious will cause sickness more. There is contact with a bedsheet or pillow that is more dangerous than any object, said a team rep. Never ever shake linens when taken off the bed that will worsen the viral spread. Always clean these items well, never shake and dry it. Better lookout in the kitchen and sleeping quarters too. It seems presymptomatic patients can spread COVID-19 more, especially with pillows that are full of viruses. Related article: Scientists Speculate That Coronavirus Can Exploit 'Hidden Mutations,' Increases Its Chances to Kill the Host @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A man exacted hilarious revenge on an alleged thief who tried to steal his van by hacking into his Facebook profile and shaming him with the phone the hapless would-be criminal left inside the vehicle. The man's partner was woken to the sound of the yob forcing the door of the silver Vauxhall Vivaro in the early hours of Monday morning outside their home in Newton Heath, Manchester. He claims the bungling burglar dropped his phone while fleeing from the scene on foot. Instead of phoning the police, the 40-year-old tradesman, who has asked to remain anonymous, logged into the would-be thief's Facebook profile on the Samsung Galaxy A3 phone and posted a series of hilarious statuses and memes naming and shaming him. After the thief tried to nick his van, the 40-year-old tradesman, who has asked to remain anonymous, logged into the would-be criminal's Facebook profile on the Samsung Galaxy A3 phone and posted a series of hilarious statuses and memes naming and shaming him (pictured) The father-of-four is now auctioning the thief's Facebook account as a prize at random to people who donate to a fundraiser for Manchester Children's Hospital, which he hopes will raise 1,000. He said: 'The guy forced the van door and woke my missus up. I knew we wouldn't be able to catch him in time, but I can't believe he was silly enough to leave his phone with all his social media on it in the van. 'He even had a photo of his driving license left on his phone, so he was easy to identify - it was too good to be true. 'I thought about the best way to teach him a lesson and decided to name and shame him on Facebook. The tradesman claimed: 'He even had a photo of his driving license left on his phone, so he was easy to identify - it was too good to be true' 'I was going to ask the guy to apologise live on Facebook and I would forgive him if he did that. But it was obvious he wasn't going to and this is a bit of justice in a fun way. 'I've just been laughing constantly at the memes and posts that people have been putting on the profile. 'There have been a few people who have been wanting to dispense a bit of mob justice - it has been quite an eye opener. 'Whatever comes out of this, I hope he will have learnt his lesson.' The dad-of-four thinks the hapless thief was using his phone as a torch to help him carry out the theft. The dad-of-four thinks the hapless thief was using his phone as a torch to help him carry out the theft. The bunging burglary temporarily got back into his Facebook account on another device and deleted some of the posts - but was bumped out again for good after the man changed his password Initially he was going to report the crime to Greater Manchester Police, but opted for a more creative form of justice because he didn't want to waste their time. In a run of posts, he made fun of the alleged thief's glitchy Samsung Galaxy phone, which he joked he must have hidden in his nether regions while in prison previously. Other people joined in creating hilarious memes themselves, with one user imposing the alleged thief onto a poster for hit Nineties comedy sequel 'Dumb and Dumber To'. The bunging burglary temporarily got back into his Facebook account on another device and deleted some of the posts - but was bumped out again for good after the man changed his password. In a run of posts, he made fun of the alleged thief's glitchy Samsung Galaxy phone, which he joked he must have hidden in his nether regions while in prison previously. He also changed his job description to 'dosser' He claims the alleged thief is notorious in the area and has previously been driven out of several other boroughs in north Manchester for his crimes. Sadly it's not the first time criminals have tried to take his van; just two months ago the tradesman had 3,000 worth of tools stolen from the vehicle. He added: 'Vans are quite easy to get in if you know what you're doing. We call where we live "bandit country" so we're used to it. Other people joined in creating hilarious memes themselves, while some urged people to donate to the fundraiser (pictured) The tradesman said: 'There have been a few people who have been wanting to dispense a bit of mob justice - it has been quite an eye opener.' Pictured: a comment written on Facebook by a bemused follower of the story 'Now I'm auctioning his account in aid of Manchester Children's Hospital. I've got kids myself and if they were ever ill that's where I'd take them. 'I'm aiming to raise 1,000 and I'm going to randomly select the winner from all the people who donate to the fundraiser.' To donate visit www.facebook.com/donate/660258367883090/660258377883089/ Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) announced on Wednesday that a total of 117 inmates are eligibile for early release under simplified rules for parole and clemency aimed at decongesting jails in view of the coronavirus crisis. The BPP also said that 424 more inmates are possibly qualified to get out of prison, pending clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation. The board said it is set to review more requests for parole next week. No other details were immediately available. Last month, the Department of Justice approved the BPP resolution, removing most of the requirements for persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) seeking parole and executive clemency. Under the interim rules for conditional release from prison, applicants need only to submit the court certifications of No Pending Cases, No Pending Appeal, as well as an NBI clearance. There used to be 16 requirements, the BPP said. Prisoners aged 65 or older can avail themselves of the easier parole process, provided that they have served at least five years of their sentence. Those with serious medical ailments who can prove that their continued imprisonment will worsen their condition may also avail of parole, but would need certification from a designated doctor from the Department of Health or the Malacanang clinic director. The board can grant parole to an inmate who has served the minimum period of his sentence. Meanwhile, only the President can grant executive clemency, which involves the reduction of jail time or the removal of a person's criminal liability. Various human rights groups have called for the release of low risk, vulnerable inmates saying jails are a ticking-time bomb for infections. Hundreds of detainees in different parts of the country have contracted the viral disease. For claims that the order interferes with individual rights, such as the right to freedom of religion, Schwinn said the courts will weigh whether the order matches the needs of the emergency. The fact that the order has a foreseeable end May 30 with a phased reopening may operate in Pritzkers favor. Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela on Wednesday said its navy and air force would escort Iranian tankers arriving with much needed fuel, after Tehran warned of "consequences" if the US stopped the ships from reaching their destination. "We're ready for whatever, whenever," President Nicolas Maduro told state-run media, thanking "all the support" from its Middle East ally in its confrontation with the United States. Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, but its capacity to refine crude into gasoline is limited. US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed unilateral sanctions aimed at ending oil exports from Iran and Venezuela, both major crude producers. Washington has also sanctioned individual Venezuelans and Iranians. In early April the US military said it was increasing its vigilance and deploying warships in the ocean near Venezuela, arguing that there was an increase in organized crime. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that when the Iranian ships enter the oceanic economic zone -- 200 nautical miles from the coastline -- "they will be welcomed" by Venezuelan naval ships and warplanes. Neither Maduro nor Padrino said when the ships, which according to press reports number five and sailed from Iran in the past days, will arrive. The Iranian fuel arrives as Venezuela faces an acute scarcity of gasoline as the country endures the novel coronavirus pandemic. Venezuela's economy is in the midst of a free fall, battered by mismanagement, corruption and US sanctions, and with millions of people fleeing as they lack basic goods. - 'Blood gold - Opposition leader and National Assembly speaker Juan Guaido, recognized by some 60 nations as interim president, claims that Iran was paid with gold illegally extracted from mining camps in the south of the country. "They are paying for that gasoline with blood gold," Guaido said during a videoconference organized by the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. Story continues Guaido said he was "very worried" about this "attempt of Iranian presence on Venezuelan soil" that was not authorized by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Iran has often expressed its support for the Maduro regime, which also counts on support from Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba. Teheran and Caracas established close ties during the government of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. - US 'concern' - Admiral Craig Faller, head of the Florida-based US Southern Command, said Monday that the United States is following the Iranian actions "with concern," but refrained from any comments on the tankers. Iran's Fars News claimed Saturday that four US Navy warships are in the Caribbean for a "possible confrontation with Iran's tankers." The following day Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned Washington against deploying its navy to disrupt the fuel shipments. In a letter to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Zarif said that any such action would be "illegal and a form of piracy," according to a foreign ministry statement. Zarif added that the US would be responsible for "the consequences of any illegal measure." Tensions between Washington and Caracas remain high following Venezuela's disruption of a seaborne raid by 52 mercenaries that included two Americans and was coordinated by a private US security company. Maduro blames Washington and Guaido for being behind the raid. HONG KONG - China's Communist Party will impose a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong by fiat during the annual meeting of its top political body, officials said Thursday, criminalizing "foreign interference" along with secessionist activities and subversion of state power. The move is the boldest yet from Beijing to undercut Hong Kong's autonomy and bring the global financial hub under its full control as it works to rewrite the "one country, two systems" framework that has allowed the territory to enjoy a level of autonomy for the past 23 years. After steadily eroding Hong Kong's political freedoms, Beijing signaled that the national security law will be a new tool that allows it to directly tackle the political dissent that erupted on Hong Kong's streets last June. The months-long and sometimes violent protests began in June and fizzled out only on public health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak. The new tactic marks an escalation in Beijing's crackdown in the former British colony and the clearest indication that it views Hong Kong as a restive region to be brought to heel after last year's protests. The city's future has become a point of contention in the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States; on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was "closely watching what's going on" in Hong Kong. Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have directly appealed to Washington for intervention, frequently waving American flags on the streets, and see themselves as the last bastion of resistance against an increasingly assertive Beijing under President Xi Jinping. "Beijing has opted for the most risky route," said Ho-Fung Hung, a professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University. "It will show the world that 'one country, two systems' is, if not already over, almost over." He added: "It will be very difficult for anyone, especially the United States, to say Hong Kong is still autonomous and viable." On Thursday, China made clear that it was asserting control over Hong Kong through "improvement" of its governance. "We will ensure the long-term stability of 'one country, two systems,' " Wang Yang, head of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the opening of the annual meeting of China's top political advisory body. The meeting is the first part of the Two Sessions political gatherings, which will continue Friday with the National People's Congress (NPC), the rubber-stamp parliament. "We will continue to support the improvement of the implementation of the systems and mechanisms of the constitution and Basic Law," Wang said in a report to the meeting. Later Thursday, representatives from Beijing's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office met with Hong Kong delegates to China's legislature to explain the details of the national security law. The law, a direct response to last year's protests, will ban secession, subversion of state power, foreign interference and "terrorism," said Stanley Ng, a Hong Kong deputy to the NPC, who attended the meeting. The legislation could pass as early as next week and will bypass all of Hong Kong's usual processes. Similar laws were proposed in 2003 and would have allowed authorities to conduct searches without warrants. But they were abandoned after mass protests and never picked up locally again. "The social unrest last year showed that the Hong Kong government was unable to handle passing [national security legislation] on its own," said Ng, a Beijing loyalist who has for years pushed for a similar law. "Hong Kong's status will be sacrificed with or without this law if society is unstable due to the protesters' violence." Zhang Yesui, the spokesman for the NPC session, said in comments to Chinese media that Hong Kong is an "inseparable" part of China and that national security is the cornerstone of stability in the country. "In light of new circumstances and needs, the National People's Congress is exercising the power that is enshrined in the [Chinese] constitution to establish and improve" Hong Kong's legal framework, he said. The Hong Kong dollar weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar as the reports emerged. Beijing blamed last year's unrest on secessionist forces and foreign influence. A government proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China touched off the unrest, but the movement grew into a broader and sometimes violent rebellion calling for full democracy and opposing China's efforts to chip away at Hong Kong's firewall with the mainland. Wang did not elaborate on what "improvement" meant. But he also referred to the Chinese territory of Macao, a gambling hub where open displays of political dissent are rare and where most leaders toe Beijing's line. The shift will have far-reaching effects. Under the agreement Britain signed with China before it handed back Hong Kong in 1997, the territory is supposed to have the relative freedoms until at least 2047 under the "one country, two systems" framework. This arrangement helped Hong Kong to flourish as a global financial center even after returning to Beijing's overall control, and it has allowed the United States and other nations to treat the city differently to China. It also allowed Hong Kong to run its own affairs, except foreign affairs and defense. But under Xi's leadership, the Communist Party has encroached on Hong Kong's autonomy with stunning speed. "I'm speechless," said Dennis Kwok, a pro-democracy lawmaker, of the proposed national security legislation. Kwok was singled out for criticism by Beijing and was recently removed from his chairmanship of a key legislative council committee. "This is a complete and total surprise and I think it means the end of one country, two systems." Kwok said the Hong Kong government and Beijing had used the coronavirus pandemic as cover to clamp down on the city. "When the world is not watching they are killing Hong Kong, killing one country, two systems, and using social distancing rules to keep people from coming out to protest," he said. "This is the most devastating thing to happen to Hong Kong since the handover." On Wednesday, Pompeo warned China about its actions in Hong Kong, saying the city's pro-democracy lawmakers had been "manhandled" this week "while trying to stop a procedural irregularity by pro-Beijing legislators." "Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were hauled into court," Pompeo told a news conference in Washington. "Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China," he said. For the United States to treat Hong Kong as a separate entity, mostly for commercial purposes, the State Department must certify that the city retains "a high degree of autonomy" from China. Pompeo said its latest decision on this was still pending. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, through its office of the commissioner to Hong Kong, said Thursday that Pompeo was "blackmailing" the Hong Kong government and accused him of "blatant interference" in China's internal affairs. It also took aim at Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for placing "unjustifiable pressure on China's central government." "Certain U.S. politicians are repeatedly carping on about [Hong Kong's] legislative and judiciary branches in a vain attempt to glorify and exculpate the rioters who oppose China and seek to stir up trouble in Hong Kong," it said. "They just don't want to see Hong Kong heal its divides and get back on track: Their sinister motives are thoroughly exposed, and their 'black hands' are bared for all to see." In recent months, Beijing has installed a tough new representative in Hong Kong, called for patriotic education to instill more allegiance to China, and promoted a bill that would make it a criminal offense to disrespect China's national anthem. Delegates from Hong Kong, including Carrie Lam, the city's chief executive, arrived in Beijing on Thursday for the Two Sessions gathering. Wang said Beijing supports the Hong Kong deputies' efforts to "avoid violence in Hong Kong and to restore order." But as news of the proposal spread, calls were issued for more mass protests in Hong Kong. "The arms of tyranny have reached Hong Kong," said Ted Hui, a pro-democracy lawmaker who was a regular participant in protests last year. "Darker days are coming." - - - Fifield reported from New Zealand. Freelance journalist Timothy McLaughlin in Hong Kong and Yuan Wang in Beijing contributed to this report. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:31:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Russian government will allocate 25 billion rubles (352 million U.S. dollars) to support the domestic automotive industry hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Thursday. "Of the funds, five billion rubles will be spent on purchasing ambulances," Mishustin said at a government meeting. The funds will also be used for preferential car loans and leasing, as well as for promoting purchases of Russia-made vehicles for companies with state participation, he said. In April, sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia plummeted by 102,089 units or 72.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the Association of European Businesses (AEB). "The Russian automotive industry experienced the strongest monthly sales decrease in AEB statistics history," the AEB said, calling last month "Black April" due to coronavirus-related restrictions. Enditem Black panthers look extremely majestic due to their jet black fur. Since they are rare, any sighting makes for an avid discussion for wildlife enthusiasts. Well, here is another such chance for you. IPS Diapnshu Kabra posted a photograph of the royal-looking beast on Twitter. Based on his post, the picture was clicked in Achanak Marg Tiger reserve forest in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. He claimed that the cameras which were installed to keep a count on the tigers in the area managed to click the black panther. Twitter/@ipskabra IFS Parveen Kaswan who is famous for sharing and posting wildlife-related information on Twitter also commented on the post saying, 'Wherever we have common leopard we can have black panther. One was sighted in Darjeeling also.' The picture instantly brings the name 'Bagheera' to our minds and apparently, villagers from around the area have given the same name to the animal in the picture. People couldn't help but express their delight at seeing the magnificent creature in its natural habitat. Most of the comments were in reference to the Jungle Book name that the animal has received. I want to be Mogli of Bagheera Rhul Mh (@91RahulMishra) May 21, 2020 Where's Mowgli and Ballu!!? (@Kamble_JR) May 21, 2020 Handsome Bageera Kamal Parashar (@kamal_parashar) May 21, 2020 Bageera of Jungle Book Aswin Kumar Tiriya (@aswintheblogger) May 21, 2020 He is Bagheera Jungle Have Bagheera & Bagh May common man search for Mogli within to save these beautiful gifts of nature ! Sandeep Chaudhary (@sandyhimachal) May 21, 2020 Earlier this month, a black panther was caught on camera in Goa as well, apparently for the first time. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had taken to Twitter to share the good news with everyone by informing that the animal was found in Patiem beat of Netravali wildlife sanctuary. Medical professionals administer COVID-19 tests at the Bondi Beach drive-through COVID-19 testing center on April 6, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images) Two New NSW COVID-19 Cases From 9700 Tests NSW has recorded two new COVID-19 cases from more than 9700 tests with one of the cases a student from an independent school in Sydney. One of the new cases was a student from Saint Ignatius College in Riverview and another is a person who acquired the infection in Victoria. In total, three people are in intensive care. The NSW premier has also flagged an increase with people allowed to dine in restaurants and cafes in the coming weeks as the government works to boost the economy after its battering by COVID-19. Gladys Berejiklian on Thursday said her government has been working with the industry on increasing patronage in restaurants and cafes in June and July. The government will have more to say in the very near future about what restaurants and cafes will look like in June and July, she told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. Currently, dining venues can allow up to 10 patrons if they maintain social distancing, including alcohol table service with a meal at NSW pubs and clubs. Increasing patronage in June would align with the easing of regional travel restrictions across the state and the opening of museums, galleries and libraries from June 1. The premier has also flagged plans to allow international students back into NSW, potentially through the hotel quarantine system in place for Australians returning home. This would help support regional towns and universities relying on the sector for economic activity and employment, she added. We have demonstrated our capacity to process people in quarantine, Berejiklian said. Its opportune for us to consider when we can safely welcome back foreign students. The premier noted this wouldnt be happening until after July and discussions are still underway with the federal government. Meanwhile, former NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin is seeking legal advice to appeal the $1000 fine he received for breaching coronavirus-related restrictions, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday. Harwin resigned in April as a state government minister after it was revealed he had decamped from his primary residence in Sydneys Elizabeth Bay to his Pearl Beach holiday home on the Central Coast. He was fined $1000 by NSW Police for acting in contravention of a current ministerial direction under the Public Health Act. At the time, the Liberal MP argued he relocated in mid-March before the order was made. Its been confirmed that Mr Harwin is appealing the fine, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Thursday. The premier on Thursday also defended her calls for other states to re-open their borders, insisting its in the best interests for Australia. This isnt personal, she said. This is about doing what we believe is in the best interest of our citizens. By Dominica Sanda The decline in Japan's factory activity accelerated in May as output and orders slumped, highlighting increasing stress in the manufacturing sector from the coronavirus pandemic. The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to a seasonally adjusted 38.4 from a final 41.9 in April, its lowest since March 2009. The headline figure was pulled down by sharp declines in output, new orders and the backlog of work, which all contracted at the fastest pace in more than a decade. "While the rate of decline in services activity has eased very slightly, plummeting demand for goods is finally catching up with the manufacturing sector," said Joe Hayes, economist at IHS Markit, which compiled the survey. A bright spot in the gloomy data were employment conditions, which were flat. The index stayed below the 50.0 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for a 13th month. The pandemic has been particularly disruptive for global supply chains, causing trouble for trade-reliant nations such as Japan. The world's third-largest economy fell into recession for the first time in 4-1/2 years in the first quarter, data showed this week. Analysts polled by Reuters foresee a record decline for the economy in the current quarter. Japan's services sector also remained deep in contraction, although the pace of decline moderated slightly. The au Jibun Bank Flash Services PMI index edged up to 25.3 on a seasonally adjusted basis from a record low of 21.5 in the previous month. The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan Composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services, stood at 27.4 in May, slightly above the previous month's final of 25.8. Also read: World Bank sanctions another $1 billion to India to fight coronavirus; total assistance now at $2 billion Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: Flights, trains set to resume operations, COVID-19 cases past 1.06 lakh Some economists see tentative signs that economic activity might be starting to recover, if only slightly, now that all the states have moved toward relaxing some restrictions on movement and commerce. Yet it remains far from clear that the gradual and partial reopenings of some previously shuttered businesses will increase consumer spending in any meaningful way. Polls show that most Americans are still wary to visiting restaurants, stores, movie theaters or other businesses because of continued fear of contracting the virus. LUSAKA, Zambia, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD)(TSX:ABX), owner and operator of the Lumwana copper mine, has donated 10 computers to the University of Zambia School of Mines and agreed to help repair the Kakayindu Police Post, in line with its commitment of creating long-term value for its host countries and communities. Established in 1973, the University of Zambia School of Mines offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in geology, mining engineering, metallurgy and mineral processing. According to Willem Jacobs, Barricks chief operating officer for Africa and the Middle East, enrolment at the School has increased over the years, creating the need for an expansion of its infrastructure. Jacobs says that in keeping with the groups policy of employing host country nationals and upskilling them to world-class standards, Barrick has long provided scholarships for undergraduate students. The donation of computers is intended to assist the School in its research projects as well as delivering computer-based course material to students. Additionally, Barrick has agreed to help repair the Kakayindu Police Post, which was vandalized late last year as a result of community unrest. The 22-person strong post provides security to 37,000 people in the Lumwana Township and neighboring communities. Barrick is driven by a commitment to contribute positively to the development of our host countries and communities, says Jacobs, noting that in 2019 Lumwana employed 3,498 Zambians and contributed $272 million to the countrys economy through taxes, salaries, procurement and community investments. Barrick enquiries Country executive director Zambia Nathan Chishimba +260 977 790 108 Investor and media relations Kathy du Plessis +44 20 7557 7738 Email: barrick@dpapr.com Website: www.barrick.com Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information Certain information contained in this press release, including any information as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance, constitutes forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words support, create, commitment, contribute, will, continue and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, with respect to: Barricks support for the University of Zambia School of Mines; Barricks commitment to employing host country nationals and creating long-term value for its host countries and communities including in Zambia; Barricks agreement to help repair the Kakayindu Police Post for the Lumwana Township and neighboring communities; and Barricks future investments in community projects and contributions to the Zambian economy. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions including material estimates and assumptions related to the factors set forth below that, while considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of this press release in light of managements experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold, copper or certain other commodities (such as silver, diesel fuel, natural gas and electricity); the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and/or changes in the administration of laws, policies and practices, expropriation or nationalization of property and political or economic developments in Zambia and other jurisdictions in which the Company or its affiliates do or may carry on business in the future; lack of certainty with respect to foreign legal systems, corruption and other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; risks associated with illegal and artisanal mining; risks associated with new diseases, epidemics and pandemics, including the effects and potential effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic; changes in mineral production performance, exploitation and exploration successes; risks associated with projects in the early stages of evaluation and for which additional engineering and other analysis is required; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities, including geotechnical challenges and disruptions in the maintenance or provision of required infrastructure and information technology systems; failure to comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations; timing of receipt of, or failure to comply with, necessary permits and approvals; disruption of supply routes which may cause delays in construction and mining activities; damage to the Companys reputation due to the actual or perceived occurrence of any number of events, including negative publicity with respect to the Companys handling of environmental matters or dealings with community groups, whether true or not; risk of loss due to acts of war, terrorism, sabotage and civil disturbances; litigation and legal and administrative proceedings; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties, or over access to water, power and other required infrastructure; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions or complete divestitures; employee relations including loss of key employees; increased costs and physical risks, including extreme weather events and resource shortages, related to climate change; and availability and increased costs associated with mining inputs and labor. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion, copper cathode or gold or copper concentrate losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Specific reference is made to the most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the SEC and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities for a more detailed discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements and the risks that may affect Barricks ability to achieve the expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Belmar will suspend the the sale of of seasonal beach badges for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to the summer season at the Jersey Shore, as the borough tries to cut down on the crowds of people that descended upon the boardwalk to purchase them last weekend. To assist us in complying with social distancing guidelines we will temporarily suspend the sale of season beach badges at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 22, the town said in an announcement Wednesday. The sale of seasonal badges will resume on Tuesday, May 26 at the Taylor Pavilion, on the boardwalk. A line, which stretched more than a block and included at least 50 people at times, formed at the pavilion last Saturday as people hurried to buy their badges on the first day they were being sold. Some reported waiting for three hours. Borough hall, where they were normally sold, has been closed since the coronavirus shuttered it in March and officials also suspended online badge sales because of low sales, Belmar officials have said. After the Saturday lines, Belmar Mayor Mark Walsifer said Sunday that adjustments needed to be made in anticipation of Memorial Day weekend. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage The boroughs announcement said daily badges will still be available, seven days a week beginning Saturday at ticket booths along the boardwalk and at Silver Lake. The fee for daily badges is $9 per day and children 15 and under can get on the beach free. Borough officials said social distancing in sale lines will be required and that people will be encouraged to wear face coverings. Gov. Phil Murphy has said every beach town needs to implement social-distancing mandates, but that local officials will make the call on what methods work best for their communities. Face coverings are not a requirement, but the governor has implored people to wear them, especially in areas where social distancing can be a challenge. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Wally Thomas of Lake Forest and Denean MacAndrew of Mission Viejo take part in a protest in Huntington Beach. More than 1,200 pastors have vowed to hold in-person services on May 31, Pentecost Sunday. (Raul Roa / Times Community News ) More than 1,200 pastors have vowed to hold in-person services on May 31, Pentecost Sunday, defying a state moratorium on religious gatherings that Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. In a letter to Newsom, Robert H. Tyler, an attorney representing a Lodi church that has challenged the governors order in court, said more than 1,200 pastors have signed a Declaration of Essentiality, asserting their churches are as essential as any grocery or hardware store and should be allowed to reopen. We believe you are attempting to act in the best interests of the state, Tyler wrote to Newsom, but the restrictions have gone too far and for too long. By Wednesday, many counties in California had received approval to reopen establishments retail business, office buildings, restaurants, shopping centers as permitted in the second phase of Newsoms plan to restart the state economy. Churches are not allowed to reopen until the plans third phase. The pastors who signed onto the letter intend to open their churches to parishioners on May 31, with or without the governors permission, the letter says. They will advise churchgoers to follow social distancing guidelines. A day earlier, the U.S. Justice Department warned Newsom that the restrictions he imposed and his plans to scale them back could infringe on religious groups constitutional freedoms. Eric S. Dreiband, an assistant attorney general and the head of the Justice Departments civil rights division, questioned Newsoms decision to keep houses of worship closed until the third phase of the states reopening plan while allowing restaurants, offices, shopping malls and schools to open in the second. Dreiband cited a statement from Atty. Gen. William Barr that religious institutions must not be singled out for special burdens. The Constitution calls for California to do more to accommodate religious worship, including in Stage 2 of the reopening plan, Dreiband said. Story continues Several churches have mounted legal challenges to Newsoms moratorium on in-person services. Federal judges in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento have batted down all of them, although the Cross Culture Christian Center, a church in Lodi, is appealing its ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal. In denying the churchs request to keep the state from enforcing the prohibition on in-person worship, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez wrote that during public health crises, new considerations come to bear, and government officials must ask whether even fundamental rights must give way to a deeper need to control the spread of infectious disease and protect the lives of societys most vulnerable. If the pastors do, in fact, hold services for Pentecost, it would not be the first time a congregation has flouted Newsoms order. On Mothers Day, Palermo Bible Family Church in Butte County held an in-person service; one of the roughly 180 churchgoers subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. County officials said they are now trying to track down every attendee and instruct them to self-quarantine. For 7 weeks we have been kept out of our church and away from our church family, the pastor, Mike Jacobsen, wrote on Facebook. I am fully aware that some people may not understand that for our church it is essential to be together in fellowship. Jaipur, May 21 : The government school students in Rajasthan will get to learn course study via television from June 1 as the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has allotted it a slot on Doordarshan to ensure regular education during the lockdown. Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara said, here on Wednesday, the students without access to smart phones and high-speed internet were being deprived of education. "Now they will be able to study via Doordarshan from June 1," he said. "The Education Department gets one more success. After radio, we have got a slot on Doordarshan," he tweeted. Earlier, the students were allowed a slot by Akashwani to connect with online education on a request by the department. Now Doordarshan had also given a slot on a minimal tariff basis for stduents, he added. Few days back, the state government had written to the I&B Minister requesting him to allot slots on DD and Akashwani. The aim was to ensure education of students in rural areas. The state BJP had also backed the move. New Delhi: A powerful cyclone killed more than 85 people in India and Bangladesh, flattening tens of thousands of homes and battering the metropolis of Kolkata after it roared ashore on Wednesday. The Indian state of West Bengal bore the brunt of the storm's fury. Two low-lying districts in the state suffered widespread destruction of homes, crops and infrastructure, while its capital, Kolkata, witnessed torrential rains and winds of up to 160 km/h. An Indian traffic police person controls traffic during heavy rain in Gauhati, India. Credit:AP At least 72 people died in West Bengal, 15 of them in Kolkata. Many were crushed by falling trees or electrocuted by downed power lines. Cyclone Amphan left a "trail of devastation," said Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal. She said she had never seen a similar disaster in the state. 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But some jobs, like contact tracing, have become all the more necessary due to the pandemic. Not only do experts predict an immediate need of at least 100,000 contact tracers in the U.S., but in some states like New York, contact tracers can make roughly $57,000 per year and earn a comprehensive benefits package, according to a job posting by the Fund for Public Health in New York City. The local government says it's also providing "all necessary equipment and internet connection" so that individuals can do this job from home. Though contact tracers have been around for decades, the increased demand for them as a result of Covid-19 has sparked a lot of questions about the impact these professionals can have on the pandemic. Below, CNBC Make It breaks down the details around what contact tracers do and what qualifications are needed before you can get hired to become one. VichoT What are contact tracers? Contact tracing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an essential part of a "multipronged approach to fight the Covid-19 pandemic." In the past, contact tracers have been used to help slow the spread of many infectious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, says Dr. Emily Gurley, an infectious disease epidemiologist and associate scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She tells CNBC Make It that at the core of contact tracing, workers are "trying to identify people who have been exposed to someone who is infectious and you're trying to let them know so that they can change their behavior and not unknowingly or inadvertently infect anybody else." In the case of Covid-19, she says contact tracers will be used to reach out to individuals who have tested positive for the virus. Because people with Covid-19 often don't show immediate symptoms and may not know they have the illness until they receive an official diagnosis, contact tracers will help the infected person remember and identify the people they have been in close contact with during their diagnosis period and the two days leading up to it. This will be done by asking questions about where the person has been and who they've been in close proximity to at work, at home or maybe in a car. This does not include, Gurley says, people you may have passed on the street or someone you said a brief "hi" to. Once those exposed individuals are identified, contact tracers will then make a list of those people and contact them. When contacting someone who has been exposed to the virus, Gurley, says it's important for contact tracers to not identify the infected person for privacy protection reasons. "You're not going to say, 'Oh, you know, this person has Covid-19 and you were around them,'" she says. Instead, she explains that contact tracers will say something like, "We just have to let you know that you have been exposed and here are the things that you need to do next." Those next steps, according to the CDC, include contact tracers advising individuals to stay home and maintain social distance from other people for 14 days after they've been exposed to the virus. During this time, the exposed individual will be encouraged to check their temperature twice a day and monitor whether or not they develop any Covid-19 symptoms like coughing or shortness of breath. Contract tracers will then check in with these individuals periodically to ensure that these self-monitoring steps are being taken. In the event that symptoms do arise, it will be suggested that the person notifies a health-care professional for medical care. Westend61 Qualifications needed and how to get hired NASA's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, on Wednesday (May 20) abruptly resigned from his post after taking charge only six months ago. Loverro did not specify the reason behind his decision but he said in a farewell note to colleagues that he decided to step down due to a "mistake" he had committed earlier this year. Loverro's departure was effective on Monday. A source told CNN that the incident aboiut which Loverro is talking was related to the Artemis Program which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024. The program was announcedin 2019 by the Trump administration. Loverro started his role as the head of NASA's human spaceflight programs in December. In his resignation note, Loverro told NASA workers only that leaders are "called on to take risks" and added that, "I took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission." "Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences," Loverro wrote. "And therefore, it is with a very, very heavy heart that I write to you today to let you know that I have resigned from NASA effective May 18th, 2020." Ken Bowersox, NASA's acting deputy associate administrator for human exploration and operations, will take charge as NASA's interim head of human spaceflight. Loverro's sudden resignation raised some eyebrows on Capitol Hill with Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who chairs the House space and science committee, saying she was "shocked" by the news. "I trust that NASA Administrator Bridenstine will ensure that the right decision is made as to whether or not to delay the launch attempt. Beyond that, Mr. Loverro's resignation is another troubling indication that the Artemis Moon-Mars initiative is still not on stable footing. I look forward to clarification from NASA as to the reasons for this latest personnel action," Johnson said. Kendra Horn, a Democrat from Oklahoma who chairs a House subcommittee on space, tweeted that she is "deeply concerned over this sudden resignation, especially eight days before the first scheduled launch of US astronauts on US soil in almost a decade." While appointing Loverro in October, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine had called Loverro "a respected strategic leader in both civilian and defense programs" who "will be of great benefit to NASA at this critical time in our final development of human spaceflight systems for both Commercial Crew and Artemis." The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at H.H.S. is distributing billions of dollars to companies to develop vaccines, including the latest funding to AstraZeneca. The authority, known as Barda, has already agreed to provide up to $483 million to the biotech company Moderna and $500 million to Johnson & Johnson for their separate vaccine efforts. It has also agreed to provide $30 million to a coronavirus vaccine effort by the French company Sanofi, building on a larger contract announced last December for making flu inoculations. Scores of vaccine efforts are underway around the world, and several potential vaccines are now in at least small-scale clinical trials. But the Oxford vaccine candidate, now licensed by AstraZeneca, has moved quickly into the kind of large-scale testing necessary to prove safety and effectiveness. [Follow our Live Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker.] Building on efforts to develop a vaccine against a similar disease, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, the Oxford scientists last month began a Phase I trial of their potential vaccine against Covid-19 in Britain involving 1,100 participants. A combined Phase II and Phase III trial involving 5,000 participants is set to begin in Britain by the end of this month. The researchers have said that if the vaccine is proven effective, they hope to have an approval for emergency use, worldwide, by September. But a steep decline in the rate of new infections in Britain may make it difficult to prove effectiveness. Ethics rules generally preclude deliberately infecting test participants. That means unless enough test participants who are given a placebo become infected with the virus in the community, the researchers cannot show that the potential vaccine does its job. The large-scale tests in the United States this summer may provide another opportunity. On Monday, Moderna announced partial data of its first-phase trial, saying its vaccine candidate had proven safe and that it had provoked an immune response in 45 people, including eight who had extensive tests that found they had produced antibodies that could prevent the virus from infecting cells. It is also working on an accelerated timetable with partners at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Swiss company Lonza. Moderna received approval to move to a second phase involving 600 people and said it would also begin a third stage in July with thousands of healthy people. The Trump administrations efforts to stanch the pandemic have been troubled by a series of agency fumbles, starting with defective C.D.C. tests that stalled detection of the viruss spread for weeks and limited diagnoses for patients at hospitals and clinics. Recently, President Trump reorganized vaccine and treatment efforts after he dismissed last month the head of Barda, Rick Bright, who then filed a whistle-blower complaint contending he had been pressured to seek approval for certain treatments for Covid-19. Just last week, Mr. Trump named Moncef Slaoui, a venture capitalist who was a longtime vaccine executive at GlaxoSmithKline and most recently a board member for Moderna, to help oversee Operation Warp Speed, the federal drive to accelerate ways to combat the virus. MUMBAI: Hours after setting four trucks on fire, the banned CPI-M Maoists resorted to violence in Hathicamp area in Maharashtras Gadchiroli on Wednesday night. According to reports, the banned CPI-M Naxalites vandalised the Forest Departments property in the Hathicamp area located in Kamlapur village. The Forest department officials had decorated the area to boost tourism in the region. However, the CPI-M Maoists came here in large number on Wednesday night, wreaked havoc and decamped with the CCTVs installed here. Hathicamp is popular for transporting timber by using elephants. The latest incident of Naxal violence came hours after the banned CPI-M Maoists set four trucks on fire in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district. The home-grown CPI-M ultras also called for a bandh in the Gadchiroli district. The bandh call given by the Naxals impacted the normal life in the area. Bandh was called in protest against the recent killing of senior Naxal leader Surjanakka in an encounter with Gadchiroli Police near Jaravandi village on May 2. The local police had launched an operation following information that a group of 20 Naxals was camping near Jaravandi. During the encounter, 48-year old Surjanakka, who was a member of the Gadchiroli divisional committee of CPI (Maoist), was killed. Surjanakka had joined the Naxal movement in 1988 and was the wife of CPI(Maoist) Central Committee member Devji. She was involved in 144 crimes, including ambushes on police and civilian murders. Police also recovered an AK-47 and a lot of explosives from the spot. Surjanakka is the second Naxal leader to have been killed in encounters this year. The Naxal movement has received a major jolt with her death as she is the third DVC (divisional committee) rank cadre lost by the movement this year. Earlier, DVC member Vilas Kolha had surrendered while another DVC member, Dinkar Gota, was arrested by the police. Asking District Credit Cooperative (DCC) banks to prioritise farmers loans, cooperation minister ST Somashekar on Wednesday pulled up officials for sanctioning loans to sugar factories outside their district jurisdiction. The minister, who held a meeting with officials from Bengaluru division on Wednesday, sought details of the amount of loans given to sugar factories and the repaid amount. Speaking to reporters later, Somashekar said the government wanted to prioritise farm loans and loans given to Stree Shakti groups. Any given day, there is hundred percent repayment of loans when it comes to Stree Shakti groups, for instance, compared to a sugar factory. If we encourage the self-help groups with loans, they can continue with their enterprises. For example, some of them are making masks, during this period. The Rs 5 lakh interest free loan given to them will be a boost, the minister said. The NABARD had given additional Rs 1,750 crore funds this year, of which the target was to give Rs 14,500 loan disbursal to farmers, he said. In the wake of the pre-monsoon season, the government had already given Rs 916 crore loans to about 1.35 lakh farmers. He urged the DCC banks to pay special attention to SC/ST applicants. Further, defending the recent APMC Act ordinance passed by the government, the minister said it would benefit the farmers. The farmer will now have the opportunity to sell it to either a private entity or the APMC, This will give more choice to the farmer. Opposition parties are protesting against this for their own selfish interests, he said. MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray skipped a meeting called by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Wednesday evening to review the COVID-19 situation across the state, triggering speculations that all was not well between the two. The Shiv Sena chief, however, sent his personal assistant Milind Narvekar as his representative to attend the meeting. Narvekar informed that Maharashtra could not attend the meeting as he was busy with some other important work and had conveyed his to the Governor. During the meeting, the Governor asked the state administration to prepare itself for the COVID-19 challenge considering the likely situation of Corona Virus Disease in the State in the months of June and July. He asked the government to keep enough medical facilities, doctors, staff, and beds ready considering the likely caseload in the months of June and July. Presiding a high-level review meeting with senior government officials at Raj Bhavan, Governor Koshyari asked the government to take special measures for containment zones like Dharavi. The Governor asked the government to keep a dashboard providing handy information about the availability of beds, availability of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff for the entire state so that the same could be deployed where needed most. The Governor asked the government to think of incentivising frontline workers like sanitation workers, police, health workers, ward boys who are doing good work in the battle against COVID. The Governor asked the administration to make sure that non-COVID-19 general patients do not suffer anywhere in the State for want of medical facilities. A presentation on the COVID-19 situation in Mumbai was made by Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal, while ACS Health Dr Pradip Vyas apprised the Governor of the governments COVID preparedness in the State. The Governor also took a review of the transportation of migrant workers to their home States and the status of relief camp for migrant workers. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, ACS Home Sanjay Kumar, DGP Subodh Jaiswal, ACS Sitaram Kunte, ACS Nitin Kareer, ACS Manoj Saunik and senior government officers Abha Shukla, Sanjay Mukherjee, Bhushan Gagrani, Saurabh Vijay and others. Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Q1 2020 Earnings Call , 12:00 p.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good afternoon and welcome to the SQM first-quarter 2020 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Kelly O'Brien, head of investor relations. Please go ahead. Kelly O'Brien -- Head of Investor Relations Good morning. I hope everyone is healthy and well. Thank you for joining SQM's first-quarter 2020 earnings conference call. This conference call will be recorded and is being webcast live. You may access the webcast later on our website, www.sqm.com. Our earnings press release and a presentation with a summary of the results has been uploaded to our website where you can also find a link to this webcast. Joining the call today as speakers are Ricardo Ramos, chief executive officer; Gerardo Illanes, chief financial officer; and Felipe Smith, commercial vice president, lithium, and iodine, Asia Pacific. Before we begin, let me remind you that statements in this conference concerning the company's business outlook future economic performances, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses or other financial items, anticipated cost synergies and product or service line growth, together with other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as the term is defined under federal securities laws. Any forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the best judgment of SQM based on currently available information and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements. Risks, uncertainties and factors that could affect the accuracy of such forward-looking statements are identified in our public filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and in our earnings release issued yesterday. And these forward-looking statements should be considered in light of those factors. We assume no obligation to update such statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by laws. I now leave you with our chief executive officer, Ricardo Ramos. Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you Kelly. Good morning, and thank you for joining us our first-quarter 2020 earnings conference call. Before discussing the details of our results, I will first like to reiterate my message from last night. My first concern is and has always been the well-being and safety of our employees, the families and the communities in which we operate. We have implemented plans to help protect their health and safety and do believe that these measures have been helpful in reducing the number of cases and the spread of the virus within our facilities, and will certainly be -- the message did not give credit where credit was due. The hard work and dedication of all our employees in Chile and abroad is the reason that I'm able to report that today, we continue operating at normal levels, so much that production today in all our facilities is above our internal and original budget for the year. The hard work and commitment of our employees not only pertains to SQM's operation specifically. They have remained diligent in helping and providing support to our neighboring communities in the north of Chile, related to health, social well-being, economic recovery and education. Today, more than ever, these efforts are paramount. Thank you. Last night, we reported earnings for the first quarter of the year of approximately $45 million, lower than the results seen during the same period last year. Our sales during the first quarter of this year were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is reasonable to expect that along the rest of the world, we will continue to see impact in the upcoming months. During the first quarter, we saw lower average prices in lithium and derivatives. Lithium prices fell significantly during the beginning of the year as we expected. Lithium sales volumes were also lower than what we reported during the first quarter last year and lower than what we expected for this quarter. We're working to produce lithium volumes according to our original plan this year and expect to increase market share setting more than last year. However, the original expectations of market growth that we all had for this year have changed significantly because of the COVID-19. And now we expect market demand in 2020 to be similar to levels seen last year. Iodine represented a significant portion of the gross profit of the company during the first quarter. This increase was the result of higher average prices will reach approximately $35 per kilogram during the first quarter of the year. The fertilizer industry in some geographical markets has been in to essential industry during the COVID-19 outbreak. This could help minimize the economic impacts related to COVID-19 on the fertilizer market. However, it is reasonable to believe that demand growth in the world of sodium potassium nitrate market, a premium fertilizer, who will not reach the original expectation of 5% to 6%. In closing, we -- while the COVID-19 pandemic limited our ability to sell during the first quarter, accounting global economic conditions are uncertain, making it difficult to predict the future supply and demand of the markets in which we participate, we remain positive and we expect sales volumes in most of our business lines to be higher in the upcoming quarters. We believe in the fundamentals behind long-term demand growth in the lithium-ion and potassium nitrate and solar salts industry. As a result of this, we continue to move forward with our previously announced expansion plan to expect to bring our lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide projects online by the end of 2021. I now turn the line over to Gerardo Illanes, our chief financial officer. Gerardo Illanes -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you Ricardo. We have always maintained a strong balance sheet and our current situation is not different. We ended the first quarter with approximately $1.4 billion in cash and cash equivalents. However, it is important to note that in April, we paid a $250 million bond. Our current ratio was approximately 3.2 times at the end of the first quarter. As Ricardo mentioned in the press release last night, our next relevant maturity is not due until April 2023. The robust balance sheet we have always kept gives us flexibility to operate comfortably during turbulent times like the ones we find ourselves today. While our dividend policy aims to maximize return to investors, it also considers key ratios to ensure a healthy cash position. On the other hand, we continue to move ahead with our capex program and expect it to reach approximately $350 million this year, lower than the $450 million previously announced. This capex delay is a result of reduced nonessential activities in our production facilities to help protect the health and safety of our workers. Depending on the evolution of the pandemic, we should be able to accelerate our capex plans in 2021 and make up for any delays we see in the upcoming months. Thank you. Operator, we may now go to Q&A. Questions & Answers: Operator [Operator instructions] Our first question comes from Lucas Ferreira with JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Lucas Ferreira -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Hi gentlemen. Thanks for the opportunity to ask question. I wanted to understand a bit better how has been the dynamics of the lithium demand over the last couple of months. So we are seeing China returning to normality gradually. So if you can speak about the demand and orders from China, how they've been moving. And any outlook, anything you can say about Europe. I think Europe was expected to be a good contributor of greater demand this year with higher penetration of EVs. So if you can talk about how you're seeing the European market in specific and the orders and the pipeline, that would be my first question. And the second question is on iodine. I understand it's also hard to predict what's going to happen. But we have been seeing a very healthy I would say price and volume dynamics, although volumes are not increasing, prices are compensating and your gross profit overall has been improving. So what's your expectation there in spite of the impact there on the volumes? Would you expect that to keep supply under control? And do you think the prices should remain at a healthy level? That would be my second question. Thank you. Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you for your question. Let me try to answer the first one about the lithium, to have an outlook what's going on, on what we think is going on in the industry. And after that, I will ask Felipe to give more colors and details in the iodine business. First in the lithium, as you may know, ourselves in the first quarter, as we reported, we are affected by this situation, the COVID-19. The main effect in the first quarter was China demand. The GDP, as you know, in China was negative during the first quarter, close to 7%. And our information is that the electric cars vehicles sales in first the quarter decreased 54% compared to the first-quarter '19, means it was a strong reduction. We have to consider that China was almost closed all the quarter and affected significantly the sales in that market. As you may know, our company -- our marketing strategy and sales strategy for the first quarter and for the year was very active in the Chinese market. That's why we think that at least we reduced our sales in China during first quarter, close to 2,000 metric tons. In other markets, the situation was a slight different. And other Asian demands was slightly affected in the first quarter for us, considering on our original plan. And I think that the good news came from Europe during first quarter. Europe sales of our lithium was better than expected and was OK. But at the end, the effect, negative effect of China, plus some negative effect in the other Asian demand affected our expected sales during the first quarter. I think that it's important to see what we're looking forward, Chinese economy is getting some recovery. And GDP growth forecast for the Q2 is expected to be positive, close to 5%, probably. And electric vehicle sales is still -- we expect to have a negative compared to the second-quarter '19, but not at the level of 15%. We're talking about a level of 20%, 25% decrease. However, it's very important to consider this is a big improvement compared to the Q1. According to our information today, most of the factories in China are producing in the normal way and after two months of complete shutdown. Chinese subsidies and all the government policies to stimulate economy should help. And I would think we will see a third and fourth quarter very strong. Cars in the other markets, it's important to consider that the virus arrived later, then the big impact that started at the end of March and continued during April. Cars producer were affected in April, especially Europe and U.S. and the U.S., and most of them closed their plans. Electric vehicle sales in Europe and U.S. were reduced in April, as we may know -- as we know, close to 31% and 55% in the U.S. During May, car producers started reopening the factories. And today, most of them are producing as far as we know. Korea and Japan were less affected. That did not stop production. They -- that's been very positive for us, considering that we are trying to allocate a lot of products in those markets. Regarding to the other lithium industries, remember that it's important to consider also the portable device industry. Construction and Greece, they will be affected, and potentially the demand in this application could be lower than 2019 as we have been -- we have been -- we had in the first four months of this year. With all the information we have and considering the expected reduction of customer inventories, we believe it is reasonable today. With today's informational, the demand for this year could be similar to the demand of 2019 which was close to the 312,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent. But regarding all those five and moving specifically to the SQM situation, we think that we are in a good position to increase our market share this year. It means that we expect to sell more this year as compared to the previous one. Of course, the situation of the market is different than the original expectation of the market. We have a lot of contract for the year with customers we have been working for many years, and they are confident we can reach our goal. We have started seeing some effects on the supply side today because of the market condition. There are few current operations that can face bad situation, and we expect that we will reach our original target -- no, regional, our target to be higher than last year and to increase our market share and market share. Anyway, we are building inventory, this inventory will help us to have better flexibility and to support our customers. And any way, our demand in the long-term will increase, and the inventory will be very, very positive in order to face the future demand of the market. For the future and our -- I will ask Felipe to share with us what's your view before moving to the lithium. We're not in the same room with Felipe because the COVID. We are in the different places in Santiago. Santiago is under lockdown today. Felipe, if you can share with us your view about the future of the lithium in order to share your opinion about that. I'm talking about '21, '25 onward. Felipe Smith -- Commercial Vice President, Lithium, and Iodine, Asia Pacific OK. No problem, Ricardo. Well, if we look at the outlook of the medium and long term, I believe that the fundamentals are still there. We are estimating that in total, the lithium demand will grow after this 2020 special year. After '21 to '25, we should have an average growth of around 20% in lithium demand, meaning that by 2025, we believe that total demand of lithium could exceed 800,000 metric tons. And these fundamentals are basically what we let's say expect from their OEM manufacturers. They all seem totally committed to electrification of their fleet. Also governments are pushing for this kind of -- this type of car. So all in all, I think that we have to be optimistic in the long term. Lucas Ferreira -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Ricardo, if I may, just a follow-up on that before we go to iodine. Can we say already that the first quarter was the weakest quarter for you in terms of sales in the year or it's still early to say that given that we are not yet at the end of 2Q? Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Lucas, we -- according to the information we have today, we do expect that the first quarter was the weakest quarter of the year in the lithium business in volumes certainly. Lucas Ferreira -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst OK. Thank you. Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Felipe, you can go ahead with the second part of the question regarding the iodine. What -- why would you think that the iodine demand this year would be slightly or will be lower than last year, and of course, lower than originally expected? Felipe Smith -- Commercial Vice President, Lithium, and Iodine, Asia Pacific Yes. Well, first of all, to give some context, the demand in 2019 we estimated to be close to 37,000 metric ton of iodine. Our last estimation for this year is that this demand will be around 34.5%, meaning a reduction of 2,200 ton or 6.1%. And how we base this estimation, basically, the main uses of iodine or one of the main uses of iodine is X-ray contrast media. This is an application that is related to preventive medicine. So according to our customers, they explained that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people is reluctant to do examinations, and they prefer to avoid going to the hospital. So this definitely has an impact on the demand of this specific application. Also iodine is used in other applications that are very linked to the economic situation. For example, there is an application that is related to paint. And definitely, construction will be affected, we believe, this year. So that is also an application that will be negatively impacted. We foresee that electronics application for iodine will also be negatively impacted. And for the rest, there are some users that are more related with lockdowns. For example, in the case of pharma, pharma is very concentrated in Europe and India. And especially in India, the lock down that we saw in March and April are affecting the demand. So we hope that this could revert in the coming months. But so far, we try to be conservative. The only applications in Ireland that are more inelastic are those related to nutrition which they have proven over the years that independent of the economic cycles, they are very resilient. So that is more or less the overview of iodine. Lucas Ferreira -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Many thanks gentlemen. Operator [Operator instructions] Our next question will come from Isabella Simonato with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Isabella Simonato -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for the call. I would like to know about more about the cost structure, right? How this the pandemic or this new environment, right, has led to eventually higher cost in your production or any sort of disruption, if you could update us on that. And regarding the capex that was reduced for this year, can you give us a little bit more of details if it is the postponement for 2021 and where exactly that reduction happened? Thank you. Gerardo Illanes -- Chief Financial Officer Isabella, it is Gerardo. I'll try to answer your questions. Well, because of COVID-19, we have not seen an impact on the cost of production in any of our business lines. Actually, on the contrary, I mean, not because of COVID-19, but because of other reasons, the cost of every single product in our production process has been coming down over the past few months in ion, in potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate and lithium. Of course, the weaker Chilean peso and the lower cost of energy are, of course, helping in this regard. But we are not seeing a higher cost because of this situation. But, of course, it's taking some time for you to see them in the P&L because we have such a high level of inventories. We have more than $1 billion of inventory. That takes some time to be reflected in the results. But from a cash point of view, of course, it's having an impact right away. Regarding your question about capex. What we have been doing more than reducing capex because of a financial constraint, we have been reducing the activities that are not essential in our facilities in order to make sure that we comply with the toughest recommendation to protect our people and to reduce the speed at which the virus can spread in our facilities. So because of that, we have reduced the use of contractors. We have reduced some nonessential activities and some capex activities that can be postponed without having a significant financial impact either on our plans to sell this year or in the upcoming years, also in the projects themselves. That's why the capex has been reduced from $450 million to $350 million. But well, to be more precise, the capex has not been reduced, but delayed. And we expect that this capex or these expansions or these activities will be catch up as soon as the conditions allow us to bring more people in our facility. Regarding the most important project that we're working on which are expansions of lithium-related products, we are still expecting that they should be ready by the end of 2021. So we don't see a big impact there. Isabella Simonato -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst That's very clear Gerardo. Thank you. Operator Our next question will come from Ben Isaacson with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Unknown speaker This is Ziad actually on for Ben. Thanks for taking my call. I just have one on potash pricing actually. You have realized fairly sticky pricing at our segment despite commodity benchmark prices falling quite meaningfully over the last two quarters. Can you talk about how your potash versus SOP sales mix has evolved? And what should that mix be for the balance of the year moving forward? Also has there been shift in the regional mix to account for the strong realized potash pricing? Thank you. Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah, as you may know, the potash price was affected in I think in the last two, three or four months mainly on the China settlement of last month. It's in the -- last two weeks is in the same line. We do expect that potash prices, as everyone expect, to be slightly -- to be lower during the next three quarters as compared to the first quarter this year. We are considering that in our projections. But you should consider that we are very small in the potash industry. We are this year -- even though this year, we do expect to sell more than last year, and we continue with this expectation. We can select the market where we try to approach. And I would -- I think that the effect, the net effect will not be as high as originally expected this price reduction. But anyway, we are expecting and we know that the price of potash today is lower of what used to be probably one year ago or six months ago, and we are considering this in our projections for the next few quarters. Just we know that we are selling, as you know, very important volumes in Brazilian market. Brazilian market's been affected probably with the -- it's been affected today with the price environment of the potash. And by the volumes, we do know that the volumes for SQM for the rest of the year will be higher. And we expect to be close to 700,000 metric tons of potash sales during this year as a total volume. I don't -- I mean, first, it's going to be affected, the margins, due to the price environment, of course, yes. Unknown speaker Perfect. Thank you. Operator Our next question will come from Alex Falcao with HSBC. Please go ahead. Alex Falcao -- HSBC -- Analyst Yeah. Hi guys. Good afternoon. I just wanted to talk specifically on China. I know that you -- I just want to talk after -- for the month of May, we've seen a pickup there on at least locally for -- at least for production. It seems like there's a -- the supply side has been -- some of these companies have basically shut down even in Australia. I just wanted to know if -- when you talk to your people on the ground and the -- I know you don't sell really on the spot market, but I just wanted to know, specifically for Asia and for China, is -- it may seem to be an inflection point. You comment that probably the worst is over, and first quarter is going to be the worst quarter of the year. I was just trying to gauge if you have more details specifically for China and what you sell there. Thank you. Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you Alex. I will ask Felipe. Felipe is in direct touch with the China people, our team there, in a daily basis. And I think he can share with us his thoughts about what's going on in China as we speak, what we expect in the few -- in the next month. Felipe, please? Felipe Smith -- Commercial Vice President, Lithium, and Iodine, Asia Pacific Yeah. Well, first of all, we need to remember that we entered year 2020 with high stock levels in China, OK? So we were expecting anyway a lower amount of sales versus the total year in the first quarter, but the pandemic situation that started in China affected seriously the demand, OK? So this already high inventory levels that were carried out to 2020 would take much longer now in being depleted. As a matter of fact, we believe it will take several months. And therefore, this recovery that we see in the business itself not necessarily will be reflected in a good sales recovery, because again the demand is affected there. So we will have to see over the next months. We have to be conservative in our estimations, but we still believe that our sales over the next quarters in China will be increasing. We have good signs from customers that this will be the case. But again, there is a lot of uncertainty. We need to see. Alex Falcao -- HSBC -- Analyst OK. Perfect. Thanks for that. Operator Our next question comes from Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Joel Jackson -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst Hi. Good morning. I have two questions. I'm going to ask them one at a time. Ricardo, so if I listen to your commentary, tell me if I'm right or wrong, so you still -- SQM still expects to produce about 65,000 to 70,000 tons of LCE this year of lithium. You still expect to gain a bit of share. But if that's the case, in a flat demand environment, you expect to build a lot more inventory this year than you thought three months ago -- two months ago. Is that correct? Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah, of course, that is correct. We do expect to produce between 65,000 to 70,000, even though we are going to increase our market share. Considering the flat environment we expect and the total demand, our inventory will be increased this year. But it's a healthy level of inventory that will help us in the future demand growth environment. Joel Jackson -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst So I have a follow-up on that. I mean, you got -- competitors are also building new supply. You have a bit of a stalling out demand this year. You just talked about -- Felipe just talked about inventory in China has been larger than you would have thought by now. Do you not get worried on the price of lithium here because a lot of inventory already, you're building inventory and there's competitor supply additions on top? Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer I cannot speak about the other competitors' inventories. But considering SQM inventory, of course, is -- my inventory is not as huge as affecting the financial situation of the company. I have a different opinion. I think that our inventory is an -- element of flexibility we have. We strongly believe in the fundamentals of the industry, and having these inventories are good news for us. We are -- it will not affect our market strategy, our market pricing inventory, of course, not. We are looking for market share increase. We will get it, and that's exactly what we expect to have. We -- if the market is lower for the specific reason already coming to you for the COVID-19, of course, the total volumes will be lower, but our target of the market share will be there. The excess of inventory, it's good news in order to have inventory for the future and affect -- and having the flexibility for the market. It means that the additional inventory is not an effect of the price environment in the terms of the inventory of SQM. About the inventory of our competitors, of course, I cannot comment what it's going to be their business strategy so far. Joel Jackson -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst So are you comfortable running about six months of inventory? Because if I do your math, you'll end this year with about six months of your 2020 sales volume, 2020 sales volume. Your inventory will be half of that end of the year. Are you comfortable with that? Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah. I'm comfortable with that. You have to consider that, as Felipe mentioned before, we do expect that sales in 2025 will be in excess of 815,000 metric tons of lithium. I mean having inventory, using my capacity today to produce is a very good business because we need to increase our capacity in the future anyway. If we can operate at full capacity today -- production facility is the best way to use our fixed assets, considering that we do expect that we will significantly increase our sales in the next three years. That's why having inventory considering the expected volumes is a very good news. Joel Jackson -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst Thank you. Operator This will conclude our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kelly O'Brien for any closing remarks. Kelly O'Brien -- Head of Investor Relations Thank you everyone for joining. A summary of the results of the results on this call will be posted on our website. Please stay healthy. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 37 minutes Call participants: Kelly O'Brien -- Head of Investor Relations Ricardo Ramos -- Chief Executive Officer Gerardo Illanes -- Chief Financial Officer Lucas Ferreira -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Felipe Smith -- Commercial Vice President, Lithium, and Iodine, Asia Pacific Isabella Simonato -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Unknown speaker Alex Falcao -- HSBC -- Analyst Joel Jackson -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst More SQM analysis All earnings call transcripts Sixteen more persons contracted coronavirus in Chandigarh on Thursday, taking the COVID-19 tally to 218 in the Union territory. Among them, 12 persons were residents of Bapu Dham Colony, the worst affected area in the city, as per the medical bulletin. A total of 3,369 samples have been tested so far with 3,125 samples coming out negative while the reports of 25 samples are awaited, as per the bulletin. A total of 37 cases are active in the city, the bulletin stated. So far, three persons have died of coronavirus in the city. Meanwhile, UT Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore expressed grave concern over rising number of positive cases in Bapu Dham Colony. It was decided to have a local sample collection centre in a school inside Bapu Dham Colony, so that more testing could be done, said an official release. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man's trip to the dentist has resulted in a $1million lottery win. The man from Keperra, nine kilometres north-west of Brisbane, bought a lottery ticket to cheer himself up after he had a tooth pulled on Monday. He was stunned when he later discovered that he was the only division one prize of $1million in Monday night's draw. The man from Keperra bought a lottery ticket to cheer himself up after he had a tooth pulled at the dentist (stock) The man said he will use the money to pay off his home's mortgage so he can have 'security' and use the rest to help his family (stock) 'I had a tooth pulled out on Monday and I really didn't want to get it out,' he said. 'I was so upset about it so I decided to keep the tooth in a little pouch for good luck. 'So I made sure I bought a lottery ticket after my trip to the dentist with my new lucky charm to cheer myself up.' He described the win as 'magical' and 'hard to believe'. The man said he will use the money to pay off his home's mortgage so he can have 'security' and use the rest to help his family. The winning numbers were 21, 20, 13, 16, 39 and 40 while the supplementary numbers were 44 and 18. Supanews Keperra owner Mike Walter said the store has now sold seven division one winning entries since 2013 The ticket was purchased from Supanews Keperra in the Great Western Super Centre. Owner Mike Walter said the store has now sold seven division one winning entries since 2013. 'It's always such a thrill to share the excitement with the winner and our customers too are enthusiastic about a local win, as it brings that dream of winning so close to home,' he said. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday Gold Lotto draws created 203 millionaires across Australia in 2019. 21 May 2020, 12:29 PM Domestic flights to resume from May 25: IndiGo, SpiceJet gear up for post-lockdown operations Shortly after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced that India will resume domestic flights from May 25, domestic carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet said that they are fully prepared with safety measures to get back to work. Gurgaon-headquartered IndiGo, India's largest airline by passengers carried and fleet size, said that it will be resuming flight operations from May 25, 2020 in a "phased manner". Lufthansa in talks with German govt for rescue deal worth up to $10 billion Airline Lufthansa said on Thursday it is in advanced talks with the German government's economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion), including the state taking a 20% stake in the company. Lufthansa has been in talks with the government for weeks over aid to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected to be a protracted travel slump. Coronavirus effect: White House report tears into China for 'malicious activities' Beyond its hard-hitting rhetoric against China over its handling of the coronavirus, the White House on Wednesday issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report does not signal a shift in US policy, but it expands on Trump's get-tough rhetoric that he hopes will resonate with voters angry about China's handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. IRCTC Update: Railways releases list of 200 trains starting from June 1; booking to start from today Coronavirus crisis: Ramp-up operations, increase investment, Sitharaman tells India Inc Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her virtual conference with senior members of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday asked them to ramp up operations and pump in more money to offset the impact of the coronavirus-induced slowdown. The virtual meeting, which was held to mark 125 years of the CII's existence, was reportedly designed to assess the industry mood over the stimulus package announced by the government. Super storm cyclone Amphan batters West Bengal, Odisha, kills 12 people Super cyclone Amphan made a landfall in India around 7 pm on Wednesday. The extremely severe cyclone has battered West Bengal and Odisha, packing winds gushing up to 190 kmph, causing heavy rainfall, uprooting trees and swamping homes and farmlands. The cyclone Amphan has reportedly taken away 12 lives. Strides Pharma to conduct trials in India for potential COVID-19 drug Indian pharmaceutical company Strides Pharma Science Ltd said on Thursday it has obtained regulatory approval to conduct clinical trials of antiviral drug favipiravir, a potential treatment for COVID-19.The company has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India to conduct trials of favipiravir in the country. Domestic flights to resume on Monday: What to keep in mind when you go to airport? NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AbbVie, a research-based global biopharmaceutical company, today announced donations to 26 nonprofit organizations totaling $5 million to support immediate COVID-19 relief efforts. Through support from the newly created AbbVie COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund, these organizations will help front-line healthcare workers and vulnerable populations in hard-hit communities. AbbVie COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund Infographic "At AbbVie, we believe that we should all do our part to alleviate the burden of this global health crisis," said Laura Schumacher, Vice Chairman External Affairs and Chief Legal Officer, AbbVie. "With this support, our partners from large, well-known international organizations to local, community-based nonprofits will be able to bring more relief to front-line healthcare workers and society's most vulnerable populations. We are proud to support our partners as they address difficult challenges in this time of dire need." As a result of AbbVie's donation, national and global nonprofit organizations will: Provide 55,000 frontline healthcare workers with critical personal protective equipment (PPE) and training. Improve the well-being of 50,000 children and families by providing access to essential resources including healthcare and education. Support vital services including shelter for more than 30,000 people experiencing homelessness and other at-risk populations. "COVID-19 affects us all our kids, our communities and beyond. But as with any disaster, vulnerable children will suffer most. Since the onset of the pandemic, Save the Children has been working around the clock to meet the urgent needs of kids, including access to food, learning resources and social and emotional support for children living in some of America's most rural communities," said Mark Shriver, Senior Vice President of U.S. Programs and Advocacy at Save the Children. "We are incredibly grateful to AbbVie for supporting these efforts. On behalf of children and their families across America who will benefit from this investment, thank you." "AbbVie's support will help Sinai Health System provide the kind of care every Chicagoan deserves, especially in our vulnerable communities on Chicago's west and southwest sides," said Karen Teitelbaum, President and CEO of Sinai Health System. "The patients we serve are especially at risk for COVID-19, and these funds will allow Sinai to provide testing, treatment, and rehabilitative care for those in the greatest need." The COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund is part of AbbVie's broader $35 million philanthropic contribution to COVID-19 relief efforts that also include donations to partners International Medical Corps, Direct Relief and Feeding America. A complete list of COVID-19 Community Resilience Fund donations is below. AbbVie's Response to COVID-19 During the pandemic, in addition to philanthropic support, AbbVie has been working to ensure that our business continues to operate properly, our employees remain safe and our patients continue to receive their medicines. For additional information about AbbVie's response to COVID-19, please visit AbbVie.com. About AbbVie AbbVie is a global, research and development-based biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative advanced therapies for some of the world's most complex and critical conditions. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to markedly improve treatments across four primary therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, virology and neuroscience. In more than 75 countries, AbbVie employees are working every day to advance health solutions for people around the world. For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. Chicagoland Area A Safe Haven Foundation Chicago helps homeless people that are in sudden or chronic social and financial crisis, including seniors, women and children. Will use donation to purchase additional medical supplies and provide food and essential supplies, as well as support staff members who are on the front lines. helps homeless people that are in sudden or chronic social and financial crisis, including seniors, women and children. use donation to purchase additional medical supplies and provide food and essential supplies, as well as support staff members who are on the front lines. Big Shoulders Fund supports inner-city schools that provide a quality education for 20,000 students in Chicago from low-income families. Will use donation to enable e-learning programs and provide food and essential needs for families facing economic challenges. supports inner-city schools that provide a quality education for 20,000 students in from low-income families. use donation to enable e-learning programs and provide food and essential needs for families facing economic challenges. Breakthrough provides community support for residents in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago addressing homelessness, health and wellness, workforce development, education, and violence prevention. Will use donation to assist low-income families experiencing hardship and deep clean shelters and housing units in response to a surge in capacity. provides community support for residents in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of addressing homelessness, health and wellness, workforce development, education, and violence prevention. use donation to assist low-income families experiencing hardship and deep clean shelters and housing units in response to a surge in capacity. CommunityHealth serves the uninsured and underserved in Illinois through the largest volunteer-based free medical facility in the nation. Will use donation to continue providing comprehensive healthcare and meet the needs of patients who are impacted by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. serves the uninsured and underserved in through the largest volunteer-based free medical facility in the nation. use donation to continue providing comprehensive healthcare and meet the needs of patients who are impacted by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center serves people with disabilities, behavioral health needs and who are deaf, deafblind and/or hard of hearing through its Chicago -based social service agency. Will use donation to provide increased cleaning supplies, screening, PPE and meet other needs for staff and residents. serves people with disabilities, behavioral health needs and who are deaf, deafblind and/or hard of hearing through its -based social service agency. use donation to provide increased cleaning supplies, screening, PPE and meet other needs for staff and residents. Loretto Hospital Foundation offers care through its safety-net, community-based hospital in Chicago . Will use donation to provide emergency staffing and support emergency service operations. offers care through its safety-net, community-based hospital in . use donation to provide emergency staffing and support emergency service operations. Near North Health Service Corporation provides care for 45,000 under-served individuals and families in the North, West, and South sides of Chicago . Will use donation to not only support patients, but also for those without a medical home and residents of several homeless shelters. provides care for 45,000 under-served individuals and families in the North, West, and South sides of . Will use donation to not only support patients, but also for those without a medical home and residents of several homeless shelters. Sinai Health System serves 1.5 million people across Chicago's West and Southwest Side through seven health care facilities. Will use donation to respond to the surge in patient care, ranging from rapid telehealth implementation and information systems infrastructure to PPE and other critical equipment needed to provide virtual care. serves 1.5 million people across West and Southwest Side through seven health care facilities. use donation to respond to the surge in patient care, ranging from rapid telehealth implementation and information systems infrastructure to PPE and other critical equipment needed to provide virtual care. UCAN serves over 21,000 at-risk children, youth and families across Illinois . Will use donation for emergency assistance, technology upgrades to enable virtual and deep cleaning of their residential and other facilities to ensure safety, as well as to provide enrichment activities for students affected by school closures. serves over 21,000 at-risk children, youth and families across . use donation for emergency assistance, technology upgrades to enable virtual and deep cleaning of their residential and other facilities to ensure safety, as well as to provide enrichment activities for students affected by school closures. United Way of Lake County COVID-19 Community Response Fund partners with local nonprofit agencies, Lake County Government and the private sector to help vulnerable individuals and families in high need Lake County communities. Will use donation to meet critical needs identified through the 211 helpline and manage a database of COVID-19 volunteer opportunities. partners with local nonprofit agencies, Lake County Government and the private sector to help vulnerable individuals and families in high need communities. use donation to meet critical needs identified through the 211 helpline and manage a database of COVID-19 volunteer opportunities. University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health works to strengthen the health and well-being of people in Chicago , the State of Illinois and around the world, with a focus on health equity and social justice. Will use donation to provide COVID-19 prevention information, masks and referrals for screening and medical care to people in Chicago's high-risk communities through a community outreach intervention project. Across the U.S. American Red Cross is part of the world's largest volunteer network. Grant will be used to maintain a sufficient supply of blood to help patients in need, and equip and train relief workers, volunteers and staff to respond to disasters during the COVID-19 pandemic. is part of the world's largest volunteer network. Grant will be used to maintain a sufficient supply of blood to help patients in need, and equip and train relief workers, volunteers and staff to respond to disasters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Heart to Heart International improves health access, provides humanitarian development and administers crisis relief. Will use donation to deploy volunteer health care workers and lab professionals in the hardest hit states and support mobile medical units. improves health access, provides humanitarian development and administers crisis relief. use donation to deploy volunteer health care workers and lab professionals in the hardest hit states and support mobile medical units. Love Beyond Walls provides visibility, shelter, community and support services to homeless populations and families to self-sufficiency. Will use donation to support hygiene efforts including maintaining and replacing hand-washing stations in high need areas to reduce spread of virus. provides visibility, shelter, community and support services to homeless populations and families to self-sufficiency. use donation to support hygiene efforts including maintaining and replacing hand-washing stations in high need areas to reduce spread of virus. National Hispanic Council on Aging works to improve the lives of Hispanic older adults, their families, and their caregivers. Will use donation to empower Hispanic/Latino communities and older adult communities with accurate information and resources to stay healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. works to improve the lives of Hispanic older adults, their families, and their caregivers. use donation to empower Hispanic/Latino communities and older adult communities with accurate information and resources to stay healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. Save the Children serves children in some of America's most remote, rural communities. Will use donation to support urgent needs, including food access, social and emotional supports and distance learning plus e-learning capabilities for children in rural communities impacted by COVID-19. serves children in some of America's most remote, rural communities. use donation to support urgent needs, including food access, social and emotional supports and distance learning plus e-learning capabilities for children in rural communities impacted by COVID-19. YWCA USA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. Will use donation to continue to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children, women and their families in the communities we serve to provide food, supplies, financial assistance, gender-based violence programs, emergency homeless shelters, temporary and transitional housing, and emergency childcare for first responders and essential workers. Specific U.S. Cities Boston Medical Center is an academic medical center and as New England's largest safety-net hospital, provides medical care for Boston's most vulnerable patients and families. The donation will be used to continue providing emergency and medical care to these individuals, including the hospitals' collaboration with the city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to provide care for up to 250 homeless individuals recovering from COVID-19. is an academic medical center and as New England's largest safety-net hospital, provides medical care for most vulnerable patients and families. The donation will be used to continue providing emergency and medical care to these individuals, including the hospitals' collaboration with the city of and the Commonwealth of to provide care for up to 250 homeless individuals recovering from COVID-19. Codman Square Health Center serves 22,000 patients through a community-focused health care and multi-service center in one of Boston's most vulnerable communities. Will use donation to enable effective screening procedures for patients and visitors, procuring and delivering PPE to health care workers and ramping up the facility's capacity for telephonic health care. serves 22,000 patients through a community-focused health care and multi-service center in one of most vulnerable communities. use donation to enable effective screening procedures for patients and visitors, procuring and delivering PPE to health care workers and ramping up the facility's capacity for telephonic health care. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center provides medical care as the world's largest and oldest private cancer center. Will use donation for the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service in New York City , which connects vulnerable individuals and their families to vital resources, including emergency food, public benefits and psychosocial support. provides medical care as the world's largest and oldest private cancer center. use donation for the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service in , which connects vulnerable individuals and their families to vital resources, including emergency food, public benefits and psychosocial support. YMCA Buffalo Niagara serves more than 2,800 children and families in Western New York . Will use donation for school districts providing emergency childcare to essential workers for an additional 100 children at no cost to their families. Global Americares saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster so they can reach their full potential. Will use donation to support its COVID-19 response in the U.S. and around the world, including providing personal protective equipment, training and mental health support to ensure health workers can continue their lifesaving work. saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster so they can reach their full potential. use donation to support its COVID-19 response in the U.S. and around the world, including providing personal protective equipment, training and mental health support to ensure health workers can continue their lifesaving work. Consortium of Street Children works to change the world for street children globally. Will use donation to support vital services through drop-in centers to provide shelter and healthcare for this vulnerable population. Consortium for Street Children will directly reach over 1,600 children in countries such as the Philippines , India and Bangladesh . works to change the world for street children globally. use donation to support vital services through drop-in centers to provide shelter and healthcare for this vulnerable population. Consortium for Street Children will directly reach over 1,600 children in countries such as , and . IsraAID works with communities affected by disasters and displacement around the world. Will use donation to provide relief items, psychosocial support, hygiene awareness information and online educational resources to populations with limited access to services, including refugees, children and front-line workers in 16 countries worldwide. works with communities affected by disasters and displacement around the world. use donation to provide relief items, psychosocial support, hygiene awareness information and online educational resources to populations with limited access to services, including refugees, children and front-line workers in 16 countries worldwide. MAP International provides medicines and health supplies to those in need around the world so they might experience life to the fullest. Will use donation for critical health supplies and personal protective equipment to aid healthcare personnel in the United States and several vulnerable countries abroad. provides medicines and health supplies to those in need around the world so they might experience life to the fullest. use donation for critical health supplies and personal protective equipment to aid healthcare personnel in and several vulnerable countries abroad. UNICEF USA provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children and adolescents in more than 190 countries. Will use donation for infection prevention training, PPE and psychosocial support for vulnerable populations in under-resourced countries, including Brazil , Greece and Kenya . SOURCE AbbVie Related Links abbvie.com Confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 15,300 on Thursday, according to new state figures. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across Arizona is 15,315, the Arizona Department of Health Services said Thursday in its daily tally. The total number includes people who have recovered. The state said 763 people in Arizona have died from COVID-19. There were 16 deaths reported today. Across Pima County, 1,944 cases of coronavirus have now been confirmed, up 41 cases from the day before. Among the 1,944 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pima County: 565 people ages 65 and older; 269 people between 55 and 64 years old; 342 people between 45 and 54 years old; 684 people between 20 and 44 years old; 83 people 19 years old and younger. No age was available for one coronavirus patient in the county. There have been 174 known COVID-19 deaths in the Tucson-metro area, according to the state health department. Seven new deaths were reported in Pima County today. There have been 237,417 coronavirus tests given across Arizona, with 5.8% of them showing positive for COVID-19, the state says. The 763 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Arizona include: 602 people 65 years old and older; 93 people between 55 and 64 years old; A shuttered hotel in Torontos Beach neighbourhood is now a temporary shelter for homeless single women. Earlier this month, about 35 residents of the City of Toronto-funded, YWCA-run Davenport Road Womens Shelter at 348 Davenport Rd., south of Dupont Street, relocated to the former Days Inn at 1684 Queen St. E. In the end, roughly 45 women age 16 and up are expected to live at this location for about a year. The women were moved to this recently vacated building because their previous home in the west end a dormitory-style facility with shared washrooms is in the midst of a major renovation/expansion project. They were also moved because the City made a commitment to provide those living in shelters with adequate space for proper physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The women can now have a single room Its a good experience for them to have their own washroom, said Heather McGregor, YWCA Torontos CEO, during a recent interview with toronto.com. Vulnerable people deserve decent accommodation. McGregor said for some time the City had been helping them find another space to move during renovations. COVID-19 expedited that process. The City has been marvellous, she said. We all tried our hardest to make this happen as quickly as possible. The property on which sits the old Days Inn in the Beach is one of several parcels on the northwest corner of Queen Street East and Kingston Road assembled for redevelopment into a midrise, mixed-use condo project. Local Coun. Brad Bradford helped connect the propertys owner/developer, Queen Kingston Holdings Inc., with the Citys Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) Division to negotiate a lease and get the building ready to welcome the women. This site was going to be sitting vacant as the developer/applicant goes through the approval process, he said, adding hes happy to welcome the YWCA to the neighbourhood and by and large the community has also been supportive of this endeavour. We saw this as an opportunity to make use of that space in a thoughtful way during the COVID-19 crisis in the city Its about ensuring we have safe homes, safe shelter for women who really need it now. At the end of April, an agreement was reached with the SSHA and the propertys owner/developer to lease the former hotel for about 14 months. Sanitation and pest control crews were brought in, a roofer and other trades people did some repairs, and the fire system was inspected to ensure everything was up to code. Arrangements were also made with the hotel operator to keep most of the furnishings and other necessary chattels. It was a team effort with the councillor, the City and us, Developer Elliott Sud, president and CEO of The Sud Group, told toronto.com. He said because of the COVID-19 crisis his team felt it was important to help the City, if they could, and decided to allow their unused property, which needs to be rezoned in order to be redeveloped into a condo, for shelter space. Sud said theyve received other requests to lease the former Days Inn, but they purposely gave it to the City. This crisis is affecting us all in a serious way and were very happy we were able to help, he shared during a recent interview. Sometimes things arent about money, its about peoples health. In about a year, the YWCAs Davenport Shelter for Women should be ready to reopen with 75 beds. By then, the rezoning process should be well underway to redevelop the Beach site. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City has relocated upwards of 2,500 people experiencing homelessness to hotel rooms and temporary respite spaces in its community centres. More than 700 people without homes have also secured interim and permanent housing. City of Toronto spokesperson Kris Scheuer said that effort includes moving clients staying in shelters into new spaces. On the surface it seems simple, but there are significant steps needed to ensure it is done properly, she wrote in an email to toronto.com. Scheuer said each individual must be assessed to determine if theyre able to move, what supports they need, and what is the most appropriate place for them to move to. She also said coordination is needed to ensure these spaces are safe, up to code, and have adequate laundry and washroom facilities. Contracts for cleaning, catering, linens, laundry and security must also be negotiated. Further, she said it takes a lot of time and effort to co-ordinate moving people from one location to another, especially with the unprecedented number of new spaces the City has opened in this short time. Scheuer said Torontos COVID-19 response also includes relocating willing clients who are sleeping outside to a space inside. Along with community partners, she said the City is working to help people living rough access safe indoor space, shelter and housing. This also includes targeted strategies for outreach, engagement, education and prevention, and harm reduction and encampment health and safety. Global, sector-focused law firm HFW has strengthened its Middle East construction practice with the hire of Maria Deus in Abu Dhabi and the relocation of Kijong Nam from London to Dubai. Deus is a construction disputes expert and joins HFW as a Legal Director from DWF, having previously worked in-house as legal counsel for an international project management and construction company, while Nam specialises in construction and shipbuilding, and joined HFW as a Partner in 2018. HFW is now the only international law firm with specialist construction lawyers based in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait City. Welcoming the duo, Global Head of Construction Carolyn Chudleigh said: "Nam and Deus are both experienced and highly skilled construction experts, and together represent a significant boost to our practice in the Middle East." "Deus has acted on some of the most complex and highest-value disputes in the region, and Nam has a wealth of expertise in both onshore and offshore construction, with offshore a real growth area for us globally. We will continue to build and strengthen our construction offering around the world to meet the changing needs of our clients across the sector," stated Chudleigh. Dubai Office Head Richard Gimblett: "Construction is a vital part of our practice in the Middle East, and with Maria's arrival we now have dedicated experts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait City, enabling us to offer specialist advice to clients across the region." "We have been in the Middle East for a long time and are deeply committed to the region, and look forward to working with Maria and Kijong to continue to expand and develop our presence," noted Gimblett. Nam specialises in dispute resolution and handles cases involving construction of refinery facilities, LNG import facilities, infrastructure and offshore projects, as well as shipbuilding cases. His clients include international contractors, energy companies and the leading shipyards. Deus has more than 20 years' experience in construction and engineering law, and advises clients on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious issues, including review and drafting of contract documentation, contract and claims management, and representation of clients in arbitration and mediation. She also acts as an Arbitrator and as a RICS Accredited Mediator, and is listed as a 'rising star' by The Legal 500, which quotes clients praising her "excellent support" and knowledge on "various arbitration procedures and pitfalls". On her new role, Deus said: "I am excited to be joining a firm with such a large global construction practice. HFW has been one of the real success stories of the Middle East legal market over the past five years, and I'm looking forward to helping contribute to the firm's continued growth in the region." Construction is one of HFW's six core sectors globally. The firm has more than 70 specialist construction lawyers across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The team advise contractors, owners, consultants, insurers, property developers, financiers and investors on every aspect of the construction process, from project establishment and procurement to claim resolution. HFW has been in the Middle East since 2006 and now has almost 60 lawyers including 28 Arabic speakers across offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait City and Riyadh, making it one of the largest practices of any international law firm in the region. Deus is the fifth lateral hire to join HFW's Abu Dhabi office since it opened in 2018, and follows the firm's launch of a specialist insurance practice in the city in 2019.-TradeArabia News Service Tara Reid has revealed she's isolating in unconventional circumstances, by living with her boyfriend Nathan Montpetit-Howar and her former Celebrity Big Brother co-stars, Jedward. In a new interview, the American Pie actress, 44, joined the X Factor 2009 contestants, 28, in her LA apartment as she shared her lockdown routine, with one of twins describing quarantine life as 'Big Brother coronavirus'. The thespian said the group have been keeping busy amid California's lockdown by writing songs and winding down with some meditation. Bizarre: Tara Reid has revealed she's isolating in unconventional circumstances, by living with her boyfriend and her former Celebrity Big Brother co-stars, Jedward (pictured in 2013) Irish twins John & Edward Grimes rose to fame 11 years ago on the UK edition of X Factor, where they were mentored by Louis Walsh. The media personalities forged a close friendship with Hollywood actress Tara when they all featured on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011. Explaining how the trio have been bonding during the state's isolation period, the TV and film star told Page Six's Maggie and Ian: 'We are all artists. John and Edward, you should see the songs they're writing right now!' Smitten: The American Pie star, 44, is currently dating Phantom Acoustics founder Nathan Montpetit-Howar 'It's like Big Brother coronavirus!' In a new interview, the actress joined the X Factor 2009 contestants, 28, in her LA apartment as she shared her lockdown routine (pictured in 2012) Throwback: The media personalities forged a close friendship with Hollywood actress Tara when they all featured on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011 (pictured) The brothers have lent a helping hand to Tara during their stay by 'cleaning her windows' and listening to daily Deepak Chopra meditations for the past 11 days. Detailing the intimate routine, the boys said: 'We did it last night together with all the lights off. Tara loves it!' The blonde beauty recently admitted living with Phantom Acoustics founder Nathan has been challenging as the couple, who usually both lead busy schedules, are currently stuck in the house for long periods of time. She told In Touch: 'It is a make or break kind of thing because you're always together and we argue because there's no break, but we're getting through it. 'It's make or break': The blonde also admitted living with her beau has been challenging as the couple, who both lead busy schedules, are stuck in the house (pictured in February) 'I think you've just got to check each other's feelings and try to give each other as much space as you possibly can, like when I'm I want space, and when he's doing business, he wants space so we go into different rooms.' In the work department, Tara's manager Philippe Ashfield said the Sharknado actress could be cast as Carole Baskin in a Tiger King-inspired movie. The Netflix docu-series became a sensation this year, chronicling a feud between Carole and zookeeper Joe Exotic who was convicted of trying to take a hit out on her. 'We are in talks with the producers and she is being considered, that is all I can say at the moment as casting is on hold,' Philippe told New York Post. [May 21, 2020] Apollomics, Inc. Announces Initiation of SPARTA Phase 2 Clinical Trial for c-MET Inhibitor APL-101 - Trial will evaluate diverse MET dysregulations across broad tumor types - - Focus on non-small cell lung cancer with a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping, and tumors with amplifications and MET fusions, including glioblastoma multiforme - FOSTER CITY, Calif. and HANGZHOU, China, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollomics, Inc., an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of oncology mono- and combination therapies, today announced the initiation of the Phase 2 portion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for APL-101 based on completion of the Phase 1 and approval from the studys safety review committee to advance the trial. APL-101 is a novel, orally administered, highly selective Type 1b class of c-MET inhibitor, an enzyme which has been shown to function abnormally in many malignant tumors. The APL-101 Phase 1/2 clinical trial is an international multicenter, open-label study evaluating the safety, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary efficacy of APL-101. The Phase 2 portion of the study, titled SPARTA, will evaluate activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping, and across tumor types (pan-cancer) with MET amplification or fusions. Advancing APL-101 into our Phase 2 SPARTA trial is a major milestone for Apollomics as we strive to combat NSCLC MET exon 14 skipping and MET dysregulated tumors with precision, said Guo-Liang Yu, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The incidence of MET dysregulations presents a critical need to identify patients who can benefit most from a targeted treatment, like APL-101, in order to optimize patient care. Over the past several years, we have established numerous partnerships with leading biopharma companies, and we continue to progress our robust research and development pipeline globally. SPARTA will enroll patients into multiple cohorts. In NSCLC, the trial will evaluate both c-MET inhibitor naive and experienced patients with mutations that lead to MET exon 14 skipping. Two cohorts will enroll patients with solid tumors with MET amplifications and fusions, including glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The primary objective of SPARTA is to assess efficacy by overall response rate (ORR) and duration of response (DOR) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) or relevant evaluation criteria per tumor type. Secondary objectives include the incidence and severity of adverse events and additional efficacy measurements including time to progression, progression free survival, and overall survival. MET is dysregulated in several tumor types in additin to non-small cell lung cancer allowing for the possibility of broad applicability for a targeted treatment. Based on the tolerability data from the Phase 1 portion of SPARTA, and the emerging data observed in MET dysregulated NSCLC from a parallel ongoing Chinese Phase 1 trial, we are encouraged by the potential of APL-101. We look forward to further evaluation of APL-101 in the Phase 2 setting, added Mark Awad, M.D., Ph.D., SPARTA Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Phase 1 portion of the study was completed in April 2020. In the study, APL-101 was generally safe and well-tolerated with no reported dose limiting toxicities, and the recommended Phase 2 dose was determined to be 200 mg twice daily (BID). Apollomics expects to present the results of the Phase 1 portion of the study at an upcoming medical meeting. About c-MET Dysregulations Dysregulation of the c-MET tyrosine kinase receptor is implicated in the development of tumor malignancy and can arise through several mechanisms, including gene fusion and amplification, overexpression of the receptor and/or its ligand hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and the acquisition of activating mutations. One type of the activating mutations cause exon 14 to be skipped due to aberrant splicing of MET mRNA. MET exon 14 skipping occurs in approximately 3% of NSCLC and has been demonstrated to be an oncogenic driver, raising the possibility that tumors with these specific mutations will be largely sensitive to c-MET inhibitors. About Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Lung cancer is a disease in which malignant cancer cells form in the tissues of the lung. In 2017, there were an estimated 558,000 people living with lung and bronchus cancer in the United States, with new cases estimated to be over 228,000 in 2020. Lung cancer is also one of the more deadly cancers with a relative 5-year survival rate of around 20%. NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer with about 80% to 85% of lung cancers falling into this category. About APL-101 APL-101 is a novel small molecule kinase inhibitor that targets c-MET. It is a Type 1b class highly selective c-MET inhibitor. APL-101 has demonstrated strong tumor inhibitory effect in a variety of preclinical c-MET dysregulated human gastric, hepatic, pancreatic and lung cancer xenograft animal models and patient-derived xenograft models (PDX). In Phase 1 clinical trials, APL-101 (PLB1001) demonstrated a generally well-tolerated safety profile with preliminary evidence of clinical activity in NSCLC subjects harboring a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping and in secondary glioblastoma multiforme (sGBM) patients harboring MET fusion and/or exon 14 skipping with evidence of brain penetration. In China, APL-101 is referred to as PLB1001 where it is being developed by Apollomics' partner Beijing Pearl Biotechnology Co. Ltd. Details on the Phase 1/2 SPARTA clinical trial can be found on clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03175224 . Apollomics is actively assessing the potential of investigating APL-101 in combination with novel therapies and in a variety of tumor types in addition to developing APL-101 as single-agent cancer therapy. APL-101 is currently under clinical investigation and not approved for any use anywhere in the world. About Apollomics, Inc. Apollomics, Inc., incubated by OrbiMed Asia at inception, is an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of oncology mono- and combination- therapies that harness the immune system and target specific molecular pathways to eradicate cancer. The companys existing pipeline consists of several development-stage assets including novel, humanized monoclonal antibodies that restore the bodys immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells, and targeted therapies against uncontrolled growth signaling pathways. For more information, please visit www.apollomicsinc.com . Sources on file. Contact Information: Investor Contact: Wilson W. Cheung Chief Financial Officer Phone: (650) 209-4055 Email: [email protected] Media Contact: Remy Bernarda Corporate Communications Phone: (415) 203-6386 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] WASHINGTON General Dynamics has received $1 billion since the renegotiation of a $10 billion contract for Canada to sell light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia, company officials said on its first quarter earnings call. In a deal last month, Canada lifted its ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, which in turn agreed to a speedier payment schedule for the LAVs. Canada had the vehicles on hold since 2018, following the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; and by October, Saudi Arabia had racked up $1.5 billion in back payments to General Dynamics. Amid news on the April 29 call that the companys revenue fell $512 million in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, General Dynamics Chief Financial Officer Jason Aiken highlighted the formal signing of the restructured contract on the Canadian international program, which settled all issues to the satisfaction of the parties. With respect to our standing receivable you may recall that we received $500 million early in the first quarter and we received another $500 million this month. This will be very helpful to free cash flow in the second quarter, Aiken said. We will begin a regular cadence of scheduled payments in 2021 consistent with deliveries and making further progress in the scheduled amortization of the arrearage. General Dynamics is missing $1.5 billion due to a Canadian-Saudi spat The companys Combat Systems division had revenue of $1.7 billion, up 4.4 percent over the same quarter last year, and sales to the U.S. government were up 12 percent. The firms aerospace business segment also had revenue of $1.7 billion, but that represented a 23 percent fall from the same quarter last year. On April 9, Canadas foreign affairs minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, announced Ottawa was able to secure significant improvements to the LAV contract, including more latitude for the Canadian government to speak about it. Under the new terms, Canada could also delay or deny export permits without penalty if it learned Saudi Arabia was not using the vehicles for their stated purpose. Ottawa would also be reviewing permit applications on a case-by-case basis to ensure they meet Canadian law and the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty. Though the Trudeau government has been under political pressure to scrap the LAV deal over human rights concerns, Champagne said its cancellation would have resulted in billions of dollars in damages and risked thousands of Canadian jobs across the defense supply chain. The vehicles are made by the General Dynamics Land Systems subsidiary in London, Ontario. With its remarkable success in fighting the coronavirus and its democratic values, Taiwan is enjoying a groundswell of support in the United States whose leadership is eager to hold up the island as a model against China. Experts, however, doubt there will be a major impact for Taiwan -- and fear the robust US backing could even backfire if Beijing comes to view its complex relationship with the self-governing island through the lens of growing tensions with Washington. Some US officials sense a shift in Taiwan's long-polarized politics with the resounding re-election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who rejects Beijing's idea that the island belongs to "one China." "Her courage and vision in leading Taiwan's vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement ahead of her second inauguration on Wednesday. The sentiment is bipartisan, with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden writing a nearly identical message in a congratulatory tweet to Tsai: "Taiwan's thriving democracy and response to COVID-19 are an example to the world." A day earlier, Pompeo issued a fiery condemnation of the World Health Organization for not including Taiwan in its annual meeting, with President Donald Trump threatening to withdraw from the UN body for allegedly not responding quickly enough to COVID-19. Trump has relentlessly attacked the WHO and China, where the virus first emerged late last year, amid criticism of his own handling of the pandemic in the United States, whose death toll of nearly 92,000 is by far the world's highest. China considers Taiwan, where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled in 1949, to be a province awaiting reunification -- by force if necessary -- and has sought to exclude it from international organizations. - Renewed US-China flashpoint? - Taiwan, despite its proximity and commercial ties to China, has recorded just seven COVID-19 deaths after an early, aggressive approach that included mandatory quarantines for everyone entering the island. Abraham Denmark, the director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, doubted China was overly concerned with US statements at this point. China still succeeded in keeping Taiwan out of the World Health Assembly while mollifying criticism by accepting an eventual WHO probe into the pandemic's origins, he said. "The danger is if either Washington or Beijing begin to see Taiwan primarily through the lens of their burgeoning strategic competition," Denmark said. "If that happens, Beijing would be more likely to act aggressively against what it perceives to be efforts by Washington to use the Taiwan issue to split the PRC (People's Republic of China), undermine the Chinese Communist Party and contain China's rise," he said. The Trump administration has gone on the offensive against China on multiple fronts, from trade to defense to the race for fifth-generation internet. Despite hailing Taiwan, the Trump team maintains the four-decade US position of recognizing only Beijing -- although US law requires arms sales to Taiwan to ensure its defense. Denmark said the pandemic could mark a turning point with nations viewing a rising China more skeptically. "At the same time, the international community may grow more willing to engage Taiwan along similar lines of the unofficial US-Taiwan relationship as a result of Taipei's superb performance during the pandemic, despite poor treatment from Beijing," he said. - Broad US support - After years of assiduously courting US politicians, think tanks and journalists, Taiwan has achieved the increasingly rare feat of enjoying enthusiastic support across the political spectrum in Washington. Biden's Democratic Party is additionally drawn to the progressive principles of the Western-educated Tsai, one of Asia's most vocal champions of gay rights. Congress unanimously passed an act in March that makes it US policy to advocate for Taiwan's inclusion in international organizations. Ryan Hass, who was former president Barack Obama's top adviser on China and Taiwan, said the Trump administration weakened its leverage at the WHO by threatening to end all US funding. He said the "principled stand" on behalf of Taiwan at the WHO was consistent with longstanding US policy and unlikely to affect cross-strait relations. But the United States ultimately cannot deliver for Taiwan at international organizations unless China agrees, he said. "Beijing has in the past allowed for such arrangements and treated its posture on such questions as leverage to try to influence Taiwan's politics," said Hass, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that Taiwan always enjoyed broad support in Washington but that previous administrations worried about undermining the "precarious balance" between China, Taiwan and the United States. "The Trump administration is not concerned with historical precedent," she said. "Taiwan's exemplary performance in response to COVID-19 pandemic has only elevated its standing in the US government." Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images The US has declared its intention to leave the Open Skies Treaty, which is intended to reduce the risk of war by allowing Russia and western nations to conduct observation flights over each others territory. Washington informed the other 33 parties to the treaty of its intention to deliver a formal six-month notice of withdrawal on Friday, accusing Russia of violations. I think we have a very good relationship with Russia, but Russia didnt adhere to the treaty, and so until they adhere to the treaty, we will pull out, Donald Trump told reporters. He added: Theres a very good chance well make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together. In a written statement, the secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the US could reconsider its withdrawal during the six month notice period should Russia return to full compliance with the Treaty. Moscow denies being in violation of the agreement. By starting the six-month notice period now, the administration ensures that - even if Donald Trump loses the election in November the US will have left the treaty before a Biden administration takes office. The timing of the Trump administrations decision to withdraw is clearly tied to the political calendar, said Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By rushing this abrupt withdrawal, it is clear the Trump Administration is attempting to bind a future administration from participation in this longstanding and valuable treaty for our nation. Americas European allies are keen to keep the treaty going. They have benefited from the more than 1,500 overflights carried out under the OST, allowing them to observe Russian military movements, and see it as a remaining element of international cohesion and transparency. The writing has been on the wall for a long time, a European diplomat said, adding it was still disappointing. The OST is the third arms control agreement Trump has left. He took the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, and the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty in 2019. There are fears for the future of the last treaty limiting US and Russian strategic nuclear weapons, New Start, which is due to expire in February next year, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the US has signed (observing a voluntary moratorium on nuclear tests) but not ratified. Story continues It is unclear how Russia will respond to US withdrawal. They will now be able to fly over US bases in Europe but the US will no longer be allowed to overfly Russia. Under the 2020 defence spending act, the administration is supposed to explain to Congress how leaving OST serves US security interests and give assurances that Washington has consulted its partners, 120 days before serving formal notice of withdrawal. Reckless deal wrecking and the collapse of US leadership continues, Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the Arms Control Association said. The treaty benefits US and European security. Our allies value it and dont want us to leave. It has been an important tool for responding to Russias aggression against Ukraine. This is a propaganda coup for Moscow. The US has complained about curbs that Moscow has imposed on overflights that have violated the accord. Russia limited the flight time of observation flights over the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and set up an exclusion corridor along the border of the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Related: Europe must prepare for US exit from vital Russia treaty, former Nato generals warn Realize the Russians were cheating, Tim Morrison, who was briefly the top arms control official in the Trump White House, said on Twitter. They were misusing the treaty against the US as senior military and civilian leaders warned. Withdrawing denies Putin a collection tool this is not a win for him. Russias foreign ministry rejected allegations of infringements as groundless on Thursday and said Moscow had an alternate plan in the event of US withdrawal, but did not provide details. None of the other parties believed that the Russian infringements were enough to jeopardise the treaty. US partners were informed of the decision on Thursday with calls from the national security adviser, Robert OBrien, the defence secretary, Mark Esper and the Pentagons acting undersecretary for policy, James Anderson. This is insane, was the immediate tweeted reaction from Michael Hayden, a former CIA director. In a joint statement earlier this month, a group of 16 retired military commanders and defence ministers said: Throughout its operation, the treaty has increased military transparency and predictability, helped build trust and confidence, and enhanced mutual understanding. On Thursday, German foreign minister Heiko Maas called on the US to reconsider. I deeply regret the announcement, Maas said, adding that we will work with our partners to urge the US to consider its decision. He also said that Germany - along with France, Poland and Britain - had repeatedly explained to Washington that the difficulties on the Russian side in recent years did not justify pulling out. DEARBORN, MI Ford temporarily halted production at two assembly plants Tuesday and Wednesday after three workers tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus. One of the plants restarted after being sanitized only to stop again when they ran short of a part because the supplier had suspended operation due to a coronavirus case at its facility, the Associated Press reports. The stops and starts coming just days after Detroits Big Three restarted U.S. factories illustrate the difficulties auto manufacturers and other businesses face as they try to reopen amid the pandemic. Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler were shut down for about two months before manufacturing resumed on Monday, May 18. A worker at Fords Dearborn F-150 assembly plant tested positive for the novel virus on Wednesday, May 20, Ford said. Assembly lines stopped while work areas were cleaned. Employees who were in contact with the infected worker were sent home to quarantine for 14 days. Production restarted Wednesday night. On Tuesday, Ford halted production at its Chicago SUV plant twice after two workers tested positive for coronavirus. Equipment was sanitized while production was paused. Production of the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator resumed Wednesday morning to stop again when the plant ran out of seats made by Lear Corp. in Hammond, Indiana. The auto supplier had suspended production after an employee informed the company of a positive coronavirus test. Lear disinfected the factory and isolated affected workers. Ford again restarted production at the Chicago plant for Wednesday evenings shift. READ MORE: Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order U.S. fatal crash rate rose alarmingly in March, despite fewer cars on road during pandemic Thursday, May 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break A delegation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits on Thursday called on Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu to thank him and the central government over the new domicile rules paving way for non-registered community members living in various parts of the world to obtain domicile certificate. The Jammu and Kashmir administration had on Monday taken a decision to reopen fresh registration for Kashmiri migrants and displaced persons, thereby paving way for the inclusion of bonafide people who migrated from J&K and are not registered with the government, officials said. Any Kashmir Pandit, who may have left Kashmir in 1944 or before independence and is having any proof of owning or possessing immovable property in any part of Jammu and Kashmir on or after 1944, is entitled to be a domicile of J&K. Representatives of various organisations of Kashmiri Pandit community including Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Organizations and All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee called on the Lieutenant Governor at Raj Bhavan and expressed their gratitude towards the central government and J&K UT administration for the introduction of the new domicile law in J&K, an official spokesman said. The members of these delegations termed the new domicile law as historic. They also reiterated that the removal of Article 370 and Article 35A would take the UT to new heights of growth and development, the spokesman said. Terming the developments regarding the amendments in domicile law of J&K as a "red-letter day" for the entire Kashmiri Pandit community, the All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) has expressed its pleasure and complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, L-G Murmu and all those associated with back-channel engagements who made this happen. "It was a red-letter day in the real sense for the entire Kashmiri Pandit community as they now feel connected and their sentiments respected by the present central government led by Prime Minister Narendera Modi besides Amit Shah ji and Murmu ji," APMCC Chairmam Vinod Pandit told reporters here. "It is big step towards reaching out to the community and a confidence building measure," former chief secretary and leader of Jammu and Kashmiri Apni Party Vijay Bakaya said. "We came here to express our gratitude to the L-G and Government of India(GoI) over the biggest confidence building measure. It has given a morale boost to the community for reversal of exodus of the community," BJP spokesman for Kashmir, Rajiv Pandita said. Terming it as as a "healing touch", President of Martand Trust and PDP leader A K Sidda said the government has brought a smile on the faces of the community through this new domicile law. While interacting with members of the delegation, the L-G opined that the new domicile law will ensure equitable, balanced and inclusive development of Jammu and Kashmir and its people. A delegation of Kashmiri Pandit Welfare Organizations headed by Dr K N Pandita (a Padma Shri awardee) comprising ex-MLCs Surinder Ambardar and G L Raina; K K Khosa, President, Kashmiri Pandit Sabha Jammu and several social activists put forth various welfare issues of the Kashmiri Pandit community, including simplification of the voting process, speeding up selection process under the PM's package, transit accommodation for migrant employees, etc. On being apprised of the issue of giving protection to shrines, the Lieutenant Governor maintained that the government has already taken up the issue to ensure the safety and security of the shrines and devotees. Meanwhile, the delegation of APMCC led by its chairman Vinod Pandit comprising Vijay Bakaya, former chief secretary and ex-MLC and Kuldeep Khoda, former DGP presented a cheque of Rs 1.75 lakh to the L-G on the behalf of Zoondub WhatsApp group run by Vikas Raina as a contribution to PM CARES Fund towards efforts being undertaken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. L-G Murmu further assured members of the delegations that the central government and the UT administration is committed to addressing all the issues of J&K. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways is planning to lay off 1,200 employees as it considers permanently grounding its Airbus A380s and never operating the A350s it has ordered, company and industry sources said. The state-owned carrier is reviewing its fleet strategy after the coronavirus pandemic hit travel demand, which Etihad's management expects will take years to recover, two sources said. Etihad may retire its 10 A380s early with them potentially never returning to service after the virus outbreak grounded the airline's passenger flights in March, the sources said. Airlines around the world have been idling the double-decker plane because of the impact of the coronavirus crisis on air travel. On Wednesday, Air France said it was retiring its nine A380s and sources said Emirates was in talks to reduce remaining deliveries of the aircraft. Etihad is also considering whether to operate the A350-1000, the sources said. They said the airline was expected to make a decision on the fate of the two Airbus wide-bodies soon. Etihad did not respond to a request for comment. An Airbus spokesman told Reuters the European planemaker did not comment on customer fleet strategies but said it was in contact with all of its customers. Etihad cancelled orders for 42 A350 jets last year, leaving the airline with 20 A350-100s as part of a broad restructuring after as its global ambitions unravelled. The airline then later in 2019 delayed the entry into service of five A350-1000s and these do not currently feature on its fleet list on its website. Etihad's fleet consists of Airbus A320 and A380s, and Boeing 787 and 777 jets. Etihad has already abandoned ambitions to become a major international hub airline like rival Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways. It has focused instead on becoming a mid-sized carrier operating direct flights. Etihad is planning to lay off 1,200 employees in a current round of redundancies, the sources said, adding that further job cuts were possible. The airline, which had 20,530 employees as of August 2019, has already laid off hundreds of staff, saying there had been job cuts across several departments, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Our Springfield police officers have done a valiant job in the face of this COVID-19 pandemic. They risk their own and their families health every time they respond to a call. The precautions we have put in place have hopefully limited that to some extent. Weve had as many as 39 officers out in a single day due to COVID-19 positive tests or self-isolation due to potential contact. One officer was hospitalized and, at one point, was in critical condition, but has since been released. Weve had more than 15 officers who tested positive return to work, but we are not in the clear. One officer who was hospitalized for an injury tested positive and was showing no symptoms, so we know the virus is very much still around and contagious. We will continue to do our jobs and protect your neighborhoods, and we thank the vast majority of the community who are cooperating. We have only had to issue one warning for someone not wearing a mask, and that individual was arrested in the middle of April on firearms charges. This example shows that releasing incarcerated individuals, especially violent ones, back on the streets does not protect them or our community from COVID-19. If these individuals do not follow the law, what makes anyone think they will adhere to the governors public health emergency orders? We held our annual police memorial ceremony on May 13. It is a solemn event to honor the 17 Springfield police officers who died in the line of duty. It was bittersweet this year as to protect everyones health we asked the survivors and family members to watch the ceremony from home. For many of our new officers this was their first memorial ceremony and the significance of it will hopefully stay with these officers as they go out and protect the citizens of Springfield. We anticipate rolling out our first group of 12 officers with body-worn cameras in the next few weeks. Our equipment from Getac Video Solutions has arrived, and we have built out our report room to be able to dock the cameras as well. For the first five years, the entire system, including equipment, storage and renovations to our building, will cost around $2.5 million. Weve received a federal grant of more than $1 million to help offset some costs. Once the first group of officers works out the kinks associated with any new technology those officers will train the next group and so on. Deputy chief Rupert Daniel and Lt. Richard Randolph have been working on the training programs and finalizing the last few details of the policy. This has been a daunting task to make sure that its done correctly and will lead to added transparency and, I believe, enhanced trust of the Springfield Police Department. Our K9-Unit received a significant donation from the Piepul family, which will be used to purchase two bullet-stab resistant vests for the unit. The Piepuls, longtime Springfield residents and parents of their own German shepherd, made this generous donation because they are committed to animal welfare in our community. Once the City Council approves this donation, the vests will be fitted for K9 Cairo and K9 Chase. Thank you! Im happy to say that all our K9 officers are now carrying Naloxone, the opioid reversal drug, for our K9s. Vested Interest in K9s has provided nasal Naloxone for our K9s since 2018, and we recently received a new batch since the Naloxone expires every two years. Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog and the VCA Boston Road Animal Hospital have also donated injectable Naloxone to some of our K9s as well. Just like humans, if our K9s come in contact with fentanyl, heroin or other drugs they could experience overdose symptoms and our K9 officers are trained in how to revive them. We have issued an updated uniform policy for all our officers. I believe a professional, uniform appearance fosters teamwork and will reflect a positive image for the department. Deputy chief Daniel and officer Gizenia Rivera worked on this for a few months. The order has been issued, and we expect to begin enforcing it in July so that officers can have some time to make sure they adhere to this policy. Weve had uniform policies in the past, but officers have started freelancing a bit for different types of jobs. This policy spells out what you can wear and when you can wear it. Weve also added an American flag patch to our right shoulders with our Springfield Police Department patch remaining on our left shoulders. On April 30, 34 new Springfield police officers graduated from our academy, along with 10 officers from other area departments. Springfield Police Department Academy instructors taught the class which began in early December. The academy staff, under the direction of deputy chief William Cochrane and Lt. Thomas Zarelli, began expediting our instruction in the middle of March, which included longer hours and weekends to ensure our recruits completed their curriculum. We were one of only two academies across the commonwealth that was able to complete our curriculum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Im happy to say the precautions we put in place allowed our recruits to graduate healthy and receive all necessary certifications to begin their careers as police officers. The newly appointment officers are assigned to several different units, including squad, traffic-Metro, C-3/ordinance, youth aid and the detective bureau. Every three weeks they will rotate to another unit, culminating in September. Due to our officers currently using one-person cruisers, I felt this was the best way to integrate these officers into Police Department. They are training with some of the best officers and supervisors we have. Come the fall, these new officers will have a good grasp on all facets of what the job entails and should be ready to begin their new assignments as patrol officers. Cheryl Clapprood is police commissioner for the city of Springfield. Her column will appear monthly. Editors note: Information on the Springfield Police Departments community calendar is available on the departments website, springfield-ma.gov/police, and Facebook page, Facebook.com/Springfield PoliceDeptMA. With the influx of migrants breaching the two million mark already, the Uttar Pradesh government is procuring latest machines to jack up covid-19 testing capacity. The daily testing capacity, including pool testing, has now touched 7,000 samples, and the state is aiming to raise it to 10,000 in the days to come. The massive arrival of migrants over the past few days has increased the infection load of UP, especially after the Shramik Special trains started to ply from this month. So far, more than 1,000 trains have already brought back nearly 1.37 million labourers from other ... 21.05.2020 LISTEN A Senior Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba(Kumasi Campus), Dr.Yarhands Dissou Arthur, has called for the scrapping of the nation's Births and Deaths Registry should the Electoral Commission fail to accept birth certificates as evidence of citizenship in the forthcoming voter registration exercise. According to him, the decision by the Ghana's Elections management body(EC) to eliminate this primary document as proof of eligibility smacks of mischief calculated at disnefranchising many a Ghanaian. A move he described as unfathomable and must be fiercely residted by all. "This decision hatched by the EC is certainly illogical, unfortunate and must not be allowed to happen." Dr.Arthur stressed. He said, one of the cardinal functions for which the Births and Deaths Department has been established was to determine the true citizenship of individuals in the country. He was wondering why a passport procured through the birth certificate appears to become a supreme document for citizenship than the primary one(birth certificate) which majority of Ghanaians can produce without hustle. The Statistics Lecturer, has called on the government of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, to as a matter of principle, scrap the nation's Births and Deaths Registry due to this singular decision by the EC to render the department's certificates irrelevant. "Of what use is that Department if by the actions of Jean Mensa and her team one is not qualified to be a Ghanaian after acquring their certificate?" He questioned. On the constitutionality of the Electoral Commission, the astute University Lecturer, is of the view that the Madam Jean Mensa led institution appears to be abusing its mandate and legimacy all in the name of autonomy enjoyed from the 1992 Constitution. He has therefore, admonished the Electoral Commission to operate an open door policy; enaging all the relevant stakeholders in an atmosphere of camaraderie so as to provide a free, fair, transparent and credible polls come December 2020. The Electoral Commission has had to postpone indefinitely, plans to compile a new register for this year's national polls. The postponement has been ocassioned by the marauding effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which has plagued the entire world including Ghana. While many Ghanains including leading Civil Society Groups such as Imani Africa have warned the EC against a new register, it appears all these calls have fallen on deaf ears. Although a new date is yet to be announced, sources say the EC is only waiting on a new Constitutional Instrument from parliament before commencing the registration process against all odds. President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed for a broader reopening of the United States as coronavirus-related job losses mounted, while parts of Europe embraced post-lockdown life. With summer approaching on both sides of the Atlantic, more stores opened their doors and beaches welcomed tourists, despite the global number of virus cases passing five million. The crisis of course is far from over -- Russia and Latin America emerged as the next hotspots, even as Europe and the United States headed into the next phase, like Asia before them. But Trump, with an eye on his re-election prospects in November, made it clear he hoped more state governors would move toward a loosening of anti-virus restrictions. "We did the right thing but we now want to get going... you'll break the country if you don't," he told African-American leaders in Michigan, a key election battleground state. The Republican incumbent specifically talked about reopening places of worship -- something he had initially hoped would be done by Easter Sunday -- as important to the nation's healing. "People want to be in their churches," Trump said. "They're so important in terms of the psyche of our country." Trump has adopted the theme of "Transitioning Back to Greatness" as states reopen at different speeds. While daily death tolls are no longer on a steady incline, the losses are still mounting, with the total count in the US surpassing 94,000. Trump ordered that flags at federal buildings be flown at half-staff for three days for the victims. Another 2.43 million Americans were put out of work last week, the Labor Department said, bringing the total to 38.6 million since lockdowns were put in place, though the pace of job losses has slowed. - Return to normal - On the eve of Memorial Day weekend -- the unofficial start to the American summer -- beaches are slowly welcoming sun worshippers. "We were just tired of waiting to get a normal life again, to get our freedom back. So we rented this big house by the beach," said Anne Miller, an Ohio resident visiting South Carolina. The same was true in Europe, where Cyprus bounded into its second stage of opening up, lifting curfews and allowing outdoor restaurants, barber shops and beaches to open. But the Mediterranean island's airports and hotels remain closed. "I want my work back and my life back," said Sakis Siakopoulos, a restaurant owner in the capital Nicosia. In Denmark, the exit from lockdown also picked up pace as museums and zoos began reopening Thursday and health officials said the spread of the virus was slowing. France, one of the countries hit hardest by the outbreak, saw its daily death toll dip to 83 -- cause for optimism. A closely watched survey by IHS Markit indicated that the eurozone economy has now "likely bottomed out" as a result of the lockdowns, sparking hope that a recovery is to follow. - 'It doesn't stop' - The news was not positive everywhere. The number of known cases of COVID-19 has doubled in just one month, according to AFP data collected from official sources, with the death toll nearing 330,000 worldwide. While many European countries have significantly curbed the contagion, Latin America is becoming a new hotspot with cases on the rise. Brazil -- now home to the third-highest number of cases in the world after the US and Russia -- has now recorded more than 20,000 deaths, and hit a new record 24-hour toll of 1,188. Grave diggers at the region's biggest cemetery, located outside Sao Paulo, are scrambling to keep up. "We've been working 12-hour days, burying them one after the other. It doesn't stop," said one worker at Vila Formosa, wearing a white protective suit, mask and face shield. Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections. "It's like a horror film," Miguel Armas, a nurse at the Hipolito Unanue hospital in the Peruvian capital, told AFP. - War of words - Trump has kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism against China, where the outbreak erupted last year, blaming its "incompetence" for the extent of the global crisis. The government of Chinese leader Xi Jinping rejects that criticism, and insists it has been forthright with the world about the origins and unfolding of the crisis. "It is neither responsible nor moral to cover up one's own problems by blaming others," said the spokesman for China's legislature, Zhang Yesui. China has made "major strategic achievements" in its response to the coronavirus outbreak, Premier Li Keqiang said as he addressed his nation on Friday about the virus, the economy and other hot-button topics at the start of a new legislative session. Virus cases in the Asian giant are now down to a trickle, and Beijing insists its efforts to curb the spread of the virus have been a success, but questions remain about whether it underreported the number of people affected by the contagion. - Second surge - Governments around the world are testing ways to live with the dangers despite fears of a second wave of infections. Already a common sight in Spain, masks were officially made mandatory Thursday for anyone over the age of six in public places where social distancing is not possible. "The more tools we use, the better," said Miguel Domingo, a 49-year-old architect taking his two dogs for a walk in Madrid, which is emerging from one of the toughest lockdowns. But the director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Andrea Ammon, warned it was not a question of if there will be a second wave but "when and how big." "I don't want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic," she told Britain's Guardian newspaper. burs-sst/acb Sensex, Nifty Updates: Domestic equity indices Senex and Nifty erased early gains, although closed higher on Thursday, the expiry day for F&O, amid mixed trend in global equities. Where Sensex ended 114 points higher at 30,932, Nifty closed 39 points higher at 9,106. Overseas, Nikkei was trading lower by 0.07%, Hang Seng is trading lower by 0.32%. European indices reversed trend and fell in red today, with more concerns of second wave of coronavirus infections rising in many countries. On Wednesday, Sensex ended 622 points higher at 30,818 and Nifty ended 187 points higher at 9,066. Companies set to announce their earnings are Hindustan Zinc, Birla Corporation, Bajaj Holdings, Bajaj Finance, Hawkin Cookers, Aptech, Colgate-Palmolive, Tata Metaliks, VST Industries, Quick Heal, Jubilant Industries among others. Here's a look at the updates of the market action on BSE and NSE today 3.50 PM: Closing Bell Domestic equity indices Senex and Nifty erased early gains, although closed higher on Thursday, the expiry day for F&O, amid mixed trend in global equities. Where Sensex ended 114 points higher at 30,932, Nifty closed 39 points higher at 9,106. 3. 30 PM: Dr. Reddy share price falls 2% Dr. Reddy share price fell 2% today after the company reported its March quarterly results. The company reported net profit of Rs 764 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 343 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Net Interest Income rose 10% (YoY) to Rs 4432 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 4,2563 crore in a year ago period. 3.13 PM: Market erases trend Domestic equity indices Senex and Nifty erased early gains on Thursday, the expiry day for F&O, amid weakness in global equities. Where Sensex rose 106 points higher at 30,925, Nifty traded 31 points higher at 9,098. 2. 58PM: Global cues turn negative Overseas, Nikkei was trading lower by 0.07%, Hang Seng is trading lower by 0.32%. European indices reversed trend and fell in red today, with more concerns of second wave of coronavirus infections rising in many countries. Meanwhile, US markets ended higher yesterday as gains in technology stocks, optimism about economic recovery and expectations of further stimulus measures by Fed Reserve kept setiments buoyed. 2. 47 PM: Nifty Technical outlook As per Standard Chartered report, Nifty50 technical supports are placed at 8960 and 8745 while resistances are at 9140 and 9230 levels 2.35 PM: Natco Phara share price gains 3.8% Natco Pharma share price touched an intraday low of Rs 580.3, falling 3.81% on BSE after the company announced successful closure of inspection and receipt of an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the USFDA for its drug formulations manufacturing facility at Visakhapatnam (Vizag) Andhra Pradesh. 2. 20 PM:Jubilant Foodworks share price gains 6% Jubilant Foodswork share price opened with a gain of 3.06% and later rose 5.93% to an intraday high of Rs 1614.8, after the company reported its quarterly result. The company reported a 71% fall in its net profit at Rs 21 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2020, as against profit of Rs 73.9 crore, recorded in a year-ago period. Total income gained 3.8% (YoY) to Rs 898 crore in the January-March quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 865 crore in the same period last financial year. 2.00 PM: Global cues Asian markets are trading mostly higher tracking overnight gains in global markets and crude price as hopes climb on economic recovery. U.S. markets closed higher as retailers Target and Lowe's post better results. However, sentiments were flattened as a bill to delist Chinese shares was passed in Senate. European markets closed higher as investors remained focused on earnings and measures taken globally to re-open economies. EU zone inflation was revised down to 0.3%. 1.45 PM: Top gainers and losers today Bajaj Auto, followed by Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints and Maruti were among the major gainers in SEnsex pack. NTPC, ONGC, ITC and Tech Mahindra were among the top laggards. 1.30 PM: Gold prices fall today Gold price were falling today after rising for the past week as countries announced more economic measures and uncertainty over corona vaccine persisted but upside was capped as equities gained. On MCX, gold prices were trading by Rs 337 at 46,800 after rising to the day's high of 47,05. 1.15 PM: RIL shares gain today Reliance Industries share price gained marginally higher to the intrady high of Rs 1,460 after is in active talks with KKR and Co to raise between $750 million to $1 billion. The deal with the American global investment firm is expected to reach completion in the coming weeks, as per report by Economic Times. Reliance Jio in talks with KKR to raise up to $1billion: Report 12.56 PM: Cipla share price gains in early trade Cipla share price gained in early trade after the company receives final approval for generic version of Migranal (Dihydroergotamine Mesylate Nasal Spray 4mg/mL) with a competitive generic therapy designation. Cipla shares rose to the intrady high of Rs 622 as against the last closing value of Rs 626 12.45PM: Airline stocks gain momentum Aviation sector stocks such as SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation rose up to 10% after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that domestic flights will resume from May 25 "in a calibrated manner". Share price of country's leading airline InterGlobe Aviation gained up to 9.88% to Rs 1,002 compared to the previous close of Rs 911.90 on BSE. InterGlobe Aviation share with a gain of 9.88% on BSE. Total 1.89 lakh shares of InterGlobe Aviation changed hands amounting to turnover of Rs 18.31 crore. SpiceJet, InterGlobe Aviation shares rise up to 10% as domestic operations to resume from May 25 12.30 PM: Oil price gains today Globally, markets were rising today, on bak of rise in oil prices, with more economies announcinf re-opening from lockdown restrictions. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, gained 1.40% to $36.25 per barrel. 12.00 PM: Nifty outlook today Expresssing views over Nifty's near term outllok, Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking said," Going ahead, we expect the Nifty to continue this upward trajectory towards 9150-9220 levels. On the flipside, 9000-8932 would now provide a decent support for the market. share price". 11. 30 AM: Rupee rises today Indian Rupee, the local unit appreciated 13 paise to 75.67 against the dollar today, tracking positive opening of domestic equity market, This was in comparison to its earlier closing of 75.80 against the US dollar. Rupee vs Dollar: Rupee rises 13 paise to 75.67 per dollar amid positive opening in equity market 10.53 AM: IRCTC share price locks 5% upper circuit IRCTC stock price jumped 5% with the opening bell today after the government announced that 200 trains will restart functioning. IRCTC share price jumped 5% intraday to the high of 1400.70 at opening session as against the last closing value of Rs 1334 on BSE. 10.40 AM: Market gains momentum Sensex and Nifty traded higher on Thursday, the expiry day for F&O, backed by buying pressure in banking, financials and pharma stocks. Where Sensex rose 250 points higher at 31,070, Nifty traded 67 points higher at 9,133. 10.30 AM: Nifty outlook As per Reliance Smartmoney Reserch, due to consecutive rise in the index, its major technical indicators turned mix. In case the index manages to surpass its short-term moving average (placed around 9,150 mark), undergoing positive momentum will continue. This could lead the index towards 9,500 and then 9,600 levels. On the lower side, 8,800 mark will continue to work as key reversal point. The report further said that for the day, support is placed at around 8,920 and then at 8,800 levels, while resistance is observed at 9,150 and then at 9,355 levels. 10.15 AM: Global cues Asian stocks edged higher, barring SGX Nifty and Nikkei. Meanwhile, US stocks closed higher as signs of additional economic stimulus raised hopes of a swift recovery from a coronavirus-driven slump. However, futures in the US and Europe retreated, halting this week's rally for global equities. US Futures (Dow Jones) traded at 24363, down 156 points or 0.64%. 10.09 AM: WHO concerns over rising cases in poor nations On Wednesday World Health Organization expressed concern for the rising number of new coronavirus cases in poor countries, when many rich nations are emeging from lockdown. 9.52 AM: Market gains momentum Where Sensex rose 185 points higher at 30,975 and Nifty traded 50 points higher at 9,125. Traders said investors were buoyant over ease in lockdown restrictions and restart of domestic flights and railways. 9. 46 AM: Coronavirus toll Although experts said, investor sentiments kept trades cautious amid concerns over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the economic fallout of the nationwide lockdown. In India, coronavirus cases continued to rise to the highest single day spike, despite a lockdown. The total number of cases in the country has reached 112,359, with 45,422 recoveries and 3,435 deaths. Worldwide, there are 5.08 lakh confirmed cases and 3.29 lakh deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of today. 9.31 AM: Latest result date announcements Zenotech Laboratories: May 23, 2020 Coromandel International: May 26, 2020 Sagarsoft: May 27, 2020 3M India: May 29, 2020 Ultramarine & Pigments: June 1, 2020 9. 25 AM: Global cues Markets globally traded on a higher note today, barring SGX Nifty and Nikkei, as investors sentiments were buoyed with many economies re-opening, although kept cautious stance over the fears of second wave of coronavirus. 9.20 AM: Opening Bell Tracking the global bullish rally, domestic equity indices Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Thursday. Traders said investors were buoyant over ease in lockdown restrictions and restart of domestic flights and railways. Where Sensex opened 98 points higher at 30,917, Nifty started the day at 42 points higher at 9,108. 9. 13 AM: Stocks to watch today on May 21 Dr Reddy, JSW Energy, Natco Pharma, Colgate, Bajaj Finance, Jubilant Industries among others are the top stocks to watch out for in Thursday's trading session Stocks in news: Dr Reddy, JSW Energy, Natco Pharma, Colgate, Bajaj Finance, Jubilant Industries and more 9.00 AM: Pre open session Extending gains for the third consecutive session, domestic indices opened higher at pre open session today. Sensex rose 85 points higher at 30,904 and Nifty traded 26 points higher at 9,092. 8.50 AM: Earnings today Companies set to announce their earnings are Hindustan Zinc, Birla Corporation, Bajaj Holdings, Bajaj Finance, Hawkin Cookers, Aptech, Colgate-Palmolive, Tata Metaliks, VST Industries, Quick Heal, Jubilant Industries among others. 8. 40 AM: SGX Nifty SGX Nifty on the Singaporean Exchange, was trading muted today, falling 20 points lower at 9,063. 8.30 AM: Rupee closing Rupee the local unit ended lower at 75.79 per US dollar as against its earlier closing of 75.63 per US currency. 8. 10 AM: Closing session Domestic equity indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Wednesday, amid mixed cues from overseas, backed by buying pressure in banking, financials and pharma stocks. Extending gains for the second consecutive session, Sensex ended 622 points higher at 30,818 and Nifty ended 187 points higher at 9,066. Sensex ends 622 points higher, Nifty at 9,066; banking, financials lead gains As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the world rapidly, the race to find a vaccine has also been fast-tracked. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, with governments, drugmakers and researchers working on around 100 vaccine programmes. Experts predict a safe and effective vaccine could take 12 to 18 months to develop. Many companies, in India as well as across the world, have made headway in vaccine development. One such company, Bengaluru-based Strides Pharma Science Ltd said on Thursday that it has got regulatory approval to conduct clinical trials of antiviral drug favipiravir, considered a potential treatment for Covid-19. Strides announcement comes after Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd said last month it became the first pharmaceutical company in the country to get the nod to conduct favipiravir trials. The Mumbai-based company has initiated late-stage clinical trials and expects study results by July or August. Favipiravir is manufactured under the brand name Avigan by a unit of Japans Fujifilm Holdings Corp and was approved for use as an anti-flu drug in the country in 2014. Translate Bio Inc, a 100-person company based outside Boston, has joined forces with Sanofi to develop a vaccine for Covid-19. However, on Wednesday, Japans Kyodo News reported that so far there has been no clear evidence of efficacy for Avigan in treating Covid-19 in some clinical trials. US President Donald Trump had disclosed on Tuesday that he was taking hydroxychloroquine despite medical warnings about potential serious side effects and questions about its effectiveness in preventing the coronavirus. Hydroxychloroquine sulfate was first synthesised in 1946 and is in a class of medications historically used to treat and prevent malaria. It is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, childhood arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. The drug is not FDA-approved for the treatment of Covid-19 but it has been identified as a possible treatment for the infection and the US government has requested its immediate availability. For treatment, patients have been getting antibody-rich plasma donated by people who recovered from Covid-19, and drugmakers are at work producing refined and concentrated versions of that serum. Menwhile, the doctors in China are seeing the virus manifest differently in its new cluster of cases, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing and complicating efforts to stamp it out. However, a leading researcher on cancer, HIV/AIDS and human genome projects said that governments should not count on a successful vaccine against Covid-19 being developed anytime soon. William Haseltine cautioned that vaccines developed for other types of coronavirus had failed to protect mucous membranes in the nose where the virus typically enters the body. Tests on animals of experimental Covid-19 vaccines had been able to reduce the viral load in organs like lungs although the infections remained, he said. However, Haseltine said the virus can still be controlled by careful tracing of infections and strict isolation measures, and urged people to wear masks, wash hands, clean surfaces and keep a distance. Salem, Oregon Republican voters in Oregon's vast 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday elected a former state senator to be their candidate to replace Rep. Greg Walden, who didn't run for a 12th term in the conservative region covering the rural eastern and central part of the state. Cliff Bentz bested former state legislators Jason Atkinson and Knute Buehler. Buehler also ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018 as the GOP nominee. Bentz will have the advantage in the November election in the predominantly Republican part of the state. His opponent is unclear, with a victor not yet declared on the Democratic side. The 2nd is the only Oregon U.S. House District represented by a Republican. Oregon's four Democratic U.S. House members all won their primaries. The mail-in primary was complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, as election workers kept social distancing in county offices while staffing levels were down. Election workers received instructions on handling ballots along with protective equipment from the Oregon National Guard and others. Former Vice President Joe Biden won Oregon's Democratic presidential primary, outpacing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who both suspended their campaigns earlier in the year. President Donald Trump, who was unopposed, won the Oregon GOP presidential contest. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. In the Republican Senate primary, Jo Rae Perkins won. Perkins will face Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley. Two Democratic state senators were virtually tied in their bid to be their party's candidate for secretary of state, the second-highest state office in Oregon. Sens. Shemia Fagan and Mark Hass were ahead of Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who ran unsuccessfully against Walden in 2018 as the Democratic candidate. State Sen. Kim Thatcher appeared headed to an easy win to be the GOP candidate for secretary of state. One local race is garnering national attention. Voters in metropolitan Portland appeared to be approving taxes on personal income and business profits that would raise $2.5 billion over a decade to fight homelessness. The ballot measure was planned before the pandemic reduced the U.S. economy to tatters. How voters in the liberal city react amid the pandemic will be instructive for other West Coast cities struggling to address burgeoning homeless populations as other sources of revenue dry up. Cambodia on Thursday detected its first new coronavirus case in almost six weeks, the Ministry of Health said. Test results for a 26-year-old Cambodian man from Kampot Provinces Kampong Trach commune came back positive on Thursday after his sample was taken upon his arrival late Wednesday, according to a Health Ministry statement. The man flew from the Philippines to South Korea and then to Cambodia, when he arrived on Wednesday at around 10 pm, according to the statement. Just this weekend, the government had announced that all 122 COVID-19 patients had officially recovered. The last case was detected on April 12. The man was traveling with 62 other passengers, more than half of them are Cambodians. Onboard, were also 23 South Koreans, as well as Japanese, Belgian, Taiwanese, and Dutch travelers. The patient is now being treated at state-run Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, the statement said. The other 62 passengers are quarantined for 14 days at a hotel in Phnom Penh, the statement read. The Health Ministry said all the passengers had been tested for COVID-19, and only one came back positive. Or Vandine, Ministry of Health spokeswoman, said the passengers did not have health certificates that proved they were COVID-19-free. They departed ahead of the announcement of the health certificate requirement, she said in a message. On March 27, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notice that made it mandatory for all foreigners arriving in Cambodia to have such a health certificate, issued within 72 hours by recognized health authorities. Only holders of type-A and type-B visas were exempt from this requirement, which are reserved for diplomats and international organization staffers. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health extended this requirement to all people who arrived in Cambodia. Vandine said the passengers might not have known about the requirement. We announced [the requirement], but some Cambodians who are stuck overseas dont have the means to get information, or they dont have enough information. Maybe they dont know, she said. It is normal that we implement tough measures, but our Cambodians overseas dont have that information. Vandine did not respond to questions about whether foreigners traveling on the plane carried the required health certificate. Cambodia on Wednesday lifted its ban on travel from the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Iran. This came nearly two months after the government first imposed the restrictions. Travelers from those countries can now enter the kingdom again, but all arrivals irrespective of their citizenship or their country of departure will have to take tests and wait for results at a designated facility at the airport. If the tests come back negative, they will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days. If they come back positive, they will have to quarantine for 14 days at a government-designated facility. In addition to providing a COVID-19-free health certificate, foreigners are also required to have health insurance that covers costs of at least $50,000. Randy Edwards, Photojournalist / Beaumont Enterprise Christus Southeast Texas Health System is preparing to allow visitors into its facilities starting on Thursday. Patients will be allowed one visitor, per patient, per day to accompany them while in a Christus facility for proceedures ranging from surgery, lab work, imaging, emergency visits or other health care needs. Torrential downpours have pounded the Mid-Atlantic, with more than 7 inches of rain falling in one day on parts of North Carolina and Virginia, putting residents at risk of flash floods and dam failure. More than 13 million people were under flash-flood watches Thursday, with rivers in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan and Illinois at flood stage. In Roanoke, Virginia, 13 homes were evacuated Thursday morning as heavy rains threatened the Spring Valley Dam, according to tweets from the city. Here's a look at total rainfall over the last 48 hours: pic.twitter.com/0VHMS6lGGX NWS Blacksburg (@NWSBlacksburg) May 21, 2020 At least three vehicles got stuck in floodwaters overnight, according to the Roanoke Fire-EMS, which said all occupants were rescued. "Please be reminded that barricades are in place for a reason. They are there for yours and our protection," the department said. The Roanoke River at Roanoke is expected to rise to 16.5 feet, above major flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. On Thursday at 9 a.m., it had risen above 15 feet. Image: Roanoke (NBC News) The weather service reported minor flooding or the potential for flooding along the Haw, Cape Fear, Deep, and Yadkin Rivers in central North Carolina. Rain there and in neighboring states, including in South Carolina, could fall at the rate of 2 to 3 inches an hour throughout Thursday. Meanwhile, in central Michigan, where 11,000 people were told to evacuate due to flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Tittabawassee River crested Wednesday afternoon at a historic 35.05 feet, more than 10 feet above flood level and above a previous record set in 1986. A few beautiful yet haunting photos of current conditions tonight in the @DtMidlandMI area. We are grateful for the support of the entire state, nation, and especially our wonderful community through this difficult ordeal. #mymidland #MidlandDam#MIDLANDmi : Ben Tierney pic.twitter.com/PGGxcJTpH8 City of Midland, MI (@CityofMidlandMI) May 21, 2020 That level was under the predicted 38 feet and came three hours earlier than predicted on Wednesday, but destruction in Midland County caused by the failures of the Edenville and Sanford dams was "devastating" before the river crested, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. No injuries due to the floods were reported. Story continues Late Wednesday, the governor requested a federal disaster declaration. President Donald Trump is expected to visit a Ford Plant manufacturing ventilators in the state on Thursday, as he and Whitmer spar over coronavirus responses, including federal funding for mail-in ballot voting and his encouragement of protests aimed governors' stay-at-home orders. Both the Edenville and Sanford dams, which are privately owned, were rated high hazards in 2018, according to the National Inventory of Dam, and in 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license of the company that operated the Edenville Dam. Related: A Dow Chemical plant and two EPA Superfund sites could be overwhelmed by floodwaters after two dams on the Tittabawassee River were breached. Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Wednesday that they would look at what legal action might be available to help residents whose property wasdamaged by the floods. The initial readout is that this was a known problem for a while, and thats why its important that we do our due diligence and then we take our action thats merited," Whitmer said. The Edenville Dam has been under investigation. "What I know is that where there is culpability, we will pursue ... holding people accountable," Whitmer said Thursday. The water level in central Michigan is going down, but forecast to remain above flood stage until Sunday. Last year was the wettest year on record for Michigan, and the entire Great Lakes region has seen a 42 percent increase in heavy precipitation events over the past 58 years. Advertisement An NGO, the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation has donated 100 sets of hospital beds worth N48.5 million to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria to equip the hospitals COVID-19 Treatment Centre. Presenting the items to the management of ABUTH, Zaria, Kaduna State, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NGO, Sir Emeka Offor said the gesture was meant to support the hospital to have a standard and befitting Coronavirus Treatment Centre. Offor, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Rtd. AIG Chris Ezike, said the foundation will also foot the bill for transporting and installing the beds. He recalled that the foundation which was founded in 1990 and incorporated in 2003 was rendering assistance to people in need not only in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa. Advertisement Offor said: We stand on a tripod, we do health and human services, we do education and educational development and we also do empowerment. As a matter of fact, in the last nine years, we have distributed books to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and secondary schools in Nigeria and 18 other African countries valued at 30 million US dollars. Ahmadu Bello University has been a beneficiary of our books distribution. This year, 2020, we decided to incorporate distribution of health, medical supplies and medical equipment. And we started with 14 containers, each container is valued N150 million and several health institutions in Nigeria have benefited. The Chief Executive Officer explained that: Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) approached the foundation with respect to COVID-19 assistance, we felt we should come in and assist. He said the beds were supposed to be imported from the United States of America, but the suppliers quickly responded that: we may not be able to receive the beds until 2021 because, the orders they have all over the world, they may not be able to meet up. So, we became ingenious, searched and discovered that Kaduna Furniture Company can manufacture the beds, we now entered into contract with them. No body knows when COVID-19 is going away, what we are doing is to be proactive, we facilitating the procurement and shipment of drugs and supplies to about 16 designated hospitals in Nigeria and ABUTH is one of them. Four containers have left as at this morning and we are hoping that using the fastest shipping line, in 28 days, we should be talking about clearing. He appreciated the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal of Ministry of Finance, NAFDAC, Customs, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for fast-tracking the processes to be able to ensure collectively COVID-19 was mitigated. The Vice-Chancellor, ABU, Prof. Kabir Bala appreciated the kind gesture of Emeka Effor Foundation for finding ABUTH worthy of the donation. Prof. Hamidu Umdagas, Chief Medical Director (CMD), ABUTH said that in spite of the fact that the hospital had no centre for COVID-19 yet, they treat patients suffering from the disease. He said the hospital had successfully treated and discharged six out of the eight COVID-19 patients from the hospital. Also contributing, the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Alhaji Shuaibu Mahmud lauded the collaboration between ABUTH and Kaduna State on the fight against coronavirus. The collaborative collection between style icon, Vergara and FGX International's marquis brand, Foster Grant, features 24 styles available in a variety of fashionable colors spanning the reading glasses, sunglasses, and SunReaders categories. Styles were personally curated by Vergara, available beginning today for $31-$41 exclusively on https://www.FosterGrant.com, https://www.Readers.com and www.Walmart.com. This collection of eyewear is made accessible to the public at a time where consumers are perhaps experiencing a greater need for affordable eyewear solutions. In this new normal where more people are working from home, spending time reading and participating in safe activities, this collection from Foster Grant provides solutions for today's needs, at a great price. "I have loved creating my eyewear collection with Foster Grant. Not only does the brand have such a rich heritage and solid commitment to giving back to those in need, but they were fun to work with while bringing my ideas to life," said Vergara. "I wear readers myself, and now that I am home reading so much more, I know how important they are to so many of us. I also know a woman wants to feel good when wearing them, wherever she is. I wanted to offer fashionable, chic, fresh eyewear styles, allowing women to not just to see, but to see beautifully." Both Vergara and Foster Grant are incredibly proud to announce Specs for Specs, a new charity initiative where Foster Grant will donate one pair of reading glasses to RestoringVision for every pair of Sofia Vergara x Foster Grant eyewear sold. Vergara's collection of Foster Grant eyewear will support the world's largest disability, uncorrected vision impairment. One-third of the global population, 2.7 billion people, live with uncorrected vision. About one billion people need only reading glasses to correct their vision, yet of those, more than 500 million live in impoverished communities with limited access to reading glasses. Since 2008, FGX has donated more than 11 million pairs of eyewear to RestoringVision to help eradicate poor vision around the world. "Teaming up with Sofia Vergara will allow us to shine a new, bright light on a significant global health issue, only exasperated through these current challenging times that as a company, we're committed to solving," said Lisa Lord, Vice President of Licensing, FGX. "Sofia's collection of Foster Grant eyewear gives our customers a stylish assortment of eyewear at such accessible prices, with the added bonus of knowing you're giving back with every pair purchased. We're thrilled and thankful to partner with Sofia on this incredible endeavor, and hope her collection inspires fun and fashion, as well as very real solutions for global needs right now." Vergara collaborated with Foster Grant's Creative Director and Senior Vice President of Product Development, Matthew Coon, bringing to life sophisticated, statement-making styles at a remarkably competitive $31-$41 per pair. The reading glasses styles feature a range of magnifications for both traditional readers, and Multi Focus Blue reading glasses that afford wearers advanced lenses with three strengths in each pair plus a blue light coating. The SunReaders styles come in both a full magnification lens as well as a hidden bifocal style that allows for outdoor reading in style. All sunglasses and SunReaders styles have 100% UVA-UVB lens protection. About FGX International FGX International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Essilor International. FGX International is a leading designer and marketer of sunglasses, optical frames and non-prescription reading glasses with a portfolio of established, highly recognized eyewear brands including Foster Grant, Ryders, Magnivision, Gargoyles, Corinne McCormack, Solar Shield and Readers.com. FGX International also holds licenses for brands such as Ironman, Disney, Steve Madden, French Connection, Frye, Reebok, Dockers, Nine West, and Panama Jack. Based in Smithfield, Rhode Island in the United States, FGX International has additional offices located in New York City, Toronto, Canada; Vancouver, Canada; Milan, Italy; Stoke-on-Trent, England; Chessington, England; Mexico City, Mexico and Shenzhen, China. For more information about FGX International, please visit www.fgxi.com. About Sofia Vergara Sofia Vergara is an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominated actress who is best known for playing 'Gloria Pritchett-Delgado' in the five-time Emmy Award-winning comedy, "Modern Family". She recently joined the hit summer reality series, "America's Got Talent" as a new judge. Along with the recognition she has earned for her acting career, Vergara is also a successful entrepreneur who has cultivated a strong lifestyle brand. Her worldwide appeal has allowed her to successfully grow her consumer base across all demographics, with a diverse portfolio of products ranging from fragrance to furniture to hair care and a denim collection, Sofia Jeans, at Walmart.com and in select Walmart stores. She is the global ambassador for Head & Shoulders, the number one shampoo brand in the world, and has designed her own contemporary furniture collection for Rooms To Go. Her fragrances, "Sofia by Sofia Vergara," "Love", "Tempting", "Tempting Paradise" and "Lost in Paradise." Vergara continues her commitment to supporting microfinance initiatives by partnering with Kiva, the world's first personal micro-lending website, to raise $50M in Global COVID-19 Response fund. This fund focuses on providing direct and efficient funds to marginalized populations across the world, including minorities, women and those in isolated areas impacted by COVID-19. About Restoring Vision RestoringVision is the world's largest nonprofit provider of reading glasses to people in need living in impoverished communities around the world. Since 2003, RestoringVision has empowered the lives of over 16 million people in more than 130 countries, and it continues to impact millions of lives each year. To learn more and contribute, please visit www.RestoringVision.org. For more information please contact: Cait Arsenault Baker, Duffy & Shanley [email protected] SOURCE Foster Grant Related Links http://www.fgxi.com A new Tel Aviv University-led study published on May 20 in Nature offers new evidence that the complexity of contemporary analytical methods in science contributes to the variability of research outcomes. Previous studies in the fields of psychology, cancer biology and behavioral economics revealed many failures in the attempt to reproduce methodologies and mirror results. The TAU researchers used an approach known as "Many Analysts," in which many researchers analyzed the same dataset to test variability in the analysis outcomes, explains study co-lead author Dr. Tom Schonberg of the Department of Neurobiology at TAU's George S. Wie Faculty of Life Sciences and TAU's Sagol School of Neuroscience. The variability in outcomes demonstrated in this study is an inherent part of the complex process of obtaining scientific results, and we must understand it in order to know how to tackle it. Science is conducted by humans, and there is no way to escape variability. But we must acknowledge this in order to self-correct and attain the most reliable answers." Dr. Tom Schonberg, study co-lead author, Department of Neurobiology at TAU's George S. Wie Faculty of Life Sciences and TAU's Sagol School of Neuroscience The Neuroimaging Analysis, Replication and Prediction Study (NARPS) was also led by Dr. Schonberg's former PhD student Dr. Rotem Botvinik-Nezer, today a post-doctoral researcher at Dartmouth College, together with co-investigators Prof. Russel Poldrack of Stanford University and Prof. Thomas Nichols of Oxford University. Overall, 180 researchers from 70 teams of scientists around the world analyzed the same brain imaging dataset of 108 subjects. These subjects participated in a task that tested their decision-making regarding gambles of potential gains and losses. Each group chose a distinct analysis method, and the different methods led to different conclusions. "Science is being often criticized," adds Dr. Schonberg. "But it is not a belief like a religion, as some have argued. It has rules and a method -- the scientific method. We are constantly trying to improve this method in a process of constant self-questioning. We believe our study takes this process forward." The research teams were presented with the same data -- fMRI scans of subjects performing a value-based decision-making task -- and told to test the same nine different set hypotheses. The large neuroimaging dataset had been collected over the course of a year at the Alfredo Federico Strauss Center for Computational Neuroimaging at TAU by Roni Iwanir, a former Sagol School MSc student from Schonberg's lab. While the study participants engaged in the monetary decision-making task, fMRI scans were used to test whether the activity of specific brain regions involved in value processing changed in relation to the amount of money won or lost on a gamble. Some 70 international teams independently analyzed these datasets over the course of three months. "The processing you have to go through from raw data to a result with fMRI is really complicated," adds Prof. Poldrack. "There are a lot of choices you have to make at each place in the analysis workflow." Each team of researchers arrived at their own final conclusions regarding the data, with results varying significantly across the teams in five out of nine hypotheses. "Our new study demonstrated high analytical flexibility as occurs 'in the wild'," says Dr. Schonberg. "The participating researchers modeled the hypotheses differently and used different software for the analysis. They also used different techniques and definitions in different aspects of the analysis." Another part of the study involved experts from the field as well as researchers from the analysis teams trading with other researchers in what are called "prediction markets" on what they thought would be the outcomes of the research. This part of the study was run by economists and behavioral finance experts, who provided the initial idea for the the study, and revealed marked over-optimism about the ability to replicate previous findings, even by researchers who analyzed the data themselves. "While the final reported outcomes varied substantially, earlier stage analysis results actually showed a consensus among most research teams," says Dr. Schonberg. "This is very encouraging and was in fact a somewhat surprising result. Despite the large variability in final reported results, the underlying analysis was similar, meaning we need to find methods to express this convergence. "For example, the study suggests that researchers could perform and report multiple analyses with the same data, to find the results to which different reliable methods converge." Dr. Schonberg believes the findings can help scientists advance their methodology and improve the quality of their analyses in the future. "I would want our findings to be used to take science forward -- toward an even further sharing of all study related information, of transparency of methods, analysis codes and data," says Dr. Schonberg. That is the only way everyone can test and "play" with results to see what holds. We have seen the importance and great need in sharing data in the recent COVID-19 pandemic in order to understand the optimal course of action. "Naturally, the novelty of discoveries matters a great deal to scientists. But just as important is the rigor of our methodology," concludes Dr. Schonberg. "Our study reflects the ambition of a vast community of scientists to spend thousands of hours to improve our methodologies in order to get the conclusions right and to reach reliable results." Advertisement South America is rapidly becoming the new epicentre of the coronavirus after daily infection and death totals from countries in the region began to mount. Brazil is by far the hardest-hit, with 291,579 cases and 18,859 deaths reported as of Wednesday - more than treble the figures of the next-worse case Peru, which has one of the fastest-growing death rates in the world. Chile has the third highest case total after infections trebled since the start of the month, while Ecuador - which has the fourth highest infection total - has also seen deaths increase threefold in May. In total, the continent has confirmed 518,498 cases and 26,599 deaths. That is despite the fact that many countries are thought to be under-reporting their totals - due either to problems with testing or efforts to obscure the data. South America is rapidly becoming the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic after seeing case numbers soar, with Brazil reporting an average of 10,000 cases per day this month (pictured, a graph showing the daily infection totals of some of the hardest-hit countries) While South America's death totals still lag behind the rest of the world, they are rapidly catching up as cases increase. Brazil again leads the pack with more than 1,000 deaths reported in a day this week (pictured, a graph comparing daily death totals) In total, Peru has 104,020 cases and 3,024 deaths, while Chile has 52,617 cases and 544 deaths. In Ecuador - where the government has often adjusted daily data reporting down - there are 34,854 cases and 2,888 deaths. Colombia is also seeing its totals climb, with 17,687 cases and 630 deaths. Even relatively well-performing South American nations - such as Argentina and Bolivia - have still seen their tolls rocket in just a few weeks. On April 30, Argentina had reported 4,272 cases and 214 deaths. By May 20, that had doubled to 8,796 cases and 403 deaths. Meanwhile Bolivia had recorded 1,110 cases and 59 deaths on April 30. By May 20, those totals had risen to 4,919 cases and 199 deaths - a four-fold increase. While most South American countries have brought in some form of lockdown to try and stem the rise, enforcement has been patchy and many of the rules ignored. In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has defied many of his regional governors by urging them to keep cities open - arguing the risk to the economy is larger than the risk to public health. Despite the rapidly accelerating pandemic, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro has urged Brazil to avoid lockdown altogether and keep the economy open Mass graves has been pictured at cemeteries in Brazil to house some of the country's victims He has taken to wearing a mask in recent weeks, but has refused to stop holding mass rallies with supporters where social distancing rules are ignored. During one 'open the economy' rally in Brasilia last week, he was filmed doing push-ups with his fans. That is despite the fact that the country has recorded an average of more than 10,000 cases per day since the start of the month - with the rate still climbing. Meanwhile doctors have complained that the country's already-high totals are being vastly under-reported due to a lack of testing. 'What is happening is a huge underreporting,' said Isabella Rello, a doctor working in emergency and intensive care in hospitals in Rio de Janeiro said last month. 'There are MANY more [cases].' In recent weeks, pictures have emerged of mass graves being dug to bury the country's victims. In Peru, a regional mayor was also caught breaking lockdown to go drinking with friends, having been forced to return to his town by furious locals after an alleged 46-day absence amid lockdown. Police photographed him laying in an open casket wearing a mask before arresting him for breaking lockdown rules. Locals say he has failed to take the disease seriously, has not properly quarantined the town and has refused to set up coronavirus treatment centres. Despite having the second-highest case total in South America, one Peruvian mayor was caught breaking lockdown by police this week - and played dead in an attempt to avoid arrest The mayor - Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres - has denied being absent from the town, and angrily hit back at suggestions he has not protected people well enough. Argentina is also recording hundreds of new cases a day in its worst spate of infections so far. Much of Argentina has been in lockdown since March 20, and scientists are working to develop rapid testing kits. While the outbreaks in Europe and the US have gradually been in retreat after weeks of lockdown, South America has yet to reach its peak. According to figures from Our World In Data, daily cases in South America surpassed those in Europe on May 15 before overtaking North America yesterday. The 27,517 new infections in South America on Wednesday made up more than a quarter of the world's 94,557 additional cases. Around the world, virologists are racing to develop a vaccine which would turn the tide against the virus, but it is likely to be many months away at least. South America reported the highest daily infection total of any continent on Wedneday, the first time it has done so during the pandemic Scientists are also trying to develop drugs to treat the virus more effectively, meaning that countries would have less to fear from an outbreak. Some vaccine projects have already begun testing humans, including at Oxford University. Up to 1,102 participants have been recruited across multiple study sites in Oxford, Southampton, London and Bristol, although results are not expected for weeks. Imperial College London is also progressing with its vaccine candidate and will look to move into clinical trials by mid-June, with larger scale trials in October. However, experts and politicians warn there is no guarantee that an effective vaccine will ever be developed. Even if it is, there are concerns about how it will be distributed in large enough quantities to bring the pandemic to a standstill. The expected withdrawal will be the latest move by the Trump administration to remove the US from a major global treaty. The United States announced its intention on Thursday to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, the latest move by the administration of US President Donald Trump to pull the country out of a major global treaty. The administration said Russia has repeatedly violated the pacts terms. Senior officials said the pullout will formally take place in six months, based on the treatys withdrawal terms. I think we have a very good relationship with Russia. But Russia didnt adhere to the treaty. So until they adhere we will pull out, Trump told reporters. He said there was a very good chance well make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together. Russia said the US withdrawal from the Open Skies treaty will affect the interests of all of its participants, who are also members of NATO, according to the RIA state news agency. Russia has not violated the treaty and nothing prevents the continuation of talks on technical issues that the US says are the violations by the Russian side, RIA quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying. New round of nuclear negotiations? NATO allies and other countries such as Ukraine have pressed Washington to remain in the treaty, and Trumps decision could aggravate tensions within the alliance. The administration also pulled the US out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia last year. Trump administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to a small group of reporters, said the decision to withdraw from the Open Skies treaty followed a six-month review that found multiple instances of Russian refusal to comply with the pact. During the course of this review it has become abundantly clear that it is no longer in Americas interests to remain a party to the Open Skies treaty, said one of the officials. Another administration official said extensive discussions were held with US allies leading up to the decision but ultimately Washington decided it is no longer in our interest to participate in it. At the same time, the official said US officials had begun talks in recent days with their Russian counterparts about a new round of nuclear arms negotiations to begin crafting the next generation of nuclear arms control measures. The United States is committed to arms control. We are committed to European security. And we are committed to a future that puts meaningful constraints on nuclear weapons, the official said. Some experts worry that a US exit from the Open Skies treaty, which will halt Russian overflights of the US, could prompt Moscows withdrawal, which would end overflights of Russia by the remaining members, weakening European security at a time when Russian-backed separatists are holding parts of Ukraine and Georgia. Trumps decision to leave the treaty is premature and irresponsible, said Daryl Kimball, the head of the Arms Control Association. The Open Skies treaty, proposed by US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002. Its idea is to let member nations make surveillance flights over each others countries to build trust. The 35 state parties to the Open Skies treaty are: Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland), Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the US. Sacramento, CA Schools across California are anticipated to open in the fall, but the states superintendent of public instruction anticipates it will look much different than past years. During a media briefing, Superintendent Tony Thurmond stated that most campuses will likely be a hybrid of in-person and distance learning. At this time there will not be a mandate in that regard, as different districts have different situations, and each will put together its own individual plans. He also noted that draft safety guidelines are being developed for schools, and they include things like mandated facial coverings, sanitizing classrooms daily and new efforts for keeping students a safe distance from one another. Thurmond notes that another challenge will be trying to reduce class sizes, for social distancing, with less budget revenue next school year. He plans to discuss the guidelines further with over 1,000 state educators today at a virtual online meeting. Californias public education system has around 6-million students. [May 21, 2020] Farfetch Announces Upcoming Investor Conference Participation and Filing of Annual Report on Form 20-F Farfetch Limited (NYSE:FTCH), the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry, today announced that Elliot Jordan, Chief Financial Officer, will participate in the Cowen and Company 2020 Consumer Platforms for the Next Generation conference on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. ET. Please visit the Company's investor relations website at http://farfetchinvestors.com to access the live webcast of the virtual fireside discussion. A replay will be available for 30 days following the event. The Company also announced that it filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2020. The Annual Report on Form 20-F can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://farfetchinvestors.com and on the SEC's (News - Alert) website at www.sec.gov. The Company's security holders may request a hard copy of the Company's complete audited financial statements by visiting the "Investor Alerts & Contact Us" page in the Investor Resources section of the Company's investor relations website. About Farfetch Farfetch Limited is the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry. Founded in 2007 by Jose Neves for the love of fashion, and launched in 2008, Farfetch began as an e-commerce marketplace for luxury boutiques around the world. Today the Farfetch Marketplace connects customers in over 190 countries with items from more than 50 countries and over 1,200 of the world's best brands, boutiques and department stores, delivering a truly unique shopping experience and access to the most extensive selection of luxury on a single platform. Farfetch's additional businesses include Farfetch Platform Solutions, which services enterprise clients with e-commerce and technology capabilities; Browns and Stadium Goods, which offer luxury products to consumers; and New Guards Group, a platform for the development of global fashion brands. Farfetch also invests in innovations such as its Store of the Future augmented retail solution, and develops key technologies, business solutions, and services for the luxury fashion industry. For more information, please visit www.farfetchinvestors.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005193/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Queenslanders are being urged to take a holiday within the state in the next few months as the government stands firm on its decision not to reopen the borders to non-Queenslanders during the same period. Queensland recorded no new coronavirus cases on Thursday, keeping the states total at 1058, with just 12 active cases, four of them in hospital. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian have fought a war of words over state borders this week. Credit:AAP and Peter Braig That fact means the state is well on track to open up stage two of its roadmap for easing movement restrictions by June 12, with people allowed to travel up to 250km within their home region, and venues able to accept 20 people at a time more if they submit a plan to government. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Queenslanders needed to help struggling tourism operators by travelling for their winter holidays this year. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Duterte administration is now buying COVID-19 supplies straight from the manufacturer, the Palace said on Thursday. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said he talked to the head of Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS DBM), who confirmed the allegations of former Health Secretary and now Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin. RELATED: Ex-health chief accuses local supplier of jacking up prices of test kits "Kinausap ko po si Usec (Lloyd Christopher) Lao ng PS DBM dahil sila nga po ang bumibili. Ang sabi niya totoo naman na noong una mataas ang bili ng DOH, pero ngayon napababa na dahil dumidiretso sila sa manufacturer. So meron pong katotohanan sa sinabi ni Sec. Garin. Sinabi ng PS DBM na ginagawa na nila iyan, dahilan kaya napababa ang binibili ng PS DBM," he said in his regular media briefing. Garin on Tuesday stressed that the government can cut the cost of testing if it buys test kits and machines directly from manufacturers, suggesting they shouldn't go through a middleman. She said the cost of polymerase chain reaction or PCR testing in the country can go down to less than P1,000 if the DOH purchases the test kits straight from the manufacturer. Roque said he is clueless on the identity of the local supplier allegedly jacking up prices of COVID-19 tests. Garin said the supplier, headed by a couple, is padding them three times the cost of what manufacturers sell them for. "Pandemic ngayon, at siguro napapanahong DOH mismo ang bumili ng kits na kailangan ng ating mga kababayan o kaya DBM o anong ahensya ng gobyerno, pero hindi po sa mga middleman kundi diretso sa mga manufacturer," Garin said in her privilege speech. Garin's successor, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, was questioned during a Senate hearing on Tuesday on the supposedly overpriced COVID-19 test package of state health insurer PhilHealth and testing machines bought by the DOH. He promised lawmakers that he will ask for a review and submit a report to Congress on the matter. With just over five months until the general election and facing a barrage of public advice on how to move forward with a campaign in the midst of a global pandemic, former Vice President Joe Bidens team is pushing ahead with a new strategy, focusing on hiring new leaders amid increased outreach to key, diverse voting groups they consider critical to build a winning constituency against President Donald Trump in November. The campaign, which has recently announced plans for a major expansion in the coming weeks, is aiming to revamp its team to reach communities of color, in particular Latinos, a group Biden struggled to court throughout the Democratic primary. Bidens campaign signaled they would be intensifying their outreach with new and diverse senior leadership, and announced Wednesday the hire of Karine Jean-Pierre, a former Obama administration official and the chief public affairs officer for MoveOn, a progressive public policy group. Jean-Pierre will join the highest ranks of the Biden campaign as a senior advisor developing programs to engage with key communities, as well advising on strategy and communication. Her hiring drew praise from both establishment Democrats and progressive groups like MoveOn, who called her a trusted friend and colleague and a tremendous asset to the campaign. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for her. I really believe that she brings the kind of stature to this campaign that will make all of us proud. I'm a big fan of her, Rep. James Clyburn told ABC News Wednesday. She's got a very sophisticated understanding of politics. She also obviously can help build relationships within the progressive community, within the communities of color, among women, David Axelrod, a former senior advisor to President Obama, told ABC News. Jean-Pierres hiring comes the day after the Biden campaign announced they were bringing on board Julie Chavez Rodriguez as a senior advisor to help with its outreach to the Latino community and expand the campaigns state-based operations. Story continues PHOTO: Karine Jean-Pierre speaks onstage at the MoveOn Big Ideas Forum at The Warfield Theatre on June 01, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images for MoveOn) Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, and still serves as a political consultant for California Sen. Kamala Harris. She previously worked in the Obama White House as a liaison to leaders in the LGBT, Asian-American, Latino, veterans, youth, education, labor, and progressive communities. The work my grandfather did was the first phase of this and now we have to take on powerful interests in a new way. He continues to inform my work. There's one quote of his that rings true, he said, "We don' need perfect political systems, we need perfect participation,"" Chavez Rodriguez told ABC News in an interview Thursday. The additions of Jean-Pierre and Chavez Rodriguez underscores the campaigns efforts to ramp up for a general election battle against President Trump. MORE: Biden campaign ramps up staffing, focus on battleground states, sees a 'clear path' to 270 electoral votes As the campaign plows ahead to November, they continue to grapple with the unprecedented nature of running a campaign remotely. In a recent op-ed for the New York Times, Axelrod, along with President Obamas 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe, gave public advice to Bidens campaign, imploring the campaign to engage surrogates, and organize voter outreach programs virtually. [Jen OMalley Dillon] could have written a piece that David Plouffe and I wrote in the New York Times, and you know just now for her, it's a matter of executing on all of that while in the position of coming to the campaign at a time when you have to operate remotely, Axelrod said of Bidens campaign manager, adding there isnt a better person in the Democratic party to lead Bidens campaign. The challenge of virtual campaigning is not lost on Jean-Pierre and Chavez Rodriguez, who agreed the campaigns efforts needed to expand beyond Bidens virtual endeavors. I also think that weve got to get surrogates out there. Weve got to get people who support our candidate, who support the Democratic Party, support what we're trying to do out there speaking on behalf of the campaign. I think it's going to take really an army, a village to get this right because we do have to be innovative, we do have to reimagine how you run a campaign, Jean-Pierre said. We have a tremendous amount of endorsements and surrogates that we need to start employing where we need to build coalitions in. That's what I think is an important phrase one. The [other] piece of it is making sure we're leveraging some of these other community based organizations, more non-profits, organizations across the country that have purposely pivoted to more of an electoral focus. They realize their advocacy can only go so far, Chavez Rodriguez said. On a call with reporters last week, OMalley Dillon suggested that the former vice president had a pathway to victory though 17 battleground states, and would build a winning coalition of voters that would draw from three key groups: young and minority voters, suburban women, and disaffected voters who backed Trump in 2016 or did not vote. OMalley Dillon said Bidens team is focusing on creating customized messages to specific groups in states on their battleground map, with tailored approaches for registering, persuasion and turnout--a focus Axelrod agreed with. I think it's really a matter of mobilization. I don't think there's a danger of progressive voters or voters of color in large numbers to migrate to Trump. It's a matter of getting them out to vote and feeling invested in this election, Axelrod said. There has to be a focus on states because the election will be decided in a handful of battleground states where margins matter. And we saw that in 2016. So, it seems to me that just the math of contemporary politics dictates that you have a state by state focus, Axelrod said. MORE: Biden hires Chavez granddaughter to help on Latino outreach Bidens struggles with Latino voters have come into focus as a general election matchup with Trump approaches. Latinos are poised to become the largest racial or ethnic minority during a presidential election cycle, according to the Pew Research Center. Public polling indicates that Biden indeed has significant ground to make up with Latinos. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday afternoon showed Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump nationally, but just a 7-point lead with Latinos, a group former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won by 38 points in 2016. Dr. Jill Biden has participated in several virtual campaign stops targeting swing states in recent weeks, including two in Arizona and Colorado that specifically targeted Latinos billed as Charla con Biden, or Chat with Biden events, and the campaign also organized a press call Wednesday morning focused on the unemployment disparities the Latino community is facing during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. One prominent Latino group said that the Biden campaign still has more work to do in its efforts, to reach the critical voting bloc, but welcomed the new hires. PHOTO: Julie Chavez Rodriguez is seen here. (White House Archives) Julie and Karine are a unity ticket. I have had the pleasure of working with both of them in different capacities. They are friends, Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino, a grassroots political organization focused on engaging and turning out Latinx voters, told ABC News. While the Biden campaign still has more work to do in its efforts to reach Latinx voters, these are welcome additions and I look forward to seeing them in action, she added. I think we have an important opportunity to mobilize young voters, I think we saw an important level of engagement with Bernie and the broader Democratic Party, making sure we can do everything we can and to speak to what is most relevant. And I also see Latinas as a key component. They play a critical role in our households and family, so how do we motivate that segment of our community because the ripple effect - it will create that groundswell we need in terms of turnout, Chavez Rodriguez said. The campaign is also seeking to maintain strong support with the minority voters who helped carry Biden to a resounding win in South Carolina, setting off a chain of victories on Super Tuesday that exceeded even the campaign's expectations for the night. It takes a coalition to win in a general election, but I think that you have to continue to talk to African American voters, black voters and other communities as well, and what that means is that you have to have a message that resonates, Jean-Pierre said. MORE: I would be an excellent running mate: Straightforward approach defines 1st phase of veepstakes Throughout his career, Biden has enjoyed strong support among the voting bloc--support that appears to persist, with Quinnipiac poll Wednesday showing him leading the president by 78 points with African American voters. The onus on the campaign is that we have to keep that energy, we have to keep that excitement. We have to make sure that people are going to come out and not feel suppressed because their vote is going to be suppressed...That is what the campaign is going to have to really zero in and be clear about, Jean-Pierre said. In recent weeks as Bidens vice presidential search has officially gotten underway, there has been much speculation about the pick, and the signal it could send to rest of the party. Several African American leaders, like Reverend Al Sharpton and Clyburn, who many credit with Bidens campaign revival in South Carolina, expressed their hope that Biden would choose the first African American woman to serve as his running mate, as a way to signal his commitment to the base that helped him become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Others have suggested placing Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the ticket would serve as an outreach to progressive Democrats, and signal Bidens ability to move towards the policies they championed during the primary According to Jean-Pierre, Bidens nominee will be a critical piece to building a ticket that will create a movement in the Democratic Party. I think that's gonna be really exciting, that ticket, She said. I think it'll be a strong Democratic ticket, it'll be a ticket that we will all be proud of and I think that's going to be a great way...to show how future looking, future forward we are as a party and that Joe Biden is. So I think that's going to be an interesting place to make some ground and to get the base excited. ABC News' Zohreen Shah contributed to this report. Biden campaign focuses on diverse coalition building with new senior leadership originally appeared on abcnews.go.com More than 1,200 pastors and 3,000 churches across California plans to hold in-person church services on May 31, according to a recently published article. Church Defying the Orders of Governor Newsom California has opened its economy under Phase 1 and slowly shifted to Phase 2 of Trump's administration "Opening Up America Again" program as part of the country's economic recovery in the wake of the global pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom eases some restrictions and allows essential businesses to operate. Under Phase 1, there are guidelines that must be strictly followed to avoid contagion and these include the mandatory wearing of face masks and the prohibition of mass gathering of more than 10 persons. This means that religious activities will still not be allowed to hold in-person services. Recently, more than 1,200 pastors coming from the different churches across California plans to resume their in-person church services on May 31. This defies the order of Gov. Newsom that prohibits religious activities to limit and stop the spread of the virus. Church Pastors Signed a "Declaration of Essentially" Robert Tyler, a lawyer that represents a church in Lodi, sued Gov.Newsom last month and a large group of pastors signed the "Declaration of Essentially." This means that pastors are asserting churches as essential and they should be allowed to open and have in-person services. Tyler stipulated in the letter, "We believe you are attempting to act in the best interests of the state but the restrictions have gone too far and for too long." California has opened its businesses as the number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations began to decrease in recent weeks. Other businesses such as retail, office buildings, restaurants, shopping centers were also approved to open. However, all churches were still banned to open along with the hair salons and sporting events under Phase 2. Gov. Newsom said that they are not allowed to open and operate not unless the state will shift to Phase 3 in the coming weeks. District Judge Denied the First Request of the Church Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband wrote: "Simply put, there is no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Laws that do not treat religious activities equally with comparable nonreligious activities are subject to heightened scrutiny under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment." Moreover, the first request of the church to have in-person services was denied by the U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez. He told a news outlet, "during public health crises, new considerations come to bear, and government officials must ask whether even fundamental rights must give way to a deeper need to control the spread of infectious disease and protect the lives of society's most vulnerable." CDC Confirmed that Persons Who Tested Positive for the Virus After Attending Church Events The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Tuesday that two symptomatic persons tested positive for the virus after attending church events in rural Arkansas. Additionally, 35 of the church attendees had contracted with the virus, and three of them died. Former CDC Director Thomas Frieden said: "We stayed home so the virus quieted down and stopped spreading widely where it was spreading widely, but it's still out there. So anytime you have a lot of people together in an indoor space and one of them is infectious, you can have a lot of cases." At present, California is one of the states in the country that is hardly hit by the virus. As of today, there are nearly 82,000 COVID-19 cases and a death toll of more than 3,300, according to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. Read related articles: PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 05:29:02 Drainage Services Department selects Black & Veatch to extend infrastructure lifecycle for Tai Po Sewage Treatment Works Hong Kong Systematically Expands Resource Recovery Capacity, Invests in Integrated Reuse Infrastructure Black & Veatch EMILY CHIA | +65 6761 3511 p | +65 9875 8907 m | ChiaLP@BV.com 24-HOUR MEDIA HOTLINE | +1 866 496 9149 Hong Kong is improving resource efficiency, meeting resource recovery targets, while optimizing infrastructure lifecycle opportunities. The Drainage Services Department (DSD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has selected Black & Veatch to conduct a three-year investigation into upgrading the Tai Po Sewage Treatment Works (STW). Black & Veatch is committed to support our clients, like DSD, through infrastructure lifecycle opportunities. Black & Veatch specializes in the design of integrated wastewater treatment and resource recovery facilities. These facilities effectively achieve environmental protection goals through sustainable treatment, optimum biosolids use and economic value. Our professionals have worked on many advanced STW projects worldwide which required innovative approaches to overcome constraints that are similar to those in Tai Po STW, says Andy Kwok, Managing Director, Black & Veatch Asia North. One objective of the Tai Po STW upgrade is to increase the capacity of sewage treatment, biosolids management, energy recovery and sewage discharge disposal to support the housing and economic needs of the Tai Po District. Another objective is to provide facilities to receive and digest sludge from the sewage treatment works in eastern New Territories for co-digestion with pre-treated food waste. Featuring a compact design, the upgraded STW is anticipated to accommodate the new regional sludge treatment facilities and future expansion. Black & Veatch is tasked to provide review, site investigation, impact assessments and preliminary design for the upgrading of Tai Po STW. Core innovations that will be assessed for the Tai Po STW upgrade include: Uncertainty-based dynamic process modelling, which enables the use of statistical techniques in combination with process models to evaluate solutions. It provides the ability to right-size process systems and equipment. Low-energy solutions, for example biological nutrient removal incorporating sustainable nitrogen removal strategies. High solids digestion, a compact solution that offers more effective management of high strength feedstocks. Black & Veatch is a world leader in the design, construction, testing, start up, commissioning, and operation of advanced sewage treatment facilities. It is a pioneer in practical and economical water reclamation and reuse solutions for all types of water quality, with award-winning projects such as Singapore National Water Agency PUBs [..]. Editors Notes: Tai Po STW, built inside Tai Po Industrial Estate (TPIE), is the second largest secondary sewage treatment works in Hong Kong. Tai Po STW serves the TPIE, Tai Po, Lam Tsuen and Ting Kok areas. Black & Veatch was involved in the investigation, design and construction (ID&C) of Hong Kongs Sha Tau Kok STW Expansion project from 1,660 to 10,000 m/day to meet future demand. The expansion was subjected to numerous constraints including limited site availability, a tight program, and maintaining operation of STW during construction. Black & Veatch is involved in master planning Singapores Deep Tunnel [..]. The DTSS is a superhighway for Singapores used water management. The Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) is a core component of the DTSS Phase 2 project. Tuas Nexus integrates and co-locates Tuas WRP with the Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) to maximize the synergies between the two facilities by utilizing the water-energy nexus. Tuas WRP will be the first of its kind in Singapore to co-digest used water sludge and food waste in the same plant to enhance biogas production. The biogas produced will be used to further enhance the overall thermal efficiency of the waste-to-energy process and electricity production at the IWMF. Electricity generated at IWMF will be supplied to Tuas WRP for its operations. Excess electricity will be exported back to the grid. Tuas Nexus was named the Most Innovative Water-Energy Nexus Project, at the International Desalination Association (IDA) World Congress 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. About Black & Veatch Black & Veatch is an employee-owned engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in sustainable infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries by addressing the resilience and reliability of our world's most important infrastructure assets. Our revenues in 2019 were US$3.7 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and on social media. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005 US Treasury Slaps Iran With New Sanctions, Including Minister of Interior, Prison System Sputnik News 14:24 GMT 20.05.2020(updated 15:08 GMT 20.05.2020) The restrictions are the latest in Washington's two year+ effort to ratchet up pressure against Tehran following President Trump's May 2018 decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal. The Treasury Department introduced a fresh round of Iran-related sanctions on Wednesday, targeting the country's prison system, as well as Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli. The new sanctions affect the Great Tehran Penitentiary in Iran's capital, the Law Enforcement Forces Cooperative Foundation, and Qarchak Prison, also situated in Tehran. All three entities are targeted with secondary Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)-related restrictions. Fazli was one of nine Iranian officials added to the Treasury's Iran sanctions list, which also target chief of police Hossein Ashtari, deputy police chief Ayoub Soleimani and police general Mohsen Fathizadeh. The new restrictions come less than 24 hours after the sanctioning of a Chinese logistics company providing services to Iran's Mahan Air, and weeks after the May 1 sanctioning on an Iran-related mining company in Oman, and an individual said to be linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The Iran-related sanctions are part of a broader campaign of US sanctions against a host of nations US doesn't like or has issues with, including Venezuela, Syria, Russia and China, although Tehran has been the Treasury's main target during the Trump administration. Iranian officials have slammed Washington over the restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, saying sanctions prevent the country from selling its oil and importing much-needed supplies and medical equipment to deal with the virus. At the same time, Iran's scientists and industry have worked to ramp up production of homegrown medical equipment, disinfectants and testing kits to deal with the medical crisis. The sanctions come amid historically chilly relations between Washington and Tehran, with tensions soaring in May 2018 when Washington unilaterally pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, and flaring in a string of tanker seizures, drone shootdowns, assassinations and missile strikes in the two years since. On Tuesday, the Pentagon warned Iranian gunboats to stay "at least 100 meters from US vessels" in international waters or "be interpreted as a threat," with the notice coming a week after the US Navy complained that its warships were being "harassed" while sailing near Iran's shores earlier this month. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Africa: Interfaith leaders consulted on preparation for level 3 As government prepares for the ease of the lockdown to alert level 3, President Cyril Ramaphosa has consulted a broad range of faith leaders on governments preparations for a differentiated approach to the reopening of the economy alongside the unrelenting effort to save lives. The consultations between the President and interfaith leaders took place in a virtual meeting on Wednesday evening. The President held discussions with the leadership of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference, the South African Council of Churches, the National Interfaith Council of South Africa, the Muslim Judicial Council, the Jewish Board of Deputies, the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, African Independent Churches, Charismatic/Pentecostal churches, African Traditional Faiths, the National Religious Leaders Council and the Southern African Interfaith Council. The meeting was held amid governments planning, in partnership with civil society, for the progression of large parts of the country to alert Level 3 of the national lockdown that will enable further easing of economic activity and personal movement, said the Presidency in a statement on Wednesday. The meeting with interfaith leaders formed part of an intensive series of consultations undertaken by the President in recent days. The consultations are an effort by government to take stakeholders into its confidence regarding progress and challenges in the management of the pandemic, and provides stakeholders with a platform for making proposals and articulating challenges identified in different communities or sectors. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-05-21. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. British low-cost airline EasyJet said it would restart a small number of flights on June 15, becoming the latest airline to plan for the return of European travel by making face masks mandatory onboard. EasyJet's planes have been grounded since late March when the novel coronavirus spread across Europe. The airline said it would restart primarily domestic flights in Britain and France from June 15, before adding other destinations later. Flights would restart with new safety measures including the wearing of masks by passengers and cabin crew and enhanced cleaning of aircraft, said the airline on Thursday. EasyJet joins bigger competitor Ryanair in making masks compulsory, as airlines add measures aimed at reassuring customers they can get back onboard safely amid worries about COVID-19 spreading on crowded planes. Air France-KLM , Lufthansa and Wizz have all made masks mandatory and the CEO of British Airways owner IAG Willie Walsh has said he supports the idea. EasyJet said the flights it was resuming would be on routes where it believes there will be enough demand to support profitable flying. Like many airlines, restarting operations will use cash at a time when it is focused on preserving it as it seeks to make it through a period with very little activity. "When more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand," easyJet's chief executive Johan Lundgren said in a statement. EasyJet also said that initially there would be no onboard food service on flights. The airline will on Friday announce the results of a shareholder vote brought by its founder and biggest investor Stelios Haji-Ioannou on whether to remove from the board four directors including the CEO and chairman in a row over strategy. Tiffany Kaszuba said her bid last year to run for Congress representing New Jerseys 4th District began with great promise. But it quickly turned into a nightmare. Kaszuba said a former member of the Monmouth County Democrats executive committee who volunteered to help with her campaign began displaying disturbing behavior, including obsessively calling and texting her, yelling at her and posting her photos on social media. When she complained to Democratic party officials about the man, longtime party fixture Bill Robinson, she said they did little to help her. She eventually dropped out of the race, going public with her complaints last December. I was stalked, harassed, surveilled, bullied and publicly berated and humiliated by Mr. Robinson on a nearly daily basis, Kaszuba said Wednesday, detailing the experience at a hearing on the toxic culture for women in New Jersey politics. Kaszuba was one of eight women who testified during an online video conference of the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny in New Jersey Politics. The hearing was the last of three public forums where women could testify about their own experiences or offer their advice to the panel of lawmakers, lobbyists and advocates looking for ways to improve the treatment of women in state and local politics. In Kaszubas case, Monmouth County political officials denied last year that they mishandled her complaints and some lawmakers promised reforms. Robinson, who previously pleaded guilty in 1996 to stalking and was put on probation for five years, has never publicly responded to her allegations. He did not respond to a request to comment. It is with great disappointment that as of today I am resigning from my campaign for NJ CD 4. pic.twitter.com/eSQNmw9KUa Tiffany Kaszuba (@TiffanyKaszuba) December 3, 2019 Kaszuba, who did not allege Robinson did anything sexual, said her experience of being dismissed and ignored by political leaders isnt unique. The costs of the current toxic environment are just too high, especially for women, an emotional Kaszuba told the panel, who were watching her testimony from their homes. Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, founded the workgroup in response to a Dec. 29 NJ Advance Media report on sexual harassment in local and state politics. The members, who include Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, are gathering information about the toxic culture in and around the Statehouse. They plan to offer recommendations for policy changes. The group, which held hearings in Fort Lee and Mount Laurel before the coronavirus pandemic banned in-person meetings, said Wednesdays video meeting would be its last public session. The panel will meet again at 3 p.m. Thursday in a confidential session to hear from people who did not want to share their experiences in public. (Those who want to share their testimony at the private hearing can register at https://tinyurl.com/PrivateNJHarassmentForum.) Interest has not waned or the desire to share stories has not waned, Weinberg said. Weinberg said the workgroup plans to hold at least two other private sessions. The first will be a confidential meeting with an unnamed group that asked to speak to the panel. The second will be an in-depth meeting with Katie Brennan, a former campaign volunteer who recently settled a $1 million lawsuit against the state and Gov. Phil Murphys campaign over how her rape complaint was handled. Brennan testified publicly before the panel in March about a lengthy list of changes shed like to see make to various policies surrounding sexual harassment and sexual assault in state government and on campaigns. The other women who shared their stories at Wednesdays hearing included an anonymous former campaign worker who said she was regularly sexually harassed, subjected to sexual comments and propositioned while working in politics in her 20s and 30s. It was the rule, not the exception," her testimony said. The woman, who has since left New Jersey and politics, recounted several inappropriate comments she received at after-hours parties following the annual League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City, one of the states key political gatherings. They included an unnamed lawmaker asking her if she was a prostitute, her testimony said. Janice Kovach, the incoming president of the League of Municipalities, said the group recognizes that there has been inappropriate behavior at many of the parties and receptions sponsored by outside groups at the convention. The league plans to make changes, including instituting a new code of conduct, printing a phone number on the back of every convention badge where people can report sexual misconduct and offering more sexual harassment training, Kovach testified. Were committed to rooting out this toxic culture from our political environment, said Kovach, the mayor of Clinton. The other women who testified at the hearing included Anjali Mehrotra, president of state chapter of National Organization for Women, who said Weinbergs workgroup needs to expand its focus to also consider how race plays a factor in how women of color are mistreated and ignored in New Jersey politics. The goal should not just be diversity, we should strive for inclusion," Mehrotra said. The New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a statewide advocacy group, also used the hearing to release the preliminary results of a survey of 500 people on the culture in New Jersey politics. Those surveyed included advocates, politicians and those who work in state politics and government. Overall, about 39% of respondents said misogyny is extremely prevalent in New Jersey politics and 36% said sexual harassment is very prevalent," said Marissa Marzano, the coalitions communications manager. We did note an interesting divergence here between male and female respondents, Marzano said. While nearly half of the women who responded to the survey said misogyny was extremely prevalent in New Jersey politics and government, only 13% of men agreed. Even less men though sexual harassment was a big problem in state politics. The full results of the survey will be released at the end of June. Weinberg said there is no timetable yet for when the Workgroup on Harassment, Sexual Assault and Misogyny will release its findings and recommendations. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Send it here. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty By A new domain of Cold War 2.0 unfolded at the WHO, with US President Donald Trump firing the latest salvo against the UN agency that plays an important role in cooperation on international issues. Trump has accused China of covering up its lapses in the worldwide spread of Covid-19 and the WHO of playing the role of a puppet of China in aiding the cover-up. American officials have joined Trump in accusing the WHO of negligence, allowing the Covid-19 pandemic to rage out of control, blaming it for its slow reaction and failure to obtain information in a timely fashion. Trumps scathing comments were conveyed in a letter he wrote to the WHO director general, a copy of which has been released in the public domain. The letter has outlined the chronology of developments and given a 30-day period in which the WHO must commit to substantive improvements or permanently lose US funding. The US is the largest contributor to WHO. The person under fire is the DG, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia and earlier its health minister. He is the first African to head the WHO. There is no doubt that Tedros is culpable, as the chronology outlined in Trumps letter suggests. Whether the missteps were errors of judgements or deliberate kowtowing to China, further investigation will no doubt reveal. In the US, Trump is under attack from political opponents and medical experts for his inept handling of the pandemic. Attacking China may well be a useful tactic to divert attention from his domestic woes, which includes the worlds highest Covid-19 cases and deaths, economic meltdown and huge unemployment. The pandemic has come at a time when Trump was riding high in his election campaign, cashing in on a healthy economy and the popularity of his America First policy. Covid-19 is not the only issue fuelling the new Cold War between China and the US. The 194-member World Health Assembly (WHA) met in a virtual session for its annual meeting for reviewing the work of the WHO. It grappled with the recriminations between China and the US, the latter backed by several Western nations. Tedros has said that an independent evaluation will be undertaken to learn lessons from the pandemic and the WHO will put forward any recommendations at the earliest. Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the WHA virtually, signifying that China was feeling the heat. Xi said that his country had acted with openness and transparency. On the issue of an investigation, he took to prevarication and said any investigation should commence only after the pandemic has been controlled. Xi sweetened his statement with Chinas preferred tool of cheque-book diplomacy, by promising $2 billion over two years to help nations and universally share any vaccine produced. Chinas initial response was muscular, with its ambassadors lashing out at any criticism in their wolf warrior avatars. China retaliated with economic measures to prevent Australias major agricultural exports to it. Australia was one of the first countries that demanded an international investigation into the pandemic and its origins. China signalled to India via its transgressions of the LAC not to get into the anti-China camp with the US, EU, Australia and like-minded countries, in view of New Delhis imminent assumption of the presidentship of the executive board of the WHO. India had also roundly criticised the China-Pakistan project to build a dam on the Indus in Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK, asserting its sovereignty over the whole of Jammu and Kashmir. China is ramping up its forces along the LAC in Ladakh, prompting India to rush in more troops as reinforcements. It has also encouraged Pakistan to intensify its terrorist attacks across the LoC, reinforcing the fact that India faces a strategic China-Pakistan axis as its primary national security threat. The demand for accountability by China has acquired ballast globally. The US, EU, India and many other countries have pushed for an inquiry that will investigate how the pandemic has been handled and what lessons can be learnt. Meanwhile, China has blocked Taiwans attendance at the WHA as it has been doing since 2016. WHA members have deferred taking a decision on Taiwans participation and Taiwan has stepped aside, not pushing its demand to participate, despite strong support from major countries led by the US. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the exclusion of Taiwan as another damaging blow to the credibility of the WHO. Taiwan had participated in the WHO consultations from 2009 to 2016. China blocked Taiwans participation after the pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen won the election in 2016. China is smarting from the praise Taiwan has received in successfully tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. The final resolution in the WHA, co-sponsored by 122 countries including India, was adopted by consensus without a vote. The resolution has asked for a systematic review, also calling for a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19 at the earliest and appropriate time in consultation with member states. This is typical of the kind of language used in the UN to satisfy all lobbies. When the global momentum for an international investigation gathered enough traction, China realised that it could not duck out. It has traded off the inevitable investigation with milder words like systematic review against its core issue of Taiwan. It has warded off pressure on inclusion of Taiwan in the WHA which would have undermined its one China policy. The pandemic may only be a temporary setback for China in its drive to dominate the world. The WHA and its resolution is not the end of the tug-of-war that has marked the new Cold War. It is only another milestone, with many more to come. Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty Former Ambassador, Ex-Secretary in MEA and currently a Visiting Fellow at ORF, Delhi (pr.chakravarty@gmail.com) Donald Trump left the White House for Michigan on Thursday afternoon feeling "positively," telling reporters in one of his most convoluted statements yet that he had "tested positively toward negative" for coronavirus. Here is the president, in his own words: "I tested very positively in another sense. I tested positively toward negative. I tested perfectly this morning, meaning I tested negative." Mr Trump made the confusing remark as he departed the White House for a Ford facility in Michigan that has been converted to build ventilators and personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was the latest in a series of announcements and comments that have brought stiff backlash. The president earlier this week announced he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug several of his own public health agencies say is ineffective against Covid-19 and failed to lower the death rate among infected patients in one study. He has both called the United States the "king of testing," while also saying testing for the virus "might be overrated" because it leads to a higher number of confirmed cases and deaths. And he is in a potential legal battle with Michigan this time over whether he will wear a mask at the Ford plant. "Well, I don't know. We're going to look at it," he said leaving the White House. "I want to get our country back to normal." But the state's Democratic attorney general, Dan Nessel, urged the president to wear a protective face covering. "While my Department will not act to prevent you from touring Ford's plant, I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford and across this state by wearing a facial covering. It is not just the policy of Ford, by virtue of the Governor's Executive Orders. It is currently the law of this State." "We must all do our part to stop the spread of COVID-19," Nessel added. "Anyone who has potentially been recently exposed, including the President of the United States, has not only a legal responsibility, but also a social and moral responsibility, to take reasonable precautions to prevent further spread of the virus." A record 32 tons of marijuana were seized by the Brazilian police from a tractor-trailer that was hauling a shipment of corn. The historic bust took place Wednesday afternoon on a hotel parking lot in Iguatemi, a city in the west-central state of Mato Grosso. The massive shipment has an estimated value of $52million in the United States. A police officer in Parana, Brazil, helps unload the historic 32 tons of marijuana that were seized Wednesday The marijuana was hidden inside a trailer that was transporting a massive load of corn grains An agent from the Brazilian Federal Police flashes a thumbs up after busting a tractor-trailer with $52 million worth of marijuana Federal Police agents carried out the search after they noticed the 38-year-old truck driver was nervous. The driver confessed to the cops that he was scheduled to transport the loaded trailer to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state which borders Argentina and Uruguay. The man, whose identity was not made public by the police, added that he was set to receive about $7,200 for dropping off the cargo in the city of Sao Leopoldo. The Federal Police said the driver said he was expecting to be paid $7,200 for dropping off the trailer filled with 32 tons of marijuana, a new record bust in Brazil Bags containing marijuana were mixed in with a massive load of corn grains The previous record for a marijuana bust in Brazil was in November 2015 when the police stopped a truck driver who was ferrying 24 tons in Incaraima, a city in the southern state of Parana. Cops became suspicious of the driver when he presented an invoice indicating he was delivering soy beans. However, one of the boxes broke, causing grains of corn to fall to the ground. The police officers used a sniffer dog, who detected the marijuana. The driver knowingly admitted he was transporting the drugs and was arrested. Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Thursday said self-attestation would suffice for issuance of job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to migrant workers coming back to the state without required documents. All officials have been directed that workers who have come from outside the state should not suffer and it should be ensured that their job cards are issued without any hassle, Pilot said. "Workers who have come from outside the state are already upset. In such a situation, they should not suffer more. Even if someone cannot provide any document, job card under MGNREGA would be provided on the basis of self-attestation," Pilot told reporters here on Thursday. The deputy chief minister visited the Congress headquarters here and paid tributes to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, saying the party would follow the path shown by him. He said 36 lakh people are working under MGNREGA in Rajasthan, which is the highest in the last 10 years. He said Rs 1,900 crore have been sanctioned for 37,000 works under MGNREGA. Pilot said it is being ensured that the migrants returning to Rajasthan do not face any trouble in getting the job cards. "For this, the 14-day quarantine time would be used to create job cards and allot work so that the labourers don't have to wait for work and his time is not wasted," he said. Pilot said he has demanded the Centre to allot 200 days of work instead of 100 days besides more money under the MGNREGA. On denial of permission by the Uttar Pradesh government to allow the entry of buses sent by the Congress to transport migrants to their homes in the state, Pilot said taking help doesn't diminish someone's stature. He said the Congress, not the Uttar Pradesh government, had made arrangement of buses for the migrant workers. "Does taking help make someone small? Congress had made the arrangement. What was wrong in it? But, creating unnecessary hurdles, arresting people and registering FIR shows narrow mindset and we regret it," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Listen to the latest episode above or on your favorite app including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts. New episodes are available every Wednesday afternoon on PennLive or earlier to our podcast subscribers. Rate us and subscribe/follow via your favorite app to get it as soon as its published. This weeks topic: So Big Bens supposedly illegal lockdown haircut and beard trim caused his haters to lose their minds -- and prompted even Pa.s governor to condemn him. Give me a break! For Big Ben, his bushy Brett Keisel-like beard was a marker of his long recovery road from throwing-elbow surgery after the second game last season. The fact that Bens locks and beard are now nicely trimmed and so seemingly is his body as seen in that slick 38-second video signals the Steelers future Hall of Famer is back. And with everyone from Gov. Tom Wolf on down jumping on Big Bens back, Pittsburgh is standing solidly with their star and stalwart passer. In the portion of Pennsylvania known as Steelers Nation, the barbershop brouhaha quickly became Big Ben vs. Big Bad Gov. Wolf. In western Pa. at least, the outcome was no contest. I give you all the best takedowns of the misguided Big Ben barber barbs -- plus new signs of a gathering Steelers storm led by a rising Roethlisberger who seems ready to roll -- in this comeback edition of the Steelers Update Podcast. All of it freshly combed and groomed for your approval! PS: And of you didnt think Big Ben really needed that trip to the barber, heres a reminder: BEFORE FOX Sports Jay Glazer sparked a big, fat media blow-up over the state of Big Bens ample belly. But the state of bushy-bearded, bloated Ben Roethlisbergers fitness could just be the beginning of the Steelers worries in 2020. (Photo via KDKA-TV Pittsburgh) AFTER Ben Roethlisberger's haircut angers hair-brained haters. (Screen Shot from Ben Roethlisberger's video) NOTE: John Luciew is an award-winning reporter for PennLive and a 25-year Steelers season ticket-holder. His column and podcast are presented from the obsessively over-informed perspective of an avid Steelers fan. Check out his latest Steelers podcast every Wednesday afternoon wherever podcasts are found, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts. To Our Readers: Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. The Delhi government has sent 1.32 lakh migrants, including 1.2 lakh from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, to their home towns through Shramik Special trains, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday. He said over 4 lakh migrants have so far registered on the Delhi government's website to go back to their native places in different states. "So far, around 1.32 lakh people have been sent through Shramik Special trains under the special arrangements by the Delhi government. These include 1.20 lakh from Bihar and eastern UP districts," Sisodia said in a tweet. The deputy CM has also written to the railway ministry, requesting for 262 trains for sending the remaining migrants stranded in the national capital to their native states, in the next four days. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also requested the Centre to increase the number of trains from Delhi to send maximum migrants back to their native states. Among the 4 lakh registrations made on the city government's portal, around 1.95 lakh migrants belong to Bihar followed by 1.84 lakh from Uttar Pradesh. "We are also seeking permission from other states to send the migrants back to their home towns. As soon as we get the permit, we will sanction trains for those states," Sisodia had said. An order had been issued by the Delhi government directing for publicising the web link epass.jantasamavad.org among the stranded migrants for registering on the government portal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hot weather has hit northern Vietnam from Wednesday, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. A rice field is chapped due to prolonged hot weather in Dau Lieu Ward, Hong Linh District in the central province of Ha Tinh. VNA/VNS Photo Duy Khuong Temperatures hit 34-37 degrees Celsius and even more than 38 degrees Celsius in some places. The central region will have temperatures of 39 degree Celsius, and 40-41 degree Celsius in mountainous areas. The hot weather is set to last until the end of the week. From Wednesday, Hanoi will have high temperatures at about 35-38 degree Celsius. On Wednesday, the ultraviolet in Hanoi, Da Nang City and HCM City is forecast to reach high level, seriously affecting peoples health. There is a high risk of forest fires in central areas due to the hot weather. Southern areas will also have high temperatures of about 34-37 degree Celsius. VNS A self-professed muckraker who has shown that the FBI paid mob informants who were committing murders filed a lawsuit against the agency Wednesday seeking release of documents about its ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In a lawsuit that subpoenaed records from the Justice Department and the FBI, Angela Clemente asked for the public release of documents involving the late Epstein as an informant to the FBI. She pointed to a 2008 FBI document, now declassified, that mentioned Epstein had entered some sort of agreement to be an informant. That arrangement may have come as part of a deal that allowed him to escape tougher federal punishment for sex trafficking and instead plead guilty under state law to a less severe charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The deal was part of the focus of the Heralds Perversion of Justice series in November 2018. Since its publication, additional women have come forward to allege that Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell last Aug. 10 of a reported suicide, sexually abused them, in some cases when they were minors. I suspect the Epstein documents will reveal important officials were involved at the highest levels of government and society in a pervasive corruption which unjustifiably victimized an extraordinary number of people of all ages, Clemente told the Herald. A former model-turned-paralegal who calls herself a forensic intelligence analyst and congressional consultant, Clemente sought FBI records in January, and on Wednesday filed a lawsuit trying to force the FBI and Justice Department to spell out the relationship with Epstein and what cases he might have informed in beginning 12 years ago. These records are of interest because Mr. Epstein was identified as cooperating with the FBI in an FBI document dated 9/18/08 on a child prostitution and forfeiture case against him, Clemente wrote. In this document the case agent advised that no federal prosecution would occur as long as Epstein continued to uphold his agreement. Story continues Epstein came on Clementes radar as part of her decade-long investigation into the deaths of young women in Ohio and a purported sex trafficking ring that brought underage girls to and from Palm Beach, which is where Epstein kept one of his many homes. Ohio is where Leslie Wexner, the founder of the L Brands empire, lives and where one chapter of Epsteins mysterious rise to fortune occurred. There have been no public documents tying either Wexner or Epstein to the missing girls, but Clemente alleges that state and federal officials in Ohio have failed to properly investigate the murders. At least one of Epsteins accusers has told authorities she was abused in Ohio, and it is why Clemente sought records on Epstein, including any that would describe him as a Top Echelon (TE) informant. In conducting the search, please use all nicknames, aliases, pseudonyms, code names or code numbers used by, or applied to, Mr. Epstein, Clemente wrote. In addition, when searching under Mr. Epsteins name, please employ all logical buildups, breakdowns, and variations of his name. Clemente also asked for all FBI photographs pertaining to Epstein, as well as video and audio surveillance tapes and/or transcripts. Nine days after Clemente filed a records request in January, the FBI shot it down, saying some of what she sought was already released and other documents would remain private and in the hands of the agency. Reporting by the Herald in 2018 indicated that Epstein helped inform the prosecution in New York of two executives who ran a Bear Stearns hedge fund that had collapsed at the start of the 2008 financial crisis. Epstein got his start in finance at Bear Stearns, a Wall Street firm that eventually crumbled from excessive risk taking and triggered what would become known as the Great Recession. Clemente believes the relationship with the FBI went further. There is a pending or prospective law enforcement precoding relevant to these responsive records, and release of the information could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, David M. Hardy, the FBIs section chief for records, said in a Jan. 31 letter of response to Clemente. The letter did not say who was under investigation. Epsteins one-time muse and long-term business associate Ghislaine Maxwell is widely believed to be one of those in Epsteins inner circle who knew the most, and would be a person of interest if the Justice Department pursues his abettors. Clemente filed an administrative appeal on April 30 to the FBIs Office of Information Policy, calling the FBIs initial response in January woefully insufficient. Her appeal was taken up on May 12. Multiple news reports in late February said that a top Justice Department official was surprised during a closed-door briefing with lawmakers when asked by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., if the FBI maintained a relationship with Epstein. There was an expectation that Attorney General William Barr, whose father once employed a young Epstein as a private school math teacher, would be asked the same question in public testimony scheduled for March 31. But that hearing was postponed on March 23 because of the widening COVID-19 pandemic. Theres reason to take seriously requests from Clemente. She was a consultant to and featured in the 2017 documentary Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio. By that time shed already achieved a measure of fame for her dogged pursuit of FBI records regarding mobsters who were on the FBI payroll, even as they murdered rivals. Clementes digging, featured in a New York Times long profile of her in June 2013, led to the indictment of an FBI agent alleged to have protected mob bosses. One of her mobster sources informed Clemente that Terry Nichols, the co-conspirator in the homegrown terror bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, had confided that the FBI had missed a cache of explosives hidden in his home in Herington, Kansas, and that the two bombers had accomplices. Fearing the weapons might be used for an attack on the approaching 10th anniversary of the bombing, Clemente reached out to members of Congress, who led investigators to the hidden explosives. The pursuit of justice came with a price. Clemente was badly beaten in 2006 when she met in Brooklyn with someone who claimed to have mob information. Top producer Rama Mehra leads Asante Realty, known in the Tri-Valley for its long-standing reputation for providing clients with personalized, high-touch real estate service. In the competitive Bay Area market, its imperative that we help our clients stand out. Partnering with Side allows us to leverage state-of-the-art marketing, technology, administrative, and legal services that truly separate our clients from the pack. Asante Realty today announced its partnership with Side, the only real estate brokerage that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into boutique brands and businesses. Side will help Asante expand their reach and add cutting-edge tech to their dedicated, ethical representation. Led by Rama Mehra, a top-producing East Bay agent who has exceeded $650 million in home sales since 2004, Asantes agents have a collective 67 years of experience and over 220 five-star reviews on Zillow. Based in San Ramon, and serving residential buyers and sellers throughout the Tri-Valley, Rama and her team have a long-standing reputation for providing clients with personalized, high-touch real estate service. Partnering with Side will ensure Asante Realty remains at the cutting edge of the ever-evolving real estate market while allowing its agents to continue delivering top-of-the-line services to their clients. Asante agents are fully supported by a one-of-a-kind premium brokerage platform, which provides transaction management, property marketing, lead generation, business growth opportunities, vendor management, and infrastructure solutions. Rama Mehra has weathered many industry changes, including the Great Recession of 2008, and has consequently been an early adopter of new technologies. Of the partnership, she said, In the competitive Bay Area market, its imperative that we help our clients stand out. Partnering with Side allows us to leverage state-of-the-art marketing, technology, administrative, and legal services that truly separate our clients from the pack. Of the firm, she continued, Asante (in Swahili) means thank you, and we are so honored to have the opportunity to serve our community. We insist that they have the best the industry has to offer. Side is led by experienced industry professionals and world-class engineers who develop technology designed to improve agent productivity and enhance the client experience. Based on its belief that homeownership is a fundamental human right, Side is on a mission to improve the public good by providing top-performing agents with the best real estate service, experience, and results. Launched in 2017, Side now powers over 700 real estate agents from the top 2% of the industrys top producing teams. About Asante Realty Led by Rama Mehra, whos been an industry leader since 2004 with more than $650 million in sales, Asante Realty was established on the idea that clients deserve dedicated, ethical representation. A fearless, caring group of expert advisors, the team negotiates relentlessly, adapts to market trends, takes responsibility, and places honesty at the center of their service. Asante Realty is building lifetime relationships, one real estate dream at a time. To learn more, visit http://www.asanterealty.com/. About Side Side transforms high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. Side exclusively partners with the best agents, empowering them with proprietary technology and a premier support team so they can be more productive, grow their business, and focus on serving their clients. Side is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.sideinc.com. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 11:21:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a letter expressing warm congratulation on a series of activities marking the first International Tea Day. Xi stressed that the United Nation's decision to set up the International Tea Day showed the international community's recognition and emphasis on the value of tea, and the move is of geat significance to revitalize the tea industry and carry forward the tea culture. Enditem AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BorgWarner, a global leader in clean and efficient technology solutions for combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles, announced that it is Great Place to Work-Certified in the United States and Mexico. Certification is a significant achievement. Using validated employee feedback gathered with Great Place to Work's rigorous, data-driven For All methodology, certification confirms 7 out of 10 employees have a consistently positive experience at BorgWarner. Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue and increased innovation. Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience and the leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue and increased innovation. "We are thrilled to be Great Place to Work-Certified," says Felecia Pryor, Chief Human Resources Officer at BorgWarner. "We make employee experience a priority every day and it means a lot that our employees have reported a consistently positive experience with their coworkers, their leaders, and with their jobs. This is important to us because we know that when our employees have a high-trust experience every day they are more productive, drive better business results and make a difference to our customers." "We congratulate BorgWarner on their certification," said Sarah Lewis-Kulin, Vice President of Best Workplace List Research at Great Place to Work. "Organizations that earn their employees' trust create great workplace cultures that deliver outstanding business results." About Great Place to Work Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place to Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Emprising, their culture management platform, empowers leaders with the surveys, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place to Work-Certified companies and the Best Workplaces in the US and more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For and World's Best list published annually in Fortune. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All. To learn more, visit greatplacetowork.com, listen to the podcast Better by Great Place to Work, and read "A Great Place to Work for All." Join the community on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. About BorgWarner BorgWarner Inc. (NYSE: BWA) is a global product leader in clean and efficient technology solutions for combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles. With manufacturing and technical facilities in 67 locations in 19 countries, the company employs approximately 29,000 worldwide. For more information, please visit borgwarner.com. SOURCE BorgWarner Related Links www.borgwarner.com Sixteen more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the total number of cases reported in the state so far to 127, officials said on Thursday. With 54 people cured, the number of active cases in the state now stand at 69, which include 32 from Kangra, 15 from Hamirpur, five each from Solan and Bilaspur, four from Mandi, three from Chamba, two each from Sirmaur, Una and one from Kullu. Four people have so far died of the disease. Out of these fresh cases, reported from Kangra, Hamirpur and Solan districts, 10 had returned from Mumbai and five from West Bengal while one had come in contact with a local COVID-19 case, they said. The state had reported 18 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said six Mumbai returnees, including a woman, in Kangra district and five West Bengal returnees in Solan district have tested positive for the infection. They were already in institutional quarantine, and are being shifted to Baijnath, he said. A district official has confirmed five cases in Hamirpur on Thursday, however the details are not available immediately. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) KENT CITY, MI -- Police are at the scene of a suspicious death on South Kent Street in Kent City. Rescuers headed to the scene, just south of M-46, were told that a person may have a gunshot wound. Police later stopped a vehicle on M-37 near Eight Mile Road that was believed related to the incident. Kent County sheriffs deputies at about 5:20 p.m. said an investigation was in the early stages and they expected to release more details later. Police said there was no ongoing threat to the community. There was no information about the age or gender of the person who died. More from MLive Freedom Festival planned for Newaygo in response to coronavirus pandemic Officers issue $1,000 citations to barbers at state Capitol protest; conservative organizers pledge to cover costs 3.1 General Policy Statement. 3.1.1 The University of Texas at El Paso (the University) is committed to maintaining a learning and working environment that is free from discrimination based on sex in accordance with Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits sex discrimination in employment; and the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (SaVE Act), Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and Clery Act. Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, and other prohibited conduct as defined in this Policy (Section 3.11: Definitions and Examples), will not be tolerated and will be subject to disciplinary action. 3.1.2 The University will promptly discipline any individuals or organizations within its control who violate this Policy. The University encourages you to promptly report incidents that could constitute violations of this Policy to the Title IX Coordinator or Title IX Deputy Coordinators (as outlined in Section 3.3 of this Policy). 3.1.3 Free Speech. Freedom of speech and principles of academic freedom are central to the mission of institutions of higher education. Constitutionally protected expression cannot be considered Sexual Misconduct under this Policy. 3.2 Applicability and Scope. 3.2.1 Applicability. This Policy applies to all University administrators, faculty, staff, students, and third parties within the Universitys control, including visitors and applicants for admission or employment. It applies to conduct that occurs on University owned or controlled premises, in an education program or activity including University sponsored or supported events, buildings owned or controlled by student organizations officially recognized by the University, or off campus when the conduct potentially affects a persons education or employment with the University or potentially poses a risk of harm to members of the University community. It also applies regardless of the gender, gender identity or sexual orientation of the parties. 3.2.2 Prohibited Conduct under this Policy: Sexual Misconduct (which includes Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, and Other Inappropriate Sexual Conduct); Sexual Exploitation; Retaliation; Failure to Report (for a Responsible Employee); and False Information and False Complaints. Violations of Prohibited Conduct under this Policy will be adjudicated in accordance with this Policy. The definitions of Prohibited Conduct are in the Definitions Section of this Policy. 3.3 Reporting Incidents. 3.3.1 General Statement Empowering Community. This policy distinguishes between reporting sexual misconduct incidents on the one hand and filing Formal Complaints on the other. Reporting Sexual Misconduct incidents informs the University of the incident, which allows the institution to provide Supportive Measures (as outlined in Section 3.5.2 of this Policy) to the Complainant and does not necessarily result in the initiation of the Grievance Process (as outlined in Section 3.6 of this Policy). All Complainants who report incidents of Sexual Misconduct will be offered individualized Supportive Measures. If Complainants wish to initiate the Grievance Process, they should file a Formal Complaint. As explained in more detail below (including exceptions and details as to applicability), generally speaking, the Grievance Process may involve an investigation into the incident and a hearing to determine the responsibility of the Respondent. 3.3.2. Any person may report Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, or other conduct prohibited under this Policy to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators. Any person may report an incident, whether or not the person reporting is the person alleged to be the victim of the incident, and it can be a verbal or written report to the Title IX Coordinator and Deputy Title IX Coordinators: Gabriel Ramirez Title IX Coordinator Office of Institutional Compliance Title IX Kelly Hall, Room 312 Phone: 915-747-8358 Email: gramirez2@utep.edu Andrea Lafleche Deputy Title IX Coordinator Office of Institutional Compliance Title IX Kelly Hall, Room 312 Phone: (915) 747- 8375 Email: aclafleche@utep.edu Beatriz Tapia Deputy Title IX Coordinator Equal Opportunity Director Equal Opportunity Office, Kelly Hall, Room 304 Phone: (915) 747-5839 Email: betapia@utep.edu Dr. Catie McCorry-Andalis Deputy Title IX Coordinator Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Dean of Students Office Union West, Room 102 Phone: (915) 747-5648 Email: cmandalis@utep.edu Filing a Formal Complaint. The Complainant may file a Formal Complaint with the Title IX Coordinator Deputy Title IX Coordinators, as outlined in Section 3.6.2 of this Policy. Anonymity. You may make an anonymous report by telephone, in writing or electronically https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofTexasElPaso&layout_id=4 with the Title IX Office. Your decision to remain anonymous, however, may greatly limit the Universitys ability to stop the alleged conduct, collect evidence, or take action against parties accused of violating this Policy. Confidentiality. You can discuss an incident in strict confidence by using the confidential resources outlined in Section 3.5 of this Policy. Timeliness of Reporting. Responsible Employees are required to report known incidents and information of Sexual Misconduct promptly to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators. For others in the University community, you are strongly encouraged to report Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, and any other conduct prohibited under this Policy as soon as you become aware of such conduct. 3.3.3 Responsible Employees. If a Responsible Employee, defined below under Part 3.11- Definitions and Examples, receives a report of sexual misconduct, the employee must promptly report the incident to the Title IX Coordinator or a Deputy Title IX Coordinator. 3.3.4 Reporting to Law Enforcement. You may also make a complaint with The University of Texas at El Paso Police Department (UTEP PD) at (915) 747-5611 (emergency and non-emergency), to the City of El Paso Police Department at (915) 832-4400 (non-emergency) or 911 (emergency), or to other local law enforcement authorities. The Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators can help individuals contact these law enforcement agencies. Employees and students with protective or restraining orders relevant to a complaint are encouraged to provide a copy to the University Police Department. 3.3.5 Reporting to Outside Entities. You may also contact the following external agencies: For students : Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Education 1999 Bryan Street, Suite 1620 Dallas, TX 75201-6810 214-661-9600 214-661-9587 (fax) Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1301 Young Street, Suite 1169 Dallas, TX 75202 Phone: (800) 537-7697 FAX: (214) 767-0432 For employees : U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Dallas District Office 207 S. Houston Street, 3rd Floor Dallas, TX 75202 Phone: (800) 669-4000 FAX: (214) 253-2720 Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division 101 E. 15th Street Room 144-T Austin, TX 78778-0001 512-463-2642 3.3.6 Confidential and Private Support and Resources. Students may discuss an incident with a Confidential Employee, including a counselor in UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), UTEP Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office or a health care provider in the Student Health and Wellness Center without concern that the Confidential Employee will provide information to the Title IX Coordinator that would violate a students expectation of privacy. Confidential Employees who receive reports of sexual misconduct must report to the Title IX Coordinator only the type of incident without disclosing other identifiable information. Students and employees may also discuss an incident with the clergyperson of their choice, their own personal health care provider, or an off-campus resource without concern that the incident will be reported to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators. Employees may also seek assistance from the Employee Assistance Program, without concern that the incident will be reported to the Title IX Coordinator. The University and community resources that provide such services are: UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services Union West 202 https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/counsel (915) 747-5302 UTEP Student Health and Wellness Center Union East 100 https://www.utep.edu/chs/shc (915) 747-5624 UTEP Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office 1101 N. Campbell St. (Campbell Building) https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/care/ (915) 747-7452 UTEP Employee Assistance Program Deer Oaks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (866) 327-2400 3.3.7 Immunity. In an effort to encourage reporting of Sexual Misconduct, the University may grant immunity from student and/or employee disciplinary action to a person who acts in good faith in reporting an incident, filing a Formal Complaint, or participating in a Grievance Process (e.g. investigation, hearing, appeal). This immunity does not extend to the persons own violations of this Policy. 3.4 Parties Rights Regarding Confidentiality, Requests to Not Investigate, and Requests to Dismiss Formal Complaints. The University has great respect for the privacy of the parties identified in a report or Formal Complaint. Under state law, however, Responsible Employees who receive information of alleged Sexual Misconduct must share that information with the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators. As such, the University may need to act to maintain campus safety and must determine whether to investigate further, regardless of the Complainants request for confidentiality or request to not investigate a report received by the Title IX Coordinator. In making determinations regarding requests for confidentiality, Complainants requests to not investigate, Complainants requests to dismiss Formal Complaints, and/or requests to not disclose identifying information to Respondents, the Title IX Coordinator must deliberately weigh the rights, interests, and safety of the Complainant, the Respondent, and the campus community. Factors the University must consider when determining whether to investigate an alleged incident of Sexual Misconduct include, but are not limited to: The seriousness of the alleged incident; Whether the University has received other reports of alleged sexual misconduct by the alleged Respondent; Whether the alleged incident poses a risk or harm to others; and Any other factors the University determines relevant. Under state law, if the Complainant requests in writing that the University not investigate a report, the University must inform the Complainant of the decision whether or not to investigate. If the University dismisses a Formal Complaint (as outlined in Section 3.6.2(C) of this Policy), the University must provide the Complainant and Respondent a written notice of the dismissal and the reason(s) for the dismissal. If the University dismisses a Formal Complaint (as outlined in Section 3.6.2(C) of this Policy), the University must provide the Complainant and Respondent a written notice of the dismissal and the reason(s) for the dismissal. In the course of the Grievance Process, the University may share information only as necessary with people who need to know in compliance with the law, which may include but is not limited to the investigators, witnesses, Complainant, Respondent, parties advisors, hearing officer, and the appellate officerif applicable. The University will take all reasonable steps to ensure there is no retaliation against the parties or any other participants in the investigation or in any other part of the Grievance Process. 3.5 Resources and Assistance. 3.5.1 Immediate Assistance. Health Care: UTEP Student Health and Wellness Center (For students) Union East 100 https://www.utep.edu/chs/shc (915) 747-5624 University Medical Center (UMC) 4815 Alameda Avenue (915) 544-1200 Police: UTEP Police Department 3118 Sun Bowl Drive https://www.utep.edu/police (915) 747-5611 911 Emergency El Paso Police Department Victims Services/Domestic Violence (915) 212-4000 Counseling: UTEP services for students: UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services Union West 202 https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/counsel (915) 747-5302 UTEP Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office 1101 N. Campbell St. (Campbell Building) https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/care/ (915) 747-7452 UTEP service for employees: UTEP Employee Assistance Program (Employees) Deer Oaks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week www.deeroakseap.com (866) 327-2400 Non-UTEP services: Center Against Sexual and Family Violence 580 Giles Road 24/7 Crisis Hope Line (915) 593-7300 (800) 727-0511 La Pinon Sexual Assault Recovery Services of Southern New Mexico (888) 595-7273 Casa Amiga Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico 011656-6-90-83-00 or 011656-6-90-83-01 Ft. Bliss-Family Advocacy Program 915.568.9129 Domestic Violence Hotline (24/7) (915) 269-2013 Sexual Assault Hotline (915) 245-8991 National Domestic Violence Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (800) 799-7233 (800) 787-3224 (TTY) National Sexual Assault Hotline (800) 656-4673 (National) Healthcare. If you experience any form of sexual, domestic, or dating violence, you are encouraged to seek immediate medical care. Also, preserving DNA evidence can be key to identifying the perpetrator in a sexual violence case. Victims can undergo a medical exam to preserve physical evidence with or without police involvement. If possible, this should be done immediately. If an immediate medical exam is not possible, individuals who have experienced a sexual assault may have a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) performed by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) within 5 days (120 hours) of the incident. With the examinees consent, the physical evidence collected during this medical exam can be used in a criminal investigation; however, a person may undergo a SAFE even without contacting, or intending to contact, the police. To undergo a SAFE, go directly to the emergency department of University Medical Center (UMC), (915) 544-1200, or the nearest hospital that provides SAFE services. For more information about the SAFE, see https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/cvs/sexual_assault_examination.pdf. The cost of the forensic portion of the exam is covered by the law enforcement agency that is investigating the assault or, in cases where a report will not be made to the police, the Texas Department of Public Safety. This does not include fees related to medical treatment that are not a part of the SAFE. Police Assistance. If you experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct, the University encourages you to make a report to the police. The police may, in turn, share your report with the Title IX Office or the Deputy Coordinators, with the exception of when you use a pseudonym form under the Code of Criminal Procedure for incidents of sexual assault, stalking, family violence, and human trafficking. In those instances, where a pseudonym form is used, the police will only report the type of incident to the Title IX Coordinator but not any information identifying you. A police departments geographic jurisdiction depends on where the sexual misconduct occurred. Thus, if the incident occurred on the University campus, you may file a report with the UTEP Police Department by calling (915) 747-5611 or in person at UTEP Police Department headquarters at 3118 Sun Bowl Drive (the building is located in the Universitys Facilities Services Complex), even if time has passed since the incident occurred. The UTEP Police Department can also assist with applying for any protective orders. Reporting an incident to law enforcement does not mean the case will automatically go to criminal trial or go through a Grievance Process. If the University police are called, a police officer will be sent to the scene to take a detailed statement. A police officer or victim services coordinator may also provide you with a ride to the hospital. You may also file a report with the University police even if the assailant was not a University student or employee. If the incident occurred in the City of El Paso, but off campus, you may also file a report with the El Paso Police Department, even if time has passed since the incident occurred. If a report is made to the police, a police officer will usually be dispatched to the location to take a written report. A sexual assault victim will also have an opportunity to have a crime victim liaison, counselor, advocate, or police officer with specialized training be present with the victim during police investigative interviews. Counseling and Other Services. If you experience Sexual Misconduct, you are strongly encouraged to seek counseling or medical and psychological care even if you do not plan to request a SAFE or report the incident to the police. You may be prescribed medications to prevent sexually transmitted infections and/or pregnancy even if the police are not contacted or if a SAFE is not performed. Similarly, other individuals impacted or affected by a sexual misconduct complaint are encouraged to seek counseling or psychological care. You may receive medical care at the UTEP Student Health and Wellness Center (for students only), at a local emergency room, or by a private physician. You may also be provided with psychological support by UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services (students), UTEP Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office (students), a referral through the Employee Assistance Program (employees), or a care provider of your choosing. Students desiring counseling should contact: UTEP Counseling and Psychological Services Union West 202 https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/counsel (915) 747-5302 UTEP Campus Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) Office 1101 N. Campbell St. (Campbell Building) https://www.utep.edu/student-affairs/care/ (915) 747-7452 Faculty and staff should contact: UTEP Employee Assistance Program Deer Oaks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week www.deeroakseap.com (866) 327-2400 3.5.2 Supportive Measures. The University will offer reasonably available individualized services, without any fee or charge, to the parties involved in a reported incident of Sexual Misconduct with or without the filing of a Formal Complaint, when applicable. Supportive Measures may include but are not limited to housing reassignment, counseling, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of work or class schedules, withdrawal from or retake of a class without penalty, campus escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, change in work or housing locations, leaves of absences, increased security and monitoring of certain areas of campus, or other similar measures tailored to the individualized needs of the parties. Supportive Measures are non-disciplinary and non-punitive measures that do not unreasonably burden the other party. Any disciplinary or punitive measures may only be implemented following the conclusion of the Grievance Process, unless an emergency removal (as outlined in Section 3.7.1) is appropriate. The University will maintain the confidentiality of Supportive Measures provided to the parties, to the extent that maintaining such confidentiality does not impair the ability of the University to provide the Supportive Measures. 3.6 The Grievance Process. 3.6.1 Key Officials in an Investigation. Title IX Coordinator. The Title IX Coordinator is the senior University administrator who oversees the Universitys compliance with Title IX. The Title IX Coordinator is responsible for administrative response to reports and Formal Complaints of Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, and other conduct prohibited under this Policy. The Title IX Coordinator is available to discuss the Grievance Process, coordinate Supportive Measures, explain University policies and procedures, and provide education on relevant issues. The Title IX Coordinator may designate one or more Deputy Title IX Coordinators to facilitate these responsibilities. Any member of the University community may contact the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators with questions. Investigator(s). The University will ensure that Formal Complaints are properly investigated under this Policy by investigators assigned to the Formal Complaint. The investigators are neutral and impartial fact-finders, and gather evidence during the investigation. The investigators are responsible for completing an investigation report at the conclusion of the investigation. The Title IX Deputy Coordinators may supervise and advise the Title IX investigators when conducting investigations and update the Title IX Coordinator as necessary to ensure compliance with Title IX. Hearing Officer. The hearing officer is responsible for conducting the hearing in an orderly manner, controlling the conduct of all participants and attendees of the hearing, and rendering a written determination regarding responsibility of the Respondents alleged conduct charges in an impartial, neutral, and objective manner. 3.6.2 Formal Complaints Against Students and Employees [1] Applicability of the Grievance Process. The Grievance Process in this Policy applies to the following situations: Students. The Grievance Process in Sections 3.6.2 to 3.6.10 of this Policy applies in the instances where the Respondent is a student (including student employees) [2] at the University at the time of the alleged conduct and where the conduct alleged includes Sexual Harassment. An alternative Grievance Process in Section 3.6.11 of this Policy applies in instances where the Respondent is a student at the time of the alleged conduct but where the conduct alleged does not include Sexual Harassment. Employees: Faculty and Staff. For employees, the Grievance Process in this Policy only applies where all of the following conditions are met: The respondent is an employee at the University at the time of the alleged conduct; The conduct alleged includes Sexual Harassment under this Policy; The alleged conduct occurred against a person in the United States; and Where the Complainant was participating or attempting to participate in an education program or activity at the University. This element is met if the conduct occurred in any of the following: on any University property; during any University activity; in a building owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the University; or in instances where the University exercised substantial control over the Respondent and the context in which the alleged conduct occurred. In all other instances relating to employees, allegations of Sexual Misconduct will be handled in accordance with the Universitys Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) Section 6, Chapter 1: Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Non-Discrimination Policy, HOP Section 5, Chapter 6: Discipline and Dismissal of Staff Employees, and HOP Section 3, Chapter 4: Academic Policies and Faculty Personnel Matters. To begin the Grievance Process, the Complainant must sign a Formal Complaint (requesting an investigation) and submit it to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinator. The Complainant must submit a written statement setting out the known details of the alleged conduct that is the subject of the Formal Complaint, including the following: Complainants name and contact information; Respondents name; Detailed description of the alleged conduct or event that is the basis of the alleged violation under this Policy; Date(s) and location(s) of the alleged occurrence(s); and Names of any witnesses to the alleged occurrence(s); the resolution sought. The Complainant may also submit any documents or information that is relevant to the Formal Complaint. The Title IX Coordinator may also sign a Formal Complaint against a Respondent (requesting an investigation) and in doing so will initiate the Grievance Process. Mandatory and Discretionary Formal Complaint Dismissals. Under Title IX regulations, universities are required to distinguish between prohibited conduct that is under Title IX and prohibited conduct that is a violation of university policy. Under Title IX, the University must dismiss a Formal Complaint or the part of the allegations in a Formal Complaint, if applicable, where: Sexual Harassment is alleged and where: The conduct alleged does not meet the definition of Sexual Harassment; The alleged conduct did not occur in the Universitys education program or activity; or The alleged conduct did not occur against a person in the United States. A dismissal under this provision only applies to allegations of Sexual Harassment under Title IX. In such an instance, the University may still investigate a Formal Complaint for allegations of Sexual Harassment under this Policy. The University may also investigate allegations of prohibited conduct under this Policy, but it will not technically be under Title IX. The University may dismiss a Formal Complaint, at its discretion, under this Policys Grievance Process for any of the following circumstances: If the Complainant requests in writing to dismiss a Formal Complaint (e.g., withdraws the Formal Complaint or any allegations therein), as outlined in Section 3.4 of this Policy; If the Respondent is an employee and no longer employed by the University at the time the Formal Complaint is filed; Any specific circumstances that prevent the University from gathering evidence sufficient to reach a determination as to the Formal Complaint or any allegations therein; or The conduct alleged does not meet the definition of any prohibited conduct under this Policy. If the University dismisses a Formal Complaint, the University must provide both parties a written notice of the dismissal and the reason(s) for the dismissal. Concurrent Criminal or Civil Proceedings. The University will not, as a matter of course, wait for the outcome of a concurrent criminal or civil justice proceeding to take action on a Formal Complaint in a University Grievance Process. The University has an independent duty to respond to Formal Complaints of Sexual Misconduct. At the Universitys discretion, the University may delay the investigation or Grievance Process for a brief period due to concurrent criminal or civil proceedings on a case-by-case basis. 3.6.3 Written Notice of the Formal Complaint, and Notification of University Offices Offering Assistance. After receiving a Formal Complaint, the Title IX Office will provide a written notice to the parties of the Formal Complaint and available University resources and assistance. The written notice of the Formal Complaint will include the following: A notice of the Grievance Process, as outlined in this Policy; A notice of the allegations that potentially constitute prohibited conduct under this Policy, including sufficient details about the alleged conduct, including the identities of the parties, if known, and the date(s), time(s), and location(s) of alleged conduct known by the University at the time of the Formal Complaint; A statement of the potential policy violations being investigated; A statement that the Respondent is presumed not responsible for the alleged conduct and that the determination regarding responsibility will be made at the conclusion of the Grievance Process; A statement that both parties may have an advisor of their choice, who may be, but is not required to be, an attorney, and may inspect and review all evidence; A statement that the parties may inspect and review all evidence gathered as part of any investigation; A statement that knowingly making false statements or knowingly submitting false information during the Grievance Process is prohibited and subject to disciplinary action; and Any other relevant information for the written notice. 3.6.4 Investigation of the Formal Complaint Gathering of Evidence After the University provides written notice of a Formal Complaint to the parties, the Respondent will be allowed a reasonable time to respond in writing and through an interview with the investigator. The University will provide written notice to a party whose participation is invited or expected of the date, time, location, participants, and purpose of all meetings, investigative interviews, or other proceedings in the Grievance Process. Evidence. The parties in the investigation may present any information and evidence that may be relevant to the Formal Complaint, and may have an advisor of their choice attend any related interview, meeting, or proceeding in the Grievance Process. Advisors are not permitted to actively participate in meetings or proceedings in the Grievance Process, unless explicitly outlined in Section 3.6.6(J) of this Policy. The parties may present the names of any fact or expert witnesses who may provide relevant information, and how the witnesses may be relevant to the Formal Complaint. The parties may submit to the investigator any questions they would like asked of any known potential witnesses or parties. Witness Interviews. The investigators will interview relevant and available witnesses. Neither the Complainant nor the Respondent will normally attend these interviews; however, if either one is permitted to attend, the other shall have the same right. Investigation Timeframe. The investigation of a Formal Complaint will be concluded within 90 business days of the filing of a Formal Complaint. The parties should be provided updates on the progress of the investigation, as needed. Access to Evidence. Prior to the completion of the investigation report, the investigators will provide access to all evidence obtained (whether relevant or not) as part of the investigation to both parties (and the partys advisor, if any, upon a partys signed information release for their advisor of choice). Both parties will have 10 business days to inspect, review, and respond to the evidence. All responses to the evidence must be submitted by the party in writing to the investigator. Advisors are not permitted to submit written responses to the evidence on their own or on behalf of the party they are advising. The investigators will consider all timely responses submitted by the parties. Completed Investigation Report. The completed investigation report will outline each of the allegations that potentially constitutes prohibited conduct under this Policy, provide the timeline (e.g. procedural steps) of the investigation, and objectively summarize relevant evidence, participant statements, and responses to questions. The investigator will provide a completed investigation report concurrently to both parties and each partys advisor, if any, upon a partys signed information release for their advisor of choice at least 10 business days prior to the date of the scheduled hearing to review and provide a written response at the hearing. A copy of the completed investigation report will be issued to the Title IX Coordinator, and to the hearing officer assigned for the hearing. 3.6.5 Standard of Evidence & Presumption of Not Responsible. All Grievance Processes will use the preponderance of the evidence standard, as defined in of this Policy. By law, it is presumed that the Respondent is not responsible for the alleged conduct unless that determination regarding responsibility is made at the conclusion of the Grievance Process. Best efforts will be made to complete the complaint process in a timely manner by balancing principles of thoroughness and fundamental fairness with promptness. 3.6.6 Live Hearing Determination of Responsibility Absent a Formal Complaint dismissal or the parties decision to reach an Informal Resolution agreement (if applicable), the University will provide a live hearing for all Formal Complaints subject to the Grievance Process as outlined in this Policy at the time of the alleged conduct. The University representative will present information regarding the case at the hearing and will have the ability to present information and witnesses, question witnesses, and provide opening and closing statements at the hearing. Written Notice of the Hearing. The University will provide at least 10 business days written notice of the hearing to the Parties (and the parties advisors, if any, upon a partys signed information release for their advisor of choice), including the date, time, location, names of all participants of the hearing (including the hearing officer, and all parties and participants in the investigation report), purpose of the hearing, a statement of the alleged conduct charges, and a summary statement of the evidence gathered. The hearing notice may also provide a deadline by which the University representative and the parties have an opportunity to disclose (1) the names of any witnesses they intend to call to testify at the hearing, if any, and (2) a copy of any documents they intend to use as exhibits at the hearing, not already included in the investigation report, if any. Challenges to the Hearing Officer. Either party may challenge the fairness, impartiality or objectivity of a hearing officer. The challenge must be submitted in writing to the hearing officer through the office coordinating the hearing within 4 business days after notice of the identity of the hearing officer, and must state the reasons for the challenge. The hearing officer will be the sole judge of whether they can serve with fairness, impartiality, and objectivity. In the event that the hearing officer recuses themselves, an alternative hearing officer will be assigned in accordance with the institutions procedures. Hearing Officer Duties at the Hearing. Hearing officers will rule on all procedural matters and on objections regarding exhibits and testimony of participants at the hearing, may question participants who testify at the hearing, and are entitled to have the advice and assistance of legal counsel from the Office of General Counsel of the U.T. System. Access to Evidence. Each party will have access to all of the evidence from the investigation, including a copy of the completed investigation report, as outlined in Section 3.6.4 (F) of this Policy. Separate Rooms and Virtual Participation. At the request of either party, the University will provide for the hearing to be held with the parties located in separate rooms with technology enabling the hearing officer and the parties to simultaneously see and hear the participants answering questions. Participants may appear at the hearing virtually, and are not required to be physically present at the same physical location of the hearing. Each party may make opening and closing statements. Privileged Information Excluded. No person will be required to disclose information protected under a legally recognized privilege. The hearing officer must not allow into evidence or rely upon any questions or evidence that may require or seek disclosure of such information, unless the person holding the privilege has waived the privilege. This includes information protected by the attorney-client privilege. Advisor of Choice. Each party may have an advisor of their choice at the hearing. If a party does not have an advisor, the University will provide one. If a party knows that they will not have an advisor present at the hearing, it is encouraged that the unrepresented party notify the Title IX Office at least three (3) days prior to the hearing so that a hearing advisor can be assigned to the party. Advisors are not permitted to actively participate in the hearing, except for asking questions of the other party and any other witnesses. In addition, witnesses may have an advisor of their choice at the hearing. Questioning of the participants in the hearing: The hearing officer may, at the their discretion, ask questions during the hearing of any party or witness and may be the first to ask questions of any party or witness. Each partys advisor will have an opportunity to ask relevant questions and follow-up questions of the other party and of any witnesses that participate in the hearing, including questions that challenge credibility. Each advisor has the ability to ask questions directly, orally, and in real time at the hearing. The parties will not be permitted to personally ask questions of the other party or any witnesses that participate in the hearing. The University representative and the advisors may ask questions under the following procedure: The questioner will ask a question of the applicable participant. Before the participant answers a question, the hearing officer will rule as to whether the advisors question is relevant to the alleged conduct charges. If the hearing officer rules that the question is not relevant, then the hearing officer must explain any decision to exclude a question as not relevant. If the hearing officer allows the question as relevant, the participant will answer it. Prior Sexual History: A Complainants sexual predisposition or prior sexual behavior are not relevant except where questions and evidence about a Complainants prior sexual behavior are offered to prove that someone other than the Respondent committed the alleged conduct charged by the Complainant or if the questions or evidence concern specific incidents of the Complainants prior sexual behavior with the Respondent and are offered to prove the Complainants consent to the alleged conduct. Hearing Officer Determination. The hearing officer will issue a written determination, which must include the following: The allegations that potentially constitutes prohibited conduct under this Policy; A description of all of the procedural steps of the Grievance Process under this Policy (from receipt of a Formal Complaint to the determination regarding responsibility of the Respondent, including any notifications of the parties, interviews with parties and witnesses, site visits, methods used to gather other evidence, and hearings held); The findings of fact supporting the hearing officers determination; The conclusion(s) and a rationale as to whether the Respondent is responsible for each allegation; The disciplinary sanctions, if applicable; Whether additional remedies designed to restore or preserve equal access to the education program or activity will be provided to the Complainant; and The institutions procedures and permissible bases for the parties to appeal, if applicable. The hearing officer will send a copy of the written determination concurrently to the parties, in addition to the Dean (for student Respondents) or appropriate administrator (for employee Respondents), and the Title IX Coordinator. The hearing will be recorded in audio or audiovisual format and may be transcribed at the discretion of the University. The recording or transcript, if applicable, will be available for the parties to inspect and review, upon request. 3.6.7 Sanctions and Remedies. The following sanctions and remedies may be considered by the hearing officer in accordance with this Policy: Possible Sanctions and Remedies for Student Respondents: Educational training; No shared classes or extra-curricular activities; Disciplinary probation; Withholding of grades, official transcript, and/or degree; Bar against readmission, bar against enrollment, drop from one or more classes, and/or withdrawal from the University; Suspension of rights and privileges, including but not limited to participation in athletic or extracurricular activities; Denial of degree; Suspension from the University for a specific period of time. Suspension is noted on the academic transcript with the term Disciplinary Suspension. The notation can be removed upon the request of the student in accordance with the Universitys procedures when all conditions of the suspension are met; Expulsion (permanent separation from the University). Expulsion creates a permanent notation on the students academic transcript; Revocation of degree and withdrawal of diploma; and/or Other sanction(s) or remedies as deemed appropriate under the circumstances. Possible Sanctions and Remedies for Employee Respondents: Suspension with or without pay for a specific period of time; Dismissal or termination; Other sanction(s) or remedies as deemed appropriate under the circumstances. 3.6.8 Appeals and Additional Processes Provided to Students and Employees. Appeals. Either party may appeal in writing to a hearing officers determination regarding a Respondents responsibility under the Grievance Process, or the Universitys dismissal of a Formal Complaint (or any allegations in the Formal Complaint), within 10 business days of notification of such a determination, on the following bases: A procedural irregularity that affected the outcome of the matter; There is new evidence that was not reasonably available at the time that the determination regarding responsibility or dismissal was made that could affect the outcome of the matter; or The Title IX Coordinator, investigator(s), or hearing officer had a conflict of interest or bias for or against the parties (generally, or specifically in this matter) that affected the outcome of the matter. The appellate officerwho will be the President of the University or her or his designeemust not be the same person as the Title IX Coordinator, investigator(s), or hearing officer in the Grievance Process. Both parties will be notified in writing when an appeal is filed and the appeal procedures will apply equally for both parties. The non-appealing party will have 7 business days from the notification of an appeal to submit a written statement in support of the outcome. The appellate officer will release a written decision within 21 business days from the date of the appeal. The appellate officers written decision shall: Affirm the hearing officers determination regarding the Respondents responsibility and the disciplinary sanctions and remedies, if applicable; Affirm the hearing officers determination regarding the Respondents responsibility, but amend the disciplinary sanctions and remedies, if applicable; Affirm the Universitys dismissal of a Formal Complaint (or any allegations in the Formal Complaint); Remand the process back to the investigation or hearing stage for the investigator or hearing officer (or applicable equivalent) to remedy any procedural irregularity or consider any new evidence; Reverse the hearing officers determination of the Respondents responsibility and amend the disciplinary sanctions and remedies, if applicable; or Affirm or amend the sanctions and/or remedies outlined in the administrative disposition issued under Section 3.6.11 of this Policy. 3.6.9 Grievance Process Documentation. The University (through the appropriate office) will retain all of the documentation included in the Grievance Process (outlined in Section 3.6 of this Policy) for seven (7) years, in accordance with state and federal records laws and University policy. All documentation of records are private and confidential to the extent possible under law. Student records of the Grievance Process are disciplinary records under FERPA. Employee records of the Grievance Process are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA), and included in the employees official employment record. 3.6.10 Grievance Process Timeframe. The entire Grievance Process (outlined in Section 3.6 of this Policy, including any appeal) will be completed in no more than 150 business days from the filing of the Formal Complaint. However, the circumstances may require a temporary delay in this timeframe and the University may extend this timeframe for good cause. In such an instance, the University will provide written notice to the parties of the delay or extension and the reason(s) for the action. Good cause may include considerations such as the absence of a party, a partys advisor, or a witness; concurrent law enforcement activity; the need for language assistance or accommodation of disabilities; or other reasonable considerations. 3.6.11 Alternative Grievance Process for Students Applicable Exceptions for Non-Sexual Harassment Formal Complaints. For Formal Complaints where the Respondent is a student at the time of the alleged conduct (including student employees), and the alleged conduct does not include Sexual Harassment, the Grievance Process in Section 3.6 of this Policy applies, with the following exceptions: Investigation Report & Determination Regarding Responsibility. Section 3.6.4(G) applies except that the completed investigation report will include a preliminary determination regarding the responsibility of the Respondent for each allegation, the findings of fact supporting the investigators determination, and the rationale for the determination for each allegation. The completed investigation report and determination regarding responsibility will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR). The Student Conduct Officer will conduct an independent review of the investigation report, and will: Accept the preliminary determination regarding responsibility of the Respondent, and either dismiss the case or proceed to adjudication (if applicable); Amend the preliminary determination regarding responsibility of the Respondent, and proceed to adjudication (if applicable); or Remand the process back to the investigation stage to address an investigation concern. Adjudication. Where responsibility finding(s) proceed to the adjudication stage, the Respondent and Complainant may elect one of the following options: Agree to the determination of responsibility for each of the applicable allegations, the sanctions, and remedies outlined in an administrative disposition, and waive the option of a hearing; Agree to the determination of responsibility for each of the applicable allegations, appeal (in writing) the sanctions and/or remedies outlined in the administrative disposition, and waive the option of a hearing; or Select a live hearing where the determination regarding responsibility of the Respondent will be made by a hearing officer. If either party chooses option 3, then a live hearing must be initiated for the adjudication of the conduct allegations, as outlined in Section 3.6.11(C). Absent either party choosing option 3 (live hearing), if either party chooses option 2, then any party choosing option 2 may appeal the sanctions and/or remedies outlined in the administrative disposition, using the Appeals process in Section 3.6.8 of this Policy. The finding of responsibility may not be appealed by either party. If both parties select option 1, then the administrative disposition will be final and there will not be any subsequent adjudication proceedings regarding the allegations. Live Hearing. If a live hearing is selected for adjudication, , the hearing procedures in Section 3.6.6 of this Policy will apply, with the following exceptions: Advisor of Choice. [3] Each party may have an advisor of their choice at the hearing. Upon request from either party, the University will provide an advisor to that party. Advisors are not permitted to actively participate in the hearing. In addition, witnesses may have an advisor of their choice at the hearing. Questioning of the participants in the hearing. [4] The hearing officer may, at the hearing officers discretion, ask questions during the hearing of any party or witness and may be the first person to ask questions of any party or witness. Each party may ask relevant questions of any witness at the hearing, except that cross-examination questions of the other party must be submitted in writing to the hearing officer. The hearing officer will then ask relevant cross-examination questions of the other party and allow for relevant follow-up questions (if applicable). Advisors are not permitted to ask any questions at the hearing. Prior Sexual History: A Complainants sexual predisposition or prior sexual behavior are not relevant except where questions and evidence about a Complainants prior sexual behavior are offered to prove that someone other than the Respondent committed the alleged conduct charged by the Complainant or if the questions or evidence concern specific incidents of the Complainants prior sexual behavior with the Respondent and are offered to prove the Complainants consent to the alleged conduct. 3.7 Emergency Removal and Employee Administrative Leave. 3.7.1 Emergency Removal (student respondent). A Respondent may be removed from the Universitys education program or activity on an emergency basis if, after an individualized safety and risk analysis, it is determined that such a removal is justified because the Respondent poses an immediate threat to the physical health or safety of an individual arising from the allegations of Sexual Misconduct. Under these circumstances, the Respondent will be notified in writing of the emergency removal from the Universitys education program or activity, and the Respondent will have an opportunity to immediately challenge the decision following the emergency removal. If the Respondent chooses to appeal an emergency removal, the appeal must be submitted to the Emergency Appeal Official within 5 business days of the notification of emergency removal. After receipt of an appeal of emergency removal, the Emergency Appeal Official(s) will have 5 business days to provide Respondent a written determination regarding the appeal. 3.7.2 Employee Administrative Leave. An employee Respondent may be placed on administrative leave, in accordance with the Universitys policy and procedures on employee administrative leave, during the pendency of a Grievance Process, as outlined in this Policy. 3.8 Dissemination of Policy and Educational Programs. 3.8.1 This Policy will be made available to all University administrators, faculty, staff, and students online at https://www.utep.edu/hoop/section-6/ch-3.html and in University student catalog(s) and any employee handbook of operating procedures. Periodic notices will be sent to University administrators, faculty, staff and students about the Universitys Sexual Misconduct Policy, including but not limited to at the beginning of each fall and spring semester. The notice will include information about Sexual Misconduct, Retaliation, and other conduct prohibited under this Policy, including the Formal Complaint procedure, the University Grievance Process, and available resources, such as support services, health, and mental health services. The notice will specify the right to file a Formal Complaint under this Policy, right to file a police report to law enforcement, the Title IX Coordinators contact information, and will refer individuals to designated offices or officials for additional information. 3.8.2 Ongoing Sexual Misconduct Training. The Universitys commitment to raising awareness of the dangers of Sexual Misconduct includes providing ongoing education through annual training and lectures by faculty, staff, mental health professionals, and/or trained University personnel. Preventive education and training programs will be provided to University administrators, faculty, staff, and students and will include information about primary prevention, risk reduction, and bystander intervention: https://www.utep.edu/titleix/training.html 3.8.3 Training of Title IX Coordinators, Investigators, Hearing Officers and Appellate Authorities. All Title IX Coordinators, Deputy Coordinators, investigators, and those with authority over University Grievance Processes and appeals shall receive training each academic year related to applicable prohibited conduct, Grievance Processes, due process, and University policies related to Sexual Misconduct. All training materials used to train Title IX-related personnel (e.g. Title IX Coordinators, deputies, investigators, hearing officers, and appellate officers (among others)) will be made available on the Universitys website: https://www.utep.edu/titleix/training.html 3.8.4 Annual Reporting and Notice. The Universitys Title IX General Policy Statement will be made available to all students, faculty, and staff online https://www.utep.edu/TitleIX/, in required publications and in specified departments. 3.9 Additional Conduct Violations under this Policy. 3.9.1 Retaliation. Any person who retaliates against (a) anyone filing a report of Sexual Misconduct or Formal Complaint, (b) the parties or any other participants (including any witnesses or any University employee) in a Grievance Process relating to a Formal Complaint, (c) any person who refuses to participate in a Grievance Process, or (d) any person who under this Policy opposed any unlawful practice, is subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal or separation from the University. If any participant in a Grievance Process believes they have been subject to Retaliation (as defined in this Policy), they should immediately report the alleged retaliatory conduct to the Title IX Coordinator. 3.9.2 False Information and False Complaints. Any person, who in bad faith, knowingly files a false complaint under this Policy or provides materially false information is subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal or separation from the University. A determination that a Respondent is not responsible for allegations of Sexual Misconduct does not imply a report, Formal Complaint, or information provided was false. Similarly, a determination that a Respondent is responsible for a policy violation does not imply that a Respondents statements disclaiming responsibility were false. 3.9.3 Interference with the Grievance Process. Any person who interferes with the Grievance Process (outlined in Section 3.6 of this Policy) is subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal or separation from the University. Interference with a Grievance Process may include, but is not limited to: Attempting to coerce, compel, or prevent an individual from providing testimony or relevant information; Removing, destroying, or altering documentation relevant to the Grievance Process; or Knowingly providing false or misleading information to the Title IX Coordinator, investigator or hearing officer, or encouraging others to do so. 3.9.4 Failure to Report for Responsible Employees. If a Responsible Employee knowingly fails to report all information concerning an incident the employee reasonably believes constitutes stalking, dating violence, sexual assault, or sexual harassment committed by or against a student or employee at the time of the incident, the employee is subject to disciplinary action, including termination. For purposes of Failure to Report, the definition of sexual harassment, as defined under state law, is broader than the definition of sexual harassment under this Policy and is defined as: Unwelcome, sex-based verbal or physical conduct that: in the employment context, unreasonably interferes with a persons work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment; or in the education context, is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that the conduct interferes with a students ability to participate in or benefit from educational programs or activities at a postsecondary institution. 3.9.5 No Effect on Pending Personnel or Academic Actions Unrelated to the Complaint. The filing of a Formal Complaint under this Policy will not stop or delay any action unrelated to the Formal Complaint, including: (1) any evaluation or disciplinary action relating to a Complainant who is not performing up to acceptable standards or who has violated University rules or policies; (2) any evaluation or grading of students participating in a class, or the ability of a student to add/drop a class, change academic programs, or receive financial reimbursement for a class; or (3) any job-related functions of a University employee. Nothing in this section shall limit the Universitys ability to take interim action or execute an emergency removal. 3.10 Documentation. The University shall confidentially maintain information related to complaints under this Policy, as required by law. 3.11 Definitions and Examples. [5] Coercion The use of pressure to compel another individual to initiate or continue sexual activity against an individuals will. Coercion can include a wide range of behaviors, including psychological or emotional pressure, physical or emotional threats, intimidation, manipulation, or blackmail that causes the person to engage in unwelcome sexual activity. A persons words or conduct are sufficient to constitute coercion if they eliminate a reasonable persons freedom of will and ability to choose whether or not to engage in sexual activity. Examples of coercion include but are not limited to threatening to out someone based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; threatening to harm oneself if the other party does not engage in the sexual activity; threatening to disclose someones highly personal images; threatening to disclose sensitive details about ones sexual preferences, habits, and/or experiences; and threatening to expose someones prior sexual activity to another person. Complainant The individual who is alleged to be the victim of any prohibited conduct under this Policy. Confidential Employees Confidential Employees include counselors in Counseling and Psychological Services, a health care provider in Health Services, or clergypersons. Additionally, employees who receive information regarding an incident of sexual misconduct under circumstances that render the employees communications confidential or privileged under other law (such as attorneys) are also considered Confidential Employees. Note: Under state law, Confidential Employees who receive information regarding incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence or stalking committed by or against a student or an employee of the University, are required to report the type of incident to the Title IX Coordinator (or Deputy Coordinators). Confidential Employees may not include any information that would violate a students expectation of privacy. The Confidential Employees duty to report an incident under any other law also applies. Consent A voluntary, mutually understandable agreement that clearly indicates a willingness to engage in each instance of sexual activity. Consent to one act does not imply consent to another. Consent to engage in sexual activity with one person does not imply consent to engage in sexual activity with another. Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Any expression of an unwillingness to engage in any instance of sexual activity establishes a presumptive lack of consent. Consent is not effective if it results from: (a) the use of physical force, (b) a threat of physical force, (c) intimidation, (d) coercion, (is not effective if it results from: (a) the use of physical force, (b) a threat of physical force, (c) intimidation, (d) coercion, (e) incapacitation or (f) any other factor that would eliminate an individuals ability to exercise his or her own free will to choose whether or not to have sexual activity. A current or previous dating or sexual relationship, by itself, is not sufficient to constitute consent. Even in the context of a relationship, there must be a voluntary, mutually understandable agreement that clearly indicates a willingness to engage in each instance of sexual activity. The definition of consent for the crime of sexual assault in Texas can be found in Section 22.011(b) of the Texas Penal Code. [6] Dating Violence [7] Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on the consideration of the following factors: The length of the relationship; The type of relationship; and The frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. Dating violence includes, but is not limited to, sexual or physical abuse or the threat of such abuse. It does not include acts covered under the definition of domestic violence. Domestic (Family) Violence [8] includes felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws of the state of Texas, or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that persons acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the state of Texas. Hostile Environment exists when sexual misconduct is sufficiently severe or pervasive to deny or limit the individuals ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity or an employees terms and conditions of employment. [9] A hostile environment can be created by anyone (e.g., administrators, faculty members, employees, students, and University visitors) involved in an education program or activity or work environment. In determining whether sexual misconduct has created a hostile environment, the University considers the conduct in question from both a subjective and objective perspective. It will be necessary, but not adequate, that the conduct was unwelcome to the individual who was mistreated. To conclude that conduct created or contributed to a hostile environment, the University must also find that a reasonable person in the individuals position would have perceived the conduct as undesirable or offensive. To ultimately determine whether a hostile environment exists for an individual or individuals, the University may consider a variety of factors related to the severity, persistence, or pervasiveness of the sexual misconduct, including: (1) the type, frequency, and duration of the conduct; (2) the identity and relationships of the persons involved; (3) the number of individuals involved; (4) the location of the conduct and the context in which it occurred; and (5) the degree to which the conduct affected an individuals education or employment. The more severe the sexual misconduct, the less need there is to show a repetitive series of incidents to find a hostile environment. Indeed, a single instance of sexual assault may be sufficient to create a hostile environment. Likewise, a series of incidents may be sufficient even if the sexual misconduct is not particularly severe. Incapacitation Incapacitation is the inability, temporarily or permanently, to give consent because the individual is mentally and/or physically helpless, either voluntarily or involuntarily, or the individual is unconscious, asleep, or otherwise unaware that the sexual activity is occurring. An individual may be incapacitated if they are unaware at the time of the incident of where they are, how they got there, or why or how they became engaged in a sexual interaction. When alcohol is involved, incapacitation is a state beyond drunkenness or intoxication. When drug use is involved, incapacitation is a state beyond being under the influence or impaired by use of the drug. Alcohol and other drugs impact each individual differently, and determining whether an individual is incapacitated requires an individualized determination. After establishing that a person is in fact incapacitated, the University asks two questions: Did the person initiating sexual activity know that the other party was incapacitated? and if not, Should a sober, reasonable person in the same situation have known that the other party was incapacitated? If the answer to either of these questions is YES, consent was absent and the conduct is likely a violation of this Policy. A Respondent will be found to have violated policy only if the Respondent knew or should have known that the person was incapacitated. Intimidation Unlawfully placing another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack. Other Inappropriate Sexual Conduct Conduct on the basis of sex that does not meet the definition of sexual harassment under this Policy, but is If verbal conduct (including through electronic means), unwanted statements of a sexual nature intentionally stated to a person or group of people, that are objectively offensive to a reasonable person and also so severe or pervasive that they created a Hostile Environment, as defined in this Policy. The type of verbal conduct (if all other elements are met) may include: Unwelcome sexual advances (including explicit or implicit proposition(s) of sexual contact or activity); Requests for sexual favors (including overt or subtle pressure); Gratuitous comments about an individuals sexual activities or speculation about an individuals sexual experiences; Gratuitous comments, jokes, questions, anecdotes or remarks of a sexual nature about clothing or bodies; Persistent, unwanted sexual or romantic attention; Exposure tto sexually suggestive visual displays such as photographs, graffiti, posters, calendars or other materials; or Deliberate, repeated humiliation or intimidation. If physical conduct, either: Sexual exploitation, as defined in this Policy; Unwelcome intentional touching of a sexual nature; Deliberate physical interference with or restriction of movement; or Sexual violence as defined in this Policy. Participants The term participants includes the University representative, Complainant, Respondent, and any witnesses. Parties The term parties refers to the Complainant and the Respondent under this Policy. Preponderance of the Evidence The greater weight of the credible evidence. Preponderance of the evidence is the standard for determining allegations of prohibited conduct under this Policy. This standard is satisfied if the action is deemed more likely to have occurred than not. Respondent -- The individual who has been reported to be the perpetrator of prohibited conduct under this policy. (For UT-affiliated K-12 schools (e.g. charter schools), a parent or legal guardian of a Respondent may act on behalf of the Respondent.) Responsible Employee A University employee who has the duty to report incidents of and information reasonably believed to be Sexual Misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator or Deputy Title IX Coordinators. All employees are Responsible Employees except Confidential Employees or police officers when a victim uses a pseudonym form (as outlined in Section 3.5.1(B) of this Policy). Responsible Employees include all administrators, faculty, staff, resident life directors and advisors, and graduate teaching assistants. Responsible Employees must report all known information concerning the incident to the Title IX Office, and must include whether a Complainant has expressed a desire for confidentiality in reporting the incident. Retaliation Any adverse action (including, but is not limited to, intimidation, threats, coercion, harassment, or discrimination) taken against someone because the individual has made a report or filed a Formal Complaint; or who has supported or provided information in connection with a report or a Formal Complaint; participated or refused to participate in a Grievance Process under this Policy; or engaged in other legally protected activities. Sex Discrimination Occurs when an individual is treated less favorably on the basis of that persons sex (including gender), which may also include on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, or a sex stereotype. Sexual harassment, as defined in this Policy, is a form of sex discrimination. . Sexual Assault [10] An offense that meets the definition of rape, fondling, incest, or statutory rape: Rape: the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. Fondling: The touching of the private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, without the consent of the victim, including instances where the victim is incapable of giving consent because of his/her age or because of his/her temporary or permanent mental incapacity. Incest: Sexual intercourse between persons who are related to each other within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law. Statutory Rape: Sexual intercourse with a person who is under the statutory age of consent. Sexual Exploitation Conduct where an individual takes non-consensual or abusive sexual advantage of another for their own benefit, or to benefit anyone other than the one being exploited. Examples of sexual exploitation include, but are not limited to, engaging in voyeurism; forwarding of pornographic or other sexually inappropriate material by email, text, or other channels to non-consenting students/groups; the intentional removal of a condom or other contraceptive barrier during sexual activity without the consent of a sexual partner; and any activity that goes beyond the boundaries of consent, such as recording of sexual activity, letting others watch consensual sex, or knowingly transmitting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) to another. Sexual Harassment Conduct on the basis of sex that satisfies one or more of the following: Quid pro quo: An employee of the institution conditioning the provision of an aid, benefit, or service of the University on an individuals participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the Universitys education program or activity; or Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking as defined in this Policy. Subsections (a) and (c) in this definition are not evaluated for severity, pervasiveness, offensiveness, or denial of equal educational access, because such conduct is sufficiently serious to deprive a person of equal access. Therefore, any instance of quid pro quo sexual harassment and any instance of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking are considered sexual harassment under this Policy. Sexual Misconduct This term is broadly defined to encompass sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and other inappropriate sexual conduct. Sexual Violence Physical sexual acts perpetrated against a persons will or where a person is incapable of giving consent. The term includes, but is not limited to, rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual coercion, sexual abuse, indecency with a child, and/or aggravated sexual assault. Stalking [11] Engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her safety or the safety of others, or suffer substantial emotional distress. For the purposes of this definition Course of conduct means two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalker directly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device, or means, follows, monitors, observes, surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a persons property. Reasonable person means a reasonable person under similar circumstances and with similar identities to the victim. Substantial emotional distress means significant mental suffering or anguish that may, but does not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment or counseling. 3.13 Relevant Federal and State Statutes, and Standards. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 16811688 and its implementing regulations, 34 C.F.R. Part 106 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e2000e-17 and its implementing regulations 29 C.F.R. 1604 11. Clery Act, 20 U.S.C 1092(f) and its implementing regulations 34 C.F.R. Part 668 FERPA Regulations, 34 C.F.R. Part 99 Texas Education Code, Chapter 51, Subchapter E-2: Reporting Incidents of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking 51.251-51.259 Texas Education Code, Chapter 51, Subchapter E-3: Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking 51.281-51.291 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 56A, Request for Forensic Medical Examination Art. 56A.251 Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 56A, Presence of Sexual Assault Program Advocate Art. 56A.351 3.14 Other Relevant Policies. Regents Rules and Regulations, Rule 30105 Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Consensual Relationships Regents Rules and Regulations, Rule 31008 Termination of a Faculty Member University of Texas Systemwide Policy UTS 184, Consensual Relationships University HOP Section 6, Chapter 1: Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action University HOP Section 6, Chapter 4: Consensual Relationships Policy University HOP: Discipline and Dismissal of Staff Employees Policy University HOP Section 3, Chapter 4: Academic Policies and Faculty Personnel Matters Policy University HOP Section 2, Chapter 1: Student Conduct and Discipline Policy [1] For Formal Complaints against third parties, such as contracted workers, volunteers, or visitors, the University will apply the analysis in Section 3.6.2(A)(2) with regard to employees and may apply other institutional policies to those Respondents if the Grievance Process (outlined in this Policy) does not apply. [2] Respondents who are both students and employees are treated as students under this Policy. [3] Subsection 3.6.7(I) does not apply when a hearing is conducted under Section 3.6.11(C) of this Policy. [4] Subsection 3.6.7(J) does not apply when a hearing is conducted under Section 3.6.11(C) of this Policy. [5] The definitions provided in the main body of the text are the definitions adopted by the University. When applicable, we have included the state law definition. In any criminal action brought by law enforcement, the state law definition will apply. [6] Texas Penal Code, Section 22.011(b) states that a sexual assault is without consent if: (1) the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by the use of physical force or violence; (2) the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against the other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat; (3) the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist; (4) the actor knows that as a result of mental disease or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting it; (5) the other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring; (6) the actor has intentionally impaired the other person's power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by administering any substance without the other person's knowledge; (7) the actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against any person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability to execute the threat. [7] Dating Violence is defined by the Texas Family Code, Section 71.0021 as: (a) an act, other than a defensive measure to protect oneself, by an actor that: (1) is committed against a victim: (A) with whom the actor has or has had a dating relationship; or (B) because of the victim's marriage to or dating relationship with an individual with whom the actor is or has been in a dating relationship or marriage; and (2) is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the victim in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault. (b) For purposes of this title, "dating relationship" means a relationship between individuals who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on consideration of: (1) the length of the relationship; (2) the nature of the relationship; and (3) the frequency and type of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. (c) A casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context does not constitute a "dating relationship" under Subsection (b). Texas Penal Code, Section 22.01 provides the criminal penalties associated with Dating Violence. [8] Family Violence is defined by the Texas Family Code Section 71.004 as: (1) an act by a member of a family or household against another member of the family or household that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures to protect oneself; (2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections 261.001(1)(C), (E), and (G), by a member of a family or household toward a child of the family or household; or (3) dating violence, as that term is defined by Section 71.0021. Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 provides the criminal penalties associated with Domestic (Family) Violence. [9] Depending on the facts of a particular case, the University may investigate claims of hostile work environment under this Policy. [10] Sexual Assault is defined by Texas Penal Code, Section 22.011 as intentionally or knowingly: Causing the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of another person by any means, without that persons consent; or Causing the penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that persons consent; or Causing the sexual organ of another person, without that persons consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor. [11] Stalking as defined by Texas Penal Code, Section 42.072 is when an individual on more than one occasion and pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct that is directed specifically at another person, knowingly engages in conduct that: a) is considered harassment, or that the actor knows or reasonably should know the other person will regard as threatening: bodily injury or death for the other person; bodily injury or death for a member of the other person's family or household or for an individual with whom the other person has a dating relationship; or that an offense will be committed against the other person's property; b) causes the other person, a member of the other person's family or household, or an individual with whom the other person has a dating relationship to be placed in fear of bodily injury or death or in fear that an offense will be committed against the other person's property, or to feel harassed, annoyed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended; and c) would cause a reasonable person to: A man has been charged with assault during the investigation into the mysterious death of a seven-month-old baby boy. Bodhi John was rushed from a home in Aberdeen to Muswellbrook Hospital, in the New South Wales Hunter region, about 3pm on Sunday. Doctors were unable to save him, and police later confirmed they were treating his death as suspicious. A 34-year-old man who was wanted for five outstanding warrants was arrested following a vehicle stop carried out by officers working on the investigation on the New England Highway near Muswellbrook about 6.30pm on Wednesday. He was charged with three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two counts of common assault and one count of intentionally or recklessly destroying or damaging property on Thursday. Bodhi John (pictured) was rushed from a home in Aberdeen to Muswellbrook Hospital, in the New South Wales Hunter region on Sunday. Staff were unable to revive him A 34-year-old man has been charged with assault. It comes after a large investigation into the mysterious death of a seven-month-old baby He was also charged with outstanding warrants in relation to traffic, property, judicial and revocation of parole offences. Following the little boy's death, the home was examined by forensic specialists, while family friends are being urged to come forward. 'The child's death is being treated as suspicious,' Detective Inspector Matthew Zimmer told reporters on Tuesday. 'Were hoping that examination will identify injuries the child may have suffered which may have contributed to the childs death.' Neighbours said the mother, Maddison Graham, had only moved into the home a few days earlier with her three children, The Newcastle News reported. Police were hoping to speak to the mother's boyfriend, Ashley Morgan, who was staying at the house at the time of Bodhi's death, according to Nine News. There is no suggestion the mother or her boyfriend were involved in the death. It's believed the family only lived in the home (pictured) for a few days before Bodhi's death and the house has since been investigated by forensic specialists Neighbours reported loud noises coming from the home on Saturday morning. 'We just heard the dogs barking more than they usually do, doors banging and people yelling,' one neighbour said. 'It is a pretty horrible thing.' Detective Inspector Zimmer said a postmortem on the child would be conducted within the next two days and the mother and immediate family were 'cooperating' with the investigation. Neighbours said the mother, Maddison Graham (pictured), had only moved into the home a few days earlier with her three children 'We are speaking to people who have had contact with the child in the days and hours leading up the child's death,' he said. 'We are also asking any members of the community who know the family or have had contact or interactions with the family in the days leading up to the child's death to contact Hunter Valley Police or Crime Stoppers.' The 34-year-old man is due to face court on Friday and police are continuing their investigations. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000. The Nigerian movie industry; Nollywood has lost another actor in Emilia Dike, who died on Wednesday May 20. The actress reportedly slumped and died in Enugu state on Wednesday. Also Read: Part Of Me Died Nollywood Producer Reacts To Mothers Death Movie Director, Okechukwu Oku, announced her passing on his Instagram page. Advertisement See his post below: Actors, Uche Ogbodo, Anita Joseph, Belinda Effah, Ken Erics and others have expressed shock at the news of her passing. See their reactions below: The movie industry has recorded quite a significant number of deaths since the beginning of the year from; Ukwak Asuquo, popularly known as Boniface, Rasheed Abu and Matthew Alkali. A newly-discovered species of frog measuring no bigger than a 5p coin is already being classed as critically endangered on account of the precariousness of its natural habitat. The stump-toed Stumpffia froschaueri - which measures just 1cm in length - was recently discovered in Madagascar's remote north-western region of Sahamalaza. The amphibian's known distribution is limited to just three forest patches which, according to the scientists who discovered it, are severely threatened by fire, drought and high levels of forest clearance". The scientists have therefore suggested in a paper published this week in ZooKeys, a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal, that the animal be classified as "critically endangered in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List criteria. Dr Samuel Penny examining the miniscule stump-toed Stumpffia froschaueri / PA Dr Samuel Penny, lecturer in the University of Brightons school of pharmacy and biomolecular sciences, was part of the team of scientists who embarked on the Madagascar expedition. Commenting on the team's findings, he said: This small and inconspicuous frog measures around 1cm in length and inhabits the leaf litter of relatively undisturbed forests. Habitat loss across its limited range suggests it should qualify as critically endangered. The species name honours Christoph Froschauer (ca. 1490 1564), a renowned printer whose family name means the man from the floodplain full of frogs. Mr Froschauer used to sign his books with a woodcut showing frogs under a tree. Dr Penny added: Its amazing to find a completely new variety of frog but its worrying to know they are already threatened with extinction. The island of Madagascar, which is nearly the size of Texas, is known for its particularly high biodiversity. It hosts an exceptional concentration of endemic fauna and flora. Approximately 95 percent of Madagascars reptiles, 89 percent of its plant life, and 92 percent of its mammals exist nowhere else on Earth, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The island, which is also home to some 27 million people and frequently ranks among the 10 poorest countries in the world, has however lost nearly half of its forest cover in the last six-and-a-half decades, according to a biological study published in 2018. As soon as Donald Trump announced that he is taking hydroxychloroquine to ward off the coronavirus, it is likely that somebody, somewhere in America immediately began trying to figure out how they could get their hands on some. LG Chem has halted plans for its lithium-ion battery project in India as the auto sector reels under the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The company was in talks with Renault, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hyundai for an Indian consortium for the project and regarding equity participation for the same, sources told The Economic Times. LG Chem stated the project was announced in 2018. Batteries from the project were to be supplied for electric vehicles of Hyundai, M&M, Renault and M&Ms South Korean subsidiary Ssangyong. Stating that India is still at the beginning stage of exploring demand of lithium-ion battery for EV, and LG Chem executive told the publisher there is no tangible information on the progress of the investment plan. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Mahesh Babu, CEO of Mahindra Electric told the paper that discussions on the project were detailed, but this has now gone under the carpet. We have no idea on when this project will revive, he said. Industry experts however also believe that COVID-19 notwithstanding, India needs clearer battery storage policy with better incentives, higher localisation and reduced import tariffs. The Union labour and employment ministry is not in favour of the plans by some state governments to temporarily abolish most of the labour laws through the Ordinance route. It doesnt seem right, a senior labour ministry official said, when asked about the Ordinances proposed by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. How can an Ordinance abolish labour laws in a state? Its not merely about labour laws but also about labour rights. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Surviving in America as undocumented immigrants has never been easy for Olga Gutierrez and her family. But its only become more difficult during the coronavirus pandemic. Both Gutierriez, a native of Honduras and Bridgeport resident, and her husband lost their jobs during the public health crisis. Because of their immigration status, they dont qualify for unemployment benefits and wont receive federal stimulus checks. Even when employed, neither had health insurance. Rather than seek professional medical assistance, the family, like many others, was forced to rely on home remedies. Going to the hospital is a privilege and we dont have that, Gutierriez said. We dont have the money to really invest in medical bills because we have two children to take care of. That lack of access became especially apparent when a member of the household recently tested positive for the coronavirus. Treatment was not an option. With no income and no insurance, the cost was prohibitively high. We were terrified. We think that we might have the virus, too. Gutierrez said. We (the undocumented) are the most affected because we dont have any health care coverage. We dont receive any support from the government. .... Families like mine have the right to be treated with respect and dignity. Guiterrez shared her story during a Thursday virtual press conference, at which a coalition of immigrant- and health care-advocacy groups called on Gov. Ned Lamont to expand health care access to members of the states undocumented community, who have been among the most severely affected by the pandemic. Were here today because our undocumented community is being denied access to health care and that is preventing them from leading healthy lives, said Kimberly Alexander, an organizer with the non-profit Connecticut Students for a Dream, one of the groups that coordinated the event and started an online petition. This pandemic is making it very clear that the only way to have a healthy state is to ensure that everyone everyone, including undocumented immigrants can access health care. Alexander said the push to expand Husky the states health insurance marketplace eligibility began in 2019. According to the coalition, undocumented immigrants are not able to buy into AccessHealth CT and are ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare and other state and federal health coverage programs. The roughly 120,000 undocumented Connecticut residents pay roughly $145 million annually in taxes that fund programs like Husky. To this point, Lamont had not signaled whether he would heed the calls. I worry for the health and safety of the patients I see, but I worry even more for the ones that I do not see. The patients who do not come to the clinic because they cannot access care easily without health insurance. said Dr. Julie Rosenberg, a New Haven pediatrician and research fellow. Rosenberg is among more than 240 health care providers who have signed a letter being sent to Lamont urging health care expansion. The move, she said, would not be without precedent. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia, all provide health insurance eligibility to all children regardless of their immigration status. Last year, the Connecticut General Assembly voted a similar bill out of committee, Rosenberg pointed out. We are poised and ready to make this change that will benefit the health and the residents of our state, Rosenberg said. A group of religious leaders, represented on the call by Rabbi Randall Konigsburg, of Beth Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Manchester, and of the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care, from around the state have also voiced its support for the expansion. Konigsburg made a moral and economic case for the expansion of the program. It is far cheaper and it is much better to cure illness when in its early stages, rather than after it has ravaged the body, Konigsburg said. Preventative care is critical for public health. According to a recent study (based on 2018 Census data) from the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a non-partisan think tank, 18.7 percent of all essential workers in Connecticut are foreign-born. A quarter of those are undocumented. And, in Connecticut, as well as the rest of the country, minority and immigrant communities are being especially hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to working jobs deemed essential, these groups have disproportionately less access to health care, live in higher density areas where distancing may not be possible, are rendered unable to take on medical costs as a result of being job less and suffer from higher rates of comorbidities. This (the expansion of Husky) is very necessary, said Anghy Idrovo, a co-director of CT Students for a Dream. Our communities are dying. Our communities are not being taken care of. And the undocumented community is being left behind one more time during this crisis. And this is inhumane. Nightmares for days Patricia Rosas is undocumented and has lived in New Britain for 27 years, during which time she raised three sons and became very aware of the home remedies and over-the-counter treatments on which families like hers often are forced to rely. Going to the doctor was simply not a reality. Even last spring, when she started feeling a pain in her stomach, she delayed. Eventually, the pain became severe enough that she went to a community health center. But resources and testing were limited. The doctor there deduced she may have a gall stone, but told her unless the pain increased and was accompanied by fever and vomiting, she could likely delay seeing a specialist. But Rosas pain did not relent. She understood fully that without health insurance she couldnt afford treatment. But her situation became so severe that she went to a hospital. Tests were conducted and her worst fears were confirmed. She was diagnosed with cancer. When she told the doctors of her immigration status and lack of access to insurance, she said they advised that she should return to her country for treatment. I was still in shock, not only because I just got the news that I had cancer. But also because there was no way for me to seek treatment, Rosas said, during the press conference. I had nightmares for days. Rosas did not heed the doctors advice. With the help of a group of friends, she was able to start a GoFundMe and raise the funds necessary for treatment. But short of that intervention, her options were limited. During her darkest hour, in the country shed called home for nearly three decades, there was no safety net in place to catch her. As an undocumented person, I dont think this is fair, Rosas said. I dont think I shouldve had to gone through all of this to seek medical treatment. I have been living in the United States for 27 years. justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586 Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Paris, France Thu, May 21, 2020 16:22 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9761ab 2 Lifestyle COVID-19,coronavirus,France,dining,plastic Free A romantic dinner for two. The wine is excellent, the food delicious. It's almost like the good old days. Except for the giant, see-through lampshades on your heads. For restaurant owners worrying how they can welcome back customers but keep them safe from COVID-19, a French designer has created a cylinder of transparent plastic that hangs from a cable on the ceiling, much like a lampshade. A scoop cut out of the back allows diner to sit and stand up without having to bend over double. Christophe Gernigon, who invented the device, called the Plex'Eat, said the designs already on the market looked like booths in prison visiting rooms, so were not inviting for customers. "I wanted to make it more glamorous, more pretty," he said. His design will go into production next week, and he said he had received interest from France, Belgium, Canada, Japan and Argentina. France is starting to relax some of the restrictions it imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Shops and hairdressers have re-opened, and some children are back at school. Read also: Panda dolls kick pandemic blues for Thai diners But the government has yet to give the green light for the re-opening of restaurant and bars because they pose particular problems for disease control. Diners cannot eat while wearing a surgical mask, and if tables were removed to ensure customers are a safe distance from each other, many owners say they would not be able to make enough money to cover their costs. Mathieu Manzoni, owner of the H.A.N.D restaurant that serves American-style food not far from Paris' Louvre museum, invited Gernigon to the restaurant this week to hear his pitch. Manzoni said he was planning to place an order. "Will people like it? I cant say but I want to believe that it can add something because I find it fun," he said in his restaurant, which is open for takeaway orders only. Flash Global human development, which can be measured as a combination of the world's education, health and living standards, could decline this year for the first time since the concept was introduced in 1990, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned Wednesday. "The world has seen many crises over the past 30 years, including the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09. Each has hit human development hard but, overall, development gains accrued globally year-on-year," said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. "COVID-19, with its triple hit to health, education, and income, may change this trend." Declines in fundamental areas of human development are being felt across most countries, rich and poor, in every region, according to a UNDP press release. COVID-19's global death toll has exceeded 300,000 people, while the global per capita income this year is expected to fall by 4 percent, it said. With school closures, UNDP estimates of the "effective out-of-school rate," the percentage of primary school-age children, adjusted to reflect those without internet access, indicate that 60 percent of children are not getting an education, leading to global levels not seen since the 1980s. The combined impact of these shocks could signify the largest reversal in human development on record, the press release said. This is not counting other significant effects, for instance, in the progress toward gender equality. The negative impacts on women and girls span economic -- earning and saving less and greater job insecurity -- reproductive health, unpaid care work and gender-based violence. The drop in human development is expected to be much higher in developing countries that are less able to cope with the pandemic's social and economic fallout than richer nations. In education, with schools closed and stark divides in access to online learning, UNDP estimates show that 86 percent of children in primary education are now effectively out-of-school in countries with low human development, compared with just 20 percent in countries with very high human development. But with more equitable internet access, where countries close the gap with leaders in their development group, something feasible, the current gaps in education could close. Determined, equity-focused interventions can help economies and societies rally, mitigating the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. "This crisis shows that if we fail to bring equity into the policy toolkit, many will fall further behind. This is particularly important for the 'new necessities' of the 21st century, such as access to the internet, which is helping us to benefit from tele-education, tele-medicine, and to work from home," said Pedro Conceicao, director of the Human Development Report Office at the UNDP. Implementing equity-focused approaches would be affordable. For instance, closing the gap in access to the internet for low- and middle-income countries is estimated to cost just one percent of the extraordinary fiscal support packages the world has so far committed to respond to COVID-19. The importance of equity is emphasized in the United Nations' framework for the immediate socio-economic response to the COVID-19 crisis, which sets out a green, gender-equal, good governance baseline from which to build a "new normal." It recommends five priority steps to tackle the complexity of this crisis: protecting health systems and services; ramping up social protection; protecting jobs, small- and medium-sized businesses and informal sector workers; making macroeconomic policies work for everyone; and promoting peace, good governance and trust to build social cohesion. The UNDP called on the international community to rapidly invest in the ability of developing countries to follow these steps. The UNDP is the leading UN organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with its broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, the UNDP helps nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. National Independent Electoral Commission chief calls for calm, saying counting of votes could take several days. The head of Burundis election commission has appealed for patience as ballots are collected and tallied following a tense poll to decide who will replace long-serving leader President Pierre Nkurunziza. Burundians voted on Wednesday to elect their president, legislators and local officials in an election marked by allegations of fraud and conducted with scant attention paid to the coronavirus pandemic. The last election in 2015 descended into violence that left 1,200 dead. Nkurunziza won a disputed third term, but did not contest this race after 15 often turbulent years in power. More than five million voters were asked to choose between Nkurunzizas hand-picked heir, 52-year-old Secretary-General Evariste Ndayishimiye, the main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, and five other candidates. The chairman of Burundis National Independent Electoral Commission urged those getting impatient to be calm, saying the process of counting all the votes would take several days, and results would be announced on Monday or Tuesday. The results from more than 3,800 polling stations across Burundi had been counted and the ballot boxes were being transported to local election commission centres for collection and tallying. This will take time, said commission chairman Pierre-Claver Kazihise, adding they would announce the results of the presidential, parliamentary and local elections at the same time. He warned against reading into results being posted online. The intermediate figures from polling stations do not show anything. It is the official results declared after the count at the commune level that must be communicated to the people, he said. Allegations of fraud On Thursday, popular social media platforms in Burundi remained down, after being offline since election day except to those using virtual private networks. Burundi has not imposed any movement restrictions on its 11 million people in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, and voters waited in long lines to cast their ballots with no social distancing observed. The election was generally, calm but Rwasas National Council for Liberty (CNL) said several of its officials were arrested and harassed, and alleged fraud. CNL spokesman Therence Manirambona told the AFP news agency that there had been incidents of proxy voting, people voting multiple times and the voting cards of absent voters being redistributed to the governing party electors. He also denounced the expulsion of our agents in polling stations during the vote and counting and the arbitrary arrests of more than 200 agents and supporters of the CNL on false charges. Pierre Nkurikiye, the spokesman for Burundis public security ministry, in turn accused members of the CNL of attempted fraud, confirming some of their members were arrested for minor incidents. The University of Texas at Austin plans to resume classes in August with a shortened semester, officials announced this week. Outgoing UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves and interim President Jay Hartzell said the fall semester will begin as scheduled on Aug. 26 and will end just before Thanksgiving, with exams and study days held online, and commencement again postponed. With COVID-19 still expected to be active this fall, we hope to avoid the possibility of students becoming infected during the Thanksgiving break and then spreading the virus to classmates upon their return after Thanksgiving, Fenves and Hartzell wrote in a Wednesday letter to the campus community. We are still developing the details for how this new schedule will affect course syllabi, residence hall living and other key campus functions. We will continue to provide additional information as we move forward. In-person commencements for the fall semester will also be postponed, but the university plans to hold a universitywide commencement for its spring and fall 2020 graduates in 2021. The date and plans for the event will depend on the evolving pandemic, Fenves said. The university will host its virtual commencement ceremony for spring 2020 graduates Saturday night as planned. Rice University similarly announced earlier this month that it will return to campus this fall with a shortened semester that ends before Thanksgiving to help curb the spread of the virus. Classes at Rice will resume in hybrid form both online and in-person at the same time and will be recorded. Exams and papers must also be capable of being completed remotely, Rice officials have said. At UT-Austin, COVID-19 testing will be available on campus in the fall for those with symptoms and for surveillance testing for students, staff and faculty, UT officials said. Using current models, they estimated that more than 500 tests will be needed daily. The university is working with Dell Medical School and its College of Natural Sciences to increase testing capacity and establish a new testing lab. The college is also using working groups to help draft guidelines and recommendations for how to resume operations safely and will work to refine safety practices for students whose research or career opportunities have been affected by the pandemic. While research will soon resume on campus, university officials said all UT employees working on campus throughout the summer must wear face masks or cloth coverings unless they are in a private space or office. College officials have also presented a voluntary furlough program for select employees. Other universities within the UT System are assessing their options. UT-Dallas President Richard C. Benson said Wednesday that the college will resume classes this fall, but without a vaccine or treatments for COVID-19, its still unknown in what format. Benson said the college is considering various options, including a mix of classes online and in-person. Any transition back to campus, however, will be gradual, he said, and with the hope to open some of the schools research and instructional laboratories. UT-San Antonio has plans to reopen for the fall semester, but how is yet to be determined, a spokesman said. Campus officials hope to have a decision made by late June or early July. In the meantime, UT-San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy announced this week that he has appointed a Public Health Task Force to make recommendations regarding a return to the fall. UTs health institutions are also still deciding on how to educate students this fall, said UTHealth spokeswoman Deborah Mann Lake. McGovern Medical School at UTHealth will allow clinical students to return to patient care settings on June 1 with PPE protection and screened risk. Pre-clinical students who are in their first or second year will continue remote learning and in-person classes with necessary social distancing. UTs School of Public Health, School of Biomedical Informatics and Cizik School of Nursing have yet to make plans for fall, but the nursing schools simulation labs are now open with social distancing and mask requirements. The biomedical informatics school will announce its plans for fall in July. UTs School of Dentistry will have students in buildings for pre-clinical labs and clinical simulations during the summer session, but students are encouraged to study from home and to only come to campus for their scheduled class times. Masks are required. brittany.britto@chron.com [May 21, 2020] CraftBot USA successfully launches a #3DPrintToProtect movement to empower communities and frontline workers Partnership with U3DPS and GoFundMe campaigns allows for 3D printing of PPE NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /CNW/ - As businesses start reopen, CraftBot USA has launched a #3DPrintToProtect initiative with hospitals, print shops and local community initiatives such as the Be Safe Project, launched by 18-year-old Washington D.C. native Gabriel Wittes to help communities better protect themselves. CraftBot began this initiative to fight COVID-19 by setting up a unique Rapid Local Manufacturing (RLM) farm concept consisting of 12 3D printers printing and manufacturing face shields within a two-week timeframe. The RLM farm produced over 5,000 shields, which were given away to local Hungarian hospitals and businesses to help protect their frontline workers. With the RLM concept proving effective, the initiative was shared with distributors in various countries to empower them through hardware and software support. "We are keen to support our frontline workers by giving the masks for free as a show of appreciation," said Gabriel Wittes. "CraftBot donated four printers as part of our RLM set-up along with a stock of filaments. The CraftBot Flow IDEX can produce 2,000 masks per month and has been instrumental in meeting our production goals." "People are feeling powerless and they want to help. For this reason we initiated the #3DPrintToProtect movement to empower them against COVID," says John Kassis, VP Commercial for CraftBot. "The CraftBot culture is all about family and innovation, and now more than ever we need to come together as we start to return to a sense of normalcy." With the continuing need for PPE, this initiative has quickly grown into a movement with partnerships at various levels looking to support. Here is how CraftBot is influencing a positive change for Americans: Hospitals: Supporting the Launch of the Be Safe project to print/donate masks to Holy Cross Hospital and other DC-area hospitals. Supporting the Launch of the Be Safe project to print/donate masks to Holy Cross Hospital and other DC-area hospitals. Setting up a Craftbot managed RLM in San Diego to print/donate 150 face shields per week for Martin Luther King Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital, Scripps Green Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, and more. to print/donate 150 face shields per week for Martin Luther King Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital, Scripps Green Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, and more. Distributors: Supporting Ultimate 3D Printing Store (U3DPS), one of the leading 3D printer shops, with a donation to giveaway masks to local police and fire departments and launching a financing incentive offer through Affirm, a consumer financing company, that allows the public to purchase CraftBot printers for low monthly payments. Supporting Ultimate 3D Printing Store (U3DPS), one of the leading 3D printer shops, with a donation to giveaway masks to local police and fire departments and launching a financing incentive offer through Affirm, a consumer financing company, that allows the public to purchase CraftBot printers for low monthly payments. Communities: Giving PVNet, a STEM learning academy, a free 3D printer to produce 1,000 weekly face shields. Roy Kirchner , President/Founder of U3DPS. As part of this initiative, CraftBot has developed a special toll-free number and email to assist anyone that may need PPE or who are interested in helping print their own. Contact toll-free 647-428-2760 and visit www.craftbot.com/covid-19 for further details. "Our goal is to help make PPE available so that anyone can help with this movement," added John Kassis. "While our approach is local, we have similar initiatives running within Canada, Europe, and the UK to make this a global movement." The multi-award-winning CraftBot 3D printers have set the industry standard for quality and performance for both beginners and advanced users. About Craftbot Ltd. (formerly CraftUnique) Craftbot is a developer and manufacturer of 3D printers and of the new Craftbot Flow Generation with a manufacturing in Budapest and offices in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. Since it was founded in 2014, the company has developed over ten award-winning 3D printers and has sold 10,000 units worldwide. Craftbot's innovative and entrpreneurial DNA has earned is a spot among the top 3D printer manufacturers in the world. With more than 45 sales partners worldwide, Craftbot offers a complete 3D printing solution through its hardware, accessories, software, filament and support services. The Craftbot 3D printers are known for being user-friendly, reliable and high-quality products with a 5-year warranty. For more information visit www.Craftbot.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/craftbot-usa-successfully-launches-a-3dprinttoprotect-movement-to-empower-communities-and-frontline-workers-301063768.html SOURCE CraftBot USA [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday did a U-turn as he ordered his Cabinet ministers to work out an exemption of a surcharge on foreign medics, including Indians, working in the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS). The move comes just a day after he had dismissed the possibility of a review into what has been repeatedly branded as an unfair burden on professionals already contributing directly to the health service in Parliament. The Prime Minister has asked me and the Home Secretary [Priti Patel] to look at how NHS and care workers can be removed from this as soon as possible, said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, when asked about the annual Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) imposed along with a visa to raise additional funds for the state-funded health service. But the purpose of the surcharge is a fair one, to raise funds for the NHS, he said. The Opposition Labour Party, which had thrown its weight behind the doctors' organisations campaigning against the surcharge, welcomed the U-turn. Boris Johnson is right to have U-turned and backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers, said Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer. This is a victory for common decency and the right thing to do. We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next, he said, in reference to the weekly clap for frontline workers which takes place in the UK every Thursday at 8pm local time. On Wednesday, Starmer had challenged the UK prime minister in the House of Commons during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions on whether he thought it was fair to add the surcharge on healthcare workers. I have thought a great deal about this and I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff. I have been a personal beneficiary of people and carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life, replied Johnson, making a reference to his COVID-19 hospitalisation last month during which he was cared for by foreign medics. I know exactly their importance. On the other hand, we must look at the realities that this is a great national service, a national institution which needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900 million pounds. It is very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources, so I do think that is the right way forward, he said. However, a rebellion began brewing right after within his own party ranks, with the Conservative chair of the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, William Wragg, saying he would be backing an Opposition amendment to the Immigration Bill calling for an IHS exemption for NHS and care workers. We have consistently highlighted the unfairness of the immigration health surcharge and called for its removal, so this recognition of the enormous contribution of our migrant colleagues to the health service is welcome but long overdue, said the British Medical Association (BMA), among the groups campaigning for the removal of the surcharge for NHS workers. The IHS, introduced in April 2015, is imposed on anyone in the UK on a work, study or family visa for longer than six months and is set for a further hike from GBP 400 to GBP 624 per year. With the charge applicable on each member of a family, the overall cost is seen as prohibitive, over and above the tax contributions. In a letter to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel by the Doctors Association UK earlier this week, Indian-origin chair Dr Rinesh Parmar had yet again branded the surcharge as deeply unfair. At a time when we are mourning colleagues your steadfast refusal to reconsider the deeply unfair immigration health surcharge is a gross insult to all who are serving this country at its time of greatest need, noted the letter. According to a recent Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) study, Indians make up one in 10 of all foreign-born doctors in the NHS and the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which represents this group, is among the organisations campaigning against the "discriminatory" surcharge for some years now. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:42:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KUNMING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Police have caught four suspects and seized 13.98 kg of heroin in a recent drug trafficking case in southwest China's Yunnan Province. After receiving a tip-off, police in Jinping county sent a task force to investigate the case in mid-April. On May 17, police nabbed four suspects in Menglian County, Pu'er City, and seized 40 pieces of heroin weighing 13.98 kg. Further investigation is underway. Yunnan is a major front in China's battle against drug crime, as it borders the Golden Triangle known for its rampant drug production and trafficking. Enditem West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the impact of the storm was worse than the Coronavirus. Due to the cyclone Amphan that had erupted in the Bay of Bengal between the lockdown and the corona crisis. According to the media report, Mamata has been monitoring the situation in Nabanna, the state secretariat since Tuesday night. She said that due to this devastating storm, there has been a lot of destruction in South Bengal. Petition filed in Supreme Court related to social media There has been a huge destruction due to Amphan in Odisha and West Bengal. In Bengal, 12 people have died. In many places the trees were uprooted and in some places due to heavy rains, waterlogging also occurred. Cyclone Amphan reached the coast between Digha in West Bengal and Hatia Island in Bangladesh at around 2.30 pm on Wednesday. During this, winds went at a speed of 190 km per hour. The cyclone caused massive destruction in the coastal areas, uprooted trees and electric poles in large numbers, ravaged houses were also severely damaged. Cyclone Amphan causes devastation in West Bengal, Governor released video A meeting of the task force constituted to review the situation regarding emphon has been called at 3 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. In this meeting, there will be a discussion on taking necessary steps to provide relief to the loss and immediate people and to establish contact. Mamata said that from the information received, it seems that more than one lakh crore has been damaged by the storm. It will be the first priority of the government to supply essential commodities from drinking water to the cut off areas. She said that the government had already evacuated five lakh people to a safe place. Due to which the loss of life has been controlled to a great extent. It has been said that a record 180 mm of rain has been recorded in Kolkata in three hours and many areas of the metropolis and districts have been submerged. PM pays tribute to former PM Rajiv Gandhi on death anniversary Washington: The United States has announced its intention to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, the Trump administration's latest move to pull the country out of a major global treaty. The administration said Russia has repeatedly violated the pact's terms. Senior officials said the pullout will formally take place in six months, based on the treaty's withdrawal terms. US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Thursday. Credit:Bloomberg "I think we have a very good relationship with Russia. But Russia didn't adhere to the treaty. So until they adhere we will pull out," US President Donald Trump said. He said there was a "very good chance we'll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together". According to Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the second wave will not be inevitably catastrophic if the citizens observe quarantine measures and distance Open source Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Andrea Ammon urged the European countries to prepare for the second wave of the coronavirus disease as The Guardian reported. The question is when and how big, that is the question in my view, Ammon noted. According to her, currently, the virus spreads much faster compared to January and February when it has started to spread from China. Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity which isnt all that exciting, between 2% and 14%, that leaves still 85% to 90% of the population susceptible, she underlined. Meanwhile, Ammon states that the second wave will not be inevitably catastrophic if the citizens observe quarantine measures and distance. I dont want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic. That its not the time now to completely relax, Ammon added. As we reported, the number of people infected with Covid-19 coronavirus disease in the world exceeded 5 million. Over the past 24 hours, 476 new cases of coronavirus infection have been recorded in Ukraine: 19,706 people have become infected since the beginning of the pandemic in the country. 579 deaths were recorded in Ukraine, and 6,227 patients recovered. Washington, May 21 : The US Pacific Fleet has said that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt has headed out to sea from the Naval Base Guam after nearly two months of being under quarantine. The carrier set sail to test the critical systems required to sustain it during its upcoming operations, reports Xinhua news agency citing the Fleet as saying on Wednesday. This simulation process, or "fast cruise", is a key step for the carrier to recommence its scheduled deployment, it added. During the process, the ship remained in waters off the coast of Guam so its pilots and air crews could be re-certified for flight operations. "Our sailors have tested all of the ship's systems individually, but this is our opportunity to integrate all of that together and show that (USS) Theodore Roosevelt is ready and able to go back to sea," said Captain Carlos Sardiello, commanding officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt. Lieutenant Commander DeCrisha Nolan, USS Theodore Roosevelt's training officer, was quoted as saying that the ship must pass a rigorous certification process before deployment, validating the crew's ability to safely navigate, launch and recover aircraft and respond to onboard emergencies. In addition to testing the ship's systems, its crew have implemented new measures to protect themselves from possible exposure to COVID-19, the fleet said. It added the crew had learned to conduct their normal duties while wearing masks and maintaining social distance over the past seven weeks. Theodore Roosevelt is America's fourth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, with a crew of nearly 5,000 sailors who support and conduct air operations at sea. It departed San Diego for a scheduled Indo-Pacific deployment on January 17 but had to dock in Guam on March 27 due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus on board the ship. After testing was carried out, it was found that a quarter of the sailors on board the ship were infected with COVID-19, with a 41-year-old chief petty officer later dying from it. The carrier and its crew recently became embroiled in controversy after Captain Brett Crozier, the ship's then commanding officer, wrote a letter to the Navy, asking Washington to do more to stem the spread of the coronavirus among the crew. The letter was later published by the San Francisco Chronicle, bringing it to the attention of national media. Crozier was fired by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, who resigned following comments he made to the ship's crew in Guam, where he blasted Crozier as being "naive" and "too stupid". Newsfeed video on the Rohingya crisis and AJ Contrast series about homelessness in LA among the 2020 winners. Al Jazeera Digital has won two Webby awards for its work in highlighting the plight of Rohingya refugees and homelessness in the United States. Al Jazeera English Newsfeed emerged with a Peoples Voice award in the Social, News & Politics category for its video on Rohingya crisis through the eyes of Al Jazeeras journalists. Al Jazeera Digitals virtual reality documentary boutique, AJ Contrast, bagged a jury win for My People, Our Stories: Homelessness in Los Angeles, produced in partnership with the University of Southern Californias JOVRNALISM programme. The Peoples Voice Award-winning short film, produced in collaboration with Al Jazeera Englishs TV and digital correspondents, commemorated the two-year mark of 700,000 Rohingya being driven from their homes by the Myanmar military in 2017. Throughout my career, I have covered war and violence, said Al Jazeera English senior correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom in the film. But I have never heard of anything like that happening to human beings, he said, recalling his interview with Rajuma Begum, a young mother whose baby was taken from her arms and thrown into a fire before she was gang-raped by Myanmar army soldiers. Im proud of our teams who have worked tirelessly to bring news of oppressed communities to our global audience, said Carlos van Meek, director of Digital Innovation and Programming. We especially appreciate the collaboration with our TV colleagues where the coverage of the Rohingya crisis right from the start has set a model for crisis reporting. This win is a powerful example of teams coming together to ensure ongoing coverage of an important global story. In the video series reality category, AJ Contrasts My People, Our Stories: Homelessness in Los Angeles, walked away with a jury win. AJ Contrast worked with Professor Robert Hernandez and USC JOVRNALISM students to train five people in the use of 360-degree cameras. The participants then documented their daily lives as they navigated the challenges of working while homeless, living in their cars, constantly being on the move and maintaining love relationships. Recession-hit Japan's exports plunged nearly 22 per cent in April, the country's worst drop in more than a decade as the coronavirus pandemic slammed global demand. The Finance Ministry also said Thursday that imports fell 7 per cent. The drop in exports is the worst since the 2008 financial crisis, as export-dependent Japan struggles to juggle the health risks of COVID-19 with the dire need to keep the economy going. Like many other nations, Japan has asked people to work from home and maintain social distance to stop the virus from spreading. The government initiative was eased this month in regions with few or no new infections, though it remains in place for Tokyo and some other areas. For April, exports totaled 5.2 trillion yen (USD 48 billion), down from nearly 6.7 trillion yen the same month in 2019. Imports dropped to 6.1 trillion yen (USD 57 billion) from 6.6 trillion yen. Exports fell most dramatically to the US, India, Australia, South America, Russia, Iran and Italy. Exports also declined to China, where the outbreak began. By sector, exports were lower in vehicles, machinery, chemicals and textiles. Imports edged down in iron and steel products, food such as fish and cereal, and computer parts. Japan is in a technical recession after a contraction that began in the last quarter of last year deepened in the January-March quarter. Analysts say worse may be ahead, given the economic pain of the pandemic may be prolonged. Tourism and travel had dwindled. Restaurants are closed or resorting to takeouts, and those that stay open are seeing fewer customers. Even before, the world's third-largest economy barely eked out growth over some periods. The recent trade conflict between China and the US also hurt Japan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with business leaders at the Korea International Trade Association in southern Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap President Moon Jae-in stressed the need Thursday to safeguard jobs and the industrial ecosystem amid the COVID-19 crisis, speaking at a meeting with business leaders here. He pointed out that South Korea has turned crises into opportunities. "Both industries and jobs are in crisis situations but we have opened a new future, overcoming such a crisis," he said at the beginning of the session held at the Korea International Trade Association in southern Seoul. During the financial meltdown in the late 1990s, the government fostered the information technology industry; it promoted the green growth sector in response to the 2008 global financial crisis, he noted. Rep. Kim Sang-hee, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), holds a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, May 15, to declare her bid to run in the party race for the National Assembly deputy speaker position in the upcoming 21st National Assembly. Kim has become the only candidate, as the other male candidates from the party dropped out of the race. Yonhap By Jung Da-min Rep. Kim Sang-hee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) will be the National Assembly's first female deputy speaker. Kim has served three terms as a lawmaker and has led civic movements for about 30 years, promoting democratization, women's rights and environmental issues. "It is true that there have been glass ceilings for female politicians in the National Assembly but they are being lifted one by one," Kim said during a radio interview with local broadcaster YTN, Thursday. "It has a very important meaning that a woman will be standing on the podium for the speaker's panel inside the plenary chamber for the first time in 73 years. I will present a symbolic figure of politics in which men and women join together, moving toward a society of gender equality." As the country's two major parties, the DPK and the main opposition United Future Party (UFP), are the only parties which have met the minimum quota of 20 seats to form a floor negotiation group in the upcoming 21st National Assembly, and according to custom the two deputy speaker positions at the National Assembly will be given to them. WASHINGTON - Travel between Canada and the United States is still restricted but businesses, diplomats and communities that depend on cross-border traffic are urging the two countries to join forces in a co-operative approach to thriving in the new post-pandemic global economy. The Washington-based Canadian American Business Council launched a new online campaign Thursday to convince states, provinces and federal officials on both sides of the border to team up in their battle back from the impact of COVID-19. The primary goals of the councils North American Rebound campaign are to encourage Canada and the U.S. to work together to secure personal protective equipment, replenish and maintain each others medical stockpiles and defend critical cross-border supply chains. Expanding market opportunities in both countries would speed recovery efforts and better equip both to compete in a world that promises to be dramatically different, said Scotty Greenwood, the councils CEO and a veteran of the perpetual battle to represent Canadian interests stateside and U.S. interests in Canada. In many ways, the effort is an early hedge against the perils of protectionism, not only from the famously insular Trump administration. Its not just the U.S., Greenwood said in an interview. Theres a political tendency which is understandable, but it doesnt really work to say, Were going to be self sufficient, were going to reshore everything and were going to go it alone, we dont want to be dependent on somebody. When you think about the Canada-U.S. context, its not efficient, and its not workable. Diplomats, business experts and scholars who specialize in Canada-U.S. matters have been virtually unanimous over the last two months in their praise for the mutual ban on non-essential travel, which since mid-March has been aimed at curbing the spread of the virus without impairing the movement of trade, business and essential workers. Early kinks in the system, largely the result of border guards having broad discretion to determine what constitutes essential traffic, have largely now been smoothed out, said Mark Agnew, senior director of international policy with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. One of the next challenges will be dealing with congestion when the border reopens, as well as ensuring adequate testing and tracing of the contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19, Agnew said. As commercial activity increases, border wait times are a potential pain point if staffing levels are not ready to meet increased demand, he said. Economic activity is also not a lightswitch; companies need lead-in time to prepare. Specific direction on the safest way to travel and what measures are required in various parts of each country where face masks, gloves and other forms of protective gear are mandatory, for instance will be vital, as will having supplies ready at border crossings to prevent people being turned away because they dont have their own, he added. Lots of travellers still forget they even have a water bottle in their carry-on. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed earlier this week that current border restrictions would persist until at least June 21. But as businesses reopen and personal mobility restrictions ease on both sides of the border, talk is turning towards what it will look like when the agreement is finally allowed to lapse. Kathryn Friedman, a law professor and Canada-U.S. border expert on the Buffalo campus of the State University of New York, said fear of so-called Buy American or Buy Canadian requirements in forthcoming stimulus efforts have been a common theme in her discussions with stakeholders. A truly united North American approach, she said, could prove a boon to border towns and cities that have been brutalized by the drop in travel over the last two months. Given that now theres a real push for companies to bring suppliers back home, to really get out of China and reshore back in the United States or Canada, theres a real opportunity for places like Detroit-Windsor, Buffalo, Niagara, maybe even Seattle and Vancouver, to position themselves as a new platform in each region for reshoring of supply chains, Friedman said. As for the challenges of border logistics in a pandemic, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Canada Border Services Agency may enforce the rules, she added, but its really the local folks who come up with the creative solutions. Greenwood has championed the idea of an essential commerce traveller program, based on existing trusted-traveller programs like Nexus and Global Entry, that would cut the risk of border officers using their broad discretion to deny access to people who should be allowed to cross. The Canada-U.S. relationship isnt strictly a federal affair, Greenwood said the bulk of the trade and commerce that transits the shared border tends to have the greatest impact at the regional and even local level, which is why the statement has been endorsed by more than 24 business councils, diplomats and community stakeholders on both sides. We know from our experience, and we know from whats happening now, that it requires a constant drumbeat reminding policymakers and reminding everybody about how truly integrated we are, and how thats a good thing. The campaign includes an online portal, at This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2020. Follow James McCarten on Twitter @CdnPressStyle WASHINGTON The Senate on Thursday confirmed Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence, installing a new head of the nations intelligence agencies at a time when President Donald Trump has ousted multiple officials. Ratcliffe seemed unlikely to get the position when he was nominated in February, as he had already been nominated for the job last year and then withdrew after Republicans questioned his experience. But senators warmed to him as they grew concerned about upheaval in the intelligence community under Trump and wanted a permanent, confirmed director. The Texas Republican will replace Richard Grenell, the current acting director who has overseen many of the personnel changes. The last Senate-confirmed director, former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, left the post last summer after clashing with Trump. Democrats allowed a quick vote on the nomination this week, dropping their usual procedural delays in a signal that they prefer Ratcliffe over Grenell. But most Democrats still opposed his nomination, making Ratcliffe the first DNI not to win broad bipartisan support since the position was first created in 2005. The vote was 49-44. Democrats said they were skeptical that Ratcliffe would be an independent leader, despite his assurances during his confirmation hearing. The Republican has been an ardent defender of the president through House impeachment and investigations into Russian interference. Ratcliffe worked to separate himself from the president at his confirmation hearing, including by saying he believed Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, a conclusion Trump has resisted. He said he would communicate to Trump the intelligence communitys findings even if he knew Trump disagreed with them and might fire him. Still, the position carries unique challenges given the presidents seeming inclinations to politicize intelligence and to bend intelligence agencies to his will. Trump has openly rejected intelligence community assessments at odds with his own viewpoint, including on the Russian interference. Trump has also shown himself as eager to have intelligence agencies investigate matters that he hopes will support his political positions, with agencies now trying to determine whether the coronavirus pandemic emerged in a laboratory in China or from a market. In addition, the DNI is encountering ongoing political pressure, including from Republicans in Congress, to declassify and make public information from the Russia investigation that Trump allies hope will cast senior Obama administration officials including former vice president and 2020 opponent Joe Biden in a negative light. Last week, for instance, Senate Republicans released a newly declassified list of former intelligence officials who requested the identity of an American from intelligence reports who turned out to be former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn. On Tuesday, Republicans released a January 2017 memo that Susan Rice, President Barack Obamas national security adviser, wrote to herself documenting a sensitive conversation about Flynn and his Russian contacts that she participated in earlier in the month with Obama and then-FBI Director James Comey. And there have been calls from Democrats, and Flynns own lawyer, to release declassified transcripts of intercepted phone calls during the presidential transition period between Flynn and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about those communications, though the Justice Department has since moved to dismiss the case. Demands to make that information public could confront Ratcliffe in his new role. No lawyer for Flynn has ever seen it or heard the recording of the call, Flynns lawyer, Sidney Powell, said in an email to The Associated Press. I would want both. The Police in Kenya has announced the arrest of a man who forcefully applied a mixture of pepper, salt, and onions to his wifes private part and then sealed it up with glue and sand. Security operatives announced the 30-year-old man was arrested in his hideout in Kaningo, Kitui County by a combined team from Directorate of Criminal Investigations Tseikuru, Special Crimes Unit and DCI Tharaka South. Recall Naija News previously reported that the man on May 16, physically and sexually assaulted his wife over alleged infidelity. The suspect initially persuaded his wife to move from their Marimanti township home, fearing that he would be arrested after having traveled from Nairobi where there is a lockdown. However, on reaching Kathita River, the man who threatened to kill his wife ordered her to undress. When the woman refused to obey, he descended on her with blows while threatening to stab her with the knife he was holding. After carrying out the evil act, the man fled and was declared wanted by the police. Giving an update on the incident, Kenyas Directorate of Criminal Investigations on Thursday tweeted that the man has now been arrested. 30-Year-Old James Kifo Muriuki, who on 16th May, 2020 horridly dehumanized his wife, has this morning been arrested from his hideout at Kaningo in Kitui County by a combined team of @DCI_Kenya Detectives from Special Crime Unit, DCI Tseikuru and DCI Tharaka South. pic.twitter.com/9InbkfcyI4 DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) May 21, 2020 The DCI added that further investigation will be carried out and the suspect will be charged to court once investigations are completed. Share this post with your Friends on Coronavirus cases in Alabama continue to inch upward, more than a week after the state eased restrictions on businesses, churches and public gatherings. But public health experts say its too soon to tell what impact the reopening has had. Dr. Karen Landers of the Alabama Department of Public Health said the virus has an incubation period of two to 14 days, meaning that a person can be infected for two weeks before they would test positive. Landers also said many people are remaining cautious even after Alabama relaxed health orders on May 11. While there has been some easing of restrictions, obviously, people are still being careful, Landers said. I do think it's a bit early to determine what impact [easing restrictions] will have, and certainly if people continue to carry out the social distancing measures, the respiratory hygiene, the face covering, I believe that will continue to have an impact on overall numbers. Still, the number of new cases discovered each day is higher than it was last month, according to ADPH statistics. As of Wednesday night, Alabama had more than 13,000 cases of COVID-19 and 522 deaths. The average number of new cases reported each day has been higher in May than any prior month. Before May 5, Alabama had seen only two days with more than 300 new COVID cases. Since then, Alabamas reported 300 or more new cases on 10 of 15 days, peaking with 399 new cases reported Tuesday. In some counties, that rise can be explained by increased testing, but in other areas, like Montgomery, cases have climbed faster than testing. I would say we're still in a bit of a holding pattern with some slight increases in the case count in Alabama, said Dr. Jodie Dionne-Odom, an infectious disease doctor and researcher at UAB. We had been at 200 to 250 new cases a day and now we're closer to 300 to 350 new cases a day, she said. So we're watching that very closely, I would say we are concerned about the trend. Dr. Mark Wilson, Jefferson County Health Officer, said the numbers in Alabamas most populous county are likewise ticking up, although without the exponential growth that could jeopardize the health care system. Jefferson County has reported 1,433 cases as of Wednesday, second most in the state. Alabamas most populous county saw the highest number of cases early on, but the numbers have stabilized there, while surging later in Mobile County, which now has more than 1,800 cases. We're not seeing a huge spike, but we're still seeing a lot of cases, Wilson said of the Birmingham area. Jefferson County though has seen an average of about 25 new cases per day in the month of May. Over the past week, the average has inched up to more than 30 new cases per day. The more people who are tested for a disease, the more positive results will be found. But experts say expanded testing doesnt account for all of the increases seen in the state. I'm not sure that [testing] is enough to explain all of the increase, at least in Birmingham, Dionne-Odom said. A lot of the testing sites that we have had open have consistently been open for a number of weeks now. So we're not at the stage anymore, where we're doubling the amount of testing capacity every day. It's a little more steady. As of Tuesday, UAB Hospital reported 54 in-patient cases of COVID-19, up from 45 Friday. We have been between 40 and 50 for a number of weeks now, so I would again say that's sort of holding steady, maybe an uptick, she said. Its too early to know for sure if it's actually a trend or not. We're all obviously watching the numbers day-by-day very closely as we start to open up more and people are going out more to see if that has an impact on the numbers that we're seeing. Some measures, such as the number of in-patients being treated in hospitals, don't change with expanded testing. Wilson said there are about 100 people hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout Jefferson County. And that seems steady, or possibly rising. We are not seeing cases going down, Wilson said. We're not seeing hospitalizations going down. We've seen a slight increase over the last couple of weeks in cases and hospitalizations, but nothing dramatic. Wilson said that roughly 40 percent of the new cases added in Jefferson County over the last few weeks have been associated with spread in nursing homes, either in residents or employees. So the bad news is, we've got a problem in our nursing homes, Wilson said. This is not unique to us. This is all around the state, and all around the country. The good news could be that when you subtract out the nursing homes, that's less cases that are in the general population. Statewide, the ADPH reports that 1,260 of Alabamas cases are residents of long-term care facilities like nursing homes and that 832 are employees. That accounts for about 16 percent of Alabamas 13,000-plus total cases. Still, the message remains that people should be extremely cautious about their interactions in public, especially if they are high risk or come in contact with people who are. Nothing's really changed in terms of the risk, Wilson said. The virus is still circulating in the community. You don't know who has it or doesn't. Asymptomatic people can be spreading it. Nobody should let up their guard, in terms of taking precautions. During the Great Recession, public colleges and universities experienced an explosion in enrollment across all demographic groups. In that period's woefully bad economy, many who might have gone directly into the workforce instead took a chance on attending college to obtain more advanced academic credentials and wait out the financial drought.But while the coronavirus seems likely to weaken our economy beyond what we saw in 2008 and 2009, this fall's college enrollment is likely to plunge. No one knows when colleges will be able to reopen their campuses for in-person learning, given the difficulty of social distancing in classrooms, dormitories and dining halls. The nation could face some of the lowest college enrollment in modern history. Some higher education institutions may not survive.Even colleges that do decide to reopen at some level in the fall are likely to experience significant enrollment declines. In a survey of parents of college-bound seniors conducted in early April by Brian Communications, 40 percent indicated that they might keep their kids from immediately enrolling in college due to the coronavirus. Many seniors are also considering taking a "gap year" rather than enrolling in the fall and facing the dangers of COVID-19.At Georgia Piedmont Technical College, where I formerly served as president, fall enrollment is already down 25 percent from last year. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office reports that nearly 251,000 fewer returning students from the lowest-income backgrounds have renewed their Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the next academic cycle. Overall, FAFSA renewals are down nearly 5 percent, a good indication of what's to come in the fall.As those numbers suggest, fears of COVID-19 aren't the only reason for the precipitous drop in enrollment. Students are also being put off by the high cost of college and the lack of adequate financial aid, a situation that for public colleges has been worsened by the pandemic's impact on state revenues and which the $14 billion federal stimulus for higher education does little to alleviate. In 2008, Georgia's technical-college system offered low-interest loans to low-income students in an effort to make higher education more affordable. Today the economic picture in many states is so bleak that neither the systems nor individual colleges can afford to offer these types of loans.What's happening in Georgia is all too typical. Facing billions in decreased tax revenues, Gov. Brian Kemp has ordered cuts of 14 percent across the board for all agencies and departments, including colleges and universities. This means that the state's public higher education institutions, which originally were allocated about $3 billion, will see their budgets shrink by about $420 million. Nationally there are some 4,000 two- and four-year colleges that comprise the $600 billion higher education industry; for publicly funded institutions, cuts comparable to Georgia's would have a devastating impact.Added to the financial chaos are the mixed messages colleges are sending to students about whether or not they intend to open in the fall or at what level they might do so. Even for those that do reopen, many students will not enroll or return until they feel safe or can be vaccinated against COVID-19. It may take years for enrollments and the revenues that support public institutions to return to pre-coronavirus levels. But in the meantime, there are steps colleges could take.First, they should continue developing proficiency in online education. Distance learning correspondence courses, for example has been a fixture in higher education in the United States for over 100 years, but since the explosion of the Internet in the 1990s online learning has become a significant part of course offerings and revenue streams for many colleges. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, online learning has been a lifeline for education at all levels, allowing colleges to deliver course content remotely and evolve from semester scheduling to 24-hour scheduling, where students take classes when convenient learning on demand.Structural changes in our public higher ed systems may be needed as well. For many colleges with proud histories and traditions, merging may be the only option for survival. Between 2008 and 2012 in Georgia, 33 technical colleges were consolidated into 22 institutions. The system was able to save administrative and overhead costs, and most students were still able to attend nearby colleges because many campuses remained open despite being consolidated administratively.Ultimately, however, some colleges will need to consider closing permanently. Many have been struggling financially for years, and Moody's Investors Service expects that about 30 percent of the public and private institutions it tracks "will have difficulties weathering an economic downturn." Now is the time for higher education boards to engage in deep introspection and, if they cannot find the resources to provide quality education, proactively decide which institutions to close so that stronger ones can be better supported.Despite crises of the past, our system of public higher education has proven to be remarkably resilient. I believe it will survive the pandemic that has disrupted so many American institutions. But educators, while preserving their institutions' diversity and service to historically neglected communities, should seize the opportunity to address higher ed's long-standing vulnerabilities, including affordability, financing, outdated modes of teaching, and health and student safety. Addressing these will strengthen not only our economic system but also our democracy and civil society.GoverningGoverning Republican ally of Trump takes control of sprawling US intelligence agencies after partisan purge of top officials. President Donald Trumps nominee to be the next United States spy chief, John Ratcliffe, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday. The Senate voted 49-44 along partisan lines to confirm Ratcliffe, whose nomination last year was withdrawn in the face of bipartisan opposition. Ratcliffe is a Republican member of the House of Representatives and was a vocal defender of Trump during the presidents impeachment in 2019. Democrats opposed Ratcliffes nomination but dropped procedural objections to a quick vote as members of both parties want a Senate-confirmed nominee in the job. The post had been temporarily filled by acting director Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist who oversaw a shake-up in US intelligence agencies that raised concerns on Capitol Hill. Ratcliffe is seen to be similarly loyal to Trump but he promised in his Senate confirmation hearing to be an independent head of the nations intelligence agencies and said he would keep Congress informed of important developments. Ratcliffe replaces former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats, a former US senator who had good relationships with legislators but clashed with Trump. Trump, who has long been sceptical of the nations intelligence community, has installed acting heads and removed and fired multiple intelligence officials. Ratcliffe was first picked by Trump for the post in July 2019, shortly after Coatss resignation, but then withdrew after some Senate Republicans questioned his lack of experience. Republican senators warmed to Ratcliffe after Trump unexpectedly nominated him again in February, as concerns grew about Grenell and the turnover in the intelligence community. Most Republicans have praised Ratcliffe since his second nomination. But Democrats have been sceptical that he will serve with the independence they say is crucial for the job. As DNI, Ratcliffe will assume leadership of 17 intelligence agencies including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. At his hearing, Ratcliffe worked to separate himself from the president, including by saying he believed Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, a conclusion Trump has often resisted. He said he would communicate to Trump the intelligence communitys findings even if he knew Trump disagreed with them and might fire him. Democrats were not convinced. The top Democrat on the panel, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, told Ratcliffe at the hearing I dont see what has changed since last summer, referring to when Ratcliffes nomination was withdrawn in 2019. Ratcliffes recent nomination was approved 8-7 in a closed committee hearing Tuesday, with all Democrats voting against it, according to a committee aide. Ratcliffe sits on the House intelligence, judiciary and ethics committees. He was a member of Trumps impeachment advisory team last fall and aggressively questioned witnesses during the House impeachment hearings. He forcefully questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller last year when Mueller testified about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Olga Nedbaeva (Agence France-Presse) Paris, France Thu, May 21, 2020 22:02 608 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd97e896 2 Food chef,food,coronavirus,COVID-19,pandemic,France,restaurant,Guy-Savoy Free Two months ago Guy Savoy was at the very top of the gastronomic tree. His Paris flagship restaurant had yet again been hailed as the best in the world by La Liste, with tables booked months in advance. Then the coronavirus came, closing restaurants across the planet. Now the three-star Michelin chef is making soup that you can heat up at home in your microwave. Not any old soup, of course, but Savoy's legendary artichoke soup with truffles, which comes delivered with a brioche speckled with mushrooms and truffles to dip into it. "It breaks my heart to see a place that is usually so animated at lunchtime empty," Savoy told AFP, as he surveyed his elegant dining room at la Monnaie de Paris overlooking the River Seine and the Louvre museum. Its kitchens lie mostly empty, with their fridge doors open, with only the patisserie team hard at work preparing brioches and mousse au chocolat and rice pudding for takeaway. Read also: Michelin-star chef serves Belgian homeless after coronavirus closure 'We need comfort' "These old-fashioned recipes bring us the comfort we need in these difficult times," Savoy said. Like a host of top French chefs including his great friend and rival Alain Ducasse, Savoy has started doing home deliveries because his well-heeled clients can no longer come to him. "Looked at from an economic point of view, what we are doing does not hold up," Savoy said, but it was important to keep in contact with his public. He has come up with a limited takeaway menu of dishes specifically chosen so their taste would not be too adversely affected when they are reheated at a low temperature, like sole or quail confit. The famous artichoke soup comes in a glass jar to be gently reheated on a stove or at 600W in a microwave, with the truffle shavings wrapped separately to be added afterwards. Every dish comes with a little card explaining how best to heat and serve it, said chef Gilles Chesneau, with most of the meals prepared at the one-star Le Chiberta restaurant near the Champs Elysees. Not running a deli "We also advise people to leave the starters and the desserts to sit out for five minutes, which will help to bring out the flavors," he added. But this is not what Savoy's dreams are made of and he is chomping at the bit to get back. "I am not a traiteur (someone who runs a deli)," sighed the great chef, but it was helping get some of his staff back to work. Like many top chefs, the lockdown has been an emotional as well as financial hit for Savoy. The brutal manner in which it was imposed on a Saturday night in mid-March made it even tougher for him. "I had to announce it to the guests, the words catching in my throat," he recalled. Read also: Self-isolate in style: Scots chef offers fine-dining takeaways 'I was knocked out' "I was knocked out. I have been working for 51 years and it is the first time I came up in front of an obstacle that I couldn't get over with work and energy. It's the feeling of being powerless," he said. But on the bright side, Savoy said it wasn't like we have been through a war or an earthquake. "The building is intact and my teams still have their know-how. We can restart quickly." When that will be is another question, however. Many believe restaurants will not be able to open in France until at least July, and then with tight social distancing restrictions, which should be less of a problem for top end addresses like Savoy's. "They closed us in four hours. I not saying that we will be able to reopen as quick, but in 36 to 48 hours I could get the operation going again," he said. Unlike some younger chefs, Savoy said he doesn't "believe in this talk of the world before and after (the coronavirus). "This crisis is just a moment during which we will have to take a lot of precautions." Which does not mean he is not worried about when and if foreign tourists will return to Paris, the world's most visited city. They make up around 40 percent of his diners, most of them Americans and Koreans. "Paris needs the whole planet to work. If there are no tourists, half of the restaurants will disappear," Savoy warned. POTTSTOWN A walk-up testing site has opened in Pottstown for area residents who meet certain criteria to be tested for COVID-19. Montgomery County commissioners said the site opened on at the Office of Public Healths Pottstown Health Center, located at 364 King St. Testing will be available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., by appointment only, county Commissioners Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh announced at a daily news briefing. To register for an appointment, residents should call 610-970-2937 beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the intended appointment. Phone lines will remain open until 10 a.m. or when all time slots are filled, whichever comes first. Officials said Spanish-speaking operators or a language line translator will be available. Those residents eligible for testing include: Persons of any age with symptoms of sudden illness, such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste, or gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, with or without fever; Anyone with known or suspected direct contact to someone with COVID-19 or; Anyone who has been recommended by their doctor to get tested. This includes first responders or health care workers who know that they were exposed to an individual with COVID-19 or themselves are experiencing any signs or symptoms, Arkoosh said. Testing at this site will be a self-administered nasal swab, the same format currently being used at our Whitpain and Norristown locations, Arkoosh explained during the news briefing. The individual will be asked to place the testing swab in their nose as directed by personnel on site and staff will be present to provide instructions and answer any questions throughout the testing process. Officials said residents who wish to be tested do not need a drivers license or other form of identification. You do not need health insurance and you do not need a prescription or doctors order to be tested. Testing is provided free of charge and there is no requirement that you live in any particular municipality, Arkoosh explained. The Pottstown walk-up site will not be open on weekends or on Memorial Day. County officials previously opened a walk-up testing site in Norristown at the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center and a drive-thru site at the central campus of the Montgomery County Community College in Whitpain. Those two community-based testing sites also continue to operate. Prior to this site opening, Pottstown area residents had to travel to those sites to get tested. The chairs of NAACP chapters in Montgomery County pushed for more testing sites in low-income areas, where the population is statistically more likely to be infected. In an April 20 letter to the county commissioners, the chapter presidents wrote the countys strategic approach to this pandemic should have a clear and articulated goal which acknowledges the increased risk to African Americans and other disenfranchised communities. A pop-up test site sponsored by the Black Doctors COVID Consortium was held on May 9 in the parking lot of Second Baptist Church where 83 people were tested, Montgomery County Commissioner Ken Lawrence Jr. among them. It was this test which revealed that, despite having no symptoms and taking preventative measures, Lawrence is carrying the virus. He is now self-isolating in his home. ATLANTIC CITY The porte-cochere in front of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City was vibrant and energetic for a couple hours Thursday morning, as out-of-work employees drove through a gift-card distribution event beeping their car horns and shouting greetings to co-workers. Following the success of a two-day ShopRite gift card giveaway earlier this month, Hard Rock ownership held another distribution event for all employees who make less than $50,000 annually, including tipped, part-time and on-call workers. Nearly 3,000 employees received $100 grocery store gift cards at each event. In total, Hard Rocks local contribution to employees has been $600,000. Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} These efforts continue to show our ownerships commitment to the city and team members and is yet another example of their dedication to living by Hard Rocks core motto, Take Time to Be Kind, said Joe Lupo, president of Hard Rock Atlantic City. A lax safety culture at an air ambulance company led to the crash of a medical helicopter last year in snowy weather in Ohio that killed three people, federal investigators said Tuesday. Survival Flights inadequate management of safety led the pilot to depart in deteriorating conditions. The helicopter was heading from one hospital to another to pick up a patient in January 2019 without a thorough pre-flight weather evaluation, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday. All three occupants pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic were killed in the crash in rugged terrain about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Columbus. This accident was all but invited by the actions and culture of Survival Flight, NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt said in a statement. Unfortunately, we have seen yet another case of how a poor safety culture can lead to tragedy. 6 Recommendations The safety board made six recommendations for changes at the company including revising flight risk assessment procedures including procedures for determining prior flight refusals by another helicopter air ambulance operator and forecast en route weather. Ryan Stubenrauch, a spokesperson for Survival Flight of Batesville, Arkansas, called the accident a tragedy that took the lives of three brave people whod dedicated themselves to saving others. Were learning from this tragedy and have already completed five of the NTSBs six recommendations with ongoing work on the final recommendation, Stubenrauch said in a written statement. Survival Flight will continue to learn, improve and adapt as a company in order to better serve our communities and save lives. The Bell 407 helicopter, which wasnt supposed to operate in low-visibility conditions, made a sharp turn after encountering the second of two bands of snow showers probably as the pilot tried to gain visibility, investigators said but failed to maintain altitude and hit trees before going down near the tiny community of Zaleski. Killed were pilot Jennifer Topper, 34, of Sunbury, Ohio; and flight nurses Bradley Haynes, 48, of London, Ohio, and Rachel Cunningham, 33, of Galloway, Ohio. Two other companies had opted not to accept the assignment over concerns about the weather that day, authorities said, but the pilot didnt know that and didnt know about potential bad weather along the planned route. Current and former Survival Flight employees told investigators there was pressure from managers to operate flights in challenging conditions and to take flights other operators declined because of poor weather, the safety board said. Survival Flight pilots and operations staff routinely failed to comply with pre-flight risk assessment procedures because such noncompliance had become normalized by Survival Flights deficient safety culture, the board said. Stubenrauch declined to comment on those assertions. The board also faulted the Federal Aviation Administrations oversight of the companys risk management program and said it had repeatedly urged that all on-demand aircraft operators, including helicopter air ambulances, be required to have formal programs and procedures to manage safety risks. An email seeking comment was sent to an FAA representative. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Ohio Leadership Aviation 100 Years Ago 1920: Those who are deeply interested in the official figures of Tuesdays election will be required to wait for at least a week before they come into possession of information of any sort. No announcement will be made until the count is completed. It is not believed that official count will show any material difference in semi-official figures. 75 Years Ago 1945: Capture of the elusive phantom in Cincinnati Saturday night ended the career of the thief who was without a doubt the most spectacular and troublesome burglar in the history of Delaware County. He first began to plague the local police departments in the summer of 1943 after escaping from a penitentiary at LaGrange, Ky., and plundered Chester and surrounding towns of more than $250,000 before fleeing west last month. He employed the same technique on his jobs checking a house by phone, scouting it carefully, then knocking out a small pane of glass, using painters tape to keep the pieces from falling. 50 Years Ago 1970: State police criminal investigators moved into the basement of Moyamensing Fire House, Ninth and Potter streets, to coordinate their probe of a series of fire bombings that occurred throughout Tuesday. Lt. Arthur W. McAnally said he is especially interested in obtaining information on the death of a 9-year-old girl when the family home at 412 E. 11th St. was hit shortly after midnight. The Head Start center in the education building of Trinity United Methodist Church, Eighth and Butler streets, was hit with considerable damage, and Douglas Junior High School, Eighth Street and Central Avenue, avoided damage when a bomb either failed or exploded prematurely. 25 Years Ago 1995: Aston Township commissioners approved a contract for newly appointed Police Chief David Hollingsworth 4-3. Commissioners Jim McGinn and Bill Welsh said after the meeting their opposition stems from a clause in the contract limiting the chiefs probation period six months instead of past contracts one year. It also states Hollingsworth has up to one year after the probation to move into the township. I just feel that the chief of police should be living in the township as soon as possible, McGinn said. 10 Years Ago 2010: All bids for borough work totaling $50,000 or more will now be opened during Brookhaven councils work session. Councilman Ben Linowski, who recently raised the issue, said he was the only council member to attend a recent $1 million-plus bid opening for sewer plant upgrades. Nobody from the public was present either, said Linowski. COLIN AINSWORTH May 21, 2020 - How should orthopaedic surgeons respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? A review in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery analyzes evidence and strategies for managing the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus - including critical lessons from past pandemics. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. "Controlling the spread of COVID-19 has become the singular focus on several countries, with unprecedented international collaboration and rapid dissemination of emerging scientific evidence," according to the rapid evidence review by Mohit Bhandari, MD, PhD, FRCSC, and colleagues of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada. In a comprehensive review, they identify and analyze available evidence on the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 - Emerging Evidence and Evolving Strategies Although the global spread and societal impact of SARS-CoV-2 may seem unprecedented, it is the third major outbreak of coronavirus infection to occur in less than 20 years - following severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-03 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Symptoms of COVID-19 - most commonly fever and cough - appear an average of five days after infection and almost always within 11.5 days. Evidence suggests that about 20 percent of cases are severe or critical, while about 88 percent have abnormal findings on chest CT scans. Estimates of mortality vary but may approach four percent in confirmed cases of COVID-19. Older patients and those with comorbid conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, are at higher risk of death. There is currently no specific treatment for COVID-19. Trials are underway to evaluate antivirals and other potentially beneficial medications; some of these treatments "may be trialed if available in severe cases." The race is on to develop an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, with several potential targets being evaluated. However, as the authors write, "[A] vaccine that is ready for widespread use is likely still months, possibly years, away." In the meantime, hygiene, social distancing, and isolation measures are needed to curb virus transmission. Experience suggests that these measures have been effective in "flattening the curve" of viral transmission - as demonstrated by the textbook example of the 1918 influenza pandemic. In that historic epidemic as in the SARS pandemic, a second wave of infections occurred after relaxation of containment measures. "It is essential that we continue these practices, as the outbreak is currently expected to last for many more months and we must be mindful of the lessons learned from past pandemics to prevent a second wave from occurring," according to Dr. Bhandari and colleagues. That's especially important in limiting the spread of SARS-Cov-2 by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals. Guiding Surgeons Through the Pandemic The authors summarize recent guidance to surgeons and other frontline healthcare professionals, including postponing or cancelling elective or nonemergency surgical procedures; shifting inpatient tests or procedures to outpatient settings, if possible; and taking steps to conserve available resources and healthcare capacity. The review includes recommended steps for necessary surgery in patients with COVID-19. Dr. Bhandari is Editor-in-Chief of OrthoEvidence, a global online source for high quality and timely orthopedic-only, evidence-based summaries. In partnership with JBJS, OrthoEvidence has created a COVID-19 Resource Center, offering podcasts, original content, links to critical breaking studies, and global perspectives on COVID-19 from orthopaedic surgeons around the world on how they're responding to the pandemic. "Data is the differentiator in this global crisis," Dr. Bhandari writes in a message to the OrthoEvidence community. "We are proud to stand with our community to provide as much evidence as we can to help you all make important decisions for your communities and your patients." Click here to read "Novel Coronavirus COVID-19: Current Evidence and Evolving Strategies." DOI: 10.2106/JBJS.20.00396 ### About The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery (JBJS) has been the most valued source of information for orthopaedic surgeons and researchers for over 125 years and is the gold standard in peer-reviewed scientific information in the field. A core journal and essential reading for general as well as specialist orthopaedic surgeons worldwide, The Journal publishes evidence-based research to enhance the quality of care for orthopaedic patients. Standards of excellence and high quality are maintained in everything we do, from the science of the content published to the customer service we provide. JBJS is an independent, non-profit journal. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2019 annual revenues of 4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students with advanced clinical decision support, learning and research and clinical intelligence. For more information about our solutions, visit http://healthclarity.wolterskluwer.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth. For more information, visit http://www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. [May 21, 2020] OpenZR+ MSA Group Formed to Expand DCI Interoperability in Pluggable Module Form Factors MAYNARD, Mass. and YOKOHAMA, Japan, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seven optical communications vendors of components, modules and systems today announced that they have formed the OpenZR+ Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) Group to define an open, flexible and interoperable coherent DWDM solution in a small form factor pluggable module. The OpenZR+ implementation is designed to enable enhanced functionality and improved performance in pluggable form factors, such as QSFP-DD and OSFP. Network operators can utilize OpenZR+ modes to support 100 to 400 Gb/s data rates and efficient multiplexing of Ethernet clients with extended reaches to address high-density regional and long haul applications. Initial members include Acacia Communications, Cisco, Fujitsu Optical Components, InnoLight Technology, Juniper Networks, Lumentum, and NTT Electronics. The goal of the OpenZR+ MSA is to specify the interoperation of modules utilizing the Ethernet-optimized ZR framing with the higher gain oFEC to enable a range of enhanced performance modes operating at 100 Gb/s, 200 Gb/s, 300 Gb/s and 400 Gb/s rates in support of single or multiplexed Ethernet interfaces. The OpenZR+ members are working together to develop the protocol and optical specifications to support an expansion of the use cases for interoperable coherent pluggable modules in a QSFP-DD or OSFP form factor, said Atul Srivistava, Co-chai of the OpenZR+ MSA Group. By ensuring multi-vendor support for OpenZR+, the objective of this MSA is to enable network operators to expand the application space for the 400ZR operational model without sacrificing interoperability, said Tom Williams, Co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA Group. MSA Members Acacia Communications and NTT Electronics have already announced that they have completed testing to demonstrate interoperability between OpenZR+ coherent DSPs by exchanging test vectors. The MSA plans to publish a specification defining operating modes that will allow other DSP vendors to develop solutions that interoperate with OpenZR+. Please visit openzrplus.org for more information on the OpenZR+ MSA. About OpenZR+ OpenZR+ was designed to focus on Ethernet traffic with support for multiple host and line interface rates in form factors that are used for high density 400G client optics, such as QSFP-DD and OSFP. The OpenZR+ modes utilize oFEC, which was originally specified by the OpenROADM MSA for carrier applications in metro networks, and support multi-vendor interoperability, providing network operators with an operationally efficient solution for DCI, metro and long-haul applications. For a more detailed explanation of OpenZR+, many members of the OpenZR+ MSA Group previously co-authored a contributed article for Optical Connections Magazine titled OpenZR+ Offers Performance and Interoperability . For further information: Contact: Kelly Karr PR for OpenZR+ MSA Group [email protected] 408-718-9350 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 2020 marks the deadline of Chinese governments decades-long promise to its people: to eradicate extreme poverty and to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered the governments original plans, experts noted that Chinas development is well on track and shall benefit the world. Rana Mitter, director of the China Centre at the University of Cambridge, noted though COVID-19 is currently causing a problem for the Chinese economy, the nation has continued to grow its economy and move to greater domestic growth. It is important to keep pushing at reform, ensuring greater transparency and openness in markets and politics to allow society to grow evenly. In particular, the climate change issue has not gone away. The world expects that China will build on the foundations that it has built and go further and faster on climate change issues, Mitter told Peoples Daily Online. Mitter also noted that global problems require global solutions, and the world should bring together scientific and political cooperation across boundaries and systems to fight a virus which threatens all humankind. Recently, former British Prime Minister Theresa May made a statement that we need a collective international view about how to tackle the virus, and praised scientists for working together. This seems to me the right attitude, said Mitter. The scholar also expressed confidence in future China-UK cooperation, adding that Britain and China should maintain a friendly, deep, frank and honest conversation with each other. Now that Britain is looking for new markets and relationships abroad, there is a chance for a deeper conversation with China. Britain and China need to have serious discussions about areas where their economies can benefit each other. In particular, Britain will look for opportunities for its thriving creative and services sector in China, he said. Naushad Bijapur By Express News Service BELAGAVI: The states decision to ban the entry of people from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu has taken a toll on migrant workers who have arrived in large numbers on Karnataka-Maharashtra border near Nipani. Having left Mumbai and desperate to enter Karnataka, at least 400 migrants from Hassan, Udupi, Chikkaballapur, Karwar, Mangaluru and Dharwad have been stranded near Kugnolli check post for the past few days with little food or money. We were doing odd jobs in Mumbai. With the lockdown in force, we faced several problems. Without jobs or money, many of us had to sell ornaments and other belongings, said a daily-wager. They met minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, DC S B Bommanahalli and SP Laxman Nimbargi on the border and urged them to allow them into Karnataka and quarantine them. Nimbargi said it is difficult to allow them to enter the state without e-passes. We told them to stay at Kagal or Kolhapur in Maharashtra where they will be accommodated in government facilities until the state government grants permission for their entry. But, most of them insist on entering Karnataka, he added. Odisha on Thursday reported its seventh COVID-19 fatality, while 51 new coronavirus case were detected, taking the total number of such cases to 1,103, official sources said. The deceased had recently returned from Surat. The 85-year-old man, who belonged to Ganjam district, died on Wednesday. He was also suffering from hypertension, the Health and Family Welfare department said. Regret to report death of a 1 patient (Male age 85) of Ganjam District (Surat returnee) Hypertensive with other comorbidities, the department said in its official twitter post. Of the seven COVID fatalities, three each come from Ganjam and Khurda districts while one person from Cuttack also succumbed to the highly infectious disease. The new 51 cases were reported from 11 different districts. While 11 cases each were reported from Kalahandi and Nayagarh district, 9 were in Cuttack, 5 in Jajpur, 4 in Ganjam, 3 in Maurybhanj, 2 each in Angul and Jagatsinghpur, one each from Sambalpur, Malkangiri and Puri districts. Of the 51 new cases, 48 people in quarantine centres tested positive for the virus. With new cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased to 1103 of which 753 are active and 343 others have so far recovered from the disease. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Thursday that it has rescinded a policy that banned the enlistment of recruits who have been hospitalized for the coronavirus until they got a special waiver. Matthew Donovan, the undersecretary for defence personnel, told Pentagon reporters that such individuals will now be treated on a case-by-case basis, much like the military treats potential recruits with other infectious diseases or conditions such as asthma. In an early May memo, the Pentagon had said that applicants who have tested positive for the virus but did not require hospitalization will be allowed to enlist, as long as all health and other requirements are met. But anyone who had been hospitalized with the virus may have longer-term physical limitations. So, those people would be considered permanently disqualified and would have to request a waiver from the military service they want to enter. That requirement regarding hospitalized applicants has now been shelved. And the Pentagon is simply reverting to previously existing regulations that govern how recruiting centres deal with anyone who has had an infectious disease. Donovan said that any potential recruit who comes in and is showing symptoms will be referred to their medical provider and told to come back when they are COVID-free. If an applicant was hospitalized, they would go through additional screening and possibly other health tests, and they could be required to get a waiver in some cases. Anyone who has tested positive for the virus must wait 28 days before trying to enlist. Some patients hospitalized with the virus have suffered lung damage. Long-term lung damage could hinder recruits from passing grueling physical requirements for military services. Im very passionate about what I do. I love what I do. I want people to gain a greater sense of respect for the industry and the craft itself because I do think theres so many talented people out there, Wright said. And I also want (viewers) to learn the importance of clear communication. I think thats one thing that we recognized that was a big problem in a lot of the situations when a client did walk out with something they did not ask for. The United States has secured almost a third of the first one billion doses planned for AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine by pledging up to $1.2 billion, as world powers scramble for medicines to get their economies back to work. While not proven to be effective against the coronavirus, vaccines are seen by world leaders as the only real way to restart their stalled economies, and even to get an edge over global competitors. After President Donald Trump demanded a vaccine, the U.S. Department of Health agreed to provide up to $1.2 billion to accelerate ... Former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati on Thursday sought bail in a gang-rape case in the Allahabad High Court citing the risk of contracting coronavirus at KGMU here as many patients suffering from the infection are undergoing treatment at the varsity. Prajapati, who, among others, is accused of raping a woman and attempting to molest her minor daughter, is in judicial custody and undergoing treatment at King George's Medical University (KGMU) for multiple health issues. The former minister's counsel S K Singh told a bench of Justice Anil Kumar that Prajapati should be enlarged on at least short term bail. Opposing the bail plea, Additional Government Advocate (AGA) Anurag Verma said a report by KGMU clearly mentions that Prajapati is being given proper treatment and all his medical needs are being satisfactorily fulfilled at the university. Citing another part of the report, Prajapati's counsel contended that there is an "increased risk" of any patient admitted in KGMU of contracting coronavirus as many patients suffering from the infection are being treated there. At this, the court directed the AGA to clarify the position by June 4, the next date of hearing. A Chitrakoot-based woman corporator had alleged that Prajapati and his aides had raped her and attempted to molest her minor daughter in 2014. Prajapati and six other were arrested in the case in 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:08:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- To ensure Britain remains a top destination for international students, the Russell Group of top British universities has called on the government to fast-track the post-study work visa into law and extend it by six months. The group, representing 24 leading British universities including Oxford and Cambridge, said Wednesday that actions are needed to protect Britain's hard won reputation as a global leader in higher education, which attracts thousands of students to the country each year. Noting that most international students still intend to study abroad in future despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the group said competition for students will be fierce. "International students bring many benefits to the UK, but as the world recovers from the COVID-19 crisis, we have to expect numbers will fall for a while and that competition from other countries will be even more fierce than usual," said Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the group. Besides continuing visa reforms and passing the two-year post study work visa through emergency immigration rules, the group further called on the government to increase the visa to 30 months and allow students to apply for a visa six months rather than three before their physical course start date, so as to give Britain an edge over competitors. It also wants a joint international marketing campaign targeting key countries to show Britain and its universities are an open, safe and welcoming place to study, involving bodies like the British Council and the Department for International Trade. There should be a global consensus on recognition of online courses too, which is a key issue for international students returning to home countries for work after graduation, said the group. Enditem BOSTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Thought Industries , the world's leading B2B customer training platform provider, announced BSA | The Software Alliance, the leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace, has selected its platform to drive an integrated customer training user experience from marketing through the sale of its software asset management (SAM) certification courses. BSA members represent some of the largest and most well-known software organizations around the world. In an environment where software is becoming more ubiquitous, complex and cloud-based, and where IT departments must now manage employees bringing their own devices to work (BYOD) and increasingly working remotely, managing software assets is becoming more important and complicated. "The structure of our SAM certification course had to meet the diverse needs of our multiple external audiences from end-users who require a seamless user experience to resellers who wanted a unique branded learning experience to offer their own customers," said Ha Nguyen McNeill, chief operating officer, BSA | The Software Alliance. "The Thought Industries platform enabled us to meet a very aggressive timeline to transition off an internal training LMS that was not focused on the ecommerce and marketing automation integration required to deliver a great experience for external customers. Additionally, reducing back-end administrative burden was another important requirement and why we selected Thought Industries over other solutions." BSA Verafirm offers the only training and certification program in the world aligned to the 2017 ISO 19770-1, the latest global standard for managing IT assets. "The content covers all areas of software asset management, including contemporary issues faced by SAM managers such as cloud, managing external publisher audit notice, DevOps, open-source software, etc.," said a global head of IT management at a leading European financial services group. "Overall, the information is valuable, the user interface is very friendly and visual quality is very good." "Peoples' professional lives are complicated and busy and have only become more stressful as they must increasingly work from home," said Barry Kelly, CEO, Thought Industries. "By offering a varied, engaging and online self-paced course that moves seamlessly from desktop to smartphone when and how learners need it, with knowledge checks and check-ins, we're excited to be enabling BSA audiences a richer learning experience to support their certification needs during these trying times." Those interested in becoming SAM certified may learn more about the course, offered at a 50 percent discount through May 28, here. About Thought Industries Thought Industries powers the business of learning by providing the world's leading B2B customer training platform. The company was founded in 2014 around the core belief that online learning experiences should be modern, intuitive, engaging, and scalable. Today, our growing team builds and maintains the only learning solution with completely native tools and integrations that drive higher engagement, learner proficiency, and retention rates for our customers. Headquartered in Boston, Thought Industries has offices across North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.thoughtindustries.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. About BSA BSA | The Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members are among the world's most innovative companies, creating software solutions that spark the economy and improve modern life. With headquarters in Washington, DC, and operations in more than 30 countries, BSA pioneers compliance programs that promote legal software use and advocates for public policies that foster technology innovation and drive growth in the digital economy. SOURCE Thought Industries Related Links https://www.thoughtindustries.com (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump didnt wear a face mask during most of his tour of Ford Motor Co.s ventilator facility Thursday, defying the automakers policies and seeking to portray an image of normalcy even as American coronavirus deaths approach 100,000. He told reporters he had put on a mask in the back area of the plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and didnt want to give them the pleasure of seeing him with it. I was given a choice, he said. And I had one on in an area where they preferred it, so I put it on. And it was very nice. Look, very nice. But they said theyre not necessary. He added that he had also worn goggles. Trump held up a dark-colored mask bearing the presidential seal. He said he had been tested for the coronavirus earlier in the day and didnt need to cover his face. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended wearing face coverings in public settings where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, and experts on the presidents coronavirus task force have said masks are useful in preventing the spread of the virus from those who are unaware they have it. Many companies continuing operations during the pandemic have instituted requirements that workers wear protective gear, including masks, while on the job. Ford has released a 64-page return-to-work playbook that states: Face masks are required to be worn by everyone, in all facilities, at all times. Although Ford shared details of its safety policies with the White House, it ultimately deferred to the president and his staff. The company said Ford Chairman Bill Ford encouraged President Trump to wear a mask when he arrived. He wore a mask during a private viewing of three Ford GTs from over the years. The president later removed the mask for the remainder of the visit. The United Auto Workers union criticized Trump for not wearing a mask in public view. It is vitally important that our members continue to follow the protocols that have been put in place to safeguard them, their families and their communities, the union said in a statement noting that 25 of its members had died of the virus. These protocols are literally a matter of life and death. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said in an open letter Thursday that the president had a social and moral responsibility to take precautions to prevent further spread of the virus. Nessel subsequently told CNN that if Trump fails to wear a mask, hes going to be asked not to return to any unclosed facilities inside our state. We are just asking that President Trump comply with the law of our state, just as we would make the same request of anyone else in those plants, Nessel said. Asked about his plans before he left the White House on Thursday, Trump was noncommittal, but said I want to get our country back to normal. After a visit late last month to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Vice President Mike Pence was criticized for disregarding clinic rules requiring face masks. He has been spotted wearing a mask at some subsequent events, including a trip to a Florida nursing home on Wednesday. Polling shows a partisan divide over masks. Just over three-quarters of Democrats say wearing a face mask is a matter of public health, while 51% of Republicans agree, according to a survey released this week by YouGov and HuffPost. And while 11% of Republicans say there is no benefit to wearing a mask, just 3% of Democrats share that opinion. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. (Newser) In the 1950s, Dead Sea Scroll fragments thought to be blank were given to a British leather expert so he could study their chemical composition. Almost 70 years later, a professor has discovered they had writing on them all along. King's College London professor Joan Taylor says she spotted a small, extremely faded letter while examining one fragment with a magnifying glass, CBS reports. "Frankly, since all these fragments were supposed to be blank and had even been cut into for leather studies, I also thought I might be imagining things," she says. "But then it seemed maybe other fragments could have very faded letters too." story continues below Taylor and colleagues taking part in a study at the University of Manchesterwhere the fragments had been kept in a box, largely untouched since they were donated to the institutionused multispectral imaging to determine that four of the 51 fragments had readable Hebrew/Aramaic text, the university said in a press release. "There are only a few on each fragment, but they are like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle you find under a sofa," Taylor says. The most substantial fragment had 15 to 16 letters, including the word Shabbat, or Sabbath, which researchers believe is related to the Book of Ezekiel. (Read more Dead Sea scrolls stories.) (Bloomberg) -- For the worlds most important commodity, theres never been a month like it. Just a few weeks ago, crude oil was akin to industrial waste in some parts of the world, something you had to pay people to take away. Now prices are surging, up about 70% in New York since the start of May. The turnaround, which has been welcomed from Riyadh and Moscow to the White House, came quicker than most people were expecting but wasnt easy. Painful OPEC+ production cuts and the worlds risky first steps out of coronavirus lockdown have lifted the market out of the abyss of negative prices, but either of them could falter. I think the worst is behind, said Pierre Andurand, chief investment officer and founder of Andurand Capital Management LLP. OPEC+ cut enough, and demand will slowly, gradually recover. It was the afternoon of April 20 when panicked sellers drove the price of the U.S. crude benchmark below zero for the first time in history. In one of the most extraordinary 20-minute spans in the history of financial markets, West Texas Intermediate fell as low as minus $40.32 a barrel, stunning everyone from veteran brokers to retail investors. Two big things have changed since then. First, the flood of unwanted crude has abated. Saudi Arabia ended its price war with Russia and stopped flooding the market with record production. Instead, the pair led their allies in the OPEC+ alliance to make their deepest and fastest output cuts on record. U.S. shale companies have also shut down unprofitable wells at an unprecedented rate. As much as 17 million barrels of a day of crude will have been taken off the market by next month, Mohammad Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. At the same time, the 30% drop in global oil consumption seen in April is abating. Green shoots of recovery are emerging around the world as businesses reopen and drivers return to the roads from Berlin to Beijing. The oil glut is shrinking and the great fear that motivated the slump in U.S. prices below zero -- that holders of expiring contracts would have nowhere to store crude when it was delivered -- appears to have been averted. WTI for June delivery settled at $32.50 a barrel on Tuesday, slightly higher than the price for July. Thats a clear sign that holders of the expiring front-month contract werent fearful of getting stuck with unwanted barrels. Concerns about the planet running out of places to store crude and product have evaporated, said Judith Dwarkin, chief economist at RS Energy Group. Near-month prices in the physical market are factoring this in as well as for the outlook ahead. The month dubbed Black April by International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol is over, but the market still faces considerable risks. The reopening of any number of battered economies across Asia, Europe and the Americas will be difficult, and could be set back at any moment by a second wave of Covid-19 infections. The enthusiasm for cutting production shown by U.S. shale companies or OPEC+ could weaken. The faltering recovery from the 1998 Asian economic crisis offers a playbook, said Greg Sharenow, a portfolio manager focused on energy and commodities at Pacific Investment Management Co. You had a bunch of rallies, a bunch of sell-offs in the 18 months after the initial oil-price slump, Sharenow said in an interview from Newport Beach, California. Theres a strong recovery right now, but you have unemployment numbers around the world and you have income shocks -- those are pretty powerful opposing forces. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that the U.S. economic recovery could drag on until the end of 2021. Even that gradual timetable could be threatened if theres a second wave of the pandemic, he warned. I think it will take a long time for demand to recover fully though, probably until we have a vaccine, said Andurand, whose main fund is up almost 70% this year after successful bets on the direction of prices. Topsy Turvy For now, theres palpable relief that normal service has returned to the oil market. While a crude price in the $30s is still too low to balance the budgets of most OPEC+ states, ministers from Saudi Arabia to Russia appear satisfied with the fruits of their labor. Even major energy importers show little desire to return to those few days when producers had to pay consumers to take their crude. Price wars, topsy-turvy oil benchmarks and dislocations in long-standing relationships between markets are things you dont see normally and are unsustainable, said Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman of Indias Hindustan Petroleum Corp. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Deputy Premier Roger Cook says the state government has no reason to believe the sudden departure of China's consul-general to WA Dong Zhihua is linked to trade tensions with Beijing. Ms Dong has "moved to Beijing", according to a social media post that appeared in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but the state government was advised she returned for medical treatment. China's consul-general to WA Dong Zhihua published two opinion editorials in as many months in Perth's daily newspaper. Credit:FILE References to Ms Dong's position as consul-general were also removed from her Twitter profile, which she used regularly up until Saturday. Australia has been locked in a dispute with China after Beijing decided to hit barley imports with an 80 per cent tariff. Euromonitor International is the world's leading independent provider of strategic and tactical market research. We create data and analysis on thousands of products and services around the world. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Samir Ali Trend: No appeals were received from migrants regarding any problems created by the employees of the Migration Service in Azerbaijan, Head of the Azerbaijani State Migration Service Vusal Huseynov said during an online briefing in Baku, Trend reports. The appeals were mainly related to the fines in connection with a temporary residence permit, head of the Azerbaijani State Migration Service added. Migrants said that they appealed to the Service, but they were not registered and thus, the migrants were misled. In this regard, the service is conducting an investigation, Huseynov said. If this problem occurred because of the fault of the employees of the Service, then it is eliminated, and actions are taken in relations to these employees. In some cases, a migrant unknowingly appeals to other structure. These issues are also considered and objective decisions are made." FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 20, 2020 Annual General Meeting and Board of Directors Payment of 2.45 euros ordinary dividend per share Clichy, France, 20 May 2020 In the current environment of the COVID-19 epidemic, SOCIETE BIC Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Clichy, France, behind closed doors, without the physical presence of its shareholders. It was chaired by Mr. Timothee BICH, director. The Shareholders Meeting approved the payment, from June 3, 2020, of an ordinary dividend amount of 2.45 euros per share, and all the proposed resolutions, among them: the financial statements for 2019; the authorizations to be given to the Board of Directors to undertake operations with regards to the shares of the Company (share buyback and cancellation); the authorization to be given to the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by cancellation of shares acquired in accordance with Article L. 225-209 of the French Commercial Code; the delegation of authority to be given to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital by issuing new ordinary shares and/or securities giving access to the share capital, with preservation of Shareholders preferential rights of subscription the renewal of Marie-Pauline CHANDON-MOET and Candace MATTHEWS as Directors; the ratification of the co-optation of Timothee Bich as Director and the renewal of this mandate; the appointment of Jake Schwartz as Director; the compensation elements to the corporate officers for the 2019 fiscal year; the compensation policy of corporate officers. The Board of Directors, held after the Shareholders Meeting, decided to renew the mandates of Candace Matthews on the Audit Committee as well as on the Nomination, Governance and CSR Committee. MARIE-PAULINE CHANDON-MOET, maiden name : BICH - DIRECTOR Marie-Pauline Chandon-Moet is President of Chateau de Ferrand SAS, and has been a Director of the Board of SOCIETE BIC since May 28, 2003. She was European Real Estate Projects Manager for BIC Group until December 31, 2010. Before this, she successively held, since 1991, the positions of Sales Administration Assistant, Sales Administration Manager (France then Europe), as well as Supply Chain Manager for Europe. Story continues CANDACE MATTHEWS - DIRECTOR Since November 2014, Candace Matthews has been Region President, The Americas, of Amway. Prior to joining Amway in 2007 as Global Chief Marketing Officer, she was Executive President from 2001 to 2007 of Soft Sheen-Carson. Before that, she held different positions in Marketing at General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Bausch & Lomb and in Management at Novartis and The Coca-Cola company, in the United States. TIMOTHEE BICH - DIRECTOR Timothee Bich was a potfolio manager at Stone Milliner Asset Management LLP until December 2019. He joined Stone Milliner as an execution trader from its launch in 2012 and was appointed Head of Execution in 2016. Before joining Stone Milliner, he worked as an analyst at Moore Europe Capital Management, supporting credit and macro portfolio managers (2010-2011). JAKE SCHWARTZ - DIRECTOR Jake Schwartz is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of General Assembly. Founded in 2011 in New York, General Assembly is a pioneer and leader in continuing education in the digital and new technology skills. Prior to founding General Assembly, he was Senior Associate at Associated Partners LP, a private equity fund (2008-2010) and Investment Advisor at Capital Counsel in New York City (2003-2005). ABOUT BIC BIC is a world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers. For more than 75 years, the Company has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, affordable products to consumers everywhere. Through this unwavering dedication, BIC has become one of the most recognized brands and is a trademark registered worldwide. Today, BIC products are sold in more than 160 countries around the world and feature iconic brands such as Cello, Conte, BIC FlexTM, Lucky Stationery, Made For YOUTM, Soleil, Tipp-Ex, Wite-Out and more. In 2019, BIC Net Sales were 1,949.4 million euros. The Company is listed on Euronext Paris, is part of the SBF120 and CAC Mid 60 indexes and is recognized for its commitment to sustainable development and education. It received an A- Leadership score from CDP. For more, visit www.bicworld.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. CONTACTS Sophie Palliez-Capian VP, Corporate Stakeholder Engagement - sophie.palliez@bicworld.com Investor Relations Contact: + 33 1 45 19 52 98 Press Contacts Sophie Palliez-Capian + 33 6 87 89 33 51 sophie.palliez@bicworld.com Albane de La Tour dArtaise +33 1 45 19 51 51 Albane.DeLaTourDArtaise@bicworld.com Isabelle de Segonzac : +33 1 53 70 74 85 isegonzac@image7.fr 2020 AGENDA ALL DATES TO BE CONFIRMED First Half 2020 results 29 July 2020 Conference call and Webcast Third Quarter 2020 results 28 October 2020 Conference call and Webcast Annual 2020 results 17 February 2021 Meeting and Webcast Attachment Oregons national forests have started to reopen ahead of Memorial Day weekend, including several popular recreation areas in the central Cascades and on the Oregon coast. The Willamette and Deschutes national forests announced partial reopenings of developed recreation areas Wednesday, while the Siuslaw National Forest made a similar announcement Thursday. Recreation areas will begin to reopen May 22 and 23. READ MORE: What outdoor spaces have reopened in Oregon? Whats still closed? The broad closures issued due to the coronavirus pandemic at the end of March have now ended at half of Oregons national forests, as well as many Oregon state park sites and campgrounds, and areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management. All developed recreation areas remain closed in the Mount Hood National Forest, while all state parks and national forest land is closed in the Columbia River Gorge. The national forest reopenings dont apply to all developed recreation areas managed by the U.S. Forest Service, meaning several popular spots, including most campgrounds, are still closed. Visitors can check the status of individual trailheads, campgrounds and day use areas at each national forests website. The forest service is also warning visitors that while outdoor spaces might reopen, not all facilities will be available. In some areas, restrooms might remain closed, meaning people will need to be prepared to relieve themselves responsibly outdoors, and pack out all trash, including toilet paper. We understand how important outdoor recreation is to our local economies and to Oregonians who rely on public lands for their physical, mental, and spiritual health, Donna Mickley, acting supervisor of the Siuslaw National Forest, said in a news release. Since were not yet able to provide the level of service at recreation sites that visitors may be accustomed to, were asking everyone to please protect and respect their public lands, as well as other visitors, by packing out all of their waste. --Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Verizons mmWave 5G network offers the fastest download speeds in the world, with the average speed topping 500Mbps. However, uploads on the network have so far remained on LTE (4G) speeds. But thats changing now, as the carrier has flipped the switch on 5G uploads across its 34 5G markets. The upload speeds on Verizons mmWave 5G will be about 30 percent faster than what it offered on its LTE network. So you certainly shouldnt expect the same blistering speeds you get on the downstream. But it is still a good upgrade. Verizon is reportedly using 100MHz of its mmWave 5G spectrum for uploads. Meanwhile, on its LTE network, the company only uses 20MHz of the spectrum for uploads. Advertisement So this change will certainly bring a bump in the upload speed. If youre on Verizons mmWave 5G network, you should notice this bump right away. 5G upload is also available on Verizons Chicago 5G Home market as well as in any stadium or arena with Verizon mmWave 5G. Verizon switches on 5G uploads With more people staying home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, uplink usage is growing rapidly. Advertisement Verizon says faster upload speeds have been one of the biggest requests from its 5G customers and it is finally going to deliver them. Theres a caveat, though. The carrier says the 5G upload coverage area will differ from the 5G download coverage area. Verizons mmWave 5G coverage is already spotty, so if 5G uploads are even more spotty, thats really disappointing. In addition to flipping switch on 5G uploads, Verizon also announced the rollout of 5G services in San Diego. The network will go live in the city on May 28, making it the 35th US city to have Verizons mmWave 5G, which it calls 5G Ultra Wideband. Advertisement In San Diego, the service initially will be concentrated in parts of Mission Valley near Westfield Mission Valley and SDCCU Stadium, Linda Vista along Linda Vista Road, Kensington near El Cajon Blvd, and in Bankers Hill on 1st Avenue, Verizon said. The company also plans to begin rolling out low-band 5G (sub-6 GHz) later this year. It recently added Samsungs Galaxy S20 to its 5G smartphone lineup. The handset supports both mmWave and sub-6 GHz 5G networks. The sub-6 GHz network offers better connectivity and coverage but significantly lower speeds than mmWave 5G. The average download speed on T-Mobiles low-band 5G stands at 47.1Mbps while that on Verizons mmWave 5G reaches 506.1Mbps. When a friend of the Khan family got a job working for a New Jersey politician, family patriarch Shafqat Khan was a regular sight at the politician's office, frequently dropping by to seek help for people in need. It was natural for Khan, a longtime Jersey City resident grateful that he managed to immigrate with his family to the US in the 1980s from Pakistan via Libya. Family members say he spent much of the last two decades finding ways to help other Pakistani immigrants who joined his community just across the Hudson River from New York City. Khan, who assisted recent immigrants with how to apply for driver's licenses and hosted events for people of different faiths and cultures to understand each other better after the Sept. 11 attacks, died of COVID-19 on April 14 at age 76. He left behind his wife, three children, seven grandchildren and a legacy of connections. He had a very clear sense of what was right and wrong and he could not sit aside if he saw someone struggling, if he could help them he would, said his daughter, Sabila Khan. Its something Sabila Khan said she is trying to emulate by starting a social media group for those mourning loved ones lost to the coronavirus so they can connect with each other. I really want to believe that Im carrying on his legacy as best as I can, she said, choking back tears. Im trying to be constructive in how Im grieving and I think my father would be proud. Khan and his wife always wanted to leave Pakistan for a better life in the U.S. but had relatives in Libya so they headed there first in 1974, where he worked in an administrative job for a pharmaceutical company. That stay ended up lasting longer than the couple had planned and Sabila Khan, the couple's youngest child, was born in Libya before the family of five moved to the US in 1982 and settled in Jersey City. Khan enrolled in a computer course that was supposed to lead to a job that would allow the family to gain legal US residency. The job never materialized, said Sabila Khan, leading to a difficult period of several years when the family lived illegally and precariously in the country. It was hard, my parents tried to shield us a lot from the troubles they had to deal with, we didnt have health insurance ... money was always an issue for them, they struggled a lot, she said. But Sabila Khan said her father was convinced that the best opportunities for his children were in the US and not in Libya or Pakistan. He landed a job as the general manager of a convenience store with a pharmacy in Brooklyn owned by a person he had tutored years earlier in Pakistan. That job led to Khan getting sponsorship for himself and his family for legal U.S. residency in the early 1990s and they became US citizens later that decade. Khan's daughter said she remembered him constantly working six days a week, leaving home in the morning and returning home at night. Khan eventually eased off his heavy work schedule but was always an avid follower of politics and decided to get more involved with Jersey City's large Pakistani immigrant community. Just before the Sept. 11 attacks, he started a group called Pakistanis for America, aiming to educate Pakistani immigrants about the US political process while helping register them to vote. But after the attacks, the group shifted its focus to holding events where leaders from various religious and cultural backgrounds engaged in honest, open dialogue about the state of things post 9/11, including the stigma that Muslims faced, Sabila Khan said. Paraphrasing her father, she said he often said that "at the end of the day, were all working towards the same goals. We want to keep food on the table for our families and we want opportunities for our kids. Khan was eventually diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, the illness that leads to people having problems with walking and balance. He spent the last year or so at a Jersey City rehabilitation facility and hoped to return home soon, but the rehab center closed its doors to visitors on March 11 as the coronavirus spread. That was the last time Khan saw any of his direct family his wife and one of his sons. Family members called him regularly over the next several weeks but started hearing from him less after being told he had fever. In early April, a nurse said Khan was suffering from congestion and by April 6 he had been taken to a hospital emergency room, where Sabila Khan said he had to wait three days to get a regular bed. Family members using FaceTime told he was loved but saw him with his eyes closed. A nurse told Sabila Khan that he later opened his eyes after that last call. Since Khan's death, family members have been gratified to hear from people telling them how he helped them adapt to US life. This was his lifes work and he made it his mission and he helped people every step of the way," Sabila Khan said. Huawei has announced that it would advance its computing strategy in the year ahead, fostering an ecosystem anchored in computing and the HUAWEI CLOUD. Throughout 2020, Huawei will invest $200 million in the computing ecosystem and help support 2 million developers worldwide. By cultivating product innovation and optimising business models, Huawei aims to give partners more ways to develop digital applications and fully tap into data value for business benefits. At the conclusion of the 17th Huawei Global Analyst Summit recently held online, Huawei was joined by over 2,000 analysts, opinion leaders, and media representatives to discuss the global acceleration towards an intelligent world. On the second day of the summit, Huawei also highlighted how intelligent IP networks accelerate intelligent connectivity. Kevin Hu, President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line, said: "2020 is the first year for commercial use of intelligent IP networks. The entire industry has witnessed a historic shift of IP networks from Internet IP in the World Wide Web era to video-driven All IP, and is now on the way to intelligent IP oriented at the 5G and cloud era. Huawei will keep proactively increasing investment in super capacity, intelligent experience, and autonomous driving to build end-to-end intelligent IP networks for customers." Separately during the summit, Yu Haitao, Vice President of Huawei Packet Core Network Product Line, provided insights into Huawei's latest 5G core network strategy and its dedication to building a 5G core network based on the CORE factors: cloud native, one core, real-time operation, and edge computing. Based on 5G Deterministic Networking (5GDN), the 5G core network will deliver innovative service solutions including 5G MEC, network slicing, and 5G LAN, providing differentiated network capabilities and a deterministic networking experience. Executives from the company also reviewed how Huawei is helping operators achieve 5G business success in all service scenarios by building simplified, converged 5G networks that deliver multi-band coordination and superior experience while continuously reducing OPEX. In parallel, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), China Broadband Development Alliance, Altice Portugal, and Huawei jointly launched the Fifth Generation Fixed Network (F5G) industry initiative. The initiative invites global upstream and downstream partners of the fixed network industry to join the F5G organisation to open up a new era for the global optical industry, and to foster the rapid development of the global digital economy. Huaweis Enterprise Business Group also confirmed working with partners to explore the industry digitisation market and help customers to accelerate digitisation and intelligence processes. Peng Zhongyang, Director of the Board, President of the Enterprise Business Group at Huawei, said: "With over 30 years of industry experience and accumulated capabilities, we have an in-depth understanding of industry and customer needs. This is why many customers have chosen Huawei to be their partner as they go digital. In the digital era, together with our 90,000-strong R&D teams, we will dive into the digital transformation market and develop scenario-specific solutions for government and enterprise customers. -- Tradearabia News Service Evan Vucci President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to hold up federal funds for two election battleground states that are trying to make it easier and safer to vote during the coronavirus pandemic. The president's tweets targeting Michigan and Nevada marked an escalation in his campaign against voting by mail, a practice that he has publicly worried will lead so many people to vote that Republicans will lose in November. Even though the CDC recommends mail voting as a safe option during the pandemic, Trump has opposed the spread of the practice. Wednesday marked the first time he has tried to use federal dollars to beat it back. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jorge Guerrero (Agence France-Presse) Seville, Spain Thu, May 21, 2020 16:32 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd976be5 2 Science & Tech Spain,bars,robot,beer,coronavirus,COVID-19,physical-distancing Free He maybe silent and his moves mechanical but he can pull you a pint without the slightest concern about contamination: meet Beer Cart, the robotic barman serving beer in Seville. He made his debut when the southern city began enjoying new freedom as Spain eased a two-month lockdown, with bars and cafes in half of the country allowed to reopen their terraces. Sitting in the middle of the bar at La Gitana Loca (The Crazy Gypsy), the giant robotic arm with a "Captain Hook" pincer smoothly reaches over to a dispenser, takes a plastic cup then spins around to hold it at an angle under the tap. Gradually straightening the cup as it fills, the robot then places it on the counter for the customer to pick up. Serving up small draft beers -- or canas -- for just over a week in the center of Seville, the bionic barman has drawn a steady stream of both customers and curious onlookers. Spain has lost more than 27,700 people to the virus and taken a very cautious approach to lifting the lockdown, with bar and cafe terraces operating at a reduced capacity and under strict hygiene conditions. Alberto Martinez, owner of La Gitana Loca where a small 200 ml beer sells for 0.70 euros ($0.75), said he had bought the robot before the epidemic took hold, hoping some mechanical manpower would increase sales. But because of the crisis, it was never put into use -- although he realized it would be perfect in the new environment where people need to stay apart. "We thought it would be ideal for reopening in phase one," he told AFP. Read also: London 'pub-on-wheels' pulls pints on people's doorsteps "As the aim is to avoid contact between customers and items (in the bar)... we realized the robot would be good using (disposable) plastic cups to serve beer, so it's all very self-service." Even so, the bar is far from making a profit, with only 12 customers allowed at one time on the outdoor terrace. "At the moment, it's not profitable to open for the few seats we're allowed. Now that we have to compete with other bars we have to do something different," he said. "So (with the robot on show) people can see that the bar on the corner is open and that we're doing something different." But not everyone is quite so enthusiastic. "I think the relationship between the customer and the barman who serves you, who looks you in the eye and watches how the beer goes into the glass has an appeal that's missing with this robot," said 33-year-old lawyer Manuel Fernandez. "I am not in favor of this kind of machine, I prefer to take risks and have them serve me beer the way they've done it all my life." Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 12:01:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday for four consecutive days, with the combined total of confirmed and probable cases remaining at 1,503, according to the Ministry of Health. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference that the death toll has remained at 21 in the country since May 6, the ministry said. "Over the last few months, any cases where there has been a sudden or unexplained death in the community, COVID-19 testing has been carried out. So far, they have all come back negative," Bloomfield said. Only one person was receiving hospital care due to the virus, and this person was not in ICU, he said. Bloomfield encouraged all New Zealanders to get the influenza vaccine, especially as the country moves into the chilly winter months. He said there is currently still a good supply of Southern Hemisphere vaccines distributed across the country that its people, especially those considered vulnerable to the flu, have access to. Enditem It was minutes before iftaar when terrorists on a motorcycle drove past a bakery in a busy market area firing bullets, instantly killing BSF constables Jia-ul-Haq and Rana Mondal while they were buying bread to break their Ramzan fast, officials said on Thursday. The attack took place on Wednesday evening, just days before Eid, in Soura on the outskirts of Srinagar. The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack. The terrorists pumped bullets into the two troopers at close range before disappearing into the bylanes of the congested locality, officials said. Haq and Mondal are from Murshidabad in West Bengal but their bodies can't be sent back home because airports in the state are closed due to the havoc wreaked by Cyclone Amphan, officials said. Both Haq, 34, and Mondal, 29, received serious head injuries. The two friends from the 37th battalion of the BSF were posted in the Pandach camp, tasked with keeping a watch on the entry and exit to Srinagar from neighbouring Ganderbal district. Recapping the events of the day, officials said Mondal and Haq were just minutes away from breaking their fast. But that never happened. They left the world without having a drop of water at the end of a long day of fasting, troopers in the 37th battalion BSF said, mourning the death of their two colleagues who went too soon. Haq, who joined the BSF in 2009, is survived by his parents, wife Nafsina Khatun and two daughters, four-year-old Zeshlin Jiul who is deaf mute, and Jennifer Jiul who is just six months old. He lived in Rezinagar, about 30 km from Murshidabad town. Mondal also leaves behind a six-month-old daughter as well as his parents and wife Jeshmin Khatun. He lived in Sahebrampur in Murshidabad Both men had been posted in Kashmir since August 5 last year, when the Centre announced its decision to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 and to bifurcate it into the union territories of Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Eid will be celebrated on May 24 or 25, depending on the sighting of the moon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "Never in my life have I seen a cyclone like this in Bengal," said 95-year-old Ashok Roy, a retired school teacher, visibly shaken by the ferocity of the extremely severe cyclone 'Amphan' that left a trail of destruction in half a dozen districts, including the state capital. Buses and taxis crashed against each other, small fishing boats turned turtle and grounded planes shook at the inundated Kolkata airport as winds of up to 190 kmph rampaged through West Bengal, already reeling under the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown caused by it. On Thursday morning, 45-year-old Jamal Mondal along with his four daughters and wife was jostling outside a relief camp in South 24 Parganas district's Gosaba for two loaves of bread and a tarpaulin sheet to spend the nights at a cyclone shelter. The migrant worker had returned home from Bengaluru on Monday. But that relief was short-lived. His one-storey mud house was washed away by 'Amphan' on Wednesday night. "On Monday, when I reached home, I thought my sufferings were over. But I was wrong. The lockdown took away my job and the cyclone took away everything that was left. I do not know what would I do next, where would I stay and how would I feed my family," Mondal told a TV channel. Half a dozen districts, including large parts of Kolkata, wore a battered look as lakhs of people were homeless and low-lying areas swamped by the cyclone that slammed the Digha coast of West Bengal at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, triggering heavy rainfall in various parts of the state. Amphan was the fiercest Cyclone to hit West Bengal in the last 100 years. A large part of the state was without power as electricity poles have been blown away. Mobile and internet services were also down as the cyclone has damaged hundreds of communication towers. According to officials, more than 1,500 mobile towers across the state have been destroyed. In Kolkata, thousands of trees were uprooted, lamp posts unhinged, power supply snapped, and pieces of shattered glass panes littered all over the streets. Streets and homes in low-lying areas were swamped with rainwater while portions of several dilapidated buildings came crashing down. "It is not the city where I have grown up... it seems to be a destroyed one. It seems there was a war yesterday... I cannot believe that this is my Kolkata," said Sudhir Chakraborty, a resident of south Kolkata's Rashbehari area. Cargo and evacuation flights services resumed at the Kolkata International airport since morning even as a portion of the aircraft hanger was waterlogged. Authorities have been trying hard to pump out the water. Strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph per hour upturned cars in Kolkata and felled trees and electricity poles blocking important roads and intersections. At Kolkata's Central Avenue, a small concrete temple situated at the base of a banyan tree was uprooted. More than 4,000 trees, a few hundred electricity poles, traffic signals and police kiosks have been uprooted, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation official. "The entire city has been devastated. Around 4,000 trees have uprooted in Kolkata. We are short of staff due to the Lockdown. It will take some time to restore normalcy," Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said. More than 14 lakh people in the city are living without electricity since last night. Reports from North and South 24 Parganas, and East Midnapore stated that roofs of numerous thatched houses have been blown away. Embankments in the Sundarban delta -- a UNESCO world heritage site -- were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the islands. The ecologically fragile Sunderban region, nestled around the world's largest mangrove forest, is home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. Four jetties in South 24 Parganas collapsed in the Wednesday night's storm. According to the agricultural department, paddy crop in Burdwan, West Midnapore and Hooghly has been destroyed. Senior officials said it was too early to estimate the death toll or damage to property as the hardest-hit areas were still not accessible. "It will take a day or two to assess the complete situation," an official said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was "worse than coronavirus". "There has been massive destruction in the state due to this cyclone. We would give Rs 2-2.5 lakh compensation to the family members of the deceased. We want the Central government to extend financial help to us to tide over the crisis," she said. "West Bengal is facing an unprecedented crisis. The state's economy was already reeling under pressure from the coronavirus-induced lockdown, and now the devastation by this cyclone has worsened the matter," Banerjee said. Teams of NDRF and SDRF has been working on a war footing and deployed heavy machinery to clear the roads blocked by uprooted trees. More than five lakh people have been evacuated to safety by the state government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Citywide Photo: Asian Art Museum/Facebook The Bay Area's shelter-in-place order has brought countless events usually held as in-person gatherings online. We're aiming to support local businesses in San Francisco and Oakland by highlighting five of these events each day. Got a suggestion for an online event based in SF or Oakland? Email our events reporter, Teresa Hammerl. Here's your SF event calendar for Thursday, May 21. Join a book club, learn about the history of the Tenderloin or hear writers recite poems all from the comfort of your couch. TLM Online The Tenderloin and City Hall: A Century of Conflict Photo: Tenderloin Museum/Facebook According to Tenderloin Museum founder Randy Shaw, for the last 100 years, the Tenderloin has endured more ongoing conflict than any other district in San Francisco. From the time City Hall shut it down entirely in 1917 to its present-day hardship during the ongoing pandemic, the neighborhood faces complex challenges. Join the Tenderloin Museum for a digital panel discussion between Shaw and Kathy Looper, owner of the historic Cadillac Hotel, the first non-profit single room occupancy hotel (SRO) in the West. As advocates for the Tenderloin, Shaw and Looper will detail the neighborhoods conflicts decade-by-decade, its present-day hardships, and the future of the neighborhoods social, political, and economic landscape. When: Thursday, May 21, 12:30 p.m. How to join: Via Eventbrite Price: Free, suggested donation $10 Open Mic Night Image: Museum of the African Diaspora/Facebook Drop by virtually at the Museum of the African Diaspora and join poet Nia McAllister for an evening of spoken word, featuring other poets from throughout the Bay Area. For this session, you can choose if you want to participate yourself or just listen to others recite their poems. Everyone is welcome. When: Thursday, May 21, 6 p.m. How to join: All interested readers, please sign up. For those interested in just being part of the audience, no need to RSVP. Join via Zoom (instructions in the Facebook event). Price: Free, donations of any amount are welcome Story continues Write from the Gut! Virtual Reading + open mic Photo: SF Creative Writing Institute/Facebook Join the SF Creative Writing Institute for an online reading by former and current students, faculty members, and friends to celebrate the end of the spring term. The reading will also include an open mic session. All are welcome. When: Thursday, May 21, 6 p.m. How to join: Please sign up in advance by putting your request in the event comments on Facebook. Join via Zoom, instructions can be found in the Facebook event. Price: Free Zen and Self-Cultivation with Rev. Takafumi Kawakami Photo: Asian Art Museum/Eventbrite The COVID-19 pandemic has made many of us wonder how we can live in a world of volatility, complexity, and ambiguity. Join the Asian Art Museum on Thursday as they present zen Buddhist priest Rev. Takafumi Kawakami live from the Shunkoin Temple in Kyoto, Japan, to lead a practice of self-cultivation. The practice, which begins with meditation, is intended to help create more flexible ways of looking at the world. Removing our biases and looking at the way the world is now will help build more resilience in this time of change and uncertainty. When: Thursday, May 21, 7 p.m. How to join: Via Eventbrite Price: Free $25 Book Club: The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai Image: San Francisco Public Library/Facebook The San Francisco Public Library presents a special Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month/shelter-in-place edition of On the Same Page, the library's bimonthly city-wide reading series. Hear about the book "The Mountains Sing," written by Nguyen Phan Que Mai, Vietnamese poet and author of eight books. According to event organizers, "Que Mai is one of a few authors bringing Vietnamese literature to a wider English-speaking audience." When: Thursday, May 21, 7 p.m. How to join: Via Zoom Price: Free BEIRUT, Lebanon For years, he was one of Saudi Arabias top intelligence officers, an expert in artificial intelligence who played key roles in the kingdoms fight against Al Qaeda and in its security coordination with the United States. But since 2017, Saad Aljabri has been lying low in Canada, fearing for his life and resisting increasing pressure from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to return to Saudi Arabia, according to his son and associates. That pressure campaign has now snared Mr. Aljabris family. Since March, two of his adult children and one of his brothers have been arrested by the Saudi security forces and held incommunicado, Mr. Aljabris son said in a telephone interview. It has been weeks and we dont know where they are, said the son, Dr. Khalid Aljabri, who is also living in Canada. They were kidnapped from their beds. I dont even know if they are alive or dead. Workers drive bulldozers at the construction site of a highway in Taklimakan Desert, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 16, 2020. The construction of Yuli-Qiemo highway, the third north-south route running through Taklimakan Desert, has entered the final rush. Workers of China Communications Construction Company Ltd. are working on the largest dune in this project, with an estimated volume of 1.2 million cubic meters of sand to deal with. They established camps next to the dune for the convenience of work, and receive daily necessities on a regular basis. The completion of the highway is expected to improve the transport conditions in southern Xinjiang and promote local development. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu) The Police Command in Kano State has arrested and prosecuted 413 violators and impounded 98 vehicles in one week, following enforcement of total lockdown operations to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The Commissioner of Police, Habu Ahmad, told journalists on Thursday in Kano that the violators were held for disobeying interstate movement restriction order. Mr Ahmad noted that the arrests were made after mapping the state, strategic deployments of both human and material assets of the command were made to 34 strategic points/areas across 17 front lines. The front lines bordered Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa and Bauchi States and are mapped out to checkmate and enforce the interstate movement restriction order, he said. He said 289 violators were arrested from Kaduna/Kano boundary, 64 violators from Katsina/Kano, while 30 from Jigawa/Kano and 30 violators from Bauchi/Kano boundary. He added all the defaulters had been prosecuted. Among the 289 violators from Kaduna/Kano border, 120 violators trekked from Kaduna to Kano, 58 tricycles, 80 motorcycles and 98 vehicles were impounded from the four borders of Kano. Despite these developments, some commuters bypassed the check points and followed unconventional routes including feeder roads and earth tracks. READ ALSO: Strategies were reviewed and the commands various community policing committees were adequately utilised to support the operations, Ahmad said. The commissioner noted that the lockdown operations and commitment had not affected the commands crime fighting efforts and discharge of its internal security mandate. We will continue to be committed and resolute in fighting all forms of crimes and criminality in the state in line with international best practice and rule of law, he assured. In addition, he said the command on May 15 arrested 197 suspected criminals and recovered lots of arms and ammunition. The commissioner however commended the good people of Kano for their cooperation and obedience to the lockdown order. Mr Ahmad urged the residents to always observe personal hygiene, social distancing, wear face masks, ensure regular hand washing, stay home and stay safe. (NAN) Academics studying improper parole decisions are filing a lawsuit against the California prison system, saying they have been illegally denied public records on race and ethnicity data for two years. The suit, submitted Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has blocked the study, in part, because one of the researchers previously published work critical of the states parole process. Attorneys for the researchers at Stanford University and the University of Oregon School of Law called the records request denials viewpoint discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment. Our takeaway from this is they dont want evidence-based conclusions if theyre conclusions they dont like or disagree with, said Cara Gagliano, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who represents the plaintiffs. A spokesman for the prison system and Board of Parole Hearings said officials could not comment on pending litigation. The Chronicle typically does not write about lawsuits until they have been registered by the court, but coronavirus-related delays have stalled the process of an official filing. Of the more than 6,000 parole hearings in 2019, Californias parole board granted release at approximately 20% of scheduled hearings and denied parole in 37%, according to prison data. In other cases, the hearings were postponed, canceled or waived. The team of researchers from Stanford and Oregon ultimately hope to create an artificial-intelligence system that can flag parole denials that may have been improperly influenced. Such a study could then identify certain people as candidates for reconsideration. For the system to work, researchers said, they first need to analyze a trove of parole decisions, including multiple factors about the individuals, like their race and ethnicity data. The researchers are seeking records from approximately 50,000 parole suitability hearings held between 2002 and 2019. The researchers submitted their first records request to the Board of Parole Hearings on April 11, 2018. In the following months, the lawsuit states, they were redirected on multiple occasions and engaged in a protracted series of negotiations with prison officials. The states parole unit in September 2018 provided a subset of the requested information, but some of the requested data were only contained in the corrections departments management system. After more than a year of negotiations, the research team sent renewed records requests in a letter to corrections department Secretary Ralph Diaz and included a copy to Jennifer Shaffer, executive officer for the Board of Parole Hearings. An attorney for the parole board responded that the researchers request would be denied based on California public records law, which exempts the disclosure of personnel, medical or similar files. The researchers argued that race and ethnicity information would not fall into these categories. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. In later discussions, the researchers said, Shaffer disputed the necessity of accounting for race in petitioners analysis, and she allegedly singled out one of the four researchers on the team, Kristen Bell. Bell, who is an assistant professor at University of Oregon School of Law, had previously conducted research on California parole decisions for people who committed crimes as juveniles, and published her work in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Among her findings, Bell concluded that race and other illegitimate factors accounted for a considerable degree of variability in the parole decisions, the suit states. In a phone conversation, researchers said, Shaffer informed them that the board would provide the records only if Bell was not involved with their project. Ms. Shaffer explained that she objected to the conclusions that Dr. Bell had reached in her previous scholarship based on CDCR records, the suit states. In the coming weeks or months, attorneys for the state prison system are expected to respond to the petition, and there will likely be further briefings and a hearing on the petition. Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy 21.05.2020 LISTEN When will Africa rise! when will we wake up from our slumber! Africa, over the 400 years of fighting against slavery, freedom is an inimical pace to catch up with since our independence. Africa is still under colonial rule with colonial bigotry infiltrating our systems. Today, we are still under colonialism through our leaders in the form of foreign aids and approvals from Colonial masters. Our leadership are still puppets of the colonial master, licking boots for their parochial interest. Our freedom fighters and gallant men who toiled for Africa were pulled down occasionally, whenever Africa finds a milestone to overthrow the Western powers of neocolonialism and imperialism, so Africa stand united and independent. These were orchestrated by foreign intelligence using Africans as a tool to achieve their task or they mastermind the act themselves. Some African leaders and pan African activist were murdered for Africa's seek. Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. He was assassinated because he stood for his country and Africa. He changed his own country in four years of reigning with less resources in hand, building his country with his own men, improve Agriculture and encouraged made in Africa fabric. He boycotts imports and cut ties with French government and never paid tax to his Colonia masters. He was brutally assassinated in October 15, 1985. Activist, pan Africanist, political theorist and revolutionary leaders like Patrice Lumumba of congo was assassinated on January 17, 1961. Malcolm X, an activist for blacks and a freedom fighter was also assassinated for affirming black freedom in February 21, 1965. After assassinating Malcolm x in 1965, they targeted Martin Luther King Junior on April 4, 1968. After they were done with Thomas Sankara, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. They flee to Ethiopia and pulled Emperor Haile Salassie down on August 27, 1975. From there, they proceeded to South Africa and murdered Steve Biko in January 12, 1977. The roll goes on and on to Muammar Al-Gaddafi on October 20, 2011. This call to mind the songline of the legendary Bob Marley who suffered assassination for calling on Africans to unite. His redemption song chanted "How long shall we kill our prophets, why we sit aside and look". Little did he know he was the next prophet to go down! This is a big challenge to Africa ." Our Noblemen were brutally killed and Africa has failed to seek justice for their murder."When will we rise." Is time Africa unite and Our Freedom fighters protected for a lasting independence and Economic freedom. Our uncompromised warriors and selfless leaders like Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, Kenneth Kauda, Samora Machel, Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere.Sekou Toure. Patrice Lumumba and many African progenitors and freedom fighters are assets and cannot be forgotten. Africa needs their re-incarnation and fighting Spirit to cruise Africa to the promised Land. Africa must emulate them for a United and prosperous Africa. Africa, we must stand firm and shield each other from the western powers. The killing of African revolutionary and freedom fighters must stop. African politicians should be replaced with revolutionary freedom fighters to facilitate African unity. Is time to stay away from foreign aids and monetary institution like IMF and world bank. Africa must create Her own institutions to cater for African affairs. Long live the founding Fathers of Africa. Long live African Freedom fighters Long live Africa. Article by ANTHONY AKUDAGO. [email protected] EFFGH TEL:+233244940504 EMAIL: [email protected] Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the coronavirus crisis and issues in the Middle East in a phone call with his British counterpart Dominic Raab on Thursday, the Egyptian foreign ministry said. During the phone conversation, the two officials agreed to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus and dealing with its repercussions on all levels, the ministry said in a statement. The pair looked at the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestine crisis, stressing on the importance of "maintaining a two-state solution," ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said in the statement. They also tackled the situation in Libya and efforts to push for a "comprehensive political settlement to restore security and stability" in the country. Search Keywords: Short link: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has acted decisively in setting a timeline of a month to probe a potential fraud in the PM-Kisan scheme in his state. The Union agriculture ministry had alerted the state about irregularities in the cash transfer programme for farmers, according to a report in this newspaper. It appears, prima facie, that ineligible people signed up for the scheme, which provides ~6,000 a year to farmers with valid documentation. With the coronavirus disease pushing more people into poverty and affecting the earning capacity of millions, it is vital that welfare schemes reach the targeted beneficiary in the shortest possible time. For many, these schemes are their only source of income now. A major issue with Indias welfare architecture has traditionally been targeting. For schemes which are not universal, reaching the intended beneficiary is a challenge. While direct benefits transfer and the Jan Dhan accounts-Aadhaar-mobile phone (JAM) trinity have helped in reducing leakages and eliminating intermediaries, the pandemic will pose new challenges in identifying beneficiaries. Many have moved from urban settings to rural areas. As people travel across states due to job losses, the states have to coordinate much more effectively using their own databases and inputs from the Centre. The Assam case (Aadhaar wasnt mandated for welfare schemes in the North-east) has shown that part of the problem is the delay in updating records, which should happen before schemes are implemented. All of this increases the possibility of fraud.As the reliance of citizens on welfare increases, it is incumbent on governments to plug the loopholes in welfare delivery. UNESCO launched a global campaign this year called Journalism without fear or favor to celebrate journalists on World Press Freedom Day on May 3. But in Egypt, the celebration had a different taste with more restrictions inflicted on journalists. On May 12, the Egyptian Supreme Council for Media Regulation banned journalists and contributors to any newspaper or website under its control from using a pseudonym without obtaining its written approval. The decision obliges press organizations to submit an application to the council explaining the duration and purpose of use of the pseudonym, in addition to the authors real name and personal data. The decision was added to a list of regulations issued in September 2019 by the council setting forth binding rules for all media and newspapers. This list includes provisions under the titles of controls and standards to ensure compliance of media organizations with the principles of the journalism profession. These include not providing content that would harm societys public interest and its religious institutions and beliefs; that incite violence, discrimination and hatred; or that threaten national security. Journalists and those working in the press field saw the regulation as flawed, a violation of freedom of the press and an inappropriate interference in their work. The list of regulations provides for binding rules for press coverage of a number of issues, including terrorist incidents. It obliges journalists to rely on official state data and not to express any opinion or information that would undermine the cohesion or morale of the people or undermine the morale of the army or security services. As for the rules protecting national security issues, the list of regulations bans the publication of any matter that provokes or incites citizens in a way that threatens national or economic security. Meanwhile, the recent decision not to publish press content under pseudonyms came weeks after the Supreme Council for Media Regulation imposed April 21 a 250,000 Egyptian pound (about $16,000) fine on the private newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, over a series of articles on the Sinai Peninsula. The newspaper was also forced to issue an official apology for three editorial articles on Sinai, written by the pseudonymous Newton, who is actually Salah Diab, the newspaper's founder and co-owner. The three op-eds backed a proposal to isolate Sinai from Egypt and allow it to choose its ruler as a free industrial zone that is not subject to Egyptian laws. The media council saw this as a serious violation aimed at destroying the country. The council forced the newspaper to remove the pieces from its website, and blocked Newton's column for three months. The council also referred the newspapers editor-in-chief to the disciplinary committee of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, and banned Diab from appearing in any media for a month. In additin, the council referred the case to the public prosecutor to decide whether further measures against Diab were justified. Current and former Egyptian press officials declined to comment to Al-Monitor on the councils decision not to publish any content under pseudonyms, claiming they were not familiar with the decision. Philippe Nassif, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA, lamented the councils decision. He told Al-Monitor by email that Amnesty International has long viewed Egypt as a large prison for critics because of the collective imprisonment of tens of thousands of activists and journalists who are seen as a threat to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to human rights organizations, Egypt has been witnessing a crackdown and restrictions on freedom of expression since Sisi's rise to power. This campaign culminated with a series of arrests of opponents and journalists in the wake of the rare anti-Sisi protests that broke out in September 2019. At least 37 journalists are currently imprisoned, according to Amnesty International. The Egyptian authorities, however, deny detaining journalists or human rights activists because of freedom of opinion and expression. They stress that they implement the decisions of the public prosecution to arrest anyone who violates the law or uses social media to spread false news. Journalists usually face charges related to joining a terrorist group and publishing fabricated news that threaten national security. Not only that, but the authorities raided or closed at least five media outlets, and blocked hundreds of websites, including local and international news sites. Nassif criticized the international communitys silence toward Egypt's downfall of press freedom indicators and every other indicator of human rights and freedom of expression. The most surprising thing is how other governments especially the United States continue to treat Sisis government seriously as a strong partner in the region, he said. Egypt registered a decline in the World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders in 2020. It ranked 166 after it was ranked 163 in 2019 in a list that includes 180 countries. Rights groups claim the government is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to tighten its grip on the country. On May 7, Sisi approved amendments to the country's Emergency Law, and gave himself and the security services additional powers. The government claimed tougher measures are necessary to address the legal vacuum and prevent the spread of the disease. On March 17, as the coronavirus began spreading in Egypt, the authorities revoked the license of a British correspondent at The Guardian, after publication of a scientific study on the number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Repressive measures affected local journalists as well. On May 17, Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the independent Mada Masr newspaper, was detained in front of a Cairo prison as she interviewed the mother of an imprisoned activist. She was later released on bail. On May 11, security services arrested Haisam Hasan Mahgoub, a journalist at Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, on charges of financing a terrorist group and spreading false news. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog, linked Mahgoubs arrest to his recent coverage of humanitarian stories related to the coronavirus crisis. Nassif lamented the deplorable state of freedom of expression in Egypt. This will only change when foreign governments step up pressure on the Egyptian government, he concluded. The rally were experiencing in the stock markets has become something of a sensation. While equities generally are down some 15% from their all-time high levels, reached back in February, the rebound has been substantial. The S&P 500 is almost 33% from its March 23 trough. The big factor, of course, is the coronavirus crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has justifiably taken the lions share of the news broadcasts. But that intense focus on one item has left investors with an incomplete picture. BMO Chief Investment Strategist Brian Belski has issued a report to correct this, by broadening the picture to point out other factors that are impacting markets and investor sentiment. "While the COVID-19 virus is obviously still the big concern out there in the market, several others have also been recently brought up in our client interactions, including high market cap concentration atop the S&P 500, a surge in negative dividend actions by companies, and several sector weights approaching lows [...] While we do believe these data trends should certainly continue to be monitored in the coming months, our analysis suggests that they may not be the roadblocks to US stock market performance moving forward that many investors appear to be expecting," Belski wrote. Belski says that the dividend stocks on the S&P 500 are still strong, and have not yet deteriorated as far as they did in the 2009 financial crisis. With the real possibility that an economic recovery may start in 2H20 several states, including powerhouses like Texas and Florida, are moving to reopen now this makes dividend stocks a valuable insurance policy for investors. With this in mind, weve used TipRanks database to pull up the details on three high-yield dividend stocks recommended by BMO analysts, in line with Belskis report. Citizens Financial Group (CFG) Well start with Citizens Financial, one of the top retail banking companies in the US. Citizens offers an array of deposit, insurance, investment, and loan services in the commercial and retail segments. Story continues The companys earnings, which had been solid in the $0.95 to $1.00 range for much of 2018 and 2019, slipped to just 9 cents per share in Q1 2020, and have a similar outlook for Q2. Through all of this, CFG has kept up its dividend. In fact, the company has raised the payment 5 times in the past three years. The current payment, at 39 cents per share quarterly, annualizes to $1.56 and gives a 7.2% yield. This compares highly favorably to the 2.16% average yield found among peers in the financial sector. The overall outlook is not perceived as grim at least, not yet. The bank showed increased income from fees, clear gains in both mortgage and trust banking, and improvement in deposit balances. While low rates are bad for the loan business, CFG also showed an uptick in loan balances that bodes well. CFG has set up a small-business grant program, which is likely to both help the business sector most harmed by the COVID-19 epidemic and drum up longer-term business for the bank. In addition, the company has shored up its liquidity position through an issue of $1.5 billion in senior notes. Looking at the whole picture, BMOs 5-star analyst Lana Chan says, We believe that its capital and liquidity position appears sufficient to weather the COVID-19 related economic downturn. In a more detailed outlook, she writes, NII +low-mid single digits as strong loan growth more than offsets sizeable decrease in NIM, noninterest income down low-mid SDs, noninterest expense up slightly, LLP will depend on depth of recession and pace of recovery, significant loan growth reflecting commercial line draws, government programs, and increased demand in education. Chan puts a $28 price target on CFG, backing her Buy rating. This target implies an upside for the stock of 31% in the coming year. (To watch Chans track record, click here) All in all, the analyst consensus view on Citizens Financial is a Strong Buy, based on 12 reviews that include 11 Buy and only a single Hold. Shares are deeply discounted and trading at $21.45, while the $28.50 average price target suggests an upside of 33%. (See Citizen Financial stock analysis at TipRanks) Ares Capital Corporation (ARCC) Next up is Ares Capital, an asset management company. Ares is well known for strong dividends, even in a business niche that usually pays out high yields. The company is currently paying out $1.60 annually, or 40 cents quarterly, making its dividend yield a robust 11.2%. Ares also has a history of adjusting its dividend payment to keep it in line with earnings, and sustainable. The companys earnings, which took a hard hit from the coronavirus-inspired shutdowns, had already been trending down for three quarters but remained in positive territory in Q1. EPS came in at 41 cents, missing the forecast by 4.6%. However, investors were heartened by the companys lower reported expenses and positive activity in its portfolio. Ares also had taken successful efforts to shore up its liquidity position and overall balance sheet. These were seen as outweighing the generally expected drop in earnings. BMOs Lana Chan was impressed by the companys cash position. She noted, ARCC currently has ~$460 million in cash and $2.1 billion in undrawn credit commitments. This gives it flexibility to support existing borrowers (with tighter loan documentation) and dry powder to take advantage of mis-priced opportunities (including select credit investments, large portfolios, or M&A). This extra liquidity and capital strength has the power to be a differentiating factor among BDCs While keeping her Buy rating on this stock, Chan lowered her price target to $16 but this still indicates confidence in an 12% upside potential. (To watch Chans track record, click here) Ares Capital has a unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating, based on no fewer than 14 Buy reviews. The stocks price is trading at $14.36, and the average price target implies a modest upside of 6.4%. (See Ares Capital stock analysis at TipRanks) WP Carey & Company (WPC) You cant talk about dividend stocks without at least mentioning one real estate investment trust. REITs are known high-performers among dividend plays, and WP Carey, with a market cap exceeding $10 billion, is one of the larger companies in the niche. The company specializes in commercial real estate, leasing properties long-term to clients in the US, and Northern and Western Europe. While most companies saw a steep earnings hit in Q1, due to this years pandemic, WPC managed to avoid that. The long-term nature of the companys leases provided insulation, and Q1 FFO (funds from operations) came in at $1.25, beating the forecast by 5%, and broadly in-line with the previous five quarters income reports. WPC is currently paying out $1.04 per share in quarterly dividends, which annualizes to $4.16 and produces a strong yield of 7%. Like the stocks above, this dividend is sharp and favorable contrast to the average yields found among peer companies. WPC has a history of reliable payments, and has grown the dividend gradually over the past 6 years. The payout ratio is 83%, comparable to other REITs, and indicating that the payments are affordable at current income levels. WPC impressed BMOs Jeremy Metz, and the analyst set a $70 price target, suggesting a 13% upside, to back his Buy rating. (To watch Metzs track record, click here) In his comments, Metz wrote, Our bull case on WPC in the current environment has been its revenue composition with limited relative exposure to retail, and at risk retail in particular (~2%) the balance sheet/ liquidity remains in good shape. Wall Street is both bullish and cautious on this stock. The Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on 2 Buy and 1 Hold set in recent months, while the $62 average price target projects a minimal upside less than 1%. The share price has been mostly range-bound since early April, suggesting that it has found resistance at the average price target level. (See WPC stock analysis at TipRanks) To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Dearborn Public Schools Supt. Glenn Maleyko received high marks for his fifth straight year, triggering an automatic contract extension to stay on for three more years. During a recent Board of Education meeting, the board rated his performance as highly effective. Im very passionate about the important work we as educators must accomplish, excited about the future of our schools and students, and proud to be part of such a great community, Maleyko said. Trustee Roxanne McDonald chaired the evaluation committee, which received input from all seven board members. Supt. Maleyko again was ranked as highly effective, the highest rating we could give him, she said. Dearborn Public Schools is a great district, and that is due in no small part to Dr. Maleykos strong leadership. While he does a great job year round, we as a board have been especially impressed with his leadership in recent months with all the challenges presented by COVID-19 and the school closures. McDonald said his leadership has stood out in recent months. (His) calm and steady nature and his ability to bring out the best in others is a tremendous asset to Dearborn Public schools and the mark of an outstanding leader, she said. Over the last year, Dearborn Public Schools saw Lindbergh Elementary School named as a National Blue Ribbon School. Lindbergh was the third Dearborn school to receive that honor in as many years. Maleyko also continued to serve on the Executive Board of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators and was appointed to a statewide committee to discuss distance learning, as Michigan quickly worked to find alternatives to in-person classes as a result of the school closure. My evaluation is a reflection of the hard work of our team, and I am fortunate to be able to work with so many talented professionals who truly care about educating children, Maleyko said. The board is a big part of that success, and I appreciate the trust that the board has in me and our team and how we work so well together. We were put to the test the last couple months, and we stepped up. We will continue to be put to the test. The superintendent is the only district staff member directly hired and supervised by the Board of Education. Board President Hussein Berry said the evaluation is an extensive process and the results reflect the boards and the communitys support for Maleyko. (He) has provided outstanding leadership for Dearborn Public Schools, Berry said. That has become even more apparent in recent months with the school closure, the switch to online learning, and the new system for distributing meals to students. For the evaluation, the board used a tool developed by the Michigan Association of School Boards. Each trustee ranked Maleykos effectiveness in five areas: governance and board relations, community relations, staff relationships, business and finance, and instructional leadership. The superintendent provided information and supporting documents about his accomplishments. Board members also reviewed the results of a staff survey about his performance. This section makes up 50 percent of the overall evaluation score. Student growth makes up 40 percent of the superintendents evaluation, with the last 10 percent based on work being done toward the districts strategic plan goals. Thun Tankers orders a second NaabsaMAX product tanker Thun Tankers BV has placed an order for a second 4,250-deadweight product tanker. The ordered tanker will be delivered May 2022 and will together with her previously ordered sister enter into a long-term agreement with UK based Geos Group Ltd. Both vessels will be built with NAABSA design - Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground - being able to call tidal restricted niche ports. Thuns long experience of building resource efficient, high quality vessels has been used in the design process. Focus has been to maximize the vessels cargo intake and increase in-port performance; with the scope to allow further increased cargo lot sizes going into restricted niche ports. Resource efficiency, new regulations and environmental care has been key in the development of the new vessel. The two new-buildings are being built by Scheepswerf Ferus Smit B.V. in the Netherlands, with whom the Erik Thun Group has a longstanding relationship. The shipyard has previously built more than thirty-five vessels for the Erik Thun Group. With two high quality NaabsaMAX size tankers we can offer increased flexibility in this niche segment. These tankers will be built to the absolutely latest design, enabling Geos Group Ltd. and their clients access to the most efficient and sustainable transport solution available in this segment. Joakim Lund, CCO, Thun Tankers BV We always strive to meet our customers various demands with tailor made solutions. In these special times, we are especially happy to be able to deliver on that promise with a purpose built tanker for our close partner Geos Group Ltd. Johan Kallsson, Managing Director, Erik Thun AB As a company we are very confident that our long term partnership with Thun Tankers BV will provide us with a fleet of versatile tankers to carry on providing our clients with the service that is required. To have two NaabsaMAX vessels at our disposal will mean that we are able to grow our position in the market and continue to provide shipping solutions that make us more versatile for our customers, offering flexibility and access to niche ports around the UK, as well as ensuring our fleet is current and at the forefront of design. - Barry Newton, Managing Director, Geos Group Ltd. Vodacom Group has simplified its structure following the recent expansion of its African portfolio, the company announced. For Vodacom Group to play a central role of overseeing all operations across its African footprint, this has necessitated the creation of a standalone South African operating company that will be led by Balesh Sharma in the newly created role of Managing Director of Vodacom South Africa, said the company. Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said the changes needed to be put in place due to the stellar financial performance of our international portfolio combined with the added responsibility of managing Vodafone Ghana and accelerating the growth of financial and digital services. This includes the decoupling of Vodacom South Africa as a standalone business. Under Baleshs leadership, I am confident that the increased focus will leverage the numerous opportunities that exist in South Africa from both our traditional telco business and our technology-focused growth acceleration units, he said. The new structure will also place heightened emphasis on our international portfolio and new growth areas to ensure that we continue to diversify our revenue streams. Vodacom Group assumed management responsibility for Vodafone Ghana on 1 April 2020, and has also concluded a joint venture with Safaricom to accelerate the expansion of M-PESA. Vodacom and Safaricom have also expressed interest in bidding for an Ethiopian telecommunications license as part of a consortium, said the company. Balesh Sharma Sharma will report directly to Joosub and will join the reconstituted Vodacom Group executive committee with effect from 1 July 2020. Balesh is currently the Director of Special Projects for the Vodafone Group, where he has recently supported the rollout of a new telecom operation in Oman, said Vodacom. Previously, he was CEO of Vodafone Idea and the Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India. He successfully oversaw the integration of Vodafone Idea and drove the strategy and execution of the combined business, delivering substantial synergies in the very first year post merger. Balesh is an alumni of the Harvard Business School and Mayo College, and holds a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Engineering College, Kota and an MBA from Podar Institute of Management in Jaipur, India. From 1 July 2020, Beverly Ngwenya and Sitho Mdlalose will also join the new Vodacom South Africa exco as Technology Director and Financial Director, respectively. Now read: Big Cell C recapitalisation deal approved We definitely just wanted to do something that brought our community together, said Chainelli, who observed all of the signs in her neighbors windows and lawns. She had worked on the recent campaign of village Trustee Robin LaBetz who lives in her neighborhood and suggested to the associations president that they recycle some of her campaign signs. He's famously one of the first celebrities to contract -and subsequently recover from- COVID-19. But even so, Tom Hanks wasn't willing to take any chances, with the Forrest Gump star covering his face with a green bandana when he ventured out in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The protective garment matched the 63-year-old Oscar winner's green T-shirt, as he hopped into his car to run errands. Once bitten: Despite having already beaten COVID-19, Tom Hanks wasn't willing to take any chances on Wednesday, with the Forrest Gump star covering his face with a green bandana when he ventured out in Los Angeles The Catch Me If You Can star also wore dark trousers and a pair of leather loafers. The outing comes just weeks after Hanks revealed that he is donating plasma containing COVID-19 antibodies to help researchers develop a vaccine for the virus. Hanks was the first celebrity to share publicly in March that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He and wife Rita Wilson, also positive, were hospitalized in Australia where they were treated for the coronavirus and ultimately recovered. Color theme: The protective garment matched the 63-year-old Oscar winner's green T-shirt, as he hopped into his car to run errands Greyhound: Also on Wednesday, news broke that the actor's latest film would bypass theaters altogether, opting instead for a streaming debut Also on Wednesday, news broke that the actor's latest film would bypass theaters altogether, opting instead for a streaming debut. Apple TV Plus will distribute Greyhound, which was originally set for a Father's Day cinematic release, per Variety. The film was then pushed back to a July release 'due to the COVID-19 pandemic,' reported the industry publication, before a decision was made to send it straight to streaming. Hanks plays Capt. Ernest Krause in the drama, about an Allied fleet of ships battling their way across the North Atlantic during the early days of World War II. Advertisement Police ticketed seven people for cutting hair during a protest outside the Michigan Capitol, where about a dozen barbers and hair stylists defied stay-at-home orders to give free hair cuts Wednesday. At one point, about 300 people attended the demonstration that was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition to oppose the measures imposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to curb the spread of the coronavirus. More than 5,000 residents have died from COVID-19 complications in the state. Seven barbers or hairdressers were cited for disorderly conduct - engaging in an illegal occupation or business - after being warned by state police. The cases were referred to the state attorney general. The penalty is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. Whitmer's stay-home order requires the closure of nonessential businesses and places of public accommodation such as salons. Seven barbers or hairdressers were cited for disorderly conduct - engaging in an illegal occupation or business - after being warned by Michigan state police Brandi Bates gives Mike Greenbauer a free haircut at the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing. The cases were referred to the state attorney general. The penalty is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both Carolyn Kirin wears curlers in her hair at a rally giving free haircuts at the State Capitol Jody Hebberd, left, gives a free haircut to Reid Scott, as he reads the paper on the steps of the State Capitol as Karl Manke, right, cuts the hair of Parker Shonts. Gov. Whitmer's stay-home order requires the closure of nonessential businesses and places of public accommodation such as salons Angela Rigas, of Caledonia in western Michigan, said she was ticketed after refusing three times to stop cutting hair. 'We're all here for the same reason today - to show the governor that our rights do not come from her and that we need to open Michigan. People need to get back to work,' she said. One hairdresser draped patrons in an American flag cape. Organizers urged the crowd to contribute to a GoFundMe page to help cover fines and legal costs for the barbers. Attendees, many not wearing masks or keeping 6 feet apart, jeered troopers when they issued warnings or tickets. At one point, about 300 people attended the demonstration that was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition to oppose the measures Londa Gatt (C) gets a ticket from the Michigan State Police. Organizers urged the crowd to contribute to a GoFundMe page to help cover fines and legal costs for the barbers Annette Rafacz gives Manny Orovcoa a free haircut while draping him in an cape that is an American Flag 'I will not stand down,' said Karl Manke, a 77-year-old barber who cut hair at the demonstration. His license was suspended by regulators last week after he reopened his shop in Owosso A Michigan State Police trooper talks with hair stylist Jody Hebberd while giving free haircuts 'I will not stand down,' said Karl Manke, a 77-year-old barber who cut hair at the demonstration. His license was suspended by regulators last week after he reopened his shop in Owosso. Whitmer, whose handling of the pandemic has been supported in public polling, is gradually lifting restrictions so more business sectors can partly or fully reopen. The stay-home order is in effect at least through May 28. She said this week it is very unlikely that salons and barbershops will be allowed to reopen next week, saying people cannot socially distance for a haircut. During a visit to Midland to address flooding that has forced thousands to evacuate, Whitmer told reporters Wednesday that she understands the protesters' frustration. 'But the more people moving about and flouting the law, the harder it's going to be turn the dial and take the next step. ... In the midst of a global pandemic, what I ask is that people do so in a way that does not expose themselves or others to a prolonged public health crisis,' she said. Attendees, many not wearing masks or keeping 6 feet apart, jeered troopers when they issued warnings or tickets Karl Manke cuts hair as demonstrators hold signs on the steps of the captiol Michigan State Police hands out citations to barbers during 'Operation Haircut' Annette Rafacz gives Manny Orovcoa a free haircut at the State Capitol during the 'Operation Haircut' rally People held a banner that read 'Freedom!' as they demonstrated on the steps London, May 21 : Police were called to a drive-thru McDonalds in the UK on Thursday, the first day it reopened after easing of the COVID-19 because the queue at the outlet went out of hand, a media report said. Six of the 30 new drive-thrus that have opened across the country are in Peterborough, with huge queues for one branch in particular forming as people raced to get their fix of Big Macs, Happy Meals and McNuggets, reports the Metro newspaper. Officers were called out to the Boongate branch after it opened to customers at 11 a.m., as dozens of cars snaked their way around the restaurant's car park and surrounding roads. A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said: "Officers attended the McDonald's in Padholme Road East this afternoon to assist with the flow of traffic in the area. "The road was not closed and officers assisted while McDonald's staff reassessed their drive-thru policy to deal with demand." McDonald's has only reopened sites in south-east England and in Dublin as a trial, causing outrage among customers in major cities including Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester who feel they were being left out, the newspaper report said. McDonald's now has 38 restaurants open across the country in total, with 10 offering both delivery and drive-through. Twenty-three others are drive-through only, while five are only available through online orders. The fast-food giant has brought in social distancing measures to keep workers safe, with staff receiving temperature checks before each shift. The number of workers on each site will be reduced to ensure safety, the company has said. 285 Shares Share On Friday, March 27, 2020, California went on lockdown in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It changed every Californians life, including my own. As the newly appointed chief scribe, the possibility that I would be jobless by the time Monday rolled around, was the last of my worries. What would happen to the patients who depended on our care? Or the physicians, nurses, and administrators that kept the center afloat? I waited the weekend out to see whether or not I would have to go into work on Monday. However, that call never came. Scribes are essential the physician I work for announced during morning rounds. This is uncharted territory, and we are in a constant flux of change, but we are all here, and we are going to do what we can for our patients. I am one of the few scribes who has been working throughout COVID-19, and this is my experience. The change in our daily lives was instantaneous. I used to walk through the doors of the hospital and smile at the volunteer at the front desk, comment on the weather or recent sporting events, then open up my computer and begin a full day of seeing patients and charting. Now when I walk up to the entrance of the hospital, there are no volunteers to greet me. Instead, there is a nurse at the front who greets me. I cant see her smile, its hidden behind an N95 mask, but I can tell from the wrinkles by her eyes, shes smiling. I can also tell she is tired, and I am probably the last person she will see before her shift is done, and another nurse takes her place. Are you coming to work? she says. I smile, one she can see because I havent put on my PPE yet. Yes, I responded. Any symptoms, she starts, as she gathers the thermometer that has been recently sanitized. No, I say. She puts the thermometer to my forehead and rolls it around the surrounding area before it beeps. 98.7, youre good to go. I sanitize my hands, shaking them to dry faster so I can don the face mask she has prepared for me. Thank you, have a good day! I say with a smile, but she cant see that now. The thought never crossed my mind to voluntarily complete my charting at home, even when I was given the option. Accurate documentation of patient-physician interactions is not something I can accomplish from the comfort of my bedroom. Not many scribes can say the same, many furloughed or fired from their positions as they became potential liabilities to the hospital. But I didnt know I would also have a target on my back at the same time. I have been on the receiving end of many stares and people frantically moving away from me, thinking I am COVID, that my blue scrubs are the disease. These days I have been asking more questions to myself and to the health care professionals I work with: How do we dispel fear in our society? Our ED department has seen a significant decrease in admits, where are the patients who are having strokes, heart attacks, appendicitis, and other health complications going if not to the emergency department? Why are patients, who are in septic shock, being placed into COVID wards for rule out when infected wounds are the main problem? Many of our patients are afraid to come to their weekly appointments because they believe the hospital is highly infectious, but in reality, most of the positive COVID patients are in their own homes, isolating themselves. Im not sure how hospitals will be able to overcome this stigma and proceed as they once used to. As of May 4, elective surgeries are being allowed at 50 percent on a preliminary basis, giving us a sense of hope that we can overcome this challenge. How are you doing today? The nurse at the front asks me, Im charting in uncharted territory. I respond. We both laugh, both hopeful we can see each other smile once again. Gazal Homayouni is a medical scribe. Image credit: Shutterstock.com WHAT the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (AITF-EID) in its May 15 omnibus guidelines for quarantine has not thought out well and left a crack on the floor is being covered by Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia's May 19 executive order on the general quarantine in Cebu province. The guidelines of the governor decidedly improve on guidelines of IATF. Can an LGU do that with national fiat? Offering a stark example are the provisions on religious gatherings. Comparing rules Under the IATF-EID guidelines on GCQ, or general community quarantine, like that in Cebu Province and Lapu-Lapu City, social and religious gatherings and other "non-essential" activities shall not be more than 10 persons. (The number goes smaller, reduced to five persons, if the local government is under a modified enhanced community quarantine, or MECQ, like that in Talisay City). Cebu Capitol's EO prohibits religious and similar activities "that would result to close person-to-person contacts." Capitol's guideline specifies no absolute number, as the IATF rule does, which Manila Archdiocese chancellor Bishop Broderick Fabillo called "impractical," even ludicrous, given the physical dimensions of Catholic churches. Pabillo said the IATF rule is a fit-all-sizes standard which, relevantly, the IATF does not apply to other establishments that reopen, using it only on churches. The governor's EO #17, series of 2020, just uses the number 10 to define "gathering" and provides instead the reasonable yardstick: no "close person-to-person contacts." Conforming to the IATF prohibition of religious gatherings under a GCQ, Capitol has stuck to the online masses rule, at least until May 31, allowing before then only church visits and Blessed Sacrament adoration subject to health protocol and limit on the size of the gathering. Who calls the shots The governor must be aware of the policy spelled out by President Rodrigo Duterte and laid down in the Bayanihan To Heal As One Act that the national government, through IATF and the president's office, sets the policies on Covid-related matters. Story continues We call the shots, Duterte in effect said, with the LGUs taking and following orders. The Bayanihan law (Republic Act #11469) is explicit about (a) LGUs according to orders of the national government and (b) local governments still allowed "to exercise their autonomy in situations not defined by the national government." Two legal bases There are at least two legal bases for a local government official, such as the governor or anyone of the Metro Cebu mayors, to act unilaterally, even without IATF go-signal or beyond IATF parameter, on certain matters. They are: [1] the general welfare clause and the duty of the local chief executive in the Local Government Code to lead in case of epidemic or other public health emergency; [2] the authority under the Bayanihan law for local officials to decide and act, in the spirit of local autonomy, on matters where the national government does not decide or act. Gaps and cracks In sum, as local chief executives, the governor and the mayors take cue from the IATF and the president's office but they wield authority in their respective territories to formulate rules that support and are in synch with the national strategy. And, particularly or especially in case of vacuum, in filling gaps and papering over cracks not seen or not attended to by national authority. The Capitol EO expects a possible clash with national authority over the rules. 'Harmonization clause' That's obviously the reason for Section 13, called "Harmonization Clause," which says that "as far as practicable, all laws, orders, rules, and regulations issued by duly constituted authorities of the Republic of the Philippines..." shall be "read and interpreted in harmony with this Executive Order." Capitol is waving some flag, which says, like, "Look, any difference or discrepancy with the IATF guidelines is more apparent than real. Just harmonize those guidelines with ours." Expecting the waves Atty. Frank Dinsay, the governor's chief-of-staff who saw to it that the EO was what Guv Gwen wanted, didn't say as much but he indicated, in a phone talk Wednesday, May 20, that the LGU here in effect is testing the waters and won't be surprised if there would be some waves. He indicated that Capitol's advantage is being on the ground and the one enforcing the rules, not the task force based in Manila. Can the governor improve guidelines issued by the National Government through IATF? No one here is sure. But she did -- for the better, the public can hope and ascertain from the results. If nobody complains, the IATF may not mind. Foremost, Tyrone Productions and Create Ones landmark documentary series The Irish Revolution (3 x 60 mins) has been acquired by Finlands state broadcaster YLE and Frances TF1 Histoire. Narrated by Cillian Murphy of Peaky Blinders fame, the 4K produced HD series tells the story of how, against all odds, a small group of rebels forced the UK, then the worlds most powerful nation, to withdraw from Ireland in the wake of the First World War. The documentary features rarely-seen archive footage, first-hand witness accounts, 3-D CGI mapping and contributions from some of Irelands finest writers and historians.Global demand has also been strong for two home-renovation series fronted by Irelands leading TV architect, Dermot Bannon. Incredible Homes (pictured), in which Bannon visits fabulous and unusual living spaces in the worlds coolest capitals, has been picked up by Canadas TLN, South Africas The Home Channel, Australias Foxtel and BBC Poland. Room to Improve has also been sold to The Home Channel and Foxtel. Now in its twelfth season on RTE, the series sees Bannon apply his creativity to an array of properties, some presenting quirkier challenges than others.Another Irishman finding global success is food writer, television presenter, food photographer and YouTuber Donal Skehan. Donals Meals in Minutes has been acquired by Hong Kongs TVB and Australias Liftstyle Food. Skehan serves up a range of recipes in each episode, from speedy salads through tasty weeknight meals to lunchbox treats.Australias SBS Food has bought a culinary programming package including Donals Kitchen Hero (41 x 30), Donals Kitchen Feast 13 x 25 and Donals Cook Eat Burn6 x 30'. The series which has also been acquired by TLN in Canada follows Skehan as he undertakes a series of challenges and prepares healthy food designed for an active lifestyle. During the series Donal climbs Irelands highest mountain, goes kayaking, coasteering, rock climbing and abseiling, cycles the Green Way in Co Mayo and joins a boot camp in Dublin.Commenting on the deals, Edel Edwards, head of programme sales at RTE Programme Sales, said: For years, weve represented the best of Irelands producers on the international market, delivering and overseeing third-party strategies for format and scripted deals, and pushing our factual fare as far and wide as possible. And that role has never been more important than it is right now, as we work to keep our incredibly talented Irish producers in businessThese latest deals are a tribute to the diversity and creative quality thats baked in. A court in South Africa recently passed a judgment that berated the country's military and police for their conduct in enforcing the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown . The case involved the death of a man, Collins Khosa , after he was brutally assaulted by members of the South African National Defence Force, in Alexandra, outside Johannesburg. The military was deployed to help the police enforce the lockdown. In his judgment in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, Judge Hans Fabricius highlighted the social compact between a government and its people, set out in the country's constitution. He referred, in particular, to the founding values in section 1 , including human dignity, equality, the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. The court was asked for a declaratory order on the rules applicable to the military and the police. It was also asked to order them to conduct proper investigations of the incident, and suspend those involved until the investigations were over. It granted all that it was asked, and added that the police and military have to report back on their progress. According to the court, people need to be able to trust the government to abide by the rule of law, make rational regulations, and not intrude on the rights of those subject to the law. The judgment was remarkable for how limited it seemed to be: it didn't find that the military or police were responsible for Khosa's death; it didn't convict anybody of a crime; and it didn't award damages to his family. All it seemed to do was to tell the defence force and the police to obey the law. At first glance this may appear inadequate. But it is in fact highly significant and important. To find out why, we need to explore the meaning of one of the founding values referred to by the court: the rule of law. Read more: Many refugees living in Nairobi struggle to survive because of COVID-19 The rule of law is a popular term among politicians, and most people have an intuitive sense that it protects the people from arbitrary government action . But it's more than that: it's the very thing that makes law work. That's why it deserves a closer look. The rule of law The rule of law sets requirements both for the content of law and for the process of its application. It has eight specific aspects, on which most legal theorists agree. A society complies with the rule of law if (1) there are generally applicable rules, and (2) the rules are publicised, (3) understandable, and (4) not retroactive. (5) The rules do not contradict each other, (6) they are relatively consistent over time, (7) compliance with them is not physically impossible, and (8) the administration of law reflects the rules as announced. This means that the government is bound to give effect to the rules that have been publicised. The problem with the lockdown is not just that it violates the eighth requirement, although this particular violation is the most obvious in cases of government brutality. As the Khosa case shows, the soldiers acted beyond the powers conferred on them by law, and committed the crimes of assault and homicide. (This evidence, put before the court by eye witnesses, was not contradicted by the police or the military in the case.) But most of the other requirements of the rule of law are not being met, either. Many new lockdown regulations and directives have been promulgated since April, from several different government departments, and are published online in government gazettes. They have been appearing at such a rapid rate that even lawyers with expertise in this area are battling to keep track of the details . Soldiers share a light moment on a COVID-19 lockdown patrol in Johannesburg. EFE-EPA/Kim Lubrook While a professional law site and an NGO now offer free overviews and summaries of the lockdown rules, the government website is a dead end. It purports to set out consolidated sets of the four main regulations from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the department coordinating the lockdown regime. But it omits the other departments, which are authorised by the main regulations to issue directives in addition to the regulations. Furthermore, the links to the regulations lead nowhere for three of these sets. This means that the gazettes are not readily available to a majority of the public who must obey them. As a result, they are not properly publicised. They are so complicated and extensive that not even expert lawyers can keep up with them (so they are not understandable). They change frequently and contradict each other . Read more: COVID-19 has blown away the myth about 'First' and 'Third' world competence Finally, they appear to be demanding the impossible from citizens. This is in part because they expect conduct such as not leaving one's residence and maintaining distance from other people which is impossible in some areas , particularly informal settlements . Public buy-in Even without the government acting brutally, this system of rules would lack legitimacy. In the view of one legal philosopher, Lon L. Fuller, the system would not be law at all . He challenged the widely held view that law was a separate matter from morality by identifying the central moral quality of law: it recognises, honours and depends on the agency of people subject to it. If the eight requirements set out above are met sufficiently, then the people have a stable basis for planning their own conduct. Through law, people can make choices about their own lives. This, in Fuller's view, generates fidelity to the law what we might also call buy-in or legitimacy. The government appears to be aware that it does not have the buy-in of the public, because it justifies so many of its arbitrary rules as measures designed to facilitate enforcement by police . And it had soldiers on the streets before the lockdown even started on 27 March . Read more: Why easing the lockdown threatens to put workers in South Africa at risk In his judgment, Judge Fabricius notes that the soldiers were briefed in military terms, as though they were setting out on a battle with lawbreakers. This won't work. If you have to enforce compliance like this, you don't have buy-in. You don't have law. The fact that these officials have brutalised the people they were meant to protect has merely worsened the situation. The confusion, resistance and violence accompanying the current lockdown are an object lesson on the value and necessity of the rule of law. If the country doesn't get this right, it's not going to win the fight against COVID-19. Cathleen Powell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. By Cathleen Powell, Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town ST. LOUIS Officials with four regional port districts talked about the significance of their operations Tuesday as part of FreightWeek STL, an annual conference being broadcast via teleconference this week. Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of Americas Central Port (ACP), used his own port facility to reinforce the significance of all ports in the midst of this COVID-19 crisis. Based at the former Mel Price Army Depot in Granite City, Madison and Venice, ACP includes operations running from there to north of Alton. It is also significant because Lock and Dam 27 in Granite City is the last of the lock system on the Mississippi River. Like many others in the freight industry, we are classified as essential, he said. We have access to six Class I railroads, two multimodal harbors, four interstate highways and millions of square feet of warehouse space, plus manufacturing areas and developable sites. With our transportation and logistical advantages, we have attracted 80-plus commercial tenants, and our harbor operators transport more than three million tons of goods valued at more than $1.1 billion annually. Wilsmeyer said ACP is well positioned to handle all products. When the demand for one product wanes, there is usually another right behind to fill the void he said something that is helping to keep volumes running as usual even as the pandemic results in necessary changes to protect workers and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. That trend also seemed to be playing out at the other ports and the consensus is the port industry has largely been unimpacted and will do OK with any resulting deglobalization. While not moving the same volume as ACP, Richard Grenville, Vice President of Multimodal Logistics for Port KC, said his port has been growing. When the Kansas City Port Authority rebranded as Port KC in 2015, it was seeing about 300,000 tons of cargo other than sand and gravel move on the Missouri River. By 2019 that had grown to more than 600,000 tons of cargo moved along with 3.1 million tons of sand and gravel. The port is expanding, both in infrastructure and property, he said. We hear from shippers all over the country that they want options and dont want to be tied to one gateway, he said. I think the inland waterway system, with the expansion of the Panama Canal moving the line from east coast to west coast, has really helped us develop this concept of container-on-vessel (COV) on the Mississippi and adjacent rivers. And its going to be huge for the industry. He said the COV system will use patented barges to transfer container cargo from the Port of Plaquemines in southern Louisiana north on the inland waterway ultimately connecting to Asia, Europe and other foreign ports. The Jefferson County Port Authority in Herculaneum has been identified as a hub for a key terminal for COV vessel service, according to its Executive Director Neal Bretweiser. He said studies show shippers using the service could save 40 to 44 percent on shipping costs. Were in this together, he said. Were not competing as we all have the same goal of making an efficient waterway system thats unlike any other in the world. I believe together we can do this. Ed Weilbacher, general manager of the Kaskaskia Regional Port District, also discussed his port district which includes five different terminals at five different locations. It has become the 10th largest inland port in the nation, he said, after the port moved from primarily transporting coal to other products. The need to diversify became obvious, he said, when coal shipments dropped from 4 million tons annually to 400,000 tons. We started shipping slag, frack sand, steel, fertilizer and more, and were fortunate to be able to improve one of our locations to serve a new power plant, the last coal fired power plant in the country that meets air quality requirements, said Weilbacher. We got to 1.5 million tons through those investments. The port district continues to make investments in infrastructure. Mary Lamie, Executive Vice President of Multi-Modal Enterprises for Bi-State Development which operates the St. Louis Regional Freightway as one of its enterprises, moderated the panel. She noted the ports commitment to collaboration. Industry is appreciative of that collaboration, said Lamie. It helps to support affordable transport rates as a whole for the inland waterways. The week-long event by St. Louis Regional Freightway, The Waterways Journal and Bi-State Development is sponsored by Burns McDonnell and Lochmueller Group, with Arco, Contegra, CMT and Southern Illinois Construction Advancement Program serving as supporting sponsors. To learn more and view each of the sessions for FreightWeekSTL 2020 as they are released, visit www.freightweekstl.com. Hillary Clinton helped rescue Joe Biden's cash-strapped campaign Tuesday night by raking in $2 million while hosting a virtual event, which the presumed Democratic candidate did not even attend. The 2016 Democratic nominee held the fundraiser over Zoom and campaign and party officials told Politico that the $60.5 million haul was the most collected at a single event where the candidate was not present. The major intake, however, was only made possible since donors were allowed to give more than normal because since the money was going into a new joint committee with Biden's campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Joint fundraising committees are not required to file monthly, allowing them to bring in more money. The event helped bring the Biden campaign to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee fundraising level for this month, which is at $61.7 million. Hillar Clinton pulled in $2 million during a virtual fundraising event on Tuesday, the most in a single-night event where the candidate was not present. Pictured: Last month Clinton endorsed Biden for president in a split-screen video Biden is still hundreds of millions of dollars behind the Trump campaign in terms of fundraising and cash-on-hand. Trump has $255 million, and Biden, the DNC and Democrats combined have $97.5 million The majority of the president's reelection funds raised this month, $43.7 million, came through his campaign rather than the RNC. Trump and the RNC have been partnered and bringing in fundraising funds to a joint committee for years, something Biden has just started doing fully in unison with the DNC after becoming the presumed Democratic nominee at the beginning of April. The incumbent's operation still has significantly more money than Biden. Trump's campaign said at the end of last month that it has more than $255 million cash on hand. Federal Election Commission documents show that between Biden, the DNC and Democrats there is $97.5 million in the bank. Biden nearly matching the president's fundraising numbers this month is a big feat as he is at a severe disadvantage while cooped up in his Delaware home and restricted to hosting virtual events and engaging in remote television interviews to get any exposure. He often appears on network television interviews from his make-shift basement studio. His Republican competition, on the other hand, is able to use his presidential power and duties to gain more in-person exposure like televised press briefings and events and in-person socially distanced interviews, including a town hall with Fox News at the Lincoln Memorial earlier this month. Virtual events, for the most part, pull in less money compared to traditional in-person affairs which many times include a swanky dinner and meet-and-greet with the candidate or their surrogates. Clinton's event Tuesday and another one the same night, which was aimed at Jewish donors and raised $1.5 million, has reinvigorated the fundraising side of the Biden campaign. Democratic Party officials claim they plan to rake in even more single-event checks by using former President Barack Obama potentially at an event over the summer. 'Obama is the kind of person who can make any Democrat give twice,' a top Democratic official told Politico. A new poll released Wednesday shows that if Obama were able to run for a third term against President Trump in his reelection bid, the former would win by a margin of 11 per cent and only 3 per cent of the 1,223 registered voters polled said they were unsure for whom they would cast their ballot. Obama endorsed Biden last month, and already helped with a major fundraising haul after his endorsement. Clinton also issued her endorsement for Biden last month during a split-screen video. The former secretary of State and DNC Chairman Tom Perez hosted the high-dollar event Tuesday night where the most expensive tickets went for $100,000-per-virtual-attendee. The two warned donors during the Zoom video that Republicans will try to suppress votes especially by rallying against mail-in voting and cheat to get Trump another four years. Clinton also said the president will attempt to solicit foreign interference in the election, like Trump was accused of doing with Russia and Ukraine in the 2016 when he beat Clinton for the White House. While Clinton was highly critical of the president during the event, she made a point to focus more on Biden's position as a good option for the Democratic establishment. She also claimed when a donor asked about a potential running mate that the 77-year-olds No. 2 would need to be ready to be president on Day One. She also said Biden needs to consider: 'Can this person help me win in the Electoral College?' Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, by about 2.8 billion, but lost in the Electoral College 306-232 to Trump. Cookies op Tweakers Tweakers maakt gebruik van cookies Tweakers is onderdeel van DPG Media en maakt gebruik van cookies, JavaScript en vergelijkbare technologie om je onder andere een optimale gebruikerservaring te bieden. Functionele en analytische cookies die door Tweakers zelf geplaatst worden, worden gebruikt om de website goed te laten functioneren, bezoekersstatistieken bij te houden en a/b-testen uit te voeren. Ook kan Tweakers hiermee het gedrag van bezoekers vastleggen en analyseren. Cookies kunnen daarnaast worden gebruikt om op Tweakers advertenties te tonen die aansluiten bij je interesses. Daarbij kan gebruikgemaakt worden van bezoekersprofielen die door derden zijn opgesteld. Ook kunnen derden je internetgedrag volgen, zoals bijvoorbeeld het geval is bij embedded videos van YouTube. Tot slot kunnen cookies worden gebruikt om op sites van derden relevante advertenties te tonen. Content van derde partijen, zoals embedded videos van YouTube, wordt met een trackingvrij abonnement standaard uitgeschakeld. Indien je deze content wilt zien, kun je hier expliciet toestemming voor geven. Wil je meer informatie over cookies en hoe ze worden gebruikt? Bekijk dan ons cookiebeleid. Accepteer cookies ... Om deze pagina op Tweakers te kunnen bekijken, moet je cookies accepteren. Cookies accepteren Heb je al een account? Dan kun je hier inloggen! The use of tech-based surveillance to fight the virus can exacerbate the suffering of the most vulnerable communities. As COVID-19 continues to devastate the world, a growing number of countries are opting to use invasive surveillance methods to stem the spread of the virus and flatten the curve. Since the emergence of the novel coronavirus, several countries, led by Israel, China, Singapore and South Korea, started collecting security camera footage and bank records and using facial recognition technologies and mobile phone data to track the movements of their citizens. Australia recently joined this trend by releasing Covidsafe, a coronavirus tracking app. The UK is also known to be trialling a similar mobile phone app to increase its contact-tracing abilities and get its population back to work. In countries where the majority of the population is not used to being subjected to overt mass surveillance, the discussions surrounding the implementation of these measures has focused on privacy. But there is reason to be concerned about this new wave of surveillance beyond privacy. Unless we acknowledge the role surveillance plays in perpetuating structures of oppression, the use of tech-based surveillance methods to tackle the virus will serve to exacerbate the suffering of the most vulnerable communities. We can see what surveillance is really for, and who usually pays the price for it, simply by looking into its history. Surveillance as a colonial strategy Surveillance emerged as a colonial strategy. It was essential for the classification of people and the control of the newly acquired territories. From the 14th to the 19th century, European colonisers amassed vast quantities of data on the populations they colonised. The most basic tools of surveillance, such as fingerprinting, census taking, map-making and profiling, were refined and implemented in colonial settings by the Dutch in Southeast Asia, the French in Africa, and the British in India and North America. The British, for example, collected data on caste, religion, profession and age among other classifying characteristics across colonial India. This information was used to solidify inequities of the caste system, and increase religious tensions; essentially to divide and rule. Surveillance as a tool of scientific racism In the 19th century, surveillance tools developed in the colonies were used by European governments to classify populations according to innate biological traits, and construct racial hierarchies, both in the colonies and at home. During this time, surveillance aided the implementation of discriminatory policies based on what we now call scientific racism and contributed to the development of pseudo-scientific justifications for white supremacy. In Australia, for example, white colonisers used scientific theories based on surveillance data to justify massacres of First Nations people, land theft, removal of children from families, and erasure of language and culture. Over time, they established a racialised hierarchy of citizenship, and started granting citizenship rights and associated benefits based upon whiteness. They eventually banned all non-white migrants from entering the country. The White Australia policy, which enshrined this racial hierarchy of citizenship in law, only officially ended in 1973. Surveillance today Today, surveillance is still being used as a tool to classify people into various zones. Thanks to the architectures of oppression that surveillance help built, some people remain safely in zones of access, inclusion and privilege while others remain stuck in zones of invisibility, exclusion and death. Rapidly developing surveillance methods are helping governments keep undesirable migrants and refugees outside of their countries borders, and internal undesirables members of minority communities and the poor among others inside prisons, detention centres and racialised ghettos. The continuing coronavirus pandemic has only accentuated this problem. A disproportionate number of people of colour have died from COVID-19 in the US and Britain. Millions of people stuck in prisons, detention centres and refugee camps across the world have been left to fend for themselves, despite expert warnings that the spread of the virus could be deadly in these contexts. In many countries, security forces focused their efforts to enforce coronavirus-related restrictions on underprivileged communities. In Australia, Indigenous peoples and migrants are being disproportionately targetted for public health order compliance fines. In the US, there are widespread reports that police officers are using coronavirus stay-at-home orders and policies making masks mandatory to harass and abuse Black Americans. The new surveillance state and the reordering of society The rolling out of mass tech-enabled surveillance will help governments expand the existing systems of surveillance and discrimination, which have long been reserved solely for marginalised groups, to their entire populations. Israel, for example, is now using the surveillance tools it developed to monitor Palestinians in the occupied territories to track the movements of the countrys entire population. If the tech-enabled surveillance wave triggered by the coronavirus pandemic continues unchallenged, the governments could not only use these new surveillance opportunities to increase the isolation and oppression of already marginalised communities, they could also create new groups of undesirables and restrict their access to most basic rights and services. Chinas Alipay Health Code is one example of how biometric data collection could be used to determine who gets to work, travel and exist freely in a society. It assigns people a colour code green, yellow or red that indicates their health status. Banners remind everyone of the rules: Green code, travel freely. Red or yellow, report immediately. Chile, too, has announced plans to give immunity passports to recovered COVID-19 patients, allowing them to go back to work. Germany and the UK are also known to have considered a similar approach. Implementation of such policies could eventually create a hierarchy of citizenship based on health and ability. It could increase the disadvantages of already marginalised communities, who have an increased prevalence for health problems due to their widespread lack of access to healthcare, sanitation and adequate nutrition. Moreover, these policies could be used to legitimise violence towards the sick, immunocompromised and elderly, as well as people with disabilities. We need to ensure that this unprecedented public health emergency is not used to legitimise violence towards the most vulnerable members of our communities. As countries decide whether or not to lift restrictions and reopen economies, we need to challenge the use of methods that could pave the way for the rise of eugenic ideologies that determine a persons worth based on their ability to work and contribute to the economy. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Ive got my mask, I got my gloves, I got my cat and finally got some socks, said Susan Smith, a retired dance instructor who was standing in the lobby of Midland High School beside stacks of beds, dried food, cereal, Pop-Tarts, puzzles and copies of the Bible. Like other evacuees, she was trying to heed the governors advice to prevent the spread of the virus to the best of your ability by wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines. Afroz Shah, a lawyer, and an environmental activist, was allegedly detained on Tuesday night by Tilak Nagar police for two hours for allegedly ferrying stranded migrants to their destination in Mumbai. Shah is internationally known for his efforts in organizing the world's largest beach clean-up project in Versova Beach, Mumbai, inspiring people around the world to clean up their environment. For his beach cleaning efforts, he earned the title Champion of the Earth. It also inspired the United Nations Environment Program, or UNEP, to launch the Clean Seas campaign around the world. He has been giving the stranded migrants juice, water, and food and making the necessary arrangements for the worker's transportation to alleviate the distance that workers have to walk amidst the scorching heat. According to Shah, he was ferrying migrants who were walking for a distance of 16 kilometers from Byculla to Ghatkopar to get a bus when the police detained him. The police were abusive, and they bullied him, Shah said. He asked the police to register the first information report or FIR, but the police allegedly failed to do. They detained him for two hours instead. After two hours, the police asked him to accompany them to drop off the migrants and then asked him to leave. WATCH HERE: Footage of the Last Tasmanian Tiger in Captivity Shah posted on Twitter about his detention and expressed that he is suspending all efforts for the poor. Shah said there is a huge humanitarian crisis in India, and if the government is not doing anything about it, then citizens should help. He added that despite his mother's warning that he is putting himself into risk. He feels a need to help his fellow citizens. For now, he said he is forced to suspend his efforts. The Exodus of Migrant Workers in India The migrant workers that Shah has been helping are walking home from major cities to their respective home villages for hundreds or thousands of miles since the lockdown in March. In efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus, India's central government imposed a nationwide lockdown and closed businesses. After the announcement of the lockdown on March 24, industrial units and construction activities all over India shut down, rendering millions of workers jobless and homeless. According to experts, approximately 3 million migrant workers are returning from major cities to their home villages. The public transportation was shut down, forcing the migrants to walk hundreds of miles to get to their home villages, with some dying along the way. Special trains have been provided by the government from different parts of the countries to ferry the workers home, but due to the number of migrants, it could not accommodate everyone. READ NEXT: Global Warming Is Causing Stronger Tropical Cyclones, Says New Study In a recent report from Arabnews, experts predict a dramatic increase of COVID-19 cases, which may be from the returning migrant workers from major cities. Analysts have been criticizing the way the government is imposing the lockdown, saying that it is an unplanned, hurried exercise. This exodus, according to a Delhi-based NGO Ajeevika Bureau, is an "unprecedented situation and humanitarian crisis of great magnitude." Wyoming Business Tips for May 25-31 A weekly look at issues facing Wyoming business owners and entrepreneurs from the Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a collection of business assistance programs at the University of Wyoming. By John Privette, regional director, Wyoming SBDC Network On May 13, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) issued guidance for small businesses receiving less than $2 million of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding. The U.S. Treasury, in coordination with the SBA, issued safe harbor guidance for borrowers as published in the SBAs FAQ, Question 46. The SBA FAQ states: Any borrower that, together with its affiliates, received PPP loans with an original principal amount of less than $2 million will be deemed to have made the required certification concerning the necessity of the loan request in good faith. This safe harbor guidance results from the realization that businesses with PPP loans less than $2 million are less likely to have had access to adequate sources of liquidity in the current economic environment than borrowers that obtained larger loans. To be considered for PPP loan total forgiveness, at least 75 percent of the loan must be used for payroll expenses. These include salary, wages, commissions, group health insurance, vacation, retirement, and parental, family or medical and sick leave. The other 25 percent can be used for rent, mortgage interest and utilities. Best practices for borrowers, in preparation for forgiveness consideration, include: -- Record the PPP loan deposit date and the eight-week period ending date to remind yourself of the time period requirements. -- Preferably, establish a separate checking account for the PPP loan and keep a detailed record and documentation for forgivable expenses. -- As a sole proprietor or LLC business, write a check to yourself as evidence of payroll payment weekly. Cash withdrawals or cash transfers to yourself are weak evidence of payroll. -- To avoid a reduction of total forgiveness and meet the 75 percent payroll requirement, maintain the number of employees, wages and hours. A reduction of forgiveness amount is required if the reduction of wages over the eight-week period is in excess of 25 percent of the total salary or wages of the employee during the period of Jan. 1 through March 31. This tip represents our understanding of the PPP guidance at this time with the realization that SBA guidance may change. Visit the Wyoming SBDC Network website for additional COVID-19 resources. You also can contact your local business adviser for no-cost, one-on-one COVID-19 business assistance at www.wyomingsbdc.org/covid19. The Wyoming SBDC Network offers no-cost advising and technical assistance to help Wyoming entrepreneurs think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. In 2019 alone, the Wyoming SBDC Network helped Wyoming entrepreneurs start 108 new businesses; create or save 3,402 jobs; and bring a capital impact of more than $24 million to the state. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by UW with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. SBA. To ask a question, call 1-800-348-5194, email wsbdc@uwyo.edu, or write 1000 E. University Ave., Dept. 3922, Laramie, WY 82071-3922. President Donald Trump will tour a Michigan factory assisting the COVID-19 pandemic response one day after threatening to withhold federal aid as the state grapples with an economic crisis caused by the virus. Trump is scheduled to meet with African American leaders about how his administration will support minority communities during the pandemic, then tour Ford Motor Companys Rawsonville manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti Township. The presidents visit is among a series of trips to battleground states that are critical to his re-election hopes, as Trump foregoes his signature campaign rallies due to the coronavirus, but will arrive in Michigan at a time when the state is dealing with record unemployment, 5,060 COVID deaths and catastrophic flooding that forced evacuations for thousands of residents. Thursdays visit is an official White House event and not explicitly a campaign rally, but the president has kept an eye on the election during similar stops in Michigan. Trump last visited in January to tour a Warren manufacturing facility and celebrate the passage of a new North American trade deal. In the last month, Trump visited Arizona and Pennsylvania, while Vice President Mike Pence was dispatched to Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Florida. The president has used the visits to thank workers for mobilizing to produce ventilators and other vital equipment and push for states to reopen their economies. Vincent Hutchings, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and Ypsilanti resident, said the president appears focused on maintaining his presence in swing states. Trump won Michigan by a narrow 11,000 votes in 2016, becoming the first Republican to win the state in nearly three decades. Its not unusual for a president to combine official duties of the president with campaign events," Hutchings said. "So thats what Trump is doing, ostensibly, to visit these plants, but also because they are swing states. John Sellek, CEO of Harbor Strategic Public Affairs and a veteran Republican campaign strategist, said this is one advantage Trump has over his likely rival in November. Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden hasnt visited or dispatched surrogates to stump in Michigan since March 10, the date of the presidential primary and when Michigans first case of COVID-19 was discovered. Biden has held a series of virtual events instead. That cant match the presence of showing up here in person, Sellek said. The president has turned the corner on making visits out to states in whatever way is actually available to him. Trump won Michigan in part by promising to restore the states manufacturing sector, which makes up a critical segment of the Michigan economy. Manufacturing comprises 21% of Michigans gross domestic product and employs 13% of the states workforce while supporting jobs in various connected industries. Michigans manufacturing sector steadily recovered throughout the last decade after facing a severe downturn during the 2008 Great Recession. Manufacturing employment continued to grow at a slower rate since Trump took office, and the sector shed 1,200 jobs in 2019. Regardless, the U.S. was experiencing its longest period of economic expansion in history before the coronavirus stopped it the economy its tracks. The U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April. The unemployment rate launched from 3.5% in February to 14.5% last month, the highest since the Great Depression. Some economists predict the unemployment rate could soar to 25% this year. When any president visits an auto factory in Michigan, regardless of the product they are producing, its really about one thing: The economy, Sellek said. It allows the president to be not only praising Michigan workers and our abilities to manufacture items but to pivot and start talking about what its going to take to reopen the economy and reduce this 25% unemployment rate. The pandemic put 1.7 million Michigan residents out of work. Michigans economy is incrementally reopening, but Trump has pushed Whitmer to move faster to liberate" the state. Whitmer reopened non-essential manufacturing facilities on May 11 and automakers returned to work in a limited capacity with new safety measures on Monday. Restaurants and stores in Northern Michigan are allowed to open in a reduced capacity starting Friday. The phased reopening hasnt come fast enough for business leaders, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists. Weekly demonstrations outside the Michigan Capitol feature protesters waving merchandise with Trump campaign slogans. Whitmer is among potential vice-presidential candidates being considered by the Biden campaign, elevating her national profile and drawing Trumps ire. The governors office said Trumps visit opposes an executive order barring non-essential tours of manufacturing facilities. A majority of likely Michigan voters disapprove of Trumps handling of the coronavirus compared to Whitmer, according to a survey released by Public Policy Polling this week. The left-leaning polling firm found voters trust Whitmer more to protect Michigan from the virus by a 10-point margin. The poll found 44% of respondents approved of Trumps performance since taking office and 51% disapproved. Just over a quarter of surveyed voters believe Whitmers social distancing measures should be relaxed. The governor isnt planning to meet the president in Michigan. Whitmer was not invited to the Thursday tour, according to a spokesperson. However, Trump said he spoke with Whitmer Wednesday about the severe flooding in Central Michigan. A Monday rainstorm overwhelmed two dams in Midland County, sending a torrent of muddy water downstream and forcing evacuations of thousands of residents. I just spoke with Gretchen Whitmer," Trump said. "I will be going to Michigan at the appropriate time. They have a big problem with the dams breaking. So that is a big big problem. And so weve sent the FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers out, and theyre very good at dams, theyre probably better at than anybody you can think of, right? The Army Corps of Engineers have done a fantastic job. Trump fired off a series of statements on Twitter Wednesday morning threatening to withhold federal aid from Michigan. In a now-deleted tweet, Trump made a false claim about Secretary of State Jocelyn Bensons move to send residents absentee ballot applications. The president later told reporters that mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing and a subject of massive fraud. Hutchings said the threat to withhold federal aid over how states run their elections is anti-democratic and a serious norm violation, but not particularly surprising as the president works to undermine absentee voting. Well, that wasnt terribly smart on one level I suppose, but on another level, it helps to put forth this notion that mail-in ballots somehow contribute to fraud, Hutchings said. Its part of the usual playbook of the Trump administration. They make no secret of retaliation, to get naked political retaliation for states that dont belong to his party or the take actions that are perceived as you know antithetical to the interest of his party. Absentee voting has become a more popular option since Michigan allowed anyone to vote by mail. Benson mailed 7.7 million registered voters an absentee ballot application using federal funds from the CARES Act. The vast majority of voters across the political spectrum want the option to vote by mail, Benson said in a press release announcing the upcoming mailings. Mailing applications to all registered voters is one of the ways that we are ensuring Michigans elections will continue to be safe, accurate and secure. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to say what federal funding could be on the chopping block during a Wednesday press conference. Sellek said Trumps threat is probably an empty one. I think that weve seen over time the president strategically controls the media narrative in the directions that hes headed, Sellek said. Hes taking control of the headlines the best he can. Hell make an outrageous or intense statement, everybody wants to talk to about the issue on his terms, and thats what he wants. Hell get here tomorrow, have everyones attention and start talking about the economy. Then by Friday or Saturday. Well be debating or arguing about something else. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus April was the deadliest month in Michigan this century, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic Protesting inmates refuse to return to cells at Michigan prison as coronavirus cases surge The flu has killed 2,200 Michiganders since 2000. Coronavirus topped that in a month. New Gov. Whitmer order sets rules for nursing homes caring for coronavirus patients BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Wednesday called for efforts to improve regular prevention and control measures to prevent COVID-19 from rebounding and accelerate the resumption of life and work. The instruction was given at a meeting of the leading group of China's COVID-19 epidemic response, which was chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The work plans of the leading group must be fully carried out to strengthen the prevention and control of key regions and fields, the meeting said, calling for efforts to step up international cooperation. The group also stressed summarizing and sharing effective measures adopted during the five-day May Day holiday to contain the virus and resume businesses, noting that regular prevention and control measures should be improved to promote consumption and boost economic growth. Noting the risks of cluster cases in some regions, the meeting said a certain number of asymptomatic cases remain, and no relaxation is allowed in epidemic prevention and control. The group urged further expanding nucleic acid tests to identify asymptomatic infections promptly, adding that information should be released with openness and transparency. Calling for early detection and effective treatment, the group stressed measures including ventilation, disinfection, and temperature monitoring for all units, especially schools and other places accommodating large numbers of people. After hearing a report on the epidemic prevention and control during the May Day holiday, the group said consumption of food and accommodation has seen fast resumption during the holiday, with effective epidemic prevention and control measures implemented. Based on such achievements, the resumption of service industries should be accelerated to meet people's needs, according to the meeting. With the annual sessions of China's national legislature and political advisory body to be held, solid efforts should be made to ensure safety, the group stressed. Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy head of the leading group, attended the meeting. Following the affirmation by the police that health workers are exempted from the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), on Thursday, reversed the sit-at-home strike which it earlier embarked upon at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The sit-at-home directive was a response to the arrest of health workers by officers of the Lagos State police command for defying the curfew, despite their exemption from the curfew as essential workers. The police in Lagos Tuesday night arrested several essential workers, including medical doctors, journalists, bankers and others, stating that they were not exempted from the curfew. This infuriated the doctors union which called for the sit-at-home protest on Wednesday. While giving the notice of the sit-at-home strike on Wednesday, the leadership of the Lagos NMA said the strike will be effective until the conflicting directives by the state government and law enforcement agents on the status of essential workers is resolved. On Wednesday evening, however, the police hierarchy notified its officers about essential service providers, including doctors, who are exempted from the curfew. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, directed Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) and Commissioners of Police (CPs) to exempt essential service providers from the movement restriction order. The force is not oblivious of the sensitive, indispensable, patriotic and front line role of the nations workforce that falls within the category of Essential Service Providers in government efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. To this effect, all essential workers including medical personnel, ambulance service providers, journalists and firefighters remain exempted from the movement restriction orders as well as the national curfew, police spokesperson Frank quoted Mr Adamu as saying. In its reaction, the leadership of the NMA said in a statement on Thursday that it has discontinued the sit-at-home strike after the police and the Lagos State governor reached out to clarify the status of doctors and assured them that there would be no further harassment of its members. The sit-at-home order issued on the 19th of May is hereby reversed and our members are hereby directed to resume work from 6 p.m. today 21st of May 2020 (this affects those on call duty). The Nigerian Police Force has reached out to the association to clarify and give assurance of cooperation with all health-workers. This, they have also done in the media. The executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu was exemplary as his timely intervention from the late hours of May 19th helped prevent worsening of the situation. The association has further received assurances from Mr. Governor and the top hierarchy of the police that no health workers will be further harassed in the course of their lawful efforts to sustain services in the middle of the pandemic, the statement partly reads. The association added that the appeal from the people of Lagos State is difficult to resist considering the fact that they will be most hit by the situation. It resolved that doctors in Lagos State, under the auspices of NMA, have the responsibility to partake actively in the fight against COVID-19 and the delivery of quality healthcare to the citizenry for the entire period of the pandemic and beyond. It urged the Lagos state government to ensure clarity at all times on the exempted status of healthcare and other essential workers for the entire period of the ongoing lockdown/restriction of movement. The leadership of the association added that it will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to take any action to protect the safety of its members. The night curfew (8 p.m. to 6 a.m.) was imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari across Nigeria to prevent further spread of the coronavirus which has caused at least 200 deaths in Nigeria and infected over 6,000 people. MUMBAI: The novel coronavirus infection has claimed yet another life of a policeman in Mumbai taking the total number of policemen dying due to the deadly virus across the state to 13. According to reports, a policeman posted in Mumbai Vikroli died due to the coronavirus infection on Wednesday night. As of now, the number of Maharashtra Police personnel infected with global coronavirus infection is 1388. 700 of them are in Mumbai city alone. According to the Maharashtra Police, out of the 1388 cases of coronavirus among its personnel, 948 are still active. The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Maharashtra Police is now 1388, including 948 active cases, 428 recovered and 13 deaths," the Maharashtra Police said in a release. The COVID-19 virus had last week claimed the life of ASI Madhukar Mane who was posted in Mumbai. DGP and all ranks of Maharashtra Police had offered their condolences to the bereaved family of the deceased policeman. A large number of policemen have also been put in self-quarantine, which has left a staggering shortage of personnel in the police department. To match the present requirements of police personnel, the Maharashtra government has sought Centre's help and asked to send around 2000 additional policemen from the Central Armed Police Forces to provide some respite to its own fatigued officers. Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state by the deadly contagion. According to the Health Ministry, coronavirus cases have risen to 39,297 in Maharashtra, followed by Tamil Nadu with 13,191 cases and Gujarat with 12,537 cases so far. Maharashtra has the highest number of deaths at 1390, followed by Gujarat`s 749 and Madhya Pradesh`s 267. In Delhi, the total tally rose to 11,088. Australian wastewater companies have started taking water samples from sewers in a bid to uncover undetected coronavirus clusters. Melbourne Water has begun testing sewerage and excrement for traces of the virus to focus conventional testing and tracing strategies on problem suburbs or neighbourhoods. Hydrographers lower buckets into sewer lines to collect samples, which are then taken to a laboratory where they are concentrated and tested for ultra-trace levels of the virus. 'We know that coronavirus is excreted in the faeces for up to six weeks after first symptoms appear,' Nicholas Crosbie from Melbourne Water told AFP. Hydrographers lower buckets into sewer lines to collect samples, which are then taken to a laboratory where they are concentrated and tested for ultra-trace levels of the virus The utility company hopes to monitor samples from 71 percent of people in Victoria 'The whole point of this is to be vigilant and to find undetected cases or re-emergence.' The utility hopes to monitor samples from 71 percent of people in Victoria. Mr Crosbie said there were no concerns about contracting the virus from treated water as conventional wastewater treatments killed it off. The process is similar to wastewater testing already carried out to detect diseases like polio and the presence of illicit drugs like cocaine. 'Compared to clinical testing it is very cost-effective. But by no means does it replace clinical surveillance,' he said. 'The whole point of this is to be able to target clinical surveillance more effectively.' The process is similar to wastewater testing already carried out to detect diseases like polio and the presence of illicit drugs like cocaine If the testing laboratory detects a positive result, it can be traced back to the suburb of origin but not narrowed down to a specific house. 'If there's a suburb that hasn't had a case identified but it is in the wastewater stream, then we realise we need to focus on that suburb to find the people,' Health Minister Greg Hunt said. Sewage has also been tested in places Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Massachusetts and Valencia, Spain - although mostly on a small scale to prove detection can work. As Australia takes tentative steps toward reopening after two months of COVID-19 restrictions, health officials are betting on a massive programme of testing and contact tracing to help prevent a second wave of cases. More than one million Australians have already been tested for the virus, but authorities say wastewater is a cheap and effective way to monitor the disease. Australia has been successful in containing the spread of COVID-19, recording just over 7,000 cases and 100 deaths from the virus, and only 621 active cases left. The government and health officials - wary of possible community transmission - have outlined a three-step reopening process that will unfold over several months. Economists have warned of dire consequences if the country is forced to return to the nationwide shutdown, which begin in late March at an estimated cost of $4billion a week to the economy and left more than a million people out of work. Along with sewage testing, another key pillar of Australia's plan to reboot the economy is its controversial COVIDSafe contact tracing app, which taps into a phone's Bluetooth signals to log interactions with other nearby users. As students look forward to graduating, whether outdoors or virtually, school districts including Cy-Fair ISD have begun preparing for the 2020-2021 school year and the inevitable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. During a meeting on May 11 held through Zoom, members of the Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees received a preview into how the district plans to divide operating funds for the 2020-2021 school year, including the cost of possible blended online and in-person learning. CFISD students look forward to outdoor graduation: Cy-Fair ISD reschedules in-person graduations to June following Abbotts executive order Cy-Fair ISDs preliminary budget for 2020-2021 includes $4.1 million for full-day pre-K, $10 million for COVID-19 expenditures, $3.5 million to open Rowe Middle School, $11.6 million for insurance and hiring new teachers and related professionals, $4.8 million for property insurance and $1 million for additional 2020-2021 priorities for the district including fine arts uniforms, cheer recruitment and art equipment repair. Budgeting for COVID-19 and economic downturn To prepare for the unknown costs, CFISD has planned to budget $10 million for COVID-19 expenditures in the preliminary general operating budget. This includes personal protective equipment and possible at-home learning. The preliminary budget was built understanding that there will be additional costs to keep our employees and students safe, provide our students the resources for various learning options and to provide remediation due to lost instruction, said Karen Smith, chief financial officer for CFISD. The COVID-19 pandemic will affect how we educate students until there is a vaccine. The slowed economy and high unemployment rate caused by COVID-19 and subsequent shutdowns of buildings and businesses around Harris County in March 2020 have also impacted the budget. CFISD is considering the slowing economy in its budgeting for the upcoming school year. Prior to the nationwide shutdown due to COVID-19, the economy was flourishing and unemployment was at record lows, Smith said. Student enrollment growth and Rowe Middle School The district is anticipating growth in student enrollment to increase by 0.5 percent, with an expected enrollment of 118,498 for the 2020-2021 school year. The Houston community lends a helping hand: Northwest Houston nonprofits continue services as need for food and financial assistance rise Student enrollment can affect the need for new teachers in the current budget. Second, the opening of facilities, Smith said Although the school construction was paid for with bond funds, operating costs for Rowe Middle School, opening August 2020, are budgeted into the 2020-2021 school year. These costs include the principal, associate and assistant principals, counselors, nurses and other core staff as well as utilities, property insurance, etc., Smith said. Property values Although property value increases were originally projected to be higher at the beginning of the year, meaning more state funding for CFISD, the recent economic downturn may decrease the projected property values. The 2020 values are the Harris County Appraisal Districts preliminary certified property values, which are $57.7 billion, Smith said. The budget was built on a 5 percent increase in property values, which is down slightly from initial projections of 6 percent. State sales tax revenues may also be affected, Smith said. State aid is primarily funded from sales tax and oil and gas taxes, Smith said. The (Texas) Comptroller (Glenn Hegar) announced that April 2020 sales tax revenues were down by 9.3 percent compared to April 2019. Gas has also seen a sharp decline in the price per barrel. Smith said the CARES Act, which provides economic assistance for families and businesses, should aid in offsetting declines in sales tax and oil and gas taxes for 2020-21. Preliminary budget deficit Cy-Fair ISDs preliminary budget for 2020-2021 includes approximately $995.8 million in revenues and $1.02 billion in expenditures, with a deficit of $24.5 million, according to the meeting presentation. District administration also presented two salary options for board consideration the costs of which could bring the budgets estimated deficit to up to $44.9 million. Option 1 rolls the one-time salary payment in base salary from the 2019-2020 school year, which would cost about $12.3 million, Smith said. Option 2 rolls the one-time salary payment in the base salary and provides a 1 percent salary increase at the greater of the midpoint or base, which would cost an additional $8.1 million. Although this would increase the estimated budget deficit to $44.9 million, the district has a healthy fund balance and has not realized prior budget deficits, Smith said. According to Smith, the district currently has a fund balance of $518.7 million, which equates to about six-and-a-half months of expenditures. Furthermore the deficit assumes all positions will be filled, all budgeted funds will be spent, tax collections will decrease slightly, average daily attendance will be less, and includes an additional one-time funding for COVID-19 of $10 million, Smith said. She said that the district doesnt anticipate all of these circumstances to occur, but must build a budget that accounts for all possibilities. Despite the preliminary budgets deficit, Smith and Superintendent Mark Henry said the assumption is that more money is being budgeted than will be used. We have proposed a deficit budget for the last three years and all three of those years weve added to the fund balance at the end of the year, Henry said. The reason for that ... we budget high and we estimate revenues to be low. That way, that gives us a little cushion. The school board is scheduled to consider approving the budget during the first board meeting of the 2020-2021 school year. For more information, visit https://www.cfisd.net/. chevall.pryce@chron.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Asip Hasani and Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Blitar/Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 13:11 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9678f0 1 National #Surabaya,surabaya,East-Java,#East-Java,COVID-19,#COVID19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,COVID-19-in-East-Java,hospitals,#hospital Free East Java has become the province second hardest-hit by COVID-19 after Jakarta, with patients overwhelming healthcare facilities. The province, home to some 40 million people, reported on Thursday a record jump of 502 new cases in a day, taking the total confirmed cases to 2,998 and 241 deaths, with only 403 patients having recovered, according to the central government's tally. It is the highest daily spike ever recorded by any province in Indonesia, even surpassing that of Jakarta. Half of East Javas confirmed cases were reported in its capital Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city and a thriving trade hub. East Java has recorded 5,274 patients under surveillance (PDPs) and 23,151 people under observation (ODPs), who are suspected of having contracted the virus but have not yet been tested or are waiting for their test results to come back, with 601 fatalities recorded among these two groups. Yet, the provincial administration has only imposed large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) in Surabaya and its two satellite regencies Sidoarjo and Gresik, and in Malang city and neighboring Batu city and Malang regency, despite all of East Javas 38 cities and regencies having confirmed at least one case each. "We have recommended that the PSBB should be enforced in the entire province before all the cities and regencies in East Java are declared red zones. The number of PDPs in East Java is very high [...] stretching throughout the province," said Windhu Purnomo, a leading epidemiologist at Surabaya-based Airlangga Universitys School of Public Health. He said the PDPs had more than a 60 percent chance of being infected with the virus. East Java, the home base of the countrys largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), is torn between virus-containment efforts and religious customs, especially during Ramadan. Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa last week decided to allow mass prayers in mosques, including for Idul Fitri, after she learned about the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) suggestion that the province open mosques for Idul Fitri mass prayers as long as the activity follows health procedures. On Monday, she retracted the permit. Read also: COVID-19 kills elderly, haunts the young in Indonesia Experts have criticized the weak enforcement and poor compliance in the first period of PSBB in Greater Surabaya between April 28 and May 11. Authorities have extended the PSBB until May 25. A recent online survey conducted by the alumni association of Airlangga Universitys School of Public Health found that places of worship, offices and factories mostly remained operational without health protocols. Windhu blamed the central government for aggravating the situation in East Java by allowing factories to stay in operation nationwide even in areas under the PSBB. East Java Manpower and Transmigration Agency recorded more than 6,000 companies or factories continuing to operate across the province, including in PSBB-imposed areas. Local health authorities recently discovered a new cluster of infections from the Surabaya factory of tobacco giant HM Sampoerna, which was still running during the early implementation of the PSBB and was later temporarily closed after two of its workers died of COVID-19. As of May 11, at least 41 confirmed cases were linked to the factory. Authorities have identified 72 transmission clusters across the province so far. Among the first and largest clusters was a training session for haj tour organizers at the Surabaya haj dormitory in mid-March, which saw some 400 officials gather from health and religious affairs agencies in East Java, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara. At least 167 confirmed cases have been linked to that event, with many of the participants becoming sources of new transmissions in their respective regions. Dozens of confirmed COVID-19 cases in East Java were imported from Greater Jakarta and more than half of its total confirmed cases were from unknown sources of infection. "The higher the proportion of cases with sources of infection the authorities fail to identify, the worse the situation we are facing. It is uncontrolled and we cannot even estimate the real number of infections," Windhu said. Read also: COVID-19 creeps into Jakarta's kampungs Half of the patients admitted to the Dr. Soetomo COVID-19 referral hospital in Surabaya said they did not know where they had contracted the virus, only that they had been in a crowd in the past 14 days, according to the hospital's head of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, Soedarsono. COVID-19 national task force chief Doni Monardo said on Monday that the province had seen a 70 percent spike in weekly cases, while the number of filled hospital beds in East Java was relatively higher than other provinces. About 95.2 percent of hospital beds at Dr. Soetomo Hospital and 73.5 percent at Saiful Anwar Hospital in Malang were filled, he said. East Java has a total of 132 beds in negative-pressure isolation rooms with ventilators, 693 beds in negative-pressure rooms, 1,500 beds in standard isolation rooms and 950 beds in observation rooms, according to data from the provincial COVID-19 task force. Soedarsono said around 30 percent of COVID-19 inpatients at Dr. Soetomo Hospital were admitted to the intensive care unit -- 60 percent of whom needed breathing aids. New patients, he said, kept coming to the hospital and the backlog of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing left current patients with no option but to stay longer at the hospital pending their test results, which would hopefully see them clear of the virus and free to leave the hospital. But looking at mere numbers would not be enough to raise people's awareness of how serious the disease was, he said. "It is probably because people do not know what is happening in the hospitals; how their friends and neighbors are suffering in hospitals while hospital workers have become exhausted," he said. Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that Nahdlatul Ulama did not pressure East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa into allowing mass prayer in mosques. We apologize for the error. For Ms. Carlin, who sells handmade T-shirts and accessories out of the boardwalk shop shes owned for 19 years, a socially distant summer could be the final nail in the coffin. Since the end of last year, shes been fighting a 400 percent rent increase from Central Amusement International, a developer the city contracted to build Luna Park and manage a portion of the amusement district. (Its parent company, Zamperla, manufactures the parks rides.) In December, Ms. Carlin led a protest against the increase on the steps of City Hall, and in February, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to help on The Brian Lehrer Show. But Ms. Carlin said she still hasnt reached an agreement with her landlord. As spring turns to summer, every week of lost business becomes more dire. If were closed in June, and able to open in July, thats going to cut our revenue at least one-third of what wed make for the year, Ms. Carlin said. Shes been contemplating whether its time to walk away from the retail business and instead focus on her Dreamland Roller Disco parties, whenever they will be safe for her to produce again. Rubys Bar & Grill, which has been serving boardwalk customers since 1934, is another of the six small businesses facing the disaster of a rent hike and revenue loss. Michael Sarrel, the owner of Rubys, estimated that business for 2020 would be down 75 percent from 2019. He applied for a loan with the Small Business Administration, but was denied. Its a horror show, he said. We cant afford to pay this rent. Its a hardship to begin with. A policeman in protective gear guides migrants to a coronavirus screening booth in the Pudu area of Kuala Lumpur after 15 cases were detected in the neighborhood, May 15, 2020. Malaysian officials said Thursday they had detected a coronavirus cluster at the main immigration detention center in Kuala Lumpur after 35 detainees tested positive for COVID-19, the first time authorities have announced any cases at such facilities. In Geneva, meanwhile, the U.N.s special rapporteur on migrant rights called on Malaysia to halt what he described as an ongoing crackdown on migrants, after weeks of round-ups and arrests in the name of curbing the spread of the virus. Hundreds of foreign detainees at the center were tested. The infected ones consisted of 17 Myanmar nationals, 15 Indians, a Bangladeshi, a Sri Lankan, and an Egyptian, said Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysias director-general of health. I would like to inform you that there is a new cluster detected at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Depot. Until noon on May 21, 2020, around 645 individuals had their samples taken. From there, 35 tested positive, 400 tested negative while 210 more are still awaiting results, he told reporters during a daily COVID-19 briefing. Authorities have implemented measures to contain the outbreak at the center, including disinfecting the site, and ensuring that people housed there practice social distancing and wash their hands frequently, Noor said. Malaysia has 14 detention centers, which can accommodate some 13,000 detainees. The Bukit Jalil facility has the capacity to hold 1,500 people, according to two Malaysian immigration officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The 35 who tested positive had stayed at the center since before Malaysia imposed a COVID-19 lockdown, known as the Movement Control Order (MCO), on March 18, and they were not tested for the virus before first entering the facility, according to Noor. The Ministry of Health announced the cluster of infections two days after Myanmar said that at least five of its nationals had tested positive for the virus after being deported from Malaysia. Last week, Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post that 391 Myanmar migrant workers had been expelled from Malaysia. Aung Zaw Min, the labor attache at Myanmars Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, said the workers had been stranded at detention centers in Malaysia for months due to a suspension of flights and the lockdown, according to a report published on Monday by The Irrawaddy, a Myanmar newspaper. Noor Hisham said the tests were conducted after the government was told that some of the deported people had tested positive for the coronavirus. We were informed about it through the Health Regulatory Authority, and we have conducted screening and tests on those who are still here. Some of them exhibit symptoms, he said. Malaysian authorities were still investigating the source of the infection at Bukit Jalil, Noor said. Malaysias policy on rounding up migrants during the health crisis has been widely criticized. On Thursday, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, added his voice to the criticism. I am alarmed by what is happening in Malaysia after the initially positive attitude of the government towards an inclusive response to the pandemic, he said. The current crackdown and hate campaign are severely undermining the effort to fight the pandemic in the country, he added, referring to xenophobia directed at migrants. During the pandemic, members of the Rohingya refugee community in Malaysia have been targets of hate speech on social media in the country. We urge the Malaysian authorities to refrain from raiding locked-down areas to arrest and detain migrants. On Thursday, Malaysia reported 50 new coronavirus infections, bringing the nationwide total at to 7,059. No new deaths were reported, but 114 people in the country have died after being infected with COVID-19. More than 5 million cases have been detected worldwide resulting in close to 330,000 deaths, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. San Francisco, May 21 : Amid reports that Google has reduced diversity and inclusion training programmes fearing conservative backlash, the company's Chief Executive Officer, Sundar Pichai, has denied any digression from the company's commitment to promoting diversity within the organisation. In an interview to The Verge, Pichai said the company probably has more resources invested in diversity now than ever. "Diversity is a foundational value for us. Given the scale at which we build products and the fact we do it locally for our users, we are deeply committed to having that representation in our workforce," Pichai was quoted as saying. Pichai's response came after NBC News, citing former and current Google employees, last week reported that one well-liked diversity training programme at the company, called Sojourn, was cut entirely. The report also said that Google has reduced internal diversity and inclusion training programmes since 2018. Google denied the allegation that it has scaled back inclusion and diversity efforts. But the report led 10 US lawmakers to send a letter to Pichai this week demanding answers to several questions, including why previous diversity programmes were scaled back or cut entirely, what type of diversity initiative is offered to new hires, how Google plans to address lack of diversity and inclusion at the company and whether employees working on Artificial Intelligence undergo additional bias training. "It is troublesome to hear that Google, an industry leader, plans to scale back efforts to address their lack of diversity when you have previously stated a corporate commitment to improve in this very area," the House Democrats said in the letter on Monday. "In 2019, according to Google's own diversity report, only 3.3 per cent of your workforce identifies as Black, 5.7 per cent are Latins, .08 per cent are Native American, and 31.6 per cent are women. In order to promote effective and inclusive economic practices, Google's workforce should reflect the racial diversity of America," wrote the lawmakers who are members of the House Tech Accountability Caucus. However, conservative politicians have accused US tech giants of being biased against conservative viewpoints. Google was even threatened with penalties for allegedly making "anti-conservative" moderation decisions on platforms like YouTube, The Verge reported. [Read more on Roger Stones sentence being commuted by President Trump.] WASHINGTON Law enforcement officials have restructured the division of federal prosecutors that oversaw the case against President Trumps longtime friend Roger J. Stone Jr., according to people briefed on the matter, the latest upheaval in an office at the center of the recent political turmoil at the Justice Department. The reorganization of most of the criminal division of the U.S. attorneys office in Washington was implemented last week, capping a tumultuous 15-week stint by Timothy Shea, a longtime adviser to Attorney General William P. Barr, as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington. Mr. Sheas tenure abruptly ended this week when Mr. Barr named him the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The White House said Monday that Mr. Trump intended to nominate Justin E. Herdman, the U.S. attorney in Cleveland, to replace Mr. Shea. Law enforcement officials had discussed an overhaul of the unit for years, but it was not clear why Mr. Shea implemented it when he seemed on the verge of leaving, according to half a dozen people briefed on the changes who would not be named discussing it for fear of retribution. Some lawyers in the office were said to express concern because he was moving prosecutors out of the public corruption unit, which is part of the criminal division. Some feared that it was in response to the turmoil over Mr. Stones case, in which Mr. Barr intervened to ask for lighter sentence than prosecutors had recommended, and that members of the unit were being unfairly scrutinized for potential leaks. BRADY ANDERSON, Chariho, Wrestling, Sophomore; Anderson finished first in the 152-pound weight class at the Griswold Midseason Invitational tournament. Anderson went 3-0 in the tournament, pinning all of his opponents in the first period. Anderson is 10-4. LYDIA LASKEY, Stonington, Gymnastics, Senior; Laskey finished first in all four events in meets against NFA and Westerly. Laskey had an all-around score of 33.75 against NFA and 34.60 against Westerly. RILEY PELOQUIN, Westerly, Girls Basketball, Sophomore; Peloquin scored 22 points and had 19 rebounds in two games. Peloquin is averaging 7.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game for the Bulldogs. DEONDRE BRANSFORD, Wheeler, Boys Basketball, Sophomore; Bransford scored 25 points and had 28 rebounds in a pair of Wheeler victories. Bransford is averaging 10.6 points and 12.1 rebounds per contest for the Lions. Vote View Results I love decluttering. I dont actually know how I end up with so much extra stuff, but it seems to regularly creep up on me. I find it invigorating to clean it up, organize it, and get rid of what no longer serves me. In addition to improving my mental and physical space, sometimes I even make money while decluttering. Its not usually the goal for me, but its a nice side benefit. And during times of financial strain, it can actually help a lot to make money while decluttering. Benefits of Decluttering There are so many benefits of decluttering. Personally, when I have a clear space, it clears my mind. This is true for many people. Sometimes when I cant get a project done or focus on my work, Ill take a few minutes to declutter the space. Afterwards, I feel better. Then Im able to proceed with less mental clutter. Additional benefits of decluttering include: Gaining a clear picture of what you have in your space, so you dont purchase extra items unnecessarily Reducing costs of storage fees and/or more living space at home Improved health due to less dust and other hygiene concerns Better heating and cooling efficiency in the home because of improved airflow Stress-reduction and lower rates of anxiety Cleaning becomes easier since you have less stuff to workaround Easier to find what you need and enjoy the things you love the most Of course, if you can also make money while decluttering then thats another benefit. Methods of Decluttering There are many different approaches to decluttering. You might have to try a few different methods before you find the one that works best for you. Thats totally okay. The relationships we have with our stuff and our spaces are just that relationships. Not all relationships work the same. Figure out what works for you. Some of the most popular decluttering methods include: Marie Kondos KonMari method, in which you strategically go room by room, keeping only what sparks joy Swedish Death Cleaning, in which you clear out your home as if you were about to die and dont want to leave your mess to others Dana K. Whites Container Method, in which you see each room and each smaller space within that room as a container designed to hold one type of object Do you love it? Need it? Use it regularly? If not, perhaps you should declutter it. Find the approach that works for you so that you can have the level of clutter (or lack thereof) that feels right in your home without the decluttering process becoming a chore. Tips for Decluttering With An Eye Towards Making Money Regardless of which method of decluttering you choose to use, you can approach it with an eye towards making money in the process. Here are some key tips to keep in mind if you want to make money while you declutter: As you declutter, organize the things that you dont intend to keep. Place books with books, clothing with clothing, etc. This will make it easier to figure out what to sell where when the time comes. Focus especially on finding high-ticket items that you can declutter. If you have two iPads, you may come up with reasons that you can use both. However, if you focus on the items in your house that are worth the most money then you might realize that you dont need to keep the second one after all. Set aside items that are seasonal. If you want to make money while decluttering, then you have to be smart about it. Certain items only sell in certain seasons. While its not worth it to keep low-value items until the right season, it can be smart with higher-ticket items. 5 Ways to Make Money While Decluttering Some people choose to declutter their entire homes, collecting items for sale, and then sell the items all at the same time once the cleaning is complete. Other people choose to do a little bit of decluttering at a time, selling a few things here and there as they go. There is no right or wrong way. Whatever you choose to do, here are some of the ways that you can sell the items youre ready to let go of: 1. Locate Great Buyers for Specialty Items If you have unique items that youre ready to part with then its worth it to take the time to find the right buyer. These would be high-value or rare items. Items that might fall into this category include: Vintage items High-end furniture Designer clothing Art Vehicles In other words, if you have anything that is valuable because it is rare or collectible, you should sell it to the right people. The individuals or institutions that purchase such items will pay the most for the things that they desire. For example, if you ave a rare piece of art, you will want If you want to make money while decluttering, this is a great place to start. 2. List High-Ticket Items For Sale Online Individually If you arent able to find specific buyers for things that have good value, then you can list them for sale online. You want to think about your time investment vs. the amount of money that you will make. For example, if you have 100 books for sale but each is worth only a few pennies, then its probably not worth your time to list every book individually. However, if you have popular brand clothing in good condition, gadgets and electronics, and other items that are worth a little bit more then you can list them for sale individually. Some of the places online where you can list items for sale include: eBay Craigslist Amazon (although the rules around this have been changing recently) Facebook Marketplace 3. List Lots of Items for Sale Online When you have a lot of little items to declutter, it usually makes sense to try to sell them as a lot. For example, list a box of books for sale on any of the sites highlighted above. There are also many places where you can sell groups of the same items. For example, you can package up a box of clothing and send it to a site like ThredUp which will list everything for sale for you then pay you if it sells. Also, think about buy back websites. For example, there are several websites that buy back used textbooks at the end of each semester. There are also cell phone and electronics buy back websites. Look at what you have, search online for a buy back option, and see what choices you have available to you. 4. Sell Items to Local Stores You dont have to sell groups of items (or individual items for that matter) online. You can also go local. For example, I used to take boxes of books to my local used bookstore. They would sort through them and buy what they wanted. I would typically just ask them to donate the rest. After all, if youre decluttering, you dont want to bring the extras back home. If youve ever sold clothing to Buffalo Exchange or Crossroads Trading Company, then youre already familiar with how this works. You might also be able to place some valuable items for sale on consignment with local stores. 5. Have a Yard Sale If you have a random assortment of stuff that you want to sell, a good old fashioned yard sale is still a terrific option. You wont get rich having a yard sale. However, you will declutter things quickly. You will make a little bit of money in the process. 3 Ways to Save Money With Decluttered Items Sometimes you cant sell your items, but that doesnt mean that they cant be profitable to you. You just have to get creative. Think of ways to save money as you get rid of the things that you dont want anymore. Here are three options: Do a Swap with Friends or Neighbors Finally, if you have leftover items that you havent been able to sell, you might want to consider swapping with others. You wont make money while decluttering this way, per se. However, if you can get rid of something you dont want in exchange for something that you do then youre getting a good deal. Donate to Charity Another way that you can declutter is to donate items to charity. Again, you wont make money per se. However, you can deduct your charity donations on your taxes. Therefore, it can have some financial gain. Gift the Items If you have items that are in good condition, start thinking about who might love them. If you can shop your storage for gifts instead of buying items at a store then you effectively save money. What decluttering trick do you know that would help others? Share it in the comments below! In mid-February, an international team of medical experts converged on Beijing to learn more about the novel coronavirus. Dispatched by the World Health Organization after delicate talks with the Chinese government about its composition and agenda, it included some of the brightest lights in epidemiology and virology, affiliated with institutions including the National Institutes of Health, the University of Hong Kong, and Germanys national infectious-disease center. They would be accompanied by a group of Chinese scientists, and would be responsible for producing a joint report on the nature of the virus and how it was spreading within the worlds most populous country. On the first day of the trip, the non-Chinese members gathered to discuss their so-called terms of reference the subjects they intended to learn more about as they visited hospitals and research institutions. It was Feb. 16, a little over a week after Li Wenliang, the Wuhan doctor who was reprimanded by local officials when he tried to warn colleagues that a dangerous new pathogen was on the loose, had succumbed to the virus himself. Lis death was huge news in China, prompting an outpouring of rage on social media and wide international coverage. But whether warnings had been suppressed in Wuhan then the virus epicenter during the early days of the outbreak would not be part of the teams brief. It was not going to be helpful, Dale Fisher, an infectious-disease specialist at the National University of Singapore who was part of the group, said in an interview. Our mission really needed to be about collecting technical information and informing the rest of the world. The terms of reference reflected the fact that we wanted very much to look forward, not focus on the past. While that decision undoubtedly made sense for the scientists, it was also an example of why, at a time when the WHO is trying to coordinate the response to the worst pandemic in a century, it faces an unprecedented political challenge rooted in concerns about its relationship with China. The Trump administration ramped up its attack on the organization this week, threatening to permanently cut its funding and reconsider US membership if the WHO doesnt enact a sweeping overhaul. While those demands look like an attempt to distract from the USs own failures in containing the coronavirus, the White House isnt alone in raising concerns: Australia and Canada also called for inquiries into the origins of the pandemic and the WHOs response to it. The WHOs international governing body this week approved plans for an independent review of the response to the pandemic, including the organizations role. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian health official and the first non-physician to hold the job, said he welcomed the scrutiny. Even as Trump threatened the WHO, President Xi Jinping of China which has drastically expanded its influence over multilateral agencies in tandem with its economic rise declared his support for the agency. In a speech Monday, he pledged $2 billion over two years to help fight the virus and said China would make any vaccine universally available once its developed. While its name might imply the WHO provides care, its key function, particularly in outbreaks, is to deliver information learning as much as it can about whats happening on the ground and guiding the rest of the world on how to react. But its critics question whether, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, that mission was compromised by excessive deference to what Beijing wanted the world to hear. If true, it would be a symptom of a larger, well-recognized issue: that the WHO has little room to maneuver without the approval of member states. Theres no question the group does an immense volume of invaluable work. Its curriculum vitae includes a long list of successes, from the virtual eradication of polio to the successful containment, in 2003, of severe acute respiratory syndrome. In the current crisis, the WHO is organizing efforts to supply developing countries with protective gear and working with partners including the European Commission to fast-track vaccine and drug development. Nor should scrutiny of its actions on Covid-19 excuse the shortcomings of countries like the US and the U.K. in preparing for the virus. But in a world that will, for the foreseeable future, be more alert than ever to the threat of infectious disease, some experts are calling for a review of the WHOs powers and protocols. Deference to the sovereignty of one nation cant be allowed to put every other nation at risk, said Thomas Bollyky, director of the global health program at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former negotiator on medical issues for the US government. Either the WHO needs to be given additional authority and empowered to act more aggressively and proactively on outbreaks, or well have to find some other entity that is set up to do that. But options to improve the institutions approach to controlling epidemics should be exhausted before considering anything new, he said. The WHOs origins date nearly to the founding of the United Nations and the broader postwar order. The preamble to its 1948 constitution set out a guiding ethos: The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being. It continued: The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security. That sweeping mission statement led the agency to take on a huge range of challenges, from promoting maternal health and birth control to immunization and aiding refugees. For most of its early history the organizations role was largely advisory, in keeping with its legal basis: officially, the WHO is the bureaucratic arm of the World Health Assembly, a global parliament of UN members devoted to health issues. The key exception was smallpox, in which the organization played a key role in coordinating the effort to eliminate a devastating illness that had been a scourge of human populations since at least the days of ancient Egypt. Events in the 1990s, though, showed the dangers posed by newer, less-understood infections in a rapidly globalizing world. A 1995 outbreak of Ebola in Kikwit, a city in whats now the Democratic Republic of Congo, sickened hundreds of people, ultimately killing about 80% of them. With help from the WHO and other agencies the virus was contained, but the potential for more deadly epidemics was clear, and the agency began gradually taking on a more muscular role. In 2000, it set up the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, a consortium of health institutions that would track emerging diseases. And it soon had a chance to act more aggressively. When SARS emerged in 2002 in southern China, the first reaction of the government in Beijing was to attempt a cover-up, suppressing news of the disease and refusing to inform the WHO. It only learned of the flare-up months after it began, after an emailed tip-off describing a contagious disease that had left more than 100 people dead in Guangdong Province in the space of a week. By then, SARS was spreading in Hong Kong, moving from there to Toronto, which would eventually have the highest number of cases outside Asia. The WHOs director-general at the time, the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, issued what was by UN standards a scathing critique of Chinas behavior, saying it would have been definitely helpful if the international expertise and WHO had been able to help at an earlier stage. She also issued the WHOs first-ever travel advisories, urging the postponement of trips to parts of China as well as Toronto. SARS, which was contained largely to a few places and killed fewer than 1,000 people, ended up being a public-health success story, an example of how decisive action could prevent a novel disease from becoming an economy-shattering epidemic. But a 2005 attempt to give the WHO more robust powers for example, to formally sanction countries that failed to report outbreaks fell short of a true overhaul. Member states simply didnt want to hand it that kind of tool. And if the WHO was going to continue to serve as the worlds public-health police force, it would have to do so on a shoestring. So-called assessed contributions bills sent automatically to its members cover less than 20% of its budget, with the rest raised on a voluntary basis from national governments and organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spend considerably more annually; so does the Cleveland Clinic. Another Ebola outbreak, the explosion of infections in West Africa that began in 2014, showed the WHOs limitations. The virus had been raging across Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea for more than half a year when the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, its highest alert level. Margaret Chan, then the director-general, acknowledged that she had only grasped the severity of the epidemic once it was well underway thanks to a deputy, Bruce Aylward, sending an email that urged her to make it a priority. The WHOs response was so sluggish that World Bank President Jim Yong Kim suggested the world needed a new, dedicated disease-response corps. In the end, the most effective international response was arguably that of President Barack Obama, who mobilized the CDC and the US Agency for International Development, supported by thousands of elite troops, to help bring the virus gradually under control. More than 11,000 people died. Chan conceded that the WHO had fallen short. We responded, but our response may not have matched the scale of the outbreak, she told Bloomberg News at the time. At least in the early stages of the pandemic, there was nothing unprecedented about the novel coronavirus. A flu-like virus emerging in a provincial part of China and jumping to humans possibly from bats, via another animal is a scenario so textbook that it formed part of the plot of the film Contagion. Its not yet clear when the virus first emerged, but as it began to take hold in Wuhan in December, Chinas reaction was different from that during SARS, at least outwardly. Authorities in the city alerted the WHO on New Years Eve to a cluster of patients who were suffering from pneumonia of an unknown cause, and the agency activated its emergency-response capabilities the next day. There were not weeks of central cover-up in Beijing, although local government obviously took too long to report seriously that the disease was spreading, Brundtland said in an email. And China shared the genetic sequence of the virus on Jan. 12, allowing scientists elsewhere to develop their own tests and begin vaccine research. Read More: Behind the Global Race to Contain Chinas Killer Bug Chinas transparency was still far from complete. For an extended period in mid-January coinciding with important Communist Party meetings in Wuhan the city reported zero new cases, a level of containment that was improbable, to say the least. Government-aligned scientists and municipal officials said repeatedly that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission, even as Chinese social media buzzed with rumors that health-care workers were being infected by the mysterious new illness. On Jan. 14, Maria Van Kerkhove, one of the scientists leading the WHO response, said at a Geneva press conference that human-to-human transmission might be occurring on a limited scale, noting that such infections wouldnt be surprising given the experience of other respiratory pathogens. But the same day, the WHOs official Twitter account posted a message that was much less equivocal, and which has since come back to haunt the agency: Preliminary investigations by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission. The few people from outside mainland China who were able to observe conditions in Wuhan came away skeptical about what they were being told. A pair of Taiwanese infectious-disease specialists made an official visit to Wuhan from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15, where they were briefed by local officials who said human transmission was, at worst, limited. But the fact that there were a number of cases not related to the wet market the Huanan market where the first reported coronavirus cluster was identified showed there was more than one source, and community infection could have already happened, said Chuang Yin-Ching, one of the pair. These signs alerted us that we should be cautious about the situation in China. So when we came back from the trip, we suggested that we should treat the virus as if there was human infection. No one from the WHO raised the possibility in public that China might not be providing the full picture. The organization appeared to be uncritically passing along the information that China was putting forward when a little more distance would have been a good idea, said J. Stephen Morrison, the director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. WHO officials say that behind closed doors they were pushing China to tell them more, and that many countries have struggled to present accurate data on infections and deaths often due simply to hospitals being overwhelmed. Our sole objective is to make sure the right decisions are taken and not that somebody is blamed or not blamed. Sometimes these discussions are very tough, but they are always respectful, Chief of Staff Bernhard Schwartlander said in an interview. One of the successes of the agencys approach to China, he said, was that there were never closed doors. Thats important. For us and diplomacy, the worst is if a door closes. When China did pivot to treating the coronavirus as a full-blown crisis, it gave the WHO little warning. On the evening of Jan. 22, after a panel of about 20 top advisers had deadlocked about whether to elevate the coronavirus to the highest alert level, a group of WHO officials was in Tedross office discussing what to do. Suddenly, according to a person familiar with the situation, a staff member burst in with dramatic news: China had sealed off Wuhan from the rest of the country, the first step in what eventually became a total lockdown of Hubei Province. After a follow-up meeting the next day, Tedros, the director-general, said it wasnt yet a PHEIC, but had the potential to become one. The committee agreed to reconvene soon. Before then, Tedros had an important meeting to attend. On Jan. 28, he met Xi in Beijing, accompanied on the trip by Schwartlander and Mike Ryan, the head of the emergencies program. While they were there, the WHO received some of its first clear information indicating that the virus was being passed beyond close contacts. That news, however, came not from China but from Germany, which was beginning to observe a cluster of infections in Munich. On the plane back to Switzerland, the WHO group decided to assemble the agencys top brass to discuss whether it was time to declare a PHEIC. Speaking to reporters after the agency made that determination on Jan. 30, Tedros heaped praise on Chinas response, saying it was beyond words, and that he left Beijing in absolutely no doubt about Chinas commitment to transparency and to protecting the worlds people. Didier Houssin, chair of the emergency committee, added that the WHO would closely scrutinize travel restrictions imposed by other countries to which Xis government was bitterly opposed with a view to asking them to reconsider this decision. The list of places doing so would soon include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand, all of which have performed well in containing the pandemic. The US, which imposed a relatively porous travel restriction around the same time, has had a very different experience. Chinas commitment to transparency, however, didnt extend to letting just anyone see its virus response up close. Getting a substantial WHO delegation into the country took more than a week of complex discussions over who would be on the team and what it would do. Schwartlander said that typically before sending a team you need to convince a country the WHO is coming to help, not to police you. All countries are nervous in these situations. Led by Aylward, the doctor who delivered the WHOs Ebola warning in 2014, and Liang Wannian of Chinas National Health Commission, the group spent a little over a week on the ground, visiting research facilities and hospitals and speaking to doctors, although only a small subset were permitted to travel to Wuhan. Like Tedros, they came away full of praise for how the virus was being handled. In their report, the group wrote that China has rolled out perhaps the most ambitious, agile, and aggressive disease containment effort in history, protecting the world in the process. In addition to lauding the efforts of health professionals and ordinary citizens, they singled out Chinas paramount leader. General Secretary Xi Jinping personally directed the prevention and control work, the report read. Other countries no longer have to rely on the WHO to tell them about the coronavirus. They now have plenty of cases to study at home nowhere more so than the US, where the Trump administrations chaotic response created the conditions for the worlds deadliest outbreak. Some officials are nonetheless asking hard questions about the agencys performance. Australias foreign minister, Marise Payne, said in April that her government shares some of the concerns the United States have identified in relation to the WHO, and that it should be one of the subjects, rather than the organizer, of an international inquiry into the origins of the pandemic. Health Minister Greg Hunt complained that what we saw from some officials in Geneva, we think was a response which didnt help the world. Canadas foreign ministry, for its part, said there was a critical need for a post-crisis after-action review. The independent evaluation of the response to the pandemic, including the WHOs role, will be launched at the earliest appropriate moment, Tedros said. A resolution authorizing the review was approved this week at a meeting of the World Health Assembly. The review is unlikely to resolve tensions with the US, where the White House has made accusing the WHO of mishandling coronavirus a political priority in the run-up to Novembers presidential election. It is undoubtedly an outlier no other country has threatened to cut its WHO funding, nor attacked it in such strident terms but, as the agencys largest donor by far and the global hub for health research, it can hardly be ignored. We want and need strong scientific and strategic partnerships with the US, said the WHOs Ryan. We cherish that relationship. While Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, have largely defended the WHO, that position could be more difficult to sustain if an impression hardens, in Washington and the broader electorate, that its too close to Beijing. Tedros did himself no favors in US political circles by suggesting in an April press conference that the government of Taiwan a bedrock American ally with a deep well of support in both parties, and which is excluded from participating in WHO activities due to Chinese pressure had refused to disassociate itself from racist attacks against him. The WHOs recent troubles havent detracted from the passionate support it enjoys in public health circles. Despite its limited budget it delivers a vast array of crucial programs, many of them in conflict zones and among the worlds poorest. Developing countries need the WHO, said Amadou Alpha Sall, the director of the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal. Theres always the possibility of doing better, but in the middle of the storm theyre doing well. Nor is it clear what a rebooted or replaced WHO would look like. Australias prime minister, Scott Morrison, has proposed giving the WHO the ability to send teams of experts to investigate disease outbreaks without necessarily getting permission first, akin to how weapons inspectors operate. That idea, or related suggestions that the WHO should have the ability to levy sanctions on member states a power enjoyed by the World Trade Organization would undoubtedly prove the most difficult to implement. Even the governments most supportive of transforming the WHO might balk at giving it the power to override them. Schwartlander urged member states to proceed with such reforms cautiously. Its easy in a moment of frustration to say we need to throw all of this out and do something completely different, he said. But it may come at huge cost because it also may cut down on the opportunity for consensus. Other proposed reforms are probably more attainable. Health experts have long complained about the agencys practice of appointing regional heads by secret ballots among member states, arguing this can make them too beholden to the governments that elected them. It might also be possible to revamp the WHO budget to make it less dependent on voluntary contributions, providing more certainty about future resources. Still, countries looking for a revamped WHO by itself to save them from the impact of the next pandemic may be looking in the wrong place. In the still-evolving coronavirus crisis, the US, along with dozens of other governments, could in retrospect have acted faster or more decisively. Seeking scapegoats, whether in Geneva or China, is missing the point, said Marie-Paule Kieny, a former WHO official and now a research director at Inserm, a French health-science institute. How long did it take the US government to see, to understand, and to report that there was a problem? she asked. The Chinese government messed up in the early weeks, but since then they have shared enormously, and unfortunately the other countries didnt take this seriously, because they didnt think it would come to them. Sutirtho Patranobis and Rezaul H Laskar Beijing/New Delhi India on Thursday strongly rebutted Chinas contention that tensions in the Ladakh and Sikkim sectors were triggered by Indian troops crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC), even as it accused Chinese forces of hindering patrols on the Indian side. The Indian side said it is committed to peace and tranquillity along the border, but will take all steps to safeguard the countrys sovereignty and security. The remarks by external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava came against the backdrop of continuing tensions along the LAC, especially in Galwan Valley of Ladakh, where both sides have deployed additional troops. New Delhis first official reaction to the tensions came a day after India was strongly supported by the US, with top American diplomat Alice Wells saying such disputes are a reminder of the threat posed by China. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian reiterated that Indian troops had trespassed across the LAC and dismissed Wells remarks as just nonsense. India should work with China and refrain from unilateral actions that complicate the situation, he said. Chinas foreign ministry side had first accused Indian troops of trespassing across the LAC in a statement to Hindustan Times on Tuesday, saying Beijing had to take necessary countermeasures after the Indian side allegedly obstructed normal patrols by Chinese troops. Asked about Chinas position on the standoff in Ladakh, external affairs ministry spokesperson Srivastava told an online news briefing: Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the western [Ladakh] sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Srivastava added: All Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. In fact, it is [the] Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering Indias normal patrolling patterns. Indian troops, he said, scrupulously abide by the alignment of the LAC and all Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. The Indian side has a very responsible approach towards border management, and is deeply committed to ensuring Indias sovereignty and security, he added. Indian troops strictly follow procedures in bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve situations arising from differences in perception of the LAC, Srivastava said. The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues, he said. In line with the consensus reached during the second India-China informal summit in Mamallapuram last year, the Indian side is firmly committed to the common objective of maintaining peace and tranquillity on the border, and this is an essential prerequisite to the further development of...bilateral relations, Srivastava said. During an online briefing for journalists on Wednesday, Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the US state departments South and Central Asian bureau, had said the border tensions were a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always rhetorical, and Chinas provocations and disturbing behaviour raised questions about how Beijing seeks to use its growing power. Responding to her remarks at a regular news briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao said: The [US] diplomats remarks are just nonsense. Chinas position on the China-India boundary issue is consistent and clear. Chinas border troops firmly safeguard Chinas territorial sovereignty and security and firmly dealt with the Indian sides cross-over and infringement activities. Zhao added, We urge the Indian side to work together with us, abide by our leaderships important consensus, comply with the agreements signed, refrain from unilateral actions complicating the situation. He further said, We hope they will make concrete efforts for peace and tranquillity in the border region. There are consultations and diplomatic channels between the two sides that have nothing to do with the US. Earlier this month, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in clashes in the Sikkim and Ladakh sectors that left several soldiers on both sides injured. The clashes were resolved at the level of local commanders, but both sides rushed in hundreds of soldiers as reinforcements, especially in Galwan Valley. Reports have suggested that the Chinese side deployed troops and heavy equipment that were involved in an exercise to beef up positions in the Ladakh sector. Chinas state-run media has described the latest tensions as the worst since the 2017 Doklam standoff, which lasted 73 days. A day after announcing that domestic flights will resume operations from May 25 amid coronavirus COVID-19, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday asserted that the government isn't planning to leave the middle seat vacant in flights as this does not meet the physical distancing requirement. Addressing a press conference, he said that the government will take other corresponding preventive measures. "We don't plan to leave the middle seat vacant, this does not meet the physical distancing requirement. We take other corresponding preventive measures. Keeping seat vacant will pass cost increase to customers, this option has not been pursued the world over," Puri said. The flight routes have been classified into seven sections--1) Flight time less than 40 minutes, 2) 40 - 60 minutes, 3) 60 - 90 minutes, 4) 90 - 120 minutes, 5) 120 - 150 minutes, 6) 150 - 180 minutes, and 7) 180 - 210 minutes. "All routes within the country fall within these 7," he said. Speaking on the fare of routes, he asserted that for the densest route in the country, the Delhi Mumbai route, the lowest fare has been fixed at Rs 3,500 and highest fare at Rs 10,000. "The caps, along with rider of 40 per cent tickets in the lower bracket of the band, enable us to ensure reasonable fares for both passengers & airlines," the ministry said. "Lowest and highest possible fares have been fixed for each class of flights. Further, a rider has been set that 40% of the seats have to be sold at a price less than the mid-point of the price band for each section," the ministry added. The government has also issued several guidelines for flyers including no in-flight meals, only one check-in bag, passengers to wear a face mask and carry sanitizer bottles, passengers to report at least two hours before departure, no physical check-in at the airport and only web check-in will be allowed. A self-declaration and status on Aarogya Setu app will be obtained and only passengers free of COVID-19 symptoms will be allowed to travel. The cabin crew will have to be in full protective gear. "For flight operations from metro to metro cities, one-third capacity of approved summer schedule 2020 will be allowed to operate. Metro to non-metro cities and vice versa, weekly departures more than 100 will be one-third of the approved summer schedule. On metro to non-metro cities and vice versa, weekly departures less than 100, airlines free to operate any routes of one-third capacity of the approved summer schedule," added Puri. Puri said, "Domestic civil aviation operations to recommence/restart in a calibrated manner, from May 25, 2020, up to a limited extent of required and approved summer schedule." While it was very important and essential to have lockdown, it is equally important to open up, considering the balance between lives and livelihoods, he said. "The time has now come for us to open up," Puri said. On request of various agencies, Air India has operated chartered flights to bring 1,444 tons of critical medical supplies from abroad to India, and has carried about 30 tons of critical medical cargo to foreign countries, the minister added. "Lifeline UDAN has now covered more than 5 lakh kilometres, carrying around 900 tons of medical and essential supplies to various parts of the country," added Puri. If youre out swimming or paddling, walking or running, its going to be easier to avoid the packed towel-to-towel beach crowd, Dr. Nelsen said. A recreation-only policy is currently in place in Los Angeles County; similar policies tend to prohibit beachgoers from bringing chairs, umbrellas, coolers, barbecues and other gear (again, check on the latest status at your local beach before going). Dr. Adalja agrees that being on the move is, over all, a safer proposition: If people are running by each other, the virus cant magically transport from one person to another, he said, noting that the highest risk for exposure comes from spending anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes within six feet of another person. When you are in and near the water, there may be fewer lifeguards than usual, or none at all. Many of our parks and rec agencies are already affecting budget cuts, theres a real risk of not being able to staff beaches with required lifeguards, Ms. Stratton said. There may be continued beach closings, both out of concerns for public health, and because of limitations of staffing, recruiting and training. When lifeguards are present, keep in mind that you are not only exercising caution for your sake, but for theirs, too fewer lifesaving situations means less exposure for them. Were trying to keep the lifeguards up in the stands as much as possible, and in a safe, socially distant place, said Tom Gill, vice president of the United States Lifesaving Association. The less they have to interact with the public, especially in an emergency situation, the safer everyones going to be. Enjoy your swim and your own beach gear While much about transmissibility of the coronavirus remains unclear, waterborne transmission appears to be less likely. As for other surfaces you might encounter at the beach, such as rental beach chairs and kayaks, or even beach toys, Ms. Stratton urges caution in all regards. BJP leaders in Rajasthan on Wednesday accused the Congress government in the state of doing politics on the issue of migrant labourers. BJP state president Satish Poonia said the Congress party staged a drama on the UP border for three days where buses were brought under pressure from the state government. It is unfortunate that politics was done in the name of migrant labourers by the government and Congress leaders for pleasing Priyanka Gandhi, Poonia said. He said a large number of migrant workers had to walk for hundreds of kilometres in an attempt to return home but the state government did not care for them. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said the situation in the state worsened due to wrong policies of the government. He said migrants were walking through forest areas to reach Banswara, Dungarpur, Udaipur and there was no arrangement to screen them for Covid-19. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and Director-General, World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sign a Memorandum of Understanding focused on the integration of refugees in national health preparedness and response plans globally. WHO/Christopher Black The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today signed a new agreement to strengthen and advance public health services for the millions of forcibly displaced people around the world. The agreement updates and expands an existing 1997 agreement between the two organizations. A key aim this year will be to support ongoing efforts to protect some 70 million forcibly displaced people from COVID-19. Around 26 million of these are refugees, 80 per cent of whom are sheltered in low and middle-income countries with weak health systems. Another 40 million internally displaced people also require assistance. For more than 20 years, UNHCR and WHO have worked together worldwide to safeguard the health of some of the worlds most vulnerable populations. They have collaborated to provide health services to refugees in every region - from the onset of an emergency and through protracted situations, consistently advocating for the inclusion of refugees and stateless people in the national public health plans of host countries. Today, the two organizations are working side by side to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that forcibly displaced people can access the health services they need, to keep safe from COVID-19 and other health challenges. UNHCRs long-term partnership with WHO is critical to curb the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies day in, day out, it is improving and saving lives of millions of people forced to flee their homes, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. Our strengthened partnership will directly benefit refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and those who are stateless. It leads to better emergency response and will make the best use of the resources of both our two organizations for public health solutions across all our operations globally. "The principle of solidarity and the goal of serving vulnerable people underpin the work of both our organizations," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "We stand side by side in our commitment to protect the health of all people who have been forced to leave their homes and to ensure that they can obtain health services when and where they need them. The ongoing pandemic only highlights the vital importance of working together so we can achieve more." During Thursdays signing UNHCR also joined the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The Fund was launched on 13 March and has so far raised US$214m to date. The Fund, first-of-its-kind, allows individuals, companies, and organizations all over the world to directly contribute to the global response being led by WHO to help countries prevent, detect and respond to COVID-19. A US$10 million contribution from the Solidarity Response Fund will support UNHCRs work on urgent needs such as risk communication and community engagement around hygiene practices; provision of hygiene and medical supplies and the establishment of isolation units in countries such as Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, South Sudan and Uganda. The funds will also support innovative global preparedness activities. By joining forces with the Solidarity Response Fund, UNHCR can work together on the ground with WHO to better ensure that the preparedness, prevention and public health response measures to COVID-19 are in place and that much-needed aid can reach refugees, displaced people and their host communities, said Grandi. END This Press Release is available here For more information on UNHCR's COVID-19 operations For information about WHO's COVID-19 operations and work on Refugee and Migrant HealthEND For more information on UNHCR's COVID-19 operations For information about WHO's COVID-19 operations and work on Refugee and Migrant Health About the Solidarity Response Fund The Fund was launched at WHOs request by the UN Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation in mid-March and it is only way for companies and individuals to contribute directly to the work of WHO and partners on the ground, and the fastest way to get resources where they are needed most urgently. More than US$100m from the Fund has already been disbursed, ensuring early vital work in the long fight against the pandemic. About UNHCR UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We deliver life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. UNHCR is taking measures to help respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and prevent further spread. Working together with governments, UNHCR ensures refugees are included in national health response plans and are well-informed on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, have access to soap and clean water, and continue to receive the life-saving aid and assistance they need. About WHO The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing. For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTu Media contacts: WHO Christian Lindmeier, [email protected] , +41 79 500 6552 , +41 79 500 6552 Diane Abad-Vergara, [email protected] , +41 79 200 5878 UNHCR Delhi added 18 deaths from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Thursday, taking the city-states toll to 194. Of the total deaths, 121 were reported over the last 10 days, when the three-member death audit committee started reporting the backlog of deaths. Delhi also recorded 571 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, taking the total number of cases to 11,659, according to the daily health bulletin released by the Delhi government. With over 500 new cases each day, Delhi has been recording the highest single-day spike for the last three days, the data shows. Until May 11, Delhi had reported 73 Covid-19 deaths, according to the daily health bulletin. The higher number of deaths since still puts the mortality rate of the infection in the national capital at 1.6%, which is much lower than the national average of 3.03%. Two days ago, the Delhi government reiterated the need for timely reporting of Covid-19 deaths by designated hospitals. It has come to notice that both public and private hospitals are not reporting the deaths of positive cases of Covid-19 occurring in their hospitals in a timely and regular manner, it said in an order. The first order to this effect was issued by the citys chief secretary Vijay Dev on May 10, asking all hospitals treating Covid-19 patients to send in reports of deaths by 5pm each day. The standard operating procedures were put in place after a discrepancy was noticed in the cumulative number of deaths reported by the health bulletin and by individual hospitals. The addition of over 500 cases daily is the second of three scenarios for which a five-member expert committee had advised the Delhi chief minister to prepare. The first scenario was Delhi reporting 100 cases a day and the third was 1,000 cases a day. Delhi is already reached the second scenario that the committee had advised about. And Delhi is prepared for the third scenario of 1,000 cases being reported in a day as well, said Dr SK Sarin, chair of the five-member committee and director of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. The Delhi government is in the process of procuring 2,000 oxygen concentrators, devices that selectively remove nitrogen from the ambient air to make it about 93% concentrated oxygen. This can be used for providing oxygen therapy to critical Covid-19 patients. A small percentage of those with the infection only 0.4% of the patients need ventilator support. In the country, too, 0.45% of the active cases, or those still with the infection, are on ventilators. Some 2.94% of the people are on oxygen support, according to data from the union health ministry. There are 306 ventilators in the government sector and 800 ventilators in the private sector in Delhi. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pennsylvania nursing homes say data for COVID-19 infections and deaths at long term care facilities is riddled with errors and triggering panic. The Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which represents about 500 for-profit and nonprofit long-term care facilities, is demanding the state immediately correct the data, and threatening court action if the state refuses. The Pennsylvania Department of Health, however, says any mistakes are the result of inaccurate or incomplete data supplied by the homes. The long-term care facility data presented publicly was meant to be reported by the facilities themselves. However, they did not report completely, or in some cases at all, and so the data had to be reported through another method the departments NEDSS system, which matches case information and facility address. We are constantly working to make sure the data we provide is accurate, department spokesman Nate Wardle said. State Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Thursday afternoon errors in the first release of data have been fixed, and the state will fix any future errors. However, Zach Shamberg, the CEO of the long term care association, said the errors were still present as of early Thursday afternoon. Theres no disagreement nursing homes and personal care homes have been especially hard-hit by COVID-19, with about 70 percent of Pennsylvanias deaths involving residents of the facilities. Longterm care residents are older and tend to have serious existing medical conditions, making them especially vulnerable to becoming seriously ill or dying of COVID-19. After pressure from families, advocates and lawmakers, Pennsylvania on Tuesday released data for numbers of COVID-19 infections among residents and staff, and deaths, at nursing homes and personal care homes. Nursing homes initially said they supported release of the data. However, some of the homes quickly disputed data associated with their facility, and news reporters also found apparent mistakes, although mistakes involved both overcounts and undercounts of infections and deaths. The posted data simply did not match with providers actual experiences with COVID-19, the information that they have shared with families, residents and staff, or the data they had already submitted to the department of health, Shamberg said. He said mistakes have caused anger, panic and distrust among families of residents of longterm care facilities; prior to the state releasing data, it had been up to facilities to inform families about numbers of COVID-19 infections. Shamberg said the health department has not provided a plausible explanation for why it will not remove faulty data or alert the public that the posted data is inaccurate. If the department doesnt immediately remove incorrect data, he said, his association will consider legal action. The health departments Wardle said the problem lies with data provided, or not provided, by facilities. At this time, those facilities who are not reporting, or not reporting properly are being assisted regarding any issues. Moving forward, we will be mandating that facilities are reporting, and reporting the necessary information as has been ordered, he said. Meanwhile, in an interview on Thursday afternoon, Shamberg said long term facilities continue to struggle against problems including shortage of staff, coronavirus tests and protective equipment that hinder ability to protect residents from COVID-19. He said facilities suffered from insufficient funding before the pandemic and the crisis has shed a spotlight on the consequences. He noted that, at least until theres a vaccine, long term care facilities will continue to be plagued by COVID-19, and warned of a possible second wave this winter. We need to support long term care and we cant let something like this happen ever again, Shamberg said. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. The Nigerian government has said it may consider discharging COVID-19 patients earlier than their required treatment and isolation period, even though they are still positive. The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known at the daily Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Thursday. Mr Ihekweazu said new evidence shows that it is safe to discharge recovering COVID-19 patients even when the results are still positive. New evidence is emerging that even when the test is still positive after that patient has been in care for a certain amount of time, it is possible and safe to discharge that patient to home isolation. So we are looking at the evidence and we might change our guidelines over time. I am sharing this so that we start preparing ourselves for some changes and the directions of how we are planning to go, he said. Overwhelmed The governments decision may be linked to the reality that treatment centres across the country have become overwhelmed by the number of persons requiring institutional isolation and treatment. Mr Ihekweazu earlier said Nigeria lacks adequate bed spaces to accommodate COVID-19 patients in isolation centres across states. He said the federal government was considering the option of home-care treatment for COVID-19 patients. Across the country, we have about 3,500-bed spaces identified as available for coronavirus but in Lagos, we are already struggling. So, we are going to work with them to keep trying to make more spaces available, Mr Ihekweazu had said. READ ALSO: As of May 20, a total of 6677 persons have been confirmed to have COVID-19 in Nigeria. Although 1840 persons have been successfully treated and discharged, 200 deaths have been recorded. Double testing no longer done The NCDC boss said the agency has switched to testing COVID-19 patients only once as against its earlier stance on double testing before discharge. This, he said is to enable the decongestion of some isolation centres in the country. On our discharge criteria, we changed it from two tests 24 to 48 hours apart to a single negative test, he said. The reason is that most of our cases that tested negative also tested negative for the second time. Of course, there will be some exceptions. Given the pressure, we have on bed spaces especially in Lagos, Kano, and the FCT, we made a pragmatic decision to move to one negative test sufficient to discharge people, he said. Sweden, which has kept schools, bars, restaurants and shops open throughout the coronavirus crisis, has become the country with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the world per capita over the last week, data shows. The Scandinavian nation chose a different strategy to its European neighbours to combat the pandemic, based on voluntary measures of social distancing and basic hygiene. But it has now recorded 6.25 deaths per million inhabitants per day in a rolling seven-day average between 12 May and 19 May, according to Ourworldindata.org. This was the highest in Europe and just above the UK, which had 5.75 deaths per million and ahead of the United States, at 4.17. However, deaths are on the decline and over the course of the pandemic, Sweden still has had fewer deaths per capita than the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium and France nations which opted for lockdowns. But it has had a much higher toll than its neighbours, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The Nordic country introduced trust-based measures, advising older people to avoid social contact and recommending people their wash hands often, social distance, work from home where possible and avoid travel. Anders Tegnell, the countrys state epidemiologist, previously argued Sweden might weather a second wave of the virus better than other countries, because its measures can be kept in place for longer than the harsher lockdowns implemented throughout the world. We also have measures that we can keep on doing for a long time, he said during an interview on BBC Radio 4s Today programme. So I think thats the other part of our reasoning, that we want to have something sustainable if we need to continue this suppression and mitigation that we are doing right now. We can go on doing this for a long time since our schools are still open, most of our society is working but on an adapted level. So if it looks like were going to get a second wave in the autumn with a lot of cases, we could easily continue doing what were doing today. Swedens strategy has been criticised by some as a dangerous experiment with peoples lives, but it has also been put forward as a future model by the WHO. Its open strategy appears to have softened the blow on the economy, with growth shrinking much less than in Denmark and Norway in the first quarter of the year. Brazil and Peru are currently in the top ten list of countries with the highest COVID-19 positive cases. Mexico is not too far behind taking the 11th spot. The coronavirus pandemic started to hit countries in Latin America one by one in the beginning of March. We have started hearing of the deadly virus from China three months before the outbreak reached Latin America. But even after months of planning, the virus seemed to move faster in wreaking havoc. Since then, several countries have declared a state of emergency. Others have imposed hard lockdown measures, curfews, quarantine rules, border closure, and flight suspensions. The very first COVID-19 case in Latin America happened in Sao Paulo, Brazil on February 26, 2020. Three months after the first recorded case, numbers are still going up and it seems that no one has a concrete plan on how to effectively flatten the curve. Continuous surge of cases The world approaches the end of the second quarter of the year but it feels as if we have done nothing this year apart from fighting the virus. By this time, some countries have already successfully beat the pandemic. One example is Vietnam who has pushed its way ahead of the curve. As of May 20, they have recorded no local transmissions of the coronavirus for 34 days and have experienced zero deaths since the beginning of the outbreak. Peru which now has almost 100,000 cases, is only one third the population of Vietnam. Peru currently has 31 million residents, Vietnam has almost 96 million. Clearly something has not been done right. Villages in Ecuador lack medical doctors resulting in several people from rural areas falling ill and eventually dying without even knowing if it was the coronavirus or not. Residents of a fishing village in Ecuador had some villagers experience cough and colds last April. Since there were no doctors around, they were only given traditional remedies. Those residents that have fallen ill eventually died but since they were not tested for COVID-19 nobody really knows what killed them. Almost all doctors in Ecuador are brought to the capital or to the largest cities leaving far flung areas unprotected. Chile on the other hand, was handling the virus quite well in the beginning. The country had the highest testing rate in Latin America with over 14,000 tests done per day. They were also one of the first few countries to study "immunity passports" that will be given to COVID-19 patients who have recovered which will allow them to get back to work. However, the country's fight is still not over as it faces economic woes affecting its citizens. Few days ago, protesters staged a riot with the police growing angry over food shortages. Check these out! Social Unrest spreading in Latin America The coronavirus pandemic has caused a pattern of resistance which continues to increase all over Latin America. An increase in anti-lockdown protests are seen in Brazil, doctors and nurses in Mexico plead the government to provide them with more PPEs, and protesters in Colombia have resisted stay at home orders to march in the streets and demand for more food and aid. Tunisia has declared victory in its war against terrorism near the countrys border with Algeria During a visit to the central province of Kasserine, which has seen terrorist attacks in past years, on Saturday, Tunisian interior minister Hichem Mechichi declared that terrorists on Tunisias border with Algeria had been successfully isolated and were now unable to carry out further operations. The readiness shown by our security forces and the measures taken by the interior ministry are much more important than their [the terrorists] threats, Mechichi was quoted as saying by Tunisias state media. He said that the North African country had decided to pursue terrorist groups into their mountain hideouts, abandoning the defensive strategy adopted in previous years. Meanwhile, the Tunisian army said that its units in Kasserine had aborted terrorist operations targeting military and security troops. Primary investigations had showed that an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group called Uqba ibn Nafi had attempted to carry out such attacks. Tunisia has been hit hard by terrorism in recent years. Kasserine, only 30 km from Tunisias border with Algeria, has served as a location for terrorist groups in both countries, mainly due to the nearby Chaambi Mountains that they use as a cover for training camps. Security cooperation between the two countries has been ongoing, especially in the light of Algerias experience in handling counter-insurgency operations over more than a decade. Perhaps a greater concern for Tunisia has been the spread of terrorist threats to other parts of the country. In March 2015, an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group saw more than 20 people killed in the capital Tunis after two gunmen stormed the Bardo National Museum, a key tourist attraction. 17 of the dead were foreigners, including people from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Spain, Australia, Poland and France. Then freshly-elected Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi said that I want the people of Tunisia to understand firstly and lastly that we are in a war against terror, adding that the fight against the terrorists will continue until they are exterminated. However, three months later IS gunmen again opened fire on tourists staying at the famous resort of Port al-Kantaoui north of Sousse, a city known as a destination for tourists and a commercial centre. In this attack, 38 people were killed, 30 of them Britons, three from Ireland, two Germans, one Russian, a Belgian, and a Portuguese woman. Terrorist attacks have continued sporadically in Tunisia since, including the death of a patrol officer and the injury of eight people in suicide bombings in Tunis. The impact on the economy has been huge. Tourism, which represents roughly 15 per cent of Tunisias GDP and creates opportunities for about half a million people within a 12-million population, has been severely affected as governments and travel agencies around the world have issued travel warnings and cancelled reservations. Even the end of the fight against terrorism may not be enough to guarantee the recovery of the sector, since the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus has impacted the industry in Tunisia as it has elsewhere in the world. Tunisia has 1,037 confirmed cases of Covid-19, while 807 people have recovered, and 45 have lost their lives. Speaking to the Weekly, Mahmoud al-May, a member of the Constituent Assembly that wrote a new constitution for Tunisia after the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, said that the Algerian-Tunisian borders were well controlled on both sides and an exchange of information took place on a daily basis. However, he is not optimistic about an economic recovery. 2019 was a reference year for tourism in Tunisia, and Rene Trabelsi, the ex-minister of tourism, was very successful in his mission. Yet, talking about the revival of any economic sector, including tourism, with Covid-19 is really difficult. We are expecting a decrease in GDP of around 4.3 per cent followed by possible stagflation, he said. In April, Tunisias parliament approved five loans for the country worth nearly 400 million euros. The deals were finalised with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the African Development Bank. However, according to the finance ministry, the Tunisian economy still needs about $4 billion in foreign and domestic loans to avoid a budget deficit this year. *A version of this article appears in print in the 21 May, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: 2020-05-21 - 10:57 am Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): On Sunday, May 17, 2020, the Dome of Al-Shuwaikh obsequy built in the Bahraini village of Barbar collapsed. Its collapse once again brought to light the religious persecution that the Shiite community in Bahrain suffers from as well as the constant restrictions on their religious rites. On Sunday morning, the dome of the obsequy, which was built 41 years ago, in 1979, collapsed. Since 2008, its administrators have requested its reconstruction, which required the approval of the Ministry of Justice through a request submitted to the Jaffaria Endowments Directorate. Since 2008, this request has remained in the office drawer of Justice Minister Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, who is still in office. All official bodies, including all successive Waqf directorates, confirm that the request has been pending at the Minister's office since then. What the authorities are doing through the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments is not new, as a personal dispute between Justice Minister Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa and the head of the Jaffaria Waqf department Mohsen Al-Asfour broke out after the latter wrote a lengthy letter to the king (May 8, 2019) explaining the obstacles the minister puts in the face of the work of the Board of Directors. The letter to the king confirmed that the Ministry of Justice was preventing the Jaffaria endowments from registering any land plots for the construction of new mosques and obsequies or obstructing the investment of the currently registered endowments. The people of Bahrain know what the king's answer was. He dismissed the head of the Waqf administration, Mohsen Al-Asfour, who was one of the regime's fiercest loyalists and defended all the crimes that occurred against citizens after the pro-democracy movement in 2011. The Bassiouni Commission appointed by the king in 2011 to investigate the country's events documented that the regime destroyed more than 30 Shiite mosques. It also revealed that the authorities had committed the crime, and stressed that "the timing and style of the demolition gives the impression that this is a collective punishment for a particular community." That year, political and human rights groups documented that the regime and its followers attacked 412 obsequies (Hussainiyas) and destroyed more than 35 mosques. They added that the number of destroyed Hussaini "free food stands" exceeded 1,070, and that the number of burnt Quran copies exceeded 83, let alone the burnt 1,012 prayers and Dua' books. The collapse of Al-Shuwaikh obsequy dome in Barbar brings this issue back to the light again. Yesterday, investigators from the Interior Ministry examined the situation. It is ironic that Interior Ministry investigators expressed surprise at the fact that the building was still being used by people. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that the official authorities in Bahrain are still demolishing Shiite mosques and obsequies, but in another way, just as is the case of Al-Shuwaikh obsequy. Allow buildings to become old and prevent building permits until mosques and obsequies collapse on people's heads. As they kill people slowly, they destroy their institutions slowly as well. Arabic Version The list of the recommendations developed with input from Chamber committees and experts in each respective sector The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce submitted its multi-sectoral proposals to the Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation. This was building on the submission made to His Excellency the President on a Shared Vision for Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery. The sectors included in the document covered immediate, medium, and long-term proposals across all sectors, from agriculture, to digital economy and capital markets. Developed with input from Chamber committees and experts in each respective sector, the recommendations under sector and thematic focus areas are as follows: 1. Agriculture 1.1 Immediate a. Upgrade existing storage facilities preferably near the economic centres, and convert them into cool rooms using available resources that are idling. Engage Private sector cool room/cold chain operators to provide solutions for operating on lease/PPP terms to be the nucleus of a cold chain to overcome the wide fluctuations of supply and its impact on prices . b. Allocate one compartment on trains of the following Railway Lines (RL) for the transportation of agricultural produces, in order to reduce transportation cost. i. Hambantota RL: (Suriyawewa, Thanamalwila, Embilipitiya, Ambalanthota, Ranna, Angunukolapelessa) ii. Puttlam RL: (Norochchole, Puttlam, Anamaduwa, Chilaw, Wanathawilluwa, Karuwalagaswewa) iii. Badulla RL: (Welimada, Bandarawela, Nuwara-Eliya, Kandy) iv. Jaffna RL: (Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Anuradhapura, Thambuttegama, Dambulla, Galewela) v. Trinco RL: (Seruwila, Kantale) vi. Batticaloa RL: (Welikanda, Polonnaruwa) This initiative is to be carried out via a PPP model, where the Private Sector will set up the cold room in the compartment and manage the operation. This collaboration shall operate on a profit share model between Sri Lanka Railways and the Private entity. c. Work with Agriculture development groups and contribute towards Agriculture modernization projects with investments to ensure farmer benefits and encourage Young farmers. d. Reduce Non-tariff barriers related to the importation of Seed material with high yields. 1.2 Medium to LongTerm a) Immediate establishment of a National Steering Committee for Agriculture comprising Government Officials and Private Sector representatives, where minimum of 60% representation is from the Private Sector, spanned across diverse areas in agriculture (including livestock and fisheries), such as; growers, farmer organizations, agri value-addition enterprises, agri professionals & academics, agri scientists, local and global marketers of agri produce, providers of agri inputs, and local agri investors. b) Permitting the import of the best quality seeds available in the global market would be a pre-requisite to reduce cost of production and increase yield. Efficient procedures for testing such new seed and plant varieties must be immediately adopted with all seed importers and commercial farmers being permitted to test new seeds and plant varieties at their own farms under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture. Local seed, plant propagation and tissue culture laboratories must be supported for long term sustainability and food security. c) Facilitate to set up an Agro Innovation Centre, in Colombo or Gampaha District targeting the development of value-added food products and processed foods for local and export market. This facility to be managed together as a collaborative initiative of the Government, Business Chambers, Universities and the Private Sector. 2. Apparel 2.1 Immediate The sector would require a twofold approach in meeting its wages. A subsistence allowance equivalent to the current Samurdhi benefit should be extended to employees of SMEs within the sector which are impacted negatively. Large enterprises in the same predicament as above should be allowed to pay the same amount to their employees in lieu of wages without the government having to incur any expense. 2.2 Medium to Long Term a) All large buyers who are readjusting their risk profiles will start insisting on regional supply chains instead of China dependent supply chains. We should work with SAARC countries to exploit this opportunity to the maximum. SL should be leading this project. b) With the current impact to the economy and massive unemployment the government should seek redress by seeking Duty Free Exports to markets currently enjoyed by LDC countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Maldives, among others. 3. Capital Markets 3.1 Immediate a) We request the immediate opening of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The inability to open the CSE for trading results in long-term reputational damage to the market with price discovery and liquidity being fundamentals of a free market. The capital market has ceased to be an avenue for companies to raise debt and equity. Reviving the market will reduce the dependence on the banking system. A deep and liquid capital market helps companies to raise long term capital needed to finance their businesses which in turn contributes to increasing the overall economic growth. The SEC, CSE and stake holders should address all operational impediments for CSE to fully function on-line, such as making it mandatory for settlement of stock market transactions through online banking and trade confirmations to be sent electronically i.e. email or SMS only and company secretaries undertake secretarial functions. b) Set up a Sovereign Equity Fund to provide equity capital to companies affected by COVID-19 that are operationally viable but are over geared with seed capital from the GoSL and multilateral and bilateral development agencies such as IFC, DEG, IBRD, etc. The fund should be managed by an independent team of professional fund managers. c) Fast-track the implementation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and establish related legislation/regulations. This can also help revive the real estate market as well. d) GoSL to raise capital by the issue of long term (10-15 year) tax free infrastructure bonds to foreign and local capital markets, backed by cashflows from the respective infrastructure projects [expressways, railways, airports, power, ports] coupled with a sovereign guarantee. The structuring and awarding of these projects must be expedited. 3.2 Medium to Long Term a) Government to supplement the capital of the state banks by having IPOs to raise new capital and listing them and therefore strengthen their ability to support the SME sector and other important sectors such as agriculture and exports in SL. b) Direct Government institutions such as EPF, ETF, SLIC, NSB, Bank of Ceylon and Peoples Bank to invest at least 5% of their investment portfolio in fundamentally strong companies which are offering good value at current market prices. 4. Construction and Real Estate 4.1 Immediate a) Facilitate the commencement of Construction Projects as soon as practically possible and permit inter district movement/transportation of workers, based on clear regulations and guidelines by the governments health authorities. b) All payments withheld by the Govt. and all other state institutions to be immediately settled to the contractors and construction companies, in order to carry out operations. c) Relook at the cess structure on project related construction material with a view of stimulating development activities and reducing cost structures in infrastructure development and real estate. 4.2 Medium to LongTerm Stimulate demand for foreigners to purchase Condominium Property by introducing the special Residential Visa scheme for investments above USD 250,000/- per apartment and granting loans up to 40% of value from domestic banking sources. 5. Digital Economy and E-governance 5.1 Immediate Digital Economy Digital ID, data security and e-Payment platforms are key pillars that supports economic and financial inclusion which ultimately contributes to economic growth. Shortcomings in data security and digital identity also results in risk to individuals and businesses and, hinders economic growth. Below are key recommendations to increase digital adoption and security in the country: a) Create a comprehensive Digital ID with Biometrics b) Enable Digital ID and Signature for Authentication - API to NID/PP/DL c) Enable digital on boarding for banking Lending and Savings account creation/e- KYC d) Implement the long-delayed Data Protection Act e) Encourage and create awareness on adopting Sandbox facility to enable e-payment platforms E-Governance This would also be an opportune for government to introduce e-government services so it will reduce crowds gathering at so many places and minimize face to face contact while promoting overall productivity of the public. Some of the measures to be introduced are listed below: f) Facilitate local commerce and e-gov services by enablement of Multiple layers of Sri Lankas administrative service including but not limited to GramaNildaharis and Agrarian officers to be digitally enabled to enable the local and global marketplace g) G2E app and G2G portals to increase the efficiency and transparency of government services h) Introduce a digital & electronic payment system to make payments on Government services i) Digitizing government operations in areas such as tax registrations, ID and passport applications, pension payments, Import/ Export procedures, shared platform for fulfilment and logistic, permits etc. to enable businesses to operate smoothly. j) Agri Nerve system that aggregates and promotes interaction within the agriculture ecosystem for weather, pricing, land-bank etc. k) Improve digital skills of the government staff l) Implement proper infrastructure for the government staff to carry out tasks (e-approving/e-issuing) even at home (in situations like COVID-19) 5.3Medium to LongTerm a) Enable digital micro Lending and Savings - A progressive approach to Proportional regulation applicable to FinTech driven financial inclusion such as Digital Payments and Settlements Act. b) Central Bank of Sri Lanka to encourage and permit more mobile payment services to enable the digital economy 6. Food and Beverage Manufacturer 6.1 Immediate a) There are a number of new food regulations pending enforcement soon. Some of them mandate changes in product formulations, changes in labels which incur cost to the food and beverage companies. Given the severity of the current situation due to the impact of covid-19, the government can look to postpone the implementation of all new food regulations. b) Establish food manufacturing process certification with relating to post Covid-19 era through Sri Lanka Standard Institute. This will enable manufactures to certify their products and overcome consumer ambiguity. c) There is a delay in delivering orders by shipping companies. Some suppliers are unable to submit health certificates from relevant authorities. Arrival of original documents take longer times. Therefore, the industry requests to honour electronic documents, past track records of the importer, certificates issued by the suppliers as is the case in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and several other Asian countries to relax the regulations/procedures as a temporary measure to catch up the speed. 7. Healthcare 7.1 Immediate a) Settle long outstanding dues from Government sector to the private healthcare sector or seek to fund the private sector with government guaranteed loans (interest-free) to cover overdues. b) In a PPP arrangement, the public sector can utilise the capacity of private hospitals in specific surgeries/diagnostic procedures through allocations/credit period from government until the overload is reduced on public sector. This would be a stimulus package to the private sector and will help government to mitigate immediate cash crunch needed for increased health care spending while reducing the backlog of routine diagnostics/surgeries that are on hold at present. This will also ensure the safety of health seeking people of this country whilst providing accessibility to routine healthcare whilst the public sector battles COVID-19. c) The Healthcare industry is a heavy operating expense industry with most retained profit having to be invested back into the business. The industry hires many skilled employees at the lower end of the social demographic. Given the priority towards healthcare in the next 6-18 months, it is important to support the industry. In the short-term, it is necessary to introduce a mechanism through working capital loans to sustain wages, overheads and the replacement costs of equipment. In the medium-term, low interest loans need to be made available for capex expenditure for pharma manufacturers and hospitals undertaking capital Investments. d) Increase the high-quality production capacity in essential therapeutics under all dosage forms to supply both private and public segment to reach the 50% of self-sufficiency in the medium term by incentivizing existing manufacturers and new investors. e) Immediate implementation of an e-procurement process instead of manual depositing /opening tenders for all government healthcare purchasing. This will also assist in maintaining social distancing practices. We recommend appointing an oversight committee on SPC procurement to ensure quality and pricing transparency. 7.2 Medium to LongTerm a) When air travel is permitted, the Government and the MoH should immediately restart the foreign kidney transplant program to attract medical tourism and relax the regulations to promote the program. b) Develop a Pharma export industry to reach USD 500 Mn by 2030 and achieve economic benefits of inflowing foreign currency via creating an industry of USD 1 Bn. c) Supporting healthcare institutions in developing digital platforms to promote digital and mobile services. d) COVID-19 illustrates the heightened risk of NCDs and pre-existing conditions. As we come out of COVID-19, the country should focus to address this as it could save billions in healthcare costs and have a more productive workforce. This can be done with the well-defined PPPs between the public health system and the private healthcare institutions. 8. Tourism 8. 1 Immediate The sector urgently needs a Government backed wage support scheme through a grant for 6 months to support employees with a monthly salary of Rs. 40,000 and below. If not, regulatory changes/amendments to the labour laws (as per submissions made to the labour commissioner) to be actioned immediately for a specific period to sustain the tourism industry until normalcy return. 8.2 Medium to LongTerm a) This is an opportune time to establish procedures for better visitor management considering the current and the past issues. Private sector is willing to work together in this regard. b) Identification of safe zones for the early start of tourism. This can be done through ring fence zones in low risk areas (especially districts which have had no report cases of infection) and maintain restricted movement several months in advance so as to create marketable micro-destinations for identified segments. c) Focus is required to develop the tourism product for the future by improving the infrastructure around tourist sites (rest rooms, signboards, souvenir shops, cafeterias, etc) d) Offer lower rates at the airport, landing, handling, catering etc to attract airlines to fly into the country at the opportune time. 9. Trade including Manufacturing and International Logistics a) Now is an opportune moment to take advantage of shift in global manufacturing trends with companies looking to diversify their geographical risks.Recently, the Japanese government announced large incentives to its companies that are moving out of China. Sri Lanka is best placed to leverage this. The Hambantota Industrial Zone should be heavily promoted as an alternative base ready to accommodate these Japanese companies and other investors. b) Encourage local manufacturing by not introducing ad-hoc taxes and Special Commodity Levies (SCL) on key raw and packing material that will discourage domestic manufacturing. Provide concessions for organizations with 90% local agriculture supply chain (e.g. Energy/Logistics/tariff in value adding materials such as flavours, seasonings etc.). If a company is using 100% local raw materials, there should be tax encouragements. c) There is opportunity for the Colombo Port to establish itself as a storage hub and transit storage to enhance the countrys importance in the global shipping network by leveraging on the hub and spoke model. Given that most ocean carriers are looking for opportunities to consolidate cost, the need for hubs has never been felt more meaningful. Thus, government should fast track the already delayed East container terminal construction and build deep draft port capacity to attract ultra large ships to the Port of Colombo. Due to COVID-19, most shipping lines will find it feasible to consolidate their loads into hubs and use larger ships for main markets to reduce per unit cost. d) Consult relevant stakeholders including Chambers of Commerce when amending/enacting laws and regulations affecting businesses impacted by COVID 19. Eg. The Gazette notification 217/5 of 16th April 2020 needs careful scrutiny and amendment. Govt. should set up a review panel consisting of representatives of all stakeholders who are easily accessible for review suggestions and recommend amendments to Government. 10. Non-Banking Financial Institutions (NBFIs) Given the relief that the NBFIs will be providing at this point, it will be prudent to also address key risks such as liquidity for the sector through: a) Liquidity support through minimizing reserve requirements and through other tools available at CBSL as the lender of last resort to NBFIs. b) Credit Guarantee schemes for the contract moratoriums which are granted. c) To expedite loan recovery process of NBFIs through grant of Parate rights on mortgaged properties for NBFI sector similar to banks. Allowing criminal procedure for criminal breach of contracts and cheque returns, process and infrastructure to expedite the legal procedure etc. 11. Plantations a) Promote and support expansion of non-traditional export agriculture and other alternate perennial food crops in the Plantation Sector in order to enhance our national food security. One such cultivation which can be promoted is oil palm with the policy support to increase the current cultivation from 9,000 hectares of oil palm to 20,000 hectares under strictly enforced guidelines to address environmental concerns. b) Re strategize and promote the marketing of Ceylon Tea as having the best curative, preventive and antidotal quality and as having the highest number of natural compounds (polyphenol) in our Teas, compared to other Teas in the world. c) The State and the relevant authorities to engage the industry stake holders in the decision making and policy making process far more than the current level. 12. Telecom a. Relax Import Restrictions on Network Infrastructure and exclude telecommunication equipment from the list of non-essential goods set out in Schedule B of Annex 1 of the Direction No. 1 of 2020 dated 19 March 2020 issued by the Banking Supervision Division of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka b. To facilitate Internet Usage Profile: Relax the restrictions on New Site Deployment withdraw Tower Farm regulation of TRCSL Permission to use common tower infrastructure such as lamp poles and deploy antenna in sites with Structural engineer certification (for buildings without CoC) Grant access to Fibre Transmission Infrastructure owned by the GoSL agencies Electricity - Include Telco sector consumption under Industrial Category Incentivizing of Rural Connectivity Investments utilizing the Telecom Development Funds collected by the TRCSL/GoSL, with a particular emphasis on high capacity wireless broadband and Fibre Optic Networks Facilitate release of unused spectrum to deliver Coverage and Capacity on Broadband: Release spectrum from 700MHz, 2600MHz bands for 4G Efficient & timely allocation of spectrum for 5G deployment to support long-term broadband capacity requirements and industrialization: o Digital dividend broadcast spectrum - releasing upper UHF frequencies for MNOs & digitizing broadcast domain. o At least 200MHz of IMT spectrum monetized and assigned efficiently 13. Other Thematic Proposals These proposals will help to create the enabling environment for all the above and other sectors. 13.1 Labor Regulations 13.1.1 Immediate a) Delay remitting EPF/ETF/Gratuity for all sectors without having to pay the surcharge up to 90 days from the due date of the payment. b) Enhancing existing working capital scheme under the Saubagya COVID-19 Renaissance Facility' to support industries that are finding it difficult to manage the payment of wages. The working capital scheme can be along the lines of the employment support scheme suggested by the Chamber in our proposal on 17th April 2020. Extent of support can be based on the significance of sector impact and an assessment of reserves and leverage of the sector and individual firms. The GoSL could consider a Multi-Tier Scheme to address the varying degree of impact across the private sector. 13.1.2 Medium to Long term a) To allow engaging employees (male and female) beyond normal working hours, per day, per week and on holidays to cover hours that were lost due to the curfews imposed by relaxing daily, weekly and monthly limits imposed on overtime, if any. b) To grant permission for a compressed week (to work 45/48 hours within a short working week) without additional payments. c) To permit employees whose services have been terminated post COVID-19 to withdraw the ETF benefit disregarding the 5-year rule 13.2 Tax Proposals to drive a sustainable economic recovery 13.2.1 Recap of Proposals submitted as part of our submission to H.E. the President on 17th April: a) Reintroduce the exemption from income tax of interest from all debt securities to encourage the deployment of debt capital so that companies will have greater access to cash. b) Abolish all transaction taxes including Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty, VAT and other forms of taxes to facilitate companies to merge and restructure to overcome the crisis situation. c) Introduce double deduction of expenditures incurred by companies that have paid for salaries for the retention of existing staff. d) Take proactive measures to prevent acute employment displacement. This could be done by permitting double deduction of expenditures incurred by companies to train existing staff (reskilling) and labor from industries that are affected by the crisis to new industries such as agriculture and manufacturing for domestic consumption etc. e) Grant investment relief for companies that invest in new and productive sectors of the economy which provides additional employment and have the potential to grow in the wake of the current crisis. 13.2.2 Additional Proposals to consider: a) Temporary withdrawal of Thin Capitalization Regulations for the next 2-3 years at a minimum to support the post COVID 19 recovery of businesses. This would give time for businesses to consolidate and recover. b) Set off of outstanding VAT refunds from future taxes to support cash strapped businesses due to COVID - 19. This would reduce the administrative burden for both the taxpayer as well as the revenue authorities while addressing cash flow issues of businesses. c) Allow 100% accelerated depreciation of deduction on Capital expenditure (capex) on plant and factory in the next 1-2 years. Capex will be drastically cut by most companies in the coming months. However, there might be capex already committed but also not incurred in relation to manufacturing with strong Return on Investment (ROI's). 13.3. Other Legislative Reforms It is understood that no changes can be made to any existing legislation until general elections are held and the new Parliament is constituted. However, preliminary work on the formulation and drafting of some much-needed amendments to legislation can commence immediately with a view to having them passed when the new Parliament meets in a few months time. 13.3.1Changes to bankruptcy and insolvency laws The Chamber recommends that relief be given by increasing the debt thresholds and providing a longer period of time to respond to statutory demands from creditors (or seek the intervention of court with respect to such demands) so as to permit businesses to continue to trade though technically insolvent. The law should also grant the officers of the establishment, including directors, partners, trustees, to be temporarily relieved from their obligations by permitting the organisations to trade in the ordinary course of its businesses notwithstanding being insolvent during the prescribed period. However, they will remain criminally liable if operations are conducted outside ordinary course of its business. The COVID-19 Singapore (Temporary Provisions) law can be followed. This should capture individuals as well as businesses. 13.3.2 Changes to law towards facilitating e-transactions The requirement is to obtain real-time access to the citizens profile databases maintained by the Department for Registration of Persons to facilitate the instant validation of the identity of the National Identity Card (NIC) holder, prior to availing a customer, over 18 years of age, any service including but not limited to any banking, financial and/or telecommunications services, thereby facilitating e-transactions in the post-COVID-19 environment. The Government has already embarked on a forward-thinking e-NIC project and allowing third party / external access to make use of the information on hand, will be the next step in the development of this programme. 13.3.3 Changes to the laws which sets out mandatory time periods It is recommended that a temporary law be enacted to give relief to persons who have not been able to exercise their rights, duties and obligations in terms of the time frames stipulated under any law. This can be achieved by enacting a Special provisions law suspending the operation of such provisions. Suggested draft provision: "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any law, subordinate legislation, regulation, by-law, no person, not being a person exercising any statutory power or duty under any law, shall be prejudiced on account of effluxion of time stipulated in any law, subordinate legislation, regulation, by-law during the period 16 March 2020 and Date X. For all purposes, the computing of time in terms of any law, subordinate legislation, regulation, by-law shall stand suspended from 16 March 2020 up to DATE X and shall resume from the day immediately following such date of certification. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If it pans out, it could be a breakthrough in the otherwise sorry tale of the European Unions response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Germany and France, the blocs two largest countries, are jointly proposing a generous European recovery fund. Its to be administered through the EUs budget, financed by EU-issued debt and funneled to the regions worst hit by the coronavirus, including Italy and Spain. Whether German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron can convince all the other 25 national leaders to go along with their idea remains to be seen. But for Germany in particular, even this first step already amounts to a dramatic change. A country that has consistently rejected any notion of a European transfer union or mutualized borrowing is now pushing for a soft and temporary form of both. How did this change come about? And how different is the direction really? Merkel, in her fifteenth year in power, may be riding high in the polls at home for managing the Covid-19 outbreak relatively well. But shes come under a lot of pressure in the EU of late. Especially in Italy and Spain, politicians and voters feel the north hasnt been forthcoming in helping the south, where the medical and economic devastation is greatest. Merkel and the whole German establishment have been genuinely shaken by polls showing the Italians turning into Euroskeptics, and by the specter of the EU as such becoming irrelevant or even failing outright. Post-war Germanys foreign policy is premised on both transatlantic and European integration. With the U.S.-German relationship already threatening to unravel, the prospect of a dissolving EU strikes almost existential fears in Berlin. Nonetheless, Merkel personally and her compatriots generally remain as reluctant as ever to assume the mantle of European leader, or hegemon. But she has clearly decided that Germany must at least be seen to assume its traditional position again as co-rider of the Franco-German tandem thats pulled Europe forward in fits and starts since the 1950s. Story continues By the time SARS-CoV-2 was spreading to Europe, this Franco-German relationship had in effect broken down. Macron had too many times proposed bold new measures to reform the euro area, only for Merkel to feign support, then stand by idly as fiscally hawkish member states such as Austria and the Netherlands gave Macron the cold shoulder. He no longer even bothered to hide his frustration with Merkel. But in this hour of crisis, the pair have decided to give their relationship another go. Hell of course be paying close attention what Merkel does next, and Merkel knows it. Macron expects her to spend her considerable political capital leaning on the remaining member states to accept the proposed recovery fund. First, theres countries such as Hungary and Poland that used to be behind the Iron Curtain and are today the largest beneficiaries of the existing EU budget, and therefore not keen on seeing more of the pot go to southern countries. These eastern members basically have to be bought in, with promises that the new fund wont jeopardize their takes. Then there are the usual suspects in the north, including Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Like the Germans, they are fiscally conservative and philosophically opposed to mutual debt and transfers within Europe. Theyre especially aghast at the idea that the new fund should give out grants rather than loans. A counter-proposal from this group is on its way. What could tilt the European balance one way or the other is therefore how the debate develops in the largest country, Germany. After all, German politicians on the center-right agree with the northern skeptics. Thus conservative factions within Merkels Christian Democratic Union have already signaled their opposition. Theyre our Dutch, as Christian Odendahl, a German think-tanker, puts it. But the overall German debate is tilting in favor of Merkel and Macron. Senior Christian Democrats in parliament have come out in support. So have Armin Laschet and Friedrich Merz, the two leading candidates to become the CDUs next party boss and thus possibly chancellor. The backing of Merz, a die-hard fiscal hawk, is especially surprising, and thus telling. One factor that nudged the change in consensus is a shock ruling by Germanys constitutional court this month. It sharply circumscribed Germanys ability to participate in the European Central Banks bond-buying programs to stimulate the euro areas economy. In effect, the court has called a halt to the ECBs creeping mission drift, or what Ive called treaty change on the down low. The politicos in Berlin understood it as a signal that they must now do their part to save Europe with proper democratic legislation. This recovery fund could be the first step in such a reform. As is her wont, however, Merkel has skillfully disguised it as anything but that, to make it easier for opponents to get behind the plan. To the extent that the fund involves joint EU debt, for example, its being sold as a less radical move than the coronabonds that southern Europeans have been clamoring for, and Germans dreading. Thus, in the Franco-German plan, its the European Commission that would do the borrowing, and member states would be liable only up to their share in the EU budget in Germanys case, about one-fifth, or 100 billion euros ($109 billion) of the total. And funds wouldnt just be handed over to countries at their discretion. Theyd be disbursed according to the EUs budget rules, with earmarks for specific projects. Above all, as Merkel keeps emphasizing, the whole idea is meant to be a one-time exception in extraordinary times. All this suggests that Germanys shift isnt a U-turn and certainly not the Hamiltonian moment that would turn the EU from a bloc of sovereign states into a United States of Europe. Merkel is still Merkel, which means she will inch forward in the smallest possible increments. But she and Germany are now inching in a different, more European, direction. For a country so large, this is historic. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. He's the author of "Hannibal and Me." For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has expressed a resolute protest over adoption of the Declaration on Administrative and Territorial Reform in Ukraine and Protection of Rights and Integrity of the Bulgarian Society on May 20, 2020 by the People's Assembly of Bulgaria. "Questions of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine fall within the jurisdiction of state authorities of Ukraine. For us, attempts of interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine by a foreign state are completely unacceptable," reads a statement of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine issued by its press service on Wednesday evening. According to the statement, allegations of the impact of reform on the national identity of ethnic Bulgarians of Ukraine are manipulative and unreliable. "Protection of the rights and freedoms of representatives of all national minorities of our state, including and Bulgarian, is one of the fundamental priorities of the Ukrainian authorities and is implemented in strict accordance with the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995). The Ukrainian side has repeatedly proved openness and willingness to contribute to the development of the national identity of Ukrainian citizens with ethnic Bulgarian origin. The rights of national minorities in Ukraine are enshrined in national law and are steadily protected by the state in accordance with modern European practices," the ministry said. According to the ministry, the issue of the Bolhradsky district of Odesa region will be resolved in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, taking into account the position of local residents, including the large Bulgarian community. "We believe that any issues can be resolved through a constructive dialogue, which happens at the level of the foreign ministers of the two countries. We call on the Bulgarian parliamentarians to act in accordance with the principles of friendship and good neighborliness that traditionally exist between Ukraine and Bulgaria," the department said. By Nandita Bose and Krystal Hu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Warehouse employees last month staged a walkout in Michigan to demand safer working conditions at their facility. So did workers in New York, Illinois and Minnesota. These and other Amazon.com Inc employees across the country are seizing on the coronavirus to demand the world's largest online retailer offer more paid sick time and temporarily shut warehouses with infections for deep cleaning. Employees in at least 11 states this year have voiced their concerns and staged actions to highlight a variety of purported workplace deficiencies, allegations the company has denied. Supporting these Amazon workers are labor groups and unions eager to penetrate the Seattle-based behemoth after years of failed attempts to unionize its operations. Reuters spoke with 16 unions and labor groups targeting Amazon. They included established organizations such as the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), as well as newer worker advocacy groups like Warehouse Workers for Justice and Athena, a coalition of labor and social justice groups that have criticized Amazon's business practices. Most unions acknowledged their long odds at organizing Amazon using traditional tactics such as holding meetings and gauging interest. Legal hurdles to unionizing the company's workplaces and mounting elections are steep. For now, many groups said, they are showing workers how to harness public opinion to shame Amazon into granting concessions. The strategy proved effective in the national "Fight for $15" campaign to raise the minimum wage. Labor organizations in recent years helped retail and fast-food workers stage highly publicized protests and social media campaigns to draw attention to their modest pay at a time when the economy was booming. Story continues Cities and states including Seattle, San Francisco, California, Arkansas and Missouri raised their minimum wages as did some large U.S. employers, including Amazon, which attributed its pay hikes to a tight labor market as well as pressure from lawmakers and labor groups. In labor's latest efforts targeting Amazon, organizations are helping workers create online petitions, connect with elected officials, contact media and file labor complaints with the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The initiative puts public pressure on Amazon to respond, several groups said, while laying the groundwork for unions to recruit card-carrying members in the future. "We expect that there will be more push for unionization when we get to the other side of this," said Stuart Applebaum, president of RWDSU. Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said Amazon already offers what these groups are requesting: $15 per hour or more to start, health benefits and opportunities for career growth. "We encourage anyone interested in the facts to compare our overall pay and benefits, as well as our speed in managing this crisis, to other retailers and major employers across the country," she said. Central to the organizing effort, union officials said, is fear among some frontline Amazon workers over the spread of coronavirus in the company's warehouses. At least 800 workers in Amazon's 519 U.S. distribution facilities have tested positive for COVID-19, based on internal company figures compiled by Jana Jumpp, an Amazon warehouse employee in Indiana, who shared the numbers with Reuters. Amazon sends text messages and automated calls to employees alerting them to positive cases in their facilities. Jumpp aggregates cases mentioned in messages sent to her by Amazon workers around the country. Jumpp said the informal process she has developed likely misses cases. She and other employees said Amazon does not share a running tally of cases at each facility or provide a nationwide count. "We have no idea how many people are actually sick, not tested or out on quarantine," Jumpp said on a recent media call organized by Athena, the labor coalition. At least six Amazon workers have died of COVID-19, which the company confirmed publicly after each incident. Amazon's Lighty would not disclose to Reuters the total number of Amazon employees who have tested positive for coronavirus in the United States. She said the company's efforts to quarantine infected workers are helping to slow the spread, and rates of infection "are at or below the communities we're operating in at almost all of our facilities." Lighty did not provide data to support that claim. A majority of Amazon employees are showing up at work and the company "objects to the irresponsible actions of labor groups and others in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon," she said. Lighty said employee health and safety is the company's top priority. Amazon will spend more than $800 million in the first half of the year on COVID-19 safety measures, she said. Amazon over the past decade has eviscerated brick-and-mortar retail competitors, some of them unionized, while successfully fending off several attempts by its own employees to organize. With shutdowns now battering Main Street, Amazon is poised to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis stronger than ever. The company reported record first-quarter sales of $75.5 billion, up 26% from the same period a year ago, as customers sheltering in place have relied on its services and its stock price has risen 35% since the start of the year. Amazon had nearly 600,000 U.S. employees in 2019, according to its latest annual report, making it one of the largest employers in the country. In 2019, 10.3% of U.S. workers were union members, down from 20.1% in 1983, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over 33 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment benefits in recent weeks, strengthening the hand of employers at a time of mass unemployment. Still, some labor experts said coronavirus presents unions with their best shot in decades to make inroads at Amazon. "Justice issues and safety at work tend to be the most powerful arguments in organizing," said Alex Colvin, a labor relations professor at Cornell University. "They're the strongest reason for workers to want representation." He said unions have resorted to public relations as a tool to pressure companies as worker protections such as "collective bargaining and employment rights enforcement have weakened." FIGHTING UNIONS Amazon has resisted unionization within its workforce since its founding in 1994. It defeated unionizing efforts in Seattle in 2000 and in Delaware in 2014 by a wide margin. In recent weeks it has fired at least four workers in three states who had publicly criticized the company and were involved in organizing. Lighty said Amazon has "zero tolerance" for retaliation. These workers were not terminated for talking publicly about working conditions or safety, but for violating policies such as physical distancing, she said. Among those sacked was Emily Cunningham, a Seattle-based activist with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, who gained prominence for pushing the company to do more to fight global warming. She had recently circulated a petition calling for measures such as improved sick leave and urged all employees to agree on a day in April to call in sick to protest warehouse working conditions. "There is a lot of frustration on how Amazon is handling the issue of workplace safety," Cunningham said. She said she has been in touch with the AFL-CIO about the sickout, and a local affiliate of the union called MLK Labor has offered support to continue the fight on working conditions. MLK Labor confirmed it is working with employees that Amazon fired in Seattle. The AFL-CIO's secretary treasurer, Elizabeth Shuler, said the union is using the pandemic to galvanize Amazon workers at company headquarters and enlist support from elected officials. Amazon had over 53,000 employees in Seattle in 2019. "Amazon's backyard is Seattle, and that's a major focus for us in terms of how to take the energy, the courage, the activism that we are already seeing there and build that into a real movement," she said. Amazon's Lighty said the company has listened to complaints and implemented over 150 measures to keep workers safe. The company is also running television advertisements thanking warehouse workers. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in April showed up at a Texas distribution center and met workers to show his support. NEW APPROACH But a steady rise in the number of infections at warehouses has spurred more protests. Amazon worker Mario Crippen led an April 1 walkout at a Michigan warehouse to protest what he said was a lack of transparency from the company about the number of infections. He said about 40 workers participated in that action at the facility in Romulus, about 24 miles southwest of Detroit. Amazon disputed that figure, saying fewer than 15 people participated. Helping Crippen was labor nonprofit United for Respect, which coached him on how to gain media attention without getting fired and use social media to gather more supporters. The group also offered legal help from attorneys if he was terminated. Crippen, 26, whose job is to stow products at the warehouse, told Reuters he felt as if "somebody had my back." He said at least 25 workers at the Romulus warehouse have tested positive, according to figures compiled by employees at the site. Crippen said some workers want the facility shut down for cleaning, and plan to continue protesting working conditions while exploring the idea of working closely with labor groups and unions in the future. Amazon spokeswoman Lighty did not comment about the Romulus protest, the number of cases at the site or the company's decision to not shut down the facility. She said Amazon's decision to handle the closure of a building for deep cleaning depends on several factors, including consulting with health authorities and medical experts. A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Labor said the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA), received employee complaints about the Romulus site and sent a letter to Amazon listing steps the company "could take to correct the hazards." She and MIOSHA would not provide more information. Lighty did not comment on the details in the letter. Some labor organizers are instructing workers on how to file such safety complaints. They are also using Facebook Live, Instagram posts, Telegram chats and WhatsApp messages to share other tactics with Amazon employees. At Whole Foods, an upscale supermarket chain owned by Amazon, several current and former employees have been using Telegram to rally coworkers across the country to agitate for expanded paid sick leave and temporary shutdown of stores with confirmed COVID-19 cases. "First step is to ask what will you do if our store is tested positive? Then form a committee. Plan actions. Document. Call the government," wrote one of the workers, who confirmed sending the message and discussed the strategy with Reuters on condition of anonymity. The employee said the group has doubled to 400 members since the pandemic began. Reuters could not independently confirm the growth in membership. This worker and fellow organizers are collaborating with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and are working under the name "Whole Worker's National Organizing Committee." UFCW President Marc Perrone said the union is currently not focusing on the traditional playbook of getting employees to sign cards and become members. "Right now ...it is about showing workers value and what we can do for them," he said. (Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington and Krystal Hu in New York, Additional reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Marla Dickerson) High school seniors take a mock College Scholastic Ability Test at Honam Jeil High School in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Thursday. Yonhap By Bahk Eun-ji Teachers are struggling with unexpected responsibilities as they are being pushed to perform the role of quarantine official in schools, according to a teachers' union, Thursday. With high school seniors returning to school and juniors scheduled to follow in the coming days, teachers are complaining about an increased workload as they have to check the temperature of their students and ensure they practice social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their classrooms. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) issued a statement claiming the government should make it clear to teachers that taking protective measures for students should not be left to them alone. "Schools cannot be the frontline of quarantine measures, and teachers can never be quarantine officers taking all the responsibility," KTU spokesman Jung Hyun-jin said. Jung said the union agreed to the principle that teachers should do their best by educating students on quarantine guidelines, but the education authorities should dispatch professional personnel who can be exclusively in charge of the task. The troubling aspects of Yogendra Singhs (professor emeritus of sociology at JNU, who died on 10 May) thoughts as a scholar are critical to understand Indias political future no less than its present and past. This is the first ever tribute I pay to an admirable teacher whose classes I attended at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and who is no more: Yogendra Singh. In writing this tribute to my university teacher, I follow a lesson taught by my first teacher my mother. I will conclude with that lesson. *** An extraordinary teacher It was heartening to see newspapers report about the death of Yogendra Singh, professor emeritus of sociology at JNU, who died on 10 May. Very few professors receive such media attention. Like our seniors, we, the students of the Masters batch of 1994-1996, used to call him simply Y Singh. A towering figure, people across the board, especially the enthusiastic young lot, held him in high esteem, even awe. Ours was the last batch Singh taught before he retired. There were many reasons for the kind of respect Singh enjoyed. He founded the department of sociology at JNU. Many teachers who taught us were themselves students of Singh and who too showed respect to him. Importantly, Singhs persona was amiable. While my peers or I saw some teachers occasionally in unpleasant moods, Singh invariably wore a pleasant smile. Gifted with the impeccable art of communication, he was an excellent teacher. He never carried any notes to our classroom; yet, his lectures were far more coherent, intelligible and enjoyable than by those who did. While waiting for boring lectures by others to finish sooner, many of us wished Singhs lectures were longer. Unlike many of his contemporaries, the breadth of Singhs knowledge was vast beyond sociology. Urging us to be empirically grounded, his notion of reality, however, was markedly philosophical. Though not known for coining terms like MN Srinivas "Sanskritisation", Singh had unique skills to synthesise and connect. With a musical flow, in one class he connected Louis Dumont, Gunnar Myrdal, AK Saran, Romila Thapar and Leo Tolstoy. He also kept himself up-to-date with new knowledge in an age not yet of the internet. For a term paper I wrote for his course he directed me to read Ernest Gellners Postmodernism, Reason and Religion, published only two years earlier. What struck me was that Singh also had an ironic streak that enabled him to laugh at himself. Once he narrated his experience of visiting a university abroad: Finding his writings difficult to understand, a colleague there gave him writing manuals. Having read them, Singh shared his new writing with that colleague who remarked, "This is more complicated than the earlier one". Right at that moment, Singh almost burst into laughter. Leaving aside the issue of his difficult prose, I want readers to know troubling aspects of Singhs thoughts as a scholar. This is critical to understand Indias political future no less than its present and past. *** The virus in Indian society After his demise, Singhs Modernisation of Indian Tradition (MOIT) was correctly described as best selling and sought-after among civil service aspirants, though calling it path breaking and a magnum opus is to go overboard. MOIT integrated the existing frameworks or arguments rather than make its own. This integration was remarkable. But MOIT was also unremarkable: an antagonism toward Islam and Muslims pervaded it. That it has not been spotted or publicly articulated is surprising. With its objective to explain the causation of social changeboth from within and without, MOIT treated Muslims as alien to India. Using the terms orthogenetic and heterogenetic for internal and external changes respectively, Singh branded Islam as heterogenetic. He presented his integrated paradigm, the books core, in a schema (see table below) where he portrayed Islam as an outsider. Importantly, Singhs terminological choice was not innocent. In the Oxford English Dictionary, heterogenetic has two meanings. In philosophy, it means, relating to external origination. In medicine, it refers to disease, infection from outside the body. By calling it heterogenetic, Singh thus cast Islam outside the body politic of India. Discussing the encounter between indigenous and non-indigenous cultural tradition, he characterised Muslims as colonisers and conquerors. Singh also depicted Islam as exclusivist and intolerant: The typical form that this holistic principle took in the Great Islamic tradition also influenced its character as an exclusive and assertive religion (originally published in 1972, quotes are from MOITs 1986 edition by Rawat, Jaipur, p. 25, 60, 63, 64). Similar views also informed Singhs other books. The last six pages of a chapter in Social Stratification and Change in India, published first in 1977, are subtitled Social Stratification among non-Hindu Communities. There is no subtitle in the first 32 pages where India is assumed throughout to be Hindu. *** Responsibility between power and knowledge Without multiplying examples, let me make it clear that Singh was not the only sociologist to uphold such a perspective. Shyama Charan Dube (d.1996) held similar views. In Indian Society, published in 1990 by National Book Trust (p. 27), which, like Singhs MOIT was an indispensable book to aspiring civil servants, he described Muslims as Islamic invaders. He devoted six pages to this invasion and not even one page to colonialism by the British who just came to India. Iravati Karve (d. 1970), regarded as the first woman sociologist of India, also depicted, as did Singh, Muslims as external and inimical as follows: The Mohammedans have been in India for about a thousand years. They created the first breach in the cultural unity of India. They have left terror and destruction in their wake (Racial Problems in India published by Indian Council of World Affairs, Delhi, 1947, pp. 4546). There is more than a correspondence between contemporary politics and sociological knowledge such as Singhs. Consider two examples. First, a recent report documents how many police officials think that Muslims are naturally prone towards committing crime. It is reasonable to say that they became police officers reading, among others, such books of sociology. Second, right on the floor of Indias parliament, in 2014 the new Prime Minister spoke of 1200 years of servitude. While studying sociology at JNU was exciting, reading books like Singhs was also intimidating and alienating. Sociologists love to talk about alienation in society. However, discussing alienation sociologists themselves unleash is tabooed. By breaking this taboo, I probably make myself vulnerable. But initiatives that seek liberation from boredom of dehumanising, nationalising orthodoxy entail vulnerability. This critical tribute to Prof Singh echoes the lesson my late mother taught: Relate of the dead only that which is good, and refrain from speaking ill of them. It also echoes, so I hope, the lesson in constructive critical thinking that Singh taught us. *** Irfan Ahmad, a political anthropologist, is senior research fellow at Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious & Ethnic Diversity, Germany. Author of two monographs, with Pralay Kanungo, he is the co-editor of The Algebra of Warfare-Welfare: A Long View of Indias 2014 Election (Oxford University Press, 2019). He tweets @IrfanHindustan YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of labor and social affairs Zaruhi Batoyan has been self-quarantined, her spokesperson Sona Martirosyan told Armenpress. There have been cases of the novel coronavirus in the ministry, therefore, the minister has been self-isolated. She passed a test, and the result was negative, the spokesperson said. According to the latest data, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has reached 5,606. The total number of recoveries has reached 2,581. The death toll is 70. Reporting by Lilit Depuryan; Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan Tushar Atre knew at least two of the men suspected of killing him, police say. They worked for him. The Santa Cruz tech CEO was kidnapped from his waterfront Pleasure Point home in the early hours of Oct. 1. 2019, by three assailants, one of whom was armed with a rifle. Atre was forced into his girlfriends white BMW SUV and driven to a property he owned in the Santa Cruz Mountains where he operated a cannabis-manufacturing facility. His body was discovered by deputies at Soquel San Jose Road about 9 a.m. that day. He died of a gunshot wound. The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office has identified the suspects as Joshua James Camps, 23, of Lancaster, Calif.; Kurtis Charters, 22, of Lancaster, Calif.; Stephen Nicolas Lindsay, 22, of Burbank, Calif.; and Kaleb Charters, 19, of St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Kurtis and Kaleb Charters are brothers. All have been jailed with the exception of Kaleb Charters, who is being extradited to California. The men were arrested Tuesday in Michigan on charges of murder, kidnapping and robbery. Lindsay and Kaleb Charters were employees of Atres cannabis business, Lt. Brian Cleveland said at press conference Thursday. Deputies interviewed dozens of people who knew and/or worked with Atre and were able to come up with names of two people who worked along with Tushar, that is, Kaleb Charters and Stephen Lindsay, Cleveland said. He described the killing as a heinous and senseless crime. These people wanted monetary gain and took advantage of the situation, Cleveland said. He declined to say who the suspected shooter is or offer details about the robbery. Atre was best-known as the chief executive of AtreNet, a successful Internet marketing company . His cannabis business is called Interstitial Systems. None of the suspects had a criminal record. Cleveland said no reward money has been issued. Sheriff Jim Hart noted there was a huge suspect pool that we had to narrow down at the beginning of the investigation. Ive been in this job 32 years, I can tell you there is compelling evidence against these four people, Hart said. This man was sleeping in his home, people entered the home, kidnapped him, and murdered him. Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Digital Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate A skin care consultant in California has been unintentionally screening calls from Elon Musk for years after his old phone number was randomly reassigned to her. Lyndsay Tucker, a 25-year-old who works at a Sephora store in San Diego, had never heard of Musk until about eight years ago when she began receiving a steady stream of calls and texts from people trying to reach the Tesla CEO. 'I asked my mom: "Hey, I keep getting these text messages" - and I was also now starting to get phone calls - "for this guy Elon Musk. I don't know who this is,"' Tucker recalled in an interview with NPR. 'And my mom's jaw just dropped.' Tucker soon realized that her cellphone number had previously been registered to Musk. Years later she is still getting at least three calls or texts intended for the billionaire on any given day - be it from international businessmen, people desperately asking for jobs at Tesla or even a former Disney executive. And the number of misdirected messages explodes whenever Musk stirs controversy, which he is known to do quite often in bizarre Twitter rants. When contacted by NPR about the digital confusion, Musk said he had no idea it was happening. 'Wow,' he wrote in a short email. 'That number is so old! I'm surprised it's still out there somewhere.' Scroll down to read text messages that never made it to Musk Lyndsay Tucker, a 25-year-old skin care consultant from San Diego, has been fielding calls meant for Tesla CEO Elon Musk for years after his old phone number was reassigned to her Musk (above in a March file photo) said he had no idea people were trying to reach him at the old phone number. 'I'm surprised it's still out there somewhere,' he told NPR NPR reporter Bobby Allyn uncovered Musk's unlikely link to Tucker two weeks ago when he called her phone number by mistake. Allyn said he was trying to reach Musk for a story about Tesla suing the California county where its headquarters is located over its coronavirus-related restrictions. Instead, he reached Tucker. One of Tucker's conversations with a mistaken sender is seen above in a recreation Tucker described several of the strange calls she's unwittingly intercepted, including one from a woman who volunteered to go to space with SpaceX and another from a South African businessman asking to buy 1,000 Tesla trucks. Another person sent her a blueprint for a bionic limb. She said that message was 'really cool, but I have no idea how it's built'. John Lasseter, the former chief creative officer for Walt Disney, texted about the Tesla he bought, calling it a 'magnificent car!!!' 'The self driving is a trip!' Lasseter wrote. When Tucker informed him that he'd reached the wrong number, the pair struck up a conversation. 'I actually ended up going to the same college as his son,' Tucker said of Lasseter. 'I got to talk to him and apologized for never messaging his father back. We ended up laughing about it.' It hasn't always been obvious when messages are meant for Musk, however. At one point Tucker received an alarming call from the Internal Revenue Service called about a complicated tax issue. 'I assumed I had messed something up,' Tucker said. 'It was a huge relief they weren't looking for me.' Tucker, who works at a Sephora store, said she had no idea who Musk was until she asked her mom about the random texts and calls she was receiving from people trying to reach him Public records show that Tucker's number was once associated with a condo in Palo Alto that Musk bought and sold years ago. After he got rid of the number, AT&T randomly reassigned it to Tucker. Former Disney executive John Lasseter (pictured) tried to text Musk about the Tesla he just bought but ended up reaching Tucker But the number remained linked to Musk as it was posted on dozens of listing websites as his current digits. Some of the people who contacted the number said that Musk himself had given it to them. Musk did not respond when NPR asked him whether he'd given out the number to people he was trying to dodge. Sometimes Tucker has difficulty convincing people that she isn't Musk. 'They say: "Oh, how do I know you're not Elon?"' she said. 'And they suddenly want proof that I'm not him even though they're obviously talking to a woman on the phone.' Tucker said her unexpected glimpse into Musk's life was 'amusing', but sometimes feels like a full-time job. Tucker said she often has a difficult time convincing people that they've reached the wrong number. 'They say: "Oh, how do I know you're not Elon?"' she told NPR. 'And they suddenly want proof that I'm not him even though they're obviously talking to a woman on the phone' 'Whenever I see his name pop up in the news, I'm like: "Okay, I have to actually learn what he said because, chances are, someone is going to message me about it or call me about it,"' Tucker said. 'Even though I find it funny most of the time, it does get irritating sometimes when it's like call after call after call.' Tucker said she intends to keep the number despite it's side effects, adding that she won't always respond to wrong numbers. Addressing anyone who thinks Musk is ignoring their messages, Tucker said: 'I'm sorry. Sometimes I don't respond if I'm having a rough day. 'So if you didn't get a response, it's probably me, not him. Don't feel too let down.' Is There More COVID Cash Coming to Help Californians? Last week, Gov. Newsom presented his May Revision budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year. The spending plan includes new priorities that reflect a projected $54.3 billion budget deficit brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has $14 billion in spending cuts, including a 10% salary reduction for state workers, that would be triggered only if the federal government does not provide funding to California to cover some of its coronavirus losses before the fiscal year begins July 1. There are also billions in cuts to education and Medi-Cal services in the proposal. ADVERTISEMENT The federal government has a moral and ethical and economic obligation to help support the states, the governor said. This is an opportunity to make real our purpose and advance our values. Federal government, we need you. These cuts can be negated. They can be dismissed with your support. Gov. Newsom also expressed support for the U.S. Congress Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed on May 16. The $3 trillion legislation includes another round of $1,200 stimulus payments to individuals, an extension of the extra $600 per month in unemployment benefits, and nearly $1 trillion in assistance for state and local governments. The new forms of aid the HEROES Act passed in Congress Friday include $200 billion in hazard pay for essential workers, $75 billion for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing and a $75 billion fund to help homeowners with mortgage payments and property taxes. It would also extend student loan relief to borrowers with private loans, who were left out of the CARES Act relief. Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), who serves as chair of both the California Legislative Black Caucus and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety, joined the governor and other state leaders calling on the federal government to lend California a helping hand. As the Governor said, what we are facing is unprecedented, said Weber. Fortunately, the Legislature has worked to reduce the impact through investing in reserves and a rainy-day fund. We will, however, need the help of the Federal government and the passage of the HEROES Act to ensure that we get back on a more secure footing to recover from the economic impacts of COVID. The aid efforts for essential workers and testing included in the HEROES Act would proportionally affect more Black Americans, as studies have shown that Black people are more likely to be essential workers, and more likely to live in urban areas hit hard by the virus. ADVERTISEMENT The Congressional Black Caucus championed the concerns of Black households and businesses, sending out a press release that outlined a proposal submitted to House and Senate leadership on April 29. The proposal includes policies to safeguard social safety net benefits; keep Black businesses afloat; support students and educational institutions; address health care inequities; strengthen infrastructure in the Black community; protect Black farmers; keep people in their homes; ensure incarcerated individuals are protected; and much more, the Congressional Black Caucus press release reads. The Western States Pact a regional coalition that includes California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Nevada sent a letter to Congress asking for $1 trillion in state and local government aid on May 11. The California Labor Federation, California State Association of Counties, League of Cities and California Travel and Tourism Coalition have also endorsed the HEROES Act for its inclusion of state and local government aid. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters May 12 that Republicans will insist on narrowly targeted legislations and that theres no urgency to pass any COVID-19 relief bill any time soon. President Donald Trump commented that theres no rush to pass another bill. Republicans in the California legislature have also expressed skepticism about the governors budget plan. While additional federal assistance can help cover some of the deficit, expecting Uncle Sam to come to the rescue is wishful thinking, said Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel). Raising taxes makes no sense when many families and businesses have significantly less income to live with. That is why a final 2020-21 budget must help support a safe reopening of the states entire economy. Workers and businesses cannot earn income and pay taxes if our economy continues to be in an induced coma, she said. Assemblymember Weber said even though California is asking for federal aid, the states legislators still have the responsibility to find solutions that work for Californians, especially those hit hardest by the pandemic. Lets be clear; we are not absolved of having a vision for the state. We must strive for a recovery, but we have to ask what that recovery will mean, she said. Before this crisis hit, we had communities underserved by the healthcare system, ignored by the education system, and robbed of economic opportunity. All of this is underscored by the disproportionate impact of COVID on these communities. The National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Samuel Awuku has called on some political factions and opposition parties to join the country to celebrate over the Coronavirus recoveries rather than praying for more deaths tolls. According to him, these parties are wishing that the sitting government fails in its fight against the Coronavirus pandemic to suit their propaganda purposes. The National Organizer of the NPP made this comment in an interview on Happy 98.9 FMs Epa Hoa Daben political talk show with Afrifa-Mensah. We have recorded an excess of 5000 cases of COVID-19 with more recoveries and really low deaths but some political factions are not glad about the recoveries. They are just excited over the deaths. When speaking about the sitting governments efforts in the COVID-19 fight, he acknowledged that the government had done extremely well. The government has done a great job in the fight against COVID-19 especially with educating the public. He advised Ghanaians to treat the COVID-19 pandemic with all seriousness. The virus is not a myth and the statistics we see on our television sets are not telling us the time. They represent human lives. As at today, Ghana has recorded 6,096 COVID-19 cases with a total of 31 deaths. Number of persons who have recovered from the virus are pegged at 1,773 people with 4,292 active cases. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An accused paedophile has been taken into custody after grooming detectives who were posing to be a 14-year-old girl online. The 49-year-old man was arrested at a home in Moruya on the New South Wales far south coast on Wednesday morning. Detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squads Child Exploitation Internet Unit had been speaking with the man online since September 2019. The man thought he was chatting with a 14-year-old girl, with police alleging he engaged in sexually explicit conversations about acts he wished to perform on the child. Police have arrested a suspected paedophile (pictured) in Moruya on the New South Wales far south coast The man had sent sexually explicit material to officers from Strike Force Trawler over their seven month investigation. Police searched the Moruya home after the man's arrest and seized a rifle, ammunition, a mobile phone and a laptop. The man was charged with using a carriage service to groom a child under 16 years for sex at Batemans Bay Police Station. His other charges include possess unregistered firearm, possess ammunition without holding a permit, not keep firearm safely and possess unauthorised firearm. The man was refused bail and will appear in Wollongong Local Court via video link on Thursday. Strike Force Trawler is a group from the Sex Crime Squads Child Exploitation Internet Unit who investigate the sexual abuse and exploitation of children facilitated through the internet. Mmusi Maimane, the chief activist of 'One South Africa' Movement (OSA), recently launched its digital platform to connect and engage with South Africans through these unprecedented times. Mmusi Maimane, the chief activist of One South Africa Movement Can you tell us a bit about the One South Africa Movement? OSA has built a network across the continent with parties endorsing the movement firstly from IDU, which is a global association of parties such as the CDU in Germany, the Conservatives in London and MDC in Zimbabwe. We are building a pan African view that will seek to make Africa the biggest success story of the next decade. How did the idea come about? What is the core purpose of the One South Africa movement? The launch of this digital platform comes at a critical time when all South Africans, beyond different racial, social and religious backgrounds, should be uniting in our effort to defeat Covid-19 and its devasting socio-economic effects. Dumelang bagaetsho. The @OneSA_Movement is working hard in the fight agaisnt #Covid_19. We are coordinating our interventions on the https://t.co/Wjs26c8L9S website which is going live today, along with an accompanying app available on Android and iOS. pic.twitter.com/Fsa0ZrnnMt Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) April 17, 2020 What sort of challenges have you encountered since starting out? We see ourselves as a startup in the social movement space. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs? What is a challenge that you are facing as a result of Covid-19? We have had to accelerate our digital brand building and rely heavily on our internet infrastructure. However, that has forced me to increase my interaction on social media, to listen to young people and understand how to be relevant on these platforms. What will the next six months be like for small businesses? This is going to be a time which many will have to pivot and consider new business models for this new economy. Whats your biggest lesson from all this? We as humans are more resilient than we often realise. I have learnt that there is a lot of kindness and goodwill amongst the people of South Africa, many came together to help provide sanitizers for poor communities, to provide food and to make sure that PPE was available to many who fell on the sidelines. Where would you like to see One South Africa movement in the future? Maimane shares the story of the app that features live news and manifesto updates, team and volunteer management, sponsorship, contributions and crowdfunding capabilities, powered with a social connection.Currently, South Africa is a nation split into two halves - the haves and the have nots. One South Africa is an activist movement founded in 2020 with the intention of creating a platform for activists around the country to come together to build One South Africa that is truly just and fair.Politics, as usual, has failed South Africa. South Africa is more divided than ever. Having served as the leader of opposition in Parliament and the leader of the Democratic Alliance, I realised that there had to be another way of doing civic engagement, of democracy-building - a more consultative and engaged way. Politics is broken and its time we fixed. I brought together a few like-minded people and that's how the journey began.The idea behind the movement is to close the divide in South Africa through coordinated activism, advocacy and accountability. We recognise and have experienced that the political system is broken and offers no real voice to South Africans - especially the poor and vulnerable. We seek to change that and put the power back in the hands of the people.The digital platform will first and foremost be utilized to bring individuals, companies and communities together in finding solutions to the effects of Covid-19, including the Movements #TogetherWeCanWin campaign to source and distribute food packages and hand sanitizer to our most vulnerable communities.The lockdown has certainly been a hurdle in everyones lives, including ours at OSA. We would have liked to be in communities organising people, identifying any challenges and targeting them in real-time.A non-Covid-19 related challenge is getting people to understand this new idea and accept it. The movement concept is not common in the South African landscape and we have a lot of work to do in selling the concept to the people.Take the time to listen and consult with potential customers to make sure that your idea is valuable and make sure that you build something that has value to the market. If you build a great product (be it physical or digital) the people and funding will come.Look at all avenues when pursuing your dreams and collaborate with the right partners. Our partnership with community app development agency, PeppaComm, for example, has brought my dream of having a One South Africa Movement app to fruition.As mentioned before, the lockdown has been a hurdle in our lives as we would like to have been in communities and targeting challenges in real-time - most activism is done on the ground by interacting with communities.It is going to be an uphill climb for many small businesses that are in sectors directly affected by the lockdown. Those who invested in businesses, like Airbnb for example, have been hard-hit and its going to be a slow rebuilding process.If indeed we will have this virus in our societies for over one-year, small businesses will have to get ultra-lean, they will also have to be more involved in political advocacy for support from the state.I have learnt to be adaptable on the go, learning how to master digital platforms, learning how to coordinate and manage digitally.I would like One South Africa to be a lasting brand and a disruptive force in South Africa. To genuinely make an impact in peoples everyday lives, to be an entity that has mass support in South Africa and that has a lifespan of decades.There are so many abandoned dreams and hopes in our country. I would like for the One South Africa movement to restore those dreams, to realize them. To be credited for having made South Africa better, more united. The Rebecca Foundation in collaboration with CBI Ghana Limited has donated a thousand (1000 )bags of Cement to the Hairdressers and Beauticians Association to help build a Hairdressing school at Ashalaja Denhyira in the Greater Accra Region. The donation was in response to a request made by the Association to the Executive Director of the Rebecca Foundation, Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo during the 10th Annual Salon Academy, 2020 in January. The donation was presented to the Association by the Press Aide to the First Lady, Mr. Richard Darko and the Managing Director for CBI Ghana Limited, Frederick Albrecht. Speaking at the donation ceremony, the Managing Director of CBI Ghana Limited, Frederic Albrecht expressed his joy at the collaboration between CBI Ghana Limited and the Rebecca Foundation. I am glad to be part of this wonderful donation and I know it will go a long way to help this wonderful ambition to build a school for the future, he said. Meanwhile, the National President of the Hairdressers and Beauticians Association, Mrs Lamptey who received the donation on behalf of the Association thanked the First Lady and CBI Ghana Limited for their kind gesture. "I want to express my heart felt gratitude to the First lady, Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo- Addo and CBI Ghana Limited. I must say we are truly grateful and God richly bless you all, she emphasised. Oakland Photo: Natalye R./Yelp Here's everything you need to know about Oakland's food and drink scene this week. In this edition: Shafter is getting a new empanada spot, a longstanding nightclub loses its lease downtown, and a popular cafe-bakery closes all its locations, including in Oakland. Opening Shafter 9 Julio Empanada Kitchen (5239 Claremont Ave.) Photo: Albertino M./Hoodline Tipline Hoodline's veteran tipster Al M. alerts us that 9 Julio, an Oakland-based company specializing in empanadas, is preparing to open its first brick-and-mortar location. The empanada shop will be housed on the ground floor of the Idora Apartments complex, near the DMV and UCSF Children's Hospital. Named for the date of Argentina's independence, 9 Julio specializes in creative empanada flavors like chorizo and potato, chimichurri beef and Jamaican beef with yellow curry. Sweet empanadas, salads and alfajores (Argentine sandwich cookies) round out the menu. Owner Erica Sanders, a Bay Area native who previously worked in the packaged-food industry, raised $10,000 on Kiva to help open the restaurant. She's also built her business through catering and appearances at farmers markets. According to a sign on its doors, 9 Julio was set to open this winter; it's unclear how the coronavirus pandemic impacted its plans. We reached out to Sanders for more information on an opening date, but did not receive a response. Closed Downtown Stork Club (2330 Telegraph Ave.) Photo: Porsche C./Yelp Berkeleyside reporter Darwin BondGraham broke the news on Twitter that long-standing dive bar and music venue Stork Club is closing. "Well folks ... that's it ... end of an era and another nail in the coffin of rock 'n' roll," the bar wrote on Facebook, alongside photos of the staff clearing out the space. On Twitter, BondGraham said manager Tom Chittock told him that the club could no longer afford its rent after two months of no customers. However, he plans to look for a new location for the club, which has operated on Telegraph Avenue for decades. Story continues Specialty's Cafe & Bakery (555 12th St. & 155 Grand Ave.) PHOTO: ALBERTINO M./HOODLINE TIPLINE Specialty's Cafe & Bakery is synonymous with downtown offices, thanks to a menu of sandwiches, salads and its signature giant cookies. But with the entire Bay Area working from home, the Pleasanton-based local chain has gone belly-up. In a statement on its website, Specialty's says that "current market conditions attributed to COVID-19 and shelter-in-place policies have decimated company revenues." The Chronicle reports that the company's closure will leave 1,400 people out of work, including all the employees at its two downtown Oakland locations. As a final goodbye gesture, the company gave away its remaining boxes of frozen cookie dough at its warehouse in Redwood City this morning. The dough disappeared in just two hours. "We sincerely thank you for your business and support over the years," its statement concludes. Thanks to Al M.! Have you noticed a new addition to (or subtraction from) Oakland's food landscape? Text a tip and a horizontal photo to (415) 200-3233, and we'll look into it. The Edo State Government has reacted to a story circulating on social media that a Dangote truck was arrested recently in the state for conveying arms and ammunition. One Tim U McAbel on Wednesday posted on Facebook an undated video of some officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) supervising the offloading of bags of items from a truck belonging to Dangote Ltd. Tim U McAbel said of the video, Dangote truck carrying was stopped by Edo youths its becoming clearer, even though there was no arm or ammunition shown in any part of the video which is about four minutes long. The video has had more than 2000 shares and viewed more than 25,000 times as of Thursday. The Edo state government on Thursday said the video was fake and misleading. No Dangote truck was at any time impounded for carrying ammunition in Edo State, Governor Godwin Obasekis spokesperson, Crusoe Osagie, said in a statement on Thursday. The Commander of NDLEA, Edo State, Buba Wakawa, stated that the truck in the said video was one impounded by his men in 2016, where the driver was found to have connived with some persons to transport cannabis. No arm or ammunition was impounded in that exercise in 2016. The driver involved in that incident has since been tried at the High Court in Benin and jailed. The company, Dangote Industries Limited, was found not to have played any role in the crime and the truck has since been returned to the company. The statement quoted the NDLEA chief as saying that Dangote has been consistent in warning its drivers against carrying any product other than Dangotes and that members of the public have been urged to report erring drivers. This statement covers Suggest Media and any associated content including email and RSS feeds. Please read this statement carefully before proceeding to access any of suggest.com. Your use of Suggest Media indicates your agreement to abide by the Terms in effect. 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Three Lawrence Township police officers were charged Thursday with falsifying government records after an internal affairs investigation revealed that they intentionally lied about where they were, authorities said. Officers Hector Nieves, 44, Liubove Bjorklund, 32, and Timothy Wallace, 28, were all suspended without pay, according to a release from the Mercer County Prosecutors Office. Nieves and Bjorklund were also charged with violating Governor Phil Murphys Executive Order No. 118 which closed all state parks and forests and county parks during the coronavirus pandemic. The executive order was rescinded earlier this month. The prosecutors office was contacted by the police department earlier this month after an investigation regarding allegations of deceptive conduct and falsification of records, the office said. The investigation found Nieves falsely documented his location in computer aided dispatch (CAD) 19 times between March 21, 2020 and May 11, 2020 and that he violated the executive order by entering the New Jersey Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park in Princeton on April 23, 2020 for a purpose unrelated to any official function or capacity, prosecutors said. He also altered the view of the camera is his police car on multiple occasions" so that it would not show him covertly meeting with an off-duty female police officer, the office alleged. In one incident, the cameras position was altered so that it would not record Nieves and the off-duty officer meeting or entering the closed park. Bjorklund was charged with falsifying her location in meal break calls for service (CFS) documents 11 times between March 20 and May 4, authorities said. She also allegedly violated the executive order by entering the New Jersey Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park on April 23, 2020, for a purpose unrelated to any official function or capacity, the office said. It was unclear if Bjorklund was the off-duty female officer Nieves allegedly met with on April 23 as a prosecutors office spokeswoman could not immediately be reached to clarify the charges. Wallace was charged with falsely logging his location in a CAD record on May 4, 2020. The three officers were served with summons complaints on Thursday morning. Nieves lawyer, Charles Sciarra, defended the officer and called the charges complete crap. These charges are complete crap manufactured by a corrupt police department targeting whistleblowers who exposed their corrupt quota practices," Sciarra said in a statement. "The other two officers are collateral damage. Nieves is not guilty and will fight these charges. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. One of two brothers shot by police at a Victorian campground threatened to behead officers and said he wanted to become a martyr. Footage played to a Melbourne court shows 19-year-old Joel Clavell being shot while charging at police with an axe on June 12 last year. His older brother, Joshua Clavell, was also shot after ramming a police car and running at officers with a knife at the Barnawartha North campground. Joel Clavell called police 'dogs' and 'mutts', said he wanted them to drop their guns so he could chop their heads off and become a martyr. Joshua (left), 30, and Joel Clavell (right), 19, were shot by counter-terror police near Richardsons Bend Camping Ground, west of Wodonga on the border between Victoria and New South Wales in June 2019 Joshua Clavell (pictured) was on a terror watch list for two years and 'had a very strong hatred of the police' 'You're in an outback area. This is not how you're going to be a martyr mate,' one officer told him in body-worn footage released by the County Court of Victoria on Thursday. 'Your brother's already down. 'We don't want to shoot.' The men had been at the Barnawartha North camp for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, Joel Clavell's lawyer Mel Walker said. Counter Terrorism Command and the Victorian police attempted to intercept a vehicle containing the two men on Old Barnawartha Road Joshua Clavell, 31, was wanted on a warrant for breaching a community correction order. Police spotted the brothers in a car at a nearby Barnawartha North service station and followed it. Counter-terror officers were involved in the stand-off, but there was no evidence it was motivated by religious ideology. 'It doesn't need to be extremist in a terrorism sense for me to be concerned about retribution to police ... animosity towards police,' Judge Martine Marich said of the younger brother. Joel Clavell distrusted police after his father, Rodney Clavell, shot himself during a 12-hour siege at an Adelaide brothel in 2014. The now-20-year-old admitted this contributed to the campground confrontation. When police approached, Joshua moved towards them and was shot. Police then attempted to negotiate with his younger brother but he refused. He was sprayed with capsicum spray and tasered but when neither of these methods had any effect, the police also shot him Both brothers were Muslim converts who became radicalised by extremist ideology while serving time in prison He has pleaded guilty to four counts of assaulting an emergency worker on duty and three of making threats to kill. 'But for him being with his brother ... he wouldn't have come across police in this context,' his lawyer Mel Walker said. He hit his head hard when Joshua Clavell rammed the police car, and later said he didn't remember saying he wanted to be a martyr or threatening to behead officers. 'But for the tourniquet being put on his leg, he was dead,' Ms Walker said. Their father, Rodney Clavell (pictured), a former prison officer, held four women hostage at an Adelaide brothel during a 12-hour stand-off with police before killing himself in 2014 South Australian police stand guard during a siege involving fugitive Rodney Clavell in 2014 A woman, who was believed to be a hostage (centre) is helped by South Australian police after being released during a siege in 2014 She asked he be sentenced to time already served in custody and then placed on a community correction order. Judge Marich said the seriousness of his crimes weighed against this. Joshua Clavell has admitted to exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving and assaulting an emergency worker on duty. He told police he didn't know they had been looking for him that day. He said he rammed the unmarked car because he didn't know it was a police vehicle, and didn't realise the plain clothes member pointing the gun at him was a police officer. He will undergo a psychiatric assessment before the brothers return to court on June 15. LOBAMBA- League of Churches President Bishop Samson Hlatjwako is of the impression that Members of Parliament have turned against the church during the COVID-19 pandemic. This follows a stance taken by MPs concerning the number of people allowed in churches amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Ideally, when the country went on a partial lockdown, government allowed 50 people in churches and in any gatherings, including funerals and weddings. However, considering the seriousness of the pandemic, government reduced the number to 20. This lasted until the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, eased the partial lockdown to open the economy. The premier allowed more businesses to operate with the intent to resuscitate the economy. Allowed The Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Princess Lindiwe, met with church leaders to discuss the number of people who could be allowed during a service. The minister met with the League of Churches, Conference of Churches and the Council of Churches to discuss the issue. A consensus from the meeting was that the number of people in churches should increase to 70 per cent of the church capacity. The clergymen agreed that the percentage would be informed by the holding capacity of the churches. An announcement was made to that effect; however, there was another announcement which stated that the number of people in churches should be 70. This came with mixed feelings to the nation. Some welcomed the idea while others raised their doubts. MPs had an urgent sitting where they debated the issue before reversing the decision announced by the minister. Interestingly, the premier told MPs that the decision on churches was taken by Cabinet collectively. The legislators unanimously agreed that the number of people in churches should go back to 20 as the numbers of infected people were increasing. When asked about the current stance, Hlatjwako thanked the premier for affording the church an opportunity to meet the ministry concerning the number of people allowed in churches. The bishop said it was the church leaders decision that the number of congregants should increase to 70 per cent. The man of God said their decision was informed by the fact that churches served as therapy centres when most people had challenge. He said even now, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the church had a major role to play. He made an example that churches were giving hope to the people who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic. He said they were also giving hope to those who had tested positive for the virus. The man of God said churches were well informed about the precautionary measures and were ready to comply. Amendments Our government is at liberty to make amendments and we are ready to accept them. We will accept whatever decision from the government, he said. However, the man of God was quick to state that they were not happy in the manner the issue of churches was dealt with in Parliament. He stated that MPs did not consider the churchs position yet they (church leaders) had reasons when they came up with the percentage. He stated that the 70 per cent was good for churches. An investigation carried out by this publication revealed that some churches had a capacity of about 4 000 in the country. This means that the church could accomodate 2 800 people if the 70 per cent was allowed. Some churches have a capacity of 500 people, which means these could accomodate 350 people if 70 per cent was to be allowed. I believe about 90 per cent of the legislators are believers and God-fearing people. We were hoping that the MPs will represent the churches, but they seemed to have turned against us. Taxes They said churches do not pay taxes and you wonder what they are talking about. Are they referring to the buildings? asked Hlatjwako. He said the fact that Christians bought from shops meant that they supported the economy. The man of God also wondered why the legislators considered legalising dagga, but had other things to say about the church. Meanwhile, Father B. Magongo stated that churches rendered essential services in Eswatini as they remained the strongest pillar of the country. Magongo lamented those who still doubted the importance of churches. According to Magongo, the country should avail more prayer opportunities in the country. He thanked Their Majesties for observing the importance of prayer in the country. We are marching with Jesus today, it doesnt matter that we are faced with challenges. The country has gone far with prayer. We pray for the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has a mandate to fulfil the dream of the Their Majesties. As Jesus ascends to Heaven today, He will be the King of all people including emaSwati, said Magongo. Larry Aubry: A Social Justice Warrior Remembered Veteran Sentinel columnist spent decades advocating for civil rights for African Americans LA Sentinel veteran columnist, Larry Aubry has passed. No one can deny that Larry was an uncompromising, relentless, no-holds-barred warrior for social justice. For decades, he fought to improve conditions for African Americans in Los Angeles, but other minorities such as Latinos and Koreans also benefitted from his strident advocacy for equal rights. Aubrys beliefs were likely nurtured during his early childhood in New Orleans, Louisiana, and further instilled when he and other Black students integrated L.A.s Fremont High School in the late 1940s. His commitment to the cause continued when he served in the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s and firmly cemented by the time he graduated from UCLA in 1959. So, when he was appointed to the L.A. County Human Relations Commission in 1967, it was a platform for his passion for social justice and opportunity to elevate the topic on a broader scale. ADVERTISEMENT He informed thousands of people through his column, Urban Perspective, which ran in the L.A. Sentinel for nearly 40 years, and through his activism with organizations such as the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Also, he was vice president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute and on the founding committee of the Black Workers Center. My father was a great activist and champion for Black people, which by definition, makes him a great humanitarian, explained his daughter, Erin Aubry Kaplan. He refused to bend to a popular belief that Black justice was too narrow or too polarizing, that it had to take a back seat to other kinds of justice, that its time had passed; he knew better, he stood firm, and history caught up with him. His son, Mark Arhomuz Aubry, had a similar assessment, noting, My father was called to action on behalf of Black people. He had such love and compassion for Black people and really wanted them to have a better life. The indelible mark that Aubry left was affirmed by the countless tributes issued to mark his passing on May 16, at the age of 86. L.A. City Councilmembers Herb J. Wesson, Curren Price, Jr., and Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who sponsored a motion on May 19 to adjourn the council meeting in Aubrys memory, reminisced about his leadership on the Black political scene. Also, several of his fellow activists, former colleagues and longtime friends, shared insight about Aubrys impact on their lives. Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., Sentinel executive publisher, knew Aubry for years and worked closely with him on several civil rights campaigns. Expressing his thoughts, Bakewell said, I cannot say enough about Larry. I worked with him on numerous issues facing our community, both during my time as president of the Brotherhood Crusade and here at the Sentinel. Larry was a friend;, he was dedicated and uncompromising when it came to uplifting and fighting for the betterment and quality of life for African Americans here in Los Angeles and throughout the nation. Larry was not only dedicated to our people, but he was also a loyal columnist and supporter of the Black Press, and in particular, the Los Angeles Sentinel. His weekly column and the passion in which he wrote about the needs, issues and circumstances of our community was one of the cornerstones in making the Sentinel the number one newspaper here in Los Angeles and throughout the nation. We will all miss Larry and our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family. Dr. Maulana Karenga, chair of the Department of Africana Studies at CSU Long Beach and executive director of the African American Cultural Center (Us), imparted another eloquent reflection describing Aubrys death as a great and irreplaceable loss to our community and our ongoing struggle for racial and social justice. Larry Aubry leaves an awesome lifetime legacy of service, institution building and struggle. ADVERTISEMENT Larry and I worked together over the years as friends, cooperating leaders, co-chairs, co-workers and co-combatants in the struggle, said Karenga. We had known each other since the 1960s, when he was executive director of OIC (Opportunities Industrialization Center) and I served on the board for him as chair of my organization, Us. Most recently, we worked together to found and build the Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance, where we served together as co-chairs until his passing. As a community leader, he saw leadership as a moral vocation and acted accordingly, Karenga said. Aubrys unwavering dedication to social justice inspired those who worked with him at the Sentinel as well. Former L.A. City Councilmember Robert Farrell, who later served as Sentinel political editor, recalled Aubrys activism and popularity from an early age. In the more than 60 years that I have known Larry Aubry, he has been involved in activities to better the quality of our lives and that of others here, throughout America and the Diaspora. He was unapologetically Black, and active in the leadership of many of our community organizations, noted Farrell. There is no one who is anybody that he did not know, or knew about him. Larry Aubry addressed challenges to our community and assisted in the growth and development of our current and future political and cultural leaders. His mission was focused breaking down barriers that prevent Black people from obtaining what they deserve, and encouraging them to be their best selves. His rich legacy is a life of advocacy and activism, a job well done. Kathy Williamson, communications director for Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson and former Sentinel managing editor, remembered, Larry Aubry was a consummate journalist and a dedicated activist. His columns were perfect storms of passion and facts. When he put pen to paper, it was to expose injustice and institutionalized racism. Larry took no hostages. He seamlessly merged institutional knowledge with current affairs. His thirst to share information and his drive to elevate Black lives was inspirational. Larry will be sorely missed. James Bolden, public information officer for the L.A. County Department of Social Service and another former Sentinel managing editor, insisted, Larry Aubry never backed down on an issue important to the Black community. He was real the fearless columnist who not always gave the Black community what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to know. David G. Brown, Sentinel political cartoonist, simply stated, Larry was an inspirational educator, writer and civil rights advocate! I am honored to have known and worked with him. Aubry left positive impressions on others throughout his life. Born in New Orleans on Oct. 5, 1933, he and his family relocated to Los Angeles in 1942. According to Farrell, Aubry proudly called himself an Eastside Boy, a designation that referred to his upbringing on the Eastside, a primarily Black neighborhood in South Central L.A. that developed around Central Avenue. After graduation from Fremont High School in 1950, Aubry served in the Air Force before attending Xavier University, followed by UCLA, where he earned a degree in psychology. Later, he completed graduate studies in public administration at USC and worked as a county probation officer. When Aubry was later named to L.A. County Human Relations Commission, he was already heavily involved with several grass-roots organizations, including the Black Latino Roundtable, the Black Korean Alliance and the Multicultural Collaborative. Also, Aubrys focus on equality in education was enhanced by his role as vice president and education chair of the NAACP L.A. Branch as well his serving two terms on the Inglewood Unified School District Board. In addition, Aubry was a co-founder of other social justice groups. Following the Devin Brown shooting in 2005, he helped start the Community Call to Action and Accountability (CCAA), a prototype of Black Lives Matter, which he also supported. Aubry also played a part in establishing the Black Community Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA), a group that fostered unity among people working for racial justice, and the Advocates for Black Strategic Alternatives (ABSA), a policy discussion group. Larry was also a jazz aficionado who played the trumpet professionally (jazz and symphonic) as a young man and continued playing for much of his life. To rightly remember and honor Larry Aubry is to recognize and appreciate the long-length and variedness of his service for the good, the depth of his love for his people, and his uncompromising commitment to their struggle for liberation and racial and social justice, added Karenga. It is also to appreciate his commitment to his family and how he linked family and community and his obligations to both. Larry Aubry will be greatly missed and will always serve as a model and mirror of dedication, discipline, sacrifice and honored achievement. Aubry was married for 64 years to his wife, Gloria. They have five children: Mark Arhomuz, Kelly, Kris, Erin and Heather. Also, six grandchildren, as well as a large extended family of nieces, nephews and cousins survive him. Condolences may be emailed and the family contacted at [email protected] Insurance is a business that has a great combination of the emotional side, because youre working with people, and at the end of the day, youre helping them, he says. But then theres a whole technical side to it, which is very interesting. Verma enjoyed insurance so much that he wanted to go beyond advising clients and put his recommendations into action at an insurance company. In 2007, he found the opportunity to do so at Zurich, where he started out as head of strategy for specialty products before transitioning to roles ranging from finance to underwriting and eventually general management. Along the way, Verma realized that every industry is in some way touched by insurance, which further increased his passion. He was also introduced to Crawford & Company, where Zurich was a client. After 10 years at Zurich, Verma had the opportunity to work for the claims management giant, taking on the role of global COO in 2017. I was excited about [the role] because I felt that the claims space was truly poised for transformation, he says. The opportunity to lead a global organization was something that I felt would be extremely exciting to do and three years into it, I feel every bit of that excitement. In May, Vermas ascent at Crawford & Company continued when he was named CEO. Innovative at heart The past three years have been full of change for Crawford & Company. The company has shifted its structure, transforming from a geographic-based organization to one centered around service lines so it can go beyond claims to serve as a well-rounded advisor to clients. Crawford & Company has also evolved into a truly global organization, Verma says, and has defined its mission to restore and enhance lives, businesses, and communities. Its been an all-around transformation a cultural transformation, an organizational transformation, a transformation of our go-to market and a transformation of how we build businesses, he says. Innovation has been at the heart of this evolution, and every step the organization has taken has been with clients in mind. The leadership team injects innovation at two levels. The first is innovation that makes the company stronger, such as using robotic process automation and artificial intelligence to make internal processes more efficient. The second level of innovation is one that creates better outcomes for clients, seen in part through the companys 2017 acquisition of WeGoLook, an on-demand field services provider powered by thousands of independent contractors. Crawford & Company is also working on a new digital first notice of loss (FNOL) capability that will allow its teams to receive an FNOL from anywhere, whether thats a car with a telematics device or a home with a connected sensor. This means that we will know when one of our clients is having a claim even before the client themselves knows, Verma says. Other innovations include the use of 3D imaging to document and visualize losses, allowing team members to put on virtual reality goggles and walk through a 3D rendering of a site. In addition, the companys Total Property Solution ensures that the most efficient path is always used to handle a claim by analyzing each claim and routing it through one of three processes based on complexity, while also monitoring the claim as it progresses to ensure timely and accurate resolution. We believe that through this process, not only can we save about 20% to 30% of loss adjusting expense for our clients, Verma says, but most importantly, we can make the experience for the policyholder better and the speed of settlement a lot faster. Looking to the future When Verma looks at 2020 and beyond, he sees more innovation on the horizon for Crawford & Company, as well as the continued expansion of its capabilities and geographic footprint. He also sees the companys experts driving thought leadership initiatives and providing crucial resources to clients around the world as they navigate the challenges facing their respective industries. This is especially important as the so-called silver tsunami hits the insurance industry and experts with decades of knowledge retire, which will require companies to change with the times and not leave vital expertise behind. Were one of the oldest loss adjusting firms and TPAs in the world, Verma says, and were proud of our tradition, were proud of our legacy, but were also transforming ourselves to be a lot more forward-looking by using our experience and learning from the past as opposed to being rooted and not changing. The need for innovation will only grow as emerging risks impact insureds around the globe. The world is getting more complicated, and anytime something gets more complicated, the risks increase, Verma says, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of a pertinent risk. Were an organization that has the global presence, that has 79 years under its belt and is the largest publicly traded [claims management] company today. We are best positioned to assist our clients in building capabilities and helping them with these emerging risks. The World Bank on Thursday approved a record $500 million in grants and low-interest loans to help countries in Africa and the Middle East fight swarms of desert locusts that are eating their way across vast swaths of crops and rangelands. Four of the hardest-hit countries - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - will receive $160 million immediately, Holger Kray, a senior World Bank official, told Reuters. He said Yemen, Somalia and other affected countries could tap funds as needed. "The Horn of Africa finds itself at the epicenter of the worst locust outbreak we have seen in a generation, most probably in more than a generation," he said, noting the new coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the crisis. Locust swarms have infested 23 countries across East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the biggest outbreak in 70 years, the World Bank said. It threatens food supplies in East Africa where nearly 23 million people are facing food shortages. The World Bank estimates the Horn of Africa region could suffer up to $8.5 billion in damage to crop and livestock production by year-end without broad measures to reduce locust populations and prevent their spread. Even with the measures, losses could be as high as $2.5 billion, it said. Desert locusts can travel up to 150 km (95 miles) a day, sometimes in swarms as large as 250 km (155.34 miles) across, eating their own body weight in greenery. In Kenya, the locusts are eating in one day the amount of food consumed by all Kenyans in two days, Kray said. The new World Bank program will help farmers, herders and rural households by providing fertilizer and seeds for new crops, and cash transfers to pay for food for people and livestock. It will also fund investments to strengthen surveillance and early warning systems to make the region more resilient over the medium- to longer-term, Kray said. The governor will make a formal request to open the parks North and West gates early next week, his office stated. Park Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a Thursday press release, The decision to reopen Yellowstone is not and has not been a unilateral decision. These decisions are being made in close concert with our state and local partners, including health officials, and with support from the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. We have implemented a reopening plan that is limited in nature. It gives us time to observe and make adjustments, expand operations if conditions are favorable, and contract them if they are not. We welcome realistic feedback on how we can continue improving our reopening strategy while working together to maintain the safety for our employees and visitors. Keeping Yellowstone closed is not a viable strategy. Visitation through the first three days of the parks operations was 90% of normal through the East Entrance (near Cody, Wyoming) and approximately 60% of normal through the South Entrance (near Jackson, Wyoming), according to a Park Service press release. Vehicle counts per day are broken down below. The park expects traffic and visitation levels to grow over the Memorial Day Weekend. The spread of Covid-19 did not prevent Russian occupant authorities in Crimea from holding another military draft for Russia's armed forces Open source Ukraine's Foreign Ministry discusses situation with human rights violation in the annexed Crimea, which continues to deteriorate, taking into account the spreading coronavirus. This is mentioned in the message of the press office of Ukraine's Foreign Ministry. "In spite of its healthcare protection commitments that it undertook as an occupant state (...), the Russian Federation uses sharpening of humanitarian situation as a smokescreen exclusively for further assault on rights and freedoms of Crimeans", reads the message. The authority points out that the spread of the pandemic did not prevent Russian occupant authorities in Crimea from holding another military draft for Russia's armed forces. This, according to the Ukrainian side, is a war crime. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry claimed that Russia blocks due and free access for internartional missions in Crimea. The Russian government has not yet commented on Ukraine's statement. Earlier, the "head" of the occupation authorities of the annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, said that there were more people infected with COVID-19 than it had been detected officially, Krym.Realii reported. According to Aksenov, only those who have obvious symptoms of SARS, influenza, and pneumonia are tested for coronavirus. Photo: Unsplash/Charles Deluvio TELUS and Tom Harris Cellular has announced their plans to donate 600 smartphones to the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia. These phones will provide women who are facing violence with a crucial lifeline, to allow them to stay connected with local anti-violence service providers. These service providers can assess risk and develop safety plans for those who need it. Gender-based violence increases during disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic in all forms. A phone is a critical tool for those facing violence to help them communicate with advocates and first responders, says EVA BC executive director Tracy Porteous. This donation could not have come at a more crucial time. Domestic and sexual violence has increased by 20 to 30 per cent in some areas of Canada since COVID-19 began, according to the federal government. A cell phone can be a lifeline for someone experiencing domestic violence because it allows them to call 911 or to connect with friends, family, and professionals for help, says Sgt. Mike Darling, Regional Domestic Violence Unit (Capital Regional District). Social and physical isolation is a common tactic used by abusers, but a cell phone allows a woman to feel safer and minimizes the feelings of being alone. StatsCan reports that being forced to live in close quarters related to self isolation and social distancing could increase domestic and sexual violence cases. The report suggests that women and children are at a higher risk of gender-based violence. The value of the activated smartphones is approximately $700,000. In a statement issued Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis defended the firing of Rebekah Jones, the scientist who created the coronavirus tracking database for the state. I dont know who she is, DeSantis said. He then said he considered Jones warnings that his administration was manipulating coronavirus case counts to prematurely reopen a nonissue. Rebekah Jones told Florida Today on Monday that she had been fired the previous week after having developed the database used by the Florida Department of Health for the past two months. In a letter about her removal, she declared, As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months. She continued, After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it. In further comments made to the CBS12 television station in West Palm Beach, Jones stated unequivocally that her removal was because she refused to manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen. A close look at this chart from the Georgia Department of Public Health (which has since been corrected) reveals that the data was not presented linearly in time, creating the illusion that the number of new cases was decreasing the state during the last week of April and first week of May. The story of Jones firing broke as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US neared 1.6 million and the number of deaths approached 100,000. There are 47,000 cases and just under 2,100 deaths in Florida alone, with more than 500 new cases each day. Other major hot spots for the pandemic in the US include Maryland, Illinois, Virginia and Texas. On Saturday, Texas recorded its highest one-day rise in cases since the beginning of the pandemic. In Texas, hundreds of workers at a Tyson Foods plant in Sherman have tested positive for COVID-19 and at least one worker has died. The governors office justified its actions by claiming that Jones displayed insubordination and blatant disrespect for her colleagues. As such, they felt that it was best to terminate her employment. Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo said, Allegations that Floridas government may have tried to manipulate or alter data to make reopening appear safer are outrageous. Rizzo added that such actions would be considered criminal. Neither the state Republicans nor Democrats have responded to the dangers of the pandemic itself, which has seen a steady increase in the number of cases in the state since Floridas reopening on May 4. Despite this, major attractions such as Disney Springs, a section of the Walt Disney World Resort, are now open to the public. A different type of data suppression has occurred in neighboring Georgia. A bar chart found on the Department of Public Healths website appears to show that the number of new confirmed cases has steadily decreased in five counties over the course of 15 days. The chart ranges from April 28, just after the state began to reopen, through May 9. A closer inspection of the chart, however, reveals that the data is not displayed in chronological order, and the counties are not presented in the same order for each day. This creates the illusion that the number of COVID-19 cases in the state is falling off very quickly. Georgia Department of Public Health spokesperson Nancy Nydam has since attempted to claim that the issue was incorrect sorting logic, which somehow ignored both the order in which the counties were displayed and time itself. In a more subtle attempt at manipulating the states new coronavirus cases and deaths, the new plots include a disclaimer stating that Confirmed cases over the last 14 days may not be accounted for due to illnesses yet to be reported or test results that may still be pending. Combined with the fact that the standard plot on the departments website is two weeks, this gives the impression that the states new case count is generally always on a downward trend. In fact, there were 572 new cases in Georgia on Monday, according to the data collected by the Worldometer website, and 792 on Tuesday, refuting the idea that the state is meeting the necessary criteria for reopening. The state currently has more than 39,000 known cases and nearly 1,700 confirmed deaths. While there have been no reports of similar levels of data manipulation and suppression related to the coronavirus pandemic in other states, it is likely that such things are or will be occurring elsewhere, especially as states rush to open offices, factories and workplaces and begin to prepare for the height of tourism season. There is increasing turmoil surrounding the collection of coronavirus data at the national level. According to CNN, there are informal conversations within the Trump administration about what to do with Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These come in the wake of a TV interview Sunday with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who claimed that the CDC, under Redfield, let the country down regarding testing. President Trump himself reportedly claimed at a lunch with Republican senators earlier this week that the lack of testing was solved by his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The lack of testing in February and March in the United States has been widely criticized as one of the main reasons the pandemic spread so far in the country. Other members of the Trump administration have attacked the CDC for supposedly over-reporting the number of deaths. White House Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator Deborah Birx told CDC Director Robert Redfield, There is nothing from the CDC that I can trust. She also claimed that the organization was inflating its death counts by up to 25 percent. In response to such claims, Bob Anderson, the chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch in CDCs National Center for Health Statistics, told the Daily Beast, I dont worry about this over-reporting issue. Instead, Anderson said, Were almost certainly underestimating the number of deaths. By Akbar Mammadov German Ambassador Wolfgang Manig has expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for organizing a charter flight to airlift Azerbaijani and German citizens. "I thank Azerbaijan's President and his team, Azerbaijan's MFA and other authorities involved in the competent cooperation on a charter flight to Berlin and back, making it possible for many Germans and Azerbaijanis to return home. A new proof of our long-lasting friendship!", the ambassador wrote in his official Twitter page on May 20. Local media reported on May 19 that Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) repatriated 188 Azerbaijani citizens from Berlin in a charter flight. The evacuation process was carried out based on the application to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Germany. Azerbaijan has repatriated over 20,000 citiens from foreign countries so far since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Mumbai, May 21 : The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies on Thursday paid rich tributes to the memory of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying he laid the foundation for digital India which has made possible the current 'work from home' phase that the country is witnessing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Leading the state in paying homage, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said it was the late Rajiv Gandhi who laid the foundation of the country's computer and telecommunication sector. "Today it has become critical for the nation's progress. The contributions of Rajiv Gandhi to development of science, technology and modernization cannot be overlooked. We must strive to root out terror and violence from humanity which would be a real tribute to him," Thackeray said. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said Gandhi pioneered the computer science revolution and the strides made by India in the technology and telecom sectors was because of his far-sightedness. "He took many revolutionary decisions for the youth of the country. He laid the foundations for a 'digital India', which has made 'work from home' and 'video-conferencing' possible in the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. We must resolve on this day to free minds and society of terror and violence as a genuine tribute to him," Pawar said. State Congress President and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat described Rajiv Gandhi as "a visionary PM, an architect of Modern India" whose sacrifices and contributions to nation building can never be forgotten. Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar said Rajiv Gandhi was the fountainhead of India's technological age, and the youth of the country must work to achieve his vision of a modern India. Remembering Gandhi, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Priyanka Chatruvedi recalled his statement: "India is an old country, but a young nation, and like the young everywhere we are impatient. I am young & I too have a dream." In a tribute, the NCP lauded Gandhi's contributions for kickstarting the era of Information Technology, Panchayati Raj, voting rights and other revolutionary decisions for the benefit of the country. President Xi Jinping delivers a speech via video link on Monday in Beijing at the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly. [Photo/Xinhua] Emphasis placed on world health in his talks with Myanmar, Bangladesh leaders China will continue to support the World Health Organization playing a leading role and join hands with other countries to win the battle against the novel coronavirus and defend global public health security, President Xi Jinping said. Xi made the remark in phone conversations with Myanmar President U Win Myint and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday night, two days after he called for building a global community of health for all when addressing the opening of the World Health Assembly, the WHO's governing body. When speaking with his Myanmar counterpart, Xi said China will continue to provide firm support and assistance within its capacity to Myanmar in accordance with its needs. The Myanmar government and all sectors of society offered a hand to China after the COVID-19 outbreak, Xi said, adding that the Chinese people now are also concerned about the situation in the neighboring country. China has donated anti-epidemic materials to Myanmar and sent two groups of medical experts to fight the virus shoulder-to-shoulder with Myanmar's medical workers. This fully shows the pauk-phaw (fraternal) friendship between the two peoples and explains the spirit of a community with a shared future between the two countries, Xi said. The president also said that he hopes the two sides will work together closely to implement the fruits of his state visit to Myanmar in January. While making ongoing efforts to contain the virus, Xi called on the two sides to steadily promote exchanges and cooperation in all areas and push for positive progress from the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project. U Win Myint underscored the significance for all countries of strengthening cooperation and safeguarding international justice while facing the pandemic. He said his country will continue to deepen friendship and cooperation with China to push forward their strategic partnership. In his phone call with Sheikh Hasina, Xi said China will send a team of medical experts to Bangladesh as COVID-19 continues to spread in South Asia. Given the arduous prevention tasks, China will continue to offer firm support and help within its capacity according to Bangladeshi requests, he said. Xi stressed that China is opposed to any act that disrupts international cooperation or harms global anti-epidemic efforts, especially efforts by developing countries. Emphasizing that China and Bangladesh are traditional friendly neighbors as well as important development partners, Xi called on the two nations to consolidate their strategic partnership and deepen the joint building of the Belt and Road. While ensuring anti-epidemic efforts, China is willing to work with Bangladesh to gradually create favorable conditions for resuming key cooperation projects and keeping the industrial and supply chains stable, Xi said. In doing so, a good foundation for bilateral cooperation in all areas after the pandemic will be laid, he added. Hasina expressed appreciation for China's support and assistance when her country was faced with difficulty in fighting the pandemic. She also thanked China for taking care of Bangladeshi students in China, especially in Wuhan, the country's hardest-hit city. Her country is willing to jointly build the Belt and Road with China and constantly develop the Bangladesh-China strategic partnership, she said. Robert P. George criticizes Liberty University for dissolving philosophy department Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Notable Catholic political philosopher Robert P. George is pleading with the prominent Virginia evangelical institution Liberty University to reconsider plans to dissolve its philosophy department. In a blog post submitted to the site Mirror of Justice on Saturday, the 64-year-old Princeton University law professor and author called Liberty's decision a mistake and asked the schools leadership to reverse course. You cannot have a true liberal arts college or university that does not have a vibrant philosophy department or some equivalent institutional way of teaching students what is taught in departments of philosophy, George wrote. Philosophy gives us the tools and motivation and rational justification for asking and seeking by proper methods honestly to answer all the questions that we categorize in other disciplines, from history and economics to chemistry and astronomy. Last week, the Lynchburg-based university announced that it will collapse it's bachelors program in philosophy amid a declining trend in enrollment and declining trends in degree-seeking philosophy students across the United States. Due to the lack of interest, over several years, in a B.A. in Philosophy, we began in the fall of 2019 to collapse the program and to stop accepting new students as we had less than [20] students enrolled and five faculty to service them, a statement from Liberty University reads. A team of some of Libertys best theologians, apologists and philosophers convened to ensure that Liberty continued to integrate and expound upon its curriculum with a deeper focus on theology, apologetics and philosophy. George said that his plea to Liberty comes from a friend who believes in your mission. George added that he had positive experiences when he visited the campus last year and spoke with Liberty students and staff. I know that some people do not regard philosophy as practical (though in truth it is the most practical of all academic disciplines). And I am aware that the need to cut costs often tempts people to cut things that seem impractical, George continued. But far from abolishing philosophy as a course of study at Liberty, you should be strengthening the department (which was already a good one) and encouraging more students to enroll in its courses and even major in the field. Professors impacted by the programs collapse have been offered generous severance packages, according to the university. The school states that the impacted professors are immediately eligible for rehire in any area that they are qualified for at the university. One professor impacted by the decision is Mark Foreman, a professor of philosophy and religion who has taught at the school for over 30 years. In a since-deleted Facebook post, Foreman reportedly wrote that no advanced warning was given to department faculty and that there is no retirement program. In a follow-up post, Foreman assured that he holds no ill-feelings or grudges against Liberty. My 30 years on the faculty have been rewarding and satisfying, Foreman wrote. I have loved my students and colleagues and have been treated well by the administration. I only wish for continued success for the school. Nobody should read anything negative about the university or its administration from my comments. Liberty dissolved its masters program in philosophy in 2015 due to waning enrollment. At the time, Liberty began the process of evaluating its bachelors program and worked toward trying to increase enrollment numbers. In 2012, the bachelors program in philosophy was moved from the School of Divinity to the College of Arts & Sciences. Last June, Liberty cut faculty from its Rawlings School of Divinity due to decreased student enrollment in the department programs. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. explained to Inside Higher Ed last year that the cuts were a purely business decision that should have been done earlier. Its a cultural shift from full-time ministry workers to Christians in all professions working to make a difference, Falwell explained at the time. According to U.S. News & World Report, Liberty University, one of the largest Christian colleges in the country, has over 79,000 total students enrolled. The decline in the divinity school's enrollment comes as similar trends have impacted other divinity schools around the country. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:53:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HAIKOU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's global transfer base for the introduction of animal and plant germplasm resources has introduced the first batch of imported plant seeds for research. The 230 kg of corn seeds imported from Brazil are currently under quarantine in the coastal city of Sanya in south China's island province of Hainan. The tropical city is building the transfer base for the introduction of global animal and plant germplasm, which refers to seeds and tissues that are living genetic resources used for breeding purposes. After the quarantine period, experts with the base will plant the corn seeds for four months for scientific research. The base is expected to serve as a major project under the construction of the Hainan pilot free trade zone. The local authorities will help introduce professional institutions and experts on bio-safety rights to draw up bio-safety risk assessment and risk prevention and control plans for germplasm resource introduction, identification, evaluation, preservation, breeding, R&D and innovation, industrial application as well as trade. Enditem - A visually impaired widow simply identified as Mrs Opebiyi has finally been empowered - The widow has two kids and was struggling to survive - She was empowered with a 150 litres freezer, a stabiliser and 30 packs of soft drinks to start a new business Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in A visually impaired widow who has two kids and needed help has finally been empowered by a non-governmental organisation called Gift The Needy. A lady took to Twitter to urge Nigerians to help the widow who was struggling to survive. The lady identified as Iyalaya said she paid the widow a visit and found out that she lost her husband about two months ago. According to another post by the lady simply identified as Iyalaya on the microblogging site, the widow has been empowered with a 150 litres freezer, a stabiliser and 30 packs of soft drinks to start a new business. See her post below: In other news, a physically impaired man asked Nigerians to assist him in furthering his education, saying he intends to go for Higher National Diploma. The man identified as Ojo Israel said he finished his National Diploma from Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo state. Israel, who is an orphan, said he needs nothing less than N300,000 to pay for school fees and buy gadgets that will aid his learning, such as digital recording machine, Braille, laptop, among others. Meanwhile Chase Smith was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and he bravely fought off the disease, Ewings Sarcoma, for several years. However, in March, the 18-year-old high school student was given life-changing news, the cancer had returned, in his lung, back and hip. In April, things got worse, he was told that the cancer had reached the lining of his brain. A GoFundMe page was set up for Chase and he was able to raise almost $100,000. If youve had the privilege of watching Chase swim, you have seen the drive and competitiveness that burns in his soul, the page read. Read the best news on Ghana #1 news app. Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana "If you want to die, please die alone" Health Minister to uncooperative Ghanaians | #Yencomgh Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook page or on Instagram with your stories, photos or videos Source: YEN.com.gh MBABANE If government plans fall into place, schools are expected to open on July 1, 2020, beginning with Form Vs. This was revealed during a meeting of the Ministry of Education and Training Task Team on COVID-19 on Wednesday. According to minutes shared by the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA), Form Vs are expected to be the first to reopen in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the country. Highlights of the meeting were communicated to EPA membership by the President, Welcome Mhlanga. Mhlanga said an official statement would be issued by the ministry, adding that he was sending this information to the national executive, informing them of the status quo. He said he attended the meeting as a member of the inistrys technical team, on their behalf. This was reiterated by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Bertram Stewart, who said the meeting was aimed at exploring what they could do to facilitate the reopening of schools. Stewart said there was nothing much they could discuss with the public for now as nothing had been approved yet. In the highlights of the meeting to the membership, Mhlanga noted that a phased approach would be applied in the opening of schools, starting with Form Vs, due to the nature of their examinations. Grade VII and Form III are then expected to follow thereafter. He said the tentative date for phasing in Form Vs was July 1, which was subject to approval by other structures. Prioritise It was mentioned that life should continue in amid COVID-19 because no one knew how long it would be around, but it was important to prioritise preventative measures in the schools. According to the highlights, sub committees have been appointed to look into the protocol of the reopening of schools, transportation issues and the school calendar. Further stated was the issue of examinations timetable, which would be issued once schools had reopened. Also discussed was the issue of school fees, where it was agreed that parents in public and private schools should pay school and examination fees. Part of the highlights read: The protocol sub-committee should consider the issue of boarding schools as they have different needs. Meanwhile, it was also mentioned that the ministry was working on providing the radio and television lessons to schools on reopening. Head teachers were also encouraged to provide information and data that would be helpful towards the reopening. On the same note, the ministry was applauded for its efforts to provide lessons through different media platforms during the period of the partial lockdown, which was implemented by government in the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, it was stated that the Ministry of Health had prepared draft guidelines for reopening of schools. These guidelines were expected to provide technical support to the Ministry of Education, cognisant of the need to capacitate school leaders and teachers and also supply personal protective equipment (PPE) before and after reopening. The Ministry of Health is scheduled to hold a meeting on May 27, where education stakeholders are expected to be present, whereby they will be developing a curriculum on the pandemic for reopening of schools. It is this workshop that will provide comprehensive guidelines for the schools reopening. New Delhi : Russia is a time-tested and reliable friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today and expressed shared commitment with President Vladimir Putin to expand, strengthen and deepen the bilateral engagement across all domains. He made the remarks while receiving Russias Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin who conveyed Putins greetings to the Prime Minister and briefed him on the progress in ongoing projects between India and Russia, according to a PMO statement. Modi recalled his recent meeting with Putin in Tashkent in June and via video-link for dedication of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 at the beginning of this month. The Prime Minister conveyed that India is eagerly awaiting the Russian Presidents visit here, the statement added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. But the partys position grew far more complicated in March, when Joseph R. Biden Jr. was accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, a former Senate aide. As Democrats have rallied to the defense of their presumptive presidential nominee, Republicans are seizing on the issue, slamming the party as hypocritical for continuing to support Mr. Biden. Public polling has found that a significant number of Americans of all political stripes are uncertain about whom to believe regarding Ms. Reades allegations. Even so, some experts say, the charges of hypocrisy could be weaponized to undermine the Democratic Partys credibility on gender issues particularly in swing suburban areas with independent voters who are likely to be a key voting bloc in November. In a PRRI poll conducted just before the 2018 elections, political independents were 10 percentage points more likely to say the Democratic Party was doing a good job at confronting sexual harassment and assault than they were to say the same about the Republican Party. Still, both parties got negative marks from a majority of independents on these topics. If in 2018, the political calculus around a discussion of sexual assault seemed straightforward for many in the Democratic Party, this year is quite different. Voters say they dont know what they believe on the Reade allegation, which could have an impact if Republicans continue to raise it. And, if she wins her competitive primary, Ms. Russo will be testing the countrys evolving attitudes in a challenging district for Democrats. Running from the North Carolina border to the outer reaches of the Northern Virginia suburbs, Virginias Fifth Congressional District was last won by a Democrat in 2008. In 2016, President Trump won the area by 11 points and last year, Representative Denver Riggleman, a Republican, won by nearly seven points even as other areas of the state flipped blue. Already, Republican Party committees have blasted Democratic members of Congress regarding the Reade allegation, suggesting that they are operating with a different standard than the one they used for accusations of sexual assault against Justice Kavanaugh. Polling shows that a majority of Republicans believe Ms. Reades allegation. The Republican strategist Mike Davis, who heads the Article III Project, a group focused on defending conservative judges, said he planned to use Ms. Reades allegation to sway independent voters toward Republicans in the presidential and congressional races. WASHINGTON - Lawmakers are criticizing Delta Air Lines and JetBlue for plans to cut employee hours, despite receiving more than $5 billion in government support as part of the federal coronavirus relief package. In letters sent this week to the airlines' chief executives, more than a dozen senators wrote that plans to reduce employee hours violate the intent of the Payroll Support Program that was established as part of the $2 trillion Cares Act. DRIVE-THRU TESTING: CVS opening self-swabbing drive-thru coronavirus testing sites in Houston "Your decision to cut employee hours is inconsistent with congressional intent and is a blatant and potentially illegal effort to skirt you requirements to keep workers on payroll, and you should reverse this policy immediately," the senators wrote. Under the Cares Act, U.S. airlines were eligible to receive more than $50 billion in grants and loan. Of that, $25 billion was in the form of grants that were to be used to keep front line workers such as flight attendants, pilots and mechanics on the job. In exchange for receiving the money, airlines had to agree to a number of conditions, including keeping workers on the job through Sept. 30. Delta received more than $5 billion in grants as part of the program; JetBlue received $935 million. But since the money began flowing, airlines and lawmakers have been at odds over the intent of the law. United Airlines was the first to run afoul of lawmakers after it unveiled plans to reduce hours for some employees. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the workers, sued the airline saying the reductions violated their contract and the Cares Act. The airline eventually backed away from the plan, making the reductions voluntary. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on whether his agency was doing enough to ensure companies that received money were keeping workers on the payroll. PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Study predicts massive June spike in Houston COVID-19 cases In the letters, the senators noted that Delta "was reportedly the first airline to cut hours for employees after receiving assistance from the CARES Act. In the letter to JetBlue chief executive Robyn Hayes, the senators noted that since receiving Cares Act funding the airline has cut hours for mechanics, passenger service agents and ramp workers. In both cases, the senators noted that company officials have said the "reductions in hours comply with the CARES Act." They wrote: "This view is impossible to reconcile with the clear intent of the law." The senators said that Delta and JetBlue should not accept any additional funds, "unless you are prepared to protect your workers' jobs, pay and benefits as intended by Congress in the CARES Act." "Your federal financial assistance is conditioned on keeping your promises to workers," the letters concluded. Information Technology companies in the city will have to work according to strict guidelines. (PTI Photo) Hyderabad: Information Technology companies in the city will have to work according to strict guidelines if they want to ramp up their employee attendance. The Telangana government, Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) and Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) have released a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) for all IT companies and IT parks in the city. This SOP has listed out several mitigation measures in view of the pandemic, along with steps to take when an employee tests positive for Covid-19 or comes in contact with a Covid-19 positive patient. Pregnant women and parents of children under the age of five have to continue to work from home. The same applies to employees with parents or family members aged above 65 or with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes, asthma and so on. Companies will not allow employees who are residents of containment zones. Those who have travelled to Telangana from containment, red and orange zones in other states are also not allowed. Importantly, no creches will be allowed to operate on any office campus. One of the most important conditions is that all companies, irrespective of their size, should set up isolation facilities on office premises. These rooms would have an independent HVAC system and have access to protective equipment such as PPE kits, sanitisers and gloves. All personnel will be required to wear masks without fail and their temperature will be taken at entry points. Employees will have to submit a document declaring good health, and are requested to self-report Covid-19 symptoms. They will also have to come forward to report if any household member has tested positive or if they have come in contact with an infected person. If an individual reports Covid-19 symptoms at the workplace, a designated team will take them to the isolation room. Until they are moved off the premises, they will have to wear a PPE kit. If they test positive, the company will have to inform the Health department of the same and perform contact tracing. All those who came in contact would be asked to self-isolate and seek medical attention. Industry insiders have admitted that the guidelines are quite comprehensive and not all companies will be in a position to follow them to the letter. For instance, the mandate of setting up isolation facilities in the office might prove difficult for small companies. But IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan told Deccan Chronicle this condition is compulsory. If they are unable to set up a separate isolation room, they will have to continue working from home, he said, adding, That being said, buildings can have a common isolation facility for use by all companies located within it. Although the Telangana government has allowed the companies to work at 100 per cent capacity, this is unlikely to happen any time soon. Bharani Kumar Aroll, president of HYSEA, said most companies want to wait a while for transmission of the virus to come under control. Companies are currently operating with around five per cent attendance. This number will likely rise to seven or eight per cent this week. According to the discussions we have had with companies until now, ramping up will be very gradual, he said. Mr Aroll predicted that even by the end of this year, attendance was only likely to be around 75 per cent. Krishna Yedula, general secretary of SCSC, had similar views. He said it was impossible for companies to operate at full strength even if they wanted to, because of social distancing guidelines. It is only possible if companies are allowed to work in shifts, thereby dividing the workforce into manageable batches. However, this isnt possible now because employees have to return home by evening due to the statewide curfew, he said. The SOP, which was originally issued on May 15, also requires the mandatory installation of Aarogya Setu by employees. However, IT secretary Mr Ranjan said this isnt valid anymore in light of the recent guidelines of the ministry of home affairs which require employers to get it installed on a best effort basis. Guidelines: 1. Employees staying in containment zones, those who have travelled to Telangana from containment, red or orange zones in other states not allowed into office 2. Pregnant women, parents with children under age of five, employees with family members above 65 to work from home 3. All personnel to wear masks 4. Daily temperature checks at entry points 5. Employees to submit self-declaration of good health 6. Employees to self-report in case they or their family members test positive for Covid-19 or they come in contact with an infected patient. 7. No creches to be allowed to operate on office premises 8. All companies to set up isolation rooms with an independent HVAC (air-conditioning) system and have supply of protective equipment On Wednesday, Nepal released a revised political and administrative map showing Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani as part of its territory. "Nepal virtually ignored the Kalapani issue from 1961 to 1997, but for domestic political reasons it became a convenient India-Nepal controversy in 1998." Author and Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, Leo E Rose's observation in an article titled, 'Nepal and Bhutan in 1998: Two Himalayan Kingdoms' that appeared in the 1999 edition of Asian Survey is a good starting point to try and understand Nepal's latest move. But first, a short recap would be helpful. On Wednesday, Kathmandu released a revised political and administrative map showing Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani as part of its territory. Only a day earlier, Prime Minister KP Oli had said, "The issue will not fade away any more, we are least bothered if any one gets angry and we will reclaim that land at any cost." Oli went on to seemingly thumb his nose at India and the national motto by suggesting he would ask New Delhi, "Simhaeva jayate or satyameva jayate? [Does the lion (signifying strength) alone prevail, or does truth alone prevail?"]. In response, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava called the move an 'artificial enlargement of territorial claims' and stated, "Nepal is well aware of India's consistent position on this matter and we urge the Government of Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect India's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Somewhere along the way, Oli remarked that the "Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now". Although he spoke in the context of people coming from India 'through illegal channels' and the 'local representatives and party leaders' who are bringing in people without proper testing, the remark is unlikely to have gone down well in New Delhi. Or for that matter on that corner of social media inhabited by tens of thousands of self-appointed protectors of India's honour, who have had and continue to have their say about Nepal. That Oli's outburst comes just a couple of days after his foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali extended his 'sincerest thanks to the Narendra Modi government for providing medical logistics and COVID-19 testing kits for 30,000 tests seems stranger still. Historical origins of disagreement Going back a little further, cartographic disagreements between India and Nepal have been simmering ever since coming to the fore in November following the division of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. On the map subsequently released by India to illustrate this change, the Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas were shown as being part of India. Nepal released a statement rejecting the map and added, "Nepal government is committed to protecting its international border." The then-MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar responded in a media briefing, "Our map accurately depicts the sovereign territory of India. The new map has in no manner revised our boundary with Nepal." As Rose notes in his 1999 article, the topic of Kalapani a tri-junction between India, Nepal and China, ergo, a strategically-significant area remained virtually ignored by Kathmandu until 1997, which is believed to be the first time Nepal objected to the area being under Indian governance. It was then that New Delhi and Beijing agreed to open the Lipulekh Pass a route that had remained shut since the 1962 war to facilitate movement for pilgrims making their way to Mansarovar. The pass is a far-western point near the Kalapani region. In order to understand why the topic of the Kalapani area is so contentious, it's worth revisiting the 1815 Treaty of Sugauli between Nepal and British India. According to the treaty, the original text of which has reportedly gone missing, the Mahakali river forms the boundary between the two countries. However, this proved to be a major source of disagreement, since in later years, British surveyors would depict the origin of the river at different places. Interestingly, during the 1962 war, the Chinese had recognised Kalapani as Indian territory. And that remained the unwritten status quo until 1997. Nepali leadership emboldened or embattled? The Nepali scholar Hari Bansh Jha opines that since "Nepal has already resolved 98 percent of its boundary-related issues with India, there is no reason why the remaining two percent of boundary issues would not get resolved through diplomatic channels". There's certainly no reason why these wrinkles should not be ironed out through dialogue, but then what explains Oli's claims to being "least bothered if any one gets angry" and threats to reclaim the land "at any cost"? A clue to one of the possible reasons lies, once again, in Rose's statement: '[For] domestic political reasons'. Alleged corruption in the procurement of medical equipment from China, the tasking of the Nepal Army with the job of importing medical equipment and the passing of two problematic ordinances have seen the ruling Nepal Communist Party come in for criticism from the Opposition and the national media. As an opinion piece in The Himalaya Times points out, the Oli government "is caught up in a bitter power struggle, forcing it to issue two ordinances related to that power game, covering up malpractices and corruption cases, and enforcing draconian measures to curb civil rights and liberties, including an attempt to kidnap a Member of Parliament from another party". In Nepali politics, parties flip from pro-India positions to anti-India ones depending on whether they are in the Opposition or in power respectively. As pointed out in this 2018 piece, rhetoric changes accordingly. And when a ruling party senses that it is losing the confidence of its electorate, there appears no better way to arrest its declining popularity than by indulging in some India-bashing. Like their neighbours to the south, Nepali politicians have learned over time that nationalism sells, but ultranationalistic fervour sells a whole lot more. Especially if there's a neighbour at whom one can go hammer-and-tongs. Another possible reason for Kathmandu's sudden bellicosity could lie in what's happening elsewhere on India's land boundaries where Chinese troops are ratcheting up their presence on the Line of Actual Control at Sikkim and Ladakh. Chinese aggression and transgressions on the LAC are normally linked to high-level exchanges usually State visits by the Indian prime minister or Chinese president or premier between New Delhi and Beijing. This time, however, while there's no meeting or visit on the cards, China is facing worldwide criticism over its handling of the coronavirus and its perceived lack of transparency since the detection of the first case. And even though it's been the European Union, the US and Australia that have been most vocal about Beijing's mishandling of the whole situation, India has been silently making its own moves. After calling out China for its faulty COVID-19 testing kits, New Delhi tweaked its FDI policy to limit its economic dependence on the mighty Renminbi. Elsewhere, after abiding by a One-China policy for the longest time, India appears to be improving its relationship with Taiwan the biggest spanner in the works of the One-China policy. Most recently, India was among the 60-odd countries at the World Health Assembly to call for an 'independent' inquiry into the pandemic's origins. And with Union health minister Harsh Vardhan set to take charge as the chairman of the World Health Organisation (WHO) executive board on Friday, the possibility of a probe into COVID-19 that proves a little uncomfortable for China cannot be ruled out. In the face of all this, what's a disgruntled and bruised China (in terms of public perception, at any rate) to do apart from finding creative ways to put pressure on India? And for this task, Nepal proves ideal. Especially when its own leadership is facing a tough time at home. Where does India go from here? India, under the Modi government, has proven to be firmer with Nepal than during the time of the two successive Manmohan Singh governments. This is a fact. After all, the 2015 economic blockade that was covertly put in place to reflect India's displeasure at the Nepali Constitution was made of sterner or more muscular, for want of a better term stuff than the bilateral had seen for some some time. Similarly, the sharp rhetoric emanating from South Block also reflects a decreased acceptance of misadventure or loose remarks by other countries. A case in point is the way the external affairs ministry responded to Turkey and Malaysia for their concerns about the abrogation of Article 370. While the exact nature of India's next move remains to be seen, there will likely be a thaw as soon as Oli's purpose not to forget China's purpose with this latest spell of belligerence has been served. Afterwards, the leaderships of both countries are likely to declare that they are 'like a family' and that these misunderstandings happen from time to time. And everything will be pushed under the rug until the compulsions of domestic politics require these prickly matters to be dug up once more. 21.05.2020 LISTEN Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong has reacted to news of the passing of famous preacher, Pastor Emmanuel Kwaku Apraku, also known as Apraku My Daughter. The one-time famous preacher was reported dead in the afternoon of Wednesday, 20th May, 2020. He was found dead a day after a video of him drunk and fighting a woman went viral on social media. Gospel Musician, Sonnie Badu after watching the video posted on Instagram that he was ready to come to help the one-time popular preacher. However, a day after the video went viral, Apraku My Daughter as he was known by many was found dead. Sonnie Badu through a representative paid for ambulance and mortuary services for the one-time powerful man of God. Ken Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, who has in recent times been going after fake men of God using Bishop Daniel Obinim as a case study has reacted to news of his death. Speaking on Net2 TV, he stated, I hear this man, 'Apraku My daughter' is deadin the 90s getting to the 2000s, this man owned a fleet of about 20 cars, where is he today? Why is Duncan-Williams, still doing the work of God. why is Eastwood Anaba still working?. He further added that the young prophets are the problems as according to him, they are after money. You see the kind of charlie wate he was wearing, with some protruded stomachI wasnt shocked to hear news of his death, he added. Watch video below: Former Moscow Region official gets 6-year suspended term for $565k extortion flickr.com/ 401(K) 2012 16:09 21/05/2020 MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) A former deputy head of the Moscow Region town of Zvenigorod Oleg Mochalkin has received a 6-year suspended sentence for extorting more than 40 million rubles ($565,000) from his chief, RAPSI has learnt from the press service of Moscows Tverskoy District Court. According to a representative of the court, Mochalkin has demanded the money threatening to distribute information blowing upon a victim and other information to hurt rights and legal interests of the injured party. Mochalkin has failed to appear in court. He has been put on a wanted list. You wont be able to book, cancel train tickets for 6 hour-duration for next 7 days: Details inside Indian railways revenue in 2019 to 2021: Here's how much it generated from sale of tickets, platform tickets Railway cancels tickets of special trains in Maharashtra after state bans inter-district travel India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 21: The railways on Thursday cancelled tickets of all passengers of special trains whose originating and terminating stations fall within Maharashtra after the state government prohibited inter-district travel. In an order issued on Thursday, the railways said all the tickets of the special trains scheduled to run from June 1 in Maharashtra will be automatically cancelled and full refund will be provided to passengers. It also said that till further notice, intra-state bookings within Maharashtra should not be permitted. This, however, does not mean that trains cannot originate from stations in Maharashtra, a railway spokesperson said. Full list of trains to be run from June 1, 2020 and guidelines you should follow "It means that people cannot board and deboard a train from within the state," he said. For instance, if a train from Mumbai to Kanpur goes via Nashik, no passenger who has boarded the train from any station in Maharashtra can deboard within the boundaries of the state. However, a passenger can board the train from Nashik and travel outside the state, the spokesperson explained. "Only those who have availed tickets to travel within the state cannot do so now," he added. The 100 pairs of special trains, including the Duronto Express, Jan Shatabdi and several popular mail and express trains, are scheduled to begin their journey from June 1. The railway board order also stated that passengers should be sent an SMS stating that, "Due to restrictions imposed by Maharashtra government for travel within the state by train, your ticket has been cancelled and full refund shall be given." (Newser) Yellowstone National Park had been shut down for almost two months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, so naturally people were excited to flock back there when it partially reopened Monday. The animals theremaybe not so much. Officials report that on Wednesday, a female visitor to the park was "knocked to the ground and injured by a bison in the Old Faithful Upper Geyser Basin after approaching the animal too closely," USA Today reports. How extensive the woman's injuries were isn't clear. "She was assessed and refused transport to a medical facility," the National Park Service said in a statement, per NBC News. story continues below Visitors to the park are advised to stay at least 25 yards away from large animals such as bison, moose, deer, and coyotes, and at least a full 100 yards away from wolves and bears. The bison attack is said to be the first of the year in one of America's national parks. Yellowstonewhich is mostly in Wyoming but also stretches into Montana and Idahohad been just two days into a phased reopening, with the lower loop of the park open for sightseeing. Two of its entrances are in Wyoming, which has relaxed out-of-state travel restrictions, per a park release cited by CNN. The other three entrances remain closed, as Montana and Idaho's travel restrictions remain in place. The incident is under investigation. (Read more Yellowstone National Park stories.) U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Jordan E. Gilbert/ReleasedBy LUIS MARTINEZ, ABC News (WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has headed out to sea after nearly two months in Guam, where almost a quarter of the 4,800 sailors aboard the ship were infected with the novel coronavirus, the Navy said in a statement. The ship will remain in the waters off the coast of Guam so that its pilots and air crews can be recertified for flight operations. The nearly 1,800 sailors who remained on Guam to complete their self-quarantine will reboard the ship when it returns. The carrier's departure comes seven weeks after the carrier first arrived in Guam following the first positive tests of COVID-19 among the ship's crew of 4,865 sailors. The Navy soon began a process to quarantine and test the ship's crew in Navy facilities and hotels on Guam but ultimately more than 1,110 sailors, or close to a quarter of the ship's crew, contracted the virus. There was one sailor who died. Eventually, 4,000 sailors were quarantined for 14 days on Guam as the remaining 800 continued to carry out essential functions and disinfect the entire ship. The idea was that as sailors cleared quarantine and tested negative for COVID-19, they would swap places with the sailors who were still aboard the ship. To ensure that there would not be any new outbreaks aboard the carrier, all returning sailors had to test negative twice after completing their quarantine. Social distancing and rigorous cleaning and disinfecting procedures were also put in place aboard the ship. That process appeared to be going smoothly until last week when it was discovered that 14 sailors who had previously tested positive for the virus were once again testing positive. A defense official says the tests may be detecting remnants of the virus still in the sailors' system because they do not appear to be contagious. Officials said the Navy decided that the ship could head out to sea without waiting for the entire ship's crew to clear the quarantine and the two rounds of tests. The focus was on having an appropriate number of sailors responsible for the jobs essential to keep the ship running and maintain its flight operations. After carrying out the re-certification of its air wing, the ship will return to Guam to pick up the rest of the ship's crew. It is likely that the ship will then continue with its deployment in the western Pacific. The carrier and its crew became embroiled in controversy as Capt. Brett Crozier, the ship's commanding officer, requested in a letter that the Navy do more to stem the spread of the coronavirus among the crew. The letter was later published by a newspaper. Then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly fired Crozier as commanding officer, but later resigned himself following his controversial comments to the ship's crew in Guam, where he blasted Crozier as being "naive" or "too stupid" not to have known that his letter would become public. After an initial review, Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations, recommended the unprecedented move to reinstate Crozier to his command. The Navy has launched a broader review of its actions to combat the virus, which has left in doubt whether Crozier's reinstatement would be carried out. That review is to be completed and submitted to Gilday by May 27. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. The north-easts (NE) overall tally of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases rose to 403 till Thursday morning amid growing fears of a spike due to the influx of thousands of stranded migrants, who are returning to their native places, amid the easing of lockdown restrictions. It took 11 days for the figure to double from 200 Covid-19 cases on May 9. The first Covid-19 positive case in the region was reported in Manipur on March 24. It took 24 days for Covid-19 active cases in the region to reach 50 and another 18 days to go past 100 on May 4. While Covid-19 positive cases are stagnant in some of the states, both Assam and Tripura have reported a spike, which has led to a rise in the regions overall tally. Assam has reported 190 Covid-19 positive cases till Thursday morning. So far, four Covid-19 related deaths have been reported from the state, along with 49 recoveries, 134 still undergoing treatment in various hospitals and three migrants, who were afflicted with SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, have returned to their native places in other states. Assam has received 74,118 people travelling back through all means of transportation, while 17,488 persons have left the state over the last fortnight, GP Singh, additional director general of police (ADGP) (law and order), Assam, tweeted on Tuesday. Around 110 of the total Covid-19 positive cases in Assam have been reported among people who either returned after May 4 or those who came in contact with those who have come back. Tripura has reported 173 Covid-19 positive cases to date. On Wednesday, four persons, who recently returned from Chennai, tested Covid-19 positive. But in Tripura, 160 cases have been reported from three Border Security Force (BSF) battalions posted in Dhalai district. Tripura has not recorded any Covid-19 related fatality and 116 patients have recovered so far. While in Manipur, the count has gone up to 25, as 16 people tested positive on Wednesday. So far, two persons have recovered. The new cases were reported only among migrants, who returned to Manipur recently. Meghalaya, too, reported a fresh case on Tuesday after a 33-year-old woman, who returned from Chennai a day ago, tested positive. The state has reported 14 cases, including one death and another undergoing treatment. Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have no active cases and Nagaland is the only state that has not reported a single case of the viral outbreak so far. According to the Guwahati-headquartered Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), 13 Shramik Special trains till Tuesday ferried 17,000 people, mainly migrant workers, students, and patients, from the rest of the country to the region. (With inputs from Priyanka Deb Barman and Sobhapati Samom) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Asserting that returning migrant workers are "our brethren", Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said he would welcome them with open heart in the state and that they cannot be blamed for the rise in coronavirus cases. "Migrants are humans too. They are our brethren. We do not have any objection in migrants coming back to the state and we will embrace them (unhe gale lagayenge)," Chouhan told PTI in an interview. He also rejected reports that have hinted possible increase in coronavirus cases due to migrants and asked, "Did corona not spread at places where migrants were not there?" "There has been an increase in COVID positive cases in Madhya Pradesh. Migrants and other stranded people too have come to the state. Why do we blame migrants for increase in coronavirus cases? It will not be appropriate to blame them for the rise in coronavirus cases. Any increase in cases is not only due to the movement of migrant workers," Chouhan said. He said the entire issue of migrants returning to their native places need to be seen with the prism of humanity. "There is humanity and sensitivity involved in this crisis. Who are these migrant workers? They are our brothers and sisters. They went out for earning livelihood. If they want to come back, Madhya Pradesh will welcome them with open heart," the chief minister of the BJP-ruled state said. He said arrangements have been made not only for the workers of the state but for those from other states as well. "We have brought back a large number of migrants of our state. As many as 1,000 buses of Madhya Pradesh have been pressed into service to drop migrant workers of other states to our state borders so that they don't have to set off their journey on foot. Whether they are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand or those coming from south-western states, we are looking after each one of them," Chouhan said. The chief minister said around 4 lakh workers have been brought back to Madhya Pradesh from other states so far. "We have decided to provide an amount of Rs 1,000 to 7,000 workers of other states who are stuck in Madhya Pradesh. We have provided them medical facilities for check-up and we are also providing them food. We are also sending them through buses and trains and in addition to it we are ensuring that all the expenses are borne by the state. No labourer should be charged for this," he emphasised. Chouhan had recently written to the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh highlighting the practical difficulty in the movement of labourers -- that the state "does not get to know how many labourers from other states are coming to the border of Madhya Pradesh and at what time". He said the state government has initiated work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the benefit of such workers. "We are trying to provide employment to labourers under this keeping all the care under the corona precaution guidelines. We are trying this so that workers of the state get employment. Till now, we have provided employment to more than 19.48 lakh workers. We will certainly help workers in every possible way, the chief minister said. Hinting at the possible rise in coronavirus cases, Chouhan said one need to learn to live with it. "There is no doubt that coronavirus cases will increase. We need to learn to live with it by taking all precautions. We are arranging all facilities for its treatment in medical facilities across the state," he said. Chouhan also suggested the use of traditional ayurvedic system to increase immunity as a counter measure against coronavirus. "Allopathic treatment is available for all. But there is a need to increase people's immunity as well. We will emphasise on the usage of ayurveda also by the people. We have distributed over two crore packets of 'kadha' (decoction) to help people increase their immunity," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering Madagascars COVID Organics for clinical observation process. The President of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina made this known on Wednesday, saying that he and the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, had a successful interaction on COVID Organics. In a tweet, President Rajoelina said, Successful exchange with @DrTedros who commends #Madagascars efforts in the fight against #Covid19 and congratulates us for the discovery of #CovidOrganics. @WHO will sign a confidentiality clause on its formulation and will support the clinical observations process in #Africa. Following @WHOs invitation to be part of Solidarity Trial for clinical trials, #Madagascar will prove the effectiveness of its third protocol that combinates two injectable medicines that are different from #CovidOrganics. COVID Organics has been touted to be an effective medicine for the treatment of the novel coronavirus. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 02:42:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Wednesday warned of a series of "triple disaster" of floods, COVID-19 and locusts which is unfolding in East Africa on a scale rarely seen in decades. Simon Missiri, IFRC's Regional Director for Africa said the ongoing flooding crisis is exacerbating other threats caused by COVID-19 and the invasion of locusts. "Travel and movement restrictions meant to slow down the spread of COVID-19 are hampering efforts to combat swarms of locusts that are ravaging crops," Missiri said in a statement issued in Nairobi. The charity said the ongoing heavy rain, which has killed nearly 300 and displaced about 500,000 people, has slowed down operations aimed at controlling the worst locust crisis in decades and increased the risk of the spread of COVID-19. "Flooding is also a 'threat amplifier' with regards to the spread of COVID-19 as it makes it hard to implement preventive measures," said Missiri. He said the flooding has left thousands of people homeless, many of them now seeking shelter in temporary accommodation centers where it is not easy or not possible at all to observe physical distancing. As a result, thousands are now at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 or waterborne diseases and need emergency food assistance. Red Cross and Red Crescent said its teams in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda are helping communities mitigate the negative impacts of the triple disaster through community awareness and direct food and non-food support. He said harsh weather conditions are having a multiplier effect on an already difficult situation and this could potentially lead to worrying levels of food insecurity in the region. Enditem Reliance Jio Platforms is in active talks with KKR and Co to raise between $750 million to $1 billion. The deal with the American global investment firm is expected to reach completion in the coming weeks, The Economic Times reported citing unidentified sources. Mukesh Ambani-led telco Reliance Jio has raised funds at a rapid pace from marquee investors in the last few weeks in RIL's effort to reduce its debt and secure its capital needs amid a sharp global economic downturn. Recent deals of KKR include an investment of $750million in Coty and $204 million in SP Group's solar assets. The telecom arm of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is also likely to soon close a deal with Saudi sovereign fund PIF, the report added. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, PIF is discussing a potential investment of $850 million to $950 million in Jio. Mukesh Ambani has pledged to cut Reliance's $21.4 billion net debt to zero by March 2021. Reliance Jio, last week, announced an investment worth $870 million by General Atlantic. Earlier, Jio had announced a deal with Silver Lake and Vista Equity Partners worth $747 million and Rs $1.5 billion, respectively. It had also signed a $5.7 billion deal with social media firm Facebook. Meanwhile, Rs 53,125 crore rights issue of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) opened on May 20. It will close on June 3. India's biggest and first such issue by the firm in nearly three decades offers one share for every 15 held at Rs 1,257. The last time RIL tapped the public for funds was in 1991 via convertible debentures. The rights issue is also aimed at garnering funds for the company. Shares of RIL were trading at Rs 1,447.80, up 14.10 points, or 0.98 per cent on NSE at the time of reporting. Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: SoPs for domestic flights! Aarogya Setu app mandatory; cases-1.12 lakh Also read: Domestic flights to resume on Monday: What to keep in mind when you go to airport? The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on Thursday said it has contributed Rs 528 crore towards the PM-CARES Fund to support fight against the coronavirus pandemic New Delhi: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on Thursday said it has contributed Rs 528 crore towards the PM-CARES Fund to support fight against the coronavirus pandemic. During this worldwide crisis, the Chamber through its member organisations, state chapters and secretariat have responded to the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by coming forward with a contribution of Rs 528 crore to the PM-CARES Fund, said PHDCCI President D K Aggarwal. A cheque of the total contribution was formally handed over to Bhartiya Janata Party General Secretary Ram Madhav, the chamber stated. Venezuela says its military will escort five Iranian tankers, bringing oil to ease severe shortages. A new standoff could be brewing between the United States, Iran and Venezuela over a shipment of millions of dollars of fuel. Five Iranian oil tankers are just days away from arriving in Venezuela to help ease fuel shortages there. Venezuelas own oil refining industry collapsed; critics say that was because of underinvestment and mismanagement. Al Jazeeras Alexi OBrien reports. DENVER, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SeaStar Medical, a medical device company focused on delivering novel immunomodulating medical device solutions to improve organ function, today announced the appointment of Ray Chow as chairman of its Board of Directors. Ray will lead the Board, working with the existing investors and any future investment groups. In addition, Ray will oversee Business Development and Global Partnership activities for SeaStar Medical. Ray has served as a member of the Board since 2019. He is the principal of Bio-Mondo Consulting, a management consultancy to the biopharmaceutical industry and has deep experience in global product launches, sales expansion and strategic alliances in the pharmaceutical and nephrology sectors. His past experience includes CEO of a nutraceutical company, leading the U.S. nephrology group at Amgen, starting several biopharmaceutical companies and consulting for more than 50 companies. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Business Studies from the University of Wales, UK. "SeaStar is transforming the industry with a clearly differentiated technology that is helping to save lives," said Eric Schlorff, Chief Executive Officer of SeaStar Medical. "Our FDA-approved study with COVID-19 patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) or Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is an important part of our growth strategy. Ray brings the expertise, insight and relationships that are integral to our rapid growth and success." About SeaStar Medical Denver-based SeaStar Medical is a privately held medical device company that has redefined how extracorporeal therapies may reduce the consequences of excessive inflammation on vital organs through novel solutions and services. SeaStar's focus is on removing pro-inflammatory mediators, known as cytokines, or transforming key immune system messengers from pro inflammatory to reparative physiology. SeaStar's next generation technologies rely on science and innovation to build upon existing purification technologies to provide life-saving solutions to critically ill patients. SeaStar's proprietary CLR 2.0 hemofilter has FDA 510(k) clearance for acute kidney injury, congestive heart failure and pulmonary edema. Many of the COVID-19 patients experience pulmonary edema as well as acute kidney injury, where the CLR 2.0 could help patients. CLR 2.0 has a CE Mark approval indicating it meets European market standard and ISO 13485:2016 certification of its quality management systems. For more information visit seastarmedical.com. SOURCE SeaStar Medical Related Links https://www.seastarmedical.com Shane Curran, the 20-year-old former BT Young Scientist winner, has closed the Series A investment round for his data privacy startup, Evervault. A 20-year-old former BT Young Scientist winner has landed $16m (14.6m) in new funding from some of Silicon Valleys most prestigious US venture capital firms. Dubliner Shane Curran closed the Series A investment round for his data privacy startup, Evervault. The famous former data security chief for Yahoo and Facebook, Alex Stamos, has come on as a new investor, as have Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz and (French firm) Datadogs CEO Olivier Pomel. The heavy-hitting Silicon Valley firms backing the venture are led by Index Ventures with participation from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins and assistance from Dublin-based venture firm Frontline. Read More Seven years ago, Sequioa invested in the payments firm created by another former Young Scientist winner, Patrick Collison and his brother John. Stripe has gone on to become one of the worlds most valuable private companies, valued at $35bn (31.7bn). Evervault has now raised $19m (17.4m) in the last year. Evervault hosts a network of hardware-secured data processing enclaves which allows developers to deploy their applications in privacy cages. These cages allow information to be processed securely with strictly controlled access but without changing the way that developers build their software. Developers integrate with the Evervault API through their publicly available developer SDKs for all major architectures and frameworks. Were aiming to distill what GDPR did in 99 Articles down to a line of code, said Mr Curran. This is conceptually simple, but operationally complex. Were building cages alongside specific companies which handle extremely sensitive data. Think location data, banking data, payments data, kids data, health data and more. At Evervault, we believe that data privacy isnt a regulatory problem; its a technology problem. Commenting on the recent announcement of 176 job cuts at National Pen in Dundalk, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, has branded the move "deeply disappointing". Minister Humphreys was responding to a question from local TD Fergus O'Dowd, asking what resources would be made available to those impacted. In response, Minister Humphreys said: "The announcement by National Pen that it is to seek redundancies at its Dundalk facility is deeply disappointing. My immediate concern is for the workers and families who have been impacted by this announcement. Many of these workers have been with the company for many years, which makes this news all the more difficult." Minister Humphreys added that the IDA has been in close contact with senior management at the company's offices in Dundalk. "The company has stated that it has experienced a significant decline in demand for its products. It has advised the IDA that the steps being taken now are necessary to secure the long-term future of the business and preserve the positions of the majority of the workers at the Dundalk operation." She continued: "It is important to remember that, despite the loss of these roles, National Pen will continue to be a significant employer in the region. The company has confirmed that it remains committed to operating in Ireland and will retain 380 staff in Dundalk. "The Government will make every State support available to employees impacted by this announcement. My Department, the Department of Social Protection, as well as our State Agencies, will all be doing their utmost to help workers transition and find new employment opportunities. "IDA Ireland has already made the company aware of the Government supports that are available. I understand that the IDA will also be working with National Pens HR team to connect staff with other clients in the IDA portfolio in due course." : Telangana Congress on Wednesday lodged a police complaint against film and TV actor Nagendra Babu for his tweet calling Nathuram Godse a patriot. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) general secretary K Manavatha Roy filed the complaint saying Babu had tweeted that Godse is a patriot and that the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi is debatable, police said. Roy accused the actor of insulting the father of the Nation and sought action according to law. Nagendra Babu, popularly known as Naga Babu, is the younger brother of Telugu film star and former Union Minister K Chiranjeevi. No case was registered but the police have referred the complaint for legal opinion and would proceed further accordingly. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two bar dancers and their three mail colleagues, kept in a quarantine facility here after their return from Mumbai, have been booked for creating ruckus on being denied liquor, police said on Thursday. SHO Jyoti Singh of an all-women police station in Moradabad said a total of 68 persons, returning here in a truck from Mumbai a few days ago, had been quarantined in a private medical college here. On Tuesday night, five of them demanded liquor from health workers in the hospital and created ruckus in its corridors after being denied it, said Singh. Following denial of liquor they began dancing in the corridors, some of them after removing some of their clothes, said the SHO, adding they also misbehaved with and assaulted some of the health workers, seeking to control them. On being informed about the incident, the police reached there and booked the five for various penal offences, including rioting (section 147 of IPC), committing negligent acts likely to spread infection (s 269), assaulting public servants (s 333) and breaching peace and provoking others (s 504). Assistant Superintendent of Police Deepak Bhookar said the police would seek their judicial custody after their quarantine period would be over. Moradabad Chief Medical Officer, Dr Millind Chandra Agarwal said the samples of all Mumbai returnees have been sent for testing and the result in expected soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) TRENTON Reed Gusciora, who celebrated a triumphant moment when he was elected the first openly gay mayor of the capital city in 2018, faces a recall less than halfway through his first term. Gusciora becomes the first mayor since corrupt ex-Mayor Tony Mack to face a recall. That recall effort failed, but Mack was removed from office by a judge in 2014 after being convicted and imprisoned as part of a federal bribery scheme. If thats what Robin and her friends feel is important, more power to them, Gusciora said. Its America. You can do whatever you want. The city has much more challenges and things to worry about. Gusciora joins council members Robin Vaughn and Joe Harrison who also face recalls. Separately, the council members were issued disciplinary Rice notices and could be censured, over their conduct on a coronavirus briefing, when the legislative body convenes Thursday. Those with knowledge of Trentons political history called this movement unprecedented, in that they couldnt remember a time when three sitting elected officials faced removal from office at the same time, let alone during a global health crisis. The capital city has more than 2,300 cases and 54 deaths from COVID-19. Filing with the clerks office Wednesday morning, the three-person committee to recall Gusciora said the mayor failed to perform his duties. abused his power and engaged in unbecoming conduct, according to the removal petition. The recall committee includes Cherie Garrette, George Daniels and Mary Horne. Horne has made posts on Facebook supporting the embattled Vaughn. Garrette declined to comment on the recall and other committee members couldnt be reached. Gusciora accused Horne of being Vaughns Facebook echo bunny. The committee to remove Harrison consists of Sonya Wilkins, Anthony Johnson and Lisa Morris. The Harrison recall committee alleged in its petition that Harrison has failed to perform his duties as councilman and also engaged in unbecoming conduct. Morris didnt answer a phone call after asking a reporter to call back later, and other members couldnt be reached for comment. The Trenton Housing Authority sued the council last year alleging it illegally appointed Wilkins, a former aide to council president Kathy McBride, to the Board of Commissioners despite her not being a THA resident. According to court records, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice after being amicably resolved. City law director John Morelli said the THA was correct about Wilkins illegal appointment and she was removed from the board. Wilkins resigned as McBrides aide Wednesday, after the filing of the recall petition, the Trenton clerk said. Harrison earned a razor-thin win in the runoff over Taiwanda Terry-Wilson in 2018. It is what it is, Harrison told The Trentonian. What can you say? At the end of the day, Im gonna continuing helping the people of the East Ward. Its their decision. You really gotta question the motives of everybody. This council has been a disappointment. Its supposed to be about the people. Most of the time all we do is talk about ourselves. The petitions must be signed by 25 percent of registered voters in Trenton and in the East Ward, respectively, to move forward. Clerk Dwayne Harris said he was tabulating the number of signatures required on each petition to force a special election for Trentons terrific trio. The recall effort comes after Gusciora, Harrison and Vaughn got into an argument during a coronavirus briefing this month. Gusciora started in on Vaughn asking her to identify the do-nothing nonprofits that she maligned on her social media pages. Much of the focus has been on Vaughns meltdown. Some of the states top Democrats and colleagues demanded that she step down after she was caught on tape calling the mayor a pedophile and telling Harrison to suck the mayors d**k. She was excoriated during a recent council meeting by those upset over her antics. And five residents of the West Ward filed paperwork this week to recall Vaughn. While people attempted to make false equivalencies between Vaughns viral vitriol and that of her colleagues, she was hardly alone in hurling insults and personal attacks on the conference call. Gusciora called the West Ward legislator an idiot, child, 4-year-old and little a**shole. He also suggested Vaughn should be lobotomized and threatened to sue her over her pedophilia allegations. Vaughn attacked Harrisons family when he stood up for Gusciora. She accused him of performing sex acts on the mayor, called his mother a whore and suggested his father was a deadbeat. Harrison called Vaughn ugly but suggested in a subsequent interview he was talking about her conduct not her looks. Gusciora, a longtime assemblyman before taking over in Trenton, has faced controversy throughout his tenure, including when he first took office. His term has been defined by constant acrimony with the legislative body. He has taken two council members to court twice, and won an injunction, over allegations that the legislators abused their power. Gusciora said council president McBride and Vaughn violated city ordinance and the Faulkner Act. A judge recently refused to sanction Vaughn for violating her order after Guscioras attorneys said Vaughns conduct was undeterred by the November ruling. Gusciora also faced a now-infamous Dunkin Donuts lawsuit from a faction of ardent supporters of mayoral runner-up Paul Perez that accused Gusciora of bribery and electioneering during the 2018 runoff. That group, which included reputed Gusciora critic Mike Ranallo, later dropped the lawsuit after Gusciora refused to admit any wrongdoing. Ranallo is not a part of the recall committee. And he took issue with Guscioras dismissal of the recall committee as disgruntled voters who arent over his historic win. This is a whole new group of people that are obviously dissatisfied with [his] lackluster performance, Ranallo said. Clearly, this isnt two-year old voter bitterness over a very close election, but a real indictment on the mayors performance and behavior. He appears to be taking this nonchalantly and he should not be. He won by a squeak and every signature that the group gets is a vote he will not. Gusciora said hes not worried about the recall effort tarnishing his reputation as a lawmaker. In public life, theres always going to be people that hate you. There are continual people who cant move past that election, he said. I got bigger things to worry about. I have to make sure we get testing done, that citizens are protected, that nonprofits are able to help us take care of the people who have fallen through the cracks. We still have to worry about graduation. Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin has confirmed she will give "serious consideration" to contesting the party's forthcoming leadership election. Her comments will only add to pressure on party leader Eamon Ryan who is now in a battle to retain control of his newly expanded party. She insisted that her "focus remains on the crucial government formation talks". "I believe it is important that government formation talks fully conclude uninterrupted and that any leadership campaign happens subsequently, she said. Her statement follows the call from four Read More: Cork party councillors for her to contest the leadership position. A contest for the leadership must happen within six months of a General Election under party rules. The letter from councillors Oliver Moran, Lorna Bogue, Liam Quaide and Colette Finn, details of which were published in the Irish Examiner on Wednesday morning, said Mr Ryan is no longer the right person to lead the party. Cllr Bogue, defending her decision to back Ms Martin, said there is Read More: nothing House of Cards" like about a move by four Cork councillors to encourage Catherine Martin to challenge for the leadership. Ms Bogue insisted that they are just trying to do what is right for the party. Cllr Bogue says that the Green Party constitution mandates that a leadership election must occur within six months of a General Election. She said the people who wrote the constitution could never have foreseen a situation where the country would be six months from an election and without a Government. "Unfortunately (the leadership election) is not a time of our choosing. In the middle of (Government) negotiations is definitely not the best time to be doing this. It is something that is mandated by our constitution that we have to have one (a contest) within six months of a General Election. "It has to be held and done and dusted in six months so we have to open up nominations and that takes a few weeks for those to be left open. June or July we will be having the vote." In an interview with the Opinion Line, on Cork's 96FM, Cllr Bogue emphasised that it was not a question of them having no confidence in Mr Ryan. "We are all very grateful to Eamon and we think he has done a really brilliant job over the last ten years bringing us to the position where we currently are at. If you think a week is a long time in politics ten years is a very long time Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have shown that an alternating cycle of 50 days of strict lockdown followed by 30 days of easing can effectively reduce the number of COVID-19-related deaths, and lower admissions to intensive care units in hospitals. IMAGE: A woman wearing a protective face mask walks past the front of a closed florist in London, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters Since no effective treatments or vaccine for COVID-19 is available, reducing virus transmission via measures like isolating suspected infected individuals, school closures, and lockdowns are crucial, according to the researchers, including Rajiv Chowdhury from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. While such measures are effective at slowing disease spread and preventing health systems becoming overwhelmed, they can also lead to job losses and social disruption, noted the study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology. The scientists said there is growing concern that these interventions may be unsustainable over the long term. Hence they suggested an approach of alternating stricter measures with intervals of relaxed social distancing. They said this strategy could be enforced with measures of effective "test-contact trace-isolate", and shielding of the vulnerable kept in place. In the study, the scientists assessed the difference in impact between strategies aimed at mitigation, and those aimed at suppression. Mitigation measures like physical distancing, hygiene rules, case-based isolation, restricting of large public events, and school closures, can reduce the number of new infections, but at a relatively slow rate, they explained. On the other hand, the study said suppression measures can lead to a faster reduction in the number of new infections by applying additional interventions like lockdown. In the first scenario, they modelled the impact of imposing no measures and found that the number of patients requiring treatment in intensive care units quickly exceed the available capacity significantly for every single country, including India. According to the study, this may result in a total of 7.8 million deaths across the 16 countries considered in the modelling study. Under this scenario, they said, the epidemic may last nearly 200 days in the majority of these countries. The second scenario, the researchers said, modelled a rolling cycle of 50-day mitigation measures followed by a 30-day relaxing. In this strategy, the number of people each infected individual goes on to infect, a measure called the R number, may go down to 0.8 in all countries, the study noted. However, the scientists said this would still be insufficient to keep the number of patients requiring ICU care below the available critical care capacity. While proving effective for the first three months for all the countries, they said, after the first relaxation, the number of patients requiring ICU care would exceed the hospital capacity. According to the researchers, this would result in 3.5 million deaths across the 16 countries. In this situation, they said the pandemic would last approximately 12 months in high-income countries, and about 18 months or longer in the other settings. The final scenario assessed the possible outcomes of a rolling cycle of stricter, 50-day suppression measures followed by a 30-day relaxing. These intermittent cycles, according to the scientists, would reduce the R number to 0.5 and keep ICU demand within national capacity in all countries. Since more individuals remain susceptible at the end of each cycle of suppression and relaxation, they said, such an approach would result in a longer pandemic which may last beyond 18 months in all countries. However, they said a significantly smaller number of people -- just over 1,30,000 across the 16 countries modelled -- would die during that period if this strategy was followed. In comparison, the team found that if a continuous, three-month strategy of strict suppression measures is followed, most countries can reduce new cases to near zero. Achieving this may take nearly 6.5 months to reach if looser, mitigation strategies are used, the study said. But prolonged lockdowns, the scientists cautioned, are unsustainable in most countries due to potential effects on economy and livelihood. "Our models predict that dynamic cycles of 50-day suppression followed by a 30-day relaxation are effective at lowering the number of deaths significantly for all countries throughout the 18-month period," Chowdhury, a global health epidemiologist the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. This intermittent combination of strict social distancing, and a relatively relaxed period, along with efficient testing, case isolation, contact tracing and shielding the vulnerable, may allow national economies to 'breathe' at intervals, he added. In resource-poor regions of the world, Chowdhury said, such a strategy might make the solution more sustainable. The scientists noted that the specific durations of these interventions would, however, need to be defined by specific countries according to their needs and local facilities. BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz lawmaker Iskhak Masaliev has announced he will give up his mandate because he is "ashamed of parliaments failures," saying the legislature doesn't use its full authority to challenge the government on very important issues. Masaliev told a parliamentary session on May 21 that he will end his duties as a member from May 25, and accused other members of "violating procedural regulations." "It would be great if the parliaments work could change at least a bit. I apologize to my voters, whose expectations I probably did not meet. I am ready to work at any other post to be of use to the country, but I consider it impossible to continue working as a lawmaker in the current parliament ," Masaliev said. Masaliev and several other lawmakers initiated a bill to decrease the 9 percent threshold needed to get a seat in the legislature to 5 percent. The move, however, failed at it was not supported by parliamentary committees. After fierce debate last week, however, lawmakers approved a different bill that would lower the barrier to 7 percent. The 59-year-old Masaliev is the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan. He was elected in 2015 to the parliament on the list of the Onuguu-Progress Party. Masaliev served earlier as a lawmaker between 2000-2010. In 2012-2014, he led Kyrgyzstans State Taxation Service. France, heartbeat of the European social ideal, is facing an existential crisis caused by the impact of the lockdown of its economy. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, termed the heart of the countrys auto industry, according to the Financial Times. Jean Rottner, the regions president, does not see the local economy getting back to pre-crisis levels for two to four years. Talk of a V-shaped recovery for much of Europe is thought to be laughable despite massive government intervention to support employers keeping staff on the payroll. The reality is, for some it is only delaying the inevitable. The Financial Times reports almost half the Grand Est regions workforce, a figure of nearly a million workers, was on government support schemes at the start of this month. The auto industry was said to be operating at only 8% of capacity last month and may only hit 20% this month. Even the new normal is expected to be at best 70-80% of last years output and it may be even lower, local businessmen suggested. Of course, France is not alone. Spain, Italy and the U.K. have all experienced similar devastation of many parts of both manufacturing and services sectors. However, France has particularly inflexible labor laws that hinder companies ability to adjust and react. Hiring and firing workers is a tortuous process in France, making companies that can use the excuse of the virus to shed labor, and probably avail themselves of some government support for workers in the process, but may well be reluctant to rehire as business picks up in an uncertain post-virus world. That reality will hinder Frances recovery. As the second-largest economy in the E.U., it will be a drag on the whole of the Union in the years to come. Recently, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has dropped hints the government is going to create incentive schemes to support both automotive and aerospace producers. Related: Could COVID-19 Lead To Authoritarianism? Politicians, though, cannot help themselves; stimulus measures will come with strings attached. Support is expected to be directed to bolster specific objectives, such as for low- or zero-emission vehicles, development of electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing, and a longtime favorite of France reshoring manufacturing from outside the country back to within its borders. It is unlikely, unless they give them away, that large swatches of the French public are going to be suddenly persuaded to buy EVs; last year, the technology struggled to gain more than 2% of the market. Spain, likewise, enforced one of the most stringent lockdown enforcement regimes in Europe and is still looking to extend it for some regions into June. A Financial Times post this week painted a dire view of the economic damage, quoting Pablo Hernandez de Cos, Spains central bank governor, who said that while first-quarter gross domestic product shrank by just 5.2% he expected a significant acceleration in the decline between May and June. He expects any rebound next year would be insufficient to return Spain to its pre-crisis economic levels in 2021 and that the economy will shrink between 9.5% and 12.4% this year and only grow between 6.1% and 8.5% in 2021. As with much of Europe, debt is expected to rise dramatically, possibly from about 95% of GDP last year to 120% by the end of this year. Related: The Origins Of Globalization The old caution that an army can win the war but lose the peace could prove to be the case for some European economies. It will take potentially years rather than the hoped-for months for GDP to recover to where it was before the virus and for debt levels to be brought back into manageable territory. Meanwhile, while we should be glad the death toll was not higher, questions will be asked as to the financial cost future generations will pay. More Top Reads From Safehaven.com: Up to 35 permanent employees and 90 agency staff will be made redundant at Wrightbus, Bus manufacturer Wrightbus has announced a number of redundancies at its factory in Ballymena as it looks to create a "stable and secure future" for the company in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Executive Buta Atwal said the tough decision has been taken to make up to 35 permanent employees redundant pending consultation, as well as a reduction in agency staff of up to 90 workers over a phased period that will be kept under review. The move, he said, is vital to "secure a stronger future" for the business which is urging politicians to support its drive to produce 3,000 hydrogen buses in the next four years. DUP MP Ian Paisley said it was disappointing the company had been forced into making redundancies. "There are obvious fears about the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the wider Northern Ireland economy and that such redundancies will escalate in the future," he said. "Specifically within bus manufacturing there is action the government can take to assist. If they brought forward the much-needed hydrogen bus strategy for the UK it could be transformative for the wider transport sector." Sinn Fein MLA Philip McGuigan said: This will have a major impact on the local economy in Ballymena and North Antrim at a time when many are already under great financial strain as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 575 staff that remain would be more than a ten-fold increase in the number of employees inherited by the management team when it bought Wrightbus out of administration in October 2019, with hopes to grow the workforce to 1,000 by the end of 2021. When we saved Wrightbus from administration last year, there were only about 50 employees, and since then we have grown the workforce to 700, said Mr Atwal. Read More The decision has been taken to trim the workforce to the size we believe we will need to see us through to the end of the year. The redundancies are a necessary measure given the economic slowdown as a result of the current coronavirus crisis. However, it has not altered the long-term vision of prosperity for the company. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while we furloughed a large section of the workforce, we also kept about 100 engineers, designers and sales staff working to make sure we can take future orders of buses and work on long-term projects, which will provide security and stability for Wrightbus in the coming years, said Mr Atwal. Read More The Wrightbus factory has created the worlds first hydrogen-electric double decker bus, which emits only water and there is a belief that in the coming years this will see a large number of orders come in. There are already strong sales for the delivery of buses in London and Aberdeen this year, with more cities due to follow suit. Mr Atwal said: We see the future in zero-emission hydrogen and battery-electric transport and have positioned the business accordingly. Our vision is to have 1,000 people working for us by the end of 2021 and we hope to be in a position to re-hire some of those who have been made redundant. We believe green fuel is the future and will bring a brighter future to Northern Ireland over the coming years. A consultation will begin with staff on Monday, May 25, and Wrightbus said it will be supporting staff throughout the process. George Brash, regional officer at trade union Unite, said the job losses were profoundly regrettable and that the union hoped some workers could be furloughed instead of being let go. Every job lost is a heavy blow for the individual concerned, their household, the wider community and economy, especially in the face of the current Covid-19 pandemic, he said. Ahead of this announcement being made, I spoke to senior management to call on them to utilise the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme to protect jobs and retain skilled workers; the prospect of workers being thrown onto the dole queues at this time is unacceptable. Management confirmed they will be proceeding to a 30-day consultative period on their proposals but that they will consider furlough as an option. They sought to reassure us of their ambitions for Wrightbus in Ballymena and its centrality to their plans. I miss the bars that came into my life because of their proximity to my favorite city haunts, like Film Forum (the Brooklyneer, get the pickle plate) or MoMA (Connollys, with its first-rate Guinness pour and heady mix of tourists and seen-it-all museum members) or the Metrograph (the 169 Bar, with its leopard pool table and ol man cans of Genesee Cream Ale) or the Quad Cinema, after which I always end up at the Spain (established 1966), its shaggy elegance irresistible. Its where I went after my first viewing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and my 10th viewing of Body Double. I miss chatting with its aging, courtly bartenders in stiff coats. I miss the plates of sherry meatballs and patatas bravas they pass around with toothpicks and cocktail napkins, and which taste especially great with a cold bottle of Estrella Damm beer. In this precarious moment, the bars I find myself missing most are those that transport me to the past, to the New York City of 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago or more. Bars that endured three or four wars, Prohibition and the Great Depression, and Ford to City: Drop Dead. Bars that endured the Spanish flu and thus seem to whisper a promise to me that theyll endure this pandemic, too. Im thinking of places like the bar at Keens Steakhouse, where I long to sit with one of its signature bloody Marys (with balsamic vinegar) during happy hour as the bartenders whirl out tiered trays of hard-boiled eggs for all to try. I miss the sense of community that follows as patrons buzz around the bar, hungry and happy, peeling their eggs under the hypnotic gaze of Miss Keen, the informal name granted to the rapturous lounging nude woman in the painting above the bar. Im thinking of the lush interior of Bemelmans in the Carlyle Hotel, a bar I first visited when I sold my first novel and have forever ordered the same drink since: a gimlet, with gin, of course. There are few New York experiences that can sweep you into the past as profoundly as nestling into one of Bemelmans banquettes, a wildly expensive cocktail in hand, as you admire the sweep of the bars famous Madeline murals and enjoy one too many of its exemplary complimentary potato chips just as the sound of lilting live piano begins for the evening. But most of all, I miss Jimmys Corner, my favorite bar and one that seems to encompass all thats improbable and beguiling about New York. Its a neighborhood joint that has been around for nearly 50 years and sells $3 beers in a part of the city Times Square where it should, by all rights, have been flattened years ago by the crush of Disney, countless corporate chains and sleek, soulless hospitality group lounges. Carney (D) has not lifted a mandate that out-of-town visitors quarantine for 14 days upon arrival or bans on restaurant dining and short-term rentals. He faces at least one federal lawsuit from a man who says he has been deprived of his liberty and his property because he is barred from renting his Dewey Beach condo. Three Republican state lawmakers sent a letter this week asking U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr to review Carneys emergency order. Carneys office did not respond to requests for comment. More than 54,000 lives in the US would have been saved and over 900,000 coronavirus cases could have been avoided if social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders were imposed two weeks earlier, new data has shown. A study conducted by researchers at Columbia University has revealed how an early response to the outbreak could have curtailed the number of deaths in the US by 83 per cent. The federal government and states began issuing stay-at-home orders on March 15 - four days after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic. A study has revealed how an early response to the outbreak could have curtailed the number of deaths in the US by 83 per cent By May 3, a total of 65,307 Americans had died from the virus and the number of infections across the country had surpassed one million. Had the US introduced lockdown measures one week earlier on March 8, the death toll is estimated to have been just 29,410 by then, according to the study. The number of cases nationwide would have been just under 390,000. The research also presents the estimated number of deaths under a scenario in which officials would have acted two weeks sooner and imposed measures on March 1. About 54,000 fewer people would have died by early May, or just 11,317. 'These dramatic reductions of morbidity and mortality due to more timely deployment of control measures highlights the critical need for aggressive, early response to the COVID-19 pandemic,' the report states. The modeling showed how social distancing measures, or NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) have successfully controlled the spread of COVID-19 among the population. The Majestic Theater playing 'Phantom of the Opera' on 44th Street lies dormant during the time of COVID-19 pandemic However, it notes the effectiveness of these control measures has been less pronounced in the US. Six days before the country went into lockdown, there were only 546 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 22 deaths. But the number of infections is likely to have been much higher, as thousands of people would have been walking around without symptoms. Limited testing kits also meant thousands would go undetected. In the New York metropolitan area, the country's epicenter of the outbreak, 21,800 people had died by May 3. The report estimates that figure would have been under 4,300 - or 17,500 fewer - if measures were introduced by March 8. Researchers also stated a longer response time would result in 'a stronger rebound of infections and death'. The US, which has the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in the world, has been criticized over its slow response to the pandemic. President Trump and the US government has been criticized for not acting quickly enough at the start of the pandemic Earlier this month, CDC official Dr. Anne Schuchat said the US failed to understand quickly enough how the virus was spreading from Europe and missed some vital opportunities to slow the spread. 'We clearly didn't recognize the full importations that were happening,' Schuchat told The Associated Press. Her findings marked another blow for President Trump who has come under fire for denying the seriousness of the outbreak in the early days of it spreading across the US. She blamed limited testing for the virus and delayed travel alerts for areas outside China for cases of the virus spiking in the US in late February. Schuchat noted that nearly two million travelers arrived in the US from Italy and other European countries during February, which led to a 'rapid spread' of the virus on American soil. In late February, Trump was still insisting the risk of coronavirus to Americans was 'very low' and he did not block travel from Europe until March 11. He has repeatedly praised his move to stop entry from China into the US from February 2. But Schuchat's suggested the president should also have been turning his attentions to banning travel from Europe at the same time. Trump's administration wanted to lessen its dependence on China and India for the COVID-19 drugs and its ingredients by awarding a $354 million contract to the U.S. based corporation, according to a recently published article. Drug Dependence of the United States to China and India The global pandemic has led the United States to depend on its drugs and medicines to China and India to fight COVID-19. The increasing number of persons being hospitalized due to the new coronavirus and related illnesses has led to the shortages of available medicines and drugs. In an attempt to lessen its dependence on China and India, Trump's administration has awarded a contract amounting to $354 million to the U.S.based and privately-held Phlow Corporation to make COVID-19 drugs, other essential drugs, and their ingredients. This was also confirmed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday and added that the four-year contract can be extended up to 10 years that will amount to $812 million. This move of the administration will not only lessen its dependence on foreign countries but support its drug supply chain as well. Things to Know About Phlow Corporation Phlow Corporation is based in Virginia. An article mentioned that they announced online, "The United States' drug supply chain is broken, becoming dangerously dependent upon Foreign Suppliers for our most essential generic medicines." They announced online via posting that more than 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients are being produced by foreign countries. This means that the U.S. is very vulnerable to disruptions in drug supply chains. Additionally, the trade war and agreement of China and the U.S. have also made the supply a big problem. The Phlow Corporation aims to produce, manufacture, and secure the nation's most essential medicines that are made in the American soil. Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, said in another report: "For far too long, we've relied on foreign manufacturing and supply chains for our most important medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients while placing America's health, safety, and national security at grave risk." It was reported that Phlow already delivered 1.6 million doses of five essential generic medicines used to treat patients at the different hospitals across the county who have COVID-19. These demands for the supply has increased in the wake of the pandemic with more and more test positive. To meet the demand for the medicines and drugs, Phlow has partnered with other groups such as Civica Rx, Ampac Fine Chemicals, and the Medicines for All Institute. Additionally, Phlow and its partners have also delivered medicines used for sedation who depend on a ventilator, medicines for pain management, and certain essential antibiotics. Eric Edwards, MD, Ph.D., co-founder, president, and CEO, Phlow said: "In the midst of this pandemic, America needs a reliable source of high quality, domestically manufactured, affordable pharmaceuticals and their key ingredients. his advanced manufacturing capability will significantly fortify our nation's pharmaceutical supply chain for critical medicines, including many required to treat patients hospitalized with COVID-19." The global pandemic has exposed the U.S. to its reliance on the foreign supply chain. Now, the partnership of the federal government and the Phlow corporation is expected to sustain and supply the medicines needed not only to combat the new coronavirus but other diseases as well. Read related articles: ISTANBUL - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has discussed the situation in the Middle East with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The Turkish presidency said that during the conversation Erdogan stressed that ''Turkey will continue to support Palestine in all fields''. Along with bilateral relations, talks also focused on regional developments, the presidency said. Yesterday Ankara harshly condemned annexation plans of parts of the West Bank announced by the new Israeli government, calling them ''new steps in Israel's occupation policy''. According to intelligence data, one member of Russia-led forces was killed and another two were wounded on May 20. Russia's hybrid military forces on May 20 mounted 18 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action. "The Russian Federation's armed formations violated the ceasefire 18 times in the past day," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 21. "As a result, two servicemen of the Joint Forces were wounded in enemy shelling." Read alsoUkraine's leader unveils existence of Plan B and Plan C on Donbas Russian-led forces opened fire from proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns, and sniper and small arms. Under attack were Ukrainian positions near the towns of Krasnohorivka and Maryinka, and the villages of Pavlopil, Pisky, Kamianka, Starohnativka, Bohdanivka, Orikhove, Shumy, Novo-Oleksandrivka, Pivdenne, and Krymske. The Joint Forces returned fire in response to each enemy attack. According to intelligence data, one member of Russia-led forces was killed and another two were wounded on May 20. "Since Thursday midnight, Russia-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions near Bohdanivka, using rifles. One Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of enemy shelling," the update said. Thousands of people are being forcefully quarantined in Uttar Pradesh even after completing their quarantine period, BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali alleged on Thursday, requesting that they should be released as it was burdening the state resources in this time of crisis. "At the time when lakhs of migrant labourers, natives of Uttar Pradesh are coming back to the state, it makes sense to release those who completed their quarantine period and have been tested negative for coronavirus," he said. Ali said these people were quarantined in the first phase of the lockdown in March, adding it was "illegal detention" for them now. Last week, the parliamentarian had written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and raised the issue of people illegally quarantined in his constituency Amroha for more than 45 days and urged him to send them back to their home. "Among those quarantined in Amroha, one Hafizullah, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar, could not survive a heart attack. Only after his unfortunate death, all were released and sent to their homes," he claimed. The situation is similar in many districts across the state where thousands are illegally quarantined despite being tested negative for coronavirus, the MP said, adding he has requested Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of the state, Avnish Awasthi for their release. The release of these people from illegal quarantine will not only provide relief to their family members who are mentally disturbed for the past 50 days, but also reduce the burden on the administration, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) did not sign the Strategic Directions for Eurasian Economic Integration Development until 2025. The document was sent to be fixed. This decision was made following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which was held via videoconference. The strategy will be finalized taking into account the proposals of the Belarusian and Kazakh sides. Belarus and Armenia are not satisfied with Russia's high gas tariffs. According to Minsk and Yerevan, its value is discriminatory and collapses integration, while according to Moscow, this is a pricing market mechanism. Russia sells natural gas to Europe at $65-68, while to Belarus - at $127. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted that the document includes no urgent proposals to be implemented. "This is a strategy, so theres no rush, except for the natural gas issue. And even if we agree on such a formulation on natural gas, this is not a concrete decision. Concrete negotiations will follow," the Belarusian leader said. He proposed to return to the issue during the next meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which is planned to be held in October - November in Minsk. Yerevan has similar claims. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously discussed the price of gas with Vladimir Putin twice, but in the end it was still raised: from $150 to $165 per 1 000 cubic meters in January 1, 2019. This year the price is $150 per thousand cubic meters. Nevertheless, the cost of Russian gas supplied to Armenia is 2.8 times more expensive than in Europe. In early April, Gazprom Armenia applied to the Public Services Regulatory Commission with a request to revise natural gas tariffs. It was proposed to increase the average tariff by 11%. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, they can have a single tariff only within a single market with a single budget and taxation system: " The EAEU has yet to reach this advanced level of integration. For now, gas prices must be market-based. This is a common practice around the world." Eurasian integration as a bureaucratic process has stalled. But the bureaucratic process and integration itself are not identical concepts. Integration from above rests against the interests of elites, and integration from below has not even begun. We can say that almost everything here is a tabula rasa, which means a lot of space and freedom for creativity," Belarusian political scientist Alexei Dzermant believes. In his opinion, the slowdown in integration into the EAEU will strengthen China's influence, with which each EAEU country will seek to come to an agreement itself. The meeting of the EAEU Council showed the existence of contradictions between the production and energy sources, and in general, the limit of integration has been reached, according to the expert at the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs, associate professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University Alexander Gushchin. He noted that they will have to get over themselves in order to overcome these contradictions. Otherwise, it will be necessary to recognize that sovereignty, potential differences, weak economies of a number of countries are an insurmountable anchor of further integration. Gushchin believes that both real industrial cooperation and pooling of capital, even with the most industrially strongest Belarus, as well as the real strengthening of supranational structures, or creation of a real regional eager market are out of question. Either national interests (including national fuel and energy complexes) interfere, or political contradictions or elites are not ready to give up particles of sovereignty, although in reality, the real return to sovereignty is still far away. Russia and Kazakhstan, on the one hand, and Belarus and Armenia, on the other, form different approaches, which impedes integration. This suggests that the transfer of the integration dominant from the Union State to the EAEU will not solve the issue quickly, since unresolved problems, while maintaining the old approaches of the parties, will simply be transferred to a multilateral format. The development of the international subjectivity of the union and its attractiveness are also inhibited. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev also criticized the Strategy. According to him, some of the documents proposals constitute an "inappropriate overrunning". He spoke out against the expansion of the Eurasian Economic Commission's powers, noting that giving it additional competencies in health, education and science "significantly changes its economic focus." The ideas of the Commissions participation in bilateral negotiations of member states with third countries on trade and economic issues were also negatively evaluated. "Trade in services and investments are national competence," Tokayev recalled. According to Kazakh political scientist Askar Nursh, in recent years, the Eurasian Economic Commission's apparatus has focused on promoting proposals, firstly, to expand its supranational powers, and secondly, to include a "humanitarian basket" in the EAEU legal package through the expansion of integration into health, education and science areas. This is not included in the constituent agreement on the creation of the EAEU. These initiatives, promoted by the Russian side, have not yet been supported by Kazakhstan, which was confirmed by President Tokayev in his speech during the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council's online meeting: "This will lead to the rejection of the strategy by national public opinion since the strategy will limit the sovereign rights of governments and parliament." Director of the Group of Risk Assessment Dosym Satpayev told Vestnik Kavkaza that Tokaevs critical attacks on the EAEU have several reasons. First, they reflect the general growth of negative attitudes in Kazakhstan towards this project, where "Russia's geopolitical ambitions initially drove all the EAEU members into the role of hostages of the Kremlins foreign policy." Therefore, Tokaev voiced what others have already warned about in Kazakhstan. Criticism of the EAEU was also aimed at an internal audience in Kazakhstan, given the fact that Tokayev is trying to gain political points as a defender of Kazakhstans national interests. In addition, unlike Nursultan Nazarbayev, who considered the EAEU as his personal foreign policy project, designed to assign him the role of the main integrator of the post-Soviet space, Tokaev does not have a "great integrator" complex, and therefore an emotional connection with the EAEU, which allows for a more realistic look to all the problems of this structure. Second, it was not Tokayev who initiated critical attacks on the EAEU. Alexander Lukashenko was engaged in this long before him. From the very beginning the EAEU was like a communal apartment with constant conflicts. And if Minsk had previously accused Moscow of violating the treaty sections regarding the functioning of the EAEU, recently the same criticism is voiced against Kazakhstan by Kyrgyzstan. It is not surprising that Uzbekistan, having seen enough of these squabbles, decided to become only an observer in the EAEU, despite all Russia's attempts to "lure" Tashkent there as a full member. A trendy new festival is coming to Melbourne that will rival major events like Tasmania's Dark Mofo. The Rising festival, set to take place in May 2021, is backed by a $2 million commissioning program that encourages local artists to create new works. Co-artistic director, Gideon Obarzanek, said: 'We draw great inspiration from Victoria's vibrant arts community and are excited by this chance to provide new opportunities.' A trendy new arts festival called Rising (pictured) will take place in Melbourne's city centre from May 26 to June 6 next year and hopes to rival major events like Tasmania's Dark Mofo Pictured: Rising's co-artistic directors Gideon Obarzanek (left) and Hannah Fox (right) who was an associate creative director of Dark Mofo The festival will replace Melbourne's International Arts Festival and White Night and hopes to rival the likes of Dark Mofo and Sydney's Vivid. White Night, similarly to Vivid, was focused on a single night of spectacle, while Melbourne International Arts Festival showcased the arts over a period of weeks. Dark Mofo, which was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, is Hobart's controversial midwinter art and music festival. Rising's co-artistic director Hannah Fox, who was an associate creative director of Dark Mofo, said the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a rethinking of Victoria's cultural scene. Ms Fox said: 'This moment has forced us to think deeply about the future of festivals and about how we can build greater sustainability.' Rising festival was initially scheduled for August but was postponed to run from May 26 to June 6 next year. The funding from this year was instead redirected to support artists in creating new works and transformed into a $2,000 grant scheme. Rising festival 2019 was cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic and the funding has been transformed into a grant scheme for Victorian artists. Pictured: Dark Mofo festival in Hobart 'It challenges us to champion local artists without being parochial and to find new ways to stay connected internationally,' Ms Fox said. Rising is calling on Victorian artists to submit applications for ambitious works that are Melbourne specific, radical, for the community and can be presented in a festival context. It plans to have large-scale arts events that engage crowds and will turn Melbourne city into a stage. The best submissions that are received will be further developed and included as part of the Rising program next may. Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, said: 'While this festival will be global in its ambition and scope, Victorian artists and creativity will be at its heart.' Rising festival will also play a significant role in reviving Victoria's cultural tourism economy, which was previously worth more than $2 billion a year. 'Rising is set to play an important role as we emerge from this crisis, reigniting the exciting creative offering Victoria is known for and rebooting our visitor economy,' Mr Foley said. University leaders have stressed that testing for the coronavirus and contact tracing is a critical component to safely holding in-person classes. In recent days, the University of Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said they intend to start the semester earlier than planned and finish final exams by Thanksgiving. Kevin Guskiewicz, chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill, wrote in a letter to the university that the changes to the academic calendar were done "in an effort to stay ahead of that second wave." Boston University's announcement comes as colleges across the U.S. are trying to determine plans for safely conducting classes in the fall despite the Covid-19 pandemic . California State University announced plans for a mostly virtual fall semester, citing fears of a virus outbreak later in the year . "We've spent a lot of time on trying to decide and develop testing capability within the university," Boston University President Robert Brown said on CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "We have the capacity to do that as a major research university." Boston University said Thursday that it plans to have its own coronavirus testing program this fall for students, faculty and staff as part of a larger strategy to hold in-person classes on campus. Boston University has a four-phase plan to return to on-campus work, Brown told CNBC. Students returning for classes is in the third phase. "We're in the beginning of phase one, where our research and clinical operations will begin repopulating next week. That will give us our first test at how we're using [personal protective equipment] and social distancing and other health protocols, to keep our staff and researchers safe," he said. Brown said the fall semester, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 2, will be "a very different college experience for our students." He said living inside residence halls will be different, as will the way in which classes are delivered. University presidents have previously told CNBC that large in-person lectures will likely not take place. Boston University is developing "learn-from-everywhere technology" that will allow classes to be held "residentially and remotely, simultaneously," said Brown, who noted the importance of protecting older faculty and staff who are at a higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19. "We're going to have to create environments where they feel comfortable in the classroom or let them teach remotely," he said. Brown said Boston University will use a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, testing program for students, staff and faculty. According to an article on the university's website, many of the details are still being finalized, including cost and the volume of tests that would need to be run. The school has about 35,000 students. The samples would be processed at a lab on campus and robots purchased by the university will help speed up the delivery of results, according to the article. Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University in Indiana, told CNBC last month that the school also intends to rely on its on-campus lab to help process tests. The lab was already being used to help the state government process tests, Daniels said. Dr. Kari Stefansson, an Icelandic neurologist who was formerly a professor at Harvard University, has noted that many U.S. universities are well positioned to respond to Covid-19 outbreaks. He argued last month on CNBC that the country could be relying on them more broadly. "You have all of this talent, all of this equipment in your universities, that could simply be drafted to apply to this epidemic," he said. "You could have the universities do the testing. You could have the universities do the analysis of the data and help with planning how to deal with it." Brown said Boston University believes in finding a way to safely return students to campus because the residential academic experience has inherent value. "We believe from all of the data we're getting from our students, and from their parents, is that students want to continue their education and they want to continue it in the residential mode, if possible, because it's the best learning experience," he said. Ottawa: China does not appear to understand that Canada's judiciary is independent, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says, taking a rare public swipe at officials in Beijing at a time when bilateral ties are poor. China says Canada must free Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition to the United States. She was arrested by Vancouver police in December 2018. Canada PM Justin Trudeau. Credit:The Canadian Press/AP Canadian government officials have repeatedly said they cannot intervene in the case. "Canada has an independent judicial system that functions without interference or override by politicians," Trudeau told a daily briefing. The US has approved the sale of $180million worth of torpedoes to 'improve the security of' Taiwan amid heightened tensions with China. The State Department notified Congress of the potential sale to the democratic island nation of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes and related equipment on Wednesday. There are no diplomatic ties between the countries but the US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. The proposed sale serves US interests by supporting Taiwan's 'continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces', the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The State Department notified Congress of the potential sale to the democratic island nation of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes and related equipment on Wednesday. Pictured, Taiwanese Navy sailors in September 2019 It 'will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,' the statement added. 'The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today.' In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China had lodged 'solemn representations' with Washington over the plans. China urged the United States to stop all arms sales to, and military ties with, Taiwan to prevent further damage to Sino-US relations, Zhao added. The US announcement came on the same day Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in for her second term in office, saying she strongly rejecting China's sovereignty claims. China responded that 'reunification' was inevitable and that it would never tolerate Taiwan's independence. There are no diplomatic ties between the countries but the US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Pictured, the Stars and Stripes flag of the US at the American Institute of Taiwan Taiwanese Navy sailors stand on the deck of the submarine Hai Shih, the world's oldest sub still in service, at the Keelung Naval Base in Keelung, northern Taiwan, 27 September 2019 China has stepped up its military drills near Taiwan since Tsai's re-election, flying fighter jets into the island's air space and sailing warships around Taiwan. China views Tsai as a separatist bent on formal independence for Taiwan. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, its official name, and does not want to be part of the People's Republic of China governed by Beijing. It comes after an internal Chinese report warned Beijing could face a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into 'armed confrontation'. The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, sources said. As a result, Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in a worst-case scenario for armed confrontation between the two global powers, according to people familiar with the report's content, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter. US President Donald Trump is pictured meeting with China's President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019 The Tiananmen Square crackdown is immortalized by the above picture called the 'Tank Man', which shows a student standing in front of a row of tanks to protest at the clampdown by the armies against its own people. The picture was taken by AP photographer Jeff Widener from a sixth-floor balcony of the Beijing Hotel near Tiananmen The report was drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, China's top intelligence body. Although the briefing paper remains undisclosed, the content of the document was described by people who had direct knowledge of its findings. 'I don't have relevant information,' the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson's office said in a statement responding to questions from Reuters on the report. China's Ministry of State Security has no public contact details and could not be reached for comment. CICIR, an influential think tank that until 1980 was within the Ministry of State Security and advises the Chinese government on foreign and security policy, did not reply to a request for comment. A man is seen takes off his protective face mask to take a selfie in front of the Tiananmen Gate Beijing could face a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into 'armed confrontation', an internal Chinese report has warned. The picture taken in 1989 shows a demonstrator being surrounded by Chinese army But the presentation of the report shows how seriously Beijing takes the threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing, according to Reuters. Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at their worst point in decades, with deepening mistrust and friction points from US allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes over Hong Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea. In recent days, US President Donald Trump, facing a more difficult re-election campaign as the coronavirus has claimed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the U.S. economy, has been ramping up his criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China. His administration, meanwhile, is considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak, officials said. It is widely believed in Beijing that the United States wants to contain a rising China, which has become more assertive globally as its economy has grown. It is widely believed in Beijing that the United States wants to contain a rising China, which has become more assertive globally as its economy has grown. The picture shows protesters hold a banner during a Sing with you rally on April 26 in Hong Kong The report also said the United States was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence. A painting of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, wearing protective masks kissing is seen on April 26 in Berlin The paper concluded that Washington views China's rise as an economic and national security threat and a challenge to Western democracies, the people said. The report also said the United States was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence. Chinese officials had a 'special responsibility' to inform their people and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus 'since they were the first to learn of it,' US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in response to questions from Reuters. Without directly addressing the assessment made in the Chinese report, Ortagus added: 'Beijing's efforts to silence scientists, journalists, and citizens and spread disinformation exacerbated the dangers of this health crisis.' A spokesman for the US National Security Council declined to comment. The report also warned that anti-China sentiment sparked by the coronavirus could fuel resistance to China's Belt and Road infrastructure investment projects, and that Washington could step up financial and military support for regional allies, making the security situation in Asia more volatile. Three decades ago, in the aftermath of Tiananmen, the United States and many Western governments imposed sanctions against China including banning or restricting arms sales and technology transfers. China is far more powerful nowadays. Xi has revamped China's military strategy to create a fighting force equipped to win modern wars. He is expanding China's air and naval reach in a challenge to more than 70 years of US military dominance in Asia. Xi has revamped China's military strategy to create a fighting force equipped to win modern wars. The file photo shows President Xi reviewing the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet in the South China Sea Chinese paramilitary police wear protective masks as they march by the entrance to the Forbidden City as it re-opened to limited visitors for the May holiday, on May 1 In its statement, China's foreign ministry called for cooperation, saying, 'the sound and steady development of China-US relations' serve the interests of both countries and the international community. It added: 'Any words or actions that engage in political manipulation or stigmatisation under the pretext of the pandemic, including taking the opportunity to sow discord between countries, are not conducive to international cooperation against the pandemic.' One of those with knowledge of the report said it was regarded by some in the Chinese intelligence community as China's version of the 'Novikov Telegram', a 1946 dispatch by the Soviet ambassador to Washington, Nikolai Novikov, that stressed the dangers of US economic and military ambition in the wake of World War Two. Novikov's missive was a response to US diplomat George Kennan's 'Long Telegram' from Moscow that said the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for peaceful coexistence with the West, and that containment was the best long-term strategy. China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and downplaying its risks. This photo taken on February 16 shows a doctor looking at an image as he checks a patient in Wuhan The two documents helped set the stage for the strategic thinking that defined both sides of the Cold War. China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and downplaying its risks. Beijing has repeatedly denied that it covered up the extent or severity of the virus outbreak. China has managed to contain domestic spread of the virus and has been trying to assert a leading role in the global battle against COVID-19. That has included a propaganda push around its donations and sale of medical supplies to the United States and other countries and sharing of expertise. But China faces a growing backlash from critics who have called to hold Beijing accountable for its role in the pandemic. Trump has said he will cut off funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), which he called 'very China-centric,' something WHO officials have denied. Australia's government has called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus. Last month, France summoned China's ambassador to protest a publication on the website of China's embassy that criticised Western handling of coronavirus. The virus has so far infected more than five million people globally and caused more than 380,000 deaths. The logo of Deutsche Bank is pictured on a company's office in London FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's chairman Paul Achleitner said he intends to step down when his term ends in 2022, heralding a new era at Germany's largest lender as it struggles to become profitable. His announcement, made to shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting on Wednesday, was the first time he has publicly said he would not seek a third five-year term. Achleitner, one of Europe's most prominent bankers, has faced criticism from some shareholders for the bank's strategy zig-zags, management upheaval, and an 80% share price decline over the past decade. In an effort to reverse five years of losses, Deutsche Bank is currently undergoing a major overhaul that includes streamlining its investment bank and cutting 18,000 jobs globally. The coronavirus crisis has upended its operations and cast doubt on its profit goals. "I won't seek re-election. After 10 years in this role, it has to be enough," Achleitner said. Glass Lewis, a leading shareholder advisory group, has called on investors to vote against ratifying the chairman's actions for the past year at the shareholder meeting, citing "performance" concerns. Achleitner also faces for a third year in a row a vote to remove him from his post, a process he survived by a wide margin in past years. A former partner of Goldman Sachs and finance chief for Allianz , Achleitner has been in search of a successor, people with direct knowledge of the matter have said. The bank's supervisory board has recently expressed continued support for him. Separately, Deutsche's chief executive Christian Sewing dismissed shareholder concerns the bank would need state aid to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. He said the bank needed to become more profitable before taking a leading role in European banking consolidation. (Reporting by Tom Sims, Patricia Uhlig and Hans Seidenstuecker; Editing by Michelle Martin, Jane Merriman and Jan Harvey) Neither Kremlin's blatant propaganda operations nor the occupying power's quasi-legal acts can change the legal status of Crimea as an inseparable part of the territory of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders or shake the international communitys common position to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has called on the international community to step up joint efforts to debunk the myths of the Russian propaganda, which is part and parcel of the Russian aggression and destabilizing actions against Ukraine and other democratic states. In a statement released May 21, MFA Ukraine has strongly condemned "the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation" amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Crimea, temporarily occupied by Russia. "Russia persists in disregarding its duty of an occupying power under international humanitarian law to ensure and maintain public health of the population and uses the recent aggravation of the humanitarian situation as a smokescreen for further attacks on the rights and freedoms of the Crimean population," the statement reads. The spread of the pandemic did not stop Russian authorities from announcing another draft to the occupying army, "which is a war crime", diplomats stress. "In March, a decree by the Russian president to deprive Ukrainian citizens of a right to own land in Crimea became yet another uncouth demonstration of Moscow's disregard for its responsibilities under international humanitarian law," reads the statement. Also, Russia has been showing utmost disrespect for the International Court of Justice by ignoring its order demanding that the occupation power "restore the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and protect the identity of the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities under temporary occupation". Instead of following the letter and spirit of the decision of the world's highest judicial institution, Moscow resorted to its traditional methods fabricating controlled "pocket" national organizations to create an alternative reality, diplomats say. Neither Kremlins propaganda operations nor quasi-legal acts can change the legal status of Crimea as an inseparable part of Ukraine or shake communitys common position to support sovereignty &territorial integrity.#CrimeaIsUkraine Full MFA statement:https://t.co/uHX73ZQ6ulpic.twitter.com/azs8jMsZwa MFA of Ukraine (@MFA_Ukraine) May 21, 2020 Handing over of so-called "warnings about extremist activities", ongoing trials, politically and religiously motivated illegal imprisonment, persecution of civil society activists are intended to consolidate the total atmosphere of fear in the occupied Crimea and forcibly expel or intimidate the most pro-active whistleblowers. "While repressions continue in Crimea, the Russian Federation abuses procedural opportunities and manipulatively promotes its emissaries to various international events. According to the Russian creators of the network of fake public organizations, their main task is to justify aggressive policy and instill tolerance to Russia's occupation of the Crimean Peninsula," MFA Ukraine wrote. "However, these endeavours have no future." Neither Kremlin's "blatant propaganda operations" nor the occupying power's "quasi-legal acts" can change the legal status of Crimea as an inseparable part of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders or undermine the international community's "common position to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine". "We call on the international community to step up joint efforts to debunk the myths of the Russian propaganda, which is part and parcel of the Russian aggression and destabilizing actions against Ukraine and other democratic states," the statement stresses. "It is also unacceptable that Russia continues to block a proper and unhindered access of international monitoring missions, primarily by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol." Jim and Teresa Stolpe set up 42 plaques along the trails between Sandy Beach Rd.and Haugen Dr. over the weekend to celebrate the Little Norway Festival. Each of the wooden plaques had a different Viking related word on one side and a stamp of a Viking head on the other. ... A Sharadhaa By Express News Service Speculations of KGF director Prashanth Neel teaming up with a couple of top Telugu actors like Mahesh Babu and Jr NTR have been doing the rounds for almost a year now. However, a recent tweet by Prashanth on the occasion of NTRs birthday has the rumour mills running over time. Prashanth tweeted, So.finally I know how it feels like to sit next to a nuclear plant Next time bringing my radiation suit to be around all that crazy energy @tarak9999 Happy birthday brother!! Have a safe and great day See you soon...#HappyBirthdayNtr #stayhomestaysafe) (sic). While this tweet has lead to further speculations about a prospective collaboration between the actor and director, it has also resulted in some mixed reactions. Some of Prashanths fans took to social media to express their worry about such a move resulting in the promising director shifting his base from Karnataka to other industries. When asked if these speculations actually warrant any merit, Prashanth says, It is the Kannada people who have given me my name and my bread. Kannada is in my DNA. Right now I cant confirm future projects as my attention is completely on KGF Chapter 2. But I assure that every project I make will be a Kannada movie. The Uggramm director, who became a National name with Yash-starrer KGF Chapter 1, is currently working on the post-production process of the sequel to 2018 blockbuster. Having completed the editing work for the portions he has shot, Prashanth is now working on the re-recording of the film with music director. The team is left with 30 days of the shooting schedule, which they plan to complete once the government grants permission to resume shooting. Made under the banner Hombale Films, KGF Chapter 2, produced by Vijay Kiragundur will have a pan-Indian release and the makers have zeroed in on October 23 as the release date. Summers in Europe will feature more unusually cooler days as well as hotter ones in the future due to climate change, new research has revealed. While more extreme temperatures, and higher average temperatures, have long been predicted by scientists, a team at the University of Reading have now carried the most sophisticated study yet to fill in the gaps about how global warming will actually influence summer and winter temperatures in the northern hemisphere. They found that the likelihood of temperatures rising above or falling below average will not be affected in the same way in different seasons and regions. The study, published today (Monday 18 May) in Nature Geoscience, finds that in addition to the predicted average temperature increase, temperature fluctuations around the average will become more erratic during summer in Europe. In winter, temperature deviations relative to average will be less pronounced over most of the northern hemisphere, as unusually warm days become relatively less common, and unusually cold days even rarer. Dr Talia Tamarin-Brodsky, researcher in meteorology at the University of Reading, said: "Previous studies have assumed that hot and cold variations around the warmer future average temperature will be affected equally. However, our research shows this is not the case. "In Europe, there will be more days in summer that are noticeably hotter or colder than average as temperatures vary more. In winter, colder than average days will become less likely over most of the northern hemisphere, which means that when they do come they will be even further from what we are used to, making it more difficult for human infrastructure, and the natural world, to cope." Extremely hot days are expected to become even more stark as the average global temperature rises under climate change, but the new study was the first to explore why hot and cold fluctuations will be affected differently in the northern hemisphere, both in summer and winter. The study was co authored by fellow Reading meteorologists Professor Ted Shepherd, Sir Brian Hoskins (also Chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change), and Dr Kevin Hodges. They found that regional warming patterns in Europe expected under climate change would also affect neighbouring regions as hot and cold air masses are carried by atmospheric weather systems. This will cause different temperature deviations in different parts of the world. Dr Tamarin-Brodsky said: "We may be able to get used to a warmer world, but more apparent temperature fluctuations from the average could present risks to our health, agriculture and infrastructure, as well as to the natural world. It is therefore important to understand how regular and how severe these temperature deviations will be at different regions and times of year to help plan and prepare to climate change." Fact Check: During an interview that aired over the weekend on Fox 32s political show Flannery Fired Up," Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightfoot of Maywood made the same baseless claim others have made about the origins of COVID-19: This man-made killer whoever went in there and man-made it, perhaps they should be in there now trying to figure out how to turn this around. She added, "I dont believe its a natural virus. I believe someone was in cahoots for some reason and I think it just got a little bit out of control and spread a whole lot further than they anticipated. Just what will it take to get to the point where businesses are rehiring staff who have been laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic? Business leaders and economists say that at this point, its less about financial aid packages from government, and more about creating an atmosphere where consumers and employees once again feel safe. They say that to get to a place where more businesses are allowed to reopen and wanting to rehire, and where more people want to come back to work, provincial governments must be doing more to shore up confidence by expanding testing and contact tracing for the virus. Now its not about incentivizing businesses, its about incentivizing customers and workers, and thats not a financial problem its a health problem, its a confidence problem, said David Macdonald, senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Confidence is the foundation of a capitalist economy and we dont have that right now. The president and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade said that after 11 weeks of being told the safest place to be is at home, the next few weeks will have to focus on getting people to feel comfortable again. Organizations like ours are looking at what are the tools and programs we can put in the hands of businesses to help them demonstrate to consumers and their employees that theyre following protocols, that theyre staying current on things, so that people can start to think about it being safe to go out again, said Jan De Silva. The federal government provided further details Wednesday on some of its financial assistance programs to businesses. Applications opened this week for its large employer loan program, in which the government said it would provide bridge funding of at least $60 million to large companies earning more than $300 million annually in revenues and which have been unable to secure funding through conventional means. Publicly traded companies, or any of their private subsidiaries, will have to issue warrants giving the government the option of purchasing shares worth 15 per cent of the loan, or receiving the equivalent in cash. Privately held companies will pay the same in fees, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Wednesday. The idea behind the warrant is to make sure that if the firm does well that Canadians, and Canadian taxpayers, share in that upside, he said. Recipients would also have to agree to limits on executive compensation, dividend payments and share buybacks, as well as show they are contributing to the Liberal governments goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Interest will be set at five per cent in the first year, rising to eight per cent in the second year, and two per cent annually thereafter. Its not expected that that program would lead to rehiring, said Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. That is a program just to keep people afloat and give them liquidity, thats not going to lead to rehiring unless theres a market for their goods or services, he said. Rossi echoed Macdonalds sentiment that what the economy needs to get up and running again is an expansion in testing, greater contact tracing and more access to personal protective equipment. So long as people have fear around returning to work, that definitely goes into the equation, he said. Im a firm believer that at the end of the day, the vast majority of people want to work, they want the dignity of earning their pay. The federal government also announced Wednesday that applications would open May 25 for its commercial rent relief assistance program for businesses struggling to pay the rent. Under the program, property owners would receive forgivable loans to cover 50 per cent of the rent for April, May and June the loans are forgiven if the owner agrees to lower the rent by at least 75 per cent. The tenant business would pay the remaining 25 per cent. The program is reliant on landlords applying for it and businesses have been urging the government to overhaul it. Theyve complained that their landlords have already told them they wont be applying for the program, threatening the very existence of some businesses. We know that Main Street is struggling; if we cant fix the rent issue, were going to see a lot of otherwise healthy businesses go down over it, said Laura Jones, executive vice-president and chief strategic officer at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Wednesdays announcement followed a plea Tuesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to businesses to apply for his governments wage subsidy program, which covers 75 per cent of a persons wages, up to $847 a week. The government extended the subsidys expiration date from June to the end of August. Less than $3.4 billion of the programs original $73-billion budget was paid out as of May 11. That plea followed news over the weekend that Air Canada, which has been using the wage subsidy, would be laying off at least half of its 38,000 employees by June 7. The airline has said that it doesnt anticipate its business to return to normal any time soon. Rossi said its a perfect example of how the challenges of rehiring, in some cases, cant simply be solved by government financial assistance. If your sector has disappeared, how can you rehire? he said. With files from Alex Ballingall and The Canadian Press The "Snyder Cut" of the Justice League movie is confirmed to be released next year after pressure from fans and actors alike, saying that it is a "better" version of the movie than the one released in film. via GIPHY READ ALSO: CW's Ruby Rose 'Batwoman' Leaves Show: Which Celeb Will Replace Her for Season Two? The Tale of the Tape It's finally happening! On Wednesday, May 20, Warner Bros. has officially announced that the new cut of Justice League will be releasing on its upcoming streaming service, HBO Max. The movie director, Zack Snyder, also approved the cut and mentioned that it will be coming sometime soon in 2021. Snyder told Hollywood Reporter, "We still have some work to do, " the film needs a lot of retooling as well as extensive reshoots, which include additional dialogue between the actors and brand new visual effects. The cost of all this is rumored between $20 to $30 million. There's also a big chance that the Snyder Cut could be presented as a sort of mini-series in the upcoming streaming service. All those decisions still have to be worked on post-production since a lot of work still has to be done for the movie to be presented to the audience in a more impactful way. Read More: The Last of Us Part II PS4 Pro Bundle is Coming and Here's How You Can Get It What's All the Fuss about Snyder's Cut? The movie Justice League released in November 2017 but was a major disappointment for fans and Warner Bros. despite the all-star cast and superhero ensemble. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg couldn't quite cut it since it seemed to rush to try to go up against Marvel's superhero movies, which were a massive success for them. The movie only grossed under $700 million, which is by far the lowest-grossing movie in the DC franchise. If you think about it, the franchise was already bad from the start and began with the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder as well left during post-production because of the untimely death of his daughter. The Avengers director Joss Whedon was called in to finish the project and "adhere to the style and tone of the template Zack set," as told by the president of Warner Bros. Pictures, Toby Emmerich. Fans started realizing major differences from the initial trailers to the finished product. Snyder then said that the finished version wasn't his take on how the franchise should have been despite his name being on the film. Shortly after, the movement has begun saying "Release the Snyder Cut," and after three years, they seem to be making headway about it. Despite a lot of movies being canceled due to the pandemic, Snyder's wife, Deborah, told THR it would help the film industry by doing the Snyder Cut. "People thought, 'It won't be possible to ramp up, and that maybe this should go on the back burner.' But we said, 'No, this is the right time' because our visual effects houses that rely on so much are running out of work, so now is the time to be doing this." Read More: Did a 2016 Twitter Thread Predict The Pandemic? Man Claiming to be Time Traveller Also Predicts the Next US Election 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A mother in Texas has finally been able to take her newborn set of identical quadruplets home after giving birth to the babies in March. Jenny Marr and her husband Chris welcomed their four sons into the world on March 15 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. But being premature by several weeks, the babies all had to spend the next 10 weeks in the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit followed by nearly a month in the facility's Special Care Nursery. Now, however, Hudson, Harrison, Henry and Hardy have all been reunited with their parents at the family's home. Praising the efforts of the hospital's staff in a post on Facebook, Jenny said: "We had the most amazing nurses and doctors during our NiCU and Special Care stay." First-time parents Jenny and Chris found out that they were pregnant in November and were told by medics at the time to expect triplets / Fox News She added the family had "made friends that will last a lifetime" and described the experience of becoming a mother during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as "quite the experience". "Now onto the next adventure of having them home and raising them into wonderful little men," she said. The saga first started when first-time parents Jenny and Chris found out that they were pregnant in November and were told by medics to expect triplets. But a week later, an even bigger twist was thrown at them when during a follow-up appointment they discovered Jenny was actually carrying four children. The tech, who was doing the initial scan, gave me a funny look, Chris told NBC's Today news programme. We were like, Oh, whats going on now? We got worried again. She said, Im not supposed to say this, but yall got four babies'," he added. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 14:31:24 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 752 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Adds Industry Recognized Audio-Visual Products for the K-12 Education and Collaboration MarketTOCCOA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. (OTCQB:GAXY) ("Galaxy" or the "Company"), a provider of interactive learning technology solutions, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire Classroom Technology Solutions ("CTS"), a designer, manufacturer, importer and integrator of audio-visual products, with headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida.The terms of the "Asset Purchase Agreement" shall consist of Promissory Notes and/or Cash and Stock. The exact terms shall be covered in the "Definitive Agreement" and disclosed at closing, subject to pre and/or post agreement audits.CTS owns and markets under several industry recognized brands:"A-VisionMounts", projector and flat panel mounts, carts and stands"ClassCam", line of connected and wireless document cameras"ClassSlate", wireless interactive tablets"TouchWorks", interactive white boardsCTS has a robust portfolio of new products that will be released over the coming year. Many of these products will enhance the current and future Galaxy product offerings. CTS is a leader in the development of sophisticated technologies used in the education marketplace and other collaborative environments. Many of CTS's products qualify for the "Made in America" distrinction while other are a combination of U.S. and offshore products.Recently, CTS received the 2020 Best of Jacksonville Award in the Audio-Visual Supplier category and has also been recognized as one of the "Fastest Growing Private Companies in Northeast Florida" as well as "Largest Technology Service Companies" and "Top Integrators" by the Jacksonville Business Journal.Gary LeCroy, Galaxy's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are excited to add CTS and its audio-visual product portfolio and customers to our organization, as we look to expand our K-12 classroom collaboration technology offerings and geographic footprint. We welcome Cy Marshall to our team and are confident he can help accelerate our growth, based on the greater than $35 million revenue he and CTS have generated over the past 11 years." Cy Marshall, Classroom Technology Solutions' Chief Executive Officer, stated, "I look forward to joining forces with the Galaxy team and becoming part of a like-minded organiztion that is focused on providing quality, cost-effective products to the K-12 education and collaboration market place. In the near-term, we will blend the more than 5,000 end users, dealers, and distributors of CTS with the Galaxy customer base to identify cross-sell opportunities where our combined offerings represent opportunities to upsell each other's products. In the future, our combined K-12 education offerings complement more of the total classroom solution and will give us a better opportunity to grow our top line revenue, increase our profit margin and reduce our operating cost allowing us to complete for new additional business." About Galaxy Next Generation, Inc.Galaxy Next Generation (OTCQB:GAXY) is a provider of interactive learning technology solutions that allows the presenter and participant to engage in a fully collaborative instructional environment. Galaxy's products include Galaxy's own private-label interactive touch screen panel as well as numerous other national and international branded peripheral and communication devices. Galaxy's distribution channel consists of 22+ resellers across the U.S. who primarily sell the Company's products within the commercial and educational market. Galaxy does not control where resellers focus their resell efforts, although generally, the K-12 education market is the largest customer base for Galaxy products - comprising nearly 90% of Galaxy's sales.For additional information, please visit our website at: www.galaxynext.us Safe Harbor StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.Investors Contact:IR@ GalaxyNext.us p888-859-1274SOURCE: Galaxy Next Generation, Inc. France's top court strikes down Macron's ban on religious gatherings Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Frances supreme court for administrative justice has ruled that the governments absolute ban on religious gatherings in hopes of stopping the spread of COVID-19 is unlawful and ordered the government to relax restrictions on religious worship. In a ruling Monday, the French Council of State reasoned that the general and absolute prohibition [on religious gatherings] is disproportionate when the government has allowed gatherings of fewer than 10 people for secular instances. According to France 24, the ruling gives the Macron government eight days to lift the outright ban on worship gatherings. Frances current policy bans all gatherings in places of worship except for funerals, which are limited to just 20 people. The government had previously indicated that religious services would be banned until June 2. The Council of State ruled the governments policy constitutes a serious and manifest violation of the freedom of worship. It is unclear what kind of policy will be enacted as a response to the ruling. But BBC reports that a judge ordered that all private gatherings of up to 10 people to be allowed. The councils ruling followed complaints from several organizations and individuals. The decision of the Council of State to order the lifting of the ban on assembly in places of worship is good news for freedom of worship which is a fundamental right, tweeted Sen. Bruno Retailleau, leader of the right-wing Republicans. According to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, France has had over 181,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with over 28,000 virus-related deaths. An outbreak of coronavirus occurred in February and an international evangelical church conference was blamed for sparking what was the countrys largest cluster of COVID-19 cases. The annual prayer meeting at the Christian Open Door Church in the border city of Mulhouse near the German border in mid-February has been linked to thousands of COVID-19 cases. France is in the process of relaxing its coronavirus lockdown policies. Likewise, all U.S. states that ordered a lockdown are also in the process of lifting their COVID-19 restrictions. While some churches in the U.S. are considering whether to reopen their in-person services, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control warned this week that faith organizations looking to resume activities should be aware of the potential for high rates of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. These organizations should work with local health officials to determine how to implement the U.S. Governments guidelines for modifying activities during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent transmission of the virus to their members and their communities," the CDC advised in a recent report. Some churches that have already reopened their in-person services have made the decision to again halt in-person services after members and leaders tested positive for the coronavirus after reopening. One such church is the Catoosa Baptist Tabernacle in Ringgold, Georgia, a state that began to reopen some businesses starting on April 24. The Washington Post notes that the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Houston, Texas, made a similar decision to halt in-person services after some members were infected following the churchs reopening on May 2. SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Business Architecture Guild, a global not-for-profit industry association for business architecture, today announced the release of new Financial Services, Insurance, Transportation, Government and Common Industry reference models. Now available for download in the Guild Online Store, each model represents an industry baseline for organizational leaders to accelerate business transformation, mitigate risk and enact agile change. For organizations just getting started or those well-versed, industry reference models simplify the application of business architecture for strategy execution. The newly released reference models are continuously updated by organizations across the globe to help business leaders validate and pursue new strategies with a shared vision. Each model provides a comprehensive representation of a given industry sector and are ready to deploy or be customized as required. From customer experience to risk and compliance management, reference models support key scenarios and challenges business leaders must solve for to create value. The reference models adhere to formal principles and based on the model, include capability, value stream, stakeholder, information and organization maps that may be used to align and frame industry requirements and executive priorities with a comprehensive plan for change. According to William Ulrich, Guild Co-founder, "The industry reference models are the result of the invaluable contributions of Guild members and support a wide range of real-world challenges confronting organizations today. Each reference model is readily actionable and can be used as a starting point to enact change with the right strategies, new business models, next-gen operating models and essential technology investments." Industry reference models are available at no charge to Guild members for use in their organizations and available to non-members for a fee. About the Business Architecture Guild The Business Architecture Guild is an international, not-for-profit, member-based association that provides valuable resources to business architecture practitioners and others interested in the field. The Business Architecture Guild is the source of A Guide to the Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (BIZBOK Guide) and exclusive provider of the Certified Business Architect certification program. SOURCE The Business Architecture Guild Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images What would you do for almost half a million dollars? Would you very publicly denounce your past life and pretend to be an anti-abortion, born-again, ex-gay Christian? Related: Roe v Wade plaintiff admits abortion rights reversal was all an act in new film Thanks to her newly public deathbed confession, we now know thats what Norma McCorvey, best known for being the plaintiff known as Jane Roe in the 1973 landmark supreme court case abortion rights case Roe v Wade, did. In 1969, a 22-year-old McCorvey was pregnant and scared. Shed had a difficult childhood, allegedly suffering sexual abuse from a family member. Shed been married at 16 but had left her husband. She had addiction issues. Shed had two children already and placed them for adoption. She was depressed. She was desperate for a safe and legal abortion. Texas, however, wouldnt give her one. So she challenged the state laws and her case eventually went before the US supreme court, legalizing abortion across America. After becoming the poster girl of the pro-choice movement, McCorvey performed a very public about-face in the 1990s. She found religion, ended the romantic relationship with her girlfriend, and became a vocal anti-abortion crusader. As it turns out, it wasnt God himself directing this new path. It was leaders from the evangelical Christian right. McCorvey, who died in 2017, delivers this confession in a new FX documentary, AKA Jane Roe, out on Friday. According to the documentary, McCorvey received at least $456,911 in benevolent gifts from the anti-abortion movement in exchange for her conversion. I was the big fish, McCorvey says in the documentary. I think it was a mutual thing. I took their money and theyd put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say. It was all an act. I did it well, too. I am a good actress. Of course, Im not acting now. The Rev Flip Benham, one of the evangelical leaders featured in the documentary, apparently has no moral qualms about how McCorvey, who was clearly vulnerable, was used. She chose to be used, he says. Thats called work. Thats what youre paid to be doing! Ah yes, I remember reading that in the Bible: thou shalt pay others to cravenly lie. Story continues The Rev Rob Schenck, another of the evangelical leaders featured, is rather more thoughtful. For Christians like me, there is no more important or authoritative voice than Jesus, he says. And he said, What does it profit in the end if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul? When you do what we did to Norma, you lose your soul. Sadly, it seems as though many anti-abortion extremists dont have much of a soul to lose in the first place. While the right claims to stand for morality and family values they as AKA Jane Roe makes very clear are more than happy to lie and cheat in order to propagate their fringe beliefs. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: It turns out a huge part of the anti-choice movement was a scam the entire time. Most Americans have moderate views when it comes to abortion; according to a 2017 Pew study, 69% of Americans dont think Roe v Wade should be overturned. However, a small but powerful group of extremists are doing everything they can to roll back womens rights. Of course, McCorvey, as she admits herself, is not exactly an innocent victim in all this. Her reversal on reproductive rights was national news in the 1990s, and dealt a blow to the pro-choice movement. But, at the end of the day, McCorvey never really set out to be a pro-choice activist. She was a desperate woman battling for the right to have control of her own body; along the way she loaned her name to a bigger fight. McCorvey taking money to lie obviously isnt something she should be applauded for, but the real villains in this story are the hypocrites who preyed on a vulnerable woman in the name of family values. Hyderabad, May 21 : The Telangana High Courts latest order allowing private hospitals and laboratories to conduct Covid-19 tests has come as another blow to the state government already under all-round fire for its woeful record on testing. Setting aside the government order authorising only the state-run hospitals to conduct the tests, the high court on Wednesday ruled that the citizens have the right to undergo the tests and get the treatment in private hospitals if they can afford to pay for the same. A division bench termed the government order as 'undemocratic' and dismissed the argument that allowing private hospitals to conduct the tests could lead to exploitation of people's fears. The court orders on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) came at a time when the government is already under attack for one of the lowest number of tests in the country and thus allegedly concealing the true picture. Only last week the high court had directed the state government to conduct tests on dead bodies. The direction came on two PILs against a circular issued by the Director of Medical Education not to conduct tests on dead bodies. Dealing with another PIL, the court rapped the government for fewer tests and wondered how it would get a true picture of the spread of Covid-19 in the state. The court also wondered why the government is restricting the number of tests when the health experts all over the world are calling for more tests. Till May 14, Telangana conducted only 22,842 Covid-19 tests, one of the lowest in the country. Its neighbour Andhra Pradesh has so far conducted 2.67 lakh tests. Tamil Nadu has conducted 3.47 lakh tests and Maharashtra 2.9 lakh tests. The Telangana government is also under flak for not revealing the number of tests done in its daily bulletin. It's not just experts, activists, political parties and courts which are questioning the government for doing fewer tests. Even the Centre has found fault with it. Union health secretary Preeti Sudan, in a letter to Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, said lack of proactive testing will not help the state contain Covid-19. She pointed out that Telangana has a higher positivity rate (5.26 per cent) than the national average (4.12 per cent). Positivity rate is the ratio of positive diagnosis to the number of tests conducted. As of May 14, Telangana conducted 22,842 tests of which 1,388 were found positive. The all India figures for the same day stood at 19,47,041 with 78,057 positive cases. It was pointed out that Telagana accounted for just 1.5 per cent or 20,754 of more than 14 lakh RT PCR (real time polymerase chain reaction) tests carried out nationwide. Sudan also highlighted the fact that Telangana's tally of tests per million population was far lower than that of other states as well as the national average between April 30 and May 6. While the all India testing average was 1,025 per million population, the figure for Telangana was only 546. Following the court orders and the letter by the health secretary, the opposition stepped up its attacks on Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government. State Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed that since lockdown 1.0, his party had been reminding the TRS government that it is not doing adequate number of tests. "Telangana chief minister KCR is acting like a dictator and he is hell bent on covering up the real extent of Covid in the state," he said. BJP's state unit, which had even lodged a complaint with the governor and the Centre over the issue, feels vindicated. "We have been saying that the TRS government is manipulating Covid-19 infection rate since the beginning and more so after the second week of April. Now we stand vindicated," said BJP leader Krishna Saagar Rao. He demanded resignation of Health Minister Eatala Rajender for endangering the entire population of Telangana by intentionally conducting fewer tests. However, Rajender is unfazed by the criticism and still maintains that the state is following the guidelines given by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The state government has taken the stand that it can't go for random testing as this would create panic among people. "Some people with or without knowledge are making allegations that we are not conducting tests. The test has to be done on those with symptoms of Covid and not everybody," the health minister said. He pointed out that ICMR framed the guidelines after taking into consideration the best practices followed in other countries. He claimed that the accuracy of the testing done in the state is at par with countries like the US. "In US out of every 100 tests, there are 16.1 positive cases. In our state for every 100 tests there are 6 positive cases." The minister also pointed out that the virus in India is not as lethal as in the US, Belgium, France and Italy. He claimed that the state contained the spread of the virus with effective implementation of lockdown, tracing the foreign returnees and those who came from other parts of the country and testing those with suspected symptoms. As of May 20, Telangana reported 1,661 Covid cases including 40 deaths. With 1,013 of these cases cured and discharged from hospitals, the state claims to have the best recovery rate in the state but this 'achievement' appears to have been clouded by the row over fewer tests. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text With dreams of Mars on the minds of both NASA and Elon Musk, long-distance crewed missions through space are coming. But you might be surprised to learn that modern rockets dont go all that much faster than the rockets of the past. There are a lot of reasons that a faster spaceship is a better one, and nuclear-powered rockets are a way to do this. They offer many benefits over traditional fuel-burning rockets or modern solar-powered electric rockets, but there have been only eight U.S. space launches carrying nuclear reactors in the last 40 years. However, in 2019 the laws regulating nuclear space flights changed and work has already begun on this next generation of rockets. Why the need for speed? The first step of a space journey involves the use of launch rockets to get a ship into orbit. These are the large fuel-burning engines people imagine when they think of rocket launches and are not likely to go away in the foreseeable future due to the constraints of gravity. It is once a ship reaches space that things get interesting. To escape Earths gravity and reach deep space destinations, ships need additional acceleration. This is where nuclear systems come into play. If astronauts want to explore anything farther than the Moon and perhaps Mars, they are going to need to be going very very fast. Space is massive, and everything is far away. There are two reasons faster rockets are better for long-distance space travel: safety and time. Astronauts on a trip to Mars would be exposed to very high levels of radiation which can cause serious long-term health problems such as cancer and sterility. Radiation shielding can help, but it is extremely heavy, and the longer the mission, the more shielding is needed. A better way to reduce radiation exposure is to simply get where you are going quicker. But human safety isnt the only benefit. As space agencies probe farther out into space, it is important to get data from unmanned missions as soon as possible. It took Voyager-2 12 years just to reach Neptune, where it snapped some incredible photos as it flew by. If Voyager-2 had a faster propulsion system, astronomers could have had those photos and the information they contained years earlier. Story continues Speed is good. But why are nuclear systems faster? Systems of today Once a ship has escaped Earths gravity, there are three important aspects to consider when comparing any propulsion system: Thrust how fast a system can accelerate a ship Mass efficiency how much thrust a system can produce for a given amount of fuel Energy density how much energy a given amount of fuel can produce Today, the most common propulsion systems in use are chemical propulsion that is, regular fuel-burning rockets and solar-powered electric propulsion systems. Chemical propulsion systems provide a lot of thrust, but chemical rockets arent particularly efficient, and rocket fuel isnt that energy-dense. The Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the Moon produced 35 million Newtons of force at liftoff and carried 950,000 gallons of fuel. While most of the fuel was used in getting the rocket into orbit, the limitations are apparent: It takes a lot of heavy fuel to get anywhere. Electric propulsion systems generate thrust using electricity produced from solar panels. The most common way to do this is to use an electrical field to accelerate ions, such as in the Hall thruster. These devices are commonly used to power satellites and can have more than five times higher mass efficiency than chemical systems. But they produce much less thrust about three Newtons, or only enough to accelerate a car from 0-60 mph in about two and a half hours. The energy source the Sun is essentially infinite but becomes less useful the farther away from the Sun the ship gets. One of the reasons nuclear-powered rockets are promising is because they offer incredible energy density. The uranium fuel used in nuclear reactors has an energy density that is 4 million times higher than hydrazine, a typical chemical rocket propellant. It is much easier to get a small amount of uranium to space than hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel. So what about thrust and mass efficiency? Two options for nuclear Engineers have designed two main types of nuclear systems for space travel. The first is called nuclear thermal propulsion. These systems are very powerful and moderately efficient. They use a small nuclear fission reactor similar to those found in nuclear submarines to heat a gas, such as hydrogen, and that gas is then accelerated through a rocket nozzle to provide thrust. Engineers from NASA estimate that a mission to Mars powered by nuclear thermal propulsion would be 20%-25% shorter than a trip on a chemical-powered rocket. Nuclear thermal propulsion systems are more than twice as efficient as chemical propulsion systems meaning they generate twice as much thrust using the same amount of propellant mass and can deliver 100,000 Newtons of thrust. Thats enough force to get a car from 0-60 mph in about a quarter of a second. The second nuclear-based rocket system is called nuclear electric propulsion. No nuclear electric systems have been built yet, but the idea is to use a high-power fission reactor to generate electricity that would then power an electrical propulsion system like a Hall thruster. This would be very efficient, about three times better than a nuclear thermal propulsion system. Since the nuclear reactor could create a lot of power, many individual electric thrusters could be operated simultaneously to generate a good amount of thrust. Nuclear electric systems would be the best choice for extremely long-range missions because they dont require solar energy, have very high efficiency and can give relatively high thrust. But while nuclear electric rockets are extremely promising, there are still a lot of technical problems to solve before they are put into use. Why arent there nuclear powered rockets yet? Nuclear thermal propulsion systems have been studied since the 1960s but have not yet flown in space. Regulations first imposed in the U.S. in the 1970s essentially required case-by-case examination and approval of any nuclear space project from multiple government agencies and explicit approval from the president. Along with a lack of funding for nuclear rocket system research, this environment prevented further improvement of nuclear reactors for use in space. That all changed when the Trump administration issued a presidential memorandum in August 2019. While upholding the need to keep nuclear launches as safe as possible, the new directive allows for nuclear missions with lower amounts of nuclear material to skip the multi-agency approval process. Only the sponsoring agency, like NASA, for example, needs to certify that the mission meets safety recommendations. Larger nuclear missions would go through the same process as before. Along with this revision of regulations, NASA received US0 million in the 2019 budget to develop nuclear thermal propulsion. DARPA is also developing a space nuclear thermal propulsion system to enable national security operations beyond Earth orbit. After 60 years of stagnation, its possible a nuclear-powered rocket will be heading to space within a decade. This exciting achievement will usher in a new era of space exploration. People will go to Mars and science experiments will make new discoveries all across our solar system and beyond. [Youre too busy to read everything. We get it. Thats why weve got a weekly newsletter. Sign up for good Sunday reading. ] This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Iain Boyd, University of Colorado Boulder. Read more: Iain Boyd receives funding from the following sources, none of it is related to space propulsion: Office of Naval Research Lockheed-Martin Northrop-Grumman L3-Harris With over 20 lakh migrant workers returning to Uttar Pradesh in last few days, the state, specially its eastern part, on Thursday saw a quantum jump in the COVID-19 cases, with overall 1,230 people testing positive, including 95 in Barabanki, said officials. "Over 5.42 lakh migrants were screened by health workers and among them 1,230 have been found positive for coronavirus. Samples of 46,142 have been sent for testing," said Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad here. Prasad said the state government has asked migrant workers to strictly observe home quarantine protocol while the 'village/mohalla nigrani samitis' have been asked to keep a strict vigil on them. During home quarantine, they have been asked specifically stay away from elderly people besides children and pregnant woman, said Prasad. Barabanki District Magistrate Aadarsh Kumar said of the 245 samples sent for testing on May 15-16, 95 have been found corona positive. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, the DM said, adding all infected people have been admitted to hospitals as per the COVID-19 treatment protocol. The remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with six infected persons and had been kept in isolation, the DM said. According to Basti DM Ashutosh Niranjan, 16 more coronavirus-positive cases were found in the district on Thursday, raising the total number of infected cases there to 120. All 50 new cases detected on Tuesday were of migrant workers who had returned recently from other states, said Niranjan. Pratapgarh reported 10 new cases and Ghazipur 18 on Wednesday, while on Thursday, 15 cases were reported in Azamgarh with DM N P Singh saying that the coronavirus infection graph has gone up with the return of migrants from other states. In Siddhartnagar, 11 new cases were reported on Thursday with most of them being migrants having returned from Mumbai, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Seema Rai said. Another 16 cases were reported from Jaunpur of which 15 had come back from Mumbai and one from Surat, District Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Singh said. Besides, eight migrant workers who had returned from Maharashtra and Gujarat tested positive in Maharajganj, DM Dr Ujjawl Kumar said. Uttar Pradesh reported 181 fresh cases on Thursday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases to 5,356 while 127 people having died of the disease so far, officials said. There are 2,130 active cases of COVID-19 in the state. As many as 3,099 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovery. Meanwhile, over 15 lakh UP migrants, stranded in different parts of the country due to the COVID-19-led lockdown, have returned to the state in 881 trains since the 'Shramik Special' trains were deployed, an official said, adding over 20 lakh migrants have arrived in the state so far. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) - Increasing implementation of the data oriented technologies is helping the machines to get smart. However, to relay the information to the user is highly important. - The global machine condition monitoring market is projected to show a growth potential of ~2.2 Bn during the tenure of 2018 to 2026. ALBANY, New York, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global machine condition monitoring market is expected to witness a substantial growth during the tenure of 2018 to 2026, says a recent report by Transparency Market Research. As per the report, the growth of the market is attributed to the increasing industrialization across the globe. Moreover, pacing Industry 4.0 and developing intelligence induced in machine are also some crucial aspects that are propelling the growth of global machine condition monitoring market during the tenure of 2018 to 2026. However, recent events of COVID-19 outbreak has put an halt to the growth of global machine condition monitoring market, further explains the report by Transparency Market Research. "Owing to the industrial development across the globe, the business sector is investing a massive amount in installing machines that can help them meet the demand cycle. Therefore it becomes quite essential for these businesses to keep their machines in top-notch condition for which they are implementing innovative systems that can monitor the health of the machines. Owing to these implementations, the global machine condition monitoring market is projected to witness 8.1% CAGR during the tenure of 2018 to 2026" -Transparency Market Research. Download PDF Brochure - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=12170 Major Findings in the Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market Study The vibration monitoring segment is projected to expand at a considerable CAGR of 7.9% in type category of global machine condition monitoring market. is projected to expand at a considerable CAGR of 7.9% in type category of global machine condition monitoring market. The global machine condition monitoring market is expected to grow from US$ 2.2 Bn in 2017 to US$ 4.4 Bn by the end of 2026. in 2017 to by the end of 2026. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness a witness 8.9% CAGR owing to the increasing industrialization in India and China . Explore the latest study on global machine condition monitoring market under the title: Machine Condition Monitoring Market (Component - Hardware, Software, Services; Type - Thermography, Vibration Monitoring, Lubrication Oil Monitoring, Acoustic Emission Monitoring, Ultrasound Monitoring, Corrosion Monitoring, Current Signature Monitoring; Solution Type - Online Monitoring, Integrated Monitoring, Continuous Remote Monitoring, Route Based Monitoring; End use Industry - Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Metal and Mining, Marine, Food and Beverage, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 - 2026 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/machine-condition-monitoring-market.html Major Factors Boosting the Growth of Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market Growing Adoption of Predictive Maintenance Systems to Boost the Growth Predictive maintenance is the result of IoT and other data oriented technologies that are implemented in the machines. This technology analyses the operation of the machine and monitors the anomaly that occurs in the machine. As a result of this technology, the businesses can save a massive amount of money and time by avoiding unprecedented breakdowns. Since majority of the businesses are adopting predictive maintenance, the demand for machine condition monitoring systems has skyrocketed in past few years which as a result is propelling the growth of global machine condition monitoring market during the tenure of 2018 to 2026. Rising Adoption of Vibration Monitoring Systems to Boost the Growth Uncontrolled vibrations are the arch nemesis of any machines. These vibrations can take a machine out of synchronization or completely destroy it. Therefore, businesses are investing in the development and implementation vibration monitoring systems. As a result of these developments, the global machine condition monitoring market is growing exponentially during the tenure of 2018 to 2026. Request COVID19 Impact on Machine Condition Monitoring Market at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=covid19&rep_id=12170 Major Challenges that Might Impede the Growth of Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market Since the world facing a major crisis of COVID-19 and majority of the businesses are not operating at their full capacity. Owing to this pandemic, the demand for machine condition monitoring is witnessing a downward curve, which is the major challenge that is impeding the growth of global machine condition monitoring market during the tenure of 2018 to 2026. Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market: Regional Analysis Asia Pacific is anticipated to have a dominating share is the global machine condition monitoring market. This dominance is the result of growing industrialization in India, China. Moreover, the countries are exploring new limits of manufacturing, which as a result require new machines and machine condition monitoring systems. Owing to these adoptions, Asia Pacific is projected to dominate the regional front of global machine condition monitoring market during the forecast period of 2018 to 2026. Analyze machine condition monitoring market growth in 30+ countries including US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Benelux, Nordic, China, Japan, India, and South Korea, Request a sample of the study. Competitive Analysis The global machine condition monitoring market is highly progressive yet highly fragmented. The nature of the market is the result of presence of various prominent players. However, due to this the new players are unable to enter the global machine condition monitoring market. To overcome this situation, the new players are merging and collaborating with the established players of global machine condition monitoring market. View Detailed Table of Contents at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/12170 The global machine condition monitoring market is segmented on the basis of: Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market, by Component Hardware Software Services Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market, by Type Thermography Vibration Monitoring Lubrication Oil Monitoring Acoustic Emission Monitoring Ultrasound Monitoring Corrosion Monitoring Current Signature Monitoring Others Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market, by Solution Type Online Monitoring Integrated Monitoring Continuous Remote Monitoring Route-based Monitoring Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market, by End-use Industry Aerospace and Defense Automotive Oil and Gas Metal and Mining Marine Food and Beverages Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Others (Paper & Pulp, Textile, Utility) Global Machine Condition Monitoring Market, by Geography North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America Europe Germany France U.K. Rest of Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa (MEA) GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the Global Electronics & Semiconductors Industry : Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Market - Demand for intelligent transportation system is increasing due to a rise in the number of vehicles on roads, which are facing increasing issues such as heavy traffic and accidents. Consequently, governments of various countries are adopting the intelligent transportation system to reduce the impact of such problems. These are the key factors driving the intelligent transportation system market Microseismic Monitoring Technology Market - The global microseismic monitoring technology market is driven by an increase in use of the technology in environmental and geotechnical engineering as it helps in the evaluation of the real-time location of underground rock fractures. Furthermore, microseismic monitoring technology can be applied to the precursor-monitoring of a volcano or earthquake disaster as well as in rock burst monitoring in the process of exploitation of mineral resources. E-Scrap and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) E-Scrap Market - The market for e-scrap is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% by volume during the forecast period from 2017 to 2027. On the other hand, the global printed circuit board (PCB) e-scrap market was valued at 1.57 million tons in 2016 and is expected to reach 3.40 million tons by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2017 to 2027. Flexible Display Market - The global flexible display market is slated to see a turbo-charged growth in the upcoming years. A report by Transparency Market Research, estimates the market will register a phenomenal CAGR of 33.5% from 2017 to 2025. Rising at this pace the market will likely become worth US$47.892 bn by 2025 from US$4.5 bn in 2016. Gain access to Market Ngage , an AI-powered, real-time business intelligence that goes beyond the archaic research solutions to solve the complex strategy challenges that organizations face today. With over 15,000+ global and country-wise reports across 50,000+ application areas, Market Ngage is your tool for research on-the-go. From tracking new investment avenues to keeping a track of your competitor's moves, Market Ngage provides you with all the essential information to up your strategic game. Power your business with Market Ngage's actionable insights and remove the guesswork in making colossal decisions. About Transparency Market Research Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports. Contact Mr Rohit Bhisey Transparency Market Research State Tower, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany NY - 12207 United States USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog: https://tmrblog.com/ LOGO: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1085206/Transparency_Market_Research_Logo.jpg In the terrifying, uncertain days following 9/11, Congress authorized measures empowering the most sweeping surveillance the United States had ever seen. These measures, the public was assured, were temporary and extraordinary, justified by an emergency that had engulfed the nation. Nineteen years later, they are mostly firmly still in place. Now the U.S. government is creating a sweeping, comprehensive coronavirus data platform that will track millions of Americans' information. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the contract for this platform to Palantir Technologies, a secretive data-mining firm known for its work with the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and law enforcement during the so-called global war on terrorism. The HHS Protect Now platform will aggregate data from at least 187 different sources, including the federal government, state and local governments, hospitals, and the private sector. This development should worry all of us. Our existing privacy laws are woefully inadequate to protect the sensitive and personal information that Palantir will analyze. Without adequate protections, we run the risk of massive, ongoing government surveillance of all Americans in the name of public health. Without time limitations, that surveillance could become the norm, and the data collected used for purposes far beyond the protection of our public health. First, consider the sheer volume of data -potentially including personal health information - that will end up in such a platform. Experts suggest that 750,000 tests per week to millions of tests per day may be necessary before the country can be reopened. HHS states that the current data sets do not include identifiable personal information, but according to recent reports, it plans to include information in the future such as patient data from the CDC and even private companies. We do not know what safeguards, if any, HHS has put place to protect our privacy. Neither it nor Palantir has divulged critical information about what data goes into the system, how it's used or with whom it can be shared. Second, there is every reason to worry that sensitive data collected could be co-opted for purposes far beyond the preservation of public health. The Trump administration has previously sought to use HHS data collected for one reason to achieve other, nefarious objectives. In 2018, the agency permitted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to a trove of data it had collected while reuniting the unaccompanied migrant children in its care with their families in the United States. This, in turn, allowed ICE to arrest hundreds of family members and created a chilling effect for countless other families, who were suddenly forced to choose between their children remaining in detention and their own potential arrests. Third, Palantir's involvement in the tracking and collection of our public-health data is cause for grave concern, given the entrenchment of its surveillance technology in federal intelligence and law enforcement efforts. Some of the National Security Agency's most "wide-reaching" global surveillance programs rely on Palantir. Closer to home, Palantir technology has facilitated the separation and deportation of migrant families. In 2017, ICE relied on Palantir technology to arrest more than 400 parents and caregivers of unaccompanied migrant children. Palantir initially said that its technology played no role in separating and deporting migrant families, before its chief executive, Alex Karp, admitted as much this year. Palantir technology also powered the largest immigration raid in a decade, in Mississippi, which led to the arrest of nearly 700 undocumented workers and the separation of parents from their children. The massive surveillance architecture Palantir created to enable the tracking and arrest of immigrants now risks being turned on all of us. Although a coordinated, data-driven response to the coronavirus pandemic could play a crucial role in advancing public health, neither the government nor private companies such as Palantir should receive unlimited authorization for unlawful, unnecessary or disproportionate surveillance or intrusive data collection. Nor should that data be used to achieve ends that do not further public health. Any surveillance undertaken in response to the pandemic must be justified by legitimate health needs and limited to only information necessary to respond to the pandemic. Further, such data collection must be completely transparent and should only last as long as necessary to respond to the pandemic. The potential mass collection of personal health information by the government, facilitated by Palantir, should prompt us all to demand that our representatives in Congress take a close look at the scope and extent of the data the company will be collecting. Lawmakers should place clear limits on how long that data is collected, how it is protected and stored, and with whom it is shared to ensure it is not misused, especially against immigrants and communities of color. The technology we deploy to combat this pandemic cannot sacrifice our human rights in the process. - - - Kleinman is the director of Amnesty International's Silicon Valley Initiative. Krishnaswami is Amnesty's advocacy director for the Americas. Advertisement The coronavirus has infected more than five million people around the world, with Latin America now seeing the fastest growth in new cases. A surge in cases in Brazil, a large outbreak in Peru and a growing crisis in Argentina have propelled South America ahead of North America as the continent with the most new infections. Yesterday, South America recorded 27,517 new cases, ahead of North America with 24,935, Asia with 21,542 and Europe with 17,275. Africa and Oceania have seen far fewer cases so far. With official figures already painting a bleak picture, there are fears that the true scale of the crisis in Latin America is even more horrific because of under-reporting and insufficient testing. Brazil has processed only 338,000 tests for its 210million population, lagging far behind European countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain, and president Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the scale of the crisis. Mexico - a part of Latin America although not South America - has a lower rate of testing for the virus than any of the world's largest economies, suggesting its official tally of 56,594 cases may be far too low. An anti-corruption group has claimed that the true death toll in Mexico City could be three times higher than the official figure, at 4,577 instead of 1,332. Meanwhile in Venezuela, a group of scientists who questioned official figures and warned of a looming surge in cases were publicly rebuked by a government minister who demanded an investigation. This chart shows how South America (in red) is now recording the largest number of new coronavirus infections per day, overtaking North America (in green) for the first time yesterday after previously surpassing Asia (purple) and Europe (blue). The rise has been driven by a surge in new cases in Brazil. Africa and Oceania have far fewer cases How Latin America is being affected by the coronavirus pandemic BRAZIL Brazil has the third-largest outbreak after the US and Russia and has a low rate of testing, meaning it may have far more cases than its official tally of 291,579 infections and 18,859 deaths. Far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the crisis and raged against lockdowns. ARGENTINA Argentina recorded Latin America's first virus death on March 7 and now has a death toll of 403, with 9,283 confirmed cases. The daily infection rate has been rising in recent days, with 474 new cases confirmed yesterday. The lockdown has been extended several times, with particularly strict measures in Buenos Aires. CHILE Chile has recorded more than 53,000 cases - with 10,000 in the last four days - and seen the virus spread from more affluent areas of the country to crowded, poorer areas. There have been 544 deaths and Santiago entered lockdown last weekend. MEXICO There are officially 56,594 cases and 6,090 deaths in Mexico, with a record 424 new fatalities yesterday - but there are fears of a vast 'unseen' death toll. An anti-corruption group which analysed death certificates has claimed that the true death toll in Mexico City could be three times higher than the official figure. Mexico has the lowest testing rate of any OECD country. VENEZUELA Venezuela has suffered from food and medical shortages since long before the pandemic, and hospital workers warn that their facilities are not equipped for a major outbreak. Scientists who questioned official figures and predicted that the country could have 4,000 cases a day by early June were berated by the country's authoritarian regime. Official figures show only 824 cases and 10 deaths. URUGUAY Uruguay has confirmed only 746 cases and 20 deaths so far, saying that only 138 people are currently sick with the disease, but a meagre target of 1,000 tests per day was only reached earlier this month. The country's military says it has established 800 checkpoints and carried out 2,300 patrols along the border with Brazil ECUADOR Ecuador has confirmed 34,854 cases and 2,888 deaths from coronavirus. Authorities acknowledge both figures are likely to be higher. At the height of the crisis, corpses were left in homes or on streets for hours in the country's largest city of Guayaquil, but the government says the outbreak has stabilised. PERU Peru has confirmed 104,020 cases, the second-highest tally in South America. The country has carried out 715,423 tests, more than Brazil for a population around six times smaller. Peru has seen 3,024 deaths. A top infectious disease expert has warned that the health system may be on the brink of collapse. COLOMBIA Colombia has recorded 17,687 cases and 630 deaths. Some parts of the country have started re-opening, but the capital Bogota - which has seen more than a third of Colombia's cases - has tightened its rules. Officials have voiced concern the that the virus is spreading rapidly in the tri-border area of the Amazon between Colombia, Peru and Brazil. BOLIVIA Bolivia has begun easing lockdown restrictions in some areas after deeming them to have low rates of contagion. The country has reported 4,919 cases and 199 deaths in total. There was further chaos yesterday when the country's health minister was fired and placed under investigation over an alleged corrupt deal to buy ventilators. Advertisement After the virus first emerged in late 2019, the world reached one million cases in early April. Since then, each additional million has taken around two weeks. Asia initially had the most cases because the virus was concentrated in China, which still had around 99 per cent of infections as late as mid-February. Europe then became the focal point in mid-March, initially centred on Italy, before the huge outbreak in the United States put North America into an unwanted lead. While the outbreaks in Europe and the US have gradually been in retreat after weeks of lockdown, South America has yet to reach its peak. According to figures from Our World In Data, daily cases in South America surpassed those in Europe on May 15 before overtaking North America yesterday. The 27,517 new infections in South America on Wednesday made up more than a quarter of the world's 94,557 additional cases. Europe still accounts for around half the world's deaths, with more than 169,000 fatalities recorded there. However, Brazil now has the third-largest outbreak in the world, behind only the United States and Russia. As of Thursday afternoon in Europe, the global tally of cases was 5,027,732 while a total of 328,730 people have died from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. Brazil's health ministry has recorded 291,579 cases and 18,859 deaths so far, with no signs that the outbreak is slowing. Yesterday's figure of new infections was a record 19,951, while Tuesday saw a new high of 1,179 daily deaths. Public health experts say the peak is not expected until June and fear that the true scale of the crisis is far greater because of insufficient testing. Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to the lockdowns which most states have imposed, raging at the economic damage over what he calls a 'little flu'. Hospitals are already close to the breaking point in some areas, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the northwestern state of Amazonas. About 13million Brazilians live in shanty town 'favelas,' where hygiene recommendations and physical distancing are almost impossible to follow. Argentina is also recording hundreds of new cases a day in its worst spate of infections so far. The Argentine health ministry said last night that total cases had risen to 9,283, while 403 people have died. Much of Argentina has been in lockdown since March 20, and scientists are working to develop rapid testing kits. Meanwhile, Peru has recorded more than 100,000 cases - the second-highest tally on the continent after Brazil - and is suffering from medical shortages and soaring drug prices. Peru recorded its first confirmed coronavirus case on March 6 and reached 1,000 infections just 25 days later. It surpassed 10,000 cases another 14 days later on April 14. Police have been touring pharmacies after claims that they were hoarding drugs and reports that basic medicine prices have surged by as much as 900 per cent. In Venezuela, authorities have linked some cases to migrants who fled the country's economic crisis but have now returned during the pandemic. A government minister said on Tuesday that Venezuela had seen a record 131 new cases in the previous 24 hours, of which 110 were linked to arrivals from abroad. Migrants returning to Venezuela are required to spend a 14-day quarantine period at shelters at the border, rather than in their home states. Venezuela has since imposed new curfews in a handful of towns along its borders with Colombia and Brazil in response to a jump in coronavirus cases. The surge in cases in Latin America has been driven by a growing outbreak in Brazil, where there have been nearly 300,000 infections so far. Pictured: the coffin of a virus patient is buried in Sao Paulo yesterday Around the world, virologists are racing to develop a vaccine which would turn the tide against the virus, but it is likely to be many months away at least. Scientists are also trying to develop drugs to treat the virus more effectively, meaning that countries would have less to fear from an outbreak. Some vaccine projects have already begun testing humans, including at Oxford University. Up to 1,102 participants have been recruited across multiple study sites in Oxford, Southampton, London and Bristol, although results are not expected for weeks. Imperial College London is also progressing with its vaccine candidate and will look to move into clinical trials by mid-June, with larger scale trials in October. However, experts and politicians warn there is no guarantee that an effective vaccine will ever be developed. Even if it is, there are concerns about how it will be distributed in large enough quantities to bring the pandemic to a standstill. Your browser does not support the audio element. Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuong, a Ho Chi Minh City artist who specializes in working with copper wire, is using her talent to lift the citys disabled community through a social enterprise she has created to teach her trade to those with special needs. Phuong never expected that her first experiments twisting and turning copper wire nearly a decade ago would lead to a career as an artist and social entrepreneur. I only began bending copper wire to fill my free time, but my art actually turned out to be way cooler than I had expected. I really became drawn to copper wire. Its a medium that really pushes my creativity, she shared. For several years, bending copper wire into intricate designs remained little more than a hobby for Phuong, but when a respiratory condition forced her to quit her job as a pre-school teacher in 2016, she began focusing on her art full-time. Her artistic pursuits eventually led her to create Uma, a handicraft brand dedicated to art items made from copper wire. As a young entrepreneur with no industry knowledge, she found little support from family and friends. I didnt really know anything about the rules of art. I simply made what I liked, Phuong said. Now, just a few short years later, it seems those doubts were misplaced. Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuong (right) teaches copper wire art to members of the disabled community in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Umas products currently garner attention in both domestic and foreign markets, with export deals inked between the company and retailers in both New Zealand and the U.S. Phuong has also been recognized by Guinness Vietnam as the first copper wire art maker in the country. Aside from her entrepreneurial ambitions, Phuong also runs a copper wire art workshop for the local disabled community and volunteers with several charitable organizations based in Vietnam. She hopes to empower those with special needs by giving them confidence and providing them an outlet to earn a living. She has no current plans to expand her business, despite receiving the droves of acquisition and investment proposals which come her way. She wants to remain independent and help lift the spirits of those around her. Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuong sketches the outline of a sign she will create to support the countrys fight against novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Duong Thi My Huyen (left) from Quang Ngai Province, a disabled artist with muscular atrophy, works on a piece at Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuongs copper wire art class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Ornaments are created with copper wire at an art class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre A caricature of the Buddha sitting on a lotus flower is depicted in this copper wire art piece. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Copper wire ornaments decorate a traditional Vietnamese non la conical hat at an art class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre A copper wire lotus leaf and dragonfly decorate a traditional Vietnamese non la conical hat at an art class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Apprentices create copper wire art in Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuongs class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Beads brighten up a copper wire ornament in Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuongs class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Nguyen Thi Nhat Phuong (left) instructs an apprentice on the creation of a copper wire art piece at her class in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! HALIFAX - Capt. Jennifer Casey died while supporting an important mission that seemed "designed for her," her family said Wednesday in their first public statement since the Snowbirds aerobatic team member was killed in a plane crash on Sunday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX - Capt. Jennifer Casey died while supporting an important mission that seemed "designed for her," her family said Wednesday in their first public statement since the Snowbirds aerobatic team member was killed in a plane crash on Sunday. The 35-year-old Casey, a military public affairs officer and Halifax native, died in the crash of a Snowbirds Tutor jet in a residential area of Kamloops, B.C. Capt. Jenn Casey is seen in this undated handout photo from the Royal Canadian Air Force Twitter page. The family of Capt. Jenn Casey says the member of the Snowbirds aerobatic team died while supporting an important mission "that seemed to be designed for her." THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Twitter-@RCAF_ARC *MANDATORY CREDIT* In a statement read Wednesday by honorary Lt.-Col. Corrine MacLellan, Casey's family said the Snowbirds' cross-country morale tour aimed to reassure Canadians in a time of uncertainty, and there was "no better person to carry out that mission than Jenn." "Her beautiful smile and positively infectious personality could brighten anyone's day," the family's statement said. "She proudly served the mission as she flew across our great nation with a team that she adored." Her family said the former journalist was more than a granddaughter, daughter, sister and friend to many. "She was a storyteller a role that she embraced with a passion and skill. She was also a proud Nova Scotian who served as an advocate and ambassador for her province. Her journey took her many places, but her heart was always at home in Halifax." They described her as a dedicated member of the Snowbirds team who thrived as a member of the Armed Forces. "As she makes her way back to Nova Scotia to her final resting place, we ask those who knew and loved Jenn to cherish the memories that you have of her. She is gone but she will never be forgotten." Casey died after ejecting from the stricken aircraft. The jet's pilot, Capt. Richard MacDougall of Moncton, N.B., survived the crash, which occurred shortly after takeoff. He is being treated for injuries the military and his family have said are not life-threatening. A team of military investigators is trying to determine the cause of a crash the aerobatic team's commander has described as a confluence of "worst-case scenarios" and "our absolute worst nightmare.'' The tour, known as "Operation Inspiration," has been suspended while the team's jets have been placed on "operational pause.'' The crash was the second since October, when one of the team's planes crashed while on tour in the U.S. state of Georgia. The pilot in that incident sustained only minor injuries. Casey was an accomplished student, earning a bachelor of arts from Dalhousie University and a bachelor of journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax, as well a master's of interdisciplinary studies from Royal Roads University in Victoria. She joined the military as a direct entry officer in August 2014. Before being assigned to the Snowbirds in 2018, Casey spent most of the year with the CF-18 demo team travelling around North America and the United Kingdom. Before her career in the Armed Forces she worked as a radio reporter, anchor and producer in Halifax and in Belleville, Ont. Her first full-time position was as a producer for Rick Howe's talk show on News 95.7 in her hometown. The veteran broadcaster said while it was only for a "couple of years," Casey stood out to him like few others had. "She remains in my mind as someone I'll always remember," said Howe. "I've worked with a lot of people over the nearly 50 years I've been doing this ... there's a small select number that really stood out as being unforgettable characters and Jennifer was one of them." Howe said the pair worked closely together in what was only a two-person operation. He said in that situation you get to know people "a whole lot better." "Jenn was just someone you loved to have around," he said. "Not only was she articulate and smart and engaging, she was just a nice, friendly person and I miss her." This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2020. The new standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the Airport Authority of India(AAI) on Thursday discourages use of trolleys in departure and arrival areas. The luggage should be sanitised by the airport operator in the baggage break up area before putting on the conveyor belt and handing over to the passengers. "Airport operators must make appropriate arrangements for sanitisation of passengers' baggage before entry into terminal building," the AAI said in a statement. The passengers should compulsorily walk through a thermal screening zone before entering the airport terminal building, according to the latest guidelines. The passengers will be thermal screened and should have the Aarogya Setu app installed on their mobiles. However, the app will not be mandatory for children below 14 years of age. India halted flight operations since March 25 when the government first imposed the nationwide coronavirus lockdown. The lockdown is expected to be lifted on May 31. Also read: Domestic flights rules: Staying in a containment zone? You're not allowed to fly SOPs For Domestic Flights: Passengers should reach the airport two hours before departure. They will be allowed into the terminal building if their flights are within four hours State governments and administrations have to make available public transport and private taxis for passengers and airline crew Passengers and staff can move to the airport or from it only in personal vehicles or select cab services All passengers will be required to wear masks and gloves at the airport Chairs to be taped off or marked for physical distancing in passenger seating areas All staff should have hand sanitisers and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as per the directions issued by the home ministry All entry gates of the terminal will be opened so as to avoid crowding Social distancing marks or stickers at a distance of at least a metre will be provided at the entry gates, screening zones and terminals. Terminal buildings or lounges will not provide newspapers or magazines Also read: Domestic flights to resume: No over-the-counter check-in; only web check-in allowed On Wednesday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: "Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by @MoCA_GoI". Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: SoPs for domestic flights! Aarogya Setu app mandatory; cases-1.12 lakh Also read: Domestic flights to resume on Monday: What to keep in mind when you go to airport? As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Uttarakhand, 10 new cases were detected in the state on Thursday, taking the tally to 132. The state now has 77 active cases with 54 people successfully recovering. So far, 54 migrants returning to the state mostly from Mumbai, Delhi and Gurugram have also tested positive. The afternoon bulletin released by the state health department mentioned that out of the ten cases, eight cases were detected on Wednesday night at 11:30 pm. Five cases were detected from Tehri Garhwal district and three from Dehradun district. The cases from Dehradun include a 55-year-old female who is a resident of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh but has been undergoing treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, since May 11. The other two patients include a 20-year-old man who recently returned from Mumbai and a 45-year-old female who is a close contact of an earlier positive case who had returned from Mumbai. From Tehri Garhwal, five men who returned from Mumbai tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday night from the AllMS Rishikesh lab. With these new cases, Tehri Garhwal reported six cases in one day that is Wednesday. Other districts like Dehradun have a total of 51 cases with 21 active cases and Nainital has 26 cases with 16 active cases. Since Thursday morning, two cases have been reported including a 34-year-old man from Dehradun and 19-year-old man from Nainital who had recently travelled from Hyderabad. The health department also mentioned that one Covid-19 positive patient recovered and was discharged from the hospital on Thursday. On Wednesday, Uttarakhand recorded its second-biggest single-day jump with 11 cases being reported from the state. With 15 fresh cases, the state had recorded its biggest single-day jump on May 19. NEW HAVEN A Westport man recently filed suit against Gov. Ned Lamont, arguing that the governors order limiting gatherings to five people violates his rights under the U.S. Constitution. Bruce Miller, representing himself, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in New Haven on May 4, according to federal judicial records. In the complaint, Miller argues that Lamont overstated the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in issuing the executive order, thus exceeding his authority under state law, and overstepped the guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He claims that Lamonts Executive Order 7N, which limited gatherings to five or fewer people during the pandemic, violates the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The rule is a violation of the Constitutional rights to freedom of assembly, association, privacy and the right to be secure in ones home. CT state law gives the governor no power to issue such (an) order, Miller said in a statement. Now, when the curve has been bent, hospitalizations are down, and the virus has been shown to be far less deadly than believed when the executive orders were issued, there is now no further reason to suspend the Bill of Rights. Miller is seeking to have the order found unconstitutional and rendered void, and seeks costs and any other relief deemed equitable by the court. In a statement, Attorney General William Tong said Lamonts orders conformed to the Constitution. Our state constitution and state laws grant the Governor broad authority to protect Connecticut residents and families in a public health emergency, and his executive orders have been very clearly constitutional and fully legally justified, Tong said. Millers suit is one of a number challenging coronavirus-related restrictions filed in recent weeks, including a suit from Michael Amato and Joy Monsanto, owners of 50s Lounge in Westville, and another from members of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Orange against that communitys health director. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com It should be no surprise that our state officials conduct in crises often clanks. Look where we start from. A sad sack state under normal circumstances. With a horrendous unemployment comp system. A nonsensical monopolistic liquor system. And a vacuous legislature that requires a thesaurus to describe (as in, you just cant find the words). So, its natural some of our leaders comments and decisions land like a ball-peen hammer on an ungloved thumb. The COVID-19 virus is not only attacking our physical health; it is also increasing psychological suffering. Mental health is at the core of our humanity. It enables us to lead rich and fulfilling lives and to participate fully in our communities. Even without the pandemic, one in four of us will suffer a mental health episode during our lifetimes. The shocks associated with COVID-19 are now pushing many towards greater fragility and pain: grief at the loss of loved ones; anxiety at the loss of jobs; isolation and restrictions on movement; difficult family dynamics; uncertainty and fear for the future. Each of these on its own can trigger or deepen distress. Today many people are suffering several simultaneously. Healthcare workers are among those most deeply affected. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to Umair Bachlani, an intensive care nurse in Karachi, Pakistan, about how he deals with personal and professional stress. Mr Bachlani and his colleagues wear protective equipment for up to 16 hours a day while trying to save lives. When they go home at the end of a long shift, they must live separately from their families in order to protect them from possible infection. Charlene Sunkel, a South African advocate on mental health issues who is living with schizophrenia, told me that after decades of neglect and underinvestment in mental health services, she is deeply concerned about the dramatic increase in psychological conditions due to COVID-19. She pointed out that while the physical symptoms caused by the virus may disappear in weeks, people will continue to suffer the impact of grief, anxiety and depression for months or even years. In addition to healthcare workers, those most at risk are older people, adolescents, people with pre-existing mental health conditions and those already caught up in conflict and crisis. I have always believed that mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, are some of the greatest causes of human misery. My late first wife was a psychoanalyst, and my sister is a psychiatrist. Through them, and through my work in politics and as High Commissioner for Refugees, I came to understand the crippling burden of poor mental health, particularly for people in crisis situations. This suffering is often exacerbated by stigma and discrimination, making people afraid to seek help. Story continues Guterres in a three-way video call with frontline mental health workers, Mr. Umair Bachlani in Pakistan and Ms. Charlene Sunkel in South Africa. | Eskinder DebebeUN Photo. In many countries, COVID-19 is leading to cuts in mental health services and the closure of facilities. Unless we act now to address the mental health needs associated with the pandemic, there will be enormous long-term consequences for families, communities and societies. This very concerning picture is the backdrop to the policy brief on COVID-19 and mental health that the United Nations launched on May 13. It includes recommendations to governments and others that can help mitigate the mental health dimensions of the pandemic. Mental health services are an essential part of all government responses to COVID-19. They must be expanded and fully funded. Policies must support and care for those affected by mental health conditions, and protect their human rights and dignity. Lockdowns and quarantines must not discriminate against those with poor mental health. As we recover from the pandemic, we must take the opportunity to build mental health services for the future, by shifting services to the community, making them accessible online, and making sure mental health is included in universal health coverage. It will be essential to involve people with lived experience of mental health conditions in designing and delivering services. There is no health without mental health. The United Nations is strongly committed to creating a world in which everyone, everywhere, has someone to turn to for psychological support. I urge governments, civil society, health authorities and others to come together urgently to address the severe mental health consequences of this pandemic. RALEIGH, N.C.Faye Brown was a quiet, stoic woman who rose each morning in a Raleigh prison, pulled on a pair of dress slacks and walked out the gates to catch a city bus her routine for years. At age 67, she had earned enough trust to work each day as a teacher and hair stylist at Sherills school of cosmetology, carrying a pair of scissors though she was serving a life sentence for murder and bank robbery. At the end of each day, she caught the bus back to prison, where the younger inmates considered her a grandmother an older, wiser prisoner who loved peppermint candy and held a vain hope she would be free one day. She always admitted walking into a Martin County bank in 1975, carrying a loaded pistol and stuffing money into her purse. But she always resented the murder charge. As the robbers fled, Browns accomplice Joseph Seaborn hid in the back seat of their getaway car, and when a state trooper pulled them over, he fired a sawed-off shotgun through the window, killing Trooper Tom Davis. She always said she didnt want to die here, said Pamela Humphrey, her friend at North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women. Shed say Pam, we aint going to die here. She never gave up hope. She came close in 2009, but was stopped by the North Carolina Supreme Court the next year. On May 8, however, Brown kept her promise, technically. She died in a Raleigh hospital from COVID-19 complications the first casualty at the Raleigh prison, which has seen upward of 90 coronavirus cases, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Twenty former inmates recently gathered outside the Southeast Raleigh prison decrying her death and protesting crowded conditions. Inside, Humphrey and others waved to them, making heart shapes with their hands. They told us her family was there, Humphrey said. I dont know if were being told that to appease us. Brown grew up in Garysburg, a town of 932 sitting a few miles from Roanoke Rapids. For a 2005 TV documentary, Women on Death Row, she told an interviewer that she came from a large family of modest means, and that she thrived in school, making valedictorian at her eighth-grade graduation. Her attitude changed when her parents shifted her to a majority white school nearby, where she felt unwelcome and gave up studying. She found a bad crowd and drifted into drugs. On the morning of the robbery, she told the documentary crew, she had been up all night taking LSD, and she fell asleep in the front seat after exiting the bank. At his trial, Seaborn explained that he had fired the only shot, saying it was accidental. I am truly sorry for your loss, Brown said in the documentary. I didnt mean to hurt you. Never meant to harm anyone, and I hope someday they will forgive me. Convicted of murder in 1976, she initially got sent to death row. That got commuted to life in prison, and Brown began a bitter stretch in Raleigh, continuing her drug use and flouting the rules. It wasnt until 1991, around the time of her mothers death, that she began to change, according to a profile in the Worldwide Womens Criminal Justice Network. She earned a bachelors degree in prison, got certified to style hair and began teaching others at Sherills. She got two passes a month to visit her sister on weekends. She steered the young inmates toward school programs, told them not to cross the correctional officers and warned them on which prisoners to avoid if they wanted to keep from trouble, said Christy Wells, her friend and former bunk mate at NCCIW. Then in 2009, after 33 years in prison, Brown got a windfall that nearly freed her altogether. She came so close to officially leaving that she made it out the gate and into the parking lot before being called back. It was that one time in your life when you feel like youre finally getting ready to live your life again, said Wells. Im sorry. Im going to cry. In 2009, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favour of Bobby Bowden, a Fayetteville man convicted of murder in 1975. The justices held that the state was obligated to apply credits for good behaviour toward his sentence. This ruling cleared the way for other prisoners convicted between 1974 and 1978 including Faye Brown when a life sentence meant 40 to 80 years. Brown prepared for release, but Gov. Beverly Perdue ordered a halt on releasing 20 inmates serving time for murder, rape and assault. Like most of my fellow North Carolinians, she said at the time, I believe life should mean life, and even if a life sentence is defined as 80 years, getting out after only 35 is simply unacceptable. The idea of freeing Brown, regardless of her sentence or behaviour, rankled many statewide. Willie Rogers, a retired highway patrol sergeant in Goldsboro, wrote a letter to the News & Observer reminding readers of the day he found Brown and her accomplices hiding in a soybean field with their weapons and stolen money. Trooper Davis did not get a second chance, he wrote. So why should Faye Brown get one? Emily Cowart, then an attorney with North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, recalled Brown as soft-spoken and insightful, calm despite having so much on the line. As they arrived in Wake County Superior Court, she was surprised to see the room fill up with spectators in black robes, all from Browns cosmetology school. We were expecting the courtroom to be packed with troopers, Cowart said. Instead, it was a bunch of hair stylists. Brown won her case in Superior Court on a Monday morning in December 2009, and by that Monday afternoon, the Court of Appeals ordered her to stay put. She didnt show a lot of emotion, Cowart recalled. She was always kind and pretty reserved. Then the Supreme Court shut the door for good in 2010, and Brown returned to her bunk at NCCIW. She took her clothes off and she put a prison dress on with a pair of thermals, Wells remembered. She put a hair wrap around her hair, crawled up in her bed, read a book and cried. Brown beat cancer twice while in prison, Humphrey said. She recovered, but in her waning days, she showed signs of weakness. Her legs would give out. Once the virus broke out across its prisons, the state granted early release to roughly 640 prisoners. As they protested earlier this month, Browns friends said they remain in contact with people inside, and they report no efforts at social distance with inmates sleeping a few feet apart. Brown was hospitalized April 19, one day after testing positive for the virus. Friends at the prison said she did not return. Any death is deeply saddening, and we continue to work hard to deal with COVID-19 in our prisons, Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons, said in a news release. The safety and health of the staff and the offenders in our custody remain our top priority. Humphrey added a more personal eulogy. She was a classy lady and a true friend in an atmosphere of friendlessness, she said. It seems that all the public wants to hear are the negatives. And yet they funnel thousands and thousands and possibly millions to educate us so we dont make mistakes again, and when we take advantage of those were still condemned. As they protested, her friends on the outside wore T-shirts in solidarity, each with a tribute in cursive: Faye Finally Free. Ukrainian President 'Sure' IMF Memorandum To Be Signed By End Of Month By RFE/RL May 20, 2020 Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says he is certain a memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be signed by the end of May to bolster the country's finances. "We have large debts to international entities. We are a serious nation, but we are a poor country. We are paying off billions of U.S. dollars annually to international organizations," the 42-year-old former comedic actor told a press conference on May 20 to mark his first anniversary in power. "We will sign this memorandum, I am sure that we will sign it in May. It cannot be delayed," he added. Ukraine has been in talks with the IMF for months about a three-year, $5.5 billion loan tied to reforms to help the country meet a spike in debt repayments this year. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that about $3.5 billion of the total expected from the IMF is intended to go directly into the state budget. Lawmakers approved banking legislation on May 13 that paved the way for billions from the IMF to flow. Though the legislation also has other implications for Ukraine's banks, analysts say its main purpose is to prevent one of Ukraine's most powerful tycoons, Ihor Kolomoyskiy, the former co-owner of PrivatBank, from regaining ownership rights to the bank. The IMF is said to have insisted upon approval of the banking law amid signs the government was considering returning PrivatBank, which is in the midst of a major legal and political fight involving Kolomoyskiy. The bank was nationalized in 2016 when international auditors found a $5.5 billion hole in its balance sheet. Kolomoyskiy, who has close ties to Zelenskiy, has insisted that the bank was improperly nationalized by Ukrainian regulators. Kolomoyskiy has denied any wrongdoing and maintains he is the rightful owner of PrivatBank. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-president- sure-imf-memorandum-to-be-signed-by- end-of-month/30622477.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Raasakka hydropower plant All hydro power plants will be centrally operated from a central control room located in Tampere about 500 kilometers from Raasakka. All hydro power plants will be centrally operated from a central control room located in Tampere about 500 kilometers from Raasakka. Valmet Oyjs trade press release on May 20, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. EET Valmet will supply a central control and data collection system to operate PVO-Vesivoimas hydro power plants in the Iijoki, Kemijoki and Kokemaenjoki rivers in Finland. The order was included in Valmet's orders received of the first quarter 2020. The value of the order will not be disclosed. The system will be handed over to the customer in January 2021. Our existing central control system is obsolete and needs to be replaced. In supplier selection Valmet showed flexibility and provided fast responses to our needs. After testing the functionality with third-party systems, we were convinced of the Valmet DNA central control system. Additionally, we appreciate Valmets strong service support close to our key locations, says Tommi Hansen-Haug, Project Manager, PVO-Vesivoima Oy. We are happy to start the cooperation with PVO-Vesivoima. The Valmet DNA central control system provides high reliability and a perfect basis to continue our cooperation in the future, says Arto Makinen, Sales Manager, Automation, Valmet. Raasakka hydropower plant. All hydro power plants will be centrally operated from a central control room located in Tampere about 500 kilometers from Raasakka. Information about Valmets delivery Valmets delivery scope consists of a Valmet DNA SCADA solution for distributed process control and monitoring. It will be installed in PVO-Vesivoimas Raasakka hydro power plant. All hydro power plants will be centrally operated from a central control room located in Tampere about 500 kilometers from Raasakka. The virtualized automation system will feature links to the hydro power plants and several other third-party systems, such as energy management system, power distributors and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). The redundant virtualized automation system is located in two separate rooms in Raasakka to ensure highest possible reliability. Story continues The system is operated with V almet DNA User Interface , the first and only web-based user interface on the market that can be integrated with an existing distributed control system. It comes with a secure web-based access that enables the plant and mill teams to access relevant information whenever they need it, regardless of their location. Information about the customer PVO-Vesivoima Oy PVO-Vesivoima Oy produces electricity with its hydropower plants in the Iijoki, Kemijoki and Kokemaenjoki rivers. The total annual energy production output of the company is approximately 1.7 TWh. The company is part of the Pohjolan Voima Group. VALMET Corporate Communications For further information, please contact: Arto Makinen, Sales Manager, Automation, Valmet, tel. +358 40 549 2330 Read more about Valmet's total concept for hydropower plants Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers. Valmet's strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers' processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy. Valmet's net sales in 2019 were approximately EUR 3.5 billion. Our more than 13,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward - every day. Valmet's head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki. Read more www.valmet.com , www.twitter.com/valmetglobal Processing of personal data Attachment Court Orders Air France To Pay Judge And Husband N500,000 A Lagos State High Court judge, Mrs Oke Lawal and her husband Chief Bayo Lawal have been awarded N500,000 as compensation following the loss of their luggage by Air France. The couple had accused the airline of delaying two of their luggages and losing another on July 26, 2015 during their trip to Florence, Italy, Paris in France and the British capital, London in their lawsuit. The couples claim of Air France breaching its contract of carriage by air and causing them mental anguish and distress, was upheld by Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court in Lagos. The Nation reported that Chief Lawal said he was contacted by an unidentified person on the internet, claiming to be in possession of his luggage on July 29, 2015. He assumed that the individual had apparently broken into his luggage, and was able to orally identify the contents thereof including his iPad and sensitive drug medication. Reacting to the couples claim for general damages of N30 million and 2,871 for the loss of luggage, its contents and compensation for the mental anguish and mental distress they suffered following the contract breach, the Airline through its counsel Ogunyemi Olanrewaju, denied liability and urged the court to dismiss the plaintiffs claims. Justice Saidu found merit in the couples case and awarded N500,000 compensation in their favour. He said; The provisions of Section 22(2) of the Montreal Convention 1999, is very clear, the damages arising from loss or delay of luggage is limited to 1,000 Special Drawing Right. It is part of the evidence of the plaintiffs that they carried out some actions in seeing to the recovery of their baggage. These actions of the plaintiffs will definitely incur additional expenses in the course trying to locate their luggage. The defendant having admitted that it lost Chief Bayo Lawals luggage and delayed the delivery of Justice Oke Lawals luggage, l gave judgement in favour of the plaintiffs as follows: Delay of the defendant to deliver the check -in Luggage of Justice Oke Lawal amounts to a breach of contract of carriage by Air. The defendant is liable for loss and delay of the plaintiffs Luggage and the defendant is to pay the plaintiffs 1,000 Special Drawing Right each. General damages in the sum of N500,000 only in favour of the plaintiffs. Vietnam caps price of wind power to be imported from Laos at 6.95 cents Wind power turbines in the southern province of Bac Lieu. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Nhi. The Vietnamese government has approved a feed-in tariff cap of 6.95 US cents per kilowatt-hour for wind power it plans to import from Laos. The rate, 18 percent lower than domestic rates, will apply for 25 years and to plants that become operational before December 31, 2025. The price is applicable at the border, meaning power plants need to install and operate transmission lines to the border. Vietnam has seen demand for power surge to support its rapidly growing economy, and shortages are expected from 2021. The state power utility, Vietnam Electricity, earlier this year signed a deal to buy 1.5 billion kWh of hydropower from Laos annually for two years starting in 2021. Vietnam has also been developing its own renewable energy sector. As of March the country had 11 wind power projects generating 377 MW out of a total of 78 planned with a capacity of 4,800 MW. Another 250 wind power projects, with a total capacity of 45,000 MW, have been proposed. According to Anwar Raslan, his encounters with Syrian inmates were limited to drinking coffee, small talking about the diversity of Arabic culture and facilitating their release. On May 18, the former intelligence officers lawyer read out his testimony in the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz. It took almost two hours, making it double the length of the indictment, which had accused him of 4000 cases of torture, 58 killings and two cases of rape or sexual assault allegedly committed in Syria between April 2011 and September 2012. Raslans statement told a different story one where most of the crimes did not happen or were not his responsibility. Five days in court have passed since the beginning of the first trial worldwide dealing with state torture in Syria. In the German city of Koblenz, Anwar Raslan and Eyad al-Gharib are accused of crimes against humanity; the former of committing them as a responsible officer in the General Secret Services Branch 251 in Damascus, the latter of aiding and abetting them by arresting protesters and taking them to the detention center often referred to as Al-Khatib. Since the first day of the trial, Raslan has observed calmly, silently. He never hid his face from the cameras, never flinched when harrowing details of torture were being discussed. Now, his statement reinforced the image of a confident man who is not ready to regret or take any blame. Recommended reading They felt too safe: how two Syrian agents ended up on trial in Germany Rape? I cannot imagine that happened in Branch 251 Raslan is not the kind of guy who takes the back seat, his statement suggested. In 1992 he applied for police training with the Interior Ministry. I became a lieutenant and was the second best in my year, he recounted. As one of the three best graduates he was referred to the directorate of state security and started his career in Branch 251 at the age of 32. After some more steps up the ladder he finally became the departments head of investigations in 2008. Until 2011 I identified with the Syrian legal and political system, Raslan claimed. He did not make any mention of the severe human rights violations committed by Syrias former president Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s and 90s, and by his son Bashar since the early 2000s. The ceilings in our cells are too high to hang prisoners from them, Raslan explained instead, referring to the torture method Shabah (ghost), where prisoners are hung from their wrists, just able to touch the ground on tiptoes, for hours or days on end. This method has been mentioned by prisoners in Syria since the 80s. I can hardly imagine that someone would be beaten in this position, said the former officer with more than 25 years experience in Syrias secret service. Regarding the deaths of inmates, he claimed that only one person died in Branch 251 in 2011, adding that there was not enough space for corpses in the Al-Khatib detention center, contradicting his co-accused who said he once saw ten dead bodies being carried out of the prison. As to the accusation of rape by one of the plaintiffs, Raslan wants to assure that this is against our values, our religion and our morals. I cannot imagine that happened in Branch 251. Other details provided by witnesses, such as the numbering of cells, the existence of metal chains or the size of his office are equally untrue, said Raslan. Blaming his superiors In his statement, the defendant took time to deny every single witnesss account that was brought against him in the indictment. Some of them he has simply never heard of. Others he met for a peaceful and cordial conversation in his office he was even surprised that one of them did not thank him later. The majority, he claimed, were not arrested under his authority. How is that possible if he was head of investigations during the time of the alleged crimes? Raslan explained that because he personally facilitated the release of so many prisoners and because he was a Sunni Muslim, he had attracted the suspicions of his boss Tawfik Younis and of the notorious Subdivision 40, a unit controlled by the Alawite president Bashar al-Assads cousin Hafez Makhlouf. [Makhlouf] was above the law and his unit acted autonomously, said Raslan. They reported directly to Mohammed Dib Zeitoun, the head of the Syrian General Security Directorate. After having lost most of his authority, Raslan claimed, he merely wrote reports, but carried out no further interrogations himself. Eventually, he said, he was stripped of all his responsibilities in Branch 251 just after the uprising started in Syria in 2011. I never arbitrarily ordered the arrest of anyone. I did not order torture or support it, Raslan said near the end of his statement. I became a refugee because I did not accept what was happening in Syria. I did not commit the crimes I am accused of. He then listed potential witnesses who believe in his loyalty to the Syrian uprising and could testify on his behalf. Their numbers are saved in his mobile phone: a journalist who was arrested and, thanks to Raslan, released; a son-in-law who helped him organise his desertion; a former colleague who knows they could have done nothing to stop Makhloufs henchmen; an opposition member he worked with in Geneva, and many more. The latter serves as a reminder that after defecting, Raslan joined the Syrian opposition in Jordan and even travelled to the peace negotiations in Geneva as part of their delegation. Regime or opposition, Raslan remained at the top of his class. It is unknown if the court will summon the 25 witnesses who could testify on Raslans behalf. They are all members of the opposition and the revolution, the defendant added. They live outside of Syria and would take no risks by vouching for me. Recommended reading What will the Koblenz trial show of state crimes in Syria? Victims representatives are unconvinced Outside the courtroom, Raslans statement did not convince those behind the accusations against him. Anwar Raslan is obviously trying to downplay his role by saying he obeyed orders and that Subdivision 40, led by Hafez Makhlouf, exercised the factual power in the al-Khatib detention center, said in a press release after the hearing Wolfgang Kaleck, general secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a German NGO that triggered the legal case against Raslan and that represents 17 plaintiffs. That is common practice in such trials. But it is invalid, especially because he allegedly issued, not merely received and followed, orders in his department. We do not believe he played a minor role. That Raslan denied certain facts about the prison conditions and torture methods seemed almost silly to Syrian human rights lawyer Joumana Seif. I know people whose lives were destroyed just by seeing what happened in Syrian prisons, without being tortured themselves. Raslans word stands against the word of so many witnesses. Given the amount of detail Raslan put into his statement, Seif said she expected a lengthy trial. China's Middle East Trade Impact Could Be Exaggerated By Edward Yeranian May 20, 2020 China is emphasizing trade cooperation with the Middle East and North Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, but some observers think many recent initiatives have been more for show than substance. Egyptian media extensively reported on a recent shipment of health care and medical equipment from China, suggesting improving economic ties between the two countries remains a focus of the Egyptian government. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made five trips to China since taking office in 2014, and Beijing was Egypt's second largest economic partner in 2019 with $10 billion in trade. Sisi told a global gathering in Beijing last year that he was anxious to visit China due to the importance Egypt gives to the Belt and Road initiative, in addition to the joint interests and mutual threats that bind the two countries together. A large part of China's trade with North Africa and Europe transits through the Egyptian-controlled Suez Canal. China agreed to invest $18 billion in Egypt in 2018, including a joint trade zone along the canal, in addition to infrastructure projects in the energy, transport and building sectors. Dr. Paul Sullivan, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University, told VOA that "China is not as dominant in trade with the region as many may think, but they sure would like to be, (and) their importance in trade with these countries has grown quite a bit since 2000." "China is Egypt and Lebanon's largest source of imports, but most regional countries have a well-diversified source of imports and markets for exports, depending on what they are exporting, such as oil and gas, and what they are importing, such as transport vehicles, telecommunications equipment, etc.," Sullivan said. China's relations with the United Arab Emirates has also expanded dramatically in recent years, with Beijing becoming the UAE's largest trading partner in 2017 with $53 billion in trade. Projections of $80 billion in trade in 2020 will probably not materialize, due to the COVID-19 pandemic's damper on world trade. The Port of Dubai is a key focal point of Chinese trade throughout the region. China has also stepped up health and medical aid to Iran in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, which has hit Tehran hard. Nevertheless, trade relations between China and Iran are fairly insignificant compared to those with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Similarly, agreements between China and Syria to help rebuild that country's war-damaged infrastructure have gained media attention but remain relatively insignificant in numerical terms. Chinese electrical, engineering and construction firms have participated in recent Damascus trade fairs. Algeria has also been a major focus of Chinese trade in the Arab world, with Algiers importing close to $8 billion in goods and services from Beijing in 2018. Chinese Ambassador Yang Ghuangho said China and Algeria decided to build a new shipping port in the Algerian city of Cherchell, and that the port's future capacity will be from 3 to 6 million freight containers per year, compared to the current 800,000 containers. China's Middle East trade representative, Zuhai Jon, insisted during a recent visit to Morocco that trade between the two countries had seen a large uptick, including Chinese imports of minerals and nearly 200,000 Chinese tourists visiting the country. Niu Xinchun, director of China's Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, told a recent Chatham House research group that "China is a relative newcomer to the Middle East" and international media exaggerates its role in the region. "U.S. media," he said, "overstated China's capability and intentions." Nevertheless, increasing bilateral trade between China and most Middle East countries is evident, despite temporary setbacks due to COVID-19. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tension between China and the United States heightens over the responsibility for Covid-19 and is spilling over to Taiwan as well as other sensitive issues. United States President Donald Trump lashed out at China accusing the country of mass worldwide killing because of its incompetence and nothing else in dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak. We present facts and talk sense. The Chinese government has been acting with openness, transparency and responsibility in every step of the fight against COVID-19, was the response of Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday 21 May. Pompeo accuses China Trumps tweet attack came after Zhao reacted to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo long list of complaints against China. On Wednesday 20 May, Pompeo opened a press conference focusing on what he calls the challenges presented by the Chinese Communist Party. First, basic facts. Chinas been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, said Pompeo. He added that Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. Referring to Chinas handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, Pompeo declared that the Chinese Communist Party chose to destroy live virus samples instead of sharing them or asking us to help secure them. Regarding an inquiry into the origins of the virus, Pompeo said that China denied investigators access to relevant facilities. He also listed a series of unlawful acts China allegedly perpetrated against Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia. He also accused Beijing of pressuring the World Health Organizations director-general into excluding Taiwan from this weeks World Health Assembly in Geneva. While underlining Dr. Tedross unusually close ties to Beijing . Pompeo went on to congratulate Taiwans President Tsai on her inauguration, saying that the democratic process in Taiwan has matured into a model for the world. Story continues Beijing reacts Zhao called Pompeo a liar and said, he really is second to none at being an extremely irresponsible politician. Mr. Pompeo has always been attacking our political system, Zhao told reporters. His comments are entirely baseless and nonsensical. Over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Zhao asked why the US government failed to take strong containment measures during the long period from January to March. Why did it for a long time argue against the practice of wearing masks? Zhao asked. Zhao highlighted how the US praised China over its response to the outbreak. On 25 January, President Trump tweeted that China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus, Zhao declared. On March 13, President Trump told journalists that the data China shared was helpful for the US efforts against the epidemic. On the issues related to Taiwan, Zhao stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory and said, Pompeo should stop poking his nose into China's internal affairs, otherwise his attempts will be countered. Lucknow, May 21 : 'Sewaiyan', an essential delicacy on Eid, is in short supply in Lucknow due to the lockdown. While the thick variety of vermicelli is available, the finer varieties that are used in preparing 'sewaiyan' are not easily available. Rizwan Khan, a wholesaler in Yahiyaganj area, said, "We start making the different varieties of sewaiyan almost a month before Ramzan begins. Different varieties are used for different kinds of dishes. This year, the lockdown began even before we could start production and now there is no time left because making the vermicelli strands is a time-consuming craft." Incidentally, the packed vermicelli brands that are sold in the markets throughout the year, have already flown off the shelves. "When we ran out of Maggi stocks, people started buying vermicelli packets and used them as noodles," said Harish Seth, a grocery shop owner in Mahanagar area. Muslim families are looking at other options to sewaiyan. "I will make a very small quantity of sewaiyan with the stock that I have and also make kheer," said Aisha, a student who lives with her grandparents. With the ban on the sale of meat, Muslim families are also looking for an alternative to 'biryani' and jackfruit seems a perfect one. "Kathal (jackfruit) biryani is actually no biryani - at best, it can be a pulao but then we have to find alternatives because the situation is not normal. Eid, too, will be different this year but we will try to make it feel good," said Shaheen Ahmad, a homemaker. Some families are holding 'trial runs' of variations of vegetable biryani and these range from 'paneer' biryani, soya biryani and a mixed vegetable biryani. "I am trying out the variations every day and will settle for the one that tastes best for Eid," said Asma, another homemaker. Despite the ban on the sale of meat, some online grocery portals have started the sale of frozen meat and chicken and also frozen non-vegetarian dishes. However, Muslim families are not too keen on buying delicacies online. "If meat is not available in the corona crisis, we should all learn to make some sacrifices and opt for a vegetarian fare. Heavens will not fall if we do not have non-vegetarian delicacies on Eid," said Asma. The majority of the Muslim families have not made new clothes for themselves and are using the money to help the poor in celebrating the festival. Latest updates on Eid al-Fitr 2020 -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text An unmarked Etihad Airways cargo plane flew aid to help the Palestinians fight the coronavirus pandemic from the capital of the United Arab Emirates into Israel on Tuesday, marking the first known direct commercial flight between the two nations. The UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula, has no diplomatic ties to Israel over its occupation of land wanted by the Palestinians for a future state, like all Arab nations except Egypt and Jordan. Yet the flight marked a moment of cooperation between Israel and the UAE after years of rumored back-channel discussions between them over the mutual enmity of Iran and other issues. Etihad, the state-owned, long-haul carrier based in Abu Dhabi, confirmed it sent a flight Tuesday to Tel Avivs Ben Gurion Airport. Etihad Airways operated a dedicated humanitarian cargo flight from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv ... to provide medical supplies to the Palestinians, the airline told The Associated Press. The flight had no passengers on board. In the past, private and diplomatic planes often had to travel to a third country before heading onto Israel. Emirati government officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The UAEs state-run WAM news agency later issued a statement saying it delivered 14 tons of protective gear, medical items and ventilators to curb the spread of (the) COVID-19 pandemic and its impact in the occupied Palestinian territory. It did not acknowledge the flights significance. The cargo flight landed at Ben Gurion on Tuesday night, with ground crews pulling out pallets of cargo bearing both the Emirati and Palestinian flags. It will go toward U.N. efforts to fight the outbreak. Neither the Gaza Strip nor the West Bank have their own airports, meaning most cargo bound for Palestinian territory must enter through Israel. That likely required an airlift of the material from the UAE, which hosts humanitarian stockpiles for the United Nations. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - President Nayib Bukele is threatening to file a complaint with an international tribunal against El Salvadors other two branches of government in a fight over his harsh coronavirus confinement policies. Bukele wrote late Wednesday that he would take the issue to the Inter American Human Rights Commission, arguing that the countrys courts and congress have violated the right to health and life, by not allowing the government to take the necessary health measures to contain the spread of the virus. Earlier this month, a coronavirus state of emergency expired, and Bukele extended it via executive decree for 30 days. But the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court ruled he couldnt do that. Then the Legislative Assembly, which does have the power to extend the state of emergency, but passed legislation that Bukele found unacceptable. The bill would have loosened some of his toughest measures, such as confining people caught violating the stay-at-home order to containment centres for 30 days. At the time, Bukele heaped criticism on the high court and the congress via his Twitter account, accusing the court of ruling that COVID-19 could destroy El Salvador. (Photo : Image by antonbe from Pixabay) Where to Buy TikTok Likes, Followers, and Views; Here are 20 Options For You! In today's lockdown, where everyone is complied to stay at home, a Chinese app named TikTok became a worldwide trend. It has everything you need-- a social media and a video-sharing platform to enjoy with your friends. But that isn't the only reason why TikTok is addicting. It can also bring you money. Once you had a huge number of likes, views, and TikTok followers, a huge sum of money also awaits you in the end. Yet everything comes with a price. A lot of websites online now offer a faster way for you to gain likes, views, and followers on TikTok. To help you get started, here are the top 50 websites that genuinely sell likes, views, and followers-- for fair prices. 1. TokSocial If TokUpgrade doesn't match what you need, another alternative is TokSocial. TokSocial goes brilliant in every way. 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Tik to the Tok When it comes to choosing a set of TikTok followers, you aim to only have the quality ones. Tik to the Tok boasts to give "quality services, secured payment, and 24/7 live chat support." 20. Trollishly Trollishly believes that they can do 'viral marketing made simple.' Since everyone does not have time to complicate processes, especially when looking for content to put online, Trollishly aims to be your backup on your account. 21. Instant Fans Instant Fans isn't only great for adding Instagram followers, this website also assures you a stable number of TikTok likes, views, and followers within only a few hours. 22. Alessin Alessin claims to have helped over 12 million clients since its first release. So what makes it popular for TikTok influencers? Alessin has a simple technique. Lower charges, faster delivery, and easy way of transaction. That's how Alessin works for all its clients. 23. Wise-XY Unlike other websites, Wise-XY promises to provide long-lasting followers on your TikTok account. If the company won't accomplish what you want, they will refund the payment you sent. 24. TikTok Luv Clients at TikTok Luv can start purchasing followers and likes for a price of $55 and head your way to a broader audience. Just like the other websites, TikTok Luv only offers legit and real followers-- no spam or fake profiles in here! 25. Celebritik Celebritik, the website that features #TikTok Fame at your fingertips. Unlike superstars, having thousands of followers online are not easy, but not for Celebritik. 26. Share Fans Share Fans claims to be one of the best companies that offer marketing for any social media platform. The process is also simpler compared to others. All you have to do is give your username and complete your order right away. 27. SocioTraffic Having a 4.6-star rating on Trust Pilot, SocioTraffic will help you reach your target audience for the price of a minimum of $4 up to $48. Just like Wise-XY, SocioTraffic also welcomes a money-back guarantee for unsatisfied customers. 28. TikTok Viral Grow your TikTok audiences and community for only less than $2 through TikTok Viral. To help you with all the details you need to know, this company has its 24/7 customer support to accommodate you for your inquiries regarding signing up or packages you like to have. 29. Social Fried Contrary to Feed Pixel, Social Fried is for those people that already had its audiences but wants to widen it on different platforms. Social Fried boasts that they are one of the quickest websites to get premium quality followers to follow your account. 30. Free TikTok Free TikTok is not just a promotional stunt for the website to gain traffic. It really offers free TikTok likes, views, and followers. 31. King Views Most commonly used for Youtube views, King Views also runs TikTok orders, just in case you need some boost on the platform. King Views promises real and genuine followers to prevent you from being banned on the platform. 32. TikTok Fame TikTok Fame claims to be the world's number one provider of purchased TikTok views and likes. If you visit its website, the first thing that you might notice is how this website has a lot of testimonials to back up that claim. 33. So Chill Panel So Chill Panel boasted as one of the leading SMM and SEO markets in town. If you're already professional in the content business in social media, So Chill Panel can be one of your options to widen your reach. 34. Musically Po Musically Po may not be the first company to pop in your head once you search for the best purchaser of TikTok likes, but it sure is a perfect company if you're looking to be viral. With cheaper rates of $1.99, faster delivery of outputs, and wide options to pay purchases, Musically Po is one of the websites to look out for. 35. Social Viral Social Viral offers a wide variety of packages that you may choose from. Compared to other websites that offer the same services with Social Viral, this website respects customer privacy-- especially with the mode of payment. For 50 likes or 50 followers, Social Viral charges you for only $2.19, respectively. For 1,000 views, a cheap amount of less than $1 is all you need. 36. Media Mister For an average of 10,000 views, Media Mister will provide you great service by featuring a market for likes, followers, and views for a fair price on your TikTok account. 37. FollowersUp FollowersUp is certified easy-to-use and gives quicker services compared to others. This company promises to control your fan base in all your social media accounts, even on TikTok. 38. FastLykke Since 2009, FastLykke is a guaranteed service provider of social media likes, views, and followers. For the starting price of $10, you can get started on your business online. 39. InstaFollowers InstaFollowers certifies safe and convenience with its payment. By using PayPal, you can get-- not just your own fans club on Instagram-- but even on TikTok. 40. TikFantok Starting for the price of nearly $3, TikFantok allows you to have thousands of TikTok likes, views, and followers, for only a few hours. If you want a faster way to bring life to your TikTok account, here's what you need. 41. Popularity Bazaar Popularity Bazaar is so easy-to-use for anyone looking to add numbers on their social media. Follow these simple steps: pick a package, enter order details, and proceed to payment. 42. Instasamy Based in Milan, Italy, Instasamy has everything it needs to upgrade your TikTok account. Customers won't need to give any of their private details to protect your personal info. 43. Tik-Boost A bit pricey compared to other websites, Tik-Boost charges its minimum 100 TikTok followers for only $4. However, aside from followers, you can also have TikTok likes, views, and even video shares. Instant Famous is not only concerned about making you famous. This website also wants you to upload quality videos in order to easily and quickly reach your quota for the day. For nearly $3, you will have 100 followers in no time. 45. Get All SMM LTD If you want to get them all, make sure to inquire on Get All SMM LTD. This TikTok website assures its customers with instant delivery, cheap prices, and 24/7 live chat support, just in case you need some help. 46. QQ Tube QQ Tube brings a wide variety of packages to choose from depending on your budget. And if you have other social media accounts too, you can bring them to QQ and populate your audiences. 47. Woorke Services There's a lot to love about Woorke Services. This website is one of the most trusted in their field and will make the process of making you famous a gradual but in a sure way. For nearly $8, you can get 50 likes on your page. 48. Social PR Boss If you're looking for an average additional number for your TikTok followers, Social PR Boss makes the difference. Any prices bought from the company will have a 30-day refill guarantee to keep you protected and assured at all times. 49. HypeTik For a dollar worth, HypeTik website is another TikTok marketing site everyone must check out. This website does not just offer cheap prices for your followers, HypeTik also gets your services within minutes. 50. Manager Gram Manager Gram is the last choice in our top 50 but definitely not the least. Just like a personal marketing assistant, this website gives you the freedom to choose to have a one-time follower or monthly followers on your account. Why hire a company? TikTok has become an official app for Gen Z. Forget Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram, and this video-sharing social networking service is a must for all teens and young adults out there. But this app is not just made for fun. If you become famous on the platform, you will be rewarded with financial consolation until you reach your target. According to BBC, an annual income from $26 to whopping $32,000 can be your earnings once you become a TikTok influencer. Of course, to do that, you need to make investments such as purchasing likes, views, and followers on your account. And this top 20 list surely will help you with everything you need. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Meristem Crop Performance Group, LLC ( www.meristemag.com ) and Van Trump Ag Solutions, LLC ( https://vantrumpagsolutions.com/ ) today announced a new strategic supply agreement to serve American farmers. Under the new relationship, the Meristem Crop Performance product line becomes a key component of Van Trump's crop input offering and Van Trump Ag Solutions becomes Meristem's ally in helping farmers make the most of every dollar they spend on crop inputs. "Kevin Van Trump and his family have built an incredible brand that is all about serving farmers and boosting economic growth in rural America," says Mitch Eviston, Meristem managing director, in announcing the agreement. In addition to a large, well-run farming operation, Eviston explains, Van Trump has now launched Van Trump Ag Solutions to carry out their mission. Van Trump says his agreement with Meristem is a great fit for his new offering. "The Meristem team is working hard to help farmers cut costs and improve yields and I am proud to be able to work with them," says Van Trump. He says Van Trump Ag Solutions is out to boost the ability of American farmers to compete successfully in a global market, a mission that fits well with Meristem's vision of "Driving Farm Business Success." "Technology and global competition are bringing big change to agriculture," explains Van Trump. "We feel we can bring innovation and low-cost solutions to American farmers that will provide them a competitive advantage. We need a higher ROI for every input dollar if we are to compete globally." Van Trump also publishes the daily Van Trump Report, providing on-going insight to farmers, investors, and other leaders in food and agriculture. Van Trump connects with an audience of more than 20,000 daily. Van Trump Ag Solutions will now offer Meristem's initial product portfolio, including seed treatments under the brand RACEREADY, REVLINE plant growth regulators, TRUTRACK drift control, AQUADRAFT water conditioners and surfactants and HOMESTRETCH nitrogen stabilizers, micronutrients, and foliar nutritionals. BLUE DEF diesel exhaust fluid rounds out the current offering. "We've set up Meristem to be the lean provider of high-quality crop input additives to help these global players cut costs and increase yields," says Eviston. "Now, with Kevin's help, we'll be able to connect with more of the farmers who can benefit." Meristem Crop Performance Group, LLC ( www.meristemag.com ) is a joint venture between Old World Specialty Products and a group of talented agriculturalists with extraordinary backgrounds in agronomy and global agribusiness. Meristem works with farm businesses to drive out cost of production, increase productivity, diversify income, and increase access to new technologies. Meristem is keenly focused on providing products that can save farmers up to 30% compared to traditional market prices. Van Trump Ag Solutions, LLC (www.vantrumpagsolutions.com) is an agronomic consulting and farm supply business assembled to bring outstanding insight, service and quality products to farm businesses seeking to produce more grain while lowering input costs. Based in Kansas City, the business is a part of a collection of Van Trump family enterprises, including farm operations, The Van Trump Report, AgSwag and FarmCon. Contact: K. Elliott Nowels Phone: 833-637-4783 ext. 703 SOURCE Meristem Crop Performance Group, LLC Related Links https://meristemag.com/ This is Donald Trump's latest treaty withdrawal. The United States announced its intention on Thursday to withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries. This is U.S. President Donald Trump administration's latest move to pull the country from a major global treaty, Reuters reports. The administration said Russia has repeatedly violated the pact's terms. Senior officials said the pullout will formally take place in six months, based on the treaty's withdrawal terms. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to a small group of reporters, said the decision followed a six-month review that found multiple instances of Russian refusal to comply with the treaty. The administration also pulled the United States out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia last year. Read alsoUkraine test-flies Turkish strike drones (Photo) At the same time, the official said U.S. officials had begun talks in recent days with Russian officials about a new round of nuclear arms negotiations to "begin crafting the next generation of nuclear arms control measures." "The United States is committed to arms control. We are committed to European security. And we are committed to a future that puts meaningful constraints on nuclear weapons," the official said. The Open Skies treaty, initially proposed by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, was signed in 1992 and took effect in 2002. The idea is to let 35 member nations make surveillance flights over each other's countries to build trust. The officials cited a years-long effort by Russia to violate the terms, such as by restricting U.S. overflights of Russia neighbor Georgia and its military enclave in Kaliningrad. In addition, they said Russia has been using its own overflights of American and European territory to identify critical U.S. infrastructure for potential attack in a time of war. Parineeti Chopra reveals the best piece of advice she has ever... 3 hours ago There are those of you who might not give one ounce of cold-brewed shit that Starbucks just released a new beverage in sync with the reopening of 85% of their company-operated stores. There are even those of you who find Starbuck's rampant promotion of new drinks around any type of holiday or shared cultural event to be so exploitative and transparent as to start to become amusing. It's a wonder, you may think, that Starbucks didn't brand this new drink after the coronavirus. But, they might as well have because seemingly every blog in America can't wait to find out if this "new Starbucks' pink drink is about to become the beverage of summer 2020." This strange ritual of obsessing over Starbucks products feels so out of place right now that it's become hilarious. Does the concept of summer as we know it even exist right now? Who cares? The S'mores Frappuccino is back, bay-bee! Everything is normal! Everything is fine! Let's drink our blended coffees until the sugar, and "good vibes" coursing through our systems leave us two caffeinated sips away from a coronary! Continue Reading Below Advertisement Frankly, Starbucks, I think you might as well put your proverbial beans up on the table. The Iced Guava Passionfruit drink practically looks like cough medicine over ice. You're not fooling anyone, so just lean in. Call it a COVID-COOLER. You can add a shot of espresso and then make it a Coronaccino. Sure, guava passion fruit coffee doesn't sound too appetizing, but we're Mad Men here, baby! Other diseases kill you. The Coronaccino is toasted. (Or chilled. Whatever copy lends itself best.) Flight operations at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, have been suspended for a brief "safety pause" Thursday following two back-to-back crashes of stealth fighters less than a week apart. "The events over the past few days remind us that the defense of our country can be a dangerous business," said Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, commander of the 96th Test Wing, said in a letter posted on Eglin's official Facebook page. "It is very important to me that we now take a safety pause." Read Next: Lieutenant with South Carolina Army National Guard Dies in Afghanistan "I'm asking commanders at all levels to conduct a virtual safety day on Thursday, May 21," Cain continued. "I've asked my Safety Office to develop a safety briefing for use across the installation. Additional information and guidance on the safety day will be released through your chain of command. Please take this time to focus on staying safe this weekend, how we conduct our missions safely, and on our resilience." An F-35A Lightning II, assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron of the 33rd Fighter Wing, crashed around 9:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday upon landing, base officials said in a release. The pilot, who is in stable condition, "successfully ejected and was transported to the 96th Medical Group Hospital at Eglin for evaluation and monitoring," officials said at the time. "There was no loss of life or damage to civilian property," the release said The crash-landing marked the second accident at the Florida panhandle base in a week's time. An F-22 Raptor crashed last Friday morning during a routine training flight near Eglin. The pilot was able to eject safely and had been evaluated by the 96th Medical Group; the crash occurred roughly 12 miles northeast of Eglin on the test and training range. No injuries were reported. "We breathe a sigh of relief knowing the pilots of both aircraft were cared for by our medical team and released from the hospital," Cain on Wednesday, adding safety officials "are in the initial phases of the accident investigations." The 33rd Fighter Wing is the lead training wing for F-35 student pilots at the base. Although the F-35 is the Pentagon's newest and most advanced aircraft, the oldest Joint Strike Fighters in the fleet reside at Eglin. The planes are part of Lockheed Martin's earliest low-rate initial production batches. Meanwhile, the F-22 is part of the 325th Fighter Wing, which is assigned to Tyndall. However, following Hurricane Michael in 2018, the Air Force moved its F-22 fleet from Tyndall, dividing the aircraft between Eglin, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. The Raptor schoolhouse for pilots, as well as maintenance operations, were relocated to Eglin. -- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214. Related: Secret Drone Crash, B-1 Engine Malfunction Among Major 2019 Air Force Mishaps SEARCH A minimum of 3 characters are required to be typed in the search bar in order to perform a search. The number of people dying from coronavirus could rise sharply if the highly infectious disease continues to spread rapidly in Armenia, Health Minister Arsen Torosian warned on Thursday. Torosians ministry reported 335 new COVID-19 infections in the morning, raising the total number of cases to 5,606. It also said that three more people died from the virus in the past day. The official death toll from the epidemic thus reached 70. It does not include the deaths of 27 other people infected with the virus. The health authorities claim that those fatalities were primarily caused by other, pre-existing diseases. There have been 70 deaths in the country, Torosian told a news conference. Imagine if there were 120, 150 or 200 deaths every day. Such a scenario cannot be ruled out if we fail to contain the spread of the virus. If we have 5,600 cases today, at this rate [of new infections] we will have 11,200 cases within 15 days, he said. So our challenge is to break this tempo. Torosian was particularly worried about a possible shortage of intensive care beds at the Armenian hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. There are a total of 203 such beds available at the moment and 131 of them are already occupied by patients in serious or critical condition, he said. The minister further announced that starting from Friday the authorities will have to stop hospitalizing or isolating infected people who show mild symptoms of the virus or none at all. Such individuals, who account for more than 70 percent of all cases, will be told to self-isolate at home. Asymptomatic patients currently kept in hospitals or hotels turned into temporary medical care centers will also be sent home. Regarding the coronavirus pandemic, our situation is not good, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian grimly stated during a cabinet meeting held earlier in the day. While not ruling out renewed lockdown restrictions in Armenia, Pashinian said that his government should continue for now to put the emphasis on the individual responsibility of every citizen. Pashinian has repeatedly said that the success of the fight against the virus primarily hinges on the extent to which Armenians will practice social distancing and take other precautions recommended by the health authorities. Critics have responded by accusing him of trying to dodge responsibility for the authorities lax enforcement of stay-at-home orders and failure to contain the epidemic. As part of a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March, the Armenian government seriously restricted peoples movements and ordered the closure of most nonessential businesses. It began relaxing these restrictions already in mid-April. The daily numbers of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the country have steadily increased since then. For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis Pashinian and members of his government wore face masks during a cabinet meeting. As the prime minister explained: Citizens have correctly noted, including on social media, that if wearing masks inside buildings is mandatory, then why is this rule not respected during government meetings? While grocery prices have gone up during the coronavirus pandemic, there are a few things that have gotten cheaper. According to seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a few industries saw big dips in prices. Demand for fuel, travel and clothing has plummeted as many states are under stay-at-home orders, creating a decrease in prices for consumers. The Social Workers Association of Ghana (SWAG) has appealed to government to involve its members in the COVID-19 fight as their exclusion would go against the countrys quest to curb its spread and social consequences. Mr Divine A. K. Exorgbe, National President of SWAG, speaking to the Ghana News Agency said although the primary function of a social worker was to enhance human well-being and help people meet the basic human needs, managers of the countrys COVID-19 fight had excluded them from frontline duties. Mr Exorgbe said to SWAG, the exclusion of its members undermines the very roles and functions of Social Work, which include contact tracing, re-unification, community mobilization and sensitization, psycho-social counseling and support, Medical Social Work, Child and Family Welfare Services and many other equally important services that help with the well-being of the vulnerable in society." He said it was regrettable that they had no representation at the office of the Local Government Service, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and now the National Response Team on COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and the Local Governance Act 936 of 2016, Social Welfare Officers were to play a lead role in such fights as they were clothed with the mandate to promote and protect the rights of the vulnerable in the society. He said the psychological trauma associated with the viral infection of an individual or a family member could not be overemphasized adding it had led to destabilizing families worldwide. He explained that the viral infection had resulted in various kinds of abuses, child delinquency, unemployment, increased number of orphans and vulnerable children, economic hardship on families, and other negative social consequences which undoubtedly called for the involvement of social workers to help address such issues. The SWAG president therefore stressed that it was important to include the services of social workers in the national fight if government wanted to make significant strides in the fight against the Coronavirus. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video With a 5G phone in the UK, you get to enjoy incredible speeds that will revolutionize lives, especially mobile ones. No more slow internet, slow downloads and all the frustrations that come with a slow internet. 5G takes the online experience to another level and makes things a lot easier especially in times when internet use is paramount. What is 5G? 5G technology promises extremely high connection speeds and better reliability than 4G. It is the coming mobile network. Movies download in seconds when using the 5G network, 5-10 minutes faster than 4G. Given the obsession of speed and impatience of current gadget users, it is bound to be accessible and well-accepted soon. Experts say that as technology matures, it will become even faster than it is now. Advertisement Among its most crucial function, 5G increases the masts carrying capacity, which allows more people to connect concurrently. For people in densely populated urban settlements, 5G is a breath of fresh air as 4G network problems have pushed most users to the wall. You will need a smartphone with a5G modem like Samsungs Galaxy S10 5G, Xiaomis Mi Mix 3 5G, and Oppo Renno 5 G, among others. But is it worth it? Bursts of speed Advertisement Congested parts of the United Kingdom like Birmingham, London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast appreciate the fast speeds, which is at least double the EEs 4G. The speeds change with location but are still fast. Even when data is downloading at a constant rate, things happen much quicker. 5G also removes congestion effects. You can easily do what you want, when you want it, including streaming your favorite show on TV. Coverage Advertisement The United Kingdom was more prepared for the 5G than the previous 4 and 3 G networks. Compelling handsets available today handle the 5G network with ease, unlike the first ones that crippled under addition of sophisticated systems. Just like the 4G refined version, the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G can connect to an active 5G network, but only supports one sim. EE covers more network area than you can imagine. Though not a blanket coverage, there are always patches additional 5G symbols that appear daily, which is a good sign. Advertisement Having both 4G and 5G internet is always confusing as you may not tell if you have internet or not as it swaps between the two. It is therefore hard to tell which is the fastest when trying to download music or a video. You will experience some pains of early adoption. Besides the extra expense of about 5 pounds monthly on EE, you will get your moneys worth. Excessive heat and miserable battery life initially reported are now partially mitigated. To Buy or Not Buying a 5G enabled phone is advisable as users today keep handsets for longer than before. Though the benefits may not be immediate, your second, third or fourth year with the phone will reveal advantages of your choice. While future-proofing is never a sure bet, in a few years, a 4G phone will look ancient. Advertisement If you are considering to upgrade or replace your phone, going for a 5G enabled one is not only wise but cost-effective. It may look like a long shot, but you will appreciate your move in a few years. In the near future, 5G enabled phone will be the standard gadget. Digital products use the latest technology in the market, and those that will be released after the 5G may capitalize on the technology. Another reason that you can buy the 5G phone is when you have some excess amounts to burn. It can be as a gift to self, or you have a fetish for technology. As long as you are not on a tight budget, and will not miss essential needs when you purchase one, indulge! You can also consider the 5G network if you live with the 5G coverage and already considering high-end phones. Spending minutes waiting for a video is annoying, and if you are streaming, you will not enjoy watching anything with multiple interruptions to load. It does not hurt to have high speeds if you have the option. Advertisement Things you Need to Know Before Acquiring a 5G Phone All 5G phones come with big screens at the moment. If you love small mobile phones, then you are not lucky. You will need more data allowance than you may imagine. The speed and quick flow consume more than normal. Advertisement Calls, uploads of videos and photos, and related activities that are non-downloadable, all use the 4G network. Shortly, 5G phones are likely to launch long battery life, smaller sizes and better-performing gadgets. More players are expected to come on board offering 5G network and provide more options to users in a few years to come. In Conclusion Since people need phones and gadgets for different needs. However, if you are after ultra-quick phone speeds, you may want to consider it. Users who need average speed can hold on to 4G until the craze for 5G fades out. As stated earlier, the 5G network is not available in every region as it is launched in phases. If your location is not covered, the system may be unstable or not connecting. You will enjoy it if you are within the covered regions. Choice of phones with 5G technology is still limited. More companies will release their products soon, though. The prices for the early adopters are inhibitive. Again, depending on why you need the 5G network phone, you may need to part with a significant amount of money. If you are not in a hurry to buy, you may want to wait until the prices fall. There have been concerns on excess radiation emission that comes with the 5G technology. International bodies that monitor and set limits on radiation levels have declared it safe. However, you may want to wait until the coast is clear. After all, subsequent products are always improved versions of the first ones. WESTPORT The first day of retail reopening in town went smoothly with many owners saying they were excited to see familiar faces. Dave Wright, owner of Fleet Feet, said upon opening his store at 10 a.m. Wednesday, there was a steady stream of customers, some new and some old friends. Theres been a lot of appointments, Wright said. People have been taking advantage of our new appointment procedures. Two of the main changes he put in place to comply with the states health protocols were a new fitting process and scheduling staff. Wright said there will be two to three fitters at any one time to assist customers. Its so nice to be able to talk to different people, Wright said. Now, everybodys getting a chance to see the community. Its refreshing to be back to almost normal. Its not quite normal, but it is nice to see and talk to everybody. Mike Logan, at New England Hemp Farm, shared similar sentiments. I know for our staff here, we were all psyched to get back in the shop, Logan said. The store has made changes to accommodate customers including limiting the number of people inside and sanitizing products throughout the day. Were trying to keep it safe so people feel comfortable coming in, Logan said. While some retailers were open and ready to go others remained closed. Annette Norton, owner of Savvy + Grace, said although her store remains closed she hopes to open in the coming weeks. I felt it would be prudent of me to wait another couple weeks after other people opened to see what the numbers showed, Norton said of her decision. Since the closure of her store in March, she said she has made a move toward online services. I always wanted to stay old school and be a brick and mortar store, she said. Its made me get into something I never even saw. Despite her decision to remain closed, she said she understood other retailers who did the opposite. I totally understand why people are opening. I cant wait until I can reopen, Norton said. Its just that I feel like two more weeks is a better choice for me. She said she thinks one of the positives that may come out of the pandemic is a renewed focus on local shops. Norton said since closing and moving online, shes had customers shopping with her who never had before. Its easy to take Main Street for granted. Its easy to take your local shops for granted, but I dont think people are taking them for granted any more. I think theyre appreciating them, Norton said. Allison Gurley, manager of Bungalow, said the importance of local businesses has been shown through the pandemic. Some people are afraid to go into a big box store, she said. I dont know if its the personal aspect of it, but I think people are really looking to shop local with small businesses. Gurley said at Bungalow, a lot of the clients have become like friends and upon reopening theyve already seen some familiar faces. Its a huge thing because we want to make sure our customers are healthy and doing well, she said. Catherine Hiriart, owner of Catherine H, said people are understandably still being cautious. She said customers can make appointments to have the store to themselves when they shop. Obviously, we wont have as much foot traffic working this way, but I think its for the safety of everyone, Hiriart said. She said while things make not be back to normal, allowing customers some form of shopping experience is important. Just the fact of seeing someone and being outside I think its positive, she said. If everyone is mindful of the distance and follows the protocol, we should be okay. dj.simmons@hearstmediact.com (Sharecast News) - London's benchmark slipped back into the red in late trading on Thursday, having briefly broken above the waterline during the afternoon, amid growing tensions between the US and China, and after Whitbread announced a 1bn rights issue. The FTSE 100 ended the session down 0.86% at 6,015.25, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.11% to 16,385.96. Sterling was mixed against its major trading pairs, last falling 0.17% against the dollar to $1.2224, and strengthening 0.06% on the euro to 1.1159. Souring relations between the US and China weighed on sentiment, after the US Senate passed a bill overnight that could ban some Chinese companies from listing on American exchanges. US President Donald Trump inflamed the situation further by taking to Twitter to lash out against China over the coronavirus pandemic. "Donald Trump's increasingly inflammatory election tactics weighed heavy on the markets on Thursday," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. "Having already recently threatened to pull the US out of the WHO due to the organisation's 'pro-China' bias, while blaming the pandemic on the 'incompetence' of the rival superpower, Trump went further on Wednesday night, accusing Beijing of spreading 'pain and carnage' throughout the world." Campbell noted that Trump also said China was on a "massive disinformation campaign", claiming they wanted Joe Biden in the White House. "Crucially, at the same time as this Twitter storm, the US government published a 20-page report detailing China's so-called 'malign activities', covering its economic and military policies, as well as its human rights violations." On home shores, data out earlier showed the private sector struggled in May as Covid-19 lockdown measures weighed heavily on the economy. The rate of decline in output did, however, ease compared to April's historic slump. IHS Markit/CIPS said the flash reading of its composite purchasing managers' index was 28.9 in May - an improvement on April's final reading of 13.8, and a two-month high. It was also above analyst forecasts for a reading of 25.7. The reading was still, however, a record low, well below the 38.1 seen at the height of the global financial crisis in November 2008 and only beaten by April's reading. Anything below the neutral reading of 50.0 is regarded as a contraction. The sluggish output was attributed "almost exclusively" to Covid-19, which has shut businesses, seen customers cancel orders and caused demand to plummet. In equity markets, pub and hotel operator Whitbread tumbled 12.36% after saying it was raising 1bn in a rights issue to bolster its balance sheet against the impact of the pandemic as it warned of a potential loss in 2021. Pets at Home was also weaker by 4.26% as it said full-year revenue topped 1bn for the first time but warned that first-half pre-tax profit will take a hit from the coronavirus. Car dealership Inchcape was in the red by 7.75% as it posted a 32% decline in revenue for the four months to the end of April and a 76% slump in like-for-like revenues in April, mainly due to Covid-19 disruption. On the upside, Intertek gained 7.84% after saying it would pay its final dividend as the company reported a 4.6% fall in revenue for the first four months of 2020. EasyJet rallied 4.43% as the budget airline said it would begin to restart flying on 15 June with extra measures to reduce the risk of infection from Covid-19. The budget airline said a small number of flights would restart on routes where there was enough demand to be profitable. It said the routes would mainly cover domestic flights in the UK and France. Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,015.25 -0.86% FTSE 250 (MCX) 16,385.96 0.11% techMARK (TASX) 3,725.61 0.31% FTSE 100 - Risers Intertek Group (ITRK) 5,238.00p 6.08% easyJet (EZJ) 574.80p 4.43% BT Group (BT.A) 114.70p 3.71% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 206.10p 3.65% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 283.30p 3.51% Land Securities Group (LAND) 554.20p 3.20% Ocado Group (OCDO) 2,059.00p 3.13% Next (NXT) 4,637.00p 2.77% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,984.00p 2.10% ITV (ITV) 76.00p 2.07% FTSE 100 - Fallers Whitbread (WTB) 2,479.00p -13.44% Standard Chartered (STAN) 391.50p -5.32% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 28.39p -4.94% Fresnillo (FRES) 773.00p -4.21% Legal & General Group (LGEN) 185.70p -3.78% Meggitt (MGGT) 264.10p -3.65% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 398.90p -3.36% Antofagasta (ANTO) 829.40p -3.33% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 103.20p -3.33% Tesco (TSCO) 227.10p -3.11% FTSE 250 - Risers PureTech Health (PRTC) 255.00p 9.44% BMO Commercial Property Trust Limited (BCPT) 66.50p 8.13% WH Smith (SMWH) 995.00p 7.68% Future (FUTR) 1,092.00p 7.27% Stagecoach Group (SGC) 59.65p 6.51% Avon Rubber (AVON) 3,105.00p 6.27% Rank Group (RNK) 138.00p 6.15% Trainline (TRN) 496.20p 5.84% Biffa (BIFF) 224.00p 5.66% McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 67.20p 5.64% FTSE 250 - Fallers Inchcape (INCH) 457.20p -7.75% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 205.80p -5.16% Greencore Group (GNC) 132.20p -4.48% Marston's (MARS) 32.56p -4.46% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 173.85p -4.43% Pets at Home Group (PETS) 220.00p -4.26% C&C Group (CCR) 180.00p -4.26% Investec (INVP) 154.25p -4.25% Avast (AVST) 479.80p -4.14% Countryside Properties (CSP) 276.80p -4.02% Nine more people tested positive for coronavirus in Chandrapur on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in the Maharashtra district to 12, an official said. The new patients included four labourers who returned to Chandrapur on Tuesday after working at an industrial area at Malegaon in Nashik, district Collector Dr Kunal Khemnar said in a release. After the labourers reached Chandrapur, they were kept at an institutional quarantine facility and their samples were sent for tests which came out positive on Thursday, he said. Besides, five others who tested positive included a couple who came here from Pune, and three persons who travelled to Chandrapur from Mumbai, Thane and Hyderabad. All of them were lodged at the civil hospital here after they entered the district, the collector said. The nine patients had not come in contact with anyone in the district, he said, and urged the public not to panic. With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the district is now 12, he said. Out of the total patients, one was earlier discharged after recovery. Hence, the number of active cases in the district is 11. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here. During the Depression, Harold Blakes father, who had retired with a disability pension from the New York City Sanitation Department, instilled in his son the value of a civil service job: It was secure. So when Mr. Blake was finally offered one, after working for a failed brokerage on Wall Street and a trucking company, he jumped at the opportunity. It was a clerks position at the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority paying $2,580 a year, $300 more than a comparable job in city government. Nevertheless, a neighbor who worked for the city advised him not to take it. You dont want to go to work for that guy Moses, the neighbor warned. Hes a slave driver. Mr. Blake ignored the advice and in 1952 joined the authority, a quasi-public agency run by Robert Moses, the imperious urban planner immortalized in Robert A. Caros Pulitzer Prize-winning 1974 biography, The Power Broker. In a makeshift bunker of sacks of rice beneath a tree, heavily-armed Togolese soldiers keep watch over villagers coming and going on foot or bike across the border with Burkina Faso. Just a dried-out river bed separates the two West African countries. In surrounding fields, peasant farmers are bent silhouettes, watering the sorghum and maize seeds sown before the arrival of the first rains. Soon, clouds will chase away the fine dust of the harmattan, the desert wind that each year sweeps off the Sahara southwards to the coast and chokes the air. Nothing dramatic, or so it would seem, ever happens at Yemboate, in Togo's far north. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border in eastern Burkina Faso, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. Those policemen, doctors and teachers who have not fled are being hunted down and butchered. "When I was small, we spent our time swimming in the river," says farmer Abdoulaye Mossi, leaning on his bike with a hoe, speaking to AFP before the coronavirus pandemic. The arid channel separates his peaceful village of cob huts from a Burkinabe village on the other side. "Fear rules today," the farmer says. But fear does not stop people crossing between the two countries, especially on Tuesday's market day, when they sell crops and cattle. "They're never far away," he says, of the armed movements. "They often come to have their motorbikes repaired. They will never tell you who the jihadists are, but we know," says Mossi, part of whose family lives in Burkina Faso. The Togolese soldiers mount checkpoints and mobile patrols of the countless cross-border tracks through the bush that enable jihadists on motorbikes to blend into the civilian population. - Expansion south? - After the fall of Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore in 2014, Togo's northern neighbour fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali, fanned by the collapse of Libya. Today, jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as well as Togo. A year ago Benin witnessed the kidnapping of two French tourists and the murder of their guide in the Pendjari National Park. In February, jihadists also attacked a police station near the border with Burkina Faso. In Ivory Coast, jihadist gunmen attacked the Grand-Bassam beach resort in 2016, leaving 19 people dead. Another jihadist group has been holing up in the Comoe national park in northern Ivory Coast for the past eight months after being pursued by Burkinabe troops. The coronavirus pandemic has inspired no ceasefires. In Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the number of clashes and attacks reached unprecedented levels last year. According to local and foreign security sources, many parts of rural Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin have seen the awakening of "sleeper cells" -- people indoctrinated and trained to encourage ever more radical peaching in mosques and Koranic schools. - Togo's fears - "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong we feel it a little more with each day," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February, while campaigning for re-election in Dapaong, the main northern town. Flying by helicopter from the capital Lome, 650 km to the south, the head of state touched down in what has become a "red zone" for tourists, missionaries and foreign aid personnel, whose work was cut short by a Spanish priest's murder at a Burkinabe customs post. Togo has been spared big attacks so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst. According to confidential military documents seen by AFP, almost 700 Togolese soldiers are deployed in the northernmost Savanes region on the border with Burkina Faso, engaged in Operation Koundjoare launched in 2018. They keep guard at an invisible border of around 100 km, with Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. The territory serves smugglers, highway robbers and all sorts of contraband -- ivory, weapons, drugs and, above all, gold, one of the main resources of the region. In these remote areas far from coastal towns and economically developed zones, the trappings of state are mostly absent, so wildlife parks and dense forests have become a sanctuary for the jihadists. Less than 30 km from the border, a much feared group has seized control in Burkina Faso's Pama forest reserve. For two years, it has launched violent raids against travellers and security forces alike. The fighters -- linked to the Ansaroul Islam movement accused of terrorising northern Burkina Faso and central Mali -- are behind the kidnapping of several Westerners in recent years, according to French security forces. "The north of Togo can allow jihadists to rest up after long campaigns, or to fall back by merging into the population when pressure from the other side is too strong," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. - 'Culture of distrust' - Where deep poverty prevails, winning villagers' goodwill is indispensable in the fight against jihadists. The army provides free medical consultations, repairs damaged schools and builds wells. "Our passage must be visible," Gnassingbe declared in Dapaong, warning the military against both "bullying" and "petty corruption". Elected mayors and district administrators work hand in hand with religious leaders and traditional chiefs to obtain and pass on information. Togolese authorities count on intelligence services equipped and trained by powers such as Israel, with whom Gnassingbe Eyadema, the president's father and political predecessor who ruled for 38 years, nurtured close ties. An intelligence network intercepting communications and putting spies on buses has helped to "dismantle" several "terrorist cells", with dozens of arrests, according to the government. Authorities claim that all those picked up are foreigners, mostly Burkinabes, who are extradited to their countries of origin. The armed forces of Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast and Ghana have taken part in joint military operations with Burkina Faso since 2017. "Cooperation is undermined by a culture of distrust between states," says Antonin Tisseron, an associate researcher with the Institut Thomas More, a conservative think tank. - 'Money and motorbikes' - Togo relies on an experienced army, which has taken part in several United Nations peacekeeping operations. Most recruits are from the Kabye ethnic group in the north, which has served the ruling dynasty for more than half a century. However, many people fear that the "struggle against terrorism" will also serve to silence critics of 53-year-old Faure Gnassingbe. In power since 2005, the president has solid support from international partners led by France, despite criticism by human rights organisations of repeated abuse of political foes and activists. Togo came through a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018, with mass demonstrations calling on Gnassingbe to resign, particularly from the predominantly Muslim centre of the country. Security forces cracked down hard. "The countries of the Gulf of Guinea present many internal weaknesses," Tisseron told AFP. "Poverty, the absence of jobs and prospects, the repression of all forms of social protest and the stigmatisation of Muslims create a breeding ground where jihadists can thrive." Jihadists tend to infiltrate communities in stages, starting with charitable works financed by Islamic organisations abroad. The newcomers preach a more radical form of Islam than the reputedly moderate faith long practised by about a quarter of the Togolese population and strictly monitored by the state. "It begins with 'raising awareness' among the masses, without open confrontation with the authorities," said a Western security source. "Once they feel strong enough, they kill the moderate preachers and then they attack police and gendarmerie posts." Last year, a non-governmental organisation unknown to local Muslim authorities appeared in Dapaong, where Maman Amadou, the imam of the central mosque, is one of the rare religious leaders openly to challenge extremism. "They started to preach radical Islam in about 15 villages and to build mosques," he told AFP. "They even handed out money and motorbikes to young people. The people listened to them." "We didn't know them and they answered none of our summons. We ended up alerting the authorities," Amadou said. Under pressure, the organisation left town, added the imam, saying he had no more idea where they went than where they came from. "We never heard any more of them." A window at Starbucks reads 'WE ARE OPEN!' during the coronavirus pandemic on May 10, 2020 in New York City. Starbucks customers are starting to return to its cafes in the United States and China as the global coffee chain reopens many locations that shuttered temporarily due to the coronavirus pandemic. CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a letter to employees on Thursday that the company has regained about 60% to 65% of its U.S. same-store sales over the last week, compared to the same period a year ago. Starbucks has reopened more than 85% of its U.S. locations with modified operations. Johnson said that the company is tracking slightly above its internal estimates for recovery. In China, where cafes have been reopened longer, same-store sales are down only about 20%, "reflecting gradual improvements over the past several weeks," according to Johnson. "Our recovery progresses each week, and we know that it will take time to fully recover and post positive comparable store sales growth," Johnson said. Razumkov signs bill on banks necessary for cooperation with IMF, sends it to president for signature Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov has signed bill No. 2571-d amending some legislative acts of Ukraine on improving banking regulation mechanisms and sent it to the president for signature. This has been reported on parliament's website. As reported, on May 13, the Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 2571-d amending some legislative acts of Ukraine on improving banking regulation mechanisms, which is necessary to conclude a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The adoption of the law is the last of the preconditions for concluding a new agreement with the IMF. The law, in particular Lauren Rosenberg, right, and her nanny, left, set out toys for the Rosenberg children. Brianna Soukup/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images The pandemic has taken a toll on nannies, many of whom have described being furloughed, laid off without pay, or forced to choose between their jobs and health. This demographic, which is largely made up of women of color, "experienced sudden and devastating unemployment and underemployment," said Haeyoung Yoon of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Undocumented nannies are at risk because they're paid off the books and aren't eligible for unemployment benefits. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Michelle Brown believes she got lucky. She's been a nanny with the same family for over six years. They live walking distance from her Upper East Side home, attended her wedding, and treat her like she's part of the family. When the coronavirus hit, they asked Brown, 35, to stay home and continued paying her. Thousands of other nannies have had a dramatically different experience. "As soon as the shelter-in-place orders went into effect for people to stay at home, domestic workers, and in particular nannies, experienced sudden and devastating unemployment and underemployment," said Haeyoung Yoon, senior policy director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). Brown has created a Facebook page called The Nannies of New York City! and with over 7,500 members, the painful stories have been pouring in. Nannies realize they're 'disposable' Some nannies were furloughed, while others were laid off without severance pay. Over a dozen nannies from the Caribbean have even lost their lives to COVID-19, The Cut reported. "In the end, it doesn't matter how long you're with the family, you are disposable," Brown told Business Insider. "That's something that all of us nannies have learned." As schools around the nation were shut down in response to the coronavirus, nannies, who lived in their own homes, were asked to become "live-in" nannies in so they could take care of the employers' children. Often, Brown said, they were forced to choose between their health and financial security. Story continues "One family went so far as to tell their nanny, 'We're going to pack up everything and move to the Hamptons. You have to come and live with us, and if you don't, you can walk right out that door,'" Brown said. The nanny in question had been using public transit to get to and from work while battling concerns about contracting the virus herself and bringing it home to her own children. "The nanny was very, very afraid to come in, but she needed the money," Brown said. "So she kept going in until the very end. That was very hard for the nanny because she gave her time and love to these children, only for the family to turn around and say, 'Either you live with us or you can get going.'" Nannies are mostly women of color and their families' primary breadwinners The United States is home to over 2.2 million domestic workers, which includes nannies, house cleaners, and care workers, according to a study by the NDWA and Economic Policy Institute. A whopping 91.5% of this demographic are women and three out of four domestic workers are their families' primary breadwinners. The median age for domestic workers is 45 and most are Hispanic, black, or Asian women, the study found. It also showed that 52% of 16,000 surveyed domestic workers said they didn't have work during the week of March 30 and that number rose to 68% the following week. Some 66% of workers are uncertain whether they'll have jobs when the pandemic ends, the study said, and over 55% of workers said that they couldn't pay rent in April. Roughly a third of domestic workers are born abroad, and one in five isn't a citizen of the United States, the study said. About 95% of nannies are paid off the book or illegally, the International Nanny Association said, which makes this group ineligible for unemployment insurance, stimulus checks, and other government benefits. "They were told by their employers that they shouldn't come to care for their children," Yoon said. "There was no conversation around, 'I'm going to continue to pay you while you're going through this pandemic.' It was just, 'Don't come anymore.'" The pandemic has spurred economic insecurity For a group that's plagued by low wages, a lack of job security, and no benefits or safety net, the coronavirus has triggered tremendous financial insecurity, forcing workers to question how they will afford rent, feed their families, and pay bills. Asked about the existence of these chronic problems, Yoon said, "Domestic work in this country has been greatly devalued." Taking care of children can involve everything from early childhood development to newborn care and nutrition. But being a nanny isn't seen as work that merits compensation because it occurs in somebody's home and people don't necessarily identify someone's home as a workplace, Yoon said. Historically, domestic work has its roots in slavery black women worked in fields as farm workers or in homes as nannies so it carries the "legacy of who is doing the work," she added. In modern times, Yoon said, the issues have their roots in gender inequality. Work carried out by women isn't viewed as "real work" in quite the same way as men who go out and do a job. Nannies take care of children and that's seen as work that women must do all of which renders this type of work "invisible," she added. This background has translated into systemic and structural labor issues, Yoon said, so nannies are excluded from basic employment laws that govern minimum wage and overtime pay. They're also not able to organize or form unions. And the pandemic has exposed these pockmarks that riddle the care industry. People who lost their jobs during the pandemic wait in line to file for unemployment benefits in Arkansas. Nick Oxford/Reuters Nannies enable other workers to go out and do their jobs In all 50 states in the US varying degrees of coronavirus-related restrictions have been lifted, and some nannies are being called back to work, which is a cause for concern in the absence of anti-viral treatment or a vaccine. "The reality is that the coronavirus doesn't discriminate," Yoon said. "We're all in this together the person next to me is as safe as I am." The NDWA is putting together guidance on what it would take to offer nannies a safe workplace, but Yoon said the government needs to invest in the care industry as a way to course-correct during the economic downturn. "We know that part of the solution is for people to go back to work and earn wages," Yoon said. "And domestic workers are critical to that economic recovery in that they enable other people to go out and work." The goal, she said, should be that every person in the US has the necessary assistance to get through this pandemic safely. Nannies would benefit from widespread testing, hazard pay, and access to personal protective equipment, Yoon said. For her part, Brown wants one fact to govern the way families treat their nannies during and after the pandemic. "We're not your help," she said. "We're human beings before anything else." Read the original article on Business Insider CLEVELAND, Ohio Attorneys representing three Ohio residents filed a lawsuit Thursday over a data leak that resulted in roughly two-dozen people viewing the personal information of others seeking unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus crisis. The lawsuit, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, accuses Deloitte Consulting LLP of failing to protect the personal and financial information of Ohio residents applying to the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. The federal government set up the program as part of a coronavirus stimulus package to provide relief to self-employed workers and independent contractors who do not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said a technical glitch resulted in 26 users viewing other users personal information, including Social Security numbers, names and addresses. The state hired Deloitte Consulting, which is registered as an LLP in Delaware, to administer the PUA program in Ohio. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs are seeking class-action status and an unspecified amount in damages. Cuyahoga County resident Daniel Bozin, Franklin County resident Timothy Smith and Portage County resident Alexandria Polichena are named as plaintiffs. Attorneys Marc Dann, a former Ohio attorney general now with the Cleveland firm DannLaw, and Thomas A. Zimmerman of the Zimmerman Law Offices in Chicago filed it on their behalf. Deloitte Consulting is the only defendant named in the suit. A spokesman for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon. The suit says Deloitte failed to take cybersecurity precautions to protect claimants personal and financial information. It also says anyone whose personal information was exposed will be at increased risk of identity theft moving forward. I think everybody involved had a reason to expect their Social Security numbers would be kept secret, Dann said Thursday in a phone interview. And talk about insult to injury at this time in their lives. Deloitte notified Bozin, Smith and Polichena of the data leak on May 20. All three bought credit and identity monitoring through LifeLock, and intend to close their financial accounts in case they were compromised, the suit says. The ODJFS, which is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has contacted about two-dozen individuals who mistakenly viewed other claimants data. The agency did not find evidence of widespread compromise, Director Kimberly Hall said Thursday. The issue appears to be related to Deloittes work on the PUA system, because it also occurred in Colorado and Illinois, Hall said. Deloitte is also tasked with administering the PUA program in those states. Hall said its unclear how many users had personal and financial information exposed. The ODJFS reported Thursday that Ohio has received more than 161,000 applications to the new PUA program since launching it May 12. Hall said Thursday that officials would typically test a system like the one used to administer the PUA program for six months before rolling it out to the public. The rapid onset of the coronavirus crisis forced Deloitte and the ODJFS to get it up and running within four weeks, she said. Some of these things are just naturally going to be a function of moving at the speed of light in order to be as responsive as every state can to what the federal government asked us to do, Hall said in a videoconference with media. Deloitte, which also issued a statement confirming the data leak, is offering 12 months of credit monitoring to anyone who filed for the PUA program. Read more from cleveland.com Ohio contacted two-dozen unemployment claimants who viewed leaked personal data, found no evidence of widespread compromise Traditional unemployment claims decline in Ohio, but 161,000 self-employed and independent contractors apply for new program Social Security numbers, personal data of Ohio unemployment claimants compromised, state says Ohio begins accepting unemployment claims from self-employed workers, independent contractors The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the CID Headquarters has started investigating the Bono Regional Chairman of the NPP, Kwame Baffoe Abronye otherwise known as Abronye DC. The investigation concerns an alleged case of publications of false news reported against Abronye DC by former President John Mahama. As a result, the Criminal Investigation Department, in an invitation letter dated May 19, 2020, has asked Abronye to report to the SIU at 10:00 am today, May 21, to assist with investigation. The CID in the letter signed by Barima Tweneboah Sasraku II, Deputy Director-General of CID, urged cooperation from the NPP Regional chairman. It would be recalled that Mr Mahama had written to the Director-General of the CID through his lawyer, Tony Lithur of Lithur Brew Co. law firm, on Monday, May 4, drawing the attention of the CID to an infringement of Section 208 of Act 29 which talks about publication of false news with intent to cause fear and alarm. He notified CID that Abronye DC had alleged that he (Mahama) is hatching a plot to assassinate some key NPP members including Abronye himself. The allegations were made on Net 2 TV. On the programme, Abronye DC announced to the general public that some NPP personalities would be assassinated by NDC hirelings who would be wearing NPP T-shirts and that these hirelings would be doing the bidding of former President John Mahama, Mr Lithur pointed out in the letter to the CID. On the same programme, Abronye DC stated that President John Mahama killed President John Evans Atta-Mills. Abronya DC, however, wrote to the CID, explaining his side of the story, insisting that a politician of his calibre will not publish false news. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Vietnams automobile industry has grown significantly in recent years thanks to the countrys fast-growing middle class. While car ownership remains low compared to regional peers, families have increasingly upgraded to cars from motorbikes in the past five years. With the upcoming EVFTA, the Vietnamese automotive market will be fully opened to major automotive production centers of the EU by 2030. Vietnams automobile industry has grown significantly in recent years. The average growth rate of domestically assembled vehicles was approximately 10 percent per year in the 2015-2018 period. With major manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, Nissan, and Kia in the Vietnamese market, the number of spare parts suppliers have also invested in the industry giving the sector a much-needed boost. The motorbike is ubiquitous to Vietnam, but with the countrys fast-growing middle class, car ownership is steadily rising. This growth, however, is likely to be stunted in the short term due to the COVID-19 pandemic but expected to resume in the long run as Vietnam reopens its economy. Vietnams Industrial Policy and Strategy Institute predicts 750,000 to 800,000 vehicles will be sold annually by 2025 up from 288,683 in 2018. The automotive industry is a major contributor to the GDP of many countries in the world: As displayed above, with such a high share in Vietnams GDP, the automotive industry has always received special attention from the government. There are currently many large automotive assembly and production projects in Vietnam with the aim of not only meeting domestic demand but also tapping into the regional market. Local conglomerate Vingroup officially inaugurated its Vinfast factory on June 14, 2019, making it the first domestic automobile factory in Vietnam. The factory is not only state-of-the-art but also in line with Industry 4.0 standards. However, the Vietnamese automotive industry faces stiff competition. Part of the reason for this is the zero-tariff policy between ASEAN countries that Vietnam is part of. Thus imports are cheaper than domestically produced vehicles. Although Vietnam is one of the four largest automobile manufacturers in Southeast Asia, it has one of the lowest average localization rate in this region (only around 10-15 percent, and is still far behind Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia). In addition, the local automobile industry has not been able to invest in core and high technology products such as engine production and transmission systems. Localized parts are mostly of low technology products such as tires, seats, mirrors, glasses, cable harnesses, batteries, and plastic products. About 80-90 percent of the main raw materials used to manufacture components are still imported. As a result, companies are required to import approximately US$2 billion to US$3.5 billion in components and parts for vehicle manufacturing, assembly, and repair each year. For this reason, domestic automobile production costs are 10-20 percent higher than in other countries in Southeast Asia. As a result, the cost of cars produced domestically are at a disadvantage compared to completely build units (CBUs) that are imported. Increasing car ownership Vietnam imported more than 109,000 CBUs in the first nine months of 2019 with a turnover of US$2.4 billion as per official statistics. Compared to the same period in 2018, imported cars increased by 267 percent in volume and 257 percent in value. Cars with less than nine seats led imports with about 75,848 vehicles valued at US$1.5 billion. This shows the increasing purchasing power and the changing demands of customers. In addition, the vehicles imported from the EU mainly come from Germany. As per the General Department of Vietnam Customs in 2018, 1,197 imported cars from Germany were registered in Vietnam. Germanys ZF Friedrichshafen inaugurated its first plant producing chassis modules for cars in Haiphong in November 2019. Furthermore, according to Vietnamese Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA), in the first nine months of 2019, the sales of VAMA members reached 219,205 cars for all types. This corresponds to an increase of 18 percent compared to the same period last year. In addition, the private car segment has recorded increased growth, specifically by 30 percent over the same period in 2019. A CTS report stated that the reason for rising car consumption is Vietnams strong GDP growth. Vietnam is still at the beginning of a growth cycle. When compared with GDP per capita of other countries in the region, the reasonable growth rate of car ownership in Vietnam is about 10.5 percent a year. If GDP per person increases by 1 percent, then car consumption per person should increase by 1.5 percent. In addition, car prices are expected to fall in the future as economic stimulus measures such as the ban on motorcycles in the inner city are likely to take effect. This means that the growth rate of car consumption could also be higher and reach about 12-15 percent per year in the next 10 years. EVFTA: Opportunities for EU investors The European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is a comprehensive and ambitious agreement and presents significant opportunities for both Vietnam and the EU. One of the most significant contents in this agreement is the commitment by Vietnam to eliminate tariffs on EU exports once the agreement comes into force. For cars and auto parts exported from the EU, Vietnam has guaranteed to reduce the import tax to zero percent after seven to 10 years, once the EVFTA takes effect. The EVFTA is expected to take effect once the National Assembly of Vietnam ratifies the agreement. As a result, the Vietnamese automotive market is expected to be fully open to major automotive manufacturing centers in the EU by 2030. In addition, it is also forecast that the Vietnamese automotive market will reach a production capacity of one million vehicles per year by 2030. As middle-class incomes continue to grow and Vietnams motorization landscape transforms, the countrys automobile industry is expected to remain on an upward trajectory. However, with disruption to supply chains and less demand, the automobile industry will likely suffer short term declines as it goes through a period of adjustment. Nevertheless, government incentives and Vietnams free trade agreements such as the EVFTA are likely to bolster the industry in the long term aided by a growing middle class. (Los Angeles Times) It has often occurred to me that the appropriate response to some of the ridiculous things President Trump utters is: Hes an idiot. Dont get me wrong (as op-ed writers like to say). Im not impugning Trumps IQ. By idiot I mean something a bit different: that Trump often doesnt know what hes talking about. (That doesnt exclude the possibility that some of his misrepresentations are knowingly false, i.e., lies. ) Examples of idiotic statements by Trump are legion. Recently they include Trumps hyping of the efficacy of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. Also idiotic in my definition of the term is Trumps assertion on Twitter Wednesday that Michigan sends absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. Six hours later, Trump corrected his statement to say that Michigan had sent out absentee ballot applications. Details, details. Trumps an idiot or even the more verbose formulation Trump doesnt know what hes talking about, and doesnt care strikes me as the obvious take on a lot of the Trump statements that drive commentators to distraction. Alas, neither of those formulations takes up much space on the editorial or op-ed pages, which is why its tempting for people in my line of work to treat every Trump comment as if it's a serious policy proposal. But such overinterpretation runs the risk of giving Trump too much credit. Granted, some of Trumps stupidities are used weaponized, in current jargon to achieve sinister political ends. Trumps gaffe about Michigan and absentee ballots, for example, serves his purpose of undermining the credibility of voting by mail, potentially laying the groundwork for a claim that, if he lost in November, it would be because of voter fraud. So maybe in this case he was being stupid like a fox. (Trump also coupled his criticism of Michigan with a threat that appeared to assert a power Congress hadn't given him: "I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!) Story continues But some of Trumps idiotic comments arent cannily calculating, just ignorant. That includes some of the assertions he prefaces with Many people are saying or There are a lot of people that think.... In criticizing Trump for such absurdities, its important not to overanalyze them. Don't Get Me Wrong No. 2: That doesnt mean that his propensity to traffic in absurdities isnt an indictment of his unseriousness. We want presidents to be serious about what they say. Trump's reckless disregard for the truth is a potent argument against his reelection. Still, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes an idiotic statement is just an idiotic statement. The challenge for commentators is to decide which of many Trump idiocies is worth denouncing. The Truth About Black and Brown Communities and COVID-19 There are various times of year that bring our community together, whether at the annual Taste of Soul or KingdomDay parade, we all look forward to these moments of fellowship that celebrate South Los Angeles. The impact of COVID-19 has irrevocably altered our way of life. Who knows when we will be able to gather together again. This crisis continues to have a pervasive impact across South LA and the city as a whole. As coronavirus restrictions begin to lift, its important to remember that there is no such thing as going back to normal. While some communities are witnessing a reduction in the number of reported cases and deaths, Black and Latinx communities are drastically experiencing spikes in the number of cases and deaths according to new research from the Advancement Project. Decades of discriminatory housing, banking and economic policies have prevented our residents from acquiring the kind of economic security needed to weather a crisis like this, said Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. Many of my neighbors cannot safely shelter at home. They have to go to work on the front lines and risk exposure to the virus. They ride public transit, living in overcrowded food desserts and are being forced to choose between their health or their economic security. None of us should have to make that choice These findings present a troubling but familiar reality. The needs of marginalized and under resourced communities are not being taken with the requisite severity. People and communities of color are being hit hard by this pandemic physically, mentally, and financially. Race Counts measures the amount of racial disparity and impact by population size of counties and cities in California. This study found that the past still drives who can access what they need to stay safe and healthy based on race and class. Ultimately, they found that racial disparity is pervasive across California and it impacts all of us. ADVERTISEMENT Black, Latinx, Native Hawains and Pacific Islanders, and low-income populations were the hardest hit populations for cases and deaths in Los Angeles County, said John Kim of the Advancement Project. Ultimately, it appears that successful implementation of shelter-in-place rules in wealthier, more White communities has kept the trajectory of cases steady and even accomplished some flattening of the curve. By mid-April, the COVID-19 crisis took a different trajectory for communities of color, particularly for higher-Latinx and Black areas where their curves have reflected steeper growth in cases compared to their lower counterparts. The COVID-19 crisis shows that one of the deadliest underlying conditions in America is systemic racism. The Advancement Project looks extensively at the intersection of race and COVID-19 cases. Some of the key findings include: There was a lower initial prevalence in communities with a higher percentage of Latinx areas (which may reflect limited access to testing and reluctance to access care due to distrust of public institutions), but after a tipping point in early April, new cases began to increase more rapidly compared to areas with lower populations of Latinx people. By May 1, higher-Latinx areas had 1.8 times as many cases as lower-Latinx areas. Since the beginning, communities with a higher percentage of Black residents have experienced a steeper increase in cases compared to lower-Black areas, but by the third week of April, there has been an even steeper, widening gap between these areas. Communities with a higher percentage of White residents have stayed on the same continuous incline of cases and by mid-April, have had consistently lower case numbers compared to communities with a lower percentage of White residents. A long history of unequal access to health care has left our community in a position to be disproportionately killed by COVID-19. As we begin to reopen, we need to take every necessary step to protect ourselves and our communities. As this pandemic changes the nature of our everyday lives in unprecedented ways, we must also adapt- Advancement Project California, with the support and advice of several partners, is offering concrete recommendations to address their findings. These recommendations include: Culturally appropriate public education campaigns, Funding and equipment for local community clinics and other parts of the local infrastructure that have trust and relationships in the neighborhoods, Supplying personal protective equipment, cleaning and sanitation supplies, and food and meals, especially for seniors, in the hardest-hit neighborhoods. The only way California will overcome this crisis is by ensuring residents are protected at work, in their homes, and when they are out for essential shopping and errands. Our most impacted communities must be educated on how to be safe and provided the resources to do so. That requires policy that is informed by those impacted most by COVID-19 and allocating resources in the budget that ensure residents arent forced out of their homes. After a public records request from Chalkbeat Indiana, the Indiana Department of Education recently released growth scores for the 2019 iLearn state assessment. This data is from the first year of a more rigorous state assessment that resulted in large drops in proficiency rates. It was the right move for the Indiana General Assembly to pass hold harmless legislation so that schools and educators were not unfairly penalized by this shift. However, the growth data from the assessment, which shows how well a school is moving individual students toward proficiency, is extremely valuable information that allows our community to measure the extent to which schools are helping our students make academic progress. In Indianapolis, Innovation Network Schools and independent charter schools have the freedom and flexibility to make decisions at the school level. These schools serve a greater share of low-income students and students of color than district-run schools, with over 80% of students identifying as Black or Latino. The recently released growth data reveals students attending innovation and charter schools are making significantly more academic growth than their peers in direct-run district schools and are on par with state averages. Innovation and charter schools earned an average of 94.1 growth points compared to 79.8 for direct-run IPS schools and 95.7 for the state as a whole. At the elementary and middle school levels, innovation and charter schools earned 93.1 growth points compared to 80.0 for direct-run IPS schools and 95.0 for the state as a whole. At the high school level, innovation and charter schools earned an average of 97.7 growth points compared to 77.7 for direct-run IPS schools and 98.9 for the state. While Innovation Network Schools and charter schools comprise less than half of the public schools within the IPS boundaries that received growth scores, they make up the vast majority of the schools that lead students to make the greatest academic growth. Within the IPS boundaries, eight of the 10 public elementary and middle schools that demonstrate the greatest growth are innovation and charter schools. The top six public high schools that demonstrate the greatest growth within the IPS boundaries are innovation and charter schools. In fact, four of the five public high schools that are producing the highest growth levels in all of Marion County are innovation and charter schools. Assessing student learning and analyzing academic data is critical to understanding how well schools are serving students, especially students of color and those from low-income households. Just like public health officials are right to advocate for widely available COVID-19 testing and publicly accessible disaggregated data, it is imperative that we have accurate assessments of student learning so we understand how well our most marginalized students are doing academically. This type of data shines a light on racial and economic disparities and can give our community insight into what is or isnt working as we seek to ensure our children make sufficient academic progress. Indianapolis has a long way to go to provide every student with access to a truly outstanding school. We need to redouble our efforts to ensure that this strong academic growth leads to lasting proficiency gains that help prepare our students for post-secondary success and a life of their choosing. For Black students in Indianapolis, Innovation Network Schools and independent charter schools are proving that all children can learn if given the right opportunities. We should celebrate this progress and advocate for more of our children to have access to life-changing schools. Shannon Williams is senior vice president of Community Engagement at The Mind Trust. Huge swarms of locusts from Rajasthan have entered parts of western Madhya Pradesh, posing a threat to crops in the central state, an official said on Thursday. An advisory has been issued to 22 agriculture science centres on how to fight the menace, Jabalpur-based Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalayas extension services director Dr Om Gupta told PTI. The locusts initially entered Rajasthan from Pakistan where they flew in from Iran last year. From Rajasthan, locusts entered Madhya Pradesh via Neemuch and have advanced to Ujjain and Dewas. The insects are likely to further move towards Harda, the official said. Six swarms of locusts have so far been noticed in Madhya Pradesh, she said, adding that they move according to the direction of wind. "We have issued an advisory to 22 Krishi Vigyan Kendras coming under our university on how to fight the locust menace," the official said. The insects eat up all crops in a field they attack, inflicting 100 per cent damage, she said. However, right now fields in Madhya Pradesh have minimum crops since it is summer time, Gupta said. Crops may have been currently sown only in areas where there are irrigation facilities, she said. In December last year, locusts from desert areas of Pakistan descended in Gujarat districts like Banaskantha, Mehsana, Kutch, Patan and Sabarkantha and attacked several crops. The Gujarat government had then announced a compensation for farmers whose crops were damaged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Many accusations have been directed towards China including recent allegation of the Chinese authorities pressuring WHO to delay declaring COVID-19 as a pandemic, which has cost millions of lives worldwide. The Heritage Foundation recently reported that Chinese Government Buildings in Africa Are a Likely Vector for Chinese Spying. Joshua Meservey, the Senior Policy Analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation published that "Beijing likely has better surveillance access to Africa than anywhere else by having built or renovated at least 186 African government buildings," and that the government "likely uses surveillance to, among other things, advantage its companies competing for contracts, spy on U.S. officials, and influence African officials." He added that The U.S. should, among other efforts, work to understand the nature of Chinese surveillance and how it contributes to Beijing's influence operations, educate U.S. companies on the risks, and train its officials on techniques to complicate Beijing's information gathering in Africa. Meservey told Fox News: "The building spree is just one element of an extraordinary effort by Beijing to curry favor with African governments, and all evidence suggests it has been hugely successful." "Beijing is challenging the U.S.-led global order that has brought unprecedented prosperity and stability to the world, including to the U.S. It wants to upend that system in favor of one so structured that no one dare oppose Beijing's plans." The report stresses that China's two-decade-long blitz of engagement in Africa has likely provided it extensive surveillance access to the continent. Chinese companies, all of which are legally obliged to help the CCP gather intelligence, have built at least 186 government buildings in Africa and at least 14 sensitive intra-governmental telecommunication networks. Beijing also donated computers to at least 35 African governments. "The wealth of information the CCP probably gathers in Africa presents four primary dangers for the U.S., as that information could be used to facilitate Beijing's influence operations on the continent; recruit intelligence assets at senior levels of African governments; and gain insight into U.S. diplomatic strategies, military counterterrorism operations, or joint military exercises." Meservey mentioned that Beijing's eavesdropping on African government buildings likely extends well beyond the AU headquarters. He emphasizes that at least 40 of Africa's 54 countries have a government building constructed by a Chinese company. "Given the difficulty of gathering comprehensive data on independent China's nearly seven decades of engagement with Africa, these numbers are almost certainly an undercount," he stated. In the interview with Fox News, Meservey further noted that, "in the African context, many African governments know that embedded within Chinese engagement-its loans, aid, and cultural exchanges-is spying, espionage, and influence operations." "My sense is that African rulers do not believe there is anything so valuable that it is worth risking the relationship with China. Some African rulers also personally benefit from engaging with China-swanky government buildings are just one example-which influences them towards being less wary of Chinese espionage than they might otherwise be" Most of the Chinese companies that built these structures are probably state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and they have an obligation to obey orders from Chinese authority. Chinese law also compels private companies to assist the Chinese government in collecting intelligence, "in addition to Huawei's role in the AU bugging-of ostensibly private Chinese companies engaging in surveillance and espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.' "Chinese government documents reveal that data collected from smart city technology is sent back to China for analysis that helps the CCP in its public diplomacy efforts. A pattern has also emerged of widespread backdoors in Chinese technology companies products that they are slow or refuse to fix," the report states. The report refers to a 2019 analysis from a cybersecurity firm which revealed that "more than half the Huawei devices it tested had at least one possible backdoor that could allow unauthorized users access to the devices-a far higher rate of vulnerability than devices from other companies." The report also points out the impact these activities have on the United States, noting that Washington "should try to complicate Beijing's surveillance of an important continent as part of a strategic response to the CCP's effort to reshape the global order," given that the espionage activities of Beijing costs Americans more than $50 billion per year according to a recent US Trade Representative investigation. "If Beijing's surveillance blankets the most sensitive offices of some African governments, the CCP can gain insights into leaders'' personalities, habits, and preferences that would help Beijing tailor its influence campaigns directed at senior leaders," Meservey noted. "Building such influence is important to achieving the CCP's goal of becoming an unassailable global power. If it succeeds, the U.S.'s own global power would diminish, given the incompatibility of the American and Chinese political systems." The effort is seemingly paying dividends in Africa, as "the governments there are usually reliable Chinese allies in international forums." Moreover, Beijing's spying "could pick up sensitive conversations between senior American officials and their African counterparts. That would include U.S. military officers who frequently meet with senior African officials to discuss joint military exercises, counterterrorism operations, and other activities it would be best not to divulge to a competitor like China." "Beijing understands that economic might is the core element of overall national strength. With its ongoing economic espionage against the U.S., Beijing simultaneously strengthens itself and hurts the U.S., a double win for it." "The fact that Beijing likely has virtually unimpeded surveillance access to many African governments heightens the danger for American companies, especially tech companies, that are increasingly interested in Africa and engaging with African governments." North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner accuses Welsh Government of timid fudge over Covid-19 travel fines This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 21st, 2020 North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has accused the Welsh Government of a timid fudge over increasing the fines for people flouting coronavirus travel restrictions. The increased in fines, announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford on Wednesday, are being introduced ahead of the bank holiday weekend. The move follows a request from the four police forces in Wales and the Police and Crime Commissioners for increased penalties to help deter people from repeatedly breaching the stay-at-home regulations. Under the existing fines structure, a 60 fine can be imposed for first offence rising to 120 for a second and subsequent offences. This will now be replaced from Friday with the new structure which will see fines double for every offence rising from 60 to 120 to 1,920 for the sixth offence. But the fine for a first time offence stays at 60 which, according to Mr Jones, is not a sufficient deterrent. Arfon Jones has been campaigning for the introduction of steeper fines, he also conducted an online poll which showed that 91 per cent of the 2,000 people who responded were in favour of bigger fines, with 65 per cent of them opting for a fine of 500. Mr Jones said: The issue of fines has been a total shambles from the outset. First of all the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, caused consternation and confusion when he decided to go down a different route in easing the lockdown. It is now okay for people in England to travel as far as they want to do exercise within in England. But the law in Wales has not changed. Here people are not allowed to travel somewhere else for exercise or leisure they are legally obliged to say within the vicinity of their own homes. The new #Covid_19 fine structure in Wales from tomorrow. Focus on the First Offence and no change!! #Fudge pic.twitter.com/rONPxT7Lc9 Arfon Jones (@ArfonJ) May 21, 2020 Mr Jones, a former police inspector, said: Its even more confusing for people because lockdown restriction in Wales are tighter than in England but the fines for breaking them here are smaller than in England. The Welsh Government had been under increasing pressure to do something but Im afraid this is a very timid fudge. It is crazy that you would have to be caught six times before you risked being fined the maximum amount of 1,920 If there is evidence to increase subsequent fines there is evidence to increase the 60 fine for a first offence. We need to give our frontline officers the proper tools to do their job which is difficult at the best of times and Im afraid the new sliding scale of fines is not going to help them enforce the Covid-19 travel restrictions. Unfortunately, many people across the border are oblivious to the differences of approach here in Wales. Announcing the changes to the fines structure yesterday, First Minister, Mark Drakeford said: I am very grateful to the chief constables and our Police and Crime Commissioners for all the work they have done to keep Wales safe throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The police have adopted a 4Es approach to the regulations they have engaged people, explained what they need to do and encouraged them to comply. But when people havent responded, they have used their powers to enforce the regulations. Fines are a last resort in the enforcement of the regulations which keep us all safe. The evidence from the chief constables and Police and Crime Commissioners shows we need a stronger fines structure to deter that small minority of people who persistently fail to keep to the rules. More than 1,300 fixed penalty notices have been issued since the lockdown restrictions were introduced at the end of March. The First Minister added: As we approach the bank holiday weekend, we continue to ask people to stay at home to protect themselves and their loved ones from coronavirus. If they are exercising please stay safe and stay local. New regulations to increase the fines will be laid in the Senedd today, Thursday May 21 and will come into force on Friday. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Email Telegram The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 25 other press freedom organizations today in sending a joint letter to the European Commission calling for reforms to European Union law on defamation. The letter included a legal analysis, produced by the University of Aberdeen, recommending the reform of two cornerstones of EU law, known as Brussels I and Rome II, to put an end to the practice of litigants pursuing cases in jurisdictions unrelated to their cases. The analysis also suggests that the EU limit the abusive practice of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), which require, among other things, journalists to make repeated court appearances and pay exorbitant legal fees. The letter calls for an EU directive to introduce legal safeguards to protect journalists against SLAPPs. CPJ documented defamation concerns in Europe in a 2015 report on EU press freedom. The letter can be read in full here. New Delhi : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley held an hour-long discussion on thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over appointment of new RBI Governor, a post that will fall vacant on September 4. The high-profile meeting, which took place at the Prime Minister's residence here, is believed to have deliberated on various names who could succeed Raghuram Rajan, who demits office early next month on completion of his 3-year tenure. Asked about the announcement of next Governor, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "We will let you know when we decide. You will come to know about the conclusion, not the process." Traditionally, the Prime Minister picks the RBI Governor after consultation with the finance minister. In June, Rajan surprised the markets when he in a letter to the RBI staff announced that he would return to academia and not seek a second term. Top contenders for the RBI Governor's post are current Deputy Governor Urjit Patel and former deputy governor Subir Gokarn. Gokarn is currently an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund while Patel was given a 3-year extension as RBI Deputy Governor in January. Others who are said to be in the fray include World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya and Finance Ministry's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian. Rajan, who will have the shortest tenure as RBI Governor since liberalisation began in 1991, decided not to seek a second term after unbridled political attacks on him were led by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a sad reality. Dev Chatterjee and Raghavendra Kamath report. IMAGE: The crowded bylanes of Dharavi in Mumbai are a health official's nightmare. Photograph: ANI Photo In 2007, the Maharashtra government, run by the Congress, set up a committee led by economist Percy Mistry to recommend how Mumbai could be converted into an international financial hub. The idea was to take advantage of Mumbais geographical location between Singapore and Dubai and convert it into a world-class city. Among other issues, the report pointed out Mumbais deficiencies in converting into an international financial centre. These included crumbling housing in dilapidated buildings; poor road/rail mass transit as well as the absence of water-borne transport; absent arterial high-speed roads/urban expressways; the poor quality of airports, airlines, and air-linked connections domestically and internationally; poor provisions of power, water, sewerage, waste disposal, as well as a paucity of high-quality residential, commercial, shopping and recreational space. Problems were plenty but the report was optimistic that these issues would be sorted out. Thirteen years later, as Mumbai wages a crippling battle with the pandemic, the problems pointed out by the report remain, but with a major difference: The housing density (read overcrowding) in the city has increased manifold, which has led to a significant spike in corona cases with 757 deaths (as of Monday). The urban transport infrastructure has not improved much, roads are dug up, railway bridges (like in Lower Parel) are under construction for months, and the second airport -- awarded to the GVK group -- has failed to take off. Vertical slums IMAGE: Health official examine migrant people before they leave for their native places via bus in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI Photo Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a sad reality. The reality of illegal structures, which have mushroomed across the city and suburbs, is that these have bypassed the town planning process, said Niranjan Hiranandani, a Mumbai-based real estate developer and president of Assocham. Recently, speaking in a webinar, Tata group patriarch Ratan Tata spoke of how the high density of housing among the economically weaker sections as also lower income groups had created high-rise slums as the end-product of what we refer to as planned development. Hiranandani said: Whether we blame this on land scarcity in Mumbai, the lopsided demand/supply ratio, which impacts price points or the planning process, the reality is that slums exist, and are among the leading cause of the high density of population. According to the latest statistics, more than half of Mumbais population live in slums (55 per cent) with no access to clean water, sanitation, and health care. Well-known architect Hafiz Contractor says the high density of Mumbai is not a problem if there are proper plans in place. Singapore, Hong Kong, and New York too have a high population density. If you give parks which are half the size of Oval Maidan in new housing complexes, where is the problem? Today there are problems because of old laws. If laws are changed, problems will go away, he said. The state government has drawn up plans on housing slum dwellers, providing jobs to them, and generating revenues. We have sought appointments with the state government regarding this. Real estate developers say almost every stakeholder has ignored the rehabilitation of slums in Mumbai. Mumbai will have people in different income levels. We need to respect that and plan accordingly, said Vikas Oberoi, chairman of Oberoi Realty. The solutions IMAGE: BMC workers sanitise a slum area at Pratiksha Nagar in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI Photo Experts say Mumbai has reached a point of no return and unless drastic steps are taken, the metropolis will be host to such pandemics. Ramesh Nair, chief executive officer of real estate advisory firm JLL, says in order to have a holistic decongestion plan, there is a need to look at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as one unit with different agencies and authorities. The state government and various local bodies/authorities should take a relook at the density norms of new residential projects, Nair said. At present, a redevelopment project offers very small housing units to slum dwellers with no extra facilities. Cluster development plans should have a balance between land monetisation and project construction, he added. According to Hiranandani, another solution is to reduce density in city centre spaces by initially shifting those who can work from home to peripheral areas. In Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is not just new roads and flyovers or metro lines, it will also include water-based transport and the Mumbai Trans Harbor Link to enable opening up the vast hinterland for spaced out housing development. Builders say Mumbai has to go vertical like Singapore while ensuring sufficient infrastructure to handle the high density population in a spaced out manner. One of Mumbais virus hot spots -- and having the highest population density in the world -- Dharavi is a test case of how the Mumbai authorities have failed their citizens. Despite several redevelopment plans made by successive governments, the project has failed to take off. Kamal Khetan, chairman and managing director of Sunteck Realty, said the population of Dharavi could be accommodated in just 25 per cent of the 520 acres occupied by the slums. Even after setting aside land for a huge stadium-sized playground, and health care facilities, there is enough land for real estate companies to re-develop and subsidise buildings for Dharavi residents, said he. During the previous regime, the Indian Railways kept aside land in Matunga in Central Mumbai to house Dharavi residents. Nair says the cluster development plans should have a balance between land monetisation and project construction. President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a joint press conference after their summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times) US to Withdraw From Open Skies Treaty; Trump Faults Russia President Donald Trump confirmed the United States will leave the Open Skies Treaty, which was designed to reduce the risk of military errors that could lead to a war, saying that Russian violations prompted him to make the decision. Russia didnt adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out, Trump told reporters on May 21. But he added that the move will likely force Moscow to return to negotiation talks. The treaty, which was signed in 1992 and has been in force since 2002, allows member states to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over each others countries to collect data on military activities. Theres a chance we may make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together, Trump said. I think whats going to happen is were going to pull out and theyre going to come back and want to make a deal. Withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty, Trump said, wont increase tensions with Russia, adding that were going to have a very good relationship. Previously, Trump said Russia has repeatedly violated the terms of the treaty, using the flights to identify critical U.S. infrastructure that could be targeted in an armed conflict. Russian Air Forces IL-78 air-to-air refueling tanker (off the picture to the right), demonstrates in-flight refueling of a Tu-160 strategic bomber over Pushkin Square in Moscow, on May 3, 2014. (Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States could reconsider if Russia complies with the treaty. This is not a story exclusive to just the Treaty on Open Skies, unfortunately, for Russia has been a serial violator of many of its arms control obligations and commitments, Pompeo said on May 21. Meanwhile, Russia hasnt allowed access to observation flights along a 6-mile corridor around the Russian-occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said, adding that this is a violation of the accord. Russias designation of an Open Skies refueling airfield in Crimea, Ukraine, is similarly an attempt to advance its claim of purported annexation of the peninsula, which the United States does not and will never accept, Pompeo said. Russia has also illegally placed a restriction on flight distance over Kaliningrad, despite the fact that this enclave has become the location of a significant military build-up that Russian officials have suggested includes short-range nuclear-tipped missiles targeting NATO. He and other U.S. officials have said that of the three dozen states who signed onto the treaty, Russia alone is responsible for the violations. Supporters of the Open Skies Treaty say that if the United States were to pull out, it would embolden Russia into taking further military action. U.S. withdrawal would prevent the United States from overflying Russia but would leave Russia still able to overfly American military activities and installations in Europe. U.S. departure would also further weaken the international arms control architecture and be a further blow to any global sense of stability, European military leaders wrote in a statement on May 12. In recent years, the United States has withdrawn from other treaties with Russia, and there has been speculation that the United States could remove itself from New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which limits the number of deployed nuclear weapons in Russia and in the United States. Its supposed to expire in February 2021, only a few weeks after the next U.S. presidential inauguration. A Russian military plane reportedly flew over Chicago in August last year, while another reportedly was seen in the skies near Nevadas Area 51, according to a report in April 2019. Butwal, May 20 This morning, Onlinekhabar had published the news about a Covid-19 patients death at Crimson Hospital based on the information provided by the hospitals operator Durga Pandey. However, the hospital has issued a statement at 12 pm, claiming the patient has not died. The error is regretted. Editor (Updated at 2:15 pm) Nepal reports third Covid-19 death Butwal, May 20 Nepal has reported the third death case related to the coronavirus outbreak on Wednesday. A 41-year-old man from Madane rural municipality of Gulmi district died during treatment at Crimson Hospital of Manigram in Rupandehi district today. His infection was confirmed on Monday. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital last Thursday (May 14). He was put on a ventilator when the health officials confirmed coronavirus infection in him. The hospitals operator, Durga Pandey, confirmed his death. The principal of a local school, the man had gone to the hospital after experiencing fever for around one week. Local health workers had prescribed some medicines against typhoid for him, and that had worked for a few days. He, however, began vomiting later, and locals rushed him to different health facilities, finally to the Manigram-based hospital. The country had reported the first Covid-19 death on Saturday, and the second on Sunday. DUBLIN, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ResearchAndMarkets.com published a new article on the car wash industry, "Car Washes Offer New Disinfection Services in Response to COVID-19" To comply with social distancing regulations many car washes closed their waiting rooms and limited services to exterior cleaning only to minimize contact between customers and staff. New York State allowed car washes to reopen in late April under strict guidelines limiting the number of employees allowed to be onsite and banning-in person payment. Some car washes that remain closed are completing upgrades of their equipment while demand is low. The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an increased concern about hygiene with drivers being advised to disinfect frequently touched areas like door handles, key fobs and steering wheels to prevent the spread of the virus. Some companies have responded with new solutions to ensure that vehicles can be easily disinfected. Autobell Car Wash is offering an interior disinfectant service for vehicles belonging to essential workers like police, medical personnel and postal workers. The system uses a fog machine to blow hospital-grade disinfectant gas into the vehicle to kill the COVID-19 virus. Meanwhile, Istobal has adapted its car wash technology to create disinfecting arches for the exterior of emergency vehicles. It is likely that demand for these new services will continue even as lockdowns are eased. To see the full article and a list of related reports on the market, visit "Car Washes Offer New Disinfection Services in Response to COVID-19" About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:23:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHONGQING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Thursday donated medical supplies worth 1.08 million yuan (152,000 U.S. dollars) to Japan's Mito and Hiroshima, two sister cities of Chongqing, to help with their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 120 boxes of materials, including 10,000 medical masks, 2,000 protective suits and 660 thermometers were donated, according to the foreign affairs office of the Chongqing municipal government. When Chongqing was hit by the epidemic at the beginning of this year, the two Japanese cities donated medical supplies to Chongqing, providing important aid for the prevention and control of the epidemic in the municipality. Chongqing paired with Hiroshima as sister cities in 1986 and with Mito as cities with friendly exchange relations in 2000. Enditem Reporting to the Founders, Andeer will take on the Rawcubes brand, leading the CMO & team and all marketing & client acquisition activities. Rawcubes is "what's next in moving data, preparing data and making data more accessible to drive business results. Through our products, we enable business users to accurately leverage data in real-time, regardless of the sources" said Andeer. " I've seen first-hand how getting accurate data in real-time from any number of sources has been a challenge for many organizations, regardless of industry. I'm excited to join a talented team and help tell the world how we can solve their most complex data challenges." Andeer most recently consulted for various companies after leaving the position of CMO of The Escape Pod advertising agency where he led new business efforts. Before The Escape Pod, Andeer was CMO/vice-president of creative with Kmart and was previously with OfceMax, where he held the vice-president of brands strategy role. Prior to his corporate roles, Andeer held leadership roles in advertising agencies BBDO in Minneapolis and Lowe in New York. About Rawcubes Rawcubes enables business users to accurately leverage data in real-time, regardless of where it comes from, whenever they want, without writing a single line of code. Rawcubes exist to help business leaders solve their most complex data challenges. DataBlaze: Rawcubes' Data Management Platform that can help move, prep, and strategize data in any environment, saving months and millions - so organizations can analyze outputs and derive insights. CloudBlaze: Configuration driven platform specifically built to migrate data assets from any legacy systems to Azure cloud. To learn more about Rawcubes, visit www.rawcubes.com Contact Media Relations Email: [email protected] SOURCE Rawcubes Related Links www.rawcubes.com American-Made Challenges Program Selects New Cohort of Power Connectors May 21, 2020 Delivering new products or innovations to market requires countless people in various behind-the-scenes roles to achieve a successful launch. The same is true for competitors in the American-Made Challenges (AMC) prize programs. They work determinedly to move new ideas toward their market-ready potential, but have the resources of a large, diverse, and talented network across the country supporting them as they advance through these multimillion-dollar prize competitions. For some of the AMC prizes, teams are supported by a group of highly skilled partners, called Power Connectors. Power Connectors are a core group of incubators, universities, and other industry organizations who perform critical program tasks, including recruiting teams, hosting events, and providing assistance for the national prize competition. This spring, a new cohort of Power Connectors joined the AMC team following a competitive application process. The group was chosen for their expertise in areas that would ensure the success of competing teams and the overall program. The new Power Connectors include ADL Ventures, Nation of Makers, University of Arizona Center for Innovation, the University of Texas at Austin, The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, and Zpryme. Power Connectors partner with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help promote a long-term sustainable strategy for scaling the American-Made Challenges, the prize program designed to energize U.S. manufacturing in renewable energy. One of the key elements of the AMC program is the American-Made Network, an extended network of national laboratories, investors, facilities and other valuable industry partners from across the U.S. that support prize competitors. Power Connectors are the core members of the Network and a key component of competitor success. Power Connectors support prizes in a variety of ways, including managing Demo Day events like the one shown in this photo from June 6, 2019, at Greentown Labs in Boston during the Solar Prize Round 1 Set! Demo Day. The Scott Institute will continue their work with the Solar Prize and will expand their reach to support the Geothermal Prize, too. New Power Connectors Mean New Opportunities Bringing in a new class of Power Connectors allows competitors to leverage a community of specified expertise that often proves to be invaluable to entrepreneurs. Power Connectors provide critical support to teams in participating prizes, so its important that they help teams be successful in the prize competition and set them up for long-term opportunity, said AMC Prize Administrator Emily Evans. This is the second cohort of Power Connectors chosen since the program launched in January 2018, and the first time they will support prizes beyond solar. The new Power Connectors will engage competitors in the Solar Prize, Solar Desalination Prize, and Geothermal Manufacturing Prize. We are thrilled that the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University has been selected again as a Power Connector, said Anna J. Siefken, executive director of the Scott Institute. Our goal has always been to amplify and elevate startups and technologiesand their inventorsfrom across the country through our national and regional networks. The new Power Connectors include: ADL Ventures, San Francisco, CA ADL Ventures connects legacy-sector companies with the venture community, while working to develop and deploy new services and products. As a Power Connector, ADL will focus on taking both a technology-driven approach and Network-driven approach to identify and engage competitors. They will also support Network members in Northern California and the Northeast, with an emphasis on legacy-sector corporations that might mentor solar entrepreneurs. Nation of Makers, Silver Spring, MD Returning from the first cohort, Nation of Makers is a coalition of diverse organizations working together to support technology-savvy makers through community building, resource sharing, and advocacy. As a Power Connector, they will assist with competitor recruitment and host events. University of Arizona (UA) Center for Innovation, Tucson, AZ The UA Center for Innovation creates the place, environment, and interactive ground that generates, attracts, and retains technology companies and talent in alignment with the research, mission, and goals of the University of Arizona. As a Power Connector, they will provide team mentorship, host events, assist with recruitment, and serve as a regional hub for other Network members. The University of Texas (UT) at Austin UT Austins cutting-edge programs, resources, events, and opportunities have made them an essential engine of the booming innovation and knowledge economy. In their role as a Power Connector, they will mentor competing teams, recruit new competitors, provide support to the Network, and host events. The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA An incumbent Power Connector from the first cohort, the Scott Institute addresses the worlds most important energy-related challenges by enabling collaborative research, strategic partnerships, public policy outreach, entrepreneurship, and education. They will continue to mentor teams, host events, and serve as a regional hub for Network members in the Northeast. Zpryme, Austin, TX Zpryme produces influential research events such as the Energy Thought Summit and offers premium media experiences. By using creative and interactive media such as podcasts and videos, Zpryme will help to promote competitions and attract new competitors. In addition, they will build a regional Network hub for solar innovators and stakeholders to help enhance the competition. Six organizations from across the country have been selected as Power Connectors. These Power Connectors will work with NREL and prize competitors to advance innovation from startups and entrepreneurs. A Legacy of Innovation Thanks to the support of these organizations, countless entrepreneurs and innovators across the country are bringing renewable technology to market faster and more creatively than ever before. Zpryme is proud to partner with NREL to invite the bold, curious, and creative to join the path to energize American energy innovation, said Jason Rodriguez, CEO and co-founder of Zpryme. With more AMC prize competitions, and existing ones launching new rounds, Power Connectors have an increasingly important role and lasting impact on both the AMC program and the broader energy industry, helping to accelerate new energy technologies and American innovation. As the success of the program continues to grow, so does the need to find new partners with expertise in different technology areas. NREL is currently seeking organizations to join the Power Connector team to support event management, outreach, team support, and partnerships for several prizes. Learn more about this opportunity and submit a letter of interest by June 5, 2020. Dow said the containment ponds held only water, and it has detected no chemical releases from the plant in Midland where the company was founded, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when theyre able. Once the flooding recedes, Dow will be required to assess the Superfund site contaminated with dioxins the company dumped in the last century to determine if any contamination was released, the EPA said. The Washington Post is providing this news free to all readers as a public service. Follow this story and more by signing up for national breaking news email alerts. The Medical Superintendent, Safdarjung Hospital & VMMC, Delhi on Tuesday invited applications for the recruitment of Junior Resident (Non-PG) MBBS purely on Adhoc basis in its various Departments in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Interested and eligible candidates can apply for the posts by submitting their applications on email id: ao.academic@vmmc-sjh.nic.in from May 25 to 31, 2020. The recruitment drive is being conducted to fill 282 vacancies of Junior Resident (Non-PG) MBBS. Educational qualification: 1. A candidate should have an MBBS Degree from a recognized university & must be registered with Delhi Medical Council (DMC) 2. Applicants must have completed their Internship on or after July 1, 2016. 3. Those who have already done one year (Non-PG) Junior Residency in any Govt. Hospitals will not be considered and need not apply. For more details, candidates are advised to read the official notification. She made her name as a director with Marvel's Jessica Jones TV series. And S.J. Clarkson is set to be returning to the franchise to make a new film with Sony, as part of the company's ongoing collaboration with Marvel. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news on Thursday, stating that while details of the project were being kept under wraps it would feature a story centred around a female character. New project: Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson is set to RETURN to Marvel for a female-centric Sony film, it was reported on Thursday The publication also reported that as it was still very early days with the production no stars or writers have been attached to the project yet. As it is set to focus on female characters, Clarkson's new production will be the first of Sony's superhero films to feature a female protagonist. Sony currently have Morbius, which stars Jared Leto in the titular role, and Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage set for release in 2021, while another Spider-Man film is also in the works. Clarkson previously worked with Marvel when she directed episodes of Jessica Jones and The Defenders, she has also worked on hit shows like Succession, Orange Is The New Black and Dexter. Experienced: Clarkson previously worked with Marvel when she directed episodes of Jessica Jones (pictured), but as it is still very early days the project is being kept under wraps Projects: Sony have Morbius and Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage (pictured) set for release in 2021, while another Spider-Man film is also in the works as part of their deal with Marvel In January it was reported that Paramount Pictures had put the long-awaited sequel Star Trek 4 on the shelf. Clarkson was announced to take the helm on Star Trek 4 back in late April, making her the first female filmmaker ever to direct a Star Trek movie. There had been little to no movement on the project since then, though, with Deadline reporting that 'project has since been shelved.' There were reports in August that star Chris Pine, who has played Captain Kirk in 2009's Star Trek, 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016's Star Trek Beyond would not return for the sequel. On hold: In January it was reported that Paramount Pictures had put the long-awaited sequel Star Trek 4, which Clarkson was set to direct, on the shelf Chris Hemsworth, 37, who had a small role in 2009's Star Trek as James Kirk's father, was slated to make his return in Star Trek 4, but negotiations with him had broken down as well. Both Pine and Hemsworth were reportedly expecting Paramount to honour the deals they had previously signed, but the studio had other plans. The studio believed that the Star Trek franchise hasn't performed along the same lines as blockbuster franchises like Star Wars and Marvel. Paramount was reportedly trying to force the actors to take pay cuts, despite already having signed deals in place, with talks ultimately falling through. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Drs. Mary Nasso, Eleanor Olsen and Ron Napolitano will offer complimentary hygiene kits to patients and members of the community on Saturday, May 23, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at their Eltingville dental office. Since New York state dental offices were mandated to close for routine dental services and only see emergency patients during the coronavirus pandemic, patients have have been forced to postpone their routine teeth cleanings. Until routine dental care can resume, our office wants to ensure that our patients are still caring for the teeth in the way that they need, says Dr. Nasso before adding, It is essential to take care of your teeth to avoid bigger problems. All existing patients and members of the community are welcome to drive up and receive a complimentary hygiene kit at the office, located at 4546 Hylan Blvd. Hygiene kits will include a toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss. Patients are asked to pull into the parking lot via Woods of Arden Road, off of Hylan Boulevard. A representative will hand them a hygiene kit through the car window. The kits are available while supplies last. For additional information, call 718-948-5111 or email apppointments@nasso-olsen.com. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) says people will be able to move within the Akwesasne community as they temporarily suspend service at certain small vessel reporting sites, small airports of entry, ferry terminals and to the Remote Area B... New Delhi, May 21 : Leading sanitaryware brand, HSIL Limited, has a filed a case against prominent brokerage ICICI Securities for a "defamatory and disparaging" research report, which said that Jauguar has become Indias No. 1 sanitaryware brand. HSIL said the report led to "widespread defamation" of HSIL and "disparagement of its products and brand". This is one of the rare cases where a company filed a suit against a leading brokerage for a research report. There have been some instances in the past, but they have been far and few. Brokerages have analysts tracking sectors and companies who then put out research reports about a company. "A highly defamatory, libelous, false, disparaging and malicious report published by ICICI Securities Ltd. titled 'Jaquar pips HSIL; becomes India' No.1 sanitaryware brand' on 28th April 2020 which was intended to be read by the public and it was widely publicised to all their clients, thereby leading to widespread defamation of the HSIL Ltd. (now Brilloca Ltd. post demerger) (hereinafter referred to as Company) and disparagement of its products and brand," HSIL said in a filing. On the failure of ICICI Securities to withdraw the report and issue a clarification as to the 'false and misleading' contents of the said report, the company has filed legal a suit titled 'HSIL Ltd. & Anr Vs ICICI Securities & Ors' at the Delhi High Court. The Delhi HC vide the above said order directed deletion of the report from Linkedin by Jaquar & Company Pvt. Ltd, HSIL said in the filing. The said report was based on complete falsehood to substantially lower and damage the reputation and goodwill of the company, HSIL said. The report was also uploaded by Jaguar & Company on its Linkedin account. "The report was brought to the notice of the company on April 28 whereby the company contacted the concerned persons at ICICI Securities and brought to their notice the fallacies and illegalities of their report. On May 6, ICICI Securities, after acknowledging the incorrect data in its report, suo moto published an addendum (second report) to its false report to cover and save its reputation," it said. During the hearing, ICICI Securities undertook to withdraw the report dated April 28, and substitute it with the report dated May 6. "The Delhi High Court was pleased to pass the order, directing ICICI Securities to communicate the fact of the substitution of the report to all concerned. The court vide its order also directed deletion of the report dated April 28 from Linkedin by Jaguar & Company," HSIL said. (Sanjeev Sharma can be contacted at sanjeev.s@ians.in) Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE About a dozen business owners and companies are challenging Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams authority to levy $5,000-a-day fines for violating New Mexicos public health orders. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in state District Court, they argue that the Lujan Grisham administration has improperly threatened businesses with hefty fines if they violate the health orders and reopen their businesses. The plaintiffs argue that the state Public Health Act authorizes much smaller fines $100 or less not the larger $5,000 penalty cited by state officials. The lawsuit comes after the state Department of Health ordered the closure of nonessential businesses and banned public gatherings as part of a broader strategy intended to limit the transmission of COVID-19, which has contributed to 283 deaths in New Mexico and infected more than 6,000 people. Lujan Grisham declared a public health emergency March 11 and later imposed a series of business restrictions, including limiting restaurants to takeout and delivery. She has since started to relax many of the restrictions, saying that New Mexicans have succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus. The governor has said the state is on sound legal footing, noting that it has won initial court challenges. The new lawsuit, filed in the states 9th Judicial District, seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from threatening imposition of the larger $5,000 fines. The Republican Party of New Mexico helped organize the litigation, filed by Albuquerque attorney Carter Harrison IV on behalf of the businesses and their owners. Lujan Grishams actions are devastating our economy and killing locally owned businesses in our state, GOP Chairman Steve Pearce said in a written statement Wednesday. Theres been no common sense and no equity in the governors order, and innocent business owners are being threatened, feeling the financial pain and losing their livelihoods. Named as defendants are Lujan Grisham, Public Safety Secretary Mark Shea and Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel. The plaintiffs include the owners of Monroes Restaurants in Albuquerque, Colfax Tavern and Diner, K-Bobs Steakhouse in Clovis, Frontier Auto Inc. and other companies. They say the state orders have dramatically reduced their revenue and made it difficult for them to survive. Some have been threatened with fines. This has placed the Plaintiffs in fear that, should they slightly or accidentally violate one of the orders which is entirely possible, given their constantly changing nature and the fact that no court decisions have resolved, and no easily readable government guidance has been written to clarify, ambiguity in their text they will be subject to the potentially ruinous financial penalties imposed and adjudicated by the Department of Health itself, the plaintiffs argue in their lawsuit. The owner of a pawn and gun shop in Grants, for example, has said that she faces a fine totaling $60,000 for opening in defiance of the orders. She is not part of the lawsuit, however. Lujan Grisham has cited her authority under the Public Health Emergency Response Act and a variety of other laws as New Mexico has battled the coronavirus. She has repeatedly said she understands the frustration of business owners. But the restrictions, she said, have been a vital part of the states success at limiting transmission of the disease. States throughout the country have imposed similar restrictions, Lujan Grisham has said. In a recent letter to Republican state senators, she noted that more than 90,000 people in the United States had died during the pandemic. Lawsuit challenging NM gove by Albuquerque Journal on Scribd Sony announced via Twitter the launch for a compact vlogging camera, which is top perfect for YouTubers and vloggers. On its Alpha Twitter account, Sony marked the event to happen on May 26 at 10:00 a.m. ET (3:00 p.m. BST or midnight of May 27 EST). Aside from these, Techradar reports that there are no other details huge included on the invite, but a silhouette of a compact camera with a side-flipping screen and what appears to be a microphone. However, it is rumored to be a promising ZV-1. As leaks from Nokishita and Sony Alpha Rumors have shown, the event looks likely to be the launch for the new Sony ZV-1. Nokishita, who has been consistent in providing reliable camera rumors, describes Sony ZV-1 as "designed for vloggers and content creators." This camera can shoot 4K video, which is surprising for its one-inch frame. If Nokishita's leak is correct, the ZV-1 will have a 3-capsule microphone as well as a 3.5mm input jack for those who want to connect an external microphone. This will apparently have a 24-70mm zoom lens, which is the same as earlier RX100 cameras like the Sony RX100 Mark V, plus image stabilization and a flapping screen, which the silhouette in the Sony's event tweet shows. A vlogger's delight While waiting for the official announcement on May 26, here is a roundup of the specs and features of the new Sony ZV1 camera. It is basically a successor to RX100VII, specifically made for vloggers. Sony ZV1 camera features: Looks similar to anRX100VII camera Features fully articulating screen on the side, which is the same as Canon EOS-RP Provides better grip than current RX100 cameras Huge video record button Has integrated ND filter With 20MP 1-inch sensor 24-70mm F1.8 to 2.8 lens Includes autofocus features like EyeAf One-touch Bokeh feature Automated Object detect The leaked image from Nokishita is similar to those earlier leaked by Sony Alpha Rumors. Both images are similar to the Sony RX100 series, with only a few significant changes like the huge button for recording video. It also features the side-flipping screen, which is more suitable for vlogging, compared to the vertical flip-screen on Sony RX100 VII. Overall, this feature sets would make the ZV-1 an excellent compact vlogging camera. This will excite fans of the RX100 VII and Real-time Eye AF for video. Moreover, if ZV-1 has 28-70mm f/1.8 to f/2.8 lens, then it could be a great combination for anyone looking to level up their vlogging from their smartphone. Sony is again taking the potentials of vlogging by a notch after RX100 VII break away from the smartphone vlogging. Sony's idea of creating a high-end compact camera that produces much better images than smartphones is a highly-welcomed by Millenials. The first RX100 was launched in 2012, and it was a landmark camera that led other brands like Canon and Panasonic to create similar cameras like the PowerShot G7 X II and Lumix LX10 / LX15. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. FALL RIVER, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Merrow Manufacturing LLC a 182-year-old, 8th-generation family-owned brand based in Fall River, MA, with centuries-long expertise in sewing and textiles, has swiftly become the largest producer of US-sourced PPE, from fiber through to sewing. In response to the vast and ongoing needs of COVID-19 healthcare workers and first responders, Merrow pivoted to produce reusable and disposable PPE equipment. The formation of this new medical division provides an immediate and substantial domestic solution for essential medical supplies in the US, while also creating a regional economic boost in job opportunities. Merrow has signed contracts to supply PPE to more than 85 hospitals and private healthcare facilities and is fully compliant with FDA rules and regulations. Merrow projects it will be building 700,000 gowns per week by July 2020, producing up to 4 million medical gowns and coveralls over the next several months, and creating an estimated 900 jobs in 4-5 manufacturing plants in the Northeast region. Merrow's investment of roughly $5 million to meet the new production needs will remain in the brand's Massachusetts region, where over 3 million products are being built locally. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker visited the Merrow Manufacturing facility in early May, and the administration has an order with Merrow for 2.5 million gowns. The governor noted that "Merrow Manufacturing is one of the 'biggest success stories' of the state's Manufacturing Emergency Response Team." "This obviously will establish a new, substantial and very secure supply chain for essential medical products and gear for our health care workers right here in the Commonwealth that can support providers here in Massachusetts, and in other areas as well," said Governor Baker. As effects of the pandemic exposed catastrophic issues in the global supply chains of PPE equipment, Merrow began rapidly engineering an answer in their 300,000 sq. ft facility. Merrow's increased manufacturing capacity impacts a wide variety of organizations beyond major hospital systems, where PPE is also critical to operations. The AD1 and ULR1 gowns are integral in helping assisted living facilities prevent the spread of COVID-19, and the re-opening of dentists offices, health clinics, PT, and mental health facilities around the country are being made possible through use of Merrow PPE. Co-owners Owen and Charlie Merrow have partnered with several fabric manufacturing companies -- including the 200-year old textile company DuPont -- who were also looking to aid the crisis by providing innovative and sustainable textiles to the new medical line. With a 100% US-sourced and produced supply chain close to home and ensuring total production control, Merrow has scaled to become the largest manufacturer of USA-sourced (fabric/thread/trim) PPE Medical Isolation Gowns in the country. "For over 180 years, our business has been intricately woven into American history, which is why this pivot to manufacturing PPE feels like a true and natural extension of our brand," said Merrow co-owner Charlie Merrow. "This new medical-focused division is not just a response to the current situation, but an opportunity to create an entirely domestic supply chain and reinvigorate our healthcare system and local communities; creating jobs, brand longevity, and performance-oriented products for our front-line workers." PPE equipment has largely not seen innovation in the last decade, so Merrow is proud to have reimagined and developed the most evolved, performance-driven PPE gowns available worldwide. The garments are able to withstand rigorous use, have a breathable yet waterproof exterior, are streamlined in cut and fit, and meet the AAMI Level III standard. Merrow's medical line introduces a unique textile partnership with outdoor performance brand FORLOH. FORLOH is a newly launched tactical brand, and has allowed Merrow to utilize US-produced ballistics-grade nylon, initially earmarked for lightweight tents, packs, travel gear and accessories, making this new PPE equipment incredibly durable and longer lasting than traditional disposable items. Merrow is also collaborating with DuPont for the production of single-use isolation gowns made from DuPont Tyvek as part of the #TyvekTogether program. From first responders to industrial workers, DuPont provides a wide range of personal protection solutions including some of the most trusted and innovative brands in the industry, such as Kevlar, Nomex, Tychem and Tyvek, the latter of which Merrow is utilizing for hundreds of thousands of PPE units for both State and hospital orders. "DuPont is proud to be collaborating with Merrow Medical PPE to support their manufacturing of isolation gowns made with DuPont Tyvek 1222A fabric. They are quickly leveraging their domestic manufacturing capacity to increase the availability of PPE made of Tyvek to help protect the frontline responders for the COVID-19 response. We are grateful for their support in helping fulfill the vision we had as we launched the #TyvekTogether program. Although this is the first time we have worked directly with Merrow, they have played a pivotal role in our DuPont Personal Protection business for years as they invented the overlock stitching machine which to this day plays a key role in nearly all Tyvek protective apparel manufacturing." David Domnisch, Global Business Leader, DuPont Personal Protection. The new PPE collection includes nine products; from surgical caps and gators, to five medical and isolation gowns: ULR1 Ultralight Ripstop Reusable Gown - performs for over 100 washes. This innovative approach to the Level 1 and Level 2 isolation gown is breathable, lightweight and abrasion resistant. Using fabrics found in tactical performance outdoor gear, it is the most comfortable and durable Isolation gown in the market. AD1 Advanced Disposable Medical Gown - a single tie open back design, built from a fabric that passes Level 3 AAMI testing, and can withstand up to 30 washes in warm water. This makes the AD1 the only disposable isolation gown that can perform for weeks in service. AD2 Advanced Disposable Isolation Gown - features the same fabric and performance as the AD1, except with a fully protected back, and two ties. NWD1 Medical Gown - a single use disposable garment built from 100% high density polyethylene non-woven fabric that exceed level 3 performance requirements when tested against AATCC 127 and AATCC 42 industry consensus based standards. Built in partnership with Dupont, the NWD1 garment combines protection and durability using Tyvek 1222A fabric that is 2X more fluid resistant than conventionally sourced 'SMS' fabrics. This product protects first responders, frontline workers, and patients. NWD2 Isolation Gown - features the same fabric and performance as the NWD1, with a fully protected back, and two ties. More information on Merrow Manufacturing can be found at http://merrowmfg.com/ Media Contact: Jess Smith, [email protected], 415.565.9530 ABOUT MERROW MANUFACTURING LLC: With Headquarters in Fall River, MA Merrow has remained a New England based company for almost 2 centuries. Merrow Manufacturing is one part of a larger group of companies that specialize in manufacturing sewing machines (Merrow), Technology, and Fashion. As we look to the future, we are evolving our approach to soft goods manufacturing processes. Training a new workforce, investing in new technology and understanding that we can change manufacturing by designing more relevant and remarkable products. Merrow is owned & managed by 8th generation brothers; Owen and Charlie Merrow. SOURCE Merrow Manufacturing LLC Related Links http://merrowmfg.com This month ground was broken for Viet Phat Industrial Park, one of the largest in the country, in Long An Province. A ready-built factory in Dong Nai Province. Construction of such factories and industrial parks anticipates FDI flowing into the country after the pandemic subsides. Photo courtesy of KTG Industrial This month ground was broken for Viet Phat Industrial Park, one of the largest in the country, in Long An Province. Being built by TZICO Joint Stock Company and Viet Nam Innovation Parks Management Corporation in Thu Thua Districts Tan Long Commune, the 1,800 IP will include a 600ha urban area. All the required land has been acquired. Minh Duc LA Investment and Development Corporation broke ground for the 195.79ha Duc Hoa II-SLICO Industrial Park in Duc Hoa District also in Long An. It will be the third largest IP in a cluster of 13 in Duc Hoa III. KTG Industrial, the industrial development arm of Khai Toan Group, recently began construction of a ready-built factory in Nhon Trach 3B Industrial Centre in Dong Nai Province. The 8ha facility is its second-generation ready-built factory, and combines factories, pre-built warehouses and technology 4.0 to enable digital convergence for tenants. Long Hau Corporation has built a 29.6ha high-tech factory for lease in Da Nang City to serve the supporting and tech industries. According to enterprises, there is a lot of investment being made in industrial parks and factories for lease to welcome a likely wave of FDI inflows after the pandemic subsides. Dang Trong Duc, deputy general director of the KTG Group and sales development director of KTG Industrial, said, Viet Nam has made great strides in economic and industrial development in recent years and attracted a large number of foreign manufacturers. The number of industrial parks in Viet Nam increased five-fold between 2000 and 2018. By the end of last year there were 338 IPs all with high occupancy rates: 92 per cent on average in the north and 80 per cent in the south. The countrys industrial real estate segment enjoys certain advantages, he said. Free trade agreements that the country has signed offer incentives in terms of tariff duties and trade to manufacturers based in Viet Nam. The Government offers corporate income tax, VAT and import-export tax breaks, visa waiver and other incentives to attract more investors, he said. It has also paid great attention to infrastructure to facilitate cargo transport, he added. He said with the cost of production in China continuing to rise, many manufacturers based there have expedited their relocation to alternative locations in Southeast Asia, including Viet Nam. The COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the move out from China, he said. Don Lam, co-founder and CEO of investment fund VinaCapital, said a survey by Harris Polling this month found that over 70 per cent of Americans think US firms should scale back their manufacturing in China. There have also been an increasing number of articles in publications such as The Economist and Foreign Policy, as well as comments from notable investors like Mark Mobius and organisations like JETRO and AT Kearny predicting that Viet Nam is set to benefit from an acceleration in the movement of manufacturing out of China. For these reasons, we believe that a wave of FDI inflows is inevitable after the COVID-19 medical issue is resolved. Trang Bui, head of markets at Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) Vietnam, said thanks to its proximity to China, Viet Nam is one of the markets benefiting greatly from the trend of companies looking to diversify their manufacturing portfolio outside China. Viet Nams outstanding record in containing the pandemic could strengthen foreign investors trust in the country, she said. The COVID-19 has had some impacts on FDI investment in Viet Nam in the short term due to travel restrictions. FDI inflows will recover soon after the pandemic subsides, offering great opportunities in the industrial real estate segment. Le Thanh, chairman and general director of TZICO Joint Stock Company, said: Some big investors from South Korea and Singapore have shown great interest in the Viet Phat Industrial Park. Nguyen Van Ut, vice chairman of the Long An Peoples Committee, said the project is a significant development for the province to attract high-quality FDI amid the wave of investors shifting from China and increasingly setting their sights on Southeast Asia. According to Stephen Wyatt, country head of JLL Vietnam, industrial park developers remained confident that demand for land will continue to grow and therefore land prices are expected to increase in line with the long-term potential of Viet Nams industrial segment. VNS [May 21, 2020] Yext, Inc. to Report First Quarter FY 2021 Financial Results on June 4, 2020 NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext, Inc. (NYSE: YEXT), the Search Experience Cloud company, today announced that its first quarter fiscal year 2021 results will be released on Thursday, June 4, 2020, after the close of the market. The company will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. (ET) / 1:30 p.m. (PT) to discuss its financial results with the investment community. A live webcast of the event will be available on the Yext Investor Relations website at http://investors.yext.com . A live dial-in is available domestically at (877) 883-0383 and internationally at (412) 902-6506, passcode 6370206. A replay will be available domestically at (877) 344-7529 or internationally at (412) 317-0088, passcode 1143690, until midnight (ET) June 11, 2020. About Yext The ultimate source for official answers about a business online should be the business itself. However, when consumers ask questions on company websites, too often they are left in the dark with wrong answers. Yext (NYSE: YEXT), the Search Experience Cloud, solves this problem by organizing a business's facts so it can provide official answers to consumer questions - wherever people search. Starting with the company website, then extending across search engines and voice assistants, businesses around the world, like Taco Bell, Marriott, and Jaguar Land Rover - as well as organizations like the U.S. State Department - trust Yext to radically improve the search experience on their websites and across the entire search ecosystem. Yext's mission is to help businesses and organizations around the world deliver official answers everywhere people search. Yext has been named a Best Place to Work by Fortune and Great Place to Work, as well as a Best Workplace for Women. Yext, Inc. is headquartered in New York City with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Dallas, Geneva, London, Miami, Milan, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Tokyo, and the Washington, D.C. area - and work-from-home offices all around the world. For further information, contact: Investor Relations: Yuka Broderick [email protected] Public Relations: Amanda Kontor [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yext-inc-to-report-first-quarter-fy-2021-financial-results-on-june-4-2020-301063992.html SOURCE Yext, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Georgia man who filmed cellphone video of Ahmaud Arbery's fatal shooting was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in his death. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 50-year-old William Roddie Bryan was arrested on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. He is being held at the Glynn County Detention Center. Arbery was slain Feb. 23 after a white father and son armed themselves and pursued him after spotting the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood. More than two months passed before authorities arrested Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Gregory McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot. Bryan lives in the same subdivision, and the video he took from the cab of his vehicle helped stir a national outcry when it leaked online. Under Georgia law, a person can be charged with felony murder for committing any felony that causes the death of someone else. It does not require intent to kill and carries an automatic life sentence. In the Glynn County police incident report on the shooting, Gregory McMichael told an officer that at one point Arbery began running back the direction from which he came and 'Roddy' attempted to block him which was unsuccessful." It's the only mention in the police report of any potential involvement by Bryan. Bryans attorney, Kevin Gough, did not immediately return a phone message Thursday. He has previously insisted Bryan played no role in Arbery's death. Roddie Bryan is not now, and has never been, more than a witness to the shooting, Gough said in a statement on the case Monday. He is not a vigilante. Roddie did not participate in the horrific killing of this young man. Mr. Bryan has committed no crime, and bears no criminal responsibility in the death of Ahmaud Arbery. According to arrest warrants filed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Bryan "did attempt to confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery without legal authority, by attempting to confine Arbery utilizing his vehicle on multiple occasions during the above time frame, with the intention of confining and detaining Arbery." New videos emerge before Ahmaud Arbery killed Attorneys for the Arbery family, S. Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L. Chris Stewart, released the following statement regarding the third arrest: "The family of Ahmaud Arbery was relieved to learn that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has today taken William 'Roddie' Bryan into custody. We called for his arrest from the very beginning of this process. His involvement in the murder of Mr. Arbery was obvious to us, to many around the country and after their thorough investigation, it was clear to the GBI as well. "The family of Mr. Arbery is thankful for the diligence of the GBI and (the) way in which they tirelessly pursued the evidence in this case. "We want anyone who participated in the murder of Mr. Arbery to be held accountable." Bryan's video of the shooting was taken from the driver seat of a vehicle following behind Arbery as he runs along a residential street. A pickup truck is parked in the road ahead of Arbery, with one man in the truck's bed and another standing beside the open driver's side door. The video shows Arbery run around the truck to the right before he cuts back in front of it. Then a gunshot can be heard, followed by a second shot. Arbery can be seen punching a man holding what appears to be a shotgun, who then fires a third shot point-blank. Arbery staggers and falls face down in the street. Gregory McMichael retired last year after more than two decades as an investigator for the local prosecutor's office. Because of those ties, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case. Two outside prosecutors assigned the case have also stepped aside. The McMichaels weren't arrested until May 7, after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the shooting investigation from Glynn County police. Soon after the GBI's involvement was announced, a Brunswick attorney with access to the shooting video released it to a local radio station and copies soon proliferated online. The McMichaels remain jailed in Glynn County waiting for a preliminary court hearing and for a judge to decide whether to free them on bond pending trial. Attorneys for the father and son have urged people not to rush to judgment in the case. NEW DELHI : India on Thursday rejected Chinese claims that Indian troops had entered Chinese territory and were blocking" its troops from patrolling across the border from Sikkim and Ladakh. In fact, New Delhi said recent activities of Chinese troops were hindering Indian patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava told reporters that Indian troops were fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC" in the India-China border areas and abided by it scrupulously". Tensions between the two sides escalated with China accusing India of trying to change the status quo along the LAC, the de-facto border between the two countries. In a significant development, India also reiterated its support for the freedom of navigation and over flight and unimpeded lawful commerce" in the South China Sea and called for any differences (to) be resolved peacefully by respecting the legal and diplomatic processes and without resorting to threat or use of force". India described the South China Sea as a global commons". This was the first official statement by New Delhi since China said in mid-April that it has established new administrative districts on Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, and notified names to some 80 islands, reefs and other geographical features around the two archipelagos to stake claim of them. On the recent border tensions between India and China, Srivastava said: Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. All Indian activities are entirely on the Indian side of the LAC." According to the Indian Army, it had confronted Chinese troops on at least two occasions recentlyon 5 May in eastern Ladakh and on 9 May in north Sikkim. On both occasions the two armies physically engaged each other, causing injuries on both sides. Both countries have brought in reinforcements to Demchok, Daulat Beg Oldie and around the Galwan river, as well as at Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh, two people said, requesting anonymity. The two incidents were the most contentious since the 2017 standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at the Doklam plateau in Bhutan, which lasted 73 days. Srivastava said both sides were engaged with each other to address any immediate issues". (India) has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring Indias sovereignty and security." The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC. The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue," he added. India remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations." India also believes that any differences be resolved peacefully by respecting the legal and diplomatic processes and without resorting to threat or use of force," he said. South China Sea is a part of global commons and India has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the region." China claims the whole of the South China Sea disregarding claims by Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Billionaire property king Harry Triguboff says Chinese buyers are no longer hunting for apartments in Sydney and Melbourne. The apartment-hunters appeared to drop off at the beginning of the year when coronavirus first ravaged China. The decline didn't last long as Chinese buyers quickly returned to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in March on the hunt for apartments. But it seems Chinese buying has again retrenched amid poor diplomatic relations between the two nations after Australia pushed for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. Chinese buyers on the hunt for apartments in Sydney and Melbourne have cooled off, according to Harry Triguboff. Pictured: A woman bids in Sydney Mr Triguboff, the founder and managing director of Meriton Group, on Wednesday night confirmed the Chinese buying had dropped off, according to The Australian. The reasons behind the decrease have not been confirmed but trade tensions between Australia and China have recently soared. China has slapped an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley and suspended imports from four major abattoirs after Australia called for a global coronavirus inquiry. Chinese state media has also branded Australia 'a giant kangaroo that acts of the dog of the US'. Australian house prices in capital cities are expected to fall by double digits in the coming months as as coronavirus lockdowns cause unemployment. International students had buoyed demand for rental accommodation and thereby investment properties, but border closures and fears of a student exodus are expected to hurt demand. Mr Triguboff, the founder and managing director of Meriton Group, on Wednesday night confirmed the Chinese buying had dropped off Last week, Mr Triguboff said Meriton saw a 250 per cent jump in apartment inspections since the beginning of April. 'There was pent-up demand after a COVID-19 induced quieter March, and it seems buyers have stepped forward to take advantage of prices at a low base or some cases where they have fallen,' he said. 'Many buyers are also noticing the supply of new apartments shrinking at a rapid rate which will likely put pressure on pricing in the future.' All eyes were on Melanie Griffith's youthful glow, as she enjoyed some fresh air on a walk in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. The 62-year-old Working Girl icon flaunted her phenomenal physique in a pair of form-fitting leggings and cropped black sweatshirt, which she layered over a white t-shirt. As the beauty maintained her taut figure under quarantine, she cheerfully conversed with a raven-haired pal during her Tuesday outing. Melanie Griffith flaunted her phenomenal physique in a pair of form-fitting leggings and cropped black sweatshirt, which she layered over a white t-shirt on a walk in Beverly Hills Melanie kept her platinum blonde locks into a sporty up 'do while she accessorized with white trainers and a pair of retro cat eye sunglasses. Both women kept their cloth masks under their chins, as they strolled and chatted closely together. Griffith has urged her followers to stay active during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Strolling: As the beauty maintained her taut figure under quarantine, she cheerfully conversed with a raven-haired pal during her Tuesday outing 'Walking 3-4 miles a day is so easy!,' she captioned a video of herself on a solo walk earlier this week. She added: 'It only takes about an hour and it makes one feel so much better!!! So mask up!! Sending love always!!' In March, Melanie posted another encouraging Instagram post for her following as she hunkered down to ride out the pandemic. Athleisure chic: Melanie kept her platinum blonde locks into a sporty updo while she accessorized with white trainers and a pair of retro cat eye sunglasses 'We can do this! We have all been through dangerous times but nothing like this virus. Stay home, be safe. FaceTime and CALL your friends and loved ones. #socialdistancing #love #readbooks #meditate.' The caption accompanied a picture of a 'dangerous' moment in her life - teenage Melanie with her mother Tippi Hedren's pet lion Neil in a photo for Life magazine. Tippi and Melanie starred in the 1981 adventure film Roar together, and the 90-year-old actress' wildlife foundation is named after it. 'Walking 3-4 miles a day is so easy!,' she captioned a video of herself on a solo walk earlier this week Melanie was formerly married to Golden Globe winner Don Johnson, before enjoying a nearly twenty-year marriage with ex husband Antonio Banderas. Antonio and Melanie, who divorced in 2015, share a 23-year-old daughter named Stella. Melanie is also the mother of Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, 30. During her marriage to actor Steven Bauer from 1981 to 1989, the couple welcomed their son Alexander Bauer, now aged 34. Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the country stood in solidarity with cyclone-hit West Bengal, the states chief minister Mamata Banerjee requested him to pay a visit to see the havoc wreaked by the storm. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit Cyclone Amphan-affected areas she said at a press briefing, according to PTI. She said 72 deaths have been reported due to Cyclone Amphan. Also read : NDMA advises people not to move out until govts green signal There have been casualties.I announce a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh to the families of those who died in cyclone Amphan, she said. Also Watch | Cyclone Amphan leaves trail of destruction in Odisha & West Bengal Bengal is yet to decide on the losses it has suffered in the cyclone that made landfall Wednesday afternoon before heading away towards Bangladesh. Earlier in the day, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) which reviewed the situation in the cyclone affected areas of Odisha and West Bengal decided to send additional teams of the NDRF to the latter to speed up restoration work, especially in Kolkata. Union home minister Amit Shah said he had spoken to the chief ministers of odisha and West Bengal about the situation arising due to the cyclone and assured all possible help from the Centre. President Jair Bolsonaro signed off on expanding the prescription of chloroquine for coronavirus patients despite a lack of clinical proof that it is effective. Bolsonaro unveiled the new implementations of the drug, a predecessor of an anti-malaria drug promoted by US President Donald Trump despite a lack of evidence of its effectiveness on coronavirus patients. Chloroquine was already being used in Brazil for COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in serious condition. Under the new guidelines that are being pushed forward by the far-right leader, it can be given to people with lighter symptoms such as abdominal pain, cough or fever, according to the Health Ministry. 'There is still no scientific evidence, but it is being monitored and used in Brazil and worldwide,' Bolsonaro said via his Facebook page. Bolsonaro in the past compared the ravaging virus to a 'little flu' and feuded with local governments over their stay-at-home measures that were imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. 'We are at war: `Worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought,' he added. President Jail Bolsonaro announced chloroquine will be given to patients who have lighter symptoms of COVID-19 Brazil has reported the third-highest totals of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world with 291,579 Brazil's Health Ministry said chloroquine will be prescribed to coronavirus patients with light symptoms, including stomach ache, cough or fever This chart shows how South America (in red) is now recording the largest number of new coronavirus infections per day, overtaking North America (in green) for the first time Wednesday after previously surpassing Asia (purple) and Europe (blue). The rise has been driven by a surge in new cases in Brazil. Africa and Oceania have far fewer cases As of Thursday, 291,579 coronavirus cases had been confirmed in Brazil, the third most in the world after the United States and Russia. The infection totals in Brazil and the outbreak in Argentina have propelled South America ahead of North America as the continent with the most new confirmed cases. On Tuesday, South America recorded 27,517 new cases, ahead of North America with 24,935, Asia with 21,542 and Europe with 17,275. Africa and Oceania have seen far fewer cases so far. The Brazilian government said Wednesday that 888 more died in the subsequent 24 hours after the country's single-day death toll from the virus hit a new high of more than 1,100 the previous day. The 18,859 deaths caused by the virus in Brazil is the sixth-highest amount in the world. Trump has promoted treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine, a variant considered less toxic and more effective than chloroquine, and he announced Monday that he was taking the drug as a precaution. No large, rigorous studies have found either drug safe or effective for preventing or treating the virus. Bolsonaro, a conservative populist and nationalist, has long expressed admiration for Trump and enthusiasm for chloroquine. The Brazilian leader joked Tuesday that 'right-wingers take chloroquine, left-wingers take Tubaina.' Bolsonaro was referencing a cheap soft drink beverage that rhymes with 'cloroquina,' the Portuguese term for chloroquine. Brazil's new guidelines were signed off by interim Health Minister Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience prior to becoming the ministry's No. 2 official in April. President Donald Trump has promoted the use of hydroxychloroquine, a variant considered less toxic and more effective than chloroquine, and he announced Monday that he was taking the drug as a precaution Relatives attend the burial of Rio de Janeiro resident Vandelma Rosa de Almeida, who was suspected of having died of COVID-19 Cemetery workers in protective clothing carry the coffin of a COVID19 victim for burial at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil Pazuello's appointment to the top job came after then-Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired last month for publicly supporting state governors who shut down nonessential businesses and adopted other measures against the virus, and after Mandetta's replacement, Nelson Teich, resigned last week. Teich did not explain why he left, but he had publicly disagreed with Bolsonaro over chloroquine. Speaking to a group of street cleaners in the capital, Brasilia, Bolsonaro suggested Wednesday that he has no plans to replace Pazuello: 'This one is going to stay for a long time.' Health systems in various states have gone over capacity, with overwhelmed intensive care units unable to take in new COVID-19 patients, and experts say rising numbers of people are dying at home. Relatives attend the burial of Vandelma Rosa de Almeida at the Caju cemetery in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday Cemetery workers in protective clothing bury a COVID-19 victim at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo on Wednesday Newly dug graves are empty in the Vila Formosa cemetery (center and top left), where victims of COVID-19 are being buried in Sao Paulo, Brazil Cemeteries are using backhoes to dig hundreds of graves at a time, and Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest is burying the dead in mass graves. Gen. Pazuello appointed nine more military officers to the Health Ministry on Tuesday, Folha de S. Paulo reported, including his No. 2, Col. Antonio Elcio Franco Filho. Also Wednesday, Bolsonaro announced the resignation of Culture Secretary Regina Duarte, a former soap opera star who was recently criticized by many in the opposition and the arts community for downplaying torture during the 1964-1985 dictatorship and who had warned against the dangers of 'unbearable morbidity' around the virus. A cross with a number marks an empty grave at the Caju cemetery where many COVID-19 victims are being buried in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Doctor Willie Baracho (right) checks Mario de Santos (left), who is suspected of suffering from COVID-19, during Tuesday's home visit in the slum of Vila Vintem in Rio de Janeiro People wear masks against the spread of the new coronavirus, at a bus stop in Valparaiso, Brazil, on Wednesday Bolsonaro continues to oppose governors and mayors who are renewing stay-at-home recommendations or introducing stricter measures. The former army captain has argued in favor of restarting the economy, even though experts say Brazil has yet to reach the peak of the pandemic. He believes that containment measures are too painful in a country where tens of millions of workers depend on low-paid jobs in the informal sector. Several large observational studies, including one in U.S. hospitals for veterans, have not found benefit from hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19. Earlier this year scientists in Brazil stopped part of a study of chloroquine after seeing heart rhythm problems among patients taking a higher of two doses being compared. A vendor sets up masks against the spread of the new coronavirus for sale on a walkway in Valparaiso, Brazil, Wednesday A man wearing a mask against the spread of the coronavirus waits for a bus at a station in Valparaiso, Brazil Flash The governments of Poland and Britain signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday on the construction of a new international airport 40 kilometers west of Warsaw. The agreement allows, among other things, Polish and British consultancy firms to form joint teams for developing infrastructure in and around the airport location. The so-called Central Transportation Port (CPK) is a marquee project announced by the government in 2017 which is intended to take over the role of the main international airport in the country from Chopin International Airport in Warsaw. Its location near Poland's geographical center and the integration of road, rail and air would allow the airport to service an initial 45 million passengers per year, with future expansion allowing for 100 million passengers per year. "This project shows the ambition, optimism and innovation that define today's Poland, and we would like for British expertise to play an enormous part in assisting to turn this world-class vision into reality," Polish press agency PAP quoted Graham Stuart, British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports, as saying. The first phase of construction is planned to be completed towards the end of 2027. Man injured by kitchen explosion, leaking gas cylinder suspected PHUKET: Police believe that a gas leak caused an explosion that injured a man when he turned the kitchen light on at his shophouse home in Grand Boat Plaza village in Rassada early this morning (May 21). accidentspolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 21 May 2020, 01:25PM The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The force of the blast blew out the shopfront windows, brought down celing panels and displaced roofing tiles. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Capt Ronnaphoom Phermpoon of the Phuket City Police was called to the scene at 5am. On arriving at the shophouse unit, police saw the shopfront glass across the ground, a wooden seat had been sent tumbling and letters from the ARTS Factory Co Ltd sign above the door were left scattered. In the kitchen area at the back of the unit, appliances and furniture had been damaged, ceiling panels had been brought down and even roofing segments had been displaced by the blast. By the time police arrived, Chiewchan Kornsawat, 40, who lived in the shophouse unit alone, had already been rushed to hospital. Chart Baonuwong, 46, who lived next door, told police that he was woken by the sound of an explosion and ran outside to see what had happened. Mr Chart said that he saw Mr Chiewchan walking out of his unit with some burns on his body, prompting him to call the 191 police hotline and ask for an ambulance. Before Mr Chiewchan was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town, he explained to Mr Chart that he had come downstairs to the kitchen to wash his clothes. He turned the light on, and there was an explosion, Mr Chart related to police. Mr Chart also explained that the ensuing fire in the kitchen was small and quickly disappeared by itself, so he did not call for firefighters to come. At this stage, we believe that the explosion and fire was caused by a leaking gas cylinder, Capt Ronnaphoom reported. Mr Chiewchan may not have known that there was gas leaking in the kitchen, and by turning on the light he may have caused a spark that started the explosion, he said. However, Capt Ronnaphoom noted that police have not yet concluded their investigation. We have to wait for the forensic police to investigate the scene before we can conclude our investigation, he said. Commercial banks are rushing to sell immovable properties which are collateral for unpaid debts. But finding buyers has been difficult. BIDV (the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam) has announced the selection of an institution to auction the debt of the Tai Nguyen Construction, Production and Trade Co Ltd. The collateral for the debt includes land use rights and assets on the land to take shape in the future, belonging to Kenton project, located in Nha Be district, HCM City; and the rights for the quarry in Quoc Oai district, Hanoi. Of these, Kenton project alone is valued at VND7.836 trillion which has been mortgaged by the debtor at BIDV, Maritime Bank and PVCombank. BIDV also plans to sell the asset mortgaged by Hung Ngan Housing Company to collect debt worth VND518.7 billion in both principal and interest. Commercial banks are rushing to sell immovable properties which are collateral for unpaid debts. But finding buyers has been difficult. The collateral for auction includes land plots in HCM City, Hanoi and Kien Giang, including assets created by loans which are part of a multi-story housing and trade-service complex in district 12, HCM City. The starting price is VND466.9 billion. A series of other commercial banks are also promoting the sale of mortgaged assets to collect debts in accordance with the National Assemblys Resolution No 42. Sacombank is seeking buyers for a series of land plots worth tens to hundreds of billion of dong, including land plots in district 8 with a total area of 12.669 square meters. Analysts commented that the number of businesses dissolved or suspending operation in the first months of the year increased sharply because of Covid-19, which led to the increase in bad debts. Banks have had to step up foreclosure and sale of mortgaged assets to collect debts. The general director of a real estate firm with many properties said he is interested in the projects to be auctioned. These are good projects because they underwent legal check and banks valuation. Also, the prices of the products would be reasonable. However, he would have to find out if the design of the projects fits his business purposes. If he buys projects with unsuitable designs, he would have to spend time to adjust the structure, or would not be able to gain added value. Dinh The Hien, a respected financial expert, said it would be not easy for banks to find buyers. The real estate market was gloomy in 2019 and has become even worse because of Covid-19. Linh Ha A vaccine for real estate amid challenging times The Vietnamese real estate market has been feeling the pinch, but it can make a swift recovery when the pandemic is brought under control with support policies from the government and promotional campaigns from developers. Boston, MA, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gordon Brothers, the global advisory, restructuring, and investment firm, announced today that it has provided a $20 million secured term loan facility to Brooks Brothers Group, Inc, the prototypical American apparel retailer headquartered in New York, New York. A family business founded in 1818, the company has grown into a truly global brand with stores across the United States and Canada as well as a footprint that spans over 70 countries. "We are excited to provide a capital solution to one of the most iconic American apparel brands in the market today," commented Ramez Toubassy, President of Brands for Gordon Brothers. He added, "With a heritage of over 200 years, global brand awareness and broad consumer affinity, Brooks Brothers is a brand that is positioned to thrive for the long run." "Gordon Brothers' experience with brand-focused financings allowed them to quickly and commercially put together a financing solution for Brooks Brothers that will allow us to execute upon our operating plan," said Steven G. Goldaper, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Brooks Brothers Group. Gordon Brothers' Brands division values, acquires, restructures and invests globally in underleveraged, distressed, or dormant intellectual property to help revive and reimagine some of the world's most iconic brands. About Gordon Brothers Since 1903, Gordon Brothers (www.gordonbrothers.com) has helped lenders, operating executives, advisors, and investors move forward through change. The firm brings a powerful combination of expertise and capital to clients, developing customized solutions on an integrated or standalone basis across four service areas: valuations, dispositions, operations, and investments. Whether to fuel growth or facilitate strategic consolidation, Gordon Brothers partners with companies in the retail, commercial, and industrial sectors to put assets to their highest and best use. Gordon Brothers conducts more than $70 billion worth of dispositions and appraisals annually. Gordon Brothers is headquartered in Boston, with 25 offices across five continents. Phones (Representative image) The Trump administration has for years sparred with China over tariff threats, technology and the terms of their trade deal. But in a pair of actions last week, the administration escalated those economic tensions in a way that comes close to touching a red line for Beijing: its contentious relationship with Taiwan. One of the worlds leading computer chip makers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, or TSMC, said on May 21 that it would build a factory in Arizona, a move heralded by American officials as a first step toward relocating a vital supply chain to the United States. The next day, the Department of Commerce announced a rule change that could stymie the business Chinese tech giant Huawei does with TSMC and other global chip manufacturers. The administration has been working on multiple fronts to isolate Huawei, a major global smartphone brand and the planets largest producer of the equipment that powers mobile networks. But simultaneously undermining Huawei and bringing TSMC closer into the American orbit is a one-two punch of industrial policy that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, one that raises the prospect of a more serious conflict between China and the United States. Never before has the Trump administration so forcefully challenged Chinese companies access to Taiwans high-tech supply chain and, by extension, Beijings influence over the self-governing island democracy, which it claims as part of its territory. China considers its claim to Taiwan non-negotiable, and it has lashed out at companies and politicians for failing to acknowledge it, even inadvertently. The administration seems intent on hitting at targets that are both economically and politically sensitive for Beijing, said Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University. Chinas Ministry of Commerce condemned Washingtons latest move against Huawei, saying it would do what was necessary to protect the interests of Chinese businesses. Since the US Commerce Department announced the rule change, industry analysts and executives have highlighted what they said could be a significant workaround. The rule change bars companies around the world from using US technology to produce or design chips that are sent, either directly or through an intermediary, to Huawei itself. But it does not appear to prevent them from producing chips that would be sent to Huaweis customers or partners, such as contract manufacturers that assemble phones and other devices on Huaweis behalf. The rule could still disrupt Huaweis business, however, forcing the company or its suppliers to reorganise their operations. And the Commerce Department could revise its rule in the coming months to narrow any loopholes. As of May 19, some administration officials were already discussing ways to strengthen the rule, two people familiar with the deliberations said. The future of at least a major portion of Huaweis business is now firmly in the hands of the Commerce Department, said Paul Triolo, a technology policy analyst at Eurasia Group. In an emailed comment, Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary, said his department was charged with catching and punishing intermediaries and front companies that circumvent its regulations and that it does so regularly. Any collusion with Huawei or its affiliates to wilfully violate this rule is prohibited, and any party found to be in violation will be barred from further access to US equipment or software, Ross said. Huawei this week declined to answer reporters questions about the amended rule, although it acknowledged that its business would inevitably be affected. The company appears to have been preparing for the possibility of being cut off from key suppliers. As of the end of 2019, Huawei had stockpiled $23.5 billion worth of finished products, components and raw materials, according to its annual report, an increase of nearly three-fourths from a year before. While the practical effects of the new rule remain unclear, the political message sent by last weeks announcements was unambiguous: The Trump administration is eager to thwart Chinas efforts to dominate critical technologies and is turning to Taiwan as a new point of leverage. The United States has also grown more active in jockeying against China to build up and control access to the technological components that power everything from smartphones to missiles. Last May, the Commerce Department added Huawei to its entity list, requiring American companies to obtain a licence before they can sell to the Chinese firm. The administration has since issued a series of other restrictions on collaborating and trading with Chinese technology companies. The Commerce Department said the latest rule change was meant to thwart Huaweis efforts to get around past restrictions. To lessen its reliance on US suppliers, Huawei has sought to meet more of its semiconductor needs in-house. But to mass-produce those chips to its specifications, Huawei still needs TSMC and other foundry firms, which rely extensively on software and equipment made by US providers. By taking aim at Huaweis access to a company that sits in Taiwan, the Trump administration added a dash of geopolitical insult to the injury. Taiwan has long been of keen political significance for both Beijing and Washington. It is currently governed by a party that is suspicious of Chinas ruling Communist Party and favours closer ties to the United States. In recent years, Taiwans status as a global capital of semiconductors has added to its strategic importance. TSMC makes microchips for big global names across the tech world, including Apple, Qualcomm and Huaweis chip subsidiary, HiSilicon. You have the best semiconductor manufacturer in the world, and China thinks it owns the land it sits on, said Stacy Rasgon, a semiconductor analyst with the research firm Sanford C Bernstein. It shows just how dependent everyone is on TSMC. In a series of private discussions through last year, officials from the departments of Commerce, State and Defence urged TSMC to open a US facility as a way to strengthen political ties and guard against threats from China that could lead it to cut off shipments to the United States. For many months, TSMC rebuffed those offers, citing costs. East Asia is the centre of the global electronics supply chain, and Mark Liu, the companys Chairman, had said that the major stumbling block was the greater expense of operating in the United States. But recent entreaties from Washington including, apparently, the promise of funding changed the companys mind. On May 15, a spokeswoman for TSMC said the company now saw a potential possibility for us to close the cost gap, but she declined to elaborate. In a call on May 15, a State Department official suggested funding might be forthcoming from Congress, where lawmakers have discussed new funds to stimulate the semiconductor industry. Another factor that may have led American officials to push for the Arizona factory is their broader fears about Chinas influence in Taiwan and its ability to hack or sabotage supply chains there, said Triolo of Eurasia Group. TSMC plays a crucial role in producing commercial chips that also have military applications in aircraft, satellites and drones. The real purpose of the Arizona deal may have been to allow TSMC to eventually become a trusted member of the US militarys supply chain, Triolo said. c.2020 The New York Times Company Concerns have been raised about Oil India Limiteds (OIL) bid to drill for hydrocarbons in a national park in Assam after a similar ecological threat was perceived because of the central governments recent approval for coal mining activities inside an elephant reserve in Upper Assam. On May 11, the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) gave green clearance for the extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations by OIL under Dibru-Saikhowa National Park area in Assams Tinsukia district. The MoEFCC clearance comes close on the heels of the National Board of Wild Lifes (NBWL) approval on April 17, allowing Coal India Limited to carry out opencast and underground coal mining in a portion of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in the state. An online campaign has been launched by the states college students to stop the move. Spread over 340 square kilometres, Dibru-Saikhowa is one of the five national parks in the north-east regions most populous state. The park, which is also a biosphere reserve, is home to 36 mammal species including tiger, Gangetic dolphin, feral horses, etc. and 382 bird species. Concerns about OILs drilling plan emerged on social media platforms after the company published an advertisement in newspapers recently citing the MoEFCCs clearance for the project. OIL reacted to the growing apprehensions and issued a press release on Wednesday, clarifying that it would not operate inside the national park and the drilling would have no ecological impact. It has been observed that post the publication of the advertisement, certain sections of the stakeholders have expressed their concern assuming that OIL will be operating inside the national park, the release said. OIL will not enter the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park area and operations will be conducted through extended reach drilling (ERD) technology. ERD is used to explore for hydrocarbon far from the surface or areas of the reservoir, which are otherwise difficult to access, it added. With the use of ERD, wells can be drilled up to a depth of 4km from the existing well plinth without entering the protected area. Through ERD, OIL will reach the target depth of around 3.5km beneath the surface of the national park without carrying out any drilling inside the park, the release said. This is a state of the art technology where drilling will take place around 1.5km outside demarcated area of the national park where OIL is already carrying out hydrocarbon exploration for the last 15 years in the Baghjan area, it said. OIL once again reiterates that no disturbance to the environment and Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is envisaged due to the use of ERD technology, it added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Utpal Parashar Utpal is an assistant editor based in Guwahati. He covers all eight states of North-East and was previously based in Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi with Hindustan Times . ...view detail A 6-year-old victim of a fire that killed 13 children and two adults in a children's home outside the Haitian capital in February has been buried in a ceremony attended by her mother and one other mourner. Lovena Luberice died in the home run by the U.S.-based Church of Bible Understanding, which has millions in annual revenue but repeatedly failed inspections at its two facilities in Haiti. Authorities suspect the fire started because the home used candles instead of a functioning generator or battery in a country where power failures are frequent. Lovena's body was held by authorities for three months awaiting autopsy because officials are investigating if the church or its employees bear criminal responsibility for the fire. The autopsy was never performed, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Lovena's mother, Ermilia, attended the ceremony at the Alma Funeral Home along with one friend, Yolande Jean-Louis. Jean-Louis said other family members couldn't attend because they couldn't afford the car fare. The church's Haitian lawyer had promised victims' families $200-$300 in compensation but Luberice said she had only received about $200. After waiting for months, it was time to bury her, Luberice said. This pain in my heart is never going away." Children like Lovena are usually handed over, often as babies, by parents who struggle to support them and want them to at least get food and shelter. Parents generally keep custody and are allowed to visit. Some of the victims of the fire have already been buried while others are awaiting burial. The funeral home declined to provide details. A series of inspections beginning in November 2012 found the church's children's homes didn't meet minimum health and safety standards, with overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and insufficiently trained staff. Haitian authorities stripped them of accreditation. The orphanages failed another round of state inspections in 2017 but hired a lawyer to fight closure, according to Haitian child welfare authorities. They said closing an orphanage can take months or years, particularly if the management has money or influence. The lawyer for the church, Osner Fevry, said it is being unfairly singled out by critics in Haiti and overseas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia, after commenting on the first anniversary of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's inauguration, has made another attempt to interfere in Ukraine's internal affairs, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement. "A comment by the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding the first anniversary of Volodymyr Zelensky assuming the office as President of Ukraine constitutes yet another attempt by Russia to interfere in Ukraine's internal affairs, to impose a distorted interpretation of reality, to split up the Ukrainian society and divert attention from its own responsibility under international law for the aggression against Ukraine," the statement reads. It notes that accusations against Ukraine of pursuing a state policy of Russophobia and exacerbating tensions in relations with Russia are one of the telling examples of disinformation. According to the ministry, the true cause of ruining cooperation between the two states is Russia's ongoing armed aggression against Ukraine, the occupation of Ukrainian territories by Russia, and the illegal detention of Ukrainian citizens by Russia. "The hostile language of the Russian Foreign Ministry's comment contains no hint of constructiveness and casts doubt on the readiness of the Russian side for a diplomatic resolution," the statement reads. Instead, Ukrainian diplomats said that Ukraine "takes the constructive stance in the Normandy format and the Minsk process, and strives for conflict resolution by diplomatic means, bringing forward relevant initiatives." A new delegation of Ukraine to the Trilateral Contact Group and its constructive stance at the latest TCG meeting are among the most recent evidence of such an approach, the ministry said "We expect Russia to change its propaganda rhetoric and move to the constructive cooperation aimed at de-occupying certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as Crimea," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. op PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 16:22:25 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 879 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Physical vapor deposition market players concentrated in China must now concentrate on effective recovery strategies for paint and coating applications to tap into remunerative opportunities after the covid-19 crisis subsides.ROCKVILLE, MD / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Restrictions on all types of non-essential trade between countries are contributing to the declining sales of physical vapor deposition amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, demand for physical vapor deposition processes for antimicrobial coatings are gaining traction, bolstering the growth of physical vapor deposition market. The market is projected to grow at a 6% CAGR during the forecast period 2020 - 2030, concludes a new Fact.MR FACT.MR) report. Physical vapor deposition processes are gaining widespread popularity amid increasing focus on IoT enabled smart devices. Top players in the physical vapor deposition industry are investing in product innovation efforts in computers and smartphones, according to the report. According to Fact.MR's analysis, the global physical vapor deposition market is projected to expand over 1.8x over the forecast period."The current pandemic has resulted in lowered demand for paints and coatings in construction, automotive, and electronics. Recovery in the industry is largely dependent on the duration of transport and trade restrictions being imposed," says the Fact.MR analyst.Request report sample with 200+ pages to gain in-depth insights-Key Takeaways of Physical Vapor Deposition Market StudySales of PVR equipment will experience a substantial surge, driven by demand for decorative finishing and tool coating through 2030.PVD service applications are in gaining higher demand compared attributed to advanced manufacturing processes.Extensive adoption of microelectronics is gaining momentum in view of prolific demand for energy, medical and automotive sectors.Medical equipment production remains a prominent end user of physical vapor deposition.East Asia holds a high growth rate in the global physical vapor deposition market, amidst the rise of disposable income among millennials.Physical Vapor Deposition Market - Key Growth FactorsRecent increases in threading, drilling, grooving, and end-milling applications boost the revenue from physical vapor deposition.Space, military and satellite applications with semiconductor packaging will drive the market growth through the forecast period.The exponential demand for integrated chips and storage capacity for artificial intelligence and internet of things is boosting growth.Heightening demand for affordable electromagnetic shielding materials will propel the market growth through 2030.Physical Vapor Deposition Market - Key RestraintsThe shortage of adequately skilled workers, and high capital costs associated with physical vapor deposition, are continuing challenges for market players.Rising competition from chemical vapor deposition techniques, which generates lesser waste restricts the wider adoption of physical vapor deposition.Explore the full physical vapor deposition market report with 179 illustrative figures, 96 data tables and table of contents. Request ToC of the study atImpact of COVID-19 on Physical Vapor Deposition MarketWith most countries either varying states of lockdown due to COVID-19, electronic, construction, and automotive paint and coating applications have been largely shut down. Consequently, physical vapor deposition processes witnessed a decline in sales during first half of 2020. On the other hand, select segments such as antimicrobial coatings are witnessing a surge in demand owing to application in food and medical equipment industries.Social distancing measures set up by governments and suspension of non-essential international trade, will create substantial problems of cash flow during the initial months of 2020. Countries that are minimally impacted by the coronavirus will become the key focus of players seeking faster recovery from the covid-19 slump.Competitive Landscape of Physical Vapor Deposition MarketSome of the major companies profiled in this FACT.MR report include, but are not limited to, HEF USA, Veeco Instruments, Singulus Technologies, Applied Materials Inc, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH, and Mustang Vacuum Systems. Product innovation for materials with minimal friction coefficients are being prioritized by players in physical vapor deposition market. Players are also seeking avenues to meet customer expectations of lightweight, low carbon materials in automotive components and cutting tools.More About the ReportThis Fact.MR study of 170 pages provides all-inclusive insights on the global physical vapor deposition market. The market analysis is based on category (PVD equipment, PVD materials, and PVD services), and applications (microelectronics, data storage, solar products, cutting tools, medical equipment, and others) across six regions (North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia & Oceania, Middle East & Africa).Explore Extensive Coverage of Fact.MR's Chemical & Materials LandscapeAnti-Sagging Agents Market- Get latest insights on the global anti-sagging agents market through FACT.MR's study covering detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis for predefined projection period (2018-2028).Diphenylamine Market- FACT.MR's panoramic study on the global diphenylamine market encompasses emerging trends, technological advancements, key players, and prominent strategies for the course of forecast period (2019-2029).Guaiacol Market- Obtain comprehensive analysis on the global guaiacol market through FACT.MR's latest report covering key regions, competitive analysis along with segmental analysis for 2018-2028.About Fact.MR Fact.MR is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. Fact.MR is headquartered in Dublin, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India. Fact.MR's latest market research reports and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and take critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition. An Indian medical student stranded in Belfast for three months by Covid-19 travel restrictions can finally fly home today. Shivanghi Yadev from Delhi was due to leave the UK on March 21, just days after the Indian Government closed its borders - even to its own citizens. The country has since begun the biggest repatriation operation in its history. But the two-month delay could set back Shivanghi's graduation by a whole year. And she's had to watch from afar as her peers join the country's coronavirus response. Shivanghi said: "Obviously there is financial stress and academic stress. "I wish I was back there to be a little help to the community there and I'm stuck here so it is frustrating. My friends who were in the same class have been interning - they are in the hospitals helping and working." Shivanghi is the second Indian national to be repatriated with the help of Belfast's Indian Community Centre. Last week, a woman visiting her children here was flown home to be with her husband, who was alone and unwell. The centre's chair, Dr Satyavir Singhal, said about a dozen Indian nationals are waiting to return home. Meanwhile they are being supported by NI's Indian community. "If anybody has a problem liaising with the High Commission and they want to discuss their problems, or some mental support, if they have a medical condition and they want to see a doctor, we can organise that," he said. Foreign media have highlighted the morality and intelligence of Vietnamese late leader Ho Chi Minh as well as his invaluable ideas, on the occasion of his 130th birthday on May 19. In a 2,700-word article published on May 19, German daily Junge Welt cited studies and assessments of President Ho Chi Minh by international politicians, historians, and researchers. The article traced the life and career of the late leader, from his departure to seek national salvation until the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and then the adoption of policies for reconstruction and national development. Cuban and Latin American newspapers also published articles honouring President Ho Chi Minhs revolutionary ideas and career. Cuban media agencies also ran congratulations from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba to its Vietnamese counterpart on the memorable milestone, emphasising the sincere and unbreakable friendship between the two countries. The portal of South American TV channel TeleSur has an article on the Presidents important position in global history, saying he is remembered as one of the smartest and most effective leaders in the socialist struggle. Vietnams struggle and its heritage relating to President Ho Chi Minh serve as inspiration for countries that have been occupied or suffer from military violence, it said. Meanwhile, Indias Moderndiplomacy magazine spotlighted his ideas on world peace, saying he always expressed a desire for common interest and loyalty to the nation. The President was equally concerned with regard to peace in Asia and the world, it said. The resonance in President Ho Chi Minhs ideas was primarily aimed at bringing about global peace through anti-colonialism and reducing the influence of imperialist powers so that development and growth could be ushered in among newly-independent nations, it noted. In letters the President sent to various leaders, he always strived for global peace and development, it added./. Foreign leaders offer congratulations on President Ho Chi Minhs birthday Foreign leaders offer congratulations on President Ho Chi Minhs birthday President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Moros on May 19 sent a letter of congratulations to Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong on the occasion of the 130th birthday of late President Ho Chi Minh. In his letter, the leader praised the late President as an outstanding and intelligent political figure of the region and the world, who gave birth to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was an inspirational and powerful leader for Vietnamese people and those in many countries around the world, the letter said. On the occasion, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also sent a congratulatory letter to her Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc./. Lao, German media praise President Ho Chi Minh on his 130th birthday Lao media praise President Ho Chi Minh on his 130th birthday The Khaosan Pathet Lao (KPL) news agency and Pasason daily of Laos have ran articles highlighting President Ho Chi Minhs life and revolutionary career, and his close relationship with the Lao revolution, on the occasion of his 130th birthday (May 19). The countrys media also praised the late leader for his great contributions to the national liberation movements of oppressed nations worldwide. In its article, the news agency said President Ho Chi Minh was one of the outstanding activists of the international labour and communist movement to liberate Vietnam from the yoke of old and new colonialism. He always followed the struggles of Lao revolutionaries, it noted, adding that the President also directed Vietnamese officials, soldiers and people to help the Lao revolution. It stressed the importance to safeguard and nurture the Vietnam-Laos special solidarity that was founded by the late President. Meanwhile, Pasason emphasised great contributions of President Ho Chi Minh to the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) during the two countries struggles for national liberation, saying that his contributions were particularly appreciated by international friends. The UZ newspaper and the website Redglobe.de of Germany also ran articles on the late leader on the occasion of his 130th birthday. They recalled his life and glorious revolutionary career. The German Communist Partys Central Committee sent congratulations to its Vietnamese counterpart on the occasion, affirming that President Ho Chi Minh is one of the outstanding politicians of the 20th century./. Uncle Hos 130th birthday marked in Switzerland, Chile The Vietnamese Embassy in Switzerland on May 20 holds a ceremony gathering local representative offices of Vietnam to mark President Ho Chi Minh's 130th birthday. The Vietnamese embassies in Switzerland and Chile paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh on May 19 to commemorate his 130th birthday (May 19, 1890 2020). In Geneva, the Vietnamese Embassy held a ceremony gathering local representative offices of Vietnam to pay respect to the late president. Ambassador Le Linh Lan spoke highly of President Ho Chi Minh as the first foreign minister of Vietnam, saying he had formed Vietnams modern diplomacy. His diplomatic ideology is still lighting the way for the countrys foreign policies, she said. The embassy also screened a documentary on President Ho Chi Minh and planted a tree at the embassy in Switzerland to pay homage to the Vietnamese leader. The Embassy of Vietnam in Chile offered wreaths at President Ho Chi Minhs monument at Ho Chi Minh Park in Cerro Navia district, Santiago. At the event, Ambassador Nguyen Ngoc Son and Cerro Navia governor Ramon Sotomayo expressed their admiration for the president and his contributions to Vietnams struggle for independence and national reconstruction./. International friends speak of admiration for President Ho Chi Minh Professor Jayachandra Reddy Foreign officials and scholars have expressed their admiration for President Ho Chi Minh on the occasion of his 130th birthday. Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies at the Sri Venkateswara University in India, Professor Jayachandra Reddy, said the world recognises Ho Chi Minh as a legendary leader. The Indian people admire him for his sound leadership and unyielding fighting spirit in the cause of national liberation and independence. General Secretary of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee of West Bengal state, Dr Prava Samantaray, lauded the late President as a leader who inspired and guided Vietnam to defeat major global powers like the French colonialists, the American imperialists, and the Japanese fascists, adding that Ho Chi Minh is her idol and also a great thinker. Head of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP)s Commission for External Relations, Sounthone Sayachak, affirmed that the success of the Lao revolution is attributable to the leadership and guidance of President Ho Chi Minh. Vinaythong Souphanouvong, 74, son of the late Prince Souphanouvong, who was also the first President of Laos, was most impressed by Uncle Hos modesty, sincerity, and straightforwardness. Vice President for the Americas and the Caribbean of the International Democratic Womens Federation, Elizabeth Tortosa, who is the wife of the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Venezuela, Jesus Faria Tortosa, shared her memories about meeting President Ho in 1965. Elizabeth arrived in Vietnam as part of a campaign for the release of her husband, who was in bad health in prison. She recalled that during the meeting with President Ho in Hanoi, the President inquired about her husbands health and expressed his support for the campaign. I was impressed by the simple style, wisdom, and revolutionary modesty of the President, she said. The meeting was one of the biggest political lessons of her life, she said, and President Ho was among the great revolutionary leaders of the 20th century. Wang Feng, a former military doctor in Beijing who met the President in 1957 when she was five, recalled that she burst into tears when hearing about his death. Park Chan Kyong, a journalist in the Republic of Korea, also admired the late leader for his endless love for the Vietnamese people and their unyielding struggle for national independence. French historian Alain Ruscio said President Ho was a legend in the hearts of Vietnams international friends./. New Delhi, May 21 : A 50-year-old Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Assistant Sub-Inspector lost his battle against COVID-19 and passed away during treatment here, three months after celebrating his birthday. The ASI, deployed with 84th Battalion of CRPF, succumbed to the virus infection at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. A resident of Bihar, the CRPF personnel was battling co-morbidity of COVID-19 infection and liver cancer. This was the second COVID-19 death in the force, and it was again reported from the national capital. Earlier, a 55-year-old Sub-Inspector of the 3.5-lakh strong paramilitary force had succumbed to corona infection in April. CRPF Director General Anand Prakash Maheshwari condoled the death of the ASI and tweeted: "We pay tribute to our corona warrior and stand shoulder to shoulder with the family". The CRPF, the country's largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), is mandated for internal security duties and anti-Naxal and counter-terrorist operations, apart from rendering regular law and order duties. Meanwhile, the CRPF said nine new positive cases were reported in the force in Delhi, taking the the corona-infected personnel's tally in the force to 335. All the nine patients have been shifted to AIIMS, Jhajjar. Of the 335 CRPF personnel, 121 are active while 212 have recovered and two have succumbed to the deadly virus. The virus has so far infected over 700 CAPF personnel, including BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and NSG, but most of them have been recovering for the last few days and the number of new positive cases in these armed wings is going down rapidly. Ajanta Pharma jumped 4.56% to Rs 1507.95 after consolidated net profit jumped 45.3% to Rs 129.16 crore on 32.4% surge in net sales to Rs 681.96 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Profit before tax (PBT) rose 61.06% to Rs 175.86 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Current tax expense jumped 272.97% to Rs 49.53 crore during the quarter. Consolidated EBITDA grew at 19% to Rs 151 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. During the quarter, India sales were up 11% to Rs 177 crore in Q4 March 2020 as compared to Rs 159 crore in Q4 March 2019. As per IQVIA MAT March 2020, the company posted a healthy growth of 11% in Cardiology (segment growth of 11%), 17% in Ophthalmology (segment growth of 11%), 6% in Dermatology (segment growth of 9%) and 16% in Pain Management (segment growth of 12%). Total exports soared 43% to Rs 490 crore in Q4 March 2020 from Rs 343 crore in Q4 March 2019. The pharma company's emerging market branded generic sale surged 38% year-on-year basis to Rs 304 crore in Q4 March 2020. US generic sale stood at 143 crore, recording a sensational growth of 88% on year on year basis in Q4 March 2020. The company said R&D expenses were at Rs 50 crore in Q4 March 2020, (Q4 FY 2019 Rs 40 crore) which is 7% of operating revenue. Ajanta Pharma's consolidated net profit surged 21% to Rs 467.70 crore on 25.9% rise in net sales to Rs 2587.87 crore in the year ended March 2020 (FY20) over the year ended March 2019 (FY19). PBT rose 29.11% to 663.97 crore in FY20 over FY19. Ajanta Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in developing, producing and marketing a range of branded and generic formulations. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bethlehem is struggling back to life just in time for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, nearly three months after it became the first town in the West Bank to be sealed off because of a coronavirus outbreak. Although the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, remains shut, shops are displaying new clothes and sweets to lure customers after 75 days of closures. The city livened up after the Palestinian Authority on Saturday eased curbs in several cities, including Bethlehem, in preparation for Eid El-Fitr, which is due on Saturday or Sunday and marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Shops, businesses and banks were allowed to restart briefly in cities not heavily affected by the infection. But to try to limit the mass gatherings normally seen during holidays, the PA said that during the three days of the festival itself a blanket lockdown would be re-imposed on the West Bank. The announcement confused many residents who had only just begun to enjoy a first taste of greater freedom. Closures will prevent people from celebrating in the usual ways, by holding family feasts, wear new clothes and visit parks. "People want to celebrate despite corona, despite the existing situation, and despite the suffering," Bethlehem resident Khaled Abdel-Moati said. "I believe this situation is very dangerous." The PA has recorded two deaths and 388 infections. But some believe it over-reacted, causing economic problems. "Stores are open, but there are no people inside them," said Yasser Jawariesh, from the city of Beit Jala. In Gaza, where there have been no confirmed coronavirus cases outside quarantine centres, Hamas officials said a full lockdown was not yet needed. People flocked into markets and shops by the thousand, only a few wearing masks. Gaza religious officials have announced the gradual re-opening of mosques on May 22, two months after they closed. "Whether there is corona or not, we want to work, we want to have our Eid, and we want to celebrate," said Gaza shoe seller Younis Almoghrabi. Search Keywords: Short link: Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its iconic talc-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada as soon as its current inventory runs out, the company announced Tuesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its iconic talc-based baby powder in the U.S. and Canada as soon as its current inventory runs out, the company announced Tuesday. The decision was made due to "changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising," the company said in a statement, adding that the powder makes up just 0.5 per cent of its total U.S. Consumer Health business. The cornstarch-based version of the powder will still be available in the U.S., and both types will be sold in "other markets around the world where there is significantly higher consumer demand for the product," Johnson & Johnson said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The company has for years been battling allegations that its talcum powder is laced with asbestos and has given people cancer, and has paid millions of dollars in settlements. In April 2018, a New Jersey court ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay banker Stephen Lanzo III US$30 million in compensatory damages and his wife, Kendra, US$7 million. Also in 2018 a Los Angeles jury awarded US$25.7 million to a woman who blamed her cancer on the powder, and a jury in Missouri awarded US$4.69 million to 22 women. In March 2019, a court in Oakland, Calif., found in favour of Teresa Leavitt in ruling that the powder was a "substantial contributing factor" to her mesothelioma and awarded her US$29 million. In all, as of March last year the New Jersey-based company was facing 13,000 lawsuits around the country. Johnson & Johnson insists its products are safe and do not contain asbestos, even though in October 2019 it did recall a batch of talcum powder out of an "abundance of caution" after minute, "sub-trace" amounts of asbestos were found in a single bottle from a lot shipped in 2018. New York Daily News S&A Nails has taken a long path back to reopening after Harvey brought about 4 feet of flood waters into the Kingwood business. The nail spa reopened in the same location at 4423 Kingwood Drive with a renovated and expanded lounge in May nearly three years after Hurricane Harvey forced them to rebuild their home and business. STAY-AT-HOME EXTENDED: Harris County Judge Hidalgo continues order until at least June 10 It was important for the family business to remain in Kingwood, said Aliza Tran. Aliza works with her sister Sasha at the shop owned by their parents, Andre and Francy. The Tran family has lived and worked in Kingwood since 2001, she said. We always knew that we wanted to reopen, and we knew that we really wanted to reopen in the same spot, Aliza said. That was really important to us, and its just because Kingwood has been our home for over 15 years now and it just wouldnt have felt right reopening in a new place. S&A offers professional nail care with manicures and pedicures, waxing and facials. However, the business is encouraging appointments because coronavirus containment measures prevent salons from having a waiting area. Longtime customers will notice a different look because the salon lost all of its decorations and supplies in the flood. The Tran family took the time to renovate, raising their ceilings, changing the flooring and expanding the space. While the look is different, the service is still the same, Aliza said. By appearances, I would say its completely different, but its the same in that my parents are still here It still evokes the same feelings, she said. The family has been resilient closing after Harvey and reopening during a pandemic and dedicated to Kingwood. Now the family is asking the community to support them as they get back on their feet, Aliza said. To be completely honest, we still get anxious each time it storms and were in the same boat of unpredictability as our community, but we chose to reopen and expand in our original spot (located in the old H-E-B shopping center) for a reason, the family said in a Facebook post. We owe it all to our loyal customers and community. www.bestprosintown.com/tx/houston/s-and-a-nails-/ www.facebook.com/sanailskingwood/ 281-318-7965 Laundry services app opens in Lake Houston area For the residents that despise chores like laundry, theres now an app for that. hampr, an app that offers wash-and-fold laundry services, debuted in the Lake Houston area in early May after launching in Louisiana in early 2020. LOCKED INSIDE: A coronavirus outbreak at jails was a nightmare scenario. Then it actually happened. The platform allows users to schedule wash-and-fold laundry services via the mobile app. Customers pay between $10-$15 per load and their laundry is picked up, washed, folded and delivered back to them by local employees. The company offers a year-long membership for $39. The company was founded by Laurel Hess. I had gotten home from a business trip and was surrounded by laundry. It was the weekend and my sons had birthday parties and T-ball opening day I didnt know how I was going to get it all done, said Hess. If we can get our groceries and food from our favorite restaurants deliveredwhy cant we get laundry done with the click of a button? The hampr app is currently available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Those interested in being washrs can apply at https://www.tryhampr.com/signup/ . Kingwood author unveils new book Kingwood author Linda Cunningham is preparing for the release of her next book Early Thursday on June 1. Cunningham outlines the challenges Louisiana faced after Hurricane Audrey made landfall in Cameron Parish on June 27, 1957. Hurricane Audrey caused more than 400 deaths and $150 million in damage as it made its way up the mid-section of the U.S. Early Thursday is a fictional story of twelve-year-old Walt LaCour and his family who fail to evacuate and become trapped in the flood water when the hurricane hits early, according to a statement about the books release. This hurricane takes with her nearly 500 lives and every shred of normalcy Walt had ever called his own. Cunningham, who grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana, used the stories she learned from people who lived through the storm to help her write the book. Her father Larry Stephenson, a civil defense lawyer in Lake Charles, La. and Calcasieu Parish, witnessed homelessness, death and despair as property and lives were lost in the storms aftermath. The book is available for preorder on Amazon. https://www.facebook.com/LindaSCunninghamEarlyThursday/ chris.shelton@chron.com Shelley Davies waits for her delivery at Plants and Friends./Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate LATEST May 21, 3:20 p.m. Santa Clara County has seen a spike in fentanyl overdoses over the past few weeks. In the last week or two there have been approximately seven fatal fentanyl overdoses, which year over year is off the charts, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Brian Buckelew said. Buckelew stated that many deaths are linked to fake opioid pills laced with fentanyl, and most of the victims are aged aged 16 to 25. He believes the shelter-in-place order has had an effect. We have a great concern that young people being out of school have more free time, they are bored and they are looking for new experiences, he said. May 21, 2:30 p.m. Here's a rundown of new cases and deaths reported Thursday in counties around the Bay Area. This list will be updated as more counties make announcements. San Francisco reported 13 new cases to increase the case total to 2,198. The death toll remains 37. Alameda reported two new deaths and 49 new cases. The total number of cases is 2,609 and the death toll is 90. Contra Costa reported three new deaths and 25 new cases. The total number of cases is 1,234 and the death toll is 36. Sonoma reported 22 new cases to increase its total to 433. The death toll remains four. Napa reported one new case to increase its total to 95. The death toll remains three. Marin reported nine new cases to increase its total to 352. The death toll remains 14. Solano reported one new death and 14 new cases. The total number of cases is 449 and the death toll is 19. May 21, 2:00 p.m. Doctors at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek told ABC7 they've seen more deaths from suicide than deaths from COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. Dr. Mike deBoisblanc, the head of the trauma department, said his hospital has "seen a year's worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks" and called for the end of Contra Costa County's shelter-in-place order. "Personally I think it's time," he said. "I think, originally, this was put in place to flatten the curve and to make sure hospitals have the resources to take care of COVID patients. We have the current resources to do that and our other community health is suffering." In response, health officials in Contra Costa County issued the following statement: "We understand that this is a very difficult time for many people and it can feel very isolating to practice social distancing. We want to stress that the shelter-in-place order is saving lives at the same time. It's not uncommon for medical professionals to have differing opinions on courses of treatment for many health issues. The Shelter-in-Place order is no different. We will continue to look to the science of our identified indicators as we determine how best to move forward." UPDATE: Dr. deBoisblanc later walked back his comments in an interview with BuzzFeed News. Click here to read more. May 21, 1:30 p.m. Santa Clara County is looking to hire 1,000 volunteers for its contact tracing program. The volunteers will receive online training and work remotely. The primary job functions are ensuring COVID-19 patients have the necessary resources to quarantine at home and identifying recent contacts of infected individuals. May 21, 12:45 p.m. During a virtual meeting with representatives from California school districts Thursday, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said the state is looking at implementing several physical distancing measures schools must follow to reopen in the fall. Some of the measures include outdoor classes, mask requirements and cutting class sizes. However, Thurmond warned during a press conference that schools will not be able to reopen safely unless they receive additional federal dollars to procure masks, hand sanitizer and other equipment. Schools could face cuts given the large budget deficit caused by the pandemic. "We believe our school districts can't reopen safely if they have to implement these kinds of cuts," Thurmond said. May 21, 11:20 a.m. State beaches are reopening in the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, but local officials are urging visitors to maintain six feet separation from other beach-goers. The beaches are intended to be open only to county residents, and while officials cannot stop non-locals from showing up, they warn the beaches can easily be closed again if there is mass crowding. Were grateful for the compliance we got from the local community, said Terry Bertels, District Superintendent of the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District. Its all contingent on the outcomes, to continue doing this in the future. May 21, 8:55 a.m. San Francisco is closing 13 more streets to through traffic this week, increasing the space where residents can walk, run and cycle while maintaining at least six feet of distance from others. The Slow Streets program started last month, and in the first phase 20 miles of streets were closed to through traffic, mainly along corridors that mimic some of Muni's popular routes where bus service has been reduced. Read the full story on SFGATE. In this second phase, 13 new corridors are being converted into Slow Streets and when complete, the city will have 34 miles closed to through traffic. May 21, 7:30 a.m. The Oakland Police Department announced Wednesday night a fifth officer confirmed to have COVID-19. The infected officer is self-quarantining at home and isn't showing any symptoms. The department is implementing a plan to test more people in the department. May 21, 7:10 a.m. Solano County received state approval Wednesday to move deeper into Stage 2 of California's four-phase reopening plan. With a regional variance, the county can make new modifications to its local stay-at-home order, including the reopening of shopping malls, swap meets, dine-in restaurants and schools, all with social distancing measures in place. "We believe that we are ready for this next step in the recovery process and look forward to expanding opportunities for our public and business communities," Erin Hannigan, District 1 Supervisor and Chairwoman of the Solano County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. Thank you to all of the County staff who worked on the attestation variance application process and for helping keep our community safe. Napa is another Bay Area county that met certain criteria, including stability of disease rate in the community, to move through to Stage 2 more quickly and on Tuesday restaurants started reopening with dine-in service. The state has a four-stage Resilience Roadmap plan that relaxes the stay-at-home order in four stages. The Bay Area has lagged behind the state in making modifications, but Napa and Solano County are now in line with the state order. Coronavirus in the greater Bay Area: A county-by-county snapshot ALAMEDA COUNTY: 2,609 confirmed cases, 90 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing For more information on Alameda County, visit the public health department website. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY: 1,234 confirmed cases, 36 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing For more information on Contra Costa County, visit the public health department website. LAKE COUNTY: 12 confirmed cases What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities For information on Lake County, visit the public health department website. MARIN COUNTY: 343 confirmed cases, 14 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing Fore more information on Marin County, visit the public health department website. MONTEREY COUNTY: 355 confirmed cases, 8 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing For more information on Monterey County, visit the public health department website. NAPA COUNTY: 95 cases, 3 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing; received state approval to open dine-in restaurants, shopping malls and schools For more information on Napa County, visit the public health department website. SAN BENITO COUNTY: 64 confirmed cases, 2 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail, manufacturing, restaurants, shopping malls For more information on San Benito County, visit the public health department website. SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY: 2,198 confirmed cases, 37 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing For more information on San Francisco County, visit the public health department website. SAN MATEO COUNTY: 1,738 confirmed cases, 75 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail and manufacturing For more information on San Mateo County, visit the public health department website. SANTA CLARA COUNTY: 2,492 confirmed cases, 138 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities; retail and manufacturing opening on Friday Fore more information on Santa Clara County, visit the public health department website. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: 168 confirmed cases, 2 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail, manufacturing For more information on Santa Cruz County, visit the public health department website. SOLANO COUNTY: 449 confirmed cases, 19 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: All "low-risk" businesses that can comply with physical distancing guidelines; received state approval to open dine-in restaurants, shopping malls and schools For more information on Solano County, visit the public health department website. SONOMA COUNTY: 433 confirmed cases, 4 deaths What's open beyond essential businesses: Outdoor businesses and activities, retail, manufacturing, car washes, pet groomers, outdoor museums, offices where telework is not possible For more information on Sonoma County, visit the public health department website. CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Here are answers to your most frequently asked questions about coronavirus 'Human parking spots' descend on SF's Dolores Park to keep people apart Higher tuition, shorter days: What schools could look like when they reopen Results adjusted in large-scale Los Angeles County COVID-19 antibody study WHEN WILL THE BAY AREA REOPEN? With changes made to state order, here's what you need to know: What's open and closed in California? California could move into Stage 3 in June: Here's what that means Newsom details 4 stages to reopen California businesses Namita Bajpai By Express News Service LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a consistent upward curve the state's coronavirus graph with soaring daily figures of positive cases to over 300. On Tuesday, 323 people, the highest single-day figure so far, had tested positive for COVID-19. The surge during the last 4-5 days is attributed to the rise in the number of daily sample testing which has gone much beyond 5000 mark. Moreover, the migrants testing positive for the virus tests is an added reason for the surge. As per the estimate of the state health department, the rate of infection among migrants is much higher - 22.2 per cent - than the statewide rate of infection which is pegged at 2.6 per cent. According to Principal secretary, health, Amit Mohan Prasad, about 22.2% - 26 out of 117 - sample collected from migrants had so far tested positive in Uttar Pradesh. "About 4.75 lakh migrant workers in home quarantine have been surveyed by Asha workers so far. In all, 565 of them were manifesting symptoms of COVID-19. On Tuesday, 117 samples reports mainly of migrants arrived establishing 26 of them positive for the deadly virus, said the principal secretary. Moreover, 50 migrants, who had returned to Basti from Pune last week, tested positive for coronavirus on a single day. The migrant workers were quarantined at the district medical college and Saral College after their return on May 16. Basti DM Ashutosh Niranjan confirmed the figures. On Wednesday morning 38 more cases all related to migrants had tested positive for COVID-19. This took the tally of migrants having tested positive to 187 in the state. After these findings, Prasad urged migrant workers to strictly follow home quarantine norms in the larger interests of their family members. However, senior government officials confirmed on the condition of anonymity that 70 per cent of the new cases in the state were migrants. Considering that between May 1 and 19, 2,619 Covid-positive cases have cropped up in UP, around 1800 of them could be migrants. Health officials have, however, pinned their hopes on the screening and monitoring of migrant workers by the gram nigrani and mohalla nigrani samitis (village and locality monitoring panels). Principal secretary Prasad said that anticipating a migrant surge of coronavirus cases in the state, the health department had rolled out a two-layer screening plan. "In the first layer, migrant workers pass through a thermal scan. Those clear are sent home for 21 days quarantine while those held back are sent into institutional quarantine where they are tested again after seven days. Those who test negative are sent home for two weeks home quarantine. Positive cases are naturally admitted to Covid hospitals," he said. The second layer of screening is being done by Asha workers. "The Asha workers have been asked to keep track of migrant workers in their village and alert the authorities even at the slightest doubt or onset of symptoms," said the officer. Even the Health officials are also banking upon the data gathered from the Aarogya Setu app. "As many as 20,768 calls have been made on the basis of Aarogya Setu alerts. Among the suspects, 181 are in medical quarantine while 50 of them have tested positive. Of the confirmed cases, 23 have been sent home after complete recovery," he said. So far, over three crore people have been surveyed so far in the state. However, the total tally of the state has breached 5000 mark. Around 130 people have lost their life due to COVID-19 and 2918 patients 59.2% -- have been discharged from the hospitals after recovery. The number of active cases is 1825 in the state. Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer (Lucknow), Dr Narendra Agarwal said the cases may further rise as it was very difficult to find out the contact history of all the migrant workers who have returned home. A man is accused of importing methamphetamine stuffed in chillies hidden away in a children's book. Rossiter McQueen, 32, was charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug after Australia Border Forcer officers intercepted a parcel from Canada at a Perth air cargo depot on May 17. Inside the parcel, police found a children's book which was pulled apart and inside was powdered chillies in the cover which had remnants of methamphetamine. Police raided McQueen's house where they found the 300g of meth worth $225,000 which he had pulled apart from the book. They also found about $7,000 in cash and a small amount of cannabis. Police raided Rossiter McQueen's (right) house where they found the 300g of meth worth $225,000 which he had pulled apart from the book Following an x-ray, officers pulled a part a children's book and discovered powdered chillies in the cover which had remnants of methamphetamine McQueen appeared in Perth Magistrate's Court after being charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug. He faces up to 25 years' jail. Prosecutors requested strict bail conditions where McQueen must remain at his South Yunderup address, surrender his passport, report to police three times a week and staying one kilometre away from Perth Airport, The West reported. They also told McQueen to provide a $50,000 personal undertaking and a $50,000 surety which was disputed by his lawyer saying he couldn't afford it. Magistrate Evan Shackleton disregarded McQueen's lawyers comment and said the surety was necessary based on the allegations. McQueen was remanded as is due to reappear in court in June. As many as 59 more people tested positive for coronavirus in Indore in the last 24 hours, raising the number of such cases in the worst hit district of Madhya Pradesh to 2,774, an official said on Thursday. The COVID-19 death toll in the district also rose to 107, after two more patients, both men aged 57 and 62 years, died during treatment at a private hospital on Tuesday, Indore's Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia said. Both the victims were also suffering from diabetes, the official said. Till Wednesday, the district recorded 2,715 coronavirus cases. With 59 more people testing positive for the disease in last 24 hours, Indore's tally has now gone up to 2,774, he said. Out of the total 5,735 COVID-19 cases recorded in Madhya Pradesh till Wednesday, nearly 48 per cent have been from Indore alone. The disease outbreak was first reported in the district on March 24, when four people tested positive for the infection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Peoples Committee of Da Nang has asked the two investors behind high-rise projects to change the glass used on the facade of the buildings by the end of this month. Glass walls on the SHB Building in Da Nang reflect dazzling light. The city of Da Nang asked the project investor to revise the colour of the glass. According to the citys construction department, the two investors installed yellow glass on the facade of the two buildings on Nguyen Van Linh and Nhu Nguyet streets in downtown Hai Chau District. The glass reflects intense sunlight, badly affecting residents, as well as the overall architectural design of the city. It said the SHB 15-storey office building, which was invested by Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB), on Nguyen Van Linh Street, has finished installation of yellow glass on three of its sides. The glass reflects sunlight, distracting commuters, causing traffic problems and annoying residents. The 31-storey Risemount Apartment block, which was invested by PAVNC joint-stock company, a member of Vicoland Group, also used similar glass. The department had asked the two investors to adjust the design of the glass and limit the impact on people and architecture of the city. But no progress has been made by the two investors. According to the latest report from the department, the two investors have offered solutions to reduce the reflections from the two buildings. The investors would use film layers to reduce luminance on the SHB building, while green bonsai and curtains would be installed on the Risemount Apartment project. The department said the two investors had violated the construction regulations and proposed design that was submitted before commencing construction. It will continue supervising the progress of the revised plan of the two investors as soon as qualified solutions are given for approval. Earlier this year, the city also asked the department to investigate illegal violations on construction at the two 42-storey buildings and a hotel of the Muong Thanh Group. The city had asked the investor to dismantle construction items inside the buildings where a public garage and kindergarten area were illegally developed for more than 104 flats. VNS Demolition work to continue at 8B Le Truc building The second phase of the demolition of illegally constructed floors of a building at 8B Le Truc Street in Hanois Ba Dinh District, is expected to start on May 15. By Aram Roston and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, returned to his New York home on Thursday after being released early from a federal prison due to concerns of possible coronavirus exposure. "There is so much I want to say and intend to say. But now is not the right time. Soon," Cohen said on Twitter after walking into his Manhattan apartment building, wearing a white surgical mask, blue jeans and a dark blazer. Cohen, 53, had completed about a year of a three-year sentence for his role paying hush money to two women - pornographic film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - who said they had sexual relationships with Trump, as well as for financial crimes and lying to Congress. Trump has denied relationships with either woman. He is expected to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement, two sources familiar with the case said on condition of anonymity. Cohen had been eligible for release from prison in November 2021. Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania last week to finish his sentence at home due to similar concerns. A Cohen lawyer in March said the federal Bureau of Prisons has been "demonstrably incapable of safeguarding and treating BOP inmates who are obliged to live in close quarters and are at an enhanced risk of catching coronavirus." Cohen, who once said he would "take a bullet" for Trump, later turned on his former boss and cooperated with Democratic-led congressional inquiries. Trump has called Cohen a "rat." Cohen has called Trump a "racist," a "con man" and "a cheat." Cohen pleaded guilty to the charges that led to his imprisonment. They also included lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. (Reporting by Aram Roston and Mark Hosenball, additional reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham and Howard Goller) Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday set the start date of a legislative special session, as her administration tries to juggle the pandemics financial impact with efforts to suppress the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Democratic governor said that approved spending increases will have to be slowed due to a drop of up to $2.4 billion in estimated revenue levels but that federal stimulus funds and state cash reserves could help the state avoid layoffs and furloughs of state workers and teachers. Were in a pretty good position where I dont anticipate well have to make deep cuts, Lujan Grisham said during a Wednesday news conference that was broadcast online. The budget-balancing special session will begin June 18, the governor said, and could be concluded in a matter of days. The agenda is expected to include a virus relief package of some kind. But its unclear whether the public will be allowed to attend due to social distancing guidelines and a ban on large public gatherings. The states budget faces incredible pressure because of economic disruptions related to the pandemic and a collapse in oil prices. Lujan Grishams administration last week issued a revised public health order that allows retailers and houses of worship in most parts of New Mexico to reopen at limited capacity. Dine-in restaurants, gyms, salons and movie theaters remain closed for now, as the Lujan Grisham administration has said its not safe yet for them to reopen. But the governor said Wednesday that those establishments could be allowed to reopen in limited capacity on June 1, with coronavirus case counts in much of the state either declining or showing signs of plateauing including in New Mexicos hard-hit northwest corner. Were on track, Lujan Grisham said. But she urged people to continue staying home, wearing masks and taking steps to slow the spread of the disease. New Mexico has pushed its coronavirus transmission rate down to 1.12 overall a sign of the states progress controlling the spread of the disease, state officials said Wednesday. The calculation based on state data means that each person with COVID-19 spreads it to 1.12 other people on average. Its down from about 1.24 earlier this month and below the 1.15 target the state set for mid-May. Were getting good control of the virus, Human Services Secretary David Scrase said Wednesday. However, he said, social distancing measures are vital to keeping the virus at bay, comparing the situation with keeping a parachute fully deployed until landing. Were not ready to completely reopen everything, Scrase added. Statewide toll at 283 Overall, New Mexicos death toll from the coronavirus now stands at 283, after seven additional deaths were announced Wednesday. In addition, testing confirmed 134 new cases, for a total of 6,317 since March 11, when COVID-19 was first detected in the state. As of Wednesday, more than half of New Mexicos COVID-19 deaths 178 out of 283 had occurred in the northwestern New Mexico counties of McKinley and San Juan, which both have high Native American populations. Overall, Native Americans currently make up about 58.2% of all confirmed cases statewide, according to the state Department of Health, despite representing just 11% of the states overall population. Meanwhile, the states overall coronavirus mortality rate of 4.2% of those infected ranks in the middle of the pack among states and is lower than the national average of 6% of all COVID-19 cases, according to DOH data. While the states overall outlook is improving, potential trouble spots, Scrase said, include some communities in southern New Mexico. The transmission rate, for example, climbed in southeastern New Mexico at odds with the trend in other regions of the state. Travel from Texas appears to have caused the increase in cases, Scrase said. Lujan Grisham said El Paso is having a jump in hospitalizations a potential threat to residents in adjacent Dona Ana County. She said she knows its frustrating to have different rules in different states, but she urged people to avoid unnecessary travel. Were not quite seeing a decline in cases, Lujan Grisham said Wednesday, but we are feeling good about the stability of whats occurring in New Mexico. Killing livelihoods Republican lawmakers, business groups and some local officials in recent days have increasingly called for Lujan Grisham to ease restrictions, citing low infection rates in some parts of New Mexico. State GOP Chairman Steve Pearce kept up the drumbeat of criticism Wednesday, accusing the Lujan Grisham administration of having a piecemeal approach to business restrictions. The continued shutdown is killing livelihoods while other businesses are partially opened and national chains take in New Mexico dollars, Pearce said in a statement. This is unjust and unfair. In response, the governor and some Democratic lawmakers have accused Republicans of putting economic concerns above public safety. Lujan Grisham and top Cabinet secretaries in her administration also say their decisions are being guided by science, even as scientific consensus shifts in some cases. The governor also told Senate Republicans who had urged her this week to fully reopen the states economy that New Mexico is in a position to start gradually reopening only because of the aggressive, early actions taken by her administration. But she has also acknowledged the damage done to businesses during the pandemic and suggested Wednesday that things wont return to normal anytime soon. This is going to be a long summer, Lujan Grisham said. Kaleemah Rozier speaks to the press in front of Kings County Supreme Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York on May 19 about her arrest for not wearing a face mask. (Oliver Trey/NTD) NY Mother Speaks out After Getting Arrested for Not Wearing Mask NEW YORKA New York mother is speaking out about her arrest for failure to wear a face mask after she was pushed to the ground by police after tensions rose when she refused to put on a mask in a subway station last week. Her lawyer said he plans to take civil actions against the city and its police department for damages. While we encourage all New Yorkers to social distance and to wear masks, it is not necessary to have what happened to this young victim 22 years old to happen to anyone else in the city, her attorney Sanford Rubenstein said. Police arrested Kaleemah Rozier, 22, in a New York subway on May 13 for not wearing a protective mask properly. The arrest was captured on video and quickly went viral. On Tuesday, Rozier spoke out against the arrest saying she will get justice. Its very hurtful for me because it was in front of my son, my 5-year-old son, like, he was crying, like, I dont understand how could they do that in front of my son, and its very hurtful. And thats all I gotta say, Rozier said. According to New Yorks Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, the officers politely informed her she cannot enter the transit system without properly wearing a mask, before escorting her out of the station. The New York Police Department (NYPD) says she used vulgar language and refused to wear her mask over her nose and mouth. Rozier let go of her 5-year-old sons hand to push an officers hand. As a result, three officers grabbed her, knocking what appears to be her phone out of her hand. They wrestled her to the ground, hand-cuffed her, and took her into custody and arrested her. What the cops did to me was wrong, especially in front of my son, and to have the biggest cop, sit on me, Rozier said. Roziers lawyer is calling on the Kings County District Attorney to drop the one charge against her, which is for resisting arrest. He says he will be bringing civil actions against the city of New York and the NYPD for damages for the injuries she sustained. He is also coming after the city on behalf of her 5-year-old son who saw his mother taken into custody, thrown to the ground, sat on by a police officer at five years old, not understanding what was happening in shock, who was traumatized by this. Theres six of them there. Why are they attacking a mother and her child? Kirill Kachnsky, an entrepreneur who watched the viral video which was since been viewed over 1.5 million times, told NTD News. Now that child will remember that you know probably the rest of his life, and hell wonder, Whats goin on? These people dont like my mother, Katherine Chavis, a retired artist, told NTD. After the incident, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will no longer enforce mask wearing unless there is serious danger. The police issued Rozier a Desk Appearance Ticket and released her. Her court date is set for Sept. 10. Follow Kevin on Twitter From NTD News After being panned by the entire world over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, China seems to have ventured into damage control mode to salvage its image and reputation with the help of Hollywood star Jackie Chan. Since Chan is the only Chinese actor who happens to enjoy massive popularity in India, he has been deployed by the Chinese government to send a message of peace and love to Indians in its fight against the novel Coronavirus disease. The Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong shared the video of the action star on his Twitter handle. The 37-second-long clip was accompanied by the following note: Glad to share Jackie Chan @EyeOfJackieChan, famous Chinese movie star's good wishes & support to #India. Jia You Yindu! Come on India! Fight #COVID19. Glad to share Jackie Chan @EyeOfJackieChan, famous Chinese movie star's good wishes & support to #India. Jia You Yindu! Come on India! Fight #COVID19. pic.twitter.com/l3XJkJRwoO Sun Weidong (@China_Amb_India) May 19, 2020 The video of the 66-year-old wishing Indians a bright future begins and ends with 'namaste as he asks everyone to remain positive and strong amid the global health crisis. The 'message garnered a lukewarm response and skepticism from netizens online while many expressed their disappointment in the actor under the comments sections. It must be recollected that Jackie Chan has also worked in an Indo-Chinese production titled Kung Fu Yoga. The action-comedy released in 2017 and also starred Sonu Sood and Disha Patani in pivotal roles. The film had been shot in many exotic locations in India, China, Iceland, and Dubai but sadly, failed in wooing the audiences. ALSO READ: Bryan Adams Offers 'No Excuse' Apology After 'Bat Eating' Coronavirus Rant ALSO READ: TV Show 'The Dead Zone' Predicted A Virus Spread Similar To COVID-19 From China In 2003 Farfetch Limited (NYSE:FTCH), the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry, today announced that Elliot Jordan, Chief Financial Officer, will participate in the Cowen and Company 2020 Consumer Platforms for the Next Generation conference on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. ET. Please visit the Company's investor relations website at http://farfetchinvestors.com to access the live webcast of the virtual fireside discussion. A replay will be available for 30 days following the event. The Company also announced that it filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2020. The Annual Report on Form 20-F can be accessed on the Company's investor relations website at http://farfetchinvestors.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The Company's security holders may request a hard copy of the Company's complete audited financial statements by visiting the "Investor Alerts Contact Us" page in the Investor Resources section of the Company's investor relations website. About Farfetch Farfetch Limited is the leading global platform for the luxury fashion industry. Founded in 2007 by Jose Neves for the love of fashion, and launched in 2008, Farfetch began as an e-commerce marketplace for luxury boutiques around the world. Today the Farfetch Marketplace connects customers in over 190 countries with items from more than 50 countries and over 1,200 of the world's best brands, boutiques and department stores, delivering a truly unique shopping experience and access to the most extensive selection of luxury on a single platform. Farfetch's additional businesses include Farfetch Platform Solutions, which services enterprise clients with e-commerce and technology capabilities; Browns and Stadium Goods, which offer luxury products to consumers; and New Guards Group, a platform for the development of global fashion brands. Farfetch also invests in innovations such as its Store of the Future augmented retail solution, and develops key technologies, business solutions, and services for the luxury fashion industry. For more information, please visit www.farfetchinvestors.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005193/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations: Alice Ryder VP Investor Relations IR@farfetch.com Media: Susannah Clark VP Communications, Global susannah.clark@farfetch.com +44 7788 405224 Brunswick Group farfetch@brunswickgroup.com US: +1 (212) 333 3810 UK: +44 (0) 207 404 5959 President Donald Trump has claimed he will finish his prescription for a controversial drug in a bid to prevent coronavirus in the next two days. Trump told journalists earlier this week that he had been taking the malaria pill hydroxychloroquine - which he has previously hailed as a 'gift from God' - every day to stave off coronavirius. On Tuesday the 73-year-old told reporters that: 'I think the regimen finishes in a day or two. I think it's two days.' The news the President was taking the drug came despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for coronavirus or in a hospital or research settings because of potentially fatal side effects. He said: 'I started taking it, because I think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. Frontline workers take it, a lot of doctors take it, I take it. 'I'm not going to get hurt by it, it's been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus. I'm taking the two - the zinc and the hydroxyl. So far I seem to be okay.' Despite his comments, the drug has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and numerous studied have shown it is ineffective in combating coronavirus. Despite Trump's comments hailing the drug, it has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and numerous studied have shown it is ineffective in combating coronavirus Everything you need to know about hydroxychloroquine A recent study of coronavirus patients at U.S. veterans hospitals showed no benefit using hydroxychloroquine (pictured above), casting more doubt on the drug's efficacy during the pandemic The drug was approved in the 1940s as a way to treat malaria. It is also prescribed for patients with arthritis and lupus. Trump has hailed the 'game-changing' drug and said: 'This would be a gift from heaven, this would be a gift from God if it works.' But doctors have urged that the drug shouldn't be used without more testing. The FDA has also warned doctors against prescribing the drug to treat coronavirus outside of hospitals following reports of serious side effects, including irregular heart rhythms and death among patients. Preliminary results from a recent study done on coronavirus patients at U.S. veterans hospitals showed no benefit, casting more doubt on the drug's efficacy during the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has removed guidance from its website informing doctors on how to prescribe hydroxychlorquine. Initially, the CDC webpage had read: 'Although optimal dosing and duration of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19 are unknown, some US clinicians have reported anecdotally.' It now says: 'There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19.' Advertisement The largest nationwide study into hydroxychloroquine revealed a staggering 28 per cent of US veterans with coronavirus who were treated with the drug died. By comparison only 11 per cent of the veterans given the standard care, including supportive IV fluids and intubation help them breathe, died. The results also suggested the drug provided no benefit to the patients who received it and made no difference in the need for a breathing machine, either. Trump defended his use of the drug and said that veterans who passed away from coronavirus while taking it were sick people who were 'ready to die.' 'There was a false study done, where they gave it to very sick people, extremely sick people, people that were ready to die,' President Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. He added: 'It's got a bad reputation only because I'm promoting and so I'm obviously a very bad promoter. If anybody else we're promoting it, they'd say this is the greatest thing ever.' Defending his use of the anti-malaria drug, Trump said that veterans who passed away from coronavirus while taking it were sick people who were 'ready to die.' But the FDA issued a warning last month that hydroxychloroquine should not be used outside of hospital or research settings due to its increased risk of heart problems, and scientists have also urged people to steer clear of the drug. 'There is no evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective for the treatment or the prevention of COVID-19,' said Dr. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association. 'The results to date are not promising.' People should not infer from Trump's example 'that it's an approved approach or proven,' because it's not, said Dr. David Aronoff, infectious diseases chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: 'Hes our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and his, shall we say, weight group ... morbidly obese, they say.' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, above, said she would rather Trump 'not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists' Trump dismissed Pelosi's assessment of his health risks and said she was a 'waste of time'. Some have questioned whether the president really has been taking the drug. Trump's physician Dr Sean Conley released a memo confirming the pair had decided the benefits outweighs the risks, but the document neither said that he had prescribed the drug, nor that Trump had been taking it for 'a week and a half'. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was among those urging people not to 'take the bait' following Trump's announcement. 'I don't know that he's really taking it,' he said. 'He's got a letter from his doctor... but it doesn't mean he's taking it. 'Why would he claim to take it if he's not taking it? 'It's a fight that he can win. And its a fight the media will take on, and his opponents might take on. And it's all a beautiful distraction.' It is not the first time the President has proposed controversial treatments for coronavirus. He was blasted by the medical community after he questioned whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body. In a press briefing he said: 'I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that? 'By injection inside or almost a cleaning. As you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.' Trump's suggestion was quickly savaged in memes and jokes - as well as by Joe Biden, his presumptive Democratic challenger in November's election. 'I can't believe I have to say this, but please don't drink bleach,' tweeted the former vice president. The US has so far seen close to 1.6million cases of coronavirus and nearly 94,000 deaths - both the highest records for any country worldwide. 'Something terrible has happened to Ellie.' Sandee Greenberg will never forget those words, though she cannot remember clearly what came next, only that the world fell out from under her. She called to her husband to pick up the other phone and amid the confusion that followed. The only clarity was the awful realization that their daughter, 27-year-old Ellen, their only child, was dead. Nine years later that catastrophic truth is pretty much the only undisputed fact in what has become the mystery of the death of Ellen Rae Greenberg, a bizarre case and now the subject of a new 'Accident, Murder, Suicide' documentary now streaming on Oxygen. But it leaves many questions unanswered and DailyMail.com has launched its own investigation. We have spoken with lawyers and investigators at the heart of the case and reviewed numerous expert reports that contradict official findings. And we have learned new details of the evening of Ellen's death and its aftermath, that we can reveal here for the first time today. Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old elementary school teacher, was found dead on January 26, 2011 in the kitchen of her Philadelphia apartment Ellen had been stabbed ten times in the back of her neck and head and ten in her stomach, abdomen and chest and a knife was still plunged in her heart This graphic shows knife wounds Ellen suffered to her neck and chest, that pierced her brain and severed her spinal cord The 27-year-old elementary school teacher was found dead on January 26, 2011 in the kitchen of her Philadelphia apartment. She had been stabbed ten times in the back of her neck and head and ten in her stomach, abdomen and chest. A knife was still plunged in her heart. But Ellen had been alone and the door locked from the inside. There was no other way in or out, no sign of struggle and she had no defensive wounds. Police said suicide. The next day the medical examiner ruled homicide. Guy D'Andrea was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia's homicide unit. He told DailyMail.com, 'Right away it piqued my interest. I'd never heard of such a thing' A few weeks later, in an almost unprecedented move, the medical examiner fell in line with police and changed Ellen's cause of death to suicide; case closed. But for her parents Sandee and Joshua Greenberg the fight was just beginning. Today, they tell DailyMail.com, they have 'a mountain of evidence,' to support their conviction that Ellen was murdered and they will not rest until that truth is acknowledged. Speaking from their home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Sandee, 64, said, 'This is not something we thought, in a million years, we would ever be doing or would ever happen. We thought there was a very bright future. We were planning for future generations never expecting her life to end like this. 'It took years for us to piece this together. At the beginning I was sitting up at night looking at reports with a centimeter ruler trying to figure out how that really translated into how shallow or deep the incisions were on my child's body. We realized we needed to get experts to help us do this so that's what we did.' Guy D'Andrea was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia's homicide unit in 2015 when a colleague asked him to take a look at the puzzling case of a 'suicide' committed by 20 self-inflicted stab wounds. He told DailyMail.com, 'Right away it piqued my interest. I'd never heard of such a thing. So, I get the file, I pull everything out and I hone in on what was the primary reason as to why this was ruled a suicide versus a homicide. Now if that's conclusive I don't need to go much further.' Ellen's body had been found by her fiance, television producer Samuel Goldberg, with whom she lived. He told police he had kicked in the door because it had been locked from the inside. D'Andrea had assumed that this meant it had been deadbolted but when he reviewed the pictures of the scene D'Andrea saw that the lock was nothing more than a hotel-room style latch. He knew that these can be easily locked from the outside, and so he considered the certainty of the door being locked from the inside debunked. The next issue was that there had been no defensive wounds on Ellen's body. Nobody can know the order of the stabs apart from the fact that the final one was to her heart as the knife was still there. But if one of the first stabs to her neck had lacerated Ellen's spinal cord case she would have been rendered incapable of fighting back. And D'Andrea was perplexed by the huge gash on top of Ellen's head which seemed consistent to him with being struck from behind. The attorney took his questions to the medical examiner and was told that a neuropathologist had examined the spinal column and said that the knife had not pierced it. This meant that Ellen would have been able to defend herself if she was being attacked. Ellen's body had been found by her fiance, television producer Samuel Goldberg, with whom she lived, and he said the door was locked from the inside Goldberg said the door to the apartment was deadbolted but when when Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea reviewed the pictures of the scene he saw that the lock was nothing more than a hotel-room style latch Investigative analyst Brennan said, 'There is no way that a lock like that can be kicked in without it coming off the door or the door frame but the only [damage] was one missing screw.' D'Andrea took his questions to the medical examiner and was told that a neuropathologist had examined the spinal column and said that the knife had not pierced it. This meant that Ellen would have been able to defend herself if she was being attacked Another graphic show's Ellen's spinal cord had actually been severed and her brain pierced in two forceful stabs to the neck. She could have neither defended nor harmed herself after those blows A crime scene analyst hired by the family noted that Ellen had been moved. She was found seated on the floor, propped up against kitchen cabinets, yet a streak of coagulated blood ran in a horizontal line from her nose to her ear D'Andrea asked for the neuropathologist's report but was told it couldn't be found. He told DailyMail.com, 'You have to have a report. You can't base a conclusion on hearsay.' At the time the ME's office did not have a neuropathologist on staff and Ellen's final autopsy report attributed the finding to Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, an expert regularly instructed by the office. In fact it later transpired that she had no record of ever having being commissioned to study Ellen's spinal column at all. There was no invoice, no log entry and no recollection on her part of a case that was memorably unusual. D'Andrea contacted Tom Brennan, the state police veteran turned Criminal Investigative Analyst working pro-bono for the Greenberg family and told him that they needed to hire their own neuropathologist. D'Andrea explained, 'I found that they had kept that sample of spinal column at the medical examiner's office. There would be no reason to do that if it had ever been tested.' The family did as he suggested, and the finding was clear. Ellen's spinal cord had been severed and her brain pierced in two forceful stabs to the neck. She could have neither defended nor harmed herself after those blows. The narrative that informed the police view in the first place had come from Ellen's fiance, Goldberg who spoke to the investigating officers who attended the scene. His was the only account of what transpired at the apartment that day. Ellen had come home early that day as there had been a blizzard that closed schools early. Ellen's parents Sandee and Joshua Greenberg tell DailyMail.com they have 'a mountain of evidence' to prove their daughter was murdered None of it makes any sense to Ellen's father, Joshua, 70, who said, 'Why have they put us through this? Why don't they take us by the hand and lead us to the truth?' According to her mother Sandee, Ellen's death was disguised as a suicide when it was not. She said, 'We cannot let this go unnoticed' Goldberg said he left her to go the building's gym at around 4.45pm and returned at 5.30pm to find he couldn't get in. Neighbors confirmed hearing him shouting for Ellen through the front door. Frustrated, he began calling before texting her the following nine messages: 'Hello,' 'open the door,' 'what r u doin,' 'i'm getting pissed,' 'hello,' 'you better have an excuse,' 'what the f***' 'ahhh' 'u have no idea.' Goldberg went back downstairs to ask the apartment building security guard if he had some sort of tool that he could use to break in. The guard did not. Goldberg returned several times asking the guard to come with him to help break down the door. Goldberg's statement to police put the security guard with him when he broke down the door. Ellen's father described her as 'not the same Ellen,' in the weeks before her death. He said, 'Everything was, ''I'll have to check with Sam. I'll have to see what Sam says''' The guard told both police and the family's own investigator that he was not and had not left his post. According to D'Andrea, 'The security guard said the thing he noticed as odd, was that Sam kept telling him he had been at the gym, but he wasn't wearing sneakers. He was wearing regular boots.' By the time Goldberg entered the apartment and called 911 it was 6.33pm. D'Andrea points out, 'That's an hour since he started trying to contact Ellen. I don't know about you, but you're gone 30 minutes and you get back and the love of your life isn't responding how long before you think, 'there's something really wrong here.' Ten minutes, 20 minutesan hour?' Goldberg called at least two other numbers before he dialed 911 his parents and his uncle, an attorney. They were on their way to the scene almost before emergency services. It was his father who called the Greenbergs. D'Andrea has listened to the audio of the 911 call placed by Goldberg that evening. He said, 'There's no playbook on how you're supposed to react when you find something like this, but I was very struck at the tone. 'He was saying, ''Oh my God, oh my God, my fiancee, there's blood'' but he was completely calm. And the dispatcher keeps asking him to describe what's happening and he's spending all this time telling them how he'd been to the gym and come back 'Then the dispatcher tells him you're going have to start performing CPR. She says, ''I'll walk you through it.'' He says, ''Do I have to?'' That stuck in my mind. 'It's like two or three minutes in that he notices she has a knife in her chest. You know, you're right there next to the body and it's not like a little paring knife. It's a butcher's knife.' According to D'Andrea Goldberg told the dispatcher, 'She must have fallen on it.' Goldberg was led from the scene in handcuffs and taken for further questioning as a matter of course. He would not speak without legal representation. DailyMail.com has learned that he gave a brief statement but that subsequent law enforcement attempts to speak with him were declined. D'Andrea said, 'He was perfectly within his rights to say no. You can't compel someone to talk and once it had been ruled a suicide there was no case to answer.' Forensic neuropathologist Wayne Ross found 'evidence of strangulation' and noted, 'There were multiple bruises over the body some of which were fresh, many of which were older.' He deemed Ellen's death homicide Famed forensic pathologist Cyril H Wecht, instructed on behalf of Ellen's parents, noted that suicide victims rarely stab themselves multiple times or through their clothing as Ellen had been The report by the medical examiner deems the manner of Ellen's death a suicide This is the investigative report into Ellen's death along with several expert reports commissioned by the family This investigation report sets out the contents of the text messages sent by Ellen's fiance Sam while allegedly trying to get her to let him into the apartment. This investigation report sets out the contents of the text messages sent by Ellen's fiance Sam while allegedly trying to get her to let him into the apartment A crime scene analyst hired by the family noted that Ellen had been moved. She was found seated on the floor, propped up against kitchen cabinets, yet a streak of coagulated blood ran in a horizontal line from her nose to her ear. Blood spatters on the toes of her Ugg boots also suggested that she had been standing when some of the wounds were inflicted. All of the investigators with whom DailyMail.com spoke noted there was surprisingly little blood at the scene causing them to wonder if there had been an attempt to clean up. But no luminol tests were performed. Investigative analyst Brennan, 76, described himself as, 'disgusted,' by the 'total lack of basic police work,' that took place at any stage of this investigation. He said, 'In a case like this, in an apartment complex, it's basic police work. When you get there, you take a look at the scene and you say, ''Hey you two guys go down and check the trash.'' But they never did that. They never did anything. 'They came in, looked around, said, ''Suicide,'' and left.' He said, 'There is no way that a lock like that can be kicked in without it coming off the door or the door frame but the only [damage] was one missing screw. 'That door was closed and given a hard tug from inside to make it look like it had been forced and when somebody cleaned up they cleaned up too well.' Ellen was declared dead at 6.40pm. When the scene was cleared it wasn't secured and no officer was left on the door. The next day, Brennan revealed, Goldberg's uncle and cousin returned to the apartment. They told the security guard they were going to get him a suit for the funeral. They left with Goldberg's laptop, Ellen's personal laptop, her work laptop and her cellphone. Brennan said, 'Her laptop was not password protected. By now the medical examiner has said this is homicide. But those devices are gone.' The police took possession of the devices on January 29 two days after they had been taken and three days after Ellen's death. But the chain of evidence had been broken so nothing recovered from them can ever be admissible in court. Greenberg was discovered inside this apartment on the kitchen floor with a 10-inch kitchen knife lodged in her chest Family attorney Joe Podraza (left) and criminal investigator Thomas Brennan (right) both say that all signs lead to homicide Famed forensic pathologist Cyril H. Wecht, instructed on behalf of Ellen's parents, noted that suicide victims rarely stab themselves multiple times or through their clothing as Ellen had been. In finding Ellen's death a homicide he also noted 'multiple contusions in various stages of resolution' on her arms, lower abdomen, thigh and above her knee. The medical examiner had noted these bruises. Police suggested that they were caused by 'contact sports.' Ellen did not play any. Forensic neuropathologist Wayne Ross was more direct in his assessment. He found 'evidence of strangulation' and noted, 'There were multiple bruises over the body some of which were fresh, many of which were older. The patterns were consistent with a repeated beating.' That reality, with all the questions that it raises, is something that the Greenbergs have had to 'wrap their minds around.' They knew their daughter was not suicidal, but something had been troubling her. Her father described her as 'not the same Ellen,' in the weeks before her death. She was nervous and anxious. Friends told her parents that they too noticed a change, and that increasingly she deferred to Goldberg on decisions she would once have made for herself. Her father said, 'Everything was, ''I'll have to check with Sam. I'll have to see what Sam says.'' A couple of weeks before her death Ellen told her parents that she wanted to quit her job and 'come home.' They said she could come home if she needed to, but they wanted her to seek help for her anxiety. She told them it was the stress of organizing a wedding she was due to marry that August and had sent out 'Save the Date' cards just four days before her death - and that work was particularly busy. Her father said, 'Something was amiss. Her personality was changed. She played it off that work was too much but when the teacher who took on Ellen's class saw her books and marking she said everything was perfect.' Ellen saw a therapist who prescribed her Ambien and Klonopin for anxiety. Police pointed to this as further support for a finding of suicide. But psychiatrist Dr Ellen Berman, who saw Ellen three times before her death, was clear that her new patient was not suicidal. Ellen's ex fiance Sam is now 38 and a married father-of-two living in New York Ellen's fiance is now 38 and a married father of two living in New York. He remained in contact with the family for a year or so following Ellen's death. But calls became less frequent and his last communication with them was an email letting the Greenbergs know he was getting married. Goldberg's life had moved on; Ellen's never will. She will never have the family for which she longed, or sneak cheese-fries to her mother as she jokingly promised she would should Sandee ever end up in a care home. And there can be no real answers for the Greenbergs until Ellen's official cause of death is changed. Joe Podraza, 56, is the lawyer championing their case through the courts. Earlier this year they won a significant victory when the Philadelphia County Court agreed to hear the lawsuit that they have filed against Dr Marlon Osbourne, the man who conducted Ellen's autopsy and Philadelphia County Medical Examiner's Office. Podraza admitted he was 'extremely disappointed' that the family have been forced to go to court at all. He said, 'This family has struggled over many years to try and seek the truth..and the fact that they have been met with roadblocks and refusals to even look at what we have is unconscionable. In fact it's disgraceful.' For his part, Brennan described what happened to Ellen as a 'blitz attack,' and said to sign it off as suicide is 'just nuts.' However long it takes Ellen's parents will not give up. Sandee said, 'I've got the rest of my life to fight for this' A couple of weeks before her death Ellen told her parents that she wanted to quit her job and 'come home', adding that she was stressed due to planning a wedding None of it makes any sense to her father, Joshua, 70. He said, 'Why have they put us through this? Why don't they take us by the hand and lead us to the truth?' According to Sandee, Ellen's death was disguised as a suicide when it was not. She said, 'We cannot let this go unnoticed.' The family are now waiting for the state to hand over the file on their daughter's death along with surveillance footage taken from the apartments that day and the 911 audio of Goldberg's call. The process has been stalled by coronavirus shutdowns but Podraza is hopeful it will move forward in June. However long it takes Ellen's parents will not give up. Sandee said, 'I've got the rest of my life to fight for this.' Acute Flaccid Paralysis Surveillance Two primary surveillance performance indicators assess AFP surveillance quality. The first is the nonpolio AFP (NPAFP) rate (the number of NPAFP cases per 100,000 children aged <15 years per year); an NPAFP rate 2 is considered sufficiently sensitive to detect circulating poliovirus. The second is the collection of adequate stool specimens from AFP patients (i.e., two stool specimens collected 24 hours apart and within 14 days of paralysis onset) and arrival of these specimens at a WHO-accredited laboratory by reverse cold chain (storing and transporting samples at recommended temperatures from the point of collection to the laboratory) and in good condition (i.e., without leakage or desiccation) from 80% of persons with AFP, which ensures adequate sensitivity and specificity to track poliovirus circulation (3). Among the 47 countries in the WHO African Region (AFR), the number of priority countries increased from 18 (38%) in 2018 to 30 (64%) in 2019 because of the increase in the number of VDPV outbreaks (2,4). To describe the previous 2 years performance for this years priority countries, surveillance performance was assessed for 2018 and 2019 for the 30 2019 priority countries in AFR (Table 1). In 2018, cVDPV type 2 (cVDPV2) cases or environmental surveillance isolations were detected in five countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, and Nigeria) and, in 2019, in 14 countries (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote dIvoire, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Zambia). In 2018 and 2019, both the NPAFP rate and adequate stool collection AFP surveillance performance indicators were met nationally in 27 (90%) and 20 (67%) of the 30 2019 priority countries, respectively (Table 1). Numerous subnational pockets of low surveillance performance were identified during 20182019 (Table 1) (Figure). September 2019 marked 3 years since the last reported WPV1 isolation in AFR (in Borno, Nigeria); during this period, populations living within security-compromised areas in Nigeria decreased and community-based surveillance and specimen collection increased (5). Among the 21 countries in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), the number of priority countries decreased from 11 (52%) in 2018 to five (24%) in 2019. Surveillance performance was assessed for the five 2019 priority countries in EMR (Afghanistan, Djibouti, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan) for 2018 and 2019 (Table 1). From 2018 to 2019, the number of WPV1 cases increased from 21 to 29 in Afghanistan (38% increase) and from 12 to 147 in Pakistan (1,125% increase). In 2019, 22 cVDPV2 cases were also reported in Pakistan (Table 1). In Somalia, 12 cVDPV cases (type 2 and 3) were reported in 2018 (including one coinfection with types 2 and 3), and three cVDPV2 cases were reported in 2019. Four of the five EMR priority countries met both surveillance indicators in 2018 and 2019; in Djibouti only 16% of the population lived in areas meeting both indicators in 2019 (Figure). In the Western Pacific Region (WPR), surveillance performance was assessed for three countries (Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Philippines) (Table 1). No priority country met both AFP surveillance indicators in 2018 and 2019. Two cVDPV type 1 (cVDPV1) cases reported in Philippines in 2019 were genetically linked to three cVDPV1 cases reported in Malaysia; 13 cVDPV2 cases were also reported in Philippines in 2019. Environmental surveillance also detected genetically linked cVDPV1 and cVDPV2 isolates in both countries. One cVDPV2 case was reported in China in 2019. Subnational NPAFP rate and stool adequacy indicators were suboptimal in Philippines and Malaysia in 2018 and 2019, indicating gaps in AFP case detection or investigation. Although Papua New Guinea met the NPAFP target performance indicator in both years, the stool adequacy target was not met at the national level. In the South-East Asia Region (SEAR), surveillance performance was assessed for two countries (Indonesia and Burma [Myanmar]) (Table 1). In 2018, both countries met both surveillance indicators and in 2019, one Burma (Myanmar) met both indicators. Six cVDPV1 cases were reported in Burma (Myanmar) in 2019, which had subnational weaknesses in NPAFP surveillance (Figure). No cVDPV1 cases were reported in Indonesia in 2019 after detection of one cVDPV1 case in 2018; however, weaknesses in subnational surveillance performance were identified in 2019. Boris Johnson is facing a furious Tory revolt over his refusal to drop the NHS surcharge for foreign health and care workers today - as experts dismissed suggestions the move would cost nearly a billion pounds. Senior Conservatives branded the policy 'immoral' and 'mean-spirited' amid an outcry over those on the frontline of the coronavirus battle being forced to pay. Mr Johnson insisted yesterday that the 400 annual fee for migrants raised 900million in revenue, as he swatted away calls for it to be waived. But the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said scrapping the charge for NHS and staff workers alone would only shave off a tenth off the total. The row comes after the government was forced into a U-turn over excluding foreign NHS porters and cleaners from the coronavirus bereavement scheme, meaning that the relatives of those who died might be kicked out of the country. The families of all staff who die from coronavirus will now be granted indefinite leave to remain, after anger that they were being 'stabbed in the back' by ministers. However, Downing Street showed little sign of budging this afternoon despite the brewing rebellion in Tory ranks. Boris Johnson's reasoning for refusing to exempt foreign NHS workers from the healthcare surcharge began unravelling tonight (pictured speaking in the Commons today) Tory MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration select committee, led a backlash from Mr Johnson's own side Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, (right) said if the PM (left in the Commons) scrapped the charge for these workers it would only shave off a tenth of the total income Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the PM to drop the fee, but his advances were stonewalled Syrian refugee and award-winning filmaker Hassan Akkad, who took a cleaning job to help the NHS through the pandemic, has got the Government to change its bereavement scheme and is now demanding they scrap the charge for foreign NHS staff to use the health service How much is the NHS surcharge and who has to pay it? The NHS surcharge must be paid by all non-EU nationals seeking a visa to come to the UK. For students it is 300 a year, while for workers it is 400. The charge must also be met for dependents. Arrivals have to pay up front for the total period of the visa they are being granted - so a two year permit would mean an 800 bill. Part-years are counted as half the charge. Advertisement Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the PM to drop the NHS immigrant fees at PMQs yesterday. But Mr Johnson responded: 'I've thought a great deal about this and I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and, like him, I've been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life.' He added: 'On the other hand we must look at the realities - this is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900million, and it's very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. 'So with great respect to the point (he) makes, I do think that is the right way forward.' But while the PM touted the surcharge as a 900milion revenue raiser, it was pointed out that axing the levy for just foreign health and care workers would cost just 90million. Figures from the House of Commons Library, which produces impartial briefings for MPs, indicate that 917m is the amount raised by the surcharge over four years. It estimated dropping the levy for NHS staff would cost around 35million a year - although including care workers would increaase that figure substantially. Tory MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration select committee, led a backlash from Mr Johnson's own side overnight. He tweeted: 'I will support the nhs fee exemption for migrant nhs and care workers. Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. I am sure that @conservatives colleagues will be supportive.' Refugee Syrian filmmaker turned hospital cleaner tells PM his levy on foreign workers is 'unfair, unjust and inhumane' The Syrian refugee hospital cleaner who tearfully shamed Boris Johnson into a U-turn over banning foreign workers from the NHS' bereavement scheme today urged the Prime Minister to scrap the 'inhumane' charge forcing them to pay to use the health service. Hassan Akkad said he felt 'stabbed in the back' because of the treatment of migrant workers who are risking their lives battling coronavirus will have to pay 624-a-year from October to access the NHS - an increase from the current 400 charge. Mr Johnson defended the government's Immigration Health Surcharge as 'right' during PMQs yesterday while also revealing 321 NHS and social care workers, many who were born outside Britain, have Speaking to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain this morning on his way to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London, Mr Akkad said that the Prime Minister must now change his mind on the healthcare levy. He said: 'It's unfair, it's unjust and I would argue that it's inhumane. For most cleaners and porters this is two weeks' salary they have to pay to access the very same institution they are working for during the worst public health crisis in modern history'. Advertisement Former party chair Lord Pateen told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'It's appalling, it's immoral. We depend in our care homes on people who come from other countries. 'I think this is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances aren't treated properly.' Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis tweeted: 'I support the NHS fee exemption for migrant NHS and care workers. 'Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good.' Veteran Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said he was 'strongly' of the view that the charge should be waived for immigrants who were 'saving lives'. 'To do otherwise would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty and the Prime Minister has none of those failings,' he said. The PM's spokesman pointed to Mr Johnson's words in the House 'where he talked about accepting and understanding the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff but also making the point that the NHS is an amazing national institution that needs funding and contributions through the health surcharge has reached about 900million so far'. That money 'goes directly back into the NHS', the spokesman said.. Security Minister James Brokenshire defended the PM's position this morning, saying the situation is 'complicated'. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Well, I think, on the issue of the health surcharge, firstly it is obviously there to provide funding for the NHS and the basic principle that if you come to this country, that you are working, that you make that contribution. 'But we have very firmly listened to the sort of situation in relation to the NHS. We've already put in place extensions to visas for health professionals, NHS health professionals, where they do not pay the NHS surcharge in that situation.' He added: 'The situation in relation to those people working within different functions in the NHS is more complicated because of the visa and immigration system that they are likely to be within. 'In other words, if you are a doctor and nurse then you are on a specific visa when we have that direct contact with the NHS trust. 'For those in social care, it is more disparate, which makes it more complicated and more challenging in terms of the situation.' Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'The immigration health surcharge is a grossly unfair financial burden on our international workforce and we're pleased to see the issue being taken seriously by politicians. 'The Government must drop this charge as a matter of urgency.' Living organisms comprise a system of molecules organized with specific handedness. Handedness or chirality is the geometric property of an object that cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a duo of researchers speculates that the interaction between proto-lifeforms and magnetically polarized cosmic rays may be responsible for this structural preference in biological molecules. Biological homochirality was discovered in 1848 by the French biologist, microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur. Since then, scientists have debated whether the handedness of life was driven by random chance or some unknown deterministic influence. Pasteur hypothesized that, if life is asymmetric, then it may be due to an asymmetry in the fundamental interactions of physics that exist throughout the cosmos. We propose that the biological handedness we witness now on Earth is due to evolution amidst magnetically polarized radiation, where a tiny difference in the mutation rate may have promoted the evolution of DNA-based life, rather than its mirror image, said Dr. Noemie Globus, a researcher in the Center for Cosmology & Particle Physics at New York University and the Center for Computational Astrophysics at Flatiron Institute. In their paper, Dr. Globus and Stanford Universitys Professor Roger Blandford argue that cosmic rays are an important piece of the chiral puzzle of life. Cosmic rays are an abundant form of high-energy radiation that originate from various sources throughout the Universe, including stars and distant galaxies, they explained. After hitting the Earths atmosphere, cosmic rays eventually degrade into fundamental particles. At ground level, most of the cosmic rays exist only as particles known as muons. Muons are unstable particles, existing for a mere 2 millionths of a second, and are magnetically polarized, meaning, on average, muons all share the same magnetic orientation. When muons finally decay, they produce electrons with the same magnetic polarization. The scientists believe that the muons penetrative ability allows it and its daughter electrons to potentially affect chiral molecules on Earth and everywhere else in the Universe. Their hypothesis is that, at the beginning of life of on Earth, this constant and consistent radiation affected the evolution of the two mirror life-forms in different ways, helping one ultimately prevail over the other. These tiny differences in mutation rate would have been most significant when life was beginning and the molecules involved were very simple and more fragile. Under these circumstances, the small but persistent chiral influence from cosmic rays could have, over billions of generations of evolution, produced the single biological handedness we see today. The researchers suggest experiments that could help prove or disprove their cosmic ray hypothesis. For example, they would like to test how bacteria respond to radiation with different magnetic polarization. Experiments like this have never been performed and I am excited to see what they teach us. Surprises inevitably come from further work on interdisciplinary topics, Dr. Globus said. The team also looks forward to organic samples from comets, asteroids or Mars to see if they too exhibit a chiral bias. This idea connects fundamental physics and the origin of life, Professor Blandford said. Regardless of whether or not its correct, bridging these very different fields is exciting and a successful experiment should be interesting. _____ Noemie Globus & Roger D. Blandford. 2020. The Chiral Puzzle of Life. ApJL 895, L11; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab8dc6 By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan increased the volume of the gas production by 15 percent or 1.8 billion cubic meters in the first four months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, press-service of the Ministry of Energy reported on May 21. The production of 4.6 billion cubic meters of gas was obtained from Azeri-Chirag- Guneshli field and 6.4 billion cubic meters was received from Shah Deniz field. During this period, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) produced 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas. Gas sales abroad also increased by 13.5 percent in the reported period, amounting to 4.6 billion cubic meters. For instance, gas sale to Turkey increased by 23.6 percent year-on-year in the period between January and April, amounting to 3.5 billion cubic meters. The volume of gas exports to Georgia amounted to 1.1 billion cubic meters. It should be noted that 1.3 billion cubic meters of gas was transported to Turkey via TANAP during this period. Over 5.1 billion cubic meters of gas has been transported to Turkey via TANAP since its commissioning. There was increase in the oil production as well in the first quarter of 2020. Thus, in January-April 2020, Azerbaijan produced 12.4 million tons of oil (including condensate), which is about 11.000 tons more than in the same period last year. Of these, 8.6 million tons of oil (including condensate) came from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field, 1.3 million tons (condensate) from Shah Deniz. SOCAR's production is accounted for 2.5 million tons. Some 10.2 million tons of oil (including condensate) were exported in first quarter of the current year, which is by 106.000 tons less compared to the same period in 2019 Some 9.8 million tons were exported by the consortium, and by SOCAR - 409.000 tons. In addition, 2 million tons of oil were processed in the reported period, which is 32.6 thousand tons more compared to the same period in 2019. It should be noted that 1, 535 million tons of oil (including condensate) and 293 billion cubic meters of gas have been produced from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and Shah Deniz fields since their commissioning in 1994 and 2006 respectively. In 2017, Baku signed a new contract for the development of ACG block, designed until 2050. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz New Delhi: After treating fans to her make-up and cooking videos, Bhojpuri bombshell Aamrapali Dubey is all set to release her workout vlog. In an Instagram post on Thursday, Aamrapali announced that she is coming up with the vlog soon. The video shows her practicing some exercises. Soon coming up with my workout vlog !! Took too much time to edit this one as I shot this video with 4 mobile phone cameras and I didnt need much time to realise that editing is very difficult, read Aamrapalis caption to the post. Take a look: Her fans are all excited to see Aamrapali and her fitness routine. Wow, cant wait, read a comment while most of them dropped heart-eyed emojis to her post. Amid the coronavirus lockdown, the Bhojpuri star has found new ways to reach out to her fans. She has taken the YouTube route and making the most of her break doing things she wouldnt have been able to do otherwise due to her busy work schedule. She turned a beauty vlogger and shared her first-ever make-up and hair tutorial video and prior to that she gave a sneak peek of how she cooks. Aamrapali is one of the top-rated actresses of the Bhojpuri film industry having worked with almost all the A-listers. Her on-screen pairing with Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua is loved by the audiences. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:42:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday called for a one-month extension to the emergency rule currently enforced against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, is scheduled to consider on Friday approving the NSC-proposed extension until the end of June. The nationwide emergency rule, which features varied anti-pandemic measures and five-hour curfew, was earlier scheduled to last until the end of May. According to NSC secretary general Somsak Rungsita, the NSC resolved on Thursday to have the emergency rule extended for another month on grounds that such stringent measures have been considered necessary to deter the possibilities of a second wave of the pandemic in Thailand. He said public health officials and representatives of the private sector, who attended Thursday's NSC meeting, agreed to the emergency rule extension. Enditem COVID-19 pandemic may not kill as many as 50 million people claimed by the Spanish flu a century ago, but it is set on damaging the world economy by as much as a harrowing $82 trillion. This is the estimate of the damages related to the coronavirus pandemic over the next five years, according to recent findings by a University of Cambridge department that examines systemic risks. These cost projections are based on 2019 gross domestic product volumes which stood at $69.2 trillion for the worlds 19 leading economies. The Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School determined that the potential toll could range between what it called an optimistic loss of $3.3 trillion in case of rapid recovery, and $82 trillion in the event of an economic depression. While lost value of $82 trillion is the worst case scenario, the centres consensus projection was a loss of some $26.8 trillion, or 5.3%, of global GDP in the coming five years. To put a figure on the potential impact to some of the leading global economies, the following five-year loss projections added more context (All %s represent five-year GDP estimates): *US: Best case: $550 billion (0.4% of GDP). Worst case: $19.9 trillion (13.6%) *UK: Best case: $96 billion (0.46%). Worst case: $2.5 trillion (16.8%) *China: Best case: $1 trillion (0.9%). Worst case: $19 trillion (16.5%) The centre was keen to stress that its metrics are not forecasts for what will happen, rather projections on what might occur. They are also not meant to reflect an economic contraction, but rather how much potential GDP is at risk. The new calculations on GDP@Risk from the pandemic are not forecasts, but rather are projections based on various plausible scenarios that could unfold in the next five years related to the economic impact of COVID-19, Andrew Coburn, the centres chief scientist said. *Originally published by Business Insider News Conference to be Held in Chula Vista Regarding California Churches Re-Opening #openthedoors MEDIA ADVISORY NEWS PROVIDED BY Church United May 21, 2020 CHULA VISTA, Calif., May 21, 2020 /Standard Newswire/ -- Bishop Art Hodges of South Bay Pentecostal Church, representing over 592 pastors and ministers and 265 churches in California, will host a news conference on Thursday, May 21 at 3:00 p.m. in the South Bay Pentecostal Church parking lot to ensure proper social distancing. The media is invited to attend with cameras for Q&A. Press Conference Details Date: Thursday, May 21 Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: South Bay Pentecostal Church, 395 D Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910 The pastors and churches are grateful for the civil rights violation letter sent to Governor Newsom from the Department of Justice on May 19, 2020 from Eric S. Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, realizing the unfair treatment and discrimination towards houses of worship in California. Last Thursday, Bishop Bob Jackson of Acts Full Gospel, Oakland hosted Church United's Northern California news conference. Bishop Barber of the Catholic Diocese also joined the evangelical coalition and messaged that the Church is essential. Southern California San Diego pastors are uniting to share a Church United message titled #OpenTheDoors and sign a Declaration of Essentiality at ChurchUnited.com to re-open church doors across the state of California. Along with San Diego area pastors, these three speakers represent well over 2,500 California pastors: Bishop Art Hodges, South Bay Pentecostal Church, representing over 592 pastors and ministers and 265 California churches. Attorney Bob Tyler, President of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a non-profit religious liberty law firm and Managing Partner of Tyler & Bursch, LLP. The non-profit covers defense of Constitutional and Religious Liberties, and their areas of practice include Corporate and Business, Labor and Employment, Real Estate and Land Use, Estate Planning, Asset Protection and Civil Litigation. TylerBursch.com Faith-Freedom.com Pastor Jim Domen, Church United, Newport Beach, representing over 2,000 California pastors and over 500 California churches. ChurchUnited.com Read Declaration of Essentiality HERE https://www.tylerbursch.com/nationwide-declaration-of-essentiality-of-churches Read California Pastors' May 20, 2020 Letter to the Governor HERE https://www.tylerbursch.com/announcements/a-letter-to-governor-gavin-newsom-from-churches-5-20-20 SOURCE Church United CONTACT: Desare Ferraro, 714-348-0808, desare@churchunited.com, desare@tylerbursch.com Related Links ChurchUnited.com Indonesia has broken its own record for the most confirmed COVID-19 infections in a single day with almost 1000 new cases. The record jump in cases saw Indonesia admit 973 new coronavirus patients into hospitals on Thursday. Indonesia's last largest single day spike was 693, set the day prior, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Indonesia has broken its own record for most confirmed COVID-19 cases in a single day after 973 new patients were admitted to hospitals (people wearing face masks Serangan island off Bali) With Thursday's jump in infections the country's total number of confirmed cases climbed to 20,162 and the death toll spiked by 36 people to 1,278. Indonesia now has the highest death rate of any country in south-east Asia. 'This increase is outrageous, it's the biggest jump so far,' the government's virus task force spokesman Achmad Yurianto told reporters. Indonesian Health Ministry's Disease Control and Prevention Directorate Secretary said the alarming figures showed people still weren't following regulations. '(It) means people are still ignoring the health protocols, that people are infecting those who are vulnerable,' he said. 'We need discipline practicing the health protocols. This is the time we play our part in handling COVID-19.' The Indonesian government have been relaxing restrictions on essential flights to allow people to fly home during the Ramadan religious period. Experts such as Panji Fortuna Hadisoemarto, an epidemiologist from Padjadjaran University, worry travel for the Eid holiday could lead to new infections. 'It is very possible that people will try and go anyway. If they do, I fear that they may become sources of transmission in their hometowns,' said. Neighbouring Malaysia currently has 7,059 confirmed cases of coronavirus and a total of 114 deaths. Representative image The death toll in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic rose to 3,435 and the number of confirmed cases reached 1,12,359 on May 21, according to the Union Health Ministry. This was an increase of 132 deaths and 5,609 confirmed cases in the 24 hours. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 63,624, while 45,300 people have recovered so far, latest date from the ministry showed. The total confirmed cases include foreign nationals. Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic "Thus, around 40.32 percent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official told news agency PTI. Of the 132 deaths reported since May 20 morning, 65 were from Maharashtra, 30 from Gujarat, nine from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Delhi, four each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three each from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two in Telangana, and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Odisha. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show (With input from PTI) OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente has released a playbook, "Planning for the Next Normal at Work," to guide employers and businesses through health considerations they will need to address as they safeguard workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare to bring employees back to traditional work environments. As the nation's largest nonprofit, integrated health system serving 12.4 million members, Kaiser Permanente provides health coverage to approximately 14,400 large and 74,000 small businesses. "Kaiser Permanente's goal with this playbook is to provide trusted, expert-informed guidance to help businesses restart their workplaces in a way that best safeguards the health of their employees," said Arthur Southam, M.D., M.P.H., executive vice president for health plan operations at Kaiser Permanente. "As stay-at-home restrictions ease and people begin to return to their workplaces, the ability for employers to protect the physical, mental and social well-being of their employees will be paramount." Created in response to Kaiser Permanente business customers' requests for its guidance, the playbook aims to prevent a resurgence of the virus while acknowledging that professional life and productivity will look different than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of recommended safety modifications to the workplace include: Reconfigure office space to allow at least two arms' length of space between workstations and provide hand sanitizer in multiple locations. Limit meetings and gatherings to 10 people or fewer. Create processes for potential employee diagnoses, including evaluating leave-of-absence policies. Reinforce a psychologically healthy workplace where employees feel safe, respected and empowered. The 98-page playbook includes information and guidance from trusted sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and county health departments, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It also provides details on how Kaiser Permanente will support its members across the health care delivery spectrum. Kaiser Permanente will update its "Planning for the Next Normal at Work" playbook regularly as official guidance continues to evolve. About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.4 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/ For more information, contact: Hilary Costa, [email protected] SOURCE Kaiser Permanente Related Links http://www.kaiserpermanente.org The Spanish Health Ministry on Thursday reported 48 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, the lowest figure since the state of alarm was introduced in mid-March in a bid to slow the spread of the pandemic. However, this number does not reflect overnight fatalities in Catalonia, which has been posting the second-highest figures after Madrid. The ministry cited validation problems as the reason for not including these numbers in the total figure. The ministry said that there were 344 new infections in the 24-hour period. The official number of coronavirus-related deaths in Spain now stands at reached 27,940. Speaking at the governments daily coronavirus press conference, Fernando Simon, the director of the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts, said that by July, Spain may be ready to open up for foreign tourists, but he called for caution. What we can do is start to prepare so that the risks are as low as possible, he said. With regard to new infections, Simon explained that they were coming from a number of collectives, such as health workers and senior residences. He added that there was one group of new infections where we havent been able to establish the origin. Face masks Also on Thursday, face masks became compulsory in Spain for everyone over six years of age in public spaces whether indoors or outdoors where a social distance of two meters cannot be maintained. The move is part of the governments drive to keep transmission levels low as confinement measures are slowly lifted. On Friday, health authorities will announce which parts of Spain move on to the next level of the four-phase deescalation plan. If the Madrid region is allowed to transition from Phase 0 to Phase 1, all city parks will be reopened on Monday, said Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida on Thursday. So far, the biggest green areas in Madrid, including the Retiro Park, have remained off limits to the public. Retiro Park in Madrid remains off limits to the public. Eduardo Parra (Europa Press) Vox protest Also in Madrid, the government has greenlighted a protest on wheels called by the far-right party Vox for Saturday. Party officials have asked anti-government demonstrators to show up in their private vehicles rather than on foot in order to respect social-distancing rules. The decision to allow the protest was taken after favorable reports were issued by state legal advisors, by the National Police and by regional health authorities, who did not see a risk of transmission. The protest will begin at noon in Plaza de Cibeles and continue down Paseo de Recoletos, Plaza de Colon, Goya street, Serrano street and Puerta de Alcala. Quarantine The southern region of Andalusia has asked the government to go back on its decision to introduce a 14-day quarantine for international tourists. Instead, the region wants visitors to undergo temperature screenings on their way in and out of Spain, and to get tested for Covid-19 upon departure from Spanish territory. Science Minister Pedro Duque said on Thursday that he hopes to see one of the potential vaccines against Covid-19 being developed in Spain move to the human trial stage by the fall. The former astronaut told a congressional committee that a lot of work is still required to know if these vaccines are the solution, and noted that 10 of the worlds 120 projects currently underway are taking place in Spain. With reporting by Eva Saiz and the Efe news agency. English version by Susana Urra. The federal appeals court in Philadelphia granted a Little Sisters affiliate in Pittsburgh the right to intervene in the states case in defense of the Trump rule. After the appeals court enjoined both the religious and the moral exemptions, the Little Sisters beat the administration to the Supreme Court by two days with an appeal; its lower docket number (19-431 compared with 19-454 for the administrations appeal) meant that the Little Sisters name would carry the case. And what of the dispute itself? The legal issue is whether the Trump administration jumped through the right hoops of the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued the rules containing the two exemptions. But that hardly comes through from headlines like The Endless War on the Little Sisters of the Poor on a Wall Street Journal op-ed by Helen Alvare, a professor at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, the day before the May 6 argument. The subheadline asked: Why does the left insist on making nuns pay for birth control? And Ramesh Ponnurus Bloomberg opinion column declaring that The Left Is at War With the Little Sisters of the Poor concluded by demanding, Leave the nuns alone. Talk about a compelling story line. Except that it isnt accurate, not by a long shot. On the table when the Obama administration left office was a proposed accommodation under which religious nonprofits would not have to do anything hands off, completely, nothing to sign, no forms to fill out to have the insurer, with reimbursement by the government, provide seamless contraception coverage. That was the Obama administrations one nonnegotiable requirement. (The administration didnt want women to have to shop for a stand-alone birth-control insurance policy.) In other words, the nuns and all other religious employers, were not being asked to pay for birth control, far from it, and would have been untouched by the bureaucratic hand. But that still wasnt sufficient, the religious employers said, to avoid their complicity in the sin of contraception because their insurance policy would still provide the link, however attenuated, between their female employees and contraception. Usually during a Supreme Court argument the names of the parties are scarcely mentioned; lawyers and justices alike typically refer to petitioner and respondent. When I first started following Supreme Court arguments, this practice struck me as odd, but it came to sound natural. After all, a Supreme Court case usually isnt really about the particular individual or the particular organization before the court. Its about all the individuals and all the organizations, of which the parties at hand serve as an almost random representation, that will be affected by the decision, now and in the future. So it was striking to hear Paul Clement, the Little Sisters lawyer, refer during the argument to his client by name, again and again, and then again a total of 13 times, by my count in the transcript. Mr. Clement is perhaps the most accomplished Supreme Court advocate of his generation. He didnt just happen to mention his clients name 13 times. He was telling a story, not only to an unseen audience of nine but to a nationwide audience of people who were hearing a Supreme Court argument for the first time in their lives. Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay scheme in Chhattisgarh through video conferencing on Thursday and said this was a true tribute to the former prime minister. Addressing the launch event on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary, she lauded the scheme, saying it will bring a change in the lives of farmers and help them become self-reliant. "Such schemes should be implemented at the ground level to help bring a change in the lives of people. This is a revolutionary scheme and is a true tribute to Rajiv Gandhi. This is a big step taken in lines with the values of Rajiv Gandhi," she said. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also lauded the Chhattisgarh government for launching the scheme at a time when the poor and farmers were facing hardships due to the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown to contain the spread of the disease. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana will benefit 19 lakh farmers and help bring more area under cultivation. He said the aim of the scheme is to help farmers earn more and bring more area in the state under cultivation, which currently stands at 20 per cent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A legislator in the provincial assembly of Punjab and a former provincial governor died on May 20 in separate hospitals after testing positive for the coronavirus. Shaheen Raza, 60, a member of the ruling Tehrik-e-Insaaf Party, died in a hospital in Punjab Province, marking the first death of a lawmaker from coronavirus in Pakistan. Pakistani President Arif Alvi expressed grief over her death and offered condolences to her family. I would like to condole the death of Punjab MPA Ms Shaheen Raza Chheema, the Pakistani president said in a tweet on May 20. Pakistan official Radio Pakistan reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan also sent his condolences. Separately, the former governor of Balochistan Province, Syed Fazal Agha, who tested positive for the coronavirus and was admitted to a hospital in Karachi, Sindh Province, died on May 20, Pakistan's English-language Dawn newspaper reported, quoting hospital sources. Pakistan has recorded 45,898 infections and 985 deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Pakistan has relaxed the lockdown, and people are freely shopping in the markets for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr festival. Meanwhile, mosques have also been opened for prayers, and many people have gathered without taking proper precautions. Khan has repeatedly expressed his opposition to a complete lockdown, arguing that this will result in serious financial problems for lower-paid workers. Several Pakistani parliamentarians and government figures have tested positive for the coronavirus. Prominent among them are Sindh Province Governor Imran Ismail, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar, and former provincial minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. First, it was an oil price war that pummeled benchmarks into the ground. Then it was the coronavirus outbreak that swelled to a pandemic. Now, a third plague is coming for the oil industry, and it could be the most devastating yet. Calling it a plague is quite unfair, really. The third challenge for the oil industry is the green recovery that environmentalists started talking about during the crisis and now has been garnering growing attention and support from the public and private sector alike. The European Union is spearheading the green recovery. The Commission is on board, and so are most EU members, apparently. Much of the business world seems to be in favor of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, too. And there seems to be a sound basis for this green drive. A group of Nordic utilities, for instance, recently published an op-ed in which the authors argued that the EU's recovery from the latest economic crisis must be tied to climate change targets not just for climate's sake but for the sake of economic growth, too. "The Green Deal is Europe's growth strategy. Making it the backbone of the recovery plan is not only necessary in a climate perspective, but also from an economic point of view in order to create growth and work opportunities that are sustainable in the long run," they wrote, adding that electrification had to be at the heart of the green recovery. "One sector still heavily reliant on fossil fuels is the transport sector, which accounts for approximately 20% of EU's greenhouse gas emissions," the authors noted. They went on to say that large-scale electrification of transport, including the construction of some 800,000 charging points over five years, was the solution to this emissions problem. Related: Google Refuses To Assist Oil Companies Citing Ethic Concerns While they acknowledged that this and other initiatives to electrify Europe's transport sector will require sizeable investments, the authors of the op-ed emphasized that, "Inadequate infrastructure is currently a barrier for increased deployment of carbon-neutral electricity and for renewable energy industries to expand and create work opportunities. Grid investments are also necessary in order to transport large amounts of electricity locally across Europe and is a cost-effective route to economic recovery." What does all this have to with oil? The most obvious problem for oil is that large-scale electrification of the continent will affect demand for fuel--and permanently, at that. A less immediate problem is the fact that European leaders have proposed a green recovery roadmap, as they call it, for every industry, and energy is no exception. These roadmaps will undoubtedly be tied to climate targets and will likely set such targets for the industries. What's more, pandemic recovery funds may well be tied to these roadmaps. The BBC's Roger Harrabin, an environmental analyst, reported earlier this month that the leader of the team working on Europe's Green Deal is dead set against financial support for "old, dirty industries." What's more, the EC's vice president Frans Timmermans insists that all recovery funds be directed at businesses that help to reduce carbon emissions and digital businesses. This seems a little over the top, even in Europetying crisis recovery funds to businesses' activity so closely. Yet there is a big chance that the receipt of recovery funds will be somehow tied to the ambitious climate goals of the EU. One needs to look no further than the continent's supermajors to see that. BP, Shell, and Total are all allocating ever-growing amounts of money to cleaner energy, Reuters reported earlier this week. All five biggest European oil majorsthe abovementioned three-plus Eni and Equinorare making the biggest spending cuts in their core oil and gas business, sparing their renewables and even raising spending there, according to Reuters calculations. The oil majors are moving away from oil. Not all of them are doing it. The U.S. supermajors are more set in their ways. But then they are not facing the same kind of pressure to "greenify" as their European peers. The question for the latter appears to be whether they would greenify fast enough to ensure their long-term survival because the green recovery seems inevitable. Related: Ukraines Port Odessa Welcomes First U.S. WTI Crude Cargo Some have questioned its merits and its financial basis as well as who will actually pay for it. Yet at least part of the green recovery will happen spontaneously as a consequence of the pandemic. As Harrabin writes, people keen on maintaining the current social distance will likely continue to work remotely over the long term and opt for a bicycle over a bus for urban transport. Such changing behaviors will affect oil demand over the long term andhere is the important partthese changing behaviors may not remain confined to Europe. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world for good, it seems, and one aspect of this lasting change appears to be energy demand. While many in the oil industry expect demand to rebound sooner or later, it may pay to plan for permanent damage to it, if governments maintain their green momentum and find the money to finance it. Just in case. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: British tourists will probably not be allowed into Greece when it re-opens for tourism next month, Athens said last night in a blow to Britons' summer holiday hopes. Tourism minister Haris Theoharis said the 'current medical status' in the UK meant that Britons were unlikely to be on a 'white-list' of visitors allowed to enter. 'I think that the UK has a big difference in terms of the current medical status of the country so I don't think it's likely,' he told ITV News. Greece will be waiting to see the UK's figures improve before British tourists are invited back to the country, he said. Visitors walk past the ancient Temple of Poseidon south of Athens earlier this week as Greece begins to resume its tourist season - but Britons are initially likely to be excluded Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said yesterday that the tourist season will resume on June 15, with flights landing at tourist destinations from July 1. Visitors will be subject to sample tests but will not be ordered into quarantine, he said in a televised address. There will be 'general health protocols' but these will not 'overshadow our bright sun or the natural beauties of Greece',' he said. The PM also announced a series of tax cuts on drinks, movie tickets and transport in order to kick-start the tourist season. However, only visitors from approved countries will be allowed to enter, a restriction which is likely to exclude Britons. Germans are likely to be among the first visitors, the tourism minister said, with only 8,147 virus deaths recorded in Germany compared to 35,704 in Britain. Bulgarians, Israelis and Cypriots are also expected to be on the 'white-list', he said last night. Britain has also faced a backlash against plans to introduce a two-week quarantine at this stage, when businesses want the economy to restart. Countries such as Italy and Spain have indicated that they would expect Britain to reciprocate if UK tourists are allowed into their countries again. UK transport secretary Grant Shapps has also floated the idea of 'air bridges' connecting certain countries and exempting them from quarantine rules. The full Greek list will be announced by the end of May with Athens focusing on reviving a travel front 'from the Balkans to the Baltic'. Theoharis added that 600 beds would be specifically set aside for coronavirus care on Greek islands, which are traditionally among the country's top travel destinations. Passengers wearing masks walk through the arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport earlier this month, as Britain considers introducing a quarantine for new visitors The EU last week said holidaymakers could be asked to wear masks on planes, respect social distancing on the beach and even book slots to use hotel pools. Greece has suffered only 2,850 cases and 166 deaths after imposing a relatively early lockdown when it had only 624 confirmed infections. However, the measures have shut down a tourist industry which accounts for around a fifth of the Greek economy - which is still recovering from the 2010s debt crisis. The Greek finance ministry said that without support measures for businesses, the country could face an economic contraction of up to 13 per cent this year. According to Bank of Greece figures, the country had more than 34million visitors in 2019, bringing more than 18billion (16billion) in revenue. Greece began lifting lockdown restrictions on May 4, with open-air archaeological sites such as the Acropolis opened earlier this week. Restaurants are scheduled to open on Monday, while museums will welcome visitors again from June 15. People play beach volleyball in Piraeus near Athens on Monday as Greece prepares to welcome tourists back to the country to revive its economy Greek PM Mitsotakis said the country's prompt response to the virus would be a 'passport of safety, credibility and health' to attract visitors. 'We will win the economy war just as we won the health battle,' Mitsotakis said. Elsewhere, Italian airline Alitalia said yesterday it would increase its flights by 36 per cent next month. The airline will resume flights between Rome and New York as well as some journeys to Spain from June 2. From July, it plans to be operating at about 40 per cent of the level that was planned before the coronavirus crisis hit. On all of its flights it is filling only half of the seats to provide physical distance between passengers. Luigi Di Maio, the Italian foreign minister, said his badly-hit country was 'ready to receive tourists from Europe with the necessary security', citing a significant drop in coronavirus cases. 'From mid-June to September it will be possible to travel in Italy without any problems,' he said, adding that 'clear health protocols are in place in the accommodation facilities'. But he added: 'We will (open the borders) and we expect reciprocity,' A former Green Beret and his son have been arrested in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail. The Taylors were arrested by the US Marshals Service in Harvard. They appeared before a federal judge from jail via video conference, wearing orange jumpsuits and tan face coverings because of the coronavirus pandemic. Assistant US Attorney Stephen Hassink said Japan plans as quickly as possible to submit a formal request to extradite the Taylors. An attorney for the Taylors said they plan to challenge Japan's extradition request on several legal and factual grounds. Michael Taylor is a distinguished veteran and patriot, and both he and his son deserve a full and fair hearing regarding these issues, both before the courts and the executive branch, Paul V. Kelly said in an email. The tale of the daring escape began on Dec. 28, 2019, when Peter Taylor arrived in Japan and met with Ghosn at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo for about an hour, authorities said. Just before 10 a.m. the next day, Michael Taylor flew into Osaka, Japan, on a chartered Bombardier Global Express jet from Dubai with another man, George-Antoine Zayek, carrying two large black boxes with them. The elder Taylor was experienced with sticky situations. Over the years, he has been hired by parents to rescue abducted children, gone undercover for the FBI in a sting on a Massachusetts drug gang and worked as a contractor for the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last assignment had landed him in a Utah jail for 14 months, caught in a federal contract fraud case that upended Taylor's family and finances before he agreed to plead guilty to two charges. It's not clear yet how Ghosn hooked up with Taylor. At their arrival, Taylor and Zayek, his Lebanese-born colleague, told airport employees they were musicians carrying audio equipment. Meanwhile, Ghosn, who was out of custody on a hefty bail, headed to the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo and met up with Peter Taylor in his hotel room, authorities said. The elder Taylor and Zayek joined after a brief stop to rent a separate room near the airport. And soon after their arrival, the group left the Grand Hyatt and split up. Peter Taylor headed to the airport to hop on a flight to China, court documents said. The others hopped on a bullet train and arrived at the Shin-Osaka train station about four hours later, authorities said. They hailed a taxi and went back to the towering luxury hotel where Taylor and Zayek had booked a room earlier in the day. They all went in; only two would be seen walking out. Authorities say Ghosn was inside one of the big black boxes, lugged by the two men to Japan's Kansai International Airport, authorities said. The boxes passed through a security checkpoint without being checked and were loaded onto a private jet headed for Turkey, the documents say. At 11:10 p.m., the chartered Bombardier, its windows fitted with pleated shades, lifted off with Ghosn stowed aboard. The flight went first to Turkey, then to Lebanon, where Ghosn has citizenship but which has no extradition treaty with Japan. Two days later, Ghosn announced publicly he was in Lebanon. He said he fled because he could not expect a fair trial, was subjected to unfair conditions in detention and was barred from meeting his wife under his bail conditions. Ghosn maintains he is innocent of allegations he underreported his future income and committed a breach of trust by diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. He says that the compensation was never decided on or received, and that the Nissan payments were for legitimate business purposes. A spokesman for Ghosn's legal team declined to comment on Wednesday's developments. Peter Taylor had traveled to Japan at least three times since July 2019 and met with Ghosn at least seven times during those visits, according to court records. Japanese officials had also issued a provisional warrant for Zayek's arrest. Lebanese authorities said Ghosn entered the country legally on a French passport, though he had been required to surrender all three of his passports to his lawyers under terms of his bail. He also has Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship. The security business that Michael Taylor and a partner set up decades ago was initially focused on private investigations, but their caseload grew through corporate work and unofficial referrals from the State Department and FBI, including parents whose children had been taken overseas by former spouses. In 2012, federal prosecutors alleged Taylor had won a US military contract to train Afghan soldiers by using secret information passed along from an American officer. When Taylor learned the contract was being investigated, he asked an FBI agent and friend to intervene, prosecutors charged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Brazil on Wednesday hit a record high for new cases of coronavirus in twenty-four hours. The countrys health ministry confirmed 1... Brazil on Wednesday hit a record high for new cases of coronavirus in twenty-four hours. The countrys health ministry confirmed 19,951 new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 291,579 confirmed cases. This makes Brazil the third country with the highest coronavirus cases globally behind the United States and Russia. This new surge tops the previous record set Tuesday. Related deaths caused by coronavirus also increased by 888 on Wednesday, bringing the countrys total to 18,859 deaths, the ministry reported. When asked about Brazils increasing numbers, US President Donald Trump said that he was considering a travel ban on Brazil. According to him, We are considering placing a ban, we hope that were not going to have a problem. The governor of Florida is doing very many testing because a big majority comes into Florida from Brazil. Trump expressed worries about his citizens being infected, adding that Brazil is presently having problems. I worry about everything, I dont want people coming in here and infecting our people. I dont want people over there sick, either, Trump added. [May 21, 2020] Nix Patterson, LLP and Wisnia PC File Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Target on Behalf of Young Artist On May 19, 2020, co-counsel, Nix Patterson, LLP and Wisnia PC, filed on behalf of their client, Kristen N. Cooley, guardian of the estate of Nolan Ocean Cooley, a minor, a detailed First Amended Complaint for Violations of U.S. Copyright Laws and Demand for Jury Trial in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Target (News - Alert) Corporation, Target Enterprise, Inc., and others ("Target"). The First Amended Complaint ("FAC") summarizes the lawsuit as follows: "This copyright infringement action arises from the predatory and profit-driven actions of a corporate retail powerhouse-Target-that exploited and illegally misappropriated the creativity of a child artist living with Autism: Nolan Ocean Cooley." The FAC details the remarkable story of Nolan Ocean Cooley, who since being diagnosed as autistic at a young age, has become a renowned artist whose original works of art have received critical acclaim by U.S. media outlets, been the subject of multiple successful gallery art shows, been featured in many major co-branding deals with well-known entities, and otherwise received widespread attention on social and digital media platforms. The FAC centers around Nolan Ocean Cooley's creative and original expressions in certain of his works of art for which the U.S. Copyright Office has validly registered copyrights. Among the many original elements that comprise these creative expressions in the works (imaged in the FAC) is the unique manner in which Nolan Ocean Cooley "designs and draws imperfect sketch-style dots or circles that he elects to combine, arrange and color nto idiosyncratic patterns." On the other hand, the FAC alleges that, with full awareness of and access to these copyrighted works, "Target specifically targeted" Nolan Ocean Cooley, reaching out to his family over social media and inviting them to participate at an ostensibly innocent workshop for young artists to be held at Target's headquarters in Minnesota in the summer of 2018. The FAC alleges, however, that after accepting Target's invitation, the Cooleys "learned firsthand that Target's seemingly laudable promotion program was anything but; instead, it was a bait-and-switch tactic that Target used to copy, counterfeit and unlawfully misappropriate the original, creative expressions in Nolan's Copyrighted Works." Replete with photographs and quotes from Target employees, the FAC alleges how, after Target's workshop, the Cooleys "learned that Target had begun selling online and in its more than 1,800 retail stores across the U.S. a line of children's clothing and merchandise under its exclusive brand-'Cat & Jack'-that plainly copied and counterfeited the original sketch-style dot art design in Nolan's Copyrighted Works and/or were unlicensed derivative works of the Copyrighted Works." The FAC alleges that: "Target even publicly touted its new Cat & Jack children's clothing line as having been 'Designed With Kids, For Kids' and including items that were 'specifically designed for kids with disabilities.' Target concealed from the public, however, the reality that Target had actually exploited a child with a disability-Nolan-and stolen his original expressions and designs in his Copyrighted Works for use in these Infringing Products that Target sold to children across the country." The lawsuit seeks to recover damages from Target for its alleged copyright infringement and is pending as Case No. 8:20-cv-00876-DOC-JDE in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. A copy of the FAC can be accessed at: https://nixlaw.com/news/nix-patterson-and-wisnia-pc-file-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-against-target-on-behalf-of-young-artist/. Inquiries may be directed to Nix Patterson, LLP, Jeffrey Angelovich, at (512) 328-5333, or Wisnia PC, Howard Wisnia, at (858) 461-0989. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005751/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] GNA spokesman says air strikes launched after Haftars forces said they were pulling back from Tripoli front lines. Libyas internationally recognised government has launched air strikes against forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar after his forces announced they were pulling back from Tripoli front lines. Air strikes by the Government of National Accord (GNA) targeted several locations in the west of the country, including in the Haftar stronghold of Tarhouna near the capital, Tripoli, according to GNA army spokesman Colonel Mohamed Qanunu. In Tarhouna, two military vehicles and a vehicle carrying ammunition that belonged to Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) were destroyed, the spokesman said. On Thursday, Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency said the GNA carried out five air operations against forces loyal to Haftar in the past 24 hours. A day earlier, the LNA announced it was withdrawing two to three kilometres (1-2 miles) to ease conditions for Tripoli residents at the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting. The move followed the loss on Monday of a key airbase. Since 2014, Libya has been split between rival factions based in Tripoli and in the east, in a sometimes-chaotic war that has drawn in outside powers and a flood of foreign arms and mercenaries. Backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt, the LNA still holds all of eastern Libya and much of the south, including most oil facilities, but its presence in the northwest, where Libyas population is concentrated, has come under intense pressure. GNA advances Last month, the GNA took a string of small towns linking Tripoli to the Tunisian border. Earlier this week, it took al-Watiya, the LNAs only airbase near Tripoli and a significant strategic prize, as well as three small towns to the southwest. Last month, GNA Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha said capturing Tarhouna would end Haftars campaign to seize Tripoli, but that the fighting in the capital was the priority. 200520180907058 An LNA military source told Reuters news agency that in Tripoli the LNA had completed a gradual withdrawal from the Salahedin battlefront, one of the main theatres of fighting in the capital. Residential areas, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in Tripoli have been bombarded frequently for months. Turkish drones and air defences appear to have played a key role in GNA advances in recent weeks, with repeated claims of attacks on LNA supply chains from the east. Turkeys Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Wednesday that the balance in Libya changed significantly as a result of Turkish training and advice. On the eve of his visit to the plant, which has converted its production lines to start making ventilators, Trump again took aim at Michigan, incorrectly saying on Twitter that the state had sent absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. The president has lately been waging a campaign to discredit voting by mail, which some states have promoted as a way for voters to cast their ballots without endangering their health by gathering at polling places. A study by American insurer Wells Fargo released Wednesday found that big businesses worry more about data loss than about hackers breaching their security.Wells Fargos insurance branch conducted the study, which surveyed 100 companies. The survey found that 47% of companies making more than US$100 million in revenue were worried about data loss in 2016, while only 26% were overly concerned about hackers gaining access to their data. Another 26% were worried about security breaches that didnt involve outside hacking.Employee misuse of technology was also a concern among companies although not as big a concern as it should have been, according to Wells Fargo Insurances Dena Cusick.Its surprising that businesses are not more concerned with employee misuse of technology what I like to call the human factor, Cusick said in a statement. Cyber risk management is first and foremost about education. Informing and regularly training employees on security protocols and incident response plans is critical for businesses today.But 15% of the companies Wells Fargo surveyed dont require any employee training on cyber security, according to the report.Wells Fargo also warned in the report that imposter fraud is becoming a bigger problem for companies. In this fraud, a phishing scammer gains access to a company executives email account and requests that money be sent to a bank account. Wells Fargo reported that one in five large companies had been targeted by imposter fraud. Despite the growing prevalence of this kind of fraud, the survey found that only 38% of companies had added imposter coverage to their insurance policies.Coverage for this type of claim is complicated as most crime policies require either direct theft by an employee or someone without authority initiating a fraudulent payment, the report stated. In a case of impostor fraud, neither of these circumstances applies. The individuals sending payments are fully authorised to do so within the scope of their employment; they simply send it to an impostor. In order to obtain coverage for this exposure, the standard crime policy must have an affirmative coverage grant added by endorsement.On the upside, cyber security policies are getting easier to find, the survey found. In last years survey, 47% of companies said they had a hard time finding the right cyber security policy for their needs. This year, that number was down to 43%. Calling India's Rs 20.9 lakh crore stimulus inadequate in providing for recovery of an economy pummelled by COVID-19, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the package gives free foodgrains but migrant workers, rendered jobless by lockdown, need money to buy milk, vegetables and cooking oil and pay rent. The world is facing the greatest economic emergency and almost any resource is inadequate, he said. "I think it is particularly so in the case of India because we have years of economic drift in which our growth had slowed, our fiscal deficit has gone up. There is a lot more we need to do to put economy back on track. We have to pull all stop," he said in an interview to Karan Thapar for portal 'The Wire'. "The package has some good points but it probably needs to do more." The former chief economist of the IMF said ways have to be found to give relief to people and companies affected by COVID and the ensuing nationwide lockdown. "We got to repair places in the economy that need repair. This includes some of the big firms, this includes banks, and of course this includes MSME. We need to provide for recovery that means some kind of stimulus so as to get the recovery going. And we need reforms," he said adding the package failed not just in providing resources for recovery of an economy pummelled by COVID but also in addressing the distressed faced by sections such as migrant workers who need money along withfoodgrains. The government has in its economic stimulus package provided for 5 kg of foodgrain and Rs 500 per month for three months to poor women having Jan Dhan accounts. Migrant workers who have been left "adrift" after most economic activity in the country came to a halt following the imposition of a coronavirus lockdown beginning March 25. While the government has given free foodgrains, migrant workers need money, he said. Giving foodgrains to unemployed migrant workers, the poor and vulnerable was not enough, he said. They also need vegetables and cooking oil and, most importantly, money and shelter. "It's important to both send more money and open foodgrain. They need vegetables, they need oil to cook, they need other stuff that means a certain amount of money along with foodgrain. They need shelter," he said. "Saving the economy, saving people is most important." Rajan, according to a press release issued by The Wire, said the government must consult opposition talent as facing a catastrophe of this magnitude cannot be done by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) alone. "We must pull out all stops... if more is not done, the economy will be a shadow of its former self," he said. He said the threat to India's economic prospects was such that the government must consult the best talent in the country and not worry about who is across the political aisle. He said the situation could get very ugly and it cannot all be handled by the PMO. Rajan said the challenge was not just to repair the damage done by the coronavirus and the lockdown but the preceding 3-4 years of economic drift. Asked if a government that was responsible for the drift and doesn't even accept the economy had been drifting could be the one to battle it, the former RBI governor said there was a lot of capable talent in the country and the government should call on it. Rajan said the task of recovery involved reviving the construction sector and pushing forcefully ahead with infrastructure development. Asked what would be the state of the economy a year from now if the government did not announce further measures, Rajan said it would be heavily constrained. He said the government should not worry about what the rating agencies would do if the fiscal deficit grew because of fiscal measures to heal the economy and people. These agencies can be told that increased spending is necessary to preserve the economy but also that as soon as possible India will return to the path of fiscal rectitude, he said. On the economic package mostly relying on extending credit, Rajan said loans take time to work. Hunger, on the other hand, is an immediate problem. MSMEs, to whom the government announced credit line as part of economic stimulus, were one of the most indebted sectors, and loans would only add to their indebtedness, he said. Speaking about the big industry and, in particular, segments like airlines, tourism, car manufacturers, and construction which have been grounded by the lockdown, Rajan said that while US-style bailouts were not possible, India's airlines are nonetheless bleeding and the government must offer them debt relief. The financial sector, he said, had been in deep distress for a long while before this crisis struck. It needs re-structuring, re-capitalisation and the hole in the leaking bucket must be plugged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 20) At least 150 Filipino patients are taking part in the World Health Organization's (WHO) solidarity trial, joining the global effort to find a cure for the deadly coronavirus disease. Dr. Marissa Alejandria, a Philippine representative for the international clinical trials, told CNN Philippines that recruitment continues now that the trials will take place in various hospitals all over the Philippines. We are just on the fourth week of recruitment so wala pa tayong 500 na naaabot, nasa 150 palang ang kasali sa trial, Alejandria said. Hindi kasi lahat sumasali, hindi rin lahat nagku-qualify kasi kung may contraindication, hindi sila sinasali sa trial. [Translation: We are only in the fourth week of recruitment so we have not reached 500 yet, we have about 150 involved in the trial because not everyone who qualifies can participate, some have contraindications so they are excluded from the trial.] The Department of Health announced on April 22 that the participation of the Philippines in the solidarity trial was approved by DOH's Single Joint Research Ethics Board. The board reviews proposed studies to make sure they adhere to accepted ethical standards involving humans, and the approval gives the green light for testing to be conducted in human volunteers. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said the study will initially involve at least 500 COVID-19 patients in 20 hospitals, adding that the sample size could expand. Doctors will enroll patients for the study, she said. Based on clinical trial protocols, patients included in the study must be at least 18 years old, be probable or confirmed COVID-19 cases, and give their informed consent. Alejandria said there are five different drugs or combinations being used in the clinical trials, among them remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir, lopinavir-ritonavir plus interferon beta and chloroquine, while convalescent plasma therapy is being studied in a separate effort. When asked how the current patients are doing, Alejandria said it is too early to say, noting that the study is expected to last at least a year. Meron nang nag-recover, meron din namang namatay, so we cannot give any conclusion at this time, Alejandria said. "Merong independent committee that looks at the results, kung may makita na silang, 'ito, mukhang effective na,' then pwedeng i-announce na 'yon." [Translation: Some have recovered, some have also died, so we cannot give any conclusion at this time. There is an independent committee that looks at the results, if they see something, if it seems to be effective, then they can announce it.] Meanwhile, when asked how effective hydroxychloroquine is in treating COVID-19 patients, Alejandria said there is no evidence that supports it's effectivity. "These are all from clinical trials, and they have conflicting reports," she said. "There are also reports of side effects kaya kailangan talaga natin ng [that's why we need] clinical trials." U.S. President Donald Trump revealed on Monday that he is taking daily doses of hydroxychloroquine, a drug he's long touted as a potential coronavirus cure even as medical experts and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration question its efficacy and warn of potentially harmful side effects. Kim Kardashian was seen in a very provocative photo that she shared to Instagram on Thursday. In the fresh image, the 39-year-old entrepreneur is seen in a sheer nude bra top with matching briefs as she sits on the edge of a cream sofa with her long blonde wig hanging down over her shoulders. The wife of Paranoid rapper Kanye West was plugging her new SKIMS mesh collection which debuted this week. Lusty lady: Kim Kardashian was seen in a very provocative photo that she shared to Instagram on Thursday At home: In the fresh image, the 39-year-old entrepreneur is seen in a sheer nude bra top with matching briefs as she sits on the edge of a cream sofa with her long blonde wig hanging down over her shoulders Kim was every inch a pinup in the arresting photo as her bottom and legs were also a focus. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians standout also had on platform heels with beige straps that went up her leg and the shoes also had a peep toe revealing her white pedicure. The mother of four was holding a cell phone in her hand as she took the picture with the help of a large mirror. The same outfit earlier this week: This is not the first time Kim has been seen in SKIMS mesh The daughter of Kris Jenner was in one of her fitting rooms inside her Hidden Hills, California mansion that she shared with West and their kids North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm. This is not the first time Kim has been seen in SKIMS mesh. The TV veteran has been posting new images all week. And she took the shots herself as she is in self-isolation during COVID-19 without the help of a photographer around. By Kim: The TV veteran has been posting new images all week. And she took the shots herself as she is in self-isolation during COVID-19 Without the blonde hair: 'I shot this myself on photo booth,' said the Selfish author. 'Summer Mesh a collection of easy and effortless pieces made for warm weather. Available in 5 colors and in sizes XXS - 4X on Thursday' The cover girl talked about her photo talents online. 'I shot this myself on photo booth,' said the Selfish author. 'Summer Mesh a collection of easy and effortless pieces made for warm weather. Available in 5 colors and in sizes XXS - 4X on Thursday.' No bra, no problem: The sister of Khloe and Kourtney revealed her chest in this brown top The star made her chest the focus of attention and added several gold chains. A press release said the collection is 'breathable, ultra-soft mesh styles designed to stretch and cling to your body.' The collection includes a scoop-neck bralette ($38), a triangle bralette ($38), mesh shorts ($28), a mesh T-Shirt ($48), a thong ($22), and a summer mesh brief ($24). Each of the items will be available in five colors: bone, clay, sienna, jasper, and onyx. The collection also comes in sizes ranging from XXS to 4X. The old collection: And here the GQ and Vogue cover girl is seen in her shapewear line Also on Thursday the good friend of FoodGod Jonathan Cheban shared two new images from her cowgirl look this week. The star had on her blonde wig along with black shades. The real focus was her triangle top bikini that made the most of her assets. Kimmy added bikini bottoms and white chaps. The Tv star was outside a silver luxury car while in her driveway. Yee-haw: v As his father's health worsened, Mohammad Shamshad, 28, made all efforts to rush back to his village in Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh. But he found all roads that could take him home blocked at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. Sitting under a flyover on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday afternoon, Shamshad broke down after he received a call from his mother and sister-in-law that his father was no more. Working as a weaver in an exports company in Haryana, Shamshad received a call from his mother two days back, informing him his father was critical. She asked him to rush back home. His 65-year-old father Mohammad Salaam had been an asthma patient. Shamshad immediately left his house in Kapashera area in southwest Delhi with his wife and four-year-old son early morning in a rented car. When he reached the Anand Vihar Interstate Bus Terminal, the police stopped him and asked him to go back. "I pleaded before them to allow me to go, but they did not relent," he said over the phone as he was travelling in a Shramik Special train. The police have been stopping the movement of migrant workers on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border as thousands have been making efforts to go back to their villages and towns. Undeterred, he tried to cross over to the other side again, but this time with the help of an auto driver, who charged him Rs 50 per person for the ride. But he and his family were dropped under the flyover and not in Ghaziabad. Helpless, he ran helter-skelter, pleading before people to help so that he can at least attend his father's funeral. By then his plight had been captured by the media. Shamshad and his family later went to Ghaziabad bus stand from where buses were picking up migrant labourers who were to be ferried to the Ghaziabad Railway station. By evening, he managed to board a Sharmik train that could drop him to Hardoi. "I can now at least the last rites of my father," he said. This is a difficult time of year for students at the best of times, as end of year tests take over, Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exam preparation is at its most intense, and students prepare to say goodbye to their classmates and teachers before the summer break. But this year, Covid-19 has thrown up difficulties that no school teacher or parent could have predicted, with schools remaining closed until at least September, and State exams not going ahead as planned. Theres lots going on, Deputy Principal of Lanesboro Community College Michael Lyons explained to the Longford Leader last week. The school is working hard to ensure school goes on with some semblance of normality, with a schedule that sticks closely to the structure of a normal school day. Were trying to keep everything going in the present climate. We decided very early on that this was the way to go, said Mr Lyons. And so far, so good, if the regular school notes and daily online assemblies are anything to go by. Its been an unusual few months but the staff of LCC feel like theyre adjusting. March 12 was a terribly shocking time for the kids, said Mr Lyons, referring to that fateful day when An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of all schools. We were working as usual then, by the end of the day, there wasnt a book left in assembly and all of the lockers were empty and there was a real sense of a traumatic experience. We had to do something. So the teachers and staff at the school quickly started working on a remote school system, starting with the daily assembly. We do an assembly every morning anyway, so we started fairly quickly with an online assembly where we meet and greet the students and prepare for the day and then theres a prayer by our chaplain. We started doing that quite quickly, Mr Lyons explained. So now we have a daily assembly sent out to all the students and staff and we put that online on the front page of our website around 9am and all of the information is there. Students are kept busy with extracurricular activities such as tracked runs for their PE teacher, online chess games, and plenty of other resources to keep their young minds busy. Its not easy. If youre not seeing them face to face, its difficult. But were in close contact with parents, said Mr Lyons. We have a student council meeting every week and they would air their concerns and views and that would feed back to the staff and the staff have regular meetings. Were creating a conversation between ourselves, the parents, the students and teachers. Its all about building up a sense of community through having conversations. The school also has a teacher with a Home School Community Liaison role, who has been in touch with all the parents for feedback on how their children are progressing with their remote learning. Some of it has been challenging but a lot of the feedback has been good, Mr Lyons explained. Were only learning. Everyone is learning. But were doing it together. Our school motto is ar aghaidh le cheile - we rise together. At the moment, its all about online exams - something completely new and different for the school. Weve never done anything like this before, said Mr Lyons. Were a DEIS school, so we dont have a lot of resources, but 96% of students have turned up and done their online tests. Thats an incredible turnout. We gave out over 60 laptops and we have ensured every child can engage with that, and they can. And then you have the parents working with them at home, helping them to download their files, so theres also that student-parent bonding. This week, the government entered its five-phase roadmap to reopening the country and people are looking towards an uncertain but hopeful future where things can get back to normal. We have to look forward to September, said Mr Lyons. I keep saying to people not to worry about whether or not the school will open in September. Covid-19 will set that agenda and we can only prepare for possible eventualities. And it is a possible eventuality that we wont be able to open up again if theres a second wave of this virus. But we now know that we can do this. Its challenging but it can be done and it can keep us ticking over until we can be in the classroom again. But it can only serve as a holding exercise. Earlier this month, Minister for Education Joe McHugh announced that the Leaving Certificate exams would not go ahead as planned this year, following months of discussion, which left already stressed students confused and crying out for clarity on the issue. Exams for this year had been scheduled to start on July 29 but have since been cancelled. Students will instead be offered calculated grades, or estimated marks which will be collected from schools and adjusted as part of a national standardisation process. However, students who are uncomfortable with this will have the opportunity to sit the exams at a later stage when it is safe to do so. This current system means that a student will be scored by their teachers who will estimate a percentage mark for each student, as well as a ranking compared to classmates. This will happen for each individual subject. Teachers will use records of a students performance and progress; for example, classwork and homework; class assessments; examinations in school, at Christmas or summer, mock exams and also coursework. With the Leaving Cert, we can only do what has been set out for us to do, said Mr Lyons on the subject of state exams. We keep telling our students that, whatever happens, we will work with you and for you. The school cannot have any discussion around students grades until after the 29th of June. Were going to be working very hard with students but we cant communicate with parents over grades. The Department of Education announced last week that students are not to make contact with teachers over grades, as this would be considered canvassing. The current structure of the Leaving Cert has been criticised by students for a long number of years with students from various Longford schools previously commenting to the Longford Leader that a continuous assessment system would be far more beneficial. Its hard to know whether Covid-19 will change the future of school and exams for good but, right now, teachers and students alike are just trying to get through these difficult months. I think this model is a good thing. It will look at students participation and their engagement over the past number of years. I think people should be a little bit more relaxed about it, said Mr Lyons. We could be looking at a major change in school life. I think Covid-19 has taught us that we shouldnt look too far into the future. We need to look after the important things. I think as a country we will come out of this with a different set of priorities. Im so proud to be part of a school where people work so well together. Weve taken every challenge on and weve done something very special. But we need a break very soon. The Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to establish an industrial city within the industrial and logistics complex in Marmul. Through the agreement that was signed remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Madayn aims at financing, developing, operating and attracting investments to the industrial city located in the south within PDO's concession area, which is 800 km away from the capital Muscat. The agreement was inked by Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, Chief Executive Officer of Madayn, and Raoul Restucci, Managing Director of PDO. Hilal Al Hasani, CEO of Madayn, stated that this memorandum of cooperation comes as a continuation of Madayns medium and long-term expansion plans through establishing industrial cities, and hence undertake efforts along the lines of the governments future directions based on active cooperation and partnership with the private sector to achieve comprehensive and sustainable economic and social development in the sultanate. This cooperation also comes in line with Madayns adopted PPP approach in the field of constructing, managing and operating industrial and economic areas, Al Hasani said, adding: The industrial city in Marmul is expected to focus mainly in attracting investments in the oil and gas sector. In accordance with the Royal Decree no. 32/2015, Madayn has the role of developing and operating industrial cities in the Sultanate, attracting industrial investments and providing continued support through regionally and globally competitive strategies. On his part, Raoul Restucci, Managing Director of PDO, said: We look forward to cooperating with Madayn in this strategic project. The goal of the industrial and logistics complex in Marmul is to accelerate the development of local manufacturing capabilities while expanding supply chains, which shall support our activities in the southern concession area. Bringing these vital operations closer to our fields will play a role in reducing response time and costs, providing efficiency gains and help improving safety performance. - TradeArabia News Service German experts estimate economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Ukraine 13:10, 21.05.20 8189 The pandemic will lead to a severe economic downturn in Ukraine. Avoiding mass gatherings until a vaccine is developed or herd immunity emerges is the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a study claims. Scientists used computer simulations to model what would happen to the trajectory of the pandemic under various scenarios. It assessed how restrictions on home life, returning to school or work and 'other' interactions, such as at restaurants, concerts or bars, impacted the spread. Researchers found that with mitigation efforts such as lockdown and quarantine in place, the key to curbing the spread of the disease is to stop 'superspreader' events. Scroll down for video Avoiding mass gatherings until a vaccine is developed or herd immunity emerges is the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a study claims Academics from the universities of Copenhagen and Roskilde split human-to-human interactions into three categories and inputted them into computer simulations. If the world was to return to normal, with all restrictions eased, these superspreader events would be a drop in the ocean, making little impact on the spread of the virus. However, when the R rate is being quashed by unprecedented restrictions on movement and proximity, the superspreader events become key in further flattening the infection rate. For example, the Cheltenham Festival provided perfect conditions for the disease to spread easily. Writing in their study, the researchers write: 'The simulations demonstrate that the best strategy is to focus on limiting contacts in the 'other' category. 'This in particular suggests that limiting diffuse social contacts in settings such as bars, transportation, restaurants, parties, concerts and lecture halls is far more effective than limiting the same amount of contact events in the "home" and "school/workplace" setting.' The research also found that reopening workplaces would not have a major impact on the epidemic. Researchers found that with mitigation efforts such as lockdown and quarantine in place, the key to curbing the spread of the disease is to stop 'superspreader' events, such as large festivals and concerts. Pictured, this year's Cheltenham Festival Cheltenham Festival may have fuelled coronavirus outbreak Allowing the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead in March could have helped 'accelerate the spread' of Covid-19, a former government chief scientific adviser has warned. Sir David King, who advised the government between 2000 and 2007 criticised the decision to allow the National Hunt festival to go ahead which saw a total attendance of some 250,000 across the four days. The scientific expert described the mass event as 'the best possible way to accelerate the spread of the virus'. Advertisement Avoiding unnecessary 'other contacts' is the most efficient way to curb an outbreak. 'One could snuff out transmission with an effective avoidance of "other" contacts,' they write. The scientific model, created by physicists, focuses on restricting the prevalence of superspreader events by cutting down on contact with people from outside the home or the workplace. Removing these 'other' contacts effectively eradicates contact with strangers and makes superspreader events almost impossible. This, the researchers say, could help explain why moderate lockdowns, such as seen in Denmark and Sweden, were still successful. 'It points to the need to avoid mass gatherings until either flock immunity has been achieved or an effective vaccine is available,' the researchers write. The study has been published online as a pre-print but has not yet been peer-reviewed, the process where independent experts scrutinise the findings. Overnight reports from Jacksonville police: A Jacksonville woman was arrested on a firearms charge Wednesday after police were called to a disturbance on South West Street. Teresa M. Phillips, 28, of 413 N. Prairie St., Apt. 2, was arrested on a reckless discharge of a firearm charge at 9:48 p.m. Police said at least one shot was fired during an altercation involving several people in the 700 block of South West Street. Three packs of Optimo cigars, all together worth about $3.25, were stolen at 2:39 a.m. Thursday from Jiffi Stop convenience store at 841 W. Morton Ave. April C. Turner, 45, of South Jacksonville was treated at Passavant Area Hospital after the car she was driving and one being driven by Matthew C. Iglesias, 46, of Jacksonville collided at Westgate and West Morton avenues at 1:08 p.m. Wednesday. David C.L. Bauer EasyJet is to resume flights from a number of UK airports from June 15 (EasyJet/PA) Passenger numbers have plummeted at Belfast International Airport during the coronavirus pandemic. EasyJet is to resume flights to from Belfast international on June 15. The low-cost carrier announced that its initial schedule will involve mainly domestic flying in the UK and France. Further routes will be confirmed over the coming weeks as demand increases and coronavirus lockdown measures across Europe are relaxed, the airline said. Initially it will fly from Belfast to Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gatwick, Liverpool and Newcastle. Graham Keddie, managing director of Belfast International Airport welcomed the move saying the airport would be working to have in place the necessary health measures for passengers. As Northern Ireland and the UKs largest airline, it is a welcome and reassuring sign that easyJet remains committed to its local routes and keeping NI open and connected for business. We will be ready to accommodate these flights and our teams have been working round the clock to ensure that all measures will be in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all those who pass through the airport. Read More Public safety is and must be the number one priority at all times and we will be working very closely with easyJet and the other operators who plan to commence operations soon to ensure we are all in a position to safely allow passengers back into the airport. Read More Belfast International Airport has said staying open costs it 60,000 a day to ensure Northern Ireland remains open, its managing director has said. While all passenger flights have been cancelled, it still maintains freight operations with around 16 flights a night. The only international easyJet route from the UK will be between Gatwick and Nice, France. As part of new safety and hygiene measures, passengers and crew will be required to wear masks in airports and on aircraft. There will be no food sold during flights, enhanced cleaning of planes, and disinfection wipes and hand sanitiser made available to passengers. A number of other airlines have announced tentative plans to ramp up their operations from the skeleton schedules currently being used due to the coronavirus pandemic. Read More Ryanair plans to restore 40% of its flights from July 1, while British Airways is due to make a meaningful return to service in the same month. EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: I am really pleased that we will be returning to flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to gradually resume operations. We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that, when more restrictions are lifted, the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand, while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want. The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey, from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks. Expand Close EasyJet will introduce a number of measures to enhance safety (EasyJet/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp EasyJet will introduce a number of measures to enhance safety (EasyJet/PA) These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. EasyJet admitted on Tuesday that nine million of its passengers had their email addresses and travel details exposed in a highly sophisticated. An additional 2,200 customers also had their credit card details stolen. The airline insisted there is no evidence that any personal information of any nature has been misused. On Friday, easyJet shareholders will vote on whether to remove Mr Lundgren, chairman John Barton and two non-executives from their positions. This is part of a bitter battle between founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and the companys management. We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Ideagen plc (LON:IDEA). Do Insider Transactions Matter? Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market. Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'. See our latest analysis for Ideagen Ideagen Insider Transactions Over The Last Year Chief Legal Officer Alex Hewitt made the biggest insider purchase in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for UK189k worth of shares at a price of UK1.50 each. That implies that an insider found the current price of UK1.63 per share to be enticing. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Ideagen share holders is that an insider was buying at near the current price. The only individual insider to buy over the last year was Alex Hewitt. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! AIM:IDEA Recent Insider Trading May 21st 2020 There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Story continues Insider Ownership of Ideagen Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Ideagen insiders own about UK30m worth of shares. That equates to 8.1% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders. So What Do The Ideagen Insider Transactions Indicate? There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Ideagen insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Ideagen. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Ideagen you should know about. Of course Ideagen may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. A Customs and Border Control agent patrolling on the U.S. side of a razor-wire-covered border wall along the Mexico east of Nogales, Ariz., on March 2, 2019. (Charlie Riedel/AP Photo) Trump Awards Largest Contract Yet for US-Mexico Border Wall President Donald Trump has awarded a North Dakota construction company a major $1.3 billion contract to build a portion of his signature wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the largest contract to date for the border wall, Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. will construct a 42-mile section of the wall through really tough terrain in the mountains in Arizona, North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer confirmed Wednesday. Cramer said the construction company offered the lowest price for the project, and that he did not know how many companies bid. It was awarded the contract on May 6. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said Wednesday that as part of the contractdubbed Tucson Package 3the company will construct a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall near Nogales and Sasabe in Arizona. It added that start and completion dates for construction have not yet been set. Each project cost is contingent upon its unique characteristics such as geotechnical, topographical, hydrological and hydraulic, underground utilities, final real estate access, and the cost of materials and labor, USACE spokesperson Raini Brunson told The Washington Post. The contract presents a series of projects within a geographical area with more complex terrain, Brunson added. Thanks to the strong and unwavering leadership of President @realDonaldTrump the U.S. has: 187 miles of Border Wall System Mitigated public health threats More secure borders Safer citizens pic.twitter.com/JT4kbaBpYF Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan (@CBPMarkMorgan) May 20, 2020 Trump has, as part of a significant 2016 campaign promise, said he will build 450 miles of wall along the border with Mexico by the end of the year. So far, the government has awarded millions of dollars in contracts for construction of 30-foot-tall barriers, along with new lighting, technology, and infrastructure. An interactive webpage of the border wall which both tracks and streams footage of the progress being made on its construction, was launched by the Trump administration last month. The administration says that since January 2017 it has already built 187 miles of wall. Some of it is new, but most is replacing old, much shorter barriers that officials say were not sufficient. Border Wall System Update: 187 miles completed 184 miles under construction 360 miles under pre-construction pic.twitter.com/4qled4Shtr Chief Rodney Scott (@USBPChief) May 18, 2020 This week, the head of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency revealed that the border walls construction has remained a high priority during the CCP virus pandemic, and the barrier is going up faster than before. Trump said last month that the wall could have an impact on stemming the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, inside the United States. Now we have got to focus on drugs, and the drugs come in from different methods, and we have the best people at sea anywhere in the world, so we will have a tremendous impact on drugs, the president said. But one of the other things we will also have an impact, we think, on the coronavirus. Some activists supporting immigrant rights, however, said that the wall construction is a distraction amid the pandemic or could even, in some cases, facilitate the spread of the CCP virus. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Samsung has never been afraid to try new things when it comes to lifestyle TVs, from its Frame set that doubles as a digital photo frame to its mobile-friendly Sero display that swivels from landscape to portrait orientation. Samsung is now heading in another new direction with its latest TV: The patio. Of course, the new Samsung Terrace isnt the first TV ever designed for outdoor use; for example, SunBrite makes a wide range of weatherized TVs, and we reviewed a 1080p model a few years back. That said, Samsung is betting that its first stab at an outdoor model will boast better image quality than its competitors along with a slimmer, stylish, yet weather-resistant design. Naturally, you can also expect an eye-popping price tag. For starters, the Terrace boasts a 4K QLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, full-array local dimming, and Samsungs Quantum processor for upscaling HD images to 4K. Theres HDR support of course: HDR10+ and HLG, but not Dolby Vision (typical Samsung). An anti-reflective matte finish and more than 2,000 nits of brightness should help when it comes to daytime viewing. Available in 75-, 65-, and 55-inch sizes, the 59mm-thick Terrace features a 10mm bezel, while its IP55 rating promises limited protection against dust ingress as well as protection from jets of water in any direction. (You can read more about IP codes in this story.) In other words, the Terrace should be able to withstand rain, snow, dust, and dirtyou should even be able to hose off the set without frying the TVs circuitry. The Terrace features three HDMI ports, a LAN port, a Toslink optical audio output, and a USB port. Samsung, however, will encourage consumers to use wireless connections. Professional installers, on the other hand, are likely to take advantage of the TVs support for HDBaseT, allowing for the transmission of UHD video, audio, remote control data, and up to 100 watts of electrical power over a single cablesuch as CAT6that can be up to 100 meters (about 328 feet) long. The Terrace runs on Samsungs Tizen smart TV platform, which means you can install streaming apps from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney+, and Apple TV+. Tizen also features Samsungs TV Plus, a linear TV service that offers more than 120 channels of free programming, as well as the soon-to-launch Samsung Health fitness and wellness platform. Samsung Samsungs 3.0-channel Terrace Soundbar shares the same IP55 rating as the Terrace QLED 4K TV. The Terraces built-in 20-watt stereo speakers look fairly basic compared to the multi-channel audio on Samsungs higher-end indoor QLED TVs. Luckily, you can upgrade the Terraces sound with another new weatherized Samsung product: the 3-channel Terrace HW-LST70T Soundbar, which is equipped with a built-in subwoofer, a wide-range tweeter, Distortion Cancelling technology designed to deliver deep and detailed bass, and Samsungs auto-detecting Adaptive sound mode (which tweaks the sound based on the content thats playing). Advertisement Armando Hernandez, 20, shot three people during a rampage at the Westgate shopping center in Glendale, Arizona, on Wednesday evening. He allegedly posted videos of himself on Snapchat throughout the attack A 20-year-old gunman introduced himself as 'the shooter of Westgate 2020' in a Snapchat video moments before he opened fire on an Arizona shopping mall with an AR-15 and injured at least three people while filming the attack. Police received reports of shots fired at the Westgate Entertainment Center in Glendale at about 7.25pm local time Wednesday. The suspected shooter was identified by police and his mother as Armando Hernandez Jr from Peoria. Disturbing footage, believed to have been recorded by Hernandez, showed the gunman carrying out his rampage. 'Hello, my name is Armando Junior Hernandez and I'm gonna be the shooter of Westgate 2020,' he says while sitting in his car outside the mall. He flashes a beer can before showing off guns and ammunition in the backseat. 'Let's get this done,' he adds. Terrified shoppers were filmed running for their lives away from the gunman and shouting: 'It's a shooting.' Hernandez' mother, who was in a flood of tears in the parking lot, revealed the gunman's identity to local TV station 12News on the scene. 'I have no idea why he did this,' she told the outlet. She said she drove to Westgate when her younger son told her: 'Armando's going crazy.' The suspect was filmed surrendering to police in the parking lot. Investigators said they were aware of the Snapchat videos circulating on social media but did not verify whether they were connected to Wednesday's incident. Scroll down for video Disturbing footage, thought to have been taken by Hernandez during the attack, is circulating online. 'Hello, my name is Armando Junior Hernandez and I'm gonna be the shooter of Westgate 2020,' the man filming says while sitting in his car outside the mall. He flashes a beer can before showing off guns and ammunition in the backseat Aerial video from the parking lot shows Hernandez walking calmly with a rifle in his left hand Hernandez can be seen kneeling on the ground in the parking lot as he was cornered by law enforcement Police received reports of shots fired at around 7.25pm local time. Officers remained on scene well after nightfall (pictured) A group of people are seen crying outside the shopping center after police cordoned off the area Investigators are seen outside the mall on Thursday morning as police confirmed the name of the suspect One of those injured is in critical condition. The two others were expected to survive following the shooting near a popular shopping and entertainment district west of Phoenix. None of the victims have been named. State Senator Martin Quezada announced on Twitter that he witnessed an 'armed terrorist with an AR-15 shoot up Westgate'. A former classmate of Hernandez said he was 'troubled' and 'anti-government'. The suspected shooter is seen above in a yearbook photo 'I saw 2 victims with my own eyes. Not sure how many others I saw the shooter. Being told not to say anything else about details 'til I speak to police. I'm ok. Lots of shaken up people,' Quezada wrote. A former classmate of Hernandez described him as 'troubled' and 'anti-government'. The 20-year-old previously attended Raymond Kellis High School, which is over the road from the popular entertainment hub. His mother was in tears when she saw his social media posts ranting about society and identified her son as the shooter, 12News reported. US Marshals were seen raiding Hernandez' home in Peoria at about 11pm that night. They left around 3.30am after taking photographs and removing multiple bags of evidence from the home. In the series of clips uploaded to Snapchat, Hernandez is seen wearing a face mask as he opens the rear door of his car to show an AR-15 resting on the back seat. 'We'll be shooting up Westgate,' he says. 'Let's get this done guys.' The clip then cuts to an automatic weapon ringing out shots as he enters the building. He is seen walking along the corridor to the escalators but doesn't come into contact with anyone. Pictured: A woman covers her face while running for her life from an active shooter at Westgate shopping district in Arizona yesterday Pictured: A woman flees from the scene of a shooting at Westgate shopping center in Arizona yesterday Authorities say at least three people were injured during the incident. An ambulance is pictured at the scene Authorities towed away an Audi sedan believed to have belonged to the gunman US Marshals were seen raiding a home in Peoria where Hernandez reportedly lives on Wednesday night The Westgate shopping center, part of a complex that includes arenas for Cardinals football and Coyotes hockey, was humming with activity after many of its stores and restaurants were closed for more than a month due to coronavirus outbreak. The district is pictured Wednesday evening Officials with the Westgate Entertainment District said they were 'deeply troubled by this incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families'. The shopping center is seen blocked off by police tape on Thursday A cut to another upload shows the barrel of the gun pointed towards a woman trying to hide between two cars in the parking lot of the shopping center. He doesn't shoot her during the clip but her condition is unknown. Throughout the recordings of the rampage the shooter repeatedly says: 'It's society's fault.' Aerial footage obtained by 12News shows him prowling in the parking lot with a rifle and firing several shots. After calmly walking through the area he hides between some cars. A patrol vehicle then pulls up to him and he surrenders himself to officers. Glendale police are yet to announce the shooter's motive. State Senator Martin Quezada tweeted following the incident on Wednesday Several witnesses described the scene at the mall on social media and in interviews with local news outlets. 'There is a possible shooting going on at Westgate in Glendale. I'm here at work with a coworker hiding in the back of our studio. Hoping to get through all of this,' one person posted on Twitter during the attack. A teenager who worked at the mall was visibly distraught when she spoke to 12News in the parking lot afterward. 'It was...I don't even know,' she said. 'My first instinct was to call my mom, so I called her once I got into the back and grabbed my stuff to run to my car. Everyone was in the back. When we went to the door the shots got louder so we came back.' Another survivor named Page, 22, was at the Yard House restaurant celebrating her friend's 21st birthday when the shots rang out and everyone sought shelter under tables. 12News footage showed the windows at the restaurant shattered with visible bullet holes. Sen Quezada told the outlet: 'I saw him through my window after the shots were fired. He was walking calmly and reloading his weapon.' A Peoria police car blocks an entrance to the Westgate Entertainment District in Glendale A police officer is seen directing traffic outside the mall after the suspect was apprehended 12News anchor Mitch Carr said he spoke to Hernandez' mother who was in floods of tears in the parking lot The Westgate shopping center, part of a complex that includes arenas for Cardinals football and Coyotes hockey, was humming with activity after many of its stores and restaurants were closed for more than a month due to the coronavirus outbreak. Police locked down the area and have been methodically inspecting individual stores with weapons drawn and accompanied by a K9 unit, to search for any additional victims or suspects. People living in the area were ordered to shelter in place following reports of the shooting. Many of those faced a power outage around the same time. The power outage, which affected local apartment blocks and street lamps, caused some residents to come out on to the street while the shooter was active, 12 News reported. Law enforcement had tweeted at around 7.45pm: 'Please stay out of the #Westgate area. 'Preliminary info from our dispatch is there were at least two persons struck by gunfire and one person is in custody. 'PIO is enroute to the scene. Media staging for now will be West of the Arena.' One person was in critical condition and two others were injured in a shooting Wednesday near a popular shopping and entertainment district west of Phoenix, police said Video from the scene shows a large police presence. Arizona governor Doug Ducey said: 'We are monitoring this closely' Glendale police confirmed the incident, saying three people were injured US Marshals are seen executing a search warrant outside Hernandez's home in Peoria on Wednesday night Investigators were seen collecting evidence from a pick-up truck parked outside the home The US Marshals were assisted by officers from the Glendale and Peoria police departments Police later confirmed a few minutes later that a suspect was in custody, tweeting: 'Update: there are no more reports of any active shooting. 'One suspect is in custody. We are shutting down the Westgate area to ensure everyone is safe. Media staging will be at Cabelas parking lot.' They confirmed the shooter's name in a tweet on Thursday morning and said that the search for additional victims had concluded. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey released a statement hours after the shooting, saying: 'Our hearts and prayers are with the individuals and families impacted tonight, as well as the first responders and police officers who are on the scene. The state is here to continue to offer its full support to the victims and to the community.' Democratic Rep Greg Stanton said: 'Praying hard for the two victims at Westgate and for the hundreds who just lived through the nightmare of a mass shooting. 'This is a terrible situation that could have been much worseIm grateful for the quick response from @GlendaleAZPD that undoubtedly saved lives.' Jerry Weiers, the Mayor of Glendale, said: 'I want everyone to know that this is not normal. 'We are dealing with somebody who obviously had issues.' Officials with the Westgate Entertainment District issued a statement saying they were 'deeply troubled by this incident and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.' 'Westgate will continue to work closely with the Glendale Police Department and in-house security to best ensure the safety of our customers, tenants and residents,' the statement said. In Davie County, Ashley Furniture Inc. has had a handful of COVID-19 cases among its Advance workforce, according to spokesman Cole Bawek. We have no reported cases where transmission is believed to have occurred while working at our facility, Bawek said. Out of caution, we have nonetheless asked associates who may have previously come in close contact with these associates to quarantine at home. Testing proves vital Tyson said the majority of infected employees did not show any symptoms and otherwise would not have been identified. The company said 2,007 employees were tested for the virus at the facility May 6-9. The remaining 237 employees were either tested by Wilkes County Health Department officials or through their health care provider. Wilkes elected and public health officials said testing of 200 Tyson employees found that 38, or 19%, had the virus. Tyson said employees who have tested positive are on paid leave and not allowed to return to work until they have met the criteria established by both the CDC and Tyson. JMEnternational/Redferns By RACHEL GEORGE, ABC News Jamaica, this one is for you! The next Verzuz battle goes down this Memorial Day weekend between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer. "Another legendary link up for the CULTURE," Beenie wrote, sharing the battle's announcement on Instagram. The "King of Dancehall" has an impressive collection of hits, including "Who Am I," "Romie," "Dude," "Girls Dem Sugar," "Bossman," featuring Sean Paul, and more. In 2000, Beenie won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album, for Art and Life. Fans on social media are also looking forward to hearing hits from Bounty Killer, including "Look," "Benz and Bimma," his Grammy-nominated album Ghetto Dictionary: The Mystery, and more. One fan tweeted, "If you don't know who Beenie man or Bounty killer is, unfollow me. We have nothing in common." Meanwhile others were more concerned about any possible technical issues with the battle. "What kinda WiFi do Bounty Killa and Beenie Man have? Please let it be impeccable because I need to hear every word of this Verzuz [battle]," a fan tweeted. The reggae/dancehall mashup between Beenie Man and Bounty Killer begins Saturday, May 23, at 8 p.m. EST. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:56:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GUANGZHOU, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Guangzhou Customs announced Wednesday that it has cracked down on a case involving cross-border e-commerce smuggling of health care products worth 1.5 billion yuan (211.5 million U.S. dollars). The suspects in five groups smuggled health care products through cross-border e-commerce platforms. They declared to the customs by illegally using others' identity information with false cross-border e-commerce orders, payment orders, and waybill information, according to the customs in south China's Guangdong Province. The anti-smuggling bureau of Guangzhou Customs arrested 20 suspects Tuesday in Guangzhou, Zhaoqing and Heyuan. According to the Chinese law, citizens can enjoy preferential tax rate for a single transaction up to 5,000 yuan or an annual transaction of 26,000 yuan on cross-border e-commerce platforms. The case is under further investigation. Enditem Cats will need a passport to travel to Northern Ireland - Eleanor Bentall British cats, dogs and ferrets will need an EU pet passport to travel to Northern Ireland after the end of the Brexit transition period, it has been confirmed. The creation of an internal pet border in the United Kingdom from Jan 1 next year is a result of the Withdrawal Agreement Boris Johnson negotiated with Brussels. That deal effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the EUs customs territory and moves the border between it and the Republic to the Irish Sea to prevent the need for inflammatory checks on the border after Brexit. The EUs Pet Travel Scheme allows for the free movement of cats, dogs and ferrets in the bloc without the need for quarantine. A quarter of a million British pets use their passports to travel in the EU every year, according to the European Commission. Joe Moran is deputy coordinator of the UK-EU Animal Welfare Taskforce and works for the Eurogroup for Animals, an umbrella organisation for 70 animal welfare charities. You can't refer to the UK at all in this case as a single unit any more, he said. Pet passports will be needed between Great Britain and Northern Ireland." Animals from mainland Britain travelling to Northern Ireland will need the documents, as will pet owners in Northern Ireland travelling back from Great Britain. The requirements could be cumbersome for pet owners - John Cobb The requirement for an EU-approved pet passport is a best-case scenario. It is subject to the European Commission agreeing a British request to be considered a listed non-EU country that meets the necessary health requirements. If Brussels decides to withhold approval, a more burdensome certification system will be necessary. If approval is granted, British holidaymakers will be able to carry on taking their pets to Europe as they do now. As the passports are meant to last for the lifetime of the animal, Mr Moran said, it may not be necessary to replace existing EU ones. Story continues The request is under examination, an EU source told the Telegraph. Such third country pet passports will have the same information as the EU passports, which are blue, but will look different. Certain aspects of the format of the passport are to be decided by the UK authorities, the EU source said, when asked about the colour of the new passport. UK sources said the new documents would be modelled on the existing EU pet passports. That risks disappointing Brexiteer pet owners looking forward to changing their red human passport for the traditional British blue one. We are working with the European Commission to ensure pet travel between the UK and EU continues smoothly after January 2021, a UK government spokesman said. During the transition period the current rules on pet travel between the UK and EU continue to apply, meaning travellers may continue to use their existing pet passports. The admission that a new pet border will be created comes the day after the Government confessed that businesses in Northern Ireland will face additional barriers to trade with Britain after Brexit, despite Boris Johnsons promises to the contrary. With its early success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam is having a jump-start among potential investment destinations in attracting a new wave of FDI. Vietnam is under fierce competition from other countries to attract companies that are looking to shift production out of China. Illustrative photo. Last year, the escalation of the US China trade war was considered one of the key factors behind a shift in investment from China to other countries. And now, as the Covid-19 pandemic came into the picture, companies are accelerating their efforts to relocate production out of China. Vietnam, with its early success in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, is having a jump-start among potential investment destinations in attracting a new wave of foreign direct investment (FDI). Since the end of last year, Apple has been recruiting a series of senior positions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, fueling rumors that the US-based tech giant is moving to build a plant here. The firm is expected to produce millions of its popular AirPods wireless earphones in Vietnam for the first time in this quarter, a sign the company is accelerating its diversification of production out of China, Nikkei Asian Review reported. Samsung, another tech giant, is also mulling over a shift of production chains for some high-end smartphones to Vietnam. A race for investment inflow However, Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE), told VnExpress that Vietnam is not the only country in Asia eyeing capital outflows from China. Vietnams neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and India are quickly adjusting their FDI policies to grasp this new opportunity. According to Bloomberg, in April, the Indian government reached out to more than 1,000 companies in the US and through overseas missions to offer incentives for manufacturers seeking to move out of China. India is prioritizing medical equipment suppliers, food processing units, textiles, leather and auto part makers among more than 550 products covered in the discussions. Bloomberg said Indian officials told companies that India is more economical in terms of securing land and affordable skilled labor than if they moved back to the US or Japan, even if overall costs are still higher than China. They have also offered an assurance that India will consider specific requests on changes to labor laws, which have proved a major stumbling block for companies, and said the government is considering a request from e-commerce companies to postpone a tax on digital transactions introduced in this years budget. In a similar move, Thailand has been encouraging foreign investors coming to the country with a series of tax incentives and a revision of the Business Law. Malaysia last year announced a supporting program for foreign investors worth US$240 million in tax incentives for those choosing the country as the destination for their businesses. Legal reforms continue to be key factor JLL in its latest report suggested among countries that are providing incentives for investors in a new normal that Vietnam is not the most attractive destination. Moreover, not all economic sectors in Vietnam are prepared to absorb new capital inflows, and supporting industries are an example. Truong Thi Chi Binh, vice chairwoman of the Vietnam Association for Supporting Industries (VASI), said the sector in Vietnam lacks the necessary conditions for technology transfer, while other countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are considered more favorable destinations. Binh said the majority of enterprises operating in supporting industries in Vietnam are of small and micro scale with less than 200 employees, therefore, they could only receive small orders with low sophistication. Meanwhile, companies moving out of China are looking for orders at large quantity and highly sophisticated products. Binh also pointed out that Vietnam does not have a complete ecosystem for manufacturin. For some products, companies must send them to Thailand or China for undergoing certain processing before being finished in Vietnam. VAFIE Chairman Mai said Vietnam must act faster to overcome other competitors in attracting new FDI flows. Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc said the country must be proactive in joining new supply chains, instead of waiting for investors to come and form a new value chain. Mai urged Vietnam to pay more attention to improving the infrastructure and technological systems, as well as the quality of human resources. Moreover, the investment procedures should be simplified, together with other initiatives for investors along the implementation process. VCCIs representative said the legal reform is the key factor for Vietnam to attract the new investment capital and eventually help the country break into ASEANs top 4 countries in terms of business-friendliness. Hanoitimes Ngoc Thuy Vietnam holds advantages as investors look beyond China: Experts Vietnam holds a number of advantages against other countries at a time when investors are looking to exit China, according to experts. Bengaluru's Shivaji Nagar sealed after the number of people testing COVID-19 positive in the containment zone increased significantly, during the extended nationwide lockdown imposed to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, on May 18, 2020. (Photo: IAN Image Source: IANS News Bengaluru, May 21 : About 70 per cent of industries across Karnataka resumed operations after restrictions were relaxed during the extended lockdown, an official said on Thursday. "About 70 per cent of industries have resumed operations in the state after restrictions of the guidelines were relaxed since May 4 when the lockdown was extended for the third time till May 17," an official told IANS after Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa reviewed the functioning of the state industry department with Minister Jagadish Shettar and top officials here. Industrial activity across the southern state was halted abruptly when the 21-day lockdown was suddenly enforced from March 25 to April 13 to contain the Covid spread and extended thrice since then up to May 31, with its norms eased in every phase to revive the economy battered by the pandemic. "The department is drafting a special incentive scheme to attract investments from across the country and overseas, especially from China where industries have evinced interest in setting up their operations in other countries like India in the post-Covid period," said the official. The state government has set up a special task force to attract global firms keen on relocating their operations from China after their functioning was affected by the coronavirus spread in the mainland. "The state government had also amended the Land Reforms Act in March to simplify the procedure for buying land by prospective industrialists and investors in the state, recalled the official. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's directive, the state government has told the districts to simplify the land acquisition process for entrepreneurs and investors. "Measures have been taken to simplify the process of setting up industries at every district level for job creation and economic recovery by turning the Covid challenge into an opportunity," asserted the official. On the Central government's advisory, 22 manufacturing companies have been producing PPE (personal protection equipment) kits since the lockdown began in March third week. "Similarly, four firms are manufacturing ventilators and about 40 distilleries have been granted licence to make sanitizers to minimize their import from China and other countries. The Chief Minister also reviewed the performance of the labour department and directed it to register all workers from across the state and other states with the unorgainsed labourers' welfare board. State Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar, Shettar and Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar participated in the review meeting along with senior officials. The unreleased Zack Snyders version of the 2017 DCEU Justice League movie is finally set to release on HBO Max in 2021. The unreleased Zack Snyders version of the 2017 DCEU Justice League movie is finally set to release on HBO Max in 2021. After 3 years of fans getting #ReleaseTheSnyderCut trending on Twitter, the film finally gets official approval from Warner Bros. to release the Snyder Cut on the upcoming new streaming service. The announcement came directly from Zack Snyder who was doing a watch party on Vero for his 2013 Superman film, Man of Steel. After the film, Zack and Deborah Snyder were joined in by Henry Cavill, the man who donned the blue boy scout costume, on a Zoom call. Where they spoke about some of their memorable parts of shooting the film, before a group fans who had questions to ask joined in as well. Towards the end of the stream, Zack flipped his iPads front camera to rear to unveil a poster for Zack Snyders Justice League with the release year and the platform it would be streamed on. Warner Media also released a press release with regards to the official announcement where they spoke in brief about how this project came to fruition. In the press release, Zack said, I want to thank HBO Max and Warner Brothers for this brave gesture of supporting artists and allowing their true visions to be realized. Also a special thank you to all of those involved in the SnyderCut movement for making this a reality. Zack Snyder had finished most of his work on Justice League back in 2016, before stepping down from post-production due to a family tragedy. Soon after, Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon, the Avengers director to finish the rest of the work. Whedons version of the film did not do so well with critics and fans alike. Fans believed that Snyders version of the film was a much darker and more realistic take than Whedons. Also, Warner Bros. chose to just replace Snyder with a different director soon after a family tragedy, which did not sit well with the fans. This soon led to a barrage of #ReleaseTheSnyderCut tweets from fans trending on twitter for the next 3 years. Some of which was toxic. While the others were just supportive and led positive movements such as raising money for suicide awareness. Zack Snyder stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that his project would be an entirely new thing based on what he heard from his friends who saw Joss Whedons version of the film. He further went on to say, You probably saw one-fourth of what I did. Zack still has to do a lot of post-production work to finish his vision before releasing it to the public, which explains the late release. As of now, it is still not clear whether Zack Snyders Justice League would be released as an entire film or as a mini-series. HBO Max starts its streaming service on 27 May 2020, starting at $15. It is said to have 10000 hours of premium content available to stream at launch including original series, third-party licence programs and movies, and a library of Warner Bros. archives including Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes and Crunchyroll. Unfortunately, it looks like the streaming service would not be available in India for the time being. We as fans can only hope that by the time Zack Snyders vision is out, HBO Max widens its reach. New Altman Vilandrie & Company Principal Matt Birtch Matt has deep expertise in media and fintech across international markets, especially in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Altman Vilandrie & Company, a leading strategy consulting firm focused on the communications, media, and related technology sectors, has hired international media & technology finance expert Matthew Birtch as Principal. Birtch advises the firms global Telecommunications, Media, and Technology (TMT) sector and private equity clients on a range of business strategy and investment issues. Matt has deep expertise in media and fintech across international markets, especially in Asia, Africa, and Europe, said Altman Vilandrie & Company COO Steve Conway. As our firm continues to grow our global client base, we are fortunate to include Matt as part of our leadership team. At Altman Vilandrie & Company, Birtch, who is based in the firm's San Francisco office, focuses on helping private equity clients on evaluating TMT investments as a specialist in commercial diligence and working with large operators on M&A and creating value growth strategies. He has experience in assisting SaaS businesses, and linear and nonlinear media to create value and manage digital disruption. Prior to Altman Vilandrie & Company, Birtch was Head of Deal Strategy for South East Asia at KPMG, based in Singapore. He also served as Deal Strategy Leader for Africa at Strategy&, at which he opened offices in Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Lagos. Birtch was head of Corporate Development at Naspers and worked in Private Equity roles for firms in Shanghai and Beijing. He began his consulting career at EY in London. Birtch graduated from Rhodes University in South Africa, before receiving a finance honors degree from WITS Business School and an Executive MBA GIBS Business School. He is a Clinical Professor in the field of strategy for competitiveness for both executive education and MBA programs. About Altman Vilandrie & Company Altman Vilandrie & Company is a strategy consulting group that focuses on the telecom, media, technology, and investor sectors. The companys consultants are experienced in strategy, marketing, finance, M&A, technology, regulatory and operations disciplines. Based in Boston, with offices in New York City and San Francisco, Altman Vilandrie & Company enables clients to seize new opportunities, navigate mounting challenges, improve business performance and increase investor value within complex and converging industries. Ninety percent of the boutique firms operator clients are large- to mid-cap companies including service providers, technology and software developers and media companies. Altman Vilandrie & Companys financial clients include many of the largest and most prominent investors in the telecom, media, and technology markets. The United States blocked a Russia-proposed UN Security Council draft press statement on the recent incursion into Venezuela, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy said in a statement. Earlier on Wednesday, Polyanskiy said during a UN Security Council meeting that Russia had disseminated a press element on the situation in Venezuela. "This is the draft proposed by Russia to be adopted after UN Security Council VTC [video teleconference] today. No accusations, only support of basic common things," Polyanskiy said on Wednesday evening. "It was killed by the [US mission to the United Nations] within 9 minutes from the start of the silence procedure." On May 3, the Venezuelan authorities said an attempted maritime invasion by militants from Colombia had been prevented but has resulted in the death of eight militants killed and the detainment of several others. One of the detained individuals, US citizen Luke Denman who works for the security firm Silvercorp USA, said during an interrogation that the group's aim was to seize the Caracas airport and bring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the United States. The draft statement rejected the use of force as stipulated by the UN Charter and reaffirmed relevant resolutions on Venezuela. It also called for the situation to be resolved without interference, by Venezuelans, within the framework of the UN Charter and the country's constitution with full respect for its sovereignty and territorial integrity. (Sputnik/ANI) Also Read: Covid-19 lockdown no hurdle: Sentenced to death via Zoom video call / Andrew Gausepohl FAIRFIELD Town Democrats have endorsed Carla Volpe for the 134th District seat of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Volpe, a Trumbull resident, received unanimous support in a Democratic convention held via Zoom meeting Monday night, according to a press release. GRANITE CITY Chestnut Health Systems has announced it will use recently-awarded grant funding of $150,000 to help meet the immediate needs of homeless people affected by the coronavirus. Chestnut is one of four agencies in Illinois to receive funding from Meridian, which provides government-sponsored managed care services to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative, and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans. A coalition of Muslim leaders secured 40,000 face masks to distribute throughout the Greater Boston Area in hopes of helping those who have had trouble finding protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic. The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center announced Thursday plans to distribute face masks during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, which ends Saturday evening. The pair worked with a group of local physicians on the initiative. We saw a great need in our community for being able to provide greater personal protective equipment for the wider non-medical use that is individuals who are interacting with the public on a large scale and yet who are not doing so in a medical capacity, said John Robbins, executive director of CAIR-Massachusetts. The purchase of 40,000 masks was funded by donations, Robbins said. The organizations have half of the masks and plan to start distributing them in the next two or three days. The organizers will be working with the Boston Office of Infectious Diseases and city officials to figure out the most high-impact areas and distribute masks to community health centers and local organizations. The last day of Ramadan falls on Saturday with Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. For the first time in recent history, celebrations around the world will be much smaller because of the novel coronavirus. More than 90,000 people in Massachusetts have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 6,000 people have died. Gov. Charlie Baker mandated the use of face masks starting May 6 to limit the spread of the coronavirus, warning people to use cloth or single use masks in lieu of medical grade masks that health care workers need. Baker administration officials, citing public health experts, say having everyone in the state wearing masks when they cannot stay 6 feet apart can exponentially lower the chances that a person will become infected with COVID-19. Wearing a mask really is about protecting others in this case, said Sana Syed, a neurologist in Boston who worked on the initiative. Yet two weeks after the order took effect, religious leaders and advocates say face masks can be hard to come by. People have ordered masks online, and its taking a long time or theyre not coming in, said Liz Ismail of ISBCC. Procuring masks for the general public has been the biggest issue that we have seen. The Baker administration shared information online about what can be used as a face covering. An informational video was made available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Haitian Creole and Vietnamese. When asked whether the state was working with municipalities on getting masks to people who lack access, Baker said last week it was on his list of things to do. Related Content: Dubai, May 21 : An Indian businessman is the latest winner in the Dubai Duty Free (DDF) million dollar draw. Rajan Kurian, 43, from Kottayam, Kerala, won the DDF Millennium Millionaire draw on Wednesday, reports Gulf News. Speaking to Gulf News from Kottayam, he said he was grateful for the win, considering the gloomy circumstances prevailing in the world with the coronavirus pandemic. "I will set aside a good part of my win to help needy. I feel grateful with the win but I need to share it people who need it," he said. Kurian, a businessman in Kerala dealing in the construction sector, also said some of the money will go into growing his business. "The last few months have been tough with the COVID-19 situation," he said. "My business has come to a standstill. This money will be put to good use." -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Kiki Omeli has championed a move to celebrate health workers in Nigeria risking their lives to save humanity in this COVID 19 pandemic. Omeli got some Nigerian celebrities to sign autographs which were created into a collage to appreciate the health workers. Belinda Effah took to her IG page to share the collage writing alongside; Read Also: COVID 19 Pandemic: Lessons Learnt And How To Stay Ahead Advertisement Thank You @kikiomeili For Championing This Move To All The Doctors and Nurses Risking Their Lives To Save Others During This COVID19 Pandemic I say A Big Thank You God Bless You All The collage of autographs From Nollywood Stars was presented to the health workers at the Gbagada isolation centre today and they were very happy and grateful. IDH Yaba and Onikan will follow shortly. Thanks again https://www.instagram.com/p/CAYNcx6j_is/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link A mom in Fishers, Indiana, has been called the real-life Rapunzel thanks to her long and luscious locks that measure 5 feet, 6 inches in length. She spends around 15 minutes a day applying a hair mask and washes the magnificent mane twice a week to keep it strong and healthy. Yet, the secret that keeps the hair truly healthy, she insists, is eating a spoonful of peanut butter every day. Andrea Stano (Caters News) Andrea Stano, who grew up in Micronesia, has never been to a hairdresser for a formal haircut. Instead, she trims the ends of her long locks occasionally, while letting her strawberry-blonde mane grow all the way down to her ankles. And the trims and hair masks she uses are only part of what makes her hair look so long, smooth, and shiny, she says. I eat peanut butter every day, she said. I truly believe this step keeps my hair healthy, and helps it to grow faster and thicker. Andrea Stano (Caters News) Andrea Stano (Caters News) Stano turns heads with her fantastic head of hair, which is often braided into fancy styles not unlike the iconic fairy tale princess Rapunzel. I grew up in Hawaii and in Micronesia where most women and girls have long hair but I have always loved keeping my hair long and healthy, she said. People are very kind and complimentary about my hair, she adds. They admire how I have it braided and when they ask how long it is they are always shocked to hear it is ankle length. Andrea Stano (Caters News) She revealed to Caters News that Rapunzel has definitely served as inspiration for her hair and the styles she tries out, which she insists are part of the fun of having hair like she does. The possibilities are endless with long hair and each day I think of how I will fix my hair today, she said. I love to try out new braids and hairstyles and have posted pictures of hundreds of hairstyles on my blog. Stano now lives in the United States with her husband, Justin, and their baby daughter, Katie. Even now, though, you can see her in pictures with her gorgeous hair still woven up in intricate braidshardly a surprise, since Stano has explained how much joy the hair fun is for her. She told Caters that she loves to think up new hairstyles, and that shes gotten the opportunity to meet new people around the world thanks to the blog she keeps to update people on the styles shes tried out. Andrea Stano and her husband, Justin (Caters News) Long hair has given me opportunities to meet new friends around the world, she said. I have many good friends now who I first met through our mutual interest in long hair, and soon we became friends for other reasons. Some of my hair friends follow my missionary work in the islands, and sometimes they even send gifts for the children I work with. Long hair can bring us together even though we are far apart. Andrea Stano (Caters News) We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published May 21, 2020 Thanks to the generosity of donors and the Louisiana Board of Regents, the University of Louisiana Monroe Foundation announces $1.2 million in new endowed professorships and scholarships. The ULM Foundation applauds these benefactors who appreciate the opportunity to leverage their investments in ULM with Louisiana Board of Regents Sponsored Programs matching dollars, said Susan Chappell, Executive Director of ULM Advancement, Foundation and Alumni Relations. In June 2020, Board of Regents matching funds totaling $460,000 will be added to private contributions, resulting in $1.2 million for the professorships and scholarships. The ULM Foundation greatly appreciates these esteemed donors and their desire to positively impact higher education at ULM, Chappell said. Gifts dedicated to establish endowments last forever. The fruits of these endowments create opportunities that did not exist before. Superior Graduate Student (SGS) Scholarships Elsie Webb Endowed Super SGS in Education Elsie Webb was a dedicated business woman and owner of the Canary Motel and Trailer Park in West Monroe. Previously, she owned and operated other businesses, including the Hob Nob Restaurant. For over 15 years, Webb contributed to scholarships and cancer research at ULM, totaling $573,000. Lawrence Alton & Elizabeth Ann Robinson SGS in Healthcare Education Larry Robinson is a 1968 graduate of the ULM College of Pharmacy and received an M.S. in Hospital Pharmacy in 1973. Ann Robinson is a 1972 education graduate. Both have enjoyed successful and distinguished careers. They established their endowed scholarship to recruit and retain high-quality graduate students in the College of Pharmacy and Kitty DeGree School of Nursing. The scholarship emphasizes providing excellent healthcare to underserved communities in rural Louisiana. Professorships Willis-Knighton Professorship for Nursing Willis-Knighton Health System established its fifth endowed professorship to enhance recruitment and retention of exceptional faculty in the Kitty DeGree School of Nursing. John & Tasha Gardner Professorship in Marketing Analytics A 1994 ULM Accounting graduate, John is the Vice President and Treasurer of Murphy Oil, and contributes his analytical expertise through the Finance & Administrative Committee of the ULM Foundation Board of Trustees. John and Tasha created their legacy to support Marketing Analytics. Henry A. Little, CPA, Professorship in Accounting Established by family to honor their patriarch, a 1961 ULM Accounting graduate, this professorship will assist in recruiting and retaining quality faculty in the William D. Hoover School of Accounting, Financial and Information Services in the College of Business and Social Sciences. Lawson & Sharon Swearingen Professorship in Political Science Lawson Swearingen, a 1966 ULM graduate, practiced law in Monroe for 22 years, which included 11 years as a Louisiana State Senator. He was president of ULM from 1991-2001. During his administration, the signature seven-story ULM Library building was constructed, also housing administrative offices and a conference center. Sharon is a 1972 ULM graduate. Charles Allen Professorship in Biology Dr. Charles Allen is a former ULM professor and accomplished botanist in Louisiana. Dr. Harry and Mary Lou Winters donated 105 acres in the rolling Ouachita Hills region near Columbia, LA, to the ULM Foundation and named the property the Charles Allen Nature Preserve. Over the years, Winters and Allen co-authored several books on the plants of Louisiana and the Gulf South. Funds from the sale of the property established this professorship and an endowed scholarship, both named in honor of Dr. Charles Allen and to support the ULM School of Biology. First Generation Scholarships Paul & Mary Fink Super First Generation Scholarship Paul Fink was awarded an honorary degree from ULM in 1988. He served as a judge and later as an estate attorney, assisting individuals with their estate planning, including many who designated gifts as their legacy to ULM. His desire was to provide support to students with financial need who resided in Louisiana. Oscar Cahn & Kurt & Irmgard Fisher Super First Generation Scholarship James Kurt Fisher and his wife Irmgard Cahn Fisher established this scholarship to aide Louisiana students who could not otherwise afford a college education. Deputy chief of Ukraine delegation to the TCG stands against the participation of Russian-controlled militants in settlement negotiations. The Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group for Donbas Settlement in Minsk is not supposed to coordinate with their Russian counterparts participation of the invited internally displaced persons, that's according to first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation, Vice Prime Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. "We aren't supposed to coordinate anything with anyone. They don't coordinate with us when they bring someone in. It is the sovereign right of the delegation to determine who will be part of it," Reznikov told Donbas News. Vice PM emphasized that the Ukrainian side seeks to destroy the monopoly on the participation of members of the unrecognized "DPR" and "LPR" formations, who are subordinate to Russia, as invited representatives of the "certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions". Read also"LPR" representative at Minsk talks granted Russian citizenship (Photo, video) When asked who has been inviting separatists to TCG meetings, Reznikov said it was the OSCE. "They are invited by the OSCE. They believe that they have the right to represent territories, but I don't think so. We don't think so," stressed Reznikov. The deputy chief of the Ukraine delegation has recalled that President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated the need to discuss settlement and consult with all residents of Donbas, "who live there as hostages today," as well as those who have fled in connection with the conflict. As UNIAN reported earlier, the President's Office stated that from May 14, IDPs would be invited to attend TCG meetings as representatives of the occupied territories of Donbas. In his interview with NBS television aired on May 11, President Yoweri Museveni revealed three things about Ugandas oil sector that were depressing and illuminating. First he said the reason Uganda has not moved fast towards production is because international oil companies (IOCs) want to cheat the country as they have done in many other African countries. So Uganda has had to be extremely careful not to fall in the same trap. The interviewer, Canary Mugume, asked whether these delays do not risk making Ugandas oil useless due to innovations in electronic cars (making them cheaper) and the dangers of hydrocarbons on climate change (that may lead the world to ban them). The president said that is not a big problem either because if oil becomes useless, the country would continue to survive as it has done before by relying on other resources such as agriculture. Thirdly Museveni said he did not like the idea of a pipeline and would have preferred IOCs to refine all Ugandas oil within Uganda and sell all of it to the countries of the East African region. Given that regional consumption of oil is about 200,000 barrels a day and growing, and given that production at that rate would allow optimal exploitation of Ugandas oil, he does not see a need for a pipeline to the coast. However, he added, he accepted the idea of a pipeline only because it would benefit Tanzania. These three statements revealed the crisis of Ugandas oil sector and the mentality that has made it difficult to make progress. The president spoke about the interests of Uganda (as he sees them) and did not make the slightest reference to the interests of Ugandas business partners, the IOCs. Yet it is the IOCs that have taken the risk to pay for the exploration and discovery of oil, and will risk investing in the production, transportation and marketing of this oil. So we have a government in a business partnership with partners it sees as crooks. Second, it is blind to their interest in the joint venture. How can such an attitude produce a good business? Why does Uganda have IOCs with their reputation of cheating poor countries at the forefront of her oil industry? Ideally the country should have raised money, done her own oil exploration and discovery, produced and refined her oil and sold it to whomever it wished. It did not have this capacity. Like all other poor countries, it went to the international market looking for companies with the capacity. Contrary to the current self-assured pride of Ugandan officials, IOCs initially showed very little interest in the countrys oil. That is how small companies like Heritage and Tullow came to be the leading players in oil exploration in our country. It is international oil practice in countries that have not produced oil before that small firms take the risk to do the exploration. When they discover oil, they sell to the big boys, and make a killing. If the small firms dont discover oil, they lose money. The big boys (IOCs) come and do the production, transportation and selling plus future explorations. This should alert us as to why it is self-defeating for Uganda to make laws that penalise those who sell oil licenses it blocks the very investment in exploration we need. The relationship between oil companies (who have the money and expertise to do oil exploration, production, transportation and marketing) and host governments (who own the resource on behalf of their citizens) is largely managed through Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs). If you want to know whether a country has been cheated or not, look at the PSA. In 2010 Museveni wrote to the IMF to study Ugandas PSAs. The IMF study found that Ugandas PSAs were among the best in the world. The facts are as follows: average revenue share in new oil-producing countries is 48% and 52% in favour of IOCs. For mature oil producing countries it is 70% for host countries and 30% for IOCs. In Uganda, the ratio is 78% in favour of our country. The claim by Museveni that oil companies want to cheat is based on petty disputes over tax. We have sacrificed our strategic aim (to produce oil) at the altar of petty tax claims. The IOCs have severally bent backwards to accommodate Ugandas unrealistic demands in order to set the oil production ball rolling but our government has remained intransigent, seeing them as cheats. Uganda and the IOCs are business partners. One party has money, technical knowhow and market connections to explore, discover, produce and market the oil. The other party is the owner of the resource. For the business to work, both parties must accommodate each others interest i.e. there must be a win-win result. But Uganda behaves as if the only interest that needs to be addressed is her own. In the NBS Museveni never addressed himself to the interest of Ugandas business partners (the IOCs) who have taken the risk, invested large sums of their money in our countrys oil sector and now need to get returns on their investment. Instead, he said if hydrocarbons die, Uganda would go on. Doesnt Uganda owe these IOCs the responsibility to ensure they recoup their investment? Worse still, Museveni said he accepted the building of a pipeline purely because our neighbour, Tanzania would benefit from it, not because our nations business partners (the IOCs) need it. I was depressed because Museveni came across in that interview as ignorant of basic oil industry issues, cavalier in his attitude towards the prospects of hydrocarbons becoming obsolete, insensitive to the interests of the IOCs Uganda literally begged to come invest in her oil industry, dismissive of the value of oil to our poor economy, and even oblivious of very many other (mostly Ugandan) players who had invested so much money in the hope of our country moving towards oil production and have now gone bankrupt. It is commonsense that for any business partnership to work there has to be a spirit of give and take i.e. both sides have to try to accommodate each others interests. Uganda acts as if there is only one interest her own. Second, Museveni should know the meaning of a trade-off. If delays to move towards oil production create a risk of oil becoming obsolete, then one has to discount some things to allow the country to make gains from her resource. Uganda has made the perfect the enemy of the good. How can a country delay an investment of $15 billion to $18 billion in an economy of $30 billion because of a disagreement over $82 million or $183 million? We have done this while knowing that Ugandas GDP would double in five to seven years if we moved to oil production. And worse still do this while risking the oil resource becoming useless? This is the height of insanity and it is sad our country has an opposition that is oblivious of the actual problems we face. Related (TNS) Apple and Google on Wednesday released the first phase of a template that would allow software developers to build apps to assist public health authorities in tracking the spread of COVID-19.Apple and Google executives told reporters that they had refined several features of the template after extensive consultations with public health authorities, privacy advocates, academics and government agencies from around the world. More refinements could be added in later phases through updates, they said.The Bluetooth-based design would depend not only on voluntary download of the apps by users around the world but also require express consent from users to report a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 through the app. The design also would only allow those apps that have been built by or on behalf of public health authorities, the companies said.The template, called Exposure Notification API, is being rolled out to iPhone and Android users in the form of a software update, both companies said.Several U.S. states and as many as 22 countries across five continents have expressed interest in using the technology to conduct contact tracing, Apple and Google executives told reporters on a conference call on the condition that they not be named. The executives also declined to name the states or countries that have expressed interest in the technology.And unlike earlier designs, the application programming interface the template would not require information to be stored in a central database but instead would allow users to see on their own smartphones if they have been exposed to someone with the illness, company executives said. The template will prohibit developers from using a devices GPS to track users location and will not broadcast any aspect of a users identity to anyone else, the companies said.The information would be used only by public health authorities and neither company will collect any personal user data nor monetize them, the companies said. The Bluetooth keys will be generated randomly and metadata traveling between devices will be encrypted, the companies said.The unique Apple-Google collaboration was launched five weeks ago to ensure that the apps on iPhones and Android devices can send and receive Bluetooth signals from each other, the executives said. The companies engineered the design so as to ensure that Bluetooth signals can be sent and received even when a users phone is in sleep mode, and that such signal transmission would not drain devices batteries, the companies said.Contact tracing is becoming a key feature of managing the spread of the pandemic as states and countries across the world reopen their economies after more than two months of shutting down almost all economic activity. The goal of contact tracing is to have public health authorities track down anyone testing positive for the disease and figure out who they may have come into contact with during the previous two weeks and alerting those people to seek medical attention and isolate themselves.The design template would allow public health authorities to define parameters as they see fit, including specifying what constitutes exposure to an infected person, figuring out how many exposures an individual might have had, and assessing the transmission risk on a case-by-case basis.Although the design would not permit GPS tracking of individual phones, it allows public health agencies to ask for a zipcode or other geographic information from users to understand if a new COVID-19 cluster is beginning to form, the companies said.North and South Dakota, as well as Utah already are using GPS-based tracking apps for contact tracing.The North Dakota app, called Care 19, which uses GPS tracking, will be supplemented with a new app labeled CARE 19 Exposure thats built on the Apple and Google template released Wednesday, the states governor, Doug Burgum said in a statement provided by Apple and Google.The CARE19 Exposure app will help us improve contact tracing and continue our ND Smart Restart by notifying people who may have been exposed to COVID-19, reaching the greatest number of people in a way that protects their privacy, Burgum said in the statement. As we respond to this unprecedented public health emergency, we invite other states to join us in leveraging smartphone technologies to strengthen existing contact tracing efforts, which are critical to getting communities and economies back up and running.Apple and Google said that while each state may have apps that are slightly different from each other, the design template would allow devices to communicate with each other. A horrified landlord has visited a tenant's apartment to find it littered with 600 empty beer bottles, thousands of cigarette butts and a frying pan in the toilet. Yang Shi, from Liyang in China's eastern province of Jiangsu, visited the property to collect four months of unpaid rent on May 14. When he found no one was home he used the spare key to get inside and found trash piled up in every room of the house. A landlord visited a tenant to collect rent but after entering the property they found it littered with around 600 beer bottles and thousands of cigarettes The 20-year-old tenant had lost his job during the coronavirus pandemic but was allowed to stay on the condition the rent was paid back later. But when Mr Yang went to collect the rent he found the home filled with trash and the walls stained by an unknown substance. Strangely, he also found kitchen items, such as a frying pan, chopping board, and a meat cleaver in the toilet area while clothes were found on the man's bed. Mr Yang shared a video of the disgusting home which has led to the 20-year-old being dubbed China's 'worst-ever tenant' on social media. Mr Yang said after his repeated calls went unanswered he went to the home and found it trashed with 3,000 RMB ($650 Aud) in rent still unpaid. 'I gave him a rent holiday of two months, but he asked for more time when I returned in March, promising to pay me in May,' he said. 'I've been a landlord for many years. This is the first time I've come across a tenant like this.' The landlord had let the tenant stay in the home after they lost their job But Mr Yang said he had decided to forgive the 20-year-old for the damage to his apartment. 'There's nothing else I can do anyway. I can't reach him, so I choose to forgive him,' he said. 'I hope he never does anything like this again.' Scientists in Singapore are developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, with hopes that early-stage clinical trials could come as soon as next month, according to a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School are currently working on a vaccine which will be similar to the one that biotechnology firm Moderna is developing, but will be "more advanced," Wang Linfa, professor and director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases program at Duke-NUS Medical School told CNBC on Wednesday. He added that he was "hopeful" that Phase 1 clinical trials could begin in one to two months time. Moderna's vaccine reported positive data in its early-stage coronavirus vaccine trial on Monday. Meanwhile, a test kit developed by the medical school could be a "game changer" in the fight against Covid-19 by detecting coronavirus antibodies in an hour, according a press release citing Professor Patrick Casey, Senior Vice Dean of Research at Duke-NUS that was released last week. The antibody test named cPass can determine whether a person has previously been infected with the coronavirus in one hour, instead of days, without the need for "live biological materials" and a "biocontainment facility", according to the press release. This means the test can be used in hospitals and most research or clinical labs. The body produces many different types of antibodies when infected by a virus, but not all of them can neutralize the virus. cPass can measure these neutralizing bodies the "most important antibodies," Wang, who also led the team that developed the test kit, told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Wednesday. Antibody tests also known as serological testing had been used to establish a link between 2 Covid-19 clusters in Singapore in February. The new test is not targeted at rapid and early detection, but rather, aimed at confirmation of the infection, Wang said. That would allow it to be used in areas including contact tracing and assessment of herd immunity , contributing to wider efforts in the fight against Covid-19. Herd immunity refers to a situation where sufficient people in a population have become immune to a disease such that it effectively stops the disease from spreading. The test kit is now available in Singapore hospitals following provisional authorization by local authorities, and has obtained similar approval from the EU. Currently, it is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S., Wang said. The test would be available commercially, but Wang said they were looking at how philanthropic and international organizations could aid with cost reductions or help with free distribution. And in parallel, scientists at the school are also developing therapeutics. "So you have these 3 arms really to fight and combat Covid-19 first class diagnostics, therapeutics and a vaccine, and we're doing all of them," Wang added. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has condemned the arrest of Major (Rtd) Kwadwo Boakye-Djan. Major (Rtd) Boakye-Djan was arrested for allegedly making comments deemed to have breached the peace of the country. The party in a statement said Boakye-Gyans arrest was unconstitutional, given that he was only raising concerns about the tendency of governments actions and inactions which have the tendency of causing chaos. The purported arrest of Major Boakye-Djan is nothing but political persecution and therefore unconstitutional. All well-meaning Ghanaians upon listening to the comments of Major Boakye-Djan will come to one and only one conclusion that this is an elder statesman cautioning government about its actions and inactions that could plunge this otherwise peaceful country into chaos. The party wondered why Boakye-Djan was singled out when many commentators and civil society organisations had equally taken the Electoral Commission on. Suffice to say that many commentators and civil society groups have expressed worry on the recalcitrant and intransigent posture of the Electoral Commission backed by the government to forcefully compile a new voters register to suit their whims and caprices. It is therefore surprising that the good old soldier will be singled out and intimidated when more damning comments made by Nana Obiri Boahen, NPP Deputy General Secretary, Abronye DC, NPP Bono East Regional Chairman, and Henry Nana B, NPP National Youth Organizer have been left off the hook. The party believes the arrest is a major setback for all the progress we have made to promote Freedom of Speech and Expression. The party further expressed its dissatisfaction with what it called the manifestation of gross intolerance and the arrest, detention and human rights abuses under the current government. No wonder Ghana continues to perform abysmally in press freedom and freedom of expression ratings. We are concerned that the Akufo-Addo government has turned the Ghana Police Service into an NPP Police Service that they control like their puppet. This is a very dangerous development of politicizing an important state institution like the Police Service, the statement added. After being granted police enquiry bail, Major Boakye-Djan is expected to report to police once a week. The arrest came after he was questioned by officials of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service at his residence on Tuesday at his hometown at Bebianiha in the Bono Region. In addition to Boakye-Djans arrest, police are also investigating the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Obiri Boahen, for comments made on the same programme on May 15. ---citinewsroom The Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI) has advised Nigerian Muslims to say their Eid prayers at home with their families or alone if there is no family member to join them. The Eid-el-Fitri is a prayer said by Muslims to mark the end of the Ramadan fast. It is expected to be held on Saturday or Sunday across Nigeria depending on the day the Ramadan fast ends. The prayer is usually held on open grounds and attended by thousands of Muslims in each community. Eid-el-Fitr congregation in the outskirts of towns and cities should be temporarily suspended. The said Eid-el-Fitr Prayer be observed at home with family members or alone in case there isnt anyone with him or her, at home, the JNI said in a statement by its Secretary-General, Khalid Aliyu. Millions of Nigerian Muslims have expressed concerns about this years eid amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government had banned large gatherings including for religious purposes to check the spread of the virus. Some state governments such as those of Bauchi and Kano have, however, relaxed the ban to allow the eid prayers to hold. For such states, the JNI, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, also gave warnings on the conduct of those to attend such prayers. However, in states where Governments have reached concrete decisions to observe the Eid-el-Fitr prayer, based on their medical experts advice, strictest measures of distancing, face masks and sanitizers be taken to protect worshipers, Mr Aliyu said. Read the full statement by the JNI below. PRESS RELEASE: ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE JNI FATWA COMMITTEE ON OBSERVANCE OF RAMADAN 1441AH EID-PRAYER Jamaatu Nasril Islam (JNI), under the leadership of His Eminence, Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammad Saad Abubakar, CFR, mni, Sultan of Sokoto and President-General JNI, in a mandate to the JNI Fatwa Committee, under the leadership of Sheikh Sheriff Ibrahim Saleh Alhusainy, CON, to come up with FATWA regarding the year 2020 Eid-el-Fitr Prayer, and the committee after due consultations, as well as considerations of the current state COVID-19 pandemic and the serious threat it poses to life, reached the following decisions: 1. Eid-el-Fitr congregation in the outskirts of towns and cities should be temporarily suspended. 2. That, the said Eid-el-Fitr Prayer be observed at home with family members or alone in case there isnt anyone with him or her, at home. 3. That the Eid-el-Fitr Prayers is two RAKAAT. Seven (7) TAKBIRAT to be pronounced in the first RAKAAT, including the opening TAKBIR. Then SURATUL FATIHA is read and any other SURAH, preferably SURATUL AALA. 3b.While in the second RAKAH, five (5) TAKBIRAT be pronounced. Then SURATUL FATIHA is read and any other SURAH, preferably SURATUL GHASHIYAH. 4. In the case of praying at home, as it may be, the KHUTBAH(sermon) is suspended. 5. All above mentioned are based on the Hadith of Anas Bn Malik in Sahih al-Bukhari and Maliki School of law decisions, in MUKHTASAR, as explained by Al-Kharshi and Al-Munah al-Jalil. 6. However, in states where Governments have reached concrete decisions to observe the Eid-el-Fitr prayer, based on their medical experts advice, strictest measures of distancing, face masks and sanitizers be taken to protect worshipers. In this case neighbourhood mosques can be utilized if it becomes necessary. 7. Ulama should fear Allah, the Most High and be matured enough in guarding their utterances and actions for the overall interest of the DEEN and the Ummah. Nigerian Muslims are therefore called upon to reflect their minds to the good virtues of the month of Ramadan and keep to its teachings all through their respective lives, as the Lord of Ramadan, is still and shall remain The Lord of other months, above all keeps the records of our actions and inactions. More so, Muslims are reminded to keep to the ordinances of the Glorious Quran, for the prestige of the Muslim Ummah. JNI wishes all Muslim faithful an accepted Ramadan Fast and successful Eid-el-Fitr. In the same vein, Muslims are urged not to forget the Sitta-Shawwal, i.e the six-days recommended fasting, that follows Ramadan Fasting as recommended by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). While wishing us all Allahs pardon in these sacred days and after, we pray fervently for an accepted Ramadan Fasting as well as the Eid. Shaykh Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu Advertisements SecretaryGeneral, JNI A year ago today, on Tuesday 21st May 2019, H. E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, assented to the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) in the plain view of the Ghanaian people through a televised ceremony. He rightly noted that when properly applied, the law will enhance the quality of governance in our country, and provide a critical tool for the fight against corruption in public life. The law became effective on 2nd January 2020, as per the provisions of the Act. Sadly, one year after the assent and 141 days since it took effect, major milestones as set out by the supervising Ministry, the Ministry of Information, in its roadmap towards the implementation of the Act have still not seen the light of day. Notable amongst these milestones are to; 1. Set up the RTI Commission Office, appoint Commissioners and fully staff and train the Office (all by 10thOctober, 2019), 2. Equip the Office of Head of Civil Service to set up Information Units within all public institutions; and recruit, train and place Information Officers in these Units (by end of August 2019), 3. Design template of Information Manual for Public Institutions (by September 9th, 2019), and 4. Draft a Legislative Instrument and lay the same before Parliament by October 2019. The outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID 19) in Ghana in March 2020 has definitely disrupted government plans and redirected the attention of the Ministry of Information that has become the focal point for coordinating public communication on governments response to the virus. The response to the virus outbreak has itself presented an opportunity for the government to act in ways consistent with the RTI Act. In this respect, the Coalition on the Right to Information, Ghana (RTI Coalition) is happy to observe the proactive and responsive attitude the government has shown in providing information on the pandemic to the public. We are therefore minded to commend the President, Ministries of Information, Health, and the other relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government for living up to the tenets of the RTI Act 2019. While we acknowledge the challenges brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Coalition wishes to emphasize that access to timely and adequate information and the need for implementing the RTI roadmap has become more important than ever in these times of COVID-19. Crucially, Ghanaians need to know exactly what Government is doing to tackle the crisis, and how duty bearers will be held to account for policies and the increased emergency related public spending during these times. But more importantly is having the appropriate mechanism for accessing such critical information. Monitoring the Global situation, we have observed some threats to many countries obligations on access to information and public health which must not emerge in our own Country. These include some governments trying to limit criticism of poor decision-making or restrict human rights or hide corruption in emergency legislations that limit access to information about the pandemic and/or extend the deadlines by which governments have to respond to information requests; and the tendency to have public access to information deprioritized while public services are reduced. Under no circumstances must anygovernment use the pandemic as an opportunity to cover up ineffectiveness, corruption or wider human rights abuses. To this end, we call on government not to neglect its obligations under the RTI Act because we are dealing with a pandemic. All building blocks towards the effective implementation of the RTI Act must be put in place without any further delay. We encourage government to continue to be proactive in sharing information and remain responsive to citizens feedback and questions about the information government is supplying. Details of all contracts, grants, loans, support to companies, and other spending, as well as information on members of all committees providing scientific, economic or other advice to public bodies must be readily available to the public. Governance, human rights and law enforcement information must also not be left out of disclosure. Similarly, we call on all citizens to take advantage of the RTI Act to demand information on public health data around coronavirus cases, deaths, testing, facilities, the countrys involvement in drug trials, contingency planning and other issues. Effective implementation and use of RTI law requires driving both the supply side(government establishing the internal systems and ensuring compliance) and demand side (citizenry using the law to demand for information and monitoring implementation). During the televised assent of the Act last year, President Akufo-Addo congratulated the 7th Parliament for the virtues of courage, sense of responsibility and commitment to good governance that Parliament exhibited in passing the law. We wish to remind the Government that these same virtues are relevant in executing its own roadmap for the full implementation of the RTI Act as stated above, because these structures would facilitate citizens access to adequate and timely information on COVID 19 and other issues if they had been put in place. Issued by the Coalition on the Right to Information, Ghana Contact the Coalitions Secretariat (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Africa Office) on 0266862395, 0244947606 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / International Millennium Mining Corp. (TSXV:IMI) (the "Company" or "IMMC") reports that the Company has received approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") to extend the closing of the non-brokered debenture financing (the "Financing"), as announced on March 31, 2020, to June 14, 2020. All terms pursuant to the Financing remain unchanged. The Company is also pleased to announce that its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "AGM") will be held on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at 10:00 AM, PDT. The physical location for the AGM will be held at the offices of the Company, with appropriate social distancing precautions in place. The Company also intends on arranging for a conference call for shareholders who wish to access the meeting virtually due to COVID-19 precautions. However, shareholders taking advantage of the virtual meeting will not be permitted to vote through the virtual connection. Shareholders are urged to vote prior to the meeting by delivering their completed form of proxy. Virtual AGM Details: Date: June 30, 2020 Time: 10:00 AM, PDT Participant Access: +1 636-492-2495? PIN: ?156 059 478?#?? The Company confirms that it is not aware of any material, undisclosed corporate developments and has no material change to report at this time. International Millennium Mining Corp. (TSX-V: IMI) is focused on the exploration and development of its Silver Peak silver-gold project in southwest Nevada. The Company's common shares trade on the Exchange under the symbol: IMI. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "John A. Versfelt" John A. Versfelt President and CEO Further information about the Company can be found on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or by contacting Mr. John Versfelt, President & CEO of the Company at 604-527-8135. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs and other business transactions timing. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. SOURCE: International Millennium Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590978/International-Millennium-Mining-Corp-Extends-Debenture-Financing New Delhi, May 21 : On Anti-Terrorism Day on Thursday, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said that terrorism is the enemy of humanity and the biggest threat to global peace, appealing to all countries to come together to isolate nations that support and abet terrorism in any form. "Fight against terrorism is not the responsibility of security forces alone. It is the duty of every citizen to fight this evil. All Indians must always remain united to defeat the scourge of terrorism," he said. He paid tributes to those who sacrificed their lives to safeguard the motherland from the evil of terrorism. The most affected Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir also commemorated Anti-Terrorism Day. Director General of Police Dilbag Singh led officers and jawans in taking 'Anti-Terrorism Day pledge' across the Valley. Simple functions were organised in view of Covid protocols, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a statement. The Anti-terrorism Day is observed in India on May 21, which is also the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi. The European Commission said on Wednesday it planned to increase organic farming and cut agricultural chemical use to protect the environment, proposals welcomed by green groups but which farmers said would make them less flexible. Agriculture is a contributor to climate change producing around 10% of EU greenhouse gas emissions and is at the forefront of its consequences, with European farmers battling more intense droughts and flooding. The EU Commission, the blocs executive, proposed goals to restore natural ecosystems and steer agriculture towards its EU-wide target to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050. If the corona-crisis has taught us anything, it is that we have to recalibrate our relationship with the natural environment, we have to become more resilient, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said, referring to the novel coronavirus pandemic that has raised questions about the relationship between human activity and nature. The Commission wants the EU's share of organic farming to reach 25% in 2030, up from 8% today, while 10% of agricultural land must comprise "high diversity" landscapes, such as ponds and hedges. Other targets would cut chemical pesticide use by 50% and fertiliser use by 20% by 2030. The targets are not yet legally binding. Draft laws will follow and will need approval from the 27 member states and the European Parliament. Farming groups said organic farming typically produces smaller yields and ring-fencing land for natural habitats would limit farmers' ability to respond to increases in demand. The Commission said the proposals would not compromise Europe's food security, and the pandemic could prompt consumers to choose local, sustainable foods - even as the bloc faces a steep economic recession. "There will be shortened supply lines, there will be more produced in Europe," Timmermans said. The measures aim to align agriculture with the Commission's target to reduce net EU emissions to zero by 2050. Agriculture produces around 10% of EU greenhouse gas emissions, of which 70% are from animal farming. An earlier draft had pledged to "stop stimulating production or consumption of meat," but the proposal was removed. IFA President Tim Cullinan said that many aspects of the EUs Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies published today by the EU Commission are unrealistic and will make European farming uncompetitive. There needs to be a comprehensive economic impact assessment of these proposals by the EU and separately by the Irish Government and Minister Creed. He should ask Teagasc to begin this immediately, he said. The EU Commission is rightly having urgent meetings about stimulating economic recovery after COVID-19, yet these aspirations could make EU farmers uncompetitive and put them out of business. This could decimate economic activity in rural areas in particular, he said. It is not credible for the EU to drive up production costs for European farmers while at the same time looking for low food prices. They want food produced to organic standards, but available at conventional prices, he said. Congress on Thursday suspended Aditi Singh, its lone legislator from party president Sonia Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency of Raebareli, after the former attacked Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her offer of buses to ferry the stranded migrant workers home. Though the UP Congress office bearers remained tight-lipped on the issue, sources in the party said that Aditi, who had been spewing venom against the Congress high command for the past several months, was suspended. ''Why politics on migrant workers?....Arrange buses for the workers in Punjab and Maharashtra,'' Aditi had said while commenting on Priyanka's offer of bus. Congress had already moved a petition before the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Hriday Narain Dixit seeking disqualification of Aditi Singh, a one time Rahul loyalist, for violating the party whip. Aditi had, in violation of the party whip, attended the special session of the state assembly last year and had also not attended Priyanka's protest march in the state capital against the CAA. A show cause notice had been issued to Aditi, who recently entered into a wedlock with Angad Saini, a Congress MLA from Punjab, seeking her explanation but she did not reply, Congress sources said. Aditi not only attended the session but also heaped praise on chief minister Yogi Adityanath in her speech in the assembly. According to the sources in the BJP, Aditi was in touch with senior saffron party leaders and could join the party in the near future. The inside of one of Bryan Locasale's rental properties in Philadelphia's Callowhill neighborhood. Read more Bryan Locasale listed one of his rental properties in Philadelphias Callowhill neighborhood last Friday on Zillow. Twenty minutes later, a woman contacted him about it. In an hour and a half, she submitted an application. Within 36 hours, she had signed the lease, and the place was hers. His new tenant, he said, never saw the place in person. She had, instead, remained at home in Fishtown during the stay-at-home order mandated by the coronavirus pandemic and studied his listing. He credited the unusually fast deal largely to the pictures a previous tenant with a knack for photography had taken and given him to use to advertise the one-bedroom, 1-bath house with a den. Prior to the pandemic, you would give one or two photos of each room, said Locasale, director of sales for a Lancaster-based printing company who also owns another rental property in Philadelphias Callowhill neighborhood and one in Conshohocken. "But now its important to put up multiple photos to get multiple angles and layouts so people get a true feel of the place. Even as Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that real estate companies could resume in-person showings, inspections, and related business in counties where the coronavirus is still a severe threat, notably in Philadelphia, the demand and expectation for virtual real estate activity is expected to remain high, some real estate agents and landlords said. I would be doing in-person tours," Locasale said, "but I think a lot of people wont be comfortable with them. In such cases, excellent camerawork is imperative. Live or recorded video, immersive 3-D tours, and large, high-resolution photos can attract a raft of interest in a home during the pandemic, while open houses have been prohibited, and few want to show or visit a property in-person, real estate agents said. READ MORE: Virtual staging helps buyers imagine the possibilities in an empty home Unflattering angles, small and grainy photos and videos, or no visuals at all can keep a property on the market for months. If an online property listing included a 3D tour, 55% of 2,000 U.S. homebuyers and sellers said, they would consider buying a house sight unseen, and almost 80% said they were more likely to work with a real estate agent who used 3D tours, according to a survey earlier this year by the real estate data firm Matterport. All of a sudden, what were seeing is technology being welcomed, and if you want to survive as an agent you or someone else on your team youre going to have to learn the technology," said John Featherman, an instructor of real estate advertising at Temples Real Estate Institute. And as Allen Iverson used to say, Practice, practice, practice. The basics: Hold the camera steady. Dont whip it around from room to room, and instead move it slowly, capturing details. Make sure the camera isnt upside down. Operate the camera very smoothly," Featherman said. "Make sure people dont get sick. You cant give people Dramamine. The less obvious: Dont repaint a discolored spot on the wall or fill in that small hole in the floor. Dont add a filter, or edit a photo or video to make a room look bigger than it is. Such changes are deceptive, Featherman said, and thus a move that could be fraught with liability. You have to be very careful when you market a property through technology because what you dont want to do is manipulate the setting. Its very easy to do because you can change colors. You can add light," Featherman said. He added that decluttering and making the most of true natural light were good ideas. When all the elements are ideal high-quality photo and video, and a neighborhood and pricing that a client likes real estate agents and landlords can secure a deal, even as the industry has financially sagged under the severe lull caused by the pandemic. I rented one property over in Manayunk that [my client] never saw," said Terry Kirkwood, an associate broker for Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach in Rosemont, a suburb on the Main Line. And I had a sale that was under contract. The buyer went on FaceTime with the seller. In some cases, she said, buyers believed that they had little choice but to buy what they could get in a market nearly devoid of their requirements. One of her clients wanted a home in Radnor where the median home price is about $766,000 for under $500,000. Kirkwood heard of a house not yet on the market that fit the limited budget. Two FaceTime calls with the homeowner later, the house was under contract. Its that price point," she said. Theyre just so desperate, and this gives them the edge. Theyll take the risk. Kirkwood had reservations about other properties taken sight unseen. I was a little nervous about the renters because the house looked teeny-tiny to me," she said of the property she recently rented out in Manayunk. "But when they got in, they thought that was perfect. Real estate agents suspect that, even when the pandemic passes and Pennsylvania loosens its stringent requirements, virtual tours will continue to influence choices even amid traditional in-person tours and open houses. Most buyers and sellers are going to start their search online," Featherman said, adding that people who live on the opposite coast or in a different country can more readily access what a house looks like with a virtual tour. Those that have skills in terms of guiding online video tours and virtual walk-throughs are going to be the ones who are sought out by both home sellers and buyers." Got Meet? Google's recently rebranded videoconferencing service may be a confusing mess when it comes to its purpose and positioning, but it sure is simple and effective not to mention secure to use. Now, is it strictly for teams or also for regular consumer use? When you should use it as opposed to Duo, Google's increasingly overlapping other video chat service? I'm not sure that anyone, least of all Google, can fully answer those questions at the moment. And I'm not entirely convinced we won't see even more muddled messaging in this area as the months wear on. What we can say, though, is this: Meet is a great way to talk face to face with anywhere from two to 250 people, if you're in a team-oriented G Suite setup or up to a hundred people if you're using a regular, individual Google account. And while its main interface may be relatively sparse, the right set of add-ons can go a long way in enhancing your meeting environment and making your Meet pow-wows even more pleasant and productive for everyone. I've tried out tons of Google Meet add-ons and narrowed the list of must-have additions down to three simple but powerful tools. They're all completely free to use and they'll all make an immediate difference in your distance-based discussions. (Note that these add-ons currently work only in Meet's web interface, when accessed via Chrome. The Meet mobile apps don't support these sorts of extensions as of yet.) [Get more Googley tips in your inbox every Friday with JR's Android Intelligence newsletter. Exclusive extras await!] Google Meet add-on #1: The smarter mute setup Managing muting is without a doubt the most annoying part of a virtual meeting. Invariably, some schlub will forget to mute his mic and then start crackling papers or rambling on about pasta at exactly the wrong time. (That schlub is typically me.) On the flip side, some doofus will sooner or later try to start talking, only to realize midway through his monologue that he forgot to unmute himself and thus is inadvertently putting on a complex pantomime performance for his colleagues. (That doofus is also me.) It doesn't have to be like that, though. For a more logical and dodo-brain-resistant meeting experience, download the dead-simple Google Meet Push to Talk extension. It does one thing and does it well: It mutes your mic in Meet by default and then unmutes it whenever you hold your spacebar down. That means you can sit comfortably and stare blankly ahead without having to worry about your mute status and then, whenever you want to talk, you can just press that pretty little pinky of yours down onto your spacebar and hold it down until you're done. Everything should be so easy. As for permissions, the Google Meet Push to Talk extension requires you to grant it access only to the Google Meet website. Its code is open source and available for anyone to peruse, and its developers are incredibly clear about the fact that the software doesn't store or do anything with any data it encounters. Google Meet add-on #2: The silent reaction station Speaking of too much speaking, how many times have you been in a virtual meeting and wished you could voice your stance on something without having to actually use your voice? Being able to give a thumbs-up, a nod, or a wave without needing to take yourself off mute and in a way everyone is still sure to notice goes a long way toward reducing the noise in a videoconference and consequently increasing the sanity of its participants. And that's exactly what the Nod Reactions for Google Meet extension is designed to do: It adds a perfectly sensible panel into the upper-left corner of your Meet screen with a series of single-click reactions. Any reaction you click gets shown to everyone else in the meeting as a pop-up in the lower-left corner of the screen. You can simply raise your hand... JR Click the hand-raise icon, and Nod Reactions will place an indicator in the bottom-left corner of everyone's screen. (Wasn't I looking especially handsome on this day?) ...or you can pick from a variety of other useful gestures, with even more promised to be on the way soon. (I'm still hoping for one of the single-finger variety, myself, but that might be a touch too zesty for professional purposes.) JR So many gestures, such little time. Nod Reactions has a few other options, including the ability to change the color of your avatar to a variety of more human-like hues and a super-handy switch to enable actual notifications of any reaction activity in the room so you won't miss a thing. And that's about it, really. Just note that everyone in your meeting will need to have the extension installed in order for it to work optimally since anyone who doesn't have it in place won't see any reactions and won't be able to add in their own, either. On the permissions front, the software does require access to the Meet website, as you'd expect. Its privacy policy indicates that the only type of data collected is non-personal, system-oriented info that's used for internal analysis. The extension's panel includes a single ad, meanwhile, but it's small and unobtrusive and appears only when you open the settings area of the tool (which you'll probably do somewhere between once and never). Google Meet add-on #3: The automated note-taker Last but not least, perhaps the most powerful Meet add-on of all one that taps into the service's native captioning system in order to create and save a complete written transcript of everything said in your meeting. It's called Tactiq Pins for Google Meet, but don't let the weird name scare you away. Once you've got it installed, all you've gotta do is click the "Turn on captions" link at the bottom of the Meet window and just like that, Tactiq will start saving every transcription Google makes of your conversation. The extension does pop up a slightly confusing window with an option to "pin" important parts of the dialogue, but I've found it's easiest just to ignore that and dismiss it away. Then, when the meeting is over, simply click the Tactiq Pins icon in your browser's address bar directly to the right of where you type typically in web addresses and you'll see a note letting you know the transcript is ready. You can then opt to export it to Tactiq's companion service or, more sensibly, save it as a Google Doc, save as a plain text file, or just copy it onto your computer's clipboard for pasting wherever. JR An on-demand transcript can be yours with a couple quick clicks. If you don't see your entire meeting in the transcription, wait another 10 seconds or so and then try again. The service sometimes takes a little while to catch up, but it's been quite consistent and effective, in my experience. Like our other Meet add-ons, Tactiq Pins requires access to the Meet website. Its privacy policy states that it collects a small amount of information, including your name and email address, but the developer's help documents indicate that your actual meeting notes always remain private. And with that, my dear communicating comrade, your Meet enhancement collection is complete. I don't know about you, but all this talk about Meet is making me hungry. Who's ready for some pasta? Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters. [Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld] Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person ever convicted in for the September 11 attacks, now says he's renouncing terrorism, al-Qaeda and the ISIS Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man ever convicted in a US court for a role in the September 11 attacks, now says he is renouncing terrorism, al-Qaeda and ISIS. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence at the Supermax federal prison in Colorado after narrowly escaping the death penalty at his 2006 trial. He was sometimes referred to as the missing 20th hijacker, and while he was clearly a member of al-Qaeda there is scant evidence to suggest he was slated to hijack a plane on September 11, 2001. Instead, prosecutors pinned responsibility on Moussaoui because they said he could have prevented the attacks if he had not lied to the FBI about his knowledge of al-Qaeda and its efforts to attack the US when he was arrested in August 2001. In a handwritten court motion Moussaoui filed with the federal court in Alexandria last month, Moussaoui wrote, 'I denounce, repudiate Usama bin Laden as a useful idiot of the CIA/Saudi. I also proclaim unequivocally my opposition to any terrorist action, attack, propaganda against the US.' He also said he wants 'to warn young Muslim against the deception and the manipulation of these fake Jihadis.' His remarks are a far cry from his 2006 trial, when he taunted victims and flashed a victory sign after a jury opted to send him to prison for life rather than execute him. At his final sentencing hearing, he told the judge 'God save Osama bin Laden you will never get him.' Bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces on a compound in Pakistan in 2011. Moussaoui made his renunciation in a petition seeking relaxation of the special administrative measures under which he serves his sentence. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence after narrowly escaping the death penalty at his 2006 trial. He is referred to as the missing 20th hijacker, and while a member of al-Qaeda, there is little evidence he was to hijack a plane on Sept. 11, 2001 (pictured) Moussauoi is serving a life sentence at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado Massaoui at his 2006 trial taunted victims and flashed a victory sign after a jury opted to send him to prison for life rather than execute him. At his final sentencing hearing, he told the judge 'God save Osama bin Laden (pictured) you will never get him' In particular, he says he wants either Rudy Giuliani or Alan Dershowitz to represent him as a lawyer, so he can testify in a civil trial filed by victims of the September 11 attacks. Prison documents filed with his motion indicate he received a response of some kind to a letter he wrote to the American Civil Liberties Union but was not allowed to see it because it was marked as privileged legal communication, and he is only allowed to receive the mail if the prison can can open and read it. Moussaoui has a long history of writing letters to the court - indeed he served as his own lawyer for several years leading up to his trial and regularly wrote legal motions referring to himself as 'Slave of Allah,' a name he continues to use. Moussaoui also says he wants either Rudy Giuliani (left) or Alan Dershowitz (right) to represent him as a lawyer, so he can testify in a civil trial filed by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks He has written numerous letters seeking to testify at the 9/11 civil trial, and at the military trials of al-Qaeda members including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But those requests have not included the explicit renunciation of terrorism that he includes in his most recent letter. As recently as 2018, he continued to refer to himself as a 'natural born terrorist' in court papers. In another handwritten motion that year, he concluded his motion with 'God Curse Ugly Satan of Abomination' in huge letters. Katherine Donahue, an anthropology professor at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, who wrote a book about Moussaoui called 'Slave of Allah' after attending his 2006 trial, said she was unaware of any other instance in which Moussaoui had renounced terrorism or bin Laden. Massaoui has has written numerous letters seeking to testify at the Sept. 11 civil trial, and at the military trials of al-Qaeda members including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pictured) Katherine Donahue, an anthropology professor at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, who wrote a book about Moussaoui called 'Slave of Allah', said she was unaware of any other instance in which Moussaoui had renounced terrorism or bin Laden She said she expects he is being truthful, even though he admitted at his trial that he lied to the FBI after his arrest. 'He's been there 14 years. It's a long time to think about what you've done,' she said. 'I don't see him lying. ... There were so many ways he could have helped himself before by lying' but he didn't. Terry Strada, whose husband died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and is one of the plaintiffs suing Saudi Arabia for its alleged complicity in the attacks, was more skeptical. 'I don't trust him, that he's reformed himself in prison,' she said. 'I wouldn't trust him around anybody's youth.' Terry Strada (center), whose husband died in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and is one of the plaintiffs suing Saudi Arabia for its alleged complicity in the attacks, says she doesn't trust that Massaoui's reformed himself in prison Lawyers representing the 9/11 plaintiffs did not return calls and emails seeking comment, nor did Giuliani or Dershowitz. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over Moussaoui's trial and was regularly subjected to Moussaoui's insults in court papers, denied his request and said any grievance he has about the treatment he's receiving in prison should be filed in Colorado where he resides. 'Raising these issues with this Court is an act of futility,' Brinkema wrote. Moussaoui has appealed her denial to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The Delhi High Court on Thursday extended by three months the parole granted to Captain Bhagmal, convicted and sentenced to life term in a 1984 anti Sikh riots case, saying he was over 90 years of age. Bhagmal's parole, last extended on March 20, was expiring on Thursday. Justice Suresh Kumar Kait said,"keeping in view the fact that age of petitioner (Bhagmal) is more than 90 years, I hereby extend the parole of the petitioner for a further period of three months on the same terms and conditions as imposed vide order dated March 20, 2020." The high court said that Bhagmal shall surrender after expiry of the three month parole. He was convicted and awarded life term for the murder of five members of a family in Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment on November 1, 1984, after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra opposed the plea for extension saying that the convict was on parole since September 19 last year and it was already extended once on March 20, 2020 for two months. Bhagmal had sought extension of parole on the ground that he was over 90 years of age, his medical condition is very poor and therefore, he was vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sonam Kapoor has been revisiting childhood memories of her family as she misses them while staying in Delhi with husband Anand Ahuja during the lockdown. The actor has now shared a childhood picture which shows her dressed as Batman, complete with a cape, at a fancy dress party she attended with her sister Rhea Kapoor. Sharing the photo on Instagram, Sonam wrote, DIY Batman costume for a party that wasnt fancy dress because he was my favourite super hero. Also jumping and dancing with my @rheakapoor is still my favourite thing to do. (Yes those are batman socks and yes I was a nerd). Both Sonam and Rhea can be seen jumping on an inflated bouncer. Adding more details about her costume, she wrote in the comments section, Oh the batman logo is a cut out that I stuck on my black t-shirt. As mom Sunita showered the post with kiss emojis, Sonam replied to her, mom you really let me express myself . Her friend Anum Bashir commented, Aint no shame in your Batman game. Actor Siddhanth Kapoor, son of Shakti Kapoor, also reacted to the post. What fun ya these parties were, he wrote. Also read: Taapsee Pannu poses for magazine cover in her washroom, heres a better look at her Mumbai home. See pics Sonam had recently wished her parents, Anil and Sunita Kapoor, on their 36th wedding anniversary. She and Anand had sent gifts, flowers and balloons to the couple on the occasion. Sonam shared a few pictures of the couple on Instagram and wrote, Happy happy anniversary parents.. I love you so much and miss you so much. 36 years married and 11 years of dating! Insane ! Your love story is the best kind filled with love laughter and family and because angst only belongs in films not real life. Love you love you love you . ps ( you both also produced the three most confident and crazy children ) we hope we make you proud. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON US tells vessels in Persian Gulf to stay 100 meters away from its warships Iran Press TV Wednesday, 20 May 2020 8:18 AM The US Navy has warned vessels in the Persian Gulf to stay 100 meters away from American warships or risk "lawful defensive measures," in a move that appears to be aimed squarely at Iran. "Armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of a US naval vessel may be interpreted as a threat," according to the text of the notice issued on Tuesday. The Bahrain-based US Naval Forces Central Command claimed in a statement that its notice was "designed to enhance safety, minimize ambiguity and reduce the risk of miscalculation." Meanwhile, an unnamed US official told Reuters the new notice was not a change in the US military's rules of conflict. Issuing a specific distance is new for the US Navy. Defensive measures typically include sounding a horn, shooting off flares and firing warning shots to force vessels away. Iran, in response to the notice, said Wednesday its Navy will continue its "regular missions" in the Persian Gulf. "The naval units of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman will continue their regular missions in accordance with professional principles as in the past," the ISNA news agency quoted an unnamed military official as saying. The notice comes one month after President Donald Trump tweeted that he had directed the US Navy to "shoot down and destroy" Iranian gunboats that "harass" American ships, following a confrontation between US warships and Iranian military boats in the Persian Gulf. Iranian military officials have warned the Islamic Republic will give a crushing answer to any aggressor when it comes to defending its national security. "The Americans have certainly experienced this [in the past] that they will receive a harder slap than before upon perpetrating the slightest action or infringement against the Islamic Republic's territorial waters and our people's interests," senior spokesperson for Iran's Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said in April. Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, also said in April that the Islamic Republic would firmly respond to any threat against its security. The Pentagon claimed last month that 11 Iranian vessels came close to US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, in what the US military called "dangerous and provocative" behavior. According to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), American vessels resorted to "unprofessional and perilous" behavior in the waters during the incident, "causing trouble" for one of the elite force's logistics ships that was conducting a routine patrol. Last year, Iran unveiled an initiative, dubbed Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE), aimed at promoting the security of the Persian Gulf littoral states through regional cooperation free from foreign intervention. It followed a series of mysterious attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and the US militarization of the strategic waters. Following in Washington's footsteps, a number of Arab states blamed Iran for those attacks, a claim Iran has categorically rejected. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address FHFA Pushes Forward With Fannie/Freddie Conservatorship Exit Maybe all of the talk about ending the GSE's long term incarceration in conservatorship is more than talk this time. Earlier this week both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced they would be issuing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) seeking to hire financial advisors to that end. Then, late Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the GSE conservator, said it was seeking comments on proposed revisions to its own 2018 proposal to establish a new regulator capital framework for the two companies. FHFA said the changes to its proposal "ensure each [GSE's] safety and soundness and its ability to fulfill its statutory mission across the economic cycle, in particular during periods of financial stress. The re-proposal is also a critical step toward responsibly ending the conservatorships." FHFA Director Mark Calabria, referencing the current COVID-19 pandemic, said "This national health crisis has affirmed the importance of the [GSE's] mission to serve the American housing market during good times and bad. When credit dries up, low- and moderate-income households are hurt most. We must chart a course for the [GSEs] toward a sound capital footing so they can help all Americans in times of stress. More capital means a stronger foundation on which to weather crises. The time to act is now." A 1992 Act regarding the GSEs' safety and soundness prescribed both minimum leverage capital and a highly prescriptive risk-based capital requirement. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), which amended the 1992 act, gave FHFA greater authority to determine the capital standards for the Enterprises. FHFA said it is asking for comments as it has begun the process to end the conservatorships. This is a policy change since the 2018 proposal was drafted and there was an assumption that the conservatorship could endure indefinitely. This may have informed the comments and perhaps even the decision to comment at all. FHFA proposes to increase the quantity and quality of regulatory capital to ensure each GSE can provide stability and assistance of the secondary market, especially during periods of financial stress. It is also proposing changes to mitigate the pro-cyclicality The proposed rule maintains at its core the mortgage-risk sensitive capital framework of the 2018 proposal, backstopped by a leverage ratio requirement, with enhancements in four key components: 1. Quality of Capital - The quality of regulator capital includes supplemental requirements based on the U.S. banking framework's definitions of capital. These should help mitigate the weaknesses in the GSEs' requirements that became evident in the 2008 financial crisis. 2. Quantity of Capital - Enhancements to strengthens the quantity of regulatory capital include: Ensuring that levels of risk-based capital for single-family and multifamily mortgage exposures are subject to a prudent 15 percent risk weight floor. Additional refinements that ensure post-capital risk transfer (CRT) capital requirements are prudent and reflect the credit risk of the exposures retained, while still providing meaningful capital relief for CRT. A set of capital buffers that help ensure the GSE's remain viable going concerns and promote stability in the secondary market during a period of financial stress. Determination of operational risk capital using the U.S. banking framework's advanced measurement approach, subject to a floor equal to 0.15 percent of the GSEs' adjusted total assets. This is an increase from the 0.08 percent requirement in the 2018 proposal. By comparison, of the U.S. bank holding companies with at least $500 billion in total assets at the end of 2019, the smallest operational risk capital requirement was 0.69 percent of that organization's total leverage exposure. By comparison, of the U.S. bank holding companies with at least $500 billion in total assets at the end of 2019, the smallest operational risk capital requirement was 0.69 percent of that organization's total leverage exposure. A minimum leverage requirement of 2.5 percent of a GSE's adjusted total assets, with an additional leverage buffer amount of 1.5 percent of adjusted total assets, intended to serve as a risk-insensitive credible backstop to risk-based measures that are subject to significant model and other risks. 3. Addressing Pro-cyclicality - The proposed rule includes the following key changes to address concerns with the significant pro-cyclicality of the aggregate capital requirements of the 2018 proposal: The proposed rule's risk-based and leverage capital buffer amounts can be drawn down in a period of financial stress and then rebuilt over time as economic conditions improve. These buffers include requirements such as restricting capital distributions such as dividends when capital falls below prescribed limits. These buffers include requirements such as restricting capital distributions such as dividends when capital falls below prescribed limits. The proposed rule retains the 2018 proposal's approach to using updated home values to establish the mark-to-market loan-to-value ratio (MTMLTV) of single-family mortgage exposures and their associated risk-weighted asset requirement. However, the use of MTMLTV through the house price cycle had the potential to cause significant variability and uncertainty in capital requirements, resulting in potentially too little capital at the peak of the cycle while likely necessitating a substantial capital cushion in anticipation of substantially higher capital requirements at the trough. The proposed rule includes a new, countercyclical adjustment to MTMLTV to provide significantly more stability and predictability throughout the cycle while promoting safety and soundness. There are additional refinements, such as changes to the base risk weight grids and risk multipliers, that result in more stable and manageable capital requirements and buffers. 4. Advanced Approaches - The proposed rule includes requirements for the GSEs to assess their own credit, market, and operational risks. They must take responsibility for measuring and managing the risks they take and hold sufficient capital to stand behind those risks. Accordingly, FHFA's standardized capital requirements, set largely through various grids, multipliers, and other formulas, should serve as a safety and soundness backstop to the advanced approaches. The comment period will extend for 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register. A link to the proposal is available at https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/PublicAffairs/Pages/FHFA-Releases-Re-Proposed-Capital-Rule-for-the-Enterprises.aspx MyWay Mobile Storage of Pittsburgh will be joining the REALTORS Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh (RAMP) in their Community Service Committees Daily Bread event. The May 21st event is focused on making and serving lunch to those experiencing food insecurities because of homelessness or under-employment. The food is served out of the kitchen at the New Hope Methodist Church on the North Side. RAMP community service committee volunteers will purchase the menu items, prepare the food, and serve a delicious meal. We always really loved to get out in the community and give back. Volunteering at the Daily Bread program (formally known as the Northside Congregate Feeding Program) is a terrific way to do that, said Michelle Schocker, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway. It will be different this year with carry-out only and social distancing because of coronavirus, Schocker continued, but now more than ever we need to help our neighbors. Ed Sickmund, MyWay Mobile Storage of Pittsburgh Market Owner and RAMP Affiliate member said, Helping those who may be experiencing food insecurity is even more important during this coronavirus crisis. They are our neighbors. Sickmund continued, Im happy to set up the big grill and cook some burgers and kielbasa for them. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank estimates that before the stay at home orders and business closures more than 14 percent of our community experienced food insecurity, commented Stacey Reis, a RAMP Affiliate member with Home Warranty America. She continued, Those numbers are much higher now. And we are just happy to be able to help. Michelle Senko, a PPM Realty agent added, The Daily Bread program does a terrific job, together with other feeding programs on the Northside, making sure hot meals are available every day of the week. Theyve made the necessary adjustmentscarry-out only and social distancing in the kitchen and for food pick-upto keep everyone safe. Emily Platts, a Howard Hanna agent, noted, Food insecurity, homelessness, and under-employment have been challenges facing our neighbors all year, every year. My Howard Hanna colleague, Preston Moore, and I are happy to do our small part. Maria Stinger, a RAMP Affiliate member with Keystone Building Inspections, pointed out that, Anyone interested in volunteering for the Daily Bread program can sign up online. The program serves meals three times per week, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. They have many different volunteer jobsfrom handing out food to helping to sanitize surfaces to driving leftovers to other organizations. About the Daily Bread Program of the United Methodist Church Union: The Northside Congregate Feeding Program has been serving meals on the Northside for more than a quarter of a century. More than 250,000 quality, nutritious meals have been served. The address is 114 West North Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15212. To volunteer, sign up online at http://www.umchurchunionpgh.org/daily-bread/ or call the office at 412-231-4900. About the REALTORS Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh (RAMP): Since 1911, RAMP has served real estate professionals and the community as western Pennsylvanias most effective voice for private property and industry professionalism. RAMP began with 30 members and has since grown to include approximately 2,100 residential and commercial realtors. RAMP has remained at the forefront of public policy and member advocacy. With full-time government affairs and education programs, RAMP is uniquely positioned to provide its members with the tools they need to do business successfully and ethically. By shaping legislation and preparing REALTORS to serve their clients more effectively, RAMP has delivered the American Dream to five generations of Pittsburgh-area property owners. Visit http://www.realtorspgh.com/. About RAMPs Community Committee: RAMPs Community Service Committee is responsible for engaging with the general public by coordinating public service projects. This committee's activities provide a service or assistance to citizens who are less fortunate. The mission is to maintain and enhance RAMPs image and community awareness through community outreach projects. In addition to feeding the homeless and underemployed the 2019 calendar includes volunteering at the Light of Life Rescue donation center, Senior Curb Appeal Day. Hats/Gloves/Scarves/Sock Drive and Boys and Girls Club Career Day. About MyWay Mobile Storage: MyWay Mobile Storage is the leading provider of moving and storage solutions and located in a spacious 25,000 square foot facility in West Mifflin, PA to better service their customers in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area. They provide quick and easy do it yourself moving containers that can be delivered right to your door and stored in their climate controlled, secure storage facilities. MyWay Mobile Storage is a RAMP Affiliate Member and Market Owner, Ed Sickmund, was honored with their 2011 Affiliate of the Year award. Sickmund and MyWay Mobile Storage are also involved with the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals, Business Networking International, Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard and the South West Communities Chamber of Commerce. To learn more about MyWay Mobile Storage, visit http://www.mywaystorage.com or call 888-336-9929 to speak with a Moving & Storage Consultant. A career criminal who stabbed an elderly disabled woman to death in a Texas parking lot had been arrested 67 times previously but was still released on bail, it has emerged. 80-year-old widow Rosalie Cook was stabbed to death in a Texas parking lot by a career criminal who was out on bond. Cook, who lived alone in Houston, Texas, was fatally stabbed in the chest by attacker Randy Lewis, 38, last Saturday after picking up a prescription from her neighbourhood Walgreens near Braeswood Boulevard. Rosalie Cook (left), who lived alone in Houston, Texas, was fatally stabbed in the chest by Randy Lewis, 38, last Saturday after picking up a prescription from Walgreens A Texas police union lamented the decision to allow Lewis out on bond despite being arrested 67 times previously A Texas police union lamented the decision to allow Lewis out on bond despite being arrested 67 times previously. The 38-year-old was approved to be transferred to a private residential care facility in late April after two of his bonds were waived by a judge. 'Randy Lewis should never have been free,' the Houston Police Officer's Union said in a tweet. 'Now an innocent woman has been murdered. Everyone deserves better. This is absolutely shameful.' Joe Gamaldi, the Fraternal Order of Police national vice president, tweeted: 'The monster who stabbed, murdered, robbed an innocent 80 yr old grandmother over the weekend, has been arrested 67 times! And was out on 2 felony PR bonds! 'The colossal failure of bail and CJ reform in Houston is on full display here. Innocent people are dying. This has to STOP!!' Attacker Randy Lewis, 38, approached the grandmother as she reached her car, stabbing her in the chest before rifling through her possessions and attempting to take the vehicle. A police officer quickly responded to the scene, firing two fatal shots at Lewis when he emerged from Ms Cook's car and attempted to stab him with a knife. Houston police chief Art Acevedo told KBTX-TV: 'What makes me angry is this suspect stabbed an 80-year-old woman then goes down, rifles through her stuff and tries to steal her car. 'This is tragic, but the most tragedy here is that a woman has died from a guy who attacked her for no other reason other than to steal from her and carjack her.' Ms Cook was taken to hospital where she died from her injuries, Lewis died on the scene. The incident took place in the parking lot of Walgreens near Braeswood Boulevard, Houston, Texas, on Saturday May 16 The career criminal, who had been arrested 67 times previously, had reportedly been 'menacing' people at a nearby grocery store before the crime. Lewis' had been committed to a mental facility after a mental exam found him incompetent in August 2019 - prior to this he was in jail charged with assaulting a public servant who had been transferring him between jails two years ago, reported Abc's KTRK. He stayed at the facility until May 1 when he was released to the Royal Personal Care Home, carrying out the attack on Ms Cook two weeks later on May 16. Acevedo later tweeted: 'Our hearts go out to the Cook family and to all am who knew and loved this sweet woman. May she Rest In Peace and may we all work to address the broken criminal justice system in Harris County is bent on coddling violent criminals. We deserve better.' The investigation continues as Ms Cook's family pay tribute to their 'perfect grandma'. The Unification Ministry on Wednesday said 2010 sanctions imposed on North Korea over the torpedo attack against the Navy corvette Cheonan "are virtually no longer in effect" and "no longer pose any obstacle to cross-border exchange and cooperation." South Korea imposed the sanctions on May 24 that year after the torpedo attack killed 46 South Korean sailors. But now, emboldened by its sweeping victory in last month's general election, the Moon Jae-in administration is trying to scrap them as if nothing had happened. That would be fine if North Korea had ever admitted the attack and sincerely apologized for it, promising never to let such an atrocity happen again. But it has not. Instead, it has accused South Korea of fabricating the the whole thing. Kim Yong-chol, the current vice chairman of the Workers Party Central Committee, who orchestrated the attack when he helmed the General Bureau of Reconnaissance in 2008, even taunted South Korean visitors back in 2018 by introducing himself as its "mastermind." Perhaps that was an example of the golden North Korean humor literally nobody has ever celebrated. If the government officially drops the sanctions now, has the case been shelved as unsolved forever? Were the 46 sailors killed by aliens from outer space? President Moon Jae-in participated in a ceremony earlier this year honoring South Korean soldiers who died defending the West Sea for the first time since he took office in 2017. But that must have been just a publicity stunt ahead of the general election last month, and now he is showing his true face as an inveterate apologist for North Korean atrocities again. In the eyes of this government, sanctions against North Korea are a greater nuisance than the North's nuclear and missile threat. The unification minister has claimed before that the sinking of the Cheonan was "accidental" and criticized the 2010 sanctions as "foolish." But every sanction South Korea has ever taken was caused by the often egregious provocations, ranging from its nuclear weapons and missile programs to the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist in North Korea's scenic Mt. Kumgang resort. But for this government, sanctions just get in the way of its pathetic peace overtures to North Korea. Then why should North Korea ever stop developing nuclear weapons and firing missiles? Of course it will speed up these efforts now it knows it can get away with them, and become ever more brazen in its provocations. The government believes it can do anything following its sweeping election victory, but that may yet prove a dire miscalculation. Advertisement Boris Johnson bowed to massive pressure to drop the NHS surcharge for foreign health and care workers tonight - his second U-turn in 24 hours. The PM declared that the 400-a-year levy will be dropped after senior Conservatives complained it was 'immoral' and 'mean-spirited' that those on the frontline of the coronavirus battle were being forced to pay. Hassan Akkad, a BAFTA award winning filmmaker who has been working as an NHS cleaner during the outbreak, said he felt 'stabbed in the back'. But Mr Johnson fuelled the row yesterday by suggesting at PMQs that the policy raised 900million in essential funding for the health service. That prompted the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) to wade in, saying that in fact the 225,000 foreign NHS staff and care workers accounted for only around 90million a year. Even Tory MPs slammed the claim, saying the true costs was a 'fraction of the total sum'. A No10 spokesman finally said this evening that Mr Johnson had asked officials 'to remove NHS and care workers from the NHS surcharge as soon as possible'. 'As the PM said in the House of Commons, he has been thinking about this a great deal. He been a personal beneficiary of carers from abroad and understands the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff. 'The purpose of the NHS surcharge is to benefit the NHS, help to care for the sick and save lives. NHS and care workers from abroad who are granted visas are doing this already by the fantastic contribution which they make.' The announcement - which was hailed by Labour's Keir Starmer as a 'victory for common sense' - came hours before Mr Johnson is due to join the weekly 'clap for carers' at 8pm. And it followed another climbdown over excluding foreign NHS porters and cleaners from the coronavirus bereavement scheme, meaning that the relatives of those who died might be kicked out of the country. The families of all staff who die from coronavirus will now be granted indefinite leave to remain, after anger that they were being 'stabbed in the back' by ministers. In another turbulent day of coronavirus developments: Nicola Sturgeon announced Scots could be able to have neighbours round for a BBQ and play tennis from next weekend; Almost 24million people entered the UK with no coronavirus checks in the first three months of 2020; NHS and care workers will finally get free coronavirus antibody tests after Number 10 agreed a deal with pharmaceutical giant Roche; Drug-maker AstraZeneca revealed it has capacity to make 1billion doses of the Oxford University's experimental COVID-19 vaccine; Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested the government could make taking a vaccine compulsory in the future; Coronavirus is still infecting 61,000 people every week in England but the outbreak is 'relatively stable', according to government surveillance figures; Fewer than half of Brits aged 19 to 30 say they are still sticking to the government's lockdown rules to fight coronavirus, a major study revealed; More than five million people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide, with Latin America now seeing the largest rise in cases each day. Boris Johnson (pictured in Downing Street today) has bowed to massive pressure to drop the NHS surcharge for foreign health and care workers Syrian refugee and award-winning filmaker Hassan Akkad (pictured with his BAFTA in 2017) took a cleaning job to help the NHS through the pandemic. He secured another victory tonight with the dropping of the NHS surcharge for health and care workers, after getting the the Government to change its coronavirus bereavement scheme Tory MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration select committee, led a backlash from Mr Johnson's own side (left). Keir Starmer said it was a 'victory for common decency' (right) Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the PM to drop the fee, but his advances were stonewalled The total death toll for the UK yesterday (363) was the lowest mid-week number for almost two months, since March 25 - the week lockdown began. Experts say almost a third of hospitals have not reported COVID-19 deaths for two days or more What is the Immigration Health Surcharge? How much is it and who pays? Workers coming to the UK from outside the European Economic Area are required to pay the fee in order to be able to use the health service. The NHS surcharge costs 300 per year for student visas and 400 per year for all other visa and immigration applications. It is being put up to 624-a-year from October. And from next January, it will be extended to all EU citizens who move here after Brexit is completed. For students it is 300 a year, while for workers it is 400. The charge must also be met for dependents. Arrivals have to pay up front for the total period of the visa they are being granted - so a two year permit would mean an 800 bill. Part-years are counted as half the charge. Critics have questioned the need for people to pay it if the person is also paying income tax and national insurance contributions while working in the UK. Who needs to pay? Any national of a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA) not in an exempted category; Or anyone applying for a visa to work, study or join your family in the UK for more than 6 months; For immigration applications made from within the UK, you need to pay if: You're a national of a country outside the EEA or if you're making an immigration application for any length of time, including applications for 6 months or less. Who does not need to pay? You're applying for indefinite leave to enter or remain You're a diplomat or a member of a visiting armed forces; You're a dependant of a member of the UK's armed forces or the dependant of a member of another country's armed forces; You're a family member of a European national You're applying for a visa for the Isle of Man or Channel Islands You're a British Overseas Territory citizen resident in the Falkland Islands You're an asylum seeker A victim of slavery or human trafficking or domestic violence - or their relative; Advertisement Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'Boris Johnson is right to have u-turned and backed our proposal to remove the NHS charge for health professionals and care workers. 'This is a victory for common decency and the right thing to do. We cannot clap our carers one day and then charge them to use our NHS the next.' Critics said foreign NHS staff, from 200 countries around the globe, were being 'charged twice' because they also pay income tax and national insurance that funds the UK's hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists. Home Secretary Priti Patel had already given some ground in March, by saying around 2,800 doctors, nurses and paramedics would have their visas extended for a year with no charge. But Mr Johnson staunchly refused to to go further when he was challenged by Sir Keir at PMQs yesterday. He responded: 'I've thought a great deal about this and I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and, like him, I've been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life.' He added: 'On the other hand we must look at the realities - this is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900million, and it's very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. 'So with great respect to the point (he) makes, I do think that is the right way forward.' But while the PM touted the surcharge as a 900milion revenue raiser, it was pointed out that axing the levy for just foreign health and care workers would cost just 90million. Figures from the House of Commons Library, which produces impartial briefings for MPs, indicate that 917m is the amount raised by the surcharge over four years. It estimated dropping the levy for NHS staff would cost around 35million a year - although including care workers would increaase that figure substantially. Tory MP William Wragg, chair of the Public Administration select committee, led a backlash from Mr Johnson's own side today. He tweeted: 'I will support the nhs fee exemption for migrant nhs and care workers. Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. I am sure that @conservatives colleagues will be supportive.' Former party chair Lord Pateen told BBC Radio 5 Live: 'It's appalling, it's immoral. We depend in our care homes on people who come from other countries. 'I think this is monstrous that people who come from overseas to help and risk their lives in really difficult circumstances aren't treated properly.' Stoke-on-Trent MP Jonathan Gullis tweeted: 'I support the NHS fee exemption for migrant NHS and care workers. 'Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good.' Veteran Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said he was 'strongly' of the view that the charge should be waived for immigrants who were 'saving lives'. 'To do otherwise would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty and the Prime Minister has none of those failings,' he said. The PM's spokesman pointed to Mr Johnson's words in the House 'where he talked about accepting and understanding the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff but also making the point that the NHS is an amazing national institution that needs funding and contributions through the health surcharge has reached about 900million so far'. That money 'goes directly back into the NHS', the spokesman said.. Security Minister James Brokenshire defended the PM's position this morning, saying the situation is 'complicated'. Refugee Syrian filmmaker turned hospital cleaner tells PM his levy on foreign workers is 'unfair, unjust and inhumane' The Syrian refugee hospital cleaner who tearfully shamed Boris Johnson into a U-turn over banning foreign workers from the NHS' bereavement scheme urged the PM earlier today to scrap the 'inhumane' charge forcing them to pay to use the health service. Hassan Akkad said he felt 'stabbed in the back' because of the treatment of migrant workers who are risking their lives battling coronavirus will have to pay 624-a-year from October to access the NHS - an increase from the current 400 charge. Speaking to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain this morning on his way to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London, Mr Akkad said that the Prime Minister must now change his mind on the healthcare levy. He said: 'It's unfair, it's unjust and I would argue that it's inhumane. For most cleaners and porters this is two weeks' salary they have to pay to access the very same institution they are working for during the worst public health crisis in modern history'. Advertisement He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Well, I think, on the issue of the health surcharge, firstly it is obviously there to provide funding for the NHS and the basic principle that if you come to this country, that you are working, that you make that contribution. 'But we have very firmly listened to the sort of situation in relation to the NHS. We've already put in place extensions to visas for health professionals, NHS health professionals, where they do not pay the NHS surcharge in that situation.' He added: 'The situation in relation to those people working within different functions in the NHS is more complicated because of the visa and immigration system that they are likely to be within. 'In other words, if you are a doctor and nurse then you are on a specific visa when we have that direct contact with the NHS trust. 'For those in social care, it is more disparate, which makes it more complicated and more challenging in terms of the situation.' Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'The immigration health surcharge is a grossly unfair financial burden on our international workforce and we're pleased to see the issue being taken seriously by politicians. 'The Government must drop this charge as a matter of urgency.' Children's pictures of rainbows adorn the windows at 10 Downing Street in tribute to the NHS and key workers At the daily Downing Street briefing tonight Matt Hancock confirmed that an announcement on the NHS surcharge would be made in the coming days During their weekly dual across the Commons dispatch box, the PM said: 'This is a great national service, it's a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900million' From the Calais Jungle to rubbing shoulders with A-listers: How Syrian political activist fled Assad regime and came to Britain on a fake passport before winning a Bafta - and took a job as NHS cleaner to say 'thanks to the UK' The Syrian refugee hospital cleaner whose tearful tweet shamed Boris Johnson into a U-turn on migrants' rights is a Bafta-winning filmmaker who is documenting his work on the NHS' Covid-19 wards for his 25,000-plus Twitter and Instagram followers. Hassan Akkad, 31, recorded a video message for the Prime Minister telling him he felt 'stabbed in the back' after learning low paid staff, mostly from abroad, had been barred from the UK bereavement scheme meaning their families could be deported if they die from coronavirus. After forcing a Home Office U-turn on that issue last night, today he hit out at Mr Johnson's 'inhumane' decision to charge foreign NHS staff 624-a-year from October to access NHS services themselves. The scheme will be extended to many EU nationals from January. Speaking to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain on his way to work at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London, Mr Akkad, who says he is cleaning wards 'to help the country through the pandemic', insisted that the Prime Minister must now change his mind on the healthcare levy. He said: 'It's unfair, it's unjust and I would argue that it's inhumane. For most cleaners and porters this is two weeks' salary they have to pay to access the very same institution they are working for during the worst public health crisis in modern history'. The photographer and filmmaker, who fled Syria in 2012 where he was imprisoned and tortured for protesting against the Assad regime, won a BAFTA award in 2017 for his BBC documentary Exodus: Our Journey to Europe charting his three-year journey to Britain via the Calais Jungle camp. He made it to Britain in 2015 on a fake passport. This month singer Dua Lipa chose her friend Hassan as her 'hero of 2020' for GQ magazine, and he has been documenting his time cleaning in an east London hospital on his Twitter account, which now has 20,000 followers. And on his popular Instagram page Mr Akkad, who is engaged to his Syrian fiancee Farah, is pictured with stars including Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Noel Fielding and Sam Smith who have supported his 'Choose Love' refugee rights campaign. Hassan Akkad, pictured with Eddie Redmayne and Clemency Burton-Hill at a refugee event at the Grove in London, has become a household name after forcing the PM into a U-turn on rights for migrant NHS workers Mr Akkad has also been pictured with Benedict Cumberbatch at a charity event and also Sam Smith at Bestival In his award winning documentary he paid 3,500 for fake passports such as this Czech one (pictured) after attempts to get to the UK in lorries failed. He landed at Heathrow using bogus documents in 2015, where he claimed asylum at customs before settling in London Today Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad (pictured in scrubs cleaning a toilet) said he been'stabbed in the back' after learning low paid staff were excluded from the NHS bereavement scheme in a video message sent to the PM, forcing a U-turn last night But the PM is today under huge pressure to change his mind and is also facing a rebellion from his own backbenchers who also believe NHS and care workers from outside Europe should be exempt from paying the the government's Immigration Health Surcharge, which will be extended to EU staff from January when Brexit is confirmed. Mr Akkad added: 'Piers when I'm in the hospital I'm observing what's going on around me and you can see people are genuinely discouraged by these policies the government keeps coming up with. The pandemic hasn't finished yet, all these policies are coming through and the pandemic isn't done, these people are still risking their lives'. Yesterday Mr Akkad, a Bafta-winning photographer and filmmaker who took a hospital cleaning job 'to help the country through the pandemic', fought back tears as he recorded a message for the Prime Minister after completing his shift. He said it was a 'betrayal' that the lowest paid staff in the NHS had been barred from the UK bereavement scheme meaning their families could be deported if they die from coronavirus. Hours after his extraordinary message the Home Office confirmed that they had changed the policy to include all staff. Asked about the U-turn Mr Akkad told GMB: 'I feel very proud and honoured to have played a small role in doing this, there was a lot of pressure from the unions and alot of people spoke out including Piers, which I congratulate him for doing. 'I went out and did that video not knowing it would be shared thousands of times and viewed by millions of people. I'm so incredibly grateful to know the public is on our side'. Hassan Akkad arrived in Britain on September 27 2015, after completing a three-year journey after fleeing Damascus in 2012. He had been arrested by President Assad's secret police and tortured for protesting against the murderous regime. In Syria he had a passion for photography and worked as a high school English teacher before fleeing with his Aunt. He initially stayed in the Middle East, believing he could soon return to his home country, but it descended into civil war. So instead he travelled to Turkey and then on to Europe via Greece, where he was crammed on to a packed dinghy that began sinking and was only saved when everyone on board threw all their belongings and bags into the Mediterranean. Refugee cleaner's message to the PM about his NHS 'betrayal' has been viewed 4m times On Wednesday, Hassan Akkad posted a short clip of himself addressing the Prime Minister on Twitter in his car dressed in his scrubs expressing his feelings of shock and betrayal at being excluded from the policy. Within the day, the Home Office confirmed the scheme had been extended to include cleaners, porters, social care and care home staff and will be effective immediately and retrospectively. Addressing the Prime Minister, Mr Akkad said in the clip: 'I have been really enjoying the clapping that you and your fellow ministers in the Government do every week but today however I felt betrayed, stabbed in the back. 'I felt shocked to find out that your Government decided to exclude myself and my colleagues who work as cleaners and porters and social care workers. 'We are all on minimum wage, you have decided to exclude us from the bereavement scheme, so if I die from coronavirus my partner isn't allowed indefinite leave to remain.' Mr Akkad, who is also a Bafta-award winning filmmaker and photographer, added: 'This is your way of saying thank you to us. 'Now I am sending you this message hoping you will reconsider because I did see a humble Boris after you were discharged from hospital, I saw a different Boris. 'So us migrants are on the frontline doing these very demanding jobs to help this nation overcome this pandemic and the least you can do is if we die is give our families indefinite leave to remain. 'Please reconsider and I hope to hear back from you. Thank you.' He captioned the clip 'I hope you can help me get this message delivered to Mr PM Boris Johnson' and it has been viewed 3.7 million times and been retweeted nearly 50,000 times. Advertisement After travelling across Europe to Paris by train and lorry, he was then trafficked to Calais and stayed in in the camp for months, calling it a 'graveyard of hopes'. He said: 'I made over 50 attempts to get across on lorries, but they all failed. It was a dire experience.' Each night he also tried swimming to clamber on to ferries and boats crossing the Channel to Britain, but always failed. It was only when he paid 3,500 to people smugglers that he was able to enter the UK illegally, three years after leaving Syria. He was handed fake Czech and Bulgarian passports, flying from Brussels to Heathrow. When he arrived at customs he claimed asylum and settled with a family in Brixton. Six months later he was granted right to remain in the UK for five years. His journey was charted after the BBC game him and other migrants small cameras to film their journeys, and was made into the film Exodus: Our Journey to Europe. It was nominated for a BAFTA in 2017 and won best factual film. Collecting the award Mr Akkad said: 'Exodus was my yesterday, but it's somebody's today and tomorrow' before breaking down as he dedicated the Bafta to all the world's migrants and their 'untold stories'. Since then he has made another BBC documentary where he returned to the Calais Jungle to see if life had changed since his time there. He has also campaigned for the rights of refugees and has used social media to be critical of Government policy and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to back air strikes on Assad. He has also spoken all over the world about his experiences as a migrant, and looks to be documenting his time in the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic. Downing Street today confirmed the planned increase in the surcharge from 400 a year to 624 would go ahead despite the opposition within the Conservative ranks to the fee being levied on overseas NHS and care staff. Tory peer and former party chairman Lord Patten called the Government's position 'appalling' and 'monstrous'. Former Conservative Party vice-chairman Sir Roger Gale warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson that not to waive the current surcharge 'would rightly be perceived as mean-spirited, doctrinaire and petty'. Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee chairman William Wragg called for an immediate change in policy, adding 'now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good'. The senior Tories echoed calls for the Government to scrap the NHS surcharge for migrant care workers coming from outside the European Economic Area. Mr Akkad, pictured with his fiancee Farah Haddad, who is also from Syria, has been demanding the Government to be more open to welcoming refugees to the UK, called the Choose Love campaign This month popstar Dua Lipa chose her friend Hassan as her 'hero of 2020' for GQ magazine because of his work to clean on the Covid-19 wards Jersey City firefighters responding to a blaze at a four-story apartment building rescued four people early Tuesday morning, authorities said. The fire at 27 Monticello Ave. was reported at 1:21 a.m. and arriving firefighters found the flames on the first floor, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said. Firefighters quickly located the fire and contained it to that apartment. Four occupants from one of the apartments were disoriented and in distress, and they were evacuated by firefighters, Wallace-Scalcione said. The American Red Cross was called to assist the two residents, an adult and a child, from the fire apartment. The cause of the fire is under investigation. On May 1, Jersey City firefighters rescued a woman from a burning building on Palisade Avenue. A newly opened supermarket in Kondele, Kisumu County is counting losses after money and television sets of unknown value were stolen in a well-executed heist on Tuesday night (May 19). Preliminary investigations indicate that the mastermind of the heist checked into a hotel room that shares a wall with Shivling Supermarket and drilled a hole to gain access to the retail store. The supermarket is located along the Kisumu-Kakamega road and shares a wall with City Park Hotel. The hotel management said one person checked in for the night and was allocated a room adjacent to the supermarket. On Wednesday morning, Shivling staff members and the hotel staff reporting for duty found gaping hole on the wall. The prime suspect had already checked out by the time hotel staff discovered the crime. The supermarkets administration reportedly declined to reveal how much money was lost and the number of TV sets stolen, K24 reported Wednesday. Police interrogated staff members of the two establishments as investigations continue. The supermarket has been in operation for less than two months. The driver of a car died on the spot and another four were injured, including two children, when the vehicle lost control and fell into a gorge 50 feet below late at night on Wednesday in Ranikhet area of Uttarakhands Almora district, said police. The car was coming from Delhi and was on its way to Tipoli village in Almora district amid the easing of lockdown restrictions, which were enforced since end-March to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak. District police authorities and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel reached the accident spot and shifted the injured to a local hospital. The car fell into a gorge after the driver lost control of the vehicle at China Peak viewpoint in Ranikhet late at night on Wednesday, said Tapesh Kumar, circle officer, Ranikhet police station. Mahendra Singh Rautela (35), who was driving the car, died on the spot. His friend Sundar (34) and the friends wife Manju (30) and their two children, Shreyesh and Disha, were injured. All the passengers belong to Almora, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ST. LOUIS The regions major tourism office, faced with plummeting hotel taxes and disappearing convention income, approved a budget on Wednesday that spends almost one-quarter less next year and uses up millions of dollars in reserves. And deeper cuts may be necessary, leaders warned, as events continue to cancel and tax collections from the hard-hit hospitality industry come into focus. Spending would fall 22% to $30 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1 under a budget approved by the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. Revenue is projected to fall by $10.5 million, led by a 43% decline in St. Louis and St. Louis County hotel tax collections. Explore St. Louis, as the CVC calls itself, has already reduced spending by about $7 million this year, cutting advertising, slashing salaries and furloughing some staff. It projects hotel taxes to fall $5.1 million below the $19.1 million budgeted through June, and convention revenue to drop $2.8 million of $11.6 million. Meanwhile, maintaining the Americas Center convention complex downtown, which is not currently producing any revenue, costs almost $10 million annually. Were just going to have those costs whether theres events or not, CVC President Kitty Ratcliffe said last week. She cautioned that some scheduled events could still cancel, forcing further revenue adjustments. And board treasurer Jeffrey Barone said it was difficult to project what revenue and conditions will look like next month, much less a year out. While it will need frequent review, Barone said he thought the projections were as good as could be expected. (Ratcliffe) and her team have cut a lot, down to the bone, Barone said. Still, the organization projects spending down its reserves from about $5.2 million to $1.4 million to make up for a shortfall. That is a very low fund balance and were hoping we may see some upticks as the year progresses, said CVC Chief Financial Officer Neil Palacios. The organization is holding out hope that travel will begin resuming and business will return as next year progresses. Ratcliffe said groups are still signing contracts for 2022 and beyond. Some expect Americas Center facilities will have undergone significant improvements by then as part of a $210 million expansion plan still awaiting a city commissions final approval to issue its half of the bonds. The need for the expansion on the convention center and the improvements in terms of our overall product in St. Louis are important, Ratcliffe said. We cannot stop doing what were doing or were going to harm our future. The city board in charge of issuing those bonds held up a final decision last month but is expected to take up the matter again next week. That debt would be paid by hotel taxes that now go to service the debt on the Dome at Americas Center, where the NFLs St. Louis Rams used to play, which will be paid off next year. Adding to the CVCs urgency: the bonds will free up cash for the tourism agency by reimbursing it about $5 million for loans it took out to acquire downtown real estate over the last few years to make way for the expansion. Last week, the CVC approved a bridge loan with Busey Bank of up to $4.9 million to tide it over until the bonds are issued. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Just days after Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed with each other in two separate incidents earlier this month in the Sikkim and Ladakh sectors resulting in injuries to troops on both sides, the United States on Wednesday described it as Chinese aggression and provocative and disturbing behaviour by China, adding that it is a reminder of the threat posed by China. The incident in north Sikkim had taken place on May 9 while that in eastern Ladakh had taken place on the intervening night of May 5-6. In both incidents, aggressive Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) patrols were stopped by Indian troops inside Indian territory that China claims as its own. Ms Alice G. Wells, the US principal deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of South and Central Asian affairs, said, Its a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical. Whether it is in the South China Sea or whether its along the border with India, we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that raises questions about how China seeks to use its growing power. And that is why you have seen a rallying of like-minded nations, whether its through Asean, or through other diplomatic groupings the trilateral the US has with Japan and India, the Quadrilateral with Australia (and US, Japan and India). The border disputes are a reminder of the threat posed by China. Meanwhile, according to media reports, in a statement released on Tuesday in Mandarin, the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing referred to the recent clash in Sikkim, claiming that the Indian Army has crossed the line across the western section of the Sino-Indian border and the Sikkim section to enter Chinese territory. The statement also reportedly added that the Chinese side had taken up the matter with India, asking the Indian side to immediately withdraw the personnel across the line, restore the status quo of the relevant areas, strictly restrict the frontline troops, observe the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the agreements signed by the two sides, and jointly maintain peace and stability in the border areas. It may be recalled that New Delhi had recently said it remains committed to the objective of maintaining peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas, adding that occasionally, situations have arisen on the ground that could have been avoided if we (both sides) had a common perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India had added, The Indian side remains committed to the objective of maintaining peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas. The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations as and when they arise including Border Personnel Meeting, Flag Meetings, and Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs as well as diplomatic channels. New Delhi had further said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in their informal Summits in Wuhan (2018) and in Chennai (2019) had reaffirmed that both sides will continue to make efforts to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas. This is essential for the overall development of the bilateral relations. The two leaders had also directed their militaries to earnestly implement various confidence building measures agreed upon between the two sides, including the principle of mutual and equal security, and strengthen existing institutional arrangements and information sharing mechanisms to prevent incidents in border regions. VANCOUVERThe British Columbia Supreme Court will release a key decision next week in the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. The court says Justice Heather Holmes will release on Wednesday her ruling on the issue of so-called double criminality. The legal arguments on double criminality centre on whether what Meng is accused of in the United States would be a crime in Canada. The decision could lead to her release or it could start a new round of legal arguments, including whether her arrest at Vancouvers airport in December 2018 was unlawful. The United States has charged her with fraud over allegations she violated American sanctions against Iran, which she and the Chinese telecommunications giant have denied. Her lawyers have argued the court should dismiss the case because Canada has rejected similar sanctions, while the Crown has said the judges role is to determine if theres evidence of fraud. The arrest of Meng, the daughter of Huaweis founder, has sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China. Read more about: MORTGAGE holders with Ulster Bank whose loans were sold to a US vulture fund last year were annoyed to get letters this week confirming the sale of the loans. The sale was announced last July, and completed in October. But some of those affected only got letters this week telling them their loans would now be serviced by Pepper in Shannon. The timing has been questioned given the disruption caused by the pandemic, while some of those whose loans were sold claim the bank refused to properly engage with them. Read More The bank insists the letters have been going out for months, and customers were well aware their loans were deep arrears. The sale includes 2,800 home mortgages and 375 buy-to-let loans. US vulture fund CarVal is the buyer of a portfolio that the bank has called Project Deenish. The bank has insisted mortgage holders were given every chance to strike a deal with it to avoid having their loan sold, but some of those whose loans were offloaded dispute this. One residential mortgage holder questioned the timing of the sale. He said he had tried to put an arrangement in place to clear his arrears, but claimed the bank did not come back to him on this before the loan was sold. I put proposals to the bank. The bank rejected it so I appealed it within the bank. Before I got any word back on the appeal I got a letter telling me my mortgage was sold, the man, who did not want to be named, said. David Hall of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation also claimed Ulster Bank had failed to properly engage with the debtors before selling the non-performing loan portfolio. Pepper Finance Corporation (Ireland) DAC is the new legal owner and servicer of the mortgages. The purchase was financed by funds managed by CarVal Investors. A subsidiary of CaVal called Dennett was set up in Dublin last October and holds the title to the loans, according to company office filing. The portfolio was sold for 800m. Asked about the sale, Ulster Bank said it was it was a portfolio of non-performing loans which was announced last year. A spokeswoman for Ulster Bank declined to put a value on the discounted price of the transaction. Ulster Bank insisted it actively works with customers in financial difficulty to find a solution that keeps them in their home while paying a mortgage that is affordable for them in the long run and have been able to do so for four out of five customers. It said that it is not possible to work out a deal with every customer as the mortgage may not be sustainable. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 21, 2020 | 01:34 PM | PADUCAH City leaders have expressed their continued support for the Paducah-McCracken County Senior Citizen Center.After the McCracken County Fiscal Court cited a $1 million budget shortfall and proposed cutting funding for the center at their budget workshop on Tuesday, Mayor Brandi Harless expressed her support on Facebook, saying the center is a very important organization to the city."They provide meals, programs, travel opportunities, and more to the seniors in our community. They are a generous organization that does a lot not only for Paducah/McCracken County but also for the region as they have stepped up to support other counties in the Purchase area," Harless said.On Wednesday, City Manager Jim Arndt sent a letter to Christine Thompson, the center's executive director. Arndt had heard that Thompson feared that their use of a city-owned building on H.C. Mathis Drive might be in jeopardy, and assured her this was not true.Arndt also referred to a conversation with Thompson where they had discussed the possibility of putting the Senior Citizen Center in the proposed Aquatic and Wellness Center, but they mutually agreed that it would not meet all of the center's needs, especially related to preparing and providing meals. He said leaders assured Thompson at that time that senior citizens would have access to the facility even if they didn't move there.You can see Arndt's letter at the link below. Here is the Facebook statement from Harless: On the Net: RESTON, Va., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology company, will attend the Bernstein 36th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference webcast. Roger Krone, Leidos Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will participate in a question and answer "fireside chat" on Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 2 p.m. ET. A live audio webcast of the event will be available on the Leidos Investor Relations website at http://ir.leidos.com, where related materials will be posted prior to the presentation. A replay of the webcast will be available following the presentation at the same link listed above for 30 days afterward. About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 37,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $11.09 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2019. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. SOURCE Leidos Related Links http://www.leidos.com A recent survey has found that learning pressure is the biggest challenge children face while staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A student from Nguyen Van Huyen Secondary School in Hanoi attends an online lesson on Hanoi Television. The result was released at an online meeting held on Monday in Hanoi in which participants discussed effect of the pandemic on the development of children and set forth measures to support them. It is part of a programme Gia inh vui, ay lui COVID (Happy family, to fight COVID) organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA)s Department of Child Affairs, Management and Sustainable Development Institute, Child Rights Governance Network, and International Save-the-Children Organisation. Ninh Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the Vietnam Association for the Protection of Childrens Rights, said the association has collaborated with some agencies in conducting a survey to understand the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on children. The survey was conducted in 28 provinces and cities from April 15 to April 30 with more than 707 children and under-18s; and 2,027 caregivers. Most children said that online learning left negative effects on their health. They didnt know how to use the internet safely while few caregivers had the same thought. Although the survey only accessed children who are connected to the network, it exposed some opinions of a number of children and residents. Thus, appropriate methods could be established based on the collected ideas. In response to concerns raised by parents on how to deal with childrens difficulties, particularly those with disabilities and minorities whose studies have been disrupted by the pandemic, Vu Kim Hoa, deputy director of the Department of Child Affairs said the campaign has been launched to instruct both adults and children on how to use the internet wisely and safely. The department has worked with other domestic and international organisations in building guidelines to ensure the safety for children and women at concentrated quarantine centres. Measures to prevent accidents for children including drowning with useful tips have also been provided, she said. Hoa said the department was developing a training programme on mental health support for parents and caregivers. It was also coordinated with United Nations Childrens Fund and other international organisations in preparing a communication campaign on child safety in the face of COVID-19, she said. VNS Ministry says schools and teachers must agree on online learning fees amid coronavirus Additional tuition fees for distance education during the coronavirus outbreak must be decided by parents and schools and not exceed total tuition for the academic year announced from the beginning. On May 19, the World Bank says that the coronavirus pandemic could force around 60 million people into earning $2 a day, which is considered as extreme poverty. Financial crisis The World Bank warned countries as pessimism among economists deepened about the duration and scale of the unprecedented crisis. The World Bank provides loans and grants to poorer countries to help them during the pandemic, and last month the bank predicted that the coronavirus pandemic could cause the first increase in global poverty since 1998. On April 20, a blog post estimates that 49 million people would be living in around $2 per day, in which economists define as having to live in extreme poverty. This is due to the coronavirus outbreak shutting down almost all economic activities and all of the progress that was made to elevate poverty figures have been erased. The president of the World Bank, David Malpass, said in a statement that the sudden increase in cases in some countries forced the bank to send their largest and fastest crisis response. The bank's emergency relief efforts had already been deployed to 100 countries, which equates to 70% of the world's population. Also Read: Hungary Bans People from Changing Their Gender Legally The World Bank aims to assist the most vulnerable communities by giving loans and grants to businesses and individuals, as well as suspending all of the debt payments for some third world countries. Overall, the bank has pledged $160 billion to combat the coronavirus. The world's poorest people are feeling the effect Migrant workers around the world have been laid off as the pandemic forced numerous industries to seize their operations. Because of this, the World Bank estimates that global remittances, or the money that migrant workers sent to their families, could drop by 20% this year, which is equivalent to $100 billion. On May 20, human rights chiefs warned that millions of people in Africa may live without the basic necessities as a result of the pandemic. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Solomon Dersso said in a joint statement that they can't afford to stand idly by and just hope that the coronavirus pandemic will bypass Africa, as it is home to millions of the world's poorest countries who are not in the position to handle the pandemic. Last month, the World Bank said that it expected people who live in sub-Saharan Africa would suffer the most during this crisis. Around 39 of the World Bank's 100 target countries are there and around 23 million residents of sub-Saharan Africa are predicted to be heading to extreme poverty. Aside from Africa, South Asia is also predicted to suffer. The World Bank economists said that Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and India were all estimated to have the largest change in the number of poor people, with about 12 million people affected. The analysts at the World Bank wrote that the places where the coronavirus is taking its toll depend on two factors, one is the impact of the virus on the country's economic activity and the second is the number of people who are living close to the poverty line. Related Article: Anti-Lockdown Protests in Chile Erupt as Hungry Protesters Clash With Police @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. AJG is well-poised for growth, given its strategic acquisitions, strong segmental performance and prudent capital deployment. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) insurance broker have gained 7.6% in the past year, outperforming the industrys increase of 4.7%. The company has a decent earnings surprise history. It surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the beat being 5.10%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2020 and 2021 earnings per share is pegged at $3.93 and $4.19, indicating increase of nearly 7.6% and 6.5%, respectively from the year-ago reported figure. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is 10.9%, higher than the industrys average of 8.5%. Driving Factors The company's top line has been increasing over the years owing to higher commissions, fees, supplemental and contingent revenues. The metric witnessed CAGR of 7.5% over the last four years (2015-2019). Higher fees, and commission, supplemental and contingent revenues from its Brokerage and Risk Management segments are likely to drive revenues in the days ahead. The companys Brokerage segment contributes a major portion of its revenues. Riding on strong demand for claim settlement and administration services, its Risk Management segment also contributed 14% to the companys top-line growth over the past two years. Arthur J. Gallaghers revenues are geographically diversified with strong domestic and international operations. The firm has expanded its international operations through both acquisitions and organic growth. It derived 31% of its revenues from international markets, primarily Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, New Zealand and the U.K in 2019. A number of strategic acquisitions have boosted its capabilities and diversified operations. These buyouts provide the company with incremental capabilities and services to assist clients across Australia, the UK, Europe and the United States. Arthur J. Gallaghers sound capital and liquidity position aid in prudent capital deployment. In the first quarter of 2020, the dividend was increased by nearly 4.6%, reflecting a five-year (2014-2019) CAGR of 3.62%. Its dividend yield of 2% betters the industry average of 1.4%. The company also has 122.6 million shares remaining under its buyback authorization. However, the company has been witnessing high costs due to higher compensation, amortization and operating expenses. Expenses increased at a four-year (2015 -2019) CAGR of 6.5%. Such costs tend to weigh on margins. Also, a high debt ratio and low interest serving capability raise financial risk. Stocks to Consider Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance industry are National General Holdings Corp. NGHC, The Allstate Corporation ALL and Palomar Holdings Inc. PLMR. While National General Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Allstate and Palomar carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. National Generals earnings beat estimates in two of the last four quarters and missed in the other two, the average positive surprise being 5.68%. Allstate surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 18.45%. Palomar surpassed estimates in two of the last four quarters, with the average positive surprise being 10.93%. Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside? Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. See the pot trades we're targeting>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Allstate Corporation (ALL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arthur J. Gallagher Co. (AJG) : Free Stock Analysis Report National General Holdings Corp (NGHC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Palomar Holdings, Inc. (PLMR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research A quarter of Americans have little or no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday found, with some voicing concern that the record pace at which vaccine candidates are being developed could compromise safety. While health experts say a vaccine to prevent infection is needed to return life to normal, the survey points to a potential trust issue for the Trump administration, already under fire for its often contradictory safety guidance during the pandemic. Some 36 percent of respondents said they would be less willing to take a vaccine if US President Donald Trump said it was safe, compared with only 14% who would be more interested. Most respondents in the survey of 4,428 US adults taken between May 13 and May 19 said they would be heavily influenced by guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or results of large-scale scientific studies showing that the vaccine was safe. A quarter of Americans said they are not very or totally uninterested in a coronavirus vaccine, according to a Reuters poll. Many cited the speed with which shots are being developed as a cause for conern Less than two-thirds of respondents said they were 'very' or 'somewhat' interested in a vaccine, a figure some health experts expected would be higher given the heightened awareness of COVID-19 and the more than 92,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the United States alone. 'It's a little lower than I thought it would be with all the attention to COVID-19,' said Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease and vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. 'I would have expected somewhere around 75 percent.' Fourteen percent of respondents said they were not at all interested in taking a vaccine, and 10 percent said they were not very interested. Another 11% were unsure. Studies are underway, but experts estimate that at least 70 percent of Americans would need to be immune through a vaccine or prior infection to achieve what is known as 'herd immunity,' when enough people are resistant to an infectious disease to prevent its spread. Trump has vowed to have a vaccine ready by year's end, although they typically take 10 years or longer to develop and test for safety and effectiveness. Many experts believe a fully tested, government-approved vaccine will not be widely available until mid-2021 at the earliest. There are more than 100 COVID-19 vaccine candidates in development globally, including some already in human clinical trials. Earlier this week, US biotech Moderna Inc announced potentially promising preliminary results from just eight individuals who took part in a safety study. More than a third of respondents said they'd be less interested in a shot of President Donald Trump said it was safe On Thursday, the US government announced it has ordered 300 million doses of the prototype vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. Among those respondents who expressed little or no interest in a coronavirus vaccine, nearly half said they were worried about the speed with which they are being developed. More than 40 percent said they believe the vaccine is riskier than the disease itself. MISINFORMATION ABOUT VACCINES MAY FUEL DISTRUST IN A SHOT TO PROTECT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS Overall, 84 percent of respondents said vaccines for diseases such as measles are safe for both adults and children, suggesting that people hesitant to take a coronavirus vaccine might reconsider, depending on safety assurances they receive. For example, among those who said they were 'not very' interested in taking the vaccine, 29 percent said they would be more interested if the FDA approved it. Some experts have said the White House's emphasis on speed - its vaccine effort is called 'Operation Warp Speed' - could leave people worried that safety was being sacrificed for swiftness. In addition, misinformation about vaccines has grown more prevalent on social media during the pandemic, according to academic researchers. 'It's not surprising a significant percentage of Americans are not going to take the vaccine because of the terrible messaging we've had, the absence of a communication plan around the vaccine and this very aggressive anti-vaccine movement,' said Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is developing a vaccine. A small group of anti-vaccination Iowans concerned that the governor will mandate a coronavirus shot gathered outside the State Capitol in Des Moines n May 18 The poll underscores how the country's deepening polarization has affected people's view of the pandemic. Nearly one in five Republicans say they have no interest in a vaccine, more than twice the proportion of Democrats who said the same. Trump has offered mixed messages during the outbreak. He has at times downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic and encouraged public protests against his government's own stay-at-home guidelines intended to slow the pathogen's spread. He has also urged Americans to try unproven treatments for COVID-19, such as the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which he said on Monday he has taken prophylactically for weeks despite warnings about its use from the FDA and other health experts. The drug was given emergency use authorization from the FDA as an experimental treatment, but doesn't have the same status as a preventive medication. The poll responses varied among certain demographic groups. Only half of black Americans, who represent a disproportionate percentage of coronavirus deaths, said they were somewhat or very interested in a vaccine, perhaps reflecting memories of an infamous US government study that left black men deliberately untreated for syphilis. College-educated white women - a politically important demographic that has moved sharply away from the Republican Party during the Trump era - were particularly concerned about how quickly the vaccine is being developed. More than 40 percent said Trump's reassurance would make them less willing to take it. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States and had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 02:31:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ADEN, Yemen, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's health authorities on Wednesday recorded 13 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total confirmed cases in the war-ravaged Arab country to 180. According to a brief statement released by the country's supreme national emergency, during the past 24 hours, 13 new coronavirus cases were officially recorded including one death, raising the total number to 180. Meanwhile, the death toll of the pandemic climbed to 29 in different areas of the government-controlled provinces, including the southern port city of Aden. So far, the pro-government health authorities recorded only five recoveries of all the infections since the outbreak of coronavirus on April 10. Elsewhere in Yemen, health authorities in the Yemeni Houthi rebel-held capital Sanaa on May 16 declared two new COVID-19 cases in the areas under their control, taking the total number of infections in northern Yemen to four, including one death. The Yemeni authorities have taken several measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19, including imposing a partial overnight curfew in Aden and other main cities. The pro-government authorities called on donors and relevant international humanitarian organizations to provide urgent support to help contain the pandemic. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa. Enditem Republican leaders are frantically backpedaling away from the partys candidate in a key Central Valley congressional race in reaction to a second report that his social media accounts formerly contained anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and conspiracy theory messages. The National Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday pulled its endorsement of Ted Howze, who will face Democratic Rep. Josh Harder of Turlock (Stanislaus County) in the November election, and GOP leaders had harsh words for the messages that had been deleted. Among them was a post on Howzes Facebook page in September 2016 that said, The Western world and Christian Nations should all be suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS! They obviously cannot be both good Muslims and good Americans, Politico reported Wednesday. A post in June 2016 signed, Ted Howze, American Citizen, said then-President Barack Obama puts the welfare of foreign Muslims ahead of his own citizens, and that it is time to arrest and charge Barrack (sic) Obama with TREASON! Other posts included a charge that Bill and Hillary Clinton left a trail of bodies as long as the Mississippi behind them, and one that compared the Dreamers young people brought into the U.S. illegally as children years ago and currently allowed to stay in the country to pedophiles: Sure they understand that pedophiles are dreamers too, the post read. Howze, a veterinarian and former Turlock councilman, finished second to Harder in the March primary. He also ran in the 2018 primary in the same congressional district, and deleted the posts the day he entered that race, Politico reported. Howze finished third in the primary that year to Harder and then-GOP Rep. Jeff Denham. Harder won the race in November 2018, one of seven House seats in California that Democrats grabbed from the GOP. Republicans have made them national priorities to try to flip back this year. Politico reported earlier this month on another series of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim Facebook and Twitter posts and retweets from Howzes accounts, including one that referred to the Pedophile Prophet Mohamed and another in which he called for sending all Dreamers to Mexico, adding the hashtag, #DeportThemAll. Those sentiments likely dont play well in a congressional district where 40% of the residents are Latino. Howze denied writing those original posts, calling them negative and ugly, and said his account had been hijacked by an unnamed person who used his password to post the messages. The posts do not represent me, who I am, now or ever, he told Politico. On Wednesday, Howzes campaign called the new report a redundant story already reported on weeks ago, and blamed Democratic leaders for bringing it back. GOP leaders, who had sidestepped calls to take action after the first reports, were quick to react Wednesday. By late in the evening, Howze had been pulled from the National Republican Congressional Committees Young Guns program, which recruits GOP candidates believed to have a solid chance of winning open or Democratic-held seats. Then, on Thursday, the committee rescinded its endorsement. Howze was one of 104 candidates in the Young Guns program, including seven other Republicans in California. The decision to remove him, made by Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, head of the GOP committee, and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, could be costly for Howzes campaign. The Young Guns program is also designed to introduce local candidates to GOP donors across the country. That outside money could be crucial to Howzes chances in November, since the most recent campaign finance report showed Harder with nearly $3.6 million in his campaign account, compared with just $100,702 for his Republican opponent. Both GOP leaders had harsh words for the posts linked to Howze. These statements are unacceptable and not indicative of the Republican Party and what we are building here at the NRCC with our diverse slate of candidates, Emmer said in a statement. In a statement sent to the National Journal, McCarthy called the messages in Howzes social media accounts disappointing and disturbing, adding that bigotry and hateful rhetoric in any form have no place in the Republican Party. McCarthy has not pulled his endorsement of Howze and threw the candidate the slimmest of lifelines. He said that while he and Emmer will take immediate action if Mr. Howze is found to be the originator of these posts, the social media messages do not reflect the Ted Howze that I have briefly interacted with. John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:33:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SUVA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute at the University of the South Pacific (CI-USP) in Fiji has held the "Chinese Bridge" competition online which was attended by eight candidates. Yang Hui, Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at the USP told Xinhua on Thursday that this year's "Chinese Bridge" competition could not be conducted on stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organizing committee decided to select among the candidates by online Q&A session and video submission. "We have to hold this year's competition online just because of COVID-19. And we are very glad that we have had a very successful competition that was attended by eight wonderful candidates," she said. The qualifying competition for the 19th "Chinese Bridge" Fiji division, hosted by the Chinese embassy and co-organized by the CI-USP, concluded in the Fijian capital Suva on Thursday, with Sharon Levula winning the first prize. She will represent the Fiji division to participate in the 19th "Chinese Bridge" competition in China. Yashna Nand won the second prize and gained the opportunity to go to China to observe the 19th "Chinese Bridge" competition. Dean of Faculty of Arts, Law and Education USP Dr. Akanisi Kedrayate issued the certificates and prizes to the champion and the second prize winner. Yang believed that the "Chinese Bridge" can be seen as "a bridge of culture and friendship" that will help the young Chinese learners around the world know the Chinese culture and strengthen the friendship between the Chinese and the peoples across the world. "The undertaking of the 'Chinese Bridge' not only provides Chinese language learners in Fiji with a platform to demonstrate their own Chinese learning achievements, but also builds a bridge for in-depth cultural exchange between the young generation of China and Fiji," she said. Enditem Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anuj Chopra (Agence France-Presse) Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Thu, May 21, 2020 14:38 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd96e3a8 2 World Saudi-Arabia,Saudi-Arabia-reform,Israel,Ramadan-2020,TV-drama Free Two Ramadan television dramas on a Saudi-controlled network have stirred controversy as they test public perceptions of quietly warming relations between the Gulf kingdom and Israel. Arab states including Saudi Arabia have no official diplomatic ties with Israel, but both sides are pursuing what one think tank calls a "tepid dance" to furtively build relations on the basis of shared animosity towards Iran. Now, two taboo-busting series during the holy fasting month - the peak television season - have fuelled speculation that Riyadh is trying to openly normalize closer ties with the Jewish state. A young character in Exit 7, which depicts the journey of a middle-class family through a rapidly modernizing Saudi Arabia, raised eyebrows when he befriended an Israeli boy through an online video game. In another controversial scene, one of the Saudi characters justifies establishing trade ties with Israel, arguing that Palestinians are the real "enemy" for insulting the kingdom "day and night" despite decades of financial support. Another show called Umm Haroun, or the mother of Haroun, portrays a Jewish community in a village in Kuwait during the 1940s. Social media imploded with scathing criticism of the shows, with multiple Twitter users saying their aim was to promote "normalization with Israel". The shows are produced by the influential Arab satellite network MBC, effectively under Saudi government control after its founder - media mogul Waleed al-Ibrahim - was detained with other elite businessmen at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel in a 2017 anti-corruption campaign. They stand in contrast to The End, a popular Egyptian sci-fi drama that provoked fury in Israel after it predicted the collapse of the Jewish state. MBC said its shows were among the most popular during Ramadan, garnering top ratings. "The Middle East has been stereotyped for decades as a region of fear, bloodshed, hatred, extremism," MBC spokesman Mazen Hayek told AFP. "The shows have sought to project another image of the region that embodies hope, tolerance, inter-religious dialogue. The accusation of 'normalization' is a bit outdated in the context of globalisation and hyper connectivity." 'Gauging tool' Observers, however, say the shows may be an attempt to normalize the debate on normalization. "These shows are useful for the Saudi state to understand where people stand on Israel and Palestine," said Aziz Alghashian, a lecturer at Essex University specialising in the kingdom's foreign policy towards Israel. "These shows function as a gauging tool and feel out peoples' reactions." This is hardly the first such attempt. Earlier this year, the kingdom announced the screening of a Holocaust-themed film for the first time at a movie festival, before it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Multiple Saudi media columnists have shrugged off the MBC controversy, reiterating the kingdom's official stance that a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a precondition for normalising ties. But relations appear to be warming regardless, in a shift spearheaded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The cooperation saw Riyadh welcome US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan - skewed in favour of Israel - even as many others in the Arab world rejected it. Saudi Arabia quietly opened its airspace in 2018 for the first time for an Israel-bound passenger plane. Other Gulf states appear to be adopting a similar approach, with Oman hosting Netanyahu in October 2018 in the first visit of its kind in more than two decades. The United Arab Emirates flew its first publicly announced flight to Israel on Tuesday when Etihad Airways transported medical supplies to Palestinians. 'Revolutionary moment' A surge in tensions between Tehran and Riyadh and Saudi attempts to attract foreign investment to fund its ambitious Vision 2030 economic reforms appear to be pushing the kingdom closer to Israel than ever. "The Saudis recognise the important role that Israel plays in the region," said Marc Schneier, an American rabbi with close ties to the kingdom and the Gulf. "Just a couple of years ago, [Prince] Khalid bin Salman told me that the kingdom knows that Israel is an integral part of their achieving their 2030 economic plan. That is a major statement and really shows the warming of the ties," Schneier told AFP. Saudi authorities did not respond to a request for comment and an interview with Prince Khalid, the younger brother of the crown prince. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has pursued a bold outreach to Jewish figures, but the kingdom appears wary of a public backlash. In February, the Saudi king hosted a Jerusalem-based rabbi in Riyadh for the first time in modern history. Israeli media published a photograph of rabbi David Rosen with Saudi King Salman, hailing it as a "revolutionary moment". But the official Saudi Press Agency omitted Rosen's name from its dispatch and the photograph published on its website cropped out the rabbi. "This is a region of the world where change like this takes time," said Schneier. "We are seeing evolutionary signs of a warming, but it may take longer before we see more dramatic diplomatic moves." [May 21, 2020] Notice of Change of Venue of Revlon, Inc. Annual Stockholders' Meeting to be Held on June 4, 2020 Due to the ongoing public health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the health and well-being of the stockholders and management of Revlon, Inc. (NYSE: REV) ("Revlon" or the "Company"), notice is hereby given that Revlon will be conducting its 2020 Annual Stockholders' Meeting (the "2020 Annual Meeting") only via a virtual meeting accessible at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/REV2020. Accordingly, stockholders will not have the option of physically attending the 2020 Annual Meeting in person. As previously announced, the date and time of the 2020 Annual Meeting has not changed - it remains scheduled for Thursday, June 4, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. E.D.T. As previously described in Revlon's proxy materials for the 2020 Annual Meeting, filed with the SEC (News - Alert) on April 22, 2020 (which are available electronically on www.sec.gov and on www.revloninc.com), Revlon stockholders are entitled to participate in Revlon's 2020 Annual Meeting subject to their being a Revlon stockholder as of the record date of 5:00 p.m. on April 8, 2020, or subject to holding an eligible legal proxy for the meeting provided to them by their broker, trustee, bak or other nominee who was a Revlon stockholder as of such record date. To be admitted to Revlon's virtual 2020 Annual Meeting, accessible at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/REV2020, you will be required to enter the control number found on your proxy card, voting instruction form or notice you previously received. You may vote or ask questions during the 2020 Annual Meeting by following the instructions available on the meeting website during the meeting. The 2020 Annual Meeting will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m., so we suggest you log-in to the website 10-15 minutes in advance to avoid disruptions that may be caused by technical difficulties and the like. Whether or not you plan to attend Revlon's 2020 Annual Meeting, we urge you to vote and submit your proxy in advance of the meeting by one of the methods described in Revlon's 2020 proxy materials. The proxy card included with the proxy materials will not be updated to reflect the change in meeting venue and may continue to be used to vote your shares in connection with the 2020 Annual Meeting. We encourage you to return your proxies, as instructed in the materials, as early as possible to avoid any processing delays that may be caused by the COVID-19 environment that we are unfortunately experiencing. The foregoing is qualified by reference to the additional information regarding the 2020 Annual Meeting included on Form DEF 14A that the Company filed with the SEC on May 21, 2020 as Definitive Additional Materials. The Form DEF 14A is available on www.sec.gov and on the Company's Investor Relations website at www.revloninc.com. About Revlon, Inc. Revlon has developed a long-standing reputation as a color authority and beauty trendsetter in the world of color cosmetics and hair care. Since its breakthrough launch of the first opaque nail enamel in 1932, Revlon has provided consumers with high quality product innovation, performance and sophisticated glamour. In 2016, Revlon acquired the iconic Elizabeth Arden company and its portfolio of brands, including its leading designer, heritage and celebrity fragrances. Today, Revlon's diversified portfolio of brands is sold in approximately 150 countries around the world in most retail distribution channels, including prestige, salon, mass, and online. Revlon is among the leading global beauty companies, with some of the world's most iconic and desired brands and product offerings in color cosmetics, skin care, hair color, hair care and fragrances under brands such as Revlon, Revlon Professional, Elizabeth Arden, Almay, Mitchum, CND, American Crew, Creme of Nature, Cutex, Juicy Couture, Elizabeth Taylor, Britney Spears, Curve, John Varvatos, Christina Aguilera and AllSaints. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005682/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Salzgitter: No negotiations with Thyssenkrupp on steel General view of the plant of German steel company Salzgitter AG in Salzgitter DUESSELDORF/FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's second-largest steelmaker Salzgitter on Wednesday said it was not in talks with larger rival Thyssenkrupp about consolidation, pouring cold water on hopes for the creation of a national metals giant. Salzgitter said it has been successfully independent for more than two decades, but added that it remained open to ideas about what cooperation with peers could look like, provided it was beneficial for its future. Thyssenkrupp earlier this week said it was talking to peers about consolidation in the steel industry, fuelling hopes for tie-ups in Germany or Europe. A combination with Salzgitter has long been considered one of the most likely options. "However, there are no negotiations between the companies," Salzgitter said in a statement. Sources told Reuters that Thyssenkrupp was holding talks with Sweden's SSAB , China's Baoshan Iron & Steel <600019.SS> and India's Tata Steel , with which the German conglomerate wanted to form a joint venture last year. The fact that Thyssenkrupp might even sell a majority of its steel unit has drawn opposition from workers, including Germany's top labour union IG Metall, who have substantial influence at the group and hold half of the seats on its supervisory board. "There is no scenario I can imagine that would see IG Metall and the group's labour representation approve the sale of a majority of Thyssenkrupp Steel," Tekin Nasikkol, who heads the works council of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, said. "To be very clear: I fully reject a minority shareholding. It's a red line," he told German daily newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. Nasikkol said workers would prefer a German steel alliance, but only under the leadership of Thyssenkrupp. (Reporting by Tom Kaeckenhoff, Christoph Steitz and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Michelle Martin and Maria Sheahan) May 21 marks a sad day in the history of Indian politics. A day that will never be forgotten. On this day, twenty-nine years back, former prime minister and stalwart Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during an election campaign in the year 1991. As the nation remembers Gandhi on his 29th death anniversary today, heres revisiting the life of the Bharat Ratna recipient. Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944, in Bombay, to former prime minister Indira Gandhi and freedom fighter, politician Feroze Gandhi. He served as the sixth prime minister of the country, from 1984 to 1989, and was also the youngest ever to hold the office. Rajiv Gandhi took charge of the country as the prime minister after the assassination of his mother and former PM Indira Gandhi in the year 1984. Gandhi came from the politically powerful NehruGandhi family, associated with the Indian National Congress party. His maternal grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. On his death anniversary, tributes to former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 21, 2020 For most of his life, Gandhi remained apolitical. He went to the United Kingdom for studies and returned to India in 1966. Gandhi was a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968, he married Sonia Gandhi, the current president of the Congress party and the United Progressive Alliance chairperson. The couple had two children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Rahul Gandhi served as the party chief and is a Member of Parliament. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the AICC general secretary at present. Gandhi entered the political arena after the demise of his brother Sanjay Gandi in a fighter plane crash in 1980. A year later, he marked his political success by winning his brothers Parliamentary constituency Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. He also served as the Congress general secretary before assuming office as the prime minister. Gandhi remained Congress chief until the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. On this day, twenty-nine years back, he was assassinated during an election campaign by an Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber. His wife, Sonia Gandhi took charge of the Congress party and became the party president in the year 1998. Health experts are warning that deaths from preventable diseases could rise in Africa. The spread of the coronavirus pandemic could mean many are forced to forgo treatment or are unable to gain help for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis (TB), HIV, measles and polio due to the disruption to health care and other essential services. Africa has nearly 90,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,800 deaths. This is likely to be a gross underestimate, as only a fraction of the number of tests compared to other regions have been carried out, at around 685 per million people. Many African countries face difficulties in purchasing test kits, which are the subject of fierce international competition. Others, such as Nigeria, are unable to produce some of the key chemical reagents needed locally. Getting tests to where they are needed and setting up the labs to process samples are no small task for impoverished and under-resourced public health systems. With Africas health care the least able to confront the deadly virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has predicted that some quarter of a billion Africans will become infected and as many as 190,000 will die within the first year of the pandemic. It has warned that while it might not spread as exponentially in Africa, as it has elsewhere in the world, it likely will smoulder in transmission hotpots unless urgent action is taken to test, track and trace the disease, a forlorn hope. The back-to-work drive by African governments that goes against the recommendations of the WHO and other medical and academic experts will only increase the number of infections and deaths. The continents former colonial and oppressed countries also confront the problem that the pandemic is stealing already meagre resources away from other communicable diseases, further fuelling its impact. The virus is claiming the lives of health care workers and others directly. Meanwhile, the lack of access to health systems due to lockdowns, curfews and transport disruptions, along with the loss of infrastructure and preventive measures as the coronavirus spreads, means the number of deaths from other diseases could soar into the millions. This further highlights the terrible prevalence of diseases long ago eradicated in the advanced countries. Indeed, the indirect effects of the 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa were more severe than the outbreak itself. Malaria, Africas most prevalent infectious disease, kills a shocking three-quarters of a million people a year, 94 percent of whom are found in sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated to kill a child every two minutes and at least 1,100 people every day. The coronavirus has curtailed treatment efforts and stalled widespread prevention programmes such as insecticide bed net distribution and spraying. The WHOs Africa director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said, While COVID-19 is a major health threat, its critical to maintain malaria prevention and treatment programmes. He warned that without preserving the delivery of bed nets and access to antimalarial medicines, The new modelling shows deaths could exceed 700,000 this year alone. We havent seen mortality levels like that in 20 years. We must not turn back the clock. The prevalence of malaria405,000 deaths in 2018 or more than 1,000 a daya disease that is both preventable and treatable, long after the WHO began its first eradication measures in the 1950s, is an indictment of both the imperialist powers that fund the WHO and Africas bourgeois nationalist governments. There was a successful campaign in Europe, Australia and several other countries targeted during the 1950s by the WHOs Global Malaria Eradication Programme (GMEP), with 37 of the 143 malaria-endemic countries seeing a complete eradication of the disease. However, slow progress was made in Africa as DDT became ineffective against the Anopheles mosquito and the disease developed plasmodium resistance to chloroquine. In 1969, the WHO abandoned the GMEP, which together with recurring funding shortfalls in the 1970s and 1980s led to the elimination of much of the progress made in many countries. Decades were to pass before malaria in Africa became the focus of an international effort to tackle it. But even today, eradication remains a distant prospect. The cost of eradicating malaria by 2040 has been estimated between $90 billion and $120 billionfar less than the wealth of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos or Microsofts Bill Gates. But in 2016, the WHO said that the miserly annual funding of $6.4 billion per year would need to double by 2020 to reduce global malaria incidence and mortality by 40 percent. Now, even the limited gains made over the last two decades are under threat as already meagre funding is diverted to fight COVID-19. Richard Mihigo, co-ordinator of the WHOs immunisation programmes in Africa, voiced his concerns about a range of health issues, including a drop in blood donations and disruptions in the supply of vital medicines due to flight cancellations and border restrictions, but particularly vaccination programmes. Five African countries have already halted measles campaigns covering 31 million children, and the prospect of declaring the continent free of polio this summer has dimmed. Mihigo said, The postponement and cancellation of planned activities is really putting at risk some of the vaccine-preventable diseases. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has warned that there could be 140 deaths from diseases such as measles due to stopping vaccination visits for every death caused by COVID-19 if the programmes continued. Borry Jatta of the International Rescue Committee, speaking about the Democratic Republic of Congo, where at least 2,200 people died in the 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak, warned that the coronavirus was affecting a range of health care services. He said, Critical vaccinations, maternal and child health and other life-saving activities are [being] reduced and in some cases stopped completely due to fear of the spread of COVID-19. The risk is that we will see an increase in other epidemic outbreaks. UNICEF has warned that 1.2 million children under the age of five could die in six months from acute malnutrition (wasting) and several other non-communicable diseases as the continents health systems are overwhelmed by the spread of the coronavirus and treatment for other diseases becomes impossible. These deaths would occur in addition to the 2.5 million children under the age of five who die from preventable diseases, particularly malaria. According to a modelling study in The Lancet, reductions in vaccination coverage of between 9.8 percent and 18.5 percent and an increase of 10 percent in child wasting would lead to 253,000 additional deaths from malnutrition (18 to 23 percent of additional child deaths) and 12,200 maternal deaths. Other scenarios produced far more dire results. A decrease in neo-natal care across three crucial areasparenteral administration of uterotonics (used to induce labour and to reduce postpartum haemorrhage), antibiotics and anticonvulsants, and clean birth environmentswill result in a month-on-month increase of 8.6 to 36.8 percent in maternal deaths. The study also concluded, Additional child deaths and reduced coverage of antibiotics for pneumonia and neonatal sepsis and of oral rehydration solution for diarrhoea would together account for around 41 percent of additional child deaths. In Africa, the worst affected countries would be some of the largest: Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. According to the UN population programme, pandemic-linked disruptions to health services in the worlds poorest countries will leave 47 million women without access to contraceptives and lead to an additional 7 million unintended pregnancies, with the largest share in Africa, further exacerbating poverty. Domestic flights were suspended on March 24, coinciding with the start of the national lockdown. While the fourth phase of the lockdown gets over on May 31, the government has decided to re-open the skies before that. The resumption will bring relief to airlines, and also customers who were stuck in different parts of the country and were unable to return home. All the carriers, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, are facing severe cash crunch, and have been forced to cut salaries and send employees on leave without pay. Much to the airlines' relief, the guidelines have not asked the carriers to keep the middle seat in flights, vacant. This was one of the proposals that was initially suggested. But it was vehemently opposed by airlines, who argued that keeping the middle seat empty will rob them of one-third of the capacity, making operations unviable. Booking of tickets is expected to open up later in the day, on May 21. Executives from all the airlines have met officials of industry regulator DGCA and in the Ministry, to chart out details. "If an airline has 21 flights from Delhi to Mumbai, it will now have only seven," a senior official had told Moneycontrol. Another official added that Delhi airport may operate only 14 flights an hour. The following are some of the important things fliers should remember. The Ministry has said that those who had tested positive for COVID-19, or live in a containment zone, should refrain from travel. If the passenger does travel, he or she will be liable for penal action. A customer will need to self-declare that she doesn't have any COVID-19 symptoms. Also, she will need to download the Aarogya Setu app. "Passengers with "Red" status on Aarogya Setu App wouldnot be permitted to travel," the Ministry order says. In case of a PNR having more than one passenger, the declaration would be deemed to be covering all the passengers mentioned, the order says. One would also need to print - it won't be given - the baggage tag and affix it on the bag at a prominent place. If not a tag, then the PNR number and name of the passenger has to be written on a paper and stuck on the luggage. Passengers, who will be required to wear face mask all the time, will be allowed only one check-in bag. There will be no meal service on board. A customer will need to self-declare that she doesn't have any COVID-19 symptoms. Also, she will need to download the Aarogya Setu app. "Passengers with "Red" status on Aarogya Setu App wouldnot be permitted to travel," the Ministry order says. SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Zurich North America, a leading provider of insurance products and services to businesses and individuals, is expanding its professional apprenticeship program from its Chicagoland headquarters to its downtown New York City office this fall, with the Borough of Manhattan Community College as the education provider. Zurich's earn-while-you-learn apprenticeship program, launched at its Schaumburg headquarters in 2016, is designed to attract diverse talent to the insurance industry while providing a debt-free path to a professional career. Zurich apprentices include high school graduates or those with an equivalent certification, veterans of the armed forces, people wanting to move from a job to a career, those returning to the workforce after a hiatus for family reasons, and others attracted by the prospect of a guaranteed job and promotion upon successful completion of the two-year program. The New York expansion will contribute to Zurich's largest cohort of apprentices yet. "We're proud to bring the Zurich Apprenticeship Program to New York, particularly at a time when many people are looking for new opportunities and signs of a brighter future," said Paul Horgan, Zurich's Head of U.S. Commercial Insurance. "Even with the challenges brought by COVID-19, we found a way to move forward with this expansion because Zurich's apprenticeship program has proven its value to our business and our industry." In August, the inaugural New York cohort of Zurich apprentices will begin orientation and onboarding. From there, they will work on the job three days a week and take BMCC courses two days a week. Apprentices earn a full-time salary and benefits, including health insurance and 401(k) matching, and they pay no tuition. "We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Zurich to offer this terrific opportunity for the college, our faculty, and most important, our students," said BMCC Acting Provost Erwin Wong. "We are continuously looking for means to partner with the global business community to offer our students preparation for and access to in-demand 21st century positions, particularly opportunities in the tri-state area. The apprenticeship program that Zurich offers will be of immense value to our students in terms of their marketability." New York apprentices will be working toward certifications in General Insurance and an Associate in Applied Science in Business Management. In 2020 Zurich is adding an Information Technology apprenticeship at its Schaumburg headquarters for the first time, alongside the General Insurance and Cyber apprenticeships. Zurich's was the first insurance apprenticeship program to be certified by the Department of Labor, and Zurich was a founding member of the Chicago Apprentice Network with Aon and Accenture. Zurich's New York extension of apprenticeship also establishes the first new site under the Insurance Apprenticeship USA (IAUSA) banner, an industry collaboration to expand apprenticeships, led by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Earlier this year, Zurich's New York office participated in the city's first-ever Career Discovery Week, hosting students from the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology in the Bronx. Zurich also has a summer leadership program for students from Leadership & Public Service High School, near Zurich's Manhattan office. For more details or to apply for the Zurich Apprenticeship Program, please visit zurichna.com/en/careers/apprentices About Zurich North America Zurich North America is one of the largest providers of insurance solutions and services to businesses and individuals. Our customers represent industries ranging from agriculture to technology and include more than 90 percent of the Fortune 500. We've backed the building of some of the most recognizable structures in North America. Our North American, LEED Platinum headquarters is located in the Chicago area. We employ approximately 9,000 people in North America and have offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. Further information is available at www.zurichna.com. Zurich North America is part of Zurich Insurance Group, a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With approximately 54,000 employees, Zurich provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich's customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information is available at www.zurich.com. Visit us on social media: LinkedIn and Twitter SOURCE Zurich North America Related Links www.zurichna.com Georgias early move to start easing stay-at-home restrictions nearly a month ago has done little to stem the states flood of unemployment claims illustrating how hard it is to bring jobs back while consumers are still afraid to go outside. Weekly applications for jobless benefits have remained so elevated that Georgia now leads the country in terms of the proportion of its workforce applying for unemployment assistance. A staggering 40.3 percent of the state's workers two out of every five has filed for unemployment insurance payments since the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread shutdowns in mid-March, a POLITICO review of Labor Department data shows. Georgia's new jobless claims have been going up and down since the state reopened, rising to 243,000 two weeks ago before dipping to 177,000 last week. The state cited new layoffs in the retail, social assistance and health care industries for the continued high rate of jobless claims that have put it ahead of other states in the proportion of its workforce that has been sidelined. Georgia, which began pushing to resume economic activity on April 24, presents an early reality check as the White House amps up pressure on governors to lift shutdown orders and President Donald Trumps economic advisers predict jobless claims will nosedive after the reopening. The states persistent unemployment numbers suggest that government restrictions arent the only cause of skyrocketing layoffs and furloughs and that the economy might not fully recover until consumers feel safe. A sign posted on the locked doors of a Georgia Department of Labor office advises workers at the office are working remotely and are not available in person consultation due to coronavirus concerns, Thursday, May 7, 2020, in Norcross Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Georgia, one of the last states to impose widespread shutdowns, has loosened restrictions on a broad array of businesses and dine-in restaurants since its stay-at-home order officially expired on April 30. Only bars, nightclubs, theaters, live music venues and amusement parks remain fully shuttered through the end of May. Some laid-off workers have gone back to jobs since Gov. Brian Kemp first allowed gyms, bowling alleys, hair salons and other businesses to begin limited operations: The number of workers in Georgia remaining on unemployment assistance after an initial application dropped by 11 percent over the past two weeks. But others are still heading to the unemployment line for the first time. Georgia has now seen more than 2 million workers file for unemployment in nine weeks out of the nearly 39 million who have applied for jobless benefits nationally. Story continues Weekly new applications have gone both up and down in Georgia in the three full weeks of data released since the reopening began. They dipped slightly at first, then rose again before dropping again in the latest week, although at a slower rate than states like Louisiana and Kentucky that have seen similar levels of unemployment claims. Its nothing significant enough to say, Oh, theres a huge surge, but certainly nothing to signal theres any return to economic stability or recovery happening right now, said Alex Camardelle, a senior policy analyst with the nonprofit Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. There are many reasons Georgias jobless numbers are still going up, economists say, including that the state, like most of the country, is still whittling through a backlog of applications. State officials also say some laid-off workers are filing duplicate claims, which can artificially inflate the numbers. But the data still underscores how lifting stay-at-home restrictions alone will do little to bring jobs and spending back unless consumer confidence improves, bringing demand with it. Think of a restaurant: Theyre not going to be able to bring back their entire staff because theyre just not going to have the clientele, said Laura Wheeler, associate director of the Center for State and Local Finance at Georgia State University. Thats going to hinder the return of the workforce, because while were going to open up, were not going to open up to the full capacity that we were at before. And in Georgia, public polling indicates that confidence has yet to return. Nearly two-thirds of Georgia residents in a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll said they felt their state was lifting restrictions too quickly, and only 39 percent said they approved of Kemps handling of the outbreak. Weve been chasing a bit of a false narrative that the economic hit is about the restrictions and not the disease itself, said Julia Coronado, president and founder of Macropolicy Perspectives, an economic research consulting firm. The economic story really isnt about lockdowns, and were going to make mistakes by pursuing that narrative. It really is about the disease, and how fearful people are about getting sick, and how businesses are going to operate in a world where this virus is with us. At the same time, the Trump administration is pushing to get governors to reopen their doors in the hopes that doing so will help revive the U.S. economy. Trump has amplified calls to liberate states and criticized governors he feels are moving too cautiously, often accusing Democratic leaders of playing politics. You have areas of Pennsylvania that are barely affected, and they want to keep them closed, he said during a visit to the state last week, a hit to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. Can't do that. At the same time, The White House is also closely watching state-level claims data and expects reopening to have a major effect, Kevin Hassett, a senior economic adviser to the president, said late last week. My fear is that the places that stay closed could have sort of skyrocketing claims, Hassett told reporters at the White House, adding: The places that are turning on could actually see claims go way back down towards normal. But many economists dispute the idea that lifting restrictions will by itself mean a major boost to the labor market, in part because of evidence that layoffs accelerated in March separate from governors shutdown restrictions. A recent analysis by four University of California-Berkeley researchers found that the direct effect of stay-at-home orders accounted for only one-quarter of the jobless claims at the start of the crisis suggesting that a majority of jobs that have been erased would have been lost even without statewide shutdowns. A drop-off in consumer demand, disruptions to global supply chains and self-imposed social distancing measures all exacerbated the job losses and will likely continue to hinder the economic recovery after shutdown restrictions are removed. POLITICO compared nine weeks of non-seasonally-adjusted initial jobless claims to Georgias non-adjusted residential employment from February to determine the states jobless claims rate of 40.3 percent, which is currently the highest in the country. Its too early to know exactly why Georgia leads in terms of the proportion of its workforce filing for claims, economists say, and other states may well pass it in the coming weeks as they continue to process additional applications. The state did change its criteria early on to require employers to file unemployment claims on behalf of their employees in many situations, a move that supporters say simplifies the process and allows for quicker payouts. The state also now allows workers to earn as much as $300 each week without having their unemployment eligibility affected. Others speculated that Georgia might employ more workers in industries like hospitality and healthcare that have been deeply affected, or that many residents are employed by small businesses that have struggled to survive during the pandemic. But no matter the reasons, experts say the data offers an early indication of why millions of jobs across the country that were erased in mere weeks could take years to return. Reopening is certainly not a lights-on, lights-off situation, said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. These are companies that have seen a shock in their demand, and at a certain point, they cant keep their workers on. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / California Gold Mining Inc. (CSE:CGM) ("California Gold" or the "Company") announced today that it has closed the first tranche of a non-brokered private placement of up to 4,687,500 common shares at a price of $0.16 per common share for total proceeds of up to $750,000 (the "Offering"). In the first closing the Company issued a total of 1,718,750 common shares for gross proceeds of $275,000. The Company will issue a further press release if and when it completes an additional closing of the Offering. The common shares issued as part of the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period expiring on September 22, 2020. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. About California Gold Mining Inc. California Gold Mining Inc. is focused on continued development of a high-quality gold resource on its 100%-owned Fremont property in Mariposa County, California. The Fremont property consists of an entirely private and patented land package totaling 3,351 acres of historically producing gold mines, with a state highway, PG&E electric substation and abundant water present on the property itself. The Fremont property lies within California's prolific Mother Lode Gold Belt that has produced over 50 million ounces of gold. The Company purchased the Fremont property in March 2013. The Company also has an outdoor, high-CBD industrial hemp biomass cultivation operation on its Grove Road Farm property in Kendall County, Illinois. The Company's technical report in respect of the Fremont Property prepared pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.caligold.ca. CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release of California Gold contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause California Gold's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements in this press release. California Gold does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change, unless otherwise required by law. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information contact: Vishal Gupta, President & CEO Tel.: 647-977-9267 x333 | Website: www.caligold.ca SOURCE: California Gold Mining Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590970/California-Gold-Announces-Closing-of-First-Tranche-of-Private-Placement Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Thu, May 21, 2020 17:35 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd978a57 2 Art & Culture Edvard-Munch,The-Scream,researchers,arts,painting,Oslo,Norway Free A team of international researchers have identified human breath as the main reason for the deterioration of Munch's 1910 masterpiece, "The Scream", which belongs in the collection of the Munch Museum in Oslo. Scientists from Belgium, Italy, the US and Brazil took part in the painting's investigation, which began after curators noticed that the sunset background and the neck area of the screaming protagonist had begun to fade to white. Researchers initially believed that reducing exposure to light might prevent further deterioration, although preliminary tests revealed that this factor was not responsible for the degradation of "The Scream". The latest findings, published in Science Advances, provide evidence that Munch had accidentally used an impure cadmium yellow paint, which can fade and flake in low humidity conditions. "When people breathe they produce moisture and they exude chlorides so in general with paintings it is not too good to be close too much to the breath of all the passersby," Professor Koen Janssens from the University of Antwerp told the Guardian. "I don't think it was an intentional use -- I think he just bought a not very high level of paint. This is 1910 and at that point the chemical industry producing the chemical pigments is there but it doesn't mean they have the quality control of today," he added. Read also: Swiss museum to pay heirs for Nazi-era art trove, plans 2022 exhibition These new findings will be incorporated into the display of "The Scream" at the Munch Museum, whose new location by Oslo's opera house will open to the public later this year. While scientists hope that changing the circumstances in which the masterpiece is exhibited will slow down its degradation, "The Scream" still bears a possibly irreversible brown water mark in its lower left corner. This damage was caused after the painting was stolen along with Munch's "Madonna" masterpiece by two masked gunmen in a daytime raid on August 22, 2004. The two paintings were recovered in a police operation in 2006. Last March, the Munch Museum invited Norwegian poet Fredrik Hyer and Norwegian musician Bendik Baksaas for a new musical interpretation of "The Scream". "I think it's a roar from the ground right now because the earth is in crisis. It is the planet we live on -- it cries to us, from the echo of Atlantis, that now we must begin to see the planet from the outside -- now we must listen to the voice of the heart," Hyer said of Munch's masterpiece in a statement. The average number of daily new cases worldwide over the past week was more than 91,000, higher than ever, even as the average weekly number of fatalities has been decreasing. All told, more than 329,000 people have died. The case count has been fueled in part by the still-growing number of infections in the United States, which has the largest number in the world, and far-reaching outbreaks in large countries like Russia and Brazil. Countries in South America, including Chile, Colombia and Peru, are reporting increases in cases, and some nations around the world are seeing their tallies of confirmed infections double every week or two. Even with the increases, the total numbers of infections and deaths, representing cases in at least 177 countries, are virtually certain to be undercounts because of flawed screenings, political denial and asymptomatic patients who can spread the virus. Still, there is reason for guarded optimism in some regions. Conditions appear to be improving, or at least stabilizing, in parts of Western Europe and the United States, and some governments were cautiously easing lockdown restrictions. Denmark, for instance, has taken steps toward normalcy and reported decreasing numbers of new cases. Some of the most devastated countries in Europe, including France, Italy and the United Kingdom, have also reported improving figures. A group of US senators urged Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways to immediately reverse their decisions to reduce employee hours, saying that the moves are inconsistent with the requirements of more than $5 billion in coronavirus relief aid both carriers received. Delta and JetBlue have already received a portion of $25 billion in CARES Act money meant to protect airline workers' jobs and pay rates until Sept. 30 as the industry weathers a severe demand drop in business because of the coronavirus crisis. Delta is set to receive $5.4 billion and JetBlue $935 million. 'You should not take one penny more of bailout funds unless you are prepared to protect your workers' jobs, pay and benefits,' 13 senators including, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, all Democrats, wrote in two letters sent to the airlines. A group of US senators urged Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways to immediately reverse their decisions to reduce employee hours. A flight attendant wearing facial covering is pictured aboard a Delta flight in Baltimore that was bound for Atlanta The lawmakers say Delta and JetBlue's decision to cut staff hours are inconsistent with the requirements of more than $5 billion in coronavirus relief aid both carriers received. A JetBlue employee stands by information kiosks at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport Elizabeth Warren (left) and Kamala Harris were among 13 senators, all Democrats, who wrote letters to Delta and JetBlue warning the carriers against the staff reductions They said cutting employee hours is not consistent with Congress' intent under the CARES Act and potentially illegal, the lawmakers said. United Airlines first drew fire from lawmakers after it was also considering work hour reductions and backed off the plan after it was sued by The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union which represents the workers, the Washington Post reports The carrier is now asking for voluntary reductions in work hours. Warren on Tuesday pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a Senate Banking Committee to ensure companies that received the aid kept workers on the payroll. The letters from the senators claim Delta was the first airline to cut hours for employees after receiving assistance from the CARES Act. In writing to JetBlue chief executive Robyn Hayes, lawmakers allege that since receiving Cares Act funding the carrier slashed hours for mechanics, passenger service agents and ramp workers. In the case of both airlines, the senators point out that company officials say the 'reductions in hours comply with the CARES Act.' Warren on Tuesday pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a Senate Banking Committee to ensure companies that received the aid kept workers on the payroll. Mnuchin is pictured in Capitol Hill this week 'This view is impossible to reconcile with the clear intent of the law,' the senators fired back. Delta and JetBlue should not accept any additional funds, 'unless you are prepared to protect your workers' jobs, pay and benefits as intended by Congress in the CARES Act,' the senators wrote. 'Your federal financial assistance is conditioned on keeping your promises to workers.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 12:15:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NEW YORK, May 20 (Xinhua) -- New York City's deep-rooted wealth and racial disparities are highlighted by the pattern of the COVID-19 spread, as people in lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color are suffering the most, according to city and state data. As shown in preliminary results of antibody tests of 8,000 people in New York City, the Bronx Borough, where a majority of residents are African Americans and Latino Americans, has the highest COVID-19 positive rate of 34 percent, compared with a citywide average of 19.9 percent, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at Wednesday's briefing. Ranking by zip codes, the top 10 highest-infected neighborhoods are located in the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, home to most of the city's minority groups. The highest rate was recorded in Morrisania, the Bronx, where 43 percent of residents tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. All the other nine neighborhoods had a positive rate of over 33 percent. Moreover, the coronavirus's spread is continuing in those communities, and "that's where the new cases are coming from," said Cuomo. To combat the disparities, Cuomo said the state will partner with the state's largest healthcare provider Northwell Health to double church-based testing sites to 44 locations in those hardest-hit neighborhoods. The state will also expand the testing capacity in 40 locations of New York City Public Housing facilities, where social distancing is hard to be maintained due to limited room space. One more region of the state, the Capitol Region, stepped into phase one of reopening on Wednesday, leaving downstate regions -- New York City, Long Island and Mid-Hudson, the only regions that are not qualified for reopening yet. Meanwhile, statewide religious gatherings with up to 10 people will be allowed as of Thursday, said Cuomo, who added that participants should wear masks and practice social distancing. It came one day after the governor announced that Memorial Day ceremonies with the same scale will be permitted to happen next week in the state. "I understand their desire to get to religious ceremonies as soon as possible," said Cuomo. "But we need to find out how to do it and do it safely and do it smartly." NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that the city would offer free COVID-19 tests at nursing homes starting next week, due to the large number of infections there. Some 250 people have been sent to work at nursing homes to fill the vacancies left by hundreds of staff members who have got infected with COVID-19. The remaining staffing requests would be fulfilled by the end of next week, said the mayor. De Blasio said the city has procured enough personal protective equipment to get through May, including N95 masks, face shields, goggles, gloves, and surgical gowns. "All of those items are now in sufficient supply to get us through the month of May to protect our first responders and our healthcare heroes," he said in a confident tone. Though summer's almost here, the city's beaches will remain closed for a while because "we are unlike any place else," said the mayor. "We are the epicenter of this crisis nationally, the most populous city in the United States of America ... To get to our beaches, a vast majority of people are going to take subways and buses, that creates crowding there and then crowding on the beaches. There's such an obvious set of reasons why we couldn't open our beaches," he explained. Governor Cuomo has said that state beaches are allowed to open on Memorial Day weekend starting May 22, but decisions are left for local governments. As to this year's celebration of Independence Day on July 4, the mayor said it would be different, but still involve the firework show as a tradition. Every year, the celebrations attract tens of thousands of New Yorkers who would crowd on the riverside on the night to see the spectacular fireworks shot from a fleet of ships. "Whatever we do is going to be about safety first. It may be bigger, it may be smaller, but we'll have a lot more to say when we get closer," said de Blasio. "Do not assume it will look like what we've done in the past." By Wednesday night, the state of New York has reported over 354,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 28,000 deaths, remaining as the hardest-hit state in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. Enditem kjschraa/iStockBy JACQUELINE LAUREAN YATES, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- Among several other renowned retailers, Ralph Lauren is donating to workers on the front lines of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the American fashion company announced that it is giving away 1.5 million products as a part of the brand's relief efforts. Lounge wear, sweatshirts, sweatpants, T-shirts, sweaters and more are being donated through charity networks and through many of Ralph Lauren's longstanding partners focused on cancer care. Ralph Lauren's coffee truck, Ralph's Coffee, also donated coffee and baked goods to workers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and other hospitals in the New York metro area. "New York is our hometown, and a city that has been affected greatly by the global pandemic," the retailer wrote in an Instagram post. "With this small gesture, we recognize with deep gratitude the tireless service of our local healthcare workers." Ralph Lauren also partnered with the CFDA Foundation to donate 250,000 masks and 25,000 gowns to U.S. front-line workers. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Three more coronavirus cases have been attributed to the Cedar Meats outbreak, bringing Victoria's largest cluster to 106 cases. The state recorded a net increase of just one coronavirus case on Thursday, taking the total number of people confirmed to have had the virus to 1581. Four people were diagnosed, including three household contacts linked to the Cedar Meats cluster. However three cases were re-classified and taken off the state's database. The fourth new case is under investigation. Georgia has reported 8 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today, bringing the total number of cases to 721. As of May 21, 224 people remain infected with COVID-19 in Georgia, 485 of the 721 patients have recovered, while 12 others have died. Georgia has maintained a low infection rate over the past several days. The country is scheduled to end the state of emergency and curfew tomorrow. "We will not request the state of emergency or curfew be prolonged," PM Giorgi Gakharia says. However, the PM and the government say that all coronavirus-related restrictions should not be lifted, Agenda.ge reported. The ruling Georgian Dream party MPs have initiated a bill, which allows the government to impose various restrictions without the declaration of the state of emergency. The authors of the bill say that it is crucial to maintain a low infection rate after the end of the state of emergency.The bill will be discussed at todays plenary session in parliament. The opposition says that the bill is unconstitutional and dangerous in face of the upcoming parliamentary elections, allowing the government to impose a number of unnecessary restrictions without the parliaments approval. The opposition says they will not vote for the bill. The bill, which proposes amendments to the Law on Public Health, allows the government to impose movement, assembly, economic, labour and other restrictions without the parliaments consent. UtiliWorks Consulting This project will help to improve the customer experience for the 90,000 residents who rely on the City of Santa Barbara to deliver water service in a reliable and cost-efficient manner. UtiliWorks Consulting has announced a new engagement with the City of Santa Barbara, California, marking its 100th utility client milestone. The city selected UtiliWorks as its integration specialist to provide guidance and oversight to successfully manage the technical aspects of the citys advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project. The City of Santa Barbara is excited to work with UtiliWorks on its AMI project. UtiliWorks wealth of AMI knowledge, industry expertise, and client references give us great confidence that they will be able to successfully support the City of Santa Barbaras transition to AMI, says Joshua Haggmark, water resources manager for the City of Santa Barbara. This project will help to improve the customer experience for the 90,000 residents who rely on the City of Santa Barbara to deliver water service in a reliable and cost-efficient manner. UtiliWorks has worked with many utilities to migrate to AMI. The companys subject-matter experts are knowledgeable in every level of utility service, combining hands-on experience across a multitude of technology platforms with an understanding of the processes and policies necessary to optimize performance. UtiliWorks is excited to assist the City of Santa Barbara as it adapts this new technology. Many utilities have taken the leap to invest in their infrastructure to make their operations more efficient and sustainable, says Dale Pennington, president and founder of UtiliWorks. With that comes the challenges of integration, reorienting business processes, stakeholder messaging, and channeling the huge volumes of data in order to create the maximum value for the utility and its customers. I think thats what sets UtiliWorks apart. We understand how impactful the technology can be, but our focus is and will always be on the people needed to make these changes successful. Over the past 15 years, UtiliWorks has been at the forefront of the transitional utility technology landscape. The company has helped utilities and cities effectively upgrade from traditional metering to automated meter reading (AMR); from AMR to AMI; and from AMI to smart grids, water, and gas. The company now has its sights set on smart cities. Pennington states that UtiliWorks will continue to stay ahead of the curve by expanding its service offerings as the market evolves. About UtiliWorks UtiliWorks Consulting is a professional services firm formed in 2005 that leverages business and technology solutions to strategically enhance operations for utilities and their cities. UtiliWorks provides feasibility studies, procurement, project management, field services, integration expertise, business process reengineering, awareness and education support, and utility and smart city assessment tools to utilities and municipalities throughout the US and abroad. E Sourcethe Boulder, Coloradobased firm specializing in providing market research, analytics, and consulting for the utility industryacquired UtiliWorks in February 2020. Before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, many health workers were already prone to trauma-related disorders. The virus has made them even more vulnerable to mental health issues, including depression and suicide. Doctors, nurses, first responders, and other front liners have been on the receiving end of praises from the government and the public. However, amidst the celebration, the heroes are battling a pandemic they cannot control-trauma and anxiety. Each day, the medical workers risk developing post-traumatic stress disorder due to the overwhelming number of cases they juggle. Their emotional struggles could prevent them from performing their jobs with the intensity and focus it demands. A report published by the World Health Organization details the impact the coronavirus crisis has on their mental health. The report cited studies conducted on medical workers in other countries, including China and Italy, where researchers found rising rates of anxiety, depression, and insomnia among doctors and nurses who treated COVID-19 patients. Mental health experts in Michigan say the coronavirus situation could increase suicide rates by 32 percent if left unchecked. Reports of suicide involving front liners have ballooned since the start of the pandemic. On Wednesday, a 32-year-old south Florida nurse named William Coddington was found in a hotel near a hospital in West Palm Beach. According to county health and law enforcement officials, Coddington may have succumbed to an overdose. Text messages found on his phone detailed his increasing fear and trauma from battling the virus during the final weeks of his life. In April, a 49-year-old emergency room doctor who previously recovered from the virus committed suicide after she continued to treat coronavirus patients. Lorna Breen worked in the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian hospital system where her father claims, she handled an onslaught of cases and was later treated for exhaustion. She went to stay with her sister in Charlottesville, where she died to self-inflicted injuries. The ebbing new cases and deaths may still contribute to a worsening psychological pain among workers, mental health experts say. As the intensity of the pandemic begins to fade, the adrenaline will disappear as well, leaving only the emotions of dealing with the trauma and the stress following the overwhelming number of patients the medical workers are responsible for. To address the problem, many trauma therapists began offering free consultations to medical workers and first responders in the nation. New York City collaborated with the Defense Department to train more than 1,000 counselors in an effort to help address the post-traumatic stress disorder. In New Jersey, Rutgers Health and RWJ Barnabas Health adopted a "Check You, Check Two" program where the staff is encouraged to attend to their needs while contacting two colleagues every day. Getting help: If you are someone or know someone who is living in the United States and is suffering from trauma-related disorders, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You can also chat with a trained and licensed operator at the Suicide Prevention Lifeline website. The International Association for Suicide Prevention can also provide information for crisis centers around the globe. Read the latest news here: Samsung has created a new version of the Galaxy S20 that was designed exclusively for military use, called the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition. Samsung wont be selling this device to consumers. Instead, it plans to only sell the phone to specific IT channel partners from government agencies. It hasnt announced a specific release date yet nor is there a listed price for what the phone will cost. You can however contact a Samsung sales representative about purchasing the phone if fall into the category of people that it aims to sell the phone to. Advertisement The Samsung Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition has special software features For the most part the Tactical Edition of this device is the same as a consumer model. Save for a few key things. For one, Samsung states that it comes with special software tailored for operators. It features things like a Night Vision mode. Which is designed to make the screen visible when night vision goggles are being worn. It also has what sounds like an airplane mode. Samsung calls this Stealth Mode, and it disables the LTE radios and RF broadcasting. The idea is to allow for stealth communication. Advertisement Theres also a Lock Screen Auto Rotate feature. If that sounds like something you want, chances are you can probably find an app on the Play Store that would enable it on your consumer device. It comes with rugged case and accessory options If its meant for military operations use, then it needs to be able to stand up to some abuse from whatever comes your way. To that end Samsung packs the Tactical Edition with a rugged case. Aside from the case in the image though, Samsung says there is a range of rugged case and kit options. These include hubs and connectors and other rugged case solutions. Advertisement What is specifically included if you were to buy one likely depends on what your needs would be. As an IT channel partner you might need some slightly different configurations from another. And by the sounds of it Samsung has prepared to provide these different types of options. The phone also supports Samsungs Knox security solution software. This is supposed to be different from what is already available on consumer and enterprise devices. But Samsung doesnt explain in detail how it differs. The Tactical Edition is tested by Special Operations operators according to Samsung so it seems like it may have received some real world use during its development so Samsung could ensure that its statements about the device are proven. Advertisement Although you cant buy one of these yourself as a consumer, you can always pick up a standard model Galaxy S20 and slap any number of rugged cases on it. Sony is focused on developing a new female superhero for Marvel, looking to veteran TV director S.J. Clarkson to lead the project. Clarkson has build her resume directing high-profile programs including Jessica Jones for Netflix, HBO's Succession, and Banshee Variety on Wednesday reported that the British director will likely commandeer a project based off the comic book character Madame Web. At the helm: Sony is focused on developing a new female superhero for Marvel, looking to veteran TV director S.J. Clarkson to lead the project. Clarkson was snapped in 2017 in NYC The superhero's special twist is that she appears to be older, and always on a life support system - that resembles a spider web - as she deals with myasthenia gravis. The outlet reported that Sony hopes to put an established A-lister in the leading role, with Charlize Theron and Amy Adams being mentioned as possible centerpieces for the latest hot project coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sources said no meetings or offers have been made to any performers, as a number of essential personnel decisions remain undetermined early into the project, including who will write the script. The character's link to Spider-Man paves a potential path to bring the Tom Holland character into the mix, as a deal made between the studio and Marvel opens up the superhero to be in both Avengers movies, and standalone action films. Established: Marvel currently has the popular character Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, which it works on with Disney Experience: Clarkson has past directed a Marvel linked character on the show Jessica Jones, starring Krysten Ritter Variety reported that Sony execs have long coveted a female superhero to market films around that Clarkson has been 'on short lists to direct several major tentpoles' with her emerging reputation. Marvel currently has the popular character Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, which it works on with Disney; while Gal Gadot's turn as Wonder Woman made for an international hit and new tent-pole franchise for DC and Warner Bros. Sony execs, in their search for another high-profile heroine, have also tapped screenwriter Marc Guggenheim for a project centered around a female lead, Deadline reported. The project, which is titled Jackpot, is about a mom with superhuman strength who fights crime. Guggenheim has past penned comics for the series. Amid the planning, Hollywood remains largely shut down amid lockdown efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus, with production folding up and studios shutting down. [May 21, 2020] IDC Introduces an Interoperable Framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Infrastructure Stacks and Assesses the AI Infrastructure Stacks Currently on the Market Two new reports from International Data Corporation (IDC) offer a first look at infrastructure stacks for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. In the reports, IDC (News - Alert) defines an interoperable framework for infrastructure stacks to deploy AI applications, referred to as the AI Plane (AIP). The reports also discuss vendor-specific implementations of AI infrastructure stacks that are currently available in the market. As building AI capabilities becomes increasingly urgent, IDC sees that businesses are confused about the process of building their own AI infrastructure stack. IDC is seeing a growing number of AI server, storage, and processor vendors develop AI stacks that consist of abstraction layers, orchestration layers, AI development layers, and data science layers that are intended to seamlessly operate together. These stacks typically combine open source software, proprietary software, and nonmonetized commercial software (such as CUDA) layers that are intended to help customers' IT infrastructure teams, developers, and data scientists collaborate on a predesigned stack without having to build it themselves. IDC believes that AI infrastructure stacks provide a clear advantage to customers and that their variety is, while confusing, not a disadvantage. IDC does not expect vendors to collaboratively develop a "standard" AI infrastructure stack - this would defeat the advantage for customers of having multiple flavors to choose from. By offering an AIP framework, IDC hopes to provide a guide for IT vendors, encouraging them to improve the versatility of their stack, thereby increasing its ubiquitous adoption. "Businesses are benefiting tremendously from the AI infrastructure software stacks that server, processor, and co-processor vendors are making available, several of which we are highlighting in these reports," said Peter Rutten, research director, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "But buyers should be aware of complexity and a lack of interoperability with these stacks." "Infrastructure requirements for AI workloads can be viewed as a function of scale, portability, and time," said Sriram Subramanian, research director, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies at IDC. "With so many choices and options available, end users are often perplexed about the right infrastructure stack. AIP provides a simple framework to select the right infrastructure stack, with accommodations to considerations on cost, flexibility, and infrastructure utilization." IDC recommends technology buyers to thoroughly investigate the entire AI stack that server vendors offer and to explore options beyond their regular hardware supplier. IT benefits to keep in mind when examining reference stacks include reduced costs, data and application availability, effective infrastructure consolidation and, where possible, a single interoperable application delivery platform. IDC also recommends technology vendors to focus on interoperability among AI infrastructure stacks. The IDC report, The "AI Plane": An Interoperable Framework for Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Stacks (IDC #US46283420), introduces AI Plane (AIP)-an interoperable framework to select the right infrastructure stack to power AI workloads. The report also introduces two specific implementations of AIP: Open AI Plane and as-a-Service AI Plane. IDC recommends that enterprises leverage the AIP framework when selecting an appropriate infrastructure stack to power AI workloads. The IDC report, AI Infrastructure Stack Review H1 2020: The Rapid and Varied Rise of the AI Stack (IDC #US46291620), assesses some of the AI infrastructure stacks that are currently available on the market, including the stacks offered by Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, Cisco (News - Alert), Huawei, and HPE. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005047/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] British travellers are backing the idea of travel 'corridors' and 'bubbles', with searches for holidays to Italy and France rocketing this week. Ministers are mulling coronavirus 'air bridges' to allow travellers to move between countries without the need for quarantine once the outbreak is under control. And Italy, Spain and Greece have all made headlines with announcements around the re-introduction of tourism. Skyscanner has revealed that in response, searches from the UK for holidays in July in Italy are up 103 per cent this week compared to last week and for trips to France by 128 per cent. Overall searches for international travel in July have increased by 37 per cent in the past two weeks. British travellers are backing the idea of travel 'corridors' and 'bubbles', with searches for holidays to Italy and France rocketing this week Jon Thorne, director of user satisfaction at Skyscanner, said: 'As they look ahead to the summer, nations around the world are discussing new travel alliances. These travel bubbles, also called travel corridors, aim to allow passage between two or more countries without the need to quarantine. 'There has been much made in the news about which countries the UK might partner with in the future and at what time. As certain countries have been named, we have seen a correlation with an increase in search data to those locations, intimating that keen UK travellers will adapt their planned destination according to government regulations. 'Safety, is of course, paramount in many peoples minds. Many travellers are taking advantage of the airlines and hotels who are offering their most flexible cancellation policies ever and booking international travel for later this year and early next.' Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said a 'blanket' 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals in the UK would be introduced from next month. Searches for international travel overall in July has increased by 37 per cent in the past two weeks, says Skyscanner WHAT IS AN AIR BRIDGE? An 'air bridge' is typically used by the military to reach and supply territory across enemy lines. One of the largest in history was used for the Berlin airlift after the Second World War. That kept the Western-held area supplied between June 1948 and May 1949 when it was cut off by Soviet forces. Another famous air bridge was 'The Hump', which was the route over the Himalayas from India to resupply Chinese forces working with the Allies. Advertisement But he disclosed that there are 'active discussions' going on over what countries could be exempted from the regime in future, referring to the idea of 'air bridges' - usually used to refer to military flights over enemy territory. Countries with lower infection levels, such as Australia, New Zealand and Greece, could potentially be excluded from the tough rules, which will be enforced by law. Meanwhile, Skyscanner has also revealed that more people have been looking for getaways within the UK, encouraged by the easing of restrictions in some areas and the rumour of an extra Bank Holiday, which is being mulled as a way of boosting domestic spending. For example, searches for car hire in the UK have increased 31 per cent week-on-week, with the travel website saying many people in cities are looking to escape to other parts of the UK after lockdown. A survey of almost 6,000 Skyscanner users in 17 countries has shown that there is a latent demand in the UK for travel, with interest in domestic trips high. Of those surveyed, 52 per cent believe that the domestic situation is getting better compared to a 65 per cent average across European countries. Thirty-five per cent of participants said they believe that it will be safe to travel domestically within three months compared to a 29 per cent average across the European countries surveyed. Mumbai, May 21 : The late Rishi Kapoor's daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni on Thursday shared a string of throwback pictures, recalling her childhood moments spent with her illustrious father. In one of the family images, we spot little Ranbir Kapoor sitting cutely in Rishi Kapoor's lap, while Riddhima sits between Rishi and his wife Neetu Kapoor. In another black-and-white picture, Neetu is seen carrying young Riddhima in her arms. Riddhima, who lives in Delhi, is currently with her mom in Mumbai. She couldn't attend her father's final rites due to the lockdown. So after acquiring the permissions, she had to travel over 1400km by road all the way to Mumbai, in order to be with her family in the time of bereavement. She travelled to Mumbai by car with daughter Samara and husband Bharat. Rishi Kapoor breathed his last on April 30. He had been battling leukemia for the past two years. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text LAS VEGAS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Biopharmaceutical company EUCYT announced Tammy C. Luttrell, MSPT, Ph.D., CWS, FCCWS, has been promoted to Chief Scientific Officer. Luttrell's advancement follows her initial stint as Vice President of Product Development beginning last August. The promotion also highlights EUCYT's commitment to encouraging the need for more women to join science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. "I'm truly blessed to be part of such a wonderful team here in Las Vegas. This is a fabulous opportunity for me personally and for our city and university partners," said Luttrell. "With the EUCYT proprietary technology platform, we have the opportunity to truly bring bench science to the bedside and significantly improve the quality of life for patients and, at the same time, continue to push the forefront of applied science. Biological science will pave the way for continued improvement in medicine. It will allow me to focus even more intensely on the wonderful advancements our company is making in generative medicine and health. I also hope it shows just how much of a contribution women can make in STEM careers and encourage them to seek out such roles." Luttrell brings more than 30 years' experience, in international regenerative medicine research, primarily in the trauma, burn and wound care space. As the Chief Scientific Officer, she will continue leading EUCYT's important development of a potential treatment for COVID-19-positive patients called COVIXO. COVIXO is a mesenchymal stem-cell-derived therapy that harnesses the power of the immune system to augment the body's natural response to invading pathogens such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the causative agent behind COVID-19. For information visit: https://eucyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/covixo.pdf. "This promotion shows just how important Dr. Luttrell's contributions have been to a potential treatment for COVID-19 and the EUCYT team's projects in general," said Chief Executive Officer, Travis H. Bird. "She brings three decades of wound and burn care emphasis which is a perfect complement to the regenerative medicine work we're doing to define the future of and heal patients, not just treat them." Luttrell's extensive career includes helping revamp inner-city Las Vegas' Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center's RESTORE Wound Care Center/BRCA Burn Unit. She also is a physical therapy doctoral program adjunct faculty member at Colorado University in Denver and has owned her own consulting firm since 2000, where she handles special projects for the states of Colorado and Arkansas, including legal medical case reviews, wound center consultations and staff trainings. She also provides educational presentations and lectures domestically and internationally pertaining to wound healing and skin diseases. About EUCYT EUCYT is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on precision healthcare by harnessing the power within the human body to change the way people heal. EUCYT is committed to delivering safe, effective, leading-edge, advanced biologic technology. Inquiries should be directed to Denise Bird, Director, Marketing and Sponsorships, 833.693.8298 or [email protected] www.eucyt.com Related Links Follow Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter SOURCE EUCYT Related Links http://www.eucyt.com Nigel Farage has accused France of assisting an 'invasion' of migrants across the Channel after its border patrol ships were filmed shadowing dinghies trying to make it to the UK. The Brexit Party leader, 56, said today would be 'another record day' for crossings and claimed nine migrant boats are already on the Channel. Border patrols say they are powerless to stop the boats because migrants are threatening to throw themselves or children overboard if they are forced to turn back. Authorities are abiding by international law which means the boats cannot be turned around, and British and French naval vessels are shadowing the dinghies in case they come into difficulties. A record 531 migrants have made it to British shores this month, with 64 migrants on just five boats arriving on Wednesday. The total is expected to rise by at least 65 today. But Mr Farage claimed the Government are 'hiding' the true number of migrants, and demanded Home Secretary Priti Patel 'tell us the truth' about the figures. The Home Office have rejected his remarks as 'completely untrue', adding that the boat Mr Farage saw was already under their observation. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Farage said the Home Office had told him five boats and 70 migrants had been intercepted yesterday, four of them by 4.50am and the last at 2.05pm. UK Border Force were seen bringing more rescued migrants into the Port of Dover today, as reports claim several boats have been spotted attempting to cross the Channel Nigel Farage has accused France of assisting an 'invasion' of migrants across the Channel, as he predict today would be 'another record day' for crossings Five boats full of migrants have been spotted so far today as temperatures reached 70F and calm conditions created perfect condition for migrants to make the perilous crossing But the former MEP says that he came across another boat at around 8.30am which was 'not reported', he alleged. 'Why was this boat not listed in the official figures. There is a suspicion that they are not giving us the true figures,' he said today, adding it would only take 45 minutes for the boat to reach Dover. 'We counted 22 migrants on that boat and they have not been included in the Home Office figures. I believe the Government are hiding the true number of migrants making it to the UK.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'These remarks are completely untrue. Border Force intercepted five boats that day. 'The one "spotted" by Mr Farage was already on our radar when he called it in and was included in the figures we gave out.' MailOnline have contacted the Coastguard over Mr Farage's emergency call yesterday morning. Filming from a Chartered fishing vessel yesterday, Mr Farage said he spotted a French naval ship 'escorting' migrants into UK waters before turning around Reports claim that around 65 migrants have made the crossing to the UK so far today Mr Farage yesterday took to the Channel in a chartered fishing boat and 'rescued' more than 20 migrants crammed in two tiny dinghies who were seen desperately trying to bail out water. His vessel contacted the Coastguard, who dispatched RNLI rescue vessels to the scene to save the people on the packed dinghy. In footage posted to his twitter, the former MEP claims to spot a French naval vessel 'escorting' migrant boats into UK waters, before the ship turns around. Speaking after his return to Dover, Mr Farage said: 'An astonishing morning mid-Channel. A hugely overloaded boat was bailing out water as we approached with 20 migrants on board. Border patrols claim that they are 'powerless' to stop boats because migrants have threatened to throw themselves or their children overboard if they are forced to turn back 'It is just outrageous after all the money we have sent to France to deal with this problem that the French Navy now escort illegal migrants into UK waters.' Under obligations to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), authorities cannot intervene with the vessels unless they are invited to do so. It is also easier for the Home Office to stop entrance into the UK on land, either by working with French authorities or by rejecting asylum requests where conditions are not met. France was able to stop around 100 people attempting to make the journey over the weekend. Mr Farage was previously criticised for being photographed on a factfinding trip to Dover while strict coronavirus lockdown rules were still in place. The total number of migrants who have crossed the Channel this year stands at 1,520, closing in on the 1,890 who made it during the whole of 2019. Of that tally, 1,149 have reached the UK since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the lockdown in March. The Brexit Party leader has claimed that nine migrant boats are already on the Channel attempting to make the crossing The migrants were bailing out their boat as it made its way across the English Channel today What happens when migrants are picked up in the Channel? When migrant boats are intercepted in the Channel by Border Force, the majority will be taken to the Port of Dover. The Home Office say that when migrants are stopped in the Channel and brought into the UK they are first assessed to see if they have any medical need. They will then likely be held at the Kent Intake Unit. There they can make an asylum claim and participate in an initial interview before they are released. To be eligible for asylum, the person must have left their country and be unable to go back because of fear of persecution. While awaiting a decision, asylum seekers are given 37.75 a week for essentials. Those who are likely to be eligible are moved into asylum accommodation, while those who are not, or are deemed a security risk, are moved to a detention centre, where immigration officers explore grounds for removing them from the UK. Unaccompanied children will typically be taken into care of Kent County Council. Advertisement The 531 who have made it to Britain so far this month have eclipsed April's record figure of 523 - with still more than a week left to go. On May 8, 145 migrants made it in eight boats - a record for a single day. Home Secretary Priti Patel has made repeated claims of clamping down on crossings, but the crisis has continued to worsen. The changing weather conditions also make for an easier trip across the perilous Dover Strait shipping lane. In one case, around 13 refugees were pictured crammed on one dinghy alongside a Border Force vessel and a large French boat in the middle of the English Channel. The Coastguard launched its fixed-wing aircraft to work alongside the Border Force vessels Hunter and Speedwell, plus the Dover lifeboat. Two French vessels are also said to be involved. Chris Philp, the Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts, said: 'We are working tirelessly with the French to stop these illegally-facilitated crossings, sharing criminal intelligence with the NCA and French authorities. 'And a substantial French law enforcement deployment last weekend prevented over 100 migrants from making the crossings with the French also stopping migrants today. 'Migrants should not risk their lives leaving a safe country and we will look return those who did today where possible.' A Coastguard spokesman said: 'Her Majesty's Coastguard has coordinated search and rescue responses to a number of incidents off Kent today, working with Border Force. One group of migrants were escorted by a French vessel before being handed over to UK authorities One of the vessels had several women and children on board as they crossed the Channel One of the migrant boats was severely overloaded as it made its way across the Channel One of the men let slip a plastic container which had been used to bail out the boat 'We sent the Dover RNLI lifeboat, Border Force vessels Hunter and Speedwell and the HM Coastguard fixed-wing aircraft. We are committed to safeguarding life around the seas and coastal areas of this country. 'HM Coastguard is only concerned with preservation of life, rescuing those in trouble and bringing them safely back to shore, where they will be handed over to the relevant partner emergency services or authorities.' Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley estimates there are up to 200 child migrants living in squalor in settlements across Calais - most of them unaccompanied. There are currently around 500 people in one camp in Calais, while 240 are spread out across three smaller sites. At a fifth camp, there are around 30. Ms Moseley said the youngest unaccompanied child she has met in a camp is a 10-year-old Afghan boy. She has also met a 13-year-old girl without any parents. The migrants waved at the chartered fishing vessel carrying Mr Farage She said: 'That's a rough figure. At any point, around 20 per cent of the refugees are under 18. A lot of them come from Sudan, where they could be recruited as soldiers. 'And some are from Afghanistan. They might have lost their parents and are trying to join other people in the UK. 'Coronavirus has made the conditions even worse for them so they are even more desperate to get to the UK. These people have nothing to lose.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'The government takes the welfare of unaccompanied children very seriously and provides funding to local authorities, including Kent, as a contribution to the cost of supporting unaccompanied children and those who leave care. 'This funding was significantly increased in May 2019.' Again, the deputy national chairman (North) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lawal Shuaibu, has accused the national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, of exhibiting lawlessness in running the affairs of the party. This demonstration, he claims, could lead to another defeat for the party in the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, just like it played out in Zamfara State. There is already (an) absence of transparency, Mr Shuaibu said on the Ondo and Edo primary elections. The party lost all its victory in Zamfara elections in a legal battle before the Supreme Court, to the opposition. The court faulted the APCs conduct of primaries that produced its governorship, national and state assembly candidates at the 2019 elections. Mr Shuaibu, in his letter on Wednesday, warned of a possible disintegration within the party if the national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, continued to breach its constitution. He faulted the inauguration of Waziri Bulama as the APC acting national secretary, accusing the party leaders of lack of transparency in the forthcoming primaries in Edo and Ondo states. The ruling party which ought to be a model for others in the upholding of the rule of law is now the nest of lawlessness. The entire legal framework governing the party administration in Nigeria today, the Nigerian constitution, the party constitution, the Electoral Act and INEC regulations and guidelines are more honoured by the party in breaches than obedience, he noted as he quoted Article 9.1(ii) and 9.4 (i) of the APC Constitution to back up his assertion. NEC is the main decision-making organ after the convention and shall meet every three months. The power to set up standing or ad-hoc committees of the party is vested in the same NEC. Not even NEC has the power to appoint any national officer of the party in any capacity. Let me ask this simple question, what is difficult in organising a midterm convention to elect the officers in line with the constitution so that even the officers will have confidence that they are elected like all other officers. The constitution of the party in Article 25 (A) (1) page 89 stipulates that there shall be a convention every two years. We had (a) convention in 2018 and another one is due in 2020. What is the hurry in appointing an acting national secretary when we have the duly elected Deputy National Secretary who has been acting in that capacity since December 2018 in line with Article 14.4 of the constitution on page 58? the deputy national chairman (north) further argued. Mr Shuaibu was suspended in 2019 for engaging in anti-party activities after the release of a May 28 letter to Mr Oshiomhole, where he raised similar concerns. Lawali Shuaibu. [Photo credit: APC Official site] His suspension was reversed in March 2020 by the Oshiomhole-led national working committee to foster unity, shortly after the partys crisis climaxed. However, in his new letter, Mr Shuaibu, insisted that all issues he raised before his suspension have played out and the party leaders are doing nothing. What are the leaders of the party doing in the midst of this anarchy? Are they all equally fed up with the seeming collapsing party in the hands of a politically injured person that seems to be nursing political revenge? The leaders need to take a stand so that the followers know whether the party is now either a jungle or that entity of our collective dream at the inception. Majority of the members of the party are already perplexed, disillusioned and some even weighing their options. A stitch in time, I believe, saves nine! he said. PREMIUM TIMES contacted Mr Shuaibu for more clarity on the issues raised but his line was switched off as at the time of filing this report. The APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu did not answer his calls or message. A call was also put across to Mr Oshiomholes spokesperson, Simon Ebegbulem, for possible reaction and he responded with Oshiomhole is too big to respond to such an issue, call the partys spokesperson. [May 21, 2020] IT Spending Indicators May Be Bottoming Out for Now but US Business Confidence Continues to Plunge, According to IDC COVID-19 Tech Index Leading indicators for IT spending appear to be stabilizing and bottoming out in many countries, reflecting a period of relative calm before economic lockdown measures are expected to be eased in the next few weeks. However, confidence levels in the US continue to plunge and US firms show a wide range of expectations, including some that anticipate even deeper cuts to IT spending than two weeks ago, according to a new update to the IDC COVID-19 Tech Index. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005471/en/ IDC (News - Alert) COVID-19 Tech Index - Results from May 20, 2020 (Photo: Business Wire) In countries including China and Germany, overall IT buyer confidence has continued to improve. While the overall index in Europe and many Asia/Pacific countries remains below 1000, indicating a contraction in IT spending, scores have edged up slightly compared to two weeks ago in the latest IDC global survey of IT buyers. Market indicators in both regions have also stabilized with some countries gradually easing their lockdown measures and government stimulus spending continuing to provide some degree of short-term stability. "While IT spending is still declining in Asia/Pacific and Europe, and some sectors of the economy will remain under severe pressure over the near term, there is some sense that we may have reached a turning point," said Stephen Minton, vice president, Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC. "This is not yet a turning point in terms of returning to growth overall, but a sense amongst many businesses that if economic restrictions are eased carefully and gradually, and if there is not a major second wave of infections in the second half of 2020, things will not get worse and we will have a slow but steady recovery beginning in the third quarter." The COVID-19 Tech Index uses a scale of 1000 to provide a directional indicator of changes in the outlook for IT spending and is updated every two weeks. The index is based partly on a global survey of enterprise IT buyers and partly on a composite of market indicators, which are calibrated with country-level analyst inputs relating to medical infection rates, social distancing, travel restrictions, public life, and government stimulus. A score above 1000 indicates that IT spending is expected to increase, while a score below 1000 points towards a likely decline. COVID-19 Tech Index March April May V1 May V2 Buyer Intent 1023 1006 983 982 Market Indicators 988 969 944 943 Total Index 1005 987 964 962 Source (News - Alert): IDC COVID-19 Tech Index, May 2020 (Release 2) Note: Index scores above 1000 indicate an expected increase in IT spending for 2020 overall; scores below 1000 indicates a projected decline. While confidence levels have stabilized in Asia/Pacific and Europe, they continue to plunge in the US where businesses now expect even deeper cuts to IT budgets this year than in the previous survey two weeks ago. There is a wide range of confidence levels among US firms with significant variation by region, company size, and industry. Many companies remain confused by conflicting signals and are worried about a second wave of infections if lockdown measures are not eased carefully, while others remain concerned that the pace of ending restrictions is too slow. "US firms are still very confused and the lack of business visibility is putting pressure on short-term IT planning," said Minton. "Whatever your opinion about the pace of ending economic restrictions, and what this will mean for a possible second wave of infections, what we all know is that a lack of visibility isn't good for IT spending or business planning in general. While there is a sense of things bottoming out for now in other parts of the world, we have not yet reached a similar broad consensus in the US that this point has been reached." The IDC COVID-19 Tech Index is a leading indicator for IT spending, which is designed to provide rapid updates to changes in buyer sentiment and underlying market indicators before these are factored into official market and macroeconomic forecasts. The index is based on a scale whereby a score higher than 1000 indicates growth in IT spending, while a score below 1000 indicates a decline. Complete results from the most recent index as well as additional research related to the pandemic can be found on IDC's COVID-19 microsite at https://www.idc.com/covid19. The index is based on surveys of enterprise IT buyers around the world, who are asked to provide guidance on a variety of factors including general business confidence, overall IT spending plans and specific changes to budget allocations for individual technologies. Additionally, the index score is weighted with a composite of "market indicators" that include macroeconomic forecasts calibrated with inputs relating to medical data, social isolation measures, and the impact of government stimulus. IDC will host a special COVID-19 Tech Index webinar on June 9th at 11:00 am U.S. Eastern time. In the presentation, Stephen Minton will discuss the most recent index results, the outlook for technology spending by region, and how the pandemic is impacting various organizations around the world. Details and registration for this webinar are available at https://bit.ly/2A1RDQ3. Learn how IDC can help your organization anticipate and respond to market changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. IDC's COVID-19 resource site offers research, market data, webinars, and blog articles that can help decision makers plan their next moves in response to the latest developments. About IDC International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter (News - Alert) at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005471/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] by James Robinson for MailOnline New thermal imaging cameras which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are today set to be rolled out at the country's busiest airport, as bosses look at ways to kick-start the travel industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Heathrow will introduce the tripod mounted cameras in one of its immigration halls as part of a new trial. If successful, bosses hope the move will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return. New thermal imaging cameras (pictured) which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are today set to be rolled out at Heathrow Airport From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus Passengers will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored It comes as the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye today showed tentative support for the government's plan for an automatic 14 day quarantine for travellers entering the UK - but called for a 'risk-based approach'. From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus. They will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored. Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area. Similar systems have already been trialled in Italy. If successful, airport bosses hope the cameras will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return At this stage the trial is to determine only whether the technology works, meaning any passenger arriving with a high temperature would not be stopped. Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine. Heathrow chief executive Mr Holland-Kaye today said the cameras could become the 'common international standard' to get people flying again. It comes as the airport boss today also signalled support for the Government's plan to quarantine anyone arriving into the UK from abroad - an idea which the Downing Street appeared to dismiss last night. However Mr Holland suggested 'risk-based' approach was needed to get people flying again. Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The Government's got a tough job to do. 'If they think that quarantine is the right thing to do I think we have to go with that, but it has to be time-limited and we have to plan for what comes next. 'As the level of transmission comes down in this country and in other countries, we need to find a way that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who don't have a disease can still fly.' It comes as yesterday the government poured cold water over the possibility of introducing so-called 'air bridges' between countries with low levels of infection, to provide a fillip to the beleaguered tourism sector. The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week. Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine But with ministers expected to unveil plans tomorrow for a tough new quarantine regime requiring travellers to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK, No 10 said the 'air bridges' idea would not form part of the proposals. It would have seen the 14-day rule relaxed for certain countries and Greece and France had both expressed an interest in the idea. Blanket quarantine measures now appear likely to be introduced towards the end of the month, despite warnings they will wreck the holiday plans of Britons and damage the UK tourism industry. Mr Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged on Monday when he told MPs he was investigating the possibility of allowing quarantine-free 'air bridges' to countries with low levels of infection. The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged however the Prime Minister's official spokesman said it was 'an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy' But yesterday the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'It's an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy.' A Whitehall source said: 'The quarantine rules will be reviewed every three weeks but I think people would be unwise to book a foreign holiday in the expectation that an 'air bridge' will open up in time for the summer holidays. 'It's the sort of idea you might look at as you exit a quarantine system. But we are just getting started.' Ministers are still finalising the details of the quarantine regime, but it is expected to include fines of at least 1,000 for those breaching the 14 days of self-isolation. A minister involved in the talks said all arrivals would be stopped by Border Force agents and told to download the Government's new coronavirus tracking app. With the Mediterranean nation's under-pressure economy heavily dependent on holidaymakers it has been making plans to refill deserted beaches and hotels in popular tourist areas like Corfu (pictured) Beachgoers enjoy the sun at a public beach in Piraeus near Athens, Greece, on May 18, after weeks of lockdown in the country They will be asked to provide their address or details of where they are staying, and police or local authority officials will carry out spot checks to ensure the quarantine is not being breached. Sources said there would be 'very few' exemptions. Critics have questioned why the Government is tightening the rules at a time when some EU countries are easing travel restrictions and when many airlines have resumed UK flights. Greek tourism minister Haris Theoharis had called on the Government to agree a no-quarantine pact with his country. He told the BBC: 'We feel that this is a time for us to start lifting restrictions and we urge other countries, the UK included, that as soon as we do that we would welcome reciprocity.' The Greek islands, visited by three million Britons a year, have been in lockdown since March but hotels are due to open there on July 1. The country has escaped the worst of the pandemic, with just 165 deaths, and is desperate to welcome tourists back. Ministers consider quarantine to be a vital part of efforts to prevent a second wave of coronavirus. But airline bosses fear it will devastate the crippled travel industry. British Airways wanted to restore large-scale operations in July, but this now looks unlikely. Virgin Atlantic have also indicated that flights will be pushed back to August 'at the earliest'. There are also concerns for the 20,000 British nationals still stranded abroad. It is likely many will have to go into quarantine after returning as the rule could come into force as early as May 28. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously warned foreign summer holidays were unlikely this year, while Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday that domestic holidays could be possible by the beginning of July, if the rate of coronavirus infection was kept down. SS Rajamouli's big-budget film Roudram Ranam Rudhiram aka RRR is one of the most affected projects due to the lockdown. After the government's decision in the wake of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, the showbiz industry had to stop shootings from March 19 until the next announcement. Well, RRR has a huge production value and no wonder it needs more time to execute, when it comes to technical aspects. Ahead of the lockdown, SS Rajamouli had almost shot the entire film except for a scene, which required foreign actors in a large number. Set in the pre-Independence era, RRR is a story of the struggle of freedom fighters Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, played by Ram Charan and Jr NTR respectively, against British rule. Now, since the shooting is not happening, filmmakers, as well as producers, from Telugu film industry, are trying hard to convince the Telangana government to grant permission to shoot. Minister Talasani will be recording opinions of Tollywood biggies and will present it at a meeting, which is being held at Megastar Chiranjeevi's residence. The meeting has been attended by celebs like Minister Talasani, Nagarjuna, SS Rajamouli, Trivikram Srinivas, Dil Raju and others. In a statement, SS Rajamouli said that he will make sure to shoot RRR with limited crew members if the government permits shooting immediately. Not all sequences require huge cast and crew. Let's hope the government considers Rajamouli's request. Also Read : RRR Postponed Again? Here's What Producer Dannaya Has To Say! Apart from Rajamouli, other Tollywood biggies will also record their messages and submit to them from Film Chambers. The post-production work is most likely to start from Friday, with some rules of social distancing. On a related note, SS Rajamouli's directorial venture RRR also stars Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in pivotal roles. RRR is scheduled to be released on January 8, 2021, on the occasion of Sankranti. However, there are chances of it getting postponed. Also Read : SS Rajamouli Refuses To Talk About RRR! Read To Know Why The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to launch a new Special Liquidity Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) to improve liquidity position of the NBFCs/HFCs. The Government has proposed a framework for addressing the liquidity constraints of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) through a Special Liquidity Scheme. An SPV would be set up to manage a Stressed Asset Fund (SAF) whose special securities would be guaranteed by the Government of India and purchased by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only. The proceeds of sale of such securities would be used by the SPV to acquire short-term debt of NBFCs/HFCs. The Scheme will be administered by the Department of Financial Services, which will issue the detailed guidelines. A large public sector bank would set up an SPV to manage a stressed asset fund which would issue interest bearing special securities guaranteed by the Government of India, to be purchased by RBI only. The SPV would issue securities as per requirement subject to the total amount of securities outstanding not exceeding Rs. 30,000 crore to be extended by the amount required as per the need. The securities issued by the SPV would be purchased by RBI and proceeds thereof would be used by the SPV to acquire the debt of at least investment grade of short duration (residual maturity of upto 3 months) of eligible NBFCs / HFCs. Unlike the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme which involves multiple bilateral deals between various public sector banks and NBFCs, requires NBFCs to liquidate their current asset portfolio and involves flow of funds from public sector banks, the proposed scheme would be a one-stop arrangement between the SPV and the NBFCs without having to liquidate their current asset portfolio. The scheme would also act as an enabler for the NBFC to get investment grade or better rating for bonds issued. The scheme is likely to be easier to operate and also augment the flow of funds from the non-bank sector. It has been announced in the Budget Speech of 2020-21 that a mechanism would be devised to provide additional liquidity facility to NBFCs/HFCs over that provided through the PCGS. This facility would supplement the liquidity measures taken so far by the Government and RBI. The Scheme would benefit the real economy by augmenting the lending resources of NBFCs/HFCs/MFls. There is an urgency to implement the above Budget announcement to strengthen financial stability on account of the emerging situation of Covid-19. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The culture of the people of Birnin Amina Acer in Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State makes them unique or distinct from others. And they have held tenaciously to this for decades of their existence. A journey from Minna, the state capital, to this very remote part of the state is about 325 kilometres, passing through four local government areas, all in Niger North Senatorial District. First, a journey to these communities in Rijau LGA from Kontagora, the neighboring local government, which is about 100 kilometres, tells a story of a people forgotten and abandoned by government, with no single social amenity, except a hand pump borehole sunk by an NGO. Again, a 45-minute journey from Rijau, the local government headquarters, to these communities on a bumpy and rocky road, easily accessed only by motorcycles, can make someone to conclude that the people belong to an entirely different continent and age. Interestingly, it is the home of the Kambari people, cut off from the rest of the world to practice their cultural beliefs and way of life, which they cherish, and it has remained unique to them. Forsaken tribe It is a tribe cut off from the modern world in all ramifications. Donkeys are the only means of transport for the largely sleepy, peaceful agrarian and nomadic people. Infrastructural development is far from the people and appears not to be their priority. To visitors and outsiders, they are an angry or dejected people, but to the unclad people inhabiting Birni Amina and Acer communities, their reclusive nature gives them peace and happiness. Their everyday life, which is nowhere close to civilisation, gives them joy and satisfaction regardless of what you feel about them, as the two communities hold tenaciously to their culture and tradition to the extent that they insist that nothing would change their way of life. Since western civilisation is far from the people, so also are all the challenges associated with civilisation and globalisation nowhere near them. There is no room for any form of social vices or criminalities. The civilised and educated sons and daughters of these communities keep a safe distance to avoid a possible crisis of cultures because, as it were, there is no way western civilisation can blend with the culture of the Kambari people, at least not for now. The dome straw roof and round mud houses in which the Kambari currently live have been their homes for decades since they started living in the area. While most parts of the state suffocate in the heat that sometimes characterises the northern region, their homes provide a cool interior, which gives them comfort. The drinking water usually served visitors from clay pots is cold, tasteless and odourless, full of natural alkaline. Visitors to these communities will definitely experience a number of cultural shocks. For instance, to a visitor new to the way of life of the Kambari people, the sight of young girls, women and men walking about nude would be a shocking. But for the people of these remote communities, it is a way of life. Naked, yet no rape With over 87 rape cases reported in 2019 alone in parts of Niger State, where women cover every part of their body, naked women in Kambari have no experience of rape by their men. Their story is akin to that of Adam and Eve in the Bible, until the serpent came, but in Kambari that serpent is yet to come. Rape cases are non-existence in these communities because rape either by a stranger or members of the communities is punished by the gods with death. This law and many others are as old as these communities and that is why it is extremely difficult for the civilised sons and daughters of Kambari extraction to fit in anymore. It is unacceptable and unforgivable and our people are conscious of this, the Mai Angwar (community head) of one of the communities, Gandi Kamuna, said. According to him, men and women mix freely unclad because their nudity does not elicit any sexual emotion. They are born into it and they are used to it. It is a normal way of life Moving around naked or half-naked is our culture and we dont care what people say about us. We are comfortable that way because we find it normal, we dont see it the way you see it. That is why we are not comfortable with influx of strangers to these communities. However, those who find their way into the communities must adapt to the way of life of our people so that they can live in peace. You can see that we dont have police here but we are free from any form of criminality or social vices. Here, in our communities, what attracts men is not nudity. Our men are attracted by how women plait their hair, good manners and the tattoos the young ladies have. This might sound funny to you but that is the truth. The Mai Angwar, who is popularly known as Babangida among the locals, confirmed that government has made no attempt to provide any infrastructure in his community in the last 60 years. Kamuna said: We dont need the government to live a wonderful life here. After all, we have been managing ourselves well for over 60 years. Currently, we are about 500 men and women along with about 150 children. We dont actually need the government because we have all it takes to take care of ourselves and that is why we dont bother them for anything, unlike people living in the city. We are on our own. We believe strongly in our customs and tradition and we dont need any religion or government to come here and change us. Since the god of our land, Migaro, is protecting us and taking care of all us, we lack nothing. Surprisingly, despite their stance against western civilisation, the people have embraced modern communication technology. They use mobile phones and the Mai Angwar believes that will not adulterate their culture and tradition The borehole water we drink today is our personal effort. We even have a generator to charge our mobile phones. We have a rice mill and one of our people even has about 300 cows. So, you see, we lack nothing, he explained. Kamuna explained that his people dress half naked as part of their culture and that nobody has a right to force them to change, since Christians and Muslims cannot be forced to change their religions. According to him, some groups have tried to convert his people by bringing them gifts. He said it was a ploy to encourage the Kambari people to conform to how the rest of the country lives. When the Kambari people go to the market to do their buying and selling, it was observed that the women cover the lower half of their bodies with wrappers while the men do the same. In fact, they are bare-chested. In addition to this, it was also observed that many cultural practices make these people very distinct from the rest of the world. Most importantly, what constitutes societal norms and laws are different in these communities. Cousins intermarry Apart from the fact that cousins marry one another and can never marry outsiders because many of their neighbours dont even believe in their cultures, it is entirely normal for a 60-year-old man to marry an 18-year-old girl. No dowry In Kambari and Acer, marriage is celebrated by slaughtering goats and cows for food, while the parents of the bride cook food for the groom. Once the food is eaten, the marriage is contracted. No formal dowry is paid. Early marriage for the Kambari is a common tradition, as parents believe marrying off their children at a young age is the best gift they could give them. In Birnin Amina and Acre, young men who have saved up through their harvests use the money to get married. Almost every parent regularly has one or two early marriage proposals for their female children whose ages range from six to 17. One man, four wives Kambari men traditionally marry up to four wives and always ensure that their wives are well taken care of equally. The 70-year-old Mai Angwar said, since the Kambari people know nothing about civilisation, what others may term fashion and beautiful clothes hold no appeal for them. Western civilisation is another mans culture. Why must we embrace it, leaving our own that was handed over to us by our forefathers? Our society would have been destroyed by now, he insisted. Since they live in what could be described as a closed society, another mans language is a taboo except for those who have gone out of the communities. Majority of the people cannot speak even Hausa, a language widely spoken in northern Nigeria. Therefore, English language is out of it. Kambari remains the only spoken language. A local interpreter whom our correspondent engaged from Rijau town was the only way of communicating for anybody who wanted to conduct any form of business in the communities that required contact with the residents. The Kambari people have refused to embrace any of the two major religious (Christianity and Islam) and this has greatly kept their culture and tradition intact. They are pagans and worship a god called Magiro, while belief in curses, witchcraft and magic is rife among the people. They have resisted every attempts by apostles of these two religions to indoctrinate them as attested to one of the locals who explained that in the past, missionaries from all walks of life had made spirited efforts to change their belief, but have not been successful. They maintain that the God of Migaro is working for them and you can only worship the god that answers your prayers, insisting that it is a religion handed over to them by their forefathers, and they have guarded it jealously ever since. One unique thing about these people is that despite the fact that they are cut off from the rest of modern society, their level of kindness to visitors is unprecedented. They find joy in welcoming visitors as experienced by our correspondent. Again, helping each another and living in harmony is the hallmark of their peaceful nature. In their world, there is no rancour. According to the people, they have no need for education, primary health care, access to good roads and other social amenities as they have never demanded for one from the government. They prefer to use herbs in treating all their health issues. The only time they mix with outsiders is when they are in the market to sell their farm produce. Birnin Amina and Acer are responsible for 70 per cent of the crops consumed by the entire people of Rijau Local Government. The people spend most of their time in the farm. They plant almost all crops, including corn, millet, peanuts, beans and rice. Nearly all of the locals keep chickens and goats for meat, while the richer ones among them rear cattle. Mallam Mohammed Bello, a resident of Rijau town, who has a good history of the people, told our correspondent that there is no evidence of government presence in Birnin Amina and Acer at all, but the people are not worried as nothing is missing in their existence as a people. He disclosed that, since the creation of Niger State, no government has ever shown interest in the communities, and they have never been treated as indigenes of the state. According to him, the two communities of the Kambari tribe have lived here for over 50 years without any reference to government and they are not worried because they have all it takes to care for themselves. The government only remembers them during political campaigns to seek votes and once the election is over, they are abandoned until the next rounds of election. Bello also confirmed that the Kambari people are the food basket of the local government and without them the people of the surrounding areas would die of hunger. He added that that was why they remain in the bush for the benefit of farming and maintaining their culture and tradition as they got it from their forefathers. They cannot read and write and are not ready to embrace modernisation. They dont care what government and other people will do for them. To them, their tradition is the best thing that has happened to them and they cannot leave it, no matter the pressure. Missionaries and other organisations have been trying their best to reform them but could not succeed. They still stick to their beliefs. Although our correspondent gathered that, apart from Birnin Amina and Acer communities, there are other communities in Rijua Local Government that practise paganism like Aulo, Gulubaidu, Dugge, Agwanda, Buni and Arigida. And all attempts by a number of non-governmental organisations to make them change their beliefs have met with the same disappointment. Our guide said such overtures have created a suspicion among the people because they never tried to understand the Kambari culture. The Kambari are aware that the way of life outside their communities is much different but they seem to be comfortable in retaining their ancient culture and tradition. Festival of their god Another tradition that they value and cherish is the festival of their god, which is celebrated once a year. Sacrifices are offered to the god to celebrate the bumper harvest of their crops. Most parents are against sending their children to school, feeling that it is a waste of time, when the children could be doing farm work. He described the Kambari people as very friendly to strangers in their midst. The only time they do not take kindly to strangers is when such people deride their culture. Kamuna said: Social gatherings like weddings and markets draw huge crowds while social vices like drunkenness, sexual immorality and stealing are very rare in our communities. In fact, these things are taboos. He said, in place of healthcare facilities, Our witch doctors handle all the health-related issues, while they also communicate with ancestral spirits for blessings, good harvests and other aspects of daily life. Even our wives put to bed through traditional method. I have never been to hospital in my life, including my two wives and my children and we are strong and healthy. A former chairman of the local government area, Mallam Bello Bako, told our correspondent that the people valued their culture and there was nothing anyone could do to change the way of life of the Kambari people. So many missionaries have tried their best to penetrate them to embrace Christianity but met a brick wall, they refused to be converted. They are holding their customs and traditions firmly and are surviving with it. They are rich farmers and the communities are very peaceful. Even though they dont depend on the government for anything, they obey the laws of the land. The immediate past commissioner for information, culture and tourism in the state, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, said the culture of the people of Birnin Amina and Acer communities must be respected, provided they do not go against the law. Vatsa said: There is nothing bad about people adhering to their culture and tradition, provided it does not breach the peace of the state. He advised people to learn how to live with their culture and tradition and do what is expected of them, without fear, for peace to reign. Vatsa suggested that there is the need for government to look into ways of educating the Kambari people on the necessity of embracing civilisation so that they can participate in the activities of the government. *** Source: Daily Sun Aldar Properties, a leading developer based in Abu Dhabi, said it has reported a revenue of Dh1.76 billion ($479 million) in the first quarter of 2020, unchanged from the same period a year ago, demonstrating the fundamental strength of its diversified Development Management and Asset Management businesses. Announcing the results for the first three months ending March 31, 2020, Aldar pointed out that its gross profit of Dh699 million remained stable at 40%, while its net profit soared to Dh302 million, driven by diversified, multi-asset class portfolio. From the onset of the global Covid-19 health crisis, Aldar had prioritised safeguarding the health and wellbeing of its employees, customers, contractors and communities. Adhering to UAE health authorities' regulations and guidance, the company swiftly implemented strict hygiene and sanitation measures across all its assets, it stated. Furthermore, in line with Abu Dhabi's wide-ranging initiatives to alleviate the economic impact of Covid-19, Aldar rolled out in March support programmes worth up to Dh190 million to assist tenants, homebuyers, students and business partners. These include introducing rental and school fee payment plans and support for SMEs, it added. On the Q1 performance, Chairman Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak said: "Abu Dhabi's leadership has been proactive and resolute in safeguarding the health of its residents and the economy. The comprehensive response by the Government and Central Bank is supporting confidence and positioning the Abu Dhabi market for an effective recovery." "As an industry leader, Aldar will continue to play a transparent and responsible role towards a more sustainable future. We are proud of the collaborative community spirit which reinforces Abu Dhabi's sense of home for citizens and residents alike," he stated. CEO Talal Al Dhiyebi said: "As a leading Abu Dhabi company, we acted decisively to safeguard the health and safety of our people and customers and engaged responsibly by launching a comprehensive support package for our business partners and communities." "We were able to tackle rapidly evolving conditions, while remaining steadfast in paying a 2019 dividend of Dh1.14 billion and delivering a strong first-quarter performance," he stated. According to him, the Abu Dhabi developer's strength lies in a well-balanced, diversified business model and a robust balance sheet. "We benefit from the financial firepower to weather the current global crisis, and to take advantage of attractive opportunities to expand our investment portfolio. Aldar continues to prudently manage its business to mitigate the impact of the global crisis and enhance long-term value for our stakeholders," he added. During the first quarter, Aldar's Development Management business made significant progress across its projects and reported development revenue of Dh808 million, a 13% year-on-year increase, driven by progress on recently awarded development management government projects valued at Dh5 billion, including the new twofour54 campus on Yas Island. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after opening fire on a Waffle House employee who told him he needed to wear a mask, authorities in Colorado said. He was arrested Monday. The attack happened early Friday at a restaurant in the Denver suburb of Aurora, police said in a statement. Officers responding to a report of a fight and possible shooting found the employee with a gunshot wound, the Aurora Police Department said. "The victim was transported to the hospital and is recovering from his injury," police said. Image: Kelvin Watson (Aurora Colorado Police) An arrest affidavit alleges suspect Kelvin Watson, 27, attempted to purchase takeout food when he was told by a cook that he could not order without a mask. The suspect allegedly returned later that night with a mask, which he was not wearing, and was again turned away by the same cook. He then placed a gun on the counter and told the man, "I can blow your brains out right now," a witness told police, according to the affidavit. He returned Friday, was rejected a third time, and slapped the cook before opening fire, the affidavit alleged. The victim was running when he was shot in the chest or abdomen, the report says. The suspect, described in the affidavit as a regular customer, was tracked down through witness descriptions and a 2013 BMW sedan people in the restaurant said the shooter used, police said in the affidavit. Aurora police discovered Watson was wanted for questioning in an April non-injury shooting at a Denver tow yard that had temporary possession of Watson's BMW, according to the document. The caliber associated with that attack was the same used in the Waffle House shooting, police said. On May 8, the region's stay-at-home orders were allowed to expire, and Aurora-area residents defaulted to state rules, which encourage residents to "wear a face covering or mask when you leave your home." Waffle House was open for takeout and delivery only. "We are relieved to hear that Aurora police have made an arrest for this terrible crime, and greatly appreciate the diligence of local law enforcement," Waffle House spokesperson Njeri Boss said in a statement. "Our thoughts and well wishes remain with our associate who was injured and now is recovering at home." Watson was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. Charges were expected to be heard in court, via video conference, on Friday, court spokesperson Shaun Clark said by email. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: When Somichon and her fellow nurses would step out of their rented accommodations in Kolkata, the neighbours would call them "Corona" and cover their faces. The situation was no better at the private hospitals where these young nurses from Manipur worked. Discrimination at the hands of the management and racial abuse by people on the streets led to some 300 nurses leaving the city. Early this month, when a sick Somichon (22) complained that she was possibly infected with the COVID-19 virus, she had approached her hospital management but they dismissed it as flu. "When I felt I was showing the symptoms of COVID-19, I had approached my hospital management. They said I was suffering from common flu and gave me some antibiotics. I was not tested," the nurse told The New Indian Express from a bed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Manipur's capital Imphal. She was found to be positive on May 15, a day after swab samples were collected and tested following her arrival in the state with a number of fellow nurses from Kolkata. The nurse from Manipur's Naga-majority Kamjong district, who passed out last year, had joined the Kolkata hospital in January this year. "There was hardly anything in my hospital to ensure the safety of nurses. I was working in the ICU and they gave us only hand gloves but those were also not sufficient. We were not provided with masks and there was no hand sanitiser either. I have no doubt I had contracted the virus from a patient in the ICU of my hospital," Somichon, who is recovering, said. She said the nurses returned to Manipur because of the discrimination and racial abuse they had to face. "When we would cross a road in the city, people would cover their faces. They were afraid of us. Some would call us Corona. The salaries of nurses have been held up. They were not given sufficient protective gears while on duty and discriminated against by the landlords and neighbours. So, basically, these are the reasons why the Manipuri nurses are leaving the city by the dozens," Somichon said. ALSO READ | Not liquor, it's thirst for soft drinks that gets Arunachal locals queued up Y Samita, who is serving as an assistant nursing superintendent at a Kolkata hospital, said the Manipuri nurses underwent both clinical and non-clinical discrimination. "By wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and four-five layers of masks, the nurses are working for 12 hours at a stretch. They can neither have their food nor use the washroom on duty. This upset them," Samita said. She alleged the quarantine protocols were also flouted by the hospital managements. After seven days of COVID-19 duty, when the nurses should be sent to an isolated place for 14 days' quarantine, they were made to stay in the same hostel with other nurses who were taking care of other cases. So, there is a feeling of insecurity among the nurses, she said. "There is no clarity if the hospital management will take care of the treatment of a nurse in the event of infection. We have four nurses who tested positive and all of them were sent to government facilities," Samita said. She alleged that there had been several cases where the house owners evicted nurses fearing them to be carriers of the virus. According to her, some 1,200 nurses from Manipur are working in both government and private hospitals in Kolkata. "However, a majority of the nurses chose to stay in the profession. They are performing their duties," she added. ALSO READ | Lockdown miracle: 'Guardian angel' clears Rs 10 lakh loans of four strangers in Mizoram Group Capt (retd) Kshetrimayum Shyamkesho Singh, who is the president of Manipuris in Kolkata, said the Manipuri nurses were always targetted because of their oriental features. He said this increased during the present crisis. He said there had even been a case of a nurse being spat upon after racial slurs were hurled at her. "There have been a few occasions when they were refused entry at their own society flat hostel. When contacted, hospital administration did not come for help and police help had to be sought. In some cases, they were even refused to use lifts or not allowed to come out to buy essential groceries for food," he said. Low salary, food shortages during quarantine, personal safety, depression, parental anxiety etc are the other reasons why they are leaving the city, Singh added. The airline says negotiations for a $10bn rescue deal are well under way and involve limits to management pay. German airline Lufthansa says it is in advanced talks with the governments economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9bn), including the state taking a 20-percent stake in the company. Lufthansa said in a statement on Thursday that the deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but only exercising its voting rights as a whole in exceptional cases such as protection against a takeover. Lufthansa has been in talks with the government for weeks over aid to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected to be a protracted travel slump, but it has been wrangling over how much control to yield in return for support. Lufthansa said it expected conditions of the deal to include the waiver of future dividend payments and limits on management compensation, adding the package would have to be approved by the European Commission. The concept includes a 3 billion euro ($3.3bn) loan from state-backed bank KfW and a convertible bond, which can be exchanged for a further 5-percent stake plus one share in the event of a public takeover offer by a third party. Under German law, a 25-percent-plus-one-share stake would enable the government to block motions at the companys annual general meetings, giving it a veto over major decisions. Lufthansa said it hoped the deal could be concluded promptly to secure its long-term solvency. German media had reported late on Wednesday that a deal had been struck and Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects an agreement on a rescue package soon. A decision can be expected shortly, Merkel said, adding that intensive talks were ongoing with the company and the European Commission. She declined to go into details, saying: I would give the advice: Wait for the talks to end. The airline said on May 7 it was negotiating a 9-billion-euro ($9.9bn) bailout with the German government to ensure its future, confirming an earlier Reuters report. In a letter to employees, the airline warned that cash reserves continued to shrink while it negotiated the rescue package. Lufthansas board said it hoped the government would find the political will for a deal that would keep the carrier competitive against international airlines. Cash burn Lufthansa executives have raised concerns that the terms on offer would hamstring it against international competitors who have received less stringent bailout conditions, a point the management board repeated in the letter. The carrier declined to comment. Lufthansa is meanwhile running out of time and money, burning through 800 million euros ($877m) each month after the coronavirus grounded most of its fleet. Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said on May 5 that the company had about 4 billion euros ($4.4bn) in cash remaining. The letter to employees gave further details of Lufthansas expected fleet reductions for the coming years. The board said it expected 300 of its aircraft would remain grounded in 2021 as demand for flights recovers slowly, with 200 remaining out of service into 2022. Lufthansa had previously said it expected its pre-crisis fleet of approximately 760 aircraft to shrink by about 100 once normality returns by roughly 2023, a forecast it stuck to in the letter. Spohr earlier this month said the airline is in intense talks with Airbus SE and Boeing Co about postponing plane deliveries as he set out plans for surviving the coronavirus storm. More than 23,000 homes and premises in Dublin are in danger of coastal flooding caused by climate change, data compiled for the insurance industry has shown. In a worst-case scenario, with sea level rise exacerbated by high tide and an extreme weather event, some properties could be hit by storm surges up to five metres high. A total of 23,435 properties, 21,513 of them homes, fall within the flood zone. That is nearly 4pc of all addresses in Dublin. Baldoyle, Sutton, Portmarnock, Clontarf, East Wall, Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount, Booterstown and Blackrock are the most vulnerable. The forecast was compiled by Irish firm Gamma Location Intelligence, which specialises in data mapping and insurance risk models. Senior spatial data scientist Richard Cantwell said that, based on average flood claims, the financial impact of coastal flooding caused by climate change on properties alone would be more than 616m in Dublin. Damage Current claims average around 21,000 for damage to homes and nearly 81,000 for commercial properties. That does not include loss of vehicles, belongings, disruption to business or the cost to the State of clean-ups and repairs to infrastructure. Nationally, more than 70,000 homes and businesses would be affected. Dublin, Louth and Clare would suffer the greatest damage in terms of numbers of properties affected, but the impact would be felt in all 14 coastal counties. Louth would be the most vulnerable, with 19pc of all the county's addresses under threat. In Clare, 13pc of homes and premises would be hit, and in Limerick, nearly 6pc would be under water. "Global warming is already having an impact on our lives, but the effects will become more tangible and extreme in years to come," Mr Cantwell said. The forecast uses flood modelling carried out for the Office of Public Works, temperature predictions from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Eircode data to map out at-risk properties. Dr Simone Gold, an emergency medicine specialist in Los Angeles, was the lead signature on the letter - from the One Doctor A Day collective More than 500 doctors signed a letter to President Trump calling the state coronavirus lockdowns a 'mass casualty event' causing 'millions of casualties' from alcoholism, homelessness, suicide and other causes. Dr Simone Gold, an emergency medicine specialist in Los Angeles, was the lead signature on the letter - from the One Doctor A Day group - which sought to 'express alarm over the exponentially growing negative health consequences of the national shutdown.' The group appears to have been set up with the assistance of a Republican public relations firm in Washington D.C. which distributed the ltter. Gold is a member of the 'Save Our Country' coalition which is led by another Trump ally, Art Laffer, the conservative economist who has also spoken out against lockdown. One Doctor A Day's talking points echo almost precisely those advanced by the White House at a cabinet meeting earlier this week, that people will die because of lockdown. In the letter, the doctors explain that during a mass casualty incident, 'victims are immediately triaged to black, red, yellow, or green.' 'Millions of Americans are already at triage level red,' the doctor state in the letter. 'These include 150,000 Americans per month who would have had a new cancer detected through routine screening that hasn't happened, millions who have missed routine dental care to fix problems strongly linked to heart disease/death, and preventable cases of stroke, heart attack, and child abuse.' 'We are alarmed at what appears to be the lack of consideration for the future health of our patients,' the doctors add. 'The downstream health effects ... are being massively under-estimated and under-reported. This is an order of magnitude error.' The letter states that calls to the suicide hotline have increased 600 per cent, liquor sales have increased 300 to 600 per cent and cigarette sales have also increased. The letter states that calls to the suicide hotline have increased 600 per cent, liquor sales have increased 300 to 600 per cent and cigarette sales have also increased The letter continues: 'The millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. In youths it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty, and abuse. 'Because the harm is diffuse, there are those who hold that it does not exist. We, the undersigned, know otherwise.' The letter was published by Fox News and shared online. Gold teamed up with the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons - a conservative group - to obtain the signatures. 'It is impossible to overstate the short, medium, and long-term harm to peoples health with a continued shutdown,' the letter states. The letter continues: 'The millions of casualties of a continued shutdown will be hiding in plain sight, but they will be called alcoholism, homelessness, suicide, heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. In youths it will be called financial instability, unemployment, despair, drug addiction, unplanned pregnancies, poverty, and abuse 'Losing a job is one of life's most stressful events, and the effect on a person's health is not lessened because it also has happened to 30 million other people. 'Keeping schools and universities closed is incalculably detrimental for children, teenagers, and young adults for decades to come.' The letter comes as Republican political operatives have been recruiting 'pro-Trump' doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, without waiting to meet safety benchmarks proposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. The plan was discussed in a May 11 conference call with a senior staffer for the Trump reelection campaign organized by CNP Action, an affiliate of the GOP-aligned Council for National Policy. A leaked recording of the hour-long call was provided to The Associated Press by the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive watchdog group. More than 500 doctors signed the letter to Trump. The letter comes as Republican political operatives have been recruiting 'pro-Trump' doctors to go on television to prescribe reviving the U.S. economy as quickly as possible CNP Action is part of the Save Our Country Coalition, an alliance of conservative think tanks and political committees formed in late April to end state lockdowns implemented in response to the pandemic. Other members of the coalition include the FreedomWorks Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and Tea Party Patriots. A resurgent economy is seen as critical to boosting President Donald Trumps reelection hopes and has become a growing focus of the White House coronavirus task force led by Vice President Mike Pence. Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, confirmed to AP that an effort to recruit doctors to publicly support the president is underway, but declined to say when the initiative would be rolled out. 'Anybody who joins one of our coalitions is vetted,' Murtaugh said Monday. 'And so quite obviously, all of our coalitions espouse policies and say things that are, of course, exactly simpatico with what the president believes. ... The president has been outspoken about the fact that he wants to get the country back open as soon as possible.' Support: The call was with Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump campaign senior adviser. 'Those are the types of guys that we should want to get out on TV and radio to help push out the message,' Schlapp said on the call During an emergency such as the current pandemic, it's important that the government provide consistent science-based information to the public, said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiology professor at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House's coronavirus task force, has been among the most visible government experts warning that lifting lockdowns too quickly could lead to a spike in deaths. El-Sadr said having doctors relay contradictory information on behalf of the president is 'quite alarming.' 'I find it totally irresponsible to have physicians who are touting some information that's not anchored in evidence and not anchored in science,' El-Sadr said. 'What often creates confusion is the many voices that are out there, and many of those voices do have a political interest, which is the hugely dangerous situation we are at now.' Murtaugh said the campaign is not concerned about contradicting government experts. 'Our job at the campaign is to reflect President Trump's point of view,' Murtaugh said. 'We are his campaign. There is no difference between us and him.' On the May 11 call, Nancy Schulze, a GOP activist who is married to former Rep. Dick Schulze, R-Pa., said she had given the campaign a list of 27 doctors prepared to defend Trumps reopening push. 'There is a coalition of doctors who are extremely pro-Trump that have been preparing and coming together for the war ahead in the campaign on health care,' Schulze said on the call. 'And we have doctors that are ... in the trenches, that are saying 'It's time to reopen.' The idea quickly gained support from Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump campaign senior adviser who previously served two years as the presidents director of strategic communications. 'Those are the types of guys that we should want to get out on TV and radio to help push out the message,' Schlapp said on the call. 'They've already been vetted. But they need to be put on the screens,' Schulze replied. Schlapp's husband agreed the president is getting criticized for not appearing to follow the advice of public health experts. Matt Schlapp is chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference attended by conservative luminaries. 'The president's going to get tagged by the fake news media as being irresponsible and not listening to doctors,' Matt Schlapp said on the call. 'And so we have to gird his loins with a lot of other people. So I think what Nancy's talking about ... this is the critical juncture that we highlight them.' Matt Schlapp told AP on Monday that he stood behind what he said on the leaked call. 'There is a big dynamic in the national media that will not give President Trump any credit,' he said. 'It's important to get the message out there that most people recover from corona. 'Most people are not in mortal danger with corona and that we can safely open up the economy.' As several Republican governors moved last week to lift their state lockdowns, the National Ensemble Forecast used by the CDC to predict COVID-19 infections and deaths saw a corresponding increase. Stalwart: Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, said deploying doctors to talk up reopening would help his re-election. 'The president's going to get tagged by the fake news media as being irresponsible and not listening to doctors,' Schlapp said on the call The CDC now forecasts the U.S. will exceed 100,000 deaths by June 1, a grim milestone that previously was not predicted to occur until late in the summer. As of Wednesday, more than 1.57 million Americans had tested positive for COVID-19, with more than 93,000 deaths reported nationwide. Experts, including Fauci, have said that is likely an undercount, with the true number being much higher. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested, without providing evidence, that the official death toll from the virus is being inflated. Schulze, who was working to organize the pro-Trump doctors, did not respond to messages from AP seeking comment. Dr. Gold has recently appeared on conservative talk radio and podcast programs to advocate for the use of hydroxychloroquine, which she says she has prescribed to two of her patients with good results. Gold told AP on Tuesday she started speaking out against shelter-in-place and other infection control measures because there was 'no scientific basis that the average American should be concerned' about COVID-19. Like the president, she is advocating for a fast reopening, and argues that because the majority of deaths so far have been the elderly and people with preexisting conditions, younger people should be working. Gold denied she was coordinating her efforts with Trump's reelection campaign. 'But put this in there: I'm honored to be considered,' she said. The U.S. is to send 200 ventilators to Russia after President Vladimir Putin called President Donald Trump to ask for help, according to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. will start to deliver the ventilators to Russia this week as the country experiences a true public health crisis due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the State Department told CNBC Tuesday, Russias coronavirus cases neared 300,000 on Wednesday, cementing its position as the country with the second-highest number of confirmed virus cases after the U.S., which has over 1.5 million cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In response to President Putins request for assistance, President Trump offered to donate and deliver 200 ventilators to the Russian people. The first 50 ventilators are being produced by the manufacturer in the United States, and are expected to be ready for shipment May 20, the spokesperson said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-13 03:51:54|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A more prosperous and inclusive Iraq can be achieved provided the political will is there, a top UN official in the country told the Security Council during a virtual meeting held on Tuesday. Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert briefed ambassadors on latest developments, including the appointment last week of new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and the majority of his 22-member cabinet, following months of political infighting and stalemate. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has quieted months of corresponding protests, which saw Iraqis taking to the streets to call for an end to corruption, unemployment and poor public services, the UN envoy hoped that the new government will be guided by their demands and aspirations, for the good of the country. "I remain convinced that a more just, prosperous and resilient Iraq can emerge from the current compounded crises. But for that to happen, political will is fundamental," said Hennis-Plasschaert, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. "Iraq must move away from endless crisis management towards a more productive approach, building resilience at both the state and society level. Short-term political and private calculations do not serve Iraq's long-term interests, on the contrary. And yes, the challenges are many; but so are the opportunities." The UN envoy noted that the new prime minister's priorities include tackling the pandemic, reforming the security sector, strengthening the economy, and fighting corruption, which she characterized as "perhaps the greatest source of dysfunction" in Iraq. "These worthy aspirations must be turned into action urgently," she said. "And let me emphasize: Iraq does not have the luxury of time. Nor can it afford destructive petty politics." Iraq has long battled political turmoil but also social, economic and security crises. COVID-19 has added to these challenges by bringing commercial activity to a standstill and putting the livelihoods of millions in peril. Oil-dependent Iraq has also seen monthly revenues from this commodity drop from 6 billion U.S. dollars to 1.4 billion dollars between February and April. Additionally, the economy is projected to contract by nearly 10 percent this year, with poverty rates rising to around 40 percent. As Hennis-Plasschaert pointed out, these developments are occurring at a time when it will become even harder for Iraq to access international funding. The need to broaden its revenue base could not be more apparent. "Time and again, it has been made clear that Iraq should reduce its oil dependency; repair and upgrade critical infrastructure; temper its ballooning, inefficient public service; build viable and responsive state institutions; combat patronage and clientelism; fight corruption, and incentivize the domestic private sector while attracting foreign investment," she stated. Meanwhile, Iraq continues to bear the impact of domestic, regional and international security developments. Hennis-Plasschaert reported that although "inflammatory rhetoric" and a "pattern" of attacks and counter-attacks have tapered off in recent weeks, they remain a constant threat. "And I can only emphasize: the way armed elements, armed entities, with differing ties to the state, choose to act in this moment will determine how Iraqis - and, indeed, many others - will perceive them," she added. "Once again, Iraq cannot afford to be used as a theatre for different power competitions and/or proxy conflicts." The UN official also warned against the resurgence of violent extremism, stating that the best way for the government to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other groups is to provide for citizens by addressing the root causes of their grievances. Enditem President Volodymyr Zelensky has authorized Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin and Ukrainian Ambassador to the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov to represent Ukraine in lawsuits against the Russian Federation at the International Court of Justice and arbitration tribunals regarding the rights of a coastal state in the Black and Azov Seas, as well as the capture of Ukrainian sailors and vessels in the Kerch Strait. The relevant decree, No.332/2020-rp, has been published on the website of the head of state. To authorize Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin as an agent of Ukraine for Ukraines lawsuits against the Russian Federation, which are considered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on violation by the Russian Federation of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and arbitration tribunals established in accordance with Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea with respect to the rights of a coastal state in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, and the capture of Ukrainian naval vessels and their crews; and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Vsevolod Chentsov as deputy agent to represent Ukraine in the above mentioned cases," the document says. As previously reported, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin said that the Foreign Ministry will file a memorandum over the capture of sailors and ships in the Kerch Strait in November 2018 at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, after which it will report the details. On November 25, 2018, Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian Navy ships, the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yany Kapu, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, near the Kerch Strait. In addition, their crewmembers, 24 Ukrainian sailors, were captured. Three of them were wounded. A Russian-controlled court in the occupied Crimea arrested the detained Ukrainian sailors on charges of alleged illegal border crossing. On September 7, 2019, Ukrainian sailors returned home as part of Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange. On November 18, 2019, the Russian Federation returned the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yany Kapu ships to Ukraine in the Black Sea waters. ish Legal wrangling over FOL reignited, illustration photo According to Kevin Hawkins, co-executive partner from Zico Law, it will not be easy to revise the regulation swiftly because amending the current cap means amending the law. The 30 per cent quota is regulated under the Law on Housing and only the National Assembly (NA) has the authority to amend it. The NA only convenes twice a year, with the next time in October, and the proposal is not on its agenda this year, Hawkins explained. Moreover, he added, before a draft law is amended, other authorities, organisations, and the public must first have an opportunity to comment. Even after the Law on Housing is amended, the government and relevant ministries will need time to amend respective guiding regulations. For example, changing the 30 per cent quota for residential apartments should also impact the 10 per cent quota for foreigners to own detached houses because these were determined connectively. Second, the government imposes a cap of 30 per cent for non-nationals based on the direction to avoid overseas speculation, which can make the market worse, and also to stave off money laundering. The first target of the policy to permit foreigners to buy homes in Vietnam was to help those living here for a long time. The cap is not to create more opportunity for developers to reduce inventory products in mid- and high-end projects, said Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment. Furthermore, foreigners can buy homes in projects which were granted permission to sell for them, to ensure the security of the nation. That means they cannot buy homes in projects which are located in sensitive areas where they are forbidden. Talking with VIR, Michael Piro, COO of Indochina Capital said that Vietnams current foreign quota of 30 per cent is comparably lower than the foreign quota in neighbouring countries such as Thailand (49 per cent), while Malaysia and Indonesia do not have a foreign ownership limit (FOL) in place at all. Vietnam is one of the fastest growing-economies in the world but local real estate prices remain competitive and rental yields are among the highest in Southeast Asia. The average rental yield for Ho Chi Minh City is about 6.5 per cent while the rental yield in Bangkok stands at around 4 per cent, he explained. The high-end residential segment has been one of the best performing real estate markets in Vietnam, and we believe the market still has room to grow. Thus, expanding the foreign quota to 50 per cent would open up significant opportunities for developers, especially those who are targeting the high-end and luxury segments, he added. For many projects nationwide, the 30 per cent FOL is quickly maxed out and developers have been able to take advantage of this high demand from overseas investors to increase prices. For some good projects, after the allocation is sold out, these buyers are even willing to invest under long-term-lease agreements. Hawkins from Zico Law said that the recommendation to increase the overseas residential ownership cap from 30 to 50 per cent is reasonable for the market and for the further development of Vietnam generally. The current cap was justified as an entry-level protection, but now that the market has developed significantly, such cap is no longer warranted. Foreigners typically seek out premium residential properties and this does not adversely impact the availability of housing for Vietnamese citizens nor should increasing the cap generate any additional security concerns, he said. A higher quota is reasonable to help developers recover post-pandemic and align with regional markets. Caleb Lau, general manager of Hong Kong Land in Vietnam told VIR that even though many buyers of Vietnamese properties come from Asian countries, American, British, Canadian, and various European nationalities also play very important roles in terms of market demand. If the foreign buyer cap increases it will attract more investment into Vietnam since it helps make the market more lucrative with customers willing to pay a premium for products of good quality, said Lau. Increasing the buyer cap in a project from 30 to 50 per cent of the total unit number will help developers broaden their potential customer base and diversify target markets worldwide and therefore, reduce the dependence on one market to sustain their business. Piro from Indochina Capital said that the amendments to the Law on Housing allowing non-nationals to buy property in Vietnam have greatly boosted the countrys residential real estate market. It has contributed to the countrys evolution into one of the most exciting real estate markets in the region and helped develop the local real estate market, with many domestic players now contributing significantly to the industry. More specifically, he added, it has helped the high-end property segment in Vietnam grow at a faster pace, especially in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Piro analysed that with various new free trade agreements being ratified and the potential of global manufacturers relocating to Vietnam due to COVID-19, the number of foreigners living and working in the country should increase. The influx of these workers could create more demand for local residential products. With the high rental yields achieved in Vietnam, investing in high quality condominiums remain an attractive investment for those with disposable income, he said. Easing existing FOLs moreover could also help reduce unsold inventory in premium projects in major cities. If the FOL for residential products is increased, coupled with efforts to ease restrictions on foreign holding of public companies, Vietnams economic landscape will change significantly and a surge in overseas investment in Vietnam can be expected, said Piro. Rumors that she might be in a film adaptation of Netflix true crime hit Tiger King have floated about for days now. But Tara Reid herself has finally confirmed she's in talks to play the enigmatic animal rights activist Carole Baskin, in an interview with UsWeekly. 'Were definitely in major conversations and working out the things,' said the 44-year-old Sharknado actress, on Thursday. Comeback? Tara Reid herself has finally confirmed she's in talks to play the enigmatic animal rights activist Carole Baskin, in an interview with UsWeekly. Seen here in February 2019 Nicolas Cage has already been locked in to play Carole's nemesis, wildlife park owner Joe Exotic. If she does land the role of Carole, Tara said, 'I would definitely want to spend a week with [Baskin] - not to ask her anything, to see how she eats, sts, see how she plays, see if she talks to people.' But despite her claims that she won't ask Carole anything, the American Pie actress said she has many questions for the 56-year-old Big Cat Rescue CEO. 'Did she kill her husband? Did the tiger eat him? Did she do this? Theres so much stuff up in the air. Nothings ever been proven and maybe she did nothing or maybe she did. No one knows.' The Netflix docu-series became a sensation this year, chronicling a feud between Carole and zookeeper Joe Exotic who was convicted of trying to take a hit out on her. Sounds promising: 'Were definitely in major conversations and working out the things,' said the 44-year-old Sharknado actress, on Thursday Perfection: Nicolas Cage has already been locked in to play Carole's nemesis, wildlife park owner Joe Exotic Exotic: The Netflix docu-series became a sensation this year, chronicling a feud between Carole and zookeeper Joe Exotic [pictured in his mug shot] who was convicted of trying to take a hit out on her Meanwhile, Reid has revealed she's isolating in unconventional circumstances, by living with her boyfriend Nathan Montpetit-Howar and her former Celebrity Big Brother co-stars, Jedward. In a new interview, the American Pie actress, 44, joined the X Factor 2009 contestants, 28, in her LA apartment as she shared her lockdown routine, with one of twins describing quarantine life as 'Big Brother coronavirus'. The thespian said the group have been keeping busy amid California's lockdown by writing songs and winding down with some meditation. Bizarre: Tara Reid has revealed she's isolating in unconventional circumstances, by living with her boyfriend and her former Celebrity Big Brother co-stars, Jedward (pictured in 2013) Irish twins John & Edward Grimes rose to fame 11 years ago on the UK edition of X Factor, where they were mentored by Louis Walsh. The media personalities forged a close friendship with Hollywood actress Tara when they all featured on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011. Explaining how the trio have been bonding during the state's isolation period, the TV and film star told Page Six's Maggie and Ian: 'We are all artists. John and Edward, you should see the songs they're writing right now!' Smitten: The American Pie star, 44, is currently dating Phantom Acoustics founder Nathan Montpetit-Howar 'It's like Big Brother coronavirus!' In a new interview, the actress joined the X Factor 2009 contestants, 28, in her LA apartment as she shared her lockdown routine (pictured in 2012) Throwback: The media personalities forged a close friendship with Hollywood actress Tara when they all featured on Celebrity Big Brother in 2011 (pictured) The brothers have lent a helping hand to Tara during their stay by 'cleaning her windows' and listening to daily Deepak Chopra meditations for the past 11 days. Detailing the intimate routine, the boys said: 'We did it last night together with all the lights off. Tara loves it!' The blonde beauty recently admitted living with Phantom Acoustics founder Nathan has been challenging as the couple, who usually both lead busy schedules, are currently stuck in the house for long periods of time. She told In Touch: 'It is a make or break kind of thing because you're always together and we argue because there's no break, but we're getting through it. 'It's make or break': The blonde also admitted living with her beau has been challenging as the couple, who both lead busy schedules, are stuck in the house (pictured in February) 'I think you've just got to check each other's feelings and try to give each other as much space as you possibly can, like when I'm I want space, and when he's doing business, he wants space so we go into different rooms.' Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) ("PSH") today announced that it has purchased, through PSH's agent, Jefferies International Limited ("Jefferies"), the following number of PSH's Public Shares of no par value (ISIN Code: GG00BPFJTF46) (the "Shares"): Trading Venue: London Stock Exchange Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 21 May 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 42,901 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 1,774 pence 21.68 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 1,752 pence 21.41 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 1,771 pence 21.64 USD Ticker: PSHD Date of Purchase: 21 May 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 15,979 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 21.65 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 21.65 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 21.65 USD Trading Venue: Euronext Amsterdam Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 21 May 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 51,461 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 21.70 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 21.45 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 21.65 USD PSH will hold these Public Shares in Treasury. The net asset value per Public Share related to this buyback is 32.52 USD 26.54 GBP which was calculated as of 19 May 2020 (the "Relevant NAV"). After giving effect to the above buyback, PSH has 197,670,684 Public Shares outstanding, or 203,543,185 Public Shares calculated on a fully diluted basis (assuming that all Management Shares had been converted into Public Shares at the Relevant NAV). Excluded from the shares outstanding are 13,286,066 Public Shares held in Treasury. The prices per Public Share were calculated by Jefferies. The number of PSH Management Shares and the one special voting share (held by PS Holdings Independent Voting Company Limited) have not been affected. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005620/en/ Contacts: Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk The scientists in Britain have suggested staggered lockdown periods to check the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19. They say there should be system of working for 30 days and then living under lockdown for another 50 days. This cycle is the only way we can get break the chain of infection, the scientists said. They want this arrangement to be in place till 2022. The scientists have based their results on data from 16 countries. The study has been reported by Hindustan Times Hindi language publication Hindustan. The study has been conducted by a group of scientists at the Cambridge University and published in the European Joruanl of Epidemology. Dr Rajiv Chaudhary, who led the research, said that following this routine will help save jobs. It will also help in mitigating financial instability and social interruption. The researchers, however, say that testing, contact tracing and isolation should continue. The researchers have presented three potential scenarios to back their claim. The first, as suggested by these scientists, will help in reducing the spread of the infection. And it will end the pandemic in 18 days, the researchers have claimed. The second scenario talks about taking no steps at all. This will lead to death of 78 lakh people and the pandemic ill last for 200 days. The third scenario presented by the researchers talks about giving relaxations during the lockdown for 50 days and then opening up for 30 days. This, they say, will lead to increase in cases going to the intensive care and result in death of 35 lakh people. The number of Covid-19 cases crossed five million on Wednesday as the pandemic continued to devastate the globe where close to 3,25,000 people have now died due to it and millions more find themselves unemployed and at the risk of poverty. The latest million took 12 days, compared to 11 days that it took for the number to go from three to four million infections. Several hard-hit countries such as Italy and Spain have crossed their peaks and are reopening slowly, but officials have cautioned against a second wave. The number of infections is now equivalent to the population of New Zealand. Brazil, Russia and India are emerging as the new hot spots while the US remains on top of the list of countries adding new cases. Warped Baskets actor Hagen Mills mistakenly believed he had just shot dead his ex-girlfriend when he committed suicide in front of their four-year-old daughter, the woman's mother has revealed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com. Tammy Green-Price says she was looking after granddaughter Mila on Tuesday night when Mills, 29, forced his way inside their home in Mayfield, Kentucky carrying a pistol. He tied Tammy's arms with duct tape then lay in wait behind the front door to ambush ex-girlfriend Erica Price when she walked in 30 minutes later. As Tammy looked on helplessly, Mills leaped out and held 34-year-old Erica at gunpoint as he begged her to give their failed relationship another go. But after grabbing her phone and looking at it, the wannabe star - on bail over previous domestic violence allegations from March - flew into a deadly rage and fired two shots at Erica from point-blank range. 'She ran round the corner to try to hide but collapsed. There was blood everywhere,' Tammy, 55, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. As Tammy looked on helplessly, Mills leapt out and held 34-year-old Erica at gunpoint as he begged her to give their failed relationship another go. But after grabbing her phone and looking at it, the wannabe star - on bail over previous domestic violence allegations - flew into a deadly rage and fired two shots at Erica from point-blank range in front of their daughter Mila Back in March, Mills was held on four charges of rape and one charge of attempted rape, sodomy, domestic violence assault, kidnapping an adult and a minor and wanton endangerment. He was released May 6 on a $500k property bond and $10k surety bond Tammy soon discovered that her daughter, an advanced practice nurse, was wounded but also alive and had managed to drag herself into a bedroom to call 911. She was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her right arm and a bullet lodged in her chest but is expected to recover. Pictured: Price's home where Mills lay in wait for her and shot her 'I thought I was next. But the baby was behind me and my only real thought was to shield her. 'I somehow managed to nudge her down on the couch then closed my eyes and prepared to die. 'I heard the gun go off, I heard his body hitting the floor and I finally opened my eyes and realized I was alive.' Tammy soon discovered that her daughter, an advanced practice nurse, was wounded but also alive and had managed to drag herself into a bedroom to call 911. She was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her right arm and a bullet lodged in her chest but is expected to recover. 'I think he believed she was dead, as soon as she hit the floor he shot himself,' added Tammy, a residential assistant nurse. 'This man was obviously a very troubled soul. I would love to talk about what an awful person he is, but there's no point in that. 'The important thing is that my daughter is going to be ok. She's stable but in isolation because of COVID. 'She's a beautiful person, she's a very giving, kind soul. She has never bothered anybody.' Mills was best known for appearing in the FX comedy-drama series, Baskets, created in 2016 by Zach Galifianakis and Louis CK. He also appeared in an episode of the TV comedy Swedish Dicks, had a role in the 2013 telemovie Bonnie & Clyde: Justified and was involved with an upcoming indie horror film, Star Light, set for release in August. Despite burgeoning fame and photos of domestic bliss, Mills was having trouble with the law in Kentucky. He had been arrested at least four times since 2016. Mills and Price are pictured with their daughter in a 2017 snap According to his family, Mills was living between Kentucky and Los Angeles as he pursued a Hollywood career. But Tammy said: 'He was living in Mayville, Kentucky, of course he was a failed actor. He's been terrorizing my daughter for months, years actually.' A GoFundMe was started for Price and Mila shortly after the horrific incident He also appeared in an episode of the TV comedy Swedish Dicks, had a role in the 2013 telemovie Bonnie & Clyde: Justified and was involved with an upcoming indie horror film, Star Light, set for release in August. Mills is pictured in a scene from his 2014 show reel Behind the scenes, however, he was serial domestic abuser, according to Tammy, who says the aspiring actor would not leave Erica alone after their split two years ago. According to his family, Mills was living between Kentucky and Los Angeles as he pursued a Hollywood career. But Tammy said: 'He was living in Mayville, Kentucky, of course he was a failed actor. He's been terrorizing my daughter for months, years actually.' He was obsessed with her. He was stalking her. He was driving over to the house to see if she had company, coming here in the middle of the night. He was calling her constantly and showing up at her work. Tammy said the couple dated for two years and lived together in LA while Mills tried in vain to 'become a big name'. When they split and Erica moved back to Kentucky with Mila, Mills followed her because he couldn't accept the relationship was over, she alleges. 'He was obsessed with her. He was stalking her. I don't know how much the police know because she was a very private person,' Tammy added. 'He was driving over to the house to see if she had company, coming here in the middle of the night. He was calling her constantly and showing up at her work.' Records from Graves County in Kentucky confirm that Mills had an extensive rap sheet that included wanton endangerment, second degree assault and possession of meth. On March 30 of this year he was arrested and charged with first degree rape, sodomy and kidnapping. According to an arrest warrant obtained by DailyMail.com, Mills allegedly became embroiled in an altercation with an unnamed woman outside his home. He reportedly struck the victim with a handgun 'causing a laceration to her forehead and lip.' Tammy said the couple dated for two years and lived together in LA while Mills tried in vain to 'become a big name'. When they split and Erica moved back to Kentucky with Mila, Mills followed her because he couldn't accept the relationship was over, she alleges. 'He was obsessed with her. He was stalking her. I don't know how much the police know because she was a very private person,' Tammy added Mills then dragged the woman inside where he brutally raped her and kept her captive for ten hours, the document states. She was only able to flee and seek help at the hospital when he fell asleep in the early hours. Mills was released from the Graves County Jail on May 6 on a $500,000 property bond and $10,000 surety, county officials have disclosed. Less than two weeks later he showed up at the home Erica shares with Tammy and Mila and demanded to come inside. 'He knocked on the door. I thought it was my son but when I saw who it was I tried to shut it,' Tammy told DailyMail.com. 'He shoved his way in and I saw he had a pistol. He pointed the gun but he said he wasn't going to hurt me, he just wanted to come in and wait. 'He tied my hands with duct tape. I tried to appease him but it was clear he had lost his mind. 'Mila was terrified, she was hysterical. I tried to soothe her, to tell her it was going to be ok.' When Erica finally arrived home and walked inside Mills emerged from hiding and began to beg her for a second chance, Tammy went on. 'He stepped out so she could see the gun, She told him 'I'll go anywhere were, I'll do anything'. 'Erica was doing everything she could to get him out of there and away from us. 'But he grabbed her phone and saw something on it and just said 'oh no'. That's when he raised his gun. 'He shot her twice from no further than ten feet away. She collapsed as she ran around the corner but he didn't see her get up as he shot himself immediately.' Tammy told DailyMail.com that her daughter is heavily sedated and isn't able to talk to the media, however she has managed to speak with Mila to assure her she is doing ok Mills appeared in the hit FX series Baskets, starring Zach Galifianakis. The Emmy-winning show ran for four seasons and was co-created by Louis CK Mayfield Police would not speculate as to the motive behind Mills' attempted murder-suicide. Locals who knew him expressed their shock on social media Wednesday. 'Just such a sad situation for both families. I can't imagine. Prayers for his soul and for Erica Price and her family. 'This isn't the Hagen I knew and grew up with. You never know what someone is going through,' one old acquaintance wrote. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has been set up to support Erica, who will need ongoing medical treatment for the injuries she sustained during Tuesday's incident. The description reads: 'Erica was involved in an incident entirely out of her control and the results of that incident have left her with injuries that needed immediate and ongoing medical treatment. I'm very, very angry. Everyone failed here. The authorities failed by offering this man bail. His family failed by getting him out but not giving him the mental health help he needed. 'Erica has a small child to support, as a single mother. She will likely accumulate a series of expensive medical bills, and at this point it is unlikely she will return to work anytime soon.' Tammy told DailyMail.com that her daughter is heavily sedated and isn't able to talk to the media, however she has managed to speak with Mila to assure her she is doing ok. Longer-term, Tammy says her goal is to push for changes in the way violent offenders are monitored in the community. 'I'm very, very angry,' she said. 'Everyone failed here. The authorities failed by offering this man bail. His family failed by getting him out but not giving him the mental health help he needed. 'They would just pay his fines and let him go about, business as usual. But maybe when a troubled child does something horrific, the right thing to do is to leave him in jail. 'I want to see them change the law in Kentucky so that if violent offenders are released they are at least made to wear an electronic monitoring device and not just left free to roam the streets and do as they please.' A woman wearing a face mask looks on in front of others standing in a queue for nucleic acid testings in Wuhan, the Chinese city hit hardest by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Hubei province, China May 16, 2020. (Aly Song/Reuters) Fears Mount Over 2nd Outbreak Amid Inconsistencies in Chinese Data Millions of Chinese citizens could be forced back under lockdown, as discrepancies in data reporting and surging COVID-19 cases in northeastern China show a second-wave outbreak of the CCP virus is now occurring. Already, the Chinese regime has declared wartime status in at least two citiesincluding the capital city of Beijing, where authorities recently reported dozens of fever patients, whom they insisted were diagnosed with a bacterial infection and not the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Authorities in northeastern China have quarantined around 8,000 people after they were exposed to confirmed patients. Six local officials were fired for failing to contain the outbreak. Meanwhile, in Wuhan, where the virus first broke out, authorities mandated diagnostic testing on all 11 million residents, after several cases were reported. The city had lifted lockdown measures weeks earlier after proclaiming that the virus had been contained. As the Chinese regime continues to fend off international criticism of its handling of the crisis, while lauding its socialist system as a paragon for curbing the outbreak, chaotic scenes at testing sites and consistent coverup have cast doubt over Chinas virus data. They dont report anything, dont you know? Reporting [true figures] will create public panic, Ms. Yang, a small-business owner from the northeastern city of Jilin, told The Epoch Times. Now we all know how serious this thing is, because its happening next to us. Discrepancies Since the virus first spread, conflicting numbers reported by Chinese authorities have confounded international researchers and Chinese citizens. Internal government data obtained by The Epoch Times have also revealed that local authorities routinely underreport infections. A Paramilitary police officers keeps watch at a station of Line 1 of the metro that runs past the Great Hall of the People, the venue of the upcoming National Peoples Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China May 19, 2020. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) Confusion again arose on May 18 when health officials from Chinas northeastern province of Jilin reported five new cases while the countrys National Health Commission only reported two cases from the region. Jilin authorities later scaled down their numbers in an update, saying that the other three emerged after May 18 midnight and therefore counted toward the next days data. On the same day, Shanghai recorded no new cases, contradicting the National Health Commissions report of one new infection from the municipality. The government hasnt offered an explanation for the conflicting numbers. In Wuhan, the government swiftly fired a local Party official after a cluster of six infections emerged, breaking a period of more than a month in which authorities consistently reported zero new infections. Authorities lack of transparency about the outbreak has made it difficult to understand the true scale of the epidemic in China. It sounds like the virus follows their orders, Ge Bidong, a California-based political commentator, told NTD, an Epoch Times affiliate. Theres such a large gap between its data and infection as well as death numbers around the world over the past three months. He noted that even death tolls in smaller countries have overtaken Chinas. So how can you believe them? Zhong Nanshan, a Chinese respiratory expert who has risen to prominence during this outbreak, warned of grim challenges ahead. The majority of Chinese at the moment are still susceptible of the COVID-19 infection because [of] a lack of immunity, Zhong said in a CNN interview on May 16. We are facing [a] big challenge; its not better than the foreign countries I think at the moment. Police locked the Jilin Citys railway station in Jilin Province, China on May 13, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Northern China The northeastern region first reported a chain of infections that began with a 45-year-old cleaner in Shulan, a small municipality under the administration of Jilin city, Jilin Province. Through her movements around the city and interactions with close contacts, the cleaner, who works at the local police bureau, quickly spread the virus to people living in other cities. Shulan has since declared a wartime status and sealed off local neighborhoods, allowing only one person from each household to go out once every two days for essential purchases. Each trip is limited to two hours. More than 1,100 residential buildings, 1,200 villages, and nine neighborhood communities are now under full lockdown due to possible infections. A resident from a now-locked down compound in Changyi district, Jilin City, said nearly 100 police came to affix seals on each apartment door to bar people from leaving their household. The lockdown measures are weighing on locals as they struggle for survival. You cant go anywhere, a social worker who asked to remain anonymous said in an interview. Theres no one on the street. Not a soul around my apartment building. Mr. Li, a supermarket owner in Jilin citys Fengman district, one of the two areas designated as high-risk by authorities, along with Shulan city, has placed barriers around the entrance to minimize contact with customers. Just tell me what you want, I will bring it [outside], he said. Another supermarket staff in Shulan said he would write down peoples orders and leave them outside for people to pick up. They [the government] tell you theres one or two cases that its not serious, but the way they are handling it is pretty intense, Mr. Lu, who works at The First Hospital of China Medical University Shenyang in nearby Liaoning Province, told The Epoch Times. Fears have also fueled stigma around people from Shulan. No cabs would take you once they know you are from Shulan, Ms. Zhang, from Shulan, said in an interview. They dont want to contact Shulan people. Qiu Haibo, a National Health Commission expert, said patients in Chinas northeastern clusters seem to carry the virus for a longer period of time than the earlier Wuhan cases, while their recovery also took longer, according to an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on May 19. Residents wearing face masks line up for nucleic acid testings at a residential compound in Wuhan, the Chinese city hit hardest by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Hubei Province, China, on May 17, 2020. (Aly Song/Reuters) Mass Testing Questioned Residents undergoing mass testing in Wuhan also complained about sloppy procedures that could render the testing useless and invite safety risks. In the Shengshi Dongfang residential compound, people said their throat swabs were casually tossed into the same box or bottle without labelingsometimes dozens at a time, according to a recent video filmed by locals. The medical officers also appeared ill-equipped; although about 6,000 residents live in the compound, the officers brought only about 600 testing kits, according to the residents. What do you think they are doing here? one woman shouted in the video. You cant even tell which belongs to whom, so whats the use in doing this? A medical worker takes a swab sample from a staff member from the AOC computer monitor factory to be tested for the COVID-19 in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei Province on May 15, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) More also accused authorities of profiting off the process. The tests cost about 260 yuan (about $37) for each person, according to Mr. Li, who lives in another compound in Wuhan. His compound has been arranging testing for residents building by building. Local resident Mr. Wang said his whole family has refused to take the test. They are treating us as guinea pigs, he said in an interview. Each time the local officers pressed him to complete the test, he questioned them about the tests accuracy. If its not accurate, Im not going to do it, he said. WASHINGTON - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A woman walks past a store advertising sales at 70 percent off, Thursday, May 21, 2020, in Cleveland. More than 2.4 million people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the viral outbreak that triggered widespread business shutdowns two months ago and sent the economy into a deep recession. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) WASHINGTON - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million, a job-market collapse unprecedented in its speed. The number of weekly applications has slowed for seven straight weeks. Yet the figures remain breathtakingly high 10 times higher than normal before the crisis struck. It shows that even though all states have begun reopening over the past three weeks, employment has yet to snap back and the outbreak is still damaging businesses and destroying jobs. While the steady decline in claims is good news, the labour market is still in terrible shape, said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said over the weekend that U.S. unemployment could peak in May or June at 20% to 25%, a level last seen during the depths of the Great Depression almost 90 years ago. Unemployment in April stood at 14.7%, a figure also unmatched since the 1930s. Coronavirus patients George Gilbert, 85 and his wife Domneva Gilbert 84, hold hands during a short visit, they are being treated in different areas, and both are part of the TACTIC-R trial, at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, England, Thursday, May 21, 2020. The new trial known as TACTIC-R is testing whether existing drugs will help prevent the body's immune system from overreacting, which scientists hope could prevent organ failure and death in COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, pool) Over 5 million people worldwide have been confirmed infected by the virus, and more than 330,000 deaths have been recorded, including over 94,000 in the U.S. and around 165,000 in Europe, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University and based on government data. Experts believe the true toll is significantly higher. In other developments: President Donald Trumps approval ratings have remained steady amid the crisis, underscoring the way Americans seem to have made up their minds about him. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research says 41% approve of his job performance, while 58% disapprove. Thats consistent with opinions of him throughout his three years in office. Trump made a trip to Michigan to tour a Ford factory that has been retooled to manufacture ventilators, and he did not wear a face covering despite a warning from the states top law enforcement officer that a refusal might lead to a ban on his return. The president has been locked in a feud with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over the outbreak and also has threatened to withhold federal funds over Michigan's expansion of voting by mail. Whitmer has prevailed after Republican lawmakers sued over her authority to declare emergencies and order sweeping restrictions during the pandemic. The Republican-controlled Legislature didn't extend her declaration in late April but she acted anyway. That means her stay-at-home decree stands, which has drawn anger from gun-toting protesters and is likely to be extended beyond May 28. Across the U.S., some companies have begun to rehire their laid-off employees as states have eased restrictions on movement and commerce. On Monday, more than 130,000 workers at the three major American automakers, plus Toyota and Honda, returned to their factories for the first time in two months. Still, major employers keep cutting jobs. Uber said this week that it will lay off 3,000 more employees because demand for rides has plummeted. Digital publishers Vice, Quartz and BuzzFeed, magazine giant Conde Nast and the owner of The Economist magazine announced job cuts last week. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont, said the latest layoffs may be particularly worrisome because they are happening even as states reopen. The financial district stands empty during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, May 21, 2020. Friday is the deadline for Argentina to reach an agreement with its bondholders about a restructuring of the debt. If bondholders do not accept the Argentine offer or the country does not pay the interest due May 22, Argentina will default on its debt for the ninth time in its history. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Theres a high probability that those layoffs could persist for longer than those that were a function of (businesses) just being closed, Stanley said. The latest figures do not mean 38.6 million people are out of work. Some have been called back, and others have landed new jobs. But the vast majority are still unemployed. An additional 1.2 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week under a federal program that makes self-employed, contractor and gig workers eligible for the first time. But those figures arent adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesnt include them in the overall number of applications. Alexis Weber, laid off from her job as a bartender at an Atlanta restaurant, said it was a struggle to secure unemployment benefits she filed on April 1 and had to wait until early May to get her first payment. She is not sure when her employer will want her back, or if she will want to return. Social distancing doesnt really apply very well to the hospitality business, Weber said. I dont feel safe returning right now. One rehired worker, Norman Boughman, received an email last week from his boss at a secondhand clothing store in Richmond, Virginia, where he worked part time, asking him to return. But even with a mask, he worries about his health. Were having to sort through peoples things, and I feel like that puts us at a higher risk, he said. European countries also have seen heavy job losses, but robust government safety-net programs in places like Germany and France are subsidizing the wages of millions of workers and keeping them on the payroll. Meanwhile, doubts are growing over ambitious plans by European governments to use contact-tracing smartphone apps to fight the spread of the virus as they ease their lockdowns. The apps can help authorities determine whether people have crossed paths with those who are infected. British Security Minister James Brokenshire told the BBC that an app that was supposed to be introduced by mid-May is not ready, suggesting technical issues were to blame. Similarly, France delayed last week's roll-out of its app because of technical problems and privacy concerns. As for the search for a vaccine, drugmaker AstraZeneca said it has secured agreements to produce 400 million doses of a still experimental and unproven formulation that is being tested at the University of Oxford. It is one of the most advanced projects in the international race for a vaccine. AstraZeneca said it has received more than $1 billion from a U.S. government research agency for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Around the world, the effort to get back to business is raising worries over the risk of new infections, from hard-hit Milan, Italy, to meatpacking plants in Colorado and garment factories in Bangladesh. In China, the communist leadership took extensive precautions as it prepared for the opening of its long-postponed National Peoples Congress on Friday in Beijing. An outbreak there could be a public relations nightmare as President Xi Jinping showcases China's apparent success in curbing the virus that first emerged in Wuhan late last year. ___ Kirka reported from London. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. When I look at my soon-to-be 14-year-old daughter, I often think back to myself at that age. Truthfully, though, Cassie oozes so much more confidence than I ever did as a teenager. And, over the last 10 weeks with this stay-at-home order in place, I've watched my daughter handle disappointment with grace and dignity, as it ought to be handled. COVID-19 not only canceled school for the remainder of the year, but it also canceled Cassie's middle school graduation, her confirmation into the Catholic church, and her class trip to Washington, D.C. Not once did I hear Cassie feel sorry for herself. Just a few days ago, our county fair was canceled, too. She responded to it all by responding, "Let's go to Iowa to show cows!" Perseverance farm kids illustrate this day in and day out. They witness older generations shouldering the same determination and sheer will to make the most out of any situation. In my head, I've played out the scene of my sweet daughter walking across the stage and saying goodbye to middle school and hello to the next life chapter. I know she would have given a firm handshake and smiled big after receiving her diploma after all, she is a farm girl. She would have humbly thanked the family that came to watch, humble of all her honor roll accomplishments. This moment was stolen from me, but more importantly, it was taken from her and so many other kids. When I said, "I guess we can do graduation in the barn," Cassie rolled her eyes. However, her goodwill humor had her sporting her cap and gown in our freestall barn, with our beloved Jersey cows in the background, while I applauded my daughter on all her middle school accomplishments. I got my moment, and so did Cassie, who flashed her winning smile and said, "It was not the way I imagined it, but I think it's better this way." Cassie Ann, I see glimpses of the beautiful woman you're becoming. Greatness lies ahead and I, for one, couldn't be more proud. And, yes, I'll admit, I see a scary and very uncertain world that I worry about, but not you. You know that the world needs essential workers, and you know that agriculture falls under this umbrella. "There will always be a place for farmers, Mom!" she told me. So, don't mind me as I wipe away the tears. While I'm scared for the future, I see this bright-eyed young woman with a big smile embracing the challenges set ahead of her with bravery and assurance, rolling up her sleeves to work harder than many adults. I worry about temptations and peer pressures that are to come, but once again, my daughter is so much more than I ever was at that age. She knows who she is and Cassie doesn't need the approval of others to remind her of her own self-worth. This type of confidence is hard to come by. Cassie, please don't allow life or people to tarnish this, as it will serve as a launch pad for a promising future. Undoubtedly, road bumps will come, as most of us have witnessed this last few months with the cancelations of life milestones and celebrations. Class of 2020, continue to focus on the goodness in the world because the world needs a bright light, now more than ever. My takeaway message to all graduates is to be the light to help our nation move forward! Karen Bohnert is a second-generation dairy farmer, born and raised on her family dairy in Oregon and moved east after graduating from Oregon State Univer-sity. Karen and her husband work in partnership with family, and they along with their three children live and work on the family's 500 Jersey cow dairy in East Moline, Ill. Karen's pride and love for dairy could fill a barn, and she actively promotes dairy anyway she can. The UN's special Mideast envoy called Wednesday on Israel to drop plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, joining a growing international chorus of opposition. Envoy Nickolay Mladenov also called on the Palestinians to resume talks with the so-called Quartet, comprising the US, Russia, the EU and the United Nations. "Israel must abandon threats of annexation," Mladenov said during a meeting of the Security Council. "I call on my colleagues in the Middle East Quartet to work with the UN and quickly come forward with a proposal that will enable the Quartet to take up its mediation role and work jointly with countries in the region to advance the prospect of peace," he added. The unusually direct statement came a day after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas announced an end to the Palestinians' security arrangements with Israel, which plans to annex territories in the occupied West Bank. Mladenov said he would speak Thursday with Palestinian leaders about the practical consequences of their announcement, which were not spelled out by Abbas. "The continuing threat of annexation by Israel of parts of the West Bank would constitute a most serious violation of international law," Mladenov warned. It would "deal a devastating blow to the two-state solution, close the door to a renewal of negotiations, and threaten efforts to advance regional peace and our broader efforts to maintain international peace and security," he added. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, stressed for her part that a solution could only result from the two parties sitting down at the same negotiating table. "What is needed right now, if we hope to take even a first step in the right direction, is for the parties to sit down with one another," she said. "This council cannot dictate the end of this conflict. We can only encourage the parties to sit down to determine how they wish to make progress." The US diplomat once again called on the Palestinians to seize the opportunity offered by a US peace plan that it has previously rejected. Several Security Council members such as Indonesia and the European countries have warned Israel against the planned annexations. In a joint statement France, Belgium, Germany and Estonia reaffirmed that they "will not recognize any changes to the 1967 borders, unless agreed by Israelis and Palestinians." "We strongly urge Israel to refrain from any unilateral decision that would lead to the annexation of any occupied Palestinian territory and would be, as such, contrary to international law," they said, reaffirming their support for a two state solution as the only one capable of bringing peace to the region. David Robb 'feels great' after having the one-off procedure in February. (Supplied) A cancer sufferer has revealed how he appears to be disease free after having internal radiotherapy, known as brachytherapy. David Robb, 69, from Peebles in Scotland, went to his GP after he started passing urine more frequently than normal. An MRI scan and biopsy eventually revealed the retired secondary school teacher had prostate cancer. Read more: Prostate cancer set to become the most common form of the disease in the UK Robb was offered surgery, radiotherapy and hormone treatment, but was concerned by the side effects. Prostate cancer treatments commonly cause urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Following the advice of his doctor, he opted for brachytherapy. On 14 February, Robb had around 28 seeds with radioactive material implanted into his prostate to emit radiotherapy that did not reach his surrounding organs. After taking two paracetamol the following day, the married father was discharged from hospital. A scan, blood test and check-up has left doctors confident the treatment was a success. Robb is with his father (left) several years ago after the local Scottish Freemasonry raised over 500,000 for Prostate Scotland. (Supplied) PSA tests not routinely carried out After urinating more than was normal for him, Robb requested a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test from his GP in January 2017. Unlike mammograms for breast cancer or smear tests for cervical tumours, there is no screening programme for prostate cancer. PSA screening has been suggested, with levels of the protein sometimes being raised in cancer sufferers. Up to 15% of patients have normal PSA levels, however, leading to a false-negative result. False-positives, where a test suggests cancer that is not there, can also occur. PSA tests may also reveal a tumour that is slow growing and would not cause symptoms or shorten life. This may trigger patient anxiety, causing them to opt for unnecessary treatment with side effects. Read more: Immunotherapy gives hope for 'incurable' prostate cancer Robbs GP reportedly warned him of the complications that can arise from a PSA test, but he decided to go through with it anyway. Story continues After two relatively normal results over as many years, a third PSA test carried out in July 2019 came back at 4.2 ng/mL. Although there is no normal reading, doctors may recommend further assessment if it is above 4.0 ng/mL. In Scotland, the next step is for doctors to carry out a biopsy of the prostate, followed by an MRI scan. Upon carrying out his own research, Robb requested to have the scan first, as is routinely done in England. Blind biopsies are not good, he told Yahoo UK. Brachytherapy works from the inside out Robb was diagnosed with second stage prostate cancer, which had not spread beyond the organ. I was expecting it, he said. The MRI scan identified a lesion of 1.6mm, which the doctors said was almost definitely cancer. For many men, immediate treatment is not required due to prostate tumours generally being slow growing. Some therefore opt for watchful waiting while a doctor monitors how their cancer is progressing. I was recommended treatment as it was stage two, said Robb. I didnt see the point in delaying. Robb was referred to the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, in December 2019. After turning down traditional treatments, he opted for brachytherapy, fitting the criteria in terms of age and overall health. Read more: At-home urine test could 'revolutionise' how prostate cancer is diagnosed It is a one-off, said Robb. They give you a general anaesthetic. They insert hollow needles into the prostate in the space between the back passage and the testicles; and insert metallic seeds with radioactive material. About 28 seeds were planted that give out radiation for several months. Unlike radiotherapy, this works from the inside out. The radiation stops after so many millimetres and doesnt affect the other organs. Robb spent the night in hospital after doctors warned him he would be urinating a lot. The recovery for me was two paracetamol, he said. I peed all night and in the morning I was back to normal I was expecting blood in the urine or feeling like someone had kicked me, but I had no pain. Robb is pictured second from left playing the fiddle with his wife Irene and other members of their band. (Supplied) I intend to enjoy life for 10 to 15 years yet Several months on, Robb has basically gone back to normality. Around three weeks after the procedure, he had a scan to ensure the seeds were in the correct place. A PSA test at the beginning of May revealed his levels have gone down to just 1.2 ng/mL. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Robb had a review over the phone, where he told his doctor he was feeling well. He is expected to have check-ups every six months, potentially going down to once a year, for the rest of his life. Robb is speaking out to encourage people to do their own research when it comes to their health. He was motivated to read up on prostate cancer after developing kidney stones and not knowing enough to have the best options straight away. I understand the health service doesnt want to get caught up in a large screening programme with false positives, but you have a responsibility to take care of your own health, you need to be informed of the risk and benefits, said Robb. I thought about my age, the figures showing the rapid growth [of my PSA]; then [I thought], you want to do something about this. You have to be informed, this is not about guessing. I was arguing for a clear, logical diagnosis. I intend to live and enjoy life for 10 to 15 years yet. What is brachytherapy? Brachytherapy is available on the NHS in certain places. The idea is to bring the source of radiation as close to the tumour as possible. At the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, special machines called afterloaders hold the radioactive source which is smaller than a grain of rice in a safe place outside the body until it is needed. Specialists then use complex computers to precisely plan the treatment to sub-millimetre precision. This allows the radiation to be manipulated to the exact area where it is needed. Due to the radioactive source being so close to or even inside the tumour a high dose can be administered while limiting damage to surrounding healthy areas. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:44:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The China Association for Science and Technology has called on the country's sci-tech journal publishers to contribute to the COVID-19 database of the World Health Organization (WHO), sharing research data and experience to aid the fight against the pandemic. The association released the initiative on its website Wednesday, saying that authorizing the WHO to use original metadata of Chinese COVID-19-related research papers is an effort to offer China's research progress and prevention experience more thoroughly and widely to global medical experts and scientists. The WHO has provided the authorization letter and designated its "Collaborating Center for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation" established in China's Lanzhou University to collect metadata published in Chinese journals for the organization's database, the association said. The WHO's COVID-19 database will be accessible to the public and free of any access charges. China has been actively sharing scientific knowledge and research results about COVID-19 with the world. The Chinese government has previously set up multiple platforms releasing COVID-19 academic research, diagnosis and treatment guidelines for global scientists and the public. It also encourages Chinese researchers to publish their findings in international journals. Chinese health care experts have held various online and offline conferences with their foreign peers to exchange COVID-19 treatment experience, develop testing kits and adopt response measures. Enditem Calif. megachurch initiative distributes $44K in groceries to families in need Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Many churches across the United States are partnering with local organizations to provide food to hundreds of people in need in their communities as the coronavirus pandemic has caused economic hardship and food insecurity for many families. The five-campus Rock Church in Southern California partnered with local support groups and the city of El Cajon to distribute over $44,500 in groceries to hundreds in the San Diego suburb who are in need. Last Saturday, Rock Churchs East County Campus hosted a drive-through style food-and-grocery distribution that ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The distribution event allowed partner organizations to pick up grocery items to be delivered to residents deemed most vulnerable and at-risk during the COVID-19 crisis. The Rock Church distribution was funded by the city in partnership with local nonprofits Home of Guiding Hands and Step Into Success. The effort resulted in the distribution of 48,000 pounds of groceries to 445 households, according to an announcement from the church. Saturday was a very special day! It was such an honor to partner with the Rock Church to distribute food to people in need in the Community of El Cajon, Mayor Bill Wells said in a statement. We are thankful for The Rock Church, Pastor Miles and Pastor Greg Hendricks and his team for collaborating with the city of El Cajon to help serve the needs of people in our community. Rock Church partnered with an organization called 2-1-1 San Diego, which provides data and trend information for proactive community planning, to help the church gain a better understanding of the people most in need of food and grocery items in the area. The social demographics highlighted as most vulnerable were transitional youth ages 16 to 21, people with medical needs and disabilities, pregnant women, as well as families in crisis. According to the church, these social groups were not being served by other humanitarian agencies. Other partners in the Rock Church distribution effort include San Diego Youth Services, Pregnancy Care Clinic, Crisis East House County, Beckys House, ARC East County, Miracle 139 and Catalyst. El Cajon Deputy Mayor Phil Ortiz called the grocery distribution a story of the community coming together. I reached out to our City Manager, Graham Mitchell, and said, We need to get food out here! We reached out to the Rock and they were on top of it right away, Ortiz said in a statement. The Rock Church with their manpower and their volunteers just rearing to go really stepped up in a big way as they always do and have been for many years in the community. According to the San Diego Food Bank, over 450,000 (177,000 children) residents of San Diego County face food insecurity every day. Mitchell said in a statement that the city found a way to carve out funds from our own coffers to help Rock Church serve the city. Mitchell said El Cajon is blessed to have Rock Church and the other organizations with a passion to serve. [G]iving the Rock Church these funds was important because we knew 100% was going to go towards the people, Mitchell added. The multicampus Abundant Life Church in Portland, Oregon, has also partnered with other organizations to provide food to communities in need during the pandemic. According to a press release, staff and volunteers from Abundant Life Church have for the past three weeks delivered two truckloads of food donated by organic growers to Catholic Charities. From Catholic Charities, the food is distributed to households in need. One target recipient for the food is refugee families, many of whom rely on free meals provided by schools. Were delivering boxes of food this week to homes where people have not been able to get groceries since initial school closures, Stephanie Coleman from Catholic Charities said in a statement. [S]o this is saving peoples lives in many ways. On Easter Sunday, Abundant Life Church collected over 5,000 pounds of food supplies. Before the pandemic struck, the church had planned to take an Easter offering to benefit Portland Rescue Mission. But since the church couldnt gather for Easter, a food drive was held instead. During the drive, cars pulled up to deliver items to the church. Since then, Abundant Life Church has opened one of its campuses to be a collection site for foster families. Abundant Life Church volunteers are also making phone calls to over 30,000 vulnerable people across the region to see how the church can serve their needs. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Alposento Alto Church is working with Councilwoman Tara Wicker and the East Baton Rouge Sheriffs Community Policing Division to host drive-through grocery distribution events every Wednesday to help out the citys Hispanic community. There are so many of our fellow citizens who find it difficult and even impossible to qualify for or access much-needed resources, Wicker told BRProud.com. These families are especially vulnerable, often forgotten, but represent some of the hardest working and most essential members of our community and local economy. In Southwest Missouri, New Life Fellowship Church in Neosho will for the next several weeks turn its parking lot into a free grocery store. Hundreds of area residents will be able to get fresh fruit, vegetables and dairy products at the grocery store, KSN reports. As stay-at-home orders took root, breweries mostly stopped filling kegs as almost all beer sales in the U.S. shifted to bottles and cans. But hundreds of thousands of kegs were already filled, waiting to head into the market. The smallest breweries have repurposed some of that beer for sales in cans. Others have donated kegs to turn beer into hand sanitizer. UP RERA also asked erring developers to give details of properties that can be auctioned After Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra RERA authorities, UP RERA has also decided to extend the deadline for completion of real estate projects by six months in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The deadline for RERA projects that were registered or were to be completed by or on March 25 should be extended, the Centres advisory issued to states earlier this month had said, giving relief to the stressed sector. The advisory came a few hours after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told media that the deadline would be extended in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The outbreak of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, be treated as an act of God and a force majeure event under the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) Act, the housing and urban affair ministry said in the advisory issued on May 13. The decision to extend the registration of real estate projects under force majeure provision of RERA Act 2016 was taken at the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (UP RERA)s 35th meeting held on May 20. The meeting was chaired by chairman Rajive Kumar and attended by all the members and senior officers of UP RERA. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show All registered projects for which the completion date or revised completion date or extended completion date as per registration expires on or after March 25, 2020, the registration and completion date or revised completion date or extended completion date is automatically extended by six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the authority said. It has been decided that by virtue of powers conferred under Section 37 read along with Section 34(f) of the RERA, the registration or extension thereto under Section 5 & 6 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 or Rules 6 and 7 of the U.P. Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2016 thereunder, all registered projects under the jurisdiction of UP RERA for which the completion date or revised completion date or extended completion date as per registration expires on or after 25th March 2020, a UP RERA statement said. The registration and completion date or revised completion date or extended completion date is automatically extended by six months due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic which is a calamity caused by nature and is adversely affecting regular development of real estate projects by invoking force majeure clause, it said. The six-month extension will also be provided to such projects which have already availed one-year extension as provided in the RERA Act on or after 25th March 2020. The authority also decided that the time limit for various compliances that were due to be submitted by March 31 has been extended up to June 30 without any payment of a late fee. The Authority has received representations from various organisations such as NAREDCO and CREDAI along with individual representations wherein they have explained in detail the issues being faced by the sector as a result of COVID-19 pandemic after detailed deliberation in this regard and having in view the advisory issued by Government of India, the Authority using the powers conferred on it under section 37 of the Act, issued the directions regarding the extension of registration of real estate projects for six months, Kumar said. The project will not require an extension if the CC/OC of the project has already been obtained. For the aforesaid extension, no fees will be charged from the promoters. The Authority will issue fresh 'Project Registration Certificates' with the revised timeline in each such registered real estate project, secretary UP RERA Abrar Ahmed said. In its advisory to the state RERA authorities last week, the Centre had said that the regulators could extend by another three months the date of completion if needed. They can also issue fresh project registration certificates with a revised timeline at the earliest. The MahaRERA order issued on May 18 states that for further extension beyond the aforesaid 6 months, for adversely affected projects, concerned promoters will have to apply in accordance with provisions of Section 6. MahaRERA may at its discretion waive the fee for such extension due to force majeure in accordance with rule 7 of Maharashtra Real Estate Registration Rules, 2017. Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority has also extended by six months the completion deadline for real estate projects in the state. The completion date or extended completion date is hereby automatically (without application) extended by 6 months due to outbreak of COVID-19 (Corona Virus), which is a calamity caused by nature and is adversely affecting regular development of real estate projects, by invoking force majeure clause, the Gujarat order said. The Rajasthan Real Estate Regulatory Authority became the first authority to have issued the order extending by a year the deadline of projects registered before March 19, 2020, waiving off the fee for the extended period. RERA was brought in to regulate the real sector in 2017, with states allowed to draw up their own rules under a broad framework laid out by the Centre. Issues discussed during the meeting also pertained to women empowerment; eradication of poverty; promotion of Bio-farming; and support to vulnerable groups. NGOs present today, comprised: National Social Inclusion Foundation(NSIF); Mauritius Council of Social Service (MACOSS), Association de Parents denfants Inadaptee de Maurice(APEIM); CARITAS; Centre de Solidarite pour une nouvelle Vie; Centre dEducation et de Developpement pour les Enfants Mauricien (CEDEM);Prevention et Lutte contre le Sida (PILS); Muslim Educational Society; Adolescent Non-Formal Education Network (ANFEN); Arya Sabha Mauritius; Council of Religions; and Mauritius Wildlife Foundation. In a statement after the meeting, the Conservation Director of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, Mr VikashTatayah, accentuated on the need to include measures so as to further improve climate change as well as tackle the damages caused by the Covid-19. He appealed for the budget allocated to the conservation of wildlife and for the protection of environment be maintained. The President of MACOSS, Mr Suraj Ray, and the President of CARITAS, Mrs Patricia Felicite, indicated that for the well-functioning of the society and the proper allocation of financial aid, NGOs and profit making organisations must be treated differently. They further stated that NGOs need to be given facilities such as free electricity and water in order to become financially sustainable. A request for an increase in Government grant was made by the President of the Arya Sabha Mauritius, Mr Harrydev Ramdhony. He also solicited Governments assistance for the training of staffs who manage old aged homes, handicapped Schools and women shelters. For his part, the Secretary of the Council of Religions, Mr Bashir Nuckchady, called for the extension of the present financial aid for at least two years as the Corporate Social Responsibility funding they rely on is insufficient for the Council to function correctly. The President of the Aaleemee Society, Mr Saheed Thupsee, recommended that the legal framework of NGOs be reviewed in order to filter the level of aid that each NGO requires and highlighted the need for the empowerment of women as well as the need to developself sufficiency in terms of social entrepreneurship in order to survive post Covid-19 crisis. On the other hand, the President of CEDEM, Mrs Sehenaz Hossain Saeb, highlighted the need to innovate in terms of medical treatment for children. She also requested for a review of the budget allocation for special needs schools as well as specific training for professionals who work with the children of the CEDEM. #ResOuLakaz #BeSafeMoris Government Information Service, Prime Ministers Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: gis@govmu.org Website: http://gis.govmu.org Mobile App: Search Gov A group of scientists from Osaka University, in cooperation with Kaneka Corporation, evaluated the interplanar bond strength of graphene by measuring the elastic constant of graphite, demonstrating that the elastic constant of monocrystalline graphite (Figure 1, top) was above 45 gigapascal (GPa), which was higher than conventionally believed. Their research results were published in Physical Review Materials. Graphite consists of layers of graphene and the layers are bonded via weak van der Waals (vdW) forces, a ubiquitous attraction between all molecules. It was believed that the elastic constant of graphite crystal did not exceed 40 GPa. This is because the elastic constants obtained from experiments using artificial highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) were low due to structural defects in the graphite (as exemplified in Figure 1, bottom) and theoretical calculations also demonstrated that the elastic constant of graphite was less than 39 GPa. Since a direct characteristic of an interplanar interaction is the elastic constant along the c axis of graphite, which reflects the interlayer bond strength, the elastic constant of graphite has been used to validate proposed theoretical approaches, and its accurate measurement is critical to thoroughly understanding vdW interactions. In this study, Kaneka Corporation created a high-quality defect-free monocrystalline graphite by heating high orientation polyimide thin films at high temperatures; however, it was very difficult to measure the elastic constant of this crystal (10 m in diameter, 1m in thickness) along the thickness direction. Thus, in order to experimentally obtain the elastic constant of graphite, using picosecond laser ultrasound spectroscopy, this group applied a laser of 1m in diameter to the surface of a multilayered graphene for one 10 trillionth of a second to generate ultra-high frequency ultrasound. By accurately measuring the longitudinal wave sound velocity along the thickness direction, they obtained the elastic constant. Although it had been thought that the interplanar bond strength of graphite was very weak, the results of this study showed that it had a strong bond strength: the elastic constant was nearly 50 GPa, which cannot be explained by conventional theories. In this study, the short-range correlation effect selectively strengthened the potential energy surface (PES). This anharmonic PES enhanced the elastic constant of graphite. Using the ACFDT-RPA+U method, they demonstrated that the elastic constant reached 50 GPa due to the short-range correlation effect. Lead author KUSAKABE Koichi says, "Our research group shows that graphite exhibits its superiority in a highly crystalline state. We have created high-quality, high-crystallinity graphite, which has stronger interplanar bond strength than previously believed. Applying ultrasonic measurement techniques to this defect-free monocrystalline graphite thin film will lead to the production of highly sensitive sensors for identifying biological matter such as proteins in non-destructive testing." ### The article, "Interplanar stiffness in defect-free monocrystalline graphite," was published in Physical Review Materials at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.4.043603. About Osaka University Osaka University was founded in 1931 as one of the seven imperial universities of Japan and now has expanded to one of Japan's leading comprehensive universities. The University has now embarked on open research revolution from a position as Japan's most innovative university and among the most innovative institutions in the world according to Reuters 2015 Top 100 Innovative Universities and the Nature Index Innovation 2017. The university's ability to innovate from the stage of fundamental research through the creation of useful technology with economic impact stems from its broad disciplinary spectrum. Website: https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/top About Kaneka Corporation Kaneka Corporation was established in 1949 as a spin-off from Kanegafuchi Spinning Co., Ltd. (at that time), taking over all businesses other than the textile division. While promoting a wide range of businesses such as caustic soda, yeast, and foods, we have also developed various businesses such as vinyl chloride resin, chemical products, functional resins, foamed resins, foods, life sciences, electronics, and synthetic fibers. From April 2017, we are accelerating the shift to a business model centered on providing solutions to social issues by creating new values through technological innovation. We will continue to contribute to the advancement of life and the environment of people worldwide through "chemistry". Website: https://www.kaneka.co.jp/en/ Terming safety of students, teachers and other stakeholders of board examination as an utmost priority, Shah said social distancing should be maintained and face masks should be worn by all. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday granted exemption from the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown rules for conducting the remaining Class 10 and Class 12 examinations. Terming safety of students, teachers and other stakeholders of board examination as an utmost priority, Shah said social distancing should be maintained and face masks should be worn by all. Taking into consideration the academic interest of large number of students, it has been decided to grant exemption from the lockdown measures to conduct Board examination for classes 10th & 12th, with few conditions like social distancing, face mask etc, for their safety. pic.twitter.com/P4ULsmbPVv Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 20, 2020 The tweet was accompanied by a letter from Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to Chief Secretaries of all the states, informing about the Centre's decision to allow holding of the remaining board examinations under strict guidelines. The MHA has asked exam conducting bodies like CBSE, CISCE and state boards to not allot any examination centre in the containment zone. The wearing of face masks have been made compulsory for teachers, students and staff. The home ministry has asked the boards to make provisions of thermal screening and keep hand sanitizers at the examination centres. Also, social distancing rules must be followed at all the places of examination. Follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak States and Union Territories have been asked to make arrangement of special buses for the transportation of students to the exam centre. Several board examinations have been postponed due to COVID-19 lockdown. According to NDTV, the MHA had last week given its nod to open 3,000 schools to work as CBSE paper evaluation centres. On 18 May, CBSE announced the dates for conducting the remaining Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations. The exams will be held from 1 to 15 July. According to The Indian Express, the health minister had raised concerns over conducting the remaining papers of CBSE. Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said, We have issued guidelines to the CBSE in this direction. The guidelines issued by the Health Ministry will be followed at every cost. The report mentioned that HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Tuesday announced that to ensure minimum travel, CBSE board examinations will be conducted in the schools where students have been enrolled to study. A care home run by an order of nuns has kept coronavirus-free after imposing a lockdown ten days early. Now the 36 residents at the Presentation Sisters Care Centre many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, including several retired nuns are being helped to keep safe, thanks to Mail Force. The care home has been one of the first to receive a donation of Turkish-made gowns used to prevent person-to-person transmission of coronavirus. Since March 13, the home has sealed itself off from the outside world to prevent the virus getting in and remains in lockdown despite the easing of restrictions around Britain. All visits are banned and residents do not go out. Staff, while allowed to go home, are minimising their contact with anyone outside of work. Mail Force charity delivers PPE to Presentation Sisters Care Home in Matlock, Derbyshire That decision, and an enhanced cleaning regime, has meant there has not been a single case. The adjoining convent, which is home to 25 sisters, is following the same rules. Members of the order can join church services via iPads. In a message to Daily Mail readers, many of whom have kindly donated to the Mail Force charity, Sister Eileen Keating said: 'Thank you so very much for your wonderful gifts. I'm so amazed at people's generosity. 'It makes you stop and think here are readers, just ordinary people, doing this. There is so much generosity out there we don't always hear about it.' She added: 'We have staff who are dedicated and have forgotten themselves for the greater good. The situation has brought out the best of people. 'The home is open to all you don't have to have a faith to be there and 99 per cent of the staff are non-Catholic. 'It is our duty, as religious people, as Christians, to give them the very best care.' Jayne Carnall manages the home a former hotel in Matlock, Derbyshire, which was later used as a girls' boarding school run by the same order of nuns. She said: 'We found out the other day from local doctors that we were one of only a few care homes in north Derbyshire which have had no cases. 'We consider ourselves thankful and extremely fortunate that... we have created a very sterile environment in the home.' Praising readers for their donations to the Mail Force charity, Mrs Carnall said: 'A situation like this sees humanity at its best and we are very grateful for what we have received.' The Mail Force delivery was dropped off on the care home's outdoor terrace to comply with its rigorous rules. Resident Audrey Crehan, 89, a retired cook and great grandmother, said: 'I think it's fantastic people are helping in this way. It's a great idea.' The home is the only one in the UK run by the Presentation Sisters, an order of Roman Catholic nuns founded in Cork, Ireland, in the 18th Century. Beaming care staff YOU have helped! By Claire Duffin Care home workers beamed with delight as they took delivery of boxes of personal protective equipment. The haul included more than 100 gowns with full-length sleeves which arrived in the UK from Turkey this week after being transported by Mail Force. Staff at Bank House have so far managed to keep Covid-19 at bay. They are caring for 20 elderly people, including some who have dementia or have suffered a stroke. Visitors have been banned, so staff came out to collect the delivery, which also included 1,000 masks and 3,000 single-use aprons. Deputy manager Helen Mullinder said the delivery was 'everything'. (Left to right) Kirsten Buck, Nikki Rose, Jane Broom, Kate Brennan, Callum Wapstra, Shirley Richards and Dep. Manager Helen Millinder with a PPE Delivery to Bank House Residential Care home, Newport, Shropshire Mrs Mullinder, who has worked at Bank House for 32 years, said staff had been working flat out and added: 'We haven't had a case yet and all the staff are working really hard to keep it that way.' She said their usual supplier was finding it difficult to source PPE. Reader Sheila Wagg, whose brother Brian, 70, is a resident at the home in Newport, Shropshire, contacted Mail Force to ask for help. Mrs Wagg, from north Staffordshire, said her brother has been at the home for two years and 'loves it there'. She added: 'They are so kind and treat him as family.' She said she worried the home might not be able to afford adequate PPE, and added: 'When I read about the extraordinary success of the Mail Force campaign it seemed an answer to a prayer. You are lifesavers; literally.' More and more cases of a Kawasaki-like disease, called PMIS or MIS-C, reported among children exposed to coronavirus. When the first children of the pandemics newest syndrome needed paediatric ICU beds in Bergamo, Italy, Dr Lorenzo DAntiga only had a few left. The Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospitals paediatric intensive care unit is one of Italys largest: 16 highly-equipped beds to support recovery from all types of illness and injury. Children from across the country come to Milan to see their specialists, track their improvements, or receive organ transplants. By late March, 500 of the hospitals nearly 1,000 regular beds were given to adults with COVID-19, and all but a couple of the paediatric ICU beds had been reassigned. The paediatric team had been caring for adults with the respiratory illness while continuing interventions on children whose appointments could not be postponed. Dr DAntiga, the chief paediatrician at the hospital, had been working tirelessly. He had not seen his family since the beginning of the epidemic. When two, and then three, children presented to the emergency room showing symptoms of an inflammatory syndrome that looked familiar, DAntigas team put the remaining paediatric ICU beds to use immediately. We were expecting respiratory symptoms. We were wondering where the children were? Were they also involved [in COVID-19 cases] and to what extent? We were not thinking about Kawasaki disease at all. Some of the new children were experiencing a shock. They were presenting with myocarditis, endangering the circulation of their blood; they had high fevers and rashes. Some needed ventilation. But they were not sick with SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that had spread from China to Italy in February and exploded. Only two of them tested positive for the virus, yet many had produced antibodies to fight it. Coronavirus had reached them, but they were ill with something new. We said, thats quite unusual. We usually see two or three [Kawasaki disease] patients a year, now we have three in a week. Then over 10 days weve seen another seven this must be related to the epidemic, Dr DAntiga recalled. The Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospitals paediatric intensive care unit [Photo courtesy of Giovanni Terzi] Kawasaki disease Kawasaki disease, named after the doctor who examined its symptoms in the 1960s in Japan, is a rare illness that mostly affects children below the age of five. Patients develop a high persistent fever, conjunctivitis and rashes. Their tongue, throat and lips redden, and their hands and feet often swell, with redness in the palms and soles. Some children develop an enlarged lymph node on one side of the neck. The illness can lead to a coronary artery aneurysm, which is a swelling in the vessel that oxygenates the heart muscle. Kawasaki disease is reported in all races, but Asian children have the highest incidence of illness, suggesting a possible genetic susceptibility. Though frightening for parents and considered serious by physicians, most children do well with aggressive early treatment. Dr DAntiga and his team opened their clinical records to recall all incoming cases of Kawasaki disease over the last five years, and compared these to those recorded since COVID-19 hit Bergamo. The 10 patients they had seen (all of whom were from the region) represented a 30-fold increase in episodes per month. But the new patients were older than the typical Kawasaki patient one was two, others were between five and nine years old, one was 16 and their conditions were more severe. The new disease is affecting a wide age range, including teenagers [File: Reuters] He prepared a study, included the most salient details to best represent the illness and published his teams results in The Lancet medical journal on May 13. After the study was submitted, another 10 children were identified with Kawasaki-like symptoms 20 in total, or as many as the five years before COVID-19. At this moment, we do not have a database with other countries, Dr DAntiga explained. It has been so fast and were so busy at the moment, that is done at a national level. The tip of the iceberg Dr Michael Levin is the chair of paediatrics and international child health at Imperial College in London, where he has studied malaria, tuberculosis and Kawasaki disease for more than 30 years. By late April, he was following the progress of dozens of children who looked worryingly like the patients in Milan. On May 2, he had enough data to describe 38 of them to a virtual meeting of the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies, held via Zoom. I cannot ever remember a time in my 30 years of working in paediatrics where there is so little known about a new spectrum of illness, Dr Levin said. It has come at us with unprecedented speed and magnitude, and we have had to learn so much so fast. Dr Jane Newburger The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK had sent its first alert about the unnamed syndrome to caregivers on April 27. Some children presenting in the UK hospitals were very sick, requiring intensive care. One had died. All were connected to SARS-CoV-2 cases; the children had either produced their own antibodies or been near previously ill family members, but only a few were actively infected. Notable among the NHSs set of warnings was the likelihood of organ failure. And to the surprise of some, the proportion of black and ethnic minority children was higher than white children in the groups who were showing up in the UK hospitals. We think of it as an iceberg: we first noticed the tip of the iceberg, then we saw the Kawasaki group, and now were seeing less severely ill children with persistent fever from the timing of it, it looks like something that follows six weeks from the curve of COVID-19, Dr Levin said. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome The Zoom call was the first to put clinicians from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in the same virtual room as their colleagues from Boston, London, Barcelona, Genoa and Geneva. There were 1,800 viewers on the call; the conference was so full that some used FaceTime to screen-share Zoom. Doctors in cities that had just surfaced from the full force of a COVID-19 outbreak addressed doctors in cities that were at the peak of the wave. They named the new illness paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PMIS) or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) the name is still evolving described its symptoms, and prescribed a course of treatment. Each case would require a team of specialists and the facilities of a well-resourced city-based childrens hospital. We should know in a couple of weeks how wide the spectrum is. Weve literally been hearing about cases every day, but were not gathering systematic data. Its all word of mouth from Zoom conferences and webinars, Dr Levin said on May 12, writing a few days later to say that data-collection processes had already improved. In Boston, members of a paediatric specialist team had been alerted to the new illness by their colleagues in Europe days before the first cases arrived. Dr Jane Newburger has studied and treated Kawasaki disease for more than 30 years at Boston Childrens Hospital (BCH), where she is associate cardiologist-in-chief for academic affairs. Before COVID-19 cancelled travel, she regularly attended conferences in Japan and the US. I have not dealt with something with the urgency of COVID-19-associated illness, she said. It has come at us with unprecedented speed and magnitude, and we have had to learn so much so fast. Everything has sort of burst like a match to a haystack. As COVID-19 rolled across Massachusetts, the childrens hospital offered to receive patients from other hospitals, and sent ventilators and clinicians to centres that needed backup. Massachusetts has had in excess of 87,000 cases, more than 5,000 deaths, and 3,000 children have tested positive for the virus (no children have died in the state). When the paediatric ICU several floors above Dr Newburgers regular clinic received its first cases of PMIS, few teams were better positioned to treat and study it. My interests are how this new inflammatory syndrome affects the heart, Dr Newburger said. We know that some of these children have low heart function, some have enlargement of coronaries, or even giant aneurysms. We do not know the extent to which this new inflammatory syndrome creates the same risk as Kawasaki does. Keeping count of cases Keeping the data organised is another concern. In the UK, the NHS runs a 34-year-old system called the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit, or BPSU, through which physicians report new illnesses to a central database. This system lifts the rare signals from the noise of daily practice, and eventually shapes health policies (BPSU originally ran on postcards sent from clinics to London). BPSU has been activated to track PMIS. In the US, multiple reporting systems overlap. There are private and public hospitals, societies of physicians and government databases. Between all of these, Dr Newburger worries, some case descriptions may be duplicated. 200421091917072 We need to have a registry of registries that allows us to put information from large numbers of PMIS patients together so we can generate reliable statistics about the disease for families and healthcare providers. We have nothing like that right now. While caring for the sickest, Dr Adrienne Randolph is keeping such a count. She is a senior associate of critical care medicine and professor of anaesthesia and paediatrics at BCH, working in an ICU on the hospitals seventh floor. Her days are long. Some PMIS patients require support from machines called ECMO units, a serious intervention that does the work of the heart and lungs via tubes and pumps outside of the body, allowing doctors to deploy countermeasures against the illness. Many of the children have spent more than a week in intensive care. Parents need reassurance. No stranger to trauma, Dr Randolph is hopeful. Im happy to say that a great majority of these kids are recovering. With good supportive care, and intervention, there is recovery, she said. The new syndrome affecting children seems similar in some ways to Kawasaki disease [File: The Associated Press] A few years into the H1N1 flu outbreak almost 10 years ago, Dr Randolph established a network of surveillance sites across the US to report emerging diseases, research that was converted into a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-run tool. In 2016, she led a study to count and characterise every paediatric ICU bed in the US. We were anticipating that the next pandemic would be a novel influenza, so we set up a surveillance registry. In 2013 we had over 36 sites, she explained, ready to collect data if a public health authority declared an outbreak of a novel pathogen. During the first months of COVID-19, there was little money available for a surveillance initiative on children. Then the first PMIS patients arrived, and the CDC funded her to launch it. With them, her team produced a 45-page questionnaire for clinicians to record every symptom, lab test and intervention in every new case in the US. She is regularly on the phone with a handful of government health agencies. The work has just begun. My goal with this first and foremost is to get the data to the people who can make decisions about how to act on this, how to get the right resources, how to do the right education and how to improve health outcomes, she explained. Who is most at risk? By early May, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut reported clusters of children with PMIS and three deaths. Dr Randolph already knows there are more. I have [seen reports of] cases in over 22 different states. Its growing every day. Its not just a thing thats been happening on the East Coast, she said on May 16. Dr Randolph is extremely cautious, not wanting to amplify parents anxieties. It is the diversity among the cases that keeps her focused on the data. People are, as we speak, working on this across over 65 sites. Theyre spending long hours filling out the data and asking us questions to ensure their cases meet the criteria for reporting. All known PMIS cases were in children exposed to the coronavirus or in close proximity to someone who was sick [File: Reuters] If Kawasaki disease can provide a frame for understanding PMIS, it is a limited view. Kawasaki disease has no known culprit, but many suspects. PMIS patients are all linked directly to coronavirus infection or proximity to someone who was sick. Some children with PMIS are showing a spectrum of features of Kawasaki disease, but many of the new patients are older and their conditions are more severe. There have been no recorded cases in Japan, South Korea and China, where Kawasaki is usually seen in higher numbers, though all were hit hard by SARS-CoV-2. PMIS could teach these doctors about a disease whose cause they have pursued for half a century. It could inform drug companies rushing to develop a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. If a reaction to the bodys own antibodies is triggering PMIS in some children an idea that is being discussed, but remains far from proven it could influence discussions about how to deploy vaccines, or how to reopen schools and countries. These are similar to the questions Dr Randolph asked during the H1N1 pandemic. When the vaccine comes out, itll be in short supply and we need to know whos at risk. Who gets the vaccine first? Who has the most risk factors? Usually, we cant give the vaccine to everyone immediately. Beware of assumptions Dr Michael Levin is able to study the syndrome from one of the best-resourced childrens facilities in the world, but COVID-19, blind to poverty and prosperity, has struck communities across 188 countries. He says any centre can be part of the effort to better understand the illness. The main thing we need to do is get the patients into studies right now. As long as [caregivers] can set up a data and a sample collection system, they might not have the resources to do detailed genomics and proteomics and so on, but they can collaborate. The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a working surveillance group led by doctors from Canada, Spain, the US, the UK and India, hoping to coordinate the vast and diverse troves of incoming data. Over the weekend of May 15, as teams in the US poured over their datasets, a nine-year-old boy in France died of complications likely from PMIS. He is one of at least six children reported to have died from the illness so far. Over the past month, doctors across the United Kingdom and the European Union say they have seen more than 200 cases of the new syndrome, while New York state reported more than 140. Dr Mary Beth Son, a rheumatology programme director at BCH who works with the Kawasaki team, cautions against bias. I think the danger here is that you make assumptions and assume its like what weve seen before, she said. We need to keep our minds open. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Philippines has yet to move past the "first wave" of COVID-19 cases, an infectious disease expert said Thursday as he contradicted claims that the country is now riding the second surge of infections. Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, Dr. Benjamin Co said he does not agree with Health Secretary Francisco Duque's pronouncement that the Philippines is already in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19 infections, maintaining that the country based on data has yet to flatten the curve. "I don't agree (that we're on the second wave)... To me, this is just the first wave and we are still in that continuum. We've never been able to downplay or flatten the curve in any way, we remain in a plateau," said Co, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and consultant at various hospitals including the Asian Hospital and Medical Center. He trained in molecular and clinical pharmacology at the Boston University in the United States. Duque made the claim during Wednesday's Senate hearing, when he cited the findings of epidemiologist Dr. John Wong and other experts. Wong, in a separate briefing, explained that a wave means a rise and fall in cases, noting that the country's first three cases recorded in January were considered the first wave while the second wave began in March. He added there had been a "lull" following the reportage of the first few cases, before the major wave where tens of thousands of new infections were recorded hounded the country. Co, however, explained that a few initial "sprinkling" of cases as well as a lull in between emerging infections are normal scenarios in a disease outbreak. "For every infectious disease, there will always be a couple of cases initially," the medical expert said. "If we consider that definition of a few sprinkling of cases and lull in between, then Wuhan would have been in the same place, because they saw the first few cases, there was a lull in between, and they had a spike in cases in the end of December. Then other countries are now in their second wave as well." Apart from Co, netizens, other local health experts, and even lawmakers have refuted the claim. Dr. Ted Herbosa, medical adviser to the national task force on COVID-19, earlier said that the country may still be riding the first wave of cases, relaying that some scientists believe that the imposed lockdowns only "bought" time for the peak. "There are some scientists who are saying we just pushed the first peak farther, that means we bought time. And as soon as we opened up, the peak will go up," Herbosa said in a previous interview with CNN Philippines. "So some even say this is still the first wave just delayed by about 50 days of ECQ (enhanced community quarantine)." Senators were also skeptical about the pronouncement, as they questioned how the country was already able to "flatten the curve" during the first wave when it has yet to meet testing targets. Metro Manila and other COVID-19 high risk areas have been placed under a modified ECQ which sees less strict lockdown policies in a bid to gradually reopen the economy. However, photos of citizens heading out and swarming the malls during its first day of implementation raised alarm for authorities, who have cautioned against a resurgence of infections if Filipinos do not follow proper distancing protocols. 'Work on recoveries' Co, however, remains hopeful the country will soon be on its way to flatten the curve. Although the Philippines has consistently reported rising recoveries from the infection, Co said he also hopes the country can "work more" on this data, given that several of these cases were reported months ago, and should have already recovered by now. "I appreciate that we have lesser deaths, it's just that we also need to work on our recoveries," Co said. "The DOH has data now that shows you that our hospitalization rate is down, which is good. But our recoveries, what happened to the patients in March and April? If you look at it, lampas na tayo ng (we are already way past the) 30 days. All that thousands of data should have matched now the recoveries, but our recoveries are just 2,000," he added. To date, COVID-19 cases in the Philippines have breached 13,000. A total of 842 have died, while 2,932 have recovered. MIDLAND, MI Mid-Michigan emergency officials, in the aftermath of a rainstorm on Monday, May 18, are asking residents to take added precautions to stay safe amid catastrophic flooding in the region. Rain pounded the central Lower Peninsula of Michigan over the past few days and left many areas flooded, especially Midland County. Thats where one dam failed. Then, a second dam was overwhelmed by the floodwaters, sending a torrent of muddy water downstream and forcing evacuations of thousands of residents. The situation is changing quickly, and you can find the latest stories about the dam failure and resulting flooding here. Here are some of the major developments so far: Midland County residents urged to leave homes due to imminent dam failure A house is under water near the Sanford Dam on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. After the Edenville Dam failed and the Tittabawassee River flooded surrounding areas, many residents were urged to leave their homes and to brace themselves for the possibility of the Sanford Dam to collapsing. Water flowed over the top of it through the night, but the structure is still in place. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com At about 12:22 a.m. Tuesday, May 19, Midland County Central Dispatch issued an alert advising Edenville Township residents to leave their homes due to an imminent dam failure. Those who live along Sanford Lake and Wixom Lake were told to vacate their homes and head to shelters that had been set up at two area schools. Just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, a section of the Edenville Dam impoundment failed. Residents in Edenville and Sanford were told to immediately evacuate. Additional evacuation orders followed for some city of Midland residents. Water is now flowing over top of impoundment at Sanford Dam in Midland County Water begins to spill over the Sanford Dam on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. The Edenville Dam failed shortly before this happened and the Tittabawassee River began to flood quickly. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com Floodwaters began flowing over the top of the impoundment at Midland Countys Sanford Dam Tuesday. Midland City Manager Brad Kaye confirmed Wednesday the Sanford Dam is still overflowing, but explained it's hard to assess the condition of the dam as its not entirely clear what the structure is below the water surface. If the whole structure were to collapse, he said there would be a much higher surge and water levels would quickly rise. Governor issues emergency declaration after Midland-area dam failure, urges evacuations Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers remarks on Midland-area flooding at a press conference in front of Midland High School on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Midland, Mich. Gov. Whitmer surveyed flood damage from a helicopter earlier in the morning.Riley Yuan | MLive.com Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an emergency declaration on Tuesday, and sent the National Guard to help after the Edenville Dam collapsed and water flooded over the top of the Sanford Dam. About 10,000 people in the city of Midland were being evacuated at that time, along with the village of Sanford, Edenville, Whitmer said. She also urged residents in evacuation zones to get out immediately. Please, get somewhere safe now, the governor said. The rescue effort also caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who tweeted to thank first responders who helped to evacuate the area on Tuesday. President Trump tweets about flooding in mid-Michigan, thanks first responders President Donald Trump speaks during an event on the food supply chain during the coronavirus pandemic, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 19, 2020, in Washington.AP Photo/Evan Vucci As water levels along the Tittabawassee River continued to rise, Midland County officials reported early Wednesday, May 20, that more residents would need to evacuate. More Midland County residents ordered to evacuate after dike on Poseyville breaks The Currie Parkway bridge seen partially submerged on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in downtown Midland, Mich. The Midland Area Farmers Market and parks surrounding the junction of the Tittabawasee and Chippewa Rivers were almost entirely submerged.Riley Yuan | MLive.com The Poseyville dike was broken, according to an alert sent at 6:36 a.m. Wednesday by Midland County Central Dispatch, and all residents on Ashby between Poseyville and Patterson roads must also evacuate the area. Feds warned years ago Edenville Dam couldnt handle a historic flood The remains of the Edenville Dam, as seen on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Edenville Township north of Midland. After two days of heavy rain, the Edenville Dam failed and flood waters rushed south, ravaging the landscapre in its path. (Jake May | MLive.com)The Flint Journal, MLive.com The failure of the Edenville Dam on Tuesday was not the first sign of trouble for the structure. Two years ago, federal energy regulators pulled the Edenville Dams operators license out of concern the spillway could not pass enough water to avert a failure during a historic flood. In the 2018 filing, regulators characterized dam owner Boyce Hydro as chronically non-compliant with regulatory requests to upgrade the dam. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wanted Boyce Hydro owner Lee Mueller of Las Vegas, Nev. to build additional spillways to reduce the risk of failure. The 4.8-megawatt, 6,600-foot dam, which held back the Tittabawassee and Tobacco rivers at Edenville, was built in 1925. Pray for Midland, says resident surveying flood damage after dam failure A trash bin is nearly submerged near the Midland Area Farmers Market along the Tittabawassee River after it flooded due to the Edenville Dam collapse on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com Lifelong Midland County resident Melissia Shuler spoke with tears in her eyes as she roamed an area ravaged by floodwaters. Its devastating, absolutely devastating, said Shuler the morning of Wednesday, May 20, the day after the Edenville Dam failed and Sanford Dam breached. Brings tears to your eyes. Pray for Midland. Midland County is also home to Dow, which has its headquarters and substantial manufacturing facilities in Midland. The company shut down as a precaution in the wake of the dam catastrophe. Sanford Dam compromised, Dow shuts down operations in Midland as a precaution Hundreds attend as top Dow Chemical Company officials speak, celebrating the grand opening of the Global Dow Center, its new global headquarters on Monday, July 31, 2017 in Midland. Jake May | MLive.com The flooding impacted area roads and bridges, some of which were destroyed by the impact of the water. M-30 bridge destroyed after nearby dam failure A pair of Midland County residents walk up to one of two bridges on North M-30 that have suffered heavy damage on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Edenville Township north of Midland. After two days of heavy rain, the Edenville Dam failed and flood waters rushed south, ravaging the landscape in its path. (Jake May | MLive.com)The Flint Journal, MLive.com The M-30 bridge near Strykers Marina in Wixom Lake in Gladwin County collapsed around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, officials confirmed. The bridge was closed earlier in the day due to excessive flooding in the region from heavy rainfall. Michigan National Guard helping in flood rescue efforts in Midland County An old dredge machine has been uncovered after water washed out due to the failure of the Edenville Dam on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Edenville Township north of Midland. (Jake May | MLive.com)The Flint Journal, MLive.com Michigan National Guard units are working to aid Midland County communities impacted by massive flooding resulting from the failure of one dam and the breach of another. National Guard units from Bay City, Saginaw, Port Huron and other areas responded to the request for aid placed by the Michigan State Police after the Tuesday, May 19, failure of the Edenville Dam and breach of the Sanford Dam. The units, comprising about 130 soldiers and more than 40 specialized vehicles, arrived in the affected areas and began missions about 4 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20. Federal regulators order Sanford Dams owner to investigate after flood Sunny Clark, center, her husband Clint and their 8-year-old son Caron, all of Sanford, explore together as they walk along what was once the bottom of Wixom Lake on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Edenville Township north of Midland. After two days of heavy rain, the Edenville Dam failed and flood waters rushed south, ravaging the landscape in its path. (Jake May | MLive.com)The Flint Journal, MLive.com The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered the owner of the Sanford Dam to establish an independent investigation team to determine why floodwaters overflowed the structure. A Wednesday, May 20, letter from David Capka, director of the Division of Dam Safety and Inspections for FERC, directs Boyce Hydro Power, LLC to form the team to undertake a forensic analysis of the root cause of the overtopping damage to Sanford Dam as well as any other contributing causes. Elsewhere in the region In Saginaw County, officials warn residents flooding could get worse downstream when and if the Sanford Dam fails. Several roads in Saginaw County have standing water, and river levels continue to rise. Earlier Tuesday, May 19, Tittabawassee Fire and Rescue rescued the driver of a pickup truck from Gleaner at Tittabawassee that was swept away by the floodwaters. On Wednesday afternoon, the community of Shields, about 6 miles west of Saginaw, was seeing significant flooding. The community is downstream of Midland. Flooded roads, neighborhoods and businesses in the Saginaw County community of Shields Homes and yards along Adams Road seen flooded on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Thomas Township, Mich.Riley Yuan | MLive.com Officials with Bay County Road Commission said the county is experiencing water over roads in some areas and water issues with draining, according to the commissions Facebook post. However, a county official said Bay County may avoid the worst of the flooding coming downstream from Midland. Bay County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Manz said the county will most likely not see catastrophic flooding. They are predicting right now that we will not the see the same level that we saw with the 86 flood, well be well below that," Manz said Wednesday, May 20. Bay County not expecting worse-case flood scenario after Midland dam break A spring storm with heavy winds and rain caused flooding in the mid-Michigan area on May 18 and 19. Veterans Memorial Park and the Middlegrounds in Bay City saw flooding due to the combination of the storm and already high water levels. Veterans Memorial Park was home to waterfowl that were taking advantage of the extra water. Caitlyn French | MLive.com The Arenac Sheriffs Department is in the process of diverting incoming and outgoing traffic around Arenac County due to extensive flooding. The county also experienced significant flooding earlier this week. Weve had a couple of bad ice breakups, but nothing like this, said Linda Seidel, standing on the Melita Road Bridge near her home on East City Limits Road in Sterling the morning of Tuesday, May 19. The water is halfway up our basement steps on the outside," said Seidel, gazing into the torrent of muddy water as driftwood and picnic tables floated by. Theres just no words for it say residents near flooded Rifle River in Arenac County The flooded Rifle River in Arenac County on May 19, 2020. More on the flooding in Michigan: Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge prepares to take on floodwater Officials work to dispel rumors amid record-breaking Michigan flooding Officials warn of impact to Saginaw County residents if Sanford Dam fails Bay County not expecting worst-case flooding scenario after dam break in Midland County Gov. Whitmer addresses flooding in Midland Flooding is widespread in Saginaw County after heavy rains, county officials say Officials report flooded roadways, evacuations and dams unable to control water in mid-Michigan J.D. (Slick) Jackson, a retired construction worker, has published his new book A Quiet, Sleepy Little Southern Town, Huh!: a charming and nostalgic story that depicts an eventful decade in the life of a small, largely Christian town. Rape and almost murder send a pastor and his family from Missouri to Mississippi. His oldest, a son, is different but certainly no sissy, and he, along with his two sisters have important parts in this fictional novel. Published by Page Publishing, J.D. (Slick) Jacksons engrossing book is a compelling coming-of-age story in a small town that addresses important issues universal to the human experience. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchaseA Quiet, Sleepy Little Southern Town, Huh! at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. No field day. No yearbook-signing day. No dunk-your-principal-in-the-water-tank day. The countless silly rituals that students and school staff look forward to in the last days of the school year have been iced out by the coronavirus too. But principals and teachers have dreamt up creative alternatives to give students some fun and close out the 2019-20 academic year on an uplifting note. One principal, Lea Anne Thomas, told Education Week how she and her teaching team at China Grove Elementary School in China Grove, N.C., pulled off two days of fun virtual activities for staff and students to do together on Zoom. (Today is students last day of school.) Here are 10 activities they offered: 1. Pancake and waffles (Whip up breakfast together.) 2. Shaving cream shenanigans (Shaving cream + food coloring and other common household items = lots of fun.) 3. Desserts in a mug (Easy-to-make sweets in the microwave.) 4. 1-minute fitness challenge (Students can compete with teachers in a quick, silly workout.) 5. Scavenger hunt (Call out names of common items and give students 1 minute to hunt for them in their houses.) 6. Virtual field trip to the zoo 7. Pictionary (Divide students into two teams to guess their teachers drawings.) 8. Lego challenge (Challenge students to design and build creations in 15 minutes.) 9. Dance party (Cue music and dance!) 10. Pizza making (Create dough from scratch with just two ingredients: flour and Greek yogurt.) Pulling this off does take some planning ahead, Principal Thomas said. Descriptions of the activities were shared ahead of time with parents and students could sign up for the sessions they wanted to participate in. The idea was that our staff had lots of neat talents and ideas they could share with our students, Thomas said in an email. We wanted our students to have an opportunity to do fun things during the last few days of school. These pro tips from her are essential for making virtual fun activities safe and successful: Make sure sessions are planned out and well-timed. Kids lose interest in about 15 minutes if it is not a very active session. Keep student safety and privacy in mind at all times. We did not take pictures or videos of our students in the sessions and we made sure we did not send out links to the general public. Make sure you have two adults in each session. Run a Zoom tutorial with staff and practice setting up meetings so all participants are muted and one person is the co-host and works on allowing entry to the Zoom while the other person leads the activity. Image courtesy of Lea Anne Thomas Related Reading: Loving Our Students From a Distance Nine Ways to End This Crazy School Year Strong The Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts on Thursday endorsed U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Ed Markey. The PFFM, which represents 12,000 firefighters across the commonwealth, released a video on Thursday highlighting Kennedys support for first responders and his efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken the lives of more than 6,000 Massachusetts residents. During this crisis, no one has stepped up like Joe Kennedy, PFFM President Rich MacKinnon Jr. said in the video. Whether raising money for frontline workers or delivering masks for our firefighters, Joe has shown us the kind of senator he will be. In a statement released by the campaign, MacKinnon said that Kennedys constant presence and leadership on all issues for first responders is what drives our commitment to support him. Kennedy, a four-term congressman and part of the most well-known political dynasty in the U.S., kicked off his Democratic primary challenge against Markey in September with an edge in polling and fundraising. The strong fundraising has remained, but polls have tightened in recent months. You are heroes who risk your lives everyday, Kennedy said in a statement after receiving the firefighters endorsement. When you leave home to head to the fire station, your hug to your children and your kiss to your significant other could be the last one." Kennedy added that as a parent of two young children, the sacrifices made by first responders are never lost on me. Fighting for your right to collective bargain, SAFER Grants and Assistance to Firefighter Grants have never been more important, he said. "I am honored to have your support in this race and will continue to be in your corner every step of the way. Both Kennedy and Markey have touted their efforts in combating the coronavirus and in challenging the Trump administration to respond more quickly. Kennedy, who as a congressman has focused on mental health, substance use disorders and defending the Affordable Care Act, recently kicked off an ad campaign in which he says hell lead the fight in the Senate to make quality health care a guaranteed right for all." Markey, an environmental champion in Congress for four decades, has touted his experience including a track record of successfully fighting the fossil fuel and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the National Rifle Association. Markeys also an original co-sponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders Medicare for All Act, and has highlighted his background fighting for Alzheimers research and efforts to successfully secure $200 million for the National Institutes of Health for a universal flu vaccine. The pair sat across from each other in a WGBH debate in February, arguing over experience and who could better advance a progressive agenda in the Senate. Another debate is set for Monday, June 1, at 7 p.m. in the Western Mass News studio in Springfield. The Senate primary is on Sept. 1. Related Content: MEDIA ADVISORY Bottom Line: Lower levels of ACE2 nasal gene expression in children may explain why children have a lower risk of Covid-19 infection and mortality. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses ACE2 to enter the host. ACE2 nasal gene expression could potentially be used as a biomarker to evaluate Covid-19 susceptibility. Results: ACE2 gene expression in nasal epithelium, the first point of contact for SARS-CoV-2 and the human body, was lowest in younger children and increased with age. How: A retrospective analysis of 305 patients aged 4 to 60 years encountered within the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. Study Conclusions: These findings could help explain why children appear to be less susceptible to Covid-19 infection. The results may point to a potential biomarker of Covid-19 susceptibility. Prospective studies are needed to assess the degree to which ACE2 expression can be used as a biomarker for COVID-19 susceptibility. Publication Nasal Gene Expression of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 in Children and Adults JAMA. Published online May 20, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.8707 "Why children get COVID-19 less than adults has been a puzzle. Researchers have hypothesized that lower expression of ACE2, which the SARS-Cov-2 virus uses to enter our bodies, might explain why children are less likely to get COVID-19. Our study shows that ACE2 expression in the nasal epithelium is lowest in younger children and increases with age into adulthood. Our results may help explain why children account for less than 2% of identified cases of Covid-19. A biomarker of COVID-19 susceptibility based on ACE2 expression might be possible," said Mount Sinai's Dr. Supinda Bunyavanich of the research ### For media inquiries or to schedule an interview with Dr. Supinda Bunyavanich, please contact Jennifer Gutierrez at jennifer.gutierrez@mssm.edu WASHINGTON, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Existing-home sales dropped in April, continuing what is now a two-month skid in sales brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the National Association of Realtors. Each of the four major regions experienced a decline in month-over-month and year-over-year sales, with the West seeing the greatest dip in both categories. April 2020 Existing Home Sales NAR Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun (PRNewsfoto/National Association of Realtors) Total existing-home sales,1 https://www.nar.realtor/existing-home-sales , completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped 17.8% from March to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.33 million in April. Overall, sales decreased year-over-year, down 17.2% from a year ago (5.23 million in April 2019). "The economic lockdowns occurring from mid-March through April in most states have temporarily disrupted home sales," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. "But the listings that are on the market are still attracting buyers and boosting home prices." April's existing-home sales are the lowest level of sales since July 2010 (3.45 million) and the largest month-over-month drop since July 2010 (-22.5%).2 The median existing-home price3 for all housing types in April was $286,800, up 7.4% from April 2019 ($267,000), as prices increased in every region. April's national price increase marks 98 straight months of year-over-year gains. "Record-low mortgage rates are likely to remain in place for the rest of the year, and will be the key factor driving housing demand as state economies steadily reopen," Yun said. "Still, more listings and increased home construction will be needed to tame price growth." Total housing inventory4 at the end of April totaled 1.47 million units, down 1.3% from March, and down 19.7% from one year ago (1.83 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.4-months in March and down from the 4.2-month figure recorded in April 2019. Properties typically remained on the market for 27 days in April, seasonally down from 29 days in March, but up from 24 days in April 2019. Fifty-six percent of homes sold in April 2020 were on the market for less than a month. First-time buyers were responsible for 36% of sales in April, up from 34% in March 2020 and 32% in April 2019. NAR's 2019 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers released in late 20195 revealed that the annual share of first-time buyers was 33%. Individual investors or second-home buyers, who account for many cash sales, purchased 10% of homes in April, down from 13% in March 2020 and from 16% in April 2019. All-cash sales accounted for 15% of transactions in April, down from 19% in March 2020 and 20% in April 2019. Distressed sales6 foreclosures and short sales represented 3% of sales in April, about even with both March 2020 and April 2019. "While virtually every sector of the American economy has been hit hard by this pandemic, our nation's 1.4 million Realtors have continued to show an undying commitment to their profession, their clients and America's real estate industry," said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco, Calif. "As we find during any time of crisis, we have a tremendous opportunity to evolve and emerge stronger and more efficient," Malta continued. "Having renewed our focus on new, innovative ways to serve American consumers, I am confident the real estate sector and our nation's Realtors are uniquely positioned to lead America's economic recovery." Realtor.com's Market Hotness Index, measuring time-on-the-market data and listing views per property, revealed that the hottest metro areas in April were Colorado Springs, Colo.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Topeka, Kan.; Pueblo, Colo.; and Columbus, Ohio. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 3.31% in April, down from 3.45% in March. The average commitment rate across all of 2019 was 3.94%. Single-family and Condo/Co-op Sales Single-family home sales sat at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 3.94 million in April, down 16.9% from 4.74 million in March, and down 15.5% from one year ago. The median existing single-family home price was $288,700 in April, up 7.3% from April 2019. Existing condominium and co-op sales were recorded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 390,000 units in April, down 26.4% from March and down 31.6% from a year ago. The median existing condo price was $267,200 in April, an increase of 7.1% from a year ago. "There appears to be a shift in preference for single-family homes over condominium dwellings," Yun said. "This trend could be long-lasting as remote work and larger housing needs will become widely prevalent even after we emerge from this pandemic." Regional Breakdown As was the case for the month prior, April sales decreased in every region from the previous month's levels. Median home prices in each region grew from one year ago, with the Northeast and Midwest regions showing the strongest price gains. April 2020 existing-home sales in the Northeast fell 16.9%, recording an annual rate of 540,000, an 18.2% decrease from a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $312,500, up 8.7% from April 2019. Existing-home sales decreased 12.0% in the Midwest to an annual rate of 1.10 million, down 8.3% from a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $229,200, a 9.3% increase from April 2019. Existing-home sales in the South dropped 17.9% to an annual rate of 1.88 million in April, down 16.8% from the same time one year ago. The median price in the South was $249,400, a 6.4% increase from a year ago. Existing-home sales in the West fell 25.0% to an annual rate of 810,000 in April, a 27.0% decline from a year ago. The median price in the West was $419,300, up 6.1% from April 2019. The National Association of Realtors is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.4 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. For local information, please contact the local association of Realtors for data from local multiple listing services (MLS). Local MLS data is the most accurate source of sales and price information in specific areas, although there may be differences in reporting methodology. NOTE: NAR's Pending Home Sales Index for April is scheduled for release on May 28, and Existing-Home Sales for May will be released June 22; release times are 10:00 a.m. ET. Information about NAR is available at www.nar.realtor . This and other news releases are posted on the NAR Newsroom at www.nar.realtor/newsroom. Statistical data in this release, as well as other tables and surveys, are posted in the "Research and Statistics" tab. 1 Existing-home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, are based on transaction closings from Multiple Listing Services. Changes in sales trends outside of MLSs are not captured in the monthly series. NAR rebenchmarks home sales periodically using other sources to assess overall home sales trends, including sales not reported by MLSs. Existing-home sales, based on closings, differ from the U.S. Census Bureau's series on new single-family home sales, which are based on contracts or the acceptance of a deposit. Because of these differences, it is not uncommon for each series to move in different directions in the same month. In addition, existing-home sales, which account for more than 90% of total home sales, are based on a much larger data sample about 40% of multiple listing service data each month and typically are not subject to large prior-month revisions. The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of actual sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonally adjusted annual rates are used in reporting monthly data to factor out seasonal variations in resale activity. For example, home sales volume is normally higher in the summer than in the winter, primarily because of differences in the weather and family buying patterns. However, seasonal factors cannot compensate for abnormal weather patterns. Single-family data collection began monthly in 1968, while condo data collection began quarterly in 1981; the series were combined in 1999 when monthly collection of condo data began. Prior to this period, single-family homes accounted for more than nine out of 10 purchases. Historic comparisons for total home sales prior to 1999 are based on monthly single-family sales, combined with the corresponding quarterly sales rate for condos. 2 In September 2011, sales also fell to 4.33 million. 3 The median price is where half sold for more and half sold for less; medians are more typical of market conditions than average prices, which are skewed higher by a relatively small share of upper-end transactions. The only valid comparisons for median prices are with the same period a year earlier due to seasonality in buying patterns. Month-to-month comparisons do not compensate for seasonal changes, especially for the timing of family buying patterns. Changes in the composition of sales can distort median price data. Year-ago median and mean prices sometimes are revised in an automated process if additional data is received. The national median condo/co-op price often is higher than the median single-family home price because condos are concentrated in higher-cost housing markets. However, in a given area, single-family homes typically sell for more than condos as seen in NAR's quarterly metro area price reports. 4 Total inventory and month's supply data are available back through 1999, while single-family inventory and month's supply are available back to 1982 (prior to 1999, single-family sales accounted for more than 90% of transactions and condos were measured only on a quarterly basis). 5 Survey results represent owner-occupants and differ from separately reported monthly findings from NAR's Realtors Confidence Index , which include all types of buyers. Investors are under-represented in the annual study because survey questionnaires are mailed to the addresses of the property purchased and generally are not returned by absentee owners. Results include both new and existing homes. 6 Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales), days on market, first-time buyers, all-cash transactions and investors are from a monthly survey for the NAR's Realtors Confidence Index, posted at nar.realtor. SOURCE National Association of Realtors Related Links http://www.realtor.org New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Cloudy and windy during the morning. Showers developing late. Some sleet may mix in. High 39F. Winds N at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Cloudy. Low 28F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Advertisement Thousands of Britons flocked to beaches today to bask in 80F temperatures as police warned lockdown-breaking campers to keep away after many ignored no staying overnight rules amid fears of a second spike of coronavirus deaths. Devon and Cornwall's police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez warned people to 'think twice' before they 'break the rules by staying overnight, parking illegally or driving dangerously'. It came after her officers sent illegal campers home from Newquay and six people were killed or badly injured on the roads over the past five days. Meanwhile, in the coastal town of Woolacombe in Devon, traffic wardens issued more than 70 tickets as all car parks were shut to keep away visitors. Local councillor Andrea Davis warned people to stay away: 'Please note the car parks in Woolacombe are NOT open, the loos not open, the cafes not open,' she said. 'Please consider all these facts before visiting. Yesterday there was chaos.' Her warnings were echoed by Duncan Dunbar, a 33-year-old highway worker from Wadebridge, Cornwall, who urged visitors to wait until after all lockdown measures are lifted: 'We only have one hospital here and it's small and struggles at the best of times,' he said. 'I'm worried about what will happen if there's an outbreak.' Steve Double, the Tory MP for St Austell and Newquay, said that day-trippers from outside of Cornwall should not be coming to the county. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Double said: 'We are concerned about the next week as people come to places like Cornwall and abuse the new rules by sleeping over. The restrictions are clear that while people free to travel for day trips they are not permitted to sleep in camper vans or in tents overnight. We want to be able to welcome people a bit later in the year but we can only do that if we get on top of this virus. Do not come to Cornwall at this time.' It came as new figures showed coronavirus is still infecting an estimated 61,000 people a week in England - although the true figure could be as high as 111,000. A major study has also found less than half of 19 to 30-year-olds are 'strictly' abiding by Britain's lockdown rules, while among adults the figure has dropped from 70 per cent to under 60 per cent in the last fortnight. People frolic in the water as they enjoy the sunshine in a park in east London today as temperatures soar across the country A family cool off in the River Lea today. New figures show coronavirus is still infecting an estimated 61,000 people a week in England - although the true figure could be as high as 111,000 People enjoy the sunshine in a park in East London today. A major study has found less than half of 19 to 30-year-olds are 'strictly' abiding by Britain's lockdown rules Crowds of people visiting Southend beach during hot and sunny weather in Southend, Essex today as temperatures rise Ruislip Lido in Ruislip, West London today. Thousands of Britons flocked to beaches today to bask in 80F temperatures Britons enjoy the hot weather in Bournemouth, Dorset, as people flock to parks and beaches while temperatures soar Police out on dawn patrol this morning (21 May) in Newquay, identifying and moving on campervans that had come to the region Beaches remained busy today, including Southend in Essex (pictured) where the number of people packing the sand made social distancing difficult A woman and man pictured on a paddle board on the Regents Canal in London today as people flock to parks and beaches with lockdown measures eased A family cross the River Lea today in London. This week temperatures soared, tempting Britons out of their homes A woman with two Siberian husky dogs paddles in the water at Southend beach during hot and sunny weather in Southend, Essex today Members of the public cool off with a relaxing swim in the River Lea in London today as temperatures soar to 80F A woman applies suncream to another woman's back during hot and sunny weather in Southend, Essex today People enjoying the sun and warm weather in Potters Fields next to Tower Bridge in London this afternoon People frolic in the water as they enjoy the sunshine in a park in East London on May 21 amid sunny weather across Britain Crowds of people walk through Broadway Market in London as people flock to parks and beaches amid soaring temperatures Britons enjoy the hot weather at Whitley Bay beach in Tyneside as people flock to parks and beaches amid the sunshine A man enjoys an ice cream on Southend beach today as a woman sunbathes amid soaring temperatures across the country People enjoy the sunny weather in Clapham Common in south-west London as high temperatures continue ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend The findings are likely to spook Downing Street as Boris Johnson weighs up whether he can go ahead with the next stage of lockdown easing at the start of June. The Prime Minister has long insisted that rules can only be loosened if the rate of transmission of the deadly disease continues to fall. Number 10 is not willing to risk a second wave of coronavirus but today its plans to prevent another outbreak took a massive hit as ministers admitted an NHS coronavirus contact tracing app will not be ready by a June 1 deadline. Security minister James Brokenshire could only say the software, which detects which users have been in contact with people who have tested positive for the disease, will be available nationwide in the 'coming weeks' A group of people enjoy the sweltering heat in London Fields, north east London on May 20, as temperatures rise across the UK Beach-goers queue outside a take away doughnut restaurant on Southend beach as temperatures continue to soar across the country People step outside and take a dip in the cool water in a park in east London as temperatures continue to rise across the country In London, people decided to cool off in the waters of the River Lea on May 21 as temperatures rose to a sweltering 80F in some parts of the UK A group of friends sunbathe in a park in east London as many Britons across the UK found a way around the loosened lockdown measures A woman swings on a tree branch before splashing into the water at a park in east London as many across the UK decided to take advantage of the heat Revellers take a deep in the River Lea in London today despite new figures showing coronavirus is still infecting an estimated 61,000 people a week People enjoy the sweltering heat in a park in east London today as temperatures continue to rise across the country Crowds of people enjoy the sunshine at Southend beach today as the UK begins to see its lockdown restrictions eased A police officer walks past a doughnut stand on Southend beach as Britons across the country were seen flocking to the beach A group of friends enjoy the rising temperatures, which climbed to 80F, by having a splash in the water at a park in east London today A police car is parked on the sea front at Southend beach today as Britons continue to flock to the nation's many outdoor spaces An aerial view of hundreds of people on the beach in Bournemouth today, as many took advantage of lockdown restrictions being loosened to allow sunbathing In cities such as London, people headed to parks in their droves to make the most of the sunny weather today (pictured is St James' Park) Brighton beach was also busy visitors, as temperatures hovered around 75F through the afternoon amid the continuing heatwave Bournemouth was thronging with sun seekers this afternoon as the weather looked set to get cooler and wetter into the weekend Friends socialise on the promenade on May 20, 2020 in Southend, Essex, as the highest temperatures of the year hit the UK Sun-seekers take to the beach at Durdle Door in Dorset despite the social distancing measures still in place across the UK Two people sit on the grass and look out to the view of Lulworth Cove in Dorset as temperatures reach 80F in some parts of the UK Camper vans and cars were seen lining the streets of Woolacombe in Devon today as thousands of Britons made trips to the coast People are pictured camping in Woolacombe as surfers head to the beach with temperatures soaring across the UK and certain lockdown rules still being in place Pictured: A tent in Woolacombe as campers hit the beach amid fears of people gathering in large numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic People are pictured on Southend beach in Essex as lockdown rules ease and the temperatures soar across the country The site of traffic filling up Woolacombe - pictured today - angered locals and led a councillor to declare that the town was 'not open' Sussex Police joined their counterparts in Devon Cornwall today to warn people not to crowd beauty spots like Birling Gap in the east of the county The contact tracing app is viewed as an integral part of the Government's planned 'test, track and trace' programme and experts do not believe the UK can return to normal life without the technology - currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight - being in place. Coronavirus still infecting 61,000 people in England every week The coronavirus is still infecting 61,000 people per week in England, testing data revealed today. The true figure could be as high as 111,000 people every seven days or as low as 29,000, the data shows. Around 0.25 per cent of the population is believed to be infected with the virus right now - around 137,500 people, with a possible range of 85,000 to 208,000 - and experts say the rate of infection is 'relatively stable'. This proportion has dropped by a tiny amount in the past week, from 0.27 per cent last Thursday, according to the Office for National Statistics. The government's statistics body calculated the data using test results from 14,599 people in 7,054 households across the country. Only 35 people tested positive for COVID-19 when they were swabbed between May 4 and May 17. Separate ONS data today revealed infection rates are not higher among health and care workers, despite results of a sample taken at an earlier date and published last week that showed they were six times more likely to be infected. Advertisement But Mr Brokenshire today insisted a functioning contact tracing regime, using the 25,000 contact tracers recruited by the Government, can still be in place by the hard deadline set by Mr Johnson, with plans to bring back schools, shops and businesses hanging in the balance as the economy goes into meltdown. 'We're confident the system will be there, able to track and trace around 10,000 people on 1 June,' he said. NHS bosses have warned the programme, which will require people who have come into contact with someone with coronavirus to self-isolate, is being put together 'very late in the day' and the draconian lockdown cannot be loosened without a 'clear implementation plan'. However, in more positive news for the Government, Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce this evening that NHS and care home staff will get access to coronavirus antibody tests from next week. The tests, previously hailed as a 'game changer' by Mr Johnson, show if someone has had coronavirus and may now have some level of immunity. Staff members who are tested will be monitored by scientists to see whether they fall ill again in order to assess the protection antibodies provide before a potential national roll out. In another day of twists and turns, it emerged: The coronavirus is still infecting an estimated 61,000 people per week in England, the Office of National Statistics said; But the true figure could be as high as 111,000 people every seven days or as low as 29,000, the data shows; Around 0.25 per cent of the population is believed to be infected with the virus right now - around 137,500 people; Proportion has dropped by a tiny amount in the past week, from 0.27 per cent last Thursday, according to the Office for National Statistics; Meanwhile, a study of 90,000 by University College London found less than half of 19- to 30-year-olds are abiding by all the terms of the lockdown; Researchers said there had been a drop off in confidence in the Government since it switched its stance from 'stay at home' to the more ambiguous 'stay alert' on May 10. When Mr Johnson set out his lockdown exit strategy earlier this month he said Britons could now travel to parks and beaches for day trips with members of their household as long as they continue to adhere to social distancing rules. But scenes of tourists flocking to holiday hotspots have sparked a backlash today, with one man saying: 'It's madness, it's like everyone's forgotten about coronavirus.' Today, the MP for Rochford and Southend East and two of Britain's rail operators warned day-trippers to avoid visiting Southend this Bank Holiday weekend. Tory MP James Duddridge said: 'In usual times we would be welcoming visitors with open arms, but we must put the nation's health first and avoid a second peak. 'We owe it to our key workers working over the Bank Holiday weekend to keep public transport free so they can maintain social distancing and get around safely. 'So if you are considering getting on a bus or train to visit Southend, please ask yourself: "Is this journey really necessary?"' Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia's Managing Director, said: 'While it may be tempting to visit some of the great destinations on our network, government advice is to avoid public transport unless it's absolutely essential, to help us keep our trains and stations safe for those who have to use them, such as key workers. 'Anyone who does need to make an essential journey should follow government advice and use a face covering.' Julian Drury, c2c Managing Director, said: 'Even though we're running our full timetable, social distancing means that capacity on our trains remains extremely limited. 'Our staff are working hard to provide a service for people making essential journeys to work, including weekend workers. We cannot be more clear: please do not use c2c for leisure journeys at this time.' Cornwall council told day-trippers 'it is not business as usual' and added: 'The pubs are not open, there's nowhere to stay, go away'. Cllr Rob Nolan, cabinet member for Environment and Business Protection, told MailOnline: 'We are quite anxious in that Cornwall hasn't been affected as much as other places by the coronavirus. We have been quite tough in enforcing restrictions, like closing hotels and closing campsites. Then suddenly the government said people can go out for day trips. 'Fortunately our beaches are fairly long, but the problem is with parking, as there are so many people coming to the area and parking up small roads. We have decided to close the car parks, though we are taking no action on the beaches. NHS and care home staff set to be offered antibody tests NHS and care home staff will get access to coronavirus antibody tests from next week, ministers are expected to announce today. Hundreds of thousands of frontline health workers will be offered the tests, which detect if someone has ever been infected with the disease. The tests scour the blood for antibodies, produced by the immune system in response to COVID-19, which is thought to provide some immunity against reinfection. With most viral infections, the presence of antibodies reduces or removes the risk of reinfection, but this has not yet been proven with coronavirus. Experts say positive tests should not simply be seen as a 'green light' to reduce PPE or other protections for staff. Prime Minister Boris Johnson or Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce the news at Number 10's press briefing tonight, according to the Guardian. Priority will be given to frontline hospital staff in coronavirus specific wards, as well as ICU and A&E departments. These staff members will be monitored by scientists to see whether they fall ill again and paint a clearer picture of the protection antibodies provide. Advertisement 'A major concern is that we do not have any lifeguards at the moment. We are worried about the Bank Holiday weekend and the half-term holidays. It is not business as usual. It is not safe to go into the water. 'As the campsites are closed we have noticed camper vans out all over the place. I am glad to see the police clamping down on them.' Meanwhile, the beach-front at Woolacombe was packed before 9am, with more cars and campervans pouring into the north Devon seaside village by the hour. Mortehoe Parish Council today said that all car parks are currently closed after scores of people rushed to the area yesterday during the heatwave. In a joint statement with Parkin Estates, Woolacombe Sands Holiday Park, Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks and the Woolacombe Bay Hotel, the council said: 'Measures are being investigated to allow visitors and locals to benefit from the sea and open spaces in Woolacombe. Social distancing and personal hygiene remain priorities. 'We are grateful to the Police and Devon County Council for their help and support in dealing with the unprecedented numbers of illegal parking yesterday 'We would love to welcome all visitors back but the changes to the lockdown are limited. It has not been lifted and we still have a long way to go. While this next phase feels significant, it is certainly not a return to normality.' Some visitors had spent the night at the coastal resort, with one surfer relaxing in his camper van this morning while another made himself breakfast. One resident told MailOnline: 'There are even people staying over night. The government has told people they can go for day trips - not stay overnight! These people just don't seem to care about anyone else.' Another resident, a 32-year-old surfer, said: 'Woolacombe is reeling from the aftermath of yesterday and today the beachfront parking is already full. 'The rubbish bins were already full by 9.30 am and people have even left bags of poo outside the public toilets because they are shut! 'The village is closed. The red barn surf bar is closed. But tourists are wandering around the village complaining that everything is closed.' They added: 'It's like they have forgotten we are in the middle of a pandemic! Ruislip lido in London has an artificial beach on its banks, which was busy with locals today enjoying a coastal experience despite being miles away from the sea Sun-bathers in Kensington Gardens in West London, where temperatures hovered around a sweltering 80F this afternoon Sunbathers enjoy the hot weather today at Brighton beach, as people flocked to parks and coastal area after lockdown measures were eased Crowds in Bournemouth soaked up the sun today as dry conditions looked set to continue tomorrow before rain on the weekend Large numbers of people sat in the sun or swam in the water in Southend today, as workers across the UK began to return to work The promenade in Brighton was thronging with visitors today. Scientists believe there is little chance of catching coronavirus outside if people stay six feet apart A takeaway ice cream shop in Southend was doing a steady trade today, although a line was marked on the ground to warn people to keep their distance Two people drink beers while sitting on Southend beach in Essex today, where hundreds of people enjoyed the sun on towels and deckchairs The busy promenade in Southend today, where people took advantage of looser lockdown restrictions allowing people to go outside to sunbathe A family of five were seen camping in a field in Polzeath, Cornwall today. They arrived in a Fiat Ducato motorhome and had with them a range of camping equipment including deck chairs and a table A beachgoer juggles three ice creams as he walks across the sand in Southend today as Britain basked in balmy temperatures A family took to a longboard off Southend beach today while others stayed on land and soaked up the warmth Ministers admit contact tracing app will not be ready by June 1 deadline Ministers today admitted a crucial coronavirus smartphone app will not be ready by June 1 as NHS chiefs warned 'time is running out' to launch a track-and-trace system to avoid a second deadly wave. Security minister James Brokenshire said the software, which detects which users have been in contact with people who test positive for the disease, would be ready in the 'coming weeks'. But he insisted the contact tracing regime can still be in place by the hard deadline set by Boris Johnson, with plans to bring back schools, shops and businesses hanging in the balance as the economy goes into meltdown. The PM has hailed a 25,000-strong army of trackers recruited to identify the contacts of infected victims and prevent outbreaks. Similar schemes have controlled outbreaks in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan. But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation - which represents organisations across the healthcare sector - warned the system was being put together 'very late in the day' and the draconian lockdown cannot be loosened without a 'clear implementation plan'. Although Mr Johnson's determination to launch the tracking system by June 1 was 'very much welcome', he added: 'I think it is being done very late in the day and we really do need to get on with this.' The new app has been tested on the Isle of Wight but its rollout has been delayed for weeks because of security flaws and failure to work on all types of smartphone. Advertisement Cllr Andrea Davis of Devon County Council described yesterday down in Woolacombe as 'very very dangerous' as the beach descended into 'absolute chaos'. Speaking to MailOnline today, she said the council issued over 70 tickets because of illegal parking and pleaded with day-trippers not to sleep in camper vans overnight. 'The police have been going out to people today who were sleeping over here and in Cornwall overnight when they shouldn't have been,' she said. 'Second home owners should not be staying at their second homes, and day-trippers should not be sleeping in camper vans (at night) because these are against the rules. 'I realise that people have been stuck indoors for so long now, but yesterday was absolute chaos and it became very very dangerous. We issued over 70 tickets because people had parked their cars illegally and people were not able to follow social distancing rules. 'The rules are all there to protect everybody. If you don't want a fine, don't go out. The rules are really that simple.' There was anger from locals in the Lizard in Cornwall today that some visitors set up tents and stayed overnight in vans in 'blatant disregard' to public safety. Locals say several tents and vans have been found staying overnight at various spots around the village and nearby Kynance. It included sightings of tents at Pistol Meadow, near the former wireless station and at Pentreath, with vans also seen staying overnight in the National Trust car park for the lighthouse and on land adjoining the Kynance car park. Tourists flouting the rules against staying overnight were given the early-morning wake-up by police in Newquay and sent packing amid growing anger at the 'selfishness' of visitors Officers took direct action against campers this morning after beaches across the UK were packed yesterday - causing chaos on the roads and making social distancing difficult Although police are powerless to stop people travelling to the seaside under current government guidelines, they can use their powers to ensure people don't stay Newquay police said 'we identified some visitors that had travelled to Newquay and stayed overnight against PHE advice and legislation. With engagement, explanation & education they moved on. We love visitors to the town, #comebacklater' A group of men drinking on the promenade by Bournemouth beach, which was packed with thousands of visitors yesterday Janice Thirlaway-Price said many residents were angry at the apparent flouting of government lockdown rules, which continue to ban overnight stays even after the easing of some measures last Wednesday. She said: 'The main thing thing is the blatant disregard of government guidelines and lack of consideration for our community. 'There are no facilities open, so nowhere to go to the toilet for ten miles - Tesco or Sainsbury's - which leads to the dangers of human waste in and around the footpaths local people are using for their daily exercise.' She added that such actions potentially added an extra drain on emergency services and pointed out that beaches were not currently being patrolled, which could cause problems for people unaware of the dangers of currents and tides. 'There is the increased risk of spreading Covid-19 and the impact it will have on Treliske and our local doctors,' she said. 'Various footpaths around the village make it impossible to maintain a two metre distance.' The National Trust said that people should not be staying overnight on National Trust land at any time, and particularly now in light of the coronavirus rules. A spokesperson said: 'People shouldn't be doing that anyway, let alone on National Trust Land, and anyone seeing it should be alerting their local police on 101.' In Brighton, locals complained of camper vans being parked overnight, prompting outrage and disbelief that people are continually flouting lockdown rules. One person said that day-trippers stayed overnight and then rushed down to Brighton seaside this morning, writing on social media: 'Where I parked up in Brighton last night, I had three camper vans behind me & two caravans. 'I went to bed around 12 & they were still there, but woke up this morning and the caravans had gone. All of the said vehicles had children in. 'Looks like they will be heading to the beach, whilst I am working. Surely people aren't that thick, that they don't know the rules.' Images from last night have emerged of large numbers of friends and family members all eating and drinking together well into the evening down on the beach at Bournemouth Images from last night have emerged of large numbers of friends and family members all eating and drinking together well into the evening down on the beach at Bournemouth Police today urged campers not to stay at beauty spots overnight after thousands broke lockdown rules yesterday. Pictured are people drinking into the night on Bournemouth beach yesterday. Two men were seen fighting on the sand and several couples were making out in front of friends on the sand, while others were feeling worse for wear after a day in the sun People drinking into the night on Bournemouth beach. Two men were seen fighting on the sand and several couples were making out in front of friends on the sand, while others were feeling worse for wear after a day in the sun Images from last night have emerged of large numbers of friends and family members all eating and drinking together well into the evening down on the beach at Bournemouth A Brighton local complained of camper vans parked overnight after scores of people rushed to the seaside yesterday Cllr Andrea Davis of Devon County Council, tweeted: 'Please note the car parks in Woolacombe are NOT open, the loos not open, the cafes not open' A camper van was spotted parked up on the side roads around the sandbanks of Poole, Dorset Sandbanks - pictured - is known as one of the most exclusive areas of housing in the country, with residents including pop stars and former footballers People living near coastal resorts on England's south coast, including Sandbanks, (pictured) have been concerned with the sudden increase in crowds Camper vans were seen today parked on side rounds surrounding the exclusive Sandbanks community in Poole, Dorset Brighton and Hove Council pleaded with people not to come to the city because Boris Johnson's eased lockdown rules are 'having an impact quite quickly'. A spokesman told MailOnline that the central part of the beach in Brighton will be cordoned off from the weekend 'for public safety'. They said the government's new guidelines on social distancing, including driving to parks, beaches and beauty spots, were posing a 'challenge'. Cllr Carmen Appich said people are being discouraged from visiting to prevent going 'back to square one' in the coronavirus crisis. The chair of the Tourism, Equalities and Culture Committee told MailOnline 'it is in everyone's best interest' not to visit Brighton amid fears that 'overcrowding... increases the risk of a Covid outbreak and puts everyone at risk'. She explained: 'We do not want to go back to square one and find ourselves having to face more stringent and longer-term measures if coronavirus cases go up. 'We are discouraging people from visiting the city at this time, not because we don't want or value our visitors but because it is in everyone's best interest.' In Nottingham, people walking in Colwick Country Park today complained of an 'appalling amount of rubbish' include two BBQ trays lying near geese and goslings. This morning, Dr Hilary Jones of Good Morning Britain (GMB) slammed lockdown flouters as 'making a mockery' of procedures to stop the spread of coronavirus. He said: 'How, if you test positive for Covid-19, and a contact tracer says 'where have you been in the last few days' and you say 'I was on the beach in Bournemouth or Southend-on-Sea amongst those crowds, who do you know who was next to you? 'You can't possibly trace people, and that's the problem isn't it? 'So when people start flouting social distancing rules, and we go out and lockdown in this kind of way, you can't trace those people.' Meanwhile, authorities in Cumbria have told day-trippers to 'put off' visiting the area at the moment as they say 'the Lake District isn't going anywhere'. A Nottingham local complained of the 'appalling amount of rubbish at Colwick Country Park' this morning Waste was strewn across Britain's parks last night and this morning after Britons flocked to beauty spots for day-drinking One resident complained of picking up trash after rubbish bags full of cans of beers were flung across the park The police kept an eye on people who were drinking most of the afternoon and into the evening, though lots of empty booze bottles were strewn across Wandsworth Common in south-west London after a day of drinking Waste was scattered across parks in London and Nottingham and beaches last night, causing residents to get their hands dirty and move much of the rubbish along People drinking into the night on Wandsworth Common. The police kept an eye on people who were drinking most of the afternoon and into the evening, though lots of empty booze bottles were strewn across the common Cumbria's multi-agency Local Resilience Forum has asked people to 'please show respect, consider the lack of facilities and that overnight stays are not allowed at the moment'. They have warned that the area is 'not quite ready for visitors to return in their usual numbers' ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend and half-term holidays. While the overall number of visitors to Cumbria was low, some 'hotspot' areas in Windermere, Ambleside and Glenridding were busy, as were locations popular with motorcyclists such as Alston and Devil's Bridge at Kirkby Lonsdale. People are being encouraged to avoid these spots if possible to reduce the risk associated with large groups and ensure that social distancing rules can be maintained. Colin Cox, Cumbria's Director of Public Health, said: 'I continue to urge people to keep their Lake District plans on hold as we grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in the county. 'I understand that people may feel their individual visit won't cause a problem, but when thousands of people have the same idea then that has the potential to create genuine issues. Staying at home as much as possible and exercising locally remains my advice.' Chief Constable Michelle Skeer, Lead for the Strategic Coordinating Group within Cumbria's Local Resilience Forum, said: 'It was really good to see that most people followed our advice and postponed their visit last weekend. 'It was much appreciated by all in Cumbria. Our partners are working hard and putting plans in place to get ready for visitors coming back when it's safe to do so, but we are not there yet.' Visitors flock to Durdle Door in Dorset on a scorching day with sunbathers packed together, despite social distancing rules Faye Faybourne, 17 (left), and Daisy Sloane, 16, in Tynemouth yesterday, as people flocked to parks and beaches amid 82F temperatures and eased lockdown restrictions Southend beach was absolutely packed this afternoon as sun-worshipping Britons turned out to soak up the rays on what is predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Met Office Sorrell Vince, 23 (right) from Northampton and Bethany Heatley (left) from Preston enjoying the sun on Cullercoats Beach, Tynemouth yesterday Yesterday, car parks were crammed as sun worshippers visited Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, as parking restrictions were lifted in many areas several days ago, while vehicles clogged up country lanes at a popular tourist spot in Devon and Cornwall Police said traffic was 'exceptionally busy' yesterday, with officers reporting that every set of double yellow lines across a mile stretch of beach had been parked on as several car parks were closed to control numbers. There were reports some traffic wardens had even run out of tickets. Pictures of tourists flocking to beaches and lying close to one another in Southend, Bournemouth, Margate and Brighton sparked backlash, with one man saying: 'It's madness, it's like everyone's forgotten about coronavirus.' Meanwhile, in Wales the government said the country was closed to all holidaymakers - including campers taking advantage of the hot weather. Campsites in the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye would be full this week for the start of the annual literature festival, now being held digitally. One owner said: 'We would be heaving normally but are closed and staying closed until told differently. We had inquiries after Boris seemed to relax things and again now the hot weather has arrived.' The site owner warned holidaymakers that camping is about to get a lot more expensive. 'We will have to bring in extra cleaning staff and we are looking into providing masks,' she said. 'When people are allowed to come here camping again we went them to do so with confidence.' The Met Office is forecasting a change in weather from today which will see temperatures drip a little from the 82F recorded in parts of the country. Nicola Maxey of the Met Office told MailOnline: 'Tomorrow we'll start seeing with this low-pressure system travelling up from the Atlantic some bands of cloud and rain from the west, pushing eastwards across west and north-west Scotland and affecting potentially parts of north-west England. 'But it sort of weakens and fragments as it pushes across country. 'We are going to see showers and isolated thunderstorms possibly in the south-east where it stays warm, which makes the air a little bit unstable and there may be a chance you see the odd thunderstorm.' Roads and car parks were crammed full as parking restrictions were lifted several days ago and thousands of people flocked to Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, on the hottest day of the year so far Residents and tourists enjoy the warm weather hitting Kent as Britain is set for the hottest day of the year so far. Sun seekers flocked to Margate to soak up the rays on Wednesday with surrounding roads packed with cars These three women enjoyed the sun as they lounged with drinks on Primrose Hill in London on Wednesday, with sun-seekers all over the country taking advantage of Boris Johnson's easing of restrictions People soak up the rays at Bournemouth beach in Dorset, as Britons flock to parks and beaches as lockdown is eased Hundreds of people took day trips to Southend as the temperatures hit 27 degrees on Wednesday after parking restrictions were lifted Sunbathers enjoy the hot weather in Hyde Park, London, as easing of the coronavirus lockdown continues. There is a risk of thunderstorms later today in east and south-east England People enjoy the sunshine in Broadway Market, Hackney, north east London on Wednesday, on what was the hottest day of the year so far Broadway Market in Hackney, north east London was packed on Wednesday, as people flocked to parks and shops to enjoy the sunshine Tourists and residents queuing while waiting to get into a Tesco Express at Sandbanks beach in Dorset, appearing not to adhere to social distancing rules and standing closer than 6.5ft (2m) apart People sat close together on a busy Sandbanks beach in Dorset on Wednesday, as beach goers appear to ignore social distancing rules People sunbathe on a beach in Brighton on Wednesday, as lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, allowing unlimited outdoor exercise and activities such as sunbathing A pastor in Maryland ripped up a cease and desist letter in front a congregation of 100 people on Wednesday after he was ordered to stop hosting in-person services during coronavirus lockdowns. Governor Larry Hogan said last week that places of worship could reopen at 50 percent capacity and some of Senior Pastor Stacey Shiflett's 400-member Calvary Baptist Church attended a service last Wednesday. But on Thursday Baltimore Council Executives decided against it on a local level, putting Shiflett in violation of Baltimore County Department of Health and Human Services' rules. Pastor Stacey Shiflett received a threat of a $5,000 fine and he ripped up the order on Wednesday night in front of 100 people at Calvary Baptist Church in Baltimore on Wednesday Baltimore Mayor Jack Young has limited religious and spiritual gatherings to just 10 people in his order extension. On Tuesday Shiflett asked social media followers to pray for him after he received a threat of a $5,000 fine and the following night he returned to the 600-seat church regardless and that he'll keep ignoring local orders. 'With this cease-and-desist letter in my hand, the Bible says to the New Testament church "not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much more as you see the day approaching," and the closer we get to Jesus coming back, the more church we ought to be having, not less church,' he said at a Wednesday church service, before ripping the piece of paper. 'Now that's God's parameters. So I'm tearing up this cease-and-desist order right here, and I'm telling you right now, we're gonna do it God's way! God tells us how to worship Him, nobody else gets to do that.' Shiflett has been vocal about his opposition to the social distancing lockdowns. After communicating with local government he intended to open May 24 if lockdowns hadn't been lifted. But after they were at a state level, he has promoted the usual service schedule which includes children's Sunday School at 10am before the regular hours of 11am to 5pm. Service also includes a 7pm Wednesday session, and a Friday 7pm meeting for Reformers Unanimous Addictions Ministry. In a letter to his congregants, he wrote that they are re-opening 'because I believe God is leading us to do this'. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said last week that places of worship could reopen at 50 percent capacity so Shiflett held a service at Calvary Baptist Church (pictured) last Wednesday 'We just want to go back to church; together; the way God intended. We believe that the CHURCH IS ESSENTIAL and to say otherwise is an offence to Almighty God and to every churchgoer in this state,' the pastor said 'We are not seeking notoriety or publicity. We are not trying to cause trouble,' he explained. 'We just want to go back to church; together; the way God intended. We believe that the CHURCH IS ESSENTIAL and to say otherwise is an offence to Almighty God and to every churchgoer in this state.' He explained that after Baltimore officials decided in opposition of the governor, he didn't have the heart to tell church-goers that they couldn't return just yet. 'I did not have it in me to inform our church that we would NOT be having church on Sunday after I had already announced to them that we would. Proverbs 13:12 says, 'Hope deferred maketh the heart sick' Our hearts have been sick for two months over the closing of our church; I refused to add to that disappointment,' he explained in a letter shared on the church website. 'I have been telling our precious church people for two months (twenty-four church services) that they could not come to church. It killed me inside to do that knowing that they should be there and that they wanted to be there. I can no longer with a clear conscience keep my church members from worshipping together if they desire to do so.' The cease-and-desist letter states that officials do not want to prevent them from free exercise of religious practices and advises video streaming services On Twitter he has also criticized that some small businesses can reopen but massage parlors, nail salons, tanning beds and tattoo shops must remain closed, exclaiming: 'God have mercy!' He has also urged people to stand up for their right to assemble, stating 'governmental overreach can never happen again'. In Maryland there were more than 43,500 coronavirus cases and at least 2,159 deaths as of Thursday. Referencing the First Amendment, he added on the website: 'We do not believe the churches should have ever been shut in the first place. We maintain with strong conviction that the Governor did not have the authority to shut the doors of our church, and neither does the Baltimore County Executive. 'The freedom of religion found within the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Maryland did not become obsolete with the arrival of a virus. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 13:30:17 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 936 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Cannabis Global, Inc. (OTC PINK:MCTC), a cannabinoid and hemp extract science forward company developing infusion and delivery technologies, is excited to announce that its recently introduced Hemp You Can Feel Coffee has been accepted for sale on Amazon.com and that the Company has begun mass manufacturing in preparation for widespread sales and distribution.The products are expected to be available for purchase on the Amazon.com platform in June. The Company will be utilizing its patent-pending coffee dosing system for all related manufacturing.During late January of this year, Cannabis Global announced the filing of a provisional patent on a technology that allows any manufacturer of coffee pods to simply and easily add cannabinoids, vitamins, or other active ingredients to coffee pods. An important element of this invention is the "Clean Label" system utilizing mainly organic ingredients and no chemicals, surfactants or preservatives. The Hemp You Can Feel Coffee product bound for Amazon will be produced on an ultra-high-speed manufacturing line, which will integrate the new dosing system. The Company believes the infusion system makes legacy dosing technologies obsolete in that the new system allows for much more accurate dosing and significantly lower production costs. Thus, the Company believes it will hold a long term cost advantage related to this product category."This is an additional example of how we are moving our IP into products to solve industry issues," commented Arman Tabatabaei, CEO of Cannabis Global. "Dosing single service coffee pods with hemp or other ingredients is a big problem. Incumbent practices are messy, expensive, and unreliable. Our internally developed, patent-pending technology is easy to integrate into production systems and represents a comprehensive solution for all of these issues." Cannabis Global expects its Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products to be unique on Amazon, as the cleanest label product within the hemp coffee category. The hemp infusions utilize the Company's unique dual process that contains no chemicals of any type and pure natural honey bee cannabinoid technology. As the Company finalizes its line of Hemp You Can Feel sweeteners, it plans to move the new set of complimentary coffee products onto the Amazon platform as well.Tabatabaei continued, "While we are very excited to have our Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products debut on Amazon, I cannot overemphasize the significance of having the new dosing system applied to high-speed production lines. It changes the equation for infusion of hemp extracts, vitamins, and nutraceuticals into single-serving coffee pods. We are in discussions with multiple manufacturers at present and believe our technology has the potential to become a new industry standard solution." Last month, the Company announced its Hemp You Can Feel line of sweeteners and coffee creamers. The new product line will feature two low-calorie sweeteners, two organic natural sweeteners, and three powdered non-dairy creamers. Each product will feature the Company's patent-pending Hemp You Can Feel technology, based on all-natural hemp infusions.Cannabis Global Plans to market the new hemp extract sweeteners in conjunction with its Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products.About Cannabis Global, Inc.Cannabis Global, Inc. (OTC PINK:MCTC) is a Nevada registered, fully reporting, and audited publicly-traded company. With the hemp and cannabis industries moving very quickly and with a growing number of market entrants, Cannabis Global plans to concentrate its efforts on the middle portions of the hemp and cannabis value chain. The Company plans to actively pursue R&D programs and productization for exotic cannabinoid isolation, bioenhancement of cannabinoids and polymeric solid nanoparticles and nanofibers for addition into consumer products and for dermal application. The Company was reorganized during June of 2019 and announced its intent to enter the fast-growing cannabis sector. The company is headed and managed by a group of highly experienced cannabis industry pioneers and entrepreneurs.Forward-looking StatementsThis news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate", "seek", intend", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "project", "plan", or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-k, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov For more information, please contact:Arman TabatabaeiIR@ cannabisglobalinc.com +1-(310)-986-4929Related LinksSOURCE: Cannabis Global, Inc. Governors across the country are imposing harsh, sweeping, and often arbitrary statewide edicts on the basis of a COVID-19 emergency. But where did governors get these powers? Were they legitimately created by state legislatures, or are the governors (and local authorities) just dreaming them up as they go along? Over a decade ago in Massachusetts, our pro-family group MassResistance played a big part in limiting the governor's "legal" powers during a pandemic. That successful effort applies to today's situation. And it makes Governor Charlie Baker's power-grab even more disturbing. But this story actually began several decades earlier. The Massachusetts Civil Defense Act of 1950 On August 29, 1949, the USSR successfully detonated its first atomic bomb. Cold War panic ignited across America. There were fears of a Soviet invasion of the United States. The following year, the Massachusetts Legislature reacted by passing the "Civil Defense Act Chapter 639 of the Acts of 1950." The main stated purpose of the law was to give the state government a way to "effectively minimize the damage" from "attack, sabotage, or other hostile action" by "enemies of the United States." The Legislature also included some other categories of disasters that cause physical damage: "disaster or catastrophe resulting from riot or other civil disturbance; or by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural causes." That law gives the governor the power to proclaim a "state of emergency" throughout Massachusetts. During the state of emergency, the governor is given extraordinary powers and can supersede existing statutes if he chooses. Those powers, which are broadly listed in the statute, are quite frightening, and many appear unconstitutional. They are clearly laid out to deal with enemy attacks, riots, etc. For example, cooperation with military and naval forces is described. Nothing in the law addresses or implies public health concerns or pandemics. The "Pandemic Control Bill" of 2009 is filed Fast-forward nearly 60 years to 2009. There had been recent warnings in the medical community that an H1N1 swine flu epidemic would emerge that year and spread widely. The Mass. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) wanted to be able to declare a medical emergency and use extraordinary state powers to deal with it. But it was clear to everyone that the Civil Defense Act of 1950 does not include "public health" emergencies. Another statute, MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A, does allow the governor to declare a "public health emergency" but the powers it gives the state are very limited. The statute only allows the commissioner of public health to establish vague "procedures" for those maintaining public health services. So the DPH worked with the medical lobby and a prominent state senator (who had close ties to the pharmaceutical industry) to create a far-reaching "Pandemic Control Bill" on a par with the Civil Defense Act. Bill S2028, titled "An Act Relative to Pandemic and Disaster Preparation and Response in the Commonwealth," was quietly filed in early 2009. For months, it sailed under the radar. That April, it was passed by the state Senate unanimously. MassResistance read the bill and reacted... Within a few months, Amy Contrada, our MassResistance researcher, noticed that this oddly titled bill had been gaining unusual momentum. When she looked it up and read it, she was shocked. The bill rewrote and powerfully strengthened MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A (referenced above). It reiterated that the governor could declare a "public health emergency" separate from the emergencies enumerated in the Civil Defense Act. Similar to the Civil Defense Act, it included a long list of broad (and clearly over-the-top and unconstitutional) powers that the governor could use to deal with that emergency. Among other things, this draconian bill would have given the state the power to enter and search houses, take property, detain people, prohibit assemblies of people, require vaccinations, and much more and it set penalties for non-compliance at $1,000 per day plus jail time. Some people were calling this the "Storm Trooper Bill" because of the frightening extra-constitutional powers it would give the state against citizens. MassResistance published a full report on the dangers of the radical pandemic control bill. We also published a line-by-line analysis of the text of the bill. In addition, we reported how the DPH commissioner admitted in his testimony that the medical establishment and those close to "Big Pharma helped write the bill. ...and we successfully battled to stop it! As the Massachusetts House of Representatives was preparing to take up Bill S2028, we got right to work. MassResistance mobilized hundreds of people across the state to demand that their state reps reject the bill. MassResistance also began a national media campaign about the bill to inform people. It was quite successful. Judge Andrew Napolitano did a segment on national Fox News about S2028. (Unfortunately, the video of that segment is no longer posted.) National conservative media such as WorldNetDaily also covered it. The Massachusetts DPH reacted to MassResistance's activism by staging its own intensive House lobbying campaign to get S2026 passed. Here's our report on the hardcore DPH lobbying efforts. But the public outrage was clearly rattling the House members. So on Oct. 8, 2009, the Democrat House leadership decided to fast-track it through. They brought it to the floor, renamed it H4275, and quickly added 17 amendments (which no one had time to read). Then the House passed it by 133-36. Here's the MassResistance report on the new version, H4275. But the fight wasn't over yet. Since the House version was now different from the version that the Senate had passed, the bill went to a six-member conference committee to create a compromise version, which would be re-voted by both branches and sent to the governor for signing. The bill's proponents were jubilant. When a bill is sent to conference committee, the whole process generally takes just a few days to resolve, get passed again by both branches, and then sent to the governor. But not this time! MassResistance intensified the pressure on the six-member conference committee. Even more angry people got involved! As a result, the bill stalled. Weeks and weeks passed. On Dec. 31, 2009, the legislative session ended. The bill was dead. And in the years since then, it has never come back. We had won! And although the swine flu pandemic of 2009 was worse than the normal flu season, it was nowhere near the "public health emergency" that had been predicted by the Mass. DPH. No extra-legal measures were needed to deal with it. Mass. governor now using 1950 Civil Defense Act to grab power So where did Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker get his "legal" power to close the schools, close most businesses (and arbitrarily decide which ones may be open), close all churches, ban all groups of people and assemblies, order all citizens to "social distance," require everyone to wear masks in public, and much more? He has no legal authority for any of this. It's all counterfeit. There is no actual "Pandemic Control Law" to use, so Baker is dishonestly relying on the old Civil Defense Act. If you look at any of his executive orders on the COVID-19, they reference the two laws described above the Civil Defense Act of 1950 and MGL Ch 17 Sec 2A (which is still very weak). As described above and as the Legislature noted in 2009 the Civil Defense Act does not include "public health" emergencies. And although the Civil Defense Act has a lot of extra-constitutional features, it does not allow the governor to close churches, close schools, or issue many of the other orders that Baker has so cavalierly dictated. And how has the Massachusetts Legislature reacted? Its members largely support Baker's actions, and many legislators have even encouraged him to go farther. It is worth noting here what really struck us back in 2009, when MassResistance activists were working to persuade the Legislature to reject that pandemic control bill: not a single legislator cared at all about its constitutional problems. Their mindset then (and now) was not to protect people's liberties, but the exact opposite to do whatever they can get away with. To them, the Constitution is something read in high school civics class but not something to seriously consider as government officials. They are instead swayed by the heavy hand of the legislative leadership, powerful special interests, or large numbers of angry constituents. It's a sad lesson that many conservatives still need to learn. So now we are seeing lawless orders across the U.S., which shockingly large numbers of citizens seem content with. Too few are taking the time to understand what is really happening and challenge their officials. Let's remember Benjamin Franklin's observation: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." The nation's acquiescence will surely come back to haunt us. Brian Camenker is director of MassResistance, which has state and local chapters across the country. He has been a pro-family activist for over 25 years. Image: Rappaport Center via Flickr. By Glenn Harvey 2020 The New York Times Restricted to our homes for months now, many of us have been putting up with a persistent annoyance: a lousy internet connection. When we are working, a video call with colleagues becomes pixelated, with delayed audio. When we are relaxing, movies and video games take ages to download. In the worst cases, the connection drops altogether. As people have hunkered down to contain the spread of the coronavirus, average internet speeds all over the world have slowed. Some broadband providers are feeling crushed by the heavy traffic. And dated internet equipment can create a bottleneck for our speeds. Even the most tech savvy are affected. Keerti Melkote, founder of Aruba Networks, a division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise that offers Wi-Fi products for businesses, said that in recent weeks, his DSL service from AT&T had dropped periodically. He waited several days for a technician to arrive and is now contemplating subscribing to Comcast for a second internet connection. I had three or four days of calls, and I had to go find a particular spot in my house where I had better coverage, Melkote said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show At the beginning of the pandemic, my internet also became unbearably slow and suffered several outages. So I asked experts to explain whats causing our internet problems and the different remedies. First, diagnose the problem. Whats causing your slow speeds your internet provider or your equipment at home? Heres a method to figuring that out. > Download an internet speed test app on your phone, like Speedtest by Ookla (free for iPhones and Android phones). > Stand near your router and use the app to run a speed test. > Move to a room farther away from the router and run the speed test again. > Compare the results. Less than 15 megabits a second is pretty slow. Speeds of about 25 megabits a second are sufficient for streaming high-definition video; more than 40 megabits a second is ideal for streaming lots of video and playing video games. If the speed test results were fast near your Wi-Fi router but slow farther away, the problem is probably your router, said Sanjay Noronha, the product lead of Googles Nest Wifi internet router. If speeds were slow in both test locations, the issue is probably your internet provider. If its your router, heres what to do. If you have pinpointed that the problem is your router, the bad news is that you may have to buy new equipment. The good news is that there are many approaches to improving your Wi-Fi connection. Start by asking yourself these questions: How old is my router? If its more than five years old, you should definitely replace it. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission removed restrictions that had limited the wireless transmission power of Wi-Fi routers, allowing new routers to be 20 times more powerful than they were before. Upgrading to a newer router will probably be one of your most life-changing tech purchases. Where is my router placed? Ideally, your router should be in a central location in your home so that the signal covers as many rooms as possible. In addition, your router should be out in the open, like on top of a shelf, not hidden inside cabinets or under a desk, to beam a clear signal. You should also avoid placing the router near objects and materials that cause interference, like large fish tanks and metal. How big is my home? If you have a home with multiple stories and lots of rooms, and your Wi-Fi is weak in some areas, the best solution is to buy a so-called mesh network system. Its a system of multiple Wi-Fi access points, including a main router and satellite hubs, that lets you connect multiple wireless access points together to blanket your home with a strong internet connection. My favorite mesh systems are Google Wifi and Amazons Eero, which start at $99 for a single router and can be bundled with additional access points. In general, I recommend mesh systems even for smaller homes, because they are fast and very easy to install. Are my other devices slowing down my connection? Gadgets with slower internet technology can slow down speeds for all your other devices. For example, the iPhone 5 from 2012 uses an older-generation Wi-Fi standard. Newer iPhones, from 2014 and later, use a faster wireless standard. Lets say you own a new iPhone and your teenager owns the iPhone 5. If your teenager begins downloading a video on the iPhone 5 and then you start downloading something on your iPhone, the older phone will take longer to finish before the signal frees up for your phone to download at maximum speed. As a remedy, many modern Wi-Fi routers offer settings that can give specific devices a priority for faster speeds. Consult your routers instruction manual for the steps. In this hypothetical example, you would want to give your new iPhone top priority and move your teenagers old iPhone to the bottom. Are my neighbors slowing down my connection? In apartment buildings crowded with gadgets, the devices signals are fighting for room on the same radio channels. You can see what radio channels your neighbors devices are using with scanning apps like WiFi Analyzer. Then consult your routers instruction manual for steps on picking a clearer radio channel. This step is tedious, and many modern routers automatically choose the clearest radio channel for you. In general, replacing an outdated router is the most practical solution. If its your service provider, theres not much to do. If you have determined that your internet providers service is the root of the issue, your only option is to call your internet service provider and ask for help. When you call, ask a support agent these questions: Why are my speeds slow? Occasionally a support agent can analyze your internet performance and make changes to speed up your connection. This rarely happens, and more often a technician will need to pay a visit. Does my modem need to be replaced? The modem, which is the box that connects your home to the internet providers service, also can become outdated and occasionally needs to be replaced. If the support agent confirms the modem is old, you can schedule an appointment for a technician to install a new one. Or you can buy your own modem and call the internet provider to activate it. Wirecutter, The New York Times sister publication that tests products, recommends modems from Motorola and Netgear, which cost about $80 to $90. Can I buy faster speeds? Your provider may offer packages with more bandwidth meant for higher-quality video streaming and faster downloads. Ask about your options. As a last resort, you can turn to backups. Many modern phones come with a hot spot feature, which turns the devices cellular connection into a miniature Wi-Fi network. (Apple and Google list steps on their websites on how to use the hot spot feature on iPhones and Androids.) Whatever you do, be patient. In these trying times, everything takes longer. As for me, I confirmed my slow speeds were related to my internet provider, Monkeybrains. I called to report the issue, and after more than a month, a technician replaced the antenna on our roof. Now my speeds are even faster than before the pandemic, so it was well worth the wait. c.2020 The New York Times Company Arlington National Cemetery: The grounds in Virginia will be open to family-pass holders only during Memorial Day weekend. Visitors must wear face coverings at all times and maintain six-foot distancing. Throughout the weekend, the cemetery will produce multimedia virtual presentations on its website or social media. Memorial Day Flowers Foundation: Donate to the Memorial Day Flowers Foundation to pay tribute by helping place a flower on the graves of fallen heroes. The organization lists local cemeteries, which it encourages the public to support. National Memorial Day Concert: The concert will feature musical performances, documentary footage and readings that honor military service. The live broadcast will be on PBS and on display for troops around the world on the American Forces Network on Sunday, May 24, from 8-9:30 p.m. ET. National Memorial Day Parade: An original television special featuring celebrity engagements, narrative pieces and memorable moments from the National Memorial Day Parade will air Monday, May 25, at 2 p.m. ET on various broadcast networks and the American Forces Network. See the full list of broadcast times and channels. National Veterans Memorial and Museum Virtual Run/Walk: The Ohio museum is hosting virtual 1-mile, 5k and 10k runs or walks in honor of the lives lost during military service. Registration is open through Memorial Day and a portion of each entry fee will benefit the museum. StoryCorps Military Voice Initiative: The platform provides veterans, service members and military families a place to share their stories. The goal is to honor their voices and amplify their experiences for the nation to listen. Previously recorded interviews are also available on their web page. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors: TAPS is providing a variety of programming online including informative sessions, family programming and special guests scheduled through Memorial weekend. Veteran Affairs Cemeteries: VA cemeteries will be open for public visitation on Memorial Day. However, wreath-laying ceremonies, accompanied by a moment of silence and the playing of Taps, will not be open to the public. Online tributes can be made at the Veterans Legacy Memorial; a page exists for each veteran and service member interred in a VA national cemetery. Veterans of Foreign Wars Flags: Ace Hardware, in collaboration with the VFW, is giving out 1 million American flags nationwide on Saturday, May 23. Customers who visit a participating store will receive a free flag while a second flag will be donated to a local VFW Post to be used for marking veteran graves on Memorial Day. Virtual Tours of U.S. Veterans and War Memorials: Since most travel has been put on pause, Google Arts and Culture has compiled a virtual tour of our nation's most recognized memorials in Washington, D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Commemoration: On Memorial Day, the organization will host a virtual commemoration from 1-2 p.m. ET. Until then, the public is being asked to write a personal message to share about who they will be remembering this Memorial Day. Video messages can also be recorded and shared. On Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. ET, the annual Remembrance Ceremony on Facebook featuring special messages and remarks will take place. India on Thursday said China was hindering normal patrols by its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly rejected Beijing's allegations that Indian forces trespassed into the Chinese side. The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities have been carried out on its side of the border and that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security. Several areas in Ladakh and North Sikkim witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese in the last few days, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. On Tuesday, China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an 'attempt to unilaterally change the status' of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. He said all Indian activities were entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. "In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management," Srivastava said. "At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC," he said. Without elaborating, the MEA spokesperson said both sides were engaged to address any immediate issue. "The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues," he said. In the midst of the escalating tension between the two ides, the United States on Wednesday said the latest border dispute in Ladakh was a reminder of the threat posed by China. China on Thursday dismissed as 'nonsense' the comments by Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department. It is learnt that local commanders of both the sides held at least three meetings in the last couple of days to bring down the tension but there was no positive outcome from the exchanges. Sources said a top official in the government was in touch with Beijing as both sides were attempting to resolve the issue. "In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. "This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," said Srivastava. Sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan Valley and even brought in sizable number of additional boats to the lake. The two sides also have brought in additional troops to locations like Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie, the sources said The sources said the Chinese side has erected at least 40-50 tents in the Galwan Valley area following which India has also sent reinforcements to keep a hawk-eye vigil in the area. The sources said the Chinese side had taken strong exception to India undertaking construction of key road around the Galwan river. India maintains that the area where the road and a bridge were being constructed belonged to the Indian side. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of J-K, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue 'strategic guidance' to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. Registered users of over 5 million from over 200 countries or regions Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Hello Pal International Inc. (CSE: HP) (FSE: 27H) (OTC Pink: HLLPF) ("Hello Pal" or the "Company"), a provider of rapidly growing international social messaging, language learning and travel mobile apps, is pleased to announce that it achieved record receipts in April 2020 as set forth below: Livestreaming Service Hello Pal's livestreaming service achieved record receipts of approximately $640,000*, being an increase of 42.8% above the receipts received in March 2020. The livestreaming service continues to be active with over 10,000 daily active users. Hello Pal has experienced robust grown in five months with receipts increasing from $100,000*, in November 2019, to the above mentioned $640,000*, in April 2020. This shows that Hello Pal has successfully monetized its user base without any unwanted advertising or marketing. Strong Registered User Base As of the date of the news release, Hello Pal's registered user base is over 5 million users from over 200 countries and regions. The positive increase in registered users continues to be driven by our livestream service. ------ To download Hello Pal, Language Pal, Travel Pal or the proprietary Phrasebooks please visit the IOS or Android store. For information with respect to the Company or the contents of this news release, please contact the Company at (604) 683-0911 or visit the website at hellopal.com. Email inquiries can be directed to: investors@hellopal.com. About the Hello Pal Platform The Hello Pal Platform is a proprietary suite of mobile applications built on a user-friendly messaging interface that focus on social interaction, language learning and travel. Hello Pal, has been designed from the ground up to be easy to use and enables users' the freedom to speak in their own language regardless of the other person's language they are speaking to. Hello Pal's overriding mission is to bring the world closer together through social interaction, language learning and travel. By creating a platform where it is easy to instantly interact with others around the world and giving them the tools to communicate with each other in a joyful and fun way, we hope to do our part (however small) in fostering understanding and tolerance between all citizens of the world. The Hello Pal platform also includes a proprietary digital wallet allowing users to store and transfer popular digital assets and tokens, including Bitcoin and Ether, based on blockchain technology. Hello Pal, was the first app released to the public and experienced rapid growth building a diverse and active global user base. Travel Pal and Language Pal are the first and second companion apps to launch. Both apps benefit immensely from the existing and ever expanding globally based group of users. Each new app will launch with this established rapidly growing user base accelerating their adoption. Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. Hello Pal cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Hello Pal's control. Such risks and uncertainties are described in Hello Pal's Listing Statement dated May 10, 2016 available on www.thecse.com. Although Hello Pal is currently generating revenues, Hello Pal remains in the growth stage and such revenues are yet to be profitable. Accordingly, actual, and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Hello Pal undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. *Non-IFRS Financial Measure Readers are cautioned that "receipts" is a measure not recognized under IFRS. Total receipts includes the amount of cash received by the Company and its agents from the use of the Hello Pal app. Under IFRS, total receipts may be higher than revenue as a portion of the revenue is received by agents of Hello Pal. However, the Company's management believes that "receipts" provides investors with insight into management's decision-making process because management uses this measure to run the business and make financial, strategic and operating decisions. Further, "receipts" also provides useful insight into the operating performance of the Hello Pal app. "Receipts" does not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Readers are cautioned that "receipts" are not an alternative to measures determined in accordance with IFRS and should not, on their own, be construed as indicators of performance, cash flow or profitability. THE CSE HAS NEITHER APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56244 Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:42:06|Editor: yhy Video Player Close The third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Tao) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisory body started its annual session Thursday afternoon in Beijing. Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held at the Great Hall of the People. All attendees of the meeting paid a silent tribute to martyrs who died fighting COVID-19 and compatriots who lost their lives in the epidemic. At the meeting, the agenda for the session was reviewed and approved. Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee to the session. Enditem Krishnaraj Iyengar By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Ever wondered what sar pe laal topi rusi referred to in the famous Raj Kapoor number mera joota hai japani? It was to denote the mark the Ottoman Empire made on Russian history with its famous red Turkish Cap! While some call it the Fez, some, the Turkish Hat, the Hyderabadis with a sense of pride, boast about the Rumi topi as the symbol of the gilt edge tehzeeb. The name literally means Roman Headdress. The Rumi topi was once a sign of aristocracy and nobility. It is said that Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad who was of short stature, would wear the Rumi topi to look taller especially in front of the British guests. The Fez was also once known as a military headgear of the Ottoman Empire. Known to the Arabs as Tarboush, the pretty maroon rectangular or often conical cap with a long black tassel dangling from the centre is sadly out of fashion in Turkey except for touristy shops selling modern versions or fancy ice-cream vendors wearing it as a selfie-magnet. In Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon and Syria too, the trend is dying out. In India however, Hyderabad sees the maroon cap making a comeback, especially during Eid. After the Ottoman Empire broke up, this cap made its way to many regions of the world including Hyderabad. After all, many of the Nizams princes were of Turkish descent and in Telangana, the word for Muslim in Telugu has incidentally been Turklu or Turk since the Turkish cap was a part of the local Muslim attire, explains Mohammad Ilyas Bukhari of the 100-plus years old Mohammad Cap Mart in the heart of Charminar, Hyderabad, the citys most noted cap merchants, who still receive visits from the Nizams descendants. According to Bukhari, for a male, tilting the Rumi Topi towards the right and letting the tassel or phudna dangle signifies that he is unmarried. If the cap is worn straight, its a sign of a shareef aadmi, but if tilted to the left, it means he is a tapori ( riffraff)! he laughs. He says that although the Rumi topi had disappeared, it is now returning in the fashion world, becoming quite popular with Hyderabadi youngsters, NRIs and even foreigners visiting the city, and buying these as souvenirs. This is mostly a munaasabaat ki topi ( cap for special occasions). While the common man does not generally walk around the streets wearing it, we get hoards of young people and the elderly alike buying it regularly for nikaahs, Eid, wedding celebrations and even for New Years eve and birthday parties, Bukhari adds. This cap is considered a symbol of Hyderabadi heritage as well as a universal fashion statement. It even takes many millennials back to their roots. It has nothing to do with religion or any one community anymore. Its viewed more as a fashion statement, a unique headgear and a piece of history. It was a part of my grandfathers and great grandfathers dress code. During my nikaah a few years ago, most of my Hindu friends wore Rumi topis and that was truly heartwarming! reminisces Aslam Shaikh, 32. Bollywood, too, has had its share of the caps magic. The Lata Mangeshkar number Asa Rumi Topi Wale from the film Henna ( 1991) has the cap adding an oomph factor to the young Zeba Bakhtiar and charm to actor Rishi Kapoor. But many cap merchants feel that the trend is strictly limited to occasions alone. Our orders are limited to Eid only when kids and youngsters lap it up for namaaz and the proceeding celebrations, laments Mohammad Ismail of Saharan Cap Mart, Hyderabad. On the other hand, Vishesh Talreja, a young Mumbai-based estate agent feels that the topi has spread its magic even to other Indian cities. In the Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai, he bought one for as less as `120. He shares, I saw a large group of theatre artistes leaving with red and green versions of the cap for a skit. This cap is considered a symbol of Hyderabadi heritage as well as a universal fashion statement. It takes many millennials back to roots Latest News First major rate move of 2022 as ANZ cuts variable Despite expectations that rates will rise, the first big move of the year is a cut 70% of Aussies pessimistic about their chances of getting on the property ladder Mortgage franchise giant releases data suggesting that Aussie Dream is out of reach for young people Pepper Money is celebrating twelve months since it launched in New Zealand and received its first home loan application, and says it has received a warm welcome from the industry, advisers and their clients. Commenting on some of Pepper Moneys achievements over the past year, New Zealand country head Aaron Milburn noted that it has delivered a simple, personalised approach to home loan applications, quick turnaround times and a fast growing team. He says Pepper Money has achieved its targets for its first year, and he is particularly proud of the number of New Zealand families that it has managed to help into their own homes. Weve celebrated not only launching in New Zealand, but also the number of people that weve helped, said Milburn. We recently talked through some of the case studies of families that weve managed to help, and weve had advisers calling us saying Ive just let the customer know that theyre approved, and theyre in tears because no one else would help them. They appreciate that were a breath of fresh air, and the way that weve changed the non-bank landscape. Milburn says that despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation and the various support measures it has put into place, its strategy for the coming twelve months will remain the same. Well continue our growth across the country in a considered manner, and weve made a number of recent appointments both in the South and North Island and the Bay of Plenty, he said. Well still work to that business plan of a New Zealand entry, and were on track to deliver the goals that we set for ourselves at the start. Thats only because of the loyalty and reception that weve had from the industry here weve been welcomed in, and theyre very pleased that the Kiwi management team is helping Kiwis with money reinvested back into New Zealand, not sent offshore, he added. All of that put together has enabled us to get a really good foothold in the market, and were going to build on that. The scene around Main and State Streets in downtown Doylestown, Pa., on May 11, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Read more An additional 2.4 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week, according to federal figures released Thursday, bringing the nine-week tally to 38.6 million since the coronavirus crisis crippled the U.S. economy. The weekly count of new claims in Pennsylvania and New Jersey fell for the seventh straight week but both were still well above pre-pandemic levels. In total, almost 1.85 million Pennsylvania workers have now submitted jobless claims as of May 16, or 28% of the workforce, according to federal data. And in New Jersey, nearly 1.1 million workers have sought unemployment benefits, or 24% of the workforce. The number of new claims nationwide continued its steady decline since peaking at 6.9 million the week ending March 28, but was still at a high level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. New claims were down 249,000 last week from the almost 2.7 million filed the week ending May 9. The continued massive number of new unemployment claims raises the possibility that new private and public sector cutbacks may be creating a major barrier to stopping the labor market bleeding," said Joel Naroff, president and founder of Naroff Economic Advisors in Bucks County. As it happens, Naroff himself recently filed for unemployment. The latest jobless claims come as states start to lift restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected over 1.5 million Americans and killed more than 93,000 so far. Because tens of millions of Americans out of work, state governments are under rising pressure to ease restrictions on businesses. And with the unemployment rate at its highest since the Great Depression, some Americans are struggling to pay rent and put food on the table, a new census survey showed. Pennsylvania has put 37 of its 67 counties in the first, or yellow, phase of reduced restrictions, allowing retailers to operate at limited capacity and letting businesses call employees back to work if they cant operate remotely. New Jersey is in its first stage of recovery, where retail stores with curbside delivery and nonessential construction can resume. READ MORE: Youre working from home now. You qualify for a home-office tax deduction, right? Not so fast. In the week ending May 16, 64,078 Pennsylvanians filed new unemployment benefit claims, while 41,323 workers filed for assistance in New Jersey. New Jersey saw one of the biggest drops in new claims, which were down 28,366 from the week before. And Pennsylvania reported another decline in the number of continuing claims for unemployment benefits, down 33,509 to 1,015,955 for the week ending May 9. That could mean early claimants are now returning to work, especially in counties where businesses are reopening, said Susan Dickinson, director of the states Office of Unemployment Compensation Benefits Policy. New Jersey saw a steeper drop in ongoing claimants, shedding 113,470 in one week to 601,963. Like other state agencies, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) has been overwhelmed with the unprecedented wave of jobless claims. On Monday, the department said it has made 15.7 million payments totaling $7.9 billion in benefits since March 15. It launched a Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program this week to provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits to people who exhaust their regular unemployment compensation. On top of that, the department is combating fraud. In an interview Tuesday, Dickinson said state auditors are catching fraudulent claims. With so many more jobless claims due to the pandemic, there is simply going to be more fraud, she noted. Its a widespread problem that, fortunately, we have a lot of good support when it comes to our association and other states, and it gives us different techniques and different things that we can look for, she said. The U.S. Secret Service warned this week that criminals are targeting state unemployment insurance program funds. Crooks use stolen identities to file fraudulent unemployment claims, then recruit unsuspecting people to launder the funds, a Secret Service spokesperson said. Washington state has been particularly hard hit by the scam, according to news reports. The Secret Service spokesperson did not say whether scammers have targeted Pennsylvania or New Jersey. During a news conference Monday, L&I Secretary W. Gerard Oleksiak said his department is aware of the scam but have not had any issues with it. Even as more states come out of lockdowns, Americans are worried about their jobs and health, especially in the absence of a vaccine to fight the virus. Almost half (47%) of Americans interviewed by the U.S. Census Bureau either lost employment income or had an adult in their household who has earned less since March 13. The survey of more than 74,000 Americans between April 23 and May 5 found that 10% of adults didnt get enough food sometimes or often, and almost 11% couldnt pay rent or the mortgage. Nearly 30% of respondents said they felt anxious or nervous more than half the days last week or nearly every day. Meanwhile, some in the Philadelphia region still have issues getting unemployment benefits. ASK US: Do you have a question about the coronavirus and how it affects your health, work and life? Ask our reporters. Naroff, the Bucks County-based economist, said he filed for unemployment after his business dried up. On Monday, he received three calls from a blocked number and assumed they were spam calls. It turned out they were from the Pennsylvania unemployment office, which left a message asking for additional information on his claim. The message included a general contact number that Narroff said he tried 200 times before giving up. Most people tend not to answer something thats a private call, blocked ID, no caller ID, something like that, Naroff said. You assume its a junk call, and you dont tend to answer that. Dickinson, the state official, said that staffers "cant just be calling people with their personal phone number. Theyll have people calling them forever and ever. In Haddonfield, Ryan Nagle filed a claim in late March after being laid off at an Old City restaurant, but he is still waiting for a PIN number and financial determination letter from the Pennsylvania unemployment office. Hes requested new PIN numbers twice and said he hasnt been able to get anywhere through emails and phone calls. In the meantime, Nagle, 38, has depleted his savings to survive, money that was meant for a wedding and a new apartment. Im down to like 100 bucks, Nagle said. Im exploring low-interest personal loans just to stay afloat at this point. Staff writer Chris A. Williams contributed to this article. Two men were arrested in Massachusetts today for allegedly helping former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn make his infamous escape from Japan to his home country of Lebanon. Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret, and Peter Taylor, 27, are awaiting extradition to Japan. Authorities there say the father and son helped the automobile executive flee while he was on bail awaiting trial for financial crimes, according to a Department of Justice spokeswoman. According to the information provided by the government of Japan, Michael and Peter Taylor have been charged with enabling the escape of Carlos Ghosn," the spokeswoman told Al-Monitor. Ghosn served as Nissan's CEO from 2001-2017 and as the company's chairman from 2001-2018. He was arrested in 2018 in Japan for alleged financial misconduct, which he denies. In April 2019, he was released on bail. He then fled to Lebanon by way of a flight to Istanbul in a subsequently highly publicized escape at the end of last year. The Taylors flew to Japan in December, met with Ghosn and helped facilitate his escape, court documents allege. Peter Taylor flew to Japan three times in 2019 to meet with Ghosn. Michael Taylor arrived in December with another man carrying two large black boxes and told airport staff they were musicians. The three then left a Tokyo hotel room together, according to the court documents. The attorney the Department of Justice said is representing the Taylors did not immediately respond to Al-Monitor's request for comment. The two appeared in court today via videoconference and remain detained, the department spokeswoman said. The United States and Japan have an extradition treaty and Japan asked the United States to arrest the two, the documents said. Ghosns journey has received considerable media attention. Turkey charged seven people this month with crimes related to facilitating his escape. Ghosns presence in Lebanon has also been controversial due to a 2008 business visit to Israel. Visiting the Jewish state is a crime in Lebanon, and Ghosn has apologized for having gone there. Photo: Contributed In my report last week, I referenced media reports on public servants being directed to ignore potential cases of fraud for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). It had been reported that potentially 200,000 CERB applications have already been red-flagged as possibly fraudulent because of dubious claims of past employment income and other factors. Since my report, it's been additionally reported that even the CERB applications where applicants clearly did not meet the eligibility requirements, public servants have been instructed to ignore those facts and ensure the payments are processed regardless. The Liberal governments response to these concerns has been to suggest that applications cannot be scrutinized in a timely manner and that all fraudulent claims will be clawed back. Unfortunately, this response from the prime minister fails to recognize that public servants actively discovered these issues of non-compliance and in turn shared them with media organizations after having been told to ignore them. In other words, it is possible to have integrity screening at the same time CERB applications are being processed. The prime minister has made the political decision to ignore potential cases of fraud. Why does this matter? For every program this government has created, it has also created an eligibility criteria. This process often results in some people not meeting that criteria and potentially falling through the cracks. That is why it has been important for the government and opposition to work together to identify these areas so they can be addressed. Fortunately because of that work, many of these cracks have been filled. To ignore fraud will put some Canadians into a situation where the funds they received, but were not entitled to, will be clawed back. This could happen at a future date where they might not have these funds available. This can result in other benefit support payments being garnisheed, creating a new level of hardship. In the case of CERB, there are now close to eight million people collecting this $2,000 monthly benefit. The most recent Statistics Canada labour-force survey showed that roughly three million people had become unemployed. It was further reported that another 2.5 million people were working less than half their normal hours because of the COVID-19 lockdown. This is a total of 5.5 million people who, based on the Liberal governments CERB eligibility criteria, would potentially be eligible for the benefit. With close to eight million people now collecting the CERB benefit, there is a considerable debate on why these numbers do not more closely reconcile. Meanwhile our federal auditor general is reported as stating that a lack of government funding has created significant technological, cyber security and staffing issues for the office, hampering his ability to fulfill his mandate. The office of the auditor general has requested additional funding of $10.8 million from the yet to be delivered 2020-21 federal budget. My question this week: Do you believe there is enough fiscal oversight on how your tax dollars are being spent during this pandemic? I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711. The incident involving an active shooter at a Texas naval air station was "terrorism-related," an FBI official said on Thursday, making it the second Navy installation to experience an attack in less than six months. The gunman who prompted Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to be locked down early Thursday morning is dead, Leah Greeves, the supervisory senior resident agent for Corpus Christi FBI, said at a press conference. Read Next: Pensacola Shooter Radicalized Years Before Terror Attack on Navy Base, FBI Says A second "potential person of interest" may still be at large in the community, she added, while urging the public to remain calm. "If you see something, say something," Greeves added. One sailor with the air station's security forces sustained minor injuries during the incident, which began around 6:45 a.m. That sailor, according to Navy officials, has since been released from a local hospital. State, local and federal law enforcement agents are still investigating the situation, which Greeves called "fluid and evolving." She declined to provide any additional details on the shooting, citing the ongoing probe. "But I assure you that you have an absolutely awesome brotherhood of law enforcement working together, because the safety of Corpus Christi is paramount to each of us," Greeves said. This is the second terror-related incident and the third shooting at Navy installations in less than six months. In December, a Saudi officer, whom the FBI determined had ties to a terror group, opened fire on a classroom building at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The gunman was training there as an international military student. Three sailors were killed in that attack and eight other people were injured. Days prior, a sailor shot and killed two people and injured a third at a naval shipyard in Hawaii. The attack in Pensacola has led to a host of new rules for foreign troops training on U.S. military installations. The Navy and Marine Corps have now barred students training on their facilities from carrying or owning personal weapons. The students also have faced new restrictions on moving between U.S. military bases. Jonathan Hoffman, a Pentagon spokesman, said base security has been ramped up in recent years in the wake of other shootings and attempted breaches. "I can't speak specifically for Corpus Christi as a base because I'm not in the loop as much on each individual base's security measures, but overall we have put in additional security measures at our bases in recent history," he said. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: 1 Sailor Injured, Active Shooter 'Neutralized' at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi In 1992, as a sophomore at Arcadia High School in Accomack County, James Fedderman needed an A on the final exam in order to pass his English class. He was the center of attention in a good way, his English teacher, Liz Kuhns, said and full of life, but struggled in school. He finished ninth grade with a 0.86 GPA and waited until the last minute to get serious about his classes. Feddermans mother stayed in school until the eighth grade. His father never went. Both became drug dealers. Their son, determined to chart a different course, dreamed of one day working with children. In that classroom on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Fedderman stared at 10 short-answer essay questions. He used all the time allotted to him and after handing it in, did not leave the room like the rest of his peers. Kuhns graded the exam, finding that Fedderman had aced it, getting a perfect 100 and the A he needed to pass the class. Worcester has counted 99 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, an increase in daily reported cases than earlier in the week. The citys total number of cases is now 3,760, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said at a press briefing. On Wednesday, the city manager announced 105 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. On Tuesday and Monday, the city reported 34 and 54 new cases, respectively. At a press briefing Wednesday, Augustus said the larger increase of new cases was because of a backlog with the Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network (MAVEN) database. However, Dr. Michael Hirsh, the medical director for the citys public health department, said Thursday that was not the case. The cases are not because of a data backlog and do represent new cases. I erroneously told the manager yesterday that I thought the increased numbers that we were seeing yesterday as opposed to the beginning of the week were because of kind of a data dump that I thought the state was going to be doing out of the MAVEN system, Hirsh explained. Today I learned that wasnt the case, that these are actually new numbers and the data dump is coming, I wouldnt say dump, I would say correction, corrective things that theyre doing with that system." Some of the increase in cases could be because testing has expanded to people who had close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus, Hirsh said. Previously, asymptomatic people were not tested. Hirsh and Augustus said that officials continue to study the number of tests being conducted in the city and how many of those tests are positive, working to examine what percent of the citys population has been exposed to coronavirus. On May 8, there were more than 13,000 tests that had been collected, Augustus said. In the 12 days since, about 5,000 more tests have been administered. About 25% of the tests have been positive. Augustus noted that the majority of the tests have been given to high-risk populations and people with maximum exposure, including health care workers, essential workers and residents and employees of nursing homes. As testing is expanded to more people, Augustus and Hirsh say they hope to see that percentage of positive cases decrease. Between UMass Memorial Health Care and Saint Vincent Hospital, six more coronavirus deaths were reported Thursday, bringing the total number of patients at the systems who have succumbed to the virus to 238, Augustus said. The systems on Thursday have 239 inpatients with coronavirus, eight more than Wednesday. Augustus said he believes some of those patients were transferred from the now-closed field hospital at the DCU Center. Of those 239 patients, 88 are in the intensive care unit, which is one more than Wednesday. A total of 296 employees of the systems have tested positive for the virus. At the Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center, which is treating coronavirus patients, there are 67 patients on Thursday, with six discharges and two admissions. In towns around Worcester, there are 256 cases in Shrewsbury, 71 in Holden, 78 in Grafton, 124 in Leicester and 203 in Millbury, Augustus said. On Wednesday, Augustus announced that there was an environmental concern at the Quality Inn, which has had rooms reserved as part of a state-run service for people who have coronavirus but cannot isolate. The 12 people who were at the hotel were moved to another state-run program at a hotel in Northampton. Augustus said Thursday that city inspectional services had examined the hotel and issued an order that the facility not have any guests until it remediates a number of issues. Augustus did not elaborate on the issues and referred a reporter to a report by inspectional services. MassLive has requested a copy of the report. Related Content: Beijing: Chinese doctors are seeing the coronavirus manifest differently among patients in its new cluster of cases in the north-east region compared to the original outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting that the pathogen may be changing in unknown ways. Patients found in the northern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang appear to carry the virus for a longer period of time and take longer to recover, as defined by a negative test, Qiu Haibo, one of China's top critical care doctors, told state television on Tuesday. A medical worker collects a sample for COVID-19 testing at the Tongji community in Shulan in China's Jilin Province. Credit:Xinhua Cases in the north-east also appear to be taking longer than the one to two weeks observed in Wuhan to develop symptoms after infection, and this delayed onset is making it harder for authorities to catch cases before they spread, said Qiu, who is now in the northern region treating patients. "The longer period during which infected patients show no symptoms has created clusters of family infections," said Qiu, who was earlier sent to Wuhan to help in the original outbreak. Some 46 cases have been reported over the past two weeks spread across three cities - Shulan, Jilin city and Shengyang - in two provinces, a resurgence that sparked renewed lockdown measures over a region of 100 million people. Military History Lancaster by John Nichol (Simon & Schuster 20, 464 pp) In the foreword to this remarkable, enlightening book, John Nichol describes visiting the RAF Museum at Hendon in the company of Ron Needle, 93, a former rear gunner in a Lancaster bomber crew. Standing beneath the worlds oldest surviving Lancaster, they are joined by a group of schoolchildren. When the youngsters hear that the old man flew in the plane above them during World War II, they give him a round of applause. Ron is moved to tears. The first prototypes of the Lancaster were built in 1941 and impressed the test pilots immediately. Pictured: Avro Lancaster heavy bomber There is little doubt that Ron and the other airmen who flew in the Lancaster deserved the plaudits. So, too, did the plane itself. Sir Arthur Harris, controversial chief of Bomber Command, called it the greatest single factor in winning the war against Germany. The first prototypes of the Lancaster were built in 1941 and impressed the test pilots immediately. It took off like a startled stallion, one reported. By the following year it was ready for active service: in the Augsburg raid of April 1942, Lancasters were used for a daylight attack on a factory producing U-boat engines. For the rest of the war, they played a leading role in every major raid on German cities. Of the 791 aircraft that dropped bombs on Hamburg on the night of July 24/25, 1943, 347 were Lancasters. The planes used in the famous Dambusters raids were also Lancasters, modified to be able to carry the bouncing bombs. The human cost of these raids was enormous. Cities were devastated, civilians wiped out in their tens of thousands. Of the 125,000 men who served in Bomber Command during the war, more than 55,000 were killed. In 1943, only one airman in six could expect to survive his first tour of 30 sorties. The great strength of Nichols book is that it takes us beyond the statistics. Through the words of the airmen themselves, it illuminates individual lives: they were heartbreakingly young, mostly in their late teens and early 20s. Bold: A Lancaster Bomber crew in 1943. The Lancaster was, and is, more than just an aircraft Fear was ever-present but unmentioned. You didnt talk about the fear, you kept it to yourself and put yourself in the hands of God, one confessed. Fatalism was a necessary philosophy. Pilots insisted on carrying a lucky coin or even, in one instance, a girlfriends suspenders. For all of them, the Lancaster was the thing which bound us together. Every day they would climb aboard and, in the words of flight engineer Ted Watson, entrust our survival to her, to our own skill, and to a good deal of luck. The Lancaster was, and is, more than just an aircraft. She is a symbol of British freedom, a monument to all those who gave their lives in the war. John Nichols book is a fitting tribute to her and to all those who flew in her. Australia could soon be exporting 500,000 tonnes of malt barley to the Indian market. Western Australia and South Australia are the major two export states for barley but have never been able to send their produce to India due to the use of phosphine, a type of pesticide, on the grains. India previously required crops to be treated with a different pesticide, methyl bromide, which the two Australian states don't use. In February, the Indian government removed the need to use methyl bromide on malt barley, opening their doors to Australia's exports. China is currently Australia's largest barley export market but have now been struck with an 80 per cent tariff on the produce for up to five years. In 2018, malt barley exports to China was estimated to be worth $1.5billion but plummeted to $600million in 2009 due to drought. Western Australia and South Australia are the major two export states for barley (pictured: farmer sows barley) India previously required the use of a different pesticide, methyle bromide, which used to kill pests in imported produce and produce for exportation (pictured: barley seeds) 'The proposed changes are a great opportunity for the Australian malting barley industry, allowing us to look at extending the number of markets for our barley,' Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidemann told The Land. 'We have been in talks with one business who has said they have negotiations in place to sell 60,000 tonnes of malt barley to India, contingent on the right protocols being in place. 'The team at the Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre (AEGIC) have also been fantastic in raising the profile of Aussie barley in India and helping us develop an understanding of the Indian malt sector.' Grains Industry Market Access Forum (GIMAF) executive manager Tony Russell welcomed the Indian government's decision which allows the industry to focus on other markets. A general view of the mixed grains farm owned by the President of the Western Australian Farmers Federation 'The Indian market offers new export opportunities for Australian malting barley and reduces our dependence on the Chinese market in particular,' he told Economic Times. 'There has been a lot of hard work going into this, from the guys at the Department of Agriculture to our agricultural counsellor in New Delhi Nora Galway who worked tirelessly to get it through. 'The team at the Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre (AEGIC) have also been fantastic in raising the profile of Aussie barley in India and helping us develop an understanding of the Indian malt sector.' Phuket arrests for breaking curfew breach 1,600 PHUKET: The total number of people arrested in Phuket for breaking the national nightly has breached 1,600, Phuket Provincial Police have reported. COVID-19crimepolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Thursday 21 May 2020, 04:43PM The streets of Phuket Town are empty after 11pm each night. Eakkapop Thongtub The streets of Phuket Town are empty after 11pm each night. Eakkapop Thongtub The streets of Phuket Town are empty after 11pm each night. Eakkapop Thongtub Twelve people were arrested last night by one team of Territorial Defense Volunteers patrolling in and around Phuket Town. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Twelve people were arrested last night by one team of Territorial Defense Volunteers patrolling in and around Phuket Town. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Twelve people were arrested last night by one team of Territorial Defense Volunteers patrolling in and around Phuket Town. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The curfew was launched on Apr 3, with a ban on being on the streets between 10pm and 4am without a genuine reason for doing so. The curfew was shortened last Sunday (May 17) to 11pm to 4am as part of easing the restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Of note, night workers and people going to or from hospitals, among others, have always been exempt from the curfew. However, Phuket Provincial Police today announced that Apr 3 through to 4am today (May 21), a total of 1,643 people in Phuket had been arrested for breaking the curfew. More than 400 of those arrests have been made in the past two weeks, since May 7. One team alone, comprising 30 Territorial Defense Volunteers led by Uruphong Chanakul and Thongchai Rattanadet, arrested 12 people in the areas around Phuket Town from 11pm last night through to 4am this morning. In total, 33 people were arrested overnight for breaking the curfew, including seven in Patong. Phuket Provincial Police today noted that only 91 of the 1,643 people arrested so far were arrested at checkpoints. The remaining 1,552 arrested were made by patrols. The arrests so far were counted as 1,585 cases, of which 1,308 have been already processed, with 277 cases still waiting to be prosecuted, the Phuket Provincial Police also noted. According to the report, the number of arrests for breaking the curfew without essential reason reported by each police station on the island so far is as follows: While most people fret about whether cheap economy flights will still exist in a post-pandemic era, the worlds Pointy End Enthusiasts have their lumbars firmly in the present: as airlines cut non-essential services and brace for the new (commercial) normal, a small group of business class travellers are booking despicably cheap flights to Europe. Case in point: Immanuel Debeer, prolific points hacker and founder of Flight Hacks, who first alerted our attention to the perverse opportunities now dotting the skies. The best deals can be had from Asia to Europe, Europe to Australia and New Zealand and USA to Europe or Asia, Immanuel recently wrote on his Instagram story. Based in Perth, Immanuel was perfectly positioned to make the most of this offer, which consisted of a super cheap, AU$741 (return) flight from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to Muscat (Oman), which he apparently booked for August this year. Made possible by Qatar Airways flexible new booking policies (you can now make unlimited changes with no fees or the need to pay a fare difference on or before December 31, 2020) and 5,000-mile radius rule (which enables you to change your destination city free of charge as long as its within 5,000 miles from the original destination), this is how savvy fliers can fly to places like Europe return, in business class, for (relative) peanuts. First things first: youre not really going to Muscat. As Immanuel writes on his website, Once you have your ticket booked, you will need to call Qatar Airways and request for your destination to be changed from Muscat to whatever European city you had in mind. This is possible since they are all within the 5,000-mile radius from Muscat. Of course, before doing this, you need the cash (or points) to get to Colombo from where you are right now (which may prove trickier for Australians and Americans than those who live in Asia). Once youre there though, Europe beckons. RELATED: Your Favourite European Destination Is Set To Reopen In JulyWith A Twist While the aforementioned $741 Colombo to Muscat deal is not available anymore (when we searched for it this morning, we were met with the rather rude price of AU$6,752), Immanuel reckons there will be plenty more like it. Play around with ranges on Great Circle Mapper and see if you can uncover some deals routes. The key is to find original routes that are cheap to fly in premium classes; once you have those, you can figure out the options based on the original destination. No doubt well see more deals as sales fares are released. Lots of airlines are following suit with flexibil tickets and destination changes but I havent seen anything as generous as the 5k miles radius rule from Qatar Airways, Immanuel told DMARGE via email. Its not just Immanuel either. Aviation blogs One Mile At A Time, The Points Guy and Suite Smile have also reported on outlandish business class deals being snapped up across the globe. Our two favourite examples? One passenger allegedly booked Philadelphia to Kiev via Doha, and thanks to the 5,000-mile radius rule rebooked to Chicago OHare (ORD) to Hong Kong (HKG) via Doha. Another apparently turned a short fifth-freedom route into a flight from East Asia to New Zealand. All this said, on FlyerTalk, a prominent frequent flyer forum, users have written about mixed results. As The Points Guy reports, Many users have reported success in changing their tickets, while some have reported being unable to make the change. Were assuming that this was due to the policy being so new and that many phone representatives arent yet aware of the change, The Points Guy. On top of that, especially given expert predictions on when we will return to normal, and the throbbing questions currently bobbing around post-pandemic travel insurance, one wonders whether these flights are really worth booking, if youre not a professional aviation blogger. We put the question to Immanuel. This is what he said: It all depends when Australia decides to open their borders. Europe is slowly going back to normal and many countries want to get tourism back up and running for the summer holidays. While popular opinion believes Australians will be locked up until 2021, I highly doubt this will be the case. Time will tell! People who book these kinda deals usually have a good understanding on how to make them work to their advantage, there is a risk vs rewards ratio because so much is unknown. Deals like this arent for your average Karen as it does take a small amount of skill and patients to understand the booking rules, find the deal and finally change the fare to what you want, Immanuel added. Challenge accepted. Read Next By Express News Service BENGALURU: In an exercise spanning over 10 days, the state government introduced special buses and ensured that over 1,18,992 migrant workers from different parts of the state reached their homes. The State operated 4,037 trips, 2,390 from Bengaluru, free of cost to travellers. The transportation exercise was not easy as every migrant labourer had to be screened and tested. As thousands thronged the Kempegowda Bus Station, maintaing social distance and hygiene, and supplying food and water became a challenge. Over 150 corona warriors, deputed for the task, ensured water, food and help. Given the anxiety of the migrant workers, we had a huge task on hand, recalled Major Pradeep Arya, who led the volunteers. The task of handling migrant labourers at the KSRTC bus stands was just getting over when the train services to other states began. The South Western Railway ran 65 trains carrying over 1,400 passengers on an average to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kashmir etc. Till May 17, the Railways had ferried 1,21,015 migrants from Karnataka. Over 100 students hailing from Bihar, who were stuck in hostels at Jamia Millia Islamia due to the lockdown in view of COVID-19, left for their hometown in five special buses arranged by the varsity on Thursday, officials said. Buses left for Katihar, Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda and Bhagalpur districts of Bihar, carrying around 130 students with a student group leader in each of the bus to coordinate during the journey, the varsity said. Three students of West Bengal are also travelling in one of the bus going to Katihar. Two university guards (ex-army personnel) also accompanied the students in each bus, it added. Information about travel detail of concerned students have also been conveyed to Bihar government and local administration of all 30 districts of the state by the Chief Proctor of the university, the varsity said. The university is closed in view of the lockdown and on the request of students the university coordinated with officials of Bihar and Delhi governments and sought permission for their travel in special buses arranged by the university, the varsity said. Buses first left for Delhi government's health centre for screening of students for fever and other symptoms related to coronavirus and to complete other formalities. Buses were properly sanitised before leaving the campus, it said. Online teaching and evaluation is going on in the university as it is closed due to lockdown to prevent spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The university will now reopen in August for regular students if the situation normalises. Earlier, the varsity had for buses for students to travel to Jammu and Kashmir while they had also arranged buses to drop students at railway station to board trains to Jharkhand. [May 21, 2020] Wave Broadband, RCN and Grande Communications Commit $100K to Support Feeding America Wave Broadband, a leading provider of fiber and broadband services, with its family of companies including RCN (News - Alert) and Grande, will pledge $100,000 total to Feeding America to support local food banks in their service areas. Additionally, Wave will be running Feeding America's advertisements on its cable network free of charge to help raise awareness and further support fundraising. This pledge from Wave, RCN and Grande is intended to help the communities within each of their respective service areas and to bring awareness to the food shortages they are faced with today. Through this initiative, customers can also join in donating directly to Feeding America. "According to the USDA, 37 million individuals face hunger, and the pandemic has exacerbated this problem," said Chris Fenger, Chief Operating Officer at Wave, RCN and Grande. "We want to continue doing all we can to support the communities we serve during this tough time, and encourage everyone to join us in supporting Feeding America by donating-in any capacity-so we can collectively ensure that our local food banks continue to help people in need." As the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America is a non-profit organization committed to reducing hunger across the country. Through partnerships with businesses, government organizations and individuals, Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks, pantries and meal programs serve communities across the United States. "Feeding America food banks are working hard to meet the needs o communities facing hunger during this pandemic," said Lauren Biedron, Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Feeding America. "We are grateful to Wave, RCN and Grande for helping to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors in need." Wave remains committed to keeping customers connected, providing added support to students and families in low-income households and much more during this time. The company has taken a number of measures to support customers and their families amidst COVID-19, such as the Internet First Program and Keep Americans Connected Pledge. Additionally, Wave is supporting its broader communities with a newly launched Everyday Heroes campaign. Residents are invited to nominate a local hero in their community via the website, here. Heroes will be entered to win a $250 Visa gift card and a year of free internet service to thank them for their bravery and selflessness during this time. To help Wave in its support of Feeding America and its initiatives during this pandemic, please visit www.gowave.com/feeding-america. For details and additional updates on the company's response to COVID-19, please visit www.gowave.com/we-care. About RCN, Grande Communications (News - Alert) and Wave Broadband RCN Telecom Services, LLC (www.rcn.com), Grande Communications (www.mygrande.com) and Wave Broadband (www.wavebroadband.com) form the sixth largest US cable operator and provide industry-leading high-speed internet, broadband communications solutions, digital TV, phone services and fiber optic solutions for residential and business customers across the United States. Together, RCN, Grande and Wave serve areas of Massachusetts, Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York City, and Washington, DC. (RCN); Texas (Grande Communications); and Washington, Oregon and California (Wave Broadband). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005227/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] FELTON, California, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Operator Training Simulator Market size is projected to touch USD 12581.0 million by the end of 2025, as per the report released by Million Insights. It is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 11.6% over the estimated duration. Factors such as increasing investment in various training programs for site workforce, growing awareness for workplace safety, and easy accessibility of innovative platforms coupled with the latest technologies such as VR, AI, and 3D displays are projected to fuel the market growth over the forecast years. The simulation is used for the past many years in various industries such as military, energy, airline, and nuclear power. Government regulations are the prime factors promoting the application of OTS across various industries to equip the workforce with necessary safety skills when they encounter any unforeseen circumstance. For example, Hydrocarbon Process Industries (HPI) has been using OTS for more than three decades. The increasing uses of digital panel and analog simulator have resulted in drastically reducing the cases of accidents. Therefore, this factor is projected to proliferate the sales of OTS solution over the forecast duration. A training simulator is first used in a production site than in the plant, which makes training feasible for workers and engineers. It helps in improving the skills of workers and enhances their efficiency and productivity. Industries are considering providing on-the-job training programs for developing skills of workers. Therefore, industries are continuously investing in various simulation solutions to equip operators with several skills with the help of scheduled training sessions. Please click here to get the sample pdf and find more details on "Operator Training Simulator Market" Report 2025. The leading players in the operator training simulator market are Honeywell International Inc., Siemens, Mynah Technologies LLC, ABB, AVEVA Group plc, CORYS, Aspen Technology, Inc., and Andritz. The market is highly competitive due to the presence of key manufacturers. The companies are relying on their existing customers to boost the adoption of OTS. Also, companies are emphasizing on different initiatives such as continuous product innovation and development of new technology to modify their product portfolio. Further key findings from the report suggest: The aerospace & defense division occupied a considerable market share in 2018. The segment is predicted to grow substantially over the forecast years owing to the growing demand for innovative simulators in the aviation industry. The software component led the market in 2018 as OTS software is an essential element of the OTS solution and is liable to offer adequate training to workers as per plant layout. The field operator is projected to foresee a steady CAGR from 2019 to 2025 due to the rising focus of manufacturers on training console operators and field workforce. Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand with the highest CAGR in the upcoming years due to the increasing number of software providers and automotive, manufacturing, and energy industries in the region. is anticipated to expand with the highest CAGR in the upcoming years due to the increasing number of software providers and automotive, manufacturing, and energy industries in the region. The development of innovative technology such as VR, 3D technology, and cloud based simulators is predicted to drive the market over the projected period. Browse 130 page research report with TOC on "Global Operator Training Simulator Market" at: https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/global-operator-training-simulator-market Million Insights has segmented the operator training simulator market based on component, operator type, end use, and region: Operator Training Simulator (OTS) Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Hardware Software Control Simulation Process Simulation Immersive Simulation Service Operator Training Simulator (OTS) Operator Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Console Operator Field Operator Operator Training Simulator (OTS) End Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) Automotive Aerospace & Defense Energy & Power Oil & Gas Medical & Healthcare Others Operator Training Simulator (OTS) Region Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Middle East and Africa Browse latest market research reports available with Million Insights: About Million Insights: Million Insights, is a distributor of market research reports, published by premium publishers only. We have a comprehensive market place, that will enable you to compare data points, before you make a purchase. Enabling informed buying, is our motto and we strive hard to ensure that our clients get to browse through multiple samples, prior to an investment. Service flexibility & the fastest response time are two pillars, on which our business model is founded. Our market research report store, includes in-depth reports, from across various industry verticals, such as healthcare, technology, chemicals, food & beverages, consumer goods, material science & automotive. Contact: Ryan Manuel Research Support Specialist, USA Million Insights Phone: +1-408-610-2300 Toll Free: 1-866-831-4085 Email: [email protected] Web: https://www.millioninsights.com/ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter SOURCE Million Insights Nikkia Adolphe As COVID-19 continues to unfold before our eyes, its likely the world as we once knew it will never exist. On one side, this pandemic has wreaked havoc on our lives. But, when we come out of this on the other side, there will be many positive lessons learned that will require a new level of thinking and doing, both personally and professionally. For communications professionals specifically, COVID-19 will force a fresh mindset needed to navigate the ebbs and flows of what will be a new media landscape. While the industry is among the hardest hit by COVID-19, were still very reliant on getting the most up-to-date developments from the media. Even with uncertainty looming within the media industry, theres no sure sign as to when well stop seeing this pandemic drive headlines and fuel the news cycle. With this, its essential for PR professionalsviewed as valuable resources to the mediato reconsider approaches that were considered standard before the pandemic. Rethink relationship-building with the media Prior to COVID-19, the art of meeting and building your network felt like another grindoutside of the officefor PR professionals. From media mixers to industry panels, there was no shortage of events to attend, with the ultimate goal of rubbing shoulders with journalists as well as other industry counterparts and establish long-term working relationships. Now, in the thick of COVID-19, in-person interaction is a thing of the past and may very well be for a while due to stringent social distancing guidelines in place. Instead, were taking our mixers and panels virtually, and interacting remotely, which I believe, will birth a new way of networking for us all even after the pandemic dust settles. Virtual networking will force PR professionals to be much more personal when it comes to interacting with the media, especially if youre looking to be a valuable asset to them. As we discovered during our recent virtual PR reimagined webinar, the media is overwhelmed in their roles covering COVID-19, some now covering more beats than they did before. Knowing this, before you hit send on that email pitch, stop and ask yourself: have I reached out to this reporter to gauge what theyre covering right now? If the answer is no, youll likely need to rethink your approach before pitching them. My advice? Reach out to arrange a virtual coffee catch-up or monthly chat over cocktails. Dont fear rejection; youd be surprised of the outcome. Rethink media pitches Before COVID-19, reports showed that, on average, journalists receive 30 or more pitches a day. Now navigating through the pandemic, this number has tripled for many reporters. In fact, at our recent virtual PR Reimagined event, a panelist revealed shes now receiving at least 100 pitches a day since the onset of COVID-19. With this in mind, theres a need for PR professionals to remain thoughtful and intentional when it comes to communicating with journalists, especially during this time. One great way to do this is to consider recommending a 30-minute virtual deskside rather than sending that pitch, particularly if a reporter covers a beat thats relevant to a multitude of the clients you manage. This approach allows you to the opportunity to share with the media all of your story ideas for every client and get their honest opinion on whether it would be something theyd cover. And dont get discouraged if they may not see a fit for it in the near-term, as its always likely theyll consider it for future editorial. Now, this isnt to say that email pitching isnt effective. If virtual desksides dont work across the board, reconsider the relevancy, context and punchiness of your pitch. Is it something the media hasnt written about? Is it considering the future impact of the pitchs target audience? Is your pitch relevant to the current times (i.e. COVID-19)? These are all questions to ask yourself before hitting the send button. As weve seen across a lot of industries, many of the work habits we were accustomed to before COVID-19 have disappeared, forcing professionals to rethink behaviors and approaches. This concept reigns just as true for PR professionals navigating a new world of media with many uncertainties. Lets use this time to reset our thoughts, our behaviors and our actions to put forth more success in media relations than what we were able to achieve before the pandemic. *** Nikkia Adolphe is PR Director at Media Frenzy Global. Midland County recorded zero new coronavirus cases Wednesday, and its count remains at 76 cases and eight deaths, according to the afternoon state report. Bay County on Wednesday added five new cases, bringing its total to 255 cases and 16 deaths. Gladwin and Isabella counties added three new cases and their totals stand at 17 cases and one death and 65 cases and seven deaths, respectively. Saginaw County added 17 new cases and one death, and its total is 957 cases and 10 deaths. The state added 659 new cases and 43 deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 53,009 cases and 5,060 deaths. The average death age is 75.3, according to the state website, mich.gov, with the deceased ranging in age from 5 to 107. The state lists 42% of the deceased as 80-plus and 27% age 70-79. State statistics show 53% of coronavirus deaths are male and 47% are female. The state lists the total recovered at 28,234 cases, as of May 15, which represents COVID-19 confirmed individuals with an onset date on or prior to April 15, 2020, according to the state website, mich.gov. The numbers will be updated every Saturday. The state lists the majority of races in positive cases as 31% Black/African American; 36% Caucasian and 18% unknown, and the top three races in deaths as 40% Black/African American; 51% Caucasian and 4% unknown. The total positive cases are 47% men and 53% women. The Midland County Department of Public Health continues to encourage residents to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19: Continue to practice social distancing as recommended by federal, state and local officials. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Disinfect commonly touched surfaces. Stay home when you are sick. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. We cannot stress enough how important it is for our community to be diligent in their community mitigation efforts," said Fred Yanoski, Midland County Public Health director/health officer. "We know that COVID-19 is in our community, and our residents can make a huge impact on slowing the spread of disease by following the recommended precautions." If you think you've been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your health care provider for medical advice. If he or she isn't available, call MidMichigan Urgent Care in Midland at 989-633-1350 or MidMichigan Medical Center's Emergency Department in Midland at 989-839-3100. MidMichigan Health has a COVID-19 informational hotline with a reminder of CDC guidelines and recommendations. The hotline can be reached toll-free at 800-445-7356 or 989-794-7600. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also has a hotline number for Michigan residents for questions about COVID-19. The number is 1-888-535-6136 and is available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can also e-mail COVID19@michigan.gov. E-mails will be answered seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. If you are feeling anxious, stressed, depressed and feel you need to talk to someone, reach out to Community Mental Health for Central Michigan by calling 800-317-0708. Sepsis DART drives situational awareness through real-time point of care access to vital process-of-care information and real time analytics, allowing providers at UAB to remotely and locally monitor and manage every bed in the health system for sepsis and septic shock. Ambient Clinical Analytics announced today that University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Medicine has signed an agreement to deploy AWARE Sepsis DART solutions to drive highly reliable sepsis care throughout its health system. UAB Medicine is a clear leader in the healthcare industry, utilizing new clinical tools to improve the care for those they serve. As one of the industry leaders, UAB recognizes the importance of adopting solutions like AWARE Sepsis DART to improve patient care and outcomes. Given todays current state of care delivery, organizations must put an enterprise level focus on remote monitoring and telemedicine for the patients care journey. DART improves system-wide sepsis care and processes which drive outcomes. Ambient is delighted to be working with UAB, using Sepsis DART and our Clinical Control Tower to further enable their focused quality improvement efforts. said Al Berning, Ambient CEO. Sepsis DART drives situational awareness through real-time point of care access to vital process-of-care information and real time analytics, allowing providers at UAB to remotely and locally monitor and manage every bed in the health system for sepsis and septic shock. Sepsis early identification is a long-standing challenge in health care, exacerbated by the emergence of COVID-19, said Kimberly Glanding, sepsis coordinator for UAB Medicine. Tools that help identify sepsis and track each patients course of the infection are extremely helpful in managing systemic infections. About UAB Medicine UAB Medicine comprises the School of Medicine and the $4.3 billion UAB Health System that includes all of the University of Alabama at Birminghams patient-care activities and 2,300 licensed beds in six hospitals, one of which is UAB Hospital the third-largest public hospital in the United States, winner of the Womens Choice award, and one of U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals. UAB is the state of Alabamas largest single employer and an internationally renowned research university and academic health center; its professional schools and specialty patient-care programs are consistently ranked among the nations top 50. UAB is the largest academic medical center in Alabama and one of the top four largest academic medical centers in the United States. UABs is advancing innovative discoveries for better health as a two-time recipient of the prestigious Center for Translational Science Award. Find more information at http://www.uab.edu and http://www.uabmedicine.org. About Ambient Clinical Analytics - As an industry leader, Ambient is supporting leading healthcare systems and has done so since its founding in 2013. Our solutions are designed by clinicians to be easy-to-use by every caregiver in your organization and are configured to be up and running rapidly. We are trusted by a community of high-performing healthcare providers across the United States. Our solutions are powerful real-time point-of-care and remote healthcare platforms designed to deliver data visualization, communication, and analytics based clinical decision support solutions. Ambients AWARE solution is an exceptionally secure, high-performance, FDA Class II approved and CE Marking certified Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) platform. Ambients Sepsis DART product has been accepted into the Patient Safety Movements Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS) #9 for Sepsis. Ambient has achieved ISO 13485:2016 certification, an internationally recognized quality standard specific to the medical device industry. The ISO 13485 standard sets out the requirements for a quality management system specific to the medical device industry. Ambient is also deploying the AWARE family of solutions, to help manage COVID-19. Ambients Virtual ICU platforms are ideal for dealing with current and possible future outbreaks. For more information, visit https://ambientclinical.com. UAB Medicine Contact: Kimberly Glanding Sepsis Coordinator klglanding@uabmc.edu Ambient Clinical Analytics Contact: Tim Kuebelbeck Chief Customer Officer tim.kuebelbeck@ambientclinical.com Media Contact: Magnetic North 952.426.1173 After refusing to wear a mask during a legislative session on Wednesday, Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R) was escorted out of the Bank of Springfield Center, the House's temporary home. This was the House's first session in more than two months, and legislators voted to adopt rules requiring themselves and staff members wear face coverings. Bailey refused to wear a mask, The Chicago Tribune reports, and when told to come into compliance, he replied, "I will not. Thank you." A motion to remove him from the proceedings passed 81-27. Bailey smiled as he was escorted out. Bailey has complained about Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and his coronavirus stay-at-home order, and the governor had a sharp response to Bailey's defiance. "The representative has shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for people's health," Pritzker said. "You just [ask] a doctor [to] tell you why people wear masks in the first place. It's to protect others. So clearly, the representative has no interest in protecting others." More stories from theweek.com Is QAnon the newest American religion? Trump's lethal aversion to reading Washington finds it paid out hundreds of millions in fraudulent unemployment benefits The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has apologized to Zamfara State Government for wrongly accrediting eight positive cases ... The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has apologized to Zamfara State Government for wrongly accrediting eight positive cases of coronavirus to the State on Tuesday. NCDC on Tuesday confirmed that Zamfara State recorded 10 cases. However, the Zamfara State COVID-19 Taskforce countered the numbers, adding that only two cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the State. The Chairman of the Zamfara State committee on COVID-19, who also doubles as the speaker of the states House of Assembly, Nasiru Muazu, had called on NCDC to properly investigate, apologize to the State and correct the error immediately to build the confidence of citizens. In response, NCDC, on Wednesday night regretted its error and apologised to the governor Bello Matawalle-led administration of Zamfara, promising to further deliver its reports with accuracy and transparency. On its Twitter page, NCDC wrote: On the 18th of May, 8 new cases in Zamfara were erroneously announced. Therefore, as at the 20th of May 2020, Zamfara has recorded a total of 76 confirmed cases. We apologise to @Zamfara_state for this error and reiterate our commitment to accurate and transparent reporting of data. Krishna Shroff, the daughter of Jackie Shroff and sister of Tiger Shroff, is missing her boyfriend Eban Hyams during the lockdown. She remembered him with an adorable snapshot shared on her Instagram Stories, and joked that she will never have a double chin in their pictures, as he is much taller than her. Thanks for being almost a foot taller than me, so that no matter the picture, I never have a double chin. Miss ya boo, she wrote, followed by a heart emoji. While Krishna and Eban spent the initial days of the lockdown together at her sea-facing apartment in Mumbai, he later flew to Australia to be with his family. Earlier this month, Krishna and Eban came together for a live session on Instagram, to celebrate one year of their first meeting. Eban shared that Krishna was planning to fly down to Australia soon to spend some quality time with him and was waiting for her paperwork to come through. During the chat, Eban also revealed that marriage was on the cards for him and Krishna. When a fan wanted to know if they were married, he replied, If we were, we would be wearing a ring, right? But its definitely on the cards. Also read: Anushka Sharma gets legal notice over casteist slur in Amazons Paatal Lok Unlike her father and brother, Krishna is not interested in entering films. When it comes to acting, I have always been very clear from the beginning that its not something that intrigues me. I am not the one to face the camera... I am a very private person. I like my own zone and I like being in my own space, she told IANS in an earlier interview. If I am not passionate about that one thing then, I wont give it my 100 per cent. I am a very competitive person, so if I know that I cant give my 100 per cent to something, then I am not going to be the best at it and thats when I just refuse to do it, she added. Follow @htshowbiz for more [May 21, 2020] AM Best to Host Webinar on Building More Profitable Home Insurance With Customer Value AM Best will host a complimentary webinar, sponsored by LexisNexis (News - Alert) Risk Solutions, on June 16, 2020 at 2 p.m. (EDT). The Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) approach is changing the way home insurance carriers market and sell their products. While opportunities abound with CLV, challenges persist. Join us for this webinar, where a panel of insurance and technology experts will take up those challenges and discuss how to turn them into long-term loyal customers. This group of industry experts will discuss strategies on customer lifetime uses such as customer acquisition, customer relationship development and improving portfolio profitability. They will also focus on the challenges for new strategy implementation and what the future looks like for CLV. Register now: www.ambest.com/webinars/home. Panelists include: Kelly Rush, director, Home Solutions, LexisNexis Risk Solutions; Peter Drogan, senior vice president and chief actuary, Amica Mutual Insurance Company; and Stuart Rose, head of product marketing, Shift Technology. Attendees can submit questions during registration or by emailing [email protected]. The event will be streamed in video and audio formats, and playback will be available to registered viewers shortly after the event. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data provider specializing in the insurance industry. The company does business in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in Oldwick, NJ, AM Best has offices in cities around the world, including London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2020 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005461/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A Toronto man has been arrested after a woman was sexually assaulted Monday in the citys west-end. Police reported that on Monday a man sexually assaulted a 25-year-old woman in the area of Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue West. On Tuesday, Brent Aarssen, 30, was charged with sexual assault, sexual assault with choking, assault, overcome resistance to an indictable offence by administering a drug and being unlawfully in dwelling, Aarssen was scheduled to appear in court via teleconference on Wednesday at Toronto West Court. Police believe there may be more victims and are asking anyone with information to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477). Raneem Alozzi is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @r_alozzi (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The coronavirus recovery is in trouble before it even begins. As swiftly as the lockdowns across Asia were imposed, the process of lifting them will be slow and uneven. That means the region is months, if not years, away from any semblance of normal. Plans for full and partial reopenings in Australia, Singapore and Thailand sound reasonable in theory, but they wont deliver the hoped-for economic bounce. These countries, deeply reliant on trade and tourism, remain largely closed to the outside world. Domestic consumers, buffeted by layoffs and wage cuts, are in poor shape to pick up the slack. Bankruptcies in Singapore were climbing even before the most stringent virus-suppression efforts. In Australia, social engagements can resume and businesses can open their doors. Yet the country is bereft of foreign tourists, new international students and immigrants and it was workers from abroad who helped drive the 28-year boom that preceded the pandemic. The lockdown has essentially set Australia back four decades, just before Paul Hogan starred in the Crocodile Dundee movies, as Bloomberg News's Michael Heath wrote. That era saw a boost in tourism and freer capital markets, with moves to float the local dollar and lower tariffs. Politicians say raising the drawbridge isn't a big deal; domestic spending can make up the difference. Aussies will vacation closer to home. You can simply luxuriate in tropical Queensland resorts instead of the Maldives. But this is a big country with relatively expensive domestic air travel (one of two major carriers just collapsed amid the shutdown). With the jobless rate likely to climb to 10% soon, according to the central bank, any splurge seems frivolous. You can't just plug a labor market back in after cutting the cord. In Singapore, core economic sectors tourism, lodging and conventions will be among the last to restart. The government unveiled Tuesday a phased reopening after two months of lockdown. From June 2, schools will gradually welcome back students, limited family visits can occur and many businesses that don't interact with the public can resume. Large corporate gatherings, as well as sporting and cultural events, are on hold. Some activities will be shelved until a vaccine is found, or Covid-19 is no longer deemed a risk. Story continues Officials in the city-state say they are prioritizing safety and want to avoid a second wave that will further retard the recovery. While the concern is entirely justified, it comes at a cost: Singapore attracted 19.1 million visitors last year, more than three times its population. Tourism makes up about 4% of GDP, and supports a substantial hotel industry and retail scene. Yet Singapore Airlines Ltd.s fleet remains mothballed. All this adds up to a grim economic outlook: Gross domestic product will shrink 8.5% this year, Citigroup Inc. predicted. The state of the travel industry makes optimism about Thailands prospects all the more puzzling. Wagers on an appreciation of its currency, the baht, appear anchored in the idea of tourists returning. With most borders shut and big economies plagued by historic levels of unemployment, where are these visitors going to come from? While caution is understandable, these awakenings dont inspire confidence in a long and robust recovery. Global GDP will jump an annualized 37% in July to September after diving in the current quarter, says JPMorgan Chase & Co. Economies are nevertheless unlikely to regain their pre-Covid form anytime soon, and even less likely to do so uniformly. Along with variation in the peak of containment polices, there has been equally large variation in the degree to which countries are now reversing these measures, Joseph Lupton, the banks global economist in New York, wrote this week. In an effort to crank up the flow of people, countries are exploring green lanes that would prioritize visitors from nations seen to have had success tamping down the virus. That sets a low bar, and would be a step toward restoring tourism and business travel. But its a far cry from status-quo ante. Much of Asia rose from agricultural backwaters to urbanized hubs for manufacturing and services because they embraced globalization. An Asia disconnected from the world would be a major step back. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Daniel Moss is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian economies. Previously he was executive editor of Bloomberg News for global economics, and has led teams in Asia, Europe and North America. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Florida chose a different lockdown path from the rest of America, protecting old people and letting other Floridians mostly roam free. The media gleefully predicted disaster and have been disappointed that Florida has avoided the disaster and emerged from the pandemic scare with flying colors. On Wednesday, Governor DeSantis let the media know how disgraceful their reporting about Florida has been. With an approving Vice President Pence standing beside him, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida gave conservatives a thrill when he let the media know how awful their behavior has been regarding Floridas approach to the coronavirus. It was a performance that would have made President Trump proud, because DeSantis, instead of accepting and defending against the medias pro-Democrat narrative, attacked the media for having a narrative in the first place: DeSantis says any insinuation Florida doesn't have best data is typical partisan narrative. "You've got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like NY."https://t.co/jTzJmKk8X0 pic.twitter.com/1sGw3Z1P3V WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) May 20, 2020 A National Review interview with DeSantis shows that he wasnt just lucky when his non-lockdown policy paid off. What happened most states was a mindless panic. Then, as more data emerged, Democrat governors ignored new data and continued the lockdowns. DeSantis, however, carefully and constantly monitored data to craft his strategy for navigating the pandemic: An irony of the national coverage of the coronavirus crisis is that at the same time DeSantis was being made into a villain, New York governor Andrew Cuomo was being elevated as a hero, even though the DeSantis approach to nursing homes was obviously superior to that of Cuomo. Florida went out of its way to get COVID-19-positive people out of nursing homes, while New York went out of its way to get them in, a policy now widely acknowledged to have been a debacle. The media didnt exactly have their eyes on the ball. The day that the media had their first big freakout about Florida was March 15th, DeSantis recalls, which was, there were people on Clearwater Beach, and it was this big deal. That same day is when we signed the executive order to, one, ban visitation in the nursing homes, and two, ban the reintroduction of a COVID-positive patient back into a nursing home. The numbers show how smart DeSantis's choices were: Of course, at any time, governors in lockdown states could have looked at the data about elderly mortality (as Phil Kerpen did in a Twitter thread) and changed course but they didnt. Instead, they stayed the stupid course. Ace reminds us what happened in those places that bowed before the media narrative: Let me again point out the irony -- or perhaps the calculated outcome -- that the only places in the US where the infection rates and death rates came close to matching the models' predictions is in those Democrat states whose Democrat governors engineered a mass slaughter of the elderly by ordering that the infected be mixed in with the uninfected by compromised. It would not be unreasonable to file manslaughter charges against all the Democrat politicians and bureaucrats who ignored the data and turned nursing homes into death chambers. Governor DeSantis, meanwhile, should get a medal, both for his policy choices and for his beatdown of the media. By Libby George and Nneka Chile LAGOS (Reuters) - In a hallway in Lagos, Gbemisola Olowokere taps contentedly on her laptop. The 23-year-old says the corner, underneath a sliver of window, has functioned well as a makeshift office since the coronavirus pandemic forced her to work from home. But things didn't start well. By Libby George and Nneka Chile LAGOS (Reuters) - In a hallway in Lagos, Gbemisola Olowokere taps contentedly on her laptop. The 23-year-old says the corner, underneath a sliver of window, has functioned well as a makeshift office since the coronavirus pandemic forced her to work from home. But things didn't start well. "I had major problems," Olowokere told Reuters. "I have deadlines and things I need to submit ... and I couldn't, because I didn't have power." Nigeria's notoriously sclerotic power infrastructure means fuel-powered generators provide at least four times as much electricity as the grid. Most locals have generators, but few run them through the day due to cost, noise and - a growing health risk since the respiratory disease started spreading - choking smoke. Olowokere found her solution in a yellow box bought by her employer from solar company Lumos. Connected to a panel on her roof, it keeps her phone, laptop and WiFi running through the workday, as well as a music speaker. Lumos is one of at least a dozen solar energy companies that have been competing to help fill Nigeria's power gap, and COVID-19 has made the need for their services more acute. Since Lagos's lockdown began on March 30, Lumos has sold around 150 power units for home-based office workers for 100,000 naira ($280) each, half what it charges for its newest batteries. Rival Rensource's Keepwork unit retails for 180,000 naira. It runs on a solar panel small enough to be propped on a balcony, and can charge off the grid. Company founder Ademola Adesina said 600 have been sold since the start of April. Arnergy Solar Limited, meanwhile, has installed solar panels at five medical facilities around Lagos state, and healthcare clients in other states have also purchased panels since the pandemic began, Vice President Azeez Onasoga said. ($1 = 360.0000 naira) (Reporting By Libby George; editing by John Stonestreet) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Antibody tests are now being sold privately - and Britons are lapping them up, eager to find out if they have already had the coronavirus. Superdrug became the first high-street retailer to launch them yesterday morning and they were sold out by the afternoon. But for 69 a go, you won't want to make a mistake. The test needs blood to be drawn from the finger using a prick, collected in a tube and sent off to the laboratory in a pre-paid envelope. Medical giant Abbott, which makes Superdrug's tests, has insisted that the kits were not intended for home use. It says a medical professional should collect the blood. Superdrug's kit hasn't been validated by health chiefs, the test was only approved for blood samples taken directly from the veins by medics. But it is legal because it kit has a CE mark. However, the retailer says buyers should interpret the results with caution because they haven't been approved. Not only is the test less than 100 per accurate but the results may be skewed if the person doesn't carry it out correctly. So how would you take the test properly to make sure you don't waste your money? Here, MailOnline gives you a step-by-step guide Superdrug became the first high-street retailer to launch them yesterday morning and they were sold out by the afternoon. But for 69 a go, you won't want to make a mistake. The test needs blood to be drawn from the finger using a prick, collected in a tube and sent off to the laboratory in a pre-paid envelope Superdrug has become the first high street retailer to sell a coronavirus antibody test to the public for 69 with almost 100 per cent accuracy MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS AND FINGERS ARE CLEAN Sampling your own blood at home first requires the hands to be clean. Superdrug's test contains alcohol wipes for that. Also included is an alcotip swab to make sure the fingertip, where the blood will be drawn from, is completely clean. REVEALED: WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOU'RE STRUGGLING TO DRAW BLOOD Drink plenty of water beforehand to make sure you are hydrated, which makes it easier to collect a blood sample To help blood flow, take a hot shower or bath just before you collect your sample. It's easier to take blood when the hands are warm compared to cold Swing your arms by your side to promote blood flow Standing while taking your blood sample is best but it can also be done easily when sitting If you can, keep the hand you are sampling from below your waist and your arm straight because this helps blood flow When you collect the blood drops, message the full length of the finger, not just the tip Advertisement USE THE LANCET TO DRAW BLOOD Then you take the caps of the lancet sticks, which are tiny medical tools used for capillary blood sampling. The lancet has a small needle inside. When you press the button in the side, the needle shoots out and makes a puncture in the skin to draw blood. This feels like a small pinch and doesn't hurt. CATCH DROPS OF BLOOD IN THE TUBE The next step is to massage the finger gently over the small test tube which collects the blood. It has to be filled to a certain line on the side. Use a clean tissue to wipe the first drop of blood away and then hold your finger downwards and squeeze it towards the tip to help release more blood. SCREW THE CAP ON THE TUBE AND PUT A PLASTER ON YOUR FINGER Once you have screwed the cap on the tube, and put a plaster on the finger prick, you seal the tube into a pre-paid envelope to be sent to the lab. There, it will be read by a technician using special equipment to see if the blood sample contains antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It detects the IgG, which is the protein that develops after infection. If positive, it means that the person tested had the virus at some point. A notice on Superdrug's website yesterday afternoon said 'Due to the high demand of orders, this service is currently not available' The test is produced by medical giant Abbott, who said it was never intended to be a home sampling kit, as sold by Superdrug HOW TO TAKE YOUR OWN ANTIBODY TEST 1. Wash and dry your hands 2. Use a alcohol swab to clean the fingertip youre using to take your sample 3. Twist and remove the cap of the lancet stick 4. Place the end of the lancet stick on your finger tip and press the button. You should see a drop of blood appear if you do not see any blood, use another lancet stick and try another finger 5. Use a clean tissue to wipe the first drop of blood away and then hold your finger downwards and squeeze it towards the tip to help release more blood 6. Catch drops of blood from your finger in the tube provided. Fill the tube until you reach the fill line on the side use another finger if you cannot get enough blood from the first one. screw the lid shut tightly 7. Once youve collected enough blood, put the plaster on your finger 8. Put the tube inside the protective wallet and place the wallet into the prepaid envelope and seal it 9. Use any UK post box to post your sample to Superdrug's partner lab 10. The lab processes the results Advertisement Superdrug says results are turned around within 24 hours of arriving at the lab. Anyone over the age of 18 can now privately buy the test, so long as they do not currently have symptoms of the virus because it takes at least 14 days for antibodies to be made. Babylon is selling it for the same price, while another Northampton-based company checkmybodyhealth.co.uk is offering the Abbott test for 89. London-based privatecoronavirustests.com is selling it for 99. It all seems so easy - so why do health chiefs advise against doing it? Dr Alexander Edwards, an associate professor in biomedical technology, University of Reading, said: 'We dont yet have a lot of published data comparing samples taken at home vs samples taken at a clinic for COVID-19. 'But prior work on other infections (e.g. home HIV testing) have shown that it is usually possible to get a test result from a sample taken at home. 'If there is a problem with the blood sample taken at home, it is possible the lab wont be able to return a result. For example, if there isnt enough blood, the lab wont be able to process the sample. 'Using the lancets is not straightforward, and often its hard to get enough blood some people really dont like blood either!' People with diabetes who need to check their blood sugar levels also use lancets to draw blood. But they are always shown how to do it by a doctor or pharmacist first. Over time, they find the right pressure to apply the lancet on the finger. But with the COVID-19 antibody test, there are limited chances. Abbott, who manufactured the test, said it was never intended to be a home sampling kit. Abbotts 'Architect' SARS-CoV-2 test, which has been branded by Superdrug, has been validated for use with a venous blood sample that is taken by a healthcare provider - not with a fingerprick by an individual. When Abbott's test is used appropriately, it has 99.6% specificity and 100% sensitivity to detect IgG antibodies. Public Health England, which evaluated the test using blood samples from 96 samples from COVID-19 patients and 759 healthy people, said it found similar results. Superdrug said their test has 100 per cent specificity and 97.5 per cent sensitivity when tested at The Doctors Laboratory, a UKAS-accredited lab. But it has not revealed how many blood samples were included to come to this conclusion, and if that was based on the blood being drawn by a medical expert or a lay person. This is important because the accuracy of an antibody test is highly contested. NHS and care home staff will get access to coronavirus antibody tests from next week NHS and care home staff will get access to coronavirus antibody tests from next week, ministers are expected to announce today. Last week the Government purchased '100 per cent accurate' antibody tests from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche and American firm Abbott. This week Public Health England (PHE) also validated tests made by the Welsh company Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. All three devices are laboratory-based and can take up to a day to produce results. They are considered key to easing lockdown because they paint the clearest picture about how widespread COVID-19 is. Hundreds of thousands of frontline health workers will be offered the tests, which detect if someone has ever been infected with the disease. Prime Minister Boris Johnson or Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce the news at Number 10's press briefing tonight, according to the Guardian. Priority will be given to frontline hospital staff in coronavirus specific wards, as well as ICU and A&E departments. These staff members will be monitored by scientists to see whether they fall ill again and paint a clearer picture of the protection antibodies provide. Dr Claudia Paoloni, president of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, urged caution to those who test positive for antibodies She told the newspaper: 'As we learn more about the role of antibodies, this could open the door to different ways of working and reduce the level of risk to NHS staff by allocating those who have had the virus to care for Covid-19 patients. 'But we must be clear that huge uncertainties remain while we do not know the level and length of any immunity which antibodies will offer. 'The new tests arrival should not simply be seen as a green light to reduce PPE and other protections for NHS staff who test positive.' Advertisement Even if Superdrug's evaluation is reliable, it means the test is not 100 per cent accurate. The test is 97.5 per cent sensitive, which means just over 97 people in 100 who test positive have indeed been infected. The other three people, however, would get an inaccurate result - known as a false negative result. They will be told they do not have antibodies when in fact they do. The test has 100 per cent specificity, which means it will never generate a 'false positive' result - when people are incorrectly led to believe they have antibodies. However, commenting on the test, Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'This seems rather a strong claim since to be absolutely sure (never), an infinite number of people will have to have been tested.' What's more, even if the test correctly tells someone if they have had COVID-19, scientists are still unsure whether antibodies mean a person is protected from catching the virus again. Immunity to an infection can wear off sometimes in weeks, years, or very quickly. It is not clear at this early stage of a pandemic how long someone is protected. Therefore, some say there is 'no point' paying for a test because it is still not clear what the results mean. There are concerns the tests pick up antibodies that have been produced by the body to other, similar coronaviruses. One study this week suggested some people already have antibodies that are unique to SARS-CoV-2 even if they have never been exposed. They found the same antibodies in blood samples of COVID-19 patients and frozen blood samples of people from more than two years ago who had only ever had a common cold. After the launch of the test yesterday, health chiefs accused Superdrug of 'playing on peoples fears'. Yvonne Fovargue, the MP who chairs a parliamentary panel on consumer protection, raised issues with the price. She said: '70 with postage for a test which is not completely accurate seems excessive. 'Superdrug seems to be playing on peoples fears and thats not right. What people really need is a readily available, easy to use test thats accurate. They deserve nothing less.' A spokesman for Superdrug said: 'The price is reflective of the cost price that we pay for the testing.' WHY IS ANTIBODY TESTING IMPORTANT? WHAT IS AN ANTIBODY TEST? Unlike tests to diagnose diseases, antibody tests show who has been infected and recovered. The body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses and infections, including other coronaviruses. New blood tests are being developed to identify antibodies unique to SARS-CoV-2, the official name of the new coronavirus. The tests look for two kinds of antibodies: immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG). The body quickly produces IgM antibodies for its initial attack against infections. It makes IgG antibodies more slowly and retains them longer; IgG antibodies suggest possible immunity. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAPID TESTS AND ASSAYS? Some companies are developing finger-prick tests that get results in minutes. These are called immunoassays and will form the basis of home testing kits. Others are developing far more accurate tests called enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) that require sending blood samples to a lab for analysis. HOW CAN ANTIBODY TESTS HELP END LOCKDOWNS? Antibody tests can help calculate what portion of the population has already been infected, as well as whether infections were mild or severe. Governments and companies could use antibody tests to determine who would most likely be safe to return to work and public interactions, and whether it is safe to lift stay-at-home orders all at once in some regions or in stages based on infection risk. People with negative antibody tests or very low antibody levels would likely have higher risk of infection than people with high antibody levels. DO ANTIBODIES TO THE NEW CORONAVIRUS CONFER IMMUNITY? While antibodies to many infectious diseases typically confer some level of immunity, whether that is the case with this unique coronavirus is not yet known. And how strong immunity might be, or how long it might last in people previously infected, is not clear. With some diseases like measles the immunity can be lifelong. With others, immunity can wane over time. Scientists cannot know with certainty that reinfection is not possible until further research. Antibody tests could inform not just lockdown exits, but the best approach to treatments and vaccines. Advertisement A top NHS official urged caution over the use of antibody tests, warning anyone who has bought one must still adhere to government rules on lockdown behaviours. NHS medical director Professor Stephen Powis said at yesterday's Downing Street Briefing: 'I would caution against using any tests that might be made available without knowing quite how good those tests are. 'Public Health England as I say is evaluating them for the NHS so I would caution people against being tempted to have those tests. 'I wouldn't want people to think just because you test positive for the antibody that it necessarily means that you can do something different in terms of social distancing or the way you behave. 'Because until we are absolutely sure about the relationship between the positive antibody tests and immunity, I think we as scientists would say we need to tread cautiously.' Other scientists, such as Lawrence Young, a virologist and molecular oncologist from University of Warwick, said they would not pay the 'expensive' 69 for a less-than perfect antibody test. Professor Young said: 'They [Superdrug] highlight that a positive antibody test result does not confer immunity and shouldnt impact current precautions such as social distancing. So why take the test in the first place? What value does it provide?' But Dr Joshua Moon, a research fellow in sustainability research methods, University of Sussex, said: 'Im not sure Id use it to make personal decisions. 'That being said, I have the luxury of working from home so my ability to be cautious is fairly high. Whether or not you take this test as something to act on will depend on the individual more than the tests reliability.' Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology, University of Reading, said: 'These tests are good for satisfying peoples curiosity, but no more. We just dont know enough about what it takes to make someone immune to COVID-19 to accurately test people.' Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics, University of Bristol, who is also in the field of developing an antibody test for COVID-19, said until the science is clear, there is no point spending money on an antibody test. 'Until we know how strong and long lasting immunity is after infection, it is hard to know what to do about the results of these tests, even if the tests are reliable,' he said. 'So the bottom line is: don't spend money and time on any test unless you have a very clear idea of what the result does or does not mean for you and what you are going to do or not do if you get a positive or negative result.' 69 DIY antibody tests go on sale: Superdrug becomes first high street retailer to sell a coronavirus test Superdrug today became the first high street retailer to start selling a coronavirus antibody test to the public and sold out in a matter of hours. The tests, which are intended to tell someone if they have had the virus in the past, cost 69 and require the user to take blood samples themselves and post them off to a laboratory, where it takes 24 hours to produce a result. In a notice on the shop's website yesterday afternoon it said: 'Due to the high demand of orders, this service is currently not available'. And the medical giant Abbott, which makes the tests, has insisted that its tests were not intended to be used by people taking their own blood samples. Instead, the Illinois-based firm says its tests have only been evaluated to be accurate on blood samples taken by trained healthcare providers directly from patients' veins. Any test that has a CE mark such as the one made by Abbott can be legally sold and used in the UK but health chiefs have repeatedly urged Britons to avoid tests that havent been approved. Officials last week approved the Abbott test for laboratory use, making it only the second kit of its kind to be given the green-light following a similar kit made by Swiss giant Roche. No home pregnancy-test kits have yet been approved, despite promises in March that one would be available. Known as the 'have you had it' tests, antibody tests reveal whether someone has been infected with COVID-19 in the past and recovered from it, but scientists are still unsure whether this means they are protected from catching the virus again. Therefore, some say there is 'no point' paying for a test because it is still not clear what the results mean. Superdrug urges individuals to continue social distancing and following government guidance even if their result is positive. Superdrug started selling the kit yesterday morning on its Online Doctor service for 69, but said it isn't available in store. It requires a few drops of blood collected by a finger prick taken at home which are sent off in a pre-paid envelope to The Doctors Laboratory. Blood is then placed into a vial, which must be filled until a certain level. Michael Henry, Superdrug's healthcare director, said he is 'confident' the test is accurate and reliable. Abbott's test was the second antibody test to be approved by the government's testing chiefs and is soon expected to be used by professionals in the NHS and in public surveys. The first was that manufactured by Swiss firm Roche, called Elecsys, which is also not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home. Both tests have been described as 'game changing' by PHE which conducted an analysis of it. Ministers are in talks with Roche to buy millions of the tests, which will be given to NHS and social care workers for free. It is not clear if they will ever be given to the public. WHAT ANTIBODY TESTS ARE APPROVED SO FAR? Antibody tests made by Abbott and Roche are the first antibody tests to be ratified as accurate by Public Health England, after weeks of disappointments. The tests detect whether someone has had the virus and then recovered which could indicate they may be immune. PHE said the ratification of the two tests performed in its labs was a very positive development. Both are likely to be used in the test, track and trace programme being launched next week, in which anyone who has been in contact with a coronavirus patient will be tested. The Department of Health is in conversations with both firms about incorporating the kits into its testing programme, with NHS staff likely to be first to get access. The Abbott test is also being sold privately for home use by health tech firm Babylon and retailer Superdrug for 69. Home use of the test which uses a spot of blood from a finger prick rather than a full blood sample has only been confirmed as accurate by an independent lab, and not yet by PHE. Scientists have stressed that although the two tests offer useful information about who has been infected, it is not yet clear what proportion of these people will be immune to the disease. The idea of immunity certificates has been shelved for now because of this, although No 10 said it was still exploring it. Hopes have run high since March that antibody tests could allow employees to return to work. Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordered 3.5million tests but it turned out the best of them could spot only 70 per cent of those who had been infected. The new tests resolve that problem by using proven lab-based technology, rather than the pregnancy-test style kits Mr Hancock had pinned his hopes on. They also generate very few false positives which means indicating someone has been infected when they have not. Advertisement Abbott's antibody kits are on standby for NHS use and a spokesperson said last week the firm had capacity to provide five million tests a month to the UK with immediate effect. Superdrug says its test is 97.5 per cent sensitive, which means just over 97 people in 100 who test positive have indeed been infected. The other three people, however, would get an inaccurate result - known as a false negative result. They will be told they do not have antibodies when in fact they do. The test has 100 per cent specificity, which means it will never generate a 'false positive' result - when people are incorrectly led to believe they have antibodies. Experts say is it better to compromise on sensitivity than specificity, because 'false negatives' can have dangerous consequences. However, commenting on the test, Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'This seems rather a strong claim since to be absolutely sure (never), an infinite number of people will have to have been tested.' Will Irving, a professor of Virology, University of Nottingham, said although it is reassuring claims test to be very accurate, it depends entirely on how the company came to that conclusion. He said: 'The sensitivity data will be dependent on what kind of serum samples have been tested. If these are mostly or all from hospitalised patients, then the figure may be an overestimate, as there are data suggesting that individuals who dont become very ill with COVID-19 may not make very high levels of antibody. 'The same is true of specificity.' Superdrug doctor ambassador, Dr Zoe Williams, made clear the new test does not confirm someone is safe to go back to work or mingle in society. She said: 'There are however things to consider before taking it. 'Receiving a positive antibody test result does not confer immunity, and it is important that people understand a positive test result does not mean you can be any more relaxed with the required hygiene and social distancing measures as set out by the government.' Ministers are in talks with Roche to buy millions of the tests, which will be given to NHS and social care workers for free. The Roche test, called Elecsys (pictured), is also not designed to give people a result in the comfort of their own home. Medical giant Abbott has produced a test which is essentially the same as the antibody test announced by the Government last week, manufactured by Swiss firm Roche. Scientists welcomed the development in antibody testing. But rallied to remind the public that various antibody tests being sold privately online are a gamble, even if approved by officials. Professor Gino Martini, Royal Pharmaceutical Society Chief Scientific Officer, said: 'Any antibody test at present can only provide a partial picture. 'The real issue is that no-one knows the level of immunity that is conferred by having antibodies to coronavirus, how long it might last, and if you can become re-infected. 'We need much more information and data on immunity before we can understand the importance of having antibodies to the virus.' Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics, University of Bristol, said: 'Even a true positive result, showing real antibody response to SARS-CoV-2, may not mean that a person is completely immune to the infection and at no risk of re-infection and of infecting others. 'We hope that immunity following previous infection will be fully protective in this way, but we are not yet sure. 'All of this complicated information is important.' Professor Finn, who is also in the field of developing an antibody test for COVID-19, said until the science is clear, there is no point spending money on an antibody test. 'Until we know how strong and long lasting immunity is after infection, it is hard to know what to do about the results of these tests, even if the tests are reliable,' he said. 'So the bottom line is: don't spend money and time on any test unless you have a very clear idea of what the result does or does not mean for you and what you are going to do or not do if you get a positive or negative result. 'If the answer is that the result is not going to change what you do because you can't be sure what it means, then there's no point in doing the test.' Babylons Dr Olivia Morrow who is helping to lead the companys coronavirus testing effort says an antibody test 'can help give answers to people who are unsettled, wondering if that cough, fever, or loss of smell they had in February was COVID-19'. Users can also choose to opt-in to share information to aid national research by institutions such as PHE, according to the company. It's not clear if this is the case for Superdrug. PHE is conducting a surveillance programme to understand how many of the population have had the virus using their own, high accuracy antibody test operated at their Porton Down science campus. Millions of Abbott's lab-based tests have been shipped to customers across the US after it was granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. Abbott plans to ramp up to 20million antibody tests in June and beyond. It's hoped that one day, CE-marked home testing kits, also called lateral flow tests, will become available. But they have to be proven to work, first. Health chiefs are still on the hunt for an accurate immunoassay test since ministers promised one back in March. The finger-prick test generates results in minutes at home. The results are displayed like a pregnancy stick and don't need the help of a laboratory of doctor. Such a test was touted as the key to lifting lockdowns because it would mean people could buy a test quickly online, find out if they have had the virus and return to work or not. But progress has been halted because scientists have warned it's still to early for them to know what the antibodies show, exactly. There are hundreds of companies designing these tests, but so far, none tested by an Oxford University team have passed stringent protocol. The Greens are looking to ban future gas exploration in their government formation talks with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. More worryingly, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have said they are open to it. If the Greens get their way, we will be locking ourselves into a future where we are 100pc reliant on post-Brexit Britain for our natural gas supply. This is not a smart idea. Concerns have already been raised by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Ireland's dependence on UK gas imports. In a 2019 review, the IEA stated, "There is high reliance on a limited amount of gas infrastructure, raising concerns for security of gas supply in Ireland". Recent reports in the print media suggest the Attorney General shares some of these concerns too, particularly in relation to how Ireland can meet its energy security obligations to the EU. Why is there so much concern? Ireland relies very heavily on gas for its electricity generation and it has no storage capacity to speak of. So, if something were to happen to the gas supply we get from the single pipeline we have with the UK, Ireland would have a big problem. While people may dispute the amount of gas we will ultimately need, what is clear is that we are going to need a lot of it for many years to come. The Corrib field has already passed peak production and will account for less than 20pc of Ireland's gas needs by 2025. So there is just one choice to be made in the coming days. Will we try to produce some of the gas we need, or will we choose to rely on higher-emission imports from post-Brexit Britain? The carbon footprint of something produced locally is always lower than something produced hundreds or thousands of kilometres away (much of the gas we import from the UK comes from countries like Norway and Qatar). We all know this, it's why many of us try to buy locally produced food over foreign imports when we're doing our shopping. Why should we be looking at our gas any differently? It seems odd that our political parties would actively choose to import all our gas over the possibility of using local production, yet this is what they appear to be considering. A ban on future gas exploration would kill the chances of Ireland finding new gas reserves under existing licences. No one with an existing licence will be able to attract the type of companies we need and the hundreds of millions of euro of investment required to explore and develop a new gas field. This would be a terrible outcome for a country as dependent as we are on energy imports and a huge loss to the exchequer in jobs and investment right along the western seaboard (it's estimated Corrib will contribute 6bn to Ireland's GDP over its lifetime). The discovery of a new gas field will only add to the country's security of supply, it will not mean less renewable energy. Ireland installed a record amount of wind capacity (532MW) in 2017, the same year Corrib reached peak production, and the dispatch rules on our national grid ensure renewables will always be given priority over fossil fuels for electricity. As recently as December 17, 2019, the Government published a policy statement on petroleum exploration. The Government mentioned the "requirement to protect Ireland's energy security", including referencing the economic and environmental benefits "of using indigenous over imported sources... in terms of lower carbon impact, employment and tax yield". In recognition of this, the Government announced it was going to commission an energy security review this year. So, has anything changed since then to justify us moving from this rather sensible approach? Quite the contrary. As we all know, the world has become a much more uncertain place due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ireland's businesses and its finances are likely to be under pressure for many years to come. Is this the time to sacrifice our energy security and the economic benefits derived from producing our own gas? I don't think so. Let us carry out a proper energy security review. Let it inform the decisions we take towards our energy policy. Otherwise there is a very real risk that over the coming days, due to the understandable pressure to form a government, short-term political decisions will be taken that result in bad long-term policies for Ireland's economic and energy future. Tom O'Brien is managing director of Nephin Energy. Nephin holds a 43.5pc interest in the Corrib gas field. The CEO of Thiz Technology Group Limited (HKG:8119) is Albert Wong. This analysis aims first to contrast CEO compensation with other companies that have similar market capitalization. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels. See our latest analysis for Thiz Technology Group How Does Albert Wong's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies? According to our data, Thiz Technology Group Limited has a market capitalization of HK$15m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth HK$1.1m over the year to March 2019. Notably, the salary of HK$1.0m is the vast majority of the CEO compensation. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under HK$1.6b, and the median CEO total compensation was HK$1.7m. Now let's take a look at the pay mix on an industry and company level to gain a better understanding of where Thiz Technology Group stands. Talking in terms of the sector, salary represented approximately 81% of total compensation out of all the companies we analysed, while other remuneration made up 19% of the pie. Thiz Technology Group pays a high salary, concentrating more on this aspect of compensation in comparison to non-salary pay. At first glance this seems like a real positive for shareholders, since Albert Wong is paid less than the average total compensation paid by similar sized companies. However, before we heap on the praise, we should delve deeper to understand business performance. You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Thiz Technology Group, below. SEHK:8119 CEO Compensation May 21st 2020 Is Thiz Technology Group Limited Growing? Thiz Technology Group Limited has seen earnings per share (EPS) move positively by an average of 4.0% a year, over the last three years (using a line of best fit). Its revenue is up 16% over last year. Story continues I would argue that the modest growth in revenue is a notable positive. And the modest growth in earnings per share isn't bad, either. So while performance isn't amazing, we think it really does seem quite respectable. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow. Has Thiz Technology Group Limited Been A Good Investment? With a three year total loss of 93%, Thiz Technology Group Limited would certainly have some dissatisfied shareholders. So shareholders would probably think the company shouldn't be too generous with CEO compensation. In Summary... Thiz Technology Group Limited is currently paying its CEO below what is normal for companies of its size. Albert Wong is paid less than CEOs of similar size companies, but growth hasn't been particularly impressive and the total shareholder return over three years would leave many disappointed. I am not concerned by the CEO compensation, but it would be good to see improved performance before pay increases. On another note, Thiz Technology Group has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about. If you want to buy a stock that is better than Thiz Technology Group, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 09:04 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd95ad86 1 National COVID-19,COVID-19-death-toll,Kawal-COVID-19,Lapor-COVID-19,PDP,ODP Free The government should not rush into easing restrictions in the countrys COVID-19 red zones, as the number of deaths suspected to have been caused by the coronavirus has risen to more than 3,800, a civil society group says. Lapor COVID-19, which consists of several civil groups, reported that fatalities among suspected COVID-19 cases in 18 provinces of Indonesia numbered 3,833 as of May 15, based on information gleaned from the websites of regional administrationsprovinces, regencies and municipalities. Combined with the 1,242 deaths among confirmed cases as of May 20, the total number of deaths was at least 5,075. On May 13, another volunteer group, KawalCovid-19, recorded 3,180 deaths of patients suspected to have COVID-19, consisting of 3,091 patients under surveillance (PDP) and 90 people under monitoring (ODP). That data comes from the COVID-19 websites of 16 of the 34 countrys provinces. The group has since updated the data to show that, as of May 16, 18 provinces in Indonesia had reported 3,657 deaths among PDP and ODP cases. Not all provinces revealed the death toll among suspected cases. Bali, for example, does not provide such data. Lapor COVID-19 spokesperson Irma Hidayana said the government with its official death toll was underreporting cases and should instead follow the World Health Organizations (WHO) latest guidance on including deaths among suspected cases. Since April 11, the WHO defines a COVID-19 death as any death resulting from a clinically compatible illness in a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19. Based on that definition, the cumulative death toll of people who had or may have had the virus should be included in the COVID-19 death figure. The situation shows that the limited number of tests and delays in the process might cause people with suspected COVID-19 to die even before they get tested, Irma added. While President Joko Jokowi Widodo promised in April to ramp up coronavirus testing to 10,000 tests per day, government data show that only 6,340 tests were conducted on Wednesday, and the maximum number of daily tests was 7,111 on April 12. A mere 2,562 people were tested on Monday. The President has called on residents to make peace and coexist with the virus in a new normal situation. Living in peace does not mean we are giving up, but we are adapting, he said on Friday. The transition toward a new normal by reopening the economy should be based on measurable indicators with scientifically valid and transparent data, Irma said in a statement made available on Sunday. The group also raised concerns about crowds forming at airports, shopping centers and a fast food outlet, indicating that many people did not heed government instructions about continued physical distancing. "The government has to be well prepared and prioritize public health before reopening the economy," the statement said. The iftaar that never happened: BSF jawans were killed while buying bread India pti-PTI Srinagar, May 21: It was minutes before iftaar when terrorists on a motorcycle drove past a bakery in a busy market area firing bullets, instantly killing BSF constables Jia-ul-Haq and Rana Mondal while they were buying bread to break their Ramzan fast, officials said on Thursday. The attack took place on Wednesday evening, just days before Eid, in Soura on the outskirts of Srinagar. The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack. 2 BSF personnel killed in Kashmir, their weapons looted The terrorists pumped bullets into the two troopers at close range before disappearing into the bylanes of the congested locality, officials said. Railway Minister: More trains will resume to restore India to normalcy| Oneindia News Haq and Mondal are from Murshidabad in West Bengal but their bodies cant be sent back home because airports in the state are closed due to the havoc wreaked by Cyclone Amphan, officials said. Both Haq, 34, and Mondal, 29, received serious head injuries. The two friends from the 37th battalion of the BSF were posted in the Pandach camp, tasked with keeping a watch on the entry and exit to Srinagar from neighbouring Ganderbal district. Recapping the events of the day, officials said Mondal and Haq were just minutes away from breaking their fast. But that never happened. They left the world without having a drop of water at the end of a long day of fasting, troopers in the 37th battalion BSF said, mourning the death of their two colleagues who went too soon. Haq, who joined the BSF in 2009, is survived by his parents, wife Nafsina Khatun and two daughters, four-year-old Zeshlin Jiul who is deaf mute, and Jennifer Jiul who is just six months old. He lived in Rezinagar, about 30 km from Murshidabad town. Mondal also leaves behind a six-month-old daughter as well as his parents and wife Jeshmin Khatun. He lived in Sahebrampur in Murshidabad. Both men had been posted in Kashmir since August 5 last year, when the Centre announced its decision to withdraw Jammu and Kashmirs special status under Article 370 and to bifurcate it into the union territories of Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Eid will be celebrated on May 24 or 25, depending on the sighting of the moon. A guest holds her phone showing a picture taken during Huawei's press conference unveiling its new HarmonyOS operating system in Dongguan, Guangdong province on August 9, 2019. Fred Dufour | AFP| Getty Images A top Huawei executive said the Chinese company's mobile operating system is able to compete with Google and Apple but analysts told CNBC that might be tough to achieve, especially in markets outside China where U.S. technology giants have a strong foothold. "Huawei is in a position to deliver an ecosystem that is on par with Google's and Apple's ecosystems," Huawei's vice president of consumer cloud services in its consumer business, Eric Tan, said on Tuesday. "We have the confidence to be one of the top ecosystem developers in the world." He was speaking about the company's own operating system, called the HarmonyOS, which was launched in August. It comes as the Chinese technology giant attempts to forge a path ahead without American technology. Huawei's smartphones have relied on Google's Android operating system for a number of years. But in 2019, the Chinese firm was put on a U.S. blacklist which restricted its access to American technology and meant it was no longer able to use licensed Android software on its handsets. In response, Huawei launched its own operating system that same year. On Tuesday, Huawei executives spoke about HarmonyOS, playing up its ability to be an operating system that can work across a number of devices rather than just smartphones alone, which could appeal to developers looking to make apps that work on different hardware. The management also talked about the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), a collection of various Huawei apps from maps to payments to its app store. Huawei's claim about being able to deliver an ecosystem "on par" with Google's and Apple's is a big one, considering the company only launched its operating system less than a year ago. But Tan backed up his comments by revealing that by the end of March, Huawei had 1.4 million developers on board up 115% from the end of the first quarter of 2019. In China, where Huawei is the biggest smartphone maker by market share, not having access to Google's Android is not a huge problem. That's because Google services, such as search, are blocked in the country and users can't really use them anyway. That also means Huawei's HarmonyOS has a chance of being successful in the domestic market. So overall without marquee developers on board its going to be a tough sell. Neil Shah Counterpoint Research However, in international markets where apps are built on Google's services integrating maps or payments, for example Huawei could find its HarmonyOS a tough sell. "It won't be easy for Huawei to build up a library of premier applications outside of China, as many of them rely on Google for things like digital rights management, location, payment, and notification services," Bryan Ma, vice president of devices research at IDC, told CNBC. Huawei was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. "Developers oftentimes have to be selective on which projects they spend their time on, and a key factor in that decision-making is whether there is enough of a critical mass in the user base to justify the time and effort spent in porting applications over," Ma said. By Katitza Rodriguez and Seth Schoen Time and again, governments have used crises to expand their power, and often their intrusion into citizens lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen this pattern play out on a huge scale. From deploying drones or ankle monitors to enforce quarantine orders to proposals to use face recognition or thermal imaging cameras for monitoring public spaces, governments around the world have been adopting intrusive measures in their quest to contain the pandemic. EFF has fought for years against the often secretive governmental use of cell phone location data. Governments have repeatedly sought to obtain this data without a court order, dodged oversight of how they used and accessed it, misleadingly downplayed its sensitivity, and forced mobile operators to retain it. In the past, these uses were most often justified with arguments of law enforcement or national security necessity. Now, some of the same location surveillance powers are being demandedor sometimes simply seizedwithout making a significant contribution to containing COVID-19. Despite the lack of evidence to show the effectiveness of location data to stop the spread of the virus, a number of countries governments have used the crisis to introduce completely new surveillance powers or extend old ones to new COVID-related purposes. For example, data retention laws compel telecom companies to continuously collect and store metadata of a whole population for a certain period of time. In Europe, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared such mandates illegal under EU law. Like other emergency measures, it may be an uphill battle to roll back new location surveillance once the epidemic subsides. And because governments have not shown its effectiveness, theres no justification for this intrusion on peoples fundamental freedoms in the first place. Individualized Location Tracking Mobile carriers happen to know their subscribers phones locations (usually the same as the locations of the subscribers themselves) from moment to moment because of the way cellular networks work. That knowledge has turned into one of the most extensive data sources for governmentsand not infrequently advertisers, stalkers, or spiesinterested in tracking peoples movements. But while phone location data is sufficient to show whether someone went to church or the movies, it simply is not accurate enough to show whether two people were close enough together to transmit the virus (commonly characterized as a distance of two meters, or about six feet). While location surveillance is problematic at any time, the coronavirus crisis has led to a rapid uptick in its use; many measures to facilitate it have been passed by fast-tracked legislative procedures during national state of emergencies. Some governments have even bypassed legislators entirely and relied on executive power to roll out expanded location surveillancemaking it even less transparent and democratically legitimate than usual. Governments may use the urgency of the crisis to erode limits on the ways peoples location histories can be used, demand this data be turned over to authorities in bulk, or require companies to stockpile records of where their customers have been. COVID-inspired cell phone location surveillance around the globe Attempts at rapid expansions of government location surveillance authority have come to light in at least seven countries. In Israel, in a significant win for privacy, Israels High Court of Justice has recently revoked the authorization of the police to access location data for contact tracing without a court order. On March 16th, the government had approved emergency regulations, 48 hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his governments intention to approve health tracking methods. The regulations enabled both the police and Israels domestic security agency (usually known as Shabak or Shin Bet, after its Hebrew acronym) to track the whereabouts of persons that might be infected or are suspected to be infected with COVID-19 without a warrant. The emergency regulation has now been suspended, and the Court has ordered that the government address the use of mobile phone tracking through legislation. Despite the win, the fight against warrantless access to location data is far from over: on May 5th, the parliaments Intelligence Subcommittee voted 6-3 to extend the Shin Bets warrantless access to location data to track infected people, while the government is working towards advancing legislation to enable this form of surveillance more permanently. Right after the approval of the emergency regulations on March 16th, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition to Israels High Court stressing the need to protect democracy during the pandemic: Democracy is measured precisely in those situations when the public is afraid, exposed day and night to nightmare scenarios []. Precisely in such moments, it is vital to act in a considered and level-headed manner, and not to take draconian and extreme decisions and to accustom the public to the use of undemocratic means []. In South Africa, where a state of disaster has been in place since March 15th, the government amended a law to create a COVID-19 Tracing Database. The database will include personal data of those who are infected or suspected to be infected of COVID-19, including their COVID-19 test results, as well as the details of those who have come or are suspected to have come into contact with them. The Act authorizes the Director-General of Health to order telecom companies to disclose the location of infected or suspected to be infected person, without prior notice, as well as the location of those who were in contact or suspected to have been in contact with them, and to included all of this data in the COVID-19 Tracing Database. The law was met with severe backlash from civil society, and has since been amended twice. In a win for privacy, the last amendment deleted the provisions that obliged telecommunications companies to disclose location data for inclusion in that database. Poland, which has been in a state of emergency since mid-March, has a track record of encroaching on the rule of law, even triggering the EUs legal process for addressing violations of European values. The EU Commission has stated that the Polish judiciary is under the political control of the ruling majority. In the absence of judicial independence, serious questions are raised about the effective application of EU law. Now with COVID-19, the Polish government has also introduced several COVID acts, providing new surveillance powers for the executive. Article 11 of the COVID-19 act obliges telecom operators to collect and give access to location data of people infected with COVID-19 or those under quarantine upon a simple request, as well as aggregate location data of an operators clients. The new legislation states that these measures will remain in place until the pandemic has ended. Slovakia is another eastern European country that has expanded telecom companies obligations to retain metadata during the crisis. Slovakia has been in a partial state of emergency since March 15th, during which several amendments to the countrys telecommunications act were fast tracked through parliament. The amendments, which immediately caused outrage, authorized national health authorities to obtain location data from telecommunications operators in the context of a pandemic. As in Poland, the amended law allows both for the retention of anonymized aggregate data, as well as for individual location data. After being challenged before the Slovakian Constitutional Court, these measures have recently been suspended due to their vagueness and insufficient safeguards against misuse. Croatias government attempted to introduce similar, fast-tracked amendments to the countrys electronic communications law. The bill would have authorized the exceptional processing of location data to protect national and public safety, and would have obliged telecommunications operators to share the data with the Ministry of Health. As in other countries, the proposal was met with outrage among civil society, experts, and opposition, as more than forty civil society organizations signed onto a letter demanding the government to withdraw the bill. The criticism was eventually successful, but the Croatian example underlines the wider pattern of states looking to expand at any opportunity new surveillance powers in the crisis, in the Balkans and beyond. Bulgaria, yet another Eastern European country in a state of emergency, has passed an emergency law, which included amendments to the countrys electronic communications act. The law now obliges telecommunications companies to store and (upon request) provide metadata to competent authorities, including the police, to monitor citizens compliance with quarantine measures. The law does not require requests to be authorized by courts but merely provides for a after-the-fact judicial review process which the country also uses when retaining data to prevent terrorist attacks. Not limited in time, the measures will remain in force even after the state of emergency has come to an end. Like Poland, Bulgaria has been showing authoritarian tendencies for several years, and this extension of the countrys data retention regime, ushered in during the COVID crisis, may help solidify autocracy. The pattern of European countries reaching for location data surveillance also pokes holes in the popular image of the European Union as particularly protective of the right to privacy. South Korea, a country with experience fighting coronavirus outbreaks since the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) epidemic in 2015, has dramatically restricted the right to privacy in the context of the pandemic. The Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act allows health officials to obtain sensitive personal data on the infected and those suspected to be infected, as well as their contacts and those suspected to be in contact. Such data includes names, resident registration numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, prescriptions, medical treatment records, immigration control records, credit card records, transit card records, and CCTV recordings from third parties companies. Police can seize this personal data without consent of the data subjects and without any judicial oversight. The Act also allows health officials and administrators of municipalities to collect location data on the infected (or suspected to be infected) and their contacts (or suspected contacts) from telecommunications operators and location data providers (from cell site and GPS). Conclusion Location surveillance comes with a host of risks to citizens privacy, freedom of expression and data protection rights. EFF has long been fighting against warrantless access to location data or blanket data retention mandates, and has called on governments to be more transparent on their surveillance programs. Especially now, during a major health crisis, in which the government has not shown the efficacy of location data about individuals, governments should be as transparent as possible about what data they are collecting for what purposes. Above all, the necessity and proportionality of any location data surveillance schemes must be demonstrated. Katitza Rodriguez is EFFs international rights director. She concentrates on comparative policy of international privacy issues, with special emphasis on law enforcement, government surveillance, and cross border data flows. Her work in EFFs International Program also focuses on cybersecurity at the intersection of human rights. Katitza also manages EFFs growing Latin American programs. She was an advisor to the UN Internet Governance Forum (2009-2010). In 2018, CNET named Katitza one of 20 most influential latinos in technology in the United States. In 2014, she was also named one of The heroes in the fight to save the Internet. President Donald Trump once again tore into Fox News on Thursday, accusing the network that has featured a bevy of commentators praising his leadership and backing some of his statements on hydroxychloroquine of 'doing nothing' to help Republicans. Trump made the claim in a pair of defiant tweets he made as he was traveling in Michigan, where he toured a Ford plant in Ypsilanti in a critical battleground state that he carried in 2016 where he has sparred with the state's governor over the coronavirus. Fox has provided intense coverage of anti-lockdown protests in Michigan that Trump stoked with his call to 'liberate' states last month. U.S. President Donald Trump visiting the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant, which is making ventilators and medical supplies, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S., May 21, 2020. He blasted Fox News on his way to the plant The network has recently featured extended Trump call-in interviews on 'Fox and Friends' and a special sit-down with the solemn backdrop the Lincoln Memorial. But some commentators have distanced themselves from Trump, as when Fox host Neil Cavuto told viewers: 'This will kill you' after Trump revealed he was taking the drug hydroxychloroquine, which is only being tested for effectiveness against the virus. 'Many will disagree, but @FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd,' Trump wrote. 'Sure, there are some truly GREAT people on Fox, but you also have some real garbage littered all over the network, people like Dummy Juan Williams, Schumerite Chris Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others,' Trump wrote choosing a handful of commentators with Democratic backgrounds as well as Cavuto, who issued an on-air rebuttal after Trump revealed he was taking hydroxy. Trump tore into the network on Thursday Fox News commentator Sean Hannity is a powerful Trump defender Trump tore into Fox commentators with Democratic affiliations Trump has called for an 'alternative' to Fox, and often calls on OAN reporter Chanel Rion Fox News host Neil Cavuto took aim at President Trump's revelation he has been taking hydroxychloroquine as preventive treatment for coronavirus Trump complained the network, which employs conservative commentators and some Democrats to debate them, of failing to help his reelection Fox host Tucker Carlson, like Trump, has sometimes referred to the 'Chinese coronavirus' a phrase that puts blame outside the U.S. borders 'They repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points, and lies. All of the good is totally nullified, and more. Net Result = BAD! CNN & MSDNC are all in for the Do Nothing Democrats! Fox WAS Great!' Trump wrote. MSDNC is Trump's regular insult for MSNBC. Trump's outburst came hours before Fox released a new national poll showing rival Joe Biden leading him, 48 to 40 per cent.' The network has a respected non-partisan polling unit, but Trump regularly attacks it when polls show him down. Trump also ripped Fox three days ago, following Cavuto's broadcast. Cavuto, who often defends Trump on other matters, followed up Trump's hydroxy statement by saying: 'That was stunning.' Cavuto continued: 'The fact of the matter is though, when the president said "what have you got to lose?", in a number of studies, those certain vulnerable population has one thing to lose: their lives.' U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a protective face shield during a tour of the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant that is manufacturing ventilators, masks and other medical supplies during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Ypsilanti, Michigan 'If you are in a risky population here, and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus, or in a worse-case scenario you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you,' Cavuto said. 'I cannot stress enough. This will kill you. So, again, whatever benefits the president says this has, and certainly it has had for those suffering from malaria, dealing with lupus, this is a leap that should not be taken casually by those watching from home or assuming, well the president of the United States says it's OK,' he added. The other hosts Trump singled out included Donna Brazile, a former Democratic National Committee chair who signed a deal as a Fox commentator, longtime voice from the left Juan Williams, Chris Hahn, who indeed worked for Sen. Charles Schumer years ago, and Richard Goodstein, a former Bill and Hillary Clinton advisor. The network broadcast Trump's remarks at the Michigan plant in their entirety. On May 18, Trump tweeted the network 'is no longer the same' after Cavuto's statement. Trump tweeted Monday night: '@foxnews is no longer the same. We miss the great Roger Ailes. You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet!' Ailes, former CEO Fox News, resigned in July 2016 amid charges of sexual harassment from dozens of women. He died in May 2017. In April he tweeted that he wanted an 'alternative' to Fox. Bars and pubs have had to wait an extra week to open after the move to alert level 2 but from today they can open their doors. Reg Hennessy, owner of Hennsessy's Tavern in Rotorua, was first to speak to the ERC yesterday. Reg previously spoke to the ERC on the troubles his business and industry faces in the immediate and medium term future. "We were told for weeks to wait for the Budget, what a waste of time... nothing for the hospitality industry." He and his partner Sue have been tested mentally during the 58 days they've been unable to trade, says Hennessy. Reg says the only support he received from the government was the wage subsidy. "And that's exactly what it was - support for our staff." He says the only talk he has heard from the government is 'borrow more' from the banks and the government itself. He says the tax exemptions the government announced for businesses will help down the track but he needs assistance immediately. He says hospitality representatives have written to Andrew Little, Kris Faafoi and Stuart Nash about commercial lease concerns, he's yet to get a response from any of them. Reg says what he needs from the government is consistent information and proper support on commercial leasing as soon as possible. Some bar owners said having to wait was "a bit of a kick in the guts". Meanwhile, some tourism businesses have been suffering, but have said domestic travel being allowed under level 2 will help. The ERC also heard from a number of aviation operators in the tourism industry, both in Queenstown and Rotorua. Tim Barrow from Volcanic Air Safari told the ERC that 88 per cent of his company's clients are international visitors and that they make up 96 per cent of their income. He says the majority of his clients are time poor and cash rich and that the average ticket price is $488 per person, injecting more than $135m a year into the economy. Tim, like the others from the aviation sector who spoke to the ERC, say hibernating a high-capital business like his was not an option as the costs to maintain certification, their aircraft and other overheads were too high. "It [hibernation] would be a fatal blow, I don't think the industry would be able to recover from it ... it would be catastrophic." Tim says the wage subsidy scheme had been beneficial to his business and employees but is worried what the future holds beyond that. He added that while a trans-Tasman bubble would help his industry, it's no "silver bullet" and more international visitors would be needed to keep businesses like his afloat. On Tuesday Treasury officials failed to front at the meeting which National Party leader Simon Bridges said was "entirely unacceptable". Secretary of the Treasury Dr Caralee McLiesh fronted the ERC on Wednesday, along with other department representatives, and the first question Simon put to her was whether she had been told by the Prime Minister or Minister of Finance not to show up. She says that was not the case. Simon then asked if she was aware of an email from the office of the Leader of the House, Chris Hipkins, to Ministers saying they shouldn't attend the ERC. Caralee said she was aware of it. Simon then asked if that affected Treasury. Caralee said no. Following that question line, Simon highlighted that economists on Tuesday believed Treasury's forecasts for unemployment figures, tax revenue and the general economic outlook was on the optimistic side. Caralee said forecasters tend to have differing views on matters like those and she believed Treasury were being on the pessimistic side for the coming months. Caralee was questioned heavily by opposition members of Parliament on a variety of topics, ranging from the Budget, to the COVID-19 recovery and the country's fiscal position over the foreseeable future. She said she had not been asked by the government to forecast any tax increases and that her department had been solely focused on the recovery. Speaking at Wednesday's meeting were: Hennessy's Irish Bar in Rotorua owner Reg Hennessy Anthony Hall from The Still Room gastropub Over the Top chief executive and founder Louisa Patterson Volcanic Air Safaris chief pilot and director Tim Barrow Totally Tourism owner Mark Quickfall Hobbiton boss Russell Alexander Treasury Secretary Caralee McLeish RNZ. US Attorney William M. McSwain announcing the guilty plea of former Philadelphia election judge Domenick J. DeMuro. Read more Editors Note: This article is from May 2020. You can find live updates about the Nov. 2020 general election here. A former judge of elections and Democratic committeeperson from South Philadelphia has pleaded guilty to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to inflate the vote totals for three Democratic candidates for Common Pleas Court judge in 2015, and for other Democratic candidates for office in 2014 and 2016, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced Thursday. Domenick J. DeMuro, 73, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deprive Philadelphia voters of their civil rights by fraudulently stuffing the ballot boxes for the judicial candidates and for other candidates seeking office in the 2014 and 2016 primary elections. And he admitted violating the Travel Act, which forbids the use of a cell phone to promote illegal activity, McSwains office said. DeMuro, who could not be reached for comment, was paid between $300 and $5,000 for each election, the office said. Our election system relies on the honesty and the integrity of its election officials. If they are corrupt, the system is corrupt, which creates opportunities for election fraud and for the counting of fake votes, McSwain said in a video-recorded statement sent to news outlets. DeMuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear. This is utterly reprehensible conduct. The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions, McSwain added. He did not name the candidates and did not say if they won their elections. READ MORE: A congressman caught in the 1970s Abscam sting is now at the heart of a Philly election fraud probe, sources say DeMuro admitted that a political consultant whose name prosecutors did not reveal paid him to add votes for Democratic candidates running for the bench and other federal, state, and local offices, prosecutors said. The consultant, who is a former elected official, took fees from the candidates and used part of the money to pay DeMuro, a judge of elections in the 36th Division of the 39th Ward, they said. In May 2014, DeMuro inflated vote totals by adding 27 fraudulent ballots in the primary election, 40 votes in May 2015, and 46 in 2016, according to court documents outlining the scheme and the charges against him. While those numbers may seem small, prosecutors said, they made up a significant percentage of the total votes cast at the polling place. In 2014, 118 total ballots were reported there, which means that DeMuros fraudulent votes accounted for over 22% of the total voting in that division in 2014. In 2015, his fraud accounted for over 15% of the votes in the division; in 2016, his fraud accounted for over 17% of the votes. READ MORE: Election fraud case sparks renewed accusations about ballot security in Philadelphia Al Schmidt, vice chairman of the Office of Philadelphia City Commissioners, which runs elections, said his office found that DeMuros 36th Division had a history of more votes being cast on machines than the number of voters who signed poll books. His said his office referred the divisions troubling vote numbers from 2014 and 2015 to the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office. It was pretty flagrant, and it was repeated again and again. It was a source of frustration for me because it kept occurring again and again, he said of DeMuros division. Of the citys 1,703 voting divisions, Schmidt said, the Commissioners Office flags voting irregularities in about six divisions in each election and refers them to law enforcement. We take election integrity seriously. Thats why weve been referring these cases since I first came into office in 2012, he said. DeMuro, who pleaded guilty in March in a sealed proceeding before U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond, faces up to 15 years in federal prison when sentenced June 30. His lawyer, Janine Vinci, declined to comment Thursday. READ MORE: Civil rights groups seek to block Judicial Watch lawsuit and avoid a purge of Pennsylvania voter rolls In a statement, FBI Special Agent Michael J. Driscoll denounced DeMuros actions. Domenick DeMuro put a thumb on the scale for certain candidates, in exchange for bribes, he said. As public trust in the electoral process is vital, the FBIs message today is clear: election interference of any kind, by hostile foreign actors or dishonest local officials, wont be tolerated." The investigation is ongoing and those with information on election fraud are asked to contact the FBI, he said. Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article. GMR said that as social distancing has become the new norm due to the pandemic, the company took many initiatives to enhance passenger safety and comply with COVID-19 safety measures. New Delhi: As per the protocols announced by the Centre amid COVID-19 pandemic, GMR's airports in Delhi and Hyderabad will set up contact-less food ordering service as a safety measure against the corona disease. "Passenger experience is prime to us even at this challenging time. As social distancing has become the new norm due to the pandemic, we have taken many initiatives to enhance passenger safety and comply with COVID-19 safety measures. We have adopted a unique platform to extend contactless solutions to the flyers," said a GMR airport spokesperson. "Apart from contact-less food ordering feature, this app has several valuable features for both the airports' passengers, such as real-time flight status alerts, boarding gate and belt information, airport facility information, time to gate and waiting for estimates, weather at destination amongst others," added the GMR spokesperson. On Wednesday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had announced that all domestic civil aviation operations will resume in a calibrated manner from 25 May. Domestic flights in the country have been prohibited since 25 March when the first lockdown was enforced to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Established by Cindy Hamman, a 23-year industry veteran, Integrity Texas Properties aims to provide clients with impeccable service. Honest, reliable, compassionate client service has always been at the heart of my real estate business. The partnership with Side allows us to fully focus on our clients while providing them with state-of-the-art marketing, technology, administrative, and legal services. Integrity Texas Properties today announced its partnership with Side, the only real estate brokerage that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into boutique brands and businesses. Side will help Integrity Texas Properties elevate its honest representation and compassionate leadership with the most robust technology platform in the industry. Established by Cindy Hamman, a 23-year industry veteran who is considered a Realtors Realtor, Integrity Texas Properties aims to provide clients with impeccable service. Hamman has built many successful offices for prominent franchises including Berkshire Hathaway and Coldwell Banker, and has helped mentor and recruit over 2000 agents since 1997. She currently serves on the HRIS Board of Directors for the Houston Association of Realtors, and has previously served as Chairman of the Houston Association of Realtors; Regional Vice President for the Texas Association of Realtors; and on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Realtors and Candlelighters Childhood Cancer. Integrity Texas Properties specializes in residential real estate in Spring, The Woodlands, Woodforest, Magnolia, and Conroe, among other North Houston communities. Partnering with Side will ensure Integrity Texas Properties remains at the cutting edge of the ever-evolving real estate market while allowing its agents to continue delivering top-of-the-line services to its clients. Integrity Texas Properties 24 agents are fully supported by a one-of-a-kind premium brokerage platform, which provides transaction management, property marketing, lead generation, business growth opportunities, vendor management, and infrastructure solutions. Honest, reliable, compassionate client service has always been at the heart of my real estate business, says Hamman. The partnership with Side allows us to fully focus on our clients while providing them with state-of-the-art marketing, technology, administrative, and legal services. Side is led by experienced industry professionals and world-class engineers who develop technology designed to improve agent productivity and enhance the client experience. Based on its belief that homeownership is a fundamental human right, Side is on a mission to improve the public good by providing top-performing agents with the best real estate service, experience, and results. Launched in 2017, Side now powers over 700 real estate agents from the top 2% of the industrys top producing teams. 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A sacred Monacan Indian Nation site in Fluvanna County is among one of Virginias most endangered historic places for 2020, according to the group Preservation Virginia. Each year, the organization releases a list of sites it believes are under imminent or sustained threats to their integrity, according to a news release. The sites making this years list are: Rassawek, the historic capital and sacred site of the Monacan Indian Nation, located at the confluence of the Rivanna and James rivers in Fluvanna. Alexandria Elks Lodge #48, a community hub for African American Elks and residents in the Parker Gray Historic District for over 115 years. James Street Holiness Church, founded in 1891 in north Danville by African American preacher Bettie Thompson. Pine Grove School Community, a rural African American community of businesses, churches, cemeteries and homes of students who attended the Pine Grove Rosenwald School in Cumberland County. Western Loudoun Countys rural road network, 300 miles of gravel roadways that traverse the Loudoun Valley. Historic metal truss bridges statewide. In 1975, Virginia had approximately 620 metal truss bridges; only about 5% of those remain today. Halifax Roller Mill, a three-story flour and feed mill built in 1915 to use electric power rather than water in the town of Halifax. We understand we are living through quickly evolving times during this pandemic. Life has changed, and our mission to protect and reuse historic places has become more challenging, said Preservation Virginia CEO Elizabeth S. Kostelny, in the release. While we continue to see historic places of all types remaining resilient across the state, our list highlights longstanding issues that need to be addressed and cannot be forgotten during times of crisis. For example, Kostelny said four of the seven historic places cited this year are connected to underrepresented communities. One is Rassawek. A water intake station is proposed on the site, which the Monacans oppose. Our capital city was a contemporary of Jamestown, but much larger and more complex, and it lasted as a community far longer, said Monacan Tribal Chief Kenneth Branham. It is for us a sacred place of great cultural significance, and it is for all Americans a place of historical importance. Two of this years listings are transportation related, reflecting the rate at which Virginia is losing bridges and roads important to its historic landscape, with significant efforts needed to foster these places before they are lost, according to the organization. More information can be found at preservation virginia.org. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The New Orleans Police Department is shaking up its top ranks after reports of improper searches and arrests by the agencys proactive patrol units led to their disbanding recently, several sources familiar with the plan said Thursday. The most notable impending switch involves NOPDs No. 2 position, whose duties include overseeing the bureau that housed the disbanded task forces. Chief Deputy Superintendent Paul Noel, whos been in charge of NOPDs field operations bureau since before Superintendent Shaun Ferguson took office early last year, will cede the post to John Thomas. After extremely troubling allegations, NOPD chief reassigns task force officers New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said Monday that he was immediately reassigning all of the departments task force officers t Thomas' elevation comes shortly after being given the responsibility of handling NOPD's own investigation into the shuttered task forces. Noel in turn will take over Thomas old job of heading a separate bureau in charge of NOPDs follow-up investigations into reported crimes, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the shake-up. NOPDs Public Information Office did not respond to a request for comment. An official announcement of a number of changes at various levels within the agency could come before the weekend. Transfers within NOPD are typically disclosed to officers on Friday afternoons. For Noel, a long-rising star in the department who made his mark as commander of the Uptown-based 2nd District, the move amounts to a drop in the agency's pecking order. Noel, like Thomas, was a finalist for the job Ferguson got when former Superintendent Michael Harrison left the agency to become Baltimores police commissioner in January 2019. Noel, who arrived at NOPD in 1997, became Harrisons No. 2 in late 2015, after also overseeing a politically charged re-examination of sex crimes investigations whose quality had been called into question by a scathing inspector generals report. When Ferguson took over for Harrison, he left Noel his former commander in the 2nd District in place, despite making numerous other personnel switches. Thomas promotion to the slot just under Ferguson comes a little more than two years after he was shot and grazed in the chest while supervising officers investigating one mans violent crime spree. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up That attack was particularly distressing to the 28-year veterans family because of the 1996 slaying of his brother, NOPD Detective Joseph Thomas, who was fatally shot during a gun battle in the line of duty. Days before word about NOPD's latest reshuffling began trickling out, an article in The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate detailed various court rulings over the past few months that rebuked a group of officers for improper arrests in the French Quarter. The officers in question belonged to an 8th District task force that tries to stop crime proactively rather than waiting to respond to 911 calls. Such task forces existed in all eight of the city's patrol districts. A video shot at the station house in NOPDs 8th District which patrols the French Quarter showed officers straightening out their stories about a search on Bourbon Street. The Louisiana Supreme Court deemed the search illegal after it received the video for review. Judges presiding over other cases handled by the 8th District task force, which often seeks to confiscate illegally concealed guns in the citys tourism hub, have tossed additional searches by the same detectives appearing in the video. Yet similar problems may exist with task forces that had been operating in other parts of the city. Ferguson on Monday divulged that the task forces had been subjected to a multi-phase audit from the monitors overseeing the reform agreement that NOPD signed with the federal government in 2012. The audit found inadequate supervision, and the newspapers article bolstered the monitors conclusions, said Ferguson, who described himself as troubled by the reports findings. Arrests by French Quarter undercover unit scrutinized after 'disconnect' between body-cam video, testimony A small group of plainclothes New Orleans police detectives on the lookout for guns in the French Quarter has been called out repeatedly by ju As a result, Ferguson said he was immediately disbanding the departments various task forces and assigning their officers to respond to calls for service instead. Ferguson added that he had ordered Thomas to lead NOPD's internal investigation into how the task forces conducted their business. Various criminal justice sources on Thursday said the timing of the leadership shuffle was undoubtedly influenced by the events of the past few days. But they also said NOPD had been contemplating giving the well-regarded Thomas a chance as the superintendents right-hand man before the revelations surrounding the task forces came to light. Pump station to bring water to hard-hit areas Koh Kaew, Rassada PHUKET: The temporary pump station built beside Wanit lake is complete and ready to provide up to around 2,400 cubic metres of water per day to hard-hit households in Koh Kaew and Rassada in a last-ditch effort to restore water supply as the annual rains return. By The Phuket News Thursday 21 May 2020, 11:12AM The pump station beside Wanit lake came onstream yesterday (May 20), able to provide 2,400 cubic metres of water to hard-hit households in Rassada and Koh Kaew. Photo: PR Phuket The pump station beside Wanit lake came onstream yesterday (May 20), able to provide 2,400 cubic metres of water to hard-hit households in Rassada and Koh Kaew. Photo: PR Phuket The pump station beside Wanit lake came onstream yesterday (May 20), able to provide 2,400 cubic metres of water to hard-hit households in Rassada and Koh Kaew. Photo: PR Phuket The pump station beside Wanit lake came onstream yesterday (May 20), able to provide 2,400 cubic metres of water to hard-hit households in Rassada and Koh Kaew. Photo: PR Phuket The pump station beside Wanit lake came onstream yesterday (May 20), able to provide 2,400 cubic metres of water to hard-hit households in Rassada and Koh Kaew. Photo: PR Phuket Vice Governor Wongsakorn Nunchukhan inspected the site, near Wat Manik in Srisoonthorn, yesterday (May 20). Present to join the inspection were Phuket Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) Chief Graisorn Mahamad, and other relevant offices. The lack of rain on the island since last year has seen water levels at Bang Wad and Bang Neow Dum reservoirs plunge to the point that the volume of water needed could not be drawn from them, leaving many people suffering without running water supply, V/Gov Wongsakorn explained. The water levels in the reservoirs are too low to be used to be distributed to peoples houses, he said. The provincial government recognised the problem of Phuket running out of public water supply as early as October last year, when a battle plan for countering the problem was set out in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR), V/Gov Wongsakorn noted. When we met in October last year, the plan was to first use water from canals, second from private water sources, and then use what water was left in the PWA sources as a last resort, he said. If we used only the water in the PWAs sources, we would not have been able to make it through this [past] dry season, he said plainly. We have already pumped water from Klong Bangyai [to supplement the mains water network], but it ran dry, so we moved to the second part of the plan. We pumped water from many private water sources, such as sources in Bangjo, but they all dried up too, V/Gov Wongsakorn explained. The last group of water sources we contacted are the owners of the lake at Boat Plaza, the lake in front of Wat Manik, and Wanit lake, he said. The cost of installing the equipment necessary to have water from Wanit lake to the water-production [part-purification] station at Bangjo was prohibitive, V/Gov Wongsakorn said. So we rented a mobile water-production machine to operate beside the lake. That needed a much smaller budget, he explained. Wanit lake will be the last private water source we will use, as we have now had more rain, which is increasing the water level in the canals and reservoirs, he added. V/Gov Wongsakorn said that although many people had been left without running water supply, they had not been left high and dry. Relevant officers together helped people by sending water trucks to the end of water pipe areas [where no running water was being supplied], especially in Rassada where there are more than 10,000 households, he said. People in some houses in the area are now starting to have running water to use, but there are still people suffering without water supply. Now the water pressure serving Rassada will increase over the next two weeks, and every household will have water to use, V/Gov Wongsakorn assured. Employers are being warned they should limit gatherings of staff in a room to no more than two hours - to minimise the risk of workers having to stay at home if one of them tests positive for the coronavirus. It may mean colleagues, who were in the same room as a person who tests positive, will have to stay at home for two weeks as a precaution. The advice was clarified by deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn yesterday, who said this will become more relevant as more people return to work. The rule applies to workers in a "closed space" like an office, who are together for more than two hours if one of them is found to be diagnosed with the virus. Complication "Public health doctors will carry out a risk assessment and take into account the size of the room, ventilation and distance from the confirmed case," he said. Anyone who is deemed to be a "close contact" may have to stay at home for two weeks. "It's not the same as saying every business cannot have people in the room for more than two hours but if there is a confirmed case, as least some of them may be asked to stay at home," Dr Glynn added. He said it re-emphasised the need for employers to have as many workers as possible continuing to work from home as business resumes. They should also limit the number of people attending the meetings, he added. Dr Glynn was speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing yesterday, in the absence of chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, who was scheduled to take charge of the session. Asked about the absence of Dr Holohan, he said he will be back working in the department today but did not elaborate any further. There were 11 deaths from the virus reported yesterday, bringing the toll to 1,571. A further 64 newly diagnosed cases were confirmed, a total of 24,315 people infected so far. Figures show 87.1pc of people who caught the virus here have recovered - 19,224 in the community and 1,036 who were admitted to hospital. Despite the downward trend, Dr Glynn said there remained people falling ill with the virus and 16 patients were admitted to hospital with complications of the infection in the previous 24 hours. Asked about plans by four in 10 pubs in Dublin to open as restaurants next month, he said it would have to be done in a safe manner. Pubs serving alcohol cannot open next month and according to the exit roadmap it should not happen until August. He indicated the scheduled roadmap is likely to be followed with no decisions made to fast forward any of the planned reopenings. Schools However, he did indicate the National Public Health Emergency Team will discuss activities for children tomorrow, although schools will remain closed until September. Asked about resumption of school classes before the end of this term, he said experts here were learning from other countries when schools were reopened. He said 16 staff who worked in meat plants have been hospitalised so far with the virus and four infected members of the Roma community have died. Meanwhile, Dublin's Rotunda Hospital has resumed its clinics to provide urgent examinations for women who have been referred after receiving an abnormal cervical screening result. A spokeswoman said the colposcopy services at the Rotunda have returned and in recent weeks it has operated for women referred with urgent smear results who had been through the CervicalCheck service. Suspended "All other non-urgent appointments were rescheduled during this period," she added. A colposcopy can confirm whether cells in the cervix are abnormal and determine whether you need treatment to remove them. However, CervicalCheck, BreastCheck, BowelScreen and Diabetic RetinaScreen screening programmes remain suspended nationally due to coronavirus risks. A spokeswoman said the HSE is preparing comprehensive plans for restarting the screening services in a safe way. It will ensure all who have missed out on screening can avail of a test on a phased basis over a period of months. The restarting of screening will be based on HSE and Department of Health guidance on Covid-19. These plans include an analysis of the operation of treatment pathways and use of personal protective equipment (PPE)and clear infection control guidelines. The formation of the Kurdish National Unity Parties, which hopes to unify the Kurdish discourse in Syria, has been announced reports Hawar News. On Tuesday, 25 parties in Rojava formed a political umbrella aimed at Kurdish unity, calling the bloc the Kurdish National Unity Parties. Among the parties joining the newly formed bloc was the Kurdistan Democratic Peace Party, whose co-president Talal Muhammad told Hawar News, An initiative was launched by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi with the goal of uniting Kurdish Rojava and unifying the Kurdish discourse in Syria amid the changes happening in the area, after which several meetings were held between the various Kurdish parties and forces. Muhammad added that the newly formed umbrella group will communicate with the parties, forces and organizations in the area for the sake of Kurdish national unity. He also noted that the main goal at this stage is unifying the Kurdish ranks and discourse in Syria. A committee was also formed of seven members who will communicate with all sides and organizations, including the Kurdish National Council, on behalf of the 25 parties, in order to unify Kurdish groups. The committee will represent the 25 parties in all meetings and events aimed at achieving national unity. Muhammad stressed that the committee will communicate with all the parties, with no exceptions. The committee is set to begin its work in the coming days. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. RTL Today contributor Thomas Tutton explores the controversial coup detat of Grand Duke William III. The word coup detat usually brings to mind bloodthirsty generals like Napoleon, or dodgy CIA-backed plots to overthrow legitimately elected governments, like in Chile or Guatemala. It doesnt usually make you think of Luxembourg. Until now. Effects of 1848 As we discovered last week, in 1848 Grand Duke William II assented to a new constitution which radically altered the workings of the Luxembourgish state. The new Chamber of Deputies had the right to propose and amend laws, to hold the government to account and to vote for or against the budget. In September 1848, elections for the new Chamber were held, and in December 1848, the first modern government of Luxembourg under the old Governor de la Fontaine was voted down after losing a vote of no confidence in the Chamber. It was replaced by a new government under Jean-Jacques Willmar, a Luxembourgish lawyer who preoccupied himself with creating a new currency for the Grand Duchy. So far, so good, until William II died suddenly aged 56 in 1849. An Unhappy New King The new Grand Duke was William III. Unfortunately, he was a reactionary who hated the reforms that his father had made the previous year in both the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In fact, he hated them so much that he did not believe he could govern under those conditions and actively considered relinquishing his claim to the throne to his brother or his son. In the end, he succeeded his father in 1849, and immediately set about trying to reverse the constitutional shackles imposed on him. William III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1849-1890. / Public domain+ He appointed his brother Henry as Governor of Luxembourg in 1850 and ordered him to resist any further usurpation of the sovereigns powers. A complicating factor for the liberals in the Chamber was that in 1851, the German Confederation mandated that all its member states should conform to its monarchist principles and abolish all laws and assemblies that contravened them. With Luxembourg still a member of the German Confederation, William III used the decree as justification for his authoritarian leanings. Despite the wishes of the Chamber of Deputies, in 1853, William dismissed the Willmar government and replaced it with a more favourable administration under Charles-Mathias Simons, signalling his determination to govern autocratically. The stage for a constitutional crisis had thus been set. Coup DEtat For the next three years, furious disagreements erupted in the Chamber over Williams disrespect for the hard-won constitution. Matters came to a head in October 1856, when in a speech to the Chamber, Governor Henry announced that the constitution would be unilaterally revised. The liberals reacted furiously, drafting an angry reply that was passed in the Chamber by 31 votes to 15 and rejecting any proposals for a compromise. A month later, they withdrew from the Chamber in protest at the governments behaviour, expecting the government to call for new elections. Prince Henry, the Governor of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. / Public domain Instead, it simply declared the proposed reforms to have passed, and the new constitution was signed by Grand Duke William on November 27th, 1856. This was loudly denounced as a coup detat by the opposition, but they were powerless to stop it. The 1856 Constitution created the Council of State, an advisory body which still exists today, while reducing the Chamber to an Assembly of Estates, without the power to vote on the budget or to compel the Grand Duke to do anything. It also added a clause specifying that sovereignty resided in the person of the Grand Duke, and modified the electoral system to further restrict participation. Perhaps most damagingly, the new constitution restricted the freedoms of the press and of association that had been protected in 1848. Consequences For the next ten years, Luxembourg was ruled more or less as an absolutist monarchy by William III, as the Assembly became the site of furious debates that could accomplish very little. It would take until 1866 for the situation to change. In the wake of the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866, the justification for authoritarian rule was broken. Then came the Luxembourg Crisis of 1867, in which William III agreed to sell Luxembourg to the French, drawing the ire of the Germans and nearly bringing Napoleon and Bismarck to war. This was averted when the Second Treaty of London guaranteed Luxembourgs independence and neutrality, but William IIIs readiness to sell the Grand Duchy was highly embarrassing, and to compensate for his sins, he agreed to a new constitution in 1868. The 1868 constitution restored the Chamber of Deputies powers and reinstated many of the old liberties; it remains the supreme law of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to this day. The Coup dEtat was thus a brief, but highly charged moment in the history of Luxembourg. Abu Dhabi, May 21 : Bollywood star Mouni Roy is in Abu Dhabi over two months now, stranded because she cannot return home owing to the continuing COVID-19 lockdown. Mouni flew to UAE on a four-day working trip in March, for a magazine photo shoot, and stayed with an old friend. "After the shoot, I decided to stay back in Abu Dhabi for two weeks, as my next project was scheduled to kick off only on April 15. I was possibly ignorant, but I didn't imagine that the world will shut down. I have been stuck here with four days' clothes," Mouni told Mid-Day, according to a report in hidustantimes.com. Meanwhile, the actress is concerned about her family who live in the West Bengal town of in Cooch Behar. "I have been checking on them every day," she said. "I am relieved that my brother is by mom's side at this time. My cousins also live close by, that's an added advantage. I have been oscillating between anxiety and calmness. Everybody around the world is going through a hard time. So, I sought solace in the fact that I have a roof over my head and a warm family, away from home. That said I am eager to return to India," ," the website quoted her as saying. Schools and creches have been closed in Ireland since March (Danny Lawson/PA) It may not be possible for all children to return to school at the same time in September, the head of a primary school teachers union has said. Schools and creches have been closed in Ireland since March. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Boyle has written to the Department of Education outlining a range of concerns. Speaking to RTE Morning Ireland, he said teachers have been supporting students for the past eight weeks so they can continue their learning. If the public health advice allows for schools to re-open in September then all the proper planning must take place. It is a mammoth task to have the plans in place. We have the largest class sizes in Europe, having 30 children in an 80 square metre classroom with one or two adults may not be possible initially in September. If we couldnt have large groups of students sitting in a room doing the Leaving Cert then having lots of children in a classroom was always going to be an issue. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told Newstalk FM it is not the Governments intention to re-open schools ahead of September. The Department of Education and the teachers unions and all the partners in education are examining that and looking at whats happening in other countries and seeing how were going to open the schools in a practical way, and a safe way in September. He said any decision to re-open schools comes with risk. If we couldn't have large groups of students sitting in a room doing the Leaving Cert then having lots of children in a classroom was always going to be an issue INTO general secretary John Boyle Theres never going to be 100% no risk. Unfortunately, a couple of kids every year got meningitis, maybe in school and getting very sick as a result, that doesnt cause us to close schools indefinitely. Asked if he can be definite that students will return to school in September, Mr Varadkar added: I cant say that, there is the risk of the virus coming back again and spreading again. He said he would like to see children with special needs get extra attention ahead of schools re-opening, as he has been contacted by parents concerned about the impact the closure is having on their development. One particular area which we really would like to do something on, and that is the kids whove got special needs, children with autism or children with intellectual disability or behavioural problems. Theyve been on hold since March. Some of them may actually be regressing in terms of their development. Im really worried about that group of children. I got a lot of letters from their parents as well. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major changes in Staten Islands network of food pantries and the people who depend on them. Some pantries have closed, food sources have been reduced and the number of people lining up has increased, sometimes dramatically. As noted in a prior Advance report the closure of churches has prompted their corresponding food drives to halt. Those donations were an important source of inventory in the Island's hunger relief network. Of the 18 pre-pandemic pantries and senior food sources for struggling Staten Islanders, six have shut due to short-staffing or as a precaution to keep workers safe. The phenomenon of many fewer pantries has caused operational ones to be flooded with clients. At times the pantries run out of food. A lot of new faces! said the Rev. Terry Troia of Project Hospitality. We are doing in our mobile and stationary pantries more than double the numbers of people. We picked up an extra 100 people in our Park Hill pantry mobile pantry." The line for food last Thursday, May 7, 2020 at El Centro Del Inmigrante food distribution at Faith Methodist Church in Port Richmond wrapped around the block and down Herberton Avenue. (Photo courtesy Rev. Terry Troia/Project Hospitality) MOST DIRE HUNGER SITUATION Maryann Bollinger and Dolores Connelly have coordinated the Saturday morning pantry at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Tompkinsville for three decades. Theyre seeing many more clients at 42 Austin Place. Bollinger says the hunger situation is the most dire shes seen in all of her years of volunteer work there. After everything opens up I think youll see the lines worse, she fears. Bollinger observed another effect of the pandemic: some of the pantry regulars are missing from the food lines. I think theyre afraid to come out, she surmises. With public schools doling out three free meals a day, there are other food sources for Staten Islanders who are familiar with the Islands hunger networks. In the meantime, Good Counsel greets newbies to the pantry who, Bollinger says, are those recently unemployed and their furloughed neighbors. Id like people to know were here and theres no pressure. No personal information is asked except a name, she said. You must also be a resident of the borough. What patrons can expect is food for several meals including meat, fresh produce, cake and bread. Pantry hours have been extended and bags are now handed out at the door from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. She and her volunteer angels sustain the operation with bank grants and food donations from City Harvest and Catholic Charities. The supply side of the pantry network is also feeling the pandemic effects. The need is definitely increasing and were doing our best to meet that need, said Lauren Casale, spokeswoman for City Harvest. She said the food rescue organization has partnered with 284 pantries across the five boroughs. The line for food last Thursday, May 7, 2020 at El Centro Del Inmigrante food distribution at Faith Methodist Church in Port Richmond wrapped around the block and down Herberton Avenue. (Photo courtesy Rev. Terry Troia/Project Hospitality) RIPPLE EFFECTS Casale said that 72 pantries remain shut in New York City due to a lack of volunteers and fears of getting sick. That number is down from the 96 that initially closed, but the open pantries must still try to pick up the slack. Casale said there are longer lines now. Linda Silva coordinates the food pantry at St. Charles R.C. Church in Oakwood, a closed operation. She said, Since the churches are closed, it trickles down to the food pantries. Now, clients have to scramble. Silva is anxious to reopen. She normally helps feed 15 to 20 families from the New Dorp Beach area. About 25 cars were lined up at the Jewish Community Center- Bernikow as meals were dropped right into their car at the mid-island location. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) The reality of a rapidly growing needy population is felt by the boroughs regular volunteers. William Sorensen shuttles food from a City Harvest drop at the Christian Pentecostal Church in Concord to two pantries on the North Shore. As he drove his Dodge pickup truck into the church parking lot on Tuesday, he was stunned at the number of clients queued up -- hundreds wrapped around the block awaiting a 4 p.m. distribution, a start time that extends the window for food two hours. Joe Cohen, a volunteer cook at various operations around the Island including group homes, hopes Staten Islanders pitch in by topping off pantries or helping to cook a community meal. Community Health Action Center of Staten Island's food truck at its inaugural roll-out, a project done with the Mayor's Office of Food Policy and the NYC Food Assistance. Food is distributed to 16 communities on Staten Island each month. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Staff-Shot The new challenges have been answered by new practices. Community Health Action of Staten Island wants to get their message out there for all families. They have also added a Mobile Free Food Pantry to those who cannot get out of their homes or want to travel to Port Richmond to their Free Food Pantry. The Jewish Community Center-Bernikow was offering drive-thru meals, dropped right into your car at their mid-island location. About 25 cars were lined up at 10 a.m. (Staten Island Advance/ Jan Somma-Hammel) The Jewish Community Center on Manor Road switched their senior meal grab-and-go to a curbside pickup format. Supplies are limited and cars start lining up around 8 a.m. For two decades, El Centro in Port Richmond has offered breakfast and lunch to day workers in the neighborhood but now also provides a grab-and-go meal package -- sardines, Spam, tuna, Oodles of Noodles and pop-top beans -- for clients without kitchens. The pantry saw an uptick of 140 people in the last four weeks, up from 60, including 24 unemployed day laborers. Cognizant of food delivery charges to vulnerable Staten Islanders and seniors who cant get out to shop, Project Hospitality dispatched a second mobile pantry. It will be at the New Brighton NYCHA on Jersey Street every Monday. We have Uber delivering 60 to 70 home drops for seniors and medically frail people. Covid has changed how we do and deliver food, said Project Hospitalitys Troia. Canned salmon is nutritious and flexible. It can be substituted for crab in recipes. (Lynn Ischay/The Plain Dealer)The Plain Dealer COOKING MEALS FROM THE PANTRY What kinds of foods pop up in the typical food pantry? We never know what were getting, said Bollinger. She added that the surprises can be delightful. This week there was a piece of meat, spring rolls and frozen Egg Beaters. One week we got frozen chicken cutlets from Trader Joes. We froze it and we gave it out. Some of it was even organic chicken. Loretta Drogon tends a not-for-profit, Hart & Soul which supports expectant and delivered mothers in need and offers life skills such as cooking at Good Counsel Home in Rosebank. Shes noticed artichoke hearts, canned salmon and brown rice are not touched in food pantries. Because people dont know how to cook them, she said. For those who wish to help out, Drogon guides toward pasta of all shapes and sizes, rice, boxed macaroni and cheese, the latter which, she says, has been quite an essential item since people have been hoarding it. Split yellow and split green peas -- these things can be paired with onions, carrots and a small amount of meat like ham," instructed Drogan. Split pea soup with ham, carrots and onion (Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri Desired items for pantries that appeal to various ethnic backgrounds and can pave the way for healthy meals are peanut butter, jelly, canned soups, boxed cereal, crackers, Camilla rice, barley, lentils, split peas, bags of dried beans -- pink, red, navy, cannellini, etc. -- but not garbanzo beans as they are familiar to a narrow audience. They can be complemented with a little meat like cubed Spam or sausage. You cant bring fresh items to the pantries, added Drogon. Also important -- coffee, tea, salt, sugar, black pepper -- the spice of life. If you dont have it youll miss it, she said. The following information is furnished by the Staten Island Hunger Task Force. For the full list along with temporarily closed pantries go to http://hungryonstatenisland.com/. The food pantry at Project Hospitalitys Stapleton location at Bay and Sand Streets set up like a grocery store. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri) Staten Island Advance Mobile Pantries: CHASI Mobile Van and Project Hospitality hit all points of the borough. Check websites for the days. Open pantries by zip code: In 10302 -- CHASI -- 2134 Richmond Terr., Port Richmond, Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (senior-friendlycday); Wednesday, noon to 4 p.m.; Friday 2 to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. El Centro -- new location, 221 Heberton Ave., Port Richmond (Castleton Ave. door) Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mision Rescate/Rescue Mission -- 2083 Richmond Terr., Port Richmond, Tuesday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reach Out and Touch Ministry -- 51 Cottage Pl., Port Richmond, Emergency -- 718-442-5007 to receive food. Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. get a hot meal. Saturday pantry 10:30 a.m. to noon. The Salvation Army pantry -- 1295 Forest Ave., Port Richmond, 718-442-2145. Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They can accept donations of shelf-stable food. In 10303 -- City Harvest Mobile Market -- 22 Roxbury St., Arlington, First Wednesday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. In 10304 -- Christian Pentecostal Church -- 900 Richmond Rd., Concord, Tuesday and Wednesday extended hours from 4 to 8 p.m. Project Hospitality -- 514 Bay St., Tuesday and Thursday 9 to 11 a.m. grab-and-go soup kitchen and pantry Tuesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stapleton UAME, 49 Tompkins Ave., Stapleton -- Pantry: Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Soup kitchen is open on Monday from 3 to 4 p.m. and Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. City Harvest Mobile Market -- 75 Hill St., Stapleton, first Tuesdays of the month from 9:30-11:30 AM. In 10309 -- CLOSED FOR NOW: St. Edward Food Pantry In 10312 -- CHANGED DAY/HOURS: Calvary Assembly of God, 4055 Richmond Ave., Eltingville; 718-356-4555, Friday 10 a.m. to noon. In 10314 -- The Jewish Community Center Pantry -- 1466 Manor Rd., Seaview; Call 718-475-5245 for an appointment. Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com. - The truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 at the points of entry and were turned away - This was after President Yoweri Museveni's directive to have all drivers who test positive not included in Uganda's tally - On Monday, the head of state said the strategy was yielding positive results as there were minimal cases being reported Ugandan authorities have sent over 103 truck drivers back to their countries of origin after they tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19 disease. According to the Health Ministry, on Monday, 32 truck drivers who tested positive for COVID-19 in Uganda were turned away and 35 others on Sunday. READ ALSO: Mwanahabari atakiwa kumlipa aliyekuwa mdosi wake KSh 8M President Yoweri Museveni had directed all foreign positive cases of COVID-19 to be sent back to country of origin. Photo: Yoweri Museveni Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Siaya records 7 new cases after driver sneaked out of Nairobi with mourners On Wednesday, 36 foreign truck drivers, including 17 Tanzanians, 15 Kenyans, three Eritreans and one Burundian who tested positive for COVID-19 were turned away, Daily Monitor reported. While addressing the nation on Monday, May 18, President Yoweri Museveni said his administration had put in place new measures that were yielding results after positive cases were denied entry into the country. The new policy will not allow the drivers to enter [Uganda]. As already seen, 14 Tanzanians, 16 Kenyans, one Rwandan, one Burundian, and three Eritrean drivers were turned back yesterday at the different border points," he said. Trailers at Malaba border. Majority of the truck drivers were turned away at their point of entry. Photo: Daily Nation Source: UGC READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 80 more test positive, national COVID-19 count jumps to 1,109 The head of state further said 21 truck drivers who tested positive were taken to different hospitals in the East African country. As earlier reported by TUKO.co.ke, Museveni had directed the Health Ministry to exclude foreign COVID-19 cases from the national tally. The number of confirmed cases was revised downwards from 264 to 145, with a majority of those excluded from the tally being truck drivers. The East African country has not recorded any deaths related to the disease and has over 65 patients who have recovered so far. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke Collaboration with Shopify provides merchants in the U.S. and China with access to overseas markets, and support in sourcing, selling and logistics New regulatory framework aims to put all companies who qualify for a listing under the same rules, regardless of their corporate structure and where they sell their shares An aviation tycoon has issued legal proceedings against two senior ministers over the governments coronavirus lockdown measures. Simon Dolan has applied to the High Court for a judicial review of Englands lockdown, which he claims was introduced unlawfully and disproportionately breaches freedoms protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. The claim is against health secretary Matt Hancock, whose name is on lockdown legislation, and education secretary Gavin Williamson, who has presided over the closure of schools and universities. Mr Dolan is also challenging the secrecy of the scientific advice given by Sage and claims governments five tests for ending lockdown such as the rate of infection decreasing to manageable levels are too narrow. His lawyers had threatened the government on 30 April that he would launch the legal action echoing that taken by Gina Miller to challenge Boris Johnsons prorogation of parliament unless drastic steps were taken to ease restrictions. The entrepreneur, reportedly worth 200m, has crowdfunded 130,000 from more than 4,000 donors, many of whom say they are parting with money they dont really have because they believe so strongly about having their freedoms and livelihoods stolen from them, Mr Dolan said. At the heart of this historic case is the protection of freedom and liberty for 66 million people, Mr Dolan said. We are challenging a catastrophic set of decisions which will leave an indelible print from a boot which has stamped on the nations freedoms and will blight the lives of generation after generation. Every day that the lockdown remains in place is one more day the country cannot afford on any level. For those reasons and more, this is very possibly the most important case of our lifetime. The claim argues that the lockdown measures are unlawful because they breach the European Convention on Human Rights, that the five tests for terminating lockdown are too narrow, and the measures taken by government are disproportionate. Warning of income tax rises, he added: The government has spent 13,000 per household on bailout so far. Yet there was no scrutiny, debate or vote on the lockdown laws before they were implemented back in March. The policies are completely disproportionate to the harm they are supposed to be aimed at preventing. A judicial review is the only effective means of challenging what the government is doing and holding them properly to account. Boris and his crew have sleepwalked into this mess and are taking the nation over the cliff edge with them. He claimed that people are voting with their feet against lockdown, saying: Just look at the number of people out on the beaches and outside yesterday ... It is my name on the claim form, but I sincerely believe this is a claim on behalf of so many businesses, individuals and families. In papers lodged with the court by his legal team, his barrister, Philip Havers QC, argues that the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 are unlawful and beyond the governments powers. The above measures are the some of the most extreme restrictions imposed on fundamental freedoms in the modern era," Mr Havers says. He also says Mr Dolan contends it was irrational and disproportionate to impose lockdown rules on the entire country for a virus that was known to pose little risk of mortality or serious illness to the healthy working population, while posing much greater risks to those with pre-existing health conditions and, particularly, those over 70 years old. Mr Dolan is described in the court papers as an entrepreneur who fully or partially owns a number of UK businesses which combined employ a total of around 600 people. Mr Havers adds: His company, Jota Aviation Ltd, has in recent weeks made numerous flights to transport vital PPE equipment for NHS healthcare professionals and to repatriate British people stranded abroad, as well as flying daily for the Italian Post Office to help keep their goods moving. While he lives abroad, he is a British citizen with both parents living in England who may not visit them or his friends living in England, he may not attend demonstrations against the lockdown policies that he would but for the fact that they are proscribed by the regulations. The High Court will decide, based on the papers, whether Mr Dolans claim can go ahead and, if he is unsuccessful at that stage, he will have the opportunity to argue at a court hearing why the case should proceed to a full judicial review. The government has indicated it intends to oppose the claim, having responded to a letter outlining Mr Dolans proposed action by saying his case is not open to legal challenge. Mr Dolan hopes to have his case heard in the first week of June. The most recent Office for National Statistics data shows there have now been more than 44,000 fatalities with Covid-19 on the death certificate. Additional reporting by PA Three San Antonio police officers have been fired after they were accused of criminal wrongdoing, and two others suspended for violating department policies. Among those who faced punishment: a patrolman involved in child pornography; a police officer accused of threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend; a police detective who has been involved in domestic disturbances; and a 12-year veteran of the force charged with drunken driving. In disciplinary records released Wednesday, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus criticized the officers for bringing reproach and discredit upon the department. READ ALSO: Coronavirus infections surge at Bexar County jail, yet again McManus has long maintained that he has no tolerance for misconduct while emphasizing that the actions of a few officers are not representative of the police force, which has more than 2,000 sworn personnel. The documents, which were released in response to an open records request, provide new details about some of the high-profile cases. Sebastian Torres Sebastian Torres, 26, was fired on March 19 after he was arrested on two counts of distribution and possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children. Torres, a patrolman who worked at the South Substation, pleaded guilty to the federal charges in February and faces up to 40 years in prison. According to the disciplinary records, Torres sent eight videos on Snapchat, a video sharing and messaging app, to a female acquaintance. In the videos, Torres could be seen and heard performing sexual acts on himself. That same day, officials say, Torres sent five visual depictions to an acquaintance on Snapchat of what appeared to be children being forced into sexual acts. During an interview with police detectives, Torres admitted that he had participated in group chats with children that might have been sexually abused or sexually exploited. I have been in group chats where it turns into, like theres a minor there, and its like, ah thats too much and I exit the group chat, Torres told the detective. Jose A. Hinojosa Officer Jose A. Hinojosa on March 20 was indefinitely suspended, which is tantamount to firing, after he was charged with drunken driving. According to the disciplinary records, Hinojosa was driving his personal vehicle on Oct. 5 when a Bexar County Sheriffs Office deputy saw Hinojosa cross over the median into oncoming traffic. After the deputy pulled him over, Hinojosa told him he was an off-duty SAPD officer. Hinojosa, 38, refused a field sobriety test, at which point the deputy placed him under arrest. According to the Sheriffs Office, he became defiant and refused to get in the deputys patrol vehicle. READ ALSO: San Antonio inmates fear coronavirus exposure after two sick men are transferred to their dorm According to the disciplinary records, Hinojosa was belligerent throughout the arrest and made derogatory and explicit remarks about the deputies involved in his arrest. At the Bexar County jail, Hinojosa refused to take a breathalyzer test, prompting authorities to obtain a warrant to draw his blood. He had a blood alcohol level above 0.15, almost twice the legal standard for intoxication. Hinojosa remains free on bail as he awaits trial. He has appealed his firing and is seeking reinstatement. Kenneth Moreno Officer Kenneth Moreno, a 13-year veteran of the force, received an indefinite suspension in May for the second time in recent months, according to city records. It is not clear exactly why Moreno, 36, was fired again; that set of records has yet to be released. In October, Moreno received an indefinite suspension after he was charged with stalking his ex-girlfriend. According to those disciplinary records, Morenos ex-girlfriend called 911 in May 2019 to report that Moreno followed her to Golds Gym and stole her phone. Police said at the time that Moreno tried unsuccessfully to unlock the phone before pleading with the woman to give him a second chance. When the woman told Moreno their relationship was over, he said he might do something stupid and threatened to kill her, according to an arrest affidavit. Moreno was originally arrested on stalking charges, but later that year, police said they were looking into allegations of a second assault. This month, following a grand jury indictment, he was charged with continuous violence against a family member indicating multiple assaults. Moreno remains free as he awaits trial. He is appealing both firings While it is unusual to punish an officer with two indefinite suspensions, its an action McManus has taken in the past when there were several allegations of misconduct. The maneuver also can make an officers appeal of the firings more complicated and lengthy, a process that can take months if not years. Jimmy Castillo Detective Jimmy Castillo, 43, was initially disciplined in January after officials say he threw out his girlfriends belongings at his home on the far West Side. Police were called to the house in the Spring Vistas subdivision and reported that Castillo had bloodshot, glassy eyes and an odor of intoxicants on his breath. Initially, McManus fired Castillo. But in March, as part of a negotiation with the San Antonio Police Detectives Association, McManus agreed to reduce the punishment to a 45-day suspension. As part of the agreement, Castillo may be required to undergo additional training, participate in counseling or enroll in a mentorship program. It was not the first time Castillo, who is assigned to the East Substation, has been involved in disturbances with a girlfriend, though he has never faced criminal charges. In March 2018, he received a 30-day suspension after an incident at his girlfriends home, KSAT reported. And in 2014, Castillo received a three-day suspension for physically assaulting his girlfriend during a scuffle to grab her purse, according to records obtained by the TV station. Juan C. Torres Officer Juan C. Torres, a 25-year-veteran of the force, was suspended for 10 days on March 10 after police say he failed to properly investigate a family violence allegation. The suspension comes after Torres, a patrol officer assigned to the North Substation, was dispatched to an assault at a gas station near Schertz. A woman told Torres that her boyfriend had punched and choked her, breaking her tooth and leaving red marks on her neck. According to the disciplinary records, Torres failed to complete the documentation required for a family violence call. He also did not contact a follow-up unit to obtain an arrest warrant. During the course of the investigation, officials also learned that Torres had not turned on his body-worn camera as required. The camera was activated for only 20 seconds, after Torres had already spoken with the victim. He waived his right to appeal the suspension. Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Emilie, become a subscriber. eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton A man has left hospital in handcuffs and is being interviewed by police after his estranged wife was allegedly stabbed to death at their western Sydney home. Emergency services were called to a home in Ramona Street, Quakers Hill on Wednesday night, where they found a woman in a bedroom suffering from knife wounds, who died at the scene. The woman's husband, 31, was arrested in the hallway near the bedroom and taken to Blacktown Hospital under police guard to be treated for cuts to his hands. Superintendent Jennifer Scholz told reporters on Thursday that police will allege the man assaulted and stabbed his wife to death. It's understood the man allegedly slit his wife's throat with a 15cm kitchen knife, sources close to the investigation told the ABC. A man leaves hospital under police guard following the death of his wife at their Quakers Hill home on Wednesday night. He has been taken to Riverstone Police Station but not yet charged He was later pictured barefoot and wearing a gown leaving hospital in handcuffs while being escorted by two police officers. He was taken to Riverstone Police Station but has not yet been charged. A police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the woman had taken an AVO out against her husband on April 24 but were still allowed to live together under the same roof. 'The AVO did not exclude him from the premises,' she said. The womans brother had been staying with the couple and found her body in a bedroom when he returned home from work on Wednesday night. It's understood the man, a part time nursery worker and his estranged wife, a full-time student had been married for four years and moved to Australia from India two years ago. Police officers investigating the woman's death at the crime scene in Quakers Hill on Thursday Shocked neighbours recalled hearing to a distressed woman's screams from the home. Mohamed Nazari added police attended the same home four days earlier regarding a separate incident. 'She was screaming and crying. I left and I came back and there were heaps of cops,' Mr Nazari told the Daily Telegraph. Supriya Mattal added: 'I've never heard them fight before. They keep to themselves. This is a quiet area I am so shocked.' The woman's brother was living with her and her husband in Quakers Hill (pictured) Forensic police returned to the two storey townhouse on Thursday to examine the scene and to door knock neighbours. The woman is the 21st in Australia to be violently killed this year. Police investigations are continuing. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. While the initial legislation involved only security deposit insurance, the final law offered three options, and Sittenfeld said it is better as a result. So they can say, You know what, Im kind of a traditionalist, I want a full cash deposit, and they can go with the installment option, he said. Or they can say, My priority is, I want the most money in cash immediately, and take the up-front deposit, capped at 50 percent of the monthly rent. Or if they say, Hey, I want immediate protection, equal to a full months rent, then they can go for the insurance option, which takes effect upon payment of the first premium. WASHINGTON President Trump said on Wednesday that he may try to host the annual Group of 7 summit of world leaders at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, as originally planned before concerns about the coronavirus turned it into a virtual gathering scheduled for next month. Now that our Country is Transitioning back to Greatness, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all - normalization! The United States currently holds the presidency of the Group of 7 industrialized nations, which also include Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Canada and Italy. But given that most international and even diplomatic travel has been on hold for months, Mr. Trumps proposal struck many foreign policy experts as fanciful. World leader summits like the G7 typically involve hundreds of officials, support staff and elaborate security. Unlike last month when the price fell below zero, oil prices have seen some signs of life in May. However, now the question is how sustainable this potential recovery is. So we took two biggest oil companies to get a better idea of the overall market. Clash of Titans If we look on a market cap basis, ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) is the biggest oil and gas company in the world whereas Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A)(NYSE: RDS-B) leads the way in revenue. But despite both being massive companies, they are also both massive underperformers as they have both lost about half of their value in the past five years. If we look at dividends, Exxon is a dividend aristocrat as it upped its payout annually for the last 37 straight years. But considering the current climate, Exxon could consider following Shell's late April surprising decision to cut dividends. This is Shell's first dividend cut since World War II that took Shell from being the highest yielder among the five oil majors to the lowest, causing its share price to tumble. Oversupply And Low Demand The main problem remains low prices for oil, natural gas and refined products due to global oversupply and lack of demand due to COVID-19. In its most recent earnings report, which included the initial days of the global pandemic, Exxon posted a much wider Q1 loss, though this was mostly due to noncash write-downs on the value of the company's oil inventories. But if we look at revenue, Exxon was only down 11.6% whereas that of Shell dropped 28.3% year-over-year. Adjusted net income, which strips out special items, was even worse for Shell, falling -47.2% compared to ExxonMobil's -4.1%. Operating cash flows are nearly identical once stripped down for the inventory decrease, $7.3 billion for Exxon and $7.4 billion for Shell. But we should keep in mind that this was in a quarter in which the average per-barrel price of Brent Crude was $50 whereas in the second quarter it dropped to low $30s. Story continues Although Exxon seems better situated to weather the storm as it also has a lower debt load, both companies are working on cost cuts both for their capital and operational budgets and the results of these efforts are yet to be seen. Despite the efforts made to stabilize the oil market, the reality that it is still a mess that is not going to vanish overnight as both of its biggest players are looking to years of underperformance ahead. This article is not a press release and is contributed by Ivana Popovic who is a verified independent journalist for IAMNewswire. It should not be construed as investment advice at any time please read the full disclosure . Ivana Popovic does not hold any position in the mentioned companies. Press Releases If you are looking for full Press release distribution contact: press@iamnewswire.com Contributors IAM Newswire accepts pitches. If you're interested in becoming an IAM journalist contact: contributors@iamnewswire.com Questions about this release can be send to ivana@iamnewswire.com The post Is There Any Hope for Oil? appeared first on IAM Newswire. See more from Benzinga 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Twitter says one of its boldest experiments is showing some promise at reducing harassment. No, its not the companys recent move to allow some users to limit replies on tweets, but its move into disappearing content. The company gave one of its first significant updates on Fleets, the Stories-like feature Twitter has been testing in Brazil since early March. After more than two months of testing, Fleets will expand to Italy, though the Twitter cautions its still too soon to say whether or not the feature will become a permanent feature for all. Its still *very early*, but were seeing less abuse with Fleets as only a small percentage are reported each day Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) May 21, 2020 Interestingly, Twitter notes early testing has shown that Fleets might be leading to healthier interactions. Were seeing less abuse with Fleets as only a small percentage are reported each day, the company tweeted of its Brazil testing. A Twitter spokesperson declined to elaborate on specifics, but if that trend holds up it could be an encouraging sign for the company, which has spent years trying to reduce harassment. Of course, Fleets is still an experimental feature the vast majority of Twitter users dont have access to. And the fact that Fleets disappear after 24 hours could also be contributing to the fewer number of reports. But that Twitter is expanding the test to a new country shows the company is at least optimistic about the future of disappearing content. CEDAR FALLS Updating a 2-year-old pay plan could help the city retain staff and attract new hires. We already have a few positions that wed maybe like to benchmark, Jennifer Rodenbeck, Cedar Falls director of finance and business operations, told the City Council this week. Were not getting an overwhelming amount of applicants for positions. She suggested that may be indicative of a need to further refine pay classifications for some city jobs. But some council members argued that this is not the right time to bring back the consultant, who was first hired to complete a pay plan study in 2017. The City Council approved the $17,000 professional services agreement with Carlson Dettmann Consulting in a 4-3 vote Monday. Council members Dave Sires, Nick Taiber and Simon Harding dissented. I would suggest deferring on this, said Taiber, proposing a five-year interval between updates. City officials pointed out, though, that a council organizational goal calls for an update or market analysis of the pay plan every two to three years. Prior to the more extensive 2017 study, which cost $65,000, Cedar Falls had gone many years without a similar analysis of staff pay rates. Rodenbeck said the outside perspective brought by the consultant is helpful to the process, as well. Resident LeaAnn Saul said the coronavirus pandemic situation, which is expected to have a negative impact on city revenues, gave her pause. Why would we want to spend $17,000 in this climate? she asked, suggesting staff could make any needed adjustments. We spend a lot of money on consultants, and I just dont think this is a necessity this year. Harding worried about undertaking the update in the possibly unstable times of the pandemic. That could make the consultants results unreliable, he said. Council member Daryl Kruse disagreed. This is exactly when we need to do an assessment of the market. Im very much in favor of going ahead with this, he said. Kruse added that he would not favor going to a five-year schedule of updates in the future, either. He was joined by council members Frank Darrah, Susan deBuhr and Mark Miller in voting for the agreement. In other business, the council approved: A $105,800 sidewalk infill project in what John Fitch, a city engineer, said was low to moderate income areas of Cedar Falls. It will include some curb and gutter replacement and installation of pedestrian ramps to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. The project will be fully funded by federal Community Development Block Grant funding distributed by the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments. A $192,915 bid from Allied Broadcast Group to replace Cable Channel 15s Panasonic studio cameras. Funding comes from cable TV revenues. The third and final readings of city ordinance amendments prohibiting loitering and putting in place fines for noxious weed and long grass violations. The council also heard a report from City Administrator Ron Gaines that a Main Street project expected to be $1.4 million short due to coronavirus shutdown-related revenue losses would get that funding made up through INRCOG. The project work, slated for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, would now receive $2.9 million in federal-state dollars with the additional money. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. GRAND RAPIDS, MI A medical device company in Kentwood that is planning to make a $2.6 million expansion and add 27 jobs over the next three years is getting a helping hand from the state. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is providing Packaging Compliance Labs with a $135,000 Jobs Ready Michigan grant, according to a news release from The Right Place, a Grand Rapids-based economic development group. The company, located at 4334 Brockton Dr. SE, helps global medical device manufacturers bring new devices to market and maintain regulatory compliance. The 27 jobs are also being taken on by Packaging Compliance Labs and its sister company, SmartStart Medical. SmartStart specializes in device cleaning, packaging, sterilization, and pilot production for new medical technologies. Packaging Compliance Labs clients include Stryker, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer Biomet, Smith and Nephew, Hologic, and others, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. An MEDC memo says the company was considering expanding its operations in Tampa, Florida and Denver, Colorado. The MEDC grant will be used to help train Packaging Compliance Labs new employees. The companys president, Matthew Lapham, could not immediately be reached for comment. Read more: Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order Reopening day: Northern Michigan restaurants expect surge, as hotels fill fast Trump says plague from China cut short economic gains for Michigans black residents A helpful llama is delivering food parcels to people in Pembrokeshire in southwest Wales. Max, as he is named, has been trotting down the lanes around Llandissilio to deliver provisions and essential items to locals, many of whom are categorised as being at high risk from coronavirus, and are social distancing where possible. While Max has normally been used to taking members of the public on llama treks several times a week, his utility as a pack animal has been repurposed during lockdown much to the locals delight. Shopping in the old days was miserable, wasnt it, one man told the BBC. Its great fun these days. Some roads in the valley can be difficult to reach by vehicle, so llama delivery makes an excellent eco-friendly alternative, Matt Yorke of Pembrokeshire Llamas told ITV. Recommended Llamas offer hope in the fight against coronavirus The feedback from residents has been extremely positive. Everyone says its a huge improvement on traditional food shopping. Its great exercise, great fun and useful to residents. He added: This is a great way to keep him trained and his mind stimulated whilst the lockdown continues. The domesticated camelids, which originally come from South America, have been used as pack animals for millennia and can carry about 25 to 30 per cent of their body weight for 5 8 miles. Repurposing llamas is nothing new for Pembroke Llamas, who also have llamas available for weddings, llamas for hen dos, and llamas for corporate events, their website states. A 29-year-old woman who stole two children at Ashaiman has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment in hard labour by the Ashaiman Circuit Court. Elizabeth Rockson, alias Janet, was convicted on her own plea after she pleaded guilty to two counts of child stealing. The court presided over by Mrs Agnes Opoku Barnieh, sentenced her to eight years on each count, both to run concurrently. Guilty with explanation On May 6, this year, Elizabeth took off with an 11-year-old boy and an 11-month-old girl who were the children of her neighbours at Tsinagbe, a suburb of Ashaiman. When she was arraigned, Elizabeth pleaded guilty with an explanation but that was changed to a plea of guilty by the court after her explanation. She told the court that the mother of the 11-month-old girl asked her to take care of her daughter while she (mother) attended to her chores. Elizabeth said she was about to travel so she asked the 11-year-old boy to return the baby to her mother, only to realise that the two children had followed her to the transport terminal, so she decided to travel with them. In sentencing her, the judge said she took into consideration her earlier plea of guilty and the fact that the children had been found and returned to their parents, as well as the police indicating that she was a first- time offender. Child stealing Police Prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Akwasi Ahenkorah Afrifa, told the court that the complainants in the case, Ms Tracy Addai and Sandra Ijeme, were traders residing at Tsinagbe in the Ashaiman municipality. He said Sandra and the convict lived in the same house while Tracy resided a few metres away from them. ASP Afrifa said at about 6p.m. on May 8, 2020, Tracy took her 11-month-old daughter (named withheld), to the convict to take care of her while she attended to her chores. The convict, he said, was later seen playing with the baby and the 11-year-old son of Sandra in the neighbourhood. The prosecutor said on the same day at about 9 p.m, both complainants started looking for their children but could not trace them. Frantic search DSP Afrifa said because the two children were earlier seen with the convict, they started searching for her but to no avail. The prosecutor stated that calls made to the contacts of the convict were not successful, and on May 9, 2020, the complainants reported the case to the Ashaiman Police. On receiving the report, the police mounted a search for Elizabeth and on May 15, 2020, she was arrested at Ashaiman. According to the prosecutor, when she was interrogated, she confessed to the crime and stated that she had taken the children to her hometown near Dzodze in the Volta Region, claiming they were safe and well. The prosecutor said she led a team of police personnel to Tsiyinu, a village near Afife in the Volta Region, where the children were rescued. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Steve Linick, State Department inspector general, center, exits after closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. House Democratic committee leaders Thursday demanded the immediate reinstatement of the inspector general President Donald Trump fired on a recommendation from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick's ouster is the latest in "a series of politically motivated firings of Inspectors General by President Trump," the Democrats said in letters to Pompeo and Linick's temporary replacement, Stephen Akard. The letters mark the latest escalation in the backlash against Pompeo, who said Wednesday that he had recommended Trump fire Linick. Pompeo denied that he was retaliating against Linick, who was reportedly conducting at least two investigations involving the nation's top diplomat. "Based on longstanding concerns with your actions and new reports this week about potential abuses this assault on the integrity and independence of Inspectors General appears to be an intentional campaign to undermine their ability to expose corruption and protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse," the Democrats wrote to Pompeo. The committee chairs requested a slew of materials related to the Friday night firing, including communications about Linick's removal and documents showing Akard's qualifications to replace him. The Democrats, citing a report this week from NBC News, also asked Pompeo to send them guest lists and manifests for a series of "lavish," federally funded dinners reportedly held by Pompeo and his wife while in office. The letters set a June 4 deadline for Pompeo and Akard to comply with the requests. The Democrats also urged Akard to resign as the department's acting inspector general, or "at a minimum" step down from his prior role as director of the Office of Foreign Missions, which he reportedly continues to hold. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Akard would essentially be overseeing himself if he held onto both jobs. The joint letter was signed by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. The State Department did not immediately provide a response to the letters, and did not immediately answer questions about Akard posed by CNBC. Trump said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday night that he lost "confidence" in the watchdog, without providing further explanation. Pompeo also did not provide a more detailed explanation for the firing when asked at the briefing. Both have maintained that Trump had the right to fire Linick. Linick had opened an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Pompeo involving a department official performing personal tasks for him and his wife, Susan Pompeo, NBC reported. Linick was reportedly also nearly finished with another probe into Pompeo's involvement in the Trump administration's move to strike a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia under an emergency declaration that bypassed the need for congressional approval. Engel and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had already asked for the Trump administration to hand over documents related to Linick's removal by Friday. New Labor Dept. guidelines protect the beliefs of faith groups in grant programs Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia issued new guidance barring the department, service providers and state agencies from discriminating based on religious belief in a move aimed at improving the ability of faith-based organizations to participate in grant programs. On Friday, Scalia became the latest department head to issue a new directive and guidance following President Donald Trumps 2017 executive order and ensuing directives calling on federal government agencies to issue guidelines on how to best protect religious freedom. The directive and guidance issued today acknowledge the central role that religion and religious freedom play in civil society, Scalia, son of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, said in a statement. The directive and guidance issued today send a clear message that the Department of Labor will continue to uphold religious liberty for Americas workforce, employees of the Department, and religious organizations. Scalia issued department-wide guidance on grant policies to improve public awareness and clarity about the Departments protections for religious liberty interests in grant administration. According to the department, the guidance works to improve the ability of nonprofit and faith-based organizations to defend their rights and participate in DOL programs. DOL, DOL social service providers, and State and local governments administering DOL support must not discriminate against a program beneficiary or prospective program beneficiary on the basis of religion, religious belief, a refusal to hold a religious belief, or a refusal to attend or participate in religious practice, the guidance document reads. Program providers must not impermissibly restrict program beneficiaries rights to exercise religious freedom. DOL, DOL social service providers, and State and local governments administering DOL support are not precluded from accommodating religion in a constitutionally permissible manner. According to the department, the new guidance gives more certainty to nonprofit and faith-based organizations regarding what guarantees the Departments regulations give grantees to preserve their religious character. Furthermore, the document declares that religious organizations do not forfeit their exemption from federal discrimination laws if they receive direct or indirect support from the department. Some DOL programs, however, were established through Federal statutes containing independent statutory provisions that require that recipients refrain from discriminating in employment on the basis of religion, the guidance reads. Scalias new directive orders agency heads to incorporate and advance religious liberty principles in their daily operations. Among other things, it instructs agency heads to ensure religious liberty protections for all Department employees and job applicants and verify that department rules adhere to the First Amendment of the Constitution and applicable federal laws. The agency heads are also being told to assess the consistency of new departmental documents and guidance with the 2017 memorandum by the Department of Justice ordering all federal agencies to protect religious beliefs to the "greatest extent practicable and permitted by law. Scalias directive further orders administrators to consider modifications to promote religious liberty protections, and ensure that religious organizations are given the opportunity to compete equally with non-religious organizations for Federal financial assistance at the Federal and State levels. It also demands that Labor Department officials respect the full scope of legal religious exemptions, including the ministerial exception. The ministerial exception is a legal principle in which churches and religious organizations are given exemptions to employment discrimination laws when it comes to hiring decisions made for positions responsible for sharing and teaching the faith. Kelly Shackelford, the president and chief counsel of the First Liberty Institute, praised the new guidance. Without these protections, religious organizations risk facing discrimination for making employment decisions that are consistent with their beliefs, Shackelford said. Religious organizations should never be forced to abandon their religious character and mission in order to be eligible to contract with the federal government. We applaud Secretary Scalia for working to ensure that religious organizations are treated on equal terms as other organizations. First Liberty Institute submitted a public comment in support of the departments rule proposal in September 2019 that clarified that religious organizations may make employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs without fear of sanction by the federal government. Many religious ministries, charities, and other organizations stand ready to partner with the government to help individuals in need, First Liberty stated at the time. This proposed rule not only protects their right to be free from anti-religious discrimination in the contracting process, but it also ensures that the government is free to contract with the entities that are best able to provide services to the public regardless of religious affiliation. Under the Obama administration, concerns were raised by faith groups when an executive order was issued banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for federal contractors. The guidance states that the department, social service providers as well as state and local governments must also ensure that no direct department funding is used for explicitly religious activities. The restriction against using financial assistance for explicitly religious activities does not apply when the assistance is indirect, meaning that the beneficiary chooses the service provider and the cost of the service is paid through a voucher, certificate, or other similar means of government-funded payment, the guidance reads. In cases where an organization conducts an explicitly religious activity using non-department funds and also offers a social service program using direct department funds, the organization must offer to do the explicitly religious program at a time or place that is different than the department-sponsored program. Explicitly religious activities may occur in another room at the facility at the same time as directly-supported training, or in the same room if offered at a different time from the directly-supported training, the guidance explains. The guidance assures that organizations that are receiving department funds only by indirect means do not need to modify their program activities to accommodate a beneficiary of DOL funding that chooses to enroll in the organizations program. Mark Zuckerberg plans to shift Facebook Inc. toward a substantially remote workforce over the next decade, permanently reconfiguring the tech giants operations around the dispersed structure that the coronavirus pandemic forced on it. The plan, which the Facebook chief executive outlined to employees on Thursday, is one of the highest-profile examples of business leaders committing to extend the practices their companies quickly embraced to adjust to the crisis. On matters from workplace to strategy, managers are rethinking what works and shifting course, sometimes long term. The remote-work changes for new hires will roll out initially in the U.S. and apply only to senior engineers at first. With individual team leaders approval, new recruits will be offered the choice to work from home, and current employees around the world with strong performance reviews will be able to apply to do so. In time, the policy will be extended to employees outside Facebooks engineering department. Within 10 years, Mr. Zuckerberg expects, as much as half of Facebooks employeeswho currently number more than 45,000to work from home, he said in an interview before the announcement. Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook is moving gradually because the shift will require new techniques and tools to compensate for the loss of in-person office interactionsa challenge for which he said the company is well-positioned given its focus on using technology to connect people. This is about how we do better work and attract the people we need to do the best work we can, Mr. Zuckerberg said. Facebooks ability to keep working amid abrupt restrictions brought on by the pandemic gave him confidence in the remote working model, he said. Mr. Zuckerbergs plan sets Facebook on a course for a long-term change at a time when companies across industries are rethinking how they function amid pandemic-induced remote-work requirements. Plans for returning to the office differ widelyeven within Silicon Valley. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Facebooks much smaller rival Twitter Inc., recently told employees they could work from home indefinitely. San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. on Wednesday said it also would remain remote-first after coronavirus restrictions are lifted, and e-commerce company Shopify Inc. said Thursday that most of its employees will work remotely in the future. Other tech leaders are less sanguine about staffers staying home. Elon Musk, faced with an unusual challenge in Silicon Valley because his company runs its own factory, waged a public battle with local authorities this month to reopen Tesla Inc.s manufacturing plant near San Francisco so the electric-car company could start churning out vehicles again. Evan Spiegel, CEO of messaging company Snap Inc., has joked with his team that he wants to work from home forever because he feels more productive and fulfilled being able to spend so much time with his family, according to a person familiar with his thinking. But he has also said that he thinks the idea of knowledge workers working from home indefinitely is dystopian, and expressed concern that some have found it miserable. Snap executives met to begin preparing their return-to-work plans when the shutdown started in March, the person said. They are trying to set up a system that would allow employees who want to get back to the office to do so as soon as its safe and legal, while providing flexible options for people who have child-care challenges or who worry about returning for health reasons, this person said. Remote work is in some ways easier for tech companies, with their largely white-collar, tech-savvy workforces. But it also presents challenges, such as finding ways to replicate the directness and serendipity of in-person interactions that are often seen as key to innovation. Mr. Zuckerberg has been among the more aggressive business leaders in adopting changes during the pandemic, saying more than a month ago that Facebook would cancel all gatherings with 50 or more people through June 2021. He has also said employees would return to Facebooks offices only gradually once health authorities allow it, and that workers who want to will be allowed to work remotely through at least the end of the year. While his thinking about more remote work predates the pandemic, Mr. Zuckerberg said, he was encouraged by how employees have handled the recent situation. In terms of day-to-day productivity, I think thats going better than we expected, he said. Internal Facebook surveys show having the option of working from home is popular with employees, he said. Among the advantages of a dispersed workforce, Mr. Zuckerberg said, is that it will enable more demographic and ideological diversity if recruits arent required to work in tech strongholds like the San Francisco Bay Area. I think just more perspective would be helpful, he said, adding that such diversity would help the company avoid making basic errors by misjudging how large percentages of the world will react or think about something. Still, given Facebooks scale, it has to proceed in a measured fashion, he said. It might be closer to 10 years than five before half of Facebooks employees are working remotely, Mr. Zuckerberg said. The plan will initially be limited largely to the U.S. because the transition would be complicated enough without factoring in a range of time zones and primary languages, he said. And it will be important for certain types of employees to work in the office, such as those hired fresh out of school. We do believe that new grads who join us should be in the office for some period of time, he said. Maybe its a year. Maybe its two years. Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook would also need to work to replicate what he called some of the softer aspects of workplace culture. Social bond building, culture, creativity, whiteboarding and brainstormingthat is kind of more ad hoc, he said. The technology tools we have today for them are not as developedvideoconferencing is fairly transactional. Last week the company unveiled a new foray into group videoconferencing, called Messenger Rooms, that it hopes will replicate more casual social interaction. Mr. Zuckerberg announced efforts to begin providing those features on Thursday, with adaptations of its video products for Facebook Workplace, the companys office collaboration tools. Workplaces paid users have risen from 3 million to 5 million during the pandemic, the company said. Asked if he believed other major corporate players would eventually shift away from offices, Mr. Zuckerberg said he wasnt sure, adding that Facebooks reasons for starting now are specific to its business and employee base. A lot of what we build is fundamentally about communication and delivering a feeling of connection, he said. By having more of our employees work remotely we will eat our own dog food on these products and likely be able to advance the state of that technology faster. Facebook wont be reducing its presence in its Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters and surrounding cities, where the company occupies or is developing offices capable of housing more than 50,000 employees, he said. I think well need the space, Mr. Zuckerberg said, both because the transition will be gradual and because Facebooks plans for a return to offices include social-distancing measures that aim to reduce employee density to a quarter of what it was before the crisis. When the company initially reopens its facilities, he said, he expects many more employees will wish to return than the company can accommodate. Georgia Wells contributed to this article. Write to Jeff Horwitz at Jeff.Horwitz@wsj.com ----------------- **** Image References **** ----------------- Article Reference: SB11727343868604973335704586398042801778016 Photo Reference: S1-GD180_FBWORK_M_20200521080910.jpg or S1-GD180_FBWORK_OR_20200521080910.jpg or S1-GD188_FBWORK_OR_20200521081055.jpg or Graphic Reference: Read more about: US Stands With Australia After Threats of Economic Retaliation From Beijing 'We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically hostile to free nations,' says Pompeo U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has denounced the Chinese regimes hostility towards Australia and said the world now has a more realistic understanding on the nature of the regime after Beijings lack of transparency surrounding the CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus virus. Speaking at a State Department press briefing on May 20, Pompeo said: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chose to threaten Australia with economic retribution for the simple act of asking for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. Its not right, he continued. Declaring Americas support for Australia in the face of the CCPs bullying, Pompeo said: We stand with Australia and the more than 120 nations now who have taken up the American call for an inquiry into the origins of the virus, so we can understand what went wrong and save lives now, and in the future. Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison has chosen not to approach Beijings recent sanctions on Australian beef and barley as retaliatory actions for Australias call for an independent investigation into the origins of the CCP virus, adding that he would be disappointed with China if this was the case. Well work those trading relationships. But what we will never do is trade away our values, he said on May 14. Australias federal trade minister Simon Birmingham said that the Morrison government will not engage in an economic war with Beijing despite the regimes wolf warrior diplomatic tactics towards Australia. Birmingham told reporters on May 19 that Australias trade policy is based on the international rules on trade and the government would not be putting tariffs on Chinese goods because, We dont conduct our trade policy on a tit for tat basis. Its quite inappropriate. In the end, we want China to participate and cooperate with these inquiries as much as we want the rest of the world too, he told Channel 7. Pompeo Says World Now Waking Up to Threat Posed By a Communist China Pompeo utilised his press availability to discuss previous administrations failed foreign policy towards China. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us That didnt happen. We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically hostile to free nations, he said. As a result of the pandemic, the world is waking up to that fact, he said, adding that the virus has accelerated a more realistic understanding of communist China. Pompeo cited a recent Pew research poll that showed 66 percent of Americans responding with unfavourable views of communist China. Last week in Australia, a Lowy Institute poll showed that 69 percent of Australians also think less favourably about Chinas ruling communist regime. The secretary of state continued by saying despite the CCPs efforts to positively advertise its contributions to fighting the pandemic, these were paltry compared to the cost to the world as a result of the regimes cover-up of the pandemic. As we all sit here this morning, Beijing continues to deny investigators access to relevant facilities, to withhold live virus samples, to censor discussion of the pandemic within China, and much, much more, he said. Epoch Times reporter Caden Pearson contributed to this article. The Member of Parliament of Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong says he caused the arrest of the Head Pastor of the International God's Way Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim. According to the legislator, he filed a report with the Police and also provided the law enforcement officials with witnesses. The popular televangelist was arrested on May 19 and charged in court for the publication of false news and forgery of document, contrary to sections 208 and 159 of the Criminal and other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). A police statement said Obinim is also under investigation for other offences levelled against him. Why God hasn't killed Obinim...yet! In his now regular appearance on The Seat television show on Net 2 on Wednesday night (May 20, 2020), Mr Agyapong said complaints against the preacher include death threats on the lives of several persons, sketchy money transfers and his use of the logo of the Ghana Police Service to declare persons wanted. He said also under investigation is a viral video where the controversial preacher is hitting and 'cursing' a girl with Asthma during a televised broadcast. "Me, I am not afraid to tell you, you threw me a challenge and I have gone head-to-head with you. I reported, I took the witnesses there. Read my lips, because I am not afraid of you," Mr Agyapong said. Watch the video below from the 41st-minute mark; Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video CHICAGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The medical gloves market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 15% during the period 20192025. In-depth analysis and data-driven insights on the impact of COVID-19 included in this global medical gloves market report. The global medical gloves market is growing at a healthy rate. The growth can be attributed to the growing demand for safety and hygiene standards to prevent the risk of contamination and infections in healthcare settings during medical and treatment measures. The growth in surgical procedures for several diseases and potential risk reduction for surgical site infection (SSI) is likely to fuel the market growth. Health care professionals will continue to demand the latest medical gloves to treat acute and chronic diseases, which will promote safe and effective treatment outcomes. The emergence of new pandemic challenges such as COVID-19 will drive the future growth of the market. A strong preference for non-powdered medical gloves is also likely to drive future market growth. Key Highlights Offered in the Report: The global medical gloves market is expected to reach to about $324 billion by 2020 with high YoY growth of around 21% due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As an effective preventive measure to stop coronavirus containment, wearing medical gloves with proper hygiene practice is gaining prominence during the pandemic. Medical gloves made of nitrile material are expected to witness highest growth rate during the forecast period. In terms of both volume shipment and revenue, medical gloves used in laboratory testing applications contributed to the maximum global medical gloves market share in 2019. Growing preference for non-powdered gloves globally is another key factor propelling the market growth. Practice of double gloving in healthcare settings is further contributing to the growth of global medical gloves market. North America is leading the global market and accounted for a volume share of around 32% in 2019, followed by Europe , APAC, Middle East & Africa , and Latin America . Key Offerings: Market Size & Forecast by Revenue | 20192025 Market Dynamics Leading trends, growth drivers, restraints, and investment opportunities Market Segmentation A detailed analysis by material, application, category, end-user, and geography Competitive Landscape Profile of 8 key vendors and 43 other vendors Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/medical-gloves-market The following factors are likely to contribute to the growth of the medical gloves market during the forecast period: Emergence of New Pandemic Challenge Progressive Emphasis on Stringent Health Regulations across Regions Increased Focus on Safety and Hygiene Standards Growth in Surgical Procedures The study considers the present scenario of the medical gloves market and its market dynamics for the period 20192025. It covers a detailed overview of several market growth enablers, restraints, and trends. The report offers both the demand and supply aspect of the market. It profiles and examines leading companies and other prominent ones operating in the market. The research report covers the market in terms of revenue and volume forecast. Medical Gloves Market Segmentation This research report includes a detailed segmentation by Material, Application, Category, End-user, and geography. The nitrile gloves segment is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR during the forecast period. The demand for nitrile gloves is increasing due to the number of benefits, including alleviating allergies and increased chemical and puncture resistance. Manufacturers are preparing nitrile ones as comfortable as latex with improved quality. Hence, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on developing a new type of accelerator-free nitrile gloves. They contain less chemicals and are stronger than traditional nitrile ones without compromising comfort. With the ongoing shift from latex to nitrile, manufacturers reported high sales from nitrile gloves in 2019. The global examination medical gloves market is expected to reach over $10 billion by 2025. The growing demand from the healthcare industry is a major factor contributing to the growth. The increasing usage of examination gloves to prevent healthcare professionals from the transmission of infectious agents is another driver, which is influencing the growth. These are made of latex, nitrile, and vinyl. Latex and nitrile exam gloves are often used when dealing with high-risk situations involving blood, body fluids, or patients with infectious diseases such as COVID-19 pandemic. The powder-free medical gloves segment accounts for the largest market share as a majority of commercially available medical gloves are non-powdered ones. The demand is expected to grow at a steady rate primarily due to the low risk of infections. Several medical studies have stated that powder-free gloves are considered cleaner than powdered ones. This characteristic has increased the popularity and demand from the healthcare industry. With the rising importance of powder-free ones, vendors are strategizing to offer innovative gloves with best-in-class manufacturing procedures. In terms of revenue, hospitals and diagnostic laboratories are the major end-users in the medical gloves market. The segment is growing at a healthy rate and is likely to grow during the forecast period. This is primarily due to the high adoption of the latest generation treatment practices with standard hygiene and safety measures. The aging population and the increasing pool of patients with diseases such as CVDs, COPD, neurovascular diseases, gynecological diseases, cancer, orthopedic ailments are the major factors driving the growth of the hospital segment. The diagnostic laboratories end-user segment accounted for over 29% share of the global market. The segment is growing at a healthy rate majorly due to the widespread usage in laboratory settings. Research professionals use examination medical gloves in these settings. The segment includes both public health laboratories and reference laboratories. In the recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, diagnostic laboratories have been on the front line of the battle against the virus, providing specimen collection, coordinating supplies, and offering testing facilities. Segmentation by Material Latex Nitrile Vinyl Neoprene Others By Application Examination Surgical By End-user Hospital Diagnostic Laboratories ASCs Clinics Others By Category Non-powdered/powder-free Powdered Insights by Geography The North American market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 15% during the period 20192025. The region is characterized by high penetration of advanced treatment solutions for chronic and acute diseases, advancements in material such as latex-free non-allergic gloves. With the favorable government financial support for several surgical procedures results in the higher uptake of surgeries as well as surgical gloves. North America offers tremendous growth opportunities; therefore, the market is expected to continue to grow during the upcoming period. The US is the major revenue contributor to the global market. The country holds the highest value due to better healthcare facilities and medical coverage and spending. The US medical gloves market is growing at a significant rate and is likely to grow during the forecast period. Get your sample today! https://www.arizton.com/market-reports/medical-gloves-market By Geography North America Canada US Europe UK Germany France Italy Spain APAC China Japan South Korea Australia India Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Columbia Chile Middle East & Africa South Africa Saudi Arabia Turkey Iran Insights by Vendors The global medical gloves market share is very fragmented and is highly competitive, and dynamic characterized by the presence of many global, regional, and local vendors. The vendors are offering a diverse range of medical gloves for both examination and surgical applications. Large and diversified companies accounts for major shares. Also, most key players - Top Glove, Ansell, Kossan Rubber Industries, Hartalega Holdings, Supermax - have demonstrated consistent growth over the last few years. Prominent Vendors Top Glove Kossan Rubber Industries Hartalega Holdings Semperit Cardinal Health Supermax Braun Melsungen Other Prominent Vendors ACTEON ADVENTA Health AKZENTA INTERNATIONAL AlboLand ASID BONZ BERNER International Body Products BSN Medical CEABIS DIDACTIC Demophorius Healthcare Elcya ERENLER MEDIKAL Franz Mensch Gemma Hepro.us HUM GmbH Hygeco Intco Medical International Biomedical KALTEK Kanam Latex Industries Leboo Healthcare Products Low Derma Medadv Medibase Molnlycke Health Care MRK Healthcare Neomedic Pidegree Industrial Polyco Healthline RFB Latex Riverstone Holdings Robinson Healthcare SHIELD Scientific Smart Glove Sri Trang Agro-Industry TROGE MEDICAL Unigloves Winmed Group WRP Asia Pacific Wujiang Evergreen YTY Group Explore our Healthcare & Lifesciences profile to know more about the industry. Read some of the top-selling reports: Key Questions Answered What is the market size of the medical gloves market? What are the factors impacting the growth of the disposable gloves market? What are the drivers, trends, and restraints in the market? Who are the leading vendors in the surgical gloves market and what are their market shares? What is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical gloves market? About Arizton: Arizton Advisory and Intelligence is an innovation and quality-driven firm, which offers cutting-edge research solutions to clients across the world. We excel in providing comprehensive market intelligence reports and advisory and consulting services. We offer comprehensive market research reports on industries such as consumer goods & retail technology, automotive and mobility, smart tech, healthcare, and life sciences, industrial machinery, chemicals and materials, IT and media, logistics and packaging. These reports contain detailed industry analysis, market size, share, growth drivers, and trend forecasts. Arizton comprises a team of exuberant and well-experienced analysts who have mastered in generating incisive reports. Our specialist analysts possess exemplary skills in market research. We train our team in advanced research practices, techniques, and ethics to outperform in fabricating impregnable research reports. Mail: [email protected] Call: +1-312-235-2040 +1-302-469-0707 SOURCE Arizton Advisory & Intelligence At least 84 people have been killed by the super cyclone that swept across India and Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal late on Wednesday, according to local officials. Addressing the media, the chief minister of West Bengal state in India said she had "never seen such a disaster before". Millions were evacuated ahead of the storm, which has caused extensive damage along the coastline, in India's marshy Sundarbans region and to the major city of Kolkata. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said 72 were killed in West Bengal alone, where the storm made landfall at 2.30pm on Wednesday local time. Two people died in neighbouring Odisha state, officials there said. And earlier, Bangladeshi officials said a Red Crescent volunteer was among 10 killed in that country. Ms Banerjee said that most of those who died were killed by falling trees and electricity pylons. Power has been lost for much of the 14 million strong population of Kolkata, India's third-largest city. The families of those who have died will receive compensation amounting to Rs 250,000 (2,700), Ms Banerjee said. Amphan, the first super cyclone to hit India and Bangladesh since 1999, achieved windspeeds of 270kmph (167mph) in the Bay of Bengal on Monday night, making it the most powerful cyclone on record in the region. The storm slowed as it hit the coast, but was still categorised as a "very severe" cyclone with sustained winds in excess of 100mph and gusts up to 118mph, and has caused extensive flooding and damages. Storm surges saw sea water driven up to 15miles inland in places, and flooding is likely to worsen with continued heavy rainfall forecast for the coming week. "We have never seen or heard anything like it. Windows rattled, the house shook, outside trees caught fire, while others collapsed. We thought we would die," Javed Khan, a taxi driver in Kolkata, told the Associated Press. The roof of a school building in Howrah, a suburb of Kolkata, flew off in the wind. Numerous coconut trees were struck by lightning and rising rivers overflew their banks. Ms Banerjee said many centuries-old buildings were damaged in Kolkata, the state capital formerly known as Calcutta that was the capital of British-occupied India for almost 150 years. As well as the power cuts, phone connectivity was badly affected and some residents said their inability to charge mobile phones meant they were unable to access relief measures. "We are facing three crises: the coronavirus, the thousands of migrants who are returning home and now the cyclone," Ms Banerjee said, a reference to the daily-wage labourers who fled India's financial centres Delhi and Mumbai to return to the state during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. In Bangladesh, at least one million people were without electricity, according to the country's ministry of power. Hundreds of villages were submerged by a tidal surge across the vast coastal region, disaster-response authorities said. About a dozen flood protection embankments have been breached. Additional reporting by agencies SINGAPORE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Infatica reached another milestone: its network now has one million daily unique IPs and ten million monthly unique IPs. Infatica is grateful to thier partners and customers who have joined them and thanks to whom Infatica is growing so rapidly. By reaching 1M daily unique IPs, Infatica significantly extended selection of locations, allowing clients to gather data with higher accuracy and better experience of data access. However, Infatica keeps its services affordable and the prices are still one of the best on the market. Everyone is welcome to try their increased pool of IP addresses by taking a 3-day free trial test before purchasing any plan and make sure that the service meets their needs. Proxies are a key component of many data collection tools, SEO software, ad verification mechanisms, as well as custom web scraping solutions. But now, in the era of big data, even small companies are paying attention to automated data collection to keep up with competitors and stay afloat. Infatica strives to provide products that help automate routine data-gathering processes, speed up the process of getting accurate information, free up employee's time for other tasks, and save resources. As the demand for automated data collection is constantly growing, Infatica's future plans now include supplying not only their wide range of proxies as part of a data collection engine, but out of the box solutions that allow every company to apply this powerful approach to grow their business. Follow Infatica on Facebook , Linkedin and Twitter to stay updated for new benefits your business will enjoy and be among the first to access the new features. About Infatica Infatica is a global proxy network that supplies customers with residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies. Infatica was originally designed for internal use by experienced engineers that have expertise in server hosting and network design. The functionality sprinkled with new features and the pull of the network was growing with the rising demand. Now it is a full-fledged product in demand, which continues to grow and is becoming more and more popular. Infatica offers the following features: 1M+ daily unique IPs and 10M+ monthly unique IPs 20% lower average price compared to similar services 3-day free trial test High ranking for Locations, Anonymity, Speed, Reliability, Connection success rate, Diversity indicators IP addresses pool is constantly growing Hourly rotation Friendly support SOURCE Infatica Related Links https://infatica.io Abu, a Taiwanese who traveled for almost two months in Xinjiang, is seen in Kashgar against a backdrop of scenes of Chinese tortures and interrogations. Abu is a young man from Taiwan. In 2019, he rode on his bicycle to Xinjiang, traveled around the province for almost two months, and shared on social media what he saw and heard. In a video taken in Kashgars Old Town in southern Xinjiang, he shared details of his conversations with locals about what really happens in Xinjiangs re-education camps, and this sparked further discussions online. Below is RFA reporter Jane Tangs interview with Abu: RFA: The videos you took in Xinjiang have generated a lot of response online. Now that you are back in Taiwan, can you tell us what prompted you to visit Xinjiang? Abu: I had just left my job in China, and had thought about riding my bicycle from the coastal province of Guangdong all the way to Europe. I particularly wanted to visit Xinjiang. In China, public opinion about Chinas Xinjiang policy is polarized. I was hoping that I could learn more about the issue with my own eyes and ears, rather than from hearsay or the news. According to my original itinerary, after leaving Xinjiang, I would have continued my trip until I reached Europe. However, several things happened, so I called the trip off early and returned to Taiwan. RFA: Many journalists have been put under surveillance while in Xinjiang. What was your experience there? Abu: In Xinjiang, there are security check points in every small town. My name was taken, and I was searched, so it was not difficult [for police] to track me down. I was searched about ten times. I entered Xinjiang in late June of 2019, and left in the middle of August, so stayed there for about one and a half months. Each police search took more than hour. I had to put every one of my personal belongings on the ground for them to check. I felt like a street vendor. The police would check the pictures I took, too. I had some strange encounters with the police. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, the police would come and announce that I could not stay in the hotel and demanded that I check out of the hotel immediately. At other times, when I camped out, the police would call to locate me and force me to leave. RFA: The location where you shot your video The Beauty and Sorrow of Xinjiang is full of stories, and you walked past many piles of rubble and numerous abandoned houses. What were these? Abu: Those are the Gaotai Dwellings, traditional Uyghur residential homes in Kashgar in south Xinjiang. I did some research prior to the trip, and I wanted to check out the rich culture there. It was not until I had almost reached Xinjiang that I heard that the residents of the Dwellings had been relocated and the Dwellings demolished. The residents were made to relocate after the Chinese government rolled out the Poverty Alleviation Policy. The Chinese government built a new Ancient Town nearby, but that is nothing compared to the Old Town. All the cultural and the ethnic historical sentiments have diminished with the demolition. Yes, everyone is entitled to a modern civilization, but I do not agree with this kind of comprehensive demolition and relocation. RFA: So you learned that the Gaotai Dwellings were abandoned, but how did you manage to get in to the Old Town? Abu: I still wanted to see the Old Town with my own eyes, so I scouted the area for a few days, hoping to find a manhole of some sort to sneak in, and I did. I found a secret entryway, and once I got in I made a few turns, climbed through a plank, and landed in the streets in the old town. I shared that information on Taiwans Backpackers Forum. I chose to shoot the video and talk about the re-education camps in that location because of my experience in Urumqi, where I was stalked. I wanted to have the video taken in a place where there were no surveillance cameras. RFA: You talked with many locals about the changes that have occurred in Xinjiang over the past few years. What stories did they share with you? Abu: I met a herdsman whose livestock was taken away by the Chinese government in the name of Poverty Alleviation. The herdsman and his family were then forced to relocate from their grazing area to government-arranged housing. The Chinese government also arranged jobs for them, so they do earn a wage. As a result, their income level met the poverty alleviation standard, and they became just another number in the data. Meanwhile, the Chinese government placed their children in a centralized education setting, claiming this was intended to provide childcare for the working parents. Additionally, the ethnic minorities in the areanot just the Uyghurs, but everyone whose religion is Islamare never allowed to leave Xinjiang. If anyone applies for a passport, the Chinese government will not issue it. There are checkpoints everywhere at the stops leaving Xinjiang. And if an ID identifies the holder as an ethnic minority person, that person is not allowed to leave their town, to say nothing of leaving the country. It is almost as if these people in the region are in a lockdown. RFA: In the videos of Xijiang shot by Chinas official media outlets, Xinjiang residents praise China and thank the CCP. However, the outside world has also seen many reports and classified documents about the re-education camps in Xinjiang. What was the Xinjiang that you saw like? Abu: I would categorize the Xinjiang people in two groups. One group consists of those who may benefit from this policy. In some of the tourist spots, for example, the Xinjiang people there would shout Thank you, Party! Thank you, our Country! as soon as they saw me. Maybe they really felt grateful for the Chinese government, or maybe they did this to protect themselves. Nevertheless, other civilians that I came in touch with slowly revealed some more details. They felt too helpless, sad, or scared to say much about the re-education camps or the tight controls imposed on the ethnic minorities. One Xinjiang man told me that his brother was taken away and was never again seen again after the police found a copy of Koran in the house. In many situations, Xinjiang people are monitored, warned, taken away, or even jailed. And those prisoners turned silent when they got out. They would say the Party is really good to me, but you could see that the way he spoke and his facial expressions were completely contradictory. RFA: What was the atmosphere like in Xinjiang? Abu: I felt very oppressed. I could walk in the main roads, but if I turned into any alleyway, there would be a check stop. Foreign tourists like us are not allowed in many areas. To see more around the Old Town, I used the cabs a lot. I would ask the cabbie to drive me to some place, and then I could chat with the driver. On one of these rides, my driver became infuriated during our conversation. He said, 'It is not free here at all. Even a dog would be happier here than humans.The humans want to leave town, but they are not allowed to.' It was as if the entire town had become a huge jail house. Everyone is trapped inside. RFA: Xijiang was not like this at all before. When did all these changes begin? Abu: The locals said it was after the July 2009 Urumqi Riots. RFA: What are the things that the Xinjiang civilians want the outside world to know? Abu: They want the world to know what the Chinese government is doing to them: the re-education camps, the random checks and surveillance, and the manipulating of ethnic minority groups to spy on one another. I could feel the sense of their helplessness from their body language and from their eyes. It was as if you were trying to hold still against a flood, but still got washed away. When I was in Xinjiang, the Muslims were celebrating Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of the Sacrifice. Eid al-Adha is an important Muslim holiday celebrated around the world. In China, Muslims in Qinghai or Gansu may be able to gather and celebrate, but not in Xinjiang. Here, the Muslims were told to return home once the celebration was over. They could not congregate on the streets, because no gatherings were allowed. On the morning of the holiday, people went onto the streets to celebrate, but the police then announced through a PA system that everyone should return home. That was it. The largest Mosque in Kashgar was also banned from holding any gatherings. I feel that the entire culture is being annihilated. One day, I saw a poster in an abandoned house. The content was even more disgusting. The poster was about the Chinese version of Dos and Donts with regards to the Islamic culture. For example, the Muslims eat Halal food, but the poster said that parents are forbidden to tell children to eat only Halal food. There are many prohibition orders like that in Xinjiang. These orders are forcibly destroying the Muslims religious culture. RFA: Why did you end your trip early and return to Taiwan? Abu: My experience in the Kashgar Airport really spooked me. The airline agent tore up my flight ticket and would not let me board my flight. He asked me to return to the hotel that I had checked out from earlier. Luckily, I was able to book another flight right away, using my new Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents (MPT) number. My second attempt to leave the region was successful, and I managed to fly to Sichuan. However, as soon as I passed the border control, I was immediately taken to a small room. There were many video cameras pointing at me. The interrogator asked me what I was doing in China? What did I do on a specific date? All my belongings were tossed around and searched, all my memory cards confiscated. I probably would not have been able to make it back to Taiwan at all had I not synced all my videos to cloud storage in real time and burned all my video-containing memory cards before I left. I arrived at the airport in Sichuan in the early morning at 4 a.m. The search and interrogation there lasted for almost four hours, and I eventually caught a 9:00 flight to Macau. When I landed in Macau, I almost burst into tears. I no longer needed the MPT. From here on I could use my passport, issued by the Republic of China, Taiwan. RFA: What was the biggest impact this trip had on you? Abu: I did not expect that so many locals would share their information with me. They trusted me to tell their stories. I am now a firm believer in the idea that freedom is a birthright. I have seen so much beautiful scenery in Xinjiang, but the stories of its people are the sorrows that need to be told. EDMONTON, AB / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Rocky Mountain Liquor Inc. (TSXV:RUM) (the "Company" or "Rocky Mountain"), listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"), today reported its financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2020. The Company has continued to succeed at its objective to grow market share and reduce costs. For the period ending March 31, 2020, the Company operated 28 stores with average sales per store of $337,031. This is an increase of 8% in average sales per store when compared to the same period in 2019. Key operational and financial highlights, year over year 3 month comparison: Sales increased by $360,354 to $9.44M (2019 was $9.10M) with 28 stores contributing to sales at the end of the period in 2020 vs 29 at the end of the period in 2019 EBITDAR* increased by $228,252 to $491,262 (2019 was $263,010) Net loss improved by $424,314 to $275,182 (2019 loss was $699,496) Gross margin percentage increased to 22.0% (2019 was 21.3%) The Q1 2020 increase in sales can be primarily attributed to the latter half of March 2020, when sales increased as a result of the Government of Alberta's decision to close bars and restaurants to the public due to COVID-19 and recognize liquor retail as an essential service. EBITDAR increased by 87% over the same three month period in 2019 as a result of management's continued focus on competitive pricing strategies, the balancing of costs and customer experience, and from providing a consistent brand message that appeals to both existing and new customers. Net loss reduced due to increased sales and contribution margin and reductions in finance costs in 2020 due to the conversion of the convertible debenture in July 2019 and a reduction to operating costs as a result of a reduced number of locations. Margins have increased from 21.3% to 22.0% as the Company has remodeled its marketing, pricing and promotional strategies to maximize gross margins. The Company strategizes the timing of Limited Time Offer purchases with in store promotions, to realize margin growth. The Company is closely monitoring the evolution of the COVID-19 situation. In Alberta, liquor retail has been recognized as an essential business. As such, the Company has been able to operate all 28 of its retail stores. The Company took immediate action in implementing extensive policies and procedures to protect its employees across all departments. The Company is following the guidelines issued for non-health care essential businesses to ensure our employees are working in a safe environment including; increased sanitation, plexiglass shields at the counters, masks for staff when physical distancing cannot be maintained, and restricting the number of individuals in the store at a time. In mid-March, the administrative staff were transitioned and continue to work from home. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a material negative impact on the Company's results of operations, however, the Company is not immune to factors beyond its control, including without limitation; forced store closures, labour shortages, potential supply disruptions or other unforeseen circumstances. As at May 21, 2020, all 28 locations are open and operational. At this time, the Company is not eligible for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program from the Federal Government as it does not meet the program's revenue reduction requirements, nor has it entered into any deferral arrangements on its financial obligations. Further, the Company has not needed to rely on filing extension relief offered by the Canadian Securities Administrators and Alberta Securities Commission for these statements. Detailed information in the form of the Company's interim consolidated financial statements and Management Discussion and Analysis are available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and also on the Company's website at www.ruminvestor.com. After accessing the website, please choose the "Investor Relations" tab to view Quarterly Reports. *EBITDAR is Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization and Rent. About Rocky Mountain Rocky Mountain owns 100% of Andersons Liquor Inc. ("Andersons"), headquartered in Edmonton Alberta, which now own and operate 28 private liquor stores in that province, up from 18 stores since the Common Shares began trading in December 2008. It is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V:RUM). Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as investment decisions. In particular results achieved in 2020 and previous periods might not be a certain indication of future performance, which is subject to other risks, including but not limited to changes in operational policies, changes in management, changes in strategic focus, market conditions and customer preferences, the impact from COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and third party suppliers. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks, the risks that these events may not materialize as well as those additional factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in RUM's Management Discussion and Analysis, which can be obtained at www.sedar.com. If they do materialize, there remains a risk of non-execution for any reason. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws or the TSX-V. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information: Allison Radford Chief Executive Officer (780) 483-8177 Sarah Stelmack Chief Financial Officer (780) 483-8177 SOURCE: Rocky Mountain Liquor Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590922/Rocky-Mountain-Liquor-Reports-Q1-2020-Consolidated-Financial-Results The Environmental Health Officers Alliance-Ghana has called on government to develop guidelines for the disposal of face masks, used tissue paper and hand gloves to contain the spread of COVID-19. Mr Yaw Akwaa Lartey, the President of the Alliance, said this had become necessary in view of the environmental officers observation when working in the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. He said children picked, wore or played with some of those used face masks when disposed of indiscriminately. Mr Lartey, who made the call at a press conference in Accra, said used masks, which were dumped in water bodies, on streets, and in drains were dangerous to human health, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members at the onset of the pandemic communicated to us their observations, concerns and recommendations on how to effectively deal with the pandemic. It is our fervent hope that the implementation of these measures will go a long way to place our dear country to gain an upper hand in the fight against the disease, he said. He explained that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all household waste is classified as suspected infectious waste. Consequently all landfill sites, final disposal sites, refuse dumps, refuse trucks or borla tricycles and taxis, communal containers and household bins are classified as infected areas under Section 3 of the Public Health Act, 2012 ( Act 851), he said. Thus all operators or workers of waste management services in both private and public sectors must wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while performing their duties, Mr Lartey said. He indicated that it was incumbent on the MMDAs to support the Environmental Health and Sanitation Units to effectively enforce those requirements as stipulated in Section 54 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851). He said all vehicles that lifted communal refuse containers and household bins from the communities must be covered with tarpaulin before transporting to the final disposal or landfill site. Also, these vehicles must be disinfected after disposing of their suspected infectious wastes. In other words the buckets of tricycles, communal containers and the trucks must be disinfected before returning from the site back to town, he added. He said public health in Ghana would be greatly enhanced if steps were taken to increase the collaboration among key stakeholders as outlined in Section 173 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851). All these must be facilitated by Registered Environmental Health Officers also known as Public Health Enforcement Agents, he added. He appealed to government to consider disinfecting lorry stations or terminals more often, especially the concrete seats, as they are means of spreading the disease. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Last Updated: May 21, 2020 This is the privacy policy (Privacy Policy) that governs how Quillt, LLC, a Missouri limited liability company (Quillt, we, our or us), uses Personal Data (defined below) that we collect, receive and store about individuals in connection with the use of our website: https://www.suggest.com (together with its sub-domains, content and services, a Site). You may choose whether or not to provide or disclose Personal Data in connection with your use of our Site. If you choose not to provide the Personal Data we request, you may still visit and use parts of our Site, but may be unable to access or use certain features, options, programs, and services. Our Site may contain links to third-party websites and services that are not owned or controlled by Quillt. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of third party websites, services and advertisements, and you visit them at your own risk. 1. Introduction We are committed to respecting privacy and recognize the need for appropriate protection and management of any Personal Data that is shared with us as part of using our Site. As used in this Privacy Policy, Personal Data means any information that may be used, either alone or in combination with other information, to personally identify an individual. 2. Changes to this Privacy Policy. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change the terms of this Privacy Policy at any time. You can see when this Privacy Policy was last updated by reviewing the Last Updated legend on the top of this page. We may provide you with notice of material changes to the Privacy Policy as appropriate under the circumstances. UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED, ANY CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY WILL APPLY IMMEDIATELY UPON POSTING TO THE SITE. 3. Information Collected. We may receive and/or collect Personal Data in the following ways: 3.1. Personal Data You Provide To Us On Our Site. If you send us a Contact Us request or feedback, or in connection with creating a job profile on our Site, or when you download any of our content, you may be required to provide us with certain information that may constitute Personal Data, such as: Your name; Email address; Phone Number; Address; Profile photo; and Communications you send to us. 3.2. Personal Data You Provide To Third Parties On Our Site. Please note that we use certain third party service providers on our Site to enhance your experience or deliver certain services. These providers may collect Personal Data in performing their services and/or functions on our Site. For example, we use the following third party service providers for the services identified: Google Analytics to track user behavior and content consumption on the Site. To learn more about the privacy practices of Google Analytics, please review https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/product-privacy/ Facebook Business Tools, including pixels which use cookies, web beacons, and other storage technologies to collect or receive information from our websites and elsewhere on the internet, and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. To learn more about the privacy practices of Facebook, please review https://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation Second Street to deliver email newsletter solutions on the Site. To learn more about the privacy practices of Second Street, please review https://www.secondstreet.com/privacy-policy 3.3. Information Collected Automatically. Certain information on our Site is collected automatically by means of various software tools. We have a legitimate interest in using such information to assist in log-in, systems administration purposes, information security and abuse prevention, to track user trends, and to analyze the effectiveness of our Site. Alone or in combination with other information, such automatically collected information may constitute Personal Data. Some of our service providers (described in Section 5, below) may use cookies or other methods to gather information regarding your use of our Site. Such third parties may use these cookies or other tracking methods for their own purposes by relating information about your use of our Site with any of your Personal Data that they may have. The use of such information by a third party depends on the privacy policy of that third party. a) Log Files On Our Site. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider (ISP), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, clicked pages and any other information your browser may send to us. b) Cookies. We use cookies to make interactions with our Site easy and meaningful. When you visit our Site, our servers may send a cookie to your computer. Standing alone, cookies do not personally identify you; they merely recognize your web browser. Unless you choose to identify yourself to us, either by responding to a promotional offer, opening an account, or filling out a web form, you remain anonymous to us. We may use cookies that are session-based or persistent. Session cookies exist only during one session. They disappear from your computer when you close your browser software or turn off your computer. Persistent cookies remain on your computer after you close your browser or turn off your computer. Please note that if you disable your web browsers ability to accept cookies, you will be able to navigate our Site, but you may not be able to successfully use all of the features of our Site The following sets out how we may use different categories of cookies and your options for managing cookies settings: Type of Cookies Description Managing Settings Required cookies Required cookies enable you to navigate our Site and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of our Site and using our services.If you have chosen to identify yourself to us, we use cookies containing encrypted information to allow us to uniquely identify you. Each time you log into our Site, a cookie containing an encrypted, unique identifier that is tied to your account is placed on your browser. These cookies allow us to uniquely identify you when you are logged into our Site and to process your online transactions and requests. Because required cookies are essential to operate our Site, there is no option to opt out of these cookies. Performance cookies These cookies collect information about how you use our Site, including which pages you go to most often and if they receive error messages from certain pages. These cookies do not collect information that individually identifies you. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and anonymous. It is only used to improve how our Site functions and performs.From time-to-time, we may engage third parties to track and analyze usage and volume statistical information from individuals who visit our Site. We may also utilize Flash cookies for these purposes. To learn how to opt out of performance cookies using your browser settings click here.To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for Flash cookies click here. Functionality cookies Functionality cookies allow our Site to remember information you have entered or choices you make (such as your username, language, or your region) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies also enable you to optimize your use of our Site after logging in. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customize.We may use local shared objects, also known as Flash cookies, to store your preferences or display content based upon what you view on our Site to personalize your visit. To learn how to opt out of functionality cookies using your browser settings click here.To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for Flash cookies click here. Targeting or Advertising cookies From time-to-time, we may engage third parties to track and analyze usage and volume statistical information from individuals who visit our Site. We sometimes use cookies delivered by third parties to track the performance of our advertisements. For example, these cookies remember which browsers have visited our Site. The information provided to third parties does not include Personal Data, but this information may be re-associated with Personal Data after we receive it.By way of example, as you browse our Site, advertising cookies may be placed on your computer so that we can understand what you are interested in. Our advertising partners then enable us to present you with retargeted advertising on other sites based on your previous interaction with our Site.We also contract with third-party advertising networks and similar partners that collect IP addresses and other information from web beacons (see below) on our Site, from emails, and on third-party sites. Ad networks follow your online activities over time by collecting web Site Navigational Information through automated means, including through the use of cookies. They use this information to provide advertisements about products and services tailored to your interests. You may see these advertisements on other websites. This process also helps us manage and track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts.Third parties, with whom we partner to provide certain features on our Site or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity, use Flash cookies to collect and store information. Flash cookies are different from browser cookies because of the amount of, type of, and how data is stored. To learn more about these and other advertising networks and their opt out instructions, click here.To learn how to manage privacy and storage settings for Flash cookies click here. c) Other Tracking Technologies. When you visit our Site, we may collect your IP addresses to track and aggregate data. For example, we may use IP addresses to monitor the regions from which you navigate our Sites. We may also use web beacons alone or in conjunction with cookies to compile information about your usage of our Site and interaction with emails from us. Web beacons are clear electronic images that can recognize certain types of information on your computer, such as cookies, when you viewed a particular site tied to the web beacon. For example, we may place web beacons in marketing emails that notify us when you click on a link in the email that directs you to our Site. We may use web beacons to operate and improve our Site and email communications. Additionally, when you use our website, we share information that we collect from you, such as your email (in hashed form), IP address or information about your browser or operating system, with our identity partners/service providers, including LiveRamp Inc. LiveRamp returns an online identification code that we may store in our first-party cookie for our use in online, in-app, and cross-channel advertising and it may be shared with advertising companies to enable interest-based and targeted advertising. To opt out of this use, please click here (https://optout.liveramp.com/opt_out). d) Analytics and Ad-Tracking Tools. We use various industry standard analytics tools and services on our Site for tracking, such as Google Analytics. For more information on Google Analytics processing of Personal Data, please see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. We use advertising service providers to deliver interest-based advertising to you. Our service providers allow for certain opt-out choices, either directly through a browser plug-in or through collective services such as the Digital Advertising Alliance and the National Advertising Initiative. Our service providers have provided the following opt-out options: Visit Select Digital Advertising Alliance Amazon Ad System, AOL Advertising, AppNexus, Facebook, Google Inc, Index Exchange, Netseer, OpenX, Playwire Media, Rubicon Project, Sovrn, or Yieldmo National Advertising Initiative AOL Advertising, AppNexus, Google Inc, Index Exchange, Netseer, Playwire Media, Rubicon Project, or Yieldmo Google Install your browser plugin TripleLift Opt-out of tailored advertising from Triplelift 4. The Purposes For Which We Use Personal Data. If you submit or we collect Personal Data through our Site, then such Personal Data may be used in the following ways: (i) to provide, analyze, administer, and improve our Site and services, (ii) to contact you in connection with our Site and certain services, notifications, events, programs or offerings that you may have registered for, (iii) to send you updates and promotional materials that you have registered for, (iv) to identify and authenticate your access to the parts of our Site and services that you are authorized to access; (v) for recruiting and human resources administration purposes, and (vi) to protect our rights and/or our property and to ensure the technical functionality and security of our Site. 5. How We Disclose Personal Data. We do not sell, lease, rent or otherwise disclose the Personal Data collected from our Site to third parties unless otherwise stated below or with your consent. 5.1. Our Third Party Providers. We transfer Personal Data to our third party service providers to perform tasks on our behalf and to assist us in providing our Site. Such information may be transferred to other countries around the world. We use commercially reasonable efforts to only engage or interact with third party service providers and partners that post a privacy policy governing their processing of Personal Data. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will comply with applicable laws regarding Personal Data transfers as well as any transfer restriction that is specified in an agreement between Quillt and a customer. 5.2 Business Partners. From time to time, we may partner with other companies to jointly offer products or services. If you purchase or specifically express interest in a jointly-offered product or service from us, we may share Personal Data collected in connection with your purchase or expression of interest with our joint promotion partner(s). We do not control our business partners use of Personal Data we collect, and their use of the information will be in accordance with their own privacy policies. We do not share Personal Data with business partners unless you specifically opt in to such sharing via an event registration form. If you do not wish for your Personal Data to be shared in this manner, you may choose not to opt in via event registration forms. 5.3. In the Event of Merger, Sale, or Change of Control. We may transfer or assign this Privacy Policy and any Personal Data to a third party entity that acquires or is merged with as part of a merger, acquisition, sale, or other change of control. 5.4. Other Disclosures. We may disclose Personal Data about you if we have a good faith belief that disclosure of such information is helpful or reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request; (ii) enforce our terms of use, including investigations of potential violations thereof; (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud or security issues; or (iv) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Quillt, our users, or the public. 6. Retention of Personal Data. We reserve the right to retain any Personal Data as long as the Personal Data are needed to: (i) fulfill the purposes that are described in Section 4 (The Purposes For Which We Use Personal Data), and (ii) comply with applicable law. 7. Your Rights. 7.1 Personal Data. If you have a job seeker account on our Site, we provide access toand the ability to edit or deletecertain categories of Personal Data through the account. If you would like to access, amend, erase, export (i.e., data portability), or object to or restrict the processing of Personal Data collected via our Site, you may submit a request to [email protected] or write to us at: Quillt Media, LLC 190 Carondelet Plaza, Suite 1210 St. Louis, MO 63105 We will promptly review all such requests in accordance with applicable laws. Depending on where you live, you may have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority or other regulatory agency if you believe that we have violated any of the rights concerning Personal Data about you. We encourage you to first reach out to us at [email protected], so we have an opportunity to address your concerns directly before you do so. 7.2. Opting-Out of Promotional Emails. You may choose not to receive future promotional or advertising emails from us by selecting an unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email that you receive from us, or by responding to the emails directly and requesting removal if such a link is not available. Additionally, you may send a request specifying your communications preferences to [email protected]. Please note that even if you opt out of receiving the foregoing emails, we may still send you a response to any Contact Us request as well as administrative, maintenance and operational emails. 8. Data Security. The security of Personal Data is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the Personal Data submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. 9. Childrens Privacy. Our Site is not intended for children under the age of 13. Accordingly, we do not intend to collect Personal Data from anyone we know to be under 13 years of age. 10. How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals. At this time, Quillt is unable to universally respond to Do Not Track or other opt-out mechanisms that have been activated by a user through their web browser, and except as otherwise provided herein, does not alter its policies if a user activates such mechanism. 11. Your California Privacy Rights. If you are a California resident and have provided Personal Data to Quillt through the Site, you are entitled by law to request certain information regarding any disclosure that may have been made by Quillt to third parties of Personal Data for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, send an email to [email protected] specifying that you seek your California Customer Choice Privacy Notice. Please allow thirty (30) days for a response. Quillt is required to respond to only one request per customer each year, and is not required to respond to requests made by means other than through the above email address. We will not share Personal Data about you with third parties for their direct marketing purposes if you request that we do not do so. If you would like more information about not having your information used by third parties, or if you would like to make such an opt-out request, you may send us an email at [email protected]. For your additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), please see Special information for California consumers. You may also request to opt-out of an advertisers use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative or the Digital Advertising Alliance. You may request to opt-out of Googles use of cookies by visiting www.google.com/ads/preferences. All applicable terms on these websites will apply to your request to opt-out in addition to this Privacy Policy. When contacting us, please indicate your name, address, email address, and what Personal Data you do not want us to share with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Please note that there is no charge for controlling the sharing of Personal Data or for processing this request. 12. Contacting Us Any comments, concerns, complaints, or questions regarding our Privacy Policy may be addressed to [email protected]. Special Information for California consumers Last Revised: March 5, 2021 1. Introduction. If you are a California consumer, as such term is used in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you may have certain rights to make requests relating to your personal information. 2. Your Privacy Rights.Under California law, California consumers have the following rights with respect to their personal information: Privacy Right Description Notice You have the right to be notified of what categories of personal information will be collected at or before the point of collection and the purposes for which they will be used and shared. Access You have the right to request information on the categories of personal information that we collected in the previous twelve (12) months, the categories of sources from which the personal information was collected, the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, and the business purposes for which such personal information is collected and shared. You also have the right to request information on the categories of personal information which were disclosed for business purposes, and the categories of third parties in the twelve (12) months preceding your request for your personal information. Data Portability You have the right to receive the personal information you have previously provided to us. Erasure You have the right to request to have your personal information deleted from our servers and we will direct our service providers to do the same. However, please be aware that we may not fulfill your request for deletion if we (or our service provider(s)) are required to retain your personal information for one or more of the following categories of purposes: (1) to complete a transaction for which the personal information was collected, provide a good or service requested by you, or complete a contract between us and you; (2) to ensure our website integrity, security, and functionality; (3) to comply with applicable law or a legal obligation, or exercise rights under the law; (4) to otherwise use your personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information. Opt Out of a Sale You have a right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell information that you voluntarily provide us, such as your name, address, telephone number or email address or information that you provide to us in connection with a customer relationship. However, as mentioned above, we share online information such as your IP address, device and browser type with companies such as Google and Facebook to improve your experience on our website and better serve you with advertising and content such as articles. To opt out of this sale of personal information, please see Section 3.3(d), above. 3. How to Exercise Your Rights. If you would like to exercise your rights listed above, please send an email to [email protected] or send a request to Quillt, attn: CCPA notices, 190 Carondelet Plaza, Suite 1210, Clayton, MO 63105. If you choose to exercise either of these rights, we will use reasonable methods to verify your identity. Additionally, you may designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf.While we take measures to ensure that those responsible for receiving and responding to your request are informed of your rights and how to help you exercise those rights, when contacting us to exercise your rights, we ask you to please adhere to the following guidelines: Tell Us Which Right You Are Exercising: Specify which right you want to exercise and the personal information to which your request relates (if not to you). If you are acting on behalf of another consumer, please clearly indicate this fact and your authority to act on such consumers behalf. Help Us Verify Your Identity: Provide us with information to verify your identify. Please note that if we cannot initially verify your identity, we may request additional information to complete the verification process. Any personal information you disclose to us for purposes of verifying your identity will solely be used for the purpose of verification. Direct Our Response Delivery: Please provide us with an e-mail or mailing address through which we can provide our response. If you make the request by email, unless otherwise requested, we will assume that we can respond to the email address from which you made the request. You have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment by any business when you exercise of your California privacy rights. NASA will name its newest space telescope for pioneering astronomer Nancy Grace Roman - marking the first time in the agency's 62-year history that one of its major billion-dollar programs has been named for a woman. Roman, who overcame obstacles that women faced in her male-dominated field and at NASA to become the agency's first female executive and its first chief astronomer, is a "fitting" eponym for the project, astronomer Heidi Hammel said Wednesday. Her championing of space-based observatories gave her the nickname "Mother of Hubble." With the new telescope, NASA is "taking her child and making it even more powerful," Hammel said. "It's widening the Hubble vision." Until Wednesday morning, the Roman Space Telescope had been named WFIRST, for Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope. Still under development at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the telescope, identical in scale to the Hubble Space Telescope, will study dark matter, dark energy, distant planets and the evolution of the universe. Its launch target is the mid-2020s. In a statement released by the agency, former senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., a champion of the Hubble and the Roman, said the decision is fitting as the nation celebrates the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage: "It recognizes the incredible achievements of women in science and moves us even closer to no more hidden figures and no more hidden galaxies." Roman, who died in December 2018 at 93, joined NASA months after its founding. She had a doctorate in astronomy, earned nearly a decade earlier at the University of Chicago. Even after leaving the agency in 1979, she remained an advocate for the Hubble. "I was told from the beginning that women could not be scientists," she said in an interview late in life. Julie McEnery, deputy project scientist for the new telescope, said Roman was "somebody I really admired, and it makes me excited and proud to be associated with a mission that's named after her. This is something that I'm going to enjoy day after day after day as the mission continues." As NASA's first chief astronomer, Roman oversaw the creation of the agency's earliest orbiting observatories. "Looking through the atmosphere is like looking through a piece of old stained glass," she wrote in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. She knew an observatory in the sky would allow scientists to see objects farther and fainter than they ever had before. In the 1970s, Roman set up a steering group for what would become the Hubble telescope. She spent untold hours writing testimony for Congress and convincing budget offices of the project's importance. With its 7.9-foot mirror and $4.5 billion price, the Hubble was far bigger and more costly than any space telescope ever launched. Skeptics wondered whether such an instrument was possible - and even if it was, would it be worth the cost? "You simply had to be solid in your vision and persistent, and [Roman] had those qualities," Hammel said. The agency has struggled to escape the gravity well of a storied history dominated by white males. Dan Goldin, NASA administrator in the 1990s, famously lamented that its culture was "too stale, male and pale." The agency that put 12 white males on the moon had historically consigned women and racial minorities to second-tier roles. NASA's most ambitious effort today is a plan to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024. That program is named Artemis, after the Greek goddess who was the twin sister of Apollo. Last year, a telescope in Chile operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, and initially called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, was renamed for Vera Rubin. She also was a trailblazing astronomer, renowned for her research showing that galaxies were certain to contain dark matter that cannot be detected through direct observation. If space scientists have neglected women in the naming of spacecraft, they have at times been downright hostile to women seeking to join their ranks. When NASA was established in 1958, many astronomy programs did not admit women. Observatories had no women's restrooms. Rubin famously made her own lavatory at Palomar Observatory by pasting a paper cutout of a skirt to a bathroom door. Women were barred from research presentations and scholarly clubs. As recently as 2018, a sweeping report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that half of women in science had experienced harassment. The problem is especially bad for women of color; a 2017 survey of female space researchers found that 40% of nonwhite respondents had felt unsafe in their workplaces due to racism and sexism. In an essay for the journal Science, Roman wrote of the hurdles she faced during her early career: A high school guidance counselor scoffed at her request to take advanced algebra, asking, "What lady would want to take mathematics instead of Latin?" And the physics department chairman at Swarthmore College, where she earned her bachelor's degree, said he usually tried to talk women out of his program but conceded that she "might" make it. "But I am glad I ignored the many people who told me that I could not be an astronomer," Roman wrote. "I have had a wonderful career in a field that I love." A Chemist Warehouse shopper claims she saw a man writing names and numbers on baby formula tins before leaving the store with bulk amounts of the product. A video of a man was shared along with allegations of daigou stockpiling at the chemist at Castle Hill, on Sydney's north-west, on Tuesday night. She said it appeared as though he was taking orders. 'He was FaceTiming someone and it appears the person on the other end was giving him names and order numbers,' she wrote. An angry shopper claims she witnessed a man writing names and numbers on baby formula tins before leaving the chemist with bulk amounts of the product But when she confronted staff at the store she claims they advised her it wasn't an issue. Chemist Warehouse has a four-tin limit per variety of baby formula, The pharmacy giant stocks 18 different brands of the product online, meaning in theory a customer could walk out of the store with 72 tins of product without breaking purchase limits. Chemist Warehouse declined to comment. Chemist Warehouse has a four tin limit per variety of baby formula but stocks 18 different brands of the product online Earlier this week, the mastermind behind a baby formula crime syndicate operating in Sydney pleaded guilty to stockpiling milk powder and shipping it to China. Lie Ke, 50, bought tins of formula for between $16 to $25 depending on the brand that were stolen from supermarkets and chemists in Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle by shoplifting teams operating between November 2017 and August 2018. Detectives set up a series of cameras under mats in shopping trolleys to watch Ke conduct a range of illegal exchanges with thieves in public areas, including car parks and Bunnings stores. Ke, who moved to Carlingford in western Sydney from China in 2001, used her connection to sell the tins in China for more than $80 each. One thief said she made around $4,000 per week for selling 50 to 100 containers of stolen milk powder per day to the syndicate leader, The Daily Telegraph reported. Lie Ke (pictured left outside Burwood Local Court last year) pleaded guilty to stockpiling milk powder and shipping it to China The demand for baby powder in China surged after batches were contaminated in 2008, killing six babies. More than 54,000 babies were hospitalised. Sellers have been stripping Australian supermarket shelves of milk powder to sell to Chinese customers for years, after a health scare around Chinese product in 2008. Supermarkets and chemists were forced to bring in purchase limits to prevent customers stockpiling. (Photo : REUTERS/Yara Nardi) A luthier works on a part of a violin in his workshop as Italy eases some of the lockdown measures put in place during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Rome, Italy May 20, 2020. As nations around the world relax restrictions on coronavirus, people learn that "the new normal" is anything but that. Several truths have emerged: schools, workplaces, public transit, pubs, and restaurants are all on post-lockdown life's front lines. How each of those main sectors handles social distance and tamp down on anticipated new outbreaks will decide the everyday life shape for millions as researchers work to produce a vaccine. ALSO READ: COVID-19: Coronavirus Infected all Monkeys in Oxford Vaccine Trial Europe, United Kindom In Britain, the House of Commons leader said parliament members should come back to London to work in person on June 2 after weeks of remote work. Jacob Rees-Mogg said the decision recognizes "the need for business to continue." According to Associated Press (AP), authorities are likely to limit the number of people allowed into the small chamber, where lawmakers sit on long benches, shoulder to shoulder. In Italy, where good food is a vital part of life, once-packed restaurants and cafes face a substantial financial hit as they reopen with stringent social distancing rules. This year's losses are projected to pile up to 30 billion ($32 billion), AP reported. "We have to turn upside down all the activity that we did before," lamented chef Raffaele di Cristo, who now must wear a mask and latex gloves as he prepares food at the popular Corsi Trattoria in Rome. "Everything is changed. Slowly, slowly, we will try to understand and to adapt to this coronavirus." Corsi reopened with half its tables removed for business Monday to ensure the mandated 1-meter (3-foot) spacing between the tables. Hand sanitizing gel was placed at the entrance, and a new ordering system was introduced so that customers could read the menu on their phones. Some shops in Italy have lamented a shortage of gloves driving customers away. On Wednesday, May 20, Veneto Gov. Luca Zaia said he would amend the rules on wearing gloves in clothing stores and shoe shops and then remove the sanitizing gel. On the same day, Slovakia reopened theaters, cinemas, and shopping centers, but with new tourist numbers limits, even though COVID-19 had just 28 deaths. Cambridge has become Britain's first university to implement virtually and streamed online classes until the summer of 2021. Other institutions took on various tacks. France limits its primary school spaces and gives priority to the children of essential workers and those in need. Some younger students even go on alternating days, while secondary schools remain closed. As beaches reopened in Barcelona, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez asked lawmakers to support a plan to extend the state of emergency of the nation by another two weeks to June 7. The main opposition in Spain, the conservative Popular Party, dismissed the move. Asia, other parts of the world In South Korea, hundreds of thousands of high school seniors had their temperatures checked and used hand sanitizers. Wearing masks were required for students and teachers, and plastic partitions were installed around desks at some schools. Aircraft engine supplier Rolls-Royce revealed plans Wednesday to slash 9,000 jobs as it deals with the air travel crash. Those jobs generally come with good salaries and benefits, and losing them is a sharp blow to local communities. Some companies are quick to adapt to new realities. Safari operators in Kenya have resorted to sharing live broadcasts on social media in the hope that attention to the endangered species and other species will not fade. ALSO READ: COVID-19: Afghan Girls Create Ventilators With Car Part for Coronavirus Response Many governments are in fierce disagreement over what the new normal should be, including those in scores of US states. While infection rates in Asia and much of Europe have been falling, the pandemic in Latin America is still spiking. Brazil became the third worst-hit nation in the world this week, with more than 250,000 confirmed cases despite minimal monitoring. In Lima, Peru's capital city, patients with coronavirus fill up intensive care beds. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the pandemic in Africa, where the virus has entered every region, might drive millions into extreme poverty. Guterres said that for the struggling nations, Africa needs more than $200 billion and an "across-the-board debt standstill." 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Even before the latest slew of announcements regarding the agreement by Saudi Arabias flagship oil and gas company, Aramco, to acquire a 70 percent stake in the Kingdoms key petrochemicals company, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), for US$69.1 billion, from the countrys sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the deal looked like a meaningless accounting trick that transfers money from one side of the Saudi balance sheet to another. It looked like that because that is what it is but it is much worse than that as well. Over and above the rhetorical nonsense spouted by the various involved participants about value-enhancing synergies between the two entities floats the stark fact that there are none at all. Aramco chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, has often stressed that he wants to position the company less as a straightforward crude oil extraction unit and more as a high-value-added developer of advanced petrochemical products. However, Aramco buying a majority stake in SABIC, given Aramcos existing downstream infrastructure, will lead to enormous duplication of resources people, offices, equipment, research and development, marketing, and capital employed, amongst others. In addition, overlaying SABICs existing senior and middle management with those of Aramco, an antiquated state-owned bureaucracy, will significantly adversely affect SABICs operating efficiency and margins. For those who think otherwise, Aramco has history in this regard that makes grim reading. Its own former petchems and refining arm, the Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh), was floated via an initial public offering (IPO) in 2008. Although much of its very long prospectus was pitched with the singular intention of showing PetroRabigh as a top-notch operation manned by the best and the brightest, a very different that is to say, true picture emerged from the even longer appendices that were legally obliged to be present in the IPO document. Related: Is Russia Finally Complying With OPEC+ Cuts? There were warnings to would-be investors that PetroRabigh had significant long-term borrowings, with much more to come to finance future expansion plans. Subsequent to its IPO listing, there were fires and power failures at its principal plant and the debt continued to soar. The share price for those unfortunate enough to have believed what the Saudis told them dropped like a stone, losing around 80 per cent of the funds invested in the stock in the first year or so and it remained a losing trade for the next 10 years. Given that Aramcos senior management can clearly not be trusted to run a hot bath, let alone a petchems giant of SABICs size and complexity, the question is begged as to what the point of the deal might be. It is certainly not to accrue much-needed funds to bolster Saudis troubled budget. What you see here is state-owned Aramco buying a stake in the effectively state-owned SABIC from the state-owned sovereign wealth fund, the PIF, a senior New York hedge fund manager, told OilPrice.com. Rather than new foreign money flowing into Saudi as payment for the full five percent share of Aramco that was meant to go public but which they couldnt get away because the whole IPO looked so poisonous which was to have been used to fund MbSs [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] grandiose Vision 2030 plan [designed to diversify the Kingdom away from its dependence on oil] - its actually Saudi money already in its sovereign balance sheet thats being used, he added. Even if Aramco had offered to buy the 30 percent plus non-PIF portion of SABIC that is listed on Saudis Tadawul All Share Index, it could be argued that at least Saudi Arabia was gaining some new money into its sovereign coffers but this is not the case. Moreover, the deal is set to be value-destructive for SABICs own balance sheets, as Aramcos earlier-stated intention was to issue bonds backed by SABICs balance sheet and attached to the SABIC name that, in effect, would make SABIC pay for Aramcos purchase of it, in a leveraged buyout-style deal. The actual point of the deal, therefore, a number of bankers with knowledge of proceedings told OilPrice.com, is to allow MbS to save some face. Before MbS embarked on the Saudis second disastrous oil price war against the U.S. shale sector in less than a decade, the Aramco-SABIC deal was to have provided money for the PIF to embark on various hare-brained projects connected to his Vision 2030, including building a futuristic city in a remote corner of the Saudi desert. It was also to have been used to add extra value to the increasingly shunned Aramco IPO flotation until someone senior in the U.S. investment banking side of the IPO advisory team realized that the deal would make the already toxic-looking Aramco look even worse. Now, though, MbS is caught between a rock and a hard place with this deal. On the one hand, the deal was formally announced with the great fanfare so popular amongst tin-pot tyrants, so it needs to go ahead, otherwise MbS will lose face. As it stands, in March Saudi Arabias central bank depleted its net foreign assets at the fastest rate since at least 2000, bringing the sustainability of the crucial SAR-US$ economic peg into question. At the same time, the Kingdom slipped into a US$9 billion+ budget deficit in the first quarter and a number of independent analysts are predicting that its overall gross domestic product could shrink by more than 3 percent this year (the first outright contraction since 2017 and the biggest since 1999), whilst the budget deficit could widen to 15 percent of economic output. Related: OPEC+ Deal Could Collapse As Oil Prices Shoot Up On the other hand, though, it makes even less sense now than it did before, which was none at all, as no new non-state funding that is not already on Saudis balance sheet is going to result from the deal. Consequently, MbS is now operating in an Alice in Wonderland world of unreality, which can be perfectly characterised by Alice herself: If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldnt be. And what it wouldnt be, it would. You see? Given that everyone connected to the deal is now operating on a level of pure fantasy, the focus of a deal that was never really a deal is on the pricing of the deal (for which there is no real price, as the deal is not real). The details are that Aramco supposedly wants to pay less for SABIC than had been agreed. The stated reason is that SABICs value has fallen more than 40 percent, and the reason cited for the fall is the effect of the coronavirus pandemic. Saudi officials peddling this nonsense do not state that this is only half true and that the full reason why the value of SABIC has plummeted is because MbS decided to launch an oil price war designed to crash oil prices at a time when the coronavirus would in itself be sufficient to destroy demand and cause oil prices to crash. In any event, SABICs shares have traded at around SAR70, compared to the SAR123.39 priced by the original agreement, and the company made a second straight quarterly loss in the first quarter. This has all brought SABICs total market value now to around US$56.5 billion, putting the value of Aramcos planned stake at around US$40 billion, not the US$69.1 billion originally agreed. In sum, Aramco wants to pay less for it but as it is only paying for the stake owned by one arm of the Saudi government to another, the deal might as well be priced in sparrows, clouds, or angels on the head of a pin. The real message that emerges from this is that MbS needs to continue to pretend to his people - but, more importantly, to the senior Saudis who could remove him at a time when the issue of succession to the ailing King Salman is front and center - that money is coming into Saudi from somewhere. The fact that it is an accounting trick only will be lost on most of the Saudi people and MbS may be able to convince some of the senior Saudis who are closest to him that in some way the money flowing into the PIF can be represented to the more hostile senior Saudis as external funding that can be repurposed for use within the Vision 2030 framework. It is crucial that MbS buys himself some time, as many senior Saudis resent his quick rise to power and this worsened with the supposed anti-corruption clampdown in late 2017 and then the same thing happening with senior Saudis in March, when he targeted two of the royal familys most influential members, Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz [the youngest brother of King Salman], and Mohammed bin Nayef [the former Crown Prince and interior minister], a senior source close to the Saudi government told OilPrice.com last week. To many of these highly-placed disaffected Saudis he [MbS] is on borrowed time, and they are waiting to see how far the Americans will go in withdrawing their support for him, personally, after the phone-call and the withdrawal of the Patriot missile batteries, he concluded. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Cambodia on Wednesday lifted its travel ban on six countries, including the United States, nearly two months after the government first imposed restrictions on incoming travel due to concerns of the spread of COVID-19. The six countries listed in the ministrys statement released on May 20, 2020, are the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Iran. These countries were part of a travel ban issued in late March, even though at the time nearly all countries were reporting cases. The government announced this weekend that all 122 patients with COVID-19 had recovered and that there were no new cases for more than 30 days. All passengers, both Cambodian and foreign, travelling to Cambodia are required to have a Covid-19 free health certificate issued by health authorities recognized by their respective countries within 72 hours, the statement reads. Foreigners are also required to have health insurance, with at least $50,000 in coverage. This requirement excluded embassy officials and international organization staffers who hold type A and type B visas. On arrival, the statement added, all passengers will be transferred to a waiting center for COVID-19 testing and if they are cleared they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. The government never clarified if all citizens from these countries were prevented from entering Cambodia, irrespective their country of departure. [May 20, 2020] North Texas Food Bank to Distribute Food to Help Feed Hungry North Texans During COVID-19 Unilever: What: In partnership with Unilever's United for America initiative, The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB), will be distributing kitted food boxes through a low-touch distribution model on May 21, 2020. Distribution will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. To receive food, visitors must be in a vehicle. No proof of identification is necessary. When and Where: May 21, 2020, 10am - 12pm Dollar General (Navarro County) 2401 N. Beaton St. Corsicana, Texas 75110 May 21, 2020 10am - 12pm Dollar General (Grayson County) 220 Sunset Blvd. STE AB Sherman, Texas 75092 May 21, 2020 9am - 12pm Dollar General (Dallas county) 728 W Wheatland RD Duncanville, TX 75116-4521 NTFB staff will determine if the distribution needs to extend past end time. Learn more about United for America here: weareunitedforamerica.com. ABOUT NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit hunger-relief organization operating a state-of-the-art volunteer and distribution center in Plano - the Perot Family Campus. Last year, the Food Bank worked hard in partnership with member agencies from our Feeding Network to provide access to almost 77 million nutritious meals across a diverse 13-county service area - this means more than 200,000 meals per day for hungry children, seniors and families. But the need for hunger relief in North Texas is complex and in order to meet the need the NTFB is working to increase our food distribution efforts. Our goal is to provide access to 92 million nutritious meals annually by 2025. NTFB is a member of Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005917/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] I was looking for articles showing that those who predicted deadly failure due to Governor Brian Kemp's decision to open Georgia were wrong. I found such an article at Business Insider, a widely read online news outlet. Diving into the article, though, revealed that it wasnt reporting the news at all. Instead, it provided a perfect example of how the media shape and distort the news in service to a Democrat narrative. When Governor Kemp announced three weeks ago that he would start opening up Georgia, the media had a field day. After all, this was the governor who stole the election from Stacey Abrams, a woman distinguished only by being the worst loser in American gubernatorial history. (Hillary Clinton still holds the record for being the worst loser ever.) These were probably the two most memorable headlines for they reflected the Left's believe that Republican policies are stupid and the hope that Republican voters might die off: I needed a cite to the fact that these nasty predictions had proven wrong. I thought Id found the article I needed at Business Insider. The partial headline that showed up on my search said, Live updates: Georgia hasnt seen a massive spike in coronavirus cases since reopening. When I went to the article, though, I read the headline in full. After the word reopening, it added, but its too soon to declare reopening works. If Michelle Mark, the reporter wanted to be factual, her article would have consisted of one sentence: Georgia's Department of Public Health has published data showing what appears to be a significant decline in new cases and deaths. Instead, the entire, very long article is a series of hypotheticals about how maybe, possibly, even probably, people will still get sick in Georgia. Thus, the above-quoted language is sheltered within two paragraphs that continue to yearn for Georgians to die (emphasis mine): Roughly three weeks after Georgia began reopening businesses and lifted its shelter-in-place order, the status of the state's coronavirus outbreak remains unclear amid a roiling debate over how to interpret recent COVID-19 data, and allegations that state officials have been misrepresenting the number of new cases. Though Georgia's Department of Public Health has published datashowing what appears to be a significant decline in new cases and deaths, experts have emphasized that the data is both preliminary and incomplete, and suggested that the outbreak appears to be in a plateau not a decline. The article continues in that vein, continuously burying the facts that support Governor Kemps policies in a mountain of hypotheticals that don't (including theories about out-of-state visitors). I was curious which experts shared the benefit of their expertise that the data is both preliminary and incomplete. Following the link led me to another Business Insider article, this one entitled A cuckoo graph with no sense of time or place shows how Georgia bungled coronavirus data as it reopens. This headline is a lie because theres no proof of bungling, let alone that a graph has any tie-in with this hypothetical bungling. Instead, it turns out that the Georgia Department of Public Health, on its website, published a graph of the top 5 counties with the greatest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. In the words of Governor Kemps communication director, the health department set up the graph's x-axis to show descending values to more easily demonstrate peak values and counties on those dates. That is, there was no bungling. There was a deliberate decision to shape the graph to make a specific point. A reporter didnt like that logic. He thought that the x-axis should be arranged by date. He reported, as well, that when he asked the health department to make that change, it did. This graph, which didnt confuse anyone working for the government, but did confuse reporters and Democrat politicians, is the basis for the claim that data is preliminary and incomplete, a narrative the Mark article repeats at length. And whos the expert? An epidemiologist? A physician? A researcher? No. As best as I can tell, the expert is the reporter who first pointed out that the graph would be better with a different x-axis. What Business Insider is doing isnt reporting. Its not concerned with facts. It is, instead, deeply concerned with crafting a narrative that makes people frightened of the Republican governors more freedom-oriented policies. The irony, of course, is that it is the Democrat governors, with their decisions to lock up healthy, young people, and expose older, sicker people to the Wuhan virus, who have blood on their hands. Mainstream media consumers, though, will have a hard time learning those particular facts. At least 12 people have been injured after a car slammed into a shop in Sydneys southwest. Several ambulances responded to the scene on Boronia Road in Greenacre about 3.10pm on Thursday, with chaotic footage capturing a vehicle revving its engine near a shopping centre. NSW Police told Yahoo News Australia multiple people were injured, however none were believed to be life threatening. Paramedics shown tending to a victim in a stretcher. Source: Nine News Police said a Subaru SUV crashed into a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights before continuing into a nearby shop. Images shared to social media showed glass shattered and a vehicle inside a shop named Hijab House. In a video shared to Twitter a dark coloured SUV and a white car are seen revving their engines at the traffic lights before the dark car takes off and ploughs into the shop. More videos of the crash unfolding were shared to Facebook, including one showing bystanders seemingly trying to lift the crashed car up. There are a dozen patients, believed to be mostly women aged between 18 and 30, a NSW Ambulance spokesman told AAP. The male driver and 11 pedestrians have been injured and are being treated at the scene, with some of the women sustaining leg injuries. Officers from Bankstown Police Area Command responded to the incident and are conducting inquiries. More to come. The front window of this retailer was smashed by the vehicle. Source: Twitter/football_roos Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. At least 12 people have been injured after a car crashed into a Muslim clothing shop in Sydney on Thursday afternoon. Local emergency services said 11 pedestrians and the male driver had been treated at the scene of Hijab House in Greenacre, on the corner of Waterloo and Boronia roads. The incident took place shortly before 3.15pm. Footage circulating online shows an SUV at a set of traffic lights appearing to ram into the back of a car, before accelerating across an intersection into the store. New South Wales Police said in a statement: A Mitsubishi SUV crashed into a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights before continuing into a nearby shop. The male driver and 11 pedestrians have been injured. They are currently being treated at the scene; however, their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty There was no initial indication the crash was terror-related, police added, while NSW ambulance service said those injured in the store were mostly women, aged between 18 and 30. Fire and Rescue NSW said its force had responded to the incident and reported that a person had been trapped inside the car. NSW deputy commissioner Peter Thurtell said a 51-year-old man had been arrested at the scene and taken to hospital. No charges have yet been made. Officers from Bankstown Police Area Command have begun conducting inquiries into the incident, NSW Police said. A number of victims were carried out of the store on a stretcher before being treated by teams of paramedics on the street. I saw a lot of smoke and heard a beeping horn, John Makhlouf, who owns a nearby petrol station, told ABC News. One car got pushed out of the way and the other car went straight into the shop and crashed and you could hear the horn constantly beeping. Its very lucky there was no one standing on the corner or crossing at the lights because they would have been hit. Drivers were advised to avoid the area in the wake of the crash - though the rescue operation has since come to an end. New York, May 21 : NASA's head of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, has stepped down from his position at the agency this week ahead of the upcoming SpaceX crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 27. In an email sent to colleagues, Loverro cited a "mistake" that happened earlier this year, although no official reason for the resignation was provided, the BBC reported on Wednesday. In an interview with news website Axios, Loverro said his sudden departure from the agency had nothing to do with the upcoming SpaceX mission. "I have 100 per cent faith in the success of that mission," Loverro told Axios. In the absence of Loverro, NASA's deputy associate administrator for human spaceflight Ken Bowersox will take over as acting chief, said the report. It has been less than a year since Loverro became NASA's head of human spaceflight programmes. NASA named Loverro as the agency's new associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in October last year. "I worked with Doug for many years on the Hill, and he is a respected strategic leader in both civilian and defense programs, overseeing the development and implementation of highly complicated systems," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Loverro's appointment. Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on Wednesday arrived at the launch and landing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center ahead of SpaceX's Demo-2 mission. NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. The flight test will serve as an end-to-end demonstration of SpaceX's crew transportation system. One doctor who treats coronavirus patients said shes developed an irrational fear of eating during her hospital shift. An emergency department physician described feeling isolated, despite being surrounded by people. An infectious disease specialist talked about going to bed each night exhausted, only to toss and turn for hours. As the pandemic wears on, even physicians who might once have strived to appear stoic are finding that talking about their experiences is essential. Three Philadelphia doctors opened up about feeling anxious, sad, inadequate and how they cope. Heres some of what they shared: William Pace An infectious disease doctor who practices at several area hospitals, Pace lives with his wife, Jana, and three children in Fishtown. The patient he cant forget: She was in her 50s. She was pretty sick. Her oxygen levels were very low and she needed to be intubated, but she was wide awake talking, and she wanted to call her grown sons. She wanted to call them before she went on a breathing machine, basically, in case she didnt get off. She pulled out her cell phone and her battery was dead. She didnt have a charger and she didnt know their phone numbers because they were stored in her phone, and just the look on her face when she realized that she could die without ever talking to her sons again. It was tough to watch. That was hard. READ MORE: Help for the helpers: Health-care workers feel more stress and anxiety than ever as coronavirus restrictions lift On crying in his car: You try to pick your moments and not do it when too many people are watching you. I usually cry in my car either going to work or coming home. I try not to do it, you know, at home or at work when Im in front of a bunch of nurses who Im supposedly trying to hold together. So everybody kind of picks their spots. Its very emotional. Its very anxiety-provoking. Nothing makes sense. Its all unknown. On protecting his kids: I dont touch them. I dont really eat with them. I dont do bedtime with them. I dont bathe them. Graham [his son] fell in the yard and I scooped him up and I was hugging him to calm him down. When I realized what I was doing, I was like, Oh, my God. Humans really do respond to physical touch, especially in emotional times, and none of us can do that now. What his wife tried to hide: I have my own chair in the living room. Nobody else can touch it, and its leather, so Jana can wipe it down with disinfectant wipes when I get up, which she tried to hide from me. I didnt realize she was doing that initially. What he does when he should be sleeping: I toss and turn until midnight, or later. Its hard to sleep. I spend a lot of time staring at my phone, looking up articles, trying to do some research, looking back in the computer at different patients, at lab results to see how they are doing. Ill have a specific question on my mind and Ill grab my phone and Ill start looking it up and Ill just go down a rabbit hole, and the next thing I know, its 5:30 a.m. Its tough not having answers. The worst part of the job: The hardest thing is watching people die. Or even, not even die, watching people end up on a breathing machine without their family being there with them. Its just really ... it just makes you question the entire ... I dont know. Driveway therapy: I get a lot of calls from colleagues and texts from them after hours, when theyre sitting in their driveway before they go in the house, afraid to touch their kids and stuff like that. I kind of talk them through it and let them tell me what their fears are. You cant work if youre scared, especially in health care, so I try to keep people calm but informed. Its a tough line to walk, and Ive never really had to do it necessarily to this extent. Megan Stobart-Gallagher An emergency-medicine physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Stobart-Gallagher lives with her husband, an architect, and their two daughters, 7 and 4, in Mount Airy. Shes no hero: I told my husband this earlier, Im tired of being called a hero. I dont feel like Im doing anything outside of what I normally do, and I actually, you know, I kind of feel like Im a failure right now because I cant be the kind of doctor I want to be. On wearing all that protective gear: Its very isolating for the physicians and nurses and staff. We pride ourselves on being able to be there in someones time of need, to be a listening ear or the human touch of a hand on their shoulder, and we cant really do that anymore. When youre wearing a gown and a mask and a hood thats kind of blowing air and you can barely hear, I feel like Im shouting at the patients, asking them personal questions. It just makes me feel like Im dehumanizing their experience. READ MORE: When isolation is worse than death: a Philly oncologist on cancer patients and COVID-19 Breaking the ice: One of the things I like to do is kind of joke with patients about, you know, Sorry were meeting under these circumstances. What would be a more fun place that we could hang out and have this conversation? A patient recently joked about going to a bachelorette party with me and I just laughed so hard because it was the most unexpected thing that I could have heard from someone in that situation. When I asked her about it, she said she just had never had the opportunity to have one when she was younger. Her pandemic playlist: My go-to song after a difficult shift is by Norah Jones. The song is called Humble Me. ... The lyrics talk about how God humbles you, but you dont have to be religious to remember, at your roots, who you are and what is important. You can come off the height of saving a trauma patient to misdiagnosing the next patient. The lyrics in the song just bring me back to who I need to be every day to make a difference. On making her little girl cry: I came home at dinnertime and they were so happy to see me and my 4-year-old broke the rule of, No touching mommy before she showers, and it just broke my heart to be like, Oh no, no, no, please dont dont hug me, and she started crying. It was really heartbreaking. Mothers Day 2020: Mothers Day hit me really hard this year. My mom is 74 and she has bad lungs. I took my two girls over to her house and we stood in the yard and waved to her and she had lunch inside and we had lunch outside. That was what we had to do because Im her biggest risk to becoming ill. I had this realization this is how its going to be for a really long time. Im not going to be able to hug my mom. Monica Busuioc A specialist in the care of hospitalized patients, Busuioc works at Temple University Hospital. She lives with her husband, a microbiologist and medical writer, and their 8-year-old daughter, Sofia, in Fort Washington. The toughest part: The insecurity. The fact that we are dealing with something that we dont know how to treat. Its this feeling of although you are doing everything you can, its not really enough. That makes me very unhappy. The survivor who is changed forever: An elderly gentleman was found in his house, hugging the body of his wife who had passed away. They both had coronavirus. She was gone. He was hugging his wifes corpse. His daughter found him. He was admitted to Temple. He was in shock. He was teaching classes at Temple University, and then, when I was talking to him, he could barely say a few things. I think he felt like he lost his place in the world, and now its just him. Hes gotten over the disease. Hes not sick in terms of his lungs. His life changed. Helping a family say goodbye over a video call: I was holding the phone [up to his face so his family could see him]. I was looking around and I saw his glasses on the edge of the window and I just felt so sad. He wasnt awake, but he was shaking a lot. Not like a seizure, more like muscle twitching, and then, as his family started to pray, those twitchings became worse and he was sweating a lot. Thats when I started rubbing his shoulder and squeezing his hand, and I felt like that helped a little bit. He calmed down a bit. We were [FaceTiming] for 30 or 40 minutes. At the end of the call, I told the family, Dont worry, well do it again tomorrow. Ill call you. Youll see him again tomorrow, But by the next day, he had passed. I had to call the family. It was hard because you know when something happens and you dont really process things? His family was like, So he died? How? Why? ... It was very hard for them to conceptualize, to accept this, because it all happened away from them. The TV thriller that helps her unwind: I saw [Homeland] once and now I started watching it again. I can fast-forward through things I remember and rewatch the parts I like. You watch things that you already know so you dont have to worry about focusing too much. I dont watch anything new. I dont want surprises. I have enough surprises at work. Her freak-out mom moment: I just gave Sofia a bath and I noticed the skin on her hands was peeling, and then I remembered, Oh, my God, a few days ago, one of her eyes appeared pink. What if she actually has Kawasaki [a rare disease with symptoms similar to those in some children with COVID-19]? So I texted my pediatrician really quick. I sent her a picture of her hands, and she said, Lets just watch it. She had no other signs. No joint swelling. No fever. She was very happy running around. Her pediatrician saw her the next day and she was like, 'No, this is not Kawasaki. I sort of went into panic mode. Her mental block: I cannot eat in the hospital anymore. I cannot. I can drink water, coffee, or tea, but I cannot make myself eat. Its like a mental block. We have food delivered to the hospital every day, which is amazing. But I cant eat it. I dont even have a logical explanation for it. ... I feel like, this is the place where we do not eat and we always wear a mask and we try to stay clean and protect ourselves. What gets her through: It helps to focus on the good things. A lot of infected people have recovered. ... Ive seen a 92-year-old lady that did amazing. She went home. I was so happy for her. She was very sharp, very witty, and by the end of it, she was like, Can I get out of here? This is horrible. I have no window. The bed is uncomfortable. This is no good for me. And she was right. We cannot wait longer now: SC to hear Vijay Mallyas contempt case in January for final disposal India in touch with the UK over extradition of Vijay Mallya: MEA India pti-PTI New Delhi, May 21: India is in touch with the British government over extradition of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya after he exhausted legal options against New Delhi's request to the UK to extradite him. "The government of India is in touch with the UK regarding the next steps in his extradition process," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday. He was replying to a question on Mallya's extradition to India during an online media briefing. China hindering India's normal patrol across the Line of Actual Control: MEA Last week, Mallya lost his appeals in the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges. The UK top court's decision marked a major setback to the 64-year-old businessman as it came weeks after he lost his High Court appeal in April against an extradition order to India. Mallya has been based in the UK since March 2016 and remains on bail on an extradition warrant executed three years ago by Scotland Yard on April 18, 2017. PM Modi announces Rs 1000 crore immediate relief for cyclone-hit West Bengal | Oneindia News The High Court verdict in April upheld the 2018 ruling by Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at the end of a year-long extradition trial in December 2018 that the former Kingfisher Airlines boss had a "case to answer" in the Indian courts. Replying to another question on China's growing assertiveness in South China Sea, Srivastava said India has an abiding interest in peace and stability in the area. He said there must be freedom of navigation and overflight in South China Sea and differences, if any, should be resolved through dialogue without resorting to use of force. Suman Kumar, the CBI officer who brought Vijay Mallya down China's aggressive military posturing in South China Sea is seen by many security experts as an attempt to leverage the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to push its agenda in the region. Following China's rising military presence, the US has sent additional deployment to the South China Sea, a strategically key trade route linking Southeast Asia. The Education Ministry has deleted sections of the Pre-Tertiary Education Bill. The deleted sections have to do with the decentralization of the education service. A statement from the Ghana Education Service said the decision was taken after a meeting with the various unions within the education sector. The letter signed by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, and sighted by Citi News stated that: After a meeting with representatives of the unions in Education on Wednesday 20th May 2020, I am directed by the Hon. Minister of Education to inform you that the Ministry upon reflection has decided to delete the sections which deal with decentralization of the Education Service namely; sections 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the proposed Pre-Tertiary Bill. GES in the statement explained that the deletion of portions of the Bill is to ensure that other very important aspects of the Bill can then be proceeded with at Parliament to ensure the final passage of the Bill into law. About Pre-Tertiary Education Bill The Bill, when passed, will among other things see basic schools, Senior High Schools and TVET institutions being managed by District Assemblies, Regional Education Directorates and a Director-General, independent of the Ghana Education Service. Criticisms The coalition of unions under the Ghana Education Service (GES) had insisted it will continue to resist the new Pre-Tertiary Bill because of the lack of consultation and other reasons. According to the teachers, the Bill only seeks to give more appointing powers to the political class to the detriment of quality education and the welfare of teachers. In almost every region in the country, the teacher unions vowed to reject the Bill which they fear will see basic schools, Senior High Schools and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) being managed by the District Assemblies, Regional Education Directorate and a Director-General independent of the Ghana Education Service. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Teachers & Educational Workers' Union (TEWU), Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-Ghana) and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) are the unions which kicked against the passage of the Bill currently before Parliament. ---citinewsroom Hindustan Zinc skid 0.88% to Rs 169.05 after net profit dropped 33.44% to Rs 1,339 crore on 19.74% fall in revenue from operations to Rs 4,321 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The revenue from operations were down primarily due to an average 19% decline in LME prices, lower lead & silver volume and lower zinc premium, partly offset by higher silver prices and rupee depreciation. Profit before tax (PBT) slipped 31.53% to Rs 1,865 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against Rs 2,724 crore in Q4 March 2019. Current tax expenses fell 46.65% to Rs 311 crore in Q4 March 2020 as compared to Rs 583 crore paid in Q4 March 2019. EBITDA slumped 30% to Rs 1,961 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019 on account of lower revenue partly offset by lower operating costs. Mined metal production for the quarter was up 2% y-o-y (year-on-year) to 249kt despite operations shutdown from 22 March onwards in compliance with lockdown to combat Covid-19. Mined metal was higher y-o-y on account of higher ore production and better overall grade. Sequentially, mined metal production was up 6% on account of continued improvement in ore grades across mines. For the full year, mined metal production was 917kt, down 2% y-o-y primarily on account of fewer days to production due to lockdown related to Covid-19 and low grades at Sindesar Khurd during H1 & Kayad mines. With regards to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the company's operations were halted from 22 March 2020 and most employees were encouraged to work from home barring some employees who attended the call for duty to keep production assets safe including critical care and maintenance. To ensure business continuity, Hindustan Zinc has also set up a committee to COVID-19 response called 'War Room' which aims to identify and implement critical business decisions to restart mines and plants in a safe manner and ramp-up while ensuring restoration of supply-chain. The operations gradually resumed from 8 April 2020 and all the mines and smelters were operational in a couple of weeks. In the month of April 2020, Hindustan Zinc ramped up its mines and smelters to 40% and 80% of capacity respectively. In its outlook, the company stated that owing to uncertainty around the ongoing lockdowns and business disruption risk, it is are deferring guidance for FY 2021 to end of Q1. Hindustan Zinc's current focus remains around sustaining normal level of productions, active management of costs and capital conservation. Speaking on the Q4 performance, Sunil Duggal, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Hindustan Zinc, has said that: "Industrial activity across the globe is undergoing a level of disruption unforseen since the second world-war. In these challenging times, our focus is business continuity and safety of our people & operations and supporting our communities affected by the pandemic. We have ramped up our operations back to normal levels and are confident of delivering good performance in FY 2021." Swayam Saurabh, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Hindustan Zinc, has stated that: "We are accelerating our sustainable cost reduction programs and finding new opportunities to control costs & conserve capital in a rapidly evolving ecosystems. We are confident to emerge stronger from the current economic crisis and generate superior returns for our shareholders." Hindustan Zinc is engaged in the mining and smelting of zinc, lead and silver metal in India. The firm's segments include mining and smelting of zinc, lead and silver, and wind energy. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ex-penitentiary employee ordered to 5-year jail for taking bribes from inmate flickr.com/ Marco Verch 15:15 21/05/2020 MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) A court in the Tula Region has sentenced a former penitentiary officer to 5 years in jail for receiving bribes from an inmate, the press service of the Russian Prosecutor Generals Office reports. The court took the side of a prosecutor, who had demanded a 5-year prison term for the man, and also banned him from holding state command functions posts for 4 years, the statement reads. The former penitentiary employee has been found guilty of abuse of power and receiving bribes not exceeding 10,000 rubles ($140). According to the court ruling, between July and November 2019, the defendant bought sim-cards and mobile phones for one of the prisoners and received money reward from him. By Associated Press WASHINGTON: The Trump administration notified international partners on Thursday that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other's territory overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict. The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from US or commercial satellites. Exiting the treaty, however, is expected to strain relations with Moscow and upset European allies and some members of Congress. President Dwight Eisenhower first proposed that the United States and the former Soviet Union allow aerial reconnaissance flights over each other's territory in July 1955. At first, Moscow rejected the idea, but President George H.W.Bush revived it in May 1989, and the treaty entered into force in January 2002. Currently, 34 nations have signed it; Kyrgyzstan has signed but not ratified it yet. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control and other agreements. Each nation in the treaty agrees to make all its territory available for surveillance flights, yet Russia has restricted flights over certain areas. Last month, top Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in both the House and the Senate wrote to Trump accusing the president of ramming a withdrawal from the treaty as the entire world grapples with COVID-19. They said it would undermine U.S. alliances with European allies who rely on the treaty to keep Russia accountable for its military activities in the region. "The administration's effort to make a major change to our national security policy in the midst of a global health crisis is not only shortsighted, but also unconscionable," wrote Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Rep.Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and Sens.Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J. "This effort appears intended to limit appropriate congressional consultation on, and scrutiny of, the decision," they wrote. They said they weren't moved by the defense secretary's argument that USD 125 million to replace aging aircraft used for treaty verification, which was already appropriated by Congress, is too costly. "The total cost of replacing the aircraft is a tiny portion of the overall defense budget," they said. Earlier this month, 16 former senior European military and defense officials signed a statement supporting the treaty, saying that a U.S. withdrawal from the treaty would be a blow to global security and further undermine the international arms control agreements. The officials asked the U.S. to reconsider its exit. But if the U.S. leaves, they called for European states to stay in the treaty, fulfill obligations under the treaty and refrain from restricting the length of observation flights or banning flights over certain territories. Senior administration officials said Trump last fall ordered a comprehensive review of the costs and benefits of US participation in the Open Skies Treaty. At the end of an eight-month review, which included extensive input from allies, it became clear that it was no longer in America's interest to remain party to the treaty, the officials said. The US notified other members of the treaty on Thursday, and the United States will formally pull out in six months. The senior administration officials said Russian violations of the treaty were the main reason for exiting the treaty. They said Russia has restricted flights over Moscow and Chechnya and near Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russian restrictions also make it difficult to conduct observation in the Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland that is home to Russia's Baltic fleet, they said. Russia uses illegal overflight restrictions along the Georgian border in support of its propaganda narrative that the Russian-occupied enclaves of Georgia are independent countries. The senior administration officials said that amounted to an illegal restriction, under the treaty, coupled with a narrative that justifies Russia's regional aggression. The US has been working on a proposal to backfill partners and allies with imagery that the US would have shared from its open skies flights. A 55-year-old mother, Mrs. Patience Ughana, and her 10 years old daughter were electrocuted inside their shop on Monday May 18th along Nnewi-Nnobi road in Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra state. Mr. Andrew Kumapayi, the state Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps FRSC, who confirmed the incident said a high tension wire fell on the shop, electrocuting the victims. A statement signed and released by Kumapayi on Tuesday May 19, read It was reported that a high tension wire opposite St. Peters Clavers, along Nnewi-Nnobi road cut and fell on the roof of a shop, electrocuting two female victims. The deceased were identified as Mrs Patience Ugbana, 55, and her 10 year-old daughter, Adaeze. The victims were rushed to Rose of Sharon Hospital by sympathisers before the arrival of FRSC rescue team from Nnewi Unit Command, but on reaching the hospital, the doctors confirmed them dead, the statement read The Sector Commander advised traders and shop owners not to build shops under high tension wires. Ore. Supreme Court halts ruling that would've lifted restrictions on church gatherings Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Oregon Supreme Court granted an emergency motion Monday evening putting on hold a lower courts injunction earlier in the day granting churches statewide preliminary relief to Gov. Kate Browns restrictions on mass gatherings and in-person worship. Oregon Supreme Court Presiding Justice Thomas Balmer granted the motion per the request of Brown and other unnamed defendants hours after Baker County Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Balmer explained that the plaintiffs, which included 10 churches and ministries throughout the state led by Elkhorn Baptist Church of Baker City, had until Friday to submit responses to the defendants petition. "Following swift action by the Oregon Supreme Court, my emergency orders to protect the health and safety of Oregonians will remain in effect statewide while the court hears arguments in this lawsuit,'' Brown said in a statement. ''From the beginning of this crisis, I have worked within my authority, using science and data as my guide, heeding the advice of medical experts.'' The court put a hold on Shirtcliffs ruling in which he concluded that Brown exceeded her authority by restricting business operations and worship services for more than the 28 days governors are allowed to do so under Oregons health emergency law. Brown had extended the state of emergency until July 6 without approval from the state legislature. The plaintiffs contend that the measures have harmed churches, businesses, private schools and other groups and individuals. Under the first phase of the states reopening plan, churches are allowed to gather with no more than 25 people present. But Shirtcliff also concluded that churches could hold worship services with over 25 people provided they follow the same social distancing guidelines as secular facilities, such as grocery stores and home improvement stores. The Pacific Justice Institute, a legal group that provides pro-bono support on topics related to freedom of religion, filed the lawsuit earlier this month against Brown. On behalf of the plaintiffs, the group alleges that the governors orders aimed at helping curb the spread of COVID-19 are unfairly violating the rights of churches. Joined by the grassroots nonprofit Common Sense Oregon, PJI filed a motion requesting a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of the state restrictions on gatherings. Weve got plaintiffs from Portland all the way south to Klamath Falls, from Lincoln City on the coast over to the eastern part of the State, PJI attorney Ray Hacke said in a statement earlier this month. Theres a rising tide of churches wanting to push back against Governor Browns oppressive executive orders, and this case will hopefully remind her that she is not free to dispense with constitutionally protected liberties, even in emergencies. Stephen Williams of Prepare the Way Ministries based in Bend, a ministry listed as a plaintiff in the case, issued a statement following Shirtcliffs ruling. Williams said he was shocked by some of the language the governors attorneys used during the hearing on Monday. I was shocked by Gov. Browns lawyers who asserted that the governor has no limits to her power during a state of emergency. They used phrases like, limitless power, no limits, nothing limits, total authority, complete power, over a dozen times, Williams claims. What makes our country great is the fact that we have a Constitutional Republic that acknowledges we are one nation under God, not a socialistic authoritarian regime where one leader has unlimited power. In response to the spread of the coronavirus, the vast majority of churches in the United States have opted to cancel in-person worship services. Many have switched to online alternatives or have held drive-in services. Some congregations, however, have continued to hold in-person worship services. At times, they do so in direct defiance of state or local stay-at-home-orders. Many of those churches contend that it is their First Amendment right to assemble for worship. Several churches in multiple states have filed lawsuits against state and local orders. Churches argue that, as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines, they should be allowed to gather for worship service. Last week, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman rejected a request for relief against an Illinois state order limiting in-person worship to no more than 10 people. An injunction would risk the lives of plaintiffs congregants, as well as the lives of their family members, friends, co-workers and other members of their communities with whom they come in contact, wrote Gettleman. Their interest in communal services cannot and does not outweigh the health and safety of the public. The lawsuit filed on behalf of the Oregon ministries has been criticized by at least one left-leaning Christian leader. Rev. Chuck Currie, an Oregon resident and minister with the liberal United Church of Christ, wrote on Twitter he is thankful for the Oregon Supreme Courts decision to stay Shirtcliffs injunction. He argued that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of far-right activists and white evangelical churches. People of faith want to worship. We want to gather. But houses of worship across the world have ended up as hotspots for #COVID19, Currie argued. This decision by Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff is reckless. I strongly support @OregonGovBrowns appeal. #StayHomeStayHoly. Various COVID-19 contract tracing apps are rolling out these days, but if there are people that can't use them, it would be the elderly at nursing and retirement homes. With that, these facilities have started using wearable technology to help keep the retirees safe from the novel coronavirus. Thus was the case with a senior living facility located in Amarillo, Texas, known as The Legacy. Easy COVID-19 Contract Tracing with Wearable Tech In a report by Reuters, the elderly home suspected one of their nurses had the coronavirus, but within five minutes only, the place had a list of people that came in contact with the suspected COVID-19 patient. The Town Square, senior care facility, made their employees and residents wear a wristband, equipped with a technology that automatically records the wearer's encounters with other people and their whereabouts. With the wearable tech, they were able to do contact tracing and found out that the suspected nurse had been in contact with 35 other workers and 49 residents. Although the numbers were high, they were thankful that it saved them days of torturous contract tracing wherein they would have to interview each employee and resident in the area until they came up with the list. Fortunately, the nurse tested negative for COVID-19, meaning those in contact with her did not need isolation nor testing. Nevertheless, it showed how effective wearable tech is, especially with a community that isn't tech-savvy and can't use high-end smartphones. Read Also: China's Amazfit Developed a New Self-Disinfecting Transparent Facemask to Rival Fitbit Why Contract Tracing Tools are Important According to epidemiologists, facilities that have access to quick contact tracing tech and tools following coronavirus infections will have a higher chance of isolating the cases and staying open. This is incredibly important since countries and states are beginning to re-open despite the millions of confirmed cases and hundreds of thousands of patients that are still fighting for their lives or are still trying to recover. "It makes you ready to make the best operational decisions at a moment's notice," said the executive director at the LifeWell Senior Living's Legacy facility, Joseph Walter. The Town Square senior living facility uses wearable tech from CarePredict known as Tempo bracelets, a startup company that recently added contact tracing functionality for elderly homes during the pandemic. Besides these features, Tempo bracelets also function as a call button for the staff whenever a resident requires their assistance, as well as a digital room key, and a health and activity tracker. According to the company, their tech costs $1 per day per user, and currently, there are more than 20 facilities in the United States using their product. Read Also: Apple Will Now Automatically Send Vital Medical ID Info to First Responders During Emergency Sidestepping Privacy Rules Although wearable techs have become more useful in these situations, various countries like in Singapore and Australia have been implementing smartphone apps to help with COVID-19 contact tracing. Nevertheless, this becomes a problem, as Apple and Google have imposed data-privacy rules that limit these smartphone COVID-19 contract-tracing apps. Although apps are rather free, not everyone has a smartphone capable of installing these contract tracing apps, nor are everyone tech-savvy, especially the elderly who might even forget their phones somewhere. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:23:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China's National Press and Publication Administration has released a catalog of key publications for rural libraries in 2020. Altogether 1,781 kinds of books, 113 types of audio and video products and e-publications, 310 kinds of publications in ethnic minority languages, 31 kinds of newspapers and 155 types of periodicals were included in the catalog, according to Thursday's China Press Publication Radio Film and Television Journal. The administration has required that, in terms of variety and quantity, no less than 70 percent of the publications provided by rural libraries should come from the catalog. It has also asked provincial-level press and publication bureaus to ensure that no less than 60 kinds of books are updated by every rural library per year, with no less than four reading activities held. Enditem Although Luxembourg residents say theyve enjoyed getting to know their neighbors during the confinement period, its time to return to pre-pandemic levels of communication. My daily chats with the lady across the street have been pleasant and full of genuine concern for each other, said Kayl resident Tomasz Zielinski. Weve helped each other get through a very difficult situation. A situation thats behind us now, he added. Which means we can go back to ignoring each other like weve done since I moved here in 2016. Luxembourg City resident Morgana Blake says that talking to the retired couple next door has been a pleasant surprise, and she describes them as quirky, kind, and funny. My boyfriend and I have shared a good laugh with them across the fence five or six times, she said. Weve begun to regard them more as good acquaintances than just neighbors. And its time we go back to being just neighbors before we pass a point of no return, she added. Like exchanging our names. Too much, too fast. University of Wiltz social psychologist Mariano Ledger says that anxiety and isolation do compel people to engage in weird behavior, such as seeking the company of individuals just because youve lived next to them for 10 or 20 years. Most of the time, this behavior is harmless, a simple coping mechanism that disappears once everyone feels normal again and retreats into their shells, he said. Its rare that anyone crosses a line and actually tries to turn a relationship based on mutual desperation into something else. He does warn, however, that there have been a few cases of people trying to forge solid bonds with their neighbors, which can have terrible consequences. It starts innocently enough with an offer of a drink, but it can lead to the obligation to say hello every single time you see each other and, in extreme cases, years of painful tit-for-tat dinner invitations, he said. Which nobody wants. Read more at wurst.lu Photo credit: iStock / J.P. Gomez Welcome to adulthood! We are so proud of you and hope that your adult years are just as good to you. Have a great birthday. We love you. I went into medicine to treat patients with limited or no access to health care. Along the way, I realized I can do more than just treat. I can advocate for change and become part of the solution. I urge you to join me. While no law will save every life from gun violence, if we can reduce the devastation in black and brown communities caused by illegal guns, passing this law is worth it. For years, Andrej Babis wanted to run his country like a business. The coronavirus pandemic finally gave him the chance. In 2017, the Czech billionaire campaigned on promises to make the government more effective and rid the state of traditional politicians he called incompetent. Even after he swapped running his multi-billion-dollar agrifood business to become prime minister, he kept complaining of lengthy, unproductive meetings that ramble on without a quick decision. That changed in March. Babis, 65, ordered a strict lockdown before any one had died and more than 10 days ahead of the U.K., which now has the highest number of fatalities in Europe. He made wearing face masks mandatory and closed schools and most stores. The Czech Republic has one of the lowest death tolls from covid-19 in the European Union. "I finally got to run it like a family firm," Babis told Czech radio station Impuls. "It was effective and concrete. We saw our measures and our decisions taking effect. It was a big difference." The experience across former communist Europe is one of speedier quarantines, shut borders and a fraction of the cases compared with the west of the continent. Without international metropolises like London, Paris or Madrid, there are obvious geographical reasons. Yet the action of leaders who have been politically at odds with the EU in recent years is bolstering their standing at home at a pivotal time. As governments elsewhere look weakened, the question is whether the Czechs, Poles and Hungarians can wield more influence in the 27-member EU in the post-virus fallout. The answer will come when the financial reality hits, according to Josef Mlejnek, a political scientist at Charles University in Prague. "Naturally, there will be a need for the economic help from the EU and when it's time to distribute funds, the divide between the eastern and western parts of the EU will appear again," he said. "Right now, Babis is riding a wave of being successful in curtailing the first wave of pandemic, but his popularity going forward will depend on the extent of the economic impact." Babis, whose net worth is $1.8 billion based on Bloomberg Billionaires Index valuations, has had his critics. His party's popularity stood at 26% in opinion polls last June as he was investigated for abuse of EU funds and faced the biggest Czech protests since the end of communism three decades ago. In December, the chief prosecutor reopened the case against Babis, who denies all wrongdoing. The party now polls 34%. His government declared a state of emergency on March 12, more than a week before the country recorded its first death. That enabled Babis to make decisions swiftly without the usual procedure of publishing decrees and rounds of coalition meetings. After stumbling at news conferences in the first weeks of the pandemic, he empowered others to take the central stage, mainly Roman Prymula, the nation's chief epidemiologist. Regular national addresses showed he remained in charge. The billionaire has a reputation as a workaholic who arranges his own schedule and directly calls government officials at odd hours with tasks. His agricultural, chemical and media empire still employs nearly 34,000 people and it's hard to fill a grocery basket without a product from that web of companies. Critics say that some of the lockdown measures were too rushed and showed how Babis is used to doing business and cutting deals. A court ruled early efforts to restrict people's movement and shut stores were illegal before the government revised the plan. "It was a deliberate political play from the beginning designed to make Babis look like the main crisis manager in the eyes of the public, the man who can in a difficult situation single-handedly manage the entire country as well as a family business," said Jiri Pehe, the director of New York University in Prague. Still, compared with some of his regional counterparts, Babis has taken a less political approach. In neighboring Poland, the government changed election laws at last minute and delayed a presidential vote from May 10 to a still unknown date. In Hungary, Prime Minster Viktor Orban pushed through legislation that allows him to rule indefinitely by decree. The next few months will show whether Babis will be able to hang on to his lead in polls as he restarts the export-oriented economy heavily dependent on production of Skodas and other cars. Gross domestic product may drop as much as a record 8% this year, according to the central bank, followed by a rebound to 4% in 2021. The prime minister has already made it clear the government will be looking for ways to save money, though only after spending to help mitigate the slump. "I am from the business sector," Babis said. "I know what it means to save money." Jason Pennell. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: There was silence from the legal profession on Thursday after revelations that Bleak City barrister turned Administrative Appeals Tribunal senior member Jason Pennell had plagiarised significant portions of a decision from the Commonwealths submission on the matter. As this column reported yesterday, Federal Circuit Court Judge Christopher Kendall found the sheer extent of copying by Pennell was unacceptable. So, having weighed in on everything from the COVIDSafe app source code to constitutional amendments in Samoa and the arrest of pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong in recent months, was the Law Council willing to comment on this matter? After all, Pennell literally plagiarised swathes of copy from a document authored by a delegate of Immigration Minister David Coleman which he was meant to review in a matter about a stateless (and self-represented) Iraqi asylum seeker. No, they werent. The Law Council does not comment on individual cases, its public affairs boss Dr Fiona Wade told CBD on Thursday. Wade, for the record, has a PhD in media and politics from the University of Southern Queensland, the equal worst university in the country according to the latest Times Higher Education ranking alongside Southern Cross and University of the Sunshine Coast. As for the tribunal? This column inquired whether it would check previous decisions handed down by Pennell, a former stockbroker who is married to ex-Victorian Bar chief executive Sarah Fregon (now a partner at Deloitte). As in this case, members decisions are regularly considered by the courts on appeal, which provides a transparent process of review, a spokesman said. And are members decisions regularly plagiarised? Migrants who arrived from Gujarat on a Shramik Special train head to board buses to reach their homes, outside Danapur Station on May 20, 2020 in Patna, India. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has warned the coronavirus pandemic is "unleashing a human development crisis," with declines in fundamental areas of living standards expected to be felt across most countries, rich and poor, in every region. The report, published on Wednesday, estimates that global human development which is a combined measure of the world's education, health and living standards is on pace to decline for the first time since the concept was developed in 1990. In some areas, the UNDP said conditions today were equivalent to levels of deprivation last seen in the mid-1980s. "For vast swathes of the globe, the pandemic will leave deep, deep scars," Achim Steiner, the UNDP's administrator, said in the report. "Without support from the international community, we risk a massive reversal of gains made over the last two decades, and an entire generation lost, if not in lives then in rights, opportunities and dignity," he added. To date, more than 5 million people have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 328,368 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The trade between India and Afghanistan through Attari-Wagah border, 28 km from Amritsar, is expected to be resumed after Eid-ul-Fitr holidays (from May 25 to 27) in Pakistan. We have already got a letter from the Centre, instructing us to be prepared as the trade between the two countries will be started soon, said a senior customs official, who didnt wish to be named. The central government had suspended cross-border trade through the Attari integrated check-post (ICP), which facilitates Indias trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan, on March 13 as a precautionary measure amid the coronavirus pandemic. We are expecting that the trade with Afghanistan will be resumed from May 28. We recently got information that two trucks of dried fruits, imported from Afghanistan, will come today at Wagah side in Pakistan. These trucks entry into India will be allowed only after we get official information from the Centre about the opening of the trade, said a senior official of Land Port Authority of India (LPAI). Amritsar customs commissioner Dipak Kumar Gupta said, Our team at the ICP is prepared. The trade can resume after Eid as there are holidays in Pakistan till May 27, and nobody is working at Wagah side. Till now, we have no official information when exactly the border is opening. On May 17, the Pakistan government had opened its borders with Afghanistan at Torkham and Chaman posts, six days per week. The importers in Amritsar are also hopeful of resumption of trade with Afghanistan soon. We are hopeful that the trade with Afghanistan will be resumed from May 28. Some Indian importers have already placed their orders with various firms in Afghanistan for dry fruit, herbs, jeera and mulethi, said Federation of Karyana and Dry Fruit Association president Anil Mehra. He said since the halt in trade with Afghanistan through the ICP, the importers and exporters in India and Afghanistan have been suffering a huge loss. According to Mehra, India and Afghanistan had been doing more than Rs 1,000 crore trade every year through the ICP. Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan should also think about the opening of trade with India through the ICP. It will boost the economy of both the countries, said Mehra. In the wake of the Pulwama attack in February 2019, the Indian government had revoked the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan and raised customs duty on every item being imported from Pakistan to 200%. Following this, import from Pakistan dipped drastically as Indian traders stopped buying goods, except low-priced commodities like rock salt. Also, Pakistani had shut trade with India after India abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier this week, the Uttar Pradesh RERA (UP RERA) allowed the homebuyers' association of a project in Noida to take charge of the completion of four stuck towers. It is currently in discussions with the original builder (Jaypee Associates) to come on board as a contractor. The question here is: Can RERA Authority approach homebuyers' associations or the original developer or for that matter bring in a third party to complete a stalled project? Interestingly, RERA can take over an unfinished realty project if it is 80 percent complete. It can act as a facilitator and work with the committee of homebuyers to complete the project under Section 8 of RERA. RERA authorities Moneycontrol spoke to said this could become a successful model to complete stuck projects going forward, especially after COVID-19, when there are bound to be more such cases wherein developers may not be in a position to complete projects due to lack of liquidity issues. "This model of completing stuck real estate projects can work and will certainly be tested post-COVID-19 because we will have many more developers falling by the wayside. It is then that the authorities would have to empower homebuyers to come forward and take on the task of completing the stalled projects with the help of RERA Authority," MahaRERA Chairman Gautam Chatterjee told Moneycontrol. Also Read | What RERA timeline extension means for homebuyers, real estate developers COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show "Prima-facie, this appears to be an excellent move and will also set a very good precedent. But it is also very important to know (a) how the project will be funded and (b) if the builder has taken more money than what work has been done by him and how RERA plans to recover excess money from him," said MS Shankar, General Secretary, Forum for People's Collective Efforts. Section 8 of RERA empowers authorities to hand over completion task to buyers' association The RERA Act clearly states that Upon lapse of registration or on the revocation of registration under this Act, the Authority, may consult the appropriate government to take such action as it may deem fit including the carrying out of the remaining development works by a competent authority or by the association of allottees or in any other manner, as may be determined by the Authority. Also Read | COVID-19 has had a 'debilitating effect on the real estate sector: Hardeep Puri Provided further that in case of revocation of registration of a project under this Act, the association of allottees shall have the first right of refusal for carrying out of the remaining development works," the Act said. There are clear provisions in RERA under which the Authority also has the power to take away the project from a particular developer and assign it to another agency to complete it. Also Read | Explainer | FM's 'no fresh insolvency' offer comforts builders, but what about homebuyers? Section 8 of RERA Act also comes into force in the event of the RERA registration getting lapsed. The authority can initiate the process for getting the remaining work completed. The first right of refusal in the process is with the association of allottees. The Noida RERA case Kalypso Court is a housing project launched by Jaypee Associates, the parent company of embattled Jaypee Infratech, way back in 2007. Its UP RERA registration lapsed in June 2019 following which the regulator invoked Section 8 of RERA. As many as 240 homebuyers had bought into units in the four incomplete towers. Seven towers of Kalypso Court were registered under UP-RERA in 2018. The project has a total of 15 towers and eight of them were completed by 2018 and did not have to be registered under UP-RERA net. The original date of completion of the project was 2012. UP RERA on May 19 allowed the buyers association of the project located in Jaypee Wish Town to take charge of completion. "We got the builder and buyer together on our conciliatory platform to agree on the completion method. We have now asked the buyers association to take control of the completion of the project. JAL's concurrence on the matter is awaited. Details would be finalised by next week," RD Paliwal, conciliator, UP Rera, told Moneycontrol. UP RERA Authority has held a series of meetings over the last five months with representatives of the homebuyers association ever since the registration expired last year. The homebuyers have now decided that the project should be completed by the original promoter which is JAL. The estimated fund requirement for completion of the four towers is Rs 104 crore of which 40 percent would be contributed by Jaypee and the remaining would be in the form of receivables from homebuyers. "This is a unique case because the original promoter is being brought on board. Had a new promoter come in, he would have had to re-evaluate the entire project and that could have become both time consuming and an expensive exercise," said Paliwal. Legally, it would now be presumed that the project is being completed by the Association of Allottees and the propriety rights will remain with JAL even though it would now take on the role of a contractor. Once JAL agrees, we hope to start the project within a month and complete it by the end of the year. Since two to three months have elapsed due to COVID, construction could stretch up to March 2021, said Paliwal. As for registration, RERA authority will decide whether to treat it as an exception and continue with the old registration or provide a new registration. "We are doing this on an experimental basis. There are four or five more associations waiting for this project to succeed," he told Moneycontrol. Balvinder Kumar, UP-Rera member said that Section 8 of the Rera Act has been invoked in the Jaypee matter. "We are in some financial negotiations with JAL. Once a decision is reached, construction should begin," he said. There are two to three projects that we had deregistered in the past and one more project is under consideration which may be get completed under a similar model, he said. Sources at Jaypee Associates told Moneycontrol that they were in touch with RERA Authority and the Association of Allottees and were keen on taking on construction of the project. "But for construction to commence, we will have to wait for orders from RERA. From the date on which we receive the orders from UP RERA, we will take three months to mobilise resources and then start work," company sources said. MahaRERA case MahaRERA on October 22, 2019, ordered the resolution of a project in Pune under sections 7 and 8 of the state's RERA Act and revoked the registration of the project. It permitted homebuyers invested in the project by the stressed company DSK Group to complete the remaining construction and register the sale agreements for the project. The project is located in Talegaon and is 90 percent complete. Altogether 161 people have booked flats in the project, while 118 apartments are yet to be sold. The resolution panel had to be submitted in February so that MahaRERA could have ensured completion of the project by a new developer. The Authority had also directed Tata Capital Housing Finance, an investor in the project and MahaRera designated resolution panel comprising developer Niranjan Hiranandani and consumer rights activist Shirish Deshpande, to assist the AOA to complete the project. The AOA, Tata and the two-member panel were directed to come up with a blueprint for completion of the project to be submitted by February this year. "They have held two meetings so far and were expected to revert to the authority but then COVID happened. Things have not moved since. We are waiting for the lockdown to get over and work to start," Chatterjee told Moneycontrol. DSK Group Chairman DS Kulkarni and his wife are currently lodged in Yerawada jail in Pune for allegedly cheating nearly 33,000 depositors and investors of nearly Rs 2,043.18 crore. The Haryana RERA matter Last year, the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) of Haryana's Panchkula had asked a group of residents to take over their project and complete remaining construction work as the directors of the company were in jail and work had come to a grinding halt. Of the 16 residential towers, the builder had completed 14. Buyers of the remaining two towers had moved RERA as the builder could not give possession. Over 100 residents of Faridabad's Piyush Heights society finally agreed to pool in Rs 8 lakh each to complete the project. The completion date of the project was 2011. Difficult for RERA to undertake project from scratch RERA can step in provided a project has reached its completion stage. Doing something from scratch is difficult and not advisable. It all depends on the size of the project and should be taken up on a case-to-case basis. It is not something that can be applied across the board, said RERA experts. "If the project is 80 per cent complete or 90 per cent complete, something can be done about it. In its early stages, half complete, half structure, it may become very difficult for the committee of buyers to take over. Then it is complex construction. Important for the whole structure to be in place. If only finishing work is left, the committee can take over and complete it. The committee cannot do any structural work," they said. Agreement among allottees important Agreement among all the allottees is also important. The allottees have to trust the committee. "They have to make the payment of the balance amount to the committee," experts said. Who gets to pay for the remaining construction? In these cases, some buyers may have paid 80 per cent, others may have paid more. But all buyers may have to pay some amount. "They will have to show the receipts that they have so far paid and the balance money that is due from them to the committee. These amounts will be kept in a separate account and the committee will have to work with corpus," said RERA experts. The committee will have to make do with the funds collected. They have to decide whether they would want to reduce certain specifications as funds may not be enough. "Whatever is available and whatever they can do with the balance amount, they will have to do. For example, if there is an ornate lobby, they may have to cut down on those specifications and manage with whatever they have," they said, adding that the idea is to complete the project and hand over the units to the buyers. Can it be replicated for other projects? There could be cases wherein the promoters are in jail or absconding. In those circumstances, there may not be too many choices available to buyers. RERA too can pass multiple orders but that would not have any impact because there is no entity to return monies to buyers with interest. The other option with RERA is to seal the property but in this case, the property belongs to buyers who have been waiting for possession for years. In such cases too, this model of handing over construction to buyers may work. Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak [May 21, 2020] EDGE PARTNERS WITH D2L Kitchener, Waterloo, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global learning technology leader D2L announced today that they are partnering with New Jersey-based Edge to offer Brightspace to its members. Edge is a member-informed, non-profit consortium of academic and research institutions dedicated to higher education, K-12 education, health care, public and nonprofit service members, collaborating partners and subscribing patrons. Edge supports a thriving technology ecosystem that is purpose-built for the communities they serve in part through a cooperative pricing system that connects the Edge community with technologies provided by industry leading partners like D2L. Were excited to engage with D2L as the LMS provider of choice for our EdgeMarket participants. D2L has a proven record of mapping to the desires of faculty, students, and instructional designers, and provides intuitive analytics around student data, said Christopher Markham, Vice President for Information Technology at Edge. D2Ls innovative place in the market, powerful integrations with third party EdTech solutions and intuitive experience for teachers and learners make them an ideal partner for our members. According to Edge, Brightspace offered several advantages over competitor platforms including: A record of success: Edge recognized that the Brightspace learning platform has been successful and well-received in both the HE and K12 markets. Edge recognized that the Brightspace learning platform has been successful and well-received in both the HE and K12 markets. A true partnership: D2Ls services in support of their platform scored very well. D2Ls services in support of their platform scored very well. A product that stands out: Reviewers found Brightspace both powerful and easy to use. We are thrilled to partner with Edge as they bring Brightspace to their members and proud to join with an organization that has been an innovator in education for more than 20 years, said Lee Poteck, Vice President Education at D2L. This new agreement will not only stremline the process for edtech decision-makers and purchasing departments, to help them add Brightspace to the suite of tools they use to build more engaging learning experiences but it will ultimately help change the way people all across the state of New Jersey learn. And that is incredibly gratifying. ABOUT BRIGHTSPACE Brightspace is a cloud-based learning platform built by educators, for educators that works on any device. It is a secure, worry-free platform that allows you to create engaging courses using your technology to fit your needs. With Brightspace, you can easily set up individualized learning paths for your students, keep them on track with automated nudges, give them personalized feedback and engage them through gamification, social tools, video and other powerful features. Brightspace is the only learning platform chosen as a partner of the National Federation of the Blinds Centre of Excellence in Nonvisual Access. Brightspace was named the #1 LMS for Next-Gen Online Teaching and Learning by Ovum Research, #1 in Adaptive Learning by eLearning Magazine and Aragon Research also included D2L in its Hot Vendors In Learning list . Brightspace was also named the Best K-12 Learning Management System and Best Professional Learning Solution for Faculty and Administrative Staff at the SIIA CODiE Awards . To learn more, visit the Higher Education and K-12 pages on our website. ABOUT D2L D2L believes learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. Working closely with organizations globally, D2L has transformed the way millions of people learn online and in the classroom. Learn more about D2L for schools, higher education and businesses at www.D2L.com . D2L MEDIA CONTACT Dana Dean Director of Awareness, D2L Corporation [email protected] Twitter: @D2L 2020 D2L Corporation. The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd, and D2L Brasil Solucoes de Tecnologia para Educacao Ltda. All D2L marks are trademarks of D2L Corporation. Please visit D2L.com/trademarks for a list of D2L marks. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Nearly four decades ago, Sprecher Brewery was a small start-up tucked away on the south bank of the Burnham Canal in Walkers Point, trying to figure out how to make its mark on the beer industry in a brewing town still ruled by Miller and Pabst. Founder Randy Sprecher, an Oregon native who landed in Brew City to work as supervisor of brewing operations at Pabst, had struck out on his own to create not only Milwaukees first craft brewery a pioneer in the state but also to brew up some of the best craft root beer anyone had tasted. Thirty-five years on, Sprecher is the godfather of craft beer in the city and a leader in craft sodas, too. Its Amber and Black Bavarian beers, as well as its root beer, have become iconic quaffs in Wisconsin, and its brewery tour is a tourism hotspot. When Randy Sprecher decided it was time to retire, he sold the brewery to a team of local investors that include former MolsonCoors Wisconsin GM Jim Kanter (pictured at right), who says that what Sprecher built is what drew the attention of the hometown investors. "It is one of the main reasons we loved the opportunity with Sprecher," Kanter tells me. "It all starts with great products and a great reputation. The products cant be replaced and a reputation takes years to build. "We feel there was a great head start. The people here who have been part of those great products are dedicated to keeping that tradition alive, as are we." The Sprecher investors group includes former GE Medical, Electrolux, ABB and Samsung exec Sharad Chadha, the company's new chief executive officer; Andy Nunemaker, the brewery's new chairman of the board; and former MillerCoors executive Jim Kanter, Sprecher's new Chief Commercial Officer. Homeowners Concept Realtors owner Pete Skanavis serves on the Sprecher board. Taking the Sprecher tradition and building on it is what the new owners hope to do. "As with anything, there are always opportunities," says Kanter. "The market has evolved over time. The expertise in brewing craft beers and sodas we have are phenomenal. We need to evolve a bit with new products and skate to where the puck is going with soda and beer." That, says Kanter, means introducing new products on both the beer and soda sides, with the beer line getting a new brew first. ReFresh Button, a juicy IPA with a sessionable 5 percent ABV aimed at easy summer drinking, will launch in a few weeks. The name works on a number of levels right now, as Sprecher refreshes with new ownership, as the entire world gets ready to click the refresh button after the shutdown and because who doesnt want a refreshing 5 percent juicy IPA for the patio right about now? Kanter says that Sprecher is thinking outside the beer-and-soda box, too, as evidenced by its sparkling water and hard seltzer lines. "Quality craft beer and craft sodas has always been the cornerstone of the brand," he says. "We, of course, will continue to make that a big part of what we do and how we do it ... but may look at it even broader as craft alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands. As you know we have a great line of hard seltzers in Raspberry Zipper and Old Fashioned, as well, and non-alcoholic sparking waters in eight different flavors. "As trends such as flavor exploration, health and wellness and above premium refreshment continue to be big for consumers we want to be there in both the non alcohol and alcohol side. We can learn and see what is going on with consumers in both to lean into our next innovation quickly." I ask Kanter, with a smile, if one of the guiding principles right now is "dont screw it up"? "Ha," he laughs, "that is the right question. Dont mess with success for sure. We have won over 140 awards nationally in both the craft beer and craft soda worlds. Not changing how those products are made is something we want to make sure we are clear we have not done. "However, building on new items that are very consistent with what is happening in the market is key, such as all natural ingredients with additional new items, types of flavors people like, growth in areas such as the energy segment and what style of beers are people drinking more of and less of in the market." The new team will have its hands full, especially considering it bought a brewery just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, shuttered many of Sprechers main customers bars and restaurants and paused its popular tours. Sprecher responded by reassigning workers to other tasks to avoid layoffs and by offering bonuses to its employees. Thats an impressive statement to a staff that might have wondered what to expect from the new leadership team. Is there also a challenge in that, for the first time in nearly 40 years, Sprecher will be run by folks whose surname isnt on the label? Beyond the name, Randy and Anne Sprecher were storehouses of vast institutional memory and knowledge. Kanter says that the change allows Sprecher to salute its rich history but also to evolve. "We look at that as a great opportunity," he says. "Heritage and authenticity matter to people and we certainly have that right here. "It goes from first being a name, to then being a great brand. Consumers evolve and trends evolve. We want to make sure we put the same quality into anything new and innovative that was done in 1985, as will be done in 2020 and beyond." What that means is that consumers can expect more flavors from Sprecher in the near future. "Well have more great innovations to come this summer," Kanter promises. "We want to continue to have fun with the brands on both sides and bring additional energy to them and the market." When the sale of the brewery was announced, Randy Sprecher said, "This has been my life's passion for decades and I want to see the company thrive. With this talented and experienced group, I'm sure it will." Sounds like he knew what he was talking about. The children of the late Alhaji Afisu Ologolo of Eti-Osa Local Government Area are seeking to recover 10.191 hectares (152 plots) of land in Agungi, Lekki from the Ojomu chieftaincy family of Ajiran. They have served eviction notices on the owner/occupiers of about 120 of the plots in the estate, who allegedly bought their land from the Ojomu family. The Ologolos said their father bought the property for N6,000 from the Ojomu family on August 16, 1977. But upon his death in the United Kingdom on December 21, 1990, the Ojomu family, they alleged, secretly partitioned the land into 152 plots and sold same to different buyers. The children told The Nation through their lawyer, Mr Emmanuel Chukwu, that the late Ologolo died at 44, without his wives or nine children, who were still kids, knowing of the property. The Ojomu Family, they alleged, knew the late Ologolos family was unaware of his ownership of the property and took advantage of this to unlawfully sell it off. But in 2016, Ologolos family found in their fathers belongings, documents, including a Deed of Conveyance (with accompanying Survey Plan Number WYF 25 dated August 16, 1977) registered as 85/85/1658 and dated August 29, 1977 in the Lagos land registry. The documents, seen by The Nation, showed that Ologolo owned and exercised exclusive possession and occupation of the entire 10.191 hectares which was originally farmland until his death. The late Mr Afisu Tolani Muritala Ologolo never divested himself of the ownership of the property or any part thereof neither did he authorise anyone to do same on his behalf. Upon the demise of Mr Afisu Tolani Muritala Ologolo and seeing that his children were too young and also unaware of their fathers ownership of the property, some persons without lawful authority of our clients encroached on, appropriated and sold off the property. In the light of the above, we have instructions of our clients to pursue criminal prosecution of all persons involved in this unlawful and illegal action and also seek redress in the court of law, Chukwu said in a March 4, 2020 letter to the Oba of Ojomu and Ajiran, Tijani Adetunji Akinloye, seen by The Nation. A similar letter was also sent on March 4, 2020 to the Balogun of Ajiran, Yekini Olawale Bakare. Reacting to the Ologolos familys claims, Oba Akinloye said I dont have anything to say about the property as I am not directly involved. Also reacting to the allegation, Bakare, said If there is anything or clarification you want to know about the Ojomu family, go to the Kabiyesi (Oba). Also, some of the owner/occupiers of the 152 plots allegedly forming part of the Estate of the late Ologolo, denied being in unlawful possession. Responding to a demand for immediate vacation of the portion of land, Mr Rotimi Oderinde, expressed surprise at the claim. His lawyer, Uche Okoli, who spoke on his behalf in a March 12 letter, said: Our client was extremely surprised to see the letter under reference pasted on the wall of his property on March 5, 2020our client is the beneficial owner of the property on which the letter was wrongfully pasted and duly acquired his title from renowned and very credible conveyors/assignor. Others, including Nduka Ebele Henrietta and Robert Nebolisa (for his landlady Mrs F. Osih), said they lawfully acquired and were in lawful possession of their portions of the property. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. High Throughput Screening Market Size 2019 HTS Industry Analysis, Growth Segments, Leading Manufacturers, Phenomenal Growth and Business Boosting Strategies till 2025 Market Research Future published a research report on High Throughput Screening Market Research Report Global Forecast till 2025 Market Overview, Segmentation, Progress, Regional analysis, key Trends, Major Players and Forecast to 2025. Global Wearable Sensors Market is likely to value of USD 13,460 million with a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period Competitive Landscape: Better integration of diverse plans in the global high throughput screening market and introduction of several strategic moves that encompasses mergers, acquisitions, tie-ups, and others are expected to inspire growth. Companies impacting the growth in the market are Danaher (US), Aurora Biomed Inc. (Canada), Tecan (Switzerland), PerkinElmer (US), Axxam (Italy), Hamilton (US), Corning (US), Merck Group (Germany), Beckman Coulter, Inc. (US), BioTek (US), Luminex Corporation (US), Agilent Technologies Inc. (US), and Roche (Switzerland). get free sample copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1280 Overview High-throughput screening (HTS) can be defined as a method that includes scientific experimentation needed for various drug discovery and deciding typical moves in the the fields of biology and chemistry. The procedure includes data processing/control software, liquid handling devices, robotics, and sensitive detectors. This allows the system to get into the procedure of conducting tests for millions of chemical, genetic, or pharmacological processes. The process has evolved as necessary to find active compounds, antibodies, or genes that can cover various biomolecular pathway. This process assists in the designing of various market process. The High Throughput Screening Market is getting traction from high technological advancements in HTS and hike in expenditure for research and development. The government funding for the procedure is also providing better scope for growth. Segmental Analysis The global market for high throughput screening, by product & service, can be segmented into instruments, reagents & assay kits, consumables & accessories, and software and services. The reagents & assay kits segment can find growth with increasing demand from the diagnostic segment. By technology, the global market report on high throughput screening can be segmented into cell-based assays, Bioinformatics, 3D cell culture, 2D cell culture, perfusion cell culture, 3D cell culture, Ultra-high-throughput Screening, lab-on-a-chip (LOC), and Label-free Technology. The 3D cell culture segment includes scaffold-based technologies and scaffold-free technologies. The scaffold-based segment comprises hydrogels, inert matrix, and micropatterned surfaces. The scaffold-free technologies segment consists ultra-low binding plates, hanging-drop plates, microplate, and other scaffold-free technologies. By application, the global market for high throughput screening includes primary and secondary screening, toxicology assessment, target identification & validation, and others. The application segment is showing signs of fastest CAGR owing to its inclusion in the research and development sector. By end user, the global market for high throughput screening can be segmented into contract research organizations, academic & government institutes, pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, and others. Global High Throughput Screening Market Research Report- https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/high-throughput-screening-market-1280 In October 2019, researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute revealed that they have developed a machine-learning algorithm that would assist in the high throughput screening of epigenetic drugs. About Market Research Future: MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions. Early Friday, the 20-year-old Thomas was gunned down about a block from where he recorded that video on the streets of Uptown. It's an area where three street gangs -- the Conservative Vice Lords, the Gangster Disciples and the Black P Stones -- have been locked in a long-running feud. Thomas was a Gangster Disciple, according to police. As recently as January, the administration appeared to be prioritizing good relations with Beijing in order to preserve the phase one trade deal. But now, given Chinas gross mishandling of the pandemic, those arguing internally for more leniency have largely come around to a more hawkish stance, tracking Trumps own turn away from his praise of China and his friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Throughout the federal government, resistance is yielding to measures to confront China previously thought controversial. Open source The MPs ask the Justice Ministry of Ukraine to explain the confiscation of pets of the debtor and their sale at the auction as Viktoria Syumar from the European Solidarity Party filed a proper parliamentary proposal. The lawmaker is interested in the conditions of maintenance of the pets after their confiscation and legality of these actions. I would like to ask the justice minister, of course, how would he feel if his dog is taken for the debtsBut I have just asked what norms are used to confiscate pets as property and the main issue where and how they are keptIn the results, we will elaborate amendments to the laws, Syumar wrote. As we reported, in Izmail, Odesa region, the dog was confiscated from its owner, who is a debtor, and was sold at the auction for 18,8 dollars. Bidding was conducted at the SETAM Internet platform. Head of the Ministry, Denys Maliuska, stated that animals could be taken away in Ukraine due to debts. As we reported earlier, according to Ukraines Ministry of Social Policy, there will be no significant increase in the poverty rate this year - it will increase by only 6.5% compared to last year. 21.05.2020 LISTEN The intricate nature of corruption in Ghana makes everything about it appears as if those fighting it do not possess the core competencies for such an undertaking. The fight against corruption helps to safeguard the uneconomical use of State financial resources. The institutions fighting it, corruption, appears powerless because of its convoluted nature and not because they lack the nitty-gritty of the law to function in fighting it. The core causes of the canker have political underpinnings. It is the public sector that is severely corrupt and that sector is almost fully comprised of politicians. These politicians manage the resources of the State and have control over their use. Corruption is politically-induced. A number of factors lead to the formation of this opinion and inference. The issues that form the underlying basis for this judgment are discussed in detail as follows: Campaign financing is one of the several causative agents of corruption. Political parties are not revenue-generating ventures and the dues that are accumulated from members of the party faithful are inadequate to finance their campaigns. Some party members do not pay their membership dues. Yet there have been extravagant campaigns financed by individuals and enterprises. Many of these individuals are not party faithful but find it rewarding to finance the campaigns of parties. A critical opinion that can be considered eventually is that the financiers use their money to lure the parties for awarding of contracts. Political parties have not shown the sources of their income. They do not engage in productive investments too. How are they financed? Public sector workers are required by Law to declare their assets and liabilities as a means to fight corruption. Political parties are required by Law to declare the sources of their revenues and assets. The constitution, in Article 55 (14) subsection (a), instructs political parties to declare to the public their revenues and assets and the sources of those revenues and assets. The audited accounts of these parties are also required to be published to the public annually. The various political parties have defaulted on these requirements of the law. This gives them the opportunity to engage in financial impropriety. To help the institutions fighting corruption perform their functions excellently successfully, these parties should be constrained to meet the requirements of the Law. This will indicate the seriousness parties attach to the fight against corruption. Party Primaries are held to elect those that the party deems fit to enhance its chances of winning elections. These primaries are not carried out on fair playgrounds. The best candidate does not win empty-handedly. There are exchanges, in the form of material or cash. Political parties do not have an unprejudiced playground for electing their leaders. In reality, those who can afford to pay all the delegates sizable amounts of money win elections. This presents a fertile ground for the persons elected through this mode to be corrupt. This system has the chance of influencing the integrity of such persons. They will find avenues to recoup their money. The motive of serving the country is quashed before an individual is elected. The individual thinks of the money invested in the campaigns before thinking about the interest of the state and that of the people they represent. But Henry Ford says the only motive that can keep politics pure is the motive of doing good for ones country and its people. Motives that can keep politics pure are those based on the need to serve the people and not those intended on amassing a considerable amount of wealth through investment in campaigns to win political power. The procedure for awarding contracts in Ghana is a causal factor to the grounds for corruption. There are procurement laws in the country that must be adhered to in awarding contracts. Political parties find it rewarding and sympathetic to give contracts to financiers and party faithful by breaching these laws. The Auditor-General has identified, on many occasions, breaches of the procurement laws which have amounted to significant sums of money. The violations of these laws can be prevented if processes and procedures are followed meticulously by giving superior attention to the laws. These breaches of the laws governing the award of contracts are fundamental to causing corruption. Political parties find it obligatory to award contracts to party faithful and party financiers. This opinion is not formed from the current happenings. Procurement breaches have occurred in the past. These same parties turn around to find those who participate in corrupt activities in the end. Internal Control procedures at the Assemblies and some government agencies are generally weak. The Auditor-General recurrently reports internal control problems. Internal control procedures are not followed even where they exist and are non-existent in some institutions. In fighting corruption, these procedures need to be strengthened with punitive measures if flouted. The political parties in Ghana meanderingly involve in the core causes of the very act they find dutiful to fight. The complex nature of the involvement of these parties in the activities causing corruption makes it difficult to apply the solutions prescribed by the law to fight it. The ultimate goal of winning political power is to serve the people. It is to govern them, for them, and by them, as indicated by Abraham Lincoln. Corruption is changing the goal of winning political power. In the words of Paul Krugman, the goal, in the end, is not to win elections. The goal is to change society. Emmanuel Kwabena Wucharey Economics Tutor Kintampo SHS Emily Ratajkowski showed off her bombshell legs as she lounged on her bed for Insta Stories this Wednesday. The 28-year-old supermodel was wrapped in a stylishly designed red and gold robe as she posed under an abstract painting. A couple of books were lying on the bed beside her, one of which was How To Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee. When you got it: Emily Ratajkowski showed off her bombshell legs as she lounged on her bed for Insta Stories this Wednesday She tweeted last Sunday that she was reading his work and 'hoping I can soak up his voice and his weaving of mangoes and class and boyhood and outsiderness in order to maybe, one day, if Im lucky, write something half as good.' Emily recently told British GQ that 'one of the main things Ive been doing' in lockdown is writing her own 'book of essays.' 'Id say its like a memoir, but with added political thinking. Im trying to use my experience as a model and someone who has capitalized on their image and also someone who has been maybe a victim of their image. Its complicated,' she said. The sizzling sensation is currently self-isolating in Los Angeles with her hunky producer husband Sebastian Bear-McClard and their dog Colombo. Hot couple: The sizzling sensation is currently self-isolating in Los Angeles with her hunky producer husband Sebastian Bear-McClard and their dog Colombo Although they were initially hunkering down in New York City, the American epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, they flew to Los Angeles on April 15. The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention issued an advisory on March 28 asking 'residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.' Emily will be going live on Instagram this Friday with Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber to discuss the Joan Didion novel Play It As It Lays. Incoming: Emily will be going live on Instagram this Friday with Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia Gerber to discuss the Joan Didion novel Play It As It Lays Kaia, 18, has been running an Instagram book club from lockdown and Play It As It Lays is her selection for this week. Her previous book club guest was none other than Cindy herself, who joined her to chat about the 2018 novel Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Early in lockdown Emily shared the books she was keeping busy with including All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks and This Life by Martin Hagglund. A Centrelink office in Melbourne's inner-east that was going to close on Friday has won a three-month reprieve after the federal government reversed its plan. The Abbotsford office, where hundreds queued to seek assistance at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, was the subject of a shock announcement on Wednesday. The Centrelink and Medicare offices in Abbotsford on Thursday. A last-minute deal means the services will remain open for at least another three months. Credit:Wayne Taylor But the office was given a temporary stay late on Thursday afternoon, under a renewed agreement between the landlord and government agency Services Australia. The two parties disputed the other's commitment to renewing the lease, but eventually settled to extend the agreement for three months. The Federal government has declared Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th May, as public holidays for Muslims to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr. This was made known in a statement signed by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Interior minister, on behalf of the federal government. Aregbesola called on Muslims to replicate the life of kindness, love, tolerance, peace and good neighbourliness, as exemplified by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him), also expressed his concern about the spate of ethnic conflicts that has resurfaced in some parts of Northern Nigeria in recent times. Read Also: Coronavirus: Dont Shake Hands, Dont Hug For Now Aregbesola Advertisement He advised Nigerians to see themselves as a single entity and thus learn to tolerate one another despite their ethnic and religious differences. Ogbeni Aregbesola further assured Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is fully committed to battling the scourge of COVID-19 with the cooperation of all Nigerians. While commending the security agencies for the successes so far recorded in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, he advised Nigerians to take responsibility against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and also stay safe by observing physical and social distancing, personal and respiratory hygiene, as well as other regulations issued by relevant authorities. As part of his admonition to Muslims on the celebration of Eidul-Fitr and his emphasis on individual responsibility for adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines and regulations, the Minister reminded them to always obey constituted authorities as stated in the Glorious Quran 4:59 where Allah says: O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination, the statement added. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 09:58:58|Editor: yhy Video Player Close Photo taken on May 21, 2020 shows a view of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China. The third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will hold its opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday afternoon. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Madison Bell was last seen when she left home on Sunday morning, telling her mother she was to go to a tanning salon. The 18-year-old from Ohio never made it to the tanning salon, with her car found unlocked in a church parking lot nearby. Live blog: Coronavirus news and updates She left and I said okay, be careful, and she said Ill be right back, Her mother Melissa Bell told local outlet OANN. Melissa Bell said when her daughter failed to return from the appointment and her text messages went unanswered, she used the Find my iPhone app which led her to her daughters abandoned unlocked car, with the keys still in the ignition and her phone inside, WBNS reports. Madison Bell, 18, never made it to the tanning salon, with her car found unlocked in a parking lot nearby. Source: Twitter Bring her home to her family, this is not right, she needs to be back home where shes safe, her mother pleaded. Madisons mother said the disappearance is out of character for the senior in high school who was looking forward to her upcoming graduation. "This would be her senior week of high school, so we had a lot of events going on this week that she wouldn't miss," Ms Bell said. Madison Bell told her mother she was going to a tanning salon but never arrived at the business. Source: Twitter Cody Mann, Madisons boyfriend of five years told Fox19 he hasnt been able to sleep since her disappearance. Shes the most loving girl Ive ever seen in my life. I mean, I cant even explain it... I just want her to come home," he said. Each day that passes makes it even harder, Ms Bell added. The close-knit community in Highland County have been shaken by the teenagers disappearance with more than 300 people searching for Madison since the weekend. Investigators were looking into a white vehicle with a California number plate parked in the same church parking lot where Madisons car was found, but Highland County Sheriff Donnie Barrera told CNN there have been no new leads on the case. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play. realme cements its position as the worlds fastest smartphone brand as it welcomes 10 million new global users bringing the brands total number of users to 35 million worldwide. The continuously growing demand for realme products also helped the brand retain the seventh spot in global analyst firm Counterpoints list of top global smartphone brands in terms of shipments in the first quarter of 2020. The fastest growing smartphone brand has also sold 1 million AIoT devices realme grows with 157% YoY in global smartphone shipments despite the industry decline In the third quarter of 2019, Counterpoints Smartphone Shipment Market Share research showed realme as the Top 7 global smartphone brand for the first time. With realmes global smartphone shipments increasing by 157% year-on-year versus its shipments in Q1 2019, the brand was able to maintain this ranking even until Q1 2020. Despite the industry-wide year-on-year decline of 13% in Q1 2020, realme is one of the two major global smartphone brands to achieve growth during this period. realme attributes this steady increase to the continuous support of its global fanbase and its young target audience who are the inspiration behind the brands attainable and high-quality devices. realme smartphones gain global popularity With a business model built on light assets, multiple channels and strengthened e-commerce presence, realme achieved a 40% sales growth or a 10 million sales increase in just four months. realme has also actively adapted to the changes in the market and has upgraded its worldwide channel strategies in multiple markets. In 2020, realme plans to further improve its online and offline multi-channel sales model to reach more consumers and sustain its rapid growth momentum. realmes focus on young consumers, its deep understanding of their preferences and its commitment to customize products to exceed their expectations proved effective as the brand continues to record impressive sales results worldwide, specifically in Europe, China and Indonesia. After entering 27 countries and regions around the world in only two years, including China, Europe, India, South and Southeast Asia, Russia and Africa, realme has ranked among the top five smartphone brands in multiple markets. In the Philippines, realme ranks fourth in the market with an impressive annual growth rate of 709%. realme India has ranked in the countrys top five smartphones for a long time, while maintaining its second spot in the online market. In Indonesia, realme ranked among the top three in the third quarter of 2019. In Egypt, realme's market performance is as noteworthy, ranking among the top five with a growth rate of 908%. realme as a tech and lifestyle partner In 2020, realme will continue to focus on its young users, for both of its smartphone and Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) lineup. As the brand aims to be a tech lifestyle trendsetter for the youth, it will be employing the realme 1+1 strategy: Smartphone + AIoT. realme will be focused on developing trendsetting design and technology to further strengthen its very own ecosystem. As realme dares to leap into the AIoT field with its expanded lineup of offerings, it positions itself to become not only the worlds fastest growing smartphone brand but also worlds fastest growing AIoT company as well. Just this month, realme has sold 1 million units of the realme Buds Air and realme Buds Wireless. realme partnered with Naoto Fukasawa, the worlds top industrial design master, and Alan Walker, the Global TOP 100 DJ, to perfect both the design and performance of its products. As one of the first to adopt the 5G technology, realme has launched 5G products with exciting surprises. realme has launched realme X50 5G, realme X50 Pro 5G and realme X50m making the brand present in multiple price segments of 5G-capable smartphones, from entry-level to flagship. realme is set to introduce more 5G smartphone products and explore 5G popularization to cater to more users in the future. In late March, Angelica Donati, an Italian infrastructure and real-estate entrepreneur, started calling local banks seeking a loan to shore up her business after it was shut during Romes battle to contain the coronavirus. Ms. Donati was expecting the loan to come fast under a government-guarantee plan. This backstop in theory lowered the risk for banks and sped the approval process. Of six banks she dealt with, two stopped taking her calls. She is still in talks with the others about what paperwork she needs. She was told the process may take two months from the application date. I thought bank loans guaranteed by the state was a good move, she said. If only we got them. Keeping businesses afloat with loans is at the heart of Europes strategy to fight the effects of coronavirus. The European Central Bank is offering banks trillions of euros in ultracheap money. Governments are further sweetening the deal and are on the hook for most of the loans that turn sour. But evidence is mounting that the effort is stuttering. When it comes to actual loans, banks in Italy have processed and approved requests for around 13 billion ($14.3 billion). That is far below the 300 billion the government is making available. European companies are particularly dependent on bank lending, unlike in the U.S. where capital markets are relied upon much more heavily. For banks, the problem is simple: No matter how much money is thrown at them by governments, there is a limit to how much risk they can take. Nowhere is the problem more evident than in southern Europe, where the fragile banking sector is still trying to get rid of huge portfolios of bad loans from the last decades crisis. Corporate indebtedness in the region is also high. In the U.S. a $660 billion lending program for small businesses has also hit a series of problems, including complaints that banks were only lending to existing customers. But U.S. banks are stronger and mostly free of troubled loans from the past. Non-performing loans currently make up about 7% of total loans in Italy, almost 10% in Portugal and 3% in Spain, compared with about 1% in Germany. They are expected to rise further. The European Commission estimates the economies of Italy, Spain and Portugal will shrink significantly this year. That makes profits even less attainable and lending riskier. Right now, banks are the first to be interested in providing liquidity to companies, said Giovanni Sabatini, general director of Italys banking lobby ABI. But if I have to use resources for someone who, in any case, wont survive, maybe its better not to do it. According to Italys Treasury, banks have granted a temporary moratorium for payments on loans held by companies and households worth 240 billion so far. While demand for loans in the eurozone has rocketed and banks have reported growth in credit, they have also tightened lending standards, according to an ECB survey. Meanwhile business associations say they receive daily complaints from firms saying that despite hundreds of billions in government-guaranteed loans being available, they arent getting the financing they need. In Portugal, Miguel Maya Dias Pinheiro, chief executive of Banco Comercial Portugues SA, recently told lawmakers that unless the bank is careful, it could be forced to request state help down the road. When we are mulling giving out credit, we need to be sure that there is a reasonable probability the bank will recover that credit, Mr. Pinheiro said. We dont give out money; we provide credit. In Brussels, European Union authorities are convening a meeting later this month with bankers and business representatives to figure out what to do. In Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has asked banks for an act of love in giving companies the liquidity they requested. Mr. Sabatini from ABI and many bankers acknowledge that besides the higher risk-aversion due to dire economic projections, there are other hurdles. The main one is that in Italy, bankers can be held legally responsible for the decision to issue the guaranteed loan and can potentially face criminal sanctions if the credit turns bad. You cant ask a bank to blindly lend money and then say it is legally responsible for it, Corrado Passera, a former Italian minister and banker, said. Another problem is that companies under debt restructuring arent eligible for state guarantees. Banks are being particularly scrupulous to avoid any risk, said Maura Magioncalda, a lawyer with Pedersoli law firm, who is working with some clients to request guaranteed banking loans. Its obvious that if you ask a commercial entity to manage a public initiative, it behaves this way. The Italian government said it is aware Italians are struggling to obtain the loans. We invite banks to apply the rules, which allow banks to grant loans very quickly, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri told national TV recently. Companies say they cant keep waiting. Angelo Distefano, the owner of a company distributing fruit and vegetables based in the northern town of Modena, Italy, asked his bank for a loan of 25,000, with a state guarantee covering the full amount. The bank rejected his request, saying his company didnt match the banks policies on loans. Mr. Distefano said that although his company will likely lose 40% of its sales this year, it was profitable and didnt have credit lines open with the bank. He said he was surprised by the banks decision and was trying to find out more about the reasons for it. I would have used that money to pay for the costs of the shutdown. We are receiving no help, he said. Some concerned Free Trade Zones operators have raised the alarm over attempts by management of the Oil & Gas Export Free Trade Zone Authority (OGEFZA) to interfere with licensing and management of export free zones. In an open letter, the stakeholders called on the federal government to halt alleged attempts by the OGEFZA management to alter provisions of its own Act and that of the Nigeria Export Procession Zones Authority (NEPZA). The Federal Government must as a matter of urgency investigate this matter and also look into the activities of OGEFZA towards protecting the investments of concerned Free Zone Stakeholders in NEPZA licensed Free Zones who had before now enjoyed the full support and cooperation of the Federal Government. READ THE FULL TEXT BELOW: A CALL FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS URGENT INTERVENTION ON THE ACTIVITIES OF OIL AND GAS EXPORT FREE ZONE AUTHORITY (OGEFZA) AND VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS OF NIGERIA EXPORT PROCESSING ZONES AUTHORITY (NEPZA) LICENSED FREE ZONES 1. The Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010 (Act) unambiguously established Oil and Gas Export Free Zone Authority (OGEFZA) to manage and operate a designated Oil and Gas Export Free Zone located at Onne/Ikpokiri area of Rivers State. 2. Since its enactment, there has been no amendment to the Act by the National Assembly either by changing the name of OGEFZA to Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) (which is the current name being used by OGEFZA) or extending the regulatory jurisdiction of OGEFZA beyond the designated Oil and Gas Export Free Zone at Onne/Ikpokiri area of Rivers State of Nigeria. 3. Despite the fact that the provisions of the Act have not been amended and the law clearly restricts the regulatory functions of OGEFZA to Onne/Ikpokiri area of Rivers State, OGEFZA has continued to violate the express provisions of the Act by licensing other Free Zones like Brass Oil and Gas City, Warri Oil and Gas Free Zone, Eko Support Services etc which are located outside the designated Oil and Gas Export Free Zone at Onne/Ikpokiri area of Rivers State. 4. All NEPZA licensed Free Zones are designated by the hand of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and this is provided for under Section 1 (1) of the NEPZA Act and the rationale for having the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria designate an area as a Free Zone is to give certainty, promote investors confidence, grant assurance and comfort to local and foreign investors that their investments were safe and secure and more so regulated by a definitive legislative framework as provided for by the NEPZA Act. 5. The latest attempt by the new Management of OGEFZA in trying to surreptitiously take over the regulatory and operational control of some Free Zones established by presidential declaration and already within the legal jurisdiction of NEPZA, without recourse to due diligence, due process, or any legislative amendment to that effect and even when it is very evident that the NEPZA licensed Free Zones which OGEFZA seeks to take over are not engaged in the export of oil and gas and as such should not come under the remit of OGEFZA is most deplorable. 6. The Federal Government has done a lot of work in the area of Ease of Doing Business with the sole aim of making the business environment more attractive to both local and foreign investors but with the Federal Governments apparent inaction in the face of the activities of OGEFZA. Investors would begin to doubt the Federal Governments sincerity in its drive towards Ease of Doing Business. 7. OGEFZA has continued to consistently present the Authority to the general public and in several public fora with government officials in attendance as Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA). This unilateral decision has expunged from the statutory name of OGEFZA the word Export and replaced the word Zone with Zones contrary to the extant legislation of the Act establishing the Authority. OGEFZA in doing this is trying to perpetrate its agenda that OGEFZA has more powers than that arrogated to it by the Act. OGEZFA wants the public to believe that it has the power and authority over other Zones apart from the only statutorily designated Oil and Gas Export Free Zone located in Onne/Ikpokiri area of Rivers State. This act is even evident from OGEFZAs website: www.ogfza.gov.ng and official correspondence. If this is not checked urgently by the Federal Government, it will continue to mislead and deceive the unsuspecting general public and investors at large who are not aware of the historical background of OGEFZA. 8. The Federal Government must as a matter of urgency investigate this matter and also look into the activities of OGEFZA towards protecting the investments of concerned Free Zone Stakeholders in NEPZA licensed Free Zones who had before now enjoyed the full support and cooperation of the Federal Government. 9. At the moment, concerned Free Zone stakeholders in NEPZA licensed Zones have not complained about the existing legislative framework pursuant to which billions of dollars in investments have been committed by financial institutions (both local and foreign) and other trade partners. 10. The unconstitutional and illegal attempt to take-over the regulatory affairs of NEPZA licensed Free Zones without appropriate legislative amendments and due process will no doubt unsettle investors and lead to attendant financial losses for stakeholders and the country. 11. Once again, we seek the Federal Government most urgently to investigate the presentation of OGEFZA as OGFZA and address the impending chaos among investors in NEPZA licensed Free Zones. Signed Concerned Free Zone Stakeholders. The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday transferred Khandwa district collector and superintendent of police, a day after the small border town with Maharashtra saw 90 new Covid-19 patients in a span 24 hours. The Collector, 2010-batch IAS officer Tanvi Sundriyal, was replaced with another 2010-batch IAS officer Anay Dwivedi and was posted as a deputy secretary in the state secretariat, chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains ordered. A 2012-batch IPS officer, Shiv Dayal, was replaced by another 2012-batch officer and commander of Special Armed Forces 7th battalion Vivek Singh. Dayal will be new commander of the battalion, a Home department order said. These officers are not alone to have faced axe for spike in Covid-19 cases. On May 4, collector of Ujjain, Shashank Mishra, and on May 7, SP Sachin Atulkar were shifted when the city became a Covid-19 hotspot with the death rate being highest among big cities. Indore, the neighbouring district of Ujjain, saw a similar situation earlier when its collector Lokesh Jatav was shifted and replaced with Manish Singh on March 28. Three days later, Indore police chief deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Ruchivardhan Mishra was shifted to a smaller district in the region. However, when Indore collector was shifted, the city had not become a Covid-19 hotspot but virus was spreading fast in certain localities. A day after he took oath as chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan shifted chief secretary Gopal Reddy. However, it had nothing to do with any Covid-19 situation. Reddy was replaced with Iqbal Singh Bains, Chouhans trusted officer, who had been the principal secretary during his previous term as the CM. Reddy was shifted barely a week after his appointment. Then commissioner, health services, Prateek Hajela, was shifted on April 1 - an unusual instance of the state government making public the CMs displeasure with an officer for not able to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. A tweet from the state government on April 1 evening said, Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan instructed immediate removal of Prateek Hajela from the post of commissioner, health services on his extreme carelessness towards his duties amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The other notable transfers in health department include that of principal secretary, health department, Pallavi Govil Jain and National Health Mission (NHM)s integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) director, Swati Meena Nayak. The chief medical and health officers of Bhopal, Ujjain and Khandwa were also transferred. All these officers were involved in tackling Covid-19 situation. Public health expert Amulya Nidhi said, Frequent transfers are no solutions. Indore has become one of major Covid-19 hotspot in the country despite transfers. In Bhopal there are no transfers of collector and DIG police but it is still a major Covid spot in the country. Integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) team in health department has seen changes at least thrice. The government must think beyond transfers to see where the problem lies. The fact is the government relies more on bureaucrats than the doctors and those officials who have knowledge of medicines. Its pandemic, not a riot situation. The state Congress has launched an attack on the government. State Congress presidents media coordinator Narendra Saluja asked, If inefficiency is the reason behind these transfers then why chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should not go from his post under whose leadership the state government failed to control coronavirus in the state and almost entire state has been affected by the disease except five districts? The entire state has earned a bad name as it is one of the worst managed states in the country. Either Chouhan should step down or the Prime Minister Narendra Modi should remove him immediately. Despite efforts chief secretary Iqbal Singh Bains and director general of police (DGP) Vivek Johri couldnt be reached for their comments. They didnt take phone calls and didnt respond to messages. However, former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh KS Sharma said, Though transfers of officials from any district may not appear a solution immediately, it all depends on the perception of the state government about the particular situation. If a government feels that any officer or officers have failed to control any situation it sends other officers to address the particular situation. The government might have felt that the lockdown restrictions were not complied with strictly in these districts and protocol followed, hence the transfers. India Ratings (Ind-Ra) expects most sectors to experience varying degrees of revenue contraction during FY21 due to demand and supply disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. The rating agency has already revised its FY21 GDP estimates to 1.9 percent, the lowest in 29 years. It feels the current crisis presents fresh challenges for banks, which over the last four years have been reeling under corporate stress. Between FY16 and FY20, banks faced elevated provisions resulting from the corporate stress cycle. "They had largely provided for the existing corporate stress and were progressing towards a more moderated credit cost cycle. However, the COVID-19 related measures are likely to result in another cycle of stress," it warned. COVID-19, it feels, may drive total slippages up to Rs 5.5 lakh crore (5.7 percent) in its post pandemic stress case. The government has already announced a three month moratorium on bank loans and reports suggested that there could be further extension if the pandemic reins. The government recently announced a Rs 20 lakh crore financial package and extended fresh insolvency proceedings by one year. U.S. Navy Warns Iran Of 'Defensive Measures' If Gunships Get Too Close By RFE/RL May 20, 2020 The U.S. military has warned Iran that armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf region risk being "interpreted as a threat and subject to lawful defensive measures." The maritime broadcast warning issued on May 19 comes after U.S. President Donald Trump warned last month that the U.S. Navy would "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats harassing our ships at sea." The U.S Navy broadcast issued to mariners said the warning was given "due to recent events, in order to enhance safety, minimize ambiguity, and reduce opportunities for miscalculation." In April, the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of making "dangerous and harassing approaches" toward U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. For years, small Iranian vessels and speedboats have approached or harassed U.S. warships plying the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, where tankers pass carrying 20 percent of the world's traded oil. But the latest tensions come as the United States and Iran have been brought to the brink of conflict several times in the past year as Washington's policy of "maximum pressure" has been met by Tehran's "maximum resistance" after Trump withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Iran last year seized ships in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, and the United States accused Tehran of attacking several tankers in the region. The United States blamed Iran for being behind an attack on a Saudi Aramco oil facility, while Iran shot down a U.S. drone it claimed was over its territory. In Iraq, tit-for-tat escalation between U.S. forces and Iran-backed Iraqi militias led to a U.S. drone strike in January killing IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani and a top Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad. In response, Iran launched ballistic missiles on an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops that caused traumatic brain injury to more than 100 U.S. soldiers. Iranian officials have also repeatedly issued threats against U.S. warships in the region. In the Persian Gulf, the danger of naval miscalculation is heightened by a lack of direct communication and an absence of a so-called deconfliction line between the U.S. and Iranian militaries. Instead, U.S. Navy ships rely on bridge-to-bridge contact with Iranian gunboats. "These tactical, ad hoc communications between Iranian and U.S. vessels leave officers of limited authority in charge of preventing unintended confrontations and containing them if and when they occur," the International Crisis Group said in a report in April. "The adversaries' incapacity to communicate instantly when incidents happen opens the door to unintentional escalation if one side misreads the situation and, as a result, miscalculates," the conflict prevention organization said. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us -navy-iran-gunships-persian- gulf/30621953.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Unintended victim' among 3 injured in Midtown Kansas City shooting KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Car-to-car gunfire Wednesday afternoon wounded three people - including an 'unintended victim' on a busy street in a Midtown neighborhood. Kansas City, Missouri police officers were sent in the area of West 40th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue around 3 p.m. when they heard gunshots, according to a department news release. Today's gunfire report reminding us that the "reopen" isn't all we have to worry about . . . Read more: Tim Pronovost looks for books to deliver to customers on Monday at the Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, one of the stores that have reopened for curbside pickup. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) On a recent Saturday afternoon, Hillary McMahon pulled up into a parking spot in Pasadena, where a sign attached to a traffic cone read: Reserved for Vromans Curbside Pickup. Space 1. She dialed the phone number listed below the sign and let the store know she was ready for her book. McMahon, 72, of La Canada Flintridge, got out of her car, opened the trunk, hopped back inside and put on her blue mask. Minutes later, an employee wearing sunglasses, blue gloves and a mask walked out of the empty bookstore on an eerily quiet Colorado Boulevard, brown paper bag in hand, and dropped into the trunk a copy of Claudio Saunts Unworthy Republic. Jose "Shrek" Navarro, left, chats with Josh Spencer, right, while preparing custom orders for customers in the Last Bookstore. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Vromans, with locations in Hastings Ranch and Pasadena, is among L.A.s many independent bookstores including Stories, Pages and Chevalier's that have started offering contactless, curbside service since Gov. Gavin Newsom allowed some retailers to reopen May 8 within strict guidelines for limiting the spread of the coronavirus. It's become one of several ways struggling indie booksellers are working to stay afloat since nonessential businesses were forced to shutter in March. Curbside pickup is helping stores handle what demand there is while opening up a path to normalcy, but sales have not yet begun to rebound from their drop of roughly 50 to 70% during the pandemic, according to several local booksellers. And the partial reopening brings with it new concerns over how to balance the safety and satisfaction of both customers and employees not all of whom feel it's safe to return. On May 14, the California Independent Booksellers Alliance held a virtual town hall for booksellers featuring a special guest a nurse. In advance of the meeting, nurse Jean Taylor-Woodbury distributed information on the government's COVID-19 guidelines: site-specific protection plans; disinfecting protocols; training and screenings of employees and a detailed risk assessment. Over the course of the call, which went well over an hour, 72 booksellers from across the state asked Taylor-Woodbury a variety of critical questions: How long does the virus stay on paper and cardboard? How do you disinfect money? Do we have to disinfect books after browsers touch them? (The answer was "yes".) How do you disinfect books? What do we do if customers won't wear masks? Is there a better way to access testing? How long will someone test positive? Story continues Employers were also given advice on best practices: If it's a local sale, opt for delivery. Conduct transactions at the door instead of inside. Consider retaining pickup service even if things begin going back to normal. Assign employees specific tasks. Don't work 12-hour days. Take it one day at a time. Breathe. CALIBA's town-hall meetings have been held weekly since the shutdown, according to the group's executive director, Calvin Crosby. "As things have surfaced that are crucial for the bookstores, we've been able to find an expert" to lead the conversations, he said. "With [the] Phase 2 opening, we decided it was time for a medical expert because there's still a lot of fear." Crosby believes the meeting helped calm wary booksellers. "I think it helped everybody breathe a little better." But for James Fugate, co-owner of Leimert Park's Eso Won Books, maintaining calm during a pandemic is a challenge. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, in between answering phone calls and handing customers books curbside, he said his anxiety was off the charts. Eric Larkin steps out to deliver an order to a customer at the Last Bookstore. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) "Im handling the partial reopening OK but in another way Im not," said Fugate, whose 40-year-old bookstore specializes in titles by African American writers. "It's really strange." He's happy to see and interact with customers again, but passersby without masks concern him, and he understands the inherent risks of being open. Still, sales have plummeted 70% since March, so he's glad to offer curbside service in addition to mail orders. "We must have 20 orders for pickup right now," he said excitedly over the phone. But it's a lot of work between two people, he said; he's considering bringing on a third person to help. "The economy is tough right now," he said. "So many people are out of business, but I think we're going to hold on ... We're just trying to hold on as much as we can." Curbside service is business as usual for Brentwood's Diesel, A Bookstore, which has been offering it since mid-March. But with the partial reopening, the indie bookstore has seen a surge in pickups. Stacks of books ready for delivery in the Last Bookstore. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) "We have three times as many curbside orders since May 8, and we've definitely seen a reduction in shipping," said co-owner John Evans in a phone interview Tuesday. "We had 120 orders for pickup that came last night," he added, saying it was one of the most intense periods since the holiday season. Keeping a bookstore open is much more laborious and time consuming during a pandemic, he said. Even with assistance from two or three other employees, Evans has been working 10 to 12 hours a day taking phone calls, shipping ordersand recommending books by phone to quarantined customers. But it's not enough. Sales have dropped 70 to 80%. "It's brutal and we haven't gotten any [Payroll Protection Program] money," he said. "If we don't get PPP, how will we survive the next period?" At the Last Bookstore downtown, co-owner Josh Spencer said offering curbside pickup has "somewhat" helped. "We have had a pretty active mail order and delivery business since we shut down, so being able to add curbside definitely took off some of the time to pack a lot of the packages and allowed us to process the curated bundles quicker for customers. They definitely appreciate that." Eric Larkin hands over an order to Brittany Wright as she fastens her face mask outside downtown L.A.'s cavernous indie bookstore. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) Yet the new pickup option hasn't increased sales for the beloved indie; "It's just made it a little bit easier for us to process the orders that we are getting." Spencer is eager to open back up for browsing with safety measures in place. "We definitely need to reopen at some point this summer," he said. "We need the business. If we're going to survive this, we need to sell more books." Even with the state safety guidelines, some bookstore workers still don't feel safe going back to work. Joseph Ocon, a bookseller at Vroman's Pasadena, relaunched the CA Bookstore Workers Relief Fund, a GoFundMe for Vroman's and Book Soup employees who choose to call out of work and forgo income for their own safety. CA has relaxed the shelter-in-place order to allow bookstores to re-open. the pandemic is far from under control & our employers are asking us to return to work. that means: sacrifice our health & the health of our loved ones for profit. help us stay home!https://t.co/W59u5hUpFH Jo/Joseph/Joey (@NOTES_radio) May 13, 2020 "We feel uncomfortable being asked to return to work," reads a May 12 update from Ocon. "Our employer assures us that we will be safe, but we know what is being asked of us: to sacrifice our health and the health of our loved ones for the sake of the store." So what can employers do to make Ocon and his colleagues feel safe? "One thing that would be important for me personally is just a recognition that there are things that can be done, but ultimately it is still going to be a risk," he said during a phone interview. Crosby of CALIBA says that for booksellers, safety "is at the forefront of everyone's mind." "It's an amazing community," Crosby added. "The independent bookseller's ability to reinvent themselves has been tested every five, six, seven years. If we look at the last 20 or 30 years, [indies] survived the big-box chains shutting down our stores. We survived the financial bust in 2008, 2009. We've survived Amazon strip lining the book industry. Yes, there will be casualties, Calvin concluded, but "We're going to survive this." For the record: 2:32 PM, May. 22, 2020: John Evans, co-owner of Brentwoods Diesel, A Bookstore, was incorrectly quoted as lamenting the lack of PPE for his store. He was referring to PPP, the Payroll Protection Program. A woman was knocked down by a bison yesterday just two days after Yellowstone National Park reopened to the public amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the first bison attack of the year the woman was mowed down by the beast on Wednesday at Upper Greyson Basin near Old Faithful. She approached the animal too quickly and failed keep a safe distance away, according to a statement from the park. The woman was looked over by first responders but refused transport to a medical facility. A herd of bison and their calves share the road with visitors to Yellowstone April 22, 2018. In the first bison attack of the year a woman was mowed down by the beast on Wednesday at Upper Greyson Basin near Old Faithful Tourists are asked to stay at least 25 yards away from bison and other large animals including elk, deer and coyotes (file image) Yellowstone National Park reopened on Monday after being closed to the public since March despite fears that beauty spots could be ideal places for the coronavirus to spread Tourists are asked to stay at least 25 yards away from bison and other large animals including elk, deer and coyotes. For bears and wolves they should stay at least 100 years away, the statement read. Yellowstone National Park reopened on Monday after being closed to the public since March despite fears that beauty spots could be ideal places for the coronavirus to spread. Thousands of visitors made the journey across the states to one of America's most popular national parks, many of whom were seen without protective face masks. 'We have been cooped up for weeks,' one visitor from Florida, Jacob Willis, told the Guardian. 'When the parks opened, we jumped at the opportunity to travel.' The visitors have been welcomed back to national parks across the country on a limited basis since Friday. The National Parks Service said that there is a ban on tour buses, overnight camping and lodging at Yellowstone. She approached the animal too quickly and failed keep a safe distance away, according to a statement from the park. Pictured, a traffic jam is caused by bison in the park in 2017 Pictured: A family poses in front of a Yellowstone National Park sign yesterday as the park is reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown Pictured: People pose next to a sign by the Old Faithful Geyser yesterday as the park is reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown Pictured: A woman sits on the bank of a river flowing through Yellowstone National Park yesterday as the park is reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown A more expansive reopening began on Monday for the southern portion of the Wyoming-side of Yellowstone, which is known for its spectacular geothermal features and abundant wildlife. The opening, which saw thousands of visitors, was criticized by some health officials who checked webcam footage of one of the park's biggest attractions, Old Faithful. Kristin Brengel, senior vice-president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, said: 'Not much physical distancing happening and not a single mask in sight.' Locals added that it seemed most of the visitors had come from other parts of America. Pictured: A family poses in Yellowstone National Park yesterday as the park is reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown Pictured: People pose in Yellowstone National Park yesterday as the park is reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown Pictured: A woman poses on a trail in Yellowstone National Park as the park reopened to visitors after a two-month lockdown Doors opened to the natural beauty sight at 12am but cars, from as far away as Washington and New York, were seen queuing from 5.30am. Entrance to the site was free and rangers followed measures to curb the spread of the virus, wearing face masks and trying to disperse crowds who failed to social distance. Complicating Yellowstone's reopening: Wyoming recently lifted a 14-day self-quarantine order for out-of-state visitors on nonessential business, but one remains in effect in Montana. Last week, National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly described Yellowstone's split approach as a good way to help rangers get ready for a new visitor experience that will discourage shoulder-to-shoulder crowding at thermal features - summer scenes common in Yellowstone. 'I would prefer it's not just a light switch and the park is open and we get inundated and overwhelmed and aren't able to handle it,' Sholly said. A 'massive amount of signage' was ready to be put up to promote social distancing, Sholly said, adding that public cooperation would determine when all park services could resume without further interruption. Complicating Yellowstone's reopening: Wyoming recently lifted a 14-day self-quarantine order for out-of-state visitors on nonessential business, but one remains in effect in Montana Most of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, with small portions overlapping in Montana and Idaho. But typically about 70 per cent of traffic into the park passes through three gates in Montana. The three gates will open no sooner than June 1 to help communities near Yellowstone get ready for an influx of visitors, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said Wednesday. 'While our economy certainly relies upon and we appreciate our visitors, we also want to ensure that those visitors dont bring problems, meaning their infections, from their home state to our state. And when they do, we want to make sure that Montana is prepared,' Bullock said at a news conference. Handheld sprayer prototype used to disinfect surfaces at Yellowstone An NPS employee interacts with a visitor through a protective barrier. An extension arm prototype used to maintain a safe distance at Yellowstone The other 30 per cent goes through two entrances in Wyoming. After those gates open next week, only the southern half of the park - including Old Faithful Geyser and popular thermal features nearby - will be accessible at first and then only for day use. Restrooms, gas stations, trails and boardwalks will be first to open. No camping, lodging, restaurants or tours will be available at first, though park officials will immediately begin looking at offering camping, cabin lodging, take-out dining and other limited services, Sholly said in a conference call with news media and regional business owners. Hotel lodging and bus tours could be allowed later in the summer but won't be discussed any sooner than June, Sholly said. Just south of Yellowstone in Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park announced a similar phased approach to reopening except two big hotels, Jackson Lodge and Jenny Lake Lodge, definitely will not open this summer, Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail said on the call. Payment system prototype at North Entrance Station An NPS employee interacts with visitors through a protective barrier while all are wearing facial coverings at Yellowstone The parks' closure March 24 at the urging of health officials made little immediate difference for tourism - the parks remain substantially snow-covered in March and April and get few visitors - but that is changing quickly. Visitation picks up significantly this time of year. In a similar call April 21, Sholly had described health officers in Montana and Wyoming offering conflicting advice on when to reopen Yellowstone as a 'worst-case scenario.' Both states have had among the lowest rates of coronavirus infection and deaths in the US. Trump on April 22 called for national parks and other public places to reopen, citing 'significant progress against the invisible enemy.' Sholly said he felt 'zero' political pressure but recognized many businesses near the park were eager for the park to reopen. Roads to the south and east of the park were reopened on April 18 to allow small numbers of visitors to enjoy the scenery 'Everybody wants to get these economies moving. But we don't want to do it recklessly or put ourselves in a situation where we open it up too soon and suffer repercussions later in summer,' Sholly said. 'We have four very solid months in front of us. I think if we do it right, we can still have a very good year economically.' Yellowstone gets about four million visitors a year. May is much less busy than June, July, August and September, Sholly said. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon called the announcement 'really good news' that would help tourism, the state's second-biggest industry after fossil-fuel extraction. Visitors to both parks are encouraged to wear face coverings in high-density areas. Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are the latest of several major Park Service units that have begun to welcome back visitors or will be partially reopened in the coming weeks, including Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Zion National Park in Utah and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. Airbnb is correcting a mix-up that would have sent Seaside city funds intended as economic relief for rental property owners to vacationers instead. The city declined to intervene with Airbnb to address the confusion, but the company changed course following inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive. Seaside requires guests that stay in short-term lodging properties to pay a 10% transient room tax in addition to their regular room rate. Property owners and rental companies collect the tax on the citys behalf and may generally keep up to 5% of it to cover administrative costs. The Seaside City Council voted on April 6 to allow short-term lodging entities within city limits to keep that tax money from the quarter, ending March 31, in an effort to help owners that have been hard hit by the coronavirus shutdown. The city is dipping into its reserves to fund public services usually paid for by the tax. Its not clear how much money was collected through the tax in the first quarter of 2020 or how much of that money will go to property owners from Airbnb. Those owners will likely receive a significant share of the first quarter lodging taxes, though, given Airbnbs dominant position in the vacation rental business. In comparison, the transient room tax provided Seaside with more than $1 million in the first quarter of last year. The citys initiative was part of a larger Tourism Relief Program, which will provide $1.25 million in emergency funds for lodging properties, businesses, nonprofits and water customers. The city rushed to put together the relief program in three weeks. When Seaside announced the tax refunds, it said it would inform companies that collect the tax on the citys behalf and encourage them to return the funds to local hosts. But the city didnt send Airbnb specific instructions beyond the program announcement and a copy of a letter sent to all owners of short-term lodging properties. When Seaside property owners Andrew Hura and Josh Money didnt receive funds from Airbnb, they reached out to the company. At least two Airbnb representatives responded by telling them that Seaside was asking Airbnb to refund the money to their guests instead, according to emails provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive. A spokesman for Airbnb said that the company tried to reach out to Seaside earlier this month, but received no response. Jon Rahl, a spokesman for the city of Seaside, said Wednesday morning that the city never told Airbnb to send the money to guests and always intended for the money to go to property owners within the community. However, Rahl said the city would not intervene to correct the mistake because it didnt know which properties were rented through Airbnb last quarter. He said the city made its recommendation to Airbnb and other third-parties that list rental properties and said whatever happened now is between the homeowner and Airbnb. We did our best, Rahl said. I guess next time the recommendation will be like, No, we probably shouldnt give any money away because we will get complaints about how we do it. But Hura and Money said that their complaints were valid and the city should have worked with Airbnb immediately to correct the error. They sent a letter to the Seaside City Council last week urging the city to intervene on behalf of property owners. This is the citys money that is being misappropriated, they said in the letter. Therefore it is the duty and responsibility of the city to intervene and stop Airbnb from taking this action. If Airbnb will not refund the (tax) to hosts as the city has directed, why cant the city direct Airbnb to send that money to the city as it normally would? At least that way these funds would stay in this community. The Oregonian/OregonLive contacted Airbnb on Wednesday morning to inquire about the situation and provided them with documentation about the citys program. Shortly after, the city said it received an email from Airbnb asking to set up a phone call. Airbnb said Wednesday afternoon that it will work with Seaside to ensure that property owners receive the correct funds. Airbnb is grateful to city leaders for their efforts to provide economic relief to those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including our host community, and we are working diligently to ensure hosts receive the appropriate tax refunds as outlined in the citys Tourism Relief Program, the company said in a statement. -- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. This is based on hospital data which shows 'very low' smokers are hospitalised For weeks, preliminary research has flouted the idea smokers are protected They were also 50 per cent more likely to see their disease get worse Smoking does increase the risk of getting coronavirus, according to a major British study that disputes growing evidence that the habit is protective. A team at Imperial College London, King's College London and Zoe - the developer of a symptom-tracking app - looked at 2.4million Britons, of which 11 per cent reported smoking. All participants were users of the COVID Symptom Study app, which asks people to regularly report their health and if they have symptoms of the coronavirus, helping to build a clearer picture of the UK's outbreak. Current smokers were 14 per cent more likely to develop tell-tale symptoms, such as a persistent cough and high temperature, suggesting a diagnosis of COVID-19. They were also 50 per cent more likely to suffer other symptoms, such as diarrhoea, loss of appetite and delirium. In addition, current smokers who tested positive were more than twice as likely to need to attend hospital due to COVID-19. Smokers are known to be at higher risk of catching other viruses because they touch their mouth more and the potent chemicals damage airways. Mounting evidence has suggested smokers are at less risk of COVID-19 but are more likely to get severely sick if they catch it. Researchers across the world have discovered very low numbers of smokers among hospitalised COVID-19 patients, suggesting they are protected. But the data has been full of holes because doctors are not always able to find out if someone severely sick is a smoker. It's left scientists split on the topic, with some so convinced smoking is protective against COVID-19 they are planning to trial nicotine patches as a preventative tool. Smoking does increase the risk of catching the coronavirus, according to a British study, throwing out the theory the habit is protective It comes after a string of studies have shown a surprisingly low prevalence of smokers in COVID-19 hospital patients. The graph shows the smoking rate of each country against the percentage of smokers among COVID-19 patients, as reported by a review of studies by University College London. The lowest figure has been chosen for each country to show the stark comparison discovered by some studies A review of 28 studies by University College London in April found a 'lower than expected' rate of smokers among COVID-19 patients. One of the studies showed that in the UK the proportion of smokers among COVID-19 patients was just five per cent, a third of the national rate of 14.4 per cent. Another found in France the rate was four times lower. In China, a study noted 3.8 per cent of patients were smokers - despite more than half of the population regularly smoking cigarettes. WHY MAY SMOKERS BE MORE AT RISK OF SEVERE CORONAVIRUS? Dr James Gill, a locum GP and honorary clinical lecturer, Warwick Medical School, said: 'Smoking is a significant risk factor for coronavirus infections and, in fact, infections generally. 'There are many interlocking factors as to why smoking reduces the bodys ability to fight an infection. 'Possibly one of the biggest reasons smokers are at increased risk of respiratory infections is the impairment and death of the cilia in the airways and lungs. 'In simple terms, the airways are lined with cilia - small brush-like hairs - these structures provide an absolutely vital function in moving mucous, inhaled debris and potentially infectious agents out of the airways and lungs before an infection can take hold.' Increased levels of carbon monoxide in the blood, a by-product of smoking, blocks the blood's ability to carry oxygen to cells in the body. It puts smokers at a pre-disposed disadvantage if they catch coronavirus, considering the disease leaves patients unable to get enough oxygen into the bloodstream due to lung inflammation. Dr Tom Wingfield, a senior clinical lecturer and honorary consultant physician, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), said: 'Smoking both increases someones vulnerability to infection (repetitive touching of hand-to-face and hand-to-mouth) and reduces their ability to fight against it resulting in more severe disease.' He highlighted the tendency of smokers to have a health condition, such as high blood pressure, high disease and chronic lung, 'all of which themselves are risk factors for severe COVID-19'. Professor Gordon Dougan, department of medicine, University of Cambridge, said: 'The real danger lies in the lung and systems damage COVID causes. It will make people more vulnerable to secondary bacterial and viral infections. It is known that lung damage per say does that.' Advertisement But researchers have often noted that low prevalence of smokers may just be because doctors are just too busy to be accurately noting down everyone's smoking habits, or patients are too unwell to speak. Considering elderly people are more likely to be hospitalised with COVID-19, low smoking rates may be explained by differences in smoking rates in different age groups, with middle-aged people more likely to have the habit. There is often data missing in these studies too, which could skew results. The team at Imperial College London, led by Dr Nicholas Hopkinson, have taken a different approach to the majority of studies so far which used hospital data. They used information from the COVID-19 Symptom app, which was developed by King's College London to help track the crisis. More than 3.6million people in the UK have downloaded the app since March. On first use, the app records self-reported location, age, and core health risk factors, including height, weight, smoking and common disease. Users are told to regularly report their health and if they develop symptoms of the coronavirus - up to 14 - and the results of a test if they get one. For this study, the researchers took data from 2.4million who had entered data via the app between 24th March and 23rd April 2020. Some 11 per cent of the group were smokers. The researchers said this may be lower than the national average (14 per cent) because wealthier people are less likely to smoker while also be more likely to have a smartphone. The main finding was that current smoking was linked with a 'substantially increased risk of developing symptoms suggestive of COVID-19'. Among 'standard users' - those who never actually had a test - current smokers were 14 per cent more likely to develop the classic triad of symptoms of COVID-19 than non-smokers. These were a fever, persistent cough and shortness of breath. They were also 29 per cent more likely to have more than five symptoms, and 50 per cent more likely to have more than 10 symptoms. Doctors at The Royal Glamorgan Hospital are currently waiting for funding and ethical approval to move forward with a trial of nicotine patches to prevent COVID-19 WHY IS SMOKING THOUGHT TO PROTECT AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS? Swathes of studies have shown a low prevalence of smokers in hospitals with COVID-19. When smokers do get diagnosed with the virus, however, they appear to be more likely to get so sick that they need ventilation, two studies in the review showed. If the findings are proven, scientists say it's likely that it is not cigarettes - filled with thousands of harmful chemicals - that would offer a potential protection, but the nicotine that is beneficial. A theory flouted by scientists is that nicotine reduces ACE-2 receptors, which are proteins in the body the virus binds to in order to infect cells. The coronavirus enters cells inside the body via the structures, which coat the surface of some cells, including in the airways and lungs. If nicotine does lowers ACE-2 expression, it makes it harder for viral particles to gain entry into cells and therefore cause an infection. On the other hand, other studies show that nicotine enhances the action of the ACE-2 receptor, which in theory, puts smokers at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus. Other scientists say low levels of ACE-2 expression as a result of nicotine may prevent worse damage from viral infection, and there is no evidence that says higher quantities of ACE-2 receptors increases the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the first place. Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos, from the University of West Attica, Greece, who queried whether nicotine could be a cure for COVID-19 in a paper published on May 9, said: 'Up-regulation of ACE2, though seemingly paradoxical, may in fact protect patients from severe disease and lung injury.' A 2008 study in mice found that getting rid of ACE-2 made the animals more likely to suffer severe breathing difficulties when infected with the SARS virus, which is almost identical to COVID-19. Other scientists have turned their head towards nicotine's ability to prevent inflammation, where evidence is more robust. Nicotine has been shown inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF, IL-1 and IL-6, which are involved in promoting an inflammatory response. A 'cytokine storm' is a phenomenon in which an abundance of cytokines are released in response to infection. Doctors have previously said that it's often the body's response to the virus, rather than the virus itself, that plays a major role in how sick a person gets. A cytokine storm can lead to respiratory failure and the attack of healthy tissues, causing multi-organ failure. Therefore, the cytokine storm is being looked at as a target for COVID-19 treatment. 'Nicotine has effects on the immune system that could be beneficial in reducing the intensity of the cytokine storm,' Dr Farsalinos wrote in Internal and Emergency Medicine. 'The potential benefits of nicotine.... could explain, at least in part, the increased severity or adverse outcome among smokers hospitalized for COVID-19 since these patients inevitably experience abrupt cessation of nicotine intake during hospitalization. 'This may be feasible through repurposing already approved pharmaceutical nicotine products such as nicotine patches.' Dr Nicola Gaibazzi, who recently published findings on MedRxiv of 'very low' numbers of smokers in Italian COVID-19 patients, speculates smoke exposure may bolster the immune system. He said exposure to cigarette smoke reduces the body's immune system over time, measured by lower inflammatory markers. Therefore, when smokers are infected with a virus like SARS-CoV-2, their immune system is more 'tolerant' and does not overreact. On the other hand, non-smokers may be more prone to having the sudden and deadly cytokine storm when they are infected with the virus. Scientists have stressed that the evidence supporting nicotine as a medicine does not mean everyone should take up smoking. Advertisement These included abdominal pain, chest pain, delirium, diarrhoea, fatigue, headache, hoarse voice, loss of smell, skipped meals, sore throat and unusual muscle pains. The researchers said this indicated their disease was more severe because those that reported going to hospital tended to have more symptoms. The study then looked at people who had actually received a test result for COVID-19, where results differed slightly. They first pointed out that smoking prevalence was two per cent lower in the group that got tested compared to those who did not. This, they said, was because healthcare workers are more likely to get a test, but also less likely to be smokers. Due to testing limitations in the UK, only healthcare workers or people in hospital were able to get a test at that time. There were less smokers in the group who tested positive than negative (7.4 per cent vs 9.3 per cent), suggesting smoking is protective. However, the researchers said smokers were more worse affected. People with a positive result were 42 per cent more likely to have more than 10 symptoms, suggesting they suffered more than their non-smoker counterparts. In addition, current smokers who tested positive were more than twice as likely to need to attend hospital due to COVID-19. This risk only dropped marginally when pre-existing health conditions were taken into account. The findings are in stark contrast to smaller and less accurate papers so far, citing a lower risk of hospitalisation in smokers. The authors concluded in their pre-print paper, which has not been peer reviewed by other scientists: 'Our results provide compelling evidence for an association between current smoking and individual risk from COVID-19, including symptom burden and risk of attending hospital.' In light of emerging evidence that smokers make up low numbers of hospital patients, scientists have discussed how nicotine affects the expression of ACE-2 receptors. ACE-2 are proteins in the body the virus binds to in order to infect cells. If nicotine does lowers ACE-2 expression, it makes it harder for viral particles to gain entry into cells and therefore cause an infection. But if it enhances ACE-2 receptors, in theory, this puts smokers at higher risks of catching the coronavirus. To put this to bed, the Imperial team measured ACE2 expression in adipose tissue, which is made of fat cells. The samples came from 541 women including 54 smokers, 196 past smokers and 291 non-smokers. Smokers were found to have reduced ACE2 expression in adipose tissue compared to non-smokers. This would suggest smokers are less likely to catch the coronavirus. However, the research in this area is so vague it is difficult to say whether this is the case. Even Dr Hopkinson and colleagues wrote the matter was 'complicated'. What is more clear, is that lower numbers of ACE-2 receptors appear to exacerbate the disease because they are protective against lung injury. The virus itself is known to cause lung damage by depleting the numbers of ACE-2 receptors. Therefore, if nicotine reduces ACE-2 receptors, this would make matters even worse. But on the other hand, if nicotine boosts ACE-2 receptors, as suggested by other research, withdrawal from it during a hospital stay would also potentially lead to worse outcomes. Studies have shown nicotine may prevent a severe over-reaction of the immune system called a cytokine storm - a phenomenon found to be killing many COVID-19 patients. Welsh NHS doctors who want to do COVID-19 trials with medicinal nicotine patches based on the theory the addictive chemical is protective in some way. Doctors at The Royal Glamorgan Hospital are currently waiting for funding and ethical approval to move forward with a trial of some kind. Researchers in France are also planning a trial after finding low levels of smokers in a hospital in Paris. The move would be controversial, considering studies such as that by Imperial warn smoking is a risk factor for COVID-19. Zhuang Yan, deputy to the National People's Congress from Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, cleans up a local street, on May 11. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan, a woman cleaner in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, was elected as a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, in 2017. Zhuang has been improving herself to better serve people since then. She conducted a lot of visits and investigations at related departments. Zhuang's suggestions have been becoming more targeted and feasible. She is responsible for cleaning up the garbage of about 800 local households and surrounding shops. When she had to leave her post and attend two to three day long group studies as a NPC deputy, she usually took over her colleague's shift for a few days in advance so that her duties could be fulfilled when she was absent. Receiving letters and visits from the public has become one of Zhuang's daily duties. She treats all of the concerns seriously. "People chose me as a NPC deputy for they trust me. I will express their voices during the NPC session, trying to do practical work and helping solve their problems," Zhuang said. Zhuang Yan (L) talks with a colleague in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 11. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan prepares her proposal at home in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 11. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan (2nd, R) receives visitors in need of help at her company in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 11. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan prepares for work in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 11. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan (L) reads a visitor's request carefully in Lishan District, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan went to the Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Lishan District for an investigation, Anshan City, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on May 9. [Xinhua/Long Lei] Zhuang Yan (R) explains the implementation of the proposals she submitted during the NPC session last year. [Xinhua/Long Lei] (Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China) HYDERABAD: Surprising and shocking stories continue to emerge since the advent of coronavirus. In one such unusual development in Hyderabad, a lady, who herself is admitted as a COVID-19 patient, tweeted to Telangana Chief Minister's son KT Rama Rao, who is also a cabinet minister, about her missing husband. On Wednesday (May 20) evening, the lady posted a tweet saying that her husband is missing and urged the minister to help her. @KTRTRS Missing case of my husband at Gandhi hospital.... Hello K. Taraka Rama Rao sir, Myself madhavi w/o Madhusudhan(age:42) living with two daughters in vanasthalipuram. As our family members being suffering from corona had admitted in Gandhi hospital & we all had Alampally Madhavi (@AlampallyMadha3) May 20, 2020 However, the reply of Dr M Raja Rao, who is the Superintendent of Gandhi Government Hospital, the main hospital treating COVID-19 patients, gave the exact details about her husband, along with a totally different perspective on what is happening in the cases where COVID-19 patients pass away and their families refuse to take dead bodies and how authorities have to cremate the dead body on their own. Raja Rao's reply provided detailed information about Allampally Madhavi's husband Madhusudhan, who was COVID-19 patient was admitted to Gandhi Govt Hospital on April 30 at 7.45 pm along with his other family members. However, Madhusudhan died on May 1 at 6.03 pm. "In response to the Twitter message from Smt Alampally Madhavi resident of Vanasthali Puram, that her Husband is missing from Gandhi Hospital, I would like to clarify the facts. Late Madhusudhan aged 42 years was admitted to Gandhi Hospital on 30/4/20, at 7:45 pm with a positive diagnosis of COVID, and as his condition was serious (bilateral pneumonia with ARDS), in spite of best efforts he could not be saved and expired on 1/5/20 at 6:03 pm. As per procedure the family members were informed and as a protocol, the dead body of COVID patients are handed over to Police, and, they in turn hand over the body to the family, if the family is not coming forward for any reason cremation is done by the GHMC. In this case, also the body was handed over to the police, and the signature of the police who handed over the body also taken. On inquiry, the body was cremated by GHMC. Later other family members were also admitted with COVID in Gandhi Hospital. All due procedures were followed, we sympathise with the family but it is wrong to defame the hospital and Doctors and other staff who are treating hundreds of Carona cases risking their lives," [sic] the reply from Dr Rao read. Another aspect to note here is the "denial" of the family to even accept the COVID-19 patient's dead body and cremate it, which seems to be the case of Madhusudhan who had to be cremated by the police and officials after due procedures. The health department officials while speaking to Zee Media pointed out that this is the issue they face in some cases when a COVID-19 patient dies. The family is not ready to accept the dead body and it happened in this particular case too. : Tamil Nadu School Minister K A Sengottiyan on Thursday ruled out further postponement of the class X board exam. After receiving Rs 1.6 crore from the Elementary School Teachers Association for the Tamilnadu Chief Ministers Relief Fund, the Minister said, "Due to the extension of the COVID-19 lockdown till May 31, it was necessary to postpone the examination to June 15." "Now there is no scope for further postponement, and we are making arrangements to teach the hill area students through online," he said. The 10th examination would be conducted in over 12,500 centres as against 3,084 centres last year, he said. In every centre, social distance would be followed for accommodating the students to write the examination, he said. We are arranging the students to write the examination at their own schools, for which a detailed report will be released soon," the Minister said. Earlier, he inaugurated a new vehicle to be used for cleaning the streets and roads under the Smart City Programme. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former National Organizer of the NDC, Kofi Adams, has praised Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, for his decision to expose fake Ghanaian pastors. Kofi Adams established that although he dislikes Kennedys style of politics, he is in full support of his plan. Adams messages were read live on NET2TV by Kennedy who obviously could not hide his excitement that his efforts were noticed by a member of the opposition party. Its self-gratifying to get a message from Kofi Adams. He said although he doesnt like my politics, he supports what Im doing. If you dont continue like this, there will be no tomorrow, Kennedy Agyapong read out. The Assin Central MP said he least expected that such a message could come from Kofi Adams. The message from Kofi Adams is very powerful and encouraging. This message is coming from Kofi Adams of NDC. Its self-gratifying to get a message from Kofi Adams. Upon all the fights we have been involved in, he stated. Background The Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong identified Bishop Daniel Obinim and some other pastors as charlatans parading as servants of God in the country. He has among several allegations accused the pastor of sleeping with countless women including married ones and using some for sacrifices. He also listed the names of different ladies that he claimed Bishop Obinim had committed adultery with. Meanwhile, Bishop Daniel Obinim, the founder of the International God's Way church, has been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service over the publication of false news and falsification of documents. According to the police, "He has been charged with the offenses of Publication of false news and Forgery of document contrary to sections 208 and 159 of the Criminal and other offenses Act, 1960 (ACT 29) respectively". Not too long after the arrest, Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong is claiming to be the architect behind the arrest of controversial preacher Bishop Obinim. Source: ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Serbian cable firm Serbia Broadband (SBB) has slammed the countrys regulator for neglecting its duties after the utility firm EPS (Elektroprivreda Serbia) significantly increased rental rates for space on its pylons. According to local news outlet Beta, SBB believes that EPS is attempting to impose unfair conditions by demanding an increased compensation of 108% for each pole in Belgrade, or 64% for the rest of Serbia. Since EPS is the only company in Serbia that owns and operates utility poles, SBB argues that the utility companys actions amount to an abuse of its monopoly. SBB claimed that the enormous price increase had been made with no justification, and that the rates were the highest in the region and much higher than in many EU countries. In response, EPS refuted the allegation that it had doubled its rental rates and noted that of the 65 operators that house equipment on its infrastructure, 62 had agreed to its new lease terms. The utility firm has also filed a lawsuit to procure payment of EUR1.18 million (US$1.29 million) from SBB after the cable firm continued to use its poles without signing a new contract after the expiry of their previous agreement in June 2019. EPS argues that SBBs actions in this instance were illegal, noting that it made several requests for payment from the cable firm before finally taking legal action. In addition to the outstanding rent bill, EPS noted that it would now need to cover the cost of removing SBBs equipment from poles in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Nis and Novi Sad. SBB has requested intervention from regulator RATEL (Republic Agency for Electronic Communications) in the case, but reportedly the body has denied the request on the grounds that EPS price increase has been accepted by almost all of the operators involved. President Donald Trump has the authority to issue full reimbursement for expenses incurred by states in their fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reports. FEMA Funding Only Provides Partial Relief Thirty-nine states and territories have requested the full reimbursement of the money they spent on procuring equipment to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. States are allowed reimbursement up to 75% of expenses in fighting the coronavirus pandemic under the law that applies to Federal Emergency Management Agency. The states have asked FEMA to waive this rule and provide full reimbursement on the expenses incurred on medical supplies, testing, and other incidentals disclosed a FEMA spokesperson. Trump Holds All The Waiver Cards The president has the authority to waive the FEMA rule, and the National Governors Associaton had asked him to waive costs for all states and territories. A stimulus bill that passed the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives also calls for 100% reimbursement, but this bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, which is held by the Republicans. The administration meanwhile has told states that they can use money from the Cares Act to make up for the gap left after FEMA funding is made available. State Budgets Left Reeling After Coronavirus Payments States had paid high prices for coronavirus related equipment after FEMA advised them to purchase it on their own. These expenses are having a detrimental effect on the budgets of the states. Shortfalls in the state budgets may lead to curtailing of services even as unemployment reaches new highs not seen since the Great Depression. California Governor Gavin Newsom disclosed that the state is facing a $54 billion shortfall, and this may lead to the furloughing of essential workers. Tribal nations are also seeking full reimbursements. 'A Perfect Storm' Is Forming FEMA has set aside $6 billion for reimbursing states and has $80 billion in remaining funds that could be utilized. Story continues In the case of the state of Washington, FEMA has set aside $64.3 million, while the state spent $500 million on protective equipment, a FEMA spokesperson has said that the amount could grow as Washington applies for more money. States paid inflated prices for equipment resulting from price gouging, but FEMA expects that the costs to be reimbursed must be reasonable and should not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost. A former FEMA official told the WSJ regarding the shortfalls that the states face, This is devastating their budgets, cautioning, All of this is a perfect storm. See more from Benzinga 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. New Delhi: Actor Hagen Mills, best-known for his role in TV series Baskets, died in an attempted murder-suicide case on Tuesday evening at his home in Mayfield, Kentucky, USA, reports international websites like Deadline and Variety. He was 29. Hagen killed himself after shooting his girlfriend Erica Price, with whom he had a young daughter. Erica received injuries and was taken to the hospital while the actor was pronounced dead on the spot. According to a report in Deadline, Erica informed the Mayfield Police Department about the incident. She received gunshot wounds on her arm and chest. Price told the cops that Hagen had shot her and then himself inside their home. The 34-year-old further informed the police that her mother and child were held by the actor until she arrived home. Hagen Mills was born on August 9, 1990, in the US. Apart from the Baskets (2016), he was also seen in other TV series such as Swedish Dicks (2016) and Involuntarily Single (2013). He has been part of the film Bonnie & Clyde: Justified. Afterpay says it has signed up 1 million active customers in the US over the past 10 weeks as consumers went online to shop during the coronavirus shutdown, and now has 5 million active customers in the world's largest economy. The buy now, pay later firm said the influx of new US customers was a 30 to 40 per cent jump from the weekly rate of new clients it added in January and February. The news sent its stock to an intraday record high of $45.13 on Thursday morning, giving Afterpay a market valuation of more than $12 billion. Afterpay said it processed $2.4 billion worth of merchant transactions in the US since the start of the year, a 354 per cent increase from the same period in 2019. Afterpay said it had 15 million app and site visits in April alone, and its US shop directory contributed nearly 10 million referrals to its retail partners. Afterpay has boomed in the US as shoppers have been forced online during COVID-19 lockdowns which have threatened the future of retailers like J. Crew. Credit:AP Andrew Mitchell, a portfolio manager with Afterpay investor Ophir Asset Management, said the numbers were better than the market had expected and backed up by news overnight from one of the company's key US retailers, Urban Outfitters. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal New Mexicos state tourism department is charting a path to help the states tourism industry recover as the economy starts to reopen, according to department leadership. New Mexico Tourism Secretary Jen Paul Schroer laid out the state of the beleaguered industry and announced a series of programs aimed at getting businesses back on their feet during a Tuesday webinar. These range from a new advertising campaign to an effort to help businesses acquire protective equipment more effectively. We know that our industry was the first to shut down, and its going to take longer to ramp up, Schroer said. The occupancy rate at New Mexico hotels dropped to 22% in early April, down from 63% just a few weeks early, according to data from the tourism research firm Smith Travel Reports. Likewise, visitor spending was down as much as 84% by late April compared to the previous year. We are past the low point in demand but we still have a long way to go before we are at pre-COVID levels, Schroer said. While New Mexico is beginning to relax restrictions on nonessential business as the state meets certain criteria related to containing the spread of the virus, Schroer cautioned that large gatherings still may be a ways off. I think the reality (is) that we may not have the ability to do mass gatherings of over 100 people until there is a vaccine or herd immunity, she said. Schroer said this means it may be 12 to 18 months before a return to normalcy for the tourism industry, which is reliant on large events like fairs and festivals. Still, Schroer identified several reasons for the industry to be optimistic about the future. She cited a study showing that many Americans are already planning their next trip. The same study showed that travelers are more likely to remain in the United States, avoid crowds and drive to their destination, three factors that stand to benefit New Mexico. Schroer told listeners a key for hotels and other businesses looking to win back customers will be assuring them that the business is taking every precaution to prevent virus spread. Consumers want to see an added layer of sanitation and protection, she said. To that end, Schroers department is developing a certification program with the New Mexico Society of Association Executives to educate companies on virus-related best practices. Companies that complete the program will receive decals they can display to visitors, among other benefits. Those companies also will have the option to participate in a collective that lets them buy personal protective equipment like masks in bulk, an effort Schroer said should reduce costs for companies. Additionally, the tourism department is working with the New Mexico Hospitality Association to launch an industry-led advertising campaign titled New Mexico Safe Promise by the end of the month. We know that we are in the business of building consumer confidence again, Schroer said. Hyderabad: While fingers are being pointed at the Telangana state government for testing fewer people for Covid-19, it appears that a few corporate hospitals in Hyderabad have been secretly conducting coronavirus tests at their premises on their doctors, VIPs and their families. These test results or number of tests do not figure in the daily medical bulletin released by the government, ensuring that the overall number of infections continues to remain low. The hospital managements at least two big names persuaded certain key figures in the state government, citing the safety of their doctors as the reason, and obtained their nod to conduct the tests, albeit unofficially. Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that top doctors working in corporate hospitals began worrying after a group of doctors and paramedics in two top corporate hospitals came in contact with coronavirus positive patients in March. Anticipating that this would be an everyday problem in these times of pandemic, they took up the matter with the management and urged them to pull the strings in the government. Under pressure from the doctors, the management of corporate hospitals met a key minister in the state government and persuaded him to allow them to conduct tests exclusively for their doctors if they were to get infected or developed symptoms. They, however, assured the government that the number of tests or positive cases will not be reflected anywhere in their records. ''It is quid pro quo. It works well for both the hospitals and the government,'' a doctor, who was among those who underwent the test in the hospital he is working, told this newspaper. He said the corporate hospitals are not against testing everyone and in fact, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has allowed eight private hospitals for tests. ''But the government does not want to project the real numbers as they feel it would go against the interests of the state,'' he opined. The state government has also restrained eight ICMR approved private hospitals and laboratories from conducting tests, perhaps fearing that with the involvement of private players, they would have little control over the numbers, which so far have been kept very low, deliberately. Though some of these hospitals have procured RT-PCR kits for testing, sources said the government is not releasing the lab codes and the required format to begin the tests. In Telangana, the state government has notified eight government hospitals as designated hospitals for the Covid-19 patients. So far, the government has been maintaining that if Covid-19 tests are done at corporate hospitals, there is a danger of these hospitals turning into a prime source for the spread of the killer virus. India on Thursday called on Nepals leadership to create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to address boundary issues, a day after the two sides sparred on a revised political map that depicted Lipulekh and Kalapani as part of Nepalese territory. The external affairs ministry delivered a sharply worded response on Wednesday after Nepals land management minister Padma Kumari Aryal unveiled the new map that showed Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as part of Byas rural municipality in Sudurpaschim province. Asked about the matter during an online news briefing on Thursday, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: All matters related to outstanding boundary issues will be dealt with between India and Nepal, and we hope the Nepalese leadership will create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues. Indias position on Nepals revised map is consistent, he said. He reiterated Indias contention that the revision of the map was a unilateral act and not based on historical facts and evidences. He also reiterated that such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by us. Kathmandus move came little more than six months after New Delhi published new maps of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh that showed Kalapani as part of Uttarakhand state. Nepals council of ministers had approved the new map during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday. The diplomatic row began on May 8 after defence minister Rajnath Singh opened an 80-km road that ends at Lipulekh Pass on the border with China. The road was built so that pilgrims going to Kailash-Mansarovar in the Tibet Autonomous Region can avoid dangerous high-altitude routes through Sikkim and Nepal. Nepals foreign ministry summoned the Indian envoy last week to protest against the construction of the road. New Delhi had rejected Kathmandus protest, saying Lipulekh is completely within the territory of India. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:40:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GAZA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official announced on Thursday that 29 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded during the past three days in the Gaza Strip. Yousef Abu al-Reesh, director general of the Hamas-run Ministry of Health told a news briefing that the total number of the coronavirus cases in the Gaza Strip has reached 49 since March 5. Al-Reesh told reporters that the 29 new cases are of Palestinians who had recently returned to the Gaza Strip through Rafah crossing point with Egypt and Erez crossing with Israel. The official noted that the Health Ministry is studying the possibility of imposing a curfew on the Gaza Strip during the days of the Eid al-Fitr holiday which is expected to start on Saturday for three days. Meanwhile, Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told the news briefing that Hamas has decided to completely close Rafah and Erez crossing points with Egypt and Israel for those who want to return to the Gaza Strip until the end of June. Enditem The John Templeton Foundation announced physician-geneticist Francis Collins as the winner of its annual Templeton Prize. Collins, who is currently the director of the National Institutes for Health, has discovered several genetic variants associated with diseases, and led the Human Genome Project from 1990-2003. He is also the author of The Language of God (Free Press, 2006), which explores genetic research through a Christian lens and argues, God is most certainly not threatened by science; He made it all possible," PW said in its review. Valued at 1.1 million pounds (roughly $1.3 million), the Templeton Prize is recognizing Collins for his ability to integrate faith and reason. Collins has demonstrated how religious faith can motivate and inspire rigorous scientific research, the Templeton Foundation said in a statement. Additionally, Collinss discovery of genes associated with diseases such as type-2 diabetes and cystic fibrosis has shed new light on human well-being and the nature and possibilities of the human species, according to the foundation. Collins is also the author of The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine (Harper Perennial, 2010), Belief: Readings on the Reasons for Faith (HarperOne, 2010), and The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions (IVP, 2011). He released a statement upon receiving the Templeton Prize expressing both his sense of awe over the complexity of human biology and grief over the suffering and death due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. "As I write this, almost my every waking moment is consumed by the effort to find treatments and a vaccine for Covid-19." A formal virtual ceremony for the Templeton Prize will take place later this year. Named after British investor and philanthropist John Templeton, the award honors discoveries that yield new insights about religion especially through science. Past winners include Mother Teresa, Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and most recently, physicist Marcelo Gleiser. It may not be much fun to envision spending the kickoff to summer in quarantine, but at least we have plenty of streaming treats to get us through the tough times. Netflix is out with a whole new crop of offerings this month; below, take a look at some of the films and shows were most looking forward to, as well as a full list of everything hitting the site in June. Spelling the Dream (June 3) This documentary follows four Indian American students as they vie to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, focusing on the rise of Indian Americans in the spelling contest since 1999. 13 Reasons Why: Season Four (June 5) Its graduation time for the secret-burdened teens on the final season of this highly emotional high school series, and theyre not going out to face the real world without a whole lot of drama. Queer Eye: Season Five (June 5) The Fab Five is headed to Philadelphia this season to bring their talents to a whole new crop of locals, from a hardworking DJ to a struggling dog groomer. Da 5 Bloods (June 12) Were getting a brand-new Spike Lee film that follows four African American veterans returning to Vietnam to search for the remains of their former squad leader and to try to make peace with the memories that haunt them. The Politician: Season Two (June 19) Ryan Murphys protagonist Payton has graduated to involving himself in a race for the state senate, but dont worry: This upward move is sure to bring even more snark and folly to the series. June 1: Act of Valor All Dogs Go to Heaven Bad News Bears Cape Fear Casper Cardcaptor Sakura: Clow Card Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura Card Clueless Cocomelon: Season One E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial The Healer Inside Man Lust, Caution Observe and Report Priest The Silence of the Lambs Starship Troopers The Boy The Car (1977) The Disaster Artist The Help The Lake House The Queen Twister V for Vendetta Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story West Side Story You Dont Mess with the Zohan Story continues Zodiac June 2: Alone: Season Six Fuller House: The Farewell Season Garth Brooks: The Road Im On: Season One True: Rainbow Rescue June 3: Killing Gunther Lady Bird June 4: Baki: The Great Raitai Tournament Saga Can You Hear Me/Mentends-tu? June 5: Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai Hannibal: Seasons One through Three The Last Days of American Crime Queen of the South: Season Four June 7: Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: Volume Six June 8: Before I Fall June 10: Curon D.C.s Legends of Tomorrow: Season Five* Lenox Hill Middle Men My Mister: Season One Reality Z June 11: Pose: Season Two June 12: Dating Around: Season Two F is for Family: Season Four Jo Koy: In His Elements Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts ONE PIECE: Alabasta ONE PIECE: East Blue ONE PIECE: Enter Chopper at the Winter Island ONE PIECE: Entering into the Grand Line Pokemon Journeys: The Series The Search The Woods June 13 Alexa & Katie Part Four How to Get Away With Murder: Season Six Milea June 14: Marcella: Season Three June 15: Underdogs June 16: Baby Mama Charlie St. Cloud The Darkness Frost/Nixon June 17: An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn Mr. Iglesias: Part Two June 18: A Whisker Away The Order: Season Two June 19: Babies: Part Two Father Soldier Son Feel the Beat Floor Is Lava Lost Bullet Girls from Ipanema: Season Two One-Way to Tomorrow Rhyme Time Town Wasp Network June 21: Goldie June 22: Dark Skies June 23: Eric Andre: Legalize Everything June 24: Athlete A Crazy Delicious Nobody Knows Im Here/Nadie sabe que estoy aqui June 26: Amar y vivir Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga Home Game Straight Up June 29: Bratz: The Movie June 30: Adu BNA George Lopez: Well Do It For Half Originally Appeared on Vogue Combo photo shows Chen Zhihao, a nurse at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, during lunch break on May 9 (L) and Chen wears protective clothing when she supports the anti-virus fight in Wuhan, the former epicenter of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in China. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen Zhihao, 30, is a midwife at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, capital city of South China's Guangdong Province. Chen rushed to Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, to aid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) control efforts after the COVID-19 outbreak. She had fought on the front line of the anti-virus battle for two months, and cared for more than 100 severely and critically infected patients during her stay there. Chen returned to her post after a short rest following her return from Wuhan. The maternity wards Chen works in has 29 midwives, who receive about 3,000 pregnant women every year. "A midwife's technical skills and operational abilities are the key to the safety of the expectant mothers and infants," Chen said, adding that she hoped to be a good midwife to serve more mothers and infants in the future. Combo photo shows that Chen Zhihao looks after a newborn baby at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on May 9 (upper) and she performs arterial blood sampling for a COVID-19 patient in Wuhan. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen weighs a newborn baby at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on May 9. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen records the conditions of a pregnant woman in a ward in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on May 9. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen dresses up a newborn baby in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on May 9. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen records the information of a baby at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on May 9. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] Chen reads at home on May 10, in preparation for her thesis defense meeting. [Xinhua/Deng Hua] (Source: Xinhua/Translated and edited by Women of China) SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Helo Corp. (OTC PINK:HLOC) ("Helo Corp"), a leading developer of wearable devices embedded with Life Sensing TechnologyTM and dedicated to improving wellness worldwide, today invites health researchers and medical professionals to join its Project CEASE (COVID-19 Early Alert System Experiment) to help format and analyse its anonymised VYVO smartwatch wearer data to see if data patterns gathered from its wellness devices can be used to indicate the onset of a viral infection, such as COVID-19. Helo Corp's smartwatch data is already being used in an early alert system called Guardian Alert, which is available to VYVO smartwatch wearers who have pre-selected their guardians for notification if their data indicates that they have fallen or they have had an Atrial Fibrillation episode or a sleep apnea event. In addition, the Guardian Alert system notifies guardians if the wearer's breath rate, heart rate, blood oxygenation and temperature are outside of their normal ranges. Although Helo Corp's non-invasive devices are intended only for general wellness use and provide personal tracking as part of promoting a healthy lifestyle, we believe the data that these devices gather will provide useful insights for participants in Project CEASE, both VYVO smartwatch wearers and the health and medical professionals who join us. In addition, Project CEASE data will soon be enhanced with data from VYVO's latest devices which are currently in production and use medical grade sensors for temperature measurement. These sensors provide 0.1C accuracy from 30 to 45C (86 to 113F) and meet the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E1112 and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 80601 requirements for patient thermometers. Helo Corp is asking VYVO smartwatch wearers to share their ongoing bio-data gathered from their VYVO smartwatch and to complete a health status questionnaire, which will includes results from the rapid antibody COVID-19 test kit that is being provided to wearers that participate in Project CEASE. These test kits with two separate tests included, have already been sourced from approved manufacturers and selected for participants depending on the participant's location, to ensure compliance with their local country regulations. Test kits are being provided to participants to standardize participants' infection status feedback across the project. Project CEASE is being conducted in three phases. The first phase of data collection will commence when existing VYVO smartwatch wearers opt-in to sharing their bio-data using their VYVO Smart App. The Algorithm Training Phase, the second phase, will commence once sufficient data has been gathered to train our AI algorithm to identify possible data patterns that may indicate the presence of a viral respiratory infection. The third or Validation Phase, is where the trained AI algorithm is applied to Project CEASE participants whose infection status is unknown. If a high probability of an influenza-like infection is detected in a participant's data, they will receive an Early Alert notification (similar to the image below). To validate the notification as generated by the AI algorithm, the participant will be requested to consult with their doctor and, if so advised, undertake and share the result of their COVID-19 test. Simulated image of VYVO's Guardian Alert notification system illustrating the probability of a viral infection. Helo Corp believes the collection and aggregation of the bio-data of our smartwatch customers may be beneficial to the broader healthcare community. Consequently, Helo Corp is reaching out to medical doctors, professional researchers, healthcare providers, government bodies, hospitals, universities and commercial entities with project relevant capabilities to join Project CEASE to assist Helo Corp in framing the scope and format of the bio-data that we collect in a way that would be most useful. The broader goal of Project CEASE would be to gather and make available Helo Corp's aggregated, anonymised wearer data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist the healthcare community to identify data patterns which might be used by them to indicate the onset of a viral infection, such as COVID-19. This aggregated, anonymised wearer data is available free to all approved research partners while Project CEASE remains active. Fabio Galdi, CTO and Chairman of Helo Corp, said that "To ensure Project CEASE is meaningful on a worldwide scale, we are looking for at least 25,000 VYVO smartwatch wearers to contribute their data. The good news is that we believe we can easily achieve this level of participation with our existing VYVO smartwatch wearers. Using this crowd sourced, cloud based real-time data collection process, together with the power of big data analysis and machine learning, we expect to be able to provide bio-data that will indicate patterns and trends to assist in identifying a likely onset of a viral infection. This would enable us to not only notify the VYVO smartwatch wearer so they can seek early treatment and self-isolate to protect their family and friends but also benefit the healthcare community as a whole. Using traditional research methods, a global field experiment of this magnitude could take years," Mr Galdi continued "but we believe that, by using our devices and technology, we have the potential to see meaningful results and possibly Project CEASE validation in a much shorter time frame." Sean McVeigh, CEO of Helo Corp., said that, "Although today COVID-19 detection is a high priority activity, this type of research and development is not new for us. Our VYVO smartwatches already provide personal alerts and supporting data to wearers and their guardians, when events such as atrial fibrillation, low blood oxygenation, elevated temperature or sleep apnea are detected. However, given the critical nature of this pandemic, our focus is on Project CEASE so we can make our contribution to science by providing readily available and real-time data set that will help identify the mechanism of action of this virus, minimize its impact and reduce transmission rates. We thank our prospective VYVO participants for their invaluable contribution and welcome the opportunity to invite and share our aggregated data with other experts, so we can all do our part to help stop the transmission of this virus." About Helo Corp. Helo Corp. is a technology company that provides wearable devices for use in the quantified-self, wellness market. Our wearable devices and related applications provide our wearers with health related knowledge acquired through self-tracking. Our Life Sensing TechnologyTM uses state-of-the-art sensors, enhanced signal processing and algorithms to collect and process specific data gathered from our smartwatch wearers; and it is embedded into our wearable devices that are designed, produced and sold into the wellness market through our marketing and distribution partner, Vyvo Pte. Ltd. and its distribution network. For further information, please see: www.helocorp.com. Project CEASE is being managed by Vyvo Labs, the Quantified-Self Research Center of Helo Corp's US subsidiary, Vyvo Technology Corp. For further information, please see www.vyvolabs.com. Contact: investors@helocorp.com or +1 650-646-2193 Forward Looking Statement This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "potential" and similar statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this press release are forward-looking statements and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates, but involve a number of unknown risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. SOURCE: Helo Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590964/Helo-Corp-Invites-Health-Researchers-and-Medical-Professionals-to-Join-Project-CEASE-an-International-Field-Experiment-to-Identify-the-Onset-of-COVID-19-Infection-Using-AI-and-Anonymised-VYVO-Smartwatch-Data India may extend anti-dumping duty on imports of carbon black, used in rubber and tyre industry, from China and Russia as the domestic industry has approached the commerce ministry to investigate the matter. Following the complaint, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies has initiated the probe to examine whether the expiry of existing anti-dumping duty on 'carbon black used in rubber applications' is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping of the product from these two countries and impact to the domestic industry. Carbon Black Manufacturers Association, on behalf of domestic producers - Phillips Carbon Balck, Himadri Speciality Chemicals, Continental Carbon India and Birla Carbon India - has filed an application before the DGTR, under the commerce ministry, for continuation of the duty on the product from these two nations. On the basis of the prima facie evidence submitted by the industry, the DGTR "hereby initiates a sunset review investigation to review the need for continued imposition of the duties," the directorate said in a notification. The current duty is valid up to November 17 this year.The product is used in production/processing of rubber, including tyres. In international trade parlance, dumping happens when a country or a firm exports an item at a price lower than the price of that product in its domestic market. Dumping impacts price of that product in the importing country, hitting margins and profits of manufacturing firms. According to global trade norms, a country is allowed to impose tariffs on such dumped products to provide a level-playing field to domestic manufacturers. The duty is imposed only after a thorough investigation by a quasi-judicial body, such as DGTR, in India. Imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. India and China are members of this Geneva-based organisation, which deals with global trade norms. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Ayya Lmahamad Turkish President Recep Erdogan congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Azerbaijan's national holiday- Republic Day, celebrated on May 28, press-service of President reports on May 21. In his letter, Erdogan noted that Azerbaijan has achieved great successes and continues to develop steadily since the restoration of its independence. At the last high-level meeting of Strategic Cooperation Council, I was proud to witness the important achievements of Azerbaijan, which is developing day by day since the restoration of its independence under your strong leadership. I sincerely believe that the Land of Fire, which confidently and powerfully entered the 102nd year of the Republic, will continue to take major steps in all areas, Erdogan's letter reads. Furthermore, he expressed confidence that Azerbaijan-Turkey cooperation will continue to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region in future. Our mutual will to further expand our outstanding strategic ties in the spirit of "One Nation, Two States" is a source of great joy. I am absolutely convinced that our countries, whose hearts are beating together, will continue to demonstrate brotherly solidarity on national issues, and make a significant contribution to peace, prosperity and stability in our region, Erdogan said. He wished Aliyev strong health and happiness, as well as peace and prosperity to the Azerbaijani people. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A 24-year-old from Melbourne's west is being remembered as a loving friend after he was killed in a hit-run involving people police believe were known to him. Police said a ute collided with Werribee man Jake Smith on Woolpack Road in Maddingley near Bacchus Marsh, north-west of Melbourne, about 7.15pm on Wednesday. Jake Smith. Credit:Facebook Investigators believe those involved were known to each other, Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Thursday. Friend Sharni Emmett said Mr Smith who had an arm tattoo bearing the name of his recently deceased brother Tyson was a "loving and caring person" adored by his friends and family. The leader of the Taliban said Wednesday that the militants were committed to a landmark deal with the US, despite being accused of carrying out thousands of attacks in Afghanistan since it was signed. In a rare message released ahead of the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan next week, Haibatullah Akhundzada urged Washington "not to waste" the opportunity offered by the deal to end America's longest war. "The Islamic Emirate is committed to the agreement... and urges the other side to honour its own commitments and not allow this critical opportunity to go to waste," Akhundzada said in a statement, using the Taliban's name for Afghanistan. After months of negotiations, the Taliban and US signed a deal in February which stipulates Washington will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by next year in return for security guarantees. "I urge American officials to not afford anyone the opportunity to obstruct, delay and ultimately derail this internationally recognised bilateral agreement," the reclusive leader said. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy who brokered the deal, said he heard a similar "commitment to the agreement" as he met with the Taliban's chief negotiator Mullah Baradar in Qatar. "On violence, I told the Talibs violence by all sides must fall. Innocent Afghans have borne far too much and for too long the costs of this war," he wrote on Twitter. Khalilzad, however, has earlier said that Taliban attacks on Afghan government forces outside of cities do not violate the agreement under which US troops are withdrawing. Akhundzada hails from the Taliban's traditional bastion of Kandahar, and was appointed head of the group after a US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, in 2016. Mansour had succeeded Mullah Omar, the one-eyed warrior-cleric who founded the group. Akhundzada is a hardline religious scholar and a former head of the Taliban court system. He outlined the political system he envisaged for Afghanistan after the exit of foreign troops. "The objectives of our jihad... are freedom of our country and to establish an Islamic system," he said. "Every male and female member of society shall be given their due rights." The problem is the Taliban's interpretation of Islam and the rights it provides for. During their previous rule in 1990s, the Taliban had implemented harsh Islamic punishments like public executions and amputations. Men were forced to grow beards and women had to be fully covered when they were allowed outside. The extremists had also banned girls from school. US President Donald Trump's administration has made it a priority to end America's war in Afghanistan. The US-Taliban deal is also aimed at paving the way for the insurgents to hold direct peace talks with Kabul. In a bid to ease the withdrawal of foreign forces, US officials have been pushing militant and government leaders to begin those negotiations. The talks have stumbled, but the Afghan government was strengthened over the weekend by the announcement of a power-sharing deal between President Ashraf Ghani and his former chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, who will lead negotiations with the Taliban. Khalilzad arrived in Kabul on Wednesday and met Ghani in a bid to push the Afghan peace process forward. The pair discussed the importance of "a ceasefire or reduction in violence before the start of direct talks," Ghani's office said. Analysts say the Taliban have been emboldened by the deal with the US, and Afghan government officials have reported more than 3,800 attacks since it was signed, killing 420 civilians and wounding 906. On an especially horrific day last week, gunmen raided a maternity hospital, killing dozens including mothers and infants, and carried out a suicide bombing at a funeral. The Taliban denied involvement in the attacks, but President Ghani blamed them and the Islamic State (IS) group for the bloodshed. The US said it believed IS was involved and hoping to scuttle peace moves. Following the recent attacks the government ordered security forces to switch to an "offensive" posture against the Taliban. The Taliban responded by vowing to increase attacks against government forces. The United Nations has warned that the spike in violence has caused increased civilian casualties. WASHINGTON - An appeals court Thursday ordered the judge in Michael Flynn's case to defend his actions after Flynn's attorneys asked that his conviction be dismissed immediately, as requested by the Justice Department. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit took the unusual step of ordering U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to answer within 10 days accusations from Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser. The court also invited the Justice Department to comment. The order comes as legal scholars from across the political spectrum debated the case's implications for judicial independence and the Constitution's separation-of-powers design. "This case does not involve a decision by the Executive Branch simply to 'drop' a prosecution," but a "virtually unprecedented decision" to dismiss a case after it has been won, wrote a group of about 20 legal experts, led by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, in a brief to be filed Friday. Sullivan last week paused Flynn's case and invited outside groups and a retired federal judge to argue against the Justice Department's May 7 request to toss the former three-star general's conviction. Sullivan also asked the retired judge to examine whether Flynn may have committed perjury while pleading guilty to lying about his pre-inauguration contacts with Russia's ambassador. Flynn's attorneys responded Tuesday by asking the District Circuit to intervene, accusing Sullivan of bias and overreaching into what they called prosecutors' exclusive authority to decide whether to drop a case. Sullivan's orders "reveal his plan to continue the case indefinitely, rubbing salt in General Flynn's open wound from the Government's misconduct and threatening him with criminal contempt," Flynn lawyer Sidney Powell wrote. Conservative legal analysts and commentators have also weighed in on the controversy, saying the Justice Department should be allowed to undo Flynn's conviction without judicial interference. "Under the American Constitution, the three separate branches are expected to clash with one another," Tim Lynch, former director of the Cato Institute's project on criminal justice, wrote recently for the Federalist Society. "Even still . . . judges must respect the prerogatives that fall within the constitutional boundaries of the executive branch. The prerogative to prosecute, or not prosecute, is one of those prerogatives." But others disagreed. Tribe said his group will request to file a friend-of-the-court brief, saying the circuit panel's order "makes it all the more urgent" and that the panel should deny Flynn's request because granting it would be "a remarkable abuse of judicial authority." Requiring Sullivan to exonerate Flynn in the "public interest" as the government and Flynn request would make the court a "subordinate" of the Department of Justice and force it to be "complicit" in an "inexplicable about-face," they wrote. They argued the federal judiciary would be treated as "an agency located on the executive branch organization chart headed by the President." Courts "do not simply do the bidding of the executive branch," but instead have independent judicial authority, especially after a case has been fully prosecuted, a guilty plea entered and a sentence recommended, the brief argued. It said, "The separation of powers protects this Court's authority to complete the resolution of this case, free from the interference of the Executive Branch." Tribe's co-signers include constitutional law scholars, the former law school deans of Harvard, Yale and the University of Chicago, and the president of Columbia University. Republican signers include George Conway III, the conservative lawyer and husband of the president's White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway; Trevor Potter, former Federal Election Commission chairman; and Richard Painter, George W. Bush's former chief White House ethics lawyer. The brief order Thursday from the District Circuit came from Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Robert Wilkins and Neomi Rao. In response to the order Thursday, Powell said, "Obviously the court is taking the issue very seriously, as it should." Federal judges generally cannot comment publicly on the merits of pending matters outside official proceedings. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, the Justice Department moved to toss out the guilty plea of the highest-ranking Trump adviser convicted in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Russia investigation. The department concluded that Flynn should never have been interviewed by the FBI and therefore his lies concealing his Russian contacts were immaterial to any crime. Critics dispute the department's move, saying it distorted facts and appeared to serve the president's personal political interests by giving an aide impunity to lie to government investigators. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying in an FBI interview on Jan. 24, 2017, to conceal conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador at the time. The conversations involved talks before Trump took office about avoiding U.S. sanctions and other policies imposed late in President Barack Obama's administration after Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Sullivan set oral arguments for July 16. When Pitas and Sticks, a Greek restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, gets an order from Grubhub, owner John Stamos gives each bag a personal touch, printing out a small note with a simple message: Grubhub orders are killing his business. "Small businesses like us need your support in this time of crisis," Stamos writes in each note. "Online apps such as GRUBHUB ARE CHARGING US 30% of each order and $9 or more on orders made using phone numbers on their app or website please help save the restaurant industry by ordering directly with us." Restaurateurs like Stamos are mounting guerrilla campaigns to persuade customers to skip the delivery platforms they say are squeezing their businesses at a particularly difficult time. Some are looking to use social media to get the word out or coming up with special offers. Others are ditching the apps altogether. Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak Outside a Bareburger restaurant in Brooklyn, a new sign appeals to passersby: "Support your local restaurants & order directly with them." IMAGE: Bareburger restaurant in Brooklyn (Jason Abbruzzese / NBC News) Restaurant owners are trying to figure out ways to stay in business during the coronavirus pandemic, which has hammered their industry. Many restaurants have had to close their doors to customers, while others have turned to food delivery apps such as Uber Eats and Grubhub to fill the void. That's meant a sudden focus on delivery companies and the broader food delivery economy, which has faced its own difficulties. Grubhub, which also owns Seamless, and DoorDash are the biggest services, with Uber Eats and small competitors like Caviar also in the mix. But few of them have figured out how to make much money. Amazon, a company that many would consider an expert in e-commerce and logistics, tested the market and left about a year ago. Stamos said that 90 percent of his online orders come from Grubhub and that the company has been forcing him to pay "extraordinary commissions." He said that he's been trying to get off the delivery apps since he started his restaurant five years ago but that the pandemic has dramatically tightened the squeeze. Story continues Other restaurateurs have also complained and attracted the attention of city politicians. After a photo of a Chicago restaurant's Grubhub statement showed a dramatic cut taken by the delivery company, the city mandated that third-party apps must be more transparent about their fee structures in receipts to customers. Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle recently capped fees from delivery companies at 15 percent. New York City capped delivery commissions at 20 percent. Spokespeople for Grubhub and Uber Eats said their companies are against caps. Neither company responded to questions about restaurants' concerns. Restaurants use apps like Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats to streamline payment processing, customer support and various marketing services. The delivery companies also have their own fleets of insured drivers and deliverers, eliminating the need for restaurants to hire their own couriers. For users, the apps offer a convenient way to find, order and pay for delivery food that might not otherwise be available. That worked for many restaurants when it was a small part of their businesses. Now, it's a problem, leaving restaurants to try to persuade their customers to cut out the app-based convenience. And that might be possible. Stamos estimated that he's printed over a thousand notes since the pandemic closed his dine-in options. He said many customers have said they were unaware of how much delivery apps were hurting his business until he added his note. "People are like, 'OK, hey, I didn't know that,'" Stamos said. "They are willing to switch." David Singh, owner of Mesa Pizza Company in Santa Barbara, California, said that after the pandemic hit, working with Grubhub quickly became untenable because of the various commissions and fees. He and his son updated the front page of their website decrying Grubhub and took out sponsored posts on Instagram slamming delivery apps, listing the fees and charges that inflated the cost of the food. Singh took similar action on his own Yelp page, writing "HELP US survive by CALLING in your order for PICK UP." Shortly after he put the message on the internet, Singh ended his contract with Grubhub. Despite his having cut the cord on apps, Singh said, business improved and customers reacted positively. "Those that got educated have come and told us: 'Thank you so much. We always wondered why these cost us so much,'" Singh said. Food delivery isn't a much better business for the companies. Grubhub, which is based in Chicago, has tried to balance increasing its support for restaurants while managing its own balance sheet. In early May, the company released results from the first three months of 2020, which showed an increase in customer orders but a decline in profit. Uber Eats hasn't fared much better despite considerable growth. Uber is also reported to be in talks to buy Grubhub, a combination that would give the united company as much as 48 percent of the delivery market, according to analysis from the data analytics company Second Measure. Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak Some restaurant owners say that despite the fees, the apps provide a service they can't replicate on their own. Nora Sarkissian, co-owner of Aslan Catering in Los Angeles, said that she's thought about quitting the delivery apps numerous times but that the range and delivery workers are hard to pass up. Sarkissian said she has come to begrudgingly accept the app business model, describing her feeling as "people want to go this route." "During the pandemic, most people order online," Sarkissian said. "It's more accessible for them to just click on Uber and order from them, because they don't have to go through the hassle of doing anything else." However, to get repeat customers off the apps, she and her family have begun placing postcards in orders encouraging customers to order directly. The Sarkissian family shared their March Uber Eats statements with NBC News, which showed that the app accounted for roughly a third of all the restaurant's revenue. "At this point, I think we're just trying to stay above water, just trying to make it work," said Sarkissian, her voice cracking. "It's very hard as a restaurant owner to walk away with all the hard work you put in. It's very hard." YEREVAN. Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: In the executive [branch of power], in contrast to the parliament, the spread of the coronavirus is quite widespread. We learned from the MES [Ministry of Emergency Situations] that they had 17 [such] patients, 24 asymptomaticisolated, 12 recovered. Is minister [Feliks] Tsolakyan coming to work? we asked. "The first days, no, due to the age issue; now he is coming duteously," said MES spokesperson Edmon Zargaryan. But he works in remote modefrom the office, over the phone. Is Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan still isolated? "He works from home," informed spokesperson Armine Muradyan. Papikyan's case is easy: he lives alone (he is not married), he has no issue of infecting his relatives, unlike [Health Minister] Arsen Torosyan, who is worried about infecting his grandfather and grandmother. By the way, there was information that Arsen Torosyan has isolated in Regineh Hotel [in Yerevan], but a loyal adviser, Reginehs person in charge Ashot Sargsyan, dismissed that the minister was at them, but did not say where he was isolated. "It is very normal that the minister is isolated ()." As for the number of infected people in the Ministry of Health, it is also a secret. The spokesperson said they did not note numbers "so we dont scare people." Are they so many? "No, not so much." Japan's top government spokesman said Thursday that the country is considering attending the Group of Seven summit meeting, if the U.S. reschedules the canceled gathering. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was responding to a question about President Donald Trump's tweet Wednesday that he is considering rescheduling the canceled G-7 meeting with world leaders in the U.S., because it would be a great sign to all of things returning to normal during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump had scheduled the G-7 summit for June 10-12 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. The summit was canceled it in March because of the pandemic, and Trump said the leaders would confer by video conference. Suga said Thursday that he interpreted Trump's tweet as an expression of the President's intention to normalize the global economy quickly. He said his understanding is that details such as the dates and format of the meeting are still being studied by the U.S. as host nation. Suga said Tokyo and Washington are in discussion, but declined to comment further. Japan is still partially under a coronavirus state of emergency. Abe plans to announce lifting of the measure in three of the remaining eight prefectures later Thursday, while keeping it in place in Tokyo and four other areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A White House spokesperson told the Midland Daily News this morning that President Donald J. Trump will not be making a stop in Midland during his visit to Michigan today. The president has been very engaged on the flooding situation, as Im sure youre aware. Hes Tweeted about it a couple times, talking about his engagement so far, the spokesman told the Daily News. Hes monitoring the flooding and encouraging everyone at the local level to listen to the local officials, and praising the first responders stepping up during this time of need. Currently Reading 5 key pieces of evidence in the search for Jennifer Dulos The United Kingdom has announced the construction of a vaccine manufacturing unit for a potential solution to the pandemic. UK's Acting High Commissioner to India said that Britain will work with its global partners. The trade secretary said the country was investing in a programme to ensure 'discovery to distribution'. The United Kingdom has been badly hit by Covid-19. The country has announced ''an investment of 131 million to accelerate the construction of the new Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) and to establish a rapid deployment facility for vaccine manufacturing this summer''. READ | One dies of COVID-19 in AP, toll rises to 54; state reports 45 fresh cases In a statement, the British High Commission said that the VMIC will kick next year. ''The additional funding for the VMIC will ensure it opens in Summer 2021, a full 12 months ahead of schedule. The not-for-profit Centre is a key component of the UK's Coronavirus vaccine programme, ensuring that once a vaccine is available it can be produced quickly and in mass quantities. Not only will the VMIC boost the UK's long-term capacity against future viruses, but it will also accelerate the production of vaccines for existing illnesses such as the flu virus'', read the statement. More than 35000 people have lost their lives due to the deadly virus in the United Kingdom while the total number of affected people is soon to touch 2.5 million. The government said that ''the rapid deployment facility will open this summer, and will support efforts to ensure a vaccine is widely available as soon as possible''. Separate funding of GBP 84 million for vaccines has already been announced and is being developed by Imperial College and the University of Oxford. READ | 16 more test COVID-19 positive in Himachal Pradesh; total cases climb to 127 Jan Thompson, Acting High Commissioner to India, said: "This latest investment reaffirms the UK's global commitment to fight this pandemic. We will continue to work closely with our international partners, including here in India, to find a vaccine and ensure it is rapidly available at scale. As the Prime Minister has said, the search for a coronavirus vaccine is the most urgent shared endeavor of our lifetimes." READ | WHO reports over 1 lakh new coronavirus cases across the world in a single day UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: "As the biggest contributor to the international coalition to find a vaccine, the UK is leading the global response. Once a breakthrough is made, we need to be ready to manufacture a vaccine by the millions. The new Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre and temporary facility will build 'fill and finish' capacity, bringing the UK vaccine programme together from discovery to distribution." READ | US reports more than 23,000 new COVID-19 cases, death toll soars to 93,439 Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said special buses will be run to enable people to immerse the ashes of their family members who lost their lives during the lockdown period triggered due to coronavirus crisis. He asked officials to hold talks with the Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh governments to agree on the operation of buses. Gehlot was reviewing the coronavirus situation and quarantine arrangements with the core group at his residence. He said it is extremely unfortunate and painful that the grieving families could not go to immerse the ashes after the death of their family member due to the lockdown. The state government is aware of this situation. Keeping this aspect in mind, it has been decided to run these special buses, he added. The chief minister said there should be no negligence in mandatory quarantine of migrants coming from other states. He said senior officials at the district level should constantly monitor institutional and home quarantine arrangements. In the institutional quarantine, it should be ensured that all basic facilities including food, water are provided. Additional Chief Secretary Veenu Gupta, Chairman of the State Level Quarantine Management Committee, said more than 10,000 centers have been arranged for better quarantine facilities in the state. About 7.18 lakh people are in quarantine in the state at present. She said of the total, 34,000 are in institutional quarantine and the rest in home quarantine. Principal Secretary (Information Technology) Abhay Kumar said about 6 lakh people have completed the quarantine period. Director General of Police Bhupendra Singh said continuous action is being implemented against those violating the quarantine and lockdown. Medical Minister Raghu Sharma, Chief Secretary D B Gupta and other senior officials were also present in the meeting. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertisement New Zealand has reopened bars and pubs today as the country continues its incredible success against the coronavirus pandemic. The loosening of restrictions on business, gatherings and travel were eased in three stages across the country starting from 14 May. Pubs reopening marks the final phase of the country entering 'Alert 2' of their coronavirus action plan, which allowed Kiwis to slowly return to everyday life. New Zealand, with a population of five million, has recorded 1,503 coronavirus cases and just 21 deaths, with its success largely attributed to a strict lockdown imposed in late March. Drinkers at Regatta in Takapuna, Auckland, enjoy socializing with friends over a beer after pubs were allowed to reopen today across the country New Zealand has reopened bars and pubs today as the country continues its incredible success against the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured: drinkers at Regatta in Takapuna, Auckland today Patrons at Danny Doolans in the Viaduct Basin enjoy socializing with a drink as many in Auckland took a trip to pubs after they reopened People enjoy a drink outside at the bars in Auckland's Wynard Quarter today. Pubs reopening marks the final phase of the country entering 'Alert 2' of their coronavirus action plan, which allowed Kiwis to slowly return to everyday life Restaurants, cinemas, retail, playgrounds and gyms are now able to open with physical distancing and strict hygiene measures in place while gatherings are limited to 10 people. Pictured: drinkers outside Soul Bar in Auckland's Viaduct Basin Patrons at Morningside Tavern in Auckland enjoy drinks today as the country continues to reopen after successfully controlling the coronavirus outbreak there Restaurants, cinemas, retail, playgrounds and gyms are now able to open with physical distancing and strict hygiene measures in place while gatherings are limited to 10 people. Domestic travel has also resumed after New Zealand was placed under full lockdown on March 26 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It comes as children across the country returned to lessons on Monday. Excited youngsters greeted classmates for the first time in eight weeks in cities such as Wellington and Auckland after parents dropped them off at 'kiss and go zones' at the gate as part of strict social distancing measures. Ardern has hailed New Zealanders for 'breaking the chain of transmission' during the successful five-week lockdown. Patrons at Morningside Tavern in Auckland enjoy drinks and table service today as pubs and restaurants reopened across the country New Zealand, with a population of five million, has recorded 1,503 coronavirus cases and just 21 deaths, with its success largely attributed to a strict lockdown imposed in late March. Pictured: patrons at Morningside Tavern in Auckland today Prime Minister Ardern has hailed New Zealanders for 'breaking the chain of transmission' during the successful five-week lockdown. Pictured: drinkers at Morningside Tavern in Auckland today Patrons at Regatta in Takapuna enjoy socializing with friends over a drink in Auckland, New Zealand. Pubs across the country reopened today People enjoy socializing with a drink outside at the bars in Auckland's Wynard Quarter today. New Zealand has reopened pubs and bars Bars are able to reopen across New Zealand today as the final phase of the COVID-19 Alert Level 2 measures come into effect. Pictured: Morningside Tavern in Auckland A bartender pours drinks at Morningside Tavern in Auckland. All pubs and restaurants were shut due to the coronavirus pandemic People enjoy socializing with a drink outside at Headquarters in Auckland's Viaduct Basin. The reopening of pubs is part of the eased move out of lockdown Ellen Gray pours a drink for patrons at Regatta in Takapuna as people enjoy socializing with friends over a drink in the bar today Domestic travel has also resumed after New Zealand was placed under full lockdown on March 26 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured: patrons at Regatta in Takapuna New Zealand has also provided exhaustive detail about the epidemic on a government website, including details of every case. Ardern has also floated the idea of a four-day working week to help boost tourism in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. She said a number of ideas were being 'bounced around' to support New Zealanders through the pandemic and make the most of domestic travel. The success in controlling coronavirus has translated into a poll boost for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, with new data revealing that she is now the country's most popular leader for a century - with an election due to take place in September this year. Poll data gathered by the NZ Herald showed 59.5 per cent of people want her to continue as leader, up a huge 20.8 points since the last poll was conducted in February - as coronavirus was spreading but before the country went into lockdown. NPP Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, has said there is no way the country will be thrown into civil war if the Electoral Commission continues to compile a new voters' register amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to him no one is afraid of Maj. Rtd Osahene Kojo Boakye Djan with his continous constant threats of civil war and anarchy. " . . No one is afraid of Boakye Djan . . . if he plays the law will take action . . . let us see the anarchy," Ken Agyapong fired. " . . We will do the right thing for the country, we will go ahead with the voters' register . . . the NDC is speaking as if they are in power, but they have forgotten that they are not in power . . . we are waiting for them to destroy this country; we are not afraid of them," said Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyepong. He was reacting to the controversies surrounding the compilation of a new voters' register and comments by Maj. Rtd Kojo Boakye Djan that there could be civil unrest should the Electoral Commission (EC) continue with the impending voter register compilation. The Assin Central MP was speaking in an interview with Hello FM in Kumasi. NPP & EC Leading Ghana Into Civil War Major Osahene Boakye Gyan (rtd) is warning of impending doom should the Electoral Commission connive with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the upcoming December polls. The former military officer accused the EC of gradually leading the country into a civil war with its bull-headedness, particularly regarding the decision to compile a new voters register. If They Want Civil War, They Will Get It! The fomer military capo strongly held that the country can go to the polls this year without resort to putting together a new register as was done in 2016. Sounding a note of caution, he pointed out that most electoral disputes in Africa have resulted in civil wars and Ghana is not immune to it, and warned that "should the EC continue to toe the line of their paymasters, it will certainly spell doom for this country." Listen to Kennedy Agyepong in the video below Earlier this week, th EC denied allegations by the NDC that it was conniving with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to rig the upcoming 2020 general elections in favour of the governing party, NPP.According to the Electoral Commission, their outfit is no position to conspire with any political party or institution as being speculated by the NDC to rig elections, as the electoral processes remain transparent at all levels.In a press statement signed by the Acting Director of Public Affairs at the EC, Sylvia Annoh, this is just another attempt by the main opposition party, the NDC, to undermine the image and integrity of the institute by "peddling untruths and falsehoods."The oppositon party had earlier posited that the use of the National Identification card and passport as evidence of identification during registration despite the limited number of Ghanaians who have these requirements, was unfortunate. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Local residents in Caherciveen have rejected the apology from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan for the way he and his department handled the relocation of asylum seekers from Dublin to the Kerry town. Mr Flanagan took the unprecedented step of taking out full page ads in local newspapers to apologise in an open letter aimed directly at the people of Caherciveen. However, instead of allaying local fears and anger, the apology appears to have backfired, with resident saying it does not go far enough and calling for the centre to be closed. At least 25 residents at the Direct Provision centre at The Skellig Star Hotel, Cahersiveen have now tested positive for Covid-19. More than 30 people, some with children have been removed from the centre. The remaining residents, who have been in lockdown for the past three weeks, were allowed out for the first time yesterday. In his apology, Mr Flanagan stated one of the residents had not tested positive before the move the Caherciveen as had been reported, but he admitted the source of the virus might never be known. Residents said this suggested that the source of the virus was the local community. Jack Fitzpatrick chairman of the Cahersiveen social and business alliance said no one was looking for an apology. What everyone wanted is for the centre to be closed because it is totally unsuitable, he said. No one is looking for an apology we are looking for a solution. And where is the solution? He came down to apologise and ended up insulting us, saying the source was here in the community, Mr Fitzpatrick said. A statement from the asylum seekers at The Skellig Star Hotel, Cahersiveen, provided to Radio Kerry, thanked the minister for accepting the move to the hotel in Caherciveen was wrong. However, they said the impact of Covid-19 was known by March 2, well in advance of their forced move from Dublin to Kerry. The issue of whether the Department of Justice followed HSE advice in moving people out of Dublin on March 18, during the pandemic, still needed to be addressed, the statement said. Local Fianna Fail Councillor Michael Cahill said the apology was "worthless" unless Mr Flanagan closed the centre. I now call on Minister Flanagan, for once and for all, to close down the Direct Provision Centre based in The Skellig Star Hotel, Cahersiveen and finally house those held there in humane conditions as should have been the case from day one. Meanwhile, Killarney solicitor Padraig J OConnell has confirmed that legal papers seeking an injunction to close the centre are being drawn up. Mr OConnell has been instructed by a local man to seek the injunction. A barrister has been appointed and the matter is to come before the Circuit Court at the earliest opportunity once the documents are in place, Mr OConnell said. A march is to take place through Cahersiveen today by locals in support of the residents calls to close the centre. It will be the second such march. They had to commute from their various houses to the Health Centre whenever they are on duty, creating stress and adversely affecting service delivery in the area. When the Ghana News Agency visited the facility, it was observed that the quarters was not only too small to house all the health workers posted to the facility, but was in a deplorable state and therefore endangered the lives of the occupants. It had several cracks, with parts of the roof ripping up, while some parts of the ceiling was rotten with water collected in the rooms. Mr Raymond Azalbila Adoganga, the Principal Physician Assistant of the Health Centre told GNA in an interview that the Sumbrungu East Sub Municipality had seven health facilities in addition to the Health Centre and with the exception of the Community Health Planning Services (CHPS) Compound at the Bolgatanga Technical University, staff accommodation of the remaining facilities were in a bad state, posing risks to them. We had a resident midwife, a resident General Nurse and two resident community health nurses, who were staying in the quarters, but just last week they had to park home due to the bad nature of the accommodation, he stated. Mr Adoganga said the staff accommodation in various facilities harboured reptiles and bees, and compelled the workers especially those who work at the Health Centre to park to their houses in Bolgatanga. The midwife at Azorebiisi facility, on two occasions, killed snakes on her bed and the resident community health nurse also killed one in her room and at Aguusi CHPS compound, on two occasions, I was chased away by bees. So almost all the health facilities have serious staff accommodation challenges, he lamented. He said although the health workers practised shift system, they usually offered back up services to those on duty especially on days and periods when the facility recorded higher attendants and emergency situations. He said the Health Centre alone averagely recorded 60 attendants daily but during the third quarter, July, August and September, it recorded about 80 to 100 attendants each day due to the usual increase of malaria cases during the rainy season. It served over 13,000 people each year and was also challenged with office space. The facility is a single structure with five rooms and has about four units working in one room, while the waiting area is exposed to direct sun light. Mr Adoganga said the only consulting room is about 10 by 10 metres, the counts unit is sharing space with the records, dressing and claims departments. When you go to the next room, we have the dispensary, the laboratory and a detention area in that single room. In the third room we have our reproductive and child health services, family planning, prevention of mother and child transmission and cold chain management while the fourth room also has four units. He said several appeals including; written letters were sent to the appropriate authorities including; the Municipal Health Directorate and the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly but nothing was done. When the GNA contacted Mr Joseph Amiyuure, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area, he admitted that the Assembly was aware of the situation of the Health Centre, but failed to comment on whether or not something would be done especially on the staff accommodation at the Health Centre. ---GNA Representational Image (Wallpaperflare) Severe cyclonic storm Amphan made landfall on the eastern coast of India on May 20, ravaging the states of West Bengal and Odisha, with lives lost, trees uprooted, and property damaged everywhere. While the displaced were still recounting horrors of the previous evening and authorities assessing the damage, the sky in Bhubaneshwar Odishas capital city turned pink, much to the amazement of onlookers. Bhubaneswar Skies be the best. Cyclone Amphan gone forever. pic.twitter.com/g0bkWQuuCv Debadutta Samal (@6times6times) May 20, 2020 My city is an example that we bloom with grace no matter how stormy the times be. The evening sky! #Bhubaneswar #Amphan @BBSRBuzz pic.twitter.com/uFq5xAqSuj Naimisha (@SpeakNaimisha) May 20, 2020 Many have since taken to social media to share images of the astounding and unusual sight. By Trend So far, COVID-19 has had very little effect on food safety, and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is very focused on nudging all member states including Azerbaijan to take actions that will prevent a global food crisis, FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said in an interview with Trend. "There are three broad issues: First, there is ample food in the world, so supply chains need to be kept alive to make sure it arrives where it is needed," Torero added. "Trade, including international trade, has an essential role to play." "Second, food availability does not automatically mean food accessibility," FAO chief economist said. "Local efforts must make sure that everyone has access to adequate food and nutrition, especially the most vulnerable, who are both at greater risk of suffering and who also need to be enabled to contribute to efforts to contain COVID-19. Third, the economic effect of the pandemic will reduce household incomes, sometimes severely, thus making food relatively harder to afford. This is a particular risk for countries that usually rely on revenues from tourism or mining to pay for food imports." "We are facing a problem of food access and not of food availability as in 2007-08, when food prices rose sharply," Torero said. "Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are the most vulnerable, as even before the COVID-19 crisis they were home to 73 million of the 135 million people judged to be at IPC level 3 levels of hunger severe or worse. Some countries in South Asia and the Near East are also vulnerable." "Its important to note that another 183 million people in 47 countries are classified at IPC2, our technical term indicating "stressed" levels of food insecurity, and their situation is at risk of worsening," FAO chief economist said. "It is in these countries where we are also observing significant increases in prices of food. In Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania for example, prices have increased by 21.8 percent, 16.3 percent, 12.1 percent, respectively, compared to February 14. Special attention is needed for the Small Island Development states (SIDS) which are almost all-net food import dependent and are facing significant crises due to the collapse of the tourism industry and the reduction in remittances." "Everyone wants the COVID-19 pandemic to end," Torero said. "Whenever that happens, however, the world will inevitably face a serious economic contraction, which means that peoples purchasing power is going to be negatively affected. Weaker demand could also negatively affect production trends, shifting effort away from higher-value and more nutritious foods to lower-cost alternative. Policy makers and stakeholders should try to counter this trend by supporting poorer households with income support measures and through initiatives that allow those engaged in the supply chains for higher-value and often-perishable foods to stay in business." "On the strong side, the global food supply and value chains have held up remarkably well," FAO chief economist said. "There have been some logistics bottlenecks, but these have mostly been or are being resolved. Globally, there are robust reserves of key cereals, which offers a welcome buffer against prolonged stress. On the weak side, the food people eat is often the product of a complex value chain, involving not just cultivation but also packaging, shipping and retail distribution channels, all of which present risks. A chain can only be as strong as its weakest link. That is why FAO Director-General QU Dongyu is urging all countries to boost food output and to shorten supply chains where possible and appropriate. Large-scale efficiency is a huge asset of global food systems but complementary measures are required to ensure reliable food supply for all." In November 2016 FAO and the Azerbaijani government signed a partnership program for 2016-2020. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz New Delhi, May 21 : Indiabulls Housing Finance is said to have sacked around 2,000 employees amid a roaring social media controversy. The social media outpouring by the employees is streaming on Twitter with the hashtag #IndiabullsResign and one employee posted, "Even after knowing current Pendamic situation #Indiabulls is firing around 2000+ staff without any notice. Firstly they deducted our salary after that they are pressurized to self resignation. How will people get new job in these tough days (sic)." It is said that these employees were being sacked over WhatsApp calls which cannot be recorded. "Before virus, tension and depression will kills emp's who's getting fired by their companies thru WhatsApp call without any clarification or any notice period in this corona crisis and creating panic so that they will return to Hometown," said one netizen, with the hashtag Indiabulls_Forcing__For_Resign. "#indiabulls Harashing its too much mentally harashment, today indiabulls doing with us .without any proper intimation company saying that my economic condition is too bad m unable to give u salary from next month..They all r mentally harashing us (sic.)," posted another. Some have criticized that Indiabulls could donate in the PM Cares Fund but cant pay salaries. Amar Thakur posted, "I don't understand this. #Indiabulls which donated 21 crores to #PMCARES fund has #laidoff 2000+ #employees with no severance package. These guys had the money to donate to PM CARES fund but don't have money to pay salaries for their employees. Why would a company do this??". Antara Mukherjee posted on Twitter, "Indiabulls contributes 21cr in the PM-covid fund and then take oneday salary from the employees as covid fund, cut out salary 20-40% from the employees and then finally asking to leave the company. But in system all will be found as voluntarily (sic.)." Many of these posts are being marked to the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Labour Minister among others. "Indiabulls firing forcefully to thousands of employees without any notice with a reason of lockdown. Forced salary deduction to 30% also done. Need ur help for full compensation. Thanks..!!", says another post. Indiabulls did not respond a query seeking its response on the matter till the time of publication The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said the revelation of alleged over N48 billion fraud in the Ministry of Agriculture a... The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said the revelation of alleged over N48 billion fraud in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has exposed the monstrous corruption, sleaze and cover-ups going on in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. PDP said the confession by the queried former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Umar Bello, that the duplicitous purchase of a building for a humongous cost of N7.044 billion passed through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) further exposed the rot that has permeated the Buhari administration. The opposition party in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, said the Buhari All Progressives Congress, APC-led government stinks. PDP stressed that such revelation has again shown how the corrupt cabal in the Buhari Presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been pillaging our national treasury and fleecing our nation of billions of naira through fraudulent transactions in various ministries, departments and agencies, while parading before Nigerians as saints. Nigerians were shocked by reports of how funds meant to service the food security system in our country are being plundered by those in power, resulting in the crippling of our agricultural sector thereby creating attendant hunger and starvation in our land. The opposition party described as shameful that the FEC, under President Buharis watch, is being fingered in financial manipulations and procurement sleazes in the Agric ministry including the alleged disappearance of N48 billion contractors fund, over N7billion duplicated payments, diversion of N9.1billion worth of drilling rigs to unnamed private individuals, purchase of carcass building for N7.044 billion. In addition to misapplication of billions of naira meant for strategic grains, rural grazing area settlement funds and other food production intervention schemes. CINCINNATI - When her landlord abruptly raised her rent, Kendra Davis discovered that she couldn't afford to stay. But she couldn't afford to move, either - not because she couldn't pay the rent elsewhere, but because local landlords required security deposits of up to $1,800 just to get in the door. Despite working two jobs - one in retail at a hospital gift shop, the other in customer service for an airline - Davis said there was no way she could come up with that kind of money all at once. Priced out of her own apartment and blocked from securing a new one, she wound up homeless. She slept on a friend's couch for nearly four months. Jeneya Lawrence had hoped to find an affordable rental with enough space that her school-age son and daughter would no longer be shoehorned into the same tiny bedroom. When she finally found a place with a monthly rate she could afford, she was ecstatic - until the landlord told her the security deposit was $1,100, up front. As a home health aide and community health worker with two children to feed, Lawrence said she knew she couldn't come up with that much money at one time. She had to turn it down. It took months to find another place. For low-income families, security deposits pose an often ignored but significant barrier to safe, decent, affordable housing. With household budgets stretched thin under the best of circumstances, the added challenge of coming up with a lump sum of hundreds or even thousands at one time is often more than low-income families can manage, preventing them from accessing housing, or trapping them in substandard housing even when they could otherwise afford to move. In a nation where six out of 10 of the most common jobs pay less than $28,000 per year, 40% of Americans say they would struggle to come up with the funds to cover an unexpected expense of only $400, according to a May 2018 Federal Reserve study. For many more, an expense of $1,000 or more is out of the question. But in Cincinnati, new legislation could help low-income renters like Davis and Lawrence. A first-in-the-nation law aimed at removing the barrier of security deposits will soon give renters payment choices to pay their security deposits in several more affordable ways. Cincinnati Council Member P.G. Sittenfeld (D), who drafted the measure that took effect April 14, said he hopes to see the concept spread nationwide. Under the new law, renters will be able to either pay the deposit in monthly installments spread out over at least six months; pay a reduced security deposit up front, equal to no more than half of one month's rent; or purchase low-cost security-deposit insurance provided by a certified, licensed insurance provider who would cover any damage to the rental. Housing advocates and renters have applauded the measure. Security deposits are "definitely an obstacle - low-income renters don't have the resources sitting around to be able pay a deposit up front and then make another payment for the rent on top of that," said Andrew Aurand, vice president for research at the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. "This legislation is an important step, and it's good to see this barrier being addressed." Low-income renters "have so little income left over each month after paying the rent, it's hard for them just to meet basic needs, let alone put down a first month's deposit on a new unit," said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. And the coronavirus has only compounded the problem, causing many workers to lose their jobs entirely, particularly in low-wage industries like food service, retail and travel. "Many of the households with earners in at-risk industries were already struggling with housing affordability," says Airgood-Obrycki, "and the pandemic has only made the situation worse." "There was a woman who literally had tears streaming down her face" the day the council passed the measure, said Sittenfeld. He added that when he spoke with her afterward, she said that the new law would enable her to move into a unit that would have otherwise been inaccessible. Renters Lawrence and Davis said they had similar reactions. "When I wanted to rent that home, I asked the landlord if he could do a payment plan and he said no," Lawrence said. "If this law had been in effect then, I would have been able to move into that home." Under the new legislation, the renter has the choice to opt for an alternative security deposit generally; if they do, the landlord gets to choose which of the three options to accept. Landlords with fewer than 25 units are exempt. Sittenfeld said his "North Star" throughout crafting the legislation was removing the up-front barrier to housing access posed by the security deposit. "But we also need responsible landlords to help us meet the housing needs of our community, and they need to feel confident that their incomes and properties are protected," he said. While the initial legislation involved only security deposit insurance, the final law offered three options, and Sittenfeld said it is better as a result. "So they can say, 'You know what, I'm kind of a traditionalist, I want a full cash deposit,' and they can go with the installment option," he said. "Or they can say, 'My priority is, I want the most money in cash immediately,' and take the up-front deposit, capped at 50 percent of the monthly rent. Or if they say, 'Hey, I want immediate protection, equal to a full month's rent,' then they can go for the insurance option, which takes effect upon payment of the first premium." The idea of tackling the barrier of security deposits is garnering interest across the country and from both sides of the aisle, from New York City Mayor Bill DiBlasio (D) and state lawmakers in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Hampshire, to HUD Secretary Ben Carson. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a measure into law in April allowing renters to use security deposit insurance in place of traditional security deposits. The law goes into effect July 1. Security deposit insurance is a "win-win" concept, said Virginia Del. Mark L. Keam (D), who introduced a bill in February. "It's win for the landlord who can find more tenants that can move into their properties right away, it's a win for the tenant who can't come up with all that money at one time but wants to move, and it also unleashes billions of dollars that are currently locked up in escrow accounts all around the country," he said. "If you free up those funds and people use that money, that could be a big boost to the economy." For now, the law would enable the use of the insurance as an option, rather than requiring landlords to offer it, but Keam said he hopes a future iteration of the measure would require it. In light of the economic crisis stemming from covid-19, he said the law "could be another tool for tenants to find stable housing in the future." In New York City, the Rent Stabilization Association, a trade organization representing 20,000 landlords and 1.1 million apartments in the New York metropolitan area, launched a partnership with security deposit insurance provider Rhino to offer the product to the association's members. "It's a creative solution to what is clearly a problem," said RSA membership director Michael Tobman. "We're excited to be able to offer it as an option to our members." --- In Cincinnati, the reaction to the law among landlords has been chilly. "We are opposed to this legislation," said Don Brunner, president of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Apartment Association, and vice chair of the National Apartment Association based in Arlington, Virginia. Brunner and others expressed concerns about being required to use a new, unfamiliar product of a for-profit company (when the initial version of the law stipulated security deposit insurance as the only option); about the renter's inability to move to a month-to-month lease while using security deposit insurance; about the fact that renters using security deposit insurance never get their money back, as they would with a traditional deposit; and about the fact that the renter could be held responsible for non-covered damages or charges upon move-out, even after paying premiums for years. Ankur Jain, co-founder of New-York-based security deposit insurance provider Rhino, doesn't dispute the latter claims, but suggests that renters are more than compensated by the benefit of not having to pay a significant deposit up front. "If you took a sledgehammer to the wall or skipped out on the rent, then yes, you'd be on the hook for that, but that's standard for any kind of insurance - just like you can't set fire to your couch and then file a renter's insurance claim," he said. Accidental damages and wear and tear are covered, he said; intentional, negligent damage is not. Given the low cost- monthly premiums can be as low as $4 a month - a tenant would have to rent for 20 years before the cost of premiums matched the cost of a $1,000 deposit. "What we're doing here is not that different than any other kind of insurance," he said. "When you go to Hertz and pay to rent a Toyota Camry, you don't put down a $20,000 cash deposit in case you get in an accident. You buy insurance, as a way of managing risk. This is the same thing - and again, it's an option: The renter always has the choice to stick with a standard deposit." Still, whether one supports the measure or opposes it, it's important to keep the new law in context, said Aurand of the low-income housing coalition. "The majority of renters with extremely low incomes can't find an affordable rental home at all, because nearly every community across the country lacks an adequate supply," he said. "So while it's good that we're trying to address this barrier of security deposits, we still have a really large structural issue, that there isn't enough affordable housing to begin with." "There simply isn't enough housing," said David Howard, executive director of the National Rental Home Council, a trade association for the single-family rental home industry. "Until we start to create meaningful incentives that lead to an increase in the supply of housing, we will continue to be stuck in the same situation." Since 2011, the stock of low-cost rental housing has decreased by 4 million units nationwide, leaving only 7.4 million units for the country's 11 million extremely low-income renters. Nearly half of the units are more than 50 years old, making them prime targets for demolition or renovation - and rising rents. And while the new law helps low-income families with the final hurdle in the process of hunting for housing, they have to climb a mountain before they get there, Aurand pointed out. In many cities, low-income families wait for months or years just to get on the waiting lists for subsidized affordable housing units or Section 8 vouchers (portable vouchers that help a family afford a modest market-rate rental). Once families get on the list, they wait additional months or years to receive assistance; three out of four applicants never get to the front of the line, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank. If a family manages to get a voucher, they have to find an apartment that meets voucher guidelines for affordability, and then find a landlord who will accept the voucher (in many jurisdictions, landlords can refuse). "And then, after all that, they have to make sure they have a security deposit to give to the landlord," Aurand said. "So they really are climbing a mountain of obstacles before they even get to that last hurdle." These days, Kendra Davis has a roof over her head, and a job that earns a bit more money. But she said she still dreams of a less cramped, freshly painted place, without dents in the door or cracks in the linoleum, with a little space outside to plant flowers, and maybe, if she can ever afford a car, a place to park it out front. Given the myriad barriers, she's not sure when - or if - she'll achieve that dream. But at least there's one less obstacle in the way. SPRINGFIELD City schools offering summer instruction only remotely and via computer over the next few months as the buildings remain closed at least until fall, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said at a Thursday afternoon news conference. And whether they open in the fall and what they will look like when and if they do is still a question as the city enters the first phase of reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic . "Is our goal to be open for fall?" he said. "That would be great." But the city's nearly 60 schools need physical changes, new equipment, staff training and myriad other things before that can happen, Sarno told reporters. "Schools were not built to be socially distant," Sarno said. With more than 26,000 students and approximately 4,000 employees, performing required health monitoring and temperature checks for fevers is daunting. What happens, Sarno asked, if a child comes to school on the bus and then is discovered to have a fever? Where does that child go? What about the other kids who just rode on the bus with student? Do you check kids as they board the bus? One solution that would keep students a safe distance apart would be a staggered term. A group of kids would attend school for a week, get instruction and all their assignments for the next week, when they would learn from home. Then another group would replace the first group, get instruction and assignments for the next week. And the cycle would repeat itself. The entire situation proves the wisdom of the citys laptop program and points to the need for a more robust infrastructure of accessible broadband internet, officials said. In March, the School Department distributed up to 10,000 laptop computers to students for home use. Sarno said the city will continue its meals program, stepping in for kids whose only hot meals are served at school. By the end of this thing we will have served more than a million meals, Sarno said. Amid coronavirus pandemic, Connecticut reopens malls, allows outdoor dining Related Content: 1. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly justify Theodore Roosevelts concerns surrounding the release of the report on the meat packing industry? This is a tricky question. We have to find a choice that can clearly justify why Roosevelt was reluctant to release the report on meat packing industry. He feared widespread riots and social and economic upheaval. He did support the Pure Food and Drug Act but knew that consumer safety wouldn't be able to cover for harsh working conditions for the workers. The jungle was an example of investigative journalism. The choice that clearly presents our stance is (D). Out of scope (we are not concerned about the condition of workers in mines but the condition of workers in meat packing industry. Irrelevant in this context. We are not concerned about the effects of socialist pamphlets. Out of scope. D. Ensuring consumer safety did not counter the ill effects of investigative journalism. - This is the correct choice. This is not one of Roosevelt's concerns. 2. It can be inferred that Sinclair was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to Sinclair wrote the Jungle. In the first paragraph of the passage, we come across the line- "...the Jungle s strong pro-socialist message to workers could incite violence." This means that one of the reasons of motivation was to spread the socialist message to workers. This is clearly established in choice (B). not mentioned in the passage B. Encourage socialist leanings among workers. not mentioned in the passage This was not a motive behind Jungle. not mentioned in the passage 3. The passage suggests that Theodore Roosevelt and the executives from Heinz differed in which of the following ways? According to the passage, we know that executives from Heinz supported this Pure Food and Drug acts because they were already upholding their products to a standard as high as was required in the bill, so they saw the Act as a boon which would cut down competition. On the other hand, what we know about Roosevelt is that he supported consumer safety as is evident in his support for the Pure Food and Drug Act. Also, he was afraid that releasing report on the conditions prevailing in the meat packing industry would lead to social and economic upheaval and may also induce strikes and riots. Let us review the choices to see which one fits the bill. Yes, the executives were concerned about decreasing competition but Roosevelt was not "primarily" concerned about worker safety. Had he been concerned about their safety, he wouldn't have withheld the reports outlining their working conditions. The executives wanted to take advantage of the strain the new laws would place on competitors, however, while Roosevelt supported consumer safety, it is not true that he looked to better consumer protection. C. Roosevelt wanted to prevent economic and social upheaval, while the executives wanted to benefit from purer products on the market. Roosevelt was not heavily influenced by the meat packing industry. Also, the nothing from the passage suggests that executives wished to avoid influence from other industries. The executives were not against the Act and therefore wouldn't want to defeat it in the House of Representatives. 4. Which of the following can be inferred about Theodore Roosevelt? This is an inference question. We'll have to go through each choice one by one and determine which choice is correct and also disregard the other choices on solid ground. No such comparison has been made in the passage. He never had to choose between the two. He was not against this. Of course he feared that the report might create strikes or riots but it would be too far to assume that he did not want the workers to be exposed to "any" socialist ideas. C. He was not unwilling to change his positions on some issues. - This is true as suggested by the reversal of his decision to not release report of the working conditions of workers of the meat packing industry. The passage states that executives of Heinz and Old Taylor Whisky supporting the Act was surprising but does not state that Roosevelt was surprised by it. He supported the act, but not reluctantly. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. Signature Read More A. The release of a document detailing worker safety violations in Colorado mines led to armed conflict between workers and police -B. Consumer safety bills had been introduced to the House previously but had failed to garner support. -C. Socialist pamphlets often led to extensive workers strikes even outside the industry they targeted. -E. The report could drive companies out of business, getting rid of competition between the industry. -A. Force lawmakers to investigate factory practices -C. Avoid social unrest and worker discontent. -D. Justify greater regulation of the meatpacking industry.E. Encourage workers to strike and boycott certain companies.A. The executives were mainly concerned with decreasing competition, while Roosevelt was primarily concerned with worker safety. -B. The executives wanted to take advantage of the strain the new laws would place on competitors, while Roosevelt looked to better protect consumers. -D. Roosevelt was heavily influenced by the meat packing industry, while the executives wished to avoid influence from other industries. -E. Roosevelt supported the Pure Food and Drug Act while the executives worked to defeat it in the House of Representatives. -A. He believed it was more important to prevent civil unrest than to ensure consumer safety. -B. He did not want the working class to be exposed to any socialist ideas. -D. He was surprised that Heinz and the Old Taylor Whiskey Company supported the Pure Food and Drug Act. -E. He reluctantly supported the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. -_________________ Shinto shrines, where many in Japan pray for good health and safety, have largely shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic, but one Tokyo shrine has gone virtual for those seeking solace online. Onoterusaki Shrine in downtown Tokyo livestreamed prayers via Twitter during the May 1 to May 10 holiday, allowing those stuck at home to participate in rituals. The shrine also accepted messages from remote worshipers, displaying them on virtual wooden tablets that are then offered to Shinto gods to keep away evil spirits and the epidemic. aI thought about how people can pray and have peace of mind at a time when everyone is feeling uneasy about all the news and going through major changes in their life but still cannot go out to pray,a said head priest Ryoki Ono. aThe idea is to provide a chance for people to pray from home.a For Machi Zama, a freelance writer, thatas just what she needed. Zama prayed for her friend who recently had surgery, and everyone else experiencing difficult times, as well as for an early end to the global pandemic. Watching the priests perform the purification rites, she felt as if she was at the shrine, Zama said. When one of the priests faced the screen and waved the Anusa sacred wand decorated with paper streamers, she bowed. It was like her prayers were answered, she said. aWherever you are, I think itas your feelings and thoughts, the wish to pray a thatas whatas important,a Zama said. aWhether online or offline, I donat think it matters.a For Ono, praying in the sacred shrine is still better. He said he hoped people would visit the shrine for a real experience when it reopens. The shrine ended the online prayers last Sunday to prepare for its upcoming annual festival. Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday a four-phase plan to reopen driver's license offices throughout the state. The Texas Department of Public Safety will start reopening offices May 26 with limited, appointment-only service and will launch a statewide driver's license appointment system so customers can book appointments up to six months in advance. "This phased opening of our driver license offices and the launch of DPS' online appointment system prioritizes the health and safety of our communities and ensures Texans have access to the services they need at their local driver license offices," Abbott said in a news release. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Here is the plan: Phase one: Offices in the Northwest and West Texas regions will open with limited services starting May 26. Those who do not have a Texas driver's license, commercial driver's license, a learner permit's or ID card and those who need to take a driving test can schedule appointments in those regions starting Friday afternoon. Phase two: Offices in the South and Central regions will reopen with limited services beginning May 29. For all of the above services, customers can make make appointments starting at 1 p.m. May 26. Phase three: Offices in the North and Southeast regions will open with limited services beginning June 3. For all the above services, appointments can be made starting at 1 p.m. May 29. Phase four: All customers will be allowed to schedule an appointment for all driver's license office transactions in the state. This phase is expected to start midsummer, and more details will be announced later. The current extension for expiration dates will remain in effect until phase four is implemented. For more information or to schedule an appointment, click here. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway A surge in class-action lawsuits has triggered a crackdown on companies that fund litigation in the pursuit of massive financial settlements, forcing the sector to submit to tougher federal law. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will impose new rules on litigation funders after a 325 per cent rise in class actions in the Federal Court over the past decade. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will announce the changes on Friday and they will take effect three months later through regulation. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The move will expose litigation funders to greater scrutiny from the corporate regulator and require them to become licensed financial services providers within three months, ending years of exemptions from the rules. Firms such as Maurice Blackburn, Shine Lawyers and Slater and Gordon have scored major victories against companies in consumer complaints, employment disputes and shareholder claims. (Natural News) Scientists from the University of Kentucky have received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a medical face mask that would capture and deactivate the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) on contact. The research team, led by engineering professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, will be working with the universitys Center of Membrane Sciences and with other collaborators to make these masks a reality. The endowment, which provides $150,000 over one year, is part of the NSFs Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant, which has recently called for immediate proposals to head off the spread of coronavirus. For the new project, the team will develop porous and spongy structures with charged domains and enzymes, and use these to create masks and other flat sheet materials that will capture and deactivate SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus strain responsible for COVID-19. The masks work by targeting s-protein spikes in the coronavirus. These spikes, in particular, are what give the virus its crownlike appearance. As the coronavirus enters the mask, it will pass through a new membrane filled with proteolytic enzymes. These enzymes will then attach to the spikes of the coronavirus and separate them, effectively killing it. We have the capability to create a membrane that would not only effectively filter out the novel coronavirus like the N95 mask does, but deactivate the virus completely, Bhattacharyya added. This innovation would further slow and even prevent the virus from spreading. It would also have future applications to protect against a number of human pathogenic viruses. The new membrane, developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, is the latest in functionalized membranes, or highly specialized layers that can interact with undesired particles, like viruses, through selective binding or deactivation. The process for developing and testing the masks will take around six months. After the masks are green-lit, the work will then be shored up to a large-scale membrane manufacturer, which the team has an existing collaboration with. (Related: Wearing masks to block the coronavirus is going to become the new normal.) We have great resources at our fingertips and many opportunities to engage in cutting-edge research across disciplines, Bhattacharyya said. Our researchers work together and lend their expertise to solve challenges for the greater good of humanity, not only at a time like this, but every day. Making reusable masks to fight the contagion The masks developed by the University of Kentucky is just one of many masks that are being built to battle the deadly coronavirus, which has since infected 4.8 million people around the world and killed over 321,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In particular, a mask developed by Stanford University researcher Manu Prakash uses face-snorkel masks to create reusable masks for health workers on the front lines. The mask, which he named Pneumask, has already received feedback from the Food and Drug Authority. Currently, Prakash and his lab are working with other scientists and manufacturers in the U.S., as well as those in France, Italy and Chile, to build, test and launch the Pneumask. You hear that manufacturers are trying to ramp up supplies of N95 masks, but the reality is that everybody is fighting for this precious resource, he said. This is a very unfortunate situation, and I wish we werent in this position, but we are. So we have to do everything that we can to find new solutions. Pandemic.news has more on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Sources include: UKnow.UKY.edu ScopeBlog.Stanford.edu Twitter's Hiring of China-Linked AI Expert Sparks Concern 2020-05-20 -- Commentators have been raising concerns over Twitter's recent hiring of artificial intelligence (AI) star Fei-Fei Li, who has links to the Chinese Communist Party. Twitter appointed Stanford professor and former Google vice president Li to its board as an independent director earlier this month, citing her AI expertise. Li's appointment came after she left her role as chief scientist of AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) at Google Cloud in October 2018 following a controversy surrounding Google's Project Maven initiative, which helped the Pentagon identify drone targets from blurry video footage. The project prompted an employee revolt at Google, with some 4,000 signing a petition against Project Maven, and some quitting in protest. Li was also instrumental in the setting up of a new Google AI lab in China. Twitter currently uses an AI technique called deep learning to recommend tweets to its users and also uses AI to identify racist content and hate speech, or content from extremist groups. France-based commentator Wang Longmeng said hiring Li to work at Twitter was like hiring a fox to guard the hen-coop. "They seem to have ignored the backstory of Li's previous cooperation with China," he said. "Li Fei-fei ... secretly opposed Google's cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense from a high moral standpoint ... but turned a blind eye to Project Dragonfly, in which Google was planning to help the Chinese Communist Party vet online speech." Wang said Li also used a slogan closely associated with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a 2017 media interview in China, pledging to help China develop its AI capabilities. "I hope that democratic countries will reflect on this and start plugging the loopholes," he said. "Fei-fei Li is very likely to be one of those loopholes." Key military technology Li is also an adviser on AI to China's prestigious Tsinghua University. Its vice president You Zheng has said that the university's AI research has two main purposes, one of which is to meet national defense needs under a "military-civilian integration policy." AI has been named as a key military technology under President Xi, who has announced that China plans to become a world leader in the field by 2030. In addition, Li has been linked to a students' association under the aegis of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department. Mainland media reports listed her as a guest at China Overseas Talent Exchange Conferences in the southern city of Guangzhou in 2017 and in Beijing in 2018, both of which were hosted by the European and American Alumni Association under the aegis of the United Front Work Department. Li also has ties to the Beijing-based Future Forum for the development of mobile technology with a strong 5G focus. The organization operates under the aegis of the state-run China Association for Science and Technology, and is supported by Beijing's Chaoyang District Government, according to its website. The Forum has been linked with some of the biggest names in Chinese technology, including NetEase founder Ding Lei and Baidu founder Li Yanhong. More interestingly, there are a number of descendants of veteran revolutionaries involved in the organization -- including Zhu Yulai, son of former premier Zhu Rongji, and Liu Lefei, son of former Politburo member Liu Yunshan. Uphold free speech Renee Xia, head of the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network, called on Twitter to uphold free speech. She said that the company has already issued "blue tick" symbols to accounts operated by the ruling Chinese Communist Party regime, including the Chinese foreign ministry, state-run Xinhua news agency, and the People's Daily, the official mouthpiece of the ruling party. "One of Twitter 's certification criteria is that [blue-tick accounts] should work for the public good," Xia said. "How can you certify a government agency that monitors people's internet use and suppresses freedom of expression? Twitter needs to do more." Xia cited the recent detention of former journalist Zhang Jialong, who was tried on public order charges for comments made on social media this month. "The vast majority of the Chinese people cannot use Twitter freely and legally, but Chinese officials can illegally obtain Zhang Jialong's comments on Twitter," Xia said. Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Zheng Chongsheng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Copyright 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content May not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:44:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Egypt will deduct 1 percent of the net monthly income of state employees for one year amid the coronavirus crisis, the state-run Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday. The Egyptian cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft law about the income deduction. The newspaper quoted a statement posted on the cabinet Facebook page saying that "the new draft law will also cut 0.5 percent of the pensioners' monthly income." The new policy will be enforced as of July 1, according to the statement. According to the statement, people earning less than 2,000 Egyptian pounds (nearly 126 U.S. dollars) per month will be exempt from this decision. The measure is meant "to alleviate the economic consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic," added the statement. Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in an earlier statement that the country has encountered great economic burdens that require tougher measures to contain its impacts. Egypt registered 745 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 14,229 nationwide and total deaths to 680. On May 16, the Egyptian authorities received the third batch of medical aid from the Chinese government to help with its fight against the COVID-19. Enditem As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, there's been an outpouring of gratitude and support for healthcare professionals. Communities have made extraordinary efforts to support them. These include ensuring they have protective personal equipment, meals and priority access in supermarkets. They've been given a break from indemnity payments and will most likely be prioritised for critical care and ventilators if they get sick themselves. That's because they are risking their lives to save others. By the beginning of May, it was estimated that more than 1,000 healthcare workers from 64 different countries had died. Civil society's goodwill towards the health profession is justified. But how long will it last? Doctors and hospitals have to make difficult decisions when treating COVID-19 patients. These include withdrawing patients from ventilators. And patients with other conditions might suffer because care was unavoidably diverted to COVID-19. It's possible that patients or their families could litigate. In South Africa, the health profession has been operating in a highly litigious context over the past decade. One of the reasons is a growing awareness of patient rights . That's coupled with aggressive marketing by personal injury lawyers eager to capitalise on this awareness. It's a concern for private and public hospitals, indemnity insurers and civil society because when doctors are preoccupied about future litigation over decisions they are forced to make during the pandemic, they will be forced to practise defensive medicine . Some were already doing so before COVID-19 and it inflates the cost of healthcare. Based on malpractice claims, costs for indemnity insurance cover have spiralled . This has forced many specialists to reduce their scope of practice or increase their consultation fees. For example, many doctors who qualified as obstetricians and gynaecologists no longer practise obstetrics because of exorbitant indemnity cover and claims in this field of practice. Such claims are considerably higher than other fields of work; one reason is the lifetime costs of caring for a person who was disabled at birth. This vicious cycle of litigation claims and more expensive service is having a negative impact on health service delivery. For one thing, spiralling claims in the public health sector mean the health budget is spent on settling legal claims instead of on healthcare. It's possible that the huge pressures on the health system created by the COVID-19 pandemic could make the situation even worse. As patient numbers increase, ratios of staff to patients will worsen, as they have globally, which could affect quality of care, despite the best efforts of highly competent healthcare professionals. Infection of hospital staff, fatigue and moral distress related to the pandemic will also have an impact on service delivery. Why are doctors concerned? If the number of cases increases substantially, specialists such as paediatricians, dermatologists or surgeons would have to work in emergency medicine or critical care. Retired doctors and nurses are encouraged to assist frontline healthcare professionals. Doctors without current re-registration status with professional bodies are allowed to continue practising for now. But if there's a claim of negligence because of what they did or failed to do in these unusual circumstances, what standard would be used to judge them? The public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires some extraordinary measures. Professional bodies globally, including the Health Professions Council of South Africa , have recognised this. They have issued updated guidance on practising outside one's profession, telemedicine and registration extensions. The greatest concern for healthcare professionals working in critical care is the need to withdraw ventilation because there aren't enough ventilators available. The country's constitution says a person's rights such as access to healthcare can be limited. And withdrawal of care is accepted by the Health Professions Council of South Africa as indicated in its published guidance . But withholding or withdrawing treatment refers to futile care. During COVID-19 care, futility might not be the reason patients are removed from a ventilator. It might rather be deterioration in their condition while other patients with a better prognosis need intensive care. The guideline is therefore not entirely applicable in a COVID-19 pandemic context. Read more: Tough choices about who gets ICU access: the ethical principles guiding South Africa Protecting health professionals The New York state governor issued directives to provide temporary immunity from civil liability for injury and death as a result of an act or omission during the pandemic for a limited period. In the UK, the British Medical Association issued guidance but this has been met with legal challenges . The South African Health Professions Council acknowledges that its response to complaints from the public will consider the extraordinary circumstances in which practitioners are working and the heavy demands on them during this period. The council's mandate is to serve the profession and protect the public. But Parliament has remained silent on any form of temporary legal indemnity for healthcare professionals in South Africa. Gross negligence in healthcare will not be excused under any circumstances. But we think standards for reasonableness will certainly not be the same as in pre-COVID-19 times. National guidance (still awaited) on allocation of scarce resources, when developed, might protect healthcare professionals working in the public sector. It's not known whether private sector doctors and independent practitioners will be included. It's also not clear how the legal and professional systems in South Africa will make provision for negligence claims and complaints that arise out of retired doctors and nurses returning to work in the pandemic or doctors working outside of their medical specialisation. This is a legal hiatus that needs to be addressed urgently. Keymanthri Moodley receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, USA. Anita Kleinsmidt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. By Keymanthri Moodley, Director, The Centre for Medical Ethics & Law, Stellenbosch University And Anita Kleinsmidt, Senior lecturer, Centre for Medical Ethics and Law , Stellenbosch University Two Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush by terror group Boko Haram, an official has said. Three Boko Haram fighters were also killed in the ambush, the official said. The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, John Enenche, said these in a statement on Wednesday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria. Mr Enenche, a major-general, said troops of Combat Team 1, Operation Kantana Jimlan who were on patrol along Buni Yadi Buni Gari axis of Yobe State encountered multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and a Boko Haram ambush on Sunday. He said the ambush took place eight kilometres ahead of Buni-Gari in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe leading to the killing of two soldiers while three other soldiers sustained injuries as a result of the IED explosion. According to him, a recovery truck, one troops-carrying vehicle and a water tanker that ran into the IED were destroyed by fire. Three terrorists were neutralised, while unconfirmed number escaped with various degrees of injury, Mr Enenche said. In the statement, the official also narrated some successes achieved by the Nigerian military against the insurgents. He said the Air Task Force of Operation Lafiya Dole, on Monday, destroyed the logistics base of the Boko Haram/Islamic States of West Africa Province (ISWAP) at Njimia on the fringes of Sambisa Forest in Borno State. He said the operation was in continuation of the onslaught against terrorists targets in the North-east. Mr Enenche said the feat was achieved following credible intelligence reports as well as series of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. He added that the mission led to the identification of the nondescript cluster of structures within the settlement being used by the terrorists to house their fuel and other logistics. According to him, the Air Task Force dispatched an appropriate attack aircraft and a surveillance platform to take out the target. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) attack assets scored accurate hits in their bombing runs on the target area, completely obliterating the logistics stores as well as causing damage to several other BHT structures in the settlement. The Chief of the Air Staff commends the Air Task Force for their professionalism and directs them to remain resolute towards eradicating the terrorists from the North East, he said. The Armed Forces of Nigeria will remain unwavering in its quest to end the terrorism and will do everything possible to ensure there is no repeat of this kind of traumatic incident. The Military High Command commends troops of Operation Lafiya Dole for their unwavering determination, hardwork and resilience, he said. The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has led to the death of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of millions of others, mainly in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad announced Thursday that he is resigning from his role as top cop as the FBI begins investigating the details surrounding the tragic shooting of black EMT Breonna Taylor. He had been in the position for eight years. Conrad's last day will be in June and Deputy Chief Robert Schroeder will serve as the interim chief while the LMPD searches for a replacement, Mayor Greg Fischer announced in a release, The Courier Journal reports. 'It has been the highlight of my professional career to be Louisville's police chief,' Conrad, 63, said in a statement. 'LMPD is full of amazing men and women who come to work each day to do their best for this community and has been a privilege to lead them.' Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad announced Thursday that he is resigning after eight years Conrad's announcement comes as the FBI has revealed in a statement that it will investigate the details surrounding the March 13 killing of the 26-year-old during a botched aid at her home in Louisville, Kentucky. 'The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner,' the Louisville FBI said in their statement. Conrad struggled during his time with the department. In 2016, the Fraternal Order of Police voted no-confidence in his leadership by 13-9. The vote happened in part because the Metro Council felt he failed to address the increase in homicide in the area. Conrad's announcement comes as the FBI has revealed in a statement that it will investigate the details surrounding the March 13 killing of the 26-year-old during a botched aid at her home in Louisville, Kentucky At the time, Fischer said that it was unfair to 'simplistically target one person for a complex problem' and noted that other areas also saw rises in homicide and other violent crimes. Conrad also survived a scandal where officers sexually assaulted teens in the department's Explorer Program, which Fischer disbanded. A U.S. attorney report stated that there were 'violations of policy and mistakes in judgment, some significant,' by department leaders. Conrad was also found to have halted the investigation of one of the officers, allowing him to resign from the department. Conrad was the subject of two lawsuits that accused him of firing whistleblowers. One of the cases was settled for $450,000 while the other resulted in a $300,000 verdict. According to Metro Council President David James, D-6th District, there was a 'palpable tension' at City Hall as council members decided what best to do with Conrad following Taylor's (pictured) death) According to Metro Council President David James, D-6th District, there was a 'palpable tension' at City Hall as council members decided what best to do with Conrad. James, a frequent critic of Conrad, said the killing of Taylor was the final straw. 'It was really time for a change at the police department,' he said. 'I'm very happy for Chief Conrad to be able to retire after a long career. I think it's very, very beneficial for our city for him to make that decision.' The news of the resignation and update on the investigation comes just days after it was revealed that one of the officers involved in the botched raid had actually been accused of harassing a man in 2019. Officer Brett Hankison was accused of having a 'vendetta' against Kendrick Wilson and of being 'a dirty cop' in an October lawsuit; he denied all the claims. Wilson's ongoing federal lawsuit - unrelated to the shooting incident in March - accuses Hankison of targeting him and planting drugs, The Courier Journal reports. It says Hankison arrested Wilson three times over a two year period at bars where he worked as off duty security. The charges against Wilson stemming from these incidents were dropped on two of these occasions. One case is still pending. The suit says Hankison and Wilson were also involved in 'a relationship with the same woman'. It says the officer was 'unfairly targeting' Wilson. Breonna Taylor, 26, died in the early hours of March 13 after law enforcement raided the home she shared with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker in Louisville, Kentucky Officer Brett Hankison, pictured, has been accused of having a 'vendetta' against Kendrick Wilson and of being 'a dirty cop' in an October lawsuit; he denied all the claims Taylor's family says that Louisville cops obtained the warrant used to raid her home based on false information that investigators gave to the judge. Attorneys for the family of 26-year-old Breonna filed a lawsuit against Louisville Metro Police Department alleging that a detective falsely claimed that a drug suspect was receiving postal packages at her house. In the early morning hours of March 13, Louisville police executed a 'no-knock' raid on her home as part of an investigation centered on two men suspected of selling drugs in the Russell section of the city. Taylor's apartment in southwest Jefferson County was more than 10 miles away from the Russell neighborhood, according to the Louisville Courier Journal. Police suspected Taylor's home was used to receive drugs, and a judge signed off on a 'no-knock' warrant allowing law enforcement officials to raid her home. Just before 1am, Louisville police said they identified themselves before using a battering ram to enter Taylor's home, where she and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed. The search warrant used to justify the police raid which left Breonna Taylor, pictured, 26, dead on March 13 claimed that Taylor's home was used by a suspected drug dealer, Jamarcus Glover to receive suspicious packages. The family says this claim is false and is suing police The suit claims that LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, left, and officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, right, entered their apartment without announcing themselves Taylor was in bed in her home that night with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. According to the family, Walker, who was licensed to carry a firearm, fired his gun thinking that the couple was being burglarized. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer Taylor's neighbors and her family dispute this. They said police never identified themselves, and that Walker, who was legally allowed to carry a firearm, shot at the cops thinking that he was being robbed. Police responded with gunfire, killing Taylor, who suffered eight gunshot wounds. Walker was arrested and charged with first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer after Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly was shot in the leg during the raid. Mattingly, Officer Brett Hankison, and Officer Myles Cosgrove were the three detectives who raided Taylor's home. Officers fired at least 20 rounds during the raid. The above image shows a bullet hole piercing what appears to be a piece of furniture in Taylor's home A bullet hole is seen in a glass window at Taylor's apartment in southwest Jefferson County All three officers are named as defendants in the lawsuit filed by Taylor's family. Taylor had no criminal record and worked for two local hospitals. The lawsuit alleges that police fired at least 20 rounds into the home. The warrant which was approved by a judge the day before Taylor died was based on a detective's belief that one of the drug suspects in Russell, Jamarcus Glover, used Taylor's residence to receive mail, keep drugs, or stash money from the sale of drugs. Glover was arrested in a separate raid that same night more than 10 miles away from Taylor's home. A Louisville detective wrote in an affidavit that he saw Glover leave Taylor's apartment two months before the raid with a United States Postal Service package which he then transported to a 'known drug house,' according to the Courier Journal. The search warrant used to justify the police raid which left Breonna Taylor, 26, dead on March 13 claimed that Taylor's home was used by a suspected drug dealer, Jamarcus Glover, pictured, to receive suspicious packages. The family says this claim is false and is suing police The detective wrote that he verified the information 'through a US Postal Inspector.' But the inspector, Tony Gooden, told WDRB-TV that he was never asked by the Louisville Metro Police about any suspicious packages being sent to Taylor's apartment. Gooden said a different law enforcement agency asked his office in January to investigate whether any suspicious mail was going to Taylor's residence. After looking into the request, Gooden said his office found there was nothing suspicious linked to Taylor's home. 'There's no packages of interest going there,' Gooden said. Benjamin Crump, a Florida-based lawyer who specializes in high-profile cases involving police shootings of African Americans, said that Gooden's statement 'directly contradicts what the police stated in the affidavit to secure a no-knock warrant for her home.' Crump is now part of a team of lawyers representing Taylor's family. 'Gooden further stated that 'no packages of interest were going there',' Crump said. 'We will continue to demand transparency from the Louisville police on behalf of Breonna's family.' Taylor's death sparked outraged nationwide. Her family is suing Louisville and its police department for wrongful death DailyMail.com has reached out to Crump and the LMPD for comment. 'No-knock' warrants are a controversial practice that allows law enforcement officials to raid a suspect's home without identifying themselves or notifying the suspect beforehand. Supporters of the practice say that it prevents suspects from destroying evidence during the time that authorities use to identify themselves. But opponents say that it poses various dangers. Houston police stopped the practice of no-knock raids last year after two civilians were killed and four officers were shot during a drug raid that was launched based on faulty information. No-knock raids have resulted in officers being shot because residents who are legally permitted to carry firearms believed they were being burglarized. Several states, including Kentucky, have 'stand your ground' laws that allow the use of lethal force in case they fell victim to crimes such as assault, rape, and burglary. A surge in the number of students arriving from China and India has pushed migration into the UK from outside Europe to its highest ever level, official figures revealed today. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 404,000 people from outside the European Union moved to the UK in 2019. Only 122,000 left, giving a net inflow of 282,000 people. More Europeans also arrived than left, with 196,000 EU arrivals during 2019 against 147,000 going home, giving a net inflow of 49,000, despite fears of an exodus after the Brexit vote. The combination of inflows from Europe and other parts of the world and an outflow of 60,000 Britons meant that overall net migration stood at 270,000 during 2019. The ONS said that was broadly stable in comparison to recent years, although it remains high by historic standards. But the key trend was a decline in immigration for work and a rise in those arriving to study some 120,000 from China and 49,000 from India. The overall number of non-Europeans coming to study at British universities last year was the highest on record. Todays statistics also contain less encouraging figures on the number of Europeans arriving to work, which fell to 76,000 last year, the lowest total since 2004, when countries such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and other eastern European nations joined the EU. Announcing the figures today, Jay Lindop from the ONS said: Overall migration levels have remained broadly stable in recent years, but new patterns have emerged for EU and non-EU migrants since 2016. For the year ending December 2019, non-EU migration was at the highest level we have seen. Meanwhile, the charity Refugee Action said that other figures contained with todays migration data showed a 13 per cent rise in the number of asylum-seekers waiting more than six months for a decision on their claim. The charity said that meant there were more than 31,000 applicants and dependants in this position and that rules barring them from working should be lifted both for their benefit and for that of the country. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, says that he is getting worried about the kind of court system being practised in the country especially given the Supreme Courts ruling over the eligibility of Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor. According to the Minority Leader, the 5-2 decision of the Supreme Court indicates that Article 192 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana is now irrelevant. Your aunt, grandmother and grandfather, you can constitute them tomorrow and come and do public service because your experience as a critical human resource is still important, he said in an interview with Joy News. He argues: the Constitution provides a tenure for public office. Public within the contest of Article 190 of the Constitution. Go back to the memorandum that accompanied the Office of Special Prosecutor bill and other bills; Parliament was exercising its power in creating new and additional Public Service office. He explained that the ruling simply implies that older citizens above the retirement age can be appointed Chief Executive in any public office and the reference will be the Supreme Court ruling. On this basis, when it comes to the law, he explained that his confidence is eroding because I am beginning to look back with some disappointment that we rely on this independent adjudicator. With a majority 5-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Martin Amidu is eligible to hold office as Special Prosecutor. The decision read by Chief Justice Anin Yeboah means the retirement age for employees of the "public service" does not apply to the office of Special Prosecutor. Former Deputy Attorney-General Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine who filed the case said per the true and proper interpretation of Articles 190(1)(d), 199(1) and 295 of the 1992 Constitution, the retirement age of all holders of public offices created pursuant to Article 190 (1)(d) is 60 years, and not beyond 65 years. Article 190(1) states The Public Services of Ghana shall include (d) such other public services as Parliament may by law prescribe. Article 199(1) states A public officer shall, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, retire from the public service on attaining the age of sixty years. Dr. Ayine argued that at the time President Akufo-Addo named Martin Amidu as SP, that latter was not qualified because he was 66. He said that this contravenes section 13(3) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959). Source: Ghanaweb Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An aerial view of the San Clemente Pier, which was closed to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Eight people were arrested on suspicion of unlawful activity, including trespassing and other crimes, during a protest over coronavirus restrictions in San Clemente on Thursday morning, police said. About 200 protesters converged near the pier at Orange County's southernmost beach city to demand that stay-at-home rules in California be lifted and that city officials remove fencing enclosing a beach parking lot. The fence, which was constructed to keep beachgoers from using the city lot, has stirred controversy in recent weeks, with some residents and officials saying it has become a symbol of the restrictions placed on local communities by Sacramento. Orange County sheriff's deputies arrested several people after authorities said some tried to remove the fence themselves. They then made additional arrests after deputies declared an unlawful assembly and some individuals refused to leave the area despite multiple commands, said department spokesman Carrie Braun. The names of those arrested were not immediately released. Video from the scene showed deputies following a man as he began unscrewing bolts connecting the fencing. Deputies told him to stop; when he refused, he was taken into custody. The crowd surrounding him chanted, "Let him go, let him go." The San Clemente City Council on Tuesday discussed reopening beach parking lots, which would have meant the fence would be removed. But in a split vote, city leaders decided to keep the closures in place. In response, Alan Hostetter, a resident who helped organize Thursday's rally, posted a message on Facebook on Wednesday evening calling for protesters to bring their signs, flags and tool kits with socket wrenches, crescent wrenches and Allen wrenches to the pier. "Our City Council is currently paralyzed with hatred," he wrote. "Due to this paralysis, We the People will take it from here." Mayor Pro Tem Laura Ferguson said the fence was erected by city staff without council approval and can be taken down without a vote. Story continues "This could all have been avoided today if the city manager would have taken it down," Ferguson said. "He had the power to do that, and he didn't do it. It really lacks critical thinking. He has escalated a situation when he had every opportunity to avoid it." Councilman Gene James also questioned the need for the fence and has urged City Manager Robert Dunek to take it down. James wrote in an email to Dunek on Thursday that the fence should be removed before the protest, adding that the optics of the situation are terrible for the city. "In my view there is no clear purpose for a fence that one can walk to the end and walk through," James wrote. "Please let's reach out and agree to bring down the fence today. We will all win." Times staff writer Leila Miller contributed to this report. William Gunther Epic wgunther@epic.com Brian Kell Google, Inc. bkell@google.com SIGBOVIK 17 Carnegie Mellon University March 31, 2017 The efficiency of programming is often hampered by the need to type the right text in order to obtain the syntax highlighting that will produce the desired program behavior. The programmer can control the colors and formatting of the code only indirectly, through arcane textual incantations. In this paper we introduce WysiScript, a new language which frees the programmer from this antiquated dependence on text by allowing program semantics to be expressed through direct application of colors and formatting. We give a description of the main ideas of the language and demonstrate its power and ease of use with some example programs. We end by proposing a novel technique for understanding the structure of a program, which is made possible only by the fresh approach taken by WysiScript. Consequently much work was devoted to the study of so-called formal languages (i.e., text-based languages, with thinly veiled disdain for nontextual systems) and their parsing and analysis. Eventually editors were developed that could perform the necessary translation of complex textual programs into colors and formatting. For programmers, this workflow is tedious and error-prone, requiring not only an understanding of how the colors affect program behavior but also the arcane knowledge of exactly what text is necessary to make the editor produce those colors. The sole focus on text-based programming languages has also had other undesirable effects, such as the proliferation of code written by colorblind people, the endless tabs-versus-spaces debate, and PHP. However, because of the political climate of the time, most of this work was completely unknown in the West. Some promising results were demonstrated by Emily W. Hagenfried, including one programming language in 1955 encoded using the calls of the West Peruvian screech owl Megascops roboratus [3] and, with Pal Svendt, another in 1958 based on heating and cooling different parts of the hardware [4]. Nevertheless, by the mid to late 1960s the textual programming paradigm had become fully entrenched. The field of nontextual programming languages was quite popular in the Eastern Bloc in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1953 the Bulgarian computer scientist Dimitar Radjakov developed a programming language based on the timing and intensity of a sequence of thwacks delivered to the side of the computer cabinet [5]; Bulgarian computers relied on this system for a number of years. Late in 1957 the Yugoslav mathematician Dragana Simunovic proposed a language in which a program is a collection of rough and smooth objects thrown into a leather bag [6], but this was never satisfactorily implemented. And in 1962 the Soviet biochemist Andrey Mikhailovich Turapovsky was the first to describe a full-featured odor-based language [7]. Programming languages have not always been text-based. Early work explored many diverse paradigms. For example, the first widely used programming language, Build-A-New-Machine-For-Each-Task, did not employ text at all, nor did its popular successor, Plug-Wires-Into-Different-Places. This paper is intended to provide a general introduction to WysiScript. Further information about the language, as well as the standard reference implementation, is freely available at http://www.zifyoip.com/wysiscript/ . In this paper, to improve programming efficiency, we introduce WysiScript, which allows the programmer to bypass the step of typing text and simply apply the desired formatting directly (Fig. 3). And WysiScript has a lot of formatting, which makes it more powerful than typical programming languages. Traditionally programming has been done by typing complicated text in order to produce the proper colors and formatting to make the program work correctly. The colors and formatting that determine the programs behavior can be controlled only indirectly by adjusting the text. This is a tedious, roundabout method (Fig. 2). A careful comparison of these two samples makes the difference clear: the primary distinction is that programming languages have colors and formatting. Obviously it is this special formatting that gives programming languages their power. This is why plain text is not executableit lacks formatting. (This also explains the lack of functionality in Microsoft Excel.) A major physiographic province of North America, the Great Plains lie between the Rio Grande on the south and the delta where the Mackenzie River empties into the Arctic Ocean on the north, between the Central Lowland of the United States and the Canadian Shield on the east and the Rocky Mountains on the west. Their length is some 3,000 miles, their width from 300 to 700 miles, and their area approximately 1,125,000 square miles (2,900,000 square kilometres), roughly equivalent to one-third of the United States. Parts of ten states of the United States (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico) and the three Prairie Provinces of Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), and portions of the Northwest Territories are within the Great Plains proper. Some writers have used the 100th meridian as the eastern boundary, but a more precise one is an eastward-facing escarpment that runs from Texas to North Dakota, generally somewhat east of the 100th meridian. In the Canadian portion the line dividing the Great Plains from the Canadian Shield runs east of the Red River of the North; cuts through Lake Winnipeg; then curves northeastward, crossing Lake Athabasca, Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake to reach the Arctic Ocean east of the Mackenzie Delta. An important question in the study of the foundations of computer science is the following: What makes a programming language a programming language? In other words, what distinguishes a programming language from plain text? Consider, for example, the samples of plain text and a programming language shown in Fig. 1 below. Language description In this section we give a brief description of the major ideas in WysiScript. At the time of this writing, the language is under active development (i.e., we threw most of this together after the first SIGBOVIK submission deadline had already passed, and we havent started on the implementation yet), so details are subject to change. Please see http://www.zifyoip.com/wysiscript/ for the latest documentation. Naturally, color is fundamentally important to WysiScript. If you are reading this document in a black-and-white format, such as, say, printed conference proceedings, some things may be difficult to understand. We recommend reading this document in the PDF version of the proceedings or from the URL above. Throughout this document, colors are expressed using CSS syntax. Numeric literals Most programming languages in use today use only a single color for all numeric literals, which is unnecessarily confusing and makes it impossible to distinguish different numbers using only a spectrometer. To improve clarity, WysiScript uses a different foreground color for each number. There are many possible ways to map RGB colors to numbers; WysiScript uses the simple scheme (256 red + green) / blue, with the standard mathematical convention that division by zero really means division by 256. Additionally, to emphasize their immutability, numeric literals are underlined. So, for example, the number 12345.67 can be represented as #90AD03. Of course, this is only an approximation (that color actually represents 12345), but its probably what you meant anyway. Not only does this system associate different colors to different numbers, it also often associates different colors to the same number. This provides a nice set of pet names for numbers to which a programmer feels a particular emotional attachment. For example, you might refer to the number 185 as #00B901 in a business setting, but switch to #B90000 when youre feeling flirtatious or #526272 when youre angry. Variables and functions Likewise, for clarity, WysiScript uses a different color for each variable and function. For example, A denotes the variable or function #F00BA2. The value of this expression is the value of the variable or the return value of the function. Since each variable has a corresponding color, assignment is easily represented with background colors. For instance, A denotes the assignment of the number 12345 to the variable #F00BA2. Note that this could also be written as rm -rf /, because we are removing the arbitrary indirect association between text and meaning to focus only on the clear meaning conveyed by the formatting. This straightforward scheme allows certain expressions to be written quite concisely without sacrificing readability. For example, A means, Assign the value of the variable #F00BA2 (or the return value of the function #F00BA2) to the variable #DABADA. In most traditional programming languages, such an expression would wastefully require at least three symbols: two variable names and an assignment operator. Blocks and expressions Formatting provides a natural nesting structure in the form of font sizes. For instance, in nearly all books the main title is in a larger font than the chapter titles, which in turn are larger than section headings, which are larger than subsection headings, which are larger than the main text, which is larger than footnotes. This system is the result of centuries of refinement by printers and graphic designers and allows the reader to understand the structure at a glance. In a similar way, WysiScript uses large fonts for top-level program elements, with smaller fonts representing nested structures (i.e., child nodes in the syntax tree). This feature of WysiScript yields a great improvement in readability. As any programmer knows, in traditional programming languages it easy to get lost in nested braces and parentheses. WysiScript does away with these clumsy textual representations of structure entirely and makes the full program structure immediately apparent. Consider the example in Fig. 4 below, which defines a function to compute the greatest common divisor of two numbers using the Euclidean algorithm, calls the function with the arguments 45 and 105, and outputs the result. (We have not yet discussed function definitions or built-in operations, so the meaning of a few parts of this program may not be immediately clear.) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z AA Fig. 4. A sample WysiScript program. For ease of discussion, the nodes in this example have been given distinct text labels. Node B is a child of node A, because it has a smaller font size. Likewise, node C is a child of node B, and node D is a child of node C. Node E is also a child of node C (it is a sibling of node D), because it has the same font size as D but different colors. Node F is a child of node B and a sibling of node C, as is node J, and nodes G, H, and I are the three children of node F. Node K is interesting: it represents a node in the syntax tree that is a sibling of node B, but all of its non-size formatting is the same as that of B. In order to indicate that it is a sibling of node B and not just a continuation, it has been given a font size that is larger than that of node B but smaller than that of their parent, node A. The function definition in this example continues through node W. Node X follows the function definition; it is another top-level node, a sibling of node A. Note that node Y has two children, nodes Z and AA. The two characters A at the end of the program are both part of the same node of the syntax tree because they have the same formatting, including font size. This example also demonstrates the syntax of a function call. The function defined in this example is named #6CD, and it is called at node Y. The two arguments to this function, #002C01 and #006901 (representing the numeric literals 45 and 105), are provided to the function call as child nodes in the syntax tree, nodes Z and AA. Recall that assignment is represented by background color. Naturally, if the value of an expression is assigned to some variable, the corresponding background color extends over the entire expression. Of course, within that expression there may be subexpressions whose values are assigned to other variables, so subexpressions may have their own background colors (as illustrated in Fig. 4). The font sizes make the nested structure clear, so no confusion arises. Note two obvious and common-sense corollaries: an expression may not be assigned to the same variable as an ancestor expression unless an intermediate expression is assigned to a different variable, and if no background color is explicitly set on a top-level expression then its value is assigned to the variable white (or whatever the background color of the environment happens to be). Function definitions Function definitions look the same as variable assignments except that they are italicized. The expression to be used as the function body is italicized and its background color is set to the color of the function. The return value is the result of that expression. Be careful not to accidentally turn variable assignments inside a function body into local function definitions by italicizing too much. Even though a function definition is italicized, the variable assignments it contains should be unitalicized so that they are interpreted correctly. Unless, of course, you want local function definitionsthen by all means italicize them. (Local function definitions will probably work, but who knows. Good luck if you decide to use them.) Note that recursive function calls are invisible, because the foreground color of the function call matches the background color of the function definition. This is not a serious problem, thoughif a programmer is really concerned about being able to see her code, she can always rewrite a recursive function as two mutually recursive functions with contrasting colors. In fact, the invisibility of recursive function calls can be a benefit for complexity analysis, because thats always easier if you dont have to worry about recursion. Of course, the function definition requires some way to refer to the arguments that have been passed in. We make use of the well-known Roy G. Biv calling convention, which is also used, for example, by the Randy Pausch Bridge and the Allegheny County Belt System. Under this convention, the arguments of a function are named, in order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Note that these are formatted in boldface, which distinguishes them from user-defined variables. In addition to improved readability when compared to other programming languages that use the same color for all parameters, this convention has the advantage of encouraging good programming practice by keeping the number of function parameters small. (If a function really needs to take more than seven arguments, they can be redshifted with the built-in deepskyblue operation; see below.) This convention also provides a rigorous definition for #F00, a symbol that often appears in programming examples but whose meaning is usually ambiguous. Function arguments are the only way that outside values can be used inside a function. To support good programming practices, there are no global variables in WysiScript. KERRVILLE, Texas, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- James Avery Artisan Jewelry will welcome guests and retail associates back into select stores Friday, May 22 in accordance with Governor Greg Abbott's Strike Force to Open Texas recommended health protocols. Following these guidelines, the company will open stores at the allowed occupancy capacity and is working to ensure a safe shopping experience for both associates and guests. "We've missed our customers over the past eight weeks and we're ready to begin calling some of our retail associates back to work after extensive furloughs in March," says James Avery CEO John McCullough. "We've heard from our customers that they are ready to come back to our stores and we want them to know their shopping experience will be different as we continue to monitor safety protocols and adapt to the current situation." Each store is strictly following state guidelines as well as any additional local or county requirements for reopening in the community. "Care, concern and safety of associates and guests is a cornerstone of our business and we remain diligent as we work to reopen our retail stores," said McCullough. Hand sanitizing stations will be set up in stores for guests and associates and all high-touch areas of the store and jewelry will be regularly cleaned and sanitized. Additionally, the company encourages guests to honor social distancing guidelines when possible and consider wearing face coverings when in the store. James Avery associates will undergo daily health screenings and wear facemasks. For a full list of safety standards implemented at James Avery stores and more information about shopping options, please visit JamesAvery.com/shopsafely. With 62 stores open as of Friday, customers can now drop off jewelry for charm soldering, cleaning and repairs. James Avery customers can still shop online with free shipping, utilizing contactless, curbside pickup or buy online, pickup in store in available locations. Customers planning to shop or pick up purchases at a James Avery store should verify available services and hours with the individual location or online using the store locator at JamesAvery.com. About James Avery Artisan Jewelry James Avery is a vertically integrated, family-owned company located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. We offer finely crafted jewelry designs for men and women in sterling silver, 14K and 18K gold, gemstones and leather handbags. James Avery jewelry is designed by our own skilled artisans in Kerrville, Texas. We are a multi-channel retailer with 91 James Avery stores in four states. Our jewelry is also available in more than 220 Dillard's stores in Texas and 28 additional states, airport stores in Austin and Houston, Army and Air Force Exchange Service locations at Fort Hood and Fort Belvoir and nationwide through JamesAvery.com. James Avery crafts jewelry in Texas workshops in Comfort, Hondo and Kerrville, made of the finest materials sourced worldwide. For more information, visit JamesAvery.com or facebook.com/JamesAvery. SOURCE James Avery Artisan Jewelry Advertisement Police are investigating whether a van was deliberately driven into an Islamic clothing shop in Sydney's southwest. Twelve people were injured when a Mitsubishi SUV ploughed into Hijab House on Waterloo Road and Juno Parade in Greenacre just after 3pm on Thursday. Police said the car crashed into another vehicle stopped at the traffic lights moments before driving into the busy store. Most of the victims are believed to be women aged between 18 and 30 and were in the store shopping at the time of the crash. So far, one victim in a serious condition. NSW Ambulance spokeswoman Caitlin Murphy said twelve people were hurt in the crash. 'Eight women and four men were treated for injuries including fractures and are all lucky to be alive,' she told Nine News. A 51-year-old man with a history of driving offences was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital, where he will undergo blood and urine tests to check whether he was under the influence of any substances at the time of the crash, Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said on Thursday night. Twelve people have been injured after a van driver smashed into a shop in Sydney's southwest In footage of the incident, the driver of the SUV ploughed into another, smaller car, before driving directly into the shopfront Pictured: Blood-soaked feet of women who were injured in the horror crash on Thursday afternoon The van has now been removed from the Hijab House store in Greenacre, following hours of police investigations No charges have been laid. Police superintendent Murray Reynolds told 2GB he believed the crash may have been deliberate. 'It does appear that it's [been] done deliberately but potentially it could be a medical episode,' he said. 'The scene itself it obviously quite chaotic I'm grateful no one was killed.' A spokesman for Hijab House confirmed both customers and staff were injured in the crash. 'A number of our customers and staff members were injured. The community is shaken and management is working to make sense of this tragedy,' the spokesman said. 'At this stage motives are unknown. The important thing is everyone is still alive.' Video taken by a bystander showed thick smoke billow from the front of the Subaru while stopped at a red light. The Mitsubishi then appeared to accelerate across the crowded intersection before ploughing into the shop's glass windows. A Mitsubishi SUV slammed into Hijab House on Waterloo Road and Juno Parade in Greenacre just after 3pm on Thursday Police are seen after a car crashed into a shop at Greenacre in southwestern Sydney, injuring 12 people - including staff and shoppers Dozens of paramedics, firefighters, police, more than nine ambulances and a specialist medical team remain on the scene The male driver was initially trapped in the car and had to be freed by emergency crews, while 11 pedestrians were injured. 'The male driver and 11 pedestrians have been injured. They are currently being treated at the scene; however, their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening,' police said in a statement. Dozens of paramedics, firefighters, police, nine ambulances and a specialist medical team remain on the scene. Two people have been taken to Liverpool Hospital and up to seven others are being treated for leg injuries at the scene. NSW Police said there is no indication the crash was terror related. Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell on Tuesday said there doesn't appear to be any link between the driver of the SUV or the driver of the other car. Ambulance NSW said 12 people have been injured - including the driver of the SUV Smoke billowed from the SUV before it careered across the intersection and into the shop front The male driver was trapped in the car and had to be freed by emergency crews, while 11 pedestrians were injured John Makhlouf, who owns a nearby petrol station, said he saw a car career through the intersection and into the shop. 'I saw a lot of smoke and heard a beeping horn. One car got pushed out of the way and the other car went straight into the shop and crashed and you could hear the horn constantly beeping,' he told the ABC. 'It's very lucky there was no one standing on the corner or crossing at the lights because they would have been hit.' A worker at the Al Aseel restaurant next door said 'police and ambulances were everywhere'. Another woman suggested the store would have been busier than usual as women stocked up on outfits to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Victims were instructed to sit on the sidewalk and were provided blankets as emergency services conducted an investigation Footage of the shock incident was shared online Emergency services rushed to the scene and rescued 12 people - most of whom had minor injuries A 51-year-old man with a history of driving offences was arrested at the scene and taken to hospital, where he will undergo blood and urine tests to check whether he was under the influence of any substances at the time of the crash, Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said on Thursday night 'There are police and ambulances everywhere. We couldn't understand anything that was going on when it happened, it drove right through the shop,' he told The Guardian. Police have blocked off Boronia Road between Waterloo Rd and Noble Ave, while Waterloo Road is closed northbound. Drivers are being advised to avoid the area. NSW Police are asking for witnesses or anyone with CCTV to contact them. More to come. Paramedics, nine ambulances and a specialist medical team remain on the scene Canterbury Are you handy with the tools? Do you have hammer hand experience or a per-trade? If so we want to hear from you.We are looking... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz As reported by RIA Novosti on May 18, 2020, Russia and Kyrgyzstan are discussing the supply of 9K37 Buk-M1 (SA-11 Gadfly in NATO code) anti-aircraft missile systems and Mi-8 helicopters from the Russian Armed Forces, the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) reports. Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link Buk-M1 air defense system (Picture source: Russian MoD) "The transfer of two divisions of the Buk-M1 air defense system and the additional number of Mi-8 helicopters from the availability is being discussed. It is obvious that in the coming years Russia will completely dominate the field of military-technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan," the CAST report, which will be published soon. The forthcoming Allies report is exploring the military potential of Russia's CSTO partners and Moscows military-technical cooperation with these countries. Since 2000, over 400 officers and 700 cadets of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces have been trained at Russian military universities, and 40 senior officers have taken courses at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. According to the report, in the field of military and military-technical cooperation, Moscow is the main partner of Bishkek, which is completely dependent on foreign military assistance. Since 2012, Russia and Kyrgyzstan have entered into arms supply agreements with aid in the amount of about $ 200 million. To date, military equipment worth about $ 126 million has been transferred to Bishkek, including two An-26 military transport aircraft, four Mi-24V combat helicopters, six Mi-8MTV and Mi-8MT helicopters, and two divisions of the upgraded S-125 air defense systems Pechora-2M, up to fifty modernized BTR-70M; motor vehicles, small arms and light weapons and ammunition. Loar is currently a board member of the World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (WFII) and of Bermuda captive PAR Ltd. He has also served as a member of the board for CIAB for several decades and was honored with the Ramsden/Sullivan Memorial Award from the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of California (IIABC) in 2014. Loar joined Woodruff Sawyer and its board in 1976, and took on the role of CEO in 1995, vice chair in 2008, and chairman in 2013. The two chairmen before me had a clear picture of what it meant to build a company that was independent and service-oriented, including hiring smart, well-educated experts who were passionate about protecting and advocating for our clients, Loar noted in a press release. As CEO, Andy has built upon that ethos of client-first and is leading our team forward with camaraderie and trust. Barrengos joined Woodruff Sawyer in 1996 and became CEO in 2016. Ive had the opportunity to work with and benefit from great leaders at Woodruff Sawyer and learning from Stan over the last 25 years has been invaluable, Barrengos said. His leadership is defined by integrity and optimism; his passion, independence and fierce commitment to our clients have been foundational to both where we have come from and where we are going as a firm. I cannot fully express my gratitude for his leadership, partnership and friendship. I look forward to continuing to work with him as chair emeritus. The role will allow the Woodruff Sawyer board to continue to benefit from Stans valuable insights. The brokerages board has also introduced a new position to the company. The presiding director role will rotate each year among board committee chairs and Chuck Shoemaker, Woodruff Sawyers senior vice president and audit chair, will be the first to take on this position effective immediately. For every positive Covid-19 test more than 20 negative tests have been done, the ICMR has said, asserting there has been a 1,000-fold increase in the quantum of tests per day in the last two months. A total of 25,12,388 samples had been tested by 9 am of May 20, and the testing capacity has been scaled up to 1 lakh tests per day, it said. Starting with less than 100 Covid-19 tests per day just two months ago, a 1000-fold increase in just 60 days was made possible by dedicated teams from research institutions, medical colleges, testing laboratories, ministries, airlines and postal ... MIDLAND, MI - With the Tittabawassee River floodwaters receding in the city of Midland, conditions are slowly starting to improve. Some are returning to their homes on Thursday, May 21, but many remain displaced, staying in the countys temporary shelters. As the floodwaters recede, the city will move in to start cleaning up debris. The city will make announcements regarding landfill access and debris collections to help residents with cleanup efforts, said Selina Tisdale, a public information officer for the city. Residents are now able to report damage to their property online here. The recovery effort is just beginning, she said. We are cautiously saying the worst is over, Tisdale said. The cleanup efforts are almost as mentally and physically draining as going through the flooding itself, because many, many people lost their homes, are dealing with monumental amounts of destruction. Its going to take a lot of time and effort and energy to restore." Though some are beginning to return to their homes, the citys evacuation areas will remain in effect for now. If you can safely get to your house without going around barriers or going through water, you can do so to check on it, Tisdale said. If you have power and utilities working, you are free to access your residence. If your property took on water, however, or your utilities and power are out, Tisdale said to contact Consumers Energy and ask how to safely proceed. Fortunately, its a beautiful day in Midland, Tisdale said. That helps a lot. Unfortunately, that kind of masks a lot of the severity of what we have to deal with. The Consumers Energy outage map shows far fewer residents are without power than on Wednesday, though some outage areas remain. Five of the citys sewer pump stations remain down; residents in any of the affected areas should not use water, otherwise sewage backups are possible, Tisdale said. Every roadway that had water over it will need a safety inspection before reopening, she said. Even if water has receded from some roads, the city is asking residents to respect barriers and not drive around them. If theres a barrier there, its for a reason, Tisdale said. Cindy Rau and her son Tyler were evacuated from their home during the flood, staying at a Comfort Inn in Mount Pleasant Tuesday evening with their two dogs, she said. I was here for the 86 flood and the 2017 flood, and this is crazy, Cindy Rau said. Its a lot higher than 86, its higher than 17. I mean, its nuts... I know people whove lost everything. Many within the Raus church network have been hit hard by the flooding, they said. My mom and dads church is underwater, Cindy Rau said. Their pastor lives across the road, and up to their second story is (underwater). Thankfully, the Raus home stayed above water, and theyve had an outpouring of support from their church group. Weve had more than 10 people say, If you need anything, call, Rau said. Our pastors wife said they lost track of how many people came to help. Theres a sense of hope with how their community is stepping up to help each other, Cindy Rau said. Theyre all focused on helping each other above all else, Tyler Rau said. This community is amazing, it really is, Cindy Rau said. Its always been amazing, people have always helped people. Thats why we live here. Shelter There are still many residents staying at shelters set up in area schools, Tisdale said, though the number is expected to slowly decline. The shelters, especially the one at Midland High School, have been inundated with donations, Tisdale said. The city is encouraging those interested in lending a hand to reach out to United Way of Midland County instead of dropping off supplies directly. The generosity of our community is just overwhelming, Tisdale said. Jerry Wasserman, a former member of the Midland Public Schools board, is serving as one of four volunteer supervisors at the shelter at Midland High School. In just about half a day, a huge outpouring of community donations and volunteers helped turn a gym with 100 cots into a well-oiled machine, putting the skills of each helping hand to its best use - all organized by regular citizens. Were writing the operating manual as we go, Wasserman said. Volunteer nurses, doctors, nursing assistants, students and others are helping to feed, care for, bathe and bed the shelters seniors, who make up 90 percent of its current population, he said. The shelter has a strict COVID-19 protocol with volunteers checking temperatures at the entrances, constantly washing down surfaces, and giving hand sanitizer to residents every few hours. Ninety percent of our population have been in isolation for two months, Wasserman said. We are not having a COVID outbreak on our shift. Wasserman hopes the collective effort will bear fruit a week from now, when the the flooding threat should be gone and itll be clear whether there was any COVID exposure to residents. The amazing talent and the outpouring of people, unreal, Wasserman said. The material stuff is impressive because its visible, whats not visible but felt are the volunteers. Noah Ponte, a hospitality management business owner and graduate of Midland High, drove up from Detroit Tuesday to help organize relief efforts in his hometown. Ponte took to his network of business contacts to help recruit medical professional volunteers, he said. The local response was robust: Covenant HealthCare and MidMichigan Medical Center - Midland sent nurses, and medical students from Central Michigan University and Michigan State University are also lending a hand, he said. Everybody in this area who has the skill set jumped on the opportunity, I think it speaks a lot to this community, Ponte said. People in Midland stepped up. Like many other industries, hospitality management has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponte said. Hes lending a hand at the shelter in any way he can while hes out of work, he said. In the meantime, Im just riding out the storm with everybody else," Ponte said. Were just itching for opportunities to work, and if you combine the drive to work with the opportunity to help people that we love, I think everybody jumps on it. MLive photographer Riley Yuan contributed reporting to this article. Read more: President Trump approves emergency declaration in wake of mid-Michigan flooding Midland announces sewage issues for some residents and guidelines for returning home It doesnt look good, but Sanford Dam is actually still standing with some of berm washed away Saginaw River reaches peak in Bay City without major flooding issues Failed dam owner fought with state over Wixom Lake levels before flood Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break Airline Lufthansa said on Thursday it is in advanced talks with the German government's economic stabilisation fund over a rescue deal worth up to 9 billion euros ($9.9 billion), including the state taking a 20% stake in the company. Lufthansa said in a statement that the deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its voting rights as a whole in exceptional cases such as protection against a takeover. Lufthansa has been in talks with the government for weeks over aid to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic and what is expected to be a protracted travel slump, but it has been wrangling over how much control to yield in return for support. Lufthansa said it expected conditions of the deal to include the waiver of future dividend payments and limits on management compensation, adding the package would have to be approved by the European Commission. The concept includes a 3 billion euro loan from the state-backed bank KfW and a convertible bond, which can be exchanged for a further 5% stake plus one share in the event of a public takeover offer by a third party. Lufthansa said it hoped the deal could be concluded promptly to secure its long-term solvency. German media had reported late on Wednesday that a deal had been done and Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expects an agreement on a rescue package soon, but did not elaborate. The airline said on May 7 it was negotiating a 9 billion-euro bailout with the German government to ensure its future, confirming an earlier Reuters report. Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: COVID-19 cases cross 1,10 lakh as India limps back to normalcy Also read: Lockdown 4.0: Centre awaits states' stance on resuming passenger flights Judges are not robots. They are allowed to have strong opinions and complicated emotions and to express themselves freely outside the judicial forum. But judges are not supposed to be Fox News commentators or radio shock jocks either. So its deeply troubling to see a burgeoning new trend among conservative jurists during Donald Trumps presidency: the interjection of purely political hot takes into supposedly impartial judicial opinions. This phenomenon isnt limited to Trump appointees. Some Trump judges have already mastered this art, but it seems to have caught on among some state judges who appear to be gunning for a promotion to the federal judiciary. Advertisement The latest example comes from Michigan, whose court of appeals blocked a ban on vaping products in the state on Thursday. Judge Mark Boonstraan appointee of former Republican Gov. Rick Snyderjoined the majority opinion striking down the ban. But he tacked on a separate 13-page polemic attacking Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers orders shutting down schools and nonessential businesses while limiting travel within the state. Whitmer has become the target of ire from the president as well as armed protesters who have occupied the state Capitol, forcing the Legislature to shut down due to safety concerns. Boonstra is now pouring gasoline on the fire. His concurrence included an ominous proclamation: Totalitarianism has no place in America. Has it arrived? Well, thats a question for another day. While pretending to take no position on this apparently open question, Boonstra then cited far-right outlets to support his thinly veiled accusation that the governor has perhaps brought tyranny to Michigan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One such excerpt from American Greatness, a fringe magazine that routinely promotes Trumpist conspiracy theories, was titled The Tyrannical Soul of Gretchen Whitmer. Boonstra quoted the articles claim that Whitmer is exercising despotic rule and tyranny, as well as this dark warning: She has a tyrannical soul, and a tyrannical soul will yield to nothing but superior force. Somehow Whitmer, and others like her, will have to be compelled to respect the rule of law and the rights of the people. (The armed protesters appear to have taken up this suggestion when they stormed the Capitol brandishing firearms.) He then quoted other articles calling Whitmer a dictator engaged in a stunning power grab while imposing Orwellian measures. Boonstra even cited a piece in the Federalista hate magazine that recently endorsed coronavirus parties for voluntary infectionberating Whitmer as a little tyrant. Advertisement None of this has anything to do with the vaping ban before the court. In fact, Boonstra acknowledged there may not be a direct connection between Michigans vaping ban and a pandemic thats taken nearly 100,000 American lives. So, to justify his diatribe, Boonstra wrote that this case highlights for me a growing concern about governmental overreach, and Americans need for a wake-up call. Advertisement Never in our history has virtually all of America been on lock-down, Boonstra continued. And never before has our government dared to presume that it had the authority to impose such a lock-down upon us. He then condemned Whitmers controversial lockdown orders, complaining about her temporary ban on paint sales. The state of America today was unthinkable yesterday, Boonstra huffed. The mere suggestion of it would have been cast aside as nonsense, a reactionary conspiracy theory. But here we are. Is America being taken for a test drive? If we bend today to the will of the authoritarians amongst us, what will they dare come for tomorrow? Our guns and churches? And anything else we might cling to? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Get it? The guns and the religion? Funny, right? Following this clever reference to Barack Obamas gaffe, the judge pondered whether Americans will live under the thumb of autocrats forever and inserted into his opinion an entire Wall Street Journal editorial opposing lockdowns. If this sounds like a transparent effort to stir up populist hatred for a democratically elected governor, thats because it is. Boonstra wastes very little time on the merits of the vaping ban because the very purpose of this piece of judicial craftsmanship has nothing to do with the law. This language sounds a lot like an appalling opinion issued by Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley of the Wisconsin Supreme Court last week. In that case, the courts conservative majority repealed the administrations stay-at-home order, but that was not enough for Bradley, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. In a separate opinion, she accused the current administrationled by Gov. Tony Evers, a Democratof exercising authoritarian power by attempting to shut down the state. And she compared the order to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, as if being forced to stay in your house is similar to being shipped to a camp and detained indefinitely on account of your ancestry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both Boonstra and Bradley appear to be taking their cues from Trump judges. James Ho, installed by Trump to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has distinguished himself with opinions including one that would shield police officers from liability for killing innocent people with the claim that the way to stop mass shootings would be to stop punishing police officers who put their lives on the line to prevent them. In April 2018, Ho argued in an opinion that campaign finance restrictions are unconstitutional because the rich need to be able to buy elections in order to protect themselves from onerous overregulation. Ho is also notable for having decried abortion as a moral tragedy while baselessly casting a district court judge as an anti-Catholic bigot. Advertisement Advertisement This week the Senate, which will not move on a COVID relief bill, held hearings for Cory Wilson, a Mississippi Court of Appeals judge who has winningly referred to Barack Obama as King Barack, petty and small, a fit-throwing teenager, the Anointed One, a radical leftist, and shrill, dishonest, and intellectually bankrupt. Wilson has also called Hillary Clinton Crooked Hillary, criminal and clueless, and either felony dumb or willfully ignorant. He has also proudly tweeted his loathing for the Affordable Care Act, which he calls perverse and illegitimate, as well as for Roe v. Wade. Advertisement And, not to be outdone, Trump has nominated Justin Walker, a 37-year-old who has never tried a case or practiced law at a private firm, on the strength of his Fox News television advocacy (162 media appearances) of Brett Kavanaugh. Walker told TV viewers that Christine Blasey Ford was mistaken about her attacker and attacked the Democratic senators who supported her. His sole notable opinion in his brief stint as a district judge read more like a sermon than a legal analysis. In it, Walker accused Louisvilles mayor of issuing a stunning, dystopian order barring drive-in church services. (In reality, this order did not exist.) At his investiture ceremony, Walker vowed he would not surrender in the war against critics who describe us as deplorable. Advertisement These nominees are sending a clear message to judges like Bradley and Boonstra: The president rewards open partisan displays with plum job offers. There are no consequences for shattering norms of judicial behavior. If Trumps judge whisperer, Leonard Leo, likes you, Republicans will defer to his judgment and grant you a lifetime position in the federal judiciary. There was a time in which judicial temperament meant something more than having a pulse and a judicial seat. Not too long ago, judges would take pains to at least appear neutral, objective, and judiciousif not just for their own self-interest, then for the good of the judicial branch as a whole. Even if the whole appearance of objectivity was always more aspirational than real, it was a standard against which most jurists measured their words and deeds, most of the time. Under Trump, the rules have changed. It is not enough to be a partisan, even a vengeful one. Its also de rigueur to be a pundit and a prizefighter. If you can inflame citizens to action with your pithy wordplay, all the better. And if you can throw around words like tyranny and treason with your doctrine, all the better. Really, why bother with doctrine at all if it will only get in the way of your judicial ambitions? (Boonstra is running for reelection in November, when hell share the ballot with Trump.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The standard to which jurists once held themselves and others was whether a litigant could enter their courtroom certain in the belief that they could at least get a fair shot at justice. More and more the standard for some jurists, and particularly those who take their cues from a president who doesnt believe in an independent judiciary, is quite a bit lower: They seem to be asking simply whether, if this whole judging thing doesnt work out, they might still get a prime-time slot on Fox News. For more of Slates politics coverage, listen to the Political Gabfest. Lithiumboron supplier ioneerhas secured two separate boric acid Distribution and Sales Agreements for the supply of boric acid from their Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Nevada, USA.This substantially completes its Asian boric acid distribution and sales network.The Agreements were signed with: Kintamani Resources Pte for the territories of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.And Boron Bazar for the territories of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Myanmar.These Agreements are in addition to ioneers binding offtake agreement with Dalian Jinma Boron Technology Group Co. for 105,000 tonnes per annum of boric acid which included a distribution agreement for the territories of China and Taiwan.The additional Agreements announced today mean 100 per cent of ioneers first year of boric acid production is spoken for.Shares in ioneerare trading 8.7 per cent higher at 13 cents. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / AEX Gold Inc. ("AEX" or the "Corporation") (TSXV:AEX) is pleased to announce that it has been granted a new Mineral Exploration License in South Greenland by the Mineral Licence and Safety Authority ("MLSA"). The license covers 818 km2 over the Saarloq Shear Zone and is highly prospective for gold. This new license strengthens AEX's presence as Greenland's premier gold explorer. Highlights New Mineral Exploration License, "Saarloq", totalling 818 km 2 has been granted (Figure 1) has been granted (Figure 1) The area was identified as having a prospective geological and structural setting, with similarities to AEX's Vagar licence on the Niaqornaarsuk peninsula, which hosts numerous high-grade gold occurrences The strongest stream sediment gold anomaly in the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland's database for South Greenland lies along the Saarloq Shear Zone The license will carry no financial liabilities for the Corporation in 2020. The Government of Greenland has recently adjusted the 2020 exploration obligations to zero. This applies to all of AEX's Mineral Exploration Licenses (https://govmin.gl/2020/04/02/adjustment-of-exploration-obligations-for-2020-to-zero/) AEX's license holdings now total 1,646 km2 Eldur Olafsson, CEO of AEX Gold, said: "We are delighted to have secured the Mineral Exploration License for Saarloq, a significant area of land in Southern Greenland to add to our high-grade exploration portfolio. The Shear Zone is by far the largest in the region and we are highly encouraged from the initial observations of the geology for the prospect of gold mineralisation." Figure 1. Outline of Mineral Exploration License 2020/31 along the Saarloq Shear Zone Introduction Totalling 818 km2, the license is comprised of two sub areas located close to the towns of Qaqortoq and Narsaq and can be accessed by boat or helicopter. Despite a prospective geological setting, much of the licence has seen very little historic exploration. The central parts of the licence benefit from more recent stream sediment sampling carried out by Rare Earth Minerals plc. in 2014. The license is situated approximately 25 km northwest of AEX's Vagar license on the Niaqornaarsuk peninsula. Geology The geology of South Greenland is dominated by the Paleoproterozoic Ketilidian orogenic belt (1850 - 1725 Ma), formed during subduction of an oceanic plate under the Archean North Atlantic Craton. The orogen can be divided into three broad zones from northwest to southeast (Figure 2): The Border Zone, where crystalline rocks of the Archean craton are unconformably overlain by Ketilidian supracrustal rocks The Julianehab Batholith, a large polyphase calc-alkaline batholith which was emplaced in a continental arc setting, along with numerous appinite dykes Ketilidian supracrustal rocks that are psammitic close to the contact with the batholith and more pelitic in the southeast, with subordinate mafic volcanics and volcaniclastics, intruded by a post-orogenic suite of rapakivi granites. Figure 2. Geological map of South Greenland showing the principal geological domains. Modified from Secher et al., 2008. License 2020/31 lies within the Julianehab Batholith, which has a dominant north-easterly trending and steeply dipping schistosity. Steep Shear Zones are an important structural feature of the Julianehab Batholith. The largest have widths in excess of one kilometre and trend northeast, parallel to the dominant schistosity. On the Niaqornaarsuk Peninsula, within AEX's Vagar license, subordinate NNE-trending sinistral Shear Zones are an important host for high-grade gold mineralisation at Amphibolite Ridge. A second set of dextral WNW-trending Shear Zones is also present and hosts gold at the UFO Mountain prospect. The main target in new license 2020/31 is the Saarloq Shear Zone, the largest observed Shear Zone in the region, with a width of up to 1.5 km and a strike length of at least 50 km. Both the main Saarloq Shear Zone and subordinate Shear Zones are considered prospective for gold mineralisation. Large scale brittle faulting has also been observed in proximity to the Saarloq Shear Zone, which may represent Shear Zones that were reactivated during the Mesoproterozoic Gardar period. Zones of brittle faulting may have allowed for enhanced flow and precipitation of hydrothermal fluids and therefore have potential to host gold mineralisation. This model has been demonstrated at the Femren gold occurrence at Amphibolite Ridge, where zones of brittle faulting and hydrothermally altered granodiorites have returned up to 12.1 g/t Au in rock chip samples. Exploration will target both Nalunaq style vein-hosted gold mineralisation and Femren style alteration and brittle faulting in granitic rocks. AEX plans to carry out structural lineament analysis over the entire licence area, which combined with a detailed review of the geochemical database, will be used to generate high-priority targets for follow up in the 2021 field season. Qualified Person The technical information presented in this press release has been approved by James Gilbertson CGeol, who is a full-time employee and Managing Director of SRK Exploration Services Limited and a Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society of London, and as such a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Contact Information George Fowlie, Director and CFO 1-416-587-9801 gf@aexgold.com Eldur Olafsson, Director and CEO +354 665 2003 eo@aexgold.com Camarco (Financial PR) Gordon Poole / Nick Hennis +44 (0) 20 3757 4980 About AEX AEX's principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of gold properties in Greenland. The Corporation's principal asset is a 100% interest in the Nalunaq Project, an advanced exploration stage property with an exploitation license including the previously operating Nalunaq gold mine. AEX is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Public Companies Act. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Corporation's current expectations regarding future events and the future growth of the Corporation's business. In this press release there is forward-looking information based on a number of assumptions and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Corporation's control, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Final Prospectus available under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking information included in this press release is based only on information currently available to the Corporation and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances or events. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: AEX Gold Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590701/New-Mineral-Exploration-License-Granted-in-South-Greenland [May 21, 2020] Virginia National Guard on the Move With Hanes Face Masks The Virginia National Guard today jumpstarted its upcoming weekend of caring by loading two light medium tactical vehicles with 50,000 face masks to be distributed to those in need near Richmond. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005774/en/ A Virginia National Guard guardsman helps load a shipment of 50,000 Hanes face masks to be distributed in Henrico County, Virginia, over the Memorial Day weekend (Photo: Business Wire) The Guardsmen pulled out of HanesBrands' distribution center near Winston-Salem carrying more than 1,280 pounds of face masks on their six-hour journey of care to Henrico County. Hundreds of volunteers are assisting the county and the Virginia National Guard to assemble care packages containing washable and reusable 3-ply all-cotton Hanes face masks to assist in the community's efforts to quell the spread of COVID-19. The care packages are being distributed throughout the Memorial Day weekend. "We are proud to be the supplier of face masks needed by Henrico County and transported by the Guard for the care-package program," said Ray Randazzo, business development director at HanesBrands. "Just two months ago in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, our company pivoted our production capabilities to start making face masks for the first time. We are now quickly helping businesses and organizations meet their needs to reopen safely by supplying millions of masks." Legacy Medical Sales and JuMP Medical Supply Co., procuremnt partners for the Virginia National Guard, worked with HanesBrands to expedite the face mask shipment in a matter of days to assure availability for the Henrico Country event. The Virginia National Guard is a major contributor to the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guard has collected nearly 12,600 samples for COVID-19 testing, performed nearly 1,700 mask fit tests, distributed nearly 60,700 pounds of food and has driven more than 49,000 miles delivering supplies and testing kits to multiple locations across the state. HanesBrands expects to launch sales of Hanes face masks to consumers online and in leading retail stores within the next several weeks. In addition, the company is supplying the U.S. government with more than 320 million reusable cloth face coverings and more than 20 million reusable long-sleeve medical gowns. HanesBrands HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI), based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific. The company sells its products under some of the world's strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Bonds, DIM, Maidenform, Bali, Playtex, Lovable, Bras N Things, Nur Die/Nur Der, Alternative, L'eggs, JMS/Just My Size, Wonderbra, Berlei, and Gear for Sports. The company sells T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and activewear produced in the company's low-cost global supply chain. A Fortune 500 company and member of the S&P 500 stock index (NYSE: HBI), Hanes has approximately 63,000 employees in more than 40 countries. For more information, visit the company's corporate website at www.Hanes.com/corporate and newsroom at https://newsroom.hanesbrands.com/. Connect with the company via social media: Twitter (News - Alert) (@hanesbrands), Facebook (News - Alert) (www.facebook.com/hanesbrandsinc), Instagram (@hanesbrands_careers), and LinkedIn (News - Alert) (@Hanesbrandsinc). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005774/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: The MHA on Thursday said that state governments should 'ensure night curfew or prohibition of all non-essential activities between 7 pm and 7 am'. Auto refresh feeds The Union health ministry said the recovery rate among those having tested positive has risen to nearly 40 percent, from about seven percent before the lockdown began on 25 March. It also said that than less seven percent of patients require hospital support. The nationwide total of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to over 1.06 lakh on Wednesday as India witnessed the highest single-day spike of 5,611 new cases. The country also reported 140 deaths in 24 hours, taking the toll to 3,303. The number of samples tested so far is 62,503 and 571 people have been discharged till date after full recovery, she told PTI-Bhasha. State epidemiologist Ragini Mishra said East Champaran reported the maximum number of 26 cases followed by Buxar (21), Darbhanga and Patna (9 each), Siwan (8) Nawada (7), Bhojpur (6), Bhagalpur (3), Supaul (2) and Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Nalanda and Vaishali (1 each). Ninety-six people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Wednesday, raising the total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the state so far to 1,675, an official said in Patna. Assam reported 28 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 185, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Fifteen cases were reported tonight, all from quarantine centres, while 13 others were reported in the evening, he said. The United States has recorded 1,561 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 93,406, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country -- hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities has now confirmed a total of 1,550,959 cases. Brazil recorded 19,951 new COVID-19 cases yesterday (in the previous 24 hours) the highest single-day increase. This took the South American countrys tally to 2,91,579 confirmed cases. The country has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the world, after the United States and Russia. Starting with less than 100 COVID-19 tests per day just two months ago, a 1000-fold increase in just 60 days was made possible by dedicated teams from research institutions, medical colleges, testing laboratories, ministries, airlines and postal services working together, the ICMR said in a statement. A total of 25,12,388 samples have been tested by 9 AM of May 20, and the testing capacity has been scaled up to 1 lakh tests per day, it said. For every positive COVID-19 test more than 20 negative tests have been done, the ICMR said Wednesday, asserting there has been a 1,000-fold increase in the quantum of test per days in the last two months. Gupta told PTI that death will not be counted in Gautam Buddh Nagar, while administration officials could not be contacted for their response immediately. "He was put on ventilator support, antibiotics, and supportive therapy. He expired on May 20 at 4.30 pm. His COVID-19 positive report came on 20 May at 9 pm," Gupta said in a statement. The cause of death is COVID-19 positive with pneumonia and severe sepsis, he added. A 71-year-old man died of COVID-19 on Wednesday at a government hospital in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, a hospital official said. Forty-seven of them were aged between 50-59 years (26.71 per cent) and 37 were less than 50 years (21.02 per cent), according to the latest health bulletin released on Wednesday. Of the total deceased patients, 92 were aged 60 and above, accounting for over 52 per cent of the fatalities in Delhi. People in the age group of 50-59 years constituted over 26 percent of the total COVID-19 fatalities in the National Capital, according to official figures. At least 176 people have died in Delhi due to the coronavirus, authorities said. According to government data, the number of COVID-19 containment zones in the city stood at 76 on Monday, 70 on Tuesday and 69 on Wednesday. The department's direction was prompted by a mismatch between the number of coronavirus cases and that of containment zones in Delhi. While the cases in the national capital have been rising, the number of containment zones has gone down. The South Delhi district administration on Wednesday issued two containment zone orders following the health department's direction to all district magistrates to create such zones as per the existing guidelines. The clarification came after queries by residents and RWAs of the twin cities near Delhi over regulations on entry of house helps. The entry of domestic help and other service personnel were prohibited in the district as a precautionary measure ever since the lockdown came into force to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The resident welfare associations (RWAs) of the twin-cities can only impose restrictions to enforce certain rules, like compulsory wearing of masks and thermal screening, it added. The entry of domestic help, drivers, and service personnel are permitted into societies and high-rises in Noida and Greater Noida except in containment zones, the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration said on Wednesday. 95 new coronavirus positive cases reported in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 124 including 122 active cases and 2 cured/discharged, District Magistrate Barabanki told ANI. According to the latest figures, the fatality count has risen to 339 in the country with 25 fresh deaths while the number of those testing positive for the virus has gone up to 18,003. A total of 8,950 people have recovered from the disease so far A two-day-old baby became the youngest victim of coronavirus in South Africa as the death toll due to the infection continues to rise ahead of the proposed easing of lockdown restrictions from 1 June. Gowtham, the designer of the robots said, "It can store around 30 litres of disinfectant. This is a prototype, we are building better ones." These robots were carried by a three-wheeler auto which was also based on corona theme. Coronavirus themed robots were deployed in a containment zone in Chennai on Wednesday to sanitise the area, reports ANI. He also said that the decision on running buses to neighbouring states will be taken after getting a response from them. Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) vice-chairman and managing director Madireddy Pratap on Wednesday informed that the intrastate bus services will start from Thursday except in the containment zones amid the coronavirus lockdown. But there was a spike in asymptomatic cases. The NHC said 31 asymptomatic cases were reported of which 28 of them were in Wuhan. According to China's National Health Commission (NHC), two confirmed coronavirus cases, including one imported infection, was reported on Thursday in Guangdong province and a locally transmitted one in Shanghai on Wednesday. China has reported 33 new coronavirus cases, including 31 asymptomatic ones, majority of them in Wuhan, the first epicentre of the COVID-19 where the city's 11 million people are being tested in order to prevent a second wave of the deadly virus, health authorities said on Thursday. The toll due to the novel virus has risen to 3,435. The reported active COVID-19 cases in India now stand at 63,624, with 45,300 people cured/discharged. The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in India have risen to 1,12,359, according to the latest update from the Union Health Ministry on Thursday. This number includes cases involving foreign nationals, patients who have recovered and the toll. With 39,297 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains worst-affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,191) and Gujarat (12,537). Latin America accounted for around a third of the 91,000 cases reported earlier this week. Europe and the United States each accounted for just over 20%. It represents a new phase in the virus' spread, which initially peaked in China in February, before large-scale outbreaks followed in Europe and the United States. Global coronavirus cases surpassed 5 million on Wednesday, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe in the past week to report the largest portion of new daily cases globally, reports Reuters. The patients are from Solan's Ramshehar area and had returned from West Bengal on 15 May, he said. The five were already placed in quarantine. The total number of infected people in the state stands at 116, while 54 of them have been cured. Four people have died due to COVID-19. All the five cases have been reported from Solan district, which was declared coronavirus-free a few weeks ago, Special Secretary (Health), Nipun Jindal, said. Five people, who had recently returned from West Bengal, have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the virus tally in the state to 116, officials said on Thursday. The decision has been taken in the wake of complaints that people who returned to Washim recently were not following the home quarantine rules, an official statement said. The fourth phase of lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19 will be in force till 31 May. The Washim district administration in Maharashtra has decided to impose a penalty of Rs 2,000 on those not following the home quarantine norms upon their return from other places and Rs 500 for spitting and not wearing masks in public places. 83 new COVID19 cases and 3 deaths were reported in Rajasthan today, as of 9 am. The total number of cases in the state is now at 6098, including 2527 active cases and 150 deaths, reports ANI. "A Deputy Superintendent posted in Central Jail number 11, Mandoli was on leave since 11 May as he had some fever. Later he got his #COVID19 test done which has come positive. Contact tracing exercise is on," Tihar official in Delhi told ANI. Trump, who has expressed disappointment over China's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed that it was the "incompetence" of Beijing that led to the mass killing across the globe. China is on a "massive disinformation" campaign and is desperately trying to deflect the "pain and carnage" that it spread throughout the world, US President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. As per the guidelines, the passengers must compulsorily walkthrough thermal screening zone on city side before entering airport terminal building and all the airports have been asked to make appropriate arrangement for sanitisation of passengers' baggage before entry into the terminal building The Airports Authority of India has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to all its airports for recommencement of domestic commercial flight operations from 25 May. As per the guidelines, all passengers must compulsorily be registered with the Aarogya Setu app on their phones. Children below 14 years have been exempted. Out of the total 188 cases, 133 are active hospital cases. While four people died, three migrated out of the state and 48 recovered. Three new COVID-19 cases have been detected in Assam, taking the state's virus tally to 188 on Thursday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The cases were reported at the Barpeta Medical College on Wednesday night. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued a new SOP for airports for recommencement of domestic flights. With 45,300 COVID-19 patients cured, India's recovery rate reaches 40.31 percent. The total cases rise to 1,12,359, according to the Health Ministry. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that 26,15,920 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the country till 9.00 am today. About 1,03,532 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. This comes a day after he announced that domestic flight operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from 25 May. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is set to hold a press conference at 3 pm on Thursday, to share more details about the standard operating procedure for airports, airlines and passengers. Domestic passenger flight services will resume from 25 May in a calibrated manner, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday. InterGlobe Aviation shares zoomed 9.88 per cent to Rs 1,002 on the BSE. SpiceJet also jumped 4.88 per cent to Rs 42.95 its upper circuit limit. Aviation stocks on Thursday rallied up to 10 per cent in opening trade after the government announced that domestic passenger flight services will resume from May 25 in a calibrated manner. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.70, then gained ground to touch 75.67, registering a rise of 13 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 75.80 against the US dollar. Forex traders said a positive start of domestic stocks supported the local unit, while sustained foreign fund outflows and concerns over coronavirus outbreak weighed on the local unit. The rupee appreciated 13 paise to 75.67 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday tracking positive opening of domestic equities. Mumbai recorded 1,372 new COVID-19 cases and 41 deaths on Wednesday, the BMC said. The tally of cases in the country's financial capital thus reached 23,935 and toll rose to 841. This will facilitate the availability of at least 2,400 more beds for patients in the city, the Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release on Wednesday. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has directed civic officials to acquire at least 100 beds, including 10 in ICUs, of private nursing homes and small hospitals in all 24 wards of Mumbai in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. The finance minister, who had over the last week announced an economic package-Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, to help revive the economy, said how the coronavirus and the lockdown have hurt revenues is yet to be completely assessed. Cant even think of what to forego, she replied on taxation relief. Sitharaman also confirmed to News18 in an exclusive interview that the Centre was not looking at taxation-related matters, be it indirect or direct, on being asked about whether there can be any reduction in income tax. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday poured cold water over expectations of any more economic relief measures in the near future and said the Centre has no more announcements to make. He also rejected reports that have hinted possible increase in coronavirus cases due to migrants and asked, "Did corona not spread at places where migrants were not there?" "Migrants are humans too. They are our brethren. We do not have any objection in migrants coming back to the state and we will embrace them (unhe gale lagayenge)," Chouhan told PTI in an interview. Asserting that returning migrant workers are "our brethren", Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said he would welcome them with open heart in the state and that they cannot be blamed for the rise in coronavirus cases. According to the study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, more than 50 percent of the people in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania lacked access to effective handwashing. Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in the US found that without access to soap and clean water, over 2 billion people in low- and middle-income nations a quarter of the world's population have a greater likelihood of transmitting the coronavirus than those in wealthy countries. More than 50 million people in India do not have access to effective handwashing, putting them at a greater risk of acquiring and transmitting the novel coronavirus, according to a study. Only online e-ticketing will be done through the IRCTC website or through the mobile app, and no tickets will be booked across the reservation counter on any railway station, the Indian Railways said on Twitter. Here are the guidelines for train services beginning on 1 June. With new cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases increased to 1103 of which 753 are active and 343 others have so far recovered from the disease. Of the 51 new cases, 48 people in quarantine centres tested positive for the virus. The new 51 cases were reported from 11 different districts. While 11 cases each were reported from Kalahandi and Nayagarh district, 9 were in Cuttack, 5 in Jajpur, 4 in Ganjam, 3 in Maurybhanj, 2 each in Angul and Jagatsinghpur, one each from Sambalpur, Malkangiri and Puri districts. Odisha on Thursday reported its seventh COVID-19 fatality, while 51 new coronavirus case were detected, taking the total number of such cases to 1,103, official sources said. The deceased had recently returned from Surat. Both the victims were also suffering from diabetes, the official said. The COVID-19 death toll in the district also rose to 107, after two more patients, both men aged 57 and 62 years, died during treatment at a private hospital on Tuesday, Indore's Chief Medical and Health Officer Praveen Jadia said. As many as 59 more people tested positive for coronavirus in Indore in the last 24 hours, raising the number of such cases in the worst-hit district of Madhya Pradesh to 2,774, an official said on Thursday. A total of 2,452 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Andhra Pradesh after new 45 positive cases found. Total number of cases in the state is now at 2452, including 718 active cases and 54 deaths, reports ANI. After the labourers reached Chandrapur, they were kept at an institutional quarantine facility and their samples were sent for tests which came out positive on Thursday, he said. The new patients included four labourers who returned to Chandrapur on Tuesday after working at an industrial area at Malegaon in Nashik, district Collector Dr Kunal Khemnar said in a release. Nine more people tested positive for coronavirus in Chandrapur on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in the Maharashtra district to 12, an official said. The Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday has announced that only one-third of operations would be commenced on 25 May. The ministry has said vulnerable persons, including the elderly, pregnant women, and passengers with health issues should avoid air travel. Only passengers with confirmed web check-in can enter the airport, no physical check-in at airport counters, the ministry said. No meal services will be provided onboard. The independent internet rights organisation had earlier filed a petition to the Prime Ministers Office, urging them to revise the compulsory Aarogya Setu order in the third leg of the COVID-19 lockdown in India. He also noted that not everyone has smartphones. Apar Gupta, lawyer and the Executive Director at Internet Freedom Foundation flagged privacy concerns over civil aviation ministry's recent guidelines, which makes it compulsory for passengers above 14 years to download the Aarogya Setu application, saying, "To require travellers to install Aarogya Setu will result in certain exclusion. It will add to anxiety even for those with smartphones. This is tangible harm as much as the harms of surveillance. According to Excise and Prohibition Secretary Vinay Kumar Chaoubey, more food delivery start-ups will also be roped in to provide more options to the people, the report noted. The Jharkhand government had roped in food start-ups like Swiggy and Zomato to deliver liquor at peoples doorsteps in some of the big cities reports the New Indian Express . Out of these fresh cases, reported from Kangra, Hamirpur and Solan districts, 10 had returned from Mumbai and five from West Bengal while one had come in contact with a local COVID-19 case, they said. With 54 people cured, the number of active cases in the state now stand at 69, which include 32 from Kangra, 15 from Hamirpur, five each from Solan and Bilaspur, four from Mandi, three from Chamba, two each from Sirmaur, Una and one from Kullu. Four people have so far died of the disease. Sixteen more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, taking the total number of cases reported in the state so far to 127, officials said on Thursday. He added, "Booking of train tickets will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres across the country from Friday." Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that the government will announce the resumption of more trains soon as it is time to take India towards normalcy. "To date, we have been able to run only 27 trains in West Bengal; till 8 or 9 May, only 2 trains could reach there," he said. 116 new COVID-19 positive cases were reported in Karnataka (from 5 PM yesterday to 12 PM today) while 14 people were discharged during this period. The total positive cases in the state rise to 1,568, with 41 deaths and a total of 570 people have been discharged so far, according to the state government, reports ANI. Passengers, who will be required to wear face mask all the time, will be allowed only one check-in bag. There will be no meal service on board. Domestic flights will resume on 25 May with limited operations, with airlines operating one-third of their schedule. The government has asked airlines to adhere to "the lower and upper limits of fares prescribed by the Ministry during the period of COVID- t9 pandemic." The other government facilities where coronavirus patients are being treated in Ahmedabad are the Sola civil hospital and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Hospital. Out of the total 749 COVID-19 deaths reported across Gujarat so far, as many as 351 patients succumbed to the disease in the Ahmedabad civil hospital located in Aswara area, as per the data shared by the city civic body. Nearly 50 percent of the total coronavirus infection deaths in Gujarat so far have been reported from the Ahmedabad civil hospital, earning it the dubious distinction of being the 'COVID-19 graveyard'. A large number of migrant labourers gathered on Thursday at the grounds in Kandivali's Mahavir Nagar after two of the three trains, scheduled to leave from Borivali for Uttar Pradesh, were cancelled. The labourers requested to be sent to their home states while local police requested them to vacate the spot. However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the multi-sports event cannot take place in 2021 unless the virus is contained and Bach said he understood his position. In March, the IOC and Japanese government took the unprecedented decision to delay the Games, which had been due to start in July, for a year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach says the Tokyo Games would have to be scrapped if the event cannot be held next year due to the COVID-19 crisis. Today highest number of positive cases are from Udupi 25, Mandya 15 and Hasana 13. In Ballary 11, Belagavi 9, Uttara Kannada 9, Bengaluru 7, Shivamogga 6, Dakshina Kannada 6, Dharawada 5, Davanagere 3, Gadaga 2, Chikkaballapura 2, Mysuru and Tumakuru 1 cases each found positive for COVID19 today. Today 14 patients were discharged and thus total discharge of patients in Karnataka now 570. A total of 116 COVID19 positive cases have been reported in Karnataka in past 18 hours. With this total number of positive cases went up to 1578. Out of 116 positive cases, 6 are UAE returnees who came back to Udupi and 91 are from other states. From Maharashtra alone 76 found positive out of which 65 are from Mumbai alone and from Rajasthan 2, Tamil Nadu 5, Telengana 5, Kerala 1 and Jharkhand 2 tested positive today. A 43-year-old police constable, who had tested positive for COVID-19, succumbed to the deadly infection at a hospital in Maharashtra's Pune city on Thursday, a senior police official said. The constable was attached to the traffic branch of Pune police and was undergoing treatment at Bharti Hospital since 10 May, the official said. With the new cases, the COVID-19 count in the state has gone up to 126. So far, 59 patients have recovered and 67 are undergoing treatment, the official said. Most of these patients were migrant labourers who recently returned to their hometowns from different states of the country and were staying in quarantine centres, he said. Of the new cases, four were reported from Rajnandgaon, three from Janjgir-Champa, and one each from Raipur, Surguja, Kanker and Balod districts, the official said. At least 11 more people, mostly migrant workers, tested positive for coronavirus in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, taking the state's tally to 126, a health official said. Over 60 percent of the 1,005 cases have been reported from the four worst-hit districts Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar. Fourteen COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the state so far. With 12 more people testing positive for COVID-19, the total number of confirmed cases in Haryana rose to 1,005 on Thursday. Goyal also praised Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani for their cooperation with the railways in running the Shramik Special trains and criticised West Bengal and Jharkhand for their non-cooperation. He said the railways which started the Shramik Special trains from 1 May has run 2,050 such trains since then, ferrying around 30 lakh migrants, students, and other stranded people. The minister said bookings will also resume at counters at specific railway stations over the next two to three days. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said booking of train tickets will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres across the country from Friday, making the service accessible to those in remote locations where the availability of computers and internet is negligible or absent. On Wednesday the Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the Visakhapatnam sessions judge to record the statement of a suspended government doctor allegedly manhandled by the police in full public view in the coastal city last week, reports NewsMinute. The doctor had created a flutter when he staged a sudden protest on the national highway, stating no particular reason. He was also suspended earlier after he publicly criticised the government for failing to provide N95 masks to the doctors treating COVID-19 patients. Dr Sudhakar Rao, an anaesthetist from Andhra Pradesh who made headlines after a video showing him and police facing off on a highway in Visakhapatnam went viral, is now admitted to a mental hospital, reports BBC. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, on Thursday while addressing media, said, "When we announced Vande Bharat Mission on 5 May, we met virtually. The very fact that we are meeting on 21 May physically, it is a reflection of the fact that we have gained more confidence in the normalisation of the situation and resumption." Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri while addressing the media said, "Planning to ramp up flights to bring back more stranded Indians from overseas. Private airlines to join efforts to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad." Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday while addressing the media announced some key points which are given below: Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri on Thursday said that cargo worth 900 tonnes has been flown across the country during these testing times. "The lifeline UDAN flights have carried PPEs, masks, medicines, etc.1,444 tonnes of medical cargo has been brought to India from other countries," he said. Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the ministry has divided all airline routes in seven sections. He also said that this scheme will operative for 3 months - till one minute to midnight on 24 August. He said that middle seats on flights will not be kept vacant because even if that is done, the necessary social distancing norms will not be met. The civil aviation ministry on Thursday said that they have set minimum and maximum fares. "For Delhi-Mumbai minimum fare Rs 3500 for a 90-120 minutess journey and the max fare would be Rs 10,000. Within these bands, we have some other qualifiers." said Hardeep Singh Puri. Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Civil Aviation said, "For example if we take the Delhi-Mumbai route, the lowest fare prescribed is Rs 3,500 while the upper limit is Rs 10,000. How this works is airlines have a system of buckets, this fare band is split into buckets and then airlines allot seats in different buckets. Only a lower and upper cap may create problems as airlines may sell all at the highest price. So we are putting a second rider, that 40% of the seats have to be sold at a fare less the mid-point of the band, which is around Rs 6,700." The West Bengal health department said that 94 new COVID-19 positive cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,197. IndiGo has been granted nearly half of the total 180 repatriation flights allotted to private airlines, the budget carrier said. "Adhering to all precautionary measures, the flights will be operated between Kerala and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Doha, Kuwait and Muscat," the airline said in a press release. IndiGo on Thursday said it would be operating 97 repatriation flights between Kerala and four countries in the Middle East to bring back Indians stranded there amid the coronavirus pandemic. "The Delhi government will continue to charge 70 per cent ''special corona fee'' as of now on sale of liquor, an official said today. A rumour spread on Thursday evening that the government was going to roll back the special fee. Sources said that the issue of special corona fee was informally discussed in a meeting of the Cabinet, even as there was no decision on it," News18 reported. The Kerala government said that a 73-year-old woman died due to COVID-19 in Thrissur, on Thursday. She was admitted to the hospital after she developed respiratory problems on her return from Mumbai on 20 May. A 41-year-old Nepalese man died on Thursday, becoming the third person to succumb to the coronavirus in the country on a day when 26 new Covid-19 cases were reported, the health ministry said. The Delhi Police on Thursday said that seven people hvave been found positive for COVID-19 at the Wireless Control Room in West district. 30 staff members advised home quarantine. The control room has been shut for 5 days. "Very grateful that flying operations have started, Aircraft cabins are safest mode of travelling. Grateful to the minister to open airlines so soon. We have discussed every possible step with govt. Web checkin is a very efficient system..its very cost saving. Lets get started with the first step. We have to build confidence of all the passengers.." "The distance between aisle seat and window seat is actually just 17 inches. So it doesnt really fulfill any social distancing norms. We commend MoCA for putting that point across and making sure that we could fly without middle seat vacant. Ajay Singh, Chairman and MD, SpiceJet Ltd was quoted by CNN-News18 as saying, "Lets just get started for the time being. Lets make sure that we do it well and smoothly. We dont create the impression of being carriers of infection and we build confidence in all stakeholders including passengers. The government on Tuesday had announced categorisation of various areas into red and non red zones for the purpose of allowing or restricting business and other activities in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The Maharashtra government's new guidelines issued early this week, in which Nagpur was not in red zone, would not come into effect in the city, he said. Nagpur municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe on Thursday said the city will continue to remain in Covid-19 red zone till 31 May when the fourth phase of the lockdown is slated to end. Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The MHA on Thursday said that state governments should "ensure night curfew or prohibition of all non-essential activities between 7 pm and 7 am". "Proper delineation of containment zones, effective implementation of containment measures key to prevent spread of COVID-19," the statement added. The BMC said that 47 new coronavirus cases were reported in Mumbai's Dharavi on Thursday, taking the total number of patients in the area to 1,425. However, no deaths were reported on Thursday. Tamil Nadu health minister C Vijayabaskar said that 776 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths were reported in the state on Thursday, of which 567 cases are from Chennai. 400 patients have been discharged on Thursday. The Jammu and Kashmir government said that 83,334 residents stranded in other states and UTs have been brought back. This includes 63,109 residents brought back by road, 19,724 by special COVID-19 and Shramik trains and 501 passengers including students through special flights. Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government will "implement a ruthless quarantine with a human heart". He added that deputy commissioners can spend Rs 500 per day per head on food for people in institutional quarantine. "Quarantine will now be divided into 7 day (institutional) and 7 day (home). Rs 13,000 will be spent per head in the entire period of quarantine for an individual. Needs during home quarantine will also be funded by the government," he said. The Telangana director general of police Mahender Reddy on Thursday said that a police constable had passed away due to coronavirus in the state-run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. News18 reported that this is the first fatality in Telangana police force due to COVID-19. "The constable, posted at one of the check-posts in the old city, had tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday and was undergoing treatment at the state-run Gandhi Hospital," the report said. The Delhi government said that 571 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours. Additionally, 375 people have also recovered. The total number of cases in Delhi stands at 11,659, including 5,567 recovered/discharged/migrated and 194 deaths, the statement said. The civil aviation ministry on Thursday said that they have set minimum and maximum fares. "For Delhi-Mumbai minimum fare Rs 3500 for a 90-120 minutess journey and the max fare would be Rs 10,000. Within these bands, we have some other qualifiers." Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Civil Aviation said, "For example if we take the Delhi-Mumbai route, the lowest fare prescribed is Rs 3,500 while the upper limit is Rs 10,000. How this works is airlines have a system of buckets, this fare band is split into buckets and then airlines allot seats in different buckets. Only a lower and upper cap may create problems as airlines may sell all at the highest price. So we are putting a second rider, that 40% of the seats have to be sold at a fare less the mid-point of the band, which is around Rs 6,000." We have set minimum and maximum fares. For Delhi-Mumbai minimum fare Rs 3500 for a 90-120 mins journey and the max fare would be Rs 10,000. Within these bands, we have some other qualifiers, Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri while addressing the media said, 'Centre is planning to ramp up flights to bring back more stranded Indians from overseas. Private airlines to join efforts to bring back Indian citizens stranded abroad.' He announced that 20,000 stranded Indians brought back under Vande Bharat Mission. A case has been registered against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Karnataka in connection with a tweet posted on the party's official handle alleging misuse of PM-CARES Fund, police said. Domestic flights will resume on 25 May with limited operations, with airlines operating one-third of their schedule. The government has asked airlines to adhere to 'the lower and upper limits of fares prescribed by the Ministry during the period of COVID- t9 pandemic'. Almost 1.50 lakh tickets were booked within two hours of opening the bookings for the 100 pairs of passenger trains that the railways will operationalise on 1 June, officials said Thursday. The Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday has announced that only one-third of operations would be commenced on 25 May. Only passengers with confirmed web check-in can enter the airport, no physical check-in at airport counters, the ministry said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has directed civic officials to acquire at least 100 beds, including 10 in ICUs, of private nursing homes and small hospitals in all 24 wards of Mumbai in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city. The tally of cases in the country's financial capital thus reached 23,935 and toll rose to 841. Aviation stocks on Thursday rallied up to 10 per cent in opening trade after the government announced that domestic passenger flight services will resume from 25 May in a calibrated manner. Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri is set to hold a press conference at 3 pm on Thursday. With 45,300 COVID-19 patients cured, India's recovery rate reaches 40.31 percent. The total cases rise to 1,12,359, according to the Health Ministry. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that 26,15,920 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the country till 9.00 am today. About 1,03,532 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The Airports Authority of India has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to all its airports for recommencement of domestic commercial flight operations from 25 May. As per the guidelines, all passengers must compulsorily be registered with the Aarogya Setu app on their phones. Children below 14 years have been exempted. 83 new COVID19 cases and 3 deaths were reported in Rajasthan today, as of 9 am. The total number of cases in the state is now at 6098, including 2527 active cases and 150 deaths, reports ANI. The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in India have risen to 1,12,359, according to the latest update from the Union Health Ministry on Thursday. The toll due to the novel virus has risen to 3,435. With 39,297 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu (13,191) and Gujarat (12,537). Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) vice-chairman and managing director Madireddy Pratap on Wednesday informed that the intrastate bus services will start from Thursday except in the containment zones amid the coronavirus lockdown. People in the age group of 50-59 years constituted over 26 percent of the total COVID-19 fatalities in the National Capital, according to official figures. At least 176 people have died in Delhi due to the coronavirus, authorities said. Ninety-six people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Wednesday, raising the total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the state so far to 1,675, an official said in Patna. Meanwhile, the United States has recorded 1,561 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 93,406, according to Johns Hopkins University. The nationwide total of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to over 1.06 lakh on Wednesday as India witnessed the highest single-day spike of 5,611 new cases. The country also reported 140 deaths in 24 hours, taking the toll to 3,303. The Union health ministry said the recovery rate among those having tested positive has risen to nearly 40 percent, from about seven percent before the lockdown began on 25 March. It also said that than less seven percent of patients require hospital support. The Ministry for Civil Aviation announced a gradual resumption of domestic flights from 25 May amid mounting worries over the country's economy. Highest single-day increase in cases takes total to 1,06,750 According to the 8 am update issued by the health ministry, the COVID-19 toll has risen to 3,303 as 140 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The country also witnessed a sharp increase of 5,611 new cases, taking the total number of infections to 1,06,750. Of the 140 deaths reported since Monday morning, 76 were from Maharashtra, 25 from Gujarat, six each from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three each from Tamil Nadu Karnataka and Telangana, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Odhisha and Punjab. Of the 3,303 fatalities, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of deaths with 1,325 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 719, Madhya Pradesh at 258, West Bengal at 250, Delhi at 168, Rajasthan at 143, Uttar Pradesh at 123, Tamil Nadu at 84 and Andhra Pradesh at 52. The toll reached 40 in Karnataka, 38 each in Punjab and Telangana. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 17 fatalities due to the disease and Haryana 14. Bihar has registered nine deaths and Odisha five. Kerala and Assam have reported four deaths each. Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities, while Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the data shared by the health ministry. As per the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 37,136. The state is followed by Tamil Nadu at 12,448, Gujarat at 12,140, Delhi at 10,554, Rajasthan at 5,845, Madhya Pradesh at 5,465 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,926. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,961 in West Bengal, 2,532 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,002 in Punjab. It has risen to 1,634 in Telangana, 1,498 in Bihar, 1,397 in Karnataka, 1,317 in Jammu and Kashmir and 978 in Odisha. Haryana has reported 964 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 642 cases. A total of 231 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 200 in Chandigarh. Health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said the total active COVID-19 cases now stands at 61,149 in the country and 42,298 people have recovered. The current recovery rate stands at 39.62 percent while it was 7.1 percent at the beginning of lockdown, he added. The country went into a 21-day lockdown on 25 March, but it later got extended till 3 May in the second phase and then for another 14-day third phase till 17 May. A two-week-long fourth phase is now underway till 31 May, but with several restrictions having been relaxed to boost economic activities. Domestic flights to gradually resume from 25 May Announcing further relaxations, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday that domestic flights will resume in a calibrated manner from 25 May, two months after the services were shut due to the coronavirus. Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by @MoCA_GoI. Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 20, 2020 Puri said that domestic flights will commence from 25 May, but initially, "only a small percentage of the total number of domestic flights will be operated". "Then, depending on the experience we gain, we will increase the number of flights. I think Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) should not be made so onerous that it is difficult to be followed. We've now reached a happy balance and SOPs will be announced soon. Those will be the norms for some time," he added. The minister, however, did not mention any update for international flights, which have also remained shut during the lockdown, barring for special flights being operated to bring back stranded Indians and expatriates from abroad. Mounting concerns over economy The aviation sector has been among the worst hit by the pandemic as various countries, including India, decided to suspend commercial flights completely to curb the spread of the virus. Several Indian carriers have resorted to pay cuts, layoffs and leave without pay for their staff members. Similar is the situation for many other sectors, while a huge workforce shortage is looming large due to the return of lakhs of migrant workers to their native places after being rendered jobless, and even homeless in most cases, from most of the industrial clusters across the country where they were working before the lockdown. Cab aggregator Ola is laying off 1,400 staff as its revenue declined by 95 percent in the last two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said in an email to employees. Rating agency Icra warned of a deep recession and drastically lowered its FY21 GDP forecast for Indian economy to a contraction of five percent, citing the very modest fiscal support, extension of the nationwide lockdown and the looming labour shortage. The Congress party accused the government of implementing the lockdown in an unplanned manner and also alleged it does not have any exit strategy. In Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhhav Thackeray interacted with representatives of the entertainment industry and asked them to prepare an action plan on limited resumption of film shooting and post-production activities by adhering to social distancing norms amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown. He, however, ruled out reopening of cinema halls or theatres anytime soon. New cases reported in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu Thackeray said the Union government feels that the spike in coronavirus cases will be higher by May-end and in June, but the spread has been controlled to a large extent in Maharashtra, which has been the worst-hit by the deadly virus with 39, 297 confirmed cases and 1,390 deaths. Of these, 2,500 infections and 65 deaths were reported on Tuesday with 41 succumbing to the viral infection in Mumbai. The city also reported 1,372 cases pushing the total number of infections to 23,935 while the toll touched 841, according to the civic body. Tamil Nadu, another badly affected state by the infection, reported 743 new cases to take its tally to 13,191, but also announced nearly 1,000 recoveries. Of the new cases, the state government said, 83 were returnees from Maharashtra. The Gujarat health department said that 398 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the state in the last 24 hours. The total number cases in the state stands at 12,539, including 5,219 persons who were cured/discharged and 749 deaths. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani sought people's participation in a week-long online campaign on COVID-19 fight. "Now, it's a direct battle against coronavirus. We have to live with coronavirus and also fight against it," he said. Notices were issued to at least 16 private hospitals in the state for allegedly refusing to admit COVID-19 patients referred to them by Ahmedabad's civic body. Ahmedabad, the worst coronavirus-afflicted district in Gujarat, has reported 9,216 cases and 602 deaths. In the National Capital, a record number of 534 new cases were detected to take Delhi's tally to over 11,000, while its death toll reached 176. The Delhi government, in the meantime, launched an exercise to define its own red, orange and green zones marking of areas based on COVID-19 case load, PTI quotes sources as saying. Currently, all 11 districts are marked as 'red' under the central government labelling. However, the Centre had in its revised guidelines issued on 17 May had given greater freedom to states to delineate zones as well impose additional lockdown restrictions. New cases were reported across various other states as well, including in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tripura, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sounded an alarm that the state was slowly heading towards a "more serious situation" as the total number of positive coronavirus cases in state reached 666. On Wednesday, 24 new cases were detected and all all but one are returnees 12 from abroad and 11 from other states, including eight from Maharashtra. "We are moving towards a more serious situation with each passing day. We have eased some restrictions. But in the coming days, we need to have stringent restrictions at certain regions. As Keralites from abroad and other states have started reaching the state, the number of patients is rising," Vijayan said. Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the north-eastern states have done better than the rest of India in handling the COVID-19 situation. While Sikkim and Nagaland do not have a single COVID-19 positive case till date, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram had one patient each, who have since recovered. Meghalaya had 13 cases in a hospital in Shillong due to a foreign traveller. The state recorded one death, but all the others have since recovered, Singh said. Meghalaya is also COVID-19 free now, while Assam has also handled the pandemic very well, he added. A total of 48 persons have been discharged after recovery while four have succumbed to the viral infection in Assam and the number of active cases stands at 115, according to state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Meanwhile, Manipur reported 11 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of positive cases to 20. Later in the evening, the health ministry said that its premises will remain closed till 6 am on Thursday as an official working with the Medical Education Section of Health Services has tested positive for COVID-19. An official working with the Medical Education Section of Health Services tested positive for #COVID19. It has been decided to sanitize the concerned room in the premises. The premises to remain closed from 5:30 pm today till 6 am tomorrow: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare pic.twitter.com/Lbr0ZQAdIM ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020 Global toll crosses 3.26 lakh Globally, 5,035,278 people have tested positive for the deadly virus infection since its emergence in China last December and 3,26,224 have died, according to Worldometer. While experts have said that a vaccine is still many months or even a year away, all eyes are on US-based company Moderna's encouraging early results on a small group of healthy volunteers. Eight candidate vaccines for COVID-19 are in the clinical evaluation, while 110 are in the preclinical stage, according to the WHO's latest draft landscape. With inputs from PTI Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:17:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China has made a truly remarkable breakthrough in the fight against poverty and will certainly complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects this year, a Russian scholar has said. China's poverty alleviation program has been implemented on an unprecedented scale, Sergei Luzyanin, a professor at Moscow State Institute of International Relations under the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Xinhua in a recent interview. The number of impoverished people in China fell to 5.51 million at the end of 2019 from nearly 100 million at the end of 2012, and the poverty headcount ratio dropped to 0.6 percent from 10.2 percent during the period, official data showed. China's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita stood at 10,276 U.S. dollars in 2019, exceeding 10,000 dollars for the first time. "The growth of Chinese welfare, the growth of the GDP per capita and the rate of the implementation of the anti-poverty program are impressive and prove the high efficiency of the efforts undertaken by the Chinese leadership," Luzyanin said. "The facts speak for themselves. China has become a world leader in this area," he said. Pointing to China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, Luzyanin said he believes that "the Chinese experience in the institutional solution of problems of this kind is of great interest to other countries." In addition to government efforts, Chinese big businesses are also allocating a tremendous amount of money to combating poverty, Luzyanin said, noting that he sees a combination of public and private enterprises in the implementation of this important national task. In his view, the COVID-19 pandemic affects China's poverty reduction, but its impact will not be critical. Despite all the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this year China will be able to achieve its goal of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, said the professor. Enditem Joining the International Labour Organisation (ILO)s Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (Convention 105) is significant to Vietnam in political, economic, social and legal spheres, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh said on May 20. Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh She made the remarks at the ongoing ninth session of the 14th legislature while presenting the State Presidents proposal to the National Assembly for ratifying the convention. Adopted by the ILO on June 25, 1957, Convention 105 is one of the two ILO conventions against forced labour, along with Convention 29 which Vietnam joined in 2007. With 10 chapters, it prescribes fundamental international regulations on the abolition of forced labour and ensuring labourers right to free choice of profession and employment. This is one of the human rights and basic rights of citizens stipulated in the 2013 Constitution, Thinh said, adding that the abolition of forced labour is not only the basic standard set by the ILO but also the universal human rights standard mentioned in the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The abolition of forced labour will help to build harmonious labour relations, thus contributing to spurring socio-economic development, while making it easier for Vietnamese firms to access the global market, especially the US and Europe, the Vice President stressed. At the session, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung presented the Prime Ministers report elaborating Vietnams engagement in Convention 105. He cited the Vietnamese legal system that bans forced labour in any forms and prescribes strict punishments against violations. Vietnams joining the convention manifests its political commitments to seriously fulfilling ILO membership obligations and other commitments in new-generation free trade agreements, the minister said. In his assessment report, Nguyen Van Giau, head of the NAs Committee for External Relations, said most of the lawmakers agreed on the necessity of joining Convention 105 which, they said, is in accordance with guidelines of the Party and the State. They proposed the Government issue regulations detailing forms of forced labour, thus creating a transparent legal corridor for law enforcement agencies, employees and employers to materialise the convention./.VNA - Sadio Mane looked a lot different when he was spotted in training on Wednesday, May 20 - The Senegalese grew a decent amount of hair, and it was the same case with his counterpart Roberto Firmino - Liverpool is among the various Premier League sides slowly resuming training ahead of the anticipated restart in June Liverpool fans were left amused on Wednesday, May 20 after spotting duo Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane with odd hairstyles. Do It Yourself (DIY) haircuts have become a regular occurrence during the ongoing lockdown but Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino seem to be holding on for the real thing. READ ALSO: Chelsea star N'golo Kante drives new Mercedes Benz to training Firmino usually rocks a clean cut on his head but not after the lockdown. Photo: Getty Images. Source: Getty Images READ ALSO: Magufuli allows sporting activities in Tanzania to resume from June 1 Both players arrived the Melwood Training Ground looking totally different, but they were all smiles all through the entire session. READ ALSO: Lionel Messi: Getafe claim they almost signed the Argentine on loan from Barcelona Although, fans prepared to monitor how the social distancing guidelines would be applied during training, what caught their attention was Mane and Firminos unkempt hairstyles. The Senegalese international who is always on close-shaves has now allowed his hair grow as it is the case of Brazilian star Firmino. READ ALSO: Ujumbe wa Anerlisa Muigai kwa dadake marehemu, angekuwa anatimia miaka 30 One fan said about the Senegal international: Sadio just please get the hair transplant, while another added: Ok reopen the barbers and then the Premier League. This is coming barely 24 hours that N'Golo Kante stormed their training ground with his head full of hair. The 29-year-old has an iconic shaved head which has been his style since he arrived in England back in 2015. Although the likes of Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba have decided to shine their heads, Kante clearly resisted the urge to give himself a haircut at home. On his return to Cobham training groung as the Chelsea players train on Tuesday in small groups, Kante wore a very different look. It then became the talking point for fans on social media as they were left stunned by the former Lebelieves players are at great risk of contracting the virus. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Kenyans come to the rescue of man whose wife chose alcohol over their children | Tuko TV: Source: TUKO.co.ke There are no daily public displays of gratitude for Russian doctors and nurses during the coronavirus crisis like there are in the West. Instead of applause, they face mistrust, low pay and even open hostility. Residents near the National Medical Research Center for Endocrinology, a Moscow hospital now treating virus patients, complained when they saw medical workers walking out of the building in full protective gear, fearing the workers would spread contagion. Maybe once the disease knocks on the door of every family, then the attitude to medics will change, said Dr. Alexander Gadzyra, a surgeon who works exhausting shifts. The outbreak has put enormous pressure on Russia's medical community. While state media hails some of them as heroes, doctors and nurses interviewed by The Associated Press say they are fighting both the virus and a system that fails to support them. They have decried shortages of protective equipment, and many say they have been threatened with dismissal or even prosecution for going public with their complaints. Some have quit and a few are suspected to have killed themselves. Government officials insist the shortages are isolated and not widespread. Antipathy toward the medical profession is widespread in Russia, said social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova, who studies social media posts peddling virus conspiracy theories. More than 100 theories she studied say doctors diagnose COVID-19 cases so they can get more money; others say they help the government cover up the outbreak. It's a crisis of trust that the epidemic underscored, she said. I haven't seen this attitude anywhere else. Trust in government institutions has always been low in Russia, according to opinion polls, and most of its hospitals are state-run. Russia is struggling in the pandemic, with over 300,000 infections and 2,972 deaths. The government has disputed critics who have questioned the relatively low number of fatalities. Official statements and reports in more than 70 Russian regions show that at least 9,479 medical workers have been infected with the virus in the past month, and more than 70 have died. Health care workers believe the death toll to be much higher and they have compiled a list of more than 250. Dr. Irina Vaskyanina said at least 40 workers are infected at a hospital in Reutov, outside Moscow, where she headed a department handling blood transfusions. She also said insults and threats from superiors became common after she complained about working conditions to her bosses, to law enforcement and even to President Vladimir Putin. I handed in my notice," Vaskyanina said. They're not letting me do my job. I love my job and I want to keep doing it, but I can't go on like this. She said 13 of her 14 colleagues have also quit. Dr. Tatyana Revva, an intensive care specialist in the town of Kalach-on-Don, was summoned by police for questioning and slapped with disciplinary action after recording a video about equipment shortages. The hospital's head reported her to a prosecutor for spreading false information an offense punishable by fines of up to $25,000 or a prison term. I am one reprimand away from being fired, Revva told AP. Dr. Oleg Kumeiko, head of her hospital, did not respond to requests for comment. I don't understand why they treat us like we're expendable, said Nina Rogova, a nurse in the Vladimir region 200 kilometers (120 miles) east of Moscow. She is recovering from the virus after getting it at work and she says she is being threatened with dismissal after she told local media about a lack of protective gear. Doctors in the southern region of Chechnya who complained about equipment shortages later had to retract their statements as a mistake and apologize on TV. The predominantly Muslim region's leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has a reputation for stifling dissent, and he has demanded they be fired. Adding to the frustration is pay. Health workers say they haven't gotten bonuses the government promised them for working with coronavirus patients. In early April, Putin personally promised generous bonuses to monthly salaries about $1,100 for doctors, $680 for nurses and paramedics, and $340 for orderlies. A month later, social media was filled with photos of pay slips reflecting bonuses from 10 to 100 times smaller than promised. Dr. Yevgeniya Bogatyryova, a Moscow-area paramedic, told AP the April bonuses varied from $2 to $120. They're calculating the time ambulance doctors spend with a coronavirus patient and pay by the hour, apparently, Bogatyryova said. More than 110,000 people signed an online petition demanding the government keep its promise. Dozens of paramedics protested in the Nizhny Novgorod region 400 kilometers (240 miles) east of Moscow, and scores more from Siberia to southern Russia made videos demanding the bonuses. Whoever we ask in our management, our superiors, they say, 'Putin promised you (bonuses), so Putin should pay you,' Natalia Salomatova, an orderly at a hospital in the Siberian city of Chita, told the AP. April bonuses for her colleagues ranged from the equivalent of 41 cents to $6.86. Salomatova herself didn't receive any. Only after Putin went on TV twice last week and angrily demanded that officials pay what was promised did medical workers in some regions start getting the payments. Makes you wonder: Who should we protect the medics from, the infection or the administrators? said Arkhipova, the social anthropologist. Russia's Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reports of health care workers resigning are surfacing. Over 300 quit in the western Kaliningrad region two weeks ago, dozens of paramedics reportedly resigned in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk in May and 40 workers gave notice at a hospital in the Vladimir region. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman in Hyderabad, who was discharged along with her two daughters from Gandhi Hospital on May 16 after undergoing treatment for Covid-19, claimed that her 42-year old husband, also a Covid-19 patient, was missing. The hospital authorities, however, declared that the man died on May 1 and was cremated the following day by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities after duly informing his family members. The woman, Alampally Madhavi from Vanasthalipuram colony, posting on Twitter that her husband A Madhusudhan (42), a rice mill worker, had not come home along with them when they were discharged on May 16. She tagged Telangana Information Technology minister KT Rama Rao in her tweet. Madhavi complained to the minister that her husband was admitted to King Kothi Hospital on April 27 and later taken to Gandhi Hospital on April 30. Madhavi futher claimed that the hospital authorities had not taken her permission to complete the process and hadnt even shown the body identification. They had not shown any evidences like cremation video, photos or his belongings to her. On May 16, when we were discharged, we questioned the hospital authorities about my husband, but they did not give proper reply. They first said he was still on ventilator but later said he was not alive. We request you to help in probing my husbands missing case, she said. Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr M Raja Rao issued a statement stating that the womans husband, who was also suffering from bilateral pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome, had succumbed to Covid-19 on May 1 evening, a day after he was admitted to the hospital. As per the procedure, the family members were informed and following the protocol, the dead body was handed over to police and their acknowledgement was taken. On enquiry, it was known that the body was cremated by the GHMC. All due procedures were followed, he said. While sympathising with Madhavis family, Rao said it was wrong to defame the hospital and doctors and other staff who were treating hundreds of Covid-19 patients risking their lives. Madhavi told reporters that she strongly believes her husband was alive. She disputes the claim of Gandhi Hospital superintendent that the family was informed about the tragedy. Let them show evidence to whom they had informed and from whom they had obtained consent or no objection letter, she asked. Advertisement A 'black goo' used by the ancient Egyptians to cover mummy cases was made from a mixture of animal fat, tree resin, beeswax and crude oil from the Dead Sea, scientists have revealed. Several mummies were given this bizarre treatment from the 19th to 22nd Dynasty, between 1,300 and 750 BC. One such by the name of Djedkhonsiu-ef-ankh, who was a priest to the sun-god Amun, was mummified, wrapped in fine linen and sewn into his case after he died almost 3,000 years ago. Elaborate and brightly coloured painting was added to the material and shimmering gold leaf was placed over his face, before he was positioned inside a larger wooden coffin. Jet-black gloop was then poured over him, obscuring the expensive paintwork and glint of gold forever. Now analysis by the British Museum has revealed what the black substance is, and shed light on its purpose. Priest of sun-god Amun, Djedkhonsiu-ef-ankh, had the 'black goo' applied to his coffin (pictured) after he died almost 3,000 years ago It was used repeatedly in Egypt from 1,300 to 750 BC. It is thought to have been favoured due to its black colour - which is linked to regeneration. Coffin of Padihorpakhered, milk-bearer of Amun (left) and coffin of young girl Tjayasetimu Pictured above is analysis of the 'black goo'. Samples were broken up and then separated by mass to establish what was present As many as 100 samples of the 'black goo' were taken and vaporised in a process called Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry. They were then pushed through a very thin and long tube to separate the molecules, and placed into a mass spectrometer so they could be sorted by mass. 'We discovered that the goo is made of a combination of plant oil, animal fat, tree resin, beeswax and bitumen - which is solid crude oil,' said Dr Kate Fulcher, Research assistant in the Museum's department of Scientific research. 'The exact ingredients vary from one coffin to the next, but the goo was always made from some of these.' She also said it's possible there could be other materials in the black substance, but these can no longer be detected as they have degraded. The goo has also been found applied to just the face of mummies, boxes containing shabtis and wooden figurines such as a baboons. Tutankhamun's tomb also contained figurines covered in a hardened black liquid, although these have not been analysed. It was also applied to statues such as this wooden baboon, which represents the judgement God Thoth. He was responsible for weighing the deceased person's heart to establish whether they could enter the afterlife A statue of a human with a head in the form of a turtle from the tomb of Ramesses I or Seti I. The black goo was made from pistachio tree resin in 19th dynasty Egypt Scientists at the British Museum have analysed the substance poured over the coffin and established it is made from tree resin, animal fat, beeswax and crude oil It is thought Egyptians used the fluid due to its black colour - which symbolised rebirth and regeneration through the God Osiris. 'Osiris was called "the black one" in various funerary texts and is often depicted with black skin and in the guise of a mummified body,' said Dr Fulcher. 'Black is also the colour associated with the alluvial silt deposited on the banks of the River Nile after the annual flood receded. 'It could therefore be reasoned that the practice of coating coffins in black goo links the coffin to regeneration associated with Osiris.' The fluid also had the effect of fastening one coffin firmly inside another, although it is unclear whether this was meant to also help put off tomb robbers. Evidence suggests that the substance may not have been available for everyone, and was instead restricted to the social elites. Bucketfulls of the substance were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, since cleaned off, and it is found most commonly on mummies from the Third Intermediate Period (1069 to 664 BC). But Dr Fulcher suggested this may only be because Egyptoligists have recovered more coffins from this time period. Excavations at Amara West, Sudan, have also revealed 'black goo' inside a tomb dated to 1100 BC. This is the first time it has been recorded in the region, then known as Nubia, which was under Egyptian control from 1548 to 1086 BC. The bitumen used had also travelled from the Dead Sea, some 1,500 miles away, evidencing an ancient trade in the substance. One of the two Guardian statues found in Tutankhamun's tomb. It has been painted with a black fluid, although it is unclear whether this is the same 'black goo' used on ancient Egyptian tombs Where did the 'black goo' ingredients come from? Ancient Egyptians may have travelled as far as Greece to get the ingredients for their black goo. Analysis by the British Museum has revealed the tree resin and crude oil used had to be imported. The resin was either pistachio (pistacia) or conifer trees, neither of which grow in the country. Pistachio trees occur around the Mediterranean, as far south as Syria, and in western Asia. Conifers, which include pine, cedar, fir and juniper, do not grow beyond Lebanon. Evidence for imports comes from the Uluburun shipwreck, off the coast of Turkey, which sunk around 1300 BC and had amphorae containing animal resin on board. The crude oil, or bitumen, has been linked to the Dead Sea by its biomarkers. This fits with Greek texts, which refer to solid bitumen floating on the surface and people sailing out to hack bits off for sale to Egypt. Advertisement It was found on broken pottery fragments, a coffin fragment and bits of linen that may have been used to wrap up a mummy. Egypt sought to rule in the area due to its large gold deposits. The British Museum carried out the excavation with the support of the National Corporation for Antiques and Museums in Sudan. It was funded by the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project. Scans of Djedkhonsiu-ef-ankh sealed coffin revealed the body was still inside and had not sustained significant damage. There were no obvious fractures to the skull, and the mouth remains closed, said the British Museum. His abdomen had been entirely filled with what appeared to be a mixture of sand, sawdust and resin during the mummification process, and his hands had been placed over the genital area. The legs also showed no fractures, dislocations or lines of arrested growth. A winged pectoral jewel, small amulet and scarab statue had also been placed onto the chest, while a ring with a scarab beetle has been identified between the thighs. It is thought that the priest may have been in extreme pain before his death, as the spine shows gross osteo-arthritic changes. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao secured its first accredited COVID-19 testing laboratory on Wednesday. The Department of Health-Central Office has selected the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) to perform reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the region. We are using Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2, an FDA-approved RT-PCR testing kit, an acceptable confirmatory testing for SARS-CoV-2 and it can run the test in 45 minutes, said CRMC Chief of Hospital Dr. Helen Yambao. Yambao added the hospital was inspected by the DOH Central Office through the Health Facilities Services and Regulatory Bureau, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), World Health Organization, and the DOH Region 12 Regulation, Licensing, and Enforcement Division before giving the certification to be a COVID-19 testing laboratory. The CRMC hospital chief also noted they will accept specimens only of suspected COVID-19 patients in BARMM and Region 12. We are not going to accept specimens from walk-in patients to CRMC, or directly referred by LGUs, hospitals, and clinics. Only specimens from suspect or probable COVID-19 cases are accepted, and priority testing will be done to those critical cases and repeat tests for monitoring of COVID-19 positive cases, Yambao added. Previous swab samples from the Bangsamoro region were previously sent to RITM in Metro Manila or to the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City. The Bangsamoro government allotted 14.1-million for the procurement and upgrading of medical and laboratory supplies to prepare for the COVID-19 testing. BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Al Haj Murad Ebrahim welcomed the accreditation of CRMC as a COVID-19 testing laboratory, hoping that it can be a big help in preventing the spread of the virus in the region. We congratulate the CRMC on their recent accreditation as a sub-national testing laboratory for COVID-19. This development will greatly help the Bangsamoro and Region XII as we adopt the national strategy of D.I.T.R or detect, isolate, treat, and reintegrate, Ebrahim said. As of May 1, the BARMM has no active COVID-19 cases. But it has 11 confirmed infections, along with four deaths and seven recoveries. As per the DOH count yesterday, the country now has 13,221 confirmed COVID-19 cases together with 842 fatalities and 2,932 recoveries. Queen Elizabeths royal biographer and close friends are praising her for her actions during the coronavirus pandemic. People reported that her historical video addresses to the nation have been especially well received. She always hits the right mark, a source told the magazine. She has impeccable judgment. The Queen, who celebrated her 94th birthday last month, made her first public address during the pandemic on April 5th. Excluding her annual Christmas Day message, that speech marked the first televised address the Queen had made since the death of the Queen Mother in 2002. Queen Elizabeth II attends as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF on July 10, 2018 (Getty Images ) / Getty Images She has always had this historical perspective about life, and now she embodies history, the Queens historical biographer, Robert Lacey, told People. Lacey, who is the author of books including Majesty and Monarch, noted that the Queen comparing the current stay-at-home orders to her and her sister Margarets memories from 1940 was of particular interest. Over 23.5 million viewers watched the Queens address to the nation / BUCKINGHAM PALACE/AFP via Getty It was interesting that she made the parallels with 1940 and then went on to explain that it is now a different sort of international struggle, Lacey said. It was sober and realistic, but there was a grounded optimism to it. In her April 5th speech where she thanked the NHS workers and boosted morale by assuring the public that better days will return, Her Majesty also shared that the current situation reminded her of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes and sent away for their own safety, she said. Queen Elizabeth II addresses the nation on the 75th anniversary of VE Day / Buckingham Palace Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones, the Queen noted. Additionally, she recorded her first Easter message that was broadcast on April 11th, as well as a speech for VE Day on May 8th. She is of the generation dedicated to duty and what you can do for others, Lady Carnarvon told People. The Queen left Buckingham Palace on March 19, as the coronavirus began to spread more rapidly. She has been self-isolating with her husband, Prince Philip ever since at Windsor Castle, where she has been making her televised speeches from. As coronavirus cases appeared in nursing homes across the region, the Bucks County Health Department recommended that the staff in the countys facilities use masks a guideline issued before the states advisory. The county also provided tests to nursing homes, distributed protective supplies, and assigned staffers to monitor homes with outbreaks. When the coronavirus swept through Montgomery Countys nursing homes, county leaders asked the state Department of Health for help but when the state could promise only phone follow-ups, the local Health Department deployed teams to visit hot spots in person. Pennsylvanias nursing homes are licensed and inspected by the state, but as COVID-19 took hold, county governments got involved. They learned that nursing homes had taken a backseat to hospitals when it came to getting personal protective equipment, that staff at some facilities were not trained in containment protocols, and that many facilities, while accustomed to dealing with seasonal flu, were unprepared to weather the extended outbreak of a pandemic. The state, early on, was intent on helping. But their idea of helping was often sending a memo, without any human follow-up," said David Damsker, director of the Bucks County Health Department. "I dont blame anyone for not having the resources, but maybe they shouldnt be regulating these places if they dont have enough people to do it. READ MORE: Pennsylvania nursing home data minimizes the coronavirus devastation in Philadelphia senior centers Department of Health spokesperson Nate Wardle said the state is assisting its close to 2,000 nursing and other long-term-care facilities by working with local health-care coalitions, the medical reserve corps, and other state agencies. He said staff have conducted site visits to investigate safety concerns, and this month, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started sending teams to some homes. We know that disease outbreaks in congregate care settings are particularly challenging, he said in an email. In many cases, by the time we are made aware of an outbreak, a wide number of exposures may have already occurred. Local governments in the Philadelphia region have been particularly responsive to the needs of nursing homes, said Zachary Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which represents more than 400 long-term-care facilities. Absent support from Harrisburg, we think its fantastic that county health departments are stepping up, he said. If we could replicate what were seeing in the southeast part of the state everywhere, we would. A state announcement last week that nursing homes with COVID-19 cases should begin testing all residents and staff has led some facilities to again ask for guidance. The move would help contain the spread by identifying asymptomatic patients, but carrying it out would require more supplies and staff than many nursing homes have. Deaths in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities account for more than two-thirds of coronavirus-related fatalities in the state, with the highest number of deaths occurring at homes in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware Counties. More than 13,000 cases have been reported. READ MORE: Pa. sold nursing home testing plan as universal and radical, but advocates say its optional and insufficient Even as nursing homes banned visitors, screened staff, and began serving meals in residents rooms, the virus crept in, due in part to staff members who showed no symptoms and spread it unknowingly. It was clear in Pennsylvania that our focus was 100% on hospitals, and that made sense, Shamberg said. But the minute the surge didnt happen, the state should have directed all additional care and attention to these homes. The state had a plan to deploy quick-strike teams that would train nursing home staff on infection prevention. But county leaders said the state Health Department has heavily relied on phone consultations done by ECRI, a health-care research institute hired last month. As COVID-19 took root in nursing homes, staff members grew desperate for masks, gowns, and test kits, said Ruth Cole, director of clinical services for the Montgomery County Health Department, and EMS crews were dispatched to the same homes multiple times a day. She believed some homes needed more than phone calls. Montgomery County Commissioners Chair Val Arkoosh, a physician, said nursing homes werent even on her radar at the start of the outbreak. We were working under the assumption that their needs would be met through the Department of Health, she said. Once they said, Were not in a position to provide in-person visits, we said, OK, were going to have to figure this out ourselves. The county has sent six two-person strike teams to dozens of facilities to help with disease control protocols and PPE requests. The county must ask permission before visiting, but Arkoosh said once its made clear that the teams are there to help, they are greeted with relief. Counties without health departments have struggled to get information and supplies. Delaware County, which has been assisted by Chester Countys Health Department since March, has the regions highest rate of infection. One Broomall nursing home has lost more than 40 residents to COVID-19, and staffing shortages prompted the National Guard to deploy medics. It has been very difficult to navigate assisting our nursing homes," said Delaware County Councilwoman Christine Reuther. "We do not have great visibility into whats going on in these homes, and we need to be careful not to be the regulators, because we dont have that authority. READ MORE: Pa. releases names of nursing homes with coronavirus cases, deaths In Philadelphia, the city Public Health Department has regularly taken the lead in nursing home outbreaks. It has a team of workers trained in infectious disease that reached out to homes in February about how to handle sick patients and screen employees for symptoms. Even with those preparations, COVID-19 spread rapidly through Philadelphias nursing homes. Steve Alles, director of the health departments disease control division, said many homes arent equipped to train employees in containment strategies, such as how to fit-test masks or disinfect PPE without contaminating themselves. The work of infection control in a nursing home takes a highly skilled person who has worked in infectious disease control, and nursing homes dont usually have robust infection control teams," he said. They dont have the resources." Wardle acknowledged the states financial challenges, noting that Pennsylvania ranks among the lowest in the nation in terms of public health funding. Training on PPE is something that we have been working on during this crisis, but it is correct to say many nursing home staff members likely had not been trained on how to properly wear PPE prior to COVID-19, he said. Wardle said the Health Department has sent guidelines to nursing homes about how to roll out universal testing. The state has testing swabs from the federal government to use, and the Health Department and National Guard are working on finding labs to process them. For many facilities, the idea of testing all employees is panic-inducing, since it could further strain staff levels. Damsker, of Bucks County, said his department will help nursing homes develop a plan. Overall, he said, the situation in Bucks has improved. Nursing home staff who became ill have recovered and returned to work. In the event of future outbreaks, he believes homes will be able to group the sick together, and separate infected staff from those who havent had the virus. Once we reopen, we may have another flareup, he said. But well be better able to extinguish it. New Delhi: Do you know Mahatma Gandhi and Amitabh Bachchan have applied for the post of assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh? Yes, this is true. This may happen in Lucknow as Gandhi and Bachchan, if selected, could be seen as an assistant teacher in a government school in Uttar Pradesh. And this Mahatma Gandhi's name is on the top of the list of teachers with 94 per cent marks. The education department has prepared a merit list and Mahatma Gandhis name is on the top with highest mark. Other than Gandhi and Bachhan, there are few other celebrities' names in the list also. Praveen Mani Tripathi, officer in department of education, told News Nation reporter that not only Gandhi and Bachchan, there are 15 other applicants have the names resembling with other celebrities. Earlier, the list was rejected by officers of the education department, but later a committee was formed to verify the names of the applicants. Later, the committee decided to release the list after verification of all 15 applicants. Use of abusive words as title in names Many applicants had used abusive words as title in their names. The education department removed their names when the candidates didnt turn up. An officer told News Nation: "When these candidates didnt turn up, we understood that the applicants were fake. The Uttar Pradesh government is recruiting 16,488 assistant teachers in the state. There are 33 vacancies in Lucknow and more than 800 people have applied for this post. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chandigarh: Convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Ibrahim Zubair, found guilty of raising funds for the terrorist organisation in the United States, has been deported to India after completing his sentence, intelligence sources said. Zubair was deported two days back along with 167 other Indian deportees, intelligence officials said on Thursday. According to intelligence officials, the deportees were brought on a special flight to Amritsar, Punjab, on May 19. Since then India-born Zubair, 38, has been quarantined at a centre in Amritsar, an official told IANS, requesting anonymity. According to intelligence officials, Zubair, an engineer from Telangana capital Hyderabad, was arrested in 2011 on charges of terror financing. He was convicted for raising money for Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in 2009. According to the US Justice Department, Zubair has been accused of financing terrorism in a bid to support violent jihad against the US military personnel in Iraq. "Ibrahim Mohammad (Zubair), an Indian citizen, studied engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2001 through 2005. In or around 2006, he moved to Toledo, Ohio, and married a US citizen. He became a lawful permanent resident of the United States around 2007," the US Justice Department said in a press release in 2018. Purdue University researchers are developing a smartphone app that can accurately extract information about a persons blood hemoglobin content from a photo of the inner eyelid. Photo taken in 2017. (Purdue University photo/Vincent Walter) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. A doctor can quickly get an idea of whether someone is anemic by pulling down the persons eyelid and judging its redness, a color indicating the number of red blood cells. But even a doctors eye isnt precise enough to give a diagnosis without getting a blood sample from the patient. Purdue University engineers have developed software that would enable medical staff to take a picture of a patients inner eyelid with a smartphone and instantly receive a near-accurate count of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells. The team is working on embedding the software into a mobile app, which is in development. A video describing the technology is available on YouTube. The app could help bring sooner diagnoses and treatment or allow a person to better manage a blood disorder from home. The app also would help clinics in developing countries to better treat patients without the infrastructure to provide blood tests. The software is described in a paper published in the journal Optica, a publication by The Optical Society. Blood hemoglobin tests are regularly performed for a wide range of patient needs, from screenings for general health status to assessment of blood disorders and hemorrhage detection after a traumatic injury. This technology wont replace a conventional blood test, but it gives a comparable hemoglobin count right away and is noninvasive and real-time, said Young Kim, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue. Depending on the hospital setting, it can take a few hours to get results from a blood test. Some situations also may require multiple blood tests, which lead to more blood loss. The method is a portable version of a commonly-used technique, called spectroscopic analysis, that detects hemoglobin by the specific way that it absorbs visible light. The resulting spectrum of light signals accurately gives a measure of blood hemoglobin content. Kims team developed an algorithm that uses an approach known as super-resolution spectroscopy to convert low-resolution smartphone photos to high-resolution digital spectral signals. Another computational algorithm detects these signals and uses them to quantify blood hemoglobin content. The idea is to get a spectrum of colors using a simple photo. Even if we had several photos with very similar redness, we cant clearly see the difference. A spectrum gives us multiple data points, which increases chances of finding meaningful information highly correlated to blood hemoglobin level, said Sang Mok Park, a Purdue Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering. Compared to a spectroscopic analysis, the smartphone app wouldnt require any extra hardware to detect and measure hemoglobin levels. The team created this tool based on data from a study of 153 patients referred for conventional blood tests at the Moi University Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya. Kims team began conducting this study in 2018 in collaboration with the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare program. As each patient took a blood test, a researcher took a picture of the patients inner eyelid with a smartphone. Kims team used this data to train the spectral super-resolution algorithm to extract information from smartphone photos. Using results from the blood tests as a benchmark, the team found that the software could provide comparable measurements for a wide range of blood hemoglobin values. The app in development includes several features designed to stabilize smartphone image quality and synchronize the smartphone flashlight to obtain consistent images. It also provides eyelid-shaped guidelines on the screen to ensure that users maintain a consistent distance between the smartphone camera and the patients eyelid. The app also wouldnt be thrown off by skin color. This means that we can easily get robust results without any personal calibrations, Park said. In a separate clinical study, the team is using the app to assess blood hemoglobin levels of cancer patients at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. The researchers also are working with the Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital to develop a better algorithm for hospitals and frontline healthcare workers in India. Patent applications for this technology have been filed via the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. The researchers are looking for partnerships to further develop the smartphone app. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Purdue Shah Family Global Innovation Lab. About Purdue University Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 6 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu. Writer: Kayla Wiles, wiles5@purdue.edu. Working remotely, but will provide immediate response. Sources: Young Kim, youngkim@purdue.edu Sang Mok Park, park1127@purdue.edu Note to Journalists : For a copy of the paper, please contact Kayla Wiles, Purdue News Service, at wiles5@purdue.edu. A video describing the technology is available on YouTube. Photos and video taken since 2017 of the researchers developing the smartphone app are available via Google Drive. ABSTRACT mHealth spectroscopy of blood hemoglobin with spectral super-resolution Sang Mok Park1, Michelle A. Visbal-Onufrak1, Md Munirul Haque2, Martin C. Were3,4,5, Violet Naanyu6, Md Kamrul Hasan3, and Young L. Kim1,7,8,* 1Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana 47907, USA 2R. B. Annis School of Engineering, University of Indianapolis, Indiana 46227, USA 3Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Tennessee 37212, USA 4Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Tennessee 37212, USA 5Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee 37212, USA 6Department of Behavioral Sciences, Moi University School of Medicine, Eldoret, Kenya 7Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana 47907, USA 8Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, Purdue University, Indiana 47907, USA 9Purdue Quantum Center, Purdue University, Indiana 47907, USA These authors contributed equally DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.390409 Although blood hemoglobin (Hgb) testing is a routine procedure in a variety of clinical situations, noninvasive, continuous, and real-time blood Hgb measurements are still challenging. Optical spectroscopy can offer noninvasive blood Hgb quantification, but requires bulky optical components that intrinsically limit the development of mobile health (mHealth) technologies. Here, we report spectral super-resolution (SSR) spectroscopy that virtually transforms the built-in camera (RGB sensor) of a smartphone into a hyperspectral imager for accurate and precise blood Hgb analyses. Statistical learning of SSR enables to reconstruct detailed spectra from three color RGB data. Peripheral tissue imaging with a mobile application is further combined to compute exact blood Hgb content without a priori personalized calibration. Measurements over a wide range of blood Hgb values show reliable performance of SSR blood Hgb quantification. Given that SSR does not need additional hardware accessories, the mobility, simplicity, and affordability of conventional smartphones support the idea that SSR blood Hgb measurements can be used as an mHealth method. A woman dating a convicted rapist has defended him - arguing his crimes would have been worse if they were committed against children. Nicholas Rodney Troy McDonald, who now uses the surname Faulkner, spent nine-and-a-half years behind bars for attacks committed over two days in November 2010 along the Joondalup train line in Perth's north. He attacked three women during the crime spree - two were sexually assaulted - before he was arrested. Faulkner recently walked free from prison and is the subject of a post sentence supervision order, but his partner believes he is a new man and should be left alone. 'He can't take back what he's done, all he can do is keep saying he's sorry and finishing his PSSO and getting on with his life,' she told 7News. Faulkner's partner (pictured) believes he is a new man and should be left alone. 'He can't take back what he's done, all he can do is keep saying he's sorry and finishing his PSSO and getting on with his life,' she said 'The way I see it is at least it wasn't children. He could have offended against children and he didn't.' The Dangerous Sexual Offenders Review Committee did not refer Faulkner's case to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and he walked free from jail without any monitoring earlier this month. If they had, the DPP could have made a dangerous sex offender application in the WA Supreme Court, which potentially could have resulted in Faulkner being subject to stricter supervision, including electronic monitoring. The Prisoners Review Board instead placed him on a post-sentence supervision order. Opposition spokesman Peter Katsambanis said the community had been let down by a broken justice system. Nicholas Rodney Troy McDonald (pictured), who now uses the surname Faulkner, spent nine-and-a-half years behind bars for attacks committed over two days in November 2010 'This catastrophic failure is another example of the WA Labor government talking tough on crime but not delivering, and our community has now been placed at risk of further harm from this evil man,' Mr Katsambanis said on Wednesday. 'The time for excuses is over. The government must explain how this catastrophic failure happened, what it will do about it and satisfy the community that it will never happen again. 'It must also consider every available option to make a further application to impose stricter conditions on this dangerous criminal.' Premier Mark McGowan said he was 'surprised and disappointed' when he learnt what had happened. 'I'm going to get urgent advice on whether or not anything can be done about that, but clearly, it's not a good situation,' he told reporters. Faulkner pleaded guilty to an array of offences following the 2010 attacks, which he did while using amphetamines and alcohol on the Joondalup train line (pictured) While he is not allowed to drink alcohol, cannot be in possession of illicit drugs and cannot step foot in licensed venues he is free to use trains. He is also not allowed to have any contact with any of his three victims, the West Australian reported. Faulkner pleaded guilty to an array of offences following the 2010 attacks, which happened while using amphetamines and alcohol. In court he was described as an 'opportunistic sexual predator'. During sentencing in 2011 the court heard Faulkner would choose girls at random at train stations, and even followed one all the way to her house. Another victim was forced into a car and raped while the third was sexually assaulted in nearby bushland. Faulkner was on bail at the time but was filmed following the girls on multiple CCTV cameras before he was recognised and arrested. Stock markets slipped Thursday after rallying for much of the week amid concerns over the long-term impact of the virus and worsening China-US relations. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index extended slight opening losses throughout the New York morning, while key eurozone markets were down by more than one percent at the closing bell, with London performing slightly better thanks to a weaker pound. Stock markets had presented a mixed picture in Asia earlier. "The prospect of economies reopening and returning to something that resembles normal has, at times, been very positive for markets, as have positive vaccine and treatment trials, but it hasn't all been good news," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda Europe. - 'Some setbacks' - "There's been some setbacks in countries previously lauded for their handling of the spread..., putting more emphasis on the dreaded second wave if the exit strategy isn't handled properly" Erlam added. "On top of that, tensions between the US and China have increased dramatically which is making investors nervous." The eurozone's economic slump, meanwhile, has "likely bottomed out" after the bloc suffered a disastrous collapse under lockdowns to contain coronavirus, a closely watched survey by IHS Markit said on Thursday. The dollar rose, as did oil prices. Equities have enjoyed weeks of advances thanks to signs the pandemic is easing in major economies and the gradual lifting of lockdown measures that are expected to have sent the world into a deep recession. But that optimism has been tempered by uncertainty about the future, while US President Donald Trump has continued to target China over the outbreak and threatened fresh tariffs on the country, fuelling worries of another trade war between the superpowers. Trump on Wednesday tweeted that "it was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass worldwide killing". - 'Complacency' - Stephen Innes, of AxiCorp, warned that investors might not be taking the simmering tensions seriously enough. "Markets may be pricing in far too much complacency as the US-China 'phase one' trade deal could be at risk, as the pandemic and resulting acute economic downturn have made China's trade commitment to the US much more challenging to fulfil," he said in a client note. Minutes from the Federal Reserve have meanwhile highlighted its concerns about the impact of the outbreak. US policymakers are worried that "even after social-distancing requirements were eased, some business models may no longer be economically viable". This would be the case especially if consumers decide to "avoid participating in particular forms of economic activity", said minutes of the Fed's last meeting. Global infections from the novel coronavirus surpassed five million on Thursday as the pandemic played out unevenly across the planet. - Key figures around 1540 GMT - London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.9 percent at 6,015.25 points (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 1.4 percent at 11,065.93 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.2 percent at 4,445.45 (close) EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,904.96 New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 24,443.03 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 20,552.31 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 percent at 24,280.03 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.6 at 2,867.92 (close) West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $33.96 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.4 percent at $36.25 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0970 from $1.0983 at 2050 GMT Dollar/yen: UP at 107.76 yen from 107.55 yen Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2210 from $1.2233 Euro/pound: UP at 89.85 pence from 89.74 pence burs-jh/pvh A dog manicure descended into chaos when a frisky bulldog refused to hold still and instead climbed on top of the groomer and humped her back. The bulldog moved away from groomer Kali Lander, 21, every time she went to clip his nails before it mounted her at Shampoochie Pet Grooming in Granbury, Texas. In a hilarious video, Kali found herself pinned down on the counter by the dog before she was rescued by another worker and laughed off the debacle. Groomer groomer Kali Lander, 21, trims the nails of a bulldog at Shampoochie Pet Grooming in Granbury, Texas, before it humps her in a viral video The dog jumps on top of her and begins humping after it has enough of the grooming and Kali starts laughing Kali begins the dog pedicure by trimming the bulldogs nails on his front legs as he licks her arm. As she moves to his hind legs, the dog begins moving around making it difficult for her and forcing her to lean in. Suddenly he pounces, climbing on to her back and humping her as she cracks up laughing. Shampoochie owner Kelly, 61, rushes to Kali's aid to get the pet off her after taking a moment to laugh at the horny dog trying to make a move. Kali says the dog is 'normally a little difficult anyways' but he had never tried to hump her before Kali, from Granbury, Texas, US, said: 'All I could think was, "oh my gosh, there's a bulldog on my back. Uh oh". 'It was just so funny. I couldn't believe it. It's still so hilarious. I watch it multiple times a day still. 'I had bathed the dog and afterwards I went to do his nails. He's normally a little difficult anyways. This time was a little different. 'Everytime I went to do it, he would spin around. It frustrated me because I'd been doing that for a few minutes. 'I finally had had enough of it so I bent over a little bit so I could get closer to his legs to get a bit more grip on them, and that's when he jumped on me. 'I didn't know what to do. I just started laughing. I'm so glad we caught it on the camera. Kali says she watched the video 'multiple times a day still' because she finds it so hilarious 'Afterwards we were dying laughing because it was the funniest thing ever. It's never happened to me before in the whole almost-year I've been working here.' Kelly joked that 'love is in the air' as she shared the video filmed last month online, where it received more than 17,000 views, likes, shares and comments. She said: 'It did make our day. We had just been saying the day before that we never catch anything funny on our cameras. 'The first thing Kali said afterwards was, "you've got something on your cameras now". 'I'm really surprised by the reaction. I didn't think it would get as far as it has. People have said it made their day. It made our day. 'We had had a really busy week, and we were just exhausted. That was just a highlight. Kali loved it. She just cracked up about it.' Partnership with U3DPS and GoFundMe campaigns allows for 3D printing of PPE NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - As businesses start reopen, CraftBot USA has launched a #3DPrintToProtect initiative with hospitals, print shops and local community initiatives such as the Be Safe Project, launched by 18-year-old Washington D.C. native Gabriel Wittes to help communities better protect themselves. CraftBot began this initiative to fight COVID-19 by setting up a unique Rapid Local Manufacturing (RLM) farm concept consisting of 12 3D printers printing and manufacturing face shields within a two-week timeframe. The RLM farm produced over 5,000 shields, which were given away to local Hungarian hospitals and businesses to help protect their frontline workers. With the RLM concept proving effective, the initiative was shared with distributors in various countries to empower them through hardware and software support. "We are keen to support our frontline workers by giving the masks for free as a show of appreciation," said Gabriel Wittes. "CraftBot donated four printers as part of our RLM set-up along with a stock of filaments. The CraftBot Flow IDEX can produce 2,000 masks per month and has been instrumental in meeting our production goals." "People are feeling powerless and they want to help. For this reason we initiated the #3DPrintToProtect movement to empower them against COVID," says John Kassis, VP Commercial for CraftBot. "The CraftBot culture is all about family and innovation, and now more than ever we need to come together as we start to return to a sense of normalcy." With the continuing need for PPE, this initiative has quickly grown into a movement with partnerships at various levels looking to support. Here is how CraftBot is influencing a positive change for Americans: Hospitals: Supporting the Launch of the Be Safe project to print/donate masks to Holy Cross Hospital and other DC-area hospitals. Supporting the Launch of the Be Safe project to print/donate masks to Holy Cross Hospital and other DC-area hospitals. Setting up a Craftbot managed RLM in San Diego to print/donate 150 face shields per week for Martin Luther King Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital, Scripps Green Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, and more. to print/donate 150 face shields per week for Martin Luther King Hospital, Paradise Valley Hospital, Scripps Green Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, and more. Distributors: Supporting Ultimate 3D Printing Store (U3DPS), one of the leading 3D printer shops, with a donation to giveaway masks to local police and fire departments and launching a financing incentive offer through Affirm, a consumer financing company, that allows the public to purchase CraftBot printers for low monthly payments. Supporting Ultimate 3D Printing Store (U3DPS), one of the leading 3D printer shops, with a donation to giveaway masks to local police and fire departments and launching a financing incentive offer through Affirm, a consumer financing company, that allows the public to purchase CraftBot printers for low monthly payments. Communities: Giving PVNet, a STEM learning academy, a free 3D printer to produce 1,000 weekly face shields. "We are a strong supporter of our community, and thanks to CraftBot we will be donating 1,250 masks to Pasco County Sheriff's Office and Pasco County Fire Rescue," shared Roy Kirchner, President/Founder of U3DPS. As part of this initiative, CraftBot has developed a special toll-free number and email to assist anyone that may need PPE or who are interested in helping print their own. Contact toll-free 647-428-2760 and visit www.craftbot.com/covid-19 for further details. "Our goal is to help make PPE available so that anyone can help with this movement," added John Kassis. "While our approach is local, we have similar initiatives running within Canada, Europe, and the UK to make this a global movement." The multi-award-winning CraftBot 3D printers have set the industry standard for quality and performance for both beginners and advanced users. About Craftbot Ltd. (formerly CraftUnique) Craftbot is a developer and manufacturer of 3D printers and of the new Craftbot Flow Generation with a manufacturing in Budapest and offices in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. Since it was founded in 2014, the company has developed over ten award-winning 3D printers and has sold 10,000 units worldwide. Craftbot's innovative and entrpreneurial DNA has earned is a spot among the top 3D printer manufacturers in the world. With more than 45 sales partners worldwide, Craftbot offers a complete 3D printing solution through its hardware, accessories, software, filament and support services. The Craftbot 3D printers are known for being user-friendly, reliable and high-quality products with a 5-year warranty. For more information visit www.Craftbot.com SOURCE CraftBot USA [May 21, 2020] Feeding Ten Million During Ramadan - How YallaGive Partnered With Checkout.com to Process Millions of Donations - Over 15 million meals donated in under four weeks - YallaGive is the first online donation and fundraising platform in the UAE and MENA region - YallaGive's customers include Mercy Corps, EN-WWF, Emirates Red Crescent, Al Jalila Foundation, Doctors Without Borders. DUBAI, UAE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Online donations platform, YallaGive, partnered with the leading payment provider, Checkout.com who waived fees to process '10 Million Meals' initiative. The campaign was started to provide food assistance to millions of less fortunate individuals during the holy month of Ramadan. It was launched under the umbrella of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives in collaboration with the Social Solidarity Fund Against Covid-19. It marks the largest community campaign ever seen in the UAE, with millions of dirhams donated in the weeks since launch. The campaign also saw the iconic Burj Khalifa, converted into the "world's tallest donation box", as it enabled people from all over the world to sponsor one of 1.2 million lights and provide a meal for those impacted by the pandemic. The project concluded with over 15 million meals pledged. Online donations raised 1.4 million meals, with SMS donations netting over 771,000 and call centres raising 720,000. The remaining donations were made by business leaders pledging 5.7 million meals and donations from the humanitarian sector which resulted in 68 million meals. Sebastian Reis, Executive Vice President of Checkout.com said, "We are pleased to use our platform to support a noble cause like this and to partner with YallaGive. We count some of the regions most forward-thinking businesses amongst our partners. In this time, we are doing all we can to give back and we are delighted to waive our processing fees for the 10 million meals campaign." Abdulla Al Nuaimi, Founder of YallaGive said "We are proud to be part of the 10 Million Meals initiative, which has seen millions of people come together in these difficult times. We relied on Checkout.com to process all of our online donations. The team have been amazing supporters to our work from the day we started! Checkout.com has solid infrastructure and features that support our operations to secure millions of dirhams that change people's lives in many countries around the world." About Checkout.com: Checkout.com helps companies accept more payments around the world through one integration. The company works with global businesses to optimize their payments, with real-time data. Checkout.com's unified global payment processing platform features in-country acquiring, relevant payment methods, feature parity across geographies, fraud filters and reporting features, all via one API. It helps businesses in Europe, the US, APAC and the Middle East to achieve faster, more reliable processing in more than 150 currencies, with direct access to Visa, Mastercard, American Express, all major international cards, as well as popular alternative and local payment methods. For more see: www.checkout.com About YallaGive: YallaGive is the first online donation and fundraising platform in the UAE and Middle East region. It is a social enterprise and impact-driven initiative with the mission to provide innovative fundraising tools to help charities raise funds online for the benefit of many causes that are categorised under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. YallaGive is a member of the International Humanitarian City and a winner of Expo Social Impact Award by Expo Live - Expo 2020 Dubai. YallaGive works with well-known charities such as Mercy Corps, EN-WWF, Emirates Red Crescent, Al Jalila Foundation, Doctors Without Borders. It also supports corporates with CSR and corporate engagement tools, on this front YallaGive works with companies like HSBC, General Electric (GE), ADGM, Ernst & Young and Cisco to name a few. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] UnitedHealth Group (UNH) and Microsoft Corp have joined forces to launch ProtectWell, an innovative return-to-workplace protocol that enables employers to bring employees back to work in a safer environment. ProtectWell helps employees determine they are safe to go to work, co-workers know their colleagues have been screened, and employers feel confident that their workplace is ready to do business. ProtectWell incorporates Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and the latest clinical research to limit the spread of Covid-19 by screening employees for symptoms and establishing guidelines to support the health and safety of the workforce and workplace. The ProtectWell app is powered by Microsoft Azure, AI and analytics solutions, and also takes advantage of the Microsoft Healthcare Bot service, which is being used around the world for AI-assisted Covid-19 symptom triaging. The app includes an AI-powered health care bot that asks users a series of questions to screen for Covid-19 symptoms or exposure. If risk of infection is indicated, employers can direct their employees to a streamlined Covid-19 testing process that enables closed-loop ordering and reporting of test results directly back to employers. Health care information is managed by UnitedHealth Group and employers in accordance with occupational health laws. In addition, ProtectWell includes guidelines and resources to support a safe work environment, including physical distancing, personal hygiene, sanitation and more. Employers can also choose additional custom content specific to their workforce for a personalized experience. As we plan for a safe and careful return to the workplace, employers need clear guidelines to ensure a safe environment and a robust process for employees to screen themselves for Covid-19 symptoms, said Ken Ehlert, chief scientific officer, UnitedHealth Group. We are pleased to collaborate with Microsoft to launch ProtectWell, a simple and effective tool to ensure employers and employees have the information and resources they need to keep themselves, their colleagues and the public safe and healthy. Microsoft Executive Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business, Judson Althoff said: As businesses begin to reopen, employers will need to monitor and manage their workforce for Covid-19 symptoms to help ensure those at risk of spreading the virus stay home until cleared by medical providers. Microsoft is pleased to join with UnitedHealth Group to launch ProtectWell, which helps organizations manage the complexity of this undertaking. TradeArabia News Service Many people across the US who had symptoms akin to those of a common cold - cough, fever, runny nose - think they've had coronavirus. But most probably haven't, research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai in New York city suggests. Scientists there recruited more than 1,300 people from city who'd either tested positive for coronavirus or suspected they'd had it, but hadn't been tested. Of 719 people who thought they'd had it, 37 percent tested negative for both the virus and antibodies they might have produced had they previously been infected. 'That does imply that likely many of the people who suspect that they had this probably didn't have it,' study co-author Dr Ania Wajnberg. And assuming that they have had coronavirus and thus developed antibodies that might protect them against reinfection - an immunity that is still uncertain - might put people at greater risk of foregoing social distancing and exposing themselves to the virus in the first place. Many Americans believe they've had coronavirus - but antibody testing of New York City residents who suspected they'd been infected revealed only 37% had antibodies that might protect them against reinfection (file) As of Wednesday, more than 1.57 million Americans have tested positive for coronavirus. That means that that less than 0.5 percent of the US population has had coronavirus Yet, a third of Americans think they may have had it, suggests a recent Business Insider poll. Estimates from most epidemiological models and antibody testing initiatives suggest the real number of infections falls somewhere in the gaping space between those two figures. So far in New York City - the pandemic's epicenter - about one in five people tested have antibodies against coronavirus, indicating they've been infected already. University of Southern California's latest antibody testing study suggests that somewhere between 2.5 and seven percent of Angelinos have caught coronavirus. In Boston, 10 percent of residents tested for antibodies had them, as did 4.4 percent of people in France. US officials have even considered using antibody testing as the basis of 'immunity passports,' and the UK and Germany have made moves to implement the documentation showing that people have tested positive for antibodies against the virus and may be immune to reinfection to help reopen societies. At the moment, even if someone does test positive for antibodies, we don't yet know what level of protection that provides, or how long it might last. And people resuming normal life on the basis of the assumption that they've had coronavirus and have antibodies that will protect them (also an unproven assumption) is even more dangerous. For their antibody testing study, the Mt Sinai team recruited 1,343 people. Of those, 624 had been diagnosed with coronavirus, confirmed by gold standard PCR swab tests. The other 719 suspected they had coronavirus because they'd had symptoms, had been living with someone with a confirmed diagnosis, were told by a doctor they had the virus or were healthcare workers. Most did not have antibodies to suggest they'd been infected. Only 36 percent developed IgG antibodies - the kind that confers more lasting immunity - to SARS-CoV-1, which causes COVID-19, and 37 percent were negative for both antibodies and current infection. 'This finding suggests that a majority of participants suspected of having Covid-19 actually were not infected with SARS-CoV-2,' the study authors wrote. 'However, it may also include a false negative rate of our assay (which has a 92 percent sensitivity) or insufficient time for participants to mount an IgG antibody response.' Encouragingly, nearly everyone who was diagnosed with a coronavirus did in fact develop antibodies, suggesting most people will gain some degree of protection after recovery. An 80-year-old woman has died of coronavirus after catching the disease in Sydney's Concord Hospital. The woman caught the virus from a 'known patient in a clinical setting associated with the hospital,' NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said today. She battled the virus for about three weeks before passing away in Concord Hospital overnight. The death takes the national total to 101. An 80-year-old woman has died of coronavirus after catching the disease in Sydney's Concord Hospital Dr Chant says there's no evidence of further transmission or ongoing risk at Concord Hospital. NSW on Friday reported three new COVID-19 cases from more than 8,600 tests. Premier Gladys Berejiklian is trying to map out how to re-open the economy and boost jobs while maintaining a manageable number of COVID-19 cases. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 27,244 Victoria: 20,269 New South Wales: 4,273 Queensland: 1,161 Western Australia: 692 South Australia: 473 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 27,244 ESTIMATED ACTIVE CASES: 269 DEATHS: 897 Updated: 5.31 PM, 11 October, 2020 Source: Australian Government Department of Health Advertisement Ms Berejiklian has already noted the government is working with industry groups on increasing patronage in restaurants and cafes in June and July to 20 people at once. This would align with the easing of regional travel restrictions across the state and the opening of museums, galleries and libraries from June 1. The premier has also flagged plans to allow international students back into NSW, potentially through the hotel quarantine system in place for Australians returning home. This would help support regional towns and universities relying on the sector for economic activity and employment. Meanwhile, ex-NSW arts minister Don Harwin is reportedly seeking legal advice to appeal a fine he received for breaching COVID-19 health orders. The fine was imposed for travelling back and forth between his Elizabeth Bay flat in Sydney's east and his Pearly Beach holiday home. Mr Harwin in April resigned as minister after being docked $1000 by NSW Police for acting 'in contravention of a current ministerial direction under the Public Health Act'. At the time, the Liberal MP argued he had relocated in mid-March before the health orders were made. Siannise Fudge and Luke Trotman have revealed they have taken their relationship to the next level by moving into their first flat together. The Love Island stars, who finished as runners up on the 2020 series, have moved into a swanky new development in South West London. The couple of three months both shared romantic snaps of themselves standing on their balcony with Siannise, 25, admitting the move had left her feeling 'overwhelmed'. Romance: Siannise Fudge, 25, and Luke Trotman, 22, have revealed they have taken their relationship to the next level by moving into their first flat together She wrote: 'We did it! Today myself & @luketroytrotman moved into our apartment and we love it. 'I feel so overwhelmed, this is something I have always wanted and it reminds me of how far we have both come. 'Im excited for our next chapter in London and going on lots of adventures with my best friend, I love you '. Luke, 22, also gushed about taking his relationship with Siannise to the next level, writing: 'Finally moved in with my big batty gal.' Moving in: The Love Island stars, who finished as runners up on the 2020 series, have moved into a swanky new development in South West London Siannise took to Instagram Stories and shared some clips of the new abode, including the complex which they now live. Sharing a clip of the view, she wrote: 'I can't believe we now have our own place, it's perfect. Evening walk with my love.' She also shared a clip of Luke celebrating moving into the flat by rollerskating around the kitchen before the couple tucked into a pizza. Fun times: Luke celebrated moving into the flat by donning a pair of roller skates Siannise wrote: 'We did it! Today myself & @luketroytrotman moved into our apartment and we love it' Views: Siannise filmed Luke walking around the apartment complex they will now call home Celebrations: The couple also tucked into a pizza as they made the most of their first day in the new flat Several Love Island stars reacted to the news with Maura Higgins commenting: 'Congratulations you two beauty '. Meanwhile, Nas Majeed wrote: 'So proud of you two!! Massive congratulations '. Siannise and Luke had been self-isolating together during the coronavirus pandemic, admitting they had hardly spent anytime apart since leaving the villa. Last month, Siannise and Luke said they were looking to moving in together, but their house-hunting plans were put on the back burner due to the COVID-19 crisis. Congratulations: Several Love Island stars reacted to Siannise and Luke's good news While discussing what's next for the pair after Love Island, the hunk revealed in their first YouTube video: 'In terms of us, we actually put a deposit down on a house and then some of our quite big work got cancelled because of corona[virus], so we had to cancel our house. 'Everything has been put on hold at the minute.' Siannise, keeping positive, added: 'We've just got to look forward to better days. We're all in the same boat, as long as we're all staying positive and keeping ourselves busy, then we're all good.' STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- An NYPD officer pleaded not guilty Thursday in connection with an alleged murder more than a week ago on Long Island. The New York Attorney Generals Office has charged NYPD rookie officer Errick Allen, 26, of North Massapequa, with second-degree murder in connection with the May 12 incident. Allen was off-duty when he allegedly shot Christopher Curro, 25, of West Babylon. Prosecutors said Curro was unarmed when Allen shot him five times with his service weapon, fled the scene and failed to call 911, according to a Newsday report. The defendant and victim reportedly were friends. We trust our police officers to protect the safety of New Yorkers, but instead, this individual allegedly betrayed that duty to end another mans life," said state Attorney General Letitia James in a written statement. Prosecutors did not present a motive, but said Allen apparently returned to the scene about 30 minutes after the fact and admitted to officers he shot his friend. A Nassau District Court judge ordered Allen be held without bail. The officer was suspended without pay for 30 days after the shooting, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said. Nollywood actor, Temitayo Ogunbusola, has allegedly stabbed his neighbour, Oladotun Osho, to death following a disagreement over the payment of electricity bill. Tribune reports that the incident reportedly took place on Sunday at No. 4 Sebil Kazeem Street in the Ikotun area of Lagos State. Also Read: Nollywood Actress, Emilia Dike Slumps, Dies In Enugu Temitayo was said to have been beaten to a pulp by a mob before the intervention of policemen from the Ikotun Police Station. Advertisement The remains of the victim were deposited in a morgue for autopsy. The spokesman of Lagos Police Command, Bala Elkana, while speaking on the death over electricity bill, said that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as he was discharged from the hospital. Documentary photo During the ceremony, PSUV First Vice President Diosdado Cabello highlighted the Vietnamese preeminent leaders contributions to the struggle for national independence, as well as the Vietnamese peoples strong sentiments for him. He also stressed the similarity in the struggles of the Vietnamese people earlier and the Venezuelan peoples current one against powerful forces, affirming that the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese people serves as an example for Venezuela to protect the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution. Meanwhile, on his Twitter account, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro spoke highly of the patriotism and steadfastness of the Vietnamese people nurtured by the President Ho Chi Minh, which helped the country emerge victorious from past struggles. According to Vietnam News Agency, on the same day, the Venezuelan Government congratulated the Party, State and people of Vietnam on the birth anniversary of their great leader and one of the most prominent figures of the 20th century. Part of the congratulation stated that this is an opportunity to remember the wise teachings of Uncle Ho, who always insisted on seeking development on the path of socialism, the path that brought the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to reach a worthy position in the world at present./. The bill ratifying the end of the CFA franc was adopted on Wednesday 20 May in the Council of Ministers by the French government. This text formally validates the transformation of the West African currency which will change its name to eco. It is a new step after the announcement made on December 21 by Emmanuel Macron and Alassane Ouattara. The reform concerns eight member countries of the West African Monetary Union: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote dIvoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. It had been in the pipeline for at least three years and was concluded after lengthy negotiations between France and the countries concerned in the last half of 2019. What will change is first of all the name of the currency. The CFA franc will become the eco. But the real in-depth change is the breaking of the technical links between the countries concerned, the Treasury and the Bank of France. France will no longer co-manage the West African currency with the States concerned. Another change is that the Central Bank of West African States will no longer have to deposit half of its foreign exchange reserves with the Bank of France. This obligation was perceived as a humiliating dependence on France by all those who worked for this reform. France will also leave all WAEMU decision-making and management bodies. But Paris will continue to offer guarantees in the event of a monetary crisis. It will take even longer for the former franc zone to join with the other countries of ECOWAS to build a single currency. In the ECOWAS zone, some people, particularly Nigeria, do not look favorably on this reform. Holiday Hours: Memorial Day Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army Arlington National Cemetery is the nation's first federal military cemetery. A ceremony is held each Memorial Day at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Memorial Day is being celebrated Monday, May 31. It is a federal holiday observing the sacrifices of the nation's servicemen and -women. It started as a day to decorate the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers, particularly in the South, and many states adopted the day as Decoration Day to commemorate all U.S. soldiers after World War I. Memorial Day was established as a federal holiday in 1971 by Congress. It falls on the last Monday in May. Closed: Federal, state and local offices; no mail delivery. Banks Public colleges and schools, most private schools Public libraries Most offices and businesses BRTA is not running Open: Most retail outlets, groceries Restaurants and bars, by choice Convenience stores Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parades and observances have been canceled or limited. If you are aware of any observances or events, let us know at info@iBerkshires.com. Adams: On Sunday, May 30, the American Legion Post #160 Past Commanders Club will be making their 86th pilgrimage to the monument on top of Mt. Greylock. Past Commander Don Sommer the Dean of the Past Commanders along with Past Commander David Smachetti will conduct the ceremonies. All Legion Posts in the county have been invited. The Legion invites the public to participate in these ceremonies. Participants will leave the Adams American Legion at 7:30 a.m. A ceremony will be held at the Maple Street Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 31, with a program to honor the memory of those who gave their lives in defense of freedom. The memorial address will be delivered by Lt. Col. Francis Bourdon, who served 35 years in the Massachusetts National Guard and retired as intelligence and security chief for the commonwealth. The firing squad of American Legion Post 160 will render a rifle volley. Cheshire: The Memorial Day Parade will take place beginning at 1 p.m. from School Street and march down Church, Dean, Richmond and Route 8 back to Church and to the War Memorial at Town Hall. A short ceremony will take place at the memorial. Egremont: Starting from the South Egremont Fire Station at 12:30 p.m., marching to the Village Green, where a short ceremony recognizing the lives lost will be held, then the parade will return to the South Egremont Fire Station. George Blanco will be Grand Marshal. Lenox: The Lenox VFW hosts a wave parade starting at noon from Town Hall that will travel along Church, Housatonic, Crystal, Walker, East, Delafield, Pine Knoll, East, New Lenox and Route 20 to return to Main Street. Lenox Dale: The Annual Memorial Day Parade in Lenox Dale has been canceled again this year due to public health reasons. There will be an abbreviated ceremony to honor our war dead at Veterans Memorial Park on Memorial Day, May 31 beginning promptly at 9:00 a.m. Face masks and social distancing regulations will be required. North Adams: There will be no parade this year. This years ceremony will be held at the American Legion at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day. The Drury High School Band will play the "Star-Spangled Banner" followed by a few words from Mayor Thomas Bernard. Major Jacob Schutz, Mass Army National Guard is the keynote speaker. Pittsfield: Ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Pittsfield Cemetery on Wahconah Street, rain or shine. The event lineup includes Mayor Linda Tyer and guest speaker Staff Sgt. P.J. Hunt with the Army National Guard. The master of ceremonies is Fran Tremblay, former Marine, commander of Vietnam Veterans Association, Chapter 65. PCTV will televise the ceremony on CityLink 1303 and its other access platforms including on its Facebook page. Monterey: There will be a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Park at 10:30 a.m. Richmond: The Selectmen, Local Veterans and Students of Richmond Consolidated School as we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice Monday, May 31 at 9:00 a.m. - rain or shine at the Richmond School West Stockbridge: The parade will begin at 10 a.m. at South Street and continue on through Main Street to end at Town Hall, where there will be a short ceremony at in front of the War Memorial at 10:30 a.m. Williamstown: The American Legion honor guard will be holding brief observances in each of the cemeteries and Field Park and will finish by calling the honor roll at Eastlawn Cemetery. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is urging the public to plan ahead if traveling Memorial Day Weekend, and to expect an increased volume of travelers this year. In addition, travelers should note that Massachusetts COVID-19 prevention health protocols remain in place during the weekend holiday, with most restrictions lifting as of Monday, May 29. All scheduled road work around the Memorial Day Weekend is postponed. The I-93 Boston-Quincy High Occupancy (HOV) lane will deploy early for the holiday weekend, opening at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 27, and opening at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 28. The HOV lane will not be deployed on Monday, May 31. The Cape Flyer beings service on Friday, May 28, through Sept. 6. Find the full schedule here. Sign up at the 511 Traveler Information Service to receive personalized travel information alerts via email, text or telephone. MassDOT as always reminds drivers to avoid using cell phones while driving. Call into the 511 service before departing. Download Waze, the real-time traffic navigation app that provides motorists with real-time traffic conditions across Massachusetts. CapeFLYER weekend rail service to Cape Cod and the Islands resumes Friday, May 24, through Labor Day. Visit www.capeflyer.com for complete schedules and ticket information. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday launched a week-long campaign to educate citizens on issues related to COVID-19, and said that people should learn to live with coronavirus while fighting against it. The chief minister launched the campaign named 'Hu Pan Corona Warrior' (I am also corona warrior) via video- conferencing from Gandhinagar. As part of the campaign, influential persons, writers and artists would address people everyday through Facebook Live to motivate as well as educate people about the pandemic and ways to stay safe as part, an official release said. During the launch, Rupani saidthat people need to develop the habit of living with coronavirus while simultaneously waging a battle against it. "Bringing back normalcy amid lockdown is also crucial in the present situation," he said. As part of the campaign, spiritual leader and Ram Katha orator Morari Bapu adressed the people on Thursday on how to live with the pandemic. The campaign, which will run till May 27, is aimed at making people aware about three basic rules to fight coronavirus - children and elderly citizens should remain indoors, not venturing out without mask and always maintaining social distancing. Rupani urged citizens to take selfies with grandparents and post them on social media platforms with hashtag 'HuPanCoronaWarrior' on May 22. On May 24, people can click photos wearing masks and post them using the same hashtag, the release said. On May 26, people will be encouraged to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones, it added. Barring the containment zones, Gujarat has lifted a majority of restrictions on businesses and people's movement across the state in the fourth phase of the lockdown. With 749 fatalities till May 20, Gujarat is one of the worst coronavirus-affected states in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vessels take advantage of a lack of oversight as small-scale fishers from the Philippines to Peru pay the price. It was the product that powered the Vikings, that went on to make Norway rich long before oil, and is still the source of a multimillion-dollar industry: fish, specifically cod, or skrei, to be precise, the name derived from Old Norse for the wanderer. From January to April, these fish return in their millions to the Arctic waters off the Lofoten Islands to spawn. And for thousands of years, humanity has cashed in on this bountiful act of nature. I was reminded of this story by one of those Facebook alerts, a picture from these rugged, breathtaking islands from our shoot there this time last year. We filmed the centuries-old tradition of catching, drying and selling the resulting delicacy, as far afield as Italy and Nigeria. The fishery is a rarity in that it is both sustainable and profitable. But this year it has taken a predictable hit, with a sharp fall in demand. And it is the same the world over. For fishing communities from the Philippines to Peru, COVID-19 has been a disaster. Steep plunge in prices and supply There are around 40 million fishers worldwide, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries and depend on the money they make from their catch to put food on their table. The UNs body on trade, UNCTAD, said fish exports for 2020 are expected to drop by at least a third, with restaurants and hotels still closed the world over. Incomes in some fishing communities have all but evaporated. Shrimp, for example, have been selling at 10 percent of their normal price in northern Spain. In the Mediterranean, the whole catch has collapsed by 80 percent. Maldivian tuna exports to Europe have stopped. Argentinas fish and seafood exports to Spain, Italy and China have fallen by 30 percent since the outbreak. Flip-side: a lifeline for fish stocks Of course, the fish could do with a breather. Around a third of global stocks are currently below sustainable levels. The COVID effect offers our oceans, seas and rivers an opportunity to replenish, to a degree, for a time. But will there be greater, longer-lasting benefits a chance to target the industrial fleets that vacuum up fish in unimaginable quantities and to bolster more sustainable fishing? Now is the time for governments to rethink how they support fisheries sectors, said David Vivas, of UNCTAD. And to shift from subsidies that enhance the capacity of the industrial fleets, in favour of more support for responsible small-scale fisheries. Illegal fishing It is clear industrial fleets need to be restrained. As we speak, some vessels have increased illegal activities, emboldened by less surveillance of the oceans during the pandemic. There is no doubt industrial fishing vessels are taking advantage of this lack of oversight to further plunder the seas, said Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace. And all the while small-scale fishermen are not able to provide for their families. Will told me how an armada of more than 100 fishing vessels recently illegally plundered south Atlantic waters close to Argentina. The vessels, mostly from East Asia, waited until nightfall, shut down satellite tracking systems and then moved into the squid-rich waters of Argentinas exclusive economic zone. Each vessel was capable of taking 50 tonnes a day, which could, in fewer than three weeks, exceed the Argentinian fleets quota for the entire season. Such practices clearly threaten fish stocks, livelihoods, food supplies and the overall health of our oceans. A COVID mini-break for the fish means nothing while industrial vessels deplete our oceans resources. And think, around about now in Arctic Norway, the skrei, spawning done, are heading back to the Barents Sea, completing their ancient cycle of nature. Long may it last. Your environment round-up 1. China tackles the wildlife trade: The country is compensating farmers who switch to growing plants instead of breeding wild species. 2. Whale tracking: The British Antarctic Survey has been studying whale movements and now you can follow South Georgia whales in real-time as they journey across the oceans. 3. A comeback: Cars are staging a comeback as the socially distant transport of choice. 4. But not in London: Large parts of the UK capital are to be made car-free, with roads being re-purposed for people as the lockdown eases. 5. Chicken Trumpsticks: The US-permitted practise of dowsing chicken carcasses in chlorine and other microbial washes to kill bacteria is controversial because it can be used to compensate for poor animal welfare and hygiene practices in the supply chain. But the US wants the UK to lift its ban on chlorinated chicken imports. 6. A threat to Africas wildlife: There are signs the coronavirus pandemic is boosting the illegal wildlife trade and increasing bushmeat poaching. Watch conservationists discuss the challenges they face. The final word A farmworker thins a lettuce field outside Salinas, Calif., where growers say they have had to resort to recruiting foreign guest workers from Mexico to fill a labor shortage. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) The Trump administration has found a characteristically churlish way to thank the nations foreign guest farmworkers for performing arduous, dangerous work in the face of the coronavirus: It wants to lower their wages. If the shift goes through, it would lead to a pay cut for all those who tend and harvest Americas food. Roughly 200,000 seasonal guest workers holding H-2A temporary visas will enter the U.S. this year from Mexico and Central America. California will employ about 30,000 of them, a fraction of the states 420,000-plus farmworkers. By most estimates, a majority of that labor force are U.S. residents who are in the country illegally. Nonetheless, both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Gov. Gavin Newsom have deemed all farmworkers essential during the pandemic. In fact, they are essential, pandemic or not. Employers who want to hire foreign guest workers agree to pay them as well as any U.S. resident workers they hire a minimum wage determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and based on state-by-state surveys of prevailing farm and ranch pay. In California this year, the H-2A rate is $14.77 an hour. That's significantly higher than the state minimum wage which is $12 or $13 an hour depending on the size of the operation but still meager. Many growers have long lobbied against the H-2A pay rules. If they get their way, farmworkers wages would face downward pressure in most states, including California. The effort is led by newly installed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, according to National Public Radio and Wall Street Journal reports last month. To reduce their wages at any time would be a matter of deep concern, given that many farmworkers are struggling to feed their own families, United Farm Workers political director Gieve Kashkooli told reporter Kate Cimini on the website CalMatters. It would be an even deeper concern to do that during this COVID crisis. And its a total insult to them. Story continues An insult on top of insults. An analysis posted by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, found that U.S. farmworkers nationally are paid about half the wages of comparable workers in other industries. Meanwhile, growers are the beneficiaries of at least $19 billion in federal coronavirus bailout funds. Strikingly, many California farmers oppose reducing wages. Casey Creamer, president of California Citrus Mutual, told CalMatters that cutting wages is just not a thing we do. The 2,500 family growers he represents would rather see an increase in government paycheck protections and help getting crops to food banks as restaurant and other wholesale demand drops. Another grower organization, the California Farm Bureau Federation, similarly disapproves of wage cuts. Californias guest farmworkers are most in demand in high-expense agricultural areas such as the Napa and Salinas valleys, where the high cost of living keeps domestic farmworkers away. Bureau President Jamie Johansson said in a statement to The Times that cutting wages would be contrary to its goals of maintaining workers health and attracting more of them. If the USDA lowers the H-2A wage, Californias farmworkers could turn out to be collateral damage in an effort to help growers chiefly in the Southeast. In North Carolina, which Meadows represented in Congress before joining the Trump administration in April, the shift to the state minimum wage would save tobacco farmers $5.42 an hour, according to the Wall Street Journal. In Florida, the state that employs the most guest farmworkers, growers would save $3.15 an hour. Tellingly, although the California Farm Bureau opposes the wage cut, its national counterpart, the American Farm Bureau Federation, supports it. As the coronavirus spreads from Californias population centers to its agricultural areas, farmworkers are especially vulnerable. The Times reported on efforts by some growers to institute pandemic best practices such as staggered lunch breaks and hand-washing stations in the fields. But in a recent United Farm Workers poll of nonunion California farmworkers, 77% said their employers had not given them information about the virus or changed farming practices. Most domestic and guest farmworkers live in cramped quarters. Guest workers must be supplied with residences and transportation to the fields, but that might mean as many as 20 people in a four-bedroom house and rides to work in buses and vans too small to make social distancing practical. Distancing problems may also exist in the fields and packinghouses. Pickers may be spread out in fields but have to run their hauls to central collection areas, and sorting and packing crops may take place on crowded production lines. Hand washing isnt easy. Personal protective gear is generally lacking, according to Cynthia Rice, director of litigation at California Legal Rural Assistance. Farmworkers also may have underlying respiratory problems as a result of their work. Few have health insurance or more than the state-mandated three days of paid sick leave. In California, some COVID-19 aid extends to all farmworkers, but that may be of little help in areas with low access to healthcare of any kind. Trump administration officials havent yet issued an executive order or other H-2A rule change lowering guest farmworker wages, but Perdue has said publicly that the wage the visa program establishes is too high. But as the coronavirus crisis has underlined, those whose labor we cannot do without are too often the nations lowest paid and its least protected workers. Instead of seeking a cut in farm wages, the Trump administration should be mandating better work conditions and hazard pandemic pay for those in the agriculture industry. Otherwise, these essential workers will remain indistinguishable from disposable ones. Jacques Leslie is a contributing writer to Opinion. Reopening Nebraska is important. Keeping it open is even more vital, say organizers of a collaborative effort to do so safely. That comes with confidence among employees and customers that a business is operating safely as they reopen following pandemic-caused shutdowns. It's key to safely returning Nebraska to economic normalcy, says the National Safety Council's Nebraska chapter, which on Thursday launched Be Safe Nebraska, an initiative focused on the safety of all Nebraska companies, their employees and customers. Businesses are facing new challenges and questions as they look to reopen and a return to normal," said Wendy Birdsall, president of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, in a written statement. "With safety as a top priority, businesses can protect their employees and customers by adhering to local and federal guidelines that instill confidence and promote safe environments." Participating companies that have implemented a risk-assessment document and taken a pledge will receive a certificate of commitment and I Pledged material that can be used to inform their employees, customers and suppliers. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan shut down kindergartens, schools and universities since March 3 as part of the measures to prevent the spread of COV?D-19. Despite the relaxation of the special quarantine regime on May 18, which allowed the re-opening a number of recreational places and lifting the restrictions on residents movement, educational institutions remained closed in the country as gathering of over ten people are prohibited. It is unlikely that classes at educational institutions in Azerbaijan will resume before the end of the current academic year on June 15, Deputy Minister of Education Mahabbat Valiyeva said on April 30. She explained it by the difficulty to maintain social distancing between students in schools. From the beginning of the closure of education institutions, Azerbaijan introduced online lessons for school and university students. Thus, all educational institutions in the country offer online classes. Apart from this, a number of online projects have been initiated to help homeschooling. On March 11, with the organizational support of the Ministry of Education, the "Lesson Time" project was launched, which is broadcast on the TV channels M?d?niyy?t ("Culture") and ARB Gun??. The tele-lessons cover all classes, and short explanations of the lesson topic and assignments are provided. Likewise, the "Virtual School" project was implemented within the cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Microsoft, on April 2. Each pupil, registered on the portal of "Virtual School", is assigned to the class corresponding to his age and is able to do homework prepared by teachers according to the themes of TV lessons. This portal also provides an opportunity for online lessons. At the same time, students are able to use the "Chat" function to communicate with their peers through video and audio. The country introduced nationwide quarantine regime on March 24. As of May 20, Azerbaijan has registered 3.518 COVID-19 cases and 41 coronavirus- related deaths so far. The total number of recovered patients is 2.198. In your May 10 editorial (Oregons laid-off workers deserve more than a fast busy signal from state employment agency), you write, No one could have predicted the utter havoc that the coronavirus pandemic would wreak in Oregon and across the country, of course. But this is not true. Epidemiologists have been aware and warning of this type of calamity since the mid-1990s. If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, President George W. Bush said in 2005. Read any of the repeated pandemic warnings issued by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation beginning in 2010. Read David Quammens book, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, published in 2012. Take note of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a group launched in Davos, Switzerland, in 2017 in preparation for an inevitable pandemic and its economic fallout. Read the 69-page Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents passed by the Obama team to the stewards of public health in the Trump administration in 2017. Pandemics are one of the hazards of the globalized economy. We have heard, and chosen to ignore at our own peril, many warnings about globalizations inherent health threats and ensuing economic chaos that we are now so bitterly experiencing. Peter Samson, Portland New Delhi: The heartland of street shopping, the famous Sarojini Nagar market opened on Wednesday following new guidelines during lockdown 4.0. However, only a few shops were seen open as shopkeepers face staff crunch because of migrant labourers going back to their native states. With only a few shops open, the norms of social distancing were being followed and demarcations were created on the floor to ensure maximum distance was maintained between customers at shops. Ashok Randhwa, president of Sarojini Nagar Mini Market Trader Association, said that the Delhi Police had restrained them from opening shops stating that only one-third of the number of shops would be allowed to open. "Today the additional DCP came to the shops and said that you can only open one-third the number of shops. We then told him that the Delhi government has ordered the opening of shops on an odd-even basis," he said. He added: "The DCP also asked us to maintain a register mentioning the name of the customer, address and their temperature and if any detail was missing, a case would be registered." When asked who issued these orders, he only said that the orders need to be followed and then we were able to open these shops. One of the shopkeepers told ANI that they are facing a severe shortage of staff. "Many of the staff were from other states including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and have returned to their home states. I welcome the decision to allow the markets to open as it will help street vendors to earn their livelihood," said a shopkeeper. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that markets in the national capital can open but shops are allowed to operate only on an odd-even basis during the lockdown period till May 31. Health Secretary Matt Hancock today left the door open to the UK having a mandatory coronavirus vaccination programme. An effective vaccination for the disease is yet to be developed anywhere in the world but Mr Hancock said if one is he would hope that 'everybody would have the vaccine'. But asked directly if getting the jab could be made mandatory, Mr Hancock said the question was 'not one that we have addressed yet'. The UK's coronavirus testing tsar, Professor John Newton, then went further as he confirmed requiring people to get vaccinated is an option available to the Government. Health Secretary Matt Hancock today left the door open to making coronavirus vaccinations compulsory Professor John Newton, pictured right, then said a mandatory programme of vaccinations is an option for the Government but that the most successful programmes 'tend to be by consent' The UK Government has made tens of millions of pounds available to coronavirus vaccine research. Two UK projects - one at Oxford University and one at Imperial College London - are viewed as frontrunners in the race to develop a working jab. ARE VACCINATIONS COMPULSORY IN THE UK? Vaccinations in the UK are not compulsory. In September 2019, Matt Hancock said the Government was 'looking very seriously' at making vaccines mandatory for pupils in state schools. But No10 pushed back on the idea and said, despite dropping rates of children being vaccinated, it was not going to refuse admission. The devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - which have power of health policy - have followed suit with the Westminster government. In Europe many countries do require vaccinations. Germany this year introduced 2,000 fines for parents who failed to show proof their children had been vaccinated against measles. Countries with the highest requirements include France, Italy and Greece. They mandate 11, 10 and 14 vaccinations respectively. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, and Poland require babies to be vaccinated against tuberculosis. Other diseases for which vaccines are commonly compulsory in Europe include diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, and rubella. In 1853, England and Wales made a law requiring vaccinations against smallpox. Fines were dished out to those who did not comply. Advertisement Oxford University has done a deal with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to make millions of vaccines if its efforts prove successful. Ministers are hoping that could result in 30 million doses being ready for Britain by September. Appearing at the daily Downing Street coronavirus press conference, Mr Hancock was asked whether getting the vaccine would be made compulsory and if not, how ministers would bridge the difference of opinion between people who are in favour and those who are not. He replied: The first point to make is we are doing everything we can to get a vaccine and we will only recommend a vaccine if it is safe and that means that if we get a vaccine and I very much hope that we will and we are working incredibly hard for that and people are asked to vaccinate, to take that vaccine, then they absolutely should because we will only do it on the basis of clinical advice that it is safe. The question of whether it is mandatory is not one that we have addressed yet. We are still some time off a vaccine being available. But I would hope given the scale of this crisis and given the overwhelming need for us to get through this and to get the country back on its feet and the very positive impact that a vaccine would have that everybody would have the vaccine. It is not the first time the Health Secretary has expressed an opinion on compulsory immunisation. Mr Hancock is a vehement critic of anti-vaccination campaigners and in September 2019 he said the Government was 'looking very seriously' at making vaccinations compulsory for state school pupils. Prof Newton said the 'most successful vaccine programmes tend to be by consent' and they are based on a 'clear explanation of the benefits and any risks'. However, he added: So although some countries have adopted mandatory programmes, the most successful programmes tend to be done on the basis of consent, good information and good delivery mechanisms. But clearly mandation is there, it can be used in some instances. Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, suggested the way forward could be determined by the type of vaccine which may emerge. He explained: If you think about vaccines, there are a lot of different sorts of vaccines, but you can broadly use them in two ways. The first way which everybody thinks about is as an epidemic modifying vaccine. This is you give it to the whole community rather like MMR and that protects everybody from getting these infections. But the other way you can use a vaccine is that you can use it as a disease modifying vaccine. You give the vaccine to those people who are most at risk and you might do this because there isn't enough vaccine or you might do it because it is a partially effective vaccine that can stop people dying but is not enough to stop the transmission of the virus. In that case you would give it to a much smaller number of people. Clearly in that second group you are absolutely doing it only to protect the person who is being vaccinated. 'If they choose not to have that protection, it doesnt affect anybody else. It is simply their choice but then they obviously are denying themselves the protection that this kind of vaccine could provide. The father of a 4-year-old who died after being raped 15 months ago confronted the girl's attacker in court Thursday after a jury sentenced the man to life in prison without parole and a $10,000 fine. "You are not a man. You're a bogeyman. You're a monster," Ben Thompson said in a victim impact statement. "You're going to pay a long and horrible price for what you did to my daughter." He said his daughter, Emma Thompson, was beaten so badly the family considered a closed-casket funeral. Lucas Coe, 28, was convicted this week of super aggravated sexual assault of a child. His attorneys said they would appeal the conviction and the sentence. Emma Thompson died June 27, 2009 from abdominal trauma. She arrived at the hospital with more than 70 bruises, a bloodied lip and a fractured skull. She also had a sexually transmitted disease. Ben Thompson, his sister and his parents told Coe they hoped he would be forgotten in prison while the girl's life would be fondly remembered. "Her life was precious, had great value and great potential. Her capacity to love was immeasurable," the child's grandmother, Laurie Thompson, said. Her voice caught as she spoke about her granddaughter being raped. "Imagine Emma's terror at Lucas Coe looming over her, leering at her, hurting her, eventually killing her." In measured language, she described a focused, bright-eyed child, then painted horrific pictures of the her last weeks. "His repeated attacks on every part of her body resulted in her death," she said. "She was stripped of every shred of innocence and happiness by the defendant." Laurie Thompson also taunted Coe, who, she said, arrogantly winked at the girl's father Wednesday. "I suspect there will be a lot of winking where you are going," she said. Several jurors wiped tears from their eyes as they listened to Emma's family after handing down the verdict. They declined comment as they left the courthouse. In this case, 'life is life' Dawn Nobles, a spokeswoman for Coe and his family, said they were trying to stay optimistic about the appeal Coe's attorneys filed minutes after the verdict was handed down. Coe's family hugged each other around the shoulders as the Thompson family members spoke. They did not comment afterward. Unlike a life sentence for murder, which generally is capped at 60 years with eligibility for parole at 30 years, the maximum for super aggravated sexual assault of a child is actual life. Prosecutors opted to try Coe on that charge rather than murder in hopes of getting a stricter sentence. "Life is life," Prosecutor Colleen Barnett said. "Even if he lives to be 150." After Emma's death, it was revealed that Texas Children's Protective Services had been told the girl had genital herpes two weeks before she died. Emma's mother, Abigail Young, started dating Coe about six months before the girl's death. Because Young and Coe had genital herpes, defense lawyers said the girl could have contracted the disease from casual contact with either of them. Authorities did not remove the child from the home because her mother lied to investigators about Coe's presence in the home, prosecutors said. Young was sentenced in July to 20 years in prison for failing to protect her child. 'The hardest trial' Defense attorneys William Van Buren and Rick DeToto said they were disappointed with the jury's decision. They had asked the jury for the minimum, 25 years. Both fathers of young girls, they said they also were affected by the emotionally charged trial. "This has been the hardest trial I've ever had," Van Buren said. "It may have been the hardest case I will ever try." The jury heard testimony during the one-and-a-half-week trial from several doctors about the girl's injuries and saw graphic photos of the child's autopsy. Both sides said the most powerful testimony was from the 10-year-old son of one of Coe's former girlfriends. The boy said Wednesday that Coe repeatedly sneaked into his room at night to beat and choke him in 2006. He said Coe told him he would kill his mother if he told anyone what was happening. "What happened to Chase is eerily similar to what happened to Emma," Barnett said. "There was vomiting, unexplained bruises, dizziness and falling down." Coe faces assault charges in Montgomery County in connection with the boy's allegations. brian.rogers@chron.com 3 1 of 3 File / Matthew Brown / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 STAMFORD City police and firefighters will be giving away protective surgical masks between 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday in the South End and the Springdale and Glenbrook area. The mask giveaway will take place for two hours today at the South End Community Center at 34 Woodland St. and at Dolan Middle School at 51 Toms Road. Yinusa Dahiru, who abducted and forcibly married and impregnated a Bayelsan girl Ese Oruru, in 2015 has been sentenced to 26 years in prison. Justice Jane Inyang gave the judgement on Thursday.in Yenegia. Ese, now a mother was 14 years old when Dahiru took her from her mothers shop to Kano where he converted her to Islam before impregnating and keeping in Kanos Emir palace. The deposed Emir Sanuai Lamido was on throne thenand was out to Mecca for lesser hajj when it happened.. On February 29, 2016, Ese was rescued by the Kano State police which handed her to the Bayelsa government. She was already five months gone then. A month later, Dahiru was arraigned before the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, on four charges: criminal abduction, illicit sex, sexual exploitation and unlawful carnal knowledge of the minor. Dahiru, a tricycle rider in Yenegoa, had claimed the girl was in love and that was why she eloped with him. Justice Jane acquitted Dahiru on count one but jailed him five years (count two), seven years (count three) seven years (count four) and seven years, (count five). The judgement will run concurrently. Today we'll take a closer look at Judges Scientific plc (LON:JDG) from a dividend investor's perspective. Owning a strong business and reinvesting the dividends is widely seen as an attractive way of growing your wealth. If you are hoping to live on your dividends, it's important to be more stringent with your investments than the average punter. Regular readers know we like to apply the same approach to each dividend stock, and we hope you'll find our analysis useful. While Judges Scientific's 1.1% dividend yield is not the highest, we think its lengthy payment history is quite interesting. Some simple analysis can reduce the risk of holding Judges Scientific for its dividend, and we'll focus on the most important aspects below. Explore this interactive chart for our latest analysis on Judges Scientific! AIM:JDG Historical Dividend Yield May 21st 2020 Payout ratios Dividends are usually paid out of company earnings. If a company is paying more than it earns, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. Comparing dividend payments to a company's net profit after tax is a simple way of reality-checking whether a dividend is sustainable. Judges Scientific paid out 27% of its profit as dividends, over the trailing twelve month period. This is a medium payout level that leaves enough capital in the business to fund opportunities that might arise, while also rewarding shareholders. One of the risks is that management reinvests the retained capital poorly instead of paying a higher dividend. In addition to comparing dividends against profits, we should inspect whether the company generated enough cash to pay its dividend. Judges Scientific paid out 17% of its free cash flow as dividends last year, which is conservative and suggests the dividend is sustainable. It's positive to see that Judges Scientific's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut. Story continues Consider getting our latest analysis on Judges Scientific's financial position here. Dividend Volatility One of the major risks of relying on dividend income, is the potential for a company to struggle financially and cut its dividend. Not only is your income cut, but the value of your investment declines as well - nasty. For the purpose of this article, we only scrutinise the last decade of Judges Scientific's dividend payments. The dividend has been stable over the past 10 years, which is great. We think this could suggest some resilience to the business and its dividends. During the past ten-year period, the first annual payment was UK0.05 in 2010, compared to UK0.50 last year. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 26% a year over that time. It's rare to find a company that has grown its dividends rapidly over ten years and not had any notable cuts, but Judges Scientific has done it, which we really like. Dividend Growth Potential While dividend payments have been relatively reliable, it would also be nice if earnings per share (EPS) were growing, as this is essential to maintaining the dividend's purchasing power over the long term. Strong earnings per share (EPS) growth might encourage our interest in the company despite fluctuating dividends, which is why it's great to see Judges Scientific has grown its earnings per share at 39% per annum over the past five years. Earnings per share have rocketed in recent times, and we like that the company is retaining more than half of its earnings to reinvest. However, always remember that very few companies can grow at double digit rates forever. Conclusion To summarise, shareholders should always check that Judges Scientific's dividends are affordable, that its dividend payments are relatively stable, and that it has decent prospects for growing its earnings and dividend. Firstly, we like that Judges Scientific has low and conservative payout ratios. Next, growing earnings per share and steady dividend payments is a great combination. Judges Scientific has met all of our criteria, including having strong cash flow that covers the dividend. We definitely think it would be worthwhile looking closer. It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For instance, we've picked out 2 warning signs for Judges Scientific that investors should take into consideration. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our curated list of dividend stocks with a yield above 3%. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. Do you even have the tools to do the job you're thinking about doing yourself? (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) When Tony Nittoli of North Hollywood noticed a leak under his bathroom sink in mid-April, he tied it up with an old T-shirt and stuffed junk mail under it. Hed normally call his apartment manager to take care of it, but health officials orders were clear: stay inside and away from others to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Whats the sense of me not going out if I have somebody who's going out to multiple houses coming to my house? Nittoli said. That defeats the purpose. Plumbers, electricians and handymen and -women are considered essential workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Theyve continued to come to the rescue when a pipe bursts or the electricity goes haywire. Its frequently hazardous work, pandemic notwithstanding. But what about when its not life or death, but life and discomfort? If the washing machine wont wash or the screen door wont seamlessly slide, does it make sense to call a professional? Does bringing in a worker or several put your safety and theirs at risk? Do you try doing it yourself? Is fixing a sink as easy as baking bread? Safety first Although home-repair workers were never ordered to put away their tools, business practices have shifted to meet the moment, according to several industry stakeholders. Workers are required to wear masks and keep their distance from others inside a home, apartment or commercial space theyre working in, just as in other essential businesses, according to public health guidelines. Some companies outfit their workers in additional protective gear, such as gloves and booties. For Mike Rios, who owns and manages seven rental units in West L.A., the adjustment hasnt been hard. His go-to handyman wears a mask and [its] business as usual, he said. Talieh Safadi, owner of Help Squad, a repair company with a location in Brentwood, said he typically asks customers to take a walk while work is being done or stay in another room. Tom Bannon, chief executive of the California Apartments Assn., which represents the rental housing interests, agreed that safety protocols are a two-way street. Story continues Repair workers are asked to follow CDC guidelines, And you hope that that the residents can do the same, Bannon said. When should I call a professional? If its an emergency or serious issue, make the call. Some repairs simply cant be put off. An untreated electrical shortage could spark a fire. A leaky pipe in one apartment could cause thousands of dollars of water damage in the entire complex. In those situations, its necessary to bring in a trained professional, ideally before a situation grows dire. If its less urgent, weigh the risks. If youre a family of five and your washing machine breaks, it might not be feasible to transition to a washboard. If it's not urgent, Safadi recommends people over 65 or with underlying health conditions postpone work for a few weeks. If they need to go forward with a repair, he advises increasing safety precautions. Apartment owners still have an obligation to make repairs within a reasonable time frame, but Bannon stressed that the pandemic has affected whats reasonable. Some tenants dont want home-repair workers in their units and its difficult from a legal perspective for a landlord to enter a unit against their wishes, Bannon said. On the flip side, some maintenance workers are hesitant to put themselves at unnecessary risk. The latter makes it trickier to find someone to tackle a job immediately and increases the turnaround time for some repairs, he added. It's not a good time for maintenance unless it's a serious issue, Bannon said. Repair needs are increasing People in the industry agree that comfort levels around home repair appear to be rising possibly out of necessity. According to ServiceTitan, a tech company that develops software for home-services workers, revenue for contractors in California in the first two weeks of May jumped 10% over the same period last year. And the numbers are showing improvement nationally. Calls never stopped completely for contractor Edward Flanagan, though they did fall significantly after California's stay-at-home order went into place. He estimates that he's getting half as much business as usual now, compared with a quarter as much in mid-March. Many of the large residential projects Safadi had lined up, including a more than $100,000 job to convert a garage to a living space, are on hold. But he said he is fielding more quotidian requests, including calls about broken dishwashers, toilets, garbage disposals, doors and faucets. More time at home means more wear and tear. Remember, all of us were home, including me and my wife, on lockdown, Safadi said. And guess what? There were a lot more issues with maintenance because everybody's home. Should I try to do it myself? Those concerned about exposure to the virus or who are tight on funds might be considering a DIY approach. Professionals urge caution. Most plumbing and electrical work, for example, is best left to the professionals. One mistake can cause a lot more damage, Safadi said. If you don't know how to snake a pipe or a garbage disposal, it might leak overnight," he explained. In a multi-unit complex, that can get expensive: "Because it leaks into the unit below or the unit next door and then it becomes a huge thing. Besides property damage, there's potential damage you could do to yourself, Bannon said, pointing to garbage disposals as one source of danger. But home maintenance falls on a spectrum of difficulty, said Bob Burke, chief executive of Repair Clinic, a company that offers step-by-step repair tutorials. What we're seeing is that people have real needs, partly caused by the pandemic, partly because things are breaking because they're at home, and I think people now are realizing they can do a lot more than they might have thought, Burke said. "People are learning to be creative." The service is starting to see engagement with a younger audience, particularly in the 22 to 35 age range, according to Peter Krauss, president of the company. Their typical customer had been 45 or older, he said. Marnie Sehayek initially intended to pay a handy friend to build out a closet in her Koreatown apartment. When L.A. issued its safter-at-home order in mid-March, that no longer seemed wise. Instead, she watched videos, conferred with friends, borrowed tools from a neighbor and did it herself over the course of several weeks. "To be honest, I felt like I was in a Marx Brothers skit at almost every pass with it," she said, adding that it ultimately came together. Its not exactly perfect, but it totally works for me." Then there are the basics, like how to flip a breaker on and off, and where the main water shutoff is, things Flanagan said everyone should know. Otherwise, you could be wasting water and electricity, he said. "I think it's good for people to have more of a knowledge of that going on," he said, "and maybe this will give us a chance for people to do that." Cyclone Amphan roared into West Bengal around 20 kilometre east of Sagar Island in the Sunderbans on Wednesday, packing winds gusting to a top speed of 185 kmph, triggering torrential rain and leaving a trail of devastation across a wide swath of the state, from deltaic regions to the urban neighbourhoods of Kolkata. It brought a storm surge - a wall of ocean water that is often one of the main killers in major weather systems - that roared inland. Watch| Vikram Chandra on Cyclone Amphan landfall, resumption of domestic flights The situation is more worrying than the coronavirus pandemic. We dont know how to handle it, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters late on Wednesday. Almost everything is destroyed in the coastal villages of the state. Banerjee, who was assessing the situation from the state secretariat, said at least 10-12 people have died. The losses will be at three levels - loss to life and property because the storm was tremendous; loss to basic infrastructure, which will take months to leap back to normalcy, and thirdly, loss to livelihoods due to saline water intrusion and large-scale inundation. I have received reports of embankment breaks from Sagar Island, Ramganga, Hingalganj and a few other places. Many embankments are seeing overtopping of water because the rivers have swelled up, these will break in days, said Tuhin Ghosh, director of the School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University. Amphan, the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal since the Odisha super cyclone of 1999, made landfall between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm. In neighbouring Odisha, at least two deaths were reported till Wednesday night. A two-month-old baby was killed in a wall collapse in the morning after heavy overnight rains in Bhadrak district. In another incident, a woman died in Balasore after an electric pole, uprooted by the storm, fell on her. In Bangladesh, officials confirmed six deaths including a five-year-old boy and a 75-year-old man, both hit by falling trees, and a cyclone emergency volunteer who drowned. Some three million people were left without power, Bangladesh officials said. About 224.6 millimetres (0.7 feet) of rain fell from early Wednesday and winds up to 113 kmph (70 mph) lashed Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Video shared on social media showed electricity transformers sparking and exploding in the wild weather. Some reports said that 5,500 houses were damaged in one West Bengal district. The cyclone is expected to weaken as it moves north and northeast, and recede to a tropical depression by Thursday afternoon, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said. In southwestern Bangladesh, a five-feet-high storm surge broke an embankment and swamped farmland. Bangladesh officials were particularly concerned about the damage to the Sunderbans, a UNESCO world heritage site famed for its mangrove forest and tiger population, which they said bore the brunt of the cyclone. Houses look like they have been run over by a bulldozer, said Babul Mondal, 35, a villager on the edge of the Indian side of the Sunderbans. The 1999 super cyclone left nearly 10,000 dead in Odisha, eight years after a typhoon, tornadoes and flooding killed 139,000 in Bangladesh. In 1970, half a million perished due to Cyclone Bhola. On a cold, grey winter day, Stephen Secor pulled into the driveway of David and Amber Nelson who welcomed him into their converted basement, filled with stacks of refrigerator-size, glass-doored cages. Each cage contained a massive snake. Some of the Nelsons pythons and boa constrictors were recent adoptions from Secors lab, a few miles to the west at the University of Alabama. Secor and David Nelson, a product manager at a local car parts factory, hoisted the snakes one at a time out of their cages. Hello, Monty, hows my sweetheart? Secor asked a tan Burmese python as it slithered up his shoulders. Montys a good snake, arent you? It was feeding day. The snakes had not eaten for two weeks. They were now about to perform one of the most extraordinary acts of metabolism in the animal kingdom a feat that Secor has been exploring for a quarter of a century. He has been finding adaptations throughout the snakes entire body, such as the ability to rapidly expand organs and then shrink them back down. His findings offer tantalizing clues that might someday be applied to our own bodies as medical treatments. Recommended Llamas offer hope in the fight against coronavirus Nelson opened the cage that held a dark grey Burmese python named Haydee, and heaved in a large rat. The rat stood frozen in the corner, but Haydee ignored her new roommate for several minutes. She slowly raised her metallic-coloured head, indifferently flicking her tongue. And suddenly Haydee became a missile. She shot across the cage, snagged the rat with her upper teeth and wrapped her thick midriff around her victim. Between Haydees coils, the upended rat was still visible, its back legs and tail jerking in the air. It heaved for a while with rapid breaths, then stopped. Haydee loosened her grip and raised her head to the door, as if wondering if more rats were in the offing. Then she turned back to her prey, nose to nose, and opened her mouth wide. She used her side teeth to pull her head over the dead rodent. Her jaws stretched apart to make room, and she worked the rat into her expanding throat. She arched her head up towards the door, as if offering her human audience a chance to say farewell to the rat as its hind legs and tail slid into her esophagus. Her jaws stretched apart to make room, and she worked the rat into her expanding throat (Dr Stephen Secor) Pythons and several other kinds of snakes regularly eat a quarter of their body weight at once. Sometimes a meal will outweigh them. Over the next few days, they break their prey down and absorb almost all of it. Secor started studying how these snakes alternate between fasts and feasts in graduate school, and has been developing new ways to study them. These days, he is collaborating with genome experts to investigate the animals in molecular detail. Together the scientists are finding that snakes perform a genetic symphony, producing a torrent of new proteins that enable their body to quickly turn into an unrivalled digestion machine. I am a huge fan theyre taking state-of-the-art genomics and pushing the boundaries on what we can understand, said Harry Greene, a Cornell University snake expert not involved in the project. Its not too preposterous to imagine that could have fantastic human health implications. As a graduate student, Secor studied how sidewinder rattlesnakes survived as they went from long fasts to gulping down whole animals. He wondered how much energy they needed to digest a meal. A newborn (two days old) sidewinder rattlesnake with one button rattle (Getty/iStock) When he came to the University of California, Los Angeles, as a postdoctoral researcher, he decided to find out. He fed mice to his rattlesnakes and then put them in a sealed box. He could analyse samples of air from the box to track how much oxygen they breathed to burn fuel. In two days, I had these numbers that made no sense, he said. When mammals feed, their metabolic rate goes up between 25 per cent and 50 per cent. The rattlesnakes jumped about 700 per cent. By the time the rat in Haydees esophagus makes it to the end of her large intestines, all that remains is a packet of hair. Everything else will be coursing through her body Secor switched to pythons and found that they reached even greater extremes. If a python eats a quarter of its body weight, its metabolic rate jumps 1,000 per cent. But pythons can eat their whole body weight if Secor has enough rats on hand. In those cases, their metabolic rate can soar by 4,400 per cent, the highest ever recorded for an animal. For comparison, a horse in full gallop increases its metabolic rate by about 3,500 per cent. But whereas a horse may gallop for a couple of minutes in the Kentucky Derby, a python can keep its metabolic rate at its extreme elevation for two weeks. Secor has spent years investigating what the snakes are doing with all that extra fuel. For one thing: making stomach acid. We add some acid to our stomach a few times a day to handle our regular meals. But when a python is fasting, its stomach contains no acid at all. Its pH is the same as water. Within hours of swallowing an animal, Secor found, a snake produces a torrent of acid that will remain in its stomach for days, breaking down the snakes prey. Secor started studying how these snakes alternate between fasts and feasts in graduate school (Dr Stephen Secor) Meanwhile, the snakes intestines go through a remarkable growth spurt. Intestinal cells have fingerlike projections that soak up sugar and other nutrients. In a snake, those cells swell, their fingers growing five times longer. A python can triple the mass of its small intestines overnight. Suddenly its digestive tract can handle the huge wave of food coming its way. Once all that food is circulating through the snakes bloodstream, its other organs have to cope with it. Secor and his colleagues have found that the rest of a snakes body responds in a similarly impressive fashion. Its liver and kidney double in weight, and its heart increases 40 per cent. By the time the rat in Haydees esophagus makes it to the end of her large intestines, all that remains is a packet of hair. Everything else will be coursing through her body, much of it destined to end up as long strips of fat. In the meantime, her gut will shrink, her stomach will turn watery again and her other organs will return to their previous size. From an evolutionary point of view, Secor could see how this drastic reversal made sense. Running all this stuff is a tremendous waste of energy, he said. Why keep things up and running when you dont use them? But how snakes managed this feat was harder for Secor to explain. Other scientists couldnt help him. When he showed pictures of shrinking snake intestines to pathologists, they were baffled. Theyd say: Your animals are sick. Theyre dying. They have parasites that are ravaging their intestines, Secor said. Id say, No, theyre healthy. They just shook their heads and sent me on my way. In pictures: venomous snakes Show all 5 1 /5 In pictures: venomous snakes In pictures: venomous snakes Egyptian Cobra Found in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, the cobras venom can kill a human within 15 minutes and an elephant in three hours. It can be recognised by its small flat head and round snout Alamy In pictures: venomous snakes Puff Adder Found across Southern Africa, the snake, which has dark stripes, hunts small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs and toads Rex In pictures: venomous snakes Black Mamba Once thought to be the worlds deadliest snake, the black mamba is found in Southern and Eastern Africa. It strikes once, then waits for its prey to become paralysed before devouring it Rex In pictures: venomous snakes Carpet Viper The snake, which is found in South Asia and India, has a speckled belly and a distinctive cross-shaped white mark on its head. It hunts lizards scorpions and centipedes Rex In pictures: venomous snakes Spitting Cobra The colour varies on this snake, which is found in sub-Saharan Africa. It eats small rodents, lizards and other snakes. Unlike other snakes it projects its venom Rex Measuring their oxygen intake and looking at their intestines under microscopes could only take Secor so far. He asked colleagues who studied DNA what it would take to track how snake genes turned on and off during digestion. And theyd say, You couldnt do it, Secor recalled. It would take years and years and years, because youd have to pull each one out, and then you have to find out what it was. When the swollen organs shrink back to normal, it appears that the snakes may simply shut down their repair genes, so that their cells are no longer shielded from their self-inflicted damage Then in 2010, Secor met Todd Castoe, an expert on sequencing reptile DNA, who jumped at the chance to help Secor make sense of his snakes. The metabolism is crazy so much of this is extreme and unexpected, said Castoe, who teaches at the University of Texas at Arlington. Castoe and Secor started a collaboration to understand snakes at the molecular level. In 2013, they and their colleagues published the genome of the Burmese python. Now they had a catalogue of every gene that snakes might use during digestion. Since then, the scientists have tracked how the snakes use these genes. Secor and his students dissect snakes either during a fast or after they have had a meal. The researchers examine every organ and preserve samples for later study. Everything is pickled or frozen, Secor said. He ships some of the material to Castoe in Texas, who cracks open the snake cells. Castoes team then finds molecular clues to which genes are active in different organs. Pythons and several other kinds of snakes regularly eat a quarter of their body weight at once (Dr Stephen Secor) The researchers were shocked to find that within 12 hours of its swallowing prey, a vast number of genes become active in different parts of a snake. You might expect maybe 20 or 30 genes to change, Castoe said. Not 2,000 or 3,000. A number of the genes are involved in growth, the researchers have found, while others respond to stress and repair damaged DNA. It is a strange combination that scientists have not seen in animals before. Castoe speculates that snakes use their growth genes far more intensely than, say, a growing human child would. That overdrive allows the snakes to double the size of organs in a matter of hours and days. But it may also come at a cost: the cells are growing and dividing so fast that they dont have time to be careful. Along the way, they produce a lot of malformed proteins that damage the cells. When the swollen organs shrink back to normal, it appears that the snakes may simply shut down their repair genes, so that their cells are no longer shielded from their self-inflicted damage. The whole growth thing collapses, Castoe speculated. Even among snakes, the fast-and-feast way of life is unusual, having independently evolved only a few times. By looking at other such fasting snakes, the scientists have found some of the same changes in gene activity. They are focusing on this smaller set of genes. Once all that food is circulating through the snakes bloodstream, its other organs have to cope with it (Getty/iStock) Its like were cutting away pieces of the pie, and we just want the juiciest part, Castoe said. If he and Secor can figure out what happens in snakes, it might be possible to elicit some of their powers in our own bodies, since we share many genes in common with animals. The scientists suspect that the snakes orchestrate their transformation with a few molecular triggers. Some genes may cause many other genes to switch on in an organ and make it grow. If scientists could find those triggers, they might be able to regenerate damaged tissue in people. Alternatively, doctors might mimic the way that snakes rapidly but safely reverse their growth. There might be clues in their biology for how to stop the uncontrolled growth of cancers. If you knew the answers to all that, youd probably have drugs that could cure dozens of diseases, Castoe said. But Castoe sees a lot of work ahead before any such benefits emerge. For now, he and his colleagues have no idea what the triggers are in snakes. To find out, they are now looking at snakes within just a few hours of catching prey. They can see changes in the snake cells. But those changes occur too quickly to be the result of switching on genes. It is possible that the snakes are refolding the proteins that already exist in their cells, so that they do new things. Id love to put together the whole pathway, Secor said. But were not even close to figuring this all out. "During these grim times, when the economy is struggling, it is important to reduce expenses and stick only to the basics. Since car insurance is an essential services, policyholders should check the latest ways to reduce coverage," said Gurgu C, Project Manager of Internet Marketing Company. 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While some states impose only minimum liability coverage, other states also require other types of coverage, like uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage, PIP coverage or other forms of medical payment coverage. If the policyholder already has a solid health insurance plan that covers him in case of an accident, keeping other forms of insurance may be redundant. Keep only the essential driver on the policy. Excluding drivers from a family car insurance plan is a sound way to get cheaper premiums. If some family members do no longer need to use the car, they should be excluded from the policy. Since schools and universities are closed, it makes sense to exclude teen drivers from policies. Teen drivers are usually the most expensive to insure and removing them from the coverage plans will greatly improve the rates. Just keep the person(s) who need to use the car and go to work Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. For more information, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ At least 14 crore migrant workers have left cities for their homes during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to an estimate by academic Ajay Dandekar. This huge reverse migration is going to result in a "massive economic and societal crisis" unless major structural changes are brought about by the state, he says in an interview to News18. Dandekar, a trained historian who has spent the last 20 years researching and writing about rural India, teaches at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Shiv Nadar University. Different estimates have been presented of the number of migrant workers who have been trying to get to their homes since the lockdown was first imposed on March 25. What is that number according to you? The number is hard to arrive at because neither the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) nor the census specifically has tabulated entries for 'migrant workers'. So people are arriving at their own estimates based on various calculations. To my mind this number would be more than 140 million or 14 crore. But I should add here this is just an estimate. Actual numbers may vary. Many states to which migrant workers are now returning Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat already face acute distress in terms of agrarian crisis, droughts, and where welfare schemes are not implemented very efficiently. What sort of pressure are these states going to be under now? India since the 1990s is in the midst of an agrarian crisis. The average landholding has been reduced to 1.12 hectares, and more than 85% of agrarian households in our country are marginal or small farmers. The sector is starved of real investments for the last three decades and more. Migration from rural to peri-urban areas as a large phenomenon perhaps is post the new economic policy of the 90s. This migration can be characterised as distress migration and it happened because the rural was not in a position to sustain livelihoods beyond a point and the new economic policy did seem to suggest an opening for some livelihoods in the peri-urban and urban areas, largely in the construction sectors, semi-skilled sectors, MSMEs and in the growing services sectors. However, the challenges of dignified livelihood even then remained a major concern. Now with the return of so many people to their villages, the rural infrastructure is going to be put under tremendous stress. Our villages are not in a position to sustain and provide for livelihoods for those who are returning. The migration in the first place happened because of lack of opportunities in the rural locale. Now, unless we initiate a major structural change in our economic policy, we are staring at a crisis of very large proportions. Do you fear that more and more people are going to be trapped by moneylenders when they return to their villages? Also, what sort of impact do you feel the recent economic packages announced by the finance minister are going to have on the migrant workers? The majority of agrarian households in the country are indebted anyway. Moneylenders are not going anywhere. But I think moneylenders are not going to lend very easily. Banks always write off loans, moneylenders do not. When people reach their homes, their mindset is not going to be to return to their jobs in the destination areas as soon as possible. Due to the inhuman treatment they experienced post the lockdown and while on return to homes, they will think 10 times before going to cities again. So the remittances that they would send back to their homes in the villages are going to stop. In this context my fear actually is that informal sources of lending may dry up as the collateral is not available for those loans. Which is why it is all the more important that at this juncture we forget all about fiscal measures and actually put money in the hands of the people. The first impulse should be to help people survive this catastrophe and subsequently to regenerate demand in rural India. A credit-based system in which you put credit in the system and expect farmers and MSMEs to return to their peak efficiency is not going to happen because there is no demand. Also, the MSMEs will not take that credit line in the absence of the demand. It is a vicious circle. Demand will only come from rural India. They will only spend if they have money in their hands. For India, the key to revival lies squarely in the arena of the rural and how well we treat our rural areas and support them. Closed pub - Matt Dunham /AP Business activity plunged again this month as the lockdown continued to pound the British economy. Almost every industry suffered further in May as the closely watched purchasing managers index (PMI) survey of companies indicated that the UK is in the grip of a severe recession - sparking fears that GDP will shrink as much as 12pc this year. The initial PMI reading for May came in at 28.9, where any score below 50 signals a contraction. This is up from 13.8 in April, suggesting a recovery of sorts may be underway, but is still far worse than anything seen in the financial crisis. The only hope for a sustained bounce lies in the virus being defeated, allowing the economy to reopen and 8 million furloughed workers to go back to their jobs. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said: Travel and tourism firms, hotels, restaurants and producers of consumer goods such as clothing were again the hardest hit, reflecting virus containment measures, but this remains a shockingly broad-based downturn with very few companies left unscathed. An improvement in business confidence about the year ahead for a second successive month is welcome news, and the easing of restrictions in coming months should help boost activity in some sectors as we head into the summer. However, the UK looks set to see a frustratingly slow recovery, given the likely slower pace of opening up the economy relative to other countries which have seen fewer Covid-19 cases. He predicts a 20pc fall in GDP in the second quarter of the year with a fall of almost 12pc for 2020 overall. There are some signs of life in industries such as construction as companies cautiously get back to work with new social distancing measures in place. Firms in the supply chain reported rising demand for manufacturing and building components. Healthcare industries also reported growth, with medical supplies in high demand. Story continues But the scale of the drop in manufacturing suffered so far is bigger than anything previously seen. A survey by the Confederation of British Industry recorded the sector's steepest fall in the three months to May since its records began in 1975. More than eight in 10 manufacturers have suffered a drop in domestic demand and more than two-thirds have been hit by a drop in exports, the business group found. It is not only the reopening of industries that is needed to get the economy back on track demand is also required. Companies reported low levels of interest from customers, particularly for expensive items such as new cars. Experts believe the economy will take about two years to get back to its pre-coronavirus size. Jacob Nell of Morgan Stanley said the Bank of England is likely to ramp up its money-printing programme to boost the recovery and warned that businesses are likely to remain cautious due to surging unemployment and fears over a possible second wave of Covid-19. Meanwhile, more signs of a gradual reopening of the economy emerged in the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 economic indicators. According to its latest survey of more than 6,000 companies between April 20 and May 3, 19pc of accommodation and food services firms such as hotels, restaurants and pubs has resumed trading. Some 15pc of builders and 12pc of manufacturers also reopened a week before the official guidance from Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging them back to work. There is a similar pattern in the eurozone, where the flash PMI is up from 13.6 in April to the still ultra-low 30.5 in May. Bert Colijn, an economist at ING, said: The increase is in line with the cautious easing of lockdowns but also buries any hopes of a v-shaped recovery." The reopening of businesses has indeed caused more companies to record output growth again, but the majority of businesses are still experiencing contraction or no change from a very low base. DOYLESTOWN >> A man and woman will face decades in state prison for the repeated sexual assault of three children under the age of 13, abuse that they also filmed in more than 40 videos of child pornography. Leonard F. Hewitt Sr. 51, and Krystyn Anne Smock, 40, both of Bristol Township, committed the acts for more than four years... Khalilzad In Kabul For Peace Talks Amid New Deadly Attacks By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan May 20, 2020 KABUL -- U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Kabul to press the Taliban and Afghan government to start delayed talks amid an uptick in violence -- including two more deadly attacks overnight -- that threatens to unravel a landmark peace deal between Washington and the militants signed earlier this year. President Ashraf Ghani's office on May 20 confirmed that Khalilzad arrived in Afghanistan from Qatar, where he held fresh talks with Taliban representatives. The U.S. envoy's trip comes as 14 people were killed in attacks late on May 19 on two mosques in Afghanistan where worshippers were breaking their Ramadan fast. The Taliban denied carrying out the killings, which came after last week's attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul in which 24 people, included newborns, were shot dead. The Taliban also denied carrying out the maternity attack, which Washington said bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State (IS) militant group. In a message that coincided with Khalilzad's visit to Kabul, Taliban's reclusive leader Haibatullah Akhundzada said on May 20 that militants were still committed to the February 29 deal with the United States, despite stepping up violence against government forces since it was signed. In the message, released ahead of next week's Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Akhundzada called on Washington "not to waste" the opportunity offered by the deal to end America's longest war. "The Islamic Emirate is committed to the agreement...and urges the other side to honor its own commitments and not allow this critical opportunity to go to waste," Akhundzada said, using the name the Taliban called Afghanistan when they were in power. "I urge American officials to not afford anyone the opportunity to obstruct, delay, and ultimately derail this internationally recognized bilateral agreement," he added. The Taliban has so far rejected repeated calls for a cease-fire by the Afghan government. At least 11 people were killed and 16 were wounded in one of the mosque attacks in Charekar, the capital of the central province of Parwan, security officials told RFE/RL. "Unknown gunmen fired on people praying inside a mosque during iftar time," said Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the governor of Parwan, referring to the meal eaten to break daytime fasting during the Islamic holy month. The Interior Ministry blamed the attack on the insurgent Taliban. The militants denied responsibility and said Afghan security forces were to blame. The Parwan Province police chief, Haroon Mubariz Parwan, told RFE/RL that Islamic State militants are suspected of having carried out the attack. Three other people were killed in a similar attack late on May 19 on a mosque in the southeastern Khost Province, Talib Mangal, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told RFE/RL. Mangal said a child was also wounded in the attack in the Sabari district of Khost. No one claimed responsibility for the Khost attack. In the northern Takhar Province, suspected Taliban militants attacked a checkpoint late on May 19, leaving nine dead, officials said. Six others were wounded in the incident, which took place in the province's Khawja Bahauddin district. Elsewhere on May 19, Afghan security forces clashed with Taliban fighters around the city of Kunduz, a strategically important center that the militants have briefly captured twice in recent years. Security forces largely repelled the Taliban offensive with the help of air support. Assadullah Khalid, acting defense minister, said during a visit to the city that more than 50 militants and eight security-force members had been killed. With reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-mosque -attacks-kill-13-as-worshippers -breaking-fast/30622117.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obamas decline into neo-liberal abstraction. Why, asks Michael Lind, didnt the populist backlash in the U.S. on both left (Bernie Sanders) and right (Donald Trump) against neo-liberalism begin as early as 2008? Thats when bankers greed crashed the world economy, at little cost to them, while destroying millions of ordinary lives. Arguably, says Lind, it did, with Barack Obamas election then. Obamas campaign rejected the neo-liberal policies of both the Bushes and Clintons. He said hed revisit NAFTA and rebuild industries. He was an outsider, a kind of celebrity, rock-star politician much like Trump. Yet in power he bailed out banks but not homeowners and created new trade deals. By 2016, when he left, you got the harsher populist outbursts of Sanders and Trump. Its easy to forget, now, what a challenge to mainstream values he once seemed. Was it all a lie, was he a Trojan horse? I lean more to Alexander Cockburns view, voiced back then, that Obama had no idea what hed do if elected. Thats why he could sound so sincere, and Republicans (along with Israels Bibi Netanyahu) saw him as a dangerous pinko radical till the end. From the moment of the crash, he opted for the rich and mighty, who he called really smart guys. When he left the White House he went almost directly to billionaire David Geffens yacht in Fiji, where he and Michelle basked in the after-rewards of prudently wielded power. Geffen, BTW, recently shared a yacht photo on Instagram, isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. The Obamas also, in mimicry of a major Clinton fiasco, created a foundation. In virtual commencement addresses this week, Obama dissed Trump yet never named him (so-called grown-ups with fancy titles), as if enacting the pretentious notion of an ex-leader hovering above the nation and inspiring it with his devotion to abstract principles, versus specific policies and people. There was glib empathy about missing proms, numerous cliches and helpful tips: Dont be afraid, Do what you think is right; Dont just look after yourself and your family which sounds like what hes more or less done. There are few biographical sights sadder than a once good mind and attuned moral sensibility devolving into sheer abstractions. I offer Obama as a concrete example of that regrettable descent into vagueness. Is the vaccine glass half-full or The gap regarding the prospects of a vaccine is perplexing. Its unclear why authorities differ. Theres Dr. Fauci and the New York Times on the hopeful side. (Many scientists are now cautiously optimistic that [it] could be ready by next year.) Others moan it could be four, or 10 years, or never. I think this betokens the way were basically more emotional than rational, always reacting chiefly to our needs and mortality. Some strive to be neutral and objective but you can hear their hope or despair clanging away since we never cease being primitive, gut-driven creatures. So, speaking as a generally glass-half-empty kind of guy, heres my idea of the argument for hope: There are often no vaccines, or theyre slow to come, because theres not great profits in them for Big Pharma, compared to, say, obesity or allergy pills. Most rampant infectious disease is in poor countries. And in rich lands, plagues like HIV-AIDS, pay more through ongoing treatments than one-time vaccines. But COVID-19 is everywhere and could disrupt everyones profits, along with the general social order. So the pressures on to cut it down. I asked a student if he thinks theres reason to hope for a quick vaccine. He said yes. Why? Because, he said, its in the best interests of the bourgeoisie. He doesnt belong to any left sects and doesnt often use Marxist jargon. He said this like he was describing the weather. There are now cohorts moving into adulthood, who are no longer enthralled by capitalism, nor do they think theres no alternative to it. They were enthralled by Obama but moved on, after those hopes fizzled. Theyve lost their stake in how things are. Getting them reinvested, so that they dont make future trouble, is another reason why its in the interests of the bourgeoisie to fix this thing fast. Carnegie Mellon researchers have found that nearly half of all Twitter accounts that are urging America to reopen are bots. Researchers have also found that 82% of the top 50 influential retweeters surrounding the COVID-19 discussion are bots, meaning that these bots aren't just beep-booping into the void. People are listening. It's the rare case where automation is actually trying to get people back to work, but don't think this directive comes from the goodhearted nature of the bots' souls. Said CMU Professor Kathleen Carley, "because it is global, it's being used by various countries and interest groups as an opportunity to meet political agendas," which got us thinking, maybe it's not just Russia who's behind all of the this. Carley went on to say, "we do know that it looks like it's a propaganda machine, and it definitely matches the Russian and Chinese playbooks, but it would take a tremendous amount of resources to substantiate that," which again could further support the theory that multiple governments are dedicating money and time to keep trolling us on Twitter for months on end. It's like we could be facing a Legion of Doom, but instead of Sinestro and Gorilla Grodd beating the snot out of Batman, it's China and Russia and, who knows, Finland maybe, writing messages about how we need to get back to the beach. With a target to double the income of fishermen, fish farmers and workers by 2024, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave its nod to the implementation of Rs 20,050- crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), a scheme to promote 'Blue Revolution' in the country through sustainable development. The scheme will be implemented in the next 5 years from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25. Out of the Rs 20050 crore, the share of the Central government will be Rs 9,408 crore and the state governments' Rs 4,880 crore while the share of beneficiaries will be Rs 5,763, according to the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The Ministry said in a statement that the PMMSY will address the critical gaps in the fisheries sector and aid it in realizing its potential. The scheme is expected to create direct gainful employment opportunities to about 15 lakh fishers, fish farmers, workers, vendors and other rural/urban populations in fishing and allied activities. Besides, it promises to offer indirect employment opportunities, including enhancement of incomes, said the Ministry. It will help in augmenting fish production and productivity at a sustained average annual growth rate of about 9 per cent to achieve a target of 22 million metric tons by 2024-25 through sustainable and responsible fishing practices, said the Ministry. The scheme also aims to improve availability of certified quality fish seed and feed, traceability in fish and including effective aquatic health management and help in creation of critical infrastructure, including modernisation and strengthening of value chain. The PMMSY, a 5-year scheme, will be implemented as an umbrella scheme with two separate components -- as a Central sector scheme (CS) and (b) Centrally-Sponsored Scheme (CSS). The entire project/unit cost will be borne by the Central government (i.e. 100 per cent Central funding). Wherever direct beneficiary-oriented i.e. individual/group activities are undertaken by the entities of the Central government, including the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), the Central assistance will be up to 40 per cent of the unit/project cost for general category and 60 per cent for SC/ST/women category, said the Ministry. In northeastern and Himalayan states, the Centre will contribute 90 per cent of the scheme while states' share will be 10, but in other states, the Centre's share will be 60 per cent and state's 40 per cent. In Union Territories, 100 per cent financial assistance will be given by the Centre. Denmark has long since led the charge on wind power, and now its announced another first: it plans to build two giant energy islands that could boost Europes current offshore wind capacity by 54 percent. The two islands one an artificial structure and the other the existing island of Bornholm in the Baltic will initially be populated with wind turbines adding 4GW to the countrys renewable power capacity by 2030. If built out to their full capacity, the 37 billion development could produce as much as 12GW, which could also be used to produce hydrogen. Its an ambitious project for the Scandinavian country, but one thats in keeping with its general attitude towards renewable energy and the climate. It built the worlds first offshore windfarm in 1991, and is home to some of the worlds biggest wind power companies. On Wednesday, the government unveiled a new climate package that aims to cut the countrys emissions by 70 percent within a decade this development will certainly help with that. Speaking to the Financial Times, Denmarks climate minister Dan Jorgenson said that even as the world feels the impact of coronavirus, the country remains committed to tackling climate change. Even though we are in the middle of an unprecedented health crisis, that doesnt mean that the climate change problem is smaller. We are also in a climate crisis, he said. It shows us that we are all in the hands of nature, at the bottom line. Mr Jorgenson also said that the project which still needs parliamentary approval will be financed through public-private partnerships, with private investors providing the majority of the backing. The ambitious development will come as welcome news to the renewables sector, which while growing steadily has been hit with global construction delays due to the coronavirus. According to the International Energy Agency, the number of renewable energy installations taking place this year will be a third lower than 2019, representing the biggest drop since 1996. Founder Collective, a seed-stage fund formed 11 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has closed its newest fund with $85 million. Earlier today, we talked with the firm's general partners -- Eric Paley, David Frankel, Micah Rosenbloom -- to learn more about it. Among our first questions: whether the three are themselves the largest investors in the new vehicle, as was the case with the firm's third fund, which closed with $75 million in capital commitments four years ago. (The three have long prided themselves on their ability to tell founders who take the firm's capital that they truly are taking the investors' money.) We also talked exits, geography and investing through the COVID-19 era, a time when a lot of personal investors are being more cautious with their dollars. TC: Eric, you wrote a seed check to Uber and I spied you on the Midas list this year. Still, it's a scary time to be investing one's capital aggressively. Are you and David and Micah again the biggest investors in this new fund? EP: The three of us were the largest investors in [our third fund] and we're significantly bigger investors in Fund IV. While were fortunate to have some of the best LPs in the world, we believe that being our own largest investor allows us to make decisions that better align with our founders. We also hope it sends a signal to founders that we're honest brokers. When we were running our startups, it frustrated us when VCs would add a punitive clause to a term sheet citing "fiduciary responsibilities" to their LPs as the justification. We're principals and stewards of our capital, not agents of LPs. TC: How many investors are now involved in the day-to-day of the firm and how has this changed at all in the past years? DF: We have ten people full-time with offices in Soho in New York and Harvard Square in Cambridge. There are three partners and a principal on the investment team. We also have a Founder Partner program with some of the best entrepreneurs covering a variety of geographies and domains. [Editor's note: some of these include Raj DeDatta of Bloomreach, Jack Groetzinger of SeatGeek, Andy Palmer of Tamr, Zach Klein of DIY, James Tamplin of Firebase, Nadia Boujarwah of Dia&Co, Elliot Cohen of PillPack and Noah Glass of Olo.] Story continues Caterina [Fake], who was a Founder Partner with us for 10 years, recently founded Yes.vc, and our first principal, Gaurav Jain, started Afore, a pre-seed VC. TC: What are some of the most recent exits for the firm? DF: Over the last couple of years, we've been fortunate to see Uber go public and PillPack join Amazon. CoverWallet and Hotel Tonight were another pair of outstanding outcomes. We were fortune to have backed ten companies that have either exited or been valued at more than $1 billion in our first two funds, but we're also proud of $100 million M&A events. They often go unreported, but because of our fund size, they make a material impact to us and, more importantly, the founders. Have seed-stage check sizes changed? They were getting bigger and now I imagine they might get smaller again? EP: From the beginning of Founder Collective, we've done two kinds of investing, $1 million to $2 million checks, where we lead and take a board seat, and around $400,000 investments, where we participate. We've seen the average valuations rise over the last five years, but we've tried to stay disciplined. MR: So far in the COVID era, check sizes aren't that different. It's been more of a binary situation where startups that are deemed as "on-trend" can still command healthy valuations. The companies that are pre-market, or in an out-of-favor category that might have gotten funded in February are having a hard time getting funded. But we try not to be influenced by thematic trends. DF: One pleasant surprise has been how quickly most of our companies have responded to the "new normal." Some have reopened rounds to put a little more capital on the balance sheet, while others have found strategic investors to help tide them over. By and large, they're acting responsibly. TC: Remind me of where Founder Collective invests -- does it have a focus mostly on the Northeast? MR: We invest primarily in four geographies: New York, Boston, the Bay Area and Southern California. That said, we've invested in startups as far afield as Nigeria, South Korea and Israel, and genuinely unusual and fun places like Wisconsin, Winnipeg and Boise. EP: The reality is that startup geography is changing. For example, the most valuable software startup in the Western world to launch after Facebook is Shopify, which currently has a $90 billion market cap and is based in Ottawa. It would be foolhardy for investors not to broaden their view on where great startups can be built. That said, there are powerful network effects around startup centers. Its absolutely possible to build a multibillion dollar tech business anywhere. It's orders of magnitude easier when theres a deep talent pool to hire from, local mentors who have seen scale before, and a broad ecosystem of knowledgeable service providers that can provide guidance. DF: Also, while we invest globally, we feel the East Coast is an undervalued startup hub. Over the past 20 years, Boston has had more billion-dollar exits than any Western city aside from San Francisco, and New York has produced multiple $10 billion-plus startups in spaces as diverse as consumer hardware, SaaS, dev tools and craft marketplaces. TC: How has the pandemic changed your outlook for the next year? EP: Over the years, we've written a lot about capital efficiency for entrepreneurs and even made warning labels that we send to founders alerting them to the dangers of too much money, too soon. Historically, we've pushed this message because capital was overabundant, and it damaged startups. The principles of capital efficiency are even more critical in a tight capital market. We'll be increasingly focused on helping founders understand efficient entrepreneurship and how to build models that are tuned to scale without burning capital. We'll also put a premium on founders who have demonstrated the flexibility to operate amid unprecedented levels of uncertainty. In this environment, companies need to focus on their customers' needs as they are now and not fixate on their preexisting strategy. For instance, our portfolio company Formlabs sells 3D printers mostly to engineers and designers. After they started printing a novel nasal swab design for COVID tests, hospitals became an important new customer category. The world is changing rapidly, and founders need to keep pace. TC: What are a few of the firm's most recent bets and what do they say about Founder Collective's investing style? MR: A few recent examples are TrueWork (which sells HR-focused software-as-a-service), Trusted Health (a nursing marketplace), Lovevery (which makes learning toys) and ULesson (which makes consumer education software for African students). On the surface, its a diverse group of companies, but the common thread is a founding team that is all over it. The founders were obsessed with the problems they were solving, had spent meaningful time in these industries, and proved out a lot before seeking funding. There's no way we can be experts in all those fields, but we do think we know how to spot the founders who are. TC: Presumably, you've already sorted your startups into these red, yellow and green groups that VCs like to talk about. What is happening to the startups in the red group? Are you helping them to unwind their businesses? MR: It's still so early, it's hard to say what the ultimate impact will be, and the longer it goes, the worse it will likely get. So far, COVID was the nail in the coffin for a few of our startups, and we've tried to help the founders find soft landings for the teams and assets. Some of our distance-learning companies and our health-oriented companies have benefited due to the growing need for their products. Most of our startups are somewhere in the middle. We try to help entrepreneurs on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes that means organizing peer discussion groups about cash management in a time of crisis. Other times, it takes the form of making introductions to potential acquirers. When possible, we help to catalyze new rounds of funding. TC: What's one new area of interest for Founder Collective and why? DF: One of our core beliefs is that the best startups are built by founders approaching weird and wonderful spaces.We've backed ad tech for the flooring industry, IoT-based offshore oyster farming robots, crypto, cologne, doggy DNA tests, data management tools. We're proudly anti-thematic, and historically, that's led to good outcomes. Samuel Amano, charged with defrauding by false pretenses, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The complainant made part payment of GH24,000.00 out of GH55,000.00 representing the cost of the van to the accused. The court presided over by Mrs. Afua Owusua Appiah admitted Amano to bail in the sum of GH50,000.00 with two sureties who are to be residents of Accra. The matter has been adjourned to June 23. Prosecuting, Inspector Samuel Ahiabor said the complainant, Abdul Aziz Sununu is a cold store operator. Inspector Ahiabor said Amano and the complainant live at Alajo in Accra. Prosecution said in early part of the year 2017, the complainant saw an unregistered Hyundai Porter cold van being offered for sale by Amano at Alajo. The prosecution said the complainant exhibited interest in purchasing the car so he approached Amano who informed him that he was the owner of the vehicle and was selling it for GH55,000.00. Inspector Ahiabor said the complainant made part payment of GH24,000.00 and Amano released the vehicle to him. He said a few days later Amano collected the vehicle from the complainant saying he will releases the vehicle when the complainant finished paying for it with the van's documents. Prosecution said when the complainant raised the balance and approached Amano to do the payment, Amano asked him to hold on after several excuses. The prosecution said the complainant became suspicious and reported the matter to the Police at Kotobabi, and Amano was arrested. He said during investigations the accused admitted the offence and refunded GH1,000.00 to the Police. ---GNA By PTI NEW DELHI: As his father's health worsened, Mohammad Shamshad, 28, made all efforts to rush back to his village in Hardoi district in Uttar Pradesh. But he found all roads that could take him home blocked at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. Sitting under a flyover on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border on Wednesday afternoon, Shamshad broke down after he received a call from his mother and sister-in-law that his father was no more. Working as a weaver in an exports company in Haryana, Shamshad received a call from his mother two days back, informing him his father was critical. She asked him to rush back home. His 65-year-old father Mohammad Salaam had been an asthma patient. Shamshad immediately left his house in Kapashera area in southwest Delhi with his wife and four-year-old son early morning in a rented car. When he reached the Anand Vihar Interstate Bus Terminal, the police stopped him and asked him to go back. "I pleaded before them to allow me to go, but they did not relent," he said over the phone as he was travelling in a Shramik Special train. The police have been stopping the movement of migrant workers on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border as thousands have been making efforts to go back to their villages and towns. Undeterred, he tried to cross over to the other side again, but this time with the help of an auto driver, who charged him Rs 50 per person for the ride. But he and his family were dropped under the flyover and not in Ghaziabad. Helpless, he ran helter-skelter, pleading before people to help so that he can at least attend his father's funeral. By then his plight had been captured by the media. Shamshad and his family later went to Ghaziabad bus stand from where buses were picking up migrant labourers who were to be ferried to the Ghaziabad Railway station. By evening, he managed to board a Sharmik train that could drop him to Hardoi. "I can now at least the last rites of my father," he said. GARDAI have confirmed a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions after a man was arrested and questioned about complaints that a number of buildings in the city centre were damaged by gunfire. An investigation was launched in early April after one company informed gardai that an air-conditioning unit on the roof of its premises had been damaged by suspected gunfire. As part of that investigation, a number of premises were searched by gardai while detectives also used a cherrypicker to access a number of rooftops in the area where the shots were allegedly discharged A garda spokesperson has confirmed to the Limerick Leader that one man was arrested a number of weeks ago. Gardai carried out a search at an apartment in Limerick city on April 14, 2020 where they seized a licensed firearm and arrested a man, aged in his late 30s, in connection with the discharge of a firearm in Limerick City which caused damage to property, read a statement. Its understood several items which were recovered by gardai will be sent for ballistic and forensic analysis. Following his arrest, the man was detained and questioned at Henry Street garda station under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939 and was later released without charge. Investigations are continuing and a file to be prepared for the DPP. CHARLESTON The last week of May could be a time when several families go without the food they receive from two programs the rest of the year. To keep that from happening, a Charleston service organization and auto dealership teamed up to fill in the gap. One weeks worth of food for 127 families of four went to the Food 4 Kids program. The Charleston Joint Parent-Teacher Association oversees the program to provide school children and their families with a weekends worth of food each week during the school year. The last Food 4 Kids food distribution for the school year is on Friday, but thats when the students in the program will also receive the weeks supply. It means the children and their families wont have to go without food for the week until the start of a similar summer program that the Mattoon Salvation Army conducts. It will fill in the gap, Joint PTA President Kelly Easton said. It really excites me to see three great leaders coming together to benefit the community. The Diepholz auto dealership paid for the food and provided vehicles for the trip to Urbana to obtain it from the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. Charleston Rotary Club members prepared the boxes of food and were scheduled to deliver them to Charleston Middle School for distribution on Friday. Dealership owner Ron Diepholz said he wanted to help people who are out of work and might have kids at home all day during the restrictions in place because of the coronavirus outbreak. He first contacted city officials who referred him to the Rotary Club, which agreed to help with the project, he said. I felt like there was a situation with some need, Diepholz said. It kind of all came together. The Rotary Club has conducted other projects to help the school district in the last few years, and food insecurity is another issue the club wants to address, member Mike Watts said. Its just a natural thing for us to come together, he said. Its been a real team effort. Its taken everybodys cooperation. The Food 4 Kids program has been in place for four years and provides food for students at all Charleston School District schools except Charleston High School, which has its own food pantry. Students are eligible if they qualify for free or reduced-priced school meals. With schools closed because of the virus restrictions, theres been a weekly pickup each Friday at CMS with some deliveries as well. Easton said the Joint PTA plans to continue the program, which runs entirely on donations, during the next school year. LOOK BACK: Photos of Charleston's past Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Boston Properties CEO Owen Thomas told CNBC on Thursday that working from home is not a long-term replacement for physical offices, arguing many of the coronavirus-related shifts in business will be temporary. "The ability to mentor younger employees, the spontaneous collaboration and creativity that occurs, and also the culture that companies develop, it's very difficult to do it when we're all on Zoom" or Cisco's Webex videoconferencing platforms, Thomas said on "Squawk Box." A massive shift to a work-from-home culture post-coronavirus would stand to hurt Boston Properties, whose office building business depends on company leases. Thomas said the return to the office will be gradual as the presence of the pandemic remains. But he said there is already evidence that companies value having an office, pointing to efforts by some businesses to set up smaller, satellite offices in suburban locations instead of requiring large portions of their workforce to commute to a downtown location. "Think through what that's saying. Companies are saying, 'Look, we don't want to work from home. We want to have our people in a physical office, and so we're going to go to the cost and the expense of leasing something in the suburbs on a short-term basis so we can put them all together,'" he said. Thomas, whose company has a portfolio of 193 properties with large presences in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, said he believes many of the suburban offices set up in response to the Covid-19 outbreak will be temporary. He said that, over time, the value of urban workplaces will return. "When the risks of the virus disappear, for whatever reason, I think the companies will come back to the city," he said. "Knowledge workers, talent workers want to congregate in cities. They want to be together. They want to experience the culture and the excitement of big cities. They will come back, and that's why the employers are there, because they want to attract the talent." Thomas said Boston Properties in April collected 96% to 97% of its rents from office tenants. When including its small number of retail tenants, the company overall collected a percentage of rent in "low 90s," he said. The company has not announced May collections yet, he said, but those also are "very favorable." According to its 2019 annual report, Boston Properties' top tenants as of the end of December included the federal government, Salesforce, WeWork, Bank of America, Alphabet's Google and Snap. The real estate investment trust, or REIT, has a stock market valuation of $12.5 billion. Shares of Boston Properties were lower Thursday and are down more than 40% in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has put pressure on all sectors of the economy, from retail to hospitality to travel and leisure. The real estate industry has hardly been immune as commercial and residential tenants alike struggle to meet rent obligations. The industry's present difficulties come alongside significant questions over its future. Twitter and Square, both led by Jack Dorsey, have already announced they will let most employees work from home permanently. Google has said it will allow employees to work from home until the end of the year. Insurance company Nationwide, by contrast, has said it will be accelerating its transition to a "hybrid operating model," with employees at only four main campuses continuing to work from the office. In most other locations, employees will work remotely. By Akbar Mammadov The organization of illegal "elections" and the so-called "inauguration" organized by Armenia in Azerbaijans occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region is another clear demonstration of Armenia's annexation policy, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said in its official press release on May 20. "The results of the so-called elections, which contradict both the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the norms and principles of international law and, accordingly, are unambiguously rejected by the international community, do not and cannot have any legal force. The separatist regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is the result of the illegal use of force against Azerbaijan by Armenia, which led to the occupation of 1/5 of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, the bloody ethnic cleansing in these territories and violation of the fundamental rights of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons", the ministry noted. The Foreign Ministry stressed that Armenian Prime Ministers participation in this provocation, organized under the name of "inauguration" in Shusha, which has a special significance in the historical and cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people, is nothing but a black stain on the concept of democracy by someone who introduces himself as a "democrat". Azerbaijan's MFA underlined the fact that in the context of the continuing military occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions of Azerbaijan and the forcible expulsion of the Azerbaijani population from Nagorno-Karabakh, it is illogical to speak of any "election" or "inauguration". Thus, Armenia's such actions are condemned and rejected by all. "The war is not over yet, and Azerbaijan has the right to ensure the restoration of its territorial integrity by all possible means within its internationally recognized borders", the ministry emphasized. The Ministry also stressed that consistent provocative actions of the Armenian leadership nullify practically all efforts for a peaceful settlement of the conflict and serve to strengthen further military confrontation and increase tension in the region. "Let no one doubt that our occupied territories will be liberated, Azerbaijan's territorial integrity will be restored within its internationally recognized borders, and the fundamental rights of IDPs will be ensured", the ministry noted. --- Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Canadian fashion retailer is now offering PayBright's buy now, pay later option at checkout for its two brands: Dynamite and Garage. Canadian consumers shopping on www.dynamiteclothing.com or garageclothing.com now have the option to pay for purchases over four bi-weekly interest-free payments. or now have the option to pay for purchases over four bi-weekly interest-free payments. The new payment offering was launched through PayBright's technical integration with Klarna, which is supporting Groupe Dynamite shoppers in the US. TORONTO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Groupe Dynamite, a leading Canadian fashion retailer whose a la mode apparel and accessories are offered online and in over 300 Garage Clothing and Dynamite stores across the country, today announced its partnership with PayBright , Canada's leading provider of installment payment solutions. Through this new partnership, Canadian shoppers on www.dynamiteclothing.com and garageclothing.com can now select PayBright's installment payment option at checkout. Groupe Dynamite is offering PayBright's Pay in 4 installment plan: 4 bi-weekly interest-free payments for purchases starting at $35. Shoppers across Canada can choose PayBright as their preferred way to pay and enjoy their apparel while paying over time. Toronto-based PayBright is partnered with over 6,000 domestic and international merchants, enabling them to offer installment payments to their Canadian consumers quickly and easily. E-commerce merchants that partner with PayBright are seeing growth in consumer traffic, increases in checkout conversions of 10-25%, and average order values that are as much as 100% higher than orders completed with other payment methods. "Shopping at Garage and Dynamite is not only about leading fashion, but also choice and convenience. We are constantly enhancing the checkout experience both in-store and online, and that includes how our customers can pay," said Ian Richards, Vice-President, Digital & Loyalty, Groupe Dynamite. "With PayBright in Canada and Klarna in the US, we are giving shoppers payment flexibility, interest-free spending power, and a seamless experience." "We are thrilled to work with Groupe Dynamite and its customers across Canada. Canadians are increasingly looking for flexible pay-later options at checkout - especially now," said Wayne Pommen, President and CEO at PayBright. "During these challenging economic times, interest-free payment plans give customers financial flexibility in a simple and transparent way. We're proud to welcome Garage and Dynamite to our roster of Canada's leading fashion and apparel retailers whose customers are enjoying more payment choice at checkout." Improving the shopping journey for customers was top of mind for Groupe Dynamite, and was the impetus behind offering PayBright in Canada and Klarna in the US. PayBright and Klarna partnered in March of 2019 to give Klarna's more than 200,000 global retailers the ability to activate installment payments in multiple countries, including Canada, through a single integration. PayBright was the first integrated installment payment solution for both e-commerce and in-store sales in Canada that does not require customers to sign up for a credit card. Unlike other pay-later payment methods, PayBright does not charge hidden fees, retroactive interest, or revolving interest charges. About PayBright PayBright is Canada's leading provider of installment payment plans for e-commerce and in-store purchases. Through partnerships with over 6,000 domestic and international retailers, PayBright allows Canadian consumers to buy now and pay later in a quick and easy experience. PayBright is fully integrated with leading retail partners including Steve Madden, Bestseller, boohoo, Wayfair, Samsung, eBay, TaylorMade, Endy, Casper, The Source, and Lenovo. PayBright's installment plans range from 4 bi-weekly interest-free payments for smaller purchases up to 60 months for larger purchases. Headquartered in Toronto, PayBright has provided Canadians with over $2 billion in spending power since inception. For more information, visit www.paybright.com . About Groupe Dynamite Groupe Dynamite, a Montreal-based company with two brands at the heart of its success, operates more than 300 stores in Canada and the United States and employs close to 6,000 people. The Company creates, designs, markets and distributes a constantly evolving edited fashion collection to a large network of Dynamite and Garage retail stores. The brand's core strength is rooted in a solid understanding of its customer and is a design-driven fashion retail organization. More information on Groupe Dynamite is available at www.groupedynamite.com SOURCE PayBright McDonald's has won a bid to slash the wages of more than 100,000 fast food employees during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to keep jobs secure. The Fair Work Commission decided the Fast Food Award could be varied from May 19 due to the impact of the health crisis on businesses. The move was opposed by Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, who argued the variation 'undermines the minimum terms and conditions of young, vulnerable and low-paid part-time and casual employees'. On Tuesday, Justice Iain Ross moved to temporarily change the award for businesses and workers who cannot receive JobKeeper payments. 'We accept that the proposed variation may result in low paid employees receiving less pay than they would for the same hours under the current terms of the award,' he said. McDonald's has won a bid to slash the wages of more than 100,000 fast food employees during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to keep jobs secure. Pictured: Closed off seating area at an outlet 'It is axiomatic that such a reduction in pay will mean that they are less able to meet their needs. 'But, the retention of as many employees as possible in employment, albeit receiving less pay for the hours they work than they would under the current terms of the award, is an important countervailing consideration.' The Australian Industry Group (AIG), the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) backed the award change. Part-time workers can now have their hours reduced to a minimum of eight per week. They can also be offered additional shifts beyond their set roster without overtime. The changes were proposed to last three months but will end on July 31. 'We are not persuaded that the 3 month period of operation proposed is warranted.' The Fair Work Commission decided the Fast Food Award would be varied from May 19 due to the impact of the health crisis on businesses. Pictured: McDonald's store in Merrylands, Sydney 'As we have mentioned, the COVID-19 restrictions on cafes and restaurants are easing.' McDonald's employed 107,556 people in Australia as of March 30. Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group, welcomed the decision. 'The Fair Work Commission's decision to vary the Fast Food Industry Award to increase flexibility for employers and employees during the COVID-19 crisis is very welcome,' he said. 'The COVID-19 crisis is a very long way from being over. 'Even when the health crisis is under control, the economic crisis will be with us for a long time. 'It is in everyone's interests for measures to be implemented to boost employment and productivity, and to encourage investment.' Its wonderful to be open, said Darien Sport Shop owner Gina Zangrillo, of the first day back for shoppers. The long-awaited Wednesday, May 20, reopening of many retail stores and outdoor-dining only in restaurants has kept many local restaurant staffs, retailers and town officials busy preparing. Related: The grand reopening: Darien businesses prepare to open after COVID-19 Though some Darien salons were ready and eager for the reopening, Gov. Ned Lamont has pushed back the opening of hair salons and barbershops until June 1, while nail salons, tattoo shops, theaters, gyms, musical events, indoor dining and bars await further notice On Tuesday, the states net hospitalizations declined for the 27th consecutive day, and the 23 fatalities was the lowest one-day total since April 6. Retailers At noon on Wednesday, Zangrillo said the store had already had many customers at the Sport Shop. They are delighted that we are open and also very complimentary on our setup and the precautions we have taken. I am pleased to report that all customers are wearing face protection, she said. Earlier in May, Zangrillo told The Darien Times the store had already put in place purchasing masks and gloves for all of its employees, and much more frequent cleaning of high traffic areas. We also have a dedicated person to clean doorknobs and sitting rooms, benches and counters, an automatic front door, hands-free sanitizers in key areas, hands-free cash registers, and a contact-less checkout. With regard to social distancing, Zangrillo said she plans to adhere to state guidelines. Darien Toy Box owner Bill Jensen said it was early yet in the day and he had had a few customers as of 12:30, while some continued with curbside pickup. Customers who have come inside, have worn masks and gloves and not touched anything. Everyone is being very nice about the whole thing, Jensen said. We are all cautious over this, he said. We can beat this if we all do our part. Johnnys Records reopened 10 a.m. and said early Wednesday afternoon they had a few customers so far. People are still being cautious. Id call it a reserved opening, he said. As far as masks, customers can wear them if they want to, but it is not required, and the store is limited to three customers at a time. Sokayri Atelier and Boutique, which makes custom clothing, also reopened Wednesday, and was selling custom-sewn masks in various colors, including some that are embroidered with Im smiling. See more about the custom masks on the stores Facebook page. Owner Elena Niejelow said the Im smiling embroidery is added to spread positivity as masks will not allow us to see each others smile. Smiling, along with business, has been a bit of a challenge for Sokayri, as the store creates clothing for events, and most of them have been canceled. Niejelow says the masks which she initially was donating dont bring in as much income as the clothing did but definitely can help her pay the rent. Some local retailers, like The Dock Shop and Barrett Bookstore, are remaining closed to inside shopping and aiming to reopen on June 1. Barrett Bookstore is continuing curbside pickup and has extended its hours to 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Town officials On the eve of the reopening, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson issued a Code Red phone message to all subscribed residents. Regarding restaurants, she said, All businesses will require the use of hand sanitizer and the wearing of masks by both customers and employees. Physical distancing measures will be implemented and enforced. [May 20s] Phase 1 of reopening is a small step in our pandemic recovery. However, we must all be mindful that its up to each of us to follow the guidelines so everyone will be safe from the spread of the virus. Anyone who is sick must stay home and we recommend that people over 65 or who have medical vulnerabilities should also stay home and stay safe, Stevenson said. Both in early May and Wednesday morning at the Operations Planning Committee meeting of town board heads, Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Steve Olvany said officials had been working with local restaurants to expand their outdoor seating. All town meetings are currently virtual with only Stevenson participating from Town Hall. Watch the OPC meeting here. On Tuesday, Jeremy Ginsberg, the towns planning and zoning director, told The Darien Times the department is working with local restaurants to plan for the expanded outdoor seating. Additionally, in order to provide temporary outdoor alcohol sales, a state application will be needed that requires the town sign-off from Planning & Zoning, health, and fire marshal departments, Olvany said. Those dining establishments who wish to offer outdoor service of alcoholic beverages need local and state approvals. To fill out an application, which is free, visit ct.gov/dcp, click Liquor Control Division, and then Applications and Forms. The name of the form is Patio, Extension of Use, And/or Additional Consumer Bar Application. Related: Selectmen pass motion to dine in off-street parking areas On Monday, the Board of Selectmen, in a unanimous motion, granted permission for the use of town property and/or off-street parking areas, for dining to take place. Watch the Board of Selectmen meeting here This motion was made in light of the governors requirement, effective May 20, that restaurants and retailers can only be open for outdoor dining. In order to help facilitate that, the town will allowing for tents and seating to be arranged, Stevenson said. At the OPC meeting Wednesday morning, Stevenson said residents should practice safety measures as the state slowly reopens. She said that if businesses require masks in order to enter, patrons should respect that policy. Stevenson also said the town has made available a supply of disposable masks for those businesses that intend to require them, so a customer does not get turned away for that reason. On Wednesday, Stevenson personally delivered masks throughout town to local retailers. Tables are required to be six feet apart, and no more than five chairs can be at a table. Also, only half the normal capacity can be served at a time in an establishment. Stevenson also pointed out that the reopening isnt a mandate to reopen, and some businesses might chose to wait. Restaurants David Genovese of Baywater Properties, said he and his tenants, which include Bodega, Ten Twenty Post and Baldanza, were excited for Wednesday. We are also very concerned about and focused upon approach and safety. We have been working closely with many of our customers, especially the restaurants, where the approach to opening is more complex given the nature of their business, he said. Bodega has a large tent set up to expand for outdoor dining that can be shared with UCBC Bakery and Cafe during the day. Ten Twenty Post has reopened and will be open for outdoor dining seven days a week. Others that are now open including Ninos, Rorys, Bodega, Upper Crust Bagels, and Melting Pot. Three restaurants that will be using their existing outdoor seating by just scooting a table or 2 around and Uncles, Heights Pizza, Michael Josephs, Louies, Baldanza, Aux Delices, Burgers, Shakes, & Fries, Melting Pot, Scena and Mama Carmellas using tables out front The Goose, which also has a tent installed in the parking lot as of Wednesday, welcomed First Selectman Jayme Stevenson for dinner Wednesday evening. Waters Edge at Giovannis also reopened on Wednesday. Its Facebook page announced it would be open from 5 to 8:30 p.m on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday until 9 p.m. On Saturday, it will be open from 1 to 9 p.m. and on Sunday, from 1 to 8 p.m. The new entrance and outdoor dining is in the back. Owner JoAnn Latorraca said she and her staff were so excited to interact with people. We are willing to do all the mandated requirements, gloves and masks. We have a gorgeous tent. Were just really excited to see everyone. Its amazing how isolated everyone feels, Latorraca said. Bob Mazza of the Sugar Bowl, which opens from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., said the beloved Post Road eatery served about 50 patrons in their 18 chairs set up outside Wednesday. There was no waiting and he said everyone was happy to see them. We did OK for our first day. A lot of people didnt know we were open yet. Mazza also pointed out another challenge to outdoor only seating the temperature. It was a little cold this morning, he said. Mazza said much like everyone else, Ive really missed my food. I had a bacon, egg and cheese this a.m. Ive had them elsewhere, but I think we make a pretty good one. As far as the reaction Mazza said it was a nice feeling. The customers who came in wished us well. They really did miss us. If you are opening and wish to share your information and details or photos, email sshultz@darientimes.com. Compton Cowboys members Charles Harris and Randy Hook ride in the Compton Christmas Parade. (Walter Thompson-Hernandez) The Compton Cowboys, a true story about race, identity and belonging by Walter Thompson-Hernandez, is the June selection of the Los Angeles Times Book Club. Published in April, the book traces the history and fragile legacy of black cowboys in a Los Angeles bedroom community that has been many things in its sometimes-forgotten century-long history. Over time, Compton has been an agricultural hub, a brief home base for George H.W. Bush and, by the 1990s, a city in complete upheaval from gang violence and the crack cocaine epidemic. The cowboys credo: Streets raised us. Horses saved us. (William Morrow) If you grew up in or near Compton, you might have grown accustomed to hardscrabble streetscapes juxtaposed against stretches of farmland, writes Lynell George in a Times review, but you always paused to marvel at the black men astride horses, boots slipped into stirrups, eyes shielded from the sun by cowboy hats. Thompson-Hernandez will join the L.A. Times Book Club on June 24 to discuss The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in Americas Heartland. The 7 p.m. virtual meet-up will be livestreamed on the Los Angeles Times Facebook page, on YouTube and on Twitter. Thompson-Hernandez is a former New York Times reporter who now works for KPCC-FM (89.3). He writes that he first encountered the cowboys on shopping trips with his mother to the Compton Swap Meet, not far from their home in Huntington Park. Walter Thompson-Hernandez, author of "The Compton Cowboys." (June Canedo) At age 6, he was mesmerized by the young men on horseback, known back then as the Compton Junior Posse. The son of an African American father whom I didnt really meet until my early twenties, Thompson-Hernandez says he always hoped he might run into his own father during those shopping trips. As I watched them ride at dusk, he writes, I recognized something inherent in the cowboys who existed in every western film and every hip hop song: these black men were nonconformist, independent, and strong. For more information about upcoming book club events, sign up for the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. A judge presiding over the trial of a man charged with murdering Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe has asked the president of the High Court for permission to sit longer than two hours. Yesterday Mr Justice Michael White revealed that due to concerns over the potential spread of Covid-19 court sittings would have to be curtailed. Today he told the jury that he had received a direction from the president of the High Court that the trial could not continue for more than two hours per day. He added: "I have asked that that be extended for this trial and am awaiting a response to that." After a hearing that lasted just under two hours Mr Justice White sent the jury home and told them they would be sitting for two hours again tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Courts Service issued a statement that having received detailed advice on the issue of the length of sittings the presidents of the various courts were "hopeful that full sittings will be able to resume as soon as tomorrow (FRI), once certain additional procedures have been put in place." Aaron Brady has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe who was then a member of An Garda Siochana on active duty on January 25, 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. The 29-year-old from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh also pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbing approximately e7,000 in cash and assorted cheques from Mr Pat Bellew on the same date and at the same location. The jury of six men and seven women today heard cross examination of Detective Garda Gareth Kenna who put together a CCTV montage showing vehicles moving around various parts of county Louth in the days leading up to and after the robbery and fatal shooting.He told Fiona Murphy SC for the defence he compiled the montage to show the jury footage that is relevant to the investigation. He agreed with Ms Murphy that some of the footage that was shown was from a time period when a Volkswagen Polo car was stolen from outside a house in Clogherhead. He further agreed that in his evidence he referenced a dark-toned, saloon car consistent with a 5-Series BMW with its fog lights on and that had a distinct texture on its roof. He told Ms Murphy that it is not unusual for drivers to keep their fog lights on. When asked how common it is for a car to have a different texture on its roof he said: "It's not very common. It's not unique." He said he knows this from "general observation". The witness disagreed with Ms Murphy when she suggested he was wrong when he identified fog lights in some of the footage. The trial continues in front of Mr Justice White and the jury of six men and seven women. Photograph: Javier Galeano/AP The son of a notorious death squad leader has been appointed to run the Colombian governments programmes for victims of the countrys long civil war, prompting fury among survivors. Jorge Rodrigo Tovar was this week put in charge of a scheme for compensating victims of the conflict many of whom were terrorised by his father, Rodrigo Tovar, better known in Colombia as Jorge 40. During the late 90s and early 2000s, the elder Tovar led the Northern Bloc of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (or AUC) which was responsible for a string of massacres and the murder of hundreds of civilians along Colombias Caribbean coast. In February 2000, militiamen under his command tortured and dismembered over 60 peasant farmers in the isolated village of El Salado, in one of the worst single acts of violence in the five-decade war. Victims including a six-year old girl and an elderly woman were stabbed, beaten and strangled to death. Iveth Jimenezs father, Victor Manuel, a union leader, was forcibly disappeared in 2002 by members of Jorge 40s militia. She was aghast at the news that his son was now coordinating the governments response to victims. They have no right to play with the memory of all those that Jorge 40 has murdered, tortured, disappeared and displaced, said Jimenez. Its offensive, its insensitive and its plain wrong. Her sentiments were echoed by Luz Marina Hache, the spokeswoman for Movice, a group representing victims of crimes committed by state agents. What justice can victims hope for with this announcement? Hache asked. The conflict between the Colombian state and leftist rebel groups including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc) left 260,000 dead and displaced over 7 million. State-aligned paramilitary groups, like the one led by Jorge 40, committed some of the bloodiest atrocities of the 52-year civil war. In 2004, Jorge 40 participated in a controversial demobilisation programme and confessed to about 600 crimes, though he took no blame for any murders. Evidence on his laptop showed that the AUC often collaborated with members of the government. Story continues Jorge 40 was extradited to the US in 2008 and is serving a 16-year sentence for drug trafficking offenses. He did not face any charges in American courts related to his militias conduct during the war. Related: Colombia's hidden victims finally get their day in court Little is known about the younger Tovar, 30, a lawyer who has participated in several events with former members of the Farc, who themselves demobilised in 2016 following a historic peace deal. Speaking to local magazine Semana, Tovar said he has no intention to resign from his new job. Everything that is going on fills me with the promise, he said, to show that I do good work and that the work can speak for me. Some observers saw his new post as evidence of reconciliation in action. Political scientist Katherine Miranda described his appointment as an example of reconciliation and peace, tweeting: He shows that hatred and useless wars cannot be inherited, instead turning the page and moving on. Syracuse, N.Y. Sue McSweeney has been tested twice since Friday for Covid-19. So have her 20 employees at the Manlius Home for Adults, a small assisted living facility. Under orders from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, all nursing homes and other adult care facilities must provide coronavirus tests twice a week for their employees. McSweeney, like many facility owners, said she thinks thats a great idea. But there is one unresolved question: Whos going to pay for all those tests? McSweeney estimated the weekly cost for her small facility at $5,000. But larger nursing home operators say testing at their facilities could cost hundreds of thousands a week. Theres no way any of us can afford this, McSweeney said. State officials have said health insurance should pay for the testing of covered employees. But insurance companies are balking. If the cost falls to the nursing homes and other facilities, it could be devastating, several operators said. Meanwhile, testing is under way, while the issue of who pays remains murky. The state this week delivered truckloads of free test kits, personal protective equipment, coolers and other equipment to nursing homes and other facilities around the state. Syracuse-area home operators contacted by syracuse.com say the supplies will last them a while, and their nurses can swab employees on site. But the commercial lab fees to process the results typically cost $90 to $150 for each test, operators say. The cost to test all of New Yorks roughly 180,000 nursing home workers twice a week could run to more than $36 million per week. Mark Farchione, owner of Peregrine Senior Living, which has facilities across the state including two in Onondaga County, said his operating costs will increase 20% if he must pay the lab fees for his 500 employees. Operators cannot absorb that, he said. Cuomo issued the two-test-per-week order May 10. Facility owners had until May 13 to submit their plans to comply. Farchione said it appears that state officials are now looking for ways to keep the tests going without bankrupting long-term care facilities. That includes trying to make insurers pay. The state health department on Tuesday declared the tests medically necessary, a ruling that would appear to qualify them for insurance coverage similar to what people get when they have symptoms or meet other CDC criteria for a test. Also Tuesday, the Department of Financial Services, which regulates insurance companies, sent a letter to insurers advising them that they are responsible to pay for the tests. Some insurers are not yet persuaded. If insurers deny coverage, then the nursing homes must pay, state health officials said Tuesday in a memo to the facilities. However, the state may facilitate FEMA or other federal reimbursement, the health department message said. No details were provided. Until now, cost has not been a major impediment to getting people tested for Covid-19. Federal legislation requires insurance companies to pay for tests and to waive any copays. The federal government provided funding to test patients without insurance. But those provisions were generally based on the assumption that the test was medically necessary for the individual, insurers say. Broad-based routine screening of the population, or a particular group such as nursing home workers, is a different matter, they say. Testing that is ordered or performed solely for purposes of pandemic control or re-opening the economy, and not based on a determination by an attending provider that the test is medically appropriate for the diagnosis and treatment of an individual member, is not covered, said Jim Redmond, a regional vice president at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. This includes tests performed on an asymptomatic individual solely to assess health status as required by parties such as a government, public health agency, employer, school, or camp. That said, Excellus is still reviewing to what extent it would cover the nursing home tests ordered by Cuomo, Redmond said. One thing is clear: The employees are not required to pay, state officials say. They are, however, required to submit to the tests if they want to keep working at the facilities. Some insurers say the tests should be paid for by the federal government. Insurance does not cover this type of testing because it is a work requirement, not for the employees health diagnosis, said Ruth Heller, Upstate executive vice president for 1199 SEIU, which represents many nursing home workers and provides their health insurance. Like employment physicals or other work-required testing (TB for example), the employers are required to cover the cost. The expectation is that they and the state will be reimbursed by FEMA, Heller said in a prepared statement. Broad-based surveillance testing of people without signs of infection should be government funded, said Eric Linzer, CEO of the New York Health Plan Association. The trade association represents managed care plans that cover more than 8 million New Yorkers. In relation to the requirement for twice-weekly testing of nursing home personnel, any surveillance testing for employment or broad public testing of New Yorkers who have had no signs or symptoms of the coronavirus should be a public health responsibility that should be paid for using available federal funding, Linzer said in a prepared statement. Bishop Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Syracuse started out this week by testing all the employees for antibodies, owner Edward Farbenblum said. Diagnostic tests will follow. Farbenblum, who owns several nursing homes in the state, said he anticipates having to provide 6,000 diagnostic tests a week to cover his 4,600 full- and part-time employees. That could cost $600,000 a week. Many nursing homes are struggling financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Farbenblum said the pipeline of rehab patients coming into facilities dried up when hospitals stopped doing elective surgeries, a ban that has only recently lifted in Syracuse. Were going through a rough patch in the business, much like every other business in America, he said. But Farbenblum and other facility operators contacted by syracuse.com said they think the testing program for workers is a good idea to protect vulnerable nursing home residents. We fundamentally believe in testing, Farbenblum said. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Ask Syracuse.com: When can we visit the parents? When will the DMV, gyms reopen? Syracuse University announces fall return date and adjusted academic schedule Central NY coronavirus hospitalizations at all-time high, Cuomo not concerned yet Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Tim Knauss is a public affairs reporter for syracuse.com/The Post-Standard. Contact him anytime: email | twitter | | 315-470-3023 In recent days the minister of education has been busy trying to make the case for synchronous learning, by which he means teacher-led instruction with, ideally, an entire class present in a live, online environment. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) has raised a number of concerns about synchronous learning, both publicly through media interviews and formally to Ministry of Education officials. Weve raised these concerns not because we are averse to the adoption of new approaches, but rather in the hopes that these concerns would be considered and addressed so that potential problems could be avoided. Unfortunately some commentators have completely misunderstood and mischaracterized our position. This kind of misrepresentation is an insult to all of our efforts to do whats best for students in a time of crisis. OSSTF/FEESO does not oppose synchronous online learning, but we do oppose it being mandated. One reason for this is that synchronous learning simply wont work for all students. Some students dont have access to the necessary technology. Others are forced to share the required devices with other members of their households, and so their access is sporadic. But beyond concerns about equitable access, there are other legitimate risks to be contemplated, not the least of which are privacy and security. This is not, as characterized by one commentator, a trite concern that someone other than a student is going to accidentally see a Grade 10 math lesson. The author may not have been so dismissive had their son or daughter been exposed to pornographic images and untraceable racist and misogynist statements, as occurred in one synchronous class. Just last week the minister of education himself gave us an unintended lesson on how easily privacy can be breached in an online environment when he inadvertently published, to his 32,000 followers on Twitter, a screen capture revealing not just the faces, but the names of an entire group of elementary students participating in a synchronous class. The image was quickly replaced with one in which the names had been hidden, but in his effort to promote synchronous learning, the minister succeeded in demonstrating one of its weaknesses. Synchronous learning is one tool available to educators during this pandemic. In some cases, if access and privacy issues can be addressed, it may well be the best tool available. But in other cases it will not be. Frontline educators know that a one-size-fits-all approach doesnt work in a physical classroom, and they know that it wont work in a distance learning environment either. In the midst of an unprecedented global health crisis, students and families need the flexibility to access emergency remote learning in a way that works for them. And educators are in the best position to assess, develop, and support a distance-learning program that works for their students. OSSTF/FEESO has neither encouraged nor discouraged our members when it comes to adopting a synchronous learning approach. We have asked them instead to apply their best professional judgment based on the needs of their students. The position weve taken and the concerns weve raised have nothing to do with our past battles with the current government. We have repeatedly and sincerely stated, both to the Ministry of Education and to school boards, our desire to work collaboratively in students best interests. When Minister Stephen Lecce released his memo insisting on the adoption of synchronous learning, he did so late on a Friday afternoon with no forewarning. With tactics like that, it is the ministers willingness to collaborate that should be called into question, not OSSTF/FEESOs or our members the front-line educators who are making extraordinary efforts every day to innovate, to deliver curriculum, and to provide other crucial supports to students in these trying times. Read what is in the news today: Society Vietnam logged no new cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Thursday morning, the 35th day of no community transmission. The national tally remains at 324, with 264 recoveries and no deaths. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a decision to appoint Tran Quoc To, secretary of Thai Nguyen Provinces Party Committee, as deputy minister of public security. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport is seeking the Ministry of Transports approval for its proposal to open a new route along the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway in District 9 with an investment estimated at VND34 billion (US$1.46 million) in order to share the traffic load with Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, which is notorious for its high rate of traffic accidents. The first cables were installed on the under-construction cable-stayed Thu Thiem 2 Bridge, linking Ho Chi Minh Citys District 1 and District 2, on Wednesday as the construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Ho Chi Minh City and other localities in the south have recorded temperatures of 38-39 degrees Celsius in recent days, leading to more heat-related illnesses, especially among children and the elderly, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Business The government of Vietnam is asking the National Assembly to approve a lower growth rate this year than the original target of 6.9 percent set last year by the parliament, which is looking increasingly unlikely as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the worlds economy. Private enterprises account for 74.2 percent of the top 500 fastest-growing enterprises in Vietnam, according to the FAST500 report released on Wednesday. Lifestyle A workshop about distinguishing art and visual design is set to take place on May 23 at the Vincom Center for Contemporary Arts in Hanoi. World News The novel coronavirus has infected over 5.08 million people and killed more than 329,200 around the globe as of Thursday morning, according to statistics. More than 2.02 million patients have recovered from COVID-19. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The past three months have been brutal for the stock market. Even with the 35% gain the S&P 500 had made since its March 23 low, the broad large-cap index remains 13% below its Feb. 19 peak. And doubts about the rally's longevity continue to swirl. Things have been even worse for owners of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), believe it or not. Though there's no denying Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett has earned his title as the Oracle of Omaha, his approach to stock-picking was particularly vulnerable to the highly unusual conditions that have prevailed since late February when the market began to recognize the potential economic damage the COVID-19 pandemic could cause in the United States. Namely, Berkshire's lack of sector diversification among its biggest stock holdings has severely hurt shareholders, driving the fund to a year-to-date loss of 24%. The fund just hasn't benefited as much from the partial recovery many other stocks began to make in March, as its largest equity positions are within the sectors that have been the hardest hit since March. Berkshire isn't just a collection of stocks, of course. The fund is also made up of dozens of privately held companies including Duracell (yes, the batteries), GEICO auto insurance, and See's Candies just to name a few. These 63 companies continue to operate -- and generate cash flow -- in an environment that in some cases may have done more damage to stock prices than the underlying businesses themselves. GEICO, its BNSF rail line, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and other owned businesses like its reinsurance unit contributed pre-tax operating income of $6.8 billion for Berkshire Hathway's quarter ending in March. Still, the lack of diversification among its top stock holdings is greater than the lack of diversification among its outright owned businesses. These privately held outfits span several sectors ranging from manufacturing to transportation to all sorts of consumer goods to materials to utilities to insurance. No single one of these privately held entities accounted for more than one-fourth of the income produced by Berkshire's own businesses during the first quarter. Ditto for any particular sector represented by these names. And, even among the biggest of these private companies, all but one chipped in less than 10% of its total privately produced profits. Most contributed considerably less. In other words, any diversity-related performance problems plaguing Berkshire of late mostly stems from an over-concentrated stock portfolio. Berkshire Hathaway's diversification problem One of Warren Buffett's oft-repeated nuggets of wisdom is "invest in what you know," meaning if you don't understand how a company makes money, steer clear of its stock because you also won't understand when it's about to stop making money. In line with that philosophy, Berkshire Hathaway holds stakes in a number of banks and consumer staples names -- two industries that have been within Buffett's wheelhouse of expertise for quite some time. It's arguable, however, that Berkshire now owns a little too much of what Buffett knows so well. The table below lays out Berkshire's 10 biggest stock holdings as of the end of March. It now owns around $175 billion worth of investments in 50 different stocks. But, these 10 largest positions make up nearly 85% of the $175 billion total. As such, these 10 holdings are going to make an exaggerated impact on Berkshire Hathaway's performance, even if its performance is somewhat steadied by the presumed value of its privately held, cash-generating businesses. Company Sector Value as of March 31 % of Stock Portfolio Performance Since Feb. 19 Apple NASDAQ:AAPL) Consumer $62.3 billion 35.5% (2.5%) Bank of America NYSE:BAC) Financial $19.6 billion 11.2% (34.5%) Coca-Cola NYSE:KO) Staples $17.7 billion 10.1% (24.5%) American Express NYSE:AXP) Financial $13 billion 7.4% (35.4%) Wells Fargo & Co. NYSE:WFC) Financial $9.28 billion 5.3% (46.7%) Kraft Heinz Co. NASDAQ:KHC) Staples $8.06 billion 4.6% 13.1% Moody's NYSE:MCO) Financial $5.22 billion 3% (8.7%) JPMorgan Chase NYSE:JPM) Financial $5.2 billion 3% (34.4%) U.S. Bancorp NYSE:USB) Financial $4.56 billion 2.6% (40.2%) DaVita HealthCare Partners NYSE:DVA) Healthcare $2.9 billion 1.7% (5.2%) Berkshire Hathaway stock portfolio value N/A $175.5 billion N/A (23.6%) Berkshire Hathaway approximate cash position N/A $130 billion N/A N/A S&P 500 N/A N/A N/A (12.7%) It doesn't take more than a cursory glance to realize this investment pool of equities is loaded with financial stocks. Among the 10 biggest positions alone, banks and brokers account for 32.5% of Berkshire's total stock portfolio value. Bank of America by itself makes up more than 11% of it. Consumer staples make up nearly another 15% of Berkshire's total stock portfolio, just counting the two staples names within the top 10. Coca-Cola itself was one-tenth of the pool's total value as of the end of March. It matters now more than it normally might. Both sectors have been severe underperformers since the market hit a wall in February. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEMKT:XLF), which broadly represents the financial sector, is down 29% since Feb. 19 and was down as much as 43% in late March. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEMKT:XLP) is only down about 10% from its Feb. 19 peak, but Coca-Cola hasn't participated in that recovery. It's down 25%, as the company has found itself highly vulnerable to the circumstances created by the coronavirus. Kraft Heinz has done well, but remember, Kraft Heinz's poor performance has haunted Buffett since 2017. Then there's the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room -- Apple. It's back to within 3% of its Feb. 19 peak, almost fully recovering what at one point was a 31% plunge. In this light, it's actually a good thing that one stock alone makes up more than a third of Berkshire Hathaway's total stock portfolio as of the end of March. That strength has prevented the fund's performance from being considerably worse than it might have otherwise been of late. Nevertheless, investors who are being intellectually honest with themselves have to concede this degree of concentration defies the logic and spirit of constructing a diversified portfolio. Buffett and his people may well "know" Apple, justifying the oversized position, but deep knowledge of a company doesn't inherently prevent its stock from unexpectedly tumbling. The big takeaway Fans of Buffett might push back against the idea, suggesting his long-term performance has earned him the right to break investing rules mostly intended to keep less-experienced and less-skilled investors out of trouble. Those fans will also rightfully point out Berkshire's wholly-owned businesses like BNSF, Acme Brick Co., and Lubrizol avoid the stock price-related volatility that has made conventional funds and ETFs uncomfortably volatile in recent weeks. While these privately owned entities don't have a clear market value the way a publicly traded company does, they still have value. Investors just have to estimate what their aggregate value might be in order to appropriately price Berkshire Hathaway shares in the open market. To that end, while the fund's 10 biggest holdings make up around 85% of Berkshire's stock holdings, an educated guess suggests these 10 may also make up less than half the value of Berkshire's entire investment portfolio. Even so, the financial sector remains over-represented among all of Berkshire's holdings. Publicly traded banks, as well as privately held insurers, are in similarly tough situations right now. The fund is also still very exposed to the consumer staples sector. Aside from public entities like Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz, privately held See's Candies, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dairy Queen, Ben Bridge Jewelers, Pampered Chef, Fruit of the Loom, and several other consumer-facing outfits that Berkshire owns hit the same wall in March. As a whole, there's still not as much sector diversity within all of Berkshire's holdings that a typical investor might prefer. There's another not-so-small nuance that must be injected into the conversation. That is, Buffett doesn't have to worry about growing a nest egg to spend during retirement. Dividends alone can offer him plenty of cash flow in his golden years to provide him a very nice retirement (one of the perks of being a billionaire). The rest of us do have to worry about such things, however. Some prospective retirees have already postponed their last planned workday due to COVID-19, in fact. Investors who have put significant fractions of their holdings into Berkshire Hathaway may have to move their planned retirement dates a little further down the road than other investors will have to. Berkshire's staples and financial holdings will eventually recover, but they've been banged up quite a bit, suggesting that they'll have a longer road to travel en route to recovery. Bottom line? Just make sure your portfolio allocation makes sense for your particular situation, and not Warren Buffett's. Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district has emerged as the new COVID-19 hotspot, with 95 new cases of the virus reported in a single day, officials said. District Magistrate Aadarsh Kumar saidon Wednesday that of the 245 samples sent for testing on May 15-16, 95 have been found positive. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, the DM said, adding that all have been admitted to hospital as per the protocol. The remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with 6 infected persons and had been kept in isolation, the DM said. With this the total number of virus cases in the district has gone up to 122, the DM added Earlier on Tuesday, 50 migrants had tested positive in Basti district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish President Recep Erdogan congratulated President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of the Azerbaijan's national holiday- Republic Day, celebrated on May 28, AzerNews reported citing press-service of President. In his letter, Erdogan noted that Azerbaijan has achieved great successes and continues to develop steadily since the restoration of its independence. At the last high-level meeting of Strategic Cooperation Council, I was proud to witness the important achievements of Azerbaijan, which is developing day by day since the restoration of its independence under your strong leadership. I sincerely believe that the Land of Fire, which confidently and powerfully entered the 102nd year of the Republic, will continue to take major steps in all areas, Erdogan's letter reads. Furthermore, he expressed confidence that Azerbaijan-Turkey cooperation will continue to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region in future. Our mutual will to further expand our outstanding strategic ties in the spirit of "One Nation, Two States" is a source of great joy. I am absolutely convinced that our countries, whose hearts are beating together, will continue to demonstrate brotherly solidarity on national issues, and make a significant contribution to peace, prosperity and stability in our region, Erdogan said. He wished Aliyev strong health and happiness, as well as peace and prosperity to the Azerbaijani people. (Newser) After serving just over a year in a federal prison, Michael Cohen was released Thursday and returned to his home in New York City. After winning his release because of concern he'd contract the coronavirus in prison, President Trump's former lawyer will serve the rest of his three-year sentence at home, NBC News reports. Cohen didn't speak to reporters outside his apartment building but later tweeted that he was glad to be back with his family. "There is so much I want to say and intend to say," he posted. "But now is not the right time. Soon." The federal Bureau of Prisons had agreed to Cohen's release in April, and he was to go home May 1; his lawyer said the delay was unexplained. story continues below Because of the pandemic, more than 2,900 inmates have been allowed to serve under home confinement in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. US Attorney General William Barr has told prisons to take steps to counter the spread of the virus, per NPR. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to a host of political and financial offenses that a judge called a "veritable smorgasbord" of crimes, including making secret payments to women who said they'd had affairs with Trump, lying to Congress about the presidents business dealings, and not reporting millions of dollars in income. Cohen has given damning testimony about Trump before Congress, calling his former client "racist" and "a con man." (Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, also has been released to his home.) Elon Musk-owned SpaceX on Thursday (May 21) released photos showing the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket that will carry NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into the space on May 27. The Crew Dragon will take off on Wednesday (May 27) from pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The liftoff time is 4:33:33 p.m. EDT (2033:33 GMT). The Crew Dragon will reach the International Space Station after a flight of 19 hours. The Crew Dragon arrived at the hangar on Friday (May 15) to be integrated with its Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The photos show the Crew Dragon spacecraft inside the hangar mounted on SpaceXs Falcon 9. Crew Dragon is 26.7 feet (8.1 meters) tall and around 13 feet (4 meters) in diameter. Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 in the hangar at Launch Complex 39A pic.twitter.com/l758CdYXNQ SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 21, 2020 The May 27 launch is significant because it will mark the first time astronauts have embarked from American soil since 2011 after the end of the NASA's Space Shuttle program. SpaceX has been developing this vehicle for years, ever since SpaceX and Boeing were selected by NASA to develop new spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS. NASA has selected astronaut Doug Hurley as the spacecraft commander while Bob Behnken will be the joint operations commander. The launch will take place from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Notably, the launch is going to take place at a time when the world is battling coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. NASA is proactively monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it evolves. The agency will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agencys chief health and medical officer and communicate any updates that may impact mission planning or media access, as they become available, NASA had said in March. Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 18 delivered a speech titled Fighting COVID-19 Through Solidarity and Cooperation, Building a Global Community of Health for All via video link at the opening of the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA). Proposing to build a global community of health for all, he expounded on China's propositions in pandemic response and raised a series of important initiatives, which has practical and long-term significance for boosting global confidence in defeating the virus, promoting international anti-pandemic cooperation, and planning future global governance system. What the world is facing is the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II. The WHA, convened at a critical moment, received high attention from around the world. Xi's speech reflected the high recognition from the international community on China's achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control, as well as China's important role played in global anti-pandemic cooperation. To mobilize resources worldwide to defeat the virus, Xi said the world must do everything it can for COVID-19 control and treatment, provide greater support for Africa, strengthen global governance in the area of public health, restore economic and social development, and strengthen international cooperation. Besides, the World Health Organization (WHO) should lead the global response, Xi said. What Xi put forward was the valuable experience drawn from China's anti-pandemic practices, which addresses both the urgent problems and the long-term development in global public health, and forms an integrated and complete system. His proposals further proved that China is always a pioneer in solidarity and cooperation. "The message from President Xi Jinping has inspired us so much to fight the pandemic," said Bounkong Syhavong, president of the 72nd session of the WHA and Minister of Health of Laos. He praised China for playing an important role in providing valuable assistance, saying the country has made huge contribution at the critical moment of fighting the pandemic. China's pandemic response is lauded as an example for the world, and its achievements are bringing the world hope. The international society is gradually coming to realize that China's proposal for solidarity and cooperation is able to build tremendous power that leads to final victory. At the WHA, Xi came up with five measures for the sake of boosting international cooperation against COVID-19, and all of them are welcomed by the world. China will provide US$2 billion over two years to help with COVID-19 response and with economic and social development in affected countries, especially developing countries. China will work with the UN to set up a global humanitarian response depot and hub in China, ensure the operation of anti-epidemic supply chains and foster green corridors for fast-track transportation and customs clearance. China will establish a cooperation mechanism for its hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals and accelerate the building of the Africa CDC headquarters to help the continent ramp up its disease preparedness and control capacity. COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good. This will be Chinas contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries. China will work with other G20 members to implement the Debt Service Suspension Initiative for the poorest countries. China is also ready to work with the international community to bolster support for the hardest-hit countries under the greatest strain of debt service, so that they could tide over the current difficulties. These constructive measures aim at addressing the priorities and difficulties of global pandemic response for the present and the years to come, carry the sincere wish of China to make positive construction to promoting global cooperation against COVID-19, and demonstrate the major country responsibility of China for the lives and health of its people, as well as the development of global public health. Now the world is at a critical moment when solidarity and responsibility are needed more than ever, and China's proposals are made upon international consensus. Key words such as "solidarity" and "support the WHO" appeared in almost all the speeches delivered by heads of state and international organizations at the WHA. "Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the opening of the assembly. When solidarity triumphs over ideology, anything is possible, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Calling the assembly "one of the most important assemblies in the history of the WHO," French President Emmanuel Macro said this must be a moment of unity and solidarity, and also a moment of clear thought and effective action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted that "the WHO is a legitimate world organization in the area of health. We should continue to work to improve the procedures within the WHO. We should also look into its financing to ensure that it is sustainable." "Mankind is a community with a shared future. Solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon for defeating the virus. This is the key lesson the world has learned from fighting HIV/AIDS, Ebola, avian influenza, influenza A (H1N1) and other major epidemics. And solidarity and cooperation is a sure way through which we, the people of the world, can defeat this novel coronavirus." Xi's expounding not only charters the course, but also enhances confidence. The world must be aware that only joint cooperation can protect the lives and health of the people around the world and common homeland of the human beings. Building a global community of health for all concerns the well-being of all mankind, and countries shall make joint efforts to achieve this goal. A 'fed-up' resident has propped up a coffin on the side of his suburban street in a desperate attempt to urge drivers to slow down. Allen Parker, who lives on Algona Street in Holland Park West, Brisbane has had the coffin sitting in a trailer on the side of the road since Easter. The unusual stunt was prompted after an oncoming car flew into an open door of Mr Parker's tow truck that was sitting outside his home. 'I've just had enough of people driving like idiots in my street,' he told Seven News. Allen Parker has propped a coffin on the back of a trailer on his street in Holland Park West to urge drivers to slow down The residential street is near the Griffith University campus and regularly sees students racing through so they can avoid traffic lights. Mr Parker said he's been pushing for the council to introduce some measures to prevent accidents like lowering the speed limit or placing speed bumps. 'Are they waiting to get blood on their hands before they do something?' he said. The street which Mr Parker refers to as a 'death trap' is extremely narrow and involves sharp bends. He said he doesn't even let his children play in his front yard in the fear a car may come flying off the road. 'Some people (in the area) are for it, some are against it but something has got to be done. This has been going on for ten years now,' Mr Parker said. The coffin has been sitting on the street since Easter with some residents saying they aren't on board Along with the coffin, the Parker family have also installed cameras throughout the street. But not everyone is on board. 'I don't want to look at a coffin every night I come home,' Algona St resident, Brad Lyons told the Courier Mail. 'My first impression was it was in bad taste with the COVID-19 stuff going on.' 'I'm not a fan of the coffin. Would you want a coffin in your street?' another resident told Nine News. Holland Park Councillor, Deputy Mayor Krista Adams said she had received a complaint about the coffin. 'I do not condone people taking matters into their own hands and believe the coffin display is not appropriate,' she said. Cr Adams said she proposed speed safety signs and no-right turn signs during peak hours but residents didn't deem them necessary so no further action was taken. State of emergency set to stay BANGKOK: The emergency decree looks set to continue for another month as security authorities are still "not confident" about the COVID-19 situation following the easing of the lockdown since early this month, a military source says. COVID-19 By Bangkok Post Thursday 21 May 2020, 08:18AM The area near the Defence Ministry is quiet two hours after the curfew began at 10pm on April 22, 2020. Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool / Bangkok Post Their stance was revealed as Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday (May 20) met military top brass to address the COVID-19 outbreak that was "wreaking havoc on people from all walks of life", the source told the Bangkok Post.. The source said military chiefs are ready to act in line with the governments wishes if it decides to extend the decree. Staunch enforcement will continue until the pandemic eases off, the source said. The National Security Council, the National Intelligence Agency and military agencies have been keeping a close watch on the easing of business shutdowns since May 17, a day which saw large numbers of people flocking to shopping malls. According to the source, security agencies are worried over the impact on public health if the state of emergency does not continue when the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) allows more businesses and activities to reopen in June. In this "phase 2 easing period", the government needs to wait for at least 14 days to assess whether new lockdown easing will lead to further COVID-19 outbreaks. Without the executive decree, the source said, the CCSA will be dissolved and the government will lack the legal tools, including shutdowns and a curfew, it has used since March 26 to quickly contain the spread of novel coronavirus should further action be necessary. In the view of security authorities, the enforcement of the Communicable Diseases Act alone is not enough as legal power will be mostly exercised by the Public Health Ministry. This is different from the ongoing CCSA management with Gen Prayut authorised to give a "single command" integrating the work of both security and health officials. National Security Council Secretary-General Somsak Roongsita said he will call a meeting today on the executive decree enforcement, which is due to end on May 31, between security officers and representatives from health and business sectors. Whether to further enforce the law will depend largely on the "actual COVID-19 situation", he said. The mostly one-digit infection rates a day which are being reported at the moment are the result of strict measures under the decree last month, he said. Paleontologists from the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences said on Monday they found the 70-million-year-old remains of a megaraptor, making it one of the last carnivorous dinosaurs to inhabit the earth. The discovery was made in the southern province of Santa Cruz in the middle of March this year. After studying the fossils, measuring 10 meters (32 feet), experts realized they were looking at the remains of a predatory dinosaur from the end of the "age of dinosaurs." "This is the moment, 65 million years ago, when the extinction of the dinosaurs occurs, and this new megaraptor that we now have to study would be one of the last representatives of this group," Fernando Novas, the paleontologist in charge of the project, told Reuters. Unlike the Tyrannosaurus rex, the megaraptors were slimmer and built for speed, with long tails that allowed them to keep their balance. They had muscular but elongated legs to take long steps, according to the specialist. "The defining characteristic of the megaraptors was that they had very long arms and that their thumb ended in a claw of approximately 40 centimeters (15 inches)," allowing them to catch their prey, he said. As deadly as it may be, and aside from its gross negative economic impact, coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 has reignited and deepen our sense of care and support for one another. The globe has been awakened to the real call to mankind love for all, hatred for none, as stipulated in the good old books. Even more interestingly, the talk of technological advancement in all spheres of life is held all over the world as COVID-19 begets a necessity for inventions. Nonetheless, the ravages of this global pandemic, though painful, shall remain a quintessential part of human history not only to caution us, but more importantly stimulate the entire globe to achieving an innocuous efficient health delivery system. Noting our wrongs and to start to correct them from now is, therefore, crucial. Indeed without equivocation, the mismanagement of the Chinese government in this pandemic must be sternly discouraged so that in the near future no country will adopt same to plunge the entire world into such a quagmire. Inasmuch as the message of concerted effort is desired in combating this pandemic, it is as well crucial that strong worded circulars go out there to condemn the significant role China played in bringing the pandemic to its current scary stage. China, aside from openly sowing seeds of doubts about the origin of the disease in order to selfishly gain global political glory, it also acted in bad faith by further withholding crucially life-saving data even at a time that WHO had, even though belatedly, declared COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It is disheartening how China deceived WHO and by large the world to refute the human-to-human transmission when Taiwan warned sternly on December 31, 2019 that such transmission was likely happening in Wuhan so that such vital warning was ignored. Even after China's own most famous pulmonologist, Zhong Nanshan, confirmed such transmission on January 2020, WHO continued to side with China, downplaying the impact of COVID-19 and discouraging widespread testing and even criticized countries who imposed trade restrictions on travel from China. Yes! We must not mince words in saying WHO is complicit in this willful deception and wreaking havoc leading to the organization's detractors and others calling for deep reforms in her already-failing structure such that President Donald Trump has suspended WHO's US funding which accounts for 9.2% of its budget and an online petition calling for Tedros A. Ghebreyesus, WHO's Director-General, to resign. When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) emerged from China in 2002, WHO publically rebuked the Chinese authorities for concealing vital information just as they have done this time. Why not able to openly condemn same mishandling now but rather praise China even though she remains relatively a small contributor of the WHO's $6 billion budget? Nonetheless, it must be added quickly that WHO had a tough time gaining access to vital data in the early days of COVID-19 from the Chinese government to enable the organization to understand and well appreciate the situation at the time. The Chinese authorities refused the WHO team a visit until mid-February. Only three of the team's 12 members were allowed to visit Wuhan but no one was granted access to the Wuhan Instituteof Virology, the high-containment laboratory. Interestingly, even though China official records tell the world that the first case was detected in December, an astute magazine in Hong Kong, The Guardian, published an article which contradicted this report. The article by Helen Davidson revealed an official document that recorded the first COVID-19 cases rather on17th October 2019 very selfish of the China Communist Party. Lately in December 2019, the Chinese government found it necessary to report to the WHO obviously at a time when they could no longer conceal the brunt of the pandemic in secret. In fact, the posture of China in dealing with the WHO and the rest of the world was internationally unacceptable to the extent that the doctor who blew the whistle on the pandemic, Dr. Li Wenliang, was prosecuted wrongly. This clearly indicated the willful and premeditated disposition of China to deceive the rest of the world which probably made the rest of the world relax on their nerves and remained unprepared and unarmed. Meanwhile, China was hoarding PPE and importing the rest of the world's supply so that when the pandemic later hit the rest of the world, countries had very little equipment for fighting the pandemic. It can clearly be extrapolated that China's political culture of secrecy helped to turn a local viral outbreakinto the greatest global disaster of our time. Far from sounding the alarm when the new coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, the Chinese government concealed the outbreak, allowing it to spread far and wide. This is why China cannot be exonerated of a willful deception and eventually a chief causer of the world's problem today. Dominic Afful Mensah [email protected] Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Coronavirus symptom screenings. Care packages with hand sanitizer and face masks. Multipage pamphlets detailing information on the virus. These are just a few of the tactics used by Street Safe New Mexico in its efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Albuquerques homeless population. COVID-19 just amplifies a lot of the inequities in the population and the challenges they face, said Christine Barber, executive director and co-founder of the organization. Street Safe New Mexico has existed for 11 years as a nonprofit dedicated to keeping homeless women safe by combating sex trafficking and violence against women. The organization was founded after the discovery of the West Mesa victims, many of whom were sex workers and victims of sex trafficking. The organization shifted its efforts in March and began targeting coronavirus outreach to homeless men and women in addition to its usual work. Workers and volunteers now spend their days walking through the International District distributing essential products such as hand sanitizer, masks and hygiene products to those who want them and fighting misinformation and conspiracy theories. We realized that people on the street werent getting the information, Barber said. A lot of them dont have phones and they would just get it piecemeal, and they didnt even know what was happening. Barber said it can be difficult to convince clients of the dangers of the virus, and the group has relied on a combination of peer pressure and posters with New Mexico case statistics to get their point across. We had to find the right talking points, the right tools that drove it home, she said. Even then, the group has had to rely on guerrilla methods to keep the virus on clients minds. The organization screens any homeless people they encounter for symptoms of the virus, including a temperature check. Those with symptoms are directed to a testing site, or the mobile testing center run by Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless is called to administer a test on-site. Testing has provided its own challenges, Barber said. Many do not want to be tested, and getting results back to people is made more difficult with the clearing of homeless encampments, which makes it harder to track down people. The group also is holding a beauty day and providing glue-on pointed nails to their clients. Barber said she hopes the pointy nails will keep women from touching their faces. Street Safe New Mexico is also working on installing an outdoor shower at its location, because the closure of community centers has made it more difficult for homeless women to find showers. The increased outreach and distribution of supplies have resulted in increased costs and a greater need for donations. The money helps us keep going, Barber said. Photo credit: ANNIE SCHLECHTER From House Beautiful Peter Dunhams clients had a big problem with the Hamptons: They were buzzing. And Im not alluding to the latest trendy boites teeming with well-heeled scenesters. The Southampton beach house the couple had rented, within walking distance to the village, was incredibly noisy because people clipped hedges and mowed lawns all week long, explains Dunham. It was kind of a good thing for them to figure out, This is driving us nuts! Silencesave for the lapping of wavesbecame a coveted amenity. Plus: The husband is a water man, the Los Angelesbased designer says. Restricted in a suburban house behind hedges, its no wonder he was withering. Photo credit: ANNIE SCHLECHTER After looking at nearly 60 homes, his clients splurged on an 8,800-square-foot, 7-bedroom, 9-bath house on a cliff overlooking glimmering Shinnecock Bay. The lone issue? It was a new spec house, nearly devoid of soul. In came Dunham, the France-born, England-trained prince of patterned prints. In all these spec houses, you need to layer in some personality. You have to give spaces their identity. Dunham began by sheathing much of the interior in Benjamin Moores Simply White (its clean, its airy, its bright). Key rooms, on the other hand, received a colorful treatment: Youre looking for ways to vary the notes so the whole house is not blue and white. The designer installed a real wood wallcoveringde facto plankingin the den, and custom blue milk paint in the downstairs guest bedroom. Photo credit: Annie Schlechter Because the couple have two frequently visiting grandchildren and another on the way, they asked for fuss-free, hard-wearing materials. Dunham selected performance fabrics and bold antique carpets that could take a beating (because they already hadfor decades). Throughout, abundant pattern cuts any sameness. But how do you mix prints without summoning a dizzy spell? Its a balance, almost like cooking, the way you have a rich sauce next to a plain piece of fish, Dunham says. Ill add something like a paisley with stripes and then throw some solid in with the trim. The final effect is as lively and deep as the bay beyond the windows. To me, the atmosphere is way more important than the look, Dunham says. You dont want guests to feel intimidated by your 10,000-square-foot house on the water. It should feel like they can kick off their shoes. Story continues Den Photo credit: Annie Schlechter Orange is a great color thats not hot like red, says Dunham, who added a tiny bit as trim on the window treatments to play off the sofa. Wallcovering: Nobilis. Sofa, pillows, and ottoman: Hollywood at Home (sofa in a Pindler fabric and ottoman in vintage textile). Floor poufs: Mecox. Window shades: Pindler. Living Room Photo credit: Annie Schlechter Blues and sandy ochers enhance the sea hues beyond the windows. Wall art: 1970s, RE Steele Antiques in East Hampton. Armchairs: Hollywood at Home. Lounge chair: Mecox. Lamps: Natan Moss for Hollywood at Home. Paint: Simply White, Benjamin Moore. Terrace Photo credit: Annie Schlechter Its so rare to have trees between the house and the view; these big pines make it feel like the South of France to me, says designer Peter Dunham of this Hamptons, New York, home. Furniture: Peter Dunham Home. Kitchen Photo credit: Annie Schlechter A custom banquette in Peter Dunham Textiles maximizes the view from the dining nook; rush chairs supply another layer of texture. Chairs: Hollywood at Home. Rug: Antique Samarkand from Rugs & Art. Light fixture: MA 39. Photo credit: Annie Schlechter Master Bedroom We had a custom silk-wool carpet woven to mimic the ocean, Dunham says. When the couple are in bed, their perspective feels almost eternal. You dont really see where the sea ends and your room begins. Wallcovering and curtains: Pindler. Sofa and chairs: vintage, Hollywood at Home. Table: custom. Bed: Hollywood at Home, with custom bedcover in Peter Dunham Textiles. Art: vintage. Guest Suite Photo credit: Annie Schlechter This is the room everyone walks by when youre coming into the house, says Dunham, so its got to be what the Duke of Devonshire would call the state bedroom. Bed frame and bedding: Hollywood at Home. Bed-hanging: Peter Dunham Textiles. Wall paint: custom, Milk Company Paint. Stools: 1970s Paul Evans, LA Modern. Lamp: Pottery Barn. Rug: vintage Indian dhurrie. Patterned Rugs That Read as Neutrals Dunhams picks for weaving magic into a room. Follow House Beautiful on Instagram. You Might Also Like CAPE CORAL, Fla., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dan "Doc" Severson, acandidate for SW Florida Congressional District 19, is a retired Navy Top Gun fighter pilot (1978-2000), Commander, State Representative (2002-2010), inventor and family man. He is in the race to represent District 19 which covers Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, and Marco Island. Republicans are encouraged to vote for Dan Severson on Aug. 18, the GOP Primary. To get involved with and donate to the campaign, go to www.seversonforcongress.com. Dan Severson's Navy career spans over 22 years. While serving in the Navy, Dan Severson retained his residency in Florida and voted in Florida ever since his training in Pensacola. Since 2015, Dan and his wife are proud to call Southwest Florida their home. Dan Severson holds a bachelor's degree in physics from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. During his Naval service, he logged over 3,200 flight hours and over 320 carrier landings while piloting warplanes such as the T2 Buckeye, A4 Skyhawk, A7 Corsair, FA18 Hornet and SA227 Metro. In 2000, he retired as a Commander. Dan Severson earned the Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Commendation Medal and two Meritorious Service Medals for exceptional leadership. In 2001, Dan was approached by the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives to run for public office. In 2002, Dan won election to the Minnesota House of Representatives. During his eight years of service, Dan held executive leadership roles and was selected to serve as Minority Whip. Dan served the people of Minnesota by upholding and fighting for strong family values, lower taxes, smaller government, pro-life issues, veteran benefits and judicial accountability. In 2008, Dan led an investigation into election fraud allegations and found the issues with Minnesota's election system went all the way up to the Minnesota Supreme Court, with lack of accountability at every level: https://www.twincities.com/2010/07/12/ramsey-county-30-people-charged-with-election-fraud In 2010, to continue the battle for election reform, Dan Severson gave up his safe House seat and ran for Minnesota Secretary of State. Dan came within 3% of defeating the incumbent. After the election, Dan encouraged minority community leaders to engage in government by mentoring these leaders to run for public office. Because of his work in the Minnesota House, Tim Pawlenty has written a strong recommendation for Dan Severson. Tim Pawlenty states, "Dan's confirmed record of strong action, accomplishment and dedicated public service should give us all confidence about how he will serve and lead as a member of Congress. It is not often we have a chance to elect someone like Dan Severson to Congress. Please make the most of this opportunity and vote for Dan in the upcoming Republican primary on August 18th." In 2014, Dan Severson received the Republican endorsement for Minnesota Secretary of State, coming within 1% of victory and out-performing the Republican Gubernatorial candidate by 4% points and all other statewide races by over 10 points. In 2015, Dan and his wife returned to Florida. They attend Life Church in Ft. Myers and are very active in their church community. He regularly attends the Ft. Myers Trump Club and several other Republican club meetings across the region. Dan Severson is passionate about accountability in government, upholding the Constitution, protecting individual liberties and protecting Southwest Florida's waterways as a treasure and lifeblood of its economy. Dan Severson encourages Republican voters to vote for him on Aug. 18, the GOP Primary. To get involved and donate to the campaign, go to www.seversonforcongress.com. Related Images dan-doc-severson-candidate-for-sw.png Dan 'Doc' Severson, candidate for SW Florida Congressional District 19, is a retired Navy Top Gun fighter pilot who served from 1978-2000, Commander and former State Representative Republicans are encouraged to vote for Dan Severson on Aug. 18, the GOP Primary. To get involved with and donate to the campaign, go to www.seversonforcongress.com. SOURCE Severson for Congress Related Links http://www.seversonforcongress.com Social media giant Facebook has been urged to scrap plans for 'end-to-end encryption' over fears it will make grooming impossible to track. Investors in the company have been asked to back a shareholder vote against the encryption move until Facebook has properly assessed the risks. Activist shareholders and experts are demanding the tech giant study the chance of increased sexual exploitation of children if they start encrypting messages. End-to-end encryption would mean only the sender and recipient of a message on the Messenger app could read or modify what has been sent in a conversation. In a 2019 blog post Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there was a balance to be found between privacy from end-to-end encryption and protecting people. 'On balance, I believe working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do,' he wrote in 2019. Investors in the company have been asked to back a shareholder vote against the encryption move until Facebook has properly assessed the risks. In a 2019 blog post Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there was a balance to be found between privacy from end-to-end encryption and protecting people It's unlikely the vote to block the encryption move will pass as Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives have the majority of voting power at the company. "Our investments have made us an industry leader in combating child exploitation on the internet,' a Facebook spokesperson said. 'As we expand end-to-end encryption to secure people's private messages from hackers and criminals we remain committed to leading our industry in keeping children safe.' In 2019 there were nearly 17 million reports of child sexual abuse material online and almost 94 per cent came from Facebook, according to shareholder activists. 'The amount of child sexual abuse materials online has been growing at astronomical rate and is directly tied to the growth of the internet 10 years ago,' said Michael Passoff, of Proxy Impact, a shareholder advocacy and proxy voting service. Mr Passoff warned that more people at home during coronavirus lockdown has led to a 'huge surge' in online sexual abuse. 'Facebook is about to make this problem much worse,' he added, calling for a delay and review of the plan. In a blog post in March 2019 Mark Zuckerberg said encryption was an important tool in privacy protection for people on the platform, but measures were needed to protect children and others before it is implemented. He said 'there are real safety concerns to address before we can implement end-to-end encryption across all of our messaging services.' 'When billions of people use a service to connect, some of them are going to misuse it for truly terrible things like child exploitation, terrorism, and extortion,' he said. The shareholders hope to generate enough support and put pressure on the company directors to pause their plans and will bring a vote on the issue at the Annual General Meeting on May 27. They want Facebook to investigate if the encryption would increase the risk of child exploitation on the platform and issue a report by February 2021. John Carr, secretary of the UK Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety called Facebook the '800-pound gorilla in the world of online child pornography'. WHAT IS END-TO-END ENCRYPTION? End-to-end encryption ensures only the two participants of a chat can read messages, and no one in between not even the company that owns the service. End-to-end encryption is intended to prevent data being read or secretly modified when it is in transit between the two parties. The cryptographic keys needed to access the service are automatically provided only to the two people in each conversation. In decrypted form, messages are accessible by a third party which makes them interceptable by governments for law enforcement reasons. Facebook-owned WhatsApp is already encrypted, and now Mark Zuckerberg is looking to do the same with Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct. Advertisement 'Facebook is proposing to turn its back on children,' he said. 'The company knows that going ahead with its encryption plans means they are giving up the ability to protect children from being enticed by sexual predators. 'And they will also be depriving themselves of the ability to prevent enormous volumes of child pornography being exchanged over their network.' The proposal to delay encryption was presented by Proxy Impact, a company that manages shareholder advocacy votes. They were supported by shareholder advisory services Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). ISS said the potential financial and reputational impacts from controversies linked to child exploitation on Facebook means 'shareholders would benefit from additional information on how the company is managing the risks'. They say this also includes risks associated with end-to-end encryption technology. The NSPCC's Andy Burrows welcomed the move, saying: 'Shareholders are right to express concerns that Facebook's plans for encryption could sharply increase the risk of child sexual abuse and give offenders a free pass to groom children on both Facebook and Instagram. 'End-to-end encryption of messages will blindfold Facebook to grooming and child abuse images being shared, and until and unless Mark Zuckerberg can guarantee the safety of children he should not press ahead with these plans.' End-to-end encryption would mean only the sender and recipient of a message on the Messenger app could read or modify what has been sent in a conversation Shareholders warned that if Facebook didn't act they could face legislative and consumer fallout - especially if the encryption increases the amount of child sexual abuse material on the platform. Facebook said it was looking at how it could use AI to detect illegal content on its website and already uses human moderators. Last year Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to make Facebook a more 'privacy focused company'. He wrote in March 2019: 'People's private communications should be secure. End-to-end encryption prevents anyone - including us - from seeing what people share on our services.' Zuckerberg added: 'We are working to improve our ability to identify and stop bad actors across our apps by detecting patterns of activity or through other means, even when we can't see the content of the messages, and we will continue to invest in this work. 'But we face an inherent tradeoff because we will never find all of the potential harm we do today when our security systems can see the messages themselves.' He said in the blog post: 'On balance, I believe working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do. 'Messages and calls are some of the most sensitive private conversations people have, and in a world of increasing cyber security threats and heavy-handed government intervention in many countries, people want us to take the extra step to secure their most private data.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-20 22:39:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A journalist asks a question during a press conference of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) through video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai) BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- In previous years, doctor Cai Weiping usually met with reporters before going to Beijing in early March for the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC). But this year, the sudden COVID-19 outbreak changed Cai's schedule and how he received media interviews. The deputy to the national legislature sat in a studio in the southern city of Guangzhou to take questions from a reporter in Beijing, whose image was projected holographically with the support of 5G technology. "I've been reflecting on the battle against COVID-19 and have come up with two proposals on further strengthening the public health emergency response system," said Cai, who fought the epidemic on the front lines. The epidemic changed the schedule of the NPC as well. After a postponement of more than two months, the annual sessions of the country's national legislature and political advisory body, also known as the "two sessions," will start this week. National legislators and political advisors from across the country are gathering in Beijing for this key event on the country's political calendar. With the "two sessions" to be held against the backdrop of regular measures to contain the COVID-19 epidemic this year, participants to the annual sessions are experiencing things in a different way. Journalists attend a press conference of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) through video link in Beijing, capital of China, May 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Lyu Shuai) According to a State Council executive meeting, China will adopt new ways of receiving proposals and suggestions from national legislators and political advisors, including via video-link, phone calls and the internet. Officials of relevant State Council departments are also asked to tune in live to the deliberation of the government work report by lawmakers through video links. Kong Weike, a national political advisor from east China's Shandong Province, said the convening of the "two sessions" itself demonstrates China's initial victory in containing the epidemic. "Meanwhile, the shortened duration of the sessions will enable national lawmakers and political advisors to focus on the main topics with increased efficiency," Kong said. Villagers in Donsala Village in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are also eagerly waiting for the "two sessions" to open, said Wu Yunbo, a national lawmaker and the village's Party secretary. For them, this year's annual sessions are out of the ordinary as the country is gearing up for completing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. "We have lifted all the villagers out of poverty," Wu said, adding that the herders in his village want to know what to do next and how to deal with the new situation brought by COVID-19. Their questions are likely to be addressed at the upcoming "two sessions." Zhao Wanping, a national legislator and deputy head of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said he would still make active contributions to the session despite the changes and obstacles brought by the epidemic, believing that other national legislators would also do the same. "Even at the beginning of this year when China was in the most difficult period due to the epidemic, we did not waver in the pursuit of poverty alleviation," Zhao said, adding he is confident that China will achieve its goals in eliminating absolute poverty by 2020. The guard was injured but managed to stop the gunman by activating a final denial barrier that stops vehicles from crossing, Ms. Kieschnick said. Base personnel returned fire, and the gunman was neutralized, Ms. Kieschnick said. The injured guard was taken to a nearby hospital, deemed in good condition and released, the base said in a statement. No one else was hurt thanks to the great work of our first responders, Ms. Kieschnick said. The base was placed on lockdown for several hours, and the North/Ocean Drive Gate remained closed until further notice, the base said. The Justice Department confirmed on Thursday that electronic media had been found at the scene of the crime, leaving open the possibility that law enforcement personnel had recovered a smartphone or other device that could contain the gunmans messages. Accounts matching Mr. Alsahlis profile on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, portray an individual consumed by religion, with posts citing the Quran and Islamic geopolitical issues, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors jihadists websites and postings. While many of the postings were innocuous, some feature jihadi figures such as Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a top ideologue and spokesman for Al Qaedas branch in Yemen and a former detainee at the United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay, who was killed by an American drone strike in Yemen in 2015. Other posts cite the Afghan Taliban and the Syria-based division of the Turkistan Islamic Party, according to SITE. Mr. Alsahlis last Facebook post, on Monday, states, All the sins of a martyr are forgiven except debt, SITE reported. Every incumbent GOP senator ought to be asked if he or she supports the partys Senate nominee in Oregon, Jo Rae Perkins, who avidly promotes the absurd and wholly fictitious QAnon story line. Adherents see President Trump as a heroic warrior fighting to save America and the world from an evil cabal of globalist, sex-trafficking elites who include moles within the government known as the deep state. The supposed proof? Enigmatic posts on anonymous message boards from a Q Clearance Patriot who claims to have the inside dope on a coming Storm that will wash away this faction and purify the country. Ritika Arun Vaishali By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: In response to a report published in these columns on the plight of 18 people from Andhra Pradesh stranded in Rabigh city in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has facilitated their return to Vijayawada on a flight from Jeddah under the Vande Bharat Mission. The flight arrived in the city late Wednesday night. The 18 hail from Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Prakasam districts. The workers had been stranded at Rabigh for almost a month after India announced a lockdown. One of them, T Punnasekhar, an engineer from Vijayawada, approached TNIE on May 17, after which a report was published and the issue was brought to the notice of Additional Secretary, MEA, AP, P Harish. Punnasekhar had lamented that despite several attempts to register on the MEA and other websites handling the repatriation process, they did not receive any response. Harish passed on the details of the 18 people to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the Consul General. On May 18, Harish requested the Embassy to accommodate the workers on the flight scheduled to depart from Jeddah for Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. Consul General Jeddah Noor Rahman Sheikh arranged to get the 18 workers on the flight. Upon reaching Vijayawada, Punnasekhar told TNIE: We just landed and are on our way to get screened. Thank you very much for helping us. We were running out of money and were worried if we would be able to buy tickets. But your help and the Indian Embassys quick arrangements helped us save money on our flight tickets. The group went to Saudi Arabia on February 15 and was working for the Gulf Quality Control Company. Their work ended on April 30. Insurance regulator IRDAI is proposing to modify the Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) guidelines to provide better coverage to the MSME sector which is considered as the backbone of the country's economy. The changes in the TCI regulatory framework, according to the IRDAI's Exposure Draft, are aimed at improving the overall business environment by protecting suppliers as well as lenders against payment defaults. The TCI was introduced in 2016 to facilitate and promote trade by addressing issues concerning losses arising from payment related defaults. The existing TCI guidelines, however, do not allow insurance companies to offer full fledged benefits to suppliers and also restrict cover provided to banks and financial institutions. Considering the various requests and the needs of the market in view of the changing paradigms of trade, the regulator had constituted a working group to revisit the existing guidelines on Trade Credit Insurance. "The Working Group has proposed several changes in the existing guidelines in order to improve the credit insurance market and at the same time meet the requirements of various stakeholders involved in trade related transactions," it said. The panel has suggested changes in certain key definitions in the guidelines to add better clarity and understanding. It also said that the indemnity provided to the policy holders should be allowed to increase from 85 per cent to 90 per cent for all policy holders. Keeping in mind the evolving needs of MSMEs and banks, the committee has also suggested to add new options under trade credit insurance. In this regard, it said banks, factoring companies, financial institutions and similar entities should be allowed to avail credit insurance to cover trade related transactions not permitted earlier. In its report, the panel also said banks, factoring companies, financial institutions and similar entities should not be permitted to cover loan default of seller. Creation of a buyer default database to keep a check on the defaulters and better risk mitigation process is another major recommendation of the panel. The work group said it has made the recommendations keeping in mind the TCI needs of the suppliers of goods and services, especially micro and small enterprises and how these changes can help them with simplified and necessary risk mitigation tools. Credit insurance market in India is dominated by ECGC, a state-owned enterprise which provides only export credit insurance facilities to banks and exporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Newser) Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, who joined the White House staff in 1957 and served under 11 presidents, has died at 91. His family said the cause of death was COVID-19, CBS News reports. Dwight Eisenhower was president when Jerman was hired, and Barack Obama was president when he left in 2012. The people who lived in the White House during his tenure paid tribute Thursday. Jerman "made generations of first families feel at home, including ours," former first lady Hillary Clinton wrote. "He was a lovely man," former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, said in a statement, per NBC. "He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned. story continues below Jerman began as a cleaner and was made a butler during the Kennedy administration, his granddaughter said. He developed relationships with the White House occupants, Jamila Garrett said. "Jackie O actually promoted him to a butler because of the relationship," she said, referring to first lady Jackie Kennedy. When Bush first moved in and had trouble sleeping, she said, "My grandfather would actually sit with him in his bedroom until he fell asleep." Jerman was all about serviceno matter "who you were or what you did or what you needed," she said. And he was authentic, per the Hill. "That is what he taught our family, that's what drives throughout our family and thats what we will continue throughout his legacy," Garrett said. (Read more White House staff stories.) Growing numbers of colleges in the United States are pledging to reopen this fall, with dramatic changes to campus life to keep the coronavirus at bay. Big lectures will be a thing of the past. Dorms will will be nowhere near capacity. Students will face mandatory virus testing. And at some smaller schools, students may be barred from leaving campus. Even as some universities abandon hope of in-person instruction next semester, citing concerns from public health officials, dozens are announcing plans to welcome students back in August. They acknowledge that an outbreak could force classes back online, but many of their leaders say the financial and political pressures to reopen are too large to ignore. At West Virginia University, President E Gordon Gee said students do not want to wait for a vaccine, and the school cannot afford to. If it was simply based on science, we would keep everything shut down until we have a vaccine and until its working. But I dont feel that thats feasible, either economically or socially, and certainly not educationally, Gee said. We will open, but it will be different. Colleges planning to reopen include Purdue University, Texas A&M University, the University of Notre Dame and statewide systems in Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire and elsewhere. Some plan to make decisions this summer, including Princeton University, where officials say it is too soon to make a call. A student wearing a mask walks through the yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the US [File: Brian Snyder/Reuters] Shortened semesters The California State University system, by contrast, has said its 23 campuses will stay mostly online this fall, citing predictions of a coronavirus resurgence later this year. Others including the University of South Carolina, Rice and Creighton universities plan to bring students back but end the term early, before Thanksgiving, anticipating a second wave of the virus could hit later in the fall. President Donald Trump has encouraged schools to reopen despite concerns from his top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci. Speaking at a Senate hearing last week, Fauci said it would be a bit of a bridge too far to expect a vaccine before the fall. Trump countered that the comment was not an acceptable answer. New guidelines issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week say colleges should work with state and local officials to decide how to reopen. But the agency suggests a range of safety measures for campuses, saying they should keep common spaces closed if possible, hold smaller classes in larger rooms, and install plastic barriers in areas where it is hard to stay apart. In other countries emerging from lockdown, universities have been slow to reopen. Primary schools in France were allowed to reopen earlier this month, but universities are expected to remain closed through the summer. Universities in New Zealand have been granted permission to reopen, but most say they plan to stay online until July or later. The United Kingdoms University of Cambridge announced on Wednesday that all in-person lectures will be cancelled through the 2020-21 academic year because of the pandemic. Muslim students at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, the US [Photo courtesy: NC State Red/Al Jazeera] New restrictions In the US, colleges that plan to reopen have told students to expect strict social distancing measures, including the mandatory use of face masks. College leaders say widespread virus testing will be the linchpin to a safe reopening. At many schools, students who test positive for the coronavirus would be placed in dorm rooms reserved as quarantine space. But there are questions about schools ability to provide large numbers of tests. Some research universities say they have the lab equipment to analyse virus tests, but not enough swabs and testing chemicals. Smaller schools will need to hire companies to handle tests, likely at a significant cost. In a call with 14 university leaders last week, US Vice President Mike Pence pledged to help colleges ramp up testing operations. But some on the call said details, especially about funding, remain hazy. This testing is going to cost money, and many academic institutions are already going to be fiscally challenged, said Michael Lovell, president of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Theres not a clear path from an institutional point of view. Once students are back on campus, the primary goal will be to keep them spaced out, colleges say. Classroom desks will be arranged six feet apart. Class schedules may be staggered. Big lectures will be split up or moved online. Some colleges are discussing teaching certain classes outside or in tents. A classroom sits empty ahead of the statewide school closures in Ohio, the US [File: Kyle Grillot/Reuters] Hybrid flex model A growing number of colleges say they will offer a hybrid flex model, in which classes are offered online and in person at the same time, and students can choose either option. Professors at some colleges will also be allowed to continue teaching remotely through video feeds projected in the classroom. Most vexing for colleges, however, is the dilemma of dorm life. At some schools, suites meant for several students will be limited to one or two. Bathrooms shared by entire floors will be restricted to a handful of students. With only so much dorm space, some colleges have been scrambling to rent nearby apartments as overflow housing. At Trinity College, a school of 2,000 in Hartford, Connecticut, officials hope to place every student in their own room. Staff members have been scouring the campus with tape measures in recent weeks to make sure students will have space to stay six feet apart. I have a huge incentive to want to reopen. I want to see our students. I want to see them educated in the best way possible, Trinity President Joanne Berger-Sweeney said. And I also want to remain a significant and good employer in the state of Connecticut at a time when thats really important. Boston University is exploring whether the housing problem can be solved by placing students into family groups that live together but have little social interaction with other groups. Robert Brown, the schools president, said placing all students alone may be overly isolating for students and lead to another set of problems. At Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles, officials are wondering how their single dining hall will accommodate 900 students who buy meal plans. The school is weighing measures to restrict capacity in the hall, which may require students to eat in shifts or take their meals outside. It is just one way in which campus life will not be the same as what we have grown so accustomed to, said Hiram Chodosh, president of the college. Travel bans Hoping to keep the coronavirus away, some smaller colleges are considering limits or even outright bans on travel in and out of campus. In a recent letter to students, Amherst College in Massachusetts said officials may need to require that you limit your movement to on-campus locations only. At West Virginia, Gee said hell rely on students to police their own behaviour. He argues that peer pressure is more effective than a 76-year-old university president saying dont do it. Gee, known for his impromptu appearances at student activities on campus and off, said he will scale back this fall, much to his chagrin. Its going to be a lot different for me, and Im going to miss that, Gee said. But I view us as dancing with the coronavirus. This is going to be with us forever, even once we find a vaccine. We just need to learn how to manage it in a way that allows life to go on. Several eastern Uttar Pradesh districts have witnessed a spurt in cases of coronavirus infection amid the return of migrant workers with Barabanki emerging as a new COVID-19 hotspot after detection of 95 new cases there in a single day. Barabanki District Magistrate Aadarsh Kumar said on Wednesday that of the 245 samples sent for testing on May 15-16, 95 have been found corona positive. Among those who tested positive, 49 are migrants who had recently returned from other states, the DM said, adding all have been admitted to hospital as per the COVID-19 treatment protocol. The remaining 46 are those who had come in contact with six infected persons and had been kept in isolation, the DM said. With this, the total number of active cases in the district has gone up to 122, the DM added. Earlier on Tuesday, 50 migrants had tested positive in Basti district. According to Basti DM Ashutosh Niranjan, 50 new cases came to light on Tuesday with all of them being migrant workers who had returned recently from other states. Pratapgarh reported 10 new cases and Ghazipur 18 on Wednesday. On Thursday, 15 cases were reported in Azamgarh with DM N P Singh saying that the graph of coronavirus infection has gone up with the return of migrants from other states. In Siddhartnagar , 11 new cases were reported on Thursday with most them being migrants having returned from Mumbai, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Seema Rai said. Another 16 cases were reported from Jaunpur of which 15 had come back from Mumbai and one from Surat, District Magistrate Dinesh Kumar Singh said. Eight migrant workers who had returned from Maharashtra and Gujarat were tested positive in Maharajganj, DM Dr Ujjawl Kumar said. State's principal secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad had on Tuesday said that a high incidence of infections being observed among migrant workers returning to Uttar Pradesh and village and 'mohalla' monitoring committees have been asked to be on vigil. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) World News: COVID-19 Pandemic Provides Opportunity to Revive the Oceans: Sustainable Actions Will Stimulate Fisheries and Tourism by Palitha Kohona May 21,2020 | Source: Indepth News The well-being of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region is edging closer to a tipping point due to the unprecedented pace of marine pollution, overfishing and climate change in recent years. However, a new report released May 13 by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) suggests that "the temporary shutdown of activities as well as reduced human mobility and resource demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic may provide marine environments the much-needed breathing space for them to recover". Although COVID-19 is wreaking havoc in human societies around the world, it may just be the silver lining in the dark clouds engulfing the world's oceans. Humanity may be able to leverage the COVID-19 pandemic to arrest and even turn back the inexorable slide towards the destruction of the earth's most valuable resource, the oceans. Commercial activity relating to the oceans has well-nigh reached a standstill while markets have begun to recover. If properly managed, the recovery could be guided to benefit both the environment and humanity. Although not usually the subject of screaming headlines, the oceans which occupy 72% of the worlds surface are an uncelebrated economic asset of immense value. But they have also been subjected to unsustainable stress. The majority of scientists believe that anthropogenic global warming is causing critical temperature changes causing harm to the fish and other life forms that inhabit the oceans and the millions of humans who depend on them. Some fish species, in fact, have begun to migrate from traditional habitats to waters with familiar temperatures. Add unsustainable fish catch to the equation and the oceans are confronting a disaster. The seas and oceans provide over 100 billion kg of fish and shellfish annually for consumption to a growing global population. Almost 50% of humanity depends on the sea for over 20% of its protein intake. More in poorer countries. The FAO estimates that around 60 million people are directly employed worldwide in fishing and fish-farming, with a majority of those employed by the capture fisheries sub-sector working in small-scale operations in developing countries. In 2016, fisheries and aquaculture produced roughly 171 million tons of fish, with a first sale value estimated at US$362 billion, generating over US$152 billion in exports, with 54 percent of it originating in developing countries. Aquaculture represents 47 percent of the total fish production and 53 percent, if non-food uses (including reduction to fishmeal, pet food and fish oil) are excluded. With capture fishery production relatively static since the late 1980s, aquaculture has been responsible for the continuing impressive growth in the supply of fish for human consumption. Today, 60% of the ocean fish stocks have almost reached the limits of sustainability threatening the livelihoods of millions. In addition, the seas are polluted with slowly decomposing plastics and micro plastics which are ingested by fish and other ocean dwelling life forms. An estimated 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans annually from land-based sources. Two massive gyres created by plastic waste occupy the centre of the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Micro plastics have been found around the world, in the food chain, air, oceans, rainwater, and ice in the Arctic. Plastic pollution hurts economies, ecosystems, food security, and might potentially impact public health. The pollution of the oceans affects not only fisheries, but all ocean related economic activity, especially the multi-billion-dollar tourism industry. Prochlorococcus and other ocean phytoplankton are responsible for 70 percent of the Earth's oxygen production ensuring that other life forms, including humans, can continue to survive. Ocean pollution and climate change are known to harm the density and spread of marine plants and cyanobacteria. All this suggests an uncertain future for the key regulator of the global environment, the oceans and unpredictable consequences for the fisheries industry on which millions depend for their livelihood and nutrition. Fishing fleets subsidized by the EU (estimated at USD 15 - 35 billion annually) ravage the fisheries resources of Africa and Asia despite the commitment at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing and overcapacity. Also, parties to the World Trade Organization agreed to strengthen disciplines on fisheries subsidies. Fish stocks are affected by illegal, unregulated and unreported and (IUU) fishing, which may account for up to 26 million tons of fish catches a year, or more than 15 percent of total catches. In fact, overfishing and overcapacity squanders roughly US$80 billion annually in foregone economic benefits. The drivers behind illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing are similar to those behind many other types of international environmental crime. Pirate fishers have a strong economic incentive; many species of fish, particularly those that have been over-exploited and are thus in short supply, are of high financial value. Irrespective of what humans have solemnly agreed at international meetings, COVID-19 has forced fishing fleets, including distant water fishers, to curtail their activities, in some cases stop altogether. Their markets have had to close, and consumption levels have dropped. COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to sustainably regulate the distant water fishing fleets and enforce agreed norms. For Asia and the Pacific regions, oceans are a highly valuable resource. Fisheries provide food and income to more than 200 million people in the region, with 34 million engaged in commercial fishing. More than 80 per cent of international trade is transported by shipping with two thirds of these operations concentrated in Asia. Tourism is major source of income and employment in the region. Countries in the region are also among the worlds top plastic polluters. Eight of the ten rivers responsible for up to 95 per cent of plastic waste leaked globally into oceans are in Asia. Now, COVID-19 has scythed through the economies of the world and severely damaged fisheries, their markets and tourism. The economies of the ESCAP region have not escaped the havoc spawned by the virus. Confronted by the massive blow to their economies, most countries, initially adopted intensive restrictive measures, but have begun to relax their controls now. The growth in fisheries output predicted earlier, however, has suffered a serious setback. Distribution networks will also take time to recover. Consumer spending is unlikely to reach pre pandemic levels anytime soon, especially with the now burgeoning unemployment. The effect on developing countries, especially on their export markets, will be acute. Despite the gloom, COVID-19 also provides an opportunity to implement more sustainable fisheries and ocean management mechanisms as well as encouraging better distribution through careful regulation and greater awareness raising. Promoting the health and sustainability of oceans is inextricably linked with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific. During these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to take advantage of the window of opportunity offered by reduced emissions and energy demand to protect the marine environment, said United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana at the report launch. Many of the challenges in the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and marine resources lie in the trans boundary and highly complex nature of ocean management, coupled with the fragmented understanding of the interaction between oceans and human activities, added Ms Alisjahbana. The critical value of the fisheries industry to the global economy and to the economies of developing countries is undoubted. Governments should consider diverting some of the funds currently being doled out to support families during the post-COVID-19 period to assist fishers with better equipment and technology designed to minimise waste and by-catch, fishing communities with better storing, packing and marketing facilities and also to reviving and refining the distribution infrastructure. Post-COVID-19, the ESCAP region should be able to boast a more modern, sustainable and better regulated fisheries infrastructure and also minimizing IUU fishing. Given the supply chain disruptions suffered due to the pandemic, COVID-19 provides the opportunity to assist in the development and strengthening of in situ processing, packaging and distribution industries. Such a development would also contribute to generating employment, conserving foreign exchange, and the availability of protein for consumption, especially of the poorer countries. Some entrepreneurs in poorer communities have taken the initiative themselves by converting small scale whale watching boats catering to tourists to fishing craft. In Sri Lanka, some boat operators have decided that tourism is unlikely to revive in the near future. They need to be assisted. ESCAP also underscores the need for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to take advantage of scientific and technological advances, and to consistently enforce international conventions, norms and standards on the protection and sustainable use of the oceans such as those adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Regional fisheries agreements and national legislation are also playing a valuable role. Regional dialogue is also essential to support the connectivity and data needs of Pacific small island developing states, which currently remain isolated from beneficial global and regional maritime trade. The predatory fishing by distant water fishers has reduced dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and particularly because of the disruption of their markets. The window of opportunity provided by the pandemic should be exploited by developing countries to strengthen their regulatory and surveillance regimes. Globally efforts to better manage the use of living ocean resources continue. In addition to the Law of the Sea convention and its two subsidiary agreements, a new treaty on BBNJ (biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction) is being negotiated through the UN system. If the international community succeeds, there will be another valuable step taken to regulate the extraction of biological diversity from the oceans and the establishment of protected areas, while also benefitting developing countries. In December 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 72/249 and decided to convene an Intergovernmental Conference, under the auspices of the United Nations, to consider the recommendations of the Preparatory Committee established by resolution 69/292 of June 19, 2015 on the elements and to elaborate the text of an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, with a view to developing the instrument as soon as possible. Further to resolution 72/249, the Conference held a three-day organizational meeting in New York, in April 2018, to discuss organizational matters, including the process for the preparation of the zero draft of the instrument. The Conference met for three sessions. By decision 74/543, the General Assembly decided to postpone the fourth session of the conference due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, to the earliest possible available date to be decided by the General Assembly. UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu, arrested from Agra on Wednesday evening by Lucknow police on charges of cheating and forgery, has been remand in judicial custody for 14 days. Brought to the state capital late Wednesday night, Lallu was first taken for a medical examination to a hospital and was later produced before a magisterial court, which remanded him in judicial custody, Congress spokesman Anshu Awasthi said. After being brought here last night, Lallu was first kept in a temporary jail and on receipt of the report on Thursday that he was negative for coronavirus infection, was shifted to the Lucknow jail, said Awasthi. Earlier on Wednesday, Lallu was granted bail by an Agra court and released before being rearrested by a team of Lucknow police again in a second case filed here in connection with the Congress' standoff with the UP government over the arrangement of buses for migrant workers. Lallu was first arrested in Agra on Tuesday for sitting on a dharna to protest against the alleged denial of permission by the UP government to allow buses arranged for migrants by the Congress to enter the state. On Tuesday night another FIR against Lallu and Sandeep Singh, who is Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's personal secretary, and others was lodged at the Hazratganj police station of Lucknow under various Indian Penal Code sections related to cheating and forgery. Condemning the arrest of UPCC president, Awasthi said it is most unfortunate that the UP government is sending to jails those very people who are extending it helping hands in this hour of crisis. First the buses were kept in waiting for three days when they could have safely ferried lakhs of people and then the person who had come out to help the safe transit of migrants was arrested, Awasthi said, adding that party workers and common people are most agitated over this high-handed behaviour of the Yogi government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The findings come a week after Jones announced his shock radio retirement 'Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders,' he said Jones on air said Scott Morrison should 'shove a sock down Ardern's throat' The 2GB Breakfast host has also been called out for breaching decency rules Alan Jones has been ordered make an on-air correction over his 'inaccurate' comments on climate change and Jacinda Ardern after calling the New Zealand prime minister a 'complete clown'. The Australian Communications and Media Authority found the veteran broadcaster breached decency rules last year after he called on Scott Morrison to 'shove a sock down her throat' following Ardern's comments about climate change. 'I just wonder whether Scott Morrison's going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat... Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders,' the 2GB Breakfast host said on air last August, shocking listeners. Jones' comments about Ardern came after the New Zealand leader said the Morrison government 'will have to answer to the Pacific' on global warming during the Pacific Islands Forum in the Pacific Islands. Top rating radio broadcaster Alan Jones has been ordered make an on-air correction over his 'inaccurate' comments on climate change Last year on air Jones said of Ardern: 'I just wonder whether Scott Morrison's going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat' Jones' comments about Jacinda Ardern came after the New Zealand leader said the Morrison government 'will have to answer to the Pacific' on global warming during the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu last year The ACMA found the 79-year-old's statements regarding Ms Ardern were 'offended against generally accepted community standards of decency'. The sanctions included an incorrect assertion made by Jones that biomass is a fossil fuel, and the incorrect presentation of figures relating to Australia's and New Zealand's percentage of energy use from solar and wind. The ACMA found that these comparisons were not based on like-for-like data. 'The factual error and inconsistent information were used to incorrectly portray that Australia generates more of its energy from renewables than New Zealand,' ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin said in a statement on Thursday. Ms O'Loughlin said broadcasters had a responsibility under their own industry code to use reasonable efforts to ensure the facts presented are accurate. The findings come after the media heavyweight announced his retirement last week after 35 years on the airwaves, citing advice from doctors. Jones insisted it was his decision to step away from radio halfway through his $8 million two-year contract due to health reasons. But sources claim Jones' departure has been in the pipeline at Nine - who owns 2GB - for several months following a massive fallout from advertisers and public backlash over his controversial comments about Ms Ardern. Jones' comments have cost Nine an estimated $20 million and affected the company's ability to lure lucrative advertising deals. More than 100 advertisers, including Coles, Big W, Commonwealth Bank, McDonalds and Bunnings cancelled their spending with 2GB in the wake of the saga, which reportedly cost an estimated $80,000 a day in lost revenue. Alan Jones' comments about Jacinda Ardern 'I just wonder whether Scott Morrison's going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat.' 'Now I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhanders.' 'I hope he goes for the throat this morning.' Advertisement It's understood the decision was made after Nine Radio boss Tom Malone visited Jones at his Fitzroy Falls property earlier this month, The Sunday Telegraph reported. Jones took a week off before returning to work last Monday, when he told his long-serving team he would finish up at the end of this month. Both Jones and Nine insist the broadcaster is leaving on his terms. 'It was Alan who invited me down to his farm for lunch,' Mr Malone told the publication. 'We were able to facilitate Alan's request to stand down due to health reasons.' Nine acquired 2GB shortly after Jones faced widespread public backlash last August when he called Ms Ardern a 'complete clown'. Jones later wrote to Ms Ardern to unconditionally apologise for the public slur. 'Prime Minister, I would like to assure you that I did not intend to suggest any violence towards you,' he wrote in an email sent to Ms Ardern. Jones also issued a publicly apology on air while his then-employer Macquarie Radio warned he would be sacked if similar comments were made again. The Valencia region has become the first area of Spain to voluntarily slow down its coronavirus deescalation process. The eastern territory will wait one more week before requesting a transition to Phase 2 of the four-phase plan introduced by the central government to slow the spread of Covid-19. The decision comes after regional health authorities detected a slight spike in contagion figures. We dont have any outbreaks, but we want to wait out this week, said the regional health chief, Ana Barcelo. We will remain in Phase 1 for another seven days. We dont have any outbreaks, but we want to wait out this week Regional health chief Ana Barcelo Parts of the Valencia region moved up from Phase 0 to Phase 1 nearly two weeks ago, while the remainder of the territory was bumped up this past Monday. This stage allows for limited social interaction and some business activity. Valencia authorities had said a few days ago that they would request Phase 2 for the entire region, but according to Health Ministry criteria, each phase lasts two weeks, a period of time that 14 healthcare areas in the Valencia region have not yet completed. Valencia stands alone in its decision to stay put, as all other regions of Spain have requested authorization to move up to the next stage of deescalation. While much of the country is already in Phase 1, the Madrid region, Barcelona and a large part of Castilla y Leon remain in Phase 0. Madrid battle Madrid premier Isabel Diaz Ayuso and the regional health chief Enrique Ruiz-Escudero. Daniel Gonzalez (GTRES) In the Madrid region, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic and which posted the countrys worst infection figures for the week of May 12 to 19 (1,374 new cases), deescalation is quickly morphing into a political issue rather than a public health one. The regional government, which is run by a center-right coalition of the Popular Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (Citizens), on Wednesday decided to file an appeal with the Supreme Court to determine why the Health Ministry has twice denied Madrids request to transition to Phase 1. Premier Isabel Diaz Ayuso has made a third request for Madrid to enter Phase 1 next week. The central governments decision will be announced on Friday. Earlier decisions to hold the region back have been met with protests in some parts of the city, where marchers have claimed the government is curtailing their freedoms. We have serious reservations about whether technical criteria are being applied in the same way across all the regions, said the regional health chief, Enrique Ruiz-Escudero. This department claims that other parts of Spain with worse coronavirus figures and lower testing capacity than Madrid have been allowed to move to Phase 1. The only known report is the one that was issued to ensure our region would not change phases, and it was signed three hours after we were informed of the decision, said Ruiz-Escudero. The Madrid government says that it has launched a coronavirus contact tracing plan, shored up its primary healthcare system, and has the ability to conduct 15,000 PCR tests a day. But these assertions have been challenged by dozens of professionals from the Madrid Health Service (Sermas), as well unions and medical associations. Catalonia Catalonia, whose own figures were only slightly better than Madrids for the May 12-19 period (857 cases), has waited until now to make the first request for the Barcelona metropolitan area to move to Phase 1. The regional government has been following a strategy of requesting phase changes asymmetrically. The first areas to enter Phase 1 were the province of Tarragona and the demarcation of Pirineo de Lleida. This past Monday, Girona and Catalunya Central joined the Phase 1 group. The Catalan government now wants the first areas to move to Phase 2, and for the Barcelona metropolitan area to enter Phase 1. Rest of Spain Castilla y Leon is the only other region of Spain where parts of the territory are still in Phase 0. Authorities have now requested permission to move the entire region to Phase 1. Andalusia wants all eight provinces to achieve Phase 2 status, even though Malaga and Granada have only been in Phase 1 for one week, when the Health Ministrys guidelines say that two weeks is the minimum period for each phase. In Aragon, the regional government is working on an alternative plan so that if the city of Zaragoza is held back, the rest of the region can still move ahead to Phase 2. The small northern regions of Asturias and Cantabria want to move to Phase 2 and they are also requesting more flexible conditions for walks, exercise and business activity. Clients at sidewalk terraces in Plaza de las Flores, in the city of Murcia. Edu Botella (Europa Press) In Castilla-La Mancha, authorities will ask for Cuenca and Guadalajara to transition to Phase 2. The government of Galicia wants the entire region to achieve Phase 2 status, as do Extremadura, Navarre and La Rioja. Murcia, which has one of the lowest infection figures for the week of May 12 to 19, wants to move to Phase 2 while maintaining a few restrictions from Phase 1, such as keeping social gatherings down to 10 people instead of 15. In the Basque Country, regional officials are requesting Phase 2 and planning to reopen schools for last-year students of secondary education as well as post-secondary students. The Canary Islands will ask the Health Ministry to move the five islands that are still in Phase 1 up to Phase 2, joining La Gomera, Hierro and La Graciosa. In the Balearic Islands, it is hoped that Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza will join Formentera in Phase 2 next Monday. With reporting by Isabel Valdes, Eva Saiz, Sonia Vizoso and Pedro Gorospe. English version by Susana Urra. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 02:02:03 Oasis has submitted two proposals to Hazama Ando for upcoming June AGM Oasis recommends a 9.98% share buyback, enhanced health and safety management provisions Shareholders should vote for the Oasis proposals to protect corporate value and improve corporate governance For more information, please see: https://hazamaandocorpgov.com Oasis Statement on Shareholder Proposals to Hazama Ando Media Contact Taylor Hall media@oasiscm.com Oasis Management Company Ltd. (Oasis) is the manager to funds that are one of the largest minority shareholders of Hazama Ando Corporation (Hazama Ando, Hazama or the Company) (1719 JP), and has submitted two shareholder proposals for the Companys annual general shareholders meeting (AGM) in June aimed at improving corporate governance and value. Hazama Ando is on the brink of repeating the same mistakes that led to the restructuring of its predecessor entity, Hazama Corporation, in 2003 after incurring significant losses in real estate investments. Shareholders must act quickly to prevent Hazamas destructive plan to invest 100 billion of excess cash in real estate. Shareholders must unite to stop Hazamas management from risking the future of the Company once again. In order to protect Hazama Andos future and corporate value for all stakeholders, Oasis has submitted two shareholder proposals, and urges the Company to: Implement a 9.98% share buyback; and Add health and safety management provisions to the Articles of Incorporation. Oasis urges all shareholders who care about Hazamas future and corporate value to vote FOR these proposals at the upcoming AGM. Hazama Ando is a great company but has been rocked by a history of work safety accidents and scandals, including fires, fatalities, underreporting income, as well as poor capital allocation. The Company trades at a normalized PE adjusted for cash of just 1.1x and we believe has an upside of over 140%. In Hazamas revised Medium-Term Business Plan published in February 2020, the Company announced new plans to invest 100 billion representing approximately 73% of Hazamas net assets and 77% of its market capitalization -- in real estate and power projects. These are low-return, high-risk businesses in which Hazama has little expertise, and a history that led not only to significant losses and restructuring, but also the ultimate dismissal of over 1,000 employees. It is imperative that shareholders act now to prevent Hazama from taking this misstep, before it is too late. All stakeholders must unite to protect Hazamas corporate value and improve its governance. More than shareholder returns are at stake. We trust that all shareholders who truly care for Hazamas future will vote for Oasiss value-enhancing investment and measures that prioritize preventative health and safety management. All stakeholders are encouraged to contact Oasis at info@hazamaandocorpgov.com. About Oasis Oasis Management Company Ltd. manages private investment funds focused on opportunities in a wide array of asset classes across countries and sectors. Oasis was founded in 2002 by Seth H. Fischer, who leads the firm as its Chief Investment Officer. More information about Oasis is [..] Oasis has adopted the Japan FSAs Principles of Responsible Institutional Investors (a/k/a Japan Stewardship Code) and in line with those principles, Oasis monitors and engages with our investee companies. Oasis is by no means soliciting or requesting shareholders to jointly exercise their rights (including, but not limited to, voting rights) together with Oasis, and Oasis disclaims its intention to be deemed or treated as a Joint Holder (kyo-do hoyu-sha) with other shareholders under the Japanese Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by virtue of its act to express its view and opinions or other activities to engage in dialogue with other shareholders. In addition, Oasis is by no means soliciting or requesting other shareholders to grant or deliver their proxies to Oasis for any upcoming AGM. Oasis is not and should not be considered to solicit, encourage, induce, or seek from any shareholders to authorize Oasis or any other third party as their proxy in exercising their voting rights on their behalf. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200520005 Costi Hinn names new wave of prosperity preachers, says they are not like his uncle, are businessmen Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Correction appended Costi Hinn, nephew of famed faith healer Benny Hinn, recently shared his experience of being in the prosperity gospel circle where he used donations for his lavish lifestyle and said the movement is now operating in the young Christian culture. The pastor has become well-known for exposing some of the pitfalls of the lifestyle and teachings of his famous uncle and the prosperity gospel. In the latest PreachersNSneakers Podcast episode, Hinn sharing candidly about growing up in that lavish lifestyle, where he once had a decked out Hummer, and it was then that he was around the next generation of prosperity gospel pastors. "Back then, a lot of these guys that are on your account, that are younger, their dads were pretty decent preachers, just good guys, they weren't real wild. They weren't rolling in Bentleys and all that. They would never hit the news as a prosperity preacher. But this whole next generation of guys that are almost like Christian TED Talk motivational speaker types, they really hit it in the business world, Hinn explained. It's almost like gospel business and so it's a different world. They stay away from the white suits, like my uncle, they are not speaking in tongues everywhere and throwing their jackets at people and doing massive crusades. They're appealing to culture in a way that is 'sexy or trendy' and that's really attractive to culture. Hinn named the young megachurch pastors that he grew up around before he came out of the prosperity gospel life. Among them were Judah Smith, Chad Veach, John Gray, his friend Rich Wilkerson Jr. and Carl Lentz. He said his life got flipped upside down after he was married and realized prosperity preachers were living off poor people and manipulating rich people. "It doesn't matter who you're with on your Instagram account. It doesn't matter what kind of car you're driving, what kind of stage you're on, how big the screen is behind you. If you've got reflective lights and audio engineers making you sound like you're Joel Osteen every week, I don't care who you are. God can work at any time in any place in any way, Hinn, who serves as executive pastor of discipleship at Redeemer Bible Church in Arizona, said. "Yes, the church should use media. Yes, we should strive for excellence. Yes, we should care for our pastors. But we're not celebrities. Our ministry and faithfulness is not dependent on crowd-pleasing. It's dependent on God-pleasing." Hinn talked about having to deal with PTSD after coming out of that lifestyle. He battled guilt when doing anything that remotely felt luxurious because of how badly he abused the ministry funds in the past. "Wealth is not a sin; God has blessed you with that wealth. You're allowed to enjoy things, but here's how I would say it: Wealth is not a sin, wealth is a responsibility, he said. "God knows what you need before you ask and He cares for you, food, clothing, shelter. God is saying, Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added. So don't worry about getting stuff, worry about God. "With this preachers and sneakers prosperity gospel world, they're telling everybody, Just claim it, just believe it, it's going to happen. Forget the past, look forward, your blessing's coming, your burdens are preparing you for your blessing, he echoed and then advised: Give them the hope of the gospel, tell them to be content. Don't fail the heart test. The minister testified that God turned his mess of a story and salvation from the prosperity gospel into a book and a ministry that reaches people all over the world and although he is grateful for the blessings, financial gain is not why he shared his story with the world. I didn't save myself and go now I'm going to turn this into my blessing. No, in fact, there are so many things that have happened in my life that have been very hard and they have not amounted to physical blessings, Hinn said. His faith, he said, is in God and he knows that his abundant life will come to full fruition in eternity with Jesus. The Instagram account @preachersnsneakers launched in 2019 and is popular for calling out famous pastors for their taste in expensive shoes, as well as other gear, some of which cost approximately $4,000 per pair. Correction: May 20, 2020: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Costi Hinn is a pastor at Mission Bible Church in California. While he formerly served as a pastor there, he now serves as a pastor at Redeemer Bible Church in Arizona. That has not been the case for everyone. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, for example, was released from prison last week without having met either set of criteria. Legal advisers complained publicly about the reversal, fueling speculation that Cohen was being singled out for harsh treatment because of his soured relationship with Trump. Cohen remained in quarantine, waiting to hit the lower threshold which, with good behavior time, he would do later in the month. Authorities on Thursday identified the Oregon State Police troopers who used deadly force while apprehending a homicide suspect last week on Interstate 84. Grayson D.W. Morris, 26, was being sought in connection with a May 14 homicide in the small eastern Washington city of Ritzville. Troopers chased Morris and exchanged gunfire with him before he was eventually taken into custody near Troutdale. Sgt. Kaipo Raiser, Sr. Trooper Mark Jubitz, Sr. Trooper Fred Testa and Recruit Jered Coates fired their weapons during the encounter, the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office said Thursday. Trooper Joshua McNeely performed a tactical vehicle intervention while trying to stop Morris but did not fire his weapon, the sheriffs office said. The Oregon State Police considers a tactical vehicle intervention a deadly use of force. Each of the troopers is on paid administrative leave, as is standard policy after law enforcement officer shootings. Troopers began chasing Morris after they were alerted he was driving west on I-84 toward Multnomah County. As he drove on I-84, Morris stopped several times and exchanged gunfire with troopers, according to the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office. The sheriffs office said near Morris was near Rooster Rock State Park when he carjacked a vehicle from someone and kept driving. About 8 miles west of there, troopers tried to stop him using spike strips and a tactical pursuit maneuver, according to the Adams County Sheriffs Office. The spike strips were effective, and officers arrested Morris after his car came to rest in a field. He had been injured in the gunfire and was taken to a hospital, according to the Oregon State Police. He is being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center. An investigation continues. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The prime ministers support for the 'Vietnam's Silicon Valley' initiative has prompted HCMC to push ahead with a plan to merge three districts into one administrative unit. The plan, which will to combine Districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc into one administrative unit and make it an "innovative urban area," has been submitted by the municipal Home Affairs Department to the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee. The department has come up with the plan following a meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the city on May 8. The plan to make a "city within a city," temporarily called the "Eastern Town," won the PMs endorsement. This area has been in the making since 2017. City authorities said back then that the plan would generate a bright future for both local residents and businesses. It would encompass the hi-tech park in District 9, the university precinct in Thu Duc District and the new urban area and financial center on the Thu Thiem Peninsula in District 2 to make one innovative hub to serve the citys biggest plan to turn itself into a smart city. The "Eastern Town" is also expected to contribute to the establishment of value added chains based on high technology, modern technical and social infrastructure of international standards, and effective financial support for businesses. It was to play a key role in linking scientific and technical research with commercial production to lift residents lifestyle to "international standards." Le Van Thanh of the HCMC Institute for Development Studies had said: "This will be Vietnam's Silicon Valley." The innovative hub would cover more than 22,000 hectares (54,300 acres) with a population of over 1.1 million. Once the plan is implemented, HCMC will have 22 instead of 24 districts. At the May 8 meeting, PM Phuc, while endorsing the merger of districts, said its official name will be decided later. He also assigned the Ministry of Justice to guide the city on the next steps to take. Temporary setback Earlier this month, the Construction Ministry had put a spoke in the plans saying there was no precedent in the country to establish "a city inside a city" by combining three districts. The ministry was responding to an April letter from city authorities that asked for the ministrys feedback on steps to implement this plan. The ministry also said that there was no legal framework to establish such an area, and noted that the resolution on preferential mechanisms and policies aimed specifically at developing HCMC, approved by the National Assembly in 2017, does not have any regulation on setting up a city inside a city. Furthermore, while HCMC has been planning on developing the innovative and highly interactive urban area in the eastern part, it has not made clear if there is a general urban plan for it and whether such a plan has been studied and approved, the ministry said. Later, at the meeting with the PM, the construction ministry said the city had asked for its guidance while not having a complete picture of the master plan. The ministry felt that such a plan should be dealt with by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Assembly, Vietnams parliament. The home affairs ministry should guide HCMC on making proposal for its plan as a special mechanism for the southern metropolis, the ministry said. At a 2018 meeting, the city's Party Chief, Nguyen Thien Nhan, had said if the city fails to connect the three districts, it will be unable to turn startup ideas into reality, which would be a huge waste of public resources. The "innovative urban area" was part of a plan to turn the countrys largest city into a smart city by 2020. Its ambition was to use scientific advances to resolve the problems the city faces, including rapid population growth, unsustainable economic growth, inadequate forecasting, planning and management, inadequate healthcare, education and public transportation, pollution, and inefficient public administration. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Afghan refugee Mahmood Amiri arrived in the United States more than a month ago, but his children are still waiting for their first day at school. They have yet to go to a mosque to meet other Muslim families. And Amiri is itching to get a job, but nobody knows how long that will take in a crashing economy. Starting a new life in America is never easy for refugees, but doing it during a pandemic has created more struggles, especially after the federal government cut off funding to help them resettle and suspended new arrivals indefinitely. Coronavirus restrictions have affected refugee families in the same ways as anyone else job losses, child care challenges but many are navigating the turmoil in a language they don't fully understand and without extended family or close friends to help. The Amiris arrived in Salt Lake City on March 24, about a week after states began shutting down schools and businesses to try to stop COVID-19 from spreading. After waiting three years for a visa, they ignored warnings from an airplane employee in Kabul that traveling to the U.S. during the pandemic would be dangerous. Amiri, his wife and their four children were the only ones on their final flight from Seattle to Salt Lake City. For them, it was worth the risk. While waiting for a special visa for Afghans and Iraqis who help the U.S. government, Amiri had feared that the Taliban would find out he worked for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and kidnap his family. I knew the situation was very bad, but I had to decide for the (good) of my family, Amiri, 39, said of the pandemic. If my visa expired, they would not extend it. Refugee aid organizations have pivoted from training families for work and school to teaching them how to apply for unemployment benefits and do schoolwork online. Theyre dipping into emergency funds to pay for rent and food for families after losing federal dollars. Were instructing clients on how to navigate a food bank rather than navigating a career path, said Krish OMara Vignarajah, CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Story continues Her organization, one of nine agencies that help refugees resettle in the U.S., has given emergency aid to more than 215 families facing job losses. Refugee families like the Amiris who arrived early this year or late last year are in particularly difficult situations because many dont have the work history to quality for unemployment benefits or relief checks from the U.S. government, OMara Vignarajah said. Ana Lucia Ibarguen and her three children arrived as refugees to Claxton, Georgia, in July after fleeing gang violence in Colombia. She and her 20-year-old son began studying English and working at a clothing distribution center before the pandemic abruptly left them without jobs or a school to study the language. They applied for unemployment benefits but have yet to receive any money. Her son got $1,200 from the coronavirus relief bill, which helped pay rent in May. But Ibarguen, 39, doesnt know how theyll pay their bills in June if they can't get work. Its very hard. Everything changed from one moment to the next, Ibarguen said in Spanish. This makes me more depressed and sad. Some refugees who havent been laid off have jobs that put them at risk of infection, including as ride-hailing drivers, in restaurants and at meatpacking plants like the JBS USA factory in Greeley, Colorado, which has had an outbreak of at least 280 confirmed cases and seven deaths. In the Denver suburb of Aurora, Dr. P.J. Parmar sees many of those workers outside his practice, where he dons head-to-toe protective gear to care for dozens of refugees worried about the coronavirus. Parmar, a family physician who solely serves refugees, says 45% of his patients have tested positive for the virus. One has died, and two others are seriously ill. That high rate is understandable considering that refugees often live in crowded apartments with other families, making social distancing impossible, Parmar said. They also pack vans to carpool to Denver International Airport, where many refugees work, or some 65 miles (105 kilometers) to the meatpacking plant in Greeley. Inside that van, when one coughs, they all cough, Parmar said. The Amiris said they feel safe and their rent and food is being paid for by Catholic Community Services of Utah. But that doesnt mean its been easy to be confined to their two-bedroom apartment near a highway in a Salt Lake City suburb. They dont have a TV or car, and while the parents try to entertain their children ages 15, 13, 6 and 3 with games or walks around the complex, they are restless and want to explore their new city. Utahs public schools were already closed when the family arrived, and the kids keep asking when they can meet their teachers and classmates, Amiri said. The children know very little English and struggle without help from teachers in person. Amiris cousin, who lives nearby, and Catholic Community Services are helping him look for a job. Most refugees find work in three to six months, but the uncertainty of the pandemic makes it harder, said Aden Batar, migration and refugee services director at the Catholic charity. The unknown, thats what were worried about, not knowing how long this pandemic is going to go on, Batar said. This time is going to be tough because there are so many Americans out of jobs. ____ Associated Press writer James Anderson contributed to this report from Denver. Iraqi Intelligence Announces Arrest of Purported Successor to Ex-Daesh Leader al-Baghdadi - Report Sputnik News 19:28 GMT 20.05.2020(updated 20:32 GMT 20.05.2020) US President Donald Trump in October 2019 announced that former Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed as a result of a US military operation. Iraqi intelligence announced on Wednesday that an alleged successor to ex-Daesh* leader al-Baghdadi had been arrested, according to a report by Ashaq al Awsat. According to the INA news agency, Iraqi intelligence detained Abdullah Quardash, a possible successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "Today, the National Intelligence Service announced the arrest of the candidate to succeed the terrorist Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi", INA news agency reported, citing security sources. No official confirmation from Baghdad has followed the reports. According to earlier media reports, 'Abdullah Qardash' is an alias for one of the group's founding members, Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, who was appointed as al-Baghdadi's successor hours after the latter's death. Before al-Baghdadi's killing, there were allegations that the US State Department considered al-Salbi to be his potential successor, and quickly offered a $5 million reward for his capture. The death of al-Baghdadi was announced by Trump in October 2019, who stated that US forces had hunted the terrorist down in Syria's Idlib province and assassinated him. *Daesh is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nanotechnology start-up Log 9 Materials which has come up with a time-critical, novel technological solution (in the form of a small disinfection chamber that uses UV- C rays to kill Coronaviruses) to deal with the rising threat of the transmission of Covid-19 through object surfaces, is associating with the Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore for the CoronaOven project Bengaluru/New Delhi: Nanotechnology start-up Log 9 Materials which has come up with a time-critical, novel technological solution (in the form of a small disinfection chamber that uses UV- C rays to kill Coronaviruses) to deal with the rising threat of the transmission of Covid-19 through object surfaces, is associating with the Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore for the CoronaOven project. As a part of the collaboration, Log 9 and IISC - Bangalore will be working together to carry out further research and optimization for the existing CoronaOven-branded products and also launching a number of new variants for the same product. Notably, the CoronaOven sanitization chamber system, which makes use of UV-C light (having wavelength of 253.7 nm) to disinfect surfaces (of various objects, household and grocery items, food items, etc.), has been scientifically reviewed and verified in terms of UV intensity at the laboratories of IISC. Speaking about the tie-up, Akshay Singhal, Founder & CEO, Log 9 Materials says, We at Log 9 are very happy to note that only in less than a months time since CoronaOvens official launch, the product has gained overwhelming response in domestic markets. Now, following the collaboration with IISC-Bangalore, we are all set to roll out several new product variants of CoronaOven customized as per market needs, as well as expedite the optimization of our existing product range. We are confident that our co-branding with IISC will give us a huge mileage and credibility boost to scale up the effectiveness of the CoronaOven project. Dr. Suryasarathi Bose, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who has been associated with Log 9 for a research project on EMI shielding through graphene composites, has facilitated the latest tie-up between Log 9 Materials and IISC. In the past, Log 9 and IISC had also partnered for 3 other projects. Dr. Suryasarathi Bose says, The disinfection chamber designed by Log 9 is highly effective and reliable as it radiates multifocal UV-C light on each point of the surface on any object to be sterilized, and the UV intensity/dosage used in this device has been certified and deemed appropriate by IISC. Given the current situation pertaining to Covid-19, such science-backed innovations have become the need of the hour to curb or limit the spread. In view of this, IISC and Log 9s joint research initiatives will be significant in speeding up further enhancements on the CoronaOven product. CoronaOven is a patent-pending technology recently developed by Log 9, basis the scientific principle of UltraViolet germicidal irradiation (a disinfection method applying short-wavelength UVC rays) and an US FDA study which demonstrates that controlled UVC light can permanently damage the RNA sequence of SARS-CoV1 virus and render it incapable of multiplying in living cells. This device can kill all types of viruses/pathogens (including viruses from the Corona family) within 10 minutes approximately and from different types of surfaces, after an object is placed inside the disinfection chamber. The product has been listed on Government of Indias e-marketplace portal (www.gem.gov.in), and Log 9 is working closely with the NITI Aayog and state police departments and healthcare providers across India to deploy the product in various hospitals, police stations, airports, among other public spaces. Taking note of the progressively worsening Coronavirus situation in our country, CoronaOven was commercialized (from idea to prototyping to manufacturing and market deployment) by Log 9s team in a record-fast (in less than 15 days) timeframe. In terms of certification, CoronaOven is the only certified product-of-its-kind in the Indian market, which has already earned a UV intensity certificate from IISC, Biological Indicator Certificate from Trustwell Hospital, Bengaluru, and BSL-3 Virological Testing is underway at CSIRs labs. Log 9 is already manufacturing more than 200 units of CoronaOven every day, and expects to scale up production to 500+ units and develop at least 10 more product variants by June 2020. Whether being at home feels like a blessing or a curse, all of us have spent more time in our homes in the past couple of months due to the coronavirus pandemic. And even as states begin to reopen, many of us are still working at home, still eating most of our meals at home and still trying to stay home as much as possible to avoid spreading COVID-19. And we all share in the feeling of mourning as, one by one, anticipated events have been canceled graduations, concerts, birthday celebrations, trips, games, recitals, plays and any kind of get-together. The Alabama Shakespeare Festival has had its share of postponements and cancellations. Among the full slate of productions scheduled for 2020 was the Southern Writers Festival, an event that has taken place annually since 1991. It was supposed to happen the third weekend in May. Since it had to be canceled this year, Artistic Director Rick Dildine decided to celebrate the new work of Southern writers in a different way. He commissioned 22 playwrights from around the South to spend a week writing short monologues based on the theme of home. Then each writer chose or was paired with an actor to spend one week bringing their work to life. Dildine gave the playwrights suggested reading for inspiration, including The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams; Home by Samm-Art Williams; and Why I Live at the P.O. by Eudora Welty. He also encouraged them to use ingredients such as a Southern dish that everyone asks for; an Amazon package; a broken promise from long ago; their state flower; a sudden interruption; and a lasting change on a group of people, a land or a culture. The result, 22 Homes, is available on ASFs website and features the work of playwrights at various stages of their careers. Its a very diverse group, he says. Southerners sometimes have to leave the South to get appreciated. Its important to celebrate our brothers and sisters of the South, from the South, here. Among the standouts are works from two Alabama playwrights, Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder from Mobile and Quinton Cockrell from Birmingham. In Wilders Give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread, a mother, performed by Cynthia Barrett, records herself talking to her millennial daughter, who is moving into her first home (I could have just sent this to you in the mail with a note, but theres just too much to say.). Shes preparing to send her a special housewarming gift: her great-grandmothers treasured cast-iron skillet, along with her handwritten recipe for cornbread. Though the mom is upbeat, her words leave a lump in the throat. Thousands of meals have been cooked in this skillet, she says. A good piece of cast iron has the spirit of everybody its ever fed cooked into it. When it feels like you have nothing, youll have this a little piece of home. Cockrells wrenching contribution, The Way He Should Go, features a father talking to the minister who recently preached at his sons funeral. Beautifully acted by a tearful Christopher Gerson, its one of the longest monologues at nearly 11 minutes, but its an unforgettable one. Im in trouble, the dad admits. Every single hope I ever had is gone with him. But not all the monologues are tear-jerkers. Lauren Gundersons The Cat is laugh-out-loud funny, with Suehyla El-Attar portraying a feline who has had enough of the humans invading her space. There used to be solitude, she mourns. But now theres only commotion and worry and encroachment and, oh my God, do they drink a lot now. Dildine chose the number 22 intentionally because Alabama is the nations 22nd state. He also provided the writers a list of actors who were scheduled to perform in ASF productions that have been canceled because of the pandemic. Weve had a great response to it, Dildine says. The playwrights and actors thanked us for giving them something creative to do during this time. For some of them, it was an opportunity to develop a character whos been living in their head, or to use the exercise as the catalyst to start a new play. Dildine got a little jolt every time a monologue arrived in his inbox. I appreciate the humanity and depth of character that come from Southern writers, a specificity and an authenticity that stand out in American literature, he says. Now in his third year at ASF, he describes it as my dream job, where hes surrounded by phenomenal craftspeople, artists and staff. I feel very lucky. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook livestream feed shut off while he was talking to employees about his prediction that more than half of the company will be working from home permanently by 2030. The Facebook CEO was nearly done with his discussion about the future of the company's 50,000-person workforce during a livestream on Thursday when it suddenly cut out and an error screen appeared. Zuckerberg did manage to finish most of his discussion which began with him saying: 'I think it's clear that COVID has changed a lot about our lives. That certainly includes the way that most of us work.' 'We've already told people that through 2020, they can chose to work from home,' he said, adding that 95 per cent or more of the company's employees are currently working from home. 'We are going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale, with a thoughtful and responsible plan for how to do this,' Zuckerberg said. 'But we're going to do this in a measured way over time'. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook livestream feed shut off (error screen, right) while he was talking to employees about his prediction that more than half of the company will be working from home permanently by 2030 The billionaire then went on to give his prediction for the future. 'I think that it's quite possible that over the next five to 10 years about 50 per cent of our people could be working remotely. 'That's not a target or goal,' Zuckerberg said, before pointing to the survey results from Facebook employees that found there is a lot of demand to continue working from home. With the permanent remote work, Facebook has outlined criteria for an individual's eligibility. First, an employee must be experienced. Secondly, Zuckerberg said employees must have 'very strong recent performances, which includes two meets-all expectations or above ratings'. Zuckerberg said the employees must be 'a part of a team that is supporting remote work'. Lastly, 'you have to start by getting approval from your group leader,' Zuckerberg added. Regarding compensation, Zuckerberg said Facebook employees will be paid based on location. That means that compensation will be lower for people living in less expensive areas. He said the company has set a January 1, 2021 deadline for staff to update their new locations. Zuckerberg's announcement comes as businesses (file image, employees working from home) adjust to the impact of COVID-19, which is also expected to reshape the future of office spaces after the pandemic retreats Zuckerberg's announcement comes as businesses adjust to the impact of COVID-19, which is also expected to reshape the future of office spaces after the pandemic retreats. Shopify also recently made a similar announcement. Tobi Lutke, the CEO of Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify declared on Thursday the end of 'office centricity' and decided to keep company offices closed till 2021, allowing most employees to work remotely on a permanent basis after that. Ottawa-based Shopify, which briefly became Canada's most valuable company earlier this month, had more than 5,000 employees and contractors worldwide as of December. 'As of today, Shopify is a digital by default,' Lutke, who is also the founder of Shopify, said in a tweet. 'We will keep our offices closed until 2021 so that we can rework them for this new reality. Office centricity is over.' Square Inc and Twitter recently allowed employees to continue working from home permanently. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. United States - May 21, 2020 - A majority of individuals endorse marijuana and a few people opposed to marijuana and due to this, it is becoming a burning issue in recent times. There are several other names of marijuana for example weed, pot, grass, Mary Jane, etcetera, and it is considered as herbal medicine which is produced to heal the body. Marijuana is actually dried flowers of cannabis Sativa plant and it is available in greenish-grey colored. Marijuana smoking is one of the best ways to calm the mind and so that many individuals regularly smoke marijuana. 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I think that the Paycheck Protection Program has provided an important lifeline to some businesses, Bill Menner, executive director of the Iowa Rural Development Council, told a U.S. House subcommittee on small business. The program was designed as a forgivable loan if a business kept its employees on the payroll for eight weeks. The funds could be used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities. The program had limitations, however, and many small businesses were not able to participate, Menner said during the virtual hearing chaired by Iowa 1st District Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a member of the House Rural Development, Agriculture, Trade and Entrepreneurship subcommittee of the House Small Business Committee. In particular, he said, restaurants and other businesses closed by government orders were not able to take advantage of the loans because it would have required them to bring back their entire staffs when they were operating for takeout only or not open at all. Small businesses lead the way for many communities, especially in rural America, said Finkenauer, a Dubuque Democrat. When this crisis is over, we must make sure our small-town pharmacists, town-square restaurants, hardware stores and florists are still in business and serving their communities, she said. Right now, their futures are in doubt. For some businesses, the Paycheck Protection Program provided emotional as well as financial support, Melissa Moretz, a farmer and Mason City banker, said. While we were filling out the application together, (a businessman) stopped me and he said, Melissa, I am responsible for nine families. What do I do if I cant take care of those nine families? Moretz said. At that point in time, I realized that this is what were here to do. So thats one small story of success out of that program. Her bank was able to help more than 650 businesses secure more than $86 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, she said. Not everything is going smoothly, she added. Some of those businesses are now getting close to the end of their eight-week loan but are just now getting guidance on what they must do to be eligible for loan forgiveness. So theyve been spending this money for six weeks and now theyre unsure if they did it correctly, she said. A key to her success, both on the farm and at the bank, was access to reliable internet service, said Moretz, who farms near Kensett in Worth County. Ive been working from home for the last two months and, thankfully, we do have in our area a good source of rural broadband, but its not the same just a few miles away, she said. As he looks ahead to what a COVID-19 recovery looks like, Menner has no doubt access to high-speed broadband will be key to the future of rural America. Small businesses in many places have pivoted to provide a greater online presence, assuming their internet speeds are sufficient to do so, said Menner, who lives in Grinnell. Rural residents are working remotely in huge numbers. ... Rural communities are fashioning tech-based, coworking spaces and incubators and venues for online collaboration. Unfortunately, too much of rural America is disconnected. And the opportunities that arise from the ashes of this pandemic in regard to distributed work and online commerce and tech-based collaboration will be lost if rural communities do not have access to high-speed internet, Menner said. Finkenauer compared the impact COVID-19 is having on rural Iowa to the losses experienced during the recession in 2008-09. Then, she said, rural America was hit harder than more urban areas and did not recover as quickly. Many rural areas struggled with people moving away during that time and losing more and more jobs, Finkenauer said. So the geographic division in our country will likely intensify if we dont get this right when it comes to this recovery. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Two more local officials have appealed to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases to reconsider its no back-riding policy in the country. Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla, in a letter shared on his Facebook page on Thursday, urged the task force to allow motorcycle-riding for couples who live together. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas sent a similar appeal to the IATF on May 19, with hopes that instead of just the wife or husband, other immediate family members could also be permitted to be pillion passengers. Remullas plea was accompanied by the suggestion that the Cavite provincial government issue a couples pass to ensure that couples share the same house. Pillion riding is seen to make commuting easier for many, since public utility vehicles operate at a reduced capacity in areas under general community quarantine such as Cavite and Iloilo City. However, back-riding on motorcycles is prohibited by the government, as it is a violation of physical distancing, one of the ways to combat the spread of coronavirus disease. Remulla clarified that he is not against the no-passenger policy for motorcycles, but he pointed out that this rule has been holding back many employees from physically returning to work. Para sa marami, ang polisiyang ito lamang ang humahadlang para sila ay makabalik sa trabaho, he said. [Translation: For many workers, this is only thing that is keeping them from going back to work.] The Iloilo mayor noted that the number of authorized public transport vehicles in the city is not enough to cater the volume of commuters or workers going out to report for work. In March, the IATF turned down similar requests from three mayors from Cebu province. The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission named Jerrilynn Miller, a teacher at the Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School in Beaumont the winner of the 2020 Anna Steinberger Outstanding Educator Award during a virtual ceremony this week. Students, fellow teachers, and the namesake of the award, Anna Steinberger herself were present at the ceremony. Steinberger is a Holocaust survivor and served as a founding member of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. She retired from the University of Texas Medical School in 2001 but has continued to demonstrate a commitment to education in Texas. The award was given to Miller for her work in teaching a self-designed special topics course in Holocaust Literature, and her participation in training and seminars on the topic. Mrs. Millers dedication to Holocaust education is not only seen in how she teaches her students, but in the trainings and seminars in which she has participated, as well, THGC said in a release. A United States Holocaust Memorial Museum teacher fellow since 2018, Mrs. Miller attended the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Teachers in 2010. Miller has worked at the school since 2014, and also teaches World Geography and English Language Arts. According to the THGC, Miller is also active on campus - supporting yearbook and journalism teams, the ping pong club and co-sponsoring the Anchor club. Miller was in the running for the award with applicants from across the state, including teachers as far south as La Joya, as north as Dallas, and as far east as Beaumont. According to the release, the THGC is committed to supporting efforts to teach the next generation about the Holocaust and/or genocides in the Ottoman Empire, Cambodia, Rwanda, the Balkans, Darfur and the Middle East. This is the third running year of the award, which is given to one educator who demonstrated a record of excellence in engaging any of the aforementioned subjects with Texas students in grades 6-12. The Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission is a state commission that was established to bring awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides to Texas students, educators, and the general public by ensuring availability of resources, according to the release. isaac.windes@hearstnp.com twitter.com/isaacdwindes Only one case of the syndrome had been reported to Virginias health department as of Wednesday night. That case involved a child in the Fairfax health district who was hospitalized on May 5 and has since been discharged and is recovering at home. The number could change over the next few days given reporting lags, said Alena Yarmosky, spokeswoman for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D). By Express News Service MadaGaja director Mahesh Kumar is back at work. He is currently busy with the song recording with Ravi Basrur, who has come on board as the music director. The film, starring Sriimurali, is bankrolled by Umapathy Films. The action entertainer has Ashika Ranganath playing the female lead, and she is paired opposite the Roaring Star for the first time. We are currently recording the songs for Madagaja. The film will consist of four songs, which will be mostly situational. Lyrics for two of the tracks have been written by Chethan Kumar, while the other two songs will be penned by Ravi Basrur and Kinnal Raj. We are through with 25 per cent of the shoot, and the Varanasi schedule was completed just before the lockdown. The team is now waiting for the government to grant permission to resume the shoot. Our plan is chalked out, and we will begin the shooting in Mysuru, followed with Gundlupete, Hognekal and Bengaluru, he says. Team Madagaja also has Mufti cinematographer Naveen Kumar while Mohan B Kere is taking the responsibility of artworks. Meanwhile, the director has almost finalised the rest of the cast, which will also include two villains, played by actors who have a pan-India appeal. However, an official announcement will be made by the production house when they join the sets. I once read that the definition of an introvert is someone who prefers calm, minimally stimulating environments. Introverts tend to feel drained after socializing and regain their energy by spending time alone. This is largely because introverts brains respond to dopamine differently than extroverts brains. Many people think because Im outgoing and can make conversation easily or because Im not afraid to get on stage and talk to hundreds of people that I must be an extrovert. And they would be wrong. I love to be alone. Its one reason I moved from the big city to the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. If I go for a walk in my neighborhood I will smile and wave at a passerby (because its the polite thing to do and my mama raised me right) but I consider it a victory if I dont have to interact with a single human. I need my alone time. I am also an eternal optimist, a glass is half full, a Pollyanna and proud of it. So, in times of crisis I always look for the upside. What can we learn? What is going well? How can we help others? What can we learn? I think there are so many lessons during this crisis. The biggest one for me is that rules are made to be broken. For example, in New Mexico we have banned the plastic grocery bags and were charging those that forgot to bring their own if the store had to give up a paper bag. Today they will not allow you to bring in your COVID covered bags and are not charging you for the good old-fashioned paper ones. Taxes due on the 15th of April? Nope. Now you have more time. I got some takeout from a local restaurant on Friday. When I handed her my credit card she said Can I just sign the receipt for you? Sure! Its safer. We also re-learned that we should ALWAYS wash our hands. I find it an interesting brand strategy that so many companies are now highlighting their NEW way of cleaning. What did they do before? We dont want to know. Will they continue to make daily cleaning a part of their routine? I hope so. What is going well? I had to run two errands on Saturday. One was at Target. Ive always loved Target. But now they have a nice greeter that has assured me that the cart Im about to take has been thoroughly cleaned. I saw employees in the food aisles wiping down the handles on the freezer doors. After a customer left the self-check stand an employee raced over to clean it with sanitizer. I like that world. Then I went to Trader Joes. I had to queue up to get in because they were limiting the number of shoppers in the store at the same time. The line moved quickly and the store was not crowded at all obviously. I had to leave my own bags in my trunk but was allowed to bag the groceries myself. I like bagging groceries. Im very critical of how others arrange my stuff. When I got back to my car is was easy for me then to put the frozen food IN the frozen food bag! Liquor stores are considered to be an essential function. I agree wholeheartedly. Netflix gave us Tiger King and it has united viewers across this nation. (Oh, and Carol Baskin totally killed her husband). How can we help others? I continue to volunteer with the Cochiti Fire Department as an Advanced EMT. Im happy to do it since I work from home anyway, Im basically quarantined all the time. And did I mention, Im an introvert? Yesterday we stopped at Starbucks after transporting a patient to a hospital in Albuquerque. We like to reward ourselves with nice coffee and YES, the ambulance barely fit in the drive-thru lane. When we got up to the window to pay the employee, she told us the car in front of us paid for our drinks. Thats never happened to me before. Felt pretty cool. She paid it forward. I spoke to a friend this morning that is forced to work from home. Shes going nuts. She explained to me that shes an extrovert and gets a lot of her energy by getting out of the house and going to an office where she can interact with adults all day long. She has three small school aged children who are in school that has also become her office. She told me that she is terrified to lose her job and wants to be seen as essential so she is glued to her computer all the while yelling at her kids to keep quiet when shes on one of many conference calls. This does not replace the human interaction she got at work. I guess it never occurred to me just how many people are in her situation today. They get to work from home, which to me sounds lovely. I have been working from home for years and could not imagine ever going back to an office environment. But this is her nightmare. And to add to it the uncertainty of her job, her kids education. Is she supposed to teach them? Keep them entertained? Both? And work? Even though most credit union employees are considered essential and have not lost their paycheck, its not a victory. Either you are so essential youre still at the branch serving members and at risk. Or youre forced to work from home, perhaps with school aged children that now need your attention while you try desperately to show your value. How can we help others? By being kind. Everyone is under stress right now. The Ross Family is excited to move into their new Habitat for Humanity home, which was sponsored by MaintenX. MaintenX is thrilled that the Ross family is able to have a safe, beautiful house to call home during such a stressful, unpredictable time. MaintenX International, one of the nations largest proactive and reactive facility maintenance providers, was able to welcome the Ross Family in Pinellas County, Fla., into their new Habitat for Humanity home. While the journey to home dedication was anything but typical, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, MaintenX believes the challenges made the completion of this home build even sweeter. Due to social distancing requirements from COVID-19, the usual Habitat for Humanity volunteer schedule came to a halt in March. However, MaintenX was still able to lend their expertise in Roofing, Plumbing and HVAC, as an essential business and the subcontractor on the project. MaintenX team members Ismael Rios, Derrick Barwick, and Russell Leffers led the project on the MaintenX side from start to finish, helping guide their team members to a successful build completion. This is the second Habitat for Humanity home that MaintenX has sponsored. MaintenX is thrilled that the Ross family is able to have a safe, beautiful house to call home during such a stressful, unpredictable time, said Bill Schaphorst, MaintenXs VP of Business Development. It also brought a smile to our teams face to see that the house was painted bright blue almost exactly the same shade as MaintenX blue! MaintenX knows that attention to detail is a critical component of their success and pitched in to make the Ross familys move-in day even more special, since hosting a typical home dedication ceremony was not possible. More than 20 members of the MaintenX team, from across the country and at all levels of the organization, sent in clips to create a video to welcome the Ross family to their new home and send them positive wishes. A beautiful plant arrangement, a gift from the MaintenX team, was ready to greet the Rosses on their front porch. MaintenX also gifted the family a $500 Target Gift Card and a gift certificate for the full cost and installation of a garage door opener system. Everyone made a really great effort to show Habitat and the Ross family how much we care and wanted to be involved on their special day of becoming home-owners, said Schaphorst. Its moments like these that remind me why I am so proud to be a part of team MaintenX. To learn more about MaintenX and their commitment to serving their community and customers, visit http://www.MaintenX.com. ABOUT MAINTENX INTERNATIONAL: MaintenX International is a fully licensed, facilities repair company. As one of the largest national self-performing facility maintenance and repair companies in the U.S., MaintenX has created a wide network of knowledgeable and professional technicians throughout the country. With their team of well-trained technicians, MaintenX self-performs and manages facility maintenance for their clients. In the event there is not a MaintenX technician in an area, the company has established a network of preferred vendor partners throughout the country for continued superior service for their clients. For more than 40 years, MaintenX has been expertly serving multi-location retail stores, restaurant chains and Fortune 500 companies nationwide. By Jesse C. Nelson With recent comments from Jordan warning against the Israeli government moving forward with its annexation plans of nearly a third of the West Bank, I want to present a perspective of two days on the ground in Ramallah this past February, as well as time spent in Israel. Being on the ground in an area does not make one an expert on that area. But then again, never having set foot in a country and having a firm opinion on the realities of the place based solely on news sources is unwise. But first let me provide further background. In addition to the Jordan Valley, the Israeli government intends to fully annex pockets of illegal settlements in the West Bank, giving Palestine the appearance of Swiss cheese. Such settlements draw upon water reserves belonging to Palestine. If one wonders why Israeli land flourishes so much compared to Palestinian land, here is the main culprit. This annexation of the West Bank is led by Benjamin Netanyahu, a prime minister who has been in power since 2009 and has been under a criminal investigation since 2017. I spent nine days in Israel and two days in Palestine. I had no interest in partaking in a West Bank tour via an Israeli travel agency, as is often encouraged in Israel. Like water diverted from Palestinians to Israelis, here is a case of cash flow being diverted in the same way. Instead I simply took the local bus from Jerusalem to Ramallah. I intended to also visit Bethlehem and Jericho, both part of Palestine, but a combination of one of my days being Friday (the equivalent of a Sunday for Muslims), and a windy rainstorm that hit the area, I had to confine my visit to Ramallah. My first impression of Palestine's largest city was inevitably the military checkpoint and wall that one must pass to arrive. Afterward I was surprised to encounter a city like anywhere else in the world. People were friendly and full of life. Despite being a bit crowded, shops, restaurants, and other such establishments lined the main street. I even stopped at a bar that night to try Taybeh, which is Palestine's own locally brewed beer. I stayed at a hostel run and staffed by knowledgeable and welcoming Palestinians. Ramallah left me wishing to have diverted more of my days in Israel to Palestine. That is not to knock what I saw in Israel. But I preferred not spending any money on national museums. In Jaffa, at a meet-up for listeners to "No Agenda," a podcast that analyzes mainstream news content, I met a couple of Israelis who made two points clear to me. The first concerns political parties. Israel has two main parties, a right wing party and a more-right wing party. The second is that restrictions of movement make it impossible for reasonable Israelis and Palestinians to ever meet face to face. If annexation plans proceed as proposed, then Jordan's prediction for disaster seems likely. The author (razoripress@yahoo.com), currently teaching at Dongseo University, is also a freelance writer and avid traveler, who has visited 104 countries to date. In an internal meeting with staff on Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is planning to shift the majority of its workforce to be able to work remotely in the next 5-10 years. Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies to quickly adopt remote working strategies. Tech companies, which are well-equipped for remote work, are preparing to make remote work the new normal for most of their employees. Zuckerberg told Axios: "My prediction is that in 5-10 years we could have ~50% working remote. That's not a target, just a prediction based on the demand we've seen so far." "The first steps will be aggressively opening up remote hiring around the whole US and Canada, especially for experienced engineers, as well as letting some employees request to become permanent remote workers." Details: In an interview with NBC, Zuckerberg said it "doesn't seem that good to constrain hiring to people who live around offices." Zuckerberg says that the company plans to unlocking remote hiring immediately. In the past, Zuckerberg had implied that working in or near a Facebook office was important towards maintaining a strong workplace culture. Now, that idea seems less feasible and less necessary, given that the company continues to perform well despite more people working remotely. Be smart: Facebook has already said that people can work remotely through the end of 2020 if they choose. It was one of the first companies to tell employees to start working from home, if possible, in the first place. It's already said that non-essential corporate travel is cancelled until 2021. The big picture: More remote work will be a major trend coming out of the coronavirus. Big companies like Facebook will pioneer that trend. Twitter and Square, both run by Jack Dorsey, announced last week that people could work from home indefinitely if they wanted to. Go deeper: Many tech workers won't go back to offices after coronavirus crisis Mozambiques government has revoked a decree passed last July requiring journalists to pay hefty accreditation fees. Foreign correspondents had to pay $2,500 (2,000) for each trip to the country and those living here had to pay $8,300 a year. Local journalists reporting for foreign outlets had to pay an annual fee of $3,500. Freelancers had to pay $500 each year. The cabinets decision followed a ruling by the Constitutional Council, which declared the decree unconstitutional. A case had been brought by several groups concerned about freedom of speech in the southern African nation. According to the government press office, accreditation licences are now free of charge - but journalists must pay around $7 to get an accreditation card. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The resumption of bus service in the state on Wednesday after around two months came as a big relief for the people stranded in different locations due to curfew. Around 35 buses, both of PRTC and Punjab Roadways, ferried passengers to various destinations, including Jalandhar, Amritsar, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Sangrur, Ferozepur, from the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) here on Wednesday. Each bus carried 20 to 25 passengers against its sitting capacity of 50. The passengers were ferried from one bus stand to another with no halts at bus stops on the way. As there was no rush of passengers on the first day, buses had to wait for several hours for an adequate number of passengers of the end destination. The first bus to Chandigarh from Ludhiana left at pm after 23 people boarded the bus for Chandigarh. I have to go to Jalandhar, but a conductor informed me that the last bus left 10 minutes ago. Now, I will have to wait for an hour or more till more passengers for Jalandhar gather here, said Lalit Kumar, a resident of Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir, whose wife Urmil is admitted in Deep Hospital here for appendicitis surgery. I have to get some important documents concerning her treatment from Kathua, so I will take a bus from Jalandhar to Pathankot from where I will go with my cousin to Kathua after some days when the border opens, he said. Similarly, Prem Singal, a vegetable vendor, who travelled from Hoshiarpur to Ludhiana, was waiting for a bus to Patiala. My mother, who lives in Hoshiarpur, was not well, so I had gone to meet her in March while my wife and two kids were in Patiala, where I sell vegetables to make a living. They were left on their own throughout the curfew, while I was stuck in Hoshiapur. I also ran out of money during this time and left with the money just for travelling, he added. PASSENGERS SCREENED BEFORE BOARDING BUSES Around 14 rural dispensary pharmacists were deputed at the bus stand for screening passengers before they boarded the buses. Karamjeet Kaur, a pharmacist, said the temperature of all the passengers is being checked and in case a person is found having high temperature, he will be taken to the hospital. Till now, we have not encountered any passenger with fever. We are screening each and every person and giving him a sanitiser to clean his hands before boarding the bus, she said. Similarly, around 10 Civil Defence staff members helped in maintaining social distancing at the bus stand. The volunteers ensured people stood in queues while boarding the buses and sit at a distance as per the marking on the seats. Inderjit Singh Chawla, general manager, Ludhiana depot, said around 500 people boarded the 35 buses for different cities on Wednesday. Everything went on smoothly on the first day. The municipal corporation sanitised the bus stand on Tuesday evening while the civil surgeons office had deputed a medical team for carrying out screening. Similary, a Civil Defence team helped us in maintaining social distancing, said Inderjit Singh Chawla. We ensured that people do not face any inconvenience and buses reach safely at their destinations, he added. The impact of the coronavirus on the UK's food supply chains will be tracked as part of a new study showing how the crisis has affected the journey from farm to plate. Researchers will investigate the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic for farmers, manufacturers, distributers and retailers. Their work will help those in the food supply chain as they restructure rapidly, as well as inform government policy-making. Representatives from industry bodies will share their experiences as part of the study, with findings disseminated as quickly as possible. The research will show the impact of cafes and restaurants which account for around a third of food supply in the UK - being shut and how suppliers have adapted. Through surveys and interviews researchers will seek to find out how food supply chains have changed and what is preventing necessary changes. This could be staffing, transport, skills, capacity or market intelligence. It is hoped the University of Exeter study will show the changes needed to make Britains food supply chain more efficient, and also fair for different types of producers. This could include regulation, investment and incentives. Growing food sales in shops havent helped manufacturers who are part of specialist and fixed supply chains for example producing milk for coffee shops. Even when lockdown ends the current crisis could have long-term implications, researchers predict. The team will produce monthly bulletins showing their findings, and people can provide evidence for their work via the projects website. Professor Michael Winter, of the University of Exeter, said it is vital that in the coming months the nation's food supplies are secure and resilient. Efficient and well-functioning supply chains are often hidden to consumers, but they are essential to making sure we can purchase the food we need. To achieve resilience we need to know how the supply chain is adapting, and critically, what steps might be required to ensure food continues to reach shops and that there is fairness for food workers and consumers. "We will hear from those in the middle of making these crucial decisions, not just retailers," Professor Winter said. Lppex.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 23 Jun 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. The total number of people who shared the lppex homepage on StumbleUpon. The total number of people who shared the lppex homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the lppex homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the lppex homepage on Twitter + the total number of lppex followers (if lppex has a Twitter account). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the lppex homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if lppex has a Facebook fan page). Basic Information PAGE TITLE London Platinum Palladium Exchange DESCRIPTION Platinum, Palladium and Platinum Group Metals London Brokerage KEYWORDS Buy Palladium, Buy Platinum, Iridium, Rhodium Buy, Ruthenium, Sell Palladium, Sell Platinum, Trade Platinum Group Metals OTHER KEYWORDS The title found in the head section of the homepage. The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. 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Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. The type of Facebook page. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND We know that in the aftermath of COVID-19, life is not going to be the same. The economic impact will be far reaching and long lasting. Many of us will have to give up our existing career or business/profession and look at starting afresh. Others may be thinking of taking break and living a quiet and quality life, perhaps in a new city or country. Whatever may be our needs and desires, we need to start thinking and working on alternatives and have a plan B. We have studied the impact of COVID- 19, and the measures taken by some of the leading countries in the world to revive their economy and protect jobs and businesses. We have also studied the immigration policies and programmes of these countries. Based on the same, we have identified the following four countries, amongst others, which we believe, offer better opportunities to make a new beginning and enjoying a stable and quality life. Canada Canada is fast becoming the most preferred destination for immigration for Indians, overtaking the USA. Its a warm and welcoming approach towards immigrants and highly favourable immigration policy has been attracting people from all segments students, skilled workers, entrepreneurs, etc. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show On the lines of the US, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick to announce a $82 billion stimulus package to protect jobs and businesses from the impact of COVID-19. These measures will go a long way in ensuring that businesses survive and thrive, and jobs are retained. Despite the lockdown since mid-March, Canadas immigration system remains operational and the immigration draws have continued both at federal as well as provincial level. This shows how important immigration is to Canada. However, given the need to protect existing jobs and create new ones, the Entrepreneur stream of immigration is likely to get more preference over the jobs stream. Under the Entrepreneur stream, one can invest $100,000 and above in setting up a new business in Canada which leads to permanent residency and ultimately Canadian citizenship. Many Indian investors have already moved to Canada under this programme, and are now a part of the vibrant and successful Indian community there. This Entrepreneur stream could be your gateway to starting a new life in Canada. Portugal Portugal has been one lucky country in Europe to remain relatively less impacted by COVID-19. However, more than luck, it is the quick action taken by a high response government which has helped Portugal contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic and its after-effects. Located in the southwestern tip of Europe, along the Atlantic, Portugal has been one of the best places to live in Europe. It has warm and sunny weather and a long coastline dotted with beautiful beaches and breath-taking landscape has been attracting people from all over the world. All these, along with its friendly people and low cost of living make it a perfect place to retire and enjoy a quality life. Portugals Golden Visa programme has been one of the most popular European immigration programmes since its introduction in 2012. It is one of the most flexible programmes which help you plan your immigration to Europe in the future while continuing to stay in your own country. By spending just 7 days in Portugal in a year for five years, you become eligible for citizenship and ultimately right to live work and study in any of the 27 European Union countries. The Portugal Golden Visa could be your gateway to enjoying a stable, secure, and quality life in Europe. USA The America Dream seems to have lost its shine as the US is no longer the most preferred immigration destination for the Indians, at least in the short run. This is mainly due to the twin effect of the negative publicity due to the handling of the COVID-19 and the uncertainty due to all the noise around the immigration ban announced by Donal Trump. (read our earlier article here Trumps Immigration Ban). However, the US continues to be the biggest and the most resilient economy and is likely to bounce back much faster than most of the other world economies (remember the bounce back after the financial crises in 2009). For those having long term plans for the US, specially for business expansion/diversification, the current situation provides a perfect opportunity to take the first step to make inroads. Distress sales opportunity are aplenty, and funds are available at extremely low cost. The best way to capitalise on this opportunity is through L1 A visa, a non-immigrant visa to which the immigration ban is not applicable. It is an Inter-Company Transfer visa which allows businesses in India to transfer their senior executives as well as business owners to the US for the purpose of exploring business opportunities. The low cost and investment commitment associated with it is the most attractive feature of this visa, specially in the current situation. However, there are a lot of conditions attached to this Visa and not all businesses can qualify. Australia Australia continues to be among the favourite immigration destinations. Like Canada, Australias immigration programmes are competitive, and points driven, tailored to suit the countrys specific requirements. Broadly, there are two categories -- Skilled Workers and Investors. Given the current situation, most countries are trying to protect jobs and hence the intake under the skilled workers programme is likely to be limited. The Investors programme on the other hand, will see a surge in interest. However, the high investment amount coupled with the low approval rates could act as barriers. Paresh Karia is a chartered accountant specialising in immigration. Alabama is one of three states to sign on with Google and Apple for a new contact tracing app designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Alabama, North Dakota and South Carolina have signed agreement with the tech giants to use the tracing technology to develop COVID-19 tracking apps. Twenty-two foreign countries have also signed agreements to use the technology, known as Exposure Notifications. (Weve) joined hands with these two global giants in hopes of helping our people learn when and where they may have gotten exposed to this virus, Gov. Kay Ivey said Thursday. Hopefully, this will become an important tool in the tool kit to slow the spread of coronavirus by using what almost every Alabamians has in their pocketa cell phone. States using the technology will create tracing apps using Bluetooth technology. When someone tests positive for COVID-19, the system will send a notification to anyone who was recently near that person, advising them to contact their local healthcare authority to receive a coronavirus test. CNBC reported the technology includes storing data on a persons phone and not on a central database. Each user gets to decide whether or not to opt-in to Exposure Notifications; the system does not collect or use location from the device; and if a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, it is up to them whether or not to report that in the public health app, Google and Apple said in a joint statement. User adoption is key to success and we believe that these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage use of these apps. The technology is included in iPhone and Android updates released Wednesday. [May 21, 2020] GP Strategies Takes a Comprehensive Approach to COVID-19 Recovery Efforts COLUMBIA, Md., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the world continues to navigate the COVID-19 crisis, global performance improvement solutions provider GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) is expanding its support across the United States and Puerto Rico. GP Strategies is working alongside public and private institutions to develop and deliver emergency response and recovery services that will help them implement measures to prepare for safe reopening and ongoing continuity as new guidelines come out across the country. As efforts to reopen the United States become a major focus over the next several months, GP Strategies is prioritizing their business continuity and planning services to support businesses and governments. In May 2020, GP Strategies was part of a select team chosen to support 28 counties in the state of Florida with its COVID-19 recovery efforts. These services will include applying for FEMA Public Assistance and accurately accounting for eligible expenses related to COVID-19 response and preparedness activities. Additionally, the company is supporting similar initiatives across Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas, and Puerto Rico. GP Strategies has worked with many of these states in the past to support natural disaster relief efforts during hurricane season and unexpected natural disaster outbreaks. "As this pandemic unfolds, our team has customized a variety of support services based on our clients' individual needs," stated Joshua Norma, Director, Homeland Security and Emergency Management, GP Strategies. "We have decades of experience preparing for and responding to emergencies and events including terrorism, natural disasters, and pandemics and have been serving governments and private industry throughout the country since the beginning of this pandemic. We have assisted with initial response efforts, such as coronavirus testing, and are providing financial recovery services and help with preparation for a potential future outbreak with planning, training, and testing of response capabilities," added Norman. In addition to federal, state, and local governments and public health institutions, GP Strategies has been contacted by a variety of private organizations that need help as well. "We are speaking with colleges and universities that need assistance to safely reopen their schools this fall. This is certainly one area that is extremely important to address, and we are developing plans to assist them with their reopening strategy," said Norman. To learn more about GP Strategies' Emergency Management Services, please visit https://www.gpstrategies.com/solution/emergency-management-services/. About GP Strategies GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) is a global performance improvement solutions provider of training, digital learning solutions, management consulting, and engineering services. GP Strategies' solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting, and business improvement services customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers. Additional information can be found at gpstrategies.com. 2020 GP Strategies Corporation. All rights reserved. GP Strategies and the GP Strategies logo design are trademarks of GP Strategies Corporation. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gp-strategies-takes-a-comprehensive-approach-to-covid-19-recovery-efforts-301063240.html SOURCE GP Strategies Corporation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] As part of the Covid-19 Business Response recently announced by the Government, Enterprise Ireland has announced that it will administer a Business Financial Planning Grant to specifically support domestic focused companies as well as a Sustaining Enterprise Fund for small enterprises. 60 percent of Irish companies that have engaged with Enterprise Ireland since March say that Covid-19 has had a very negative or critical impact on their business to date. Financial planning was listed as one of the key priorities identified by client companies in responding to the crisis. 34 percent of the client companies in contact have engaged with a financial institution, and just one in three have put a financial plan in place. Worth up to 5,000, the Business Financial Planning Grant will assist companies to develop a Business Sustainment Plan and to engage the services of an approved Financial Consultant when applying for funding. By having a financial plan in place, a business will be better positioned to understand its immediate financial position, manage costs and identify the finance it requires. Additional supports available from Enterprise Ireland to help Covid-19 impacted businesses include: A 2,500 LEAN Business Continuity Voucher to help companies quickly access expertise in reviewing and optimising operations at a time of crisis to identify the key measures needed to ensure continued operations. This fund can be used to avail of consultancy expertise to assess a businesss preparations to adhere to back to work protocols The 180 million Sustaining Enterprise Fund recently announced by the Government is available to assist companies in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors, employing 10 or more people who have suffered, or expect to suffer, a 15% or more reduction in turnover or profits or an increase in costs as a direct result of Covid-19. Funding of up to 800,000 will allow eligible businesses to access the necessary liquidity and funding to sustain their businesses in the short to medium term and contribute to the recovery of the Irish economy The Sustaining Enterprise Fund for Small Enterprises. As part of the 180 million Sustaining Enterprise Fund, this support will provide a 25k to 50k short term funding injection to eligible smaller companies in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors employing 10 or more people (on or before February 29th, 2020) to support business continuity and to strengthen their ability to return to growth. Eligible companies will have suffered, or be projected to suffer, a 15 percent or more reduction in actual or projected turnover or profit as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD said, The impact of Covid-19 presents unprecedented difficulties for businesses who have already spent the past three years preparing for the possible consequences of Brexit, but those preparations will stand to us. Earlier this month, the Government announced a major expansion of supports for all businesses impacted by Covid-19 by 6.5bn. We now have a comprehensive suite of supports for firms of all sizes, which includes grants, low-cost loans, write-off of commercial rates and deferred tax liabilities, all of which will help to improve cashflow amongst our SMEs. This package, which includes the 180 million Sustaining Enterprise Fund, has been developed to meet the varying needs of Irish enterprise and the supports are very specifically targeted by size, sector and need." Enterprise Ireland Regional Director for the Mid-West, Jerry Moloney said, This is a very serious and challenging time for businesses with many facing acute challenges particularly around cashflow, investment and holding onto the skills that they worked so hard to recruit. Our focus is on supporting companies through this period, to get the right advice and access to funding that they may need. My strong advice to companies is, if you havent already done so, to prepare an assessment of your financial requirements and progress funding applications to the banks and other financial institutions immediately. Enterprise Irelands Business Financial Planning grant can help companies to prepare a plan to sustain their businesses. Given the recent back to work protocols announced by government, the Lean Business Continuity Voucher can also be used by businesses of all sizes to avail of consultants who will assess your businesses readiness and advise on the steps to put in place to make sure your business is fully compliant. The Enterprise Ireland Regional Teams are in constant contact with businesses of all sizes, not just existing clients, about the wide range of Enterprise Ireland and wider Government supports available to them during this unprecedented time. I urge any business owner to directly get in touch with the Enterprise Ireland office in Shannon to discuss the next steps to getting back to business, Jerry Moloney added. For further information, please contact Enterprise Ireland Shannon Office on 061 777000 or by email on CarolAnn.Henchy@enterprise-ireland.com Those who work in housing advocacy say the current health and economic mess havent brought out any new issues in housing; the global pandemic and financial collapse are just worsening what was already there. Many in Indianapolis never had that stable of housing to begin with. Its not new, said Leah Humphrey, whos part of the group Homes for All Indy. The pandemic is highlighting a lot of it. Black and brown people have always gone through housing discrepancy and discrimination. Histories of redlining, disinvestment (plus reinvestment to spur gentrification) and discrimination in general mean housing has always mattered in the big picture. If you live near White River south of 38th Street, your life expectancy is about 70 years, according to census data. But if you live just north of there, on the other side of 38th Street, life expectancy improves by 10 years. Homes for All Indy, which is attached to the Kheprw Institute and part of a national coalition, is working on solutions to problems advocates fear will pop up June 5 when the states moratorium on evictions is set to expire. As an organizer with Indy10 Black Lives Matter Indianapolis, Humphrey said one way she can help renters is to dip into that groups emergency fund, which she said has close to $30,000 in it. When the moratorium is lifted, its Black renters especially those with lower incomes who will likely be among the hardest hit. There are two pandemics happening, Humphrey said. Black and brown folks are experiencing a different pandemic than white and Asian folks. Pressure is also building to develop a statewide approach to protect renters. The state already has the Hardest Hit Fund to help homeowners, but thats only part of the equation in a place like Marion County, where, according to census data, only a little more than half of the people own their home. Were in this crisis where people didnt do anything wrong, Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, said. They lost their job because of a pandemic. Now theyre at a significant risk of homelessness, getting an eviction notice, all because of a pandemic. Indianas moratorium on evictions was originally set to expire May 5, but Gov. Eric Holcomb extended it. The difference between early May and early June isnt that significant, though, according to Andrew Bradley, policy director for Prosperity Indiana. The state is opening slowly. By June 5, as long as certain health indicators are on track, Indiana will be in Stage 3 of reopening, which means retail stores and malls can operate at 75% capacity and social gatherings can include up to 100 people. As soon as the moratorium is lifted, Bradley is concerned there will be a tsunami of new evictions. Thats why Prosperity Indiana and other organizations from around the state including the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana are organizing to get a statewide plan to address emergency rental assistance and homelessness intervention. The group, called the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition, wants the governor to extend the moratorium to July 25 to match the federal moratorium or 60 days after the state public health emergency ends, whichever is later. The coalition began forming to oppose Senate Enrolled Act 148, which would have prevented municipalities from enforcing and regulating landlord-tenant ordinances. Holcomb vetoed the bill. That means a new Indianapolis ordinance which includes the creation of a hotline for tenants and requires landlords to issue a notice of rights and responsibilities will take effect July 1. Indianapolis could also get $8.6 million in federal money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, part of which would go to rent and utility assistance, as well as homelessness prevention. The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee approved the funding May 18, and it will go before the council for a full vote June 8. Other cities in Indiana have used township relief funds to help renters, but that money tends to run out quickly, Bradley said, making it necessary to develop a statewide approach. Along with short-term help for renters, the coalition is calling for long-term efforts to make housing more secure. That includes using market-based incentives such as tax credits for landlords who commit to working with tenants to keep them in housing, and using federal resources to increase or maintain the health and safety of rental properties. Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick. Boston Finance Academy https://bostonfinanceacademy.com/ is excited to announce the availability of online summer business courses for High School and College students (rising High School freshmen to rising College freshmen). Worried about your kids being stuck at home this summer? Worry no more. Boston Finance Academy will keep your entrepreneurial kids engaged with fun, exciting business courses that sustain learning, and prepare them for future academic and career pursuits. Boston Finance Academy offers online business courses (via Zoom) for High School and College students interested in the Stock Market and Entrepreneurship. Delivered via a remote learning model, courses are available for any student with an Internet connection. Wall Street 101 propels business savvy students with a week-long session mastering the fundamentals of the stock market. Students will learn the basics of how the stock market works, perform equity analysis, and participate in a stock market game. Additionally, students will meet (via Zoom) real Wall Street professionals including Hedge Fund Managers, Investment Advisors, and Wall Street Traders. Course runs June 29- July 3; M-F, 9:30am -12:30pm https://bostonfinanceacademy.com/shop/ols/products/wall-street-101 Entrepreneurs' Bootcamp offers a fun, fast-paced program where students master the fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. Students will learn the building blocks of turning concepts into companies, participate in writing a business plan as part of a team, and present their prototype to a mock "Shark Tank" of students and instructors. Additionally, students will teleconference with real entrepreneurs, CEOs, and Venture Capitalists. Course runs July 6-10; M-F, 9:30am -12:30pm https://bostonfinanceacademy.com/shop/ols/products/entrepreneurs-bootcamp Boston Finance Academy founder Michael Stern is an experienced Entrepreneur, Investment Advisor, and Teacher. He is actively engaged running multiple businesses, and is an instructor with the Arlington, MA Community Education Program. We are unbelievably excited to offer Stock Market and Entrepreneurship courses this summer, Stern explained. We know students have seen summer plans disrupted, and we are offering learning opportunities that will keep them engaged and progressing towards their goals. About Boston Finance Academy Boston Finance Academy https://bostonfinanceacademy.com/ continues Boston, Massachusetts long heritage of leadership in Finance, Venture Capital, and Education. Boston Finance Academy offers Online Courses via Zoom for High School and College students interested in the Stock Market and Entrepreneurship. Delivered via a remote learning model, courses are available for any student with an Internet connection. New Delhi, May 21 : Chhattisgarh on Thursday became the first state to launch the Congress flagship programme of 'Nyay.' Christened as Rajiv Gandhi Nyay Yojna, The scheme was launched by party chief Sonia Gandhi through video conferencing. The Nyay scheme that the Congress promised to implement in its manifesto was aimed at ensuring minimum income availability to the poor through direct bank transfer. This will directly help 20 lakh farmers. For this, a provision of Rs 5,100 crore has been made in the budget. In a conversation with IANS, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel outlines his plans: Q. How is Chhattisgarh's Nyay scheme unique from any other scheme for farmers? A. The Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana is formulated with a far-sighted vision of encouraging farmers to produce more crops and help in reviving the economy. Under the scheme, the farmers will get money into their bank accounts as an agriculture assistance grant through Direct Benefit Transfer for procuring crops like paddy, maize and sugarcane (Rabi). The money will be transferred in four installments. No other state has taken such a step in the interest of farmers. Q. What is the purpose of launching this scheme at this point of time? A. Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana was a part of our manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha elections and we have been continuously working towards strengthening the economic condition of farmers, tribals and labourers. A provision for the scheme was made in the budget 2020-21. The scheme will act as an elixir for farmers during the tough time of corona crisis as farmers will be getting money in their pockets. It will assist in agricultural inputs and provide fair prices for their produce. During the lockdown period, the state government has been providing stimulus to rural economy by ensuring flow of money to labourers through MGNREGA and to tribal population through minor forest produce procurement. In Chhattisgarh, we have also provided employment to 18 lakh 51 thousand 536 MNREGA workers with 24 per cent participation at national level. Q. How many farmers will benefit from Nyay and how much money will they get? A. Over 19 lakh farmers in the state will have the benefit of the Nyay Yojana. Over 18.35 lakh farmers of the state will receive the payment of first instalment of up to Rs 1,500 crore towards payment of paddy crop. The beneficiaries will include marginal farmers (9,53,706), small farmers (5,60,284), big farmers (3,20,844) i.e. total: 18,34,834 from Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Surguja, Bastar divisions. As much as Rs 5,700 crore will be transferred directly to their accounts in four instalments. Farmers planting paddy and maize crops in Kharif 2019 via the medium of cooperative societies, on the basis of input ratio, the maximum amount payable under the scheme is Rs 10,000 per acre. Depending on the amount required, it will be given in their accounts. Farmers whose crops were procured in 2019 kharif season will also be benefited. Data related to procurement is being obtained from the department concerned. On the basis of this, payment will be made to farmers producing maize in the next instalment. Q. How do you think Nyay scheme is different from PM Kisan Samman Yojana? A. In Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana, we are providing financial assistance calculated on the basis of Rs 10,000 per acre to each beneficiary account based on registered area and area under cultivation during Kharif crop season 2019 as an agriculture assistance grant through Direct Benefit Transfer for procuring crops like paddy, maize and sugarcane (Rabi). Q. Why are only paddy, maize and sugarcane crops included in the scheme? What about farmers cultivating other crops? A. Sugarcane crops, paddy, maize, soyabean, groundnut, sesame, pigeonpea, moong, urad, kulthi, ramatil, kodo, kotki and rabi from kharif 2020 will be included in the 'Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna'. Also, farmers, taking the grant for paddy crop last year, can replace paddy with other crops included in the scheme this year. In such a situation, they will be given an additional assistance per acre. New Delhi, May 21 : The Centre has asked airlines to set ticket prices within the prescribed lower and upper limits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has come up with a detailed guideline for airlines, airports and passengers as the scheduled domestic passenger flights resume from May 25. "Airlines should adhere to the lower and upper limits of fares prescribed by the Ministry during the period of COVID-19 pandemic," it said. The airlines will not provide meal services on board as per the guidelines. Passengers will be required to wear the face mask right before entering the terminal till the end of the journey. The cabin crew also will have to be in full protective suit. Also, people staying in containment zones would not be allowed to travel initially. As per the guidelines, passengers would have to certify their status in terms of coronavirus infection through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form. "The passenger shall not travel if he/she is staying in a containment zone. Also,they should not travel if they have been tested positive for COVID-l9. The passengers are expected to certify the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form," it said. If a passenger, who is not permitted to fly, undertakes an air journey, he or she shall be liable for penal action, as per the guidelines. Further, passengers will have to wear protective gear, or a face mask before entering the terminal as per the prevailing requirement and he will continue to wear the mask throughout the journey. During transit to airport, the passenger should take all precautions to prevent infection. In the initial stage, a passenger would be entitled to carry maximum of one hand baggage and one checked-in baggage as per the specifications by the airline of his travel. The ministry also said that limited passenger flight operations of about one-third of capacity would be permitted to operate on May 25. The guideline said: "On the day of commencement, limited operations (about l/3rd) would be permitted." "Further augmentation of flights will be done in a calibrated manner." The guidelines advised "Vulnerable" persons, such as very elderly, pregnant women and passengers with health issues to avoid air travel. Furthermore, it detailed that no physical check-in counters would be allowed at the airport. "Only those passengers with confirmed web check-in shall be allowed to enter the airport." Besides, the Centre advised the airlines to adhere to the lower and upper limits of fares prescribed by the Ministry during the period of COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines comes a day after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said: "Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, May 25." "All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25," he said. Furthermore, the minister said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the passenger movement would be issued soon. Since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak on March 25, passenger air services have remained suspended for both scheduled domestic and international flights. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text (Newser) As the US and other Western countries take steps toward reopening, the pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday. "We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," said WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus, per the Guardian. "We are very concerned about rising cases in low- and middle-income countries." He said that in the past 24 hours, 106,000 new coronavirus cases were reported worldwidethe highest single-day total so far. According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, global infections are approaching the 5 million mark, with Russia and Brazil now second and third behind the US, which has the most confirmed cases. story continues below At the Wednesday briefing, Ghebreyesus confirmed that the WHO had received a letter from President Trump threatening to permanently withdraw US funding, reports NBC. He said the organization was "looking into it," adding that there would be a "comprehensive" review of the agency's handling of the pandemic, which Trump has strongly criticized. The AP reports that Michael Ryan, the WHO's head of emergencies, warned that the withdrawal of US funding would hit "humanitarian health operations all over the world, in all sorts of fragile and difficult settings." He said the organization would need other partners' help to keep money flowing. He also told reporters that hydroxychloroquine, which Trump says he is taking, should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of clinical trials. (Read more coronavirus stories.) NORRISTOWN Montgomery County officials have begun contact tracing at a COVID-19 testing site in Norristown and a more widespread program could be in place as early as next week, according to officials. We have actually already started some contact tracing through our Norristown-based community testing site. Anyone tested at that site, were now able to do contact tracing, county Commissioners Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said during a Wednesday news briefing. Contact tracing programs are a major component of Gov. Tom Wolfs plan to reopen counties and their economies across the state. Contact tracing involves identifying those with who an infected person has been in close contact so they can self-quarantine to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The walk-up community-based testing site where contact tracing has begun is located on the parking lot of the Delaware Valley Community Health Norristown Regional Health Center, 1401 DeKalb St. The free testing is provided by appointment only from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. That site is open to Norristown residents and all established patients of the Delaware Valley Community Health Center regardless of where they reside. Those who wish to schedule an appointment for testing can register by calling 610-592-0680 beginning at 8:30 a.m. daily. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers contact tracing an important disease control measure. Montgomery County health officials conducted contact tracing in the early days of the pandemic in March when the first few cases of the virus were identified, but tracing was discontinued when community spread became evident and the number of positive cases surged. Arkoosh said the county is moving forward with developing a more robust contact tracing program. We have hired part of the leadership team for our new contact tracing team and individuals are starting next week and we are also redeploying existing staff to that team, said Arkoosh, who provided an update on Wednesday about the status of the programs development. So, we are hoping that by next week that we will be able to test 50 people a day. Thats where we intend to start and then we intend to quickly ramp up from that to whatever is required, Arkoosh added. Officials previously said they intend to hire a senior a logistics manager, a field operations coordinator, a clinical coordinator and a data coordinator. The team will work to implement the contact tracing program and will refine the plan as needed during the upcoming year, officials said, adding the plan will include partnering with local community organizations to complete contact tracing. On Friday, Arkoosh said the county is partnering with four nonprofit organizations, ACLAMO, Family Services of Montgomery County, Visiting Nurses Association Community Services and Montgomery County OIC, which will employ highly trained and skilled contact tracers to help stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. Arkoosh said the four organizations have a long history of working with county residents of all ages, races and backgrounds. Each organization will have one supervisor and between five and 10 contact tracers. Long before COVID-19, these four organizations have been working with Montgomery County residents on the ground level. Their staffs are caring and compassionate professionals and they have extensive experience in working with county residents during difficult times, Arkoosh said. Through COVID-19 contact tracing they will not only help stop the spread of disease but will also ensure that those individuals and families who are impacted will get the support and services they need to stay safe and healthy, Arkoosh added. These organizations are fully equipped to reach our many diverse communities throughout the county and they will play a vital role in our fight against COVID-19. Arkoosh previously said the county will be working in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Health which is implementing the alert and disease surveillance system statewide. Those determined to have had close contact with a positive patient will be provided information to help them understand their risk of infection and guidance about what they should do to avoid potentially spreading the virus to others. Wolfs color-coded plan to reopen the state, which is being implemented in phases, suggests a number of things must be in place in counties. Officials consider a countys hospitalization rates, the availability of personal protective equipment for hospital employees and ventilators and the availability of a robust testing and contact tracing program. Without adequate testing and contact tracing, health officials believe it will be difficult to uncover infections and identify clusters before they lead to more widespread outbreaks. Taiwan President Vows to Bolster Defense as China Steps up Military Threats By Ralph Jennings May 20, 2020 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen vowed Wednesday to step up defense following a series of bigger-than-normal threats by her government's longtime rival China. "While we work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional, asymmetrical capabilities," Tsai said in a speech to mark the start of her second term in office. She was reelected in January. China maintains the world's third strongest military and Taiwan ranks 26th by the database GlobalFirePower.com. Asymmetric warfare means use of strategy or unconventional arms, such as submarines, against an overall stronger enemy. The People's Liberation Army from Beijing is getting ready for amphibious military exercises in the South China Sea possibly to simulate the takeover of three tiny islets that Taiwan controls as part of a marine national park, analysts and media reports in Asia say. The islands sit in a strategic spot between northeast and southeast Asia. Taiwan's coast guard has a garrison on one. "If they want to seize the island they could encircle the island and force Taiwan to withdraw, without a fight," said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration said May 12 the garrison is scheduled next month to hold a firing exercise around the Pratas Islands. China had passed its Liaoning aircraft carrier group around Taiwan in April and let a military transport plane to fly into Taiwanese air space earlier this month. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said last month it had information that China was talking about declaring an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea. The sea is disputed by Taiwan and four Southeast Asian countries. Officials in Beijing have tired of Tsai's refusal to see Taiwan as part of China, her ever-strengthening ties with the United States the chief counterweight to Chinese political power globally and Taiwan's bid to attend the World Health Assembly this month despite Beijing's longstanding opposition. Tsai, first elected in 2016 partly on her tough China stance, has made indigenous defense a priority. The island long dependent on heavy industry has come out already with surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles and 66 aircraft in the past. A domestic shipbuilder broke ground last year on a submarine that's due as early as 2024. Over the next four years, Tsai said, Taiwan will work on strengthening defense "against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and 'unrestricted' warfare to achieve our strategic goal of multi-domain deterrence." She said the government plans as well to integrate military and civilian "capabilities" in aviation and space. Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong's Communists and rebased on the island. China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has not ruled out use of force, if needed, to unite the two sides. Tsai rejects Beijing's proposal for a "one-country, two-systems" form of rule that China uses to govern Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Chinese territory with a measure of local autonomy. Taiwan government surveys say around 80% of Taiwanese oppose unification with China. The president suggested dialogue instead on Wednesday. "We will continue these efforts, and we are willing to engage in dialogue with China and make more concrete contributions to regional security," Tsai said in her speech. "Both sides have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term and prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences." A new crash in relations would precede any attack by China, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. "You're supposed to look for early warning signals, so you'd need to have some deterioration of relations between the two, and it's certainly not the best relations, but not the worst," Thayer said. Chinese officials aren't planning an attack but want Tsai to make the next diplomatic move, said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. "I think the relation is already at the bottom and I think it's up to Tsai Ing-wen to do something about it," Chiang said. "If she can offer some kind of hope, some kind of friendly gesture toward China, maybe there will be some movement toward a better relationship." China's military exercises are just a "war game" and the country has no "appetite for military actions" while working on economic recovery post-COVID-19, he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BRANFORD A 39-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a crash on I-95 Wednesday afternoon. The male victim has been identified as Angel Vega, of New London. The crash caused lane closures and delays of more than five miles along a stretch of Interstate 95 south in Branford for more than three hours Wednesday. The one-vehicle crash, which was reported around 4 p.m., happened between Exit 55 and Exit 54, according to the state Department of Transportation. This is the area work is being done to replace a bridge over Route 1. Travel in both directions has been reduced to two, narrower lanes. Speeds are also reduced in the work zone. Contributed Photo / Connecticut State Police According to the accident report, a 2017 Jeep Cherokee was traveling in the left lane of two on I-95 southbound, past Exit 55. Vega was operating a 2017 Suzuki GSX-R750 traveling in an unknown lane of travel, in the same area. The motorcycle swerved between the Jeep and another unknown vehicle that was traveling in the right lane, directly next to Jeep. The motorcycle driver split the right and left lane of travel and ultimately lost control of bike. Vega was separated from the vehicle and landed directly in front of Jeep Cherokee. Vega was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital for treatment and was later pronounced deceased. The Connecticut State Police Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Squad arrived to the scene to assist with this investigation. This accident remains active and under investigation. By 7:20 p.m., the highway had reopened to drivers and the site of the crash had been cleared. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. US President Donald Trump has said that the regimen of antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine that he is taking to ward off the coronavirus will finish in the next day or two. Trump disclosed on Tuesday that he was taking the drug despite medical warnings about potential serious side effects and questions about its effectiveness in preventing the coronavirus. "I think the regimen finishes in a day or two," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday when asked how long he will continue to take the antimalarial drug. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president's taking of the drug as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic. "Hydroxychloroquine has been a drug that has been in use for 65 years for lupus, arthritis, and malaria. It has a very good safety profile. But as with any drug and as with any prescription, it should be given by a doctor to a patient in that context. So no one should be taking this without a prescription from their doctor," she said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Henry Ford Hospital is doing a study on this now where 3,000 frontline workers will be taking hydroxychloroquine to look at its use as a prophylactic. "I believe there is a few hundred or 190 workers in Tampa General Hospital. So, this is being used by some," she said in response to a question. McEnany said there was a lot of apoplectic coverage of hydroxychloroquine. "You had Jimmy Kimmel saying the President is, quote, 'trying to kill himself by taking it'. You had Joe Scarborough saying, quote, 'This will kill you'. Neil Cavuto saying, 'What have you got to lose? One thing you have to lose are lives'. And you had Chris Cuomo saying, 'The President knows that hydroxychloroquine is not supported by science. He knows it has been flagged by his own people and he's using it'," she said. "Well, Cuomo mocked the President for this. And interestingly, I found this out just before coming here that Hydroxychloroquine, of course, is an FDA-approved medication with a long-proven track record for safety. And it turns out that Chris Cuomo took a less safe version of it called quinine, which the FDA removed from the market in 2006 because of its serious side effects, including death. So, really interesting to have that criticism of the President," McEnany said. There are several studies that have been brought up that the President has actually mentioned, she noted. There was a French study involving more than 1,000 patients that found that the vast majority had "good clinical outcomes." And by the vast majority, that was more than 90 per cent, she said. Then there was an Italian study of more than 65,000 patients that demonstrated only 20 tested positive of those who are taking it prophylactically. And a South Korea study, as well. So there are several studies, she said. "And if you're someone out there - and this is a safe drug to use - and your doctor - importantly to underscore that - and your doctor prescribes it for your use as a prophylaxis or after coming into contact with COVID, then it's something you should take if it's prescribed by the doctor and that's your personal medical choice," McEnany said. Hydroxychloroquine sulfate was first synthesised in 1946 and is in a class of medications historically used to treat and prevent malaria. It is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, childhood arthritis, and other autoimmune diseases. The drug is not FDA-approved for the treatment of COVID-19 but it has been identified as a possible treatment for the infection and the US government has requested its immediate availability. Trump has called hydroxychloroquine a "game-changer" drug in the fight against the coronavirus. After Trump's repeated touting of hydroxychloroquine as a "game changer" cure for the virus, the FDA issued an advisory warning that the drug has not been "shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing COVID-19." The Trump Administration has bought millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine and stockpiled it. India, which is one of the major manufactures of the drug, has sent several millions of doses to the US as part of its humanitarian gesture. Seen above is the Manzanillo LNG Terminal in Mexico. Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) is operating the terminal with a 25 percent stake. Courtesy of KOGAS By Nam Hyun-woo The Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) is expanding its overseas natural gas projects related to exploration, liquefaction and distribution, in a bid to provide a stable energy resource for Korea, and stand out as a leading LNG provider in the global market. The state-run firm said it is conducting 25 LNG related projects in 13 countries, including the exploration for and production of natural gas, liquefaction, and the construction and operation of terminals and pipelines. KOGAS is one of the world's largest LNG purchasers, importing 33 million tons of gas from Qatar, Australia, Oman, the U.S., Malaysia and Russia last year. The company attributed the large purchase capacity to its networks and infrastructure established in major LNG-producing countries. Among those projects is the Area 4 deep water LNG project in offshore Mozambique, the largest gas field exploration in KOGAS' history. KOGAS joined the project in 2007 with a 10 percent stake and has since secured massive gas fields, whose reserves account for three times the total LNG sales of KOGAS in 2018. The company said it is expecting a major profit from the Area 4 project, as well as a $5 billion economic knock-on effect for Korean builders and financial firms that participated in the project. In January, KOGAS President Chae Hee-bong visited Mozambique and the local government promised him its "full support" for the Area 4 project and new exploration endeavors. KOGAS said it will continue expanding its ties with the government there in the LNG-related transportation and bunkering businesses. KOGAS said it is capitalizing on its experience with LNG terminals to actively participate in overseas terminal projects. In Mexico, KOGAS is running the Manzanillo LNG Terminal with a 25 percent stake, its first directly owned and operated LNG plant. The company invested 62.3 billion won in the project in 2008, and reclaimed 60 percent of that back in just six years after the terminal began commercial operations. Recently, KOGAS has the targets of stabilizing Korea's LNG procurement, qualitative growth and public-private cooperation in overseas projects. Through these, KOGAS said it will overcome domestic and international uncertainties and enhance its global competitiveness. "With our cutting-edge technology and networks, KOGAS will actively participate in overseas LNG projects and make efforts to become a leading LNG provider," Chae said. Natural gas demand has been soaring in Korea in the wake of the introduction of LNG-powered buses. According to data from the Korean Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, the number of LNG buses was 58 in 2000 but increased to 27,422 in 2018. Korea's LNG demand is projected to see sharper growth in the future, following the Moon Jae-in administration's energy policy to phase out nuclear power. To fill the vacuum left by this, the government has been rolling out a pack of policies to nurture LNG power plants nationwide. When it comes to the safety of its cabin crew, Qatar Airways is taking no chances - it's issuing them with hazmat suits to wear during in-flight service. They are part of a raft of measures the airline is introducing from Monday, May 25, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Cabin crew have already been wearing face masks and gloves while onboard but will now wear suits over their uniforms. It will also be mandatory for passengers to wear masks or face coverings and there will be a modified in-flight service. Qatar Airways is issuing all cabin crew with hazmat suits to wear during in-flight service For example, business class passengers will have their meals served on a tray instead of a table set up and cutlery will be handed out in a wrap rather than individually to 'reduce contact between the crew and the passengers'. The airline says business class Qsuite passengers can display the do not disturb sign and keep the privacy door shut if they want to limit interactions with the crew. In economy, all meals and cutlery will be served sealed as usual. Qatar says that all meal service utensils and cutlery are washed with detergents and rinsed with demineralised fresh water at 'temperatures that kill pathogenic bacteria'. Large bottles of hand sanitiser will be placed in the galley for use by both passengers and crew, while social areas onboard aircraft have been closed 'to observe social distancing measures'. The airline says that it is encouraging social distancing where possible, especially on flights with lighter loads. It explained: 'Distancing is also implemented during the boarding process, ensuring passengers are allocated seats far apart from each other. 'The airline is also encouraging passengers to follow hygiene practices recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), such as regular hand washing and refraining from touching the face.' How cabin crew on Qatar Airways flights normally look, with signature dark red uniforms Meanwhile, Qatar Airways says that cabin crew have received training on how to minimise their chances of contracting or spreading the infection. It explains that they are thermally screened before the departure of flights and after their arrival, and are quarantined and tested if any colleagues or passengers on a flight show any symptoms of infection or test positive for the virus. The airline has also revised its distribution of cabin crew on flights, sending two groups on short-haul and medium-haul flights the first to manage the outbound trip, the second to manage the inbound trip. For long-haul flights, crew members who have to stay overnight in a foreign city can only travel in Qatar Airways-approved transport and must remain in their rooms, limiting human interactions. The airline said: 'Qatar Airways continues to implement the highest standards of health and safety. Its aircraft are regularly disinfected using cleaning products recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Health Organisation. 'Its home airport, Hamad International Airport, has also invested in deploying disinfectant robots, fully autonomous mobile emitting concentrated UV-C light known to be effective in eliminating the majority of infectious microorganisms. State-owned Qatar Airways is laying off 20 per cent of its workforce and has told employees cabin crew would be made redundant. It has been one of few airlines to continue regular, scheduled flights during the global lockdowns 'Qatar Airways aircraft feature the most advanced air filtration systems, equipped with industrial-size HEPA filters that remove 99.97 per cent of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective protection against infection. 'All the airlines onboard linen and blankets are washed, dried and pressed at microbial lethal temperatures, while its headsets are removed of ear foams and rigorously sanitised after each flight. These items are then sealed into individual packaging by staff wearing hygienic disposable gloves.' Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr Akbar Al Baker, said: 'At Qatar Airways, we have introduced these additional safety measures onboard our flights to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of our passengers and cabin crew, and to limit the spread of coronavirus.' The IATA, the body representing global airlines, earlier this month came out in favour of passengers wearing masks onboard, as debate intensifies over how to get airlines flying while respecting social-distancing rules. State-owned Qatar Airways is laying off 20 per cent of its workforce and has told employees cabin crew would be made redundant. It has been one of few airlines to continue regular, scheduled flights during the global lockdowns to contain the novel coronavirus, maintaining services to around 30 destinations. The airline said this month it would start resuming flights to destinations it had suspended due to the virus outbreak and that it aimed to fly to up to 80 destinations by June. Those not wearing a face mask inside Qatar risk a fine of 200,000 riyals ($55,000, 45,000) and a maximum prison sentence of three years. Pedestrians, some wearing masks, walk along Market Street by a sign for the Fashion District Philadelphia shopping mall. Read more PREIT, the owner of the former Gallery Mall, the Cherry Hill Mall and 19 others malls, has received a $4.5 million forgivable loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program and is being permitted to put off payment of $11.6 million in property taxes, as it seeks to stay afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic. PREIT, or the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, disclosed the loan Thursday in its report on its earnings during the first three months of the year. The money is from the $659 billion federal program to help small businesses cope with the damage of coronavirus. The real estate tax deferrals, meanwhile, were among a raft of measures undertaken by the Philadelphia-based company to help it weather the continued closure of most of its 21 malls to comply with virus-fighting government regulations. Other steps include a $25 million cut in capital spending, a reduction in the dividend paid to investors, and forbearance deals reached with some of its lenders, it said. Our headquarters and a significant number of our properties are located in COVID-19 hotspots, PREIT chief executive Joseph F. Coradino said in a conference call with analysts to discuss the results. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the quarter and will impact our industry into the future. Shares of the company closed at $1.18 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, down almost 8% from the previous day. The firm reported a loss of $13.5 million for the three months that ended March 31. READ MORE: Answers to your most pressing coronavirus PPP loan and forgiveness questions PREIT and other mall owners, whose survival had already been threatened by the growth of e-commerce, have been hit hard by government-ordered business closures aimed at preventing people from gathering during the health crisis. PREIT owns the former Gallery at Market East mall in Center City, now known as Fashion District Philadelphia, the Willow Grove Park mall and Plymouth Meeting Mall in the Pennsylvania suburbs and the Cherry Hill Mall, Moorestown Mall and Cumberland Mall in South Jersey. Many of our tenants opted not to pay [rent] during the initial closure period, Coradino said. After negotiating deferrals with tenants, 45% of rents for April and May are expected to be collected by the end of this year, with 90% expected by the end of 2021, he said. As of Friday, four of its malls will have reopened with the lifting of closure orders in their surrounding areas, Coradino said. Among them are Magnolia Mall in Florence, S.C., and Jacksonville Mall in Jacksonville, N.C., he said. Coradino said he aims for the companys remaining malls to be open with some restrictions by late June. All of its malls anchor tenants, including J.C. Penney, which recently filed for bankruptcy, and downsizing retailers such as Macys, have told PREIT that they plan to resume business when permitted, Coradino said. PREIT did not identify the properties for which it was granted real estate tax deferrals. NJ.com reported earlier this month that the company had asked New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy for help delaying paying taxes at properties in that state. A New Jersey government spokesperson had no immediate comment on whether deferrals had been granted. A Philadelphia city spokesperson did not immediately know whether any tax relief had been granted at the Fashion District mall. Regarding the Small Business Administration PPP loan, meanwhile, PREIT acknowledged Thursday that it could could be audited or reviewed as a result of applying for forgiveness." The PPP program, which was authorized by the federal coronavirus relief bill signed in March, allocated $349 billion in forgivable loans for firms with fewer than 500 workers to pay their employees during the health crisis. An additional $310 billion was made available through later legislation. But many smaller businesses have struggled to borrow from the program, while larger companies have used loopholes in the law to collect hundreds of millions of dollars of the forgivable debt. Revised federal guidelines released late last month discourage publicly traded companies from tapping the program, because they can raise operating funds through other means. The stance was intended to pressure such companies to return loans they have been granted so others can use the cash. Companies including Philadelphia hotel operator Hersha Hospitality Trust and restaurant chains Ruths Hospitality Group owner of Ruths Chris Steak House and the Shake Shack Inc. have said they would return their grants. PREIT said retaining its loan came with some risk. If we were to be audited and receive an adverse finding in such audit, we could be required to return the full amount of the PPP loan, which could ... potentially subject us to additional fines and penalties, it wrote. "Such audit or review could result in the diversion of managements time and attention, and legal and reputational costs. These new sites will utilize self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, announced April 27 . CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity. The 17 test sites in Maryland are part of nearly 350 locations across 14 states including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. "While the large-scale test sites we've been operating since early April have proven successful, this new approach allows us to utilize our presence in communities across the country and bring testing closer to home," said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Health. "Our frontline employees will continue to play a critical role in the testing process, with members of their communities directly benefitting from their dedication and selflessness." Once fully operational, more than half of the company's 1,000 test sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index. The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing that may weaken a community's ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks. "Following our announcement this week that Maryland has reached a critical milestone in its long-term COVID-19 testing strategy by dramatically expanding the availability of testing for residents, these new, additional sites are another important step to further increase testing access for communities across Maryland," said Governor Larry Hogan. "We will continue working closely with CVS Health and all of our partners in the private sector, along with Maryland's world-class health care systems, and local governments to protect residents' health and safety and support our state's safe and gradual recovery." Self-swab tests will be available to individuals meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday, May 22 to schedule an appointment. Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self swab process to ensure it is done properly. Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days. Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients. The new testing sites in Maryland include: CVS Pharmacy, 2560 West Franklin Street, Baltimore, MD 21223 21223 CVS Pharmacy, 9519 Philadelphia Road, Baltimore, MD 21237 21237 CVS Pharmacy, 7809 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 20814 CVS Pharmacy, 4840 Marlboro Pike, Capitol Heights, MD 20743 20743 CVS Pharmacy, 6040 Sykesville Road, Eldersburg, MD 21784 21784 CVS Pharmacy, 8032 Liberty Road, Frederick, MD 21701 21701 CVS Pharmacy, 8197 Westside Boulevard, Fulton, MD 20759 20759 CVS Pharmacy, 12215 Darnestown Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 20878 CVS Pharmacy, 8201 Annapolis Road, New Carrolton, MD 20784 CVS Pharmacy, 5414 Rotary Avenue, New Market, MD 21774 21774 CVS Pharmacy, 12001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD 21842 21842 CVS Pharmacy, 799 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 20852 CVS Pharmacy, 2600 Annapolis Road, Severn, MD 21076 21076 CVS Pharmacy, 157 Ritchie Highway, Severna Park, MD 21146 21146 CVS Pharmacy, 5100 Brown Station Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 20772 CVS Pharmacy, 7600 SE Crain Highway, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 20772 CVS Pharmacy, 4200 Altamont Place, White Plains, MD 20695 A complete list of CVS Pharmacy Drive-thru test sites can be found here. More information on steps CVS Health has taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic, including support for health care providers and clinicians facing financial and administrative strain, is available at the company's frequently updated COVID-19 resource center . For downloadable COVID-19 testing media assets, including photos, video and interviews with CVS Health executives, please visit the Media Resource Center. About CVS Health CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company in the world. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at https://www.cvshealth.com. Media Contact Tara Burke, (646) 765-4971 [email protected] SOURCE CVS Health Related Links https://www.cvshealth.com BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China has welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) regarding COVID-19, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Wednesday. Zhao made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on the resolution proposed by the European Union and adopted by consensus before the closing of the WHA's virtual conference Tuesday. The resolution unequivocally affirms and supports the leading role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and calls on member states to take necessary measures to prevent discrimination and stigmatization and combat misinformation and disinformation. It also calls for strengthening cooperation in the development of diagnostic tools, treatment methods, drugs and vaccines and continued efforts to discover the animal sources of the virus as well as evaluating the WHO's response to the outbreak at the appropriate time, Zhao said. "All these are in line with China's position and meet the shared aspiration of the overwhelming majority of countries in the international community," said Zhao, adding that China has actively participated in the consultations and is one of the 140 plus co-sponsors of the draft resolution. With regards to issues of virus source tracing, the resolution basically refers to the wording recommended by the International Health Regulations on May 1 and strictly limits the scope of the research to animal sources, intermediate hosts and transmission routes. This is with the aim of better coping with the pandemic in the future by the international community, Zhao said, "This is also what is suggested by the WHO and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus." "Indeed, some countries requested that source tracing of the virus be given priority during the consultation but the vast majority of countries believed the current focus should be on pandemic prevention and control," the spokesperson said, stressing that this demonstrates that there is no "market" for politicizing the source tracing issue. Regarding issues of evaluation of the WHO, the resolution proposes that it should be conducted following consultations between the WHO director-general and member states. The evaluation aims to review the WHO's experience in responding to the pandemic and produce suggestions for future work, Zhao said. The WHO has evaluated responses to both the H1N1 flu and Ebola. Evaluation is a standard practice of the WHO following a major pandemic and requires the process to be gradual, impartial, independent and comprehensive, rather than being monopolized by a few countries, he said. "China hopes the resolution adopted by the WHA will be fully and accurately implemented," he said. In terms of the rumor spread by some media alleging China was "compelled" to be a co-sponsor of the resolution, Zhao responded by saying that it is "total nonsense." The fact is that China, together with most countries, resolutely smashed specific countries' intentions to politicize source tracing and evaluation issues and ensured objectivity and fairness of the resolution, Zhao stressed. "We advise specific countries not to fabricate lies and find excuses for their failures," he said. The government is considering urgently legislating to nullify a landmark court ruling allowing some casual workers access to paid leave and redundancy payouts as well as the casual loading applied to their wage in lieu of those entitlements. Attorney-General and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter said as part of discussions with unions and employer groups ahead of any legislation change, the government would canvass extending a right of conversion, where casual workers can swap to being permanent staff after a set period. Employers are warning businesses will lay off casuals come September because they are worried about having to pay them annual leave. Credit:Joe Armao "During the COVID-19 challenge we obviously face enormous hurdles going forward to regrow employment, and this decision is unfortunately a driver of uncertainty into the employment market," Mr Porter said. He said the fact the court had been forced to make a major clarification to workplace law in the middle of a pandemic showed "the very significant shortcomings in Australia's industrial relations system". LONDON - Oxfam International, one of the worlds leading aid agencies, will severely curtail its work because of the financial strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including the closure of operations in 18 countries at the potential cost of 1,450 jobs. The organization, which currently operates in 66 countries and whose global work is co-ordinated via 20 affiliate offices around the world, said in a statement late Wednesday that it has had to accelerate changes as a result of the pandemic. Countries it will be exiting include Afghanistan, Egypt, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania. It said the changes will affect around 1,450 out of nearly 5,000 program staff. Following the changes, it will retain a physical presence in 48 countries, six of which it will explore as new independent affiliate members, including Indonesia and Kenya. The organization had started a 10-year strategic review in late 2018 in the wake of a sex scandal in Haiti that caused a global outcry and prompted many donors to withdraw their support, particularly in the U.K., where it started operations back in 1942. Many of its charity shops, particularly in western Europe, have had to close, a visible sign of the financial damage caused by the scandal. Haiti is another country in which it will be closing operations. Weve been planning this for some time but we are now accelerating key decisions in light of the effects of the global pandemic, said Oxfam Internationals interim executive director Chema Vera. Oxfam says the changes will enable it to be more effective in tackilng global poverty and inequality and helping people to survive humanitarian crises. One key change will be shifting more decision-making power to the global south and re-orientating work to meet local contexts. Vera said the changes, combined with further phases of transformation in the months ahead, will lay the foundation for our future over the coming decade as the longer-term effects of this devastating pandemic become clearer. ___ Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ___ This story has been corrected to show that the job losses will affect around 1,450 program staff, not more than 2,000. Meanwhile, the firms life new business sales surged up 28% to 12.3 billion (around AU$22.85 billion), while the value of new business grew 18% to 311 million (around AU$577.9 million). UK life new business sales soared by 162%, while Singapore enjoyed a 57% increase. However, what about that COVID-19 shaped cloud? According to CEO Maurice Tulloch, the insurer was quick off the mark in addressing the pandemic. In responding to COVID-19, Aviva moved quickly to support our customers, introducing a range of new measures to help, including financial assistance, he said. I am proud of how Avivas people have adapted and maintained excellent day to day service to our customers why they need us most. At March 31, our estimated solvency ratio remains strong at 182% and incorporates COVID-19 related impacts. The economic outlook remains uncertain and will impact our business, however the strength of our capital and liquidity means we are well positioned to manage this crisis and continue to support our customers. Overall, based on an analysis on April 30, Aviva predicts COVID-19 related claims in its general insurance business to reach 160 million (around AU$297.3 million). It noted that early second quarter trends have seen new business volumes decline across many of its businesses due to Government-enforced lockdown measures. It added that customer activity levels have risen recently, but it still expects an overall decline in sales volumes for the year as a whole. It also estimated claims for business interruption at 200 million (around AU$371.7 million). The vast majority of our commercial insurance policies do not cover business interruption claims arising from COVID-19, it said in its statement. However, we anticipate potential areas of exposure in certain specialist schemes and broker programmes, and we have paid claims in the UK and Canada where coverage exists. It noted that it remains committed to its 2022 targets, but that COVID-19 would present additional challenges to achieving them. Court hearings are set to resume on Friday following clarification on strange and bizarre Covid-19 public health guidance that raised a doubt over holding sittings for more than two hours. Confusion reigned this week following guidance given to the Houses of the Oireachtas that sittings or committee hearings should not be held for more than two hours. The guidance raised doubts over whether courts could sit for more than two hours and also left a question mark over how other workplaces could function. On Wednesday President of the High Court Justice Peter Kelly announced that physical court hearings would be limited to two hours until further advice was given. Later that evening Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health Dr Ronan Glynn confirmed at the daily briefing of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that the two-hour guidance was not to be interpreted as a hard and fast rule. By Thursday morning the Courts Service had received detailed advice on the length of sittings which will allow some hearings to resume from Friday. CEO of the Courts Service Angela Denning confirmed that Professor Martin Cormican from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre clarified there was no need to limit court sessions to two hours. The Courts Service, she said, is assessing how safe hearings can be held and will keep a record of every individual in court for more than two hours, in the event that this information is needed for Covid-19 contact tracing. Representatives from the Law Society and Bar of Ireland, however, said the public health guidance was confusing and had hindered progress being made to reopen the courts. Speaking on RTE radio Director General of the Law Society of Ireland, Ken Murphy, said the new guidance represented a strange piece of novel and dramatic advice. When we got this news out of the blue there was dismay because real valiant efforts are being made by the courts service to reopen the courts consistent with the public health guidelines, Mr Murphy told the Today with Sarah McInerney Show. It was bordering on bizarre that we were being given this advice for the first time more than two months into the Covid-19 crisis where the public health advice up until now has been admirably clear, he added. Mr Murphy said efforts to use technology and hold remote hearings were to be applauded but were not a substitute for court sittings: We need to get the courts open in the interests of citizens, businesses, and the economy and the country generally. Speaking on the same radio programme, Michael OHiggins, Chairman of the Council of the Bar of Ireland, said there were signs that the two-hour limit would not hold as news was breaking of updated guidance. A two-hour rule, Mr OHiggins said, would have represented a major setback to the reopening of courts. Apart from causing confusion amongst the profession and amongst users of the courts, and across possibly many workplaces beyond the courts, this surprising development is not consistent with the approach that has been taken to date, he added. The issue was also raised in the Dail by Labour leader Deputy Alan Kelly, who said it was coincidental that the Department of Health had sought the new advice as the new Oireachtas Committee on the Covid-19 Response were questioning health officials this week. It is bonkers that such advice is issued this far into the crisis because this changes everything. Why did NPHET not make this clear before now? I would like to know when the Taoiseach, the Government and Ministers were made aware of it. I was not aware of it, he said. WASHINGTON - Pro-Trump super PAC America First Action poured more than half of its operating costs into legal fees last month, spending $1.3 million on legal consulting - an unusually high amount for a super PAC. The payments were made public Wednesday night in new Federal Election Commission filings, and the reports do not disclose detailed reasons for each legal payment. By comparison, the group paid about $450,000 in legal fees in the first three months of 2020 combined, filings show. In a high-profile case last fall, the Justice Department investigated donations made to the super PAC by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Rudy Giuliani who were accused of conspiracy and making false statements to the FEC. Parnas and Fruman have pleaded not guilty. America First Action has said it follows the law, and had reached out to federal investigators, offering to cooperate voluntarily with the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The super PAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. In October, the Justice Department charged that Parnas and Fruman disguised the source of a $325,000 donation to the super PAC, by giving the money under the name of a company that investigators said was used as a front to disguise the funds' true source. The 2018 donation was made in the name of Global Energy Producers (GEP), a purported liquefied natural gas company that the two men controlled. Federal investigators were exploring a wide range of potential crimes involving the pair's interactions with the president's personal lawyer and the super PAC, including wire fraud and failure to register as a foreign agent, The Washington Post reported in November. Among America First Action's biggest legal payments last month were to Texas-based trial lawyer Daniel Haygood and MoloLamken, a Washington law firm handling complex litigation, filings show. In April, America First Action raised nearly $11.6 million, the vast majority of it coming from a single donor: a $10 million donation by Timothy Mellon, the chairman of Pan Am Systems, a New Hampshire-based transportation company and a longtime GOP donor. The April donation by Mellon, an investor in Wyoming who has given heavily to Republicans, was one of his first prominent contributions to President Trump's reelection effort. In the 2020 presidential primaries, Mellon previously gave the maximum donation of $2,800 in support of the White House bid of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. In 2018, Mellon also gave a donation to now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Another $1 million came in April from Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He is married to Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who has been facing criticism after she sold millions of dollars in stock following a closed-door Senate session about the coronavirus. Sprecher has been a noted Wall Street figure amid the economic turmoil sparked by the pandemic. In late March, he participated in a call with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that was arranged for some of the most prominent Wall Street leaders, to discuss the impact of the virus on the economy, according to people familiar with the call. On the Democratic side, the super PACs supporting presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden struggled to keep up with their fundraising pace in April, after national lockdown efforts over coronavirus halted major campaign fundraising efforts for a few weeks. Priorities USA Action, the main Democratic super PAC backing the former vice president, raised $2.9 million in April - less than the $4 million it raised in March. The biggest contribution to the super PAC in April was a $1.7 million transfer from the group's nonprofit arm that does not disclose its donors, filings show. Unite the Country, a super PAC backing Biden, raised about $723,000, compared to the $10 million in March when the group generated a flurry of donations as Biden cleared his path to the nomination. The group said it has been wary of fundraising while Americans are suffering during the pandemic, and that they were cognizant of efforts by the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party to strike a deal in April to allow wealthy donors to give six figures in support of Biden. "We don't expect to have a record breaking fundraising month every single month, particularly when so many are struggling in this pandemic," Unite the Country spokeswoman Lily Adams said. "We're proud of the support we've received so far in May, which allowed us to go on the air with a recent seven-figure ad buy, and we're in a strong financial position to have Joe Biden's back and tell the positive story about his candidacy." Stamford Downtown announced Wednesday it has cancelled the 2020 Alive@Five and Wednesday Nite Live concert series. The move came on the day the state was taking initial steps toward reopening after a long shut-down to slow the spread of COVID-19. But large gatherings like the summer evening performances in Columbus Park are still not allowed. It has not been an easy decision to make, but we believe it is the best one considering the present circumstances, Stamford Downtown President David Kooris said in a statement. Stamford Downtown is committed to bringing live music to the community whenever feasible ... while following evolving state regulations for public gatherings and in-keeping with best available science for the protection of public health. The district plans to bring both series back in the summer of 2021, Kooris said, and in the meantime will develop alternative live music events as soon as were able. As it does, Stamford Downtown also is working with city departents to expand outdoor dining in the city. Larger patio options are expected to become available for people to enjoy social dining in outdoor environments providing the utmost safety precautions, the organization said in a statement. The plan is expected to be announced soon, with the first phase being launced later this month. Also, a Stamford Downtown Farmers Market will be held each Saturday, starting June 14 and lasting through Oct. 31. The market will have one entrance and one exit, and vendor booths will be spaced to provide distance. The markets location has yet to be anounced. Visit https://bit.ly/3e7w92W for more information As it has most years, the district will present a public art show this summer. From June to September, 36 works of art from six regional artists will be displayed in public spaces downtown. Stamford Downtown will offer a free downloadable audio tour of te exhibition. And there will be live music downtown this summer. On June 21, the city will join others around the world in hosting live music performances. Most will involve solo performers, and be held in areas condusive to social distancing. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fete de la Musique, the event held on the longest day of the year is now held in more than 800 cities in 120 countries. This will be the third year Stamford Downtown is participating Those interested in participating as a musician or willing to offer a venue can find more details at http://stamforddowntown.com/events/make-music-day-3. NEW HAVEN One man remains in extremely critical condition from a double-shooting that also wounded another man Thursday afternoon, according to police. Shortly after 2:30 p.m., New Haven police responded to the area of Lloyd Street, near Exchange Street, in the Fair Haven neighborhood for a double-shooting, Capt. Anthony Duff said. A U.S. economy already wounded by the coronavirus bled 2.4 million more jobs last week, continuing a streak of bad news that began in mid-March. Millions of American workers have found themselves suddenly unemployed an unfamiliar position for most after nearly a decade of record-low unemployment and facing an uncertain future. Department of Labor data released Thursday showed 2.4 million people filed unemployment claims for the week ending May 16, a decline of 9.3% from the previous week. Those figures included 246,115 in California, where claims rose 15.7% week over week, an alarming reversal of a downward trend in job losses. Across the U.S., 38.6 million have sought unemployment benefits since the virus struck, including 4.8 million applications submitted in California. John Blanchard Californias spike in unemployment claims is a worrying sign, said Michael Bernick, a lawyer at Duane Morris in San Francisco who formerly ran the state Employment Development Department, which manages unemployment benefits. It could suggest businesses that had held off from laying off employees in the early stages of shelter-in-place are now doing so. A lot of businesses just laid off people and closed in the first two months, but others had hung on, Bernick said. As long as we have the lockdowns, the losses are mounting up. A survey of more than 170 Bay Area businesses last month commissioned by the Bay Area Council found that 60% of respondents had already laid off workers or would be forced to do so as a consequence of local health orders. While some businesses in the Bay Area and elsewhere have begun to cautiously reopen, economists said the problem of joblessness may start feeding on itself. With so many out of work, demand may not bounce back readily. Its hard to expect youll see huge swings in consumer demand and hence the need for workers because of limited moves like allowing curbside pickup, said John Johnson, the CEO of Edgeworth Economics. He pointed to states like Georgia and Florida, which have accelerated reopening plans. Unemployment claims in Florida remained stubbornly high in the newest report, while Georgia saw a significant drop. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Johnson said counteracting the economic pain of the closures will require more significant steps. I feel pretty confident this will be as deep as the Great Depression, said Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist with the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, of the damage to the U.S. economy. The real question is how long will this last, added Shierholz, who was previously the Department of Labors chief economist under the Obama administration. That question may hinge on if and when a coronavirus vaccine or effective COVID-19 treatment can be found, Johnson said. Unlike other severe historical economic contractions, this is a public health crisis that has caused an economic crisis, Johnson said. He noted that even If we get a vaccine that solves this problem quickly ... that doesnt mean the damage will be undone. During normal recessions, the U.S. economic engine shifts into a lower gear. Now it seems to have stalled. Dynamism comes to a stop when businesses rapidly lay off workers or shut down completely, Shierholz said. On average for the year before COVID-19 hit, the economy added 5.9 million hires every month, she added. There is an enormous amount of lost potential here. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Some workers, like Jalinn Ahmad of San Francisco, have been lucky enough to find a new job after being laid off. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Ahmad received a severance package after he lost his job at San Francisco real estate technology company Unison in an April layoff. I just spent the next few days digesting it all, Ahmad said of his reaction to being laid off over a Slack call. I didnt know what to do. He said he signed up to receive unemployment benefits and began applying for jobs, although he felt increasing dread with each rejection email. A native of Virginia, Ahmad said he had begun contemplating moving back with his family there if he could not find another job. But then in May, First Republic Bank offered him a position working in its real estate division, making roughly the same salary he had at Unison. Another role I interviewed for was offering a lot less, Ahmad said, adding he was ready to take significantly lower pay just to stay afloat before the First Republic offer came through. I didnt really see any other solution, I have to pay rent for next month. Ahmads fortune may be rare, said Johnson, the economist. He said the recovery from the recession of 2007-09 was already marked by rising income inequality with stagnating wages that saw many Americans employed but barely making ends meet. The next economic recovery could deepen those divides, Johnson said, as people take any work they can to stay afloat: You can have a job recovery and still have real economic damage. Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice Two federal class-action lawsuits have been filed against ADT, one of the largest security companies in the country, alleging that an employee spied on customers and children in Texas over a seven-year period through their home security cameras. The lawsuits, filed May 18, allege ADT showed negligence and breached contracts by failing to provide security, among other concerns. Both lawsuits say the employee was able to view customers intimate and private moments, including when they were nude or partially dressed. The breach was discovered in March after an ADT customer in DeSoto, Texas, reported an unauthorized email address on her account. An internal investigation discovered the employees personal email address was added on 220 ADT customers accounts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. ADT has fired the employee since discovering the breach. It was not immediately clear whether he faces criminal charges. We took immediate action and put measures in place to prevent this from happening again, ADT said in a written statement. We are supporting law enforcements investigation of the former employee and are committed to helping bring justice to those impacted by his improper actions. The lawsuits were filed in Florida, where ADT is headquartered. Each suit seeks for more than $5 million in compensation. I am just horrified that a company that holds itself as the number one security option allowed this to happen, attorney Amy Carter said. They gave access to someones home when they were seeking additional security. The lawsuits allow for other affected individuals to come forward as attorneys for the clients say they are concerned the incident may not have been isolated to just one employee. We hope that based on the facts of the case that ADT will take this seriously and get this resolved as soon as possible, attorney Matthew McCarley said. Because a lot of people have been hurt. The invasion of someones privacy you cant get that back. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Texas SHANGHAI -- As Chinas parliament prepares new laws to ban the trade and consumption of wildlife, local action plans published this week suggest the countrys fur trade and lucrative traditional medicine sectors will continue as usual. After identifying exotic animals traded in a Wuhan market as the most likely source of COVID-19, Beijing imposed a temporary ban on the wildlife trade in late January. Parliament followed up in February with a resolution promising to enshrine a permanent ban in law. Though legislative changes are expected to be discussed at the national session of parliament starting on Friday, regions are already taking action to implement the February ruling. Hunan and Jiangxi, both major wildlife breeding provinces, promised this week to release captive animals into the wild wherever possible, and will pay hunters and breeders to switch to other professions. But they left the fur trade untouched, and included loopholes allowing traders to stay in business if their products are used for science or medicine. That means the practices that lead to cross-species virus transmission could continue, said Peter Li, China policy specialist with Humane Society International, an animal rights group. There is nothing to stop farmers continuing business as usual but pivoting to selling their farmed wild animals for traditional Chinese medicine instead, he said. Crachdown Since January, regulators have cracked down on trade in wet markets and online e-commerce platforms. Authorities in Shanghai closed shops and took action against dozens of online stores selling lizards, peacocks and even arctic foxes. But some products associated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remain for sale, reflecting legal ambiguities and a strong demand for folk remedies. Traders told Reuters they can still harvest bat guano and sell it for use in a traditional medicine known as yemingsha, used to treat eye and spleen complaints. Bats have been implicated as a possible source not only of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but also Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, SARS and even Ebola. The February parliamentary resolution promised to ban wildlife consumption for food while allowing it to continue for medicinal purposes, but in TCM, the distinction doesnt apply: wild animals are eaten because of supposed medical benefits. Though it has been recognised by the World Health Organization as a valid therapy, critics say that there is no evidence TCM works, and that it puts endangered species further at risk. Since the 1980s, eating wild animals has been promoted in TCM remedies for such things as skin health, fertility, longevity and fighting cancer, and its undoubtedly a powerful lobby, Li said. Stricter supervision? China has extolled the virtues of TCM in the fight against COVID-19. Lawmakers have proposed rules forcing producers to find synthetic replacements, saying the sectors dependence on outdated practices undermines quality as well as the prospects of promoting the sector overseas. Musk and tiger bone have already been replaced by artificial ingredients, but firms say they are still years away from producing viable alternatives to bear bile, a major component of tanreqing, a recommended TCM treatment for COVID-19. Bear bile is sourced from captive breeding facilities, which were also exempt from the January ban, though the practice has been branded cruel by animal welfare groups. Bear bile producers Guizhentang and Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical (300039.SZ) declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, though Kaibao said in February it was still working on synthetic replacements. It remains unclear how the industry will be affected by new legislation, with parliament promising at least a stronger approval and supervision regime. It will be important for TCM experts, wildlife conservation experts, and relevant authorities to take a look at TCM-related laws and regulations to make sure they are consistent, said Aili Kang, executive director of the Asia Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society. To strictly forbid the use of endangered species, no matter wild or captive breeding population... is good for both TCM and conservation, she added. Lucknow, May 21 : With the term of the Uttar Pradesh Shia and Sunni Waqf Board now over, the control of the two boards will rest with the state government for the time being. Utar Pradesh Minister for Minority Affairs assured that elections to the boards were only delayed due to the present lockdown. Minister Mohsin Raza said that the work of the two boards will be looked after by CEOs appointed by the government and elections will be held later due to the lockdown. The tenure of the Sunni Waqf Board was completed on March 31, and the term of the Shia Waqf Board was also completed on Tuesday. He said: "Both the boards were constituted during the previous Samajwadi Party regime and large-scale irregularities have been committed by both the boards while dealing with Waqf properties. Muttawalis (caretakers) of Waqf properties have been appointed without adhering to rules. The government has already recommended a CBI inquiry into this." According to the information received, all the files and documents related to the Supreme Court's decision on the temple-mosque dispute in Ayodhya and the consent for the construction of a mosque on five acres of land at any other place in Ayodhya are presently with the outgoing chairman of Sunni board, Zufar Farooqi. Farooqi said he was willing to hand over the concerned files to the designated authority of the state government. Zufar Farooqi was the chairman of the Sunni Waqf Board for the past 10 consecutive years. He became the Chairman of the Board for the first time in the year 2010 during the tenure of BSP. After that, when the SP government was formed in 2012, he remained in his post. Then in 2015 he became the chairman again and in 2017 he continued to run the board despite the formation of the BJP government. On the other hand, Shia Waqf Board Chairman Wasim Rizvi took over his post in 2015 and continued to work thereafter. He also did not leave his post after the BJP came to power. Wasim Rizvi made headlines with his pro-Ram temple stand. STURTEVANT Cree Lighting is taking enhanced steps to address employee health and safety after several confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Sturtevant company. Cree Lighting Director of Operations Brian Kinnune reported that there have indeed been confirmed COVID-19 cases among its employees. Cree Lighting has been carefully monitoring the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with the health and safety of our employees, their families and our community being our top priority, Kinnune told The Journal Times. Unfortunately, we have had members of the Cree Lighting team in Racine receive a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. We do not disclose additional details out of respect for our employees privacy. To date, our extensive contact tracing efforts have determined that no employee case has been the result of on-site exposure. Our hearts go out to any affected co-workers and the families and we wish them a rapid and full recovery. Kinnune outlined Cree Lightings health and safety protocols for dealing with suspected COVID-19 infections. Upon learning of any employee experiencing symptoms, and prior to medical diagnosis, we immediately require anyone who has prolonged exposure or close contact with those positive cases to self-quarantine for 14 days, and follow CDC guidelines which include closing off the affected work area and thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting with commercial disinfectant, he explained. Cree Lighting and IDEAL Industries has a global, cross-functional team monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and early on took a number of steps to ensure the safety of employees by following the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Above and beyond these guidelines, and out of an abundance of caution, Cree Lighting has handled any symptomatic employees as if they were a presumptive positive to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus within our facilities to protect our employees and their families. Cree Lighting, which designs and manufactures commercial and residential LED lighting, also operates a Kenosha Country distribution center in Pleasant Prairie. Back on March 20 at the local start of the pandemic, Cree issued a statement noting that the health and safety of its employees and their families was the top priority Cree Lighting and Sycamore, Ill.-based parent company IDEAL Industries, Inc., reporting that a number of steps had been taken early on to ensure the safety of employees. As an essential business deemed critical for the support of essential infrastructure such as healthcare facilities, gas stations, key retailers and transportation systems, Cree Lighting announced it would continue its manufacturing operations with extensive safety measures in place. Expansion project unaffected Back in January, Cree Lighting announced it would be increasing component manufacturing and final assembly, currently performed externally, at its 700,000-square-foot Sturtevant facility as part of a larger expansion effort that began in 2019. Cree will invest more than $8 million for state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and improvements that are expected to create nearly 100 manufacturing jobs once the 12-month expansion project is completed. New positions will be filled by internal and external candidates. Cree has more than 1,000 administrative and manufacturing employees at its Racine County manufacturing facility, where it runs three shifts five days a week. The plant produces nearly 80% of Cree Lighting products. Despite the uncertainties and economic challenges posed by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Kinnune told The Journal Times that the expansion project remains on schedule to be completed this year. This investment builds upon the facilitys more than 30-year commitment to the community, said Kinnune.Our workforce is dedicated to producing innovative, high quality, ultra-reliable products, and with this change the growth and development opportunities that exist for current and prospective employees is extremely promising. Love 4 Funny 6 Wow 4 Sad 3 Angry 4 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. In a suburb of Senegal's seaside capital Dakar, Tidiane Konte clutches in his hand the "last receipt" he received from his brother in Spain. "The last time he sent us money was in February," said the 56-year-old unemployed father, whose brother works as a farmhand in northern Spain. Since the appearance of the novel coronavirus, remittances from Senegalese migrants in Europe have dried up, cutting off a crucial supply of cash to many struggling households. Despite being a regional economic bright spot, the West African state is still poor. Some 40 percent of Senegalese live on less than $1.9 (1.75 euros) a day, according to World Bank, and many rely on help from relatives abroad to break even. Konte, for example, said he had received 422 euros from his brother in February -- nearly five times Senegal's minimum wage. "We're not eating meat anymore," said Konte, describing the effect of the cut-off. His situation is one echoed across the country of some 16 million people, and further afield, as most of Europe has had to remain at home to slow coronavirus infections. According to the World Bank, migrant remittances are set to drop 20 percent to $445 billion this year, down from $554 billion in 2019. In some poor countries, remittances can be equivalent to a third of GDP. The reduction in remittances caused by coronavirus is the largest drop in recent memory. Dilip Ratha, the lead economist for migration and remittances at the World Bank, told AFP job losses linked to containment measures were mostly to blame. He added that the loss of the lifeline "has a direct impact on nutrition, health and education outcomes" for recipients. In Senegal, a finance ministry official said the government was expecting a reduction in remittances "on the order of 30 percent" in 2020. - Three million migrants - Senegal has so far been spared a coronavirus outbreak on a par with those in Europe or the United States, having recorded fewer than 1,000 cases and 10 fatalities. The government reacted swiftly to the threat, shutting borders, restricting travel between cities and imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew. But the measures are having an outsize effect on Senegal's large pool of precarious informal workers, many of whom depend on remittances. Senegalese authorities estimate that some three million citizens are working abroad, often in the former colonial power France, or in Spain and Italy. Together, they send back some two billion euros a year, according to the World Bank, a sum equivalent to 10 percent of Senegal's GDP. Counting informal cash transfers, the real size of remittances is probably double that number, an official at Senegal's foreign ministry said. With lockdown policies having ground Europe to a halt, there are indications that struggling families are even sending money to their stranded relatives abroad. "I myself have done four transfers destined for Senegalese in Europe, whose families wanted to help them," said a bank employee, who requested anonymity. - From milk to millet - The problem is being felt all over the country. In Senegal's southern Casamance region, Fatou Seydi, who is the first wife in a polygamous marriage, said that times had turned bad. "We're managing, with difficulty, to put three meals (on the table)," she said. Her husband is a farm labourer in Spain who usually sends home between 300 and 450 euros a month in order to feed his family of 15. Abdoulaye Cisse, a young radio journalist from the same region, is in a similar position. He said he could no longer count on his brother, who was working in southern Italy. "He says he has money but he can no longer send it because of the lockdown," Cisse said. The eight members of his family have since replaced their usual breakfast fare of milk and bread with millet porridge. Senegalese migrants who returned home to visit family have also found themselves stuck. For example, Abdoulaye Balde, 45, said he could not get back to Barcelona where he has worked as a green grocer for some 20 years. "I know I've lost my job," he said, adding that he used to send home 450 euros a month to his mother, two wives and two brothers and sisters. "I have no income here," Balde added. Senegal's government has earmarked some 20 million euros to "assist, support and protect" migrant workers abroad. To help the poor at home, it has also launched one of the largest food drives in West Africa, meant to supply one million needy households with essentials such as rice and cooking oil. Tidiane Konte last received money from is brother in Spain in February The government reacted swiftly to the threat, shutting borders, restricting travel between cities and imposing a dusk-to-dawn curfew Published on 2020/05/20 | Source "Run Boy Run" starring Jang Dong-yoon confirmed its release date to May 28th and released a special poster as well as some stills. "Run Boy Run" is about Do-won (Jang Dong-yoon), who used to be a rising sprinter, transferring schools after an injury, meeting his childhood best friend Jin-soo (Seo Byuk-joon) and getting involved in unexpected cases. This hard-boiled youth noir is about the growth of youths. Advertisement The film is directed by Oh Won-jae, who was a supporting director and director of single and feature-length independent films, drawing attention from Busan International Film Festival and Jeonju International Film Festival. Drawing attention through his upcoming works such as the SBS drama "Joseon Exorcist" and the OCN thriller "Search", which is based in the DMZ, actor Jang Dong-yoon appears as Do-won, a high school student who used to be a promising sprinter, but faces a crisis after being injured and his father becomes bankrupt. Seo Byuk-joon from "The Great Seducer", "Let's Eat - Season 3", "Home for Summer" and "A Daytime Picnic" takes on the role of Do-won's friend Jin-soo, portraying the wavering of youth. Kwon So-hyun from 4Minute who completely transformed into an actress is appearing with a new image. Jang Dong-yoon and all other actors, who decided to appear in the movie to add strength to a low-budget film, reportedly performed enthusiastically in the freezing weather, biting ice and cold water to prevent cold breathing, as the film was filmed in December. The special poster captures the atmosphere of the movie with the image of Do-won agonizing over the endless swaying road of youth, while the copy saying "Where did we go wrong?" and the divergent gazes of Jin-soo and Do-won on the side of the poster herald an unpredictable friendship between the two young people. The "Run Boy Run" stills, which were released together, draw attention to Do-won's expression, which is full of tension just before running, and his uncomfortable and lonely look from inside the car. For a brief time, it looks like he's having a good time with friends in a comic book cafe, but the scene where Do-won and Jin-soo look at each other while grabbing each other by the collar makes us wonder what happened between the two. In addition, the story of young people who endlessly sway, as seen in the image of Do-won running forward, leaving the essence and pursuers leaning against the wall behind, and the friendship between the two arouse curiosity. ___________ "Run Boy Run" is directed by Oh Won-jae, and features Jang Dong-yoon, Seo Byuk-joon, Gyul Hwi, Kwon So-hyun, Jang Myoung-un, Kim Young. Release date in Korea: 2020/05/28. A Canadian man caught smuggling a big load of liquid methamphetamine aboard a boat as he sailed near Newport last year said he was coerced by a Colombian cartel to carry the drugs. John Philip Stirling had previously been arrested off the coast of Florida in 2011 when he was carrying 400 kilograms of cocaine worth hundreds of millions of dollars. "Having lost all those drugs, he owed a debt to the Colombian cartel as a courier,'' his lawyer, Oregon Public Defender Lisa Hay, told the court before Stirlings sentencing Thursday. Stirling previously had been sent to federal prison for seven and a half years for the Florida offense. Once back in Canada in 2018, he received a call from an associate of the drug cartel who threatened the lives of his wife and son if he didnt return to Colombia and carry another drug shipment, Hay said. Stirling returned to Colombia, where he was beaten and threatened if he didnt take another voyage back to Canada carrying more of the cartels drugs. "When he went back down, he didnt think he had any other choice,'' Hay said. Stirling told the judge, via a video freed fro the federal prison in Sheridan: I was interrogated and beaten. I was stabbed in the hand. Theres a hole right there in my hand. I had a bag over my head. I think anybody would agree that I felt threatened.'' Once he was caught again on his solo sail about 100 miles from the Canadian border on April 9, 2019, Stirling attempted suicide by ingesting what he thought was fentanyl as the U.S. Coast Guard closed in on him, he and his lawyer said. "At that time, my life flashed before my eye,'' Stirling said. "I shouldnt have been sucked into this. ... Its my own fault. Ill pay the price. I didnt want anyone else to pay the price.'' A search of the ship revealed 28 jugs containing more than seven gallons of yellow-tinted liquid stored on both sides of the outer deck. Tests revealed the liquid was methamphetamine, according to prosecutors. Also found was a duffel bag containing several plastic-wrapped bricks of pentobarbital. Stirling said he was embarrassed to be back behind bars for the same mistake. "Im not very proud to be here, your honor. Im ashamed at this point in my life I find myself in this position,'' he said. In January, Stirling pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture of substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Hay urged the court to sentence her 66-year-old client to time served. She asked the judge to consider that Stirling was coerced, that he was simply a courier of drugs and that he suffers from diabetes and is at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus while in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron Chatfield sought a sentence of seven years and three months, noting that Stirling committed the latest drug crime while on federal supervision. U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman reached a sentence in between both recommendations. He ordered Stirling to complete a prison term of three years and four months. The judge characterized Stirling as a "skilled and talented courier carrying an astronomical amount of drugs,'' but said he did consider the mitigating factors outlined by his lawyer. "He had other choices available to him besides going to Colombia and getting involved,'' Mosman said. "The amount of drugs here are so high the harm that they likely would have inflicted on good people in Canada and elsewhere is so vast.'' Stirling, 66, was sentenced Thurs., May 21, 2020, to three years and four months in federal prison for smuggling liquid methamphetamine aboard a boat stopped off the coast of Newport. When Coast Guard officials found Stirling, he was below deck, lying on the floor of the main cabin. He was slurring his speech and had a hard time answering their questions, according to prosecutors. A medic was called to respond and administered the overdose-reversing drug naloxone after recognizing Stirling was suffering from a drug overdose. He had actually ingested pentobarbital, according to prosecutors. Stirling was airlifted to a hospital in Astoria and then transferred to a Portland hospital for treatment. Stirling told a nurse at the Portland hospital that he was heading to Canada with a ton of meth and 10 loads of fentanyl and that he didnt want to go to jail for the rest of his life, according to a federal affidavit. The maritime law makes it a crime to distribute or possess a controlled substance on a ship subject to jurisdiction of the United States. That includes a so-called vessel without nationality. The Mandalay boat that Stirling was steering fit that description because the Canadian government denied that the Mandalay had been registered in Canada, according to the U.S. State Department. In 2011, Stirling was arrested by the Coast Guard after authorities found him at sea off the Florida coast with four other crew members near Colombia with about 380 kilograms more than 800 pounds of cocaine and a little more than 1 kilogram of heroin on a 64-foot Canadian-registered sailing boat, court records show. The crew was about 90 miles away from their destination, Jamaica, when they were stopped. -- Maxine Bernstein Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox. Subscribe to Facebook page Microsoft on Tuesday spelled out some of the business-designed additions and improvements it plans for the Edge browser. The Chromium-based Edge, which Microsoft debuted in stable form in January, was to have been slowly rolled out to a subset of users "in the coming weeks" after a Jan. 15 announcement. That didn't happen. Whether because of Microsoft's own delays, the disruption of lock-downs and work-at-home orders resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, or a combination, Microsoft never got around to distributing the new Edge. That will now change, Microsoft pledged, effectively calling a do-over. Edge will be "delivered via a measured roll-out that you'll see ramping up over the course of the next few weeks," Kyle Pflug, principal program manager, wrote in a post to a company blog. Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro devices that are not being managed by IT will be eligible for the automatic replacement of old Edge with new Edge. Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education will be immune from the Microsoft-mandated takeover, as will Home and Pro systems joined to an Active Directory or Azure Active Directory domain, or which receive updates and upgrades via WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or WUfB (Windows Update for Business). Users have been able to manually download and install Chromium Edge, and will continue to be allowed to do so. Work, work, work At the top of the list for users is a new "WORK" category displayed for all Microsoft 365 customers; it slips into the already-available ALL/IMAGES/VIDEOS/MAPS/NEWS/SHOP choices at the top of Bing's results page. WORK slots between ALL and IMAGES and, when selected, shrinks the results to work-related files, locations, people, sites and so on - assuming a user has logged in with his or her work or school account. The feature will be immediately available, Pflug said. This is a refinement of what Office 365 ProPlus users had previously (ProPlus was rebranded as Microsoft 365 Apps in April). When Bing's address bar was used to look up certain internal-to-the-company information - notably documents and other files stored on OneDrive or SharePoint - the results were displayed after clicking a "Show results from [Organization X]" link. Customers not subscribed to Microsoft 365 - but to, say, an Office 365 plan including ProPlus/Apps, will continue to see this latter construction. Microsoft Edge for Microsoft 365 customers shows a WORK category at the top - right beside ALL and IMAGES - to delimit results to inside-the-organization data, such as files on OneDrive and SharePoint. Edge also now supports Windows Information Protection (WIP) in Windows 10, Pflug noted. WIP, formerly known as Enterprise Data Protection (EDP), enforces data protection rules set by the organization, preventing accidental data leaks when employees blend personal and work tasks on a single device. IT-mandated policies, such as which apps can access corporate data, are enforced by WIP. With WIP enabled in Edge, administrators can bar uploads from being sent to non-work locations, automatically encrypt work files when downloaded from a designated work locale, and more. Instructions on setting policies for WIP enforcement in the browser can be found in this support document. Also new: more sync and auto profile switching The other major business-oriented improvements to Edge center around synchronization, an important component of any browser when users have multiple devices and want to keep everything lined up. According to Pflug, installed extensions - also called add-ons - now sync in Edge; they remained disabled in Computerworld's copies, however. Administrators also now have access to a policy - SyncTypesListDisabled - for managing which data types can be synced, letting them, say, block password sync but allow collections, extensions and bookmarks to synchronize. (Microsoft's description of the policy notes that it required Edge 83 or later; Edge's stable build is currently on version 81.) Edge will also feature enhancements to its handling of multiple profiles, particularly those dedicated to work by virtue of company credentials and generic personal profiles, usually linked to a Microsoft Account for log-in. Notably, the browser will boast Automatic Profile Switching, which will detect work-related links - for example, an intranet site or a line-of-business web app - and then if necessary switch from the personal profile then in use to the work profile, without requiring another sign-in session. This automatic switcheroo is to go public in Edge 83; Microsoft has not yet announced a release date for that version. (Note: Google just issued Chrome 83 on May 19; Microsoft has generally followed Chrome upgrades with its own for Edge within two or three days.) Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 10:39PM by Claudio Alves The Academy has always had a certain difficulty in recognizing excellence from films made in any language other than English. When it comes to Asian cinema, that is especially true. Parasite's recent grand victory may be a sign that times are a-changing, but there are still branches of AMPAS that remain quite closed-off and insular. Thankfully that hasn't been the case with thee design branches. For a long time they were the only place where you could hope to find any sort of honor given to the works of masters like Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi. Japanese cinema, in particular, has found success in the Costume Design category. Overall, five pictures from Japan have been nominated for the prize and two have won. Since all those films are currently available online, most of them streaming on the Criterion Channel, it's a good time to take a look at this peculiarity of Oscar history During the post-war period, Japanese cinema went through a Golden Age and was also able to find an international audience. The film that's mostly credited as a historical turning is Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. Despite a lukewarm reception by Japanese film critics, the picture went on to compete at the 1951 Venice Film Festival. The Daiei Production Company was originally reluctant to let the picture participate and represent the nation's cinema, but, in the end, their concerns proved misguided. After all, Rashomon was a critical hit and won the Golden Lion. Such was the acclaim that it became one of the first Japanese films to find American distribution in the aftermath of World War II. RKO released it and Rashomon was immediately showered with dazzling reviews, going so far as to win a non-competitive Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It also got a Best Art-Direction nod, presaging how the design branches would be Japanese cinema's greatest allies within the Academy in years to come. Still, it would take a Cannes champion to win a Japanese film a competitive Academy Award once and for all. That picture was Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, a period drama (jidaigeki) that criticizes militaristic power through a sordid tale of romantic obsession and ultimate sacrifice. Shot in hyper-saturated Technicolor and overtly designed to evoke the historical accounts on painted scrolls, the film feels like a pictorial relic given life. The cruelty of the story is made more intense by the contrast with the beauty of its pageantry, colorful silks filling the screen at the same time fear and lust inflame the character's souls. In other words, Gate of Hell is a visual feast. Such wonders conquered the picture a 1954 Honorary Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and, more surprisingly, a nomination for Best Costume Design-Color. That said, the nod wasn't attributed to the film's credited costume designer, Shima Yoshizane. Instead, Sanzo Wada, a theatre costumer and painter of beautiful woodblock prints, was credited as a color consultant for the film and won the Oscar. Matters of confusing crediting aside, it's difficult, if not impossible, to argue against this victory, for the costumes in Gate of Hell are miracles of color and texture. The following year, it was Kenji Mizoguchi's Venice Film Festival-winning Ugetsu that got a nod for Best Costume Design, this time in the black and white category. Like Gate of Hell, Ugetsu is a period drama, though one focused on plebeians rather than aristocrats, where ghosts coexist with the mundane horror of Humanity. It's a sorrowful tale that's as painful as it is mesmerizing. The use of patterns in its costumes is of special splendor, drawing a social hierarchy through cloth and making the glamour of the wealthy look positively otherworldly. It was a deserved nomination and designer Tadaoto Kainosho would have been a good winner. The third and fourth Japanese films to be nominated for Best Costume Design were two of Akira Kurosawa's monochrome period epics. First up, we have the legendary Seven Samurai, where costume designer Kohei Ezaki evokes the historical past with great materiality while also defining each character with lived-in details. That picture competed at the 1956 Oscars and it lost to the Judy Holiday vehicle The Solid Gold Cadillac with costumes by Jean Louis. 1961's Yojimbo was the second Kurosawa film to conquer a Costume Design nomination. Like it happened in Seven Samurai, the costumes have to establish the social ecosystem of a war-torn town and delineate the oddness of the outsiders to the community. Toshiro Mifune appears in both films, but his characters and costumes are very distinct. Instead of the muddy armor of the first feature, he now wears clothes that might show the strain of time and usage but exude a regal elegance befitting a master warrior like Yojimbo. Costume designer Yoshiro Muraki lost the Oscar to Piero Gherardi's fashionable creations for Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Finally, we arrive at the most nominated Japanese film in Oscar history, a work honored for its direction, art direction, costume design, and cinematography. Once again, we're exploring the filmography of Akira Kurosawa, though, this time around, the epic is in color instead of black and white. 1985's Ran is an apocalyptic fusion of Shakespeare's King Lear, the parable of Mori Motonari, and Kurosawa's particular flavor of fatalistic nihilism. It's also a savage spectacle, as bloody as it is gorgeous, all of it exploded into monumental proportions. Costume designer Emi Wada took three years to construct the picture's wardrobe, conceiving around 1500 individual costumes that were made following sixteenth-century techniques for maximum historical accuracy. In the face of such an accomplishment, Oscar couldn't refuse to give her the award, even when Best Picture-winning Out of Africa was also a contender in the category. Apart from the costume designers of Gate of Hell and Ran, there's another Japanese winner in the annals of the Best Costume Design Oscar. We're, of course, talking about the one and only Eiko Ishioka whose work in Bram Stoker's Dracula is the stuff the dreams (and nightmares) are made of. Are you a fan of any of these films? More importantly, do you think they deserved their Oscars? A 14-year-old boy, who was injured along with three other people when a wall of a house collapsed near an encounter site in Nawakadal area of Srinagar on Tuesday, died at a hospital here, police said on Thursday. Basim Aijaz, a resident of Chota Bazar in Karan Nagar area of the city, succumbed to injuries at SMHS hospital late Wednesday night, a police official said. He said four persons, including Aijaz, were injured on Tuesday at the encounter site at Kanemazar in Nawakadal area of the city where two militants including a top Hizb commander Junaid Sehrai were killed. The wall collapsed when people were clearing the debris of one of the houses damaged in the encounter, leaving four persons injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By: WCTV Eyewitness News May 21, 2020 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) A teen is being charged with second-degree murder in connection to a shooting on Keith Street from April 3, according to court documents. Jhadyn King, 16, is the teen being charged as an adult for second degree murder. Court documents say police responded to a call about gunshots and a suspicious person in the area. At the scene, officers saw a white GMC Terrain that was left running with the passenger door open. A man was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in the driver's seat. When police removed the man from the car, two cell phones fell from his lap and a third phone and gun were found at his feet, court documents say. Several shell casings and fake $100 bills were found in the right rear passenger seat, suggesting that the shooter was sitting in the back of the car, according to court documents. Police searched the phones for phone numbers and text messages. One witness told police while they were inside their house, they heard what sounded like two or more gunshots in quick succession. They said they saw a light skinned black male wearing a black hoodie with the hood up. The witness said the suspect stood near the driver's side door and looked like a teenager. The suspect had his hands held at his waist, as if attempting to hide a gun, the witness told police. Finally, the witness said the suspect walked up the street and then ran back to the victim's vehicle and pulled on both passenger side doors. Two people who were walking their dogs at the time also saw the shooting. They told police they saw two black males standing along Keith Street, with one of them wearing white pants while talking on the phone. One of them said they later heard several pops and saw the person in light colored pants running through the field across the street from the victim's vehicle at almost the same time they heard the gunshots. The witnesses said there was another black male who was crouched down behind the victim's car holding a handgun. The armed person had on shorts, a high top hair style which was low on the sides and he appeared to be in his late tees or early twenties, court documents say. Investigators were able to identify King via phone records. A search warrant was issued for King's house, and investigators found fake $100 bills and a phone, according to court documents. During an interview with police, King said his acquaintance, Trekerria Williams, used his phone to contact the victim to arrange a drug deal. Williams used King's phone while they waited for the victim to arrive on Keith Street, court documents say. King claims he didn't know Williams would shoot and kill the victim. He then said as he was walking away on Keith Street, he heard several gunshots and saw Williams running away from the car carrying about an ounce of marijuana. King said he met up Williams at a laundry mat, and Williams explained how he shot the victim. King also admitted to police he received three grams of marijuana from Williams, court documents say. He was arrested and taken to the Leon County Jail. It's a question that has dogged British households and sparked debates around the kitchen table for years. But now researchers have proven that it really doesn't matter whether tomatoes are kept in the fridge or at room temperature. They stored the favoured salad food at 7C and 20C before putting them to an expert panel of food tasters, who found 'no significant difference in flavour' between the two. Tomatoes taste doesn't change whether they are stored in the fridge or at room temperature, a study by researchers at the University of Gottingen, Germany, has found The tomatoes were marked on characteristics such as sweetness, acidity and juiciness for the test, said the team from the University of Gottingen, Germany, and were all trained in assessing food. Reporting their findings to the journal Frontiers in Plant Science, they concluded keeping a ripe tomato in the fridge for a 'short period' of time has no impact on the flavour. Lead author Larissa Kanski said: 'It is the variety of tomato in particular that has an important influence on the flavour. 'The shorter the storage period, the better it is for the flavour and related attributes. However, we were able to show that, taking into account the entire post-harvest chain, short-term storage of ripe tomatoes in the refrigerator did not affect the flavour.' A study by the University of Florida found tomatoes could only be chilled for four days. They said that after then, they begin to lose their taste A study by the University of Florida in 2016 showed tomatoes tasted best if stored at between 18 and 24C, but could be stored below 13C for up to four days. It said chilled tomatoes stored for several days, particularly unripe tomatoes, will lose chemicals, affecting their taste. The cooling reduces the activity of hundreds of genes in the plant, they said, some of which produce enzymes that break down volatile chemicals to give them a sweeter taste and more appealing aroma. And other tropical fruits and vegetables that need the sun to ripen could also be affected by the sudden chilling. Jane Scotter, who runs a fruit and vegetable farm in Herefordshire on the Welsh border, told the Guardian last year: 'The golden rule is if something has gained its sweetness and purity from nature, and ripened in the sun, don't put it in the fridge. 'They pick up other flavours incredibly easily, lose sweetness and end up tasting "fridgy".' New Delhi, May 21 : Even as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra completed six months in the state, former Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday targeted his successor Udhhav Thackarey, accusing him of being "indecisive" and more "dependent" on bureaucracy in leading the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. He also said that reverse migration of the migrant workers from the state has posed a serious question on the future of industries in the state. In a group interview with mediapersons via video conferencing on Thursday, Fadnavis said, "Maharashtra has the highest percentage of Covid-19 cases and the most number of deaths." Citing the numbers, the former Chief Minister said that about 31 per cent of Covid-19 patients in the country are from Maharashtra, while the state's death toll makes for 40 per cent of the national fatality figures. He also said that the condition in state capital Mumbai is going out of hands, as the number of cases is rising by the day. Hitting out at the MVA government comprising the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the BJP leader said that since the beginning, the government has been committing "strategic errors" in handling the Covid-19 pandemic in the state. He said the state government could not manage the supply chain which led to delays in the distribution of ration to 3 crore ration card holders. He also said the MVA government made a mistake by deciding to provide cooked food to the migrant workers who did not have ration cards. "Most of the migrant labourers in the state did not receive cooked food, which led to their reverse migration to their native places," Fadnavis said. Attacking the MVA government, Fadnavis alleged that the facilities in the quarantine centres were poor and the quality of food served in the isolation wards was very bad. Blaming the state government for the rapid spread of the virus in areas such as the Dharavi, one of Asia's biggest slums, he said, "The government has stopped testing asymptomatic people, those who have high risk of getting infected. And this is being done to slow the rate of Covid-19 cases in the state." He further alleged that the government was not allowing private labs to conduct Covid-19 tests and the four-five laboratories which were selected by the ICMR for conducting tests have been shut. Responding to a question put forward by IANS on how he looks at the MVA government's performance in handling the Covid-19 situation, Fadnavis slammed Chief Minister Thackarey and said, "He is new to the post and throughout this entire tenure, he has mostly been dependent on the bureaucracy. He is also a bit scared to take decisions." "At such a crucial time, he should have shown political leadership and taken decision himself without any fear," he added. Fadnavis also said that cracks have already started to show in the ruling coalition. "As of now, we are not thinking about it... (about BJP returning to power in Maharashtra). Right now, all of us are battling the Covid-19 pandemic. Let the crisis get over, then we will see what we can do," Fadnavis said, adding that he feels the government will fall apart as cracks are showing already. Talking about reverse migration of workers from the state, the former Chief Minister said that the issue was worrisome. "Migrant workers play a big role in the state's industries. If all of them have gone to their native places, we fear whether they will come back. If they don't come back to Maharashtra, it will have a big impact on the industries," he said. Fadnavis also said that the role of the migrant workers in the industries cannot be replaced instantly as the new workforce needs to be trained for the specific works. Talking about halting the payment of the state's share in the ambitious 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project that is popularly called the Bullet Train project, the BJP leader said, "Such steps break the confidence of the investors in the state. And if the state starts losing investors, it is a worrisome sign." As on Thursday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra is 39,297 with 1,390 people falling prey to the dreaded virus. Out of the 39,297 cases, 10,318 people have been cured. (Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)--IANS The coronavirus situation in Russia is till unpredictable, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeyev said. "The situation is very unpredictable in terms of the epidemic development. The right approach to easing quarantine measures is to be based on the mortality rate when we really see that mortality is decreasing. So far, the situation is risky because the mortality is not going down and it causes serious concerns," he said. According to Sergeyev, a vaccine against the coronavirus should not be expected soon. "The process of a vaccine development is quite long. We will have to wait for it at least several months. And even if pre-clinical tests yield positive results it doesnt guarantee that it will demonstrate such results during clinical tests," TASS cited him as saying. In his words, combating the coronavirus infection is a "classical managerial task in conditions of uncertainty." "Obviously, it is important to move forward (in easing coronavirus lockdowns - TASS) by small steps, to react swiftly to the changing situation when the economy is revived. Delicate management with swift reaction to feedback is needed. But in these conditions stemming from the specifics of the coronavirus (symptomless cases, long incubation period), it is difficult to plan anything," the RAS head said. 'Bet you stay home now you hypokrits': Miss. church destroyed in suspected arson attack Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Mississippi church that filed a lawsuit against a town ban on worship gatherings was destroyed by a fire Wednesday morning that investigators believed was set as an act of arson. According to local news reports, firefighters responded to a fire at First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs around 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Responders arrived to find the church building engulfed in flames. Fox 13 reports that investigators found cans of spray paint on the ground with graffiti on the pavement of the church parking lot. The graffiti in the parking lot reads: Bet you stay home now you hypokrits (sic). We do believe that based on the evidence and what we have seen at the scene and on top of the hill this was an arson, Marshall County Major Kelly McMillan said, according to the news station. Pastor Jerry Waldrop, who has pastored the church for over 30 years, told news station WMC5 that it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that someone may have orchestrated this or done this. Waldrop said the church has no enemies that we know of. We dont know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this, he said. Waldrop told Fox 13 that he's unsure of what to do because the church building is now destroyed. We are going to keep the faith, and we're going to keep doing what we have always done, and maybe not on this location, Waldrop said. I'll get with our faithful people, and maybe we'll rent a building or whatever we need to do for the time being. In a press conference Wednesday, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he's going to keep track of the arson investigation. First Pentecostal Church had filed a lawsuit against the city of Holly Springs, which barred worship gatherings as part of its safer-at-home policies enacted to combat the spread of coronavirus. Although Reeves included houses of worship as essential entities that can be open to more than 10 people in a statewide order, officials in Holly Springs have deemed churches to be non-essential. Police in Holly Springs previously disrupted an Easter service and a mid-week Bible study at the church and reportedly told attendees they could be slapped with criminal citations. In late April, a federal judge sided with the church and ruled that its congregants have the right to hold drive-in services. However, the churchs legal push for the right to have full in-person services is still pending. If in fact the order in the city of Holly Springs says that church is non-essential and cannot order, then that order is in direct violation of the order that governs the state of Mississippi. Then they should cease and desist said order, Reeves said in his news conference. It is very clear local municipalities can have guidelines that are more strict than the governors guidelines, but they cannot have guidelines that directly conflict with what we have put in place. There is a reason that we named churches essential. The reason is that I believe very strongly that the government does not have the right to shut down churches. We have a freedom of religion in this country. Reeves said that he's called pastors and asked them not to hold services but stressed that the government cant tell churches not to meet. In its lawsuit, First Pentecostal Church was represented by the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law group that is dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty. To hear that the authorities are treating this as arson is distressing and we pray that the perpetrators of this terrible event will be brought to justice, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel Stephen Crampton said in a statement. Our most sincere prayers are with the people of this church and their pastor. They have been grieving the inability to gather as a congregation since the COVID-19 pandemic stay home orders forced the closure of their church home and now they must grieve the loss of this spiritual home, their place of worship." Crampton told Fox News that the church has also had negative comments come its way on social media. There is just a segment that takes issue with the church standing up, and the church just being the church, Crampton said. The news of the churchs destruction drew the ire of some Christian leaders online. The lower court judge issued a sarcastic and demeaning opinion. The case has been appealed. A few days after this judges mean opinion, someone firebombed the church and burnt it to the ground, Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian law group Liberty Counsel, wrote on social media. And this happened in America! Enough! Ken Graves, pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Bangor, Maine, shared a news link on the church fire on Twitter and cited Ephesians 5:14-16. Therefore He says: AWAKE, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light. Graves wrote. WALK IN WISDOM See then that you walk CIRCUMSPECTLY, NOT AS FOOLS but as wise, REDEEMING THE TIME, because THE DAYS ARE EVIL. Managing Director, Petra Griffith, founded and launched Wedbush Ventures as an avenue to provide seed capital to companies that have a unique perspective in redefining industries and solving larger market problems. Her past leadership with product, strategy, marketing, and operations teams include startup organizations and established organizations including Netflix, Yahoo!, and 24 Hour Fitness. Petra has a history of being on teams that built many firsts; the first online printing software, one of the first fitness wearables, the first native ads, and ushered a bank into the age of technology. This experience not only allows her to spot and understand product market fit, but also provides a finely tuned disciplined approach to sourcing early stage investing opportunities. "This is a momentous time in innovation. I'm excited to bring my product and operational lens to provide seed capital to accelerate the trajectory of transformational companies looking to change the way we live and do business," stated Petra Griffith. "Wedbush Capital is a great partner not only for providing the seed capital, but also for helping me with the infrastructure to launch so that I can focus on making investments right away. Access to their research and investment banking colleagues provides even more tools to help the companies we invest in." Eric Wedbush, CEO of Wedbush Capital, adds, "Wedbush Ventures is an exciting and natural extension of our business model, which is to back talented executives, like Petra, who are actively investing in great people and companies. Petra's early stage focus will be able to leverage many of the unique assets we have, including our Wedbush Securities colleagues' expertise, connections and market intelligence that span a diverse group of industries, including digital media, enterprise software, fintech and healthcare through their Capital Markets and Research Groups. About Wedbush Ventures Wedbush Ventures is an early stage venture fund investing in seed and pre-seed stage companies. Founded by entrepreneurs and industry veterans with substantive insights and authenticity, Wedbush Ventures seeks to leverage its executive background and is dedicated to provide funding for select industry disruptors, early in their life cycle, who are working to solve distinct market problems. Seeded by Wedbush Capital, Wedbush Ventures brings a wealth of connections, operational expertise at the early stage and long-term support to companies transforming their industries. www.wedbushventures.com About Wedbush Capital Wedbush Capital is a Los Angeles based, privately held, diversified investment firm that has been investing in private and public companies for more than 40 years, both directly as well as through its sponsored funds, such as Wedbush Capital Partners and Wedbush Ventures. Its largest holding, Wedbush Securities, is a leading financial services firm that provides its clients, both private and institutional, with a wide range of wealth management, research and investment banking services. www.wedbushcapital.com SOURCE Wedbush Ventures Related Links http://www.wedbushventures.com WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday escalated his campaign to discredit the integrity of mail balloting, threatening to "hold up" federal funding to Michigan and Nevada in response to the states' plans to increase voting by mail to reduce the public's exposure to the coronavirus. Without evidence, Trump called the two states' plans "illegal," and he incorrectly claimed that Michigan's "rogue" secretary of state is planning to mail ballots to all voters. The state is planning to send applications for mail-in ballots to all voters - not ballots themselves. "This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State," Trump tweeted about Michigan. "I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!" Trump later corrected the error but did not retreat from his claim that both states are taking steps that will encourage voter fraud. When asked for comment, spokespeople for the White House, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee did not offer evidence that state officials were breaking the law. Speaking to reporters later at the White House, the president claimed without proof that mail-in ballots lead to "forgeries" and "thousands and thousands of fake ballots." "I think just common sense would tell you that massive manipulation can take place," he said. "And you do have cases of fraudulent ballots where they actually print them and they give them to people to sign, maybe the same person signs them with different writing, different pens. I don't know. It's a lot of things can happen." The president's aggressive and unfounded rhetoric drew immediate rebukes from Democrats and voting-rights activists, who accused Trump of intentionally sowing mistrust in U.S. elections. And his claims that absentee voting will encourage cheating are at odds with the activity of state and national GOP leaders, who are mounting aggressive field operations, including mass mailings of ballot applications, to encourage their voters to cast ballots by mail. Republican officeholders in various states - including Nevada - are also backing expansions of absentee voting because of the pandemic. Trump's latest attacks show how voting access has become a major battleground in the 2020 presidential race, as both parties invest tens of millions of dollars into dozens of lawsuits and voter outreach across the country to try to shape how ballots will be cast amid the coronavirus outbreak. Democratic strategists pointed to Trump's tweets targeting battleground or Democratic-controlled states as evidence that he is trying to gain an edge in states that could decide the outcome in November. They noted that many Republican states are similarly expanding mail balloting, yet Trump has not criticized them. "They're doing this because they think it gives them some sort of political advantage," said Guy Cecil, a former aide to Hillary Clinton who leads the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA Action. "They see what Trump's poll numbers are, and their philosophy is simple: 'If we can't win with the electorate we have, then we try to create an environment that gives us an electorate that we can win with.' " White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump is simply trying to prevent voting fraud. "The president is right to look at this," she told reporters. "We want a free and fair election, and that's a fair concern." Trump has repeatedly railed against mail-in voting, asserting with scant evidence that it is subject to widespread fraud and has hurt Republicans in previous elections. Multiple studies have shown that Republicans and Democrats both can benefit with increased mail-in voting. Cases of ballot fraud are rare. Trump himself voted absentee in Florida's primary in March, saying he did so "because I'm allowed to," adding that he was at the White House and out of state. Republican officeholders in at least 16 states that do not have all-mail elections have encouraged people to vote absentee during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a tally last month by The Washington Post. Still, even as they encourage mail balloting among their own voters, a number of GOP organizations, including state parties, the Republican National Committee and conservative-backed independent groups, have followed Trump's lead in accusing Democrats of encouraging fraud and seeking to put restrictions on mail voting. The RNC alone has committed $20 million to fight liberal-backed lawsuits seeking easier electoral access. All of it has forced state and national Republicans, and even Trump's own political operation, to navigate messy and conflicting strategies as they try to balance the president's distaste for mail balloting with the on-the-ground objective to help their own voters cast ballots during the pandemic. "We have been clear that we cannot have rogue state officials or activist courts making unilateral decisions," said RNC press secretary Mandi Merritt. "We continue to support lawful absentee voting with the proper safeguards in place, safeguards which Democrats are suing to eliminate in states like Michigan." Trump's political advisers said he has made clear that he doesn't like mail balloting and doesn't want states to expand it. "He's not telling us to reverse current rules," said one senior campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter candidly. "He just doesn't want it expanded or people to use it for other reasons like this. He thinks the more mail voting there is, the more fraud there is." Several Trump advisers said they viewed the president's attacks on Michigan in particular as unwise, given internal GOP polling showing he is trailing in the state. The tweet caught several campaign advisers by surprise, including Republican National Committee chair and former Michigan state party chair Ronna McDaniel, as well as campaign manager Brad Parscale, according to people familiar with their reactions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. The first version of his tweet that erroneously said Michigan was sending out ballots - rather than ballot applications - was deleted after hours of internal conversations with Trump and others concluded that it was not a good idea, a Republican with knowledge of the discussions said. Internal campaign polling has consistently shown Trump trailing former vice president Joe Biden in Michigan, people familiar with the polling said. A Fox News poll in mid-April found Biden leading Trump by 49 percent to 41 percent among registered voters in the state. Trump took aim at Michigan a day after its secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, announced a plan to send absentee ballot applications to all of its 7.7 million voters for primary elections in August and general elections in November. Benson noted in an interview that at least four Republican states - Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and West Virginia - have decided to send ballot applications to all voters, just as she did. "It is not a partisan issue to ensure that every citizen can vote," she said. "Our hope is that the misuse of federal funding that's being threatened is simply that - a threat. It's certainly illegal to predicate federal funding on a political agenda." In his tweet threatening to curtail federal funds, Trump flagged the Treasury Department as well as Russ Vought, the acting head of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He offered no details about what money he would hold up. Later he told reporters that he spoke Wednesday with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but said they didn't discuss the withholding of federal funds, adding, "I don't think it's going to be necessary." McEnany said Trump's tweet "was meant to alert OMB, who wanted to be very careful as we send trillions of dollars to states that we keep this important point in mind." Several current and former budget officials said the majority of federal assistance for states is distributed according to formulas set by Congress that would be difficult - if not impossible - for the president to unilaterally alter. Other assistance comes in the form of grants that are awarded jointly by relevant federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget, which could decide not to award money to Michigan or Nevada. But any political interference with the grant-making process would likely be challenged in court, said William Hoagland, a Republican and former staff director on the Senate Budget Committee. "OMB and the agency head would be legally culpable," Hoagland said. "If the states apply and meet all the requirements, I think it would create legal challenges." Republicans are more united about Trump's attack on Nevada, which has moved to a largely mail-in system for its June 9 primary. Republican Party leaders have criticized the state for deciding to mail ballots, not just ballot applications, to all active and inactive voters. That could allow bad actors to obtain ballots sent to voters who have moved or died, they argue. "State of Nevada 'thinks' that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S.," Trump said in his second tweet. "They can't! If they do, 'I think' I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections." His criticism is complicated by the fact that Nevada's secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, is a Republican. A federal judge upheld her decision to mail ballots to all voters in Nevada's upcoming primary. Democrats are now suing to ensure that in-person voting is also available on Election Day. Cegavske's office issue a statement Wednesday defending her decision, noting that "many safeguards" are in place to prevent fraud, including signature requirements and bar code tracking. The state's Democratic governor, Steve Sisolak, was more pointed in a tweet Wednesday: "For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous." - - - The Washington Post's Colby Itkowitz, Annie Linskey and Scott Clement contributed to this report. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 21, 2020 | 04:36 PM | PADUCAH Back in 2019, while working on a separate investigation, McCracken County deputies obtained a search warrant and seized electronics belonging to 29-year-old Charles Tanner. While working with the Kentucky Attorney General's Forensic Unit, deputies say they uncovered nearly 2,000 pictures of child pornography on Tanner's electronics. According to deputies, the pictures included very young children and teenagers, all engaging in sexual acts, seemingly by force. On Thursdsay, deputies arrested Tanner at his home in Paducah. He was lodged in the McCracken County Jail. He is being charged with 1,571 counts of sexual performance by a minor, and one count of use of a minor in a sexual performance. A Paducah man is facing charges related to child pornography after an investigation by McCracken County deputies and the Attorney General's Forensic Unit. A driver was jailed for nine years after killing his friend in a 147mph police chase smash and then fleeing the scene. Connor Money, 23, sped away from police at 'eye-watering speeds' while performing 'jaw dropping manoeuvres' - eventually ploughing into the back of a lorry on a motorway, a court heard. His 'best friend' Jordan Amos, 23, was crushed in the passenger seat of the grey BMW 5 Series estate on the M2 motorway near Medway, Kent. But instead of helping his friend, Money ran from the scene into nearby woodland. Connor Money (left), 23, from Dartford, was jailed for nine years yesterday after the collision at around 1.30pm on October 8 last year. His friend Jordan Amos (right), 23, died at the scene At around 1.30pm on October 8 last year, two Kent Police officers travelling in an unmarked patrol vehicle became suspicious of Money's driving while he was travelling on the coast-bound M2. The constables overtook his vehicle and displayed a message on their rear window which instructed him to follow them. Money appeared to be following their instructions but, when the officers left junction two to find a safe location to stop, he chose to suddenly disobey the request and sped down the motorway. The officers were committed to the exit, making it unsafe for them to change direction, and within a five-minute window numerous people called Kent Police to report concerns about Money's manner of driving. Dash cam footage captured Money travelling up to 147mph while dangerously undertaking and weaving on and off the hard shoulder, showing a 'flagrant disregard for the rules of the road'. As Money passed junction four, near Rainham, Kent, driving at around 130mph, he attempted to undertake a lorry that had moved from lane one to lane two to make way for another HGV that was joining from the slip road. Money failed to see the joining vehicle and collided with the back of it. But instead of staying at the scene to check on this friend in the passenger seat, Money chose to flee the scene. Mr Amos was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers from the Metropolitan Police, who had been on a training exercise in Kent, came across the collision shortly after it happened and provided first aid to the victim at the scene. They also went on to find Money nearby where he was arrested. Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit investigated the case and charged Money, from Dartford, Kent with causing death by dangerous driving while he was still in custody. He was due to stand trial but admitted the offence. Money's car (pictured) sped into the HGV while attempting to undertake a different vehicle on the M2. The 23-year-old admitted to causing death by dangerous driving Judge Sally-Ann Hales QC sentenced him as he wept on video link at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, to nine years in prison. He was also given a consecutive 10-month sentence for a separate driving offence in January 2019 and disqualified from driving for 14 years and five months. She said: 'No sentence could possibly compensate for the grief and loss that Mr Amos' family have suffered and will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives.' Prosecuting Madeleine Wolfe said Money had picked Jordan up from his home in Dartford, Kent to go on a seaside trip to Whitstable. In victim impact statements the driver of the lorry Money smashed into has been forced to quit his job and visit a counsellor to deal with PTSD, depression and flashbacks of the incident which 'lead me to have thoughts of ending my life'. He had driven HGVs for 31 years and spent six years in the military 'witnessing things that many members of the public would never imagine' but has been 'deeply affected' by the crash. Mr Amos' partner Summer Davies, who met him in 2015, said: 'Jordan would do anything for anybody - even if he didn't want to.' Mr Amos' mother Nicola Holmes, who has four sons, said: 'Now there is a piece missing of that unit. The boys have also become quiet now and are trying to carry on but it's hard. 'Your children shouldn't die before you. He will always be my baby just like all of my boys no matter how big they get.' His father, Richie Amos, added: 'He wasn't just my son. He was my right hand man, my best friend and my hero. 'Connor got out the car and ran away, leaving my hurt boy there by himself. Since he crashed the car, it's just been lies. You were meant to be his best mate.' Defending, Sunil Metha said 'the loss of his close friend' was a mitigating factor and that his 'fight or flight kicked in causing him to panic' before evading the scene. Sergeant Chris Wade, Kent Police's lead investigating officer for the case, said after the sentencing: 'Money's decision to ignore two police officers and instead drive away at grossly excessive speeds, endangering countless other motorists, is beyond comprehension. 'This is without doubt the worst driving I have encountered in 25 years of policing. A young man, with his whole life ahead of him, died as a consequence of Money's reckless decision and instead of staying at the scene his first thought was to run away and evade capture. 'His behaviour was disgraceful and his poor nature is further demonstrated by the six months he spent denying his offending before pleading guilty just before he was due to stand trial in March. 'I know this case has affected a great many people and, while Money's imprisonment does not undo the harm caused, I sincerely hope they can find a degree of closure in this sentencing.' Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Thunderstruck Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AWE) (OTC: THURF) ("Thunderstruck") is pleased to announce its 2020 exploration program (the "Program) on its Korokayiu Zinc/Copper Prospect ("Korokayiu") in Fiji with JV partner Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC"). Bryce Bradley, President and CEO of Thunderstruck Resources, commented: "After the high-grade copper and zinc drill results from 2019, we are eager to get started on our second year of drilling with our partners at JOGMEC. Like other industries and sectors, we've experienced setbacks and delays due to the pandemic, so we're thrilled to be finally starting our 2020 exploration program. Thunderstruck is fortunate in that our exploration season in Fiji coincides with the gradual re-opening of the global economy. As of this writing, Fiji no longer has any new cases of COVID-19, so local Fijian employees are free to prepare the camp, maintain roadworks and build drill pads now throughout the month of June, with social distancing measures in place, in expectation of the full-scale commencement of the exploration program at the beginning of July, or earlier, once their borders fully re-open." The program over the next year includes: Geology, mapping and soil/rock geochemistry at and around the seven presently known target areas. Induced Polarization (IP) survey at Wainaleka and its extension (Kove Kove ~ Echo Creek) to fine-tune definition of drill targets. Additional IP surveys may be carried out at Kula Creek and Palu Creek depending upon results from the mapping and rock/soil geochemistry at those target areas. Drill program of at least 1500m to test lateral and depth extensions of the mineralized zone outlined by earlier drilling, consisting of at least three diamond core holes conducted on the high-gravity anomaly, with additional holes based on results from the IP survey, mapping and soil/rock geochemistry. Two or three shallow diamond holes at Wainaleka to obtain samples from the mineralized zone for processing test work in order to get a first estimate of recoverability and projected concentrate quality. Figure 1: Korokayiu joint venture property, showing the recently extended area. After last year's drill results, the Korokayiu property has been expanded from 30 square kms to 136 square kms To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2901/56278_cd2faea4b422596c_001full.jpg The Schedule for the Program is tentatively as follows: Table 1 To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/2901/56278_cd2faea4b422596c_002full.jpg MOBILIZATION OF DRILLER Thunderstruck has commissioned Bonga Drilling, of Vancouver, Canada to mobilize two diamond core drills to Fiji, in preparation for the Korokayiu drill program. Bonga has a solid reputation for getting good core recoveries quickly and efficiently, with a fee structure heavily slanted toward production. They have agreed to leave their drills on-site in anticipation of further drilling for Thunderstruck in the near term. WAINALEKA ZINC/COPPER PROSPECT Wainaleka is a high-grade zinc-copper-silver volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) discovery drilled by Anglo Pacific in 1977. That 15-hole, 1,763-metre Anglo diamond drill program intersected highly anomalous values including: 6.2m @ 1.8% copper, 12.0% zinc and 25 g/t silver (WLK-1A) 10m @ 2.3% copper, 5.5% zinc and 47 g/t silver (WLK-4) 15.5m @ 1.5% copper, 1.3% zinc and 8.0 g/t silver (WLK-10) The Anglo drilling results left the main mineralised zone open at both ends and at depth. True widths are estimated to be 80%-100% of the drilled intercept. Geologic mapping indicates a 15 km prospective strike length; including eight additional, under-explored zinc-copper VMS prospects (see Company's press release dated February 28, 2019). ABOUT JOGMEC JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) seeks to ensure a stable supply of metal resources that are indispensable for Japanese industries. To achieve that objective, they contribute financial and technical resources to exploration, development, production and other measures intended to provide a long-term supply of key metals. About Fiji Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji, has a long mining history. It is on the prolific Pacific Ring of Fire, a trend that has produced numerous large deposits, including Porgera, Lihir and Grasberg. The island of Viti Levu hosts Namosi, held by a joint venture of Newcrest, Mitsubishi and Nittetsu. Newcrest published Proven and Probable Reserves for Namosi of 1.3 billion tonnes at 0.37% Cu and 0.12 g/t Au (5.2M ounces Au and 4.9M tonnes Cu) (please see Company's Press Release October 19, 2019). Namosi is now undergoing environmental assessment as part of the permitting process. Lion One Metals is now developing its Tuvatu Project, with Indicated Resources of 1.1 million tonnes at 8.17 g/t Au (294,000 ounces Au), and Inferred Resources of 1.3 million tonnes at 10.6 g/t Au (445,000 ounces Au). The Vatukoula Gold Mine has been operating for 80 years, producing in excess of 7 million ounces. ABOUT THUNDERSTRUCK RESOURCES Thunderstruck Resources is a Canadian mineral exploration company that has assembled four extensive and highly prospective properties in Fiji on which recent and previous exploration has confirmed VMS, copper and precious metals mineralization. The Company provides investors with exposure to a diverse portfolio of exploration stage projects with potential for zinc, copper, gold and silver in a politically safe and stable jurisdiction. Thunderstruck trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol "AWE" and United States OTC under the symbol "THURF". On behalf of Thunderstruck Resources Ltd. Bryce Bradley President/CEO, Director For additional information, please contact: Rob Christl, Investor Relations Manager Email: rob@thunderstruck.ca P: 778 840-7180 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Although Thunderstruck believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Thunderstruck's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Thunderstruck undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56278 Oregon will celebrate Memorial Day 2020 unlike any Memorial Day that has come before. With many parks and natural places reopening with the governors new order, expect trails, parks and other outdoor locations to have some crowded conditions this weekend. The Center for Disease Control has recommendations on what to do when visiting outdoor spaces during the COVID-19 outbreak: Practice social distancing, avoid heavily traveled areas and stay close to home. CDC recommendations for visiting outdoor areas Not all state or national parks are open. Please check for specifics on your destination before heading out. The Oregonian/OregonLives Jamie Hale keeps this running list of whats open and whats not. Silver Falls State Park is among state parks that have reopened. And add a mask to the essentials you carry while visiting. Hale spoke to experts about whether hikers need to wear a mask. Early indications from the National Weather Service show sunny conditions Saturday, followed by showers for Sunday and Monday in Northwest Oregon. High temperatures will be in the upper 60s to low 70s through Monday. Public transportation TriMet buses and MAX will run on Sunday schedules on Monday, May 25. WES will have no service. Reminder, TriMet is now requiring riders to wear masks or face coverings on all its buses and trains. C-Tran will run on Sunday/Holiday schedules on Monday, May 25. Portland Aerial Tram is closed. Government offices Federal courts and offices are closed. Oregon and Washington state offices and courts are closed. Portland parking meters are free on Monday, May 25, only. Pay during regular Sunday hours. Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Clark county offices, city of Portland and Vancouver offices, Metro regional center are closed. Postal mail (USPS) will not be delivered Monday, May 25, and post offices will be closed. Shopping The Memorial Day weekend is traditionally filled with sales and deals for retail shoppers. On May 15, statewide retail shopping opened in Oregon to stand-alone retailers. Shopping centers and malls are still closed. Some mall restaurants with exterior facing entries can offer take out. Stand-alone retailers must, by governors orders, maintain social distancing and other safety measures for employees and customers during the coronavirus outbreak. Read more about retail rules here. Oregon area Costco stores are closed for Memorial Day, May 25, 2020. Most chain grocery stores are open Memorial Day. Some have limited hours due to coronavirus, and some have mask or one-way aisle rules. Check with your local store to verify any rule or hour changes. The Oregonian/Oregonlive.coms Grant Butler has been following changes in grocery shopping. Attractions Some of the metro areas most popular holiday attractions are closed due to Covid-19 as museums and amusement parks remain closed. The Oregon Zoo, OMSI and the Portland Art Museum are closed. Multnomah Falls and hiking trails in the Columbia River Gorge are also closed. The Oregon Coast Aquarium, High Desert Museum, Enchanted Forest, and Oaks Park remain closed. But, hey, movies are returning to Newbergs 99W Drive-in, though reservations are required and all spots are filled for the weekend. And the Oregon Garden in Silverton announced Friday that it has reopened, with a limit of 300 guests at a time. Events With Oregons ban on large gatherings through September, no large events are planned to commemorate the holiday. National cemeteries, including Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, will be open for gravesite memorials, and the placing of flags or flowers by individuals or small groups only. Large groups are not allowed. Cemetery visitors are asked to adhere to CDC, state and local health and safety guidelines and local travel restrictions. No public events will be held at any national cemeteries for Memorial Day. The National Cemetery Administration staff will have a small observance that is not open to the public. It will be photographed and posted on the National Cemetery Administrations website, Facebook and Twitter pages. Some ways to celebrate Memorial Day online include a virtual service recorded for the holiday and hosted by Oregon City. In honor of veterans and other public servants the citys virtual event will be narrated by David Bone, with guest speaker Retired Naval Commander JJ Morell, a 21-gun salute by the VFW and Taps on bugle by Randy Leisure. A link to the video will be posted on the citys homepage www.orcity.org for viewing at 9 a.m. Monday, May 25. Also, the City of Vancouver will broadcast a special program, prepared in advance, airing 3 and 9 p.m. Monday, May 25 on CVTV cable channel 23/323HD and on www.cvtv.org. The program features remarks by Larry Smith and Mike Burton, representing the Community Military Appreciation Committee, Tracy Fortmann, the Superintendent of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, the Mayor of Vancouver, Anne McEnerny-Ogle, and others. The keynote speaker will be General Donna Prigmore of the Oregon National Guard. Speakers are recording their messages separately and many chose to be filmed in locations meaningful to veterans and local military history. Music during the broadcast program, filmed in advance, is provided by the 204th Army Band, Vancouver Fire Fighters Pipes and Drums, Vancouver Police Department, and VFW Post 7824 Honor Guard. The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs honors Memorial Day traditions with its first-ever Virtual Statewide Memorial Day Ceremony. The virtual ceremony, which will include a number of messages reflecting on the importance of the holiday. Tune into on ODVAs Facebook page 10 a.m. Monday, May 25, or anytime thereafter. Oregon Public Broadcasting will air the PBS annual National Memorial Day Concert at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 24 on OPB broadcasting stations. The 90 minute show includes a concert honoring the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, personal stories interwoven with musical performances, and a tribute to workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Check your local listings. The annual Memorial Day event held at Metros Lone Fir Cemetery has been canceled. Fort Vancouver National Historic Site will not hold any public Memorial Day events. Private or church cemeteries may have different rules. Check before visiting. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The utter disregard for the value of human life could not be starker than in using the COVID-19 crisis as the foreground for the whittling down of labour rights. The proposed moves are the most short-sighted manifestation of the hasty assumptions that continue to undergird the case for neoliberal reform of Indias labour law framework. As the fourth iteration of the lockdown commences, the bulk of Indias labour force continues to be sacrificed at the altar of public health and now, the economy. Over the past weeks, several states Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh Uttar Pradesh and Gujarathave announced a slew of labour law suspensions. While in Gujarat, exemptions from certain labour norms have been proposed as the carrot for new enterprises, in Uttar Pradesh nearly the entire gamut of labour law application is proposed to be suspended. Several other states are expected to follow suit. Statistics released by the Centre for Monitoring of the Indian Economy for India indicate that nearly a quarter (24 percent) of Indias workforce is now out of gainful work, a precipitous rise in unemployment from already record levels of 8 percent. In the last week of April 2020, states with large variances in their industrial activity; Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, and Haryana have all reported unemployment figures of close to 50 percent, signalling that the issue of mass layoffs is widespread. While the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak may have prompted the corresponding suspension measures, the ideological backing is provided by the larger project of the vilification of Indias labour law framework as regulatory cholesterol. Prompted by the liberalisation of Indias product markets in 1991, the key goal then, as now, has been to generate greater labour flexibility a euphemism for employers to be able to hire and fire workers at will, dole out starvation wages and not expend resources on ensuring safe workplaces. The stated policy vision is that these pervasive suspensions will bring about greater labour flexibility and revive economic activity by (a) providing employment to workers who have migrated back to the state, and (b) attracting investment by creating a positive atmosphere for industry. The larger goal here appears to be that of becoming an attractive destination for international firms seeking to move production out of China. This is delirious policy making, not backed by empirical analysis and a move akin to spinning the wheels in the sand: the illusion of regulatory agility without demonstrable impact. This move ignores a vast body of evidence documenting the lack of correlation of protective labour law regimes in stunting economic growth. In 2014-15, several states had instituted employer friendly relaxations in several state-specific legislation, such as relaxations in Chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1950, the Contract Labour Act, 1970 and the Factories Act, 1948. Published in 2017, a study analysing the impact of these amendments in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh found that these amendments had no impact in incentivising the investment of capital, growth or employment. It also found that no impact could be felt in terms of increased exploitation or worsening conditions of service as a result of the amendments. Similarly, the Gujarat model of development, often treated as aspirational, was characterised by relaxation and non-implementation of labour laws in special economic zones. While this certainly triggered capital in-flows, the result was capital-intensive growth (in industries such as petrochemicals) without the corresponding increase in employment hoped for. Thus, the relaxation of labour norms has been unable to establish itself as an economic model for job creation. On the contrary, data shows that employment in establishments within the purview of labour laws grew faster than those that didnt. Notwithstanding the economic case for the suspensions, their legal and socio-political foundation is particularly precarious. The design of Indias labour law framework has been a product of its obligations under the International Labour Organisations conventions, constitutional obligations, decades of jurisprudence and hard fought struggles of the working class. Fundamentally, the socio-political case for a labour law framework emerges from the power asymmetry between labour and capital. Labour laws, then, are meant to countervail the inequality of bargaining power by preventing the unilateral setting of the terms of service by the owners of capital. A balanced inter-play between labour and capital pushes economic growth upward without the spectre of social unrest that can potentially erase gains in productivity and purchasing power. Typically, this has taken two conceptual forms in democractic settings. One has been the industrial democratic approach in which the law enables and recognises the role of worker collectives in managerial decision-making. The German model of co-determination is a successful example of this approach. Another approach is that of traditional social contract where the state seeks to empower individual workers by giving them enforceable rights, social protections and an industrial disputes resolution mechanism. The Indian labour law framework was originally conceptualised as a derivation of both (with rights accorded to individual workers as well as rights of recognition and bargaining accorded to trade unions), but over time has seen an increased placing of encumbrances on the rights accorded to trade unions. For example, the right to strike as an essential feature of the right to form trade unions has been eroded by the carving out of arbitrary sectoral exemptions. Notwithstanding weak enforcement, the securing of these rights itself can sometimes be sufficient in ensuring less precarious labour conditions. The redaction of these rights is a tellingly regressive policy mis-step. It is a feudal move reminiscent of the Statute of Labourers, 1351 to bolster the Ordinance of Labourers, 1349 in the aftermath of the bubonic plague in England. In what was a spectacular failure to appease holders of capital through the coercive engagement of labour at starvation wages, the Statute was a major contributory factor in Peasants Revolt of 1381 that broke out in large parts of England. This incident is widely regarded as the first great popular uprising in English history which triggered emergency course corrections in tax and labour statutes at the cost of large-scale loss of life and property. Astute policy-makers, with the advantage of historical analysis, should not be walking down this dangerous path. In India,the pronouncements of the 7-judge Supreme Court bench in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar holds important takeaways. Recognising that the power to make ordinances has been abused for far too long by legislatures, the Court held that ordinances were subject to judicial challenge. At the very least, the suspension of the Equal Remuneration Act, the Minimum Wages Act, the Contract Labour Act and the Minimum Wages Act raise fundamental rights challenges as was held in PUDR v. Union of India and in Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India. These state ordinances should be subject to judicial scrutiny and be liable to be struck down on constitutional grounds. On weak economic, legal and moral footing, what then is the purpose of proposing these draconian measures? The answer, arguably, lies in political virtue signalling. The existence of labour protections was a crucial discursive tool to accord dignity to the labouring class. That the Uttar Pradesh ordinance is not drafted with any degree of seriousness is telling. The Madhya Pradesh ordinance, for all of the talk around labour flexibility, does not suspend the operation of the hotly contested Chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act. The chapter applies to industrial establishments employing 100 workmen on an average per working day for the preceding 12 months. The chapter mandates such establishments to seek prior government sanction before laying off workers or closure of the establishment. Chapter VB has been the target of relentless lobbying for pro-business reforms as it is argued to prevent labour flexibility. The suspension of labour laws, then, are designed with an important objective of virtue signalling a forbearance for untethered labour exploitation. In retaining control over retrenchment while suspending all other labour protections, an environment of widespread distress-driven employment is the only possible outcome. The utter disregard for the value of human life could not be starker than in using the COVID-19 crisis as the foreground for the whittling down of labour rights. The proposed moves are the most short-sighted manifestation of the hasty assumptions that continue to undergird the case for neoliberal reform of Indias labour law framework. That is not to say that reforms need not be undertaken; despite the complex web of laws that comprise the regulation of labour in India, nearly 90 percent of its workforce has not been able to secure any of the rights that should accrue to it. However, what is needed is a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. The period of introspection that labour law has gone through needs to be tapped into, to create a framework that is inclusive and more cognisant of the divides amongst labour that labour law can exacerbate. With vast swathes of the precariat already battered by the loss of sustenance and livelihood, the states coercive machinations, and multiple avoidable workplace accidents, many workers have voiced their anguish at the betrayal they have felt at the hands of their employers a betrayal augmented by the loud silence of the professional class. What lies ahead will be defined by the response of the working class themselves. One option, is to continue to trust the now stripped bare framework of individual worker rights and return to work in bonded labour conditions. The other option is to recognise that labour participation can be leveraged to push for laws that protect collective industrial action. Collective action and negotiation equalise power relations between labour and capital in a way that the State has failed to do in India. Both options will involve radical transition from the status quo and the socio-economic costs of such a transition will not be insignificant. Policy-makers must decide whether political virtue signalling is worth the spectre of loss of life, livelihood and property that looms ominously on the horizon. The precariat cannot be made to bear the costs of the lockdown. Aayush Rathi is a lawyer, and researcher affiliated with the Centre for Internet and Society, India, and BBC Media Action. Sreyan Chatterjee is a researcher with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. MONROE The Board of Finance Tuesday formally approved a $90 million budget that will slightly lower the mill rate and include no tax increase. The finance board's $90,043,075 budget while maintaining some $58.5 million in education spending represents a $1,490,716 reduction from the Town Councils proposal, leaving a 35.48 mill rate, a minor drop from the present number. I do not believe everything weve done here is perfect, said Board of Finance Chair Michael Manjos. I know the Board of Education will have some difficult decisions to make. They did get an increase. I know its not enough to do what they wanted to do. Were aware of the challenges. To help pay for the spending plan, the finance board will use $8 million from the towns undesignated fund balance and $500,000 from a designated fund balance while asking the unions for teachers and town employees to forgo raises for one year. The reduction in expenditures comes mainly from an as-of-yet-unagreed-upon pay freeze for all town employees, both city and school. If all unions agree, finance officials say it would save the town some $1.2 million the coming fiscal year $911,000 from the school unions alone. Before the vote, Board of Education member Nicholas Kapoor urged finance board members to reverse (Manjos) senseless, short-sighted, ill-informed and just plain wrong $911,000 cut to the Monroe education budget. Board of Finance Chair Manjos is single-handedly handicapping the school system, added Kapoor. His ego and personal animosity need to be put aside and the Board of Finance needs to do what is best for our teachers, students, staff and town. This additional $1 million cut is wholly owned by the Board of Finance who vote for it. The finance board budget will not be posted. Residents will still have an opportunity to comment on the proposal before the budget and tax rate is set in early June. Kapoor disputed Manjos past claim that the budget does not cut education spending. Cathy Zuraw / Cathy Zuraw The $58.5 million budget approved for Monroes public schools represents a 2.19 percent spending increase over the current budget. But the initial number, submitted by assistant school Superintendent Jack Zamary, proposed a 5.7 percent hike. That number was cut $500,000 by the school board, with another $500,00 then cut by First Selectman Ken Kellogg. If teachers do not agree to a pay freeze, Kapoor said the district will have to find another $911,000 worth of cuts. The budget proposal being voted on tonight is a fake budget, said Kapoor. Its built on the faulty assumption that the teachers are taking a zero in the upcoming year. I want to make it very clear that if the teachers and all other BOE staff do not take a zero, and we have to cut other things to find another close to a million dollars, the teachers and the BOE staff are not the bad guys. The present financial uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic forced Kellogg and Manjos to call for no tax increases. That goal led the finance board, which under the governors executive order now has the power to adopt the final budget, go through the spending plan line item by line item finding areas of reductions in its quest to maintain or lower the present mill rate while not slashing staff or eliminating significant amounts of programs. "It is not an unreasonable request, said Manjos last week, adding that everyone is feeling the financial pain brought by the pandemic. I truly believe that we need to do this ... unions need to come and support that decision, and God willing, we will not have to cut staff. That would be the ideal situation. With a projected tax collection rate of 93 percent, the finance board concedes it may have to use as much as $8 million from the towns general fund to cover the budget. Manjos said if the collection rate turns out higher, less of the fund balance will be needed. Kapoor noted Monroe leads the DRG in some elementary school statistics, and Monroe schools have done great things with what its been given. But what is the impact of a $2 million cut? Possibly devastating. The additional $911K cut from the Board of Finance makes it extremely hard to come up with a budget for an exceptional school system. If we want things, we have to fund them. Kapoor said when students return to the school buildings, they will need more help, not less. We will need more staff, not less. As a member of the Board of Education, I will not vote to cut a single teacher in the upcoming budget year." Manjos has stated he does not support adding money back into the budget at this time, considering potential unemployment rates of some 20 percent. Once the town has a better handle on the financials, he said, the schools and city officials can revisit specific items. Come August, September, October, I think we will have a better picture of where we are at, Manjos said last week. If collections are larger than expected, we can have any conversation. Nothing stops us from taking a second bite at the apple, if collections are higher than anticipated. President of the National House of Chiefs Togbe Afede has donated some items to poor Muslim families in the Upper East Region. The items include 20 bags of rice, 20 bags of sugar and 10 boxes of tea to support the feeding of 250 poor Muslim families in the region. In a speech read on his behalf by President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Naba Orlando Ayamba Awini III who presented the items, Togbe Afede said: "Ramadan has travelled far and I do know by now most Muslim families doing the fasting are exhausted in terms of their food needs, hence I decide to come to you in the region with my widow's mite. "I decided to support you to ease your suffering during these last 10 sacred days of the Ramadan. This will also support you to have a joyous Eid-Ul-Fitr celebration next week." He said: "I chose to make this donation to my Muslim brothers in the UER because of my love for you and the daily tremendous strive and sacrifices made by you to overcome the horrendous challenges of life in present day Ghana." Togbe Afede who is also the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State urged the Islamic community in the region to send all their children to school and also ensure that the children were retained in the classrooms beyond primary and secondary education levels. This, he said would impact positively on the families and the country at large. The House of Chiefs President said according to Islamic jurisprudence, today is Laylatul Qadiri, meaning it is the most significant day of the entire month of Ramadan and the Day the Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet of Islam (Peace be Upon him). He also encouraged all to religiously follow the COVID-19 protocols of washing their hands well, wearing facemask, using alcohol based sanitizers and observing social distancing. He implored them to continue to pray for Ghana's leaders for Allah to grant them with wisdom to rule the country for the enjoyment of peace and prosperity. Receiving the items on behalf of the Muslim community in the region, Sheikh Yussif Adam, the Chief Imam of the Bolgatanga Central Mosque thanked Togbe Afede for his thoughts and wonderful support. He assured Togbe Afede XIV that the Islamic Community of Bolga would pray for the leadership of the country for Allah's abundant blessings on the country. He also indicated that the Islamic Community leaders would intensify education of parents to ensure that they encourage and keep their wards in schools beyond the Primary and SHS levels. He also assured the revered traditional leader that the Muslim population of the UER would comply with all the COVID-19 protocols. ---GNA Justice Ministry officials are investigating a gambling scandal involving a top Japanese prosecutor seen as close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after a magazine reported he evaded a stay-at-home request to play mahjong. The scandal involving Hiromu Kurokawa, head of the Tokyo High Prosecutors Office, surfaced Wednesday after the popular weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun said he played mahjong for money at the home of a newspaper reporter twice in May. Japanese media reported that Kurokawa had admitted to the scandal and expressed his intention to resign. Kurokawa is at the centre of a highly controversial bill pushed by Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party that seeks to extend the mandatory retirement age of public prosecutors while allowing the Cabinet to influence their appointment. In January, Abe's Cabinet delayed Kurokawa's scheduled February retirement by altering the interpretation of the law, the first ever extension of a prosecutor's retirement. Opponents have said the extension is meant to keep Kurokawa so that he can replace the current prosecutor-general who is set to retire this summer. Abe's government decided to withdraw the bill after a storm of protests on social networks criticizing Abe for interfering with democracy. Artists and celebrities who rarely make political statements have joined in, focusing more public attention on the issue. Former prosecutors also came forward to demand the Justice Ministry throw out the bill that would allow political influence over them, shaking their neutrality and public trust. Abe has consistently denied any favouritism or personal ties with Kurokawa. The unpopular bill and the gambling scandal could deal a further setback for Abe, whose support ratings have fallen below 40% as the public has been increasingly displeased with his economic support amid the coronavirus pandemic as too little and too slow. On Thursday, Abe said the Justice Ministry was looking into Kurokawa's reported scandal and that he could not comment. Tokyo has been under a coronavirus state of emergency, with people requested to stay home and keep social distancing. Justice Minister Masako Mori said Thursday she planned to discuss what to do with Kurokawa. It's extremely regrettable if what's in the article is true, she told NHK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Struggling Australian retailer Target will close 75 of its stores, and convert 92 others into Kmarts, it has announced. Following a financial review, the company revealed plans to drastically restructure as the brand suffered a $67 million sales slump. Ten to 25 large Target stores will be closed, alongside 50 smaller Target Country stores. An additional 25 regional Target Country stores will be converted into small Kmarts, while between ten and 40 large stores will become big Kmarts. This means anywhere between 122 and 167 Target locations will either be converted or shut - which amounts to around half of Target's network of 284 stores. Announcing to investors on Friday morning, owners Wesfarmers said the restructure would reduce Target's 'unsustainable' cost base and allow it focus on the more-profitable Kmart. Target (pictured in Sydney) has announced the closure of up to 75 of its stores, with others being converted into Kmarts The coronavirus outbreak meant many shops in Australia had to close for months, with less customers in the streets (pictured, shoppers in face masks in Sydney on May 17) Target staff will be offered jobs at Kmart or other Wesfarmers companies, including Bunnings and Officeworks. The changes will be implemented over the next 12 months, with most of the work to rebrand stores being carried out in 2021, but details of which stores and closing and which are converting were not released. The closures and conversions are likely to cost the company between $120 million and $170 million over the next year. A further $140 million will be used for one-off store conversion and stock clearance costs. Wesfarmers chief Rob Scott said the company hopes to focus on its online sales. 'The actions announced reflect our continued focus on investing in Kmart, a business with a compelling customer offer and strong competitive advantages,' he said. 'While also improving the viability of Target by addressing some of its structural challenges by simplifying the business model. 'While accounting standards require us to recognise an impairment of assets within Target to implement the restructuring, these actions will allow us to enhance the overall value of Kmart Group and further strengthen Kmart.' Target designer Dannii Minogue (pictured) is seen at the brand's fashion show during Melbourne Fashion Week in 2015, as the company tried to inject some glamour But the company warned that even more stores could be shut entirely if landlords don't help with the costs of converting stores into Kmarts. Mr Scott told the Australian Financial Review on Friday that more Kmart stores could help increase overall football into shopping malls and centre. Announcing the conversion of some stores, Wesfarmers said it was subject to 'subject to landlord support'. 'To convert stores costs money and there are some stores that are not commercially viable in the current structure,' Mr Scott commented. 'In some cases it's better to close stores than to keep pursuing unviable stores. 'The opportunity is to work out how we jointly share the costs and share the benefits.' Many stores will be converted into Kmarts (pictured in Sydney) with the store still offering popular items HISTORY OF TARGET Target is Australia's largest department store chain with 284 stores across the country. Established in 1926, the retailer was originally known as Lindsays until 1968, when Myer Emporium bought the chain of 16 stores across Victoria, which were renamed Lindsay's Target. The retailer was renamed Target Australia in 1973. Advertisement On April 28, Wesfarmers has fast-tracked a review into the commercial viability of the struggling retailer after a worse than expected slump in sales. The department store chain's revenue and profits have taken a 'significant' hit during the coronavirus lockdowns, which have left shopping centres deserted as retailers temporarily close their doors. Announcing the fast-paced review, Mr Scott highlighted Target's 'unsatisfactory' financial performance in a trading briefing to investors, and said store closures were 'inevitable'. While sister department store chain Kmart remains profitable in deteriorating trading conditions, Target's earnings have slumped significantly. Wesfarmers says a decline in in-store sales will continue declining sales is expected to persist (pictured, shoppers in Sydney's deserted Pitt Street Mall on April 27) In February, Kmart swung to a 5.5 per cent first-half comparable sales growth from a 0.6 per cent decline a year ago, with revenue at the discount department store up $241 million or 7.6 per cent to $4.99 billion. Target's comparable sales went the other way, though, falling 2.3 per cent compared with 0.5 per cent growth a year ago as it recorded a worse-than-expected $67 million sales slump. Target is Australia's largest department store chain with 284 stores across the country. Established in 1926, the retailer was originally known as Lindsays until 1968, when Myer Emporium bought the chain of 16 stores across Victoria, which were renamed Lindsay's Target. The retailer was renamed Target Australia in 1973. Wesfarmers fast-tracked a review into the 'unsatisfactory' performance of Target (pictured), which has resulted in the closure of some stores A couple in face masks are seen walking past sales signs in an empty Pitt Street Mall in Sydney (pictured) on March 28, shortly after restrictions were brought in Announcing the fast-tracked review last month, Mr Scott admitted the already embattled Target had been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Shopping centres across the country emptied out almost overnight after people were encouraged to stay home and only go out for essential reasons to stop the virus spreading. 'In recent weeks, in-store sales momentum has moderated in Kmart and has declined in Target, reflecting the broader decline in customer footfall shopping centres and ongoing weakness in discretionary categories, particularly apparel,' Mr Scott told investors. But he insisted online sales were still strong. 'We are getting very strong growth in online in Target, its a great brand, with loyal customers, and a very engaged and loyal team,' he said. 'So there are assets of value we can work with but we need to get the property structure and network right to ensure the cost base is right for the future.' Target (pictured in Melbourne) is Australia's largest department store chain with 284 stores across the country A quiet Queen Victoria Building, usually a busy Sydney shopping area, is seen quiet on March 27 (pictured) Market strategist Evan Lucas, from IG, explained Target was 'consistently under-performing. He said part of this was down to a change in the market, with the introduction of other high street clothing brands such as Topshop and Zara. 'Target has consistently underperformed as its been wedged in that space now dominated by the interlopers,' he told the Herald Sun. 'They have much bigger turnover in apparel, which used to be Targets strength, and can offer higher discounts. 'Target now finds it has an inability to compete on price, these raiders can use cheaper labour from overseas.' It has been a difficult time for the retail sector, with many shops closed for months due to the coronavirus outbreak (pictured, shoppers in face masks in Sydney on April 27) It comes off the back of a series of major closures changing the face of the Australian high street. Household names like Harris Scarfe, Bardot, Roger David, and Napoleon Perdis dropped like flies in the past year with dozens of stores closing resulting in heavy job losses. Experts claim that the could be the tip of the iceberg as consumers continue to turn more to online shopping over bricks and mortar stores. Australian retail growth is at its worst level since the early 1990s recession and international giants like Amazon and Aldi threaten to further shake things up. Australia is headed for a retail apocalypse that could even kill off Myer, which recently closed its store in Hornsby, Sydney, after 40 years of serving customers Entrepreneur Dick Smith believes the outlook is so bad, high-profile collapses will accelerate until there's very little left. 'We will end up with just Amazon and Aldi and basically all the Aussie companies will be sent to bankruptcy,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'All those famous brands will go. Some of them might exist in name only but will be taken over by overseas companies.' Mr Smith watched the electronics chain that bore his name crash in 2016, decades after he sold it in 1980. The collapse was one of Australia's biggest retail failures. Harris Scarfe, founded in 1849, also took consumers by surprise when it entered administration in December, with the closure of at least 21 stores. Experts have warned Bardot (pictured) and Harris Scarfe are just the start of the downfall of big-name Aussie brands Kmart (pictured in Chatswood on May 6) has stayed open throughout the pandemic, attracting queues of customers Target's boss Mr Scott admitted the department store faced 'a number of structural challenges', blaming the size of the shops and high rental costs. 'A lot of the structural challenges facing department stores relate back to the number of stores, the size of stores and the nature of occupancy costs in a world where online is more relevant,' Mr Scott told The Australian Financial Review. 'Target is growing online sales quite strongly it's timely to review the store network. 'That could mean store closures, it could mean conversion of some Target stores to Kmart, and it could mean reviewing the size of the stores we have in the network.' On Friday, he admitted in a statement to investors that Target was not well positioned to tackle the new retail landscape. 'For some time now, the retail sector has seen significant structural change and disruption, and we expect this trend to continue,' he wrote. People are sen walking around an empty Melbourne on March 19 (pictured) as city centres resembled ghost towns at the height of the pandemic COVID-19 labour market at a glance Unemployment: it surged from 5.2 per cent in March to 6.2 per cent in April - the highest since September 2015 Number unemployed climbed by 104,500 to 823,300 In April, 489,800 people left the labour force, which meant 594,300 either lost their job or gave up looking for one Underemployment soared by 4.9 percentage points to record 13.7 per cent Tally of underemployed Australians surged by 603,300 to 1.8million Participation rate plunged by an unprecedented 2.4 percentage points to 63.5 per cent Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Advertisement 'With the exception of Target, Wesfarmers' retail businesses are well-positioned to respond to the changes in consumer behaviour and competition associated with this disruption.' As well as crippling a number of beloved high street stalwarts, the coronavirus crisis has left thousands of Australians unemployed. The jobless rate soared from 5.2 per cent in March, before the shutdowns of non-essential businesses, to 6.2 per cent in April. This is the highest rate since September 2015 as a record 600,000 Australians either lost their job or gave up looking for one. A similar number had their hours cut, leaving Australia with a record underemployment rate. Unemployment is above the levels of the global financial crisis a decade ago, following the closure of pubs, clubs, gyms and cinemas to slow the spread of coronavirus. Sonia Kruger (pictured) showcases designs during the Jean Paul Gaultier x Target show during Melbourne Fashion Festival on March 9 2016 A spokeswoman for Target told Daily Mail Australia: 'During this difficult time, we are committed to supporting our team. 'Across the Kmart Group we have made a significant effort to avoid store closures and retain our people and for impacted store team members we have the benefit of time to help find alternative employment opportunities. 'All team members in Target stores scheduled for conversion to Kmart will be offered the opportunity to join the growing Kmart team.' She said that staff who works in stores which are closing will be offered jobs at Kmart, Catch, Bunnings and Officeworks. 'We believe that Target has a future as a leading retailer in Australia and we know it is loved by so many,' she added. Kmart (pictured, the Broadway store in Sydney on March 22) is popular for its low-priced homewares 'But a number of actions are required to ensure it is fit for purpose in a competitive, challenging and dynamic market, including a smaller number of stores and a stronger online business.' Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has called for a consumer boycott after Wesfarmers announced the closure or conversion of its Target outlets. Mr Littleproud accused major companies of turning their backs on regional Australia. 'It just goes to show they don't give a rat's about us,' he told reporters in Toowoomba. 'Australians should vote with their wallets and not go near them.' He said corporations should be showing social conscience during the coronavirus crisis. Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud (pictured on May 14) has called for a consumer boycott saying Wesfarmers 'make billions out of Australians' 'They make a lot of money. They make billions out of Australians,' Mr Littleproud said. 'If they want to turn their back on the most vulnerable, it just goes to show that corporate Australia has lost its way morally.' Labor leader Anthony Albanese said shunning businesses could hurt workers. 'I'm not sure what a boycott of Wesfarmers means except people not going into stores and further job losses,' he told reporters in Sydney. 'I am not sure what Mr Littleproud's comments would result in and how that would be constructive.' Mr Littleproud signalled he would escalate his boycott calls if shops closed in his electorate. 'I'll be saying to everyone don't shop at these stores,' he said. 'Go and shop at those outlets that are prepared to support not just metropolitan Australians but regional Australians.' The agriculture minister also pointed the finger at supermarkets and telcos for hurting regional communities. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:10:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NEW DELHI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A policeman was killed and another wounded Thursday in a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. The policemen were attacked at Prichoo area of Pulwama town, about 32 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Militants today fired upon a joint party of police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Prichoo here. Two policemen were wounded in the attack. However, one of them succumbed to his wounds," a police official posted in Pulwama said. According to officials, following the attack policemen were removed to the nearest hospital, from where one was rushed to Srinagar for specialised treatment. Reports said following the attack militants managed to escape. However additional contingents were rushed to the spot to trace the assailants. Two border guards belonging to Border Security Force (BSF) were killed in a similar attack Wednesday in Pandach Chowk on the outskirts of Srinagar. Militants reportedly snatched service rifles of the two slain BSF personnel following the attack. So far no militant outfit has claimed responsibility of the attacks. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Enditem Deborah Forrest poses for a portrait outside her home in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pa. on May 21, 2020. Forrest, Miss Debbie, to the kids, runs Wensley Street Playstreet program, a city effort that provides food and activities for kids in the summer. Read more For years, Deborah Forrest Miss Debbie to the kids has made her Kensington block a haven amid the violence that plagues her neighborhood, running a city Playstreets program that closes down the street and provides daily food and activities for more than 50 children. When the pandemic hit, Forrest prayed that her summer sanctuary wouldnt become another casualty of the coronavirus. Her prayers will be answered partly. City officials said Thursday that some version of Playstreets, which transforms 350 blocks across the city into summer respites, would go on this year. And they encouraged residents to apply, hoping to boost the number of participating streets. But they arent sure what exactly Playstreets might look like this year or if and when children will even be allowed to gather in groups on selected blocks. With Memorial Day fast approaching and so many more families out of work and in need, that same level of uncertainty is hovering over many of the citys summer plans. Theres no timetable for when recreation centers might reopen, or set plans for how camps and summer programming might safely occur this year. Pools will remain closed. The fate of playgrounds and spraygrounds is still up in the air. Its hard to have that crystal ball and try to think about what its going to look like, Kathryn Ott Lovell, commissioner of the Parks and Recreation Department, said. She and Cynthia Figueroa, head of the Office of Children and Families, say they are optimistic and have been developing elaborate plans for the summer. READ MORE: With social distancing tweaks, Philly pools should reopen this summer | Opinion Theyve created nine blueprints for rolling out camps, for example. And if Playstreets cant fulfill its traditional role, parks and rec staff would deliver meals directly to childrens doorsteps. The kids will be fed, city officials stressed. They just cant promise the same type of fun in the sun. We realized that we really needed some significant planning because to jump into summer this year, it was going to be different than anything weve ever done, Lovell said. We havent given up on summer, Figueroa said. READ MORE: Your guide to going outside (safely) right now In normal times, Lovell said, summer would bring Playstreets and camps to 500 locations across the city. The programs serve 20,000 daily meals lunch and healthy snacks to children. And they offer safe spaces in neighborhoods where there may not be many. For nearly 20 years, Eugene Sizer has run the Playstreets program on Darien Street in North Philadelphia. Five days a week, he organizes the dodgeball and baton races, the story times and chalk drawing contests. But to the kids on Darien, Mr. Gene is more like a mentor. I try to teach them to respect people and how to be good young men and women, said Sizer, 70, who has lived on the block with his wife, Dorothy, for 53 years. They come to me if they have a problem, and we talk it out. READ MORE: Parents and kids fear a COVID summer without camp The summer camps are a similar staple. Structured chaos, Lovell called them. More than 7,000 children each summer pack city rec centers and pools and set off on weekly field trips. Camps could still happen this summer possibly in July, depending on the status of the citys stay-at-home order. But the joyful chaos will be missing. Groups will almost certainly have to be smaller, Lovell said, and field trips wont happen. Guidelines for masks, testing, and other safety measures are still being decided for both staffers and campers. While we want to provide this critical service, its going to look dramatically different, Lovell said. The department still plans to hire about 1,000 young people as staffers and counselors, even if they cant yet say what the jobs might entail. Officials are thinking outside the box anything to provide some relief in sweltering neighborhoods. Things like sprinklers or misting stations. Lovell joked that she has scoured the internet looking to procure massive amounts of squirt guns. READ MORE: Pa.s top education official says he expects students to return to in-person learning in the fall But summer represents only the first test. The city is likely to face a financial crisis, and hard budget decisions are coming for nearly every department. Parks and Recreation faces a potential 20% cut for the next fiscal year. Lovell said changes were inevitable, but were doing everything we can to not cut our core programs and services. For now at least, Mr. Gene Sizer and Miss Debbie Forrest said theyre holding out hope that games and reading and outdoor lunches can be saved at least for part of the summer. It means a lot, said Sizer. Its a help to families, especially in a time like now. The Special Cell of Delhi Police has booked Jamia Millia Islamia student Asif Iqbal Tanha under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly being part of a larger conspiracy behind the February riots in northeast Delhi, officials said on Thursday. This comes days after the Delhi Police's crime branch arrested the 24-year-old in connection with the violence in the Jamia area during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December last year, they said. The police said Tanha, a resident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh, is a member of the Students Islamic Organization and was part of the Jamia Coordination Committee which spearheaded protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here He was arrested on production warrant by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Tuesday and booked under the UAPA for being part of a larger conspiracy of the riots in Delhi, said a senior police official, who did not wish to be identified. "We had evidence and wanted him in a case that we were investigating. So we arrested him on production warrant on Tuesday and have been granted seven days of custody," he said. A court here on Wednesday had sent Tanha to seven days of police custody in the case related to communal violence in February in northeast Delhi during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, after the police said his remand was required to unearth the entire conspiracy and to confront him with the electronic data collected during the investigation. Jamia Coordination Committee members Safoora Zargar, Meeran Haider, President of Jamia Alumni Association Shifa-Ur-Rehman, suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain have also been booked under the anti-terror law in the case. The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police had arrested Tanha recently in a case registered at Jamia police station on December 16, 2019, in connection with riots in the Jamia area in which he was named as an accused," a senior police officer had earlier said. Tanha is a third-year student of BA in the Persian language. He is a key member of the Jamia Coordination Committee and played an active role in organising protests and riots in Jamia in December 2019, police had said. He is a close associate of Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar who had been key organisers of anti-CAA protests and subsequent riots, the police said. On December 15 last year, protesters had torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, leaving at least 40 people including students, policemen and firefighters injured, officials had then said. Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after violence between citizenship law supporters and protesters spiralled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and around 200 injured. The third phase of Vande Bharat Mission, Indias massive programme to repatriate nationals stranded across the globe due to the Covid-19 crisis, is expected to involve private airlines to increase the number of flights. The third phase is set to begin after June 13, when the second phase will end. India is bringing back about 32,000 citizens on more than 160 flights from 47 countries during the second phase, which began on May 16. There will be a third phase of repatriation. The second phase will last till June 13, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told an online news briefing. We are very receptive to the idea [of involving private airlines] and the ministry of civil aviation is already in discussions with private airlines to see how they can be included under the Vande Bharat Mission so that we can increase the number of flights, he said. All flights in the first two phases were being operated by state-run Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. The government has also used air force transport aircraft and naval warships to repatriate nationals from some countries. As of Thursday, a total of 23,475 Indians have been repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission. They include 4,883 workers, 4,196 students and 3,087 professionals. The second phase has included destinations such as Istanbul, Ho Chi Minh City and Lagos, and increased flights to the US and Europe. We are also looking at developing Frankfurt as a hub [for Europe], Srivastava said. Several flights from other countries, coming in to evacuate nationals of those countries, have ferried stranded Indians. A flight from Buenos Aires that arrived on Thursday morning carried 62 Indians, while a flight operated by Irans Mahaan Air on May 17 carried about 300 Indian pilgrims from Ladakh. Other flights have brought back Indians from Argentina, Djibouti, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Peru and South Africa. A special Tunisian military evacuation flight took off from Tunis on Thursday with 25 Indian nationals and it is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Friday morning. A total of 259,001 Indian nationals in 98 countries around the world have registered to return under Vande Bharat Mission. Most of them are workers (28%), students (25%), professionals (14.5%), and short-term visa holders such as tourists (7.6%). Fishermen, deportees and Indian nationals who benefited from visa amnesties have also registered. The government has already said priority will be given to those with compelling reasons for returning, such as loss of jobs, medical emergencies and senior citizens. Among those with compelling reasons who registered to return are 16,991 facing medical emergencies and 8,746 pregnant women and senior citizens. Following a spat between the Central and West Bengal governments over the lack of flights to the state, 169 Indian nationals were repatriated from Dhaka to Kolkata on May 18. Two more Dhaka-Kolkata flights are scheduled for May 27 and June 1, and further flights to West Bengal are planned from Europe, the UK and other destinations. Srivastava said India is also facilitating the travel of foreign nationals on outbound flights under Vande Bharat Mission. Three flights were operated to the UK on May 16, 18 and 20 and two flights to the US on May 18 and 20. Four more flights are scheduled to the US and two to Frankfurt. Wherever possible, passengers have to undergo testing before boarding flights and in a few instances, those who tested positive for Covid-19 werent allowed to board. There is full medical screening and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed on board, Srivastava said. ALBANY A convicted murderer who swallowed a scalpel after it set off a metal detector at Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Washington County lost his appeal Thursday on his conviction for promoting prison contraband. Kendale Robinson, 28, who is serving life in prison without parole for first-degree murder for gunning down a 16-year-old girl in Brooklyn in 2010, was denied by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department. In August 2016, the decision explained, Robinson was walking out to the Comstock prisons recreational yard when he set off the metal detector. Prison officers ordered Robinson to sit in a device that scans for metal objects, at which time he swallowed an unknown object and got into an altercation with an officer. The prison put Robinson in a modified cell on contraband watch. On his fourth day in the cell, Robinson passed out of his body a scalpel-type instrument wrapped in plastic, the decision said. The scalpel was confiscated. Robinson went to trial in Washington County Court where a jury convicted him of promoting prison contraband in the first degree. County Judge Kelly McKeighan sentenced Robinson to 3 to 7 years in prison, to run consecutive to his life term for killing Al-Taya Conyers, 16, in 2010 in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood. Robinson shot Conyers repeatedly as she begged for her life --to keep her from testifying against a friend, news reports about the case show. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. On Thursday, the Third Department unanimously rejected Robinsons appeal. The killer argued that prosecutors failed to prove the scalpel was dangerous contraband or that he possessed it. Robinson also testified that several officers punched and kicked him. Presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry and Justices John Egan, Michael Lynch, Sharon Aarons and Molly Reynolds Fitzpatrick disagreed and affirmed the conviction. Robinson is now serving his sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County. Press Release 21 May 2020 The Company has reviewed all its procedures and made nearly 700 adaptations to its operating standards, which will be progressively implemented in its 364 hotels to preserve the health and safety of travellers and employees worldwide Grouped under 10 main lines of action and endorsed by specialists in different fields, the measures encompass the digitalisation of hotel services, the adaptation of sanitation processes, the incorporation of social distancing policies into the operations and the use of personal protection elements, among others The recently announced collaboration agreement with SGS, a world leader in inspection, analysis and certification, will allow the monitoring of the implemented measures and assessments to verify that the Group's hotels are clean and safe environments Advertisements Madrid NH Hotel Group, one of the leading urban hotel companies in Europe and America, has launched a new set of measures to address the current health crisis. Feel Safe at NH is designed to preserve the safety of travellers and employees, through various initiatives and adaptation of nearly 700 operating standards, completely redesigning the customer journey. Endorsed by experts, these measures will be implemented in each of the Group's 364 properties. Feel Safe at NH follows a comprehensive review of all the Company's operations operations and concentrates all the initiatives under 10 lines of action, in response to the needs of travellers in the new social reality brought about by COVID19. From cleaning and sanitisation processes, to new digital solutions, processes and protocols for restaurant management, social distancing policies, and control of air and water purification, the measures will allow the Company's hotels to reopen with maximum safety assurances for customers and employees. Photo: NH Hotel Group Advanced digital services NH Hotel Group offers its clients advanced technological solutions that allow interactions between people and contact with surfaces to be minimised, such as: FAST PASS: the combination of three innovative services -Online Check-in, Choose Your Room and Online Check-out - that put all the control over their stay in the client's hands. Mobile Guest Services: a mobile platform through which guests will be able to access all the hotel's information and services, order room service, mini bar, or book a table for breakfast in order to guarantee the necessary social distance in this service, among others. PASS: the combination of three innovative services -Online Check-in, Choose Your Room and Online Check-out - that put all the control over their stay in the client's hands. a mobile platform through which guests will be able to access all the hotel's information and services, order room service, mini bar, or book a table for breakfast in order to guarantee the necessary social distance in this service, among others. Instant Communication Channel: based on the Mobile Guest Service application, it allows instant chat with the hotel's team to answer any question or request that the client may have. Upgraded cleaning and sanitising protocols The Group has reinforced hygiene and cleaning protocols in its hotels in line with World Health Organization guidelines, following local regulations and inspired by medical practices. These protocols have also been reviewed and adapted to the new reality by SGS. According to these standards, common areas with high traffic such as lobbies, the reception desk, halls and restaurants will be sanitised more frequently and with a specific type of cleaning and disinfection products based on advanced medical practices. Finally, kitchens and kitchen appliances will be sanitised following hospital protocols, always ensuring the correct disinfection and decontamination. Food & Beverage services The Food & Beverage (F&B) area has also undergone a reorganisation that affects everything from logistics to preparation, delivery, consumption and payment methods. NH Hotel Group will require that its suppliers have health certifications and a delivery process with strict control protocols. Furthermore, food handling standards and serving options have been updated to minimise human contact and services such as room service, a la carte or take-away will be reinforced. In the case of events, there will be menus and processes adapted for this service. Social distancing rules The common areas of the hotel will be equipped with signs delineating areas in order to avoid crowds of people and contact between them, and always marking the minimum distance required by local regulations. Furniture and spaces will be redesigned to comply with social distancing standards. In addition, hotel teams will be trained to help clients comply with these requirements at all times. Protocols and personal protection material Employees will always have equipment to protect themselves and the health of customers such as masks, gloves and authorized hydro-alcoholic gels. In addition, elements to help preserve the safety and hygiene of meeting and event spaces - such as plexiglass screens at the reception - will be available for employees, customers or suppliers if required. Water purification & air quality protocols Surface and handling areas will be kept extremely clean and air and water purification systems will be controlled more than ever, reviewing and reinforcing, among others, HVAC (Heat, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) protocols. Hotels will increase the frequency of inspections, the control of water disinfection and, most important in view of the coming summer, the quality of the water in the swimming pools and outdoor areas. City Connection advisory service The hotel teams in all destinations are trained to help clients locate hospitals, medical centres and pharmacies, among others. They will also be able to recommend methods of transportation based on local sanitary criteria and regulations. Moreover, clients will be able to use sanitary services available in other NH hotels within the city in which they are staying, such as the use of gels or protective equipment as well as accessing F&B services of other hotels, endorsed by the Company's processes. Health & Safety protocols for employees In compliance with all necessary legal requirements, and in order to protect everyone's health, NH Hotel Group employees will receive constant training in health protocols and procedures. In addition, the Company will implement early detection protocols and action plans in the event that a customer should be considered a patient. In this case, the hotel will isolate the guest, provide protective equipment to avoid transmitting the disease, contact local medical services and organise the transfer to a medical centre if necessary. Hotel Health & Safety manager Each of the Company's properties will have a designated expert in the new Feel Safe at NH operating process who will be responsible for leading the implementation of the plan, as well as the training of employees. Finally, that person will be responsible for monitoring the environmentally friendly and responsible use of protective materials. Health inspection certificates Recently, NH Hotel Group and SGS announced their collaboration on a project that redefines and extends the health protocols applicable to the operations of the Group's hotels which will enable them to be assessed as clean and safe environments with a view to their reopening. The new processes, which will include the revision and adaptation of all hygiene and disinfection protocols of the facilities, specific training for employees and control and monitoring of the measures, will be implemented so that the hotels are ready to receive their assessment seal as they resume their activity. Effective immediately, the NH Collection Barbizon Palace hotel in Amsterdam and the NH Nacional in Madrid, will be the first establishments where the Company and SGS will apply these health standards for them to be monitored. Feel Safe at NH: https://www.nh-hotels.com/highlights/feel-safe Bottom line: The first iteration of Apple's contact tracing API co-developed with Google has now been officially released to the public as part of iOS 13.5. The update also enables easier Face ID unlocking for users wearing a mask and contains minor tweaks for FaceTime Group calls, Emergency Services, and bug fixes. Apple had been beta testing coronavirus-related features for iPhones over the past few weeks, with the official iOS 13.5 update now hitting compatible models globally. The main highlights of this update are pretty much the same as reported in the aforementioned beta, bringing with it Apple and Google's jointly-developed exposure notification system for assisting public health authorities in contact-tracing for users who've tested positive for Covid-19 and helping governments shape preventive strategies for the pandemic. It's optional for users to enable/disable these notifications that are activated once an associated app has been installed. Google and Apple are also looking forward to baking this feature within their operating systems to natively notify users about potential Covid-19 exposure. For users wearing a face mask, Face ID will now unlock faster by automatically presenting the passcode input option after a swipe up from the bottom of the screen. This functionality is replicated across other areas such as the App Store, Apple Pay, iTunes, and third-party apps that make use of Face ID. Apple has also added an option to control automatic prominence on Group FaceTime calls to stop video tiles sizes from changing when a participant speaks, and now supports sharing medical info with emergency services for US residents when they make an emergency call. Face ID and FaceTime-related updates, along with fixes to streaming video and share sheet have been carried over to the iPad, with additional security and stability fixes for the Mail app in iPadOS 13.5. tvOS and HomePod jump to version 13.4.5, while older iPhones/iPads/iPods not supported by iOS 13 receive important security updates with the iOS 12.4.7 patch. Bioinsider LLC (Bioinsider), a company dedicated to creating a quality, unbiased virtual meeting platform for communication among the scientific, policymaker, and business communities, has opened registration and a call for speaker proposals for its four-part virtual meeting series, Together as One COVID-19 Series. Image Credit: Kira_Yan/Shutterstock.com The series begins Thursday, June 18, 2020 with Diagnostic Landscape for COVID-19, which will focus on molecular, serology, rapid testing, and how to properly handle the pandemic with the current testing capacity. The Together as One COVID-19 Series will provide insights on diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and life after Coronavirus. All net proceeds from the events will go to the World Health Organizations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Sharing new scientific findings and important perspectives from innovators and decision-makers has never before been so crucial in our industry, said Bioinsider LLC Founder and CEO Dr. Ngoc Emily Le. With the current state of things, in-person meetings are no longer possible. This is where Bioinsider comes in. Each virtual event will feature presentations from thought leaders, speed networking sessions, and face-to-face breakout brainstorming sessions. Our objective is to host virtual events that allow attendees and participants to create connections, enrich knowledge, foster collaborations, drive the success of their research, and spark innovations. Each meeting in the Together as One COVID-19 Series is available both academic/non-profit and commercial attendees, $25 and $50 respectively. Face-to-face breakout sessions will be limited to 15 participants each and are available for an additional cost of $25. Members of the scientific and medical communities are encouraged to register early, as speed networking and breakout sessions are available on a first-come-first serve basis. To register, visit www.bioinsidernetwork.com/registration. Speaker and sponsorship opportunities are also available. For details on submitting a speaker proposal or becoming a sponsor, visit www.bioinsidernetwork.com. About Bioinsider Founded in 2020, Bioinsider LLC is a group of like-minded individuals dedicated to creating a quality-driven, unbiased virtual meeting platform for communication among the scientific community, policymakers, and business leaders. The goal of these events is to create connections, enrich knowledge, foster collaborations, drive the success of the research, and spark innovations. For more information, visit bioinsidernetwork.com. About Dr. Ngoc Emily Le, Founder and CEO, Bioinsider Dr. Le received her Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and spent years working as a content conference producer and led the product development analytics group at Cambridge Healthtech Institute. She has nine years of experience working with academics, healthcare, biopharma and executive professionals in technical-scientific and business settings. She has diverse knowledge in diagnostics, drug development, commercial strategy, and various therapeutic areas, including immuno-oncology, and gene and cell therapies. The UK has seen a change in its organ donation laws, stating that all legally-able citizens are organ donors unless they explicitly express their intent to opt-out. According to the UK Express, the new mandate is expected to produce more than 700 additional organ transplants every year by 2023. The change, which is named Max and Keira's Law, was inspired by the story of two young children: Max Johnson and Keira Ball. A story to inspire and save lives Keira Ball was a 9-year-old girl that lost her life after fighting for three days in the wake of a catastrophic car accident near her home that left her with severe head injuries in July 2017. A total of four people were saved by Keira's organ transplants, including one boy named Max Johnson, ten years old, struggling with his heart, and fighting for his life at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Fortunately, Max was the recipient of Keira's heart, which was a match, and it was transplanted into him in an operation that saved his life. Max then went on to campaign for the change in the law after he and three others were given a second chance in life due to Keira's donations. Previously, if an adult were to lose their life, their organs wouldn't be available for donations unless they opted in with their consent while they were living. This resulted in several potential donors not being able to give out their organs due to not being able to register on the organ donation list, as stated by BBC. Max and Keira's inspiring story has touched the hearts of politicians to revise the law, which aimed to save countless lives. The new law states that every adult in England will be presumed to have given their consent to organ donation when they die unless they express their intent of not being an organ donation or are part of a group that is not allowed to be donors. Also Read: 'New Normal' in Education: Ways the Coronavirus Has Changed Primary Schools The available organs to be donated include the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and small bowel while also being able to donate your tissues, which include your cornea and bone. Some conditions, however, may prevent you from donating your organs at all. The conditions include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the ebola virus, any active cancer, active coronavirus, and HIV. A change for the better The system now requires one to opt-out, which is expected to save countless more lives moving forward and increase organ donations by more than 700 annually, starting in 2023. Minimum age of 18 years is required to be allowed to go on the register, so for anyone who is below the threshold and wants to state their intent, they would have to talk about it with their parents who will still have the final say in their decision. Families of the deceased will still have the final say in organ donation and can express the wishes of their late members if they were unwilling to donate their organs, and no transplant will be conducted. Loanna Ball, Keira's mom, has stated that the new law will enable her daughter to outlive her by residing in someone else's body. She told Emma Barnett from BBC Radio 5 Live that "Keira was just such a special child and what she's done is just incredible," and that "We're blown away, and she inspires me every single day." Related Article: Coronavirus Risks in Children Remains Uncertain as Studies Show Contrasting Results @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Despite reopenings throughout Florida, some cities and businesses are hesitant about welcoming the public, saying they want to take things slow due to lingering safety concerns. Its a delicate balance, especially for small business owners who have been closed since mid-March. Some say too many unknowns still exist. Miami Beach and the city of Miami are delaying opening retail, hair salons and barbershops until later this week and restaurants until later this month, but elsewhere, many businesses are allowed to reopen. Some arent, however. We feel its best for us at this time to remain completely contactless indefinitely, Sarah Weaver, co-owner of Bandit Coffee in St. Petersburg, wrote in an email to The Associated Press. Weaver said the health of her staff is top priority as she considers bringing back furloughed employees. Its in the nature of coffee shops for folks to sit for hours. I understand that folks want a change of scenery and a place to work that isnt their couch. Service workers dont have this option at all, though. They still deserve a safe place to work whenever and however possible, she said. About 1.5 million Florida residents have filed unemployment claims since March 15, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity, and its unemployment website has failed repeatedly with the surge. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has acknowledged the problems several times. On Tuesday, he said the system is like a jalopy trying to compete in the Daytona 500. This is still not the best designed system, DeSantis said at a news conference. Since March 15, the Department of Economic Opportunity has paid out $2.659 billion. The department has paid out more money in the last 10 weeks than it had in the previous five years combined. Florida has had more than 45,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus resulting in more than 2,000 deaths, according to statistics provided by the state Tuesday. And as state and local officials tout infection rates declining, a childrens hospital in Miami reported Tuesday what could be the first cases of a rare inflammatory syndrome affecting some children with the coronavirus. Both patients are in the pediatric ICU but showing signs of improvement, Jackson Health System said in an email statement. COVID-19 is far less common in children than adults, and doctors say most infected children develop only mild symptoms. But New York State has been seeing more cases of this mysterious syndrome, which affects blood vessels and organs and has symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. The concentration of cases in South Florida and lingering questions surrounding the novel coronavirus still worry officials and business owners in certain districts as governments try to restart the economy. In Miami, Erik Lopez, a jewelry designer, said he was conflicted about opening his store Monday. He ultimately decided to show solidarity with the business community, opening along with a nail salon, a hairdresser next door and right across from a barbershop in a busy thoroughfare of the affluent Coral Gables neighborhood. The store had no visitors the first morning. I am torn. Obviously as a business owner, I want people to come. But the humanitarian side of me says `No, dont. Stay at home. Stay safe. Dont go out, he said. I am here because my community requests that I be here. One man who recovered from the virus understands the need to balance the economy and public health. Leo Begazo, a nurse from Ruskin a suburb of Tampa started feeling unwell March 16 and the virus took hold of his health and wouldnt let go. By early April, he was admitted into the hospital and stayed for 18 days of treatment, having tested positive for coronavirus. Hospital officials said his health declined rapidly, and he was placed on a ventilator for six days. His wife and their two children also tested positive for the virus, and his wife was hospitalized as well, but without the need of a ventilator. He had hypothyroidism that had been under control for 15 years but said he had no other preexisting conditions. Hypothyroidism isnt a known risk factor for coronavirus. Even though he finally has tested negative for the virus and was discharged on April 23, he suffers lingering effects. The 47-year-old is still on oxygen. He doesnt think its a bad idea that the economy reopens but implores people to take safety precautions such as wearing masks. The problem is the people are not respecting this, he said. Just seeing how people are acting outside on the street, without masks, sneezing, coughing. I cant believe people dont realize how serious this is. This week, he had a follow-up X-ray and went through a drive-through for a cup of coffee afterward. From the passenger seat, he spotted one of the workers inside wearing a mask on her chin, not over her nose and mouth. I had to intervene, he said, adding that he leaned over and asked the server, Can you tell your co-worker to cover her mouth while shes making the drink? The mask is not to cover her chin. See this oxygen? I almost died of corona. ___ Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Florida Hacked websites in Israel, a reported cyberattack in Iran and a Twitter war between their leaders: the arch foes' animosity is flaring up online. The latest volleys in Israel and Iran's longstanding rivalry coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Israeli army's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, forced out by Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. They also come before Jerusalem Day on Friday, which often sees increased tensions. While Israelis celebrate their 1967 capture of the eastern part of the holy city, Iran commemorates the day with events marking Palestinian and Muslim connections to the holy city, expounding its opposition to Zionism -- the founding ideology of Israel. "We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime," Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted Wednesday. He called for the "defence" of Palestinians and for "thugs like (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu" to be overthrown. "The nature of the Zionist regime is incompatible with peace, because the Zionists seek to expand their territories," he added. Netanyahu blasted Khamenei in a response on Twitter on Wednesday night. "He should know that any regime that threatens Israel with extermination will find itself in similar danger," the Israeli premier wrote on his official account in Hebrew. The lead-up to Jerusalem Day also saw a poster go up on Khamenei's website, proclaiming that "Palestine will be Free", with the tagline "The final solution: Resistance until referendum". An accompanying post explained that a plebiscite could decide "the government to rule over the land of Palestine". Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif shot back at Netanyahu on Thursday. "Disgusting that those whose civilization found a 'Final Solution' in gas chambers attack those who seek a real solution at the ballot box, through a REFERENDUM," he tweeted. "Why are US and West so afraid of democracy?" US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed Khamenei's "disgusting and hateful anti-Semitic remarks", while a German foreign ministry source said "such anti-Israeli statements are absolutely unacceptable. Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable". - Hacker threats - The morning after the Twitter barbs, Israelis woke to a series of cyberattacks targeting websites of businesses, municipalities and NGOs with a message in Hebrew and English: "the countdown to the destruction of Israel began long ago". An accompanying link led to a video showing Israeli commercial capital Tel Aviv in flames, with the words "be ready for a big surprise". There were no immediate details on the group that claimed the attack, naming itself in English "Hackers of Saviour". Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported Israel had launched a cyberattack against the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaee, located on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for international oil traffic. This attack was thought to be in retaliation for a cyberattack against civil hydraulic installations in Israel. Israeli authorities have not confirmed either attack, but allowed doubt to linger through indirect and sometimes metaphorical language. "The Iranian octopus is sending its tentacles to grab us from every direction," outgoing Defence Minister Naftali Bennett said this week. "We must increase the diplomatic, economic, military and technological pressure, and act in other dimensions as well." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Khamenei's tweets, responding, 'He should know that any regime that threatens Israel with extermination will find itself in similar danger' / POOL/AFP/File The next day, army chief Aviv Kohavi said: "We are preparing varied means and unique combat techniques to mortally harm the enemy." The attacks, if confirmed, add a cyber dimension to a series of Israeli air strikes targeting Iranian interests in Syria. Tehran supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and has backed it militarily. Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters. On Thursday, the Israeli army said it had detected a desire among Iranian forces to withdraw somewhat from the front lines in Syria, putting it down in part to the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis in Iran. "The main thing we see on the ground is a general vector of withdrawal... not massive, but a general posture of withdrawal," the army said. But, it added, "the Iranians are definitely trying different additional ways to engage with Israel." Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are pushing Gov. Tom Wolf to lift some restrictions on retail businesses across Pennsylvania. Democratic lawmakers in the Senate and House are asking the Democratic governor to allow all retail businesses in Pennsylvania to be open for curbside services. They cite progress in slowing the spread of the coronavirus and the need to bolster the states battered economy. Currently, only businesses in counties lifted from the stay-at-home order can offer curbside services. Wolf has received plenty of criticism from Republican lawmakers who argue the governor has moved too slowly to open up the state. Wolf has shut down or restricted most of the states businesses to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Now Wolf is getting more pressure from lawmakers in his own party. While the Democratic senators are hardly bashing the governor, they are making it clear they feel the state can open up more businesses. In a letter signed by 16 Democratic senators Tuesday, they note that New Jersey has allowed retailers to offer curbside services. Its a concern especially for Democratic senators who live closer to the state border with New Jersey. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to show signs of slowing in the state, allowing retail businesses to reopen for curbside pickup would provide our communities with a chance to get back to work in a manner consistent with the primary goal of mitigating the spread of the virus, the Democratic senators letter stated. A similar letter was signed by about 60 House Democrats, said state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Bucks County Democrat. Restaurants and bars across the state have been allowed to offer delivery and takeout. Retailers deserve the same opportunity, the lawmakers note. This could be done consistent with all necessary health protocols as is currently the case with curbside pick up of food and alcohol, they wrote. With more than 2 million filing for unemployment since mid-March, Republican lawmakers have sponsored legislation to more broadly reopen the economy. Wolf has vetoed several of those bills, arguing a more measured approach is needed. Wolf has said reopening businesses too quickly could endanger lives and do more economic damage to the state. Democratic senators credit the Wolf administrations leadership with saving countless lives. But the letter indicates theyre also increasingly anxious to restart the states economy. They note that by the end of the week, 49 counties will be in the yellow phase of the Wolf administrations plan to reopen the state. The Senate Democrats hope that number grows soon. While 18 counties are still in the red phase, we are hopeful that they are not far away from moving to yellow as well, the Senate Democratic letter states. Santarsiero said he fears Pennsylvania businesses that are already reeling will take another hit if residents cross the state line to shop in New Jersey. Allowing curbside pick-up for all retail in Pennsylvania will help support our local small businesses and keep money here in the state, Santarsiero said. Some House Democrats have joined the push for curbside retail, including state Reps. Tina Davis and John Galloway, both of Bucks County. Its time to get our economy moving again, Galloway said. Our small businesses can have curbside pickup while using the tools and practices that will protect the public health. State Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat who represents parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, is among those who signed the Senate Democrats letter. Businesses of ALL types should be allowed to open for pickup orders - we need to get our businesses back in business, she wrote on Twitter. Yesterday I signed on to a letter with my colleagues requesting @GovernorTomWolf allow for statewide curbside sales. Businesses of ALL types should be allowed to open for pickup orders - we need to get our businesses back in business. pic.twitter.com/vnGPCLfT09 Senator Lisa Boscola (@SenLisaBoscola) May 21, 2020 On Friday, 12 more counties move to the yellow phase, including some in central Pennsylvania. These are the counties moving into the yellow phase: Adams, Beaver, Carbon, Columbia, Cumberland, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Wayne and York. Currently, 37 counties have entered the yellow phase. Those counties cover western Pennsylvania, including the Pittsburgh area, and much of the states northern tier. After Friday, 18 counties will remain under a stay-at-home order - the red phase - until at least June 4, unless Wolf moves to relax restrictions sooner. Gov. Tom Wolf's red, yellow and green phases reopening Pennsylvania after coronavirus-related shutdowns in 2020. (Graphic via the governor's office.) More from PennLive What stores are re-opening this week? Boscovs, Sportsmans Warehouse, Stein Mart, more 12 Pa. counties, including Cumberland, move to yellow phase of Wolfs reopening plan Friday; what changes? Gov. Tom Wolf talks about coronavirus and the gradual reopening of Pennsylvania Pennsylvanias leaders fail at making coronavirus crisis fair and manageable | John Baer The European Union and several of its member states may break the bloc's own guidelines on contacts with de facto authorities of the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula by participating in a Moscow-backed videoconference on the situation in the region. Two diplomats from EU member states, who were not authorized to speak on the record, told RFE/RL that representatives at various levels from up to 19 out of 27 EU member states, as well as the EUs UN delegation, plan to participate in the event on May 21. A concept note on the conference, authored by the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and seen by RFE/RL, welcomes all "New-York based representatives of the UN member states" to an Arria-formula videoconference on the situation in Crimea. This included people at the level of permanent representatives, deputy permanent representatives and experts, as well as the press. In March 2014, Moscow seized control of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula after sending in troops and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Moscow is also backing separatists in a war in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,200 people since April 2014. As part of its response to the annexation, the European Union drew up strict guidelines for all of its diplomats, as well as diplomats of its member states, stating that there can be "no participation in, or attendance of any level at any event that could be identified in advance as only aiming at acknowledgment of Crimea/Sevastopols status and de facto annexation. An Arria-formula meeting, frequently used by the UN, is an informal arrangement that allows members of the institution to be briefed about international security issues. In the meeting, Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya will deliver opening and closing remarks, while proponents of Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula will make panel presentations. These include Moscow-approved figures, such as Asadullah Bairov, the deputy mufti of Crimea; Anastasia Gridchina, the head of the Ukrainian community on the peninsula; and Ervin Musaev, the deputy director-general of the Crimean TV channel Millet. The concept note claims that "in order for the participants to have comprehensive information, the Arria meeting will provide an opportunity to listen and learn the real picture of the situation on the ground from those who currently reside in Crimea, being at the same time representatives of various national groups of the inhabitants of the peninsula. The EU will also be represented at the meeting, however, as will the German permanent representative. Belgium and France have also signaled that they will attend, though it was not clear at what level. The levels and numbers of participating EU member states varies, but so far only Bulgaria, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and the three Baltic states have stated that they will snub the meeting. Some of the officials RFE/RL contacted voiced fears that the presence of EU diplomats will compromise the nonrecognition guidelines and be used for propaganda purposes, even if they speak out against the annexation in the meeting. RFE/RL sought comment from the EU about its participation in the meeting but did not receive an answer. The two-page Russian concept note ahead of the meeting states that "after the coup detat in February 2014 in Kyiv, inhabitants of several regions of eastern Ukraine expressed their disapproval of the unlawful actions of the then-Ukrainian Maidan leaders." It also notes that "today's Crimea enjoys all the rights and benefits of a Russian region and all of its population groups enjoy all the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. Socio-economic situation has improved significantly -- in fact, the peninsula has become one of the fastest developing regions of the country. RFE/RL contacted Ukraine's UN Ambassador Serhiy Kyslytsya for comment on the event. While he didnt give an opinion on EU countries participating in the meeting, he noted that participants were unlikely to hear "anything new." "The Russians and their actors will repeat yet another mantra about the 'voluntary reunification of the Crimean people with Russia,' and the international community will reiterate the basic truths," such as the Crimean Peninsula being "temporarily occupied" with Russia as the "occupying power," which Kyslytsya said "must stop human rights violations. The Congress on Thursday paid rich tribute to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary and decided not to issue advertisements in his memory, rather utilise the money in helping migrants. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi described him as a "true patriot, liberal and who put the country on the path of progress and self-reliance with his farsightedness". "In memory of my beloved father, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, who was martyred this day in 1991. He was a wonderful father; gentle, kind, compassionate and patient. I miss him. But he will always stay alive in my heart and in the wonderful memories I have of him," Rahul Gandhi wrote on Twitter In another tweet in Hindi, he said, "I am proud to be the son of a true patriot, liberal and philanthropic father. As prime minister, Rajiv ji put the country on the path of progress. With his farsightedness, he took steps to make the country self-reliant. Today on his death anniversary I salute him with affection and gratitude." Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "To be kind to those who are unkind to you; to know that life is fair, no matter how unfair you imagine it to be; to keep walking, no matter how dark the skies or fearsome the storm; to nurture a strong heart, and fill it with love no matter how great it's sorrows; these are the gifts of my father's life."She also tweeted a photo of her with Rajiv Gandhi, saying this was her last photo with her father. "The Congress party has decided that due to coronavirus pandemic, instead of giving advertisements in his memory and while paying respects to him, the entire amount so saved will be utilised for helping migrant labourers and workers. "Congress workers in the entire country have also taken this pledge to make efforts and focus on helping the needy," a message from the party said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) WASHINGTON Skilled, diverse and barrier-breaking Democratic women are competing to be the partys vice presidential nominee. That contest should focus on what the candidates bring to the ticket, activists say, not whether they can stand by their man. Presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden committed to naming a woman as his vice presidential candidate before former Senate staffer Tara Reade went public with allegations that he sexually assaulted her in 1993. Biden has denied it, but the controversy hasnt gone away, at times dominating the discussion about which woman hell pick. That dismays activists who argue the selection focus should be on which woman would be ready to step in as president, not on how well they defend Biden. Its a national pastime to make women answer for the men in their orbit when allegations arise or when they exhibit any kind of bad behavior, so of course were seeing the rush to go there now, said Jess McIntosh, a Democratic strategist and commentator. Advocates for women and diversity in the party fear they see a familiar pattern playing out as possible vice presidential candidates, including senators Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are repeatedly asked by the media about Reades allegations. Republicans have been quick to jump on them, with the Trump campaign blasting out emails like Stacey Abrams, Me Too Hypocrite, and Kirsten Gillibrand, Queen of the Me Too Hypocrites. Abrams, the former candidate for governor of Georgia, and New York Sen. Gillibrand, like Harris and Warren, have been vocal advocates of the #MeToo movement and have said women who bring forward credible claims of assault and harassment should be given the benefit of the doubt. Critics, meanwhile, see a double standard in their wait-and-see posture toward Reade. Julio Cortez/Associated Press National media outlets have published think pieces on how the running mates job requirements now include defending Biden against the allegations. The Democratic vice presidential nominee must now defend him against sexual assault accusations without looking hypocritical, Politico declared, and an opinion piece in the Hill argued that Reades charges mean a female nominee who will be a loyal supporter is even more necessary as is the importance of a female with a good record on sexual harassment issues. But advocates for women say the focus is misplaced. Its Bidens job to defend his record, they say, and repeatedly asking potential running mates about hypocrisy does those qualified politicians a disservice. Hes not picking the good wife, hes picking the vice president, said Christine Pelosi, a womens rights attorney and chair of the California Democratic Partys Womens Caucus. He is picking the person whos going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, someone whos going to be advancing his presidency and his candidacy forward. Thats her job: offer a compelling vision for the future. Biden has denied Reades allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a Capitol hallway, a new charge on top of her allegations last year that he touched her inappropriately. Although the former Delaware senator said the events she described didnt happen, he said she deserves a chance to make her case and have her allegations vetted. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on this story. JOHN AMIS;John Amis / AFP / Getty Images Women are not the only Democrats being asked about Reades allegations, and activists say the question is fair game. But once the possible running mates have made a public statement, they say, they dont need to be asked again. And, they say, President Trumps record deserves equal mention. More than 20 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, and Trump was recorded on the infamous Access Hollywood video bragging about assaulting women. If the media wants to set a standard, and we are all going to agree that every time somebody talks about Joe Biden were going to ask about the allegation, then every time someone is going to talk about Donald Trump, we should be asking about E. Jean Carroll, Pelosi said, referring to one of the women who has accused Trump of assault. When was the last time that (Vice President) Mike Pence was asked about E. Jean Carroll? McIntosh, the Democratic strategist who at times has been critical of Biden, said picking a woman as a vice presidential candidate was still important to his pitch to women, but not because of the allegations. Its about the fact that hes using his position to promote and support women, McIntosh said. Picking a woman VP really does matter, and it does help assuage me that he understands what women are asking for, which is a full and complete seat at the table and a chance at leadership of that table. She added, I dont think its on her ever to explain how she feels about the allegations. That adds nothing to the conversation. It cant be productive, it only serves to undermine, to be yet another obstacle in the path of women who are trying to achieve leadership. Charles Krupa / Associated Press Bidens team is vetting potential running mates and has invited many of them to join him in campaign events, which are now virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. When he was vice president, Bidens close friendship with former President Barack Obama was the foundation of their partnership, and many Democrats expect Biden to similarly look for a running mate he trusts and connects with. As a vice president who had served in the Senate, Biden also had a policy portfolio and key role negotiating with lawmakers for Obama, another quality he may look for in his co-nominee. Several Democrats hope he chooses not just a woman, but a woman of color. Aimee Allison, who runs the group She the People, which promotes women of color in politics, said she has long been critical of Bidens record on womens rights and treatment of women. But she supports him now that hes the presumptive nominee, she said, and thinks his choice of running mates will be crucial to building a diverse policy team. If he picks the right person who brings the communities along ... if the VP candidate is that kind of leader, I think it overcomes what happens to many women, Allison said, which is isolation, which is whisper campaigns mischaracterizing (her), which is the focus is on the smallness, the petty, the personal when whats called for is the visionary, the capable. Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan LAS VEGAS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The first two episodes of Mobbed Up: The Fight for Las Vegas, a new, true-crime narrative podcast series from the Las Vegas Review-Journal in partnership with The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, will be released May 26 on all streaming platforms. The 11-part series chronicles the rise and fall of organized crime in Las Vegas through the voices of those who lived it: ex-mobsters, law enforcement officials, politicians and journalists. Subsequent episodes will be released each week until the series concludes July 28. The production was made possible by extensive collaboration between the Las Vegas-Review Journal and downtown Las Vegas' The Mob Museum. "Partnering with the Review-Journal on this podcast series was a rewarding experience and a welcome addition to The Mob Museum's focus on creating enhanced online content during its temporary closure,'' said Geoff Schumacher, Vice President of Exhibits and Programs for The Mob Museum. "Our combined resources have yielded a top-shelf production that yanks the veil off the dark history of organized crime in Las Vegas. This is can't-miss listening." From back alleys to dimly lit basements to the neon glow of the Las Vegas Strip, Review-Journal podcast producer Reed Redmond guides listeners through the 20th-century criminal underworlds of Las Vegas, Chicago and Kansas City. "The Review-Journal recognizes The Mob Museum as a renowned institution that brings to life the stories that once made headlines in Las Vegas' largest and oldest newspaper," said Glenn Cook, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President for News for the Review-Journal. "The Mobbed Up series represents our most significant collaboration to date with the Museum, and by far our most ambitious podcast project at reviewjournal.com." The first episode, titled "Our Religion," features the story behind a residential crime scene: belongings tossed around, bullet holes in the walls and a trail of blood leading to the backyard. Hours later, the front page of the evening edition of the Review-Journal features the headline, "Con Suspect Killed in 'Bloody Murder.'" Forty years later, the first Mobbed Up episode revisits the crime with someone who was there when it happened. New episodes of the 11-part series will be released weekly on Tuesdays following the May 26 Mobbed Up launch. For more information, visit www.reviewjournal.com/mobbedup . Download, subscribe and listen through streaming platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. The complete Mobbed Up schedule is as follows: Part One: "Our Religion" ( May 26 ) Part Two: "The Family Business" ( May 26 ) Part Three: "Claim to Fame" ( June 2 ) Part Four: "Open City" ( June 9 ) Part Five: "The Argent Empire" ( June 16 ) Part Six: "Cleanface" ( June 23 ) Part Seven: "Hole in the Wall" ( June 30 ) Part Eight: "Strawman" ( July 7 ) Part Nine: "Dirty Laundry" ( July 14 ) Part 10: "Family Secrets" ( July 21 ) Part 11: "Implosion" ( July 28 ) Editorial Note: Mobbed Up Host/Producer Reed Redmond, Review-Journal Executive Editor/SVP of News Glenn Cook, and representatives from The Mob Museum are available for interviews. About The Mob Museum The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, provides a world-class journey through true storiesfrom the birth of the Mob to today's headlines. The Mob Museum offers a provocative, contemporary look at these topics through hundreds of artifacts and immersive storylines. Numerous interactive exhibits include a Crime Lab, Firearm Training Simulator and Organized Crime Today exhibit, as well as The Underground, a Prohibition history exhibition featuring a speakeasy and distillery sponsored by Zappos. The Mob Museum has accumulated numerous accolades, including being named one of TripAdvisor's "Top 25 U.S. Museums," one of Las Vegas Weekly's "Twenty Greatest Attractions in Las Vegas History," one of National Geographic's "Top 10 Things to Do in Las Vegas," USA Today's "Best Museum in Nevada" and No. 4 on its list of 10 Best U.S. History Museums, "A Must for Travelers" by The New York Times and one of "20 Places Every American Should See" by FOX News and Budget Travel magazine. The Museum is a two-time winner of the Mayor's Urban Design Award for Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The Museum is open daily; visit the website for admission rates and operating hours. For more information, call (702) 229-2734 or visit themobmuseum.org. About the Las Vegas Review-Journal The Las Vegas Review-Journal has been Nevada's news leader since 1909. A state, regional and national award-winning multi-platform news organization, the Review-Journal operates reviewjournal.com, a network of niche publications and community newspapers, e-newsletters, custom printing, a video production studio and more to meet the specific needs of readers and advertisers alike. Contact: Wanda Blair / 651.307.1159 [email protected] Desiree Webb/Erika Pope The Vox Agency [email protected], [email protected] (702) 569-0616, (702) 249-2977 SOURCE Las Vegas Review-Journal Related Links http://www.reviewjournal.com TICKERS: MAG Why So Many Analysts Have a Buy on This Company on the Cusp of Silver Production Source: Streetwise Reports (5/21/20) Analysts say MAG Silver offers production as well as exploration upside. MAG Silver Corp.'s (MAG:TSX; MAG:NYSE A) joint venture with Fresnillo Plc (FRES:LSE) is gearing up to begin silver production at the high-grade, large-scale Juanicipio property on the Fresnillo Silver Trend in Mexico. MAG has a 44% interest in the project, and first production from the underground mine should begin in the next few months, with commissioning of the flotation plant likely by mid-2021. MAG Silver is on the radar of numerous securities firms; all give the miner at minimum a Buy rating, with BMO and National Bank of Canada rating it Outperform. Target prices range from CA$32 to CA$18 per share. Don DeMarco, analyst with National Bank of Canada, wrote on April 27, "our Outperform rating considers Juanicipio's large, long-life and low-cost asset with steady cash flow, exploration upside and motivated operator in Fresnillo." BMO's investment thesis on MAG Silver is the company "offers investors 44% exposure to the world class Juanicipio mine. Juanicipio is expected to deliver robust economics and FCF [free cash flow] given its high grades." ROTH Capital Partners analyst Joe Reagor wrote on March 30, "MAG Silver Corp. is one of our Top Ideas for 2020 and an emerging silver producer set to enter production this year. . . we rate the company Buy with a US$23 price target as we believe it is poised to rerate as a producer." What is going on with this project in Mexico to garner such interest? "MAG Silver is the highest grade developing silver asset of size in the world today," Michael Curlook, MAG's Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications, told Streetwise Reports. The joint venture is developing the underground mine on the Juanicipio property to mine the Bonanza and Deep zones of the Valdecanas vein. The 2017 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the project estimated a 19-year mine life of a 4,000 tonne per day mine, and an after-tax internal rate of return of 44%. Despite minor Covid-related delays, the partners expect underground production to begin mid-year. Covid-19 restrictions have been put in place in Mexico, and while exploration and development of the mill have temporarily stopped at Juanicipio, underground mining continues. "Miner safety protocols equip them with respirators, and machinery can be run by one person and in a work distanced environment, so not too many adjustments have needed to be made," Curlook said. As far as supplies for the construction of the mill, the long-lead items were ordered in November 2018, and major components, such as the ball mills, the SAG mill, settling tanks, etc., have been delivered and are sitting on site, awaiting assembly. H.C. Wainwright & Co. analyst Heiko Ihle, in an April 28 report, stated, "While COVID-19 disruptions are likely to slightly delay the start of production at Juanicipio, we nonetheless expect this impact to be minor and temporary." The company recently closed a CA$60 million private placement with veteran investor Eric Sprott that will help fund its US$60 million capex requirement at Juanicipio. The private placement was viewed positively by analysts. Heiko Ihle of H.C. Wainwright & Co. noted, "We continue to believe that the market is not yet fully appreciating the near-term producing nature of the mine, as evident by the overwhelming support of Mr. Sprott." Craig Hutchison, an analyst with TD Securities, wrote on April 27, the "equity offering significantly de-risks any financing overhangs for MAG particularly in light of the volatility in the equity markets combined with the potential for development delays at Juanicipio related to COVID-19." MAG noted that its stockpile of mineralized material is steadily growing on surface. Sometime this summer, the joint venture plans on trucking mineralized material to the nearby Fresnillo mill for processing. In addition, MAG cited other advantages of beginning the processing now. "It will enable us to start claiming back our 16.5% VAT tax. Also, processing the mineralized material through a mill that is nearly identical to the mill we are constructing on site will give us information on how the material performs through the process, which will have a positive effect on the ultimate time needed to commission the new mill. Fresnillo has said that we should be at 85% of nameplate capacity by the end of 2021," Curlook said. While construction continues on the Juanicipio underground project, less than 5% of the Juanicipio property has been explored, and exploration is moving ahead on several fronts. The first is at the Valdecanas vein, where the Juanicipio project will start underground production soon. The deposit is open at depth and it is open east and west. In addition to expanding the deposit, the company is also conducting infill drilling, with the goal of raising the resource from the Inferred to the Indicated category. "For almost three years, we've continued to drill and keep finding more resources, adding more and more tonnage with every successive year," Curlook stated. "In order to achieve true-width intersections at the depths of the Valdecanas Vein, we needed to step out farther laterally across the property before angling down, and in doing so we have found two new veins, the Anticipada and Pre-Anticipada zones," Curlook said. "They are significant and also very close to Valdecanas: the Anticipada is about 100 meters away and the Pre-Anticipada is about another 120 meters from the Anticipada." "This gives us increased mining flexibility," Curlook explained. "These veins allow us more optionality." Also in the area are the Venadas 1 and 2 veins, located on the left of the map above, but they are north-south structures. "In 450 years of mining in the district they've never encountered a significant NS vein," Curlook said. The second exploration area is Cesantoni, a north-south structure located at the top left of the Juanicipio property. It is a clay open pit that has been excavated for many years. The Cesantoni company produces porcelain tile and bathroom fixtures from the kaolin mined. In the floor of the clay pit lies a silica ridge, which is another potential indicator of one of these veins, Curlook said. "We need to know if it's mineralized, and if it is, comparatively speaking, it has the potential to be another Valdecanas." This target is likely to be drilled next year. "It is one of the priority targets of the exploration program for Juanicipio," Curlook explained. Another exploration target is the ore fluid upwelling zone. "MAG's Chief Exploration Officer Peter Megaw tells me the Fresnillo district is characterized by swarms of veins all of which appear to be fed by a 'master vein' that sits atop an ore fluid upwelling zone. Several are historically known in the district, spaced 2 to 8 km apart and the Valdecanas Vein is clearly one also. The surface over the Valdecanas Vein shows distinctive alteration and other geological features that are seen elsewhere in the 7 x 16 km Juanicipio property, suggesting that additional mineralization centers remain to be found," Curlook explained. Analysts have homed in on the exploration potential. "While the near-term focus remains on advancing Juanicipio to commercial production, MAG's outlook beyond that remains on (1) organic growth, and unlocking the upside potential of the Juanicipio project, and (2) establishing a shareholder dividend at some point in the future," Craig Hutchison of TD Securities wrote on April 27. MAG Silver has approximately 93 million shares issued and outstanding, and 95 million fully diluted. Approximately 80% of the shares are owned by institutions, including Fresnillo Plc, Sprott Asset Management, Blackrock Asset Management, Eric Sprott and Van Eck Associates. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: MAG Silver. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. TAMPA BAY, Fla., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TeamViewer, a leading global provider of secure remote connectivity solutions, now offers Workplace Digitalization Packages to support remote work during and after the Coronavirus pandemic. According to a recent Gartner press release, "a Gartner, Inc. survey of 800 global HR executives on March 17 found that 88% of organizations have encouraged or required employees to work from home, regardless of whether or not they showed coronavirus-related symptoms."* "We at TeamViewer think this work from home trend will continue well after the crisis has subsided," says Gautam Goswami, CMO at TeamViewer. "As organizations around the globe struggle with a 'new normal' work landscape, they need the right tools and technology to enable remote work, support, collaboration, and management of computers, mobile devices, and anything you want to connect. That is why we have created new Workplace Digitalization Packages to support your business, employees and customers." TeamViewer Digitalization Packages: Enable your employees to work from home as if they are working at their desks with the full power of their office computers and LAN speeds with Remote Access Make team collaboration and meeting a breeze with TeamViewer Blizz video conferencing and collaboration platform Allow your support teams to support your remote workforce effectively with our extremely secure TeamViewer Tensor Support Tools Monitor, Patch, and Protect all the remote workers and their devices with TeamViewer Remote Monitoring and Management tools To learn more about TeamViewer Workplace Digitalization Packages and how your organization can safeguard employees and customers without losing productivity, go to https://www.teamviewer.com/en/content/work-digitalization-package/. About TeamViewer As a leading global remote connectivity platform, TeamViewer empowers users to connect anyone, anything, anywhere, anytime. The company offers secure remote access, support, control and collaboration capabilities for online endpoints of any kind and supports businesses of all sizes to tap into their full digital potential. TeamViewer has been activated on more than 2 billion devices; up to 45 million devices are online concurrently. Founded in 2005 in Goeppingen, Germany, the company employs more than 800 people in offices across Europe, the US, and Asia Pacific. For more information, go to www.teamviewer.com and follow us on social media. * Gartner Press Release, "Gartner HR Survey Reveals 88% of Organizations Have Encouraged or Required Employees to Work From Home Due to Coronavirus," March 19, 2020. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-03-19-gartner-hr-survey-reveals-88--of-organizations-have-e]. Contact TeamViewer Press Martina Dier Director, Communications Phone: +49 (0)7161 60692 410 E-Mail: [email protected] SOURCE TeamViewer Related Links https://www.teamviewer.com A woman removes her mask to enable the use of facial recognition technology by a smart device in Beijing on Monday. The device automatically checks people's body temperatures and personal information before allowing entry to the neighborhood. LI TIANJI/FOR CHINA DAILY China's draft civil code will be submitted to the top legislative body this week for final deliberation during the country's biggest annual political gathering. The draft, which consists of seven volumes, including general provisions and sections on property, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance and torts, will be reviewed by the National People's Congress during the two sessions, the annual meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The compilation of personality rights in a separate volume is a major development and innovation in democratic legislation and the civil code. It will help deepen the legal protection of personal dignity and individual rights, said Shi Jiayou, professor at Renmin University of China and executive director of the National Research Center of Civil and Commercial Law, speaking to China Global Television Network. The personality rights section covers general provisions, as well as the rights to life, body, health, name, image, reputation and honor. In addition, the sixth chapter is specifically dedicated to privacy rights and the protection of personal information. If passed, the section will help extend the scope of privacy protection. "How to protect privacy in the information society is a challenge not only for the Chinese people, it's a challenge for the whole world. With this law, Chinese legislators are trying to bring a Chinese draft and Chinese program on how to cope with this universal challenge. It's not only important for the Chinese people, but also for the whole world," Shi said. Yang Lixin, also a law professor at Renmin University, said the development of the internet has made it easy to infringe on individual personality rights. The growth of social media has provided numerous platforms and better technological conditions to publish content that defames or insults others. "The new content in the personality rights section is aimed at preventing violations of privacy, reputation, honor, etc, so the damage caused by such infringements can be better rectified," he said. The draft for the final reading stipulates that no organization or individual shall uglify, blemish or forge people's images by the use of information technology. It defines privacy as private life as well as the private space, activities and information that a regular person "is unwilling to be made known to others", which is also highlighted in the final draft. It stipulates that no organization or individual shall infringe on other people's privacy rights by means of spying, intrusion, leaks or public disclosure, including by the use of telecommunication tools. The document also clarifies the definition of personal information and expands the scope to include "email address and whereabouts", along with name, date of birth, identification number, biometric information, address and telephone number. 21.05.2020 LISTEN Daniel Israel Kakou is one of the 17 Ghanaian students who were awarded the European Union Erasmus Mundus Scholarship to study in some notable universities in Europe. The European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme aims at enhancing quality in Higher education through scholarship and academic cooperation between the European Union and the rest of the world. This scholarship gives them the opportunity to study in at least two different universities in Europe before returning back to Ghana. Mr. Kakou breaks silence amidst this COVID-19 pandemic. "I had this scholarship after my service as a national service person. I got here in September 2019 together with other 16 Ghanaian students. I am reading MSc. Mathematics modeling in Engineering. It is a kind of a joint programme which I'm supposed to study in three different universities. I am currently done with my studies with the University of L'Aquila, Italy and now having an online lecture with the University of Hamburg, Germany because of the COVID-19. All my documents and visa were ready. ...I even bought my plane ticket to travel to Germany to continue my education before this pandemic revealed its ugly head. After my study at the University of Hamburg, I'll proceed to France precisely in the city of Nice to further my education at the University of Cote d'Azur to finish my programme. *My experience in University of L'Aquila, Italy* As an Alumnus of one pedantic University in Ghana, I thought that I was on top. I later realised that I've got a lot to do. Our first lecture made it undoubtedly clear that I was lagging far behind. I was totally confused and discouraged that I thought I can't make it here. What I did was to do extra reading on some important topics to be able to catch up with them. We do 30 credit hours in a week. We attend lectures throughout the week. We had less time for private studies and a limited time to rest. Every Friday of the week, we wrote mid-semester exams which was compulsory and formed part of our assessment. You can decide not to write the final exams if you did well in the previous mid. semester exams. E-learning We were enrolled on the E-learning platforms but we started using it effectively when the COVID-19 set-in. Source of survival The Erasmus firm has its coordinators on campus who communicates with us every day. My programme's Alumni also have an association in the country where every beneficiary of the scholarship automatically becomes a member of it. We pay 500 as two academic years dues. These alumni do almost everything for us because they know the system and equally understand the Italian language. They helped us to apply for grants from the Italian government and the European Union. The monies acquired through this process was what had really helped us here. Aside from that, our Guardians seldomly send us some money through the western union. Challenges We didn't have time for social life here so we were happy going to Hamburg, Germany. We read 5 courses which were time-consuming. The system was not flexible and couldn't afford to fail. Also, we experienced this kind of racism act here. Some were very cool and friendly especially the old people but for some young people, they're very rude and unfriendly. They won't even respond to you when you need assistance all because you're black. Moreover, we experienced one or two mal earthquake. We saw our hostel shaking. We were very terrified and thought that was our end. Hehehe! Eny3 easy ooo hmmm! Financial challenges can't be overlooked. I pay the equivalent of Ghc1, 200 as my monthly hostel bill. So you can imagine. Benefits My greatest benefit is the programme I'm currently reading over here, it's moving on smoothly. Aside from that, I have been exposed to several scholarship opportunities and other great opportunities. All in all, people who didn't regard me now call me and now treat me in high esteem, and that challenges me to do more. Advice to colleagues students in Ghana You know, my philosophy is that, the disappointment of the past will always turn into testimonies. I will entreat them to endure and learn from this E-learning system. Nothing new is easy. As you can see, people are now holding meetings online via zoom, Microsoft Teams, Adobe connect, etc. This is the time to get abreast of these online opportunities. They should embrace and endure it, everything will be fine. A story reported by : EMMANUEL ANKRAH BARTELS HON. BARTELS UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST [email protected] Hong Kong, May 21 : More than 2,000 senior secondary school students living in mainland China are expected to be among the first batch of pupils allowed to return to school in Hong Kong without needing to quarantine, the Education Bureau has revealed. But the government's preliminary plan, which it released on Wednesday, gives no timescale for that to happen, meaning children were unlikely to be able to return alongside their local classmates on May 27, reports the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper. "As class resumption arrangements involve various areas including immigration control of the two places, epidemic prevention and control policies and transportation arrangements, we will continue to coordinate with different parties," a spokesman for the bureau said. "As a number of the fine implementation details have yet to be finalised, it is expected that the new arrangement will not come into effect on May 27." Under the proposals, the Lok Ma Chau border point, which has been closed since early February to contain the spread of COVID-19, would also be reopened, but only to allow cross-border pupils to travel to Hong Kong for school. Some school principals told the SCMP they were disappointed the mainland pupils could not start school on time, and urged the authorities to open up more border points. The bureau spokesman said further consideration would be needed before fixing a date for the arrangement, and urged schools to help pupils to continue to learn at home. According to the initial plan, cross-border pupils would be allowed to enter the city through Shenzhen Bay or Lok Ma Chau border point between Monday and Friday. Lok Ma Chau would be opened for schoolchildren but no one else. I feel the weight of this moment every day. And, as a result, as part of my wellness routine, Ive leaned into my faith even more. I make sure every day I have time just to be alone, to breathe and put the burdens of the day aside," Lightfoot said. "Im intentional about finding hope and love in the selfless acts of others. And I allow myself to cry and feel despair. That is also part of this moment. Denise Richards said she tried to keep ex Charlie Sheen's wild behavior a secret from their children on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills. Her marriage to Charlie, 54, had been plagued by rumors of drug use and prostitutes, and Charlie's meltdowns in 2011 were the focus of much press attention. Denise, 44, had worked hard to shield her daughters from their father's escapades, she noted. Wild behavior: Denise Richards said she tried to keep ex Charlie Sheen's wild behavior a secret from their children on Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills 'I always did whatever I could to hide Charlie's behavior,' she admitted in a confessional, thinking of daughters Sam, 16, and Lola, 15. 'How do you tell kids what's really going on?' 'I would say, ''Dad had to go to work, but he loves you so much. He wants to be here for you girls''.' In 2002, Charlie and Denise seemed to have it all, embarking on a fairly normal marriage marked by his commitment to sobriety, but their relationship broke down by 2005. 'A lot of people have an impression of me being wild and crazy, but Charlie was sober when we got married, so we were not this swinging couple that people might assume,' Denise said. Shielding children: The star's marriage to Charlie, 54, was plagued by rumors of drug use and prostitutes, and Charlie's meltdowns in 2011 were the focus of much press attention Hid things: 'I always did whatever I could to hide Charlie's behavior,' she admitted in a confessional, thinking of daughters Sam, 16, and Lola, 15 'When I got pregnant with Lola, things started to change rapidly,' she recalled. 'It was a very dark time and very toxic, and I filed for divorce when I was six months pregnant with her.' On RHOBH, Denise helped Sam prepare for a homecoming date, with the two of them looking at dresses and hairstyles, and discussing how to stoop to avoid being taller than one's date. Denise even spoke to the young man privately about the evening, calling him 'a good boy.' Homecoming dance: Denise helped Sam prepare for a homecoming date, with the two of them looking at dresses and hairstyles Tall tips: The actress and her daughter looked at dresses and discussed how to stoop to avoid being taller than one's date But the actress also said she'd been struggling to adjust to the challenges of raising two teenage girls, and noted that 'Sami' had just dyed her hair magenta without telling her. Denise also tried to keep her girls and their sister Eloise, eight, from hearing about her pals' sexual adventures, upbraiding Erika Girardi, 48, for discussing a threesome at her recent house party. That surprised Erika as Denise had been so open about her own husband's sexual adventures. Teenage girls: also said she'd been struggling to adjust to the challenges of raising two teenage girls, and noted that 'Sami' had just dyed her hair magenta without telling her Kyle Richards, 51, later told Erika she thought Denise had more going on than she showed on the surface, noting that the woman had fought with her vehemently three days before. 'One minute she's oversharing all this sexual information about her husband, and the next minute she's Mother Teresa regarding her kids,' Kyle noted. 'I don't get it.' When Erika invited the cast to her home for astrology readings, everyone learned that Denise's star sign was the most 'complicated' and secretive, and Kyle came under attack from all sides. Sex talk: 'One minute she's oversharing all this sexual information about her husband, and the next minute she's Mother Teresa regarding her kids,' Kyle noted of Denise 'Are we being catty?' said Garcelle Beauvais, 53, who shared a car with Denise and joined her in critiquing Kyle. 'Yes. That's what real girlfriends do. And Kyle deserves it.' As the episode opened, Garcelle hung out with her 'ride-or-die crew,' which included actor Will Smith's ex-wife Sheree Zampino. 'We go through so much as black women in Hollywood, that having a strong women base, to me, is everything,' Garcelle considered. Her crew: As the episode opened, Garcelle Beauvais hung out with her 'ride-or-die crew,' which included actor Will Smith's ex-wife Sheree Zampino The group discussed men in Hollywood, with Garcelle admitting that she'd been 'blindsided' when her ex-husband Mike Nilon cheated on her during their marriage. 'My biggest obstacle would be not hating this man,' said Sheree, as Garcelle shared that she and Mike always put their kids first. 'Will and I, when we got divorced, we've never had a relationship that does not have Trey in the center of it,' Sheree related, referring to their 27-year-old son. Hollywood life: The group discussed men in Hollywood, with Garcelle admitting that she'd been 'blindsided' when her ex-husband Mike Nilon cheated on her during their marriage 'You know, I dated Will,' Garcelle told Sheree, emphasizing that it was before Sheree wed him. To the cameras, Garcelle cracked, 'He was hot, he was a bachelor, I was single, you know? It happens in Hollywood.' As Garcelle relaxed, Erika rehearsed for her upcoming Broadway stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago. Broadway star: Erika rehearsed for her upcoming Broadway stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago She was stressed out, worried she would let her cast down, but they sent her a warm video message, welcoming her to the production. Meanwhile, Lisa Rinna, 56, spent some time with her husband Harry Hamlin, 68, who was home from performing a play in Delaware. They spoke about their daughter Amelia Gray Hamlin, 18, and agreed that it was better that she'd moved home from New York City to preserve her mental health. Catching up: Lisa Rinna, 56, spent some time with her husband Harry Hamlin, 68, who was home from performing a play in Delaware Harry had recently repaired his relationship with Amelia after difficulties last summer, and was thrilled that both she and her sister Delilah, 21, seemed happy to see him. It took work, Lisa said privately, admitting, 'We've had family therapy, Harry and I have had therapy, the girls have had therapy. We're a therapy family.' In Encino, California, Dorit Kemsley, 43, and her husband Paul 'PK' Kemsley, 52, met with Robert Earl, CEO of the restaurant chain Buca di Beppo. Restaurant deal: Dorit Kemsley, 43, and her husband Paul 'PK' Kemsley, 52, met with Robert Earl, CEO of the restaurant chain Buca di Beppo about a business deal Robert wanted Dorit to refurbish a room at the restaurant, but wondered if she was committed to the project, calling her level of involvement 'about a three.' The name of restaurateur and former RHOBH castmate Lisa Vanderpump, 59, came up, and Dorit said she hadn't spoken to her in a long time. 'She kinda shut that door, locked it and threw away the key,' Dorit affirmed. Door locked: 'She kinda shut that door, locked it and threw away the key,' Dorit affirmed of her former friendship with Lisa Vanderpump Everyone then met up for an astrology reading at Erika's home, where Lisa and Erika were astounded to discover they wore the same pink coatdress. 'I almost bought it, but I didn't,' Kyle said as she walked in, observing that Garcelle's pink velvet jacket was similar. The group got a rare chance to talk to Erika's husband, Tom Girardi, 80, who told a funny story about meeting John Wayne in high school. Cool story: The group got a rare chance to talk to Erika's husband, Tom Girardi, 80, who told a funny story about meeting John Wayne in high school Secretly, Kyle wondered if she'd be dealing with the 'laid-back, chilled Denise, or the coming-in-hot Denise' that evening. Shawn, the astrologer, gave his first reading to Erika, noting that her stars indicated she used logic to rule her emotions, and advising her friends to 'stick to the facts' when addressing her. Lisa's chart suggested she always let others know where they stood, while Garcelle's said she liked to have fun and Kyle's intimated that she got 'worked up' over issues of fairness. The astrologer: Shawn, the astrologer, gave his first reading to Erika, noting that her stars indicated she used logic to rule her emotions Three days before, Kyle defended new cast member Sutton Stracke, 48, from attack by Dorit. 'He was spot on until he said you were fair,' Dorit said to Kyle, who replied, 'He's the expert.' Shawn said that Dorit's stars meant she was ruled by her feelings, and could get overemotional. Stars speaking: Dorit's stars meant she was ruled by her feelings, and could get overemotional Sutton's sign meant she took things too personally, something the cast observed in her interactions with Teddi Mellencamp, 38. Teddi, often accused of being Kyle's lackey, had a chart that made her 'gravitate towards one energy,' someone with an earthy chart like Kyle's. The group asked Kyle if she and Teddi attended 'couples therapy' last year, and Kyle, bewildered, corrected them, saying that they did breathing exercises for anxiety together. Energy gravitation: Teddi, often accused of being Kyle's lackey, had a chart that made her 'gravitate towards one energy,' someone with an earthy chart like Kyle's 'You guys have all f***ing lost your minds,' she said. Shawn told Denise she had 'a very intensely complicated chart,' something she'd heard before. 'Aquarians are very friendly, they're open, and then because of the Scorpio moon, they're very loving, but there is a side of you that is going to be hidden,' Shawn explained. 'That's true,' Denise admitted, as Shawn noted she had 'the most to reveal' in the group. Complicated chart: Shawn told Denise she had 'a very intensely complicated chart,' something she'd heard before 'You are the type that if someone does break your trust you will still keep a good face,' he affirmed. 'But inside you may be calculating and conspiring on your own on how you're going to deal with it.' Kyle was intrigued by that idea, explaining in a confessional, 'The last time I saw Denise, she was screaming at me and freaking out. So what does she have planned for me?' To the cameras, Denise joked, 'I've never plotted revenge. At least, not yet.' Intriguing reading: Kyle was intrigued by what the astrologer said to Denise As everyone weighed the astrologer's words, Sutton told Dorit she'd liked her when they met, and felt especially betrayed when Dorit attacked her in front of the group. Sutton said she sensed 'a lot of the ladies didn't want to get to know me, personally.' Garcelle observed that they hadn't tried to get to know her, either, adding that she talked to Kyle all the time and she just 'glazed' right over her. Show newcomer: Sutton Stracke said she sensed 'a lot of the ladies didn't want to get to know me, personally' Kyle, taken aback, told the group that Garcelle was 'gorgeous, outspoken and I adore her.' 'Why do you glaze over her then?' Dorit probed, and Kyle replied, 'Shut up you f***ing a**hole!' Both Denise and Garcelle wondered if Kyle was only able to connect with others on a surface level, noting that she always brought the discussion back to herself and failed to listen. Glaze over: Garcelle observed that they hadn't tried to get to know her, either, adding that she talked to Kyle all the time and she just 'glazed' right over her 'When I feel something, it just comes out,' Kyle told the group. 'And If that's defending Teddi, or you, or you' she added, pointing to Sutton and Dorit. Garcelle snorted, noting in private, 'These b****es are so wrapped up in themselves, I could be naked, doing cartwheels on this table, and they wouldn't even notice. ''Kyle, I'm over here!'' She like, ''Where? What?''' Half the group left, and Kyle whispered to Sutton, 'They're all being so mean.' Over here: 'These b****es are so wrapped up in themselves, I could be naked, doing cartwheels on this table, and they wouldn't even notice. ''Kyle, I'm over here!'' She like, ''Where? What?'',' Sutton said in a confessional As a parting shot, Erika told Kyle that her relationship with Teddi was 'strange,' to which Kyle retorted, 'Why is that weird? Because you don't have good friends?' The silence in the room was deafening, and Erika stared daggers at her pal. 'You're so out of line,' Erika said, emphasizing that she did have good friends, and until that moment had always considered Kyle to be one of them. The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills will return next week on Bravo. Line crossed: 'You're so out of line,' Erika told Kyle, emphasizing that she did have good friends, and until that moment had always considered Kyle to be one of them South Korean prosecutor on May 20 reportedly demanded a 35-year jail term for former President Park Geun-Hye, who was ousted and later convicted over a sprawling corruption scandal. Park was the countrys first female president, however, she was brought down in 2017 after huge street protest triggered by allegations she and one of her close friend took bribes from top conglomerates for government favours. According to an international media outlet, Park earlier sentenced to 32 years in jail for bribery, abuse of power, election law violations and taking money from South Koreas spy agency. She is currently being retried in the High Court on the bribery, abuse of power and the spy agency charges, for which is serving a combined 30 years. However, after the Supreme Court ruled that the bribery accusations should have been handled separately, the prosecutors reportedly said that the former president should be jailed for 35 years. READ: China Condemns Pompeo's Remarks On Taiwan READ: Oprah Winfrey Gives $12M To home Cities During Pandemic Prosecutors demand fine to be increased The prosecutors also called for the fine to be increased from 20 billion won to 33.3 billion won. According to a South Korean local media outlet, the former president boycotted the hearing. Park also refused to take part in most of the judicial proceeding against her. Meanwhile, the judges are due to deliver their verdict on July 10. According to reports, the corruption scandal back in 2017 exposed shady links between big businesses and politics in the country. Park and her close friend Choi Soon-Sil were allegedly accused of taking bribes from conglomerates including Samsung Electronic in exchange for preferential treatment. In 2016, allegations also began emerging that Choi Soon-Sil was being given inappropriate access to government decision-making, including editing some of Parks speeches. Later she was accused of using her friendship to pressure some of South Koreas biggest companies into paying money into non-profit foundations she ran as well. (Image: PDChina/Twitter) READ: VW Pulls Car Ad After Outcry, Apologizes For Racist Overtone READ: Spain's Leader Asks Parliament For 2 More Weeks Of Lockdown Tensions between the US and China are likely to worsen on the eve of the US presidential election in November this year, CNBC reported referring to experts. The two largest economies in the world were drawn into a protracted trade war, and the situation is now more complicated amid the coronavirus pandemic. US President Donald Trump accused Beijing of a lack of transparency regarding the true extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, where the very first cases have been reported. With Trump campaigning for a second term in office, the end game for the Trump administration is crystal clear and that is winning the election, said Yale University senior fellow, Stephen Roach. This is not about improving economic security for Americans, American companies, no matter what they say. This is a politically motivated trade conflict, he said. Roach added that he wouldnt rule anything out in terms of the actions that Trump's administration can take, whether it is new tariffs on Chinese imports or default on debts to China. Trump's administration has recently intensified rhetoric regarding China, as the COVID-19 pandemic is damaging the US economy. Yesterday, Trump blasted China over the COVID-19 origin in a tweet. According to him, it was the incompetence of China that caused this mass Worldwide killing. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the $ 2 billion that Beijing had promised to fight the pandemic was paltry compared to hundreds of thousands of people killed and trillions of dollars in damage. According to a professor at Cornell University Eswar Prasad, Trump's administration will continue to take action - both symbolic and significant. Recently, the US limited sales from global chipmakers to Chinese tech giant Huawei. This step will provide Huawei with very few opportunities to find alternative suppliers. Its very clear the Trump administration means business and the hardliners seem to be viewing the pandemic as an opportunity to get even tougher on China than was the case before, said Prasad, who was previously head at the International Monetary Funds China division. In turn, China is aggressively reacting and striking back at the US. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that the US is trying to dishonor China and shift the blame for its own mishandling of the viral outbreak. Certainly, China has not stood still. Its diplomats have been trying very hard to control the narrative and theyve become much more blunt about using their economic and political persuasive power to try to bring countries around to their side and making it very clear that countries that dont play according to their rules are going to be facing consequences, said Prasad. According to him, the conflict between the United States and China occurred at a bad time, because the dispute between the two leading economies in the world will not help anyone and adversely affects business and consumer confidence. The domestic political dynamics in both countries, I think, are going to be the key drivers here in particular in the run up to the elections in November. Any negative consequences of tariffs or other economic sanctions against China are going to pale relative to the consequences of the pandemic on the U.S. economy, said Prasad. So I think for Trump it certainly makes sense to try to look tough on China and his base is probably going to respond positively. Amber Marchese backs up Peggy Sulahian; says RHONJ-related stress will bring cancer back COLTS NECK, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / In a recent discussion about the Real Housewives of Orange County show, Peggy Sulahian stated for the record that she would never return to the show as she fears it would cause her cancer to come back. Fellow Real Housewives of New Jersey star and cancer survivor Amber Marchese agrees with her, noting that she suffered a relapse six months after filming the last episode. Fans and non-fans alike are likely to remember Amber Marchese's first battle with cancer about five years ago. She was a thirty-one-year-old mother of two when she underwent both a double mastectomy and eighteen months of chemotherapy. At the time, she told fans that she intended to handle her health challenges with grace, positivity, and faith; furthermore, she asserted, she would turn it into an opportunity to raise awareness. "Some good has to come from this", Amber Marchese noted, and she turned out to be right. Amber Marchese is now not just an actress but also a philanthropist who donates time and money to charitable causes that promote cancer awareness and provide support for young women with cancer. It's worth noting that Amber Marchese and Peggy Sulahian aren't the only ones concerned about the impact of stress on one's health. Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson makes it clear that chronic stress is not something to take lightly. His colleague, Anil K. Sood, M.D., reports that chronic stress can help cancer grow and spread in a number of ways. The National Cancer Institute concurs, pointing out that there is evidence that "psychological stress can affect a tumor's ability to grow and spread." Peggy Sulahian and Amber Marchese certainly have a lot of experience handling stress, and they aren't the only ones to note that starring in a Real Housewives franchise is not easy. Fellow RHONJ star Joe Gorga likened it to being pregnant for eight years and told viewers they should be glad they aren't on the show. It's a sentiment that both Amber Marchese and Peggy Sulahian are likely to agree with. Fame certainly has its price. Amber Marchese has undoubtedly handled her fame, illness, and subsequent recovery incredibly well; at the same time, Peggy Sulahian is also making wise decisions by putting her health above her career and staying off a show that, according to Amber Marchese, could very well lead to a cancer relapse. CONTACT: Caroline Hunter Web Presence, LLC +1 7865519491 SOURCE: Web Presence, LLC View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590882/Cancer-Survivor-Amber-Marchese-Notes-Co-Stars-Cancer-Will-Return-if-She-Goes-Back-to-RHOC Bengaluru, May 22 : The South Western Railway (SWR) zone has run 10 Shramik special trains to transport 14,428 migrants back home to five states in north and east India, an official said on Thursday. "First Shramik special train from SWR left from KSR Bengaluru to Jaipur at 1.20 a.m. with 1,131 passengers," said a SWR spokesperson. Thursday's second special train departed from Hubballi at 12 noon to Lucknow with 1,513 migrants. Third Shramik special train left from Hosur in Tamil Nadu with 1,600 passengers at 1.50 p.m. to Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. The fourth special train departed from Bengaluru Cantonment station at 3:15 p.m. with 1,531 migrants, including 35 children to Barauni in Bihar. Thursday's fifth special train left Hubballi for Darbhanga in Bihar at 4 p.m. with 1,596 migrants. Similarly, the sixth special train departed from Chikka Bannavara station near Bengaluru to Bilaspur in Chattisgarh at 4.35 p.m. with 1,205 passengers. The seventh special train left from Bengaluru Cantonment to Gaya in Bihar 5.15 p.m. with 1,531 migrants, including 31 children. Thursday's eighth special train departed from Chikka Bannavara to Basti in Bihar at 6.45 p.m. with 1,450 migrants. With this train to Basti, SWR zone has ferried 1,62,329 passengers in 116 special trains. The ninth special train left from Bengaluru Cantonment to Agartala in Tripura at 7.50 p.m. with 1,606 migrants, including six children. The 10th special train departed from Ashokapuram near Mysuru at 9.50 p.m. with 1,265 migrants to Purnia in Bihar. The special trains are being run following the Ministry of Home Affairs' permission for the movement of stranded migrant labourers, workers, students, tourists and others. On March 11, the city reported its first two cases of Covid-19. A little more than two months later, Mumbai accounts for 61.2% of the total cases in Maharashtra and has a mortality rate of 3.45% with 882 deaths, accounting for 60.6% of the states total deaths. Is this rise unprecedented? Has the lockdown helped and for how long should it continue? Since May 17, when Mumbai crossed 20,000 reported cases, its daily count of new cases started crossing 1,000. On May 17, the city reported 1,545 new cases, followed by 1,185 on May 18; 1,411 on May 19; and 1,372 on May 20. As of Thursday, Mumbai has recorded 25,500 Covid-positive cases. Officials attribute the spike to the citys high population density, large slum population, more testing, and violating distancing guidelines. However, the authorities also said they had anticipated this trajectory at the beginning of the outbreak and expect the situation to come under control by mid-June. When will the curve flatten? It took 20 days for Mumbai to record 100 cases, between March 11 and March 31. Then, after 10 days, the city saw 1,000 cases on April 10. After 26 days, it crossed 10,000 cases on May 6. On May 17, the city had 20,000 reported cases. State surveillance officer Pradip Awate said, This trajectory of cases was anticipated. We were already studying scenarios in other countries. When the first case came to Maharashtra on March 9, Italy, Spain, France, Iran were already seeing these trends. So we had expected this kind of rise. Thats why Maharashtra announced a lockdown before the Centre. Municipal commissioner IS Chahal, who took charge of BMC on May 8, said last week that by the end of May, he expects 45,000 to 46,000 cases in Mumbai. Awate pointed to the example of China, which took approximately 72 days to flatten the curve after announcing its lockdown. Mumbai is likely to take eight to 10 days longer, given the population density of its slums. We are already two months into the lockdown and there are 10 more days of May left. So the end of May would bring us to the 70-day mark. Lets give Mumbai another 15 days, over and above the world average. So we are looking at mid-June for the curve to improve, he said. Dr Om Shrivastav, who is part of the task force appointed by the Maharashtra government in April to tackle the states mortality rate, reiterated that the numbers in Mumbai follow an expected trend. These are expected numbers, due to the pattern of the infection, trend in other countries, and for the population we have. When you test more, and adequately, you will find that the numbers increase. I dont think we should be discouraged by a number. We should be looking at that percentage of the population who are going to require hospitalisation, intensive care, and ventilation. So long as we are able to provide services to those people, numbers in themselves mean nothing, he said. Reasons for high number of cases Mumbais high population density and many slum pockets are among the factors contributing to the spike in reported cases along with the number of tests conducted in the city. Awate said, Mumbais biggest enemy is its density 20,000 per sqkm, and it is much greater in slums. About 45% to 50% of the population resides in slums. Current cases are mainly coming from slums. Even when you have a lockdown, it is very difficult to religiously implement it in a slum where up to 10 people are residing in a room admeasuring 8x8 feet. When Maharashtra reaches 199 cases per 1 lakh in the population, Mumbais slums, are expected to record 550 cases per 1 lakh, said Awate, adding that this proportion varies according to economic classes. Of the 24 wards in the city, those with the most number of Covid-19 cases also have one or more slum pockets or congested areas. For example, Dharavi is in G/North ward; Byculla and Nagpada are in E ward; Sewri and Wadala are in F/North ward; Worli Koliwada, Janata Nagar, Adarsh Nagar, and the chawls of Lower Parel are in G/South ward; Kurla is in L ward, and the slums of Govandi and Mankhurd are in M/East ward. In wards with a comparatively lower number of cases, such as T ward in Mulund and R/North ward in Borivli, cases are usually concentrated in slum pockets. While some citizens violating lockdown restrictions may be responsible for a small percentage of the rising numbers, Mumbai has also carried out rigorous testing, say authorities. For every million of the population, Mumbai has conducted about 11,784 tests and altogether, 1.53 lakh tests have been conducted so far. As of May 14, when Mumbai had conducted 1.27 lakh tests, it had surpassed test figures for Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Delhi. Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the G North ward, said, People ask me why Dharavi cases are rising. Cases are a result of massive screening. We have screened as many as 4 lakh people and tested more than 3,500 people. Success shall be measured on early timely treatment, fewer deaths, and more discharges. Has community transmission begun? Community transmission is formally announced by the government if two trends are noticed among positive patients: Persons testing positive despite the absence of relevant travel history and/ or contact with another positive patient, which means there is no way of tracing how the infection was contracted. A senior official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said there were some early signs of community transmission in the city. Mumbai is getting cases in clusters, such as the Dharavi and Worli Koliwada phenomena. You cannot deny that these are early signs of community transmission, said Awate. However, since such cases still account for less than 30% of the total number, the authorities are not saying community transmission has started. Another civic official pointed out, Cases from fever clinics in containment zones account for less than 1% of the total cases. As of Wednesday, BMC has found 683 of its total positive cases from fever clinics. Has the lockdown helped curb spread? Officials say the lockdown is achieving its purpose of pacing out the spurt in reported cases and giving hospitals time to ramp up facilities. It is also helping develop some amount of immunity in the population in a controlled manner, without burdening healthcare facilities. As cases rise exponentially, if there is a boom in the first few days, the situation could go out of hand. We have managed to steer away from that scenario due to the lockdown, said one civic official. Sanjeev Jaiswal, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, and in-charge of drawing up a post-lockdown plan for the city, said, The city is slowly opening up. Proof of it is the increased traffic at checkpoints set up by Mumbai Police now in comparison to last month. He pointed out that more shops, like grocery and hardware stores, were operational. The city will have to start opening up in a staggered manner and a decision on this will be taken after consulting the state government, said Jaiswal. However, for the immediate future, the lockdown remains in place. It is not wise for Mumbai to open up so soon. We may be looking at lockdown remaining in Mumbai till the end of June, and red zones in Mumbai should not start for a few days even after that. Let the curve stabilise, said an official. Jaiswal said BMC was prepared for another spike in cases when restrictions ease. We are ramping up medical facilities, he said. It is important that healthcare is able to handle the spurt. Then we are okay. Syracuse, N.Y. Despite the fact that it doesnt anticipate the coronavirus situation in Central New York to be substantially different than it is right now, Syracuse University has announced that it will resume in-person classes Aug. 24. In order to do so as safely as possible, the campus will have to change from the way students and alumni left it. There will be coronavirus tests for every student. There will be weekend classes and cleaner bathrooms. Self-serve buffets will likely need to be retired, and parents wont be allowed to linger for prolonged goodbyes. And for all the ways that Syracuse knows it must change, there are dozens of issues the school hasnt resolved yet. The decision to open in August was just the first of many questions that must be answered this summer. We have no idea whats going to happen the next two months, just like nobody else does," said Amanda Nicholson, the schools assistant provost and dean of student success. Its not like we have some special knowledge. But our best estimates, we believe we can, with some really good safeguards, make this happen. Nicholson answered a handful of questions from local reporters on Wednesday night, following the schools announcement of a start date. Each week that colleges have waited to make any firm announcement has brought a deeper understanding of the virus and a firmer idea of how businesses reopenings are going. Experts expect cases will increase as people become more active but are hoping those increases are small. New York is only in the first phase of its reopening. Under Gov. Andrew Cuomos phased plan, schools arent expected to open until the fourth. Still, Nicholson said she believes an announcement was appropriate now so that Syracuse could provide some clarity about its intentions. Our incoming class and their parents and our returning students and their parents and everybody else are very anxious to get some kind of resolution around what the future holds for them, Nicholson said. Nicholson said the school chose to move up the academic calendar and end classes after Thanksgiving Break because some experts are projecting an uptick in coronavirus cases that coincides with flu season, making it unwise to disperse students across the country and then bring them back to campus. Syracuses decision to provide a firm start date came relatively early compared to much of the country but followed a trend in which many schools were beginning to firm up decisions. Both New York University and Ithaca announced plans this week, as did Notre Dame, South Carolina, the University of Portland and others. Nicholson said that Syracuse is operating under the assumption that the environment in August is similar to the one around the country right now. I think were all hoping things get better, but were working on the assumption that things are similar to where they are today, where we need to be six feet apart and we need to wear masks, Nicholson said. I hate to say the worst-case scenario, but we have not been assuming everything is going to be, you know, rainbows and pussycats. By the time we open, we believe that there will still be major restrictions to how we operate to keep our students as our faculty and our staff safe. At Syracuse, Nicholson said, keeping students and faculty safe would require some substantial changes, including a coronavirus test for all students as they arrive. Once those tests are taken, she said, students will have to be diligent about outside interactions. She expects Syracuse will operate under current health guidelines, which include social distancing and mask-wearing. To keep safe distances in classrooms, the school said, it will reduce class size and add additional classes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Larger classes will likely be held virtually, while online versions will be available in most classes for those uncomfortable in classroom settings. Nicholson said that Syracuse will increase its cleaning in dorm bathrooms. It will likely add dividers to separate groups in libraries, dining halls and social spaces. Parents will be discouraged from lingering around campus for days in order to say prolonged goodbyes at the start of the semester. And the school will likely end self-serve meals in dining halls, where students might have to order pre-made meals instead. She offered the idea of a student choosing No. 2 from a list of pre-made options. Im not going to tell you we have got it all worked out, Nicholson said. Thats exactly what were working on. How can we do this? We do not want people locked in their rooms like prison. At the same time we want to make sure its safe. So its a balance between safety and and and this idea of having a social and rewarding college experience. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources No blow-drying, wait in the car: Get ready for a different hair salon experience in phase two Most CNY school districts, others across state ending year early to avoid paying teachers extra New York to allow small ceremonies, vehicle parades for Memorial Day, Cuomo says Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Contact Chris Carlson anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1639 The lawmaker representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Opeyemi Bamidele, has commended the virtual court proceedings in Nigeria. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters added that the adoption of the virtual Court proceedings into the countrys administration of justice will transform that arm of government. Bamidele further stated that the decision will bring a radical paradigm shift to the sector via quick dispensation of justice and injection of technology into jurisprudence, as obtainable in the advanced world. The lawmaker is sponsoring a bill seeking adoption of virtual proceedings in courts, which is now awaiting second reading at the upper legislative chambers of the National Assembly. Bamidele while speaking on the bill noted that the virtual court proceedings would help in delivering justice quickly in times of emergency like lockdown being imposed in every state owing to COVID-19 spread. Bamidele applauded the Federal High Court for adopting virtual proceeding as a norm and practice direction in 2020, saying this would help in breaking the barrier of unwarranted delay of judicature. He revealed that technology has become an instrument of standardization, fast-tracking delivery of judgements on cases pending in courts for the smooth running of government and stability of the society. Technology has been adopted as an instrument for the speedy delivery of judgements on cases in an advanced nation. Many cases were being heard through teleconference and judgements passed through the same route. Apart from decongesting our courts, it helps during emergency situations as we are experiencing under coronavirus pandemic. One can imagine how our country and the world at large would have been if the judiciary is suspended as being witnessed in other arms of government. Judiciary as an artist of government must move with the tide. As a way of complying with social distancing policy of governments under COVID-19, President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Executive Council now holds weekly FEC meeting through virtual means, so that the nation will not suffer good governance. The same method has been adopted by governors in many states and I see no reason why the judiciary cant adopt same to entrench the rule of law in the system because one cant get justice when activities of courts are suspended indefinitely because justice delay is justice denied. Judiciary is the bastion of democracy and the rule of law. It is the foundation on which other sectors rest and rotate and impunity reigns supreme when that arm can no longer perform its functions and that is why virtual proceeding is expedient to save our nation from anarchy in times of emergency like this. Bamidele commended the Senate for the speedy consideration of the bill and for embracing it. He called on the executive arm to quickly assent to it for it to become a legal practice when passed by the legislature. Share this post with your Friends on Casuals entitled to paid leave in landmark decision. Source: Getty Casual employees working full-time hours will be entitled to paid leave, setting back employers around $8 billion in back-pay claims, after a landmark ruling by the Federal Court on Wednesday. The decision means regular, ongoing casuals will be able to access paid annual leave, paid personal/carers leave and paid compassionate leave, and employers cannot claim that 25 per cent pay loadings offset those entitlements. The ruling in Workpac v Rossato has effectively pulled the pin on the permanent casual work model, and means any regular work that is permanent in nature is not genuinely casual, and therefore attracts the same entitlements as permanent staff. This is a fantastic decision that puts an end to the permanent casual rort that has become a scourge in the coal mining industry and across the workforce, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union national president Tony Maher said. Its a decision that passes the pub test on what it means to be a casual and is consistent with community expectations that casual work is irregular and intermittent. Maher called on employers to stop the nonsense, and start treating casual employees on permanent hours as if they were permanent. When a job is full-time, regular and on-going, it is permanent and deserves the security and entitlements that come with permanent work, Maher said. Our union has worked hard to clarify the law with this decision and we will now be fighting to restore rights and lost pay for casual labour hire workers across the coal mining industry who have been illegally ripped off. Former casual coal miner, Paul Skene, who took on WorkPac in 2016 and won back paid annual leave on the basis that he was not a genuine casual, welcomed the news. Im delighted with this decision, he said. It clearly shows how casuals have been ripped off and treated like second class citizens. Im very pleased that the law is now clear and that my case has made a difference. Story continues Industrial relations minister Christian Porter said the decision would have immediate practical implications for the bottom line of many Australians businesses at a time when so many have taken a huge hit from the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, employers estimate between 1.6 and 2.2 million casuals will be affected, with a back-pay bill of around $8 billion looming. Porter also flagged a potential appeal. "There is of course potential for an appeal in the matter and if that were to occur, the government would closely consider the merits of intervening. "Given the potential for this decision to further weaken the economy at a time when so many Australians have lost their jobs, it may also be necessary to consider legislative options." Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club Episode 5. Source: Supplied Are you a millennial or Gen Z-er interested in joining a community where you can learn how to take control of your money? Join us at The Broke Millennials Club on Facebook! In that context, Vietnamese businesses, especially those in the areas of garment & textile, leather & footwear, and agro-forestry and fishery exports, should keep themselves ready when the avenue for trade with the EU is connected. A boost for post-pandemic export recovery The EVFTA is expected to create a big push for Vietnams exports to the vast EU market, particularly for the aforementioned commodities, with which Vietnam has many competitive advantages. Accelerating exports to the EU is one of the important solutions that the Vietnamese Government is determined to promote in overcoming the difficulties for the economy due to negative impacts from COVID-19. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the WTO and International Trade Centre under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said that market demand has declined amidst the complicated developments of the pandemic around the world, but it will possibly hike when the disease has passed. Specifically, when the EVFTA takes effect, it will drive enterprises to re-boost their export activities. Therefore, businesses need to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation in order to introduce appropriate production and business plans, as well as shift the form of trade promotion towards utilising online advertising and connection to maintain and develop their markets, thus ensuring that business activities will be restored soon after the disease stoppage. Vietnams trade missions in the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg recently recommended that Vietnamese export companies should consider the manufacturing and reserving of goods to meet orders from the EU when favourable conditions come. In the near future, if the pandemic is controlled and the EVFTA comes into effect, the factors negatively impacting Vietnams exports to the EU will be reduced. Garment & textile products one of the items benefitting the most from the EVFTA will be in good hands when the EU lifts coronavirus lockdowns. Notably, after this crisis, the market may have many changes, both in the size of orders and the ways to conduct activities. It is predicted that EU businesses will significantly change the manner in which they carry out their import-export activities, which requires Vietnamese garment & textile exporters to stay updated on the situation and make timely adjustments. In addition, industries that are less dependent on the supply chain, such as agricultural products, will get benefits immediately after the EVFTA comes into force. A favourable factor is that the economic structures of Vietnam and the EU have no direct competition, but rather complementary competition. Vietnams strength goods are not the strengths of the EU and vice versa. However, according to Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Vietnamese firms will have to bear certain costs to adjust their production. For example, to meet the rules of origin under the EVFTA, businesses must change the supply of raw materials, from abroad to domestic sources. Domestic supplies will cost more, but this will give enterprises an advantage when exporting their products to the EU. Opportunities to diversify markets Recently, the Multilateral Trade Policy Department (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) announced that all preparations have now been completed. Businesses should also ready themselves, because as long as the EVFTA is approved by the Vietnamese NA and the two sides completes the notification process as prescribed, the agreement will officially take effect for both the EU and Vietnam. The group of experts at the RMIT University Vietnam stated that it is high time for Vietnam to diversify its trading partners in a stronger manner to reduce dependence on one or two key markets regarding both imports and exports. The EVFTA is an essential factor in that process, especially as the global supply chain has been severely affected by the decline in production and trade activities due to COVID-19. For such an open economy with a high trade-to-GDP ratio as Vietnam, problems related to fluctuations can escalate rapidly, particularly when import and export activities have an important but unsustainable linkage with large markets such as China. Regarding the US market, Dr. Nguyen Quang Trung (RMIT University Vietnam) said Vietnams high and constantly growing trade surplus with the US may also be unsustainable, and could even fall into a difficult situation, as domestic businesses have not yet mastered the main stages in the global value chain. In recent years, Vietnam has constantly reported a trade deficit with China, while trade surplus with the US is on an increasing momentum. Building an overall balanced trade account will help the economy become more stable and enhance its resilience against peripheral shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains unclear when the current global coronavirus crisis is over and when its indirect effects on the economy will be addressed. Therefore, experts emphasised an urgent need for the Vietnamese economy to promptly seize opportunities and take actions to diversify the markets, thereby reducing the severity of risks faced. In this regard, the EVFTA may be vital, alongside other international deals such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Making sound preparations for long-term benefits According to Dr. John Walsh (RMIT University Vietnam), the EVFTA is the most stable agreement for Vietnam because it sets stricter rules, which all partners are required to abide by. That means there will be fewer opportunities for countries to pursue short-term gains, whether intentional or not. The new-generation FTAs will also give Vietnam the chance to enhance its position on the global trade map, beyond advantages such as low labour costs or abundant agricultural resources, to work towards technology transfer and taking advantage of skills of young labour force. The competitiveness of Vietnams streng products will be further strengthened as the energy industry is transformed to meet low carbon emissions standards. Moreover, when the Vietnamese economy and consumers become familiar with imported goods from the EU in new areas, the retail and distribution industry will be empowered to prepare to welcome other products in similar categories from around the world. Dr. Nguyen Quang Trung said that Vietnam is the second ASEAN member nation to sign an FTA with the EU. However, such determination needs to be accompanied by fast, decisive and reliable actions to help the economy to thrive further. Seven years after the EVFTA comes into effect, the EU will eliminate more than 99% of tariff lines, equivalent to more than 99% of Vietnams export revenue to this market. Vietnamese companies will also benefit from superior EU products at low prices and can use them in their production processes, thereby improving output and profits of Vietnams export goods. As product competitiveness increases, Vietnam will have stronger foundations to boost trade through the harmonisation of legal conditions, rules of origin, and customs management and administrative provisions, as well as the recognition of each others appropriate standards and regulations. However, Vietnam will also face challenges from the requirements of new agreements. The private sector must be prepared to meet the challenges of upgrading supply chains and value chains, aiming to ensure that all links in the chains will best comply with international practices. Viktor Shokin was fired from this office in 2016; a recently released tape of conversation between the-then President of Ukraine Poroshenko and U.S. Vice President Biden contains an episode, in which the officials discussed his resignation Open source Pechersk district court in Kyiv obliged the Prosecutor General's Office to begin an investigation into possible interference of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine's domestic affairs, - specifically, the resignation of ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The respective document was signed by judge Serhiy Vovk and pubished on the web page of the United State Centre of Court Decisions. Viktor Shokin was fired from this office in 2016. As we reported earlier, on May 19, non-affiliated MP Andriy Derkach published a few audio records of the talk of then ex-president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Head of the U.S. State Department John Kerry. They discussed, particularly, the resignation of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. It was the issue of the recording of the talk of Poroshenko and Kerry dated back to December 3, 2015. On May 20, the Prosecutor Generals Office put the information about audio records revealed by Andriy Derkach to the United register of pretrial investigation. Poroshenko is accused of the state treason. German Chancellor Angela Merkel next to Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and British PM Theresa May at plenary session of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017 www.epa.eu The COVID-19 pandemic has opened the worlds eyes to the true nature of the Chinese regime, countless articles have told us in recent weeks. And perhaps they are right. But in Europe, it is the U.S. response to the virus, even more so than Chinas, that is deeply unsettling politicians and the wider public. A new poll from the Korber Foundation, released on Monday, is the latest evidence of this. The results are astonishingand should give pause to anyone in Washington who sees a robust, united U.S.-led front against China emerging in the wake of this crisis. The survey shows that Germans are now almost equally divided on whether Washington or Beijing is the more important partner, with 37 percent choosing the United States and 36 percent China. This represents a significant shift compared with Korbers last survey in September 2019, when Germans gave the United States a commanding 26 percentage-point edge over China. This doesnt mean that Germans are giving China a free pass. As many as 71 percent agree that more transparency from the Chinese government would have reduced the impact or even prevented the pandemic from spreading. Yet only 36 percent say their opinion of China has worsened, compared with 73 percent whose view of the United States has deteriorated in the crisis. What does this mean? First, some caveats. Few people expect transparency from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They hold the United States to a higher standard and are thus more easily disappointed when Washington fails. Moreover, German views of the United States have been among the most negative in all of Europe ever since President Donald Trump entered the White House. That was also the case under President George W. Bush, only for opinions to swing back sharply into positive territory as soon as Barack Obama replaced him. The German public is fickle, andrightly or wronglyits views of the United States are heavily influenced by the person sitting in the Oval Office. German attitudes towards the U.S. were in free fall before the corona crisis, Nora Muller, the executive director for international affairs at Korber, told Foreign Policy. Doubts about the Trump administrations management of the pandemic and a perceived absence of U.S. global leadership have obviously aggravated the alienation. German politicians, on the other hand, must take broader considerations into account when balancing the relationship with Washington and Beijing. The United States is a democracy that shares essential values with Europe. China is not. The United States has guaranteed the security of Germany and other European countries for 75 years. China spent a large part of that period preoccupied with itself. But the world is changing. We may be at the dawn of an Asian century. Politicians in Germany and elsewhere in Europe see the geopolitical arc shifting, and this affects their calculations. They see a CCP that covered up the virus in its early weeks and then, after it spread around the world, employed an aggressive propaganda and disinformation campaign to try to shift the narrative in its favor. They also see how the CCP successfully contained the virus at homealbeit with tactics that would not be acceptable in liberal democraciesonce it set its mind to it. Because of that, the Chinese economy is likely to bounce back faster. When they look to the United States, they see chaosa country where even in the face of a disease that has killed more than 91,000 Americans, politicians are unable to put aside partisan sniping and come together. They see an administration that eschews science and global cooperation when they are needed most. And they see a president who seems ready to take a scorched-earth approach to the U.S.-China relationship if thats what it takes to rescue his flagging reelection hopes. Importantly, Trump is not seen in Europe as the cause of U.S. dysfunction but rather a symptom or accelerator of it. If Joe Biden is sitting in the White House come January, the crippling partisan divide will still be there. And so will the economic devastation left by a crisis that Americansafter decades of ever smaller governmentseem totally unprepared to cope with. Working with the United States may be easier once Trump is gone. But for how long? The U.S. response to the coronavirus has deepened these doubts in Germany and other European countries. According to a survey by the British Foreign Policy Group this month, just 28 percent of Britons said they trusted the United States to act responsibly in the world, a fall of 13 percentage points since January. Conservative voters, who previously expressed outsized levels of trust in the United States, are responsible for the largest loss of confidence. A survey by the Ifop polling group asked French people this month which countries were best placed to confront the challenges of the coming decades. Just 3 percent chose the United States. An April poll by the SWG research institute showed that 36 percent of Italians surveyed believed their country should focus on developing close ties with China, compared with 30 percent who chose the United States. In the Korber poll, a younger generation raised on the Iraq War, tales of NSA spying, and now Trump showed the most skepticism toward the United States. Among Germans in the 18-34 age group, 46 percent said it was important to have close ties to China against 35 percent who picked the United States. This does not mean that Europe is heading toward a policy of equidistance between the United States and China. Concern about the direction in which President Xi Jinping is taking Chinamore state control, more surveillance, more intimidation abroadhas been building for years. But it does mean that Europe will continue to be wary about siding with Washington against Beijing. Do you agree to take on the school bully together with your old friend if that friend is unreliable? What if the friend has started bullying you himselfas the United States has done with Europe on the 5G question and appears to be doing now with the United Kingdom by insisting it choose between a trade deal with Washington and one with Beijing. You probably dont want to take on the bully with this friend. Instead, Europe is hedging. It is currently in negotiations with Beijing on a comprehensive investment agreement and joint measures to combat climate change. Clinching these deals is a long shot. But if it does come together, just as the U.S. election is taking place, it will send another signal that the United States is losing Europe on its No. 1 foreign-policy priority: China. Read the original article here. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The global precision agriculture market is anticipated to reach over USD 13,016 million by 2026, According to a new study published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the yield monitoring application dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue during the forecast period. There has been an increasing adoption of precision farming across the world owing to growing agricultural industry, and high-demand for food crops. The global precision farming market is driven by the increasing need to improve the quality of crops produced, maximizing crop production, and enhanced crop monitoring. Technological advancement along with government subsidies further boosts the market growth. However, high initial investment and lack of awareness limit the precision farming market growth. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market/request-for-sample North America generated the highest revenue in the precision agriculture market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. This is due to high cost of labor, and presence of large farmlands in the North American region. Increasing investments and subsidies in the agriculture sector by governments boost the precision farming market growth during the forecast period in the region. Increasing need to improve food quality and productivity along with increased industrialization of farming equipment further supplements market growth. Various applications of precision farming include irrigation management, crop scouting, yield monitoring, weather tracking and forecasting, field mapping, inventory management, and farm labor management. In 2017, yield monitoring accounted for the largest share in the global market, and was estimated at $1,974 million in 2017, registering a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period. This is attributable to the benefits offered by yield monitoring such as reduced cost, improved yields, and enhanced decision making. Yield monitoring is further divided into on-farm yield monitoring, and off-farm yield monitoring. Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market The well-known companies profiled in the report include Ag Leader Technology, AGCO Corporation, Deere and Company, Topcon Corporation, Trimble, Inc., The Climate Corporation, Farmers Edge Inc., and AgJunction, Inc. among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers. Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Hardware Type o Automation & Control Drones Application control devices Guidance system Remote sensing Driverless tractors Mobile devices VRT Wireless module o Sensing devices o Antennas/access points Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Deployment Type o Web-Based/Local o Cloud Based Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Service o System Integration o Managed Services o Maintenance & Support o Consulting Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Application o Irrigation Management o Crop Scouting o Yield Monitoring o Weather Tracking and Forecasting o Field Mapping o Inventory Management o Farm Labor Management Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region o North America U.S. Canada Mexico o Europe Germany UK France Italy Russia o Asia-Pacific China India Japan Australia o Latin America Brazil o Middle East & Africa Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market/request-for-discount-pricing About Polaris Market Research Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities. Adept with a highly competent, experienced and extremely qualified team of experts comprising SMEs, analysts and consultants, we at Polaris endeavor to deliver value-added business solutions to our customers. Contact Us: Polaris Market Research Phone: 1-646-568-9980 Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com MOSCOW -- As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to sweep Russia, doctors say they are increasingly forced to make daunting choices regarding the use of limited resources, or are concerned about the looming prospect of having to do so. "We will use everything we have," said intensive-care doctor Nikolai Osadchy of Hospital No. 4 in Perm, some 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow, which has not yet begun accepting COVID-19 patients. "We have 18 respirators for 18 intensive-care beds, although only three of them are modern ones suitable for COVID-19 patients.... We have two or three free beds in the intensive-care ward at the moment. If all of a sudden.... I guess we could open up our operating theaters, but that is also a finite resource. We have nine operating rooms and nine ventilators. And that is it." RFE/RL spoke with 20 intensive-care doctors from across the country about the ongoing crisis, as the number of coronavirus infections in Russia exceeded 317,000, according to official figures that many suspect are significantly understated. As of May 21, Russia had registered 3,099 COVID-19 fatalities. All of the doctors interviewed by RFE/RL said they had heard of cases, even before the pandemic, in which scarce medical resources had to be allocated, leaving some critically ill patients without the care they required. None of them, however, spoke in specific terms even under condition of anonymity because of the serious potential legal ramifications of such matters. Some were quoted on condition they be cited using first-name pseudonyms. Hospital doctors who do not work in intensive care generally told RFE/RL they had never heard of such cases -- a possible indication that intensive-care doctors take great pains to not even discuss such issues with close colleagues. Difficult Choices Anastasia Vasilyeva, a physician who heads the nongovernmental medical professional organization Doctors' Alliance, says she does know of instances during Russia's COVID-19 battle when doctors "were forced to make choices in favor of the patient who has the best chance of surviving." "Such a choice is definitely against the law, but what is a doctor to do?" she told RFE/RL. "This is an emergency situation that has pushed aside all mundane legal norms. Doctors are forced to take risks and a sort of natural selection is taking place. There is nothing to be done about that, as horrible as it sounds. It is such a difficult matter that it is hard for me to even discuss it." Like many countries coping with a mass of COVID-19 cases, Russia faces shortages of crucial ventilators that are needed to help patients breathe when their lungs fill with fluids and their blood-oxygen saturation falls. Many of the respirators in Russian hospitals are old, dating even from the Soviet period, and inadequate for treating COVID-19 patients. Russia's situation was made more acute earlier this month when the government suspended the use of Aventa-M ventilators after they were linked to fatal hospital fires in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are more than 1,000 such ventilators in Russian hospitals and just this month nearly 200 of them were rushed to hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The government's official position is that Russia has all the equipment it needs to cope with the emergency. However, during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on April 8, St. Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov complained his city faced a shortage of 1,680 ventilators. The press services of the Health Ministry and the Moscow Health Department declined to respond to questions for this story. "Yesterday we had a male patient whose CT scan showed 75 percent of his lungs affected by COVID-19," one intensive-care doctor from a Moscow hospital told RFE/RL. "He was stable and walking under his own power, feeding himself, conversing. He was 45 years old and for four or five days he had had a fever around 40 degrees Celsius. But in the evening, his blood-oxygen saturation fell sharply and he developed cyanosis. But our intensive-care unit was full. The head doctor and I were the only ones there." "We gave him prednisolone and ran him to intensive care," the doctor continued. "It was full. There was an elderly man who'd suffered a heart attack. He had a broken rib and other issues. In short, he was hardly moving and hadn't opened his eyes for 10 days. It was a very serious case, plus he had COVID-19. We had to take him off the ventilator and hook up the young man in order to save him." "Sometimes serious cases are transferred to the wards in order to free up intensive care for young patients who suddenly take a turn for the worse," the doctor said. In this particular case, the doctor said, the 45-year-old patient died, while the elderly man was stabilized. RFE/RL has not been able to independently verify the doctor's account. 'A No-Win Situation' Shortages of critical equipment, particularly ventilators, have been a common issue for Russian doctors for years -- one that has been exacerbated, not created, by the coronavirus emergency. "Our hospital has 12 intensive-care beds and three ventilators," said Natalya, who works at a hospital in a medium-sized central Russian city. "When it happens that all the machines are busy but some patient suddenly gets worse, we start using whatever we have -- we bring in breathing apparatuses from the operating rooms or use Faza ventilators that were created for field use by the military. They are very old, don't meet any contemporary standards, harm the lungs, and shouldn't be used in hospitals. Once I saw a patient intubated and connected to an Ambu bag [a hand-operated device for the temporary ventilation of the lungs].... I have several times witnessed examples of 'euthanasia,' but have never had to participate in one." Russian doctors often use the term "euthanasia" as a sort of euphemism for making clinical determinations on the allocation of resources. Larger hospitals face similar issues. Ivan, an intensive-care doctor at a large hospital in St. Petersburg, told RFE/RL that his ward was always full and virtually every patient required a ventilator. Some of them, he said, must be attached to "metal garbage," meaning hopelessly outdated equipment that is often from the Soviet era. "Sometimes a doctor will call me and say, 'Take this old woman into intensive care -- she seems to be dying,'" he said. "And I go to the ward and find three dying old women and all three of them need to go to intensive care and be put on ventilation. But I simply don't have the machines. There is nothing to be done and three people are dying. It is a no-win situation. Later, the doctor won't even call me in such cases and the patients will just die in the wards. And that was even without a pandemic." Hospital administrators, Ivan said, do their best not to attract attention to such cases. "In the case files, they write that the patient died in the ward from heart failure," he said. "If there is clear evidence of hypoxia, then there might be a note saying that the patient had been intubated and given CPR." 'Comrades In The Offices' Front-line doctors often find themselves squeezed between the needs of patients and the demands of hospital administrators and, even, prosecutors. Armen Oganesyan, the head of anesthesiology and intensive care at a large Moscow clinic, wrote in a Facebook post that he later deleted that "the comrades in the offices are always waiting for doctors' mistakes." Vasilyeva of the Doctors' Alliance agrees, saying that Federal Medical Insurance Foundation checks all case files marked with code U07 (indicating trauma of the lungs, including COVID-19), while the Federal Health Inspectorate (Roszdravnadzor) has requested the case files of all patients who die in hospitals. "The Investigative Committee is also sitting and waiting," she added. "This is an enormous number of people who are checking to see if everyone was intubated and if there were intensive-care beds for everyone." "If, God forbid, someone from outside the hospital starts looking around, the management of the hospital will begin blaming the doctors," St. Petersburg intensive-care physician Ivan said. "There will be a big investigation but the result is always the same -- the doctor who is responsible for the story getting out will, at the very least, be fired." Viktor, an intensive-care physician in Moscow, agreed. "This has always been a problem," he said. "Even in medical school they tell us that case histories are written for prosecutors. Everyone writes it their own way -- 'progressive heart failure,' 'there wasn't time to hook up a ventilator,' or 'the patient died on the way to intensive care.'" "Even after an earthquake or a mass illness, nobody will admit that someone didn't receive full care," Oganesyan told RFE/RL. "Such a situation will be viewed as a mistake by a specific on-duty doctor because any chief doctor will say: 'In the next room there was back-up equipment and he didn't use it. He could have called me and I would have organized everything.'" 'Optimized' To The Bone The COVID-19 crisis is exposing the weaknesses of Russia's medical system, which has been the subject of "optimization" -- a government policy to improve care by streamlining the health-care sector -- for years now. "On paper, we have everything," Oganesyan said. "Machines, medicine, disposable materials, the best doctors, and even 'psychologists who work with patients' families.' But I know how things really are, how doctors write on specialized forums that they don't have one thing or another. That there are four nurses working in an intensive-care unit with 30 beds. But is society ready to talk about this?" "The tip of the iceberg here looks good," he concluded. "Some particular institute or some specialist is doing world-class operations. Modern cancer treatments have become available. But mass medical care has remained on its low, post-Soviet level. We have all seen photographs of hospitals where -- even after 20 years of [surplus state budgets brought about primarily by high global energy prices] -- the walls haven't been painted and the toilets haven't been replaced." "No matter how many emergency situations we have had -- floods, terrorism, now this virus -- we haven't learned any lessons," he said. "The system wasn't properly designed or financed and it remains that way -- unprepared, false, working not for the patients but for reports [to higher-ups]. It is not acceptable to work in a deficit situation even during the good times because there will be no reserve for an emergency." Robert Coalson contributed to this report A man stands outside the Royal Exchange in front of the Bank of England in a near-deserted City of London, England, on March 30, 2020. (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images) Venezuela Says Bank of England Is Refusing to Release Gold It Needs to Fight COVID-19 Venezuelas central bank is suing the Bank of England to access gold reserves that would help it cope with the CCP virus pandemic. The Bank of England had refused to confirm that it will give Venezuela access to 930 million ($1 billion) worth of gold held on its behalf, according to papers filed in Londons High Court last week. Venezuela had asked the Bank of England to liquidate the gold and send the funds to the United Nations Development Programme so that the UN agency could procure healthcare equipment, medicines, and basic foodstuffs, according to the papers filed by London law firm Zaiwalla & Co. There is no, or no sufficient, basis for such refusal, the court documents said. BoEs conduct is wrongful. The Bank of England told CNN that it does not comment on individual customer relationships. The United Nations has included Venezuela in a list of 135 countries for which it is seeking to secure supplies of key medical equipment as part of a global humanitarian response plan to COVID-19 (pdf). A Venezuelan migrant girl wanting to return to her country due to the CCP virus pandemic, waits outside the bus terminal, for a chance to get on a bus to the border, Medellin, Colombia, on May 14, 2020. (Joaquin Sarmiento /AFP/Getty Images) Venezuelas healthcare infrastructure is fragile, and the country has been placed under further pressure by stringent U.S. sanctions since 2019. It has recorded 824 cases of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus and 10 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro gives a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 12, 2020. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo) Venezuela is in the midst of an economic meltdown and a dire humanitarian crisis that has prompted 5.1 million Venezuelans to go abroadmostly to other Latin American and Caribbean countriesas refugees and migrants, as a power struggle between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido drags on, the UN said in a statement Wednesday. The British government, along with the U.S. government and dozens more worldwide, recognizes Guaido, rather than Maduro, as Venezuelas legitimate leader. Venezuelas political turmoil stems from presidential elections in 2018, in which Maduro secured another six-year term in a process widely viewed as a sham. The Bank of England blocked a similar attempt by the Venezuelan government to gain access to its gold in late 2018, according to the Financial Times. The bank holds around 400,000 bars of gold in its vaults, worth over 200 billion ($244.6 billion), according to its website. That makes it the second-largest keeper of gold in the world after the New York Federal Reserve. The CNN Wire and Epoch Times staff contributed to this report. Thousands of Michigan residents are seeking shelter Wednesday, after a catastrophic dam failure caused a major flooding emergency - and some residents could soon be under nine feet of water.The Edenville and Sanford Dams, which control water flow around Midland, Michigan - a town towards the center of Michigan's "mitten" and about 160 miles north and west of Detroit - collapsed Tuesday afternoon after the state saw record rainfall, forcing authorities to break coronavirus-related lockdowns and evacuate around 10,000 residents who live near the Tittabawassee River and other connected bodies of water. CBS News reported Tuesday.Authorities also said that the water could get as high as nine feet in some areas of Midland, including the city's downtown, putting most of the area's residents under water.The incident is proving difficult for Michigan and its governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, who has been adamant about enforcing the state's coronavirus-related stay-at-home order. Now, residents of Midland and surrounding areas must break quarantines and self-isolation to stay with friends and family or in designated emergency shelters until the water recedes.Whitmer said in a press conference held late Tuesday night.she added, implying an emergency suspension of her lockdown orders.The state is urging those who must seek shelter to continue to abide by whatever safety measures they can, to practice social distancing and wear a mask if possible. Shelters, serving those who have been evacuated, are struggling to place individuals and families at least six feet apart to prevent the spread of coronavirus as evacuees are already handling potentially major losses.Midland residents say they're shocked at the dam failure, and are struggling to handle the flooding in addition to the ongoing pandemic.one resident told local media Although it is not yet clear what led to the dam failure, the Detroit News reported early Wednesday that Federal officialsAfter what Federal authorities say was years of mismanagement and neglect, citations and violations, includingthe dam's owner finally agreed to a major, $100 million overhaul in 2019 - an overhaul that had yet to happen when the dam failed Tuesday. An FIR has been filed against Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi over tweets on Prime Minister Citizen Assistance Relief In Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund by Congress' official handle. The FIR, registered in Shivamogga district of Karnataka, identifies Gandhi as the handler of the social media account, news agency ANI reported. The FIR, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 and 505, by one K V Praveen alleged that the Congress party shared some misleading tweets about the PM CARES Fund on May 11. "They called PMCARES fund a fraud. They said on their twitter that it is not being used for public & that PM is going on foreign trips using this fund. These are rumours against govt in #COVID19 situation, so I filed a complaint (against Sonia Gandhi)," ANI reported citing KV Praveen Kumar as saying. Congress party had recently raised questions on the transparency of the fund. PM-CARES should be made transparent since a substantial amount of money has been taken through donations, Congress had said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also stressed on the need for Modi to ensure that the fund is audited. He also said that the record of money received by and spent through it should be made public. "The PM-CARES Fund has received huge contributions from PSUs and major public utilities like the Railways. It's important that the PM ensures the fund is audited and that the record of money received and spent is available to the public," he had tweeted. PM-CARES Fund was set up in March 2020, following the coronavirus pandemic in India. The fund aims to be used for combating, containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future. Also read: Lockdown 4.0 Coronavirus Live Updates: SoPs for domestic flights! Aarogya Setu app mandatory; cases-1.12 lakh Also read: Domestic flights to resume on Monday: What to keep in mind when you go to airport? WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 07: Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) questions Peter Neffenger, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, during Neffenger's testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee June 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony on the topic "Frustrated Travelers: Rethinking TSA Operations to Improve Passenger Screening and Address Threats to Aviation." (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Senate Republicans escalated their investigations into Donald Trump's political rivals on Wednesday when Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee voted on party lines, 8-6, to subpoena a company that retained Ukrainian energy company Burisma as a client when Hunter Biden was serving on its board. Hunter Biden is the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. But the company that was subpoenaed on Wednesday, Blue Star Strategies, wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, that it has "eagerly cooperated to date" with the panel's probe into whether the former vice president wielded his political influence in Ukraine to help his son's financial position within Burisma, a theory that so far has not been substantiated despite intense media and political scrutiny. "At every opportunity we have indicated to the Committee that it is our intention to cooperate," Blue Star CEO Karen Tramontano wrote in the letter to the committee on Wednesday. "At no time have we ever stated or indicated in any way that we would not cooperate. Therefore, we are puzzled, despite our willingness to cooperate, why the Committee is proceeding to vote on a subpoena," Ms Tramontano wrote. Blue Star has "every intention" to cooperate with the ongoing investigation moving forward, the CEO wrote. Mr Johnson pushed back later on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News against Blue Star's contention that it has cooperated with the probe. The consulting firm has "not complied" with the committee's broad request for information, he said. "Recently they've given us a few more pieces, but we know it's not even close to being complete," he said. The Republican theory which also postulates that it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 presidential election holds that Joe Biden sought to oust then-Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin to protect his son from an investigation into Burisma by Mr Shokin's office. That anti-corruption investigation into Burisma had previously been shelved and preceded Hunter Biden's appointment to the board by years. Story continues The intelligence community and former Special Counsel Bob Mueller uniformly concluded in 2017 and 2019, respectively, that Russia interfered extensively in the 2016 election. No evidence has emerged that Mr Biden sought Mr Shokin's ouster to shield Burisma and his son from investigation. Mr Shokin was removed from his government post in 2016 due to pressure from western governments and politicians including some of the same Republican senators who are now accusing the Bidens of wrongdoing over concerns that Mr Shokin's office, which was supposed to be rooting out corruption in the country, was itself corrupt. Blue Star's letter to the committee on Wednesday outlines the steps it has taken to cooperate with the panel's probe into the Bidens' actions in Ukraine. On 3 Dec 2019, the committee sent a letter asking Blue Star to assist in its probe into "certain officials within the Obama Administration." The firm responded "immediately and agreed to cooperate," Ms Tramontano wrote. On 17 Dec 2019, Blue Star submitted written answers to the committee's questions and sent over documents about its meetings with US officials regarding Burisma. Months later, on 19 March 2020, the committee asked Blue Star to provide additional information. Wednesday's letter maintains that the Covid-19 pandemic delayed Blue Star's response, but that this past Sunday, 17 May, it provided "answers and additional supporting documents" to all the committee's questions from the initial 3 December 2019 letter. The committee subsequently requested more information and documents from Blue Star, which the company says it provided on Tuesday, 19 May, just one day before Republicans voted to authorise the subpoena. Blue Star also offered to be interviewed by the committee, according to Ms Tramontano's letter. A spokesman for the committee's Republican majority released a statement on Wednesday witha much different narrative of events. Blue Star "has delayed our efforts for more than five months, and even refused to let our staff speak to their attorney until last week despite the fact that he was speaking with the Ranking Member's staff," the spokesman said. "Their only real efforts came after we noticed this markup, and we know even those have been woefully incomplete," the statement continued. "The American people deserve to know the extent to which the U.S.-based, Democrat-led consulting company leveraged its connections within the Obama administration to try to gain access to and influence U.S. government agencies on behalf of its corrupt client, Burisma," the spokesman said. The investigation into the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine is one of a pair of Senate investigations aimed at the former vice president that Democrats argue are cynical, political hit jobs. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham has been investigating the origins of the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 and whether it was appropriate for the Justice Department to subsequently appoint Mr Mueller as special counsel. Mr Graham plans to begin issuing subpoenas for more than a dozen former Obama administration officials in early June and release a report on his findings in October, mere weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried the Homeland Security panel's subpoena vote on Wednesday as "yet another attempt to smear Vice President Biden." "Even more shameful, the company my colleague from Wisconsin wants to subpoena is cooperating with the committee and providing documents. It appears the subpoena is just for show, a way to create the false impression of wrongdoing. It's like in a third world dictatorship, a show trial with no basis in fact, with no due process, with no reality," Mr Schumer said. Read more Trump says he will finish hydroxychloroquine regime 'in a day or two' Trump can't describe how mail-in applications were illegal National Guard deployments end day before they can claim benefits Mika Brzezinski demands action about 'sick' Trump's tweets Trumps border wall to be built by firm that praised him on Fox News US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China over the coronavirus on Wednesday, calling the $2 billion Beijing has pledged to fight the pandemic paltry compared to the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and trillions of dollars of damage. Pompeo rejected President Xi Jinpings claim that Beijing had acted with transparency after the outbreak in China, and said if Xi wanted to show that, he should hold a news conference and allow reporters to ask him anything they liked. Click here for full Covid-19 coverage President Xi claimed this week that China is acting with openness, transparency responsibility. I wish it were so, Pompeo told a State Department news conference, charging that Beijing continued to withhold virus samples and access to facilities, to censor discussion, and much, much more. US-China tensions have spiked in recent weeks, with Pompeo and President Donald Trump slamming Beijings handling of the outbreak. The United States has been hardest hit in the global pandemic. At a time when many nations are urging unity and cooperation to ramp up the virus battle, Trump has proposed quitting the World Health Organization over its response and called it a puppet of China, while Xi has pledged it $2 billion. I look forward to seeing them fulfill that $2-billion commitment, Pompeo said. Chinas contributions to fighting the pandemic are paltry, compared to the cost that they have imposed on the world. This plague has cost roughly 90,000 American lives, more than 36 million Americans have lost their jobs since March; globally 300,000 lives. Could be as much as $9 trillion, according to our estimates, cost imposition on the world of the Chinese Communist Partys failures, Pompeo said. In Beijing, China called Pompeo extremely irresponsible, and urged him to explain shortcomings in the US response to the virus. Why didnt the US government take any control and prevention measures between January and March? said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Why did it fail to stem the fast spread of coronavirus in the United States? He has a responsibility to explain this to the world. Pompeo also accused China of threatening Australia with economic retribution for seeking an independent inquiry into the outbreaks origins and charged that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had had unusually close ties to Beijing ... long before this current pandemic, something deeply troubling. The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pompeos accusations. As per government data, till Wednesday 1,06,750 cases have been detected in India with 3303 deaths. In the last 24 hours, 5611 fresh cases and 140 new deaths were reported. So far 42,297 patients have recovered out of which 3124 were discharged in the last one day. Health ministry officials said the recovery rate has gradually improved from 7.1% when had lockdown started, to 39.62% now as almost 40% of people who were detected with COVID-19 have now recovered. Among those who have recovered in the last 24 hours is a four-month old girl from Bhopal. The girl and her father, who works as a nurse at Bhopal's AIIMS, along with another seven-year-old girl were discharged on Tuesday. Officials said out of the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country only 6.39% needed hospital support. Out of these about 2.9% require oxygen support, 3% require ICU support and 0.45% require ventilator support. The union health ministry said that the government has allowed home isolation for pre-symptomatic, mild and moderate cases keeping in view that such patients with no fever for 10 days will not spread COVID-19 infection. Till now ICMR has conducted 25.36 lakh tests to detect virus. In fact, on Tuesday, for the second time, more than 1 lakh tests were done within a span of 24 hours. The ICMR is expected to hold a review on the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine to decide on its prophylaxis after reports emerged questioning this medicines efficiency in dealing with novel coronavirus virus. The novel coronavirus has taken a massive toll on Americans from all walks of life. Communities of faith have paid a heavy price, both in terms of congregations not being able to worship together and religious leaders along with so many of their church members being afflicted with and dying from the disease. The crisis has been felt among a number of religious backgrounds, but particularly acute among leading African American members of the clergy and churches with predominantly black congregations, according to faith leaders. ABC News identified at least 33 African American bishops, reverends and pastors who led various denominations around the country who have died from the coronavirus, according to an analysis of news reports. There were seven in Michigan (including two from the same church), seven in Louisiana, six in New York, three in Illinois, two in Mississippi, two in Georgia, two in New Jersey, one in Virginia, one in Tennessee, one in Alabama and one in Missouri. This report is part of "Pandemic A Nation Divided," ABC News' special coverage of the heightened racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune into "Nightline" for day two of our three-day series at 12 a.m. on ABC. The Church of God in Christ (COGIC), which has been around for almost 100 years and is the largest black Pentecostal denomination in the United States, lost seven bishops to the coronavirus, according to Charles E. Blake, the presiding bishop of the COGIC, which is based in Los Angeles, California. "It's sorrowful to lose one of our leaders," Blake, 79, told ABC News. "One bishop lost to this disease is one bishop too many... the sorrow you can never get use to, the loss you can never get accustomed to that, but not being able to mourn and to even celebrate the lives of those who I've known and loved that is difficult also." PHOTO: Bishop Charles Blake in the lobby of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ when it was under construction. (Rick Meyer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) New York hit hard In New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., at least six African American clergy members, aged 52 to 94, have been reported as having died from the virus as of May 11, leaving congregations from Riverhead in Long Island to Yonkers, just north of New York City, without a leader. More than 22,000 people have died from the virus in the state. Story continues Bishop William Harrell Jr. was the head of St. James Community Full Gospel Church in Harlem. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus and died on April 17 at the age of 63. "He was healthy as an ox, never had health complications. This happened out of nowhere. It was a shock to the ministry and the family," his son, Jonathan Harrell told ABC News on Tuesday. The bishop's son said that his father's death left him "speechless." "He was the backbone, the patriarch and now he is gone," said Jonathan Harrell, 21, adding: "He was our burden-bearer in the natural, the earthly vessel that was sent to handle things we were too weak to handle." Bishop Harrell was buried in his hometown of Tyner, North Carolina on May 16 and his son delivered the eulogy. "I was blessed to know this man," said Jonathan Harrell, who vowed to keep their family's church going along with his mother JoAnne Harrell -- the present leader. PHOTO: Bishop William Harrell Jr. with his son Jonathan Harrell. Bishop Harrell died from the coronavirus on April 17, 2020. (Harrell Family) Pastor A.R. Bernard, the founder and leader of the Christian Cultural Center (CCC) in Brooklyn, New York, was steadfast when he was diagnosed with the coronavirus in March. "I came to a place, in the intensity of all of the symptoms that I was experiencing physically, psychologically and emotionally, where I could abandon myself to something called Providence. And that is a belief that God is in control," Bernard told ABC News last week. Bernard fully recovered from the coronavirus in March then learned that his niece died from the same disease he beat. "I ended up burying my own niece," said Bernard. "I lost my sister's daughter, 26 years old, vibrant young lady, but she had a history of heart problems and... when we did the funeral we could only have a very small number of people spread out in the larger sanctuary." PHOTO: Pastor A.R. Bernard gives the invocation at the Let Freedom Ring ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, in Washington, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) The lead pastor of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem, Rev. Johnnie Green, said 13 members of his predominantly African American church died because of the coronavirus. Green took a deep breath before talking about the loss of "pillar members of the church" like lifelong choir members, a deaconess as well as ministry and committee leaders. "I buried one today," Green told ABC News Tuesday. "It was a very sad graveside service, only attended by her mother, father, brother, a family friend and myself. She passed away on April 4 and just got buried." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics as of May 19, African Americans accounted for 27% of confirmed COVID-19 cases (compared to being about 13% of the population). In New York City, blacks account for 28% of the deaths despite being 22% of the population. Outside the city, blacks account for 18% of the deaths and are 9% of the population, according to state statistics. Similar disparities exist in other states that have released a racial breakdown of COVID cases and deaths. "Health differences between racial and ethnic groups are often due to economic and social conditions that are more common among some racial and ethnic minorities than whites. In public health emergencies, these conditions can also isolate people from the resources they need to prepare for and respond to outbreaks," the CDC said on its website. Bernard said the number of people of color who have died from the coronavirus reflects inequalities in the nation's health system. "It's because of things like pre-existing conditions, a poorer quality of healthcare or no access to healthcare, he says. The last 400 years of inequity in American society is still influencing and informing even our healthcare workers as to who they are going to treat first and who they are going to treat last," said Bernard. Trying to adapt Rev. Blake said he has formed a health commission to devise strategies to encourage church members to comply with the CDC guidelines and prevent the spread of the disease. PHOTO: A congregant prays in her vehicle as she attends Easter Sunday drive-in church services as part of social distancing practices during the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cambridge, Maryland, April 12, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) "We are very concerned about our constituency," said Blake, who has also launched a COVID-19 informational page on the COGIC's website "to make sure our congregations and our organization well informs all of our constituents of the danger of this pandemic and what they must do to survive it." The COGIC services over 10,000 congregations around the world. Blake said they are going to have to rely on the internet more since a number of stay-at-home orders are still in effect. When the stay-at-home and social distancing orders were first issued, Bernard said it caught "many traditional black churches" off-guard because they did not have a "digital footprint." "The black church is steeped in a beautiful tradition of faith and Christianity historically here in America. However, unfortunately, that tradition has not really inspired the black church to move into a lot of the technology that the white churches are engaged in here in America," said Bernard. Rev. Craig Williams, of the Greater St. Stephen United Church of God in Brooklyn, recalled telling his 85-year-old father -- the church's founder, Bishop Marvin D. Williams -- about how they were going to try to pull off traditional pre-Easter services amid the pandemic. "I explained we can do it by Zoom and do the feed to YouTube and Facebook and he said 'it's a whole new world,'" said Craig Williams to ABC News on Tuesday. "In that moment it was like a passing of the torch. As he understood it, he served his people of his age, now his son [I] will serve the people of his age." Bishop Williams died of natural causes on April 7, 50 years after founding the church, which became a hub for the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant for food, healthcare and youth services. And like church services, funerals and other events have been moved from in-person spaces to live streaming services like Zoom, Skype or Facebook Live. Rev. Green said his church has continued to worship with almost daily services or meetings for his 1,300 members through Zoom and Facebook Live, where they average between 500 to 700 attendees. MORE: Funeral directors maintain social distancing rules for grieving families with 'innovative' ideas Rev. Bernard said the lack of physical presence while mourning has been difficult especially during funeral services, including his niece's. "We had to stay 100 feet away from the burial site so doing the committal had to be from a distance...it affects you psychologically, emotionally and spiritually," said Bernard referring to his niece's funeral service Bernard said his non-denominational Christian megachurch, which has locations in Brooklyn, Long Island, Florida as well as an online congregation -- had to beef up its pastoral care division to respond to the volume of calls that were coming in from members who were sick or had loved ones who were sick. PHOTO: Congregants pray in their vehicles as they attend Easter Sunday drive-in church services as part of social distancing practices during the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cambridge, Maryland, April 12, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) "I think the church in general is going to be in crisis, but the black church in its own unique way," said Bernard, referring to the technological challenges some are facing amid the pandemic. Nonetheless, both Bernard and Blake believe that even though a number of church leaders have died during this pandemic, as long as strong practices and policies are in place, the congregation will survive. "I have no doubt that not only will we survive it, we will come out wiser and better," said Blake adding, "When the next virus tries to come in on us, we will be better prepared as a people." What to know about Coronavirus: How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms Tracking the spread in the US and Worldwide: Coronavirus map 'Sorrowful': Black clergy members and churches reeling from COVID-19 losses originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal Two programs that have been framed as key ways to narrow academic gaps in New Mexicos students have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. K-5 Plus and Extended Learning Time programs state-funded efforts that increase the amount of time students spend in the classroom in a year will not be held this year, according to a state Public Education Department memo. Given the uncertainty of COVID-19 and its possible effects on public health this summer, it would be difficult to meet program requirements, which include students remaining with (the) same teacher during the regular school year and participation-based funding, while adhering to public health requirements, the memo says. The safety of our students and educators is our first priority. In its memo, PED said the decision doesnt apply to Extended Learning Time programs scheduled before July 1, saying these programs will be held virtually and have already been funded in FY20. PED Deputy Secretary Gwen Perea Warniment said the PEDs aim is to ask lawmakers to redirect the money earmarked for these programs to other academic efforts that help mitigate academic loss, and focus on social and emotional learning for the next school year. K-5 Plus was allocated over $119 million, and more than $71 million was set aside for Extended Learning Time for fiscal year 2021. Unused funds revert to the public education reform fund, according to the state spending bill. Redirecting these dollars, however, hinges on lawmakers signing off on the shift during a special legislative session, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said would begin June 18. Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, who co-sponsored a bill that outlines K-5 Plus and Extended Learning Time, said some lawmakers are looking at putting the reverted funding toward an extended school year statewide, though she cautioned that idea is only being considered. Most students coming back are going to be a bit behind where we wanted them to be, Stewart said. Schools across the state shut down in March after early cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in New Mexico. While districts and charters were tasked with continuing learning from a distance, school leaders have acknowledged that there will inevitably be a loss in learning. After all, it was recommended that students spend less time on schoolwork daily than they would in a traditional classroom setting. Thats a blow for a state in which 71% of its fourth-graders arent proficient in math and 76% of fourth-graders arent proficient in reading per the National Assessment of Educational Progress. We are aware theres been obviously a lot of academic loss this year because of all of the disruptions of the public health crisis. What we are considering is: Can the money that was put aside for K-5 Plus and Extended Learning Time be redirected so that we can run some extended learning time programs that have a little more flexibility? said Nancy Martira, a PED spokeswoman. K-5 Plus extends the school year for elementary students by 25 days before the typical year begins. It has stringent requirements, including a mandate that students have the same teacher during the K-5 Plus portion as the rest of the year and the program has to be offered schoolwide, which posed a problem amid the public health order. Originally, 31 districts and three charter schools applied for the K-5 Plus program, translating to 20,190 students who were expected to participate, according to the PED. An expanded version, called K-12 Plus, was set to be piloted, but that has also been canceled. Extended Learning Time, as written, lengthens the school year by 10 days, boosts professional development time for teachers and requires after-school or extracurricular programs. Abouty 73,000 students across the state were scheduled to take part, according to the PED. Cohiba Minerals Limited (ASX:CHK) is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the primary focus of investing in the resource sector through direct tenement acquisition, joint ventures, farm in arrangements and new project generation. The shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol CHK. The Company recently acquired 100% of the shares in Charge Lithium Pty Ltd, which holds exploration licences in Western Australia. The African continent needs to test about 10 times the number of people it has already tested for the coronavirus. That's according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Director John Nkengasong says Africa should strive to test at least 1% of the population of 1.3 billion people, or 13 million people, but so far 1.3 million to 1.4 million tests have been conducted. Africa's number of virus cases is above 95,000 and could surpass 100,000 by the weekend. The continent has seen roughly the same number of new cases in the past week as the week before, and Nkengasong says that we hope that trend continues. While early lockdowns delayed the pandemic, he says that doesn't mean Africa has been spared. But he says health officials are not seeing a lot of community deaths or massive flooding of our hospitals because of COVID-19. Countries with fragile health systems and a recent history of conflict like Somalia and South Sudan, however, remain very concerning as cases rise quickly. Somalia has reported more than 1,500 cases but aid groups worry the real number is far higher. South Sudan has more than 280 cases. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Civil servants in Kano State have expressed anger after the state government slashed their May salaries in what appeared to be an effect of the COVID-19 crisis. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had earlier announced a 50 per cent slash in the salaries of political officeholders. No such announcement was made for civil servants. The civil servants are lamenting the reduction, more so that there was no prior notice from the state government that their pay too would be cut. The civil servants who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES asked not to be named for fear of victimisation. A state counsel in the state ministry of justice told PREMIUM TIMES that about N20,000 was deducted from her May salary. Also a level 12 officer in one of the state-owned media houses said her own was short by about N10,000. She said it appeared that the government has reverted to the old salary structure based on N18,000 minimum wage, instead of the current N30,000 minimum wage. A grade level 7 classroom teacher in one of the public schools told Kano Focus that she received N34,589.92 instead of N45,121,.99 as her May Salary. She lamented that the salary slash has affected her Sallah preparations. Another school teacher also said N10,000 was deducted from his salary. The story is also the same with workers in the state ministry of health as well as the academic staff of state-owned tertiary institutions. A lecturer at Saadatu Rimi College of Education said N7,000 was cut from her salary while a level 13 medical laboratory scientist in the Hospitals Management Board said N16,000 was deducted from her May salary. When contacted, the state chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress, Kabiru Minjibir, said the union was not consulted before the salary deduction, and will soon call an emergency meeting for the next line of action. The spokesperson of the governor, Salihu Yakasai, and that of state head of service, Bintu Yakasai, did not respond to telephone calls from the reporter as at the time of this report. The US Senate looks set to confirm Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as the new director of national intelligence despite several members' worries about his qualifications for the post and the veracity of claims he has made about his career. When confirmed, Mr Ratcliffe a full-throated supporter of the president will follow a series of acting heads appointed by Mr Trump, who has ousted and fired multiple intelligence officials whom he has considered disloyal or beholden to what he calls the deep state. Mr Ratcliffe was first nominated for the post a year ago, but the nomination was withdrawn after even some Senate Republicans questioned whether he had given a truthful account of his experience. Mr Trump blamed the unfair attention given to Mr Ratcliffes questionable CV on the LameStream media. However, GOP senators warmed to Mr Ratcliffe after Trump unexpectedly nominated him a second time in February. Many of them had grown concerned about the turnover in the intelligence community and were at best lukewarm about the current acting director, Richard Grenell, whom Democrats openly derided as another example of an unqualified Trump ally appointed solely on the basis of his fealty to the president. Mr Grenell has lately caused a stir by giving the Department of Justice a list of Obama-era officials involved in the unmasking of General Michael Flynn an event that has come to form part of Mr Trumps nebulous Obamagate conspiracy theory. Most Republicans have praised Mr Ratcliffe since his second nomination, but Democrats have been skeptical that he will serve with the independence they say the job demands. The top Democrat on the panel, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, told Mr Ratcliffe at the hearing that he was deeply perturbed at Mr Trumps firing of anyone in the intelligence leadership who dared speak truth to power. After reading a list of names of those Mr Trump has dispatched, Mr Warner turned to his concerns about Mr Ratcliffe personally. I dont see what has changed since last summer, he said, when the president decided not to proceed with your nomination over concerns about your inexperience, partisanship and past statements that seemed to embellish your record. Mr Ratcliffe worked to separate himself from the president, including by saying he believed Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, a conclusion Trump has often resisted. He said he would communicate to Trump the intelligence communitys findings even if he knew Trump disagreed with them and might fire him. Democrats were not convinced. But in the end, Mr Ratcliffes nomination was approved 8-7 in a closed committee hearing on Tuesday a reported party line vote, with all Democrats voting against him. With Associated Press Gold, Silver, Mining Stocks Teeter On The Brink Of A Breakout This week has been a wild and emotional one and its just started! With Mondays big pop in the stock indexes, the big rally was based on vaccine news and bullish comments from the fed, convincing most traders and investors to be overly bullish this week. My volume flow indicator showed a reading of 10 all day yesterday, which means ten shares were being bought on the NYSE at the ask, to everyone share being sold at the bid. Any reading over 3 is considered bearish short term, so ten was extreme. After the pop on Monday, stocks/indices closed lower by 1-2% on the session respectively the following session. I have reiterated over and over, big moves (and gaps) in the price in the stock indexes that occur from the news are generally given back within a few days. This is still what I feel is going to happen in the coming days, albeit the last hour on Tuesday may have started that retracement. The saying in the traders world is that novice traders typically trade at the open and experienced players trade at the close. This continues to hold true. The chart below shows you what the BIG money payers are doing, which is selling/distributing shares to the masses, evidenced by the volume in the final hour. It is this theory why we always base our new trades to have their stop loss triggered on the closing price, and not intraday swings. Utilizing this strategy has saved many trades over the years from being stopped out, and subsequently to turn into profitable winners. It is where the price closes that counts. Precious Metals & Gold Miners Metals and miners have been coming to life. In February, we sold our GDXJ position at the opening bell on the high of the day to lock in gains. We saw weakness in the market and took action to avoid any temporary selling, which ended up turning into a 57% market collapse. Tuesday for the first time, GDXJ is trading back to where we sold it for a nice profit with our Swing Trading ETF Trading service, and Im getting excited again for this group of stocks. Junior Gold Stocks (GDXJ) Close To Breakout The Junior gold stocks (GDXJ) is showing signs that they are headed to test the major breakout level of this 8-year base. The price still has to run a little higher, and it could be met with some strong selling once touched. Be aware that junior gold miners are not in the clear, just yet. Once they clear resistance they are a long-term investment position. Large-Cap Gold Miners (GDX) Already Broke Out If you take a closer look at the large-cap gold miners (GDX), they have already broken out and started to rally. This is a new bull market for this particular group of stocks. We got long this new bull market a few weeks ago in my Technical Investor Portfolio which focused on long term position with a much wider stop loss than swing trading positions. Gold Bullion in Full Blown Bull Market Gold also broke out and started a new bull market mid last year. We are also long gold in our Technical Investor portfolio as well. Gold has completed its initial move but is on the verge of popping to the $2000 market if we get just the right market conditions over the next couple of months. We are in what many consider unprecedented times for businesses and survival. As a long-time trader, I consider these exciting stages for stocks, and commodities. Lots of things are happening and they will be erratic and volatile I expect. How the world functions are changing more rapidly than many of us realize. The last ten years of investing in stocks have been incredible. We all experienced a Super Cycle Bull Market, and those invested in stocks and who also bought homes early have made a fortune with very little effort. But I fear this may be coming to an end sooner than most people think and feel. The fundamentals for stocks no longer make any sense with earnings way down and still falling. The Fed is printing money faster than at any time in history as well as paying everyone and everything to keep the lights on and the music playing. They could certainly keep things going for a while and drive the markets higher with loose money policies and prop everything up (including lower-rated corporate bonds). Can the Fed and other central banks support the global economy? Remember, its not just North America under pressure, but every other country and nearly everyone and their business are enduring financial stress. The bottom line is that no matter which way the markets go, we will be positioned on the right side with technical analysis and sound advice as to what actions, if any, to take. And both active trading and long-term investment portfolio positions are more critical now than they have been in the last ten years. The days of just buying every dip and holding will be over in a couple of months. So far it has been a crazy, unprecedented period. Add to that, over 1,000,000 new trading accounts opened this year and many new novice traders who have entered the markets. These people are frantically buying up stocks thinking they are going to make a lot of money. We believe they are going to have a very rude awakening when/if the bear market takes hold over the next 3-8 months. Trading this year has been slow for our subscribers but our trading accounts continue to make new high watermark levels every couple weeks, and that is all that matters. The market crash shook things up, and during an unexpected crisis the best play, in our opinion, was to step back and cherry-pick only low-risk trades until price action returns to some normal level, which the market is finally beginning to do. However slow, I am proud that we did not take any undue risk and that our model account has remained positive throughout 2020 and we are up when most other services, including the best hedge funds in the world, have negative returns thus far this year. My staff and I are always scouring for new trading opportunities. Right now, the XLF ETF, which is the financial sector, is breaking down and may present a short opportunity. As you know, we also like silver, gold, and both the junior and large-cap miners, but we will first wait to see if this wave of buying is met with sellers in the near future. Until then, we will keep you posted. The next few years are going to be full of incredible opportunities for skilled traders and investors. Huge price swings, incredible revaluation events, and, eventually, an incredible upside rally will start again. Ive been trading since 1997 and Ive lived through numerous market events. The one thing I teach my members is that risk is always a big part of trading and thats why I structure all of my research and trading signals around finding profits while reducing overall risks. Sure, there are fast profits to be made in these wild market swings, but those types of trades are extremely risky for most people and I dont know of anyone that wants to risk 50 or 60% of their assets on a few wild trades. Im offering you the chance to learn to profit, as I do with my own money, from market trends that I hand-pick for my own trading. These are not wild, crazy trades these are simple, effective, and slower types of trades that consistently build wealth. I issue about 4 to 8+ trades a month for my members and adjust trade allocation based on my proprietary allocation strategy the objective is to gain profits while managing overall risks. You dont have to spend days or weeks trying to learn my system. You dont have to try to learn to make these decisions on your own or follow the markets 24/7 I do that for you. All you have to do is follow my research and trading signals and start benefiting from my research and trades. My new mobile app makes it simple download the app, sign in and everything is delivered to your phone, tablet, or desktop. I offer membership services for active traders, long-term investors, and wealth/asset managers. Each of these services is driven by my own experience and my proprietary trading systems and modeling systems. I have a small team of dedicated researchers and developers that do nothing but research and find trading signals for my members. Our objective is to help you protect and grow your wealth. Please take a moment to visit www.TheTechnicalInvestor.com to learn more. I cant say it any better than this I want to help you create success while helping you protect and preserve your wealth its that simple. Chris Vermeulen www.TheTechnicalTraders.com Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better. His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility. He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect. Chris Vermeulen Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Actors Dia Mirza and R Madhavan came together from a special online chat which got many Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein fans excited. Dia and Madhavan starred together in the hit 2001 romantic movie, quickly becoming a beloved romantic onscreen couple. In her latest Instagram live #DownToEarthWithDee, Dia chatted with Madhavan who not just happens to be her first co-star but someone who shares her love for animals and nature. Maddy is very special. Along with being an amazing artist, he is an incredible human being with whom I share a strong love for nature, Dia said while introducing him. I know people have been dying to see us on screen. It has been over 19 years and somehow Im still inundated with songs, scenes and dialogues from the film every day on my social media, Madhavan said finding it overwhelming, like Dia, that their story still connects with audiences so effortlessly. There have been talks of a sequel or a spin-off to the film. Talking about that, Dia said, We are doing our best to make it happen, but we will only work together when we can give our best. There is something so special about Reena and Maddy and I think there was an innocence and honesty we shared in RHTDM that resonates so deeply with everyone even today. We wouldnt want to dilute that in any way. Dia and Madhavan talked about his roots from Jamshedpur, where the actor said he had the best childhood anybody could have. When youre in a small town, one of the things that you become part of is nature - the geography of the place, the flora and fauna, it all becomes part of your upbringing. You learn to respect things depending on how people around you react to it. You are aware of everybody and everything around you, unlike in a big metropolis, he said. The two reminisced about common childhood experiences of climbing trees and enjoying freshly plucked fruits. Dia then talked about Madhavans urban farm at his home and how he has inspired a number of people to follow in his footsteps and lead healthier lifestyles. I think the Covid era has made everybody take a deeper look at themselves, more than anything else. A lot of priorities are becoming clearer as we go along, and I think one of the things that everybody is realising is how important it is to be in touch with who you really are, what really makes sense, Madhavan said, adding, Without a doubt, it doesnt matter which community or religion you belong to, because eventually you have to be one with nature to be at peace. Also read: Sonam Kapoors DIY Batman costume is a hit, actor thanks mom: You really let me express myself The conversation ended with both actors asking everyone to be more compassionate. Its going to be a very changed world when we all get out there and were all going to come from a place of stress, insecurities and fears. One thing that is necessary and most welcome is an abundance of compassion and understanding, he said. Follow @htshowbiz for more The Kaneshie District Court has fined a manager and a salesgirl at a retail shop in Accra a total of Gh6,000 for altering a Value Added Tax (VAT) invoice to evade tax amounting to Gh105 due the state. Chen Yen Shan, the manager of the Zongo Lane sales point of the AEC Trading and Manufacturing Centre, was fined Gh4,800 while Leticia Fullah, the salesgirl, will pay a fine of Gh1,200 The two were said to have written a different amount on a VAT invoice duplicate as compared to the amount written on the original invoice. They were convicted by the court, presided over by Ms Rosemond Dodua Agyiri after they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit crime and authoring of a forged document, while Chen separately pleaded guilty to making false and misleading statement, and evasion of tax payment. Tax evasion According to the prosecution, the complainant in the case was the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). It explained that on August 22, 2019 a task force of the GRA went to the sales point as part of a monitoring exercise in Accra, and in the course of the exercise, the team interacted with a customer who had purchased goods amounting to Gh1,627. Upon interactions with the customer, he gave the officers his VAT/NHIL Invoice receipt No. V19/0365300, which was used to cross-check with the value on the duplicate and triplicate. "It turned out to be different amounts on the original and duplicate, the prosecution said. It is the case of the prosecution that Fullah admitted issuing the original receipt, but said she was instructed by Chen to place a cardboard under the receipt so that it wont reflect on the duplicate and triplicate. The police said Fullah further said Chen collected the booklet after the receipt had been issued. Chen then wrote GH180 into the VAT duplicate and the triplicate ostensibly to evade tax due the state, it added. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video In her first public comments since being arrested nearly a year ago, Michelle Troconis said it was a mistake to have trusted Fotis Dulos, but she does not know where Jennifer Dulos is or what happened to her. Troconis lawyer, Jon Schoenhorn, on Thursday released an audio statement recorded by his client in Spanish accompanied by an English translation. Troconis has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with the May 24, 2019 disappearance of Jennifer Dulos. Her former boyfriend, Fotis Dulos, 52, died in January from an apparent suicide while facing murder, kidnapping and other charges in connection with the death and disappearance of his estranged wife. To those who are quick to judge people they do not know, let me say this: it is possible to misjudge others. Whether or not Fotis Dulos was capable of doing the things the police and prosecutors accused him of doing, I do not know, she said. But based on what I have learned in the last year, I think it was a mistake to have trusted him. Chief States Attorney Richard Colangelo, who is handling the prosecution of the case, declined to comment on the statement. Messages left with Schoenhorn have not been returned this week. Troconis statement referenced the anniversary on Sunday of Jennifer Dulos disappearance, and noted that in the past year, people have said many things about me some kind; some cruel. She said she was advised by lawyers to not say anything about the case, which was very frustrating for me because there is a lot I would wish to say. It has been nearly a year since I first heard about the disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, Troconis said. As a mother, I am saddened for the loss that these five children have suffered, being left without both parents in such a short period of time. But despite the way I have been treated by the police, I know nothing about Jennifer Dulos whereabouts or what may have happened to her, Troconis said. I know that under American law, I dont have to prove my innocence, but actually to me it feels that way, during all this time while under public scrutiny. During her only court appearance in February since hiring Schoenhorn, Troconis wore headphones so the proceedings could be translated into Spanish. Troconis was born in the U.S., but grew up in Argentina and Schoenhorn said English is not her first language. Schoenhorn, who replaced Westport defense attorney Andrew Bowman on the case, has claimed a language barrier could have been an issue when his client gave contradicting statements to police during their investigation. In a note left in his car on the day of his suicide attempt, Fotis Dulos proclaimed he was innocent of the charges and that Troconis and his former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, who is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder, were not involved in the crime. Troconis is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 6 after several postponements due to court closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Schoenhorn has complained that the courthouse closure has further delayed discovery evidence being turned over to him. According to arrest warrants, police believe Fotis Dulos attacked his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home when she returned from dropping off their children at a nearby school around 8 a.m. on May 24, 2019. Police said they found signs Jennifer Dulos was the victim of a serious physical assault based on blood evidence they found in the garage, arrest warrants state. Around the time the New Canaan mother was reported missing, surveillance footage captured Fotis Dulos and Troconis in Hartford, according to arrest warrants. Police say the video shows Fotis Dulos dumping bags and an expired license plate that was registered to him. The bags contained Jennifer Dulos blood and her clothing, according to arrest warrants. When police searched the Farmington home Fotis Dulos shared with Troconis, they found what they have described as alibi scripts, according to arrest warrants. The former couple wrote notes about what they were doing at specific times the day Jennifer Dulos disappeared in an effort to help them remember their activities, according to the warrant. But police said the notes included inaccurate information and mentioned witnesses who were later determined to be false, the warrant states. According to the warrant, police interviewed Troconis on June 2 one day after she and Fotis Dulos were first arrested and provided substantial amount of information which was self-contradictory and did not bear up under the scrutiny of the investigation. For example, Troconis could not account for Fotis Dulos whereabouts until around lunchtime on the day his wife disappeared, the warrant said. Fotis Dulos lawyer had previously contended Troconis could alibi his client. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 10:13 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd95f168 1 National COVID-19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,BRIN,menristekdikti,coronavirus,virus-corona,virus-korona-indonesia,Research-and-Technology-Ministry,research,innovation,medical-equipment,bambang-brodjonegoro Free The National Research and Innovation Agencys (BRIN) COVID-19 research consortium launched nine new inventions to support Indonesias advanced pandemic countermeasure on Wednesday. Research and Technology Minister and BRIN head Bambang Brodjonegoro said he hoped the new products would become the nations templates in terms of medical innovation. We want to be a part of these [COVID-19] countermeasures. We realize that research and innovation will play a pivotal role in overcoming this pandemic, Bambang said during the virtual launch ceremony on Wednesday. The launch of the innovations was split into four categories: prevention measures, screening and diagnosis, medical equipment, and therapy and medication. Read also: Researchers face uphill battle to help with COVID-19 fight Among the innovations in the screening and diagnosis category were test kits for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing as well as rapid diagnostics developed by universities as well as the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT). [We hope to] start mass production of 50,000 PCR test kits by the end of May, said Bambang. Under the category of medical equipment, the consortium has also developed ventilators to be used by patients as well as level-two biosafety (BSL-2) mobile laboratories, which will allow health authorities to conduct COVID-19 testing almost everywhere. The research consortium will also produce medical-assistance robots, named RAISA, to help in providing medicine to hospitalized patients. It will also develop several medicines to treat COVID-19 patients, including convalescent plasma taken from recovered patients as well as herbal immunomodulator and antiviral medicines, respectively, improve the bodys immune system and relieve symptoms in patients. President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who attended the virtual launch ceremony, lauded the innovations: I feel optimistic that we can finally produce things that we have never thought of before on our own. Bambang went on to say the research consortium had also jumped on the bandwagon of COVID-19 vaccine production, as it had coordinated with international partners on the matter. Read also: Indonesia targets local COVID-19 strain in Eijkman-led 2022 vaccine initiative Separately, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology has managed to reveal the seven whole genome sequences of the novel coronavirus sample in Indonesia and submitted them to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). However, we still have a long way to go to discover a vaccine. Its development requires cooperation from various parties, Bambang said. The ministry and BRIN formed the consortium to focus research on COVID-19 preventive and mitigation measures. It involved state institutions as well as the private sector and universities that were adept at health-related studies. Bankruptcies are just going to happen more and more because of this global shutdown, and every one of them hurts. Plenty of Mom & Pop places and other small businesses can't remain open, and even larger companies will take some nasty hits too. And while bankruptcy isn't necessarily the end of a business, it rings some alarm bells. Let's take a look at some of the companies for whom the bell tolls. Pier 1 Imports Pier 1 Imports is essentially where your mom bought most of her confusing interior design and seasonal houseware pieces. Is it a chair? Is it a coatrack? An effigy of Pieros, the God of Cul de sacs? Who knows. Now? They're closing all their storefronts. This was to be expected because even before the virus, they had some big ol' "Going Out Of Business!" clearance sales that finally put their prices on about the same level as Craigslist. They know their target demo was baby boomers, and it's just not the same trying to sell to them anymore, especially in the wake of this pandemic. Similarly... JCPenney This is a company that survived the Great Depression and World War II but hasn't been able to survive the internet. The company claims it was well on its way to recovering until the coronavirus hit, and it's gonna force them to sell off much of their storefront space as well. They'll follow J Crew and Neiman Marcus in this process but plan to stay open as long as they can. Pascal Soriot, executive director and CEO of AstraZeneca, testifies to Congress in Washington on Feb. 26, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Vaccine for CCP Virus Could Arrive in US as Early as October A vaccine for the CCP virus being developed by British scientists could arrive in the United States as early as October thanks to an acceleration made possible by the Trump administrations new Operation Warp Speed, a program aimed at speeding up the testing, production, and deployment of vaccines against the new virus. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday a collaboration with AstraZeneca, which obtained the license for the vaccine. Researchers at the University of Oxford are testing the vaccine candidate in humans. Theyve said the vaccine, which protects against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, could be available by the fall. Under the new public-private partnership, the HHS office known as BARDA can provide up to $1.2 billion to support advanced clinical studies, transfer of technology to speed up manufacturing the vaccine even as testing continues, and scaled-up manufacturing. This contract with AstraZeneca is a major milestone in Operation Warp Speeds work toward a safe, effective, widely available vaccine by 2021, Health Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. A person being injected as part of the first human trials in the UK to test a potential CCP virus vaccine, at Oxford University, England, on April 23, 2020. (Oxford University Pool via AP) The deal also allows a phase three trial of the vaccine, previously known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and now labeled AZD1222, in the United States this summer with approximately 30,000 volunteers. Pending emergency use authorization of licensure from the Food and Drug Administration, at least 300 million doses of the vaccine will be distributed in the United States. The first doses could be delivered as early as October. AstraZeneca is based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. It has development centers in the United States, Sweden, and Poland. The company said in a separate statement that its secured enough manufacturing capacity to produce one billion doses and expects to start delivering the vaccine in September. This pandemic is a global tragedy and it is a challenge for all of humanity. We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world, CEO Pascal Soriot said. The company logo for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on April 8, 2019. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) The company said executives are aware the vaccine may not work but theyre committed to progressing through more advanced trials while scaling up manufacturing, despite the risk. Current plans call for distributing 30 million doses of the vaccine to Britons by September if trials are successful, British Secretary of State for Business Alok Sharma said at a recent press briefing. The University of Oxford in late April announced the partnership with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company that will work with global partners to distribute the vaccine candidate, if its successful, to other countries. Both the company and the university are operating on a nonprofit basis for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, with only the costs of production and distribution being covered. Any royalties the university receives after the pandemic is over will be reinvested back into medical research. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP virus. Our partnership with AstraZeneca will be a major force in the struggle against pandemics for many years to come. We believe that together we will be in a strong position to start immunizing against coronavirus once we have an effective approved vaccine, John Bell, a professor of medicine at Oxford, said in a statement. Jose Cuervo launches at-home cocktail for World Paloma Day Jose Cuervo has teamed up with Lucky Liquor Co and Mothership and Mothership Scotland to create Keeping Faith With Paloma, a lip-smackingly delicious and refreshing take on the classic. With so many bars facing uncertainty, Jose Cuervo is calling on drinkers to keep positive, and keep rooting for their local bartenders. With Mexicos most popular tequila cocktail being celebrated around the world on Friday May 22, drinkers can show their support for bartenders by raising a glass at home. Profits from the sale of the at-home cocktail will go to The Drinks Trust, providing essential support, care and assistance to the drinks industry workforce. Priced at 8, orders can be placed here: https://mothershipscotland.com/products/keeping-faith-with-paloma-100ml The Keeping Faith With Paloma bottled cocktail is made by the masterminds behind the Lucky Liquor Co, bartending duo Jason Scott and Mike Aikman. It contains Jose Cuervo Especial Reposado, fresh lime juice, fresh golden grapefruit juice and agave syrup and is presented alongside a bottle of small batch, hand crafted Bon Accord x Lucky Liquor Co. Salted Pink Grapefruit Soda. Simply open, salt rim your glass (optional), pour the bottles over a highball filled with cubed ice, add a wedge of grapefruit and raise your glass to your local bar team. The history of the Paloma is unknown, with no one certain who invented the cocktail or when it was created. Some credit a legendary bar owner in the town of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico with other sources believing it may have originated as early as the 1860s. The cocktails distinct flavour and use of fresh-made ingredients has made it Mexicos most popular tequila cocktail. From March 2020, The Benevolent became known as The Drinks Trust and it continues to support the members of the drinks industry as it has since 1886. All profits will be going to The Drinks Trust. Related articles: BOOK OF THE WEEK Hold On Edna! By Aneira Thomas (Mirror Books 12.99, 304pp) Three minutes before midnight on the night of July 4, 1948, a doctor stood over the hospital bed of Edna May Rees as she prepared to deliver her seventh child. Her contractions had built steadily over the Welsh summer evening and at 11.57 her babys head was crowning. But the doctor beside her bed told her to resist the overwhelming urge to push. You need to wait, he said. Just hold on, Edna. Through the pain, Edna focused on the long hand of the clock above the doctors head and remembered why this man who couldnt know the extent of her agony was asking her to wait. Like most women unable to pay the sixpence charge for hospital deliveries, Edna had given birth to all six of her children at home (file image) A month earlier Edna and her husband Willie, who ran a smallholding together, had been flabbergasted to find two hospital consultants on their doorstep. We came to talk to you about your baby, Mrs Rees, one said. Its due in early July, we understand? Like most women unable to pay the sixpence charge for hospital deliveries, she had given birth to all six of her children at home. Her previous child had slipped from her body into the soft straw of the family cowshed. She was intensely aware that, each time the contractions began, either she or her baby could die. But the hospital consultants gave the couple a leaflet with three letters NHS printed onto blue beside a grainy photograph of a man with round glasses. The National Health Service commences its operations on July 5th, said the visitors. Its completely free to all. Then they tapped the photograph of Aneurin Bevan and explained that the man responsible for all this grew up not too far away. Wed like to honour him by ensuring the first child born under this new service this new, entirely free service hails from the land he calls home. Edna and Willie were dumbfounded as the doctors told them Edna would be the first woman who neednt worry about her health costs while shes giving birth. The couple slowly absorbed the idea that their seventh child would be born into a world where he or she would have almost the same chance of surviving and thriving as the Princess Elizabeths baby, due to be born in five months time. Aneira Thomas, the first baby to be born on the NHS, pictured at her home in Swansea, South Wales So when that clock struck 12, the mood changed immediately. Push NOW, Edna! And then: Well done, Mrs Rees. Youve done it. A baby girl . . . The doctor, choked with emotion, was recording the NHSs first birth on his notepad. One minute past midnight! The nurse told an exhausted Edna to get some sleep: Well look after her, lovie. As the first recipients of the UKs world-beating new, taxpayer-funded medical system, Edna and Willie christened their daughter Aneira, after Nye Bevan. Over 70 years on, Aneira has written a memoir which is a deeply personal, richly researched and incredibly timely tribute to Britains commitment to provide free and equal healthcare to all. As the first recipients of the UKs world-beating new, taxpayer-funded medical system, Edna and Willie (pictured) christened their daughter Aneira, after Nye Bevan To remind readers how cheaply life was held before 1948, Aneira Thomas delves into her family history. She brings a novelistic insight into the life of her great-great-grandmother, Tory Churchhouse, whose father died days after her birth, leaving a will forbidding his widow, her mother, to marry again. In 1827, aged nine, Tory, her mother and her siblings entered the workhouse where, Thomas writes, everyone seemed to be ill. Wherever she looked, there was difficulty of some kind: a limping leg, missing teeth, slurred speech, hunched backs, arms inexpertly amputated above the elbow and sewed up again. Tory grew up knowing people who entered the workhouse infirmary rarely emerged alive. She lost a sister to the place. Aneira Thomas with Prince Charles at a thanksgiving service to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service A century before Aneira Thomas was born, the idea of removing infectious patients from the others was unknown. It wasnt until an outbreak of cholera in the 1860s that the sick were separated from the healthy. The poor were expendable: after death, the bodies of workhouse inmates were often sold to anatomists. The killing of the poor, people said, to cure the rich. Tory herself would die at just 42. Thomass great-grandmother Hannah was a midwife, tending to women in their own homes with hot water, towels and a no-nonsense attitude. Despite her best efforts, women and children in her care died. Her own daughter-in-law, Mary, lost four children and died, in labour, under Hannahs care. The cause was placenta previa and there was nothing Hannah could have done to save Mary or her child. Thomas is gripping on the medical history of childbirth. It was only in 1850 that Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis began urging physicians to wash their hands while helping women in labour. Aneiras (pictured beside a bust of Aneurin Bevan) book reminds us that the Labour Partys foundation of the NHS was fiercely resisted by both the Tory Party and the British Medical Association But many rejected his advice, unable to accept their dirty hands and knives might be responsible for so much sepsis-induced death. Thomass later chapters become a hymn to the passion of Nye Bevan, who began working as a coal miner aged 13 and quickly rose to national prominence through his work for the unions, then the Labour party. Bevans plan for the NHS was simple he took the miners medical aid systems (in which individuals paid subscriptions to receive free healthcare) onto a national level. We are reminded of Winston Churchills love-hate relationship with Bevan, dubbing him the Minister for Disease . . . as great a curse to this country in peace as he was a squalid nuisance in time of war. Yet he conceded: He is one of the few people I would sit still and listen to. Aneiras book reminds us that the Labour Partys foundation of the NHS was fiercely resisted by both the Tory Party and the British Medical Association. We also learn that the Press made little mention of the service when it was introduced. Hold On Edna! By Aneira Thomas (Mirror Books 12.99, 304pp) Perhaps many feared it was little more than a pipe dream, says Thomas. I suppose my mother, in the hours following my birth, was one of the first to realise just how momentous the change had been. Thomas grew up to train as a nurse herself. Her first child was stillborn in 1966, but she credits the compassion of the NHS medical team who helped her through that horrific experience. She went on to have two more children, one of whom became an NHS paramedic. Written before the pandemic, her book is prophetic. Thomas says that illness does not discriminate. It hits the wealthy as much as the poor. We can do everything to keep ourselves healthy and yet the unthinkable happens. There is no room for complacency where illness is concerned . . . the service Nye Bevan worked so hard to build will become increasingly difficult to manage. And yet it is vital that we try. She concludes by quoting Michael Rosens beautiful poem, These Are The Hands, which has been so widely shared during the pandemic. As children colour in rainbows to display in front windows and adults bang pots and pans on Thursday nights, we all realise how proud we are of our NHS and how much we admire the services often overworked and underpaid staff. Thomass story is a brilliant evocation of the hands that touch us first/ feel your head/ find the pulse/ And make your bed . . . Also the gloved hands that now empty the pan/ wipe the pipes/ carry the can/ clamp the veins/ make the cast/ log the dose/ And touch us last. This post has been updated to include additional events. The coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on many summer celebrations and gatherings including Memorial Day the unofficial start of summer and the day on which people in the United States honor men and women who died while serving in the armed forces. While the parades and public ceremonies, wont be held, central Pa. organizations are offering different ways to honor those who died while serving in the military. The annual Memorial Day ceremony at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery is canceled. It was supposed to be held on Sunday, May 24. People can still visit graves at the cemetery and the staff will hold a solemn wreath laying and taps will be played on May 25 but there will not be a public ceremony. Parades also are canceled in Derry Twp., Camp Hill, Gettysburg, Hummelstown, Linglestown, Marietta and Newport. The Friends of Midland Cemetery have canceled their program that was supposed to be held on May 23. Some places are recognizing Memorial Day in other ways. Hampden Township Veterans Recognition Committee will hold a virtual service on Facebook at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 23. The committee said it filmed the service at the Captain Leon Lock Veterans Memorial in the Hampden Township Veterans Park. You can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/261380441610345/. It also will be posted on the committees website. The committee said, We will be remembering local heroes Private Robert G. Sultzaberger, killed in action in France, July 27, 1944, and Corporal Jesse J. Wheeler, killed in action in Korea, September 16, 1951. Derry Twp. will present video clips of What Memorial Day Means to Me that were submitted by residents. The clips will air on Memorial Day on the townships Facebook page. In Linglestown, the Robert H. Hoke American Legion Post 272 will conduct a Memorial Day Salute at 1 p.m. on May 25. The salute, led by the Legion Honor Guard, will start at the Linglestown Firehall and will travel through the community. Residents can watch the salute from their homes while maintaining social distance. The route will be similar to the Christmas route the fire department conducts in December. The Carlisle Joint Veterans Council will air a special Memorial Day video at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 25. The program will include a message from Congressman Scott Perry, the Armed Forces Medley, the reading of the Roll of Honor of Carlisle-area veterans who have died in the past. Year and a special presentation of the Pledge of Allegiance. According to writer and director Kirk Wilson, the video is 30 minutes and is produced by Southeast Media Productions of Carlisle. Craig Hockinson was creative director and videographer. It can be watched here: www.cumberlandvalleytv.com (click on feature presentation) producer of the video, www.carlislepa.org (click on Memorial Day) and www.vfwpahq.org (click on videos), the website of the Headquarters of the Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars. Wilson said the program will be available at 9:00 a.m., on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 through Friday, May 29. The ceremony is being financed by Brindle Camp No. 50, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUV). The National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., also is canceled. Instead, the American Veterans Center will offer a nationally-televised special, The National Memorial Day Parade: American Stands Tall at 2 p.m. on Memorial Day on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. The Lincoln Fellowship, which sponsors the sounding of taps every evening in the summer, will hold its opening ceremony virtually at 7 p.m. May 25 on Facebook and YouTube. The opening ceremony will include remarks from Wendy Allen, vice president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania; Jari Villanueva, musical director and coordinator of One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg 2020; the Rev. Stephen R. Herr, president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania; and guest speaker, retired Lt. Gen. Christopher F. Burne. The program will also feature musical performances by The United States Army Trumpet Ensemble and Lincoln Fellowship board member, Wayne Hill; a recitation of the Gettysburg Address by Dana B. Shoaf, editor of Civil War Times magazine; the unveiling the 2020 One Hundred Nights of Taps, Gettysburg, 2020 commemorative coin by Christopher Gwinn, chief of interpretation and education, Gettysburg National Military Park and Fellowship board member; and recognition of veterans and active service members by Lincoln Fellowship board member and Archivist, Ken Kime. The virtual program will stream at 7 p.m. every night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. According to the Lincoln Fellowship, Buglers from more than 17 states across the nation will be sounding taps for the virtual ceremony. They are professionals, veterans, teachers, students, re-enactors, and other talented individuals who assist in the taps ceremony at military funerals. READ MORE Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. New NSC chief positive to U.S.-Taiwan security cooperation: expert ROC Central News Agency 05/20/2020 02:46 PM Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The appointment of Wellington Koo (), a U.S.-educated business lawyer, as the new director-general of Taiwan's National Security Council (NSC), could strengthen Taiwan's security cooperation with the U.S., a security analyst said Tuesday. Koo, 61, is a graduate of National Taiwan University College of Law and holds a Master's degree in law from New York University. He became a practicing lawyer at the age of 25, has been elected as a legislator and has chaired the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, responsible for investigating and recovering ill-gotten wealth of political parties and their affiliated organizations during the martial law period. Koo has also chaired the Financial Supervisory Commission before assuming his new position on Wednesday when Tsai began her second term as the country's president. In a media interview, Koo said he was asked by Tsai to take the position as director-general of the NSC, a forum under the chairmanship of the president tasked with advising on matters relating to national security and foreign policy. Koo's appointment has raised doubts due to his scant background in security and foreign relations. However, Su Tzu-yun (), a senior analyst at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, sees the appointment in a positive light. "Koo, as a pragmatic lawyer with a U.S. education background, could be a plus to communication and cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S., as U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien is himself a lawyer, Su argued. Most countries' national security teams tend to handle security problems with complex and cross-field approaches, hence a national security officer does not have be a man with either a defense or foreign affairs background, Su said. Tsai might have picked Koo considering his pragmatism and ability to offer maneuverable solutions, which are pretty common qualities to someone coming from the law field, Su said. Meanwhile, Wang Ting-yu (), a Democratic Progressive Party legislator, described the appointment as a "rare but creative" move, noting that Koo's predecessors have been either from the military, the security agencies or the foreign ministry. Wang said he believes that Koo's arrival at the NSC can fill gaps in its international finance and economy, while his supposed shortcomings in security and foreign affairs can be complemented by his three deputies in the short term. (By Yeh Su-ping, Matt Yu and Emerson Lim) Enditem/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Australias Liberal-National government, backed by the Labor Party opposition, is provocatively claiming a victory after the World Health Assembly passed a resolution on Tuesday proposing an inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic. That is despite the resolution being very different to the original anti-China version proposed by Australia on behalf of the US. When Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne first publicly called for an investigation, during an appearance on national television on April 19, she declared that it would have to be conducted outside the World Health Organisation (WHO). For the WHO to hold an inquiry, she declared, would be poacher and gamekeeper. This weeks outcome repudiates that demand. Buried in the long, multi-faceted resolution is a proposal for an inquiry to be convened by the WHO itself, once the pandemic has passed, alongside a call for increased funding for WHOs operations to combat COVID-19. Despite a bullying intervention by US President Donald Trump, who again threatened to cut off funding to the WHO, the final resolution, co-sponsored by China, the EU and numerous other countries, was adopted by consensus in the 194-member assembly. For all the efforts of the Trump administration and its media backers to blame China and the WHO for the pandemic, accompanied by unsubstantiated accusations that the COVID-19 virus was let loose by a Wuhan research laboratory, the resolution does not mention China or Wuhan. Nor does it include Australias incendiary demand for investigators to be sent into China with the same powers as weapons inspectors. This recalls the role of weapons inspectors in helping to concoct the fabricated weapons of mass destruction claims invoked by the US and its allies to invade Iraq in 2003. Instead, the resolution calls for a comprehensive evaluation of the global response, including, but not limited to, WHOs performance. Any such evaluation, if genuine, would have to lay bare the belated and disastrous response of the major capitalist governments, notably those of the US and UK, which has killed tens of thousands of people and devastated the lives of millions more. One government dissented from the resolutionthat of the United States. The US embassy in Geneva issued a statement that welcomed the inquiry, but disassociated itself from the resolutions references to sexual and reproductive health, saying this could permit abortions. The US statement further rejected the provisions on pooling or sharing vaccine developments to the benefit of poorer countries, saying this would send the wrong message to innovators who will be essential to the solutions the whole world needs. In other words, as has been the case throughout the pandemic, the US governments response subordinates lives and public health to the rapacious profit-making requirements of US corporations, not least the pharmaceutical giants. As the Geneva assembly convened, Trump ramped-up his inflammatory anti-China agitation. He told a White House meeting on Monday that the WHO was a puppet of China, theyre China-centric and China should be held responsible, they have hurt the world very badly. On Tuesday, Trump tweeted a letter his administration had sent to the WHO threatening to cut off funding again. It accused the WHO of a failed response to the COVID-19 outbreak and an alarming lack of independence from the Peoples Republic of China. The timeline of Australias role is revealing. Paynes April 19 attack on the WHO, literally comparing it to a poacher seeking to steal and kill at the expense of the worlds people, was obviously part of a US push to demonise China and the WHO. Her comments came days after US President Donald Trump first suspended US funding for the WHO. Asked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Insiders host David Speers if an investigation could be convened by the WHO or do you agree theyre too beholden to China? Payne said: [W]e share some of the concerns that the United States have identified in relation to the World Health Organisation. That is certainly correct Im not sure that you can have the health organisation, which has been responsible for disseminating much of the international communications material, and doing much of the early engagement and investigative work, also as the review mechanism. That strikes me as somewhat poacher and gamekeeper. However, Payne offered no suggestion as to who would conduct an investigation. Four days later, on April 23, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stepped up the US-instigated campaign, advocating powers to send investigators into a country to probe a disease outbreak. He likened them to weapon inspectors deployed to countries, supposedly to verify disarmament programs. Morrison reiterated the call for an unspecified independent review of the WHOs performance and also proposed reform of WHOs governance to remove the right of individual members to veto proposed health strategies. He tweeted: Just got off the phone with US President @realDonaldTrump. We had a very constructive discussion on our health responses to #COVID19 and the need to get our market-led and business centres economies up and running again. According to media reports, Morrison raised a three-point plan in a series of telephone calls with Trump, French President Emanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates. Morrisons bid drew public praise from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who urged all of our partners to support it, and accused China of applying economic coercion to Australia in retaliation. Australia also insisted that an investigation must commence quickly, even though most countries around the world are still confronting a worsening COVID-19 crisis, with officially-recorded infections soaring toward 5 million and acknowledged deaths toward 320,000. Four days before Paynes television appearance, however, on April 15, the European Union had issued a draft resolution that ultimately formed the basis of this weeks World Health Assembly consensus. This effectively sidelined the US push and left the Australian government isolated, forcing it to fall in behind the EU motion. Even so, the Morrison government is claiming a win, boasting that it toughened up the EU draft, so that the final resolution states that the WHOs review should be impartial, independent and comprehensive. The resolution also leaves open the possibility of renewed attempts to scapegoat China for the pandemic. On page six, it says the WHO should work to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population. The Australian government not given up on its inspection demands. In his two-minute video address to the World Health Assembly, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said the inquiry could include an examination of whether the WHOs mandate and powers, including around inspection, need to be strengthened. At every point in this worldwide calamity, the Australian government has been in lockstep with the US administration, trying to spearhead its escalating confrontation with China. It has also enjoyed the bipartisan backing of the Labor Party, whose leader Anthony Albanese and shadow foreign minister Penny Wong have lauded it for pushing for an inquiry, while voicing concern at how clumsily the government lined up with Trump. This reflects alarm in some ruling class circles over the potential loss of lucrative export markets in China, ranging from iron ore, coal and gas exports to agricultural produce. Nonetheless, the entire political establishment is committed to the US conflict with China, because of Australian capitalisms dependence on US investment and military power, even though it means being on the firing line in a potentially catastrophic nuclear war. Customers have slammed Woolworths over Chinese prawns that are apparently fit for human consumption but not to be used as bait. Pictures posted on social media of green prawn cutlets, imported from China, infuriated shoppers. Customers questioned why the prawns were allowed to be eaten by humans but not by fish. Woolworths has been slammed by customers after images of Chinese imported prawns for customers to eat (pictured) were shared online stating they are 'not to be used for bait' Some online took aim at the supermarket giant for the labels however it is Australian biosecurity regulation not to use supermarket bought prawns as fishing bait Others said the supermarket should be 'ashamed' for selling the prawns. 'Australia is surrounded by the oceans and we have the best fish. I would really like to be able to find easy access to our own fresh first quality seafood, but it seems very hard,' one angry customer wrote online. 'Shame on you, Woolworths! Why are you not selling Australian caught prawns?' another added. A Woolworths' spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the supermarket chain were 'proud supporters' of Australian prawn producers. 'Around three quarters of our prawn range behind our seafood counter is either wild caught or farmed locally in Australia and we're always looking to source more,' the spokesman said. 'The importation of prawns are - quite rightly - subject to strict conditions and screening by the Department of Agriculture and we comply with these at all times.' The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment advises recreational fishers they can't use prawns or any other seafood from a supermarket or fishmonger as bait. 'These are often marked for human consumption only this can introduce disease to your favourite fishing spot,' the government website stated. A man in his late teens has been arrested on suspicion of fraudulently claiming Covid-19 payments. Gardai said that the arrest was made by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), with assistance from Gardai on secondment at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). WASHINGTON - Tributes from former first families rolled in Thursday in response to the news that a man who was a fixture in the White House under 11 presidents had died at the age of 91 after contracting COVID-19. Wilson Jerman started working as a cleaner under President Dwight Eisenhower and retired as an elevator operator during the presidency of Barack Obama. With his kindness and care, Wilson Jerman helped make the White House a home for decades of First Families, including ours, said former first lady Michelle Obama. His service to others his willingness to go above and beyond for the country he loved and all those whose lives he touched is a legacy worthy of his generous spirit. Jerman became a White House butler under President John Kennedy, a role that Mrs. Kennedy was instrumental in landing for him, his oldest granddaughter, Jamila Garrett, told the local Fox News station in Washington. Jerman served as a White House butler across 11 presidencies and made generations of first families feel at home, including ours, tweeted Hillary Clinton. Our warmest condolences to his loved ones. Former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush said Jerman was a lovely man. He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned, the Bushes said in a statement to NBC News. Desiree Barnes, who worked in the Obama administration, said Jerman treated the staff kindly. She recalled that when she worked as an intern he would get her a meal if she had not eaten and that he even called her during a particularly rough snowstorm to make sure she was okay. It did not matter political party, he was there to serve, Barnes said. He had been there on some of the hardest days for a lot of presidents. ... Imagine being there when President Kennedy was assassinated and having to receive the first lady at the time. So, he was a really empathetic man. He just was a great listener. ___ Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report. The local authorities received items such as hand sanitizers, examination gloves, gallons of liquid soap, veronica buckets, and surgical nose masks. The items were valued at GH12,550.00 for the beneficiary Health Directorates in the Saboba, Karaga, Kumbungu, Mion and Savelugu Assemblies in the Northern Region. The partners of the Empowerment for Life Programme (E4L), which included; the Ghana Developing Communities Association and Youth Empowerment for Life Ghana, and their Danish partner, Ghana Friends presented the items to the Health Directorates to reaffirm their commitment to stand by local communities, especially in the period of COVID-19. Officers of the E4L Programme presented the items to the beneficiary Health Directorates through the authorities of their various Assemblies within their jurisdictions. Mr Mohammed Abdul-Jabaru, Programme Manager of E4L Programme, who briefed the GNA about the intervention, said In the coming days, the partners will support district offices of the National Commission for Civic Education and the Information Services Department in the Saboba, Karaga, Kumbungu, Mion and Savelugu Assemblies with resources to carry out community sensitization on the disease. Mr Abdul-Jabaru said a similar gesture would be extended to the Ghana Health Service to intensify its community outreach programmes and the periodic meetings of the COVID-19 Emergency Response Committees in the districts. The E4L Programme is funded by Civil Society In Development through Ghana Friends, both in Denmark. ---GNA Something odd appears to be happening along the wide, tree-lined esplanades of Heights Boulevard. At about the 400 block, a small church rises from the earth. Farther north, a folded airplane of stainless steel dives into the ground, spindly cactus flowers sprout, a mirrored tower glimmers, a small ark on oars waits for rising water and a pair of huge lawn chairs makes passers-by look downright Lilliputian. The temporary exhibit, "True North," will be on view nine months, the limit allowed on city properties. One word doesn't describe the man behind it all. "I'm a curator, collector, gallerist and engineer, in that order," Gus Kopriva said. He's also a self-appointed ambassador for Texas artists, worldwide. Kopriva, whose full first name is Gustav, was born in Baden-Baden, Germany - the Black Forest - after World War II. His father was a French officer from Normandy. "I grew up in rubble but with a Robert Wood picture of bluebonnets over my head in our living room," he said. He and his mother moved to Houston in the 1950s. Now retired after a successful career as an engineer for a petrochemical company, Kopriva devotes most of his energy toward art, a passion he discovered years ago through his wife, artist Sharon Kopriva. "But thank God for the engineering because it funds everything," he said. "The arts are no profit at all. They're a loss. But we're having fun." "True North" viewers are having fun, too. Last week, people tried to climb on Paul Kittleson's oversized lawn chairs, one of eight sculptures placed along the 20-block esplanade. That's a no-no. "I've got to put a sign up," Kopriva said. But he also was thrilled by the response. A large fiberglass dog by Carter Ernst and one of the late Lee Littlefield's cactus flowers were still being installed, but the exhibit was already demonstrating what public art should do - engage and delight people who might never step inside a contemporary art gallery. More Information 'True North' When: Daily through Nov. 4 Where: Esplanades along Heights Boulevard, starting at 400 block Tickets: Free See More Collapse The artists represented are well-known veterans with connections to north Houston or the Heights. The steeple on Dan Havel's "Bird Sanctuary" once topped an area church that was demolished; its slate roof also is recycled. Behind its little hinged doors, 10 pounds of bird seed wait to be discovered by wildlife. Patrick Medrano, the ark's creator, suggested the exhibit name. It's borrowed from a marketing brochure distributed decades ago by the Omaha Land Company, which developed the Heights. Kopriva sees "True North," co-curated by artist Chris Silkwood, as a prototype. "My vision is to have 100 works all over the city. We have some beautiful boulevards. It would enrich our lives and make Houston a destination for the arts, which it is already becoming," Kopriva said. Under his Redbud Projects umbrella, he and partners also are building a museum in Salzwedel, Germany, in a beautiful old school building they've been remodeling for three years. Kopriva expects it to open next year with an exhibit of 80 German Expressionist works he and his wife are loaning from their collection - for a decade. They own more than 2,000 pieces, mostly antiquities and German Expressionist works. "I'm more of an imagist than an abstract type. And I like objects," he said. "Instead of stocks, I buy art. I buy art every day." They were drawn to the early-20th-century's German Expressionism partly because he is German and partly because she studied under the late Peter Guenther as a University of Houston student. "Whatever my wife studied, I studied," Kopriva said. The late Walter Hopps was a mentor, too. "He would come into my gallery and smoke god-awful herb cigarettes," Kopriva recalled. "But he was an expert on lighting. He said it's not about the architecture, it's about the light. Which was funny coming from the founding director of the Menil Collection." Since 1999, Redbud Gallery, Kopriva's space on 11th Street, has promoted a mix of local, national and international artists. He doesn't keep a stable, but he's happy when other dealers pick up the artists he introduces. Kopriva gave sculptor Clark Derbes his first Houston solo show in 2012; now Devin Borden Gallery represents Derbes. (His "American Sculpture" exhibit of colorful wooden objects is on view at that gallery through April 26.) For eight years, the Koprivas have also hosted artists' residencies at a farm between Berlin and Hamburg, Germany. And every summer, they load up a 40-foot shipping container of works by Texas artists and present an exhibit someplace far away, usually taking a contingent of 30 or 40 people with them. They've set up shop in Shanghai, Cuba, Peru and France. "I make friends. Boots on the ground," Kopriva explained. In 2012, Athens was roiled by riots when they visited. Last year, they encountered more unrest when they exhibited works by 70 Texas artists in Istanbul. They had planned to show in Cairo, Kopriva said, "but then the Muslim Brotherhood fired our curator there, then our director; then they fired the Muslim Brotherhood. So we decided to wait on that one. It's the first time we've ever had to cancel during a revolution. Everybody was scared to go." One other project continues to dog him. Kopriva thinks Houston needs an instantly recognizable, world-class monumental sculpture - something that would symbolize the city, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Christo's "Mastaba," a 300-foot-high pyramid made of 410,000 multicolored oil barrels conceived in 1977, would have been perfect, he said - but in 2012 it was finally commissioned by the royal family in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Featured on Christo's website as a work in progress, it will be the most colossal public sculpture in the world. Kopriva hasn't yet found anything else as appropriate to champion for the city he loves. Nor does he know where it would go. "First, find the artist, and then decide where to put it," he said. [May 21, 2020] PathSpot Raises $6.5 Million in Series A Financing NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PathSpot is the creator of a real-time hand hygiene management system that protects against the threat and spread of illness with a hand scanner that tracks handwashing frequency and effectiveness. Today, PathSpot announced the closing of $6.5 million in a Series A round led by Valor Siren Ventures I L.P. (VSV), bringing the company's total funding to $10.5 million. Formed with an anchor investment from Starbucks and in collaboration with Valor Equity Partners , VSV is a leader in early-stage food, food technology, and retail technology investing. Richard Tait, a partner at VSV, will join PathSpot's board of directors. Existing investors FIKA Ventures and Walden Venture Capital also participated with a follow on investment. "PathSpot works alongside the food industry to promote handwashing and enhance a positive culture around sanitation, using data to help plan and protect against future risk," said Christine Schindler, CEO and co-founder, PathSpot. "I'm thrilled to partner with VSV, which comes at a tie when the entire world is more conscious than ever about handwashing safety. We're eager to help positively impact even more lives more quickly and continue working with the food industry in prioritizing safe handwashing." Thirty percent of diarrhea-related sicknesses and 20% of respiratory infections are preventable by proper handwashing, and among these are the 48 million Americans who get sick each year from foodborne illness. As an example, the spread of germs from food handlers to food accounts for 89% of all foodborne illnesses that are contracted in restaurants. In less than two seconds, PathSpot's hand scanner detects invisible signs of bacteria and viruses that cause illnesses and outbreaks. PathSpot is used by restaurants, packaging facilities, cafeterias, and farms across the country. PathSpot customers see: An average 3x increase in handwashing; Reduced instances of contaminants on hands by 75% within just 30 days (97% reduction after six months); and, Consistent compliance with FDA Food Code handwashing recommendations. Before the current COVID-19 pandemic, less than 25% of US restaurants' handwashing practices were in compliance with FDA food code handwashing frequency requirements. Now, as restaurants are reopening amidst the global health crisis, a renewed interest and demand for hygiene is occurring among businesses and customers alike. Ensuring proper handwashing and employee training will be critical, as well as proactively and thoughtfully communicating these practices to customers. "PathSpot has given us the tools to measure and improve our sanitation practices. But more importantly, working with the PathSpot team has created an even greater overall sensitivity to and awareness of food safety in our restaurants. Having already engaged the PathSpot system well before the coronavirus outbreak, I'm confident in how our team prioritizes handwashing and in this unprecedented environment, that priority will remain a critical focus," said Colin McCabe, co-founder, Chopt Creative Salad Company. Chopt is a PathSpot customer and McCabe is an early investor in the company. Using a network of sensors plus visible, audible, and electronic cues, PathSpot immediately notifies team members when invisible contamination is detected on their hands. In the future, PathSpot will also detect on food, equipment, surfaces, and more. If the contamination or handwash frequency requirements are not addressed, notices can automatically escalate to management to ensure complete protection of the customer, brand, and bottom line in one location or across a chain. Ninety-seven percent of employees report PathSpot made them think more critically about food safety on a daily basis. PathSpot reduces management time spent on training and monitoring handwashing, including 89% of managers reporting "time-saving" when it comes to PathSpot helping them monitor handwashing and food safety. About PathSpot PathSpot is the world's first real-time hand hygiene management system, protecting foodservice operators against the threat of illness and outbreaks with a device that scans employee hands to identify the presence of harmful contamination in less than two seconds. PathSpot customers see an average 3x increase in handwashing and reduce instances of contaminants by 75% within just 30 days. The patented PathSpot hand scanner monitors each employee handwash and immediately identifies gaps in sanitation at an individual employee, store, or chain level, delivering clear results through a 24/7 data dashboard and monitoring system. PathSpot was co-founded in 2017 by biomedical engineers Christine Schindler, CEO, and Dutch Waanders, CTO. Visit www.pathspot.com for more information. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pathspot-raises-6-5-million-in-series-a-financing-301063797.html SOURCE PathSpot [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Congress on Thursday accused the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in vendetta after a case was registerd in Karnataka against Sonia Gandhi for raising questions over the PM-CARES fund. The party also hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that was it playing dirty by registering a case against the party's state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and arresting him twice on Wednesday. The party also urged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to review his decision. "It is extremely unfortunate that at a time like this, when the world is facing a disaster like coronavirus and where in India crores of people have lost their livelihood and are forced to walk home, instead of helping them and providing for them all that you (BJP) want to do is vendetta "You are not just misusing government machinery, you are also inciting vendetta politics. We strongly condemn this," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference held through video conferencing. A case has been registered against Congress president Sonia Gandhi at Sagara town in Karnataka's Shivamogga district on a complaint that @INCIndia, the official Twitter handle of the Congress, tried to create distrust among the masses with its tweet by spreading "baseless charges." The complainant alleged that on May 11 at 6 pm, the INC India Twitter account posted messages against Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging "misuse" of PM-CARES Fund set up to enable people contribute to help the government fight the coronavirus and "similar distressing situations." Shrinate said it was not just about the FIR against Sonia Gandhi, "this gives us an insight into how the BJP and Mr Modi operates". "Even at a time like this, what is important for them is vendetta politics. This is a democracy and in a democracy opposition leaders have a basic right to ask questions," she said. Shrinate said this was a not a question on the state of affairs, but on the PM-CARES Fund, where thousands of crores have been deposited and even with so much funds available why are migrants still forced to walk and why are people still suffering. "Why can this money not be released... every Indian wants to ask this question," she said. About about the arrest of Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, Shrinate said, "This is political vendetta. We request that you leave aside this politics, reconsider the allegations against Ajay Lallu ji and end this politics of vengeance." The Uttar Pradesh Congress chief was arrested twice on Wednesday -- first in Agra for sitting on a dharna to protest against UP government not granting permission to allow buses arranged for migrants by the Congress enter the state. He was granted bail by an Agra court and released, before being rearrested by a team of Lucknow police in a second case filed here in connection with the Congress' standoff with the state government. "This is a murder of democracy. We strongly condemn the detention of Ajay Lallu ji. The Chief Minister should reconsider this. It seems that the BJP government is indifferent to the suffering of the people," Shrinate said. She said that "dirty politics" was being played even at the time of coronavirus pandemic. "Not only did the Adityanath government rejected our offer of help with the buses, but even sent UP Congress President Ajay Lallu in custody." The Congress leader alleged that all charges against Lallu are ridiculous. "In the FIR, he has been accused of causing loss to the people, which is ridiculous because he was helping people," she said. "Everyone in Uttar Pradesh understands this dirty politics of the BJP government. Ajay Lallu ji has struggled a lot and worked hard. He is being targeted for helping the labourers," Shrinate alleged. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The B-52 recently became the second American heavy bomber to have the Sniper ATP targeting pod installed. Five years ago the B-1B got Sniper pods and soon used them in combat for the first time. These pods enable the aircraft crew to see, in great detail, what's happening on the ground, even when the aircraft is flying at 6.8 kilometers (20,000 feet) altitude. For example, the pod users can tell if someone down there is dressed as a man or a woman, or is carrying a weapon. Heavy bombers can also use the pods for attacking ships at sea. Two years ago a B-1B successfully used laser guided JDAM bombs against moving naval targets. These tests involved the B-1B using its Sniper targeting pod to put the laser beam on the target. The JDAMs homed on the laser light reflecting off the moving target ships. The B-1B thus became the latest of many air force heavy bombers that have been equipped to serve as maritime patrol and anti-ship aircraft. Back during World War II, thousands of B-17 and B-24 bombers (and many two engine bombers) were used to patrol and control vast ocean areas. Late in the Cold War the B-52 was active in this area but that ended in the 1990s. But in the last decade this maritime activity has been restored. For example, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used B-52s to check out suspicious merchant ships approaching North America, often when the ships are still about 2,000 kilometers from the coast. The B-52s take pictures of the ship and transmit that back to DHS. A B-52 can do this while taking part in a training exercise. B-52s have a lot of jobs they can while over the oceans. The new usefulness of heavy bombers at sea is largely the result of technological changes in maritime reconnaissance. This includes things like the introduction, and combining, of lightweight search radars and targeting pods. With the targeting pod you can stay high and far away (over twenty kilometers) and still get a close look. Thus a B-52 with a targeting pod is an excellent naval reconnaissance aircraft, as is the more recent B-1B. The Sniper ATP pod is also used on the F-15, F-16, F-18, and A-10 aircraft. B-52s and B-1Bs can also deliver naval mines, something they still practice doing. This is something the air force has been doing since World War II, and with great success. The current air force naval mine is the Mk-62 "Quickstrike." This is basically a 227 kg (500 pound) bomb, with a sensor package attached to the rear. There are three different sensor packages, each providing a different set of sensors to detonate the mine. The Mk-62 is a "bottom mine," which is dropped in shallow water and then detects a ship passing above using pressure (of the ship on the water), magnetism (of the metal in the ship's hull), or vibration. The sensor also comes with a computer, to enable the mine to follow certain instructions (like only detonate for ships that meet a certain criteria). The B-52 and B-1B drop the mines at an altitude of about 300 meters (1,000 feet), while moving at 500-600 kilometers an hour. The mines are usually dropped in known shipping lanes, especially those that serve as approaches to a major port. During World War II, air dropped mines proved devastating to Japanese shipping. Same thing when they were used against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The B-52s were first equipped with anti-ship missiles (for testing) in the 1970s, and were given Harpoon missiles as regular equipment in the 1980s. But smart bombs have proven to be nearly as useful and are a lot cheaper than Harpoon. The B-52 was, until recently, the cheapest heavy bomber to operate and favored for maritime patrol. But the B-52 is getting very old and more expensive to maintain. So now the B-1B is the low cost operator and the first aircraft when the air force is called to help out with sea control. DALLAS and ATLANTA, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- While the coronavirus pandemic disrupted many activities for the Class of 2020, Witherite Law Group is proud to offer some stability by continuing its five-year tradition of awarding much-needed scholarships to high school seniors. Twenty-eight students eight from Dunbar High School in Fort Worth, Texas, and 20 from South Atlanta High School in Atlanta, Georgia, will each receive $2,500 renewable scholarships. This represents a total of $70,000 in 2020 scholarships. Over the past five years, the firm has funded nearly $300,000 scholarships for 132 Texas and Georgia high school seniors. Witherite Law Group founder and lead accident attorney, Amy Witherite, will surprise students of South Atlanta High with the scholarship announcement during a video presentation at their virtual graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 21st at 7pm. The ceremony will be viewable on Channel 22 and Facebook live at www.facebook.com/AtlantaPublicSchools. The ceremony where Dunbar High School students will be notified is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26th at 6pm and will be streamed online. "School administrators have told us that, in some cases, these scholarships will determine if a student is financially able to attend college," said Witherite. "Despite the current situation, we knew it was important to conduct our interviews and award these scholarships on the same timetable we've used in the past, so students can prepare for their future." Created in 2016, the "Making a Difference" Scholarship, provides financial assistance to students who have demonstrated leadership in their schools and communities. In its inaugural year, Witherite pledged to award five $1,000 scholarships to Dunbar High School students. Over the years, she has increased the amount to $2,500 and the number of scholarships to match the number of applicants. Every student who has completed an application and interview has received a scholarship. As long as students maintain a 3.0 GPA and take at least 12 credit hours, their "Making a Difference" scholarships are renewable. "These scholarships are an example of how we put people first at Witherite Law Group. Most of these students are the first in their families to go to college," said Witherite. "Helping them further their education gives them an opportunity to change their lives." Witherite Law Group recently celebrated the first graduation of a "Making a Difference" scholar. Lauren Hudson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas Southern University with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications in December 2019. ABOUT WITHERITE LAW GROUP Witherite Law Group is a Dallas-based personal injury law firm founded in 2001 with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth and Atlanta, GA. The firm's attorneys specialize in helping those injured in a car or truck accident and can be reached by calling 1-800-TruckWreck or 1-800-CarWreck, 24 hours a day. SOURCE Witherite Law Group Related Links http://www.witheritelaw.com Lucknow, May 21 : A sudden spurt in the corona positive cases has been reported in Uttar Pradesh even as the state relaxes the lockdown rules. In Barabanki district, a whopping 95 positive cases were reported on Wednesday night. Of these, 49 were migrant workers, while the remaining 46 were those who had come into contact with six corona positive patients earlier. The corona tally in the district has touched 122. Barabanki, which is about 22 kilometres from Lucknow, has seen the maximum influx of migrant workers who have arrived in the state capital on trains and buses in recent days. The district has a 22 per cent minority population and a sizeable section work in Maharashtra. "Most of the people from here work in film crews in Mumbai. Some of them are on the technical staff and when one person gets established, others in the family join him," said Mehmood Hasan whose two sons and three nephews work as light men in the film industry. Adarsh Singh, District Magistrate of Barabanki, said, "All those who have been found positive for corona virus were already in institutional quarantine. Forty-nine of those who tested positive have come from outside the district and are being shifted to the hospital. However, there is no need to panic -- numbers are not important, but what is important is that we have identified the cases. Timely stopping them from spreading the contamination. We now have 122 active cases in the district." Basti had reported 50 positive cases on Tuesday and all of them were migrant workers. Majority of them were asymptomatic. District Magistrate Basti, Ashutosh Niranjan, told IANS, "Out of these 50 new cases 14 people belong to Basti and 36 are from other districts of UP. They were already in quarantine and we have shifted them to level-I COVID hospital." The number of corona positive cases in Rampur has also shot up to 68 and Kanpur tally is 317. Earlier, nine people had tested positive for the deadly virus in Lakhimpur and all of them were migrant workers. A senior health official from the King George's Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the number of corona positive cases could 'rise dramatically' in the coming days. "Thousands of migrant workers who are walking on foot, have escaped medical screening. They are not quarantining themselves either due to unfounded fears. These people-- if they are corona carriers -- could lead to a boom in the corona cases in the coming two weeks," he said. The state's tally of corona positive cases, on Wednesday, touched 5265 and the number of deaths stood at 127. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text A music instructor at Bard College was fired this year after a Title IX investigation determined he had sexually harassed a young percussion student. Now, the student is asserting in a lawsuit against the college that the instructor should not have been on staff because of prior harassment complaints that the school knew about. In the federal suit filed on Tuesday in Manhattan, Avalon Packer, 21, a percussionist who started at Bard in 2016, accuses Carlos Valdez, the percussion teacher, of rubbing up against her while he had an erection during a lesson, and later forcibly kissing her. Though Mr. Valdez was fired this year after an investigation found Ms. Packers account credible, her lawsuit says that she learned while reviewing the investigators notes from her case that Mr. Valdez had been the subject of two other complaints under Title IX, a federal law that bars sexual discrimination in institutions that receive federal funds. The lawsuit says that the previous complaints were also substantiated by an investigation, which recommended that Mr. Valdez be terminated. But instead, it says, the college allowed him to continue teaching after making a written apology and taking an online anti-harassment course. Georgia's economy has taken some steps ahead, though there are still signs that a recovery is going to take some time, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic told CNBC. "I think the punchline here is that it's very much a mixed bag," the central bank official said Thursday on "Closing Bell." "Some places and some people are feeling like they're very prepared to jump back into the economy and get back to where they were pre-crisis," Bostic added. "But there are a lot of businesses where they're not seeing the same kind of foot traffic they were before." That's a consequence of people still having "large concerns about whether it's safe to go out." Georgia was one of the first states to start relaxing social distancing guidelines enacted in response to the coronavirus pandemic. While the state has seen a continued move higher in cases over the past month, the most recent trend has been lower. Bostic said he has two primary concerns: Whether the surge in joblessness over the past two months is temporary or more permanent, and the possibility of a second wave of the virus happening somewhere in the future that further curtails activity. "If that happens repeatedly, then I think the recovery is going to struggle a bit," he said. Bostic added that the Fed is committed to using its tools to support the economy and said it's possible more help will be needed. VALPARAISO The $10 million renovation and expansion of the North Porter County annex building in Portage is nearing completion. Things are coming along very nicely, said Porter County Commissioners attorney Scott McClure. McClure gave an update on the project that began in October of 2018 during Tuesdays county commissioners meeting. He said a majority of the new building across the parking lot from the existing structure on Willowcreek Road should be completed in two to three weeks. McClure said it could be another six weeks before the work on the building erected more than 30 years ago is finished because of the renovation that still needs to be done to one of the courtrooms. He also said said the entire parking lot has been resurfaced and striped. Porter County Commissioner Jeff Good said the new building provides a third courtroom at the site along with space for securely transporting and holding prisoners scheduled for hearings. TV actor Ashiesh Roy has requested the hospital to discharge him as he does not have any money left to pay the bills. The actor, who recently sought financial help via Facebook, is in a Mumbai hospital and has been undergoing dialysis. Ashiesh told Times of India in an interview, I was already facing a money crunch and the situation has worsened owing to the lockdown. I had savings of Rs 2 lakh, which I spent during the first two days of being hospitalised. First, I was tested for Covid-19, which cost me around Rs 11,000, followed by other expenses. I spent around 90,000 on a single round of dialysis. I have to undergo a treatment, which will cost me Rs 4 lakh, but I dont have the money to pay for it. So, I want to go back home, as I cant afford the treatment. I am seeking financial aid from people so that I can clear my medical bills to get discharged. I cant continue staying here even if I were to die tomorrow. Also read: Ranveer Singhs Vincent van Gogh post was originally created by this artist Ashieshs co-star Sooraj Thapar had said earlier, Asheish has been wanting to sell off his 2 BHK flat to take care of his medical expenses, but thats not easy in the current scenario and will take time. Ashiesh had earlier said, I dont have money. I had Rs 2 lakh which I gave to the hospital because within two days, the bill that was given to me amounted to that much. Right now, I dont have a single penny. People are coming forward to help me, they are calling up and telling me, lets see what happens. Because of the pandemic I am kept in a special ward which is costly. My dialysis happens on some other floor and it goes on for 4 hours. There are medicines, injections which are costly. Ashiesh has worked in several popular shows including Sasural Simar Ka, Remix, Burey Bhi Hum Bhale Bhi Hum and Jeannie Aur Juju. He has also acted in films including Home Delivery and MP3: Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON China has proposed new national security laws for Hong Kong to ban the city's residents from initiating and participating in protests in a move that's widely believed to be a response to the anti-government mass demonstrations last year. The bill would block secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony, said the South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources. Fears have risen that China is eyeing to take full control of the city as the potential legislation could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest. But a spokesperson of the Chinese parliament said 'it is absolutely necessary' to set up such a legal mechanism in Hong Kong to 'maintain national security'. The spokesperson cited the Chinese Constitution as the base for the bill. China is set to launch new national security laws for Hong Kong to ban residents in the the semi-autonomous city from initiating protests in a response to the anti-government mass demonstrations last year. Chinese President Xi Jinping is pictured today during the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing Sources said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony. FILE: Police hold down a protester in Hong Kong on June 12, 2019 Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby. FILE: Pro-democracy protesters march on a street during a protest in Hong Kong Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby. Hong Kong people took to the streets last year, sometimes in their millions, to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China. The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city. 'If Beijing passes the law ... how [far] will civil society resist repressive laws? How much impact will it unleash onto Hong Kong as an international financial centre?' said Ming Sing, political scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The news comes nearly a week after the first Hong Kong pro-democracy protester to plead guilty to the charge of rioting during last year's unrest was sentenced to four years in prison. Sin Ka-ho, a 21-year-old lifeguard, was among thousands who surrounded the Legislative Council on June 12 during a pro-democracy rally. Online posts have emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans. Pictured, protesters shelter under umbrellas during a downpour as they occupy roads near the government of Hong Kong on June 12 Protesters wearing masks are pictured reacting after police fired tear gas during anti-government demonstrations outside the Legislative Council Complex in Hong Kong on June 12 Zhang Yesui, a spokesperson for China's National People's Congress, told reporters today that 'it is absolutely necessary to maintain and improve the 'one country, two systems' rule by implementing security laws in Hong Kong. He said at a press conference on Thursday: 'The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inseparable part of the Peoples Republic of China. The National Peoples Congress is the organ representing the highest national power. 'It is absolutely necessary for the National Peoples Congress to conduct the authority bestowed upon it by the Constitution, based on new situations and needs, to establish and enhance the laws and execution mechanism for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to maintain national security; and to adhere to and refine the "one country, two systems" principle.' The bill will be reviewed at the third session of 13th National People's Congress, which will begin in Beijing on Friday, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. The technical details of the proposals remain unclear. The Hong Kong dollar weakened on the news. The proposed legislation could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering more unrest in the city. Pictured, a group of riot police officers clear the crowds of activists inside the New Town Plaza shopping mall in Hong Kong on May 1 The technical details of the proposals remain unclear but an announcement will be made in Beijing later on Thursday, one senior Hong Kong government source said. FILE: Pro-democracy protesters are seen marching on a street during a protest in Hong Kong on December 8, 2019 The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city. Pictured, pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui (C) is carried out by security guards at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on May 18 Critics warn that Beijing's bill could be a signal that it intends to take 'full control' of the semi-autonomous financial hub. Johnny Patterson, Director of UK-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch, told MailOnline: 'This is a devastating blow to the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers. 'The imposition of draconian and highly controversial national security legislation directly from Beijing is an unprecedented attack on the city's autonomy and way of life. 'It seems to be a sign that China are saying times up for the protest movement, and are intent on taking full control of the city.' China's parliament, the National People's Congress, is due to begin its annual session on Friday, after being delayed for months by the coronavirus. The representative of Beijing's foreign ministry in Hong Kong today slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after he said he was delaying a report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant Washington's special economic treatment US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 6 he was delaying a report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant Washington's special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial centre. The delay was to account for any actions at the National People's Congress, he said. The representative of Beijing's foreign ministry in Hong Kong today slammed Pompeo's 'unreasonable pressuring'. In a statement, it said that the 'Chinese people are not afraid of the threats from American politicians'. Tension between the two superpowers has heightened in recent weeks, as they exchanged accusations on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, souring an already worsening relationship over trade. The alleged legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China's parliament, would possibly be a turning point for its freest and most international city. Pictured, delegates attend the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference today FILE: A man holds a poster in Hong Kong, as people gather to sing 'Glory to Hong Kong', a protest song which gained popularity in the city as an unofficial anthem on September 11, 2019 A previous attempt by Hong Kong to introduce national security legislation, known as Article 23, in 2003 was met with mass peaceful protests and shelved. Hong Kong has a constitutional obligation to enact Article 23 'on its own', but similar laws can be introduced by Beijing separately into an annex of the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. That legal mechanism could bypass the city's legislature as the laws could be imposed by promulgation by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government. 'Some people are destroying Hong Kongs peace and stability. Beijing saw all that has happened,' pro-establishment lawmaker Christopher Cheung, who is not part of discussions in Beijing, told Reuters. 'Legislation is necessary and the sooner the better.' National security legislation has been strongly opposed by pro-democracy protesters who argue it could erode the city's freedoms and high degree of autonomy, guaranteed under the 'one country, two systems' formula put in place when it returned to Chinese rule. A senior Western diplomat, who declined to be identified, said the imposition of such laws from China, without any local legislative process, would hurt international perceptions about the city and its economy. Protesters denounce what they see as the creeping meddling in Hong Kong by China's Communist Party rulers. Beijing denies the charge and blames the West, especially the United States and Britain, for stirring up trouble. (Photo : Rebecca Cook on Reuters ) U.S. CDC Re-opening Rules: How Schools, Bars, and Americans Will Live on 'New Normal' (Photo : Rebecca Cook on Reuters ) U.S. CDC Re-opening Rules: How Schools, Bars, and Americans Will Live on 'New Normal' Nearly 50 states have now re-opened or are planning to re-open soon. And US agencies are now taking steps to allow each local government to decide on the safety of its citizens. Though businesses and public establishments are set to re-open in America, there are still health rules that must be applied, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC). Here are some of the guidelines released by the agency. US CDC releases re-opening rules on how schools, bars, and rest of America will live the 'New Normal' The US CDC has silently released a 60-page health guideline on its website explaining how the country should operate in the midst of the pandemic and how to re-open for the public. Since America now has nearly 1.6 million confirmed cases and over 90,000 deaths due to the coronavirus, social distancing, proper wearing of masks, and washing of hands with alcohol or any sanitizers are still required for all Americans that will return to the "new normal." Here's how the public is intended to work during re-opening. How schools will re-open One of the main questions regarding the re-opening is how populated establishments like schools will operate. According to the agency, not all US schools are allowed to make their students back to school. Only the ones that have recorded a decrease in COVID-19 cases are suggested to re-open. Once officials decide to re-open their educational facilities, kindergarten through 12th grade have to properly follow social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitizing of hands. Closing cafeterias and playgrounds are also highly-suggested. Students are asked to eat in their own classrooms to prevent too much roaming around the school. How bars and restaurants will re-open Bars, restaurants, and other businesses in the foodservice industry are not suggested to re-open. However, if deliveries, pick-ups, or drive-thrus are no longer an option, setting up rules regarding hygiene in preparing and social distancing inside the stores are highly-suggested. The CDC may allow restaurants or bars, only for limited capacity and limited seating when dining. Owners are suggested to always sanitize their areas and wipe food storages. Daily check-ups and temperature checks must also be applied to each of their employees. How mass transportation will re-open Bus passengers are asked to enter and exit through rear doors only and provide physical guides to monitor if people are following proper social distancing. Ventilation is required so mass transits are encouraged to open their windows unless there's harm prevalent. CDC guidelines confuse most Americans As reported via NBC News, a lot of experts think that CDC guidelines are okay but not enough during the pandemic. "When we have a pandemic of this nature, people need facts, and they need definitive action statements: 'This is what needs to happen in the presence of an ongoing outbreak,'" said Tener Goodwin Veenema, a professor and visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. There are serious concerns that companies across Britain are set to make staff redundant after putting them on the Government's furlough scheme designed specifically to prevent mass job losses. When Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last week the coronavirus job retention scheme was being extended until the end of October, and would not be altered until August, he said the move would protect 'the livelihoods of the British people and our future economic prospects.' But This is Money has spoken to a number of furloughed workers who are now being told they may lose their jobs. One employee in an office based in London told This is Money 35 out of 42 staff placed on furlough at the beginning of April would be made redundant by the end of June, while another's employer said once it had to pick up some of the tab people would have to go. Some furloughed employees have told This is Money their positions will be made redundant over the next few months as their companies are expected to pick up more of their wages The worker, who has been furloughed since the scheme began in March, has been told that due to upcoming changes to the job retention scheme, with companies expected to contribute to the salaries of furloughed staff from August, her position is being made redundant at the end of July. Neither wish to be named or identified in fear of retaliation from their employers. Currently, the Government pays 80 per cent of furloughed employees' wages up to 2,500 a month. At present, it is costing the Treasury around 14billion a month and 8million jobs are currently being paid through it, close to a quarter of the 33.14million people employed in Britain at the end of March. The workers that we have spoken to are likely to be the tip of the iceberg, with major companies announcing widespread redundancies in recent days, including aerospace giant Rolls-Royce and housebuilder Vistry. More than 70 per cent of companies had furloughed at least a portion of their staff, according to a survey from the British Chamber of Commerce. On Wednesday, FTSE-250 housebuilder Vistry Group and aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced job cuts having previously put staff on furlough, with Rolls-Royce planning to cut 9,000 jobs from its 52,000 strong global workforce. Warren East, Rolls-Royce chief executive, said that with two-thirds of employees situated in the UK the axe would likely fall most heavily here. He said: 'We must take difficult decisions to see our business through these unprecedented times. 'Governments across the world are doing what they can to assist businesses in the short-term, but we must respond to market conditions for the medium-term until the world of aviation is flying again at scale, and governments cannot replace sustainable customer demand that is simply not there.' Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East announced the jet engine manufacturer would cut 9,000 jobs, just under a fifth of its global workforce Rolls-Royce put 4,000 UK staff on furlough on 7 May. Asked whether a longer extension to the furlough scheme could make a difference, Mr East told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme Wednesday morning: 'This is about adjusting our capacity to meet future demand. 'We're very grateful for the help the government has provided to help us through the immediate trough, but no government can extend things like furlough schemes many years into the future, so we have to look after ourselves.' No government can extend things like furlough schemes many years into the future, so we have to look after ourselves Rolls-Royce, CEO Warren East Rishi Sunak announced the extension to the furlough scheme on 12 May to try and stave off mass redundancies and fears of a 'cliff edge' when the job retention scheme was initially supposed to end at the end of June. The announcement came just before businesses looking to make more than 100 redundancies after the furlough scheme ended would have had to announce a 45-day consultation into doing so. While the extension may still stave off job losses, there is the possibility of more announcements like Rolls Royce's to come, as companies have to increasingly contribute more to the cost of paying furloughed workers or bring them back into the fold. Rolls-Royce makes engines for Airbus and Boeing, but orders have dried up as planes have been grounded and having furloughed staff it now plans redundancies Vistry Group, previously known as Bovis Homes, had already announced in February that 8 per cent of its workforce would be cut following a tie-up with rival Galliford Try in January, but said Wednesday morning it anticipated 'further headcount reductions.' Is your job threatened? Has your company furloughed you and will now make you redundant? Get in touch: editor@thisismoney.co.uk Like most major UK housebuilders, Vistry placed staff on furlough while the construction industry shut down throughout the nationwide lockdown. Around three-fifths of its staff were initially furloughed but this has now fallen to 30 per cent as the construction industry has begun returning to work. A Vistry spokesperson told This is Money the redundancies were the result of both the acquisition of the housebuilding arm of Galliford Try, which trebled the group's size, along with the coronavirus outbreak, which it said 'has presented the most challenging period in our industry's long history.' They added: 'We have used and will use the furlough scheme fairly, responsibly and as it was intended - to protect people who would have otherwise lost their jobs as a result of coronavirus, to date topping up all salaries to 100 per cent.' Rachel Farr, an employment lawyer at Baker McKenzie, said employers would have 'some difficult decisions' to make after the Chancellor's announcement last week. She said: 'An employer which has furloughed its staff will have to consider whether it will have the work to bring employees back to work full-time, on short hours, or to make them redundant if there is no longer the work for them to do.' Given the fact the job retention scheme was specifically designed to prevent mass unemployment, This is Money asked the Treasury if it planned to reprimand or take any action against companies which took taxpayer money and then cut staff once the salary taps were tightened. It declined to comment. Chinese police stand guard in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing on Wednesday. The White House has released a scatching report condemning the Chinese leadership (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) The United States on Wednesday issued a wide-ranging attack on China highlighting Beijings predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. The 20-page report, which comes amid the two countries simmering feud over the coronavirus, does not signal a shift in US policy, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. But it does expand on the tough rhetoric Donald Trump hopes will resonate with voters angry about Chinas handling of the disease outbreak that has left tens of millions of Americans out of work. The medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the bigger picture of the challenge thats presented by the Chinese Communist Party, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday before the White House released its report. Chinas been ruled by a brutal, authoritarian regime, a communist regime since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchanges, diplomatic outreach, letting them in the World Trade Organisation as a developing nation. That didnt happen. We greatly underestimated the degree to which Beijing is ideologically and politically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact. Later in the day, the State Department announced it had approved the sale of advanced torpedoes to the Taiwanese military, a move sure to draw a rebuke from Beijing, which regards the island as a renegade province. The department said it had informed Congress of the $180 million (147 million) sale of heavy-weight torpedoes, spare parts, support and testing equipment, which will help improve the security of (Taiwan) and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region. Expand Close President Donald Trump, who again accused China of lying about its Covid-19 toll on Wednesday (Evan Vucci/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump, who again accused China of lying about its Covid-19 toll on Wednesday (Evan Vucci/AP) While pushing back on China, Mr Trump has sometimes uttered contradictory statements.He has talked about having a great personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, yet has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the coronavirus from spreading across the world. He has routinely criticised China, while also saying he wants Beijing to sign Phase II of a trade deal and join the US and Russia in a three-way nuclear arms control treaty. Late on Wednesday, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter that Chinas massive disinformation campaign is intended to help Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election. In the past 20 years, the US believed if it opened its markets wider, invested more money in China, and provided greater access to cutting-edge US technology and training for Chinese military officers that somehow this would cause China to liberalise, the official said. Instead, China is more authoritarian than at any time since Beijing killed anti-government protesters on Tiananmen Square in 1989, and the Chinese Communist Party is increasingly asserting its political ideas across the globe. The US and China established diplomatic relations in 1972. More than 40 years later, it has become evident that this approach underestimated the will of the Chinese Communist Party to constrain the scope of economic and political reform in China, the report said. Over the past two decades, reforms have slowed, stalled, or reversed. According to the report, the Trump administration sees no value in engaging with Beijing for symbolism and pageantry, saying: When quiet diplomacy proves futile, the United States will increase public pressure on China. Expand Close Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the media before the release of the report (Nicholas Kamm/Pool/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the media before the release of the report (Nicholas Kamm/Pool/AP) The latest example of the US-China power competition is playing out at the World Health Organisation (WHO). At the UN health agencys annual assembly this week, Mr Xi joined by video conference to offer more money and support. Meanwhile, Mr Trump railed against the WHO in a letter accusing it of covering up the coronavirus outbreak with China and threatening to permanently halt the US funding that has been its main financial lifeblood for years. China also has been engaged in a military buildup, has engaged in cyber hacking and Beijings pledge to end predatory economic practices is littered with broken and empty promises, the White House report said. China promised during the Obama administration that it would stop government-directed cyber theft of trade secrets for commercial gain and restated the same promise in the first two years of the Trump administration, the report said. In late 2018, however, the US and a dozen other countries reported China was hacking computers to target intellectual property and steal business information. Since the 1980s, Beijing has signed multiple international agreements to protect intellectual property. Despite this, more than 63 percent of the worlds counterfeits originate in China, inflicting hundreds of billions of dollars of damage on legitimate businesses around the world, the report said. The Trump administration also takes exception to how China continues to argue to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it is a developing country, even though it is the top importer of high-tech products and ranks second only to the US in terms of gross domestic product, defence spending and outward investment. Online food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato have reportedly been given the green light to commence home delivery of liquor to consumers in the state of Jharkhand. The Jharkhand state government gave the go-ahead to the two companies with the service currently rolling out for consumers in Ranchi. The service is expected to soon reach other cities of Jharkhand in the coming week. The development comes amidst the ongoing coronavirus lockdown across the nation According to a press statement by Swiggy, the app will now have a new Wine Shops section in the app. The service has begun in Ranchi with other cities to be added within the week. With the introduction of the new service, Swiggy will be introducing mandatory age verification and user authentication to complete the delivery. There will also be a cap on the amount of liquor one can order based on the state laws. Swiggy has also confirmed that it is in the final stages of discussions with various other state governments which means that the service could soon expand to other major cities across the country. Zomato is yet to release a press statement on the development. We have adopted hybrid system for making liquor available in some of the big cities like Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Deoghr, Dhanbad, Ramgarh, Giridih and Palamu by opening the retail liquor shops where people can go and purchase liquor taking care of the social distancing. Secondly, people can get home delivery of liquor at their doorsteps through the two food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy by downloading the app on their mobile phones, said Excise and Prohibition Secretary Vinay Kumar Chaoubey. With the relaxation of nationwide lockdown in the past couple of weeks, social distancing continues to be a huge challenge. The central government had allowed the sale of liquor across the country, and while states have limited the number of shops allowed to operate, long queues of customers were witnessed in all major cities around the country. Earlier this month, there was a report that Zomato is in the process of getting permission to deliver liquor to customers right at their doorsteps. Zomato and Swiggy have already diversified into grocery deliveries as the restrictions on movement shuttered some restaurants and people hesitated to order outside food due to fears of catching the disease. This is a big change for the liquor industry as this is the first time alcohol home delivery is being officially allowed in any part of India. This could also lead to a change in the laws pertaining to liquor consumption across the country and probably a centralized delivery system. International Spirits and Wines Association of India executive chairman Amrit Kiran Singh had earlier said that states should allow alcohol deliveries to help boost state revenues hit by the lockdown. The challenge is to ensure revenue from alcohol continues to be available. Chandigarh, May 21 : The Punjab government has sought consent to send 59 more special trains to Bihar, according to officials here on Thursday. Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh has written to his Bihar counterpart Deepak Kumar seeking the government's consent in this regard. An official spokesperson said the consent had been sought to ply 12 trains everyday and detailed list of 59 trains had been sent to the Bihar government. However, trains have already been running from Punjab to many cities of Bihar. The state has made arrangements to run 59 more trains as the migrant workers wished to return their home state. The spokesperson said these trains would run from Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali, Amritsar, Sirhind and Patiala to various cities of Bihar, including Buxar, Sitamarhi, Patna, Saharsa, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra, Kishanganj, Hajipur, Gaya, Bettiha, Danapur, Siwan and Katihar. More than 2.5 lakh migrant workers have been sent to their home states by 220 trains. An Accra Circuit Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of a former staff of the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) identified as Ishmael Innusah for defrauding by false pretences. The suspect is alleged to have absconded with an amount of GH43,000 and US$500 plus a passport from a complainant under the pretext of acquiring a resident permit and execution of contract and has since gone into hiding. The suspect, Ishmael Innusah, 35, is fair in complexion, slender and five feet eight inches tall. He was last seen at Dome, Madina, McCarthy Hill, 37 Military Hospital DVLA Branch, Tema and the Cargo Transport Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, all in Accra. Anybody with information on his whereabouts should report to the Accra Regional Police CID or the nearest police station; or call telephone numbers 0542106477 or 0244218384 for necessary police action. ---Daily Guide NEW YORK, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw Hill's ALEKS has won two prestigious 2020 CODiE Awards for its ALEKS Placement, Preparation and Learning (PPL) and chemistry courseware solutions, the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced earlier this week. The awards are the latest recognition for McGraw Hill ALEKS, which has served millions of K-12 and college level math and chemistry students for over 20 years. The two 2020 awards won for ALEKS are: Best Formative Student Assessment Solution - ALEKS Placement, Prep and Learning (PPL) Best Science Instructional Solution for Grades 9-12 and Higher Education ALEKS Chemistry The SIIA administers the CODiE Awards every year to recognize the most innovative technologies in the software industry. The CODiE Awards are also the only peer-recognized awards program that centers on acknowledging educational learning systems, content and software. "ALEKS is one of the best examples of how technology can help instructors provide a robust and engaging learning experience, regardless of the teaching mode," said Simon Allen, CEO of McGraw Hill. "Built on the best of learning science and artificial intelligence, ALEKS has helped millions of students in K-12 and higher education to learn math and chemistry more effectively and we continue to innovate with it to help improve student outcomes and increase affordability." McGraw Hill ALEKS is a personalized and dynamic learning software that is rooted in over 20 years of learning science research and analytics. The software saves students time and money by diagnosing exactly where they are at in their learning journey and providing personalized instruction that allows them to progress at their own pace, boosting their confidence along the way. Use of ALEKS has grown steadily over time with 5.2 million unique users in McGraw Hill's most recent fiscal year, up 12% compared to the previous year. In 2019, McGraw Hill celebrated the 20th anniversary of ALEKS, launching a national teaching award recognizing educators who used ALEKS to unlock the potential of their students. This year's CODiE Awards follow three won in 2019 for ALEKS PPL and the ALEKS math courseware. ALEKS PPL effectively prepares students for math courses where they have a strong opportunity to succeed. More than just a placement exam, PPL offers a powerful combination of accurate assessment of math ability and personalized learning to review and refresh lost knowledge. Colleges and high schools turn to ALEKS PPL to help bridge the math gap and support students by helping them bypass courses they don't need and passing those that support their academic progress. About McGraw Hill McGraw Hill is a learning science company that delivers personalized learning experiences that help students, parents, educators and professionals drive results. Headquartered in New York City, McGraw Hill has offices across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions for PreK-12, higher education, professionals and others available in more than 75 languages. Visit us at mheducation.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter. Contact: Tyler Reed McGraw Hill (704) 408-6969 [email protected] SOURCE McGraw Hill Related Links https://www.mheducation.com 21.05.2020 LISTEN The former President, John Dramani Mahama yesterday donated an amount of $3,200 to complete the cost of surgery for Ms. Hawa, Bukari, a 26-year-old level 400 University Student who was diagnosed with a hole-in-heart 3years ago. If readers will recall, in August last year, an appeal for fund was initiated by Marhaba FM, an Accra based radio station to support the cost of surgery for Ms. Hawa Bukari. After nine months of campaign, the station was able to raise an amount of $3,300. Fortunately, former President John Mahama got wind of the young ladys predicament a week ago and after just 3 days of preliminary arrangements, he stepped in to donate the amount of $3,200 to complete the Total cost of $6,500 for the surgery. Subsequently, a few more people sent in their donations and that was given to the family to take care of other peripheral expenses. The presentation was jointly made by Alhaji Baba Sherrif, the General Manager of Marhaba FM and Alhaji Mustapha Abubakar, who represented the former President, John Dramani Mahama. Speaking at the ceremony held in the Conference Hall of the National Cardiothracic Centre(NCTC) of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the General Manager of Marhaba FM expressed his delight about the swift response from the former president, John Mahama. We have been making this appeal for the past 9 months now. With this grand intervention, it is a great relief to come to the end of yet another success story of completing the amount needed for the surgery he intimated. Receiving the Cheque of a total of $6,500, Dr. Lawrence Agyeman Sereboe, who is the Head of the Unit expressed gratitude to the management of Marhaba FM and especially, the former President for his philanthropic gesture. He further called on the general public to emulate his good example. According to Dr. Innocent Adzamli, the Consultant in charge, the surgery will take about four hours to complete after the preliminary laboratory tests are conducted to ascertain the level of pressure in the heart. He therefore anticipated a successful operation which will see Ms. Bukari leaving the hospital after a recovery period of two weeks. Ms. Hawa Bukari and her parents could not hide their joy for seeing the end of their 3 year long trauma. They expressed gratitude to the former President and said even though the former President wanted this support from him to be on the quiet, they can't hide their joy. The family also thanked Marhaba FM and all other well wishers who contributed towards the noble objective. Reported By: SHAMSU M. SHAIBU (Newser) Jack Dorsey, the billionaire CEO of Twitter and Square, is donating $5 million to the nonprofit created by Andrew Yang to make the case for a universal basic income in America. Dorsey, a donor to the former Democratic presidential candidate's campaign, announced the donation to Humanity Forward while appearing on Yang's podcast on Monday, reports Rolling Stone. A UBI is "long overdue," Dorsey told the tech entrepreneur, whose campaign centered on a proposed $1,000 monthly payment to all adult Americans. Dorsey added "the only way we can change policy is by experimenting and showing case studies of why this works." The money is to be distributed in $250 increments to 20,000 people who've suffered economically in the pandemic, per the Verge. story continues below "Not only will Jack's donation directly impact tens of thousands of people in need during the current economic downturn, it will help Humanity Forward and our movement continue to make a case for universal basic income in the United States," Yang said in a statement. Dorsey sees a UBI as important during the pandemic and well beyond. "Every single field is going to be touched by automation, and UBI to me represents a floor that people can stand on, and have the knowledge and peace of mind that they could survive and eat and feed their children while they are learning how to transition into this new world," he said. Dorsey has already donated at least $87 million of a pledged $1 billion to coronavirus relief efforts, per Business Insider. (Spain is on board for a UBI.) Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 21, 2020 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 21, 2020 | 12:02 PM | PADUCAH A man faces several charges after a pursuit Tuesday afternoon in Paducah The Paducah Police Department says an officer was on patrol shortly before 4 p.m. and attempted to stop a vehicle after the driver disregarded a stop sign at Levin and Park Avenue. The driver, 23-year-old Harold McKinney of Paducah, stopped, got out of the car, then got back in the vehicle. He then put the vehicle into reverse, nearly striking the officer and his vehicle. McKinney fled in his vehicle a short distance onto Cruise Avenue before getting out and fleeing into a wooded area. Officers were able to apprehend McKinney a short time later. Officers found marijuana on McKinney and a stolen handgun under the drivers seat of the vehicle he was driving. McKinney was booked into the McCracken County Jail on charges of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, receiving stolen property, first-degree wanton endangerment and other charges. Flash Xi says China opposes disruption of int'l anti-epidemic cooperation - Xinhua | English.news.cn Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that China opposes acts that disrupt international cooperation against the COVID-19 pandemic and undermine the world's and especially developing countries' anti-epidemic efforts. In a telephone conversation with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Xi added that China is willing to continue to work with the international community, including Bangladesh, to support the World Health Organization in playing a leading role, promote international cooperation on joint prevention and control, and safeguard global public health security. Xi said that at the critical moment in China's fight against the coronavirus disease, various sections of Bangladeshi society extended support to China in different ways, which has demonstrated the profound friendship the Bangladeshi people share with the Chinese people. As the epidemic is currently spreading in South Asia, the task of prevention and control remains arduous, said Xi, adding that China will continue to provide firm support and as much assistance as its capacity allows for Bangladesh's anti-epidemic efforts in line with the latter's needs, and will also send a medical team to Bangladesh in the near future. He said he is confident that under Hasina's leadership, the Bangladeshi people will prevail over the epidemic at an early date. Expressing gratitude for the Bangladeshi government's help for Chinese nationals in the country, he said China will also continue to ensure the safety and health of Bangladeshi citizens in China. China and Bangladesh are neighbors with traditional friendship and also important development partners, Xi said, suggesting that the two countries strengthen their strategic cooperative partnership and deepen cooperation in the joint construction of the Belt and Road. He added that China stands ready to work with Bangladesh, on the basis of putting in place proper epidemic prevention and control measures, to gradually create favorable conditions for the two sides to resume the implementation of key cooperation projects and maintain the stability of industrial and supply chains, and lay a sound foundation for them to expand cooperation in various fields after the pandemic. For her part, Hasina said that Bangladesh and China have a long-standing and profound friendship and Xi's successful state visit to Bangladesh in 2016 elevated bilateral relations to a new height. When Bangladesh was experiencing a difficult time in its fight against the epidemic, China provided valuable support and assistance which has strengthened Bangladesh's capability for the epidemic prevention and control, and shored up Bangladesh's confidence in overcoming difficulties, for which Bangladesh is deeply grateful, Hasina said. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge which should be jointly addressed by all countries, she said. The Bangladeshi prime minister thanked China for taking care of Bangladeshi nationals in China, especially Bangladeshi students in Wuhan, adding that her country will provide a good guarantee for the life of Chinese nationals in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is ready to jointly build the Belt and Road with China and promote the continuous development of the strategic cooperative partnership between Bangladesh and China, she added. In a release it was explained that the National Cyber Centre advised Parliament that Zoom should only be used for public business with reports suggesting half a million Zoom accounts may be available on the dark web. Concerns have recently prompted Zoom to introduce a host of security updates to counter recent Zoom Bombings, in which third parties join calls to shout abuse or show offensive images. The COVID-19 crisis has seen millions of new users sign up to Zoom to host meetings and provide important updates to employees working remotely, said Paul Farrington, chief technology officer of Veracode. However, in recent weeks a series of security missteps and bugs have been discovered, which raise fresh questions about the cyber risks and privacy issues associated with online conference systems. With this in mind, its critical that key government departments are cautious if using the platform for sensitive meetings, around national security, and public health. With cyberattacks on the rise, its also crucial that users ensure they have downloaded the latest versions of these applications, to prevent hackers from gaining access and stealing data. In addition, the release highlighted the extent of the governments investment in new devices with 41,300 new laptops, tablet computers and mobile phones picked up across the departments. The tidal wave of new device purchases, including tens of thousands of laptops, tablets and mobiles is essential for ensuring that government departments can operate effectively during the Coronavirus lockdown, said Andy Harcup, VP of Absolute Software. However, the rush to implement new remote working models must be accompanied by a rigorous and robust approach to cyber security. Key to this is ensuring complete visibility into the device estate, so that IT chiefs can ensure every single user has that latest security updates, including checking that apps like Zoom are up to date and secure. Its also critical to be able to wipe, track and freeze laptops which contain confidential data, in the event of theft or loss. Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Spain has followed Italys steps with a week of difference. The measures taken in each country to slow the outbreak, such as the closure of schools, the declaration of the state of alarm and the total shutdown of the economy, have been in sync up until now. While Italy has reactivated almost all business activity in the country and will open its borders to tourists on June 3, the Spanish government has decided on a more cautious route. Under Spains deescalation plan, travel within the country will not be allowed until at least the end of June. Health authorities have indicated that the summer holiday season will start later this year and be focused on domestic not international tourism. Indeed, Spain has not set a date to reopen its borders to tourists, and just recently introduced a 14-day quarantine for international travelers, which will be in place until at least June 7, when the current state of alarm is set to end. We are defending our interests. If there is a problem in Mallorca or Alicante or Malaga or Madrid, it is not going to be solved by the German, French or British governments Member of the Spanish government The Spanish government has chosen not to follow Italys example because it believes the move is premature, according to sources from the executive. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has expressed this very concern to some of his aides. Italy is deescalating too quickly. Hopefully it will work out for them, but they are risking a lot, he reportedly told them. There is enormous pressure from the tourism industry of both countries. But where the Italian government has decided to risk opening its borders to mitigate the economic fallout of the crisis, Spain believes the threat of a spike in new coronavirus cases is too high. Spain, in fact, has reported slightly better coronavirus figures over the past few days. On Monday, for example, there were 256 new cases in Spain and 451 in Italy, while daily deaths were 59 and 99 respectively, according to the World Health Organizations (WHO) records. As of Thursday, the total number of victims in Spain stood at 27,999, compared to 32,007 in Italy. Spain has a smaller population than Italy, with 47 million people compared to 60 million. The Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has prioritized the countrys economic recovery over health concerns against the recommendations of some government epidemiologists. The deescalation process in Italy has also been left in the hands of regional authorities. This is in stark contrast to Spain, where the central government controls where and when confinement restrictions are eased. This allows the government to ensure that only regions judged by health experts to be ready to move to the next phase are able to do so, but it has also led to a fierce battle with Madrid regional authorities, who have taken their fight to move to Phase 1 to the Supreme Court. People sit in a restaurant's outdoor seating area in Milan, Italy, on Wednesday. MATTEO CORNER (EFE) But sources from La Moncloa, the seat of government in Spain, say that it is better to suffer the economic effects of the lockdown a little longer than risk a spike in new cases that would lead to new confinement measures and completely destroy the tourism industry. In Italy there is a lot of pressure from the tourism sector. Here as well, but we are opting for prudence. They are assuming a very high risk, explains a member of the government. In tourism, you are gambling with your reputation. We want to be considered a safe destination again. And to do that, there is nothing better than avoiding a step back that would destroy our image. Another member of the Spanish Cabinet agrees: It does not make sense to make the gamble for just a few more weeks. We have our deescalation plan and we are going to maintain it [...] There will not be any movement between the provinces until all of them pass all the phases [...] No one would understand why a Spaniard is unable to visit their mother in Galicia while a German national can go to their house in Mallorca. That is not going to happen. No one would understand why a Spaniard is unable to visit their mother in Galicia while a German can go to their house in Mallorca Source from Spanish government According to government sources, Sanchez gets visibly annoyed when a member of the Cabinet mentions the pressure to accelerate the deescalation process. We are all under pressure. We are here to resist it. The absolute priority is lowering the level of contagion, he reportedly said at one meeting. Pressure is not just coming from the tourism sector, but also from other European governments. Thousands of German, British, French and Belgian citizens own homes in Spain. But some of these countries, especially the United Kingdom, are still fighting against the coronavirus pandemic. If a resident from outside of Spain were to spark a new wave of coronavirus infections, the problem would fall to the Spanish government, explain government sources. We are defending our interests. If there is a problem in Mallorca or Alicante or Malaga or Madrid, it is not going to be solved by the German, French or British governments. It is going to be our problem. And the blow to Spains image could be permanent, says a member of the Spanish government. It is not a question of closing the country under lock and key, adds a minister. No one wants that. We all want to reopen. But we have to protect the deescalation, and above all, ourselves as a destination. Lets not forget that 80 million people visit us every year. The members of the government consulted by EL PAIS did not deny that another reason to avoid reopening borders is the current explosive political mood. One wrong step would be fatal for the Sanchez administration, which has been facing increasingly heated attacks from the opposition and protest groups. All this has led the government to take one of the toughest positions on the deescalation process in Europe. It will soon be revealed who made the right call on the most difficult decision of the crisis: when to enter the new normality. English version by Melissa Kitson. Vials used in a study of a potential coronavirus vaccine from the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press) If there is a silver lining to the flawed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, it is this: The relatively high number of new cases being diagnosed daily upward of 20,000 will make it easier to test new vaccines. To determine whether a vaccine prevents disease, the studys subjects need to be exposed to the pathogen as it circulates in the population. Reopening the economy will likely result in faster spread of the coronavirus and therefore more opportunities to test a vaccines efficacy in trial subjects. Under a proposal under discussion by a committee set up by the National Institutes of Health, each of four or five experimental vaccines would be tested on about 20,000 trial participants with a placebo group of 10,000 for each vaccine. Some 50 U.S. medical centers and perhaps an equal number overseas would participate in these trials. On Monday, Moderna, the biotech company, reported promising results in the first eight of 45 people enrolled in an initial test of the safety and immune responses to its vaccine. Analysts attributed a 900-point jump in the Dow that day at least partly to this very preliminary data, so eager are investors for any signs of progress in efforts to control the pandemic. Moderna is running animal and human studies simultaneously, and plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build laboratories where the vaccine will be produced even before its approved. The Food and Drug Administration on May 12 promised an accelerated review of Modernas vaccine, which works by injecting pieces of synthetic viral RNA into the body to stimulate an immune response to the virus. The speed in developing vaccines for widespread testing this summer is impressive, certainly compared with the nations inadequate, delayed response to providing coronavirus testing and PPE to healthcare providers. Still, many scientists have expressed skepticism at the breakneck timetable put forward by some Trump administration officials, who say that 100 million doses of a vaccine could be available by November. Even the normally sober Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Senate committee on May 12 that a vaccine could have proven safety and efficacy by then. Story continues Running a trial of the size and speed contemplated by the NIH will be an immense undertaking. Just setting up trial locations and getting common consent and data-entry forms into shape usually takes months. Enrolling 30,000 people for a single vaccine trial is a big challenge. In addition, defining success in a vaccine against COVID-19 will be no simple matter. As scientists design vaccine trials, they first have to set the endpoints that determine success or failure. Death? Length of illness? Hospitalization? Number of days in which a subject is infectious? If there is little virus circulating where a trial is being run, even a vast study wont prove anything. On the other hand, if a vaccine trial had started in early April in New York City, where roughly 10,000 cases a day were reported for weeks, 30,000 participants would have been plenty to show whether the vaccine protected against disease. In all likelihood, the big NIH trials will focus on rates of infection as well as clinical symptoms such as fever and cough. To discover whether the vaccine prevents severe disease, which is relatively rare, is harder. COVID-19, according to one account, kills about 0.6% of those it infects, while perhaps six times that many require hospitalization. People who take part in a trial will be given clear instructions to protect themselves against infection through social distancing, face masks, frequent hand-washing and so on. That will lower the numbers of people infected during the study. Youd have to ask all the people enrolled in a trial to practice good hygiene, says Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. You dont want them to get infected but you do. When Jonas Salk announced the successful trial of his polio vaccine in 1955, the nation celebrated a vaccine that could virtually eliminate a deadly infectious disease overnight. A new coronavirus vaccine may not provide that kind of overnight success. Instead, it may be more akin to the flu vaccine, which reduces the risk or severity of the illness but requires a new shot each year. Vaccinating 20,000 people in a trial can reveal whether a vaccine is clearly dangerous to a general population. But when 200 million receive the same vaccine, less common side effects could still affect thousands. Botched batches of polio vaccines released after Salks trial permanently paralyzed 200 people and killed 10. Early vaccines against measles caused tens of thousands of cases of grave illness in the 1960s. Maurice Hilleman, the vaccine pioneer who developed successful vaccines against measles, mumps, hepatitis A and B and other diseases, once said he never breathed a sigh of relief until the first 3 million doses had been delivered. Unexpected problems naturally bedevil quick rollouts, as this one will almost certainly be as the nation searches for a way to check a pandemic that is killing tens of thousands of Americans and paralyzing the economy. But as Gregory Poland, the leader of Mayo Clinics vaccine research, told me, There is an irresolvable tension of speed versus safety. Arthur Allen is an editor for Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. He is also the author of "Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicines Greatest Lifesaver." As the Covid-19 crisis started unfolding in India in March, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) came up with a new training module to deal with calamities in times of the pandemic. The preparation was meant to be for the approaching monsoons and the flooding season. Little did the force know that Amphan, the first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal since the disaster of 1999, would challenge their training just a month later. Amphan moved in with winds gusting up to over 200 km per hour, covering an area of over 600 kilometres and measuring 15 kilometres in height, before it hit land on Wednesday afternoon. By the time it hit the coast, it was gusting at about 160 kmph, slower but still whipping these states coastal regions with its fury and enough to be classified as an extremely severe cyclonic storm. Such devastating speeds meant that a trail of destruction was a foregone conclusion. It was the human cost that was to be minimised. The cyclone began by hitting the mangrove areas of Sundarbans before carving north and north-eastwards towards Kolkata. As many as 72 people in West Bengal have been confirmed dead so far, 15 of them in the state capital, and reports have not come in yet from all districts. Thousands of trees were uprooted, electricity and telephone lines were brought down and houses were flattened or blown away. Many of Kolkata's roads are flooded and the city is without power. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she had never seen a disaster of this magnitude. This has been the mother of all disasters, she said, adding that the damage could have been much more severe. What made relief efforts tougher this time was the added threat of coronavirus as people crammed into makeshift camps will increase the threat of infections. Thankfully, India did not ignore the lessons from the 1999 super-cyclone that slammed Odisha and claimed nearly 10,000 lives. At the time, the state had failed to minimise the damage by wrongly predicting that two important cities, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, wouldn't be affected by the storm. The shelter capacity was also limited to 75,000. Accurate alert systems meant that 41 teams of NDRF with about 40 members in each had spread out to various parts of West Bengal and Odisha last week after the Indian Meteorological Department alerted for Cyclone Amphan. The IMD advisory specifically mentioned structures that could be damaged and needed evacuation: it warned of total destruction of thatched houses, extensive damage to kutcha houses., potential threat from flying objects, major damage to kutcha and pucca roads, disruption of railways, overhead power lines and signalling system, bending or uprooting of power and communication poles. Thousands of trees were uprooted, houses were flattened and roads were flooded due to the Cyclone. (Photo: News18) Armed with the information, 21 NDRF teams in West Bengal and 20 in Odisha went around with state authorities to evacuate people. More than 5 lakh people were evacuated and taken to relief camps in West Bengal, while 2 lakh plus were evacuated in Odisha. "Odisha has been repeatedly seeing cyclones. They saw Fani last year too. So Odiyas take state advisories by states more seriously. In West Bengal, we had to work a little extra to convince people to leave their homes and go to evacuation centres set up by the state government," NDRFs DIG operational R Rana told News18. But this time, there was a dual challenge, evacuation from Amphan and protection from coronavirus. The virus and social-distancing measures made mass evacuations more difficult, with shelters unable to be used to full capacity. Schools, community centres and other government buildings had been turned into evacuation centres. In the epicentres of Sagar Island, Sundarbans and Kakdwip some villages had to be evacuated completely. Since a lot of these areas are islands or around riverine, work had to be done day and night to maintain social distancing in boats and yet evacuate all those who lived in structures marked dangerous. "Normally 2.5 to 3 square meter per person is what we calculate while allotting evacuation homes. Because of coronavirus this time it had to be 6-7 square meter," the DIG operations said. NDRF officials said IMD's timely and accurate warning made their job easier. Personnel on ground had time to repeatedly announce and sensitise villagers. Community leaders were roped in wherever villagers appeared reluctant to leave their homes. NDRF personnel armed with PPE kits have now started helping states with restoration, a task that could take months as road connectivity has been snapped and power and communication lines have all been damaged. The loss of life has been minimised by the evacuation, but loss of property is huge, especially in West Bengal. The NDRF says restoration will take time and the challenge is to keep Covid-19 away from the evacuation homes as people wait for their houses and their lives to be rebuilt. The coronavirus pandemic could worsen the life chances of disadvantaged children in Northern Ireland, the Equality Commission has warned. Schools in the region have been closed to all but a few pupils since late March due to the Covid-19 crisis, leading to fears that the pandemic will deepen existing educational inequalities, or lead to the emergence of new ones. Read More Education Minister Peter Weir said that the role out of thousands of digital devices to school children across Northern Ireland would mitgated some of the inequality pupils will experience during home learning. Chief commissioner Geraldine McGahey said the loss of a full term at school will have different impacts on different groups of children. Pre-schoolers will lose out on language, learning, social and behavioural benefit, she said. Older children, losing a full term in the classroom, and possibly returning part-time, will also lose out, but in particular we are concerned about those already experiencing inequality that is, boys, pupils entitled to free school meals, particularly Protestants and within that, particularly Protestant boys. We also see serious impacts on children who need specialist support in education, for example children with special educational needs or disabilities or those needing language support. The commissioner said there may also be equality impacts on GCSE, AS and A Level pupils who will not be sitting exams this summer. Ms McGahey added: It is important that the Department of Education is aware that its decisions, even where they need to be made urgently, may have different impacts on different groups of people. The Section 75 duties on public bodies to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity and regard to the desirability of promoting good relations generally still need to be complied with, even at times of crisis. We are all agreed, surely, that every child deserves the opportunity to fulfil his or her potential at school, and that no one should be unfairly disadvantaged because of their equality characteristics. Action now is essential, built on evidence and informed by parents, communities and wider stakeholders, to mitigate the risks to childrens futures. Mr Weir told the Assembly on Thursday that he aims to see a phased reopening of schools for key cohort years in late August. This will not be a return to school as it was prior to Covid, but rather a new normal reflective of social distancing and a medically safe regime, he added. He also said plans were being explored on providing thousands of electronic devices to children to support remote learning. When asked by the Belfast Telegraph about inequality during the daily Covid-19 briefing, Mr Weir said: In terms of devices, there is a range of mitigating measures that we will want to put in place. To try and ensure whatever disadvantages are there the gaps are closed. Is there still likely to be some level of inequality in our society? Yes, I think that is likely. So in of itself this will not solve it, it will be part of a wider package of measures. In an imperfect situation all we can try and do is ensure we have as much mitigation as possible to give as much opportunity for every child as possible. Koulla Yiasouma, Commissioner for Children and Young People in NI, told the BBC Radio Ulster Nolan Show she was concerned that not all pupils have technology, such as iPads, required for effective home learning. Too many children are still not getting the education they need and we do not know the quality theyre getting, but we cannot blame individual schools and teachers. We need to take a systemic approach, she said. Under pressure from the popular disgust at unsanitary and crowded conditions that puts inmates at increased risk of infection and death from COVID-19, in March and April many governors signed executive orders that sanctioned the release of non-violent prisoners throughout the US. By May 14, at least 43 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP) had released some prisoners. However, new figures from the Vera Institute of Justice show that the US federal prison population dropped by a negligible 1.6 percent from December 31, 2019, to March 31, 2020, when the pandemic was already in full flight and 35 states had already issued lockdown orders. The population of state prisons only declined 1.8 percent in the same period. Further data from Prisonpolicy.org shows that there has been little increase in these figures for April and May. According to The Marshall Project, as of May 13, there had been 373 publicly reported deaths among prisoners from COVID-19. Among prison staff, there have been at least 28 deaths. Given a lack of testing across the country and reports of massive undercounting, both of these figures are undoubtedly huge underestimations. According to PrisonPolicy.orgs 2020 study of the American prison system, of the state systems 1.29 million inmates, 571,000 were non-violent criminals. The same study found that of the federal systems 226,000 prisoners, only 13,000 were incarcerated on violent criminal charges. Of the 631,000 in local jails, only 34,000 have been convicted for violent crimes, and the majority still await trial. All in all, nearly 65 percent of individuals held in the USs sprawling incarceration system are non-violent or are not yet convicted. The data emerging from individual states exposes the fraudulent nature of the orders put forward by the Trump administration as well as both Republican and Democratic governors. On April 20, Asa Hutchinson, the Republican governor of Arkansas, issued a directive to grant early release to inmates in state prisons. Of the 18,000-strong state prison population only 300 have been released as of May 12. On April 23, lawmakers approved the Democratic governor of Virginia Ralph Northams bill to allow the states Department of Corrections to release non-violent criminals and those with less than a year on their sentences. As of May 7, only 130 of the 38,000 in Virginias state prisons have been released. Other areas have sought to twist already paltry release statistics: for example, on May 5, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court stated that 1,000 people were released between April 3 and May 3. However, the vast majority of these were already scheduled for release before the pandemic began. In Illinois, the states Department of Corrections announced that 4,000 people had been released since March 1; however, more than 3,000 of these individuals had also been previously scheduled for release. Where prisoners have been able to appeal before prison boards, the authorities have been reluctant to let them go. For example, in Louisiana, out of 249 people considered for release, only 53 have been approved. In New Jersey, 54 people have been released from prison following an executive order signed on April 10, which is just 3 percent of those who are eligible for release under the governors order. Prisons in Ohio have been some of the worst hit, with at least 48 inmates dying in the state. Despite the sharp rise in deaths, the number of tests administered to inmates has been reduced to just 100 per day since May 1. The WSWS previously reported on horrific testimony that leaked from an inmate in the state on April 11. Despite the states lockdown beginning on March 23, Ohio prisons actually had more inmates on March 31, 2020, than on December 31, 2019. On April 16, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine approved the early release of just 105 of Ohios 49,000 state prison inmates. On March, US Attorney General Bill Barr ordered the release of high-risk inmates in facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons (BoP), which runs the majority of federal prisons and is under the direct jurisdiction of the Justice Department. From its inception, this order was totally hollow, applying to only 1,027 individuals. Barr subsequently extended the measure; however, even with this provision, as of April 23, the Bureau has only released 2.1 percent of its pre-COVID-19 prison population. It is unclear how many of these had releases scheduled before the crisis. A federal judge described the BoPs release process as Kafkaesque. Another PrisonPolicy.org report from May 1 concluded, States are not even taking the simplest and least controversial steps, like refusing admissions for technical violations of probation and parole rules. The maintenance of a steady influx of prisoners in the midst of the pandemic dovetails with the recent spate of violent police arrests for minor misdemeanors, including social distancing violations, in mostly working class neighborhoods across New York City. Had the intention of these federal and state orders been to release vulnerable prisoners from jails and prisons to protect them from the virus and slow its spread, these orders still came far too late and well after action was taken by countries with much smaller prison populations. On March 3, nearly 70,000 prisoners were released in Iran. On March 15, the World Health Organization published a report warning that [prisoners] are likely to be more vulnerable to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak than the general population because of the confined conditions in which they live together for prolonged periods of time. The report also emphasized that prisons would most likely act as vectors, increasing the diseases spread in the wider population. The ruling class has been aware of the threat posed to inmates and the wider community from acute outbreaks in the US prison system for months, yet little to no meaningful action has been taken. While there has been a slightly more substantial reduction in the countrys jail population, there has still been reluctance to carry out the mass releases necessary to save inmates and workers. As of May 14, across all states, the median jail reduction was 18 percent. Nearly three quarters of those held at jails are pretrial. This means thousands of legally innocent individuals face a potential death sentence, in many cases due to the inability to pay bail. Furthermore, the rapid movement of people in and out of jails that has continued throughout the pandemic has carried the virus back into poor and densely populated neighborhoods, contributing to the toll of the crisis on the working class. Nick Turner, director of the Vera Institute, stated, Without action, thousands of people living and working in corrections facilities, and in the communities surrounding them, will suffer debilitating disease and die avoidable deaths. Vera estimates that without immediate action as many as 100,000 lives of those in prison or involved in the prison industry could die. The bipartisan response to the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons has been, and will continue, to lead to preventable deaths both inside and outside the incarceration system. Nonetheless, the plight faced by millions of prisoners cannot be separated from the criminal nature of the USs criminal justice system before the outbreak. The vast majority of these inmates should never have been incarcerated. The crimes that they have committed reflect the precarity of the social conditions endured by American working class, and the unlimited greed of the corporations who rely on prison labor to expand their profits. This labor pool is maintained through the polices ongoing brutalization of the working class. On the other hand, the treatment of incarcerated members and toadies of the capitalist elite in response to the crisis has been in stark contrast. Ex-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was released last week and allowed to reside at his family home. Trumps former personal attorney Michael Cohen has also been granted early release. Michael Avenatti, a lawyer who rose to national attention for representing Stormy Daniels in a case against Donald Trump and who was incarcerated on extortion charges, was released to his friends luxury home in Venice, California. Many of these criminals, multimillionaires themselves, have participated actively in or helped cover up some of the gravest crimes of the American ruling class in recent years. Meanwhile, working-class prisoners, most of whom are innocent victims of the war on drugs or police brutality or were driven to crime by their social conditions, are facing a potential death sentence. The failure of the federal and state governments to release any significant number of inmates, protecting both prisoners and the wider population in the process, cannot be explained outside of the wider criminal response of the capitalist class to the pandemic. Profit has been the driving force behind all aspects of the criminal COVID-19 response, and the prisons have been no exception. Prison labor is exploited heavily as corporations seek to maximize profit, even amidst the pandemic. Corporations as varied as Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, AT&T and Pfizer continue to use prison labor. These workers typically make between $0.14 and $1.50 an hour. Even state governments have been attracted by the cost-cutting potential of prison labor. In at least 20 states, inmates are making hand sanitizer, face masks and gowns. New York states hand sanitizer is produced by prisoners earning just $0.16 per hour. Meanwhile in March, inmates at Rikers island in New York, 88 percent of whom are on pre-trial detention, were offered a measly $6 an hour to dig mass graves for the citys COVID-19 victims. A Russian nurse disciplined for wearing only lingerie beneath a transparent protective gown is afraid of losing her job after images taken by patients went viral. Colleagues, doctors and politicians have rushed to her defence, accusing hospital bosses in the city of Tula of failing to provide her with correct PPE for working on a coronavirus ward. They said she was not provided with proper scrubs to wear underneath the thin gown, which was also too thin to offer proper protection from the virus. Colleagues, top medics and politicians in Russia have rushed to the defence of a nurse who was photographed wearing only underwear beneath a PPE gown on a coronavirus ward They say the nurse was not provided with scrubs to wear beneath the gown leading to the 'embarrassing' situation, and should not be punished It comes after the medic, who has not been publicly identified, said she was 'too hot' underneath the gown and did not realise how transparent it was. The backlash comes after officials at Tula Hospital said they would take disciplinary action against the nurse for violating uniform codes, without specifying what the punishment will be. Male patients on the ward said they had 'no complaints' about the uniform, but admitted there was 'some embarrassment'. 'Now she is under big stress,' a colleague told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. 'She is in a state of shock and afraid of losing her job altogether.' Head of the Doctors' Alliance, Dr Anastasia Vasilyeva, who has been critical of the Russian response to coronavirus, offered to back the nurse in appealing against her punishment. 'If she turns to us, we will protect her,' she said. 'The fact that the costumes are of such a quality that do not meet the standards is a problem for management, not the nurse. 'The picture shows that she was wearing some kind of plastic suit. 'We need to pay attention not to her [lingerie], but that the (gown) does not meet the necessary standards. 'Firstly, a plague-proof costume is never transparent. 'And it must be made of a completely different fabric.' She did not break the law and 'why should she, if it is hot, put herself in any kind of danger?' One nurse who works with the punished woman said her colleagues 'do not want to say more as they are afraid to harm her. 'It is all very simple in Tula. Bullying will start against her.' Officials at Tula Hospital (pictured) threatened the nurse with disciplinary action for violating uniform codes after images taken by patients went viral The incident happened because there was a shortage of medical clothing to wear under the protective gown, she said. 'In general we are supplied with PPE, but from time to time we run out of something.' Nurse Oksana Drybo, from the same hospital, said it was important to understand 'why this happened'. There were insufficient supplies of disposable or reusable undergarments for nurses to wear as they treat coronavirus patients, she said. She complained: 'Medics do not like to be in transparent suits, but there are no others. 'And some do not have even transparent ones.' Former professional boxer, now a pro-Vladimir Putin MP, Nikolai Valuev, urged patients to write to the authorities in her support. 'Let's hope that the nurse with her appearance aroused in male patients the desire to live,' he said. 'They found strength in order to resist the disease even more actively. 'As a rule, good emotions always contribute to recovery.' Another politician Vitaly Milonov said: 'No disciplinary methods should be imposed on the (nurse). There was no malicious intentI'm sure she herself was embarrassed. 'In no case should the girl be punished, I am sharply against this.' Senator Vladimir Krugly said there was a 'violation of the mode of wearing of this protection' but there should be no 'reprisal' against the nurse. Head of Miss X lingerie brand Anastasia Yakusheva said: 'We want the Tula nurse to become a model of our underwear brand. 'We are ready to deliver several sets of exclusive new products for fitting, and in the future we plan to conclude an annual agreement with her.' But she would have to stop her work as a nurse, said Yakusheva. Trade Union leader Andrey Konoval said: 'It is clear that in this case there was a violation of generally recognised norms of the dress code and appearance at the workplace. 'In our opinion, it was possible to do without disciplinary action.' Drybo added: 'If patients photograph and spread (the pictures) so joyfully, then they are either not sick or they are being treated well and they should go home. 'Recovering patients should be grateful to the doctors who cured them.' [May 21, 2020] Tacton Smart Commerce Online Summit to Feature Speakers from Volvo and Siemens CHICAGO and STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tacton , a global leader in Smart Commerce solutions for manufacturers, today announced it will host the Smart Commerce Online Summit , a virtual event taking place on May 26 at 3 p.m. CET (9 a.m. EDT). The event will provide strategies for manufacturers to meet growing digital demands and will feature presentations from executives at both Volvo and Siemens. At the Tacton Smart Commerce Online Summit, global manufacturers will discuss how they are building the digital sales force of tomorrow, today. Presenters at this years event include Joachim Bondeson, IT Portfolio Manager for Sales & Order Solutions at Volvo Penta; Christine Radke, Head of Tools Excellence and Digital Officer at Sieens; Frederic Laziou, CEO at Tacton; and Nils Olsson, Chief Evangelist at Tacton. Registration for the online event can be found here . Tacton's Smart Commerce Online Summit is tailored to help decision-makers and business strategists use innovative digital solutions to develop new business models and generate growth. Practical presentations will provide valuable insights and information on the trends in digital sales. Attendees will learn: Why digital sales has become one of the central pillars of corporate strategy for manufacturers Which tools best in class manufacturers use to implement smart commerce strategies What challenges different categories of tools address in digital transformation journeys How manufacturers have successfully established digital commerce strategies globally, and the impact those strategies have had on costs, revenues, and profits For more information, or to register to attend, visit www.tacton.com/smart-commerce-online-summit . About Tacton Tacton enables Smart Commerce for manufacturers by empowering organizations to extend beyond traditional commerce. Tacton Smart Commerce ensures manufacturers always offer optimal solutions to their customers throughout the entire B2B buyer journey. Our industry expertise and leading technology enable a seamless customer experience. Tacton provides solutions to our global customers such as ABB, Bosch, Caterpillar, Daimler, MAN, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Toshiba and Yaskawa. Tacton is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and Stockholm, Sweden, with regional offices in Karlsruhe, Germany; Warsaw, Poland; and Tokyo, Japan. Contact: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The European Union's foreign policy chief on Thursday condemned a threat against Israel from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a threat to world peace. Josep Borrell, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, took to Twitter after Khamenei's comments sparked an angry response from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I condemn in the strongest possible terms the call by the Iranian Supreme Leader @khamenei_ir to fight Israel," Borrell wrote, using the Iranian leader's Twitter handle. "This is a threat to international peace and security. The security of Israel is of paramount importance and the EU will stand at its side," he declared. Borrell was responding to comments posted on Twitter by Khamenei on Wednesday in Farsi, English and Arabic. "Eliminating the Zionist regime doesn't mean eliminating Jews. We aren't against Jews," Khamenei wrote, explaining that what he meant was to "expel thugs like Netanyahu". "This is 'eliminating Israel'," he said. Shortly afterwards he added: "We will support and assist any nation or any group anywhere who opposes and fights the Zionist regime, and we do not hesitate to say this." The comment was also condemned by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and drew a counterthreat from Israel's Netanyahu. "He should know that any regime that threatens Israel with extermination will find itself in similar danger," Netanyahu wrote on his official Twitter feed in Hebrew. Search Keywords: Short link: Until mid-March, Zach Sass was the executive chef at Nashville Underground, a popular tourist spot known for its hot chicken on Music Row in Nashville. Sass, 31, had been a chef for 12 years, working all over the country and putting in 60- to 70-hour weeks. After Covid-19 forced Nashville Underground and other businesses to close, Sass found himself at home with time on his hands. Sass also needed to figure out a way to earn a living, which is how he came to launch his first website to promote the live cooking classes he's begun teaching via videoconferencing software. He set up the site with GoDaddy, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based domain registry and web-hosting service. "I'm not savvy when it comes to computers and technology," Sass says. "I was scared not having any skills." And yet, he got his site online and has begun teaching online classes, helping people to cook using the ingredients they have on hand in their kitchens and asking for donations between $10 and $100. Much of Sass's inbound traffic comes from LinkedIn, and he recently started using Google Ads to grow the business. Domain registries and hosts like GoDaddy, Wix, and Mailchimp have seen a bump in use since the worldwide quarantine began in March. GoDaddy has seen an 11.4 percent growth in domains Q1 over last year, with an acceleration in April, according to the company; its e-commerce platform experienced a 48 percent increase in paid subscribers in April over February. Tel Aviv-based Wix had 3.2 million people join in April, a monthly record. Mailchimp, which is based in Atlanta, began offering domains in November and saw websites publishing on its platform double in April, with a 64 percent increase in e-commerce transactions compared with the holiday season and a 107 percent increase over this time last year. In addition to laid-off workers getting online, brick-and-mortar businesses that were slow to digitize suddenly are finding themselves in need of a website or e-commerce vertical. Cultured Books, a St. Petersburg, Florida-based pop-up bookstore specializing in multicultural titles, has been around since 2018 but with a very limited presence online. "A lot of our business is face to face," says founder Lorielle Hollaway. "We didn't have a web store." With her physical shop closed, she's had to adapt, building a site with Mailchimp and setting up a partnership to sell through Bookshop.org, a marketplace launched in January to support independent booksellers. "The website is very helpful because people who didn't even know we had the pop-up space now know about us," she says. Hollaway has also begun hosting a read-aloud series in which community leaders in her area can read books to kids over video, and she's coming up with more ways to engage book buyers online. "We're definitely trying to change our business model," Hollaway says. "We're seeing a digitization of small business occurring right now that would've taken over a decade," says GoDaddy COO Andrew Low Ah Kee. "We're seeing it in a compressed time frame." LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Kentucky police chief is abruptly retiring as calls for his ouster intensified in the wake of a fatal shooting by officers of a black woman in her home. Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad sent out a letter to officers Thursday afternoon, saying there have been a lot of ups and downs in the job since he started in 2012. Conrad has come under withering criticism in recent weeks as the family of Breonna Taylor has sued the department and called for his firing. You all are weathering a lot right now and I know how challenging this is, Conrad wrote in the letter to officers. Approach this as we approach all our struggles as a team. Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot in her home March 13 during a warrant search. The warrant targeted a suspect who did not live at Taylors home, and police found no drugs. The FBI announced on Thursday it had started an investigation into the shooting. Conrad has weathered a few department scandals and a no-confidence vote from Louisvilles Metro Council in 2017. Benjamin Crump, a high-profile civil rights attorney who has joined the Taylor familys legal team, said Conrads departure is a significant step forward in getting justice for Breonna Taylor, her family, and the city of Louisville. We will not rest until everyone involved is held accountable, and Breonna Taylor gets the justice she so deserves, Crump said Thursday in a press statement. Earlier this week, Conrad was criticized by council member Barbara Shanklin during a public safety council meeting. She questioned Conrads leadership and why he was unable to answer several questions about search warrants. Sitting here listening, how do you run a department and not know whats going on in the department? Shanklin asked the chief. I dont care what goes wrong, youre going to be blamed for it. Conrad responded that he commands a department of 1,500 employees, and that many of the questions are issues that are handled in other areas of the department, lower down the chain of command, and he would have to follow up with other commanders to get the answers. Conrad said he would work through June 30. I was distressed to read Sen. Chap Petersens op-ed Its quiet in Virginia in the April 21 edition of The Roanoke Times suggesting that following public health guidelines of physical distancing may have been an overreaction. I live in Prince William County and work for Inova as a Registered Nurse. As a healthcare professional and Korean American with family and friends in Korea, I have a keen interest in following COVID-19 news and trends. One of the key differences between Korea and the U.S., including Virginia, is the wide availability of free and reliable testing. What Sen. Petersen dangerously fails to mention is just as important as what he does. We have very little idea of how widespread COVID-19 is in our state. Virginia has the fourth lowest rate of per-capita COVID-19 testing (the first is Puerto Rico, followed by Kansas and Texas) of 6.8 tests with results per 1,000 population. The state has tested less than 1% of its population. Testing is critical with a fast-moving virus like COVID-19. Moreover, public health officials stated that the peak for Virginia could be anywhere between late April to late May. Where I live in Northern Virginia, that peak could be mid-May. Lastly, Fairfax County, the county where I work, which Sen. Petersen represents, has the highest number of positive COVID-19 tests in the state. We should celebrate that not all hospitals in Virginia are overwhelmed. This means physical distancing guidelines are working and flattening the curve over time, which allow healthcare workers to adequately care for patients. Sen. Petersens words are reckless. Reopening the economy without adequate support for health care workers and other essential frontline responders, such as people working in grocery stores, farms, delivery services, child care, sanitation and other places, puts their lives on the line. To echo your article, the executive branch has authority to protect us during a public health emergency. Death and disease are not limited by the authority of our electeds and the survival of our ideologies is contingent on the survival of our communities. Without more testing, we dont know the true scope of the problem -- and until then, it is safer at home. KYOUNGHO KIM, RN, OCN, BSN ANNANDALE The TSA has introduced new measures at airports in order to make travel safer for passengers and officers this summer - but there has been no mention of temperature screenings. The updates, to be rolled out fully by the middle of June, were announced Thursday as there were more than 1.6 million coronavirus cases in the US and at least 94,862 deaths. Despite daily air travel rates dropping from two million to about 90,000 people per day amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSA revealed that numbers had increased over the past few weeks up to more than 230,000. The changes are in anticipation of Memorial Day weekend travel. 1. Wear a mask: A traveler pulls down her protective mask as a TSA agent compares her face to her identification at a security entrance at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday 2. Electronics and liquids must be placed in trays: This is so not to trigger the X-ray alarm otherwise passengers may have to leave the security line to correct the issue. Pictured, TSA officers wear protective masks at a security screening area at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday Security lines have rapidly reduced due to decreased passenger volume but the TSA said visual reminders on floors to keep six feet apart will be introduced to airports around the country in the next month. The appearance will vary from airport to airport. TSA officers at checkpoints are now using facial protection and travelers are encouraged to wear face masks too. However, passengers may need to adjust it during the screening process. Officials aim to decrease cross-contamination by instructing passengers to scan their own paper electronic boarding passes, instead of handing it to a TSA officer at the travel document podium. However they must then hold it out toward the officer so they can visually inspect it. Travel document podiums will also have plastic shields around the officer. Food items should be screened separate to carry-on baggage as it can trigger alarms. The TSA says that by putting it in a separate bin before the X-ray, an officer will not have to risk cross-contamination and inspect the bag. There's similar advice for prohibited items. The new guidance reminds travelers to 'pack smart', especially when it comes to quantities of liquids, gels, and other restricted items. 3. Staff now have plastic shields around them and passenger must scan their own boarding pass. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee looks on at Pittsburgh International Airport in Pennsylvania on May 7 4. Stay six feet apart with the help of new floor markers, which will vary in appearance from airport to airport 5. Food should be placed in a tray, not hand baggage: People using the self service kiosks to place their orders at a McDonald's Restaurant in Portland International Airport in February In response to COVID-19, TSA is allowing one liquid hand sanitizer container, up to 12 ounces per passenger, in carry-on bags but it must be removed for screening. Travelers are also encouraged to remove items from pockets and put them directly into their carry-on bags instead of into the bins to reduce touch-points during the screening process. Passengers should also put their belt inside of carry-ons. If the X-ray alarm goes off, passengers may have to leave the line to throw out the triggering item so that the officer does not have to touch bags. TSA updated security procedures Under new TSA rules, passengers must: Keep possession of their boarding passes. Instead of handing their boarding pass to a TSA officer at the travel document podium, travelers should now place their boarding pass (paper or electronic) on the boarding pass reader themselves. After scanning, travelers should hold their boarding pass toward the TSA officer to allow the officer to visually inspect it. Separate food for X-ray screening. Passengers should place their carry-on food items into a clear plastic bag and place that bag into a bin. TSA Precheck members do not need to remove items from their bags. Put belts, wallets, keys inside carry-on, put electronics and liquids in trays. If a bag is found to contain a prohibited item, passengers may be directed to return to the divestiture table outside of security with their carry-on bags to remove the item and dispose of the item. The passenger may also be directed back outside of security to remove, items and resubmit their property for X-ray screening. Practice social distancing in accordance with new floor markers. Noticeable adjustments leading up to the security checkpoint include, increasing the distance between individuals as they enter the security checkpoint, placing visual reminders of appropriate spacing on checkpoint floors and staggering the use of lanes where feasible. Wear facial protection. TSA officers at checkpoints are now using facial protection. Travelers are encouraged to wear face protection to the checkpoint as well but may need to adjust it during the screening process. Advertisement 'In the interest of TSA frontline workers and traveler health, TSA is committed to making prudent changes to our screening processes to limit physical contact and increase physical distance as much as possible,' TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement. 'We continue to evaluate our security measures with an eye towards making smart, timely decisions benefiting health and safety, as well as the traveler experience.' More than 500 TSA officers have been infected with coronavirus and six have died. The announcement didn't mention temperature checks which the Wall Street Journal reported last week could come to a dozen airports soon. The Journal reported that machines could test whether a passenger's temperature was above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The main building of Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang As part of its global expansion plan, The Shilla Hotels & Resorts has introduced Shilla Monogram an upper-upscale brand fulfilling its three-line hotel brand system: The Shilla (luxury), Shilla Monogram (upper-upscale), and Shilla Stay (upscale). Its first upper-upscale property Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danangwill be opened atop the tranquil sandy beachfront between Danang city and the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An in Quang Nam province on June 26, 2020. Starting with Danang, The Shilla Hotels & Resorts is planning to enter about 10 foreign cities in the US, Indonesia, and Vietnam to become a Korean global hotel chain. Pool view from the Family Cabana at Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang Opened in March 1979, The Shilla Hotels & Resorts is part of South Korean tech titan Samsung Group. Since its establishment, it has been one of the growth engines of the South Korean service industry with pride and responsibility as the face representing Samsung Group and the hotel representing Korea. Apart from hospitality investment, The Shilla operates a number of duty-free stores in South Korean and foreign airports, including venues at three of Asias busiest airports: Singapores Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, and Incheon International Airport. Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang promises premium hotel experiences Shillas portfolio of hotels and resorts in Korea nurtured through 41 years includes The Shilla Seoul and The Shilla Jeju for the luxury market and 12 Shilla Stay properties for the upscale market. Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang, the first and flagship property established under the Shilla Monogram brand, is the first resort of this leading Korean hotel group in Vietnam. It is developed in tandem with Vietnamese partner TCG Land, a reputable Vietnamese real estate and construction corporation under a hotel management agreement. This collaboration seeks to elevate the expertise of The Shilla in hotel set-up and operation and that of TCG Land in construction and investment. The Adult Pool at Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang is set on a perfect location by the tranquil sandy beach between Danang city and the UNESCO World Heritage town of Hoi An a mere 20-minute drive from the two top travelling destinations for international and domestic visitors. The resort boasts 309 rooms with one luxury beachfront Monogram Villa; four outdoor pools catering for families and couples; as well as two restaurants and two bars serving world-class international gastronomy in truly distinctive settings designed and inspired by experienced executive chefs from The Shilla and talented Vietnamese chefs. Targeting the burgeoning number of domestic holidaymakers, this life-style resort promises to deliver premium hotel experiences with an eye for detail as a new leisure style in Vietnams central region. Open in late June, after the COVID-19 pandemic, Shilla Monogram Quangnam Danang has made every effort to foster scrupulous hygiene in each step of its operations with genuine care to ensure a virus-free environment for guests. More hand sanitiser stations, temperature checkpoints have been set up, while all resort associates are required to wear protective facemasks and virtual assistance has been made available for guests as Shilla Monograms new standards. In this age of social distancing and what I like to call Textcommunication, people have had to resort to a variety of methods to meet. Some of them are quite effective, but most are a poor substitute for facing someone across a table whether in the kitchen, the dining room or the conference room. Business meetings are particularly troublesome because the normal empathy and affection that comes from family relations (okay, most family relations) is missing from these more formal situations. However, I do expect some level of respect for opposing views. How naive. A recent example of a business meeting that soured is the May 11 meeting of the Radnor Board of Commissioners. It was open to the public, if sitting in front of your computer and clicking on the YouTube or Zoom app qualifies as open to the public. I dont live in Radnor, but I have friends who do and I was interested in finding out how the commissioners were going to deal with a controversial issue namely, the fact that Penn Medicine was intent on opening up a medical facility where abortions might be performed. Everyone knows that abortion is legal, so it wasnt a question of whether Penn could perform abortions. The fundamental issue was whether it should perform abortions in a highly concentrated area within walking distance of two high schools, Radnor and Archbishop Carroll, and a popular recreational spot where kids often congregate, the Gravity Vault. It is reasonable to assume that even those who support abortion rights might have a problem with a facility performing those terminations right under the eyes of their impressionable children, not to mention the fact that one of those schools is a part of the Philadelphia archdiocese. You might be saying, Wow, I had no idea that abortions were going to be performed down the street from two high schools and a popular recreational spot where kids often congregate. Thats because both Penn Medicine and the board of commissioners have successfully maneuvered the issue into obscurity. Im not saying that they have deliberately lied to the people of Radnor Township about whether abortions will be performed at the new Penn facility set to open later this month. Im saying that they have tried to keep the information on the down low, doing their utmost to silence the voices of a very strong, very dedicated opposition. I will fully admit to not having followed this story from the very beginning, when Penn Medicine sought a zoning variance so that it could open the facility in question. It was apparently a part of a zoning change to a prized section of Radnor real estate known as the Planned Laboratory Office district. Ive researched a number of earlier articles that discussed the zoning change, as well as the information made available by the board of commissioners, and there was almost no discussion of abortions. Thats not surprising, since its such a controversial topic. And since it is such a controversial subject, those who are in favor of abortion and want those services to be made available in residential areas have learned how to cover up their proposals and agendas in language like ambulatory care, which is exactly how the supporters of Penn Medicine were able to get approval for the zoning change. If they had come out and said we are opening an abortion clinic several hundred feet from two high schools and a popular kids hangout, its likely that the proposed changes would have faced significant opposition. Use the word abortion and they would have passed with as much ease as a gallstone. Cover that up, and you are assured greater success. And success is what Penn Medicine and its advocates on the board of commissioners got. The zoning variances were approved, and Penn broke ground on the facility which as noted before is set to open this month. In February, Commissioner Richard Booker received an email from a constituent, asking if he could find out if Penn intended to perform abortions at the new site, located at 145 King of Prussia Road. Booker reached out to the township manager, who sent an inquiry to Penn Medicine. There was no response. At a public board meeting in March, before the pandemic closed everything down, numerous residents attempted to voice their concerns about the possibility of abortions being performed so close to schools, but the commissioners shut down any discussion and indicated that comments could be made at the next meeting. Then, of course, came the COVID apocalypse. I didnt think about the issue for a while, because to be honest, it didnt touch me in my own backyard. But a friend alerted me to Monday nights board meeting, which was going to be held virtually. Out of curiosity, I tuned in. What I saw offended me both as a woman, a lawyer and a resident of Delaware County. At the point in the hearing where Commissioner Booker again attempted to force the board to seek clarification from Penn Medicine as to whether it would be performing abortions, he was screamed over, shouted down, and treated in the most disrespectful manner by a chorus of men and women who looked like a deranged version of The Brady Bunch. The Zoom screen showed them as they shouted point of order and he doesnt have a second on his motion and stop and other things I couldnt entirely understand, but which are memorialized in this YouTube link of the meeting. ( https://youtu.be/cq2di3333Fs?list=PLWSgQZEOk8cWtSffPqinXykgq69vqgc6y) Unsurprisingly, the attempt to seek some accountability from Radnors new neighbor went down in flames. But that wasnt the worst part. In an apparent nod to the many people who had real concerns about the prospect of abortions being performed as ambulatory services, board President Jack Larkin deigned to read into the record emails that had been solicited by the board. This was, apparently, its attempt at transparency. I watched as Larkin read each email, some of them quoting scripture, some of them simply asking questions, some of them making earnest pleas on behalf of a community in which they had long lived and maintained deep ties. He started out reading them in a normal, unobjectionable manner. But as he seemed to realize the content of the messages, a note of disdain filled his voice. He began to describe the punctuation used by each writer, saying dot, dot, dot or whatever unique or idiosyncratic grammatical aspect of the email he found interesting. In doing so, it was obvious that he was trying to diminish the meaning of these good-faith attempts to get answers, and yes prevent the community from hosting a de facto abortion clinic. I thought it was just my imagination, but when I spoke afterwards to the friend who alerted me to the Zoom meeting, she agreed that the whole set up was disrespectful and arrogant. You can disagree on the topic of abortion, and I know that many find my own beliefs to be abhorrent. You dont espouse pro life views in print and on the radio and on television for almost two decades without figuring out that in this bluest of blue regions in our sweet commonwealth, you are persona non grata. But what you cannot do is show disrespect for the people in the community you serve, either by shouting down one of its duly-elected representatives like Richard Booker, or by treating the legitimate concerns of those people with barely concealed disdain because you reject their morals and their values. The honest thing to do would have been to allow those concerned residents to appear via video conference. It could have been done; we have the technology. More importantly, the board should have taken up, sua sponte, the initiative to get answers from Penn Medicine and not simply allow it to move into the community with little or no accountability. Clearly, its something that troubles the people who cared enough to at least try and raise their voices. I want to add my voice to those men and women who are pushing for answers, since the board of commissioners doesnt seem to care: Penn Medicine, can you tell us once and for all if abortions will be performed at 145 King of Prussia Road? Inquiring minds need to know. Christine Flowers is an attorney and a resident of Delaware County. Her column usually appears on Sunday. Email her at cflowers1961@gmail.com. New Delhi: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that the ministry will make announcements on more trains in the coming days adding that booking of train tickets will resume at around 1.7 lakh common service centres across the country from Friday. The minister also said that bookings will also resume at counters at specific stations over the next two to three days, Goyal said during a conversation with his party colleague and BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. Minister @PiyushGoyal in conversation with @SambitSwaraj ji on steps being taken by the Ministry of Railways and Commerce & Industry to combat COVID-19 crisis. Watch live https://t.co/ZszOPTBhsl Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) May 21, 2020 Goyal added that the department is also studying and developing a protocol to identify the stations so that bookings can resume at counters at those specific stations over the next two to three days. Goyal also said that 4 lakh passengers have booked tickets for the 200 special trains that will run from June 1 within 2.5 hours of opening of bookings. The list included popular trains such as Durontos, Sampark Krantis, Jan Shatabdis and Poorva Express are included in the 200 special trains. Bookings for these trains commenced at 10 am via Railway ticketing arm IRCTC. Only online e-ticketing will be done through IRCTC website or through Mobile App. Booking will not be permitted through reservation counter railway station, booking agents. The advance reservation period in these special trains will be 30 days. These trains will have both air-conditioned and non air-conditioned classes. No catering charges shall be included in the fare. Provision for pre paid meal booking, e-catering shall be disabled. However, IRCTC shall make provision for limited eatables and packaged drinking water on payment basis only in limited trains, having Pantry car attached, an official release said. No Linen, blankets and curtains shall be provided inside the train. Passengers will have to carry their own linen for the travel. Zonal Railways have been instructed to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at Railway stations to the extent feasible so that there is no face to face movement of passengers. Zonal railways will be guided by standard social distancing guidelines on stations and trains and observe the safety, security and hygiene protocols. All passengers must download and use the Aarogya Setu application, the Railway Ministry said. Beijing moves to tighten its grip on Hong Kong A proposal for new national security laws would give the Communist Party more control over the semiautonomous territory, and threatens to erode the freedoms that distinguish the global, commercial city from the rest of the country. The plan announced on Thursday would set up a legal framework and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong. It reignited fear, anger and protests over the creeping influence of Chinas authoritarian government. Details are sketchy, but a broad outline for the new rules is expected to be approved during the annual session of the National Peoples Congress, which starts today. It could allow the mainland government to take aim at the large protests that have roiled Hong Kong. This is the end of Hong Kong, said Dennis Kwok, an opposition lawmaker. Whats next: Protests in Hong Kong, already expected to return as social distance measures eased, will most likely come back more quickly than imagined, our correspondents say. Language learning has played a big role in Afsanehs life. As an Iranian, she grew up speaking Farsi. As an adult, she became an English teacher, and on arrival in Belgrade as a refugee in 2018 she started learning Serbian. Now she is putting her language skills to good use: teaching Farsi to people in her new country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her classes are part of a initiative that enables refugees in Serbia to start teaching their native languages. The classes have an added benefit. I now have two Serbian and one Italian student, and work with them twice a week. We agreed to use English, but we often speak Serbian so I get to practice the language of my new home as well, she said. So far, four refugees are teaching interested people in Serbia. The project, while small, is an example of something many refugees bring to their host country: the ability to speak multiple languages. "Afsaneh has a feel for teaching." The language students like it too. Afsaneh has a feel for teaching. She invests a lot of love and efforts into preparation of the classes and her lessons are very dynamic and interesting, said Ivana, a psychologist working at the Belgrade Centre for Social Work. Learning Farsi helps to pass time during lockdown, but Ivana said she plans to continue with classes once things return to normal. She also hopes Afsaneh would become sufficiently in demand to supplement her integration assistance. The project is the brainchild of counsellors at the Psychosocial Innovation Network (PIN), a charity and partner of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Iranian refugee Afsaneh gives a Farsi language class from her home in Belgrade to Serbian psychologist Ivana. The class is via video call due to the COVID-19 lockdown. UNHCR/ABergazar The classes were advertised on social media and 45 people applied in less than a week, said Aleksandra Bobic, a psychologist in charge of this programme at PIN, which matched students with teachers. A trained teacher gave the refugees a crash course, tools and materials before the programme began. Our plan is to build on the knowledge of the asylum-seekers and refugees, empowering them to learn new skills We hope that some of them will consider language teaching as a viable career option in the future, Bobic said. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 12:14:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Australian Education Minister Dan Tehan has announced funding for 77 research projects considered to be in the national interest. Tehan on Thursday announced 35.1 million Australian dollars (23.1 million U.S. dollars) in Australian Research Council (ARC) grants. The round of funding includes 751,260 Australian dollars (494,539 U.S. dollars) for University of Melbourne researchers to discover new ways to kill parasites that live in their host animal and 399,155 Australian dollars (262,756 U.S. dollars) for a Macquarie University project aiming to improve shark deterrent technology. A team from the Queensland University of Technology was awarded 620,765 Australian dollars (408,638 U.S. dollars) for research into how a lack of access to technology impacts on low-income families' education, parenting and employment. "The research funded by our government will take place at universities around Australia covering a range of topics, from improving surf safety by investigating shark repellents to finding new ways to helping Australia's farmers better manage their farms," Tehan said in a statement. "Our investment in research supports the development of long-term strategic research collaborations between university researchers and businesses, industry and community organizations to find solutions to problems and improve the lives of Australians." Enditem San Antonio police are investigating after a naked man lost consciousness and died Thursday morning in a Northwest Side parking lot. Around midnight, a man was exhibiting "excited delirium" and running around an apartment complex parking lot naked and yelling, a spokesman with SAPD said. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Police were initially told the incident was a shooting in progress as residents thought the man had been injured. But when they arrived to the 3400 block of Magic Drive, they discovered there hadn't been a shooting. Officers did have to detain the man and EMS was called to evaluate him due to his erratic behavior, SAPD said. When medics arrived, they were able to talk with him briefly but the man then passed out. EMS worked on him for 45 minutes before pronouncing him dead, SAPD said. It is unknown what led to the man's death and police are still investigating. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway Gurdial Singh Jallanwalia, one of the oldest war veterans in the country, passed away at the age of 102. He breathed his last at his house in Civil Lines, Ludhiana, on Thursday evening. He had been suffering from some age-related ailments, his son Harmander Singh said. Jallanwalia had participated in four battles, including World War II. In 1939 and 1940, he fought a battle for British Army in Waziristan, now in Pakistan. During the second world war in 1944-1945, he was posted in Burma (now Myanmar) and was shot on the lower abdomen by a Japanese soldier. But somehow, the soldier could not fire a second shot and Jallanwalias fellow soldier was quick to shoot the enemy. In 1947 and 1948, Jallanwalia led a battle in Jammu and Kashmir region and during 1965 war, he was posted in Amritsar. Despite, participating in four wars, he advocated continuous dialogue to bring peace. He was also an active supporter of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) campaign. Troy Brindle is leading a weekly support group for health care workers to help them cope with the psychological strain of battling COVID-19. Read more Stress, isolation, and grief have become accepted realities for health-care workers treating COVID-19 patients. But that doesnt mean these front-line workers have gotten used to the new, grim rhythms of their jobs. The human condition can only handle so much pain and suffering and stress, said Troy Brindle, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of outpatient services provider Springfield Psychologicals behavioral health integration services division, and everything thats occurring around us right now is just unprecedented. The coronavirus pandemic is burdening doctors, nurses, and first responders with feelings of helplessness, anxiety, loss, and even hopelessness, Brindle said. Those feelings have intensified as plans move forward to relax stay-at-home orders designed to restrict spread of the virus, potentially putting the health-care system now calmed after passing the peak of cases in a renewed state of emergency. The people tasked with saving others from the coronavirus are themselves struggling. Theyre having a hard time caring for their patients, Brindle said. Theyre having a hard time caring for their own family, and then theyre having a hard time with their own self-care because everything is out of whack. Everything. The extreme circumstances the pandemic has created at times force health-care workers to act against their core training and values, something that mental-health experts described as moral injury. These moments of trauma arise from pressures that health-care workers never anticipated: battling with their employers over necessary safety equipment; failing to save sick patients; and contending with the reality that their work puts themselves and their families in danger. READ MORE: 3 Philly doctors after months battling coronavirus: I usually cry in my car. Typically, people who go into medicine are quite idealistic. If you dont do something right, it can be quite devastating, said Rita Brock, director of the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America. Theyre currently stuck in a situation where they cannot do what they aspire for themselves, their team, their profession. This is a crisis where so much has gone wrong. Brindle said health-care workers are increasingly talking about sleepless nights, anticipatory thoughts (imagining future anxieties), and excessive drinking to cope with stress. He also knows that doctors, in particular, are less likely to express their emotions in front of coworkers and patients, and may not want to share their fears with their families. Pawns in a game If I have to cry in front of a patient, Ill cry in front of a patient, but Ill usually try not to because its their moment, said Megan Stobart-Gallagher, an emergency medicine physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Its what theyre going through, and what Im going through usually has very little to do with what they are experiencing. These accounts led Brindle to collaborate with the medical societies in Philadelphia, Chester, and Delaware Counties to create Helping the Helpers, a group support program specifically for health-care workers. Every Thursday at 7 p.m., doctors and nurses from around the region log into a Zoom video call to share stories, exchange advice, and, often, just listen. For every one person talking, theres 20 or 30 other people benefiting from that, Brindle said. Each week is centered on a different topic. One session explored beliefs that health-care workers arent doing enough. Participants who need additional support can connect with Brindle to set up a private conversation. That stress is just amazing, said Steve Permut, a family practitioner with the Temple University Health System who has participated in the support sessions. The social isolation is depressing, as well. READ MORE: Asian Americans already face a mental health crisis. Coronavirus racism could make it worse. The most recent session centered on talk of societal reopening that has caused significant dismay among health-care workers, Brindle said. When they hear about were reopening, they feel devalued, Brindle said, almost like theyre pawns in a game and that theyre dispensable. Disregard for doctors Doctors are used to being listened to, Brindle said, and the indifference to medical opinion from those who insist the coronavirus is not a significant threat, or that economic matters trump health concerns, leaves them feeling unexpectedly powerless. They are also experiencing feelings of futility that their efforts to mitigate the toll of the virus will be undone. I just diagnosed someone this week who was at a large Mothers Day gathering, so for the next two weeks, Im going to be very concerned about all of those people who were at that gathering, Stobart-Gallagher said. Its going to be up and down for a long time. Hospital workers also fear a return to shortages of the protective equipment they need. As we reopen hospitals and start doing more business-as-usual activities, it will lead to much higher consumption of PPE [personal protective equipment], said Matthew Behme, chair of general internal medicine and geriatrics at Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia. Thats going to drive back a lot of anxiety among physicians. Compounding the issue is the struggle for health-care workers to obtain appropriate protective equipment from hospital administrators or the government. HELP US REPORT: Are you a health care worker, medical provider, government worker, patient, frontline worker or other expert? We want to hear from you. That can cause a kind of anger that can become really toxic, can really start to go into cynicism, outrage that is really hard to control, said Brock of the Moral Injury Center. All of those things interfere with capacity to function, maintain career, and relationships with those close to you. Other concerns expressed in support sessions have been weighing on hospital workers since the outset of the pandemic, such as potentially exposing their families to the virus. I have a 6-year-old little girl with asthma, and the thought of making her sick keeps me up at night. My parents are older, and I worry so much about them, Behme said. I never even conceived the idea that I might make my family sick. This is one of the most painful moral quandaries, Brindle said. What if you were a nurse and a doctor who had it, and you went home and you had an immunocompromised parent living with you, he said. What are you left with the rest of your life? Youre left with the fact of, I killed my mom. In the wilderness And then there is the work itself. Hospital workers are seeing patients die daily, sometimes one after the other. Physicians who are used to expecting perfection of themselves are struggling daily to treat a deadly virus they know very little about. Its normal for physicians to give bad news, Brindle said, but theyre giving bad news many times a day. Some doctors in Brindles support group have said they felt like failures. When those kinds of things happen to people, it affects their capacity to feel like decent human beings, and compromises their sense of humanity, Brock said. READ MORE: For hospital workers at Philly hotels, the pendulum swings between relief and anxiety Permut, who is practicing by telemedicine, has lost patients hes known for years to the virus. Were all like in the wilderness trying to figure out whats the right thing to do, he said. He has found comfort in humility, a lesson he learned in medical school half a century ago, he said. During his orientation, an acclaimed Temple physician, Thomas Durant, gave students perspective on their careers ahead. If you came to medicine to save lives, you came for the wrong reason, Permut recalled Durant saying. You dont get to save any lives. If youre lucky, and you do a good job, you get to prolong lives. Staff writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this article. Customers will be able to order for curbside pickup beginning on May 25th at dispensaries in Oxford, Ware, and Provincetown WAKEFIELD, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF), a leading vertically integrated cannabis operator in the United States, today announced that retail locations in Massachusetts will re-open for adult-use purchases starting on May 25th, 2020. Dispensary locations in Ware and Oxford will be open for regular hours from 9 AM to 8 PM Monday through Saturday, and 10 AM to 5 PM Sunday. The Provincetown location will be open for new summer hours from 9 AM to 9 PM Monday through Sunday. "We are pleased that our three adult use dispensaries in Ware, Oxford and Provincetown are among the first of Commonwealth businesses allowed to re-open on May 25, and we appreciate the Governor and Lt. Governor's decision," said Patrik Jonsson, president of Curaleaf Massachusetts. "We're very much looking forward to resuming serving our customers with the quality products they have come to rely on, and also getting our people back to work. We expect sales to be brisk as a result of pent up demand, and we are working closely with the Cannabis Control Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Health to comply with all guidelines surrounding our reopening." Curaleaf's employees will continue to exercise all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of their customers and staff. This includes enforcement of social distancing, mandatory face masks for all employees and customers, increased sanitation and hygiene measures, and the use of technology to minimize contact during the purchasing process as well as other day-to-day store operations. About Curaleaf Holdings Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf") is a leading vertically integrated multi-state cannabis operator with a dominant presence on both the East and West coasts of the United States, the largest cannabis market in the world. As a high-growth cannabis company known for quality, expertise and reliability, the company and its brands, Curaleaf and Select, provide industry-leading service, product selection and accessibility across the medical and adult-use markets. Strategically positioned in highly populated, limited-license states, the company currently operates in 17 states with 54 dispensaries, 15 cultivation sites, 24 processing sites and employs over 2,200 people across the United States. For more information please visit www.curaleaf.com INVESTOR CONTACT Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Dan Foley, VP, Finance and Investor Relations [email protected] MEDIA CONTACT: Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Tracy Brady, VP Corporate Communications, Curaleaf [email protected] FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This media advisory contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Generally, forward-looking statements and information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", " expects" or, "proposed", "is expected", "intends", "anticipates", " or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forwardlooking statements and information concerning the reopening of Curaleaf MA adult use dispensaries. Such forward-looking statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the company with respect to the matter described in this new release. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which are based on current expectations as of the date of this release and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Additional information about these assumptions and risks and uncertainties is contained under "Risk Factors and Uncertainties" in the Company's latest annual information form filed September 23, 2019, which is available under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com, and in other filings that the Company has made and may make with applicable securities authorities in the future. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as to the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release. SOURCE Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. Related Links https://www.curaleaf.com Kathmandu/New Delhi: A day after Nepals Cabinet endorsed a map showing Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh areas as part of its territory, India on Wednesday termed it as artificial enlargement of (Nepalese) territorial claims (that) will not be accepted. India claims these areas are part of its territory. In a statement issued late evening, Indias ministry of external affairs said Nepals revised map includes parts of Indian territory and that this unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence. It urged Kathmandu to respect Indias sovereignty and territorial integrity. Tensions between the two neighbours have been rising since early this month, when defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80 km-long high-altitude road from Dharchula to the Lipulekh Pass. The Himalayan country responded by saying that it had learnt with regret about the inauguration by India of the Link Road and claimed that it passes through Nepali territory. But New Delhi said the road lies within Indias territory. The relations seem to be fraying by the day and reports on Wednesday quoted Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli as saying that the coronavirus coming from India is more lethal than those from China and Italy. He blamed the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the Himalayan nation on those illegally entering the country from India. Oli, in an address to Parliament in Kathmandu, asserted that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to Nepal and vowed to reclaim them from India through political and diplomatic efforts. The territories belong to Nepal, he said, but India has made it a disputed area by keeping its Army there. Nepalis were blocked from going there after India stationed its Army, he said. He reportedly slammed Indias actions, asking whether the motto on the national emblem, Satyameva Jayate (Truth Alone Triumphs), should actually be Simhaeva Jayate (The Lions Might Alone Triumphs). Oli was further quoted in media reports as saying, Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing. It has become very difficult to contain Covid-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected. Last week India had gifted Covid-19 PCR Test Kits to Nepal to test 30,000 people, and last month it had approved the despatch of anti-malarial HCQ tablets to Nepal. Coronavirus cases in Nepal on Wednesday rose to 427. Two persons, a man and a woman, have died due to Covid-19 in the country so far. Prince Andrew tried to clear his name during his interview with BBC. However, while he tried to explain his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the royal seemed to have only opened the door to his dark past. A Problematic Friendship The Prince of York vehemently denied accusations that he had sexual relations with any of Epstein's underage "sex slaves." Nonetheless, the public did not take it very well when the prince failed to express his sympathy towards the young victims of the billionaire pedophile. In his desire to clear himself, Prince Andrew's remarks about Epstein has only made his situation worse. His devastating interview has led him to resign from his post as a working member of the royal family. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, has also accepted his resignation without apprehension. While everyone might have been surprised by Prince Andrew's remarks during the interview, royal watcher Nigel Cawthorne expected it to happen. In his new book about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's youngest son, Cawthorne detailed how the Duke of York's infamous character has evolved over time. A Royal Womanizer And Spoiled Brat According to the book -- per an excerpt on the Daily Mail -- an aide revealed to Cawthorne that Prince Andrew was a different person when it came to women. "Sure, if you're a lady with blonde hair and big boobs, I bet he's utterly charming," the aide said. The Prince dated a number of women in the past, including model Koo Stark and Vicki Hodge, before finding himself in love with Sarah Ferguson. Of course, there is also the issue with Epstein and his alleged involvement with the late billionaire's sex trafficking scheme. In terms of being a spoiled royal, Prince Andrew's standard of living has been questioned as well. While his marriage with Fergie did not last very long, the two have been known for their glamorous and highly expensive living arrangements. Their upscale lifestyle began to spark rumors of their unroyal ways of earning money. In his book, Cawthorne questioned how Prince Andrew is able to afford living in the Royal Lodge in Windsor and a Georgian property settled in 98 acres of land. "How did he pay for it?" Cawthorne wrote. "Possibly he relied on the Bank of Mum, as his naval pension plus the sum the Queen paid him annually wouldn't even have covered the interest." Over the years, Prince Andrew tried to make a career by officially representing Britain in various business interests as the country's trade ambassador. However, complaints of his actions only poured in one after another. "Andrew's relations around the world are dicey," an official told Cawthorne. "He's showing bad judgment about people. He's rude, lashes out to lay down the law and it's so difficult to sell him." A Royal Bully Prince Andrew has always been difficult to deal with. According to Cawthorne, when the prince was only eight, he was sent to a boarding school. His classmates and the staff at Heatherdown Boarding School considered Andrew as a "bit of a bully". Meanwhile, in Gordonstoun -- Andrew's next boarding school and the alma mater of his father Prince Philip and brother Prince Charles -- the Duke of York was described by his classmates as "big-headed" and "boastful." He was also known to have a fondness for raunchy jokes. It seems Prince Andrew has taken this attitude back home though. An aide told Cawthorne of the Prince's attitude toward the staff. "I've seen him treat his staff in a shocking, appalling way. He's been incredibly rude to his personal protection officers, throwing things on the ground and demanding they 'f***ing pick them up'. No social graces at all," the aide said. Cawthorne's new book, "Prince Andrew: The End of the Monarchy and Epstein," is expected to be released on May 28 this year. READ MORE: Prince Andrew A Huge Disappointment To Royal Family Still waiting for the arrival of your brand new Everest, Ranger or Ranger Raptor? Well, we got some good news for you as the company has announced that production at Ford Thailand has officially resumed. According to the Blue Oval, the Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) factory has restarted vehicle production since May 18, Monday. Like the U.S. factories which also resumed operations on the same date, the company has put up strict health and safety measures to keep the workers safe. These include constant body temperature checks upon arrival at the factory, daily employee and visitor health self-certification before work every day, the wearing of face masks by the employees at all times, the wearing of safety glasses and face shields for jobs that don't allow for social distancing, and extended cleaning time between production shifts. Four more new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Union Territory of Puducherry on Thursday taking the total tally to 17. Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told newsmen it is a tough time for the health authorities as the number of active cases has gone up. He said the number of cases was 13 on Wednesday and it shot upto 17 now following three returnees from Dubai and one person from the neighbouring Kurumbapet village testing positive for the pandemic. Rao said the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital (a COVID-19 designated facility) had 13 cases now while Karaikal has one case. Mahe region, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, had three cases bringing the total tally in the Union Territory as of now to 17. The Health Minister said before the relaxation of the lockdown norms on May 17 the Union Territory had the cases in single digit. "After the norms were relaxed, the flow of people belonging to Puducherry from foreign countries and also those moving into the town from red zones in the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu had resulted in spike in the cases," he said. Rao appealed to those returning from foreign countries to intimate the health department so that necessary arrangements for their quarantine could be made. "We will not be able to trace all those returning from abroad," he said. Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar, who was also present, said those returning to Puducherry would be subject to a compulsory 14-day quarantine. He said those showing no symptoms for the infection would be kept in home quarantine. Others showing symptoms would be in government-run quarantine. He said three of the five patients admitted to JIPMER a few weeks ago had tested negative and were discharged and the remaining two were under treatment. All these patients hailed from neighbouring Tamil Nadu districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) oonal/iStockBy BEN GITTLESON, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- After researchers at Columbia University this week estimated about 36,000 lives in the United States could have been saved from the novel coronavirus had social distancing and other restrictions been put in place a week earlier in March, the White House on Thursday pointed a finger at China. What would have saved lives is if China had been transparent and the World Health Organization had fulfilled its mission, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. He echoed President Donald Trump's frequent accusations China and the W.H.O. failed to adequately inform the world about the burgeoning outbreak of COVID-19 in China's Wuhan province. Disease modelers at Columbia University said in a study released Wednesday that 61.6% of deaths and 55% of infections nationwide could have been avoided if preventative measures in place on March 15 had been enacted a week earlier. That equates to about 35,927 deaths and 703,975 cases. Asked about the study on Thursday, President Donald Trump said "Columbia's an institution that's very liberal," and without providing any evidence, added, "I think it's just a political hit job." "I was so early," he told reporters outside the White House, defending his administration's response to the virus. "I was earlier than anybody thought." The study has not yet undergone the typical scientific peer review process, and all models are merely estimates, subject to change with new information. Nevertheless, the Columbia researchers determined that if the measures had begun two weeks earlier, then 82.7% of deaths and 84% of infections -- or about 53,990 deaths and 960,937 cases -- could have been prevented nationwide, they found. Trump has faced widespread criticism for his administration's slow response to the pandemic, with the president downplaying the threat even as deaths and infections shot up across the country. In turn, the president has frequently accused China and the W.H.O. failed to adequately inform the world about the burgeoning outbreak of COVID-19 in China's Wuhan province. What would have saved lives is if China had been transparent and the World Health Organization had fulfilled its mission, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement earlier Thursday. Trump has often cited his decision in late January to block most travelers who had recently spent time in China from entering the United States, although his administration did not enact similar restrictions on travel from Europe until March 14, or recommend widespread social distancing in the United States until March 16. In an interview with Fox Business Network Thursday morning, Vice President Mike Pence pointed to the United States' restrictions on travelers coming from China and Europe, although he stopped short of pointing a finger at China or the W.H.O. He noted the White House launched a task force to deal with the virus, too. "We bought an extraordinarily important amount of time so that in early March we actually had only some 14 cases of domestic transmission of -- of actual spread in the United States," Pence said. But subsequent research has shown that COVID-19 was likely far more widespread in the United States in early March -- and before -- than that low case count revealed. What did save American lives is the bold leadership of President Trump, including the early travel restrictions when we had no idea the true level of asymptotic spread," Deere, the White House spokesman, said. He pointed to the private sector's work on delivering "critical supplies to states in need and ramp up testing across the country that has placed us on a responsible path to reopen our country. While the federal government was slow to recommend social distancing measures, it was governors and local officials who called the shots and who, in many cases, acted more quickly. A White House official said the success of responding to COVID-19 has been built on the federal-state partnership, not a federal government coming in and telling governors and mayors what decisions to make for their communities when a bureaucrat in Washington has [no] idea what is best for them. While Trump has repeatedly said he prefers governors take the lead on testing and rolling back restrictions, he has also frequently attacked Democratic state leaders -- often in political battleground states key to his reelection later this year -- for moving too slowly. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) is ready to resume passenger traffic. This was announced by Ukraines Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy, the press service of the Ministry reports. "Ukraine will start the first long-distance passenger rail transport as early as June 1. The lockdown gave time to prepare for the reception of passengers," he said. It is reported that Minister Vladyslav Krykliy has conducted an inspection of the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi station: security measures have been strengthened and a new video surveillance system has been installed - 22 cameras that have a face recognition function. "This will help with the prevention of theft and will allow law enforcement agencies to track offenders traveling by train," the ministry noted. As we reported earlier, ground urban, suburban and intraregional public transport will resume its movement on May 22, when the second phase of quarantine exit begins. Starting from May 25, Ukraine plans to resume the work of the metro. Masking, temperature screening of employees and constant disinfection of vehicles remains a mandatory requirement. Gigi Hadid is happy with her face 'how god made it' and is shutting down claims by critics that she gets facial fillers to enhance her look. The 25-year-old supermodel explained that she's always had 'plump' cheeks and her face has gotten a bit fuller throughout her pregnancy, during an Instagram Live with Maybelline on Wednesday. In just a few months, the blonde beauty is expecting to give birth to her firstborn baby - a girl - with on-again boyfriend Zayn Malik. Real talk: Gigi Hadid says that she's always had 'plump' cheeks and her face has gotten a bit fuller throughout pregnancy - not from fillers - during an Instagram Live with Maybelline on Wednesday Wearing a simple pink Ralph Lauren button-up top, Gigi laughed off the rumors about using injectables in her stunning face while chatting with makeup artist Erin Parsons. 'People think I do fillers on my face and that's why my face is round? I've had this since I was born,' Hadid said. Gigi noted that she has always had high and in her words, 'plump' cheeks since she was a baby. Her mom, Yolanda Hadid is to thank for that genetic blessing as she too has beautiful cheeks. Getting candid: Wearing a simple pink Ralph Lauren button-up top, Gigi laughed off the rumors about using injectables in her stunning face while chatting with makeup artist Erin Parsons 'No, for those wondering, I've never injected anything into my face. I am so happy for everyone to do whatever they want that makes them happy and makes them feel more comfortable and good about themselves. Me personally, it terrifies me. I feel I'm too much of a control freak. I'm like, "What if it goes wrong?"' (Pictured left on Wednesday and right in 2019) Earlier this year when the supermodel was walking the catwalks, she noticed that people seemed to suggest more and more than she was artificially changing her look. However, at the time she was, 'already like a few months preggo.' 'No, for those wondering, I've never injected anything into my face. I am so happy for everyone to do whatever they want that makes them happy and makes them feel more comfortable and good about themselves. 'Me personally, it terrifies me. I feel I'm too much of a control freak. I'm like, "What if it goes wrong?"' Injectable fillers that plump up lips, cheeks and chins like Juvaderm are not permanent enhancements - they can be dissolved and wear off after a certain amount of time. Gets it from her momma: Gigi noted that she has always had high and in her words, 'plump' cheeks since she was a baby and her mom, Yolanda Hadid is to thank for that genetic blessing as she too has beautiful cheeks (Pictured together in 2018) 'People are so fast to do permanent things to their face when really, I accept myself how it is,' Gigi said. She added that she hoped people watching would be able to follow her lead and 'accept your beautiful face for exactly how god made it, and your mom and dad.' Later she added: 'I have the cheeks already, so it's like there's not a lot to like, fill in,' she said. 'Don't worry. I'm happy with the natural process of the world.' Before coronavirus forced a worldwide shut down, a pregnant Gigi was on a whirlwind globetrotting runway tour as she walked the runway in the four couture capitals New York, London, Milan and Paris. Glamming up: She got candid about her changing look during pregnancy while going live on Instagram for Maybelline and being interviewed by Erin Parsons Jet set: Earlier this year when the supermodel was walking catwalks, she noticed that people seemed to suggest more and more than she was artificially changing her look - however, at the time she was, 'already like a few months preggo' Last month Gigi confirmed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she is pregnant by her longtime on-off boyfriend. During of their off periods Gigi dated Bachelorette beefcake Tyler Cameron, reportedly from August until October last year. Tyler has had to squash wild rumors that he is the father of Gigi's baby, both on Twitter and while appearing on ESPN West Palm. Gigi is currently self-isolating at her family farm in Pennsylvania with Zayn, her supermodel sister Bella Hadid and Yolanda. Millions of casual workers are now entitled to paid leave after a landmark court ruling which employers fear has exposed them to backpay claims worth $8billion. The decision, handed down by the Federal Court on Wednesday, affects between 1.6 and 2.2 million casual workers across Australia. The court found employees who had regular rostered shifts are not casual employees, even if that is how they were described in their employment contracts. Under the new definition, 'casual' workers are entitled to paid annual leave, paid personal/carer's leave and paid compassionate leave. 'Casual' workers are now entitled to paid personal and annual leave. Pictured: An employee in a face mask works at a retail store amid the COVID-19 pandemic Mining union national secretary Tony Maher welcomed the decision and slammed employers for hiring casual workers on full-time hours. 'This is a fantastic decision that puts an end to the "permanent casual" rort that has become a scourge in the coal mining industry and across the workforce,' said Mr Maher. 'When a job is full-time, regular and on-going, it is permanent and deserves the security and entitlements that come with permanent work.' The mining union said about 40 per cent of the workers it represents are employed as casuals - despite performing the same tasks as full-time employees, without job security and entitlements. Retail and hospitality workers among the biggest winners in the court ruling. Pictured: a hospitality worker in Brisbane as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed But the decision sparked concerns from employer groups that casual workers would be able to 'double dip' - claiming annual leave and casual loading rates, which are worth about 25 per cent of their pay. They also say employers may be forced to fork out up to $8billion in backpay claims to workers across the economy, with those in retail and hospitality among the potential winners. But not everyone in the mining industry agreed welcomed the decision. Mining union national secretary Tony Maher welcomed the decision and slammed employers for hiring casual workers on full-time hours to save money Australian Mines and Metals Association chief executive Steve Knott labelled it 'damaging' and said class action law firms will now 'circle Australian businesses like sharks'. 'Many Australian businesses small, medium and large - are hanging on by their fingernails in this COVID-19 environment,' he said. 'The prospect of having to defend up to six years worth of back-pay claims from former casual employees is the last thing they need.' The Australian Industry Group, which represents 6,000 employers, released a statement on Wednesday claiming the decision would ultimately hurt the economy. 'Today's decision ... highlights the need for urgent legislative reform to provide certainty to businesses and casual employees,' the group's chief executive Innes Willox said. 'An employee engaged as a casual and paid a casual loading ... should not be allowed to turn around years later and claim the entitlements of a permanent employee, like annual leave.' Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter backed the employment group's statement and said the decision would have 'practical implications for the bottom line of many Australian businesses'. 'Given the potential for this decision to further weaken the economy at a time when so many Australians have lost their jobs, it may also be necessary to consider legislative options,' he said in a statement. Pictured: a hospitality worker in Sydney on May 14 after COVID-19 restrictions were eased 'What appears fairly obvious on the face of the decision is that it has immediate practical implications for the bottom line of many Australian businesses at a time when so many have taken a huge hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.' Poll Do you agree with the ruling? Yes No Unsure Do you agree with the ruling? Yes 342 votes No 384 votes Unsure 51 votes Now share your opinion Mr Porter supported employers during the case and said the government would strongly consider intervening if the implications of the decision weakened the economy. He also claimed the ruling would deter employers from hiring more workers as unemployment hits record highs during nation-wide lockdowns. But Labor's industrial relations spokesperson Tony Burke said the only 'double-dipping' being done was by employers. 'If there's any ''double dipping'' going on here it is being performed by the employers they're taking advantage of the insecurity of casual work while still getting permanent hours out of their workers.' He urged the Morrison Government not to overturn the decision at a time where workers need job security amid the COVID-19 lockdowns. Justice Bromberg said employers that fail to pay workers accordingly are in breach of the Fair Work Act and risk heavy penalties. North Dakota on Thursday set a new single-day high of 134 COVID-19 cases, and health officials reported two more deaths from the respiratory disease. The same day, the Democratic-NPL candidate for governor said she intends to seek myriad details from her political opponent and health officials related to the states coronavirus pandemic response. Shelley Lenz said her attorney on Thursday planned to file an open records request with Gov. Doug Burgums office and North Dakota's Department of Health. Lenz, a veterinarian in Dickinson and Killdeer, is running with former state representative Ben Vig, a Sharon-area farmer. They are expected to face Republicans Burgum and Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford and Libertarians DuWayne Hendrickson and Joshua Voytek in November. Democrats last won the governor's office in 1988. Lenz told the Tribune her request comes after a May 7 letter that she, Vig and nine Democratic-NPL state lawmakers sent Burgum requesting public access to extensive information guiding North Dakotas pandemic response. She said the letter received no reply, leading her to file her records request, which she stressed she did in her personal capacity as a citizen and a business owner. This is what we do when our officials are not being transparent and may be overstepping their bounds, Lenz said. Burgum in March closed or restricted bars, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and state facilities due to the pandemic. His administration crafted ND Smart Restart guidelines for rebuilding economic activity, eventually lifting business restrictions on May 1 and unveiling guidance for various industries and activities. Lenzs request is similar to the May 7 letter in asking for records of pandemic modeling data and inputs, names of advisers to the governors office on the pandemic and their compensation, available COVID-19 tests in the state and distribution plans, testing backlog information, antigen and antibody testing plans, testing capacity plans, Phase 2 plans of Burgums ND Smart Restart guidance, details for terminating North Dakotas state of emergency declaration and information of any supply shortages. Lenz said her background as a veterinarian and a scientist led her to question Burgums decision making and conclusions, which she says dont match other experts'. When my conclusions dont match another scientifically reasonable person, we have to look at is the data different? Is the modeling different? Is the assumptions different? Or is there a bias that we accidentally didnt remove from our scientific analysis? said Lenz, who holds a double degree in chemistry and biology, a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology and a doctorate of veterinary medicine. Governor's spokesman Mike Nowatzki said Burgum intends to respond to the Democrats' letter. "We get a lot of, many, many information requests on a daily basis, so we're trying to get through all of them," he said. As of 4:15 p.m. Thursday, the governor's office had not yet received Lenz's records request, which Nowatzki said would be fulfilled "just like we would for any other constituent." Most of the 134 new COVID-19 cases confirmed Thursday were in Cass County, home to the states largest city of Fargo, where 93 positive cases were confirmed. Ward County, home to Minot, had 24 new cases, Emmons County in south central North Dakota had six and Burleigh County, home to Bismarck, had four. The counties of Bottineau, Grand Forks, Mercer, Morton, Pierce, Ramsey and Richland each had one new case. One of the men who died was in his 70s and the other was in his 90s, officials said. Both had underlying health conditions. Their deaths bring the states total to 51. Thirty-eight individuals were reported as recovered in the last day, bringing the total to 1,340. A total of 144 people have been hospitalized by the disease, and 39 of those remain so. A total of 61,279 people have been tested, with 2,079 of those completed in the last day. The total number of tests completed stands at 74,760, up by 2,757 from yesterday. Test results include people who have been tested more than once. Of those tested, 59,050 have been negative, up by 1,945 from yesterday and 2,229 have been positive. Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. TRAVIS SVIHOVEC Crime and Courts Reporter Follow TRAVIS SVIHOVEC Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today India is on the alert for crop-munching desert locusts, which according to a UN warning, pose a severe risk to the countrys agriculture this year, as a top pest-monitoring agency flagged signs of an early-than-usual summer invasion of the species of grasshoppers from across Pakistan. This has prompted the Union agriculture ministry to consider importing equipment from the UK, apart from deploying drones, satellite-derived tools, special fire-tenders and sprayers at pre-identified border locations. Protocols are in place for India to hold videoconferencing meetings with authorities in Pakistan for joint strategies, an agriculture ministry official said requesting anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Locusts can fly up to 150 km daily and a one square km swarm can eat as much food as 35,000 people in terms of weight in a single day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)s Desert Locust Information Service bulletin. A surge in locust attacks since last year is being attributed to favourable breeding weather caused by a large number of cyclones in East Africa. India, China and Pakistan face the most risk in Asia, according to the UN. Pakistan has already declared an agricultural emergency, according to the official cited above. Locust attacks are known to cause a considerable drop in agricultural output. A moderate infestation chomped through winter crops in an estimated 300,000 hectares in Rajasthan and Gujarat in January. The crucial summer sowing season begins next month. The alert on Wednesday came after a month of monitoring by the locust warning office, a wing under the agriculture ministrys directorate of plant protection. Their field agents spotted clouds of the insects in mid-April in Rajasthans Sri Ganganagar and Jaisalmer districts. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar consulted representatives of the pesticide industry on May 13, a second plant quarantine department official said. Tomar reviewed broad measures to fight off infestations. The ministry now plans to import some equipment from the UK. In December last year, India held preparatory meetings with Pakistani teams on the India-Pakistan border in Munabao and Khokhapar in Rajasthans Barmer district, an official said. India is constantly monitoring the pests and scheduling more talks with Pakistani representatives during the entire June to September kharif (summer-sown) season, said KL Gurjar, deputy director at Indias directorate of plant protection. Gurjar was one of the participants at the border talks in December. A report of a senior locust forecasting officer of FAO to the government noted that swarms would be present in Haryana and Punjab, moving east towards Bangladesh similar to 1950 when there were devastating plagues that lasted up to 14 consecutive years. Despite the Covid-19 lockdown, the locust control offices are working since April 11, 2020, with 50 spray equipment and vehicles, in coordination with officials of district administration and state agriculture department, a statement from the farm ministry said. Normally, with the arrival of the monsoon, locust swarms enter the Scheduled Desert Areas of India via Pakistan for breeding in June and July, but this year, their presence was first reported on April 11. The situation remains extremely alarming in the Horn of Africa, specifically Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, where widespread breeding is in progress and new swarms are expected to form in the coming weeks, an FAO alert issued this month said. Heavy cyclones made for favourable breeding conditions also in the southern Arabian Peninsula for at least nine months (June 2018 to March 2019), allowing three generations of breeding that was undetected and not controlled, FAO said. Pest specialists are drawing on standard strategies, such as maintaining sufficient reserves of melathion, the principal insecticide. Overnight, they can devour field after field. One large swarm can cover several districts, said JN Thakur, a former chief of locust monitoring at the agriculture ministry. According to Thakur, India has an experience of fighting the pest from two previous outbreaks, in 1950 and 1993, but the country lacks large insecticide-spraying aircraft, which are the most effective way of dealing with a large-scale crisis. Until May 11, the pests have been controlled in an area of 14,299 hectares of Jaisalmer, Sri Ganganagar, Jodhpur, Barmer, and Nagaur districts in Rajasthan and Fazilka districts of Punjab, the official said. Swarms are active in Barmer, Phalodi (Jodhpur), Nagaur, Sriganganagar, and Ajmer districts of Rajasthan. The Union government has decided to conduct awareness campaigns and training for farmers and officials from these states. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Zia Haq Zia Haq reports on public policy, economy and agriculture. Particularly interested in development economics and growth theories. ...view detail The skirmish took place in Luhansk region Open source An attack occurred in Donbas combat area, with Russian mercenaries having attacked a cargo vehicle of the Ukrainian military. The press office of the Joint Forces Operation HQ reported that on May 21. "Today, May 21, valiant Ukrainian serviceman deceased due to a 120 mm mine hitting a cargo vehicle. Another military man susained a wound, and four more got combat injuries", reads the message. The wounded men were taken to a hospital. "The Command of the Joint Forces expresses sincere condolences to the family and close people of the deceased serviceman, insisting that such criminal actions of the occupants wil not remain without punishment", the HQ stated. On May 19, Russian mercenaries opened fire in Donbas combat area six times. Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported that on Tuesday evening. In Donetsk region, the enemy opened fire from grenade launchers. They attacked Ukrainian positions near Bohdanivka, Krasnohorivka and Taramchuk. In Luhansk region, pro-Kremlin armed gangs attacked Ukrainian military emplacements near Novotoshkivske and Orikhove. They used mortars of various calibers. None of Ukrainian soldiers were wounded or killed in action. No new cases of infection with Covid-19 were observed in the military. The enemy casualties are being specified. AST, through its Private Company Solutions (AST PCS) affiliate, launched its innovative SaaS-based Astrella solution for non-listed companies, providing capitalization (cap) table and employee share plan management tools for investors and employees. The platform provides users access to their holdings through a mobile app, integrates with partner companies such as Box, EquityZen, Tapestry Compliance and others, and provides a total solution for small and large unlisted companies. Astrella arrives at a time when private companies are waiting longer to contemplate an exit, especially under today's challenging market conditions. Cap tables are becoming more complex, and as a result, investors and employees are demanding sophisticated solutions like secondary market platforms and liquidity. With the ability to track companies regardless of the country incorporated or currency, Astrella is the first truly global solution built using private blockchain technology. Marty Flanigan, CEO of AST, stated, "Until we built Astrella, private shareholder technology was decades behind listed companies. AST is the industry-leading provider for North American IPO services. Our clients were asking us to leverage that expertise and develop a solution supporting private companies. Astrella is a natural extension of what we do in meeting these needs." Incorporating both distributed ledger and AI technology, Astrella is designed to bring efficiencies and transparency to the growing equity ownership market and the increasing number of VC firms, family offices and others. Astrella is also designed to support multi-company portfolios, including PE firms that wish to manage all of their companies in one place. "The 'new normal' economic conditions after the COVID-19 outbreak portend great change for a market that was already increasingly global in nature and rapidly transforming," added Carine Schneider, AST PCS President. "Spreadsheets are managing trillions of dollars of investor wealth and have simply not kept up with the increasing complexity of private companies' cap tables, potentially costing investors significant returns at exit." Companies can license Astrella today by going to www.astrella.com. About AST AST was founded as a registrar over 45 years ago. Through organic growth and acquisitions, AST has pioneered a new model of integrated ownership data management. AST affiliates include AST Trust Company (Canada), D.F. King Co, Inc., Donlin, Recano Company, Inc and AST PCS. For more information, please visit www.astfinancial.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005165/en/ Contacts: Paul Arens AST PCS Phone: +31 622 19 683 parens@astfinancial.com New Delhi: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released a notification stating that it will announce the UPSC IAS Prelims Exam Date 2020 on June 5 after analysing the COVID-19 situation in the country. Those candidates who submitted their application to appear for this examination should visit the official website-https://upsc.gov.in/ to know the revised schedule for the preliminary examination. Notably, the UPSC will conduct the Civil Services Prelims Exam for the recruitment of as many as 796 vacant posts of IAS/IPS/IFS/MISC. Earlier, the Prelims exam was scheduled to be held on May 31, 2020, but the Commission decided to postpone it in view of the COVID-19 outbreak in India. The candidates who applied for the UPSC Civil Services Recruitment 2020 should now start their preparation as the schedule for the upcoming exams will ne announced in the first week of June. The UPSC Prelims 2020 exams will be held in two sessions: GS Paper 1 and GS Paper 2 CSAT. It will be held offline in pen and paper mode and the candidates will be required to mark their answers in the OMR Sheet. The candidates would be expected to answer questions on current events, Indian History, Indian Geography, World Geography, Indian Polity, Indian Economy, General Science, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability and English Language. Both the papers will be held on the same day in a duration of 2 hours. The paper will be based on the negative marking pattern under which 1/3rd marks for every wrong answer would be deducted. The total marks allotted for each paper is 200 marks. The GS CSAT paper is qualifying in nature, therefore, candidates need to score atleast 33% percent marks to pass this paper. It may be noted that Personality Tests of the candidates who qualified the mains exams fo the last year have also been deferred. The UPSC stated, "Due to the prevailing conditions caused by the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19), as a precautionary measure, the Personality Tests (Interviews) of the candidates of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2019 scheduled from 23rd March, 2020 to 3rd April, 2020 are deferred till further orders." "New dates for the Personality Tests (Interviews) will be informed to the candidates in due course of time," it added. Ferment Brewing in Hood River, OR Hood River, Oregon's Ferment Brewing Co. and their new 16oz cans will now be available throughout Washington via Orcas Distributing. Ferment will continue to self distribute in the Columbia River Gorge and Portland, but Orcas will make their beers available from the Seattle-metro area to the East Side and surrounding regions of Lake Washington. More from a press release: Ferment Brewing entered the Washington market earlier this week with its full line of signature bottled beers and two bottled premium ales. In June, the brewery will add its newly launched quarterly line of 16-ounce cans: Top Ferment, a series of seasonal, experimental, and one-off ales that explore different hops, malts, and yeasts; and Bottom Ferment, a collection of cooler, subtler lagers brewed with pure water from springs at the base of Mount Hood. The cans are sold individually and in four-packs. The brewery will also be distributing select handcrafted ales and lagers in 500ml bottles and draft kegs. Were excited to bring Ferment Brewing beers into Washington for the first time,, said Dan Peterson, Ferment Brewing Co. brewmaster. Were looking forward to introducing the states beer lovers to our unique family of ales and lagers. Founded in 2018, Ferment Brewing Co. currently self distributes its beers throughout Northwest Oregon, with products available at the brewery and in bottle shops and select groceries, including New Seasons Market, Green Zebra Grocery, Zupans Markets, and Market of Choice. During the COVID-19 quarantine, Ferment Brewing is operating a take-out window at its brewery at 403 Portway Ave. in Hood River, from 12pm to 8pm daily. Learn more at FermentBrewing.com, and engage on social media at @FermentBrewing. The government has notified amendments to General Financial Rules (GFR) to ensure that goods and services valued less than Rs 200 crore are being procured from domestic firms, a move which will benefit MSMEs. "Govt has notified the amendments to the General Financial Rules 2017 to ensure that henceforth global tenders will be disallowed in government procurement up to Rs 200 crore, as announced in the #AatmanirbharBharat Package. A big boost to domestic suppliers, especially MSMEs, the Office of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet. Sitharaman had last week announced an economic support package for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which includes disallowing global tender for government procurement up to Rs 200 crore. Amending the GFR, the Department of Expenditure under Ministry of Finance said, "No Global Tender Enquiry (GTE), however, shall be invited for tenders up to Rs 200 crore or such limit as may be prescribed by the Department of Expenditure from time to time." "Provided that for tenders below such limit, in exceptional cases where the Ministry or Department feels that there are special reasons for GTE, it may record its detailed justification and seek prior approval for relaxation to the rule from competent authority specified by the Department of Expenditure. The MSME package announced last week comprised Rs 3 lakh crore of collateral-free loans, which would benefit about 45 lakh small businesses. Another two lakh such businesses would benefit from a Rs 20,000 crore subordinate debt for stressed or loan defaulting MSMEs, she said, adding a fund of funds for MSMEs is also being created, which will infuse Rs 50,000 crore equity in units that have growth potential. Also the definition of MSMEs has been changed from a pure investment-based one to that provides for higher investments and turnover for companies to remain as small businesses, and avail financial and other incentives. Besides, an estimated Rs 1 lakh crore in dues to MSMEs by government and central PSUs will be released within 45 days. Small and mid-sized businesses in India account for about a third of gross domestic product and employ more than 11 crore people and the package announced on Wednesday is aimed at helping them overcome coronavirus disruptions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Proposed RC drilling program for Pernatty C targeting "Mt Gunson style" mineralisation Pernatty C Update - RC Drilling Program Melbourne, May 21, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cohiba Minerals ( ASX:CHK ) is pleased to announce that it has designed an initial 19-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program for the Pernatty C area (EL5970) to test for "Mt Gunson style" mineralisation.Highlights:- An RC drilling program comprising 19 holes has been designed to test "Mt-Gunson style" mineralisation in the southern and north-western parts of Pernatty C (EL5970).- Numerous NW trending anomalous Cu-Pb-Zn zones in the southern area will be drill tested.- An anomalous Zn zone in the north-west area coincident with a magnetic target and within a known structural trend will be drill tested.The initial drilling program consists of two components:- A 16-drill hole program in the southern part of the Pernatty C area (Figure 1*) where recent Resistivity and Induced Polarisation (IP) surveys delineated significant structural controls and the soil geochemistry showed consistent anomalism for copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn); and,- A 3-drill hole program in the north-west part of the Pernatty C area (Figure 3*) where previous work has delineated an area of anomalous zinc (Zn) coincident with a magnetic target and known NW trending structural controls.The program will comprise approximately 3,800 metres of drilling (19 holes x 200 metres per drill hole) which is deemed to be ample depth to intersect the target zones identified from the recent resistivity/induced polarisation (IP) survey.The drill holes have been situated to test the strongest soil geochemistry responses whilst also taking into consideration the geophysical data as well as known and interpreted structural controls within the region.At Mount Gunson, mineralisation occurs close to the surface and mining has taken place at several locations, the most important deposit, in terms of production, being Cattle Grid. Most of the deposits are associated with the Whyalla Sandstone, the only exceptions amongst the deposits named above being MG14 and Gully, where mineralisation occurs in shales of the Tapley Hill Formation.The Pernatty "C" tenement (EL 5970) has the potential for sediment-hosted copper-cobalt-silver mineralisation and also sediment-hosted-copper-lead-zinc mineralisation (Mt Gunson style mineralisation) in the undeformed Cover Sequence rocks.The known Cover Sequence mineral deposits, Windabout, MG14, Cattle Grid South and Emmie Bluff, are located within the historic Mt Gunson copper mining district. Mt Gunson is the third-largest copperproducing district in South Australia, with approximately 145 Kt of copper (Cu) and 200 Koz of silver (Ag) produced to date. During the major phase of mining between 1974 and 1986 the Cattle Grid (Mt Gunson) mine produced 7.5 Mt @ 1.9% Cu for 127 Kt Cu. Intermittent production has occurred up to the present time.The Emmie Bluff deposit has a reported resource of 25 Mt @ 1.3% Cu, lying beneath 400 m of sedimentary cover. Windabout deposit has an indicated resource of 19 Mt @ 0.96% Cu and 10 g/t Ag, lying beneath 70m of sedimentary cover. MG 14 deposit, which lies adjacent to the Mt Gunson copper mines, has an indicated resource of 1.1 Mt @ 1.7% Cur, 0.04% Co and 17 g/t Ag, lying beneath 25m of cover sediments (Reidy, 2017).The target depth at Pernatty C is shallower than 200 metres.Cohiba's CEO, Andrew Graham says, "Based on the encouraging soil geochemistry and geophysics results from recent exploration programs we are excited at the opportunity to drill test both the southern and northwestern parts of the Pernatty C area.With the historic results showing strong correlation to that of the Mt Gunson mining district we remain highly optimistic in relation to discovering shallowly-emplaced, "Mt Gunson style" (sediment hosted) Cu-Co-Ag mineralisation.Current indications are that the target zones are well within 200 metres from the surface and as such we have based the initial program on 19 holes at an average hole depth of 200 metres. The drill holes have been situated to provide maximum coverage over the coincident Cu-Pb-Zn-Co anomalies identified from the previous program of work.We anticipate that the necessary clearance permits will be in place in the coming week and will provide a further update once the commencement date for drilling is finalised."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Cohiba Minerals Limited Cohiba Minerals Limited (ASX:CHK) is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the primary focus of investing in the resource sector through direct tenement acquisition, joint ventures, farm in arrangements and new project generation. The shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol CHK. The Company recently acquired 100% of the shares in Charge Lithium Pty Ltd, which holds exploration licences in Western Australia. Brasilia, May 21 : Brazilian President recommended that chloroquine can be used to treat patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19, which has infected a total of 291,579 people in the country with 18,859 fatalities. The Health Ministry on Wednesday published a new protocol on treating coronavirus patients that includes the potential use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine when the symptoms are mild, despite the fact that the efficacy of these two anti-malarial drugs has not been proven in the fight against the virus, reports Efe news. "It's a hopeful sign, as related by many who have used it," said Bolsonaro on Wednesday, a day after his US counterpart, Donald Trump, announced that he will continue taking hydroxychloroquine because he is "curious" about its effects. The new protocol published in Brazil comes a day after major medical associations refused to advise the use of chloroquine and its derivatives, saying that the evidence about its efficacy in treating COVID-19 was "weak" and that, in addition, its use can result in severe side effects, including possibly fatal cardiac arrhythmias. Despite the recommendations of medical experts, Bolsonaro said that the "war" being fought against the coronavirus in Brazil, the country with the third largest number of cases in the world, justified his administration's decision to authorize use of the drug. "There still exists no scientific proof, but it's being experimented with and used in Brazil and all over the world. In any case: we're in a war ... (and) even worse than being defeated is the shame of not having fought at all," he said on his Twitter. Bolsonaro's obsession with the medication has led to the downfall of two Brazilian health ministers in less than a month. First, Luiz Henrique Mandetta was fired after several harsh confrontations with the president and then his successor, Nelson Teich, presented his resignation 28 days after taking over the post. Teich was replaced on an interim basis by Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, a professional soldier with a solid resume but without any experience in the health sector and who on Wednesday signed the new protocol regarding the use of chloroquine, which has been used for decades to treat malaria. Apart from promoting the use of chloroquine, the Brazilian government continues to lack a clearly enunciated strategy to combat the coronavirus, the peak of which in Brazil is expected in July. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, continues to downplay the seriousness of the disease and is exerting pressure to reopen the country and resume economic activities of all sorts, this at a time when the country may be en route to surpassing the US as the world epicentre of the pandemic. The Brazilian states, which have the autonomy to decide on measures such as social distancing, have adopted a number of approaches to deal with the crisis, but so far these have been insufficient to halt the spread of the virus in the South American giant. Leading Chicago-Area Practice Introduces State-of-the-Art 3D Ear Scanning to Enhance Clinical Experience and Improve Patient Outcomes WILMINGTON, Mass., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lantos Technologies today announced that North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab (NSAVL) now uses the Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System in its Highland Park office, which offers hearing services and treatment to the Metropolitan Chicago area, Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. With Lantos, NSAVL will use state-of-the-art 3D ear scanning to provide patients with custom-fit hearing products including hearing aids, hearing protection, swim plugs, sleep plugs, and custom tips for consumer audio earbuds. Custom-fit hearing products offer superior comfort, stability, and audio quality, among other benefits. Dr. Paul Pessis, owner and founder of North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab and a past-president of the American Academy of Audiology, says, Now is the perfect time to be investing in my practice, particularly in ways that enhance patient experience and opportunities for remote care. The Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System delivers state-of-the-art impression taking that is cleaner, more accurate, and more comfortable for the patient than the traditional earmold impression process. Alleviating safety concerns associated with silicone-based impression taking, the Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System allows us to capture the geometry of all earsincluding those with abnormalities such as mastoid cavities, atticotomies, or perforations of the tympanic membranewithout potential complications from impression material getting stuck in the ear. And then once we have that ear scan on file, we can assist patients with all kinds of custom-fit products for hearing safety and wellness, in addition to hearing aids and molds, without another office visit to make new ear impressions. North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab, the first Chicago-area audiology practice to offer the Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System, will now be able to offer endless personalized hearing products based on a single ear scan. Once a Lantos ear scan is taken, it is stored on file for future use, so NSAVL patients will have rapid access to remakes if a custom-fit hearing aid or earmold is lost or damaged. In addition, they can order additional personalized in-ear products from the same Lantos scan file, as opposed to with conventional earmold impressions, where a new set of impressions is typically taken for each product order. Story continues We are delighted to be working with Dr. Paul Pessis and North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab. They are true leaders in the hearing healthcare community in the Chicago area and throughout the international audiology community, notes Wally Haddick, chief commercial officer at Lantos Technologies. Dr. Pessis and his team are committed to delivering the very best possible clinical experience and providing the best care using state-of-the-art technology. The Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System is now available at premier hearing health providers across the United States. About North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab Founded in 1976, North Shore Audio-Vestibular Lab provides comprehensive audiological services through high quality hearing and balance healthcare to individuals of all ages. NSAVL has three locations in the Greater Chicago area, including Highland Park, Lake Forest and Long Grove. Dr. Paul Pessis, NSAVL founder and owner, is a past-president of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) and a frequent presenter at hearing healthcare industry events across the US. Dr. Pessis is the recipient of AAAs prestigious Presidential Honors Award, which recognizes his outstanding contributions to the audiology profession. Dr. Pessis is the sole audiology representative from the US for the Hearing Instrument Manufacturer's Software Association (HIMSA) Board, an international board that is comprised of the six hearing aid company leaders. About Lantos Technologies Lantos Technologies is elevating quality of life by improving hearing health and wellness through state-of-the-art technology and innovative personalized hearing solutions. With comprehensive offerings that encompass digital capture of the ears geometry as well as streamlined custom-fit product purchasing and manufacturing workflows, Lantos uses breakthrough technology to unlock new potential for personalized hearing care. The Lantos 3D Ear Scanning System uses a proprietary membrane-based contact scanning method to consistently and safely capture more than one million data points per ear, down to within millimeters of the eardrum. In approximately 60 seconds of scan time, the Lantos System produces a 3D digital image file of the ears geometry that can be used to make unlimited custom-fit hearing products. Learn more at lantostechnologies.com . Media Contact: Eliahu Sussman, Marketing Manager, Lantos Technologies esussman@lantostechnologies.com Over 100 students hailing from Bihar, who were stuck in hostels at Jamia Millia Islamia due to the lockdown in view of COVID-19, left for their hometown in five special buses arranged by the varsity on Thursday, officials said. Buses left for Katihar, Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda and Bhagalpur districts of Bihar, carrying around 130 students with a student group leader in each of the bus to coordinate during the journey, the varsity said. Three students of West Bengal are also travelling in one of the bus going to Katihar. Two university guards (ex-army personnel) also accompanied the students in each bus, it added. Information about travel detail of concerned students have also been conveyed to Bihar government and local administration of all 30 districts of the state by the Chief Proctor of the university, the varsity said. The university is closed in view of the lockdown and on the request of students the university coordinated with officials of Bihar and Delhi governments and sought permission for their travel in special buses arranged by the university, the varsity said. Buses first left for Delhi government's health centre for screening of students for fever and other symptoms related to coronavirus and to complete other formalities. Buses were properly sanitised before leaving the campus, it said. Online teaching and evaluation is going on in the university as it is closed due to lockdown to prevent spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The university will now reopen in August for regular students if the situation normalises. Earlier, the varsity had for buses for students to travel to Jammu and Kashmir while they had also arranged buses to drop students at railway station to board trains to Jharkhand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the college admissions scandal. The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts says Loughlin, 55, and Giannulli, 56, will plead guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton at a later date. Loughlin will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, while Giannulli will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud. Under the terms of Loughlins plea agreement, the parties have agreed to a sentence of two months in prison, a $150,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service. Under the terms of Giannullis plea agreement, the parties have agreed to a sentence of five months in prison, a $250,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 250 hours of community service. Both sentences are subject to the court's approval. Loughlin and Giannulli are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the college admissions case. Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions." This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Cuomo brothers are at it again. Fans got another look at Andrew Cuomo and Chris Cuomo's famous sibling rivalry during their Wednesday night interview on CNN. The Governor of New York recently took a coronavirus test on live TV to show other New Yorkers "how fast and easy it is" and to "demonstrate why there should be no reluctance." However, the anchor couldn't resist teasing his big brother. "Is it true that when you were having the test administered, you inhaled and the doctor's finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and had to be released with a tool?" Chris jokingly asked. Of course, Andrew was used to his sibling's friendly jabs and played along. "No, she wanted to comment that I have a little button nose and she was afraid the swab would actually hurt because it extended my nasal cavity," he replied. "She was speaking about the delicacy of the nose." Celebs Giving Back Throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic But Chris didn't stop there. He then held up a typical test swab and compared it to two oversized swabs, joking that the governor had to use the latter. "Is it true that this was the swab that the nurse was actually using on you and that at first it went into your nose and disappeared so that, in scale, this was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face?" he jokingly asked while holding up the fake giant swabs. At this point, Andrew couldn't stop laughing. "See? I said I was going to be nice, and sweet and cooperative. I was trying very hard," he said in between chuckles. "You know? First, I thought I did so well on that nasal test standing up there. She did the swab; I did not flinch. I was a cool dude in a loose mood. [I] didn't move, anything; I was happy." Still, Chris kept the jokes coming. "Of course you were! That swab is like a piece of lint going in that thing in your face. How could it have collected anything? It was like throwing a rock around a cave," he said, then proceeding to hold up the big swabs. "Was it this or was it this? Tell people the truth." Story continues Andrew then said "this is not love." Chris, who tested positive for coronavirus in March but has since recovered, then continued to poke fun at his family member online. Chris Cuomo "Which was it?" he wrote alongside a photo of the swabs. "#SwabGate or #SchnozGate?" Andrew talked about their banter during a recent episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers. When asked if the brothers are "playing it up a little bit in regard to the busting of the chops for the cameras," the governor assured the host they're "playing it down." "It's tempered. It's the nice version. It's the 'I'm biting my tongue' version because he takes advantage of me in that situation," he told Seth Meyers. "He has a certain amount of license. He can say what he wants to say. I have to be gubernatorial and respectful. So, he uses it." Watch the video to see their latest exchange. Model MSRP Blue $27,750 SEL $29,900 Limited $35,300 Freight Charges for the 2020 Sonata Hybrid are $975 and are not included in the above chart. "Sonata Hybrid offers something new to the midsize sedan segment, with its leading fuel economy ratings, stylish appearance, incredible value, and more standard features," said Brian Smith, Hyundai Motor America Chief Operating Officer. "Like Sonata and Sonata Turbo launched last year, Sonata Hybrid demonstrates Hyundai's unique approach melding innovative technologies and emotional design into products that people increasingly want to put in their driveways." Overview The 2020 Sonata Hybrid's exclusive styling has a slippery 0.24 drag coefficient, thanks to a unique cross-hole grille with active air flaps, a rear spoiler and aerodynamic alloy wheels. Hyundai Motor's Solar Roof System makes its debut on the Sonata Hybrid. This system recharges the hybrid battery and prevents unnecessary battery discharge when the car is off. The solar roof can increase the driving range by a couple of miles after 6 hours of charging. Engineers also applied Active Shift Control technology to control the electric motor, aligning it with the rotational speeds of the engine and transmission, reducing gear-shifting times by 30%. This synchronization not only improves the Sonata Hybrid's acceleration and fuel economy but also improves the durability of the transmission by minimizing friction during shifts. The Sonata Hybrid is equipped with a Smartstream 2.0 GDi HEV engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission. The engine's power output is 150 horsepower and 139 lb.-ft. of torque. The car's electric motor delivers power output of 39 kW (51 HP) and maximum torque of 151 lb.-ft. of torque. Combined system power output is 192 horsepower and EPA estimated fuel economy numbers are 50 MPG city, 54 MPG highway and 52 MPG combined for the Blue trim. Mechanical Specifications 2020 Sonata Hybrid 2020 Camry Hybrid 2020 Accord Hybrid Gasoline Engine Size 2.0L I4 GDI 2.5L I4 GDI 2.0L I4 GDI HP/Torque (lb.-ft.) 150 / 139 176 / 163 143 / 129 Electric Motor kW (HP) 39 kW (51 HP) 88 kW (118 HP) 135 kW (181 HP) Voltage 270V 259V N/A Net Horsepower 192 HP 208 HP 212 HP Fuel Economy (city/hwy./comb.) EPA estimates 50/54/52 Blue 45/51/47 SEL, Limited 51/53/52 LE 44/47/46 SE, XLE 48/47/48 Hybrid Solar Roof System Hyundai Sonata Hybrid's solar-panel roof directly charges the 12-volt or hybrid batteries and outputs 205 watts of electricity. This system has several benefits: Mileage increases by about 2 miles per day Helps prevent battery discharge from infotainment or HVAC systems when the car is off Unique design cue Active Shift Control Technology ASC technology optimizes transmission efficiency by monitoring gear shifts 500 times per second and precisely adjusting the transmission rotation speed for faster shift times. ASC applies new control logic software to the Hybrid Control Unit (HCU), which aligns the electric motor with the rotational speeds of the engine and transmission to reduce gear shifts by 30%. The technology also delivers smoother gear changes and quicker shift times. Digital Key Continuing to promote the latest advances in technology, the new Sonata Hybrid offers an optional smartphone-based Hyundai Digital Key. Digital Key uses a dedicated mobile app, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to allow a new Sonata to be unlocked, started and driven without a physical key, via a smartphone. Sonata's Digital Key also allows secure sharing of virtual keys with family and friends. Sonata owners can tailor the different vehicle functions available to each shared virtual key, and can make the key available for only a defined amount of time. The vehicle owner can preset the duration of vehicle use or limit the use to only certain features when loaning the vehicle, and can revoke keys remotely. For additional convenience, such as using a valet service or visiting a Hyundai dealer, Hyundai Digital Key also works with an NFC card, which will be provided with each vehicle. Each Sonata still comes with traditional keys. At this time, Hyundai Digital Key is compatible only with phones using the Android operating system. Optimized Hybrid Battery Placement By optimizing the placement of the high-voltage hybrid battery, Hyundai engineers were able to increase trunk capacity by 2.5 cubic feet, compared with the 2019 Sonata Hybrid. This placement also helps create best-in-class front headroom and legroom. 2020 Sonata Hybrid 2020 Camry Hybrid 2020 Accord Hybrid Headroom (F/R) in. 40.0/37.8 37.5/38.0 37.5/37.2 Legroom (F/R) in. 46.1/34.8 42.1/38.0 42.3/40.4 Shoulder Room (F/R) in. 57.9/56.1 57.7/55.7 58.3/56.5 Hip Room (F/R) in. 54.6/54.4 55.4/54.7 55.3/55.0 Convenience Technology The 2020 Sonata Hybrid features a number of advanced comfort and convenience features including an electric parking brake, Hands-free Smart Trunk, Qi high-speed wireless smartphone charging pad with cooling fan, standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Text-to-Speech via Bluetooth, heated and ventilated front seats and split-folding rear seats. The top-of-the-line audio and navigation display is a wide, high-definition, customizable, 10.25-inch touchscreen monitor with split screens and natural language, and cloud-based speech recognition powered by Blue Link, while the cluster supervision display is a full 12.3 inches. The navigation system includes a bird's-eye view in navigation maps, and drivers get HD Radio traffic flow and incident data without ever paying for a subscription. Dual Bluetooth support is also available, so two devices can be paired at the same timeone for phone calls and one for streaming audio. The navigation system also comes with three years of Blue Link Multimedia/Map updates. Hyundai's eight-inch display audio user interface, equipped with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, is standard on the 2020 Sonata Hybrid. An optional Bose audio system also delivers an exceptional experience to customers. SmartSense Safety Technologies Sonata features Hyundai's latest SmartSense advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). A series of sensors and systems, often restricted to luxury cars, combine to potentially warn the driver and may take action in the event of a safety incident. Meanwhile, other ADAS systems can help the driver perform certain tasks using the car's 3 radar sensors, 12 ultrasonic sensors and 5 cameras. These features include: Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (standard) Blind Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (standard) Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (standard) Lane Following Assist (standard) Lane Keeping Assist (standard) Highway Driving Assist (optional) Safety Features 2020 Sonata Hybrid 2020 Camry Hybrid 2020 Accord Hybrid STANDARD SAFETY Total Standard Airbags 9 10 6 Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with Pedestrian Detection Daytime Running Lights (DRL) High Beam Assist Blind Spot Collision Avoidance-Assist (BCA) O O Rear Cross Traffic Collision Avoidance-Assist (RCTA) O NA Blue Link The connected car team at Hyundai continues to improve Blue Link's services, and the 2020 Sonata Hybrid received many system enhancements. As with most Hyundai models, Blue Link is complimentary on the 2020 Sonata Hybrid for three years and includes Remote Start with Climate Control, Remote Door Lock/Unlock, Stolen Vehicle Recovery and Destination Search by Voice. These 2020 improvements include: Remote Profile Managementstores select vehicle settings to the Blue Link cloud and enables the user to update them remotely and push them back to the vehicle Remote Start Enhancements: Remote seat heat/vent (full support on/off for each individual heated/cooled seat; ability to adjust level) Profile selection (preloads individual driver setting for seating position and side mirrors) Vehicle Status Notificationsif the vehicle is left with doors unlocked or windows open, customers will receive a notification Maintenance Alert Enhancementmaintenance interval tracking is now visible in the multimedia system, with ability to reset Hyundai Motor America At Hyundai Motor America, we believe everyone deserves better. From the way we design and build our cars to the way we treat the people who drive them, making things better is at the heart of everything we do. Hyundai's technology-rich product lineup of cars, SUVs and alternative-powered electric and fuel cell vehicles is backed by Hyundai Assuranceour promise to create a better experience for customers. Hyundai vehicles are sold and serviced through more than 820 dealerships nationwide and nearly half of those sold in the U.S. are built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. Hyundai Motor America is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Please visit our media website at www.HyundaiNews.com Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram Disclaimer: Hyundai Motor America believes the information contained herein to be accurate at the time of release. However, the company may upload new or updated information if required and assumes that it is not liable for the accuracy of any information interpreted and used by the reader. i Tied with Camry Hybrid. SOURCE Hyundai Motor America Related Links www.hyundainews.com Former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn leaves the Prettyman Federal Courthouse following a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court December 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the judge handling the criminal case of President Donald Trump's former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, to respond to a request by Flynn's lawyers to dismiss the case. The order came two days after Flynn's lawyers asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to drop the case and assign any future court proceedings to another judge. The Department of Justice two weeks earlier made the surprise move to abandon its own prosecution of Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in the weeks before Trump's inauguration. But U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan did not immediately grant the DOJ's motion to dismiss its case. Instead, he appointed a former federal judge to argue against the request, and submitted a schedule to allow third parties to submit arguments in the case. Flynn's lawyers had argued to the appeals court that Sullivan's moves "reveal his plan to continue the case indefinitely, rubbing salt in General Flynn's open wound from the Government's misconduct and threatening him with criminal contempt." Sullivan has 10 days to respond to the appeals court's order. Sidney Powell, an attorney for Flynn, did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the order. Flynn had appeared in Sullivan's courtroom in December 2018 to be sentenced, but the retired lieutenant general opted to delay the proceeding after Sullivan warned Flynn may face jail time if he was sentenced before completing his cooperation with then-special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators. Months later, Flynn dismissed his legal team and hired Powell, a vocal Mueller critic, who soon began efforts to undo the criminal case. Powell accused prosecutors of withholding exculpatory information from Flynn, a claim that the Justice Department for months repeatedly denied. The Justice Department's request this month to dismiss the charge against Flynn was signed by Timothy Shea, interim U.S. attorney for D.C. at the time, and not by any of the prosecutors who had handled Flynn's case up to that point. The dismissal request has been highly controversial. Former prosecutors say it smacked of favoritism toward an ally of Trump, and some have specifically accused Attorney General William Barr of manipulating the justice system to help the president. Trump has frequently criticized the case against Flynn. DEBENHAMS workers are to block stock being removed from the chains stores and warehouses after voting in favour of strike action. After a big protest at the British retailers store in OConnell Street, which closed during the onset of Covid-19, staff represented by Mandate are set to take more draconian measures in the hope of having the firm pay their redundancy. Some 97% of the workers nationally voted for strike action, which is being backed by the Mandate trade union. Workers believe Debenhams has up to 35m in stock in Ireland, and are fearful it will be moved to the firms British operation which is set to carry on trading. In Limerick, more than 50 of the 100 retail staff who lost their jobs held a protest. They joined other Debenhams staff from around the country left in the same boat after Debenhams put its Irish operation in liquidation. The move has shuttered its 11 stores and cost almost 1,000 jobs, including at the landmark OConnell Street building in Limerick. Throughout the protest, car, bus and van drivers blew their horns in support of the staff, while CostCo, based in Carew Park provided bottles of water to the demonstrators. Liquidator Mr Kieran Wallace did not return a request for comment. Debenhams Ireland had previously told the High Court it had no option but to wind the firm up. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Pine Trail Real Estate Investment Trust (TSXV: PT.UN) (the "REIT") announced today that due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19"), it will be filing its interim financial reports and accompanying management's discussion & analysis for the period ended March 31, 2020 (the "Interim Filings") after June 1, 2020, the required deadline set by National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations ("NI-51-102"). As well, the REIT announced that due to COVID-19, it will be filing its report of executive compensation for the year ended December 31, 2019 after June 29, 2020, the required deadline set by NI 51-102. The REIT is issuing this news release pursuant to Alberta Securities Commission Blanket Order 51-517 - Temporary Exemption from Certain Corporate Finance Requirements, which provides the REIT with an additional 45-day period to file certain documents, including the following continuous disclosure documents: Interim financial reports for the period ended March 31, 2020 as required by section 4.4 of NI 51-102; and Management's discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31, 2020 as required by section 5.1(2) of NI 51-102. The REIT intends to file its Interim Filings on or shortly before July 16, 2020. The REIT's management and other insiders are subject to a trading blackout reflecting the principles contained in section 9 of National Policy 11-207 - Failure-to-file Cease Trade Orders and Revocations in Multiple Jurisdictions until the Interim Filings have been completed. The REIT confirms that other than the changes to our board of trustees, which occurred at the last annual general meeting of the REIT as disclosed in the management information circular, and the cessation of the distribution disclosed on March 25, 2020 there have been no material business developments since the Q3 financial statements. The REIT is also relying on Alberta Securities Commission Blanket Order 51-518 - Temporary Exemptions from Certain Requirements to File or Send Securityholder Materials (the "Materials Order"), which renders the REIT exempt from executive compensation disclosure as required by section 9.3.1(1) of NI 51-102, provided that the REIT complies with the terms outlined in section 10 of the Materials Order. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: David Luu, Interim CFO, Phone: (416) 583-5513. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56315 The way the majority of Column 8 readers suggested to support Australia's barley growers hit by Chinese tariffs (C8) can be summed up in one word. Beer. Lots and lots of beer. How surprising! To be fair, David Le Cornu of Cronulla also recommended using the surplus to produce single malt whisky, so something just a bit different. And after all, it is the water of life! From a perspective born across the Irish Sea, Tom Plunkett of Kempsey nominates another solution for our barley (C8) surplus. "My great-grandmother Kennedys recipe for Irish stew. Lamb chops, barley (lots of), potatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Simple and delicious." "As we have Mundey for the start of the working week (C8) and Choosedey for elections, how about Whensdey for other decisions," suggests Bob Erwin of Wagga Wagga. "Then Fursdey for dressing warm and Frydey for the end of week barby. Satdey for a good rest after a weeks work, Sundey to get out, exercise and enjoy the sun." Stein Boddington of St Clair humbly submits the following. "I don't want to brag (oh, go on Granny) but I played the bass on all those Aunty Jack songs (C8) mentioned in Column 8 today. Those were the days! The most memorable line is from Wollongong The Brave, where Wollongong is described as 'girt by sea, on one side'." John Holstein of Yerong Creek was surprised to find that in all the comments about songs and town names (C8) that nothing had been heard from Tumbarumba resident, and former Rosewood school teacher, Bill Wilkinson about Stomp the Tumbarumba by Johnny Devlin (and also the Hoodoo Gurus). So John fixed it for him. Egypt said on Thursday it is always ready for talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) after the announcement by Khartoum and Addis Ababa that they are willing to resume technical discussions, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a short statement. The Egyptian foreign ministry stressed on the importance that the upcoming meeting between the ministers of irrigations should be "serious and constructive" to contribute to a fair, balanced and comprehensive agreement that would preserve Egypts water rights and the interests of both Sudan and Ethiopia. Earlier Thursday, Prime minister of Sudan Abdalla Hamdok and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed held an online meeting and agreed to resume the talks between the ministers of irrigation in the three countries in order to reach for a final agreement on the filing and operation policies of the GERD. During the online session, Sudanese and Ethiopian officials agreed on the importance of resuming the talks to complete "the easy part left of the negotiations on the filing and operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam according to what was agreed in Washington." The negotiations between the three countries reached a deadlock last February after Ethiopia skipped the final round of talks in Washington leading to a diplomatic war of words between Cairo and Addis Ababa that reached the UN Security Council. Search Keywords: Short link: South Korea has expressed gratitude to foreign war veterans by sending masks - Ahn Young-joon/AP The coronavirus pandemic has given the South Korean town of Paju the chance to repay a historical war debt, by sending 1,000 sets of personal protective equipment to the town of Gloucester to protect its citizens from the respiratory disease. The towns, separated by more than 5,500 miles, have a shared history in the Korean War, and Gloucester officials and serving British Army units had been scheduled to join Seoul and Paju dignitaries to this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 conflict. The ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic but Paju stepped up to gift protective gear to the cathedral town in Southwest England, to thank it for sending its young soldiers to defend South Korea decades before, said the Asia Times, which first reported the story. The Gloster Memorial now stands near Paju to mark where the Gloucestershire regiment and members of the Royal Artillery fought down to their last bullet against Chinese troops during The Battle of the Imjin River in April 1951. Outnumbered 9-1, the Brits were completely surrounded on Hill 235 but held off the Chinese army which was fighting for North Korea, for three days. Fifty-nine of the Gloucestershire regiment were killed in action and 522 became prisoners of war. North and South Korea fought against each other in the 1950s and have remained separated since - Chung Sung-jun/Getty Images In a video message to Colin Organ, Gloucesters mayor, from the memorial, Choi Jong-whan, the mayor of Paju, thanked Gloucestershire soldiers for their sacrifice. You are always on our minds as young heroes, he said. Since January, Paju has been through challenging times coping with Covid-19as a token of our commitment to sharing the pains of the novel virus with the people of Gloucester, I am sending you protective clothing filled with the sincerity of the people of Paju, he added. Mr Organ has replied by letter, saying: I am struggling to find the words that sufficiently express my gratitude, reported the Asia Times. Story continues Heartfelt thanks to the City Council of Paju in South Korea for their unexpected and most generous gift of 1000 sets of PPE to the people of Gloucestershire to mark our friendship on the 69th anniversary of the Regiment's heroic stand on the Imjin River. To friends in need, tweeted Edward Gillespie, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. Through a combination of quarantine, testing and intense contact-tracing measures, South Korea has kept its Covid-19 caseload down to 11,122 infections and 264 deaths, compared to the UKs 248,000 cases and 35,704 deaths. The East Asian nation has donated PPE around the world, including 500,000 to US war veterans earlier this month. These masks symbolize our countries alliance and the appreciation of the Korean people who have never forgotten the American veterans service and sacrifice, Park Sam-duck, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, said in a statement. We are always grateful for them. DETROIT Ford Motor Co. has told the White House that it requires everyone in its factories to wear face masks to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, but it's not clear whether President Donald Trump will wear one when he visits a Detroit-area plant Thursday. Trump, who is scheduled to tour a factory repurposed to make medical breathing machines near Detroit, has habitually refused to wear a mask at the White House and in recent public appearances. In a statement, Ford said its policy requires everyone in factories to wear personal protective equipment, including masks, and that policy had been shared with the White House. When asked if the company would require Trump to wear the equipment, spokeswoman Rachel McCleery said, The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination. Trump didn't give a definite answer when questioned at the White House Tuesday, saying it would depend on how close he gets to others. In certain areas, I would. In certain areas, I dont. But I will certainly look at it. It depends on what situation. Am I standing right next to everybody or am I spread out?" he said. "Where its appropriate, I would do it certainly. Not wearing a mask and even making the visit itself could violate coronavirus restrictions ordered by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has been at odds with Trump and targeted by the president on Twitter. In a May 7 order to let manufacturing fully restart last week, Whitmer required factories to suspend all non-essential in-person visits, including tours. Her stay-at-home restrictions also require people to wear a mask in any enclosed public space such as grocery stores, though it was not immediately clear if that rule extends to less public-facing operations like factories. It appeared very unlikely the state would enforce the order against Trump. While the presidents visit is contrary to the governors order, this is an opportunity to showcase how important Michigan is to the response to COVID-19 and rebuilding our nations economy, said Whitmer spokesman Zack Pohl. Story continues The governor does expect Ford and the president to comply with workplace safety requirements, including the use of masks, he said. The United Auto Workers union, which represents 55,000 Ford U.S. factory workers, said Trump should be required to wear a mask while visiting the ventilator and auto parts factory in Ypsilanti Township. The position of the union is that out of respect for the clean, sterile environment, anybody who enters into that plant needs to follow protocols, spokesman Brian Rothenberg said. Trump has continually refused to wear a mask at the White House, and during two recent business tours. He didn't wear one on a May 14 visit to Owens and Minor Inc., a medical equipment distributor in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Nor did he put one on while touring a Honeywell mask factory in Arizona on May 5, ignoring guidelines. He did wear safety goggles, and said later that he had briefly donned a mask backstage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Americans should wear cloth face coverings in public in situations where social distancing is difficult to prevent unknowingly spreading the virus. Trump is tested daily for the virus; the White House says he is negative. Adam Sitkoff - Executive director American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi The strict measures understandably frustrate many people, but the governments actions have effectively contained the spread of the virus so far. Success is not just about case numbers it is about creating a sense of security so that people feel comfortable that the person serving their food, or working next to them, is not a danger. In Vietnam, that feeling of security is coming back and it is something all of us are grateful for. People certainly understand the inevitable tension between containing the spread of the virus and the need to allow economic activity. Decisions by government leaders on when and how to reopen, what level of movement and activity is safe, and how to reactivate important sectors like travel, tourism and hospitality, are some the most difficult policy decisions people have faced in our lifetimes. We are all looking for the safest way to get back to business but make no mistake, opening the economy involves risk. Right now, we are all navigating this zone of uncertainty as we experience Vietnam reopening after it seems no longer reckless to do so, but before it is perfectly safe to do so. The economic implications of the pandemic for Vietnam are severe and will affect us for quite some time. Millions of jobs have disappeared, many people have seen their salaries cut, and business activity in most sectors remains slow. As we move towards economic recovery, the financial pressure for many companies will be significant. Our members welcome the announcements of stimulus and support packages applying to a list of industries the government says are greatly impacted such as passenger transport, tourism accommodation, restaurants, and some other fields. However, there are some business sectors that were overlooked and we are working with our partners in the government to consider a more comprehensive list of industry sectors eligible for government support. We also encourage the government to look at the effectiveness of different support initiatives. For example, while deferring some taxes and insurances is beneficial to some, many businesses see only limited assistance from these programmes. Small businesses need loans to stay alive. We hear from many businesses that are unable to access low interest loans under the governments loan support package because banks have been rejecting applications over concerns about the borrowers ability to repay and not being able to show positive cash flow. This seems to be a particular problem in the tourism and hospitality sector right now. We hope government decision-makers can address those standards quickly. Many manufacturing businesses here face greatly reduced demand and cancelled orders. It is important to understand that these businesses want to keep their workforce, but right now they are struggling. It is bad for the companies if they have to let employees go, and then try to rehire them back in the future once things return to normal. It is also bad for the workers and for the government. We very much hope that the government will support businesses to keep workers employed, either at reduced compensation, or by reduced contributions and obligations to the government. The pre-pandemic trade war highlighted concerns on concentrating production in a single country, and now the situation has made those concerns clearer to everybody. I expect companies to continue shifting production out of China and into countries like Vietnam. The Vietnamese governments effective response to the pandemic will further boost the countrys status as an attractive market. There are many things the government can do right now to make Vietnam more attractive for foreign direct investment. For example, we need accelerated use of e-government, e-commerce, e-banking, fintech, modern cloud computing, and the overall reduction of paper and cash for all businesses. Accelerated implementation of these digital economy objectives will greatly reduce administrative costs and time burdens for all businesses, and will attract new investors. Another promising area is continuing infrastructure development especially clean projects. Improving waste management and air quality concerns in Vietnam by accelerating the use of clean energy, clean vehicles, clean agriculture, and reducing the inefficiency and waste of energy will help build a stronger circular economy and will spur job creation. Moreover, foreign investment limitations, an overly restrictive legal framework of laws governing businesses, and burdensome administrative procedures should be carefully reviewed and selectively relaxed to encourage increased foreign investment and support economic recovery. American investors remain optimistic about business prospects in Vietnam. However, we live in a competitive world. Almost every country in the region is working to grow a modern economy, which will attract future investment and high-paying jobs for their people. Cabinet decision was focused on welfare of migrants says PM India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 21: The decisions taken by the Union Cabinet were focused on the welfare of migrant workers, senior citizens, easier availability of credit and harnessing opportunities in the fisheries sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. "During today's Cabinet meeting, important decisions were taken which are focused on welfare of migrants, senior citizens, easier availability of credit, harnessing opportunities in the fisheries sector," he wrote on Twitter. The decisions, he said, will benefit several citizens. Cabinet approves package for allocation of food grains to migrants Railway Minister: More trains will resume to restore India to normalcy| Oneindia News Here are the highlights of the Cabinet meeting: Cabinet approves extension of 'Pradhan MantriVayaVandanaYojana' Cabinet approves 'Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana - A scheme to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries section in India Cabinet approves 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat Package for allocation of foodgrains to the migrants / stranded migrants Cabinet approves Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs/HFCs to address their Liquidity Stress Cabinet approves additional funding of up to Rupees three lakh crore through introduction of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) Cabinet approves issuance of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Second Order, 2020 in relation of Jammu & Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act Cabinet approves waiver of interest of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited Cabinet approves adoption of methodology for auction of coal and lignite mines/blocks for sale of coal / lignite on revenue sharing basis and tenure of coking coal linkage Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more Facebook on Tuesday announced Facebook Shops, which will let small businesses set up a single online store accessible from both Instagram and Facebook. Businesses can choose products they want to feature and customize the look and feel of their online shop. Consumers can find Facebook Shops on a business Facebook page or Instagram profile, or through stories or ads. They can browse the business collection, and save products that draw their interest. If the business has enabled checkout in the United States, customers can place an order without leaving the app, or on the business website if they prefer. Consumers can contact a business in Facebook Shops through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support and track deliveries. Letting consumers message SMBs directly is a way to bolster engagement, exactly what SMBs need right now, said Mandile Mpofu, editorial associate at Clutch. Consumers appreciate the convenience and it sounds like thats exactly what Facebook Shops is offering, Mpofu told the E-Commerce Times. My hunch is that consumers will be more engaged. Thirty-four percent of SMBs responding to a recent Clutch survey used engagement to measure the success of their social media campaigns. Facebook Shops likely makes sense for companies that already use Facebook and Instagram to reach customers and have a limited e-commerce presence, observed Rebecca Wettemann, principal at Valoir. What Facebook doesnt tell us is what theyre charging for this service, she told the E-Commerce Times. A D V E R T I S E M E N T The Facebook Shops announcement followed Mondays release of the State of Small Business Report, which lists the results of a survey Facebook conducted with the Small Business Roundtable of 86,000 owners, managers or workers at SMBs. Although the future appears bleak for SMBs, the report suggests going online may help: Thirty-one percent of SMB owners and managers, and 52 percent of personal businesses, reported their SMB currently was not operating; Cash flow was the biggest challenge 28 percent of SMBs expected to face over the next few months; Lack of demand was the biggest challenge 20 percent of SMBs identified; Fifty-one percent of businesses reported online interactions with clients had gone up; and Thirty-six percent of personal businesses using online tools reported they were conducting all their sales online. Facebook Shops began rolling out on Tuesday. Facebook has been very slow to get to three key areas: payments, commerce and identity, said Ray Wang, principal analyst at Constellation Research. They were hoping their Libra project would serve as the foundation to deliver on this, but that hasnt panned out given the regulatory approvals, he told the E-Commerce Times. When you have 1.5 billion users and all youre doing is monetizing ads with no commerce youre at a disadvantage, Wang pointed out. Amazons monetizing commerce and getting into ads with (US)$10 billion in ad revenues already. Tangoing With Partners Facebook is working with partners Shopify, Bigcommerce, WooCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics which will help small businesses build and grow their Facebook Shops and use its other commerce tools. However, Facebook will alienate platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce or Magento if it tries to set up its own e-commerce platform, cautioned Mark Lewis, CEO of Netalico Commerce. Its leveraging some of the integrations that already exist with partners instead, so it becomes more of a direct channel of revenue than a separate platform, he told the E-Commerce Times. Right now they just want the most businesses on their platform as possible, because thats the most potential for advertising sales. That could cost SMBs that also sell on Google and Amazon, because Facebook has a history of making its technology not work nicely with others, observed Valoirs Wettemann. That may cause technical issues difficult to resolve, she noted. Making Up Ad Revenue Shortfalls Like Google, Facebook could see ad revenues fall, because both rely on small businesses buying ads. Facebook Shops is likely an attempt to offset that problem, Netalicos Lewis suggested. Parts of what they announced were already available, like having products and a checkout in Facebook/Instagram. Once merchants have their catalog feed set up in Facebook, its simple to run ads for them in Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has pledged to protect the privacy of consumers making purchases through Facebook shops. However, the companys motives are questionable, suggested Valoirs Wettemann. Lets face it, Facebook isnt doing this because its a philanthropy, she remarked. While some consumers and SMBs still trust Facebook to handle their data, the short-term help its giving SMBs because of the current crisis is to gather more data and make more money. Given Facebooks track record on data and responsibility, Id be wary of that. Coming Soon In the future, consumers will be able to view a business shop and make purchases within a chat in WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct. Social shopping in messaging apps could be pretty huge, like WeChat in China, Lewis predicted. This summer, Facebook will introduce Instagram Shop, which will let consumers discover and purchase products in Instagram Explore. It will add a new shop tab in the navigation bar so consumers can get to Instagram Shop more easily. Facebook has begun testing a feature on Facebook and Instagram that will let sellers, brands and creators tag products from their Facebook Shop or catalog before going live. These products will be shown at the bottom of videos, and consumers can tap them to learn more and make purchases. The company is testing ways to link Facebook accounts to consumers loyalty programs. Its also exploring ways to help SMBs create, manage and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops. This is Facebook connecting the dots more effectively and intentionally, said Liz Miller, principal analyst at Constellation Research. The engagement-to-commerce experience businesses previously could set up was broken, she told the E-Commerce Times. Facebook Shops steps sellers up from a stall in the bazaar to a store in the mall, Miller said, one where consumers are already connecting, engaging and communicating. Pakistans army chief, Gen. Qamar Bajwa, has called on his Iranian counterpart, Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, to take immediate action to enhance border security and curb the attacks on Pakistani security forces by militants operating from the Iranian side. In the May 13 phone call, Bajwa stressed that Pakistan wants regional peace and stability on the basis of mutual respect, non-interference and equality, according to a statement issued the Pakistan armys public relations office. The urgent call for action followed an attack on Pakistans side of the border on a reconnaissance vehicle carrying troops from the Frontier Corps. Five Pakistani soldiers and one officer were killed. The troops were reportedly checking possible routes used by terrorists in the mountainous and extremely treacherous terrain of Mekran when an improvised explosive device went off about nine miles from the border with Iran. The banned separatist group the Baluchistan Liberation Army later claimed responsibility for the attack. Bajwa emphasized that fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border must be completed as soon as possible. Smuggling and illegal trade on the border must be checked as well, as these activities are being used by terrorists and narco-traffickers for covering their movement, according to the statement. The Iranian official newswire Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Bajwa urged the exchange of expert delegations to maintain border security and prevent terrorist moves on common borders and that improvements for border terminals on both sides of the border to manage the ongoing pandemic were suggested. Security ties have deteriorated at the Pakistani-Iranian border as cross-border terror attacks have long caused friction between the neighbors. Nevertheless, there has been considerable improvement in bilateral ties as Islamabad and Tehran have worked on these issues over the last year. After visits to Iran by Bajwa and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and, a joint task force was set up to fight terrorism and guard the common border. Military links were enhanced and Islamabad started sharing intelligence with Tehran regarding the bases of separatists and militants in Iran, along with their activities. Thanks to these proactive measures, the stream of attacks and counter-attacks in border areas ceased with the last terror incident in at Ormara, Baluchistan, in April 2019. However, the respite is over. Iran has been in a state of turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic for the last several months, and the ensuing chaos has had a very negative impact on Pakistan. First, there has been a lot of infiltration recently by criminal elements including oil mafias and drug cartels in the border areas. Smuggling and illegal trade operations are worth millions and a narcotics racket is also in full swing. With illicit goods flowing from both sides of the border, no taxes are being paid, with heavy implications for the provincial governments authority. A sustainable local economy based on agriculture or industry is sorely needed in these remote areas. These criminal groups are actively opposing the fencing of the Pakistan-Iran border so that they can carry on their activities. Second, hopes for Pakistans economic revival are pinned on the border province of Baluchistan, where the main land route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through. This trade project could generate massive revenues, but it cannot really take off until the province is stabilized. Unfortunately, the region has become a neglected space where militancy is easily nurtured. When they are pursued in Pakistan, militants from various banned outfits escape into Iran and establish hideouts from where they continue attacks inside Baluchistan. Beginning at the Koh-i-Malik Salih mountains and ending at Gwadar Bay in the Gulf of Oman, the 600-mile (970-kilometer) Pakistan-Iran border is porous, underdeveloped and sparsely populated on both sides. Third, Irans health crisis spread to Pakistan like wildfire due to carelessness and insufficient checks on the movement of Pakistani citizens returning home. As a result, there was pandemonium at the Torkham post on the Pakistan-Iran border. Despite repeated requests from Islamabad, border stations did not wait to admit citizens until adequate screening protocols could be arranged. With the spread of COVID-19 across the country, the recurrent lockdowns have caused economic losses in the billions for Pakistan. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quraishi recently stated, I spoke with the Iranian foreign minister and requested a time to make arrangements [for the pilgrims], but they couldnt do it due to economic sanctions. He informed the parliament that Iranian officials had forced 5,000 Pakistani nationals across the border while quarantine facilities were not available. Finally, recurring attacks from across the border have damaged trust even though military ties have improved between both countries. Bilateral border mechanisms like the joint Rapid Action Force were put in place last year, but there seems to have been some laxity that permitted the regrouping of separatist elements even though actionable intelligence is regularly provided to the Iranian side. Pakistans province of Baluchistan is large and sparsely populated. According to Pakistani defense analyst Amjad Shoaib, Fencing the Pakistan-Iran border is very important as it is very difficult to patrol such a long stretch. [And patrolling] will only prove successful in curbing smuggling, narcotics and terrorist infiltration if Iran reciprocates the efforts. Discussing plans to fence the border with Iran, Khusro Bakhtiyar, Pakistan's former minister for planning and development, has said, "We will not have 100% control over Pakistans security situation as long as our borders remain porous. Pakistans Economic Co-ordination Committee recently approved $18.6 million in additional funds toward efforts to seal the border. Meanwhile, since the conversation between the two army chiefs, two more attacks have taken place in Baluchistan province and seven soldiers have been killed in two separate incidents, one an IED blast near Quetta and the second an exchange of gunfire near the border. As is the case with most fatal diseases, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is already taking a disproportionate toll on black Americans and other disadvantaged minorities. As of April 14 in the United States, 32 percent of deaths from COVID-19 occurred among black Americans who comprise of only 13 percent of the population. These numbers indicate that they have a 2.3-fold excess risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to white Americans. Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health provide ominous forebodings in a commentary just published in The American Journal of Medicine, aptly quoting the philosopher George Santayana, who in 1905 said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, senior author, the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine, and co-authors, emphasize that most major clinical and public health challenges of COVID-19 will be long term and will inevitably result from the development of lifesaving drugs in treatment as well as a vaccine that will be preventive. The authors document that the introduction of such lifesaving innovation will only markedly increase the already existing racial inequalities, if public health initiatives for equitable dissemination throughout all communities are not immediately developed. In the commentary, the authors document increases in racial inequalities following lifesaving drugs for HIV, respiratory distress syndrome, and hepatitis C as well as the experiences before and after the development of the Salk vaccine for polio. Before the introduction of the vaccine in 1952, initially, black Americans experienced significantly lower rates of paralytic polio than white Americans. By 1959, after the widespread dissemination of the Salk polio vaccine, the reverse was true. We must certainly try to overcome all of the barriers facing black Americans and other minorities in the United States but, realistically this is a long-term goal. Now is the time to address short-term clinical and public health challenges to ensure equal access to any lifesaving innovation." Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, senior author, the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine The authors also highlight that mistrust is one of the major factors influencing inequalities. Even today many black Americans, particularly older black men, mistrust the efforts of the U.S. Public Health Service due to the lingering perceptions derived from the late disclosure of their study results of syphilis at Tuskegee, which withheld treatment from black men in favor of depicting the natural course of the disease. "As a black physician committed to addressing racial inequalities in morbidity and mortality, if we do not act now, then those in greatest need will once again be condemned to even greater racial inequalities," said Heather M. Johnson, M.D., FACC, co-author and a preventive cardiologist/cardiologist at the Lynn Women's Health and Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital/Baptist Health South Florida. The urgency of the issues raised by the authors are only enhanced by the recent public pronouncements concerning remdesivir as a promising but unproven treatment for COVID-19 as well as very recent encouraging news about an accelerated timetable for the development of an effective and safe vaccine. "Death is inevitable but premature death is not. Unfortunately, black Americans and other disadvantaged minorities have unacceptably high mortality rates from COVID-19 and most other chronic diseases that confer their markedly reduced life expectancies," said Hennekens. Hennekens, Johnson and co-authors Robert S. Levine, M.D., first author and professor of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and an affiliate professor in FAU's Schmidt College of Medicine; and Dennis G. Maki, M.D., professor emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, where Johnson is an adjunct associate professor, conclude that, at present, individual behavior change is an important and necessary strategy. However, they also state that major societal changes amenable to responsible government but beyond individual control, also are needed to combat current and increasing future racial inequalities in mortality from COVID-19. Hennekens and Maki have been collaborators since 1969, when they served as lieutenant commanders in the U.S. Public Health Service as epidemic intelligence service officers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hennekens and Levine have collaborated since 1976, including on racial inequalities for more than 20 years. Coincidentally, Hennekens has been listed by Science Heroes as No. 81 in the history of the world for having saved more than 1.1 million lives and Salk is listed as No. 83. Professor Jonathan Rigg, Chair of Human Geography at the University of Bristol, has been recognised with the prestigious Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society. The Victoria Medal recognises conspicuous merit in research in geography" and has been given since 1902, in honour of the late Queen Victoria. Professor Rigg joins a respected list of notable Victoria Medal holders including George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin, Torsten Hagerstrand and Doreen Massey all pioneers in the fields of physical and human geography. Jonathans work has focused on understanding and judging the effects of agrarian transformations on rural livelihoods in Asia, especially on poorer sections of rural society. The aim is to reveal the connections that have emerged over space, across genders and generations, and between farming and non-farming activities. Jonathans research began in Thailand in the early 1980s and expanded geographically to include fieldwork in Laos, Vietnam, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Work continues to the present day in Thailand. As rural areas of Asia have become implicated in wider processes of economic change, Professor Rigg has tracked rural households and their livelihoods, working with labour migrants to the Middle East, factory workers in the Central Plains of Thailand, and rural-urban migrants in Hanoi. Jonathan is currently contributing to the global COVID-19 research effort, interviewing coronavirus-affected international labour migrants from India, Bangladesh, Laos and Myanmar working in Singapore and Thailand. This work is in collaboration with researchers based in Canada, Laos and Singapore and seeks to understand how the effects of the virus are rippling back from countries of work to places of origin. A second area of focus in Jonathans work has been in disasters and resilience. This followed the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami but has developed since to include earthquake preparedness. A new grant is looking at multi-hazards in Nepal. Before arriving at Bristol in January 2019, Jonathan was Director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, and before that in the Department of Geography at Durham University. He completed his PhD and was a British Academic Post-doctoral Fellow at the School of Oriental & African Studies. Jonathan has been funded by grants from the British Academy, NERC, ESRC, EPSRC, the US National Science Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the EU, the Singapore Social Science Research Council, and the Danish aid agency DANIDA. He has also undertaken reviews and written papers for the FAO and the World Bank. On the recent award, Jonathan comments: "To be recognised by the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society is a tremendous thrill. I became a Fellow of the RGS early in my career and over the years have come to appreciate how important the Society is for the health and vitality of the subject, supporting geography in schools as well as in universities, and keeping the subject in the public eye. "Few of us are lone scholars and this is particularly true of my own work which has required the support of funding bodies, governments and research agencies in other countries, colleagues and friends scattered across Asia and, most importantly, the willingness of rural people to talk to me at length about their struggles and aspirations. Jonathans latest book is More than rural: textures of Thailand agrarian transformation (Hawaii University Press, 2019). Liquor has started pouring in the Philippines' capital region after two months of ban on alcoholic beverages was implemented as part of the coronavirus restrictions. Footage shows delivery trucks carrying cases of beer entering Caloocan City on May 16, a day after the government has announced that it will ease its ban on some cities in Metro Manila. Onlooker Cristina Sayo, who can be heard exclaiming at the background, said that she's been waiting for the ban to be lifted so they can have some drinks at home. She said: "It's been a long time since we have had a drinking session. I do not see the problem in drinking at home." Three of the biggest cities in Metro Manila have so far lifted their Covid-19 ban on liquor and alcoholic drinks. Nebraskans expressed strong support for increased trade and legal immigration in a comprehensive study undertaken by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in partnership with the Yeutter Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The views of Nebraskans are included along with viewpoints gathered in Colorado and Ohio for a study that focused on middle America's attitudes about foreign policy. More than 130 people participated in focus groups in Scottsbluff, North Platte, Kearney, Columbus, Lincoln and Omaha. "Trade policy is viewed as the most important aspect of U.S. foreign policy for Nebraska's middle class, particularly due to its impact in the agricultural production complex," the report stated. "The message was remarkably consistent: the more international trade, the better." A workforce shortage in Nebraska combined with the important role played by immigrants in filling labor needs, perhaps most dramatically in the state's large meat processing industry, were viewed as key factors shaping immigration opinions in Nebraska. "Immigration came up almost as often as trade as a foreign policy issue that mattered most to Nebraska's economy and middle class," the report noted. "A common refrain: the United States needs a streamlined, pragmatic approach to permitting more foreigners willing to work in Nebraska's unfilled jobs. "Population decline in rural Nebraska makes the area more dependent on international immigration to offset workforce shortages." But Nebraskans also "made a distinction between legal and illegal immigration," voicing opposition to the concept of open borders, the report stated. They also "spoke openly about cultural challenges that arise with growing immigrant and refugee populations," according to the report. However, it was noted, "residents viewed immigrant families as the path back to population growth and, thus, the way to maintain or grow their businesses and schools." On other issues, the survey found strong support for defense spending and an "erosion of trust in foreign policy professionals and the federal government." The report took particular note of the "frequency with which interviewees and focus group participants expressed a lack of trust in information and the media." Participants "bemoaned the declining quality of news media and voiced concerns about the use of social media as a provider of news and opinions," it was noted. "While many Nebraskans expressed strong support for President (Donald) Trump and his administration's decision to play hardball with China, and even conveyed a willingness to incur some near-term pain to that end, their views diverged on how much pain they could absorb and whether it would be worth it," the report stated. "When asked about climate change, those interviewed focused on the near-term impacts of regulatory changes on jobs associated with ethanol production, farming, ranching and rail transport of coal." Few state economies revolve around agriculture as much as Nebraska, it was noted. However, the reported stated, "Nebraska is more than just an ag state or a red state. More than half the state's population now lives in the Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas -- two areas that have become increasingly cosmopolitan and remain politically diverse." Nebraska provides "an excellent example of how the very nature of the middle class household has changed over the years," the report stated. "Many families in Nebraska secure a middle income by working longer hours, holding multiple jobs at once, and maintaining dual-income households. "Nebraska is ahead of the national average in many of those areas, making it a state with especially high labor force participation." In defining the workforce challenge, the report noted, some people have described Nebraska as "a state that has more jobs than people." Jill O'Donnell, director of the Yeutter Institute, said it is important for Nebraskans to be heard. "Their voices reflect real, on-the-ground consequences of policies that are made elsewhere, and there is tremendous value in that at a time of growing debate over what the aims of U.S. trade policy should be," she said. Also participating in the study were the UNL Bureau of Business Research and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSdon Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 The two Wyoming tribes have said theyve received a combined $19 million in coronavirus relief funding from the federal government to help them as they deal with financial difficulties due to the pandemic. The money comes as the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes grapple with the economic fallout from the pandemic, and an outbreak among tribal citizens thats led to six of the states 11 COVID-19 deaths. The Eastern Shoshone Tribe said Tuesday that the federal government as part of $8 billion set aside for the 574 federally recognized U.S. tribes as part of the CARES Act had given it about $10.2 million to help deal with financial troubles due to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Northern Arapaho Tribe confirmed late last week that it had received $19 million from the same fund, saying it would use the money to pay for unanticipated costs from COVID-19 response efforts, and to support tribal employees Indian and non-Indian who have been unable to work due to this crisis. We worked hard with our Congressional allies and Governor Gordon to secure these funds, which are critical at a time when Tribal businesses remain closed and we continue to face significant costs as part of our effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and keep the Northern Arapaho people safe, said Business Council Chairman Lee Spoonhunter in a Friday press release. The Business Council understands the importance of using these funds strictly in the manner prescribed by Congress, and we are working diligently with our team to formulate a specific and detailed plan to utilize these dollars for their designated purposes in the most effective way. The Eastern Shoshone Tribe said tribal citizens and the Wind River Reservation, which has been hit hard by the pandemic, are vulnerable to the virus from an economic and health perspective. Eastern Shoshone Business Council Vice Chairwoman Karen Snyder, while also thanking Gordon and the states congressional delegation, said the tribe will also use the money to offset expenses from dealing with the public health crisis, but said tribal leaders were working to decide how to best use the money. (W)ere looking at ways to build out infrastructure, provide assistance for allowable expenses and maintain the current level of our per capita income so individual tribal members will not feel an immediate loss of income, Snyder said in a Tuesday press release. The two Wyoming tribes will also be eligible to apply for coronavirus relief state grants thanks to an amendment to a bill passed in a Wyoming legislative special session last week. And they are expected to receive more money from the $8 billion federal fund in the future. Both tribes have aggressively responded especially compared to other governments in Wyoming to the pandemic, declaring states of emergencies, closing casinos and other tribal businesses, conducting a significant percent of testing for the virus in the state and implementing a stay-at-home order and curfew. But those actions, coupled with low oil prices, have put both tribal governments in difficult financial positions. The Wind River tribes also face unique economic challenges in dealing with the pandemic. They dont have a tax base to count on like local and state governments and rely mainly on revenue from oil and gas leases to pay for tribal government services and programs. Although the Northern Arapahos gaming business provides some revenue to the tribal government, the Eastern Shoshone dont see any revenue from the casino as the tribe pays off debt from a Shoshone Rose Casino and Hotel expansion several years ago. Both tribes gaming enterprises, however, are major employers in the county and among tribal citizens. While the Northern Arapaho have been able to continue paying casino employees and avoid layoffs or other workforce reductions, the Eastern Shoshone had to lay off casino employees and reduce hours for other tribal employees. Snyder has previously said the money would be helpful in the short term, but if oil prices dont increase substantially, the tribe could face difficult financial decisions in the future. We remain hopeful that through these funds, our tribal government will be sustained and no further reduction of hours or layoffs will be necessary, Snyder said in the press release. Our primary goal is to protect our community and tribal members. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. As the United States begins to reopen after the coronavirus shutdown, the country must do so on different timelines and different protocols and best practices to ensure the protection of workers and citizens.The shutdown of normalcy brought on by the coronavirus outbreak was difficult, more for some than others. But returning to what will be a new normal will be more difficult, said infectious disease specialists in a media briefing hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Tuesday.Since the coronavirus was detected in the United States in January, there have been an estimated 1.5 million confirmed cases and about 90,000 deaths. Those numbers may be on the low side because of the challenges of testing, especially early on, according to Dr. Preeti Malani, Chief Health Officer at the University of Michigan, who spoke during the briefing.Malani said different parts of the country and even different industries will see different challenges as the pandemic moves into a new phase and some will adjust better and more quickly than others. Some may not survive.As things have improved from a public health standpoint, everyone is thinking about reengaging as a nation, she said. And waiting for a timeline, depending on where you live as the timeline is going to vary a bit even within states.She said in her state of Michigan the northern part is ready open other parts are still waiting on the timeline. Ramping down was pretty easy, although it didnt feel like it at the time, Malani said. Reopening is going to be much more complicated.Its going to have to be done with safeguards in place for workers, and the public and will take concerted efforts on the part of organizations to protect people as they return to the new normal. Were thinking about this at the University of Michigan as we prepare to open campus, Malani said.She said the campus wasnt fully closed but students and employees were removed for remote learning and remote work. She said research labs on campus will begin opening up in the next few days. Many manufacturing businesses are also beginning to open up in the state and some of the same protocolsand some new oneswill need to be put into place.Businesses and workplaces vary in terms of risk and you can think of them as high, medium and low risk, both in terms of the type of activity that occurs and also the number of customers that are served or the number of employees that wok in a particular space, Malani said.There are going to have to be best practices related to things like access control (how people enter establishments); health screenings; taking the temperature of people entering buildings or establishments; social distancing, where possible; contact tracing; cleaning and sanitation and the use of personal protective equipment.Its extremely important to ensure workers that they are being kept safe, Malani said. A lot of this is unknown because the playbook doesnt exist.She said its important for establishments and governments to be transparent and provide information in as much detail as possible.Some industries wont be able to reopen safely for the time being because of the nature of the business. Social distancing in some industries may not be possible so new protocols may have to be developed.In those cases, maybe you can do a better job of screening workers and customers and having better cleaning protocols, using personal protective equipment and decreasing density in some way that can make economic sense, Malani said, Like with expanded hours or different shifts.She said hand hygiene remains important as does the use of masks or face shields. None of this is going to be perfect or easy and there is going to be some residual risk not matter what. Were going to have cases of Covid-19, especially as businesses return to work but some basic public health practice can help prevent large outbreaks and help prevent and protect our most vulnerable populations.Dr. Leonard Mermel, medical director for the Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control at Rhode Island Hospital, reiterated the need for people to continue to observe practices like wearing masks or face guards and social distancing to keep the rate of infections from spiking.I spend most of my time thinking about how to reduce the risk of transmission of infections in health care settings, Mermel said. But the average individual, who is not in health care, may not realize some of the things they need to do to protect themselves.Mermel said he still has not touched a door handle since the outbreak started. He carries paper towels with him wherever he goes and uses those as protecting when touching surfaces. He also carries hand sanitizer and wears a mask.We all product bio-aerosols when we talk, he said. When we talk loudly we produce more and when we sneeze or cough and those bio-aerosols get trapped in your mask or face shield. Its important when you start getting together with your friends to continue to stay six feet apart even if youre each covered with a mask for face shield. As more summer events throughout southwest Wyoming get cancelled due to concerns of spreading COVID-19, Green River Main Street still plans to host its popular Farmers Market in July. At least, thats the plan right now. Jennie Melvin, Green River Main Street/URA administrator, said the organization isnt sure what the recommendations from the state will be in July. As such, Main Street is moving ahead with the market, though only in a tepid fashion. Normally, Melvin would have had the vendor registration packets sent to interested vendors by March, but hasnt done that yet. I... U.S. authorities are not yet tracing any spike in coronavirus cases in places that are reopening but it was still too early to determine such trends, health secretary Alex Azar said on Sunday. Unsplash "We are seeing that in places that are opening, we're not seeing this spike in cases," Azar said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We still see spikes in some areas that are, in fact, closed." However, Azar said identifying and reporting new cases takes some time. A critical part of reopening will be surveillance of flue-like symptoms in the population and other hospital admission data, as well as testing of asymptomatic individuals, he said. "It's still early days," Azar cautioned in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation." He said data will take some time to come in from states that reopened early such as Georgia and Florida. Approximately, 50 U.S states have begun to allow businesses to reopen and residents to move freely in the state, but only 14 states have met the federal governments guidelines for lifting measures aimed at fighting the pandemic, according to a Reuters analysis. The Democrat from Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it was impossible to know the course of the virus, which has killed close to 90,000 Americans without more testing. "We have no idea the size of this challenge to our country because we have not sufficiently tested," Pelosi said on CBS' "Face the Nation." Legislation which was passed by the House of Representatives on Friday would provide the Keys points to a successful reopening: these would have testing, tracing and treatment, she said, Republicans have called the bill dead on arrival in the Senate. "We haven't had a plan. Let's go forward in a bipartisan way to have a plan, a plan to test," she said. Reuters The US has got behind most other industrialized nations in coronavirus testing that public health officials deem critical to prevent further coronavirus outbreaks. Azar put the onus on local governments to handle reopening plans, as cooped-up Americans began to flock to bars, beaches and parks. "These are very localized determinations. There should not be a one size fits all to reopening but reopen we must because it's not health versus the economy. It's health versus healthy," he said, adding there were serious health consequences to not reopening. When asked about images being broadcast from some areas of the country showing people gathering near bars and congregating close together, Azar said that was the cost of freedom. "I think in any individual instance you're going to see people doing things that are irresponsible. That's part of the freedom that we have here in America," he said on CNN. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 16:33:14|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) will resume operations in June, according to the company. The THY will begin its domestic flights on June 4 and international flights on June 10, a press officer told Xinhua on Thursday. In the upcoming period, cabin baggage would no longer be carried in the cabin, said Ilker Ayci, chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the company. Speaking to local media, Ayci noted that only handbags would be allowed inside the cabins. The carrier earlier extended the suspension of all its domestic and international flights until May 28 over COVID-19 concerns. Enditem Limits on air fares have been set in seven bands as per the flight durations and they would be in place till August 24, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. The minister said the first band, which would have its specific lower and upper limits of air fare, will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. Second, third, fourth and fifth bands of upper limit would be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes and 120-150 minutes, he said. The sixth and seventh bands would consist of flights with durations between 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes, he stated. Aviation Secretary P S Kharola, who was also present at the press conference, said 40 per cent of the seats would have to be sold at the mid-point of the lower and upper air fare limits set for the flights. The minister said he cant comment right now on when flight operations would be restored completely. If a passenger does not have the Aarogya Setu app on her or his phone for some reason, she or he can give a self-declaration form, the minister said, adding that such a passenger will not be stopped from boarding the flight. The minister added that private carriers will join the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indians stranded abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic flight operations will resume in India from May 25. All commercial passenger flights were suspended in the country from March 25, when the Modi government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. As many as one in 10 charities could go out of business in the next six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, a think tank boss has warned. Sir Stephen Bubb, director of Charity Futures, suggested there are 'too many' non-profit and voluntary organisations and that more should look to merge together. His comments come as Oxfam announced it will be laying off 1,450 staff - almost a third of those on the books - as it pulls out of 18 countries around the world. A 'We are now closed' sign appeared in a charity shop window in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire earlier this month as a think tank boss warns as many as one in 10 charities could go out of business in the next six months due to the coronavirus pandemic Sir Stephen told BBC Radio 4's The World At One Programme: 'A group of economists estimate that something like one in 10 charities will go bust in the next six months.' He added: 'I think the public believe there are too many charities, I think that is probably true, I think we should be looking at more mergers and consolidation in our sector. 'This has also shown that the infrastructure for charities is incredibly weak. Donors want money to go to the front line, not on things like IT systems, and yet we need to do that. 'Our governance structures in some cases are antiquated, we have an ineffective regulator and the Government... frankly the relationships with Government are dire at a time when actually you would think the Government would be looking to the strength in charity in terms of motivating, organisers volunteers and community action. Sir Stephen Bubb, director of Charity Futures, pictured, suggested there are 'too many' non-profit and voluntary organisations and that more should look to merge together 'Ministers are quite hostile and I don't quite know why, so there is a lot we need to look at in terms of inquiry.' Oxfam bosses revealed the drastic cuts as they come to terms with the financial fallout of the Covid-19 crisis. The charity said continuing uncertainty over how quickly countries will come out of lockdown make the financial repercussions 'difficult to accurately quantify'. Charity shops have had to close and fundraising events have had to be cancelled, with Oxfam trying to balance the books by freezing staff hires, furloughing employees, slashing travel budgets as well as voluntary salary cuts from senior staff. Oxfam International Interim Executive Director Chema Vera said: 'The coronavirus has made Oxfam's work helping the world's most vulnerable people more vital than ever while, at the same time, it is impacting on our capacity to deliver. Oxfam announced it will be laying off 1,450 staff - almost a third of those on the books - as it pulls out of 18 countries around the world. Pictured: A sign informing of an Oxfam charity shop closure 'We are enormously grateful to our donors and supporters whose continuing generosity is helping us rise to this unprecedented challenge. 'I would like to place on record my deepest thanks to our staff and the brilliant work they have achieved in helping the people and communities we work with improve their lives. 'The organisational changes we have announced today, combined with further phases of transformation in the months ahead, will be the foundation for our future over the coming decade as the longer-term effects of this devastating pandemic become clearer. 'The tough decisions we announce today will allow us to continue making a positive impact on the lives of people living in poverty in ways we believe will be even more relevant and focused than before. 'It is the blueprint too of how we will usher in changes to the rest of our network to support it, ensuring that the global Oxfam confederation is on a stable financial footing.' Nurses sing and dance on their way to deliver a petition in this file picture. They claim they have nothing to do with lobbying for large numbers in church gatherings. (File Pics) MBABANE Health care workers are said to have had a hand in the proposal to allow a large number of people during church services. This is if an assertion by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini is anything to go by. The PM, on Wednesday, claimed that the decision to open churches was also motivated by healthcare workers. He said the health employees had raised how they were weighed down by their work and needed spiritual intervention. This was during the PMs report to Members of Parliament (MPs) on the partial lockdown, taking into consideration the Variation of Gatherings Directive, 2020 in the House of Assembly. The directive stipulated that the maximum number of people who may be part of a religious gathering on a normal day of worship shall not exceed 70. However, MPs had a field day as they castigated government for taking a decision that did not seem to be in the interest of the masses. They eventually reversed the decision to 20 people as per the COVID-19 regulations. The PM, during Wednesdays sitting, mentioned that the motion stipulated that he should explain the confusion caused when the easing of the partial lockdown was announced by the minister of Home Affairs on the religious sector. Complaining We should mention that in the Ministry of Health, it has emerged that healthcare workers are complaining that they need to uplift their spirituality. The work overwhelms them and they need churches to open so they can be ministered unto and be counselled, the PM said. He said it was important for healthcare workers to be assisted in this regard. He further requested that the MPs should allow for the maximum of 70 people in the churches. Dlamini explained that the decision for churches not to exceed the capacity of 70 people was taken by Cabinet and the minister of Home Affairs was delegated to collaborate with the three church bodies in the country before reaching the decision. Dlamini added that this was done together with other structures. He acknowledged the confusion raised by some MPs who consulted Cabinet, out of concern on how it reached this decision. The PM apologised for the confusion and explained that in actual fact, the decision was made as part of easing the partial lockdown. Dlamini elaborated that it was for this reason that in the report, it was mentioned that the decision focused only on faith-based gatherings. He urged the MPs to tackle and make any variations. He reiterated that as the House looked into the issue, it should consider that the country needed to start moving towards normalcy because it could not live in this state forever. Guidance We will be doing this gradually, with the guidance of the Ministry of Health, which will advise us on what to do and what not to do. That is why we urge the House to look into the issue of faith-based gatherings, he said. Meanwhile, he added that the nation, had also decried the limit of 20 people in funerals. Dlamini stated that people complained that they could not honour their loved ones due to this restriction. He assured the MPs that if they would support the 70 people maximum, it would be ensured that there were strict regulations in churches that would be complied with. He further advised the House to not be dismayed when government eased certain regulations and then regressed, as this was the nature of the pandemic. Dlamini requested the MPs to pardon government, as this was behaviour that was observed in most countries. He said one may think that government was confused yet it was the nature of the crisis. Amendment It remains a mystery why the PM did not, however, include the amendment on the churches or gatherings in the COVID -19 (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 that was tabled by the Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku, on Wednesday. Instead, the amendment only spoke on the compulsory wearing of masks and how the corpse of a COVID-19 positive patient should be handled. Hosea MP Mduduzi Mabuza first thanked the PM for ensuring that the number of 20 only at gatherings, including churches, was reinstated by government. He said as legislators, they were concerned about the lives of the people. He said this was particularly because there were many denominations, especially Jerichos, who conducted church services in a different manner because there was some form of body contact during their services. He said maybe they would debate the issue when it was the time to amend the regulations on Monday. He said he was a Christian and asked that pastors should stop provoking them. They must not turn the church into businesses, he said. MP Mabuza said the pastors who were attacking them did not even know what they were talking about. Meanwhile, Lomahasha MP Ndumiso Masimula said concerning the church issue, there were things which invoked fear. He said he was happy when Christians met because the church healed the soul and brought life. However, he said the safety of their people was their main concern, not being against God and the church. Masimula said there were three church bodies in the country which needed to come up with lasting solutions to this issue. He said some pastors felt like Parliament wanted to shut down churches yet that was not the case. He also called for the church bodies to have some sort of permits like businesses, which would regulate them. Welcomed Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko said he welcomed the idea of 70 people in church but as long as there was social distancing. However, his debate was cut short after the break as the Speaker, Petros Mavimbela, announced that the PM had left for another engagement. On another note, the MPs noted that the PM had withdrawn the statement he had made, to the effect that this was no time for scoring political points. Some of the MPs suggested that the debate continue in the presence of the DPM, however, other MPs said they were prepared to wait for the PM as they wanted to debate the response in his presence. The matter went to vote and 27 of the MPs voted for the debate to continue in the next sitting, which will take place on Monday Bajaj Auto's consolidated reported net profit fell 3.9% to Rs 1,353.99 crore on 8.5% decline in net sales to Rs 6,610.90 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. Profit before tax (PBT) slipped 10.8% to Rs 1,764.93 crore during the period under review. Current tax expenses jumped 14.8% to Rs 411.33 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. The Q4 earnings were announced after market hours yesterday, 20 May 2020. Consolidated net profit advanced 5.76% to Rs 5,211.91 crore on 1.54% drop in net sales to Rs 29,111.54 crore in the year ended March 2020 (FY20) over the year ended March 2019 (FY19). PBT fell 3.79% to Rs 6,692.13 crore during the year. The auto maker's total sales volume declined 17% to 9.91 lakh units in Q4 FY20 as against 11.93 lakh units in Q4 FY19. Domestic sales volumes slumped 33% to 4.78 lakh units while exports gained 7% to 5.13 lakh units during the quarter. During the financial year, Bajaj Auto International Holdings BV, a Netherlands based 100% subsidiary of Bajaj Auto, held 47.99% stake in KTM AG of Austria at a total investment of about Rs 1,219 crore. The nationwide lockdown on account of Covid-19 effectively wiped out 40 days, of which 32 days have been in FY21. Now, with the partial ease on lockdown, the company's manufacturing facilities at Chakan, Waluj and Pantnagar have opened, but are not working at full pace. In near future, the company expects to continue to witness the impact of this lockdown. Meanwhile, the board approved an interim dividend of Rs 120 per share. As on 31 March 2019, Bajaj Auto's surplus cash and cash equivalents stands at Rs 14,322 crore as on 31 March 2020. Shares of Bajaj Auto jumped 3.74% to Rs 2,653.60 on BSE. The scrip was trading in the range of Rs 2,623.20 to Rs 2,664 so far. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China has issued another warning to Australia by opening the door to new checks on Australian iron ore in an escalating trade row overshadowed by coronavirus. Beijing's latest move comes after China banned Australian beef and slapped a tax on barley in the wake of Canberra's calls for an inquiry into the pandemic. The new Chinese customs rules mean that Australia's $63billion (34billion) iron ore exports could be singled out for extra checks, analysts say. Instead of mandatory inspections, China will now carry out optional checks at the request of the importer - meaning Australia's competitors could be given priority. China's retaliation has sparked fears of a global trade war involving other countries who backed an inquiry, including Britain, although Beijing claims the changes are nothing to do with coronavirus. China has changed customs rules on iron-ore imports after introducing an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley banning four Aussie beef suppliers Yu Lei of Liaocheng University told Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times: 'This is another implicit warning to Australia. 'It is associated with how Australia has acted and a general decline in demand for steel on the global level.' China's ambassador in Canberra has previously hinted at a boycott of Australian goods after Scott Morrison's government rallied global support for an inquiry. The World Health Organisation finally bowed to the pressure and agreed to a 'comprehensive evaluation' on Monday. Iron ore is Australia's biggest export to China, bringing in $63billion in 2019. The new rules, which come into effect on June 1, state that customs officers can conduct safety checks for toxic elements 'if necessary'. The General Administration of Customs said the changes are meant to 'streamline' the process and 'facilitate trade'. A haulage truck and an autonomous drilling rig at the Rio Tinto West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of West Australia One trader at Lianyungang Port told the Global Times the changes would not be used to punish Australia. 'I see it as a value-added service that will improve efficiency and inventory turnover at ports,' he said. But iron-ore analyst Du Hongfeng told the AFR the new system could target Australian exporters. 'Australia asked for a groundless investigation [into coronavirus] by following a certain country (the US). Therefore the market will link this to other things,' he said. A source familiar with the situation told Daily Mail Australia it would not be surprising if Brazilian exporter Vale was prioritised over Australian exporters for streamlined customs processing. China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 62 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil. Analysts have predicted an increased demand for Australian iron-ore this year as China embarks on more infrastructure projects and Brazilian suppliers suffer from the country's coronavirus outbreak. The announcement comes on the first day of the annual meeting of The National People's Congress, which will discuss economic recovery. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Daily Mail Australia: 'We welcome any improvements in administrative arrangements that could streamline the customs clearance of iron ore imports.' China imported 1.07billion tonnes of iron ore last year, receiving 66 per cent from Australia and 21 per cent from Brazil Last week China introduced an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley after suspending imports from four Australian beef suppliers for 30 days over alleged labelling issues. Critics including Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have said China is seeking to punish Australia for calling for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has denied this and said the barley tariff is due to concerns that Australia was 'dumping' the grain at unfairly low prices, which Australia rejects. The Global Times said relations between the two countries have 'ebbed because of Canberra's incessant efforts to spearhead an independent probe of the Covid-19 outbreak in China in order to stigmatize the country.' In an editorial the outlet warned 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy'. 'China has the power to hurt the Aussie economy but won't fire the first shot in a trade war,' the publication wrote. 'In view of past experience, China won't be the one to take the first provocative step, but it should be noted that any further attempt to confuse malicious COVID-19 inquiries with trade would only exacerbate the tensions, driving bilateral trade off track.' Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an independent inquiry into the deadly respiratory virus and the World Health Organisation 's handling of the crisis Last month the Chinese Embassy called Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton 'pitiful,' 'ignorant' and a US 'parrot' after he told China to 'answer questions' about how coronavirus started. On April 26 Chinese Ambassador to Australia Jingye Cheng warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products in revenge. 'Maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef,' he told the AFR. The dispute comes after a torrid year for Australia-China relations saw clashes over political interference, human rights abuses in western China and Huawei 5G equipment. Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby told Daily Mail Australia that diplomatic relations are 'at their lowest point since they began 46 years ago'. One third of Australia's exports - including iron ore, gas, coal and food - go to China, bringing in around $135billion per year. Beijing has a track record of putting pressure on exporters during political disagreements. It includes encouraging a boycott of South Korean cars after the country deployed a US missile shield in 2017 and a ban on Norwegian salmon after Chinese rebel Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo that same year. 'Trade should be independent from politics, but it's hard to completely divide them in reality,' Mr Yu told the Global Times. Australia and China have had a free trade agreement since 2015 but some exporters have still run into difficulties as relations have soured. In 2018 Beijing imposed new customs regulations on Australian wine resulting in shipments being held up in Shanghai. And last year - after Canberra stripped Chinese businessman Xiangmo Huang of his visa - major ports prolonged clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days, claiming the delay was due to 'normal' safety checks. Burma Myanmar Parliament Indefinitely Postpones Referendum on Charter Amendments Lawmakers cast their ballots on constitutional amendments on March 11, 2020. / Thiha Lwin / The Irrawaddy YANGONMyanmars Union Parliament on Thursday voted to postpone a national referendum on constitutional change that was expected to cost around 15 billion kyats (US$10.44 million). The referendum is needed to approve two minor changes to the Constitutions Article 32(a) and 32(b), which received the required support of more than 75 percent of lawmakers in Parliament in March. The changes would amend Burmese-language references to disabled military officers in two places and elders in one place. The Constitution requires a nationwide referendum to change certain charter provisions covered under Article 436(a), provided they are first approved by more than 75 percent of lawmakers. The Parliament earlier sought to hold the charter referendum concurrently with the upcoming general election this year to save on polling expenditures. In replying to the Parliaments request, Union Election Commission (UEC) member U Than Aung told lawmakers on Thursday that if the commission has to hold the referendum, there will be three minor changes to be approved, including one charter amendment passed by the previous Parliament under the U Thein Sein government. That one would simply change the word military to defense in a clause in Article 59(d), which stipulates that the President must be acquainted with the political, administrative, economic and military affairs of the Union. The commission would need an additional 14.646 billion kyats to hold the referendum alongside the election to cover the cost of fielding an extra three officers at each polling station around the country as well as more ballot boxes and ballot papers, the election commissioner said. If we have to hold it, we will, but we will need a budget of 14.646 billion kyats for that, which is still very costly, and as approving those [three] changes will not have much impact, we suggest delaying the referendum, and combining it with [referendums on] future charter reforms, he added. Parliament Speaker U T Khun Myat told the lawmakers the commissions suggestion was reasonable and appropriate. The proposal to postpone the referendum passed unanimously. From March 10-20, the Union Parliament voted on 135 proposed constitutional amendments, 114 of which were submitted by the National League for Democracy and ethnic parties, mainly seeking to reduce the special powers and privileges granted to the military under the charter. Almost all of the charter reforms failed to pass in March, with only four minor changes receiving the required support of more than 75 percent of lawmakers. Two of those did not require approval in a referendum to take effect. They also involved language adjustments, changing a Burmese-language reference to disabled military officers and removing language deemed unnecessary from a charter provision on the appointment of state and regional ministers. India on Thursday said China was hindering normal patrols by its troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim and strongly rejected Beijing's allegations that Indian forces trespassed into the Chinese side. The Ministry of External Affairs said all Indian activities have been carried out on its side of the border and that India has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management. At the same time, it said India was deeply committed to protect its sovereignty and security. Several areas in Ladakh and North Sikkim witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese in the last few days, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs. On Tuesday, China accused the Indian Army of trespassing into its territory, claiming that it was an "attempt to unilaterally change the status" of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh. "Any suggestion that Indian troops had undertaken activity across the LAC in the Western sector or the Sikkim sector is not accurate. Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas and abide by it scrupulously," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online media briefing. He said all Indian activities were entirely on the Indian side of the LAC. "In fact, it is Chinese side that has recently undertaken activity hindering India's normal patrolling patterns. Indian side has always taken a very responsible approach towards border management," Srivastava said. "At the same time, we are deeply committed to ensuring India's sovereignty and security. The Indian troops strictly follow the procedures laid down in various bilateral agreements and protocols to resolve any situations which may arise due to difference in perception of LAC," he said. Without elaborating, the MEA spokesperson said both sides were engaged to address any immediate issue. "The two sides have established mechanisms to resolve such situations peacefully through dialogue. Both sides remain engaged with each other to address any immediate issues," he said. In the midst of the escalating tension between the two ides, the US on Wednesday said the latest border dispute in Ladakh was a reminder of the threat posed by China. China on Thursday dismissed as "nonsense" the comments by Alice Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department. It is learnt that local commanders of both the sides held at least three meetings in the last couple of days to bring down the tension but there was no positive outcome from the exchanges. Sources said a top official in the government was in touch with Beijing as both sides were attempting to resolve the issue. "In accordance with the consensus reached in Chennai, Indian side remains firmly committed to work for the common objective of maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas. This is an essential prerequisite to the further development of Indian-China bilateral relations," said Srivastava. Sources said the Chinese troops significantly increased their presence in areas around Pangong Tso Lake and Galwan Valley and even brought in sizable number of additional boats to the lake. The two sides also have brought in additional troops to locations like Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie, the sources said The sources said the Chinese side has erected at least 40-50 tents in the Galwan Valley area following which India has also sent reinforcements to keep a hawk-eye vigil in the area. The sources said the Chinese side had taken strong exception to India undertaking construction of key road around the Galwan river. India maintains that the area where the road and a bridge were being constructed belonged to the Indian side. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017 which even triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. China has been critical of India's reorganisation of J-K, and has particularly criticised New Delhi for making Ladakh a union territory. China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first informal summit in April 2018 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, months after the Doklam standoff. In the summit, the two leaders decided to issue "strategic guidance" to their militaries to strengthen communications so that they can build trust and understanding. Modi and Xi held their second informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai in October last year with a focus on further broadening bilateral ties. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Natural News) On Wednesday, one of Americas top scientists said that the government shouldnt count on a successful vaccine against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) being developed anytime soon when making a decision on easing restrictions. The statements by Dr. William Haseltine come after Moderna claimed to have made great strides in developing a vaccine against COVID-19. Dr. Haseltine, a former professor at the Harvard Medical School, renowned for his groundbreaking work on HIV and the human genome, stated that the better approach to the pandemic would be to manage the disease through careful contact tracing and strict isolation measures when it starts spreading. While a COVID-19 vaccine could eventually be developed, Haseltine said, I wouldnt count on it. Moderna claims progress on its vaccine candidate Haseltines statements come after Moderna announced Monday that their COVID-19 candidate the frontrunner in the U.S. market seemed to be generating favorable immune responses in Phase 1 trial subjects. (Related: Trump pushes for an accelerated, risky vaccine by the end of the year, then says coronavirus will go away without a vaccine.) The seemingly positive news caused the companys stock valuation to surge, hitting $29 billion. This is an astonishing feat for a company that currently has no products on the market. However, Modernas announcement presented little in the way of actual data. Even what figures the company did release didnt mean much on their own as other bits of critical information necessary for interpreting this data was withheld. Modernas statement led with the fact that all 45 test subjects who received doses of 35 micrograms, 100 micrograms or 250 micrograms of the vaccine candidate developed binding antibodies. However, their statement later indicated that only eight volunteers four who received 25 micrograms and four who received 100 micrograms developed neutralizing antibodies. The data lacks information on the results from the other 37 volunteers. Neutralizing antibodies are the ones that scientists are hoping to see in these tests theyre the ones that indicate a subject may be developing immunity. However, testing for these is more time-consuming and needs to be done in specialized laboratories. In addition, while the report did state that the volunteers were between 18 and 55 years old, it did not state the exact ages of the volunteers who developed neutralizing antibodies. Haseltine questions Modernas announcement Haseltine had some less than kind words to share when reflecting on the data, or lack of it, in Modernas press release when talking to CNBC Wednesday. If a CFO had tried to get away with such an opaque and data-less statement it would have bee treated with derision and possibly an investigation, he stated. We all know its an emergency, and in an emergency its even more important to be clear on what you know and what you do not know, he added, pointing out the importance of having exact information at this time. In addition, Haseltine also expressed disappointment at Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, calling the results encouraging. Whether [Fauci] shaded what should have been done, I think is an important question, he said. Hes obviously under enormous pressure for positive results but it was not the right thing to do if you cant see the data. Other scientists have raised questions as well Haseltine isnt the only scientist who has raised questions about Modernas vaccine, or COVID-19 vaccines in general. In a recent article, STAT talked to a number of scientists who also called elements of Modernas report into question. Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University, questioned the durability of the neutralizing antibodies detected in the subjects. She pointed out that the blood samples from the volunteers had been taken only two weeks after they received their second dose of the vaccine candidate. Thats very early. We dont know if those antibodies are durable, stated Durbin. Others have questioned whether the amount of antibodies produced is actually enough to stave off the coronavirus. Moderna claims that the antibody levels they saw were on par or greater than those seen in people who have recovered from COVID-19. However, studies have shown that antibody levels in people who have recovered from the disease can vary greatly. Yale University researcher John Jack Rose pointed to a study from China that shows that, among 175 recovered COVID-19 patients, 10 had no detectable neutralizing antibodies. Meanwhile, others on the opposite end had really high antibody levels. Though Moderna claims that the antibody levels produced by their vaccine candidate were as high as those produced by the infection, theres no real way to know what exactly that comparison means. When questioned about their information by STAT, Moderna claimed that they would release the full data in the future in an eventual journal article from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, this reply seemed to raise more questions. My guess is that their numbers are marginal or they would say more, said Rose. Learn more about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak at Pandemic.news. Sources include: Reuters.com ZeroHedge.com STATNews.com 1 STATNews.com 2 President Trump is considering gathering world leaders at Camp David for a G7 summit in June. None of the world leaders have rejected the idea so far. President Macron's office said he is open, should health conditions allow. French President Macron weighs his decision to travel to the United States upon the importance of the G7 in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. "He's open, he's even willing to go there, but obviously with this caveat: only if the sanitary conditions allow," an Elysee official said, after Presidents Macron and Trump spoke over the phone. In a bid to return to normalcy, United States President Donald Trump tweeted that he is considering re-scheduling the G7 meeting around 10-12 June in Washington DC, at the legendary Camp David. The United States currently holds the presidency of the group of the seven industrialised nations which includes France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada and Japan. Trump said that the G7 members, like the United States, are beginning their comeback. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would "wait and see what happens. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it an interesting idea, but said leaders need a lot more details. He said it is important G7 leaders meet in June so they can discuss the pandemic and restoring economic activity. We need to keep meeting as leaders. Whether that's virtual or in person we will certainly take a look at what the United States is proposing as host of the G7 to see what kind of measures will be in place to keep people safe, what kind of recommendations the experts are giving in terms of how that might function, Trudeau said. From virtual to real Trump had scheduled the Group of Seven summit for 10-12 June at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. But in March, he announced he was cancelling the annual meeting because of the pandemic and that the leaders would confer by video conference instead. On Wednesday, President Trump wrote that the United States was transitioning back to greatness despite the country holding the highest Covid-19 death toll in the world with more than 93,000 deaths and, at least, 1.5 million recorded cases. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said a face-to-face summit, rather than one by videoconference as had been planned, would be a "show of strength and optimism as America is reopening. If the summit happens, the United States will request that delegations be pared back to minimum personnel and would curtail nonessential events like the spousal program. A final decision would be needed in the coming days to ensure adequate time to prepare for the high-level meeting, added McEnany. The United States currently maintains bans on flights to the country from Europe and Britain. Canada and the US agreed to keep their shared border closed to nonessential travel through 21 June. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Gansler said the state has no grounds to kill the deal. There is absolutely no defense for canceling this contract, Gansler said in an interview Wednesday night. He filed a claim with the state Department of General Services noting that the contract required delivery by June 30, a deadline he said the recently formed company is prepared to meet. I would like to believe that the government will rescind the termination and reinstate the purchase order and get 1.5 million masks and 110 ventilators in to the state as the contract calls for. The money will be transferred through one of the Ukrainian non-governmental organizations Open source The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has allocated extra $1 million to Ukraine for expenses tied with Covid-19 pandemic as the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine reported. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed an additional $1 million to support Ukraines response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the message said. Besides, the aid will be provided through one of the Ukrainian non-governmental organizations. It will be spent for the purchase of goods necessary to fight against the virus, for example, medical equipment. It is noted that the U.S. government plans to allocate $15.5 million to Ukraine for the fight against the coronavirus and its consequences. Totally, the U.S. has allocated $900 million to over 120 countries. Besides, the Council of the European Union made the decision to provide Ukraine with 1.2 billion Euros for overcoming the economic and social consequences of coronavirus. COVID-19 has sent communities across the globe into upheaval, and the art world is no exception but theres something about art and crisis that go hand-in-hand. (The arts) tend to meet precarity in a way that forces them to blossom, art historian Dr. Lucy Curzon said. Curzon, who specializes in modern and contemporary art, teaches at the University of Alabama, and she and her colleagues have seen examples of this time and time again. Its a two-fold relationship. Artists help the world through crisis, and crisis helps art to keep developing. Crisis is always an opportunity right to rethink the world order and artists are here to make us think, said Dr. Noa Turel, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who specializes in Northern Renaissance Art, as well as the connection between art and science. The mission of the artist is to challenge power, to speak truth, to make people sing, to make people question the status quo, to make people envision a better future. While everyone has to deal with the feelings and repercussions that go along with crisis, artists have the ability to express the struggle through their medium, Dr. Jennifer Feltman, an Alabama art history professor who specializes in medieval art and architecture. The works they make become a part of the collective memory about what happened. Feltman said she thinks the coronavirus will place greater importance on that idea of collective memory. She cannot think of another time in history when the entire world shut down and experienced the same event at the same time -- and was able to stay connected through it. As people who study the ways art has recorded history and the way history has affected art, its very interesting for art historians to consider what the coronavirus will do to the art world. Crisis has a way of disrupting trends and sending things in a completely different direction. This just makes me very curious to think about how and in what ways is this crisis going to disrupt our own art making and our own kind of history and trajectory? said Dr. Rachel Stephens, an Alabama professor who specializes in American Art. Stephens has been thinking about how houses in the south were becoming more and more elaborate before the Civil War gave everyone a sense of stoicism. Turel has thought about how the Dada and avant garde movements came out of the 1917 flu epidemic. It might take years for the change to show, maybe 5 years, maybe 10, maybe even 20. The art being made now about the coronavirus does not have too much depth, Dr. Doris Sung, an Alabama professor who specializes in Asian Art, said. Its more reactionary. New movements come with a change of thinking, which can take years to process. She and her colleagues agree that the works that come out will be more politicized and socially aware. Historically, if we look at moments of crises, the kinds of artworks that emerge from them, are not really artworks that are meant to entertain or to be kind of a feel good thing, Turel said. Sometimes artists are not even conscious of the forces affecting their creativity, artist and Alabama ceramics professor Wade MacDonald said. But its safe to say the coronavirus has made him think about things in a different way. Not only has he started to think more about the problems with a system that forces those of a lower socio-economic status to bear the the brunt of the virus, but hes also started to think more about the way in which he works. Theres loss of the communal aspect of the studio and the forced slowdown, which has made him think about his pace. Hes curious to see what its like when he gets back in the studio and how it comes out in his work. The messages artists incorporate in their work may not be as in your face as paintings of people in masks or the drawings of the downtrodden. It could be something as little as the way a color combination makes you feel or the scale of a piece, MacDonald said. They may never find a way to effectively convey the losses of the coronavirus no one has figured out how to convey the loss of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, Curzon pointed out but maybe that wont be the point. Maybe its the role of the arts in society during massive times of people in crisis, whether it be economic, social, cultural, that they keep forcing us to ask questions, Curzon said. Read more: Trim Tab Brewing releasing special edition beer Friday to raise money for service industry workers How to make coffee in a pandemic: local coffee shops adapt From how much to save to student loan payments, what young people need to know to survive a recession NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Staten Island Republicans want the borough to reopen earlier than the rest of the city and are pushing for the state to look at the Island as a separate region from New York City as metrics are being weighed on when different parts of New York State can safely reopen. The position has created a near partisan divide on the Island. Half of the boroughs sitting Democratic politicians say Staten Island should reopen at the same time as the rest of the city, with the exception of centrist Democrat Rep. Max Rose, who believes if the borough hits its benchmarks ahead of the rest of the city it makes sense to allow us to safely re-open. Meanwhile, all of the Islands sitting Republican politicians, except for Borough President James Oddo, want the Island to be judged by its own set of metrics. When you subtract the 250 or so nursing home cases you see this wasnt as bad on Staten Island, said Councilman Joe Borelli, R-South Shore, the boroughs secession leader, who called on the city to reopen this week. [Staten Island University Hospital] does not have any new cases, thats not to say theyll not get any more, but still, its going away, Borelli said of one of the Islands two private hospitals, Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH). On Sunday, SIUH reported no new coronavirus patient admissions for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Since that time, SIUH has admitted 12 new coronavirus patients. Before New York City and regions across the state can reopen, they must first meet seven state-mandated reopening metrics which include a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations; 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths; under two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents; and regional hospitals keeping 30% of their general hospital and ICU beds available; a testing program that reaches 30 per 1,000 residents in the region; and having 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents or based on infection rate. As of Wednesday, New York City only met four of those requirements. But Republicans point to the Islands own metrics as indicators as to why the borough should be looked at separately from the rest of New York City. The Island recorded 13,043 coronavirus cases and 946 deaths on Thursday. That same day, 138 coronavirus patients were being treated at the Island two private hospitals combined. There were 56 patients in ICU beds as of Wednesday. And to date, the hospitals have treated and released 2,919 of their coronavirus patients. But even though Staten Island has the lowest number of cases in the city, the borough has the highest rate of infection after the Bronx. Staten Island should be treated differently from the rest of the city because the conditions in our borough are unique from the rest of the city for example, we have more open space, less density and more families with cars to get around. The data suggest our health care system is in a much better place to protect our most vulnerable residents. With the proper rules and safeguards in place, I believe we could safely and smartly reopen, said Minority Leader Steven Matteo, R-Mid Island. CITY, STATE UNLIKELY TO CONSIDER ISLAND SEPARATELY But its unlikely the city and state will consider reopening Staten Island ahead of other parts of New York City. Mayoral spokeswoman Avery Cohen said New York City is one city and would reopen together. The office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not respond to requests for comment when asked if the state would consider looking at Staten Island as a separate region in its metrics. But Assemblyman Michael Reilly, R-South Shore, said the governors office recently told him the boroughs data would remain part of the citys regional metrics after he asked the mayor and governor last week if Staten Island could be looked at as a region separate from the rest of the city. For the past two months, we diligently stayed home and reduced contact with our friends and loved ones, all in the name of flattening the curve. It worked and, for the most part, we overcame the worst of the virus, Reilly said. Mayor de Blasio said that New York City would likely hit Gov. Cuomos criteria for Phase 1 of reopening by mid-June. For many of us on Staten Island, that seems like an eternity away, and may just be too long a wait for some, he continued. North Shore Democrats Councilwoman Debi Rose and Assemblyman Charles Fall, who represent a part of the Island thats been one of the hardest hit by the virus, pushed back against the idea of the Island being looked at separately from the rest of the city. Considering that 10304 ranked in the top-10 ZIP codes of COVID deaths citywide, we cannot pretend that this pandemic has had a lesser effect on our borough than the rest of the city, said Councilwoman Rose. Because of these numbers and our tenuous health care infrastructure, I would oppose any effort to consider Staten Island as a separate region. New York City is one city, with a unified school and transportation system, and as a city, we are close to meeting all reopening benchmarks. I respect the logic and expertise of public health officials and our governor, establishing benchmarks on a regional basis, and I fear that an early reopening of Staten Island could fuel an uptick in the numbers and contribute to a second wave of this disease. Fall said the guidelines put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and city and state health departments are there to protect all New York City residents, and should therefore be adhered to in full compliance and only open once all seven reopening metrics are met. Democrats State Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Michael Cusick did not return requests for comment for this story. Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he is confident New York City can meet the states seven reopening metrics by mid-June. Every county in the state should be reviewed separately to see if they meet the criteria for re-opening, said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, R-East Shore/South Brooklyn. For the health and well being of Staten Island residents, its important that medical offices, dentists and elective surgeries resume as quickly as possible, as nearly three months have passed since they were ordered to close their doors. State Sen. Andrew Lanza, R-Staten Island, said that if the numbers are saying Staten Island should not be tied to boroughs like Manhattan, then decisions should be made accordingly if the numbers and the facts are different. But Oddo cautioned that there may be more realistic and tangible battles to be won. Decades of experience show local decision making and Staten Island-centric policy crafting are better for the residents of this borough, Oddo said. But does anyone believe the mayor who wont contemplate borough-based snow day school closings is going to have individual boroughs open up in wake of a pandemic? Worth inquiring, for sure, but there are more realistic and tangible battles out there to be won. [W]e should absolutely consider letting businesses open with reduced capacity and construction to resume. Its not like a liquor store has some magic coronavirus fighting powers that other mom-and-pop stores dont have, Rep. Rose said in a statement. But whats most important is laying out clear guidelines for every business, and ensuring they have the supplies and PPE necessary to safely open. We dont need 87 mayoral commissions and task forces to do that, we just need common-sense guidelines. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** YPSILANTI, Mich. - Lois Allen-Richardson used to be coy about using the word "racism" to describe the roots of the inequalitiesin her hometown. The 77-year old mayor pro tem of this liberal, blue-collar townrecalls a time when she and her neighbors were barred from downtown restaurants and dress shops because of their skin color. Though Allen-Richardson, who is black, walks freely there now, she sees racism elsewhere: in the segregated neighborhoods, in the stories about black people denied coronavirus testing, in the struggle to get a testing site in a neighborhood with among the highest infection rates. She doesn't hesitate to call out the systemic discrimination she believes is at the root of the vast racial disparities in coronavirus infections in southeastern Michigan: "As long as it exists, we have to name it." But there is one name Allen-Richardson avoids: President Donald Trump. Trump is scheduled on Thursday to visit a Ford plant that is producing ventilators just outside her community. Allen-Richardson said she was not invited to meet "the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," but she holds him accountable for the severity of the pandemic, particularly in communities such as this one. If she could have a word with Trump, "I would let him know that his dishonesty cost lives," Allen-Richardson said, criticizing the president for playing down the virus' threat. In the hardest-hit Zip code in Ypsilanti, nearly one in 100 residents has tested positive or is presumed positive for the novel coronavirus. Yet the area didn't get a coronavirus testing site until early May,after local leaders fought to call attention to the deepening crisis there. The testing site was set up in a school that has been shuttered for two months, about six miles northwest of the Rawsonville Ford plant that will host Trump. While its schoolyard remains barren and its hallways empty, there is now a white canopy stretched across the U-shaped driveway, with a car that passes through occasionally. As Trump has urged communities to reopen and cheered on protesters who have defied stay-at-home orders, communities such as Ypsilanti are struggling to contain the virus. In Washtenaw County - where Ypsilanti is located next door to Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan - there have been 1,261 confirmed coronavirus cases and 90 deaths. Black residents make up 12 percent of the county population, but 34 percent of the cases. The state is dealing with cataclysms on multiple fronts. Wednesday, it passed a grim milestone, tallying more than 5,000 coronavirus deaths. The shutdowns left one in four workers in Michigan out of a job in March, though some have returned as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has lifted restrictions on construction and manufacturing. The day before the president threatened to pull the state's funding, floodwaters breached dams in a city north of Lansing, sending a deluge that Whitmer warned could leave the community under nine feet of water. Though protesters who oppose the state's lockdown rules continue rallying in Lansing - on Wednesday cutting hair on the capitol lawn to protest the restrictions on barbershops - few here are eager to reopen until the virus is contained. Instead, leaders are beginning to look inward, examining the cruel realities and the fault lines that have led to the lopsided death toll. Ypsilanti Mayor Beth Bashert has been frank: "environmental, systemic and economic racism." Bashert, who was furloughed from her day job at a Toyota dealership during the coronavirus shutdown, has organized town halls on the subject, looking for ways to tackle the chasm between the city's black and white communities. While the president has turned his focus to protesters and Whitmer, who drew his ire when she raised concerns about the speed of the federal response, local leaders have been continuing to urge people to stay home. On the eve of his visit to the plant, which has converted its production lines to start making ventilators, Trump again took aim at Michigan, incorrectly saying on Twitter that the state had sent "absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election." The president has lately been waging a campaign to discredit voting by mail,which some states have promoted as a way for votersto cast their ballots without endangering their health by gathering at polling places. "This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State," he continued. "I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!" He later deleted the tweet and posted one that correctly reflected that the state had sent out applications for absentee ballots - and not ballots themselves - but left the threatening language untouched. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson replied on Twitter: "Still wrong. Every Michigan registered voter has a right to vote by mail. I have the authority & responsibility to make sure that they know how to exercise this right." Trump won Michigan in 2016 by a little more than 10,000 votes, a victory that was critical to delivering him to the Oval Office. But in 2018, voters ushered in Whitmer, the first Democrat to hold the governor's office in eight years, and elected two centrist Democrats to House seats that had been held by Republicans. Ypsilanti has long leaned left, voting overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in 2016. African-Americans migrated to Ypsilanti for factory work, but were restricted to one part of town, a neighborhood that dead-ended so white residents could avoid it, according to local officials. It had poorer housing stock, and African-Americans struggled to get financing that would allow them to build capital. Later, many black residents and businesses were displaced in the name of urban renewal. About 60 percent of confirmed cases in Washtenaw County come from two Zip codes - 48198 and 48197 - a chunk of the county that includes Ypsilanti and neighboring communities, even though they make up less than 30 percent of the population. Bashert, the mayor, said she learned of the uneven impact while looking at a county report in her dining room, which now serves as her office. She said she believes a variety of factors contribute to the higher infection rate in the black community: among them, higher poverty rates, less access to health care and a greater likelihood of working in essential jobs where they are more likely to be exposed. State Rep. Ronnie Peterson, a Democrat who was raised in Ypsilanti and now represents it, said he has long recognized the need for a more comprehensive strategy to address health issues in the black community. When he was a county commissioner, he spearheaded an effort to create a public health board. In the end, though, he said his county was ill equipped to handle the crisis. "It showed a lack of health care overall that's being provided for a large population of our people," Peterson said. "There is a lot of disparity in the delivery of health services." It's been a rough year for the class of 2020, but some comfort can be found even amid all the stress, fear and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic in four words from Mark Cuban: "Just chill. Don't stress." That's what the billionaire investor said in a 2019 interview with Bold TV, when asked to sum up his advice to college graduates. "You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to have your chosen career. You don't have to know what you're going to be when you grow up. You don't have to be focused on adulting," he said. "You've taken on four years of debt, of paying to learn. So now, find a job that pays you to learn." While one could argue that the world is a lot different today than it was a year ago (especially with graduates entering a job market more devastating than any in recent history), the deeper meaning behind Cuban's message remains timeless: Life will always be filled with uncertainty. The key to coping with difficult circumstances, though, is to stop worrying about all the terrifying "what-ifs," and start considering the good things that might happen. Not having everything figured out can lead to exploration, self-discovery and future success. In fact, it took Cuban several years of career failures before realizing he was meant to be an entrepreneur. "I was broke after college. I slept on the floor, got fired, was a shitty employee, started a company, starved for a while, sold that company, used that money to start another company, partied like a rock star, sold that company, started another company [...]," the "Shark Tank" star recalled in the interview. Even if the job you take has nothing to do with your dream career, Cuban said, "you're going to learn something new, you're going to network, you're going to meet new friends." And if you can't find a job, you can always start your own. Cuban recently told CNBC Make It that if he were to start a side hustle today, he would teach himself how to write scripts for "Alexa, Google Home and Cortana," then "go to any place that sold devices they supported and show them how much more they could do with a few hours of personalization." Eliminating stress is easier said than done, but you can relieve it by focusing on the things within your control. For example, you don't have control over whether or not you get laid off, but you do have control over things like how much effort you put into searching for work online, learning new skills and networking with others. This is certainly a difficult time for everyone, but, as Cuban reminds us, the best thing to do is to reverse your negative thoughts and turn fears into possibilities. "I try to wake up every day smiling and have a great day, even though some days are a mess," the Dallas Mavericks owner said. "But you just keep moving the ball forward." Dustin McKissen is a career expert and the founder of McKissen + Company. He was also named one of LinkedIn's "Top Voices in Management and Corporate Culture." Follow Dustin on LinkedIn. Don't miss: After weeks of at-home workouts, online fitness classes and significantly decreased incomes, Manitoba gym owners are anxious to get back in business and are looking to the provincial government for guidance and approval to reopen. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. After weeks of at-home workouts, online fitness classes and significantly decreased incomes, Manitoba gym owners are anxious to get back in business and are looking to the provincial government for guidance and approval to reopen. Amie Seier, owner of the Community Gym in the Exchange District, said the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a quick pivot from community fitness classes and group training to a robust set of online offerings. JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Amie Seier, centre, owner of Community Gym in the Exchange District began livestreaming workouts for members in March after the gym closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Winnipeg gym's doors closed March 14, and within a matter of days the space was converted to a recording studio for staff to film and upload classes. Soon after, the business began renting out equipment notably its stationary bikes and delivering them to patrons around the city. The Community was always meant to be nimble, Seier said, so the pivot wasn't too challenging at first. Two months later, however, the strain is showing. "Looking ahead, if the province doesnt let us open and we can't figure out how to pivot again, going towards July it's pretty dire for most businesses," Seier said. "This isn't a sustainable business model. "It's been able to help us stay afloat but its not what we were meant to do, so it's not a feasible approach for the long-term haul." On Wednesday, the Manitoba Fitness Council, a body representing fitness leaders and personal trainers, called on government to allow gyms and fitness centres an opportunity to reopen under provincial health and safety guidelines. So far, the province projects it will allow such centres to open in one of the "future phases" of its reopening plan, though dates for those phases have yet to be announced. "Were not asking to open the doors and have it be status quo as it was before, we know that's not realistic," MFC executive director Stephanie Jeffrey said in an interview. "We're asking for reasonable measures to be taken and also to give us kind of a heads-up because if there are going to be things that are implemented, then we need to be prepared for that." Gyms in British Columbia were given the go-ahead Tuesday, so long as they adhere to a litany of government safety protocols. Jeffrey said Manitoba, which has recorded much lower novel coronavirus infection rates than B.C., should offer its gym owners the same opportunity. At Blue Sky Fitness, owner Kathryn Dzikowicz has already outfitted the floors, walls and doors with decals outlining physical-distancing and handwashing protocols. Over the past two months, the Winnipeg boutique gym has been closed to in-person classes but has run a combination of online workouts and outdoor bootcamps. As time stretches on, however, Dzikowicz said bills have been stacking up and government support hasn't been enough to cover the revenue gaps. "I would be okay if I had to do this for potentially another three to four weeks... but I think people are getting pretty anxious for the smaller studios to open," she said. MFC surveyed more than 250 Manitoban gyms to gauge the industry's preparedness to return to work. Overwhelmingly, the response indicated, given a set of government safety guidelines, fitness facilities would be ready to open within two weeks of an announcement. Christina Teixeira, sales manager for Shapes Fitness Centres, said larger gyms are also prepared to start working again, as they prepare safety protocols ranging from encouraging patrons to book gym slots to ramping up sanitation practices. "We dont want to be a place people are afraid of coming back to. We wanted to eliminate a lot of those fears so when our members are ready to come back, they're coming back to a clean and sterile environment," she said. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Even though we may be a bigger facility, were doing our best and we will continue to do our best to keep it a clean and safe environment for our members." Gym owners have stressed the future of indoor fitness will be a hybrid one: online classes for those who would prefer not to rush back in, while reopening in-person classes for those who want it. "Were going to follow what the government allows us, but were also going to rely on our community to tell us what they want to see," said Seier about Community Gym's reopening plan. As the waiting continues, unrest among private gym owners is on the rise. Petitions have circulated and coalitions have been formed to call on government to either bolster financial support or provide the information to allow gyms to start planning to reopen safely. "Every facility, its going to be up to them to determine what it looks like... but at least if we have a pre-opening checklist or some parameters, then we can be ready," Jeffrey said. julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca What was known all this while is now out in the open to haunt the Pakistan Army. Republic TV has accessed a video from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) which reflects the reality of Pakistan Army exploiting the civilians and using them as a shield. In the video, a Pakistani Army soldier is visible while rockets are being fired towards the Indian side from a civilian house. After the rocket is fired, civilians can be seen running around while a Pakistani Army soldier is seen standing near the house. Unlike the Pakistani Army, Indian Armys ethical practices prohibit them from attacking civilian settlements something that Pakistan Army has taken full advantage of. Carrying out unprovoked ceasefire violations, Pakistan Army takes refuge in civilian houses as they are aware that the Indian Army would not retaliate by taking down civilian settlements. 'They use civilians as a shield' On the other hand, several Indian civilian settlements have come under fierce attack from Pakistani firepower. This comes after DG ISPR tried peddling lies on Wednesday by saying that civilian settlements were being targeted by Indian security forces. This is not new. This was known all this while. But the video is a clear reflection of Pakistan Armys mindset. They use civilians as a shield, said a top source within the security apparatus. READ | EXCLUSIVE | ISJK recruiter Ahangar nabbed after being on the run for two decades READ | IT department could soon issue notice to Markaz chief Maulana Saad Since January, Pakistan Army has carried out over 1,547 ceasefire violations. Top sources within the security apparatus tell Republic TV that the launch pads across the border are full of terrorists waiting to infiltrate. In the garb of the ceasefire violations, Pakistani Army has been trying to push terrorists across the border many such attempts have been foiled by the Indian Army. Since January, over 70 terrorists have already been eliminated by the security forces. READ | Republic accesses Naikoo case file; 16 cases registered against Hizbul terrorist READ | EXCLUSIVE: Maulana Saad to be summoned by ED; PMLA case registered The US government has notified Congress of a possible sale of advanced torpedoes to Taiwan worth around $180 million, a move likely to further sour already tense ties between Washington and Beijing, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory. The United States, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is bound by law to provide the democratic island with the means to defend itself. China routinely denounces US arms sales to Taiwan. The US State Department has approved a possible sale to Taiwan of 18 MK-48 Mod6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes and related equipment for an estimated cost of $180 million, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement on Wednesday. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale today, it added. The proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting Taiwans continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability, the agency said. The announcement came on the same day Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in for her second term in office, saying she strongly rejecting Chinas sovereignty claims. China responded that reunification was inevitable and that it would never tolerate Taiwans independence. China has stepped up its military drills near Taiwan since Tsais re-election, flying fighter jets into the islands air space and sailing warships around Taiwan. China views Tsai as a separatist bent on formal independence for Taiwan. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, its official name, and does not want to be part of the Peoples Republic of China governed by Beijing. Oregon Republicans nominated Albany financial adviser Jo Rae Perkins Tuesday to challenge Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley in November. Her Election Day address to voters ignited a social media firestorm. In a video posted on Perkins Twitter account, she expresses support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that a shadowy cabal of elites often liberals operates a global human trafficking ring, and engages in the ritualistic abuse and sacrifice of children. Many supporters claim President Donald Trump is carrying out a covert mission to break up the deep state, a term used to refer to the governmental portion of the cabal, and end the supposed trafficking ring. Where we go one, we go all, Perkins says in the video, referencing a main slogan that has dominated internet forums associated with the conspiracy theory. I stand with President Trump. I stand with Q and the team. After her statements brought a wave of national attention, she appears to have retreated from her support and deleted the video from her Twitter account. Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Perkins declined to discuss her connections with the QAnon theory. Her campaign later released a statement that said she would never describe herself as a follower, of QAnon. I was not endorsing Q/Anon, but rather stating that I appreciate the fact that there is still free speech in this country that allows for voices including whistleblowers from both sides of the aisle that may, or may not, bring to light issues Americans need to be aware of, Perkins said in the written statement. Perkins won the nomination by more than 55,000 votes, although she is unlikely to pose a significant threat to incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley in the solidly blue state of Oregon. A spokesman for the Oregon Republican Party declined to discuss Perkins views Wednesday and referred all questions to the Perkins campaign. In her Election Day video, Perkins addresses the audience and holds up a sticker with the abbreviation WWG1WGA, which stands for where we go one, we go all. The abbreviation is accompanied by a small #QANON at the bottom of the oval shaped sticker. A search of Perkins official Twitter account shows she has been tweeting about the QAnon conspiracy theory since January 2018. She has often used hashtags that reference the theory, as well as posting a graphic on several occasions which has the text Seal Of Approval, wrapped around a stylized Q. The most recent time she did so was May 3, when she welcomed a Twitter user into the QArmy. Perkins also appears to have ties to leading figures in the QAnon conspiracy movement. On its website, Disarm The Deep State, a conservative super PAC, describes Perkins as an avid follower of Q theory. Federal campaign finance records show the groups treasurer is Jim Watkins, who owns the 8chan online message board where many QAnon discussions are held. Perkins campaign finance records do not list any financial support from Disarm The Deep State or Watkins. The conspiracy theory is named QAnon because the posts are signed with the letter Q, and new posts have continued periodically since 2017, most recently on 8chan. The conspiracy theory began to take shape in 2017 after anonymous posts, now referred to as Q drops, began showing up on 4chan, a forum often associated with white nationalism and neo-Nazi rhetoric. In her statement Wednesday, Perkins said she appreciates the constitutional right of free speech, which allows voices to be heard. I do not believe everything from Q/Anon and would never describe myself as a follower, but I also do not believe in infringing upon any outlets right to discuss news or topics, she said. -- K. Rambo krambo@oregonian.com Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Workers are loading pipes which will be exported to Africa at a port in Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong province on April 1, 2019. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Peter Dutton Joins Chorus of Aussie MPs Questioning Victorias Belt and Road Commitment Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is the latest federal member of Parliament to criticise the Victorian state government for its commitment to Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In an interview with 2GB radio on May 21, Dutton said the BRI was a propaganda exercise from China and the Victorian government needed to show a greater level of transparency around the details of the agreement with Beijing. Currently, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has signed two agreements with the Chinese regimes National Development and Reform Commission. Federal politicians have criticised these agreements for being light on detail. Its good to have investment from all over the world, including China, but it needs to be done in the appropriate way with the safeguards, said Dutton. The values of the communist regime are not compatible with ours, but we arent going to compromise on our values and beliefs, and the Prime Ministers right to point that out, he said referring to the federal governments push to investigate the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. Dutton was careful to distinguish between the Chinese communist regime and Chinese Australians, the latter he said has made a wonderful contribution to this country. Duttons comments follow Victorian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching, who wrote on Twitter on May 20: I think the Vic govt erred in signing up to Belt & Road initiative which has involved loans of US$350 billion (many to countries that wont be able to repay). Equally, its time Morrison govt released its secret Belt & Road agreement with China. I think the Vic govt erred in signing up to Belt & Road initiative which has involved loans of US$350 billion (many to countries that wont be able to repay). Equally, its time Morrison govt released its secret Belt & Road agreement with China #auspolhttps://t.co/KHzOMV7gLr Kimberley Kitching (@kimbakit) May 20, 2020 Last month on April 30, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson called on Victorias premier to withdraw from the BRI in light of the Chinese regimes handling of the virus outbreak. Henderson said the BRI was not in Australias national interest. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative is the wrong road for Victoria, she said in a press release. First announced in 2013 by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the BRI is a global infrastructure partnership scheme where the Chinese regime works with countries keen for funding for large infrastructure projects including bridges and ports. There is a backlash against the BRI as several developing nations have called it a debt-trap, meaning once a country is unable to repay the loan, the ownership of the project reverts to the Chinese regime. On May 13, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas defended the states relationship with Beijing during a state Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearing when asked on whether the BRI in Victoria should be suspended. Absolutely not, Pallas said. There does need to be an inquiry into this pandemic event, but I think the vilification of any single nation is dangerous, damaging and probably irresponsible in many respects. He alluded to the federal governments actions asking for an inquiry into the origins of the virus as perhaps inelegant interventions that have resulted in Australia losing trade on barley and beef. Pallas also suggested the federal government had arrangements similar to the BRI with the Chinese regime, however, The only difference is that weve made our arrangements public. As businesses reopen in the Magic City, the Birmingham Water Works Board has some simple advice: Dont forget to flush. The BWWB is telling businesses to flush their pipes and inspect plumbing and internal water systems, using EPA guidelines. This will prevent microbial and chemical contaminants in drinking water. Of course, this doesnt mean what you may think it does. Flushing, in this case, means turning on the taps and letting out water that has been standing in pipes during the inactive period - meaning hot and cold water in faucets, showers, drinking fountains, dishwashers, refrigerators, ice makers and, of course, toilets. The reason is simple. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long periods of reduced water usage can cause stagnant water to accumulate in plumbing, which can cause contamination. The EPA provides a water quality checklist for businesses here. Business customers with questions can call BWWB customer service at (205) 244-4000. Anyone who sees water discoloration or other problems can submit an online report here. Arayik (Ara) Harutyunian has been sworn in as de facto president of Nagorno-Karabakh, the unrecognized breakaway Azerbaijani region. The inauguration ceremony held on May 21 in the city of Shushi was attended by an Armenian delegation led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. Harutyunian, the former prime minister of the disputed region, won a runoff election on April 14. Nagorno-Karabakh was seized by Armenian-backed separatists who declared independence amid a 1988-1994 conflict that killed at least 30,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Since a fragile, Russian-brokered truce in 1994, the region has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces that Azerbaijan says include troops supplied by Armenia. The region's claim to independence has not been recognized by any country. Since then, periodic skirmishes have taken place in the region. Russia, the United States, and France are the co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which acts as a mediator in resolving the crisis. The group has been struggling for years to mediate a solution. With reporting by Armenpress and Public Radio of Armenia Nigerian actress v has bared her hatred for Nigerian soup Gbegiri as according to the actress, it is best to describe the soup as trash. Etomi stated that peer pressure made her eat the soup but after eating it, she knows better now and will not eat it again. Read Also: Banky W, Adesua Etomi Celebrate Their Third Introduction Anniversary She tweeted; Advertisement Ive decided that gbegiri is trash. Peer pressure made me eat it with my amala but I have grown as an individual and now I know without a shadow of doubt that I prefer my amala with ewedu and fried peppery stew. Signed, Ex gbegiri sufferer Ive decided that gbegiri is trash. Peer pressure made me eat it with my amala but I have grown as an individual and now I know without a shadow of doubt that I prefer my amala with ewedu and fried peppery stew. Signed, Ex gbegiri sufferer Adesua Etomi-Wellington (@AdesuaEtomiW) May 19, 2020 Some of her followers have since disagreed with her. One person tweeted; Go to Ibadan and ask for Amala skye, after eating abula there, then repeat this statement if you can Jide owoyomi (@Jeedayfola) May 19, 2020 If you now mix the gbegiri, ewedu and fried peppery stew together, you will understand the stunt well ooo. Gbegiri no get spinal chord. Na ewedu e dey use stand well. Maami, I hail oo Okelola Stephen (@SJerubbaal09) May 19, 2020 Guys, what do you think, is Gbegiri trash or nah? Susanna Reid jokingly called out Piers Morgan for claiming that he never argues with his wife Celia Walden. The Good Morning Britain host, 49, had a go at her co-star, 55, for having a serene relationship with his wife, 44, but yet argues with her on a daily basis. After speaking to Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn just minutes before during Thursday's show in which she expressed her concerns about families arguing in lockdown, Susanna decided to enquire about Piers' own home life. Say what?! Susanna Reid jokingly called out Piers Morgan for claiming that he never argues with his wife Celia Walden Turning to him, she asked: 'Just out of interest in your arguments with your other half who is the one who stops first?' To which Piers replied: 'We don't really argue. Because I spend all day shouting at people so I get home and I can't be bothered.' Susanna appeared taken aback as the journalist depicted a blissful home life with Celia, with no arguments. She quipped: 'Seriously? So you spend three hours a day arguing with me for your job and that means that you don't argue with Celia?' Stunned: The Good Morning Britain host, 49, had a go at her co-star, 55, for having a serene relationship with his wife, 44, but yet argues with her on a daily basis Reiterating his point, Piers told her: 'Yes seriously. In 15 years I can count on three fingers the amount of proper arguments. I just can't be bothered. 'Once that doors shut give me a glass of wine, I'm easily pleased, and also I'm always right, she's just accepted that. I don't want all that frenzy.' Yet Susanna still seemed flabbergasted by her outspoken co-star's response as she laughed: 'Yeah just (argue with) your TV wife.' Meanwhile, Celia recently shared a playful post about Vicky Pattison after she gave an interview saying she was 'obsessed' with her husband. Celia shared some pictures of Vicky, 32, wearing a pink latex outfit from the Fabulous magazine interview on Instagram on Sunday and had some questions. Wedded bliss: 'We don't really argue. Because I spend all day shouting at people so I get home and I can't be bothered' Shock: She quipped: 'Seriously? So you spend three hours a day arguing with me for your job and that means that you don't argue with Celia?' She wrote in the comments: 'Who is this latex-clad bombshell - and why is she obsessed with my husband? #sundayshocker.' One of her followers wrote: 'This threat is as serious as it gets' with a cry face emoji. And Celia replied: '@olivajenm that much is obvious... although Im told her other halfs as gorgeous as she is, which reassures me.' Celia and Piers married in June 2010 and have daughter Elise, eight, together. Vicky is in a relationship with Ercan Ramadan, 26. Can't believe it: Yet Susanna still seemed flabbergasted by her outspoken co-star's response as she laughed: 'Yeah just (argue with) your TV wife' Vicky and Piers have indulged in some light-hearted flirting after he also caught wind of the interview. The Good Morning Britain host took to Instagram and shared a snap of the interview and wrote: 'Well now.... this should keep Celia on her toes'. Vicky, who admitted that watching Good Morning Britain in lockdown was making her 'fancy' Piers, responded in good humour. Why is she obsessed with my husband?' Piers Morgan's wife Celia wrote about 'latex-clad' Vicky Pattison after the reality star made an admission about him (pictured in February) Playful: Celia certainly had some things to say about Vicky's 'shock' admission She wrote: 'The voice of the people Mr Morgan... what can I say? I like a man with backbone.' Piers responded by thanking Vicky for her enthusiastic support, writing: 'Thank you Ms Pattison, glad youre enjoying the show!' In her interview with the publication, Vicky had said: '[Lockdown] is making me fancy Piers Morgan. 'Just a bit, mind. But I f**king love him and I want him to be our next Prime Minster. Im obsessed! I cant get enough of him calling everyone out.' Praising the broadcaster for his tough interviews with government officials, Vicky added: 'Hes been the main champion for this from the get-go and I think hes doing the most fantastic job of holding our politicians to account.' Big fan: Vicky did with Fabulous magazine which features a picture of her alongside the quote: 'I'm obsessed with Piers Morgan!' President Donald Trump said he wore a face mask, but declined to appear in one publicly, during his tour of the Rawsonville manufacturing facility in Michigan after Ford and the Michigan Attorney General requested that he adhere to executive orders and company policy requiring facial coverings. Ford officials wore face coverings during the tour, according to a pool report, but Trump did not. The president said he put one on in an area where they preferred it," and later showed reporters a navy blue mask decorated with the presidential seal. I didnt want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it, Trump told reporters. Trumps visit to the Ypsilanti Township plant opposes two of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers executive orders requiring manufacturing facilities to suspend non-essential in-person visits and compelling people to wear a facial covering while inside an enclosed public space. Attorney General Dana Nessel sent an open letter to the president Wednesday saying she will not act to prevent the president from touring the Ford plant but asked him to comply with Whitmers orders regarding masks. I ask that while you are on tour you respect the great efforts of the men and women at Ford -- and across this State -- by wearing a facial covering, Nessel wrote. It is not just the policy of Ford, by virtue of the governors executive orders. It is currently the law of this state. Fords policy handbook created to address the coronavirus pandemic states everyone is required to wear face masks at all times by all employees and all visitors. We have shared our policies and recommendations," the company said in a statement Tuesday. The White House has its own safety and testing policies in place and will make its own determination. The CDC recommends people wear cloth face coverings in public settings where social distancing is difficult to maintain. Masks prevent the wearer from spreading respiratory droplets that could carry the virus, and more advanced coverings like N95 respirators offer some protection for the wearer. Trump was greeted by House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, when he landed in Detroit. Chatfield wore an American flag face-covering. Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Lee Chatfield (R-Levering) President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on Thursday, May 21, 2020. Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James also wore a mask during a roundtable discussion with Trump, administration officials and Detroit-area business leaders. Vice President Mike Pence wore a mask during a tour of a General Motors plant in Indiana last month. Trump did not commit to wearing a mask before the visit when asked Tuesday at the White House. It depends. In certain areas I would, in certain areas I dont," he said. "But I will certainly look at it. It depends on what situation. Am I standing right next to everybody, or am I spread out? And also you look, is something a hospital? Is it a ward? What is it exactly? Im going to a plant. So well see. Where its appropriate I would do it certainly. The White House issued a memo requiring all of visitors and staff to wear masks last week. Multiple people close to the president have tested positive for the virus; most recently one of Trumps personal valets and the vice presidents spokeswoman both tested positive. Trump is tested for the coronavirus daily, and there is no indication that he is carrying the infectious respiratory disease. Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency care physician and executive director for the Committee to Protect Medicare, said wearing a mask sets a strong example for the rest of the country. People in Michigan are watching, millions of people are watching him every time hes in public and having these quasi-rallies, Davidson said. Really for the casual passerby who happens to look up at their TV set and are watching a Trump event and see the president without a mask, that just plants the seed in their head that says people are telling me to do this but I dont really think its that important because the president doesnt think its important.'" U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, also urged Trump to wear a face-covering during an appearance on CNN Thursday morning. Dingell is a former auto executive for General Motors and represents Ypsilanti Township in Congress. Leaders need to lead, Dingell said on CNN. I hope the president will follow the protocols because people will see the importance of wearing those masks. It matters. Dingell also highlighted the importance of wearing facial protection in a separate statement released this week. Ford has already had to temporarily halt production at two plants because workers tested positive for COVID after coming back to work, the statement read. The spread is real. No one is above these steps, and it is my respectful wish that Trump and his entire team take these protocols seriously. Their actions do have consequences, and wearing the masks might save a life. COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. RELATED STORIES Gatherings of 10 or less, retail by appointment allowed under new Whitmer order As coronavirus stay-at-home order drags on, more Michiganders bend the rules Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Heres what can reopen in which Michigan counties under new state order April was the deadliest month in Michigan this century, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic By Online Desk An extremely severe cyclone packing winds of up to 190 kmph Wednesday rampaged through coastal Odisha and West Bengal, dumping heavy rain, swamping homes and farmland, officials said. While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is monitoring the situation from Nabanna, the state secretariat, however, claimed at least 10-12 people lost their lives. Employees are facing the consequences as Northern Arizona University is making significant budget cuts for the start of a new fiscal year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Losses are estimated from $30 million to $100 million, NAU President Rita Cheng shared in an April 17 letter to the university community. This equates to almost 20% of the universitys operating budget, she explained in another letter last week, and is a result of unprecedented enrollment challenges as a result of demographic changes, shifting attitudes about the value of a college degree, and declining numbers of high school graduates. COVID-19 has worsened the situation, Cheng said. In a letter from the Office of the Provost to university department leaders, dated April 24, departments were asked to adjust their Fall 2020 budgets to schedule for 25% lower enrollment and/or personnel expenses, which will likely result in fewer faculty next year. An attached disclaimer said these numbers and instructions could be altered. On May 4, in a Faculty Senate meeting, Provost Diane Stearns broke down enrollment decreases by college, with three experiencing the largest changes: the College of Arts and Letters is down 35%; the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, 27%; and the W.A. Franke College of Business, 22%. This is not a financial situation that can simply be weathered through minor adjustments and temporary fixes to our operating budget, NAU spokesperson Kimberly Ott told the Arizona Daily Sun. We need to make decisions that recognize this new operational reality and ensure fiscal sustainability for our institution that will allow NAU to continue to meet its strategic goals of student access and success. Ott said all NAU programs and departments have been asked to develop a range of options and percentages of cuts. Union response As employees began to lose their jobs in efforts to improve the budget, the University Union of Northern Arizona (UUNA) responded, forming both a letter to the President and Provost addressing the universitys response to such challenges as well as an online petition to stop layoffs, which had more than 800 signatures as of Wednesday evening. The letter outlined challenges being faced by the university, including the enrollment drop, the states projected deficit, the loss of faculty especially at the part-time and non-tenure-track levels and changes to classes when campus reopens in the fall. This is not the time to use layoffs to address a longer-term challenge, UUNAs executive board told the Arizona Daily Sun in an email. The repercussions of layoffs, particularly of those that make the least, will have ripple effects on the Flagstaff community and other communities we serve as this will add to the growing unemployment and pressures on communities already experiencing financial and health stressors. UUNA said the Provost predicted cutting approximately 300 full-time faculty on top of other cuts, but no other predictions have been made regarding cuts to other staff or graduate employees. The executive board also said almost every department has notified their part-time and contingent faculty that they will not be rehired. Ott said separately, All positions are under consideration, not just faculty. The union expects more dramatic cuts in the coming weeks and has called for the consideration of more equitable measures, like furloughs, pay cuts, early retirements, and sabbaticals or voluntary leave-of-absences to save jobs. The University of Arizona adopted such an approach last month, announcing school-wide furloughs and pay cuts to account for its projected losses of $250 million. Ott said NAU has been able to resist such across-the-board austerity measures because it will end its 2020 fiscal year with a balanced budget, unlike other universities. She said all options are being considered and once the university has more accurate enrollment numbers, additional actions could include options such as furloughs, leaves of absence and pay cuts. UUNA also expressed concerns about administrators pushing for hybrid classes and to increase course caps. NAU Administration has long advocated for an increase in class sizes as a cost-cutting measure. They are taking advantage of this crisis to increase class sizes across campus in order to then decrease the amount of teachers they need to employ. There have also been no assurances that increased class sizes are only a temporary measure, the letter stated. When asked about larger class sizes during the pandemic, Ott said larger classes would not be a factor in a lower enrollment environment. Positions eliminated Among others throughout campus, staff of the University Writing Program have already experienced the ramifications of NAUs budget reductions. About three weeks ago, Kama OConnor, who worked in the program as an instructor for five years, was told her contract, along with those of more than six others from the department, would not be renewed because the positions no longer existed. The losses in staff made up 87% of the entire program, which provides the introductory writing courses required for every NAU undergraduate student. These classes are taught by instructors like OConnor and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) who are mentored throughout the process. Though OConnor said the group had expected the program to look different in light of current economic hardships, the extent of the cuts was a shock. None of us could imagine a world where academics would look so bleak so quickly that we would have to take a core university program and cut it down to its wicks, OConnor said. I think that surprised everyone. These reductions left only about three employees who simultaneously hold leadership roles within the department to support the GTAs to teach all incoming NAU students how to write at the university level. One of OConnors primary concerns of the cuts was the ramifications for these teaching assistants, who are students themselves and often have no experience teaching. Without longtime instructors as mentors, she said it could lead to problems in the classroom and additional stress for these students. I see more of the benefits of having us there than the detriments of not having us there. I think what we did as instructors made the program an incredibly strong one. Without that scaffolding, without that component where we have the people who are teaching the most at the bottom doing just that, I feel like were setting ourselves up for a crumble of everything above it, OConnor said. Stacy Clark is a student in NAUs Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program and a teaching assistant for the University Writing Program. Though she has previous teaching experience and will enter her second year working with these undergraduates in the fall, she worries about the integrity of the program without as many instructors to guide it. Undergraduate students who are coming to NAU wont have that full attention and full support of really highly trained professionals to guide them. And thats going to be devastating. Writing for your classes, regardless of the discipline, is so essential to succeed in higher education and beyond. To not have fully trained staff who are running the program and there to guide us less experienced teachers is undoubtedly going to be very negative for the student experience, Clark said. With fewer program staff, more responsibility will fall to the teaching assistants, who Clark said already regularly work much more than the 20 hours a week noted in their contracts. That already feels kind of outrageous to me and now the fact that we wont have the support and mentorship to do that, it seems like theyre just trying to milk us as really poorly paid labor, Clark said. Like the university-wide union, this group has also created a letter calling for the Provost to reconsider the elimination of these employees. Kaitlin Olson can be reached at the office at kolson@azdailysun.com or by phone at (928) 556-2253. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Photo taken on Jan. 30, 2020 shows the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.(Xinhua/Chen Junxia) China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs refuted Wednesday malicious rumors claiming China was "forced" to join the co-proposal of the resolution on identifying the zoonotic source of the coronavirus and evaluating the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVID-19 response, saying the resolution broke up attempts by some countries to politicize the pandemic issue. Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the ministry, said that China and more than 140 other countries jointly proposed the resolution. The resolution was agreed by all the member states, including China, the US and Australia, at the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting on Tuesday. "We took the initiative to co-propose the resolution," said Zhao, rejecting the rumor by certain media reports claiming China "was forced" to join the co-proposal of the resolution. He said that China, together with most other countries, has resolutely quashed the attempts by some countries to politicize the coronavirus and the assessment issues, thus ensuring the objectivity and fairness of the resolution. "We urge certain countries to stop making up lies to justify their own failures," said Zhao. The resolution clearly recognizes and supports the WHO's key leadership role amid the anti-pandemic work. It calls on member states to prevent discrimination and stigmatization, combat errors and misinformation, strengthen cooperation in the development of diagnostic tools, diagnostic and treatment methods, medicines and vaccines, and conduct timely assessments of the WHO's response to the outbreak, which are all in line with China's position and the common aspirations of the vast majority of countries in the international community, Zhao noted. As for tracing the source of the coronavirus, some countries see the issue as a priority but the vast majority of countries believed that the current focus is on epidemic prevention and control, which suggests that the attempts to politicize the issue are not the majority position, Zhao said. The resolution strictly limits the scope of the research within the identification of the animal sources, intermediate hosts and routes of transmission, aiming to serve the international community better to respond to outbreaks in the future. The assessment of the WHO's COVID-19 response will be carried out based on principles of being "impartial, independent and comprehensive," which means that the assessment cannot be monopolized by a few countries, Zhao said, noting that China hopes that the resolution can be fully and accurately implemented. Conflicts and divisions rose a few days ago before the WHA meeting as countries like the US and Australia targeted China and the WHO, accusing Beijing of culpability in the coronavirus outbreak. The US, Australia and China's island of Taiwan have become the largest losers at this year's WHA meeting, as they were either isolated or abandoned by the global community for continuing to politicize the pandemic and diverting the joint efforts in fighting this battle, some Chinese experts said. Contrary to China's commitment to the global anti-epidemic fight, US President Donald Trump escalated his "blame game" toward China and the WHO, an old-fashioned tactic used by some US politicians in the past few months to divert public attention away from their mishandling of the unprecedented public health crisis in the US. Amazon's audiobooks brand, Audible, has had its new TV advert featuring Celeste Barber and Poh Ling Yeow banned, just two months after it was launched. The commercial, which shows comedian Celeste sitting in a fridge as MasterChef contestant Poh closes the door on her, breached Ad Standards' regulations because of the risk of children copying such behaviour. The scene received complaints from viewers who said that 'young children seeing Celeste hiding in a fridge will think it's a fantastic hiding place for hide and seek'. Banned: Amazon's audiobooks brand, Audible, has had its new TV advert featuring Celeste Barber (pictured) and Poh Ling Yeow banned, just two months after it was launched 'We regret that this advertisement has sparked concern for a number of Australians, as we care deeply about the well-being of our community,' an Audible spokesperson told Mumbrella. 'When we received the notification from Ad Standards regarding this complaint, we immediately removed the advertisement from television. 'We have subsequently made the decision to modify this advertisement to remove the scene in question, and will look to run updated creative moving forward.' Breach: The commercial, which shows comedian Celeste sitting in a fridge as MasterChef contestant Poh closes the door on her, breached Ad Standards' regulations because of the risk of children copying such behaviour In the advertisement, Celeste demonstrates how her busy schedule won't stop her from enjoying a good book. It starts with her visiting the gym before she leaves to pick up her children from school. 'Life often gets in the way of reading. That's where Audible comes in. Books that fit with real life,' she says. Complaints: The scene received complaints from viewers who said that 'young children seeing Celeste hiding in a fridge will think it's a fantastic hiding place for hide and seek' The advert cuts to Poh preparing a meal in her kitchen as she says: 'Audible is amazing when you're cooking up a storm.' The chef then walks over and opens her fridge to see Celeste sitting inside eating a celery stick. After telling her unexpected guest she is cooking a 'souffle and Hemingway', Poh closes the door and returns to the kitchen. Ben Franklin Technology Partners has long been focused on supporting revolutionary technological developments that improve the human condition and address critical challenges now and in the future. That mission takes on an entirely new meaning today as our state and nation come together to respond to this pandemic. With cases of COVID-19 confirmed in every Pennsylvania county, no corner of our commonwealth has been left untouched. That makes Ben Franklin which serves all 67 counties through four regionally based centers in Pittsburgh, State College, Bethlehem, and Philadelphia --- uniquely situated to support the state both in terms of managing this crisis and helping our economy recover during its gradual reopening. Almost from the very first days of COVID-19, Ben Franklin clients have been working around the clock and contributing to efforts to address this public health issue in various ways, from treatments to testing to logistics to other support mechanisms. Many of the emerging companies we backed in southeastern Pennsylvania, for example, are working on tremendous innovations to help stem the spread of the virus, mitigate its effects, and prevent or minimize future outbreaks. That includes work on vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, surveillance epidemiology, devices, manufacturing and supply chain. Similarly, clients in northeastern Pennsylvania are innovating against COVID-19 by developing and producing 3D-printed biocompatible medical masks for frontline health-care workers and first responders, and by providing a remote clinical services platform to support health-care providers that triages and assesses ill patients. While companies work to innovate and protect their employees in this uncertain time, some also are offering extraordinary resources to support response time and healing. Clients in southwestern Pennsylvania are offering their software for free to essential care services, so health-care customers can hire medical staff faster; innovating on drug therapy that could treat COVID-19; and providing the bridge to recovery for patients who had to endure ventilators that save lives but may damage the lungs. Clients also are answering the call here in central Pennsylvania to assist on a number of fronts by providing a video-based order platform for families to accurately communicate the preferences and desires of critically ill patients with health-care providers, and by utilizing their medical expertise to share helpful health and supply chain information with the community. Most recently, Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development tapped Ben Franklin, along with several other life sciences, health-care, and business organizations, to create the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Call to Action Portal to mobilize manufacturers that can produce critical medical supplies and products in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact is that at Ben Franklin, everything we are doing right now, in conjunction with our clients, is about innovating against COVID-19. Innovation has proven to be key in our response to this pandemic and it will remain central to our recovery. We are fortunate that Pennsylvania has such a robust innovation economy. The success our state has achieved over the last 35 years to build this ecosystem is among the reasons Ben Franklin is one of the most widely known and emulated state technology-based economic development programs in the nation. Unfortunately, many of the same startup firms and entrepreneurs who are helping us respond to this crisis are particularly vulnerable. They are entirely exempt from accessing support through most existing grant and loan programs that are narrowly focused or available only to established businesses. Fortunately, in April, the state announced $4 million to support Ben Franklin clients that are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of our four regionally based centers will match the $1 million it receives in state funding with another $1 million. If investing in innovation made sense in the best of times, it is even more critical now and will be even more so post-pandemic, especially as we see firsthand how many of these innovative companies are helping us respond to this crisis. It truly demonstrates that investments in innovation save lives. Ryan E. Glenn is the Director of Statewide Initiatives for Ben Franklin Technology Partners. An Indian Air Force fighter plane on a routine sortie caused the sonic boom that created panic across Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon, the defence ministry confirmed late on Wednesday night. Late in the evening on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence finally broke the mystery by releasing an official statement that the sound from the sky that took Bengaluru by surprise "was a routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile which took off from Bengaluru Airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside City limits. The aircraft was of ASTE." According to a Times of India report, Prior to that the Indian Air Force in a statement indicated towards sonic boom as the source of the sound but also admitting that none of its aircraft from its Training Command was airborne during that time. Although the IAF said that the ASTE (Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment) and HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) could be conducting routine test flying it stopped short of making it official. Interestingly, HAL was the first to respond with a statement after the loud noise was heard in Bengaluru but only with a denial that it was a sonic boom. A deafening noise was heard on Wednesday afternoon that created panic across Bengaluru. #Update It was a routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile which took off from Bluru Airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside City limits. The aircraft was of Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE) @IAF_MCC @SpokespersonMoD PRO Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence (@Prodef_blr) May 20, 2020 "The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude," the defence ministry added in a follow up tweet. "The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person," the defence ministry further said on Twitter. Sources told The Times of India the fighter plane was most likely one of the SU-30 fighters being tested by the IAF's Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment pilots. A retired pilot told the newspaper, "There are parameters of how to do a supersonic test. If it is indeed from a plane, then it's a mistake. Pilots can go supersonic only after the aircraft has attained a height of more than 11 km. They are disallowed from doing so in populous areas even at those heights." According to NASA, a sonic boom is a thunder-like noise one hears from the ground when an aircraft flies overhead "faster than the speed of sound, or supersonic. The noise heard across Bengaluru around 1.30 pm on Wednesday was heard by residents of Cooke Town, Hosur Road, HAL, Vivek Nagar, Old Madras Road, Ramamurthy Nagar, Ulsoor, Kammanahalli, CV Raman Nagar, Kundanahalli, Whitefield and HSR Layout. It caused a number of people to share their experiences on social media and speculate about its cause. Some said the noise sounded like an aftershock from an earthquake. Others said their doors and windows rattled. That was most likely a big sonic boom. Shaking buildings and windows. Shock around 20 minutes ago. Later I can see and hear fighter aircrafts taking sorties. #Bengaluru #Bangalore https://t.co/QQWqHtJPtc pic.twitter.com/gjF2uJMnnZ Neeraj Sharma (@Neeraj_Sharma_) May 20, 2020 According to a report by The News Minute, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said that was no damage anywhere in the city. A report by The Indian Express quoted police personnel at the Bengaluru City Police Control Room saying that they started receiving calls around 1:20 pm. Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC) Director Srinivas Reddy said that there was no earthquake activity recorded on Wednesday in Bengaluru. The seismometers did not capture any ground vibration as generally happens during a mild tremor, he said. MIDDLETOWN The city widely recognized for its array of cuisine offerings along Main Street known locally as Restaurant Row enjoyed overall success during the first phase of the states reopening plan amid the pandemic. Overall, Middletown eatery owners were thrilled to see more customers turn out than they expected during the ongoing pandemic. They are also experiencing a great sense of relief to resume operations and start a new chapter in their lives. Other municipalities across Connecticut saw a modest number of customers who took advantage of outdoor dining. Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he was a little disappointed to learn retail businesses and restaurants didnt do as well as expected during Phase 1. Luce owner Sammy Bajraktarevic began offering his full menu on opening day at his 98 Washington St. location. I did not hold back. He erected a large white tent in the parking area in addition to tables on the Main Street side. Between 75 and 80 customers turned out for lunch and dinner far surpassing his expectations. The late spring weather was sunny and warm Wednesday and Thursday, so he anticipated people would come out with beautiful conditions outside. And come they did. A video he took shows the entire area full of diners, spread eight to 10 feet apart, amid the din of chatter. He took every precaution to prevent the potential spread of coronavirus among his staff and customers. State guidelines include disposable flatware and dinnerware, at least a 6-foot distance between each table, disinfecting of stations after each party leaves, paper menus or chalkboards and contactless payments. Like all businesses, Bajraktarevic and his employees havent seen their customers in more than two months. Everybody was happy. It was a great relief. It was lifting weight off your back. They were thrilled to be out. It makes me feel great. I was so excited yesterday. Renana Magee, owner of the vegan ION Restaurant at 606 Main St., said she and her staff were excited to return. I feel like its the start. Were one step closer to being fully open. Magee will introduce new mocktails , which are free of alcohol. People who dont drink can have a fancy thing out on the deck. We try to keep it fresh and interesting for people. When takeout and curbside pickup customers arrive, manager Jared White lets them know the patio is open. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, he was serving three tables. Still, Magee said, people are being very cautious about re-entering public spaces, though her customers are more adventurous in general. We used to get people who would sit outside in the snow. Weve got the hard-core people. People are a little nervous to see what happens, said Magee, who is certain business will pick up. One party of three Wednesday, for instance, had a great time, White said, ordering several cocktails, and it was very gratifying to be able to mix, shake and stir again. White, who has been on the small skeleton crew who remained working, said people are grateful to be able to come out and engage with one another. A kindergarten teacher stopped by, for example, and was pleased to somewhat return to normal after months of teaching her students indoors via Zoom, White said. She told me how glad she was to come out and enjoy the daylight and the good vegan food while shes not trying to teach 5-year-olds over the internet, White said. Im excited to start on the new chapter of the soft integration of the reopening, he added. Its our over-reaching goal to provide good vegan food to people whether theres a global pandemic or not, White said. Marisa Bramato, owner Esca Restaurant and Wine Bar, at 437 Main St., who began serving lunchtime customers Wednesday, said. People miss us. Were happy to be back to the new norm. For the past two months, shes been offering food to go, but many of her customers prefer to eat inside. Fine dining people dont normally think of takeout, she said. She focused on family friendly food for takeout business trays of chicken, pasta, salad, that serve four to six people, for $50. Since many people have lost their jobs or are having other financial difficulties, Bramato priced meals with that in mind. The outdoor patio normally has 11 large tables. Due to social distancing requirements, shes able to use nine after extending the outdoor area a little bit, Bramato said. People want to get out, said Bramato, who has been fielding calls from customers wondering if the patio is set up. Reservations arent needed, as shes also accepting walk-ins. Like small businesses across Connecticut, Luce has been struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. We lost a lot of money, and Bramato had to lay off her staff. Resuming service even partially will provide some income for the eatery. Usually, May is one of Bramatos busiest months, with banquets, Wesleyan Universitys graduation, wedding rehearsal dinners, as well as bridal and baby showers. Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce President Larry McHugh said he has seen a number of people eating outdoors around town, including at Luce, Cantina Cafe Ristorante, Esca, Elis Cannons Tap Room, Fiore II Restaurant and Mondo pizza. It ranged from very good crowds to some others that were so-so, said McHugh, a strong supporter of allowing all restaurants to open to indoor seating as well. Its very important this happens June 20 or before. Those not able to do outside dining are really hurting, McHugh said. Eli Cannon co-owner Aubrey LaMonica runs the business with her husband, Rocco. They closed March 16 and laid off staff out of financial necessity. At that point, we didnt know if it was safe so we wanted to get a better handle on things, she said. They resumed takeout April 20. During that time, she and her husband used the opportunity to do some renovations , including redoing their entire kitchen. It felt like Middletown was alive again. Its like weve been sleeping, and, all of a sudden, everyone returned, she said. Since Wednesday, she and LaMonica are taking temperatures of their workers when they first arrive for duty. They have a designated bus person who cleans the tables in between customers, so none of the servers have to touch dirty plates (which are disposable now). For the first time, Elis instituted an entire reservation policy. That was a big change, she said. There is a large outdoor dining area at the back of Elis, being used at half-capacity. Tables are already spaced far apart. Google Earth The Comal County Sheriff's Office is investigating the drowning of man at Canyon Lake earlier this week. County officials identified the drowning victim as 25-year-old Jhonatan Zavaleta from Houston. First responders received a call around 4 p.m. Monday, about five minutes after he went missing, for a possible drowning at the Comal Park Swim Beach. Gates Foundation awards funding to UB epidemiologist I believe policy-led research is often more impactful and sustainable, and I look forward to working on this interdisciplinary project including researchers, government and non-governmental stakeholders. BUFFALO, N.Y. A University at Buffalo epidemiologist is one of 11 researchers from three countries who received grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative. Laura E. Smith, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UBs School of Public Health and Health Professions and the Community of Excellence in Global Health Equity, was awarded $100,000 from the Gates Foundation for the Round 24 challenge called Innovations for Improving the Impact of Health Campaigns. Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives. The program is highly competitive: The foundation received 1,101 applications for this round and founded only 1% of them. Smiths project is titled Systems Dynamics Modeling for Health Campaigns in Zimbabwe. She will develop a decision-making tool that can plan more effective health campaigns in low- and middle-income countries by considering any competing interests of stakeholders. I am extremely excited about being selected for the GCE award, particularly because I prepared the application with my partners at the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Care based upon their input on what would be useful to the government, said Smith. I believe policy-led research is often more impactful and sustainable, and I look forward to working on this interdisciplinary project including researchers, government and non-governmental stakeholders, she added. For this round of funding, the Gates Foundation sought innovations in approaches, practices, or tools that dramatically improve the planning and microplanning, implementation/operations, and monitoring and evaluation that will lead to improved effectiveness of campaigns. The foundation was particularly interested in novel approaches that draw on innovation from large-scale delivery models outside of the health sector, which may include interventions used in the private sector. Health campaigns involve many different government and private stakeholders with differing interests, Smith noted. Her team will apply a systems dynamics modeling approach to two health campaigns for children under 5 in Zimbabwe by holding group modeling workshops with a variety of stakeholders to identify perceived barriers and potential solutions. These data will be combined with published data to develop a quantitative decision-making tool with a user-friendly interface that can be used by the different stakeholders to select the preferred campaign design. Smith is collaborating with Charles Nicholson of Radboud University in the Netherlands and who has an adjunct appointment at Cornell University. Nicholson has spent his career focusing on participatory systems dynamics modeling to improve food security outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Other collaborators include the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Zimbabwean Food and Nutrition Council. Smith has been working with both of these government entities on other research projects since 2013. This is an excellent opportunity to expand those partnerships on policy-led research, she said. Smiths project was also selected to participate in the World Food Program Innovation Accelerator. The boot camp will be held in July and includes many of the GCE awardees. Amid a build up of Syrians in critical need of medical attention, Turkey has been called on to open the border and allow patients to cross reports Smart News. On Wednesday, the Syria Response Coordinators Team appealed to the Turkish government to allow Syrian patients in critical condition to cross the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. In a statement, the team called on the Turkish government to resume admitting medical cases in Turkish hospitals. The team added that the medical situation in northwestern Syria is in poor shape due to the bombing by the Syrian governments forces, which have destroyed dozens of hospitals and medical clinics. The team noted that the current medical situation requires urgent actions to treat emergency cases. The team said that the number of patients who need to be transferred to Turkey increased, as the Turkish authorities closed the border crossing two month ago, in an effort to fight coronavirus (COVID-19). This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the foreign ministry of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan commented on the statement issued by the foreign ministry of Azerbaijan regarding the inauguration of the newly elected President of Artsakh to be held in Shushi today, the Armenia MFA told Armenpress. Its worth mentioning that the threats of war or military posturing communicated either through statements or large-scale military exercises in violations of international commitments, represent traditional components of Azerbaijan's destructive stance, which has no impact either on the positions of the Armenian sides in the Nagorno Karabakh issue or on the ongoing democratic processes in Artsakh. Nevertheless, they definitely undermine the establishment of an environment conducive to peace, which is necessary for the consideration of substantive issues. Armenia is committed to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. Once again congratulating the people of Artsakh on the formation of authorities as a result of democratic processes, we would like to reiterate that the Republic of Armenia will continue to closely cooperate with the new authorities, which represent the people of Artsakh, in the peace process, and in this context we will consistently protect the exercise of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination without any limitations, the spokesperson said in a statement. In January 2017, Former FBI Director James Comey met with then-President Barack Obama and suggested that the National Security Council or NSC might not want to tell any sensitive information about Russia to then-incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. This information is based on a newly declassified email that Susan Rice, the former National Security Adviser, sent herself on the Inauguration Day of President Donald Trump. Declassified email on Inauguration day Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell declassified the note from Susan Rice and transmitted the note to the Justice Department. According to the copy obtained by Fox News from GOP Sen. Ron Johnson's office, the email that Rice sent to herself on January 20, 2018, documented a meeting with Obama and others in the Oval Office back on January 5. The email states that Obama said that law enforcement needs to investigate any Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. Parts of the email were released except for the section with Comey's response as it was classified as top secret. The top-secret section that was just revealed showed that Comey discussed his concerns about the conversations of Flynn with Russia's ambassador at the time of the elections. The said conversations would later be one of the cases filed against Flynn. Rice wrote in the email that from the perspective of the national security, Comey stated that he has concerns that Flynn regularly talks to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He added that it could be an issue since they could be sharing sensitive information. Also Read: Worldwide Lockdown Can Drop Carbon Emissions to Their Lowest in 15 Years Obama then asked Comey in the meeting if it is best that Flynn was not given any sensitive information related to Russia. Rice then added that Comey stressed that he does not know if Flynn has told Kislyak about any classified information, but he noted that the frequent communication between the two was unusual. On May 19, a representative for Rice released a statement and stressed that there was no discussion of law enforcement investigation or matters that took place that day. The spokeswoman also said that the Obama administration did not change the way that they briefed Flynn, as Rice briefed Flynn for 12 hours on four different occasions during the change of administration. Rice representative Erin Pelton said in a tweet: "Ambassador Rice did not alter the way she briefed Michael Flynn on Russia as a result of Director Comey's response. Russia's interception during the presidential race Russian files was released as a part of the move from the Justice Department to drop its case against Flynn, but the newly declassified email from Rice brought renewed focus on the alleged Russian interference during the 2016 presidential elections. The interview indicated that then-President Obama was aware of Flynn's relationship with Kislyak. Grenell's move to declassify the email of Rice came just after he declassified a list of officials during the Obama administration who requested to know Flynn and his relationship with Russia during the 2016 presidential race. The list featured figures including former Vice President Biden, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, and Denis McDonough. The attention on the discussions of the Obama administration has fueled a heated exchange of words in Washington over the Russian case, with President Trump describing it as the "the greatest political crime in the history of our country." Related Article: Anti-Lockdown Protests in Chile Erupt as Hungry Protesters Clash With Police @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The growth of the resilient flooring market SIZE 2020 is attributed to the need for material that can last for a longer duration without compromising on functionality. The insights into the construction industry are advanced by Market Research Future, which concentrates on reports on industry verticals that review the market options for growth. The market is expected to acquire a marvelous CAGR in the duration of the forecast period ending in 2024. The resilient flooring industry is expected to grow at an accelerated rate in the coming years as construction requirements vary in line with consumer preferences. Resilient flooring is also made from materials such as recycled raw materials, which is expected to gain more demand in the coming years as end-users prefer to opt for eco-friendlier options. Segmental Analysis The segmentation of the resilient flooring market has been conducted on the basis of application, product, and region. Based on the product, the resilient flooring market has been segmented into linoleum, vinyl composite tiles (VCT), luxury vinyl tiles (LVT), vinyl sheets, and others. Based on the application, the resilient flooring market residential, commercial, and industrial. On the basis of regions, the resilient flooring market is segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and other regions around the world. Detailed Regional Analysis The regional examination of the resilient flooring market includes regions such as Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and other regions around the world. In 2018, the Asia Pacific region was responsible for the major market segment of approximately 34%, shadowed by the European and North American regions. It has been noted that the APAC region may preserve its position in the market till 2024. Moreover, the Asia Pacific region is also projected to observe a top growth degree of growth in the resilient flooring market, due to the healthy development of the construction industry in emerging economies, such as South Korea, China and India which is additionally projected to surge the necessity for resilient flooring in the coming years. Competitive Analysis The diversification in inclinations of the consumers in the market is expected to boost the progress of the market in the forecast period. The innovation levels in the market are likely to rise in the coming years due to increased investment and availability of talent in the market. The regulations being put into operation by the government and trade specialists on the global level are indicative of the favorable they have on the international market development. The market is projected to acquire an increased momentum owing to the demand levels that are prevalent in the market. The stakeholders in the market are undertaking strategies that will accelerate and revitalize the growth of the market on a global scale. The revamping of the product range in the market is expected to open up new opportunities for advancement in the coming period. The development of assets of the supply chain is expected to set a favorable tone for the growth of the market in the forecast period. The distinguished contenders in the resilient flooring market are Mannington Mills, Inc. (US), Milliken & Company (US), IVC Group (Belgium), Mohawk Industries (US), Nora (Germany), Novalis (US), Unilin (Belgium), NOX Corporation, Shaw Floors (US), and Amtico International Limited (UK). Industry Updates: Jan 2020 The Resilient Floor Covering Institute, along with the SCS Global Services has announced a novel program called ASSURE CERTIFIEDTM to guarantee the continual development and approval of Rigid Core Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) that is to be advertised and retailed in the North American region. Rigid Core LVT is the quickest developing resilient flooring type. It has grown rapidly from a pioneering multilayer resilient model. Note: The COVID-19 pandemic disruption is estimated to transform the XX market in the years to come drastically, and its after-effects will be persistently seen in the years ahead. The MRFR report on the XX market meticulously tracks the COVID-19 pandemic effect for the years ahead. Moreover, the precise analysis of drivers and restraints in a post-COVID-19 market offers a coherent understanding of future growth cues. In a warehouse inside Sydney's largest prison, a makeshift hospital is being constructed. They hope that what they're waiting for will never arrive. The 33-bed hospital exists in case there's an outbreak of COVID-19 within NSW's prisons and local hospitals are overwhelmed with community cases and cannot take inmates. From left: Clinical director Dr James Blogg, clinical nurse Jacqueline Clegg, service director Colette Mcgrath and governor of Long Bay prison Jason Hodges. Credit:Nick Moir While prisons have so far been spared outbreaks of COVID-19, the heads of Justice Health's population health unit do not want to take risks. "We all sat there towards the end of January going 'this is going to be bad'," service director Colette Mcgrath said. The fund for Filipino family left orphaned after the death of their father from Covid-19 has exceeded 200,000. Miguel Plangca and his family lived at Bluetown in Allenwood North. Read more County Kildare news The 55 year old worked at the Birds Eye food plant at the IDA industrial estate at Monread Road, Naas. According to the Phillipine Consulate in Dublin, Mr Plangca is the second Phillipines native to die from Covid-19 in Ireland and he passed away after battling the disease for 41 days. A native of Ozamis city, he was a father of five children - Stephanie, Mikee, Michael, John and Chekie. Miguel was a quiet but very giving man who was well loved and will be deeply missed, the consulate said in a social media post. A private cremation took place on Friday last. A go fund me page fundraiser has been set up by the Kildare Filipino Community president Aina Conway. It opened six days ago with a goal of raising 5,000 and this had more than doubled to 12,600 by yesterday afternoon. He lost his wife six years ago and his children are now orphaned. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 15:55:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Before resuming operation, Huang Jing's company in Wuhan, a city once hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, arranged two rounds of nucleic acid tests and one blood antibody test for all employees. "Last Sunday, I did another throat swab and antibody tests in the community," said the 29-year-old woman who returned to work in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, in mid-April from her hometown in Henan Province. The company and the community are still very strict in epidemic prevention and control, requiring all employees and residents to show their health code and take their body temperature every day, she said. Through arduous efforts, China has achieved decisive results in the fight against COVID-19 to protect hard-hit Hubei and its capital city Wuhan. The nation has also made major strategic strides in curbing the spread of the virus with positive results in coordinating the epidemic control and economic and social development. With hard-earned achievements, Chinese authorities demand regular prevention and control measures while speeding up production resumption. "Anti-epidemic work has yielded favorable results," said Wang Xueli, Party secretary of Wuhan's Dongting community. The gate of the community has not been fully opened, with staff on duty 24 hours a day. Residents need to wear a mask and have their body temperature measured when entering or leaving the community, while outsiders are required to register at the gate. "Many volunteers have joined us in epidemic prevention and control, helping us to form a long-term anti-epidemic mechanism from the door of every household to the gate of our community," Wang said. Local authorities in Huimin County, east China's Shandong Province, have been battling against the epidemic through digital means, integrating "big data and grid-based" measures. Huimin has developed a service platform that can show information about 9,589 points set in the county. People have to scan QR codes when passing through these points to ensure travel records of COVID-19 cases can be traceable. "I think the epidemic prevention and control measures have been part of our life and work," said Ge Chang, a doctor at Liyuan Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. "But the alarm bell is still ringing. If I went out without a mask now, I'd feel scared." The doctor said compared with a month ago, when the hospital just resumed normal medical treatment, the number of patients in the ward has greatly increased, with CT, antibody and nucleic acid tests required for inpatients. China has released a circular requiring strengthened infection control in medical institutions and better implementation of the epidemic prevention and control work on a regular basis. Shanghai's fever clinics will gradually increase their capacity to conduct nucleic acid tests to ensure all patients that require the test are able to do so in time, according to the municipal health commission. With epidemic prevention measures, most major enterprises in China have resumed operations. Tourist sites have reopened and diners reappeared in restaurants. As of May 11, over 100 million students nationwide have resumed classes. Some primary, middle school and university students across the country have returned to campus. In Beijing, more students are expected to return to school in early June. Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said 99.1 percent of Chinese industrial enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.82 million U.S. dollars) had resumed production as of Monday and about 95.4 percent of employees in such enterprises have returned to work. Enditem BONNEY LAKE, WA The mayors of Bonney Lake and Sumner have issued an open letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee asking that their cities be allowed to reopen businesses early. Under Inslee's Safe Start plan to reopen Washington's economy, as the coronavirus wanes, businesses are reopened in four phases. Currently, all of Pierce County is in Phase 1 of Inslee's plan and Pierce is not eligible to enter Phase 2 early, but Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson, Jr. and Sumner Mayor Bill Pugh argue that they should be allowed an exception. The mayors argue that their towns are small enough to safely reopen, and that their economy is suffering unduly because of business closures. "Our small businesses, which provide for our significant economic bases, are anxiously waiting for the green light to open," write the mayors. The mayors say they can safely open businesses by following three new guidelines: Ensure opening businesses follow the same safety standards that have been imposed in essential businesses that have remained open amid the pandemic. Continue to encourage the use of face masks and social distancing. Encourage senior citizens and other high-risk community members to stay home. Under Inslee's current plan, Bonney Lake and Sumner will be allowed to reopen many businesses along with the rest of Pierce County when it enters the next phase. Pierce is currently expected to enter Phase 2 with the rest of Washington state. The governor has said that could happen around June 1, but may be delayed if there are further outbreaks or setbacks. 22 Washington counties are eligible to move into Phase 2 early and 10 have successfully applied to do so, but Pierce is not among them. In order to apply for a Phase 2 variance, counties must have fewer than 10 new cases of the coronavirus per 100,000 residents for two weeks. Under Phase 2, a variety of businesses are allowed to return, albeit with new safety guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus. Returning industries include bars and taverns, restaurants, hair salons, gyms, outdoor recreational facilities, manufacturers and more. Story continues Read the whole joint letter from both mayors here. This article originally appeared on the Bonney Lake-Sumner Patch JACKSON, Mississippi Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday repeatedly asked a federal appeals court nominee from Mississippi about derisive comments he made in newspaper opinion pieces and on social media about former President Barack Obama and his signature health care legislation. "Did you call the passage of the Affordable Care Act 'perverse' and 'illegitimate' and say that (you) 'hope the court' you meant the Supreme Court 'strikes down the law?'," Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii asked the nominee, Cory Wilson, during a hearing shown online. Wilson, a Moss Point native who serves on the state appeals court, responded: Senator, before I ever became a judge, I wrote commentary and served in the Legislature where I took a number of... Hirono cut him off: "The answer is yes." Wilson, 49, is nominated for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and is considered one of the most conservative appeals courts. He said during the hearing Wednesday in Washington that as a judge, he puts aside his past criticism of Democrats and some of their policies. He also said in response to questions that he will follow the precedent of a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law in 2010. Wilson was a first-term Republican state representative when he was appointed to the Mississippi Court of Appeals in February 2019 by then-Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican allied with President Donald Trump. Before that, Wilson had worked for the Mississippi secretary of state and the state treasurer. The American Bar Association has rated Wilson as "well qualified" for the federal appeals court judgeship. But, his nomination has drawn opposition from advocates for voting rights, expanded access to health care and marriage equality, among a range of Democratic priorities that Wilson has pilloried. Wilson has the support of Mississippi's Republican U.S. senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith. "Judge Wilson's credentials, intellect and respect for the rule of law are well established," Wicker said during the hearing Wednesday. Opponents of Wilson's nomination point to partisan comments he's made, attacking Obama and many Democratic party priorities. The Houston Area Urban League and the Baton Rouge National Organization for Women are among 13 groups that issued a letter Tuesday opposing Wilson's nomination. It criticized his record of supporting states' laws that require voters to show identification at the polls. "Mr. Wilson's refusal to acknowledge the reality of this country's history of voting rights violations and the prevalence of voter suppression is unsettling and indicates he would not have an open mind in such critical civil rights cases that often arise in the Fifth Circuit," the letter said. The letter said Wilson referred to the Affordable Care Act as "liberal-utopia-dictated healthcare." Trump previously nominated U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden of Mississippi to the 5th Circuit seat. During a hearing in July, Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri questioned Ozerden about his 2012 dismissal of a Catholic diocese lawsuit that challenged the Affordable Care Act's mandate that insurance plans cover contraception. Ozerden said he was following a binding precedent by the 5th Circuit, but his nomination stalled and never came up for a confirmation vote. Trump announced Wilson's nomination to the seat on March 30. Trump initially nominated Wilson to become a federal district judge in southern Mississippi in 2019. The Judiciary Committee held a hearing on that nomination in January, but the nomination was still pending when Trump chose Wilson for a higher court. Wilson earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi and his law degree from Yale University, where he worked on the Yale Law Journal. He was a law clerk to Judge Emmett Ripley Cox of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Prior to his appointment to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Wilson served in the Mississippi House of Representatives and held senior positions within the offices of the Mississippi State Treasurer and Mississippi Secretary of State. Wilson is also a former adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law. Baghdad, May 21 : The Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) announced that it has arrested a key leader of the Islamic State (IS) terror group. "The terrorist named Abdul-Nasser Qardash, a former candidate to succeed the (dead IS leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been arrested," INIS said in a statement on Wednesday on its official Twitter account. The statement gave no further details about the location of the arrest or whether there were others captured with him, reports Xinhua news agency. Qardash is one of the most important leaders of IS, but the group later chose Abdul-Rahman al-Mawla to succeed al-Baghdadi. In October 2019, US President Donald Trump announced that the US Special Operations Forces conducted an overnight raid targeting al-Baghdadi in northwestern Syria, during which the IS leaderikilled himself by igniting a suicide vest. Al-Baghdadi, 48, whose real name is Ibrahim Awad al-Badri, announced the establishment of a caliphate, or the so-called IS, in June 2014. His extremist militant group once captured large swathes of land in western and northern Iraq as well as parts of neighbouring Syria, but was later defeated in both countries. Does the Wuhan virus, which arguably escaped from a Chinese virology lab, supersede the rights guaranteed to American citizens under the U.S. Constitution? The owners of a New Jersey gym think not. They want to earn a living and pursue their American dream, and like most business owners and their customers are not stupid, suicidal, or children. They are American citizens watching their unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being ripped away by dime-store Napoleons who see this pandemic as a chance to pursue the liberal progressive dream of controlling every aspect of our lives. Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey reopened on Monday morning in defiance of Governor Phil Murphys Coronavirus lockdown order. We think so far, this has been just a gross violation of constitutional rights, said Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The 14th Amendment states that no state shall pass any law that infringes upon our rights as citizens, and weve been forced into our homes. Enough is enough. As some states, mostly red states, open up and people begin to regain their lives and their liberty, it is clear this toothpaste is out of its tube. American citizens are as mad as hell and clearly arent going to take it anymore. Many, like the Texas salon owner who risked incarceration to feed her children, are not going to wait for an official green light from governors and mayors attempting to usurp their rights, politicians who insist imposing a police state is for our own good. The owners of the New Jersey gym have found out that the price of liberty is indeed eternal vigilance -- and resistance to government tyranny: A New Jersey gym reopened again Tuesday in defiance of the states orders against workout facilities and again police arrived to issue tickets to the owners. At least one patron was also arrested leaving the gym after refusing to give his name. Police also warned supporters gathered outside to leave or they could also face summonses. This gathering is a violation of the governors order, Bellmawr Lt. Mike Draham said. You are directed to immediately and peaceably disperse. If you do not disperse you can be charged. You can protest from your vehicle Thats all we have right now. They also have the frightening words of the Democrat Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News: Carlson asked Murphy about the arrests in Ocean County, N.J., of 15 men who were congregating for a rabbi's funeral at a Lakewood synagogue in early April. The Bill of Rights, as you well know, protects Americans' rights -- enshrines their right to practice their religion as they see fit and to congregate together to assemble peacefully," Carlson said. "By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?" "That's above my pay grade, Tucker," Murphy replied. "I wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this... We looked at all the data and the science and it says people have to stay away from each other. That is the best thing we can do to break the back of the curve of this virus, that leads to lower hospitalization and ultimately fatalities." The very Constitution you took an oath to protect and defend is above your pay grade, Governor? This is the attitude Americans are starting to rebel against. Elected officials such as Murphy are little dictators, little Napoleons whose true colors are being revealed, who believe in data and science but not the liberty and freedom of an American people who tamed a continent, split the atom, went to the moon, and beat Nazism, fascism, and communism. Thankfully, some courts are beginning to wake up to these arbitrary and unconstitutional assaults on our liberties as free Americans unite and pursue legal action. In North Carolina, a District Court judge actually wondered what happened to the concept of equal protection under the law: Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Coopers restrictions on indoor religious services show a distrust of those who are worshipping, according to a ruling from a federal judge. U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III temporarily blocked Coopers restrictions on indoor services in a Saturday ruling, The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., reported. Dever said that Coopers stay-at-home order presents a double standard by only allowing up to 10 people at a religious service while letting businesses accommodate up to 50 people at a time The record, at this admittedly early stage of the case, reveals that the Governor appears to trust citizens to perform non-religious activities indoors (such as shopping or working or selling merchandise) but does not trust them to do the same when they worship together indoors, the judges ruling said. The judge did not mention that under Coopers order the Last Supper would be illegal -- an indoor gathering of more than 10 people. Freedom of religion is just one of our liberties under assault from authoritarians like Cooper. Business owners are being effectively deprived of their property without due process of law -- executive orders are not due process. Our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is under assault as non-essential gun and ammo shops are shuttered while felons are released as we are denied self-protection against them. We have lost our right to move freely, even speak freely, at least on social media that censors coronavirus response criticisms, or to peacefully assemble and petition for redress of grievances. In Oregon, another judge similarly ruled the state was exceeding its legal authority by infringing on freedom of religion: An Oregon judge ruled today that Gov. Kate Browns pandemic-related executive orders exceeded her authority. The case was filed by numerous churches and people of faith who were represented by the Pacific Justice Institute. The orders resulted in church, business, and school closings and required the citizens in Oregon to remain under virtual house arrest. The Oregon law gives the Governor broad authority in emergency situations; however, that authority is of limited duration. The Governor did not go to the legislature to seek additional time as required by law. Not overruled at this point is Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who shut down Windy City businesses and put citizens under house arrest while the public face if the city, as she calls herself went to her hair stylist. Lightfoot has cornered the market on tyrannical hypocrisy: Churchgoers defying stay-at-home initiatives amid the coronavirus pandemic could receive citations in the Chicago area. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said last week the city was preparing to enforce restrictions meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus against houses of worship holding in-person services. After churchgoers decided to attend services anyway on Sunday, Lightfoot said in a statement that city officials are working with law enforcement to monitor large gatherings, including ones of faith, according to the Chicago Tribune. The local districts are reviewing reports of large gatherings that took place today at various establishments not abiding by the stay-at-home order, the statement said. Following that review, the Department will issue and mail citations where necessary." Wisconsins Supreme Court recently struck down that states stay-at-home order as an unlawful order that exceeded the states authority: The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the state's stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic as "unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable" after finding that the state's health secretary exceeded her authority. In a 4-3 ruling, the court called Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm's directive, known as Emergency Order 28, a "vast seizure of power." The order directed all people in the state to stay at home or at their places of residence, subject only to exceptions allowed by Palm, the ruling says. The order, which had been set to run until May 26, also restricted travel and business, along with threatening jail time or fines for those who don't comply. So far, such rulings are limited in scope and temporary. The assault on our Constitution and our rights is deep and broad and will only be stopped by a Supreme Court ruling that our freedoms cannot be erased by an edict from a governor, mayor, or a state health secretary. These orders are not laws passed by a legislature, and even then such laws should and must pass constitutional muster. As George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley observes: "Pandemic is not a magic word that instantly negates all individual constitutional rights," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University. "A pandemic gives states a compelling state purpose in the imposition of restrictions. But when the state denies or restricts constitutional rights, it must satisfy a balancing test." Lockdowns have health costs themselves that constitute a compelling interest to not have them. Simply put, Americans cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law and, again, executive orders do not constitute due process. There is no pandemic exception clause in the U.S. Constitution. Daniel John Sobieski is a former editorial writer for Investors Business Daily and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. Robbie Allen is founder of The Thriving Box Co, which was launched on 28 April Freelance marketing consultant Robbie Allen has helped keep a number of small businesses moving through lockdown by launching a gift box service allowing them to keep selling their products. While many independent stores still face the pressures that have come with the coronavirus and ensuing nationwide lockdown, The Thriving Box Co has provided business owners new distribution so they keep earning since being forced to close their doors. The company was officially launched just three weeks ago but has already sold more than 4,000 boxes featuring products from local businesses in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol and Manchester. Robbie said: 'We have partnered with over 75 amazing local businesses throughout the UK in the initial four cities. 'But we are working with others and aim to be selling additional gift boxes in Newcastle, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Portsmouth, Leicester and Leeds by the time we are 10 weeks old.' The Thriving Box Co was first launched in Edinburgh, where Robbie lives and works and where he found his own career come to an abrupt halt following the lockdown. 'Before lockdown I was working with a number of small businesses consulting them on digital marketing,' he added. 'In addition to being forced not to sell from their stores, Covid-19 forced many of these businesses to stop spending money on marketing and advertising and as a result 80 per cent of my income was put on stop indefinitely.' Robbie wants The Thriving Box Company to be known as the 'home of the local' The last straw The 31-year-old said he had been thinking of launching something like The Thriving Box Co for some time having worked closely with local businesses for the past eight years, and seeing first hand the challenges they faced in a 'broken and often biased supply chain'. He said before the coronavirus pandemic began rocking livelihoods across the globe, many small businesses struggled to get their products to market and find new customers. Covid-19 made me stand up and take action. He added: 'I have wanted to build a brand dedicated to making local products available on a national scale for some time and Covid-19 made me stand up and take action. 'Forced shop closures have resulted in local businesses left wondering what the rest of the year is going to look like so we are selling gift boxes to help them continue to move their products. 'When we launched in Edinburgh, the goal was to sell 100 boxes. In our first week we managed to sell over 150! 'In Edinburgh alone we have now sold more than 2,000 boxes and a further 1,200 in Glasgow. We have launched in Bristol and Manchester and are already on course to match - if not better - that success.' As of 18 May, the firm has sold 4,087 boxes - generating approximately 100,00 in revenue for the small businesses involved. A mug from the Gillian Kyle IRN-BRU collection and part of the 'Keep Glasgow Thriving' gift box To make things a little easier for its partners - who no doubt will have to deal with other issues such as claiming coronavirus-related grants and loans and even attempting to pivot their business - the company handles all the logistics and e-commerce side of things. It has also implemented strict health and safety measures in line with Government advice on reducing the spread of the virus. Robbie added: 'In the first week after launching we were able to pack the gift boxes in our flat. But since then we have been shipping out over 300 gift boxes every week so we moved into an events space come warehouse situated on the outskirts of Edinburgh. 'We have staggered shifts in place for our team of three packers and provide them with PPE equipment. Their safety is a huge priority for us. Our local delivery drivers have also been briefed on contactless delivery so they - as well as our customers -stay safe too.' Life in the 'new normal' Like the rest of the nation, Robbie is keen to get back to 'life as we once knew it' but knows coming out of lockdown will need a phased approach. That's why he plans to keep building on The Thriving Box Co, making it the 'home of the local'. Even when shop doors are back open for good, he wants to make it a marketplace where all local independent businesses across the UK can get involved. He said: 'These small businesses are creating incredible things such as craft coffee, candles, tea towels, tote bags, local preserves and snacks. 'They want to be able to sell them to continue to grow and sustain their company and livelihood every day, not just in the midst of a pandemic.' The boxes have a particular focus on the hospitality industry, featuring local foods and beverages, as Robbie believes that bars and restaurants will be the last businesses back to 'normal'. PadgMade's homemade candles are one of the gifts included in the 'Keep Bristol Thriving' box Meet the businesses that are still thriving The Thriving Box Co currently operates in four cities with 75 partners and those numbers are continuing to grow. Meanwhile the businesses that have already benefited from its success, are grateful to be a part of something positive during such a challenging time. Paige Alexander and Nate Hall, co-founders of Bristol-based PadgMade which sells homemade candles and British wild flower seeds, said it has been an 'incredible opportunity' to work with Thrive. They said: 'We launched our candles not long before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold and were planning to attend lots of markets which were, of course, cancelled. 'Being a part of the box has allowed us to reach so many more people than we could have, on our own. Knowing Padg candles are in homes across the city really makes us smile and we hope they put a smile on our customers' faces too.' Tom Chisholm, director of handcrafted drinks company Buck & Birch, said it is 'refreshing to be part of The Thriving Box Co and something positive in such a challenging situation' Buck & Birch, a handcrafted drinks company based in Edinburgh, currently sells its Birch Caramel Espresso Martini in The Thriving Box Co's 'Keep Edinburgh Thriving' gift box. The company's director, Tom Chisholm, said working with The Thriving Box Co has been a fantastic way of reaching new and existing customers during lockdown. One in five Brits plan to become entrepreneurs during lockdown According to a recent survey by web hosting company GoDaddy, 20 per cent of Britons are planning to set up a new business or side hustle during lockdown. A quarter of respondents said the top motivation for starting a business venture was to become their own boss while the second was to have a sense of purpose. Economic turmoil and a significant change in peoples daily routine has allowed time for reflection and nearly one in 10 said they had already taken the first steps to starting their new business. He added: 'A large proportion of our traditional business was in the tourist and hospitality industries, both of which have been decimated by the virus. 'The flexible nature of the Thrive boxes has allowed us to innovate new products and offerings whilst staying true to our ethos and roots. 'It also gives us a vital platform to showcase our brand and products to a new audience. It is really refreshing to be part of something positive to come out of such a challenging situation. 'The virus has definitely brought into sharp focus the importance of supporting local, independent producers and Thrive is the perfect platform to do this.' Artist and founder of For all things Scottish, Gillian Kyle, said her company has been badly hit by the lockdown, with reduced online sales and the closure of gift shops and museums in which its products are stocked. She said: 'These places have all been closed since March, and may remain so for a while. When they open up again I expect the footfall to be low for quite a while. 'We found ourselves with a lot of stock and nowhere to sell it, so the orders placed by the Thriving Box Co have been a real boost. We are grateful to Robbie and the guys for coming up with such a cracking idea!' NUI Galway's Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit (SEMRU) has released a report that presents estimates of the value of domestic coastal and marine tourism in the Republic of Ireland. While annual expenditure figures are produced for the overall domestic tourism market by the Central Statistics Office, information on marine and coastal specific domestic tourism activity is more difficult to obtain. According to the findings in this report the average expenditure per coastal day trip in 2018 was 95. The equivalent for coastal overnight trips was 310. Total expenditure by domestic tourists in coastal areas was estimated to be 698 million in 2018, which represents 35% of the total expenditure by domestic tourists that year. The marine related activity expenditure on overnight trips, or what might truly be referred to as domestic marine tourism, is estimated to have generated revenue of 381 million with 172 million of this being spent on water-based activities. Dr Stephen Hynes, co-author of the report and Director of SEMRU based at the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change at NUI Galway, said: "While the results presented in this report are from a time that precedes the current Covid 19 crisis they nevertheless highlight the economic contribution that domestic marine tourism and leisure activity makes under normal circumstances to coastal regions, particularly those regions outside the capital. Also, given that it is likely that the overseas tourism market will take much longer to recover, and Irish residents' travel abroad will also be curtailed, the industry should be examining how they can maximise the return from the domestic tourism market this year and next." To generate information on domestic coastal and marine tourism in Ireland SEMRU carried out a household survey of residents in 2019, funded by the Marine Institute through its Marine Research Programme. As well as expenditure patterns the survey also examined participation rates amongst domestic residents in a variety of marine activities and where Irish residents went for overnight coastal visits in the reference year 2018. The survey consisted of face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of over a 1000 households. Based on the results of the survey, 77% of respondents had actively engaged in marine related activities, on either day or overnight trips, during the year 2018. The most popular land-based coastal activities were walking/running along the coast/beach/cliffs/etc., beach or seaside trips, and coastal sightseeing. The most popular water-based activities were sea swimming, surfing, recreational boating of different types and sea angling. Significant differences in participation rates were observed across a number of socio-demographic classifications including age, social class and education attainment levels. The results also indicate that domestic tourists* undertake the majority of their marine activities on the West and South coasts of Ireland. The report argues that given the observed differences in marine activity participation rates across the social classes, a worthy policy objective would be ensuring that all sections of society have the opportunity to access the well-being and mental health benefits that are known to come from interaction with the marine environment. Given the current crisis this is more important than ever. It also offers an opportunity to develop new marine tourism offerings focused on the expanding consumer demand for wellness services and products. According to Dr Hynes consideration should be also be given by coastal tourism and leisure operators to the fact that marine active tourists have been shown to spend more and stay longer than the average tourist: "As we point out in the report, while the overseas market is often the main focus of the development agencies, the domestic marine tourism market offers significant opportunities for growth. Given the sector will, for the present, have to focus on the domestic side of the market in the short to medium term, now is the ideal opportunity to explore innovations in delivering new visitor experiences and marine tourism products aimed at the home market." The reported spatial pattern for domestic resident participation in marine related activities is also interesting from a marine spatial planning perspective. Unlike the overseas tourism market research carried out by SEMRU previously, where the majority of the marine activity undertaken was found to have been in the southern half of the western sea board, the distribution of marine activities undertaken was much more evenly spread out for the domestic tourism market. Commenting on the report, Professor Alan Ahearne, Director of the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway said: "The World Tourism Organization is forecasting that international tourist arrivals could plunge 60-80% this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and may remain at depressed levels next year. Tourism in Ireland will be looking to domestic demand for recovery -- and the evidence points to the huge potential for coastal and marine tourism to contribute to rebooting activity in this sector." For more information on SEMRU and to download the full report, please visit http://www.nuigalway.ie/semru/. ### Seven hours before Coles Chop House opened for dinner on Wednesday, the restaurants phone lines were inundated with callers scrambling to snag an elusive experience during the coronavirus pandemic: a meal inside a restaurant. Coles Chop House is one of the first Napa restaurants to open for dining in during the second phase of Californias reopening plan. State health officials gave Napa County, widely considered to be the countrys fine dining mecca, a green light to reopen this week after it met benchmarks around coronavirus testing and number of cases. San Benito County also approved dining in last week. Wineries and tasting rooms cannot reopen, disappointing some in Wine Country. Many Napa dining rooms will remain closed as owners see takeout and delivery service as easier options to manage. Other owners are making the jump to dine-in service as quickly as possible, but admit the process is a complicated, drawn-out transition, with additional costs. Josh Edelson / Special to The Chronicle Coles Chop House limited the number of reservations during its first dinner service, said co-owner Eric Keffer, who operates the business with his wife Heather. The hope is a smaller crowd in a controlled setting will make it easier to meet state-mandated health and safety measures, which the restaurant has already been implementing for more than three weeks. Theres so many things we have to think about with this opening in terms of service. How are we going to change our bread service? How are we going to make sure our kitchen is appropriate for what we need, and how do we ensure our staff is safe and our guests are safe? he said. Many diners remain uncomfortable with eating indoors. According to a recent Chronicle poll with 6,300 submissions, roughly 30% of respondents said they will continue to use takeout and delivery exclusively. Only 25% were comfortable with returning to restaurants limited to half capacity. In a survey of 216 San Francisco restaurant owners conducted by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, 87% of respondents said they cant survive on just takeout and delivery. As Coles prepared for its first in-person diners in two months, Christopher Kostow, who runs St. Helenas celebrated restaurants Charter Oak and the Restaurant at Meadowood, was at home walking his dog. Kostow said hes thinking about a hybrid takeout and dine-in service model at Charter Oak in the near future, but is in no rush. Restaurant at Meadowood will remain closed for now. Charter Oak has been open for takeout service since March and business has been good, Kostow said. Charter Oak is also producing 1,200 meals per week delivered by charity organizations in Napa County and receives some compensation. But opening his dining room is similar to restarting a massive factory, Kostow said, and the process takes a substantial amount of planning. Josh Edelson / Special to The Chronicle You dont just turn the lights on and everything is back to normal. When it comes to safety, you have to think about whether youve tested everyone for coronavirus before they come back to work. Then you need the right PPE to reopen, he said, referring to personal protective equipment. The dishwasher has to basically be in a hazmat suit with a face shield. And we dont want to bring a bunch of employees back and not be able to pay them. Its a lot to think about. San Benito County restaurants are also grappling with financial challenges after getting approval for dine-in service last week. Owners say protective equipment is both expensive and in short supply, and hiring more staff is difficult. Meanwhile, dine-in service revenue would be a fraction of pre-pandemic business because of state rules mandating tables be at least 6 feet apart, which limits capacity. Carlos Hernandez, owner of Heavenly Bakery in Hollister, decided against reopening for diners. He said state requirements including the amount of space needed for social distancing were too difficult to meet, and takeout service, which requires a smaller staff, is thriving. Were just going to keep doing what weve been doing. I spoke with some other owners around here and thats all our point of view. We just dont think the reopening is worth it, he said. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. But other Hollister restaurants, including Grillin & Chillin Alehouse, opened their doors to the public without hesitation. Terry Letson, who owns Napas Fume Bistro & Bar, took a more enthusiastic approach to opening. Letson made waves for allowing dine-in service at his business for two nights earlier this month in defiance of the public health order. Now, with permission from the state, Letson said hes ahead of the curve in terms of preparation. Josh Edelson / Special to The Chronicle This is more than just money issues for the industry, its about us getting back to doing what we do, he said. Theres a core of us that, for lack of a better word, are hard-core restaurant owners, and we pushed really hard to get ready to be open for this moment. Its all we know. Schools in Napa County are reopening on June 1. Retail business have already opened in the county. All businesses have to follow social distancing measures and post signs directing people how to protect public health. Face coverings are required inside businesses and workplaces, or when closer than 6 feet from others. Napa and San Benito counties are among 26 of the states 58 counties to move ahead with reopenings. In Napa County, there have been 92 confirmed cases and three COVID-19 deaths as of Tuesday. Keffer said the phones ringing nonstop at Coles Chop House are an indicator of how eager local diners are for any sense of normalcy. Our restaurant has gone through a lot of the years from fires to earthquakes to floods, he said. But in this pandemic, you realize you have strength and the people around us want to see us succeed. Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 10:36 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd96034c 1 National nurses,COVID-19,coronavirus,Idul-Fitri-bonuses,THR,incentives,Fatmawati-Hospital,medical-workers Free The majority of nurses at general hospitals and COVID-19 referral hospitals carry a heavy burden, as they are not only fighting on the frontline against the disease, but are also struggling with personal financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, most hospitals are reportedly suffering financially due to a decrease in the number of patients, while their operational costs remain high. Ratna, not her real name, discussed the experiences of herself and her colleagues while treating COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit of the Fatmawati General Hospital in South Jakarta. The 26-year-old nurse, along with around 60 of her colleagues at the ICU as well as several other medical workers at the state-run hospital, saw cuts to their Idul Fitri holiday bonuses (THR). Such bonuses are traditionally sourced from the state budget and the hospitals profit. However, because of the pandemic, Ratna said the hospitals management had told its employees that it had been forced to cut their bonuses and paychecks because of profit loss and increased operational costs. "This year, the hospital did not allocate any of its budget for our bonuses. The cut applied not just to contract-based workers like myself, but also permanent employees, she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. Ratna said her holiday bonus was cut to Rp 1.5 million (US$102). Fatmawati hospital's president director, Mochammad Syafak Hanung, said it had paid Idul Fitri bonuses on May 15 to civil servants and civil servant candidates and on May 18 to permanent staff under management authority (BLU) and temporary workers. The payments were according to Government Regulation (PP) No. 24/2020 on Idul Fitri bonuses to civil servants and other types of government workers, he said in a letter dated June 19 as the hospital's right of reply to the Post. Read also: 'It's not true': Fatmawati Hospital denies cutting bonuses, salaries of medical workers Besides receiving a smaller bonus, Ratna also suffered a pay cut. [My salary] was cut 30 to 40 percent last month. My salary was also cut this month, although not by as much, said the nurse, who has a bachelor of science degree. Ratna, who has not been home in two months because of her work, said she failed to understand the hospitals reason for cutting bonuses and salaries. She said prior to the past three months of the health crisis, the hospital had seen a high bed occupancy rate, which to her understanding, contributed to the hospital's income. "Before January, I treated patients in [low] class 3 facilities, which were fully occupied following the announcement of the government's plan to hike BPJS Kesehatans [Healthcare and Social Security Agency] premiums. Our [hospitals] bed occupancy rate reached its maximum at that time and we even ran out of beds. We experienced no shortage in patients for the last nine months [before the virus outbreak], at least, said Ratna. Amid the pandemic, the Health Ministry has said the bed occupancy rate of most hospitals nationwide has dropped 20 to 50 percent. By comparison, Ratna described the situation faced by most nurses in one of the countrys main COVID-19 referral hospitals. She said permanent staff nurses at the hospital were suffering from financial difficulties after the hospital eliminated its meal and other allowances due to the dropping bed occupancy rate. They also experienced holiday bonus cuts, she added. Read also: More Indonesian doctors, nurses die fighting against COVID-19 To support healthcare professionals during the pandemic, the government is providing monthly incentives of Rp 15 million for medical specialists, Rp 10 million for physicians and dentists, Rp 7.5 million for nurses and Rp 5 million for medical staffers. However, Ratna said she had yet to receive the money. She said the hospital had to verify an employees attendance, punctuality and the extent to which they were exposed to the virus, before distributing the funds. As of Tuesday, the Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI) had recorded 21 complaints from nurses across the country regarding a perceived lack of appreciation stemming from holiday bonus cuts and low wages, among other reasons, during the pandemic. PPNI secretary Maryanto said the reports came from nurses at state hospitals, private hospitals, clinics and community health centers (Puskesmas). The cash flow of state hospitals may have been affected by COVID-19 related expenses that have placed a burden on the regional budget [APBD]. Nevertheless, private and state hospitals that are not COVID-19 referral hospitals have also suffered from a low number of patients over fears of infection, he said. Read also: COVID-19: #IndonesiaTerserah trends as frustration mounts over physical distancing violations, govt policies The organization has urged employers to give priority to nurses, as healthcare workers on the frontline were exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection. Nurses in some hospitals, according to the organization, had also reported on their fears they would lose their jobs, as private hospitals moved to furlough them or reduce their hours due to a loss of revenue from the outbreak. The Indonesian Private Hospital Association (ARSSI) said on Wednesday that the government had yet to pay full BPJS Kesehatan claims submitted by 201 private hospitals handling around 3,373 COVID-19 patients. "The government has only paid 50 percent and we are still waiting for BPJS Kesehatan to verify the claims. The hospitals' cash flow is down, which has affected holiday bonuses and wages," ARSSI secretary-general Ichsan Hanafi said, adding that if the remaining claims were not paid immediately it could lead to layoffs, especially of contract-based workers. The Health Ministry's director of referral health services, Tri Hesty Widyastoeti Marwotosoeko, said the government was still waiting for BPJS Kesehatan to verify the claims before disbursing money to hospitals. Editor's note: This article has been updated with clarification from Fatmawati General Hospital management. Rajesh Kumar Thakur By Express News Service PATNA: The upcoming elections in Bihar may go online through various modes of digital communications because of situation created by the continuously spreading of outbreak of COVID-19. Admitting it with this newspaper, deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that nobody can deny the involvement of digital campaigning during the upcoming Bihar elections in accordance with the social distancing. "The Election Commission of India ought to develop a digital polling method also for Bihar polls as it would not be prudent to put the voters beyond the social distancing to go to polling booths to vote,"he opined. Sounding confident on the strong possibility of Bihar polls going online, he said: "It is not impossible to conduct polling online. We can take an example of polling held in South Korea online while maintaining proper safe social distancing." In Bihar, assembly elections are tentatively scheduled to held between October and November this year whether pandemic ends or not. "It is now a foregone conclusion that conducting electioneering or campaigning during the Bihar elections wouldn't not be possible to be done through traditional or conventional ways for next more than a year due to pandemic driven social distancing. Thus, holding polls online and conducting campaigning through various digital modes of communication would be unavoidable in Bihar," he added. Upon being asked about the preparedness of BJP on meeting such challenges; Modi categorically claimed that the BJP has been a IT and technology-savvy party for long time with world's biggest number of members around 12 crores. "The BJP wouldn't have any problem if the EC opts to such digital polling method in Bihar polls",he said, adding that time has come to go in interaction with the people or the voters through digital platforms like video conferencing, WhatsApp caling, messenger etc. He also claimed that the BJP has set a record in increasing online membership of party by giving "missed-calls" from the cellphones. "In 2014, the party had used virtual images system besides other digital platforms in showing the speeches of then designated PM Narendra Modi. So, anticipating about the starting of online polling is not impractical but a circumstantialneed that may come true," he exuded. The BJP and many other political parties including JDU and the RJD in Bihar have developed digital platforms for sharing party's views and policies among the people by setting up many IT teams handling right from the official Twitter handles to other social media platforms. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic here, the state has been witnessing intense poster and Twitter wars between the ruling alliance and the opposition. Even RJD, whose chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had once mocked at IT-savvy parties by saying no to "IT-byty" in party, now has a well developed IT cell handling digital platforms included Twitter. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari said that RJD is ready to go in polls and defeat the NDA through whatever way the poll is held. "But the statement of Sushil Kumar Modi shows that the BJP is only concerned to polls; not for the people battling against the COVID-19 pandemic," he said. Studio 10 co-host Joe Hildebrand has been tested for COVID-19 after he was told to do so by the Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian earlier this week. After taking a day off of work, the journalist, 43, was back in the studio on Thursday and reported that he tested negative to the coronavirus. He also shared footage of himself getting the throat and nose swab from a drive-through clinic at an RSL club in Sydney. 'I was expecting a full lobotomy!' Studio 10's Joe Hildebrand (pictured) has revealed what it was like to get tested for COVID-19 after he was told to do so by the Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian Joe's camera phone video shows him getting a throat swab first, followed by a nose swab. As the nurse apologised for the discomfort he might be feeling because of the test, he said: 'Wow. That wasn't too bad at all.' Joe said that he asked for the test results to be fast-tracked, and in 24 hours he was given the all clear. Getting tested: He shared footage of himself getting the throat and nose swab from a drive-through clinic at an RSL club in Sydney Revealing: The camera phone video shows him getting a throat swab first, followed by a nose swab. As the nurse apologised for the discomfort he might be feeling because of the test, he said: 'Wow. That wasn't too bad at all' 'I was expecting it to be much worse. But it wasn't... I was expecting a full lobotomy. It's an easy process,' he joked 'It is really super quick and easy to do, and it is totally painless,' he added. It comes after Premier Gladys Berejiklian told Joe to get tested for COVID-19 after his co-hosts dobbed him in for complaining about his sore throat. Joe said, 'It is really super quick and easy to do, and it is totally painless' He explained that his voice was raspy because he had been yelling at his five-year-old son Henry not to go near a bonfire he had built in their backyard. Joe has three children - Henry, and daughters Bonnie, two, and an eight-month-old Maybellene - who he shares with his wife Tara Ravens. As of Thursday May 21 there are 7,079 cases of COVID-19, 6,444 have recovered while 100 have died. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 23:37:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China resolutely opposes negative China-related bills proposed by some members of the U.S. Congress on the COVID-19 epidemic, said spokesperson for the third session of the 13th National People's Congress Thursday. China will firmly respond and take countermeasures according to the deliberation of the bills, spokesperson Zhang Yesui told a press conference. Zhang said the accusations against China in the bills are groundless, seriously violating international laws and the basic norms of international relations. He said China never accepts any unwarranted lawsuit or demand for compensation. "Tracing the source of COVID-19 is a serious scientific issue, which should be explored by scientists and medical experts, and scientific judgments should be made based on facts and evidence," Zhang said. "It is irresponsible and immoral to cover up their own problems by shifting responsibilities," he added. Enditem PA Media: Video The Omicron wave may have peaked in some countries, global health leaders have said. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that no country is out of the woods yet and it is not time to give up and wave the white flag. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, also said that the pandemic is nowhere near over and warned that new variants are likely to emerge. Sam Simon, managing director of of ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons, uses a fogger in a manufacturing plant after a COVID-19 outbreak. "As business owners, we need to be fluid in times of crisis. We were early to respond to the new demand for COVID-19 cleaning & disinfection in the marketplace and we were able to pivot and deliver a new service offering immediately." In their seven years of running ServiceMaster Restoration by Simons in Chicago, husband and wife owners Sam Simon and Nasutsa Mabwa know the severe damage that fires and floods can cause to property and to their clients peace of mind. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Chicagoland, they didnt realize how potentially deadly the virus would be and how it would affect their professional and personal lives. In March, many small businesses temporarily shut their doors due to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzkers emergency shelter in place order. It was at that time, Simon recalled, that calls for any services stopped. We attributed it to the public shock and confusion and the fear that the people had about coming into contact with others, said Simon, managing director of ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons. People were scared to let us in their homes. As business owners, we were sad to see our business declining after all the hard work we put in for the past seven years. The couple learned that other ServiceMaster franchises were offering COVID-19 cleaning services around the country, but safetyfor their staff and familywas a major concern. Things began to turn around in April when the couples clientele contacted their business for COVID-19 cleaning and disinfecting services. Additionally, Simon said ServiceMaster Corporate started releasing information to franchisees about COVID-19 Cleaning and Safety Standardsa big help to owners to help them pivot to offering these new services. This combination of events led Simon to create a COVID-19 Cleaning Service page on their business website and the phone hasnt stopped ringing. Reflecting on Simon and Mabwas prior work as Illinois-state based social workers, Simon realized the need to help people in dire circumstances was first and foremost. With Nasutsa's and my background in social work and child-welfare we knew we had to help people, Simon said. We wanted to get involved. We already had the infrastructure in place since we had the disaster and catastrophe training, OSHA and Safety Training, biohazard training, and the fogging and spraying equipment necessary to begin decontamination services. Since the web page was put in place, we've fielded hundreds of calls, and the calls are still coming in daily. Their experience as social workers has also been invaluable while implementing request screening procedures with staff and being an empathetic line of communication with their clientele. That aspect of our experience kicked in as I found myself counseling people amidst the fear and confusion while trying to schedule services, Mabwa said. I found myself assuring and reassuring people who were scared, people who had lost loved ones, and companies who had employees affected by COVID-19. People need a clear and calm direction, and as first responders, I felt it was our responsibility to help as many people as we could. On the frontlines are Simon and his crews who survey the damage and create solutions for the crises they encounter. In one case, we were called out to a distribution center that was so large, that Sam had to sit down with the property owners and go over the blueprints of the location in order to understand its sprawling layout and the customers priorities for cleaning and disinfection, Mabwa said. Sam thrives in crises. Daily schedules for both husband and wife are chaotic as they manage their business and raising their young family. The COVID-19 pandemic may have caught small business owners off guard early, but being flexible and creative has given this couple the opening they need to plan for positive outcomes. As business owners, we need to be fluid in times of crisis, Mabwa said. We were early to respond to the new demand for COVID-19 cleaning & disinfection in the marketplace and we were able to pivot and deliver a new service offering immediately. There may be more pivots in the future and, as a business, you need to be able to adapt to the conditions. For more information, visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com. About ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons: ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons is an MBE/WBE certified firm, women-owned and family-run IICRC certified, OSHA 30 certified company serving Chicago, Oak Park, River Forest, and the North Shore. ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons provides commercial disaster restoration services including Water & Flood Damage Restoration, Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration, Mold Remediation and a wide range of interior specialty cleaning including COVID-19 Cleaning Services, Hoarder & Clutter Cleaning, Post-Construction Cleaning, Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning to residential and commercial customers residing in Chicago, Oak Park-River Forest, and the North Shore. For more information, call 773-376-1110 or visit http://www.servicemasterbysimons.com. It's Authoritarian Regimes, Not People, Who Reap Benefits of Lockdown: Pieter Friedrich Interview Ajmal Aramam Thursday, 21st May 2020, 3:16 pm Who benefits from this situation? Certainly not the people. Authoritarian leaders are reaping the benefits of the lockdown. In Hong Kong, France, and India, mass street protests were threatening the grip of those same leaders. Lockdown was a godsend for such beleaguered regimes. Pieter Friedrich is a South Asian Affairs Analyst. He is the co-author of Captivating the Simple-Hearted: A Struggle for Human Dignity in the Indian Subcontinent. As an author and an activist, he engages with issues such as human rights, supremacist political ideologies, ethnonationalism, authoritarian government structures and policies, state-sponsored atrocities and much more. He has been critical of the Hindu nationalist government in India as well as the RSS elements in the U.S. politics. In this detailed conversation with DoolNews, Pieter Friedrich talks extensively on how authoritarian regimes tighten grip on power amid COVID crisis and how lockdown measures will become the permanent architecture of oppression even after the pandemic crisis eases. Several countries across the globe have turned into police-state during the lockdown seemingly to contain the coronavirus. However, it is strongly argued that authoritative leaders are attempting to exploit coronavirus to impose measures theyve long sought, even if it imperils lives. How do you see this situation? In the name of protecting life, governments around the globe have imposed unprecedented draconian measures that actually destroy lives. Lockdown kills. We see this happening directly in India, where police have beaten people to death for violating the curfew. Lockdown also kills indirectly. It forces millions into unemployment, impoverishes people, and drives them into breadlines. Locking people in their homes lowers their immune systems and makes them vulnerable to disease. We are seeing massive spikes in domestic violence, depression, drug addiction, alcoholism, mental instability, and suicide. This is expected. These new police states not only deprive people of their right to work but of their very humanity. As social creatures, we need human contact not just to thrive but to survive. Yet human interaction has now been criminalized in a huge number of countries. These lockdowns are a violation of our human nature. Who benefits from this situation? Certainly not the people. Authoritarian leaders are reaping the benefits of the lockdown. In Hong Kong, France, and India, mass street protests were threatening the grip of those same leaders. Lockdown was a godsend for such beleaguered regimes. It was the perfect situation for opportunistic tyrants. Both China and India, for instance, were facing increasing international pressure over their treatment of protestors. In the US, a movement to pass city-level resolutions condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens was gaining momentum. People were widely comparing the laws to a saffronized version of the Nuremberg Laws the legislation in Nazi Germany that stripped Jews of citizenship rights. Modi was facing mounting pressure both within and without India. Then his regime was able to position itself as caring and concerned with the preservation of human life. In the name of fighting an invisible enemy, it was able to get away with doing what it probably wanted to do years ago: lock down the entire country. When a regime that is already accused of totalitarian tendencies and violence against minorities or dissidents imposes a lockdown in the name of protecting public health, the rational response is extreme scepticism. When the lockdown gets over, do you think the kind state machinery, policing and surveillance that deployed at present will be removed? Or will it remain as a permanent system? As George Orwell said, We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. The totalitarian powers that have been grabbed by governments around the world in the name of protecting public health are powers that many of those governments have long sought to wield in normal times. In the US, for instance, the National Security Agency launched mass surveillance systems in the name of fighting terrorism. Current efforts in America to hire hundreds of thousands of contact tracers to interrogate and monitor the population seem to be just the logical next step to mass digital surveillance. Government officials at every level local, state, national are currently tasting power that no state in the civilized world has ever accessed before. They control what kind of work people can do, where theyre allowed to go, when and why they can leave their homes, what they wear, and even where they physically stand while in public. It is totalitarianism. It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This new level of pure totalitarian power was achieved overnight, it is intoxicating, and those who are drunk on it will only ever want more. Isnt that the nature of addiction? Aside from the addictive nature of totalitarian power, consider that many of these newly empowered states are controlled by people with strong ideological incentives to keep that power. Look at my native state of California, for instance. Governor Gavin Newsom openly said that he sees this crisis as an opportunity for reimagining a progressive era and an opportunity to reshape the way we do business and how we govern. Even as a left-wing politician, he has no shame in taking political advantage of a public health crisis to advance his personal political agenda. Thus, he is one of the few governors in the US who imposed an indefinite lockdown with no set endpoint. In France, the right-wing Emmanuel Macron has faced sustained street protests by the Yellow Vest Movement since 2018. In early 2020, he faced the longest mass strike in French history over his pension reform proposals. In late February, when attention shifted to the COVID-19 crisis, Macron pushed through his reforms by decree. Within two weeks, his government banned mass gatherings, shuttered all non-essential businesses, and imposed a lockdown. Thus, in the name of public health, he crushed dissent. In Hungary, the right-wing Viktor Orban was handed dictatorial powers during the state of emergency. Thats bad enough, but he also managed to make the emergency declaration indefinite. The declaration included severe criminal penalties for anyone spreading misinformation which gives Orban the potential power to jail critics of his policies. Of course, in India, we have seen the Modi regime systematically targeting its critics. Anand Teltumbde is among the most notable examples. The message is loud and clear to all others: to not speak against the government, he has said about the witch-hunt against him. Masses of common people are also being silenced in less high-profile cases. There are constant arrests of people for social media posts insulting Modi, Yogi Adityanath, or even the RSS. The RSS/BJPs vision is a regimented society where everyone is the same religion, speaks the same language, and exists for no other purpose than to serve the Hindu Rashtra. That requires control of the state machinery, mass surveillance, and ruthless policing. Lockdown gave them all of that. They certainly wont be eager to give up those powers and return to a free society. Why else do we keep hearing these ominous warnings about a new normal where nothing will ever be the same anything? New Normal is the code for a permanent totalitarian system. If we talk specifically of the Arogya Setu, the contact-tracing mobile app of the Indian government, the government has declared it mandatory. Govt agencies would be able to track the movement of an individual. Concerns have already been raised that it will become a permanent architecture of surveillance and oppression. What is your argument? Forcing citizens to install a particular app on their personal phones is nothing less than the commandeering of their private property. Doing so is based on the tyrannical idea that the people are actually owned by the State. It perpetuates the society of invasive and all-pervasive external controls about which Dr. B. R. Ambedkar warned. When every man is forced to accept in his life, both generationally as well as on a day-to-day level, the purposes of others, the proper government of oneself as an individual seems entirely pointless, said Ambedkar. When people dont even have a choice over what apps are on their mobile phones, they have in principle been stripped of all ability to self-govern their own lives. Mandating that people use an app degrades individuals to the level of possessions of the State. There is no end to the concerns over how such a program can and will be abused. We have already seen in Kashmir how the government, after snapping mobile internet services for months, restored a restricted version where people can only access certain state-approved websites. If Kashmiris are already forbidden from making their own choices about what they want to read, hear, or watch on the internet, how can we expect Indians to be treated when Aarogya Setu is shoved on them? How will mandated use of Aarogya Setu be enforced? Indians already require a pass simply to step out and buy milk. Reports say that not just private/public employees, but everyone in COVID-19 containment areas must download the app. Will the police be sent door-to-door to examine peoples phones to ensure they are using the app? Being compelled to show your phone to prove it contains a particular app destroys the concept that the authorities need the warrant to search your property. Aarogya Setu does not raise the risk that the State might conduct mass surveillance because it is, by its very nature, intended for mass surveillance. The Modi regime has made it crystal clear that its goal is to crush dissent. An app that allows the State to track every movement of an individual and, almost certainly, obtain backdoor access to surveil the content of that individuals phone and monitor their conversations will undoubtedly be used for devious purposes. It does not matter what the excuse is for mandating the use of the app. Aarogya Setu is being imposed on the citizenry in the name of public health merely because no tyrant wants to let a good crisis go to waste. In India, the Central govt agencies, media and the ruling BJP have communalized the COVID spread by linking it to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Sheer hate was spread against members of the Muslim community and they were beaten up black and blue. Do you see any larger plan behind it or was it just a reaction to the thriving fake news and misinformation? Many people seem to have forgotten that the regime which imposed a nationwide lockdown in March is the same one that staged an anti-Muslim pogrom in the nations capital city in February. The lockdown did not occur in a vacuum. Events of the last six months and the last five years have not stopped shaping current events simply because there is now a public health crisis. Those shouting shoot the traitors in January did not suddenly become soft-hearted guardians of the public good because COVID-19 began spreading. As Amit Shah said in 2019, they can make any message go viral, whether sweet or sour, true or fake. Fake news designed to demonize minority communities has been part of the BJP/RSSs larger plan for years. The Sanghs ultimate goal is eradication or assimilation of all non-Hindu communities. Its view of Christians and Muslims, in particular, was illustrated by RSS guru M. S. Golwalkar, who called them foreigners and even traitors. Today, the Sangh uses even more dehumanizing terminology. For example, Shah has repeatedly referred to Muslim migrants as termites. Just last year, Adityanath campaigned by calling Muslims a green virus. Dehumanizing rhetoric has always been used by xenophobic elements to whip up a frenzy of hatred against the other. In the 1990s in Rwanda, the Tutsis were called cockroaches who had infiltrated society. In Nazi Germany, the Jews were called vermin. The infamous Nazi propaganda film, The Eternal Jew, compared Jews to rats and accused them of spreading disease, plague, leprosy, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and so on. Just as the current crisis provides opportunistic tyrants with a chance to grab more and more power, it also provides opportunistic supremacists with a chance to spread fear of those it hates. It is argued that the coronavirus crisis would help right-wing governments to tighten their grip on power. How do you see it? Around the world, people are being labelled as either essential or non-essential. It is directly reminiscent of when the Nazis once considered people as Aryan versus non-Aryan. It is the most anti-human concept, a direct and unashamed attack on the universal equality of all humanity, and a concept that feeds directly into the agendas of supremacist forces. The social conditioning fed to the public serves the purpose of breaking down all dissent. Legally, gatherings are banned and thus protests are outlawed. Psychologically, people are persuaded that human touch itself is potentially lethal. A handshake, a pat on the shoulder, a hug, a kiss every method of demonstrating affection is now portrayed as deadly. While physical distancing and intensive hygiene are crucial to stopping the spread of disease, authoritarian governments benefit from the terror of human interaction that the need for these things can create in people. If people especially strangers are afraid to assemble, sit together, and eat together, then they will certainly never educate, agitate, or organize. This does not seem to be an exclusively right versus left issue. Swedens left-wing government never imposed a lockdown but Californias left-wing government did. Brazils right-wing government never imposed a lockdown but Indias right-wing government did. What seems likely, however, is that the fallout from these lockdowns will make a much larger segment of the population susceptible to being radicalized in either direction as well as open to tolerating radical groups. Unemployment is at catastrophic levels. Panicked people are being encouraged to spy on their neighbours and report them to the authorities. Totalitarian measures are being not only accepted but welcomed by much of the public. Millions who once made their living through honest hard work are now forced into dependency on the State. In India, where social safety nets are not so strong, agenda-driven third parties have stepped in to fill some of the gaps. The RSS, in particular, has seized the chance to exercise quasi-governmental powers by providing essential services. We have seen the RSS staffing police checkpoints, partnering with municipalities to conduct door-to-door screenings, and distributing food. All of this helps normalize the paramilitary as well as increase the citizenrys dependency on it. The BJP was already merely a front for the RSS, but this current crisis appears to be empowering the group to openly assume or supplement governmental duties. Within India, the current crisis has certainly enabled the right-wing RSS to tighten its grip over society. Do you read the current health crisis as a failure of neo-liberal capitalist governments and profit-oriented healthcare systems? More than anything else, the current crisis has exposed the failure of centralized government and the desperate need for localization. Certainly, there is a problem of a government possessing too much power. No government should possess totalitarian power. Yet the local tyrant is vastly preferable to the one ruling from afar. Local elected officials are more likely to know what the people need, more responsive to the peoples demands, and easier to hold accountable for their actions. In the US, most COVID-19 cases are isolated to a few major metropolitan areas like New York City and Los Angeles. Although urban areas are at greatest risk, the rural areas in which 20 percent of the population live are subject to the same draconian restrictions. State governors with centralized powers have imposed a one size fits all solution. Look at Californias Placer County, for instance, where my family lives. The county has a population of 400,000 people. It has had eight COVID-19 related deaths. As local officials there point out, the county has two COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents but because of the lockdown, it has lost 7,000 jobs per 100,000 residents. If power were decentralized and local officials had the authority to examine the ground realities and make their own decisions, huge sections of the US would be open right now. There would be no lockdown. In Placer County, for instance, officials are now saying that there is no pandemic in their county. There is not even a public health crisis. The problem is that centralized power prevents them from taking local action to restore a free society. How do you respond to the argument that governments with autocratic nature are tackling the crisis better? Autocratic regimes are the real cause of the crisis. They are attempting to break the fundamental nature of humanity. They are breeding distrust among the populace and creating an us versus them mentality. Even many democratic regimes are now operating as de facto dictatorships, paving the way for mass human suffering in the future. Never forget that whatever powers are entrusted with a good-intentioned dictator today can easily be transferred into the hands of a malicious dictator tomorrow. In the specific case of Modi, look at how he turned a potential public health crisis into a guaranteed economic crisis. But a recent study states over 90 percent of the Indian population think Narendra Modi is dealing with the situation really well. How many of those polled are migrants and day labourers? How many auto-rickshaw drivers, street vendors, maids, cooks, and so on were polled? How many are among the 122 million who have lost jobs due to the lockdown? How many were from Indias 14 percent Muslim population who have been demonized, marginalized, and slaughtered by the RSS/BJP? Were the families of those beaten to death by police for violating the lockdown also polled? Such polls are highly suspect. How many people from each state were polled? What was their socio-economic status? What was done to ensure citizens without access to landlines or mobiles were also polled? This is reminiscent of elections where candidates receive 90 percent of the vote which is an almost guaranteed sign that the election was rigged. Whatever the case, the nature of reality is not dictated by popular vote. Has Modi ever actually been to India? His announcement of the lockdown made it appear as though he is the prime minister of a completely different country. It is one thing to announce a lockdown in a relatively wealthy country with a large suburban population. It is another thing entirely to announce a lockdown mere hours before it goes into force in a country where around two-thirds of the population lives in poverty, tens of millions live on the streets, and hundreds of millions are internal migrants. How did Modi account for the beggars who survive by wandering traffic in the streets of Delhi? How did Modi account for the legless, blind, or mentally disabled who wander the train stations, religious sites, and markets? How did Modi account for the chai wallas who make their living selling tea on trains? Modis handling of the situation ought to be viewed as either the strategy of a madman or that of a tyrant. Either way, the conclusion is the same: he is indifferent to the impact his policies have on human life. Coronavirus has apparently become the greatest question of the modern era around civil liberties. Even during the lockdown, the political dissenters and members from the minority community have been picked up by the Central agencies and it is not confined to Delhi. The NIA had picked up individuals from the South Indian State of Kerala too. What is your response? Lockdowns around the world have brought a suspension of almost every basic human right. Freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom to work, even freedom of speech (in some cases) have all been suspended in the name of public health. This sets a terrifying precedent. If our fundamental human rights are considered non-essential in this current crisis, then at what other times can they also be suspended? This era will go down in history as the greatest assault on our civil liberties. Lockdown also offers the perfect opportunity for regimes like Modis to operate behind an iron curtain. In the shadows, in secrecy, and without fear of pushback. Now, at a time when protests are banned, is exactly when a tyrant can act with impunity to remove dissidents from society. The arrests of people like Safoora Zargar and Anand Teltumbde illustrate the Modi regimes priorities during this crisis. The regime wants to crush dissent. Of course, civil liberties were already at great risk in India. It was a fragile situation for freedom. It is a tragic irony that Safoora was arrested by the anti-terror cell of the Delhi police due to her involvement in anti-CAA protests even though it is that very same police force which is accused of collaborating with mobs to stage the Delhi Pogrom meaning that they themselves were engaged in state terrorism. Look also at how Manish Sirohi, who is suspected of supplying guns to the rioters during the Delhi Pogrom, was released on bail in early May. Safoora and Manish were both arrested on the same charge. Yet the pregnant Safoora remains behind bars while Manish was granted bail due to the risk of contracting COVID-19 in custody. Modis regime is using the public health crisis as an excuse to lock away those it doesnt like and release those it does like. This is not about saving lives. It is about totalitarian control. On a hopeful note, a protest demanding release of Teltumbde just took place in Mysuru. The protest was apparently in violation of the lockdown. That kind of nonviolent civil disobedience in support of our fundamental human rights is exactly what people all around the world should be doing right now. The year 2020 will mark the launch of the next global battle for civil rights. There is lockdown within a lockdown in Kashmir and complete information blackout. As someone who has been monitoring the conflict-ridden land for long, what do you think of what is happening in Kashmir? During the Modi regimes attempt to crush anti-CAA/NRC protests in early 2020, people were saying that all of India has become like Kashmir. By March 2020, there were indications that Kashmir might finally emerge from lockdown at least, in some ways after seven months of being a nearly complete black zone. The global COVID-19 scare, however, gave Modis regime a handy excuse to once again plunge Kashmir into full lockdown. Excuse is the operative term. Out of a population of 12.5 million, there are currently only eleven (as of this writing) COVID-19 related deaths in Jammu and Kashmir. By that metric, there is not a public health crisis in J&K not even remotely. Now, however, in the name of public health, the new lockdown in Kashmir has become even more stringent than the one imposed after the August 2019 annexation. At least mosques, shops, and markets were beginning to reopen over the past few months. What is going on in Kashmir today? No one knows. The only information we have comes from government sources. In February, I joined others who were sounding the alarm about the looming threat of genocide. We know what happened openly, often on camera, and with the backing of the BJP and the local police in Delhi. Yet we still dont know what happened to many of the thousands of Kashmiris who were arrested and being held indefinitely after the scrapping of Article 370. Today, behind the iron curtain of the lockdown, absolutely anything and everything could be happening. How many more Kashmiris have been imprisoned? How many have been snuffed out in fake encounters? The only way to find out what is happening in Kashmir is for the lockdown to end not just in the north, but in all of India Coming to America, Trump has allegedly made it worse. Do you hold Trump responsible for the current crisis or is he a helpless spectator before the ill-managed health system that has been existing for years? As president, Trump has the largest platform in America. He has the bully pulpit. His domestic power is limited, however, by the fact that the US is a federal system. The president does not have the power to impose a national lockdown. Every lockdown in the US has been imposed by the governors at the state level and they are the only ones who can lift those lockdowns. Across the country, millions of dollars have been wasted on setting up surge tents at hospitals and deploying military hospital ships that were never used. People are being arrested for using public parks, walking on the beach, and organizing anti-lockdown protests. In New York City, over 80 percent of those cited for violating the lockdown are African-American or Latino. The most brutal incidents of police caught on camera while enforcing lockdown involve them beating minorities. At the end of 2019, unemployment was at an all-time low; today, it is the highest it has been in 100 years. Owners of non-essential businesses who open are arrested and accused of being selfish for operating, to which they reply: Feeding my kids is not selfish. Those suffering financially are not government workers or Wall Street employees but people earning less than $40,000 per year (in a country where the median annual income is $63,000). The state governors in America are the ones who have the power to act on this issue. Why are so many of them refusing to take this data into account? Where is their compassion for the minorities, the low-income, the everyday people who are being driven into poverty by lockdown? As the man with the loudest microphone in the country, Trump is certainly responsible for failing to speak on these issues. Sanders has stepped back. He, Obama and Hilary have come up in support of Joe Biden. What do you expect in the election? How do you consider Biden? Bernie Sanders offered a glimmer of hope for a renewed US-India relationship that would have been premised on dialogue about human rights and civil liberties. He offered a vision of society that placed people over profits. However, the establishment in the Democratic Party hated him and, many of his supporters believe, worked to sabotage his success. Instead, the 2020 presidential race will be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Both are suspected of senility and both are accused in multiple sexual harassment cases. Most importantly, neither one offers any substantial change to the one consistent policy of Americas federal government: empire. Both Biden and Trump continue to view America as the world police. Neither one is likely to do anything to end the illegal foreign wars in which the US has been entangled for decades. Yet none of the other pressing issues in America race relations, economic inequality, access to healthcare can be solved as long as the American Empire remains in place. Its impossible to say which candidate would be better for the US-India relationship in regards to human rights. Trump has aligned closely with Modi over the past year, appearing with him at mega events in both the US and India. Biden, however, has Amit Jani (the son of the Overseas Friends of the BJP co-founder) as a senior staffer on his campaign. He is also closely aligned with Congressmen Ami Bera and Raja Krishnamoorthi. Bera has been a strong advocate for Modi while Krishnamoorthi has keynoted RSS events in America. Now more than ever, people around the world need to embrace the reality that we are all born free. Our rights do not come from the government. In the US, for instance, the Constitution guarantees protection of certain individual rights, yet we do not possess those rights because they are in the Constitution but simply because we are human. Just as tyrants have seized on this crisis as an opportunity to grab power and advance their agendas, we must seize on this crisis as an opportunity to exercise our freedom and encourage our fellow human beings to do the same. We also desperately need to harness the creative energies of humanity to identify better solutions to a public health crisis. After all, our human race only thrives and flourishes when we have Azadi. Graham Keddie is glad that easyJet flights will be resuming (Peter OHara/PA) The managing director of Belfast International Airport has hailed the upcoming resumption of easyJet flights as a welcome and reassuring sign. The low-cost carrier announced its initial schedule will resume on June 15, comprising mainly of flights within the UK and to France. Further routes are set to be confirmed over the coming weeks as lockdown measures implemented across Europe due to the coronavirus pandemic are relaxed. Great news today as easyJet announce restart of flying from 15 June with a small number of domestic flights from @belfastairport https://t.co/sHaICAYdCU pic.twitter.com/FshyiznfmK Belfast International Airport (@belfastairport) May 21, 2020 All passenger flights at Belfast International Airport have been cancelled since March following the Covid-19 outbreak. EasyJet is set to recommence passenger flights from the Co Antrim airport across seven routes. The airports managing director Graham Keddie said the news was a welcome and reassuring sign. EasyJet has informed us of its intention to recommence passenger flights from Belfast International Airport to seven destinations across the rest of the UK on June 15, he said. As Northern Ireland and the UKs largest airline, it is a welcome and reassuring sign that easyJet remains committed to its local routes and keeping Northern Ireland open and connected for business. We will be ready to accommodate these flights and our teams have been working round the clock to ensure that all measures will be in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all those who pass through the airport. Expand Close Belfast International Airport has only seen freight flights since the lockdown (Liam McBurney/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Belfast International Airport has only seen freight flights since the lockdown (Liam McBurney/PA) Public safety is and must be the number one priority at all times and we will be working very closely with easyJet and the other operators who plan to commence operations soon to ensure we are all in a position to safely allow passengers back into the airport. Although freight flights have continued to operate at Belfast International Airport throughout the pandemic, Mr Keddie told the PA news agency last month that it is costing 60,000 a day to keep it open. Of Northern Irelands three airports, there are just a small number of connections to London for passengers from Belfast City and City of Derry. A team of physicists at the University of Bristol has developed the first integrated photon source with the potential to deliver large-scale quantum photonics. The development of quantum technologies promises to have a profound impact across science, engineering and society. Quantum computers at scale will be able to solve problems intractable on even the most powerful current supercomputers, with many revolutionary applications, for example, in the design of new drugs and materials. Integrated quantum photonics is a promising platform for developing quantum technologies due to its capacity to generate and control photons -- single particles of light -- in miniaturized complex optical circuits. Leveraging the mature CMOS Silicon industry for the fabrication of integrated devices enables circuits with the equivalent of thousands of optical fibres and components to be integrated on a single millimetre-scale chip. The use of integrated photonics for developing scalable quantum technologies is in high demand. The University of Bristol is a pioneer in this field, as demonstrated by new research published in Nature Communications. Dr Stefano Paesani, lead author explains: "An important challenge that has limited the scaling of integrated quantum photonics has been the lack of on-chip sources able to generate high-quality single photons. Without low-noise photon sources, errors in a quantum computation accumulate rapidly when increasing the circuit complexity, resulting in the computation being no longer reliable. Moreover, optical losses in the sources limit the number of photons the quantum computer can produce and process. advertisement "In this work we found a way to resolve this and in doing so we developed the first integrated photon source compatible with large-scale quantum photonics. To achieve high-quality photons, we developed a novel technique -- "inter-modal spontaneous four-wave mixing" -- where the multiple modes of light propagating through a Silicon waveguide are non-linearly interfered, creating ideal conditions for generating single photons." Together with colleagues at the University of Trento in Italy, the team based at Prof Anthony Laing's group in Bristol's Quantum Engineering Technology Labs (QETLabs) benchmarked the use of such sources for photonic quantum computing in a heralded Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment, a building block of optical quantum information processing, and obtained the highest quality on-chip photonic quantum interference ever observed (96% visibility). Dr Paesani said: "The device demonstrated by far the best performances for any integrated photon source: spectral purity and indistinguishability of 99% and > 90% photon heralding e?ciency." Importantly, the Silicon photonic device was fabricated via CMOS-compatible processes in a commercial foundry, which means thousands of sources can easily be integrated on a single device. The research, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Hub in Quantum Computing and Simulation and the European Research Council (ERC), represents a major step toward building quantum circuits at scale and paves the way for several applications. "We have solved a critical set of noises that had previously limited the scaling of photonic quantum information processing. For example, arrays of hundreds of these sources can be used to build near-term noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) photonic machines, where tens of photons can be processed to solve specialised tasks, such as the simulation of molecular dynamics or certain optimisation problems related to graph theory." Now researchers have devised how to build near-perfect photon sources, over the next few months the scalability of the Silicon platform will allow them to integrate tens to hundreds on a single chip. Developing circuits at such a scale will make it possible for NISQ photonic quantum machines to solve industrially-relevant problems beyond the capability of current supercomputers. "Furthermore, with advanced optimisation and miniaturisation of the photon source, our technology could lead to fault-tolerant quantum operations in the integrated photonics platform, unleashing the full potential of quantum computers!" said Dr Paesani. She has been genetically-blessed with stunning good looks. And actress Pia Miller put them on display in all of their natural glory as she stepped out for her morning coffee run on Wednesday. The former Home and Away star, 36, looked beautiful makeup free as she grabbed a hot beverage and a loaf of bread in Sydney. She woke up like that! Makeup free Pia Miller looked stunning with sexy bed hair and trackies on during a coffee in Sydney on Wednesday She was casual cool in a pair of black tracksuit pants and a white hoodie from the same brand, Vans sneakers and black shades. Pia has been self-isolating with her sons in Sydney since the coronovirus pandemic began. The COVID-19 lockdown has meant that she has unable to see her LA-based boyfriend Patrick Whitesell for weeks. Last week Pia revealed how much she has been missing the millionaire Hollywood agent. She shared a picture of Patrick on Instagram and sweetly wrote: 'I miss my human.' Casual cool: She was casual cool in a pair of black tracksuit pants and a white hoodie from the same brand, Vans sneakers and black shades 'I miss my human': The COVID-19 lockdown has meant that she has unable to see her LA-based boyfriend Patrick Whitesell for weeks. Last week Pia revealed how much she has been missing the millionaire Hollywood agent In the image, which was taken on a yacht, Patrick has his back to the camera and talks on the phone. Pia's photo appears to be a throwback from their trip to Italy's Amalfi coast last year. Although she has been in lockdown at her home in Sydney amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Pia has kept in constant touch with her beau thanks to FaceTime. Her man: Pia's photo appeared to be a throwback from their trip to Italy's Amalfi coast last year (pictured) Earlier this month, she shared a screenshot of herself making a FaceTime video call to Patrick. The brunette beauty looked flawless with eyeliner, mascara, and a soft nude lip. She smiled for the camera ready to talk with her beloved and wrote in the caption of the post: 'Love in the time of COVID - 19 P.' Thank goodness for technology! Although she has been in lockdown at her home in Sydney amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Pia has kept in constant touch with her beau thanks to FaceTime New flame: Pia was first linked to Patrick in August last year following her split with her long-time fiance, Tyson Mullane, 31, in April Pia was first linked to Patrick in August last year following her split with her long-time fiance, Tyson Mullane, 31, in April. The couple made their public debut at a Halloween party in Los Angeles in October. She made their relationship Instagram official on Christmas Eve, sharing a loved-up photo with Patrick outside of the Louvre in Paris, and captioning it 'P'. Archaeologists searching for the remains of Red Hugh O'Donnell, one of Ireland's most loved historical heroes, have begun digging up the streets of Valladolid in Spain. Historian Hiram Morgan, a UCC academic, said O'Donnell's skeleton should be easily identifiable - as he had no big toes. O'Donnell, who masterminded the Nine Years War from 1593 to 1603, suffered frostbite while hiding in the Wicklow mountains following a daring escape from Dublin Castle. Along with his father-in-law Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Red Hugh led arguably one of Ireland's most successful rebellions against the English in history. Red Hugh, an Irish nobleman, of the Donegal O'Donnell dynasty, died in Spain in 1602, while trying to secure the support of the Spanish for a further invasion in Ireland against their shared enemy, England. After suffering defeat during the Siege of Kinsale, he had travelled to Spain to seek further support from King Philip III. While there, aged just 29, he contracted an infection, or according to others, he was poisoned by British spy James Blake, a merchant sailor from Galway. Blake claimed he had assassinated Reg Hugh on behalf of the Governor of Munster, George Carew. But historian Morgan said it is generally considered Blake claimed this just to "get some kind of benefit from Red Hugh's death." "He claimed he poisoned him, but there is no proof of that really. "The Spanish records seem to say Red Hugh had a fever for about a week and then died. The Spaniards didn't think there was anything untoward." Red Hugh led a colourful life, and his backstory has fascinated historians for centuries. Morgan believes the interest in Red Hugh is not surprising, as he was a classic hero. He says: "He was one of these Irish heroes who tried and very nearly succeeded, and he also has this great backstory. "He was captured by the British and managed to escape." At the time, a common tactic among the English was to take the sons of Irish nobles as prisoners and hold them in Dublin Castle. They used the threat of execution to keep the nobles in line. The English used a ship loaded with beer and wine as a ruse to capture Red Hugh. They sailed it up the coast to Lough Swilly, pulling in to harbour near Rathmullan. They pretended to be merchants selling the wine and beer and managed to draw the young Hugh on board. However, they captured him and threw him in the hold before immediately setting sail. The O'Donnells had no boats to pursue his captors and could only watch as the ship sailed back around the coast to Dublin, where Red Hugh was imprisoned. Morgan explained: "His father-in-law, Hugh O'Neill, and others arranged his escape, and that was when he had to hide in the mountains. "When he got back to Donegal about a month later, they had to amputate his big toes. "If they find his body in Spain they will be able to identify it quite easily, I think." It was Red Hugh's wish to be buried in the Church of St Francis in Valladolid, and this was done. Ludhaigh O Cleirigh, 17th Century Donegal poet and historian, described his burial: "His body was taken to Valladolid, to the King's Court, in a four-wheeled hearse, with great numbers of State Officers, of the Council and of the Royal Guard all round it, with blazing torches and bright flambeaux of beautiful waxlights blazing all around on each side of it. "He was buried after that in the chapter of the monastery of St Francis, with great honour and respect, and in the most solemn manner any Gael ever before had been interred." He is in good company in the Church of St Francis, with the great explorer Christopher Columbus also buried nearby. The archaeological project also aims to bring to light the remains of Columbus, who died on May 20, 1506. The architect Oscar Buron and the team of archaeologists formed by Jesus Misiego and members of the Simancas Historical Institute, Olatz Villanueva, are leading the excavation project, which began last Monday. In a statement, they said: "The burial in Valladolid of these two characters of such relevance to the world - as is the case of Columbus and to relations between Spain and Ireland against their common enemy (England) - demonstrates the importance of Spain and, specifically, of Valladolid for centuries". While Red Hugh O'Donnell was successful in many areas of his life, his love life was less so. He married Rose O'Neill, the daughter of his ally Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone. The partnership was an unhappy one that never produced a child. Red Hugh tried twice to end the marriage before he eventually left for the ill-fated trip to Spain. While it can be presumed Red Hugh did have red hair, nobody actually knows for sure. "I have this lovely painting of this fella with red hair, but there is no portrait of O'Donnell in existence," Morgan explained. "They have put up statues of his at various battles, but nobody actually knows. "We can presume he did have red hair given his name, unless some other part of him was red." The mortality rate stays within the range of 2.7%-2.9%. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the COVID-19 death rate in Ukraine, compared with other countries, shouldn't create a misleading impression that anti-epidemic measures could be neglected. "The figures prove once again that Ukraine was rescued by timely quarantine measures and a large share of people who adhered to them. These figures must not create a deceptive impression to let people think that now the threat of coronavirus could be treated with disdain," he said at an intercom meeting on anti-coronavirus efforts on May 21, as reported by the press service of the President's Office. Participants discussed further compliance with safety rules in the context of the transition to the adaptive quarantine. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that quarantine had proven to be the most effective way to combat coronavirus. This is seen not only by other countries' spread rate, but also by the death toll, which in Sweden is estimated at 6.25%, in UK at 5.7%, while staying in Ukraine within the range of 2.7%-2.9%. Read alsoNumber of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ukraine exceeds 19,700 on May 21 As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine would be switching to an "adaptive quarantine" mode from May 22. It foresees that curbs will be lifted gradually. In particular, public transport and commuter services will relaunch from May 22, kindergartens and subways will reopen from May 25. There were 19,706 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine as of 09:00 Kyiv time on May 21. Of them, 476 cases were reported in the past 24 hours. A total of 579 COVID-19 deaths have already been recorded in the country. Some 6,227 patients have recovered. How does society establish a new normal during a pandemic? A key approach involves contact tracing, in which public health officials alert anyone potentially exposed to a newly diagnosed patient within the past 14 days, the incubation period for COVID-19. Contact tracing can be done with teams of public health officials, relying on a patient's known contacts. Or it can be done with technology, alerting both known and unknown contacts, such as someone walking by at a grocery store. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Bilal Khan has developed a technology solution: a software application system that is ready to pilot. He is working with NUtech Ventures, the university's commercialization affiliate, to find a community partner for implementation. "Without technology, there is no efficient way to inform contacts who were passively exposed at a public place," said Khan, Happold Professor of Sociology and professor of computer science and engineering. "We also want to give people a richer, more personalized stream of data about how much risk they are taking on -- which will help them make decisions about balancing their health risk with their economic risk." The software system was originally developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study how human interactions -- specifically, physical proximity to others -- affect public health attitudes and behavior, as part of a sociology research project funded by the National Institutes of Health. "Now, five years later, we have this system that already exists and doesn't need to be designed and built from scratch," Khan said. "That's the fortuitous coincidence. Our goal is to leverage it and quickly put something into use." Users who download the app are assigned an anonymized identification number; it protects privacy by avoiding any connection to personal data, such as names or phone numbers. The system then uses location and Bluetooth data to track users' physical proximity, noting which ID numbers are in close contact with other ID numbers. If an app user is diagnosed with COVID-19, health officials can easily download a list of all ID numbers who were potentially exposed to that person in the past 14 days and send in-app notifications. "You get the assurance that if you are exposed to someone today, who 10 days from now is diagnosed positive, then you'll be told about it," Khan said. "This information hopefully gives you additional quantitative measures of how risky things are and whether or not you should go out." The app also allows officials to ask customizable questions that gauge public sentiment, such as: Do you think it's safe to go outside? "This information could be valuable for public health officials, because it gives them a real sense of how sentiments are changing over time," Khan said. "Sentiments are a leading indicator of behavior, and behavior is a leading indicator of transmission." Other countries around the world are developing similar contact tracing systems, including Germany and the United Kingdom -- two countries typically associated with Western democracies, civil liberties and privacy protections, Khan said. His system adds a layer of privacy protection by maintaining data on local servers, which never leave the geographic boundary of a town or county. Even individuals who don't download the app could still view available data to understand the spread of COVID-19 in their community. Ultimately, Khan's goal is to make public health data more personal and help individuals make informed decisions. "In the long term, people are balancing their health risk against economic risk and making behavioral decisions -- Should I go out or should I stay in? -- based on those trade-offs," Khan said. "The economic data has hard numbers to it, so it has a kind of advantage -- you can't argue with your rent or your mortgage. Our system is an attempt to help correct that imbalance of personalized information." ### For information about opportunities to pilot the software application, contact Arpi Siyahian at asiyahian@nutechventures.org. China vehemently disapproves of the accusations that President Trump threw at them for the dubious conduct during the pandemic, plus asking the World Health Organization for reforms to clean up its act. Beijing says Trump is shifting blame, implying the botched US response to control the pandemic and bundling the China PR of the WHO to hit them, not with one but two stones. Overall, the CCP is still changing the narrative as more harangues are mounting among nations, and the image of China tarnished. In recent days, the WHO is under more scrutiny after it allowed China to decide when to declare vital coronavirus pandemic info. On the offensive is the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian telling the press, President Trump has made a wrong decision to blame the Ji regime, though recently admitting charges of the intelligence report give credence to US charges, according to Reuters. Further deflection by Zhao includes citing the US response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which exceeded Wuhan by now in deaths and cases, as reported by the Johns Hopkins University. But, doubts are rife if China lied about the deaths or is lying until now. The CCP is looked on as the sole cause of the coronavirus pandemic, as more evidence point to them as Pompeo sends one charge after another which erodes any trust and credibility left in China. Another point is how China has claimed to control the outbreak, but later developments have led to doubt how true it is. From praise to treating the CCP as a pariah, the White House has blasted Beijing for causing all the problems which afflict many nations that deserves serious repercussions for China. President Trump even hinted at severing ties that cause more problems for Xi Jinping. Also read: China Will 'Nuke Bomb' US Companies in Response to Huawei Sanctions The secrecy of the communist party and how they seeded the virus, and conniving with the WHO to stall the initial outbreak, while leaving other nations at the mercy of infection. As China had a PPE buying spree while other nations were to suffer PPE shortages. Shutting up the whistleblowers were done and many have disappeared, while crematoriums were running. And the virus quietly infected other countries, like Italy and many more while Beijing kept quiet with the WHO follow Xi Jinping's lead. The current toll is 5,085,504 cases, 329,731 deaths according to world odometers. Others are starting to flatten to curve but more countries are still on its peak. One of the worst actions of the CCP is putting pressure on the WH that became a party because it about the true status of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beijing kept the real count to keep the extent of the pandemic in China but later admitted fudging the real numbers. As the charges and evidence mounted in the favor of the US and other co-accusers, the CCP belched and panic and went on a massive PR drive. It is said that they ttempted to muddle and misinform the world to keep the blame off it, even alleging that the Italians had something to do with the COVID-19. They also highlight the US army bringing the virus to Wuhan. WHO and its connivance with Beijing prompted the US to stop giving funds, stating that unless big changes are done, funding will dry up and not a single cent will be given. The US gave a 30-day ultimatum for the heads to decide. In the eyes of the US, the WHO is a Chinese puppet who should be more independent but China calls this a foul move. Moreover, the communists call the accusation a smear but more countries agree with the US. Related article: China-US Trade War: Trump Has Two Choices for America @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ROSEMONT, Ill., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- When children require a cast due to a bone fracture, follow-up care instructions are typically given verbally or the patient is sent home with written instructions. However, patients and their caregivers run the risk of forgetting what was said or losing the instructions. Quick Response (QR) codes may be an effective method to relay instructions once patients are sent home with a cast, according to a new study released as part of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) Virtual Education Experience. "The genesis for this study was that most patients don't recall what you tell them in the clinic or office," said John Schlechter, DO, FAAOS, pediatric orthopaedic surgeon, Children's Hospital Orange County, Orange, California. "When I talk to patients and their families about the course of action, I often have them record me on their smartphone because I know they don't always take home all the information. If we put the QR code on the cast, they have on-demand access to instructions." The total number of fractures in 2010 was 15 million.i One in every five children is at risk for a fracture and children ages 10-14 years old have the greatest risk.ii Studies have shown that only 50% of the information presented during an office visit is retained by patients and 40-80% of the information is forgotten immediately.iii Due to the stress of a broken bone, children and their families often find it difficult to recall cast care instructions, with some remembering as little of 14%.iv,v The prospective study, "QR Codes Alternative Methods for Cast Care Instructions in Children," collected data on 88 children between 0-18 years old who did not require surgery for a fracture. A family member had to own a smartphone to be included and complete a follow-up questionnaire. A laminated, waterproof QR code was put directly onto the cast. The researchers looked at cast complications, the number of times the QR code was scanned, who scanned the code, time of day scanned, treatment satisfaction, and whether the QR code helped prevent a call to a physician. The majority of casts were short arm casts (40.9%), followed by long arm casts (33%) and short leg casts (21.6%). Of the children with a complete follow up, 60 used the QR code to answer questions they had about cast care. The QR code was mainly scanned by a parent (65.8%). The study also found: The QR code was scanned an average of 1.6 times (range = 0-8 times), although patients and their families thought they had scanned it an average of 2.4 times (range = 0-15). Ninety percent (89.9%) of the patients found the QR code convenient and useful (p < 0.001). Seventy-four percent (73.9%) of patients were very satisfied with the convenience. Thirty seven of the 60 patients who scanned the code said the information on the website kept them from needing to contact a physician to ask a question. There were 11 cast-related issues with the primary reported circumstance being a wet or damaged cast. Of the participants who reported a problem with the QR code: Three said the code would not scan. Two reported the QR code fell off the cast. One patient said they were unable to find the QR code on the cast. One reported the code stopped working after the first scan. "With patients of all ages, especially children, we are always trying to mitigate cast-related issues that can lead to unwanted emergency room visits," said Dr. Schlechter. "Most cast complications are due to a wet cast. With QR codes, we can point patients and their caregivers to the exact website needed to access physician-specific information, which reassures them and provides reliable information." To learn more about how broken bones heal or cast alternatives and care, visit OrthoInfo.org. Disclosure Statement About the AAOS With more than 39,000 members, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons is the world's largest medical association of musculoskeletal specialists. The AAOS is the trusted leader in advancing musculoskeletal health. It provides the highest quality, most comprehensive education to help orthopaedic surgeons and allied health professionals at every career level to best treat patients in their daily practices. The AAOS is the source for information on bone and joint conditions, treatments and related musculoskeletal health care issues and it leads the health care discussion on advancing quality. Follow the AAOS on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. i Bone and Joint Initiative. Fracture Trends. https://www.boneandjointburden.org/2014-report/via23/fracture-trends. Updated 2014. Accessed Feb. 6, 2020. ii Naranje SM, Erali RA, Warner WC, Sawyer JR, Kelly DM. Epidemiology of Pediatric Fractures Presenting to Emergency Departments in the United States. J Pediatr Orthop. 2016;36(4):e45-48. iii Robert H. Margolis P. In One Ear and Out the Other - What Patients Remember. Audiology Online; 2004 [cited 2019 October 17]; Available from: https://www.audiologyonline.com/articles/in-one-ear-and-out-1102. Accessed Jan. 21, 2020. iv Gough AT, Fieraru G, Gaffney P, Butler M, Kincaid RJ, Middleton RG. A novel use of QR code stickers after orthopaedic cast application. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2017 Jul;99(6):476-8. v Kessels RP. Patients' memory for medical information. J R Soc Med. 2003 May;96(5):219-22. SOURCE American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Related Links http://www.aaos.org Eric Colts is a bus driver for the city of Detroit who lost his best friend, fellow bus driver Jason Hargrove, to COVID-19 on March 31 just 10 days after a rider was coughing on his bus. That Jason was in the hospital alone and just the pain of knowing that he had no one around him, is whats really hurting his family and myself and also his fellow co-workers, Colts told a United States House of Representatives panel on Thursday, describing the fear he faces going to work every day. The reason that Im really afraid is the simple fact that I go to a stop, not knowing whos going to be at that actual stop. I dont know who theyve been in contact with. I dont know if they have the virus themselves, Colts told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Hargrove was one of as many as 200 transit workers in the US according to union estimates who have been killed by the coronavirus, putting a human face on the risks faced by all essential workers in the US at the moment. At least 65 grocery workers have died, and more than have been 9,000 infected. More than 100 nurses have died. My own hospital system had been preparing for the pandemic since the novel coronavirus was first reported, said Dr Megan Ranney, an emergency physician in Providence, Rhode Island. Weve done our best to build up stores of masks and gowns, but by mid-March the number of sick patients coming through our doors started to skyrocket. Our PPE [personal protective equipment] burn rate the number of masks and gowns and gloves that we use each day had gone through the roof, Ranney said. We were running out of essential protective gear, and there was no more to be had, she said. The rush of COVID-19 patients overwhelmed the hospital. Basic supplies and medicines ran low. Critically sick patients were crowded into every available ward. Ethical dilemmas about who to save and who to let die took an emotional toll. Under the stress, one of Ranneys emergency room colleagues committed suicide. So honored to get to talk to the House today about the perspectives of frontline emergency docs, nurses, techs, & more. About our need for PPE. About our exhaustion & frustration in the face of #COVID19. I also urge us to listen to the stories of the other speakers: https://t.co/UWZQB2rJam Megan Ranney MD MPH (@meganranney) May 21, 2020 Talisa Hardin, a nurse in Chicago, described the shortage of PPE at her hospital. The percentage of patients who eventually test positive is very high, but our hospital management has consistently refused to give nurses in my unit the protections that we need to avoid exposure and infection, Hardin said. Before the pandemic nurses could access PPE from a supply room. When the pandemic hit, management took all of the supplies out of the room, she said. Nurses nationwide have been protesting a lack of proper protective equipment and demanding that the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration issue an emergency order requiring hospitals to supply PPE. Ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians face similar hazards. We are now responding to calls for about six to 10 cardiac arrests in an eight-hour tour, said Diana Wilson, an EMT with the New York City Fire Department. Despite our best efforts to save lives, we are finding patients dead in their homes, sometimes even in their cars. This pandemic is dire, she said. Marcos Aranda, a janitor, counts himself lucky as a union member. He gets paid sick days off. Many janitors do not, and they are forced to keep going to work without PPE. Janitors dont have the option of working from home, and many janitors dont have paid sick leave. They stay home; they dont get paid, Aranda said. Zenobia Shepherd is the mother of a grocery clerk, Leilani Jordan, who died in Maryland. Jordan was disabled with cerebral palsy, but worked at a supermarket helping older people with their groceries. She was a butterfly; I call her my purple butterfly. She went to work to help regardless if it was helping the seniors to get what they needed to get help the seniors to get to and from their baskets, [or] whatever the case may be. Why couldnt a simple PPE be provided to the grocery store workers? Jordans mother asked. TWO Limerick men have brought appeals against their convictions for murdering another man in during a house party in Pallasgreen more than five years ago. Dylan Hayes, 25, with a last address at The Crescent, Kilteragh, Dooradoyle and Gerard Hogan, 37, with a last address at Raheen Square, Ballinacurra Weston were both found guilty, in May 2017, of the murder of Shane Murphy at The Grove, Pallasgreen on April 30, 2015. Mr Murphy died from a stab wound to the heart with multiple penetrating injuries to the trunk and upper arms also contributing to his death. An appeal against the convictions was heard remotely at the Court of Appeal this Thursday. The trial heard that Hayes had confronted Mr Murphy at the house partyasking him: Did you call me a junkie? Hayes believed that Mr Murphy had been talking about him, saying that he was doing heroin, or goofing off, at the house in Pallasgreen earlier the same week. Hayes told gardai that Mr Murphy responded: Yeah, I did. What are you going to do about it? It was at this point, according to Hayes's statements to gardai, that he went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and came back to the sitting room where he began stabbing Mr Murphy repeatedly in the chest, stomach, arms and legs. Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan said one of the stab wounds pierced Mr Murphy's heart while others had damaged both lungs and the liver. Defensive wounds to his hands suggested that he had tried to protect himself as Hayes wielded the knife. Read also: Gardai deployed to restore social distancing following disturbance in Limerick estate The prosecution case in relation to Hogan was that he was involved in a joint enterprise with Hayes to murder Mr Murphy. One witness at the house said she saw Hogan attack and stab Mr Murphy with Hayes. She also said that Hogan and Hayes were saying "get him, get him" as they "egged" each other on. Delivering his charge, Mr Justice McCarthy told the jury that they could find the accused men guilty of murder if the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that they had formed a joint intention to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Murphy Opening the appeal barrister Mark Nicholas SC, representing Mr Hayes, submitted that the judge's charge on provocation was deficient as the jury was not properly instructed. There was no explanation by the judge to the jurors of the requirement to assess the accused's actions subjectively as well as in a clear and usable form, he concluded. Mr Hogan has moved to appeal his conviction on a number of grounds. His barrister, Michael Bowman SC, said the prosecution had relied upon both words spoken and acts carried out by Hogan including attacking the deceased with a screwdriver. It was open to the jury to conclude that Hogan did not stab the deceased as the pathologist testified that the injuries to Mr Murphy were caused by a knife and not a screwdriver, he said. If the jury so concluded then they needed to be directed specifically as to whether they could rely on words which were attributed to Hogan as encouragement to the co-accused, he said, and also whether the words amounted to a communication of an intent to kill or cause serious harm. Furthermore, Mr Bowman submitted that the trial judge had also refused a defence requisition to charge the jury in relation to the ability of a party to withdraw from a common design or joint enterprise. Read also: Limerick man charged over seizure of gun in field Orla Crowe SC, for the DPP, said four persons present in the house had witnessed the murder and each of them had implicated both appellants in the attack on Mr Murphy. One of these witnesses, she said, had given very clear evidence to the trial of a physical and verbal engagement by both defendants on the deceased and pointed out that this went to the common design element of the offence. Ms Crowe added that "science" had not removed Hogan from the physical attack on Mr Murphy. Regarding the charge of provocation, the barrister said the trial judge had given a very clear outline to the jury of the defence of provocation and made it entirely clear that the test was subjective. The jurors could not have been under any misconception in relation to the law, she submitted, and this ground of appeal should fail. Ms Crowe explained that Mr Bowman had suggested that his client had either not fully participated in the attack or withdrawn from it but she said this had not been borne out by the witnesses who heard and saw what was happening in the room at the time. She emphasised that this was a "classic case" of joint enterprise and common design and there was no evidence in the case that Hogan had withdrawn from the joint enterprise. The appeals for each man should be refused as the evidence bore out the verdicts returned by the jury, she concluded. President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh, said the court would reserve its judgement. "One of the appellants had put forward multiple grounds of appeal so that will impact the timetable for the issuing of a judgment," added Mr Justice Birmingham. Exposure of Ulterior Motives Behind Stigmatization of China with COVID-19 (Part II) By Jun Sheng As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to rage across the US, the American people are complaining about the White Houses lack of action in the critical period of pandemic prevention and control, to which, however, Pompeo and his fellow politicians have kept finding excuses for themselves. To be fair, these politicians have truly had a full plate since the outbreak, although on their plate is not how to control the pandemic at home, but how to make trouble for other countries. When China, the country first hit by the virus, was busy containing its spread, the US politicians tried to stick their nose into Chinas Xinjiang, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and brazenly interfered in the internal affairs of the country by passing the so-called acts. On the other hand, they put out a number of ludicrous assumptions like China made the virus and China covered up its pandemic situation, in an attempt to stigmatize China in the international community and corner it to a moral predicament. Washington leaves no stone unturned when it comes to the use of these ugly tricks. This isnt the first time that politicians like Pompeo are trying to loot a burning house - they always jump at the first sign of sniffing such an opportunity. They rolled out sanctions against Iran during its domestic turbulence; they tried to have it both ways when Qatar was on bad terms with countries like Saudi Arabia; and they, on the pretext of democracy and human rights, blatantly backed radical and violent criminals in Hong Kong during the riot and unrest caused by the expatriation law amendment bill. If we go into their ploys seriously, Pompeo and his like are not only professional looters of burning houses, and they set the fire themselves! They first set the house on fire and flame it up, then loot it while occasionally making a gesture of putting out the fire. They are so good at playing good cop and bad cop games and busy putting on their farcical performances. Just take a look at what the US has done in the Middle East. The wars it waged against Iraq and Afghanistan left the two countries in lasting turmoil; the Arab Spring it much-trumpeted left Egypt and Syria in prolonged instability; and its instigation and flame-fueling have led to the growing escalation of Palestine-Israel conflicts, in which the US had sowed seeds. Yet certain American politicians have the nerve to reap geopolitical gains where they set fire in the first place. Pompeo and his like even posed as saviors or angels claiming to have brought peace to those areas they left in ruins. How ridiculous and shameful they are! These politicians are accustomed to being cops in name but thieves in nature, calling stop thief on the one hand while being that thief on the other. They beautify hegemony as justice and dress up rumor-mongering as freedom of speech. Pompeo and his like are doomed to a pathetic end. As an old Chinese saying goes, good and evil will meet their karma one day or another, which has been verified on Pompeo and his like over and over again. In the Middle East, for instance, Americas credibility has been irreversibly destroyed no matter how hard Pompeo and his like are trying to bloat their bubble. The COVID-19 outbreak wouldnt and shouldnt have spread so fast and widely across the US had Pompeo and his like devoted a tiny part of their energy and time into what they should have done. The chaotic disaster of Washingtons epidemic control has made millions of Americans suffer, and a growing number of the righteous people are voicing their questions and protests. In contrast, the US media has named Pompeo one of the worst Secretaries of State ever in American history. Turning a blind eye to the chaos and loss of lives at home, Mike Pompeo and his like, adamant on making trouble for the world, have kept disrupting international cooperation and undermining peace undertakings. They have become the common enemy of world peace and are doomed for a pathetic end. The burning house looters will eventually get burned themselves. As states stay-at-home orders lift, some nonessential workers lucky enough to work from home may continue doing soTwitter recently announced that employees can work from home as long as they want, and Google and Facebook say employees will be able to work from home until at least 2021. But others are faced with the reality of returning to the workplace. That influx of workers puts more people in contact with one another, especially in the service industry. Some workers are nervous that going back to work means they could be exposed to the virus; for instance, barbers and salon workers in Washington have started a petition asking the governor to reclassify salons from Phase 2 businesses (which may open as soon as early June) to Phase 4, which would be at least eight weeks away. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In hopes of getting ahead of the spread, businesses and institutions are rolling out their own policies to keep workers or customers safe. Some focus on hygienemandating mask wearing, making hand sanitizer more easily availablebut others focus on something trickier: peoples word. Increasingly, institutions are rolling out policies that require workers to self-certify that they are not sick with COVID-19. How these policies work gives a glimpse into the challenges of resuming work, and how those challenges may be amplified for workers with fewer benefits available to them. Lyft, for instance, recently rolled out its Health Safety Program, which prompts app usersdrivers and passengers aliketo agree to a health safety commitment. It requires them to leave the front seat empty, open windows when possibleand swear they dont have COVID-19 or related symptoms. Drivers must renew their agreement at the start of each day, or every 18 hours, and riders must do so weekly. Those who dont agree to the commitment are not able to ride or drive with Lyft. Advertisement Advertisement Employees word is only as good as the incentives you give them to be honest. The University of Washington has implemented a similar policy, which requires all employees reporting to work on campus to sign a COVID self-attestation. (Disclosure: Im currently teaching a course at UW, but this policy does not apply to me because, like many instructors, I am teaching exclusively online.) The universitys example attestation asks employees whether theyve experienced specific symptoms, like fever, cough, shortness of breath, muscle aches, and chills. Employees must fill out the attestation any day theyll be on campus, and anyone who reports symptoms must stay home. Advertisement As parts of the U.S. attempt to return to business as usual, these self-certifications may move beyond the workplace. With few national guidelines about safe behavior right now, it might become more common to see policies requiring people to declare theyre COVID-free before they can enter or willing to abide by that institutions coronavirus policies. Some may be used just to set the tone for acceptable behavior; for instance, a Seattle farmers market asked attendees to take an oath online for being a responsible market shopper and example for all before showing up in person. That oath included check boxes for things like I will STAY HOME if I am sick or if I have been in contact with someone who is sick, wear a face covering, and cover my cough or sneeze with a tissue, then dispose of it. Then wash my hands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Melissa Healy, a labor and employment lawyer, says shes seen these self-attestations become prevalent because they serve as a middle ground for employers who want to prevent spread without implementing complicated and invasive procedures. Its not always feasible or practical to take employees temperature, for instanceand do you pay people while theyre waiting to have their temperature taken? she says. And there are company morale barriers, too, like whos going to take that temperature? That opens up even more questions: How should companies store that personal medical info if they collect it? Asking employees about their symptoms sidesteps a lot of those difficult questions. Advertisement Advertisement The downside: These certifications are more prone to judgment errors than a temperature reading or a full COVID test. Imagine youre a worker asked to fill out a form pinky-swearing you arent sick before you head off to work. Perhaps these prompts will encourage you to think twice; maybe you thought those mild muscle aches you had were the result of yesterdays tough workout but now realize it could be a COVID symptom and decide its best to stay home. But there are other incentives at play here. If you desperately need the money, how likely are you to admit to those muscle aches, knowing that means you cant work? Advertisement Advertisement Your answer might vary depending on what happens when you tell the truth. Employees word is only as good as the incentives you give them to be honest. UW has instituted a host of COVID emergency leave policies to make it easier for employees to get paid if they do get sick and need to take time off. Those extend to hourly employees, for whom showing up is directly correlated with their paycheck. Most Lyft drivers, on the other hand, dont have the luxury of paid time off. Lyft is providing funds to drivers who have tested positive for COVID or have been ordered by public health officials to quarantine, so just experiencing symptoms would not qualify a driver to receive those funds. (Drivers have also told CNET that getting that money is an opaque and laborious process.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trying to convince people not to come to work sick is one thing; making sure they dont come back before theyve recovered is another. Employers will need frameworks in place to determine when people can safely work again. Geoff Gottlieb, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington and the interim chair of UWs Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases, says the university has been working on clear messaging encouraging people not only to stay home when theyre sick but also contact their supervisor for guidance as well as their health care provider for next steps. The university has set up several rapid testing sites so we can facilitate our community members getting rapid COVID testing, typically with results back in less than a day, says Gottlieb. UW keeps a record of all attestations submitted by employees and says they have been working closely with local and state public health agencies to make sure their data collection and storage comply with legal statutes. Advertisement I asked Lyft to clarify how soon drivers could return to work if they had previously declined to accept the companys health safety commitment; the Lyft representative said the company does not track which items drivers decline to check on the commitment and reiterated the companys policy to prompt users to fill out the commitment every 18 hours. From that, it sounds like you could, theoretically, log on the day after you report symptoms and start driving again. But Lyft takes the position that its workers are not employees, just contractors, which means they dont have benefits. Gig workers often lack the resources to get tested for COVID, which is the kind of information youd want in determining whether its safe to work againand, unfortunately, what they need to qualify for COVID pay from Lyft. (Even if drivers are able to get tested, they are certainly unlikely to access the kind of expedited testing UW provides for its employees, which means theyll likely have to wait days to apply for Lyft funds or head back to work.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The long-term legal ramifications of these self-certifications is not yet clear. Jeana Wines, a workers compensation attorney, says she thinks that these policies come from a desire to create a safe workspace but that companies could perhaps also use them to cover their tail where occupational safety regulations are concerned. (The Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for instance, recommends employers develop policies that allow for prompt identification and isolation of potentially infectious individuals, and to inform and encourage employees to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.) If workers do get sick on the job, employees should have access to workers compensation benefits, but gig economy contractors may not, unless they purchase it on their own. Their recourse could be to file a civil suit against companies for exposure to COVID on the job; in that case, companies might bring up these certifications as a defense. They could use it as part of any case where they were trying to paint a picture that they created a safe work environment and did everything they could, says Wines. Advertisement If these self-certifications prevent obviously sick people from going to work or other public places, thats a definite win. But another important wrinkle in the effectiveness of these self-certifications is that even if people have not experienced symptoms, they could be carrying the virus. We know from emerging data that there are a significant number of people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, says Gottlieb. Attestation is only one piece of the puzzle to keep our community safe. Without enforcing other policies to promote health and safety, signing a form is little more than an empty gesture. To that end, the University of Washington is mandating physical distancing for employees who must report in to work, mask-wearing rules, and lots of cleaning and disinfecting. Lyft has implemented similar policiesits hard to distance in a car, but the company no longer allows riders in cars front seats and requires that users open the window when possible and wear a mask. Whether these measures are mere pandemic theater is unclearbut for now, theyre all we have as cities prepare to reopen. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. In the letter, Trump said he would give the organization 30 days before the United States would cut off funding for the W.H.O. indefinitely. He required them to be held accountable for the global crisis and expected improvements within the month. Members of the W.H.O. replied with suggestions of conducting an independent investigation on how the organization responded to the outbreak of the coronavirus to its global spread. W.H.O. and China In recent weeks, Trump made allegations against the W.H.O., claiming that they must have been conspiring with China. The latter country has had its share of criticisms, largely driven by Sinophobia and racism from every corner of the world. Specifically, Trump added that the organization should have been more responsible in challenging the news that President and General Secretary Xi Jinping provided about the condition and nature of the coronavirus. The government of the People's Republic was widely believed to be omitting important information from their public. For instance, China reports of confirmed coronavirus cases were significantly fewer despite that the COVID-19 pandemic originated there and that it was densely populated. Hong Kong researchers expect that the figure of deaths was at least four times greater than the news reported. Member of the National Security Council John Ullyot said that China had a "special" responsibility to account for the losses sustained during the pandemic. In response to this, Xi said that China's responsibility would wait until the coronavirus would be fully controlled. This week, Trump told the W.H.O. to "clean up their act". He added that it would only be fair to the countries for them to be able to do a better job at handling the coronavirus. Check these out: Officials voice their criticisms Trump's comments were met with negative responses. Director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Lawrence O. Gostin said that Trump's direct disapproval of the W.H.O. would cost lives just when the world "was trying to come together" over the pandemic. Right behind the W.H.O. was other superpower country Russia, whose speaker of the upper house of the Parliament Valentina I. Matviyenko explained that there was no reason to conduct investigations about how the organization allegedly overlooked crucial information about the novel coronavirus. In a somewhat similar fashion, Virginie Battu-Henriksson from the European Commission said that the pandemic should not bring out the bad side to people. She added that making accusations would get in the way of solidarity. Despite all these shady remarks, director general of the W.H.O. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus instead chose to respond by saying that he would also let an investigation be conducted regarding the organization's response to the virus, especially during the time it should have been contained in China. Ghebreyesus ended the assembly on Tuesday by saying that the pandemic was close to tearing international cooperation. But amidst the problems and differences, he assured that people were "stronger together" as one human race. Former fixer-turned-informant Michael Cohen is the second Trump aide to secure early release because of the pandemic. Michael Cohen, President Donald Trumps former personal lawyer and longtime fixer, was released from a federal prison on Thursday due to concerns that he could be exposed to the coronavirus while imprisoned, according to a source familiar with the case. Cohen, 53, had completed a bit more than a year of a three-year sentence for his role in paying hush money to two women pornographic film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal who said they had sexual relationships with Trump, as well as financial crimes and lying to US Congress. He is expected to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement. Cohen, who had been imprisoned in a facility in New York state, had been eligible for release from prison in November 2021. Cohen was the second Trump associate released early from prison due to coronavirus concerns. Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was released last week. Cohen is reportedly working on an unflattering tell-all book about his time working Trump that is expected to be published before the November presidential election. Lawyers for the Trump organisation are said to have warned him against doing so, according to ABC News, arguing that he is subject to non-disclosure agreements that prevent him from making public specific information about Trump and his family. Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, later turned on his former boss and cooperated with Democratic-led congressional inquiries. Trump has called Cohen a rat. Cohen has called Trump a racist, a con man and a cheat. Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates before a potential outbreak, arguing that the public health guidance on social distancing is nearly impossible behind bars. Attorney General William Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons in March and April to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates, beginning at three prisons identified as coronavirus hotspots. Otisville is not one of those facilities. Cohen was told last month he would be released to serve the rest of his three-year sentence at home in response to concerns about coronavirus. He had told associates he was expecting to be released earlier this month. The Bureau of Prisons has placed him on furlough as it continues to process a move to home confinement, a person familiar with the matter said. The agency has the authority to release inmates on furlough for up to 30 days and has been doing so to make sure suitable inmates, who are expected to transition to home confinement, can be moved out of correctional facilities sooner. A federal judge denied an earlier attempt by Cohen to secure an early release and said in a ruling earlier this month that it appears to be just another effort to inject himself into the news cycle. But the Bureau of Prisons can take action to move him to home confinement without a judicial order. The Bureau of Prisons said last week that more than 2,400 inmates had been moved to home confinement since Barr first issued his memo on home confinement in late March, and 1,200 others had been approved and were expected to be released in the coming weeks. In his letter, the leader praised President Ho Chi Minh as an outstanding and intelligent political figure of the region and the world, who gave birth to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He was an inspirational and powerful leader for Vietnamese people and those in many countries around the world, the letter said. On the occasion, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also sent a congratulatory letter to her Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc. As California and the American West head into fire season amid the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are harnessing artificial intelligence and new satellite data to help predict blazes across the region. Anticipating where a fire is likely to ignite and how it might spread requires information about how much burnable plant material exists on the landscape and its dryness. Yet this information is surprisingly difficult to gather at the scale and speed necessary to aid wildfire management. Now, a team of experts in hydrology, remote sensing and environmental engineering have developed a deep-learning model that maps fuel moisture levels in fine detail across 12 western states, from Colorado, Montana, Texas and Wyoming to the Pacific Coast. The researchers describe their technique in the August 2020 issue of Remote Sensing of Environment. According to the senior author of the paper, Stanford University ecohydrologist Alexandra Konings, the new dataset produced by the model could "massively improve fire studies." According to the paper's lead author, Krishna Rao, a PhD student in Earth system science at Stanford, the model needs more testing to figure into fire management decisions that put lives and homes on the line. But it's already illuminating previously invisible patterns. Just being able to see forest dryness unfold pixel by pixel over time, he said, can help reveal areas at greatest risk and "chart out candidate locations for prescribed burns." The work comes at a time of growing urgency for this kind of insight, as climate change extends and intensifies the wildfire season - and as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic complicates efforts to prevent large fires through controlled burns, prepare for mass evacuations and mobilize first responders. Getting a read on parched landscapes Fire agencies today typically gauge the amount of dried-out, flammable vegetation in an area based on samples from a small number of trees. Researchers chop and weigh tree branches, dry them out in an oven and then weigh them again. "You look at how much mass was lost in the oven, and that's all the water that was in there," said Konings, an assistant professor of Earth system science in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). "That's obviously really laborious, and you can only do that in a couple of different places, for only some of the species in a landscape." The U.S. Forest Service painstakingly collects this plant water content data at hundreds of sites nationwide and adds them to the National Fuel Moisture Database, which has amassed some 200,000 such measurements since the 1970s. Known as live fuel moisture content, the metric is well established as a factor that influences wildfire risk. Yet little is known about how it varies over time from one plant to another - or from one ecosystem to another. For decades, scientists have estimated fuel moisture content indirectly, from informed but unproven guesses about relationships between temperature, precipitation, water in dead plants and the dryness of living ones. According to Rao, "Now, we are in a position where we can go back and test what we've been assuming for so long - the link between weather and live fuel moisture - in different ecosystems of the western United States." AI with a human assist The new model uses what's called a recurrent neural network, an artificial intelligence system that can learn to recognize patterns in vast mountains of data. The scientists trained their model using field data from the National Fuel Moisture Database, then put it to work estimating fuel moisture from two types of measurements collected by spaceborne sensors. One involves measurements of visible light bouncing off Earth. The other, known as synthetic aperture radar (SAR), measures the return of microwave radar signals, which can penetrate through leafy branches all the way to the ground surface. "One of our big breakthroughs was to look at a newer set of satellites that are using much longer wavelengths, which allows the observations to be sensitive to water much deeper into the forest canopy and be directly representative of the fuel moisture content," said Konings, who is also a center fellow, by courtesy, at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. To train and validate the model, the researchers fed it three years of data for 239 sites across the American west starting in 2015, when SAR data from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites became available. They checked its fuel moisture predictions in six common types of land cover, including broadleaf deciduous forests, needleleaf evergreen forests, shrublands, grasslands and sparse vegetation, and found they were most accurate - meaning the AI predictions most closely matched field measurements in the National Fuel Moisture Database - in shrublands. Rich with aromatic herbs like rosemary and oregano, and often marked by short trees and steep, rocky slopes, shrublands occupy as much as 45 percent of the American West. They're not only the region's biggest ecosystem, Rao said, "they are also extremely susceptible to frequent fires since they grow back rapidly." In California, fires whipped to enormous size by Santa Ana winds burn in a type of shrubland known as chaparral. "This has led fire agencies to monitor them intensively," he said. The model's estimates feed into an interactive map that fire agencies may eventually be able to use to identify patterns and prioritize control measures. For now, the map offers a dive through history, showing fuel moisture content from 2016 to 2019, but the same method could be used to display current estimates. "Creating these maps was the first step in understanding how this new fuel moisture data might affect fire risk and predictions," Konings said. "Now we're trying to really pin down the best ways to use it for improved fire prediction." ### Konings is also Assistant Professor, by courtesy, of Geophysics in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. Co-author A. Park Williams is affiliated with Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. Co-author Jacqueline Fortin Flefil, MS '18, is now an engineer at Xylem, Inc. The research was supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Credits for Research, the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship, the UPS Endowment Fund at Stanford, the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Zegar Family Foundation. 21.05.2020 LISTEN The National Democratic Congress at the Bono Region vehemently condemns the heartless demolition of structures of the poor residents at Bui Dam yesterday. The people of Banda on Monday, 18th May 2020, woke up to witness the demolishing and burning down of over two hundred (200) households that have led to the loss of properties, monies and the sudden displacement of over three hundred families at the outskirt of Bongase, which is closer to Bui Dam. At the time where President Akufo-Addo and his health minister have publicly encouraged Ghanaians to stay home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, in a way of containing this virus, Eric, an Environmental Officer, and Clement, a former NPP Electoral Area Coordinator at Banda, and allegedly a relative of President Akufo-Addo, led an unidentified armed group of people to embark on a heartless demolishing and burning down of buildings after weeks of careful planning on their WhatsApp page. According to this leaked audio from the NPP page, there was the need to unlawfully evict the residents at that community of which to the NPP, described them as Voltarians (who are mainly NDC members) who continue to prevent them, the NPP, from winning the Parliamentary seat and hence the need to undertake on this utterly odious exercise. The Bono National Democratic Congress, unreservedly describe this act as inhumane and accordingly, grossly condemn the act in no uncertain terms. According to a report gathered from the eyewitnesses, the attempt by the Chief of Bongase to intervene in this issue was strongly defied by Eric, Clement and their unidentified groups who were in flames to commit these acts. The NDC would want to remind them that their Party, the NPP will not be in power forever and that there is the need for them to be mindful of their actions today. The Party, therefore, call on the appropriate state agencies, particularly, the Banda District Security Council (DiSeC) and the Bono Regional Security Council (RegSeC) to swiftly stage an investigation into this cruel act to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime into book for justice to prevail in the Banda Constituency. Issued by; Charles Akowuah Tuffour Regional Communication Officer Bono Region Madhya Pradesh Congress on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state of not sending eviction notices to those ex-ministers, who resigned as legislators and joined BJP in March, while targeting the former ministers who are in Congress and continue to remain legislators. All the 24 ex-ministers of the then Kamal Nath cabinet who are in Congress have got eviction notices from the directorate of estate which is working under home department despite the fact that the state is facing a tragedy like Corona when shifting of belongings of an ex-minister from one place to another is an arduous task and people involved in the shifting process will be prone to the risk of contracting the virus. This is a clear case of victimisation at the instance of the state government, said Kunal Chaudhary, sitting Congress MLA. Kunal Chaudhary alleged, Six ex-ministers had joined the BJP. Two of them became ministers later, hence they are entitled for bungalows but remaining four have ceased to be even legislators as their resignations had been accepted by the speaker of the state assembly. But they didnt get eviction notices. Sitting MLA and ex-minister Jitu Patwari is occupying D-type bungalow but there are certain BJP legislators who are not ministers but they are occupying B and C type bungalows. Why two yardsticks by government? Chaudhary asked, What was the hurry in sealing the bungalow of ex-finance minister Tarun Bhanot when he was not in his house? Was he running away from the state? Is he not a legislator who has right to remain in a government accommodation? The directorate of estate issued notices dated May 14 to the ex-ministers after home department through its order dated May 13 conveyed to it that allotment of the ex-ministers on the bungalows they were occupying stood cancelled as the occupants were not ministers anymore. The ex-ministers were expected to submit a reply by May 20 as to why a final eviction notice be not issued against them, as per officials of the home department. On March 22 Congress legislators including six ministers had resigned from the state assembly in an act of rebellion against the then chief minister Kamal Nath. They all joined the BJP later. Tulsi Silavat and Govind Singh Rajput were inducted in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet on its first expansion on April 21, though they are not members of the state assembly. By-polls to the 22 assembly constituencies and two other constituencies are expected to be held in coming months. On Wednesday, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha tweeted, Shocking action of MP govt. In the midst of corona pandemic authorities issue eviction notices to 24 Cong ex-ministers. In hotspot Bhopal asking ex-ministers to vacat govt residences. @ChouhanShivraj @drnarottammisra personally ensuring. SC/HC bar coercive action in coronatime. Despite efforts the four ex-ministers who joined the BJP couldnt be reached for their comments. While mobile phones of Mahendra Singh Sisodia and Pradyumn Tomar were found constantly switched off the two other ex-ministers Prabhuram Chaudhary and Imrati Devi didnt take phone calls and respond to messages. Home minister Narottam Mishra said, I have no knowledge if any of the ex-ministers was not given any eviction notice. I will look into it. However, this is all routine administrative process that takes place when there is change in government. This week, Navajo Nation, based across Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, surpassed the highest rates of COVID-19 infections in the United States. As of Tuesday, the Native American territory reported a rate of 2,304.41 per 100,000 people had been infected, a staggering ratio for a population under 200,000 people. The situation is dire, and two local New Mexico businesses are stepping up to help. Santa Fe Vintage, known to fashion insiders and vintage junkies alike for its by-appointment showroom, donated its stock of 1970s-era red bandanas (a signature of the showroom) to the Albuquerque-based label Orenda Tribe that will embellish the kerchiefs and add them to its online auction benefiting the Navajo Reservation. Together with the sales of original artwork up for auction, 100% of the funds raised will go towards providing critical supplies to the Navajo Reservation. Amy Yeung, founder of the upcycled label Orenda Tribe, commissioned Native American artist Alexandra Barton to create a special design that was printed on each of the bandanas. (The printed was done by another local business, Endemik Exchange.) The symbol reflects the Dzil Asdzaan (Mountain Woman) Command Center, a moniker used by Yeung and her team to denote their now-full time work providing financial aid to the Navajo communities. It refers to our feminine energy mountain, Yeung explains. Rather than saying moving mountains, this is the journey to and from the mountain. Its a healing journey with the strength it takes to travel up a mountain and the restorative strength descending and feeling renewed. The bandanas can be purchased for $75 on the Orenda Tribe website, along with other donated items that are currently available in the charitable sale. In addition, Yeung and her team have set up a separate donation fund through the non-profit organization NDN Collective. Teo Griscom, who took over Santa Fe Vintage after its founder Scott Corey passed away in 2019, was eager to work with Yeung on this project. We buy and sell vintage Native American art and jewelry and felt that it was important to give back, Griscom says. We wanted to work with Amy after admiring her work from afar, and we saw the immediate impact she was making in her community, auctioning off designs and work by artists that we know and love. Though they hadnt met before embarking on this initiative together, Yeung also says that she and her team have been long time fans of Santa Fe Vintage. She also notes that she is beyond grateful for their donation of the bandanas, especially because she believes that things from the past have such beautiful energy. Yeung adds too, as a whole, at a time when our government has done so little, its so beautiful to see the aid coming from artists, makers, and creators who have fueled our project of love and light. Originally Appeared on Vogue WATERLOO Police have made a third arrest in connection to an armed robbery that occurred in Waterloo last month. Waterloo Regional Police said the suspect, a youth, was arrested Tuesday during an unrelated homicide investigation in Ottawa. The robbery occurred at an apartment building on Columbia Street West on the night of April 19. Police said a handgun had been used in the crime, which left a victim with minor injuries. Two suspects an 18-year-old man and a youth were arrested nearby, and a stolen gun was recovered. The third suspect is facing several charges including robbery with a firearm, extortion, possession of stolen property, and other firearms offences. AstraZeneca Plc received more than $1 billion in U.S. government funding for an experimental Covid-19 vaccine from the University of Oxford, a boost to one of the worlds fastest-moving projects to develop a shot. The investment accelerates a race to secure vaccine supplies, seen as a key step toward restarting global economies after a lockdown-induced slump. Stock markets have been rising and falling on developments in research labs as investors weigh the prospects. The U.K. drugmaker received the money from the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and said it has secured capacity to make 1 billion doses. Although AstraZeneca has said it expects to have shots ready as soon as September, the companys vaccine candidate is still in human trials, with no guarantee of success. The funding for AstraZeneca is part of the Operation Warp Speed effort to secure vaccines for the U.S., according to a statement from the Health and Human Services Department. Astra can receive up to $1.2 billion under the agreement, and the U.S. expects 300 million doses to be available as early as October. Other Projects The U.S. is making multiple major investments in developing and manufacturing promising vaccines long before theyre approved so that a successful vaccine will reach the American people without a day wasted, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. Oxfords vaccine is the fourth to receive BARDA support. The U.S. agency has also provided funding for French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, including $30 million for its Covid vaccine and a $226 million award in December to increase production capacity for its pandemic influenza vaccine. A Covid vaccine developed by the company will probably go to Americans first if the company can successfully deliver one, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said last week in an interview with Bloomberg News. Sanofi said later that it would make the shot available everywhere. While the absence of a European counterpart to BARDA has slowed efforts to secure supplies, Hudson said the French company is in talks with several governments on possible arrangements. Supplying the U.K. with vaccine will be a priority for AstraZeneca, CEO Pascal Soriot has said. Astra plans to make as many as 30 million doses available in Britain by September and has committed to delivering 100 million this year. Fair Allocation Astra said its working with groups including the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, on making sure the vaccine is allocated fairly. The company said it has supply agreements for 400 million doses. Several more agreements are expected to deliver AstraZenecas commitment to ensure global access, a spokesman said in an email. These agreements are happening in parallel in order to ensure broad and equitable supply of the vaccine throughout the world at no profit during the pandemic. The shares fell 1.4% early Thursday in London. The U.S. funding will support a final-stage clinical trial with 30,000 participants, as well as tests in children, AstraZeneca said. Some doubts have been raised about the potential effectiveness of the Oxford vaccine after early results in monkeys were released. While the shot may have protected animals against severe infections, the results were weak compared with those of a test of a vaccine under development by Sinovac Biotech in Beijing, said William Haseltine, a former Harvard University HIV researcher, in a blog post. Infections in Monkeys The comparison is inapt for studies carried out with different types of vaccines given in varying doses, in monkeys who were infected with different levels of virus, the Oxford researchers said in a statement. In the end it is the impact on clinical disease that matters, they said. Dozens of other vaccine projects are underway around the world, from the U.S. to China, drawing in major pharma giants, university labs and others. Moderna Inc. shares jumped earlier this week after the U.S. biotech revealed positive early results from its experimental vaccine. President Xi Jinping of China has said any successful vaccine developed there will be made available as a global public good. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON EasyJet planes parked at Tegel Airport, Berlin, Germany. (Paul Zinken/Picture alliance via Getty Images) EasyJet (EZJ.L) announced that it will resume flights from a number of UK airports from 15 June. The airline, which is one of Europes largest low-cost carriers, said flights will restart on mainly domestic routes between 22 European airports. Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast are among the first to reopen in Britain. EasyJet added that it will implement new safety and hygiene measures and that passengers and crew will be required to wear masks when on board the aircraft. It will also not sell food on the flights and disinfection wipes and hand sanitiser will be made available to passengers. I am really pleased that we will be returning to flying in the middle of June, said Johan Lundgren, CEO at EasyJet in a statement. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to gradually resume operations. We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that, when more restrictions are lifted, the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand, while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want. The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey, from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks. These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. READ MORE: British Airways owner hopes to revive flights at 50% capacity by July Airlines are keen to get back to business as the lockdowns around the world have had an unprecedented effect on the industry. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that estimated global airline losses from the impact of COVID-19 have risen to $314bn (253bn). This is 25% more than previously forecasted. This is also due to a 55% drop in 2020 passenger revenue compared with last year. Story continues British Airways (BA) and Aer Lingus owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.L) has said that it hopes to revive flights to 50% of capacity by July. The group also said in a statement that it it is burning through cash and does not expect to return to full capacity until 2023. The company said COVID-19 was having a devastating impact on the global airline and travel sectors, with the spread of the virus worldwide, resulting in lockdowns and travel restrictions and advisories, particularly from late February 2020 onwards. At the end of April, IAG confirmed that around 12,000 workers at BA could face redundancy as the airline slashes jobs in a bid to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. She's been keeping fit and healthy throughout lockdown in Los Angeles amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And Robin Wright continued with her fitness regime with a solo run around Santa Monica on Wednesday afternoon. The 54-year-old House of Cards actress kept things casual and appeared focused during the outing. Keeping fit: Robin Wright was spotted enjoying a run around Santa Monica by herself on Wednesday afternoon Robin opted for a black scoop neck singlet top and teamed the look with 3/4 form-fitting leggings of the same color. She put her sun protection first with a cap and sunglasses but opted not to wear a safety mask. The mother-of-two styled her short blonde hair out and appeared to be wearing very little to no makeup. Natural look: The mother-of-two styled her short blonde hair out and appeared to be wearing very little to no makeup Robin has been isolating in her Los Angeles home with her husband, Clement Giraudet, 36. She recently took to social media to wish her man a happy birthday. 'Happy Birthday mon amour! ,' she captioned the sweet nature selfie. The Wonder Woman 1974 star began dating the Saint Laurent executive back in 2017 before they secretly wed in August 2018 in France. No stopping her! Robin has continued to keep fit and active throughout lockdown Love: Robin has been isolating in her Los Angeles home with her husband, Clement Giraudet, 36 'It was very intimate and low-key. Robin wanted it to be about them, not a big production,' an insider shared to People about the ceremony. Robin's first two marriages were to actors - daytime soap star Dane Witherspoon from 1986 until 1988 and Oscar-winner Sean Penn from 1996 to 2010. Her second marriage resulted in two children - 28-year-old daughter Dylan, who has become a model, and a 26-year-old son Hopper, who is an actor. Following her split from Sean Penn, she began dating Ben Foster in 2012. Looking forward to hitting the local public swimming pool for the first time this summer? Prepare to put a face mask in your tote bag, although you won't need to wear it in the water. On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines for operating swimming pools during the coronavirus pandemic. The documentation arrives just a few days before Memorial Day weekend, when many outdoor pools typically open for the summer season. "There is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas, or water play areas," the CDC said on its website. "Proper operation and maintenance (including disinfection with chlorine and bromine) of these facilities should inactivate the virus in the water." Nevertheless, the agency said, "While there is ongoing community spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, it is important for individuals as well as owners and operators of these facilities to take steps to ensure health and safety." The CDC has recommended that pool staff rearrange their deck and lounge chairs so that patrons stay six feet away from people outside their households. The CDC tailored the following instructions toward pools operated by local governments, apartment complexes, homeowners associations, schools, water parks and gyms. The guidelines do not specifically apply to private pools or those operated by hotels, cruise lines and other travel-related businesses. Among the CDC's suggestions: Mask up until you dive in The CDC suggested that pool operators "encourage the use of cloth face coverings as feasible," noting that they are "most essential in times when physical distancing is difficult. However, it advised that staff tell swimmers not to wear masks in the water because it is difficult to breathe through them while wet. Stay 6 feet apart, in and out of the water It also suggested that pool operators change the layout of their seating areas so that patrons can remain 6 feet away from anyone outside their household. While in the water, swimmers should also be advised to keep the same distance from anyone they are not quarantining with. Story continues The CDC did not address how to socially distance lap swimmers but pool operators could take a page from the guidelines published by USA Swimming, the sport's national governing body, which suggested limiting swimmers to one or two per lane and starting them from opposite ends of the pool. If you aren't sure your kids will be able to stay six feet away from their friends, the CDC says to think twice about bringing them to the pool. Parents should consider whether their children can or will stay 6 feet away from people they don't live with. If not, they should not take them to the pool. The only exceptions to the social-distancing rule, the CDC said, should be individuals involved with the evacuation of the facility in the event of an emergency or the rescue or administration of first aid or CPR to a swimmer in distress. Cover those coughs If you feel the urge to sneeze or cough while at the pool, do it into your elbow to prevent the spray of droplets from your mouth. The CDC instructed pool operators to encourage all staff and patrons to wash their hands and cover coughs and sneezes. And while the CDC didn't suggest instructing patrons to take a shower before entering the pool, it is likely that pools that already had that rule will actively enforce it this summer. It's possible that some pools may go the opposite route, keeping their showers or locker rooms off-limits for the time being and telling patrons to shower at home and wear their swimsuits under their clothes when they arrive and leave. That's what USA Swimming has recommended athletes do for now. Keep frequently touched surfaces clean The guidelines also encouraged pool staffs to regularly disinfect frequently touched surfaces on the pool deck and in the locker room, including: Pool ladder handles Water slides Lounge and deck chairs Tabletops Pool noodles Kickboards Door handles in locker rooms and restrooms Showers Handwashing stations Diaper-changing stations For pool facilities that provide towels to patrons, the CDC advised washing in the warmest appropriate water temperature and allowing them to dry completely. It also suggested devising a system so that furniture, pool equipment and other items are disinfected before being given to the next user and are kept separate from ones that have not yet been cleaned. The CDC also recommended no-touch trash cans. Don't share goggles and other gear The sharing of pool equipment that touches the face and is difficult to disinfect such as goggles and snorkels should be discouraged, even among patrons from the same household. Any other gear should not be shared with people from outside your home. Whistles won't be the only warnings you hear Running and rough-housing won't be the only infractions lifeguards will be cracking down on this summer. The CDC recommended that pool staff use the public address system and the facility's social media accounts to regularly broadcast announcements on how to stop the spread of the virus. Who's in charge of enforcing all this? Lifeguards who are not actively monitoring the pool itself should be assigned to enforce things like social distancing, handwashing, the CDC said. The onus to enforce these guidelines will largely be on the lifeguards and on-deck staff and their managers. The CDC advised pool managers to arrange duty schedules so that staff who are not actively guarding be assigned to monitor the use of face coverings, hand-washing and social distancing practices. 'Hygiene is the new luxury': How cruise ship design could evolve to ward against outbreaks What if someone gets sick or tests positive for COVID-19? Public pool operators should have a plan to isolate staff or patrons with symptoms, such as cough, shortness of breath and fever, and transport them to their homes or health care provider, if needed. At least one person should be designated as the COVID-19 point of contact. That person should respond to all virus-related concerns and all staff should know how to reach that person. The local health authorities should also immediately be notified of any COVID-19 cases and staff and patrons should be notified of potential exposure within the boundaries of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Any employee or patron who has tested positive for COVID-19, displays symptoms or has been around anyone with the disease in the last two weeks should not enter the facility until they have safely ended their 14-day isolation. Weighing whether to travel this summer? What to consider before you hit the road This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus and swimming pools: What the CDC wants you to know Residents invited to share their experiences as Wrexham Museum looks to record Local Life Under Lockdown for future generations This article is old - Published: Thursday, May 21st, 2020 A new project aiming to create a record of what life was like locally during lockdown is being launched by the Wrexham Museum and Archive Service. The lockdown measures that have been in place since the end of March have drastically transformed our everyday lives from the frontline workers in hospitals and care homes, the people serving in shops, pharmacies and other key workers, to the ways we shop and communicate with our loved ones. Now residents, community groups, workers, organisations and businesses are being invited by the Wrexham Museum to get involved and share their experiences of life in lockdown as part of a new project. Working with local film-makers and photographers, the museum is aiming to compile a 21st century scrapbook of images, film, testimony, archives and objects about life in Wrexham since March 2020. Over the coming weeks, the plan is to: Gather digital images and film of life under lockdown. The museum will be announcing details of how you can be involved and contribute and we hope to bring you more detail. Collect objects and artworks connected to the coronavirus pandemic. The museum will announce details of this as soon as it is safe to do so. Archive material detailing the official response in Wrexham County Borough to the crisis Pandemics and epidemics are not new to Wrexham, although they are often overlooked. According to tradition, Bryn y Cabanau Road, in Hightown, is named after the wooden huts built to house and isolate residents of Wrexham during an outbreak of the plague. The threat of cholera during the 1840s spurred on the creation of a borough council to sort out the towns public health crisis. Local elementary schools closed and returning soldiers and their families succumbed to the Spanish flu of 1919-20. A Fever hospital was opened on the edge of Wrexham on Croesnewydd Road. The polio epidemic during the 1950s and the Asian flu pandemic of 1957-58 are undoubtedly remembered by families and individuals still alive today. Steve Bayley, Chief Officer for Housing and Economy said: The council has been at the forefront of the response to the challenges thrown up by coronavirus. From ensuring those who are shielding receive the provisions they need to providing business support and distributing millions of pounds of business rates relief to businesses across Wrexham. We are now keen to see this recorded and archived for future use so please get in touch with the Museum and Archives staff to see how you can help with this project. Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships, Public Protection and Community Safety, added: Staff at Wrexham Museum & Archives had already been planning a project about life in Wrexham 2020. Little did they know what a momentous year it would turn out to be. The Local Life Under Lockdown project offers a great chance for everyone to contribute to build up a picture of life in Wrexham when we had to Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives, which could benefit future generations facing similar challenges. May 21, 2020 - SEOUL, South Korea - The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced today that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has contributed an additional 6,200,000 SEK (approx. 630,000 USD) to IVI to support national responses to COVID-19 in Madagascar and Burkina Faso. Detecting cases of COVID-19 requires trained personnel, equipment, and centralized infrastructure to carry out screening and diagnostic testing which may be limited in low-income countries. IVI will leverage its network of infectious disease surveillance sites to determine whether the low, though rising, number of confirmed cases in sub-Saharan Africa accurately reflects disease burden or is compromised by limited diagnostic capability or other extraneous factors (such as climate). "COVID-19 is a global pandemic with the potential to overwhelm health systems around the world, and particularly those in resource-limited settings," said Dr Florian Marks, Deputy Director General of Epidemiology, Public Health, Impact, Clinical Development at IVI. "Our established surveillance network across sub-Saharan Africa has enabled burden of disease studies for cholera, typhoid, and schistosomiasis, and we're very grateful for Sweden's contribution to build capacity on the ground to proactively respond to this pandemic and the next." To supplement longer-term epidemiological and clinical studies, IVI will assist with screening and diagnosing suspected COVID-19 cases (including patients presenting with flu-like and other respiratory illness symptoms) at designated healthcare centers as well as conduct a cross-sectional survey of the general population. All activities will be in coordination with national authorities to ensure alignment and sustainable capacity-building. "It is crucial for governments and aid agencies to support research that enables low- and middle-income countries to prepare for, and respond to, global health threats like COVID-19," said Dr Teresa Soop, Senior research advisor at Sida. "Sida is proud to support IVI and its mission to develop and deliver vaccines while ensuring global access and equity." IVI's support for the COVID-19 response in Madagascar and Burkina Faso will align with the World Health Organization (WHO)'s coordinated global research roadmap as well as the African Union/African Centers for Disease Control's continental strategy. Through this collaboration, Burkina Faso and Madagascar will be able to identify and report cases in the global COVID-19 data repository which will ultimately bolster effective policies in responding to the pandemic. ### About IVI's surveillance network IVI is leading a network of infectious disease surveillance sites across major cities in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ibadan, Nigeria; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Kumasi, Ghana; Kisantu, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Antananarivo, Madagascar. At these sites, febrile patients are screened and recruited for blood culture testing at secondary and tertiary hospitals spanning a combined catchment population of more than 10 million people. Currently, IVI and its partners are conducting a Phase 1 vaccine trial for a schistosomiasis vaccine candidate at the Madagascar and Burkina Faso sites, and expanding available data on invasive Salmonella infections across the network to support the introduction of typhoid conjugate vaccines in Africa. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, IVI was the first international organization hosted by Korea. IVI has 35 signatory countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including Korea, Sweden and India as state funders. Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world's most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, Group A Strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int About the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, is Sweden's government agency for international development cooperation. We strive to reduce world poverty by allocating resources and knowledge with the goal of making a difference for people in low- and middle-income countries. To achieve this, we collaborate with actors from civil society and research institutes as well as the UN-system and public and private sectors. Sida's activities are funded through Swedish tax revenue. CONTACT Aerie Em, Global Communications & Media Specialist +82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@ivi.int Phnom Penh, May 21 : Cambodian authorities have lifted orders issued mid-March that prohibited travellers from Spain, Italy, the UK, Iran, France and the US from entering the country on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new order issued on Wednesday by the Health Ministry, however, requires all those traveling to Cambodia to produce a certificate stating that they had tested negative for COVID-19 and issued in the previous 72 hours prior to their arrival as well as health insurance with a minimum cover of $50,000, reports Efe news. The measures were not required for foreign diplomats or representative of the international NGOs and Cambodian diplomats and holders of official passports. Despite the easing of travel restrictions in Cambodia, most international flights in Southeast Asia are cancelled, mainly those from Europe and the US, with travel restrictions in all the countries. On the website of the Phnom Penh International Airport, one can see the arrival and departure of two international flights to and from several cities of China and South Korea. Cambodia, which has detected 122 COVID-19 cases with zero deaths, only banned the entry of visitors from the above mentioned six countries and has not imposed strict quarantine measures although it has closed schools, museums, bars and other businesses. Andy Meehan, a challenger to U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in the June 2 Republican primary, greeting people during a rally at the Trump Store in Bensalem on May 16. Read more Pennsylvanias 1st Congressional District is contested political ground, one where Democrats have thought for a decade they could win back a U.S. House seat. Democratic voters narrowly outnumber Republicans in the district, which is made up almost entirely of Bucks County. Democrats won control of the county government there last November for the first time in decades. And the district is solidly middle-class, with plenty of college graduates a demographic turning away from President Donald Trump. And yet Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican, has shown an enduring capacity to navigate the districts tricky politics. Hes one of just five Republicans nationwide who still holds a district Hillary Clinton carried in 2016 and three of those GOP colleagues are retiring instead of running for reelection. The Democratic strategy: Tie Fitzpatrick to Trump and watch them go down together. But while he has embraced some of Trumps political rhetoric ahead of the June 2 primary, Fitzpatrick resists close identification with the president, calling himself undecided in the general election. Im going to do what Im asking everyone in our community to do, which is to allow the campaign to unfold, to hear both candidates, let them make their cases and make a decision, he said in an interview. Fitzpatrick, who calls his district centrist and independent, said he is counting on voters focusing on him and his eventual Democratic opponent, not partisan labels. For their part, Democrats have not been able to settle on a consensus candidate. The most powerful national political action committees that back Democrats have stayed mostly on the sidelines. That could change after the primary. Courtney Rice, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm for House Democrats, said Fitzpatrick will be automatically tied to Trump because of his party label. Fitzpatrick can try and run away from those facts, but, at the end of the day, he still has an `R next to his name and were bullish on this district for those facts alone," she said. Waiting on the perfect storm John Cordisco, chairman of the countys Democratic Party for two decades, sees reasons for optimism. Democrats from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to Tom Wolf and Bob Casey have won the county before. Hillary Clinton eked out a win there over Trump in 2016 even while narrowly losing Pennsylvania. And Democrats are way ahead of Republicans in requests for mail-in ballots this year. But he is still waiting for the DCCC and other national players like EMILYs List to stake a claim in the race. And that requires candidates who can raise serious money on their own. That takes time [to show] that the winds of fortune are sailing in your direction, Cordisco said. I think they believe this district can be won. It just has to present a perfect storm. It remains to be seen if dissatisfaction with Trumps handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis will produce that perfect storm. READ MORE: Democrats fear a suburban Philly congressional race is their biggest recruiting failure in the country His counterpart, Pat Poprik, has been active in Republican politics for four decades and became chair of the local party in 2012. She calls the district a mixed bag," with many voters who look past partisanship. Still, Poprik said she encounters some voters who think Fitzpatrick is too hostile to Trump and some who see him as too close to the president. Its just mind-blowing how people perceive him, she said. Its a crazy time. Fitzpatrick said past elections make clear that voters in the district, which includes a slice of Montgomery County, jump back and forth between parties" and consider individuals. One of the things I really like about our region, particularly our community, is partisanship for the vast majority of voters is not the most important thing to them, he said. Fitzpatrick faces a combative challenge in the June 2 primary from Andy Meehan, an investment-firm president who has forged a campaign long on spectacle but short on resources. Meehan embraces Trump. Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, said he wrote in Mike Pences name for president on the 2016 ballot and has disagreed with Trump on several issues since then. While Fitzpatrick largely ignores Meehan, he has shifted closer to Trump in recent weeks, greeting Air Force One when it arrived for the presidents trip to Allentown this month, embracing proposed legislation to hold China responsible for the coronavirus pandemic, and spending $21,602 of his $1.7 million in campaign cash on 50 Fox News commercials for the final stretch. Meehan, who has an openly hostile relationship with the county party, sneers at mushy fake Republicans" he considers insufficiently conservative. He blames the loss of Republican control in the county on 105,000 GOP voters who stayed home in last years local elections. We dont have a demographic problem. We have a leadership problem, he said during a small rally last Saturday in front of the Trump Store in Bensalem. If you dont stand up for what you believe in and you dont motivate your base voters to come out and support your candidates, you get low turnout and you lose. The slice of America Christina Finello, an Ivyland Borough Council member and deputy director of the county housing and human services department, appears best positioned to win the Democratic nomination, having raised $171,000 in the race as of March 30. Skylar Hurwitz, a tech consultant from New Hope, has raised about a tenth of that. The Democratic side of the race has seen its share of tumult. Democratic leaders, local and national, tried without success to recruit better-known candidates for the race. Two candidates, Judi Reiss and Debbie Wachspress, dropped out of the race earlier this year. Finello stuck to a message about making the case against Brian Fitzpatrick when asked if she would have the resources to accomplish that mission. She said her campaign has been in regular contact with the DCCC and EMILYs List, which backs Democratic women running for office. This race is just beginning, she said. The voters are going to know that I stand with them. Brian Fitzpatrick stands time and time again with Donald Trump. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat, held a former version of the 1st District for two terms, defeating and then ultimately losing it to Fitzpatricks brother, the late Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. He resisted entreaties to run again. Murphy, like others familiar with the territory, sees Bucks County as three distinct regions. The lower end is more urban and blue-collar. Central Bucks in suburban, with a mix of Democrats and Republicans. And the north end is more rural. Bucks County is literally the slice of America, Murphy said. It is a district that goes for the person, not the party. They put the country first. They have to kick the tires and know who theyre voting for and what they stand for. Christopher Nicholas, a Republican political consultant in Harrisburg and a Bucks County native, sees Fitzpatrick as the right kind of candidate to hold the seat, despite outside political factors. It seems to me like Fitzpatricks challengers are just going through the motions, he said. There doesnt seem to be a lot of energy there. Seattle Childrens hospital is again coping with a mold in its operating rooms that has persisted at the hospital for nearly 20 years and has been linked to seven deaths. There are no known new illnesses connected to the latest discovery of Aspergillus, The Seattle Times reported. The hospital reported the detection of low-levels of Aspergillus to the state Department of Health earlier this month, attributing it to an issue with its ventilation system, said spokeswoman Jessica Baggett. The agency said the mold was discovered by routine air-testing done by the hospital. The agency hasnt decided whether to proceed with an unannounced investigation, Baggett said. Childrens didnt identify the mold as Aspergillus, contrary to what state health officials described, the hospital said this week. It was discovered in some of the hospitals operating rooms and an equipment storage room by a daily air test. Daily testing has not detected any Aspergillus fumigatus spores, which is the species of Aspergillus associated with our previously confirmed infections, hospital spokesperson Katherine Porada wrote in an email. Aspergillus is a common mold that most people regularly breathe without getting sick, but hospital patients, especially patients with lung disease or weakened immune systems particularly organ- or stem-cell transplant patients are at higher risk of developing Aspergillosis. Since 2001, seven patients have died and 14 patients have had Aspergillus infections. Last fall, Childrens Chief Executive Jeff Sperring said they only recently connected the issues dating back two decades to problems with the air-filtration system serving its operating rooms. During the past year, the hospital has installed a new air-handling unit and put high-efficiency particulate air or HEPA filters in its 14 operating rooms. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Washington Every state is now reopened. See where your state stands Connecticut became the 50th and final state to move toward reopening, allowing retail stores and restaurants to begin serving patrons once again on May 20. State-by-state, the country is reopening businesses, with some U.S. territories less restrictive than others. States like South Dakota and Iowa stayed mostly open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while many Northeast states went into full lockdown. The White House released its Guidelines for Opening Up America Again in April, although final decisions on reopening procedures were left to individual states. To find out the reopening phase of each state, Stacker researched state government websites and local breaking news reports to see what is open and what remains closed. The services and business included in each phase vary widely by state, with most issuing orders in three- and four-phased plans. Some states have made decisions on reopening broadly, while others have gone on a county-by-county basis. Harder-hit states such as Washington are taking a more conservative approach to reopening, though Texas, Arizona, and Alabama are among a few states already entering Phase II of their individual plans. Regardless of what phase they've entered, every state is recommending practicing social distancing of at least six feet and wearing a mask to help reduce the risk of infection as public activity increases. Those recommendations have not always been followed, as seen with the reopening of Yosemite National Park on May 18, as thousands of unmasked visitors visited the Wyoming park. Alaska will open houses of worship on May 22, but other states' churches remain closed, as the reopening of religious services has been a point of contention in some states. Some New Jersey churches have announced plans to reopen in violation of Gov. Phil Murphy's prohibitions. Continue reading to find out the status of your state's reopening plans. You may also like: Major newspaper headlines from the year you were born This slideshow was first published on Stacker New thermal imaging cameras which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are today set to be rolled out at the country's busiest airport, as bosses look at ways to kick-start the travel industry in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Heathrow will introduce the tripod mounted cameras in one of its immigration halls as part of a new trial. If successful, bosses hope the move will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return. It comes as the airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye today showed tentative support for the government's plan for an automatic 14 day quarantine for travellers entering the UK - but called for a 'risk-based approach'. From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus. New thermal imaging cameras (pictured) which can check the temperatures of airline passengers as they enter Britain are today set to be rolled out at Heathrow Airport From today, passengers arriving at the airport's Terminal 2 will be automatically screened for raised temperatures, which could indicate a fever - one of the common symptoms of coronavirus Passengers will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored If successful, airport bosses hope the cameras will allow Britons to head abroad safely without going into quarantine on their return They will see the cameras as they pass through the immigration hall, with a sign telling them when they are entering an area being monitored. How do the thermal imaging cameras work and what will happen to passengers who show a high temperature? The tripod-mounted thermal imaging cameras read the temperature of passengers as they walk past. During the trial, they will be set up in the immigration hall of Heathrow's Terminal 2. The cameras can read temperatures at a distance of 8ft. If a high temperature or suspected fever is detected, checking systems will produce a warning signal. Heathrow bosses have previously stated that they are still in talks with Border Force, the Department for Transport and Public Health England on what action should be taken if a passenger with a fever is identified. Options include asking that person to go into quarantine. If the trial proves successful, Heathrow could roll out its temperature screening cameras in its departures, connections and staff search areas. Advertisement Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area. Similar systems have already been trialled in Italy. At this stage the trial is to determine only whether the technology works, meaning any passenger arriving with a high temperature would not be stopped. Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine. Heathrow chief executive Mr Holland-Kaye today said the cameras could become the 'common international standard' to get people flying again. It comes as the airport boss today also signalled support for the Government's plan to quarantine anyone arriving into the UK from abroad - an idea which the Downing Street appeared to dismiss last night. However Mr Holland suggested 'risk-based' approach was needed to get people flying again. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The Government's got a tough job to do. 'If they think that quarantine is the right thing to do I think we have to go with that, but it has to be time-limited and we have to plan for what comes next. Thermal cameras monitors are used to check the body temperature of passengers at Fiumicino airport, near Rome, Italy on April 15 Passengers will not have to stop to have their temperature checked instead, screening will take just seconds using infrared sensors as passengers move through the area Options for how to deal with passengers who show a high temperature reading are yet to be finalised, but are said to include asking that person to go into quarantine 'As the level of transmission comes down in this country and in other countries, we need to find a way that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who don't have a disease can still fly.' What is an air bridge? An 'air bridge' is typically used by the military to reach and supply territory across enemy lines. One of the largest in history was used for the Berlin airlift after the Second World War. That kept the Western-held area supplied between June 1948 and May 1949 when it was cut off by Soviet forces. Another famous air bridge was 'The Hump', which was the route over the Himalayas from India to resupply Chinese forces working with the Allies. Advertisement It comes as yesterday the government poured cold water over the possibility of introducing so-called 'air bridges' between countries with low levels of infection, to provide a fillip to the beleaguered tourism sector. The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week. But with ministers expected to unveil plans tomorrow for a tough new quarantine regime requiring travellers to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in the UK, No 10 said the 'air bridges' idea would not form part of the proposals. It would have seen the 14-day rule relaxed for certain countries and Greece and France had both expressed an interest in the idea. Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye today said the cameras could become the 'common international standard' to get people flying again The prospect of quarantine-free travel between the UK and countries with low coronavirus rates had been raised by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps earlier this week Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged however the Prime Minister's official spokesman said it was 'an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy' Blanket quarantine measures now appear likely to be introduced towards the end of the month, despite warnings they will wreck the holiday plans of Britons and damage the UK tourism industry. UK tourism firms facing 37billion coronavirus hit, warns Visit Britain boss UK tourism businesses could lose up to 15billion this year because of the coronavirus shutdown, an industry boss told MPs today. Patricia Yates, acting chief executive at Visit Britain, said huge sums were likely to be lost both from international and domestic holidaymakers. She told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee: 'Every time we do the modelling the figures get worse. So for inbound, I mean we were looking at the beginning of this year at about 26.6 billion coming from inbound tourism, we reckon a 15 billion drop on that. 'And for domestic, an industry that's normally worth about 80 billion, a 22 billion drop on that. 'And that's actually before we've factored in the quarantine because we don't clearly quite know what the measures are going to look like.' She said while it would be the hope that domestic tourism this summer could pick up the slack and help alleviate some of the losses from the international sector, a 'lack of confidence' among people around travelling is a concern. She said: 'You've got a collapse of the supply industry as well as collapse of demand and really to get British tourism up and running this summer, and the summer is hugely important, you're going to need that domestic audience. I think the worrying thing we see is the lack of confidence in the British public about travelling.' She added: 'So there's a real job to be done there, given that it has to be the year of domestic tourism, there's a real job to be done there in convincing people that it's socially responsible to travel and enjoy a holiday. And that it's safe to do so.' Advertisement Mr Shapps raised hopes that some foreign holidays could be salvaged on Monday when he told MPs he was investigating the possibility of allowing quarantine-free 'air bridges' to countries with low levels of infection. But yesterday the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'It's an option under consideration but not agreed Government policy.' A Whitehall source said: 'The quarantine rules will be reviewed every three weeks but I think people would be unwise to book a foreign holiday in the expectation that an 'air bridge' will open up in time for the summer holidays. 'It's the sort of idea you might look at as you exit a quarantine system. But we are just getting started.' Ministers are still finalising the details of the quarantine regime, but it is expected to include fines of at least 1,000 for those breaching the 14 days of self-isolation. A minister involved in the talks said all arrivals would be stopped by Border Force agents and told to download the Government's new coronavirus tracking app. They will be asked to provide their address or details of where they are staying, and police or local authority officials will carry out spot checks to ensure the quarantine is not being breached. Sources said there would be 'very few' exemptions. Critics have questioned why the Government is tightening the rules at a time when some EU countries are easing travel restrictions and when many airlines have resumed UK flights. Greek tourism minister Haris Theoharis had called on the Government to agree a no-quarantine pact with his country. He told the BBC: 'We feel that this is a time for us to start lifting restrictions and we urge other countries, the UK included, that as soon as we do that we would welcome reciprocity.' The Greek islands, visited by three million Britons a year, have been in lockdown since March but hotels are due to open there on July 1. With the Mediterranean nation's under-pressure economy heavily dependent on holidaymakers it has been making plans to refill deserted beaches and hotels in popular tourist areas like Corfu (pictured) Beachgoers enjoy the sun at a public beach in Piraeus near Athens, Greece, on May 18, after weeks of lockdown in the country The country has escaped the worst of the pandemic, with just 165 deaths, and is desperate to welcome tourists back. Ministers consider quarantine to be a vital part of efforts to prevent a second wave of coronavirus. But airline bosses fear it will devastate the crippled travel industry. British Airways wanted to restore large-scale operations in July, but this now looks unlikely. Virgin Atlantic have also indicated that flights will be pushed back to August 'at the earliest'. There are also concerns for the 20,000 British nationals still stranded abroad. It is likely many will have to go into quarantine after returning as the rule could come into force as early as May 28. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously warned foreign summer holidays were unlikely this year, while Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Wednesday that domestic holidays could be possible by the beginning of July, if the rate of coronavirus infection was kept down. Chron.com is following the latest headlines on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Houston area. 12:45 p.m. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Thursday released a new set of guidelines aimed to protect employers and frontline workers returning to work during the pandemic. The guidelines create a baseline of expectation of safety for workers in construction, manufacturing and public-facing businesses, such as retail and restaurants. Hidalgo said the guidelines are in line with state and federal recommendations and designed to assuage workers' fears of contracting the virus and ensure they do not face retaliation for taking extra precautions to protect their health and safety while on the job. "No worker should be penalized or shamed from following public health advice," Hidalgo said during a Thursday press conference. "It's just a matter of doing right by these folks...no one should have to decide between getting sick or putting food on the table." PRODUCER HOSS: Popular morning show producer shares battle with COVID-19 The guidelines include staggering shift start times, providing rest breaks for employees to wash their hands and appointing a safety monitor to oversee the guidelines are being followed and to keep track of employees that report to work every day. Employers are also encouraged to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as wearing face coverings, screening employees for symptoms and installing plexiglass between the public and employees. The guidelines push for worker protection by asking employers to "avoid adverse action" against employees who have filed a complaint, declined to work due to health concerns or have contracted COVID-19. A comprehensive list of the guidelines for retail workers is available here and the list for construction workers is available here. "In Harris County, including the City of Houston, we have crossed the grim threshold of 10,000 cases," Hidalgo said. "We still need to be protecting our community." Hidalgo confirmed she plans to sign an extension of the county's stay-home, work-safe order sometime Thursday. "I don't want people to get the message that we are done and the virus is over and we succeeded - that is not the case," Hidalgo said. "We need the entire community on board." The extension will conform to Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott's reopening plan. 9:00 a.m. Harris County's stay-home, work-safe order is expected to be extended through June 10, pending final approval. As of Wednesday afternoon, the order was being reviewed by the County Attorney's Office. A spokesperson with the office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the order could be signed sometime Thursday. The extension will conform to Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott's reopening plan, which was recently expanded to include more businesses in a phase 2 timeline. The truth is that we are no safer today from this virus than we were in March, Hidalgo said in an emailed statement to the Houston Chronicle. I urge residents to continue to stay or work from home unless it is necessary to go out, and get tested if you feel you may have been exposed. In addition to signing the order, Hidalgo is set to announce during an afternoon press conference on Thursday new worker protection guidelines for retail stores and construction sites reopening amid the pandemic. Check back on Chron.com for updates on the order and worker guidelines. As of Wednesday night, the state's COVID-19 case total had risen by 2.8 percent to 52,220 cases, marking the second straight day of 1,ooo-plus cases, according to the Houston Chronicle's data team. A total of 42 new deaths were reported, bringing the state's death count up to 1,434. The Houston region's county had risen by 2.4 percent to 14,285. The region's death count is now at 316. ARUSHA The United Nations Tribunal is yet to decide on whether the recently arrested Felician Kabuga would be brought to Arusha, Tanzania for trial. While the Prosecutor wants the former Rwandan businessman wanted for crimes against humanity transferred to The Hague, the President the Tribunal is yet to make its verdict known. Mr. Kabuga was apprehended in Paris, France on Saturday last week after evading arrest for 26 years for his alleged role in the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Serge Brammertz, the Prosecutor of Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) want the alleged architect of the human slaughter transferred to The Netherlands. The Mechanism is based in Arusha and took over the activities of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which closed business in December 2015. Among its tasks was to bring justice to the fugitives still on run once arrested. These included Kabuga, until then a wealthy businessman in Rwanda. ICTR was created by the UN Security Council in December 1994. By the time it closed shop it had convicted 61 fugitives and acquitted 14 others. Officials of the Mechanism could not be reached yesterday to clarify whether Mr. Kabuga would be tried in its facility at The Hague and not Arusha. However, reports reaching The Citizen from multiple sources said the alleged genocide architect would initially be transferred to The Hague branch of the court. The President of the Tribunal Judge Carmel Agius is yet to make a decision on the request which would require amendment of Kabugas Warrant of Arrest. The current Warrant of Arrest provides for transfer to the Arusha branch of Mechanism upon arrest, sources told The Citizen. However, in the light of the Covid-19, a transfer from France, if even possible, bears a number of practical challenges due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. The Prosecutor of the Mechanism, based in Arusha, contend Kabugas transfer to The Hague remains possible despite the current travel restrictions in Europe. The former influential Rwandan businessman faces seven genocide-related counts and crimes against humanity. which led to the slaughter of over 800,000 people. Legal experts say the transfer of the suspect to The Hague would mitigate potential litigation that can block his transfer to Arusha Until yesterday, Judge Agius has not responded to the request by the Prosecutor. On the day of arrest, the Prosecutor said Kabuga would be brought to Arusha for trial. Rwanda, which celebrated the stunning arrest, had also requested that Kabuga taken there to face trial on alleged genocide charges. The other suspects still on the run, according to regular media briefs are Pheneas Munyarugarama, Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikuwabo, Ladislaus Ntaganzwa, Alloyes Ndimbati and one Ryandikayo. Related Continue Reading Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Senator Murray Sinclair is backing Winnipeg-raised Cree artist Kent Monkman after the painters latest provocative work sparked a backlash on social media. Hanky Panky, which Monkman revealed on May 16 on Instagram and Facebook, suggests the sexual assault of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and an audience of Indigenous women laughing at the scene. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba-born Cree artist Kent Monkmans latest work, Hanky Panky, has created a firestorm of controversy. Monkman, one of Canadas most successful contemporary artists who received some of his first lessons at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, returned to social media on May 18 to address the outrage. "I have been listening and learning from your feedback. I deeply regret any harm that was caused by the work. I acknowledge that the elements I had included to indicate consent are not prominent enough, and I see now how the painting could appear," he wrote. Sinclair, who was the chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, defended Monkman on Facebook Tuesday, calling the painting "a monumental testament to the treatment of Indigenous women and the publics lack of caring." "He has managed to get people worked up over the obscenity of the content, in startling contrast to the intellectual calmness with which people look upon how Indigenous women were treated. I wish people were as shocked and angered at that visual as they are at Monkmans portrayal of it," Sinclair wrote. Hanky Panky is set in a lodge. On a small stage, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, a two-spirit trickster who appears in many of Monkmans paintings and is often described as his alter ego, stands behind a young man, who resembles Trudeau. The man is on his hands and knees and is restrained by two Indigenous women. His pants are pulled down and Miss Chief holds a red hand aloft. Among the people on the side of the stage are resemblances of former prime ministers Sir John A. Macdonald and Stephen Harper. Off the stage is an RCMP officer lying face down, also with his pants down. Surrounding the stage is an audience of Indigenous women, all of whom are laughing at the scene. Many of the posts on Twitter objected to the painting, saying they were disturbed by its suggestion of sexual assault as retribution and were offended that Indigenous women would be portrayed as cheering on such a scene. Monkman explained his work in the original Facebook post. He says it highlights problems Indigenous people in Canada have faced for decades, such as their disproportionate incarceration and the victimization of Indigenous women and children. "This is not a punishment, but rather a consensual act that Miss Chief willingly delivers," Monkman wrote. "This image employs a sense of humour drawn from Cree storytelling. I chose the title Hanky Panky to reflect on the playful nature of Miss Chiefs character, the exuberant laughter of the Indigenous women, and the trickery and deceit of each successive colonial government since Canadian Confederation." The painting, which can be seen at facebook.com/kentmonkmanstudio, is similar in style to Monkmans Canada 150 exhibition Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience, which has been touring Canada since 2017 and was on display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery from September 2019 to February 2020. In that exhibition, Monkman paints in the style of Renaissance masters but often uses scenes from Indigenous history in North America instead of European settings to show the exploitation and violence perpetrated against First Nations people. alan.small@freepress.mb.ca Twitter:@AlanDSmall A shocking ruling delivered this week requiring prosecutors to share evidence with corruption suspects will no doubt deal a huge blow to President Uhuru Kenyattas heightened war on graft. How ironical that the judgment came from the very court that is supposed to make corruption a painful undertaking? READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 80 more test positive, national COVID-19 count jumps to 1,109 The Judiciary has widely been criticised as the weak link in the ongoing war against corruption. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC The ruling, made by Milimani Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti, requires the Director of Public Prosecutions to furnish all suspects with documentary and electronic evidence before trial can start. This is a departure from the common practice where investigators share evidence with suspects once charges have been pressed in court. This practice, which has been embraced globally, is informed by the need to avert a defeatist situation where suspects destroy evidence before they are formally charged. It is much harder for them to alter evidence that is already before the court. READ ALSO: Police arrest William Ruto's ally, arraigns him in court for distributing relief food But out of the blues, Ogoti has introduced a new order that makes a mockery of any efforts to slay the corruption dragon. With the new ruling, the DPP stands no chance to win a case against looters of public funds. The sad reality is that the magistrate decided to legislate rather than be guided by the existing laws. What he has introduced is not part of our laws. READ ALSO: Jubilee rebels: William Ruto's allies now claim their lives are in danger It is even more unsettling that the ruling, which will no doubt be fully exploited by graft suspects, is the latest in a long series of court pronouncements that appear keen to puncture the fight against corruption. About a year ago, the Court of Appeal handed graft suspects a major victory after ruling that investigators need permission from suspects before obtaining evidence. The ruling outlawed secret warrants that investigators used to gather evidence such as bank statements, and search premises. READ ALSO: Nairobi: Police arrest 6 notorious gangsters, recover stolen goods worth KSh 29 million The controversial ruling required investigators to first alert the suspects of impending raid, state the information needed, and give the suspects enough time to comply. This obviously hands suspects enough time to annihilate the evidence the detectives are seeking, and essentially defeat the case. Lawyer Tom Ojienda used the Court of Appeal ruling to escape charges of fraudulently acquiring Ksh89 million from the crippled Mumias Sugar Company. Investigators from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commissions (EACC) had obtained permission from a magistrate to search his bank accounts for evidence of the fraud. The lawyer exploited the loophole that the court created and got away. READ ALSO: Widower pens moving letter to wife who died while delivering third born: "I'm trying my level best" And that is not all. While representing former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Prof Ojienda exploited the same loophole to stop a witness from producing copies of Kideros bank statements, arguing that the ex-county boss did not give permission for that evidence to be acquired. The bank statements contained evidence crucial to the Ksh213 million corruption trial. The case, in which Kidero is facing 35 charges of corruption alongside eight others, has dragged on, with no clear end in sight. Had this ruling by the second-highest court in Kenya been made weeks earlier, the State would have lost Ksh318 million to Jimmy Kiamba, a former Nairobi County chief finance officer, after he was unable to explain how he acquired his immense wealth. Investigators accessed his bank accounts without his permission and gathered the evidence that nailed the case. In the corruption case against Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, a five-judge bench agreed that the charges against her were adequate for the purpose of starting criminal proceedings but faulted the manner in which the evidence was obtained. The DPP is barred from indicting Mwilu on this technicality. For years, the Judiciary has been put on the spot for being the weak link in the war on graft. Chief Justice David Maraga has personally, and repeatedly, admitted that his officers need to do better. READ ALSO: Fire bomb: Governor Mike Sonko blown away by Tanasha Donna's beauty But this has not stopped the courts from making rulings that have let suspects off the hook. Few cases, for instance, demonstrate the need to have public officials charged with corruption step aside better than that against former National Lands Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri. After being charged with graft, Swazuri was allowed to return to his office, despite concerns that he would interfere with evidence and witnesses. A few days later, a computer with evidence that prosecutors relied on in the case disappeared. That crippled the case. Former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu also connived with judicial officers to stay in office when he was supposed to be in a police cell. Aware that he was about to be arrested by detectives over the irregular awarding of tenders amounting to Ksh588 million, Waititu got anticipatory bail from a magistrate who was on sick leave. READ ALSO: COVID-19: Visa jumla nchini Kenya sasa ni 1109 The magistrate, Bryan Khaemba, was subsequently suspended over gross misconduct and the governor was impeached over the same charges. These legal obstacles introduced by courts must be eliminated if the fight against corruption is to be won. Maraga, and the Supreme Court, must stand up and correct these strange rulings by the lower courts. The Judiciary must demonstrate its commitment to the war on graft by overturning Ogotis precedent-setting ruling. The writer is Robert Mungai, a regular commentator on social, economic and political affairs. The views expressed in this opinion piece are hers and do not necessarily represent the position of TUKO Media Ltd in any way. We welcome writers, bloggers, photographers and all sorts of noise makers to become a part of our Blog network. Send your opinion, story or both to news@tuko.co.ke. Kenyans lets pray for one another - CS Kagwe | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke DENVER, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RE/MAX, LLC, today announced its annual Broker Owner Conference (BOC) will be held virtually August 17-18, 2020. Adopting a theme of "[email protected] One World, One RE/MAX," the event will be open to a global audience, connecting the network's brokers and owners in more than 110 countries and territories together virtually to learn, network with each other, discover new tools and technology, and take their business to the next level. The event will include many BOC staples the Opening General Session, notable speakers, the Approved Supplier MarketPlace, networking meetups, and a full range of educational and inspirational sessions all in a dynamic virtual environment that mimics being onsite at the conference. New this year will be a special global track for content that will appeal to the event's international attendees. "Our brokers and owners come to the BOC to sharpen their business acumen and discover the latest in RE/MAX technology, training and marketing tools," said Pam Harris, RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Customer Experience. "We're hard at work to seamlessly transition the same world-class experience our attendees have come to expect to an online environment. Expanding the event for international attendees this year will help us bring that high energy our events are known for to a larger group of brokers and owners across the world." The shift from an in-person event is another recent example of how RE/MAX is emerging as a leader in online content and virtual experiences for real estate professionals in response to social distancing requirements stemming from Covid-19. In March, RE/MAX debuted daily webinars to help brokers and agents remain focused on building their business. The global real estate franchisor also launched two weekly Facebook Live broadcasts with its CEO and Chief Customer Officer in late March Adam Contos: Mind, Body and Business and Good Morning RE/MAX with Nick Bailey, respectively. "In many ways, hosting the event virtually will make this event available to even more attendees, while adding the convenience and safety of attending from their own home," said Harris. "We may need to be physically apart, but we are creating an event that will bring people together." The BOC is exclusively offered to RE/MAX brokers, owners and managers. It is the network's second largest event after the RE/MAX R4 Convention. Event registration opens on June 10, 2020, with an early bird registration price of $99. Beginning July 13, the rate will be $129. The 2nd annual Motto EDGE (Entrepreneurs Driving Growth and Excellence) Forum for Motto Mortgage broker owners will also occur virtually this fall. Motto Franchising, LLC is excited to provide Motto franchisees the opportunity to network and learn strategies to grow their mortgage brokerage franchise operations, all from the safety and comfort of their own homes. About the RE/MAX Network As one of the leading global real estate franchisors, RE/MAX, LLC is a subsidiary of RE/MAX Holdings (NYSE: RMAX) with over 130,000 agents in more than 110 countries and territories. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX, as measured by residential transaction sides. Dedicated to innovation and change in the real estate industry, RE/MAX launched Motto Mortgage, a ground-breaking mortgage franchisor, in 2016 and acquired booj, a real estate technology company, in 2018. RE/MAX agents have lived, worked and served in their local communities for decades, raising millions of dollars every year for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and other charities. To learn more about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit news.remax.com. SOURCE RE/MAX, LLC Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca today announced it has the capacity to make one billion doses of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. The Brentford-based firm has signed a deal to mass-produce Oxford University's promising COVID-19 jab and has agreements to supply 400million doses already. US health officials who have spent $1billion (806,000) on funding the vaccine announced today they have ordered 300million doses and hope to receive them for October. Britain has a deal for 100million doses 'as early as possible' and ministers last week revealed they hoped a third of those would be ready for September. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the Government is ambitiously hoping to be in a position to roll-out a mass vaccination programme in the Autumn of this year. But top scientists dealt a blow to the hopes of millions of Britons longing for an end to the pandemic when they warned a working vaccine is unlikely to be ready until 2021. Doubts have been cast about the jab one of the front-runners in the world's vaccine race after studies on monkeys suggested it didn't stop them getting infected. The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, now called AZD1222, is currently in trials on humans to prove it is safe and the team say it is progressing well. Promising results that showed another experimental vaccine, made by US firm Moderna, could block the virus in humans sent stock markets into frenzy this week. Oxford University's jab was known as ChAdOx1 nCoV but has now been called AZD1222 AstraZeneca has signed a deal to mass-produce Oxford University's promising COVID-19 jab and has agreements to supply 400million doses already However, some scientists have warned that a vaccine might not be widely available until next year. Professor Robin Shattock, head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London, told the BBC he believes vaccines 'won't be readily available for widescale use until the beginning of next year as the kind of most optimistic estimation.' WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO ROLL OUT A VACCINE? Developing a vaccine is a complex procedure which relies on a number of lengthy steps. But researchers racing to develop one for COVID-19 - which threatens to keep entire nations in lockdown until it can be stopped - are breaking through this stages at an unprecedented pace, scientists say. One vaccine for rotavirus, a virus that causes deadly diarrhoea in children, took 26 years to make, the Washington Post reported, and one of its creators called this 'pretty typical'. Scientists must first sequence the virus they want to make a vaccine against - meaning they deconstruct it to examine its internal workings. This process was sped up because the Chinese officials who discovered the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 mapped the virus and shared it worldwide for free at the very start of the outbreak. Scientists also noticed that it is almost identical to the one that causes SARS, a similar illness which hit Asia in 2002/3. This saved time because researchers already knew which areas of the virus they could target, and some had already tried to make SARS vaccines, which could work as a blueprint for tackling COVID-19. Trials, which begin after a vaccine is painstakingly designed and produced in a laboratory, also take a long time. First, scientists must repeatedly test the vaccine on animals such as mice or monkeys. If it proves to be safe, this must then go on to very small human trials, then incrementally larger ones as the safety and effectiveness of it is constantly monitored. Often, human trials take months or even years so scientists can be absolutely certain the vaccine won't have any damaging side effects. If there are any hiccups the researchers may have to tweak the chemical make-up of the vaccine and start again. If things go smoothly, the vaccine can progress to the manufacturing phase and be produced en masse and sold to the people or governments who need them. Scientists have claimed they could have a vaccine ready for COVID-19 by September this year, a break-neck pace which critics say is unlikely. Professor Robin Shattock, an immunity expert at Imperial College London, said: 'Its highly unlikely that a vaccine will be available for use by September. 'It will be critical to build the evidence base to show a vaccine works before its deployed. This takes time and is dependent on seeing a difference in the number of infections between active vaccine and a placebo. 'The lower the transmission rate in the UK, the longer it will take to generate such data.' Advertisement He has said there are around 100 coronavirus vaccines in development around the world and it will take months to get enough data to prove one works. The one being made by his team at Imperial is being developed at an extraordinary pace, he has said, but it would be a 'false expectation' to think it was nearly ready. Early clinical trials are intended to prove only that a vaccine is safe, and further large-scale studies must be done afterwards to see if it actually protects against the disease. Professor Shattock said on Monday: 'I think we need to distinguish two different things. 'One of the hurdles is making vaccine doses, obviously AstraZeneca can do that and that is a good thing but that is very different to having the data that proves that the vaccine actually works. 'We need to have those data to show that it is ready and appropriate to roll out. It may take quite some time to get that data, it is a numbers game. 'And in fact as we are better at reducing the number of infections in the UK it gets much harder to test whether the vaccine works or not. 'There are no certainties, no guarantees in developing any of these candidates so I think it is important not to have a false expectation that it is just around the corner. 'It may be longer than any of us would want to think.' AstraZeneca said it has now finalised its agreement with Oxford University for the 'recombinant adenovirus vaccine', which will now be known as AZD1222. Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, said: 'This pandemic is a global tragedy and it is a challenge for all of humanity. 'We need to defeat the virus together or it will continue to inflict huge personal suffering and leave long-lasting economic and social scars in every country around the world. 'We are so proud to be collaborating with Oxford University to turn their ground-breaking work into a medicine that can be produced on a global scale. 'We would like to thank the US and UK governments for their substantial support to accelerate the development and production of the vaccine. 'We will do everything in our power to make this vaccine quickly and widely available.' The company said on Thursday that is has received more than one billion US dollars (820 million) from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda) for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine, starting in autumn. It is one of many that are trying to press ahead with plans to make a vaccine, widely considered to be the only way to stop the disease. The virus is so hard to track and so easy to spread that experts believe it will continue to spread through the human population indefinitely if a vaccine cannot be found. Another company, Moderna, this week claimed that a vaccine it is developing was able to 'neutralise' the coronavirus in humans. The value of the company's shares surged by 20 per cent on the announcement. An early study carried out by the US's National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggested that people who were given the vaccine had antibody levels similar to those found in the blood of people who had recovered from COVID-19, hinting at immunity. Moderna noted that the early trial is intended to determine the safety and side effects of the vaccine and, although the early results are promising, it's too soon to say whether the shot candidate can actually block the virus. San Francisco, Calif.-based Woodruff Sawyer today announced Andy Barrengos has been appointed CEO and chairman by the board of directors. Stan Loar is to be honored with the title of chairman emeritus. In addition, Woodruff Sawyers board has introduced the new position of presiding director, which will rotate annually among board committee chairs. Chuck Shoemaker, Woodruff Sawyers senior vice president and audit chair, will take on this position effective immediately. Loar joined Woodruff Sawyer and its board in 1976, and became the firms CEO in 1995, vice chair in 2008 and chairman in 2013. Loar has been involved in the global insurance community for more than 50 years. He has held key leadership roles in major industry organizations worldwide, including as a current board member of the World Federation of Insurance Intermediaries and of Bermuda captive PAR Ltd. He is the former chairman of both Assurex Global and the Western Association of Insurance Brokers, and was the treasurer and a board member of the National Association of Insurance Brokers. He also served as a member of the board for CIAB for several decades. Barrengos was named CEO in 2016, becoming Woodruff-Sawyers sixth CEO in the 102-year history of the firm. Barrengos joined Woodruff Sawyer in 1996. Woodruff Sawyer is one of the largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the country, servicing of more than 4,000 companies. The firm has offices throughout the US, and global reach on six continents. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Tamil Nadu on 21 May, 1991 in a suicide bombing attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes to former PM Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary on 21 May. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Tamil Nadu on 21 May, 1991 in a suicide bombing attack. This year marks the 29th death anniversary of the former prime minister. The youngest person to have become the prime minister of India at 40, he had assumed office after the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi in 1984. Modi shared a message on Twitter to pay his respects to the former prime minister. Rajiv Gandhi's son Rahul Gandhi too shared a heartfelt note in memory of his father. The Congress MP called his father a patriot, liberal and philanthropist. As Prime Minister, Rajiv ji has put the country on the path of progress. With his forward-looking empowerment he has taken necessary steps. Today I am on his death anniversary I salute them with affection and gratitude, he wrote. In memory of my beloved father, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, who was martyred this day in 1991. He was a wonderful father; gentle, kind, compassionate & patient. I miss him. But he will always stay alive in my heart & in the wonderful memories I have of him. #RememberingRajivGandhi pic.twitter.com/bFO8CZoExN Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 21, 2020 Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared her last photo with her father along with a poignant message. She wrote, To be kind to those who are unkind to you; to know that life is fair, no matter how unfair you imagine it to be; to keep walking, no matter how dark the skies or fearsome the storm; To nurture a strong heart, and fill it with love no matter how great its sorrows; these are the gifts of my fathers life. To be kind to those who are unkind to you; to know that life is fair, no matter how unfair you imagine it to be; to keep walking, no matter how dark the skies or fearsome the storm; .. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/pQpwFfTqIE Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) May 21, 2020 Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah wrote, His vision to improve technological capabilities of our country has enabled our country to tackle global issues better than developed countries. Sincere tributes to former Prime Minister Shri. Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. His vision to improve technological capabilities of our country has enabled our country to tackle global issues better than developed countries.@INCIndia @INCKarnataka pic.twitter.com/i6XpUnNX5A Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 21, 2020 The Congress party shared a short clip highlighting the vision of the sixth prime minister of India. Rajiv Gandhi, who was born in Bombay on 20 August, 1944, lived a largely apolitical life initially and entered the political arena after the demise of his brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash in 1980. In India, 21 May is also observed as Anti-Terrorism Day to commemorate the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. The day was first announced under the VP Singh government and is observed annually to highlight the importance of fighting terrorism. A former White House butler who served 11 presidents has died at 91 after contracting the coronavirus, his granddaughter confirmed to NBC News on Thursday. Wilson Roosevelt Jerman was one of the White Houses longest-serving employees, remembered fondly by former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday. He was a lovely man, the Bushes said. He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned. Former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton said that she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were saddened to hear of Jerman's death. "Jerman served as a White House butler across 11 presidencies and made generations of first families feel at home, including ours," Clinton said. "Our warmest condolences to his loved ones. Jerman began his White House career as a cleaner in 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and then was promoted during the Kennedy presidency, his granddaughter Jamila Garrett said. A meticulous man, but natural charmer with an easy smile, Jerman was one of the few White House staffers trusted to take the Kennedy children to different parts of the White House. Jackie O actually promoted him to a butler because of the relationship, Garrett said. She was instrumental in ensuring that that happened. To this day, a pair of paintings signed by Jacqueline Kennedy and John Kennedy hang in Jerman's Washington, D.C., home. In addition to the close bond Jerman formed with the Kennedys, Garrett said Lyndon Johnson made sure that Jerman had what he needed to take care of his five children when his first wife died. Jerman also came to know multiple generations of the Bush family particularly well, Garrett said. And even though he worked with multiple administrations over the decades, Jerman never complained about the various personalities he encountered at the White House, Garrett said. Story continues "He was always proud of his work, and that translated to us," said Garrett. Garrett, who grew up with Jerman in a multi-generational Washington, D.C., household including her mother, her sister, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents said a table with full place settings was a part of every meal at home. The way to set a table, the way to speak and the way to dress for different occasions were a regular part of conversations. Jerman's appreciation for the proper way to do things and the value of honest hard work are a part of his legacy, Garrett said. "Even our parties at home looked like White House parties," said Garrett. "He would scallop radishes and make them look like swans. He would make animals out of watermelon scoops. He was very creative. Presentation was everything." Jerman was, after all, a man who shined his own shoes every night and donned suspenders daily. In the early 1990s, Jerman retired from the White House. But he returned to work part-time in the Obama White House, an opportunity he treasured, Garrett said. A photo of Jerman with Barack and Michelle Obama was included in Becoming, the former first lady's memoir. The photo of him in Obamas book combined with Jermans overall legacy has helped the family cope with his loss, according to his granddaughter. Michelle Obama, in a statement provided to NBC News, said Jerman "helped make the White House a home for decades of first families, including ours." His services to others his willingness to go above and beyond for the country he loved and all those whose lives he touched is a legacy worthy of his generous spirit, Obama said. We were lucky to have known him. Jerman stopped working a second time in 2012. That's when he truly retired. Born in Seaboard, North Carolina, in 1929, Jerman began working at 12-years-old to help support his family, Garrett said. The work was mostly field labor on farms, requiring Jerman to leave school. In the early 1950s, Jerman became one of millions of African Americans who migrated north to major cities in hopes of better work, pay and living conditions. Jerman arrived alone in Washington, D.C., and a short time later after securing catering work on the Georgetown party circuit brought his wife and children North to join him. At one of those parties, Jerman met Eugene Allen, a black man already working on the White House service staff who would go on to become head butler and the inspiration for the 2013 film, "The Butler." Allen encouraged Jerman to apply for work at the White House. Jerman is survived by four of his five children, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. I want the world to remember my grandfather as someone who was really authentic, Garrett told Fox 5 DC. Always being yourself. Thats what he taught our family, thats what thrives throughout our family. And thats what well continue to carry on, his legacy. CORRECTION (May 21, 2020, 12:25 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misstated who confirmed Jermans death. It was his granddaughter, not his daughter. A freight train loaded with cars, accessories, food and clothing set off Wednesday from north China's Tianjin Municipality to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. This was the first train on the China-Europe freight route that departed from Tianjin Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) since it was established in 2015. The goods from Japan and the Republic of Korea arrived at the port of Tianjin before being transported to its destination via the port of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous. The whole journey is 1,583 km and takes about five days. From January to April, a total of 2,920 China-Europe freight trains transported cargo of 262,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), up 24 percent and 27 percent from a year earlier, respectively. UroMems, a Grenoble, France-based developer and manufacturer of the electronic artificial urinary sphincter (eAUS), raised 16m in a combination of equity and debt financing. The round was led by Hil-Invent GmbH, with co-investor Financiere Arbevel. Existing UroMems investors, including Wellington Partners, Bpifrance, via its FABS fund, Cita Investissement, Supernova Invest and btov Partners also participated in this financing, as well as the companys founders. The debt financing was provided by a syndicate including Bpifrance, BNP Paribas, Caisse dEpargne, Credit Agricole and Banque Populaire. In connection with the financing, Friedrich Hillebrand, PhD, President of Hil-Invent and Louis Geslin, PhD, Private Equity Portfolio Manager at Financiere Arbevel, have agreed to join the companys Board of Directors. The proceeds of the financing are expected to fund ongoing preclinical studies and the initiation of the first clinical studies of UroMems eAUS device, which is being developed for the treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI). Founded in 2011 by Pr Pierre Mozer, Hamid Lamraoui and Stephane Lavallee, UroMems focuses on designing, developing and commercializing active implantable medical devices. The eAUS is an active implantable medical device which compensates for sphincter insufficiency in patients with SUI. Protected by over 80 patents, it is based on the latest technologies in embedded intelligent systems and software. FinSMEs 20/05/2020 Passengers wanting to travel by trains within Maharashtra will not be permitted to do so. Inter district train travel within Maharashtra will not be allowed from June 1, the railways ministry said in a notification Thursday evening. Tickets of passengers whose originating and terminating stations are in Maharashtra will be cancelled, the notification said. Maharashtra government has informed Railways that inter-district travel is prohibited within the state of Maharashtra. It is therefore, desired that tickets of all the passengers whose originating and terminating stations fall within Maharashtra be cancelled and full refund be given without deduction of any cancellation charges. It is desired that till further orders, inter-state booking within Maharashtra should not be permitted. the notice read. However, passengers wanting to travel outside Maharashtra will be permitted to travel. Indian railways will commence operation of 200 passenger trains from June 1 across India. The trains will be operated alongside Shramik special trains that are being used to evacuate migrant workers. According to an earlier order, booking for the tickets started on Thursday morning and were only to be available on the Indian Rail Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website. However, late Thursday evening, the Railway Board said reservation counters, common service centres for booking reserved tickets will open on Friday. Zonal railways will decide the number of counters to be opened as per requirement. Washington: America has once again reprimanded Pakistan for adopting a low attitude on terrorism. A top US diplomat said the Trump administration was not happy with the steps being taken against Pakistan's terrorist groups and was pressuring Islamabad to wipe out such organizations. He also expressed displeasure over Pakistan's action against terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The outgoing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Alice Wells, said that Pakistan has taken some important steps to end terrorism, but it is not sustainable. Wells said, 'I don't consider these steps permanent, but these are important steps. Whether it is the prosecution and conviction of Hafiz Saeed, the confiscation of assets, we need to focus on this and work with our international partners. ' Participating in a discussion with former US ambassador to India Richard Verma, Wales also said, 'We will definitely continue to support practical steps that India and Pakistan can take to reduce mutual tension' At the same time, they will continue to pressure Pakistan to take credible steps to eliminate terrorist groups. Also Read: Now people will work only 4 days in week in New Zealand Imran Khan's absurd statement, India can attack Pakistan anytime Many countries of world turn against China on Corona, WHO forced this proposal Parliament Session will start in China from tomorrow Police at the scene of the attempted bomb attack (File photo) A 35-year-old man has been arrested in Scotland in connection with the attempted murder of an off duty PSNI officer. The officer had an under-vehicle improvised explosive device placed under his car in Eglinton on June 18 2015. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, of the PSNI Major Investigation Team, said: I would like to thank Police Scotland colleagues for their help in arresting the man in the Glasgow area by virtue of a court warrant on suspicion of attempting to murder a police officer and possession of explosives with intent to endanger life. He is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court via video link from Musgrave Custody Suite on Friday, May 22 2020." The arrest follows a direction on the charges by the Public Prosecution Service following which a European Arrest Warrant was issued in 2017 to extradite the man from the Republic of Ireland. However, he fled the jurisdiction and on Thursday he was arrested in Scotland and transported back to Northern Ireland. The police investigation into this incident remains active. Leaders of several opposition parties are set to discuss the plight of migrant workers trying to reach home on foot amid the nationwide lockdown on Friday. A meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon will see the leaders of around 20 opposition parties come together on a common platform through video-conferencing. They will discuss the joint opposition strategy moving forward on the migrants issue. Besides, they will also deliberate on the dilution of labour laws in some states. Sources said around 17 opposition parties, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, have agreed to take part in the meeting, which will also focus on the problems being faced by farmers. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee has said she will attend the meeting. Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has also confirmed his participation. The meeting will be held at 3 pm, they said, adding the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have not confirmed their participation. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not take part in the meeting, said party leader Sanjay Singh. The leaders are also likely to discuss the issue of economic package and raise objections to no direct cash being given to crores of migrants suffering due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, added the sources. They said that after losing their livelihood in the wake of the economy coming to a standstill due to the complete lockdown, the migrant workers are left with no money or food and the government has done nothing for them. The Congress chief personally called several opposition leaders and sought their cooperation in chalking out a joint strategy to address the issue of the stranded migrants, the sources said. Yechury is expected to urge the opposition parties to jointly raise the demand of immediate implementation of direct cash transfer of Rs 7,500 to migrants and poor people by the Centre. He will also seek distribution of 10 kg of foodgrains per month for free to the needy for the next six months, besides free transportation for all migrant workers to their native places. The left parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), will also demand a reversal of the unilateral decision to dilute labour laws by some states. Yechury is likely to raise the issue of procurement of the "rabi" crops and minor forest produce at the minimum support price (MSP), besides provision of seeds, fertilisers and other inputs to the farmers preparing for the "kharif" crops. He will also seek stopping of the communal profiling, targeting and arrest of peaceful protesters, besides demanding the release of all political prisoners, particularly those arrested in Jammu and Kashmir and jailed inside and outside the Union Territory. CPI leader D Raja said his party will participate in the opposition meet and raise the issue of some states diluting labour laws. Rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which came into effect on March 25, and desperate to get home, thousands of migrant workers across the country are undertaking long and arduous journeys to their native places on foot, bicycles or packed into trucks. Many of them have been killed in accidents. The Opposition has criticised the government over its handling of the migrant crisis. (With inputs from PTI) The Cyber Cell of Maharashtra police has warned people not to fall prey to a racket which installs malware on mobile phones and steals data through links to fake websites of a global pen brand. Since lockdown for coronavirus began, the Cyber Cell is keeping a close watch on any new modus operandi adopted by online fraudsters, said a police official on Thursday. The cell has come across five fake websites of the pen brand, he said. Fraudsters send links to these websites through WhatsApp and text messages, saying that these sites are offering heavy discounts on the merchandise of the brand. Once the user visits the site, the malware gets activated and can steal information such as card details, passwords and information about Internet bank accounts, the official said. People should not click on such links, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US says hard to assess level of autonomy in Hong Kong after recent incidents, including arrest of veteran politicians. China has accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of blackmailing the Hong Kong government with the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, saying on Thursday the US administrations recent actions amounted to blatant interference in Chinas internal affairs. Pompeo said on Wednesday the recent treatment of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong made it harder to assess whether the territory remains highly autonomous from China, a requirement for the special treatment afforded to the city under American law. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministrys office of the commissioner to Hong Kong said in a statement that Pompeos actions could not scare the Chinese people and that Beijing would safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests. Hong Kong has been governed under one country, two systems since it was returned to China in 1997. The framework affords the territory freedoms that are not allowed anywhere else on the mainland, but concerns that those freedoms are being curtailed has helped fuel a growing movement for democracy. Mass protests that began last year over a now-abandoned extradition bill which would have allowed suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial have begun to re-emerge in recent weeks as physical distancing measures imposed as a result of the coronavirus have been relaxed. But pro-democracy groups remain under pressure, with 15 people, including veteran politicians, a publishing tycoon and senior lawyers, arrested in April in a move that drew condemnation from the United States, Europe and international rights groups. They were formally charged under colonial-era laws on Monday with organising and attending the protests, with five people facing more serious charges that carry a penalty of as many as five years in prison. Pompeo said a congressionally-mandated State Department assessment of the territorys autonomy was still pending. We are closely watching whats going on there, he told a news conference. Leading Hong Kong activists like Martin Lee and Jimmy Lai were hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to assess that Hong Kong remains highly autonomous from mainland China. China has regularly dismissed popular discontent in Hong Kong claiming instead that foreigners are behind the rallies. The Delhi High Court has said that a lack of social distancing, by itself, may not be valid grounds for inmates of the Tihar jail to seek interim bail, as there is no reported case of Covid-19 within the boundaries of the jail. The court, while rejecting an inmates bail application, also said that jails are more secure since they are insulated from outside human traffic. A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar noted that in several status reports, they have been informed that although it may not be possible to maintain social distancing norms in jails, masks are being provided to the inmates. We have called for status reports in several other similar cases, and we have been informed that though it may not be possible to maintain social distancing norms in jails, masks are being provided to the inmates. By their very nature, jails are more protected areas since they are insulated from outside human traffic. Therefore, a lack of social distancing norms, by itself, may not be grounds to seek interim bail when there is no reported case of Covid-19 within the four walls of the jail (Tihar), the court said. The order was issued while hearing a plea by an inmate, who had sought bail. It was contended that the incarceration of the appellant has led to his wife suffering from anxiety, due to which he should be released on interim bail. The court, rejecting this claim, said that if this submission was to be accepted, then such a reason would be presented as an argument to seek interim or regular bail in every case where a convict is undergoing a life sentence or long-term sentence. In our view, unless there is some material to show that the appellants (accused) wife is undergoing some significant psychological or mental illness, the plea cannot be considered for grant of interim bail, the court said in the order, dated May 20. The counsel for the jail had told the court that there is no reported case of Covid-19 in the Tihar jail, where the accused has been lodged. She further told the court that, on inquiry, it was found that the inmates wife is living alone but could not produce any document to show that she is undergoing treatment for anxiety, which is grounds to seek interim bail. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday also directed the jail superintendent, Central jail, Rohini, to look into the complaint of a prisoner who had alleged harassment by three inmates, in collusion with the police officials. Advocate Kamna Vohra, additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, refuted the allegations, stating that there is no proof to substantiate the bald claims made the family members of the accused. The court said even though there is merit in the submissions of the counsel, the superintendent would look into the matter and in case it is found that he was/is being ill-treated or harassed by the inmates or any jail officer, take appropriate action against them and provide the inmate necessary protection and medical treatment. Well before the sun set, I crawled into my tent and changed into pajamas, feeling more freedom and glee than Id felt in months. I considered my fortune during this time: I have my health, a pantry full of food, almost enough work, a human and dog I love sharing my life with, and friends who drop off fresh-baked bread or cutout hearts that say Stay strog [sic] in marker. And now, I even had a vacation what a luxury. I gave myself permission, for the evening, to stop thinking about friends who are sick, family members at risk, people out of work, food management in my kitchen, the teddy bear on my windowsill. With Memorial Day approaching, beaches are reopening. Cities are letting restaurants seat people outside and closing streets to encourage foot traffic. Many parks are also letting people back in. Stay-at-home orders have been eased in many cities this week just as temperatures are warming up for the holiday weekend. And many of the changes have a distinct feature: They allow for outdoor activities. A growing scientific consensus around the spread of the coronavirus has given the OK for people to be outdoors but with some very important caveats. The developments are balanced by concern that people will view the changes as a license to ignore other recommendations, such as social distancing and wearing masks. Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak "Based on the data that is emerging, the risk of transmission outside especially while practicing social distancing is almost negligible," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician and associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. "It seems to be a low-risk setting, but that doesn't mean there is no risk." Some cities are taking note and preparing for more people to spend time outside. Seattle officials announced that 20 miles of streets will be closed to traffic, giving people more space to exercise, bike or stroll. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Wednesday that bars and restaurants could reopen with outdoor seating in the third phase of his reopening strategy. Ohio did the same last week, allowing restaurants and bars to open for diners outside. And some New York City streets are being converted into bicycle and pedestrian roads to give people more space to remain physically distant. But the reopenings aren't meant to let people drop their guard while the pandemic remains a serious risk. And while spending time outdoors may be safe, experts said, gatherings in enclosed spaces still pose particular dangers. "In settings where people are clustered together in an enclosed space that's a really good setup for spreading this infection," Bogoch said. Story continues Experts generally agree that it's safe to spend time outdoors, provided that people follow social distancing guidelines and practice good hygiene. Although some early research has suggested that the virus could remain on certain surfaces for days or linger in tiny droplets in the air, scientists say there is no evidence yet that the bulk of transmissions has occurred this way. Still, there are ways people can keep themselves and their families safe while venturing outside, Bogoch said. Chief among his guidelines is to always practice proper social distancing, which means staying at least 6 feet apart from others. Frequent hand-washing is also essential, he said. And he recommended wearing a mask or some other type of face covering when social distancing is challenging or impossible. Image: Beach football in Florida (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images) But for most people walking around or running outdoors, there's no need to be too anxious. "If you're on a jog in a park without too many other people around or if you're walking down the street and can maintain some distance even if someone just passes you on the street the risk of getting something in that setting is very low," Bogoch said. Scientists think most coronavirus cases resulted from close contact with infected people, particularly in enclosed spaces, such as restaurants or bars. Three studies published recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined coronavirus transmissions in three settings: a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, a call center in Seoul, South Korea, and a choir practice in Washington state. In each of the reports, scientists found that interactions in these confined spaces including talking and singing were likely to have contributed to outbreaks among people who had been present. Although most states are limiting occupancy to control the flow of customers and diners, scientists said there are potential concerns beyond the crowds, such as whether an indoor space is well ventilated. "You don't want the air to be stuffy," said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech whose research specializes in viral transmissions. "With good ventilation, you can bring in fresh air and remove the virus from indoor air to prevent it from spreading. But in general, being outdoors is almost always better than being indoors." The CDC studies also said ventilation in the indoor spaces was likely to have played a role in transmitting the pathogen. "If you're indoors and you can't practice physical distancing, then you are certainly at a greater risk," Bogoch said. Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak While limiting contact with those in the household is likely to be the safest approach, he said, it's safe to meet up with friends or family if social distancing is practiced. The measures will be especially important this Memorial Day weekend if people seek to spend the holiday at public beaches or parks. Navigating gradual reopenings will require a degree of social trust that people will take their responsibilities seriously, said Joseph Allen, an assistant professor of exposure assessment science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We should view going to parks and other activities that are starting to be reopened as a privilege and one that can be revoked quickly if we demonstrate we're unable to abide by these rules," Allen said Tuesday in a news briefing. And Marr said that as more restrictions are eventually eased and lockdowns are lifted, it's important that people not become lax about social distancing and hand-washing. "The safest thing to do is assume that anybody could be infected," she said. Boss Mustapha the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 pandemic, has denied knowledge of Madagascar demanding 170,000 Euros from the Federal Government for herbal drugs which arrived the country days ago. Mustapha who reacted to claim of the Nigerian government being asked to pay 170,000 for the Madagascar herbal mixture delivered to President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday May 16, by the visiting President of Guinea Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo, said same mixture was taken to other African countries without an invoice. According to him, when he took delivery of the sealed herbal mixture, he was not handed an invoice, which would have indicated if there was a cost. He said; In terms of the question of whether it comes with a cost. It was handed to me without an invoice so I assume it doesnt come with a cost. Thats my assumption. For that, I think the Madagascar issue and the Chinese issue should be laid to rest. I think we have said repeatedly hear that we did not ask for the Madagascar consignment, it was given by the government of Madagascar to African countries as their contribution to wanting to find solution to the COVID-19 pandemic and we have repeatedly said our consignment and those of West African countries, was dropped off at Guinea Bissau and that we were making arrangements to go and airlift it. As God would have it, the President of Guinea Bissau decided to visit our President last Saturday and when he was coming, he came with our consignment of five cartons and those five cartons were delivered to me yesterday in the evening, sealed, without a bottle out of it. Im going to engage the Minister of Health who has the responsibility of validation, through his institutions that are chartered by law to do that. The President was upfront with that even when he took delivery of it from the President of Guinea Bissau. He said it quite clear of what we are going to do with the consignment would be guided by science, under the processes of validation, well now know where to go. The SGF who further disclosed that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in all systems of the world, even of the so-called superpowers, stated that it would be a huge mistake for Nigerians to desire to go back to their old ways. Mustapha added; New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has held that private unaided schools, which have been allotted land by the land owning agency without the condition of seeking prior nod of the DoE for increasing fees, can hike the fees without obtaining such approval. Justice C Hari Shankar said the Directorate of Education (DoE) will have the jurisdiction to interfere with the statement of fees submitted to it by a school only if it finds that the proposed increase in fee would result in profiteering and, thereby, in commercialisation of education. The high court's judgement came while setting aside a July 18, 2017 order of the DoE to the extent that Ramjas School, R K Puram, cannot increase fee for the academic session 2016-17 and in case, hiked fee has already been charged from the parents, it shall be refunded or adjusted. "The impugned order, dated July 18, 2017, issued by the DoE, is quashed and set aside, to the extent of Directions therein, with consequential relief to the petitioner (Ramjas School),? the high court said. It added, "It is clarified that, in the case of an unaided school, which has not been allotted land, by the land owning agency, subject to the condition that prior approval of the DoE is required to be obtained before increasing its fees, the school would not be required to obtain any such prior approval, before increasing its fees in any ensuing academic session." It further said, "The DoE would have the jurisdiction to interfere, with the statement of fees submitted by such school under Section 17(3) of the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act, only by returning a positive finding that, in the light of the existing financial position of the school, the proposed increase in fee would result in profiteering, and, thereby, in commercialisation of education, and not otherwise." According to Ramjas School, it was allotted land by the Land and Development Office (L & DO) in 1974 and there was no clause in any of the documents relating to allotment of land to the institution, requiring to obtain prior approval of the DoE before increase of fees. The school was not subject to any 'land clause' and it was a private unaided school which received no aid from the DoE or from any governmental authority, and was, therefore, dependent on the fees collected by it to administer its affairs, it said. According to the school, the autonomy available to a private unaided school in the management of its affairs extends to fixation of its fees and the DoE cannot arrogate to itself the best discretion in that regard. It said the DoE cannot opine that the surplus funds, available with a private unaided school, were more than sufficient to manage its affairs and, therefore, no justification for increase of fees existed. The DoE, represented through Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh, contended that the power vested in the DoE to ensure that the schools do not indulge in commercialisation of education extends to interfering with the manner in which fees are fixed by the institution. Fixation of fees by the school in such a manner as would result in collections grossly in excess of the expenses incurred by the school may amount to commercialisation of education by the school and would justify interference by the DoE, it said. The school had said it was 50-year-old and its furniture and fixtures had become totally outdated, requiring urgent upgradation and replacement, so that it could remain at par with the neighbouring schools and the expenses were incurred for the benefit of students alone. The Victorian government should scrap outdated laws that criminalise children from the age of 10, youth justice leaders say. Minister for Youth Justice Ben Carroll launched a broad strategic plan for the next decade on Thursday with a focus on early intervention and investment in youth justice workers. But a strong commitment to raising the age of criminal responsibility was missing from the report, Smart Justice for Young People said. Australia-wide, the youngest age at which a child can be charged with a criminal offence is 10. The government said that in its youth justice plan it would implement recommendations from the Council of Australian Attorneys-General, which is reviewing the age of criminal responsibility. Dr. Arthur A. Kezians Dental office is making a limited reopening. The office has made significant changes in protocol in order to safely treat his patients while limiting the potential spread of the virus. We have already made efforts to increase infection control procedures and introduced amazing technology to eliminate potentially infections aerosols and reduce cross contamination. What does this mean to our patients? Patients can now feel safe to visit the dental office and seek dental treatment without worry that they will come into contact with the virus, or spread it to their community. For more information on safety in dentistry, please visit the following link: https://www.drkezian.com/coronavirus-emergency-dentist/ To maintain consistency with American Dental Association and Center for Disease Control, our dental office will only be providing essential dental services and will limit treatment of non-essential and routine hygiene procedures. Dr. Kezian is proud to announce the several changes that we have implemented in our office so far. The details of these changes can be seen at the following link: https://www.drkezian.com/updated-coronavirus-emergency-dental-services/ One of the measures we have taken include the implementation of an aerosol sucking device that will remove any potentially infectious aerosol that may be generated during a dental procedure. This device is demonstrated in our video which shows how effectively it can remove aerosolized particles from the environment. Another measure is the introduction of hospital grade HEPA 550 air scrubbers which cleanse the air throughout the office. A third is the introduction of new personal protective equipment, or PPE. And a fourth is new social distancing and screening protocols in appointment scheduling and within the waiting room. Our dental services will still be offered will be in the case of situations where a patients condition would worsen if they did not seek treatment. This includes fillings, root canals or endodontics, gum treatments or periodontics, and dentures, crowns and bridges or prosthodontics. We will also continue to emergency dental procedures such as the treatment of trauma, pain, and infection, we are proud to provide services for essential treatments. What is considered an essential dental treatment? We take pride in implementing these new safety procedures in our office to prevent the spread of the virus and defend our community. Dr. Kezian is dedicated to the health and safety of both his patients and the greater community which he is a part of. We are staying accessible to our patients in this trying time to take care of their dental needs. Everyone must do their part to help each other in this difficult period, and Dr. Kezian is devoted to providing essential dental care for those in need. If you would like more information about any of the aforementioned treatments, would like to schedule essential dental treatment, please feel free to contact Dr. Arthur A. Kezian DDS and staff by calling (323) 467-2777. You could also schedule an appointment to meet the doctor through our convenient online scheduling system. https://www.drkezian.com/dental-appointment/ Please visit Dr. Kezians website to find out more about this office located in Larchmont Village. Dr. Arthur A. Kezian DDS 443 N. Larchmont Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90004 (323) 467-2777 http://www.drkezian.com 20.05.2020 LISTEN Ghanas number one television platform, TV3 Network has this week announced the return of the most popular beauty reality show and one of the most sought after programmes on Ghanaian television; Ghanas Most Beautiful (GMB). Four Ghanaian celebrities, Lydia Forson, Prince David Osei, Salma Mumin and Adjetey Annan are this year joining TV3 to scout the entire country to find the sixteen (16) beauties to compete in the 2020 Ghanas Most Beautiful. The registration process for this years edition of GMB is currently underway and this commences the search for the most beautiful Ghanaian woman. GMB is open to Ghanaian women between the ages of eighteen (18) and twenty-eight (28) years in tertiary institutions and fluent in English and at least one Ghanaian language. Ladies interested in participating in this years edition of GMB are to logon to www.3news.com to complete a participation form then proceed to submit an introductory video of themselves to the WhatsApp numbers; 020 909 4853 / 024 184 4159. Shortlisted applicants will have virtual auditions via Skype, Facebook, and Whatsapp. Apart from the brand new car, cash amount, and one year supply of wardrobe at stake for the ultimate winner, all six finalists at this years GMB will be rewarded with a fun trip to the beautiful city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. If you are a lady and have what it takes to the most beautiful Ghanaian woman, step forward now to be counted amongst the sixteen 2020 GMB contestants! In a 2,700-word article published on May 19, German daily Junge Welt cited studies and assessments of President Ho Chi Minh by international politicians, historians, and researchers. The article traced the life and career of the late leader, from his departure to seek national salvation until the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and then the adoption of policies for reconstruction and national development. Cuban and Latin American newspapers also published articles honouring President Ho Chi Minhs revolutionary ideas and career. Cuban media agencies also ran congratulations from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba to its Vietnamese counterpart on the memorable milestone, emphasising the sincere and unbreakable friendship between the two countries. The portal of South American TV channel TeleSur has an article on the Presidents important position in global history, saying he is remembered as one of the smartest and most effective leaders in the socialist struggle. Vietnams struggle and its heritage relating to President Ho Chi Minh serve as inspiration for countries that have been occupied or suffer from military violence, it said. Meanwhile, Indias Moderndiplomacy magazine spotlighted his ideas on world peace, saying he always expressed a desire for common interest and loyalty to the nation. The President was equally concerned with regard to peace in Asia and the world, it said. The resonance in President Ho Chi Minhs ideas was primarily aimed at bringing about global peace through anti-colonialism and reducing the influence of imperialist powers so that development and growth could be ushered in among newly-independent nations, it noted. In letters the President sent to various leaders, he always strived for global peace and development, it added. One hand flicking open a fan, the other raising bunny headbands in the air, Thao looks like she is dancing to a DJs cue. Thao, a street seller, shows her fans and bunny headbands to bar goers on Bui Vien Street in Saigon on May 16, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. She is not: the veteran hawker is trying to interest prospective customers on Bui Vien Street in Saigon. Thao has a basket filled with lighters, hair ties, fake leather wallets tied to her torso. But international tourists, her normal customers, are long gone. Bui Vien is to Saigon what Khao San Road is to Bangkok. The nightlife on this street can usually be heard blocks away and is in the Saigon bucket list on every travel guide. However, the place is quieter these days and less crowded, leaving workers like Thao with empty pockets. Thao says: "I did not work for three months because of the pandemic. I just started working today." She is from Thanh Hoa Province in the north-central region. When Vietnam ramped up its Covid-19 containment measures, people like Thao could not work from home. The 49 year-old and her speech-impaired teenage son returned to Thanh Hoa and lived on loans and meager food supplies during the period. The two had traveled the 1,400 kilometers from her hometown to Saigon many years ago so that she could earn some money and her son could go to a good school. Vietnam announced a 22-day social distancing campaign from April 1 during which most businesses were ordered shut and congregations were restricted. Even earlier, on March 28, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had ordered all non-essential businesses like restaurants, beer shops and other places of amusement closed as the country entered a critical stage in its pandemic battle. When the social distancing campaign ended, Bui Vien Street reopened for business on May 8. But Thao has not seen much change in her fortunes since the country is yet to allow foreign tourists back in after turning them away on March 18. Pointing at the bunny ear headbands on her head, she says: "Foreign tourists are my buyers. Vietnamese only buy stuff like this sometimes, like during holiday seasons." Thanh, a fruit seller, also misses the tourists. She says: "Europeans like to eat mango and mangosteen. Malaysians, South Koreans, Vietnamese like durian. Before the epidemic, I could not peel fruits fast enough for customers. I sold dozens of kilograms every day. But now I cannot sell even half of that." The 55-year-old knows what she does is not legal, and admits she is constantly chased away by local authorities or has her cart confiscated. Thanh, a fruit seller, on Bui Vien Street on May 16, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. Like Thao, Thanh too went back to her hometown during the semi lockdown and farmed, the poorly paying job she had quit to flee to Saigon in the first place. She lives in a rented room with nine other people in District 1 for a million dong ($43) a month. Thanh does not remember when exactly she came from her hometown in the central province of Quang Ngai to Saigon, but she knows she left when her daughter was young to earn money for her schooling, and the latter is going to graduate from university soon. From 5 a.m. every day she pushes her cart through Saigons labyrinthine streets. Bui Vien, where she used to make a considerable amount of her sales, would be her final destination before she returned to her room at 11 p.m. About a kilometer from the street near Saigons iconic Ben Thanh Market, Ducs sugarcane and smoothie stand also struggles to sell anything. Ducs menu is in English, Malaysian and Korean, indicating who her main customers are. "Hello sir, sugarcane juice?" she asks a European couple passing by, but they are not interested. Duc depends on the popularity of Ben Thanh night market, a magnet for both international and Vietnamese visitors prior to the coronavirus outbreak. The 73-year-old, who has been selling here for nine years, said the night market has been allowed to reopen, but stall owners are not keen because there are not many visitors. Across the street from her stand, a popular cafe chain has already enticed youngsters. The Hanoi woman says: "I was not working for 2.5 months. I stayed at home. I used to sell 140 kilograms of sugarcane a day before the epidemic." She also has a long list of fruit smoothies and beer. Duc, a smoothie and sugarcane juice seller, stands next to her cart with signs listing prices in English, Malaysian and Korean, May 16, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. The 73-year-old has four sons, all of whom are married with children, but all are struggling to make ends meet since the outbreak began. The Covid-19 pandemic has cost nearly five million Vietnamese workers their jobs as of mid-April, bringing Q1 employment figures to a 10-year low, according to the General Statistics Office. Informal workers like Duc, Thanh and Thao, who lack social security or an established business, could be among the hardest hit. If they stop working due to an economic downturn or a pandemic like this, they have no income. Millions of workers in the informal economy lack financial health protection, according to a report on Vietnams labor market published last month by the International Labor Organization. Their plight is exacerbated by the fact their businesses are reliant on visitors to Vietnams biggest city. HCMCs foreign visitor numbers plummeted 42 percent year-on-year in the first quarter this year. The country received nearly 3.7 million visitors, down 18.1 percent, according to the General Statistics Office. On Saturday PM Phuc said the countrys borders would remain shut to tourists. Only Vietnamese citizens, foreign investors, experts, skilled workers, business managers, and officials are allowed to enter and only after a 14-day quarantine on arrival. Valentina Barcucci, a labor economist at ILO in Vietnam, said the government was quick to roll out crisis response measures including wage subsidies for formal sector workers and cash transfers for workers who do not have access to social benefits. However, in countries with a relatively large proportion of informal jobs like Vietnam, the measures tend to address either formal workers and the most vulnerable, leaving out the missing middle - workers in the informal sector which is also the hardest to reach, she explained. Informal workers dependent on Vietnams once booming tourism continue to wait for the return of international visitors. Thanh, the fruit seller, said: "Slowly things will get back to normal. I will try but business will be very difficult." The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases. The WHO said that 1,06,662 virus cases reported to the UN agency on Tuesday - the most in a single day since the outbreak erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. As the global death toll topped 3,25,000 and the number of cases crossed five million, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was very concerned about the situation in low- and middle-income nations. More than 93,400 deaths have occurred in the United States, the hardest-hit country, according to Johns Hopkins University. The latest million took 12 days, compared to 11 days that it took for the number to go from three to four million infections. Several hard-hit countries such as Italy and Spain have crossed their peaks and are reopening slowly, but officials have cautioned against a second wave. The number of infections is now equivalent to the population of New Zealand. Data suggests that globally, the deadliest stage of the current phase may have passed. On Wednesday, the fatality rate was 14.23 per cent and the recovery rate 85.77 per cent. Such proportions were last seen before March 24. Brazil, Russia and India are emerging as the new hotspots of the disease. The US, where lockdown protocols have been less strict than most nations, added 20,289 cases on Tuesday to remain on top of the list of countries recording new cases. In less than five months since the disease was first reported - local media in Chinas Wuhan wrote about a mystery respiratory illness on December 31 - much of the world has now come to terms with a new reality in which social distancing is compulsory, masks are increasingly mandatory and much of leisure activities - travelling, dining out and events such as concerts and sport - may be too dangerous till researchers find a vaccine. (TNS) Microsoft President Brad Smith is calling for immediate congressional action to improve broadband connectivity for rural communities by funding it as part of a coronavirus relief package.In a post scheduled to publish Thursday to the Microsoft on the Issues blog, Smith said the funding is urgently needed in the next stimulus bill so millions of additional Americans have access to educational, medical, employment and other services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith said the pandemic and government directives urging 316 million Americans to stay in and work from home if possible have acted as an accelerant thats driven essential activities online and made it imperative to close the broadband gap for those lacking high speed internet.The COVID-19 virus has created a national crisis, Smith wrote. But it has also created an important opportunity. Its time to galvanize the nation and recognize the obvious. Broadband has become the electricity of the 21st century.Well before the end of the 20th century, we recognized that no American should live without electricity. As we embark on the third decade of the 21st century, every American deserves the opportunity to access broadband.Smith said funding is needed in the next stimulus bill to improve connectivity so students and teachers can use remote learning tools by the fall. Others, he said, need more access to doctors and telehealth options and to work from home or file unemployment insurance claims.The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimated last month that about 18 million people nationwide lack access to broadband 14 million in rural areas. But BroadbandNow Research, which tracks high-speed accessibility nationwide, says the FCCs soon-to-be-changed data collection method is flawed counting an entire block of homes as having access if only a single residence achieves a connection and that the actual number of people without broadband is more like 42 million.Smith wants additional funding given to the FCC so it can implement new broadband mapping legislation that will more accurately track the lack of connectivity. From there, he wants Congress to deploy targeted funding to address problem areas so they can be quickly remedied as in providing rural access in time for the start of the next school year with as little bureaucracy as possible.He said the Microsoft Airband Initiative, in which the software giant partners with state and local governments, private companies and nonprofits to increase the reach of broadband , had expanded the service to nearly 600,000 more people in the first three months of this year and 1.2 million overall since the start of last year. Thats up from 24,000 in all of 2018.But he added that the federal government needs to step up and meet us halfway during the pandemic through building greater connectivity in outlying areas.This is especially important, he wrote, because in times of economic downturn, states are more cash-strapped than usual and dont have resources necessary to make these critical investments.And Smith said the need for those investments will extend beyond the current crisis.We will eventually come out the other end of the COVID-19 crisis, but the future that emerges will look different from the world we left when this crisis began, he wrote. The future of commerce, work, medicine, education, and services will have changed and in some instances, permanently. The Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Ilemba Hausa Division in Lagos has been arrested over allegation that he fatally shot one of the policemen in the division. The deceased cop, Sergeant Onalaja Onajide, who was the Station Guard was reportedly shot dead right in front of the division, on May 10, 2020. Various accounts have followed the death of the policeman. However according to one account, the deceased, who had eight holes of pellets wounds in his chest, was shot by an unknown person. Advertisement The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, according to the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Elkana Bala, had ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba for discreet investigation. This decision followed the reports received by the Command alleging the Divisional Police Officer Ilemba Hausa, CSP Yahaya Mohammed Adeshina, of shooting the Sergeant while dispersing crowd that gathered in front of the Station. The DPO is arrested and detained at the State CID for investigation. His rifle is retrieved for forensic examination. The Command has ordered that autopsy be carried out on the deceased person. Read Also: Curfew: Lagos Police Descend On Journalists, Detain TVCs Correspondent The report forwarded to the Headquarters by the DPO on May 16, 2020, at about 3 pm stated that unknown gunmen fired gunshots at the Divisional Police Officer, Ilemba Hausa, and the Station Guard, Sergeant Onalaja Onajide. That while the DPO survived the gunshot, the Station Guard did not. The DPO further reported that two suspects were arrested in connection with the crime. The two suspects initially arrested are suspected to be deserted soldiers. The Command will hand them over to the military authority for further investigation, Bala stated. The owner of a prominent grocery store in Delhis popular Defence Colony market has tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), officials said on Thursday, even as health care workers launched efforts to trace people who may have come in contact with the 53-year-old. Manoj Gupta, the owner of Defence Store in the south Delhi neighbourhood, was admitted to the Max Hospital in Saket on Tuesday after developing flu-like symptoms. He later tested positive for the infectious disease, the Defence Colony residents welfare association said. Seven family members of Gupta and three domestic help were later put under home quarantine as a precaution. The grocery store, which carries both domestic and imported brands of various food and daily use items, was operational with social distancing norms through the lockdown, which was necessitated by the Covid-19 outbreak. Guptas family has decided to keep the store shut till the test results of all staffers and other family members are out. The Defence Colony Market Association said the neighbourhood market over time, it has come to be identified as a popular shopping destination will remain open while adhering to the governments guidelines. The market reopened on Tuesday after the government allowed a graded relaxation of restrictions under the fourth phase of the lockdown. There are 52 commercial establishments in the market, including restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and chemists. Guptas family said he did not visit any location other than the store during the movement restrictions, which have effectively been in place since March 22. We dont know how he got the infection. He did not go anywhere except the store. Our test reports are expected to arrive on Friday. The stores three staff members have also been tested at RML Hospital for Covid-19 and the reports are likely to come in a day or two. We will not reopen the store till all the reports return negative. We have already got the store sanitised and will get it disinfected multiple times before opening, said Pramod Gupta, Manoj Guptas brother. The Delhi government and district administration could not be immediately contacted for a comment regarding tracing Guptas contacts over the past few days. As news of Guptas test result broke, residents began calling the area councillor, Seema Mallik, to have the market disinfected. The colony has over 4,800 housing units spread over five blocks, with a sizeable population of retired government and armed forces personnel. Mallik said: I have got calls from residents and the market association, and will get the entire market sanitised. Gaurav Dhingra, owner of Defence Bakery, said they were trying to spread awareness about the disease among customers. We have been taking all necessary precautions from the beginning. We should not get scared because somebody has tested for the disease here. Rather, we should be supportive and not stigmatise the person and family. We have already asked our customers to wear masks and gloves. Only two customers are allowed inside at a time. We are encouraging contactless payments, he said. The market association has asked owners of all shops in the area to ensure social distancing inside their stores. I have asked owners to display products on tables outside the stores, to ensure social distancing inside the shop, said Rajinder Malik, president, Defence Colony market association. Major (retd) Ranjit Singh, president of the Defence Colony residents welfare association, said: So far, we dont know how he contracted the virus. District health officials have sanitised Guptas residence, his shop and the rest of the market. We will ensure the family gets all the necessary help. Singh sent a message to residents in the colony on Wednesday, informing them about the positive test, and appealing to them not to blame Gupta for contracting the disease or trying to bully the family. Customers of the popular store also appealed that the owner and his family not be stigmatised. We should support them. Its fine to visit the store taking all precautions necessary, said Abhay Sharma, who works in an IT firm in Gurugram, and is a regular customer. Riya Mittal, a Delhi University student who was at Defence Bakery on Thursday, said: Thousands of people have tested positive in Delhi now. We will have to keep going taking all precautions. With the government relaxing the curbs of the lockdown, medical experts say people have to learn to live with the virus. There is no need to panic or worry. We cant sanitise all places because there are so many people who are asymptomatic. People should just follow basic precautions, said Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research. Now that people are stepping out for work, Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital, said: The only thing we can do is take precautions like ensuring social distancing and frequently washing our hands and wearing a mask. Among recent financial results from telecommunications service providers are two contrasting reports from Malaysia. Telekom Malaysia, a leading service provider in Malaysia, with offerings across fixed and wireless, has reported an eight per cent year-on-year drop in group revenue for the quarter ended 31 March 2020. The fall to some $588 million is blamed on lower revenue contribution from all lines of products, including fixed voice and internet. Fixed broadband subscriber numbers have fallen slightly to 2.184 million at the end of March, down from 2.195 million a year earlier. By contrast, Axiata, which is headquartered in Malaysia but operates in a number of countries, has said its financial results for the first quarter of 2020 show modest growth in revenue and EBITDA despite what is called the increasingly challenging operating environment, not to mention coronavirus-related problems. In fact, group revenue increased by 1.5 percent year-on-year to close to $1.4 billion (at present exchange rates), on a reported basis, up from $1.37 billion in the first quarter of 2019. Much of the growth is said to be down to Axiatas operating companies such as XL in Indonesia and Robi in Bangladesh. By contrast, domestic unit Celcom and Ncell in Nepal saw declines. Of course, both companies would have seen limited impact on their latest financial results from the coronavirus, whose effects will no doubt be clearer in the second quarter. Interestingly, Axiata was quoted in a number of press reports as saying that given the uncertainty surrounding the depth and duration of this pandemic and the difficulty in predicting the pace of recovery at this point, it was opting to withdraw its guidance on 2020 headline KPIs. Obviously forecast revenue growth of between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent and EBITDA growth of 4.0-5.5 percent came well before the effects of the pandemic could be known. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Akorn Inc. (AKRX), a specialty pharmaceutical company, said that it filed for voluntary protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to execute an in-court sale of its business. The Chapter 11 cases include Akorn and each of its U.S. subsidiaries. The company's entities in India and Switzerland are not included in the Chapter 11 filing, Akorn said in a statement. The company said it has executed a Restructuring Support Agreement with lenders representing more than 75% of its secured debt. As a result of negotiations, Akorn and certain of its existing lenders have agreed to a Stalking Horse Asset Purchase Agreement whereby the existing lenders will serve as the 'stalking horse' bidder in the court-supervised sale of the business. Other buyers will continue to have the opportunity to improve on this bid for the company. Akorn said it obtained consent to use cash collateral from all of its existing lenders and received commitments from certain of its lenders for $30 million in debtor-in-possession financing. The company noted that it is working to complete the sale process in the third quarter of 2020. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de EASTHAMPTON Three minutes. When a new recreational marijuana shop opens on Cottage Street Monday, customers will get their IDs checked and pay for their product in less than three minutes. Our goal is that they show up and its a very, very quick transaction, said Erik Williams, chief operating officer for Canna Provisions. Williams described the process of checking an ID, handing over a sealed package and using a wireless card ATM reader and then sanitizing the reader after each customer. "Minimal touching," Williams said. Canna Provisions which is in the process of buying the shop, originally called the Verb is Herb, and changing the name to match the companys year-old location in Lee and one soon to open in Holyoke will have the grand opening of its Easthampton shop on the same day recreational marijuana businesses across the state are able to emerge from a state-mandated shutdown to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The Holyoke location at 380R Dwight Street wont open for about three weeks, Williams said, because inspectors from the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission werent doing field visits during the coronavirus shutdown. When the Holyoke shop does open, it will likely be the first recreational marijuana shop in the city. That quick in-and-out isnt the service-heavy business model Canna Provisions started off with. But Williams said the company is already filming videos and setting up remote video links through services like Zoom so it can hold the hands of first-time users electronically and guide them through their choices. But its not happening in the store, he said. Itll definitely affect our sales. Canna Provisions will also reopen its location in Lee, just off exit 2 of the Massachusetts Turnpike near the New York border, on May 25. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced Monday the phased reopening of the industry as part of a wider relaxation of his stay-at-home advisory. Williams, like other marijuana operators, got detailed instructions from the state Cannabis Control Commission Wednesday. New rules require appointments for all customers. Williams aid the goal is to keep everything clean and to keep people from congregating. At the new Easthampton location, meeting the appointment requirement is easy. The city already required appointments at least in the initial period after the grand opening as part of the stores special use permit, Williams said. Canna will set folks up with a half-hour window for pickup when they place their order. "We cant have people congregating," he said. "If too many people are there at one time, we'll have to tell people to wait in their car or walk around the block or something." In Easthampton, curbside wont really be curbside. People will have to get out of their cars and complete the sale either in the vestibule or immediately outside. Cash transactions can only happen in the vestibule, per Cannabis Control Commission rules. Its hard to offer drive-thru service at the downtown location on a narrow, busy street, Williams said. But he said the city has been cooperative and theyll probably have a few dedicated spots out front. The Lee shop will have a drive-thru setup with designated lanes in the parking lot. Canna Provisions has arranged for overflow parking at a neighboring Super 8 motel where customers can park and wait for their time to move into the pickup line. The Holyoke location will have a drive-thru similar to the one in Lee. "There we have the perfect setup for it," Williams said. "It's a big circular parking lot." Williams said it's exciting just to get back in business. "It's been disappointing. Massachusetts is the state that shut down adult use," he said "It's been really really hard on us." Canna Provisions stopped work on its cultivation operation in Lee to avoid spending down its cash reserves. That project is now delayed. He also furloughed many of his 70 employees and is now in the process of bringing them back. When the Holyoke shop opens, the company will have more than 100 employees, Williams said. He is concerned about the marijuana industry in the short term. Certain people, I expect are not going to survive this, Williams said. But I do expect the industry to ramp back up to where it was. Related Content: PORTLAND, Ore. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Smarsh, helping customers get ahead and stay ahead of the risk within their electronic communications, today announced the acquisition of Entreda, the award-winning developer of integrated cybersecurity risk and compliance management software and services for the wealth management market. Entreda will continue to operate under its own brand and under the leadership of Co-Founder and CEO Sid Yenamandra, as a stand-alone, wholly owned subsidiary of Smarsh. The acquisition enables Smarsh to provide industry-leading enterprise cybersecurity risk and compliance capabilities to broker-dealers, registered investment advisors (RIAs) and banks, at a time when cyber risk mitigation is becoming a key ingredient of a company's overall risk management strategy. "In the past few months, more and more companies have asked for our help in addressing the regulatory, compliance and cybersecurity risks associated with the move to long-term remote-work models and the expanded use of mobile and collaborative communications technology, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack and Zoom," said Brian Cramer, CEO at Smarsh. "They are seeking smarter integrations, highly responsive service and support, as well as enterprise-level solutions that assist in the capture and supervision of these additional platforms. With the acquisition, Smarsh can now offer our customers cutting-edge device, network and user level cybersecurity risk and compliance management capabilities." Entreda's nearly 300 clients comprise some of the top RIAs and broker-dealers in the industry, including Advisor Group, a wealth management firm with over 11,000 independent financial advisors. "Both Entreda and Smarsh are considered leaders in their respective categories and are part of Advisor Group's CyberGuard Program," said Jason Lish, Chief Security, Privacy and Data Officer for Advisor Group. "This combination makes it easier for risk professionals to protect and supervise digital communications as well as advisor systems as the industry deals with escalating cyber threats." Mr. Yenamandra said, "Entreda is thrilled to join Smarsh, a proven technology leader and brand for the financial services industry. Our transaction with Smarsh provides us with growth resources and investment capital to accelerate our product innovation, while reinforcing the capabilities that have enabled us to deliver an exceptional service experience to clients across the wealth management space. Our customers should be confident that it remains business as usual in how they interact and engage with Entreda and look forward to the many exciting product enhancements and new solutions that we can roll out, more expeditiously than ever, in partnership with Smarsh." Smarsh has been named as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving in each of the past five years and was positioned furthest in vision and highest in execution in 2019. Entreda won the 2019 Wealth Management Industry Award for Cybersecurity and holds most market share in cybersecurity software solutions, according to the 2020 T3/Inside Information survey, which polled more than 5,000 financial advisors. The complementary offerings of Entreda and Smarsh are both featured within the Preferred Pricing Program from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). For more information, please visit www.smarsh.com and www.entreda.com. About Smarsh Smarsh helps financial services organizations get ahead and stay ahead of the risk within their electronic communications. Smarsh has established the industry standard for the efficient review and production of content from the diverse range of channels that organizations now use to communicate. With innovative capture, archiving and monitoring solutions that extend across the industry's widest breadth of channels, customers can leverage the productivity benefits of email, social media, mobile/text messaging, instant messaging/collaboration, websites and voice, while efficiently strengthening their compliance and e-discovery initiatives. A global client base, including the top 10 banks in the United States and the largest banks in Europe, Canada and Asia, manages billions of conversations each month with the Smarsh Connected Suite. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon with nine offices worldwide, including locations in Silicon Valley, New York, London and Bangalore, India. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com. About Entreda Founded in 2011 with offices in Santa Clara, California, Entreda is the leading provider of comprehensive cybersecurity software, systems and training to the wealth management industry. Entreda developed its award-winning CyberRisk number platform, Unify, to help regulated industries monitor and protect client information and assets with the highest standards of security. Entreda was co-founded by Sid Yenamandra and its senior leadership team has over 100 years of combined experience in cybersecurity technology and 40 years of combined experience in the financial services (RIAs and broker dealers). For more information, visit www.entreda.com. Media Contact for Entreda: Mitch Manning or Andrew Wang Haven Tower Group LLC 424 317 4858 or 424 317 4859 [email protected] or [email protected] Media Contact for Smarsh: John Kreuzer Lumina Communications (408) 896-3307 [email protected] SOURCE Smarsh; Entreda Related Links http://www.smarsh.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 21:56:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NANCHANG, May 21 (Xinhua) -- After his wife left home to escape poverty and disease in 2013, Zheng Fuping, a visually-impaired villager in east China's Jiangxi Province, struggled to get by with two young children. "At that time, it was really hard to make a living," said the 41-year-old whose vision decreased to only 20/200 due to an eye disease at the age of 17. It was not until 2014, when Zheng's family was identified as a poverty-stricken household, that his life was improved by the country's poverty reduction policies. After hearing the introduction made by the poverty alleviation team, he decided to pull himself together and find ways out of poverty. By chance, he heard the story of a disabled man who couldn't walk but became rich by raising cattle which was broadcast on television. "It struck me at the time," Zheng said. Every night after that, he would sit in front of the television and learn about cattle breeding. Gradually, he began to try to raise some cattle and sheep himself. "The most common thing I heard was to feed them Chinese herbs to build up their immunity," he said. Huanxi Village in Yuanzhou District of Yichun City, the mountainous and wooded area where Zheng grew up, boasts a variety of natural Chinese herbs. Familiar with his surroundings, the man with poor eyesight got up before 4 a.m. every day to pick Chinese herbs in the mountains with his father's help. Zheng even judged the health of his cattle and sheep by listening to their breathing. "If a cow or sheep coughs, it is probably sick," he said. As he experience grew, so did the size of his herd. In 2017, the agricultural bureau of Yuanzhou District, which is in charge of helping Zheng's village get rid of poverty, built him a new cowshed for more than 50 cattle. Zheng earned more than 100,000 yuan (about 14,103 U.S. dollars) that year, lifting his family out of poverty. Last year Pan Qijing, Zheng's neighbor and a poverty-stricken villager who once looked down on him, asked Zheng how to raise sheep. "If you believe me, just follow my lead," Zheng said to Pan. With Zheng's help, Pan earned more than 10,000 yuan last year by raising livestock. He expects to earn more this year. "I have suffered many difficulties before but a lot of people helped me to overcome them," Zheng said, adding that he planned to build a new chicken shed in the mountain to raise chickens. Enditem Telecom Analytics Can Help Improve the Efficiency of Business Operations By 3x, Says Quantzig Quantzig, a global data analytics and advisory firm, that delivers actionable analytics solutions to resolve complex business problems has announced the completion of its latest telecom analytics engagement. This success story explains how Quantzig helped a German telecom services provider to reduce the total cost of operations (TCO) while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) using telecom analytics. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005397/en/ TELECOM ANALYTICS USE CASES (Graphic: Business Wire) Quantzig's telecom analytics solutions help telecom companies to identify opportunities for value creation, demonstrate quick wins, and scale solutions to meet the needs of the business. Request a free brochure of our analytics solutions to learn more about our capabilities. In today's competitive telecom sector, staying relevant by finding new revenue sources is quite challenging owing to the dynamism in the market. Also, the growing competition and the emergence of new technologies have negatively impacted subscription rates, which in turn, has curtailed growth leading to huge revenue losses for players all over the globe. Telecom service providers also face challenges due to mergers and the need to deliver a consistent user experience across all channels. Meanwhile, new market entrants, particularly OTT service providers that deliver services over the internet are trying to grab a large chunk of market share by innovating and offering advanced services to meet the needs of their customers. At Quantzig, we understand that challenges such as these can curtail the ability of telecom companies to cater to the dynamic needs of its clients. Our telecom analytics solutions are designed to help telecom companies undertake an end-to-end digital transformation to achieve their business goals. Want expert insights and recommendations? Talk to our analytics experts to learn more about the use cases of telecom analytics. The Business Challenge The client, a leading telecom service provider well-known for offering advanced telecom and networking services, realized that the key to increasing sales and subscription rates is to focus on reducing fraud through better risk management. This prompted the telecom company to leverage telecom analytics solutions to undertake a digital transformation to achieve its business goals. The client's challenges included: The need to optimize core operations Reduce TCO while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) High competitive pressures "Our telecom analytics solutions are designed to help clients gain a competitive advantage and make the right decisions by gaining valuable insights about their operations and customer needs," says a telecom analytics expert from Quantzig. Leading telecom clients have achieved a low total cost of ownership (TCO) and high return on investment (RoI) using our solutions. Gain limited-time complimentary access to our analytics platform to learn how we can help you. The Solution Offered & Value Delivered In collaboration with Quantzig, the client set out to digitally transform their business processes. The primary objective was to reduce the total cost of operations (TCO) while maintaining the quality of its services (QoS) using telecom analytics. To help them achieve their objectives, our telecom analytics experts proposed a comprehensive three-pronged approach that focused on devising an implementation approach, setting up scalable processes, and progress and innovation. Quantzig's telecom analytics enabled the client to: Improve the efficiency of business operations by 3x Achieve a 30% reduction in TCO Quantzig's telecom analytics solutions offered predictive insights on: Leveraging advanced telecom analytics for monitoring key performance metrics Improving customer experience through process standardization Are you ready to transform your challenges into fruitful opportunities? If yes, Contact our analytics experts to learn more. Recent Success Stories: About Quantzig Quantzig is a global analytics and advisory firm with offices in the US, UK, Canada, China, and India. For more than 15 years, we have assisted our clients across the globe with end-to-end data modeling capabilities to leverage analytics for prudent decision making. Today, our firm consists of 120+ clients, including 45 Fortune 500 companies. For more information on our engagement policies and pricing plans, visit: https://www.quantzig.com/request-for-proposal View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005397/en/ Out of about 90,000 migrant workers stranded in Odisha due to pandemic-induced lockdown, the state government has so far send back over 26,000 guest workers to their respective states, official sources said. The migrant labourers, described as guest workers by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, were lodged in temporary camps where they were provided free food and medicines during the three phases of the lockdown. After inter-state movements were allowed relaxing shutdown norms, the migrants from other states here were send back to their native places in phases through trains and buses, an official said. The state government through district administration facilitated movement of 26,621 migrant workers from Odisha for their return to the home states. The returnees are mostly from West Bengal (6250), Chhattisgarh (3550), Bihar (3600), Jharkhand (7100), Rajasthan (1000), Uttar Pradesh (1800), Madhya Pradesh (915), Andhra Pradesh (960), Telengana (550), Maharastra (350) and Manipur (38). Before sending them back, buses were sanitised, the official said, adding the guest workers were explained the need of social distancing and use of masks. Water bottles, mface masks, dry food/food packets were distributed among the returnees before they started homeward journey. While mineral rich Sundargarh district tops the list of sending back guest workers at 6620, it was followed by Khurdha (4400), Bolangir (1120), Bhadrak (750), Kalahandi (1110), Malkangiri (760), Angul (880), Rayagada (1300) and Bargarh (800). A Shramik special train from Sambalpur left for Kanpur Wednesday carrying 1,068 adult migrant workers and 50 children from Uttar Pradesh, stranded in Odisha. Collectors of 17 districts like Kalahandi, Sundargargh, Baragarh, Nawarangpur, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Sonepur, Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Boudh, Keonjhar and others were mobilised all the workers by arranging 30 buses to Sambalpur. Collector, Sambalpur had arranged accommodation for 1000 workers at Burla. They were also given meals, dry food packets, mask and soap by the district administration. Some of the workers from other states engaged in different jobs in Odisha have stayed back, a labour department official said. Meanwhile, sources said as many as 11,153 migrant Odias stuck in different places of the country returned to the state Thursday. So far 2,14,373 Odias have returned to the state since May 3. Returnees are coming by trains/buses and other vehicles, a senior official at the labour department said. The returnees are quarantined at 15,892 Temporary Medical Centres/Camps spread over 6798 Gram Panchayats of the state. The state has kept ready a total of 7,02,900 beds in quarantine centres as per the protocol to contain spread of COVID-19 from the homebound people. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States said Wednesday it was donating 200 ventilators to help Russia in the coronavirus pandemic, turning the tables a week after a high-profile shipment by Moscow. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the shipment by posting on Twitter a picture of a military cargo airplane with a US flag and boxes bearing the USAID logo. "The United States is donating 200 US-produced ventilators to the Russian people to help fight COVID-19," Pompeo wrote. "We've committed over 15,000 ventilators to more than 60 countries and continue to be a global leader in contributions to fight this pandemic." The State Department did not immediately respond to questions on whether and when the shipment was delivered to Russia, which has seen a sharp spike in virus infections. The image had striking similarities to pictures released by Russia of a shipment of goods on April 1 to New York, which was then a major epicenter of the global illness. President Donald Trump, who has sought closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, praised the shipment as "very nice." Hailing Russia's "high-quality stuff," Trump said at the time he was "not concerned about Russia and propaganda, not even a little bit." But the State Department contradicted Russia by saying the shipment was a purchase rather than a donation -- and the equipment itself later came into question. Russia recently halted use of the domestically manufactured Aventa-A ventilators after they were blamed in two fires. US authorities said the Russian ventilators were given to the states of New York and New Jersey but were returned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a precaution as Russia conducts a safety probe. An agency spokesman said they were never used as the United States did not have the need. US authorities feared major shortages of ventilators at the start of the crisis but, after ramped-up production, Trump has been speaking to a number of countries about buying them. Emergency personnel wearing protective gear spray disinfectant on colleagues at the site of a fire linked to ventilators at the Saint George hospital in Saint Petersburg on May 12, 2020 Area restaurants can start using their parking lots to increase safety measures for patrons as Virginias economy starts slowly creeping back outside. The Charlottesville City Council approved an ordinance during its virtual meeting Monday that allows businesses that go back to work under Gov. Ralph Northams reopening plan to use parking lots for business. Restaurants could place seating or extend lines to pick up takeout into parking lots. The ordinance suspends on-site parking requirements for the duration of Northams reopening plan. Albemarle County announced that businesses with liquor licenses could apply for an expedited approval for an outdoor dining area. The county is streamlining the application and waiving fees. Northam authorized some businesses to reopen with limited capacity and social distancing measures on Friday as the coronavirus pandemic began to show signs of slowing. The council is helping the businesses in restarting their operations, said Alex Ikefuna, director of the department of Neighborhood Development Services. As of Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear if any area restaurants planned to try out the option. The coronavirus crisis has hit Australias residential rental system hard. But how renters respond to the new normal can determine if they can overcome the challenges or not. The economic disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented financial hardships to Australian workers. With many laid-off or had their work hours slashed, people have grown heavily concerned on how to meet their housing expenses. Rental property website Rent.com.au has recently surveyed 1,600 Australian renters on how the global outbreak has affected them financially and what this meant for their future plans. The results, reflected in the infographic below, were telling. How does the COVID-19 pandemic affect renters ability to pay rent? The government lockdown drove many businesses to stop operations, almost instantly resulting in job losses or reduced work hours for many workers. In turn, this has severely affected tenants ability to pay rent. The survey revealed that almost 60% of respondents were earning less due to the pandemic while a third admitted to completely losing their jobs. More than a fifth (22%) said that their ability to pay rent has been adversely impacted. Greg Bader, chief executive officer of Rent.com.au, said that while the shutdowns have been devastating for many businesses, there were specific industries such as hospitality, tourism, and retail that were hit harder than most. These are also the sort of industries that typically over-index with younger staff, the largest cohort of the renting community, said Bader. He added that, although the federal and state governments enacted measures to support tenants during the crisis, there was still a level of confusion among renters in the terms of the relief packages. This has led more than half (53%) of respondents to say that they would like to see more assistance from the government with just 13% believing the support that the government has given has been enough. Short-term protections such as a moratorium on evictions, or a deferral in rent, provide some comfort, but there are concerns that this is just kicking the can down the road. We hope to see the industry and government respond in innovative ways to support renters and the industry-at-large, said Bader. We need to understand that renters, who make up 30% of us, will continue to deal with the financial impact for months or years to come. How do landlords handle the COVID-19 crisis? But while renters are faced with the difficult task of sustaining payments with reduced incomes, landlords are also under financial pressure to keep their loan repayments covered. This position can lead to a measure of distrust between tenants and landlords. According to survey, two-thirds of renters do not feel confident in asking their landlords or property managers for help. Only 32% said that their landlords were supportive during the crisis. Bader emphasised the importance of communication during these uncertain times and urged landlords and property owners to check on their tenants. Open and honest communication is the key and can only be an advantage for all parties as we prepare for the months ahead, he said. However, the survey revealed that not all renters were seeking financial assistance as only 35% of respondents have asked owners for a payment reduction or deferral. Unfortunately, more than half or 52% of those who did were rejected. Obviously, every case is different, and the renter will generally be required to demonstrate any impact on their income/affordability, Bader said. Property managers and landlords are also affected by the crisis and all of us are navigating new ground. So once again, open communication is important, with both parties needing to be empathic and understanding of each others situation. What are renters plans post-pandemic? The pandemic has also thrown a wrench in the plans of many renters to move into new properties. According to the survey, half of the respondents had plans of moving in the next six months. However, 47% of that group have put moving on plans on hold indefinitely while 30% said their plans will have to be delayed because of the pandemic. Bader said this was not surprising given the economic uncertainty during these times. With record levels of rental properties available right now and the possibility of downward pressure on rents, there is even more incentive for landlords and property managers to negotiate with their tenants, because finding a new one will be a little harder, he said. However, Bader said that his firm have seen some positive sentiment returning to the market in the past weeks. He said activity in their platform such as traffic, renter resumes and property enquiries have been increasing compared to a month ago. Some renters have begun to see light at the end of the tunnel, with about 30% of those surveyed said they were optimistic about life after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with restrictions slowly starting to ease. Thats a good sign for us as a community, and we hope to see that grow over the next few months, as the economy re-opens and renters get a little more security. In the meantime, we encourage renters and property managers to stay connected, said Bader. "While she wasn't very unwell, my concern was it would have implications for our family and for the community," Ms Smith said. Aisling was one of the vast majority of children who tested negative to the virus, but the scare left a lasting effect on her mother. "It made me very conscious of not being in contact with people," Ms Smith said. "The pending test really brought home how real it all was." As part of the study, researchers analysed the data of children who were tested, using mouth and nose swabs, in the four weeks after the first positive case was I detected at the hospital on March 21. Those infected with the virus were aged from six to 18. Three of the four children with COVID-19 had recently travelled overseas, significantly increasing their risk. Loading The fourth infected child had not been overseas but was a close contact of a person infected with the virus. Only one child infected with the virus presented with fever, while the other three children had mild symptoms including a headache, sore throat and runny nose. Three out of the four children who tested positive for COVID-19 were girls. Emerging evidence points to parents delaying seeking medical treatment for their children amid fears of contracting the virus. "The study shows hospitals are a safe place with a very low risk of being exposed to COVID-19," Dr Ibrahim said. Paediatric infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said while the study was reassuring for parents, it only examined a very small number of children infected with coronavirus. "It's been done in the context of a very low prevalence of COVID-19 and very low incidence of transmission," he said. "You can conclude that in that period, COVID-19 was not causing much paediatric disease in that community, but you can't conclude much about the cases or the risk of hospitalisation because there were so few cases." As social distancing measures are eased, Professor Booy said the critical time for detecting cases and preventing transmission was now. "We really need to be on the ball and maintain the vigilance," he said. National data indicates about 0.9 percent of Australian children swabbed so far in the pandemic have tested positive to the virus. This a higher rate that the 0.6 percent of adults tested overall who have returned positive results. The findings back up a study by the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, which indicated the disease has limited transmissibility between students, and from students to teachers. Children aged under 10 account for about 1 per cent of more than 7000 cases in Australia, while those aged between 10 and 17 make up about 3 per cent. International studies suggest children do not appear to be major spreaders of COVID-19 and do not frequently become severely ill. Deaths in children have been extremely rare. With schools across the country opening their gates, Dr Ibrahim said doctors were bracing for an influx of cases in children and adults. Loading Despite the low number of cases in Australian children, Dr Ibrahim cautioned that overseas data had shown children could still become severely unwell with COVID-19 and there was no room for complacency. Among the most common respiratory illness children were diagnosed with after presenting to hospital included asthma, croup and bronchiolitis Speaking under the pseudonym of Ella, a British woman recently revealed that her Muslim rapists called her a white wh*re, and a white b*tch, during the more than 100 times she was raped in her youth by the mostly Pakistani grooming gang. We need to understand racially and religiously aggravated crime if we are going to prevent it and protect people from it and if we are going to prosecute correctly for it, she said in her recent interview. Prevention, protection and prosecution -- all of them are being hindered because we are neglecting to properly address the religious and racist aspects of grooming gang crimes Its telling them that its OK to hate white people. That there are racial and religious aspects to the epidemic of Muslims raping Western European women cannot be overstated. Put differently, the males of a particular religion tend to fantasize that the females of a particular race are nymphomaniac masochists who are hot for being degraded and abused. Consider a few earlier examples: Even Dr. Taj Hargey, a British imam, confirms that the majority of the UKs imams promote grooming rings. He said Muslim men are taught that women are second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority and that the imams preach a doctrine that denigrates all women, but treats whites with particular contempt. For those acquainted with history, such Muslim behavior towards European women should be unsurprising -- stretching, as it does, all the way back to the founder of Islam: In order to prompt his men to invade Byzantine territory -- where the Arabs nearest European neighbors lived -- the prophet Muhammad enticed them with the potential of sexually enslaving the yellow women (an apparent reference to their fair hair). It is impossible to disconnect Islam from the Viking slave-trade, M.A. Khan, a former Muslim, writes of later centuries, because the supply was absolutely meant for meeting [the] Islamic worlds unceasing demand for the prized white slaves and for white sex-slaves. Moreover, just as Muslim rapists see Western women as pieces of meat, nothing more than sluts, and white whores, so did Islams earliest luminaries always describe European women, beginning with those nearest to them, of Byzantium. Thus, for Abu Uthman al-Jahiz (b. 776), a prolific court scholar, the females of Constantinople were the most shameless women in the whole world [T]hey find sex more enjoyable and are prone to adultery. Abd al-Jabbar (b. 935), another prominent scholar, claimed that adultery is commonplace in the cities and markets of Byzantium -- so much so that even the nuns from the convents went out to the fortresses to offer themselves to monks. Several centuries later, in a written excerpt that goes to great (if not pornographic) lengths, Muhammad bin Hamed al-Isfahani (b. 1125), a celebrated Persian court scholar and poet, explained how he once saw a ship containing three hundred lovely Frankish women, full of youth and beauty arrive by sea. The flattery ends there and the fantasizing begins: They glowed with ardour for carnal intercourse. They were all licentious harlots, proud and scornful, who took and gave, foul-fleshed and sinful making love and selling themselves for gold with nasal voices and fleshy thighs, blue-eyed and grey-eyed They dedicated as a holy offering what they kept between their thighs... They maintained that they could make themselves acceptable to God by no better sacrifice than this They made themselves targets for mens darts. After Saladin conquered Jerusalem from the Franks in 1187, this same Muhammad bin Hamed, who was present and aged 62, launched into yet another sadomasochistic tirade extolling the sexual debasement of European women and children -- approximately eight-thousand of whom were enslaved: How many well-guarded women were profaned, how many queens were ruled, and nubile girls married, and noble women given away, and miserly women forced to yield themselves, and women who had been kept hidden [nuns] stripped of their modesty... and free women occupied [meaning penetrated], and precious ones used for hard work, and pretty things put to the test, and virgins dishonoured and proud women deflowered... and happy ones made to weep! How many noblemen [Muslim lords] took them as concubines, how many ardent men blazed for one of them, and celibates were satisfied by them, and thirsty men sated by them, and turbulent men able to give vent to their passion. How many lovely women were the exclusive property of one man, how many great ladies were sold at low prices... and lofty ones abased... and those accustomed to thrones dragged down! In short, past and present, not only have Muslim men had a penchant for European women; they have always justified this lust by portraying their victims as wanton nymphomaniacs, eager to be sexually debased. Like many before and after her, Ella -- this British woman who was repeatedly raped while being called a white wh*re, and a white b*tch -- is, accordingly, correct to point out that this ongoing epidemic will continue because we are neglecting to properly address the religious and racist aspects of grooming gang crimes. Historical quotes used in this article were sourced from and referenced in the author's book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center; a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum; and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Derrick Walker's world started to unravel in March. As a nurse for the Veterans' Administration in Houston, he had always helped others when they were sick or in rehabilitation. But after a spring break outing at the rodeo with his daughters, he started to develop a fever. "I'm the guy they call when others need help," Walker said. "All of the sudden, I'm the guy who now needs help." Walker took off from work around March 8 to enjoy some time with daughters over spring break. DRIVE-THRU TESTING: CVS opening self-swabbing drive-thru coronavirus testing sites in Houston "My symptoms started occurring around March 16," he said. "I started to take Tylenol, but the fever was still there. I lost my appetite." One of his most marked symptoms was fatigue. At the young age of 35, Walker had always been the picture of good health. Fatigue of this degree was something he hadn't experienced. "I felt really, really tired," Walker said. "It kind of felt like the flu. It wouldn't let up. This was just constant. No matter what I did, it wouldn't let up." When he tried to take a bath and abate the fever, he realized the true severity of the illness. "I took a bath to cool myself down, but I didnt have the strength to get out of the bathtub," Walker said. Walker then went to an ER Urgent Care but found that the resources were limited for COVID-19 testing. He then went to the Memorial Hermann ER near the Texas Medical Center. "I told my kids, 'Daddy needs to go to the hospital,'" Walker said. "The nurses watched me through the night. My oxygen had gone down to 30%. I had fever and weakness and some diarrhea before." PANDEMIC PREDICTION: Study predicts massive June spike in Houston COVID-19 cases Walker said after he was swabbed and tested positive for COVID-19, doctors began the work of getting oxygen back into his system. "I had about 10 doctors just looking at me. They all came in," Walker said. "The scary part was waking up in the room alone. I was confused. I didn't know what was going on. I asked the nurse what day it was. I was admitted in March, and it was April 7." The doctors at Memorial Hermann made the critical move to use intubation to help Walker breathe. "When I was intubated, the fluid was building up, and my organs started to fail," he said. That's when the doctors did the next step of "repositioning" Walker by turning him over on his stomach in a Rotoprone specialty bed. "In 48 hours, I was making drastic improvement after that," Walker said. "My lungs started to recover. " Walker said that the doctors went the distance to use all the resources they had to save him. "They could have counted me as a loss," he said. "They did something out of the ordinary. They were relentless in their fight for me." Walker credits his doctors and his faith for helping him survive the battle with coronavirus. "I'm really appreciative to the doctors for thinking outside the box," Walker said. "It was pretty much God orchestrating things." The crucial thing Walker wants to share with others is to get tested and treated if you experience symptoms. "This is not something you want to fight on your own," Walker said. "If you experience symptoms, get help in some kind of way...Don't worry about the money. Money comes and goes. But you have just one life." Walker said that it was his doctors' care, his wife's calming love and prayer that carried him through some of the darkest moments. "People do recover," Walker said. "Hands-down, it's the worst fight of my life." alison.medley@chron.com Jamal Mondal (45), a migrant labourer who returned from Bengaluru to his hometown Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district on Monday, was happy to be reunited with his family, even though he had lost his job due to the nationwide lockdown. But his happiness was short-lived. On Thursday morning, along with his four daughters and wife, Mondal was jostling outside a relief camp in the district for two loafs of bread and a tarpaulin sheet to spend the nights at a cyclone shelter, as his one-storey mud house was washed away by extremely severe cyclonic storm "Amphan" on Wednesday night. "On Monday, when I reached home, I thought my sufferings were over. But I was wrong. The lockdown took away my job and the cyclone took away everything I was left with. I do not know what would I do next, where would I stay and how would I feed my family," Mondal told a television channel. The story is the same for hundreds of migrant labourers in South 24 Parganas who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown and are left with nothing due to the monstrous cyclone now. "Amphan" has killed at least 12 persons in West Bengal and ravaged Kolkata and several parts of the state. It has left behind a trail of unprecedented destruction by uprooting trees, destroying thousands of homes and swamping the low-lying areas of the state. According to Jamir Ali (35), it was after the devastating Cyclone Aila in 2009 that he had decided to go to other states in search of work to feed his family of seven. "After Aila, I had decided to go to Bengaluru in search of work. I worked there as a mason for 10 years, but due to the lockdown, lost my job and after an arduous journey of 15 days by foot, truck and bus, managed to reach home on Tuesday. I was hopeful that everything would be fine, but the worse was waiting to happen," he said. Ali's house has been destroyed and since Wednesday night, there is no trace of his younger brother, who had gone out to tie down their boat near the embankment. "My brother left the house at around 5 pm, saying he would be back within half-an-hour after tying down our fishing dinghy to one of the pillars on the embankment. The embankment is completely destroyed and there is no trace of him," Ali said. Embankments in the Sundarban delta -- a UNESCO world heritage site -- were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the islands. The ecologically fragile Sunderban region, nestled around the world's largest mangrove forest, is home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. For the residents of the area, the fight for survival with nature and wildlife is a routine affair. The region also sends a large number of labourers to work in various parts of the country. "Earlier, most of us used to work here. But after the 2009 cyclone, we lost much of our habitat due to the rising sea levels and had to move to other states. But this cyclone took away our homes. All us have to start from scratch as we are not left with even a single penny," said Joydeb Mondal while standing in a queue for food outside a relief camp. "After this cyclone, more people would move out of the Sunderban region in search of jobs," a district official said. Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, "Amphan" slammed the Digha coast of West Bengal at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, triggering heavy rainfall in various parts of the state. The cyclone barrelled through the districts of North and South 24 Parganas, unleashing copious rain and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and swamping the low-lying towns and villages. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Newser) A teenager accused of stabbing a woman to death at a Toronto massage parlor was charged with terrorism Tuesday after police said they uncovered evidence the attack was inspired by an online community of sexually frustrated men. The 17-year-old was originally charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder Feb. 24 following multiple stabbings with a sword at an adult massage parlor. A 24-year-old woman, Ashley Noelle Arzaga, was found dead in the parlor. Toronto police contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's anti-terrorism unit after investigators found evidence the accused was inspired by "incels," a fringe online subculture that allegedly plots attacks on people who have sex, the AP reports. "Incel" is short for "involuntary celibate." story continues below The accused in the stabbing case, who cannot be identified because of his age, appeared in court via video Tuesday to face the updated charges. It's the first time in Canada that a terrorism charge has been laid over violence tied to an "incel" suspect. "Terrorism comes in many forms and it's important to note that it is not restricted to any particular group, religion or ideology," the RCMP said in a statement. The incel subculture has also been linked to a 2018 rampage in Toronto in which a man used a van to kill 10 people. Alleged attacker Alek Minassian faces 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder, although authorities are not pursuing terrorism charges in the case. (Read more Canada stories.) Job losses continue mounting in Texas, with 134,000 people filing for unemployment last week as business activity in San Antonio and across the state began slowly restarting. Since the pandemic first sparked a wave of job losses in March, more than 2 million Texans have filed for unemployment. In Bexar County, 8,400 people filed jobless claim in the week ending May 9. Since mid-March, nearly 115,000 workers in the Bexar county have sought unemployment, or about 13 percent of all workers in the county. County unemployment statistics lag a week behind state and national figures. Nationally, 2.43 million U.S. workers filed unemployment claims last week. In total, 38.6 million Americans have lost their jobs, or more than one in four workers across the nation. After the unprecedented spike in unemployment peaked in the first half of April, the number of new claims has declined for four consecutive weeks. Gov. Greg Abbott this week pressed ahead with reopening more businesses across the state. That includes child care facilities and bars, and restaurants will be allowed to open at half-capacity today. But its unlikely the majority of currently unemployed workers will be able to return to work by July 31, when unemployment benefits expanded under the CARES Act are set to expire, said Kan Chen, a senior economist with BBVA Research in Houston. Of the 20 million U.S. jobs lost in April, at least 2 million are considered permanent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. The unemployment rate in Texas ticked up to 4.7 percent in March from 3.5 percent in February. The statewide unemployment rate will jump even further when figures for April are reported today. We definitely think the number will keep going higher, Chen said. In order to speed the recovery, he said lawmakers should extend the additional unemployment benefit beyond July. The key is to provide unemployed people a steady source of income until the economy starts to reverse, maybe by the end of the year, Chen said. He anticipates the national unemployment rate will reach 18 percent this year, though he cautioned that could change based on the spread of the virus and consumer confidence. We predict that the labor market will not recover until roughly about four to six months after the recession is over, Chen said. If the pandemic ends by, let's say, July, then the unemployment rate will still go up until maybe November, December. The states large oil and gas and service-related industries have made Texas one of the more vulnerable states during the economic crisis, Chen said. Yet, he said the diverse state economy has insulated Texas compared with other states that rely heavily on oil and gas or service jobs, such as Wyoming or Nevada. As local governments begin spending on economic recovery programs, Chen said leaders should focus on directing money both to worker training programs and small business support. In the near term, he said, directing aid to small businesses would keep up supply and demand because when people have jobs, they have money to spend, and they also supply services to the economy. Providing training for workers, on the other hand, would create a more skilled workforce for the long-term recovery, he said. Still, based on history, things are likely to get worse before the recovery begins. For the Great Recession, the recession ended in June. However, the labor market didnt recover until October, Chen said. We will definitely get higher than 14.7 percent (unemployment). Its just a matter of the rate of acceleration. diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net Ryan Reynolds joked he's 'hiding,' on his Instagram Stories Wednesday. 'I'm hiding. Hi!' wrote the Deadpool star, 43, who has been quarantining at the family home in Pound Ridge in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife Blake Lively, 32, and their three daughters, James, five, Inez, three, and a nine-month-old whose name they haven't publicly revealed. Blake's mom Elaine Lively has also been staying with the family at the luxe home during the lockdown, with Reynolds joking in a previous clip on the social media site last month that he was hiding from Elaine, who was 'hunting' him. The latest: Ryan Reynolds, 43, joked he's 'hiding' on his Instagram Stories Wednesday. The Deadpool star, 43, has been quarantining at the family home in Pound Ridge in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife Blake Lively, 32, and their three daughters In the clip, in which Reynolds promoted a charity shirt for the Canadian nonprofit Conquer COVID-19, the A-lister asked, 'Are you sick and tired of fashion? Is your mother-in-law hunting you?' joking that the top was 'so boring it makes you invisible.' As the clip wound down, Elaine's voice called on him - she said, 'Ryan, are you in there? I could have sworn I heard his voice' - but he sat in place and didn't say anything. The 6 Underground leading man told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show earlier this month that he was enjoying spending time with his kids amid the ongoing lockdown. 'It's actually been amazing,' the Vancouver native said. 'I'm trying to let myself appreciate it as much as possible because there's so many people around the world that this isn't a good thing, it's causing a lot of anxiety for a lot of people. Comely couple: Reynolds and Lively embraced in a post on his social media last month Family man: The 6 Underground leading man told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show earlier this month that he was enjoying spending time with his kids amid the ongoing lockdown 'So I'm trying to let myself appreciate the face time with the family and spending as much time as possible.' The in-demand actor joked that 'it sets a dangerous precedent,' as 'when we look back at this years from now, they're going to think about me and how I used to be a present dad.' Reynolds and Lively have been among Hollywood's most philanthropic stars amid the outbreak of the pandemic, using their platforms and personal funds to focus on the fight against the virus. In March, they made donations of $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada; $400,000 to hospitals in New York City; and $10,000 to the Canadian Professional Bartender's Association. Making the best of things: He told Fallon that 'it's actually been amazing' to be able to spend extra time with the children The coronavirus and subsequent shutdown has impacted Hollywood and its stars in a myriad of ways, forcing productions to fold up and studios to shut down amid an initial shutdown to quell the spread of the disease. Stars including Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, and Pink are among the celebs who have said they tested positive for the virus, as well as notable names such as CNN's Chris Cuomo, Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. As of Wednesday, the death total for COVID-19 was at 87,472 people in the U.S., with 1,542,309 total positive diagnoses, The COVID Tracking Project reported. On a global level, 328,115 people have died amid 4,996,472 positive diagnoses worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned a potentially dangerous storm which is rare for autumn is set to hit the West Australian coast on Sunday. Bureau spokesman Neil Bennett said a similar event in June 2012 resulted in more than 600 calls for assistance and left 170,000 homes without power. The extensive damage to the Western Power network during that incident was deemed the worst in its history at the time. About 60 sets of traffic lights went out across the metropolitan area, dozens of homes were damaged by fallen trees and flying debris, jetties were blown away and boats ripped from their moorings. On Thursday, Mr Bennett said communities up and down the coast should be aware of the danger posed by a deep low-pressure system moving towards the coast, bringing a long period of strong winds and heavy rain on Sunday and into Monday. PR-Inside.com: 2020-05-21 16:00:08 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 880 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Breast pump sales remain buoyant, with an ever-expanding population of working mothers and technological sophistication in pump models.ROCKVILLE, MD / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Heightening preference for breast pumps among working mothers to ensure regular intake of breastmilk by infants is driving the growth of global breast pumps market. According to a recent Fact.MR study, the global breast pumps market will expand 1.7X during the projection period (2020-2025). In addition, the market is receiving tailwinds from technological advancements in product line-ups, improving awareness about usage and benefits, and rising insurance coverage."Established players must optimize their distribution networks to expand their footprint in breast pumps market," concludes Fact.MR Key Takeaways of Breast Pumps Market StudyPersonal use of breast pumps remains a prominent push for market, on account of multiple government initiatives aimed at spreading awareness.Unfavorable policies regarding maternity leaves remain key influencing factor of breast pumps market.North America breast pumps market holds 2/5th of revenue share in the overall market stack in view of greater awareness.Asia Pacific breast pumps market will register double-digit CAGR through 2025 owing to high birth rate in the region.Request PDF Sample of the 170-page report on the Breast Pumps Market-Breast Pumps Market - Key DriversLarge population pool and presence of major manufacturers in Asia Pacific will fuel the regional breast pumps market growth through 2025.Soaring demand for double-electric breast pumps in North America will favor the market growth over the forecast period.Advent of new technologies such as cordless, hands-free Willow Breast Pumps will strengthen the growth of market.Favorable attributes such as potency, portability, faster pumping rate, and affordability are inflating the sales of single-electric breast pumps.Rising economic wealth and purchasing power of consumers will stoke the growth of breast pumps market.Breast Pumps Market - Key ImpedimentsAs most women are working from home, sales of breast pumps have experienced slight downswing which is projected to continue through the second quarter.Possibility of breast tissue damage due to usage of breast pumps will impede the market growth through 2025.Anticipated Impact of COVID-19 on Breast Pumps MarketEven though the overall sales of breast pumps have slightly declined, the COVID-19 impact will not be disastrous for the market. Doctors are encouraging the use of breast pumps to minimize the risk of infection in infants. However, the breast pumps must be disinfected before and after usage. Especially in the case of COVID-19 positive mothers, newborns have to be temporarily separated, as per Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols. In such scenario, breast pumps become crucial for the health of infant. These precautionary measures will fuel the adoption of breast pumps through the pandemic.Explore 70 tables and 74 figures of the study. Request ToC of the report at-Competition Landscape of Breast Pumps MarketSome of the prominent manufacturers in the global breast pumps market that are profiled in this Fact.MR report include, but are not limited to, Mayborn Group Limited (Shanghai Jahwa Co. Ltd.), Evenflo Feeding, Inc., Ardo Medical AG, Ameda, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Pigeon Group, and Medela LLC. Top manufacturers are adopting advanced technologies and creating digital apps to facilitate two-way communication with consumers. For instance, MyMedela App launched by Medela LLC offers digital communication, interactive checklist, activity tracker, and personalized experience for its consumers. In addition, educating consumers through online seminars remains the priority of globally leading producers. For instance, Pigeon Group organized maternity seminar in 2016 to spread awareness regarding breastfeeding.About the ReportThis 170-page study offers in-depth commentary on the breast pumps market. The study provides compelling insights on the breast pumps market on the basis of product (single electric breast pumps, double electric breast pumps, and manual breast pumps), and application (hospital grade, personal use) across five regions (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa).Explore Fact.MR's Comprehensive Coverage on Healthcare LandscapeGlaucoma Therapeutics Market- Get Fact.MR's latest study on the global glaucoma therapeutics market covering technologies advancements, growth parameters, and key developmental strategies adopted by major players for predefined projection period (2020-2026).Heart Valve Devices Market - Fact.MR's comprehensive report on the global heart valve devices market covers year-on-year growth analysis, emerging trends, historical, and current performance statistics for the course of forecast period (2020-2025).Diagnostic Imaging Services Market - Know more about major opportunities, growth levers, key trends, and challenges faced by leading players in the global diagnostic imaging services market through Fact.MR's report for 2020-2025.About Fact.MR Expert analysis, actionable insights, and strategic recommendations of the veteran research team at Fact.MR helps clients from across the globe with their unique business intelligence requirements. With a repository of over thousand reports and 1 million+ data points, the team has scrutinized the Healthcare sector across 50+ countries for over a decade. The team provides unmatched end-to-end research and consulting services. Fact.MR's latest market reports and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and take critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition.Contact:11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@ factmr.com Web: https://www.factmr.com/ PR- https://www.factmr.com/media-release/1441/global-breast-pumps-market SOURCE: Fact.MR China's state news agency has revealed its first 3D AI-powered news anchor after replicating the looks and the actions of a human journalist with cutting-edge technologies. The virtual female presenter, branded as the world's first of its kind, can move around smoothly and display complex facial expressions. She can even change her outfits and hairstyles according to different scenarios, a spokesperson said. Beijing's state media has revealed 'the world's first 3D AI news anchor' today after 'cloning' a human reporter with cutting edge technologies. The virtual female presenter, branded as the world's first of its kind, can move around smoothly and display complex facial expressions The uncanny avatar (pictured), named Xin Xiaowei, was developed by Xinhua along with Sogou, a Chinese technology company specialising in web search. She was modelled after Zhao Wanwei, a reporter covering current affairs for the news agency Xinhua launched its first AI anchor in 2018 and had introduced four 2D digital newsreaders before bringing in the latest creation. Footage released by the outlet on Thursday shows the lifelike virtual presenter nodding her head in emphasis and blinking as she speaks during her debut at an animated broadcast studio. She can be heard saying: 'I can be presenting while sitting, standing, or walking around. 'I have flexible facial expressions, movements, and I can also change hairstyles and clothes. 'In the future, I will appear on more news scenarios. My expressions and movements will be improved and updated,' the virtual female reporter added. The uncanny avatar, named Xin Xiaowei, was developed by Xinhua along with Sogou, a Chinese technology company specialising in web search. She was modelled after Zhao Wanwei, a reporter covering current affairs for the news agency. Footage released by the outlet on Thursday shows the lifelike virtual presenter nodding her head in emphasis and blinking as she speaks during her debut at an animated broadcast studio Image released by the news agency shows the human reporter, Zhao Wanwei (pictured), wearing a data-collecting helmet while surrounded by hundreds of cameras tracing all of her movements and expressions. Ms Zhao is a Xinhua reporter covering current affairs The picture shows the computer image of a 3D model of Zhao Wanwei after hundreds of cameras traced all of her movements and expressions Images released by the news agency show the human reporter, Ms Zhao, wearing a data-collecting helmet while being attached with hundreds of cameras tracing her movements and expressions. Xinhua said that the virtual journalist would be reporting news about the Two Sessions, China's largest annual legislative meetings which started today. The agency expected her to create a new and dynamic viewing experience for their audience. China 's state news agency has revealed its first 3D AI-powered news anchor after replicating the looks and the actions of a human journalist with cutting-edge technologies The Chinese press agency developed its first pair of digital male presenters, English-language anchor Zhang Zhao and his Chinese-language counterpart Qiu Hao, in November, 2018. In March last year, Xinhua unveiled its first first female AI anchor, Xin Xiaomeng, and used it to cover the Two Sessions. The lifelike news anchor was tasked to present a story about delegates arriving in Beijing to attend political conferences. Xinhua also developed a Russian-speaking AI anchor in June last year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China and Russia establishing diplomatic relations. Xinhua previously unveiled its first AI anchor (right) based on human presenter Qiu Hao (left) China has become one of the leading global hubs for AI development in recent years. The technology has been widely applied during the coronavirus outbreak to help medics, patients and even prevent the spread of the virus . Several fields such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing also adopted machine learning systems for commercial uses. Automating workplaces in China with AI could add 0.8 to 1.4 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP) growth annually, depending on the speed of adoption, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler narrowly missed securing enough votes to retain his position as the citys top elected official for the next four years and will now face a November runoff against urban policy consultant Sarah Iannarone. The primary results give Iannarone her first shot in a mayoral race in a general election. She was one of Wheelers opponents during the 2016 primary, but finished third. In recent weeks, Iannarone has been part of a lawsuit against Wheeler seeking to stop him from using contributions from large money donors. A Multnomah County judge ruled earlier this month that Wheeler could keep spending all the contributions his campaign has received. As of 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Wheeler held 49.4% of the vote and Iannarone received 23.8%. The incumbent mayor needed 50% plus 1 vote to avoid a runoff. Nineteen candidates were on the ballot for mayor. The general election is Nov. 3. Wheeler is seeking to become the citys first mayor since Vera Katz to earn a second consecutive term in office. With a win, Iannarone would become the fourth woman to hold the top elected position in Oregons largest city. Iannarone thanked her primary election opponents in a statement Wednesday and said forcing a runoff against an incumbent in the midst of a pandemic was an accomplishment, citing broader opportunities to reach voters. She said shes optimistic of her chances in the fall. We are confident that we have everything we need to succeed in November when voter turnout will likely be much higher, the incumbent is forced to adhere to campaign finance laws, and many of the benefits he gained from the pandemic begin to fade, Iannarone said. Wheeler in a statement said he was disappointed to not have won reelection in the primary but thought a runoff was possible due to the large field of candidates. He noted he received about half of the votes in the race and said he was humbled by the support Ive received thus far. Portlanders from all walks of life know how much I love this city, and they know Ill continue to work hard for them day in and day out, he wrote. Whether its this week or on November 4th, Im confident that I will earn the honor of continuing to serve the city I love for the next four years. Wheeler has pledged to bring another four years of stable leadership to Portland and to City Hall, as the city recovers from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and continues to address the homelessness and housing crisis. He also is pressing to change the City Councils current at-large representative system as part of a charter review process that will begin next year. Portland voters elected Wheeler, a former state treasurer and Multnomah County chair, to office in 2016. Among his campaign promises were improving police services, providing better protections for renters, helping create a plan for the city to transition toward renewable energy and ensuring everyone sleeping on Portlands streets had the option of sleeping inside within the first two years of his term. Under Wheelers watch, hundreds of new affordable housing units opened in the city, shelter capacity for people experiencing homelessness expanded and renters protections have also increased, including more notice to tenants for no-cause evictions. The city also reduced the use of single-use non-recyclable plastics such as plastic straws, established the Portland Clean Energy Fund and has committed to replacing its electricity needs with renewable sources by 2035 and transitioning all other sources to entirely clean energy by 2050. The U.S. Justice Department also found the police bureau in substantial compliance with nearly 200 mandated reforms as part of a city settlement due to officers excessive force against people with mental illness. But the city also saw public outcry continue as community members, some in the midst of apparent mental distress, were killed by officers. Large tent encampments still appear in many parts of the city with limited shelter space and many still struggling to afford or keep their homes. Large-scale demonstrations and counterprotests involving right- and left-wing supporters that often led to violent clashes drew national attention. More people in Portland lack shelter than when Wheelers term began, county figures show, and the homeless population accounted for the majority of Portland police arrests in 2017, an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive found. Iannarone said she believes the city has regressed in many ways under Wheelers watch and that positive changes he has brought havent gone far enough. Among Iannarones priorities are to ramp up the citys response to climate change by transitioning to entirely clean energy by 2030, advocating for expanded access to public transportation including the elimination of fares and creating supervised injection sites for people struggling with drug addiction. She also supports launching a gun buyback program as a way to lessen gun violence, removing all armed police officers from Portland schools and the gun violence reduction team and assigning them to other areas in the police bureau and requiring future Portland police officers live in the city as a prerequisite for being hired. The winners term will begin in January and conclude in 2024. -- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The world likely faces tough financial times ahead and perhaps even a major global recession. As economies stall, how will cybercriminals react? Will they change targets, techniques, or priorities? Will more people, whether inside or beyond your organization, present a threat? Experiences and insights from past recessions can help us prepare for what's ahead. Cybercrime flourishes in a recession Cybercrime rose during the last recession in 2008. Regulatory Data Corp said it saw an average rise of 40% in cybercriminal activity for the two years following the recessions 2009 peak. The UK Government recorded internet-enabled card-not-present fraud (transactions conducted over the internet) to the banks/payment card industry fell during the recovery period following the global crash, falling to 135 million in 2010 from a peak of 181 million in 2008. In 2009, Reuters reported that internet fraud in the US rose 33% in 2008, while McAfees Virtual Criminology Report from that period suggest there was a large surge in malware, bots and Trojans around 2008 compared to the year before. While that trend hasnt abated since, the change in the digital landscape presents greater opportunity for attackers. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said COVID-19 is a "common enemy" that the region needs to fight together. "ASEAN should collaborate to keep trading routes and supply lines open, especially for essential goods, such as food and medical supplies," he told his counterparts in video call last month. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin echoed his sentiments to protect "critical infrastructure for trade." "We must also guard against imposition of unnecessary restriction on the flow of medical [supplies], food and essential supplies," he said. More than half the nations of Southeast Asia started this week by taking a donation of protective personal equipment (PPE), such as medical suits and masks, from their neighbor Vietnam to help them in the fight against COVID-19. It is the latest sign the region is resisting the impulse to choke off any shipment of medical supplies out of their borders, an impulse seen globally as supply shortages put health workers lives at risk. With the handover Monday in Hanoi, which also included virus test kits, Vietnam has now donated to all its peers in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which it also is the rotating chair for 2020. The ASEAN bloc said it would cooperate to prevent blockages, such as the ban on medical exports that some members had started to enforce as the pandemic emerged. Supplies 'Save Lives' Malaysia is this year's chair of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc, whose officials have expressed alarm at the risk of shortages. From the Philippines to Indonesia, nurses have worried they do not have enough gloves and masks to help protect them from contracting the coronavirus. "Ensuring that trade policy is in place, providing access to the much-needed medical goods will save lives," Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, APEC Secretariat executive director and a former Malaysian trade official, said. She noted in an earlier statement that supply chains "may still have vulnerabilities, bottlenecks and integrity issues. Many around the world have not been spared shortages of medical equipment, medicines and basic protective equipment." Mutual Accusations Around the world, nations have tried to keep gear for themselves to fight the pandemic. European governments accused each other and the United States of confiscating protective equipment en route. Colombia, India and Russia are among dozens of nations that suspended exports of some medical supplies. In Southeast Asia, there have been similar export bans from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, such as of hand sanitizer and masks. Most have since rolled back the bans. Observers say states should avoid tariffs and export quotas because they can create a vicious cycle of retaliation from other states, as well as create backups in the supply chain that keep medical gear from going where it is most needed. The pandemic has also caused some governments to issue bans on certain food exports as consumers stay home and hoard staples. The ASEAN bloc has been able to roll back some of the restrictions, in part because it has started to emerge from the crisis. For instance, ASEAN chair Vietnam has had no local transmissions of the virus for more than a month and no surge of infections to overwhelm its health care system. It scrapped its restrictions on the export of surgical masks April 29, leading to an export boom for the 20 domestic firms that make them. "Vietnamese textile and garment firms have been receiving constant orders," the government said in a post on its website this month. Turkey will heavily retaliate against any attack by Libya's Khalifa Haftar on Turkish interests in the country, a senior Turkish official said, hours after the eastern commander's forces vowed unprecedented air strikes. The exchange of threats signaled further escalation after a week of setbacks for Haftar in his war against the internationally recognized government in the capital, Tripoli. Fathi Bashagha, that administration's security chief, told Bloomberg at least eight Soviet-era jets have arrived in the east from a Russian airbase in Syria, possibly to assist in any new aerial campaign. Haftar's forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russian mercenaries, launched the war to take Tripoli more than a year ago, pushing their way into the city's suburbs. Turkish military intervention, however, has turned the tide in the battle for the North African OPEC member state, forcing Haftar's troops to withdraw from a strategic airbase this week and to announce a partial pullback from the frontlines. Turkey is well-prepared to defend its bases and other places under its protection using its drones and warships deployed near Tripoli, the senior Turkish official said Thursday. Any targeting of Turkish personnel could bring retaliatory attacks, including against Haftar's headquarters, the person said. The setbacks for Haftar were accompanied by a Turkish armed drone campaign that targeted Russian-made Pantsir air defense systems. One of the batteries was captured intact and paraded in Tripoli on Wednesday. "You are about to see the largest aerial campaign in Libyan history in the coming hours," Haftar's air force chief Saqr al-Jaroushi said in a statement. "All Turkish positions and interests in all cities are legitimate targets for our air force jets and we call on civilians to stay away from them." Bashagha said his Government of National Accord had received information that at least six MiG 29s and two Sukhoi 24s had flown into the east from the Russian-controlled Hmeimim Air Base in Syria, escorted by two SU-35 Russian airforce jets. It wasn't clear whether those were refurbished jets that had belonged to Haftar's air force or new additions to his fleet. Earlier this week, the United Nations acting Libya envoy Stephanie Williams warned of a possible escalation in the war for control of the oil-rich country, which has seen a series of conflicts since a 2011 revolt ousted dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi. Thousands of Russian and Sudanese mercenaries, as well as Syrians, are also backing Haftar while the UAE had supported him with armed drone strikes, according to Western officials. Turkey has deployed armed drones, naval frigates and thousands of Syrian militiamen to defend the capital. By PTI NEW DELHI: Four men were rescued from a fire that broke out at an office complex in west Delhi's Furniture Market area on Thursday, a Delhi Fire Service official said. The fire department said a call about the blaze was received at around 2 pm after which 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Four people were in the office complex when the fire broke out. However, they were rescued on time by the fire personnel and the blaze was also brought under control, a senior fire officer said. Short-circuit is suspected to be the reason behind the fire, he said. One of the man who was saved by the fire personnel saidt hat he along with his colleagues were working in the office when they saw smoke coming out. Suspecting it to be a case of short-circuit, we immediately switched off the main switch board, he said. "By the time, we tried to leave the building, the smoke had engulfed the entire area so we rushed back to our office space. It was suffocating and we were finding it difficult to breathe," the man said. The four people took shelter near one of the windows and managed to escape after a team of Delhi Fire Service reached the spot, he said. "We were looking for ropes to escape. But fire personnel arrived within 15 minutes and with the help of a ladder, they managed to rescue us," he said. Of course Rebecca Dixon wrote an nj.com op-ed, Workers shouldnt have to risk their lives for their paychecks, calling for New Jersey lawmakers to yet again approve twice-stalled legislation, Senate Bill 863. It would limit classification of workers as independent contractors in New Jersey. Dixon is with the National Employment Law Project, a think tank that historically has taken money from unions, including the AFL-CIO, a force that is pushing passage of S-863. Ideologues like Dixon want to exploit the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to sneak Big Labors bad policy ideas into law. Dixon claims S-863 is about paying a fair wage and granting sick leave to workers who are misclassified as independent contractors when they should be considered employees. Her sob story is that an endless number of such people are desperately seeking help during the pandemic. Data say otherwise. According to the New Jersey Department of Labor, as of May 14, the state has paid more than $1.1 billion in unemployment insurance to laid-off employees. In that same time frame, the amount of federal pandemic assistance the state has distributed to independent contractors is just $78.7 million. So, its possible to conclude that independent contractors have so far needed just 7 percent of the financial help that workers in Dixons so-called better employee jobs have received. Not only should lawmakers ignore the call to consider S-863 again, they should withdraw the bill and enact legislation moving New Jersey to the modern IRS test for worker classification. Protecting income should be every lawmakers goal right now. Kim Kavin, Washington Township, Morris County Any Karen could be caring, not selfish I never write letters to the editor, but Brian Regals commentary earlier this month, Karen is selfish. She wants to go to the salon, irked me enough that Ive finally gotten around to it. I am a person who still believes Ms. should be used for women, just like Mr. is for men. Of course, that has only had very mild success. The issue I have is that Regal, a university professor and maybe a teacher of young women chose to present his opinion by applying it to Karen, a specifically female name. The writer notes that the name, when used pejoratively, recently came to denote a middle-class white woman who does not receive the deference to which she believes shes entitled. The writer continues to berate the level of cooperation of women in this time of COVID-19 issues. Regal assumes that women don't measure up to these challenges. He could have just as easily described men, as well. I'm not sure this is the white privilege issue that Regal describes, since anyone can fight the rules and act as if theyre entitled, or just ignorant. It is just too easy to target women. What I do know is that people across the spectrum should try to care about others and the impact they have on others. I am middle class, white, and I care about doing what is right for the greater good. And, guess what? I am female! Liz Allcock, Cranford Elect Trump as boardwalk pitchman President Donald Trump says he is now taking the drug hydroxychloroquine to prevent catching COVID-19, despite research showing that it is not helpful, and may be harmful, for that purpose. Heres a suggested sales pitch for him: Hurry, Hurry, Hurry. Step right up. Here it is, folks. Mixed it up right here in my cabinet. Made in America, just like all my other miracles. I take it myself. Look what its done for me. It made me a genius. It makes me invulnerable. It cleans my innards as if Id just ingested disinfectant. Others have to wear masks to keep from spreading the virus, but I rely on my elixir. It will even solve the Social Security short fall. Follow me, folks. Itll only cost a small piece of your soul. Joe McGuire, Colonia Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. The Star-Ledger/NJ.com encourages submissions of opinion. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 By Eldar Janashvili - Trend: The Business Plan of the Asian Development Banks (ADB) country operations for 2020-2022 is consistent with the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for 2019-2023 for Azerbaijan, ADB told Trend. The strategy seeks to support diversified and inclusive growth in Azerbaijan through three strategic directions that include stimulating the development of the private sector, increasing the efficiency of the public sector, and improving infrastructure and strengthening human capital. The strategy for 2019-2023 is also consistent with ADB's large strategy for the period until 2030. The direction of increasing the efficiency of the public sector is focused on strengthening the management system and institutional capacity, while improving infrastructure is focused on improving the standard of living in cities, promoting regional cooperation and integration. The Business Plan is closely linked to the strategic roadmap for the prospects of the national economy, approved in December 2016 and aimed at intensifying efforts to diversify the national economy and stimulate sustainable non-oil economic growth, ADB noted. "The CPS is demand-driven and provides a flexible and adaptive approach to changing circumstances, based on a wide range of ADB tools and methods. In other words, since both the public and private sectors are still consolidating after the economic downturn of 2015-2017, following the shock of oil prices in 2014, the banks participation in the early years of the CPS will focus on supporting the government through political operations, analytical and advisory assistance including for the preparation of projects, as well as technical assistance in strengthening the capacities of relevant government agencies and the private sector," ADB said. "This will provide the basis for selective lending to projects in the later years of the SCPs existence in the event that the tough stance of government borrowing will weaken and the profile of the private sector will improve," the bank added. Depending on market conditions and capabilities, the ADB operations will be directed to supporting the private sector through appropriate financial intermediaries, as well as small and medium enterprises, especially those who involved in non-cyclic sectors and other underserved client segments. "The ADB can also work directly with relevant small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and state-owned enterprises to attract private capital, and within its financing program on non-sovereign trade, will strive to provide guarantees and loans to local banks, seeking to liquidate market gaps and promote non-oil trade. In the field of infrastructure and with real opportunities, ADB can support public-private partnership projects through equity or debt financing," the bank noted. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @eldarjanashvili Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Affinity Metals Corp. (TSXV: AFF) ("the Corporation") ("Affinity") congratulates Advisor Ronni Stoerferle regarding the upcoming much anticipated May 27th publication of the 2020 edition of the "In Gold We Trust" report. The "In Gold We Trust" report is the preeminent research report for the gold industry as it relates to the state of the global economy in general. The 2020 edition will be in excess of 350 pages of all things gold (and silver). The Wall Street Journal has referred to the report as the "Gold Standard of Gold Research". The report is free and is available for download on May 27th at the following web address: https://ingoldwetrust.report/ Ronni Stoeferle, Founding Affinity Advisory Board Member, and Rob Edwards, Affinity CEO were recently interviewed on the Agoracom network. The interview covers key information regarding the present state of the gold and silver market as well as Affinity's Regal Project. The interview may be viewed here: https://agoracom.com/ir/AffinityMetals/forums/discussion/topics/740923-interview-affinity-metals-discusses-strengthening-gold-market-and-developments-at-regal-project/messages/2268065message Granting of Incentive Options The Corporation has granted a total of 1,000,000 incentive stock options under the Corporation's stock option plan to certain Directors, Officers, Contractors and Advisors of the Corporation. The options were granted at a deemed price of $0.17 and are exercisable until May 20, 2030. The incentive options are subject to a hold period of four months and a day from issuance. The granting of options is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. About Affinity Affinity Metals is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on advancing the Regal polymetallic project located near Revelstoke, British Columbia. Drill results from preliminary drilling on the Regal project were recently announced and included a significant new silver discovery in the Allco area of the property with drill hole #10 intersecting 11.10 meters of 143.29 g/t silver including 0.55 meters of 2612.0 g/t silver. This intersection also carried high grade zinc and lead with some copper. Planning for the upcoming Regal exploration program is underway with details to be announced once finalized. On behalf of the Board of Directors Robert Edwards, CEO and Director of Affinity Metals Corp. Contact information for Mr. Edwards is info@affinity-metals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56281 John Malkovich was the victim of an unwanted sexual advance during his teenage years. The 66-year-old actor - who recently starred in a play inspired by the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein - has revealed he has first-hand experience of sexual harassment. 'When I was young, I had a professor in the theatre department who made some advances that were unwanted,' said the star who worked with Angelina Jolie on The Changeling. 'I was 19, he was in his 50s. I just said it wasn't my thing, sorry. It was someone I was fond of and I liked. So life went on. I did transfer schools, but not really because of that.' His past: John Malkovich was the victim of an unwanted sexual advance during his teenage years. The 66-year-old actor - who recently starred in a play inspired by the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein - has revealed he has first-hand experience of sexual harassment. Seen in 2019 In his early years: Here the star is seen, left, at age 32 with Dustin Hoffman, right, in 1985 for the television movie Death Of A Salesman However, Malkovich - who played a character based on Weinstein in Bitter Wheat - stressed that his own experience was markedly different to that of Weinstein's victims. The Burn After Reading star said: 'The Weinstein situation is very different. It was transactional. It's terrible for women, but it's horrific also just for the idea of work.' Malkovich actually felt 'shocked' when the former producer was handed a prison sentence for sexual abuse crimes. A serious performer: The In The Line Of Fire star seen in 1987. 'When I was young, I had a professor in the theatre department who made some advances that were unwanted,' said the star. 'I was 19, he was in his 50s. I just said it wasn't my thing, sorry. It was someone I was fond of and I liked. So life went on. I did transfer schools, but not really because of that' Weinstein, 68, was sentenced to 23 years behind bars by a New York City judge earlier this year, and Malkovich confessed it's something he never imagined happening, despite the wave of sexual abuse allegations made against him. He said: 'I was shocked he even got a sentence. I don't know anybody who believed he would go to jail.' The initial allegations made against Weinstein ignited the #MeToo movement, a campaign geared towards fighting the sexual harassment and sexual assault of women. One of his hits: Seen with Angelina Jolie in the film Changeling in 2008 for director Clint Eastwood On the panel: Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins and Jolie at the Beowul press conference in Los Angeles in 2007 But Malkovich thinks it's too early to determine whether the movement will leave a long-lasting impression on the movie industry. He added: 'It's a terrible thing if somebody's job depends on what sexual favor they will give in return for work.' Asked if that was previously the culture of the film business, Malkovich replied: 'Sure.' Malkovich also said he has had to work constantly in the past decade after losing millions to fraudster Bernie Madoff. Malkovich also said he has had to work constantly the past decade after losing millions to fraudster Bernie Madoff In December 2008, the star lost his life savings to financier Madoff, who defrauded thousands of investors out of an estimated $64.8 billion in a Ponzi scheme and was given a 150-year jail sentence in 2009. Malkovich admits he and his long-term partner Nicoletta Peyran had to make wholesale changes to their lifestyle and he had to accept as many roles that came his way to become financially secure again. In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, he said: 'Our then business manager had invested pretty much everything we'd ever made with somebody called Bernie Madoff. Everything I'd ever made was gone. 'I saw a picture of Bernie Madoff in handcuffs and said, 'I'm going to go to the corner to get a packet of cigarettes. I think we have a little problem with Madoff.'' When asked how much money in total he lost, he added: 'Oh, I don't know. A lot. But I don't think it mattered that much. We just made changes to the way we lived and the money we spent. 'I had to do more work that paid for a number of years, and work all the time. And I stopped paying for everything. I just stopped paying for friends and family for a time. And we used to spend a lot of money producing movies that lost quite a lot of money. That stopped.' Another co-star: The actor worked with Andie MacDowell on the 1991 film The Object Of Beauty Malkovich insists he was only angry about his lost fortune for a few days and kept reminding himself he was still in a privileged position to most of his fellow Americans. He said: 'After a couple or three days, you go, "You're lucky to be alive, you're lucky to have a job." Almost no one has money in the banks. I read somewhere that a huge percentage of Americans wouldn't have $400 to put between their hands in an emergency.' After five decades in the movie business, the actor insists he'd be content if he never landed another role for the rest of his life. When asked if it would bother him if he never got another job offer, he replied: 'No! It would require a change in the way we live. But we already did that 12 years ago. So that would be fine.' President Donald Trump said he was considering conducting the upcoming G7 summit in the United States. The American leader suggest... President Donald Trump said he was considering conducting the upcoming G7 summit in the United States. The American leader suggests that he prefers an in-person meeting rather than a teleconferencing session. The leaders and their ministers have, at different times, conducted video meetings about coronavirus since the outbreak. In March, Trump cancelled the in-person meeting with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy due to the coronavirus pandemic. The parley was rescheduled to hold in June. Now that our country is Transitioning back to Greatness, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, DC, at the legendary Camp David, Trump tweeted on Wednesday. In his reaction, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at his daily briefing, stated that he was open to discussing an in-person meeting. Emmanual Macron, President of France, said he would attend if proper health precautions are in place, Dpa quoted sources at the Elysee. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, said: No matter whether in the form of a video conference or otherwise, I will definitely fight for multi-lateralism. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 11:17:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NUR-SULTAN, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 impact on Chinese economy is temporary and would not shake China's goal to wipe out extreme poverty, said Aikyn Konurov, secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan and deputy of the lower house of parliament, in a recent interview with Xinhua. Voicing confidence that even such a terrible enemy like COVID-19 will not rock the overall goal of poverty eradication set by the Communist Party of China (CPC), Konurov noted that by the end of 2020, the entire Chinese society will be well-off, which is slated to "benefit the Asia-Pacific region as a whole." "A well-fed and happy nation will be always friendly and open to their neighbours, and therefore a growing wealth of Chinese people will be adored and welcomed internationally," he said. "Over the past decades, China successfully raised the living standard for over 1 billion people. Not any country in the world can achieve the goal. We have visited some remote Chinese villages, which have undergone astonishing changes. That's very impressive," said Konurov. China's farewell to extreme poverty, once achieved by the end of this year as planned, heralds a new stage of its development, he said. Noting that COVID-19 has widened differences and rifts among countries, Konurov said, at such difficult moments, solidarity and unity are the cure for a coordinated global fight, while anti-globalization and unilateralism offer no solution. Lauding the Chinese anti-virus efforts, Konurov said at this crucial juncture, the CPC managed to rally and unite all walks of life against the epidemic. "We are deeply concerned about Chinese people and closely monitoring the epidemiological situation in China. We saw how Chinese people successfully tamed the virus, saved lives and won the victory," said Konurov. Highly commending the Chinese leadership which saved the country from a deadly epidemic, the politician said that Chinese experiences are badly needed in many regions hard-hit by the virus. China also assisted a number of countries in their fight against COVID-19 by sending humanitarian aid and medical teams. The Chinese medical team visiting Kazakhstan in April has won applause from the Central Asian country after conducting training sessions for 10,000 Kazakh health workers and made contributions to the development of Kazakhstan's national protocol for the diagnosis and treatment for COVID-19. "China is a loyal friend and reliable partner for many countries," said Konurov. Enditem Whelton, other researchers and public health authorities have issued warnings about the plumbing in these buildings, where water may have gone stagnant in the pipes or even in individual taps and toilets. As lockdowns are lifted, bacteria that build up internally may cause health problems for returning workers if the problem is not properly addressed by facilities managers. Employees and guests at hotels, gyms and other kinds of buildings may also be at risk. Victoria's Secret said it will close 251 stores in North America by the end of this year. That's roughly 23% of its store fleet. More store closures could happen in the coming years, Victoria's Secret interim Chief Executive Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer said on a call with analysts on Thursday. BENGALURU: People returning from other states are continuing to add to the tally in Karnataka. Along with Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, cases have also been traced to Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Of the 116 fresh corona positive cases, at least 53 trace their origin to people who returned from Maharashtra. Sugarcane capital Mandya has the highest number of active corona positive cases in Karnataka -- 159, with 11 fresh cases from Maharashtra. Mandya, which initially battled the cases of Tablighi Jamaat attendees, is once again facing an uphill task, with majority of its cases coming from neighbouring Maharashtra. Following is the breakdown of the 116 fresh cases reported in the state: Twenty-five in Udupi, 15 in Mandya, 13 in Hassan, 11 in Ballari, 9 each in Belagavi and Uttara Kannada, 7 in Bengaluru, 6 each in Dakshin Kannada and Shivamogga, 5 in Dharwad, 3 in Davangere, 2 each in Gadag and Chikkaballapura and one each from Tumkur, Vijayapura and Mysuru. This has taken the total tally to 1578 cases, with 41 deaths. Out of 25 cases in Udipi, 24 cases trace their origin to Maharashtra. In Hassan, all the 13 cases trace their origin to Maharashtra. Eleven out of 15 cases in Mandya, 3 out of 5 in Dharwad and one each in Tumkur and Mysuru are due to the Maharashtra factor. In the remaining four cases in Mandya, 3 are primary contacts of a 28-year-old returnee from Mumbai. Except for one patient with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, the remaining five cases in Shivamogga have a travel history to Tamil Nadu. All the six cases in Dakshin Kannada have international travel history to UAE. Three patients in Belagavi have travel history to Jharkhand, while two cases have links to Rajasthan. Three other patients had returned from Maharashtra. Gadag has two fresh cases - one from Chattisgarh and the other from Maharashtra. Two out of the five cases in Dharwad trace their origin to Telangana. Four out of seven cases in Bengaluru are from the containment zone Padarayanapura -- all four being the primary contacts of 2 positive patients. In one case, the officials have not yet traced the source of infection and in the remaining 2 cases, the source of infection is a 43-year-old male, who has a travel history to Chennai. A PROJECT launched by an entrepreneur from Henley to help small laboratories provide coronavirus testing for frontline healthcare staff has signed a multi-million pound contract with the Government. Mike Fischer founded the Covid-19 Volunteer Testing Network with the aim of recruiting volunteer labs across the UK to carry out thousands of tests a day for GPs, NHS workers and care staff. Now it has the backing of the Department of Health and Social Care, which will fund tens of thousands of tests under the two-month contract. The Government funding will substantially increase the number of labs to be converted to carry our testing by helping to pay for the necessary equipment and consumables. Mr Fischer, 69, said: Im absolutely delighted. Its a great endorsement of the whole concept of the network. Im sure its the first of its kind in the country and, as far as I know, the first of its kind in the world. Now we can really start growing the networks activities. We have been developing relationships with labs on the basis that a contract would be arriving. We wont transform the countrys ability to test but we will make a significant and distinctive contribution towards it. Mr Fischer wants the country to expand its covid-19 testing capacity for frontline workers and originally donated 1million to get the project going. There are thousands of labs in the UK with the right equipment and expertise to carry out the tests but these are currently not being used. Mr Fischer said: Its the first time the department has done a deal like this and, not surprisingly, it took a while to sort out. We had to work out a lot of details of how labs could be authoritatively signed off and quality issues dealt with for the Government to sign off on it. The contract and the arrangements we have got are excellent and very enabling. It means the labs will be formally accepted as providing as good a test as any other government-supported test facility. I think they are already anyway but this gives that assurance. We will continue to fund some to keep momentum going until they can cross over to being department-funded. Mr Fischer said the contract would also enable larger labs, previously not financially viable to include in the network, to be part of it once they had gone through the approval process. Prior to the contract being signed, the network was carrying out about 600 tests a day. This has reduced from the original 1,500 tests a day as some of its labs started dealing directly with the NHS and the Government. Mr Fischer added: When we launched the network there was no government programme to deal with any applications by commercial organisations or academic labs to do testing. All we wanted was a lot more testing to take place. Were doing this at a time when the understanding of how much testing is going to be needed has grown dramatically. We believe that it is vital to test even asymptomatic frontline healthcare workers regularly. Even people who do not show symptoms may be carriers of the virus and transmit the infection to others. We dont see any limit on how much testing the country is going to need. The network, which works in parallel with the Governments centralised testing programme, now has six labs live testing hundreds of healthcare workers each day across 50 GP surgeries. More than 20 more labs are expected to go live in the coming weeks. Network labs are testing health workers locally, so most are able to deliver same-day results. They deliver swab kits to GP surgeries and care homes, then pick them up when they have been completed, reducing the need to drive long distances to a testing centre. This makes it easier for workers to be regularly screened and for asymptomatic cases to be identified quickly, which is vital for slowing the spread of the virus. Mr Fischer is the director of SBL, an independent, non-profit medical research laboratory at Milton Park, Abingdon, which has been converted to test for covid-19. It was the inspiration for the network. It is now providing hundreds of tests a week to NHS staff at 18 GP practices in Henley, Nettlebed, Sonning Common, Goring and Woodcote as well as some staff in care homes with a half-day turnaround. These tests are giving hundreds of staff an indication of their current health status and the knowledge required to continue working. Mr Fischer is running the project with two other entrepreneurs, Caroline Plumb and Tim Perkin. For more information, visit www.covid19-testing.org There cannot be a "George Orwell situation where some workers are more equal than others", the Labour leader Alan Kelly has warned. Mr Kelly said that public health advice being used by the Oireachtas and now the Courts Service which says that people should not spend more than two hours in the same room - even while physically distancing. The advice saw the Oireachtas Covid committee have witnesses give evidence by video link on Tuesday and has seen Health Minister Simon Harris say that it is not possible for him to attend two briefings in the Dail chamber today. The advice states that anyone who is in the room for more than two hours with another person becomes a close contact of that person and must isolate for 14 days if they show symptoms of Covid-19. Yesterday Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn said that he was not aware of the advice and said there was no rule preventing businesses having people in the same room for more than two hours. However, Mr Kelly said that if this advice was being used in one part of society, it had to be used across society. "The consequences of this advice for society and businesses are huge. We cannot have a George Orwell situation where some are more equal than others. "If it applies in the Oireachtas and it applies in the courts, it applies to the pharmacists, to the shops, to the meat factories and the gardai." Mr Kelly said that he accepted it was unlikely that the government would look to apply the two-hour rule across society, but said that it was "bonkers" that the advice had been given to the Oireachtas but not society. Mr Kelly said that he wanted to see sector-specific advice for businesses on how they can operate safely. The Labour leader said that there needed to be a "linear process" on how NPHET communicated its advice. "If individuals are giving advice that has dominoed across society, it's going to end up in confusion." [snippet1]987600[/snippet1] Update May 25, 2020: The province has now expanded testing at assessment centres to include some people without symptoms of COVID-19, as well as anyone with at least one symptom. Anyone whos concerned theyve been exposed to COVID-19 will be able to get tested. This includes people who are contacts of or may have been exposed to a confirmed or suspected case. People who are risk for COVID-19 through their jobs, such as health-care workers, grocery store clerks, and employees of food processing plants, will also be able to get tested even if they dont have any symptoms. No Ontarian who has symptoms or is worried theyve been exposed will be denied testing at an assessment centre, the province says. Officials are now urging people to go to COVID-19 assessment centres for testing even if they have mild symptoms of the disease from loss of taste or smell to pink eye as more of Ontarios economy starts to reopen. This comes on the heels of a big drop in testing over the long weekend, with labs using one-third of their capacity, Tuesday, and processing only 7,382 tests. Thats down from 17,768 at the end of last week. Health Minister Christine Elliott said Wednesday at Queens Park that not enough people have been going to assessment centres. They were directed last week to start testing individuals with an expanded list of symptoms as blanket testing of long-term-care homes wrapped up. People did not come to assessment centres over the weekend, Elliott said. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, please go to an assessment centre to be tested. After criticism from opposition parties and epidemiologists on the testing strategy, Elliott also said the province will work with the business community on wider testing for employees returning to work. We cant open things up to stage two until we can fully assess what the effects of stage one are on the community, so testing becomes all the more important, she added, referring to the gradual stages of reopening the economy. And we do have a plan to ramp it up considerably. Its a different approach from the beginning of the pandemic, when people with mild symptoms were urged to stay home and self-isolate and constraints on testing capacity meant not everyone was able to get a test. The list of updated symptoms goes beyond just the classic markers of COVID-19, like cough and shortness of breath, as scientists learn more about the range of impacts of the new disease, and how it can affect organs other than the lungs. It includes sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, as well as a runny nose or congestion unrelated to seasonal allergies. It also lists several atypical symptoms that can particularly appear in older people, and those with developmental disabilities, such as delirium and unexplained falls or fatigue. And it includes multi-system inflammatory vasculitis in children, a rare condition seen in the United States and Europe in kids and teens whove tested positive for COVID-19. This can look similar to Kawasaki Syndrome a rare inflammatory disease and can show up as persistent fever, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and rash. Ministry of Health spokesperson Hayley Chazan added in an email that the previous testing guidelines relied on individual clinicians assessments of patients at the centres. With the new testing guidelines, we expect everyone with mild symptoms to be tested, regardless of their exposure, she wrote. While prioritizing certain vulnerable groups, as we open the economy, guidelines will allow for expanded testing of those with symptoms, she wrote. Our expectation is that assessment centres will abide by the provinces expanded testing guidance. People without symptoms may be tested in special circumstances, typically when they are part of an outbreak, said Chazan, in addition to the proactive testing of all nursing home residents and staff in the province. The vulnerable groups include, among others, hospital patients, residents of retirement homes and other communal settings like homeless shelters, health-care workers, first responders and other essential workers such as grocery store clerks. There are 129 assessment centres across the province, Chazan said, and each one has its own policies and procedures. Ontarios Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the province has the capacity to enhance testing considerably, as a crucial part of moving toward the next steps of the recovery. Hes aware there may be some further barriers for people, such as where to go and how to get there, and theyre trying to look at removing those barriers. In Toronto, the assessment centres at St. Josephs and St. Michaels hospitals have not seen any increase in people seeking testing, as more head back to work. In fact, volumes were a bit lower than typical at St. Michaels assessment centre over the long weekend, said Unity Health Toronto spokesperson Jennifer Stranges. With the broader criteria for testing now in place, we encourage those with symptoms of COVID-19 to get tested. At Michael Garron Hospitals assessment centre, staff noticed a slight increase on Friday and Tuesday but there wasnt a noticeable change on the weekend, wrote spokesperson Andrea Nameth in an email. In Ottawa, public health officials urged employers to remember that employees without symptoms dont need to be cleared with a test to go back to work. That message came in a tweet prompted by reports of some individuals without symptoms who were presenting for assessment at the assessment centre wrote a spokesperson. The province recommends that people use the online self-assessment tool to determine next steps, and depending on the outcome, contact Telehealth, their physician or their public health unit to determine whether they should proceed with testing. But whether or not a referral is mandatory seems to depend on where you live. In Toronto, for example, it is recommended that people call ahead before going to an assessment centre, wrote Toronto Public Health spokesperson Keisha Mair. They can also call their health-care provider, Telehealth Ontario, or Toronto Public Health. Mississaugas Trillium Health Partners assessment centres at Mississauga Hospital (Clinical Administration Building) and Credit Valley Hospital (Valley House), are currently available to the community by referral from Peel Public Health, a family physician, or a THP specialist, said spokesperson Lyndsay Carter in an email. With files from Rob Ferguson Assessment centres in the GTA: Toronto: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-what-you-should-do/covid-19-have-symptoms-or-been-exposed/covid-19-assessment-centres/ Peel: https://www.peelregion.ca/coronavirus/testing/#assess York: https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/9908292-updated-where-to-get-assessed-for-covid-19-in-york-region/ Durham: https://www.lakeridgehealth.on.ca/en/patientsandvisitors/covid-19-physician-assessment-clinic-information-for-health-care-providers.asp Halton: https://www.haltonhealthcare.on.ca/covid-19-info/covid-19-assessment-centres LOS ANGELES, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabis Global, Inc. (OTC: MCTC), a cannabinoid and hemp extract science forward company developing infusion and delivery technologies, is excited to announce that its recently introduced Hemp You Can Feel Coffee has been accepted for sale on Amazon.com and that the Company has begun mass manufacturing in preparation for widespread sales and distribution. The products are expected to be available for purchase on the Amazon.com platform in June. The Company will be utilizing its patent pending coffee dosing system for all related manufacturing. During late January of this year, Cannabis Global announced the filing of a provisional patent on a technology that allows any manufacturer of coffee pods to simply and easily add cannabinoids, vitamins, or other active ingredients to coffee pods. An important element of this invention is the "Clean Label" system utilizing mainly organic ingredients and no chemicals, surfactants or preservatives. The Hemp You Can Feel Coffee product bound for Amazon will be produced on an ultra-high-speed manufacturing line, which will integrate the new dosing system. The Company believes the infusion system makes legacy dosing technologies obsolete in that the new system allows for much more accurate dosing and significantly lower production costs. Thus, the Company believes it will hold a long term cost advantage related to this product category. "This is an additional example of how we are moving our IP into products to solve industry issues," commented Arman Tabatabaei, CEO of Cannabis Global. "Dosing single service coffee pods with hemp or other ingredients is a big problem. Incumbent practices are messy, expensive, and unreliable. Our internally developed, patent pending technology is easy to integrate into production systems and represents a comprehensive solution for all of these issues." Cannabis Global expects its Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products to be unique on Amazon, as the cleanest label product within the hemp coffee category. The hemp infusions utilize the Company's unique dual process that contains no chemicals of any type and pure natural honey bee cannabinoid technology. As the Company finalizes its line of Hemp You Can Feel sweeteners, it plans to move the new set of complimentary coffee products onto the Amazon platform as well. Tabatabaei continued, "While we are very excited to have our Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products debut on Amazon, I cannot overemphasize the significance of having the new dosing system applied to high-speed production lines. It changes the equation for infusion of hemp extracts, vitamins, and nutraceuticals into single-serving coffee pods. We are in discussions with multiple manufacturers at present and believe our technology has the potential to become a new industry standard solution." Last month, the Company announced its Hemp You Can Feel line of sweeteners and coffee creamers. The new product line will feature two low-calorie sweeteners, two organic natural sweeteners, and three powdered non-dairy creamers. Each product will feature the Company's patent pending Hemp You Can Feel technology, based on all-natural hemp infusions. Cannabis Global Plans to market the new hemp extract sweeteners in conjunction with its Hemp You Can Feel Coffee products. About Cannabis Global, Inc. Cannabis Global, Inc. (OTC:MCTC) is a Nevada registered, fully reporting, and audited publicly-traded company. With the hemp and cannabis industries moving very quickly and with a growing number of market entrants, Cannabis Global plans to concentrate its efforts on the middle portions of the hemp and cannabis value chain. The Company plans to actively pursue R&D programs and productization for exotic cannabinoid isolation, bioenhancement of cannabinoids and polymeric solid nanoparticles and nanofibers for addition into consumer products and for dermal application. The Company was reorganized during June of 2019 and announced its intent to enter the fast-growing cannabis sector. The ompany is headed and managed by a group of highly experienced cannabis industry pioneers and entrepreneurs. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as "anticipate", "seek", intend", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "project", "plan", or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-k, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov. For more information, please contact: Arman Tabatabaei [email protected] +1-(310)-986-4929 Related Links https://cannabisglobalinc.com SOURCE Cannabis Global, Inc. Debt Woes Mount for Hotel Company Tied to Coronavirus Relief Loan Controversy Ashford Hospitality Trust, one of the biggest beneficiaries of a U.S. small businesses coronavirus relief program before it returned the money after being criticized has a debt problem. The Dallas-based lodging real estate investment trust, which owns properties like the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta and Le Pavillon in New Orleans, received $30 million from the Paycheck Protection Program under the $2 trillion U.S. coronavirus relief package. Deep-pocketed companies and organizations like Ruths Chris Steak House and the Los Angeles Lakers received and returned their PPP loans after facing scrutiny, but Ashford Trust Chairman of the Board Monty Bennett initially held out, saying his trio of companies which also include Braemar Hotels & Resorts and Ashford Inc. legitimately qualified for the program and needed the money to make debt service and payroll obligations. Bennett eventually promised to return the PPP money, but Ashford Trust is still in serious debt to the tune of $4 billion. Weve gone into this crisis with too much leverage. Its something where wed look for opportunities to de-lever prior to this and had been unsuccessful, Ashford Trust CEO J. Robison Hays said during the first quarter earnings call. Im not content with just making it through this crisis surviving and having a company that some investors may not think is investable and some think has too much leverage. Im not okay with that. Get the Latest on Coronavirus and the Travel Industry on Skifts Liveblog Hays, who was announced as Ashford Trusts new president and CEO during the height of the PPP scrutiny, did not address the acceptance or return of those funds during Thursdays call. Ashford Trust leaders blamed coronavirus for the weak performance. The company lost $94.8 million in the first quarter. Revenue per room for the companys 93 hotels declined nearly 23 percent in the same time frame. But analysts noted Ashford was already in significant debt at the time of its controversial acceptance of PPP funds. The company ended the quarter with $4.1 billion in mortgage loans and $240 million cash on hand. Story continues While Ashford Trust is working with lenders to buy more time through three to six-month forbearance terms, Hays said talks arent always successful. He added the number of loans Ashford Trust is current on is extraordinarily small. Weve had great working relationships with our brands. The brands have bent over backwards like our friends at Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt, Hays said in reference to brands suspending brand standards and other ways to financially help owners. Lenders, by and large, have not taken that approach, and its been very frustrating. But its what we have to deal with. Ashford Trust has been able to strike forbearance deals with some of its lenders and is making progress with others, but there is a ceiling on how much success the company may find with negotiations and new terms. The U.S. Federal Reserve gave guidance to banks to work with borrowers impacted by coronavirus and offer flexibility, Ashford Trust Chief Financial Officer Deric Eubanks said. But banks make up only half of hotel debt, and there is less regulatory guidance or encouragement to be flexible with the remaining half of lenders. Our industry has just been crushed and really needs some guidance from our government officials in how lenders should be working with borrowers right now through this crisis, Eubanks said. A Slimmed Down Portfolio It is unlikely Ashford Trusts 116-hotel portfolio remains fully intact through the ongoing crisis. The company gave up three hotels in the 2008 financial crisis, Hays said while noting the coronavirus pandemic is materially worse than that situation in what were seeing and how underwater certain assets may be. Ashford Trust isnt seeking forbearance to buy time to recover. Instead, it is wanting to use that time to evaluate its portfolio and determine which properties should be saved and which are easier to divest. Our goal is to keep as many of these properties as we can and to keep the portfolio as it is, but there is obviously the outside opportunity that some of that may not happen, Hays said. We obviously have priorities and keepers and assets where, frankly, if we had to hand back, Id be okay with that. There are all of those. I just dont know what the lenders are going to do. Ashford Trusts leadership maintained financial problems werent limited to their own company but to the hotel industry as a whole. Hays accused debt servicers and lenders of not yet acknowledging the reality and depth of the crisis and said six months of forbearance still wasnt enough to help the hotel industry through a prolonged low-occupancy environment. He did not comment on a recovery timeline forecast beyond saying, like most hotel executives, that drive-to and leisure travel would return first. At some point in time, fundamentally every hotel loan in America will have to have some sort of restructuring. I dont know when that will happen. Wed obviously like that to happen sooner than later, Hays said. I think thats the case almost universally across every hotel loan. Nobody is ready to solve it, and that may have to come through continued pain and watching us slowly crawl back. Subscribe to Skift newsletters for essential news about the business of travel. India's third Covid wave likely to peak on Jan 23, daily cases to stay below 4 lakh: IIT Kanpur scientist India logs over 3.17 lakh new Covid cases in last 24 hours; daily positivity rate up at 16.41 per cent COVID-19 fatalities may be much more than what is being reported Coronavirus crisis: Nation records second-biggest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in India India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P New Delhi, May 21: The nationwide coronavirus tally on Thursday crossed 1,10,000-mark as India recorded 5,609 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. This numbers would be the second-biggest single-day spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the country. According to the Union Health Ministry's 8 am update, the total number of cases in the country stands at 1,12,359. This includes the number of active cases, 63,624 , recovered/discharge, 45,299 and the death toll that stands at 3,435. Explained: Why the development of coronavirus vaccine is delayed? On Wednesday, the Health Ministry had said the recovery rate among those having tested positive for coronavirus has increased to nearly 40 per cent, from about seven per cent before the lockdown began on March 25. The ministry also said the hospital support was needed by less than 7 per cent patients. On May 20, the number of COVID-19 cases across the country increased by more than 5,600, that is the country's biggest single-day jump, to reach 1,06,750. Explained: Will India face West Africa's situation in closure of schools amid coronavirus outbreak? Death toll has risen to 3,303 after 140 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours (between Tuesday and Wednesday). Domestic flights to resume in India from Monday, AAI issues guidelines | Oneindia News In two weeks, the number of coronavirus disease cases have doubled up from 49,391 on May 6 to 1,06,139 on May 20 in the fourth phase of the lockdown. Initially, the nationwide lockdown was imposed for a 21-day period till April 14, but later the Central government extended it till May 3 in the second phase and then for another 14-day third phase till May 17. A two-week-long fourth phase is now underway till May 31. A drug-addled thug who hacked off a stranger's thumb with a 'pirate sword' later bragged about the attack with a thumbs-up emoji. Samuel Leighton's victim, father of three Michael Villaini, had been out for a late night walk after an earlier argument with his partner at their home in rural Victoria just outside of Bendigo. What was to be a simple stroll to clear the air has become a life changing nightmare for the 37-year old, who had been a skilled carpenter and tradesman. Samuel Leighton gives the thumbs-up emoji to confirm he was behind an attack which saw him chop off a stranger's thumb with a pirate sword The quiet intersection of Guys Hill Road and Ryalls Lane, just outside of Bendigo, where Sam Leighton attacked a stranger with a pirate sword at the intersection of Guys Hill Road and Ryalls Lane in Strathfieldsaye Mr Villaini had never met the 26-year old reprobate who so callously changed his life that night on September 23, 2018. Leighton had been nothing but trouble since he was a kid. A rat-tailed deadbeat with a savage drug problem and attitude to match. He had been practically homeless at the time after burning all of his bridges with his own family. Despite an active intervention order in place, Leighton was still bunked up at his mum's Emu Creek property - just south of Bendigo and northwest of Melbourne. He hadn't slept for two weeks and had been using methylamphetamine - the dreaded drug ice - daily. It was just before 3am when he called up his girlfriend and asked her to come over. Leighton had believed he was about to be whacked by gangsters after he heard some 'hoonatics' doing burnouts outside the front of his mum's house. The pair jumped in her car and took chase, but not before Leighton grabbed a large pirate sword he had stashed away. They quickly lost sight of the hoons, but when they went to drive home, things went from bad to worse. Leighton spotted Mr Villiani as he walked towards Bendigo and assumed he was a 'lookout' for the imaginary gangsters. Despite solid advice from his girlfriend, Leighton jumped out of the car and approached his hapless victim. Moments later he returned for the pirate sword. With a single swipe he took Mr Villiani's thumb right off, sending it spinning into the darkness. Sam Leighton repeatedly bragged about his callous attack by giving the thumbs-up emoji. He had sliced a man's thumb off with a pirate sword for no reason The pair fled, leaving Mr Villiani bleeding and searching for his thumb. He was saved when a passerby chanced upon him in the dead of night and called him an ambulance. He was airlifted to hospital where his thumb was re-attached. The savage attack made the local news, but rather than hide from his shameful attack, Leighton bragged about it in the most callous of ways. 'Hey, read the news bro?' he texted a mate. 'Cant say much and Im not at mums just read Bendigo Advertiser.' When his mate returned with a screen grab of the story, Leighton responded with a thumbs-up emoji. No amount of revenge will ever fix the emotional scars. I can only hope you get what you deserve - Michael Villiani He repeated the cruel gag again days later - this time on a fresh audience. 'Hey you read the Bendigo Advertiser lol,' he texted a friend. 'No lol send me a photo of it,' she replied. He complied. 'Was that you ahaha?' she asked. Again, Leighton sent the thumbs-up emoji. 'Haha hectic,' came the response. 'Yeah Im pretty hectic lol if only you knew,' Leighton replied. They were text messages that would bring him undone when police eventually caught up with him. His bragging had got around to those who were not as amused as he was. From a prison communications room, Leighton sat quietly as his victim outlined all of the ways he had destroyed his life. Mr Villiani had been a construction manager who prided himself on his quality workmanship and skills at the trade. In a victim impact statement he read aloud to the County Court of Victoria, Mr Villiani said he had blamed himself over the attack for a long time. 'Why didn't I run away? Why did I reach out to catch it? I got myself into this mess,' he thought. The attack left him with nothing but guilt, blame and regret. Mr Villiani had to stand down from his job. While once everything he touched 'turned to gold', he was now unemployable. He can't play video games, guitar or piano anymore with his kids. His marriage ended, his livelihood destroyed. 'No amount of revenge will ever fix the emotional scars,' he said. 'I can only hope you get what you deserve.' Little was offered by Leighton to excuse his mindless behaviour. He pleaded guilty to one count of reckless causing serious injury to Mr Villiani. By the time of his pre-sentence hearing earlier this month, he had scribbled a haphazard apology letter to his victim. His barrister said her client had struggled after the death of his mate Tyler Cassidy, who was shot dead by police as a 15-year old in 2008. Leighton had appeared in the Children's Court before graduating to adult assaults and thefts that landed him in jail. He will be sentenced on Monday. Super Cyclone Amphan has killed at least 12 persons and ravaged Kolkata and several parts of West Bengal as it left behind a trail of destruction by uprooting trees, destroying thousands of homes and swamping low-lying areas of the state. Kolkata: Cyclone Amphan has killed at least 12 persons and ravaged Kolkata and several parts of West Bengal as it left behind a trail of destruction by uprooting trees, destroying thousands of homes and swamping low-lying areas of the state. While a man and a woman were killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah, officials said. Three persons were killed in Hooghly and North 24 Paraganas districts due to electrocution, they said. A woman and her seven-year-old son were killed in the Regent park area of Kolkata after a tree fell on them, the officials said. They said a person was killed in Kolkata after being hit by a flying object during the storm. Senior state officials said it was too early to estimate a toll on life or damage to property as the hardest hit areas were still not accessible. Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 190 kmph, extremely severe cyclone Amphan slammed Digha coast of West Bengal at 2.30 pm on Wednesday, triggering heavy rainfall and gustings in various parts of the state. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been monitoring the situation at state secretariat Nabanna since Tuesday night, said the impact of Amphan was "worse than coronavirus." The cyclone barreled through coastal districts of North and South 24 Paraganas of Bengal, unleashing copious rain and windstorm, blowing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and swamping low lying towns and villages, officials said. Strong winds with speed up to 125 kmph per hour upturned cars in Kolkata and felled trees and electricity poles blocking important roads and intersections. Reports arriving in Kolkata from North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore said roofs of thatched houses were blown away, electric poles got twisted and hundreds of trees broken and uprooted. There was a massive power cut in large parts of Kolkata, North 24 Paraganas and South Paraganas. The mobile and internet services were also down as the cyclone had damaged several communication towers. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. Portions of several dilapidated buildings came crashing down in Kolkata and other parts of the state. Embankments in Sundarban delta a UNESCO site were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometers of the Island. TV footage showed gigantic tidal waves crashing into a seawall in Digha and Sunderban region. Thick sheets of rain blurred the state's coastline as surging waters engulfed mud-and-thatch houses, flattening them in a trice. Heavy machinery was moved in to clear the roads blocked by falling trees. More than five lakh people have been evacuated to safety by the state government. Anger as PM Johnson refuses to exempt low-paid, front-line workers, such as carers and porters, from $500 fee. London, United Kingdom Anger is growing towards the British government over its refusal to exempt overseas NHS workers, many of whom are currently putting their lives at risk on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, from paying a fee for healthcare. While doctors, nurses and paramedics have been granted a one-year exemption from the charge amid the pandemic, those working in lower-paid roles such as hospital cleaners, porters and carers must still pay. The annual fee is currently 400 pounds ($490) and will rise to 624 pounds in October a high sum for people earning the minimum wage. It must be paid regardless of whether individuals use the healthcare service. It currently applies to people from outside the European Economic Area, but will include European migrants after the Brexit transition period ends. Referring to his own battle with coronavirus, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday: I do accept and understand the difficulties faced by our amazing NHS staff and Ive been a personal beneficiary of carers who have come from abroad and, frankly, saved my life. But, he added: We must look at the realities this is a great national service, its a national institution, it needs funding and those contributions actually help us its very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources. .@BorisJohnson explaining why he thinks NHS surcharge for non-EEA immigrants must stay. The explanation is reprehensible: he argues, without shame, that it's there to make money. It's the *National* Health Service; it can't be funded by making some immigrants pay twice for it. pic.twitter.com/r4GLRrRERW Prof Tanja Bueltmann (@cliodiaspora) May 20, 2020 Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet, tweeted: What kind of person is it who owes his life to overseas health workers and then not only insists they have to pay a surcharge to use the NHS themselves but also plans to increase that surcharge in the worst recession for 300 years. Answer: Boris Johnson, our Prime Minister. Omar Khan, director of race equality think-tank Runnymede Trust, said: The principle behind the NHS surcharge is that migrants can and should always be treated poorly and unfairly if you can get away with it. The same principle that underpinned the Windrush injustice, and that has other various policies that still are in force. Some within Johnsons own Conservative Party also condemned his decision to maintain the charge. William Wragg, a Conservative MP, tweeted: I will support the nhs fee exemption for migrant nhs and care workers. Now is the time for a generosity of spirit towards those who have done so much good. I am sure that @Conservatives colleagues will be supportive. The debate came after the government won some praise by reversing its decision to exclude lower-paid migrant NHS workers from a bereavement scheme allowing family members indefinite leave to remain, free of charge, if the NHS worker dies. The NHS workers that had been excluded, until the u-turn, included cleaners, porters or carers, but the scheme had applied to doctors and nurses from abroad. The government u-turn came after political opposition and a widely-shared plea by Syrian refugee, Hassan Akkad, who called on Johnson to reconsider his position. Akkad, who works as a hospital cleaner in a London hospital, had said he felt betrayed by the exclusion. A man accused of murdering his mother in south Belfast is suffering from brain damage, a court has been told. Jordan Kennedy's lawyer said he sustained the injuries in a car crash almost six years ago which claimed the life of his best friend. Details emerged amid efforts to fast-track the case against the 21-year-old for allegedly stabbing Emma Jane McParland to death. Ms McParland, 39, was found dead at her flat off the Ormeau Road on April 22. Kennedy, of Haywood Avenue in the city, remains in custody charged with his mother's murder. At a review hearing before Belfast Magistrates' Court on Thursday, defence solicitor Adrian Harvey confirmed discussions with the Public Prosecution Service are underway about a process aimed at avoiding delay. Mr Harvey indicated steps are being taken to obtain an agreed set of facts. He also revealed: "There's a background where Mr Kennedy suffered a brain damage as a result of a fatal road traffic accident." The solicitor was referring to a two-car crash near Belfast in 2014. Kennedy's friend was killed in the collision, while a woman travelling in a second vehicle was seriously injured. No further details about that incident can be disclosed for legal reasons. District Judge George Conner agreed to adjourn the current proceedings for a further update in four weeks time. E asyjet has said it will start flying again from June 15 in the UK and France as lockdown measures are eased. The company will restart a small number of flights on routes where there is sufficient customer demand to support profitable flying. When flights resume customers and cabin crew will be required to wear facemasks and no food will be made available. The low cost airline said its actions were in line with government advice and that it had consulted with aviation authorities, including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. EasyJet's planes have been grounded since late March when the coronavirus spread across Europe. The airline will likely operate domestic flights only between 22 airports, with more routes added when they became viable. In the UK, the initial cities include Gatwick, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Belfast. On the Continent, planes will fly from locations including Paris, Barcelona and Geneva. Customers will also be asked to scan their own passports and boarding documents to avoid staff having to touch them, while social distancing will be enforced on planes 'where seats are available'. A number of other airlines have announced tentative plans to ramp up their operations from the skeleton schedules currently being used due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ryanair plans to restore 40% of its flights from July 1, while British Airways is due to make a meaningful return to service in the same month. Customers will be asked to wear facemasks when flying / Getty Images The global aviation industry has taken a battering from the impact of coronavirus, with most airlines only going ahead with a handful of flights. Britons have been warned against all but essential travel, in line with many other countries, while the prospect of a compulsory two-week quarantine for people returning to the UK could put even more people off flying. Johan Lundgren, easyJet boss, said: "I am really pleased that we will be returning to flying in the middle of June. These are small and carefully planned steps that we are taking to gradually resume operations. "We will continue to closely monitor the situation across Europe so that when more restrictions are lifted the schedule will continue to build over time to match demand, while also ensuring we are operating efficiently and on routes that our customers want." He added: "The safety and wellbeing of our customers remains our highest priority, which is why we are implementing a number of measures to enhance safety at each part of the journey, from disinfecting the aircraft to requiring customers and crew to wear masks. These measures will remain in place for as long as is needed to ensure customers and crew are able to fly safely as the world continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic." Earlier this week easyJet fell victim to a highly sophisticated cyber attack, exposing the email addresses and travel details of millions of customers. The hackers accessed the email and travel details of around 9 million customers, and the credit card details of more than 2,000 of them. The easyJet chief executive and chairman are also facing a fight for their futures as the airline's founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, bids to have them removed from their posts in a shareholder vote due tomorrow. Easyjet has furloughed thousands of staff and borrowed 600 million under a government-backed financing scheme as it seeks to shield itself from the effects of the coronavirus crisis that has hit the industry hard, with British Airways, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic collectively planning 18,000 job losses. BA announced last weekend that cabin staff face a potential whopping 55% cut to their salaries. A letter received by staff yesterday outlines plans to slash cabin crew salaries to 24,000 ($29,048.88), while senior crew would have to downgrade to basic level pay. Most senior crew customer service managers are currently on around 35,000, while some crew leaders customer service directors can earn up to 80,000 per year. Unions are said to have threatened legal action and staff are planning on striking. DEERFIELD - The Massachusetts State Police Air Wing has been pressed into service to aid firefighters in Deerfield battling a forest fire in a remote part of town. The state police helicopter fitted with a "Bambi bucket " has been called into airdrop water on the fire in a remote, wooded area between Matthews and Stillwater roads. The fire covers between 10 and 15 acres, according to reports. The burning area in inaccessible by truck and the only way firefighters can reach it is by hiking through the woods, according to Deerfield police. The helicopter is repeatedly shuttling water from a pond to the fire scene, where it is dumped from above. The operation was expected to be ongoing for the next few hours, officials said. Thailand reports 3 more COVID cases, no deaths Thursday BANGKOK: Thailand reported three additional cases of the new coronavirus today (May 21), bringing total cases to 3,037. No additional deaths were recorded, leaving the accumulated toll at 56. COVID-19Coronavirushealth By Bangkok Post Thursday 21 May 2020, 02:43PM Cashiers wear face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus at a supermarket in Bangkok on Wednesday. Photo: AFP The new cases were an elderly Thai man, a German expatriate with a Thai wife and a woman who recently returned from the Philippines, reports the Bangkok Post. Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said the Thai man, aged 72, had diabetes and lung cancer. He visited a public hospital four days ago and then went to a barber shop. On Monday he suffered from a fever, cough and an excess of phlegm. He went to a private hospital and then returned to the public hospital he visited previously. On Wednesday he tested positive for COVID-19. The risk factors for the elderly man with chronic diseases were visits to a hospital and a barber, Dr Taweesilp said. A second new case is a German man, aged 42, who showed no symptoms and apparently had no underlying health conditions. He lives in Bangkok and visited his Thai wifes house in Chaiyaphum province on April 30-May 16. On May 8 a relative in Chaiyaphum developed a fever but did not seek a test. The German then visited a shopping centre in Chaiyaphum. Before resuming work in Bangkok on Monday, he underwent a check-up and tested positive for COVID-19. He is being treated at a private hospital. His infection possibly happened in Chaiyaphum after the business lockdown was relaxed, Dr Taweesilp said. The other new case is a 25-year-old Thai woman who was quarantined after returning from a language course in the Philippines on May 13. Although asymptomatic, she tested positive for the disease on Tuesday, becoming the first COVID-19 patient among returnees from the Philippines, Dr Taweesilp said. Thailand has passed through its first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and since the government imposed the nighttime curfew and a business lockdown, the number of daily new cases has been declining, he said. The recent low numbers resulted from peoples cooperation with disease control measures after the government started to ease restrictions on businesses and other activities, he added. Of the accumulated 3,037 cases, 2,897 have recovered including eight who were discharged from hospitals over the past 24 hours. The death toll remained unchanged at 56, with 84 patients remaining at hospitals. Global COVID-19 cases stood at 5.08 million with 329,731 deaths and 99,172 new cases over the past 24 hours, Dr Taweesilp said. The United States had the most cases at 1.59mn and the most deaths at 94,994. The worst states for unemployed Americans during COVID-19 As the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the U.S. economy, the unemployment rate has soared to 14.7% the highest since the Great Depression. To help cushion the blow, the Cares Act the same federal law that brought you those $1,200 stimulus checks is providing unemployed Americans with an extra $600 a week for up to four months and an additional 13 weeks of payments if their benefits run out. Even so, getting by on unemployment during the crisis has been much harder in some states than in others. We've found the 15 worst states, using data from the U.S. Department of Labor, state labor departments and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That data includes the maximum weekly payment and length a person can receive assistance, not including the extra benefits from Cares. It also includes each state's most recent "recipiency rate": the percentage of unemployed people who actually get regular benefits. Those missing out include people who don't qualify under their states rules. 15. Delaware Real Window Creative / Shutterstock Wilmington, Delaware. Max benefit: $400 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 26.3% Roughly 20% of Delawares workforce is now jobless, and the number of new sign-ups for unemployment benefits over the last eight weeks has topped 95,000 close to the total number of claims from the previous three years combined. The maximum amount of unemployment insurance a person in Delaware can receive is $10,400, which despite being the highest total payment on this list still puts the state in the bottom third in the country. 14. Wisconsin Jay Yuan / Shutterstock Madison, Wisconsin. Max benefit: $370 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 30.6% Since the start of the pandemic, Wisconsins Department of Workforce Development has received more than 390,000 applications for unemployment benefits. The maximum amount people in Wisconsin can receive is $9,620, the 11th lowest in the country. If you find yourself out of work in the Badger State, you'll want to consolidate your debts and take other steps to cut your expenses because it can be a while before you see any jobless benefits. Story continues Many Wisconsinites have found collecting unemployment to be a frustrating ordeal. The software used to process the states claims is based on a 50-year-old programming language, COBOL. 13. Indiana Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Indiana State Capitol Building in Indianapolis. Max benefit: $390 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 18.1% Over 650,000 Hoosiers have filed for unemployment since March, and processing them all has been a challenge. Up to a quarter of the 140,000 people who filed claims during the first week of the pandemic experienced issues with their application. The maximum amount that someone in Indiana can receive in unemployment benefits is $10,140 the 14th worst in the country but Indianas low recipiency rate bumped it down a spot on our list. 12. Virginia Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Richmond, Virginia. Max benefit: $378 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 17.4% Between March 21 and May 2, more than 625,000 Virginians filed for unemployment, with well over 15,000 applications coming in every day. The maximum amount of unemployment insurance someone in Virginia can receive is $9,828, and the recipiency rate is the 11th worst in the country. The state recently set up an online system to help self-employed individuals collect Cares benefits during the pandemic. However, in mid-May, the Virginia Employment Commission announced that 35,000 people had accidentally been overpaid between $600 and $1,200 and that it would subtract the extra money from their future benefit checks. 11. South Carolina f11photo / Shutterstock Charleston, South Carolina. Max benefit: $326 Max duration: 20 weeks Recipiency rate: 26.8% South Carolina has seen almost 500,000 claims for unemployment in the last two months. Due to the high volume of applications, the states Department of Employment and Workforce has said payment may take up to 21 business days. That's a long wait. Finding cheaper car insurance is another way to cut spending until delayed unemployment benefits start arriving. The maximum total benefits someone in South Carolina can receive is $6,520 the sixth lowest in the country but with a recipiency rate above 25%, the state manages to avoid the bottom 10 spots on this list. 10. Louisiana Felix Mizioznikov / Shutterstock Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Max benefit: $247 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 10.9% More than 325,000 out-of-work Louisianians qualify for unemployment benefits, but the states maximum weekly benefit is the third lowest in the country. The total possible payout is just $6,422. Couple that with a dismal recipiency rate, and things in the Sugar State arent looking so sweet. In mid-May, the state began easing some of its COVID-19 business restrictions in an attempt to curb unemployment, but many businesses will be limited to 25% capacity and required to adhere to strict social distancing guidelines. 9. Idaho Charles Knowles / Shutterstock Boise, Idaho. Max benefit: $448 Max duration: 21 weeks Recipiency rate: 23% The Gem States maximum benefit is high, but the money can run out fairly quickly its max duration is the fourth shortest in the country so the most someone can pull is $9,408. Idaho has seen more than 131,000 unemployment claims since mid-March, and the abnormally high volume of applications has left the states Department of Labor struggling to keep up. When you fall victim to a coronavirus layoff in Idaho, you don't want to waste any time checking the online job boards because you can face a long delay to collect unemployment. A number of Idahoans have been waiting more than a month and have been unable to get through to the department for answers. 8. Arkansas shuttersv / Shutterstock Bentonville, Arkansas. Max benefit: $451 Max duration: 20 weeks Recipiency rate: 22.4% Almost 200,000 Arkansans have filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the pandemic. The states unemployment rate is projected to be 12.5% in April and hit 17% by the summer, according to a report prepared for the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. If these predictions are correct, it will be the first time unemployment in Arkansas has hit double digits since the early 1980s. The maximum amount of unemployment insurance available in Arkansas is $9,020. The states maximum duration of 20 weeks is tied with Missouri and the Carolinas for the third shortest in the country. 7. Tennessee SannaBlue / Shutterstock Clarksville, Tennessee. Max benefit: $275 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 15.4% Since the start of the pandemic, people have filed more than 500,000 claims for unemployment in Tennessee. Its one of only six states with a maximum weekly benefit under $300. As a result, the total amount available to Tennessee residents is only $7,150. Like many states, Tennessee is watching its unemployment trust fund dwindle at an alarming rate. According to the Tax Foundation think tank, Tennessee may be able to dole out unemployment benefits only until mid-August. When the trust fund runs out, the state will need to take out a loan from the federal government to keep paying and unfortunately for local businesses, that will likely mean higher unemployment taxes to compensate. 6. North Carolina Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Max benefit: $350 Max duration: 20 weeks Recipiency rate: 9.8% People have filed more than a million claims for unemployment in North Carolina, and the backlog is staggering. According to Gov. Roy Cooper, approximately 361,000 North Carolinians are still waiting to receive their unemployment benefits. The states recipiency rate is a mere 9.8% the third worst in the country. Not that the benefits are amazing: The maximum amount available in North Carolina is $7,000. Worst of all? While the maximum duration in North Carolina is 20 weeks, it could be months before anyone receives more than 12. The limit is tied to the unemployment rate and is updated just twice a year. 5. Missouri James Roblee / Shutterstock St. Louis, Missouri Max benefit: $320 Max duration: 20 weeks Recipiency rate: 19.5% Its a familiar story in Missouri. Over 536,000 unemployment claims have been filed since mid-March, and the states Department of Labor is having a hard time keeping up. Some applicants say it took them six weeks to get through to the department, and when they were finally able to talk to a representative they were told theyd have to wait another five to six weeks for their payment. For all their trouble, applicants will see a maximum of only $6,400, the fifth lowest sum in the country. If you're out of work here, you'll probably want to get yourself a side gig to help make ends meet until you find a new full-time job. 4. Alabama Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Montgomery, Alabama. Max benefit: $275 Max duration: 14 weeks Recipiency rate: 25.6% Alabamians have filed approximately 475,000 claims for the states meagre unemployment benefits since the start of the pandemic. The maximum amount someone can hope for in Alabama is only $3,850 the second lowest sum in the country. That said, the state seems to be doing a fair job getting those benefits to people who need them. The Department of Labor says it has paid out 84% of the coronavirus-related claims its received since March 16. With a recipiency rate above 25%, the Cotton State gets bumped up a few spots on the list. 3. Arizona Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Tucson, Arizona. Max benefit: $240 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 11.2% Arizonas Department of Economic Security has received almost 550,000 claims since the lockdown began. If each came from a different person, that would account for more than 15% of Arizonas workforce. The states maximum weekly benefit is the second lowest in the country, leading to an overall allowance of just $6,240. On top of that, a glitch in the Department of Economic Securitys system meant around 130,000 Arizonans didnt receive their extra $600 in federal unemployment benefits in the first week of the program. 2. Mississippi Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Jackson, Mississippi. Max benefit: $235 Max duration: 26 weeks Recipiency rate: 9.2% Life is downright inhospitable for the unemployed in the Hospitality State. Mississippi has both the lowest maximum weekly benefit and the worst recipiency rate in the country. The most residents can hope to see in unemployment insurance is only $6,110. Around 225,000 Mississippi residents have filed unemployment claims since the start of the pandemic, and many have struggled to get through to the Department of Employment Security due to the high volume of applications roughly 46,000 a week. 1. Florida Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Sarasota, Florida. Max benefit: $275 Max duration: 12 weeks Recipiency rate: 11% Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has seen a crushing 1.9 million unemployment claims. Unfortunately for them, a Floridian who is out of work can only stay on unemployment benefits for three months tied for the shortest length of time in the country and see at most $3,300. To add insult to injury, the Department of Economic Opportunity has paid unemployment benefits to only 28% of its applicants since mid-March. If there were no duplicates, that would be more than a million people stranded without financial assistance. Next, we offer some tips if you're worried about your job or already out of work. How to protect yourself mavo / Shutterstock If you haven't lost your source of income due to the coronavirus, first thank your lucky stars. Then check out our guide on how to brace your finances in case you join the millions off work. If you have been laid off, you can't afford to mope. Get right back out there. A number of solid jobs are really easy to get right now, as many big-name employers are still hiring amid all the layoffs. You might want to consider switching to a job you can do from the comfort and safety of your own home. The important thing is having a strategy, whatever it might be. SAINTE-ANNE-DES-PLAINES, QC, May 21, 2020 /CNW/ - On May 16, 2020, at about 7:30 a.m., as a result of the vigilance of staff members, a package containing contraband, and unauthorized items was seized on the perimeter of the Regional Reception Centre, a multi-level security institution located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines. The contraband and unauthorized items seized included 1,100 grams of hashish, 800 grams of tobacco, two packages of rolling papers and a lighter. The total estimated institutional value of this seizure is $126,150. The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) uses a number of tools to prevent drugs from entering its institutions. These tools include ion scanners and drug-detector dogs to search buildings, personal property, inmates and visitors. CSC is heightening measures to prevent contraband from entering its institutions in order to help ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. CSC also works in partnership with the police to take action against those who attempt to introduce contraband into correctional institutions. CSC introduced a complete smoking ban in all federal correctional institutions in 2008. CSC has also set up a telephone tip line for all federal institutions so that it may receive additional information about activities relating to security at CSC institutions. These activities may be related to drug use or trafficking that may threaten the safety and security of visitors, inmates and staff members working at CSC institutions. The toll-free number, 18667803784, helps ensure that the information shared is protected and that callers remain anonymous. SOURCE Correctional Services Canada - Quebec For further information: Media Relations, Quebec Region, [email protected] The British government has extended a COVID-19 Bereavement Scheme, which grants permanent UK residency to the family members of overseas medics who die after contracting the coronavirus, to all healthcare staff and social care workers. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday said the scheme will apply not only to the families and dependents of foreign doctors and nurses killed on the National Health Service (NHS) frontline during the pandemic, but also to lower-paid NHS support staff, including from India. "Every death in this crisis is a tragedy, and sadly some NHS support staff and social care workers have made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of saving the lives of others," the Indian-origin Cabinet minister said. "When I announced the introduction of the bereavement scheme in April, I said we would continue to work across government to look at ways to offer further support. Today we are extending the scheme to NHS support staff and social care workers," she said. The UK has so far officially recorded 312 healthcare-related deaths from coronavirus -- 181 of them in the NHS and 131 social care workers within the healthcare sector. These deaths include many Indian medics, who make up one in 10 of all foreign-born doctors in the NHS. The Bereavement Scheme launched last month means the families and dependents of these healthcare sector employees, who have died due to the deadly virus in the line of duty, are eligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK, free of charge. This permanent residency option will now also cover support staff and social care workers who die as result of contracting coronavirus, effective immediately and retrospectively. "We want to ensure families have the support they need and so this will be effective immediately and retrospectively," Patel said, adding that the move was in recognition of their "tireless dedication and selflessness". UK has reported over 249,600 coronavirus cases and more than 35,780 deaths due to the deadly infection. The Home Office said a dedicated team will work directly with NHS Trusts and employers to identify family members to whom this extension may apply and arrange for the issue of indefinite leave to remain to them. Detailed records of coronavirus deaths are being compiled and it will be reflected on the death certificate, it said. The extension follows criticism of the government's scheme by the Opposition Labour Party and workers' union after it emerged that it would not cover lower-paid workers such as cleaners and porters working within the healthcare sector. Labour's Chair of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee, Yvette Cooper, who had raised the issue with Patel, welcomed the government's move. "It would be unthinkable to ask a family who had lost a loved one as a result of caring for people with COVID-19 to leave their home and the country when they have already given so much to the UK fighting against this awful virus," she said. A further battle around overseas NHS workers remains ongoing after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled out any prospect to review the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) attached to all UK work visas in the House of Commons on Wednesday. "We must look at the realities that...(the NHS) needs funding and those contributions actually help us to raise about 900 million pounds. It is very difficult in the current circumstances to find alternative sources, so I do think that is the right way forward," he said, in response to Opposition Leader Keir Starmer's challenge over the fairness of the surcharge on medics already contributing directly to the NHS. The Labour Party now plans to seek an amendment to the Immigration Bill to exempt NHS staff, including cleaners and care professionals, from the surcharge. And, there is a likely rebellion within Johnson's own ranks over the issue as the Conservative chair of the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, William Wragg, also threw his support behind the fee exemption for NHS and care workers. The IHS, introduced in April 2015, is imposed on anyone in the UK on a work, study or family visa for longer than six months and is set for a further hike from 400 pounds to 624 pounds per year. With the charge applicable on each member of a family, the overall cost is seen as prohibitive in a number of cases, over and above the other tax payments. The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which represents Indian doctors in the UK, is among the bodies campaigning against the IHS for years. "We believe that this surcharge is discriminatory and unfair, as the overseas workers are already paying their due share of National Insurance contributions, superannuation and income tax," BAPIO said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Down in Mexico, they are talking about reopening the economy. Not so fast in Cancun. According to news reports, Cancun is not ready: Tourism Minister Marisol Vanegas Perez burst a few bubbles when she said that its not true that theyll be able to reopen, since the companies themselves dont determine that, nor the market. It will be the federal and state governments. She added that the only hotels that should be open for the foreseeable future are those providing service for people carrying out activities deemed essential during the coronavirus pandemic. This is more than a health story. It is a huge economic story because Cancun is a major source of hard currency for Mexico. In 2017, according to Statista, 6 million international tourists visited Cancun. It's been growing consistently and expected to hit 9 million in 2025. The economic impact is notable. If tourism, for example, was cut in half, the country would lose US$ 7 billion. How big is that? Mexico's GDP is U.S. $ 1.2 trillion. In other words, we are talking a big cut in the economy. Cancun does have a huge advantage. Most of the major hotels, or at least the ones that get U.S. tourists, are international names. Tourists know these names and have stayed there before. Cancun's big problem is convincing tourists to travel, period. It may be a while before tourists hop on a plane in Dallas and spend a long weekend or honeymoon in Cancun. Finally, it does not help that there is so much confusion about the virus numbers in Mexico. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. Amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, politics in Maharashtra has heated up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chalking out an agitation against the state government led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The state BJPs `Maharashtra Bachao (Save Maharashtra) protest kick-started on Tuesday, with a party delegation meeting with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to complain against the states handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and demanding an independent fiscal package from the government for Covid-19. As a part of this agitation, the BJP has also planned a state-wide protest on Friday between 11am and 12pm, wherein party workers will unfurl black flags outside their homes and hold signs condemning the Maharashtra government. The party has asked workers across the state to shout slogans targeting Thackeray during the agitation and send footage of their protests to the media. The party has claimed lakhs of its workers will participate in this agitation. State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said, The Covid-19 situation in the state is dire and this is a reflection of the Thackeray governments utter failure in handling this pandemic. For two months, we refrained from doing anything but now as an opposition party, we have to do our duty to unmask the situation and express the citizenrys discontent and anger. Former chief minister and Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis said, Maharashtra is the most affected state and it seems the situation in Mumbai has gone out of the hands of the government. The government made strategic errors since the beginning of the lockdown. The CM is new and has no administrative experience. These protest plans have irked the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi, with Shiv Sena slamming the BJP for being two-faced given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his public addresses has been asking everyone to work together. Priyanka Chaturvedi, Senas spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member, tweeted: It is a shame @BJP4Maharashtra is ignoring PM Modijis advise and continuing their political agenda. Instead of helping the government and the state to fight Covid, they protest. The ruling parties are viewing the protest as part of a larger campaign to malign the government as it comes in the backdrop of a tweet by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy earlier this week, in which he shared an article calling for Presidents Rule in Maharashtra. Swamy had also tweeted that his opinion was that Thackeray must break the alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) again. This is a sustained effort by the BJP to malign the MVA government. Someone or the other has been recommending Presidents Rule or calling for the Army in Maharashtra under the guise of so-called bad management, said a senior Sena minister, on condition of anonymity. NCP state chief and minister, Jayant Patil said, Before imposing Presidents Rule in Maharashtra, they must remove the governments in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Gujarat. This is not the time to indulge in politics, otherwise, we could ask several questions starting with how did the coronavirus spread in the country with their government in charge. What was Modiji doing until mid-March even when it was evident that the coronavirus was going to be a global pandemic? Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant released an earlier video clip of Fadnavis speaking to the media during the Sangli floods last year, slamming the then Opposition for indulging in politics at the time of a disaster. Sawant tweeted: Doctors, medical care workers, police, administration, and the government are battling with Covid-19. BJP leaders instead of joining this battle are fighting with the government. This is a tragedy. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Krista Micheletti puts a label on to-go margaritas at El Vez restaurant on 13th Street in Philadelphia, Pa. on May 21, 2020. The restaurant named a margarita after Governor Tom Wolf. Gov. Wolf signed a bill that temporarily allows Pennsylvania restaurants and bars to sell cocktails to-go. Read more The idea of ordering a cocktail to go from a restaurant or bar in Pennsylvania, unthinkable just a couple of months ago, is now a reality. Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday signed House Bill 327, giving an industry imperiled by the coronavirus shutdown the temporary authority to sell mixed drinks typically among their highest-profit line. Bar stools and dining room seats must still remain empty. The measure is effective immediately, and bars were ready to serve. Lobbyists have now moved on to champion legislation to allow outdoor dining, arguing that it is a safer alternative for staff and patrons. Pennsylvanias cocktail-to-go rule extends only until businesses are able to seat at 60% of capacity. It applies to licensees with a restaurant (R) or hotel (H) license that have lost more than 25% of average monthly sales during the pandemic, and allows them to serve sealed containers of mixed drinks in servings of 4 to 64 ounces between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday, assuming the licensee has a Sunday sales permit. The drinks may not be delivered. Its a huge win for our industry, said Melissa Bova, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, who said the states restaurants have reported a sales decline of more than 80% since the beginning of the shutdown. Though many publicans welcome the bill, which was delivered to Wolf on Monday, it will not be a magic bullet. Its one more Band-Aid on a gunshot wound, said Chris DAmbro, who owns four bar-restaurants in the Queen Village neighborhood. He has largely shuttered Southwark and Ambra, at Fourth and Bainbridge Streets, and is selling food for takeout and delivery out of Olly and Gigi, which share a building a block away at Fifth Street and Bainbridge. READ MORE: New Jersey now allows cocktails to go Its good because we can move some inventory, and it can allow us to add something to peoples meals," DAmbro said. But this is not a sustainable business model" while barrooms and dining rooms are closed. "It will give me a little bit more revenue, but Im not going to be able to pay my rent all of a sudden. Stephen Starr said he is now selling a Tom Wolf margarita to go this week at El Vez, a Mexican restaurant in Center City. It took a while, but it was worth the wait, Starr said. Im very grateful to the governor for signing this bill. Scott Coudriet, who owns Lloyd, a bar-restaurant in Fishtown, said he changed his cocktail menu, which specializes in whiskey, to drinks we can bang out. Certain drinks, such as those made with egg white, do not travel well. Most neighborhood shot-and-beer bars, which have been shut down since mid-March, likely wont benefit from the measure. Theyre in a different boat based on their business model, said Chuck Moran, executive director of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, which helped draft the bill along with the PRLA. Beer sales have been allowed during the shutdown for takeout and delivery. Moran praised the bill for allowing his members to keep their heads above water a little longer. Dive bars typically dont sell meals, a requirement of the new statute. Also under the rule, mixed drinks and not shots must be served, and must be mixed on the premises. This gives work to bartenders. Drinks also must be sold in a sealed container, which simply means that a cup with sipping holes or an opening for straws must be capped with an additional seal. Many restaurants are using the familiar plastic quart-size takeout containers that cost a dime or so. Others are buying glass bottles and caps, or disposable pouches resembling intravenous bags. The 4-ounce minimum was added to the bill by the House delegation from Philadelphia to prevent stop-and-go stores from selling shots the wrong way, Moran said. READ MORE: What will it be like when dining rooms reopen? Open containers of alcohol are still prohibited in Pennsylvania, while the practice was recently allowed in North Wildwood. The Pennsylvania legislation received bipartisan support: Rep. Kurt Masser, a Republican who serves Montour and parts of Northumberland and Columbia Counties, championed the issue, which started as a reform bill introduced by Rep. Perry Warren, a Democrat who represents part of Bucks County. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said 33 states plus the District of Columbia now allow restaurants and/or bars to sell cocktails to go, bottled spirits to go, or both. Testing of San Antonio area residents for COVID-19 is fast approaching the 50,000 mark, Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported Wednesday at the daily city-county briefing with County Judge Nelson Wolff. Two new pop-up sites for free testing open Thursday on the South Side and Northwest Side. We are seeing folks wanting to get tested, said Anita Kurian, Metro Health assistant director, overseeing the communicable disease division. Kurian said Metro Healths goal is to conduct 3,000 tests per day. The total has increased to more than 2,000 per day, she said, as barriers to testing have been removed. As of Wednesday evening, 48,517 people had been tested in Bexar County. Wednesday, Nirenberg reported there were 44 new positive cases of COVID-19, pushing the total of confirmed cases of the disease to 2,322. One more person with the virus has died, a Hispanic woman in her 50s who was a resident of the Buena Vida nursing home, Nirenberg said. That increased the death toll to 63. Several key indicators continue to show the disease appears to be loosening its grip on the San Antonio area, including hospital numbers. Nirenberg said 82 people with COVID-19 were in the hospital Wednesday. Of those, 36 were in intensive care and 17 were on ventilators to help them breathe. That left 77 percent of ventilators and 31 percent of staffed hospital beds available citywide. We still have strong capacity in our local hospitals, Nirenberg said. Nirenberg said 16 of the new cases reported Wednesday were the result of community transfer. The others came from congregate settings, including the Bexar County Jail and nursing homes, or were still pending the results of investigation. Extensive testing is underway at the 65 nursing homes across the county. Metro Health and the San Antonio Fire Department are conducting those tests; results of tests conducted at five of the homes are posted daily on the Metro Health website at covid19.sanantonio.gov As of Wednesday night, more than 300 residents at the five nursing homes had been tested, of which at least 39 turned out to have the virus, according to Metro Health data. Of those, 21 showed no symptoms. Also as of Wednesday night, more than 500 staff members from the same five nursing homes had been tested, of which at least 32 had the disease. Eight showed no symptoms. On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases The free pop-up testing sites will be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. No appointment is needed and you dont have to be showing any symptoms to get tested. Those two sites will have the capacity to test up to 175 people, first come, first served, Nirenberg said. The sites are: Kin Man Hui /Staff photographer Palo Alto College gym, 1400 W. Villaret Blvd. Nellie Reddix Center, 4711 Sid Katz Dr. Two other sites for free testing will open next weekend, also from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Those are: San Antonio College Welcome Center, 1819 Main Ave. Highlands High School, 3118 Elgin Ave. During Wednesdays briefing, Wolff talked about the lawsuits filed over allowing the use of mail-in ballots by people who are concerned about possibly catching novel coronavirus at polling sites. Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that fear of infection is valid and should be considered a disability that allows a voter to cast a ballot by mail instead of in person. Wednesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal stayed that ruling, pending the results of an appeal. We didnt get to dance in the streets very long, Wolff said, ruefully. He is a strong supporter of the expanded use of the mail-in ballots to help avoid the spread of COVID-19. He noted that there are two cases on appeal. Theres still a chance that something may come out of it, Wolff said. referring to those appeals. But a big setback today. Area reports New cases have been reported in Kendall County, increasing the total to 24. There are only five active cases, officials said, and all are self-quarantining at home. Eleven of the cases occurred in Boerne, one in Fair Oaks Ranch and 12 in unincorporated parts of the county. In Comal County, six new cases were reported, bringing the total to 78. The new cases were a Spring Branch area resident in his or her 30s, a Bulverde area resident in his or her 40s, two north-side Canyon Lake residents in their 40s and 70s and two New Braunfels residents in their 20s and 40s. Overall, 1,604 tests have been conducted in Comal County, including 260 tests conducted in nursing homes. The results of those tests are pending. Elizabeth Zavala covers county and state courts in San Antonio. To read more from Elizabeth, become a subscriber. ezavala@express-news.net | Twitter: @elizabeth2863 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Chemesis International Inc. (CSE:CSI) (OTCQB:CADMF) (FRA:CWAA) (the "Company" or "Chemesis"), announces it has closed the second tranche of a non-brokered private placement issuing an aggregate of 1,272,500 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.50 per Unit for gross proceeds of $636,250.00 (the "Private Placement"). The Private Placement is part of a larger offering of up to 6,000,000 Units (the "Offering"). Combined with the initial tranche of 1,420,000 Units, the Company has now raised total gross proceeds of $1,346,250.00. Each issued Unit consisted of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant") with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one additional common share (each, a "Warrant Share") of the Issuer at a price of $1.00 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from their date of issue. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the date of issue, in accordance with applicable securities legislation, expiring September 21, 2020. The proceeds from the Private Placement, and the Offering as a whole, are intended for general working capital and to fund potential future acquisition opportunities. On Behalf of The Board of Directors Edgar Montero CEO and Director About Chemesis International Inc. Chemesis International Inc. is a vertically integrated U.S. Multi-State operator with International operations in Puerto Rico and Colombia. The Company focuses on prudent capital allocation to ensure it maintains a first mover advantage as it enters new markets and is committed to differentiate itself by deploying resources in markets with major opportunities. The Company operates a portfolio of brands that cater to a wide community of cannabis consumers, with focus on quality and consistency. Chemesis has facilities in both Puerto Rico and California. The Company is positioned to win additional licenses in highly competitive merit-based US states and will expand its footprint to ensure it maintains a first mover advantage. Investor Relations: ir@chemesis.com 1 (604) 398-3378 Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, products and future of the Company's business, its product offerings and plans for sales and marketing, including with respect to the Company's expectations regarding its supply and distribution arrangements, ability to realize benefits from its recent contractual arrangements, its plans to continue to develop dispensaries in Puerto Rico, and its ability to obtain licenses in additional jurisdictions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected, including, but not limited to, in relation to executing on and maintaining its supply and distribution arrangements and recent contractual arrangements, in relation to developing dispensaries in Puerto Rico, and its ability to obtain licenses in additional jurisdictions. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation and does not intend to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release. SOURCE: Chemesis International Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/590950/Chemesis-International-Inc-Closes-Second-Tranche-of-Private-Placement Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal and Odisha on Friday (May 22) to take stock of the situation in the wake of Cyclone Amphan wreaking havoc in the two states. The PM will conduct aerial surveys and take part in review meetings, where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed. In a tweet, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said, "Tomorrow, PM Narendra Modi will travel to West Bengal and Odisha to take stock of the situation in the wake of Cyclone Amphan. He will conduct aerial surveys and take part in review meetings, where aspects of relief and rehabilitation will be discussed." Cyclone Amphan has left 72 people dead and thousands homeless in West Bengal, battering several parts of the state and washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas. It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts. The extremely severe cyclonic storm has weakened and moved to Bangladesh, the IMD said. This will be the prime minister's first visit outside the national capital after coronavirus lockdown was imposed on the midnight of March 24. News agency PTI quoted government sources and said that the prime minister would first reach West Bengal in the morning and then go to Odisha in the afternoon. In a series of tweets on Thursday, PM Modi had said no stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by cyclone Amphan. "Have been seeing visuals from West Bengal on the devastation caused by Cyclone Amphan," the prime minister tweeted. In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal, he said. "Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy," he said. National Disaster Response Force teams are working in the cyclone-affected parts, he pointed out. "Top officials are closely monitoring the situation and also working in close coordination with the West Bengal government. No stone will be left unturned in helping the affected," he said. The prime minister said his thoughts are also with the people of Odisha as the state bravely battles the effects of the cyclone. The authorities, PM Modi said, are working on the ground to ensure all possible assistance to the those affected. "I pray that the situation normalises at the earliest," he said. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. New York, NY (May 21, 2020)--Mount Sinai scientists have identified biological markers present in childhood that relate to the degenerative and often fatal neurological disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to a study published in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology in May. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw-_XUZssMM&feature=youtu.be) The researchers found the markers in the teeth of patients who went on to develop ALS as adults. They used lasers to map growth rings that form daily in the teeth and discovered evidence in the growth rings formed at birth and within the first 10 years of life that patients with ALS metabolized metals differently than patients without the disease. ALS is a condition that usually manifests when someone is in their 50s or 60s. The cause is not known, and there is no test to predict its onset. Genetic studies have not revealed a great deal yet, and while experts believe environmental factors play a significant role in the development of the disease, there have been no clear indications of which ones. "This is the first study to show a clear signature at birth and within the first decade of life, well before any clinical signs or symptoms of the disease," said senior author Manish Arora, BDS, MPH, PhD, Edith J. Baerwald Professor and Vice Chair of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "We hope in the long term, after validation of this work in larger studies, that this will lead to preventive strategies. What's exciting about this work is that we are looking at biological pathways that we could potentially modify with drug development." The study showed dysregulated uptake of a mixture of essential elements, including zinc and copper, as well as toxins like lead and tin, in 36 ALS patients compared to 31 controls. The markers of metal uptake dysregulation were also observed in teeth from an ALS mouse model that also showed differences in the distribution of metals in the brain compared to controls. "Our previous work showed that the dysregulation of elemental metabolism in early life was associated with the onset of neurological disease such as autism and ADHD," said Christine Austin, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, a major contributor to this work. "This study shows that metabolic dysregulation is also associated with neurological conditions with a much greater lag to symptom onset". Researchers at the University of Michigan played an important role in this study, and their clinics provided samples and data from ALS patients and patients in the control group. ### Dr. Austin and Arora's work was supported by funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K99HD087523) and the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (DP2ES025453, R01ES024674, U2CES026561,and P30ES023515). About the Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of unrivaled education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical leadership ensuring that we deliver the highest quality care--from prevention to treatment of the most serious and complex human diseases. The Health System includes more than 7,200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 14 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of the Top 20 Best Hospitals in the country and the Icahn School of Medicine as one of the Top 20 Best Medical Schools in country. Mount Sinai Health System hospitals are consistently ranked regionally by specialty and our physicians in the top 1% of all physicians nationally by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The world has changed beyond all our expectations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, industry, businesses and schools were closed for a government-mandated lockdown in South Africa that mirrored the example of more than half the world. Almost every industry has had to reimagine how it will work in a post-COVID world. One of the most directly affected areas is healthcare, which is having to adapt right now. How will the private healthcare sector define its new normal and will we pay the price? At private medical scheme Profmed, CEO Craig Comrie is used to imagining future scenarios. The pandemic means that the physical working environment will change forever, he predicts. We will likely never go back to the same environments as before the highly cramped open-plan office, for one, will have to change. And being digitally connected is going to be of prime importance. Comrie says the world will also become more aware of vulnerable people, in particular the aged and those with chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to viruses. Comrie believes attitudes towards hygiene, cleanliness and physical contact between people will change fundamentally, conceding that perhaps when we have proper, proven vaccines over time attitudes may relax again. It is a loss, in some ways: Grandparents miss hugging children. We have taken the ability to do that for granted in the past and we have to be more careful in the future. Healthcare industry In the meantime, the challenge to the healthcare industry as a whole is how to manage access to testing, particularly for vulnerable groups, to provide more regular testing, and to consider ways of keeping those at greatest risk, such as people over 60 and those with comorbidities, away from potential carriers. Healthcare workers need additional protection. Dentists, for instance, will need complete protective gear, and that comes at a significant cost, which could become added to members medical fund premiums. Hospital groups may want to do mandatory pre-admission COVID testing on patients this too will add a cost. Comrie says that during April 2020, hospital admissions stood at half the number of April of the previous year. People are trying to avoid going to hospital out of fear. Elective procedures are also not currently allowed, so are being delayed. But surgeries cannot be postponed indefinitely, so we anticipate that hospital admissions will rise again. But we will be reverting to a new norm. I anticipate doctor and nurse home visits will become fashionable again due to being safer than visiting doctors rooms or clinics Comrie says the worlds experience with HIV provides a useful analogy. HIV changed how we managed healthcare and instituted new protocols. There is still no vaccine for HIV but awareness and testing makes things easier to manage and be more careful. COVID-19 will do the same. I believe the levels of awareness about how easily viruses are transmitted will never leave us. Medical funds COVID-19 testing for everyone is expensive, and the question of whether medical schemes can afford to provide the tests to their members is pertinent. As Comrie explains, If all 75 000 Profmed members were offered a COVID test in their benefits, it could add many millions that result in higher premiums. It would fast become unaffordable and threaten the 25% reserve that medical schemes are mandated to insure sustainability. We have seen the stock market collapse and so medical schemes investment income which subsidizes have also fallen through the floor. This will negatively also impact premiums into the future At Profmed, we cover many individuals in private professional practices, says Comrie. Doctors, lawyers, engineers have not yet seen their industries return to normal. Our industries are all under stress in terms of being able to afford premiums for essential medical scheme cover. Much is still uncertain and up in the air: How many COVID-related claims we will get is hard predict or project. Is the peak in September or November? What will the long-term impact of the pandemic be on our members? What do our members home and professional lives look like now; what can they afford. Overall its a difficult balance to find? We are asking members to let us know upfront if they cannot pay their premiums. All medical schemes will have future scenarios with declining reserves due to estimated future claims and considered impact of the economic decline. Nevertheless, we are trying to support members on a case-by-case basis but we must protect all the members and the sustainability of the Scheme. Comrie says that in April 2020, for the first time Profmed saw more new members joining who did not have medical cover before compared to other moving to Profmed from other funds. It shows there is some anxiety about accessing good quality care during pandemic, he says. A possible peak Comrie says medical aid schemes such as Profmed are gearing up for an anticipated peak of COVID-19 cases. We have confirmed capacity in the hospital groups with which we have contracts. We will continue monitoring occupancy, and if a hospital should be at capacity, we will be able to place Profmed members elsewhere. Our healthcare providers have thus far assured us they feel they can handle the peak period. Pathology groups (which will manage laboratory tests) are also reassuring us of their increased capacity to meet increased demand. State schools Supt. Tony Thurmond, shown here in a file photo, warned education leaders Thursday that current funding for reopening schools could prove inadequate. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) State education leaders on Thursday said proposed budget cuts to education would threaten their ability to reopen safely next fall and that confronting the COVID-19 pandemic calls for more nurses, counselors, custodians and teachers. The forum for these warnings was a video conference hosted by state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Also taking part in the event was Gil F. Chavez, a senior state health official, who said that the manner and timing of reopening for individual school systems would depend on local county health officials. The live broadcast drew more than 13,500 viewers on Facebook alone, signaling broad interest and concern over cuts to education funding that work out to about 10%. Although Thurmond remains a solid political ally of Gov. Gavin Newsom, he nonetheless allowed the education establishment to take critical aim at the governor's proposed budget, which was released a week ago. "Im finding it very difficult to figure out how we're going to maintain the safety levels that we need to have, said Ben Valdepena, president of California School Employees Assn., which represents more than 250,000 school support staff. "I really dont know if the two custodians that work at the school where I work would be able to keep up with the demand of constantly sanitizing the school, said Valdepena, a Yucaipa-area school custodian with 38 years of experience. He also stressed the need for clear guidance: "I dont know what it takes to open up a school in this era of COVID-19. The state health department and the education department are working on guidelines, which Thurmond said would be available in weeks or possibly days and also could roll out gradually. Chavez, deputy director for the California Department of Public Health, indicated that instructions are likely to include recommendations for wearing masks, practicing social distancing in classrooms, limiting the social and academic mixing of students and providing health screenings for students and employees. Story continues He acknowledged the difficulty of requiring young children and disabled students to wear masks. "Were sensitive to the notion that you cant require 100% of everybody to wear a mask, he said. Campuses shut down statewide in March; the last day of on-campus instruction in L.A. Unified, the state's largest school system, was March 13. Leaders of the state's 1,000 school districts generally have appreciated Thurmond's supportive tone, but the substance of Thursday's message was less encouraging. The most unwelcome note, pertaining to funding, was no surprise. As matters stand, most school systems in the state can look forward to less money for the approaching school year, Thurmond said, a result of plummeting state tax revenue due to the pandemic-related economic shutdown. "We know that this is hard and we know that the financial implications have made this even more difficult, Thurmond said. He added: "We hear you loud and clear. ... We agree with you that we cannot ask schools to do more with less. In California, about 90% of education funding is from the state, with about 10% from the federal government. Although the state budget contains funding "guarantees" for schools, they can fluctuate with the health of the economy, which affects how much tax revenue the state collects. The federal share helps pay for added academic help for the poor as well as partial funding for the extra costs of serving students with disabilities. The cuts to education could have been considerably worse; Newsom allotted discretionary funds to education that also were sorely needed in other areas. Thurmond suggested that he supports efforts to get a better deal from the governor and state Legislature, which must approve the final budget. Like Newsom, Thurmond puts hope and responsibility for a full education bailout on the federal government. For now, a bill passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives has not won support from the Republican-controlled Senate and the Trump administration. Negotiations between the various parties are anticipated. Thursday's event was itself something of a public negotiation. Union leaders made their pitch for more funding in part because their members could face layoffs under the current budget proposal. "This isnt the time right now to even think about layoffs, said Erika Jones, an elementary teacher in Los Angeles who serves on the board of the California Teachers Assn. As things stand, schools already lack full-time nurses and other needed supports, she said. "This is actually the time for a major investment in our students where our students become the priority of this state. Although some district leaders have warned they may not be able to reopen in the fall without more money, few are taking those threats seriously so far. Almost uniformly, district leaders are painting a dire picture to emphasize needs they see as a top priority for limited state funding. They've had to confront the enormous, unexpected, instantaneous challenge of shutting down campuses, creating universal distance learning, developing expanded online summer school and contemplating a new normal for the fall. Their torch was carried at Thursday's video conference by Cindy Marten, superintendent of San Diego Unified, the state's second-largest school system. "We still have students who are trying to do their schoolwork and theyre in the corner of a crowded apartment or at the same kitchen table there with their parents, Marten said. "Distance learning doesnt work for all students. It just doesnt. She added: "Right now the current budget plan is a recipe for more distance and less learning. Since campuses closed, educators have scrambled to provide distance learning for students, trying to provide computers and internet access to an estimated 1 in 5 students who don't have it. Marten also included a pitch based on the economic recovery. "We want to open for families every day because thats the only way our parents can get back to work, she said. Most public school districts in California are tentatively planning to reopen campuses on their regular start dates in August and September. A few operate on a calendar with a July opening. Last month, Newsom suggested that many California school systems could physically open as early as July, although few district leaders greeted that comment with enthusiasm. In a joint letter Thursday, 11 L.A. County superintendents expressed concerns about potential reopening requirements. They raised objections to the feasibility of constant social distancing, all-day mask wearing and sweeping quarantine requirements. One of the superintendents, Alex Cherniss of Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified, said he worries that the guidelines likely to emerge could be based on business models that would be a poor fit for schools, including the idea that small children would wear face coverings for up to eight hours in school per day. And a 14-day quarantine requirement for entire classes, based on one person being exposed to the virus, would wreak havoc, he said, on attempts to maintain a consistent academic program. Petition launched against PBS 'Prideland' series celebrating polyamory, demisexuality, queerness Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A petition has been launched, urging PBS not to air a series of videos in celebration of Pride Month and "LGBTQ+" identities, which includes polyamory, demisexuality, transgenderism, and an openly homosexual minister. "Sadly, PBS is proudly promoting a lifestyle that is unhealthy to both the individual who participates in the unnatural sexual behavior and to society as a whole," the American Family Association says in its petition. Starting next week, PBS is set to launch "Prideland," a six-episode series of short videos exploring changing attitudes in the American South the most socially conservative and religiously observant part of the country toward several things that fall under the growing LGBT acronym. PBS is offering member television stations the chance to air a one-hour companion special program on June 12 that features the series host, actor and dancer Dyllon Burnside, who identifies himself as "queer." The second episode in the video series is called "An Openly Gay Pastor's Journey to Acceptance in the Bible Belt" where Burnside speaks with an openly gay minister at a small church in Jackson, Mississippi. Rob Lowry was reportedly offered the job but only accepted the position on condition that he be able to lead the congregation as openly homosexual. Being a queer boy raised in the South, I had distinct memories of feeling like I could never be my authentic-self there, so I left seeking acceptance and affirming communities. But I never left my southern roots, Burnside said in a statement. I wanted to go back as an adult and see if things had changed, and Im proud to report that they have. Although there are still many challenges for queer folks in the south, which is home to more LGBTQ+ adults than anywhere else in the U.S., Im in awe of everyone I met who are creating change in their communities. I believe that authenticity is a superpower, and these queer heroes and allies are truly inspirational. According to PBS, in the episode that follows, Burnside explores "Polyamory, Demisexuality, and Being Transgender in the South" where he meets with a diverse group of LGBT-identified people "to learn how to embrace sex positivity and maneuver the modern dating scene." The group reportedly discusses "asexuality, polyamorous relationships and how to manage diverging expectations in the queer community." AFA's petition urges PBS, which is taxpayer-funded, to cancel its involvement in the series. The organization argues that the network's decision to push this content is an "unjust attack" on the Christian faith and mocks God's design for human sexuality. "In 2020, PBS received over $65 million in taxpayer funding. This means you and I are directly paying for PBS to insult our faith and scoff at our God," the petition, which has over 52,000 signatures as of Tuesday, notes. The PBS series "Prideland" begins May 26 and will conclude June 30. The stalwart gaze of a 75-foot-tall Elon Musk surveys the lands surrounding Tulsa, Oklahoma's Tulsa Expo Center, his arm resting atop a blackened oil derrick. An enormous, red Tesla logo covers his torso, and his luminous white belt buckle bears the name of the electric car company. No, Mr Musk's recent renouncing of material possessions did not result in his ascension to a concrete and plaster godhood. The dystopian structure is actually a repainted statue from the 1960's meant to court the Tesla CEO into opening a new manufacturing facility in Tulsa. The statue - originally built in 1966 and currently the sixth tallest statue in the US - is called the "Golden Driller." Before Mr Musk's face was painted over the statue's existing visage and the "Tesla" iconography was added, the statue was intended to be a tribute to the state's petroleum industry. The publicity stunt was carried out by the Tesla Owners of Oklahoma and supported by the city's mayor, GT Bynum. The Tesla Owners of Oklahoma are part of a broader club of nationwide Tesla owners who describe themselves as a "community of owners and enthusiasts committed to evangelizing Tesla's mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. Club members can help advocate for the company by supporting legislative efforts, offering test drives, volunteering at shows, assisting prospective owners, hosting social events and passionately referring friends and family to explore Tesla ownership for themselves." Related Video: Elon Musk explains why he's selling his possessions (AP) Mr Musk's company is currently searching for a location to house its second automotive manufacturing plant in the US. The plant will produce the Model Y utility vehicle as well as the Gibson-esque Cybertruck. According to the company, Tulsa and Austin are both on its short list. While Mr Musk has yet to comment on the rendering of the statue in his image, Mr Bynum said he hopes that amending the statue continues to deliver the message that Tulsa is the right home for Tesla. "I think this is about convincing people that Tulsa is the best fit for Tesla, I really do believe that," he told Tulsa World. Cities performing tricks for CEOs searching for expansion locations have increased in recent years, becoming the modern altar sacrifice, except rather than burning a slaughtered lamb, they're painting the face of a South African-born billionaire on a sixty-year-old statue. Maya Kosoff collected a list of desperate stunts cities have pulled in a piece for Vanity Fair. Among them are New York City turning every light in the city orange to try to woo Jeff Bezos into opening Amazon HQ2 in New York; the mayor of Frisco, Texas offering to literally plan the expansion of the city around the needs of the Amazon facility; and - in a true offering of worship and fealty - the town of Stonecrest near Atlanta offered to rename itself 'Amazon' and make Mr Bezos its permanent mayor. GUATEMALA CITY - Guatemalas president questioned his countrys relationship with the United States, revealing frustration over the U.S. continuing to send deportees infected with COVID-19 to a country struggling to manage the crisis. This of allies with the United States isnt true, President Alejandro Giammattei said Thursday. Guatemala is an ally of the United States, but the United States is not Guatemalas ally. They dont treat us like an ally. Giammattei is the first of the regions leaders to speak out against the U.S. policy that has sent thousands of deportees back to their countries since the pandemic began. Guatemala has confirmed 119 deportees arrived with COVID-19 from the United States. The country has suspended the deportation flights on several occasions after infected passengers were detected, but resumed them after assurances from U.S. authorities. The last flight with deportees who tested positive in Guatemala arrived May 13 from Alexandria, Louisiana. Officials have said 16 of them have tested positive. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed this week that all 65 migrants aboard that flight had been tested prior to departure. Fifteen more Guatemalans scheduled to be on that flight tested positive and were returned to detention facilities where they were isolated from other detainees. Guatemala has identified cases from previous flights where it appeared some had been tested and certified as negative a week before their departure. Giammattei said the infected deportees were creating serious problems in his countrys already overloaded health system. The United States has helped other countries including with ventilators and to us nothing has come, not even chopped corn, he said during an online appearance with the Atlantic Councils Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. We dont feel very grateful for the way we have been treated. Giammattei appeared to be referring to medical aid sent to Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, all governments receiving deportees without complaint. Last month, Giammattei was notably absent from a list of phone calls U.S. President Donald Trump made to the presidents of El Salvador and Honduras offering aid and encouragement. We understand the United States wants to deport people, but what we dont understand is that they send the flights all contaminated, he said. Guatemala has not accepted a flight yet this week. Political analyst Renzo Rosal said the issue was raising tensions between the two countries because the United States has shamelessly continued sending infected migrants and has not complied with what it offered. __ AP writer Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report. US President Donald Trump lashed out at China again for the coronavirus crisis, accusing Beijing of trying to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Spokesman speaks stupidly on behalf of China, trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace. It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! Trump said on Twitter. ....It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020 He also took a swipe at his rival in the November presidential election, Joe Biden. China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along! he said in another tweet. Last week, Trump had said that he was very disappointed in China over its failure to contain the novel coronavirus, saying the worldwide pandemic cast a pall over his US-China trade deal. They should have never let this happen. So I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesnt feel the same to me. The ink was barely dry and the plague came over. And it doesnt feel the same to me, Trump said in an interview. Trump has been targeting China for spreading the virus. Earlier this month, Trump was asked at a press conference if he had seen evidence that gave him a high degree of confidence that the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and replied that he had, although he declined to give specifics. The Chinese state-backed institute has, however, dismissed allegations that the virus originated there. Most experts believe the virus originated in a Wuhan market selling wildlife and jumped from animals to people. A crucial meeting of the World Health organisation (WHO) last week discussed a resolution backed by more than 100 countries that sought probe into the source of the outbreak. 21.05.2020 LISTEN The Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Obiri Boahen is currently under investigation by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service. According to the Criminal Investigations Department of the police, Obiri Boahen is being questioned for some alleged unlawful comments he made on a show on Accra-based Okay FM. He made the said comment on the same programme with Major Boakye Djan who was arrested and granted bail earlier this week. The public relations officer of the police CID DSP Juliana Obeng said due diligence will be done on the matter. We have started an investigation into comments made by the Deputy General Secretary of the NPP The fact that we have not arrested him does not mean that he cannot or will not be arrested. So if authorities during investigations find it prudent to arrest him, he will be arrested but for now, he has not been arrested. Boakye Djan granted bail Meanwhile, Major (Rtd) Kwadwo Boakye-Djan has been granted bail after he was arrested for making comments deemed to have breached the peace of the country. According to police, he has been charged with the offence of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace contrary to section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act. After being granted police enquiry bail, Major Boakye-Djan is expected to report to police once a week. The arrest came after he was questioned by officials of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service at his residence on Tuesday at his hometown at Bebianiha in the Bono Region. The National Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo, has since described Major Boakye Gyans arrest as a clear case of political persecution. I will say that the police are being used as puppets and the puppet master is President Nana Akufo-Addo at the [Jubilee] House and he is using the police to intimidate his political opponents, he said. ---citinewsroom Two courts in Algeria jailed three activists after finding them guilty of criticizing President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the judiciary on social media, which comes under the charge of threatening national unity, according to the National Committee for the Release of Detainees (CNLD Larbi Tahar and Boussif Mohamed Boudiaf were sentenced to 18 months in prison in El Bayadh, southern Algeria, while Soheib Debghi was sentenced to one year by an Algiers tribunal. After 20 years under Abdelaziz Bouteflika, voters elected Tebboune last December following Bouteflikas ouster and months of street protests against the political elite. The activist group CNLD maintains that the new government is quashing human rights. Reports of arrests against journalists, bloggers and others expressing dissent has intensified since the coronavirus pandemic began. The government passed a law earlier this year criminalizing fake news promoters, as well as one outlawing hate speech on social media. The Tebboune government claims it will actually improve freedoms later this year when the referendum for a new constitution is put to the vote. There should be the equivalent of a flight data recorder for every robot, Dr. Shneiderman argued. It is a warning thats likely to gain more urgency when the worlds economies eventually emerge from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic and millions who have lost their jobs try to return to work. A growing number of them will find they are competing with or working side by side with machines. Image Dr. Shneiderman Credit... Robert Kosara Dr. Shneiderman, 72, began spreading his message decades ago. A pioneer in the field human-computer interaction, he co-founded in 1982 what is now the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems and coined the term direct manipulation to describe the way objects are moved on a computer screen either with a mouse or, more recently, with a finger. In 1997, Dr. Shneiderman engaged in a prescient debate with Pattie Maes, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Media Lab, over the then-fashionable idea of intelligent software agents designed to perform autonomous tasks for computer users anything from reordering groceries to making a restaurant reservation. Designers believe they are creating something lifelike and smart however, users feel anxious and unable to control these systems, he argued. Since then, Dr. Shneiderman has argued that designers run the risk not just of creating unsafe machines but of absolving humans of ethical responsibility of the actions taken by autonomous systems, ranging from cars to weapons. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 04:16:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Yemen -- already the world's largest such humanitarian emergency -- is getting worse because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the United Nations on Thursday. Epidemiologists estimate that the virus could spread faster, more widely and with deadlier consequences in Yemen than in many other countries, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, quoting the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as saying. While testing kits remain in short supply, aid agencies are operating on the basis that community transmission is taking place across the country, he said. An estimated 16 million people in the first half of May were reached with awareness-raising activities. "We, along with our partners, are focusing on effective case management and protecting the public health system, and on scaling up awareness and risk communication interventions," said Dujarric. UN staff, both in and out of Yemen, have been working to deliver critical programs to help deal with the humanitarian situation, especially COVID-19 cases, he told a virtual press briefing. "It's clear to us that the number of cases is probably under-reported given the state of affairs in Yemen," the spokesman said, referring to the civil war now in its fifth year. "This should serve as yet another reminder why we need to see a stepped-up political process and acceptance of that process by the parties." Yemen has a sizable population of almost 30 million people, according to the UN Population Division. Enditem A 26-year-old father who crashed into the Columbia River on Sunday called his wife as his SUV flooded with water to tell her what had happened. His wife called 911, a relative said. But the body of Francisco Vasquez still has not been found. He screamed for help, and then that was it, his brother-in-law Francisco Zacarias said. He didnt know how to swim. Emergency crews recovered Vasquezs empty SUV a few hours after his wife called 911. Zacarias and other relatives are waiting for crews to recover their family members body, and wondering how they are going to support the missing mans wife and two young children. Vasquez was driving to work at United Salad Co. around 5:30 a.m. Sunday when, for an unknown reason, his SUV left the road and crashed into the river near Northeast Marine Drive in Portland, just west of Interstate 205. He had left for work, and 15 minutes later he called my sister, to tell her he was in the water, Zacarias said. Portland police said theyre in the process of reconstructing the crash to try and figure out the cause, but theres no indication Vasquez had used alcohol or was otherwise impaired. Zacarias said his brother-in-law did not drink. Zacarias said he and his family were initially a bit concerned with the search for Vasquez, and felt they had to apply some pressure to law enforcement to continue searching. Portland Police Officer Nola Watts said several agencies helped search for Vasquez the day he went missing, including the Multnomah County Sheriffs Office, the U.S. Coast Guard and Portland Fire & Rescue. On Wednesday morning, she said the search for Vasquez had been suspended. But Multnomah County Sheriffs spokesman Chris Liedle said crews will continue to search for Vasquez until his body is found. He said divers began searching near the submerged SUV and downstream from the crash immediately after it happened, and combed the bottom of the river for about 200 yards. Liedle said the sheriffs office also searched using a dragging bar, which is lowered completely to the bottom of a waterway to search for bodies. He said sheriffs office dive crews returned to the area on Monday to search, but couldnt get in the water because of heavy rains, strong current and poor underwater visibility. He said rescue boats returned to the area Wednesday to do river searches and plan to return. Unfortunately, searches and recoveries can take time, Liedle said. The Columbia River is very large, and during this time of year, fast-moving. The bottom is uneven with rocks, logs and holes, and there is little to no underwater visibility. In a GoFundMe page set up Monday, Vasquezs family said they have also sought outside help to find his body. Zacarias said family members have tried to search on their own, taking boats out onto the water and searching on the riverbank for any sign of Vasquez. An Idaho couple that has successfully found many drowning victims arrived Wednesday to help search. Vasquez had moved to Oregon a few months ago, Zacarias said. He is survived by his wife, a 7-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. Hes a hardworking guy, a good dad, Zacarias said. Just the nicest guy we know. Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Iran Courts Sentence Ten People To A Total Of 100 Years Prison For Supporting Monarchy Radio Farda May 20, 2020 A court of appeals in Tehran has upheld the verdict against ten citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for reportedly supporting monarchy. Documents exclusively received by Radio Farda shows some details of the legal case and the names of the convicted individuals who have been sentenced to a total of 100 years and four months. Speaking to Radio Farda, a human rights activist Haroun Askari who recently left Iran for Turkey said, the suspects were initially sentenced by the notorious hardliner Judge Abolqassem Salavati in Branch 15 of Tehran's "Revolutionary Court". The verdict was upheld by Branch 36 of the same court. "All ten suspects were from the cities of Babolsar, Gorgan, Noshahr, Shahriar Tehran, Tonekabon, and Qom. Security forces arrested them in a series of operations from May to August 2019", Askari said, adding, "They were all transferred to the cities of Qom, and Tehran". This means they were not participants in the large protests last November. The detainees were interrogated by Fata (the Islamic Republic cyberspace police) in the city of Qom, and the rest by the agents of the fearsome Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Intelligence Organization. According to Askari, all the suspects were charged with supporting monarchy and Iran's last Crown Prince, Reza Pahlavi. Evidence mainly came from their social media accounts. The exiled Prince is currently living in Maryland, USA. "Assembly and collusion against the country's security", "insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and its current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei" were other charges raised against the ten. Furthermore, the convicted individuals have been banned for two years from leaving Iran, membership in political parties and groups, and activity in media and social media. Besides one of the activists Ali Asghar Hassani Rad, who is still behind bars in Ward 4 of Tehran's infamous Prison, Evin, the rest have been released on bail. Based on the verdict, Hassani Rad has been sentenced to a total of sixteen years and seven months in jail for four separate charges. According to the Islamic Republic's Penal Code seven and a half years is the minimum sentence. Askari said that two other suspects with similar charges have been sentenced by another notorious hardliner Judge Mohammad Moqisseh but have appealed. Meanwhile, he noted that Moqisseh and Salavati had been blacklisted and sanctioned by Washington. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Moqisseh and Salavati on December 19, 2019 for punishing Iranian and dual citizens for exercising their right to free speech and assembly. In its statement on Thursday, December 19, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department announced: "Abolqassem Salavati and Mohammad Moqisseh oversaw the Iranian regime's miscarriage of justice in show trials in which journalists, attorneys, political activists, and members of Iran's ethnic and religious minority groups were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, lashes, and even execution". Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-courts- sentence-ten-people-to-a-total-of-100-years-prison-for -supporting-monarchy/30622433.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The China Population Welfare Foundation (CPWF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Wednesday jointly launched a charity fundraising program in Beijing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which is called COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO-Action of China, will receive donations via some 20 Internet-based Chinese fundraising platforms, including Tencent Foundation, Alibaba Foundation, Alipay Foundation and others. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his address at the launching ceremony via video link, spoke highly of the CPWF's support to the WHO's global fight against COVID-19. He said the fund will promote individuals and companies to contribute directly to the WHO's life-saving efforts, adding that the donations will help countries to prevent, detect and deal with COVID-19. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, announced by Tedros on March 13, was co-founded by the WHO, the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, calling on responsible, kindhearted individuals, businesses and social organizations worldwide to donate funds and supplies to the WHO and its partners for the outbreak response. As a national public fundraising foundation, the CPWF echoes WHO's appeal and helps raise funds in China to contribute to the global fight against COVID-19. According to the CPWF, the funds will be remitted to WHO's accounts in installments in time. The WHO and the CPWF will disclose information of the operation of the fund through official websites and reports. Some 50 representatives from the Chinese side and the UN Office in China attended the launching ceremony. An app that facilitates contact tracing will be more effective than a lockdown when it comes to containing the UAE's Covid-19 outbreak, the chief medical officer of the country's largest health-care network told CNBC. Alhosn, which was launched in late April, is the United Arab Emirates' official coronavirus testing and contact-tracing app. It relies on Bluetooth signals to identify people who have been in close proximity to Covid-19 patients, assuming all parties are using the app. Many countries, especially in Asia, have utilized extensive contact tracing to contain the spread of the virus. That could be more useful than restricting movement, said Dr. Anwar Sallam, chief medical officer of Abu Dhabi Health Services. "This app we feel, as a country, is going to be more effective in terms of preventing the spread of the virus compared to a total lockdown," he told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Thursday. Residents hang their laundry off the railing on their balconies at their apartment building, to disinfect them under sunlight, in the city of Dubai on May 17, 2020, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karim Sahib | AFP | Getty Images Dr. Farida al-Hosani, official spokesperson for the government's health sector, said in a statement that the app "protects our community by facilitating contact tracing on a national level," hence curbing the spread of Covid-19 more quickly. However, the app needs a "high number of subscribers to ensure effectiveness," according to the statement by the ministry of health and prevention. Nearly 10 million people live in the UAE, and the app has been been downloaded "hundreds of thousands of times." "We do understand, life has to go back to normal. The UAE government have elected to go the gradual way and the guarded way at the same time," Dr. Sallam added. Economies around the world have been hit by factory and business closures as a result of the health crisis. The United Arab Emirates this week implemented expanded measures and revised penalties for offenders, less than a month after partially relaxing restrictions. Authorities said the decision was made because of an increase in infections stemming from some people in the community behaving irresponsibly, according to state news agency WAM. The country has 26,004 confirmed cases and 233 reported deaths due to the coronavirus, according to data complied by Johns Hopkins University. STOCKHOLM, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mentice AB (STO: MNTC), a world leader in high-fidelity endovascular simulation introduces Coronary Advanced for select VIST platforms. Following the introduction of Coronary Essentials and Coronary Intermediate, Coronary Advanced is the most sophisticated solution, specifically designed for advanced fellows and attending IC's. The solution was designed to take full advantage of the premium version of Mentice's seventh generation VIST platform, the VIST G7+. This new platform brings simulation to the next level of realism by enabling simultaneous manipulation of multiple devices to support realistic treatment of bifurcation lesions and other dual-device techniques. "Coronary bifurcations represent some of the most challenging lesions for interventional cardiologists. The lesions are most likely complex and the different solutions for bifurcation stenting are often technically demanding with patients facing high risk of complications if interventions are sub-optimally performed," said Dr. Jens Flensted Lassen, Professor at Odense University Hospital (DK). "The operator is central to obtaining the best possible technical stenting solution for the patient with training, development, and proficiency of procedural skills being mandatory for all operators. It is highly recommended that all operators treating bifurcations in the coronary tree integrate high-fidelity endovascular simulation such as the VIST G7+ platform into their practice allowing them to mimic real-life scenarios in bifurcation stenting and enabling them to explore technical issues while applying tips and tricks they have accumulated over years of practice," Dr. Lassen continued. Coronary Advanced offers the following capabilities: Leverages the VIST G7+ platform supporting simultaneous control of devices Includes step-by-step expert guidance based on EBC recommendations for bifurcation stenting Supports a variety of techniques involved in bifurcation stenting such as kissing-balloon, wire jailing, POT, T-Stenting, TAP, Culotte, and DK-Crush Supports subintimal and retrograde techniques for treating challenging CTOs Offers advanced metrics and benchmarking to optimize training and identifying areas of improvement Includes iPad proctor app for customizing scenarios and remotely triggering complications in real-time during the intervention Coronary Advanced takes cardiology skills training to the next level, offering a solution for exploring complications and new techniques to experienced fellows and attending physicians," said Edward Falt, Vice President of Products, Mentice. "Interventional cardiologists now have access to a solution that provides a life-like environment helping them train, develop new skills, and retain proficiency for some of the most challenging situations. And with the ability to use Coronary Advanced on the G7+ platform, treatment of complex bifurcation lesions in a simulated environment is now more realistic than ever." To learn more about the Coronary Advanced software solution, Mentice will hold an online webinar on May 28th at 15:00 Central European Time with Dominic Steffel, Senior Product Manager, Mentice, joined by co-host Dr. Jens Flensted Lassen, Professor at Odense University Hospital (DK) presenting the unique software capabilities. Please pre-register at - www.mentice.com/coronary-advanced Contact for journalists: Edward Falt VP of Product Management [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/mentice-ab/r/mentice-expands-its-coronary-product-portfolio-with-an-advanced-software-solution-for-coronary-inter,c3117364 SOURCE Mentice AB Imperial Valley News Center FDA's Rick Bright, Ph.D. Brags On Blocking Physicians Prescribing Hydroxychloroqine in Early COVID-19 Tucson, Arizona - How could a cheap, effective drug, FDA-approved and in use worldwide since 1955, suddenly be restricted for outpatient use by American physicians? On March 28, 2020, as physicians worldwide were seeing striking success using hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, the FDA erected bureaucratic barriers. Rick Bright, Ph.D., is an FDA bureaucrat, vaccine researcher, and was appointed by President Obama on November 15, 2016 to head BARDA (Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority, a sub-agency of the FDA). In an unprecedented move, Bright expanded his power and claimed credit for being the person imposing his will on all of us. In an appalling admission, Bright said: Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit. Meanwhile, he promoted both remdesivir, a never-approved experimental antiviral in development by Gilead Sciences, and a vaccine for COVID-19. Early effective use of the older, safe, and available hydroxychloroquine, whose patents had expired decades ago, would decrease demand for these new products. Rick Brights dictatorial decree restricts the use of chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) from the National Strategic Stockpile in COVID-19 to hospitalized patients only. States are using Bright's fiat to impose broad restrictions limiting the drugs' availability for physicians to use for outpatients to help them recover without hospitalization. In other countries, early use in outpatients is changing the life-and-death equation by reducing severity and spread of illness, greatly reducing the need for hospitalization and ventilators and markedly reducing deaths. By his own admission, Rick Bright, who is not a physician, knowingly and unilaterally countermanded Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Admiral Giroir in charge of Public Health Service and the President of the United States, who had directed BARDA to establish a Nationwide Expanded Access Investigational New Drug (IND) protocol for chloroquine, which would provide significantly greater outpatient access for the drug than would an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Unlike an EUA, a Nationwide Expanded Access IND protocol would make the drug available for the treatment of COVID-19 outside a hospital setting at physicians medical discretion based on patients needs. How does one non-physician bureaucrat have such power with impunity? How can one person brag about blocking physicians attempt to reduce hospitalization and deaths during a national emergency? It is a falsehood to say that the administration promoted HCQ as a panacea or that this medicine clearly lacks scientific merit. Both statements are contradicted by video recordings of Presidential briefings, by NIH/CDC studies going back 15 years, and by U.S. and worldwide clinical outcomes studies in COVID-19. It is unprecedented to restrict physicians from prescribing FDA-approved drugs for a newly discovered useoff-label. This is contrary to FDA regulations in place since World War II. Basic science studies published in 2005 from our own CDC and NIH showed clearly that CQ and HCQ work early in SARS-CoV to block viral entry and multiplication, and suggested that they would not work as well in late-stage disease when the viral load had become huge. When SARS-CoV-1 waned and disappeared by late 2003, the drugs were not submitted for FDA-approval for this coronavirus. In 2019, when Chinese doctors recognized the deadly impact of SARS-CoV-2, they began trying known and available anti-viral medicines, especially CQ and HCQ, based on 15-year-old studies. They shared information with South Korea, India, Turkey, Iran, and several other countries, who also began quickly and successfully using CQ and HCQ, alone or with azithromycin. Later, Brazil, Israel, Costa Rica, Australia, and others followed, with good results . Based on these initial clinical reports, President Trump said, at an early press briefing, that CQ and HCQ offered hope. More studies have replicated these findings. HCQ given within the first week of symptoms, especially with zinc, can prevent the virus from entering your bodys cells and taking over, much like people use locks and alarms to stop burglaries. Waiting until you are in the ICU is like installing home locks and alarm system after burglars have invaded, vandalized your home, and stolen all your valuables. The drugs cannot reliably undo the damage from the exaggerated immune response, or cytokine storm, triggered by COVID-19 Examples from the world data on May 18, 2020, which is updated daily, show how Third-World countries are faring far better than the U.S., where entrenched bureaucrats, governors, and medical and pharmacy boards are interfering with physicians medical decisions. Instead of orchestrating a war on HCQ, the media should be asking key questions, such as: How does ONE person, by his own admission, block directives from his superiors to expand availability of HCQ for outpatients and nursing home patients in the U.S.? What is the cost in lives and economic damage resulting from one persons decision to restrict physicians independent medical decision-making? How many nursing home deaths could have been prevented if physicians had been allowed early access to HCQ? Why are U.S. doctors and nurses prevented from using HCQ prophylactically when workers in China, South Korea, India, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, Australia, Turkey, France, and other countries can be protected? Why does the U.S. with its a much more sophisticated medical infrastructure have a much higher mortality rate than poor countries? Brights disastrous bureaucratic decision may well be remembered as one of the worst preventable medical tragedies in our time. Never again should one government employee be allowed unrestrained power without oversight, and allowed to make a sweeping order interfering with the prescribing authority of front-line physicians trying to save lives. From her laboratory in the far western reaches of Montana, Elizabeth Fischer is trying to help people see what they're up against in COVID-19. Over the past three decades, Fischer, 58, and her team at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories, part of the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have captured and created some of the more dramatic images of the world's most dangerous pathogens. "I like to get images out there to try to convey that this is an entity, to try to demystify it, so this is something more tangible for people," said Fischer, one of the country's leading electron microscopists. Now, as her renderings of the coronavirus flash across screens worldwide, she said: "You often hear people call it the invisible enemy. It's trying to put that face out there." Working in one of the nation's 13 "Biosafety Level 4" labs those equipped to safely handle the most dangerous pathogens Fischer and her team visualize the world's deadliest plagues from Ebola to HIV, salmonella to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The breathtaking images allow people to see a virus as elaborate biological structures with weaknesses that can be exploited, yielding clues for researchers about how to develop treatments and vaccines. "If there is a disease, we have seen it," she said. Originally from Evergreen, Colorado, Fischer completed a degree in biology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and contemplated going to medical school, before deciding instead to join the Peace Corps. She taught math and science for two years in Liberia, and then took time to travel through East Africa and Asia, including a trek into the Himalayas. Returning to Colorado, she immersed herself in the outdoor world she loved. She worked as a rafting guide on the Arkansas River for several summers, and as a children's ski instructor at the Monarch Mountain ski resort during the winters. She later enrolled in graduate school, thinking she might teach biology. But when she took courses in electron microscopy, she was hooked. It appealed to her sense of exotic adventure. "You're looking at a world that most people don't get to see," she said. She switched gears and completed a masters degree in biology. Upon graduation, she sent her resume to a national microscopy job placement office and soon received a call from Rocky Mountain Laboratories. In 1994, she moved with her family to Hamilton, a city of fewer than 5,000 people about 50 miles south of Missoula, then worked her way up to become chief of the lab's microscopy unit. Some of the more stunning images of the coronavirus about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair have come from Fischer's microscope. One is Fischer's photograph of viral particles being released from a dying cell infected with the virus. As NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins recently highlighted in his blog, the photo shows the orange-brown folds and protrusion on the surface of a primate's kidney cell infected with SARS-CoV-2. The dozens of small, blue spheres emerging from the surface are the virus particles themselves. (The images produced by the electron microscopes are black-and-white, so Fischer hands them over to visual artists who colorize the image to help identify different parts of the cell and to distinguish the virus from its host.) "This image gives us a window into how devastatingly effective SARS-CoV-2 appears to be at co-opting a host's cellular machinery," Collins wrote. "Just one infected cell is capable of releasing thousands of new virus particles that can, in turn, be transmitted to others." Scientists like Fischer have used electron microscopes to uncover the unseen world of viruses and bacteria dating to the 1930s. In the past two decades, however, new technologies have unleashed a resolution revolution, allowing researchers to see down to the near-atomic level. Microscopists have come up with better ways to prepare samples for viewing and have written sophisticated software programs to sharpen images. Through her lab, Fischer receives samples from all over the world, and was sent viral material in early February from one of the first U.S. patients to be infected with the novel coronavirus. Often, her samples come from vials that have been stored in a freezer for decades, or from cultures routinely grown in a lab. "It's very sobering when you know it came from a human patient." For example, in 2014, a sister lab in Mali sent over an Ebola sample from a 2-year-old girl who had lived in Guinea when her mother died of the disease. Her grandmother traveled from Mali to attend the funeral, which involved touching and bathing the body, and to take the girl home with her. Both got infected and brought the virus back with them as they returned to Mali by public transportation. They both died. "This one particular cell, it looked like the continent of Africa," Fischer recalled. "It was a very powerful moment. You see that virus growing in there, it takes you back around to not only the lab work we do, but that there's an impact on human health." Despite the deadly nature of the viruses, she still appreciates the "beautiful symmetry in many of them," she said: "They're very elegant, and they're not malicious in and of themselves. They're just doing what they do." It was about midnight, and I was drinking baijiu with an assortment of politically-connected Chinese apparatchiks at a hilltop mansion in Port Moresby. I was there in preparation for a historic state visit of President Xi Jinping to Papua New Guinea ahead of the 2018 APEC Summit - the first-ever visit by a Chinese leader to the troubled third world nation on Australia's doorstep. At the time, I was the English language editor at Xinhua News Agency's Sydney bureau, and it was my job to drum up a few feel-good stories about their bilateral relationship. I am pictured on the left, conducting a TV interview in Papua New Guinea with local workers who had given jobs by a Chinese state-owned enterprise The Chinese Government had, after all, invested plenty of money in the nation, providing jobs for locals and building infrastructure such as roads and schools. But while I knew I had to write up the positive news, as a journalist I also presumed if there was a serious story to be covered, I'd have to make that a priority. So when I got word that the first case of polio to hit the capital since the early 90s had been confirmed, I headed back to the Stanley Hotel so I could write up the story. I had been covering the return of the horrifying disease from my Sydney office after a small outbreak tore through the northern city of Lae. Although Papua New Guinea was officially declared 'polio-free' back in the year 2000 and had no reported cases since 1996, an outbreak started to spread in 2018 The WHO scrambled to roll out a nation-wide vaccination campaign. Pictured: A mobile polio vaccination clinic is set up on a street in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands Polio is highly-infectious disease that's been eradicated in rich Western nations such as Australia for decades. But this time, things were different. A senior member of the Chinese State Media team told me we would not be covering the six-year-old boy's polio infection - as the news might steal Xi's thunder ahead of his upcoming visit. This was not negotiable. The Chinese Communist Party controls their messaging very differently from western media outlets. During more than three years working for the agency I had been informed about other no-go areas of reporting which included - Huawei, Chinese hacking scandals, and anything to do with the oppressed Uyghur population. While I did enjoy my time there and had the opportunity to work with some very talented journalists covering important, worthwhile stories, the cultural differences about how news should be reported become untenable. In the west, right, and left wing and centrist media commentators are able to advance their agendas by dissecting and debating each other's opposing views. Despite these differences, if there was a polio outbreak to report on, no matter what side of the spectrum you tied yourself to, you'd agree that was a story which needed public attention. To not report it would leave you morally culpable. But in China that just doesn't happen because there's only one argument and one side - the Communist Party of China - and they decide the public's right to know. And China didn't want the world to know Papua New Guinea's polio outbreak had spread to Port Moresby. Instead, they tried to keep the world in the dark and pretend it just wasn't happening. 'There is total control of the messaging in China because Beijing is paranoid about information and works very, very hard to make sure nothing gets out that might embarrass the Chinese Communist Party,' outspoken China critic Professor Clive Hamilton told Daily Mail Australia. CHINA'S COVID-19 'COVER-UP' China's President Xi Jinping knew about the coronavirus on January 7 yet China only shut down the epicentre of the outbreak, Hubei province, on January 23, after 5million people had left to travel through China and the world China has since admitted destroying early samples of coronavirus in January, but claims it was acting in the interests of public health and denies stonewalling sample requests from other countries The US has accused China of concealing the severity of the virus, and hoarding medical supplies while the world was still unaware of the threat China is also accused of silencing doctors, making whistleblowers 'disappear', hiding the true death toll, suppressing information and censoring news reports during the early stages of the outbreak, and pressuring the World Health Organisation to delay public warnings and downplay the risks of the epidemic A German intelligence report claims President Xi personally asked WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to hold back information about human-to-human transmission and delay a pandemic warning The report claims China's information policy cost the world four to six weeks of vital time needed to fight the virus China filed a patent for the drug Remdesivir, seen as one of the best potential weapons against COVID-19, the day after it finally confirmed human transmission of the disease. The application was made by Wuhan Institute of Virology, the top-secret bio-laboratory at the centre of concerns about a possible leak of the disease from its research on bats, and the countrys Military Medicine Institute China has strenuously denied accusations of a cover up, insisting it has always shared information with the WHO and other countries in a timely manner Advertisement China's President Xi Jinping walks down the stairs of his plane upon arrival at Port Moresby International Airport on November 15, 2018 It was the first official state visit by a Chinese leader to the South Pacific nation Communist Party officials did not want anything to overshadow the historic visit in the lead up to the 2018 APEC Summit So I was not shocked when I saw a similar situation play out in December 2019, as rumours began circulating on WeChat of a new SARS virus in Wuhan. But state media reporters weren't the only ones being silenced in the early stages of the coronavirus. 'Some of the medical personnel have said they received instructions to say nothing,' Prof Hamilton said. 'Some doctors were ordered to take down material and their social media accounts were censored while others were severely disciplined for making unauthorised statements.' Beijing has denied cover-ups and claimed there have been about 82,000 coronavirus infections in China with approximately 4,500 deaths. They have also tried to argue there is no evidence that COVID-19 first originated in Wuhan's wet markets and have insisted that Chinese authorities have been open and transparent since the outbreak first appeared in November. According to Prof Hamilton, the notion that China has been open and transparent is 'manifestly untrue'. Judging from my own experiences churning out propaganda for the authoritarian regime, I also find any information coming out of China hard to accept. And you should too. Levi Parsons now works as a reporter for Daily Mail Australia 'There is total control of the messaging in China because Beijing is paranoid about information and works very, very hard to make sure nothing gets out that might embarrass the Chinese Communist Party,' outspoken China critic Professor Clive Hamilton said CHINA HITS AUSTRALIA WITH TARIFF OVER COVID-19 INQUIRY China added to tensions with Australia on Monday by announcing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties totalling 80.5% on Australian barley imports from May 19, which is expected to all but halt a billion-dollar trade between them. The tariffs on barley, which will remain in place for five years, are the latest agricultural commodity to be affected by a deteriorating relationship between Canberra and Beijing. Australia is the biggest barley supplier to China, exporting about $1.5billion to $2billion worth a year, which is more than half its exports. Australia's Minister for Trade Simon Birmingham said the Chinese decision was deeply disappointing. 'We reject the basis of this decision and will be assessing the details of the findings while we consider the next steps,' Birmingham said in an emailed statement. 'We reserve the right to appeal this matter further.' Australia's relationship with Beijing soured in 2018 when it banned Huawei from its nascent 5G broadband network, while tensions were escalated by concerns within Canberra over China's attempts to secure greater influence in the Pacific. China has been angered in recent weeks by Australia's call for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus. Last month, Beijing's ambassador to Australia said Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities in response to Canberra's demand. Days later, Beijing suspended imports from four of Australia's largest meat processors, worth about 20% of Canberra's beef exports to China. Advertisement 'Dog of America': China's incredible insult to Aussies as they consider tariffs on our dairy, wine and seafood industries that will cost BILLIONS and wipe out thousands of jobs - By Charlie Moore, Political Reporter for Daily Mail Australia China has reportedly drawn up a list of more Australian industries to target after slapping tariffs on barley and banning some beef imports amid mounting tensions over calls for a coronavirus inquiry. Wine, dairy, seafood, oatmeal and fruit exporters could be hit with new customs rules, quality checks or tariffs to make selling into China more difficult, according to a Bloomberg article which cited 'people familiar with the matter'. Each year Australian companies export about $1billion worth of dairy, $1.3billion of wine and $658million of seafood to China, meaning further tariffs could seriously harm the economy. Meanwhile, Chinese newspaper the Global Times, which is considered a mouthpiece for the communist government, today stoked tensions by quoting Chinese citizens who called Australia 'a giant kangaroo that serves as a dog of the US'. The dairy industry could be targeted next, according to reports. Pictured: Melbourne's Say Cheese festival China's ambassador in Canberra, Jingye Cheng (pictured), warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products if it continued to push for an inquiry Senator Kimberley Kitching, chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, said Australia should not be offended by the jibe. 'It's no insult to be called a kangaroo - they are tough, hard to tame, resourceful, never take a backwards step and of course are very committed to freedom,' she told Daily Mail Australia. The Global Times article ran comments from social media users accusing Australia of pandering to the US by calling for an inquiry into the virus after President Trump investigated whether it spawned in a lab in Wuhan. 'Australia will hit a deadlock with China on trade disputes in sectors like coal and beef. Hopefully, the US will compensate it,' one Weibo user wrote. A separate Global Times article quoted a Chinese academic who said a new 80 per cent tariff on Aussie barley, which may cripple some farmers, was a warning message that could be followed by 'more actions'. Yu Lei, a researcher at Liaocheng University, said the tariff was a 'mild warning to Australia that it should think about what a trade partner should do.' Referring to recent tensions over coronavirus, China's territorial claims in the South China Sea and a ban on Huawei 5G equipment, he said: 'What Australia has done in recent years is not what a partner should do.' Australia exports $658million worth of seafood every year to China China is a key market for Australia's wine companies. Pictured: A customer selects an Aussie wine in Beijing Last week China suspended imports from four Australian beef suppliers for 30 days over alleged labelling issues. Critics including Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce have said China is seeking to punish Australia for calling for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has denied this and said the barley tariff is due to concerns that Australia was 'dumping' the grain at unfairly low prices, which Australia rejects. China's foreign ministry declined to comment on the alleged list of industries that could be targeted next. Australia's export markets in 2019 1. China: $135 billion (33% of total Australian exports) 2. Japan: $36 billion (9%) 3. South Korea: $21 billion (5%) 4. United Kingdom: $16 billion (3.8%) 5. United States: $15 billion (3.7%) Source: Worldstopexports.com Advertisement A spokesman said: 'China has always sought to find common ground while putting differences aside, cooperate to achieve win-win results and will not harm others to benefit oneself. 'We hope the Australian and Chinese side can meet in the middle, take more measures to improve bilateral relations and deepen mutual trust, and provide favorable conditions and atmosphere for practical cooperation in various areas.' Beijing has a track record of putting pressure on exporters during political disagreements. It includes encouraging a boycott of South Korean cars after the country deployed a US missile shield in 2017 and a ban on Norwegian salmon after Chinese rebel Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo that same year. 'Trade should be independent from politics, but it's hard to completely divide them in reality,' Mr Yu told the Global Times. Australia and China have had a free trade agreement since 2015 but some exporters have still run into difficulties as relations have soured. In 2018 Beijing imposed new customs regulations on Australian wine resulting in shipments being held up in Shanghai. And last year - after Canberra stripped Chinese businessman Xiangmo Huang of his visa - major ports prolonged clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days, claiming the delay was due to 'normal' safety checks. Trade minister tells wine and cheese exporters not to give China an excuse to ban their products The federal trade minister has told wine and cheese exporters not to give Beijing any excuse to ban their products after beef suppliers were blacklisted over a technicality. The federal government has denied barley tariffs and beef bans are payback for Australia's demands for a coronavirus inquiry - but Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told Australian companies to make sure all their paper work is in order so that more industries cannot be targeted. During an interview on 13 May, the ABC's Patricia Karvelas asked him: 'Australian wine and dairy producers are worried they could be next. What reassurances do you have that that won't happen?' Senator Birmingham replied: 'Everyone at present should be, as they always should, dotting their Is and crossing their Ts and leaving no scope for any grievance to be raised.' He said he could see no reason why wine or cheese industries would fall short of quarantine, health or labelling standards they need to meet to export to China. Advertisement The latest difficulties in the bi-lateral trade relationship followed the Australian government's call for a ban on wildlife wet markets and an inquiry into how the coronavirus originated and spread from Wuhan. The proposal - as well as repeated suggestions that China covered up the spread of the disease - have infuriated Beijing. Last month the Chinese Embassy called Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton 'pitiful,' 'ignorant' and a US 'parrot' after he told China to 'answer questions' about how coronavirus started. On April 26 Chinese Ambassador to Australia Jingye Cheng warned that Chinese consumers may stop buying Australian products in revenge. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an independent inquiry into the deadly respiratory virus and the World Health Organisation 's handling of the crisis 'Maybe the ordinary people will think why they should drink Australian wine or eat Australian beef,' he told the AFR. The dispute comes after a torrid year for Australia-China relations saw clashes over political interference, human rights abuses in western China and Huawei 5G equipment. Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby told Daily Mail Australia that diplomatic relations are 'at their lowest point since they began 46 years ago'. One third of Australia's exports - including iron ore, gas, coal and food - go to China, bringing in around $135billion per year. India has become the world's second largest manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) body coveralls within a short time span of two months, the government said on Thursday. China is the world's leading producer of PPE body coveralls, crucial to safeguard against the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, theMinistry of Textiles said it has been taking several steps to ensure that both quality and quantity of PPE coveralls going up to the desired levels within a very short span of time of two months, "thereby catapulting India into the world's second largest manufacturer of body coveralls, next only to China". The ministry has taken steps to ensure that only certified players across the entire supply chain are allowed to supply body coveralls to governments, an official statement said. Besides, Textiles Committee, Mumbai too will now test and certify PPE body coveralls required for healthcare workers and other COVID-19 warriors. Ajit Chavan, secretary, Textiles Committee and Additional Textile Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles, explained how the committee rose up to the occasion to surmount the challenge of non-availability of reputed domestic manufacturers of PPE testing equipment. "We faced the humongous challenges of non-availability of domestic manufacturers of repute and incessant delay/long gestation period to import machine from China as also challenges of ever-increasing prices by the opportunist companies in China due to demand for such equipment the world over. We therefore decided to do it indigenously," he said. The secretary informed how the testing equipment will help the nation during the crisis: "With the acquisition of this equipment and with a concrete plan to add some more equipment as per need, we will be able to address not only the quantitative but also the qualitative requirements involved in the testing of body coveralls worn by the frontline health workers and other COVID-19 warriors". The Textiles Committee is a statutory body established in 1963 through an Act of Parliament and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. It was formed to ensure the quality of textiles and textile machinery both for internal consumption and export purpose. The committee is tasked with the functions of establishing laboratories for the testing of textiles and textile machinery and providing for their inspection and examination, besides other functions which flow from the main objective of ensuring quality of textiles products and textiles machinery. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader from Haryana Pankaj Punia has been arrested by police in Karnal for allegedly "hurting religious feelings" through a social media post, a police official said on Thursday. Punia, a former secretary of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, was arrested late Wednesday night following a written complaint by a Karnal resident at Madhuban police station that he allegedly "hurt religious feelings" and "promoted enmity between different groups on ground of religion" through his tweet, the official said. "Pankaj Punia was arrested from Madhuban area," Station House Officer, Madhuban police station, Inspector Tarsem Chand said. A similar complaint against Punia, also a member of the All India Congress Committee, was registered on Wednesday by the Uttar Pradesh Police. An FIR was registered against Punia at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow for his alleged objectionable tweet. Chand said in the case registered in Madhuban police station, Punia has been booked under IPC sections related to promoting enmity between different groups (153 A), outraging religious feelings (295 A), public mischief (505-2), and Section 67 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008. In his complaint, the complainant has alleged that "one person namely Pankaj Punia INC has posted provocative falsehood to promote enmity between sections of society on ground of religion and his acts are prejudicial to maintenance of harmony". On Tuesday, Punia in his tweet, now removed, had targeted the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, referring to the politics over plying of buses by the Congress for ferrying migrants. Shopping has changed forever, the head of Marks & Spencer has said as the retailer revealed that profits have plummeted. Marks & Spencer - which has around 20 stores in Northern Ireland - saw profits stumble for the past year after taking a 52m hit due to coronavirus. The retailer revealed that total profits dived by 21% to 403.1m after it was dragged down by its troubled clothing business. It came as the company told investors it has "hibernated" around 200m of unsold stock in warehouses for spring 2021. Sales of clothing and home products plummeted after stores shut in the face of the outbreak. Last month, the retail giant revealed plans for a "never the same again" overhaul as it warned the virus would impact trading for the rest of 2020. Chief executive Steve Rowe said: "Last year's results reflect a year of substantial progress and change including the transformative investment in Ocado Retail, outperformance in Food and some green shoots in Clothing in the second half. "However, they now seem like ancient history as the trauma of the Covid crisis has galvanised our colleagues to secure the future of the business. Whilst some customer habits will return to normal, others have changed forever, the trend towards digital has been accelerated, and changes to the shape of the high street brought forward. "Most importantly, working habits have been transformed and we have discovered we can work in a faster, leaner, more effective way. I am determined to act now to capture this and deliver a renewed, more agile business in a world that will never be the same again." M&S said it expects a 70% drop in UK clothing and home revenues over the four months to July, before a gradual recovery. However, it predicted annual revenues for the current year will fall by 1.5bn as a result. It expects food sales - impacted by lower sales and closures at travel locations - to fall by 20% in the period to July before levelling out, with a 400m impact on annual revenue. Mr Rowe said M&S is moving forward with around 1bn of actions - including around 500m of cost reductions - to mitigate the impact of the outbreak. He also hailed the company's progress ahead of the launch of its joint venture with Ocado in September to deliver products to customers. He revealed that, alongside its core food products, the company will sell a range of clothing and home products on the platform. The retailer said profitability improved in its food business in the year to March but profits dropped by more than a third in its clothing and home arm. This new servicealongside our existing suite of background and medical screening solutionswill help employers to make more informed hiring and return-to-work decisions to get people into work quicker while maintaining public safety. ClearStar, a provider of Human Capital Integrity technology-based services specializing in background and medical screening, announces the launch of a testing service aimed at supporting employers with their COVID-19 return-to-work planning and keeping their workforce safe. The new service is provided by ClearStars Medical Information Services (MIS) business through Clinical Reference Laboratory, Inc. (CRL), one of the largest privately held clinical testing laboratories in the U.S., and it includes both an antibody and a diagnostic test. In the first instance, employees receive the CRL Clear kit, which is a dried blood spot finger prick test that is used to identify the presence, or lack, of COVID-19 antibodies in the blood, which are produced by the body in response to the virus. This includes IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies, which are produced at different stages of the immune system response. A positive test result indicates that the employee has been previously infected by COVID-19 and has developed antibodies that might provide the employee with immunity. The CRL Clear kit is based on the Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody test, which has received the CE mark and U.S. Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization. Employees testing positive for the CRL Clear test, or those initially displaying symptoms, receive the CRL Rapid Response kit, which is a saliva-based molecular diagnostic test to determine if the virus is active. Those testing positive, meaning they are currently infected with COVID-19, will automatically be contacted by a licensed doctor to discuss the results and next steps. Any employee testing positive at either stage also receives instructions on self-isolation. The companys customers are able to order the tests using the same process as for their existing ClearStar drug and clinical screening programs. Test collection kits are shipped either in bulk to the employer or direct to the employees (or job applicants), with the samples being self-collected by the employee and sent back to the CRL lab for testing. Employees also complete a questionnaire ahead of receiving the test collection kit and subsequently register the test collection kit online. The results of the tests are reported via the ClearStar platform within 24 hours, on average, of the samples being received by the lab and are provided in the same format, based on employer preference, as the customer receives their other drug or background screening reports from the company. Robert Vale, CEO of ClearStar, said: Balancing the equally important goals of getting people back to work and ensuring their safety and well-being is top priority for employers. We are proud to be able to offer our customers a new COVID-19 testing service, and by partnering with Clinical Reference Laboratory, whose tests are easy to self-administer, we can offer a reliable and quick turnaround. This new servicealongside our existing suite of background and medical screening solutionswill help employers to make more informed hiring and return-to-work decisions to get people into work quicker while maintaining public safety. To place an order, companies may contact the ClearStar Medical Information Services office at 321.821.3383 or info@medicalreviewoffice.com. About ClearStar ClearStar, Inc. is a leading provider of Human Capital Integrity technology-based services specializing in background and medical screening. It provides employment intelligence direct to employers and via channel partners/consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) to support better recruitment and other decisions affecting employees by increasing the quality, reliability, and visibility of information. A seven-time Inc. 5000 honoree and founding member of the Professional Background Screening Association, ClearStar has provided innovative technology solutions to businesses in the human capital management industry from its corporate offices in Alpharetta, Georgia since 1995. For more information about ClearStar, please visit: http://www.clearstar.net. At long last, to-go cocktails are legal in Pennsylvania. Rather than contemplate why it took this long, how its going to be implemented, or why its so difficult to buy booze in the state to begin with, why not celebrate with a to-go drink? Here are some options, and remember: Calling a restaurant directly to place an order might help them avoid fees from third-party delivery services. This list will be updated. This Midtown Village cocktail lounge always serves drinks with a flair. For the to-go list, they had to skip the smoked glasses and flaming garnishes, but their most popular cocktails are still available, including the Commodore (bourbon, strawberry, orange, lime, orange bitters), Bullseye (roasted farro-infused bourbon, amaro, absinthe), and a tequila smash (tequila, lemon, mint, angostura). Single servings are $13 across the board, and batches with five drinks worth are $55. Thats probably the cheapest weve ever sold a Charlie cocktail, owner Nicole Marquis said. Bonus: A takeout happy hour is planned for 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Call in an order for drinks and some of Charlies upscale plant-based bar food (roasted Brussels sprouts, potato croquettes, house-made ricotta and grilled sourdough). 131 S. 13th St., 267-758-5372, charliewasasinner.com The Delaware County gastropub, with locations in Havertown, Media, and Malvern, has wood-fired pizzas, sliders, and wings on its takeout menu. Youll want to order some of them to lay a base for their to-go cocktails: 16 ounces of margaritas (choose between regular, pineapple, and spicy Capone style), Tom Collins, Manhattans, and Speakeasies (Smithworks Vodka, wildflower honey, hibiscus-infused homemade lemonade, basil) for anywhere between $20 and $45. Perhaps most tempting on the menu: A growler of whiskey sours made with rooibos-infused Basil Haydens bourbon, Brick and Brews sour mix, and house-cured cherries. At $130, its pricey, but if you do the math (a 64-ounce growler, divided by standard 4-ounce servings), each cocktail comes out to a little more than $8. Growlers of other cocktails are available, ranging from $80 to $160. 26 W. State St., Media, 484-443-8441; 2138 Darby Rd., Havertown, 484-455-7250; 400 E King St. Malvern, 484-320-8688; bricknbrewpub.com Ardmores answer to the French brasserie got into the delivery game early, and theyve added Memorial Day beach boxes (and seafood boils) to their daily menu of escargots, rotisserie chicken, and trout amandine. What cocktails can you tack onto your early-summer weekend order? Ardmore Fish House Punch (cognac, spiced rum, spices, lemon), Montreal old fashioneds (bourbon, maple, Luxardo cherries), mai tais, and Dark and Fancys (dark rum, ginger liqueur, lime). Servings will come in either 16 or 32 ounces for around $30. 7 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore; 610-589-0500; thebercy.com This Fishtown cocktail bar started out nostalgic serving White Russians and a Three-Martini Lunch (three mini-martinis with different ingredients, ratios, and garnishes) when it started in 2018, and lately its gone the tiki route in a way thats both kitschy and delicious. Its takeout drink list offers some of its greatest hits, including that White Russian, in clarified milk punch-style; All the Time in the World, a play on strawberry margaritas with sherry, smoked rhubarb, and lemon; Retrograde, a spicy mezcal cocktail with mango, ancho chili, apricot, and lime; and a Rusty Nail made with American oak-aged Scotch. Serving sizes range from two- to six-person batches for anywhere between $20 and $60. 1206 Frankford Ave., 215-515-3452, instagram.com/rd_philly The Southern-inflected restaurant from the same owners as Jet Wine Bar and Cafe Ynez will sling some classic cocktails for takeout as well as in-house specialties and Bloody Mary and mimosa kits. Offerings include ancho-chili margaritas, sage gimlets (gin, lime, sage syrup), hurricanes (dark and light rum, citrus and fruit juice, grenadine), whiskey sours spiked with lemon-cayenne shrub, and the Deep South (rooibos tea-infused vodka, lemon, salted honey syrup). Batches of drinks between 16 and 30 ounces, depending on the drink range from $32 to $45. 1516 South St., 267-319-1366, rex1516.com The Rittenhouse cocktail lounge gets into the takeout game with five cocktails from its regular menu, including a Penicillin (Scotch, fresh-squeezed ginger and lemon juice, honey, Laphroaig spritz), the Mexican Strawberry (tequila with muddled strawberry, cucumber, and mint) and the Wall Street (single-barrel Knob Creek rye, Carpano Antica vermouth, bitters). The 10-ounce cocktails will come chilled, with large ice cubes on the side, in 12-ounce capped bottles ranging from $16 to $28. Larger orders may be accommodated with enough lead time, and look for expanded offerings (plus a food menu) as the summer goes on. 2006 Chestnut St., 1tpl.com The cocktails and bar snacks at this sister establishment to chef Nick Elmis Laurel consistently impress with their creativity (we enjoyed a duck liver stroopwafel in pre-pandemic times). Their takeout menu channels seasonal flavors, including the You Cant Cancel Spring, with snap pea-infused gin, cucumber-dill shrub, and lemon; and the Sun Also Rises, with rum, grapefruit, lime, and smoked pineapple. The four cocktails on their to-go list will be sold individually in six-ounce bottles for $12 each, or in a mixed four-pack for $40. Theres also a one-liter Chai Painkiller (Jamaican rum, brandy, chai-infused coconut milk, pineapple, orange) that serves six for $60. 1615 E. Passyunk Ave., 267-858-0669, itvphilly.com The Queen Village pasta bar offers Italian-appropriate libations to go along with its pickup and delivery menu. Cocktails here come in adorable glass bottles for $12 a pop. Theres a classic negroni (gin, Campari, sweet vermouth) and LAventurra (bourbon, Lo-fi, Luxardo amaro, Carpano Antica vermouth, bitters). 627 S. Third St., 267-534-3076, crybabypasta.com This South Street faux-dive/bottle shop from the same owners of Hawthornes, Tio Flores, and the Cambridge took off after opening early this year. Its to-go cocktails play on the classics: maple old fashioneds, lavender aviations, and black Manhattans. If the law allows, Chris and Heather Fetfatzes, who also own the beer- and wine-delivery service QuickSip, will launch a cocktail delivery service that theyd like to call GoGo Cocktails. (Cocktails cannot be legally delivered as of yet.) 1506 South St., 267-900-9463, winedivephilly.com The Kensington izakaya is part of Ben Puchowitz and Shawn Darraghs restaurant constellation (Bing Bing Dim Sum, Cheu Noodle Bar, Cheu Fishtown). Itll be slinging two highball kits (the classic, with Suntory Toki whisky and Schweppes club soda; and yuzu-Thai basil, with Thai basil simple syrup and yuzu lime juice) as well as shochu spritz kits with salted grapefruit cordial and citrus shochu. Each kit makes two drinks apiece and comes with a pint of two-inch ice cubes. If fizz isnt your thing, theres also the nu martini, with Japanese gin, vermouth, Thai rice shochu, and an olive. The pre-batched martini comes in a corked glass bottle. 1414 Frankford Ave., 215-278-2804, nunuphilly.com The South Street sports bar/watering hole is warming up with the weather. Its selling 32-ounce Bay Breezes (vodka-cranberries spiked with pineapple juice), Dark and Stormys, and margaritas, plus 16-ounce pouches of either a tequila sunrise or a Fishbowl: vodka, white rum, blue curacao, coconut, sprite, lime and pineapple, garnished with a Swedish Fish. For those of you missing them, you can get four ounces worth of a Green Tea shot here. 1612 South St., 267-519-0253, foundingfathersbar.com The laid-back Fishtown hangouts much-loved Fishtown Iced Tea (Long Island iced tea served in an Arctic Splash container) are going for $10 a pop. 1235 E. Palmer St., 267-455-0045, interstatedrafthouse.com The vegan haven in Washington Square West dipped its toes into the takeout game over Mothers Day weekend, and now its adding cocktails to the offerings. There are 10-ounce bottles of the Respected Desperado (gin, matcha, yuzu, bitter herbs) and the purple-tinged Spaghetti Western (sotol, vermouth, gentian, maraschino) for $14. The Slow Burn (bourbon, amontillado sherry, rhubarb) goes for $15. And given chef Rich Landaus way with vegetables, were betting the spicy Bloody Mary, shaken up with a house-made mix, is pretty good here; a 16-ounce bottle is $15. 1221 Locust St., 215-320-7500, vedgerestaurant.com/csc The Midtown Village location of this laid-back sports bar is open for takeout while its Rittenhouse sibling is closed. Besides wraps of all sorts (soft-shell crab, grilled chicken, veggies, breakfast), there are pickle chips, house-made guacamole, and cheesesteak spring rolls. To wash it down: 32-ounce cups of Patron margaritas ($30), Long Island iced teas and mojitos ($22), and Moscow or Mexican mules ($20). 112 S. 11th St., 267-758-2446, wrapshackpa.com What cocktail pairs best with a meatball sandwich (whether its an authentic meatball or a vegan one)? A negroni, of course. This revived South Philly classic at the intersection of 10th and Reed Streets is selling them by the pint (thats 16 ounces) for $30. Theyve also got pints and quarts of Bloody Marys ($13 and $25, respectively), strawberry-basil Collins ($16 and $32), and frozen wooder ice in various enticing flavors including chipotle-pineapple, desert pear, and tiki blend ($12 and 25). 1338 S. 10th St., 215-800-1992, triangletavernphilly.com CAIRO - Forces allied with Libyas U.N.-supported government in Tripoli said on Thursday that they have wrestled another key town from their rivals who have been trying to capture the Libyan capital for over a year. The fall of the town of al-Asabaa, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of Tripoli, marks another defeat for the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, loyal to the administration based in the countrys east, which earlier this week lost control of a military base near the capital. Since 2015, Libya has been divided between two governments; one based in the east and the other in the west, in Tripoli. The east-based forces under commander Khalifa Hifter launched an offensive in April last year to capture Tripoli from the west-based government. The offensive has had the backing of Russia, France, Egypt and the Unite Arab Emirates. Mohamed Gnono, spokesman for the Tripoli-allied forces, said in a statement posted on social media that his troops were chasing Hifters fighters in al-Asabaa and that their jets were doing flyovers, looking for their rivals hideouts. Al-Asabaa is located on a key road that links Hifters forces besieging Tripoli to Tarhuna, their main western stronghold and supply line southeast of the capital. In recent weeks, Hifters forces have sustained heavy losses in April, the Tripoli-allied forces seized control of the city of Sabrata and the town of Sorman, west of the Libyan capital. On Monday, they seized al-Waitya airbase in Tripolis southwestern desert reaches. Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for Hifters forces, renewed his allegation that there were 1,500 Turkish military personnel on Libyan soil, fighting on behalf of the Tripoli-based government. The battle is continuing against terrorism, against the Turkish and against the extremists, he said at a news conference on Thursday. Turkey has sent armoured drones, air defences and more recently Syrian militants with links to extremist groups to prop up the embattled Tripoli government. Russia, meanwhile, has deployed hundreds of mercenaries to boost Hifters assault. On Wednesday, Hifters forces announced they would withdraw up to 3 kilometres from the front line around Tripoli in a humanitarian gesture aimed at giving the residents a respite from the fighting to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr this weekend. The fighting around Tripoli had escalated in recent weeks despite international pressures to reach a truce and have local authorities focus their efforts on battling the coronavirus. Libya has so far reported 71 cases, including three deaths, but there are fears the pandemic could ravage the war-torn country, given its poor medical infrastructure. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Sergey Lavrov had a call with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavudoglu, and that they underlined the need for an immediate cease-fire in Libya and the resumption of a political process based on decisions made at a conference in Berlin earlier this year. ___ Associated Press writer Vladimir Sachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report. ROME - Facing the uncertainties brought by an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis, the MedFilm Festival confirms its commitment alongside authors, producers, distributors and operators in the dissemination and promotion of Mediterranean cinema as an outpost of culture, reflection and dialogue. Organizers announce that the 26th edition of the MedFilm Festival will be held in Rome from 6 to 15 November 2020. "We still don't know what form the 26th edition will take - reads a press release - our mission is to work to realise the festival in the cinemas, but we consider the possibility of an online project with contents adapted to the dynamics of the streaming use. The films are and will always be the heart of MedFilm. We invite directors, producers and distributors to send us their works. Registration for the selection of films will be open until 6 September 2020". Registering films is for free with no gender or theme limits. In this regard, the official sections of the 26th MedFilm Festival are confirmed: Official Competition (Feature Films and Documentaries) Eros e Psyche Award; International Short Film Competition Methexis Award. MED Meetings (professional meetings for professionals in the sector) and Special Awards have also been confirmed: Lifetime Achievement Award, Koine Award, Cervantes Rome Award. The highlights and parallel sections are being defined: The Pearls - New Italian Cinema, Lux Film Days in Rome, Glances from the Future, Short Films from the Jails. Regulation, the entry form and updates are on the official website: www.medfilmfestival.org/. Hope Presbyterian Church with a 425-member congregation in north Austin, is among churches throughout the Synod of the Sun that is finding creative ways to make connections with their members and the people they serve during COVID-19, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. A community need recently called for members to drop off diaper donations at the church weekly. Each Monday, around 25 cars drive through and pick up the diapers without anyone having to get out of the vehicles. As weekly worship is held online, church volunteers and members missed seeing each other on Sundays but are finding joy in being together on Mondays even if it's from a six-foot distance and behind masks. Rev. Josh Robinson, Hope's pastor for more than six years, said: "For servants looking for a way to serve, the stay-at-home order has been difficult." Initially, the church leaders considered food donations to help their partner, Hill Country Community Ministries, throughout southwest Williamson and northwest Travis counties. However, due to COVID-19 restriction orders, the agency was unable to operate as the headquarters are too small to keep social distancing. HCCM asked Hope church if they would be willing to be a diaper distribution point for the pantry's clients instead. Teresa Hollaway, executive director of HCCM said: "People wanted to know where they could get diapers." Hope church quickly shifted its community service focus from collecting food to gathering diaper supplies for babies and adults. Rev. Robinson said "My father was a United States Marine. When I was younger and would face a challenge, Dad would say to me, 'Son, you have to improvise, adapt, and overcome.' Truly that is the call of the Christian church in this day." HCCM director, Hollaway said, "It's a great partnership, and it works very well. If it wasn't for our churches, we would have had to shut our doors. Our clients are very grateful." Robinson added, "Our natural orientation is to give, and when we're pointed in the right direction, the Holy Spirit unleashes a transforming power that is amazing to behold." The number of Americans thrown out of work since the coronavirus crisis struck two months ago has climbed to nearly 39 million, the government said Thursday. More than 2.4 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the outbreak that has triggered nationwide business shutdowns and brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department reported. That brings the running total to a staggering 38.6 million. An additional 2.2 million sought aid under a new federal program for self-employed, contractor and gig workers, who are now eligible for unemployment benefits for the first time. Those figures arent adjusted for seasonal variations, so they are not included in the overall number of applications. Here's an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage. As Americans confront a crisis unlike any in modern times, the Senate, which prides itself on being the world's greatest deliberative body, is doing almost anything but deliberate the coronavirus. It's as though the challenge has split the chamber into two. The top Democratic leaders are urging President Donald Trump to fly flags at half-staff on public buildings across the country when the U.S. coronavirus death toll reaches 100,000. About 5 million people worldwide have been confirmed infected, and over 328,000 deaths have been recorded. That includes more than 93,000 in the U.S. and around 165,000 in Europe, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University and based on government data. Experts believe the true toll is significantly higher Federal recommendations meant to keep meatpacking workers safe as they return to plants that were shuttered by the coronavirus have little enforcement muscle behind them, fueling anxiety that working conditions could put employees' lives at risk. Growing numbers of U.S. colleges are pledging to reopen this fall, with dramatic changes to campus life to keep the coronavirus at bay. Big lectures will be a thing of the past. Dorms will will be nowhere near capacity. Students will face mandatory virus testing. And at some smaller schools, students may be barred from leaving campus. China began its most important political event of the year Thursday, bringing together 2,000 delegates in surgical masks, after a two-month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. There are no daily public displays of gratitude for Russian doctors and nurses during the coronavirus crisis like there are in the West. Instead of applause, they face mistrust, low pay and even open hostility. The coronavirus has infected more than 10,000 health care workers in hard-hit Iran, news outlets reported Thursday. Macys is warning that it could lose more than a $1 billion during its first fiscal quarter after the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed retail operations nationwide. For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for a closer look at contact tracers, interactive maps tracking the spread and more. --- Who are the virus tracers? There is an army of health professionals around the world filling one of the most important roles in the effort to guard against a resurgence of the coronavirus. The practice of so-called contact tracing requires a hybrid job of interrogator, therapist and nurse as they try coax nervous people to be honest. The goal: To create a road map of everywhere infected people have been and who theyve been around. Read the full story here: --- This coverage is being provided free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus pandemic. Please support local journalism by subscribing. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: The so-called inauguration ceremony organized in the occupied Azerbaijani city of Shusha, has no legal basis, Head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, MP Tural Ganjaliyev said, Trend reports on May 21. In connection with the so-called "inauguration" ceremony, I, as the head of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the elected representative, declare that the results of the "election show", which the entire international community did not recognize, have no legal basis, and the legitimacy of any structure and person as a result of these "elections" is out of the question, Ganjaliyev noted. This illegal ceremony is a provocation aimed at disrupting the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiation process. The Armenian authorities systematically carry out such provocative actions, and this openly demonstrates their choice of occupied Shusha for this illegal event. Moreover, the illegal visit of the Armenian PMs Nikol Pashinyan to the occupied Azerbaijani territories and personal participation in a provocation harmful to the peace talks, shows only the two-facedness of the Armenian leadership when it talks about peace. This step of Armenia is offensive towards Azerbaijan's internally displaced persons (IDPs), who suffered from ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, a blow to the peaceful settlement of the conflict, it absolutely contradicts the preparing peoples for peace intention announced at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in January 2019, said the MP. He pointed out that Armenia's provocations once again prove that the government of this country isn't interested in peaceful settlement of the conflict, and its actions serve to escalate the situation in the region. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can be resolved by ensuring withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, worthy of the return of all Azerbaijani IDPs to their homes and the peaceful coexistence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of the Nagorno-Karabakh region within internationally recognized borders Azerbaijan. Only after these steps, fair and lasting peace can be ensured in the region, the head of the community added. Ganjaliyev called on the international community, in particular, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, to give the necessary assessment and condemn this provocation of Armenia. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre (Tadweer) announced the operation of three mobile medical waste incinerators in Abu Dhabi to support the precautionary measures taken by various healthcare entities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 outbreak. The incinerators are operated at Al Mafraq Hospital and the recently launched field hospitals in Abu Dhabi including the field hospital at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) and the Emirates Field Hospital in Mohammed Bin Zayed City. With capacity ranging from 150 kg to 300 kg per hour, the new facilities can treat medical waste at temperatures of up to 1200 degrees, and are equipped with advanced purification systems to keep the environment clean and safe. The process ensures that all waste related to Coronavirus disease is treated with high flexibility at various treatment locations. Manufactured in the United Kingdom, the facilities meet the highest international and European Union standards, and are fitted with a mobile platform that allows them to operate from different locations under different conditions. Furthermore, all treatment equipment has been tested according to industrial heat treatment equipment standards. Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of the Etihad Aviation Group, and the national carrier to the United Arab Emirates, was appointed to transport the three incinerators to Abu Dhabi in accordance with the highest safety standards that such logistical operation commands. Dr Salem Al Kaabi, General Manager of Tadweer, said: The operation of mobile incinerators for treating medical waste is line with Tadweers strategic vision to provide best-in-class solutions in disposing medical waste, especially waste resulting from Coronavirus treatment. Al Kaabi added: Tadweer has taken a keen interest in providing the latest equipment as well as following international best practices in managing medical waste to achieve the highest waste treatment rates at various locations. In addition, Tadweer seeks to preserve the health and safety of Abu Dhabi community and to protect its environment from the risks arising from waste generation. Abdulla Mohamed Shadid, Managing Director, Cargo and Logistics Services at Etihad Aviation Group, said: We extend our sincerest thanks to Tadweer for entrusting Etihad Cargo with the air transportation of these strategic equipment into the UAE. This reaffirms our active role as the National Carrier of the UAE, working alongside local entities to support the concerted national efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the latest international operational safety standards, the mobile incinerators can treat the fourth type of biohazardous waste, red medical waste disposal bags, surgical dressings, plastic testing devices, flasks, yellow bags, bandages, gauze and pharmaceutical waste. Tadweer is the key government entity responsible for all activities related to the development of waste management services in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, including the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of waste in a safe, efficient and economical manner. The Centre is also tasked with carrying out pest control, educating communities about the significance of protecting the environment, and encouraging them to adopt sound environmental habits to drive sustainable development. -- Tradearabia News Service - A hilarous photo of Mahamudu Bawumia, Ghana's vice president, has stirred excitement online - The picture was made public by a former teacher of Bawumia called Konlanbik Jacob Duuti who is now 75 - The photo was taken during a speech and prize-giving day at the Sakasaka Primary School in Tamale Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in An old childhood photo of Ghana's vice president, His Excellency Mahamudu Bawumia, has surfaced online showing how he acted as a lawyer back at the Sakasaka Primary School in Tamale. In the hilarious photo sighted by YEN.com.gh, Bawumia was very innocent-looking as he sat down together with some other children and adults on what is reported to be a speech and prize-giving day. Reports indicated that the old photo was brought out by Konlanbik Jacob Duuti, a 75-year old former primary school tutor of the vice president in the 1970s at the Sakasaka Primary School in Tamale. READ ALSO: Date Rush is 'ashawo in disguise' - Counsellor Lutterodt in passionate video See photo below: Bawumia sitting in front on the right Source: UGC Contrary to what many might think, the photo of young Bawumia dressed as a lawyer was not during a career day back then but a play in which he acted as a lawyer that day. It is said that after completing his secondary education at the Tamale Secondary School, Dr Bawumia got admission to read law at the Univerisity of London but declined. Instead, Ghana's vice president chose to study banking and economics in order to be on a different career path than his brother who was studying Law at the time. READ ALSO: 8 jaw-dropping photos of newly-improved Motorway Roundabout at different times of sunset In another interesting report by YEN.com.gh, Doris Obenewaa Darko, a Ghanaian food vendor, holds two degrees in Mathematics & Actuarial Science after painfully fending for herself since she finished high school. Narrating her story in an interview, Doris indicates that she holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics after which she went ahead to study for an MSc in Actuarial Science, both at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Doris grew up in Koforidua-Kukurantumi and had her primary education in Rose's School Complex after which she attended Akim Commercial College JHS, all of which are in New Tafo Akim. Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Yenkasa: "We have families to feed, we can't stop the Okada business" - Riders lament | #Yencomgh Get interactive via our Facebook page. Source: YEN.com.gh Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more Google soon will require all advertisers to prove their legitimacy, regardless of the advertising content. All advertisers will have to verify their identity, submit personal IDs and business verification documents, John Canfield, Googles director of product management for ads integrity, announced Thursday. Google is stepping up its efforts to respond to growing complaints about fake news and misleading advertising practices on its ads network. Google began requiring political advertisers to verify their identity in the runup to the 2018 elections. Now, all advertisers must prove their identity. The change will allow consumers to see who is running an ad and in which country the advertiser is located. Consumers can click Why this ad? on a placement to identify the advertiser. Since introducing the political ads program, Google said it has verified political advertisers in 30 countries. Now, it will seek greater transparency and equip users with more information about who is advertising to them, noted Canfield. Googles goal is to make more information about its ads universally available and accessible. Broadening its verification policy is the next step in reaching that goal, and the company promised to continue looking for ways to increase transparency. It is a sensible move, especially in light of the recent fraudulent pitches for everything from fake personal protective equipment (PPE) sales to bogus cures for COVID-19, remarked Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. How It Works Advertisers will be required to complete a verification program to buy ads on Googles network. Advertisers will submit personal identification, business incorporation documents, or other information that proves who they are and where they operate. As soon as this summer, consumers can access disclosures that will list this information about the advertisers behind the ads they see. The change will help consumers make more informed decisions when using Googles advertising controls. It also will help support the health of the digital advertising ecosystem by detecting bad actors and limiting their attempts at misrepresention. Google plans to start the new process by verifying advertisers in phases in the U.S. and to continue to expand globally. Google said it is working closely with its advertising partners to scale the program while continuing to ensure that it surfaces helpful information to users. The process likely will take a few years to complete. Advertisers can learn more about the identity verification program here. A D V E R T I S E M E N T With the phased rollout, existing advertisers will have 30 days, once notified, to complete the verification process. If an advertiser does not submit the required documents by then, Google will suspend the account and the advertisers ability to serve ads until verification is complete. Fighting Back Googles change in advertising requirements should meet with consumer approval, but it is likely to create some hurdles for established legitimate advertisers. Consumers have suffered from a growing proliferation of ads for products placed by questionable advertisers. These have ranged from fake vaccines and safety attire for virus protection to fake businesses offering products and services that often are run from PO boxes or false mailing addresses, noted Neil Andrew, founder of PPC Protect. For the vast majority of advertisers, this shouldnt change anything beyond submitting some fairly simple paperwork to prove the organization is legitimate and providing a legitimate service or product offering, he told the E-Commerce Times. Beginning this summer, consumers will start seeing disclosures that list the advertisers identity information when they click Why this ad? Google will begin by verifying advertisers in the U.S. and will expand globally, and the process likely will take a few years to complete. Paper Trail Once documents are submitted, advertisers have to complete an in-account identity check to confirm theyre legitimate. Organizations are required to submit personal legal information (like a W9 or IRS document showing the organizations name, address and employer identification number). Individuals from the organization also need to provide legal identification on the organizations behalf. Individuals have to show government-issued photo ID, like a passport or ID card. Google previously collected basic information about advertisers but did not require documentation to verify it. For consumers, this is a great change. It increases transparency and accountability in the ads we see and interact with every day, and should reduce the number of people falling victim to fraudulent scams, phishing, and general non-legitimate ad activity, Andrew added. Googles aim is to provide approval within three to five business days. To meet that goal it plans to use a combination of human and technical reviews. Humans will give final approval of submitted documents. All advertisers on the companys platforms will be required to complete the process. Advertising agencies will need to complete verification on behalf of each advertiser client. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Obviously Needed Most agencies and experienced PPC advertisers could see this coming for quite some time. Google has been vigilant about protecting itd users from fraud, and this is just one more step in that direction, observed John Thornton, CEO of Black Propeller. Between the verification for political advertisers and the Google guaranteed program picking up steam, this was bound to happen sooner than later, he told the E-Commerce Times. Adapting to Googles often sudden and severe policy changes can be a challenge, but this is one that deserves a wholehearted welcome, Thornton suggested. Advertisers who operate legitimate businesses have nothing to fear and actually will benefit from this change. It is a good decision on Googles part to increase transparency and build trust with its users, said Alyssa Jarrett, director of brand and content marketing at Iterable. It is also a step toward greater scrutiny of third-party advertising, which will impact marketers across industries, not just those who serve political organizations, she pointed out The ultimate goal for marketers and advertisers is to reach an engaged audience. The best way to achieve this is not through advertising via Google or other third parties, but rather through first-party data using first-party channels (email, push, SMS, etc.), Jarrett told the E-Commerce Times. Customer Kudos Ahead The policy update is good news for customers. It not only will help deliver insights into whos trying to sell what products, but also will help inform consumers of choices, noted Rameez Ghayas Usmani, digital marketing executive at PureVPN. Not only this, but it will also shrink the number of impersonators in the online market, he told theE-Commerce Times. Being a customer, you will easily figure out if someone tries to run an ad campaign pretending to be from Adidas when Google advertiser info reveals that impersonator is actually Michaels Shoes Shop from Tampa. There may be complaints about overreach on Googles part, and suggestions that the move impinges on the anonymity traditionally associated with behavior on the Internet, Pund-ITs King told the E-Commerce times. However, the increasing prevalence of bad actors and fraudsters in online commerce makes Googles decision to increase advertiser transparency entirely reasonable, he maintained. Given the increasing scrutiny that other sites, including Facebook, have come under for taking far more lenient approaches to bogus ads and information posted on their sites, Googles effort should help to shield it from similar heat and complaints, King said. Potential Downsides Some advertisers may consider Googles policy change unnecessary and irritating. The company will make them jump through hoops since buying ad space will require vetting from a Google employee, noted King. The move might slow ad sales a bit for Google, but I doubt that the move will result in any long-term problems or issues, he said. Others could see Googles tighter controls over advertisers as a more sinister plan for instance, as a way for Google to gather more personal and business data under the guise of transparency, observed Calloway Cook, president of Illuminate Labs. I am very cynical about Googles intentions generally. There is no need to formally verify who is behind a paid ad for a cereal brand, he told the E-Commerce Times. It is obviously the cereal brand paying for the ad. Making this information public provides nothing of value to consumers, Cook argued, but it gives Google more data about the brand. (Photo : REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool) Speech and Language Therapist Alison McLoughlin conducts a therapy session with a patient using the Zoom app in the Ear, Nose and Throat department at The Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in East Lancashire, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Blackburn, Britain, May 14, 2020. Picture taken May 14, 2020. Following several high-profile security incidents, the United Kingdom Government has been warned off using Zoom. Thanks to global lockdowns put in place by a coronavirus! The video conferencing business has seen a massive rise in users in recent months. Still, increased scrutiny has come with this boom. It included updates from the U.K. National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) about Zoom's safety level, including cyber threats and possible privacy concerns. ALSO READ: Scam Alert! Google Blocks Whooping 18 Million Daily COVID-19-Related Phishing Emails Zoom security Andy Harcup, VP of Absolute Software, said the tidal wave of new device purchases is essential for ensuring that government departments can operate effectively amid COVID-19 lockdown. The National Cyber Center told the Parliament that Zoom should be used only for public business with reports suggesting that Zoom accounts are sold on the dark web. Concerns have recently prompted Zoom to launch a series of security changes to prevent Zoom Bombings, where third parties are joining calls. ALSO READ: Zoom Banned From Singapore, Citing Privacy and Safety Concerns Amidst "Zoom Bombing" According to TechRadar, the purchases include 550 zoom accounts obtained from the Defense Ministry (MoD), 150 from the Cabinet Office, 15 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), eight from the Home Office, and five from the Treasury. Six central departments were also found to have invested extensively in new technology to allow workers to operate from home. They also purchased 41,300 new laptops, tablet computers, and cell phones to assist staff remotely. This figure included at least 27,000 new laptops, more than 4,000 tablet computers, and around 9,700 mobile phones. The MoD once again spent the most, purchasing 13,500 new laptops, 3,263 new tablets, and 2,200 new mobile phones. However, this spending spree was not seen across all government areas, TechRadar reported. Both the Transport Department and the FCO revealed they had not bought any new devices in response to the Coronavirus outbreak. Implementing remote work should be accompanied by a strong approach to cybersecurity Harcup said the rush to implement new remote working models must be accompanied by a rigorous and robust approach to cybersecurity. "The COVID-19 crisis has seen millions of new users sign up to Zoom to host meetings and provide important updates to employees working remotely," noted Paul Farrington, EMEA, Chief Technology Officer of Veracode. However, Farrington said a series of security missteps and bugs had been discovered in recent weeks. Farrington warned that crucial government departments should be cautious if using the platform for sensitive meetings, around national security, and public health. "With cyber-attacks on the rise, it's also crucial that users have downloaded the latest versions of these applications to prevent hackers from gaining access and stealing data," he said. According to Harcup, the rush to implement new remote working models must be accompanied by a rigorous and robust approach to cybersecurity. "It's also critical to be able to wipe, track and freeze laptops which contain confidential data, in the event of theft or loss," he said. ALSO READ: Virtual Party Ideas: Here's How to Throw a Virtual Party During Quarantine 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:17:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TAIPEI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan's service sector has struggled to survive the impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic, the island's commerce chamber warned Thursday. According to a research done by the General Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan based on information collected from 142 trade unions, a majority of business in Taiwan's service sector have suffered severe loss in April, particularly hotels, car rental services, cinemas and real estate agents. The hotels in major cities had a booking rate of less than 10 percent in April and some of them have not received any clients for two months, the research report said. The revenue of car rental services in April went down by 80 percent compared with the same month last year while the revenue of cinemas dropped 90 percent year on year. The real estate agents also saw more than 50 percent of reduction in revenue year on year. Although business has begun to rebound in May, the service sector needs stronger policy support from the authorities, said Lai Cheng-i, head of the General Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan. Taiwan added one COVID-19 case Thursday after 13 days of zero reports, raising the total number to 441, according to the island's epidemic monitoring agency. Enditem Washington, May 22 : The US has announced that it will pull out from a major accord that permits unarmed aerial surveillance flights over dozens of participating countries. The Open Skies Treaty came into force in 2002 and is designed to boost confidence and assure against attacks. But senior US officials said the country was withdrawing due to repeated Russian violations of its terms, the BBC reported on Thursday. US President Donald Trump later said there was a "very good chance we'll reach a new agreement" with Russia. "I think we have a very good relationship with Russia, but Russia didn't adhere to the treaty," Trump said on Thursday, adding: "Until they adhere we will pull out." The US will formally withdraw from the accord in six months, officials said. "During the course of this review it has become abundantly clear that it is no longer in America's interests to remain a party to the Open Skies Treaty," one official told Reuters news agency. Some 35 nations are party to the treaty, including Russia, Canada and the UK. Russia's Foreign Ministry insisted that it had not violated the treaty and that a US withdrawal would be "very regrettable", adding that the Trump administration was working to "derail all agreements on arms control". "We reject any attempts to justify a way out of this fundamental agreement," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency. "Nothing prevents continuing the discussions over the technical issues, which the US is misrepresenting as violations by Russia," he added. He said that any withdrawal would affect the interests of all of the treaty's participants, who are also members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). On Tuesday, a Ukrainian lawmaker held a news conference in the center of Kyiv, claiming to have damning evidence that Joe Biden misused $1 billion in American taxpayer money. As proof, Andriy Derkach presented his audience with recordings of 2015 phone conversations between Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The release of the recordings prompted a flurry of headlines in Ukraine about new investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Poroshenko. In the United States, Donald Trump Jr. hinted that the recordings contained ominous news for the man likely to face his father in the next U.S. presidential election, tweeting "Yikes!!!! This is not a 'perfect conversation'." U.S. conservatives took the cue and launched a wave of attacks on the former vice president. Yet their efforts to stir up a full-fledged campaign over the allegations never really got off the ground. The likely reason? The recordings don't live up to their billing. Derkach, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, said they showed Biden making U.S. financial assistance to Ukraine contingent on allowing the corruption schemes of Ukrainian gas company Burisma to continue. If this were true, it would confirm a right-wing conspiracy theory claiming that Joe Biden had leveraged U.S. assistance to protect his son Hunter, who sat on Burisma's board at the time. Yet the recordings - which are heavily edited and drawn from multiple phone calls - never once mention or allude to Burisma or Hunter Biden. In the recordings, Biden tells Poroshenko that the United States will withhold aid until Ukraine replaces its prosecutor general. For a U.S. official to make such a demand from a country with a well-established rule of law would normally constitute a serious breach of diplomatic protocol. But Ukraine, which has been crippled by entrenched corruption almost from its birth as an independent state in 1991, doesn't fall into that category; both Americans and Europeans have spent years trying to push Kyiv to combat malfeasance (including the firing of corrupt officials). At the time Biden and Poroshenko spoke, Ukrainian activists were taking to the streets to accuse the prosecutor general of neglecting his duty to prosecute corrupt officials and business figures. Pushing for a different prosecutor was also a push to make sure any money given stayed in the Ukrainian state's coffers. What most undermines the newsiness of the revelations, though, is that Biden was the first to reveal them in 2018. "If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money," he said, summing up his conversation with Poroshenko about then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in a live-streamed talk. "Well, son of a bitch, he got fired." Derkach, an ex-member of the Ukrainian security service, has earned notoriety for his role in spreading conspiracy theories. In December, he famously met in Kyiv with Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani, who had traveled to Ukraine looking for dirt on the Bidens. Derkach and Giuliani were taking part in what by then had become a well-established pattern: Ukrainians with various political axes to grind made wild claims about Biden (usually with minimal evidence), which were then picked up by U.S. right-wing commentators and social media. Biden's campaign team asserts that those participating in such conspiracy theories are assisting a Russian campaign to discredit him ahead of the election. That assertion isn't entirely far-fetched. Russian state-controlled media outlet RT has actively promoted the story. Derkach, the son of a Soviet-era KGB officer, is a graduate of the KGB academy in Moscow and has ties to the Russian intelligence services. More "revelations" of this type are almost certainly on the way. Trump's handling of the covid-19 crisis is already becoming a liability for his 2020 re-election campaign, and his supporters of all stripes are casting around for anything that might serve as a distraction. Russia's cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 campaign showed that such tactics can have a powerful impact on elections. So far, there is little evidence that the Kremlin will change its behavior in the months to come. Biden's enemies will continue to use Burisma-related claims against him. On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to subpoena documents concerning the company. All of this suggests that Ukraine will continue to the ride the waves of the news cycles during the 2020 election. But if it does become a central topic for Republicans, it may also be harder to sideline Trump's own actions in Ukraine - the same ones, for those who have forgotten, that got him impeached earlier this year. - - - Bateson is a journalist and visiting scholar at the Kennan Institute working on a book about modern Ukraine. The regiment is to be completely rearmed by the end of the year. The Russian military deployed in Russia's Bryansk region, just 60 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, have received another batch of ten 2S33 Msta-SM2 self-propelled howitzers. Read alsoNew evidence of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine: invaders launch rocket on civilian neighborhood in Pavlopil (Photo) This is the second batch of weapons that was delivered to Russia's separate regiment of self-propelled artillery in 2020, the Ukrainian military news portal Defense Express reported on May 20. The Russian troops received the first 15 howitzers in January 2020. Russia reportedly plans to completely rearm the regiment by the end of the year. The rate of fire by 2S33 MSTA-SM2 is over 10 rounds per minute, its firing range is up to 29 kilometers. The weapon is designed to destroy artillery and mortar batteries, armored vehicles, air defense and missile defense systems, anti-tank weapons, as well as enemy troops. President Donald Trump's administration has awarded the largest border wall contract that worth $1.3 billion, according to a recently published article. Apprehension and Arrests of Illegal Border Crossings President Donald Trump has been very serious since his first year in office to stop or decrease the number of illegal border crossings in the the Northern and Southern Walls. Aside from this, he also sent Border Patrols to make sure that no one passed through the walls illegally. In 2019, the number of apprehensions and illegal immigration arrests has increased in the U.S. and Mexico border because of the strong campaign of Trump's administration by sending more Border Patrol Officers. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez said that many of those who were arrested were led by human-trafficking cartels. Meanwhile, Trump's administration did not only intensify the campaign against illegal border crossings but has also made new immigration policies that put low-income families from other countries have difficulties to migrate in the U.S. He also pressured the Mexican government to send Border Patrol Officers to help the U.S. Read related article: Illegal US-Canada Border Crossings Increase, Many Are Mexican Number of Illegal Border Crossings During the Pandemic The number of illegal border crossings has decreased by 60 percent in the U.S-Mexico borders since Pres. Trump extended the powers of the U.S. Border Patrol in the implementation of the immediate return of the immigrants due to the global pandemic, according to the previous article of Latin Post. However, while the number of unauthorized border crossings has decreased in the southern walls, illegal border crossings in the porous U.S. Canada or northern walls have increased in the past three years ,according to federal data. The global pandemic did not hinder Trump's administration to stop or neither suspend for the meantime the construction of border walls that separate U.S. from Mexico. In fact, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced last month that the 156 miles border was already completed. Read related article: Trump's Immigration Policy Denies Entry of Low-Income Foreign Applicants Largest Border Wall Contract Awarded by the Federal Government Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, a Republican lawmaker, confirmed that an amount of $1.3 billion border wall contract was awarded to Fisher Sand and Gravel Company to build the 42-mile section of Arizona. Moreover, the date of construction and its completion has no date yet, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the construction will take place near Nogales and Sasabe which are both in Arizona. Fisher was one of the companies in 2019 chosen to partake in the construction of $5 billion worth of border wall construction. And the contract awarded to the Fisher Sand and Gravel Company this month is part of the multi-billion project. When the U.S. Army Corps and Engineers, which awards the contracts, was asked if there were other bidders, they said that they cannot provide details about it due to the procurement sensitivity. Additionally, the federal government has awarded millions of dollars for the construction of the border walls. That includes 30-foot-tall barriers, new lighting, technology or CCTV, and infrastructure. Trump's administration also claimed that they have already built 187 miles of the wall and replaced the old. Read related article: Securing the Border: Illegal Crossings Down by 60% Rep. John Ratcliffe, (R-Texas), is sworn in before a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 5, 2020. The panel is considering Ratcliffe's nomination for director of national intelligence. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) Senate Confirms Trumps Director of National Intelligence Pick The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) as director of national intelligence. The final vote was 49-44. All votes for Ratcliffe came from Republicans. All against came from Democrats except for one from Sen. Angus King (I-Vt.), who regularly caucuses with Democrats. The vote came after strong protests from some senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Wyden on the Senate floor accused Ratcliffe of danc[ing] around direct questions when questioned by lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee and making disturbing statements that make it clear that he has and will misrepresent and politicize intelligence without a moments hesitation. Schumer said he spoke with Ratcliffe over the phone and asked him to confirm the finding by intelligence agencies that Russia tried interfering in the 2016 election but Ratcliffe declined. Schumer incorrectly said that all 17 agencies said Russia engaged in a campaign to influence voters when only four agencies actually did. Ratcliffe, 54, is not the kind of DNI we need, Schumer said. I will vehemently oppose his nomination today, he added, calling for colleagues to vote with him. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled he had enough votes, telling senators that Ratcliffe would lead the intelligence community against threats, rogue nations, and terrorists and ensure the work is untainted by political bias. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who became acting Senate Intelligence chairman this week, voiced his support for Ratcliffe in a statement, saying the Texan understood the director of national intelligences crucial role. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged Ratcliffe to remember that transparency brings accountability and that the publics business ought to be public by its very nature. The intelligence community is a secretive bunch. They often operate in the shadows and have to in order to do the job that we asked them to do to protect our national security. However, that doesnt mean when Congress asks them questions, the intelligence community has a license to withhold information. When Congress comes knocking, the intelligence community must answer, he said. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell at an event in Geneva, Switzerland in a March 18, 2019, file photograph. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters) Replacing Grenell Ratcliffe replaces Richard Grenell, a U.S. ambassador who was serving in the role temporarily. Grassley said Grenell has been a breath of fresh air, adding that Ratcliffe has some big shoes to fill, thats for sure. Grenell congratulated Ratcliffe in a statement. You will be the best DNI ever! he said. Grenell made a number of moves, including declassifying a list of Obama administration officials who requested the unmasking, or denanonymizing, of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn when the retired military officer was Donald Trumps incoming national security advisor in late 2016 and early 2017. Ratcliffe is seen by some as an ally of President Donald Trump. He served as an advisor to Trump during the impeachment proceedings. The Texan told senators in a recent hearing he wouldnt distort findings if he became director of national intelligence. Regardless of what anyone wants our intelligence to reflect, the intelligence I will provide, if confirmed, will not be impacted or altered as a result of outside influence, he told the Senate Intelligence Committee. He also said hed convey findings to the president even if he knew Trump disagreed with them and if doing so could cost him his job. The committee advanced the nomination on May 19 in a narrow 8-7 party-line vote. Republicans control the Senate, giving them majorities on every committee. Ratcliffe was first nominated to the post last year but he withdrew from consideration after fierce opposition from Democrats and skepticism from some Republicans. Ratcliffe has since swayed some whod previously opposed his nomination, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). The position of national intelligence director was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The director oversees 17 intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of the Treasurys Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-22 00:32:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Higher Education Students' Loans Board (HESLB) announced on Thursday it has released education loans to the tune of 63.7 billion Tanzanian shillings (about 27.5 million U.S. dollars) following President John Magufuli's announcement that universities will reopen on June 1. A statement by HESLB said the released amount will be loaned to students for meals and accommodation for the 2019-2020 academic year. Earlier on Thursday, President John Magufuli announced the reopening of universities on June 1 after what he described as a drop in COVID-19 infection cases. Magufuli ordered the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance and Planning to make preparations for the reopening of the universities, including the release of education loans. HESLB said in the statement that the loans will be availed to beneficiaries in respective universities by May 28. Meanwhile, said the statement, HESLB was in final touches of releasing education loans of 59.1 billion Tanzanian shillings for students in 70 higher education institutions in the country. During the 2019-2020 academic year, the government will release higher education loans to the tune of 450 billion shillings to 132,119 students in universities, said the statement. Prime minister Kassim Majaliwa announced the shutdown of universities on March 18 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the east African nation. Enditem [May 21, 2020] The New Face of Digital Transformation: Enterprise Architects LeanIX, a provider of Software-as-a-Service solutions in Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), concluded its 7th global #EAConnectDay conference which revealed a modern breed of Enterprise Architects (EAs) becoming the new 'face' of digital transformation. More than 1,700+ business executives and IT professionals registered for the #EAConnectDay virtual event to witness how companies from sectors as diverse as manufacturing and software to government successfully implemented their digital transformation programs, some of them in just weeks. The companies presenting their digital transformation best practices included Apptio, Atlassian (News - Alert), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Ernst & Young, LeanIX, Lucidchart, Otis, and Vale Industries. The common thread among all these companies was that an Enterprise Architect executive within their IT departments drove the successful transformation programs. Examples of EA-led transformation initiatives included: Global mining and manufacturing company Vale Industries showed how they used Enterprise Architecture practices to keep their global supply chains running during the Covid-19 pandemic closures. Their digital transformation efforts included: - Standardizing software applications and IT processes throughout the supply chain; - Innovation Hubs for design thinking and collaboration, and Digital Labs for prototyping; - Dev Centers to quickly develop a suite of 20 applications for its 150,000 IT employees to maintain continuous supply chain operations. In the past, such agility and collaboration were blocked by silos, but introducing Enterprise Architects within its business lines democratized data and simplified governance. Software developer Atlassian, makers of Jira, Confluence, and many other well-known applications, uses Enterprise Architecture to streamline its M&A practice. Having acquired 14 companies to-date, Atlassian's EA has a goal to integrate the IT systems from acqired companies and realize the full IT value of acquisitions in just 3 months. Using EA best practices, all newly acquired IT applications are now roadmapped by day 14, and full IT value from each M&A deal is realized by day 90. Global consultant Ernst & Young, LLP shared the strategic use of Enterprise Architects within its government consulting practice. As nearly every government on the planet is currently engaged in some form of a transformation project to digitize their government operations during shelter-in-place, EAs are leading the design and visualization transformation strategies to get stakeholder buy-in, and then documenting the roadmaps to implement those visions. 167-year-old Otis was spun out from United Technologies Corp and given 5 weeks to stand up an independent IT organization -- all during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Otis' sole Enterprise Architect executive used LeanIX's EA technology platform and services to crowd-source data about the company's 900+ applications, clone-and-purge all data relevant to Otis, and develop a business-aligned technology roadmap to be operational as a separate company -- in just 10 days! "The new face of digital transformation is your Enterprise Architect," said Andre Christ, CEO and Co-founder at LeanIX. "Not every enterprise has a dedicated EA executive yet, but I predict that after the recent pandemic experiences -- and how successfully EAs were able to guide rapid transformation initiatives -- we'll be seeing many more of them in the near future. In the case studies we saw presented at EA Connect Day, these EAs are literally the superstars in the modern, agile, and data-driven IT department." The IT industry's next #EAConnectDay will take place on September 2-3, 2020, structured as a global 'hybrid' event co-located both online and on location in Bonn, Germany. A call-for-papers is open now, seeking more examples of EA superstar stories in digital transformation. About LeanIX: LeanIX offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) application for driving Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Governance, enabling companies to accelerate their IT transformation. From on-premises to cloud native and microservices, architecture teams using LeanIX have the power to strategically support their business and take decisions faster. More than 280 global brands including Volkswagen, adidas, Bosch, DHL, Santander, Atlassian, and Zalando rely on LeanIX to improve transparency, visibility, and drive real-time efficiencies. LeanIX addresses IT's critical need to ensure high-quality, real-time data is accessible to stakeholders whenever needed. Use cases include Cloud Governance, Application Portfolio Management, and Technology Risk Management. LeanIX was founded in 2012 by Jorg Beyer and Andre Christ. The company is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, with U.S. headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and an office in Hyderabad, India. To learn more about LeanIX, visit www.leanix.net, @leanix_net on Twitter (News - Alert), and https://www.linkedin.com/company/leanix-gmbh on LinkedIn (News - Alert). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005574/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Over Thursday, Russia-occupation forces in Donbas violated the ceasefire four times, using, among other things, 120-mm mortars, as a result of which a Ukrainian soldier was killed in action (KIA), another two were injured, five more received wounds in action (WIA), the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported. "Over May 21, the armed groups of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire four times, while using 120 mm caliber mortars, as well as grenade launchers of various systems and small arms, which were forbidden to be placed on the contact line ... Unfortunately, on May 21, one Ukrainian defender was killed. Also, according to updated information, two servicemen were injured and five more received combat wounds," the JFO staff said in the 17:00 update on Facebook on Thursday. Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements From trees to tags, astronauts start traditions before SpaceX launch May 21, 2020 The first NASA astronauts set to launch from American soil in almost a decade are laying the foundation for the new preflight traditions that U.S. commercial spacecraft crews will follow as they prepare to lift off into space. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday (May 20), a week ahead of their scheduled launch on SpaceX's first Dragon spacecraft to fly with a crew to the International Space Station. Behnken and Hurley's Demo-2 mission will mark the resumption of U.S. orbital spaceflights since the end of NASA's space shuttle program in 2011. "This is an awesome time to be an astronaut, with a new spacecraft to get a chance to go and fly," said Behnken, speaking to reporters at what was the shuttle landing facility (now Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility). "We're thankful for that opportunity and we view it as an opportunity, but also a responsibility for the American people, for the SpaceX team [and] for all of NASA that has put this opportunity together and then trusted us with it." "It's an incredible time for NASA, the space program, once again launching U.S. crews from Florida and hopefully just a week from about right now, which is incredible," Hurley said. "I happen to have been one of the four astronauts that landed here almost nine years ago in T-38 [jets] on the Fourth of July in 2011 to close out the space shuttle program." "So it's incredibly humbling to be here to start out the next launch from the United States," said Hurley. Should the Demo-2 test flight go as planned, NASA will certify SpaceX to begin flying regular missions to and from the International Space Station. Under its commercial crew program, the U.S. space agency will rely on SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the orbiting laboratory, while encouraging expanded commercial activities in low Earth orbit. As the first crew preparing to fly in this new era of U.S. commercial spaceflight, Behnken and Hurley have had the opportunity to choose what preflight traditions they wanted to observe. "We feel somewhat responsible to continue some of these really neat traditions that both the [Russian] Soyuz crews have had for many years and the shuttle crews have had. And then maybe come up with a few of our own," said Hurley. "As we go through this journey, we will certainly share some more of those." They began on Wednesday by revealing the rituals they performed before flying to Florida on a NASA Gulfstream jet. "Back at my home in Houston, we took the opportunity to do something that's pretty common from an astronaut perspective around the world, which is to plant a tree," said Behnken. "I have done it in Baikonur crews do that in Kazakhstan on their way to launch on the Soyuz and I took the opportunity with my family to do a tree planting." The Avenue of the Cosmonauts, as it is called at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, has trees planted for each person to launch on a Russian spacecraft, dating back to the very first human to fly into space, Soviet-era cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Behnken has not flown to space from the cosmodrome, but planted a tree in Karaganda, Kazakhstan when he was the chief of NASA's astronaut office. "So not necessarily a public sort of event, but a personal sort," Behnken said, continuing to describe the tree he planted at his home. "My son will always have that lemon tree that he was a part of planting. Hopefully, it makes it through Houston's hot summer this year and becomes a tradition for some other folks as well." For his part, Hurley adopted a tradition from his service as a test pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. "We used to do a little bit of what we call 'tagging' in the service," explained Hurley. "What it is, essentially, is putting a sticker on the simulator for your mission when you're complete with the training." "And so yesterday, Bob and I put the Demo-2 sticker on the SpaceX simulator in Houston as kind of a continuing tradition," he said. Over the course of the next week, Behnken and Hurley will have a chance to rehearse for their launch day, including riding in SpaceX's Tesla Model X out to the launchpad and climbing into their Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket they will ride into orbit. They will also have an opportunity to spend some time with their families, extending another past astronaut tradition. "I think Doug and I are really excited to spend some time out at the conference center, formerly known as the beach house," said Behnken, referring to a house that since 1963 has hosted astronauts prior to their launches, but more recently has been referred to as the Kennedy Space Center Conference Center. "Get a chance to go and visit that facility and maybe start a tradition or two out there with our families as a part of the new era that we're embarking on." NASA astronauts Bob Behnken (at left) and Doug Hurley give a thumbs up after arriving at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launching on SpaceX's Demo-2 mission, May 20, 2020. (NASA/Bill Ingalls) NASA astronaut Bob Behnken planted a lemon tree at his home in Houston prior to leaving for Florida to launch on SpaceX's Demo-2 mission. He was inspired to start the tradition after planting a tree in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, as pictured in 2014. (NASA/Bob Behnken) Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken used a Demo-2 mission decal like the one pictured here to "tag" SpaceX's simulator in Houston, as a tradition symbolizing they had completed their training. (NASA) The Kennedy Space Center Conference Center, formerly known as the astronaut beach house, seen after its restoration in 2018. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) 2022 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. [May 21, 2020] Carahsoft Awarded Educational Software Solutions and Services Contract through OMNIA Partners, Public Sector RESTON, Va., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carahsoft Technology Corp. , The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, today announced that it has been awarded a Region 4 Education Service Center (ESC) contract for Educational Software Solutions and Services available now through OMNIA Partners. This contract makes these solutions available to state and local government agencies, education institutions, non-profits, municipalities, and additional public sector organizations through Carahsoft and authorized reseller partners. Our team at Carahsoft is proud to be chosen to receive this cooperative purchasing contract designed to meet the needs of public sector organizations across the nation, said Robert R. Moore, Executive Vice President at Carahsoft. Carahsoft and our reseller partners are committed to enabling educational missions across the public sector landscape, including internal training, public outreach, digital learning and collaboration. In addition, we are excited to help institutions modernize and secure their IT so that they can continue to focus on their goals and missions. Educational Software Solutions and Services are available through this contract and Carahsofts reseller partners to public sector organizations in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and the contract is established for a five-year period of performance through April 30, 2025. All solutions on this contract are offered at special discounts off their manufacturer list price, and additional price reductions can be provided on a deal-by-deal basis. Solutions from more than 200 providers are available through the contract, encompassing: Software Licenses Product Support Maintenance Services End User Computing Cloud Subscription Services Training Professional Services To support this contract and all public sector customers, Carahsoft has designated program and account managers to facilitate the prourement process and ensure the quality of all products and services delivered. The company will also conduct regular training webinars covering contract terms, new software and updates, as well as provide a dedicated resource page for the contract and dedicated support lines. "OMNIA Partners is pleased to continue its partnership with Carahsoft to offer this competitively solicited and awarded contract led by Region 4 ESC," says Allan McCombs, Senior Vice President of Sales, OMNIA Partners Public Sector. "Carahsoft's experience providing industry-leading software solutions and services will play an important role in allowing public agencies to work more efficiently, saving both time and money. OMNIA Partners is the nations largest and most experienced cooperative purchasing organization dedicated to public sector procurement. Region 4 ESC established this contract with the goal of creating a national cooperative contract for Educational Software Products and Services in order to simplify procurement and offer cost savings for OMNIA Partners network of public sector members. Carahsofts Educational Software products and services are available through OMNIA Partners Contract #R191902 and the companys reseller partners. For more information, visit Carahsofts dedicated contract resource page or contact the OMNIA Partners team at Carahsoft at (703) 673-3635 or [email protected] . About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider. As a top-performing GSA Schedule and SEWP contract holder, Carahsoft serves as the Master Government Aggregator for many of its best-of-breed technology vendors, supporting an extensive ecosystem of manufacturers, value-added resellers, system integrators and consulting partners committed to helping government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value. The company's dedicated Solutions Divisions proactively market, sell and deliver VMware, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Palo Alto Networks, Symantec, Veritas, McAfee, Dell, Adobe, F5 Networks, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Open Source, Micro Focus Government Solutions, SAP, Salesforce, and Innovative and Intelligence products and services, among others. Carahsoft is consistently recognized by its partners as a top revenue producer and is listed annually among the industry's fastest growing and largest firms by CRN, Inc., Forbes, Washington Technology, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and Bloomberg Government. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook . Contact Mary Lange (703) 230-7434 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] You are here: Travel Flash Guizhou, a Chinese province known for its landscape resorts and ethnic culture, launched an online platform Tuesday, providing intelligent travel services for tourists with big data and artificial intelligence. The platform provides information on scenic spots, shopping centers, restaurants and hotels, and tourists will be able to book tickets and get a QR code for verification at the places. Through the platform, tourists can also get access to information on weather, transportation and tour guides. The platform, available through a mini-program on WeChat, has covered 415 tourist resorts in the province. Zhang Yuguang, head of the provincial department of culture and tourism, said the platform will be helpful for the integration of tourism resources, the management of the tourism industry and the handling of emergent cases. Situated in southwestern China, Guizhou province has abundant tourism resources such as the country's largest waterfall Huangguoshu, UNESCO world heritage site Mount Fanjingshan and a karst forest in Maolan. Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed to resume the technical discussions on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Khartoum and Addis Ababa announced jointly on Thursday. The agreement came following virtual talks between Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday. According to the official Sudanese news agency and Ethiopian news agency, the online meeting was attended by the foreign and irrigation ministers and intelligence chiefs of both countries. During the online session, Sudanese and Ethiopian officials agreed on the importance of resuming the talks to complete "the easy part left of the negotiations on the filing and operations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam according to what was agreed in Washington." Abiy responded to "concerns raised by the Sudanese side; clarity was provided on environmental issues, dam safety and data exchange facilitation," according to a statement from the office of the premier, published by the Ethiopian news agency. Abiy said that his country was ready to cooperate with Egypt and Sudan to reach a final agreement that safeguards the interests of the three countries. Hamdok also said that Sudan was ready to continue working with Egypt and Ethiopia to reach a fair agreement. The online talks between Hamdok and Abiy are the first after a diplomatic war of words between Egypt and Ethiopia reached the UN Security Council. On 1 May, Egypt sent a letter to the head of Security Council about the GERD crisis after the failure of the three countries to reach an agreement on its filling and operation during US-brokered negotiations earlier this year. The negotiations between the three countries stalled in February after Ethiopia skipped the final round of talks. Of the three countries, only Egypt initialled the resulting draft agreement. Egypt and Sudan had rejected an Ethiopian deal released on 10 April proposing a partial agreement that would only cover the first stage of the filling. Egypt revealed at the beginning of May that it had addressed the United Nations Security Council detailing the stages of GERD talks and its concerns. On 11 May, Ethiopia said it would start filling its mega-dam in July despite not reaching an agreement with the two downstream countries and also sent a 22-page letter to the UNSC claiming it does not have a legal obligation to seek the approval of Egypt to fill the dam. On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to peacefully resolve any disagreements on GERD and to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement. Search Keywords: Short link: Two Maryland women with ties to suspects in a recent murder were allegedly killed by the accused, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. Danielle Tyler, 18, of Taneytown, and Heather Grogg, 33, of Westminster, have been missing since April 6, 2020 and were last seen in Carroll County, Maryland, according to a statement FBI Pittsburgh previously provided to Dateline. April Braner (Courtesy of WV Regional Jail Authority) April Lynn Braner, 37, of Burnside Drive, Falling Waters, West Virginia, was arraigned Monday in Berkeley County Circuit Court on felony charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the deaths of Danielle and Heather. The complaint alleges that Braner knowingly allowed her home on Burnside Drive to be used as the site of their murders. She is also accused of providing one of the murder weapons to one of the suspects, a plastic garbage bag. David Sanford Jr., 26, John Black III, 22, and Monroe Merrell, 22, all of Maryland, allegedly conspired to kill Danielle and Heather following the murder of Jonathan Riddle back in March. Riddle was found stabbed and set on fire in Rippon, West Virginia on March 18. The events that led up to Riddles murder began on March 17 when he visited Heather in Westminster at the home of David Sanford and Emily Day, where she had been living and caring for the couples children. John Black III and Monroe Merrell were also at the house, along with Danielle, who according to family members, had recently become involved with Merrell. According to the previous arrest report, Riddle was stabbed, bound and transported to Jefferson County, West Virginia where in the early morning hours of March 18, he was beaten, set on fire and left on the ground. All three men have been arrested and charged in his kidnapping and murder. Sanfords girlfriend, Emily Day, 27, was also arrested in connection with Riddles death and charged with being an accessory before and after the fact. Heather Grogg According to the criminal complaint, on April 6, Jeffrey Craig Smith, Jr., 22, of Westminster, Maryland, along with Sanford and Day, allegedly drove Danielle and Heather to Braners home in Falling Waters, West Virginia, telling them it would be a safe place to stay during the ongoing murder investigation. Story continues The complaint goes on to state the women were brought to the home specifically to be killed. Across the street from Braners home is an old trailer known as the party trailer, according to the complaint. Its alleged that Sanford used a plastic garbage bag given to him by Braner to asphyxiate Danielle in the trailer. When Braner realized Danielle was still alive, Sanford continued to suffocate her until she was dead. Danielle Tyler (FBI Pittsburgh) At the same time, the complaint alleges Merrell, who had been staying on the property, lured Heather away from the trailer and she was allegedly shot twice by Smith. He has been arrested in Carroll County, Maryland and is currently being held in Maryland on the charge of being a fugitive from justice. The criminal complaint does not include details about the remains of Danielle or Heather. Braner and the four men are being held without bond. It is unclear if the men charged in Riddles killing will face additional charges. Both women were featured in Dateline NBCs Missing in America series in April. Heathers sister, Brandie Hebb, told Dateline at that time she was worried her sister was in danger because she may have known something about Jonathan Riddles murder. Im worried she witnessed something she shouldn't have seen and thats why shes in danger, Brandie told Dateline. Its not like her to just disappear like this. To fall off the face of the earth. She always calls me to let me know shes OK. She described Heather as being a friendly, lovable person who makes friends wherever she goes, and is young at heart. Danielles grandmother, Sherry Tyler, told Dateline that Danielle had been excited about graduating high school and was taking video production classes, hoping to become a videographer. What they did to my baby is ripping my heart out, Sherry told Dateline on Thursday after receiving the news. How do I move forward without my girls bright happy smiling face? The pain is unbearable. So senseless. John Purcell (pictured), the former Assistant Director in the Office of Information Management at Western Australia Police, was demoted last year A second investigation has been launched into a top police boss who had an affair with a former employee more than 30 years his junior. John Purcell, the former Assistant Director in the Office of Information Management at Western Australia Police, was demoted last year after an email audit found thousands of personal messages between him and Sarah Colja. Ms Colja was a 21-year-old university student working as an administration assistant under Mr Purcell at the time. The emails were evidence of their affair, which took place between 2011 and 2017. The pair conceived a child during that time. The WA Police Commissioner has now opened a new investigation into Mr Purcell after Ms Colja alleged he used his 'position of power' to 'control' her throughout their 'toxic' relationship. Details of the affair were made public when Mr Purcell, a father-of-four, appealed against his demotion in the WA Industrial Relations Commission. John Purcell, the former Assistant Director in the Office of Information Management at Western Australia Police, was demoted last year after an email audit found thousands personal messages had been sent between him and Sarah Colja (pictured) Ms Colja (pictured) was a 21-year-old university student working as an administration assistant under Mr Purcell at the time In the appeal, his counsel argued the demotion was 'harsh and unfair', with Mr Purcell claiming he had tried to end the affair and sought counselling from his church in 2017 and 2018 over the incident. They added their client had an 'unblemished record previously' and had taken 'actions to redeem himself'. Ms Colja told The West Australian she had wanted to share 'her side of the story'. 'There was always more to this story than me just being some hussy, and now people have seen that themselves. 'For me this was always about telling my side, speaking up for not just myself but the many young, impressionable women starting their careers, who get distracted and lose sight of their path and their self worth. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, she described the relationship as 'f***ed up and toxic'. Mr Purcell, who was in his 50s at the time - more than 30 years her senior, was in a relationship with another WA Police employee when the affair began. Soon after Ms Colja began working for the force she was granted access to his office so the pair could have sex during their work day. His partner - who is now his wife - worked next door during their midday romps. Ms Colja, 31, said it was when she told him she was pregnant with their daughter (pictured above) that the relationship fell apart. Mr Purcell has no relationship with the four-year-old girl, Ms Colja said Ms Colja, 31, described the relationship with Mr Purcell as a 'f***ed up, toxic relationship' 'We were acting like young teenagers making out in cars and all that,' Ms Colja said. They used their work emails to arrange secret meet-ups. Ms Colja would also send explicit photos of herself to Mr Purcell's work email to avoid his partner from finding out about their relationship. Ms Colja said she fell in love with Mr Purcell and at the time believed he was also in love with her. 'I thought that somebody in his position must be a good person. 'I believed him in a lot of ways because he was older. 'Looking back, I don't know if he was in love with me or if he was going through a mid-life crisis.' The affair continued from 2013 to 2016, even after Ms Colja left the force. But after years of sneaking around, the relationship turned sour. Ms Colja, 31, said it was when she told him she was pregnant that the relationship fell apart. John Purcell (pictured) has slid down the WA Police Force's ranks after an internal audit uncovered a scandalous affair with a younger colleague carried out across the office computer system John Purcell, who was in his 50s, was in a relationship with another WA Police employee when the affair began Mr Purcell has no relationship with the couple's four-year-old daughter, Ms Colja said. 'Looking back and having grown up, I do realise his position of power did have a big play in how he could manipulate the situation. I was treated like crap for being in love, all while trying to create a career for myself. 'Enough people knew about it, especially the higher-ups in his circle, that I was known as the ''hussy'' at work. And him being in the position of power he was, he had the power to move me to different floors or offices.' Ms Colja, who has a Bachelor's Degree in Communications, has struggled to secure work in the aftermath of the affair. She now suffers from panic attacks while in office environments. A team of archeologists discovered new genetic links between the remains of a 14,000-year-old Siberian and Native American populations, some of whom are believed to have crossed into North America via the Bering Strait. The research was organized by a team from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, who traveled to Lake Baikal in Siberia, near the border with current-day Mongolia. The team examined the remains of 19 Siberians, with the oldest dating back more than 14,000 years, the oldest known example of an individual from that region with a similar 'genetic mix' to samples from Native American sites in North and South America. Archeologists traveled to Lake Baikal in Siberia, near the border with Mongolia, and analyzed the genomes of 19 subjects, the oldest of which dated back more than 14,000 years and showed genetic links with documented Native American genomes 'This study reveals the oldest known link between Stone Age residents of Siberia and the first residents of America,' lead researcher Hey Yu said in an interview with the Max Planck Institute's news blog. 'We believe that this connection will be very important for future studies of the indigenous population of America.' The DNA samples were taken from preserved teeth fragments found at Lake Baikal, and also revealed links to ancient populations found in Northeast Asia and western Siberia, suggesting a greater degree of social and cultural mixing occurred in the region than previously thought. Adding support to this theory, the team also found the samples had traces of the pneumonic plague, a severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. Previously, the pneumonic plague had been documented spreading across parts of western Siberia and Eurasia, but hadn't reached sites as far east as Lake Baikal. The researchers took DNA samples from teeth fragments found at the site, which they claim showed 'the oldest known link between Stone Age residents of Siberia and the first residents of America' The remains found in Lake Baikal also showed genetic links to Eurasians in western Siberia and other nomadic populations in Northeast, suggesting they were related to the groups that migrated into North America across the Bering Strait The team also found traces of pneumonic plague in the Lake Baikal samples, suggesting the infamous disease had a much wider spread than previously thought Discovering traces of the Y. pestis bacteria there suggested the inhabitants were much more nomadic than previously thought. 'The appearance of the old Y. pestis strains so far east probably indicates extensive mobility during the Bronze Age,' researcher Maria Spyrou told Eurekalert. 'By generating additional data, we hope to be able to describe the spreading patterns of this form of Stone Age plague in more detail in the future.' Travellers can transit through Changi Airport from June 2 Singapore will be allowing travelers to transit through Changi Airport with effect from June 2. The move is part of the island state's strategy to gradually re-open air transport to meet the needs of the economy and residents, while ensuring sufficient safeguards for safe travel. Changi Airport. Photo: Connected to India In a press statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said airlines can now submit their proposals for transfer lanes through Changi Airport. The proposals will be evaluated taking into account aviation safety, public health considerations, as well as the health of passengers and air crew. Currently, foreign passengers may only transit through Singapore if they are on repatriation flights arranged by their governments. This decision by CAAS will allow passengers to transit through Singapore more easily. The authority added that as a precaution, stringent measures will be instituted to ensure that the transit passengers remain in designated facilities in the transit area. This is so that they do not mix with other passengers at Changi Airport. Airport staff will also be required to wear personal protective equipment when interacting with passengers. Existing precautionary measures, such as safe distancing, temperature taking for passengers and staff, will continue to be enforced. Yves here. The history of the long and bloody battles by laborers for safe workplaces has been largely airbrushed out of US history. Its easier to water down wage, health, and hours protections when most people have little idea of how most employers once operated. By Richard D. Wolff, professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, in New York. Wolffs weekly show, Economic Update, is syndicated by more than 100 radio stations and goes to 55 million TV receivers via Free Speech TV. His two recent books with Democracy at Work are Understanding Marxism and Understanding Socialism<, both available at democracyatwork.info.Produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute The U.S. president recently ordered meatpacking employees back into workplaces plagued by coronavirus. He did not order the employers to make their slaughterhouses safe. GOP-proposed legislation exempts employers from lawsuits by employees sickened or killed by coronavirus infections at workplaces. The GOP is mostly silent about requiring employers to maintain safe or healthy workplaces. Employers across the country threaten workers who refuse to return to jobs they find unsafe. They demand that employees return or risk being fired. Job loss likely means loss of health insurance for employees families. Being fired risks also losing eligibility for unemployment insurance. Employers are now going to extremes to evade the costs of safe and healthy workplaces. Recently, New Orleans authorities and their contractors fired their $10.25 per hour garbage collectors after a short strike. The strikers had demanded protective equipment against garbage possibly infected with the coronavirus and also $15 per hour hazard pay. New Orleans replaced the striking workers by contracting for nearby prison inmates paid $1.33 per hour and individuals from halfway houses. Capitalisms iron fist hits the working class with this choice: unsafe job, or poverty, or slave labor with both. Capitalism has always struggled to minimize outlays on workplace safety and health. Workers have protested this wherever capitalism became the prevailing economic system over the last three centuries. Upton Sinclairs popular book, The Jungle, published over a century ago, exposed spectacularly unsafe and unhealthy conditions in Chicagos meatpacking industry. The 1906 passages of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act responded to public outrage over that industrys working conditions. Coronavirus infection rates among employees of U.S. pork processing plants as high as 27 percent illustrate how employers forever economize on workplace health and safety. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within the U.S. Department of Labor was established in 1970. It sought to add more systematic federal government supervision and inspection to the regulations pressing employers to provide safe and healthy workplace conditions. Its mixed successes attest to the lengths employers will go to evade, weaken, or ignore efforts to enforce workers safety and health. The profit-driven logic of capitalist enterprises incentivizes not spending capital on workplace safety and health conditions unless and until they deteriorate to the point of threatening profits. Capitalists and mainstream economics textbooks repeat endlessly that profit is every enterprises bottom line. Profitability measures each firms economic performance. Profits reward employers; losses punish them. Employers use capital to yield profits; that is their chief goal and priority. As objectives, workplace safety and health are secondary, tertiary or worse: obstacles to maximizing profits. Capitalism has always sacrificed the safety and health of the employee majority to boost profits of its employer minority. That minority makes all the key enterprise decisions and excludes the employee majority from that decision-making. No wonder employers figure disproportionally among societys rich, safe, and healthy, while employees figure disproportionally among the poor, unsafe, and unhealthy. Capitalism displays not only extreme inequalities of wealth and income, but also all their derivative inequalities: economic, political, and cultural. Pandemics expose and worsen them all. In some times and places, capitalisms iron fist wears velvet gloves. When profits are high and/or critics of capitalism ally strongly with its victims, employers may spend more on making workplaces less unsafe and less unhealthy. Otherwise, employers can and do spend less. If and when they fail to prevent government regulations mandating minimum health and safety standards, employers campaign to evade, weaken, and eventually repeal them. Employers usually repeat the same old arguments to block or undo regulations mandating safety and health standards. Such regulations, they insist, divert capital from productive uses (hiring workers) to unproductive uses (improving workers health and safety). Thus fewer workers will be hired, hurting the employee class. With such arguments employers have often succeeded and undermined workplace safety and health. Capitalisms long record of maintaining nearly constant unemploymentits reserve armynot only got workers to accept lower wages for fear of being replaced by more desperate unemployed. Unemployment also got employed workers to accept unsafe, unhealthy workplaces. Unemployment is a kind of torture by one class of another. It helps maintain lower wages and unsafe and unhealthy worksites. That is one reason why reduced labor needs are managed, in capitalism, not by keeping everyone employed but for fewer hours per week. That option is not generally chosen because firing a portion of the workforcedepriving those unfortunates of jobsbetter disciplines workers to accept what they might otherwise reject. In todays situation, employers and the government, equally unprepared for the virus, did too little too late to prevent a dangerous pandemic. Sudden mass lockdowns led to mass unemployment. Expensive reconfiguring for social distancing, mass testing, cleaning and disinfection, etc., might have rendered jobsites safe and healthy. Instead, employers and their political spokespersons press employees back into unsafe, unhealthy workplaces. A reopening the economy is ordered. Employers get to impose unsafe and unhealthy workplaces by reframing the process as a patriotic return to a noble, national work ethic. Employers are counting on this sham drama now. Consider this historic parallel: capitalists in the U.S. and elsewhere once regularly employed children as young as five years old. Their jobs safety and health conditions were mostly inadequate and often deplorable. Their pay fell well below that of adults. They suffered injury as well as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Schooling was neglected if not altogether absent. Yet capitalists insisted that economic well-being and prosperity required their access to child labor. Ending it would bring economic decline possibly worse than child labor. A reasonable trade-off was required. Employers argued that poor families needed and welcomed incomes from employed children. Employers also insisted, then as now, that they had spent all they could and all that was needed to provide adequately safe and healthy work conditions. Working-class responses to child labor took time to develop the necessary understanding and political power. Once they did, child labor was doomed. Working-class parents confronted capitalists with a non-negotiable demand: overcome the horrors of child labor by ending it. Employers would have to find other ways to profit. Many did even as many others moved abroad where child labor is still allowed. They still do. Todays parallel non-negotiable demand: end unsafe and unhealthy workplaces. That requires differently organized workplaces. The majority, employees, must control their safety and health. It must be a higher priority than profit for the minority of owners, boards of directors, etc. Once again we meet societys need for transition to a worker-coop based economy. Japan share market finished session lower on Thursday, 21 May 2020, as investors elected to book profit made in last four sessions, amid weaker than expected Japanese economic data and concerns over U. S.-China tensions concerning the coronavirus pandemic. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average declined 42.84 points, or 0.21%, to 20,552.31. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange slipped 3.48 points, or 0.23%, at 1,491.21. Total 16 issues of 33 industry category of Topix index ended in positive territory, with Glass & Ceramics Products, Mining, Marine Transportation, Oil & Coal Products, and Iron & Steel issues being notable gainers, while Land Transportation, Rubber Products, Fishery, Agriculture & Forestry, and Information & Communication issues were notable losers. The Tokyo market commenced trading with firm footing, following the overnight rally on Wall Street and partly due to moves to reopen businesses spreading across the United States following coronavirus lockdowns and on optimism about a state of emergency being lifted in western Japan later today. But stocks surrendered their gains toward noon as investors were moderately disappointed by weaker than expected Japanese economic data. Investors were also disappointed by a Japanese government advisory panel's judgment Thursday that the state of emergency for the pandemic should remain in place in Tokyo and neighboring Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, but not in three major western prefectures including Osaka. The market was also weighed on by heightened fears about tensions between the United States and China over the way Beijing dealt with the coronavirus outbreak in the initial stage, after U. S. President Donald Trump blamed China for waging a massive disinformation campaign in his latest Twitter post. ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan Manufacturing PMI Contracts In May- Japan manufacturing sector continued to contract in May, with a manufacturing PMI score of 31.7, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Thursday. That's down from 34.7 in April and it moves further beneath the boom or bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The report also showed that the services PMI improved to 25.3 in May, up from the record low 21.5 in April but still well below the line for expansion. The composite Index came in with a score of 27.4 in May, up from 25.8 a month earlier. Japan Trade Deficit Swells To Y930.401 Billion In April- Japan merchandise trade deficit came in at 930.401 billion yen in April, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday, following the 4.9 billion yen surplus in March. Exports plummeted 21.9% on year, following the 11.7% decline in the previous month. Imports were down an annual 7.2% versus expectations for a drop of 12.9% after slipping 5% a month earlier. CURRENCY: The Japanese yen traded at 107.83 per dollar after touching levels below 107.5 yesterday. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) We had to help them change that culture in respect to handling and managing claims, so some of the accounts that we were involved in developed teams where you would have outside legal counsel, a layperson, a therapist and the diocese, and you would have a team approach to help manage the claims. You got a lot of perspectives from different disciplines to help manage the claims rather than to deny them or hide the fact that they existed. That was a big change with many of the dioceses early on, and those that implemented this team approach managed the claims much better than others. IBA: And how did you get involved in the US Olympic and Paralympic Foundation? DP: [I became friends with] the Olympian Greg Louganis, who's the greatest diver of all time. Greg had talked about his experience being an Olympian and going through a lot of issues with him being HIV positive. There was another woman who was also a member of [our gym], so we used to get together and talk about what was going on with the management of the US Olympic Committee. I love sports, so one thing led to another, and with the encouragement of those two people, I became a trustee for a couple of years, and then I got onto the board, not knowing that we were going to get involved in a lot of these abuse situations that have gone on in the US Olympic world in the last five years or so. IBA: What inspired you to start Poms & Associates? DP: I [was at Gallagher for a] few years and had a very difficult time trying to figure out what I was going to do in my career do I go to another brokerage firm or do I start my own? Some clients actually encouraged me to go off on my own and start this company, and [the aim] was to focus on employees and customers first before profits. IBA: How have you positioned the brokerage to stand out in the marketplace? DP: If we look at failed companies throughout time, you find that they failed because they didnt innovate, so it's very important for us to constantly innovate and come up with new products and services. In 1995, we started our loss prevention department in New Mexico, and it was solely because we were having civil rights issues in the state with a lot of the schools. That's grown to over 30 loss control representatives in the company, and that's a primary differentiator with our company versus other brokerage firms. Its ingrained in our organization to have people who educate, train and inspect our clients' assets. We're also involved in a lot of the educational institutions, so we have classes on how to identify a predator, and we work with kids and talk about what a good touch versus a bad touch is, and then were involved in all of the workplace violence issues and we do training in that area as well. We have a large emphasis on loss control and trying to avoid our clients having claims. Of lately, Prashanth Neel announced teaming up with Telugu Superstar Jr NTR. The KGF director declared the big news on Tollywood's Young Tiger's Birthday. Being a successful Kannada director, the announcement puzzled many. A few of Prashanth's fans even took to social media to express their disappointment with the decision of the director to helm a Telugu project. Well, responding to the speculations of the Kannada audience, the director said, "It is Kannada people who helped me earn a name in the industry. Kannada is in my DNA. Right now, I can't confirm on future projects as my attention is completely on KGF: Chapter 2. But I assure that every film I make will be a Kannada movie." The #NTR31 project will start rolling after Jr NTR wraps up RRR and Trivikram Srinivas' yet-to-be-titled film, tentatively titled #NTR30. As per reports, the movie will be bankrolled by Mythri Movie Makers with a mammoth budget of Rs 150 crore. Coming back to Prashanth Neel, the director is currently busy with the post-production work of KGF: Chapter 2. He has completed the editing, and is now working on re-recording of the film with music composer Ravi Basrur. Earlier, there were reports that the movie's satellite rights have been sold to a television channel for a record amount of Rs 12 crore. Though it is not known which channel has procured the rights, the news has gone viral on social media. However, an official announcement about the same is awaited by fans. Releasing in five different languages- Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, the action thriller will also feature Sanjay Dutt and Raveena Tandon in pivotal roles. Bankrolled by Vijay Kiragandur under his banner Homable Films, KGF Chapter 2 is slated to release on October 23 at the theatres. KGF: Chapter 2 Satellite Rights Sold For A Mammoth Amount Of Rs 120 Crore Jr NTR-Prashanth Neel Combo With Rs 150 Crore Budget; Official Confirmation Of #NTR31 On May 20th! Shops will reopen in Lucknow on Thursday, barring those in containment and buffer zones, on an alternate day basis. Outlets on one side of the road will open on one day while shops on the other side will operate the next day. Barring Chowk and Aminabad, markets in Hazratganj, Narhi, Naka, Bhootnath and other areas will resume operations. AREAS WHERE MARKETS WILL BE CLOSED (containment and buffer zones) Aminabad and nearby markets Shops on Latouche road Shops on Nazirabad road Shops on BN Road (Qaiserbagh Crossing to Bapu Bhawan) Shops on Cantonment road (from Burlington crossing to Qaiserbagh crossing) Shops from Qaiserbagh crossing to Qaiserbagh Bus Stand Shops from Moulviganj crossing to Raqabganj crossing Shops on Hewett road Lalbagh and nearby markets Jai Hind Market Shops on Tulsidas Marg (Victoria street) to Haiderganj crossing Shops on Nadan Mahal road Shops from Charak Chauraha to Medical College Nakkhas Market Sadar Bazar Cantt Nishatganj Sabzi Mandi and nearby area As per the new format of lockdown 4.0, it has been decided that all shops, except those in containment and buffer zones, will open on alternate day basis. On the seventh day, shops will remain closed for the weekly sanitisation exercise, said Abhishek Prakash, district magistrate, Lucknow while underlining the latest arrangements that will be effective from May 21. The administration has also issued dos and donts for shop owners. They have been asked to maintain a register, thermal scanner, keep sanitiser/gloves, make provisions for social distancing and not to entertain customers without masks. It is also mandatory for shop keepers to check the temperature of customers and bar entry of customers over 60 years, pregnant women and children below 10 years of age, state the guidelines. Besides, every shop owner has to advise customers to download the Aarogya Setu mobile application and maintain social distancing. On failing which, there is a provision of a fine up to Rs 5 lakh and FIR against the trader, it further stated. Suresh Chablani, convener of Akhil Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal, Lucknow said, We welcome the district administrations attempt to re-start the markets. We will ensure implementation of the guidelines. The railways on Thursday cancelled tickets of all passengers of special trains whose originating and terminating stations fall within Maharashtra after the state government prohibited inter-district travel. In an order issued on Thursday, the railways said all the tickets of the special trains scheduled to run from June 1 in Maharashtra will be automatically cancelled and full refund will be provided to passengers. It also said that till further notice, intra-state bookings within Maharashtra should not be permitted. This, however, does not mean that trains cannot originate from stations in Maharashtra, a railway spokesperson said. "It means that people cannot board and deboard a train from within the state," he said. For instance, if a train from Mumbai to Kanpur goes via Nashik, no passenger who has boarded the train from any station in Maharashtra can deboard within the boundaries of the state. However, a passenger can board the train from Nashik and travel outside the state, the spokesperson explained. "Only those who have availed tickets to travel within the state cannot do so now," he added. The 100 pairs of special trains, including the Duronto Express, Jan Shatabdi and several popular mail and express trains, are scheduled to begin their journey from June 1. The railway board order also stated that passengers should be sent an SMS stating that, "Due to restrictions imposed by Maharashtra government for travel within the state by train, your ticket has been cancelled and full refund shall be given. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former national security adviser Michael Flynn exits a vehicle as he arrives for his sentencing hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington on Dec. 18, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Appeals Court Gives Judge 10 Days to Respond to Flynns Call for Intervention The District of Columbia federal appeals court has given District Judge Emmet Sullivan 10 days to respond after former Trump adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn appealed to the higher court for an intervention, alleging that Sullivan is breaking rules and precedent in Flynns case. In its May 21 order, the higher court also invited the government to respond in its discretion within the same ten-day period. The case is being handled by a three-judge panel of Karen Henderson, a G. W. Bush appointee; Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee; and Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee. Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded guilty in 2017 to one count of lying during an FBI interview. In January, the retired Army three-star general disavowed the plea and asked the court to allow him to withdraw it. The Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to drop Flynns case on May 7, saying the FBI interview wasnt based on a properly predicated investigation and seems to have been undertaken only to elicit those very false statements and thereby criminalize Mr. Flynn. Sullivan, however, has so far refused to affirm the dismissal and has instead laid out a schedule that would prolong the case for possibly months to come. Hes appointed former federal Judge John Gleeson as an amicus curiae (Friend of Court) to present arguments in opposition to the governments Motion to Dismiss, as well as to address whether the court should make the defense explain why Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury. Hes also signaled he may allow more amici to join the case. Flynns lawyers, led by former Texas prosecutor Sidney Powell, asked the higher court on May 19 to order Sullivan to accept the case dismissal, cancel the Gleeson appointment, and assign the case to another judge. Shes argued that, based on precedent, judges only have a ministerial role to affirm the prosecutors motion to dismiss, as its solely the power of the executive branch, not the judiciary, to prosecute or not to prosecute. Powell further argues that Sullivan is barred from appointing amici because process rules only delineate that option in civil cases and make no mention of it in criminal ones. Sullivans reference to contempt for perjury likely refers to Flynns reiterating his guilty plea before the judge in 2018. Flynn said he only did so because his lawyers urged him to and because he was coerced into making the plea by the prosecutors threat to charge his son. The district judge in this case has abandoned any pretense of being an objective umpiregoing as far as to suggest that a criminal defendant who succumbs to a coerced and unfair plea bargain should be prosecuted for contempt, Powell said in Flynns appeal. Sullivan should be taken off the case, because of his manifest confusion about the facts of this case, she said, pointing to his gaffe during the Dec. 18, 2018, sentencing hearing, when he questioned the prosecutors about whether they considered charging Flynn with treason. Arguably, you sold your country out, he told Flynn, before apologizing for getting the facts of the case wrong. She also criticized Sullivan for appointing a biased and highly political amicus [Gleeson] who has expressed hostility and disdain towards the Justice Departments decision to dismiss the prosecution. Gleeson co-authored a May 11 Washington Post op-ed accusing the DOJ of impropriety, corruption, and improper political influence for dismissing the Flynn case. Gleeson was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton and left in 2016 to join the Debevoise & Plimpton law firm. Another lawyer at the firm and co-author of the op-ed, David ONeil, represented Sally Yates (pdf), the former deputy attorney general who was fired for refusing to enforce Trumps executive order blocking immigration from terror-prone countries. Hyderabad, May 21 : A police constable died of coronavirus at a hospital here, Telangana's Director General of Police Mahender Reddy said on Thursday. It's the first fatality in Telangana police force due to Covid-19. The police chief tweeted Dayakar Reddy, 37, a Covid-19 frontline warrior of the Hyderabad city police, died of coronavirus on Wednesday night at the Gandhi Hospital. "My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. The government and the Telangana police will stand by and support the family in this hour of distress," he said. The constable, posted at one of the check-posts in the old city, had tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday and was undergoing treatment at the state-run Gandhi Hospital. According to the police sources, he was shifted on Sunday to the Nature Cure Hospital with Covid-19 symptoms. The next day he tested positive and was admitted to the Gandhi Hospital. The health department personnel collected samples of his family members in Vanasthalipuram. Some police officers working with the constable were also sent for screening. Hyderabad remained the Covid-19 hotspot in the state, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of 1,661 cases. Majority of 40 fatalities were also reported from Hyderabad and adjoining districts of Ranga Reddy and Medchal. Maryland's most populous county said Wednesday that it may lift some social distancing restrictions within the next week, another tentative step toward reopening the Washington region as the rates of novel coronavirus infections and deaths show signs of slowing. "We are moving in the right direction," Travis Gayles, head of Montgomery County's health department, said about plans to join other parts of the state in partially lifting restrictions on gatherings and nonessential businesses. The District of Columbia and its suburbs have been reluctant to take part in the reopening launched last week by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam for areas that have not been hit as hard by the pandemic of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. But - even as the tally of known coronavirus infections in D.C., Maryland and Virginia climbed to 82,782 Wednesday, with 3,602 covid-19 deaths - that reluctance appears to be softening in some places. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower, a Democrat, is expected to announce as soon as Thursday a date for a partial easing of restrictions, after what city officials say has been several days of declining rates of community transmission of the virus. D.C.'s stay-home order and ban against large gatherings are set to expire on June 8, though Bowser has said she may allow some reopening earlier. Other hard-hit localities, including Prince George's County, Maryland, have not made statements about being close to easing restrictions. Northam, a Democrat, said Wednesday that some northern Virginia leaders have asked him about loosening the shutdown in their communities, but he wants to keep the region on a unified footing. "We are in daily communication with the leaders" in northern Virginia, Northam said, adding that there is no timeline yet for reopening. "They are following the data just as we are." In Maryland, Gayles said Montgomery has been monitoring the three-day average of new covid-19 infections, deaths and hospitalizations as key metrics for reopening. In nine of the past 14 days, the three-day average for new cases has declined, along with the average number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations tied to covid-19, Gayles said. But Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he's concerned about whether county hospitals can handle potential surges of covid-19 patients in need of intensive care. During the past week, the intensive care units at all six hospitals in Montgomery have been at capacity, county officials said. "I look at this data every single day . . . [but] we've got to get this right," Elrich, a Democrat, said. "We're going to move, hopefully, as soon as possible." The greater Washington region recorded another 82 deaths Wednesday, more than half of them in Maryland. Virginia recorded 33 new fatalities, nearly a third of them in Fairfax County, bringing the total number of covid-19 deaths to 302 in that state's most populous jurisdiction. D.C. added seven fatalities. City health officials also reported that three children have developed the same inflammatory syndrome associated with covid-19 that has been linked to the Saturday death of a 15-year-old girl from Baltimore County, Maryland. The illness, known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), is a recently discovered complication of the virus. The first U.S. cases were identified in New York in early May. Across the region, government officials continue to expand testing options as part of their fight against the virus. Loudoun County, Virginia, offered free, drive-up, no-appointment testing in Leesburg and used its 1,700 available tests three hours before the site was scheduled to close at 6 p.m. Cars lined up at Philip A. Bolen Memorial Park hours ahead of the 10 a.m. start time, and some people had to wait for two to three hours before they could get tested, said David Goodfriend, Loudoun's health director. "In terms of the volume, it very much exceeded our expectations," Goodfriend said in a phone interview. The goal of the day-long event was to help determine how many asymptomatic county residents may risk inadvertently infecting people to the virus and to test people who had no other options, Goodfriend said. The results are expected back this weekend. "For some it was a very frustrating experience. For some they were just grateful to have this opportunity," Goodfriend said. Northam said the state health department will hold similar events across Virginia in coming weeks, an effort to better gauge how much and where the virus has spread. "While people who have symptoms are a priority, everyone is welcome at testing events as long as there are tests available," Northam said. Virginia is near its goal of 10,000 daily tests, with 9,782 coronavirus tests reported Tuesday, the governor said. Hogan, a Republica, announced universal testing at Maryland state prisons and juvenile detention facilities, major hubs of covid-19 infections. The move followed an outbreak detected Friday at the 60-bed Silver Oak Academy juvenile detention facility in Caroll County, where about 40 staff members and children have tested positive for coronavirus. The virus has also spread throughout the prison system, infecting more than 100 of the state's approximately 20,000 inmates and killing five. In addition, 220 correction officers have tested positive, prompting union officials to accuse the Hogan administration during a Tuesday protest of not doing enough to protect those essential workers. Hogan said the state is halfway toward its goal of testing 10,000 people per day. He did not outline when the expanded testing inside detention facilities would start. The governor promised a month ago to launch universal testing in the state's nursing homes. The state is now delivering 20,000 tests per week to nursing homes, he said, and tests should have been administered at all 227 nursing homes by the end of next week. There are about 16,000 nursing-home patients in the state and another 36,000 nursing-home workers, according to Joseph DeMattos, president and chief executive of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. So far, 1,135 residents of long-term care facilities in the state have died of covid-19. Still, many jurisdictions around the state have begun to reopen. On Wednesday, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat, urged the Hogan administration to "move as quickly as possible" to allow restaurants in those areas to offer outdoor dining - an amenity that is part of Virginia's first phase of reopening but not Maryland's. The comptroller, who is running for governor in 2022, said he was advocating for outdoor dining to prop up a key part of the economy. He said he believes many social distancing and safety restrictions should stay in place, and he reiterated that the pandemic is far from over. "This idea that we can just be cavalier and take our shirts off and walk down the boardwalk, like this virus has been defeated, that's just wrong," he said at a meeting of the state Board of Public Works. "I want people to understand that we're trying to protect their safety, and if they're not safe, they're not going to have any economic prosperity." Even when the region does reopen, many summer activities probably will not happen, a round of announcements Wednesday showed. Officials in Baltimore said all special events are canceled through Aug. 31, including the city's Fourth of July celebration and three-day Artscape festival that was scheduled to begin July 17. The city's summer jobs program for youths will be held remotely. D.C.'s National Independence Day Parade has also been called off. And Arlington County, Virginia, announced Wednesday that summer camp activities have been canceled, joining Fairfax County in that decision. Arlington officials said they considered whether the camps could be safely held with proper social distancing, appropriate cleaning protocols and other safety measures. But they concluded that the risk of infection for the camp participants and county staffers is still too great. "We recognize how important camps are to our residents, and we are truly saddened to have to cancel for the summer," Jane Rudolph, director of the Arlington Parks & Recreation Department, said in a statement. Residents who have already paid for summer camp will receive a credit for future camp activities, county officials said. - - - The Washington Post's Dana Hedgpeth, Fenit Nirappil, Jenna Portnoy, Gregory S. Schneider and Fredrick Kunkle contributed to this story. T ens of thousands of lives would have been saved in the United States if it had implemented lockdown measures just days earlier than it did, according to a new study. Researchers at Columbia University estimate that nearly 36,000 fewer Covid-19 fatalities would have occurred by early this month if social distancing had been announced a week earlier. If the country had locked down cities on March 1, two weeks earlier than most stay-at-home orders came into force, they say about 54,000 fewer people would have died. The US has by far the highest coronavirus death toll in the world at nearly 95,000, according to the online tracker Worldometer, and has recorded 1.59 million cases of the virus. These dramatic reductions of morbidity and mortality due to more timely deployment of control measures highlights the critical need for aggressive, early response to the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers wrote. They say they used coronavirus transmission data from New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Miami to calculate the numbers. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed but nevertheless points to an enormous human cost by waiting to impose lockdowns as the outbreak swept through US cities in early March. Its a big, big difference, Jeffrey Shaman, who led the research team, told the New York Times. The small moment in time, catching it in that growth phase, is incredibly critical in reducing the number of deaths. The study raises more questions about President Donald Trumps handling of the crisis. While countries like Italy and South Korea were aggressively responding to the virus, Mr Trump was refusing to tell people to stay at home or avoid crowds while insisting that the risk to most Americans was very low. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on, he tweeted on March 9. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that! The White House responded by blaming China, where the virus originated, for its lack of transparency at the start of the pandemic. What did save American lives is the bold leadership of President Trump, including the early travel restrictions when we had no idea the true level of asymptotic spread and the greatest mobilisation of the private sector since World War II to deliver critical supplies to states in need and ramp up testing across the country that has placed us on a responsible path to reopen our country, deputy press secretary Judd Deere told NBC News. Mr Trump today renewed his attack on China, writing on Twitter: They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! As part of an initiative to deliver protective equipment to more than 15,000 nursing homes across America, vice-president Mike Pence took PPE to the Westminster Baldwin Park senior living community in Orlando, Florida. Boris Johnson is 'working as normal' and the public will see more of him in coming days, Downing Street insisted today amid fresh concern for the Prime Minister's health. Although Mr Johnson took Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons yesterday, he has only taken the daily Downing Street press conference once since his recovery from Coronavirus. That solitary appearance was 10 days ago on May 11, where he took questions on phase two of the pandemic lockdown he had unveiled in a televised address the previous night. The pale-looking PM has been photographed taking an early morning run two days this week, in an effort to get back in shape after his illness. Reports suggest that he was shocked by the fact that his weight may have been to blame for the severe case of Covid-19 he suffered. Asked about why the PM had not been seen at press conferences and whether he was having to 'rest' more, his official spokesman told reporters today: 'No, the PM is working as normal.' He added: 'You saw the PM yesterday, but I'm sure you will be seeing more of him in the coming days as well, as he continues to have plenty to say about the coronavirus response and implementation of the recovery plan.' Although Mr Johnson took Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons yesterday (pictured), he has only taken the daily Downing Street press conference once since his recovery Boris Johnson was yesterday spotted in a Philippines holiday T-shirt as he embarked on an early morning run for the second day in a row Mr Johnson with rather unkempt hair outside no 10 yesterday lunchtime Mr Johnson was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in London 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus in April. He was moved into intensive care the following day and left hospital after a week of care, thanking NHS staff who he said 'saved my life, no question.' Mr Johnson had weighed 17-and-a-half stone before he went into hospital, putting his BMI at 36 when his 5ft9in height is taken into account and placing him over the BMI of 30 that means a person is obese. Research shows being obese doubles the risk of needing hospital treatment for coronavirus. The Prime Minister, 55, was pictured yesterday wearing a white T-shirt and navy Adidas shorts as he returns to Downing Street after his morning exercise. It was the second in a row Mr Johnson had taken a morning run after he reportedly decided his touch-and-go battle with Covid-19 was exacerbated by him being overweight. According to a Times report from May 15, Mr Johnson told some of his colleagues 'it's all right for you thinnies' as he discussed the danger being overweight presents for Covid patients. But his spokesman today said that his absence from press conferences had been a move to allow ministers to take a lead in areas they are responsible for. I think you will be seeing the PM in coming days but to give you an example today we will be in a position to talk more about the testing regime and the antibody tests so the Heaklth Secretary (Matt Hancock) and the CMO (Chris Whitty) and (Professor ) John Newton (of Public Health England) will be able to discuss that. 'Yesterday we had the Culture Secretary (Oliver Dowden) talking about financial support we are giving to charities and what we are doing in relation to honours. 'You are hearing from a range of cabinet ministers discussing relevant issues of the day.' New Delhi: India and Nepal share a unique relationship of friendship and cooperation by open borders and people to people contact. Nepal, however, has started making rhetoric against India by releasing a controversial map of the country showing Indian territories of Lipulekh, Kalapani, Limpiyadhura as its own. The question arises as to why Nepal has opened a front against India. Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane stated that if Nepal is raising the issue, it is doing so at 'someone else's behest'. Earlier this month, Nepal witnessed a political crisis, and senior leaders of Nepal Communist Party publicly demanded Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's resignation. At that time Oli approached China, and Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi held a series of meetings with senior Nepal Communist Party leaders and resolved the crisis. Hou Yanqi understood to have sought Nepal's support against an international movement targeting China. Political analysts agree that it is not Nepal but PM KP Sharma Oli is behind these developments. Oli has manipulated the UML and MC merger process to capture both the posts of Party Chairman and President. While applying one man one post principle for everyone, Oli, however, refused to follow it himself leading to opposition from other leaders. He made his close confidant as President. When he faced opposition from Madhav Nepal and Prachanda to his leadership, he approached the Chinese Ambassador, who then pressurized Madhav Nepal and Prachanda to back off and saved Oli. Now, Oli is paying back for the Chinese help. It is also believed that China engineered the grand alliance of the two communist parties in Nepal. In 2018, KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal -- better known as Prachanda had joined hands to form the Nepal Communist Party. Earlier, New Delhi used to play a crucial role in Nepal politics but now China has emerged as a dominant player in the politics of the Himalayan nation. In the past, Nepal had never objected to India's road construction till Lipulekh pass, which will ensure a smooth ride to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. A day after Nepals cabinet endorsed a map showing Indian territories of Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura as part of its territory, India has termed the move as an "artificial enlargement of Nepalese territorial claims". "The Government of Nepal has released a revised official map of Nepal today that includes parts of Indian territory. This unilateral action is not based on historical facts and evidence. It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India," Said Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson of Indian Ministry of External Affairs. According to the MEA statement, "Nepal is well aware of Indias consistent position on this matter and we urge the Government of Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect Indias sovereignty and territorial integrity. We hope that the Nepalese leadership will create a positive atmosphere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues." New Delhi also sees an increased Chinese role in Nepal as a reason for current comments by Kathmandu. Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane had also hinted at foreign involvement with Nepal raking up the Lipulekh issue. Speaking at a think tank IDSA's online meet, Army Chief said, "I do not know exactly what they are exactly agitating about. Never been a problem in the past, reasons to believe they might have raised these problems, issues at the behest of someone else and there is very much a possibility." During the colonial era, the British had demarcated the border between India and Nepal, making the Mahakali river as the base. Nepal believes that its boundary does not start from the river but from the first waterfall in the mountains. If this claim of Nepal is accepted, India will have to lose 5-km area to Nepal, covering about 32 sq km, besides a large part of the Lipulekh Pass. In the 19th century, Britain had attacked Nepal several times and reached an agreement, known as Sugauli accord. Under this agreement, Nepal gave up its claim on the areas of India which it had in possession. During the 1857 War of Independence, Nepal's army helped Britain. Pleased with this, Britain had returned a lot of land to Nepal, especially the areas of the Terai region including Janakpur and Kapilvastu. Indo-Nepal boundaries were re-determined in 1865. After a silence of so many years, Nepal's recent move appears to be at the behest of China. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The CDC has released new guidelines to assists states as they reopen schools, businesses, and other public spaces. The 60-page document suggests a three-step or phased approach to reopening schools, child-care facilities, restaurants, and mass transit. The plan for reopening America outlines a three-phased approach for reducing community mitigation measures while protecting vulnerable populations. The phased approach can be implemented statewide or community-by-community at governors' discretion. The guidelines propose the use of six 'gating' indicators to assess when to move through from one mitigation phase to another. The first gating criteria for each sector is a decrease in newly identified cases, followed by a decrease in emergency department or outpatient visits for COVID-19 or influenza-like illnesses. The final gating criteria is a robust testing program, with 14 days of 20% or less of tests turning out positive for the novel coronavirus. For schools and day camps, the CDC recommends healthy hygiene practices, promoting social distancing by spacing desks, keeping children with the same group when possible, canceling field trips and inter-group events, and closing communal use spaces such as dining halls and playgrounds if possible. If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, the CDC recommends a 2- to 5-day closing for cleaning. For restaurants, which are still closed in some states or open only for curbside pickup or delivery, the CDC suggests employees at risk for serious complications from COVID-19 infections be placed in roles that limit customer interaction. The CDC also recommended social-distancing seating. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Today's best practice workplace safety signs in contrast to older, out-of-date styles use ANSI designs, ISO graphical symbols, and offer critical details to help keep workers safe. Signage isnt just a quick fix to satisfy regulatory requirements. Signs that use today's ANSI and ISO best practices can help workplaces to meet and exceed safety goals and risk objectives. Thats important every day, but especially in our COVID-19 environment. Clarion Safety Systems, a leading manufacturer of safety labels, signs and tags, has expanded its product line to offer a full portfolio of COVID-19 safety products. These new visual safety solutions can help businesses to keep employees, visitors and customers safe by supporting social distancing policies, reminding of hygiene protocols, and reinforcing PPE requirements. Weve always taken our role in providing effective visual safety communication products extremely seriously. After all, not only is hazard communication fundamental in reducing risk to workers, it also helps to keep companies in compliance with applicable codes and standards, allowing them to continue to make their products and services available, says Ron Crawford, CEO of Clarion Safety. During these unprecedented times, the part that our company plays in product and workplace safety has taken on an even more amplified meaning. Thats why we took early steps necessary to stay fully operational over the past months to support the needs of our customers; many of them are in essential industries like medical equipment manufacturing, chemical processing and distribution, supplying life-saving resources to combat COVID-19. And its why were offering this new line of workplace safety products, especially critical right now to support the needs of shuttered facilities that are beginning the process of reopening. Clarion Safetys New Product Line As essential businesses expand production in response to the reopening economy, and as workplaces that faced closures due to the pandemic look to resume some level of in-person operations with quarantines being pealed back, safety is paramount. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and local health agencies help to establish guidelines to follow, many of which can be supported by signs, labels and floor markers. Clarion Safetys new product line is specifically designed to support back to work plans in helping to stop the spread of the virus. For example, the solutions contain messaging to inform visitors of curbside pickup instructions, to remind workers how best to disinfect hands, and to communicate general safety precautions like maintaining social distancing and wearing a face mask. Clarion Safetys COVID-19 safety label and sign products include: Wash Your Hands Signs Virus Prevention Tip Signs Virus Symptom Awareness Signs PPE-related Labels PPE-related Signs Quarantine-related Signs Please Stand Here Floor Markers Social Distancing Notice Signs Curbside Pickup Signs Visual Safety Best Practices for Todays Workplaces Clarion Safety specializes in designing safety signs that are not only compliant with OSHA regulations, but use the latest American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) warnings technology to more effectively create awareness and explain hazards specific to the issue at hand. The companys COVID-19 notice, caution and warning signs use ANSI Z535-style designs as well as ISO standardized graphical symbols. The style of these signs offer critical detail to help keep workers safe. OSHA currently only stipulates minimal requirements the most basic level for sign content and design. These simplified formats are common in todays workplaces, but theyre not the only choice. The best practice principles offered in the ANSI and ISO standards are considered the state-of-the-art for todays warnings, says Angela Lambert, Clarion Safetys Director of Standards Compliance. In addition to having fifteen years of warnings and liability experience, Lambert is actively involved at the leadership level in the ANSI and ISO standards. That includes a recent nomination as chair of ANSI Z535.1, a standard that focuses on safety colors, including those used in safety signs, labels, tags and markings. Signage isnt just a quick fix to satisfy regulatory requirements. It can help workplaces to meet and exceed safety goals and risk objectives. By choosing signs that are up-to-date with todays ANSI and ISO best practices, workplaces are doing everything they can to move towards a safer, more productive environment. Thats important every day, but especially so in our COVID-19 environment. Old Versus New Ways to Warn Many safety professionals are unaware of the progress made in safety sign design standards over the past decade, leading to safety signs being out of sync with todays best practices. Outdated signs typically do not use graphics or symbols, do not use signal words appropriate to the level of risk and lack substantive information. New, best practice signs, in contrast, use colorful ANSI formats to attract attention, use proper risk level signal words, use standardized graphical symbols to help communicate across language barriers and show more complete information, helping people to make better, safer decisions. Whether a companys objective is to meet ANSI/ISO best practices, OSHA regulations or CDC/WHO guidelines, our team is here to help. We offer a full catalog of safety signs, as well as online resources and a free assessment service, where our trained professionals review a facilitys signage and make recommendations for improvements, says Lambert. To learn more about safety sign best practices, visit Clarion Safetys online Resource Center. Clarion Safety also accepts media inquiries and speaking opportunities related to workplace safety and risk and visual communications best practices. To submit a media inquiry, visit the companys Newsroom and select the For the Media tab. ABOUT CLARION SAFETY SYSTEMS Clarion Safety Systems, LLC, is the leading designer and manufacturer of visual safety solutions that help customers in more than 180 industries worldwide to make their products and premises safer. Clarion offers a full range of standard and custom products including machinery safety labels, environmental and facility safety signs, pipe and valve identification markings, lockout/tagout products, and safety-grade photoluminescent egress path-marking escape systems. Founded in 1990, the company continues to play a leading role in the development and writing of international and national standards for safety signs, labels, and markings. Clarion is headquartered at 190 Old Milford Road in Milford, PA, 18337, and online at http://www.clarionsafety.com. Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on President Xi Jinping in recent weeks over the coronavirus pandemic - AP/AP Donald Trump warned China that the US would respond "very strongly" if Beijing imposed tighter control over Hong Kong, as tensions rise between the two countries amid fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. China's government announced that national security legislation for Hong Kong will be proposed at its annual rubber stamp parliamentary sessions, which opened yesterday, in the latest sign from Beijing plans to crack down on pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous territory. "If it happens, we'll address that very strongly," Mr Trump said as he took questions from the White House on Thursday. Mr Trump has stepped up his attacks on China over the coronavirus pandemic in recent days, appearing to directly blame Chinese president Xi Jinping for a campaign of "disinformation" that helped spread Covid-19 around the world. In a rare shot at his Chinese counterpart, the US president tweeted on Wednesday night: "It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didnt! Mr Trump's comments came as a study suggested that around 36,000 fewer Americans would have died from the pandemic if the US had imposed social distancing measures just one week earlier than it did in mid-March. According to the estimates from disease modellers at Columbia University in New York, if the US had introduced lockdowns two weeks earlier, on March 1, as many as 54,000 lives could have been saved by May 3. To date more than 93,000 Americans have died from the virus, far outstripping any other country. Mr Trump branded the study a "political hit job" from a "liberal" institution. Discussing the action he took, he said: "I was so early, I was earlier than anybody thought. I put a ban on people coming in from China." But in early March, Mr Trump was still reassuring the public that they could go about their daily life safely, tweeting: Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that! Story continues The White House spokesperson Judd Deere, issued a statement hitting back against the Columbia University findings, saying: What would have saved lives is if China had been transparent and the World Health Organization had fulfilled its mission. Mr Trump also lashed out earlier on Wednesday, saying, It was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing. In the early days of the pandemic Mr Trump was careful to maintain his relationship with Mr Xi, even singling the Chinese leader out for praise. However as criticism of Mr Trump's handling of the crisis mounts at home, the president has accused China of covering up the scale of the initial outbreak and failing to prevent its spread, signalling he intends to make an anti-China approach a centerpiece of his November re-election bid. The White House on Wednesday night also issued a broad-scale attack on Beijing's predatory economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations. China again threatened countermeasures in response as Beijing opened its parliamentary session after a delay of nearly three months due to the pandemic. The week-long event heavy on political spectacle and light on actual legislating is largely aimed at shoring up Mr Xis power as leader of the Communist Party following the mass protests which have rocked Hong Kong and the coronavirus outbreak. It is also Mr Xi's first opportunity to lay out policy plans, reprioritise sidelined goals, and outline a growth roadmap. Pro-democracy activists fear Beijing will ram a new law through after a previous effort in 2003 to pass the contentious bill in Hong Kong failed after mass protests. China also attacked the US for its "dangerous" decision to congratulate Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen on the start of her second term in office. An Irish citizenship campaigner from Northern Ireland has dropped her legal challenge following a change to immigration laws but vowed to fight on. Emma DeSouza has been involved in a long legal battle with the Home Office over whether being born in Northern Ireland automatically confers a person with British citizenship. A recent change in immigration laws means people from Northern Ireland can now use a scheme designed for European nationals the EU Settlement Scheme to apply for residency for non-European spouses, without first having to renounce British citizenship. The changes to the Immigration rules that we have achieved and our campaign to protect the rights enshrined within the Good Friday Agreement would not have been possible without our legal team. We couldn't of asked for better representation. Thank you Robert, Helena & Ronan. pic.twitter.com/Bj94uJ0gBF Emma DeSouza (@EmmandJDeSouza) May 21, 2020 Effectively it means people in Northern Ireland have an entitlement to be treated as Irish citizens under immigration laws if they so wish. However, the move only applies for the duration of the EU Settlement Scheme, which closes to new applications next year. Ms DeSouzas case came following an application for a residence card from her US-born husband Jake. She has now withdrawn her legal challenge. The changes forced through by our case will now allow my husband to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis of my Irish citizenship and require the Home Office to respect my right under the Good Friday Agreement to be accepted as Irish the terms which set the foundation of our legal complaint and the grounds we were forced to argue in court time and again until the British government finally conceded that we were right all along, she said. Therefore we have been left with no other option but to withdraw our application to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland. Expand Close Emma DeSouza took her campaign to Washington DC earlier this year. (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Emma DeSouza took her campaign to Washington DC earlier this year. (Niall Carson/PA) Ms DeSouza added: We know that many will be disappointed by this news, as our work to address the inconsistencies in the implementation of legislation for the Good Friday Agreement has highlighted that there is so much more at stake here than just the changes we achieved in our case. The changes to the Immigration rules, whilst enormously welcomed and beneficial to many, do not fully address all the underlying issues plaguing this region. The British government has failed to give domestic legal effect to the birthright provisions of the Good Friday Agreement and continues to automatically confer British citizenship on all the people of Northern Ireland, even if they identify as Irish, by promoting a narrative which implies identity and nationality are not synonymous, an absurd assertion when considering the language of the internationally binding treaty would-in their interpretation- grant citizens a right to feel Irish rather than be Irish. We had hoped our legal challenge could help right that wrong and force the British Government to amend statute to fall in line with its international obligations. But legally, with this concession from the Home Office, we regrettably can not proceed. We are not giving up Emma DeSouza Ms DeSouza said the We Are Irish Too campaign will continue to push for full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement including our right to be accepted as Irish or British or both. We will continue to work with political parties across Northern Ireland, civil society, and rights organisations, along with the Irish Government, who have long supported us in this fight, as well as members of Congress in the United States, thanks to the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the GFA, to see the work of the Good Friday Agreement complete. We are not giving up, she said. Is the reporting of media outlets biased in favor of firms that advertise with them? A new study looked at the relationship between advertising by car manufacturers in U.S. newspapers and news coverage of car safety recalls in the early 2000s. The study found that newspapers provided less coverage of recalls issued by manufacturers that advertised more regularly in their publications than of recalls issued by other manufacturers that did not advertise, and this occurred more frequently when the recalls involved more severe defects. The study was conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Loyola Marymount University, Brown University, and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (GSE). It appears in Management Science. "Because media coverage affects a variety of outcomes, it's vital that news outlets provide unbiased and accurate information to consumers so they can make well-informed decisions," says Ananya Sen, assistant professor of information systems and economics at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, who coauthored the study. "Our findings demonstrate a robust supply-side bias due to advertising revenue, one that may be quite dangerous." Advertising accounts for nearly 80 percent of newspapers' total revenue in the United States, with total ad spending by the automotive sector surpassing $20 billion in 2006. The study's authors contend that newspapers' reliance on advertising raises concerns that editorial decisions may be vulnerable to the influence of advertisers, especially large ones. It is difficult to separate advertiser bias from bias related to the preferences and demands of consumers, and few studies have assessed market conditions that might minimize such biases. This study overcame these challenges by analyzing media bias in the context of car safety recalls, a situation in which advertisers and readers arguably have opposing preferences in terms of coverage. In addition, by looking at numerous U.S. newspapers, the study provides ample heterogeneity in the level of competition between newspapers across different local news markets, which allowed researchers to draw policy conclusions. Researchers collected information on all car safety recalls issued in the United States by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) between 2000 and 2014, focusing on recalls from the nine largest manufacturers in the U.S. auto market. Then they collected data on the number of articles about recalls published over the same period in 115 U.S. daily newspapers, both national and local, finding a total of more than 13,600 articles. The study also collected information on monthly advertising spending in these newspapers by car manufacturers and local dealers. To measure local demand for information about recalls by specific manufacturers, the study used survey data on the distribution of car ownership by brand and geographic area. As a proxy for the presence of online competitors, the study collected information on the time of entry of Craigslist, the world's largest online platform for classified ads, into different U.S. newspaper markets. Finally, researchers counted nationwide fatalities associated with vehicle crashes provided by NHTSA. The study concluded that newspapers provided less coverage of recalls from manufacturers that bought more advertising in the previous two years. Specifically, higher spending on advertising was associated with a lower probability that the newspaper published any article on the recalls, and for those newspapers that did publish information about recalls, fewer articles were published. The bias was strongest when small newspapers published ads from local car dealers. The effect was stronger for recalls that involved a large number of vehicles and that involved more severe defects. The study also found that readers who owned cars by a manufacturer that issued a recall wanted more information about the issue, while advertisers wanted to minimize this information. In addition, the study found that the advent of online platforms (such as Craigslist) and the subsequent deterioration of the financial situation of many newspapers have weakened editorial independence and resulted in a greater ability of advertisers to deter negative content. The introduction to the market of Craigslist and companies like it has reduced the amount of advertising revenue newspapers receive from classified advertising. This has resulted in newspapers relying more heavily on corporate advertisers which, in turn, has strengthened the influence of these advertisers, the study concluded. However, competition between newspapers may reduce the amount of favorable coverage given to a manufacturer, the study found. "The vulnerability of newspapers to be influenced by advertisers and the role of market structure have implications for policymakers," explains Graham Beattie, assistant professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University, who coauthored the study. "Regulators should formulate rules that limit such conflicts of interest through policies such as limiting concentration of media ownership and encouraging competition between media outlets." ### The research was funded by the University of Toronto, Brown University, Barcelona GSE, the Jean Jacques Laffont Digitial Chair, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies. Maharashtra, which has been hit the hardest in the country by the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, has reported a mortality rate of 3.57%, according to the latest report prepared by the state governments medical education and drugs department. Click here for full Covid-19 coverage The Covid-19 related mortality rate has come down from 7.21% and 3.71% on April 12 and May 12, respectively. However, the revised mortality rate at 3.57% is still higher than the national average at 3.09%. Of the 3,07,072 tests conducted in the state till Wednesday, 12.95% have tested Covid-19 positive. In the past 24 hours, 15% have tested positive of the 14,074 tests conducted. On Wednesday, Maharashtra reported 2,250 new Covid-19 positive cases, as the tally rose to 39,297. The state has reported over 2,000 cases for the fourth consecutive day. On Wednesday, the state also reported 65 deaths, the third-highest single-day figure, and the toll stands at 1,390. Mumbai reported 1,372 new Covid-19 positive cases on Wednesday and also recorded 41 deaths. Also read: State-wise variations in new rules leave citizens puzzled Of these new cases In Mumbai, 150 were recorded on May 17 and 18 but were updated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday. And, the rest 1,222 tested positive on Wednesday. Of the 65 deaths, 41 reported were in Mumbai, Pune (13), Navi Mumbai (3), two each in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Aurangabad, and Ulhasnagar. Maharashtra has reported 13,375 cases in the past seven days and 415 deaths. While Mumbai recorded 8,371 cases and 245 deaths in the past week. Of the states 36 districts, Gadchiroli was the only one in the green zone till Sunday evening. However, eight migrant workers, who returned to the district from Mumbai on Sunday evening, tested Covid-19 positive and now Gadchiroli figures in the orange zone. In Maharashtra, 3,48,508 and 17,638 are under home and institutional quarantine, respectively. The state has 1,849 containment zones. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) Ten more police officers contracted the coronavirus disease, the Philippine National Police said Thursday. This brings the total number of infected PNP personnel to 260. The PNP said 15 others got well, for a total of 84 recoveries. The death toll remains at four. The national police added it is monitoring 574 suspect cases and 788 probable cases among its personnel. Nationwide, the country has recorded over 13,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with more than 800 deaths and 3,000 recoveries. ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Phire Group , a brand definition and activation consultancy based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was recently named one of 25 Forbes Small Giants. The Forbes Small Giants winners are selected through a partnership between Forbes Magazine and the Small Giants Community. The honor is awarded to companies with a commitment to being the best at what they do, providing stellar service to customers, offering employees fulfilling, rewarding work, and being vital members of their communities. "We have created our company to embody the Small Giants philosophy," says Phire Group's Principal, Jim Hume. "We value expertise over runaway growth, deep relationships over endlessly chasing new business, and purpose over profits." Self-described as the "Anti-Agency Agency," Phire Group's philosophy has led to steady, sustainable growth, and a culture that has been recognized for its creativity, transparency, and entrepreneurial spirit. "Marketing is one of the most dynamic, rapidly changing industries. Therefore, our team is full of problem solvers, valuing curiosity, a growth mindset, and a desire to solve complex challenges over typical agency thinking," states Hume. "This results in delivering smart, breakthrough solutions for our clients, leading to relationships that last years, and in some cases, more than a decade." "This is an incredible honor for us, and we're humbled to be on a list with such remarkable organizations. These are companies that are simply doing things the right way. We're incredibly grateful to be recognized to be among them." About Phire Group Phire Group is a brand definition + activation company. Through deep research, culture-deep inspiration, bold creativity, precision execution, and ongoing measurement, they create breakthrough, sustainable brands that spark authentically and are free to spread wildly. Clients include Wilsonart Engineered Surfaces, Accident Fund Insurance, PGT Windows + Doors, Cooper Tire, Leelanau Cellars, Chem-Trend, The University of Michigan, Lake Trust Credit Union, UMS, plus several local organizations, non-profits, and more. Additional information is available at phiregroup.com. SOURCE Phire Group Related Links https://phiregroup.com MHA said the night curfew has been imposed to ensure that people observe social distance. The Centre on Thursday asked states to ensure strict implementation of lockdown and night curfew protocols, saying it has noticed violation of the restrictions at several places. In a communication to all states and union territories, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked them to strictly ensure prohibition of all non-essential activities between 7pm and 7am, saying the night curfew imposed to contain the coronavirus spread is an "important element of the Home Ministry guidelines". He said the night curfew has been imposed to ensure that people observe social distance. "Accordingly, local authorities should be asked to issue orders in the entirety of their jurisdiction, under proper provisions of law, for imposition of night curfew. Strict compliance of these orders should be ensured by the local authorities," he said. Bhalla said the Home Ministry has noticed reports of violation of its guidelines at several places. "I would like to emphasise that the MHA guidelines should be strictly implemented, and all authorities in states and UTs should take necessary steps to ensure the same," he said. These stipulations, such as wearing face covers, ensuring social distancing at work, transport and in public places, maintaining hygiene and sanitation etc., are important for containing the spread of COVID-19. "It is the duty of all district and local authorities to enforce the national directives," he said. "I would request all the chief secretaries of states and administrators of union territories to remain vigilant in the fight against COVID-19 and ensure that all measures that have either been mandated by MHA or laid down by the States and UTs, are scrupulously adhered to at all levels," Bhalla said. After the lockdown was extended till 31 May, the Home Ministry issued fresh guidelines relaxing some curbs that were imposed during the first three phases, except in the containment zones. Bhalla said a proper delineation of containment zones and effective implementation of containment measures is key to preventing the further spread of COVID- 19. In this respect, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare need to be followed and containment zones properly demarcated. "States and UTs can now delineate various zones, and decide on the activities to be prohibited, or allowed with restrictions, in accordance with the MHA guidelines. Further, once the guidelines have been issued by the states and UTs, they should be strictly implemented, and action taken if any deviations are noticed," the home secretary said in the letter. The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days. It was then extended till May 3 and again till May 17. The lockdown has now been extended till 31 May. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,435 and the number of cases climbed to 1,12,359 in the country till Thursday 8 AM, according to the Union Health Ministry. On Twitter, more than three-quarters of posts since Monday using the hashtag #OperationWarpSpeed have pushed conspiracy theories about the effort. Others suggested hydroxychloroquine was a more suitable option, even though the Food and Drug Administration has warned of the antimalarial drugs possible side effects. Trump on Monday said he was taking the drug as a preventive measure, prompting some of his supporters to double down on the unproven drug, which has been linked to increased risk of death for certain patients. Nine more people, including two employees of a Chinese phone manufacturing firm, tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Thursday, as COVID-19 cases in the district crossed the 300-mark, officials said. Also, two patients were discharged after they recovered from the disease, taking the number of active cases in the district to 88, the officials said. District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said 45 test results were obtained from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) and 21 from the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) on Thursday, while others were from private labs. One result from the GIMS and two from NIB were found positive, while six from private laboratories were also found positive," he said. The senior doctor said five employees of phone-maker Oppo have tested positive for coronavirus and two of them are residents of Gautam Buddh Nagar, while one is from nearby Mathura district and two hail from Bihar. The locals have been counted among the new patients in the district, he added. Nine people including two employees of Oppo have tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and total positive cases till date stand at 302. Two were discharged and total 209 patients have been cured so far. There are 88 active cases now, the officer said in a statement. Among the new patients, four are from Noida, three from Greater Noida and two from Greater Noida (West), also known as Noida Extension, according to the statement. There was no official response from Oppo immediately on the matter. Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi, in western UP has so far recorded five COVID-19-linked deaths all males aged above 60, according to officials. A 71-year-old Bulandshahr resident also succumbed due to COVID-19, pneumonia and severe sepsis at a government hospital in Greater Noida on Wednesday but his death was not counted in the district, the officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Signed in Hanoi on June 30th, 2019, the EVFTA consists of 17 chapters, eight annexes, two protocols, two memoranda of understanding, and four joint statements. With its level of commitment, the deal is considered a comprehensive and high-quality agreement that guarantees the balance of interests between Vietnam and the EU and matches WTO regulations. Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh said that in terms of politics, national security, and diplomatic strategy, the deal reflects the strong determination of both sides to strengthen bilateral ties, thereby helping to develop relations in a more intensive and substantive manner. Together with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the ratification and implementation of the EVFTA would affirm Vietnams commitments to the international free trade system, help promote negotiations of FTAs with other important partners, and mark an important stage in the countrys comprehensive and intensive international integration, she said. As Vietnam is holding the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, the EVFTA will help enhance its role and stature in EU-ASEAN relations and be an example of an FTA between the two blocs in the future, according to the Vice President. She also cited a Government report as saying that after the deal takes effect, bilateral trade and the EUs investment in Vietnam will both increase, actively contributing to economic growth, job creation, and State budget revenue. However, she noted, the pact may also generate certain challenges in market competition, the reform of the legal system to comply with the deals strict requirements, and the pressure of social supervision over the deals implementation. Regarding Brexit and the UKs relationship with the EVFTA, Thinh said that under the Brexit agreement, the UK will have a transition period before officially leaving the EU. Therefore, if the EVFTA becomes effective during this transition period, the UK will still benefit from Vietnams commitments with the EU under the pact and vice-versa. The UK also has the right to negotiate, sign, and ratify new bilateral FTAs during the transition period, but such deals must not come into force or be implemented during that time, unless the EU agrees. It has been promoting talks on a bilateral agreement with Vietnam on the basis of the EVFTA, so any future deal could be enforced after the transition period, Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh noted. Delivering a verification report on the matter, Chairman of the NAs Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau said ratifying the pact would send out an important message about Vietnams resolve to foster international economic connectivity and support the rules-based multilateral trade system amid emerging populism and trade protectionism. It will also help diversify the countrys markets and ensure economic security. The signing and ratifying of the EVFTA at this point in time is appropriate, he said, as it will continue to create momentum for international economic integration and domestic economic recovery after the COVID-19. Given this, the committee proposed the NA ratify the EVFTA at this ninth session and allow the implementation of the deal with the UK until the transition period ends on December 31st, 2020. The FTA enforcement in relation to the UK could be extended for an additional 24 months under the Brexit agreement. The committee also proposed the legislature assign the Government to step up negotiations for and the signing of a bilateral FTA with the UK on the basis of the EVFTA, he said./. WASHINGTON For Ean Tafoya, the political revolution is far from over. That doesn't mean he won't vote for Joe Biden. "I'll knock doors in a Bernie (Sanders) shirt for (Biden), to show people that our movement is still here, but that we believe in moving beyond this last four years," Tafoya said. Tafoya, 34, a climate activist from Denver, supported both of Sanders' presidential runs. He said it was "heartbreaking" when Sanders dropped out of the race in early April; he received numerous calls from his friends, crying. Although Tafoya said progressives who supported Sanders still need time to grieve and heal, he recognizes it would be far easier to pass their policies under a Democratic administration than a Republican one. "Ultimately, it seems like we can get more progress through the initiatives that we ... care about through Biden than Trump," Tafoya said. Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is going to need young voters, many who identify as "progressive" and had supported Sanders' campaign, to win the 2020 presidential election. Though young voters made up roughly 27% of voters in 2016, they are seen as essential for campaigns and are often relied on for the critical grassroots work of knocking on doors and activating voters. More: Joe Biden vowed to pick a woman VP. Some Democrats say she must be a woman of color The Biden campaign announced working groups focused on several issues of particular importance to progressive voters, one of which will be chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Biden, who has been endorsed by Sanders, also has rolled out policy initiatives aimed at wooing progressive voters, including expanding government-funded health insurance through Medicare to people 60 and older and a debt forgiveness plan focused on students in low- and middle-income households. Biden will have to balance courting progressives with maintaining his appeal to moderate voters in swing states, many of whom abandoned Hillary Clinton in 2016 but might not want to vote for Donald Trump again. The former vice president built much of his primary campaign around appealing to a broad swath of voters. Story continues "Americans aren't looking for revolution," Biden told the "TODAY" show in late February, days before the South Carolina primary victory that revived his campaign. "They're looking for progress. They're looking for, 'Tell me how you're going to help me with my health care. Tell me you'll make me safer.' " Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) greets supporters after a campaign rally at the Charleston Area Convention Center on Feb. 26, 2020 in North Charleston, South Carolina. Though Biden is making inroads with top progressives groups, several leaders noted they still want to know more about Biden's plans for incorporating their values into his agenda. "We think it is important that if Vice President Biden wants to win the youth vote, he has to move on the issues, so that when young people are looking at candidates and looking at the different differences between the candidates on the issue, that they can get more excited that they see candidates that are actually championing what they care for," said Sarah Audelo, executive director of Alliance for Youth Action. Working groups bring Biden, Sanders supporters together Since Sanders dropped out of the Democratic race, progressive groups and the Biden campaign have created a dialogue. Last week's announcement on the working groups was in part the fruit of that labor. In the days after Sanders left the race, the Sunrise Movement, which focuses on climate change, along with six other groups focused on issues such as gun control, immigration and foreign policy urged Biden in an open letter to adopt a litany of stances. They asked Biden to commit to a $10 trillion Green New Deal stimulus package, legalization of marijuana, implementing a "wealth tax" and a plan to reduce gun deaths by 50% in ten years. Audelo said the issues the groups laid out are all important policies for young progressives and that Biden moving on these issues could create excitement for those voters. More: Bernie Sanders supporters reluctantly turn to Joe Biden, fueled by their dislike of President Trump "It is incumbent on the Biden campaign to hear the expertise that folks have and really follow their guidance in terms of policy change," Audelo said of the working groups. "So that way, a lot of folks can be seen as surrogates hopefully for the campaign. They are the validators that the campaign really needs." Sarah Audelo, executive director of Alliance for Youth Action , is pictured. After the letter was sent, Biden and Sanders worked to create the policy working groups that would address several issues that are particularly important to young progressives. The groups will be focused on the economy, education, criminal justice, immigration and climate change. The working groups include allies of both Biden and Sanders. Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who have both said they are voting for Biden but previously endorsed Sanders, are each co-chairs of a group. (Jayapal also is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.) Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, Maggie Thompson, former executive director of Generation Progress, and Marisa Franco, director of the Latinx group Mijente, are among the participants. The policy groups will meet before the Democratic National Convention in August to make recommendations for the Democratic National Committee platform and to Biden. The coalition of progressive groups who had previously written the letter to Biden called the appointments a "major win for youth organizations that are building political power for young people across the country." "We hope the Biden team will continue to listen to and consult with youth leaders and our demands as it advances its campaign, and makes actual appointments to its transition team and Administration," the coalition said in a statement this week. "We need to see continued commitments from them and the DNC to promote the solutions that galvanize our generation and give us hope in the political process. Today, we are one step closer." More: AOC and other Bernie Sanders allies are helping shape policy for Joe Biden. Here's who else is helping Matt Hill, deputy national press secretary for the Biden campaign, said in a statement, "Progressive voters are a key part of our growing coalition to defeat Trump and enact bold change that will tackle the most pressing issues Americans face right now, including rebuilding our economy after the crisis, expanding health care, making college affordable, and more." The Biden campaign is still coordinating with groups such as the Sunrise Movement, March for Our Lives and United We Dream, beyond the policy working groups. On Biden's campaign, senior adviser Symone Sanders, who served on Sanders' 2016 campaign, along with senior adviser Cristobal Alex and policy director Stef Feldman have spearheaded engagement with outside groups. The campaign is focusing on engaging two types of progressives organizations: Traditional groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Human Rights Campaign, and new-wave groups, such as the Sunrise Movement and March for Our Lives, that attract younger and more diverse voters. The Biden campaign was endorsed by the Progressive Turnout Project, which says it will the invest $52.5 million to knock on more than 10.5 million doors in 17 presidential and Senate battleground states this year. Ben Wessel, director of NextGen America, said Biden's updated plans to expand Medicare and forgive some student debt is helpful to get progressives on board with his campaign. "That's a real show of empathy to our young people that they feel like they're not getting from their leaders, where everyone feels like they're being strung out to dry," Wessel said. "So having someone say that they've got your back on this, even if it's small, I think is a good thing." Biden has been criticized by some on the left over his vote for the Iraq War and for his previous stance supporting the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing law that blocks federal funding for abortion in most cases. Biden last summer said he no longer supports the amendment. A recent USA TODAY/Suffolk poll showed that the vast majority of Sanders supporters (77%) said they will vote for Biden in the general election. But nearly 1 in 4 Sanders supporters (22%) said they would vote for a third-party candidate, vote for President Donald Trump, not vote in November or were undecided about who to vote for, according to the poll. Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said Biden could have a hard time getting enthusiastic support from former Sanders supporters because of his lengthy record three decades of Senate votes and two terms in the White House as President Barack Obama's vice president. Reeher said it's "not gonna rub a lot of these Bernie Sanders supporters particularly in the right way," with how Biden has portrayed his own record. "That's a tougher argument he's making because there's a record there that's sometimes at odds with that narrative of him," Reeher said. The allegation from Tara Reade that she was sexually assaulted by Biden while working for his Senate office has also brought additional scrutiny from voters. Biden has emphatically denied the allegation, saying it "never happened." Almost half 45% of voters between the ages of 18 and 34 believe Reade's allegation is true, according to a Monmouth University poll published last week. Joe Biden needs his Joe Biden.: Here's a look at the women who could be on his vice presidential shortlist Several progressive leaders have said that they appreciate Biden not attacking Reade's character, but there is also concern that there needs to be accountability. "Right now we're kind of stuck in a he-said, she-said situation," said Evan Weber, political director for Sunrise Movement. "We really don't have a system that is designed to deal with these claims and deliver real justice for survivors and center their feeling in the process." But Ben Wessel, executive director of NextGen America, noted that in a focus group conducted several weeks ago by his organization's youth mobilization arm, voters said the allegation didn't disqualify Biden, and they wanted to see him address it. Since then, Biden has addressed the allegation in interviews. "We've seen Biden do what I don't think too many of our young progressives would expect ... a typical politician to do, which is he went on TV, directed his comments to the American people, and was really honest and open about it," Wessel said. "I actually think that's what voters want to see, that's what our people want to hear. They don't want someone to sweep things under the rug." 'Bernie isnt the hero, the ideas are' One leader in the coalition of groups that sent Biden the letter last month did express some dissatisfaction in not being contacted individually by the campaign. Emily Mayer, political director for IfNotNow Movement, said the organization is disappointed there is not a working group focused on foreign policy and the group was not contacted by the campaign. The IfNotNow Movement endorsed Sanders in the 2020 election, and Mayer said the organization and Sanders' campaign were in "very frequent conversation." "We've seen what a disaster Trump has been for American foreign policy," Murray said. "I would hope that Joe Biden and the people around him are going to put forward a progressive vision for how to not only restore the place America has in the world but actually to make American foreign policy the sort of just instrument it should be." The Biden campaign said while there isnt a foreign policy task force, they have been in touch with progressive foreign policy groups throughout the primary and continues to engage with them. They declined to identify the groups. Aaron Walker, 26, of Chicago, Illinois is pictured. Aaron Walker, 26, said right now, he doesn't think he is going to vote for Biden in November. Walker lives in Chicago and noted Illinois "has virtually no chance of going to Trump." He said he's going to focus on supporting "local leftists and oust any centrist Democrats being challenged by them." Walker, who previously supported Sanders, noted that the movement is more than just the man. "I love and respect the man, but the American left isnt a cult of personality," Walker said. "Bernie isnt the hero, the ideas are and if hes done fighting, were definitely not." Biden in the basement: Can campaigning from home work as Trump starts to travel? Biden and Sanders have come to an agreement to have Sanders supporters represented at the Democratic National Convention, according to a memo released by the two campaigns. All delegates would be reallocated to Biden, per DNC rules. But the two campaigns have agreed that the delegate slots Sanders had earned will be filled with Sanders supporters. While Senator Sanders is no longer actively seeking the nomination, the Biden campaign feels strongly that it is in the best interest of the party and the effort to defeat Donald Trump in November to come to an agreement regarding these issues that will ensure representation of Sanders supporters and delegate candidates, both on the floor and in committees, the memo states. Biden has also tried to reach out to younger, more left-leaning voters through platforms and news organizations that cater to that bloc. This month, he gave an exclusive address about his economic platform on NowThis News, a progressive news site that is social media-focused. A recent interview with Yahoo was broadcast on TikTok. Many progressive groups acknowledged Biden's outreach is a positive step forward, as well as some of his policy changes. Leaders of the groups noted there are many who say they will still vote for Biden, but that right now, that is the extent of support they are willing to give. "Young people are really what make up the backbone ... and energy in Democratic campaigns, Weber said. What I'm hearing from a lot of my peers is yeah, some people aren't excited to vote but most of them are planning to vote. But people who might normally be knocking doors or making calls or things like that, Im not hearing a lot of enthusiasm for that for Joe Biden at the moment. Want to talk more about politics?: Join our Facebook group: Across the Aisle, Across the Nation. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders work together to bring progressives on board Guocoland secures $730 million green loan for the development of new residential cum commercial development at Tan Quee Lan Street the largest green loan of its kind to date Guocoland Image credit: URA Guocoland Limited through its indirect subsidiaries, MTG Apartments Pte. Ltd. and MTG Retail Pte. Ltd., has secured a S$730 million green club loan from OCBC Bank, DBS Bank and ICBC Singapore Branch for the construction of a new luxury residential cum commercial development at Tan Quee Lan Street. The development is a joint venture between GuocoLand and two subsidiaries of Hong Leong Holdings Intrepid Investments Pte. Ltd. and Hong Realty (Private) Limited. This is first green loan for GuocoLand and the industrys largest green loan for a development project in Singapore to date. Proceeds from the loan will go towards financing the project, including the efforts in sustainable development, water and energy conservation, and adoption of immersive urban greenery and landscaping. GuocoLand, together with OCBC Bank acting as the Sole Green Financing Advisor, developed a Green Loan Framework which provides guidance for the evaluation of the new residential cum commercial developments eligibility as a green project based on its sustainability objectives, as well as the management of the loan proceeds. The Green Loan Framework has been structured in accordance with the Green Loan Principles issued in 2018 by the Loan Market Association and Asia Pacific Loan Market Association. DBS Bank and OCBC Bank are Joint Green Coordinators and, together with ICBC Singapore Branch, are Mandated Lead Arrangers. GuocoLand has long championed environmental best practices in the built environment. The green loan reinforces GuocoLands continued commitment to sustainable development with the Tan Quee Lan Street site expanding its portfolio of environmentally friendly developments in Singapore. Mr Cheng Hsing Yao, Group Managing Director, GuocoLand Singapore, said: Climate change is one of the biggest challenge of our times. Our developments are always conceived, developed and managed with sustainability principles as the foundation. We were one of the first real estate developers to receive the BCA Green Mark Platinum award, and Guoco Tower was one of the earliest integrated developments in Singapore to receive both Green Mark Platinum and LEED Platinum certifications. Story continues Our latest projects, Guoco Midtown and Midtown Bay, have been awarded the BCA Green Mark Platinum award this year and we are proud to continue developing buildings that are grounded on sustainability principles in the future, including this new development at Tan Quee Lan Street, added Mr Cheng. The new 30-storey residential cum commercial development at Tan Quee Lan Street will be located right above the Bugis mass rapid transit (MRT) interchange station. It will have two residential towers with more than 500 units of luxury apartments as well as a retail podium with food and beverage establishments open to the public. The joint venture was awarded the tender for the 124,116 sq ft land plot in September 2019 with their bid of S$800.2 million. The development at Tan Quee Lan Street is expected to meet the criteria to receive Green Mark GoldPLUS certification by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Mr Cheng added: We are grateful for the strong backing of OCBC and DBS, who have been loyal partners to us for many years. At the same time, we are pleased to have ICBC join us for the first time in a development project in Singapore, and in what is also their first green loan in Singapore. Ms Elaine Lam, Head, Global Corporate Banking, OCBC Bank, said: We are pleased to be the Sole Green Financing Advisor to our long-time customer GuocoLand on their maiden green loan. Green financing has really taken off in Singapore since late 2018 and a majority of the funds have been channelled into greening the property sector. Having an industry leader like GuocoLand come in to keep this momentum going is crucial. For OCBC, we are committed to creating sustainable value for the community we operate in and to maintaining a sustainable environment for future generations. We will continue to work towards our goal of a S$10 billion sustainable finance portfolio by 2022. Mr Chew Chong Lim, Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate, Institutional Banking Group, DBS Bank, said: GuocoLands first green loan and the largest for a development project, is a significant milestone for the real estate industry that is seeing an increasing number of companies incorporating sustainability practices into their corporate strategies and building management. Responsible banking is one of the key tenets of DBS sustainability commitment and we want to support more companies like GuocoLand that are making positive environmental impact even in these challenging times, to advance sustainable business practices. Ms Geng Hao, Deputy General Manager, ICBC Singapore Branch, said: As part of ICBCs consistent green strategy, we are very pleased to accompany GuocoLand on its sustainable journey for its largest green loan for a development project in Singapore. We have social and environmental commitments to provide financial support to GuocoLand and more companies in their green transformation and make new contributions to sustainable development in Singapore. Guoco Midtown, GuocoLands latest integrated development at the Bugis-Beach Road district, was recently awarded the BCA Green Mark Platinum award for both its commercial component and its residential component, the 219-unit Midtown Bay which was launched in October 2019. Guoco Midtown is GuocoLands second integrated development following Guoco Tower, its flagship development at Tanjong Pagar and Singapores tallest building with the 181-unit Wallich Residence at the apex. Guoco Tower received two of the highest achievable certifications in the industry the Green Mark Platinum award by BCA and the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Platinum certification label by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED certification is a globally recognised symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. The post Guocoland secures $730 million green loan appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources. Pakistan summoned a senior diplomat from the Indian High Commission on Thursday, the third time this week, to protest over the alleged ceasefire violations by the Indian forces along the Line of Control. The Foreign Office claimed that the indiscriminate and unprovoked firing"by the Indian forces on Wednesday in Chirikot Sector resulted in serious injuries to a 45-year-old villager. However, a spokesperson of the Indian Army on Wednesday said that Pakistani troops opened fire and heavily shelled forward areas along the LoC in two sectors of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, drawing retaliation from the Indian forces. It was the fifth consecutive day of firing and shelling by Pakistani troops along the LoC and IB in Jammu and Kashmir, he said. This was the second consecutive day and third time in a week that the Indian diplomat was summoned by Pakistan. The Foreign Office had summoned the Indian diplomat on Monday and Wednesday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Advertisement Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday sought federal emergency aid for the devastating flooding that has forced 10,000 to evacuate their homes in the midst of a pandemic. In a letter to President Donald Trump, Whitmer asked that he declare an emergency for Midland County on an expedited basis, MLive reports. The area has been devastated by the floods, caused when a dam breached, leaving thousands of homes underwater, as new satelite pictures show. Gov. Whitmer, explained that 10,000 residents were being forced to flee their homes due to 'imminent danger' of the failure of the Edenville Dam following six to eight inches of rain that also overtopped the Sanford Dam. The letter continued by stating that Midland County's 2018 FEMA-approved 'hazard mitigation plan' estimates that the building impacts from the failure of the Edenville Dam has a total building value of $878,974,848. Damage estimates are not immediately available for the 5,745 parcels, the letter stated. In a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Gov. Whitmer asked that he declare an emergency for Midland County on an expedited basis. New satellite photos show the devastation from the flooding This photo provided by Maxar Technologies shows Windover High School surrounded by floodwaters in Midland, Mich., Wednesday, May 20, 2020 'Despite our efforts, local and state resources have been insufficient to respond to the situation. The availability of equipment and personnel is further limited due to the ongoing effects and response requirements of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,' she said in the letter. 'Therefore, additional federal assistance is required to protect public health, safety, and property, and to lessen or avert the threat of more severe and persisting impacts to the community.' Whitmer is specifically looking for resources to help with debris removal and emergency protectives measures, along with direct federal assistance. 'The management of debris will be critically important to recovery in the days immediately following this flood disaster,' the letter states. 'The wet, heavy, contaminated flood debris from damaged homes and businesses will create dangerous and unsanitary conditions in the affected areas.' Whitmer is specifically looking for resources to help with debris removal and emergency protectives measures, along with direct federal assistance The flooded Tittabawassee River around the areas in Midland Don Thomas of Saginaw pulls his boat up to his son Jason Thomas who went back to his house near W. Signet in Midland to retrieve his families two cats An aerial photo made with a drone shows damage to a road and bridge after the Edenville dam was breached near Edenville The letter comes just hours after President Donald Trump declined to specify on Wednesday what laws Michigan was breaking when the secretary of state mailed absentee ballot applications to all voters in the state. Trump didn't back down on his threat to with hold federal funds from the state even as Michigan is dealing with severe flooding, with parts of the state being declared a disaster and two dams bursting from the amount of water pouring through. Trump repeated his criticism that mail-in ballots cause mass voter fraud, which has not been proven, and renewed his call for a voter ID law. 'Mail-in ballots are a very dangerous thing when they're subject of massive fraud,' Trump said at an event at the White House with the governors of Kansas and Arkansas. Residents explore what remains of the West Curtis Road bridge which was swept away following extreme flooding throughout central Michigan A Michigan National Guard hands a pet to the owner after they were evacuated to an emergency shelter during the flooding along the Tittabawassee River People look at damage to a road after the Edenville dam was breached near Edenville An aerial photo made with a drone shows damage to a house after the Edenville dam was breached near Edenville 'People have to check you, they have to see, they're to look at you and check you,' he said. 'I mean when you get thousands of ballots, and then put them in a bag and they just bring them in, who knows where they came from? It's so obvious. And frankly they should have voter ID. That's what they should have. You really want to know what the country wants? The country wants voter ID. Otherwise it's going to be subjected to tremendous illegality and fraud.' The Trump campaign said Michigan law requires voters to request an absentee ballot application be mailed to them. 'President Trump is correct. There is no statutory authority for the secretary of state in Michigan to send absentee ballot applications to all voters. Existing case law in Michigan supports that conclusion as well,' a campaign spokesperson said. Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.' President Donald Trump declined to specify what laws he said Michigan was breaking when the secretary of state mailed absentee ballot applications to all voters in the state He also noted he's spoke with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, that day, ahead of his visit to the state on Thursday. 'They have a big problem with the dams breaking. So that is a big big problem. And so we've sent the FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers out, and they're very good at dams, they're probably better at than anybody you can think of, right? The Army Corps of Engineers have done a fantastic job,' he said. Earlier that day, Trump issued his threat to the state. 'Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!,' he wrote on Twitter. The threat came as Michigan is facing rising flood waters that caused two dams to burst, forced the evacuation of 10,000 people and had Governor Whitmer warn that one county could be 'under approximately 9 feet of water.' She has declared a state of emergency for Midland County and urged residents threatened by the flooding to evacuate the area. She said shelters have opened across the county and are available to those who need a place to go. 'This is unlike anything we've seen in Midland County,' she said. 'If you have a family member or loved one who lives in another part of the state, go there now.' Whitmer said downtown Midland faced an especially serious flooding threat. 'In the next 12 to 15 hours, downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water. We are anticipating an historic high water level.' Trump's tweet, meanwhile, was a threat to use his executive power against states that don't bend to his political will. Trump and other Republicans have argued - without proof - that mail-in voting favors Democrats and concerns about its use as a voting option have ratcheted up during the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump threatened to with hold federal funds from Michigan in revenge for the state sending absentee ballot applications to all voters Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, then responded: 'We sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia In the series of tweets, the president also called out Nevada for sending out 'illegal vote by mail ballots' 'By mailing applications we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,' Benson (left) said. Her decision is expected to face legal challenges. Trump's threat to with hold federal funds comes as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (right) declared a state of emergency in parts of Michigan due to flooding Trump's tweet comes at a time when Michigan officials are dealing with two crises: the coronavirus pandemic and severe flooding due to the failure of two dams (Sanford Dam pictured) Floodwaters are seen along a street in downtown Sanford, Michigan. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for locations along the Tittabawassee River after the breach at the Sanford Dam President Trump later retweeted his threat to Michigan but with cleaned up information about the ballots Trump was off in his original criticism. His first tweet said Michigan sent out absentee ballots, instead of the applications. He corrected that in a later tweet threatening the state. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Tuesday all registered voters - there are 7.7 million of them - will receive applications for absentee ballots, meaning voters would still have to request an actual ballot to vote. 'By mailing applications we have ensured that no Michigander has to choose between their health and their right to vote,' Benson, a Democrat, said. Her decision is expected to face legal challenges. And she tweeted a response to President Trump: 'Hi! I also have a name, it's Jocelyn Benson. And we sent applications, not ballots. Just like my GOP colleagues in Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska and West Virginia.' Benson also noted the mail-in vote option is legal in Michigan. 'Every Michigan citizen has a right to vote by mail. It's a right that was enshrined in our state constitution by our voters in November of 2018. And so I have a responsibility, as the chief election officer for the state of Michigan, to ensure everyone knows how to exercise their right to vote and all the options available -- available to them to ensure that happens,' she told MSNBC. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions on what was illegal about Michigan's sending out mail-in ballot applications. 'Illegality and legality of it, that's a question for the campaign,' she said at her press briefing on Wednesday. She noted the president's tweets were meant to alert Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and OMB Chief Russell Vought 'about his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states and his noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail- in voting.' But when she was quizzed on why the president would alert them via Twitter instead of during one of his meetings with them, she said: 'The president believes in unprecedented transparency.' Michigan stayed in president's thoughts throughout Wednesday - he visits the state Thursday - as the state popped up repeatedly in his tweet during the day, including a promise from him to help with the flooding. 'My team is closely monitoring the flooding in Central Michigan Stay SAFE and listen to local officials. Our brave First Responders are once again stepping up to serve their fellow citizens, THANK YOU!,' he wrote. He also argued Gov. Whitmer, a Democrat, should ease up on the state's coronavirus lock down so people can help with the flooding. 'We have sent our best Military & @FEMA Teams, already there. Governor must now 'set you free' to help. Will be with you soon!,' Trump added. Whitmer issued a stay-at-home order for the state until May 28 but she announced this week she will start easing up on it in parts of Michigan on Friday. Protesters have stormed the state capitol in Lansing to protest Whitmer's stay-at-home order. Michigan is crucial to the president's re-election efforts. He won the state by less than one point in 2016. In response to Trump's tweets, Gov. Whitmer said Wednesday afternoon that to see 'Twitter this morning and to see rhetoric like that is disheartening because I think at first it shows you that there maybe was a lack of understanding of what the secretary of state was doing. She said we're going to mail applications not mail ballots'. 'And I would appreciate any federal partnership that wants to stay focused on solving problems and not get into politics. We've got to take politics out of this crisis moment and remember we're all Americans. 'We all have to pitch in and get this right and remember that one another is not the enemy. The enemy is a virus and in this case the enemy is also a flood,' Whitmer added. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged questions on what was illegal about Michigan's sending out mail-in ballot applications Trump also threatened to with hold funding from Nevada, ccing the U.S. Treasury Department and acting OMB director Russell Vought in his tweet. 'State of Nevada 'thinks' that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They can't! If they do, 'I think' I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections,' he wrote. Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske has declared its June 9 primary an all-mail primary, meaning absentee ballots will be mailed to every active voter in the state. Cegavske is a Republican and Democrats in the state have complained ballots are not being sent to all registered voters in Nevada. Many other states are sending out absentee ballots for the November election to avoid long lines and crowding at polling places during the pandemic, which has infected more than 1.56 million Americans and killed more than 92,000. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced all registered voters in his state will receive absentee ballots. Republicans have long complained about 'ballot harvesting' - their term for the process where someone (usually a party volunteer) collects absentee ballots from a group of people and mails them for them. Democrats call it ballot collecting. Republican Congressman Devin Nunes of California told Fox News this week that Republicans are 'forced to have to ballot harvest because it's the only way to win.' Trump's criticism comes ahead of his visit to Michigan this week and after Republican Party officials launched a $20 million fund to fight mail-in ballot initiatives, which they complain - without evidence - increases the odds of voter fraud. Vehicles and signs are seen submerged in floodwaters in downtown Sanford on Tuesday after the dam burst Residents in one Michigan county were forced to evacuate their homes. The driver of this red pickup truck was rescued in Saginaw County, Michigan on Tuesday An aerial view of water from a broken Edenville Dam seen flooding the area as it flows towards Wixom Lake in Michigan The Edenville and Sanford dams burst on Tuesday after heavy rainfall battered the area for several days. A flood warning is in effect throughout Wednesday along the Tittabawassee River in Midland County. About 3,500 homes and 10,000 people have been affected by the flooding. No deaths or injuries have been reported. Whitmer said Wednesday: 'To go through this in the midst of a global pandemic is almost unthinkable. But we are here, and to the best of our ability we are going to navigate this together.' The governor encouraged residents to wear face coverings while at shelters and if they go to stay with relatives. Many states, Michigan included, are feeling a budget crunch after the coronavirus shuttered businesses - causing a decline in state revenue while more money was needed to fight the disease. Trump and Whitmer, a Democrat, have already feuded over the virus. Whitmer accused his administration of not doing enough to send medical supplies and protective equipment to states in need. President Trump will be in the Detroit area on Thursday to visit a Ford Motor factory. He'll tour the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, which is making ventilators that can be used to treat COVID-19 patients. The company plans to produce 100,000 ventilators by July 4, working with GE Healthcare on the project. Trump, meanwhile, has taken up the drumbeat against mail-in voting, complaining it hurts Republican candidates. He railed against a California special election using the method last week. The Republican candidate won that race. One recent case of voter fraud - and it was committed by a Republican In North Carolina, one political operative has been indicted for voting fraud: a Republican. Political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr. and four others who worked for him were indicted over illegal ballot 'harvesting' in regards to a 2018 congressional election that was ultimately rerun last September. Witnesses told state officials that Dowless gathered hundreds of absentee ballots from voters with the help of his assistants. Those assistants testified they were directed to collect blank or incomplete ballots, forge signatures on them and even fill in votes when Dowless worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris in the 2018 congressional election. Harris appeared to get the most votes in the November 2018 race, but the State Board of Elections ordered a new election. Harris didn't run that special election, which ultimately was won by the GOP nominee, Dan Bishop. Advertisement He wrote on Twitter on April 8, ahead of the California contest, that: 'Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, (it) doesn't work out well for Republicans.' Many governors have announced their states will increase the use of mail-in voting this year to avoid long lines at polling places while the coronavirus remains a threat. Republicans argue it increases chances for voter fraud. 'If voters want to vote by mail, absentee ballots should be requested by the voter and not automatically sent by the state to every voter on the registration rolls,' Republican Party Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on a call with reporters on Monday. She argued the lists used could be out of date, meaning ballots could be mailed to addresses where no registered voter lives. Five states conduct all their voting by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah. Republicans in Michigan could sue there to counter the ballot applications being sent out. Lawsuits are already underway in California against Newsom's decision. Multiple studies have shown there is little voter fraud in American elections. Democrats have argued Republicans oppose mail-in voting as it makes it easier for Democratic supporters - such as blue-collar workers who would have a tougher time taking off work to get a polling place - to vote. President Trump has voted absentee both when he lived in New York and when he switched his residency to Florida. Voters have indicated they support voting by mail, particularly this year. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late April found that around two-thirds of registered voters supported voting by mail in this year's election. In two-thirds of the states, any qualified voter may vote absentee without offering an excuse, and in one-third of the states, an excuse is required, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But many states - including West Virginia and Virginia - are adding fear of the coronavirus as a valid excuse to request an absentee ballot. House Democrats included $3.6 billion in election funding as part of the $3 trillion coronavirus relief package they unveiled last week. The money is intended to help states with programs like mail-in voting. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called voting by mail a 'health issue.' 'We cannot have people going to places that are predictably dangerous to their health,' she said Wednesday during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. Complications from the coronavirus has sparked fears, particularly among Democrats, that President Trump could use the coronavirus to delay or delegitimize November's contest. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrats' presumptive 2020 nominee, warned about the threat of a delayed election at a fundraiser last month. 'Mark my words, I think he is going to try to kick back the election somehow come up with some rationale why it can't be held,' he said of Trump. The coronavirus pandemic - which led to the cancellation of schools, delayed sporting events, closed churches and put an end to any large scale gatherings like the annual SXSW conference - has already affected the Democratic primary process. President Trump also has complained about mail-in voting, which could be used more because of the coronavirus, claiming it helps Democrats even as Republicans won last week's special election in California; above, voters line up to vote in that California race Voters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, line up to vote during the April 7 primary New York canceled its June primary because of the disease and 15 other states moved back or extended mail-in voting for their primaries. Such moves have been controversial and lawsuits have been filed with the argument people have the right to vote. New York's case illustrates that. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang sued the state over the move. And the judicial branch showed its strong commitment to protecting the right to vote, ordering the election to go forward. State officials have appealed. Additionally, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers lost his bid last month to delay his state's primary until June. The court ordered it to go forward amid criticism that in-person voting could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. Voters queued to vote on April 7 in long lines - many of them wearing face masks and practicing social distancing - due to the limited number of polling places open because of a shortage of workers to staff them. The Wisconsin Department of Health traced 19 cases of the coronavirus to that election. Trump has long sounded the voter fraud drum beat. After the 2016 election, he launched a voting integrity commission, led by then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to investigate Trump's unsubstantiated claim that between 3 million and 5 million ballots were illegally cast. The commission found no evidence of wrong doing. Trump disbanded it in 2018. M any of Londons leading homeless organisations have reiterated the Evening Standards call for action to be taken to stop the citys rough sleepers being turned back onto the streets once lockdown is ended. The comments came after our Special Report yesterday which detailed the steps taken at the start of the crisis to house Londons most vulnerable homeless in hotels to protect them from COVID-19. Many are now uncertain as to what will happen to them next as contracts between the citys authorities and the hotels, which were empty as tourists stopped coming to the city, are to run out in coming weeks. Pam Orchard, the Chief Executive of The Connection at St Martins, highlighted how more than 350 homeless people in Westminster alone have been helped into accommodation during the pandemic. This is an incredible achievement and one we should be very proud of, she said. However, there are still people on the streets who need our help and we are concerned about the commitment to continue funding hotel provision beyond next month. Its really important that we dont lose this momentum, and we continue to provide support to everyone who needs us. Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, added: As attention turns to what will happen when lockdown is lifted, we need to see Government set out clear plans as to how those in hotels will be helped into a safe and settled home, rather than being left to return to the streets. These plans must be backed up with dedicated funding to ensure they can happen - we cannot have made strides forward towards ending homelessness to then revert back once this is all over. The Big Issue faced particular challenges when the lockdown was announced as vendors were stopped from selling their magazines and lost contact with customers, which sustained many of them. Stephen Robertson, CEO of its foundation, said that the subsequent mobilisation to house Londons vulnerable homeless had helped ensure the citys homeless did not succumb to the worst aspects of the virus, as has occurred in some cities in the United States such as New York. He said that commitment must now continue: The speedy mobilisation of practical support for homeless rough sleepers in the pandemic has been impressive and much needed. Some people who previously were not engaging with services are now being supported. Moving forward we must see plans that ensure that the progress made in crisis is not lost in the return to a new normal. Lucy Abraham, COO of Glass Door, reiterated the Evening Standards message. There was an initial wave of people getting into hotels that really showed what can be done with a centralized approach, she said. The worry now is, what comes next. We are especially concerned about homeless migrants with no recourse to public funds, and about a new wave of homelessness, as people are unable to pay rent because of the lockdown and lose their places. For youth homelessness Centrepoint, support for Londons homeless will be just as important as the recovery begins and we continue our vital work to get young people into a job and a home. Seyi Obakin, its CEO, warned: "The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has tested all of us in different ways but the response from the public so far towards charities like Centrepoint and the homeless young people we work with has been incredible. But we are not out of the woods yet and cannot rest on our laurels. Apple stoked a controversy when it was caught allowing contractors access to Siri recordings. Now Irish regulatory authority, Data Protection Commissioner is once again investigating Apples Siri quality control process on the request of the former contractor. Former Apple contractor, Thomas Le Bonniec had requested European data protection regulators on May 20 to investigate Apples practices. Graham Doyle, Deputy Commissioner at the DPC was quoted as follows The DPC engaged with Apple on this issue when it first arose last summer and Apple has since made some changes. However, we have followed up again with Apple following the release of this public statement and await responses, he said, in reference to the letter. In addition, it should be noted that the European Data Protection Board is working on the production of guidance in the area of voice assistant technologies. As of now Apple has refrained from responding for a comment. The company took flak last year after contractors revealed that they had access to users Siri recordings. Apparently, Apple made employees listen to Siri recordings for quality control purposes. Meanwhile, the employees reportedly heard sensitive information that could be traced back to owners despite data anonymization. In August last year Apple withdrew its Siri quality control program and decided to change the way it works. Shortly thereafter, Apple ended Siris voice grading work that it had assigned to contractors. Since then the Siri quality control is taken care of by Apple employees who only have access to minimal Siri voice recordings for the quality control process. Irish DPC is now looking into the matter and will ensure that Apple is following due procedure when it comes to handling Siri recordings. It is also worth noting that Apple is facing a class-action lawsuit for letting contractors listen to private Siri recordings. [via Reuters Developer Sean Dunne (65) has suffered a major setback in his legal dispute with one of his sons over the multi-million euro proceeds from the sale of a Dublin mansion. Earlier this year the bankrupt 'Baron of Ballsbridge' issued proceedings against John Dunne (32) in New York, where his son lives, over 11.6m he claims is owed to a trust for four of his other children. But the businessman has suffered a setback after a US court gave permission for his bankruptcy trustee, Richard Coan, to intervene in the case. The trustee is opposing the lawsuit and has sought court approval to receive the cash as part of the settlement of a fraudulent transfer lawsuit. Moves by Mr Dunne to keep the case in a New York court also failed after a motion by his son and Mr Coan to move the case to a Connecticut court was approved. The Carlow-born developer filed for bankruptcy in the US state in 2013 with debts of around 700m. The decision on Monday by a New York District Court to move the case means the high-stakes lawsuit could be dealt with by a judge already familiar with the protracted bankruptcy during which Mr Dunne has been held in contempt of court. His case against his son revolves around the proceeds from the sale of Walford, on Shrewsbury Road, Dublin, a property now owned by a trust linked to financier Dermot Desmond, which bought it for around 14m in 2016. It became Ireland's most expensive home in 2005 when Mr Dunne bought it for his then wife Gayle Killilea (45) for 57.9m. But they never lived there and its beneficial ownership would become a major issue in the bankruptcy. Last year a US jury found Ms Killilea should pay 18m to the trustee in respect of assets which were fraudulently transferred by her ex-husband. The sum included the 14m proceeds from the sale of Walford. What remained of this money was held in a Swiss bank account by Yesreb Holdings, of which John Dunne was the principal. The cash was transferred to the trustee in February as part settlement of the fraudulent asset transfer finding. Mr Dunne tried to block the transfer, claiming the cash was owed to a trust for four children he had with Ms Killilea. This was disputed by lawyers for Ms Killilea and John Dunne, Sean Dunne's son from a previous marriage. In a court filing earlier this year, John Dunne denied no less than 17 allegations made by his father. While he admitted he was the sole director of Yesreb, he denied holding shares for his half-siblings or that it was intended he would act for their benefit as director. He also denied his father's claim that if the funds were depleted, his half-siblings would be "robbed of the benefits owed to them". Space is full of numerous mysterious and beautiful occurrences. From exploding supernovas to magnificent meteor showers, it has got it all and then some. And from the looks of it, researchers just saw what looks like the birth of a new planet -- something that has never been seen or captured before. ESO These observations were made with the help of the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope (published in Astronomy & Astrophysics). The planet took birth around the young star AB Aurigae in the form of a dense disc of dust and gas along with a spiral twisted structure -- a clear indicator of a planets formation. Anthony Boccaletti who led the study from the Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, France, explained, Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form. We need to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form. Astronomers already know that planets are born in dusty discs surrounding young stars, (like in this case, around AB Aurigae) as cold gas and dust fuse together. The new discovery with ESOs VLT will help provide crucial information to help scientists better understand this phenomenon. A planet is born According to Emmanuel Di Folco of the Astrophysics Laboratory of Bordeaux (LAB), France, who also participated in the study, The new images showcase this breathtaking phenomenon around AB Aurigae, located 520 light-years away from Earth. Spirals of this kind usually signify the presence of baby planets, which kick the gas, creating disturbances in the disc in the form of a wave, somewhat like the wake of a boat on a lake. That spiral twisting formation is noteworthy. According to co-author Anne Dutrey, The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation. It corresponds to the connection of two spirals one winding inwards of the planets orbit, the other expanding outwards which join at the planet location. They allow gas and dust from the disc to accrete onto the forming planet and make it grow. ESO European Southern Observatory is in process of constructing a 39-metre Extremely Large telescope which will better the state of the art ALMA and SPHERE telescopes to look to extrasolar worlds. Boccaletti feels this powerful telescope will allow astronomers to get more detailed images of the formation of the planets, stating, We should be able to see directly and more precisely how the dynamics of the gas contributes to the formation of planets. Take the journey into the stars and witness the birth of the planet below: Isn't it a simply amazing sight? Something about staring up at the forces of the universe seems therapeutic. Image: Shutterstock Editor's Note: The Indian government, on 29 June, banned 59 mobile apps. The Ministry of Information Technology said that these apps are engaged in activities which are "prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order. The list of apps included TikTok, Weibo and others. *** Tiktok censors posts in India that mention China or Tibet, but allows violent content including videos that glorify acid attacks. It's like hidden medicine in a dog's food bowl - Chinese propaganda amid tons of "fun" videos. #BanTikToklnlndia https://t.co/bnIoZAB6HH - Palki Sharma (@palkisu) May 19, 2020 TikTok Video of Mujibur Rehman Glorifying Rape Surfaces Online, Rekha Sharma Urges Government of India to Ban Video Sharing App @TajinderBagga @sharmarekha #BanTikToklnlndia #MujiburRehman #TikTok https://t.co/IJkQMlBL06 - LatestLY (@latestly) May 19, 2020 This video is enough to justify why #tiktok should be banned. They're showing that Hindu girl may get converted but muzlim girl won't. This is what chinese app is spreading in our country. #bantiktoklnlndia #bantiktok#tiktokexposed #tiktokdown #tiktokban #tiktokrating pic.twitter.com/rwAYwJN8sS - Gal Jammu Di (@GalJammuDi) May 19, 2020 TikTok is a platform that celebrates creativity & expression. We aim to create a positive in-app environment that brings people and communities together and request all our users to respect this intent. Read our Community Guidelines for more info: https://t.co/dI8keEdBSF pic.twitter.com/dgD4BzekvY - TikTok India (@TikTok_IN) May 19, 2020 Stop making a value system problem a technology problem. #TikTok #tiktokban - Manasa Manjunath (@ManeeManjunath) May 19, 2020 We need to talk about TikTok, the wildly popular video-sharing app. TikTok is huge. Its owner ByteDance, from China, is the world's most valued startup with an estimated market cap of $100 billion. In the quarter ending 31 March, TikTok was downloaded 315 million times - the highest number of downloads for any app in a quarter, surpassing even WhatsApp or Facebook.The social media app is apparently available in 141 countries, in 39 languages, boasts of the highest social media engagement rate and has 800 million active users worldwide. But it is India - TikTok's fastest-growing and largest market accounting for over 30 percent of the app's total downloads - where all the action is. Already, the app has been downloaded 611 million times in India. There are close to 200 million monthly active users and the company hopes to increase it by another 100 million by the end of 2020.According to a data analytics firm, Indians spent over 5.5 billion hours on TikTok in 2019. In December last year, the time spent on TikTok in India "was more than the next 11 countries combined".The reach, scale and level of engagement make TikTok India's most influential app that seems to have (quite speedily) broken through the access barriers of ethnicity, age, class, gender, geography and even socio-economic status in a way that other social media apps cannot dream of.The non-anonymous format of the video-creation app - where the user must put oneself out there as the medium to create and share content - makes TikTok a more 'honest' platform where self-consciousness takes a backseat. It is also a platform where the "real" meets "digital" lives - a segregation which is possible in other social media apps. Certain platforms such as Twitter and Reddit offer anonymity, and even in those based on real identities - such as Facebook or Instagram - one may curate or create a virtual version of oneself that could be a little different from the reality.In TikTok, that is not possible. As sociologist and columnist Pratyasha Rath writes , "In TikTok, non-anonymity hits you in the face. It is a medium where your body and your face are your ticket to expression. Unlike Twitter, where it is your words and your views. Slightly like Instagram but where the level of your uppityness is what matters. So, there are no anonymous users. And there are very little of manicured expressions. Because, unlike in the Instagram world, TikTok has people who do not have the time and importantly the money to create a better version of themselves at all times."This popularity, level of engagement and most importantly, equitability, make TikTok a true social media platform for the masses, and that is where the problem begins.First, it is owned by a firm in China - a country known for surreptitious harvesting of personal data and infamous globally for data espionage through its tech firms. We know about Huawei and the risks it poses to national security, but it is interesting to note that TikTok, too, has been the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed in the US where it has been accused of " illegally and secretly harvesting vast amounts of personally identifiable user data and sending it to China."TikTok has a feature where users may create videos and keep it private in a "draft" folder if it is unintended for sharing. According to the lawsuit, not only has the app transferred data to Chinese government through a backdoor, it also surreptitiously took "user content, such as draft videos never intended for publication , without user knowledge or consent."These are serious charges that forced TikTok, at least in the US, to open a " transparency centre " in its Los Angeles office.Second, TikTok is another tool for China's warped sense of censorship. It meticulously removes all reference and opinions that it deems are detrimental to Chinese national interest but has little regulatory or censorship control over pornographic, violent or child-abuse content.In fact, TikTok was briefly banned in India last year for encouraging pornography and making underage users vulnerable to sexual predators. Since this app is used mostly by millennials, this is an area of particular concern. Third, despite being once rapped on the knuckles, TikTok's enforcement of community guidelines remains suspect. It has courted controversy of late and its 'app rating' has also taken a severe beating after a spate of disturbing videos emerged in public sphere where users were seen creating and distributing content that mocked at, normalised or even glorified rape, sexual assaults and acid attacks on women, violence, animal abuse, sexualised representation of children, terrorism, religious conversion of Hindus and a lot of other disgusting imagery.Some of the content floating around is so depraved in nature that it is unfit for reference. The abusive content has led the National Commission of Women to file a complaint against a user and there have been widespread protests and outrage against the platform and sustained call for TikTok to be banned in India. On Twitter, #bantiktokindia was a top trend for several days and still continues to be among top three trends in India. The company has been forced to defend its community guidelines but it is evident that its regulatory mechanism is either broken or non-functional.It brings us to the point central of the debate. Given the depraved content being created on the platform, should TikTok be banned in India?The answer is an emphatic 'no'. Banning TikTok is not only pointless, it could even be counterproductive. There are two problems with this approach. First, banning is an inefficient form of censorship when it comes to cultural problems. As one Twitter user has pointed out, it barks up the wrong tree.As has been pointed out earlier, compared to all other social media platforms, TikTok is more inclusive and cuts across social, economic and other social access barriers. It is a more representative mass medium and mirrors perhaps to a greater extent the cultural churning that largely stays outside the elitist bubble of a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat.If TikTok reveals the thought process and content-consumption habits of an India where sexual violence is normalised, misrepresentation and abuse of women appears acceptable, then we must step outside our bubble and confront the deeper and corrosive cultural problem.It's worth noting that much of the content on TikTok that reflects a version of toxic masculinity (slapping a women after getting rejected, for example) also features women as equal and enthusiastic participants. Therefore, the issue resists a straightforward critique and demands better analysis.It isn't an urban-rural divide. The mindset that causes users to create and share such content is also reflected perhaps to a lesser degree in other platforms. The lewd messages targeting underage girls or gang-rape banter in Instagram or Snapchat group conversations is indicative of the same outlook. TikTok's format and user base has made the subterranean issue more mainstream. This is exactly why any ban on the app will be pointless. Unless the root cause is addressed, the content will simply move to another enabling platform.Not to forget the fact that a bulk of the tools that users in TikTok employ to show their creativity is drawn from Bollywood content that has long legitimised violence and sexual abuse of women. So, logically, Bollywood should also be banned. Banning a tech platform for a value-system issue misses the wood for the trees.Second, banning comes with its own set of problems. If one tech platform is banned for its content (whatever may be the reason), authorities may use the same logic to ban another platform which they don't like.The answer, therefore, lies not in banning TikTok but pressing it hard to put in place a better regulatory mechanism, holding it accountable for instances of omission, and taking legal and penal action against every user who violates the law of the land. More importantly, we must have honest conversations around the cultural issues that are being reflected on TikTok, and develop societal solutions. There is no quick fix.Original Source: South actor Allu Sirish took to Instagram and shared details of things he did in 2018 and what he's doing now in 2020, amid the lockdown. Sirish shared a collage in order to draw a comparison. In the 2018-19, Sirish was attending an event in Cannes, France, was touring Azerbaijan, enjoying a meal in Singapore and visited Lebanon. The Winnipeg Police Service bomb squad responded to a suspicious incident at a car dealership at the corner of Pembina Highway and Warsaw Street Wednesday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Winnipeg Police Service bomb squad responded to a suspicious incident at a car dealership at the corner of Pembina Highway and Warsaw Street Wednesday. Police were called to the scene around 11:45 a.m. after employees at the dealership discovered what appeared to be several incendiary devices connected to vehicles in the parking lot. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Soon after, the bomb squad was dispatched to the scene with a bomb-disposal robot. "People who work in the building behind us discovered what was believed to potentially be some incendiary devices associated to, or connected to, some vehicles in this lot," WPS spokesman Const. Rob Carver told reporters. "They saw some stuff at the vehicles that raised some concerns, it was actually near the gas tanks. Obviously, if a vehicle has been tampered with and has something associated to its gas tank, it could be dangerous. They did the right thing by calling us." Officers evacuated the surrounding area and cordoned off the dealership parking lot. They were there roughly three hours. An evacuated employee of a nearby business told the Free Press there appeared to be rags stuffed into the gas tanks of several vehicles in the lot, with a cord connected to at least two of them. Police dealt with the devices by 2:30 p.m. and left the scene. The investigation is ongoing. Carver said additional info will likely be released Thursday. Center for Responsible Lending virtual town hall focuses on COVID-19 and economic relief The Center for Responsible Lending hosted a discussion panel to address the impact of COVID-19 on various financial sectors as it relates to Black Americans on Monday evening. ADVERTISEMENT The non-profit research and policy organization is targeted towards the education surrounding predatory lending, a practice commonly directed towards minority communities. The virtual town hall, moderated by White House Correspondent and CNN Political Analyst April Ryan, focused primarily on the areas of small businesses, housing and student loans with a particular emphasis on minority and Black communities. I have approached the COVID-19 pandemic on the perspective of trying to imagine myself three years from now, looking back on this year and wondering what I will have missed? said NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill. What will we not have done to ensure the survival and health of the Black community? Opening remarks by Representative and Chair of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters concentrated on the importance of proper funding for small, minority-owned businesses especially when it comes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). ADVERTISEMENT In April, big banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and US Bank were accused of prioritizing their larger customers resulting in a lack of money for smaller businesses. We know that with the first roll-out of the CARES Act that banks and big financial institutions took care of their concierge clients and so we have many in our community that were absolutely disappointed, who stood in line even got numbers waiting to be contacted only to find out that the money had dried and they were left without the funding, Waters said. To rectify this, Waters has proposed a $60 billion supplemental emergency legislation for the Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), Community Development Financial Institution (CDFIs), Black banks, credit unions and community banks. Were working to correct what has been missing in our community for so many years. The [Small Business Administration] never paid real attention to the Black community, Waters said. According to Maxine Waters website $30 billion was assigned to MDIs, banks and credit unions with less than $50 billion in assets, and the remaining $30 billion was assigned to MDIs, CDFIs, certified development companies and microlenders that have less than $10 billion in assets. President and CEO of the National Bankers Association Kim Saunders advised during the panel that those looking to access the second round of PPP loans should start by speaking with their current bank. If the PPP loan is not offered, then those interested can contact someone by visiting nationalbankers.org for further assistance, Saunders said. A discussion on housing and its relation to COVID-19 was led by Lisa Rice, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. One of the things that the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis have revealed is the inexplicable links between health and housing. In order for us to get out of this pandemic, people must be able to be safely housed, Rice said. We cannot have people facing evictions or foreclosures or being forced to move into crowded situations where physical distancing is impossible. Rice said that 4 million instances of housing discrimination are reported every year and the annual Fair Housing Trends Report noted an 8 percent increase in complaints last year. The recently introduced HEROES Act is meant to reinforce fair housing and fair lending protections. According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, the HEROES Act proposes almost $200 billion in additional funding for housing and homelessness programs to help communities respond to the coronavirus crisis. Weve worked to ensure that this response to the COVID-19 crisis is fashioned to help dismantle the structural inequalities that are driving the horrific racial disparities that were seeing, Rice said. Student loan forgiveness has also been a talking point surrounding the effects of the coronavirus with America maintaining almost $1.7 trillion in student loan debts this year. Ashley Harrington, federal advocacy director of the Center for Responsible Lending, noted that although the Department of Education has paused federal loans for six months, this does not apply to private student loans. We were already struggling with student debt. Now we see that this economic and public health crisis is going to exacerbate a crisis that already existed and it was even more of a crisis for Black people, Harrington said. According to the Brookings Institution, Black BA graduates default their loans at five times the rate of White BA graduates. Harrington said student loans can prevent people from buying homes or starting businesses and families due to the looming debt. What wed like to see is across the board relief in terms of debt cancellation and so were hoping that other folks will help advocate for across the board debt cancellation for all borrowers not just for our economically distressed because economically distressed right now looks very different than economically distressed did a month or two months ago and its going to continue to look different as this crisis continues, Harrington said. Executive Vice President of the Center for Responsible Lending Nikitra Bailey said that while relief now is important, a permanent change in the systems that influence disparities within minority communities is also paramount. We need to demand more and we have to make sure as were demanding more [that] were fighting for long term structural changes that will address the inequities that produce discrimination and challenges that were living with today, Bailey said. A doctor who serves on West Boylstons Board of Health is demanding the town fire Police Chief Dennis Minnich, after the chief sent an email claiming Gov. Charlie Bakers shut down was unconstitutional," according to the Telegram & Gazette. The town, however, reports the matter is resolved. The report said on May 17, Minnich sent an email to Karyn Clark, the director of the Department of Public Health in Worcester, which provides health inspectional services to West Boylston. The email read, Karyn, I hope that all is well with you. I am alerting all of our businesses today that this shut down is unconstitutional and illegal and that the PD will not enforce any actions by the B of H and furthermore that they should advise the agents of the B of H to leave the premises immediately. The WBPD will most certainly follow trespassing policies which are to arrest trespasses after notice. Please advise your personnel so as to avoid any issues. These so called Orders by the Governor are not valid nor (constitutional) and will not be enforced. Respectfully, Dennis Minnich, Chief. Dr. John Sullivan, who specializes in allergy and immunology at UMass Memorial and is a member of the towns board of health, took Minnichs email as a threat that the chief would arrest public health officials and demanded he be fired, the report said. I am absolutely incensed by this email and believe that Mr. Minnich should be dismissed from the West Boylston police Department, Sullivan wrote in an email to Town Administrator Nancy Lucier on Monday, the report said. I find this email unfathomable for a police chief leader in a community trying to manage its way through a life threatening epidemic, Sullivan told the Telegram. Minnich told MassLive he regretted the wording of the email and that what he intended to make clear was that he did not feel the enforcement of the governors orders on businesses were police responsibilities, but that of the Board of Health. The way the law is written, the Board of Health is the enforcement authority, Minnich said. And they may ask the police for assistance. Then if they have to go back again, they have the opportunity to fine them. And then, if the businesses keeps violating, it has to go to the state because the Board of Health does not have the right to shut a business down in that capacity." The chief said he and his officers would be available to keep the peace if any altercations arose. Minnich says he does view the governors orders as unconstitutional, but that it doesnt matter what his personal opinion is. Upon being made aware of the email, Sullivan requested the topic be placed on the Board of Selectmens agenda for Wednesday night, the T&G reported. Lucier told MassLive the matter has been resolved. I spoke with Dr. Sullivan and he thanked me for the action taken, Lucier said in a statement shared with MassLive. The Chief never meant for his words to be construed as a threat, he apologized, and he intends to support the Board of Health should they have a need for assistance with any safety concerns. I was scheduled to speak with the Director of Public Health yesterday, however, that call is in the process of being rescheduled. I consider the matter closed, and have deemed it to be resolved. If I could retract that email and start all over again, I certainly would, Minnich said. Related Content: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Thursday again nudged the states to strictly follow lockdown guidelines, particularly the night curfew - from 7 pm to 7 am as it is mandated to make sure people observe social distancing to prevent the coronavirus disease from spreading. In his letter to the states, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said the night curfew that prohibits all non-essential activities and movement between 7pm and 7am across the country is an important element of the MHA guidelines, which were issued on Sunday for the fourth phase of lockdown, extended till May 31. However, Bhalla said, it has been brought to the notice of MHA, through media reports and other sources, that there are violations at various places, in the implementation of guidelines. He asked local authorities to issue orders in the entirety of their jurisdiction for imposition of the night curfew. Bhallas letter doesnt name any particular state, however, it comes three days after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banreeje, while issuing the guidelines for the state, had ruled out the enforcement of the night curfew. We wont officially declare night curfew because people are already under a lot of stress. We do not want to increase their suffering. But we will request people not to venture out of their homes between 7 pm and 7 am or else police will take action, Banerjee had said on Monday. She had said that the word curfew had bad connotations and people should not feel suffocated. An MHA official, who did not wish to be named, said the lockdown guidelines were issued after consulting all the states. If they dont follow these, then it is a clear violation and the states doing so are putting their people at risk, the officer said. On Monday, the ministry had reminded all states that they cannot dilute the lockdown guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act. Bhalla, on Thursday, also asked the states to properly delineate the containment zones and take action if the violations are reported in any of the zones red, orange or green. The national directives, issued along with the guidelines, should also be followed throughout the country, he said. These include wearing masks, social distancing at work, transport and public places and maintaining hygiene and sanitation etc as they are important to contain the spread of Covid-19 and protecting individuals and community, the letter adds. I would request all chief secretaries and administrators of union territories to remain vigilant in the fight against Covid-19 and ensure all measures that have either been mandated by MHA, or laid down by the states, are scrupulously adhered to at all levels, Bhalla added. A York County resident who hit a Red Lobster employee across the face because her to-go order was taking too long has been charged with harassment and trespassing, Pennsylvania State Police said. Cathy Lynn Hill, of York, was one of about a hundred people to order from Red Lobsters East Market Street location on May 10, or Mothers Day, according to the state polices affidavit of probable cause. When the 52-year-old realized shed have to wait hours for her order to be completed, Hill asked for a refund and became irate. Making her way into the restaurants vestibule area, a face mask-less Hill shouted that she wanted her [expletive] money back, the state police report said. Hill continued to argue and shove her way inside, despite employees requests for her to leave, police said. Hill did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Store employees said the wait time was longer than usual because of the holiday and limited staffing during the coronavirus pandemic. One Red Lobster employee told police she pushed Hill out of the building while the 52-year-old continued to try shoving past her. Things quickly took a turn when Hill hit her, the police report said. Officers said the employee grabbed Hills hair before the pair could be separated. Hill later told officers that the employee was trying to choke her out, and that shed only swatted at her in self defense. State police said they received an overwhelming yes when they asked the crowd outside the restaurant if Hill started the confrontation. Authorities said a fellow customers cell phone video shows Hill being pushed out of the restaurant while screaming and assaulting the employee. Of the York confrontation, Red Lobster said We do not tolerate violence for any reason in our restaurants. We expect our team members treat our guests with respect, and we expect our guests to treat our team members with respect in return. We are grateful our manager and the guest involved were not seriously injured in the incident on [Mothers Day]. Long wait times were also reported at Red Lobsters in Mechanicsburg, Pittsburgh and in other states, including New York and Illinois. Hill admitted to police that she pre-paid for an order and was upset about the wait. She was arraigned on May 15 and charged with trespassing, harassment and disorderly conduct. READ MORE: Waffle House customer shoots cook after 3 attempts to order food without a mask Man charged with selling heroin arrested at Pa. home where 3 people have ODd this year: police Man charged with 125 wildlife crimes involving bald eagles, wolves, bear, deer: Michigan officials Bob Behnkens neighbors wore Team Bob shirts and waved American flags as the NASA astronaut left his Timber Cove home for Ellington Airport on Wednesday, his final day in Houston before next weeks historic launch from Kennedy Space Center. This neighborhood has long been home to NASA astronauts, engineers and flight directors. And its current residents wanted to make this launch, which ends a nine-year hiatus of launching astronauts from Florida, special for Behnken. Especially since COVID-19 is preventing many people from watching it in person. We just need to celebrate this flight, said Timber Cove resident Lorna DeArmond, and show our support for our crew and their families. More on the mission: The beginning of a new era: NASA astronauts prepare to fly in a capsule once again On May 27, Behnken and Doug Hurley are set to become the first NASA astronauts to reach orbit on a vehicle owned by an American company. NASA has historically owned the rockets, spacecraft and shuttles that departed Florida to carry its people into space. It has relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft since retiring the space shuttle in 2011. But now, through NASAs Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts are launching on a vehicle designed and owned by SpaceX. NASA has provided funding and expertise to ensure the safety of its astronauts. It will remain involved during the May 27 countdown and launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, during the astronauts time in space (theyll spend from 30 to 119 days on the International Space Station), and through the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. After Behnken and Hurley return home, NASA and SpaceX will review the data. NASA must certify SpaceXs human spaceflight system before it can begin more routine flights to the International Space Station.NASA purchases seats on the SpaceX flights as a customer. Were doing it differently than weve ever done it before, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a news conference welcoming the astronauts to Kennedy Space Center Wednesday afternoon. NASA is not going to purchase, own and operate the hardware the way we used to purchase, own and operate the hardware. We are partnering with commercial industry with the intent that they would go get customers that are not NASA and drive down our cost and increase the access to space. Bridenstine also noted that July 4, 2011, was the last time a crew flew into Kennedy Space Center ahead of their shuttle launch. Hurley happened to be part of that crew. Its incredibly humbling to be here to start out the next launch from the United States, Hurley said. Behnken added that this mission, being on the test flight for a new spacecraft, would have been No. 1 on our list of dream jobs when graduating from military test pilot schools. Behnken attended the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and Hurley attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. Its a historic flight, said DeArmond, the Timber Cove resident. Were returning to the International Space Station from American soil on American-made rockets. DeArmond, who has worked for NASA contractors at Johnson Space Center since 1986, was invited to attend the launch before the COVID-19 pandemic restricted the number of attendees. She still wanted to commemorate the event, so DeArmond sent an email to her neighbors encouraging them to put signs in their yards or front windows. Her yard has a sign that says Launch America and God Speed Colonel Behnken. Its really to pass along the tradition to the kids here in this neighborhood, she said. After the May 27 launch: Houston-born astronaut Shannon Walker to ride on SpaceX Crew Dragon to space station Stacy Butler, who attended Behnkens send-off with her children Finn, 4, and Zoey, 1, placed signs in her front yard Monday. Finn helped paint the American flag sign that says Good Luck Astronaut Bob. Weve been supporting astronauts as long as I remember, said Butler, who does not work for NASA. I grew up in this neighborhood, and now Im raising my family in this neighborhood. Its just something weve always done. andrea.leinfelder@chron.com twitter.com/a_leinfelder Italian premier calls on Italians to take staycation in Italy. Rome mayor Virginia Raggi has invited Italians to spend their summer holidays in the capital - which she described as "a safe city" - as Italy's battered tourism industry begins to reopen after the coronavirus emergency. "Come to Rome, we are waiting for you with open arms," Raggi said during an interview with RadioRock, reports Italian news agency ANSA. Calling on to Italians to vacation in their capital, "even if the borders are reopened," Raggi said the city's tourism sector has been in trouble since February with the collapse of the international market. Read also: Raggi said the solution to emerging from the crisis lay in getting the message out that Rome is a safe city, whose restaurants and bars are reopening, and by promoting this image abroad. The mayor's comments on 21 May coincided with a call by the Italian premier Giuseppe Conte for Italians to spend their summer holidays in Italy to discover and revisit the country's beauty spots, to help "relaunch the nation." The Biden campaign says it firmly rejects the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in the US and elsewhere. Progressive activists in the United States roundly rejected assertions by the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Joe Biden, that criticism of Israel and its policies in the occupied territories too often drifts towards anti-Semitism and must be condemned. Criticism of Israels policy is not anti-Semitism, Biden said during a phone call with major donors earlier this week. But too often that criticism from the left morphs into anti-Semitism. The call was part of a virtual fundraiser hosted by Dan Shapiro, a former ambassador to Israel, and Deborah Lipstadt, a professor of Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University. The Biden campaign said 550 people attended. Biden was asked during the call how to respond to anti-Semitism among progressive Democratic activists in both the US and the United Kingdom. We have to condemn it, and Ive gotten in trouble for doing that, the former vice president replied. Whatever the source, right, left or centre. The Biden campaign later released a policy paper saying it firmly rejects the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which was launched by Palestinians in 2005 to generate pressure on Israel to comply with international law and uphold Palestinian human rights. Biden said the movement singles out Israel home to millions of Jews and too often veers into anti-Semitism, while letting Palestinians off the hook for their choices. In a statement released following reports about Bidens comments, leaders of the BDS movement under the auspices of the Palestinian BDS National Committee said Democratic voters should be endorsing the movement instead of rejecting it. By rejecting BDS, Joe Biden endorses US complicity in Israels decades-old regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid, and supports depriving Palestinians of our fundamental human rights, the group said. Joe Biden firmly rejects the BDS movement, shamefully opposing the global nonviolent struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice & equality. Cutting US military aid to Israel is vital to the progressive agenda of #HealthcareNotWarfare and social, racial, climate & gender justice. pic.twitter.com/JtMHYocXnU BDS movement (@BDSmovement) May 20, 2020 Biden has struggled to unite a Democratic Party deeply divided between an older, more moderate wing personified by the presumptive candidate and younger progressives who gravitated towards his rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, during the primaries before Sanders withdrew from the election. The progressive wing has been outspoken in its opposition to Israels policies towards Palestinians, particularly under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a pool report regarding the call, Biden did not cite any specific examples of anti-Semitic comments on the left or specifically identify individuals or groups that he was concerned about. He did, however, say that he was disappointed in Netanyahu for moving so, so far to the right and called for Israel to stop the threat of annexation of occupied West Bank territories. Itll choke off any hope of peace, Mr. Biden said on the call. Biden said his commitment to Israel is absolutely unshakable and promised to reverse several policies pursued by the administration of US President Donald Trump if elected in November, including restoring diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority and economic and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. The COVID-19 pandemic, by exposing the staggering incompetence and indifference to human life of capitalist governments worldwide, has vastly intensified class conflict. This spring, workers from Italy to the United States and Brazil launched a wave of wildcat strikes and walkouts to demand protective equipment and the right to shelter at home. As governments, banks and trade unions internationally organize a politically criminal campaign to get workers back to work without sufficient testing or protection, the pandemic is unmasking the pro-imperialist middle class groups that the ruling class has long falsely marketed as the left. Workers can only fight the pandemic through a political and organizational break with these parties and affiliated unions, who are complicit in policies leading to mass deaths. This emerges from the reactionary statement, titled Lets build the transition to ecosocialism now, issued last month by a coalition of petty bourgeois parties including Frances Pabloite New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA), the Anticapitalistas in Spains Podemos government, Denmarks Red-Green Alliance (RGA), the Socialist and Liberty Party (PSOL) in Brazil, the Nava Sama Samaja Party in Sri Lanka and Socialist Action in the United States. While they style themselves the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International (EBFI), their hostility to the working class and to Trotskyismthat is, to Marxist internationalismis virtually self-evident. Their statement maintains a deafening silence on the reactionary back-to-work policy, on war propaganda against China and obscene bank bailouts agreed in the imperialist countries, and on plans for mass layoffs and austerity amid the economic collapse triggered by the pandemic. Instead, they issue a nationalist, backward-looking attack on global supply chains that employ hundreds of millions of workers and are transporting food and medicine to billions worldwide: COVID-19 is a pandemic of neoliberalism, a product of this globalized phase of capitalism. Capitalism, driven by neoliberal globalization, has extended its mantle over the entire planet. Global production chains, which are provided for corporations to increase their profits, make each country vulnerable to the slightest crisis, and the hyper-mobility that sustains them has eliminated any health and ecological safety mechanism. A predatory relationship with nature, based on the use of fossil fuels and large capitalist agriculture, with its green deserts, destroys both the balance of the fundamental cycles of the Earth system (carbon, water, nitrogen) and the relationship of human beings with the biosphere, with the web of life of which we are only a part. The claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is punishment for globalization and for industrys immoral relationship to nature is a lie. The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus caused the pandemic, but responsibility for its scope and impact lies with capitalist governments, above all in the imperialist centers of America and Europe. They did not promptly fund shelter-at-home policies, instead handing bailouts of trillions of dollars and euros to the banks, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and greater spread of the virus. The premature return to work will claim thousands more lives. International industry and science are not causes of the pandemic, but tools the working class can use to fight it. International travel has vastly increased since the 1970s and the emergence of transnational industrial production was made possible by advances in computer, container and transport technology. This does accelerate the initial spread of diseases. However, to conclude from this that globalization causes pandemics is absurd. A highly contagious virus like SARS-CoV-2 would spread internationally, with or without modern travel and trade. Going back to the 1918 flu pandemic, the Middle Ages and even the Roman Empire, pandemics of smallpox, influenza, cholera and plague spread internationally, killing millions. Compared to these earlier eras, 21st century technology gives humanity astonishing scientific and manufacturing capabilities to mobilize against a pandemic. In a few weeks, international teams of scientists identified the SARS-CoV-2 virus, published its genome and provided diagnostic tests for COVID-19. The ways it is transmitted were identified. The globalization of industry also means that dozens of countries can make protective equipment, respirators and medicine that previously would have been difficult to mass produce outside the imperialist centers. Billions of working people legitimately expect and demand such resources be harnessed to fight the pandemic. By directly and urgently posing the task of using economic resources to meet social needs, the pandemic put the existing social order to the test. Capitalism, which organizes the economy based on private profit instead of social needs, failed miserably. It was well known in ruling circles, for nearly two decades since the 2002 SARS epidemic, that such a pandemic was a danger. Yet work on vaccines and treatments for coronavirus was underfunded and largely abandoned. This year, even in wealthy countries, testing, respirators and protective equipment were not ready for the population. Even masks were often unavailable, including for medical staff in the front line of the fight. Another key failure of capitalism, no doubt, is the fact that its development of the productive forces harms the environment. Agribusiness has been the subject of devastating exposures and burning fossil fuels to generate energy has triggered unprecedented global warming. However, these are global problems, requiring the international mobilization of scientific and industrial resources to produce healthy food, eliminate pollution and halt global warming. Such problems cannot be solved with calls to turn the clock back to the era before globalization, end large-scale agriculture or limit economic exchanges to the borders of the nation-state. The force that can be mobilized to use global industry in a planned, scientifically guided way is the international working class. By organizing in committees of action, independent from the unions in their workplaces and via social media, workers can not only ensure workplace safety, but take control of industry and use it to launch a global fight against the virus based not on profit, but medical science. However, this means an international struggle to expropriate the financial aristocracy, take state power and build socialism. It requires, in particular, a conscious political break with the reactionary layers of middle class academics, union officials and media operatives represented by the EBFI. The EBFIs ecosocialism is but a green veneer designed to cover up its support for bank bailouts and other right-wing policies of the ruling class. Its statement declares, In this situation, the vast majority of governments have been forced to take extreme measures. We must defend measures that attack the form and substance of neoliberalism and the capitalist system. Even as mass layoffs are being prepared, it denounces industry, saying: The current crisis shows clearly that a significant part of capitalist production is purely predatory, totally superfluous and wasteful. It adds that a massive industrial readjustment can be done in a relatively short timescale, depending on political will. These charlatans imply that capitalist states bailouts and payment of unemployment insurance attack the substance of capitalism. They claim the pandemic shows that significantly decreased working hours can produce essential goods and that wage and income guarantees and universal access to health and educational systems are totally viable in a transitional regime, in which the energy and productive systems are totally replaced, and enormous contingents of workers are shifted to different economic sectors compatible with an ecosocialist transition... What a fraud! The pandemic has demonstrated not that the existing order is capable of progressive change, but its bankruptcy, its inhumanity and the necessity of its overthrow. Far from ensuring universal access to health and welfare, capitalist governments left millions at home without care, denied elderly people life-saving treatment based on barbaric age criteria and are now forcing workers back to work amid the pandemic. In wealthy European countries, even as trillions of euros are lavished on bank bailouts, workers survive on miserly benefits and millions go hungry or depend on charity in working class districts of major cities. Internationally, a quarter-billion human beings are in danger of starving due to disruptions in global agriculture and trade and hundreds of millions of workers are in danger of losing their jobs. The pandemic has exposed the ecosocialism of the EBFI and a whole host of similar pseudo-left groups. It exploits ecological questions to repudiate class politics, socialism and Marxism. If it is still marketed fraudulently as an anticapitalist strategy by petty-bourgeois, anti-Marxist groups, that has nothing to do with left-wing let alone socialist or working class politics. It is two-thirds of a century since the political ancestors of the EBFI broke with Trotskyism and split in 1953 with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). Led by Michel Pablo and Ernest Mandel, they demanded that the Fourth International be politically dissolved into Stalinist and bourgeois nationalist parties that had dominated the mass revolutionary movements of the 1940s against fascism and colonialism. Through these partieswhich had blocked the working class from taking power and thus preserved capitalist rule in decisive parts of Europe, Africa and Asia after World War IIthe Pabloites adapted to the post-war capitalist set-up. The Pabloites rejection of a struggle for power by the working class won them a following among petty-bourgeois layers of the 1960s youth movement that emerged in the anti-Vietnam War movement and in the run-up to the 1968 French general strike. The leading figures in the EBFI parties are largely members of this generation, recruited into the Pabloite movement based on gender, racial and ethnic identity politics. This outlook also brought them into alignment with anti-Marxist petty-bourgeois intellectuals developing various forms of Green politics. These conceptions were spelled out in a 1964 work, Workers Strategy and Neo-capitalism, by Andre Gorz. A French-Austrian postmodernist who in 1980 published an attack on Marxism titled Farewell to the Proletariat, Gorz was a proponent of political ecology. He wrote that from within the capitalist system, the left should make proposals to radically transform society with structural reforms, such as in environmental policy. While explicitly advocating reforms under capitalism, Gorz claimed that these were revolutionary, or even socialist measures: It is not necessarily reformist to demand reforms not based on what is possible within a given social or managerial system, but what must be made possible given human needs and demands. Gorz was laying out a form of theoretically conscious political cynicism: while supporting continued capitalist rule, he advanced demands he admitted were unrealizable within this social order. He ambiguously called his theory a progressive strategy for a taking of power by the working class that does not rule out the possibility or perhaps the necessity of a revolutionary seizure of power at a later stage. This was Gorzs way of signaling that he intended to relegate the revolutionary seizure of power by the working class to a faraway, indefinite future. In practice, this meant a green light to various bourgeois or petty-bourgeois parties to cover their reactionary politics by advancing radical-sounding demands without having any intention of fighting for them. After 1968, such corrupt writings provided a theoretical justification for alliances between the Pabloite organizations and a raft of newly-founded bourgeois parties, like Frances Socialist Party (PS), founded in 1971, Greeces Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) founded in 1974 and Brazils Workers Party in 1980. These bourgeois parties promised radical, socialist and ecological policies to win support and votes and then invariably betrayed these promises once in office. Propped up by Stalinist and Pabloite parties, however, they played leading roles in bourgeois politics for decades. Over the three decades since the Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, the antagonism between the working class and this corrupt political order has become impossible to suppress. Stalinisms restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union fully vindicated Leon Trotskys warnings of its counterrevolutionary role. Amid rising social anger and political disillusionment among workers internationally, events also fully vindicated the ICFIs principled opposition to the pseudo-left politics of the Pabloite organizations. At its 2009 founding congress, the NPA formally renounced even a symbolic link with Trotskyism and hailed its already close and longstanding links with the PS. This eliminated the last ideological obstacle to an enthusiastic embrace of right-wing policies by the NPA. Leading NPA member Francois Sabado responded to the obscene European bank bailouts in 2009, after the Wall Street crash, by calling to increase them: According to Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman, Obamas plan for a bailout of over 5 percent of GDP will only deal with half the probable impact of the recession... To put it mildly, the European bailouts are undersized: 1.3 percent of GDP in Britain, 1 percent in France, 0.8 percent in Germany, 0.1 percent in Italy. Sabado welcomed the 2009 bailouts as more state intervention in the economy, to save banks, for industrial and financial concentration and restructuring. Its a change compared to the free-market policy of less and less government of Reagan and Thatcher. In fact, trillions of dollars and euros handed over to the super-rich were a signal for an international assault on the working class of unprecedented ferocity. Internationally, the social democratic and nationalist parties with which the EBFI parties had allied themselves collapsed amid growing outrage among workers at their austerity policies. PASOK suffered an electoral disintegration into a small rump in 2015, followed by the French PS in 2017. The Workers Party in Brazil was ousted from power in 2016 by a right-wing regime-change operation, after its popularity had collapsed. Since then, the ruling class has increasingly integrated pseudo-left parties like those of the Pabloite EBFI into the state machine to wage war and austerity against the workers. They backed the 2011 NATO war against Libya, the arming of rebel groups in Syria and the NATO-led regime-change operation and resulting civil war in Ukraine in 2014. In 2015, the EBFI hailed the election of its Greek ally, Syriza (the Coalition of the Radical Left), which imposed draconian social cuts and set up mass refugee detention camps. EBFI parties are in two austerity governments in Europe: the Spanish Anticapitalistas joined the Podemos-Spanish Socialist Party government, while the RGA is part of the Danish governments parliamentary coalition. The EBFIs role in hailing and implementing right-wing policies makes it ever more acutely aware of its violent hostility to Marxism. One of the students won to Pabloism in France after the 1968 general strike was the Franco-Brazilian NPA member and co-author of a 2001 Ecosocialist Manifesto, Professor Michael Lowy. Asked to discuss ecosocialism in a 2012 interview with the ex-Stalinist magazine Mouvements, Lowy replied: Of course, ecosocialism is not in solidarity with the so-called socialisms of the 20th century, social-democracy and Stalinism. It also calls for questioning and criticizing the limits of Marxism. Among what he saw as the limits of Marxism, Lowy stressed its conception of a revolutionary crisis and the necessity of socialist revolution arising from the growth of humanitys productive forces: The most important limit is the concept of development of the productive forces and the idea that socialism must suppress capitalist production relations because they have become obstacles or chains that block their development. Ecosocialism breaks definitively with this conception. Lowy added that his ecosocialism is closely linked to his support for romantic anticapitalism. He defined this as a cultural protest against modern capitalist and industrial civilization in the name of certain values of the past. Romanticism protests against mechanization, instrumental rationalization, reification, the dissolving of communal ties and the quantification of social relations. The pandemic has exposed the historical bankruptcy of these backward-looking, pessimistic politics of the pro-imperialist petty-bourgeoisie. For decades, the risk of pandemics, the threat of global warming and other urgent environmental problems were well known, yet virtually nothing was done; the cost in human lives from the COVID-19 pandemic alone could easily run into the millions. Environmental problems cannot in fact be solved without the international working class first seizing power in a struggle for socialism against the capitalist nation-state system. To wage such a struggle, however, the developing movement in the international working class must be armed with a clear understanding of the class gulf separating revolutionary Marxism from the ecosocialist politics of the middle-class pseudo-left organizations. Already before the pandemic, an unprecedented global wave of protests and strikes against social inequality was unfolding. The year 2018 saw mass teachers strikes in a rebellion against the American union bureaucracy and Frances yellow vest protests organized via social media. Last year saw the first national teachers strike in Poland since the Stalinist regime restored capitalism in 1989, strikes organized via social media by Portuguese nurses, and mass protests in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and beyond. The era when the impact of the Stalinist regimes restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union was enough to suppress the international class struggle and the struggle for socialism is over. Now, the back-to-work policy amid the pandemic is creating conditions for a powerful new struggle mobilizing the working class internationally. In 2017, there were nearly 1 billion workers in industry alone. As masses of farmers across Asia and Africa traveled to the cities to find work, the ranks of the working class grew by 1.2 billion between 1980 and 2010. The struggle to impose a rational, scientific plan against the pandemic unites the working class across racial, national and gender lines in irreconcilable opposition to the financial aristocracy. This brings the working class into ever more direct conflict with the parties of the EBFI. They do not support, but fear workers' struggleswhich is reflected in the fact that the French NPA initially denounced the yellow vests as far-right mobs. And so when the EBFI statement does propose a movement, it is one that leaves out the working class and omits industrial action of any sort or any struggle to take political power. Instead, hailing initiatives from movements of women, young people and the environment, it states: There are examples of these initiatives from the population or organized sectors, such as peasants, indigenous peoples, unemployed people and communities on the outskirts of large cities, the networks of feminist solidarity, among others. These initiatives are forging very interesting alternatives, such as the collective manufacture of fabric masks to donate to the population in order to ensure the prevention of contagion, the donation and alternative production of food, the defense of the public health system and the demand to access it universally, the requirement of guaranteeing labor rights and the payment of wages, the denunciation of the increase in the escalation of violence against women and the grueling work of care done by them during isolation at home, among others. Such policiesmobilizing farmers' confederations, organizations based on racial or ethnic identity, and feminist groups, as substitutes for the working classare inadequate on their face to deal with the pandemic. Why should workers beg for charitable donations of alternative food, when it is the working class that transports, works up and markets food in the main industrial food chain? How can the bourgeoisies austerity drive and its devastating impact on public health systems worldwide be ended only by local movements of peasant, indigenous and womens groups? And why should the population be satisfied with handmade fabric masks, when safer, more effective masks and other protective equipment can be more efficiently manufactured in factories? If the political operatives who run the EBFI spoke honestly, they would reply: The population should accept handmade masks so factories can be left under the control of the banks and the ruling class, and so stock dividends can continue pouring into our own portfolios. If this costs millions of lives, they would add, so be it. The pandemic threat to billions of lives has revealed the irreconcilable conflict between the interests of working people and those represented by the petty-bourgeois pseudo-left. This conflict underlies the ICFIs decades-long, principled defense of the traditions of the October Revolution and of Trotskyism against organizations like the EBFI. The decisive question facing the international working class as it enters into struggle is to ensure its political independence from these middle class forces. As they see workers build safety committees, committees of action and other organizations of struggle outside the grip of the union bureaucracies, they will seek to intervene. However, it will be to divide the movement and tie it to the capitalist nation-state system. The revolutionary alternative for workers seeking to defend their lives, their living conditions and their organizations of struggle is the ICFIs defense of Marxist internationalism against the pseudo-left. China's ceremonial parliament will consider a bill that could limit opposition activity in Hong Kong, a spokesperson said Thursday, appearing to confirm speculation that China will sidestep the territory's own lawmaking body in enacting legislation to crack down on activity Beijing considers subversive. Zhang Yesui said the National People's Congress will deliberate a bill on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security. Such a move has long been under consideration but was hastened by months of anti-government protests last year in the former British colony that was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997. Such legislation was last proposed in 2003 under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, bringing hundreds of thousands of the territory's citizens out in protest. The proposal was withdrawn by the government but Beijing has increasingly pushed for measures such as punishment for disrespecting the Chinese national flag and anthem and increased pro-China patriotic-themed education in schools. Opposition in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, however, made it unlikely such a bill could pass at the local level. The new measures are required by the new situation and demands" and action at the national level is entirely necessary," Zhang said. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper said a draft resolution would be brought before the National People's Congress on Friday afternoon and voted on at the end of its session on May 28. The congress' standing committee that handles most actual legislation will then consider the details of the measure, the newspaper said. A vote at the NPC will add to concerns in Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp that Beijing is chipping away at the semi-autonomous territory's rights to assembly and free speech that greatly exceed those permitted by the ruling Communist Party in mainland China. Zhang's comments at a conference came on the eve of the opening of the congress's annual session after a two-month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday saw the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body. That will be followed Friday by the start of the 3,000-member NPC at which Premier Li Keqiang will deliver a keynote speech outlining economic and social goals for the year. The holding of the two sessions, as the annual meetings are known, is a further sign of what the party says is its success in bringing the outbreak under control, although clusters of cases are still popping up in some parts of the country. Members of the Consultative Conference will tell the world about how China, as a responsible major country, has taken firm action and contributed to international cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, Wang Yang, the chairman of the body, said in a report to the opening session. Wang's comments were in the prepared text distributed to journalists, although he skipped over them in his delivery, apparently to save time. Rank-and-file members wore masks in the vast auditorium inside the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing. Other top officials, including Wang, Li and President Xi Jinping, did not. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a moment of crisis and uncertainty, space explorationperhaps the most expensive and aspirational of human endeavorsmight not feel essential. But Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the NASA Psyche mission and managing director and co-chair of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, thinks its more important than ever. If theres ever a time we need to be inspired beyond ourselves, its now, she said in Tuesdays Future Tense web event Social Distancing, Meet Space Exploration. Elkins-Tanton was joined by Ellen Stofan, director of the National Air and Space Museum and former chief scientist of NASA, in a discussion about how the pandemic is impacting space exploration, in practical and profound ways. Advertisement Space exploration can teach us how to survive social distancing, as Kate Greene wrote about for Future Tense in March. Quarantine is something astronauts know a lot about, said Stofan. She noted that quarantining before a mission has been standard practice since the beginning of space travel. Since astronauts on the International Space Station have to withstand extended periods of isolation and loneliness, studies on astronaut mental health can guide us through social distancing. Elkins-Tanton pointed out that social distancing is a misnomer; while we have to physically distance, maintaining social connection has been proven to be crucial to the well-being of people both in space and on Earth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elkins-Tanton also asked Stofan how leaders can justify investing in space while weighing so many other priorities. Stofan said that inspiring future scientists and spurring technological innovation is well worth the cost of space exploration. Plus, research on microgravity and its effects on cells on the International Space Station could teach us about vaccines and immunotherapy. But more broadly, she said, When you invest in doing something really hard, you return that investment in spades to the U.S. economy. Advertisement Advertisement Part of that investment comes from a growing private space industry that will push exploration (literally) farther. Elkins-Tanton has received questions about how private companies getting involved with space transport, like the impending SpaceX rocket launch on May 27, will affect space missions. Stofan views private space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origins as an and, not an or, creating opportunity for the national space programs to refocus on exploration. The more the private sector steps up, the more the public sector steps forward, said Stofan. Last summer, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon, which created opportunities to look to both the past and the future of space exploration. Now, imagining several decades from now may be difficult. But Stofan called for the kind of optimism and ambition that spurred Apollo 11. We need that kind of moonshot thinking to overcome things like a pandemic, she said. Just as Apollo 11 inspired an entire generation of scientists and innovators, we need to continue space exploration for a generation of young people now stuck at home. While in quarantine, Stofan said she has been cheered by the NASA Dragonfly mission, led by principal investigator Elizabeth Turtle, which aims to reach Saturns largest moon, TitanStofans favorite place in the solar system. Advertisement Advertisement As we are forced to physically distance, the collaborative spirit of space exploration can bring us together. Elkins-Tanton believes space exploration is fundamental to the human psyche, referring to ancient Greek astronomers who imagined technologies far beyond their reach. Through leading the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, Elkins-Tanton has found that we are all a part of space exploration: To become an interplanetary species, we need all different disciplines. All of the different things that make us human have to be part of this process, she said. Alongside physics and planetary science, the real purpose of space exploration is to remind all of us here on Earth of the miracles we can create when were together, said Elkins-Tanton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Stofan has led the National Air and Space Museum through temporarily closing the museum and moving online, shes seen the history of space exploration and the uncertainty of this time in a new light. Weve defied gravity, and we can defy a virus, she said. Watch the event below: Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. India will allow airlines to begin some domestic flights from May 25. (AFP Photo) NEW DELHI: The union government on Wednesday announced to restart the domestic civil operations from Monday in a calibrated manner. Union Minister for Civil Aviation Mr Hardeep Singh Puri said all airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25 and Standard Operating Procedures for passenger movement will be issued soon. The Indian Railways too has announced to commence its routine passenger train operations from June 1 with about 200 non-AC trains. These trains will be in addition to the Shramik Specials and the other long distance special trains that are running at present. The flights and trains were stopped in late March when government announced country-wide lockdown to slow the spread of novel coronavirus. The government on Wednesday also allowed schools to reopen to conduct remaining CBSE Class 10 and 12 Board examinations from July 1. Such students will have to take exams in their own schools now and there will be no external test centres. States/UTs have been asked to arrange for special buses to pick and rop such students. However, there can be no examination centre in the containment zones. It will be mandatory for students and teachers etc to wear face mask and there should be thermal screening. Students will have to carry their own sanitizers and have to be seated at a distance from each other. The MHA has said that the examination schedule of different Boards should be staggered. The CBSE Board exam evaluation is being carried out from home. The government is slowly opening up both economic activities and peoples movement after 55 days of complete shut down due to novel coronavirus pandemic. Several states have allowed inter-state and intra-state public and private transport with limited number of passengers. However, mass rapid transit systems like metro, trams, passenger trains etc have remained closed till now. Treasury Sanctions Iran's Interior Minister and Senior Law Enforcement Officials in Connection with Serious Human Rights Abuses U.S. Department of the Treasury May 20, 2020 WASHINGTON Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against Iran's Interior Minister for his role in serious human rights abuses against Iranians, as well as seven senior officials of Iran's Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) and a provincial commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Today's action also targets the Bonyad Taavon NAJA, which is translated as LEF Cooperative Foundation, along with its director and members of the board of trustees. The LEF Cooperative Foundation is an economic collaborative controlled by the LEF and is active in Iran's energy, construction, services, technology, and banking industries. "The Iranian regime violently suppresses dissent of the Iranian people, including peaceful protests, through physical and psychological abuse," said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. "The United States will continue to hold accountable Iranian officials and institutions that oppress and abuse their own people." The LEF has played a key role in government crackdowns on protesters, and operates detention centers associated with physical and psychological abuses. The LEF has begun to crack down on Afghan migrants in Iran, sending them to deportation centers where the IRGC has reportedly coerced many into fighting for Iranian militias in Syria. In May 2020, the LEF was implicated in the torture and drowning of Afghan nationals attempting to cross into Iran. This action is taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13553 of September 28, 2010, which imposes sanctions on certain persons with respect to serious human rights abuses by the Government of Iran. On June 9, 2011, Treasury sanctioned the LEF and IRGC pursuant to E.O. 13553 for being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses that have occurred since the disputed June 2009 presidential election and ensuing protests. The LEF has also been designated under separate authorities for its support to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad in the civil conflict in Syria, which has resulted in the displacement and suffering of millions. The IRGC has also been designated under counterterrorism and counter proliferation authorities. Both organizations continue to be implicated in human rights abuses, including those involving the killing of Iranian protestors, most recently in November 2019 following widespread protests in Iran over an increase in gasoline prices. In November 2018, OFAC designated Ghavamin Bank for providing banking services and facilitating routine financial transactions for the LEF. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli As the Iranian regime's Interior Minister and chair of Iran's National Domestic Security Council (NDSC), Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli (Rahmani Fazli) has responsibilities for overseeing internal security issues, including Iran's LEF. Rahmani Fazli holds the title of "Deputy or Replacement Commander-in Chief of Police Forces", as delegated to him by the Supreme Leader. Rahmani Fazli has issued orders authorizing the LEF to use lethal force in response to the November 2019 protests, resulting in violence against peaceful protestors and bystanders. His orders led to the killing of many protestors, including at least 23 minors. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior is also responsible for issuing permits for peaceful gatherings. Under Rahmani Fazli's tenure, which began in 2013, the LEF has been responsible for the commission of serious human rights abuses against Iranians on multiple occasions, including killing hundreds of Iranians. As the Interior Minister, Rahmani Fazli issued several public warnings to protestors discouraging them from gathering and emphasizing that the LEF would crack down. Further, under Fazli's tenure, the Ministry has routinely denied permits, or granted permits and then denied security, for the gatherings. These gatherings have then been attacked by plainclothes individuals believed to be part of the intelligence and security apparatus. Additionally, Rahmani Fazli as chair of the NDSC was involved in the Iranian regime's decision to impose the days-long internet blackout of the November 2019 protests. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for being an official of the Government of Iran or a person acting on behalf of the Government of Iran who is responsible for or complicit in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, the commission of serious human rights abuses against persons in Iran or Iranian citizens or residents, or the family members of the foregoing, on or after June 12, 2009, regardless of whether such abuses occurred in Iran. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli is also being identified pursuant to E.O. 13599 as an official of the Government of Iran. The Department of State is also publicly designating Rahmani Fazli under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2020, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights. Rahmani Fazli and his immediate family members are barred from entering the United States. Hossein Ashtari Fard and Ayoub Soleimani OFAC is also designating Hossein Ashtari Fard (Ashtari), the Commander of the LEF since March 2015 and Ayoub Soleimani (Soleimani) is the Deputy Commander of the LEF, a position he was appointed to in 2018 by Ashtari with the approval of Iran's Supreme Leader, pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the LEF. During Ashtari's tenure as commander, the LEF has been implicated in multiple cases of violence, including the reported killing of hundreds of Iranian protesters and several dozen children following nationwide protests against an increase in gasoline prices in November 2019. In addition, Ashtari also directs the LEF cyber police unit, an organization that monitors expressions of dissatisfaction with the Iranian regime, and has threatened to punish Iranians who use social media to organize protests. Soleimani took an active role in the suppression of anti-hijab protests in July 2019, calling an improperly worn hijab an obvious crime. He issued statements that the security forces would forcefully confront women who were not abiding by the Iranian dress code. Additionally, Ayoub Soleimani was appointed in April 2020 as the head of the Planning Directorate of the Armed Forces General Staff, the most senior military body in Iran, which was designated by OFAC in November 2019 pursuant to E.O. 13876 for being owned or controlled by the Supreme Leader of Iran. Mohsen Fathi Zadeh, Yahya Mahmoodzadeh, Hamidreza Ashraq, and Mohammad Ali Noorinajad Treasury is also taking action against a number of the LEF's most senior officials: Mohsen Fathi Zadeh, the Chief of the Defense and Intelligence Organization of the LEF; Yahya Mahmoodzadeh, the Deputy of Planning and Budget for the LEF; Hamidraza Ashraq, the Deputy of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for the LEF; and Mohammad Ali Noorinajad, the Deputy Coordinator of the LEF. Noorinajad has publically praised the LEF for its role in suppressing the November 2019 protests, referring to the protestors as rebels, villains, and opportunists. Mohsen Fathi Zadeh, Yahya Mahmoodzadeh, Hamidraza Ashraq and Mohammad Ali Noorinajad are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the LEF. Hassan Shahvarpour Najafabadi Hassan Shahvarpour Najafabadi (Shahvarpour) is an IRGC Brigadier General and the Commander of the IRGC's Vali Asr Base in Khuzestan province, and he served in the position during the IRGC's violent suppression of protestors in November 2019. In this province and the city of Mahshahr alone, the IRGC killed at least 100 protestors in a three-day period. Shahvarpour was designated in January 2020 by the State Department under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2020, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights against protestors during the November 2019 protests. Shahvarpour and his immediate family members are barred from entering the United States. Today, Hassan Shahvarpour Najafabadi is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the IRGC. The LEF Cooperative Foundation and Habil Darvish The LEF Cooperative Foundation is an economic collaborative controlled by the LEF that is active in Iran's energy, construction, services, technology, and banking industries. It reportedly sold oil worth $180 million, profits of which were not repatriated to the government. The majority of the aforementioned LEF senior officials, including Ayoub Soleimani, Mohsen Fathi Zadeh, Yahya Mahmoodzadeh, Hamidraza Ashraq and Mohammad Ali Noorinajad, are, or have been, members of the board of the LEF Cooperative Foundation. The LEF Cooperative Foundation is being designated today pursuant to E.O. 13553 for being owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, the LEF. Habil Darvish is the Managing Director of the LEF Cooperative Foundation and Deputy of Engineering of the LEF. Habil Darvish is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13553 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, LEF Cooperative Foundation. Sanctions Implications All property and interests in property of these persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons. In addition, non-U.S. persons that engage in certain transactions with the persons designated today may themselves be exposed to designation. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates a significant transaction for or on behalf of the persons designated today could be subject to U.S. correspondent or payable-through account sanctions. For identifying information on the individuals and entity designated today, click here. #### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A drug kingpin who was arrested on the M6 in Britain's biggest ever cocaine bust worth 20million has been ordered to pay back 6million from his criminal fortune. Jamie Simpson and his associates were on their way back from Kent on August 2 2018 when police surrounded their Ford Transit van in the fast lane of the motorway near Knutsford, Cheshire. Officers made what they believe to be one of the country's largest land-based seizures of cocaine, as they found 20 million of the drug concealed under the floor of the van, as well as in the passenger seat and in boxes. The haul, pictured, is believed to be the biggest ever land based seizure of the Class A drug Simpson, who was jailed for 11 years and six months for conspiracy to supply cocaine in April last year, has now been ordered to pay back his share of profits from the multimillion-pound drugs haul, a spokesman for Cheshire police said. The spokesman said Simpson had been ordered to pay back 6,143,854 following a proceeds of crime hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday. The raid was part of a covert police investigation called Operation Dreadnought into Warrington based organised crime groups lead by Jamie Simpson (left) and Jamie Oldroyd (right) Helicopter footage showed the moment drug kingpin Jamie Simpson, 31, was arrested on the motorway near Knutsford, Cheshire, after police vehicles surrounded his Ford Transit. Simpson is held down by police and handcuffed after police swooped on his blue Ford Transit van on the M6 Detective Chief Inspector Giles Pierce said: 'It is unheard of for a criminal to have such a large benefit figure but this is due to the fact that Simpson was involved in one of the largest in-land cocaine seizures in this country. 'More than 6 million of that cocaine belonged to Simpson and the remaining amount would have been purchased by other organised criminals. 'Simpson will always be in debt and owe the police the money until he has repaid the full amount. 'In the future, once he is released from prison, the Proceeds of Crime Act gives us the power to take from him anything he buys that is of value. 'This means he will never live the lavish lifestyle he did when he was operating his criminal enterprise.' Simpson was one of 21 people found guilty of criminal offences as part of Operation Dreadnought, an investigation into two organised crime groups in Warrington who made, distributed and profited from the supply of drugs across the country. Police said the gangs led 'cash-rich' lives and drove fast, high-powered cars, but their extravagant lifestyles raised suspicions. Cheshire police and crime commissioner David Keane said: 'The Proceeds of Crime Act ensures that money seized from criminals is put to good use keeping our communities safe. 'Criminal activity ruins lives and communities so I am committed to ensuring money seized from offending is reinvested back into our communities to discourage people from making the same mistakes. 'My Safer Communities Fund takes the money seized underneath the Proceeds of Crime Act in Cheshire and reinvests it back into local community groups via small grants so they can make their area a safer place to live.' Mike Schmidt emerged Tuesday as the decisive winner of the Multnomah County district attorneys race, becoming the countrys latest criminal justice change agent to win a big-city DA race. Schmidt, 39, of Southeast Portland campaigned on a platform of upending what he characterized as a business-as-usual approach to prosecution. He pledged to prioritize addiction and mental health treatment over prisons, ensure that cops who engage in brutality or misconduct are held accountable and review claims of wrongful convictions. He opposes the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentencing, such as Measure 11, and supports policies that aim to keep youths charged with crimes in juvenile court. He defeated longtime state and federal prosecutor Ethan Knight. With Schmidts election, Multnomah County joins other places, like Harris County, Texas, and Philadelphia, where voters have swept reform-minded candidates into office. Among the congratulatory calls Schmidt received was one from San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a former public defender who ran on a platform similar to Schmidts. In general, the movement nationally has been well-funded and focused on drug and alcohol treatment, mental health services and specialty courts as alternatives to incarceration. Schmidt raised more than $233,000, including an estimated $26,500 from the Safety & Justice PAC, a political group tied to the influential criminal justice reform group, Partnership for Safety and Justice of Portland. His landslide election marks the end of an era of sorts at the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office, which had been shaped by the legacy of longtime DA Mike Schrunk. Schrunk led the office for 32 years and was succeeded by one of his own longtime lieutenants, Rod Underhill, who went on to hold the position for seven years. It was Schrunk who gave Schmidt his first job out of law school in 2008. He worked misdemeanors and property crimes, then in 2013 left to work for the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and then the Criminal Justice Commission, which he has led since 2015. Steve Kanter, a retired law professor and dean emeritus at Lewis & Clark Law School, said district attorneys, especially in Multnomah County, influence not only how cases are handled, but also can help shape policy statewide. District attorneys are in many ways among the most important people in the criminal justice system, he said. Their influence is outsized. Schmidts election is part of a national conversation over the irrationality of our system, said Kanter, who supported Schmidts candidacy. I do think new blood is useful and, not disparaging any of our former DAs, any institution needs outside fresh perspectives from time to time, he said. Schmidt spoke on Tuesday about what his election means and what lies ahead. The following has been edited for clarity and length. Where did you watch the election results and how did you celebrate your win in this strange time of a pandemic. Schmidt: I watched the results at my next-door neighbors house with a 3-month-old and a 3-year-old that go to bed at 7:30 p.m., right at the worst time for election results to come in. We wanted to be in a place where I didnt have to worry about making too much noise so (I) watched next door and just had a couple friends there, socially distanced on the back patio. We had the campaign team, my campaign manager and other campaign staff in the living room. We were all separated and able to safely watch the results come in. Whats the takeaway from this election? Schmidt: I think really the only takeaway I can have is the voters of Multnomah County are ready to see a change, that there is widespread recognition and I got this from talking to people as I campaigned there are just so many issues with our criminal justice system, whether its over-incarceration and spending too much money and not getting results or seeing our jails and and prisons as homeless shelters and our biggest mental health institutions or the racial disparity in our justice system. There are so many things to work on and to try to improve. The message I take is voters are ready to try some new things. In your statement after your win you pledged to put together an advisory committee with key leaders. What types of experience or backgrounds will the people on that committee have and whats their role in your transition? Schmidt: I am going to be looking toward a lot of the same folks who supported this campaign, looking to community organizations but also looking to some other groups as well -- business leaders and law enforcement, prosecutors and defense attorneys. I want to have people who are real experts, who understand exactly what is going on on the ground. Although it wasnt that long ago that I was in the county, my information is a little bit dated. I am going to have to be brought up to speed on exactly what specific things are happening right now and what areas we need to start focusing on. I hope to have a broad coalition of folks willing to help me out. Whats going to be your first order of business? Schmidt: Highest on the to-do list is really going to be understanding and working with Rod Underhill and his team to see where things are, especially with the COVID crisis going on. There is going to be a huge backlog of cases that just are unable to be prosecuted at this moment for very good, legitimate public health reasons. I am anticipating that Janurary, when I take over, is not only going to be hopefully back to more business as usual but on top of that, having a big backlog of cases that need to go through the system. That will be my first order of business: how to handle those cases in an office that is thinly staffed compared to other offices in similar-sized cities. That is really going to be the very first challenge how to manage what I think will be a lot more work with less resources. In the era of COVID-19, you are looking at what is likely to be a grim budget reality. How will you address potential budget shortfalls? Schmidt: I will have to understand the magnitude of what I am facing, but then it really starts from what absolutely has to happen for public safety. You start with the most serious crimes in our community, when people are injured, shot, murdered. All the most serious crimes that we have to prosecute. Thats not a place we can cut resources so you go down from there and hopefully try some different things. I am thinking about misdemeanors and low-level crimes. Are there ways to look at the community court model? Maybe thinking about how to incorporate a more restorative justice approach can we do things that hold people accountable but at the same time resolve their cases quickly? As executive director of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, you are basically a full-time number cruncher when it comes to criminal justice stats in Oregon. You have said data will help shape your approach to prosecution. Practically speaking, how will that change how the office prosecutes cases? Schmidt: Data that you can use to make decisions is only as good as the data thats coming in. Having a case management system thats not friendly to that is going to be the first challenge to using data in the office. But hopefully once we can get that online, then its just a matter of figuring out how to pull information from it and how to make it usable. What I have done at the state level is put it into dashboards where you can try different things -- you can cut up the data by race and ethnicity and look at different crime types. But then looking at what kind of results we are getting when we are recommending plea deals? The district attorney has a lot of power and authority to recommend sentences to the court so when we are making sentencing recommendations, what kind of outcomes are we getting? What are the longtime results of a probation offer versus a prison offer? The district attorney plays such a major role in what sentences are put down for people. How does that impact long-term success or recidivism in our community. Can you talk about how you view the role of transparency in the district attorneys office? Schmidt: Its my goal to make this district attorney office the most transparent in the country. (Schmidt discussed his plan to release aggregate data on the types of crimes and demographics of people prosecuted by the office.) What are the recidivism rates of the crimes in these different types of crimes that we are prosecuting? I know from looking at the state data that certain types of crimes have way higher recidivism rates than others and so you are able to drill down and say OK, what we are doing in terms of sentencing practices around, for example, people (charged with) possession of controlled substance? They have an 70 to 80 percent recidivism rate so its not working. Can we do something different? If you are using the data right, it asks or begs more questions than it answers, but it allows you to keep moving. In your platform you cited your willingness to reexamine wrongful conviction claims. Some DA offices around the country have conviction review or conviction integrity units. How will that effort look in your administration? Schmidt: I would love to have a unit to examine cases. Sometimes, we have seen this historically, the science changes. For example, bite mark evidence now is not seen as good science. Well, there was a time when that was used by prosecutors and not with malice or ill will but the science has moved on. I would love an integrity unit that was up to date on forensic science to both make sure that what we are currently employing in the office is the cutting edge of where we should be and to review old cases. The biggest challenge is budgetary constraints and working on what services absolutely must be provided to do the day to day. Its going to be a challenge to figure out how to use some resources for that, but its something I am committed to. If it has to start off on a case-by-case basis, that is where we will start, but I would love to get to the point where we have a functional, high-level unit. You are coming into the office as an outsider, which is unusual for DA offices in Oregon. Have you heard from Underhill since your victory? And regarding organization and staff, what changes are you considering? Schmidt: I have heard from Rod. He actually called me the day before the results just to say good luck tomorrow and we had a short, nice conversation and when the results came in last night he sent me a short text message congratulating me. I appreciated that outreach. I have heard from the prosecuting attorneys union. Their representative also reached out and said that they are excited to work with me and get behind me and so we are looking forward to figuring that out. My big focus on changing things in the office is really going to be back to the things we have touched on, which is looking at resources and budgetary constraints but it is also an opportunity to have someone who is as you put it is an outsider. Coming in, I am open to new ideas, new ways of doing things. I have talked to a bunch of the attorneys in that office over the course of the campaign and they have a lot of ideas about how we could do things differently in terms of the structure of the office. The way the units are currently split up is a function of the way things have been done for a long time. I am going to be open to their feedback on what they think would work better in terms of spreading out the workload equitably. They have had high turnover with attorneys in their office and a lot of it has to do with burnout factor. I am going to be very focused on how can we retain attorneys in that office. How can we mitigate burnout by spreading workload around as much as we can. I think will be structural things we can do. The good thing is I am not tethered to the way we have done things in the past. I am open to the feedback of the people closest to the ground and also community members -- what they would like to see. Your victory is part of a national trend of progressive prosecutors being ushered into big city district attorneys offices. How do you see your win fitting into that big picture? Schmidt: I do think it does fit into what we are seeing nationally and I am excited about that. I am excited about Portland being part of that conversation because what I have learned at the Criminal Justice Commission is you can learn a lot from the way other people are doing things. They have a lot of the same issues that we have and they are trying different approaches and we should embrace that and learn from whats working for them and whats not. I am still pretty humbled, overwhelmed. Its been a long process campaigning. But I am so pleased that we had this conversation with our community members. My hats off to Ethan Knight. I think he ran a great campaign. It was about the issues. I had people come up to me to tell me how great they thought that was. This was two people with competing philosophies in some regards, in some ways similar, but we got to have that conversation and its one we havent had in over four decades. -- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Fresh out of law school, he went door-to-door visiting big law firms and urged them to send cases they didnt want his way. He was a founding partner of what became a major Cincinnati law firm, now called Keating Muething & Klekamp. He served as an assistant Ohio attorney general and a municipal judge, and he was elected Hamilton County common pleas judge in 1964 as a Republican overcoming the Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic presidential landslide. A farmer was forced to euthanise one of her beloved pigs after a hunter slit the animal's throat. Steph Swales, from Daysleford near the Great Dividing Range of Victoria, heard hunters camping and shooting guns on the outskirts of her farm last weekend. Victoria has not yet eased restrictions for campers, meaning anybody who spent the night was breaking the law. Ms Swales waited until morning before checking on her animals, and noticed most were missing. After hours of searching, a neighbour called to say they'd found one of her female pigs. Steph Swales was devastated when she had to euthanise her pet pig after a hunter slit her throat She had 'quite deep lacerations' as the hunters has attempted to slit her throat, Ms Swales told the ABC. She said the hunters should have been able to tell the difference between wild beasts and her own well-groomed pets. Ms Swales was forced to euthanise her pig, which had only recently given birth to piglets. 'It's downright wrong, and it's poaching, they're coming onto my property and attacking my animals,' she said, noting the babies had now lost their mother. 'Her sister literally laid there all day, she won't move, she won't do anything, she's even frightened of me.' Steph Swales, from Daysleford near the Great Dividing Range of Victoria, heard people hunting and camping on the outskirts of her property last weekend Ms Swales said even more concerning was how many people flocked to her region this weekend following weeks of strict lockdown restrictions in Victoria. As a hunter herself, she had refrained from leaving her property for the good of her neighbours and the community. But seeing how many people broke the rules to camp nearby at the weekend was disheartening. "Everyone has literally been let off the leash and gone absolutely berserk... There was just a flood of people over the weekend,' she said. Ms Swales reported the incident to police, and the matter is now under investigation. The National Youth Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo says under no circumstances will Major (Rtd) Kojo Boakye-Djan call for war in the country after his experience some years ago as a military capo. According to him, Boakye-Djans comment was to alert a possible violent if the Electoral Commission [EC] proceeded to compile a new voters register in this epoch of Coronavirus. What he [Boakye-Djan] said was to forewarn government. He will never call for war. And besides this has been said several by others. Many have registered their disapproval of this new voters register, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie. NPP & EC Leading Ghana Into Civil War Major Osahene Boakye Gyan (rtd) is warning of impending doom should the Electoral Commission connive with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to rig the upcoming December polls. The former military officer accused the EC of gradually leading the country into a civil war with its bull-headedness, particularly regarding the decision to compile a new voters register. If They Want Civil War, They Will Get It! The fomer military capo strongly held that the country can go to the polls this year without resort to putting together a new register as was done in 2016. Sounding a note of caution, he pointed out that most electoral disputes in Africa have resulted in civil wars and Ghana is not immune to it, and warned that "should the EC continue to toe the line of their paymasters, it will certainly spell doom for this country." CID Invite Four personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, on Tuesday, 19th May, 2020, arrested and questioned Major Kwadwo Boakye-Djan (Rtd) for allegedly saying on public radio that there would be a civil war in Ghana should the Electoral Commission go ahead with its plan to compile a new voters' register. Mr. Boakye-Djan was made to write his statement at the police station in the Bono Region where his lawyers joined him at the police station. He was later granted bail and asked to make himself available at the station at least once in a week. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video In this May 20, 2020 photo carpenters John Mackie, of Canton, Mass., left, and Doug Hathaway, of Holliston, Mass., right, apply trim to a newly installed plastic barrier in an office area, at Boston University, in Boston. Boston University is among a growing number of universities making plans to bring students back to campus this fall, but with new measures meant to keep the coronavirus at bay. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Read more As many of the regions small businesses get ready to reopen, some are wondering what to expect in this new, post-pandemic world. Will customers return in force? Will employees be willing to return to work? Will life ever get back to normal? How will my business be different? No one has the answers to these questions. But the essential businesses that have been allowed to operate over the last few months can give us a preview of the coming months. These small-business owners have already learned important lessons. And the biggest takeaway? Its all about your employees. Making them a priority will go a long way toward a successful recovery. So how did these businesses look after their employees? For starters, they changed the way they worked. Dont expect that your employees will come streaming in the doors at 9 am, sit at their desks, and pick up from where they left off. The essential businesses that stayed in operation made significant efforts to keep their employees safely distanced from each other and comfortable in the office. That meant staggering shifts, requiring masks, encouraging frequent hand-washing, moving around desks, limiting access to common areas, and overall reducing face-to-face interactions. Many essential businesses such as SP Industries, a Warminster-based supplier of equipment to the health-care industry altered work schedules to accommodate more people working from home. In some cases, this has necessitated shift changes as well as procedural modifications, and our employees have really stepped up and embraced doing whatever is necessary to keep everyone safe, said Shirley Miller, a marketing executive at the company. At Standard Energy Solutions, an energy management firm in Maryland, both shifts and hours were changed. We organized senior management shifts where the office and warehouse would always be physically open from 6 am until 6 pm, said Bobby Young, chief operating officer. One member of the senior staff is consistently in the office so someone was here to receive packages, mail, and material shipments, as well as support the field teams. READ MORE: Restaurant owners are forecasting massive closures. What would they need to survive? Besides changes in employee work hours and procedures, offices had to be much, much cleaner. Essential businesses that operated at the height of the pandemic made great efforts to follow the most recent safety guidelines issued by both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Owners assigned the responsibility of doing this to a single person or team who made sure to schedule deep cleanings and sanitization of their offices, which included common areas, door knobs, copy machines and restrooms. The owners of Kleins Supermarket, an independent grocery in Fairmount, implemented strict procedures to ensure that all high-touch areas are constantly getting disinfected. Weve installed plexiglass dividers between our cashiers and the customers, and the mural arts program gave us floor markers for social distancing, manager Andrew Klein said. Other companies are limiting interactions and cordoning off parts of their offices. Standard Energy has implemented controlled access systems to restrict unnecessary movement in the offices, thus minimizing shared surfaces, Young said. READ MORE: Should Pennsylvania freeze rent and mortgages during the coronavirus crisis? | Pro/Con The reopening of your business will also require a review and likely upgrade of your technology so that people can work as productively as possible. With more employees working from home, many essential businesses have already doubled down on their online and cloud-based software investments such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, as well as document, project and customer relationship management applications to make sure that their employees can access the files and data they needed remotely. Youngs company has changed its information technology infrastructure and upgraded its customer relationship management system to encourage team interactions and allow employees, dealers and customers to track their solar projects remotely. Kleins Supermarket turned to the internet, ramping up online ordering and curbside pickup as well as facilitating deliveries of new products, such as precooked meals. SP Industries Miller said that technology will continue to play a big part in its operational model even as many employees work from home. We are relying on technology to keep us connected with each other and our customers through virtual meetings, email and phone calls, she said. Finally, owners of these essential businesses have been doing all they can to increase communications and take whatever measures possible to raise employee morale and help them through these challenging times. We routinely check in with one another and their families, Young said. We support each other and insist that each of us gets plenty of time away from corporate operations, to rest, decompress, and stay rejuvenated. Jessica Williamson, a Delaware-based human resources consultant, said she believes that sensitivity to employees personal situations is the key to maintaining sanity during these unprecedented times. It will be important for business owners to be flexible with their employees and handle each employees needs on an individual basis, she said. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. Williamson said it will be important to provide clear communication about the precautions that are being put in place to ensure the health and safety of the workplace. Employees may be uneasy about returning, she said. "Many will continue to deal with child-care issues, mental-health issues and other challenges. Who knows what life will be like over the next few months. For most small businesses, things will certainly not be the same. The good news is that many essential businesses that operated during the pandemic made the necessary changes to keep going. The ones that got it right focused on having a positive perspective and putting their people first. These are extreme times and entrepreneurs are usually the last to embrace their own needs and care for themselves while they are caring for their employee family, Young said. From the very first day, our team has taken an attitude of thriving, not just surviving. Imperial Valley News Center Presidential Message on Cuban Independence Day, 2020 Washington, DC - On Cuban Independence Day, we recognize the patriots who fought to liberate Cuba from its colonial oppression and build a society founded on freedom. We continue to stand with the Cuban people as they seek those fundamental rights, and we express our commitment to supporting them as they continue to fight for freedom and democracy. The United States has historic ties to the Cuban people and remains in solidarity with the millions who have fled the oppression of Cubas tyrannical regime in search of a new life. Cubas people deserve a government that promotes individual liberties, basic human rights, and opportunities to prosper. The Cuban model represents failed socialism, and we will continue to ensure that Cuba does not export its repression anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. That is why I took action early in my Administration to implement a strong policy toward Cuba that promotes respect for human rights, free markets, and a transition to democracy in Cuba. America will keep working with our allies and partners in the Western Hemisphere to bring stability, religious liberty, cooperation, and a freer future to the great people of Cuba. Today, we celebrate the many contributions of Cuban Americans to our American story, and we pledge to continue working with them to secure a better tomorrow for Cuba. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 18:57:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RIGA, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Latvian lawmakers on Thursday approved Aigars Strupiss as the new chief judge of the Baltic country's Supreme Court, the parliamentary press service informed. Strupiss was chosen by Supreme Court judges to succeed the court's outgoing head Ivars Bickovics, but it was up the parliament to approve the nomination. As they voted to nominate Strupiss, the judges cited the candidate's vast academic experience and many years of service as a Supreme Court judge with a specialization in commercial law. Strupiss' nomination was supported by the parliament legal committee and subcommittee for judicial policy, as well as political parties representing the government coalition. In the parliamentary vote, Strupiss was appointed the Supreme Court's chief judge for a five-year term, with 91 out of 100 lawmakers voting for his appointment. Strupiss told lawmakers that in his new office he intends to improve the quality of the judicial process, including court rulings. He plans to work more closely with courts of lower instances, strengthen judicature and enhance the training of judges. Strupiss also underlined the necessity to make court judgments more comprehensible to the public. Strupiss has been working as a Supreme Court judge since 2014 and heading the court's department of civil cases for the past two years. He is also a member of the Latvian Judicial Council. Ivars Bickovics' second term as the Supreme Court's chief judge will end on June 15. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 04:08:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's western port province of Izmir has been consolidating its struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic with increasing controls and new measures amid the government's ongoing normalization process. Local officials have significantly stepped up their controls in crowded places, continuously warning people to follow the rules, including the social distancing measure, after the government introduced a schedule to ease the pandemic restrictions. Wearing masks outside became mandatory as of Wednesday, the governor's office of Izmir declared at a written statement the previous day, noting that those who do not obey will be fined. Izmir, with a population of over 4 million, is the country's third-biggest city after Istanbul and the capital Ankara, and one of the most affected regions from the coronavirus. Being a port city and a major tourist attraction spot of Turkey, it has been particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. In line with the normalization process, shopping malls and barbershops had resumed their operations last week across the country. Following their openings, long queues were seen in front of the shopping malls in Izmir with people not wearing masks and not obeying the social distancing rule, according to press reports. The Izmir Scientific Council operating under the umbrella of the municipality said the risk was not yet over in the city and warned residents to stay at home, the Sozcu daily reported. Tunc Soyer, mayor of Izmir, told Xinhua that municipal teams are strictly patrolling shopping malls in the city and carrying out scrutinized inspections to see if the rules are followed. "We also conduct disinfection works in barbershops and regularly disinfect public areas such as public transport, health institutions, and police stations against the coronavirus pandemic," Soyer added. The Izmir municipality has also been working hard to supply the increasing demand for surgical masks in the city, producing around 60,000 masks per day for those who are in need. Soyer also urged all Izmir citizens to be more patient, expecting normal life to come back soon. Enditem 100 years ago A pair of runaways Mrs. Joseph Bottoni of Whitehall packed up her belongings, stripped her house of silverware, jewelry, appliances and other things that filled several trunks, then cleaned out her husband's bank account of $200. She kissed her sleeping baby in his crib, locked him in the house alone and met John Bottoni, her husband's brother and a boarder in their home, on the corner and took a train to Fort Edward. To keep authorities stalled, the couple had the trunks shipped first to Glens Falls, then Watervliet, then Albany. When Joseph Bottoni returned home at night after his shift at a silk mill, he found his abandoned baby and a partially empty house so he contacted the police and warrants were issued for his wife and brother. Whitehall Sheriff David Ingles had circulars made describing the runaway pair and went to Albany to have cuts made from photographs of them. As soon as he stepped off the train in Union Station, however, the first thing he saw was John Bottoni at the express office claiming "his goods." Ingles alerted local police in the station and the couple were arrested and confessed to everything. Times Union, May 21, 1920 50 years ago Burning waste the only alternative With the reluctant consent of Rensselaer County and state health officials, who said there was no practical alternative, 20 acres of industrial waste at Loeffel's Waste Oil Co. dumpsite on Mead Road, would be burned. The county environmental health director issued the permit and said the object was to "burn off the top," destroying as much as possible of the floating filth that turned the marsh into a smelly soup surrounded by skeletal remains of trees. Times Union, May 21, 1970 By C.J. Lais Jr. and Azra Haqqie Guatemalas President Alejandro Giammattei attacks Trump over US deportations of migrants infected with the virus. Guatemalas president Alejandro Giammattei has questioned his countrys relationship with the United States, revealing frustration over the US continuing to send deportees infected with COVID-19. Healthcare workers have started taking part in a trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including one US President Donald Trump says he has been taking. More than five million people around the world have now been confirmed to have the coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 328,000 people have died globally while some 1.9 million people have recovered. The United States has recorded the most deaths at 93,439. It is followed by the United Kingdom with 35,786, Italy with 32,486, France with 28,135 and Spain with 27,888. Here are all the latest updates: Thursday, May 21 22:40 GMT Brazil surpasses 20,000 coronavirus deaths Brazil registered a record of 1,188 daily coronavirus deaths on Thursday, with more than 20,000 total fatalities from the coronavirus outbreak, the Health Ministry said. Brazil now has 310,087 confirmed cases, the ministry said, just a few thousand fewer than world No 2 hot spot Russia, which trails the United States. 22:30 GMT Brazils Bolsonaro accepts no proof chloroquine works, but may work in some cases Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, a long-running advocate of malaria drug chloroquine to treat COVID-19, said he knew there was no proof it works, but said there are cases in which it appears to have been successful. Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of US President Donald Trump who has also touted the drug for preventive use, has been widely criticised for his handling of the outbreak and his continued opposition to restrictions on movement he sees as too damaging to the economy. 20:45 GMT UN: Latin Americas jobless to increase by 11.5 million The economic crisis caused by the pandemic has left an extra 11.5 million people unemployed in Latin America, the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) said. The new estimate from the UNs Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the ILO would mean a total of 37.7 million people in the region are now unemployed. The report published on Thursday says Latin Americas economy will also shrink by an estimated 5.3 percent. 20:40 GMT Ex-White House employee dies of COVID-19 A former White House employee who served under 11 United States presidents has died of COVID-19 this month. Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, 91, was one of the White Houses longest-serving employees, working in various positions, including cleaner, doorman and butler from 1957 to 2012. I want the world to remember my grandfather as someone who is really authentic, Jermans granddaughter, Jamila Garrett, told FOX 5, the local Fox affiliate in Washington, DC. Read more here. Doorman Wilson Roosevelt Jerman is seen in the White house in 2004 [File: Tina Hager/George W Bush Presidential Library/National Archives and Administration] 20:34 GMT Coronavirus-triggered layoffs in US hit nearly 39 million The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the US has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work. More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said. 19:50 GMT Bolsonaro to sign $10.7bn coronavirus package Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro has said he will sign off a 60bn real ($10.72bn) federal aid programme for states and cities hit by coronavirus, but asked governors for support freezing public sector pay increases. The bill to distribute federal money to states and municipalities was approved by Congress earlier this month. However, Bolsonaro has not signed off on it due to pressure from Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, an avowed free-marketeer who wants more fiscal austerity. 19:34 GMT Chechen leader Kadyrov in hospital: Reports Chechnyas leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been taken to the hospital in Moscow with suspected Covid-19, Russian news agencies reported. Ramzan Kadyrov was taken by plane to Moscow with a suspected case of coronavirus. Now [he] is under medical supervision, state news agency TASS reported, citing a medical source who also said Kadyrov was in a stable condition. A crucial ally of President Vladimir Putin, Kadyrov took power in Chechnya in 2004 [File:AFP] 19:00 GMT Venezuela sues Bank of England over gold reserves Lawyers for Venezuelas central bank said they had launched legal action against the Bank of England, demanding the release of gold reserves to be used to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. London-based firm Zaiwalla & Co said it had been instructed by the Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) to issue a claim against the Bank of England for the release of $1bn of Venezuelas gold reserves to help the country combat COVID-19. It said BCV wrote last month to the Bank of England requesting the gold be transferred to the UN Development Programme, which is working to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the cash-strapped country. 18:50 GMT Facebooks Zuckerberg embraces remote work Facebook Inc will permanently embrace remote work even after coronavirus lockdowns ease, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees, accelerating the tech sectors geographic diversification away from its home in Silicon Valley. Zuckerberg said the worlds largest social network would start aggressively opening up remote hiring, expecting that about half its workforce would work remotely over the next five to 10 years. Read more here. 18:25 GMT Frances daily virus toll dips to 83 The number of coronavirus deaths registered in France over the last 24 hours dipped to 83, as a top doctor said he was not seeing a second wave of infections despite the country easing its lockdown. The latest deaths in hospitals and nursing homes brought Frances total toll from the pandemic to 28,215, the health ministry said in a statement. The trends remained optimistic, with 49 fewer people in intensive care for a total of 1,745 patients a number that exceeded 7,000 at the peak of the crisis. 17:59 GMT Guatemala blasts Trump over virus-infected migrant deportations Guatemala has blasted Trump over US deportations of migrants infected with coronavirus. President Alejandro Giammattei said the deportations had saturated quarantine centers in Guatemala and heaped pressure on the Central American countrys weak health system. Guatemala is an ally to the United States, the United States is not an ally to Guatemala, he told the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based international affairs think tank. We understand that the United States wants to deport people, we understand that, but what we dont understand is that they send us contaminated flights. Guatemalas president questioned his countrys relationship with the US [File:Luis Echeverria/Reuters] 17:40 GMT UK signs contracts for 10 million antibody tests Britain will buy 10 million coronavirus antibody tests from Roche and Abbott and will roll them out to health workers from next week, health minister Matt Hancock has said. The antibody tests also known as serology tests show who has been infected, although it is not yet clear whether the presence of antibodies to the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, confers permanent immunity. We have signed contracts to supply in the coming months over 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott, Hancock said. Britains Health Secretary Matt Hancock holds the daily coronavirus disease news conference at Downing Street [Reuters] 17:35 GMT Turkey to resume export of dairy products to China Turkeys exports of milk and other dairy products to China will resume, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan has said, adding that 54 Turkish companies will be able to export to China. In February, Turkey temporarily halted imports of livestock and animal fats from China over the outbreak. In a tweet, Pekcan said she welcomed the Chinese dairy market opening to Turkish exporters, after Chinese authorities deemed Turkey an exportable country. 16:45 GMT Deep partisan divide in areas hardest hit by COVID-19: Reuters As the United Statess response to the coronavirus pandemic splits along partisan lines, a Reuters news agency analysis may help explain why: death rates in Democratic areas are triple those in Republican ones. By Wednesday, US counties that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election reported 39 coronavirus deaths per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis of demographic and public health data. In counties that voted for Republican Donald Trump, 13 of every 100,000 people had died from the virus. Read more here. A medical worker walks past people lined up at Gotham Health, a COVID-19 testing centre in Brooklyn [Frank Franklin II/AP Photos] 16:42 GMT Bolivias health minister held for ventilator corruption Bolivias health minister has been arrested on suspicion of corruption related to the overpriced purchase of ventilators to fight COVID-19 before being sacked by interim President Jeanine Anez. Marcelo Navajas was detained by police in La Paz, a day after Anez ordered an investigation into the questionable purchase. Two other health ministry officials were also arrested. Anez is facing her biggest corruption scandal in her six months in power and a fierce wave of criticism over her handling of the crisis. Read more here. Bolivias ex-health minister has been remanded in custody over a corruption investigation [File:EPA] 16:38 GMT Spains daily COVID-19 death toll at 48, excluding Catalonia Spains daily death toll from the coronavirus has fallen below 50 for the first time since a lockdown was imposed in mid-March, but the figure excludes deaths in the northeastern region of Catalonia. Cumulative deaths climbed by 48 to 27,940, while the number of confirmed cases edged up to 233,037, the health ministry said. Catalan authorities did not update their daily figures due to data-validation problems, the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating on the nature of the problems. 16:06 GMT Pandemic accelerates deforestation in tropical countries: WWF The destruction of tropical forests has accelerated rapidly during the pandemic, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has said. Everything indicates that the explosive deforestation has to do with a coronavirus effect, said Christoph Heinrich from the WWFs Germany office. In many countries, the state has withdrawn from forest protection during the lockdown, which favours illegal logging and the looting of other resources, he added. 16:01 GMT Italys daily coronavirus death toll and new cases broadly stable Italy has recorded 156 new deaths from the epidemic, against 161 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases also declined slightly to 642 from 665 on Wednesday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 32,486, the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the US and Britain. People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 60,960 from 62,752 on Wednesday. A worker measures the temperature of a man as the restaurant is being prepared for its reopening in Naples [Ciro De Luca/Reuters] 15:29 GMT Democrats call for flags at half staff when virus toll hits 100,000 Top Democrats have urged President Donald Trump to order flags flown at half staff when the US coronavirus death toll reaches 100,000, saying the salute would reflect a national expression of grief. Our hearts are broken over this great loss from the pandemic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote in a letter to the president. This weekends observation of Memorial Day, which honors those who died serving in the US military, coincides with the country likely reaching the grim milestone of 100,000 COVID-19 fatalities. 15:25 GMT Global COVID-19 trial of hydroxychloroquine begins Healthcare workers in Britain and Thailand have started taking part in a trial to determine whether two anti-malarial drugs can prevent COVID-19, including one that US President Donald Trump says he has been taking. The study, involving more than 40,000 healthcare workers across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, seeks to determine whether chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could play a role in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Demand for hydroxychloroquine surged after Trump touted it in early April. He said this week he was now taking it as a preventive medicine against the virus despite medical warnings about its use. 15:12 GMT US plane with donated ventilators lands in Russia A US military plane carrying dozens of donated American ventilators has landed in Moscow, with the cargo ready to be sent to a hospital treating coronavirus patients. The 50 ventilators are the first part of a humanitarian donation of a total of 200 much-needed US-manufactured ventilators to Russia, valued at $5.6m, the US embassy in Moscow said in a statement. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross posted a photo online of a US Air Force cargo plane after it arrived in the Russian capitals Vnukovo airport. In times of crisis, the United States and Russia must work together to save lives, she wrote. Ambassador Sullivan transfers 50 U.S.-produced ventilators to the Pirogov National Medical and Surgical Center in Moscow as part of a $5.6 million humanitarian aid donation to the people of Russia. We must work together to overcome this #COVID19 threat that knows no boundaries. pic.twitter.com/gS6yJDKjLc Rebecca Ross (@USEmbRuPress) May 21, 2020 15:08 GMT Serbia reopens borders after easing virus restrictions Serbia said it will start reopening its borders after sealing them on March 15. Since it started relaxing restrictions earlier this month, Serbia required citizens returning from abroad to either bring a negative COVID-19 test not older than 72 hours or go through a fortnights self-isolation. Foreigners were allowed to enter if they were vetted by a government commission and also tested negative. But following an improvement in the health situation, the government decided to reopen border crossings and allow free entrance of all people into the Republic of Serbia, without a mandatory coronavirus tests and the commissions approval, an official statement said. The Balkan country reported 86 new cases. Authorities say 10,919 have been infected and 253 have died. 14:55 GMT Trump aide released from prison early due to coronavirus Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to US President Donald Trump, has been released from prison due to concerns that he could be exposed to coronavirus there, two sources familiar with the case said. Cohen, 53, had completed a bit more than a year of a three-year sentence for his role in paying hush money to two women who said they had sexual relationships with Trump, as well as financial crimes and lying to Congress. Read more here. Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for US President Donald Trump arrives at his Manhattan apartment after being released from federal prison [Mike Segar/Reuters] 14:49 GMT Air arrivals to Spain collapsed by 99.7 percent The number of people who arrived in Spain by air collapsed by 99.7 percent in April compared to the same month in 2019, the state tourism agency has said. A total of 21,327 people arrived in the country on a plane in April, compared to more than 7 million a year ago. Spanish authorities banned all non-essential travel in March in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Last week, Madrid imposed a new rule under which new arrivals must self-isolate in their homes for a period of two weeks. 14:39 GMT China warns of countermeasures over US virus sanctions threat Beijing will retaliate if the US Congress passes legislation threatening sanctions against China over the pandemic, the spokesman for the countrys parliament has said. We firmly oppose these bills, and will make a firm response and take countermeasures based on the deliberation of these bills, spokesman Zhang Yesui said at a news conference. 14:21 GMT Scotland leader gives map for easing lockdown Scotlands leader has presented a route map for easing restrictions in the months ahead while observing social distancing guidelines. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers the lockdown will be loosened in three-week intervals, subject to progress in virus control. But, she added, the proposals cannot be set in stone. Starting May 28, two households may see each other in small groups in outdoor spaces. Other planned changes in Scotland beginning next week include the reopening of gardening stores and allowing noncontact outdoor leisure activities, such as golf and fishing. Schools will not reopen until August 1. Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon details coronavirus route map in parliament [File:Fraser Bremner/Reuters] 13:39 GMT Crossing points on divided Cyprus to gradually open from June 8 Crossings used by thousands of Cypriots daily between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot sides of the divided island and sealed shut by the lockdown will gradually start reopening from June 8, an official has said. A series of shutdowns which started on February 29 left many unable to cross to the other side of the island for work, tuition or medical reasons. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, the islands Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci discussed the matter by phone, government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said. 13:35 GMT UK urged to scrap healthcare fee for migrant NHS workers Anger is growing towards the British government over its refusal to exempt an NHS fee for overseas healthcare workers, many of whom are currently putting their lives at risk on the front lines of the pandemic. While doctors, nurses and paramedics have been granted a one-year exemption from the charge, those working in lower-paid roles such as hospital cleaners, porters and carers must still pay. The annual fee is currently 400 pounds ($490) and will rise to 624 pounds in October. It must be paid regardless of whether individuals use the healthcare service. Read more here. .@BorisJohnson explaining why he thinks NHS surcharge for non-EEA immigrants must stay. The explanation is reprehensible: he argues, without shame, that it's there to make money. It's the *National* Health Service; it can't be funded by making some immigrants pay twice for it. pic.twitter.com/r4GLRrRERW Prof Tanja Bueltmann (@cliodiaspora) May 20, 2020 Hello, this is Elizabeth Melimopoulos in Doha taking over from my colleague Mersiha Gadzo. 12:49 GMT Catastrophe unfolding in southern Yemen: medical charity The main coronavirus treatment centre in southern Yemen has recorded at least 68 deaths in just over two weeks, the medical charity running the site has said, more than double the toll announced by Yemeni authorities so far. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the dedicated COVID-19 centre in Aden that serves the entire south admitted 173 patients from April 30 to May 17, at least 68 of whom died, suggesting a wider catastrophe unfolding in the city. What we are seeing in our treatment centre is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of people infected and dying in (Aden), Caroline Seguin, MSFs operations manager for Yemen, said in a statement. People are coming to us too late to save, and we know that many more people are not coming at all: they are just dying at home. 12:34 GMT Lebanon reports 63 new cases Lebanon has confirmed 63 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the country is now at 1,024 however, only 335 of those are active cases, according to the information ministry. Twenty-six people have died of the virus in Lebanon and 663 have recovered, according to official statistics. 12:05 GMT One in six Spanish children depressed during pandemic: Survey Nearly one in six Spanish children have felt regularly depressed during the pandemic, with those from poorer backgrounds suffering worse, a charity has said. Spain has had one of the worlds strictest lockdowns, including keeping children behind doors for weeks, to curb the outbreak which has killed nearly 28,000 people. Save the Children said its survey from April showed that while lockdown was enabling many families to enjoy more time together, still 17 percent of children felt depressed often or daily and new economic hardships were widening inequalities. Vanesa Sanchez, a single mother and freelance journalist attends a work meeting while her daughter Valeria waits. Spains lockdown measures were among the strictest in Europe [Jaime Reina/ AFP] 11:53 GMT Potential for contagion in Rohingya refugee camps is high: UN The UN refugee agency chief has said that coronavirus cases in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh are under control but warned that the potential for contagion was high. Luckily we have not seen a major outbreak, although, in the last week, weve seen about five confirmed cases of refugees with the coronavirus, Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for UNCHR, told Al Jazeera for the AJNewNormal show. . the [infected Rohingya] are fine, its under control, but of course the potential for contagion there is high, he said. Watch the full interview here. 11:09 GMT Africa reports more than 95,000 cases The number of those infected with coronavirus in Africa has reached 95,201, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. According to the latest data, the death toll in the continent tallied at 2,997 while 38,075 people have recovered. South Africa recorded 18,000 coronavirus cases, the highest number in the continent. People stand in a queue in at sunrise to wait for food being handed out during the national lockdown in Johannesburg, South Africa [Kim Ludbrook/EPA-EFE] 11:07 GMT Nigerian medical union ends Lagos doctors strike Nigerias largest medical union has ordered its members in the commercial capital Lagos to resume work, ending a strike over alleged police harassment. The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) doctors union, which ordered Lagos members to stop work indefinitely from Wednesday evening, said it had received assurances that doctors would be exempt from a nationwide overnight curfew and would therefore be allowed to move freely by police. 11:03 GMT Despite closed borders, Argentina to fly in rabbis to certify kosher meat Argentina, which has enforced one of the worlds toughest travel bans, plans to help charter a private flight to bring in rabbis from Israel to certify meat at the countrys packing plants for kosher markets around the world. The trip is key to Argentina being able to maintain beef exports to key buyer Israel, which has become increasingly important with exports stalled to the European Union and sharply down to major buyer China. The only alternative has been to be able to try to arrange a charter in combination with Israeli clients, and supervised, authorized and coordinated by the governments, said Mario Ravettino, head of Argentinas ABC meat export consortium. People queue to buy groceries at a street market during the lockdown in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Juan Mabromata/AFP] 10:46 GMT South Africa scientists say up to 50,000 deaths possible South Africa could see up to 50,000 coronavirus deaths and as many as three million infections by the end of the year as the southern hemisphere winter leads to a higher rate of infection, scientific models have showed. The country already has the highest number of infections and deaths on the continent, with more than 18,000 identified cases and 339 deaths, but a national lockdown entering its sixth week had slowed infections. However, scientists and statisticians hired by the health ministry to model the spread of the disease said the country could see between 35,000 and 50,000 coronavirus deaths by November. 10:23 GMT Qatar welcomes NATO initiative to airlift coronavirus supplies Qatar has welcomed NATOs initiative to airlift needed medical and humanitarian supplies in support of the UNs efforts in fighting the pandemic. Qatar is proud to join the NATO initiative to send humanitarian and medical supplies in coordination with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to combat COVID-19 in countries that need more external support, foreign ministry spokeswoman Lolwah Alkhater said on Twitter. Qatar Airways will participate in airlifting these supplies. Qatar is proud to join the #NATO initiative to send humanitarian & medical supplies in coordination with the @UNOCHA to combat #Covid_19 in countries that need more external support. @qatarairwaysar will participate in airlifting these supplies. https://t.co/l1ktKnftRN Lolwah Alkhater (@Lolwah_Alkhater) May 20, 2020 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also welcomed the offers of the UK and Qatar to provide airlift assets coordinated by NATOs Euro Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC). I welcome the offer of the UK & Qatar to support @UNOCHAs global request for airlift support for humanitarian & medical supplies, through #NATOs Disaster Relief Coordination Centre. In our joint efforts against #COVID19, we are #StrongerTogether https://t.co/BAUqPJ0eCN Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) May 20, 2020 UN OCHA had issued a global call requesting that appropriate military and civil defence assets be made available for the transport of humanitarian and medical items needed during the pandemic. 09:40 GMT Iran says 10,000 of its health workers infected with coronavirus About 10,000 Iranian health workers have been infected with coronavirus, the semi-official ILNA news agency has quoted the deputy health minister as saying. Around 10,000 health workers have been infected with the deadly disease in Iran and some of them have died, Qassem Janbabai said, according to ILNA. 09:33 GMT Indonesia reports 973 new cases, biggest daily jump Indonesia has recorded its biggest daily jump in cases, bringing the total number of cases to 20,162 in the worlds fourth most populous country. Indonesia confirmed 973 new infections and 36 new deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,278, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said. 09:30 GMT Japan may lift Tokyo state of emergency as early as next week: PM Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said it was possible that a state of emergency in Tokyo and its surrounding regions could end as early as next week if the number of coronavirus infections continues to decrease. The state of emergency will continue in Tokyo, Hokkaido and other regions. We will meet with experts (on Monday) to update the situation on infections, Abe told reporters after ending the state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures. If the current situation continues, it is possible that the state of emergency could be lifted in those areas. 08:26 GMT Airlines to follow ticket price rules as India resumes some flights Airlines should stick to ticket price guidelines issued by Indias civil aviation ministry when they restart some domestic flights, two months after air travel was halted due to the pandemic, the ministry has said. Airlines should adhere to the lower and upper limits of fares set by the ministry, it said in a notice, but it did not give details on the amounts. Airlines will be allowed to resume about a third of their operations from Monday, adhering to rules that include no meals on board, temperature checks for all passengers and full protective gear for the crew, the ministry said. 08:10 GMT Philippines reports four more deaths, 213 infections The Philippines health ministry has confirmed four more coronavirus deaths and 213 new cases. In a bulletin, the ministry said total deaths because of the pandemic had increased to 846, while infections had risen to 13,434. But 68 more patients have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,000. 08:04 GMT UK healthcare workers begin hydroxychloroquine trial UK healthcare workers will begin taking part in a University of Oxford-led international trial of two anti-malarial drugs to see if they can prevent COVID-19, including the one US President Donald Trump says he has been taking. The COPCOV study will involve more than 40,000 front-line healthcare workers from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America to determine if chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are effective in preventing the coronavirus. The drugs have risen to prominence after Trump said earlier this week he was taking hydroxychloroquine as preventive medicine against the virus despite medical warnings about its use. 07:40 GMT Russias official death toll surpasses 3,000 Russias official coronavirus death toll has risen to 3,099 after officials said 127 people had died in the last 24 hours. Russias authorities reported 8,849 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the total number of cases to 317,554. 07:33 GMT Lufthansa closes in on $10bn state rescue deal Lufthansa is in advanced talks over a $9.9bn (9 billion euros) state bailout that would see Germany take a 20 percent stake in its flagship airline. Lufthansa has said a deal would involve the government taking two seats on its supervisory board, but it would only exercise its full voting rights in exceptional circumstances, such as to protect the firm against a takeover. Lufthansa has been in talks with Berlin for weeks over aid to help it cope with what is expected to be a protracted travel slump, but has been wrangling over how much control to yield in return for support. Read more here. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on May 20 that a decision would come soon on a potential rescue programme for coronavirus-stricken airline giant Lufthansa after weeks of talks [Christof Stache/AFP] 07:26 GMT UK dealing with technical issues of track and trace app: Minister The UK is dealing with technical issues of its track and trace app, but will use traditional tracking means until it is rolled out, the security minister has said. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a world-beating programme to test and trace those suspected of having been in contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19 would be in place by June 1. The test and track programme is seen as a key measure to reopen the country, but has also been dogged by criticism after opposition lawmakers said an earlier promise of a nationwide roll-out of a National Health Service (NHS)-developed smartphone app had slipped from the middle of this month. A resident of the Isle of Wight poses with his smartphone showing the newly released NHS Coronavirus contact tracing app in Ryde [AFP] 07:20 GMT Singapore confirms 448 more cases Singapores health ministry has confirmed another 448 coronavirus cases, taking the city-states tally of infections to 29,812. 07:00 GMT EasyJet to restart flights in June with compulsory masks British low-cost airline EasyJet has said a small number of flights would restart on June 15 and that passengers and cabin crew would all be required to wear masks when travelling. EasyJets planes have been grounded since late March when the coronavirus spread across Europe, but the airline said it would restart domestic flights in the UK and France from June 15, before adding other destinations later. The low-cost airline easyJet said a small number of flights would restart on June 15 [File: Matthew Childs/Reuters] 06:30 GMT How coronavirus cases reached five million worldwide More than five million people have now been infected by the new coronavirus worldwide. The landmark figure was reached almost five months after the first reported case in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December. The US, Russia and Brazil have emerged as the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases. Read more here. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Hi, this is Mersiha Gadzo in Doha taking over the live updates from my colleague Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 04:48 GMT Indonesia warned against premature easing of restrictions Civil groups in Indonesia have warned the government that it should not rush the easing of restrictions in the country, as the number of cases and deaths continue to rise. Lapor COVID-19, a civil society alliance, was quoted by Jakarta Post as saying that fatalities among suspected coronavirus cases in 18 provinces have hit 3,833 as of May 15. Combined with the 1,242 deaths among confirmed cases as of May 20, the group said the total number of deaths was at least 5,075. Staff in protective suits talk to a woman as people sit spaced apart to practice social distancing while waiting for their turn to enter a community health centre in Jakarta, Indonesia [Achmad Ibrahim/AP] 04:28 GMT Greece seeks to jumpstart tourist season on June 15 Greeces long-awaited tourist season will begin on June 15 with the opening of seasonal hotels. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says international flights will begin heading directly to tourist destinations on July 1. In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, Mitsotakis says visitors would be subject to sample coronavirus testing and our general health protocols will be adhered to. There are 2,850 cases and 166 deaths reported in the country of nearly 11 million people. A guardian of antiquities stands on duty in the Acropolis archaeological site, in Athens, Greece [Orestis Panagiotou/EPA-EFE] 03:45 GMT Japan ending emergency order in Osaka, two other areas Japans economy minister says experts have approved a government plan to remove a coronavirus state of emergency in Osaka and two neighbouring prefectures in the west where the infection is deemed to be slowing, while keeping the measure in place in the Tokyo region and Hokkaido. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters that experts at the meeting approved the plan to lift the measure in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo. The measure will be kept in place in Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures, as well as Hokkaido, where the infections have slowed but the containment needs further improvement, according to the AP news agency report. Commuters wearing protective masks head to work amid the coronavirus outbreak in Osaka, Japan [Kyodo/via Reuters] 03:13 GMT Trump threatens funds for US states easing voting during pandemic President Donald Trump has threatened to hold up federal funds for two election battleground states of Michigan and Nevada that are trying to make it easier and safer to vote during the coronavirus pandemic. He later backed away from that threat but stuck with his unsupported claim that widespread voting by mail promotes a lot of illegality. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends voting by mail as a safe option during the pandemic. Trump has said repeatedly, without evidence, that mailed ballots allow widespread fraud and has worried publicly that wide availability could lead so many people to vote that Republicans would lose in November. 02:50 GMT Cambodia lifts entry ban from six countries as coronavirus eases Cambodia has announced the lifting of a travel ban of tourists from Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the US. In an announcement late on Wednesday, the countrys health ministry said visitors from those countries need to present a certificate no more than 72 hours old confirming that they are free from the virus, as well as proof of $50,000 health insurance coverage. The visitors are also required to quarantine for 14 days upon the arrival. 02:09 GMT Recession-hit Japans exports, imports fall due to pandemic Recession-hit Japans exports plunged nearly 22 percent in April, the countrys worst drop in more than a decade as the coronavirus pandemic slammed global demand, AP news agency reported. The Finance Ministry also said on Thursday that imports fell 7 percent. The drop in exports is the worst since the 2008 financial crisis, as export-dependent Japan struggles to juggle the health risks of COVID-19 with the dire need to keep the economy going. Japan is in a technical recession after a contraction that began in the last quarter of last year deepened in the January-March quarter. Analysts say worse may be ahead, given the economic pain of the pandemic may be prolonged. Shoppers in the Japanese city of Yokohama take a stroll in one of the citys business centres on Tuesday [Koji Sasahara/AP] 01:38 GMT Merkel says Germany not cutting foreign aid German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the country wont be cutting foreign aid due to the coronavirus pandemic, and further relief for poor nations is needed. Speaking on Wednesday after a video meeting with heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary fund and three other global economic bodies, Merkel noted last months agreement to freeze poor countries debt obligations and said that as far as the sustainability of debt is concerned further steps need to follow. But she did not spell out whether Germany would go so far as agreeing to debt relief. 01:17 GMT New Zealands Ardern proposes four-day workweek New Zealands prime minister wants employers to consider switching to a four-day workweek as a way to promote tourism, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Jacinda Ardern said in a Facebook Live video that people had learned a lot about flexibility and working from home during the nations lockdown, which was eased last week. New Zealands tourism industry had accounted for about 10 percent of the economy, but has ground to a halt during the outbreak, according to the Associated Press news agency. The South Pacific nations borders remain closed, but Ardern said that as much as 60 percent of tourism was domestic and that more flexible working arrangements could allow New Zealanders to travel more within their own country. 00:56 GMT South Koreas exports of coronavirus test kits surge South Koreas exports of coronavirus test kits are expected to gather momentum down the road thanks to high overseas demand, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday, quoting industry sources. Yonhap quoted the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as saying that 72 test kits manufactured by 46 companies have been approved for exports. The figure includes six products that have won approval for emergency use locally. Several test kit makers have already clinched more orders this year than last years total, with Sugentech Inc securing $49m worth of deals to export coronavirus test kits since April 1. The company has been producing two million kits per week this month. Sample testing devices used in diagnosing coronavirus are checked on a production line near Seoul [File: Ed Jones/AFP] 00: 28 GMT China reports 2 new coronavirus cases, 31 new asymptomatic cases Chinas health commission reported on Thursday two new coronavirus cases as of the end of Wednesday, including one imported case. The health agency also reported 31 new asymptomatic cases in the mainland, slightly up from 16 the previous day. 00:19 GMT Russia sets up quarantine facility in Siberia The Russian military has set up a quarantine facility at a Siberian gold mine where hundreds of workers have been infected with the novel coronavirus. The Olimpiada mine in the town of Yeruda has emerged as a top spot of contagion, with more than 800 workers testing positive for COVID-19. The new facility can accommodate as many as 2,000 patients. Russia has ranked second behind the United States in the number of infections, with more than 300,000 coronavirus cases. 00:01 GMT Large contingent of Cuban doctors help Mexico with coronavirus At least 500 Cuban health workers are helping tackle the new coronavirus in Mexico City, Mexican officials told Reuters news agency, making it likely the largest contingent the communist-led island has deployed globally as part of its response to the pandemic. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly acknowledged the presence of several Cuban doctors working in the citys hospitals to help make up staffing shortfalls, but she has not confirmed the scale of the deployment. A federal health ministry told Reuters there were now 600 Cuban health workers on the ground. Both sources asked not to be identified. Cuba has for decades sent medical professionals to countries across Latin America and as far afield as Africa to help during health crises. __________________________________________________________ Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Im Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read all the updates from yesterday (May 20) here. The idea behind self-reliance is not to turn the country inwards or into an isolationist nation, but to ensure that India can emerge as the global nerve centre of the complex modern multinational supply chain, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said, hailing the government's Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' initiative for post-COVID economic revival. In his address on the New World Order Post COVID-19' at the FICCI, he said a "major scale black swan event" that is impacting most of our established practices, norms and regulations, and thus shaping to become the big disruptor. "The primary impact of the disruption is economic. Global economic institutions put the cumulative loss from the pandemic in the range of USD 5.8-8.8 trillion or approximately 6.5-9.7 per cent of the global GDP. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a 3 per cent contraction of the world economy in 2020," he said. This is the largest contraction of global output since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession of 2008-09, and other lesser recessions did not reduce world output on this scale, Shringla said. He said this is also the first economic downturn of this magnitude due to a non-economic cause. "Quarantines, travel bans and lockdowns, important to control the spread of the coronavirus, have expanded the economic impact to multiple sectors of the economy. The initial supply shock has been followed by a demand shock as both production and incomes have been hit," the foreign secretary said. Whether the contraction will turn into a depression or not is unclear, he said, adding that the scale of disruption makes it a possibility. Shringla, however, said the primary cause of the disruption is the pandemic. The speed of resumption of economic activity will therefore be the key determinant in preventing the recession from growing into a depression, he said. "The slowdown will impact all kinds of economies. Hydrocarbon and commodity dependent economies will be hit as badly as manufacturing, services, agriculture, mining and tourism dependent economies. Global poverty and unemployment levels will rise. Expatriate workforces will be negatively impacted. Remittances are already falling," he said. The pandemic is also expected to leave people with a thoroughly different world, with tightened global financial market conditions, behavioural changes and altered consumption patterns, such that the demand and supply chains no longer suffice to cater to the new demand emanating from a changed world, he said. The economic order that existed in the pre-pandemic times will have changed significantly in the post-pandemic times, Shringla said. "This pandemic has not just stressed our systems globally, but has also exposed the existing gaps in our systems, forcing all of us to identify the loopholes, regroup, reform and reinvent. This reinvention of the global economic order is something that we all must prepare ourselves for," he said. Strong multilateral cooperation will continue to be critical in the collective fight against the pandemic as also for a global economic recovery, he asserted. "Our global supply chains have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The risks of increased dependence of our supply chains on a particular country or region of the world have been exposed by the pandemic, and the need to de-risk and build resilience by increased diversification and innovation has made itself starkly evident," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, identified five key pillars of the country's future economic roadmap, including economy, infrastructure, demography, democracy and supply chains, Shringla said. Successful integration and assimilation of all these factors will be crucial to achieve a quantum jump in our overall growth and development, he said. In India, there was already an ongoing thinking within ministries and agencies on formulating a strategy which would position India as an alternate manufacturing destination of choice for global investors, he said. The idea behind this initiative was to enable manufacturing and trading companies looking to diversify and de-risk their value chains to choose India as an alternate location for their operations, Shringla said. The government has announced a set of bold economic reforms under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, Shringla said. This vision of economic revival aims to provide short term relief to the citizens impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, while also defining a long-term economic roadmap to achieve the government's vision of a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024, he said. "The idea behind self-reliance or Aatmanirbharat is not to turn the country inwards, or into an isolationist country, but to the contrary, it is to ensure that India can emerge as the global nerve centre of the complex modern multinational supply chains," he said. The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan takes into account the largely untapped domestic potential and the ever-growing domestic demand, which are the two key driving forces for the Indian economy, and builds on them to provide a new strategic roadmap for the growth of India's agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors, Shringla said. "Foreign policy begins at home. A strong economy allows us to be heard in the world. A self-reliant India will have more to offer to the world," he quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as saying. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ATLANTA, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey of more than 2,000 college and high school students, the "Student Voices of America Survey" conducted by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), reveals overwhelming optimism and hope. Strikingly, more than 80% of the 2000 respondents stated being "Very" or "Pretty" hopeful about the health of their family and friends (82%), their ability to achieve a college education (94%), graduate on time (86%), and secure a job (83%). When asked how they would feel if their schools were still online in the fall, a third of the students (32%) said they would rather not attend school. Roughly half (53%) said they prefer in-person classes but could deal with e-learning. A racially and economically diverse mix of high school and college students from all 50 states responded to 10 questions about their outlook on their education, the economy, the well-being of their families and friends, and their futures in light of COVID-19. The resounding sentiment is one of hopefulness and optimism in spite of the pandemic. "This survey overwhelmingly speaks to the optimism and hope that our nation's students feel during what is typically an unrivaled time of accomplishment and joy with physical graduations, speeches, proms, sporting events, and special times with friends," said James Lewis, president of National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). "In spite of these great losses, the survey affirms our youths' belief in the future and their continued journey toward achievement and personal growth." While 54% of the students surveyed are "Not so Hopeful" or "Hopeless" about the overall U.S. economy, 68% report they are either "Very Hopeful" or "Pretty Hopeful" about our nation's ability to overcome COVID-19. Most students expect to be able to socialize in person again by the end of August (63%) and anticipate that things will be back to normal by the end of the year (55%). Yet, 41% don't see a return to normalcy until sometime in 2021 or 2022. NSHSS also asked students to share positive things that have come out of this crisis. "Spending quality time with family," "learning new skills," "positive effects on the environment," "sleep," and "self-care" stood out among their responses. In addition, this Saturday, May 23, 2020, NSHSS is hosting a free "Scholar Up: NSHSS Virtual Conference" which will include workshops, a virtual college & career fair, and question & answer sessions available to high school students for 24 hours. At a time when students can't visit colleges or have face to face time with potential employers, NSHSS is creating an online environment (including video, audio, and text chats LIVE between 1-5 p.m. ET) where students can converse with over 30 top universities and companies and walk away with tangible resources and newfound knowledge to help them apply to the college of their dreams or land their ideal internship. Survey Methodology: The NSHSS Student Voices of America Survey was distributed to high school and college age students nationwide who are active members of NSHSS. The survey was open for one week from Saturday, April 18, 2020 to Sunday, April 26, 2020, during which time more than 2,000 students responded to the questions. About National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS): NSHSS is the premier international honors and scholarship program co-founded by Claes Nobel, the senior member of the Nobel Prize family, and James Lewis. NSHSS offers a lifetime of benefits, pairing the highest performing students worldwide with high school and college scholarships, events, connections, internships, and career opportunities that begin in high school and carry on through college and careers. For more information, visit the official website of NSHSS . SOURCE National Society of High School Scholars Related Links http://www.nshss.org You would think that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would think twice before awarding a $491.5 million loan to a dictatorship such as Gen. Yoweri Musevenis in Uganda where the state is the biggest criminal, engaged in kidnappings, disappearances and unsolved murders. Its true that COVID-19 has disrupted socio-economic fabric in most African countries who, to begin with, are already fragile, and that financial assistance is required. Indeed that is the argument that the IMF made recently to my colleague on Black Star News. Yet, what is the guarantee that a corrupt and violent military dictatorship such as Gen. Musevenis will actually direct the funds to needy Ugandans given the regimes track record? Who can believe that a regime which engages in crimes against its own citizensand plunders state resourceswill take care of their welfare with the IMF funds during this COVID-19 crises. Isnt the IMF therefore aiding and abetting tyranny in Uganda? Did the Board of Directors review the U.S. State Departments latest human rights report on Uganda before approving the loan? The March 4, 2020 report refers to, "Significant human rights issues included: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; forced disappearance; torture; and arbitrary detention by government agencies." Did the directors take into consideration that in December 2018, a Chinese national named Patrick Ho Chi-Ping was convicted in U.S. federal court for bribing Gen. Museveni and his foreign minister Sam Kutesa $1 million which the two split to grant illegal oil concession to a Chinese company? In the 1970s military juntas in Chile and Argentina were notorious for perfecting kidnappings, disappearances, and extra-judicial murders by the state. Those countries continued getting strong support from the World Bank and the IMF. The IMF is duplicating the model in Uganda. Prior to the lockdown imposed by the military ruler Museveni two months ago, the U.S. issued a warning to Americans traveling to Uganda to use increased caution in Uganda due to crime. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, home invasion, and sexual assault, is common, especially in larger cities including Kampala and Entebbe. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious crime." There are so-called safe houses throughout Uganda, manned by by security forces where civilians are detained and tortured; some die and are secretly buried. Recently, the Uganda Parliaments committees investigating torture incidents were denied access to the alleged torture installations which are euphemistically referred to, in the macabre language typical of autocracies, as safe houses. Only Gen. Museveni could block access. One of the many cases of disappearances followed by this reporter involves a woman named Sharon Kalungi. Shes been missing since October, 2017. Soon after, her partner, Joan Nakityo, also went missing. One wonders whether they're dead or alive. Their two children are also missing. According to Geoffrey Kityo, Joans brother, his sister disappeared on March 14, 2020, together with the two children, aged 10 years and four years. The 10-year old, Palton Kasozi, was Kalungis son, and the four year old girl, Nakityos. Kidnapping adults, together with their children, has become common. After the assassination of Andrew Felix Kaweesi, former assistant inspector general of Police, in iMarch 2017, several Muslim parents were arrested including children as young as two. Courts have since awarded damages that the regime ignores. "I have almost spent all my lifetime savings. My heart is getting weak every passing day, when I think of my sister and the toddlers," Kityo recalls, in an interview. An army spokesperson, Brig. Richard Karemire, says, Yes, this case reference you're referring to, is purely a police matter." When pressed, he says, "Tell the relatives to come to my office." What would that accomplish? Why not produce the kidnapped parties or state if theyve been killed? When presented with a list of disappeared people, a Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, says, "We are working with all agencies to get to the conclusion. The investigations are not closed. They're still going on. The findings will be shared with the public." This is the type of nonsensical response to be expected from a government official in an autocracy. The same public is waiting for the regime to share information about the investigation into the execution-style murder of Kaweesi, who once held Enangas job, and the late Member of Parliament Ibrahim Abiriga. Enanga adds, Your query was forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to generate the right information. I am awaiting their response. The kidnapping and disappearances of civilians have increased since August 2018, after the detention and torture of the popular politician, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, aka Bobi Wine, Francis Zaake, and other young members of parliament. They embody the aspirations of the countrys youthful voters determined to remove dictatorship, and are seen as a real threat to the military ruler in next years vote. Zaake, was recently again kidnapped and tortured after he distributed food relief to his starving constituents suffering from the COVID-19 lockdown that has left most Ugandans hungry. The U.S., the E.U., and Human Rights Watch called for an investigation. The organizations involved in the kidnappings and disappearances are the notorious Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Internal Security Organization (ISO). What now follows is just a small sampling of the disappearances, kidnappingswith some victims likely already being killedthat have occurred in Uganda. I hope the IMFs board of directors will gets to see this list: 1. Geoffrey Ssenyonjo went missing in 2019. The missing person report at Kibiri Police Station is Ref. No. SD60/18/11/2019. 2. John Bosco Kibalama, an activist allied with Bobi Wines People Power movement went missing in 2019. The missing person report at Nakanyonyi police station is Ref, No. SD/02/04/06/2019. 3. Hellen Namubiru. Badly tortured on March 26, and remains in hiding where she gets treatment. Her 39-year-old sister, Juliet Namiiro, went missing since 02/03/2020. 4. Juliet Namiiro disappeared shortly after her friend Rita Nabukenya, was killed. Nabukenya, she was a supporter of People Power movement. It's alleged that she was intentionally knocked dead by a police track. No one was held accountable, since February 24, 2020. 5. Solomon Ssebbaale, 29, of Kiwoko-Luwero- District, disappeared in September 2019, shortly after his friend John Bosco Kibalama's disappearance. His disappearance left a lot of questions. He had just been given a contract to supply the maize flour, when he got 3 archers of his tomatoes razed down. 6. Father Anthony Kiiza went missing on June 28, 2017. 7. Maria Nagirinya Gateni, 28, a social worker and her driver Ronald Kitayimbwa were both kidnapped on August 28, 2019, from her gate in Lungujja-Busega Community Zone. The body Nagirinya and that of his driver were discovered on August 30, 2019, in Naama-Mukono, about 22 miles from Kampala, the capital. 8. Dylan Kirabo, 8-year-old daughter to Hakim Sibukyu, a book publisher, was kidnapped on January 11, 2020, from Luwafu-Nakindte Division, Kampala and killed. 9. Ugandan blogger Michael Kalinda a.k.a. Ziggy Wine, also a supporter of Bobi Wine, died of injuries sustained when he was tortured. He had an eye plucked out and two fingers severed. He had burns on his entire body, believed to be inflicted on him using a flat iron. The body was dumped outside Mulago hospital in Kampala on August 5, 2019. He had been kidnapped on July 21, 2019. 10. Rose Nakisekka, 18, kidnapped on May 10, from Kigo Villa-Maria in Kalungu District, about 76 miles from Kampala. Her body was discovered in Nalumunye-Kampala on May 21, 2018. Reportedly ransom of $1,319 was demanded. The family paid $527. She was still killed. 11. Thirty two-year-old Charity Kyohiewe was kidnapped on March 23, 2020. The body was discovered with strangulation marks two days later. 12. Francis Ekalugar, 49, an accountant who worked with Case Clinic went missing on January 2, 2018 while on his way to the bank with 15,000,000 shillings, about $3,954.Two days later Ekalugar's body was discovered burnt beyond recognition more than 10 miles outside Kampala. MONTGOMERY, AL As Gov. Kay Ivey announced looser restrictions on businesses and venues in the state, the Alabama Department of Public Health has confirmed more than 13,000 cases of COVID-19, with 375 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. Alabama has 529 confirmed deaths from the virus as of Thursday afternoon. Total, 172,934 coronavirus tests have been administered statewide, with 13,120 positive tests. Ivey said in her news conference Thursday that the state is not where she had hoped it would be at this point, but that opening up more businesses and venues was the right action in spite of spikes in areas like Montgomery County and Tuscaloosa County. Don't miss the latest coronavirus updates from health and government officials in Alabama. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters. New cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Alabama in the last five days: May 16: 343 new cases May 17: 312 new cases May 18: 304 new cases May 19: 392 new cases May 20: 360 new cases Mobile County reported 58 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours. Jefferson County reported 37 new cases and Montgomery COunty has added 47 cases to its total since Wednesday afternoon. The counties with the most COVID-19 cases: Mobile County: 1,847 confirmed cases; 17,254 tested; 107 deaths Jefferson County: 1,437 confirmed cases; 31,390 tested; 84 deaths Montgomery County: 1,003 confirmed cases; 6,796 tested; 28 deaths Marshall County: 643 confirmed cases; 4,736 tested; 9 deaths Lee County: 463 confirmed cases; 5,196 tested; 32 deaths Tuscaloosa County: 431 confirmed cases; 7,334 tested; 9 deaths Shelby County: 414 confirmed cases; 7,591 tested; 19 deaths SEE ALSO: This article originally appeared on the Birmingham Patch "Losing people to the virus, it really is painful," he said. "The Tribe is deeply saddened." The death is also the sixth related to coronavirus in Fremont County. Fremont County has confirmed the most coronavirus cases of any Wyoming county: 209 as of Tuesday evening. Additionally, the county has 24 probable cases (untested patients who are close contacts of confirmed patients and have exhibited coronavirus-like symptoms). Of those 233 combined patients, 95 have recovered, one of the lowest percentages of any county. Overall, as of Wednesday morning, Wyoming had 596 confirmed and 191 probable cases in the state, with 528 recoveries. Of the 11 coronavirus-related deaths in Wyoming, officials have announced four in the past four days. Monday, the Wyoming Department of Health announced that two state residents infected with COVID-19 had died in Colorado in recent months: an older Laramie County man and an older Carbon County woman. Their deaths, which occurred in March and April, respectively, were reported recently to Wyomings Vital Statistics Services Office. M inisters are set to pilot the Covid-19 track and trace system in 10 areas as they race to meet a June 1 deadline. The trial areas are expected to be in Camden, Surrey, Norfolk, Tameside in Greater Manchester, Warwickshire, Leeds, Devon, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Leicestershire. Security minister James Brokenshire insisted that an effective system would be in place by the start of next month, when some primary schools are expected to reopen for more year groups, and possibly some non-essential shops. However, he admitted that track and trace may have to rely initially on the army of at least 24,000 people recruited for the crucial task as an NHS contact tracing app still had technical issues. It was expected to have been ready to be rolled out in the middle of this month. The Government is under pressure to meet its deadline of an effective system across the country by June 1, rather than having a patchy network in the process of being built up. The challenge facing the Government was highlighted by an official study estimating the number of new Covid infections a week at 61,000. Boris Johnson told the Commons yesterday that by the start of next month the track and trace system would be able to cope with 10,000 new infections a day. Boris Johnson in the Commons / via REUTERS The manual system would see tracers phoning and emailing people suspected of having been in contact with a person newly-infected with coronavirus. However, NHS leaders warned that this action to control the future spread was coming late in the day and stressed there were concerns how it would operate locally. The pilots, which will have to be carried out at pace, are being done as responses to outbreaks may vary depending on local factors. A district with more people vulnerable to the virus, such as elderly residents, may have to impose more stringent restrictions. Local health chiefs may also be able to take decisions more quickly given their detailed knowledge of their areas and its social make-up and other risk factors. Mr Brokenshire said he believed it was safe for schools to return before the contact tracing app is rolled out, adding that it would supplement human contact tracers. James Brokenshire / Getty Images He told Sky News: I think it is important that we put in place all the things we can as quickly as we can. We obviously want to see that the app is put in place well and effectively, learning from the experience in the Isle of Wight and dealing with any... all of the feedback that were receiving on some of the technical issues, to ensure that it is as strong as we can make it. But that should not stand in the way of the introduction of the track and trace arrangements that Ive explained. He added: We are confident that the system will be there, able to track and trace around 10,000 people (per day) on June 1. But the NHS Confederation issued a stark warning that time is running out to finalise a strategy to avoid a potential second surge of Covid-19. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the body which represents health and care leaders, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Our concern is that this has been done quite late in the day, we havent yet seen the detail. In particular, I think were concerned at the role of local contact tracing and how that complements what is happening at national level. Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospitals, told BBC Breakfast his members have not had clear information and instructions about what their role will be in the system. In other key developments: John Holland-Kaye, chief executive of Heathrow airport, signalled his tacit support for Government plans to impose a 14-day quarantine programme for anyone arriving in the UK from abroad, but firmly backed the idea of air bridges between countries with lower infection levels. EasyJet is to resume a small number of mainly domestic flights from 22 European airports from June 15. Mr Brokenshire said the Government is looking at implementing a key word system so domestic abuse victims struggling in lockdown can access help. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he remains very cautious about easing more lockdown measures as cases continue to fall in the capital. The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), founded in April 1949, is a people's organization that unites women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life in China, and strives for their further emancipation and development. As a people's organization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), it serves as a bridge linking the party and the government with women and as an important social pillar of the state power. Its fundamental tasks are to establish links with and serve women, while its main responsibilities are to represent and safeguard women's rights and interests, and to promote gender equality and women's all-round development. The highest power organ of women's federation is the National Women's Congress (NWC) and the ACWF's Executive Committee elected by NWC. NWC is convened every five years. During the 12th NWC held in Beijing from October 30 to November 2, 2018. Shen Yueyue was elected as President of ACWF and Huang Xiaowei was elected as Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of ACWF. Women's federations in China are established at the national, local and primary levels. Women's federations also practice group membership. There are 685,000 women's federations at six levels with 4,980 group members, and over 7.8 million executive members. Women's federations have set up 853,000 Women's Homes nationwide. Thus, the organizational structure of women's federations has been shaped. Main Tasks 1. To organize and lead women to learn and implement Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the lines, principles and policies of CPC, and to unite women with a shared aspiration of socialism with Chinese characteristics. 2. To unite and mobilize women to dedicate to reform and opening-up and the socialist economic, political, cultural, social and ecological drive; to give full play to women's unique roles in social and family life; and to encourage them to make contributions to the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. 3. To represent women to take part in the management of state, economic, cultural and social affairs; in democratic decision-making, administration and supervision; in the formulation of relevant laws, regulations, rules and policies; in social management and public services; to promote the implementation of laws and policies on the protection of women's rights and interests and the implementation of national programs for women and children's development. 4. To safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of women and children, listen to their opinions, make their voices heard, put forward relevant recommendations to government departments at all levels, request and assist government departments or institutions to conduct investigations on violation of women and children's rights and provide necessary assistance to victims. 5. To educate and lead women to cultivate self-respect, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-improvement; to improve their overall competence and realize all-round development; to advocate Marxist theory on women; to promote the implementation of the basic state policy of equality between men and women; to build a social environment conducive to women's development in all aspects; to commend outstanding female role models; and to nurture and recommend talented women. 6. To educate and guide women to observe core socialist values, promote fine Chinese traditional culture; to launch campaigns to advocate and carry forward Chinese family virtues, support family education; and to nurture fine family cultures. 7. To care about women's work and life, enhance services for them, innovate service modes and build service fields; to develop public welfare programs; to increase the number of female volunteers; to step up the building of women's Homes; to establish links with women-focused social organizations and to work with all sectors of the society to improve services for women, children and family. 8. To consolidate and expand the unity of women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life; to strengthen communication and cooperation with women and women's organizations in Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SAR) and in Taiwan, as well as with overseas Chinese women and women's groups; to promote China's modernization and peaceful reunification. 9. To conduct friendly exchanges with women and women's organizations around the world, deepen mutual understanding, enhance friendship and promote cooperation; to take an active part in the Belt and Road Initiative; to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind; and to make contributions to world peace and common development. A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily halted a lower court judge's ruling to expand voting by mail in Texas to all 16 million state voters in the July elections. Details: The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas' Republican attorney general on Wednesday to block a federal judge's ruling a day earlier that all registered voters in the state should have the option of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court is hearing a separate case brought by the state attorney general on whether to limit absentee voting, the Texas Tribune notes. Texas only permits mail-in voting for seniors and those with health conditions unable to cast ballots in person. The big picture: Many states have placed an increased emphasis on access to early voting this year as part of efforts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Republican Party, President Trump and his re-election campaign have largely sought to push back against attempts to expand mail-in voting. Experts have found all forms of voting fraud are rare in the U.S., but "the mail voting system is more vulnerable to fraud than voting in person," the New York Times notes. Go deeper: The US Supreme Court has blocked the House Judiciary Committee from treceiving previously undisclosed findings from special counsel Robert Mueller's report investigating Russian interference in US elections in 2016. Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice asked the court to pause the release of report materials while it appealed an appeals court ruling that would require redacted portions of the report be released, along with grand jury transcripts and other evidence that previously were kept under wraps. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted the Justice Department's request. Department officials have a 1 June deadline to file a petition seeking review of a previous court decision that granted the release of the documents, though pending hearings could delay the release of the full report until after the November general election, while Donald Trump and his allies undermine the report with conspiracies targeting his predecessor Barack Obama. House committee members wrote that the redactions crucial to the case bear on whether the president "committed impeachable offences by obstructing the FBI's and Special Counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and his possible motivations for doing so". The committee told the court that despite the president's November impeachment and Senate acquittal in February, "the committee's impeachment investigation related to obstruction of justice pertaining to the Russia investigation is ongoing". In July 2019, after the Justice Department refused to comply with a subpoena for the full, unredacted version of the report, the House committee asked a federal court just to disclose the release of the materials. The judge agreed. The Justice Department appealed, and the three-judge panel upheld the lower court's ruling. Justice Department officials then sought intervention at the Supreme Court to block the release of the materials until the agency filed a petition for review of that appellate decision. The House committee's brief to the Supreme Court "has further developed in light of recent events" including the Justice Department's apparent leniency in the sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone, who was convicted of perjury and witness intimidation, as well as Attorney General William Barr's request to dismiss the case against former national security adviser and Trump campaign aide Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In its brief, the committee says it is "investigating the possible exercise of improper political influence over recent decisions made in the Roger Stone and Michael Flynn prosecutions, both of which were initiated by the special counsel." "The committee and the public continue to suffer grave and irreparable injury each additional day the district court's order is prevented from going into effect," the brief said. "The committee is being deprived of the information it needs to exercise its weighty constitutional responsibility." Tesla's HR boss, Valerie Workman, said in an e-mail to employees on Wednesday night that the company is returning to "normal operations" at its Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant and Sparks, Nevada, battery factory this week, with some health-related precautions in place. Among other things, that means Tesla's regular attendance policy will be in place as of Friday, according to the memo, with one new provision: Those who want to stay home due to concerns about exposing a vulnerable member of their household to Covid-19 will have to file paperwork describing the situation to Tesla HR and get approval first for their unpaid leave. Once approved, they can take unpaid leave through the end of May. The company is passing out masks to workers who need them, and performing temperature checks on workers as they arrive at the factory's doors. As CNBC has previously reported, Tesla's attendance policy gives workers points if they skip a shift without having accrued personal time off, or if they use personal time off without approval from managers. They get 2 points per absence and 1 point for tardiness, typically. A worker with 5 to 6 points can be terminated under the policy. Elon Musk's electric vehicle and renewable energy company wound down to minimum basic operations at its main, U.S. car plant on March 24, and re-opened the factory the weekend of May 9 in defiance of local health orders. The Fremont Police Department told CNBC that it is not investigating "alleged production" that occurred at the Tesla vehicle plant before health orders were relaxed and a site-specific plan for the factory was approved by Alameda County Public Health. Musk and Tesla filed a lawsuit against Alameda County after the county's public health leaders put restrictions in place that impacted the Tesla factory, in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the community. Tesla dropped the suit on Wednesday. Musk has promised to move Tesla's headquarters out of the state of California, and threatened to move Tesla's manufacturing operations and future projects out of the state, as well. However, California Governor Gavin Newsom said, in an interview with CNBC on May 19, that he doesn't worry about Tesla or Elon Musk making those moves any time soon. "I've had a lot of conversations with him, and we're committed to the success and the innovation and the low-carbon, green growth economy that he's been promoting for decades and the state of California is accelerating in," Newsom said. Read the entire HR memo to Tesla's production workforce, transcribed by CNBC, here: From: HR To: Everyone-CA Date: May 20, 2020 Subj. HR Update: May 20, 2020: Fremont Factory & Gigafactory Nevada Hi Everyone, On Monday, May 18, Bay Area health officials eased shelter-in-place restrictions as a result of sustained progress in the containment of Covid-19. Specifically, they cited favorable health data showing a trend in stabilizing or declining new Covid [sic] cases and hospitalizations, as well as an increase in testing. This is great news for the health of our community, and it's exciting to begin the path to reopening some areas of the country. Bay Area guidelines permit manufacturers to resume normal operations, and ease restrictions for retail, warehousing and other industries assuming all required safety precautions can be followed. This order, combined with the County's prior approval of our Return to Work health and safety protocols, and improving health and safety data means California is getting back to work. Specifically, this means a few important updates for Fremont Factory as well as Gigafactory Nevada: 1. We'll be reinstating our Attendance Policy this Friday, May 22 with a new provision: *If an employee does not want to come to work out of concern that they might expose an at-risk member of their household, HR will provide the employee with a document the employee can sign and submit to confirm their situation and receive Unpaid Leave until May 31. *If you are under Tesla-or doctor- directed quarantine, are sick with Covid [sic] symptoms, or have tested positive for Covid [sic], you are not subject to the Attendance Policy and should continue to stay home. Please notify your manager and a Benefits team member will contact you to discuss Covid-19 Paid Leave of Covid-19 Exposure Paid Leave. 2. Premium pay will continue through May 31 for those who are eligible in appreciation for your work during this challenging time. 3. All health and safety precautions must continue to be followed, and we will be implementing additional checks and audits to ensure these policies are being followed. This email only applies to our production workforce and production-related office workers at our Fremont operations in Alameda County and Gigafactory Nevada. Those who can continue to work from home, should do so. In some areas of the country, additional restrictions continue and therefore please only report to work if your manager, HR partners or another Tesla representative has called you back to work. Thank you all for your continued diligence in helping to keep our Tesla team safe and healthy. Please continue to reach out to [Ed: e-mail redacted] with your HR-related questions. Thank You Team! Valerie Capers Workman | North America HR+ EMEA & AU/NZ/JP/KR We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. | Image: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Update (July 29): Two years after federal officials seized the artifact, a judge ordered Hobby Lobby to officially forfeit a rare clay tablet containing a portion of the epic of Gilgamesh. The tablet will be returned to Iraq. The Bible Museum, which was founded by Hobby Lobby owner and Bible collector Steve Green, has supported efforts to send the item back to its country of origin. The ancient Mesopotamian text was purchased from Christies auction house in 2014 before being put on display in Washington D.C. in 2017. Hobby Lobby is now suing Christies, claiming the reputable auction house provided false information and provenance documents making it seem the tablet could be legally purchased, and was not looted during fighting in Iraq. Hobby Lobby is also returning about 11,500 other antiquities to the Iraqi and Egyptian governments due to incorrect or incomplete documentation. Green has previously said he made a mistake, when he was building a collection for the Museum of the Bible, by trusting unscrupulous dealers. ----- Original post (May 21, 2020): Another ancient document is causing controversy for the Museum of the Bible after a federal government prosecutor filed a claim that a six-by-five-inch clay tablet was stolen from Iraq. The US Attorneys Office of Eastern New York says that Hobby Lobby legally purchased the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet for $1.6 million to loan to the museum, but the papers documenting the artifacts purchase history were false. In this case, a major auction house failed to meet its obligations by minimizing its concerns that the provenance of an important Iraqi artifact was fabricated, and withheld from the buyer information that undermined the provenances reliability," said US Attorney Richard Donoghue, who filed a foreiture claim on the Gilgamesh tablet on Monday. In an official statement to Christianity Today, the Museum of the Bible announced it has cooperated with the investigation and is cooperating with authorities to return the tablet to Iraq. The museum also said Hobby Lobby will sue the British auction house that sold it the tablet. The Museum of the Bible identified the auction house as Christies. The clay tablet is a part of the Gilgamesh epic, which tells the story of a great king who battles with gods and tries to discover the secret to eternal life. It is considered one of the worlds first great works of literature, dating to the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia of more than 4,000 years ago. The epic is also famous for including a flood narrative with similarities to the biblical story of Noahs flood. This tablet has been dated to around 1600 BC and contains the account of a dream, which is interpreted by the heros mother. Department of Homeland Security agents seized it from the Bible museum in September. It is now being held in a US Customs and Border Protection facility in Queens, New York. The importation of cultural property from war-torn Iraq has been restricted, since nine museums were looted in 1991 during the turmoil of the Gulf War. According to the US Attorney, the cuneiform tablet was brought into the US illegally from London in 2003 by an unnamed antiquities dealer. It was then sold to another dealer in 2007 with false documents saying it was purchased legitimately in a box of bronze artifacts in 1981. In 2014, Hobby Lobby purchased the tablet from an auction house and donated it to the Museum of the Bible. Museum officials started to investigate the provenance of the tablet in 2017, in what the US Attorney calls due diligence research. According to the US Attorneys office, museum officials took questions about the item to the auction house, but auction house officials repeated the antiquities dealers account of where it was purchased, withholding the falsified provenance letter and the dealers name. The museum notified the Iraqi embassy that it had the Gilgamesh tablet and committed itself to independently researching the provenance of the item. In April, the Museum of the Bible announced it would return 11,500 other clay seals and fragments of papyrus to the Iraqi and Egyptian governments because they did not have complete documentation and may have been looted. A year ago, the museum agreed to return 13 Egyptian papyrus fragments that were stolen from the University of Oxford. And in 2017, the federal government fined Hobby Lobby and ordered it to return thousands of cuneiform tablets and other objects that were illegally taken from war-torn Iraq and brought into the US by a United Arab Emirates-based dealer who falsely labeled the shipments as ceramic tiles. I trusted the wrong people to guide me, and unwittingly dealt with unscrupulous dealers in those early years, said Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby and founder of the Museum of the Bible, in an official statement in March. My goal was always to protect, preserve, study, and share cultural property with the world. If I learn of other items in the collection for which another person or entity has a better claim, I will continue to do the right thing with those items. Workers back on the job at the construction site of new towers near Government Center in downtown Boston on May 19, 2020. Lane Turner | The Boston Globe | Getty Images Another round of coronavirus relief for Americans may hinge on extra legal protections for businesses. Some business owners fear customers and employees may sue if they were to contract Covid-19 as retail shops, restaurants and bars gradually begin reopening in many states. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said a wave of lawsuits against business owners could lead to a "second pandemic." He and other Republicans are pushing for extra liability protections, absent which there will be a slower economic recovery, they say. But the anxiety may be somewhat misplaced, according to opponents of such a new rule, which they believe may promote lax workplace safety standards and lead more workers to stay home. For one, there hasn't been evidence of mounting coronavirus-related lawsuits to date, and such cases would be challenging to win, they said. "It's a big concern [for business owners]," Richard Bell, a personal injury and medical malpractice trial attorney based in New York, said of lawsuits. "And it's unfounded." Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Congress has passed four laws since early March to help address the financial impact of the coronavirus on Americans. The largest, the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, expanded unemployment benefits, sent one-time stimulus payments of up to $1,200 to individuals and created a forgivable loan program for small businesses. Republicans and business groups are pressing Democrats who want to boost aid for state and local government, among other things for concessions around business liability in another round of financial relief. More from Personal Finance How to get Medicare if you're 65 or older and lose your job 8 in-demand jobs created by the pandemic How to cope with burnout while working from home "It's clear there's a groundswell of concern," particularly among small businesses, said Harold Kim, president of the Institute for Legal Reform at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business trade group. "There is this hanging cloud of liability," he said. The data do not yet appear to bear out a surge in claims. Just 45 of the 1,018 coronavirus-related lawsuits as of May 13 were personal injury or medical malpractice cases against a business, according to Reuters, citing an analysis conducted by the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth. Of those, more than half were against Princess Cruise Lines. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards "Those cases haven't materialized and I doubt they will," David Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, testified on Tuesday during a Senate hearing on corporate liability during the coronavirus pandemic. High bar? It would be difficult to build a successful case even without additional protections for business owners, Bell said. A customer generally must prove both negligence and causation on the part of the business owners for a court to award damages, he said. A worker only has to prove causation in a workers' compensation court to be awarded damages, he said. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards In the context of Covid-19, that would mean customers showing that a business owner did not take appropriate precautionary measures, such as disinfecting surfaces, enforcing social distancing or requiring employees to wear masks, Bell said. Further, plaintiffs would have to prove they got the coronavirus from the place of business which could be especially difficult given the long incubation period for the virus, he said. "That's going to be an extremely high bar," Bell said. "And because of that, I think this is a distraction. It's not a real issue." Any damages may be covered by liability insurance policies business owners have, he said. Stats are through May 21's weekly jobless claims report. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has cleared a Winnipeg police officer in connection with the shooting of a man, who was later charged with murder, in October 2019. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba has cleared a Winnipeg police officer in connection with the shooting of a man, who was later charged with murder, in October 2019. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Officers responded to a domestic disturbance at a home in Elmwood on the morning of Oct. 18, 2019. Officers were approached by a man who allegedly carried a knife. One officer fired a shot that struck the man in the left shoulder, while the other used a Taser. The man was taken to the hospital with "one gunshot wound and what appeared to be self-inflicted lacerations to his neck," the police watchdog said in a news release on Thursday. Its probe involved reviewing police notes and reports, interviewing officers who were at the scene, and attempting to speak with the man who was shot. "Investigators also reviewed the supplementary occurrence report, audio of the 911 telephone calls, WPS radio communications, scene photographs, (Taser) download report, WPS firearm qualification information, the affected persons medical report, and the forensic identification unit report," the IIU said. IIU civilian director Zane Tessler ruled the officers actions were "justified, unavoidable, and necessary to prevent death or injury to the attending officers." When officers searched the home on the 300 block of Riverton Avenue, they discovered a woman had been killed. Karen Jane Letniak, 48, was the 32nd homicide victim of 2019. Cody Don Saunders, 26, was later charged with second-degree murder. H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media Lynn Deming Park in New Milford will start to reopen Thursday by allowing boaters to begin to return by appointment only. Boaters who rent a boat dock in Lynn Deming can schedule a time with the towns park and recreation department to put their boats in the dock. Once all of the boats are in, the boat launch can be used by appointment only, Mayor Pete Bass announced Wednesday. (Newser) Anyone trying to give Elon Musk a call shouldn't be surprised if they end up speaking to a 25-year-old Sephora worker instead. Her name is Lyndsay Tucker, and she was by chance given a phone number by AT&T a few years ago that used to belong to none other than the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. Since then, the California woman tells NPR she's been receiving a handful of calls and texts daily intended for Musk, whom she hadn't heard of until this phone pandemonium started. "I asked my mom, 'Hey, I keep getting these text messages ... for this guy Elon Musk. I don't know who this is,'" Tucker says. "My mom's jaw just dropped." The calls and texts, some of which are shown by NPR, have included a woman volunteering to be launched into space; a South African businessman asking to buy 1,000 trucks; and even a message from ex-Disney exec John Lasseter. story continues below "The self driving is a trip!" Lasseter wrote about the Tesla he'd just bought, thinking he'd reached Musk. Even Bobby Allyn, the writer of the NPR story, got Tucker when he recently tried to reach out to Musk for a different article. Tucker doesn't plan to ditch the number, even though she notes "it does get irritating sometimes when it's like call after call after call." NPR reached Musk and told him about the mix-up with Tucker, to which his emailed response was: "Wow. That number is so old! I'm surprised it's still out there somewhere." NPR also asked him if he was, by any chance, giving out his old number on purpose to people he didn't want calling him, as Tucker says some of the folks who call her say that's the number Musk gave them. Musk didn't respond to that query. (Read more of the messages Tucker has been receiving here.) Wuhan went from being a relatively unknown city throughout the world to become the most infamous place in just a few months, all because of the pandemic. Reportedly, the new strain of coronavirus likely originated in bats or pangolins and the first transmission to humans was recorded in Wuhan, China. It was the first epicentre of the virus and since then has spread all over the world, as we all know. While the origins of the virus are still being investigated, it's being suspected that it started from Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the city and finally after months, Wuhan has now officially banned eating all wild animals. Reuters On top of that, the local administration has also said that Wuhan would become a wildlife sanctuary. Well, that's a good step. Basically, the city would now be extremely strict over the controls on the breeding of all wild animals, prohibiting any to be reared for food. While this is a good step, people are still sceptical about how well it would be enforced and if and when the rest of the China, and subsequently, the rest of the world will follow suit. Animal cruelty as a whole should be stopped. Thats a good start! Lets get the Yulin dog markets and the brutality against all our animals banned lesley_molloy (@lesley_molloy) May 20, 2020 Time to ban killing of all animals. truth activist (@activist_truth) May 20, 2020 We hope this includeds the end of the #DogCatMeatTrade Nenagh-eye...World.Citizens. (@Nenagh9) May 20, 2020 Today is a very good day. But it was too long coming. https://t.co/edAmqrpE1D Keith O'Nuallain #UnitedIreland (@ActorKeithNolan) May 21, 2020 Lets hope this remains the case https://t.co/nBA5B48Tjz Carrie Symonds (@carriesymonds) May 20, 2020 Now the rest of China must follow. #chinaliveanimalmarkets https://t.co/vICEOGZa3z Nadine Hunter (@Nadinekahunter) May 21, 2020 Step in the right direction, the rest of China need to follow now, as do the rest of the world https://t.co/TLa3OvhD2Z Rosemary johnson (@Rosemar67378666) May 21, 2020 Great but will they enforce it? Color me skeptical https://t.co/Nnz9tFWDPF Liz (@childfreediva) May 21, 2020 This is terrific! Wish it hadnt taken a pandemic to do this. https://t.co/i21lz2fXB7 Alyssa C. (@amusic20) May 20, 2020 It is good news but nobody anywhere should be eating wild animals. https://t.co/m8y0u4YXmN Louise Douglas (@LouiseDouglas3) May 20, 2020 Hmm.Let's see.Yep.Yes.The rest of the world*.Exactly.After a pandemic, hopefully it is.Hmm.True. FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Department of Justice building is bathed in morning light at sunrise in Washington By Chris Prentice WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the U.S. Department of Justice charged a handful of JP Morgan Chase & Co traders in 2018 and 2019 with alleged commodities futures manipulation, it wasn't the first time the government had probed the bank's metals trading activities. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigated the same business as part of a similar probe of the silver market years earlier, but it was not able to build a case with the data it had at the time, according to U.S. court filings and a person with knowledge of the aborted probe. Since then, leaps in the agencies' data analysis capabilities have enabled them to detect and prosecute increasingly sophisticated forms of manipulation in the commodities futures markets which for decades have gone under-surveilled, according to ten officials and industry experts. The Justice Department fraud division is beefing up with the creation of a sub-unit specializing in combating commodities fraud overseen by Avi Perry, a trial attorney who has prosecuted high-profile cases involving trading powerhouse Tower Research Capital, Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc, and the ongoing JPMorgan probe, according to two sources. The unit is also hiring a handful of additional trial attorneys, according to the sources and online job postings. A Justice Department spokesman said the agency intends to fill the positions "promptly". The unit is part of a broader Justice Department initiative to dramatically expand the scope of market manipulation the agency targets for criminal prosecutions, beyond traditional insider trading and futures manipulation into a range of asset classes, sources told Reuters. The effort, if successful, raises the stakes for traders with potential jail-time, while banks, brokers and prop trading firms could face chunky fines and business curbs as the agency gets better at detecting potential misconduct across institutions. Story continues The new-found expertise may also give the agencies an edge as they scrutinize extreme market volatility sparked by the novel coronavirus disruption, including last month's historic oil price crash. The CFTC is reviewing how the U.S. crude oil benchmark fell below $0 a barrel for the first time ever. "There is just a wealth of information there, which is going to give us years and years of cases to come, I would expect," Robert Zink, chief of the Justice Department's fraud section, a unit of the agency's criminal division, said of the data in an interview. The Justice Department's commodities crackdown has recently targeted "spoofing," whereby futures traders falsely create the impression of strong demand or supply and then capitalize upon the market reaction. Congress identified spoofing as market manipulation following the 2008 financial crisis. But it wasn't until years later, when Zink joined the team investigating the 2010 "Flash Crash" which briefly wiped nearly $1 trillion off U.S. stock markets, that the fraud division learned how widespread the practice was and decided to go after it. As seasoned prosecutors of healthcare fraud, the team believed they could apply the tools they had used to build those cases to the futures markets. That project began as an experiment in combing government data to sniff out suspicious patterns, such as doctors repeatedly overbilling hours, and has led the agency to bring charges against over 4,200 defendants, Justice Department data show. "The idea was: let's mine this data source to see who the worst actors are. Let's not wait for walk-ins or whistleblowers and the like to make our own cases," said Zink. Around 2017, the fraud unit began developing those tools to spot known suspicious trading patterns and learn new ones by scanning a range of exchange data on bids and offers and trades, he said. That led the agency to charge about more than a dozen current and former traders at banks including Deutsche Bank , UBS and Bank of Nova Scotia from 2017 to 2019. To be sure, proving criminal charges is tough and the Justice Department has had setbacks convincing juries with reams of data that traders intended to manipulate the market when cancelling orders. "Juries dont understand the data and in a trial they hear competing narratives from experts, and the burden of proof is high. The government has an uphill battle when they only have pattern evidence," said Clifford Histed, an attorney with K&L Gates. Still, lawyers say the threat of criminal prosecution is a strong deterrence which has surfaced witnesses who can help the agencies refine their data tools and build other cases. For example, Navinder Sarao, who pleaded guilty to spoofing trades that helped cause the "Flash Crash," gave the agencies extensive information on such tactics. "We could identify a pattern that led us down a road to potential criminality, and then we could close alternative avenues for explanation through cooperation," Zink said of Sarao. CFTC COLLABORATION As part of its initiative, the Justice Department has increasingly worked in parallel with the CFTC, a civil agency, which over the past three years has gathered more detailed daily trading data from the exchanges it supervises, officials said. The CFTC brought a record 16 parallel enforcement actions with criminal authorities in its fiscal 2019. CFTC director of enforcement James McDonald declined to comment on potential probes of recent market volatility, but said the data expertise put the agency on a stronger footing than following the previous financial crisis. "As we bring more cases in these areas and as our surveillance efforts (and companies) improve, we should expect spoofing strategies to continue to evolve in an effort to evade detection," McDonald said. "Our job is to keep pace with this evolution." Traditionally, spoofing involved placing one large bid or offer and then swiftly cancelling it, but CFTC's McDonald said regulators have seen new patterns emerge. These include traders coordinating strategies, with one placing the bogus spoof order and one the genuine order, or placing spoof orders in one market to allow them to execute genuine orders in correlated markets. Most recently, the CFTC has detected traders placing bogus orders and genuine orders on the same side of the market and then abruptly canceling the spoof orders to create the impression of a major change in buying or selling interest. The CFTC brought its first ever case alleging this "vacuuming" strategy against Chicago trading firm Hard Eight Futures LLC and its founder Igor Chernomzav last year. The parties agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the civil charges. A representative for Hard Eight did not respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department's JPMorgan probe highlights the risks for companies as the agency scans for a broader range of misconduct. It has charged six JPMorgan traders for manipulating metals futures between 2008 and 2016. Authorities recently began probing "similar" practices in its treasuries business, according to company filings. A spokesman for JP Morgan declined to comment. Brian Benczkowski, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division, declined to comment on specific probes, but said that the agency's software could lead it to widen investigations where it initially appeared a handful of traders were breaking the rules. "The more widespread the behavior the more likely [we are] to proceed against the institution and seek a criminal resolution." (Reporting by Chris Prentice; editing by Michelle Price and Edward Tobin) After CBS came under fire for replacing the scrapped Tony Awards broadcast with a Grease sing-along, Broadway fans now have a fitting alternative on Tony night. Broadway On Demand, a newly-launched Broadway streaming service, announced Wednesday they will air a one-hour event on Sunday, June 7 at 6 PM ET, when the Tony Awards would have aired. It was also announced Wednesday that theater fans will also be able to watch Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes The Tonys on Broadway.com and their YouTube. Alternative: After CBS came under fire for replacing the scrapped Tony Awards broadcast with a Grease sing-along, Broadway fans now have a fitting alternative on Tony night The Broadway On Demand event is described as a, 'never-before-seen event in celebration of the Broadway community, the Tony Awards, and the global impact that Broadway has as a cultural touchstone around the world. While no performers have been announced yet, the special will be directed by Tony Award nominee Lonny Price and written by Tony nominee Karey Kirkpatrick, Steve Rosen, David Rossmer, Kate Wetherhead and Lauren Yee. Musical Direction & Supervision will be provided by by Grammy Award winner Jason Howland with Choreography by Sarah OGleby. Impact: The Broadway On Demand event is described as a, 'never-before-seen event in celebration of the Broadway community, the Tony Awards, and the global impact that Broadway has as a cultural touchstone around the world The special will also be a fundraiser for both the American Theatre Wing ad The Broadway League, specially The American Theatre Wing's Education and Professional Development initiatives and The Broadway League Foundation. 'While the level of need within our community right now is overwhelming, so too is the generosity we continue to see every day,' said Heather Hitchens, President & CEO of the American Theatre Wing.' 'We are very grateful for Broadway On Demand for designing this wonderful opportunity for fans to celebrate Broadway and the Tony Awards while supporting the work we are doing to help those affected by this crisis,' she concluded. Fundraiser: The special will also be a fundraiser for both the American Theatre Wing ad The Broadway League, specially The American Theatre Wing's Education and Professional Development initiatives and The Broadway League Foundation Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League, added that 'providing educational and training opportunities to those who otherwise might not have access feels more vital than ever before,' in these current times. 'Helping the next generation of artists flourish is the best way I can think of to remain optimistic about the future of Broadway!' she added. Sean Cercone, Broadway On Demand President and CEO, added, 'Theres never been a more important moment for the theatre community to gather, celebrate and share our collective passion for the craft.' League: Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League, added that 'providing educational and training opportunities to those who otherwise might not have access feels more vital than ever before,' in these current times Next generation: 'Helping the next generation of artists flourish is the best way I can think of to remain optimistic about the future of Broadway!' she added The second special, Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys, will also serve as a benefit for both the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League. Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys will be directed by Paul Wontorek (Take Me to the World), with Charlie Rosen serving as music supervisor, producer and orchestrator. Performers for Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys have also not been announced at this time. Benefit: The second special, Show of Shows: Broadway.com Salutes the Tonys, will also serve as a benefit for both the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League The World Health Organization on Wednesday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases, as US President Donald Trump proposed hosting world leaders for the annual G7 summit as a sign of "normalization." Trump, who is seeking to revive the battered US economy and his political fortunes ahead of the November election, again lashed out again at China, saying its "incompetence" was responsible for "this mass Worldwide killing." The WHO, another frequent Trump target, said that 106,662 virus cases reported to the UN agency on Tuesday -- the most in a single day since the outbreak erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December. As the global death toll topped 325,000 and the number of cases neared five million, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "very concerned" about the situation in low- and middle-income nations. As the number of cases rises, and the United States added more than 1,500 deaths in the past 24 hours, Trump said the country was "Transitioning back to Greatness" and he may host the G7 summit in June at Camp David. "I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David," he said on Twitter. "The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all -- normalization!" White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said a face-to-face summit, rather than one by videoconference as had been planned, would be a "show of strength and optimism." G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- take turns organizing the annual gathering. French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he would attend the summit if "health conditions allow." German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would "wait and see what happens." - Promising studies - There was encouraging news on the scientific front Wednesday, as two studies on monkeys offered hope that humans can develop protective immunity to the virus. Researchers reported progress from one study which looked at a prototype vaccine, and another on whether infection with COVID-19 provides immunity against re-exposure. "We demonstrate in rhesus macaques that prototype vaccines protected against SARS-CoV-2 infection and that SARS-CoV-2 infection protected against re-exposure," said senior author Dan Barouch of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Many governments see the development of an effective vaccine as the only surefire way to fully reopen their economies without risking increased death tolls. Latin America has seen infections surge and, in some cases, countries have reinstated lockdown measures that had been eased. Brazil has been hardest hit, rising to the third-highest number of cases in the world. Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections. Health officials in Brazil reported 1,179 new coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, the first time the daily toll exceeded 1,000, but far-right President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a "little flu." With the outbreak in the world's sixth-largest country expected to accelerate until early June, Bolsonaro has refused to accept experts' advice, pressing regional governors to end stay-at-home measures. And like Trump, he has promoted the use of anti-malaria drugs against the virus despite studies showing they have no benefit and could have dangerous side effects. There are worrying signs in Argentina too, with authorities in Cordoba having to backtrack on easing lockdown measures following a sharp spike in infections. Peru saw its case count shoot past 100,000 and deaths top 3,000. - Europe hopes to save tourism - Europe is meanwhile hoping the worst is behind it, with the number of new cases and deaths on a steady decline. The global death toll now stands at more than 325,000. More than 93,400 deaths have occurred in the United States, the hardest-hit country, according to Johns Hopkins University. Lockdown measures are being eased in many parts of Europe, with residents enjoying some of their old freedoms. "I haven't seen the sea for two months," said Helena Prades at a beach in Barcelona. "We just really wanted to hear the sound of the waves." As Spain emerges from one of the world's toughest lockdowns, face masks are now mandatory for anyone aged six and over in public where social distancing is not possible. European officials are scrambling to try to save the summer tourism season, which is crucial for the continent's economies. European Union tourism ministers held a virtual meeting on Wednesday as Greece announced plans to restart its travel season. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said seasonal hotels could reopen from June 15 and international flights would resume from July 1. In Italy, airports were given the green light to reopen from June 3, including for international flights. - Gradual reopening in Asia - Countries in Asia have also been gradually reopening, with South Korean students lining up for temperature checks and given hand sanitizer as they returned to school after two months off. And India said domestic air travel will resume on May 25 after a two-month shutdown, even as the world's second-most populous country reported its biggest daily jump in coronavirus infections, with 5,611 new cases in 24 hours. Nearly 107,000 cases have been reported in India and more than 3,300 people have died, with experts predicting that infections will peak in June-July. burs/cl/sst Scores of employees took to social media to express disappointment and said they were asked to resign over WhatsApp calls. On Twitter, some said they had been asked to resign by May 31 and that there was no severance package and salary would be paid only for May. Indiabulls Group has asked over 2,000, of its total of 26,000 employees, to leave as an outcome of performance review at the end of financial year 2019-20. Though the company said the attrition was in line with the process it follows every year (of 10-15 per cent attrition after performance reviews), its employees have a different story to tell. Scores of employees took to social media to express disappointment and said they were asked to resign over WhatsApp calls. On Twitter, some said they had been asked to resign by May 31 and that there was no severance package and salary would be paid only for May. An employee, working for Indiabulls Consumer Finance and based out of Nagpur, said their manager asked a few to resign by May 31, as the company was facing financial issues. At least 50 per cent of the staff of the said branch has been asked to go. The employee said they were asked to leave as they could not generate business during the period of the lockdown. These facts could not be independently verified by Business Standard. Gagan Banga, vice-chairman and chief executive officer, Indiabulls Housing Finance, reiterated that the staff had not been asked to leave due to lack of business and it was a routine process. Banga said the operating cost of the company is Rs 30-33 crore per month, whereas the interest cost is approximately Rs 650 crore. So, the focus now is to manage interest expense, which is a far bigger cost element than spending on salaries. The cost to income ratio is 12.5 per cent, he said. The company is not looking to add to its workforce now but it may look at hiring again in the second half of FY21 after things normalise. The company has not made any sanctions or disbursements in the past two months. While they have reopened branches in green zones, they are preparing to reopen the ones in orange zones. Some tweets also claimed the company had asked employees to convince customers not to opt for moratoriums. The Reserve Bank of India had asked all finance companies to allow a moratorium of three months on term loans. Banga said almost 50 per cent (by value terms) opted for moratorium in the retail segment of their book, and almost 70 per cent opted for moratorium in the wholesale segment. MIDDLETOWN The Community Health Center announces the allocation of $243,072 in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service for the second year in a row. CNCS is a federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps and other national service programs. The grant will continue to support a national collaborative, including CHC and health centers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York, aiming to reduce and prevent prescription drug and opioid abuse, according to a press release. Sixteen AmeriCorps members serve in these six states, conducting outreach, patient engagement, community education and prevention services in high-need areas under the guidance of the AmeriCorps Program Manager, Felicia Goodwine. We are excited to continue with year two as we work collaboratively to reduce opioid and prescription drug use, Goodwine said in a prepared statement. Our AmeriCorps members across the sites are exceeding our expectations by providing outreach, education, and awareness in the communities they serve and we are proud to have them. What sparked my interest in AmeriCorps was the hybrid of work and service, CHC AmeriCorps member Carolyn Spencer said in the release. I specifically wanted to work with CHC, because I am interested in becoming a clinician, and wanted to work with an organization that provided health care to underserved populations. Coming from Bridgeport, I knew that I wanted to serve an organization that treated communities similar to the one I grew up in, she added. For more than two decades, Americans have answered the call to serve by pledging to get things done as AmeriCorps members, said Chester Spellman, director of AmeriCorps. Through their dedication and sacrifice, I know our nation is in good hands. I salute all of our AmeriCorps members past, present, and future and thank those who help make their service possible. This funding is provided by the federal agency for volunteering, civic engagement, and national service programs like AmeriCorps. For more than two 25 years, more than 1 million dedicated Americans have joined the organization, and pledged to get things done, according to the agency. This year, the 75,000 AmeriCorps members serving in schools, nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations will do the same as they rebuild communities, support veterans, fight the opioid epidemic, prepare students for success, foster economic opportunity and more. For information, visit AmeriCorps.gov/join. Syracuse, N.Y. The woman would not recover from the coronavirus. Her family made the crushing decision to take her off the ventilator. In other times, her death would come in a room full of people. Family would hold her hands. Pray. Make sure I love you is the last thing she hears. Not in these times. The staff called the hospital chaplain: We need something as shes taken off the vent. The Rev. Terry Culbertson went up to the floor at Upstate University Hospital with a few others. They stood outside the door. They could not go in. She played the guitar and sang Amazing Grace. Others joined in. I was singing and crying, Culbertson said. Death is part of daily life at any hospital. At Upstate Medical University, a regional trauma center, six to eight people die a day. Always, there is someone to hold the hand of the dying. But the coronavirus has changed death as it has life. In Onondaga County, about 1,000 people have died since March 23 of all causes. Until recently, hospitals have prohibited visitors, except in extreme circumstances, to slow the spread of the virus. Hospital patients have often died without family by their side. So clergy often take their place. For more than two months at Upstate, clergy have called families who cannot be at bedsides, praying with the relatives over the phone. The chaplains sing from doorways and iPads. Last words of love come through the crackle of a nurses walkie talkie from people praying on the other side of the glass. They show the scared, the sick and the dying that God and love are there even though the bedside chairs are empty. Not having that is hard, but the connection to God is stronger, Culbertson said. She is the head chaplain at Upstate. Usually, she has the help of more than 20 volunteers and patients own clergy for bedside visits. Now, the only clergy allowed in the hospital are on the hospital staff. Culbertsons office has five full-time and two part-time employees. They must resist their urge to physically comfort someone who is struggling. As a chaplain, not to be able to go in and hold their hand is really painful, Culberston said. They cannot go into the rooms of Covid-19 patients. The risk is too high, and they dont want to use the precious protective gear that must be thrown out after one use, she said. It applies to non-Covid-19 patients, too. All the human reflexes to comfort carry the threat of the virus; no hugging, no hand-holding. So they work to provide comfort in new ways. A few weeks ago, the coronavirus ripped through a family a mother, daughter and father. The father was on a ventilator. It looked like he might not make it. Imam Amir Duric got the call. Duric is the Muslim chaplain at Syracuse University and an assistant chaplain at Upstate. He asked the daughter: How can we help? She wanted her father to hear the words of God in her religion, to hear the Koran. Duric is not one of the clergy allowed into the hospital, so the chaplains came up with a Plan B. They put in an iPad in the fathers room and streamed a reading of the Koran, day and night. The sacred script, they hoped, would make him feel less alone. They believed in the power of prayer and Gods presence, Duric said. No one knows if he could hear those words when he was sedated and on the ventilator. But the man recovered. He has been home and able to celebrate Ramadan with his family, Duric said. *** The Rev. Charles Stewart, assistant chaplain at Upstate University Hospital. Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.comScott Schild | sschild@syracuse. In normal times, the relatives of someone who is critically ill would keep a bedside vigil. They would wait for a sign. Hold a hand. And often get a visit from a hospital chaplain. Not now. The family of the sickest Covid-19 patients on ventilators wait at home for news of improvement or death. Chuck Stewart, an assistant chaplain at Upstate, makes those phone calls. He opens: I know this is a really terrible time. Then he listens. Theres no visual cues, no opportunity to hold their hand, Stewart said. So his voice becomes the hand to hold. Stewart listens to their concerns. Many of them are worn thin from constantly answering other peoples questions, about whether their mother or husband will survive. And they are exhausted from being alone. He prays with them, if they want. And he asks: What else can I do? He offers to have a prayer blanket delivered to the unconscious patient. Groups make the blankets as they pray and then bless the blankets when they are done. The threads, they hope, carry their prayers. Families know that their loved one will awake to at least find something soft to hold when their hands are absent. Stewart, a retired scientist from Welch Allyn who is a deacon at his church, knows the odds. And he feels the families heartache. After Ive talked to a wife or a mother and I find out the patient died. It hits you hard, he said. When death is imminent, the hospital can sometimes make exceptions to the no-visitors rule to allow last rites to be administered and family to say good-bye. A few weeks ago, an elderly man was dying from Covid-19. The situation had become dire and it was late at night. The son was driving from Chicago, trying to make it in time to say goodbye. His one wish for his father was that he receive last rites from a Catholic priest. After a scramble and a backup plan to have a nurse hold the phone while a priest prayed, they found a priest and the man was anointed. A nurse held up the phone so the son could listen. The man died later. His son made it in time. Linda Mulrooney ministers to the patients who have Covid-19 but are awake and able to breathe on their own. In normal times, the volunteer assistant chaplain used to walk the unit before she visited the patient. And when she was in the room, shed observe everything to get a sense of how she might help. Now she speaks to those patients on the phone from her home. They are lonely and afraid. She tells them they are not alone. She is there. God is there, too, she tells them. My job is to aid patients in knowing the love of God, even in the midst of pain, Mulrooney said. Her instinct is to put her hand on their shoulders. Now that touch is replaced by gentle questions. People tell her about their family, their dog, their bills. And many tell her it is the worst time of their lives. She listens. She prays with them, if they want. Life gives us the greatest gift, Mulrooney said, and that is the gift of each other. A few weeks ago, there was a patient who was gravely ill with coronavirus. He was anxious and alone. How can we help? Culbertson asked. The man was a musician. Could they please sing for him? Culbertson and some others gathered near his door. They Facetimed him and a nurse gave him an iPad. He asked for Let It Be by The Beatles. Its not the usual hospital repertoire, but they would try. For those few minutes, the dings and beeps on the ICU floor gave way to singing: I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom. Let it be. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources No blow-drying, wait in the car: Get ready for a different hair salon experience in phase two Most CNY school districts, others across state ending year early to avoid paying teachers extra New York to allow small ceremonies, vehicle parades for Memorial Day, Cuomo says Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Marnie Eisenstadt is a reporter who writes about people and public affairs in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter| Facebook | 315-470-2246. China authorities threatened to exercise counter-measures against the US after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated Taiwan's president for inaugurating for the second time. By doing so, China claims that Pompeo did major damage to the two superpowers' political relationship. China's foreign ministry said Pompeo's act had severely damaged peace and stability in the strait between Taiwan and China. It warned it would take "necessary countermeasures" and the US would have to bear the consequences, but did not elaborate. "On Pompeo's congratulation to Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration, we express strong indignation and condemnation. China will take necessary counter-measures, and the consequences will be borne by the US side," said Lijian Zhao, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China's Ministry of Defense additionally delivered a statement that Pompeo's comments seriously violated the one-China policy and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. On Pompeos congratulation to Tsai Ing-wen on her inauguration, we express strong indignation and condemnation. China will take necessary counter-measures, and the consequences will be borne by the US side. pic.twitter.com/I09FVPJM80 Lijian Zhao (@zlj517) May 20, 2020 The warning from China came after Pompeo officially congratulated Taiwan president Tsai for her inauguration for the second time. Pompeo was the highest-ranking US official to issue a statement on Tsai's reelection and the only Secretary of State in history to congratulate a Taiwanese president for their election. Pompeo added that the US would like to continue to have a great partner relationship with Taiwan. "I would like to congratulate Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on the commencement of her second term as Taiwan's President. Her reelection by a huge margin shows that she has earned the respect, admiration, and trust of the people on Taiwan. Her courage and vision in leading Taiwan's vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world." Congratulations to Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on the commencement of your second-term as Taiwans President. Taiwans vibrant democracy is an inspiration to the region and the world. With President Tsai at the helm, our partnership with Taiwan will continue to flourish. Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 19, 2020 Under its "One China" policy, the Chinese government has insisted that Taiwan is a part of China and not its own nation, a stance that Tsai has refused to accept. Tsai said in her inauguration address that celebrated the self-governing island's successful fight against coronavirus that Taiwan would not accept attempts by China to "downgrade" its status and pledged to stand up to pressure from Beijing. The issue worsens the relationship between US and China as the rising tension that started with a dispute over trade, technology and allegations of Beijing's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic that began last year. Both sides are accusing the other of being responsible for the coronavirus pandemic. US authorities have constantly accused China of concealing the outbreak of COVID 19 Wuhan, which caused severe damages that could have been avoided. Also, there was an accusation of China's attempt to delay the virus's information by pressuring the WHO to declare the virus a pandemic. On the other hand, Chinese authorities have spread the conspiracy theory that the outbreak began because of the US. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has dismissed the petition a private citizen, Mensah Thompson filed against the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah on the declaration of assets and liabilities. Mr Mensah Thompson, who is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) had argued that Justice Anin Yeboah did not declare his assets and liabilities as required by law when he became a Court of Appeal judge and subsequently a judge on the Supreme Court bench. His complaint to CHRAJ was that Parliamentary approval of Justice Anin Yeboah as the Chief Justice prior to his vetting and approval by Parliament would have gone contrary to Article 286 of the 1992 constitution because he did not disclose his assets and liabilities as required by the 1992 constitution. He argued that Justice Anin Yeboah had been a Justice of the Court of Appeal since 2008 and was required under the constitution of Ghana, to have declared his assets and liabilities but contended he did not do so. But CHRAJ after investigating the matter in its report said the following: Findings At the end of the preliminary investigations the commission finds as a fact that the respondent has complied with Article 286 of the constitution by declaring his assets and liabilities to the Auditor-General. Decision Having found out that the respondent had declared his assets and liabilities at the time the allegations were made and having satisfied the conditions for holding that office then, all be it a late submission, what should be the appropriate action that the commissioner should take in respect of the results of the investigation? The commission is of the considered view that having found that the respondent has complied with Article 286, the appropriate action in the circumstances would be to dismiss the complaint as overtaking, unsubstantiated, and not made out. The complaint is accordingly dismissed. We must add however that the commission recognises that the schedule of a Justice of a Supreme Court and other high-ranking public officials can be very demanding and could sometimes accession lapses in some areas of their work. However, that is not to excuse a person indefinitely from his or her duty under the law. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video CPS Energy is developing contingency plans to keep electric power flowing if the pandemic resurfaces full force, including isolating critical power plant employees to prevent them from contracting the novel coronavirus. Under the potential plan, power plant workers could be isolated from their families and others for as long as eight weeks in an undisclosed location near power-generating facilities. While the increase in new coronavirus cases in Bexar County has slowed, the outlook remains unclear, CPS Energy President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams told the city-owned utilitys board of trustees Wednesday. On ExpressNews.com: Testing for novel coronavirus speeding up in San Antonio Because we dont have a vaccine, this deal (COVID 19) is going to be a very challenging risk to manage through 2020, she said. Despite the Trump administration's insistence that a vaccine could be available by mid-2021, Gold-Williams said CPS Energys medical consultants dont believe it will be on the market for at least 18 months. Gold-Williams said that without the contingency plan, the utility faces the possibility that power plant employees could get sick from the coronavirus, creating potential problems supporting the power grid for its more than 800,000 customers. Much of the plan remains secret, such as where employees would live while tending to their power plant duties. The board meeting was held virtually, and CPS Energy officials didnt respond to requests afterward for comment. On ExpressNews.com: USAA extending work-from-home to Sept. 1 Gold-Williams said the plan could go into effect if the spread of the coronavirus accelerates in San Antonio, or in case a large number of CPS Energy employees get sick. Mayor Ron Nirenberg, a member of the CPS Energy board, applauded the plan. Out of an abundance of caution, it is the right move, he said. Power plant employees are a first and last line of defense for every member of the community. When possible, power plant employees already are working remotely, said Kevin Pollo, CPS Energys vice president of energy supply and market operations. For example, we moved out real-time operations to our backup control room, he said. We're doing that with limited access to that backup facility to essential personnel only. Pollo said the utility also is conducting temperature checks of employees and other medical screens, and introducing new cleaning procedures at power generation facilities. On ExpressNews.com: How will coronavirus change offices? Think new seating, more cleaning and hands-free tech He said the company also is setting up a third power control room to further reduce interactions between workers. This will strengthen our existing strategy, further protecting our employees, he said. Don Stanton, CPS Energys senior director of gas compliance, said the period of sequestration, if it were to occur, could be between three and eight weeks. Stanton said interviews with employees were being held to gauge how to support workers while in isolation, away from their families and friends. Non-power plant employees, such as CPS Energy office workers, will be subject to health screens, including temperature checks, when they are given the go-ahead to return to CPS offices, Gold-Williams said. Also, utility crews continue to wear face masks and practice social distancing when interacting with customers. Safe is safe, she said. Randy Diamond covers energy and manufacturing in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Randy, become a subscriber. randy.diamond@express-news.net Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:26:58|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said in a report on Thursday that automobile production fell to the lowest level in 30 years in April, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The FTI report said only 24,711 automobiles were produced in April, down 83.55 percent year-on-year. The number of vehicles produced for export had dropped 81.76 percent, while the number produced for domestic consumption was down 85.35 percent. Also, the domestic sale of cars in Thailand was at 30,109, down 65.02 percent year-on-year due to the drop in people's purchasing power, while the export of automobiles was at 20,326, down 69.71 percent year-on-year owing to the economic slowdown. The FTI has cut its production target for the automotive industry from 2 million to just 1 million. The report also said that very few people had been visiting car showrooms even though the COVID-19 situation has improved. It said that should there be a second wave of infections, the automobile industry will nosedive further. Earlier, FTI President Suphant Mongkolsuthree told the media that the industrial confidence index in April stood at 75.9 from the previous month of 88. "The index dropped to the lowest since April 2009 due to uncertainty following the COVID-19 outbreak, the government's lockdown measures and drought," he said. "Some businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, have had to slow down their production and investment, as well as lay off employees due to liquidity shortages." According to the FTI's survey, 69.5 percent of businesses are concerned about the global economic situation, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a massive drop in orders from overseas. Enditem A Delhi-Mumbai air ticket will not cost more than Rs 10,000 (minus taxes) for the next three months, as the government has decided to fix a tariff cap for the first time since deregulation of fare in 1994. The maximum fare, along with goods and services tax, passenger security fee and other levies, on this route may not cross Rs 11,500 as domestic flights resume on Monday after more than two months of shutdown. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, while announcing the resumption of air transport from May 25, said there would be fare caps and floor prices based on the ... HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam is aiming for double-digit annual growth in the turnover of e-commerce over the next five years, forecasting that sales in the sector could be worth $35 billion by 2025 in the Southeast Asian country. More than half of Vietnam's 96 million people are set to shop online by 2025, according to the government's e-commerce development strategy unveiled late on Monday. Online shopping in Vietnam has been boosted recently by movement restrictions related to the coronavirus outbreak, with online sales rising by up to 20% from the pre-pandemic period, according to state media reports. Each online shopper is expected to spend an average of $600 a year by 2025, the government's strategy said, adding that online shopping should account for 10% of Vietnam's total retail sales of goods and services by then. Turnover in e-commerce was valued at around $12 billion in 2019, according to media reports. ($1 = 23,338 dong) (Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Ed Davies) Allentown, PA (18103) Today Cloudy with morning snow ending, then windy and turning colder with falling temps and some afternoon clearing. A coating to 1-2" of snow expected in the morning. . Tonight Partly cloudy, windy, and very cold. Wind chills near or below zero later at night. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 01:21:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close As China is winning the battle against COVID-19, the country will hold its annual political meetings, the Two Sessions, from May 21. What is it? Why is it being held? And what can we expect? Let's take a look. Confectionery company Cadbury has settled the age old debate over whether chocolate belongs in the fridge or pantry after being asked the question by one of its Australian fans. Sydney's 'List King' Bruno Bouchet shared a controversial post about which products - including chocolate - belong in the refrigerator and which should be kept in a cupboard. So he reached out to Cadbury on Twitter to ask and they swiftly responded. 'Chocolate should always be stored in a slightly cool, dry, dark place such as a pantry or cupboard less than 21 degrees Celsius to ensure the quality isn't compromised,' the company wrote in a message. Sydney's 'List King' Bruno Bouchet shared a controversial post about which products - including chocolate - belong in the refrigerator and which should be kept in a cupboard Confectioner Cadbury has settled the debate over whether chocolate belongs in the fridge or pantry, after being asked by one of its Australian fans (pictured is their response) Poll Do you place your chocolate in the fridge or pantry? Fridge Pantry Do you place your chocolate in the fridge or pantry? Fridge 611 votes Pantry 513 votes Now share your opinion Many of Bruno's followers took issue with the response. 'Show me anywhere in Australia that is consistently below 21 degrees? In Queensland it's usually a stable 21 degrees inside the fridge,' one man said. 'I prefer my chocolate kept in the freezer,' said another. But others agreed: 'The fridge ruins chocolate. Any chocolate lover knows this'. 'In winter it goes in the cupboard and in summer it should be in the fridge,' said another. According to New Zealand-based chocolate expert, Luke Owen Smith, even in a heat wave, it's best to avoid storing chocolate in the fridge at all costs. Not everyone was convinced that chocolate - among others - should be in such a warm environment and preferred the clean 'snap' of breaking apart a near-frozen bar (stock image) He told Stuff in 2018 that 'extremely cold temperatures can mess with the temper of the chocolate as much as hot temperatures can'. If the heat is such that it is causing chocolate to melt into a soupy mess, Mr Owen said the best course of action is putting chocolate into a sealed container in the fridge but left out in room temperature for a while before eating. Leading food safety expert Belinda Stuart-Moonlight, told FEMAIL previously that another reason chocolate shouldn't be refrigerated is because it can lead to a 'sugar bloom'. According to New Zealand-based chocolate expert, Luke Owen Smith, even in a heat wave, it's best to avoid storing chocolate in the fridge at all costs How should you store chocolate? The optimum holding temperature is between 15-20C with low humidity. To maintain the freshness of your purchase, we recommend that you store your chocolates in a cool dry cupboard away from heat or light source and any perfumed items such as soaps. Also as the cocoa butter in chocolate absorbs odours readily, be sure to store your chocolate away from such items as garlic and spices as these may also affect the chocolate's flavour. Source: Haigh's Australia Advertisement This occurs when it's chilled then exposed to warmer air. It causes condensation on the surface, dissolving some of the sugar, which recrystallises as a grainy, white coating. Chocolate also absorbs odours, so there's a risk it will end up smelling - and tasting - like last night's leftovers. There is one exception, however. 'Chocolate with a creamy filling is likely to be at higher risk of going off and needs refrigeration,' she said. Back in January, a fellow business leader warned Debra Myers that COVID-19 was going to become a problem. At the time, she didnt believe him. A few weeks later she was scrambling to find packaging as her suppliers overseas had to close, and shes been adjusting ever since. Myers is the owner and creator of Enfusia, a bath and beauty essentials business in The Woodlands that she started 15 years ago. The company sells products like bath bombs, soaps, and soaking salts, but since COVID-19 came to the area it has added several new products to its line that are in high demand: hand sanitizer, mask refresher spray, and disinfectant for a limited number of clients. While she may have been skeptical of the effect COVID-19 would have on her business four months ago, it influences the way she thinks about practically everything these days. We had this idea that its not going to impact us because the United States is so great, Myers said. I think, from that perspective, was naive. Before the pandemic, Enfusia had been making hand sanitizer for a small number of select clients. When the pandemic hit the area, the company was approached by H-E-B to provide hand sanitizer. After the FDA approved a waiver to make it easier for companies with certain permits to start producing hand sanitizer, Enfusia could start producing it on a larger scale, but once again ran into issues with packaging. Packaging issues There was an extreme and there still is an extreme packaging shortage, she said. There are literally no bottles. If you go to any bottle supplier's website right now, its kind of scary and shocking to think that this is happening, but every single product is out of stock. What they did have was a bunch of bottles they ordered from Europe right before shipping stopped, but the bottles were meant for a different product. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Myer said they explained to H-E-B that Enfusia could offer them 20,000 bottles of hand sanitizer now, and future orders might have to be packaged in different bottles. To find more packaging Myer and her team were calling every supplier they knew. She even got in touch with a competitor that was closed because of the pandemic to see if she could purchase the packaging they werent using. Brand integrity In times of crisis, people turn to brands they know and trust, Myers said. That trust is helping keep her business afloat as H-E-B accepts a new bottle every week because they trust the product inside of it. Maintaining the integrity of the brand matters more than ever now, and it will matter later. Were in the personal care space, Myers said, noting that some suppliers like distilleries wont be making these products forever. So, what we say, it matters, and the integrity of the product matters. The market during COVID-19 has created different demands. Hundreds of rabbit-shaped and egg-shaped bath bombs Enfusia created for Easter are still in the warehouse and are only being sold online. But, 10-feet away, Enfusia staff are putting specialized labels on bottles of hand sanitizer. The business has decided to increase its purchases, especially for packaging, to prepare for the worst. Where Myers used to order 10,000 bottles she now orders 50,000 to try and maintain as much consistency as possible. Its part of her long-term strategy. The consumption of goods is going to continue in the space of disinfectants an in the space of hand cleaning, she said. The consumption rate has probably gone up 1,000 percent. I have to now think of how that consumption rate translates into overall business strategy moving forward. While the business has been impacted financially, Myers said that none of the staff had been laid off. Overtime, and some hours, were cut and several part-time and seasonal workers no longer work there, but around 32 full-time staff are still working at Enfusia. jamie.swinnerton@chron.com When news broke Monday that restaurants and shops in parts of northern Michigan could start reopening Friday, businesses across the area went into scramble mode. A wave of customers calling for weekend hotel reservations swept in, just minutes after Gov. Gretchen Whitmers announcement, said Ron Robinson, director of operations for a company that manages three hotels in Traverse City. We went from about 25% to 50% (full) just like that, Robinson said. In one day." Meanwhile in Mackinaw City, it was all hands on deck at the Dixie Saloon, said Manager Alex Trefney. The restaurant and bar plans to open at 12:01 a.m. on Friday morning. Whitmers announcement surprised Trefney and other business leaders. He called his staff back in immediately on Monday to start prepping the restaurant with the new precautions. He didnt get to bed until after 4 a.m. For nearly the last two months, Trefney ran Dixie Saloon by himself. He did it all answering the phones, cooking the food and delivering it. Now, the phone is ringing off the hook with customers asking if theyre open this Memorial Day weekend. Trefney is prepping 150 meatloaves for the weekend, getting the prime rib ready, marinating steaks and cutting up the fresh herbs. His suppliers are jumping through hoops to help make the reopening happen. "If they can't get something, they go to Walmart and find it," Trefney said. But the short turnaround time is preventing some northern Michigan restaurants from reopening this weekend. Not only must they fast-track food and alcohol orders, but they also have the logistical challenge of bringing workers back and implementing a swath of COVID-19 prevention measures, mandated by the state. Breweries and fine dining restaurants are finding it particularly tough to get supplies to reopen quickly. Examples of places not able to reopen dine-in services this weekend include Lake Ann Brewing Co. near Traverse City, 7 Monks Taproom in Traverse City, The Franklin in Traverse City, Casa Calabria in Marquette and Austin Brothers Beer Company in Alpena. Most hope to open next week. "The supply chain is kind of messed up for food, right now," said Dana Austin, owner of Austin Brothers. "Ramping up production for tap beer three days' notice is just not nearly enough." The businesses that can open will reap the benefits of travel-starved customers itching to get out of the house. And just in time, as the pandemic-prompted plummet in demand puts small businesses in financial peril. Robinsons trio of Traverse City hotels Cambria Hotel, Best Western Plus and Comfort Inn are typically 80% full in May, he said. The first week this May, occupancy was at 12%. It hit 25% the next week. Like in Traverse City, Trefney said hes hearing Mackinaw Citys hotels are booking up fast for the weekend. Trefney expects business at the Dixie Saloon to be between normal and down 20%, compared to a typical Memorial Day weekend. Were going to see just a storm of people, Trefney said. Mackinac Bridge officials are already warning of weekend delays, as they expect more traffic and slower transactions since they arent taking cash during the pandemic. Slowdowns happened last weekend between 2 and 6 p.m. Friday going north and between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday going south, per a Michigan Department of Transportation news release. Mackinac Island, however, wont reopen for visitors this Memorial Day weekend, with city officials citing health and safety concerns. Are the hospitals ready? Typically, a surge in tourism and spending is viewed as a win-win situation. But during the pandemic, the idea of a flood of customers is spurring a tone of tempered optimism for business owners. The Upper Peninsula and a handful of northern Lower Peninsula counties are allowed to reopen first because of the low prevalence of the coronavirus. But now, people from southeast Michigan the epicenter of Michigans outbreak are planning trips to cottages and hotels to mingle for the long weekend. Locals are nervous about tourists flocking up north, Trefney said. "Please be mindful that we're small towns with limited abilities to take care of you, if you should get sick," said Traverse City Mayor Jim Carruthers. "We will do our best, we'll do our part, but everybody needs to be mindful. So do what's right and put on your mask. And come and enjoy yourselves." Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. The northern Michigan counties allowed to begin reopening have a combined 549 COVID-19 cases and 53 deaths. That accounts for just more than 1% of the total cases and deaths in Michigan. On Wednesday, the 32-county area had five new COVID-19 cases an zero new deaths. There are plenty of open beds, even though the spaced-out hospitals of northern Michigan have a limited overall capacity. State data shows 39% of inpatient beds and 38% of intensive care unit beds in the area are unused and available. "Our current level of COVID-19 patients has remained consistently low since the beginning of this event," said Janell Larson, director of marketing and communications with the UP Health System. "The total number of patients being treated in-house continues to be relatively low if not zero at times and most of the patients have been sent to us by other facilities." >Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. A first look at 'the new normal Government officials and business leaders know the risks of congregating during the pandemic. "I lost my grandmother to COVID-19 downstate," Trefney said. "It's real. But at the same time, a false sense of security is more dangerous." Dixie Saloon plans to follow all of the precautions mandated by the state, including cutting capacity to 50%, using masks and spacing out customers. But if it gets busy, the restaurant has the luxury of opening up space on its second floor so it can still accommodate about 200 people, Trefney said. Retailers are also gearing up for an unfamiliar atmosphere, like the downtown Traverse City apparel store M22. It plans to reopen Friday as well, said Chief Operating Officer Nick Madrick. Everybody in the store must wear masks (disposable ones are available for customers without one), the space will be limited to about 10 customers, employees will disinfect door handles after every touch, only one employee will touch the phone, pens will not be shared, fitting rooms will be closed and returned items will be held for 48 hours and steamed before going back on the floor, Madrick said. "Some of that stuff sounds funny," Madrick said. "But we're trying to think of all those little small things, so that the staff feels confident and safe and our customers can feel safe There's going to be a lot of eyes on what (reopening) looks like and how it goes. We want to make sure that we're setting a good precedent." Itll be similar with hotels, Robinson said. They have plans to disinfect everything from TV remotes to elevator buttons, he said. "Instead of cleaning the lobby once or twice a day, now every hour we're going through and sanitizing all the high-touch areas," Robinson said. But not all consequences from the pandemic are purely cumbersome. It's forced businesses like M22 and Dixie Saloon to be innovative or risk going out of business. M22 launched a new website chat feature, so customers can message a store worker online and order from home or from the line outside the store, Madrick said. M22 also started curbside pickup and is gearing to launch a virtual shopping experience, in which people can virtually walk through the store and shop. At Dixie Saloon, innovation meant crafting a new menu item thats in high demand pizza. Trefneys parents used to own a pizzeria and the Dixie Saloon tried introducing pizzas a few times, but the experiments failed. Now, using all fresh ingredients, Trefney said they have one of the baddest pies in northern Michigan. Theyll likely keep making them as dine-in returns, due to their popularity, Trefney said. We get return customers every day, he said. Weve got some people who want loyalty cards. COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. RELATED STORIES Mackinac Island wont open for Memorial Day Weekend, citing health and safety concerns As coronavirus stay-at-home order drags on, more Michiganders bend the rules Heres what can reopen in which Michigan counties under new state order April was the deadliest month in Michigan this century, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic The U.S. government would like to meet in person with Tibets Panchen Lama, who vanished into Chinese custody as a young boy 25 years ago this week and has not been heard from since, a State Department spokesman told RFA on Thursday. This Administration would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Panchen Lama in person, the spokesman said, noting that only Beijing so far knows the answers to questions asked around the world about the circumstances of the high-ranking religious leaders detention since 1995. We urge the PRC government to release immediately the details of the Panchen Lamas whereabouts, which have remained unknown since his forced disappearance by Chinese authorities in 1995, the spokesman said. Tibets Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was recognized on May 14, 1995 at the age of six as the 11th Panchen Lama, the reincarnation of his predecessor, the 10th Panchen Lama. The recognition by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama angered Chinese authorities, who three days later took the boy and his family into custody and then installed another boy, Gyaincain Norbu, as their own candidate in his place. Tibetan tradition holds that senior Buddhist monks and other respected religious leaders are reincarnated in the body of a child after they die. The Panchen Lama installed by Beijing meanwhile remains unpopular with Tibetans both in exile and at home. Thursdays U.S. statement came at the end of a week of exchanges between the U.S. and China, with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on May 18 calling on China to make public the Panchen Lamas whereabouts, and a spokesperson for Chinas Foreign Ministry saying next day that the now 31-year-old Panchen is a college graduate who now has a job and wishes with his family not to be disturbed in their normal life. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism with spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama, the State Department said on Thursday. We again urge the PRC government to cease interfering in the right of the Tibetans to select, educate, and venerate their own religious leaders. All faith communities share this right, and it must be respected, the State Department said. Reported by Tashi Wangchuk for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney. He treats Oaklands vulnerable. Now, his future is on the line Coronavirus and a state complaint complicate care at a storefront clinic in Fruitvale He treats Oaklands vulnerable. Now, his future is on the line Coronavirus and a state complaint complicate care at a storefront clinic in Fruitvale On the sidewalk on Oaklands International Boulevard, Marlen Valencia swayed softly from foot to foot as her 2-year-old daughter, Sara, slept on her shoulder. A stomachache that had lingered for the past month had made the little girl stop eating, and she was losing weight. The 38-year-old Fremont mother waited for hours this Tuesday morning in May, standing and occasionally sitting at a spot marked with orange tape, keeping a 6-foot distance from two dozen others lined up with her, all desperate to see a doctor many of the regions uninsured come to see. A friend had suggested she try this clinic near the Fruitvale BART Station after her attempts to get an appointment using her Kaiser insurance failed. To see Dr. Carlos Ramirez at Terra Nova Medical Group, a storefront clinic sandwiched between a dulceria and a Mexican curiosity shop, patients need pay only an $80 flat fee. Ramirez, 59, an Orinda resident, has been tending to patients like Valencia at his East Oakland office for nearly 10 years. Most of them are undocumented, Spanish-speaking and among the working poor. When his patients cant afford his care, he often treats them for free. There are no appointments; its first come, first served. And in the time of the coronavirus, his practice has become an even more crucial source of health care for one of the most vulnerable communities in the Bay Area. Latinos have disproportionately tested positive for the coronavirus in the Bay Areas three largest counties. In Alameda County as of Saturday, 42% of cases where the race of the person is known have been Latinos, compared with 22% of the population. With many other small, cheap clinics having closed during the pandemic, Ramirez is now seeing patients from as far away as Eureka, people seeking care that is often put off because they cant afford routine visits. He cant test for the coronavirus but screens patients, and he has written three dozen letters to help those who exhibit symptoms get free testing. He also writes letters for patients who want to return to work but need a doctors note confirming that they do not show symptoms of the virus. Were one of the only clinics able to provide face-to-face services, Ramirez said. Were there on the front lines of the battle. The tiny clinics proximity to the pandemic, though, has made the doctor and his staff anxious. Terra Nova, which once stayed open late and sometimes on weekends, now holds regular hours only on Monday through Wednesday, allowing time for a weekly deep cleaning of the office and reducing the staffs exposure. But, as Ramirez continues to treat this community of roofers, restaurant workers and day laborers, he is juggling another existential battle, one that threatens his future. Last year, the Medical Board of California filed a complaint against him alleging he had overprescribed pain medications to three patients. His case before the board is nearing, and hes worried about the fate of his practice and his patients. In a proposed settlement, the state board has recommended a punishment that could shut down his clinic. One doctor who reviewed the boards allegations cited numerous red flags and said the proposed sanction is one step below an outright pulling of his license. Ramirez and his attorneys say the board is overreaching. They say his paperwork may have been inadequate, but he was not negligent, and his clinic dealt with unique challenges that come with treating indigent patients. The medical board will not comment on his case until it is resolved. This review is pretty much hanging me, Ramirez said. They dont understand the practice I have. There are a lot of limitations. Were dealing with the poor and underserved people. It looks like they want to make me into an example. Once inside the Terra Nova lobby, a high-ceilinged space splashed in bright yellow paint, Valencia and daughter Sara were greeted by a framed poster of artist Frida Kahlo above the reception desk. The clinic door was propped open to increase ventilation. Two men waiting their turns sat apart in the lobby, their forlorn faces partially hidden by surgical masks. One of the doctors five rotating medical assistants took the little girls temperature and weight, then quickly escorted them into one of three exam rooms to see the doctor. Even with a face shield and two masks covering most of his face, Ramirez comes across as affable and approachable. His wavy gray hair pops out from his protective gear. He uses jokes and small talk to put suspicious or nervous patients at ease, establishing a back-and-forth that can sometimes stretch an exam to an hour or longer. As Sara wailed and squirmed in her mothers arms, Ramirez probed her ears, throat and abdomen. The girl has some sort of gastrointestinal infection, he explained. He prescribed antibiotics and, speaking Spanish, advised Valencia to give the girl lots of fluids and Pedialyte and to avoid milk. Outside the clinic, Ramirezs wife, Carla Furtado, who works as the offices business director, walked the line of waiting patients with a clipboard, gauging the urgency of their conditions and screening them for possible coronavirus symptoms. Just a half hour after the clinic doors opened, Furtados clipboard with 26 openings for the day was already filled. Having secured his visit with Ramirez, Domingo Pelayo waited patiently outside a shuttered National Dollar store nearby, sitting in a folding chair next to his wife. The 83-year-old has gout, and his feet, hands and face are swollen. Pelayo lives in Michoacan, Mexico. He was visiting his children on a visa, but the pandemic shut down most air travel, so he found himself stuck in the U.S. and out of medication. Hes gone to Ramirezs office over the past four years, whenever he visits his family in Oakland. I have faith in him, he said through an interpreter. Other doctors charge a lot of money. Lately, many of his patients are residents of El Salvador, Guatemala and other Central American countries, Ramirez said, people visiting when the pandemic hit and left stranded. Like Pelayo, many suffer from chronic conditions diabetes, heart problems or prostate issues and are in need of medications. Other regular patients here are undocumented workers, many of them in jobs deemed essential during the pandemic. In 2018, California had an estimated 1.2 million undocumented essential workers. Overall, foreign-born California residents that year made up more than a third of the states essential workforce, according to a Center for Migration Studies report released this month. Undocumented individuals are among those who have no safety net for health care and are excluded altogether from many vital services, said Sarah Dar, director of health and public benefits policy with the California Immigrant Policy Center. Undocumented immigrants are overrepresented among various sectors of the economy deemed essential and cannot stay home; thus they are risking exposure to keep our economy running. While there are government-funded clinics in operation in the Bay Area, other low-cost facilities have closed during the pandemic because they simply dont have the infrastructure to operate, said Alvaro Fuentes, executive director of the Community Clinic Consortium in Contra Costa County. The other option is a hospital emergency room, but that is primarily for life-threatening emergencies. And Fuentes worries about funding going forward: Were bracing ourselves. In a screening chair in the clinic, Juan Perez, a 50-year-old Antioch resident, sat with a finger probe checking the oxygenation level of his blood. His was low, only 94%, which got the attention of Ramirezs staff. After leading him into an exam room, Furtado flipped a card posted outside the door from white to yellow, signaling a possible coronavirus patient. Perez, who is diabetic and uninsured, explained that eased sheltering restrictions have allowed him to resume work laying carpet with three co-workers. He had a sore throat and felt sick, he said, and was taking medication for his asthma and seasonal allergies. He had no cough. Ramirez sent him home with a letter to help him get tested for coronavirus at a free Contra Costa County facility. Seated in another exam room, Carmen Armenta, a 30-year-old medical assistant from Hayward, said she chose to visit Ramirez rather than go to Kaiser, where she has insurance, because he takes time to listen to her when she sees him. Its a common complaint among Ramirezs patients. At big hospitals, they say, they are often offered only phone consults or physical therapy instruction through an online video. And Armenta sees Ramirez as something more. For me, hes like a mentor, Armenta said. Aside from taking care of me healthwise, he motivates me. Hes a minority himself and hes achieved a lot. Ramirezs story of how he came to be a storefront physician is poignant. He grew up poor, he said, in a family of 10 children in the small town of Colima in southwestern Mexico. When he was a boy, his oldest brother died of pneumonia. From there I had a goal of studying hard, Ramirez said. I became a doctor when my oldest brother died. His father joined the U.S.-Mexico bracero program in the 1950s and 60s, allowing him to work seasonally picking cotton in the Imperial Valley. Back home, Ramirez said, he would work construction with his father, loading trucks, mixing concrete or carrying bricks whatever we could do to survive. At the University of Colima, he was the first in his family to go to college. He would go on to medical school there, always returning home over summers to work construction. In 1990, Ramirez emigrated north. He met Furtado, who grew up in Berkeley, at UC Irvine during a World AIDS Day conference. After working in Southern California for several years, the pair married in 1995, then moved to the Bay Area two years later. He opened Terra Nova Medical Group in 2010, turning a former Oakland photo lab into his dream clinic. I was motivated by seeing the uninsured and the lack of medical services how unaffordable it is and people not having access, he said. You know its a passion to help these folks, hardworking people, who dont have money for resources. Before the pandemic forced him to limit the clinics hours, it would be open Saturdays, some Sundays and late on weekdays to fit his patients work schedules. His clients ranged from those with diabetes or heart problems to victims of street robberies. A lot of them have been treating themselves before they come, he said. Often, patients show up with just enough money to pay for their visit and cant afford further treatments or lab work. Ramirez works with low-cost medical providers, but often, he said, further care goes undone. In May 2012, a man visited Ramirezs clinic. He told him his regular doctor was out of town and he needed help with anxiety, weight gain, lower back pain and gout. Ramirez prescribed 30 tablets of the narcotic Vicodin and 90 pills of phentermine, an appetite suppressant, but did not perform a back or neurological exam, according to a Medical Board of California complaint filed against Ramirez last May. The state board alleges that this man, Patient A, visited Ramirez about 20 times over a six-year period for numerous ailments. During three of those years, Ramirez allegedly prescribed the man 600 tablets of the sedative Ambien, 940 pills of the narcotic Norco and 660 phentermine tablets. The state agency made similar allegations involving two other patients. It claims those patients were also receiving pain meds from other doctors and that Ramirez was not performing lab work and other requirements to administer such drugs. The complaint alleges gross negligence, repeated negligent acts, failure to maintain adequate and accurate records, and violations of provisions of the Medical Practice Act. The state board has recommended that Ramirezs license be revoked, but would stay that punishment for seven years while he completed a strict probation period. If he completed probation, he could get his certification back, but he said the litany of requirements would effectively end his practice as it now exists, by requiring he not operate as a sole physician. A medical board spokesman said the agency could not comment as the complaint is still open. A hearing is scheduled for June 5. The proposal would end his practice, said Dan Russo, an attorney for Ramirez who describes his client as a saint. Hes putting his life on the line and theyre trying to blow up his office. Hes a solo family practitioner with a constituency of patients who are undocumented and dont speak English. Russo also points out that the boards investigation found one patient received opiates from 15 different Kaiser doctors as well, but the state has only pursued Ramirez. The only problem Dr. Ramirez had was charting his findings, Russo said. Also reporting requirements have altered since these patients. He has since taken an approved course in record keeping and he has amended his practice. But Dr. Jeoffrey Gordon, a retired doctor who previously served on the state board and regularly monitors physician accusations, reviewed Ramirezs case and said he was alarmed. I cant go to bat for him being the Joan of Arc of doctors, unfortunately, he said. His work appears to be very, very sloppy and perhaps negligent. They threw the book at him because they had lots of red flags, said Gordon, a member of the California Physicians Alliance. Ramirez acknowledges that his medical notes could have been more detailed, but he denied dispensing pills negligently. There are no allegations of his profiting off the prescriptions. His practice, Ramirez said, has obstacles that most other doctors dont face. For instance, while regulations might call for a patient to get a drug screening, many he sees cant afford a $200 test or a $2,000 MRI to document a neck injury. That is the misunderstanding, he said. They dont take into consideration what challenges a small clinic faces. They think every clinic is running a pill mill, but thats not the case. As the line outside Ramirezs office slowly shortened, four previous patients called in to the clinic to report that they had tested positive for the coronavirus. The news added to the doctors uneasiness of operating during the pandemic. Ramirez gives his patients who test positive his private number and they call him often for advice and reassurance. After he treats a possible coronavirus patient, he prefers to clean and sanitize the examination room himself, his wife said. In order for me to be there, I need to be healthy, he said. Theres a lot of anxiety. My medical assistants all have kids. Of the 26 patients who waited hours to see him this day, five would leave the clinic with letters to get tested. Of those, the clinic would learn, two tested positive and one negative; two others declined to get tested, Furtado said. In all, she said, of 27 clinic patients who have been tested, 22 have been positive. I think the doctor has a pretty good clinical diagnostic sense with this, she said. The steady flow of needy patients would continue the next day, when the clinic would see another 27 people. But so many more had to be turned away that Ramirez decided to open the clinic on Saturday. He saw another 15 that day. A few days later, the doctor treated his final patient around 6:30 p.m., well after the usual closing time. He would write two more letters for virus tests. The next morning, the line along International Boulevard began forming at 6 a.m. By the time the doors opened three hours later, the clinics caseload was booked for the day. Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni Worried about your health or mental health? Just schedule a phone or video visit with your provider. With the proliferation of health apps and virtual visit technology, this concept shouldnt be revolutionary, but before COVID-19, phone and video health care visits (collectively known as telehealth) were a luxury unavailable to the majority of low-income and publicly insured Californians. As medical and behavioral health providers at a health center serving mostly Medi-Cal and uninsured patients, we have historically been unable to receive reimbursement for telehealth services because of rules dictating that patients had to be within our four walls. Then COVID-19 hit, and because of Senate Bill 484, health centers became eligible to receive reimbursement for telehealth through Medi-Cal and Medicare temporarily. Regular primary care and behavioral health visits are critical for health and well-being, but in the past, our no-show rate for in-person visits hovered at 20% for medical visits and up to 50% for behavioral health. High no-show rates are attributed to access barriers like lack of transportation, lack of child care, or stigma. Since implementing telehealth two months ago, our no-show rates have dropped to all-time lows now less than 10% for both medical and behavioral health visits. Take the example of Jose, a patient in our community health center. Struggling with chronic diabetes and high blood pressure for many years, his symptoms were exacerbated last year by major depression after his son died in a car accident. One of many patients who often missed regular appointments because of transportation issues, Jose needed to take a full shift off from work in order to make the long bus ride to the clinic. It became a painful choice between needed health care or paying rent. Before telehealth became a covered benefit, our tools for effectively managing Joses conditions outside the clinic walls were limited. While there is strong evidence for the effectiveness of telehealth in managing chronic conditions like Joses, we had been unable to offer this service to him or the thousands of other patients with similar barriers to care. In the past two months, Jose has attended all of his appointments instead of missing a full shift of work, he has used telephone and video calls. Communities of color and the working poor have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, just as they are by many health and mental health conditions. In Marin County, where our health center is located, Latinos comprise 16% of the population, yet they account for more than 40% of positive cases. A recent Chronicle article highlighted that of all Latinos tested for COVID-19 in the Mission District, 90% of those who tested positive had low-wage jobs, unable to work from home, and often requiring them to travel across town. These are the patients traditionally seen in health centers like ours, and those with the most barriers to accessing care. COVID-19 has laid bare the deep inequalities and access barriers in our health care system, but telehealth has allowed us to begin to remedy some of the inequities plaguing our nations health care system. However, this telehealth benefit is set to expire on June 30. Now that weve seen the power of this tool to reach patients, we cannot afford to return to all in-person visits, even once COVID-19 has been contained. Telehealth is not just about reducing risk of contagion; it is about reducing disparities and improving the health of the entire population. Telehealth benefits must be extended as an additional service line, so that the most vulnerable among us can access care that for too long has been accessible only to a privileged few. Elizabeth Horevitz, Ph.D., LCSW, is chief behavioral health officer and Melanie Thompson, D.O., is regional medical director at Marin Community Clinics. Fifteen companies received state grants totaling $9.5 million to produce personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic. The Baker administration announced the awards as part of the Manufacturing Emergency Response Team, which was created in April so manufacturers could stay open and help with the states COVID-19 response. The 15 recipients are making masks, gowns, ventilators, swabs and testing materials. Thanks to both M-ERT and these grants, we can both provide important technical assistance and unlock the potential within our manufacturing industry to produce these necessary supplies and equipment, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said in a news release Thursday. We are grateful to the grant recipients, located in communities from the Berkshires to the Merrimack Valley, for their willingness to step up and strengthen our efforts to fight this virus. The state received 71 grant applications since the M-ERT program began. State officials say grant applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Contollo Mass Manufacturing in Franklin received $1.8 million to produce surgery masks, as well as $30,000 for workforce training. Worcester Polytechnic Institute received $100,000 to produce ventilator parts. WPI plans to uses the money to develop a low-cost powered resuscitator. Some of the funds will go toward buying raw materials and components for the parts. UMass Lowells Fabric Discovery Center received $130,781 to buy PPE performance testing equipment. The public university is planning to screen N95 respirators, gowns and face masks and work with manufacturers to fix products that dont pass the tests. Cogmedix West Boylston received $390,592 to make ventilators and $80,000 for workforce training. MatTek Corporation in Ashland, which the governor visited earlier this month, received $40,000 to boost its production of equipment to transport COVID-19 tests and work on viral replication. Wearing a mask, Gov. Charlie Baker and State Sen. Karen Spilka listen to Alex Armento, president of MatTek Life Sciences on May 12 in Ashland. The company is making COVID-19 test kits and hand sanitizer.Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald Massachusetts received offers from 676 manufacturers to help, including 424 Massachusetts-based companies, Gov. Charlie Baker said earlier this month during a visit to Merrow Manufacturing in Fall River. Merrow Manufacturing did not receive grant funding from the M-ERT program, but did get advice from the state under the program. One of the best parts about this particular initiative and this particular company that were standing in here today is theyre located here in the commonwealth, theyve been working with us several years, Baker said at the time. Related Content: Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 16:09 609 fc6853813033f564188675f8bd9756b8 1 Business Astra-International,Astra-Financial,ACC,Astra-Group,restructuring,loan-restructure,COVID-19 Free Astra Financial, a lending consortium under diversified conglomerate Astra International, has restructured loans to some 792,000 customers worth a total of Rp 21.9 trillion (US$1.48 billion) as part of the loan-relaxation program introduced by the government in March, this year. Three subsidiaries of Astra Financial, namely automobile financing businesses Astra Credit Companies (ACC) and Toyota Astra Finance and motorcycle financing business Federal International Finance (FIFGROUP), restructured the loans in compliance with a Financial Services Authority (OJK) regulation on easing loan repayment. "We are thankful that as of May 17, or within 1.5 months since the program was launched, the total [value] of restructured loans approved by ACC, TAF and FIFGROUP has reached Rp 21.9 trillion for 792,000 customers throughout all provinces in Indonesia," Astra Financial director Suparno Djasmin said in a statement on Wednesday. According to Astra Financial, OJK data on May 17 showed that financing firms had restructured Rp 52.9 trillion in loans to some 1.79 million borrowers, meaning that the value of credit restructuring by ACC, TAF and FIFGROUP accounted for 41 percent of all loans restructured by Indonesia's financing industry. Most customers covered by the restructuring program had borrowed through FIFGROUP, which has restructured loans for some 683,000 people with a total value Rp 6.7 trillion since the OJK instructed financial institutions to provide relief for borrowers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in late March. The ACC and TAF have restructured loans for some 78,000 and 30,993 customers, respectively, for loans totaling Rp 11 trillion and Rp 4.2 trillion. The two companies provided an online platform for borrowers to request for loan relief. "We have been actively offering customers affected [by COVID-19 crisis the opportunity] to take our restructuring programs to help them get through the pandemic," TAF president director Agus Prayitno said. (afr) Press Release May 21, 2020 Imee: Shame on you, Sec. Sonny! Senator Imee Marcos denounced Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez's attempt to downplay the present lack of government aid to farmers when he claimed that the country never exported rice in the 70's under the Masagana 99 program. "Shame on you, Secretary Dominguez, give the Filipino farmer some credit! When supported by sound government policy and defended against rampant importation, we can feed ourselves. Give the Filipino farmer a chance!" Marcos said. Dominguez "lost his cool" during the Senate's hearing Wednesday when Marcos asked him why large cash infusions were being made to Land Bank of the Philippines, the Development Bank of the Philippines, and Philguarantee instead of giving direct assistance to marginalized sectors through a network of commercial, rural, and cooperative banks similar to that in Masagana 99. "Even President Duterte already warned Land Bank during his last State of the Nation address, since they were only lending to big business at the expense of farmers, who are supposed to be the primary customers," Marcos said. Contrary to Dominguez's claim, the Philippines did export rice to neighboring countries when farmers under Masagana 99 produced a surplus of some 89,000 metric tons in 1977 to 1978, according to Dr. Emil Q. Javier, an agronomist and former president of the University of the Philippines. The Philippine Rice Research Institute also reported that rice exportation in 2013 was only the second time it took place since Masagana 99 was launched by Marcos's father, then President Ferdinand Marcos. "President Duterte was pushing for a revival of Masagana 99 early on in his administration, but maybe Dominguez misled his best friend too," the senator said. Marcos lamented the "crumbs" of livelihood support allotted to farmers, citing that P 5,000 in cash aid did not reach many farmers and could not be stretched to buy seeds and fertilizer for the next planting season. Marcos added that most farmers who till only a hectare or two of land were intimidated by having to apply for loans and were unlikely to avail of more than P 600 billion in off-budget funds coursed through the Land Bank of the Philippines for agricultural aid. "Banks only lend money to people with money. What borrowing capacity do poor, unregistered farmers really have? Only big business will qualify and benefit from such funding," Marcos said. Marcos added that Dominguez revealed his disdain for poor farmers who could not pay back their loans when he called 800 banks participating in Masagana 99 a mess that had to be cleaned up when he was agriculture secretary during the Cory Aquino administration. "What our country's chief economic manager is really saying is that rice farmers are a pain in the budget and are not worth subsidizing. He has given up on our rice farmers ever regaining their export potential and will let unregulated rice importation do the dirty job of snuffing them out," Marcos said. LORAIN, Ohio A man was found dead Wednesday of a gunshot wound, one day after police had responded to reports of shots fired in the area. Police have a juvenile male suspect in custody in connection with the shooting of Dimehz Phillips, 21, who was found dead of a gunshot wound along a fence line behind houses on the 3700 block of Denver Avenue. According to police, officers were first called to the area at 10:49 p.m. Tuesday, with witnesses telling police a group of males were seen arguing. Shots were then fired at two males, witnesses say. However, the males gave police conflicting accounts, saying the suspect fired shots into the air, causing them to run from the area. The two males did not tell officers that Phillips also was with them and that he had run off in a different direction after the shooting. Witnesses also did not tell police of a third male, and a search of the area by officers did not locate a suspect or Phillips. Officers were called back to the neighborhood Wednesday on reports that a body had been found, just northeast of where the shots had been fired. Police say Lorain County Sheriffs Department deputies already were in area searching for Phillips, who was reported missing Tuesday by family members. Officers again spoke to the two males who had been shot at and they admitted Phillips had been with them, police say. The two males said they did not know that Phillips had been wounded. Police say the juvenile male suspect admitted firing toward the three males Tuesday night and a weapon has been recovered. He is being held in the Lorain County Detention Center and will face unspecified charges, police say. Police say they are continuing to investigate the shooting. Anyone with information can contact detectives at 440-204-2105. More crime-related content on cleveland.com: Cleveland man sentenced to 19 years in prison for shooting police officer, other man with assault rifle Cleveland man pleads guilty to attempted murder in shootings of police officer and other man Sex offender charged with attempted murder in shooting of Cleveland police officer with assault rifle Cuyahoga County Jails efforts to stem coronavirus spread a success, but pitfalls loom, officials say Federal grand jury in Cleveland convenes as coronavirus pandemic continues to rage The coronavirus pandemic continues to exact a horrific toll in the United States, which has already lost more lives than any other country in the world. More than 1.5 million people in the US have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The death toll is approaching 100,000. Every day, there are more than 20,000 new cases and approximately 1,500 deaths. Globally, the coronavirus has killed nearly 330,000 people and infected more than five million. This is according to official statistics, which vastly understate the real impact. The rate of infection is accelerating rapidly in Eastern Europe, Asia, South Asia and Latin America, particularly in Brazil, which has overtaken Spain as the country with the third largest number of infections. The coronavirus knows no national boundaries. The growth of infections in other parts of the world will inevitably impact the United States as well. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control, told the Financial Times that the rapid spread in the southern hemisphere will mean that there will likely be a flare up again in the US later this year. Weve seen evidence that the concerns it would go south in the southern hemisphere like flu [are coming true], Redfield said, and youre seeing whats happening in Brazil now. And then when the southern hemisphere is over, I suspect it will reground itself in the north. These warnings expose as lies the claim by the Trump administration that the worst of the pandemic is over. In the United States itself, the pandemic is not under control. With New York state barely recovering from a tidal wave of infections that cost the lives of nearly 30,000 people, the COVID-19 pandemic is now surging through the states of the Midwest and the South. A new study published in the medical journal Health Affairs by researchers at the University of Washington estimates that by the end of the year the death toll in the United States alone will rise to between 350,000 and 1.2 million people. And this is without taking into account the relaxation of physical distancing measures that is currently being carried out. The danger of a rapid acceleration in the rate of infection is being increased by the premature and reckless reopen the economy and get back to work campaign. The Trump administration and Democratic and Republican governors throughout the country are reopening businesses and factories. All 50 states have begun relaxing, and in some cases completely ending, restrictions on economic and recreational activity. The White House, state officials, substantial sections of the media and extreme right-wing forces are creating an environment in which basic social distancing measures are being ignored. Underlying this campaign is the concept of herd immunity. This means, in practice, the abandonment of all efforts to stop the spread of the virus. By allowing the disease to spread without constraint, the ruling class is ensuring that tens or hundreds of thousands more people will die. The impulse for this campaign is the drive to restore the flow of corporate profits. Without a careful plan to implement a safe return to work, based on science and rigorously enforced, there will be an enormous increase in the rate of infection, resulting in serious illness and death. The COVID-19 virus will spread rapidly through factories, warehouses, office buildings, shopping malls and all other places where large numbers of people congregate. There is an immense danger that workers, unknowingly infected on the job and not yet showing symptoms, will return to their homes and neighborhoods and transmit the disease to their families, loved ones and friends. Service workers are being thrust into dangerous environments as retail stores open up. Amazon workers have worked throughout the pandemic with inadequate safety equipment, and at least seven have died. The pandemic continues to expand among meatpacking workers, forced to continue working on the orders of the Trump administration. As transportation systems expand operations, airline and transit workers face a perilous situation. More than 100 transit workers have already died in New York City alone. Health care workers, who will face a sharp escalation in new cases over the coming weeks, have inadequate personal protective equipment. A recent survey found that 87 percent of US nurses are forced to reuse protective equipment, and 72 percent work with exposed skin or clothing. And in an ominous sign of things to come, within days of bringing back tens of thousands of autoworkers, there were several reported cases of COVID-19 among workers at major production and parts plants. The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) opposes this reckless back-to-work campaign and the re-opening of non-essential workplaces as the pandemic continues to spread. If infection, sickness and death are to be prevented, it is necessary to create a new form of workplace organization that oversees and enforces safe working conditions. Therefore, the SEP advises workers to form rank-and-file safety committees in every factory, office and workplace. These committees, democratically controlled by workers themselves, should formulate, implement, and oversee measures that are necessary to safeguard the health and lives of workers, their families and the broader community. There can be no business as usual! The pandemic exposes the urgent necessity for a complete restructuring of the processes of production, distribution and economic activity in general. The lives of working people and their families must not be sacrificed in the interests of corporate profits and the private wealth of billionaire oligarchs. In response to the demand of Trump, the politicians of both big business parties and the media for the reopening of the economy, the question should be asked: Whose economy? The economy of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Wall Street swindlers, and the richest one to five percent of the population? Or the economy of the working class, which produces all the wealth of society but lives from paycheck to paycheckif they happen to have a job? The response of the Trump administration to the pandemic The dangerous situation confronting workers is the product of a deliberate class policy. Epidemiologists have warned for decades that a pandemic was not only possible, but inevitable. These warnings were ignored. Rather than investing in viral and bacterial research and building hospitals, Wall Street financiers demanded the dismantling and privatization of large sections of health care infrastructure. The subordination of social needs to the unrestricted pursuit of profit has resulted in tens of thousands of workplace injuries and deaths annually. Even prior to the pandemic, 150 workers have died on average every day from preventable work-related injuries and illnesses. American workplaces are notoriously unsafe and unsanitary. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) functions as little more than an arm of the corporations. Since the pandemic hit, OSHA has received nearly 14,000 complaints related to COVID-19 and has not issued a single citation or penalty. As the pandemic began its global spread in January and February, the concentration of the Trump administration and the American ruling class was not on protecting lives but protecting profits. Its initial response was to try to downplay the danger and keep businesses operating as usual. The Trump administration failed to put in place a system of mass testing, contact tracing and isolation, while claiming that the virus would just wash away. As the scale of the pandemic in Europe emerged, mass angerincluding the eruption of wildcat strikes in the auto industryforced the federal and state governments to implement elementary measures to contain the virus. Almost immediately, however, the Trump administration and the media began to raise the alarm that the cure cannot be worse than the disease, that it was necessary to get the country back to work. From the standpoint of the ruling class, by late March the most important action had already been taken: the passage of the CARES Act, passed with the unanimous support of Democrats and Republicans, which authorized the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and the corporate elite, with no restrictions. Every day, more than $80 billion is funneled into Wall Street by the US Federal Reserve, sums that far exceed the measures taken even after the 2008-2009 financial crisis. This is fueling the continued rise in the markets, amidst increasing death and social devastation. The vast debts built up by the bailout of the rich must be repaid through the exploitation of the working class. To justify its reckless and criminal policy, the Trump administration has sought to whip up far-right demonstrations, which have been promoted in the media. Both the Democrats and Republicans, moreover, are seeking to scapegoat China and shift the blame from the American financial oligarchy. The Trump administration is sidelining scientists who have warned about the danger of the back-to-work policy, including Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The Centers for Disease Control is being marginalized, and Trump is threatening to fire the agencys director, Robert Redfield. At the same time, the massive social distress caused by the starving of workers is being used to force a return to work. While unlimited sums have been allocated to the rich, millions of workers have received nothing. As businesses resume operations, workers who refuse to endanger themselves and their families will be cut off from all assistance. While the Trump administration is spearheading this campaign, it has the support of the entire political establishment. The Democrats are going along with the back-to-work campaign, and many of the states implementing the resumption of production are controlled by Democrats, including Michigan, which is restarting auto production under the leadership of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. As for the media, it is doing whatever it can to try to minimize the danger of the virus. Every day brings reports of a new hope for a vaccine or a cure. However, the possibility of a viable vaccine, which scientists say would not be ready until sometime next year, is not an argument for a return to work. If a vaccine is developed, all the more tragic will be the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives as a result of the back-to-work campaign. The nature of the coronavirus The interests of two classes stand in direct opposition to each other. The aim of corporate executives and managers, acting in the interests of Wall Street investors, is to increase profit and extract the largest quantity of work in the shortest amount of time. For workers, it is a question of maintaining a safe environment that ensures their health and safety. Rank-and-file safety committees must be organized to demand and implement measures to protect workers lives. These measures must be based upon a scientific understanding of the nature of the disease. The coronavirus is highly contagious and spreads through liquid droplets when people talk, breathe, cough or sneeze. People are infected when virus particles enter their mouths, noses or eyes through direct transmission or after touching a surface where the particles have fallen. Scientists have shown that the pathogen is also present in tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols, which can be suspended in the air for longer periods and travel much further than the recommended six feet of social distancing. The distance that the virus can travel is also affected by how loud someone is speaking. Large factories where thousands of workers labor close to one another on an assembly line are particularly vulnerable to becoming vectors for the rapid spread of the disease. The plant is an environment where its loud and people have to shout at each other to be heard, there could be a lot of virus being transmitted through the air, Julia Heck, an epidemiologist and Adjunct Associate Professor and researcher at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, told the World Socialist Web Site. Studies show that an infected person can be contagious two or more days before showing any symptoms. Therefore, the measures being implemented in many workplaces, like daily temperature taking and handing out substandard facemasks, are inadequate. By the time someone has a high temperature, they could have spread the disease throughout the plant. After attending a choir practice in Washington state in early March, 52 out of 61 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 and at least two died, even though they had not shaken hands or stood close to one another. In the meatpacking plants, it is widely suspected that the virus, which has infected more than 12,000 workers and killed more than 50, is spread through high-pressure air-conditioners that shoot airborne particles through an enclosed area. In addition to the danger workers face when they congregate to enter and leave plants, or during meal and bathroom breaks, workers on an assembly line, in a warehouse or in a retail business are handling the same tools and moving products. The virus can remain on surfaces for varied times: metal (five days), glass (up to five days), plastics (2-3 days), stainless steel (2-3 days), cardboard (24 hours) and aluminum (2-8 hours). The tasks of rank-and-file safety committees What will be the function of rank-and-file safety committees? They will represent and fight for the safety of workers, in opposition to the demands of management and the profit principle. They will draw up detailed regulations and standards that must be monitored and enforced. Where conditions are violated, there must be a stoppage of work. Core objectives of these committees should be: Controlling work hours and line speeds. In every factory, business, office and workplace, rank-and-file safety committees, working in conjunction with a panel of trusted scientists and health experts, must determine working conditions and production rates and schedules. Working hours and line speeds must be reduced to allow for sufficient rest, health care monitoring and regular deep cleaning. Guaranteeing personal protective equipment. Each worker should be properly fitted with the highest quality facemasks (including N-95, N-100 or P-100, according to conditions) as well as gloves, face shields and other necessary PPE. These must be regularly changed out, to make sure they continue to provide maximum protection. Workers should also undergo training for donning and removing PPE. Ensuring safe and comfortable working conditions. Of concern is not only the amount of protective equipment. To be safe, workers must be able to wear protective equipment for extended periods of time. All plants must have adequate air conditioning and ventilation, particularly with the beginning of summer, that is organized in such a way that it does not contribute to the spread of the virus. Enforcing regular testing. All workers must have access to regular testing for the coronavirus. Production schedules must be organized to accommodate testing and contact tracing. If a worker tests positive, the facility must be closed for at least 48 hours for deep cleaning. Demanding universal health care and guaranteed income. Any worker who tests positive must be isolated and provided immediate medical treatment, while his or her full income is guaranteed. All workers who came in contact with the infected workers must be quarantined and regularly tested, while receiving their full income. In addition, if anyones family members report symptoms, the worker should be tested and isolated until cleared by a medical professionalwith no loss of pay. Ensuring the distribution of information. To preserve their safety, workers must have access to all information about infected workers so that appropriate measures can be taken, including halting production if necessary. Management at Amazon and other corporations have deliberately concealed information about coworkers testing positive and terminated workers who have exposed unsafe conditions. Ensuring job security. No worker should be victimized for calling attention to unsafe working conditions or refusing to work. Any worker who has been fired for speaking out against unsafe conditions must be rehired with full back pay. What will be the cost of implementing this program? Who will pay for it? The working class cannot be made to pay for ensuring its safety. The costs necessary to ensure safe working conditions, as well as to provide health care and full income for all workers, must be borne by the corporations and the capitalist ruling elite. The maintenance of a safe working environment is an immensely complex task that can only be achieved through a scientific and rational plan, in active consultation with health care experts in every workplace. No confidence can be placed in corporate management to secure workers safety. Nor can workers rely on the trade unions. Only a small minority of workers are unionized, and the unions that do exist function as little more than arms of corporate management. They support the return to work and are collaborating with the companies to enforce it. This is why workers require their own organizations. In every factory, workplace, and office, workers should organize and elect trusted and respected workers who will represent them. They should utilize all available tools, including social media, to reach out to workers throughout their industry and in other sectors to coordinate their activities and share information. A critical task of these committees is to organize workers internationally. In every country, there are a growing number of strikes and job actions by nurses, meatpacking, transit, auto and other workers demanding safe conditions. The fight for socialism The mobilization of the resources of society against the pandemic requires scientific planning, which at every point comes into conflict with the pursuit of private profit and individual wealth. The SEP insists that the fight against the pandemic is inseparably linked to a struggle of workers against the ruling classthe corporate and financial oligarchyand its dictatorship over economic and political life. It is, therefore, a fight against capitalism and for socialism, the restructuring of society on the basis of social need, not private profit. This is by its very nature a global struggle. The pandemic is a world problem and can only be fought through the international collaboration of workers and all those committed to defending human life. In the fight against the pandemic, workers must reject all efforts to divide them along racial, ethnic and national lines. In particular, the campaign by the American ruling class to blame China for the crisis and divert attention from its own criminal role must be opposed. The pandemic has exposed the reality and bankruptcy of the capitalist system, which is a barrier to human progress and the very survival of the human species. The response of the ruling class to the pandemic will produce enormous social opposition and resistance. A socialist political leadership in the working class must be built! This leadership is the Socialist Equality Party. The SEP in the US is part of an international movement, the International Committee of the Fourth International, which publishes the World Socialist Web Site. We also publish workers newsletters, including the Autoworker Newsletter, the International Amazon Workers Voice, and the Teachers Newsletter, which have thousands of readers all over the world. The Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web Site will provide all the assistance it can to workers who want to establish rank-and-file safety committees. We urge all workers to study our program and make the decision to join the SEP. Fill out the form below to be contacted by a representative of the SEP and to receive updates on the pandemic and the struggles of the working class. We also urge workers to send reports of conditions in your workplaces. All requests for anonymity will be honored. A young child was stabbed to death in her own bed by her mother's distraught friend after the mom says her child drew a picture of the man to cheer him up. Bella Rose Desrosiers, 7, of Edmonton, Canada, was stabbed to death on Monday night, says her mother Melissa as police charged her friend, tattoo artist David Michael Moss, 34, with second-degree murder for the alleged fatal stabbing. Melissa claims Moss was having a personal crisis when he visited her home and had the picture of him drawn by her daughter. The mother says she had just tucked Bella Rose in for bed when Moss allegedly came into her room and started stabbing the child in front of the mom and a younger sister. Bella Rose Desrosiers, 7, of Edmonton, Canada, was stabbed to death on Monday night, says her mother Melissa as police charged her friend for the slaying Bella Rose is pictured with her mother Melissa from an image posted on Facebook. Police have charged the mother's friend, tattoo artist David Michael Moss, 34, with second-degree murder for the alleged fatal stabbing of the child David Michael Moss, 34, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of seven-year-old Bella Rose Desroisers. He appears in two side-by-side images, showing off his tattoos in one of the pictures (left), posted on Instagram Bella Rose's passing also comes after her father took his own life last summer, the mom says, the CBC reports. Melissa says her husband Ben took his life on July 16, 2019. The couple had been married for nine years. The heartbroken mother spoke publicly about losing Bella Rose, who, 'like her father had a huge kind herat that truly enjoyed life, reaching out to do anything she could to make others feel better.' 'Her soul was beautiful, true and unique,' Melissa said about Bella Rose, Global News reports. The mother adds that child was known for setting up a lemonade stand outside her home to raise money for the Stollery Children's Hospital. 'She will always be remembered as the lemonade stand girl,' Mellissa says. Bella Rose was known for setting up a lemonade stand (pictured) to raise money for the Stollery Children's Hospital. 'She will always be remembered as the lemonade stand girl,' the child's mother says Bella Rose is pictured with her mother Melissa from an image posted on Facebook The mother tells the CBC that she had planned to take Moss to a hospital right after tucking Bella Rose and her sister Lily, 4, into bed Monday night. Melissa says she had just said goodnight to the girls when her friend burst into their bedroom with a pair of scissors. Thats when Moss allegedly began stabbing Bella Rose. The mother said there was nothing she could do to save her child and that she ran out of the room with Lily to safety. The last time the mother saw Moss, he was sitting on her couch, she recalls. Police say they were called to the house near 25 Avenue and 43 Street at around 8:45 p.m. Monday after a report of a stabbing. Moss was taken into custody when the cops arrived, police said. He was not named as a suspect until an autopsy had confirmed the cause of death. Sources tell the CBC that Moss is married and has four children. It was reported that Moss stabbed the child in front of her mother. The mother tried to intervene and attempted CPR until paramedics arrived on scene, police said in a news release on Wednesday. The girl was pronounced deceased at the scene. Moss has no prior criminal convictions. He is scheduled to be in court to face the charges filed against him Friday. China's ceremonial parliament will consider legislation that could limit opposition activity in Hong Kong, a spokesperson said on Thursday, appearing to confirm speculation that China will sidestep the territory's own legislative body in enacting legislation to crack down on activity Beijing considers subversive. Zhang Yesui said the National People's Congress will deliberate a bill on "establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security". Such a move has long been under consideration but was hastened by months of anti-government protests last year in the former British colony that was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997. Zhang's comments at a news conference came on the eve of the opening of the congress's annual session. [May 21, 2020] Istation meets Kansas dyslexia screening requirements DALLAS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Istation , a leader in educational technology, has met the requirements from the state of Kansas to assess and identify dyslexia and other learning difficulties for early-screening purposes using Istation's Indicators of Progress Early Reading (ISIP ER). Istation's Indicators of Progress Early Reading assessment (ISIP ER) was developed in part with Joseph Torgesen, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University. Torgesen is a key figure in the study of both dyslexia and computer-assisted instruction. He helped create Istation's assessment tool based on research that shows a key indicator of dyslexia is difficulty in developing phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge of skills, including matching sounds with letters. Students at risk also have problems with spelling and reading comprehension. "ISIP ER provides reliable, continuous assessments and is credited with being an important aid to help identify students at risk of dyslexia early in their academic careers," Istation Chief Operating Officer Ossa Fisher said. "We are honored to be able to serve the students of Kansas." Istation's assessments comply with Kansas' requirements for dyslexia screening, which include measuring fluency in the following domains: letter naming, letter word sound, phoneme segmentation, nonsense words and oral reading. Istation also measures encoding or spelling, and reading comprehension. The ISIP objectives are divided into eight animated subtests that address components crucial to long-term success in reading. The assessment provides students interactive tasks that have been shown to correlate highly with measures of comprehension. Teachers can apply the timely and specific ISIP error analysis data to create prescriptive and targeted student interventions and help guide further instruction based on individual needs. Kansas school districts that purchase and use Istation's computer-adaptive assessments will receive thorough training and ongoing support from an expert literacy team experienced in addressing the needs of both teachers and students. Through Istation's in-person and online workshops, webinars, learning modules, and technical assistance, educators learn how to best utilize Istation's reports to provide appropriate interventions. Students benefit from ongoing evaluation of their skills with Istation's online diagnostic assessment, which is used in identifying learning disabilities while analyzing a wide metric of reading levels and literacy. Early detection of dyslexia is key to maintaining progress on the path to academic achievement. Istation's individualized assessments can audit the status of an entire classroom in approximately 30 minutes. The time saved allows instructors to address students who need extra attention in order to meet grade-level reading expectations. Istation has a proven track record of identifying students' under-the-radar issues that may have otherwise gone undetected. About Istation Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like educational technology. Winner of several national educational technology awards, the Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves over 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. Contact: Molly Bryan, 214-292-4904, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/istation-meets-kansas-dyslexia-screening-requirements-301063710.html SOURCE Istation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] If you remember the 1980s, youll remember Tony Slattery. You couldnt not remember him, really. For that decade, and half of the one that followed it, the comedian and actor was all over television. There were sketch shows, panel shows, sitcoms and, briefly, a film review programme called Saturday Night at the Movies. He was the sharpest, most sparkling talent on Channel 4s comedy improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? He had films roles too, including a small but memorable turn as a smarmy developer in Neil Jordans The Crying Game and a bigger one in Kenneth Branaghs Peters Friends. Had things taken a different turn, it could easily have been Slattery and not Christopher Eccleston who led the revived Doctor Who. Part of the same Cambridge Footlights crop that yielded Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Sandi Toksvig, Slattery was once so widespread on television, he made Romesh Ranganathan look like a recluse. Have I Got News for You, Private Eye and Spitting Image all lampooned him as the man who said yes to everything, without even asking what it was. Then, in the mid-90s, he abruptly stopped being on television. His star didnt so much fade as just vanish from the firmament overnight. He wasnt seen in public, never mind on TV screens, for six months. Were it not for Slatterys sporadic appearances over the last 25 years (including a stint in Coronation Street that I cant recall off the top of my head), hed be a candidate for one of those Whatever happened to.... stories in the UK tabloids. Except, we know what happened to him. He had a colossal breakdown, fuelled by years of drug and alcohol abuse (he gave up the cocaine, with apparent ease, around the Millennium but is still drinking every day), and by a lifetime of mental health problems which he succeeded in hiding from the world while at the peak of his success. The title of tonights Horizon special on BBC2 poses a different question: Whats Wrong with Tony Slattery? The short answer is he suffers from depression. The longer one, teased out over the course of a raw, emotional, heartbreakingly sad hour thats extremely difficult to watch at times, is far more complex. Video of the Day You wouldnt recognise the Slattery of 25 years ago as the man here. the once-black hair is snow-white now and theres less of it. His face is lined and, like the faces of many people who drink heavily and constantly, it sometimes clenches like a fist. He looks older than his 60 years and moves a little slowly a consequence, perhaps, of the seizure he suffered while trying cold turkey to kick the booze, which may have caused mild brain damage. He lives with his partner of 36 years, Mark Hutchinson, in a rented two-up, two-down house. Its a far cry from the warehouse apartment overlooking the Thames that Slattery had at his career peak. Hutchinson is frank about the toll Slatterys ups and downs, his mood swings and his heavy-drinking days, takes on him. Ive known a dozen different Tonys over the years, he says. I used to behave and speak differently to whoever it was. Slattery has long thought hes bipolar; up to now, though, the various psychiatrists hes seen cant settle on a firm diagnosis. Hutchinson, however, thinks his problems may be rooted in a trauma from his past that hes alluded to more than once. and which he talks about in stark detail here. Clare Richards sensitive film follows Slattery as he consults various professionals (and his old friend Stephen Fry, who has bipolar disorder) in an effort to find out, as he puts it, whats going on in my head. Programmes like these are often glibly called journeys, but journeys always have endings. This doesnt yet. Slattery is still struggling and still drinking, though not as heavily. You come away hoping he will eventually reach where he needs to be. He deserves it. WHATS THE MATTER WITH TONY SLATTERY? IS ON BBC2 TONIGHT AT 9PM XXXX The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has suffered mental health issues for most of his lifetime His face is lined and sometimes clenches like a fist. He looks older than his 60 years MIDDLETOWN For hair service providers, Wednesdays partial reopening of restaurants, retail shops and other facilities was an emotional day, after learning Monday that they wont be allowed to open yet just two days before they were due to take clients. Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday he was putting off the reopening date for hair salons to allow owners to be fully prepared to handle clients safely during the pandemic. Jessica Sassu, owner of Jessicas Color Room on Newfield Street, was prompted to email the governor about the issue Tuesday, urging him to reconsider the decision. She hasnt heard back. She spent thousands of dollars on face shields, masks, gloves and other protective equipment, including air sanitizers, in order to reopen her doors Wednesday. The Press reached out to Lamont for comment, but didnt receive a response by deadline. She was booked solid for an entire month. Its very challenging. If we open June 1, who do we move? Its unfair, the restrictions put on my industry. Who is he to tell me? It should be my choice. I just want to work, Sassu said. It will take her years to recover from the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic, she said. Its been an emotional roller coaster the whole time, Sassu, who pledged to soldier on. Im not going to give up. I have good days and bad days. When its all said and done, Ive been in business for 17 years. Im going to make it. She questioned the reasoning behind the delay. Im frustrated my dog can get a haircut, people can get breast implants, go to the package store, but not have their hair serviced. Hair stylists are licensed through the state Department of Public Health. We went to school for all of that. We are clean, we are going to practice all that. Its very unfair for those who took the time. We were all home, we had the same amount of time as everybody else: eight weeks, Sassu said. Pulling that two days before opening? That screwed us up completely, she added. Guidelines include salon staff and customers limiting conversation while inside. As a workaround, Sassu has been offering virtual consultations to find out exactly what people want prior to coming in. Its a major disappointment to push the date back, said Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce President Larry McHugh. Some had spent money to get all geared up over the weekend. But to pull this 48 hours beforehand was totally wrong. The decision should have been made in the beginning, he said. Christina Bibisi owns Roots Hair Studio at 1610 Saybrook Road in Haddam She took part in the hair and barber industry rally at the state Capitol Wednesday with her brother Joey Pelkey, owner of Middletowns Get Fresh Barber Shop on Saybrook Road. People demonstrated to protest the governors decision, while others made clear they supported his decision. Rescheduling many weeks worth of appointments at the last minute has been a complete disaster, Bibisi said. Its the second time we have to do this. Its ridiculous. She normally works 12-hour days, six days a week. Once she returns, Bibisi will be making a third of her regular salary because she cant fit in as many clients in order to adhere to the guidelines. Shes also bought personal protective equipment and will be cleaning every station after every client. Signs on the door and throughout the shop remind people to practice preventive measures and use touchless payment options. She estimates the price tag for safety measures cost her between $2,000 and $3,000. Bibisi has had to take out loans and isnt eligible for unemployment. We have families, children we have to feed. Now we have to work longer hours, accommodating less clients. As a mother, I have two young kids who are supposed to be in school, and now we dont know if theres (summer) camp. Because of her small space, shell be able to take on one client at a time. After each one leaves, shes required to spend the next 20 to 30 minutes disinfecting everything. That means she can service between four and five appointments as opposed to her normal 10. Despite her staff making more on unemployment, supplemented by an additional $600 per week, they have promised to return. Bibisi is also prepared to lock the doors between each appointment so a client doesnt walk in off the street even the thought makes her anxious. Her motto is if it makes you happy, do it. I love to make people feel their very best. They can unwind, tell us about their lives. Its hair therapy. It makes them so happy the glow in their faces truly makes me feel good, Bibisi said. Pelkey said the rally was very eye-opening. Hes adhering to the guidelines, getting set for reopening. Whats on your station has to be stripped off, taken down, disinfected and cleaned again. It cost him more than $2,000 to buy cleaning materials and prepare, including putting seven-foot walls between stylists. Im on my hands and knees scrubbing the floors making sure, with hand sanitizer, disinfectant. Its upsetting. You get told one day to do all this, and then we get pushed back again. Now I have to redo the steps, he said. Hes also had to call 45 clients who had cuts booked through June 1, as well as those who had appointments after that. He insists on that courtesy, so everyone is treated fairly, calling the process chaotic. Restaurants in Middletown began offering outside dining Wednesday with tables spaced at least 6 feet apart, and customers urged not to move about unnecessarily for safety reasons. There are a host of other restrictions. McHugh said hell have a better understanding of how these eateries made out after the Memorial Day long weekend. He saw a number of people eating outdoors around town Wednesday, which is a good sign. I dont think anybody expected a landslide. Prior to COVID-19, Pelkeys normal business flow was 20 customers a day. Now, he will be able to take on nine. Im still losing money, but its nothing compared to the amount Im losing now. We have to take a half-hour in between to basically say you can eat off the floors. Its a hassle all around, he said. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Sint Maarten Police Force KPSM Alpha Team made two arrests on Tuesday, May 12th, 2020, in connection with drug smuggling. A young man with the initials R.P. (26) and a young woman with initials Z.T.L. (23) was arrested for smuggling drugs through the Princess Juliana International Airport (P.J.I.A) cargo facilities. After a search of the cargo facilities the Alpha Team was able to uncover 467 grams worth of illegal narcotics. The drugs were confiscated, and the two youngsters were arrested. The suspects were taken to the police station in Philipsburg, where they remain in police custody pending further investigation. In a subsequent arrest, the Alpha Team arrested another young man with initials D.S. (24) on Friday, May 15th, 2020, on suspicions of smuggling 2,734 grams worth of drugs to the island. D.S. was brought to the police station in Philipsburg where he is being held for questioning. As this is still an ongoing investigation further information will be provided as it becomes available. KPSM Press Release. The disc around the young AB Aurigae star featuring a twist, which marks the spot where a new planet is being formed (Boccaletti et al/ESO/PA_ Astronomers believe they may have found the first direct evidence of a new planet being born. A dense disc of dust and gas has been spotted surrounding a young star called AB Aurigae, around 520 light years away from Earth. Using the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile, the researchers observed a spiral structure with a twist near the centre, which suggests a new world may be in the process of forming. The swirling disc is one of the telltale signs of the star system being born in the constellation of Auriga, the scientists said. Dr Anthony Boccaletti, who led the study from the Observatoire de Paris, PSL University, France, said: Thousands of exoplanets have been identified so far, but little is known about how they form. Expand Close The images of the AB Aurigae system showing the disc around it. The image on the right is a zoomed-in version of the area indicated by a red square on the image on the left. It shows the inner region of the disc, including the very-bright-yellow twist (circled in white) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the Sun. The blue circle represents the size of the orbit of Neptune. The images were obtained with the SPHERE instrument on ESOs Very Large Telescope in polarised light (Boccaletti et al/ESO) ESO/Boccaletti et al. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The images of the AB Aurigae system showing the disc around it. The image on the right is a zoomed-in version of the area indicated by a red square on the image on the left. It shows the inner region of the disc, including the very-bright-yellow twist (circled in white) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the Sun. The blue circle represents the size of the orbit of Neptune. The images were obtained with the SPHERE instrument on ESOs Very Large Telescope in polarised light (Boccaletti et al/ESO) He added: We need to observe very young systems to really capture the moment when planets form. Until now astronomers had been unable to take clear images of young discs to see these twists. Dr Boccaletti and his team of astronomers used VLTs Sphere instrument to take photos of AB Aurigae, which show a stunning spiral of dust caused by the baby planet trying to kick the gas. The same instrument was used in 2018 to take photos of another infant planet, thought to be just 5.4 million years old. According Emmanuel Di Folco, of the Astrophysics Laboratory (LAB) of Bordeaux in France and one of the study authors, this so-called kicking phenomenon causes disturbances in the disc in the form of a wave, somewhat like the wake of a boat on a lake. As the new planet rotates around AB Aurigae, it causes the surrounding gas and dust to be shaped into a spiral arm. The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation. It corresponds to the connection of two spirals - one winding inwards of the planet's orbit, the other expanding outwards - which join at the planet location Anne Dutrey, LAB The very bright yellow region near the centre of the spiral is the twist, which lies at about the same distance from the star as Neptune from the Sun. Anne Dutrey, also at LAB and a study co-author, said: The twist is expected from some theoretical models of planet formation. It corresponds to the connection of two spirals one winding inwards of the planets orbit, the other expanding outwards which join at the planet location. They allow gas and dust from the disc to accrete onto the forming planet and make it grow. The observations are reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Business and diplomacy must go hand in hand: FM Kuleba 21:10, 21.05.20 570 Composition of the Exporters and Investors Council will be renewed by 80%. Its accepted wisdom today that improving the customer experience is a top priority of for-profit businesses. But other organizations, including government agencies, are only beginning to realize that they can benefit as well. The City of Sacramento is one such organization. About five years ago, the city undertook a digital strategy that focused on the customer/citizen experience. The legacy apps and technology solutions were problematic for not only citizens/customers, but also for internal departments within the city, said Mrudul Sadanandan, the citys IT manager. The city decided it needed to fundamentally upgrade and integrate the digital systems and apps that supported each of its departments. Without a cohesive plan, each department had implemented its own apps, and there was little or no interaction between them. Users needed separate credentials for each one, and any service that crossed departments required information to be re-entered. It wasnt possible to gain a complete picture of any citizen and their issues because all of the information was siloed. The key to solving the problem was to implement a single online citizen identity system that works across all city departments and integrates the disparate departmental apps. A critical part of this solution was to personalize and manage each identity. With the new platform, any 311 activity, ticket, or request is now linked to one identity. To provide content and valuable information, the citizen identity initiative is supported by e-newsletters created by city departments or elected officials. Each time an inquiry is made to the citys 311 systemwhether its about city parks, trash pickup, or any other issuean email is sent to the caller. These emails, along with details about the issue, are stored in Adobe Campaign, which starts a profile. More information is added to the profile by using outbound emails to follow up on the issue. Email is also used to ask citizens if they want to receive any of the available e-newsletters. If they ask for one, that information is added to the profile. The results have been impressive. As Sadanandan noted, We launched on April 18th, 2020, and there are already 4,000 registered accounts in just one month, all created by users. More importantly, theres a clear pattern of individuals reusing their citizen identity account for new needs or to get more e-newsletters. One of the key features that has driven increased use of citizen identity is the citys integration of Adobe Sign into many apps, eliminating the need for individuals to go to an office in person to sign documents. The success of citizen identity, particularly in these uncertain times, prompted Sadanandan to offer some advice to other organizations. Take small steps. Take one area, roll that out, then expand on that success, he said. Dont try and do too much at the beginning. It is also imperative to use all available training to ensure you can support the initiative. Finally, work with a good business champion on the departmental side who will be a partner for the IT team. Nationalist voices in the U.S. and China would have a party with this; 2020 is beginning to feel more and more like 1948 when the first crises of the Cold War broke out over Berlin, Mr. Medeiros said, predicting that the United States and China would probably impose sanctions or other punishments on each other. The Chinese government, which announced the move, is likely to put it in place by fiat during the National Peoples Congress, which begins on Friday. How Mr. Trump will react is unclear. Leaving the White House for a trip to Michigan on Thursday, he told reporters that he did not know what it is, but added, If it happens, well address that issue very strongly. The White House otherwise had no comment. When mass demonstrations against Beijing took place in Hong Kong last summer, Mr. Trump who has shown little interest in issues of democracy and human rights generally had a muted response despite bipartisan pressure to show more support for a protest movement with open sympathies for the United States. And even as he has lashed out at Chinas government for its handling of the winter coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, helping to prompt the sharpest downturn in relations with Beijing in decades, Mr. Trump has taken care not to insult or offend Mr. Xi. Because of the pandemics economic toll, China has yet to meet purchasing demands outlined in a January trade agreement between the two nations. Mr. Trump and his economic advisers would like to see the deal fulfilled to aid his re-election prospects. U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a press briefing about coronavirus testing in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 11, 2020 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON The Trump administration said Thursday that it will withdraw from another major international treaty, a decision expected to disturb European allies as Washington pulls back further from global arms commitments and other pacts. The Open Skies treaty allows 35 nations, including Russia, to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over each other's territory in order to assure that nations are not preparing for military action. The Trump administration has previously said that Russia has repeatedly violated the terms of the pact, which was brokered three decades ago. Washington maintains that Moscow uses the flights as an opportunity to identify critical infrastructure to target during a potential conflict. "President Trump has made clear that the United States will not remain a party to international agreements that are being violated by the other parties and are no longer in America's interests," said national security advisor Robert O'Brien in an emailed statement. "We look forward to negotiating with both Russia and China on a new arms control framework that moves beyond the Cold War constructs of the past and helps keep the entire world safe," the statement added. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in a statement that the United States may reconsider its withdrawal should Russia return to full compliance with the treaty. "This is not a story exclusive to just the Treaty on Open Skies, unfortunately, for Russia has been a serial violator of many of its arms control obligations and commitments," Pompeo added. Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters Thursday that Russia "implements the treaty in ways that contribute to military threats against the United States and our allies and partners." "We've been clear on these concerns for years, and to your question, the Secretary has had conversations with his allies and partners about these concerns previously," he added. Good morning, Bay Area. Its Thursday, May 21, and many of us want to let people know were smiling behind our masks. Heres what you need to know to start your day. Gov. Gavin Newsom has remained firm on his plan to not reopen churches in California as other businesses across the state have resumed operations. Newsom said Monday that the state is weeks away from easing restrictions on religious services, but this has led to growing tensions with the Trump administration and religious leaders. On Tuesday, the Justice Department pushed Newsom to move more quickly with reopening churches. The argument centers on California treating churches like other places for mass gatherings, such as sporting arenas, in the interest of public health. Some religious groups and Republican leaders have argued that calling church services nonessential is discriminatory. Read more about the legal battle from reporter Dustin Gardiner. Not enough: Tulare County defies state shelter-in-place order to reopen more businesses, including restaurants, shopping malls and hair salons. A lot to think about: As Napa County allows restaurants to reopen to in-dining service, owners grapple with the financial and safety issues that come with allowing diners back into their establishments. Does public health trump privacy? As all of the Bay Area counties work to build up their contact-tracing armies, especially as cities begin reopening, the question of what the public needs to know versus what should be kept private comes into play. Authorities say that divulging information about infected individuals can create unnecessary panic. But rumors still proliferate, which can spread disinformation, experts say. But its a different story with case clusters. Experts study these and report their findings to public health officials so they can hopefully prevent similar outbreaks. And as we move forward, making information about certain clusters may be necessary if a large group of people are at risk. Read more about the complications of contact tracing from reporter Erin Allday. A return to Yosemite - with new limits? Leah Millis / The Chronicle As National Park Service officials contemplate reopening Yosemite as early as June, they appear intent on introducing a new wrinkle for visitors: day-use reservations. Yosemite officials recently presented a draft plan for cautiously reopening the park, which closed in March during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Most notably, the plan would require visitors to reserve their entry tickets in advance online. (Pass holders would have to reserve online as well and pay a fee.) It would also cap the number of day-use cars allowed into the park and the number of cars associated with overnight reservations. What we dont want to do is have people line up for hours, get to the gate and tell people, Sorry, we ran out of space today, you have to turn around. Try again tomorrow, said parks management analyst David Miyako. Learn more about the plan from reporter Gregory Thomas. No more smiles? Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Wearing a mask while out in public has become routine for many people, but one thing that is nearly impossible to convey while hiding your mouth is a smile. Its an important form of communication to people that for many is needed more than ever, but difficult to express. Many have wondered how to show this emotion safely, whether its a wave, head nod, or a smize, which is the term for smiling with your eyes. To hide the face and particularly the smile, in some ways, its hiding peoples identities, said Stanford University psychology professor Jeanne Tsai. Reporter Annie Vainshtein dives into the importance and necessity of the smile. Comfort in carbohydrates Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle 2015 As the Bay Areas restaurant industry struggles under the weight of the pandemic, a number of bakeries around town have found success. People find comfort in carbohydrates, said David Kreitz, owner of San Francisco bagel shop Daily Driver. Many of these shops operate their own in-house delivery service instead of using third-party apps, have launched e-commerce operations and pivoted to new services such as offering basic bread starter kits. Read more about the rising success of bakeries by reporter Janelle Bitker. Also: San Francisco says it will reconsider its policy and forgive tenants rent as a SoMa restaurant owner stresses over $11,000 he'll owe starting in July. Around the Bay Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle A harrowing journey: A San Francisco man on the brink of death from coronavirus returns home after two months in the hospital. Holding steady: The Bay Area has done well with curbing the spread of coronavirus, but the number of new cases each day has remained steady for the past month. Losing a landmark: The Stud, one of the citys most celebrated LGBT bars, is shutting down after 54 years, victim of business lost to the coronavirus pandemic. Classroom regulations: Each California school district will decide when and how to reopen, but masks and classroom sanitizing will be required, the state superintendent says. Plus: A legal skirmish erupts over the glitches in online Advanced Placement exams for high school students administered last week. Budget cuts: The coronavirus pandemic will force San Francisco city departments to slash their budgets by 10% to help close an anticipated $1.7 billion deficit. Also: Supervisor Norman Yee pushes a ballot measure to decide San Francisco police staffing levels. Rent dispute: The Oakland As are reportedly deferring a $1.2 million rent payment for use of the Oakland Coliseum but the Coliseum Authority says it will demand payment. Also: Electric car company Tesla dropped its lawsuit against Alameda County after resuming factory operations in Fremont. Virtual show goes on: BottleRock Napa Valley will host weekly virtual series in lieu of the Memorial Day weekend outdoor festival. Housing crisis: Californias Senate leader endorses five bills to address the states housing shortage. Tell me something hopeful Stephen Lam/Special to The Chronicle A global team of scientists led by UC San Francisco has discovered drugs that block the coronavirus, paving the path for a possible treatment for COVID-19. On Monday that teams leader, Dr. Nevan Krogan, joined The Chronicles Jason Fagone to answer questions live on Reddit. Krogan fielded dozens of questions during Mondays Q&A, including when a treatment might become available and whether there could be a vaccine silver bullet. And to the participant who asked, Tell me something hopeful, Krogan answered: I think were going to find cures for other diseases, not just COVID-19, because of what weve learned during this pandemic. And that gives me hope. Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com. A Wyoming teacher has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting her fiance while three children under the age of 13 were home. Danelle Moyte, 33, was originally charged with second-degree murder on Saturday morning after she told police she 'shot the (expletive) gun', according to court documents. But Moyte, a Title 1 teacher at Afflerbach Elementary School, has now been charged with a single count of first-degree murder by the Laramie County District Attorney's Office, reported the Casper Star Tribune. First degree murder accuses the defendant of killing with 'premeditated malice'. Danelle Moyte (pictured), 33, was originally charged with second-degree murder on Saturday morning after she told police she 'shot the (expletive) gun', according to court documents She was arrested at her home after her son and her fiance Christopher Garcia's daughter called 911 at 2am on Saturday. When police arrived they found Moyte crying outside her front door with her son. Garcia was found unresponsive upstairs. He was rushed to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center but was declared dead, killed by a single 9mm gunshot wound. Garcia was shot on the right side of his chest, and the bullet exited his body from his lower back. When officers interviewed Moyte, she said 'everyone was drinking' and 'we never fight.' She said she had no injuries, and her clothing showed no signs of a struggle. He was rushed to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (pictured) but was declared dead, killed by a single 9mm gunshot wound Officers noted both Moyte and Garcia smelled strongly of alcohol. Moyte told officers she didn't know what to do so she 'shot the (expletive) gun,' and she 'told him three (expletive) times' to leave. She said Garcia was laughing at her when she was taking the gun out of the safe. Moyte claimed self-defense and said she thought Garcia was going to 'beat the s***' out of her. She is being held without bond at Laramie County Detention Center and had her first appearance at Laramie County Circuit Court on Monday. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9.30am on May 28. News Washington, DC - Providing Continued Federal Support for Governors Use of the National Guard to Respond to COVID-19 and to Facilitate Economic Recovery: MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SUBJECT: Providing Continued Federal Support for Governors Use of the National Guard to Respond to COVID-19 and to Facilitate Economic Recovery By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5121-5207 (the Stafford Act), and section 502 of title 32, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to take measures to assist State Governors under the Stafford Act in their responses to all threats and hazards to the American people in their respective States. On March 13, 2020, I declared a national emergency recognizing the threat that COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 (the virus), and the virus poses to the Nations healthcare systems. I also determined that same day that the COVID-19 outbreak constituted an emergency, of nationwide scope, pursuant to section 501(b) of the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)). Considering the profound and unique public health risks posed by the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19, the need for close cooperation and mutual assistance between the Federal Government and the States is greater than at any time in recent history. This need remains as the United States continues to battle the public health threat posed by the virus, while transitioning to a period of increased economic activity and recovery in those areas of the Nation where the threat posed by the virus has been sufficiently mitigated. To provide maximum support to the Governor of the State of Utah as he makes decisions about the responses required to address local conditions in his jurisdiction with respect to combatting the threat posed by the virus and, where appropriate, facilitating its economic recovery, I am taking the actions set forth in sections 2, 3, and 4 of this memorandum: Sec. 2. One Hundred Percent Federal Cost Share. To maximize assistance to the Governor of the State of Utah to facilitate Federal support with respect to the use of National Guard units under State control, I am directing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security to fund 100 percent of the emergency assistance activities associated with preventing, mitigating, and responding to the threat to public health and safety posed by the virus that Utah undertakes using its National Guard forces, as authorized by sections 403 (42 U.S.C. 5170b) and 503 (42 U.S.C. 5193) of the Stafford Act. Sec. 3. Support of Operations or Missions to Prevent and Respond to the Spread of COVID-19. I am directing the Secretary of Defense, to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with mission requirements (including geographic proximity), to request pursuant to 32 U.S.C. 502(f) that the Governor of the State of Utah order National Guard forces to perform duty to fulfill mission assignments, on a fully reimbursable basis, that FEMA issues to the Department of Defense for the purpose of supporting State and local emergency assistance efforts under the Stafford Act. Sec. 4. Termination and Extension. The 100 percent Federal cost share for the State of Utahs use of National Guard forces authorized pursuant to this memorandum shall extend to, and shall be available for orders of any length authorizing duty through, June 24, 2020. Such orders include duty necessary to comply with health protection protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other health protection measures agreed to by FEMA and the Department of Defense. Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. (d) The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. DONALD J. TRUMP COVID-19 has landed at a fourth long-term care facility in Haldimand-Norfolk, as two asymptomatic residents of Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home in Simcoe tested positive earlier this week. The news follows recent reports of single COVID-19 cases among residents at Cedar Crossing Retirement Home in Simcoe and Parkview Meadows Christian Retirement Village in Townsend. Two Parkview Meadows staff and an employee at Caressant Care Courtland were also found to have the disease. How the virus is getting into these facilities is unclear, said Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, Haldimand-Norfolks chief medical officer of health. Thats always the conundrum, he said. Sometimes were able to identify a clear factor but sometimes we dont have a clear idea. Those are always more perplexing. Nesathurai said it is difficult to track a disease that can be spread by a single cough. Retirement and long-term care homes in the two counties have been closed to visitors for months, but staff members come and go, and Nesathurai noted that residents sometimes have to leave to seek medical treatment elsewhere. Its also possible that an unauthorized visitor could unwittingly bring the virus into the building, he added. Sometimes we just have to accept well never get a clear answer, he said. Regardless of how the virus arrives, once it is detected the procedure at each home has been the same order fresh tests for all residents and staff, isolate residents in their rooms, including for meals, and have staff wear full personal protective equipment. If theres a single person in a retirement home or nursing home whos positive, we take the most assertive steps, Nesathurai said. Infection control measures have been in place for months at Anson Place in Hagersville, where a COVID-19 outbreak has accounted for 27 of the 31 deaths in Haldimand-Norfolk that the health unit has conclusively linked to the virus. As the active caseload at Anson Place continues to trend downward, Nesathurai is confident that the outbreak which has seen at least 72 residents and 30 employees infected is under control. Anson Place overall is turning the corner, and I hope to continue to have positive signals related to their outbreak, he said. The health unit itself has been affected by the disease, with an employee working at the health unit office in Simcoe testing positive. In a media release issued Wednesday evening, the health unit said the affected employee is self-isolating at home, as are their close contacts as they await the results of their tests. The employees workspace and adjacent desks have been deep cleaned, as have the washrooms and eating areas inside the health unit. This is the second COVID-19 case at the health unit, which had an employee quarantine in April after testing positive. Overall there have been 207 lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Haldimand-Norfolk, with 31 deaths and 89 patients officially recovered. The health unit considers the remaining 87 cases unresolved. In total, the health unit has conducted 3,013 tests as of Thursday morning, with 2,806 coming back negative. The health unit and a dozen paramedics from both counties have joined forces to form a swab task force to test vulnerable residents, including homebound seniors, people on waiting lists for long-term care homes who must be tested prior to admission and people with development disabilities living in congregate settings. Were proud to be playing a key role in helping Haldimand and Norfolk stop the spread of COVID-19, specifically amongst those most vulnerable to respiratory illness, said Sarah Page, Norfolks chief of paramedic services. The international development organization Oxfam announced on Wednesday that it will withdraw its operations in 18 countries and lay off nearly a third of its staff due to final pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has made Oxfams work helping the worlds most vulnerable people more vital than ever while, at the same time, it is impacting on our capacity to deliver, Oxfam interim Executive Director Chema Vera said in a statement. Currently, Oxfam operates in 66 countries. Moving forward, the organization plans on maintaining a presence in 48 countries. 1,450 out of 5,000 staff members will be laid off. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on the organizations financial situation, due to the cancellation of fundraising events and the closing of Oxfam charity shops. According to the organizations most recent annual report, fundraising accounted for 40% of Oxfams budget in 2018-2019. Some Oxfam staff have already taken voluntary salary cuts, notably among senior staff members. A sign in the window of an Oxfam charity shop informing of its closure due to reduced staffing on March 17, 2020 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. | Polly ThomasGetty Several country offices will now be shut down including in Thailand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Paraguay, Egypt, Tanzania, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia, and Mauritania. Oxfam has been present in some of these countries for over 50 years. In some cases, the organization sounded the alarm bell regarding human rights violations in the countries where they worked, notably in Rwanda during the genocide. Inevitably, we have had to make some very difficult choices about where we will no longer have a physical presence, Vera said in the statement, adding that moving forward, Oxfam will have a deeper footprint in some countries. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxfam was already undergoing a restructuring and in 2018 began a ten year strategic review following a scandal involving the organization. Oxfam came under fire after it was discovered the organization covered up its investigation into staff paying locals for sex in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Reports by Charity Commission concluded that there were serious problems with the culture, morale and behaviour of Oxfam staff in Haiti after uncovering 7,000 pieces of evidence that showed the charity concealed allegations of child abuse. The scandal led to the resignation of the Oxfam Chief Executive in Great Britain, Mark Goldring as well as its deputy chief executive, Penny Lawrence in 2018. Oxfam took a financial hit in the aftermath of the scandal, after several donors pulled their support. A leaked document found that Oxfam suffered a $19 million cut to its budget as a result of the scandal. The child safeguarding scandal of 2018 with Oxfam UK had already weakened the organizations brand, not least with some major funders, says Stefan Dercon, a Professor of Economic Policy at Oxford and the former Chief Economist at DFID, the UK government department in charge of UKs international development efforts. It started 2020 already weaker than many other organizations. He added, COVID19 accelerated their decline. While Oxfam faced unique pressures before COVID-19, the climate was still challenging for aid organizations before the pandemic hit. Even before the crisis, declining commitment to aid across many countries was putting many of the usual delivery agents of development, including but not only international NGOs, under pressure, Dercon said. PEI releases details of 3 PNP draws Prince Edward Island has invited immigration candidates working in essential services industries Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Prince Edward Island has held three Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) draws since special coronavirus measures were put in place. For these three draws the Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program (PEI PNP) only invited candidates from the Express Entry and Labour Impact categories who were working in an essential service such as healthcare or trucking. Business Impact candidates are normally also included in PEI Expression of Interest (EOI) draws, but they were not a part of the past three draws. As a result, only 29 candidates were issued invitations over the course of the three draws. Typically PEI PNP draws issue over 100 invitations across the three streams. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs On March 23, a total of five candidates were invited to apply for a provincial nomination from PEI. Then on April 27 there were a total of 10 candidates invited. Finally on May 15, there were 14 candidates invited. PEI Express Entry Category The PEI PNPs Express Entry Category is aligned with the Canadian governments Express Entry System, which manages the applications for three economic class immigration categories: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class. Express Entry candidates create profiles that are put into a pool and are given a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score for human capital factors such as age, work experience, education, and official language proficiency. Express Entry candidates who receive a provincial nomination are given an additional 600 points toward their CRS score, and are effectively guaranteed an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from the Government of Canada in a subsequent Express Entry draw. In order to be considered for a provincial nomination from PEI, Express Entry candidates need to create an Expression of Interest (EOI) profile with the PEI PNP. EOI profiles are given points based on the provinces unique points grid. The highest-scoring candidates are then invited to apply through monthly draws. The PEI PNP did not provide a breakdown of how many Express Entry and Labour Impact candidates were invited, nor the minimum EOI score required for each category. Labour Impact Category Candidates in the Labour Impact Category were also invited in the past three draws. This immigration category is for foreign nationals who have a valid job offer in PEI, and have support from their employer. It is divided into three streams: Skilled Worker, Critical Worker, and International Graduate. Candidates in this category must also submit an EOI profile in order to be considered for a provincial nomination through the Labour Impact Category. Business Impact Category No invitations were issued to candidates in the Business Impact: Work Permit Stream. The Work Permit Stream is for entrepreneurs who wish to own and operate a business in PEI. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Before COVID-19 killed thousands of nursing home residents, about 4 in 10 homes inspected were cited for infection control problems, according to a government watchdog report Wednesday that finds a persistent pattern of lapses. In light of the pandemic, seemingly minor cutting of corners such as an employee caring for residents while battling a cold has taken on new significance. Warning signs were ignored and nursing homes were unprepared to face a pandemic, said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on a committee that oversees Medicare and Medicaid. There need to be big changes in the way nursing homes care for seniors. The report from the Government Accountability Office found that state inspectors who help enforce federal nursing home standards classified the overwhelming majority of violations as not severe, generally meaning there was no actual harm to residents. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services carried out enforcement actions for 1% of violations classified as not severe from 2013-2017, the report said. Nursing homes ended up bearing the brunt of the coronavirus outbreak. About 1.4 million people live in some 15,500 facilities in the United States. Most of those people were already at higher risk due to age and medical history, and they also shared dining rooms, recreation areas, bathrooms and sleeping quarters. An ongoing count by The Associated Press has found that outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities have killed more than 30,000 people, more than one-third of all coronavirus deaths in the country. The GAO report found that about 40% of the nursing homes inspected in each of the past two years were cited for problems with infection control and prevention. Looking deeper into federal data for 2013-2017, investigators found a recurring pattern of problems. Data for that five-year period showed that 82% of nursing homes inspected, or 13,299, had at least one deficiency related to infection control and prevention. About half of the facilities had an infection-related deficiency in multiple consecutive years. This is an indicator of persistent problems, the GAO's nonpartisan investigators said. The agency carries out oversight for Congress. The types of problems involved such issues as failing to properly wash hands and not isolating sick residents during outbreaks. Many of these practices can be critical to preventing the spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, investigators wrote. Among the incidents cited in the report: A nursing assistant at a California facility had been sick for at least two days with fever, diarrhea, cough and a runny nose but kept working. Seven employees had not been screened for tuberculosis before they were hired. Workers who hadn't had their flu shots were working without masks. No enforcement action was taken against the facility. A New York nursing home was in the throes of a respiratory infection outbreak that had sickened 38 residents. But it lacked a complete and accurate list of the sick, and it failed to isolate them from those who were symptom-free. Likewise, staff helping the sick patients were not isolate. Residents continued to share the dining hall. The federal CMS took action, requiring the nursing home to retrain staff and submit a plan for corrective action to state inspectors. A nursing assistant at an Arkansas facility was seen helping an incontinent resident after a bowel movement. Then, without removing her soiled gloves, the assistant helped get the patient comfortable in bed, fixed the pillows, and replenished supplies in the bedside drawer. A glucose meter for measuring blood sugar was not properly disinfected before being used on several different residents. No enforcement action was taken against the nursing home. The nursing homes cited in the report were not identified. Seema Verma, head of the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency, said this week that governors should exercise extreme caution before allowing nursing homes to reopen to visitors. Verma has announced that CMS plans to name a commission to examine the nursing home response to coronavirus and make recommendations. The GAO said it plans other reports to independently examine how CMS responded to the outbreak as well as the agency's oversight of infection control in nursing homes. The head of the nursing home trade group, the American Health Care Association, has flagged infection control as a priority for the industry. We are absolutely committed to a renewed emphasis on infection control, Mark Parkinson said in a recent interview. While about 40% of nursing homes nationwide were cited for infection control problems, the GAO found wide differences among states. In 2017, nearly 61% of the inspected facilities in California had a deficiency, while in Rhode Island it was less than 4%. The report also found that nonprofit nursing homes were somewhat less likely to be cited for persistent infection control problems. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for wind for Northern Ireland. Forcasters are warning of travel disruption with the possibility trees could be brought down as well as possible power outages. "Strong southwesterly winds will affect the area on Friday," the Met Office said. "Blustery showers will bring gusty conditions at times, with wind gusts of 50 to 60mph in places. With trees in full leaf, fallen branches and damaged trees may cause some localised travel and power disruption." The warning comes into effect from 10am on Friday lasting until 9pm. Thursday was to get off to a good start with cloud increasing into the evening bringing heavy rain before clearing overnight. Friday will be a mix of bright intervals and blustery showers. Feeling cooler than recent days with strong or gale force southwesterly winds. Maximum temperature 16 C. The weekend will be unsettled with occasional rain or showers and strong southwesterly winds. Mainly dry with sunny spells and lighter winds on Monday. Beijings plan to push through law draws US rebuke and is likely to stoke more unrest in Hong Kong. China will propose a national security law for Hong Kong in response to last years sometimes violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, according to state news agency Xinhua, drawing condemnation from the United States. The Chinese parliament will discuss the controversial new law at its annual session, Xinhua said, in a move likely to stoke further unrest in the semi-autonomous territory. The legislation will be introduced at the meeting of the National Peoples Congress that opens on Friday. Xinhua said a preparatory meeting for a Chinese parliament session adopted an agenda that included an item to review a bill on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security. The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony. The plan has triggered international concern, with Hong Kong supposed to enjoy rights and freedoms under the one country, two systems framework agreed when the territory was returned to China, until 2047. In a swift rebuke, US President Donald Trump, who has ramped up criticism of China as he seeks re-election in November, said Washington would react very strongly against any attempt by Beijing to tighten its control over Hong Kong. A high degree of autonomy and respect for human rights were key to preserving the territorys special status, US Department of State spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilizing, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community, Ortagus said in emailed comments. On Friday, Taiwans government urged China not to lead Hong Kong into bigger turmoil with the proposed new national security legislation. Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that Chinas Communist Party had wrongly blamed external influences and Hong Kong independence separatists for the instability in the territory Taking control Protests began in Hong Kong almost a year ago over a now withdrawn extradition bill that would have allowed suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. As the weeks wore on the protests evolved into a broader call for democracy, and scuffles with police became increasingly violent culminating in a days-long siege at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November. Reporting from Beijing, Al Jazeeras Katrina Yu said the legislation signifies Beijing taking into their own hands the political situation in the territory. What will happen, as we understand it, [Chinas parliament] will make an amendment to the basic law, which is Hong Kongs mini-constitution, using a legal back door which essentially allows it to bypass the usual legislative processes in Hong Kong, Yu said. This is because, as Beijing sees it, theres simply too much opposition from pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong, so theyre going to have to put this in themselves and make this very strong imposition of their power, she added. Hong Kong was governed as a British colony until 1997. One country two systems was designed to ensure the territory maintained some autonomy, including an independent judiciary and more civil liberties than on the mainland. Suspect timing Emily Lau, a leading member of Hong Kongs Democratic Party, told Al Jazeera that residents of Hong Kong were very concerned, very alarmed, and very disturbed over fears the new legislation will take away our freedoms, will take away our personal safety and the rule of law. Now it seems like [Beijing] is breaking up all the promises and they want to legislate for us, she said. Meanwhile, Maya Wang, a senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, described the move as the end of Hong Kong, tweeting that the development was alarming not only for its people but also for the world. #HongKong has been the safe harbour for dissent; its the light, the conscience, the voice that speaks truth to an increasingly powerful China, she wrote. The end of #HongKong is alarming not only for its people but also for the world. Today's Hong Kong, tomorrow's the world: #HongKong has been the safe habour for dissent; it's the light, the conscience, the voice that speaks truth to an increasingly powerful China. Maya Wang (@wang_maya) May 21, 2020 Reporting from Hong Kong, Al Jazeeras Adrian Brown said Chinas parliament appeared to be seizing on coronavirus pandemic restrictions in the territory, where gatherings of more than eight people are banned. Of course the timing of this is very significant. It may well be that a decision was taken by the leadership in Beijing to push through this legislation now because of course its difficult for people to protest in Hong Kong, he said. While protests have been smaller since the outbreak began, they have persisted throughout the pandemic. On Monday, 15 veteran pro-democracy activists appeared in a Hong Kong court at the start of their trial on charges of organising and taking part in last years rallies. The arrests sparked criticism from the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United Nations human rights body, the latter saying non-violent activists should not be prosecuted for attending unsanctioned demonstrations. The proposed legislation could prove a turning point for Chinas freest and most international city, with the move likely to spark further unrest. Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby. BAY CITY, MI - With heavy flooding happening in neighboring Midland County and causing the Edenville Dam to fail and the Sanford Dam to breach, downstream communities like those Bay County are waiting for potential impacts. Bay County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Manz said the county will most likely not see catastrophic flooding. They are predicting right now that we will not the see the same level that we saw with the 86 flood, well be well below that," Manz said Wednesday, May 20. Manz said that this situation is starting to compare to recent flooding events such as flooding during the 2019 fireworks festival and a fall storm later that year that flooded areas along the Saginaw River like the Middlegrounds. So we know that Veterans Park is going to flood out, marinas are going to be impacted. The Middlegrounds, they really need to keep an eye on stuff right there," he said. As for the exact impact to the Saginaw River levels, Manz isnt quite sure yet but the information coming out of Saginaw County will be key as the situation develops. Fortunately, were going to see a kind of a peak in Saginaw during the day on Friday, so its going to give us a better indicator just how its going to get when it comes down towards us leading into Saturday," he said. The relaxed predictions, which pale in comparison to the situation in Midland, come partly due the geographical nature and features of the area before Bay County in the Saginaw River watershed. We just took a look at the floodways down by River Road and those are all pretty open right now, they can take a lot of water, he said. Bay County also has an extra layer of flood protection thanks to its neighbors to the south in Saginaw County. The 10,000-acre Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge serves as a flood mitigation tool, with numerous marshes and ponds to help deal with local flooding as part of the Saginaw Valley Flood Control Project. The hope is that the refuges ability to take on floodwater will help reduce effects downstream. Meanwhile, Manz said that what Bay County is set to experience is whats called a secondary event. Simply put, Manz said that a regular storm event like the flood of 86, where he said that the area saw 30 of rain over three days plus a persistent northeast wind, will raise the ditches, drains and the river, with everything trying to make it all into the Saginaw Bay together. Well, what we had is we had the rain event, the ditches and the drains all filled up and everything started to move towards the river and those are dropping now, he said. "The drains and the ditches are dropping steadily as they discharge. As for impacts, Manz is not expecting to see severe flooding or sewage backups. Were not going to be seeing the impacts on the drains and the ditches. We shouldnt have the overflow of sewage in homes and their basements, that occurs because of the rainstorms when storm sewers get overwhelmed, he said. "With this water coming there is no rainwater, theres no rain falling. Its not going to impact us the same way. While next weeks forecast may be a bit unnerving, with rain being called for consistently throughout the week, Manz said that Saginaw River levels should drop by next weeks rain with the way that the timing of the secondary event is expected to pan out. The peak of this water coming from the Tittabawassee is going to hit us Friday afternoon into Saturday, maybe a little bit into Sunday morning, but everything should return to status quo by about Tuesday or Wednesday. Staying prepared Even though predictions are not as dire as they could be, residents should not let their guard down. Anyone that lives on the Saginaw River right now, anyone between Saginaw and Bay City, really needs to be keeping an eye on that river and have a plan of where theyre going to go if they have to go," said Manz. Since the surge of water from Midland is expected to impact the Saginaw River later this week, residents along the river have been graced with some time to prepare. Bangor Township Supervisor Glenn Rowley suggested that residents use the time to take care of important activities such as moving personal items off of basement floors, getting sandbags ready and checking out their insurance policies. Rowley expects Bangor Township to see impacts primarily along the Saginaw River, with no direct impacts to the Kawkawlin River in the township. They want to make sure that their flood insurance policy is in place, if they have one. They want to call their regular homeowners insurance agent and make sure that their policy is up to date," said Rowley. He added, "At the time of loss is the worst time for people to figure out how their insurance policies work. Essexville City Manager Dan Hansford said that he is also telling residents to move their basement contents to high ground and that he is expecting to see flooding along the Saginaw River and the drainage canal between Essexville and Hampton Township. I suggest you take precautionary measures now, he said. If you live within the flood plain of the Saginaw River be prepared for flooding of low areas and basements. Move your items to higher areas in your homes. Local government officials also are strongly suggesting that residents should sign up for BAY Alerts, which is the countys free digital alert system. Evacuations orders and additional flood updates will be sent out via the system, if they are needed. Manz said, "Im not anticipating issuing any evacuation orders but we are prepared to if we need to. Bharat Forge Ltd is quoting at Rs 293.55, up 4.13% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 36.93% in last one year as compared to a 22.23% drop in NIFTY and a 30.26% drop in the Nifty Auto index. Bharat Forge Ltd is up for a third straight session in a row. The stock is quoting at Rs 293.55, up 4.13% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.69% on the day, quoting at 9128.85. The Sensex is at 31047.12, up 0.74%. Bharat Forge Ltd has risen around 14.49% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Bharat Forge Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 5.97% in last one month and is currently quoting at 5603.8, up 2.63% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 24.53 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 36.52 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 293.4, up 3.84% on the day. Bharat Forge Ltd is down 36.93% in last one year as compared to a 22.23% drop in NIFTY and a 30.26% drop in the Nifty Auto index. The PE of the stock is 15.5 based on TTM earnings ending December 19. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Defendants listen to the verdict on May 21 (Photo: VNA) Thirteen out of the 15 defendants were charged with abuse of power while performing their official duties to inflate the exam scores of students. Nguyen Quang Vinh, 54, former head of the Testing and Quality Assurance Unit under the provincial Department of Education and Training was given eight years in jail for abuse of power while performing official duties". Khuong Ngoc Chat, 39, former head of the Internal Political Security Division under the provincial Department of Public Security; Diep Thi Hong Lien, former vice head of the Testing and Quality Assurance Unit; and Nguyen Khac Tuan, an official of the unit were sentenced to six, three and five years in jail, respectively, for the same charge. Do Manh Tuan, 41, former vice principle of Lac Thuy District Secondary and High School was given seven years in jail for receiving bribes and three years for abuse of power. Ho Chuc, 45, former teacher of Thanh Ha High School in Lac Thuy district was sentenced to 30 months in prison for giving bribes. Other defendants who are former education officials and teachers in the province were given 15 to 30 months either in jail or suspended for abuse of power while performing their official duties. According to the indictment, the defendants have taken advantage of their positions and made use of their relationships to collude and intervene to raise the marks of candidates in the national high school exam in 2017 and 2018. The intervention raised marks for 65 candidates who sat for the national exam in 2018 and one candidate who sat for the national exam in 2017. Of the candidates benefiting from the scheme, 45 were forced to quit school after their exams were re-marked objectively, ten others could continue their university courses as their remarked scores were eligible for university admission. Six other candidates did not attend university courses even though their re-marked scores met universities requirements, one candidate failed to get university admission while another candidate did not apply for any university or college. Oman has made key amendments in some provisions of the values, prices and fees collected by the Ministry of Housing and also the fees for services provided through the real estate development electronic system, said a report. As per the ministerial decisions made by Shaikh Saif bin Mohammed al Shabibi, Minister of Housing, the fee for obtaining a three-year valid licence required for practicing real estate development activity has been set at RO750 ($1,950) while the fee for initiating a real estate development project will be 0.1 per cent of the total projects value, reported Oman Observer. Investors seeking to display properties for a period of three months inside the sultanate will be required to pay RO500 in fees. These include kiosks, exhibitions, conferences, brokerage offices, marketing companies, it stated. The fees for the promotion of international properties will cost RO10,000 while advertising and promotion of local properties require payment of RO200, it added. China on Thursday said it will not accept any "unwarranted lawsuit" or demand for compensation from the US over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and warned countermeasures if America passes any legislation or legal cases blaming Beijing for the deadly virus. Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for China's Parliament - the National People's Congress - in his media briefing ahead of Friday's annual session also sought to deflect allegations that the virus emerged in Wuhan, saying that the recent reports indicated coronavirus occurred earlier in different parts of the world. Replying to questions about the lawsuit filed in the US to demand compensation as well as attempts by US politicians to bring a legislation blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic, Zhang said the accusation are completely baseless and run counter to the international law and basic norms governing intentional relations. "We will strongly oppose them and we will watch how the bills proceed and firmly respond with counter measures accordingly," he said. "Trying to blame others in order to deflect attention from one's own problems is not a responsible thing to do. It is not moral either. For China, we will not accept unwarranted lawsuit or demand for compensation, he said. Zhang said that since the start of the COVID-19, China effectively put the disease under control after an extremely hard battle and enormous sacrifices. He also reiterated that China has acted with transparency and shared the necessary information like genome sequence with the World Health Organisation and a number of countries in a timely manner. "These are facts and facts are facts. We will not accept any smear or attack whatsoever, he said. In the backdrop of the World Health Association in Geneva passing a resolution to probe the origin of the virus after the pandemic subsided, Zhang said the recent reports indicated that COVID-19 occurred in the different parts of the world and early cases have been identified which kept shifting the timeline of the disease forward. "I am sure in time things will get more and more clear. As to the origin of the virus, this is a serious scientific issue and should be left to scientists and medical experts to look into it and come up with science based conclusions supported by facts and evidence, he said. Zhang also dismissed US President Donald Trump's threat to move the global supply chains away from China post-COVID-19 saying that it cannot be done by a single country. Global supply chain depends on the behaviour and choices of businesses across the world. "As such it cannot be changed by any single country." He said it is true that coronavirus has affected foreign business operating in China. But there is no flight of foreign capital. China is still an attractive destination for foreign investment. Foreign investors remain optimistic about China...," he said. About the secrecy over China's defence budget, Zhang denied China has any "hidden military spending." China has been submitting reports on its military expenditures to the United Nations every year since 2007, he said. "From where the money comes from to how the money is used, everything is accounted for," Zhang said. China's defence expenditure last year amounted to over USD 177.61 billion next only to the US. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The federal government on Thursday in Abuja set up a committee to consider the eventual reopening of the nations economy. This was part of the decisions taken by the National Economic Council on Thursday. This was disclosed by the governor of Jigawa State, Mohammed Badaru, after the NEC meeting. Mr. Badaru said the lack of synergy between the government taskforce on COVID-19 and state governors had been resolved by President Muhammadu Buhari at the last meeting. The president was clear that the Governors Forum and the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 should meet and agree on steps to be taken, and it has been discussed today. Sometimes you will see a different approach by different states, that doesnt mean that there is a loggerhead between the states and the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19. Some peculiar situations require some peculiar solutions and that is why at times you see such and that will always be discussed with the Presidential Task Force so that we will always be on the same page, he said. In collaborating with the PTF, he said the committee is looking at the guidelines and they have agreed with the PTF on all that is being done by the committee to make sure they are on course. State salaries Mr Badaru said even with the bailout fund deductions being suspended by the federal government, it is unclear if states will be able to pay salaries or not in coming days. READ ALSO: I think most of the states are paying salaries already. But we have not seen the worst yet, I may not be able to answer this question correctly until we see what comes up in the next part, that is when we expect the worst-case scenario on the fallen oil prices, he said. And at that time we will do the calculation and all the scenarios will come up and that will determine whether we will be able to pay salaries or not. On vaccinations, he said most of the states still continue with the normal routine vaccinations, and also follow-rounds of vaccinations are still going on in most of the states. On May 22, the National People's Congress opens in Beijing. For the first time since the Cultural Revolution (which ended in 1976) the yearly session of China's de-facto parliament was postponed, a measure taken as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This years' session will focus on the pandemic, the economy, and a new civil code. With some 3,000 delegates, the NPC is far too big to be a deliberative assembly, it is representing policy that's already been discussed and decided on by China's Communist Party (CCP,) says Michael Dillon , an author on China's modern history. The most important topic is likely to be the COVID-19 pandemic and the way China dealt with it, as well as prospects for economic growth severely hampered by the virus. This is an occasion when the Chinese leadership will underline how much China has managed to cope with COVID-19, adds Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS , better than the western democracies. And this all could happen because of the leadership of the CCP and, above all, of Xi Jinping. The agenda may also include the drafting of a new civil code which could function as the basis for a modern civil law. Legal professionals have been calling for this for some time, according to Dillon. Economic stimulus Even before the COVID-19 crisis, China's economy wasn't performing as well as in the preceding years. The pandemic caused thousands of bankruptcies among private entrepreneurs and slowed down economic growth even further. China is in a position to invest in small businesses, and to give backup to businesses that are in trouble, but Dillon thinks measures may vary depending of the severity with which individual provinces were hit. Clearly Hubei Province was hit hardest, with a lockdown for a long time, he says. And it is the migrant workers who will face most of the problems, according to Tsang. A lot of them will be heading back to the countryside as they lose jobs in the cities, but at the same time this plays into the hands of the Jinping government, as it will diminish the pressure on the urban population. Overall, he Chinese economy shrank 6.8 percent year-on-year in the three months of 2020, after an already disappointing six percent growth in the last three months of 2019. It is the first time China reported a GDP contraction since records began in 1992. But for April, while imports where down by 10,1 percent, export figures started to improve with China's Customs Administration reporting a 6.8% growth. These figures are proving that the economic fightback is proving more successful than they had hoped, according to Dillon. Tightening the Belt & Road One of the biggest casualties of Covid may be Xi Jinping's pet project, the massive infrastructural Belt and Road initiative (BRI) that spans five continents. Many state-owned companies in Chinese provinces represented at the NPC are involved in this strategy. The Belt and Road involves Chinese contact with all of the East Asian countries, [but] China may not have the power in its sovereign wealth fund to put as much money in it as before, says Dillon. Moreover, Asian countries which China involved in the BRI are going to be wary about China, until people can be quite sure there wont be another wave of infections, he says. The BRI was perhaps Xi Jinping's signature policy, the one that he wants to be remembered for, says Dillon, but it was already facing many doubts and problems. A lot of contracts that had been signed with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia had to be re-negotiated because the amount of debts that these countries were going to be in were unsustainable. The COVID-19 situation is an opportunity for indebted countries to re-negotiate their BRI contracts, he says. The BRI is a very expensive project, adds Tsang, ...there were plenty of people within the Chinese establishment who are skeptical. "And with COVID-19 and the shortage of funding, and the risk of other coutries unable to pay back the loans, the Chinese government is likely to slow down more significantly that before COVID-19 hit. Export masks to save face After China's COVID-19 cases peaked, Beijing changed tac and turned from pandemic victim into savior of the world, exporting billions of face masks , ventilators (partly explaining the increase in monthly exports,) and sending medical teams to countries which were hit hardest. It's been an effective policy to a certain extent, argues Dillon. It looked very good for China's image, particularly in African countries and poorer Asian countries where China hopes to have long-term influence. The fact that China can afford to bring this equipment abroad gives a signal that it successfully conquered the pandemic in its own territory, regardless if that is really the case, so it is good for its image, he says. Rana Daggubati revealed on social media through a post that he proposed to girlfriend Miheeka Bajaj and the latter said yes for marriage. The picture posted by Rana broke the internet in no time and buzz around the wedding started building up. Now, pictures from a special ceremony have floated online. Though many reports claim that the duo got engaged, its not true. A special Telugu tradition where the groom-to-bes parents meet the bride-to-bes parents to sit and discuss pre-marriage and post-marriage functions was done with full vigour. The Roka ceremony had both the families meeting each other and giving their blessing to the couple at the same time deciding the plan of action now. Talking about the ceremony, Ranas father Suresh Babu said, Its not an engagement. Our families sat together on Wednesday to discuss what all has to be done for the pre and post-wedding functions. Its a ritual among the Telugus to meet the brides parents before fixing the engagement and wedding dates. We are happy to take these alliance talks forward. Well, we congratulate the adorable couple! Ferne McCann was trying her best to capture the perfect shot with daughter Sunday for Instagram on Thursday but her daughter had other ideas. Reality star Ferne, 29, slipped into a coral coloured bikini and fashioned a patterned silk scarf around her head as she scooped her daughter up for a cuddle. But little Sunday, two, didn't seem to be in the mood. Lol: Ferne McCann posed in a bikini with daughter Sunday on Instagram on Thursday as she said: 'When you're aiming for a edgy shot but your main chick isnt feeling it... at ALL' Ferne held her in one arm and carried a giant flower in the other to get the phot. but Sunday did not seem interested. She then lifted her daughter up in the air and gave her a big kiss and the two pictures ended up being just as lovely in their own way. Seeing the funny side, Ferne wrote: 'When you're aiming for a cool, edgy shot but your main chick isnt feeling it.....AT ALL.' Ferne confirmed her split from boyfriend Albie, 25, earlier this month. Love is all you need: She then lifted her daughter up in the air and gave her a big kiss She confirmed she was single again on her hit ITVBe reality series First Time Mum as she tried to make their long-distance relationship work. He has moved to New York for the year and she lives in Essex with daughter Sunday, two. After the split, the reality star penned a lengthy caption insisting she'd learned to embrace her figure and felt the fittest she's ever been. She wrote: 'There is only 1 YOU & that is your power. 'I've realised recently that as I'm approaching 30 I feel so much better than I did at 20. Split: Ferne revealed earlier this month that she had split from Albie Gibbs, 25, following a short-lived romance 'So much of the last decade was worrying about how I looked, but mainly how other people thought I looked. It was a lot about surface. 'Recent years I have learnt to nurture my body to be at my healthiest & happiest. It's important to feel comfortable in your own skin. Believe me this hasn't always been easy & is an ongoing battle.' Ferne then continued: 'I've learnt to drop the quest for (the non existent) perfection & acceptance of others ''What Instagram would find attractive.'' Or - ''What guy I was messaging would find sexy.'' 'The more I've taken care of myself & the healthier I've become the more confident I've grown & found self love. Most of all, I've learnt to love my body. 'I spent so many years wishing I was more this or that. I guess lockdown has strengthened this. 'But now I fully appreciate my body & health it's so much more than being a dress size! I feel the fittest I've ever been. 'I have energy, I feel strong and healthy. I'm choosing to stop picking holes in my appearance and celebrate my vitality & my health. Im grateful for every lump, bump, nipple and hair.' The agreement was not intended to be used by one party to collect military-relevant intelligence on the other parties, like the means to target critical infrastructure. We now know this is how Russia abuses it. When the treaty was ratified, who could have predicted the trajectory of Russian foreign policy over the next 18 years? From its invasions and annexation of sovereign territory and use of chemical weapons in Britain to the attempted hack of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons by an intelligence arm and its invasion of Syria, its telling that Russias military adventures werent seen coming by Open Skies Treaty overflights. Russia even ended the Nunn-Lugar program in 2012, which meant the end of American boots on the ground in Russias nuclear weapons establishment. For 30 years this program offered real security by preventing the loss of nuclear material to criminals and terrorists. Ending it proved that President Vladimir Putin wasnt interested in transparency and mutual security. And Russia has never truly honored its commitments under the Treaty on Open Skies (or, frankly, under most other arms control agreements). Since 2005, an annual State Department report has shown that Russia hasnt been meeting its obligations. Its noncompliance continued into 2017, when the United States finally determined its noncompliance constituted a violation of its treaty obligations. That allowed America to impose countermeasures to raise the cost to Russia of continued noncompliance. Yet Russias violations persist. American senior military and intelligence officials have consistently warned about the threat Russias misuse of Open Skies poses to American security. For example, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency warned Congress that Russia had been using the treaty to get incredible foundational intelligence on critical infrastructure, bases, ports, all of our facilities, adding that it gives them a significant advantage. And the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command warned that the treaty has become a critical component of Russias intelligence collection capability directed at the United States. Actionable military intelligence collection was never an intended purpose of the treaty; confidence-building and transparency was its goal. LOS ANGELES, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- WHEN: May 25, 2020 - 11:00 a.m. Memorial Day & End of Ramadan. WHERE: At M.T.O. centers in 35 cities and eleven countries, including Los Angeles (18011 Sherman Way, Reseda, CA 91335) WHO/WHAT: The M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism (Los Angeles Center) will be joined by 34 other M.T.O. Centers across the globe as they mark the end of Ramadan by delivering thousands of food items and care packages to homeless and veterans in need, VA hospitals and low-income frontline families. As part of M.T.O.'s global COVID19 Initiatives, all M.T.O. centers around the world will be conducting similar food drives on the same day, in Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and throughout 14 U.S. states. Additionally, at 10:00 a.m. (PST), a special Instagram Live Tamarkoz (Sufi Meditation) session will be broadcast from the M.T.O. Los Angeles center. This session will provide specific meditation and relaxation techniques to provide stress management and assist in reducing anxiety during this historical time. M.T.O. Tamarkoz Association offers ongoing free Instagram Live meditation and relaxation programs in response to the COVID-19 crisis. These programs are offered daily in English, Spanish, Hebrew, French, German, Farsi, Arabic, Urdu and Italian. WHY: M.T.O. will mark the end of Ramadan - observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community - by showing appreciation to the heroes who have sacrificed to protect us every day. "We traditionally mark the end of Ramadan by celebrating Eid Fitr, also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast". In light of recent events, M.T.O. centers worldwide have chosen this day to provide hope, food and stress relief to those in need, whether related to the current pandemic or other tribulations." Sara Bavar, L.A. M.T.O. "While we may not be able to celebrate Eid Fitr with our families and loved ones this year, we cannot think of a better way to commemorate this wonderful occasion than continuing our global efforts in support of our local communities." - Ghoncheh Alavi, London M.T.O. ABOUT: M.T.O. Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism is an international non-profit organization that spans five continents. The teachings of the school bring the message of knowledge, love, peace, tranquility and strength. SOURCE MTO School of Sufism Related Links http://mto.org/ LIVE UPDATES: A timeline of coronavirus in San Antonio FAQ: Express-News readers top questions about coronavirus in San Antonio answered CALENDAR: Key dates to watch as the city and state reopen, including schools, pro sports and more How are we tracking in San Antonio? Bexar County passed 2,000 cases of COVID-19 on May 14, and the local death toll remains below 100. According to the Mayor, the availability of staffed hospital beds and ventilators in San Antonio remains high. I believe because weve done so well here, better than any other metropolitan area, were going to be able to handle it, Wolff said. New coronavirus case counts were highest on May 1-2. On those days, local officials saw more than 100 new cases before things slowed. Nirenberg attributes recent increases to universal testing at nursing homes and the Bexar County Adult Detention Facility. The city and county recently launched a new website where residents can access daily case surveillance. What's open and what's not? Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the next phase of the state's reopening plan on May 18, giving business the go-ahead to soon welcome customers. The guidelines require businesses to enforce social distancing, limit contact and increase sanitization procedures. Gyms, child-care facilities, personal care businesses and employers in offices can open now with some restrictions. On May 22, bars, bowling alleys, bingo halls, skating rinks, rodeos, other equestrian events, aquariums, natural caverns and other recreational establishments can open with some restrictions. May 29, May 31 and June 1 bring another slew of openings. Here's is a detailed timeline, including the mandates. Add these dates to your personal Google calendar here. What about the difference between city and state rules? Gov. Greg Abbotts Open Texas plan supersedes any orders issues by the city or county. To that end, the city and countys most recent declarations of public health emergency, both issued on May 19, largely mirror the governors own order. For example, the new orders strongly encourage residents to wear masks, rather than making it mandatory as previous orders have done a capitulation to Abbotts own refusal to require Texans wear face masks. And like the governors order, the city and county will continue to prohibit arcades, amusement parks and water parks from operating. How has treatment evolved? While researchers are working furiously to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, it will be at least a year until one is available, if not longer. In the meantime, doctors are testing drugs to treat some of the sickest patients, and they are experimenting with different approaches to treating the sometimes fatal disease. At the beginning of May, federal regulators granted emergency approval for the use of remdesivir , an experimental antiviral drug that shortened recovery times in preliminary studies. The approval allows the drug to be used to treat more coronavirus patients as the clinical trial measuring its efficacy remains ongoing. At University Hospital, one of the study sites, some coronavirus patients are being treated with remdesivir alone or in combination with an anti-inflammatory drug. Other hospitals in the area are working to obtain the limited medication. Doctors have largely moved away from the use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that caused heart problems in some patients. Over the past several weeks, the supply of convalescent plasma from donors who have recovered from COVID-19 has grown. The plasma is being administered to some of the sickest COVID-19 patients, in the hopes that it can arm them with disease-fighting antibodies against the virus. While results on its effectiveness are still pending from a national study, convalescent plasma has long been used to treat other viruses without a cure, and early data indicates that the treatment is at least as safe as typical plasma transfusions. While much remains unknown about this coronavirus, physicians have learned more about works for these patients. At the beginning of the pandemic, doctors were quick to place patients on mechanical ventilators. Now, they are trying to hold off on intubating as long as they can, due to high death rates among ventilated COVID-19 patients. When possible, they are giving high-flow oxygen to patients who are struggling to breathe. Some patients who continue to deteriorate are also being proned flipped onto their stomachs to relieve pressure on their sickened lungs. As a last-ditch effort , a small number of patients who haven't improved with the support of ventilators have been treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a type of life support that can support the function of the heart and lungs. Doctors are now also giving blood thinners to COVID-19 patients are they began developing dangerous blood clots. How can I get tested? The City of San Antonio recently announced four new locations and dates for free, walk-up COVID-19 testing. Between May 21 and May 30, each site will have the capacity to test the first 175 people that arrive every day. The walk-up sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. The locations of all the new walk-up sites are listed here. What is the plan for schools in the fall? Texas schools got the green light to open classrooms for in-person summer classes starting June 1, but San Antonios larger school districts said they were still planning to do so in July. For August, officials are discussing ways to offer a sort of kickoff to the school year providing electives, for example, that re-acclimate students to school and give kids and families an opportunity to test how they feel about reentering the buildings Here is a more detailed roundup of what major San Antonio area school districts having in the works. What about Fiesta and other big events? In early March, Fiesta San Antonio was postponed from April to November. That plan still stands, however Nirenberg remains flexible. "I'm confident that we will again," Nirenberg said of celebrating Fiesta. "I'm not confident that or I'm not certain of any timeline with this disease, to be frank. We hope that it will be in November." A slew of the high profile events have been canceled, including Poteet Strawberry Festival and the Selena tribute concert. Here is a list of popular events that have been canceled. Check back as we continue to update this page with need-to-know information. Haryana Congress leader Pankaj Punia was arrested from Karnal for allegedly "hurting religious feelings" through a social media post and was remanded in police custody for a day, an official said on Thursday. A former secretary of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, Punia was arrested late Wednesday night on a complaint by a Karnal resident to Madhuban police station. In the compliant, he was accused of hurting "religious feelings" and promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion through his tweet, the official said. "Pankaj Punia was arrested from Madhuban area," Madhuban police station SHO Tarsem Chand said. He was on Thursday produced before a Karnal, which sent him to one-day police custody, he added. A similar complaint against Punia, also an AICC member, was registered on Wednesday at Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh for his alleged objectionable tweet. Chand said the Madhuban police station has booked Punia on charges committing various penal offences related to promoting enmity between different groups (S 153 A IPC), outraging religious feelings (S 295 A), committing public mischief (S 505-2), and Section 67 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008. In his complaint, the complainant has alleged that "one person namely PankajPunia@INC has posted provocative falsehood to promote enmity between sections of society on ground of religion and his acts are prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony". On Tuesday, Punia in his tweet, now removed, had targeted the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, referring to the alleged politics over plying of buses by the Congress for ferrying migrants. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as India and China continue holding talks along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to resolve the ongoing stand-off in Galwan Nala area in Daulat Beg Oldie, it has emerged that the Chinese helicopters have been coming close to the Indian patrolling point for the last few years now and they have also prepared road infrastructure right up to the border in their area. Meetings have been taking place between the officials of the 81 Brigade in the Daulat Beg Oldie sector and their Chinese counterparts even as both sides have increased their troop presence in the area, sources ... The document places an ultimate ban on returning the nationalized banks to their previous owners President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law No 590-IX, which offers changes to legislative acts concerning the mechanism of regulation of banking activity in Ukraine. The press department of the President's Office reported that on Thursday. The bill offers a final, definitive ban on returning the nationalized banks to their previous owners. The banks that went bankrupt will not be able to go back to market, if their owners turned to the court and saw to it that the National Bank's decree on these banks' bankruptcy was canceled. Besides, there is now an opportunity for ex-bank owners; they will be able to get a compensation as long as the elimination or nationaization of these banks was considered illegal. Specifically, the amount of the compensation of the lost profit will be equal to the profit that the owner could get, but the National Bank's decision deprived him of that option. The owners get compensations only in money. At that, even if the decision to withdraw the bank from the market was recognized illegal, it still can't be the reason to cancel this decision. The Ukrainian Parliament passed the law on May 13. E asyjet has warned customers to be on alert for phishing emails after nine million had their email addresses and travel details exposed in a cyber attack. Hackers are believed to have accessed details of bookings made between mid-October 2019 and early March 2020 , as well as credit card details of 2,000 customers. The carrier said it became aware of the breach in January and took immediate steps. It apologised and said all those affected will be contacted in coming days. It added it had no evidence that personal data had been misused. The head of Burundi's election commission appealed for patience on Thursday as ballots were collected and tallied following a tense poll to decide who will replace long-serving leader Pierre Nkurunziza. Burundians voted Wednesday to elect their president, lawmakers and local officials in a poll marked by allegations of fraud and conducted with scant attention paid to the coronavirus pandemic. The last election in 2015 descended into violence that left 1,200 dead. Nkurunziza won a disputed third term, but did not contest this race after 15 often turbulent years in power. More than five million voters were asked to choose between Nkurunziza's hand-picked heir, 52-year-old general Evariste Ndayishimiye, the main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, and five other candidates. The chairman of Burundi's National Independent Electoral Commission urged those "getting impatient" to be calm, saying the process of counting all the votes would take several days, and results would be announced Monday or Tuesday. The results from more than 3,800 polling stations across Burundi had been counted and the ballot boxes were being transported to local election commission centres for collection and tallying. "This will take time," said commission chairman Pierre-Claver Kazihise, adding they would announce the results of the presidential, parliamentary and local election at the same time. He warned against reading into results being posted online. "The intermediate figures from polling stations do not show anything. It is the official results declared after the count at the commune level that must be communicated to the people," he said. On Thursday, popular social media platforms in Burundi remained down, after being offline since election day except to those using virtual private networks. Burundi has not imposed any movement restrictions on its 11 million people in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, and voters waited in long lines to cast their ballot with no social distancing observed. The election was generally calm but Rwasa's National Council for Liberty (CNL) said several of its officials were arrested and harassed, and alleged fraud. CNL spokesman Therence Manirambona told AFP that there had been incidents of proxy voting, people voting multiple times and the voting cards of absent voters being redistributed to ruling party electors. He also denounced "the expulsion of our agents in polling stations during the vote and counting and the arbitrary arrests of more than 200 agents and supporters of the CNL on false charges". Pierre Nkurikiye, the spokesman for Burundi's public security ministry, in turn accused members of the CNL of attempted fraud, confirming some of their members were arrested for minor incidents. Algerian news agency APS has run an article highlighting the former leaders patriotism and cited a list of the most 100 outstanding people of the 20th century by the USs The Times in December 1999, on which the Vietnamese President was named in the top 20. Apart from colonised nations, he also focused on disadvantaged groups around the world, the article said, adding that the President highly valued intellectuals and had a dedicated network from different political trends both at home and abroad. Elmoudjahid newspaper also published an article on the occasion, saying he was the founder of the Vietnamese revolution and a symbol of the anti-colonialism movement. The President used his talents, culture and thoughts to serve the struggles of oppressed nations worldwide, it said. In an article published in Tribune-diplomatique-internationale newspaper, author Larab said President Ho Chi Minh fought against the colonialists and illiteracy and for human rights. All Algerians remember the President and other Vietnamese heroes like General Vo Nguyen Giap and Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh. Algerie360 site also ran an article saying President Ho Chi Minh passed down a moral and political sense of responsibility to the Vietnamese people and humankind. He attached importance to solidarity, equality, friendship, mutual understanding, cooperation and fraternity among nations, it said. President Ho Chi Minhs thoughts were built on a firm foundation of revolutionary ethics, Professor and Dr Vladimir Kolotov, head of the Ho Chi Minh Institute at the Saint Petersburg State University, told Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Russia on the occasion of the late Presidents 130th birthday. One of the leading Russian scholars in Vietnamese studies, Kolotov stressed that the Presidents ethical values were solid based on the combination of both Western and Eastern philosophy. President Ho always emphasised the just role of the Vietnamese people in the struggle for national liberation and reunification, he stated. He highlighted the role and significance of morality and justice amid an unstable world, stressing the need to popularise President Hos thoughts, as the more the world relies on ethics, the better it will become. President Ho Chi Minh, he went on, not only played an important role in Vietnams liberation and reunification but was also a renowned revolutionary who wrote books on revolutionary theory and practices in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Kolotov also affirmed that President Ho always left a good impression on those he met. Several Indian scholars also shared their opinions on President Ho. Professor Jayachandra Reddy, head of the Centre for Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies at the Sri Venkateswara University and co-editor of the book Ho Chi Minh with India, affirmed that the whole world recognises that Ho Chi Minh is a legendary Vietnamese leader. He admires President Ho, he explained, because of his leadership and unyielding fighting spirit for national liberation. Sharing the same opinion, General Secretary of the India-Vietnam Solidarity Committee of West Bengal state Prava Samantaray said she is impressed by President Hos characters and lifestyle and has taken part in many seminars, programmes, and lectures on the late Vietnamese leader. A documentary on President Ho Chi Minh was aired on May 18 on Venezolana de Television (VTV), the state-run television station in Venezuela, to commemorate his 130th birthday (May 19). Ho Chi Minh Chan dung mot con nguoi (Ho Chi Minh: a Portray of a Man) by Vietnamese director Bui Dinh Hac was broadcast as part of the Latin American countrys activities to introduce the life and revolutionary career of the Vietnamese leader and national hero to its people. The documentary tells stories about Vietnams struggle for national independence and portrays President Ho Chi Minh as a simple and devoted man who had great love for his nation and fought for its independence and freedom to the last breath. Radio station Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV) has also aired a special show, featuring journalist Angel Miguel Bastidas who used to work in Vietnam for years, to talk about the late President and Vietnams revolutions in the past and national reconstruction and development today. As in 1918, New York may use staggered work hours to keep subway safe As New York City makes plans to reopen in the coming months, officials are dusting off the playbook from the 1918 flu pandemic, when businesses were ordered to begin their work days at staggered times to prevent the subway from becoming a vector of disease. The idea, then and now, is to spread riders through the day to avoid the kind of crowding health experts fear could turn the subway into a breeding ground for the novel coronavirus which has killed over 20,000 people in the city. Goodbye Open Plan Office? Hello 6-Feet Social Distancing Workspace? What offices might look look post-crisis. Back to Work: How Businesses Are Trying to Make Workers Feel Safe What some employers are doing to make workplaces safer. Nationwides Left the Building. Insurer Makes Remote Work Permanent in 5 States. Not everyone is going back to an office. Talks over staggered hours and days for offices are still at an early stage, a member of the New York states reopening panel told Reuters. Coordination could prove complex in a city of 220,000 businesses, most of them smaller firms. But Patrick Foye, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has been making the case to business leaders, signaling that he sees it as key to restoring confidence in the tangled web of 665 miles of track that ferried 5.5 million people a day before the lockdown in March. Foye told a May 6 call organized by the Association for a Better New York that he sees staggered work hours and days as part of the answer to congestion, citing the 1918 response. Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City and a member of New York Governor Andrew Cuomos reopening committee, said businesses would support coordinated start times. Its the expectation of employers that something like that will have to be worked out if they are going to get their people back on the trains, she said. During the 1918 pandemic, the New York City health commissioner, Royal Copeland, staggered starting and ending times for most businesses by 15-minute increments. While it is unclear what impact the move had, New York ultimately fared better than other cities it had a death rate of 4.7 per 1,000 residents, far lower than Philadelphia at 7.3. Marsh & McLennan Cos. said it instructed office leaders to make plans for staggered teams at the office and to determine whether commuters should travel at off-peak times. New York City is unlikely to reopen in a meaningful way until the fall. Even then, workers will likely return in phases, if at all. Employees of technology firms Twitter Inc and Square Inc, for example, have been given the option to keep working at home. As we try to reopen the economy the use of buildings is obviously going to change. We should be talking about implementing staggered shifts, said Kyle Bragg, president of service workers union 32BJ SEIU. More Trains Last month Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and physician Jeffrey Harris published a paper titled The Subways Seeded the Massive Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City that pointed to a parallel between rider patterns and virus spread in early March. But some officials have said they are not convinced the subway is a root cause. One skeptic is Cuomo, who has cited data showing transit workers with below-average infection rates and a hospital survey indicating most patients had not used public transit. Sarah Kaufman, associate director at New York University (NYU) Rudin Center for Transportation said the notion that subways spread the virus was inaccurate. It was a failure to quickly make people stay home. Even so, transit and health experts say the MTA needs to go beyond disinfecting cars at night, the mandating of masks and other steps already taken. One common proposal is more frequent trains, especially on lines where people stand shoulder-to-shoulder during peak times. Thats the only way to help with the social distancing, so that you clear the platforms quickly and there are fewer riders on the trains, said Elodie Ghedin, a former professor of global public health at NYU who is now at the National Institutes of Health. That would require money the MTA doesnt have. It received $3.9 billion in emergency federal funding, but is asking for $3.9 billion more to compensate for the 93 percent drop in subway revenues. For now, companies are making their own plans. Marsh & McLennan Cos, a Manhattan-based insurance and risk management group, said it instructed office leaders to make plans for staggered teams at the office and to determine whether commuters should travel at off-peak times. Authorities were looking at how best to use technology, including apps that could direct commuters to use trains or subways at certain times based on capacity, Wylde said, a tool that did not exist in 1918. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Frank McGurty and Grant McCool) Topics COVID-19 New York Health and safety inspectors have conducted hundreds of checks at workplaces since Monday this week, when Covid-19 work restrictions were eased. Business Minister Heather Humphreys told the Dail this evening that 240 inspections had been carried out between Monday and Wednesday this week. This included meat plants, she said. In the majority of inspections, employers had been complying with the Covid-19 safety recommendations, she told the Dail. This follows confirmation by health authorities on Tuesday that some 828 positive virus cases have been confirmed in meat plants. This was an increase of over 300 in just a few days. Mr Humphreys also told the Dail this evening hundreds more staff would be made available to the Health and Safety Authority, who are responsible for the workplace checks. These would come from the Department of Agriculture among others. However, Fianna Fail agriculture spokesman Charlie McConalogue criticised Ms Humphreys and her colleague Agriculture Minister Michael Creed for failing to give up to date figures on meat plant infections. Furthermore, he questioned why it had not been acknowledged mistakes had been made. There have been clear mistakes in how this has been handled, insisted Mr McConalogue Padraig O'Sullivan also asked for a guarantee for meat plants to be deep-cleaned where there were positive cases. Eamon O'Cuiv warned that it was meat factories today but it could be another enterprise today. Mr Creed insisted that responsibility for the concerns lay with workplace inspectors. He added: As part of the whole of Government response to the pandemic, my Department will continue to contribute to the HSE-chaired National Outbreak Control Team and will provide any support required to the HSE at local and national level. My Department has assisted in the dissemination of the HSE guidance to the DAFM approved meat plants. Scientists in Mexico have unearthed a graveyard of almost 70 fossilised mammoths during excavations to clear land for a new airport. Stunning images from the site reveal the bright white skulls and tusks of the prehistoric giants. The fossilised remains of the now-extinct cousin of modern elephants were first spotted in 2019 and have now been pictured for the first time. Ongoing work by anthropologists has revealed the mammoths were likely hunted down by Neolithic humans 15,000 years ago. Last year, the same researchers announced the discovery of two human-built pits just 12 miles from the airport site which may have been used to trap mammoths. Scroll down for video Pictured, the huge skull and tusks from a Columbian mammoth found at the site in Mexico. The animal would have weighed up to 20,000 pounds when it lived more than 12,000 years ago The tusks of the Columbian mammoth could grow up to 16ft long. Pictured, experts careful excavate the remains of the mammoth Columbian mammoths had very little fur, unlike their woolly cousins which lived in frigid tundra. The giants were up to 15ft tall, wigged up to 22,000 pounds and had enormous tusks up to 16ft long. They also had an estimated lifespan of around 65 years. Pictured,artist's impression The startling discovery was made at the site of the new Felipe Angeles international airport in the town of Santa Lucia in the central Mexican state of Mexico State. As well as a vast haul of fossil remains, 15 human skulls believed to be from pre-Hispanic burials along with receptacles, obsidian and the remains of dogs have been found at the site. Workers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have been working at the site since the first remains of Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi) were found. Researchers initially thought only around a dozen mammoths would be found at the site but the team have now discovered the remains of nearly 70 specimens. Pedro Francisco Sanchez Nava, the National Coordinator of Anthropology at the INAH told local media: 'The main challenge has been the richness of the fauna and the number of remains has been higher than we expected. 'We have more than sixty mammoths. Most of them are from the Columbian mammoth and other fauna from the Pleistocene (epoch) like bison, some remains of a camel and bits of horse.' Humans likely hunted in this region because it used to be located on a now-barren body of water called Xaltocan Lake. Pictured,the teeth of a Columbian mammoth found at the site. Hundreds of bones belonging to dozens of different animals were found at the site The startling discovery was made at the site of the new Felipe Angeles international airport in the town of Santa Lucia in the central Mexican state of Mexico State (pictured) Researchers from the same institute have also discovered two human-built pits dug 15,000 years ago nearby. The pits were about six feet deep and 25 yards in diameter. The institute said hunters may have chased mammoths into the traps Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology (INAH) photograph shows mammoth tusks in Tultepec, Mexico An expert working on mammoth bones in Tultepec, Mexico. The plant-eating giants would have lived more than 14,000 years ago. Scientists believe the mammoths may have been trapped by humans The pits used to trap the mammoths were about six feet deep and 25 yards in diameter. The institute said hunters may have chased mammoths into the traps Difference between the Columbian mammoth and the woolly mammoth Columbian mammoths had very little fur, unlike their woolly cousins which lived in frigid tundra. The Columbian mammoth grew up to 15ft tall, wigged up to 22,000 pounds (10 tonnes) and had enormous tusks up to 16ft long. They also had an estimated lifespan of around 65 years. They are one of the last lineages of mammoth to go extinct in the world and were wiped out around 12,000 years ago. The Columbian mammoth inhabited North America as far north as the northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica. The South American giant was slightly bigger than the Woolly mammoth, which stood at 11.5ft tall and weighed up to eight tonnes. The two species were closely related and were both believed to be herbivores. Their teeth were designed for grinding large amounts of vegetation and they had to consume tens of thousands of calories a day to sustain their size. Advertisement It is possible some of the animals dug up at the site are up to 35,000 years old. The area was rich with wildlife during the era of the mammoths as it was the intersection of four separate valleys and therefore acted like a natural corridor. Mr Sanchez Nava said: 'Perhaps 15,000 years ago human beings noticed the passage and organised as a society to hunt them.' Humans living in the region may have exploited this prehistoric migration path and laid traps to hunt. Columbian mammoths had very little fur, unlike their woolly cousins which lived in frigid tundra. The giants were up to 15ft tall, wigged up to 22,000 pounds and had enormous tusks up to 16ft long. They also had an estimated lifespan of around 65 years. They are one of the last lineages of mammoth to go extinct in the world and were wiped out around 12,000 years ago. The Columbian mammoth inhabited North America as far north as the northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica. A team of 31 archaeologists and three restorers are working at the site, with work on building the new airport having been slowed but not stopped by the discoveries. Mr Sanchez Nava said: 'We are working in a coordinated way with the person in charge of the working process of the airport. We have the conditions to continue with our work without affecting the airport's deadline.' There are plans in place to create a museum in the airport to give a glimpse into what life was like in the region during the late Pleistocene epoch. Mr Sanchez Nava said: 'It will be a museum to show the development of the site the most recent time, and to rebuild regional history so that visitors have the chance to know what this area was like more than 35,000 years ago.' Researchers from the same institute have also discovered two human-built pits dug 15,000 years ago in the same region. These pits were found during excavations on land that was to be used as a garbage dump, according to reports. The pits, filled with around 800 bones from at least 14 mammoths, were found in the neighbourhood of Tultepec, just north of Mexico City. Some of the animals were apparently butchered. The pits were about six feet deep and 25 yards in diameter. The institute said hunters may have chased mammoths into the traps. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin answers questions during the daily CCP virus task force briefing at the White House in Washington on April 21, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Mnuchin Says There Is a Strong Likelihood of Needing Another Pandemic Bill There is a strong chance of another pandemic stimulus package being needed, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday. Were going to carefully review the next few weeks, Mnuchin said in an interview. I think there is a strong likelihood we will need another bill following the already approved $3 trillion were pumping into the economy. He added that White House officials will review the progress of the U.S. economy after a few weeks and evaluate very clearly how we need to spend more money and if we need to do that, The Hill reported. Several days ago, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett made similar remarks but said a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus response bill may not be necessary. I think its possible that we will see a strong enough economy that we dont need a phase four, Hassett told reporters at the White House on May 18. Last week, House Democrats passed the HEROES Act, which would deliver $1,200 to eligible Americans, deliver relief to state and local governments, and included a number of other measures. President Donald Trump and top GOP members of Congress have expressed an unwillingness to support the bill, saying it included a number of unnecessary provisions. Mnuchin told the website that the HEROES Act was a partisan bill that isnt a focus of the White House, adding that previous stimulus bills have bipartisan support, which the HEROES Act does not have. Some GOP senators have said that while the HEROES Act is dead on arrival, Congress needs to move quickly on another piece of stimulus legislation, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he wants to move slowly and evaluate whether it is necessary as states begin to reopen their economies. People enjoy a warm day during the CCP virus outbreak, at Domino Park in Brooklyn, New York City, N.Y. on May 16, 2020. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters) At the same time, the U.S. economy continues to suffer losses amid the pandemic closures. Another 2.4 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the last week, said the Labor Department. It brings the total of those who filed for unemployment to 39 million in March. Mnuchin, in the interview, said lawmakers may extend the time frame for small businesses to spend the coronavirus aid they got from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was included in Marchs CARES Act. One of the things we are working with Congress on, and there is bipartisan support, is lengthening the eight-week period, Mnuchin said. There is bipartisan support to extend that to 10 or 12 weeks Thats definitely something we want to fix. Both Inchcape and Pendragon closed their doors on March 23 (Gareth Fuller/PA) Two of Britains biggest listed car sellers were doing well in the first months of 2020, until the coronavirus pandemic forced their shops to close. Inchcape boss Stefan Bomhard said the company had a strong start to the year, as he warned that activity will be subdued even after the business opens up again. While not evident in the headline numbers, we had a good start to the year with the groups performance prior to shutdowns ahead of internal expectations, Mr Bomhard said. He added: However, the various closures since have had a material impact on profitability, especially in April. It is clear that the impact on global economies will continue to be felt for the rest of the year and into 2021 Stefan Bomhard Revenue across the group fell by 32% during the four months up to the end of April this year. Today it is open in 25 countries, and closed in eight, including the UK. Mr Bomhard said Inchcape would not bring back all of its employees at once. As our markets reopen, we anticipate business activity levels will be subdued and as such the mobilisation of our colleagues will be gradual. It is clear that the impact on global economies will continue to be felt for the rest of the year and into 2021, and Inchcape will be adjusting its cost-base accordingly, the outgoing boss said. He will hand over to Duncan Tait at the start of July. Meanwhile, fellow car seller Pendragon warned that the slow-down will cost it around 10 million in underlying profit before tax. It has reported a pre-tax loss of 2.3 million for last quarter, around 500,000 better than the same period last year, despite the Covid-19 crisis. Today, 125 of its 145 service stations are open for business, although only around 10% of its technicians have returned to work. Chief executive Bill Berman said: The commercial consequences of a full lockdown have obviously affected the business, but we moved quickly to implement a broad range of actions to mitigate the enforced closure, and I am confident that we will emerge in a strong position as the current restrictions ease. We are now preparing to reopen from June 1 and will therefore have the capabilities in place to meet the full needs of our customers across new, used and aftersales, as well as driving our we come to you online offer. Actors Peter Dinklage and Jason Momoa speak at HBO's "Game Of Thrones" Panel during Comic-Con 2011. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) Game Of Thrones co-stars Jason Momoa and Peter Dinklage are set to reunite for a vampire film. The pair will star in Good Bad & Undead, with Dinklage playing Van Helsing while Momoa appearing as a vampire who vows never to kill again. They strike up an uneasy partnership, running a scam from town to town, with Dinklage pretending to vanquish the vampire for money. But when a massive bounty is put on Momoas head, everything in this dangerous world full of monsters and magic is now after them. Read more: Justice Leagues Snyder Cut coming in 2021 Deadline, who first reported the news, described the project which has been set up at Legendary as Midnight Run in a Bram Stoker world. The film is based on an original idea by screenwriting Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, whose credits include 2003s Freddy V Jason, the 2009 remake of Friday The 13th, and 2017s Baywatch movie. Actors Peter Dinklage and Jason Momoa attends HBO's Official After Party, 2012. (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic) Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow is on directing duties. Momoa played warlord Khal Drogo in Game Of Thrones while Dinklage portrayed scheming nobleman Tyrion Lannister. The pair will make a striking on-screen partnership Aquaman star Momoa is 6ft 4ins while Dinklage is 4ft 4ins. Momoa has previously expressed an interest in working on a new project with Dinklage, telling the audience Celebrity Fan Fest in Texas that hed love to remake Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Twins with him. F***ing tell me where to sign! Absolutely. Thatd be amazing. I love that movie, Momoa said. Government contractors in Louisiana have been swamped with thousands of job applications for a federally-funded program to track and isolate new coronavirus cases as the state begins to reopen. The state Department of Health has hired contractors to manage as many as 700 contact tracers that will call people who may have been exposed to the virus. And while some groups say many more tracers might be needed, state contract documents and interviews with health officials offer a window into how Louisiana public-health officials are planning to deal with what epidemiologists say is a critical part of managing the health crisis while trying to reopen the state's economy. In the early days of Louisiana's outbreak, the state started tracking people who may have been exposed to known coronavirus cases. But the staff of 70 contract tracers employed by the Department of Health were quickly overwhelmed as known cases surged into the thousands in late March and early April. They essentially gave up on warning contacts in some parts of Louisiana, the state has acknowledged. But earlier this month the state tapped four companies two in Lafayette, one in New Orleans and one in West Monroe to hire, train and pay hundreds of contact tracers. The newly hired tracers began work on May 15, to coincide with the first phase of Gov. John Bel Edwards' reopening plan. The state says it plans to pay an estimated $15 to $20 million in federal money to Lafayette-based HUB Enterprises and Calls Plus, West Monroe-based Coast Professional and New Orleans-based Hammerman & Gainer. The companies are rapidly hiring employees. The contractors could eventually place employees in call centers, but for now it appears most will work from home, scattered throughout the state. With tens of thousands of people in Louisiana recently laid off, the jobs are in high demand. HUB Enterprises, which among other businesses conducts surveillance and private investigations for corporate clients, has already filled about 300 positions after receiving 2,000 applications, said Robin Buchanan, the companys vice president. We are moving very quickly in bringing people on. Every couple hours that number changes, Buchanan said, referring to the number of hires. We are not discouraging people from continuing to apply, because again we dont know what the needs are going to be. Call-center contractor Calls Plus said it has also received an overwhelming number of applications. Calls to Coast Professional and Hammerman & Gainer were not returned. Contact tracing involves telephone calls to people who test positive for coronavirus followed by calls to others with whom that person has been in close physical contact. The contacts may then be advised to get tested and to self-quarantine for 14 days. In conjunction with testing, tracing is crucial to chopping off the chains of transmission, said Susan Hassig, an epidemiologist at Tulane University. Contact tracing is a really important part of tamping down and reducing the spread. Similar methods have previously been used to stamp out mumps and hepatitis outbreaks, officials said, though the scale of the program is much larger. Louisiana is modeling its program after one in Massachusetts, using the same software from Salesforce.com that has been adapted by the consulting firm Accenture. One thing that might undermine coronavirus contact tracing? Louisiana residents have privacy fears Worries about the breach of individual privacy rights could undermine Louisiana's ability to quickly pinpoint those who have encountered someo How contact tracers will work, as well as the states ambitions for the contact tracing program, are laid out in the contracts with the call centers. The state will provide the call centers with a data feed of every patient who tests positive. Those case patients, will get a telephone call from the state's contact tracers, who within 48 hours will try and reach anyone the patient was in contact with during the time period when the patient was likely contagious. The contact tracers, who must be high school graduates, will get around 11 hours of training before being assigned to patients and working off a script that will ask patients for information on any social events, religious services or other gatherings they may have recently attended. The contact tracers will also ask about coworkers and household members. Patients will be informed that the contact tracers will reach out to their contacts without revealing the case patients name. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Those needing additional support to isolate or quarantine behavioral health therapy or grocery delivery, for example will be referred to United Way, which will initiate a follow-up call. Emergency housing may also be available on a limited basis, according to the state, but officials could not say how much. With no money to offer people who may lose work if they quarantine at home, public health officials have to rely on peoples sense of civic duty, said Josh Michaud, an epidemiologist and associate director for global health policy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Its kind of like serving on a jury. You have to take time off of your life to do this civic duty. In this case its quarantining yourself, he said. +2 Will Sutton: Contact tracers deserve help, from businesses and us, to make everyone safer Theresa Sokol was seeing a lot. Cases were popping up. One after another. Parish by parish. It was happening across the state of Louisiana. It While officials are urging residents to cooperate with contact tracers, nothing can compel anyone to do so, said Omar Khalid, chief of staff of the Office of Public Health, who's overseeing the contact tracing program. Cell phone data will not be used to track compliance, he said. There is nothing in the contact tracing interview that is going to force anyone to do anything, Khalid said. This is for a public health good. Louisiana also plans to keep contact tracing limited to phone calls and text messages rather than in-person visits, according to Khalid. Gov. John Bel Edwards has said the state is initially looking to hire 700 tracers, a goal that state officials expect to meet within six weeks. Call volume, which is hard to predict from the outset, will determine staffing levels as the program moves forward, according to Khalid. But even 700 tracers would put the state at only half the number that the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials estimates Louisiana will need, Michaud said. Hiring will err on the side of having more tracers than needed, since sudden increases in contacts could occur without warning, Khalid said Youll never have the perfect amount. We would rather have some that are waiting on workload, he said. Contact tracing tracks coronavirus spread, but Louisiana lawmakers are reluctant to embrace it Republican Louisiana legislators said this week that many of their constituents are uneasy about contact tracing, a key tool in the states CO Khalid said the state eventually will share contact tracing-related data to help the public measure the states progress. He could not say exactly when, or what, that data will entail. The program's effectiveness will largely depend on the tracers success in persuading people to cooperate. Those receiving calls are more likely to provide reliable, consistent information if they trust the person on the other end, said Barbara Lamont, president of Calls Plus. This has to be a people-to-people conversation to have your data really have integrity, Lamont said. WILTON The coronavirus count in Wilton remains at 200. Statewide, there are 39,017, or 587 new laboratory-confirmed cases, with 14,719 in Fairfield County. There are 202 cases not yet assigned to a municipality. The number of deaths in the state rose by 57 to 3,529. The last reported death count for Wilton was 31. The Wilton Town Clerk is waiting to receive the required report and certificates from Norwalk and other municipalities to update that information. The number of cases currently hospitalized in the state has decreased by 27 patients. Hospitalization statewide is 887, with 272 in Fairfield County. Wednesday was the first day of Phase 1 reopenings in Connecticut, allowing retailers, shops, and malls to reopen. Restaurants were allowed to reopen for outdoor dining. In Wilton, a temporary permit needs to be issued from the town planner in order for restaurants to operate outdoors. Hair salons and barbershops, originally scheduled to reopen on May 20, have been rescheduled to open after June 1. Phase 2 reopenings are scheduled for June 20, if all goes well with Phase 1. Phase 2 allows the reopening of hotels, gyms, movie theaters and bowling alleys. In the second phase, restaurants would be permitted to offer indoor dining. For those planning a wedding or a family gathering this summer, during Phase 2 outdoor gatherings will be allowed for up to 50 people. During Phase 3, outdoor gatherings will be allowed for up to 100 people, First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice said in a message on the towns website. The guidelines for Phase 2 have not been written. We do not know what limitations and restrictions will be placed on those businesses and activities during Phase 2. Further details are not expected to be available for at least two weeks, she added. Merwin Meadows will not be open for the Memorial Day weekend. Reopening Merwin Meadows is more complicated than the previously reopened recreational facilities. We do anticipate reopening the park on a limited and restricted basis within the next two weeks, including no lifeguards nor swimming. Currently, all state inland parks are closed for swimming, Vanderslice said. pgay@wiltonbulletin.com Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the Cambodian authorities have lifted the entry ban on travellers from Spain, Italy, the UK, Iran, France and the US from entering the country. According to reports, the Cambodian government had issued orders to prohibit travellers from those countries back in mid-March in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Travellers must still follow safety procedures As per reports, the Cambodian Health Ministry has issued the order lifting the ban on May 20. But despite the lifting of the ban, all travellers must still produce a certificate showing that they have tested negative for the deadly coronavirus in the last 72 hours before their arrival. The travellers are also required to have health insurance equivalent to $50,000. According to reports, foreign diplomats, representatives of international NGOs as well as Cambodian diplomats are exempt from these rules. Despite the easing of flight restrictions, most international flights in South East Asia from Europe and the US remain cancelled. As per Phnom Penh International Airports official website, there are listing for the arrival and departure of two international flights from several cities in China and South Korea. Cambodia has listed only 122 cases of the coronavirus and has not reported any coronavirus related deaths. The country did not impose extremely strict quarantine measures but it had ordered the closure of schools, museums, bars and other businesses. Read: Cambodia: At Least 23 Endangered 'royal Turtles' Hatched In Koh Kong Province Read: SpiceJet Operates Two Cargo Flights To Cambodia Carrying 25 Tonnes Of Medical Supplies According to reports, the Cambodian Health Ministry announced on May 16 that the last coronavirus patient had recovered from the deadly virus meaning that there are currently no active coronavirus cases in the South East Asian country. The coronavirus pandemic that has been officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization began in China late last year. The virus has infected 5,014,943 people worldwide and killed 328,462 people. Read: Cambodian Leader Meets Rival Who Faces Treason Charges Read: USCIRF Accuses Pak Of Increased Stigmatisation Of Shias; Cites India & Cambodia Amid COVID Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday chaired the first-ever virtual meeting of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. This is the fourth economic council meeting since the beginning of the year and it held at the Yellow Room, Office of the Vice President. Also Read: Gbajabiamila, Osinbajo Meet Over Free Electricity As Palliative For Nigerians Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, featured at the meeting while the governors joined the virtual NEC from their states. Advertisement Constitutionally, the vice president is the chairman of NEC which meets monthly to deliberate on the coordination of economic planning and programmes at various levels of government. COLUMBUS, Ohio - An executive at an Ohio hospital accused Battelle, a science company lauded by Gov. Mike DeWine for its newfound ability to decontaminate N95 respirators, of price gouging. Lisa Geiger, CFO of Alliance Community Hospital in Stark County, filed a price gouging complaint with Attorney General Dave Yosts office on April 2. She alleged Battelle Memorial Institute told the hospital it could decontaminate the protective masks, which are in shortage nationwide, for $3.50 per mask. Bloomberg Businessweek reports the N95s typically cost about 70 cents each. The hospital reports annual spending of more than $100 million per year on average, tax filings show. Given the governors March 29 statement claiming Battelle can decontaminate 160,000 masks per day (the company puts that figure at 80,000), Geiger said Battelle is making $560,000 per day on its technology, which seems like price gouging. The technology allows masks to be re-used up to 20 times, a partial answer to a national shortage as the domestic COVID-19 caseload rises. A week after Geiger filed the complaint, Battelle won a $415 million federal contract to deploy its decontamination technology nationwide at no charge to health care providers. After Battelle procured the federal contract and the hospital received media inquiries, a spokesman said the hospital would not pursue the complaint, which was obtained via public records request. TR Massey, a Battelle spokesman, said prices in the early days were in flux, and noted the complaint has been withdrawn. Battelle brought its technology to market at its own expense and has worked closely with the State of Ohio and the Ohio Hospital Association to ensure that the service was of value to any healthcare providers who would choose to use it, he said in a statement. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which awarded the contract, did not respond to inquiries. A shortage of masks Since state health officials first detected the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in Ohio on March 9, DeWine has warned of a looming shortage of N95 masks. The masks, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, provide more respiratory protection than a standard surgical mask by providing barrier protection against droplets in the air that could carry the virus, according to the CDC. The respirators, as well as ventilators, gowns, gloves, and other medical gear, are in short supply around the country. Ohio received about half the allotment it requested from a federal stockpile. The governor and Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton banned non-essential medical procedures to lock down available resources. President Donald Trump has also invoked the Defense Production Act to compel 3M, a large-scale manufacturer, to produce N95 masks. Reckless decision reversed In late March, DeWine pressured the FDA to remove restrictions placed on how many masks Battelle could sterilize per day, calling the regulators decision reckless. The FDA is allowing Battelle to decontaminate an unlimited amount of masks on an emergency use authorization. DeWine called the technology a game changer given its ability to decontaminate a single mask up to 20 times. Trump on Monday called the technology an incredible thing. Despite the governors warmth, the CDC offers cooler guidance on the new technology. CDC and [the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health] do not recommend that [masks] be decontaminated and then reused as standard care, the CDC advises. This practice would be inconsistent with their approved use, but we understand in times of crisis, this option may need to be considered when [mask] shortages exist. Whats next? Likely, nothing, as far as the complaint. Geiger said in an email Tuesday shes going to rescind her complaint. She did not answer whether shes doing so because of the federal contract enabling Battelle to decontaminate masks at no cost to the hospital. A spokesman for the attorney general said consumer complaints involving a transaction generally enter an informal mediation process. The office then evaluates complaints to see if further action is suitable. The U.S. Department of Defense, in a news release, said six Battelle decontamination units have been deployed to Columbus, Boston, Chicago, Tacoma, and two to New York. The Ohio Capital Journal is an independent, nonprofit news organization covering state government. Reminiscing the events of October 2019, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insisted that the release of El Chapo's son was the best decision considering the safety of the public. COVID-19 has affected thousands of Mexicans to date. The country has reached almost 54,000 positive cases 37,000 of which have already recovered and a death toll of almost 6,000. Apart from health issues caused by the virus, thousands are suffering financially as the country sees an increase in unemployment. But the coronavirus pandemic did not mitigate organized crime in the country. A new cartel has announced its existence. The new cartel which goes by the name CZNG or Zicuiran New Generation Cartel told security forces in a Facebook post, to stay out of the area. The new territories mentioned in the said Facebook post includes La Huacana and Mugica. They have also mentioned that any aircraft seen that flies over their territory will be fired and any vehicle that enters without permission will be taken. AMLO and Mexican cartels When asked about the president's reaction to the newly formed cartels during the COVID-19 crisis, he refused to answer and said that his security strategy is to promote peace and to avoid any act that will violate human rights. The country will see no more massacres and no more tortures. Just a year ago, in the same exact state of Michoacan, cartel gunmen killed 13 officers in an ambush and in a few days El Culiacanazo happened. On October 17, the streets of Culiacan, Sinaloa turned into a bloodbath when officers attempted to arrest Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo and renowned drug kingpin. The National Guard police arrested Guzman and were shocked when the administration instructed them to release him. During that time, President Obrador has repeatedly said that this was done to avoid turning Culiacan into a warzone and to avoid any more bloodshed. After this incident last year, several polls showed that there was a tremendous drop in AMLO's popularity poll. Check these out! Security strategies to solve Mexico's war on drugs Former President Felipe Calderon launched Mexico's war on drugs in 2006. The aim was to end drug violence using a militaristic anti-drug policy approach. Although thousands have died since this strategy was implemented there are still a few victories. Majority of the cartels were fractured and maybe the greatest victory to date was the capture of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman who was sentenced to life imprisonment. AMLO's security strategy was to find the root of the problem. According to him, poverty and corruption have to be addressed because without this people would not resort to joining cartels. He claimed that the previous governments were unable to reduce social disparities which is why Mexico is still suffering continued drug violence. One of AMLO's strongest critics is former President Felipe Calderon. After AMLO claimed that Mexico was still suffering because the previous administration failed to put a stop on drug violence, Calderon fired back saying that there were more deaths in the current administration compared to his and that Obrador was just incapable of handling the situation. Parents pick up Chromebooks at the Philadelphia School District headquarters in Philadelphia, Pa., on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. The district officially moved instruction online as of May 4 due to the pandemic. Read more After schools closed due to the coronavirus, the Philadelphia School District began graded digital instruction on May 4. Although students final grades for the year will be an average of their pre-pandemic performance, their work starting from May 4 can raise their grades if they do well while their lack of participation can lower them. The district says it is trying to factor in students individual circumstances at home. While some believe grading is necessary to keep students on track, others argue it is punishing during a crisis. A physician and local parent debates a policy analyst: Should Philly students be graded right now? YES: Teachers need a full baseline to work with students next year. By Jonathan Butcher Most of us will spend at least a dozen years in school starting at age 5. For an increasing share of young adults, the education experience lasts 16 years or more, as the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolling in college has risen from 35% to 41% since 2000. Pandemics, mercifully, do not last as long as our school-age years. Each school year builds on the prior one, so officials must prevent the 2019-20 school year from becoming a lost academic experience for Philadelphia students. Abandoning student grades during the pandemic would put everyone policymakers, taxpayers, parents, teachers, and students at a disadvantage next fall. Thousands of students will return to physical, hybrid, or virtual city classrooms in August. Without some measure of how children finished the year, teachers will not be able to match instruction to each childs needs. Philadelphia already put some teachers and families at a disadvantage early on in the pandemic when district officials told teachers to stop offering virtual instruction to any students over equity concerns. District Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. told local media, If thats not available to all children, we cannot make that available to some. Odd that Hite would make this judgment now. According to a U.S. Department of Education report, nearly 37% of Philadelphia students were chronically absent for the 2015-16 school year, missing at least three weeks annually. In a class of 17 students, Philadelphias student-teacher ratio, 37% is six children. If equity were more important than success, Philadelphia schools should have stopped teaching years ago. In Tests, Testing, and Genuine School Reform, Hoover Institute fellow Herbert J. Walberg says research demonstrates that setting clear goals and measuring progress substantially increase student motivation and performance in learning, sports, and work settings motivation that would be valuable to students at present. READ MORE: Whos showing up for school during the pandemic? In Philly, its just over half of students. This does not mean schools should issue a bunch of tests. Rather, officials should think bigger than grading on a curve. The pandemic offers an opportunity to make meaningful changes to help current and future generations of students. State lawmakers should grade students consistently, rewarding those who were motivated to show up for online work. For students who did not have internet access or a computer, teachers should make thorough notes about the material that students will need to catch up on over the summer or next year. Educators should be allowed to follow up with these students in the coming months to complete their coursework. There is still room for policymakers to innovate: With state testing canceled, lawmakers should make comparisons between schools by allowing educators to choose tests that best fit their instructional practices. Standardized tests, such as the Stanford Achievement Test and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, along with others allowing comparisons between schools, such as the Measures of Academic Progress, could be used to gauge student progress now and help inform teachers next year. Students who do not want to lose a semester of learning shouldnt have it taken from them. Jonathan Butcher These results will also give policymakers insight into the schools that performed well during trying circumstances, which cannot help but inform future policies. Officials have a unique opportunity to make instruction and measurement more student-centered, making tests more useful to teachers and students. Truancy data show that Philadelphia already has equity problems. With school paused early on in the pandemic, students have already lost instruction. Easy solutions are hard to come by now. But we should give every child a quality opportunity. Students who do not want to lose a semester of learning shouldnt have it taken from them. Jonathan Butcher is a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. ASK US: Do you have a question about the coronavirus and how it affects your health, work, and life? Ask our reporters. NO: Grades during the pandemic are ambiguous and unfair. By Rotonya M. Carr There are few doctrines written with such simplicity and such power as the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm. Although I primarily apply this oath as a physician, I thought about it recently when I learned that the Philadelphia School District where my kids are enrolled decided to resume grading for its digital learning during COVID-19 curriculum. School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. has, in fact, promised that grades during the pandemic will do no harm to students. To achieve this, the district left it open for teachers to determine grades case-by-case depending on a students situation at home. The uncertainty around criteria raises the question: Why bother with grades at all? I have been unable to reconcile how the stress of any kind of grading in this unprecedented situation aligns with our districts core values or stated goal to ensure that [the digital learning structures] do not contribute to stress for students, families, educators, and leaders. To be fair, the district also outlined that no child who participates in online learning can have their grades go lower than the pre-pandemic average at face value, a seemingly equitable policy that means kids can only improve their marks. Whats so misguided about that? Win-win for everyone, right? Unfortunately, no. Approximately 20% of children in the citys School District live below the poverty line. Between the third and 12th grades, 40% to 60% of students surveyed in the spring of 2019 didnt have computer access to the internet at home, and in three neighborhoods, fewer than 30% have access. To facilitate virtual education, Chromebooks were made available to district children, but there is no data on how many families successfully integrated into the virtual classroom environment. READ MORE: When coronavirus hit, schools moved online. Some students didnt. Parents in my West Philly neighborhood (a socioeconomically diverse neighborhood with a National Blue Ribbon public school, which my children attend) often complain about challenges with technology and frequently interrupted internet access, resulting in an inability to complete assignments. This is the reality for parents throughout the district and magnified for those who lack home internet service. How then can children who had either borderline or below-normal performance prior to the pandemic realistically participate enough to improve performance if they cannot reliably access the virtual curriculum? Any grading schema unfairly penalizes these students, while having much less impact on students with more resources and access. Students have lost their schools, teachers, friends, activities, and even food security. Rotonya M. Carr An alternative approach is to apply the principle of the Hippocratic oath to vulnerable children. Here, one can define harm as adding to the stress, pain, and suffering of students who are experiencing profound and protracted loss. Students have lost their schools, teachers, friends, activities, and even food security. Some students have lost the experience of rites of passage like graduations and proms. Others have lost loved ones, whom they are unable to mourn in traditional ways because of the restrictions placed to maintain social distancing. Amid all this distress, my district has potentially compounded this trauma by adding the stress of clinging to grades. It has opted not to follow the lead of others throughout the country who have placed the principle of nonmaleficence above all other priorities. Those districts have decided to either cancel grades altogether or give all children As for simply surviving this upheaval. Our children have adapted to this new normal and with a grace many adults have been unable to demonstrate. In my view, their adaptability and resilience are the true tests and for that they all deserve an A+. Rotonya M. Carr is a physician and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. In Izmail, Odesa region, the debtor's dog was confiscated and sold at the auction In Izmail, Odesa region, the dog was confiscated from its owner, who is a debtor, and was sold at the auction for 18,8 dollars. Bidding was conducted at the SETAM Internet platform. Four bidders wanted to buy a shepherd, but three of them did not pay the guarantee fee, so the fourth bidder received the dog, paying 18,8 dollars for it. Head of the Ministry, Denys Maliuska, stated that animals could be taken away in Ukraine due to debts. "We are talking about domestic animals that have value. If an animal is a pet, it can be bought back by the owners (through relatives or friends) for pennies (the price of lots is meager)," Maliuska wrote. He added that the Ministry of Justice (together with the Ukrainian MPs) was considering options for proper legislative settlement of such situations. As we reported earlier, according to Ukraines Ministry of Social Policy, there will be no significant increase in the poverty rate this year - it will increase by only 6.5% compared to last year. "According to the results of 2020, the poverty rate will increase to 45% which is 6.5 percentage points higher than in 2019," the statement said. If youre going to eat at a restaurant in America in May 2020, you probably couldnt pick a better state than Montana. Since late April, the state has reported multiple days of zero new cases, with reasonably widespread testing. My county hasnt had a new official case in weeks and there are currently zero active cases. While infections are still trending up in many other states that are easing restrictions, the virus appears suppressed enough here to make a genuine case for a phased reopening of businesses. I support phased reopening. Yet a lack of federal guidance leaves even residents of states that are trying to reopen responsibly with difficult choices. Is going out to eat helping my local economy or putting myself and service workers at unnecessary risk? If were reopening, do I still need to isolate for a certain time before I show up at a restaurant? Do I need to get a test before dining out? If I do get tested, am I depriving someone who is more deserving? After I hit confirm on my online reservation I started asking myself even more of these questions, all of them portending awkwardness. Should I wear a mask? I wear a mask whenever Im in public it feels reckless not to. OK, so I wear the mask. But Ill be eating? Am I supposed to put it on and take it off in between bites and sips? Is that idiotic? Or is it simply being respectful of the restaurant staff? Or is my mere presence as a patron idiotic and reckless? Dining out a relaxing treat! I emailed the restaurant before the reservation about its mask policy. I was hoping for some strict guidance but the owners had none, leaving it to staff and patrons to decide individually. They were gracious and lovely, but also unwilling to set that policy themselves. Theyre trying to walk a fine line in the hope of making everyone comfortable. And when it comes to dining out, it seems few people are. A Slate poll of 6,000 Americans showed 73 percent of respondents were not ready to eat indoors at a restaurant even with reduced seating. Even though the lockdown protests are supported by President Trump, that uncertainty seems to transcend party lines just half of Republicans said they were comfortable eating indoors. Even in Georgia, which is reopening with enthusiasm, the number of diners on Saturday was down by about 84 percent compared with the same day one year ago. The South has risen again. Six of the 10 fastest-growing, large cities of the past 10 years are below the Mason-Dixon Linewith half in Texas alone, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. The report looked only at cities with at least 50,000 or more residents from April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2019. And the fastest-growing city is one that most folks outside of the Lone Star State are likely unfamiliar with. The Dallas suburb of Frisco, TX, about 30 minutes north of the larger city, has grown 71.1% over the past decade. Frisco's gotten a boost because so many companies have relocated, opened, or expanded their operations in the Dallas region, attracting lots of well-paying jobs and workers to the area. The area's good fortune could help explain why homes within Frisco's city limits cost a median $500,000 in April, according to realtor.com data. That's about 36% more than the national median of $320,000. "The past decade's growth in population clearly favored Sun Belt cities," says realtor.com Senior Economist George Ratiu. That's because they've become popular with cost-conscious baby boomers retiring and millennials seeking to raise families. "Southern states have been magnets for both people and companies looking for good weather, lower cost of living, and tax-friendly treatment," says Ratiu. Frisco was followed by Buckeye, AZ, with a 56.6% surge in population over the past decade. Next were New Braunfels, TX, at 56.4%; McKinney, TX, at 51.9%; South Jordan, UT, at 51.8%; Meridian, ID, at 48.3%; Cedar Park, TX, at 44.2%; Fort Myers, FL, at 39.8%; Conroe, TX, at 39.3%; and Irvine, CA, at 35.5%. Texas' "active campaign to attract top-notch technology, manufacturing, and business services companies have ensured a growing and diversified economy," says Ratiu. "In addition, the state's affordable housing and lack of income tax provided additional incentives to workers looking for alternatives to expensive urban cities on the coasts." Big Southern cities have been growing faster than any other region in the country, at a pace of 11.8% over the past decade. That's likely due to the lower cost of living, cheaper home prices, and lower taxes. That killer combination has been attracting companies, and many good-paying jobs, to the region as welldrawing additional transplants from other parts of the nation. The region's warm weather, which is appealing to retirees, doesn't hurt either. Meanwhile, the ultrahigh-priced (and cold) Northeast grew only 1.5% over the same period. The population in the West surged 9.1%, and ticked up 3.1% in the Midwest. On the other side of the spectrum were the large cities seeing the largest population declines. Many of these were Rust Belt cities or other areas that have lost their main employers and have been struggling economically. Real estate in these areas tends to be cheaper as there aren't as many buyers competing for homes in areas with weaker job markets. Charleston, WV, experienced the biggest exodus, losing 9.4% of its residents from April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2019. That may help explain why home prices within the city limits were a median $182,500roughly 43% less than the national median of $320,000. The city was followed by Jackson, MS, at minus 7.4%; Decatur, IL, at minus 7.1%; Shreveport, LA, at minus 6.9%; Albany, GA, at minus 6.9%; Gary, IN, at minus 6.7%; Flint, MI, at minus 6.6%; Hammond, IN, at minus 6.6%; Rocky Mount, NC, at minus 6.5%; and Saginaw, MI, at minus 6.5%. The post The Fastest-Growing U.S. City Most Americans Didn't Know Existed appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com. Public grillings of GP candidates welcomed, other new measures raise controversy. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled The election of the general prosecutor will be a crucial event for Slovakia in 2020, said President Zuzana Caputova at the beginning of the year, before anybody saw the COVID-19 crisis coming. Related story: Related story: Four of Kocners judges, including ex-state secretary Jankovska, taken into custody Read more The information that surfaced in 2019 has shown that the failure of the general prosecutor may be fatal and how crucial the post is, since a general prosecutor has great powers, President Caputova said back in January, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The four-party ruling coalition that has been elected and took power since is gearing up for the vote in the parliament, which should produce the successor of the current General Prosecutor Jaromir Ciznar. The coalition parties share the conviction that the respective legislation needs to change first, to ensure more quality and transparency in the election process. A group of MPs representing all coalition parties proposed a law in the parliament to that effect on May 19. They have already earned criticism for what some see as tailoring the law for a specific candidate, namely former minister and now noted attorney Daniel Lipsic (who is featured, among other high-profile cases, in the Kuciak murder trial as the Kuciak family attorney). Justice Minister Maria Kolikova has repeatedly complained that the debate about the selection of the next general prosecutor is centered around the names rather than the rules and the process that should correspond to the process. Public hearings and more nominators The law outlines a number of novelties for the election of the general prosecutor. Importantly, all the candidates should be heard publicly, similarly to the grilling of candidates for Constitutional Court judges in front of a parliamentary committee. The non-governmental judiciary and transparency watchdog Via Iuris insists it is a very important step, but it does not automatically ensure the transparency of the selection procedure alone. Related story: Related story: Charges against judges show nobody is inviolable Read more Coupled with other measures, such as the cover letter and the CV available to the public, the audio-visual recording from the hearing, and public vote in parliament, it will certainly lead to the higher transparency of the whole process, Kristina Babiakova, attorney cooperating with Via Iuris told The Slovak Spectator. The secret versus public vote had been an issue before the current general prosecutor was elected in 2013. The Iveta Radicova coalition first elected another candidate, Jozef Centes, in 2011, but only after six months of struggles and allegations of MPs vote-buying and manipulation of the secret vote. In previous elections, only MPs were able to nominate GP candidates. The draft law aims to extend that power to several other institutions, such as the ombudswoman, the justice minister, the Council of the Prosecutors (the highest self-governing body of the prosecutors), professional organisations of lawyers and also scientific institutions operating in the field of law, such as the Slovak Academy of Sciences or law schools at universities. Pavel Nechala, attorney, who is member of the board of the non-parliamentary Spolu party, deems it a positive change. A higher number of candidates increase the probability of choosing a high quality successful candidate, he told The Slovak Spectator. Lipsic's name raises some eyebrows Govt exempts pregnant women officials from attending office India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, May 21: The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has exempted pregnant women officials and staff members from attending office, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said. He said, a circular to this effect has been issued and is expected to be followed by different Ministries/Departments as well as State/Union Territory governments. Dr Jitendra Singh said that pregnant women employees who are not already on maternity leave will also be exempted from attending office. Persons with disabilities are also to be given similar exemption from attending office. MHA order on full wage payment to employees during lockdown withdrawn The latest circular issued by the DoPT also states that Government servants who have underlying Co-morbidities and were undergoing treatment for these ailments before the lockdown, may, as far as possible, be exempted upon production of medical prescription from treating physician as per the CGHS/CS (MA) Rules, as applicable. Domestic flights to resume in India from Monday, AAI issues guidelines | Oneindia News What is important, is to strictly observe staggered timings for the arrival and departure of the officers and the staff. In order to avoid unnecessary crowding, all the Heads of Departments have been advised to ensure three sets of timings. These would be 9 am to 5 pm, 9:30 am to 6 pm and 10 am to 6:30 pm respectively. While officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above are expected to attend office on all working days, the officers and staff below the level of Deputy Secretary will attend office with 50 per cent attendance every alternative day and those not attending the office should work from home and remain available on telephone and electronically. Finance Ministry to sell THAI shares BANGKOK: The Finance Ministry will sell 3.17% of its stake in the financially-troubled Thai Airways International (THAI) to the state-run Vayupak 1 Fund, with the aim of stripping the airline of its state enterprise status. tourismviolenceeconomicsCOVID-19 By Bangkok Post Thursday 21 May 2020, 08:37AM Photo: Bangkok Post Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob held a teleconference to inform THAI executives of the decision on Wednesday, reports the Bangkok Post. He has given THAI a free hand in selecting up to 30 professionals to be appointed as rehabilitation planners. After that list is forwarded to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for his consideration on Monday, it will be submitted to the Central Bankruptcy Court. The share sale will strip the airline of its state enterprise status, which entails legal restrictions, particularly under the 2000 State Enterprise Labour Relations Act. Those restrictions currently stand in the way of fulfilling the court-ordered restructuring of the airline. THAIs labour union on Monday strongly opposed the plan as it will result in the dissolution of the union. But Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana on Wednesday said the Vayupak 1 Fund will move to buy the shares as soon as possible. He added the shares could change hands at a below-par price without breaking any regulations. Once concluded, the matter will be forwarded to the Cabinet for its consideration. The Finance Ministry holds 51.03% of the shares in THAI, while the Government Savings Bank holds 2.13%. Selling 3.17% of the ministrys shares will reduce the two state entities stake in the airline to below 50%. The shares are expected to sell for B600-700 million, a source at the ministry said. A crucial part of the rehabilitation plan is to remove the airlines state enterprise status. A source in the Transport Ministry said it is estimated that 6,000 of the 21,000 THAI employees will be laid off under the plan and receive compensation equivalent to 10 months salary. A meeting of the executive board of the Vayupak 1 Fund chaired by deputy finance permanent secretary Jumpol Rimsakorn is today expected to approve its share purchase from the ministry. The source said careful consideration will be given to the share purchase price. THAIs share price on the stock market has risen in recent days and the share purchase price should be set based on the average prices in the previous seven days of trading, plus a discount of 15-20%. Meanwhile, the Department of Cooperative Promotion director-general Pichet Viriyapaha said the 82 cooperatives which invested in THAIs debentures worth B42 billion have solid financial standing. The agency is attempting to stem panic withdrawals of cash by some members of the cooperatives, who are fearful the national carrier will not be able to service its debts. Of the 82 cooperatives, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand cooperative has the biggest investment valued at B8.2bn. Mr Pichet said that not all cooperatives debentures mature at the same time, allowing the airline room to breathe and a wide window of repayment spanning from this year until 2034. This year, debentures worth B1bn held by 21 cooperatives are due. However, once the court accepts the airlines bankruptcy petition and sets the process in motion, the debentures will be reflected in the rehabilitation blueprint with revised repayment terms. He said the cooperative members investment in THAI is relatively small compared to the savings cooperatives B3.3 trillion nationwide tally. Meanwhile, the THAI workers union has reversed its stance and now says it will not stand in the way of the governments plan to reduce its stake in the national carrier, the unions president said on Wednesday. A New Jersey woman who has been accused of bludgeoning her wife to death with a wine chiller and going on the run was arrested on Wednesday in Houston, some 1,600 miles away from home. The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced the capture of 48-year-old Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, who faces murder and weapons charges in the death of her wife, 32-year-old Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus. According to a statement posted on the prosecutor's Facebook page, FBI agents, US Marshals and members of the Houston Police Department tracked down and captured Gavilenz-Alectus. Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus, 48 (left), was arrested on Thursday in Houston, Texas, for the May 17 killing of her wife, Rebecca, 32 (right) (right), in Brick Township, New Jersey 'It is our understanding that Gavilanez-Alectus traveled to Houston, from New York City by bus,' Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer stated. Mayra is currently lodged in the Harris County Jail pending extradition to Ocean County, New Jersey. 'It is extremely satisfying when law enforcement works together and we are able to get a dangerous person like Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus into custody,' Billhimer said. 'We will immediately begin extradition proceedings to bring Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus back to Ocean County to answer for these charges. Justice for Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus weighs heavy on all of our minds.' Prosecutors said Mayra (left) used a cylindrical wine chiller to strike and kill Rebecca Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus was founded bludgeoned do death inside the couple's home at this apartment complex on Creek Road According to a previous statement from the prosecutor's office, on Sunday police in Brick Township were called to an apartment on Creek Road for a report of an unresponsive woman. Officers arrived to find Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus dead in an upstairs bedroom. The next day, a medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. Rebecca's wife fled the scene after the attack, according to the authorities. A subsequent investigation revealed that Mayra allegedly used a cylindrical container used for the purpose of chilling wine to bludgeon her spouse of nearly two years to death. The couple have been married since July 2018 and lived in Ocean County, New Jersey On Mother's Day, Mayra posted this fawning message expressing her love for Rebecca 'The injuries sustained by Rebecca Gavilanez-Alectus were consistent with the implementation of this item,' the statement read. 'Further investigation ultimately determined that Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus did, in fact, cause the victims death.' Mayra had a warrant out for her arrest on murder and weapons charges A warrant had been issued for Mayra's arrest listing charges of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. 'Our focus now is to find Mayra Gavilanez-Alectus and bring her into custody,' Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer stated. The deadly domestic attack came a week after Mayra posted a fawning status update on her Facebook page written in English and Spanish, expressing her love for Rebecca and wishing her a happy Mother's Day. 'Mi amor gracias for all the uncountable ways you make this little crazy family... and my entire life better with every moment. (You know whats up I truly blessed that you are my wife. Te amo PRECIOSA. Hoy manan y siempre. Happy Mother's Day Mi Amor!! Authorities have not said what prompted the attack or what led them to believe Mayra was responsible for it. One of the last fugitives wanted over Rwanda's 1994 genocide, Felicien Kabuga, appeared before a Paris court Wednesday, insisting he wanted to be tried in France where he was arrested. Kabuga, who gave his age as 87, was apprehended at his home outside Paris on Saturday after a quarter century on the run, having lived for years under a false identity. His lawyers have insisted from the outset that he would challenge any attempt to extradite him to an international court. Kabuga was indicted by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 on seven counts, including genocide. The tribunal, headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania, formally closed in 2015 and its duties were transferred to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT). Felicien Kabuga, one of the last key suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, on a wanted poster. By Simon Wohlfahrt (AFP) Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor for the MICT, told AFP that Kabuga is expected to be tried in Arusha if extradited. It is possible he would first be transferred to the MICT's other branch in The Hague in the Netherlands due to travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic, Brammertz said. On Wednesday, Kabuga was pushed in a wheelchair into a Paris courtroom that will evaluate the arrest warrant issued by the MICT and decide whether he should be extradited or not. The court granted Kabuga's request for an eight-day postponement to prepare his defence. "He wants to be tried in France, that is what he asked me to fight for," defence lawyer Laurent Bayon told the court. Kabuga -- once one of Rwanda's richest men -- is accused of creating the notorious Interahamwe militia that carried out massacres, and the Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines which, in its broadcasts, incited people to murder. A wall of victims' names at the Kigali Genocide Memorial for the more than 800,000 people slaughtered. By Yasuyoshi CHIBA (AFP) He is alleged to have used his wealth and influence to funnel money to militia groups as chairman of the Fonds de Defense Nationale (FDN) fund. About 800,000 people -- Tutsis but also moderate Hutus -- were slaughtered over 100 days of ethnic violence committed by Hutu extremists in 1994. Along with former defence minister Augustin Bizimana and top-ranking military figure Protais Mpiranya -- both still at large -- Kabuga was one of the three most significant suspects still sought for the mass slaughter. Brammertz said international trackers were "motivated more than ever to find the remaining fugitives". If the Paris court rules in favour of Kabuga's extradition, he can still take his case to France's Court of Cassation which would have two months to give a ruling. French-Rwandan former hotel driver Claude Muhayimana is set to go on trial in Paris in February next year. He stands accused of transporting Hutu militiamen to sites where massacres were carried out. Capping airfares is a "bad and unfortunate" decision as pricing is most strategic to airlines, according to aviation consultancy CAPA South Asia, while global grouping IATA said carriers should have the freedom to make their commercial decisions. However, a senior airline official said the move would protect carriers from extremely low fares from competitors. After remaining under suspension for two months in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to curb spreading of coronavirus infections, domestic commercial flight operations would restart on May 25. Initially, airlines would operate with one-third of the capacity. The capping of airfares would be in force for three months after flight services resume on May 25. Briefing reporters on Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said if the prices were not fixed, then it was "entirely conceivable but I am not saying that it would have happened that fares would have skyrocketed and remained very high". "Once we exit from this three-month period, we can either return to status quo ante which is a situation prevailing prior to COVID or we can have a market-based system that is equitable," he noted. CAPA South Asia's CEO and Director Kapil Kaul said that partial and calibrated resumption of flight services is welcome but cap on fares is a "bad and unfortunate decision". "This decision will hurt airlines more than helping (them)... Interfering in pricing which is most strategic to airlines is taken based on a wrong advice," he told PTI. Referring to the coronavirus pandemic, the senior airline official said capping of airfafres in unprecedented situation like this is not a bad idea and rather it is a good move as airlines are also protected from from extremely low fares. Except for disasters like that happened in Nepal, J&K and Chennai, Kaul said this is the first time a "a network-wide fare capping has been introduced". CAPA South Asia is a consulting and research practice focussed on aviation and aerospace sector focussed consulting and research practice. There were restrictions on airfares during the time when Nepal was hit by a massive earthquake in 2015, Chennai floods in 2015 and floods in J&K in 2014. IATA Assistant Director (Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific) Albert Tjoeng said, "Airlines need to have the freedom to make their commercial decisions, including the pricing of airfares. Hence, we recognise and hope that this is a one-time measure as a result of COVID-19 and will be discontinued on August 24. "India's Air Corporation Act was repealed in 1994, so the announcement to regulate airfares more than 2 decades later comes across as certainly a step back." Travel portal EaseMyTrip.com Chairman and CEO Nishant Pitti said the government putting a cap on lower fare would reduce sale of future tickets among customers compared to pre-COVID-19 time while ceiling on higher fares would help customers to book their tickets even at the last minute. "This has been brought in place to ensure that the passengers, with very limited options available, are not exploited by being charged exorbitant fares and the sector does not suffer due to predatory pricing by a few players. This will have a direct impact on the customer's buying behaviour," he added. The minimum and maximum fares would be for seven categories that have been decided on the basis of flight duration. Flights operating for less than 40 minutes, 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes. "As we saw in the morning when some airlines opened bookings and later closed also, the fares which were reflecting at that time were very high. But then there is the possibility also of the fares hitting the rock bottom if demand slumps after the initial surge. So that way it (capping of fares) is a good move," the airline official quoted earlier said. Regarding airfares, the minister said there were complaints earlier but did not interfere saying market forces were operating here. "I have got extreme examples... we have studied this and we have looked at the corresponding rail fares," he noted. "Affordability is one criteria and equally we are conscious of the fact that airlines operate on thin margins. That their business models are based on high operating costs," Puri said as he mentioned about having minimum and maximum fares. The fare structure would be in place for three months till August 24. As an example, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the minimum fare on Delhi-Mumbai route would be Rs 3,500 and maximum at Rs 10,000. The second rider is that 40 per cent of the seats have to be sold at a fare less than the mid-point of the band and it is being ensured that fares don't go out of control also. At the same time, fares are reasonable for airlines also, he said. According to him, services would be started with one-third capacity and there is a huge pent up demand of last two months. "So fares have to be regulated. This is the mechanism we have brought," he said, adding that the fixed price excludes PSF, UDF and GST. GST is Goods and Services Tax while PSF is Passenger Services Fee and UDF stands for User Development Fee. Aviation regulator DGCA monitors airfares on certain routes on a random basis. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Competition for resources required for crop farming and grazing has driven the conflict between Hausa farmers and Fulani herders, two populations with close cultural ties in Nigerias northwest, according to a new report, which highlights other layers of violence that have precipitated humanitarian and economic challenges in the region. The report Violence in Nigerias North West: Rolling Back the Mayhem released this week by the International Crisis Group highlighted the farmer-herder conflict alongside Jihadi infiltration and a multiplicity of criminal activities, including kidnapping, robbery, and illicit trade in drugs and solid minerals, as having caused the atmosphere of insecurity and violence plaguing the region. Conflicts between farmers and herders, sparked by disputes over land and water resources, have long been part of life in northern Nigeria, but have reached critical levels in recent years, said the report. The factors that have exacerbated the resource-use conflicts in recent years, according to the report, are climatic and environmental changes and demographic pressures as well as government policy. Diminishing water sources and an increase in desert or semi-desert conditions have shrunk both arable land and pasture, the report said. The regions rapidly growing population has meanwhile increased demand for available land. In the absence of more efficient methods of both crop and livestock production, the desertification and the population growth have intensified competition for territory suitable for farming and grazing. Violence has accordingly accelerated in the last decade between largely Hausa farmers and predominantly Fulani pastoralists, two populations who live in close contact across north-western Nigeria, it added. Nigerias northwest, one of the countrys six geopolitical zones, includes Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. It covers an area of 216,065 sq km or 25.75 per cent of the countrys total landmass close to the size of the UK. The region predominantly has a Hausa/Fulani Muslim population. The report brought a perspective, that is rarely acknowledged in commentaries on Nigerias unabated herder-farmer violence: as the herders are involved in violence with farming populations in the Middle Belt and further south, so are they with Hausa farming groups in the northwest, commonly regarded as the core north. This perspective may help improve the understanding of the herder-farmer conflict in Nigeria as one not essentially rooted in any ethnoreligious expansionist agenda but competition for resources in the context of ecological degradation and unchecked population growth. Ethnicity and religion as well as weak governance may have only drawn out the conflict and made a solution rarely possible. The sub-humid Middle Belt, which is dominated by non-Hausa/Fulani groups, many of them Christians, is the main theatre of the farmer-herder violence between sedentary, indigenous farming populations and nomadic Fulani herders, who move southwards from the semi-arid core north during the dry season. But because the herders and farmers, in the Middle Belt violence, belong to different ethnoreligious groups, with a history of tension, the violence is commonly viewed as one driven by ethnoreligious ambitions. This interpretation has made the farmer-herder conflict a threat to Nigerias stability and unity. But the ICGs report, which highlights the environmental and demographic factors and the fact that Fulani herders are also in conflict with Hausa farmers in the core north, may now strengthen the ecological dimension to the conflict. The report also found that controversial government policies allocating land to farmers (including the allocation of large expanses to elite farmers) at the expense of herders, particularly since 1999 when the country returned to democratic rule has aggravated the conflict. To highlight an example, the report drew on the clearing of parts of Kuyambana forests, including grazing reserves and Fulani herders hamlets, in Zamfara State, and allocation of the land for crop farming, thereby causing herders trespass on farmlands and then farmers demands for compensation for damaged crops. While farmers complained of herders trespassing on their farms and damaging crops, herders protested the compensation they had to pay for damaged crops, and complained that farmers, district heads, police and courts were colluding against them in a corrupt process, the report said, adding, The stage was set for more deadly confrontations. According to the report, the conflict has now had wider ramifications with the Hausa and Fulani farmers, respectively, mobilising for protection bandits and vigilantes, who have then become sources of insecurity and crimes themselves. READ ALSO: The report said: These groups raised funds for arms acquisition from a combination of community contributions and a range of other activities allegedly including kidnapping for ransom. As violence escalated, they increasingly acquired more sophisticated firepower, much of it in the form of arms smuggled in from the Sahara and the Sahel via international routes. They have also procured weapons from other armed groups in north-eastern Nigeria, including the Boko Haram offshoot, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), or from corrupt government security personnel, gun importers in southern Nigeria and local gunsmiths. Apart from Jihadi infiltration stemming from the terrorism in the northeast and the farmer-herder conflict, the report also found a link between the violence in the northwest and artisanal gold mining in the region since the 2009 rise in the world market price of gold. Violence is also orchestrated by attackers with the purpose of scaring residents and state security agents away from the mining areas in order to take control, leading to further displacement of populations and dilution of state presence on the ground. Criminal groups use proceeds from such raids to acquire more weapons and fuel yet more criminal activity, the report said. According to the report, violence claimed an estimated eight thousand lives between 2011 and 2019 and, based on a 2019 joint assessment by UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, displaced 210,354 persons from 171 towns across the northwestern region. While security operations could not secure the region sustainably, the report said the dialogues so far had proven short-lived. Sustainable peace requires a more comprehensive response by Nigerian authorities, at both the state and federal levels, that addresses drivers of violence in the region, the report said. It recommended the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan, sustainable peace and threat management, humanitarian support and livelihood recovery support, tighter community and border security, forestry and mining sector reforms, and climate change and environmental restoration actions. Violence in Nigerias North West: Rolli Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. In the suburbs of Baltimore, workers at one nursing home said they were given rain ponchos to protect from infection. Twenty-five employees at the facility, where most residents are African-American, tested positive for the coronavirus. READ OUR STORY ABOUT ONE EAST L.A. NURSING HOME Facing The Coronavirus With Swim Goggles. The Unequal Toll In Our Nursing Homes One of the many black residents of a nursing home in Belleville, Ill., died in April amid a coronavirus outbreak. But his niece complained that he was never tested for the virus. In East Los Angeles, a staff member at a predominantly Latino nursing home where an outbreak emerged said she was given swimming goggles before professional gear could be obtained. She said she later tested positive for the virus. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated the nation's nursing homes, sickening staff members, ravaging residents and contributing to at least 20 percent of the nation's COVID-19 death toll. The impact has been felt in cities and suburbs, in large facilities and small, in poorly rated homes and in those with stellar marks. But COVID-19 has been particularly virulent toward African-Americans and Latinos: Nursing homes where those groups make up a significant portion of the residents -- no matter their location, no matter their size, no matter their government rating -- have been twice as likely to get hit by the coronavirus as those where the population is overwhelmingly white. More than 60 percent of nursing homes where at least a quarter of the residents are black or Latino have reported at least one coronavirus case, a New York Times analysis shows. That is double the rate of homes where black and Latino people make up less than 5 percent of the population. And in nursing homes, a single case often leads to a handful of cases, and then a full-fledged outbreak. The nation's nursing homes, like many of its schools, churches and neighborhoods, are largely segregated. And those that serve predominantly black and Latino residents tend to receive fewer stars on government ratings. Those facilities also tend to house more residents and to be located in urban areas, which are risk factors in the pandemic. Yet the disparities in outbreaks among homes with more Latino and black residents have also unfolded in confusing ways that experts say are difficult to explain. The race and ethnicity of the people living in a nursing home was a predictor of whether it was hit with COVID-19. But the Times analysis found that the federal government's five-star rating system, often used to judge the quality of a nursing home, was not a predictor. Even predominantly black and Latino nursing homes with high ratings were more likely to be affected by the coronavirus than were predominantly white nursing homes with low ratings, the data showed. To better understand the disparities in Maryland, California and Illinois, The Times teamed up with The Baltimore Sun, KPCC/LAist and The Southern Illinoisan to interview dozens of current and former nursing home workers, residents and their relatives. The Villa at Windsor Park nursing home on the South Side of Chicago. (Danielle Scruggs for The New York Times) Eric Russell, who moved his mother to a different nursing home in the Chicago area after she tested positive for the virus, said the prevalence of cases in homes with more black residents was alarming, and needed to be more widely understood and examined by the authorities. "Nobody gave a damn about the black people dying at a higher clip," Mr. Russell said. At his mother's former nursing home, Villa at Windsor Park on Chicago's South Side, where most residents are black, at least 121 residents and employees have been infected and 24 people have died. Company officials said in a statement that they had proactively sought testing for Villa at Windsor Park residents and tried to limit the spread of the virus. The coronavirus has been infecting and killing people of color at disproportionately high rates in the United States, data has shown. And officials in the nursing home industry say that the situations playing out inside homes largely reflect the circumstances unfolding outside their walls. "Typically, what occurs in the general population is mirrored in long-term care facilities," said Dr. David Gifford, chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, which represents the industry. Nursing homes within communities that have been hot spots for the virus are more likely to see outbreaks, he said, especially in large facilities with lots of employees coming in and out. Small nursing homes, which are disproportionately occupied by white residents, tend to have fewer outbreaks than larger facilities, and urban nursing homes have more outbreaks than suburban or rural ones. But the Times analysis found that a racial disparity remained even after accounting for a variety of factors, including the size of a nursing home, the infection rate in the surrounding county, the population density of the neighborhood and how many residents had Medicaid or Medicare. Large homes with few black and Latino residents were less likely to have outbreaks than large ones with more black and Latino residents. A home in an urban area was less likely to get hit by the virus if it had a small black and Latino population. The Times analysis, which covers the 22 hardest-hit states for which data is available and the District of Columbia, represents a snapshot in time, and the picture could change as the crisis wears on. Based on data collected as of May 16, the analysis could not determine whether there was a disparity in rates of illness or death for white residents and people of color within nursing homes because data was not available. About 1.3 million people live in the nation's nursing homes, according to federal data. About 80 percent of those residents are identified as white by nursing home administrators. Long before the pandemic, there was disparity in homes. Those with more black and Latino residents tended to score worse than mostly white homes on quality metrics used by regulators. And they were more likely to have been punished for serious rule violations. "I had roommates who pushed the call button because they needed help to go to the bathroom," said Armand Harris, who said he was discharged in February from Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward, Calif., after receiving care for cancer and kidney disease. "After about a half-hour or 45 minutes, they would just go on themselves." Gateway Care and Rehabilitation is a nursing home in Hayward, Ca.(Jim Wilson/The New York Times Officials from Gateway, which has had a diverse group of residents who are black, Latino, white and Asian, did not respond to specific criticisms from former residents, workers and relatives that the home had serious problems with hygiene and attentiveness to residents before the coronavirus crisis. In a statement, they said workers were doing all they could to keep residents safe and healthy. They said there had been "significant mischaracterizations and misrepresentations" about their handling of the crisis, but gave no specifics. The situation there only grew worse, the interviews suggested, once the pandemic hit. At least 100 residents and employees were infected, and 17 died, including some of Mr. Harris's friends. "I got out in the nick of time," said Mr. Harris, who is of mixed racial background. The Alameda County district attorney's office said it was investigating deaths at Gateway and the safety and well-being of its residents. Nationally, at least 106,000 people have been sickened by the virus in more than 4,000 skilled nursing facilities, which do not include stand-alone assisted living centers, retirement communities and other long-term care facilities. Almost 19,000 people have died, and that is quite likely a significant undercount. All sorts of nursing homes, including those with mostly white residents, have been affected. In Maryland, 80 percent of nursing homes with high black and Latino populations have been hit by the coronavirus, double the rate for homes with hardly any such residents. At the FutureCare Lochearn nursing home, in Baltimore, 158 residents and 75 employees tested positive for the virus over a few weeks, and 20 have died. Holly O'Shea, a spokeswoman for FutureCare, said the large number of infections reflected the widespread testing that the company sought out. Anita Kelly, whose father fell ill at FutureCare, said she was angry that testing had not come sooner, and said she wondered whether the fact that her father and most other FutureCare residents were black had played a role. Her father, Alexander F. Gaskins, a former interior decorator who tested positive for the virus, died on April 19. "They wouldn't stand for it," Ms. Kelly said of how officials might react if the pandemic was disproportionately affecting white Americans. "But it's killing us at a higher rate and we don't take it serious." In some facilities that had coronavirus outbreaks, concerns about how residents were being cared for came well before the virus. Bria of Belleville, in southern Illinois, has been tied to at least 22 cases and two deaths. It is one of more than 300 nursing homes in the state where the virus has been detected. Bria, where many residents are black, has a one-star overall rating, the lowest available, from the federal government. Juanita Willis helped look after her uncle Ralph Wellmaker, who had lived at the home since last summer. Ms. Willis said she had raised concerns about sanitation and staffing at the home, and she described the care there as "just horrible." Ms. Willis, a nurse at a St. Louis medical center, is still unsure whether her uncle had the virus. She last visited him in early March, shortly before visitors were told to stay away. In mid-April, she received a call from a hospital social worker asking about funeral arrangements for her uncle, learning for the first time that he had died two days earlier. His death certificate listed cardiac arrest as a cause of death, but records indicate he was not tested for the virus, according to the local coroner's office. "It is very upsetting," Ms. Willis said. "I think once they got the first case, they should have tested everyone in the facility." In a statement, Bria officials defended the quality of care at the Belleville facility, noted the difficulty in securing coronavirus tests and said Mr. Wellmaker lived in a part of the center separated from people known to have had the virus. "Bria of Belleville took early and aggressive steps to protect the health and safety of its residents and staff," the facility's administrator, Stephanie Birch, said in a statement. Along with residents of nursing homes, thousands of nurses and aides have been sickened by the virus in an industry where African-Americans make up an outsize share of the work force. Dozens of nursing home workers interviewed across the country described short-staffed, disorganized facilities that sometimes lacked adequate protective gear amid the pandemic. Workers fell ill, alongside their patients. In Baltimore County, at the Forest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where many residents are black, workers said they were given rain ponchos and nylon hair bonnets in early April, after Maryland required all nursing homes to provide the staff with protective equipment. Forest Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Catonsville, Md. (Karl Merton Ferron/The Baltimore Sun) They have since received proper supplies, including face shields, masks and gowns. But at least 97 people, including 27 workers, have contracted the virus and eight residents have died. Ron Colbert, the facility's administrator, said the home was restricting visitor access, screening anyone who entered for symptoms, and following federal guidelines for personal protective equipment and patient isolation. Asked in an email about the ponchos and hair bonnets, Mr. Colbert did not respond. Donna Johnson, a cook at Forest Haven who says she was given a mask for protection, said she came down with a 102-degree fever in April and tested positive for the virus. She said she worried that the virus made its way in because some staff members were working in multiple facilities. She said her strongest concern was for the residents. "It's so unfair to them," Ms. Johnson said. "They contracted this through no fault of their own." In East Los Angeles, at the Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center, a five-star facility where many residents are Latino, Alma Lara-Garcia, a certified nursing assistant, said workers were not given masks until April, well into the outbreak in the United States. Ms. Lara-Garcia said administrators told her that they were going to order medical-grade eye protection, but that suppliers were out. Instead, she said, she was given orange plastic swimming goggles. The goggles did not fit under her glasses, so she did not wear them. Not long after, she said, she started to feel sick. She said she was told to come into work anyway. Days later, she said, she was sent home when she complained of a sore throat and uncontrollable coughing, and she eventually tested positive for the virus at a county-run testing site. Tiana Thompson, Buena Ventura's administrator, said that the facility had worked to secure protective gear for workers and that Ms. Lara-Garcia had not been asked to work while sick. "At no time has Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center asked any employee who reported experiencing Covid-related symptoms to report to work," Ms. Thompson said in an email. At least 83 residents and employees have contracted the virus, and at least a dozen of them have died. Buena Ventura Post Acute Care Center in East Los Angeles. (Chava Sanchez/KPCC/LAist( Sheelagh McNeill contributed research. How The Numbers Were Calculated Bigg Boss 13 contestant Shehnaaz Gills father Santokh Singh, has been accused of rape. According to the media reports, Shehnaaz Gills father has raped a woman at gunpoint. Santok Singh aka Sukh Pradhan has also been booked by Punjab police in rape charges. As per the reports, a 40-year-old woman came to Santokh Singhs house to meet his boyfriend Randhir Singh Sidhu, who stays at his place, with her friend. Report stated that Sukh asked the lady to get in his car and said that he would take her to his boyfriend. Sukh took her near Rohi bridge and raped her at gunpoint. Later, he dropped her back to her friends place and threatened to kill if she disclosed anything about the incident or told the truth to anyone. The incident took place on May 14 but FIR was lodged on May 19. Harpreet Kaur, the inspector said that the case has been filed against Santok Singh. The police have also searched Santok Singhs house but he is absconding. The police has already started the investigation. Also Read: Netflix Choked trailer: Anurag Kashyaps twisted take on demonetisation will keep you hooked, watch Revealing about the same subject in an interview, Shehnaaz Gills brother Shehbaz denied all these allegations. He added that yes the complaint has been filed but all these allegations are false. He said that the lady is trying to defame his father. He added that though his family is quite disturbed, they have enough proofs against the lady. He said that they have also arranged for the CCTV footage where the incident happened. For all the latest Entertainment News, download NewsX App Vanaprastham (1999) Mohanlal played a rowdy who is estranged from his father due to his unruly ways. His father is a maths genius and the son could never match his expectations and hence became a goon. He does try to change his ways near the end, leading to brief reconciliation, but his fathers murder makes him go on a revenge spree. directed by Bhadran and starring Mohanlal. Dialogues were written by Rajendra Babu. The film directed by Bhadran, stars Thilakan, Urvashi, Spadikam George, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Rajan P. Dev, Silk Smitha, Nedumudi Venu, Chippy, and V. K. Sreeraman besides Mohanlal. It won him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor and Filmfare Award for Best Actor. You tend to run out of superlatives when it comes to describing someone like Mohanlal. Actors are often told to behave as if the camera isnt there. Mohanlal is one of the very few actors who have embodied that. Watching him, we truly feel were watching someone going about his life and not an actor going about his role. He makes acting look easy. He has acted in all kinds of cinema but is said to have excelled in those roles where he plays a common man dealing with everyday struggles. Though hes an excellent orator, yet its through little gestures and his expressive eyes that he emotes the most. An actor should also leave things unsaid and let the audience fill in the silence and he has been known to do that in most of his films. Along with his friend and rival Mammootty he has been ruling Malayalam cinema since the last 40 years and hasnt let age slow him down. The actor turns 60 today. We bring you a list of his films where he won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Hes one actor who should be explored more and we hope this list will help you achieve that end.It is a comedy directed by Sathyan Anthikkad, The film stars Mohanlal, Karthika, Sreenivasan and M. G. Soman. Mohanlal won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for it. The story revolves around a house owner who has huge debts to pay and is hoping to sell off his house to repay them but his tenants refuse to move out because they have problems of their own. It was remade in Hindi by Priyadarshan as Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar (2001).They say the children often have to bear the brunt of the sins committed by the parents. The film revolved around this idea and had Mohanlal playing the dual role of father and son. The film is directed by R. Sukumaran and also stars Seema and Nedumudi Venu besides Mohanlal. The film won Mohanlal the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and Kerala State Film Award Special Jury Award as well.Mohanlal played a spoilt rich heir who however harbours a terrible secret in his heart. He can be totally crude at one point -- the way he insults a talented Bharatnatyam dancer (Revathi) by making her dance in his courtyard -- but can be benevolent as well -- as he later helps her resurrect her career. Hes caught in a circle of rivalry with another rich man, played by Napoleon, which ends in his cutting off the latters hand in the blood-ridden climax. The film was directed by I. V. Sasi and starred Mohanlal, Revathi, Napoleon, Innocent, V. K. Sreeraman, Maniyanpilla Raju, and Augustine.Its one of the most emotional films ever of Mohanlal. He plays a man forced by circumstances to take care of his younger sister -- the catch is that there is a gap of almost 30 years between them. So he literally becomes her father, leaving aside his own dreams and aspirations because of that. He won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for the film directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar and starring Mohanlal, Shobana, Vinduja Menon, Thilakan, Srividya, Sreenivasan, Nedumudi Venu and Innocent.Directed by Shaji N. Karun. It stars Mohanlal in one of his most celebrated roles. He plays a male Kathakali artist belonging to a lower caste who is rejected both by his father and his lover as they belong to the upper caste. His lover loves the character of Arjun he plays on stage than the man he is and doesnt even make him meet the son she has by him. This leads him to shun heroic characters and enact anti-heroes. Mohanlals dancing was said to be pitch-perfect in the film, despite reportedly having no training in the art form. The film also starred Suhasini Maniratnam, Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar, Kalamandalam Gopi, and Venmani Haridas. Besides the Filmfare trophy, he also won the National Award for Best Actor, as well as the Kerala State Award.The film contains one of the most powerful performances by Mohanlal. He plays a middle-class man devoted to his family whose world turns upside down when hes diagnosed with Familial Alzheimer's disease, a disease which causes a gradual loss of memory and cognitive abilities. He expertly conveyed the changes brought out by the disease in his portrayal. Besides the Filmfare Best Actor, he also won a Kerala State Film Award for his bravura performance. The film was directed by Blessy and also stars Arjun Lal, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Meera Vasudevan and Prathap Pothan.The popular belief is that the Partition affected the lives of Punjabis and Bengalis but it had far-reaching consequences and touched the lives of people from all across the country. Mohanlal played one such man who leaves his hometown in the Malabar region of Kerala in search of a job and reaches Karachi. When he comes back, hes branded as a Pakistani spy by the authorities and faces all sorts of harassment. Directed by P. T. Kunju Muhammed, it also stars Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Swetha Menon, Padmapriya Janakiraman, Jagathy Sreekumar, and Siddique besides Mohanlal. Apart from the Filmfare trophy, he also won the Kerala State Award as well. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Highlights Global Covid-19 Analysis on RTD Alcoholic Beverages Market is expected to garner a revenue of USD 32 Billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 3% during the forecast period of 2019 to 2024. RTD alcoholic beverages are ready to consume drinks containing low amounts of alcohol. The entrance of new market players in the global RTD alcoholic beverages market is increasing the challenges faced by the existing players. Manufacturers of RTD alcoholic beverages are facing threats due to the implementation of stringent regulations and amendments in laws and taxation policies. For instance, in South Africa, spirit coolers can only be sold at liquor stores and cannot be consumed by people under the age of 18. However, the rising demand for innovative flavors in RTD alcoholic beverages by millennials is expected to render lucrative opportunities to market players during the forecast period. Key Players Some of the key players in the Global Covid-19 Analysis on RTD Alcoholic Beverages Market are Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (Belgium), Carlsberg Breweries A/S (Denmark), Suntory Holdings Limited (Japan), Diageo PLC (UK), Pernod Ricard SA (France), Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (Japan), Bacardi Limited (Bermuda), Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. (US), The Brown-Forman Corporation (US), Molson Coors Brewing Company (US), Davide Campari Milano SpA (Italy), Shanghai Bacchus Limited (China), Halewood International Limited (UK), Global Brands Ltd (UK) and Heineken N.V. (Netherlands) Key Developments In February 2019, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV acquired Cutwater Spirits, a US-based spirits company, with an aim to expand its premium canned cocktails segment in the US market. In January 2018, Diageo PLC launched its first pre-mixed gin & tonic under its brand Tanqueray. Industry Segment Global Covid-19 Analysis on RTD Alcoholic Beverages Market has been segmented on the basis of base type, packaging type, and distribution channel. By base type, the global RTD alcoholic beverages market has been divided into whiskey, rum, vodka, gin, and others. The rum segment is expected to dominate the global RTD alcoholic beverages market during the research period as different flavors infuse easily in rum. Thus, the increasing demand for new flavored RTD alcoholic beverages is driving the growth of the segment. However, the vodka segment is expected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period due to the high ability of vodka to blend with different juices to form vodka-based cocktails. The global RTD alcoholic beverages market has been segregated, by packaging type, into bottles and cans. The bottles segment is expected to gain the larger market share owing to the high impermeability of glass bottles. RTD alcoholic beverages can be stored in glass bottles for longer durations. However, the cans segment is expected to register the higher growth rate during the forecast period due to the ease of consumption. By distribution channel, the global RTD alcoholic beverages market has been classified as store-based and non-store-based. The store-based segment has further been divided into supermarkets and hypermarkets, specialty stores, and others. The store-based segment is expected to garner the larger market share in 2018 due to the high availability of RTD alcoholic beverages in supermarkets and hypermarkets. Moreover, consumers, especially in the UAE, prefer to buy alcoholic beverages from duty-free shops. However, the non-store-based segment is expected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period due to the increasing presence of third-party online retailers and prominent market players in e-commerce. Some of the strategies followed by the players operating in the market were product launches, innovations, mergers, and expansions. Browse Full Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/rtd-alcoholic-beverages-market-7920 Regional Analysis Global RTD Alcoholic Beverages Market has been segmented, by region, into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the rest of the world. Europe is projected to dominate the global RTD alcoholic beverages market due to the presence of key market players in the region. In addition, the high consumption of alcoholic beverages in the region is driving the growth of the European RTD alcoholic beverages market. However, increasing consumption of RTD alcoholic beverages by millennials is expected to drive the growth of the market in Asia-Pacific; the regional market, which is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Related Covid-19 Analysis on FnB Reports: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-frozen-snacks-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-natural-antimicrobials-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/report/covid-19-impact-cold-pressed-juice-market The most remarkable move by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle this year was renouncing their roles as senior members of the British royal family. The former royal couple commenced 2020 with this huge declaration, choosing to become financially independent members of the public. The split with the royal family did not go as smoothly as anticipated, but Prince Harry and the Queen worked out a deal that turned out to be favorable to everyone. On a spectacularly sunny day in Windsor, England 2 years ago, the Sussexes' marriage took place. The newly christened duchess wore a Claire Waight Keller for Givenchy wedding dress with a glistening tiara perched on her head as glided into St. George's Chapel. As we commemorate the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's second year of marriage, we take a look back at a special moment between them. In May 2016, the city where the former Hollywood actress filmed the series "Suits" and where the prince was initiating the 2017 Invictus Games, they were set up by a mutual friend. This moment transpired before relocating to Los Angeles, before the Windsor weddings, and before two tabloid lawsuits. Prince Harry reported the meeting to the press, and said he had a gut feeling that Markle was the one "the very first time we met." He was smitten at first sight. "I was beautifully surprised when I walked into that room and saw her. I was like, okay, well, I'm really gonna have to up my game!" When reports broke of the duke and duchess' newfound romance, TV presenter Lizzie Cundy said she immediately messaged Markle. She said that Markle's first impression of Prince Harry was that he was a "catch." Also Read: Meghan Markle Allegedly a Flirt as She 'Toyed' With Men's Feelings Reports then came that the prince has been secretly dating the "Suits" actress. Prince Harry is "happier than he's been for many years" and "there's definitely chemistry between them," a source said. The former royal pair met in the summer of 2016 in their first interview post-engagement. Dating normally comprises of a little social media stalking or a series of messages before a first date in the modern era. But the two alleged that both knew very little about each other before the meetup as they were set up on a blind date. "It was just a really authentic and organic way to get to know each other," Markle remarked. Their transatlantic relationship rose to a new feat after being set up. They started text messaging each other daily and Markle eventually started following Prince Harry's private Instagram account. "Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily," a source shared. The mutual friend was initially thought to be Markus Anderson, but the mystery matchmaker was confirmed to be Violet von Westenholz, the daughter of a baron. Von Westenholz is a childhood friend of Prince Harry's and also works in PR with Ralph Lauren which is how she met Markle. Related Article: Princess Diana Psychic Writes Letter About Prince Harry 'Beyond the Grave' @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Denmark began re-opening museums and zoos ahead of schedule today as virologists said the virus epidemic was slowing despite the lifting of quarantine measures. Museums, zoos, theatres and cinemas were due to stay shut until June 8 - but the Danish government has decided to accelerate the end of the lockdown. A deal agreed in parliament last night will also see the border opened to residents of Nordic countries and Germany who want to visit relatives or second homes. The Danish health agency SSI said the coronavirus rate of transmission (R) had fallen to 0.6, down from 0.7 on May 7, meaning that the outbreak is slowing. Visitors walk around Blaavand Zoo in Denmark today after a series of attractions including museums and cinemas were allowed to open early An R rate of 0.6 means that 100 virus patients typically infect another 60 people, meaning that the number of cases falls over time. A rate above 1.0 means that the epidemic is accelerating, and several countries have identified it as a key indicator of whether it is safe to resume normal life. Denmark began loosening restrictions in mid-April, and says the lifting of lockdown has not caused a surge in new cases. Last Friday, the country reported no new coronavirus cases for the first time since the crisis began to engulf Europe in March. 'We now have the coronavirus under control,' said Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen last week. However, another SSI report showed that only one per cent of Danes were carrying antibodies - raising fears that the country could be vulnerable to a second wave. People look at the animals in Blaavand Zoo today, after Denmark decided to accelerate the end of lockdown with the rate of transmission falling Danish authorities have reported 11,182 cases and 561 deaths in total, while only 18 people are currently in intensive care. High school students will begin returning to classrooms shortly, after the youngest children returned on April 15 middle schools resumed this week. Some museums opened their doors as early as today, although others will wait until the weekend or next week. 'It was pure cheer. Finally, we can get started,' Peter Kjargaard, director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, told broadcaster DR. Kjargaard added that he was excited to show off the museum's new dinosaur exhibit, although it will not be finished for another month. The border remains closed, but the list of exceptions will be expanded to include permanent residents of all the Nordic countries and Germany wanting to visit relatives, loved ones or homes they own in Denmark. EDWARDSVILLE Madison County will roll out mobile coronavirus testing starting next week, according to Madison County Director of Public Health Toni Corona said. Chairman Kurt Prenzler announced during Wednesdays county board meeting that the county was working to increase the availability of testing for the underserved, low-income and minority communities. He said Corona and county board member Ray Wesley, R-Godfrey, who chairs of the Health Department Committee worked with Southern Illinois Health Care Foundation, SIU School of Medicine and Lewis and Clark Community College to bring the program forward. We received confirmation (Wednesday) afternoon that the mobile COVID-19 testing unit can travel to underserved areas in the county, and do drive-through or walk up testing, Prenzler said. Wesley said hes ecstatic such a program is being made available. We need to do all we can to support such a program as it will help those who are underserved, he said. Corona said SIHF is set to start in Alton next week. She said that in the near future the testing would expand into other communities such as Madison, Venice and Collinsville. Prenzler said Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean of the SIU School of Medicine, offered to train staff and volunteers for the mobile testing unit and LCCC offered to lend its mobile health unit. I think this is truly a win-win for our county, Prenzler said. Wesley thanked Ed Hightower, vice chair of SIU Board of Trustees, for helping to facilitate a meeting between the school of medicine and Corona. Board members Gussie Glasper of Venice, Michael Doc Holliday of Alton and Victor Valentine of Edwardsville also gave input in helping secure locations in the underserved, low-income and minority communities. I am thankful to all those involved, as its much needed and much appreciated, Glasper said. Prenzler said hes appreciative for the work by Wesley and Corona as well as Kruse, LCCC Trustee Kevin Rust and LCCC Interim President Dr. Lori Artis. Its been a truly collaborative effort and Im excited to see this rolled out, Prenzler said. Corona said she is happy with the partnerships. Working with these agencies and what weve identified is that we still have a problem in communities where people dont have transportation or are medically underserved, Corona said. She said mobile testing for COVID-19 is unique and getting testing to those special areas within the countys population is a good thing. She said the health department would also be evaluating items and associated costs and hopes to use minimal resources for the program. We will be doing our best to be responsible and resourceful, she said. As we start to open up and people are moving around, this program will allow us to target areas for testing. While a ceasefire in Syria has reduced combat between rebels and government forces, mercenaries from the two sides are still fighting in Libya on behalf of their Russian and Turkish backers. Turkey supports some Syrian rebels and Libya's UN-recognised Government of National Accord, while Russia supports Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Libya's eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar. Ankara and Moscow brokered the recent truce in Syria but fighting is ongoing in Libya, where Haftar's forces have been trying to seize Tripoli for over a year. A recent rapprochement between Assad and Haftar shows the increasing overlap between the two conflicts. In March, Libya's parallel eastern government reopened the Libyan embassy in Damascus after it was closed in 2012, while flights resumed recently between the Syrian capital and Benghazi, Haftar's domain 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) east of the Libyan capital. A recent confidential United Nations report identified 33 flights by Syria's private Cham Wings Airline to Libya this year, believed to be carrying Syrian mercenaries. "It is estimated from ground sources that the number of Syrian foreign fighters supporting (Haftar's) operations is less than 2,000," wrote the UN experts, who are monitoring an arms embargo on Libya. The experts alleged that Cham Wings flew the Syrians to Libya for three-month contracts with Russian private military company Wagner, who reportedly recruited the mercenaries to fight for Haftar. Moscow denies any role in the presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya. When the UN panel asked Damascus about the flights to Benghazi, the Syrian government said the flights were for civilians, "particularly those Syrians living in Libya". "The panel is unconvinced of the veracity of that response," the UN experts wrote. - 'Common enemy' - Damascus and Haftar have a "common enemy" in Turkey, Oxford University researcher Samuel Ramani notes. Russia may be behind the warming relationship between Syria and the Libyan strongman, Ramani said. For Moscow, "the aim would be to warn Turkey that it could retaliate asymmetrically against Turkish military actions in Syria with a reciprocal escalation in Libya, creating two fronts for Turkey and forcing it to overstretch," he told AFP. The UN experts estimated that up to 5,000 Syrian mercenaries may be in Libya, including "those fighters recruited by Turkey in support of the GNA". Turkey has acknowledged sending fighters to support the GNA in Libya, but has not specified the number. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes the number to be much higher and says Turkey has sent 9,000 Syrian mercenaries to Libya, including 150 minors. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said "3,300 more fighters are being trained in Turkish bases" before being sent to front lines south of the Libyan capital. Abdel Rahman said the Syrian mercenaries belong to the National Army, a coalition of pro-Turkish Syrian rebels based in Idlib province, and estimated that 298 of them have been killed in Libya, including 17 child soldiers. He was unsure of the number of Syrian mercenaries supporting Haftar. Oxford academic Ramani said many of the mercenaries were motivated to escape "poverty, unemployment and socioeconomic deprivation in Syria". Russia had recruited the mercenaries, who fought alongside Wagner group in Libya, Ramani said. The United Arab Emirates, which also supports Haftar, has recruited Sudanese mercenaries, Ramani said. Foreign involvement in Libya and Syria has exacerbated both conflicts, in which hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions displaced. Were also vocal proponents of the benefits of work, and signatory to the Consensus Statement on the Health Benefits of Work. So, Connect2Work is a perfect match for us. The SIRA programme facilitates a short-term voluntary work placement for individuals looking for work or recovering from an injury and unable to return to suitable employment with their pre-injury employer due to the coronavirus crisis. Lifting the lid on the initiatives suitability, the rehabilitation provider explained: Recovery Partners already help workers access Work Trial or Host Employment opportunities through our online job portal. This job listing site provides access to a large number of host employers willing to provide work placement or paid employment opportunities to injured workers. Weve also developed a comprehensive network of contacts in a wide range of industries, so we were able to quickly match workers and hosts who were eligible for the Connect2Work programme. According to new employer services general manager John Zaharis, Recovery Partners is doing a lot in the areas of airline and hospitality, given that these industries have been the hardest hit. Weve been working with hospitality staff, baggage handlers, and transport workers who would ordinarily be employed at various hospitality venues or Sydney Airport to help find new opportunities for them with host employers during the pandemic, noted Zaharis. The Connect2Work programme has helped us connect a lot of people, and were pleased to be able to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on employers and employees in any way we can. W hitbread, the owner of Premier Inn hotels, today announced it was raising 1 billion in a rights issue to strengthen its balance sheet in the wake of covid lockdowns. The company which sold its Costa Coffee business to Coca-Cola last year added that the money would be used to fund opportunistic purchases of land for new hotels at bargain basement prices in the coming recessions in the UK and Germany. The fundraiser will see existing shareholders offered rights to buy one new share for every two existing ones, marking a steep dilution in their stakes for those who choose not to take up the offer. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have underwritten the offer. Most other companies raising emergency money have done so through share placings, effectively selling shares to anybody who wants them. However it was decided that the amount of money Whitbread needed compared to the shrunken size of its stock market value meant that was not an option. Chief executive Alison Brittain told the Evening Standard: "This is not about us running out of cash. We have facilities for many months of closure. This is about us being on the front foot because we do think there will be many opportunities available from now." She added that the most lucrative expansions of Premier Inn had always been in recessions when rival chains were struggling financially but Whitbread had retained enough firepower to keep buying and building new sites. The years after the financial crisis, from 2008 to 2012, marked the strongest periods of growth for Premier Inn, again at a time when rivals were struggling. It grew its room numbers by 28% in that period while the independent sector fell 12% in that period. Upscale hotels grew around 10% in the same years. She conceded that the growth then had not required any emergency funding from shareholders, but added: "Back then we had revpar (revenues per available room) down 10%. Now we're totally closed. It's a different situation." Germany is likely to see the bulk of the spending because the industry there is on the cusp of a major shift from small mom and pop hotels to bigger, more dependable branded chains, she said. "We need this rights issue to put us in a position where we can invest with confidence." Whitbread's top shareholders were supportive of the move, she said. Small retail investors were only hearing of the plan when it went public today, she conceded, but said it was good for them that they would be allowed the same terms to buy the new shares as big institutions. Most of the share placings done by other firms have excluded retail investors. Brittain predicted she would be reopening hotels in the coming weeks in "tens and 20s", describing herself as "bullish" about the reopening prospects for its 820 UK hotels. That will be welcomed by its 27,000 furloughed staff. "We already have 39 open. First that was for NHS and other key workers but increasingly it's people in construction, energy and other sectors that have been encouraged to open by the government." There had been no covid transmission in those 39 sites, she said. "We think th emarket is starting to come back to life. We have been receiving requests from our customers to get our hotels open." Sceptics of Whitbread's shares argue people will travel far less after covid due to concerns about contracting or spreading the virus. Brittain said: "We think people will travel domestically, and why would they stay in high spec hotels when they can't use any of the social areas, bars and restaurants, anyway?" Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:35:01|Editor: Lu Hui Video Player Close Workers paint a line on the street to adapt the mobility of pedestrians and ensure social distancing in Barcelona, Spain, May 19, 2020. Barcelona was adapting its main avenues and streets to meet the requirements for people's mobility in Spain's government de-escalation plan. (Barcelona City Hall/Handout via Xinhua) Pakistan: Can the Indus Delta be saved by the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam? May 21,2020 | Source: Pakistan Today With the recent signing of the accord between Pakistans Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and Chinese state-run China Power to build the Diamer-Bhasha dam, the debate around its impact on the decrepit Indus Delta has been renewed. It is argued that the dam will further damage the delta and its ecology, harming the lives of those who live there. The rationale for building the dam is that it will add 4500 MW of electricity to the National Grid and its 6.4 MAF usable water storage capacity will alleviate the irrigation shortage in the Indus Basin arising from siltation in the existing reservoirs. The dam is also expected to reduce the intensity of floods that occur during the monsoon season. It is also stated, though not officially, that Indias construction of dams on the Indus River has reduced the water flow in Pakistan and we have to build dams of our own to prevent the water being wasted as it flows out into the Arabian Sea. But, from an ecological point of view, the water which runs down into the sea is not being wasted. The river brings with it sediments that form a bulwark against the sea when they get deposited as the river and sea meet. This soil supports the growth of mangroves and marine life, and prevents the salination of groundwater via the sea. When less sediments are deposited, the soil of the delta crumbles downward, thus allowing sea water to encroach inwards. The reduction of deltas is not only due to the building of dams. Other anthropogenic activities such as diverting waters to canals, groundwater extraction, oil and gas extraction, and fisheries can also have an impact. Climate change, too, is shown to contribute slightly. This is why the Indus Delta has been receding since the mid-19th century even though dams have only come in the fray after Partition. The Diamer-Bhasha dam is also a political exercise. Ever since India stopped Pakistans waters on April 1, 1948, the political and security angle became prominent. With the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, Sutlej and Beas dried up, yet India did not stop constructing dams on the Indus and its tributaries leading to the Kishenganga altercation. Given then Indian prime minister Narendra Modis threat to stop water from flowing into Pakistan and Indian objections to this latest Diamer-Bhasha episode, the security angle seems justified to Pakistani policy-makers. Can this dam increase our resilience against floods? Dr Hasan Abbas, UNESCO Chair on Knowledge Systems for Integrated Water Resources Management at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, believes that the 135 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water, that comes down during the floods in monsoon, is far beyond the water-holding capacity of existing and even those dams envisioned in the future. According to him, dams are not built to mitigate flooding, which is incidental; their real purpose being storage and power generation. He proposes alternative techniques such as natural flood management schemes that divert flood waters which can be used for irrigation, and are used in other countries with a lot of success. Then comes the argument that dams are useful as they generate electricity. It is true that the United States (US) has been dismantling several dams, alongside countries in Europe, but it must be noted that they havent been able to switch to green energy to the extent they had wanted to. In fact, most of the energy in the US is still generated by fossil fuels, whereas Germanys plans to shelve fossil fuels completely have been unsuccessful. The green energy alternatives such as wind and solar are too inconsistent in many places to sustain a national grid, hence putting a limit on their capacity. Solar is completely dependent on lithium-batteries which are hazardous for the environment and use enormous amounts of water during extraction. Nuclear energy seems a viable option as its power generation capacity matches those of fossil fuels. However, it is expensive and (rare but infamous) disasters such as Chernobyl have created a stigma around its usage that prevents its rapid development. Nuclear energy is one area Pakistan should eventually move towards, lifting the burden from both hydal power and fossil fuels. Hence, it seems that the Diamer-Bhasha dam is inevitable, which is why we must return to the question of whether the Indus Delta can be saved. We find that Sindh demanded 10 MAF (million acre feet) of water under the Water Appointment Accord of 1991. Dr Altaf Siyal, head of the Integrated Water Resources Management Department at the US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCASW), believes 25 to 35 MAF is needed to reclaim the delta. Dr Hasan Abbas believes that apart from a complete dismantling of dams, better irrigation practices can save water which can be redirected to the Indus Delta. Cross dams, such as the ones being built in Bangladesh near the river delta at Naoakhali-Urir-Char, can recover sediment from the river that would otherwise be washed into the sea. Cross dams had been built there in the past in 1957 and 1964, when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The federal and the Sindh government in August 2019 agreed to build a barrage on the Indus, 45 kilometres from the sea for reclamation of the delta. Dikes built near the coast on the Indus also aid in reclaiming land, while mangrove tree plantations on a massive scale can also help hold the ground. The issue of the dam and the delta is a curious one when we consider the devastating floods of 2010. A 2012 study showed that the floods were actually beneficial for the delta, even though they resulted in the deaths of over a thousand people. With climate change expected to gradually melt our icecaps and increase the severity of weather extremes, we could face years of flooding followed by years of drought. The government needs to address these diverse issues and devise effective strategies to combat the multiple challenges of delta erosion, power generation and flood control. It needs to demonstrate to the people of the Indus Delta that their needs are just as important as everyone elses. Lincoln Land Community College is offering 10 free non-credit online classes through June 30. The college has partnered with Ed2Go to offer the courses at a time when our community needs them the most, LLCC Community Education Director Laurel Bretz said. Dublin, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market by Type (Jimmies, Quins, Dragees, Nonpareils, Single Pieces, Caramel Inclusions, and Sanding & Coarse Sugar), Colorant (Natural and Artificial), Application, End User, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market is projected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $2.1 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period. Growth of bakery & confectionery sectors to drive the market growth for sugar decorations & inclusions. The increase in the consumption of bakery products and desserts and the increasing demand for flavored and textured food products across regions is projected to drive the demand for sugar decorations and inclusions. The rise in incomes across regions and the growth of economies are factors that have encouraged consumers to opt for appealing and textured products. In addition, the development of low-calorie and healthy sugar decorations and inclusions by key players in the sugar decorations & inclusions market are factors that are projected to provide growth opportunities for key players. However, the fluctuating prices of raw materials, such as sugar, starches, and food colorants, area major factor that is projected to hinder the growth of the market. The jimmies segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Jimmies are the rainbow-colored clumps and toppings used on cakes and ice-creams. Jimmies are widely used in cake decorations. They are easily available in grocery stores and supermarkets in packaged bottles and jars and are available in mixed colours. Thus, this segment is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The natural colorant segment is projected to grow at a higher growth rate during the forecast period The increase in demand for clean-label products due to the rise in health awareness has led to an increase in the use of natural food colorants in sugar sprinkles. This is projected to drive the growth of this segment during the forecast period. The home bakers segment is projected to record the highest growth rate during the forecast period. Since bakery products are one of the fastest-growing food industry segments, home bakers are witnessing increased demand for sugar inclusions to produce bakery products at the convenience of home and using the flexibility of e-commerce channels to reach the maximum number of customers. Thus, the home bakers segment is projected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. The North America region is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The North America region is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period due to the presence of a large number of bakeries and restaurants serving desserts. In addition, the increasing snacking trends are a few factors that are projected to drive the demand for sugar decorations and inclusions in the region. Countries, such as the US and Mexico, will majorly contribute to the growth of the sugar decorations & inclusions market in North America. The sugar decorations & inclusions market-comprises major players, such as Dr. Oetker (Germany), Kerrry Inc. (Ireland), Barry Callebaut (Switzerland), The Kraft Heinz Company (US), Pecan Deluxe Candy Company (US), Signature Brands LLC (US), Hanns G. Werner GmBH + Co.KG (Germany), Carroll Industries NZ Ltd. (New Zealand), Cape Foods (South Africa), and Paulaur Corporation (US). The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of these players in the sugar decorations & inclusions market, with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies. Key Topics Covered 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Opportunities in the Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market 4.2 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Type 4.3 Market, by Application 4.4 Market, by Colorant 4.5 Market, by End-user 4.6 North America: Market, by Type and Country 4.7 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Country 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Rise in the Consumption of Confectionaries & Bakery Products Across Regions 5.2.1.2 Increase in Demand for Value-Added Food Products 5.2.2 Restraints 5.2.2.1 Fluctuations in the Raw Material Pricing 5.2.2.2 Adverse Side-Effects of Synthetic Additives Used in Sugar Sprinkles 5.2.2.3 Sluggish Growth Rate Due to the Rise in the Number of Health-Conscious People Avoiding Sugar 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Development of Low-Calorie and Healthy Sugar Decorations and Inclusions 5.2.3.2 Rising Demand for Sugar Decorations and Inclusions from Emerging Markets, such as China, India, Brazil, and the Middle East 5.2.4 Challenges 5.2.4.1 Threat of Substitute Products 5.3 Supply Chain Analysis 5.4 Yc Ycc Shift 6 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Jimmies 6.2.1 Easy Availability of Jimmies in Grocery Stores to Drive the Market Growth 6.3 Quins 6.3.1 Availability of Nut-Free, Gm-Free, Gluten-Free, and Lactose-Free Quins to Drive the Demand 6.4 Dragees 6.4.1 Dragees Enhance the Appearance of Confectionery and Bakery Products 6.5 Nonpareils 6.5.1 Nonpareils are Useful for Enhancing the Appearance of Wedding Cakes 6.6 Caramel Inclusions 6.6.1 Caramel Inclusions help in Enriching the Taste of Food Products 6.7 Sanding & Course Sugar 6.7.1 Sanding & Course Sugar Improve the Taste and Appearance of Products 6.8 Single Pieces 6.8.1 Single Pieces Make the Appearance of Products more Appealing 7 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Colorant 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Natural 7.2.1 Natural Colorants are Used in Manufacturing Sprinkles Due to the Increasing Demand for Clean-Label Ingredients 7.3 Artificial 7.3.1 Synthetic Food Colors Dominate the Emerging Markets and are Less Expensive 8 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Application 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Cereals & Snack Bars 8.2.1 Inclusions are Majorly Used in Cereals & Snack Bars to Enhance their Texture 8.3 Ice-Cream & Frozen Desserts 8.3.1 Sprinkles are Majorly Used Decorations on Ice-Creams & Frozen Desserts to Increase their Appeal 8.4 Chocolate & Confectionery Products 8.4.1 Sprinkles Witness a High Demand in Chocolate and Confectionery Products for Improved Aesthetic Value 8.5 Cakes & Pastries 8.5.1 Cakes & Pastries are the Key Products that Witness Significant Application of Sugar Decorations and Inclusions 8.6 Other Bakery Applications 9 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by End-user 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Food Manufacturers 9.2.1 Cereals & Snack Bars 9.2.1.1 Inclusions are Increasingly Used in Cereals and Snack Bars for Enhancing the Texture 9.2.2 Cakes & Pastries 9.2.2.1 Sugar Sprinkles and Inclusions Enhance the Appearance of Cakes & Pastries 9.2.3 Chocolate & Confectionery 9.2.3.1 Sugar Decorations and Inclusions Improve the Taste and Texture of Chocolate and Confectionery Products 9.2.4 Ice-Creams 9.2.4.1 the Development in the Ice-Cream and Other Dairy Product Industries is Projected to Drive the Market Growth 9.3 Foodservice Industry 9.3.1 Hotel, Restaurants, and Cafes 9.3.1.1 Increasing Number of Hotels, Restaurants, and Cafes Serving Desserts to Drive the Growth 9.3.2 Bakery & Pastry Shops 9.3.2.1 Rising Consumption of Bakery and Confectionery Products to Drive the Demand 9.3.3 Ice-Cream Parlors 9.3.3.1 Decorations and Inclusions Enhance the Texture and Appearance of Ice Creams 9.4 Home Bakers 9.4.1 Increasing Number of Home Bakers and the Expansion of E-Commerce Platforms to Drive the Market Growth 10 Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market, by Region 10.1 Introduction 10.2 North America 10.2.1 Us 10.2.1.1 Presence of a Large Number of Bakeries and Restaurants to Drive the Growth of the Snacks Market in the Us 10.2.2 Canada 10.2.2.1 Increase in the Disposable Income of Canadians Create Lucrative Opportunities for Manufacturers in the Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market 10.2.3 Mexico 10.2.3.1 Increase in the Number of Grocery Stores in Mexico is Projected to Drive the Growth of the Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market 10.3 Europe 10.3.1 Germany 10.3.1.1 the High Economic Growth of Germany is Projected to Drive the Market Growth of Bakery Ingredients 10.3.2 France 10.3.2.1 France to be a Major Consumer of Sugar Decorations and Inclusions Due to the Increasing Consumption of Bakery Products 10.3.3 Italy 10.3.3.1 Established Ice-Cream and Bakery Industries in Italy to Drive the Growth of the Sugar Decorations & Inclusions Market 10.3.4 Uk 10.3.4.1 Increasing Use of Sugar Decorations in the Bakery Industry to Drive the Demand in the Uk 10.3.5 Spain 10.3.5.1 Increase in the Number of Artisanal Bakers in Spain to Drive the Growth of the Sprinkle Market 10.3.6 Netherlands 10.3.6.1 Growing Consumption of Dairy Products and Bakery Products have Led to High Growth Potential for Manufacturers in the Netherlands 10.3.7 Rest of Europe 10.4 Asia Pacific 10.4.1 China 10.4.1.1 Increasing Consumption of Premium Quality Products to Drive the Market Growth 10.4.2 Japan 10.4.2.1 Changing Consumer Lifestyles and Food Preferences to Drive the Demand for Sugar Decorations 10.4.3 India 10.4.3.1 Increasing Inclination of Consumers Toward Western Diets and the Willingness to Try Innovative Product Offerings to Drive the Market Growth 10.4.4 Australia & New Zealand 10.4.4.1 Increasing Willingness of Consumers to Opt for Innovative Products is Driving the Market Growth 10.4.5 Rest of Asia Pacific 10.5 South America 10.5.1 Brazil 10.5.1.1 Busy Lifestyle of Consumers to Drive the Demand for Confectioneries and Ready-To-Eat Food Products 10.5.2 Argentina 10.5.2.1 Increasing Demand for Specialty Foods and Consumer Willingness to Try Innovative Flavors is Driving the Market Growth 10.5.3 Rest of South America 10.6 Rest of the World 10.6.1 Middle East 10.6.1.1 Adoption of Western Culture and Diets Due to Globalization is Projected to Drive the Sugar Decoration & Inclusions Market in the Middle East 10.6.2 Africa 10.6.2.1 Growing Consumption for Sweet Baked Products to Encourage the Demand for Sugar Sprinkles in the Country 11 Competitive Landscape 11.1 Overview 11.2 Competitive Leadership Mapping, 2018 11.2.1 Visionary Leaders 11.2.2 Innovators 11.2.3 Dynamic Differentiators 11.2.4 Emerging Companies 11.3 Competitive Scenario 11.3.1 Market Evaluation Framework, 2017-2019 12 Company Profiles 12.1 Dr. Oetker 12.2 Kerry Inc. 12.3 Barry Callebaut 12.4 The Kraft Heinz Company 12.5 Pecan Deluxe Candy Company 12.6 Signature Brands, LLC 12.7 Hanns G. Werner Gmbh + Co. KG 12.8 Carroll Industries NZ Ltd. 12.9 Cape Foods 12.10 Paulaur Corporation 12.11 The American Sprinkle Company 12.12 The Baker's Kitchen 12.13 Xiamen Yasin Industry & Trade Co. Ltd. 12.14 Girrbach-Swarendekor GmbH 12.15 Twinkle Sprinkles 12.16 Nimbus Foods Ltd. 12.17 Cacau Foods 12.18 Gunthart 12.19 Britannia Superfine 12.20 Shantou Hehe Technology Co. Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/j9wow9 Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Chechen and Russian officials remain tight-lipped about the condition or whereabouts of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a day after news reports said he had been hospitalized in Moscow for possible coronavirus infection. If confirmed, Kadyrov would join the list of several other prominent Russian officials, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who have been infected with the virus. Interfax and RIA-Novosti cited unnamed medical officials on May 21 as saying that Kadyrov, 43, had been flown to a Moscow facility and was under medical supervision. The Telegram channel Baza reported that Kadyrov was taken by plane to "one of the best clinics in Moscow" on May 21, after he showed symptoms of an acute respiratory viral infection. Earlier, the head of Grozny TV, which is controlled by Chechen regional authorities, insisted that Kadyrov was still in control, though he did not explicitly deny the reports on the Chechen leader's hospitalization. Kadyrov "is personally in control of the situation, he is taking all necessary measures. The work of his headquarters is under his personal control," Akhmed Dudayev said in a video posted to his Instagram account. 'A Hostage Of His Image' Kadyrov has sought to project an air of authority amid the coronavirus pandemic. As of May 21, Chechnya had officially reported 1,046 confirmed cases, and 11 fatalities from the disease. Recently, he lashed out at complaints that regional medical workers lacked masks and other proper equipment to protect them against infection. Grigory Shvedov, editor of the news site Caucasian Knot, said medical workers, who are normally fearful of the authoritarian Kadyrov, have grown more fearful of the coronavirus, and were speaking out more frequently. Shvedov explained that the silence surrounding Kadyrov's condition was due in large part to the fact that falling ill would undermine the strongman image he has projected. "Ramzan Kadyrov is a hostage of his image, that he is strong, he can do anything, that there are no problems. Therefore, even if he is sick -- God grant him health -- if he is sick, he does not talk about it," he told Current Time. Ramadan Concerns The reports about Kadyrov come as authorities in Chechnya and neighboring Daghestan ratchet up restrictions to deter people from gathering in groups this weekend to celebrate the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov said that all movements, except for emergency services, would be banned for three days beginning May 23. In Daghestan, authorities announced a lockdown on two major cities; officials in the regional capital, Makhachkala, had not yet taken similar measures. Russia has the second-highest total of reported COVID-19 cases, after the United States. The Russian case tally rose to 326,448 on May 22, while the death toll climbed to 3,249. Russian officials have been accused of lowering its coronavirus mortality rates by ascribing deaths to pneumonia. Aside from Mishustin and Peskov, Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, and Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev have also tested positive for the disease. Peskov, as of May 21, remained hospitalized. WASHINGTON - Signs of renewed business activity are surfacing across the country as states gradually reopen economies and some businesses call a portion of their laid-off staffers back to work. Yet with millions more Americans seeking unemployment aid last week, the U.S. job market remains as bleak as it's been in decades. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 21/5/2020 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A woman looks at signs at a store closed due to COVID-19 in Niles, Ill., Wednesday, May 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) WASHINGTON - Signs of renewed business activity are surfacing across the country as states gradually reopen economies and some businesses call a portion of their laid-off staffers back to work. Yet with millions more Americans seeking unemployment aid last week, the U.S. job market remains as bleak as it's been in decades. More than 2.4 million laid-off workers filed for jobless benefits last week, the government said Thursday, the ninth straight week of outsize figures since the viral outbreak forced millions of businesses to closer their doors and shrink their workforces. And while the number of weekly applications has slowed for seven straight weeks, they remain immense by any historical standard roughly 10 times the typical figure that prevailed before the virus struck. Nearly 39 million people have applied for benefits since mid-March. There is little evidence that the reopening of the economy has, as yet, led to any sudden snap back in employment," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. Nearly half of Americans say that either their incomes have declined or they live with an adult who has lost pay through a job loss or reduced hours, the Census Bureau said in survey data released Wednesday. More than one-fifth of Americans had little or no confidence in their ability to pay the next months rent or mortgage on time, the survey found. Most economists and business leaders say the lifting of restrictions on business activity won't likely be enough to spur significant hiring in the weeks and months ahead. Surveys suggest that consumers will remain wary of shopping, travelling, eating out or congregating in large groups until a vaccine is available or they're otherwise confident they can avoid infection. For now, workers who do return to their jobs expect far fewer customers. On Tuesday, Phillip Skunza will be back at his job as a waiter and bartender at the Happy Greek restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Skunza had been laid off in mid-March after the state shuttered all restaurants and bars. Skunza said his employer expects sales to reach maybe half their pre-virus level. The restaurant has reduced tables and cut barstools from 10 to four. Skunza, 52, expects to bring home only about 50% of what he made before because of fewer tips. 'When youre making anywhere between $300 to $500 a week, and that gets cut down to $150 to $250 a week, thats going to be an issue, he said. He said that hes hopeful of keeping his job and that as business picks up during summer, more workers can be rehired. During April, U.S. employers shed 20 million jobs, eliminating a decades worth of job growth in a single month. The unemployment rate reached 14.7%, the highest since the Depression. Millions of other people who were out of work werent counted as unemployed because they didnt look for a new job. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said he expects the rate will peak at 20% to 25% in May or June. An additional 1.2 million people sought aid last week under a new federal program for self-employed, contractor and gig workers, who are now eligible for jobless aid for the first time. (These figures arent adjusted for seasonal variations, so the government doesnt include them in the overall number.) China, the original epicenter of the pandemic, has reopened earlier. Yet ts experience has been mixed. Some employees have returned to factories, restaurants and shops, which are open but with few customers. Movie theatres, gyms and bars are closed. Fitch Ratings estimates that up to 30% of Chinas urban workers lost jobs at least temporarily in the first quarter. Another wave of job cuts is possible as global demand for Chinas exports weakens. Some economists see tentative signs that U.S. economic activity is starting to recover, if only slightly, now that all states have moved toward relaxing some restrictions on movement and commerce. Data from Apples mapping service shows that more people are driving and searching for directions. Restaurant reservations have risen modestly in states that have been open longer, according to the app OpenTable. But those numbers are still far below pre-virus levels. In South Carolina, one of the earliest states to reopen, reservations have increased but are still down nearly 69% from a year ago. In most industries, employees are working more hours than in mid-April, the peak of the virus-related shutdowns nationwide. Data from Kronos, a workforce management software company, shows that shifts worked at its 30,000 client firms are up 16% since then but still down 25% from pre-virus levels. Even in states that have been reopened the longest, like Georgia, not enough shoppers are visiting stores and restaurants to support significant rehiring, said David Gilbertson, an executive at Kronos. Our data is suggesting this recovery is going to take a while, Gilbertson said. Jimmy Page, a small business owner in San Diego, is a bit more optimistic now than he was two months ago. Page, who owns a digital marketing company, Inseev Interactive, has added back five of the 12 employees he laid off when the coronavirus hit. A loan from the government's small business lending program helped, he said. Revenue has slightly increased this month, Page said, compared with April, a faster rebound than he expected. If he can get his company's sales back to pre-virus targets by fall or winter, he may look to hire more. "The reality is that it has stabilized, Page said. It seems everything is going in the right direction. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Still, major employers continue to announce significant job cuts. Uber said this week that it will lay off 3,000 employees, on top of 3,700 it has already cut. Vice, a TV and digital news organization tailored for younger people, has announced 155 layoffs globally. Digital publishers Quartz and BuzzFeed, magazine giant Conde Nast and the company that owns the business-focused The Economist magazine have also announced job cuts. The depth of the layoffs vary sharply from state to state. Nearly one-third of Washington state's workforce has been approved to receive jobless aid, according to the government's data, the highest proportion of any state. Second-highest is in Nevada, where one-quarter of the state's workers have been approved, followed by Oregon and Florida. Yet in 14 states, fewer than 10% of workers are receiving benefits. In Utah and South Dakota, it's just 6%, the smallest proportion, followed by Nebraska and Wyoming. __ AP Writers Joyce Rosenberg in New York, Henry Kurz in Richmond, Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus, Ohio, and Joe McDonald and Wayne Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report. Founded in 1866, The Sherwin-Williams Company is a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution, and sale of coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. The company manufactures products under well-known brands such as Sherwin-Williams, Valspar, HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Krylon, Minwax, Thompson's Water Seal, Cabot, and many more. With global headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, Sherwin-Williams branded products are sold exclusively through a chain of more than 4,900 company-operated stores and facilities, while the company's other brands are sold through leading mass merchandisers, home centers, independent paint dealers, hardware stores, automotive retailers, and industrial distributors. The Sherwin-Williams Performance Coatings Group supplies a broad range of highly-engineered solutions for the construction, industrial, packaging and transportation markets in more than 120 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.sherwin.com. Investor Relations Contacts: Media Contact: Jim Jaye Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Sherwin-Williams Direct: 216.515.8682 [email protected] Julie Young Vice President, Global Corporate Communications Sherwin-Williams Direct: 216.515.8849 [email protected] Eric Swanson Vice President, Investor Relations Sherwin-Williams Direct: 216.566.2766 [email protected] SOURCE The Sherwin-Williams Company Related Links http://www.sherwin.com Dublin, May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Construction Chemical Additives Market - Forecast (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report incorporates in-depth assessment of the competitive landscape, product market sizing, product benchmarking, market trends, product developments, financial analysis, strategic analysis and so on to gauge the impact forces and potential opportunities of the market. Apart from this the report also includes a study of major developments in the market such as product launches, agreements, acquisitions, collaborations, mergers and so on to comprehend the prevailing market dynamics at present and its impact during the forecast period 2018-2023. Construction chemicals additive mixtures are a kind of specialty chemicals which are added to improve the durability of the building. The global construction additive market by various types such as concrete admixtures, levelling agents, sealants, water proofing agents is expected to rise with a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period of 2018-2023. Among the different subtypes in concrete admixtures, super plasticizers generated a revenue of $8031.6 million in 2017 and is projected with a highest CAGR of 11.7% during the forecast period. Rapid urbanization, increasing demand for better infrastructure in Asia pacific region is one of the reason driving the market growth of Construction chemicals additive. Rapid urbanization and industrialization is expected to accelerate the market growth for construction chemical additives industry. According to some market analysis concrete additives is dominating the market, which is followed by leveling agents. Though the manufacturing of leveling agents product is more than water proofing agents in number but market share for waterproofing agent is more than leveling agent. Construction industry is currently looking forward to onboard the use of sustainable product. Mold release agents are the perfect product for such purpose, mold release helps to prevent adhesion of newly placed concrete to forming surface. Story continues Corrosion inhibition is the process to prevent the corrosion to increase the life span of any constructional structure, corrosion inhibitors are develop with such design which helps to make a structure corrosion resilient. Based on some market insights this developed design will increase the market share of construction chemical additive. The companies referred in the market research report are BASF SE (Germany), Sika AG (Switzerland), RPM International (U.S.), W.R. Grace & Co. (U.S.), Mapei South Africa and 10 other companies. Key Takeaways from this Report Evaluate market potential through analyzing growth rates (CAGR %), Volume (Units) and Value ($M) data given at country level - for product types, end use applications and by different industry verticals. Understand the different dynamics influencing the market - key driving factors, challenges and hidden opportunities. Get in-depth insights on your competitor performance - market shares, strategies, financial benchmarking, product benchmarking, SWOT and more. Analyze the sales and distribution channels across key geographies to improve top-line revenues. Understand the industry supply chain with a deep-dive on the value augmentation at each step, in order to optimize value and bring efficiencies in your processes. Get a quick outlook on the market entropy - M&A's, deals, partnerships, product launches of all key players for the past 4 years. Evaluate the supply-demand gaps, import-export statistics and regulatory landscape for more than top 20 countries globally for the market. Key Topics Covered: 1. Construction Chemical Additives Market - Overview 1.1. Definitions and Scope 2. Construction Chemical Additives Market - Executive summary 2.1. Market Revenue, Market Size and Key Trends by Company 2.2. Key Trends by type of Application 2.3. Key Trends segmented by Geography 3. Construction Chemical Additives Market 3.1. Comparative analysis 3.1.1. Product Benchmarking - Top 10 companies 3.1.2. Top 5 Financials Analysis 3.1.3. Market Value split by Top 10 companies 3.1.4. Patent Analysis - Top 10 companies 3.1.5. Pricing Analysis 4. Construction Chemical Additives Market Forces 4.1. Drivers 4.2. Constraints 4.3. Challenges 4.4. Porters five force model 4.4.1. Bargaining power of suppliers 4.4.2. Bargaining powers of customers 4.4.3. Threat of new entrants 4.4.4. Rivalry among existing players 4.4.5. Threat of substitutes 5. Construction Chemical Additives Market -Strategic analysis 5.1. Value chain analysis 5.2. Opportunities analysis 5.3. Product life cycle 5.4. Suppliers and distributors Market Share 6. Construction Chemical Additives Market - By Use (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 6.1. Market Size and Market Share Analysis 6.2. Application Revenue and Trend Research 6.3. Product Segment Analysis 6.3.1. New Construction 6.3.2. Repair work 7. Construction Chemical Additives Market - By Type (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 7.1. Concrete Admixtures 7.1.1. Plasticizers 7.1.2. Super Plasticizers 7.1.3. Hyper Plasticizers 7.1.4. Air Entraining Agents 7.1.5. Accelerators 7.1.7. Retarders 7.1.7. Others 7.2. Water Proofing Agents 7.2.1. Sheet Membranes 7.2.2. Liquid Applied Membranes 7.2.2.1. Latex Based 7.2.2.2. Polyurethene 7.2.2.3. Epoxy 7.2.2.4. Others 7.3. Leveling Agents 7.4. Sealants 7.5. Adhesives 7.6. Grouts 7.7. Mortar 7.8. Others 8. Construction Chemical Additives Market - By Application (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 8.1. Nonresidential Building 8.1.1. Industrial 8.1.2. Office & Commercial 8.1.3. Others 8.2. Residential Building 8.3. Public 8.3.1. Roads 8.3.2. Bridges 8.3.3. Others 8.4. Others 9. Construction Chemical Additives - By Geography (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 9.1. Construction Chemical Additives Market - North America Segment Research 9.2. North America Market Research (Million / $Billion) 9.2.1. Segment type Size and Market Size Analysis 9.2.2. Revenue and Trends 9.2.3. Application Revenue and Trends by type of Application 9.2.4. Company Revenue and Product Analysis 9.2.5. North America Product type and Application Market Size 9.2.5.1. U.S. 9.2.5.2. Canada 9.2.5.3. Mexico 9.2.5.4. Rest of North America 9.3. Construction Chemical Additives - South America Segment Research 9.4. South America Market Research (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 9.4.1. Segment type Size and Market Size Analysis 9.4.2. Revenue and Trends 9.4.3. Application Revenue and Trends by type of Application 9.4.4. Company Revenue and Product Analysis 9.4.5. South America Product type and Application Market Size 9.4.5.1. Brazil 9.4.5.2. Venezuela 9.4.5.3. Argentina 9.4.5.4. Ecuador 9.4.5.5. Peru 9.4.5.6. Colombia 9.4.5.7. Costa Rica 9.4.5.8. Rest of South America 9.5. Construction Chemical Additives - Europe Segment Research 9.6. Europe Market Research (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 9.6.1. Segment type Size and Market Size Analysis 9.6.2. Revenue and Trends 9.6.3. Application Revenue and Trends by type of Application 9.6.4. Company Revenue and Product Analysis 9.6.5. Europe Segment Product type and Application Market Size 9.6.5.1. U.K 9.6.5.2. Germany 9.6.5.3. Italy 9.6.5.4. France 9.6.5.5. Netherlands 9.6.5.6. Belgium 9.6.5.7. Spain 9.6.5.8. Denmark 9.6.5.9. Rest of Europe 9.7. Construction Chemical Additives - APAC Segment Research 9.8. APAC Market Research (Market Size -$Million / $Billion) 9.8.1. Segment type Size and Market Size Analysis 9.8.2. Revenue and Trends 9.8.3. Application Revenue and Trends by type of Application 9.8.4. Company Revenue and Product Analysis 9.8.5. APAC Segment - Product type and Application Market Size 9.8.5.1. China 9.8.5.2. Australia 9.8.5.3. Japan 9.8.5.4. South Korea 9.8.5.5. India 9.8.5.6. Taiwan 9.8.5.7. Malaysia 10. Construction Chemical Additives Market - Entropy 10.1. New product launches 10.2. M&A's, collaborations, JVs and partnerships 11. Construction Chemical Additives Market Company Analysis 11.1. Market Share, Company Revenue, Products, M&A, Developments 11.2. BASF SE (Germany) 11.3. Sika AG (Switzerland) 11.4. RPM International (U.S.) 11.5. W.R. Grace & Co. (U.S.) 11.6. Mapei South Africa 12. Construction Chemical Additives Market - Appendix 12.1. Abbreviations 12.2. Sources 13. Construction Chemical Additives Market - Methodology 13.1. Research Methodology 13.1.1. Company Expert Interviews 13.1.2. Industry Databases 13.1.3. Associations 13.1.4. Company News 13.1.5. Company Annual Reports 13.1.6. Application Trends 13.1.7. New Products and Product database 13.1.8. Company Transcripts 13.1.9. R&D Trends 13.1.10. Key Opinion Leaders Interviews 13.1.11. Supply and Demand Trends For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/eeon8g Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 It's now just a distant, and at times very vague memory, but 'The Harriers' in Tullamore was the spot for a number of generations to head to on a Saturday night. And it wasn't just people from Tullamore who descended on the venue. Buses came from all across Offaly and further afield emptying their loads of excited teenagers in the car park. With little else to be doing at the minute, take a trip down memory lane and see how many of these 15 things you remember! 1 Waiting nervously in the queue to more than likely be asked for ID you most certainly didn't have. No such thing as Age Cards back in the day which made life much easier for intrepid 15, 16 and 17-year-olds. This was followed by the sense of sheer relief or bitter disappointment when you did or didn't get past Noel Gowran at the front desk. It was all down to confidence and, for the lads, that little scruffy bit of facial hair. 2 Finding someone in the long, long line for the cloakroom who would hang up your denim jacket or alternatively, finding a dark corner up the back to dump it for the night as standing in the queue was wasting valuable drinking time. 3 Getting in early on a busy night to avoid the long queue when the buses arrived from all points in the midlands. You were also trying to get a booth near the bar or up the back in the cool seats in 'The Restaurant'. 4 Being a hero at the bar and ordering double vodkas or double Famous Grouse knowing full well it was all going to end badly before you got out the door that night. 5 If you were a lad, prowling the floor when you knew the slow set was about to start in the hopes of getting the shift. 6 If you were a girl, watching out for the lads prowling the floor when the slow set was about to start and doing your level best to dodge them. 7 The sound of numerous teens puking in the toilets while you waited patiently outside the door 8 What live music was really like and how many great Irish bands were touring the country during the late 80s and early 90s with The Stunning, The 4 of Us and An Emotional Fish being among the regular visitors. 9 The pain in your neck the next day after head banging to Thunderstruck, Whole Lotta Rosie, Black Betty and various other metal tunes. 10 The helpful hand picking you off the floor in the mosh pit after you unwisely chose to bounce off someone twice your size and half as drunk when Smells Like Teen Spirit was blasted out. 11 The drunk lad who seemed to knock a drink out of everyone's hand no matter how much you tried to dodge him while coming up the steps from the dance floor 12 Gyrating your body in some weird and wonderful way and trying to convince other people that you were actually dancing. 13 Trying to jump the queue to get your coat from the cloakroom (if you bothered putting it there in the first place) as the girl you were snogging earlier in the night had already left with her friends and you were desperate to catch up with her before she got on her bus to God knows where. You obviously failed to convince her to 'go outside' with you earlier on 14 Staggering home afterwards with a curry chips because someone told you that hid the smell of alcohol on your breath. Turns out it didn't and you spent a lot of time trying to convince your irate parents you really only had one pint despite the puke stains all down your clothes. 15 Not having to worry about your every move and indiscretion being posted all across social media the next day. Back then we had to rely on vague flashbacks and the day after postmortem with friends to piece together what we did. BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21 Trend: Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), the national air carrier of the country, continues to carry out charter flights to return Azerbaijani citizens to their homeland. Thus, on May 21, Azerbaijan Airlines performed a charter flight from Warsaw to Baku with 100 of our compatriots on board, the statement said. In accordance with the established rules, all passengers arriving from the capital of Poland were put in quarantine. Earlier this week, in accordance with a plan determined by the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AZAL performed a charter flight from Berlin. Cybereason, a leader in endpoint protection, and Wandera, a leader in mobile threat defense and zero trust network access, today announced a partnership that will provide customers with advanced protection against mobile device threats. Through a combination of Cybereasons cross-machine correlation engine and EDR solution and Wanderas robust, cloud-delivered architecture, enterprises can now prevent, detect and respond to both mobile device and traditional endpoint risks through the Cybereason Defense Platform. Today, mobile devices account for 60 percent of the traffic accessing corporate network data and many enterprises are struggling to manage this increase. Noticing the transition to mobile, cybercriminals have begun to target this unprotected attack surface, as evidenced by the 85% of phishing attacks that now happen outside of corporate e-mail, with the focus squarely on mobile apps, such as SMS. Working in tandem, Cybereason and Wandera will help customers eliminate blind spots in the mobile ecosystem and drive real-time, risk-based policy response, enabling security analysts to tackle zero-day threats and stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape. Cybereason is excited to partner with Wandera to help enterprises eliminate the massive blind spot that mobile devices cause in an enterprise. If you cant see malicious activity you cant stop it. Our joint efforts will not only help enterprises reduce risk but ensure security analysts can focus on the mission-critical cyber threats and risks facing enterprises so that malicious activity is stopped in its tracks, said Yonatan Striem-Amit, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Cybereason. Cybereason offers endpoint prevention, detection and response and active monitoring, and has recently been recognized as the top-ranked current offering in the recently published The Forrester Wave: Endpoint Detection & Response, Q1 2020. The Cybereason cloud-based endpoint protection (EPP) platform delivers multi-layered endpoint prevention by leveraging signature and signatureless techniques to prevent known and unknown threats in conjunction with behavioral and deception techniques to prevent ransomware and fileless attacks. Wandera is uniquely positioned to secure the modern workplace with a unified cloud security solution that protects enterprise data and devices from cyber threats, filters internet access to reduce risk exposure, and enables zero trust to applications. The solution is powered by threat intelligence that is informed by 425 million global sensors. Wandera has been identified as a leader in mobile threat management by IDC and is featured in the Gartner Market Guide for Mobile Threat Defense. We are excited to partner with Cybereason to enable security leaders to achieve comprehensive protection across all of their enterprise endpoints, regardless of whether they are within or beyond the perimeter, said Roy Tuvey, President and Co-Founder of Wandera. About Wandera Wandera, a cloud security company, protects modern enterprises beyond the traditional perimeter. When remote users access applications from their smartphones or laptops, anywhere in the world, Wanderas unified security cloud provides real-time threat protection, content filtering, and zero-trust network access. Wandera regularly shares the latest findings from its industry-leading threat intelligence which applies machine learning across 425M worldwide sensors. Founded in 2012 by a team of cloud security veterans and recognized as a leader by analyst firms including Gartner and IDC, the company is headquartered in San Francisco and London. To learn more, please visit http://www.wandera.com. About Cybereason Cybereason, creators of the leading Cyber Defense Platform, gives the advantage back to the defender through a completely new approach to cybersecurity. Cybereason offers endpoint prevention, detection and response and active monitoring. The solution delivers multi-layered endpoint prevention by leveraging signature and signatureless techniques to prevent known and unknown threats in conjunction with behavioral and deception techniques to prevent ransomware and fileless attacks. Cybereason is a privately held, international company, headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 30 countries. Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/ Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook Media Contact: Bill Keeler Senior Director, Global Public Relations Cybereason bill.keeler@cybereason.com (929) 259-3261 1. When it comes to providing state-funded financial aid for college students, Montana ranks 49th in the nation. Do you think the state should contribute more toward higher education funding or should it be the responsibility of the student to fund their own college education? Montana provides for approximately 38% of the cost of higher education. As late as the early 1990s, Montana funded about 75% of the cost. Today, many Montana high school graduates opt out of either a traditional college education or a career technical education due to the prospect of student loan debt. Montana needs to work toward promoting a two-year career technical school education by repaying most if not all of the tuition. For those students attending a traditional college or university, Montana should cover a large majority of tuition costs for lower income families and less as incomes rise. 2. Do you think the state of Montana should increase state funding for affordable housing? Why or why not? Hundreds of Montana families and scores of our veterans do not have access to adequate and/or affordable housing. A coronavirus-generated economic downturn could significantly increase the number of our residents falling into that situation. With a potential hit to our state budget in the coming year, it will be very difficult to say yes to increase state funding for affordable housing. Solving the affordable housing issue will require local communities, nonprofits, private foundations and the state to pool their financial resources into an affordable housing trust fund. 3. What, in your view, is the largest issue with management of Montanas public lands? What should be done about it? Even though Montana has had relatively mild fire seasons since 2017, the issue of forest health has not gone away. Montana, under the direction of Governor Bullock, utilized the 2014 and 2019 Farm Bills to expand the Good Neighbor Authority, a state and federal coordinated project, to promote timber harvest projects on federal lands. This program has created good-paying jobs and provided timber to Montana sawmills. However, in light of warming temperatures and the increasing loading of dead fuels on forest floors we must move forward with a prescribed burning program. Historically, our forests are fire dependent. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Mitsubishi Electric has successfully strengthened its foothold in the Indian market a decade back in 2010 by establishing itself as a trustworthy brand and a judicious choice in the eyes of Indian customers. As world is reeling under COVID-19 crisis and as a responsible corporate citizen, Mitsubishi Electric realizes that difficult times call for quick actions that can support society. The company has announced major initiatives to benefit their loyal and valued customers in India. Customers are at the core of the business and to ensure that they continue to enjoy a hassle-free use of air conditioner, Mitsubishi Electric India has announced a new warranty scheme on key components of their Room Air conditioners at no hidden cost. Mitsubishi Electric new warranty scheme on air conditioners will be effective from 1st April 2020, all Inverter & Non-Inverter type of Room Air conditioners will come with 5 (1+4) years warranty on Controller / Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) for repair/replacement and compressor for 10 (1+9) years for any kind of manufacturing or operational defect. The city of Beaver Dam will seek a grant to deal with the tipped-in river wall once again. City takes another swing at DNR funds Beaver Dam Common Council approved authorizing the submission of an application the the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for an outdoor recreation grant that would help fund the project which is focused on dealing with the aging retaining walls along the river that are caving into the river. There also would be improvements to the riverwalk area including the addition of a kayak launch. The city has previously applied for the grant to improve the area near the South Tower Lot and was denied. Mayor Becky Glewen said that the department requested the city include something like an access point to the river that people with disabilities can use for the grant to be approved. We were trying to take care of the walls tipping in on the river but the DNR is looking for outdoor opportunities, Glewen said. Council members Ken Anderson and Mick Fisher voted no on the application, according to the citys record of the meeting. Fisher expressed concerns about how the city would cover the rest of the cost. After a series of flip-flops, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has finally given its green signal for resuming domestic flights from May 25. International flights, however, will remain suspended for the time being. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has clarified that flights will be resumed with certain riders. Airlines will be allowed to operate at only one-third capacity approved in the summer schedule in 2020. For instance, if all the airlines were to operate 100 daily flights between Delhi and Mumbai as per the summer schedule, they can only take 33 now. Puri further said airlines would be allowed to add more flights "in a calibrated manner", but he didn't elaborate the conditions that are to be met. In addition, the Civil Aviation Ministry has given a fare band under seven categories depending on the duration of the flight. For instance, a Delhi-Mumbai flight ticket can be priced between Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000, with 40 per cent of the tickets to be sold below Rs 6,750. Then, there are a host of guidelines for the passengers keen on air travel after flights are resumed. ALSO READ: Stock market: Why Airlines shares performed well today; IndiGo, SpiceJet jump upto 13% With this, the airlines have gone back to the drawing board to prepare a fresh reboot plan. As carriers take to the skies after a gap of 62 days, they would be facing the most difficult question: Will there be a sustained demand for air travel in the COVID world? Experts say demand for air travel is going to peak around a week or so post May 25 since a lot of people who were stranded would return to their safe zones. After that, there is a strong likelihood that the demand would tank. As per some estimates, nearly 80 per cent of air travel demand would get wiped out over the next three months. That's because nearly 40 per cent of air travel is driven by leisure. Until a cure is found, this segment would remain fragile as holiday travellers prefer their private vehicles for a trip within a driving distance of three-five hours. Even though the demand from business segment, which is 60 per cent of the overall demand, is expected to be better than leisure, the overall pie would shrink. "After a week, I believe that there will be a true test of the demand. This is the biggest demand shock for the airline sector in history. Even one-third capacity is a bit much, and I see airlines would be forced to sell tickets at the lower end of the band," says Vinamra Longani, head of operations at Sarin & Co, a law firm specialising in aircraft matters. ALSO READ: Mumbai-Delhi flights min price capped at Rs 3,500, max Rs 10,000 Much like the hotel sector, where operators are finding it hard to keep their establishments running, experts believe that it might come to a point where airlines find it unprofitable to keep the operations running. In a normal situation, nearly 40 per cent of the airline's expenses are fixed (salary, leases, etc), and 30 per cent is ATF cost. Though some of these have been rationalised in the COVID period, there's still a significant cost that airlines will have to bear to fly planes. "The airlines have a long list of creditors (lessors, airports, oil companies) who are waiting to get paid. This is on top of the Rs 3,700 crore of pending refunds to the passengers. Some airlines have stopped paying staff salaries from April. Operating flights at weak load factors would aggravate their losses when they are already facing huge financial challenges over the past two months," says an aviation consultant. As per ratings agency ICRA, domestic carriers are losing Rs 75-90 crore per day, and their debt level is expected to rise to Rs 46,500 crore in FY22. "Even when the operations resume and passengers start flying, a large percentage of passengers may be using these credit shells, and thus may not bring any significant additional cash inflows to the airlines," said Kinjal Shah, vice president at ICRA. MUST WATCH: Flights to resume: Follow these guidelines to save yourself from coronavirus Weaker airlines like SpiceJet and GoAir (with poor cash situation) are stating at an additional challenge of fighting it out with stronger players like IndiGo and Tata Group-owned carriers (Vistara, AirAsia India) who could likely use this as an opportunity to decimate competition. That's exactly the reason given by the MoCA to introduce fare bands. But Aviation Minister Puri has made it clear that this is not fare fixation as the government is dealing with an extraordinary situation. "It's conceivable that the fares would skyrocket. Based on consumer feedback, once we exit the three-month period, we could return to status quo or market-based system, which is equitable," Puri said. Mark Martin of Martin Consulting says that the government should not control fares even in the current circumstances. "The airlines have been bleeding for over two months. The government doesn't own these airlines. Regulating fares doesn't make sense, and it distorts the demand-supply equation. Let the market forces decide," he says. The decision to resume flight operations has come as a surprise for the airlines, travel agents and online travel aggregators (OTAs). After the May 17 circular by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) prohibited domestic and international flights till May 31, the sector had gone into wait-and-watch mode. On May 20, when Puri tweeted about lifting the flight suspension, it again swung into action. However, it remains to be seen if the flight resumption would give a booster shot to the sector or actually pull it further down. ALSO READ: Airlines allowed to resume flights with riders; here's all you need to know "Today's announcement that the computer electronics supply chain is coalescing around a single unified standard for blue light management is an important milestone for the industry," said Gene Munster , the Managing Partner at investment firm Loup Ventures and a prominent voice on emerging trends across the technology sector. "With average screen time now reaching unprecedented levels and showing no signs of abating, it's more important than ever that consumer brands have an easy-to-understand standard like Eyesafe for addressing consumers' health and safety concerns." Consumer and industry-wide interest in low blue light solutions and standards has dramatically increased in recent years, forcing many companies to pursue their own low blue light management hardware and software solutions, which has resulted in significant confusion in the marketplace about the differences in the various solutions and standards. By adopting industry-leading standards that display manufacturers can certify against, TUV Rheinland is bringing much-needed order and consistency to the marketplace, creating uniform standards and a more comprehensive means for the industry to talk to end-consumers about the health impacts of toxic blue light. Today's announcement comes just over two months after TUV Rheinland announced that it would begin certifying against the Eyesafe Display standard. The announcement comes on the heels of significant data pouring in from across the globe on rising levels of screen time by end-consumers. The average amount of hours spent in front of displays, which has been growing at alarming rates in recent years, has spiked significantly as shelter-in-place, work-from-home and eLearning mandates have proliferated around the globe. In the US, a recent Nielsen study indicates that average screen time is now exceeding 13 hours a day. "Ever since announcing in early March that we would begin certifying displays against the Eyesafe Display Standard, demand from across the panel manufacturing sector has been outstanding," said Kalyan Varma, Vice President of TUV Rheinland, Business Field Electrical, Global, at the launch. "There was clearly pent-up demand for industry-wide standards for low blue light and color performance management. Today's announcement, which brings together many of the leading panel suppliers in the world, shows that the industry is serious about the health and safety of the end-consumers. TUV Rheinland is excited to be playing a leading role in consolidating industry support around a single, best-in-class standard." "In the current information age with high-speed development, display panels are widely used as an interface for human-computer interaction," said Wu Yanbing, Vice General Manager of MNT SBU at BOE. "As consumers use monitors for longer periods and at a younger age, their demands for eye health protection are becoming stronger. BOE has always been people-oriented, and is committed to bringing users a better experience. We have a total of seven products that passed testing this time, and more products will be launched in the future. BOE will work with TUV Rheinland and Eyesafe to provide users with healthy, high-quality products." "TCL CSOT will adhere to the strategy of becoming a global leading intelligent technology company," said Li Dongsheng, founder and Chairman of TCL. "Announcing that our devices and panels will now meet the best-in-class Eyesafe Display certification sends an important message to our supply chain partners. This is a very momentous day for our company, and it marks a major achievement by our engineering and product teams." "Innolux has been committed to the development of low-blue display products since 2015," said James Yang, General Manager of Innolux. "The Eyesafe Display standard not only sets a new milestone for consumer electronics products, but also makes outstanding contributions to all consumers and our descendants. We will continue to cooperate with TUV Rheinland and Eyesafe, expanding the application of a full range of products, and contribute to the future development of the display industry." "We are very pleased to be able to partner with TUV Rheinland and Eyesafe in this endeavor," said Tao Yuan, Chairman and President of IVO. "Our partners in the consumer electronics business have made it clear that low blue light protection is going to be an ongoing requirement in all new products, and we are now ready to provide them with Eyesafe Display certified components. Today's announcement marks a significant pillar in our long-term strategic growth plan throughout the display sector." "Wistron is honored to announce that our panels have achieved the best-in-class Eyesafe Display certification, which represents a huge leap forward in product development," said Jeff Lin, CEO of Wistron Technologies, Wistron Corporation. "Today's news also conveys our commitment to consumers' health and safety. Gaining the Eyesafe seal of approval marks a milestone for our engineering and product teams." The panel makers that have their products certified by TUV Rheinland to meet the Eyesafe Display requirements, BOE, TCL CSOT, Innolux, IVO, Wistron and AUO, in addition to Panda which is in the process of meeting the TUV Rheinland Eyesafe Display certification and plan on bringing Eyesafe Display certified panels to market later in 2020, collectively account for over 60% of the world's display manufacturing for desktop monitors, all-in-one PCs, and laptops. The Eyesafe Display Standard is an industry-leading set of requirements available for all manufacturers across the display industry. Products that have passed the Eyesafe Display Standard requirements will receive a Certificate (Certificate of Conformance) issued by TUV Rheinland, including the test report. Consumers can obtain information on certified products on the TUV Rheinland certificate database Certipedia, which helps facilitate consumers' understanding of a product and enhance confidence in the purchase. With TUV Rheinland Certificate, all manufacturers can apply for using the Eyesafe Display label authorized by Eyesafe. "The Eyesafe mark represents a commitment to health and safety by the largest device manufacturers in the world, and we are proud to support their efforts in collaboration with leaders in healthcare," remarked Justin Barrett, CEO of Eyesafe, the healthcare research, technology and advocacy firm responsible for developing the standard. "Today's announcement not only brings tremendous amount of clarity to the marketplace, but also ensures that the global standards for managing toxic blue light emissions and color performance are driven by healthcare, clinical research and scientific study." The repercussions of today's announcement extend far beyond the largely Asia-based consumer-electronics supply chain; with Eyesafe emerging as the global marquee standard for low blue light emissions, government and policy leaders, regulators, insurance executives and the research community sees far ranging implications. "The Eyesafe Display Standard was designed in consideration of the leading published research relating to the most toxic portions of the blue light spectrum and the human eye," said Dr. David Friess, an internationally-recognized optometrist and member of the Eyesafe Vision Health Advisory Board, the entity responsible for advising the Eyesafe engineering team on the health components of the standard. "It is gratifying to see the display technology industry rapidly move towards adopting this new standard to bring improved display solutions to market based on clinical health research which ultimately benefit consumers." About the Eyesafe Display Standard Supported by the Eyesafe Vision Health Advisory Board, the Eyesafe Display requirements are based on the growing body of research that suggests potential health impacts of blue light exposure and the consumer electronics industry's requirements for accurate color performance. The Eyesafe Display Standard has been developed to provide transparency to consumers and is further built upon existing standards and guidelines developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), Eyesafe and TUV Rheinland. Recent studies have shown growing concerns over potential long-term eye health impacts from digital screen usage and cumulative blue light exposure, in addition to recognized impacts of device use on circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. Blue light exposure research and studies on animals' cells have shown that blue light in a range of 415 to 455 nm generated the greatest phototoxic risk to retinal pigment epithelium cells, with photoreceptor cell apoptosis seen early after the retina is damaged by blue light*. *See www.eyesafe.com/research About TUV Rheinland TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded nearly 150 years ago. The group maintains a worldwide presence of more than 20,000 people; annual turnover is EUR 2 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all aspects of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects, and helps to shape processes and information security for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, TUV Rheinland employs a global network of approved labs, testing and education centers. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. Website: www.TUV.com SOURCE TUV Rheinland Greater China Related Links https://www.tuv.com Russia-led forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions from 00:00 to 12:30 Kyiv time on May 21. Ukraine's Defense Ministry has reported escalation in Donbas, the country's east, as one Ukrainian soldier has been killed in action, two have been wounded in action, and another four have sustained combat-related injuries since Thursday midnight. "Unfortunately, one member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been killed as a result of criminal actions by the Russian-led occupation forces today," Press Secretary of Ukraine's Defense Ministry Maksym Prauta said during an online briefing on May 21. "Two of our soldiers were wounded, four more sustained combat-related injuries. All of them have been evacuated to hospitals for necessary assistance," he added. Read alsoTwo Ukrainian soldiers wounded amid 18 enemy attacks in Donbas on May 20 From 00:00 to 12:30 Kyiv time on May 21, Russia-led forces mounted three attacks on Ukrainian positions. In the Luhansk sector, enemy troops fired three 120mm shells to attack Ukraine's Joint Forces deployed near the village of Krymske at night. In the Donetsk sector, the enemy opened fire from rifles near the village of Bohdanivka in the early hours of May 21. In the morning, Russia-led forces attacked Ukrainian positions near the village of Starohnativka, using shoulder-fired anti-tank and under-barrel grenade launchers, as well as rifles. Members of Ukraine's Joint Forces fired back, using available weapons. As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's hybrid military forces on May 20 mounted 18 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action. With states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam, reporting a sudden spike in cases as migrants return home in thousands and 200 Shramik Special daily trains to run from 1 June without consent from states, there is concern that this may overwhelm healthcare of these states. The Indian Railways on Tuesday announced that it will be running 200 special passenger trains daily from 1 June. This is in addition to the Shramik Special and the air-conditioned special trains which are currently being operated on the Rajdhani routes connecting 15 major cities to Delhi. On 29 April, the Centre had allowed migrant labourers to return to their home states and issued strict guidelines in terms of social distancing and quarantine rules. The Indian Railways operated the first train ferrying migrants back to their native states on 1 May. Since then, multiple COVID-19 positive cases have emerged in the states like Bihar, Odisha, Assam, who have recorded a spike in patients with migrants testing positive on reaching their native states. Bihar, on Tuesday, reported 1,423 confirmed COVID-19 cases, of which 652 are migrant labourers who have returned home from outside the state. Out of the 652 who tested positive, 218 have come from Delhi, followed by 141 from Maharashtra, 139 from Gujarat, 36 from Haryana, and 33 from West Bengal. Odisha recorded 102 new COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the total cases to 978 in the state, a health department official told PTI. Of the new patients, 97 were in various quarantine centres across districts of Odisha as they had recently returned from Gujarat, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra, the official said. Assam on Tuesday witnessed the highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with 39 people, including a two-month-old baby, testing positive for the disease on Tuesday. Of these 39 new cases, 20 people had recently returned to the state and were in quarantine centres across districts, reports PTI. Earlier, host states had faced the challenges of providing food and shelter for migrant labourers, and of convincing them of the necessity of staying where they were. Now, there is a new fear: of the coronavirus spreading in rural areas that have remained relatively untouched, which may lead to overwhelming the health infrastructure in the home states with the large influx of migrants. Although, most states are taking several steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus. According to a report in The Times of India, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are ensuring that migrants are screened while entering the state, their body temperature is checked, and they go into home quarantine for 14 days. In Gujarat, people wishing to return home need to procure a medical certificate issued one or two days before the scheduled departure. These migrants also have to undergo a mandatory temperature check at the railway station or bus depot, and those with symptoms will not be allowed to travel. Now with the railways running an additional 200 special trains, without the consent of the destination states to run the trains, there is a risk of the situation taking a turn for the worse in these home states with thousands returning home. But the real question remains if the spike in infections can overwhelm healthcare infrastructures in the state. One in four Delhi returnees tests positive in Bihar Bihar has reported a spike in infection rate from 1.8 percent to 2.34 percent ever since the influx of migrants returning to the state, according to India Today report. This spike notes that the "infection rate" among migrants was more than double the state's average, leading to a spike in cases in the state. According to a Scroll.in, testing data in Bihar has revealed that about 8 percent of returned migrant workers in Bihar have tested positive for COVID-19. Until 18 May, 8,337 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Bihar on the returned migrant workers and out of this, about 650 came out to be COVID-19 positive. This rate is double the national average of 4 percent. According to an IndiaSpend report, in Bihar's government hospitals, there is one bed for 8,645 people. A NITI Aayog, Health Index report published in June 2019 ranked Bihar as the second-worst state in terms of health care infrastructure, just above Uttar Pradesh. Assam needs Rs 300 crore if 1 lakh people return, says health minister Meanwhile, the northeastern state of Assam has clearly said that they would need extra funding if migrants return to the state. While addressing a press conference on Monday, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, The state government is preparing a detailed plan of how much money we can afford to spend on each person in quarantine while ensuring they get good care. Our estimate says we will have to spend Rs 300 cr if one lakh people are placed in quarantine. The Assam government had provided financial assistance of Rs 2,000 each to nearly 4 lakh workers from the state staying outside. As per that figure, it is estimated that nearly one lakh of them could return in the next few weeks, reports The Hindustan Times. One ventilator for every 70,000 people in Jharkhand, says report As of 17 May, Jharkhand has registered 223 confirmed cases in the state. According to health officials, 88 of the total 223 cases were migrants. A report by News18 highlights the complete lack of healthcare infrastructure in the state. According to the article, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), the only state-run super-speciality medical institute in Jharkhand, does not have the required equipment to deal with the pandemic. The integrated COVID-19 centre at RIMS has 30 ICU beds of which 12 are without a ventilator. Most district hospitals also do not have even one ventilator. At present, there is one ventilator for every 70,000 people in the state, the report noted. Odisha gears up to quarantine 5 lakh migrants, face logistic issues Odisha was one of the first states to have reported a surge in the number of migrant labourers turning positive on arrival with Ganjam district being the hotspot since 5 May. As of 10 May, 57,000-odd migrants have returned to Odisha from other states of which Ganjam alone accounted for over 32,000 returnees. Hindustan Times reports that district administration in the state is worried about people jumping quarantine. Odisha Assembly Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro had alleged that migrants are slipping out of quarantine centres at night to be with their family members even as the officials said those violating quarantine norms would be arrested. A Firstpost article predicts Odisha government will have to bear a burden of additional expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore to bring back migrants, their safe quarantine, food, bed and medical expenses. While arrangements have been made to accommodate migrant labourers returning from other states, the challenges are plenty, including arranging the logistics for their safe travel to their villages in Odisha, and then settling them in quarantine centres with proper facilities, the report noted. However, the plight of migrants stranded away from their native places is no less worrisome, but the real challenge now arises with them returning in thousands to their native states. Conditions such as the ones described above indicate why states like Bihar, Assam, will face several issues in containing the outbreak, with so many workers testing positive, this will strain the states' already burdened health care infrastructure. With inputs from agencies In a makeshift bunker of sacks of rice beneath a tree, heavily-armed Togolese soldiers keep watch over villagers coming and going on foot or bike across the border with Burkina Faso. Just a dried-out river bed separates the two West African countries. In surrounding fields, peasant farmers are bent silhouettes, watering the sorghum and maize seeds sown before the arrival of the first rains. Soon, clouds will chase away the fine dust of the harmattan, the desert wind that each year sweeps off the Sahara southwards to the coast and chokes the air. Nothing dramatic, or so it would seem, ever happens at Yemboate, in Togo's far north. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border in eastern Burkina Faso, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. Those policemen, doctors and teachers who have not fled are being hunted down and butchered. "When I was small, we spent our time swimming in the river," says farmer Abdoulaye Mossi, leaning on his bike with a hoe, speaking to AFP before the coronavirus pandemic. Nothing dramatic ever seems to happen in Yemboate, the northern Togo border post with Burkina Faso. Yet less than 30 kilometres (19 miles) away, over the border, jihadists and militia groups have imposed their own brutal law. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP) The arid channel separates his peaceful village of cob huts from a Burkinabe village on the other side. "Fear rules today," the farmer says. But fear does not stop people crossing between the two countries, especially on Tuesday's market day, when they sell crops and cattle. "They're never far away," he says, of the armed movements. "They often come to have their motorbikes repaired. They will never tell you who the jihadists are, but we know," says Mossi, part of whose family lives in Burkina Faso. The Togolese soldiers mount checkpoints and mobile patrols of the countless cross-border tracks through the bush that enable jihadists on motorbikes to blend into the civilian population. Expansion south? After the fall of Burkinabe president Blaise Compaore in 2014, Togo's northern neighbour fell prey to the jihadist chaos that had begun in neighbouring Mali, fanned by the collapse of Libya. Today, jihadists affiliated to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast, as well as Togo. A year ago Benin witnessed the kidnapping of two French tourists and the murder of their guide in the Pendjari National Park. Map locating Ghana, Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso in Africa. By (AFP) In February, jihadists also attacked a police station near the border with Burkina Faso. In Ivory Coast, jihadist gunmen attacked the Grand-Bassam beach resort in 2016, leaving 19 people dead. Another jihadist group has been holing up in the Comoe national park in northern Ivory Coast for the past eight months after being pursued by Burkinabe troops. The coronavirus pandemic has inspired no ceasefires. In Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the number of clashes and attacks reached unprecedented levels last year. According to local and foreign security sources, many parts of rural Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin have seen the awakening of "sleeper cells" -- people indoctrinated and trained to encourage ever more radical peaching in mosques and Koranic schools. Togo's fears "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong we feel it a little more with each day," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February, while campaigning for re-election in Dapaong, the main northern town. Flying by helicopter from the capital Lome, 650 km to the south, the head of state touched down in what has become a "red zone" for tourists, missionaries and foreign aid personnel, whose work was cut short by a Spanish priest's murder at a Burkinabe customs post. Togo has been spared big attacks so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst. According to confidential military documents seen by AFP, almost 700 Togolese soldiers are deployed in the northernmost Savanes region on the border with Burkina Faso, engaged in Operation Koundjoare launched in 2018. "The terrorist threat is real and the pressure is very strong ," Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe told AFP in February. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP) They keep guard at an invisible border of around 100 km, with Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. The territory serves smugglers, highway robbers and all sorts of contraband -- ivory, weapons, drugs and, above all, gold, one of the main resources of the region. In these remote areas far from coastal towns and economically developed zones, the trappings of state are mostly absent, so wildlife parks and dense forests have become a sanctuary for the jihadists. Less than 30 km from the border, a much feared group has seized control in Burkina Faso's Pama forest reserve. For two years, it has launched violent raids against travellers and security forces alike. The fighters -- linked to the Ansaroul Islam movement accused of terrorising northern Burkina Faso and central Mali -- are behind the kidnapping of several Westerners in recent years, according to French security forces. "The north of Togo can allow jihadists to rest up after long campaigns, or to fall back by merging into the population when pressure from the other side is too strong," one of the sources said, on condition of anonymity. 'Culture of distrust' Where deep poverty prevails, winning villagers' goodwill is indispensable in the fight against jihadists. The army provides free medical consultations, repairs damaged schools and builds wells. "Our passage must be visible," Gnassingbe declared in Dapaong, warning the military against both "bullying" and "petty corruption". Togo has been spared big attacks by jihadists so far, but its territory has been infiltrated and the armed forces are racing to ready for the worst. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP) Elected mayors and district administrators work hand in hand with religious leaders and traditional chiefs to obtain and pass on information. Togolese authorities count on intelligence services equipped and trained by powers such as Israel, with whom Gnassingbe Eyadema, the president's father and political predecessor who ruled for 38 years, nurtured close ties. An intelligence network intercepting communications and putting spies on buses has helped to "dismantle" several "terrorist cells", with dozens of arrests, according to the government. Authorities claim that all those picked up are foreigners, mostly Burkinabes, who are extradited to their countries of origin. The armed forces of Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast and Ghana have taken part in joint military operations with Burkina Faso since 2017. "Cooperation is undermined by a culture of distrust between states," says Antonin Tisseron, an associate researcher with the Institut Thomas More, a conservative think tank. 'Money and motorbikes' Togo relies on an experienced army, which has taken part in several United Nations peacekeeping operations. Most recruits are from the Kabye ethnic group in the north, which has served the ruling dynasty for more than half a century. However, many people fear that the "struggle against terrorism" will also serve to silence critics of 53-year-old Faure Gnassingbe. In power since 2005, the president has solid support from international partners led by France, despite criticism by human rights organisations of repeated abuse of political foes and activists. Jihadists threaten to pursue their expansion southwards in countries along the Gulf of Guinea coast -- Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, as well as Togo. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP) Togo came through a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018, with mass demonstrations calling on Gnassingbe to resign, particularly from the predominantly Muslim centre of the country. Security forces cracked down hard. "The countries of the Gulf of Guinea present many internal weaknesses," Tisseron told AFP. "Poverty, the absence of jobs and prospects, the repression of all forms of social protest and the stigmatisation of Muslims create a breeding ground where jihadists can thrive." Jihadists tend to infiltrate communities in stages, starting with charitable works financed by Islamic organisations abroad. The newcomers preach a more radical form of Islam than the reputedly moderate faith long practised by about a quarter of the Togolese population and strictly monitored by the state. "It begins with 'raising awareness' among the masses, without open confrontation with the authorities," said a Western security source. Fear does not stop people crossing between Togo and Burkina Faso, especially on market day. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP) "Once they feel strong enough, they kill the moderate preachers and then they attack police and gendarmerie posts." Last year, a non-governmental organisation unknown to local Muslim authorities appeared in Dapaong, where Maman Amadou, the imam of the central mosque, is one of the rare religious leaders openly to challenge extremism. "They started to preach radical Islam in about 15 villages and to build mosques," he told AFP. "They even handed out money and motorbikes to young people. The people listened to them." "We didn't know them and they answered none of our summons. We ended up alerting the authorities," Amadou said. Under pressure, the organisation left town, added the imam, saying he had no more idea where they went than where they came from. "We never heard any more of them." Lisle, IL, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AAIS (the American Association of Insurance Services) and Berkley Re Solutions, a Berkley Company (BRS), announce the creation of a proactive Family Cyber Protection Solution that can help protect consumers as cyber threats and crimes continue to increase. As the world becomes more reliant on the Internet for everything from e-commerce to socialization, cybercrimes are also becoming more prevalent, said John Kadous, AAIS Vice President of Personal Lines and Auto. There are more than 1.5 million cyberattacks every year thats three attacks every minute. AAIS and BRS realized this need and have developed a comprehensive form that can provide cyber coverage as well as educational resources to help mitigate cyber risk. The Family Cyber Protection Solution contains up to seven of the most common cybercrimes impacting families today: online extortion, social engineering, cyber bullying, identity theft, system compromise, internet cleanup and breach costs. The policy can help families recover by providing financial support for unexpected costs related to cyber-attacks. Consider the toll of cyberbullying, Kadous added. With the Family Cyber Protection Solution, families may be better able to afford necessary counselling and costs associated with a child switching schools. Its comprehensive, customizable, and simple to implement. The Family Cyber Protection Solution combines the potential availability of BRSs reinsurance with the industry-leading advisory solutions AAIS is known for. Were proud of this cutting-edge cyber protection solution that we are offering, said Christopher Ellis, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer from BRS. Well work directly with carriers and reinsurance brokers to tailor potential programs for each carriers specific risk management goals. In conjunction with AAIS approach to form creation, and their manual and filing process, were delighted to work together for the benefit of carriers and insureds. This program will provide strong coverage and services for families in need. Contact an AAIS Advisor for more information on the Family Cyber Protection Solution. About AAIS Established in 1936, AAIS serves the Property & Casualty insurance industry as the only national nonprofit advisory organization governed by its Member insurance carriers. AAIS delivers tailored advisory solutions including best-in-class policy forms, rating information and data management capabilities for commercial lines, inland marine, farm & agriculture and personal lines insurers. Its consultative approach, unrivaled customer service and modern technical capabilities underscore a focused commitment to the success of its members. AAIS also serves as the administrator of openIDL, the only insurance data sharing platform that supports insurance industry workflows, including analytics and regulatory reporting. For more information about AAIS, please visit www.aaisonline.com. About Berkley Re Solutions Our mission is to make our carrier partners more valuable to their agents and insureds by delivering sought-after reinsured turnkey solutions. We provide custom turnkey solutions complete insured offerings allowing our insurance carrier partners to provide critical coverages quickly, efficiently, and with a flexible quota share approach. We also provide Casualty Treaty and Facultative solutions to our insurance carrier partners. Reinsurance products and services may be provided by one or more insurance company subsidiaries of W. R. Berkley Corporation. Not all such products and services are available in every jurisdiction, and the precise coverage afforded by any insurer is subject to the actual terms and conditions of the policies as issued. Berkley Re Solutions is a member company of W. R. Berkley Corporation, whose insurance company subsidiaries are rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company. Stunning timelapse footage has captured the burned woodland bursting back to life after a horror summer of bushfires. The clip shows brown ground turn to green and ferns spring up as life returns to normal in rural northern New South Wales. The recovery was actually captured by accident by a team of researchers trying to track the behaviour of feral animals in the state's national parks. The incredible footage shows how fire ravaged bushland has recovered following a horror season of fires It was released by the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment on Tuesday. Bushfires burnt more than 5.5million hectares of land alone in New South Wales over the summer, around 7 per cent of the total state. Authorities estimate the fires impacted the habitat of at least 293 threatened animals and 680 threatened plants. One of the early recovery efforts by the government's environment team involved a major food drop for the state's Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies. Timelapse footage shows barren ground turn to green and ferns spring up as life returns to normal in northern NSW Pictured: One of the early recovery efforts by the New South Wales government's environment team involved a major food drop for the state's Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies The plan has already been deemed a success after the entire colony at Kangaroo Valley on the New South Wales South Coast survived as a result of conservation efforts. New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean welcomed the news. 'After the ferocious fires, it was a welcome relief to hear monitoring cameras and the GPS collars confirmed all the wallabies survived the blaze after trapping several wallabies to assess their health and remove GPS tracking collars,' Mr Kean said. 'It was great to hear the wallabies were in good health, with one wallaby identified as a joey that was not previously known.' Meanwhile as cleanup continues firefighters are already preparing for the onslaught of the next bushfire season. The New South Wales rural fire service has commenced its hazard reduction burn program after the official end to the worst bushfire season in the state's history on March 31. Justice Mohammed Liman of the federal high court in Lagos has fixed June 2 to hear an application filed by a former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, seeking release from prison. In his application, the former governor asked the court to order his release from the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Kuje, Abuja, following the nullification of his conviction by the Supreme Court on May 8. Mr Kalu had been accused of stealing and mismanaging funds belonging to Abia State during his days as governor between 1999 and 2007. He pleaded not guilty but was sentenced in December 2019 to 12 years in prison. He was jailed alongside Ude Udeogu, who was the director of finance and accounts at the Abia State Government House during Mr Kalus tenure. The duo appealed the convictions by the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court up to the Supreme Court. On May 8, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the case. A seven-member panel of the apex court, in a unanimous verdict delivered by Justice Ejembi Eko, invalidated the conviction. Justice Eko declared that Justice Mohammed Idris, who convicted the duo was already a justice of the Court of Appeal when he ruled and sentenced Mr Kalu and his co-defendant. He held that a Justice of the Court of Appeal cannot operate as a judge of the Federal High Court, and ordered the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reassign the case for trial, the report said. The apex court said section 396 (7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, on which the former president of the court of appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa, relied on to authorise the trial judge to return to the high court to conclude the trial was unconstitutional. When Taiwan became the first place in Asia to allow same-sex marriage last year, university professor Lois was among thousands of gay people who cheered and waved rainbow flags on the streets of the capital Taipei. A year on, she and her Chinese partner still have no right to legally wed, like hundreds of such couples who face restrictions over international same-sex unions. As Taiwan marked a year since passing its historic law in a region where gay rights progress is slow, LGBT+ rights groups have called for a full recognition of same-sex marriage to protect couples and families. I was so proud a year ago. Now I feel like Im treated like a third-class citizen, said Lois, 42, who refused to give her surname because she is not out at work. MISSING PIECE OF PUZZLE Same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan on May 24 last year, a week after its parliament passed a bill offering similar protections of marriage to heterosexuals. But gay people could only marry foreigners from a country where same-sex marriage is also legal, and adopt children biologically related to at least one of them. Loiss partner, who is from China where gay marriage is not recognised, had to give up her job in 2017 and become a student so she could stay on the island and raise their three-year-old son. Because they are not legally married, Loiss partner cannot get a spouse visa, and they have been apart since she and the couples son returned to China on holiday before Taiwan closed to visitors to control the spread of the coronavirus. Under the law, my son and I are strangers. I want us - my wife, my son - to be recognised as a family, Lois told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Taipei. Long seen as a beacon of liberalism in Asia, Taiwan became the first place in the region to allow gay marriage, although the move faced stiff opposition and divided the self-ruled island. More than 3,500 gay couples have married since last year, official figures show. About 1,000 more could not due to restrictions on foreigners, LGBT+ groups estimate. A petition this month calling for full recognition has been signed by more than 10,000 people, said the organiser, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, a charity. Many people have had to resort to using student or travel visas to stay here. Its causing a lot of anxieties and uncertainties, said Chien Chih-chieh, its secretary-general. Its the final missing piece of the puzzle that we need to achieve marriage equality, she added. President Tsai Ing-wen, who won Januarys election by a landslide and was sworn in for a second term on Wednesday, said society had become more diverse and open since passing the law. One year has passed, the values we want to protect still exist and at the same time, we have let more people embrace happiness together, Tsai wrote on her official Facebook page. There are still a lot of measures that need to be adjusted after the law was approved, she added, without specifying. Her office did not reply to a request seeking comment on calls to allow all international gay marriages. GAINS, SETBACKS IN ASIA Elsewhere in Asia, progress towards gay marriage has been slow. A court in the Philippines rejected a same-sex marriage petition last year and Hong Kong has upheld a ban on civil partnerships, although gay couples have made small gains in public housing and spousal visa rights. Thailand drafted a bill that would recognise same-sex couples as civil partners, but progress since has stalled. Japanese gay couples meanwhile sued the government over the right to marriage last year. We understand changes in society take time, said Jennifer Lu, a representative for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association in Asia. She said the law passed in Taiwan was a breakthrough as it shows gay marriage does not contradicts Asian values. Taiwanese publisher Lai Kai-li is optimistic that same-sex unions will be accepted more widely in Taiwan and other parts of Asia. Her partner of six years is Malaysian and has been on a student visa in Taiwan since 2016, the same year they held a symbolic wedding under Chinese traditions to celebrate with families. We are hoping to settle down and have a family, said the 37-year-old. Im confident its a matter of time, the law will accept us. (This story has been published from a wire agency without modifications to the text) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON YEREVAN, MAY 21, ARMENPRESS. The US government through the USAID will provide additional 1 million USD to Armenia for fighting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the USAID Armenia told Armenpress. The assistance, together with the previous one, will be directed for solving the following issues: Prepare the laboratory systems Accelerate the discovery of cases and the event-based control Support technical specialists to improve the response and preparedness level Promote information on risks According to the source, the USAID has provided nearly 2,7 million USD in assistance to Armenia for fighting COVID-19. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan With the start of the pandemic outbreak, many cybercriminals have pledged not to attack health-care providers during the coronavirus outbreak, but this honor amongst thieves doesnt include state-sponsored attacks. Phishing attacks, the most prevalent hacks, have jumped more than 600% since the start of the COVID pandemic, targeting businesses, individuals and various levels of governmental agencies. Researchers at Barracuda Networks have tracked almost 10,0000 attempted phishing email cyberattacks linked to the coronavirus crisis since the beginning of March. A variety of phishing campaigns are taking advantage of the heightened focus on COVID-19 to distribute malware, steal credentials, and scam users out of money A growing number of campaigns are using the coronavirus as a lure to try to trick distracted users to capitalize on the fear and uncertainty of their intended victims, the report said. A similar alert came last week from the FBI, warning Americans to be wary of suspicious emails, such as those claiming to be from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or those asking for sensitive information in exchange for coronavirus stimulus checks from the government. The FBI said it's received more than 3,600 complaints related to the coronavirus in April, with scams fleecing Americans for more than $12 million since the pandemic outbreak. But not even this is the most troubling cyberattack trend. Last week, the World Health Organization said it was targeted by an unsuccessful cyberattack and was seeing a two-fold increase in attempted attacks. The agency released an alert last month warning that hackers were posing as the agency to steal money and sensitive information from the public. Since the start of the pandemic, hackers have also targeted the US Department of Health, prompting security agencies to warn that cybercriminals have already made a play for medical facilities associated with COVID-19 vaccine research. The Trump administration recently called out the Chinese and Iranian governments over alleged attempts to hack and steal information for developing a coronavirus vaccine. The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also said that state-sponsored Chinese hackers were targeting US researchers, both state-run and private, in cyberattacks seeking information on vaccines for COVID-19. "China's efforts to target these sectors pose a significant threat to our nation's response to COVID-19," CISA and the FBI said. This would be the hack of the century because finding a cure or vaccine for COVID-19 will be worth billions upon billions, and the search has become a high stakes race between private industry and government efforts. This will be the largest such cash prize in history. Cybersecurity experts in the UK have also warned that the country's universities and scientific facilities are being subject to a wave of hacking attempts conducted by hostile countries in the quest for coronavirus research. The suspects are the same, though the UK has also added Russia to its list. In the meantime, while institutions working on a COVID-19 vaccine are the clear targets of the hack of the century, millions of Americans working at home are low-hanging fruit that hackers just cant pass up. Due to the stay-at-home orders and quarantines, those millions of Americans working from home are fertile ground for cybercriminals. Prior to the pandemic, companies had strict regulations for the remote workers--far fewer in number--who were required to use dedicated work computers connected to a secure network and using only USB devices to open work files. However, with the start of the pandemic, companies had only a matter of days to put together remote work plans with numerous gaps in security. Now, non-essential staff of some critical companies are mostly using their own aging computers with inefficient protection. In March, the city of Torrance, California, fell victim to a ransomware attack that disabled the citys ability to process credit card payments. The attackers behind the DoppelPaymer ransomware are demanding 100 Bitcoin ($689,147) in ransom from the city. Now the security experts are warning that such attacks on critical infrastructure in the United States, including the power grid are likely. That would be devastating, but its hard for hackers to pass up because so many employees of the critical infrastructure industries are working from home, letting loose a smorgasbord of confidential information. By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com More Top Reads From Safehaven.com: WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Thousands were evacuated as two dams in Michigan breached in devastating flooding caused by heavy rains. Midland County police said the Tittabawassee River has crested at 35.05 feet, breaching the Edenville and Sanford dams. This is 3' higher than the 500 year flood recorded in 1986. The National Weather Service called it a 'life-threatening situation.' Dow Chemical said its headquarters and manufacturing complex were safely shut down. Flooding is affecting many state roads in the Lower Peninsula. Michigan Governror Gretchen Whitmer declared State of Emergency for Midland County. The Governor urged residents to evacuate immediately, and at the same time to keep following social-distancing precautions, while admitting that it will not be easy. Shelters have opened across Midland county to accommodate residents who fled their homes. Whitmer ordered an inquiry against the operators of the Edenville and Sanford dams over the failures. Flood warning continues through Sunday. It is expected to take many days for the flood water to recede. Michigan is now grappling with two disasters. One of the worst-affected states in the U.S., Michigan has reported 659 new COVID-19 cases and 43 deaths Wednesday. This brings Michigan's total cases to 53,009 and death toll to 5,060. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. The widow of Limerick Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, shot dead by the IRA during a botched robbery in Adare 24 years ago, has described how she and her family were unable attend a remembrance ceremony for her slain husband and 87 other officers, due to Covid-19 restrictions. Ann McCabe shared how she and other family members watched the poignant annual Garda Memorial Day ceremony, on May 18, via a streaming service in her house. I watched it in my sitting room, but it was very moving and a few tears were shed, Mrs McCabe said. It was very sad for us really, because it is a lovely ceremony, and normally you do get to meet a lot of retired members, serving members, and friends you might not have met for some time. The ceremony is held at Dublin Castle to remember An Garda Siochana members who have died in the line of duty. The Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris observed social distancing guidelines at the event, which is normally attended by hundreds. The event is also referred to by garda families as survivors day, offered Mrs McCabe, a founding member and President of the Garda Survivors Support Association (GSSA). A poignant lone bugle call of the 'The Last Post' was performed as the names of the 88 gardai who gave their lives for the State were read out. Ann McCabe. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22 Each gardas name is inscribed on a stone on the Castle grounds, and loved ones are presented with a single white rose. There are 88 now, hopefully there will be no more names on those stones, said Mrs McCabe. The rose is a lovely gesture I have to say. Its always a very, very nice ceremony, a moving day, but it is a lovely tribute. I believe each and every one of those gardai are heroes, not because of how they died, but because of how they lived their lives, she said. It was wonderful to be able to see it, and they did it so elegantly, and it was very moving for me, and Im sure it was for all the survivors. Jerry McCabe was shot dead by an IRA gang as he and his partner, Detective Garda Ben OSullivan, escorted a cash delivery mail van on Main Street, Adare, on June 7, 1996. Det OSullivan was seriously wounded. Mrs McCabe said she has been informed she will not be permitted to attend her husbands anniversary mass on June 7 due to Covid-19 restrictions. Sadly now, we cant, it will be on behind closed doors, but it will be streamed. 3 1 of 3 Gracie A. via Yelp Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Amy C. via Yelp Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Hatsuye Hatsy Yasukochi has been the face of Yasukochis Sweet Stop in San Francisco's Japantown since 1974, delighting customers with both her warm personality and her famous coffee crunch cake (her version of a cake served at Blums, a long-closed Bay Area pastry shop chain). On March 27, she passed away of complications related to COVID-19, just after her 80th birthday, according to the LA Times. Daughter Stacey Nolan described her mom to NBC Bay Area as the smile of the bakery. ... She was always the one who greeted the customers. She knew a lot of the customers by name. WASHINGTON - In yet another setback for the Museum of the Bible, federal authorities on Monday began the process of taking ownership of a rare cuneiform tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream tablet, that its main supporter, Hobby Lobby, bought for $1.6 million in 2014. Prosecutors believe the historically significant tablet, originally from an area that is part of modern Iraq, entered the country illegally. In response to the government's action, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. filed a lawsuit against Christie's on Tuesday, charging the auction house with fraud and breach of contract and seeking return ofthe $1.67 million it paid for the item. The Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain is the primary benefactor of the D.C.-based Museum of the Bible, a 430,000 square-foot building that opened in 2017, just blocks from the Capitol. The museum is closed temporarily because of the coronavirus. The Gilgamesh Dream tablet is inscribed with part of an epic poem and is considered to be one of the world's oldest religious texts and works of literature. Federal agents seized it from Hobby Lobby in September after the museum identified it as one of thousands of its artifacts with problematic provenance. The forfeiture complaint is the latest controversy for the museum, founded by Steven Green, and the Hobby Lobby corporation he now leads, which was founded by his father, David Green. In 2014, the evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby won a Supreme Court case against mandatory employer-provided birth control. For years, scholars have questioned the origin and authenticity of artifacts in the Hobby Lobby collection, estimated at 44,000 pieces, hundreds of which are on display in the museum. In 2017, Hobby Lobby forfeited 3,800 stone tablets that federal officials said were illegally imported, and paid a $3 million fine in a settlement it reached with the Eastern District of New York. As part of the settlement, Hobby Lobby agreed to submit to federal oversight for 18 months. The rare artifacts were repatriated the next year. In recent years, Steven Green has admitted to making mistakes in assembling the private collection. In March, he announced that an internal review identified 11,500 items that had "insufficient provenance." Officials were working to return the items to Egypt and Iraq, he said. At the same time, an internal report determined that the collection's 16 Dead Sea Scrolls were fake. That finding did not surprise many scholars who had been critical of the museum and its policies, according to Candida R. Moss, co-author with Joel S. Baden of "Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby." "For the last 12 months, their narrative has been they made mistakes, they realize they made mistakes and they are earnestly trying to correct those mistakes. That is a Christian narrative," Moss said. "This constant act of public repentance and rebirth - it wouldn't work in any other forum." In the latest forfeiture complaint, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York allege that an unidentified auction house's antiquities director was told by a dealer that the provenance letter accompanying the tablet was false and should not be used in a public sale. Hobby Lobby bought the item in a private sale in 2014. Three years later, Hobby Lobby asked about the provenance but it says that the auction house did not disclose the letter or the dealer's name, according to the complaint. The museum cooperated with the investigation. "This lawsuit seeks a recovery for Hobby Lobby based upon promises Christie's made when it sold the Gilgamesh Tablet to Hobby Lobby in 2014. We will be joining our lawsuit with the Government's forfeiture action. We are confident that we will be successful in recovering the purchase price from Christie's," Hobby Lobby's attorney Michael McCullough said in a statement issued Tuesday. A Christie's spokesperson said the lawsuit is linked to an unidentified dealer's admission to government authorities about falsified documents from more than decade ago. "Now that we are informed of this activity predating Christie's involvement, we are reviewing all representations made to us by prior owners and will reserve our rights in this matter," the spokesperson said. "Assertions within the filing that suggest Christie's had knowledge of the original fraud or illegal importation do not comport with our investigation." By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, more than two months after a shutdown of the country to deal with the coronavirus crisis, pointing to a second wave of layoffs in industries not initially impacted by closures caused by the pandemic. The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report on Thursday, the most timely data on the economy's health, also showed the number of people on unemployment rolls surging to a record high in early May, suggesting that businesses were probably not rushing to rehire workers as they reopen. This also raises questions about the efficacy of the government's Paycheck Protection Program. A broad lockdown of the country in mid-March to contain the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, initially led to layoffs in mostly low-wage consumer-facing businesses such as restaurants and retailers. But economists say weak demand was causing layoffs in other industries like utilities, information, finance and insurance, and education. "This raises the possibility that new private and public sector cutbacks may be creating a major barrier to stopping the labor market bleeding," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economics in Holland, Pennsylvania. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 2.438 million in the week ended May 16, down from 2.687 million in the prior week, the government said. Last week's claims reading was in line with economists' expectations, and marked the seventh straight weekly decline. First-time claims have been gradually decreasing since hitting a record 6.867 million in the week ended March 28. Still they remained more than triple their peak during the 2007/09 Great Recession. The elevated claims have also been blamed on backlogs after the unprecedented amount of applications overwhelmed state unemployment offices. In addition, states were now processing applications for gig workers and many others trying to access the federal government's Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. These workers generally do not qualify for regular unemployment insurance, but to get federal aid for coronavirus-related job and income losses they must first file for state benefits and be denied. There is possibility that some states are not stripping out the PUA-related applications from the initial claims numbers after determining eligibility. Story continues "The states may be opening back up, but the labor market is still closed for millions across America and the loss of the income and spending of those without jobs will be a considerable headwind for this economic recovery," said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York. The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in the worst labor market since the Great Depression and steepest economic downturn in more than 11 years. Other data on Thursday showed home sales recorded their biggest drop in nearly 10 years in April. But the worst for the economy could be behind. A third report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed businesses in the mid-Atlantic region were increasingly optimistic, with the six-month outlook the highest in 2-1/2 years in May. Stocks on Wall Street fell on the weak data, rising China-U.S. tensions and mixed retail earnings. The dollar was firmer against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices rose. SLOW DECLINE Last week's filings lifted the number of people who filed claims for unemployment benefits to about 38.6 million since March 21. Economists cautioned this figure does not represent the number of jobs lost due to the pandemic, given the technical difficulties and procedures at state unemployment offices. They also noted that this number could include people who have since found jobs. Last week's claims data covered the week during which the government surveyed establishments for the nonfarm payrolls portion of May's employment report. Claims dropped by 2 million between the April and May survey weeks. The economy lost a record 20.5 million jobs in April. Attention is shifting from new claimants for jobless benefits to the number of people still on aid. These so-called continuing claims numbers are reported with a one-week lag, but are considered a better gauge of the labor market. They offer a glimpse into how soon the economy ramps up and companies' ability to get people off unemployment or keep workers on payrolls as they access their share of a historic fiscal package worth nearly $3 trillion, which offered loans that could be partially forgiven if they were used for employee salaries. Continuing claims surged 2.525 million to a record 25.073 million in the week ending May 9. "The sharp rise in continuing claims illustrates that the easing of lockdowns in many states has not yet resulted in any large-scale recall to work for those currently on temporary layoff," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. The government also reported 2.227 million claims were submitted last week under the PUA program, on top of the 6.1 million applications processed in the week ending May 2. There were reports Massachusetts misreported last week's PUA figures. A total of 27.282 million people were receiving benefits under state and federal government programs in the week ending May 2. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrea Ricci) A ceiling poster advertising the census hangs in Kirkwood Mall. A floor decal is pasted nearby -- banner advertisements that were part of Bismarcks monthslong efforts to make sure residents arent undercounted in the 2020 census. With fewer people visiting malls due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus in North Dakota, Bismarck City Planner Will Hutchings said he feels the messaging has been less effective than anticipated. Still, although COVID-19 has impacted the Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committees plans to advertise and delayed plans to reach "hard-to-count" populations, Burleigh County is the county with the highest response rate in North Dakota, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Burleigh County has a 73.9% response rate -- the highest self-response rate among North Dakota counties and 67th in the nation. Lincoln has the seventh highest self-response rate in the state, while Bismarck ranks at 16, according to the same data. Meanwhile, North Dakota, with a 58.9% self-response rate, is 26th in the nation, just below the 59.6% national average. In 2010, North Dakota's final census self-response rate was 78%, while Burleigh County recorded a 77.7% response rate. To many state and local government officials, a high self-response rate will ensure North Dakota won't miss out on the $675 billion in annual federal funding that will be allocated to schools, hospitals, roads and other programs across the country. U.S. residents have been able to fill out an online census form for the first time in its over 200-year history. About 65% of people who responded to the census in Burleigh County filled it out online, the bureaus data shows. Hutchings, who also heads the Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committee, said he thinks the new online-only option has caused more people to respond to the census, which happens every 10 years. The census has adapted over the years and providing an online option for completing the census has really moved it into the next century and made it easier than ever to do, he said. Still, three central areas spanning East Boulevard Avenue to the end of Airport Road are showing self-response rates ranging from 62.1% to 63.6% -- the lowest response rates in Bismarck, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2010, the same three areas had the lowest response rates in North Dakota's capital city. But in the 2020 census, an area around Burnt Boat Drive also has a self-response rate of 63.7%, which is 15 percent less than the area's final self-response count in 2010. The Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committee is attempting to improve these numbers by providing census 2020 posters to businesses and organizations in the areas with lower self-response rates. The other way that we do this is through our partnership with Bismarck Public Schools," Hutchings said, adding that information is distributed by teachers and school staff. Delays to plans The Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committees plans have been delayed due to COVID-19. Census takers are tasked to visit the homes of people who have not responded to the census and help them fill it out. They were scheduled to begin visiting neighborhoods from March 12 to July 31. Census takers are now scheduled to visit homes from August 11 until October 31. The Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committee also planned for census takers to count people who are unrelated and living together in a facility, like dormitories and homeless shelters, between April 2 to June 1. The committee has pushed back its start date for what it calls In-Person Group Quarters Enumeration to a later date, Hutchings said. At this time, the census has not been able to identify when it makes the most sense to start that effort up again. Theres just waiting on what that revised schedule will be, he said. The Bismarck-Burleigh Complete Count Committee also scheduled census takers to count people using services such as soup kitchens, shelters and food banks from March 30 to April 1. But those plans were also delayed due to COVID-19. Census takers were also scheduled to count people experiencing homelessness outdoors, Hutchings said, but thats been delayed as well, he said. So the census takers typically will count people in parks, benches and under bridges. The same as the service-based enumeration, Hutchings said. That is going to have to wait while the census decides when its safe to put the employees and the enumerators back on to that task. Morton County Meanwhile, Morton County has the second-highest self-response rate in North Dakota at 68%. Mandan is ranked 25th in the state. The Morton Mandan Public Library's Bookmobile program primarily brings library materials, such as books, magazines and DVDs, to rural areas, but its staff has also led census efforts in Morton County. Decorated with a census banner and playing a census advertisement on its speakers, the bookmobile has been visiting rural Morton County cities including Flasher, New Salem and Hebron weekly. The bookmobile usually visits Morton County's outlying cities monthly, said Morton Mandan Public Library Assistant Director Monica DeCarlo, but "with schools being closed, it's actually given us some flexibility with our schedule," DeCarlo said. The library canceled plans for staff to bring tablets for people to complete the census on the bookmobile, following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Instead, the bookmobile's driver is referring community members to staff who guide them over the phone in completing the census. Reach Andy Tsubasa Field at 701-250-8264 or andy.field@bismarcktribune.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Inchcape Plc (INCH.L), a multi-brand automotive distributor and retailer, said Thursday in a trading update that for the four-month period from January 1 to April 30, 2020, Group revenue declined 32 percent on a reported basis to 2.1 billion pounds. Group revenue for the period also decreased 30 percent in constant currency and was down 25 percent on a like-for-like or LFL basis. The company said it has taken prompt action to optimise cash flow and reduce costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company's board and senior management will take a 20 percent reduction in fees and salary during the second quarter. The company has suspended its share buyback programme from March 20 and cancelled its final dividend on April 7. Further, Inchcape has strengthened its liquidity headroom with confirmation of eligibility to the UK Government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility scheme or CCFF scheme. Looking ahead, Inchcape said it is still too early to provide a forward-looking view of the company's performance in 2020. The company noted that Duncan Tait will join the Board as Group CEO (Designate) on June 1, assuming his full role on July 1. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. A Sofia district mayor is calling for the removal of a communist-era monument from a public park in the Bulgarian capital commemorating the "Soviet liberators" of Bulgaria in 1944, earning an angry rebuke from Russia. The controversy comes amid a diplomatic spat between Russia and the Czech Republic over last months removal of a controversial statue of a Soviet marshal in Prague. "I continue to hope that the mayor of Sofia will finally respond to my call for the liberation of our city from the symbols of the totalitarian era," Konstantin Pavlov, the mayor of Sofias Lozenets district, wrote in a Facebook post on May 20. Pavlov was responding to a May 13 letter by Russias ambassador to Bulgaria, in which the diplomat expressed "deep indignation" at the Sofia officials proposal to remove the monument from his district. Pavlov said he had forwarded Ambassador Anatoly Makarovs letter to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry and was awaiting its reaction. During World War II, Bulgaria was an ally of Nazi Germany until September 4, 1944, four days before Soviet forces swept into the Eastern European country. On September 9, a coup brought Bulgaria into the Soviet orbit and the country remained one of Moscows most obedient satellites under hard-line communist rule for 45 years. Bulgaria is now a member of the European Union and NATO. The monument in question, located in Cherni Vrah Park, includes a bronze sculpture depicting two Soviet soldiers, an inscription reading "Glory to the Soviet liberators," as well as marble reliefs also representing Soviet soldiers. Pavlov has said that it should be relocated to a museum. In case remains of Soviet soldiers are found under the monument, he said, they should be "buried according to humanitarian law" in one of Sofias cemeteries. In his letter, Ambassador Makarov said that excavating the remains "could be interpreted as an attempt to rehabilitate Nazism." "I think it is high time we talk calmly about the past 75 years, Pavlov told RFE/RL on May 21. "I just want us to start gathering the facts and then talk about it -- if we can calmly. In a joint statement on May 8, the United States and nine Central and Eastern European foreign ministers denounced Russias "regrettable effort to falsify history." The officials released the statement ahead of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II to honor the victims and "all soldiers who fought to defeat Nazi Germany." But they also used the occasion to recall that the victory over Nazism "did not bring freedom to all of Europe" as the Soviet Union imposed communist rule in Eastern Europe. The statement was released by Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the United States. In September 2019, Bulgaria slammed a Sofia exhibition organized by the Russian Embassy marking the liberation of Eastern Europe from Nazism, saying the region had instead being subjected to a half century of repression by Soviet army bayonets. And the April removal from a Prague district of a statue of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, whose armies completed Pragues liberation on May 9, 1945, has strained relations between Russia and the Czech Republic. The Prague district said the statue would be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring the city's liberation would take its place. Russia has lashed out angrily over the move, and tensions were heightened further when Czech media reported that Moscow planned to poison the three Prague politicians in retaliation for supporting moves that have irritated Russia, including the removal of Konev's statue. The three officials -- Prague's mayor and two of the city's district mayors -- along with members of their families have been under police protection since then. Russia, accused of carrying out numerous attacks on perceived enemies abroad, has dismissed the reports. Sudbury, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - Rockcliff Metals Corporation (CSE: RCLF) (FSE: RO0) (WKN: A2H60G) ("Rockcliff" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of its phase one drill program at the Company's 100% owned Freebeth Property located in central Manitoba. The drill program was successful in locating and identifying the historical Last Hurrah Zone ("LHZ"). The Freebeth Property is strategically located within trucking distance to the Company's leased processing and tailings facility. Rockcliff's President and CEO Alistair Ross commented: "Drilling on the Freebeth Property has demonstrated excellent potential to host significant near surface copper-zinc mineralization. The LHZ is associated with a 1.4 kilometre long airborne geophysical anomaly and is located only 3.5 kilometres south-east of the past producing Spruce Point copper-zinc mine. Drilling has clearly identified a zone of high-grade copper and zinc mineralization that remains open along strike and at depth. The property has excellent infrastructure with an all-weather paved highway to our leased mill located approximately 125 kilometres to the east. The LHZ now ranks as a high priority advanced exploration target and we look forward to determining the extent of the known mineralization with future exploration and drilling." Significant down the hole assays from Rockcliff's phase one drill program are summarized below. Hole # From (m) To (m) Length (m) Copper % Zinc % Gold g/t Silver g/t CuEq* LH20-004 253.60 255.27 1.67 0.53 2.72 0.07 7.01 1.63 includes 254.10 254.79 0.69 1.07 6.21 0.14 14.01 3.55 LH20-005 297.10 299.40 2.30 4.02 1.02 0.81 44.36 5.28 includes 297.60 299.20 1.60 5.52 1.04 1.11 59.46 7.11 LH20-006 338.00 39.47 1.47 0.54 1.11 0.29 8.19 1.20 LH20-008 300.75 302.85 2.10 0.93 10.83 0.18 12.65 5.13 LH20-009 97.60 105.90 8.30 1.79 1.92 0.28 13.52 2.79 includes 99.20 105.90 6.70 2.18 1.82 0.33 16.20 3.19 includes 100.20 104.90 4.70 2.64 2.51 0.43 20.08 4.00 (m) = metres represents down the hole widths as true widths are not currently known, % = percentage, g/t = grams per tonne, *CuEq = zinc equivalent value used US$3.00/pound copper, US$1.10/pound zinc, US$1350/ troy ounce gold ($43.40/gram) and US$16.50 /per ounce silver ($0.53/gram). CuEq = Cu grade % + (Zn grade % X Zn price per lb / Cu price per pound) + (Au grade g/t X Au price per gram / Cu price per tonne) X 100 + (Ag grade g/t X Ag price per gram / Cu price per tonne) X 100. No process recoveries or smelter payables were included in the calculation. The numbers may not add up due to rounding. Holes LH20-001 and LH20-002 were abandoned. LH20-003, 007 and 010 did not intersect significant mineralization proximal to the Last Hurrah Zone. FW20-001, 002 did not intersect significant mineralization related to the West Target. FNT20-001, 002 did not intersect significant mineralization related to the North Target. LHE20-001 intersected significant barren sulfides in the footwall rocks of the Last Hurrah Zone. Figure 1: Plan view of Freebeth Property highlighting Last Hurrah Zone location (circled) and corresponding high conductance airborne anomaly (red) and former Spruce Point Copper-Zinc Mine and corresponding similar high conductance airborne anomaly (red). To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3071/56289_cca39f655431b973_001full.jpg Additional drill hole information is summarized below. Hole # UTM-E UTM-N Dip Azimuth Length-metres LH20-001 412335 6046838 -53 70 3 LH20-002 412241 6046809 -50 70 258 LH20-003 412772 6046556 -65 70 323 LH20-004 412739 6046559 -63 67 329 LH20-005 412739 6046559 -72 65 356 LH20-006 412719 6066555 -72 65 407 LH20-007 412676 6046529 -69 65 473 LH20-008 412758 6046517 -69 65 344 LH20-009 412747 6046794 -65 70 158 LH20-010 412692 6046703 -61 70 302 FW20-001 403550 6046677 -75 295 395 FW20-002 403552 6046755 -77 315 364 FNT20-001 412750 6049225 -60 115 374 FNT20-002 413200 6049800 -53 70 295 LHE20-001 412421 6047101 -50 80 452 Quality Control and Quality Assurance Samples of half core were packaged and shipped directly from Rockcliff's field office to TSL Laboratories (TSL), in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. TSL is a Canadian assay laboratory and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025. Each bagged core sample was dried, crushed to 70% passing 10 mesh and a 250g pulp is pulverized to 95% passing 150 mesh for assaying. A 0.5g cut is taken from each pulp for base metal analyses and leached in a multi acid (total) digestion and then analyzed for copper, lead, zinc and silver by atomic absorption. Gold concentrations are determined by fire assay using a 30g charge followed by an atomic absorption finish. Samples greater than the upper detection limit (3000 ppb) are reanalyzed using fire assay gravimetric using a 1 AT charge. Rockcliff inserted certified blanks and standards in the sample stream to ensure lab integrity. Rockcliff has no relationship with TSL other than TSL being a service provider to the Company. QP Ken Lapierre P.Geo., VP Exploration of Rockcliff, a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this press release. About Rockcliff Metals Corporation Rockcliff is a well-funded Canadian resource development and exploration company, with a fully functional +1,000 tpd leased processing and tailings facility as well as several advance-staged, high-grade copper and zinc dominant Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposits in the Snow Lake area of central Manitoba. The Company is a major landholder in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt which is home to the largest Paleoproterozoic VMS district in the world, hosting mines and deposits containing copper, zinc, gold and silver. The Company's extensive portfolio of properties totals over 4,500 square kilometres and includes eight of the highest-grade, undeveloped VMS deposits in the belt. Visit Rockcliff's YouTube channel with a message from the President and CEO, Alistair Ross. To access the video, please visit: https://youtu.be/9VSgU7m1BLM Cannot view this video? Visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VSgU7m1BLM For more information, please visit http://rockcliffmetals.com Youtube: Rockcliff Metals Corporation Twitter: @RockcliffMetals Linkedin: Rockcliff Metals Corp Instagram: Rockcliff_Metals For further information, please contact: Rockcliff Metals Corporation Alistair Ross President & CEO Cell: (249) 805-9020 contact@rockcliffmetals.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking. Although Rockcliff believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not a guarantee of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56289 Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary, saying that he laid the foundation of telecommunication and information technology (IT) in the country. Thackeray said Gandhi's contribution to India's progress can never be overlooked. In a statement issued on the 29th death anniversary of the former PM, Thackeray said, "Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the telecommunication and IT revolution in the country and we are now witnessing the benefits of the steps taken at that time." "Let's take a pledge to eradicate terrorism and violence from human life. We need to strive to achieve that. It will be a fitting tribute to Rajiv Gandhi," Thackeray said. Gandhi was assassinated on this day in 1991 in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur by a suicide bomber during an election campaign. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Doctors and health workers around the world have spoken about how uncomfortable it is to work with their PPE kits on. A nurse in Russia, however, has tried to find a solution to it but things went terribly wrong. A Russian medic, whose name hasnt been revealed, was on duty to serve in an all-male COVID-19 ward. Due to the unbearable heat, she decided to just wear her lingerie beneath the transparent PPE kit. According to the DailyMail, the incident took place in a hospital in Tula, 100 miles south of Moscow. The pictures were clicked by one of the patients, who revealed that none of the patients made any complaints regarding her clothes. The incident did not sit well with the authorities at the hospital, who decided to punish the nurse against the charge of non-compliance with the requirements for medical clothing. The nurse, who is said to be in her 20s, mentioned that she did not know the PPE kits would be completely transparent. She decided to put on just the lingerie as it becomes too hot inside the protective gear. The incident was first reported by the regional newspaper Tula Pressa. In its response, the regional health ministry said, Employees were reminded of the need to comply with the requirements for sanitary clothing and appearance, the ministry said. While the hospital earlier mentioned that it was lingerie, they later revised that her dress could have been a swimming suit instead. A former White House butler who served under 11 different presidents has died at the age of 91 after contracting coronavirus, family members have revealed. Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, who died on Friday, was one of the longest serving employees at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, beginning his five-and-a half-decade career in 1957 as a cleaner under the Dwight Eisenhower administration. His granddaughter, Jamila Garrett, told Fox 5 that it wasnt until President John F. Kennedy came into office in the 1960s that Jerman was promoted to butler, having built up a rapport with the first lady. Jackie O actually promoted him to a butler because of the relationship. She was instrumental in ensuring that that happened, Garrett said. Wilson Roosevelt Jerman, who died on Friday, was one of the longest serving employees at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, beginning his five-and-a half-decade career in 1957 as a cleaner under the Eisenhower administration Jerman served under 11 different presidents, eventually retiring in 2012 after Barack Obama's first term She said that her grandfather also got to work closely with the Bush family when former President George H. W. Bush came to power in 1989. When Bush Sr. became president and moved his family into the White House, Garrett told the network, George Bush Jr. has a little trouble adapting to a new environment, some trouble sleeping. Well, my grandfather would actually sit with him in his bedroom until he fell asleep. Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush remembered Jerman fondly in a statement to NBC. He was a lovely man, the Bushes said. He was the first person we saw in the morning when we left the residence and the last person we saw each night when we returned. Garrett issued particular thanks to Michelle Obama, whose husband was the last president Jerman served under. The former first lady included a photograph of Jerman in her bestselling memoir, Becoming. The image shows Jerman beaming toward the camera as the Obamas laugh behind him in an elevator. I want to say thank you so much, so much to Michelle Obama for including him in her book, she said. You know, just considering that we arent able to grieve normally, physically together, that is one way that we are able to still feel connected to his success and connected to so much that he promoted around authenticity and building relationships. Michelle Obama included a photograph of Jerman in her bestselling memoir, Becoming. The image shows Jerman beaming toward the camera as the Obamas laugh behind him in an elevator Former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush remembered Jerman fondly as 'a lovely man' it wasnt until President John F. Kennedy came into office in the 1960s that Jerman was promoted to butler, having built up a rapport with the first lady, Jackie Kennedy Another of Jerman's granddaughters, Shanta Taylor Gay, told CNN that when her grandfather suffered a stroke in 2011, the Obamas assisted in making sure he was taken care of while in the hospital, even him sending flowers. Towards the end of his career, Jerman reduced his role to part-time before finally retiring in 2012. After stepping down from the Whitehouse, Obama honored Jerman for his 55 years of service with a plaque and a coin to represent each President he served. 'When growing up, he never discussed politics,' Gay said. 'And never judged by the Republican or Democrat. It was all about the person independently and learning a person.' In 1966, when Jermans wife, Gladys, was dying of lupus, President Lyndon B. Johnson flew his personal doctors to help treat her. He also sent lobsters and filet mignon from the White House kitchen to the familys home in the Petworth, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter asked Jerman to work for him after he left the White House, Garrett told the outlet. Former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered her 'warmest condolences' to Jerman's family, following the news of his death. 'Bill and I were saddened to hear of the passing of Wilson Roosevelt Jerman at the age of 91 from COVID-19,' Clinton tweeted on Thursday afternoon. 'Jerman served as a White House butler across 11 presidencies and made generations of first families feel at home, including ours.' Wilson Roosevelt Jerman with President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Jimmy Carter asked Jerman to work for him after he left the White House after her left office Towards the end of his career, Jerman reduced his role to part-time before finally retiring in 2012 (pictured: Wilson Roosevelt Jerman with his family and President Ronald Reagan) Jerman in seen shaking hands with former first lady Hillary Clinton, whom he served during former President Bill Clinton's term Garrett described Jerman as a family-loving, genuine man. She said he was always about service, service to others, and it didnt matter who you were or what you did or what you needed, whatever that he could provide you with. I want the world to remember my grandfather as someone who was really authentic, Garrett said The secret to the success behind his long and illustrious career may have been his ability to remain tight-lipped about his job outside of the workplace. There would be too many questions asked, he told Vanity Fair in 2017 of his proverbial vow of silence. You see, you never see. You hear, you never hear. And you dont know nothing. In an interview published in The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, Jerman said he often wouldn't tell people he worked at the White House, opting to tell them 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue instead, as '99 percent of the people dont know where that is,' he said. 'Theyd ask you, "What warehouse is that? What building is that?' he continued. 'Id say, "Its downtown.' Garrett described Jerman as a family-loving, genuine man. She said he was always about service, service to others, and it didnt matter who you were or what you did or what you needed, whatever that he could provide you with. I want the world to remember my grandfather as someone who was really authentic, Garrett said. Always being yourself. Thats what he taught our family, thats what thrives throughout our family. And thats what well continue to carry on, his legacy. Jerman is survived by four children: Joyce Garrett; Angela Davis; Linda Taylor; and Christopher Jerman, as well as 12 grandchildren. A fifth child, Dennis Jerman, died in 2011. Chennai, May 21 : During the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, Kerala recorded the highest number of cyber attacks followed by Punjab and Tamil Nadu, a study by anti-virus software firm K7 Computing said on Thursday. In a statement issued here, the company said its K7 Computing's Cyber Threat Report, a comprehensive analysis of cyber attacks during the lockdown has found that Kerala recorded the highest number of cyber attacks during this period. The report analyses various cyber attacks within India during the pandemic and reveals that threat actors targeted the state with COVID-themed attacks aimed at exploiting user trust. In Kerala, regions like Kottayam, Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi saw the highest hits with 462, 374, 236, and 147 attacks respectively, while the state as a whole saw around 2,000 attacks during the period - the highest thus far in the country. This was followed by Punjab with 207 attacks and Tamil Nadu with 184 attacks, the company said. The sudden surge in the frequency of attacks witnessed from February 2020 to mid-April 2020 indicates that scamsters across the world were exploiting the widespread panic around coronavirus at both the individual and corporate level. These attacks aimed to compromise computers and mobile devices to gain access to users' confidential data, banking details, and cryptocurrency accounts. The key threats seen during this period ranged from phishing attacks to rogue apps disguised as COVID-19 information apps that targeted users' sensitive data. Phishing attacks were noticed more in Tier-II and Tier-III cities while the metros fared better. Smaller cities saw over 250 attacks being blocked per 10,000 users. Users from Ghaziabad and Lucknow seem to have faced almost 6 and 4 times the number of attacks as Bengaluru users. According to the statement, a majority of the recorded attacks were phishing attacks with sophisticated campaigns that could easily snare even the most educated users. These attacks were aimed at heightening users' fears and creating a sense of urgency to take action. K7 Labs noticed phishing attacks where scamsters posed as representatives of the United States Department of Treasury, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the company said. Users were encouraged to visit links that would automatically download malware on the host computer such as the Agent Tesla keylogger or Lokibot information-stealing malware, infamous banking Trojans such as Trickbot or Zeus Sphinx, and even disastrous ransomware. Other attacks included infected Covid-19 Android apps like CoronaSafetyMask that scam users with promises of masks for an upfront payment; the spyware app Project Spy; and seemingly genuine apps that are infected with dangerous malware like banking Trojans such as Ginp, Anubis and Cerberus. "Covid-19 has created an ideal situation for various threat actors to target individuals and enterprises alike. The panic caused by the stringent lockdown measures and rapid spread of this virus has left many people looking for more information on the situation," J. Kesavardhanan, Founder and CEO of K7 Computing was quoted as saying in the statement. "Threat actors exploit this fear to their advantage and scam users into downloading malicious software and divulging sensitive information like banking codes. The need to be cyber cautious has never been greater. This is more so in the case of corporates who have adopted a work from home policy hurriedly without adequate cyber hygiene. We have seen an increase in attacks on enterprises and SME employees as well," he added. Such attacked are expected to continue till normalcy returns. Social engineering attacks targeted at winning users' trust will gain momentum. Healthcare institutions, well-known government offices, and international organisations will continue to be a prime target throughout the pandemic, the statement said. An extradition treaty that could be used to forcibly deport Uyghurs from Turkey to China where they are at risk of persecution faces an uncertain fate in parliament, according to Turkish opposition lawmakers, while cases that highlight Beijings influence over Ankara have raised fears among Uyghur exiles. Many of the more than 50,000 Uyghurs who live in Turkey fled there to escape persecution in Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where authorities are believed to have held up to 1.8 million members of their ethnic group and other Muslim minorities in a vast network of internment camps since April 2017. Uyghurs traditionally view Turkey as a refuge and advocate for their rights, but a 2017 extradition treaty signed between Beijing and Ankarathough not ratifiedwas submitted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for consideration a year ago to the Grand National Assembly (TBMM). Observers fear it specifically targets Uyghurs in the majority Muslim nation for forced repatriation to China. The agreementa copy of which was obtained by research group Nordic Monitor, which promotes awareness of extremist trends"contains ambiguous phrases that might trigger the extradition of scores of Uyghurs from Turkey and violate extradition mechanisms regulated by the European Convention on Extradition (ECE), to which Turkey is a party, the group said in an article on Tuesday. In particular, Nordic Monitor highlighted Article 2 (2) of the deal, which says that it shall not matter whether the laws of both Parties place the offence within the same category or describe the offence by the same terminology, which the group said would allow either country to request the extradition of its citizens regardless of whether an offense is considered illegal according to the other countrys laws. The Turkish government had long refused to extradite or deport Uyghurs back to China, but that changed in June last yeartwo months after the treaty was submitted to parliamentwhen Turkey sent several home via Tajikistan, including a woman named Zinnetgul Tursun along with her two toddler daughters. A month later, Tursuns sisterwho lives in exile in Saudi Arabialearned from her mother in the XUAR that her sibling had disappeared and that the family had no information about what had happened to her, before warning her to end further communication. In February 2019, Turkeys Foreign Ministry issued a rare statement of criticism against China by a majority Muslim nation, demanding that authorities close the internment camps in the XUAR. During a trip to China in July last year, however, Erdogan pledged security cooperation with Beijing and said that residents of the XUAR live happy and prosperous lives under Beijings rule, according to Chinese state television. The threat of forced repatriation facing Uyghurs in Turkey was further underscored in an article published on Wednesday by Axios, an online newsletter, which revealed the Chinese governments secret request to the Turkish government in 2016 for the extradition of a Uyghur man named Enver Turdi who had passed information about rights abuses in the XUAR to RFA and Uyghur exile groups. According to Axios, Beijing asked Turkish authorities to discover Turdis whereabouts, seize or freeze his assets, arrest him, and repatriate him to China. The Turkish Ministry of Justice initiated court proceedings against him for failure to renew his residency permit, which he had been unable to do because the Chinese Embassy refused to issue him a new passport. In 2017, Turdi was detained for 12 months in a deportation facility, accused of running a pro-Islamic State websitewhich he deniedand had his case sent to a criminal court, instead of one handling matters of immigration. His case is still pending. No chance for agenda RFAs Uyghur Service spoke with members of parliament (MP) from Turkeys minority Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which holds 49 seats in the 600-seat TBMM, and IYI Party, which holds 37 seats in the legislature. All said the draft extradition treaty is unlikely to come up for a vote any time soon, in part because of the support most Turks feel for Uyghurs. Olcay Kilavuz, an MP with the MPH, told RFA theres no [current] agenda at the TBMM for voting on the draft extradition treaty with China. But Ill say, asking about this is a disgrace in and of itself, he said. Of course, we will safeguard the safety, happiness, freedom, and existence of our ethnic brethren [the Uyghurs]. Thus, our party and our leader have been demonstrating sensitivity [toward this issue]. Furthermore, Kilavuz said, his party is actively working in support of the Uyghurs and to hold China to account for its rights violations in the XUAR. We are doing all that we can to support our ethnic brethren in opposition to the deaths, murders, and verbal abuse [they are experiencing], the restrictions on their language, culture, and everyday life, and the hindrances to their religious faith. Fahrettin Yokusm, an MP with the IYI Party, said his fellow lawmakers will come out swiftly against this, but added that Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) wont even be able to put this on the agenda. Should they, it will lead to difficulties in the [TBMM], he told RFA. Our party will be the fastest to oppose. We will do everything we can to ensure it doesnt pass. But I wouldnt say theres a chance of it even getting on the agenda. Yokusm praised the U.S. Senate for last week passing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 that would sanction Chinese government officials responsible for arbitrary incarceration, forced labor and other abuses in the XUAR and requires regular monitoring of the situation there by U.S. government bodies, once signed into law by President Donald Trump. Although its possible that [the bill] is receiving support as a way of the U.S. putting pressure on China for [its handling of the] coronavirus, we see it positively insofar as it means that the East Turkistan issue is on the agenda, and especially that our ethnic brethren in camps might be released, he said, using the name preferred by Uyghurs for their homeland. We also support it from herethe camps must close, and people should be reunited with their families. Backward legal framework Nury Turkel, a Washington-based Uyghur attorney, told RFA that Turkeys recent deportation of Uyghurs at Chinas request was wrong and said further actions could hurt its bid to join the European Union because they are in violation of extradition rules under the ECE. Currently, the worldwide trend is to refuse to return Uyghur refugees to China, he said. For a country that has been negotiating entry to the European Union, a country that is a member of NATO, a country that has achieved some standing in economic, cultural, and diplomatic relations on the world stage, to accept such a backward legal framework, one that people are actively opposing, into its own domestic system is an affront to the Turkish legal system, in my opinion. Reported by Jilil Kashgary. Translated by Elise Anderson. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk'. When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We note that Chinese People Holdings Company Limited (HKG:681) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt? When Is Debt A Problem? Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together. Check out our latest analysis for Chinese People Holdings How Much Debt Does Chinese People Holdings Carry? As you can see below, at the end of September 2019, Chinese People Holdings had CN157.7m of debt, up from CN128.4m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, its balance sheet shows it holds CN432.2m in cash, so it actually has CN274.4m net cash. SEHK:681 Historical Debt May 21st 2020 A Look At Chinese People Holdings's Liabilities Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Chinese People Holdings had liabilities of CN549.5m due within 12 months and liabilities of CN82.9m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of CN432.2m as well as receivables valued at CN150.2m due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling CN50.0m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined. Story continues Since publicly traded Chinese People Holdings shares are worth a total of CN294.6m, it seems unlikely that this level of liabilities would be a major threat. Having said that, it's clear that we should continue to monitor its balance sheet, lest it change for the worse. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Chinese People Holdings also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely. The good news is that Chinese People Holdings has increased its EBIT by 7.7% over twelve months, which should ease any concerns about debt repayment. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is Chinese People Holdings's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot. Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. While Chinese People Holdings has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. Over the last three years, Chinese People Holdings reported free cash flow worth 17% of its EBIT, which is really quite low. For us, cash conversion that low sparks a little paranoia about is ability to extinguish debt. Summing up While Chinese People Holdings does have more liabilities than liquid assets, it also has net cash of CN274.4m. On top of that, it increased its EBIT by 7.7% in the last twelve months. So we are not troubled with Chinese People Holdings's debt use. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. To that end, you should be aware of the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Chinese People Holdings . Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today. Love or hate this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading. On May 12, the Russian Foreign Ministry released the full text of an article published by EU Observer in an abridged form on May 8. The EU Observer version was titled The Choice is Always Yours and differs significantly from the version published on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website. (During the writing of this article, it was discovered that a key part of the statement was cut from the Foreign Ministry's version, but an archived version of the original remains. See below.) On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory in the Second World War one can often hear people in the EU and Brussels talking about the need for historical truth, Chizhov begins in the article. I could not agree more should such cardboard shield not hide unworthy attempts to downplay the role of the Soviet Union and its nations that sacrificed 27 million lives for Victory, to equate Nazism to Communism, and, furthermore, to accuse the USSR of responsibility for this appalling tragedy of the 20th century. Chizhovs complaints refer mainly to European recognition of the role that the agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact, played in starting World War II. The pact gave Hitler a free hand to wage war in the west while dividing up Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. The European Parliament has designated August 23, the date when the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement was signed in 1939, as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes. Chizhov devotes much of his article to railing against the actions of the Western allies, particularly the U.S. and U.K., in the final days of World War II and just after. For example, he references Operation Unthinkable, a plan drawn up in the spring of 1945 by Winston Churchill, Britain's then-prime minister, for the U.S. and U.K. to attack the Red Army and drive it back from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland. There is no mention of the fact that the Soviet Union reneged on its promises to allow free elections in countries it liberated from the Nazis, or the fact that Operation Unthinkable received virtually no support and became moot when Churchill was voted out of office in July 1945. The version of Chizhovs article published on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website mentions a Plan Totality. Before it was revised, it also mentioned a plan ostensibly hatched by the first CIA director, Allen Dulles. The reference to that second plan was not included in the abridged version of the article published in the EU Observer. The version of the article originally published on the Russian Foreign Ministrys website read: The accepted story is that the speech given on 5 March 1946 by the then-former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, the home state of U.S. President Harry Truman, heralded the beginning of the Cold War. "But it is a misconception. It was preceded by Operation Unthinkable elaborated by the UK back in 1945, which envisaged plans of a war to be waged by the US and Great Britain against the USSR, and American Plan Totality developed on the personal order of Harry Truman after the atomic bombings of Japanese Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, to carry out nuclear attacks against 17 major Soviet cities and industrial centres. "They were followed by CIA chief Allen Dulles Plan aimed at destroying the USSR by means of propaganda, sowing mistrust among nationalities and social groups, and corrupting moral values of the population. This account falls short in two respects. Very little is known about Plan Totality, but what is known is that the U.S. did not have the capability to accomplish the kind of nuclear attack Chizhov describes. According to Alex Wellerstein, a historian in the field of science and nuclear weapons who currently teaches at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Plan Totality appears to have been a plan for a conventional war if Stalin continued his westward expansion - i.e., a defensive plan. However, he acknowledged the possibility that a nuclear element may have been factored into the plan. The early nuclear plans I have seen (which does not include this one [Totality]) are just assessments of how you'd go about an atomic attack if you were going to do it, Wellerstein told Polygraph.info in an email. They generated them to see what they needed (how many bombs, targets, etc.) and to get additional eyes on their thinking. Wellerstein wrote that he agreed with Chizhovs statement that the Cold War mentality and mutual distrust between allies predated Churchills famous speech, but also urged caution in making such an assessment. You can certainly see many of the origins of it (Cold War thinking) at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, before the atomic bombs were used, he wrote. Secondly, the Dulles Plan is a fabrication. It was taken from a Russian novel published in the 1980s that gained popularity in the early 1990s, after the Soviet Unions collapse. Despite the fictional origins of the Dulles Plan, a court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg banned the text of the plan as extremist in 2015. The line about the "Dulles Plan" was later cut from the English-language version of the article published on the Russian Ministry's website. However, an archived version of that same article published on the ministry's website in Russian on May 12 includes the line. The version of Chizhovs article published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website also repeats false claims concerning the alleged poisoning of Russian dissident Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England in 2018 and the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraines Donbas region in July 2014. Take, for instance, the blatant disinformation campaign launched in connection with unification of Crimea with Russia, the fabricated Scripals [sic] case, pseudo-proceedings on causes of downing of Malaysian Boeing MH-17 flight with culprits defined in advance, horror stories of alleged Russian interference in democratic processes either in the US, or in Europe that have not been confirmed, Chizhov writes. A number of fact-checking sites, including Polygraph.info, have debunked Russian disinformation concerning Russias unification of Crimea by force, as well as Russian denials of evidence that Russian agents poisoned the Skripals and that a Russian missile was used to down the Malaysian airliner. Researchers examine the effectiveness of consuming hemp oil extracted from the whole Cannabis plant using a chronic neuropathic pain animal model. Researchers at The University of New Mexico (UNM) showed that legal Cannabis hemp oil reduced mechanical pain sensitivity 10-fold for several hours in mice with chronic post-operative neuropathic pain. Distinguished from its still largely criminally prohibited cousin, "hemp" refers to Cannabis plants with less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per mass. Hemp is now federally legal to produce and consume in most regions throughout the United States (U.S) as a result of the Hemp Farming Act, proposed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018. This major breakthrough in cannabis prohibition now enables millions of Americans the ability to access a natural, effective, and relatively safe alternative option for treating chronic pain. Conventional pharmacological drugs, namely opioids, are driving the leading form of preventable deaths and conventional medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. The University of New Mexico has conducted a series of recent studies testing the effectiveness and safety of consuming the Cannabis plant, but this is the first study measuring the therapeutic potential of legal hemp oil with low THC levels. Cannabis plants with low THC are still psychoactive, but tend to result in less psychedelic experiences, while still offering profound and often immediate relief from symptoms such as pain, anxiety, and depression." Dr. Jacob Miguel Vigil, co-researcher, associate professor in the UNM Psychology Department Using a chronic neuropathic pain model that exposes mice to post-operative neuropathic pain equivalent to several years of chronic pain in human clinical patients, the researchers were able to examine how hemp oil influences momentary pain sensitivity to the affected region. For several hours after Cannabis consumption the mice demonstrated effective pain relief, approaching the mechanical pain sensitivity of naive control mice that did not undergo the surgical operation. "Our lab utilizes a unique nerve injury model mimicking human neuropathic pain that has allowed demonstration of hemp's reversal of the pain related behavior" said one of the lead investigators, Dr. Karin N. Westlund, Department of Anesthesiology, their article titled "The Therapeutic Effectiveness of Full Spectrum Hemp Oil Using a Chronic Neuropathic Pain Model," published in the journal Life. Studies in animals can be superior to clinical trials because they circumvent human biases and expectancy effects, or perceptual and cognitive reactions to enrollment in cannabis-themed experiments. Several studies measuring the effects of cannabis in humans observe patients reporting psychedelic experiences, whether or not they received the active cannabis agent, otherwise referred to as the 'placebo effect.' The study examined the effectiveness of "LyFeBaak" hemp oil, produced by Organic-Energetic Solutions, which has been available for legal purchase in New Mexico since 2019. "We grow hemp that is optimized to potentiate the plants utmost health and vitality through hypermineralization techniques, rather than merely plants that are grown in a state of fight-or-flight, which unfortunately is common in the cannabis industry. These techniques have enabled us to produce hemp products that patients swear are effective for treating dozens of mental and physical health conditions. The new changes in hemp laws are now allowing us to test these claims," adds co-author and hemp grower, Anthony L. Ortiz. "Hemp plants contain numerous therapeutic constituents that likely contribute to analgesic responses, including terpenes and flavonoids, which in theory, work together like members of a symphony, often described as the entourage effect," says fellow researcher, Jegason P. Diviant. Several clinical investigations have shown that medications based on synthetic cannabis analogues and isolated compounds tend to offer lower reported symptom relief and a greater number of negative side effects as compared to whole plant, or "full-spectrum" Cannabis flower and plant-based extracts. The authors do caution that few studies exist on the long-term use of hemp oil, due mostly to historical federal prohibition laws in the U.S. "However, this is an extremely exciting time in modern medical discovery, because the average citizen now has legal access to a completely natural and effective medication that can be easily and cheaply produced, simply by sticking a seed in the ground and caring for it as you would any other important part of your life," says Vigil. This investigation was supported in part by private donations from individuals to The University of New Mexico Medical Cannabis Research. A mentally fragile workforce is emerging from isolation with new research showing that close to a third of workers have experienced severe psychological distress during the COVID-19 lockdown. The NSW government agency icare will on Friday release new guidelines for employers to prepare them for an increase in mental health problems among employees. Photographer Emma Hutch has found the lack of work during the COVID-19 lockdown stressful. Monash University has also conducted research that has found social isolation, financial stress, job insecurity and job loss have contributed to 31 per cent of its study respondents experiencing severe psychological distress. As the main bread winner in her family of five, self-employed photographer Emma Hutch, from Melbourne, said she had found it very stressful being unable to get work during the lockdown. It's not that there is open hostility towards Eamon Ryan within the Green Party. Most reasonable members accept Ryan has done an admirable job leading the party from the depths of despair after the financial crash to the historic highs of the last general election. However, they believe he has served his purpose and the time has come to step aside. Catherine Martin's role in the Green Party's resurgence has gone somewhat unnoticed to the wider public, but her supporters say she is the real driving force behind the party's revival. Behind the scenes over the past 10 years, she has quietly developed a reputation for being a strategic political thinker and a hard grafter. She has a strong level of support at the grassroots level and is widely expected to put her name forward for a leadership contest once government formation talks conclude. Those urging Martin to take on Ryan say the party needs a more commanding figure leading the organisation if it is to go into government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. They worry that Ryan is too zealous about entering government and will do so at any cost to the party. The Green Party leader would argue you are better off inside than outside the tent if you want to effect change. Some claim his bounding optimism about entering into coalition is "both a gift and curse". They fear he is blinded by his desire to return to ministerial office and is not looking around corners. "He should have approached the talks with more scepticism and realised we should be going in with the strongest hand possible," a source said. Martin is seen as the more pragmatic and less ideological of the pair. Supporters say she sees the need to expand the party beyond climate issues and embrace bread-and-butter political issues such as health and housing. She is also credited with upskilling a new breed of Green recruits on the hand-to-hand combat of campaign canvassing. She has spent years travelling the country teaching new members how to win over voters on doorsteps. Supporters say she was also instrumental in signing up young members in universities. Her work on female empowerment, including setting up the first Oireachtas women's caucus, is also a key driver behind her support. Backers paint a picture of Martin being the engine in the party while Ryan acted as front-of-house. Those who want Ryan to step aside are frustrated with his media and Dail performances. They say he has become "increasingly gaffe-prone" and is alienating rural voters with comments about salads and bans on cars. They say Martin, a Co Monaghan native, is more in tune with the needs of rural communities and is a more considered performer in both the Dail and media. Her attack on Fine Gael deputy leader Simon Coveney over his comments on reducing emissions might not support this claim, but it did highlight her opposition to entering government talks. She has since said she is dedicated to the talks and her backers say her successful election as leader will not necessarily mean the party will pull out of negotiations with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Martin's career progression over the past decade has been deliberate and steady. In 2011, she was elected deputy leader of the Greens at the same time Ryan succeeded John Gormley as leader. Martin wasn't an elected representative at the time but was elected as a Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown councillor in the 2014 local election. Two years later, she took a Dail seat in the 2016 general election, standing in Ryan's old constituency of Dublin South, which had been renamed Dublin Rathdown. Ryan moved from his constituency to Dublin Bay South and also secured a Dail seat. In 2016, the two-TD team were briefly involved in government formation talks but ultimately pulled out. Over the past four years, the Green Party became an attractive outlet for disenfranchised young people who detested the establishment parties and were nervous of Sinn Fein and the far left. As the world's economy bounced back after the financial crash, climate change became a more prominent political issue. It meant a fair wind for the party, which returned to the Dail with 12 TDs after the election on February 8. After months of fractious internal debate, the party is now the king-maker in government formation talks. Martin voted against the talks but now leads the negotiations. As leader, Ryan has been keeping a close eye on the talks and has even been showing up to some of the sessions, while also keeping in contact with Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin. Nominations opened on Wednesday and with all eyes on Ms Martin she issued a statement saying she would give "serious consideration" to contesting the leadership but only after government formation negotiations conclude. However, on the same day, Green members anxious to see Martin succeed Ryan flooded party headquarters with nominations for her to run in a contest that could be months away. NORWALK Police are asking the public to keep an eye out for a missing 71-year-old man who was last seen Wednesday morning. Eugene Francis Mensching Jr. was described by police as 5 feet 9 inches tall with white hair and glasses. He was last seen wearing a plaid shirt and a blue vest, walking away from his home on Silvermine Avenue. The first time the girl died, her heart stopped for one full minute. Jissel Rosario slipped into cardiac arrest during surgery, surrounded by doctors trying to remove a blood clot in her left leg. They brought her back to life just before 5 p.m. on April 21. Then the 12-year-olds heart stopped again. Five minutes passed. Then 10. Fifteen. Thirty. After 45 minutes of frantic resuscitation efforts, Jissel finally had a pulse. Doctors wondered for how long. For someone to have been so sick that she required such a prolonged effort at resuscitating her, I wasnt expecting her to make it, Dr. Derrick McQueen, the director of pediatric critical care at Childrens Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, told NJ Advance Media. As Jissel lay in a medically induced coma, her doctors pondered the long odds she faced. They worried if she did live, what condition the Newark girl would be in after her brain was starved of oxygen for so long. And they debated what role the coronavirus was playing in all this. We werent sure what was going to happen, McQueen said. Then Jissel woke up four days later. I had faith The coronavirus seemed to spare children in the early days of the pandemic. Few pediatric COVID-19 cases were reported in March in New Jersey, including no deaths. But as Jissels story illustrates, a growing number of kids exposed to the virus face life-threatening complications including a rare, mysterious inflammatory syndrome attacking blood vessels. Only 2% of the states total COVID-19 hospitalizations involved pediatric cases, Dr. Ed Lifshitz, medical director of the communicable disease service at the New Jersey Department of Health, said last week. And only one death has been recorded among state residents under the age of 18, a 4-year-old with underlying medical conditions. But parents now know their children are not immune in a pandemic that to date has infected 150,399 people in New Jersey and killed 10,747. In Jissels case, a blood clot cutting off circulation in her leg had traveled to her lungs as doctors tried to remove it. She had no history of clots, but they are a common symptom of COVID-19. She was otherwise asymptomatic and twice tested negative for the coronavirus only to test positive for antibodies, meaning she had been exposed. But doctors had more immediate concerns last month after Jissel went 45 minutes without oxygen. They feared brain damage. Organ failure. A third bout with cardiac arrest. The girl who loved to bake cookies, paint and dance around the apartment with her mother had cheated death twice. But her chances of survival were slim. Only one-third of pediatric patients who go more than 20 minutes without a pulse survive, according to Dr. Anthony Rosania, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. The survival rate was once as low as 6%, said Rosania, who was not involved in Jissels care. Then a miracle happened, or something close to it. After three days in a coma, Jissel started to move her eyebrows. Then her fingers. She woke up the next morning. And she seemed ... perfectly fine. No brain damage. No organ failure. As a doctor, I always have a hard time calling things a miracle or almost a miracle, but I do think this story of survival after 45 minutes is nothing short of extraordinary, Rosania said. Its generally unlikely, and its amazing that it was able to happen." Jissel would limp out of the Newark hospital on crutches May 12, nearly recovered after three weeks of life-threatening issues and medical procedures. I never lost hope, said Alma Cruz, Jissels mother. I knew my baby was going to be OK. I trusted in God. I said, I dont know what test or what youre trying to put me through,' but I had faith. I had trust." Jissel Rosario and her mother, Alma Cruz. Jissel was treated at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center after her heart stopped twice and she was revived. Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for Stabbing me over and over The ordeal began with a little soreness in Jissels left thigh. A warm rag worked well enough to mask the pain for a day. Then a warm bath helped. Then nothing did. It just kept getting worse and worse," Jissel said. It was a horrible pain. It was like someone was stabbing me over and over again. An urgent care doctor initially diagnosed the red swelling in her thigh as cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection. But after two days on antibiotics, the swelling worsened. Jissels foot then turned blue and ballooned as the swelling migrated beneath her knee. On April 21, Cruz rushed her to the emergency room at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, where doctors discovered the clot. They transferred her to the Childrens Hospital of New Jersey at Beth Israel for surgery to remove it. By then, the clot had cut off circulation to her foot. You know the Michelin Man? Imagine that Michelin Man how pudgy he is with the rolls? Think of her left leg looking like the Michelin Man and the rest of her looking normal, said Dr. Marc Cohen, Chairman of Medicine and a cardiologist at Beth Israel who treated Jissel. "It was cold. You could barely feel a pulse. There was hardly any blood flow going to the leg until we started working on her. No one can say for sure what caused the massive clot, but doctors believe it is related to the coronavirus. Jissel never showed any symptoms. No fever. No cough. No shortness of breath. She never got sick and didnt have any underlying medical conditions. But she did test positive for antibodies to the virus. Theres always the possibility that she was predisposed to having problems with clotting and the exposure to the virus may have aggravated it or unmasked it, Cohen said. Jissels case may be evidence of how COVID-19 can manifest itself differently in patients, posing a bigger threat to children than originally thought. Reports of strokes caused by blood clots in people who test positive for the coronavirus are rising, especially in young adults. And at least 15 New Jersey children, ages 2 to 18, were recently treated for a Kawasaki-like inflammatory syndrome that caused swelling of their arteries. In Jissel, the virus targeted her veins. Common to both is the inflammation triggered by the infection," Cohen said. She did not have any issues with her arteries or coronary arteries, and the fact that the veins were attacked makes it very unique. To my knowledge, this was the first time weve seen something like this in a child. Jissel Rosario talks with her mother, Alma Cruz. Rosario was treated at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center after her heart stopped twice and she was revived. She returns to the hospital every day to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy.Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for A special recovery As a mother, Alma Cruz just knew. She sat in a Beth Israel waiting room, just on the other side of the wall from the pediatric catheterization lab, waiting for news on Jissels procedure. Then an announcement was made over the hospital intercom. She saw doctors and nurses barreling toward the lab. This was my baby. I knew it was for my baby," Cruz said. After doctors brought Jissel back the second time that April Tuesday, they stabilized her on an extracorporal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which oxygenates and pumps blood, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. She was also placed on a ventilator. Cohen and a team of doctors then worked to remove the clot from her lung. I just wanted to stay positive, Cruz said. "Even though there were times I had that cringe feeling, I would shake it off and say shes going to be fine and go back to being her crazy usual self and being that awesome light in my life. After three days on the ECMO machine, Jissels heart started beating on its own. Later on the night of April 24, she began moving her eyebrows. I was just like, Oh my God, baby, if you can hear me, move them again, Cruz said. "I would see her moving her fingers and hand, and then it was one step at a time. McQueen left for the day on April 24 still worried about Jissels status. He shared his concern with Cruz. I told them I was worried about her brain, he said. So I left Friday night not knowing what was going to happen. The next morning, Jissel opened her eyes and was responsive. The ventilator was removed that afternoon. McQueen returned April 26 after a day off to find a different patient. She was being a 12-year-old, he said. She wanted to get out of bed and stuff. I was so happy and relieved that she had gone through this and that she had come out on the other side." Jissel Rosario, a 12-year-old girl from Newark, poses after being discharged from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center following a three-week battle with a life-threatening blood clot that was likely caused by the coronavirus. From left to right: Stacie Perry, nursing care director; Alma Cruz, Jissel's mother; Jeanie Kenneally, nurse manager, pediatric critical care; Jissel; and Jamel Corbett, nurse manager, pediatrics.Photo provided by Linda Kamateh Doctors are still left with questions. Questions about the coronavirus specific role in her illness. Questions about what it could mean for other kids exposed to COVID-19 who are asymptomatic, only to later develop life-threatening complications. Questions about Jissels miraculous recovery. Some of it might be luck. Some of it might be the work of a higher being, McQueen said. The fact that she had no life in her for a good 45 minutes and she made it out of here makes it special to me. After 22 days at Beth Israel, Jissel finally made it home. But before she left, doctors and nurses lined the hospitals hallways for her dramatic exit, sending her off with a round of applause and plenty of balloons. It was amazing to know that all of those people were there, helped me and supported me in everything I went through, Jissel said. For now, shes using crutches as she returns to the hospital each day for hyperbaric oxygen treatments to help her regain the circulation in her toes. In general, her prognosis is excellent," Cohen said. Almost a month ago, they were just happy she had a pulse. 16 Girl survives heart failure, twice Donations to help support Jissels continued medical care can be made to her familys GoFundMe account. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Patrick Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com. President Donald Trump threatened in a tweet Wednesday morning to withhold federal funding from Nevada should it proceed with its mostly mail primary election, alleging that the states decision to do so is illegal, though he didnt offer any specifics about why he believes that is the case. Trump said in the tweet, which he also directed at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and acting budget director Russ Vought, that the mostly-mail election would result in voter fraud and is tantamount to an effort by the state to cheat in elections. The states Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske announced in March that next months primary election would be held almost entirely by mail, with limited opportunities for in-person voting, because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. State of Nevada thinks that they can send out illegal vote by mail ballots, creating a great Voter Fraud scenario for the State and the U.S. They cant! If they do, I think I can hold up funds to the State. Sorry, but you must not cheat in elections. @RussVought45 @USTreasury, Trump tweeted. Cegavskes office issued a statement saying the decision to transition to a mail-in election was lawful, and was done to ensure the election would happen on schedule and to preserve voters and poll workers health. Officials also highlighted laws prohibiting ballot harvesting and safeguards to prevent voter fraud, including barcode tracking and signature verification. For over a century, Nevadans, including members of the military, citizens residing outside the state, voters in designated mailing precincts, and voters requesting absentee ballots, have been voting by mail with no evidence of election fraud, the office said in a statement. In a recent court order, a federal judge ruled that Secretary Cegavske lawfully exercised authority granted to her by state law to call for a primary election conducted primarily by mail ballot. The plan for a mostly mail election has been subject to several legal challenges from both sides of the political spectrum, including one from Texas-based True the Vote, a conservative voting monitoring group. A federal judge blocked the groups first lawsuit on the grounds that it lacked standing. It filed an amended complaint a week ago challenging an agreement between Clark County election officials and national Democratic groups that makes some concessions, including sending ballots to both inactive and active registered voters. In the rest of the state, ballots will be mailed only to active registered voters who have verifiable addresses, although both categories are eligible to vote. A hearing on that is scheduled for Friday. Republican National Committee chief counsel Justin Riemer said on a press call on Monday that the party plans to ask the Nevada attorney generals office to investigate potential issues associated with mailing absentee ballots to inactive voters. A group of Democratic-affiliated organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the progressive political nonprofit Priorities USA, had also initially sued against the all-mail primary, though they dropped their legal challenge after Clark County election officials agreed to expand in-person voting sites. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, in a tweet, called Trumps threat to withhold funding outrageous and suggested that he had started ingesting bleach, which he has previously suggested could be used to treat coronavirus. @realDonaldTrump, perhaps youve moved on to bleach and its even further impairing your judgment. Its clear Nevada is doing the right thing and your threat to withhold federal support, especially during a pandemic, is outrageous, Cortez Masto said. Rep. Dina Titus, in a tweet, noted that Nevadas mostly mail primary was actually the decision of its Republican secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske. Trump is threatening to harm Nevadans because our Republican Secretary of State is making it easier for them to vote, Titus said. The President doesnt care about the Constitution or apparently Nevadans safety. Hell do anything to distract the public from his incompetent COVID-19 response. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak said on Twitter that the state was using its rightful authority to run elections and Trumps tweet was out of line. Nevada is widely recognized as being a national leader in election administration, and we will continue to support the safest, most accessible election possible under these unprecedented circumstances, he said. For the President to threaten federal funding in the midst of a pandemic over a state exercising its authority to run elections in a safe and legal manner is inappropriate and outrageous. Trump has also threatened to withhold federal funding from Michigan over its plans to send mail-in voting applications to all voters in the state. Republican reaction Republican Senate Leader James Settelmeyer took questions while heading to the Douglas County Clerks Office the agency had flagged his daughters mail-in ballot for a signature mismatch and they were trying to get the issue resolved. The lawmaker said it gave him confidence that the clerks office was keeping an eye on signature matches, which are one of the main ways election officials are verifying the authenticity of mail-in ballots. I think the secretary of state has done a good job with the cards shes been dealt, Settelmeyer said of Cegavske, a fellow Republican, noting that she directed the state to pursue a mostly-mail election after she was petitioned to do so by election officials in all 17 counties. Settelmeyer echoed some of the concerns in the conservative groups lawsuit including that in Clark County, ballots are being sent to inactive voters as well as active ones, leading many to end up in the trash if they go to a wrong address and creating opportunities for bad actors to intercept them. Could I prove theres fraud? No. Could it create more opportunities? Absolutely, he said. As for the allegations in Trumps tweet, Settelmeyer said I have no idea of it being illegal, adding that he believed the secretary of state had authorized counties to carry out elections by mail. And on the point of withholding funds if the election proceeded by mail, the senator asked whether the president might be referring to the general election, suggesting that it would be impractical to change course on the primary now because probably about half the people who are going to vote had cast ballots by now. Assembly Republicans weighed in with a tweet, saying the real issue with our primary is the backroom deal Dems made in Clark County to weaken established election procedures enshrined in NVs laws and replace them with an unaccountable system for gathering votes. Assembly Republican Leader Robin Titus said she wasnt sure what money Trump was referring to when he talked about withholding funds. She said she supported the move to a mostly mail election for the primary based on concerns about the spread of coronavirus. For the primary, at the moment, it seemed like the right thing to do, and as it turned out, it was probably the right thing to do, she said in an interview. Her concern is with Clark County acquiescing to some of the demands of Democrats something she said has led to disappointing outcomes rather than what shes seeing with how rural county clerks have been handling mail-in ballots. But she said she doesnt want to continue the format in the fall, saying even postal workers have raised concerns about excess ballots arriving at homes when the voter has moved away. I think the president has every right to be concerned about it. Our primary has been an example of why he should be concerned, she said. I think his concerns are legitimate. The Republican National Committee also issued a statement critical of Clark Countys process, asking for Attorney General Aaron Ford to investigate whether the Open Meeting Law was violated when commissioners made the agreement to capitulate to the Democrats demands without notifying, broadcasting, or allowing citizens to provide their input. Asked for comment, Fords office said Wednesday morning that it was processing the request. We received the complaint minutes ago. It has been forwarded to our Boards and Open Government Division for review and consideration, a spokeswoman said. Clark County and state elections officials agreed to the following changes after Democrats sued to secure them: Mailing ballots to all registered voters, including ones deemed inactive Establishing two additional voting sites in Clark County Investing in an electronic signature cure system that would allow voters to fix issues of mismatched signatures using a mobile device Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 3 HOLYOKE Police are investigating after 14 shell casings were found near Dwight and Linden streets early Wednesday night. Police Lt. James Albert said detectives were summoned to the area about 6:45 p.m. for a report of shell casings in the street. They found 14 spent 9mm shell casings there. Police, as of Wednesday night, had not received any reports of shots fired in the area, Albert said. Floridas state government is moving rapidly toward reopening non-essential businesses and public spaces under conditions in which the COVID-19 infection rate is showing no signs of slowing down, while the economic crisis produced from the pandemic is further impoverishing hundreds of thousands. The official number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 stands at near 47,000 and the death total is nearing 2,000. Governor Ron DeSantis approved a full phase one statewide reopening that began on Monday without putting in place any measures to revamp public health infrastructure and implement the necessary testing, contact tracing, and quarantine strategies that health experts say are crucial to prevent the spread of the disease. Under the governors new guidelines, restaurants have been allowed to seat customers at 50 percent of their normal capacity. Retail stores, museums, gyms, fitness studios, and other large-venue areas are also permitted to operate at half their normal capacity. State legislators have moved swiftly to reopen businesses in large part to avoid further paying out unemployment benefits to the hundreds of thousands of workers who have been laid off or furloughed. DeSantis has adopted the same strategy that dozens of states across the country have embraced in alignment with the Trump administration. The ultimatum being presented to workers is to either go back to work and risk becoming sick, or stay home and be denied any financial assistance. Even before lockdown measures were taken, the state government made conscious efforts to restrict funding as much as possible. A local television station revealed that Florida did not start sending unemployment checks until the stay-at-home order was lifted. While thousands of families sought desperately for unemployment aid, the state only withdrew $80 million in federal funds provided under the CARES act to pay the unemployed, although a billion dollars worth of federal aid was available. The state has only started withdrawing significant portions of the federal aid in the last several weeks, which means many households have gone more than a month without paychecks and receiving no benefits. In fact, the sudden increase in unemployment compensation disbursements this month began after a report was released showing that the state had received millions of dollars in interest to its state unemployment fund, which is separate from the federal stimulus, showing that it was actually taking in more money than it was paying out to applicants. In explaining the delayed response, a spokesman for the Department of Economic Opportunity said, we are pulling the funds down as we pay claimants. We have made significant progress over the last several weeks of getting individuals paid. In an interview with WFTS in Tampa, one person who works at an autism therapy center that has been shut down during the pandemic said, theyre making more money like, off our suffering ... theyre getting all of this money back and none of us are seeing it. Up to now, just under 22 percent of more than 700,000 people who filed claims since emergency measures were implemented in mid-March were being paid benefits. A much larger number of claims processed were found ineligible, while thousands of Floridians have expressed outrage over the states online unemployment filing system. The system has reportedly crashed consistently, rendering many unable to apply, and call centers have been too overloaded to provide any assistance. DeSantis has sought to shift blame for this disaster to the applicants, claiming they failed to receive benefits due to incomplete applications. At a press conference Monday in Orlando, he brushed off the criticisms being directed toward his mishandling of the states filing procedures as common pitfalls. The governor made similar comments in Jacksonville last Friday, saying nine times out of ten the applications incomplete. An estimated 322,500 people have been deemed ineligible for state unemployment benefits, which is more than 40 percent. DeSantis is using the financial pressure to impose the reopening measures on the population. This is being done with complete indifference to the ominous rise of infections and in defiance of warnings being issued by epidemiologists and medical experts. The claims of political officials that Florida has flattened the curve are being belied by recent statistics. Floridas Department of Health tallied 850 new cases on its Monday coronavirus update, which is well above Floridas average daily increase. In an article written in the Miami Herald earlier this month, a former state deputy for the health division, Dr. Les Beitsch, criticized the plans being made to reopen for their complete lack of consideration of the long-term political and social consequences that will follow restarting economic life. Once you reopen, its difficult to have a time out. It creates serious concern about peoples trust in their leadership, Beitsch said. And if youre incorrect, the consequences could be catastrophic. Beitsch and many experts share the view that Florida is far from close to the testing levels needed to control the pandemic. Only an estimated 370,000 tests have been carried out in the state, which is less than 2 percent of a population of 21 million. Moreover, until the last couple of weeks, the state mostly tested people who were hospitalized or experiencing symptoms. In the majority of workplaces, testing is virtually inaccessible as companies and businesses are not being compelled to search for positive cases when workers return to work en masse. Rural communities are also expected to be hit particularly hard due to the severe lack of testing and scarce health resources. A vast and criminal underestimation of death and suffering is taking place as a result of the single-minded focus on driving workers back to work in unsafe conditions to resume the businesses of profit-making. This has been epitomized most clearly by the firing earlier this month of Rebekah Jones, the Graphic Information Systems manager of Floridas COVID-19 infection and fatality tracker dashboard. The dashboard is the chief monitoring system being used by the state and has been praised by researchers and the population for its availability of newly confirmed cases, testing information, and death data. Jones notified public health researchers in an email last week that she had been removed from her position due to her refusal to manipulate data for the states tracker system and provide dubious evidence to support the governors reckless reopening plans. In the email she said she was forced to resign due to the level of accessibility and transparency that she made central to the process during the first two months. She noted that her commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it. At a news conference addressing the firing, DeSantis called Jones termination from the Department of Health a nonissue. DeSantis communications director, Helen Aguirre told the Miami Herald that Jones behavior amounted to insubordination against the demands placed by the heads of her department who were working in conjunction with top political officials. The forced resignation of Jones is a dangerous indication of attempts being made by the political establishment to distort the real scope of infections and deaths occurring all across the state and to suppress any scientific information that contradicts the incessant demands for abandoning social distancing and lockdown procedures. Researchers in the state have reacted with astonishment and dismay over Jones dismissal and many in the medical community and population see it as an effort to censor data that undermines the case for reopening. Lucky Tran, a biologist and public health expert at Columbia University reacted to the announcement with a series of tweets denouncing the firing. One of her tweets states, when politicians censor scientists and manipulate the numbers, the rest of us suffer. Coronavirus has severely impacted Delhi and Mumbai. Both cities have reported high number of coronavirus cases. Mumbai has registered a total of 23,935 COVID-19 positive patients since January 25, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, while 841 patients have died due to coronavirus in the city, and 6,466 have recovered. Delhi has recorded 11,088 cases of coronavirus so far. As many as 156 have died. Both cities have been kept under red zones. The state governments recently issued new guidelines for Mumbai and Delhi, in line with lockdown 4.0. Mumbai has a total of 674 containment zones in the city, as of May 17. Delhi's containment zones have been reduced to 77. What is allowed in red zones in Mumbai? Medical clinics and OPD services 4 wheelers to have maximum 2 passengers besides the driver, pillion rider is not allowed for 2 wheelers Industrial operations in rural areas Construction activities Supply of goods Essential good shops E-commerce firms are allowed to sell essential and non-essential items Government offices can function with 5 percent staff Banks and Financial services Courier and postal services Home delivery of food Home delivery of liquor Movement for medical emergencies However, in the containment zones in Mumbai, only supply of goods, medical emergency movement, and essential good shops are allowed to function.In Delhi, a slew of relaxations has been announced for the red zone. The relaxations have been announced with conditions in order to limit the spread of coronavirus. For instance, the Delhi government has allowed reinstating public transport after a gap of nearly two months. However, only 20 passengers will be allowed to travel on a bus. In phase four of the lockdown, metro services, schools, colleges, cinema halls and salons will remain closed in Delhi. Religious, social and political gatherings have been barred in the city till May 31. What is allowed in lockdown 4.0 in Delhi? Police in Maine are seeking assistance in identifying suspected vandalism to Delta Force Master Sgt. Gary Gordon's headstone, which appears to have been done sometime in the last two weeks. Gordon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in 1993's First Battle of Mogadishu during Somalia's civil war, giving his life to protect a downed helicopter pilot during the incident at the center of the book and movie "Black Hawk Down." The Lincoln Police Department, "with an extremely heavy heart," posted photos of the damage to Gordon's headstone in a Facebook post requesting the public's help Wednesday. It called Gordon a hometown hero for the small town about 50 miles north of Bangor. The images showed gold paint sprayed over the stone's inscriptions, including the Delta Force insignia, a beret symbol and the Medal of Honor. "There has been talk that this may have been done as an additional honor, where Medal of Honor recipients have gold inlaid to the engravings and that this is still a work in progress," the police department's post said. "If that is the case, the family was never notified that this was happening." The department could not provide an immediate update Thursday. The town has hired a company to try to clean it up before ordering a replacement, Jeremy Weatherbee, Lincoln's director of cemeteries, parks and recreation told Bangor television station WABI. "Not only was [Gordon] a local hero, he was a real American hero," Weatherbee said Wednesday. A member of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, Gordon was a sniper team leader on the lead Black Hawk helicopter providing aerial support during the Oct. 3, 1993, raid of the Somali capital, which was designed to capture "high-value targets" affiliated with warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. When two other helicopters were shot down, Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart repeatedly asked to be inserted to protect survivors at the second crash site, despite knowing that militants were closing in and that they likely didn't stand a chance, the Pentagon said in a statement last July honoring Gordon. The pair were inserted about 100 meters from the crash site and fought their way through gunfire and "a dense maze of shanties and shacks," it said. At the crash site, the co-pilot and two crew chiefs were already dead, but Gordon pulled Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Durant, the badly injured pilot, from the wreck. He and Shughart then fought to protect the site's perimeter until Shughart was fatally wounded and Gordon was running low on rifle ammunition. "Good luck," he said, handing a rifle with the last five rounds to the pilot. He returned to fighting with just his pistol. He was quickly shot and killed, and Durant was taken hostage for about two weeks. Gordon's sister first noticed the apparent vandalism to the gravesite in a picture posted on Facebook, she told WABI. Her brother is buried next to their father, Cpl. Duane Gordon, and the grave site is visited frequently, the television station reported. "I have no words for it," Robin Gordon said. "It's just disrespectful." The site is "all I have left of him," she said, and it "means the world to me." Based on the photos, it didn't look to local headstone maker Rustie Dolley like someone had tried to ruin the stone. But even if done with good intentions, it wasn't appropriate. "If a professional would have done it, it wouldn't have looked like that," said Dolley, who runs The Pines Monument Services in Lincoln. On Facebook, the police asked for information on the incident, whether it was done "maliciously or with honorable intent," and called for the guilty party to come forward. "Do the right thing and turn yourself in," the post said. "Before we find you." ALBANY NY CREATES, the entity that controls real estate and economic development at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, approved two new agreements with North Carolina-based Cree, the power-electronics chip maker that is building a new $1 billion factory in Oneida County. The new agreements include the approval of a sublease of 53.76 acres of land next to SUNY Poly's Marcy campus outside of Utica that Cree will use to build its factory, which will produce chips made out of silicon carbide. Silicon carbide chips can handle heat and voltage better than traditional power electronics chips made just out of silicon, which means they can be made smaller and cheaper than current power electronics chips. Doug Grose, the president of NY CREATES, said that many businesses, including those making electric cars and renewable energy technologies, are seeking to use silicon carbide chips. Cree's Marcy factory would be the first ever to make the chips on 8-inch or 200 millimeter wafers, making them even more cost-effective. "It's an important economic development project for all of New York state and most importantly for the Utica region," Grose said. Cree will receive $500 million from the state and has agreed to hire 614 workers at the site and invest $500 million in the site as well, including $30 million for research and development. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The 40-year lease of the Marcy site, which has an option for a 9-year extension, will cost Cree just $220,000 a year for the first 10 years and will increase each year until it reaches $456,192 after 40 years. NY CREATES is also going to lease 3,186 square feet of space at SUNY Poly's Albany facility, where it is perfecting its manufacturing process on a silicon-carbide manufacturing line that was built by the state using technology from General Electric Co. The silicon carbide line is part of the state's Power Electronics Manufacturing Consortium, a silicon carbide chip research and development group created by the state and SUNY Poly. The consortium was essential in attracting Cree and Danfoss, a Danish company that has set up manufacturing operations at SUNY Poly's Marcy campus to make power electronics modules for use in such products as electric cars with silicon carbide chips. The Cree facility is currently under construction and expected to be completed next year, Grose said. Inmates work at a prison in the northern province of Bac Giang. Photo courtesy of Bac Giang Prosecutors Office. Vietnamese legislators are discussing whether to join Convention 105 (C105) on the abolition of forced labor at an ongoing National Assembly session. Speaking at the NA meeting in Hanoi on Wednesday, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung said C105 regulations are globally considered basic labor standards, demonstrating the progressive value of humanity, as forced labor deprives humans of both liberty and dignity. "In Vietnamese law, forced labor is prohibited while violations are strictly dealt with," he said. However, there is confusion over terms and conditions once Vietnam joins one of the core International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. Nguyen Van Giau, Chairman of the NAs Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he agrees with the necessity to join C105 but that some members have suggested reviewing whether to have inmates work in prison, as per the 2019 Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments. According to the law, a prison would consider the health, ages and skills of inmates to decide which jobs they are suited to. Working hours are regulated at no more than eight hours per day, with inmates afforded breaks on the weekend and other holidays. The law states working inmates would be "rewarded" for good performance and that once they finished serving time, they would receive help finding jobs. NA delegate Luu Binh Nhuong also questioned whether it was correct to make prisoners work when their sentences did not stipulate this necessity. "Once we ratify C105, and ILO sees we make prisoners work, what will happen? I totally agree that we assist inmates reintegrate into their communities, but not for commercial purposes," he held. Minister Dung said working inmates are not regulated by ILO Convention 105 but Convention 29. Adopted in 1930, Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labor (No. 29) is one of eight fundamental ILO conventions. Its object and purpose is to suppress the use of forced labor in all its forms irrespective of the nature of the work or the sector of activity in which it may be performed. The convention defines forced labor as "all work or services exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily," with exceptions like compulsory military service. The convention excludes "adult able-bodied males," to whom legal imposition of forced labor is allowed. Signed in 1957, Abolition of Forced Labor (No. 105) has also formed part of the eight ILO fundamentals. It cancels certain forms of forced labor still allowed under Convention 29, such as punishment for strikes and as a punishment for holding certain political views. As regulated by Convention 29, working inmates are treated as exceptions and are not considered forced labor. The work of prisoners shall comply with the provisions of Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments and placed under supervision and management of the prison, non-transferable or imposed for private use. "In consultation with ILO, most countries operate their own working inmate laws. If prisoners work for commercial purposes, they must have an employment contract and receive payment," Dung said. It is expected the NA would vote for Vietnam to join Convention 105 on Thursday next week. The ninth session of the 14th NA opened Wednesday and will last for one month until June 19. Martha Kalifatidis tied the knot with Michael Brunelli on Married At First Sight in late 2018. And the reality TV star, 31, revealed she is not planning on a legal marriage any time soon. During an Instagram Q and A with fans on Wednesday, she explained that a real wedding is not on the cards. 'My relationship is amazing the way it is': MAFS star Martha Kalifatidis revealed she doesn't 'care about marriage' during an Instagram Q and A with fans on Wednesday 'I'm probably the worst person to ask this of, because I don't really care about marriage,' Martha said. She continued: 'I don't think it's a big deal for me. If it happens, cute. 'But my relationship is amazing the way it is, what is a piece of paper going to do to change it?' Martha added. 'I don't think it's a big deal for me': She explained that she did not care for a real wedding with her beau Michael Brunelli. The pair 'married' each other on Married At First Sight in late 2018 Elsewhere in the Q and A session, the Greek-beauty surprised fans when she revealed that she secretly broke up with a 'negative and toxic' person last year. While fans thought she was talking about boyfriend Michael, 28, Martha said she was referring to her former 'best friend of 17 years'. Martha was asked by a fan for advice on how to get over a 'toxic friendship' despite still loving them. 'At the start of the year, we broke up': Elsewhere in the Q and A session, Martha surprised fans when she revealed that she secretly broke up with a 'negative and toxic' person last year She said that people have to realise that 'life is too short' to spend time around 'negative and toxic' people. 'None of you will know this about me, but last year at the start of the year, I broke up with my best friend of 17 years,' Martha said. 'And basically my mentality or how I got over it was, ''if I remove them from life, I'll have room for someone more positive or something more positive".' Martha hinted she still misses her friend, but it was the best decision she's made. Don't worry! While fans thought she was talking about boyfriend Michael, Martha said she was referring to her former 'best friend of 17 years' Moving on: Martha said that people have to realise that 'life is too short' to spend time around 'negative and toxic' people 'It was hard, and it still is hard, but also I just feel like life is too short to hold onto negative people or toxic people. It's just too short,' Martha said. Meanwhile, Martha's relationship with personal trainer Michael Brunelli is going from strength to strength. The pair began dating after the sixth season of Married At First Sight in late 2018 and now live together in Sydney's Bondi. Last month it was rumoured that the pair had split, but it turned out to be a shameless publicity stunt to promote their new internet service provider. The media watchdog has found that outgoing talkback radio host Alan Jones breached multiple media rules for his comments about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and inaccurate claims about climate change in a broadcast last year. Mr Jones issued an on-air correction on Thursday morning after an investigation by the Australian Media and Communications Authority found the 2GB presenter was in breach of broadcasting rules for assertions he made about climate change in the same broadcast where he said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should "shove a sock" down the throat of Ms Ardern and get "tough with a few backhanders". Alan Jones announced his retirement last week. Credit:James Brickwood The ACMA said it received more than 125 complaints relating to the broadcast which aired last August. Mr Jones' comments, which ultimately cost his show up to 50 per cent of its revenue, were made following Ms Ardern's warning at a Pacific Island Forum in Tuvalu that Australia would need to answer to the Pacific on climate change. The broadcaster, who announced his retirement from radio last week, made an on-air apology on the same day as the broadcast and an on-air clarification the following day. He also provided a written apology to Ms Ardern, and 2GB owner Nine told the ACMA it had counselled Mr Jones. Nine is also the owner of this masthead. LANSING, MI -- As part of a new executive order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday, nonessential medical services can begin again starting Friday, May 29. Medical, dental and veterinary procedures can begin at that time after being restricted amid Michigans coronavirus outbreak. Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, president of the Michigan State Medical Society welcomed the news during the governors press conference Thursday, saying the industry is ready to get back to work. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be here on behalf of Michigans physician community, because to put it plainly, we would like to get back to taking care of our patients and catching up on a lot of work that has been put on hold, Mukkamala said. Mukkamala praised the work of front-line workers who have been battling the virus in hospitals and health care facilities across the state. The hours have been long and exhausting. With great risk to their own health and safety. Yet they rose to meet these needs of very sick patients, Mukkamala said. Still, Makkamala said he understands there are residents in the state concerned about the spread of the virus and fearful of visiting their doctor in person. Makkamala strongly urged them not to hesitate if they are ill. Right now, many people are rightly worried about COVID-19 and how it may affect them. Theyre also worried about their safety in getting routine care to those in Michigan needing medical care. My message is clear. Call your doctor, Makkamala said. We are ready to see you. And with the governors announcement today, we are able to safely welcome you to our offices, to answer your questions and provide the care that you need. Mukkamala said the health care community can now begin to treat Michiganders who are in need of services unrelated to COVID-19. By utilizing technology such as Facetime, Zoom, video conferencing and the old fashioned telephone, doctors also have various options to treat patients without necessarily having them come to a physical office. Those options became available as doctors treated COVID-19 patients and will now be available for more standard medical examinations as well. With this announcement that allows us to resume taking care of our patients in ways that are much more effective, and healing them. We are ready to get Michigan healthy and well again, Mukkamala said. The physician patient relationship is a crucial one. It is built on openness, trust and care. Health care facilities that reopen next week will be required to adhere to strict protocols to prevent infection. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs will issue guidance to aid those facilities in adopting appropriate safeguards, the state said Thursday. As businesses continue to reopen, its crucial that they adopt strict safety measures to protect their employees, customers, and their families, said MDHHS Chief Deputy for Health and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun in the release. I know that as medical professionals begin offering nonessential procedures again, they will do everything in their power to protect patients and their families from COVID-19. I will continue to work with Governor Whitmer and our partners across Michigan to protect our families and lower the chance of a second wave. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus Thursday, May 21: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Trump visits Michigan amid coronavirus pandemic, historic flooding and economic downturn Advertisement Water wonderful world of waterfronts. There's something undeniably romantic and enchanting about a beautiful harbour, as these spell-binding images show. This series of scintillating snaps will take you on a maritime journey around the globe, from where seaplanes land in Vancouver to breathtaking harbours in Italy, Sweden and Norway. Of course, South America and Australia feature too. As does an extremely cute cove in Cornwall. Scroll down - you'll almost be able to smell the sea air... The Old Town harbour in Dubrovnik, Croatia, is part of a 15th-century fortification and once served as a hub for the citys trading fleet. Today, there is a larger port elsewhere in the city, but cruise ships still pass the old port on the way in. 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The fountain pictured, Jet d'Eau, shoots water up to a height of 140 metres (460ft) Labuan Bajo, a fishing town on the west coast of Flores island in the Nusa Tenggara region of east Indonesia, has a most enchanting harbour and is a launch point for trips to nearby Komodo Island and Rinca Island, where Komodo dragons dwell English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard beyond on the paradise island of Antigua and Barbuda Yes we Canada: Vancouver Harbour is an all-time great - we recommend arriving by seaplane The 305ft-tall (if you include the pedestal) Statue of Liberty looks out towards the immense New York skyline. This is truly harbour royalty A breathtaking aerial view of the port town of Svolvaer in Norway's Lofoten archipelago No, it's not CGI, this is a photograph of a real place - Kotor on Montenegros Adriatic coast No picture-list of great harbours would be complete without this scene. One of the best ways of taking in the stunning Sydney waterfront area is to hop on a ferry that goes past the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge A mesmerising panoramic aerial view of Aberdeen Harbour and Ap Lei Chau Bridge in Hong Kong The Marina di Porto Rotondo on the Italian island of Sardinia is, by all accounts, bellissimo The Grand Harbour, aka the Port of Valletta, in Malta. Visitmalta.com rightly proclaims it to be one of the most spectacular ports in the world. It's been 'a hive of activity for 2,000 years', it adds The harbour in Nice - actual name Port Lympia - is a great spot for superyacht spotting and for gazing at beautiful 18th-century buildings New Delhi, May 21 : The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Aadmi Party are likely to skip the opposition meet convened by Congress' interim President Sonia Gandhi on Friday afternoon, while the status of the Samajwadi Party is unclear. The BSP has been critical of latest Congress move of providing buses for the migrants returning to Uttar Pradesh and party supremo Mayawati has asked it to send buses to Punjab. The Congress and the AAP are at loggerheads in the national capital. Congress new ally's the Shiv Sena and the Trinamool Congress have given their consent to attend the meet said sources. It is likely that Sena chief and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackarey and Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attend the meet. Amid lockdown 4.0, Gandhi has convened an opposition meet on Friday, through video conferencing, with all major opposition leaders invited. This will be the first meeting of opposition leaders in the lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 cases crossing 1 lakh across India. The political slugfest between the opposition and the government is on the migrants' issue. Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala, while attacking the government, said that "Parliament has been side-stepped by the government and parliamentary oversight seems virtually non-existent". The meeting is expected to be attended by the Nationalist Congress Party, the Trinamool, the DMK, the CPI-M , the CPI, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the National Conference, the AIUDF, and others. A source said that the opposition wanted a joint resolution on cash transfers and issue of migrants and labour laws which have been suspended in BJP-ruled states. The leaders will also discuss the financial package announced by the government. Condemned for her lies: Camila Zeidan catfished her friend Renae Marsden for 18 months until her suicide death in August 2013, a coroner ruled The grief and expectation was palpable as Camila Zeidan stepped into the witness box at an inquest into her 'best friend's' suicide. It was a hot February day, almost seven years since hairdresser Renae Marsden, 20, had plunged off a Sydney cliff after enduring an 18-month-long 'catfish' relationship with Camila. Now Camila found herself at New South Wales Coroners' Court, summoned to explain how and why she had deceived Renae by posing as her long term internet boyfriend, 'Brayden Spiteri'. The day she took her own life, Renae was crushed that 'Brayden' had broken up with her. Given Brayden was a fictional online personality entirely invented by Camila, Renae's family have been searching for answers ever since. The victim's loved ones, including her mother, stepfather, two brothers, teenage sister and cousins, hoped Camila's testimony would finally bring out 'the truth'. They hoped to see at least a glimmer of remorse. Instead, Camila told 'ultimately nothing but a pack of lies', deputy state Coroner Elaine Truscott has found in a scathing ruling. Dressed in a black sweater and utterly expressionless, Camila sat on the Coroner's right that afternoon earlier this year and claimed, to gasps, that Renae was 'in' on the whole fake relationship. Camila Zeidan (right) invented 'Brayden' Spiteri to catfish ex-girlfriend Renae (left), who died by suicide on August 5, 2013 A picture Renae Marsden believed was Brayden Spiteri. It is a picture of another man Brayden, she claimed, had been created by the two of them so they could have a secret lesbian romance, away from others' disapproving eyes. 'We both agreed we were never going to be accepted in a relationship, like, we weren't ever going to be accepted together,' she said. 'So we created the character so that no one would find out.' 'Full of lies' EXPLAINED: THE BRAYDEN SPITERI CATFISH SAGA This is a picture of the man Renae believed was Brayden. But it was not - and instead a photo of a random man Camila had grabbed off social media It is without dispute that before Renae took her own life, Camila posed as Renae's boyfriend online - and then broke up to her. Camila ripped photos of another young man she had once met at a nightclub from Facebook and dubbed him 'Brayden Spiteri'. Renae wasn't allowed to meet him. He was supposedly a prisoner in Goulburn jail over the manslaughter of a friend, who apparently died in a car crash. He couldn't take visitors, but somehow had ready and near-constant access to a mobile phone. The imaginary character became Renae's love interest, even her obsession, despite some friends questioning whether he was real. At the same time, Renae had a fraught real-world friendship with Camila. Camila was accused in court of following her to the shops and barraging her with abuse. One morning, Renae woke up with 54 missed calls from Camila. The inquest heard evidence from Renae's mother that Camila sometimes sat out the front of her house in her car. When Renae finally rejected Camila's controlling friendship, in August 2013, Camila ripped Brayden away from her. Brayden 'broke up' with Renae - breaking her heart. Renae drove to a notorious suicide hotspot in Sydney's east that afternoon, sent heartbreaking final messages to her mother, Brayden and Camila, and took her own life. The inquest into Renae's death didn't begin until the beginning of 2020 - more than six years later. The Coroner considered whether Renae had realised she had been catfished at the time she took her own life, but Ms Truscott ruled that was 'unbeknown to her', despite a failed call to Goulburn prison the day of her death. Advertisement Despite the audible sobs from Renae's relatives at the back of the courtroom, Camila continued to assert that Renae knew she had been play-acting as Brayden. Camila claimed text messages which appeared to show Renae thought Brayden was a real, living person was just her acting 'in character'. Camila told the court she 'couldn't remember' denying to police that she was actually Brayden. And she claimed the reason why she had Brayden break up with Renae was simple: it was all getting too much. 'I had been away (on holiday) I just didn't want to do this character thing with her anymore,' she told the court. Her evidence distressed the Marsden family. Some wept and a couple couldn't handle listening to it. But it was a different feeling - relief - felt by the Marsden family this week as Coroner Elaine Truscott condemned Camila's evidence as 'full of lies'. 'Her evidence was full of lies and she was painting a cover story over why and how Brayden Spiteri was created,' Ms Truscott ruled. Ms Truscott said Camila had 'exacted her ultimate revenge by making Brayden break Renae's heart' after Renae severed her longtime friendship. 'Camila knew that terminating the relationship would leave Renee devastated,' Ms Truscott said. A scathing Ms Truscott said Camila seemed 'completely unaffected' by the lies she told from 'the beginning to the end' of her testimony. Texts sent by Renae - where she even planned to hold a wedding for when Brayden got out of prison - 'speak for themselves', the Coroner said. They showed Renae 'had no role in the creation of Brayden and she believed that he was a real person'. The coroner described how Camila had tried to cover up what had happened immediately following Renae's tragic death, by destroying the evidence. 'After Renae's death, Camila kept her Brayden character, denied being Brayden, destroyed the Brayden phone and sim card and minimised the period during which she was Brayden,' Ms Truscott said. The only reason for her actions 'was to avoid being revealed as the person who had caused Renae the hurt and heartbreak that led her to take her own life.' The coroner found: 'Renae Marsden deliberately slipped from the clifftop with the intent to end her life after the termination of a relationship with a person whose identity and intent were, unbeknown to her, a fabrication created and perpetrated for the purposes of exercising coercion and control over her by a known person, who engaged in conduct known as "catfishing".' Renae Marsden's fiery texts after copping abuse from Brayden for 'questioning my life' (left and right) So why hasn't Camila ever been charged? To Renae Marsden's family, it boggles the mind to think Camila has not faced criminal proceedings as a result of the fake relationship. 'I lay awake at night thinking about it,' said Mark Marsden, Renae's father. 'I have for six, seven years.' 'She (Camila) has gone through all the investigations. She's gone through a coronial inquest. 'She's been condemned from peer to post - yet (there's) nothing on her. 'It beggars belief, to some extent ... whatever avenue they look at, for whatever reason, the police don't seem to be pressing any charges.' Mr Marsden's family have called for the kind of abuse Camila inflicted upon Renae to be made a criminal offence in its own right. Several members of the family, including Renae's brother Luke and mother Teresa, were visibly emotional after hearing Camila Zeidan's testimony. They have been waiting seven years Devastation: Monique Marsden (on left), Renae's 14-year-old sister, after Camila gave evidence. On right, the heartbreaking final text Renae sent her mother, Teresa And in her findings, the Coroner recommended the government review how the law responds to 'non-physical forms of domestic and family violence'. She said the review should examine if widening the definition of domestic violence 'would capture the conduct Camila engaged in by catfishing Renae'. The coroner stopped short of recommending catfishing be made a crime without further investigation. Mr Marsden said he hopes the inquest findings will help any case levelled against Camila, by finally laying out the details of Renae's convoluted ordeal in black-and-white. Meanwhile, Mr Marsden said he and his wife, Teresa, say they won't stop until the law is changed. 'We're not going to rest,' he said. For confidential crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Lee Yong-soo, a surviving victim of Japan's wartime sex slavery, speaks during a press conference in Daegu, May 7, criticizing the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. / Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye Lee Yong-soo, one of the surviving victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery, is refusing to accept the apology of activist-turned-lawmaker elect Yoon Mee-hyang who is facing growing suspicions that a civic group she led misappropriated funds donated to help victims such as Lee, according to sources and media reports, Thursday. Lee, 92, stated that all suspicions facing the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan should be judged by the law. The comments came after some news outlets reported that Lee forgave Yoon after Yoon kneeled down to apologize during their meeting in Daegu, Tuesday, which lasted for about 10 minutes. Following those reports, the Hankyoreh newspaper quoted Lee saying, "I haven't forgiven Yoon because I do not know what she was apologizing for. I just talked about my plan to hold a news conference and told Yoon to come." Lee added, "Things will be judged by the law." The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan has been advocating for Korean victims who were forced to serve soldiers in brothels during World War II, and has organized weekly Wednesday rallies in Seoul for the past 28 years. Yoon, who was a leader of the group, won a proportional representation National Assembly seat in April for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Yoon Mee-hyang - James Mahoney, 62, joined the King's County Hospital in 1982 and was supposed to proceed to retirement after serving for about 40 years - Mahoney declined going home despite his agemates serving as medics remaining indoors after being adviced to do so by health experts - He continued to work even after being diagnosed with the disease and self-isolated before getting bedridden A doctor who declined to proceed for retirement so that he could treat COVID-19 patients has died of the same disease. James Mahoney, 62, who had served as a medic for about 40 years was supposed to head for retirement shortly before the coronavirus pandemic sent the US on its knees. READ ALSO: Kenyan newspapers review for May 21: Jubilee fronts Kanini Kega to replace Aden Duale as National Assembly majority leader James Mahoney joined the King's County Hospital in 1982. Photo: Lieutenant Kije. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Didmus Barasa says Raila is slayqueen trying to break Uhuru-Ruto marriage Mahoney worked at the Intensive Care Units at King's County Hospital and SUNY Downstate according to a report filed by CBS News on Thursday, May 21. The New York-based health facility predominantly serves the poor African-American community which has been badly hit by the disease in the US. READ ALSO: Rais Magufuli atangaza siku 3 za kumshukuru Mungu kwa kuepusha Tanzania na COVID-19 At the time the disease truck, many doctors of his age stopped working after medical experts said older people were at greater risk of dying if they contracted the virus. Mahoney worked at the Intensive Care Units at King's County Hospital. Photo: Kings County Hospital Centre. Source: UGC READ ALSO: Man who fled after glueing wife's privates arrested at witchdoctor's home in Mwingi His boss Robert F. Foronjy described Mahoney as a compassionate medic who loved to care for the sick and coronavirus could not stop him from being who he was "There were people who were really reluctant to go into the rooms, and you could understand why. He saw another human being in need, and he didn't hesitate to help," said Foronjy. Mahoney joined the hospital's teaching college as a student in 1982 and managed to climb the ranks to become a pulmonary and critical care physician and a professor. He died on April 27 after contracting the virus. Before he passed on, Mahoney continued to care for patients as he self-isolated. He was later admitted at the same hospital where he lost the battle to the disease. As of Thursday, May 21, the US had recorded 1,592,723 cases of the virus which included 94,936 deaths and 370,076 recoveries. Kenya's cases crossed the 1,000 mark and settled at 1,029 after 66 more people tested positive on Wednesday, May 20. The death toll was at 50 while number of recoveries was 366. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Kenyans lets pray for one another - CS Kagwe | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A Czech appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that convicted a former Prague Muslim leader of being part of a terror group and financing terrorism, sentencing him to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said imam Samer Shehadeh helped his brother Omar in 2016 and later his brothers wife, Fatima Hudkova, travel to Syria to join an extremist group known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Prosecutors also said Shehadeh sent unspecified sums of money to the group that seeks to replace the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad with an Islamic state. In the same case, Omar and his wife were convicted of terror charges and received prison terms of 11 and six years, respectively. The appeals court also upheld their sentences. Shehadeh didnt deny the accusations, but said he didnt consider his deeds a crime because he doesnt recognize the Syrian government and doesnt consider the group terrorist. Thursdays verdict by Pragues High Court is final. The members of Pragues Muslim community distanced themselves from his activities. Jim Edmonds runs a bounce-house rental company near Sacramento. (Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times) Jim Edmonds can't say what led him to join an unauthorized protest against the coronavirus lockdowns at the state Capitol in May, except fear and boredom and a need to do something as his decade-old business renting out inflatable jump houses collapsed in a matter of days. But he can recall how he felt when California Highway Patrol officers grabbed him, pinned his arms behind his back with plastic zip ties and marched him into a holding pen in the building's basement. "I'm the bouncy house guy, for Chrissakes," he remembers telling them, at first incredulous he was being arrested, then angry. "It was surreal." Edmonds has been driven to near bankruptcy by the coronavirus lockdowns. (Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times) Much of life has become baffling to Edmonds and other small-business owners nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted widespread government restrictions. More than 900,000 Californians run their own small business, accounting for roughly 10% of the state's workforce, a figure that jumps to 14% in Los Angeles. The party services industry has been hit particularly hard because of bans on gatherings. Without work, Edmonds, like many others, is fighting through empty and anxious days. Increasingly desperate but feeling powerless, he has turned to political activism, "a world that I know nothing about," he said, but one that in just a few weeks has shifted from a radical thought to the only reasonable path he sees. Edmonds is, by his own description, in a dark place that has "forever" changed how he thinks about life and government, leaving him looking for answers among the pastors, anti-vaccine activists and right-wing groups that have embraced the shutdown protests. Though many of the rallies across the state have been filled with parishioners brought in on buses or people with years of social agitating under their belts, Edmonds represents a different demographic that has been largely lost in the politicization of the pandemic an average Joe pushed to extremes. Story continues "I was searching for something," said Edmonds, owner of Bouncey House Rentals in Roseville. "I was just like, 'What do you do?'" Edmonds' problems began when a trickle of rental cancellations in February turned into a torrent in March, as customers grew increasingly nervous. More bald than not and sinewy from years of moving his wares, Edmonds tried to reassure customers that his units were disinfected after every use scrubbed with three cleaners including one used by hospitals. But with deaths mounting globally and awareness of the highly contagious illness growing, his guarantees fell on deaf ears. By the time Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order March 19, shutting him down in the middle of his busiest season, the scope of his losses was overwhelming. With graduation parties and spring fundraisers, his 300 inflatables would usually be booked weeks in advance. Instead, "at a time where we [would] have been taking in tens of thousands a week, we are not even taking in hundreds," he said. He had to return nearly $300,000 in deposits, wiping out his accounts. Alicia Correia, his bookkeeper, said he lost about 95% of his business. Correia said Edmonds is a fighter and an optimist, but "he can't help but be hurting inside." "Before, it was the stress of making all the deliveries, and now its the stress of making rent, feeding his family and such," she said. Edmonds laid off his 13 employees, stopped taking a paycheck, didn't tell his wife how bad it was. In April, he closed the shop for the first Saturday in its history. Normally, he was up at 5 a.m. on weekends, prepping crews to haul the units, hundreds of pounds each, to the impatient kids, church groups and parties that awaited. That day, he stayed in bed, unable to get dressed or eat. By Cinco de Mayo, buying shrimp burritos for his kids was a financial stress, a "sickening" feeling, he said. He couldn't even look at the books. "I don't need to know anymore because it doesn't matter. It's gone," he said. "Can't change it. Can't fix it. Can't build it back up. It's just gone." He kept making sales calls, sending emails, trying to come up with alternative business plans. He pushed the "wacky wavy" balloon men used to lure customers into stores, but little was open. He offered up tents for drive-through medical clinics. Nothing helped. Correia insisted he apply for federal aid, "another humbling thing for me," Edmonds said, but nothing has come through. "Look at this," he said, gesturing around his empty office, where superhero memorabilia decorated the walls. "I am a professional planner and I can't figure out what the next move is." Edmonds entered the jump-house business in a drug-induced haze after a shoulder surgery, he said. Recovering and on painkillers, he said, he dreamed up a business plan for inflatable rentals and unknowingly "drunk dialed" a manufacturer to purchase a bounce house. Three days later, a semi unloaded it at his curb. He tried to hide it on the side of his real house, but it didn't work. His wife, Becky, he said, was not happy with the $3,000 bill. The couple lived in Silicon Valley at the time, and Edmonds ran his own catering and vending machine company, filling coin-op soda and snack dispensers for tech companies. Sometimes, money was so slim he'd need the change in a machine to pay for goods to restock it. A few months after the bounce house arrived, he took it to the park with his then-2-year-old son. A police officer showed up, asking if he had a permit. Though the officer made Edmonds remove the bounce house, he asked if it was for rent. "He said, 'How much?' and I said, 'How much do you want to pay?'" he said. Edmonds began a side hustle. In 2008, his vending business popped with the tech bubble. "You go back to fill the machines and the whole company is gone," he recalled. He moved to Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, and began building his rental company in earnest, his son now 5 and a newborn girl in tow. His next acquisition was a counterfeit Disney bounce house he found on Craigslist for $150, though he didn't know it was a knockoff at the time. "It was filthy" he said. He scrubbed it for three days straight, scooping out thousands of pine needles from its cracks. "All I saw was I could get it out for another $100 a week and that's a $400 raise for me." Soon he bought two more units, delivering them each to two parties a day by himself. "It was exhausting," he said, but he liked being the "bouncy house guy," his arrival eagerly awaited. "The kids just love it," he said. "It's such a feel-good." Last year, his company grew about 300%, he said, its best year ever. He bought out a competitor and increased his stock driving to Texas with a friend to pick up inflatables from a company that was closing. He had three people answering phones. It was fun and exciting, he said, and he remembers thinking there was no way it could get better. "They took all that away," he said, using brown fast food napkins to dab at tears. "And I don't even know who 'they' is." At loose ends, he drove down to the Capitol on the last day of April, about 20 miles away, just to see what was happening. He didn't find much, two men with protest signs. But he came back again the next day, and this time there were hundreds gathering for a "Mayday" rally. He milled around the crowd in his black polo shirt, his logo stitched in bright primary colors on the front, watching a woman in a speedboat cajole the crowd into chants, checking out flag-waving protesters and eventually seeking shade as he began to develop a sunburn. Few, including Edmonds, wore masks. He found himself leaning on a railing a few feet away from a line of officers in heavy padded vests with batons out. Looking around, he noticed protesters with flags on metal poles, "melon crackers," he thought, realizing they could be used as weapons. He began to worry. The officers began pushing the crowd off the Capitol grounds the event was not permitted and deemed a health hazard. "I couldn't get out of there at that point," he said. "It all happened so fast." In the jumble, he bumped into an officer. Twice. "I hear 'Taken,'" he said. "And then six of them rush up on you. I've seen people on TV when they get taken down and it's nothing like that." In a holding cell inside the Capitol, he realized he wasn't the only one arrested. Thirty-two others shared the space, including anti-vaccine activists who helped organize the event and a Riverside preacher who has become another leader of the movement in California. Edmonds' thoughts turned bleak. What would happen to him? Is this how authoritarianism begins, he asked himself, echoing the rhetoric of those who still rallied outside. Conspiracies on Facebook and the internet began to play in his head. He wondered if he could make a break for the door. "For whatever reason, I am trying to get my head around why they would arrest me," he said. "I run a bounce house company." Eventually, he was released with a citation. Rattled, he forgot to take it with him when he left. At first, the arrest made him feel more powerless. "It just showed me that a peaceful protest isn't going to do anything at all," he said. "What did we accomplish?" In the next days, he felt unmoored and uncertain, he said. "That's the problem. Who am pissed at?" he wondered. "Who is there to be pissed at? Is it the senators? Is it the governor?" He spent more time online, listening to the protesters and trying to find clarity in a rabbit hole of conservative internet information. He likes some of what he's hearing, he said. He believes the virus isn't deadly enough for most to warrant the shutdowns. But he's concerned about some fringe elements "like crazy folks who are talking about taking up arms," he said. Despite his initial misgivings about protests, he showed up again at the Capitol a week after his run-in with the law, again not quite sure what drew him. He kept some distance, leaning against another railing in front of a line of officers, this time on the other side of it. He plans on coming again this Saturday, when the same organizers hope to draw another large crowd, and he's turned to organizing himself. He contacted a group of hairdressers who staged a protest Monday and offered to attend theirs if they would come out Saturday. He's also trying to organize local churches to hold a prayer vigil in front of Newsom's house. "The activist lifestyle, if you want to call it, that's just a world I never would have gotten into," he said this week. "This is all very strange to me." Edmonds said his wife "wants me to stay quiet," and is worried people will call him a Trump supporter. He is. But "this has nothing to do with Trump," he said. He believes the protests are "causing some people a little bit of pressure" and helping to reopen California more quickly. This week, Newsom allowed some businesses across the state to open. It gives Edmonds hope, but he does not know if the bouncy house business will ever fully recover. "It has to, I mean, doesn't it?" he said. "How long can I keep this going?" By Shadia Nasralla The collapse in oil prices to 21-year lows has led potential buyers of oil and gas fields to try and renegotiate deals already agreed at higher prices, with the first examples emerging of sellers having their hand forced. At a time when most oil companies are slashing budgets, dividends and headcounts to preserve cash, sellers are facing a difficult choice between sweetening the deal or risking losing it altogether. Premier Oil's CEO said he is seeking a cheaper price for North Sea assets it agreed to buy from BP for $625 million and Energean is doing ... Regulatory News: Europcar Mobility Group (Paris:EUCAR): In light of the COVID-19 epidemic and in accordance with Order No. 2020 321 of March 25, 2020, the Shareholders' Meeting of the Company will be held on June 12, 2020 at 3pm, at the Company's headquarters, 13 ter boulevard Berthier, 75017 Paris, without the physical presence of its shareholders, in closed session. Information concerning this Annual General Meeting was published in the BALO (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires) on March 23, 2020 and includes the agenda, the draft resolutions and participation and voting modalities. This notice about the Annual General Meeting together with the Management Board's report on the draft resolutions and legal information are now available on Europcar Mobility Group's website, section "Investors"/"Financial Documentation"/"Shareholders' Meetings": https://investors.europcar-group.com/financial-documentation/shareholders-meeting. The convening notice will be published in the BALO on May 22, 2020 and will be also available on the website of Europcar Mobility Group. Other documents and information concerning this Annual General Meeting are now available for shareholders at Europcar Mobility Group's registered office and are also available on the Company's website mentioned above under legal and regulatory applicable provisions. The Annual General Meeting will be webcasted on the Company's website. The webcast will then be available in free access on the Company's website, in the section mentioned above. About Europcar Mobility Group Europcar Mobility Group is a major player in mobility markets and listed on Euronext Paris. The mission of Europcar Mobility Group is to be the preferred "Mobility Service Company" by offering attractive alternatives to vehicle ownership, with a wide range of mobility-related services and solutions: car rental and light commercial vehicle rental, chauffeur services, car-sharing, scooter-sharing and private hire vehicle (PHV rental to "Uber like" chauffeurs). Customers' satisfaction is at the heart of the Group's mission and all of its employees and this commitment fuels the continuous development of new services. Europcar Mobility Group operates through a diversified portfolio of brands meeting every customer specific needs and use cases, be it for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week or longer; its 4 major brands being: Europcar the European leader of car rental and light commercial vehicle rental, Goldcar the low-cost car-rental Leader in Europe, InterRent 'mid-tier' car rental and Ubeeqo one of the European leaders of round-trip car-sharing (BtoB, BtoC). Europcar Mobility Group delivers its mobility solutions worldwide solutions through an extensive network in over 140 countries (including wholly owned subsidiaries 18 in Europe, 1 in the USA, 2 in Australia and New Zealand completed by franchises and partners). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005576/en/ Contacts: Contacts Investor Relations Caroline Cohen caroline.cohen@europcar.com Press Relations Valerie Sauteret valerie.sauteret@europcar.com Vincent Vevaud vincent.vevaud@europcar.com Publicis Consultants Camille Madec camille.madec@publicisconsultants.com Europe will be hit by a second wave of coronavirus - it's just a question of when and how big, according to the EU's boss on disease control. Dr Andrea Ammon urged the continent to prepare for another crisis, which she said was inevitable because so few people will have developed COVID-19 immunity. Studies suggest less than 15 per cent of the population in Europe's worst-hit nations have already been infected, leaving the majority vulnerable in the future. Dr Ammon warned the virus - scientifically known as SARS-CoV-2 - is not going away any time soon because it is 'very well adapted to humans'. Top experts have warned against celebrating figures that show dwindling outbreaks across Europe because the battle is yet to be won. Almost all scientists agree the infection is bound to re-emerge in a second wave in the absence of a vaccine or cure for the coronavirus. The biggest fear is the second wave will occur during the winter and coincide with flu season, which could overwhelm already swamped hospitals. Dr Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said another wave will be inevitable because so few people have immunity to the disease Europe has become the centre of the coronavirus crisis, with more than 164,350 deaths and 1.74million cases (pictured). The UK has the most cases and deaths Experts have warned against celebrating figures that show dwindling outbreaks across Europe because the battle is yet to be won. Pictured, how daily deaths have fallen in the UK Dr Ammon, director of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), said a second wave of the coronavirus is no longer a theory. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: 'The question is when and how big, that is the question in my view. 'Looking at the characteristics of the virus, looking at what now emerges from the different countries in terms of population immunity which isnt all that exciting, between 2 per cent and 14 per cent, that leaves still 85 per cent to 90 per cent of the population susceptible. ONLY 1% OF DANES HAVE HAD THE VIRUS Only 1 per cent of Danes have had the coronavirus, according to an antibody study, raising concerns that Denmark is vulnerable to another wave. Only 12 of 1,071 randomly selected Danes tested positive for antibodies in their blood - corresponding to a rate of about 1.1 per cent. The report was released by the Danish health agency SSI, a branch of the health ministry and responsible for the surveillance of infectious diseases. Experts interviewed by broadcaster DR said the results were concerning and showed the country was vulnerable to the spread of the virus picking up speed again. 'At the collective level we have no resilience, and that means there is a potential for epidemic spread again,' Jens Lundgren, professor of infectious diseases at one of Denmark's largest hospitals Rigshospitalet, told DR. SSI cautioned that the results were preliminary and there were several factors that made it difficult to say whether the results were indicative of the entire Danish population. They had only been able to carry out tests at five locations, meaning they had been limited to people living in those, or neighbouring, municipalities. 'Furthermore, whether the figures can be applied to the entire Danish population can also be affected by whether groups with different patterns of infection choose or not choose to accept the offer to be tested,' Steen Ethelberg at SSI said in a statement. Denmark on Wednesday reported a total of 11,117 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 554 deaths. Meanwhile, the parties of the country's parliament agreed on the next phase of opening up the country after an initial lockdown period. On April 15, the country started reopening pre-schools and resuming classes for the youngest primary school children - under strict social distancing and hygiene guidelines. Danish middle schools followed suit this week and with the deal struck on Wednesday, museums, movie theatres and zoos among other things would also soon reopen. Advertisement 'The virus is around us, circulating much more than [in] January and February I dont want to draw a doomsday picture but I think we have to be realistic. That its not the time now to completely relax.' Europe has become the centre of the coronavirus crisis, with more than 164,350 deaths and 1.74million cases. Dr Ammon believes holidaymakers returning from ski trips in early March contributed to the spread of the disease across the continent. She also said the slow responses of governments across Europe cost lives, as a number of countries fumbled with putting lockdowns in place and banning foreign travel. 'I believe if we would have put in these measures earlier, it might have been possible [to save lives],' Dr Ammon said. It follows a study yesterday which said triggering lockdown a week earlier could have saved the lives of more than 30,000 people in the UK. At least 44,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the UK so far, according to the Office for National Statistics. The UK reported only 363 hospital deaths yesterday, the lowest daily toll recorded on a Wednesday since the end of March. Europe has seen its number of daily deaths dropping across the board for the past few weeks, figures show, after a peak in April. Nations are cautiously emerging from lockdowns in order to restart the economy, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson planning for British schools to return on June 1. This is based on the fact the virus is circulating less than it was before, indicated by the reproduction rate and lower number of new cases every day. But the majority of Europeans are still susceptible to catching the virus, research suggests. An estimated 12 per cent of people in England have caught the virus so far, according to results from a Government-led study. It means 'herd immunity', when a virus is stamped out because most of the population has become immune to it, has not been established in any way. Dr Ammon believes the battle with coronavirus will be a long haul. 'I dont know whether its forever but I dont think it will go away very quickly. It seems to be very well adapted to humans,' she said. Figures show dwindling outbreaks across Europe - Spain, Italy, France and even the UK, all of which have been severely impacted by the deadly virus, are now showing positive signs of recovery. But experts have warned against slacking virus defences now. Dr Ammon said now it 'now is not the time to relax' as Britons flood public places in groups. Pictured, people at London Fields yesterday Dr Ammon warned the virus is not going away any time soon because it is 'very well adapted to humans'. Pictured, two women in Sheffield yesterday 'TIME IS RUNNING OUT' TO GET CONTACT TRACING STARTED Ministers today admitted a crucial coronavirus smartphone app will not be ready by June 1 as NHS chiefs warned 'time is running out' to launch a track-and-trace system to avoid a second deadly wave. Security minister James Brokenshire said the software, which detects which users have been in contact with people who test positive for the disease, would be ready in the 'coming weeks'. But he insisted the contact tracing regime can still be in place by the hard deadline set by Boris Johnson, with plans to bring back schools, shops and businesses hanging in the balance as the economy goes into meltdown. But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation - which represents organisations across the healthcare sector - warned the system was being put together 'very late in the day' and the draconian lockdown cannot be loosened without a 'clear implementation plan'. Mr Dickson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I'm not saying it is impossible to do it, but I think there is concern among those at local level because we've seen - not occasionally, we've seen often - where national stuff is done with the best of intentions, but unless the local context is understood it doesn't really work as well as it should.' He added: 'And I think it is only recently, to be brutally honest, that the Government's rhetoric changed to recognise that to get this test, track and trace thing in place you not only need a national system, you not only need the app, but you also need to put at the centre of local plans local officials who understand about contact tracing - they do it all the time. 'But you need to co-ordinate that.' The new app has been tested on the Isle of Wight but its rollout has been delayed for weeks because of security flaws and it failed to work on all types of smartphone. Mr Brokenshire conceded the app will not be ready by June 1, telling Sky News it 'will be introduced in the coming weeks in parallel' with the system employing track and trace staff. Advertisement Dr Ammon said now it 'now is not the time to relax', following the thoughts of Dr Hans Kluge, director for the WHO European region, who said this week it's time for 'preparation, not celebration'. Dr Kluge is very concerned' a surge in infections would coincide with other seasonal diseases such as the flu. Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, he said countries should use this time wisely to learn from the first wave of infection and start to strengthen public health systems. This could mean building capacity in hospitals, primary care and intensive care units, he said. 'Singapore and Japan understood early on that this is not a time for celebration, it's a time for preparation,' Dr Kluge said. 'That's what Scandinavian countries are doing they don't exclude a second wave, but they hope it will be localised and they can jump on it quickly.' Dr Kluge said: 'Im very concerned about a double wave in the fall, we could have a second wave of Covid and another one of seasonal flu or measles.' It's not clear yet if the coronavirus is 'endemic', meaning it circulate at equal levels all year round, or seasonal, peaking in colder, winter months. Other coronaviruses such as the common cold have been found to sharply increase in the winter months. Other experts who have warned a re-appearance of the virus in the winter - as a result of seasonality or lifting the lockdown - could be disastrous for the NHS. A second peak which overwhelms the NHS is considered the 'biggest threat to life' in the UK. That's according to the Government's 50-page 'roadmap' to ease lockdown. The document detailed how Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to get Britain back to normality while minimising the risk of straining the NHS. To avoid a second deadly wave, the Government plans to use contact tracing, whereby anyone who has been close to a confirmed COVID-19 case is tested or isolated. Called 'test, track, trace', it was abandoned on March 12 because cases spiralled out of control - but not without criticism. Ministers are hoping to get the system up and running by June 1. But 'time is running' out, NHS chiefs warn, with only 10 days to fine-tune the programme. The PM has hailed a 25,000-strong army of trackers recruited to identify the contacts of infected victims and prevent outbreaks. Similar schemes have controlled outbreaks in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan. But Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation - which represents organisations across the healthcare sector - warned the system was being put together 'very late in the day', and training for call-handlers has not been comprehensive. A new NHS smartphone app to help contract trace has been tested on the Isle of Wight but its rollout has been delayed for weeks because of security flaws and it failed to work on all types of smartphone. Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that people should have to learn to live with the coronavirus until a vaccine is developed to treat the disease as the number of infected cases in the country soared up to 45,898 with 985 deaths. Khan was speaking at the inauguration of the COVID-19 Telehealth Portal in Islamabad to help people get medical services on phone. "We have to live with this virus for some time until a vaccine is developed," he said, adding that even advanced countries with much more resources were unable to cope with the situation. Khan said asked the doctors, especially female doctors, to register on the portal to provide their services through it. "This year our nation will have to join forces to fight against the virus. We previously launched an initiative for tele education and now are launching this initiative for tele health," he said. "Even when coronavirus ends, we will continue [on] this portal," he said. The nationwide tally of the coronavirus soared to 45,898 with 1,932 new cases reported during the last 24 four hours. According to the Ministry of National Health Services, 17,947 cases have been reported in Sindh, 16,685 in Punjab, 6,554 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,885 in Balochistan, 1,138 in Islamabad, 556 in Gilgit Baltistan and 133 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. So far, 13,101 patients have recovered from the virus, while 985 have died, including 46 new deaths reported during the last 24 hours. Authorities have so far conducted 414,254 tests, including 13,962 in the last one day. Limited rail operations resumed on Wednesday across Pakistan after over two months of suspension during the lockdown. Railway officials said that the suspension caused a loss of Rs 10 billion, while 10.26 million passengers were affected, making achieving the annual financial target of Rs 58 billion impossible. Special arrangements were made at railway stations to spray disinfectants on the trains and scanners were installed for the passengers. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a meeting with European Union Ambassador in Pakistan Androulla Kaminara urged for global efforts to fight the coronavirus. The minister welcomed the European Union's support to Pakistan to deal with the situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic. The Pakistan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have begun the first disbursements of emergency cash assistance to the most vulnerable refugee families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. "This is a significant event and important milestone for the emergency cash programme that will continue over the coming months," UNHCR Representative Noriko Yoshida said. Last week, UNHCR and the Pakistan Post signed an innovative agreement for the disbursement of the emergency cash assistance. The initiative follows the Pakistan government's Ehsaas emergency cash programme, where vulnerable families receive Rs 12,000 to cover a four-month period. Some 36,000 families will be the initial beneficiaries for this emergency cash assistance from UNHCR through the Pakistan Post. It will help the most vulnerable refugee families to meet their urgent needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Postmaster General Laeeq Zaman, said that "Pakistan Post will be there every step of the way in solidarity with Afghan refugees, as this emergency cash assistance programme is rolled out across Pakistan." New Delhi, May 21 : State-run Airports Authority of India has advised passengers-to reach airport 2 hours prior to departure. In its standard operating procedures (SoPs), the state-run firm also asked passengers to install the Aarogya Setu mobile app without which they won't be allowed entry into the terminal building. Even those passengers coming from non-green zones will not be allowed entry. Besides, all passengers will be required to go in for a thermal check before entering the terminal. The AAI's SoPs comes a day after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said: "Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, 25th May 2020." "All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations f rom 25th May," he said. Furthermore, the minister said the SOPs for the passenger movement would be issued soon. Ever since the imposition of the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country on March 25, passenger air services were sus pended for both scheduled domestic and international flights. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:29:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration announced on Thursday its intention to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies. Enditem Tata Motors Ltd is quoting at Rs 84.35, up 1.08% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 52.9% in last one year as compared to a 22.23% drop in NIFTY and a 30.26% drop in the Nifty Auto index. Tata Motors Ltd gained for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 84.35, up 1.08% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.69% on the day, quoting at 9128.85. The Sensex is at 31047.12, up 0.74%. Tata Motors Ltd has risen around 11.13% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Tata Motors Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 5.97% in last one month and is currently quoting at 5603.8, up 2.63% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 214.21 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 609.36 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 84.6, up 1.2% on the day. Tata Motors Ltd is down 52.9% in last one year as compared to a 22.23% drop in NIFTY and a 30.26% drop in the Nifty Auto index. The PE of the stock is 0 based on TTM earnings ending December 19. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For the third consecutive day, Delhi saw the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases on Thursday with 571 fresh infections being recorded and death toll nearing 200, even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal exuded confidence that the city will soon have more COVID-19 recovered patients than active cases. The previous highest spike in fresh cases -- 534 -- was recorded on Wednesday. On May 19, 500 fresh cases were reported. This is the third consecutive day, when 500 or more fresh cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. The death toll stands at 194, said a bulletin by the Health Department. It, however, added that the cumulative death figures refer to fatalities where primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, as per the report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of case sheets received from various hospitals. The total number of coronavirus cases stand at 11,659 in the national capital, of which 5,898 are active cases, the bulletin added. Kejriwal said soon the number of patients who have recovered from novel coronavirus will be more than the active cases in the national capital. "Am so proud of our team of doctors and nurses who have provided the best possible treatment to our COVID patients. Delhi will soon have more recovered patients than the number of active cases," he said in a tweet. In another development, the deputy superintendent of the Mandoli Jail in northeast Delhi tested positive for coronavirus. The officer is currently under home quarantine. Contact tracing revealed that two jail staff and two inmates had come in contact with him, a senior jail official said. The two inmates have been shifted to isolation cells while two other jail staffers have been home quarantined. They are all asymptomatic and their medical condition will be watched, he added. With economic activities impacted due to coronavirus-forced lockdown, Lt Governor Anil Baijal wrote to Kejriwal for a committee to help people and businesses in these "tough times" and asked the DDA to explore measures for a moratorium on instalments, lease rent and licence fee. According to a statement, the lieutenant governor said most sections of the society were facing challenges in cash flow management, making it difficult to pay instalments, allotment money, EMDs (earnest money deposit), lease rent and license fees among others. "Lt Governor advised DDA to explore measures for moratorium on payments so that EMD is not forfeited and allotment is not cancelled in this time of distress," it said. Baijal is also the chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). He directed the Delhi Home Department to take steps to explore the possibility of an automatic extension of the validity of licences for various categories like hotels, restaurants, guest houses and swimming pools which expired after March 1. He advised DDA to use planning tools to stimulate the business environment by attracting investments and focusing on sectoral revival, the statement said. "Dwarka, Narela and Rohini sub-cities can be revamped with focus on attracting investment in commercial, IT, and educational sectors through meticulous planning with special focus on vacant land pieces as low hanging fruits," the LG wrote. On the migrants issue, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government has sent 1.32 lakh people, including 1.20 lakh from Bihar and UP, to their home states through Shramik Special trains. Over four lakh migrants stranded in Delhi have registered on Delhi government's website to go back to their hometowns in different states. "So far around 1.32 lakh people have been sent through Shramik Special trains, in the special arrangements by Delhi government. These include 1.20 lakh from Bihar and Eastern UP districts," Sisodia said in a tweet. Sisodia has also written a letter to the Ministry of Railways requesting 262 trains for sending migrants back to their states in the next four days. Kejriwal had also requested the centre to increase the number of trains from Delhi to send maximum migrants back to their native states. "We are also seeking permission from other states to send migrants back to their hometowns. As soon as we get the permit, we are sanctioning trains for those states," Sisodia had said. Over 100 students hailing from Bihar, who were stuck in hostels at Jamia Millia Islamia due to the lockdown, left for their hometown in five special buses arranged by the varsity on Thursday, officials said. Buses left for Katihar, Purnea, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda and Bhagalpur districts of Bihar, carrying around 130 students with a student group leader in each of the bus to coordinate during the journey, the varsity said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Imagine your company having a Halloween party: Employees show up wearing costumes mocking your customers, says the chief executive of a New York commercial insurance brokerage we recently interviewed. Now imagine what happens when pictures of the party go public. That happened to a New York law firm, Steven J. Baum P.C., which handled foreclosure-related legal work. After The New York Times published the Halloween photos with a story, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae forbade servicers of their mortgages from using the firm. Soon after, it went out of business, costing 89 people their jobs. The lesson, according to the commercial insurance brokerage executive we spoke with: Instituting and following good business and hiring practices and talking to and educating your employees is the best risk management. Insurance is secondary. A business owner should never say, I can rely on insurance as my primary line of defense.' These days, all companies are in a state of pre-crisis. Thats because theyre under intense scrutiny from customers, regulators and others, who have a ready platform to air their grievances through social media. Consider how social media mobs move from one platform to another posting, texting, messaging and blogging multiple times a day. Compounding the challenge of any crisis for business owners is the publics lack of empathy for executives and corporations. Trust in institutions is at an all-time low and the reasons and results abound. For example, Wells Fargo opened millions of fake customer accounts, resulting in fines, lawsuits and a significantly damaged reputation. A California jury awarded $29 million in damages to a woman last year who claimed the asbestos in Johnson & Johnson talcum powder gave her cancer. WeWorks IPO blew up last fall, in part over concerns about corporate governance and former CEO Adam Neumans business practices, including a provision in the original S-1 stating that if he died, his wife would appoint his successor. Before its anticipated IPO, WeWorks valuation was $50 billion. After shelving the IPO, the companys largest investor, SoftBank, valued the company at $7.8 billion. Regardless of company size, corporate officers have a responsibility to shareholders, customers and employees related to crisis preparedness, which is an essential risk management function. Many crises lead to lawsuits or regulatory action, which require additional resources to manage and can threaten a companys reputation over the long-term as the litigation unfolds and potentially damaging information is revealed over time. Brokers can add value by encouraging their clients to prepare for a crisis in order to protect their reputation, brand and valuation. After all, a client who invests in crisis preparedness also becomes easier to insure. Kicking Off Crisis Conversations Brokers and agents dont have to be the experts or give guidance on how to manage a crisis. Rather, they can be the catalyst for a client to seek out experts in risk management and crisis communications. Heres how to kickstart the discussion with clients: Relate your experience. Tell them the war stories, advises one commercial insurance agent. If a client says, We have crisis and risk covered, I tell them without divulging specifics and names what happened in a crisis with a client of mine who thought the same and didnt prepare; I tell them theyre the beneficiary of this lesson. Ask questions. Brokers and agents can link how the outcome of a mismanaged crisis can negatively affect a companys valuation and reputation. Once a business owner expresses interest, ask questions to test their level of preparedness: If a crisis, like a data breach, were to occur at your business, what preparations has your company made to communicate with important stakeholders, including customers, employees and shareholders? Who would speak for your company and does that person come across as authentic and able to connect with your stakeholders? While there are cyber liability policies that include the services of public relations and security teams to help a policyholder, the business owner still needs someone in the organization who can manage and lead the crisis response. Sometimes thats the CEO; sometimes not. Have you established unassailable operating standards that are in sync with current social values? In a crisis, people want to know what you stand for and how you reinforce those standards. Have you thought through potential crisis scenarios and prepared preliminary materials so that youre in a better position to respond if an event occurs? Provide a checklist. Insurance professionals can also encourage clients to construct a crisis response checklist, to include: Establish a crisis team: Designate a crisis leader and team that represents key operational areas to undertake the planning and response. The team should include spokespeople who are properly trained, know the business and are cogent, concise communicators. Conduct crisis planning: Brainstorm specific crisis scenarios that could affect your business and, for each, construct a compelling response. Crises typically elicit emotional or even irrational responses from those affected. The right narrative breaks through all of the noise while addressing the needs of key stakeholders and delivers on their desire for a just outcome. Practice the companys crisis response: Particularly in todays social media environment, an organizations first response will determine the course of the crisis. Companies that dont practice their crisis response can find themselves in chaos, trying to gather facts, assemble the right team and figure out a response without any guidance whatsoever. Whether its through table top exercises or role-playing drills, conduct simulations and rehearse at least once per year. The underlying message for all insureds is that preparation is key because the narrative a company communicates in a crisis will determine its fate. Many companies get it wrong by either not talking or giving a common sense response that explains their viewpoint and seeks validation. A more effective approach is to listen and address the real concerns of stakeholders. The online mobs that typically fuel a crisis are seeking justice. A companys response must show how it will address the root of the issue and the tangible steps it is taking to ensure it wont happen again. Topics Agencies New York Bakery business Aryzta is facing calls from shareholders for a major shake-up of its executive board. A group of investors is looking to remove chairman Gary McGann and board members Annette Flynn, Dan Flinter and Rolf Watter. The investor group, which is made up of shareholders Cobas Seleccion, Cobas International and Veraison Sicav, also wants Kevin Toland removed from the board to focus on his role of chief executive officer. In their place, the shareholders would elect Urs Ernst Jordi as chairman, and Armin Bieri and Heiner Kamps as members of the board, and onto the compensation committee. Aryzta has responded that the board would consider the request from the shareholders for an extraordinary general meeting. News of the move by shareholders comes a week after Aryzta announced it had appointed Rothschild & Co to undertake a review of all strategic and financial options available to maximise stakeholder value. The business has been reducing costs and restructuring in recent years, and has reported declines in revenue from its European and North American operations in its recent trading updates. The company has sold Signature Flatbreads back to its founders and disposed of a 43% stake in French frozen food business Picard. Most recently, Delice de France has been demerged from Aryzta through a management buyout. Under the terms of the deal, Delice de France will continue an ongoing exclusive relationship with Aryzta. The EU has an ambition of being climate neutral in 2050. It is hoped that this can be achieved through a green transition in the energy sector and CO 2 -intensive industries, as well as through altered consumer behavior such as food habits and travel demands among the EU population. However, should the EU implement its most ambitious decarbonization agenda, while the rest of the world continues with the status quo, non-EU nations will end up emitting more greenhouse gases, thereby significantly offsetting the reductions of EU emissions. This is the conclusion of a new policy brief prepared by economics experts at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Food and Resource Economics. For every tonne of CO 2 emissions avoided in the EU, around 61.5% of that tonne will in that case be emitted somewhere else in the world. This carbon leakage, as it is known, will result in a global CO 2 savings of 385 kilos only. The policy brief is based on the conclusions of a purposely-built economic model. The model, part of the EU Horizon 2020 project EUCalc, seeks to describe various pathways to decarbonizing the EU economy. "Obviously, the EU's own climate footprint will be significantly reduced. But the EU's economy is intertwined with the rest of the world through trade relations, which would change as we implement a green transition in our energy sector, industries and ways of life. Part of the emissions that Europe "saves" through an extensive green transition could possibly be 'leaked' to the rest of the world through, among other things, trade mechanisms, depending on the climate policy of other countries," according to economist and brief co-author Professor Wusheng Yu, of the University of Copenhagen's Department of Food and Resource Economics. "If the world beyond the EU does not follow suit and embark on a similar green transition, the decline in global greenhouse gas emissions will effectively be limited and well below the level agreed upon in EU climate policy," adds co-author, economist and Yu's department fellow, Francesco Clora. Less exports, more imports In the most ambitious 2050 scenario as calculated by the EUCalc model, the EU pulls all of the green levers for production and consumption in various sectors, including the industrial and energy sectors. advertisement In this scenario, a green transformation of CO 2 -intensive industries (e.g. concrete, steel and chemicals) will incur new costs for new green technologies, which in turn, will increase the price of products. This could impact the competitiveness of EU products on the global market and be advantageous to China and the United States, who would be continuing their production of similar, yet cheaper goods. The prediction is that fewer goods would then be manufactured in Europe, which would lead to an increase in new imports to satisfy consumer and commercial demand. Similarly, a phase-out of fossil fuels by the EU would lower global demand, thus making them cheaper. In response, non-EU countries would be likely to import and consume larger quantities of fossil fuels. Finally, more climate-friendly consumer behaviour in the EU could end up pushing part of the saved CO 2 out into the rest of the world as well. For example, while a decrease in red meat consumption by Europeans may reduce imported feed grains such as soybean, it may also result in increased imports of food grains and other plant-based foods the latter of which would increase CO 2 emissions in the rest of the world. So what should the EU do? Should Europe simply throw in the towel and drop its high ambitions for a better global climate? Certainly not. But we must make sure not to go it alone. Professor Wusheng Yu explains: "A green transition in the EU alone cannot significantly reduce global CO 2 emissions. We need to find ways to get others on board. Otherwise, the impact of our efforts will be largely offset by increased emission elsewhere, making it impossible to meet the Paris Agreement targets in time." Therefore, Professor Yu says that it is essential for the EU to formulate green strategies for each sector and every member state, while taking these economic mechanisms into account and carefully evaluating their impact, when it comes to encouraging other countries to pursue similar decarbonization strategies. FACTS: By PTI KOLKATA/BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELHI: An extremely severe cyclone packing winds of up to 190 kmph Wednesday rampaged through coastal Odisha and West Bengal, dumping heavy rain, swamping homes and farmland, and leaving at least three people dead, officials said. While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is monitoring the situation from Nabanna, the state secretariat, however, claimed at least 10-12 people lost their lives. "Area after area has been ruined. I have experienced a war-like situation today. At least 10-12 people have died. Nandigram, Ramnagar....the two districts of North and South 24 Parganas are destroyed," she said. After making landfall at 2.30 p.m. between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, cyclone Amphan cut a swathe through the coastal areas, flattening fragile dwellings, uprooting trees and electric poles. At least 6.58 lakh people were evacuated in West Bengal and Odisha before the cyclone struck. "The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal. The intensity of the cyclone near its centre as the landfall process started was recorded at 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph," the weather department said. NDRF chief S N Pradhan told a press conference in New Delhi that 20 teams of the federal disaster response force had already begun road clearing operations in Odisha, while the 19 units deployed in West Bengal were shifting people to safety. Quoting figures made available by the two states, Pradhan said over 5 lakh people were evacuated in West Bengal and more than 1.58 lakh in Odisha. TV footage showed gigantic tidal waves crashing into a seawall in Digha, close to the landfall site. Thick sheets of rain blurred the vast coastline in the two states and surging waters engulfed mud-and-thatch houses, flattening them in a trice. Heavy machinery was moved in to clear the roads blocked by falling trees. A video clip of an under-construction Kolkata skyscraper showed huge aluminium sheets flying like bird feathers in air. India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrityunjay Mohapatra, who jointly addressed the media with Pradhan, said gale-strength winds speeding at 160-170 kmph were pounding South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts and could be gusting up to 185 kmph. He said the wall of the eye of the monster cyclone, the most explosive part of a cyclonic system, triggered copious rain in the three districts. The eye of the storm itself was 30 km in diameter, he said. Mohapatra said the intensity of the rain and winds accompanying it could deceptively look like ebbing away briefly, but will surge afresh once the rear sector of the storm has reached the landmass. The whole cyclonic system reached the landmass by 7 pm, before moving forward in fury. Reports arriving in Kolkata from North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore said roofs of thatched houses were blown away, electric poles got twisted and hundreds of trees broken and uprooted. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. Alipore in central Kolkata recorded a massive 222 mm of rainfall and Dumdum 194 mm between 8 am and 8:30 pm. Even when the rain stopped in most parts of Kolkata after 9 pm, high-velocity winds continued to sweep the metropolis and its satellite towns. Almost the entire city was plunged into darkness since the evening as electric supply either got snapped due to rain and wind or was suspended as a precautionary measure. Cell phone services were disrupted in many places. Despite losing its force a bit since Tuesday, the storm, which was categorised as super cyclone at one point of time, left the two eastern states on edge as it hollered on its destructive path. Mamata Banerjee said the enormity of the devastation will become clearer by Thursday when the storm will have passed over the state. In Odisha, intense rainfall was recorded in several areas of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Ganjam, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore districts since Tuesday. The rains and high-velocity winds ebbed away by late Wednesday night but not before causing massive damage to standing crops, plantations and infrastructure. Tidal surge of up to five metres occured in North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts of West Bengal, inundating vast tracts of land, officials said. The turbulence will likely extend to Assam and Meghalaya, triggering heavy to very heavy rain on Thursday. Mohapatra said since the time the depression formed over the Bay of Bengal on May 20 till the cyclone made the landfall, the IMDs predictions about the path it will take and the timing was accurate and helped the disaster response machinery strategise and execute the plans to minimise the damage effectively. The cyclonic storm will get weaker while crossing over Nadia and Murshidabad in West Bengal later tonight before entering Bangladesh as a deep depression and dissipating. [May 21, 2020] Dubai Startup Jingle Pay Targets the Middle East With Digital Neobanking Services DUBAI, UAE, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dubai-based fintech startup Jingle Pay is bringing neobanking to the Middle East, starting with its home turf of the UAE. The neobank has been formulated in response to what digitally-native Gen Z and millennial audiences want from banking such as responsive services, extremely low transfer fees, transparency and no restrictions such as minimum balance requirements. Jingle Pay is the brainchild of Amir Fardghassemi, an ex-hedge fund manager and fintech startup founder; and Nadeem Hussein, founder of Telenor bank and EasyPaisa in Pakistan. The founding team has 50+ years of experience in card issuance, card payments, digital banking, payments, micro and nano financing, e-Wallets, and running fintech start-ups with successful exits in the MENA region. Jingle Pay brings elements of social payments to mobile wallets backed by cash accounts for instantaneous payments and easy money transfers to friends and family. It combines the best of consumer banking and payments with social elements, creating a seamless ecosystem of intuitive engagement. "We're seeing tremendous demand for a new way of offering banking services in the Middle East. Bricks and mortar banks don't have the immediacy of response that a new generation of always-connected consumers want. And though we're seeing conventional banks move to digital, there are gaps in user-friendliness and joyful engagement that we want to address. "Today's consumer is used to an always-on culture of convenience. If you can hail a cab, order goods from anywhere in the world to your door, or use your smartphone to order a meal, why can't you enjoy thesame speed, convenience and customer service in financial matters? Well, now, you can," said Fardghassemi. Jingle Pay has digitized the onboarding process and customer due diligence to cover 7600+ government IDs in 160 countries. Acceptable identification include Passports, Residency Permits, Emirates ID and UAE Driver Licenses. A process that can take months with conventional banks now takes mere minutes. Jingle Pay's accelerated onboarding involves a live selfie, document verification and thorough digitized AML checks with local and global authorities. Jingle Pay is free, easy and without commitments. "We rely on world-class automation technologies to accelerate onboarding, scale quickly and react far faster than conventional bricks and mortar banks can. Our technology helps us cut down risk reduce human error and cut back on overheads - advantages that we pass on to our clients," Fardghassemi added. Jingle Pay comes in a time where there is accelerated need for online mobile banking and payment solutions. In the UAE, for instance, authorities have urged the public to avoid cash entirely in favour of contactless online payments and card transactions. According to Mastercard research, contactless payments have increased by 100% in the UAE during the Covid-19 pandemic. "Jingle Pay will be offering a multi-currency account and card, remittance, nano financing, instant and free money transfer services in addition to other value-added services. We are more than an alternative banking solution we are the region's first Super App Neo Bank," said Fardghassemi. Extending banking services to the unbanked and underbanked, is another crucial goal for Jingle Pay. The World Bank and the United Nations have termed financial inclusion one of the most important foundations for meeting their Sustainable Development Goals on poverty eradication, ending hunger, achieving food security, promoting gender equality and sparking economic growth. "We're seeing mobile phones and fintech come to the fore in key global markets that haven't been ideally served by traditional markets. We're looking to deliver financial inclusion in new ways to global audiences, starting with the Middle East. Here, we're not just talking about the completely unbanked but also low-income individuals who can't avail themselves of financial services in any meaningful way," explained Fardghassemi. Recent World Bank figures show that as many as 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked globally, without an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider. The report also states that in the Arab world stretching from Muscat to Casablanca, only 8 per cent of the adults belong to the banked population. Financial inclusion measurement in the Arab world resulted in a large unmet demand for financial services with 168 million people lacking access to a basic bank account. Jingle Pay is currently in the process of getting licensed in the UAE, Indonesia, Philippines and other GCC markets. It is expected to move to full-fledged operations in the UAE in the latter half of 2020. Contact: Christian Farioli Chief Digital Officer +971 4 319 7988 https://jinglepay.com [email protected] ? View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dubai-startup-jingle-pay-targets-the-middle-east-with-digital-neobanking-services-301063715.html SOURCE Jingle Pay [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 22:01:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Financial aid allocated in 2019 to students in China's various education institutions, from kindergartens to universities, amounted to 212.6 billion yuan (about 30 billion U.S. dollars), up 4.07 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday. This marked growth for a 13th consecutive year, according to the ministry. Of that, financial aid to students in China's higher education institutions amounted to around 131.7 billion yuan last year. Data from the ministry showed that a total of 105.9 million students in China were offered financial aid in 2019, up 8.05 percent year-on-year. Enditem Fifteen offenders who were involved in a test-score manipulation scandal in the 2018 National High School Examination in northern Vietnam have been sentenced to a combined 50 years and six months in prison. Their sentences were handed at a court in the northern province of Hoa Binh on Thursday morning. Accordingly, Nguyen Quang Vinh, a former provincial education official, was given eight years in prison for abusing powers and positions while performing duties. Do Manh Tuan, another former education official, was slapped with a total punishment of ten years behind bars, the highest penalty announced at Thursdays court, including three years for power abuse and and seven years for taking bribes. Khuong Ngoc Chat, a former chief of the internal political security division of Hoa Binh Provinces police department, was punished with six-year imprisonment. Four other offenders who are former education officials and teachers, including Diep Thi Hong Lien, Nguyen Khac Tuan, Nguyen Thi Thu Loan, and Nguyen Thi Hong Chung, were handed between 21 months and five years in jail each. Meanwhile, Ho Chuc, a teacher at Thanh Ha High School in Lac Thuy District, was given a 30-month suspended sentence for giving bribes. The remaining seven defendants were condemned to 15 to 30 months of suspended sentence for abusing powers and positions while performing duties. Results of the National High School Examination, held every year around June, are used to determine whether a student qualifies for graduation from high school and acts as a placement test for college and university entrance in Vietnam. People gather in front of a court for a test-score manipulation scandal in Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam, May 21, 2020. Photo: Hoang Hai / Tuoi Tre In 2018, nearly one million candidates took part in the three-day exam, where they sat for tests in math, literature, foreign languages, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, and civics. When exam results were released in early July 2018, suspicion was quickly raised on whether cheating had occurred as test scores by some candidates from Ha Giang, Son La, Hoa Binh and Lang Son, all northern provinces, were unusually high. A police investigation was shortly launched and signs of test-score manipulation were found in three of the provinces, with Lang Son being the only province cleared of suspicion. Judges found at Thursdays trial that 65 students in Hoa Binh had had their test scores altered by the 15 aforementioned offenders to help them get admitted to universities and colleges. Forty-five of them have been expelled. The judges said that the criminal acts of the offenders are dangerous to society and violated exam regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. A trial for 12 people prosecuted for suspected roles in the manipulation of test scores in Son La also opened on Thursday morning. Five people were sentenced to a combined 21 years in prison in Ha Giang in a trial that took place in October 2019. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Eye-catching and eternally elegant, the Queen's brooches are an essential part of her style and give us a subtle glimpse of what she may really be thinking. Twice over the past weeks her addresses to a bewildered nation have offered reassurance. And her brooches, which she wears just below the left shoulder, were chosen carefully each one a reminder that treasured memories have a part to play in our future. Here, BETH HALE reveals how Her Majesty always manages to brooch the subject. Protection stone to calm the nation The Queen has worn the turquoise stone just a handful of times, including for the final evening of her 90th birthday celebrations in 2016 'Better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again,' said the Queen in her first lockdown address to the nation last month. Her reassuring words were matched by the soothing colour of her emerald dress and the turquoise-and-diamond brooch pinned to her chest. Turquoise has long been a stone associated with healing, love and protection just what the country needs right now. Royal jewellery watchers also pointed out that the brooch was a wedding gift to her grandmother Queen Mary, who would go on to support her husband George V through the turbulent years of World War I. The Queen has worn it in public just a handful of times, including for the final evening of her 90th birthday celebrations in 2016. Fitting nod to true love The royal wore the True Lover's Knot to the weddings of her sister Princess Margaret in 1960 and her grandson Prince William in 2011 Was the Queen speaking from the heart when she selected this brooch? She wore the True Lover's Knot to the weddings of two people who mean a great deal: her sister Princess Margaret's in 1960 and her grandson Prince William's in 2011. Queen Mary bequeathed the diamond bow brooch to the Queen in 1953. Celebrating a first born The Queen wore the Flower Basket Brooch (right) for her first official portrait with her son and again and for the christening of Prince George, in 2013 (left) The Flower Basket Brooch, a colourful spray of diamond, ruby and sapphire flowers, was presented to the Queen by her father, George VI, to celebrate the birth of her first child and heir, Prince Charles, in November 1948. She wore it for her first official portrait with her son and again, decades later, for the christening of Charles's first grandchild, Prince George, in 2013. It's a royal favourite and the Royal Collection shop sells replicas for 55. Honouring our friends in the commonwealth The Queen (pictured with David Johnston, Governor General of Canada), wearing the diamond, platinum-set piece as she departs Canada House in 2017 The Queen has shown time and again that national emblems are an easy way to pay tribute to a host country. Whether it's a thistle in Scotland, a shamrock in Ireland, or a maple leaf in Canada, her brooches have shown her respect for those she visits. This diamond, platinum-set piece was first made for the Queen Mother as a gift from King George VI ahead of their state visit to Canada in 1939. Now in the Queen's collection, she loaned the brooch to the Duchess of Cornwall for her first Canadian trip in 2009, and to the Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 and 2016. A New Zealand fern The fern brooch is the Queen's favoured brooch for honouring the people of New Zealand Whether hosting New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks at Buckingham Palace, or visiting the nation, the silver fern she was gifted seven decades ago is the Queen's favoured brooch for honouring the people of that nation. The fern one of the country's iconic emblems was given to the Queen by the mayor of Auckland's wife, Lady Allum, in 1953 during a tour of the Commonwealth as a Christmas present from 'the women of Auckland'. In April 2014, the Queen loaned the brooch to the Duchess of Cambridge to wear during her visit with Prince William and Prince George. VE tribute to beloved father The royal was given the pair of aquamarine and diamond brooches (left and right) by her father King George VI in April 1944 What prettier gift could a princess wish for on her 18th birthday? This pair of aquamarine and diamond brooches were a gift from King George VI in April 1944, just over a year before the end of the conflict in Europe. The two art-deco style pieces, which the Queen wore separately in a diagonal setting for her VE Day speech earlier this month, were made by Boucheron from baguette, oval and round diamonds and aquamarines. They can be worn in several configurations, including as one large brooch, but the Queen seemingly prefers to wear them as a separate pair. A personal favourite, she wore the precious jewellery for her Diamond Jubilee TV speech in 2012. Historic milestone The Queen wore the diamond brooch on her Karl Ludwig turquoise and indigo wool coat on the day she passed Queen Victoria's record as the country's longest-serving monarch Ever modest, the Queen didn't want a fuss in 2015 when she passed Queen Victoria's record as the country's longest-serving monarch having served an incredible 63 years, 216 days. But as she emerged from her holiday at Balmoral to carry out a series of engagements in Scotland, she did make a discreet nod to her great-great grandmother in her choice of jewellery. The diamond brooch she wore on her Karl Ludwig turquoise and indigo wool coat was one of a set of three Queen Victoria had made in 1858 from her own diamonds. The full set was worn by Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary at their coronations. While Queen Mary wore all three in a row, vertically, the Queen a more conservative dresser wears them singly. In 1901, Victoria designated them 'heirlooms of the crown', meaning they pass from monarch to monarch, to be worn by queens regnant or consort. A European flavour? The monarch wore the circular sapphire and 12-diamond brooch during her Christmas day broadcast in 2019 Members of the Royal Family must remain publicly neutral on matters of politics, but with Brexit drawing nearer, the monarch's choice of clothing and jewellery for her 2019 Christmas Day broadcast appeared to have a European flavour. The pre-recorded message saw her wear a royal blue cashmere dress, coupled with a circular sapphire and 12-diamond brooch reminiscent of the EU flag, though this may have been accidental. Curiously, she wore the same brooch in 1992, while addressing the European Parliament for the first time. The brooch was a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria on the eve of their wedding. Remembering a much-loved mother and sister The Centenary Rose brooch is framed by 100 diamonds and was made by Collins & Sons The Centenary Rose brooch was commissioned by the Queen as a 100th birthday gift for Elizabeth the Queen Mother in August, 2000. Framed by 100 diamonds, it was made by Collins & Sons and features a hand-painted Queen Elizabeth Grandiflora Rose a flower bred for the Queen's 1953 coronation on rock crystal. As a poignant symbol of remembrance, the Queen wore the brooch for her Christmas broadcast in 2002. During that year she lost her sister Princess Margaret and her mother who died in the March, at the age of 101, only weeks after her younger daughter. Did she signal disapproval for Donald? The U.S President Donald Trump speaks with the Queen during his visit to the UK on July 13, 2018 Eagle-eyed viewers have kept watch over the Queen's many brooches (left is vintage moss agate floral brooch and right is Sapphire Jubilee Brooch) over the years and suggested each may have a hidden meaning When Donald and Melania Trump made their first three-day visit to the UK in 2018, the internet was awash with talk of 'brooch warfare'. For as unlikely as it might seem given her years of careful diplomacy, some eagled-eyed observers speculated that the Queen's choice of brooches during the trip was a snub to the 45th President of the United States. Her first choice was a surprisingly modest vintage moss agate floral brooch, so discreet it was barely visible against her printed dress. Yet Twitter users pointed out that the American-made brooch had been a gift from Barack Obama who is famously critical of his successor. On the second day she wore the Sapphire Jubilee Brooch, a gift from one of Britain's staunchest allies, Canada a country President Trump was not best pleased with at the time. Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II attend the funeral of the late late King George VI Presented to Her Majesty in 2017, the 48 sapphires contained in the brooch come from a deposit of gems on Canada's Baffin Island. The sapphires fade in colour as they spread out, creating an ombre effect, set off by more than 400 diamonds and 18-carat Canadian white gold. For Trump's final meeting with the Queen, she wore what some dubbed the most 'loaded' brooch of all. Made by Cartier in 1938, it was worn by the Queen Mother to the funeral of King George VI. But do we really think the monarch, schooled in diplomacy, would deliberately 'throw shade' at the President? Whatever message the brooches did or did not make, the Trumps took control of the narrative when they returned for a state visit the following year. Their gift to Her Majesty? A Tiffany & Co poppy flower which came in a White House leather box. facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published May 21, 2020 (Note: This story was originally published in the first volume of ULMs Takefight magazine in spring 2020. Since then, two faculty members interviewed have retired, Mary Blanche Wortham and Charles Holloway, Ph.D.) Study abroad is an experience that significantly enriches a students academic journey. With the global society and workforce of today, students are required to have cultural competency skills that education abroad can provide. Students are challenged when entering a new country and gain a sense of independence through navigating a new region, and study abroad provides a unique outlet for students to apply what is learned in the classroom by becoming immersed in the language and culture. The University of Louisiana Monroe Modern Languages program has been leading study abroad trips to Mexico and Costa Rica for 45 years. The study abroad program can be attributed to the leadership of Carlos Fandal, Ph.D., former Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of foreign languages. In 1975, ULM partnered with Tulane University to offer the first study abroad trip for teacher education students to Mexico. Ruth Smith, Ph.D., professor and Director of the School of Humanities in the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences, led the first study abroad group of eight students to Mexico City. Study abroad courses are now led by faculty, Smith, Mary Blanche Wortham, and Charles Holloway, Ph.D., in Yucatan, Mexico, and San Jose, Costa Rica. Through partnerships with ULM and the Centro de Idiomas del Sureste in Mexico and Instituto Profesional de Estudiantes Extranjeros in Costa Rica, the ULM Modern Languages department offers the only ULM faculty-led undergraduate study abroad program. The trip changes between Costa Rica and Mexico each year, and students are immersed in the Spanish language and culture of each region during a two-week trip. Study abroad courses are offered to all students; not only Modern Language majors. Students live with host families during their time abroad. Host families are registered and vetted through the partner institutions, and most families have been participating as hosts in Mexico and Costa Rica for years. PHOTO: Participating in the ULM study abroad program in Mexico in summer 2019 were, from left, front row: director Charles Holloway, Ph.D., Skylar Orozco, Elizabeth Hancock, Savanna Gonzalez, Scarlett Lester and Carol Holloway; middle row: Shelby Cook, Amber Waterhouse, Emily Healy, Melanie Deal, Sadaf Helforoosh and Torianne Servais; and back row: Bonnie Hemphill, Ashtin Houghton, Luke Vaughn, Jessica Marvin and Colby Glatter. ULM photo The students develop very close relationships with their host families. We had a host family from Costa Rica come visit their student, and many of them stay in touch through social media, stated Smith. Students go through a rigorous process to attend the study abroad trips. First an application with a letter of intent is submitted, then students attend numerous orientation sessions to prepare. Our orientation begins a year before in order to start preparing the students, said Wortham, leader of the Costa Rica trip and Spanish instructor. Orientation sessions address essential Spanish skills, culture shock discussions, and logistics of the trip. Preparation is critical and faculty leaders. When I lead the orientations for my trip, I always open the session with this is a study abroad experience, stated Smith, Students need to understand this is not a tour. The purpose is to study and to improve their Spanish. In summer 2019, Holloway, and students attending the Mexico study abroad were honored by the host school, Centro de Idiomas del Sureste, with a tree planted on the campus symbolizing the 45 years of friendship between ULM and CIS. We have built a relationship with these institutions over the years, and I think they truly appreciate the kinds of students we bring abroad, stated Holloway, professor of World Languages and leader of the Mexico study abroad program. For some ULM students, attending the study abroad trip is the first time they have left the country or even the state of Louisiana. Students find creative ways to fund their education abroad from selling raffle tickets to crowd funding websites. The Mexico and Costa Rica study abroad programs are the highlight of students academic careers. I think back about all the trips weve done, about these students and how well they did and how well they represented the university, themselves, and the country, said Smith. A father on New York's Long Island was stabbed to death by his adult son during a Zoom video chat with almost two dozen other men who were participating in the live stream. Dwight Powers, 72, of Amityville, NY, was home on a Zoom chat set up for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with 20 other men Thursday when he was stabbed to death, allegedly by his son Thomas Scully-Powers, 32, police say. The stabbing at the Dixon Avenue home allegedly took place around noon, as the AA meeting was underway, say Suffolk County Police say. Scully-Powers allegedly appears naked in the Zoom feed after the slaying as the participants scrambled to notify authorities. Dwight Powers, 72, of Amityville, NY, was on a Zoom chat set up for an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with 20 other men Thursday when he was stabbed to death during the live stream Thursday, police say. He is pictured (right) with an unidentified man from a Facebook image Powers (right) was allegedly stabbed to death by his son Thomas Scully-Powers, 32, say police. Powers is pictured with an unidentified woman from an image posted on Facebook Powers' son Scully-Powers allegedly appears naked in the Zoom feed after the slaying as the participants scrambled to notify authorities. Powers (center) is pictured in a Facebook image The stabbing at the Dixon Avenue home allegedly took place around noon, as the AA meeting was underway, say Suffolk County Police say Detectives and officers stand in a street closure during their investigation of the stabbing Officers blocked off access to Dixon Avenue where Powers' home is located Police who were called to the home say the son answered the door, slammed it in their faces, and fled through a window before he was caught a short while later, WABC reports. Participants on the Zoom chat first noticed something had gone wrong when they saw Powers fall during the feed, cops say. Moments later they allegedly saw his son appear naked in the feed. 'It looked like bed sheets were being ripped off the bed by a gentleman who appeared to be naked as well as bald, and he had a tattoo on his left arm,' one of the participants in the Zoom chat tells WABC. The participant, who wore a facial covering and did not give his name, says the man then placed the bed sheets on the floor 'as if he was covering something up.' 'He discovered that people were seeing him through the camera, so he he covered up the camera,' the participant says. It took the support group participants about ten to 15 minutes to figure out Powers' name and location so they could call for help. When cops arrived at the home, they say Scully-Powers allegedly answered the door, slammed it shut and made his escape through a window. The suspect was caught about an hour later at Ketcham Avenue and Cedar Street, say police. He was taken to a hospital after suffering minor injuries during his escape attempt. When cops arrived at the home, they say Scully-Powers answered the door, slammed it shut and made his escape through a window. Investigators are pictured at the scene of the stabbing An officer strands outside the Dixon Avenue home where Dwight Powers was fatally stabbed Investigators walk past a command post set up at the scene of the fatal stabbing Cops also brought a mobile crime lab to the scene of the fatal stabbing on Dixon Avenue An officer is seen loading bags of evidence into the mobile crime lab parked on Dixon Avenue Father and son were the only two residents of the home, say cops. An officer stands by an emergency service vehicle outside Powers' home Father and son were the only two residents of the home, say cops. Scully-Powers was taken to Suffolk County Police Headquarters and charged with murder in the second degree. No additional details were released. A huge monitor lizard was caught after crawling into a car engine to escape the blistering heat in Thailand. The 4ft long reptile was seen by a security guard scurrying across the car park in Pathum Thani, central Thailand last Sunday (17/05) afternoon. It darted under the vehicle to find some shade as temperatures outside passed 35C. However, when the driver Anong Chanthajorn, 51, returned to his car to drive home he was alarmed by the scratching around from inside the engine. He opened the bonnet and found the lizard inside before calling rescue volunteers. They struggled for 30 minutes to remove the reptile, which had lodged itself between the engine parts. The security guard Somchai Charoensomaryu, 47, said he was staking out the car waiting for the lizard to emerge. He said: "I was walking around the parking lot, periodically patrolling the area then I saw the lizard run under the car. I watched closely in case it came back out, then I told the driver when he returned.'' Editor's note: Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst, a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and host of the podcast Global Impact. Follow him on Twitter @WorldAffairsPro. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his; view more opinions on CNN. (CNN) The World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the biggest event on the global health agenda -- held on Monday and Tuesday this week, can be easily summed up: The Trump administration threatened to take the UN agency off life support as it fights a global pandemic -- and Chinese President Xi Jinping threw it a new life line. Xi -- widely criticized for his government's failure to sound the alarm over the situation in Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus outbreak began -- was able to manipulate the 73rd WHA into a much-needed PR makeover for China. Meanwhile, the United States walked away, threatening to pull funding and membership from the World Health Organization (WHO) -- potentially hobbling its ability to deliver a robust response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In a wider context, what we saw play out at the WHA was more proof of the Trump administration's abdication of America's traditional role as guarantor of globalization -- and the unwitting creation of a void for the Middle Kingdom to exploit. When he addressed the 194 member states by video, Xi pledged $2 billion over two years to fight the virus, a "humanitarian response depot and hub" in China, and assistance to the African continent to bolster their disease preparedness. This pledge is important amid fears that Africa, with its congested cities and weakened health systems, would be at great risk for high rates of transmission. China's largesse also syncs well with its audacious efforts to woo African countries with billions in loans via its controversial Belt and Road Initiative. As for the United States, its presence at the WHA was more of a cameo appearance with a locked and loaded Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. In a brief statement, he called out the failure of the WHO in its response to the pandemic and noted that that the organization must "become far more transparent and far more accountable." Meanwhile, President Donald Trump had his own plan for how to partake in the assembly. He sent a searing letter threatening to pull the United States from WHO membership and freeze funding should it "not commit to major substantial improvements within the next 30 days." The US is by far the largest contributor to the WHO, followed by China. Trump has criticized Beijing's support for the UN agency, and one of his officials has already described the $2 billion pledge as "token." But token or not, the contribution is still vital for the organization, which has a $2.3 billion budget that the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called "very small" and comparable to "a medium-sized hospital in the developed world." The executive director of the WHO's health emergencies program, Dr. Michael Ryan, noted that the US funding pull will have "major implication for delivering health services to some of the most vulnerable people in the world." Whether the WHO, which battled a host of technical glitches during the WHA, can satisfy US expectations remains to be seen. For his part, Tedros pledged an evaluation of the WHO's handling of the pandemic "at the earliest appropriate moment." America alone Trump has already withdrawn the United States from other UN agencies -- such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) -- and from such landmark agreements as the Paris climate accord. The latest threat to end US involvement in the WHO appears to be an attempt to divert attention from his own incompetent response to the Covid-19 outbreak, which, at the time of writing, has already infected more than 1.5 million Americans and killed more than 93,000. My fear is that, even with a new administration, the process to restore America's reputation and influence on the international stage may be slow: Perceptions evolve, alliances shift and politicians and professionals move on. It is a sentiment shared by Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, who served as the US envoy to South Korea, Russia and NATO and is the former deputy secretary-general of NATO. He told me: "Even if the Democrats retake the White House, it's going to take a lot of time to rebuild the habits of American leadership and to rebuild the confidence and trust on the part of our traditional allies that has been forfeited with the coronavirus and the pulling out of the WHO. "I think that the attitudes that have been reflected in this policy of abdication of leadership now have deep roots in some parts of the American body politic and it's not going to be easy -- even with a change of administration -- to go back to the way things were," said Vershbow. The global competition for COVID-19 resources The United States also finds itself alone in its approach to develop a lifesaving Covid-19 vaccine with an America-first policy. Just ahead of the WHA, more than 140 world leaders and experts signed an open letter pushing for a patent-free "people's vaccine" that will be free and produced at scale. The effort, dubbed "Operation Warp Speed," could cost the US government hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a senior administration official. The official said it's a financial risk if the doses are ineffective, but worth it. However, even if the US-led effort succeeds, the collateral cost could not only be a stronger China but also a diminished international stature for the United States and a regrettable loss of goodwill from other countries and multilateral bodies during the next pandemic or global crisis. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Is China the new leader on the world health stage?" Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received on Thursday a phone call from UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov to discuss coordination on the international action expected in the coming stage as part of the efforts exerted by the Middle East Quartet on Israeli-Palestinian settlement. During the phone call, Shoukry asserted Egypts keenness to provide all support to the UN envoys efforts to preserve the peace process. He also reviewed his contact with the various parties concerned to push forward the efforts for peace and stability in the regional arena as well as to preserve the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and maintain security for all the regions countries. This will help the regions countries address challenges, topped by terrorism, Shoukry said, warning of any unilateral measures that would negatively affect solutions to achieve a just and lasting peace. Meanwhile, Mladenov asserted his keenness on maintaining full coordination with Egypt as regards the future movements and the efforts to be exerted to resume peace process as per the two-state solution. Search Keywords: Short link: The Supreme Court proceedings were a Brady Bunch-like split screen that would focus on the speaker. Around the 48-minute mark in Wisconsin Eye coverage, Justice Rebecca Bradley lowered the boom, asking, Where in the Wisconsin constitution did the people confer authority on a single, unelected cabinet secretary to compel almost six million people to stay at home and close their businesses and face imprisonment if they dont comply, with no input from the legislature, without the consent of the people? Ensuing arguments largely centered around any limitations on the secretarys authority. For eight days, the people of Wisconsin waited. On May 13, the Court decision in favor of the Legislature was announced, ending Safer At Home. Wisconsinites in most areas could start to go about everyday activities. A number of provisions of Safer At Home remain as suggested protocols, including frequent hand washing, social distancing, and more. Several cities and counties continue the Safer At Home guidelines. Across the state, reaction to renewed personal ownership of responsibility had a wide range of responses. Many businesses are practicing new ways of delivering services while others immediately resumed normal activities. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva Wednesday said the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission lacks the authority to subpoena him and he will not show up Thursday to testify about how he's protecting jail inmates from coronavirus. The panel had subpoenaed Villanueva amid concerns about a growing number of cases inside the country's largest local jail system. "I will not be adhering to any subpoena," Villanueva said during a news conference live streamed on the department's Facebook page. "It's unfortunate he is going to ignore the subpoena," Commission Chair Patti Giggans said. She did not say whether her panel will go to court to try to enforce it. The commission issued the subpoena May 7 after the sheriff had rejected invitations to attend previous meetings. It was the first time the nine-member group -- appointed by the Board of Supervisors -- used its new subpoena power. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy In March, voters overwhelmingly approved Measure R, which gave the commission the power to compel the department to produce documents and testimony during investigations into the agency. But Villanueva said he doesn't believe the measure is legal because sheriffs, unlike other elected county officials, are named as officers in the California Constitution and are accountable only to the voters. The voter-approved measure tries to "supersede" state law and that is "unconstitutional and it's not permitted," the sheriff said. Because sheriffs are "enshrined in the state constitution ... county supervisors cannot easily oversee the sheriff in the way that mayors and councils can hold appointed police chiefs accountable," said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA, in a Sept. 2019 commentary for CalMatters. The legality of Measure R aside, the sheriff appeared uninterested in meeting with the panel, which had been sharply critical of some of his policies long before the pandemic. Members likely would have questioned him about why COVID-19 cases are on the rise and why so many inmates are in quarantine. "If they're engaged in a public shaming endeavor, which it looks like on face value, they are sadly mistaken," Villanueva said. "We're not going to be participating in that." Informed of the sheriff's comments, Giggans said, "it is not about trying to shame him. We are trying to do our oversight job. If he is talking about shame, maybe he is feeling shame." Villanueva said his assistant sheriff had "volunteered" to appear before the commission. More than 600 inmates have gotten COVID-19 in L.A.'s jails. The sheriff said he's "cautiously optimistic" that the worst is over. The department is doing well protecting inmates from the virus, said Villanueva, who then added what's become a trademark hint of suspicion: "We are succeeding in our efforts in spite of people trying to derail them." Villanueva, who campaigned on a platform of transparency, encouraged the public to go to the department's website to get information about the agency, suggesting that would be preferable to getting information from the oversight panel. "I want people to decide for themselves, without any interference, without any middleman," he said. Villanueva has been resistant to independent oversight. Last year, in an unprecedented move, he launched an investigation into County Inspector General Max Huntsman, accusing him of improperly accessing documents during an inquiry into the Sheriff's Department. Thursday, May 21, 2020 In trial or deposition, the question, Is forensic document examination a science? is often asked of the expert witness. The expert witness must provide a valid answer to this question to sustain credibility. This article seeks to answer the question from the perspective of legal opinions and practicality. The 1993 United States Supreme Court case, Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (92-102), 509 U.S. 579 (1993) changed the federal court requirements for expert testimony in Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Many states have adopted the Daubert approach, which makes the judge the gatekeeper who decides whether an expert may testify. The intent is to keep junk science out of the courtroom. Daubert set forth a reliability standard to establish the validity of the methodology used. The following considerations are included: Can the methodology be empirically tested? The theory or technique must be falsifiable, refutable, and testable. Has the methodology been subjected to peer review and publication? Is there a known or potential error rate for the methodology used? Are standards and controls maintained concerning operating the methodology? To what degree are the theory and technique generally accepted by a relevant scientific community? The Daubert Court cited Karl Popper. Popper proposed that the ability to falsify a premise is the basis of science, meaning that an examiner must attempt to demonstrate a hypothesis is false to avoid bias. From this perspective, forensic handwriting analysis is, in fact, scientific. Case History Subsequent to Daubert In 1995, in United States v. Starzecpyzel, 93 Cr 553 (LMM), 880 Fed.Sup. 1027 (S Dist N.Y. 1995), the court determined forensic document examiners (FDEs) are skilled experts rather than scientists. The Daubert standard was not applied to forensic document examiners. According to Starzepyzel, the answer to the question, Is forensic document examination a science? is No. In that case, the governments FDE, Mary Kelly, was unable to articulate any standard or quantitative method by which a questioned document could be distinguished from an individuals writing. She was unable to cite a scientific study supporting quantitative evidence for the validity of FDEs opinions. The Court wrote, The government produced no evidence of mainstream scientific support for forensic document examination. In 1997, in Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137 (1999), the United States Supreme Court applied the Daubert standard to all expert testimony, not just testimony from scientists. Therefore, the Court stated that Daubert tests do apply to forensic document examiners. This changed the opinion put forth by the Starzecpyzel Court. Californias Science-Based Standard In 1923, Frye v. United States, 54 App. D.C. 46, 47, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (1923) developed law regarding the admissibility of expert testimony. California follows the Frye standard. The Frye case establishes that experts must use generally accepted practices in the industry when performing scientific examinations. The Frye Court wrote, while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs. Application of the scientific method to forensic handwriting analysis A forensic document examiner performs a comparative analysis between the known handwriting and the writing in question. The document examiner starts with the hypothesis that a person wrote the questioned document or did not write the questioned document. This approach answers the question, Is forensic document examination a science? Whichever hypothesis is assumed, a competent document examiner seeks to falsify that hypothesis. If instead he or she attempts to confirm the premise, this can lead to confirmation bias where evidence that contradicts the hypothesis is ignored. Falsifying a hypothesis applies the scientific method. The basis of handwriting identification In theory, handwriting is unique to a specific person. This theory is not provable. Limiting the focus to potential suspects rather than all people improves the chances that the handwriting being considered is unique. Although no two writings by the same person are identical, unique traits can be found among various known writings by a specific person. The FDE analyzes a persons known writing to determine whether unique traits found in the questioned writing are also found in the known writings. Quantitative measurements can be used to obtain a statistical analysis of the handwriting. Published research shows that ratios such as the relative height of letters is consistent among a persons writings. This is one example of many attributes to study. A good simulation or tracing of a persons writing will show similar statistical results as authentic writing. The FDE must also test for this occurrence as well as all other attributes of the writing. The examiner does not anticipate finding all unique traits of the questioned writing in each known writing. In the same way, the unique traits in one known writing exemplar may not be found in all writings of the same person. When all the traits of the writing in question are found across the known writings, the document examiner opines in the direction of identifying the writer of the known writing as the writer of the questioned writing. When unique traits found in the questioned writing are not found in the known writings, the document examiner opines in the direction of eliminating the writer of the known writings as the writer of the questioned writing. In no circumstances has a document examiner proven a person either wrote or did not write the document. Additional evidence can cause the examiner to modify their original opinion if new evidence falsifies the original opinion. This is why the document examiner should be presented with as many known handwriting samples as possible. Study results of document examination Starzecpyzel produced a substantial body of research to determine the validity of forensic handwriting analysis. Controlled university studies comparing the skill of trained document examiners have been performed. Independent researchers also have conducted studies to determine whether trained document examiners are better at identifying whether someone wrote a document or signature. Each study has shown statistically significant differences between trained examiners and lay people. Many of these studies have been published in peer reviewed journals. Application of scientific techniques to altered documents Forensic document examiners often are asked to determine a documents authenticity. Documents may be altered using computer software such as Photoshop. A signature may be authentic, yet it was copied from another document. Photocopiers are so good that it is often visually difficult to determine whether a signature was produced with ink or is a photocopy. A document examiner uses a microscope to view the signature to see how it was constructed. A hypothesis that the signature is authentic can be falsified by evidence of photocopying. Applying the scientific method, the document examiner attempts to falsify the hypothesis that the image is authentic. A common method of altering documents is to use a similarly colored pen to change a number such as a 1 into a 4, 7, or 9. Although the change cannot be visually discerned, infrared light can be used to differentiate the inks. Ultraviolet light may be used to identify alterations such as erasures or different paper used for different pages of a document such as a contract or a will. In one case, I identified an inserted page in a trust by magnifying the way the toner was laid down on the various pages. The page in question was different from the other 14 pages of the trust. It had a printer-induced defect. My initial hypothesis was that all pages would show the same printing if all were printed with the same printer. If this were true, this particular defect would have appeared on every page or every third or fourth, depending on the source of the defect. However, the defect appeared on only the page in question. Thus, the hypothesis was falsified. I opined the page in question was printed either at a different time or a different printer than the remainder of the trust. Summary Is forensic document examination a science? Forensic document examiners are skilled experts who apply the scientific method to their discipline. Although forensic document examination is not an exacting science such as mathematics, a science-based approach is required to support the opinion expressed in a case accurately. Not all FDEs apply a science-based approach to their methodology. Ask your document examiner what methods they use to apply the scientific approach. About the author Mike Wakshull is a forensic document examiner based in Temecula, CA. He holds a graduate school certificate in forensic document examination and is author of Forensic Document Examination for Legal Professionals. Chrissy Teigen has been spending her lockdown time with her husband John Legend and their kids. The couple has two kids, Luna, 4 and 2-year-old son Miles. The COVID-19 outbreak hasnt stopped them from entertaining their fans and having some fun. The couple has been very active on social media and has been showing their fans how they are spending their time in quarantine. Chrissy Teigen shared a throwback picture on her social media. However, the sweet comment that John Legend left on the picture is making the fans go gaga over the couple. Check out the post and see the comment. Chrissy Teigens photos ALSO READ: All You Need To Know About Chrissy Teigen's Popular Skincare Line- Revolve Beauty Chrissy Teigen took to her Instagram account and shared a throwback picture that was taken nearly nine years back. In the picture, she is seen wearing some neat eye makeup along with some nude lipstick. She styled her hair with two small braids in the front and left her hair open in the back. She mentioned that she had taken the picture from a fan account, who initially posted the picture. she even mentioned that the picture was taken at a fashion show and how she was star-struck after she saw Jon Gosselin. John Legend shared a sweet comment on Chrissy Teigens post saying that when he saw her at that very fashion show he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He wrote, This was the year I proposed to you. After seeing you in the Ed Hardy show, I was convinced you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. [sic] ALSO READ: Chrissy Teigens Throwback Pictures Back From Her Modelling Days; Take A Look ALSO READ: Chrissy Teigen Gets Bearded Dragon For Kids, Promises To Give It 'lots Of Love & Cuddles' Fans of the couple cannot get enough of the adorable couple. Many stated that they are cute together while some stated that they are relationship goals. One Instagram user went on to say that he really appreciates how much John Legend adores his wife. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's relationship Chrissy Teigen and John Legend first met on the set of John Legends song video Stereo in 2007. The couple began dating and Chrissy Teigen even joined John Legend on a tour. After the tour, the couple took their first trip together to Lake Como, Italy, which was also their wedding site and the location for John Legends music video All of Me. Chrissy Teigen shared a picture from the trip on her social media in 2016 and wrote, Back to where it all began - Lake Como, Italy - first came here in 2007. A boat tour guide took us to a little spot on the lake and told us to make a wish. I asked for this to be the man I marry and have children with. I think John asked for the most perfect bite of cacio e pepe. Both came true, and here we are. [sic] John Legend proposed to Chrissy Teigen while on a vacation to the Maldives in 2011 and they tied the knot in 2013. ALSO READ: John Legend & Chrissy Teigen's Son Miles Turns 2, Check Out The Birthday Celebration Pics Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment. Clinician burnout is a growing public health concern, with the National Academy of Sciences reporting that 35-54% of U.S. nurses and physicians exhibit substantial symptoms of burnout. New research led by the College of Health and Human Services at George Mason University found that health care professionals were more than twice as likely to report burnout with higher levels of anxiety and frustration than those who reported lower levels of anxiety and frustration. Additionally, primary care physicians reported burnout at twice the rate of other health care professionals in primary care practices. Dr. Debora Goldberg, associate professor of health administration and policy, led the new study, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, one of the few that have examined anxiety as a component of burnout and the rate of burnout among different professionals in a primary care practice. Burnout is a syndrome characterized by high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization, and a low sense of personal accomplishment from work. It is important to understand how health care professionals respond to these changes and if certain groups are more likely to experience burnout and why. This is critical due to the tremendous amount of change taking place in the health care industry, projected physician and nurse shortages, and most recently the extraordinary responsibilities placed on them during the COVID-19 pandemic." Dr. Debora Goldberg, associate professor of health administration and policy, George Mason University The research team surveyed 1,273 healthcare professionals from 154 primary care practices in Virginia. They used the Change Diagnostic Index (CDI) to assess the participants' feelings, emotions, and attitudes following organizational and technological change. They found that rates of burnout varied by profession in primary care practices. Physicians reported the highest rates of burnout at 31.6%, nearly twice the rate of other staff in these practices: 17.2% of advanced practice clinicians, 18.9% of clinical support staff, and 17.5% of administrative staff. Physicians who experienced increasing anxiety and withdrawal were more than three times as likely to report burnout compared to those who did not experience high levels of these domains. Anxiety was high across health care professionals and anxiety significantly raised the odds of burnout across health care professionals. "This is not just a physician problem," explains Goldberg. "These findings tell us that we need to prioritize understanding and addressing clinician burnout at a system level and at a local level. The human cost as well as significant physician shortages expected in the future make this a critical public health concern." The researchers suggest that a better understanding of how health care professionals respond to change and burnout can help guide programs and services to support individuals experiencing burnout and build strong work environments to prevent burnout among healthcare professionals in the future. AN investigation into a government program suspended over financial irregularities has uncovered a serious lack of oversight and failure to properly tender and disclose contracts for environmental rehabilitation work at a large quarry site in Manitoba. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 20/5/2020 (609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. AN investigation into a government program suspended over "financial irregularities" has uncovered a serious lack of oversight and failure to properly tender and disclose contracts for environmental rehabilitation work at a large quarry site in Manitoba. The auditor general of Manitoba has made 15 recommendations as a result of its offices investigation into the provinces Quarry Rehabilitation Program, which had been filling in former pits with no documented reasoning for which sites would be chosen or how effectively rehabilitation funds were spent, according to a publicly released report. Deputy Auditor General Tyson Shtykalo One of the auditor generals reports was released Wednesday, after the finance minister asked for an audit of the program in March 2019 because of the potential financial irregularities. Other findings were considered confidential and were submitted to the government without being publicly released. Those confidential findings name the subjects of the allegations and could jeopardize potential court proceedings if the government decides to take legal action, deputy auditor general Tyson Shtykalo said. "It could be criminal, it could be civil (litigation), it could be whatever they choose to do with it. I mean, the fact of the matter is they came forward with some allegations of financial irregularities that they wanted us to do a deeper dive into," he said. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Through a forensic audit that included a review of emails, files, and other correspondence, as well as the work of a professional engineer who visited the sites and compared the actual work done to that documented in the files, investigators found there was a focus on spending the rehabilitation money for the quarry site without enough oversight, Shtykalo said. "I think its an example of what happens when you set up programs and dont give the appropriate oversight to them." The program lacked risk-management processes and gave too much power to inspectors without properly checking the quality of the inspectors work, according to the auditor generals report. The program has been in place since 1992 and was suspended in 2018. It collects money from quarry operators to fill in depleted pits and had a fund of $5.2 million at the time of the investigation. The department of Agriculture and Resource Development took over responsibility for the program from Growth, Enterprise and Trade, and, in a statement Wednesday, a department spokesman said the reports findings validate the governments concerns about the program. "The department takes the findings of the two reports very seriously, and is committed to ensuring that we use taxpayers dollars responsibly to address safety and environmental issues on depleted pits/quarries and is undertaking a complete redesign of the program," the statement said in part. The Maharashtra government on Thursday included more villages in its proposed final Western Ghats eco-sensitive area (ESA) notification, but has excluded previously identified villages falling in crucial wildlife corridors, sanctuary buffer areas and near tiger reserves. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray submitted the proposal for Maharashtra during a video-conference with Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Prakash Jawadekar on Thursday. After the ESA for the Western Ghats is announced, curbs will be imposed on certain activities like hydropower projects, certain industries, mining, thermal power plants and large-scale constructions will be prohibited, the CMs Office tweeted. On October 3, the Centre had proposed the draft ESA across 56,825 sq km spanning across six states, covering 37% of the Western Ghats. Of this, 17,340 sq km was marked in Maharashtra, covering 2,133 villages. The states final proposal requests the Centre to include 2,092 of 2,133 villages or 15,359 sq km of the originally proposed 17,340 sq km, thereby excluding 11.4% of the draft ESA area, said state forest minister Sanjay Rathod. From 2,133 villages, we requested the exclusion of 388 that fall in areas with high industrial and mining potential. However, we also requested the Centre to add 347 more villages that are falling within and around wildlife sanctuaries or protected zones that need to be safeguarded, and were left out in the draft, said Rathod. We requested the Centre to support all 2,092 villages with additional funds since development will be restricted after ESA declaration, he added. The minister said the Centres final nod was still awaited. Thackeray said, Our priority is the environment while achieving development. We want consistency to be maintained in the eco-sensitive zones in the area. The list of 388 villages, excluded from the original draft, was accessed by HT. The entire Dodamarg taluka was not considered for ESA declaration, nine out of 13 originally ESA villages in Sawantwadi and Banda talukas were excluded for mining potential. Dodamarg-Sawantwadi belt forms a crucial elephant and tiger corridor in south Konkan. This is in violation of a Bombay high courts (HC) order to declare the entire corridor an ESA. The state is negotiating the safety of eco-fragile zones subverting orders of the judiciary, said Stalin D, one of the petitioners in the matter. Rathod said final decision on the Dodamarg-Sawantwadi belt will be reconsidered. We are aware of the HC order and the matter will be placed before the CM for final decision, he said. Also, Savarde village in the core zone of Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary in Kolhapur, Maloshi and Bamnoli villages in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary in Satara, and Yelan Gai marked as mining village in the buffer area of the Sahayadri Tiger Reserve among others, were all excluded. This has remained a controversial issue ever since the 2011 Madhav Gadgil committee report. The state needs to ensure biodiversity is not compromised while finalising ESA boundaries, said Kishor Rithe, former member of National Board for Wildlife. WHAT IS AN ESA? Declaring an area as ESA means putting restriction on mining, quarrying, thermal power plants, setting up of industries and construction to ensure buffer areas of a protected zone, in this case, the Western Ghats, remains protected. (With inputs from Surendra Gangan) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON What is this excitement within folks in the NPP over a misleading article seeking to compare Alex Moulds pedigree to that of a failed Vice President who deceived Ghanaians into voting them to power in 2016? There will be another day to assess his performance as Veep. But truth be told, a cursory look at the profile of both personalities should clearly tell you Dr. Bawumia's achievements before his nomination as the running mate of the NPP comes nowhere near that of Mr. Alex Mould. Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia: Dr. Bawumia spent most of his formative years talking (lecturing at foreign universities as an Economist) versus than executing and holding the C-Suite (corporate life). He was never the Head of any public or private institution or organization before. The little we know about Dr Bawumia shows he worked at the research department of IMF and then joined Bank of Ghana as Senior Economist. He was then promoted to Head of Department, and later became the special assistant to the Governor and was appointed Deputy Governor (a position he held for two years) before joining politics. Alex Mould: With over 30 years of international energy and banking experience, Alex Mould is widely regarded as one of Africas leading authorities on energy, economic, banking, finance and leadership issues. In fact, his pedigree shows that he has managed organisations successfully. From his days as the Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank in private life to Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation in public life. He's also held senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank, not only in Ghana but in New York and Union Bank of Switzerland, also in New York. Conclusion Dr Bawumias performance goes to confirm the perception that theres a difference between what is thought in class and what actually pertains in the corporate world. He campaigned on lies and deceits to win political power and when it came to execution he has failed all Ghanaians who had hope in him. Alex Mould, on the other hand, has worked most of his life in leadership roles in the finance industry and in commercial banking and corporate banking and in the energy sector. A little research on his achievements in these institutions reveals he put up an impressive performance and its all over the internet for our education. So I totally agree with Mr. Mould when he says they are not in competition. Dr. Bawumia has been there and failed and to borrow his own words if the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you. And now that we are all aware the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate has exposed Dr. Bawumias skill set and he has failed all of us who trusted him during the 2016 elections. Alex Mould, on the other hand, has a record of being able to deliver what has been assigned him from his days at Standard Chartered Bank to NPA and GNPC. At least we all know he is a thinker and doer. Highly educated with and a proven leader with unrivalled international and local experience. He is a patriot who wants Ghana to live up to her potential, and deliver for the benefit of all Ghanaians. Source: Friends of Alex Mould Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Quebecs top health official, Horacio Arruda, won over the province with frank talk and GIF-inspiring hand gestures to encourage flattening the coronavirus curve. His face appeared on everything from T-shirts to bread loaves. Then came the rap video. Juxtaposed with local musician Rod le Stod, Arruda gyrates to lyrics calling him the lightning rod in the storm. The song was meant to be complimentary, but as deaths in Montreal topped 100 a day, Arrudas take struck the wrong note. Just like that, public opinion shifted. Forced to apologize, he said he didnt mean to make light of Quebecs crisis. I look at the number of deaths and my heart aches, so it was never my intention to hurt anyone, he told reporters. Never will I again use social media this way. The global pandemic has thrust the worlds sharpest medical minds into a spotlight brighter than an operating room. Some have handled it with aplomb, giving rise to a new generation of heroes complete with the requisite memes, fan fiction and merchandise. Others have tested the lockdown-shortened patience of the public, thanks to an internet that leaves nowhere to hide. We turn to our specialists and we give them all the power, all the confidence, all the trust that we have because we believe that they will help us get over this crisis, said Elke Van Hoof, a professor of health psychology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. When time passes, we experience the fact that these people are humans and not gods. When a group of trainee doctors in Japan was outed for breaking social-distancing rules to host a drinking party and many became infected the derision was understandable. In other cases, the court of public opinion is harsh. The head of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare delivered wise advice at a news conference on preventing virus spread, and then proceeded to ignore the advice himself: Visibly ill, he kept reusing tissues and touching his face. The Twitter response was merciless. Arrudas rap video should have been a harmless even healthy release, Van Hoof says. But it hit just as the public mood shifted from solidarity to fatigue. We move through these phases, from honeymoon to disillusion, and in the disillusion phase people weve put our trust in previously become the target of our frustration and our anger. Most of the world is now in that second stage, Van Hoof says. That leaves little room for even the perception of missteps, much less actual gaffes. In the last month, Neil Ferguson, one of Britains most important scientific advisers, was compelled to resign after secret lockdown visits with his married girlfriend triggered an outcry. While some praised him for falling on his sword, others bemoaned a loss that seemed out of proportion to the lapse in judgment. Going rogue The speed of a public figures ascent can be problematic. COVID-19 has taken virologists, epidemiologists and immunologists whose careers are typically built in obscure labs over years of methodical research and catapulted them to celebrity. Few have been adequately prepared and, with the public hanging on their every word, some overreach. A doctor on Romanias anti-Covid-19 committee, Adrian Streinu-Cercel, unveiled a virus-fighting plan all on his own, dubbing it The Summer Vacation. Among the vacations dubious amusements: putting people from ages 40 to 65 in total isolation, separating everyone over 65 from their families for months and suspending taxes. The doctor said his plan would resonate with people, and an eight-week break or so would successfully allow measures to prevent the spread of the disease to be taken. It didnt resonate with Romanias president, who rejected the proposal. Streinu-Cercel was kicked off the committee, though he remains in charge of the nations biggest hospital for infectious disease. Marseille-based researcher Didier Raoult was an award-winning microbiologist known in France for his biker looks and irreverent style. But he reached folk-hero status amid the pandemic by touting his unconventional studies using the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine. Before starting his own trials, Raoult hailed Chinese test results in a YouTube video where he called COVID-19 probably the easiest respiratory infection to treat. That there is little evidence suggesting the drug is effective against coronavirus hasnt swayed his fans, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he has started taking it himself. Fame and attention are as addictive as drugs, says Hollywood publicist Michael Levine. There are people and doctors are people who are very drawn to that attention wave, Levine says. Still, hed advise any doctor-client that social media poses a risk by allowing celebrity to precede achievement. By contrast, theres Jonas Salk, the American virologist who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines almost 70 years ago. In 1953, Salk announced his success on a national radio show two days before publishing an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A year later, he was on the cover of Time Magazine a slingshot to fame for the period, but one based on results. Anthony Fauci, the 79-year-old director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been hailed as unafraid to speak truth to power. To a vocal minority, though, hes a villain who undermines Trump; vitriol has been so intense hes been assigned extra security. Because Faucis authority flows from decades of scientific success, his legacy is secure, Levine says. I think Dr. Fauci is fine. For high-profile doctors who havent banked a half-century of experience, the job increasingly includes managing public opinion and a personal brand. Television appearances by Jung Eun-kyeong, head of South Koreas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have led to fan sites and suggestions she run for prime minister. She has also adeptly fielded inquiries from those concerned shes not getting enough rest. In Canada, British Columbias chief medical officer, Bonnie Henry, inspired a limited edition Mary Jane-style shoe $240 a pair with all profits going to a food bank. It was so popular, shoppers from as far away as New Zealand, Europe and Australia crashed the website of designer John Fluevog when it debuted. The province has one of North Americas lowest death rates, and much of the credit has gone to Henry, a former military doctor whose human touch and soothing mantra Be kind, be calm, be safe has kept residents compliant. Henry further endeared herself when she apologized to her hairdresser for attempting her own highlights. In the long run, people who rely on time-tested principles of honesty and truthfulness and not overreaching are going to be rewarded, Levine says. But they may not be rewarded in the short run. Read more about: Prosecutors had no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death and no witnesses placing him at the scene, so they relied on hearsay statements Savio made to family members and in a written statement to police before she died and that Stacy Peterson made to her pastor and a divorce lawyer before she vanished. The US has backed India amidst a flare-up of border tensions with China with a top diplomat describing Beijing's aggression as "not always rhetorical" and accusing it of continuing with its "provocative and disturbing behaviour" to try to shift the status quo. Alice G Wells, the senior US diplomat for South and Central Asia, said China's border tensions with India and Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea have some correlation. "The flare-ups on the border, I think, are a reminder that Chinese aggression is not always just rhetorical. And so whether it's on the South China Sea or whether it's along the border with India we continue to see provocations and disturbing behaviour by China that raises questions about how China seeks to use its growing power," Wells, the outgoing head of the South and Central Asia bureau in the US State Department, told reporters in a conference call on Wednesday. There's a method here to Chinese operations, and it is that constant aggression, the constant attempt to shift the norms, to shift what is the status quo. It has to be resisted, the senior US diplomat told the Atlantic Council think tank at a separate event held on Wednesday. She was responding to a question on the recent flare-up on the India-China border. Wells retires from the State Department on May 22 after a 31-year-long career during which she headed the important South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department for three years in the Trump administration. She also talked about China's aggressive behaviour in the strategic South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade. "And that is why you have seen a rallying of like-minded nations or whether it's .. through ASEAN or through other diplomatic groupings, the trilateral that the United States has with Japan and India, the quadrilateral with Australia, the conversations that are taking place globally as to how we can reinforce the principles of the post-World War II economic order that has supported free and open trade that help lift all boats, including the Chinese boat," Wells said. "What we want to see is an international system that provides benefit to everyone and not a system in which there is a suzerainty to China. I think in this instance, the border disputes are a reminder of the threat posed by China," the top American diplomat said. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed with iron rods, sticks, and even resorted to stone-pelting in the Pangong Tso lake area in which soldiers on both sides sustained injuries. In a separate incident, nearly 150 Indian and Chinese military personnel were engaged in a face-off near Naku La Pass in the Sikkim sector on May 9. At least 10 soldiers from both sides sustained injuries in the incident, according to sources. The troops of India and China were engaged in a 73-day stand-off in Doklam tri-junction in 2017. The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have emphasised that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fred Cook didnt know someone was using his email to ask friends and families for favors until his daughter Ashley wrote him back. Dad, you have been hacked, she typed, alerting the 78-year-old northwest Houston resident about the questionable emails someone had been sending from his email address. That set off a three week-long goose chase where Cook and three of his children scrambled to keep an unidentified hacker from intercepting his emails, calls and texts; transferring cash from his accounts to unknown Paypal users and tracking his every move. Ive been through thick and thin, he said, and I dont think Ive ever felt as violated as I was here. Heres how to identify if youve been a victim of a scam and what to do if youve been hacked. What is identity theft? As a crime, identity theft is when someone steals personal information, usually to create financial accounts in the victims name, said Richard Alderman, a University of Houston law professor emeritus who studies fraud and scams. But these days, its more of a blanket term for financial cybercrime. MORE HOW TO: Heres how to pick health insurance if youve lost job benefits What is this? I'm Gwendolyn Wu, and I'm writing "Houston How To," a series on how to navigate the city and its complexities. Humans have an innate drive to improve themselves, and we're always striving to live better, smarter and more efficiently by throwing countless dollars and hours at our problems. The Houston Chronicle wants to simplify that for you. As a reporter, I usually ask the questions, but I can't be the only one wondering how something works. What are things you need to know how to do, Houston? You can find me on Twitter at @gwendolynawu or by email at gwendolyn.wu@chron.com. See More Collapse The scams are getting more sophisticated, but theyre also preying on current events to grab credit card numbers and personal information, said Keith Houston, a Harris County prosecutor who studies fraud. Whats happening right now is a harvest of personal information on the web, Houston said. People are losing their money and credit card information to scams to buy surgical masks and check cashing. The Federal Trade Commission offers a few clues into whether you may have been a victim of identity theft or other fraud: There are unexplained charges on your bank or credit card statements Debt collectors call about debts you havent incurred Your credit report shows accounts you never created Who hacked me? To this day, Cook does not know who obtained his email and password. But it might be helpful to run your email addresses through haveibeenpwned.com, an independent website that compares your information to known database leaks. The site also has a separate page to test a password and see if it has been exposed in a data breach. Services like Netflix and Gmail also offer pages for users to see who has recently logged onto an account. Sometimes, youll be able to trace a suspects internet protocol (IP) address where theyre accessing your account from and be able to report it to the authorities. The IP address identifies the piece of hardware used to connect to networks. Although the Harris County District Attorneys office sees a large number of victims 55 and older, scammers will go after everyone. No ones immune to this, Houston said. Where do I report the crime? Investigators are more likely to catch the culprit if theres a paper trail, Houston said. Harris County and Houston law enforcement agencies have dedicated cybercrime units that trace hackers. You can call the Houston Police Department Financial Crimes Unit at 713-308-2500 if you think youve been a victim of fraud or identity theft. The Harris County Sheriffs Offices Financial Crimes Unit is at 713-967-5770. You should also report any breaches or hacking incidents to the FBI at IC3.gov, which tracks fraud and cybercrime nationwide. How do I lock down my personal information? Its a time-consuming task, Alderman warned. You have to contact all the entities that you have accounts with that could be hacked like this and get their assistance, he said. To add an extra layer of security to prevent theft and fraud, avoid using the same username and password on all of your accounts. Mix it up, or use a password generator to make things as complicated as possible. I had to go back to every place that Ive ever had a profile on and update a new email address and new passwords, Cook said. Set up two-factor authentication on any accounts that have them. Thats when youre required to enter a randomly generated passcode in addition to your password to gain access to your account especially crucial if youre logging in on a financial institutions website, or anything else with sensitive information. Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security by asking for two types of verification, which prevents some unscrupulous actors from getting into your accounts. Cybersecurity experts consider authenticating apps like Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator as more secure options these days. Hackers will have a much harder time trying to intercept the codes randomly generated by an app on a phone. If you have a smartphone, you should also lock down your SIM card to prevent SIM-jacking, when a hacker tries to get a phone carrier to transfer your number to a new SIM card, therefore intercepting all the phone codes for two-factor authentication systems. WORKPLACE RESUMES: Returning to work? A Houston HR consultant has tips for you You can pre-empt that by calling your phone carrier and asking customer service to place a PIN on your SIM card, or setting a PIN from your smartphone settings. What are steps I can take to reclaim my financial information if Ive been hacked? Start by requesting a free credit report from one of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) at annualcreditreport.com to see what accounts are open. Fraud experts recommend putting an alert or freeze on your credit report, depending on which you need. An alert lets financial institutions know something fishy recently happened; a freeze bars anyone from opening new accounts, which could be problematic if you need credit soon to get a mortgage or apply for a rental. A credit freeze, if youre pretty sure youre not going to need access to your credit anytime soon, is the best way to stop the person from continuing to do this, Alderman said. Cook has frozen his credit reports, and as a retiree, thats fine for him hes not in the market for a new credit card or mortgage any time soon. Dont wait for suspicious charges to tell your financial institution that something is wrong. Experts said its possible for thieves to take your bank and credit card information and wait until you least suspect it to use the information. It was an exhausting month for Cook during the global pandemic. He and his two sons spent a 10-hour day calling financial institutions, changing passwords and replacing his phone number and email address. Armed with new credit card numbers and contact information, he thinks hell get some semblance of normalcy back. Financially, I came through with no scars, Cook said. Mentally, its been a real experience. This article has been updated to correct the URL of annualcreditreport.com. gwendolyn.wu@chron.com twitter.com/gwendolynawu Growing numbers of U.S. colleges are pledging to reopen this fall, with dramatic changes to campus life to keep the coronavirus at bay. Big lectures will be a thing of the past. Dorms will will be nowhere near capacity. Students will face mandatory virus testing. And at some smaller schools, students may be barred from leaving campus. Even as some universities abandon hope of in-person instruction next semester, citing concerns from public health officials, dozens are announcing plans to welcome students back in August. They acknowledge that an outbreak could force classes back online, but many of their leaders say the financial and political pressures to reopen are too large to ignore. UT RETURNS: University of Texas students to return to campus this fall At West Virginia University, President E. Gordon Gee said students dont want to wait for a vaccine, and the school cant afford to. If it was simply based on science, we would keep everything shut down until we have a vaccine and until its working. But I dont feel that thats feasible, either economically or socially, and certainly not educationally, Gee said. We will open, but it will be different. Colleges planning to reopen include Purdue University, Texas A&M University, the University of Notre Dame and statewide systems in Arizona, Florida, New Hampshire and elsewhere. Some plan to make decisions this summer, including Princeton University, where officials say it's too soon to make a call. The California State University system, by contrast, has said its 23 campuses will stay mostly online this fall, citing predictions of a virus resurgence later this year. Others including the University of South Carolina, Rice and Creighton universities plan to bring students back but end the term early, before Thanksgiving, anticipating a second wave could hit later in the fall. President Donald Trump has encouraged schools to reopen despite concerns from his top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Speaking at a Senate hearing last week, Fauci said it would be a bit of a bridge too far to expect a vaccine before the fall. Trump countered that the comment was "not an acceptable answer. COVID CONGREGATION: Houston church recloses after leaders, congregants get COVID-19 In other countries emerging from lockdown, universities have been slow to reopen. Primary schools in France were allowed to reopen earlier this month, but universities are expected to remain closed through the summer. Universities in New Zealand have been granted permission to reopen, but most say they plan to stay online until July or later. Britain's Cambridge University announced Wednesday that all in-person lectures will be canceled through the 2020-21 academic year because of the pandemic. In the U.S., colleges that plan to reopen have told students to expect strict social distancing measures, including mandatory use of face masks. College leaders say widespread virus testing will be the linchpin to a safe reopening. At many schools, students who test positive would be placed in dorm rooms reserved as quarantine space. But there are questions about schools ability to provide large numbers of tests. Some research universities say they have the lab equipment to analyze virus tests, but not enough swabs and testing chemicals. Smaller schools will need to hire companies to handle tests, likely at a significant cost. In a call with 14 university leaders last week, Vice President Mike Pence pledged to help colleges ramp up testing operations. But some on the call said details, especially about funding, remain hazy. This testing is going to cost money, and many academic institutions are already going to be fiscally challenged, said Michael Lovell, president of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Theres not a clear path from an institutional point of view. Once students are back on campus, the primary goal will be to keep them spaced out, colleges say. Classroom desks will be arranged 6 feet apart. Class schedules may be staggered. Big lectures will be split up or moved online. Some colleges are discussing teaching certain classes outside or in tents. A growing number of colleges say they will offer a hybrid flex model, in which classes are offered online and in person at the same time, and students can choose either option. Professors at some colleges will also be allowed to continue teaching remotely through video feeds projected in the classroom. Most vexing for colleges, however, is the dilemma of dorm life. At some schools, suites meant for several students will be limited to one or two. Bathrooms shared by entire floors will be restricted to a handful of students. With only so much dorm space, some colleges have been scrambling to rent nearby apartments as overflow housing. At Trinity College, a school of 2,000 in Hartford, Connecticut, officials hope to place every student in their own room. Staff members have been scouring campus with tape measures in recent weeks to make sure students will have space to stay 6 feet apart. I have a huge incentive to want to reopen. I want to see our students. I want to see them educated in the best way possible, Trinity President Joanne Berger-Sweeney said. And I also want to remain a significant and good employer in the state of Connecticut at a time when thats really important. Boston University is exploring whether the housing problem can be solved by placing students into family groups that live together but have little social interaction with other groups. Robert Brown, the school's president, said placing all students alone may be overly isolating for students and lead to another set of problems. At Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles, officials are wondering how their single dining hall will accommodate 900 students who buy meal plans. The school is weighing measures to restrict capacity in the hall, which may require students to eat in shifts or take their meals outside. It's just one way in which campus life will not be the same as what we have grown so accustomed to, said Hiram Chodosh, president of the college. Hoping to keep the virus away, some smaller colleges are considering limits or even outright bans on travel in and out of campus. In a recent letter to students, Amherst College in Massachusetts said officials may need to require that you limit your movement to on-campus locations only. At West Virginia, Gee said he'll rely on students to police their own behavior. He argues that peer pressure is more effective "than a 76-year-old university president saying dont do it. Gee, known for his impromptu appearances at student activities on campus and off, said he will scale back this fall, much to his chagrin. Its going to be a lot different for me, and Im going to miss that, Gee said. But I view us as dancing with the coronavirus. This is going to be with us forever, even once we find a vaccine. We just need to learn how to manage it in a way that allows life to go on. Aviation stocks on Thursday rallied up to 10 percent in opening trade after the government announced that domestic passenger flight services will resume from 25 May in a calibrated manner The day after Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri announced that domestic passenger flights would resume from 25 May in a calibrated manner, aviation stocks on Thursday rallied up to 10 percent in opening trade. InterGlobe Aviation shares zoomed 9.88 percent to Rs 1,002 on the BSE. #CNBCTV18Market | IndiGo surges as Govt approves domestic airline operations from May 25 pic.twitter.com/NCu2aGYWFj CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) May 21, 2020 SpiceJet also jumped 4.88 percent to Rs 42.95 -- its upper circuit limit. Click here to follow LIVE news and updates on stock markets All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended in India since 25 March, when the government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, PTI said. "Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday, 25 May, 2020. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May," Puri said on Twitter. Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports & air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by @MoCA_GoI. Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 20, 2020 All passenger flight services were stopped in late March following the announcement of a nationwide lockdown to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, cargo, medical evacuation and special flights were allowed by the aviation regulator DGCA to operate during the lockdown period. During the time of lockdown, the government had started flights under Mission Vande Bharat to bring back stranded Indians from other countries. In an interview to the Economic Times, Puri said that the ministry has been ready to resume domestic civil aviation for the last one week or so. He added that after receiving green signal from the government, it will take two or three days for the airlines to begin bookings and calibrate the number of flights that can resume operations. Getty Images A woman in Florida has been arrested after allegedly trying to kiss strangers in a bar and then attempting to report the bar for ignoring social-distancing guidelines. Audra Adams, 32, was arrested on a number of charges including trespassing and disorderly conduct on 12 May, according to arrest records shared with Fox News. The owner of Monkey Bar and Grill in Melbourne alleged that Ms Adams had attempted to kiss random people inside the bar. After being asked to leave, Ms Adams allegedly initially refused and then loitered in the bars parking lot, according to police. The arrest report claimed that while Ms Adams was in the parking lot she dialled 911 a total of five times while the police were already present. According to Fox News, police said Ms Adams was calling authorities because she felt the bar was not practising social distancing or following the guidelines to be open. The 32-year-old was eventually arrested and turned over to the Brevard County Sheriffs Office. Ms Adams has been charged with trespassing after warning, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer without violence and misuse of the 911 system, the broadcaster said. Many businesses in Florida were allowed to reopen on 18 May in line with governor Ron DeSantiss first phase of his coronavirus reopening plan. Restaurants, malls, libraries and gyms were able to open at 50% capacity in line with social distancing measures. The state has almost 47,000 recorded cases of the coronavirus and over 2,000 deaths as of Wednesday. Read more Amazon delivery driver says he was fired for asking about coronavirus Man allegedly shoots Waffle House employee when told to wear a mask Florida block parties end in multiple arrests and injuries to police Florida residents protest gyms not reopening yet in state WASHINGTON Weeks before President Donald Trump lashed out at Michigan leaders for backing a plan to send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters, West Virginia did exactly what Trump is now condemning. So did Nebraska. And Iowa. And Georgia. And several other states. Trump, who has railed against vote-by-mail for weeks, took his assault a step further Wednesday, threatening to withhold federal funds from Michigan if it "illegally" sends absentee ballot applications to the state's citizens before its primary Aug. 4 and the election Nov. 3. He blasted Nevada on Twitter, calling its plan to send absentee ballots to all registered voters before its primary June 9 a "great Voter Fraud scenario." But mailing absentee ballot request forms to all voters has been widely used in other states, helmed by Republicans and Democrats alike, in recent weeks. It has become a more pressing issue before state primaries, 17 of which were delayed from this spring because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Most secretaries of state said they made the proactive move to send applications not only to educate voters about the option but to encourage them to vote by mail to avoid the health risks of voters flocking to polling sites and standing in long lines on election night. FILE - In this May 17, 2016, file photo, Ballots are prepared for counting in Oregon in this May 17, 2016 file photo. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, a Republican, said he sent applications to all 1.2 million registered voters, active and inactive, as a matter of "fundamental fairness" to educate citizens about the new option for voting in the primary June 9. "I wanted it to be uniform across the state," Warner said, declining to respond to Trump's remarks. "I can just speak for West Virginia." Thirty-four states and Washington, D.C., allowed absentee voting by mail without an excuse even before the pandemic. That includes five states, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah and Hawaii that conduct their elections entirely by mail. California, where two-thirds of voters already voted by mail, will move to an all-mail system in November. Story continues In several of the 16 states where voters must provide an excuse to receive an absentee ballot being over 65 years old, out of town during Election Day, or in the military, for example they can now cite coronavirus as a reason as well. Most states have made the change only for the upcoming primary election for now but could extend that to November later. That includes West Virginia, which received a massive response to their mailed applications: 238,811 people requested ballots and 119,000 have turned them in. Typically, only 3% of the state's voters vote absentee. "Those are quite substantial numbers for West Virginia," Warner said. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, told USA TODAY the state mailed 6.9 million absentee ballot request forms to all active Georgia voters to make sure Georgians can "cast their ballot without risking their health." Since then, 1.5 million Georgians have requested absentee ballots, a massive spike from the 40,000 requested in the state's 2018 primary or the more than 200,000 requested in the 2016 and 2018 general elections. Only five states, each in the South, have not taken action to expand vote-by-mail amid the pandemic nor are they allowing the coronavirus as an excuse to seek an absentee ballot. More: Democrats ask Trump to fly flags at half-staff when coronavirus death toll reaches 100,000 More: How Joe Biden is working to win over progressive voters Michigan presses ahead despite Trump's threat Democrats, from the party's presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden to former first lady Michelle Obama, have rallied behind a rapid expansion of vote-by-mail to prepare for COVID-19 still posing health concerns during the November election. In a conference call with reporters this week, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel made a distinction, arguing absentee ballots "should be requested by the voter and not automatically sent" by the state to every voter. "That is a big difference in the nuance of how Democrats are talking about this and Republicans," McDaniel said. But Michigan, led by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has not sent ballots to all voters, only applications. The state planned to press ahead despite Trump's criticism and what Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, also a Democrat, called "misinformation" about absentee voting. Benson told USA TODAY her reaction to Trumps tweets about absentee voting in Michigan was frustration about the spread of inaccurate information on voting in Michigan. Access to the ballot, she said, is not a partisan thing, and she hopes people will recognize that her Republican and Democrat colleagues in other states are doing the same to educate voters about their rights. Benson said even before Trumps comments, her office had seen rising inquiries about absentee ballots as they worked to implement a 2018 law legalizing no-excuse absentee voting. The essence of mailing every voter an absentee ballot application was to inform citizens of their right to vote, Benson explained. Despite the controversy and some confusion among voters, two things are certain, she said. The fact that we will have elections this year on time, and on schedule. More: Trump to visit home turf of a frequent target amid pandemic: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer US President Donald Trump holds a mask as he speaks during a tour of the Ford Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 21, 2020. Coronavirus leads to massive absentee voting spikes In states that have already held presidential primaries amid the pandemic, voters rushed to send in absentee ballots rather than stand in line at polling places. Nebraska, a no-excuse absentee state, sent absentee ballot applications to every registered voter before its May 12 primary. More than 75% of the 471,000 votes were mailed in, helping break the state's 48-year-old record for turnout in a primary. Historically, around 25% of Nebraska voters vote by mail. "Typically, a voter will request an early ballot on their own. In this election, every Nebraska voter was sent an application for an early ballot," said Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen, a Republican. "This too is consistent by law. There's nothing that calls for it or prevents it. "Because of the coronavirus pandemic, we wanted people to know that they had an option," Evnen said. He too declined to respond to Trump's remarks but said Nebraska would not likely send absentee applications again before the November election. "I'm very confident that Nebraska voters know about it now and I don't think we're going to need to repeat that in a general election." Florida, a battleground state that allows no-excuse absentee voting, saw a 20% spike in early and mail voters during the state's March 17 primary. Ahead of the state's Aug. 18 state primary and November election, counties had the choice whether to send absentee ballot applications to voters, according to Craig Latimer, who oversees elections in Hillsborough County, home of Tampa, and serves as president of the Florida Supervisors of Elections. He opted to send applications to Hillsborough's 660,000 registered voters. "We wanted to make people aware of it. They have the opportunity to do it," said Latimer, a Democrat. "I got a lot of calls on Election Day March 17 from people who planned to come out and vote and now realized they were in that over 65 range, and they were in jeopardy, and they didn't want to take that (chance), and what in the world could they do? "In the future, now what they can do is they can vote by mail if they want to." New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, is allowing absentee voting in the state's June 23 primary under an order by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but a decision has not been made for November. The state mailed absentee applications to all voters who have a primary, according to John Conklin, spokesman for the New York State Board of Elections. More: Indiana election officials have a message for Hoosiers: Please, please, please vote by mail States confront 'fears' about absentee voting Trump said Thursday mail-in ballots would "lead to total election fraud," continuing a crusade he's made without evidence against mail-in voting throughout the pandemic. He's also said it would hurt Republicans' chances at the polls even though several Republican-controlled states already allow no-excuse absentee voting. "In my state, I'll bet 90% of us vote by mail. It works very very well and it's a very Republican state," Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters Wednesday. The Trump campaign called Michigan's initiative illegal, without citing any Michigan law. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan public policy institute, voter fraud rates for mail-in ballots are "infinitesimally small." Republican-leaning South Carolina is another state that typically does not allow no-excuse voting but will allow it for its June 9 primary. South Carolina State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said they had already broken the state's record for absentee voting in a primary on Monday with more than three weeks of absentee voting still left. Indiana, which Trump won by a landslide in 2016, showed no signs of changing its absentee voter outreach despite Trump's comments. "Weve been engaged in a voter outreach campaign for the last several weeks explaining how to register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and return an absentee ballot," said Ian Hauer, a spokesman for Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, a Republican. Hauer said 409,019 ballots had been requested for the state's June 2 primary, the state's first time allowing no-excuse absentee voting, compared to 306,777 in the 2016 presidential primary. Micheal Singleton, second left, and his wife Gladys wait to vote in a line that continued a few blocks south of the polling location at Riverside High School in Milwaukee, along on April 7, 2020. The Wisconsin primary is moving forward in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic after Gov. Tony Evers sought to shut down Tuesday's election in a historic move Monday that was swiftly rejected by the conservative majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by the end of the day. More: Trump threatens to stop funding for Michigan if absentee ballot forms sent to all voters Asked about Trump's claims of voter fraud in mail-in elections, Raffensperger in Georgia said, "We believe President Trumps concerns of voter fraud are real" and noted a task force had been established to investigate fraud claims. In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams agreed to make absentee ballots available without an excuse for the states June 23 primary. No decision has been made for November. Typically, only 2% of Kentuckians vote by mail, but Adams is hoping 80% to 90% do during the upcoming election. The state mailed postcards to all registered voters to let them know about the option and has agreed to provide postage for those who want to mail in their ballot. Adams said the biggest challenge is "calming people's fears, particularly people in rural parts of the state, who dont trust the integrity of the absentee voting process. He said hes worried about people either not understanding the process, or rebelling against it, and packing the polls and potentially getting sick as a result. Adams said he wishes Trump was a little more clear in drawing the distinction between expanding absentee voting like Kentucky is undertaking, and all-mail voting in which states automatically send ballots to all voters. He said he believes Trump's criticism is aimed at the latter. "It's hard to be really specific in a tweet, Adams said before Trump's tweet about Michigan on Wednesday. He added that every state thats voted since March has voted in the same way as Kentucky. "I didn't make up this idea out of whole cloth. I've been watching other states that have accommodated reality and I'm doing what other Republican chief election officials are doing in their states. I don't really think that what we're doing is that controversial, but unfortunately people conflate what hes talking about with what we're doing." Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison and Nicholas Wu at @nicholaswu12. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vote by mail efforts by Democrats, Republicans move ahead The Union Cabinet on Wednesday extended the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY), a social security scheme for senior citizens, for three years till March, 2023, but reduced the rate of interest on the scheme to 7.40% in 2020-21 from 8% per annum until now. PMVVY scheme, implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), is intended to give an assured minimum pension to senior citizens (60 years and above) based on their subscription amount. The scheme was announced in Union Budget of 2017-18 and 2018-19. In 2018-19 Budget, the maximum investment limit under PMVVY was doubled to Rs 15 lakh per senior citizen. Pension is payable at the end of each period during the policy term of 10 years, as per monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly frequency, as chosen by the pensioner at the time of purchase, an official statement said after the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Amid a sharp pullback in venture capital activity during the coronavirus pandemic, one Silicon Valley start-up is showing what could be a path forward for other new companies seeking funding. The business, a payroll platform for remote workers called Deel, has secured a $14 million series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, sources told CNBC exclusively. As part of the investment, Andreessen general partner Anish Acharya is joining the San Francisco-based company's board. While the venture capital industry has long relied on in-person meetings to create the trust needed between parties before investing large sums of money, the round was done completely on videoconferencing tools, according to Deel chief operating officer Dan Westgarth. Venture capital funding in general has dried up as investors have become skittish on placing new bets, particularly for early-stage companies: Funding for fintech start-ups dropped 37% to $6.1 billion in the first quarter, according to CB Insights. But it probably helped that Deel, founded in 2018 by MIT graduates Alex Bouaziz and Shuo Wang, is a play on the future of work that's become more timely this year. The company capitalizes on the emergence of businesses with distributed workforces, a trend that has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Its main product allows clients to easily hire and pay workers regardless of where they are located, using a single software program versus a patchwork of services most companies use for teams around the world, said Westgarth. He joined Deel recently from London-based digital bank Revolut. "We've seen companies that typically hire in a 30 mile radius around San Francisco, New York or Boston replace that with a location perimeter of 'anywhere,'" Westgarth said in a phone interview. "It's a function of the pandemic, which taught businesses located in these expensive metro areas that they don't need employees based there, because remote teams are performing very well." Some companies have as many as 10 separate providers to pay teams located in Europe and Asia because labor laws vary by country, he said. Deel also helps workers get access to insurance and other benefits, which may help clients retain employees. "We allow people to very quickly hire people anywhere without having to worry about local labor law, which is very time consuming," said Westgarth. Since emerging from start-up accelerator Y Combinator last year, Deel has picked up 400 clients, most of whom themselves are start-ups, he said. Online investment promotion lines up perfectly with Industry 4.0 trends The prime minister is expected to enact a draft resolution this week on tasks and solutions to resolve difficulties for production and business, promoting disbursement of public investment capital, and ensuring social safety in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Under the resolution, expenditure on overseas business trips and conferences for the remainder of 2020 must be halved. The proposal would apply to ministries and central and local governments, excluding the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Health. It is estimated that this cost reduction will save tens of millions of US dollars for the state each year since ministries and local governments organise hundreds of business trips a year for experts and officials, mostly funded by the state budget. The prime ministers new order is a chance for the development of online investment promotion, which has become a trend among ministries and localities, and even businesses. According to Shirakawa Satoko, a representative from Japanese market of rental service factory provider, Kizuna JV Corporation, Japanese businesses and companies from English-speaking countries are continuing to explore the financing environment in Vietnam in general and Kizunas newly-built factories in particular via online methods. The current situation has thoroughly changed the working and operating methods of businesses. Numerous investors have plans to visit Kizuna workshops when international flights are reopened, Satoko said. Although this method will not fully replace traditional venues due to the specific characteristics of the industrial real estate business, Kizuna will still maintain and upgrade this model as an inevitable trend in the digital transformation era. Online investment promotion is not a new concept. Kizuna had already built its own hub, which is an online tool with e-library, e-business matching, and e-planning systems. Furthermore, it is also completing an e-serviced tool to help existing business partners register to use the supporting service and evaluate the service quality of workshops. This strategy is being widely utilised during the ongoing pandemic, in which the government implemented social distancing and has suspended international flights, thus freezing all direct investment promotion programmes. According to statistics from investment consultancy IPA Vietnam, at present the traffic on the companys website is more than four million. In the pandemic period, daily traffic to its website doubled and tripled compared to six months back, with an average of 3,000-3,500 visitors per day. Nguyen Dinh Nam, founder and CEO of IPA Vietnam, told VIR that the company has received around 25 emails asking for introduction to their products on the companys website and several additional emails seeking support for their investment projects. Connections between the company and partners have been carried out via email or online meetings on Skype. As of now, two business teams from Hong Kong and South Korea, as well as 20 others from Southeast Asia and Europe have expressed desire to work with IPA to support their investment projects in Vietnam, one of which is a UK technology group with a plan to develop a data centre, perhaps in Hanoi, in early 2021, Nam said. Cities and provinces are also making an effort to create friendly online channels for foreign investors. The northeastern province of Quang Ninh is an example, with its investment promotion agency providing updated information on opportunities and policies on its website in Vietnamese, English, Japanese, and South Korean. Furthermore, it posts videos to introduce the location as well as the business environment to potential investors. The central province of Phu Yen has been working on these models for a couple of years. Previously in 2018, a large number of investors were present at the assembly room of Phu Yen Peoples Committee for a web chat with VIR and readers about the provinces socio-economic development. It marked the initial step in connecting the mass media with Phu Yens investment-seeking journey, offering a new direction for the local investment promotion in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, a series of industrial park developers including Deep C, Kinh Bac City Development Holding Corporation, and BW Industrial Development JSC as well as agencies in such cities as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Can Tho are making efforts to enhance communication links to promote the image of Vietnam around the globe. Local businesses are also being proactive in arranging capital for new promotion channels. Agencies in cities and provinces will have to allocate part of their budgets for these upgrades. However, it is still much cheaper and more effective compared to organising offline events abroad. Every year, agencies in cities and provinces organise hundreds of investment promotion trips overseas with an average expenditure of VND1 billion ($43,478) per trip, said Phan Huu Thang, former director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), and senior director of GIBC. They should use the money to invest in online investment promotion programmes and on-spot promotion events. These changes not only save time and expenditures for localities but also improve efficiency. Thang added that it is necessary to establish close co-operation between state agencies led by the MPI, as well as other relevant agencies across the country in order to avoid competition and duplication. Especially, it is urgent to build mechanisms for these activities in order to ensure transparency and avoid staff favouritism and coupling with close relationships to enjoy private benefits, Thang said. Last year the MPI, in collaboration with the Korea International Co-operation Agency, held the launching ceremony for a project on the development of the national investment information system (NIIS) for the private sector. The project aims to build data on foreign investment in Vietnam and overseas investment, to serve as the foundation for the formulation of investment policies. Moreover, it will integrate and share data with other national information systems and develop searching tools and provide information for investors and businesses about investment and business in Vietnam. The project is expected to contribute significantly to improving the investment and business climate, strengthening transparency, as well as attracting more foreign investors to Vietnam. AUGUSTA, MI After learning Memorial Day flag placements were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, a local veteran took it upon himself to ensure American flags fly over the more than 38,000 veteran graves at Fort Custer National Cemetery on Monday. Fort Custer National Cemetery, a 770-acre federal cemetery located at 15501 Dickman Road in Augusta, will not carry out its annual flag planting tradition this Memorial Day, citing health and safety concerns surrounding the typical volunteer effort to place the flags. Though the cemetery will remain open to the public throughout Memorial Day weekend, visitors are urged to comply with the governors stay-at-home order and to avoid large gatherings. Richland resident David Bacon, 39, said, thanks to help found through social media, he and a group of community members have secured enough flags and enough volunteers to cover the entire cemetery this year. After the Gull Lake High School graduate and U.S. Marine Corps veteran learned the cemetery would not be continuing its annual flag placing program, Bacon said he had no choice but to keep the tradition going. I called Fort Custer and they told me they werent doing the flag placing on each grave and obviously that was really disappointing, so I really wanted to do something myself, he said. Bacon bought 500 flags, a purchase that cost him about $170, then took to Facebook with a post on May 15, which was shared more than 100 times. Fort Custer national cemetery will not be doing flag placement this year due to Covid. Staff will not be placing flags either. This is unacceptable, Bacon wrote in the post. Bacon expected his friends and family to respond with words of encouragement or to chip in with a few dollars. He was not expecting community members and strangers to volunteer assistance like they did. Pretty quickly after I posted that, everyone started to message me asking if I need more flags and it just took off from there, Bacon said. I definitely wasnt expecting this much of a response. Stationed in California and Iraq during part of his deployment from 2000-04, Bacon said Memorial Day traditions like flag planting make Fort Custer National Cemetery turn what is usually a place of mourning into a peaceful setting. Its something thats really important to me, being out there with fallen brothers and sisters, placing the flags, its a very humbling time," Bacon said. Memorial Day weekend visitors should expect parts of the cemetery, like information centers or chapels, to be closed, according to a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs COVID-19 alert regarding Memorial Day at National Cemetery Administration cemeteries. NCA is committed to observing Memorial Day 2020 in a manner that honors those who sacrificed for our nation while protecting the health and safety of visitors and our team members, the federal agency said in the release. Without the threat of coronavirus, the cemetery would normally work with volunteer groups to ensure flags are placed on all veteran graves and would invite the public to pay tribute to fallen military during a Memorial Day ceremony. Instead, the cemetery plans to hold a non-public wreath-laying ceremony, and will post photos and video on Facebook for others to watch. The cemetery includes the burial places of an unknown Civil War soldier and German WWII prisoners of war, as well as local military personnel. Fort Custer National Cemetery is one of 142 national cemeteries spread across the country. Another Gull Lake High School graduate and Marine Corps veteran, Jason Lemon, has volunteered alongside Bacon in past years, placing flags on veterans graves at the cemetery. He reached out to Bacon after seeing his post to see how he could help. I was thinking when I saw it was canceled, we needed to find a way to still make it happen, and I already knew David would be interested," Lemon said. A phone call between Lemon and Bacon resulted in the creation of a GoFundMe page that has raised over $1,500 from 36 donors. Lemon said 100 4-by-6 flags can be purchased for about $25. On Tuesday, Bacon posted to Facebook to share the community effort has helped the group purchase over 38,000 flags enough to honor each fallen soldier at the cemetery. Bacon plans to join with other local volunteers at Fort Custer National Cemetery Sunday at 9 a.m. to place the flags ahead of the holiday. He said the volunteers will drive separately, meeting at the cemetery, and he plans to leave the flags on the bed of his pickup truck for volunteers in an effort to maintain proper social distancing. Bacons GoFundMe is not the only flash fundraising effort that aims to place flags on graves at the cemetery. The Almost Legal Truck Club has also raised thousands of dollars through a PayPal page another effort prompted by the cemeterys announcement it would not be continuing mass flag plantings across its graves this Memorial Day. The soldiers didnt take a day off in duty and we shouldnt take a day off to make sure this happens for them, Wayland resident Richard King said. A member of Almost Legal Truck Club, King, 28, said him and the group raised thousands of dollars. Dozens have responded to the groups Facebook event for the Sunday flag placement effort. Between our group, active duty soldiers and even some soldiers right from Fort Custer, theres a lot of people I havent met, but were all out there for a good cause and are going to make sure it happens, King said. King said he has spoken to other organizers like Bacon since launching the Paypal page, which was organized by his wife, Lacie King. It raised $4,385.80 before the combined efforts of the different groups reached the goal needed to purchase 38,000 flags. King estimated the price of the nearly 40,000 flags to be about $7,000. The event description on Almost Legal Trucking Clubs Facebook page lists a 10 a.m. start time Sunday. But in an effort to maintain social distancing, King said volunteers will place the flags throughout the cemetery in groups of less than 10 and that they plan to arrive at Fort Custer National Cemetery at separate times spread throughout the day. King said he does expect the 770-acre cemetery should allow for proper social distancing and hopes others will follow those guidelines. The National Cemetery Administration alert acknowledged limiting the number of volunteers for this type of event is not practical. Fort Custer National Cemetery declined to comment regarding whether the local groups plans are at odds with the cemeteries coronavirus prevention measures. Also on MLive: Kalamazoo Memorial Day parade canceled amid pandemic Mackinac Island wont open for Memorial Day Weekend, citing health and safety concerns Citizens congregate for Memorial Day ceremony at Fort Custer National Cemetery Portage Memorial Day Parade, ceremony canceled due to coronavirus pandemic In the middle of the CCP virus pandemic, countries around the world are reviewing their relationships with China. This time, we take a look at Switzerland. This rich alpine country has always been close to China. After the communist regime seized control in mainland China, Switzerland is one of the first Western nations to recognize its rule. It cut ties with Taiwan three days later. Maintaining a friendship with the communist regime can be a fine line to walk, however. In 1999, a diplomatic incident showed just how fragile the relationship can be. Switzerland has one of the largest Tibetan communities in Europe. In 1999, when then Chinese leader Jiang Zemin visited the Swiss Parliament, protestors nearby held up Free Tibet banners and booed Jiang. Swiss police protected the Chinese delegation, but did not silence the demonstrators. Jiang was shocked at the sight of protesters and furious with his hosts. In his speech, Jiang told Swiss lawmakers, Switzerland has lost a friend. Shehnaaz Gill's Father Accused Of Rape As per the Dainik Bhaskar report, the victim had gone to Santokh's house to meet Lucky Sandhu aka Randhir Singh Sandhu, with whom she has been friends for 12 years. It is being said that on May 14, the victim, along with her friend Seema from Jalandhar, went to his place, where Santokh made her sit in the car on the pretext of taking her to Lucky. Santokh Sexually Assaulted Her Inside His Car! As per the report, Santokh sexually assaulted her inside his car near Rohi Bridge, and even threatened to kill her if she told about the incident to anyone. He later dropped her off at her friend's place, and now, the accused is absconding. Apparently, the police investigation is on, and further details will be revealed after proper inquiry. Shehbaz Denies All Allegations When Spotboye contacted Shehbaz to know about the same, he denied all allegations and said, "Yes, there has been a case registered with the Punjab police but these are completely false allegations. The lady in question is trying to defame my father. We are surely disturbed at the moment but we also know nothing is going to happen as we have enough proofs that the lady is lying. The mentioned place where the incident according to her happened is under CCTV survillience and we have arranged for recording of it." My Father Is Not Wrong & Justice Will Be Served To Him Soon When asked about the lady, he said, "I really don't know her as Shehnaaz and I have shifted to Mumbai from quite some time now. But all what we know is my father is not wrong and justice will be served to him soon." When asked if they are planning to go to Punjab to be with their family in this hard time, he said that they are currently in Mumbai and do not have any such plans. He added that he is busy with calls since morning and hoped that media would co-operate with them. Donald Trump backtracked a bit more from his feud with Michigan and its Democratic governor on Thursday, saying mail-in voting is acceptable so long as people have "a reason" to cast ballots remotely. But he stuck by his contention that most mailed ballots are fraudulent. The president shook up the political class and likely some Michigan residents on Wednesday after posting a tweet about Michigan's government sending mail-in ballot applications he initially alleged it sent actual ballots, before deleting and replacing the erroneous tweet. While he and his top spokeswoman, attorney Kayleigh McEnany, were unable to describe any actual crime, Mr Trump claimed the mailings were "done illegally." He also threatened he might withhold federal aid dollars for the key 2020 battleground state, though he told reporters late Wednesday after he doubted such a step would be necessary. His White House press secretary, attorney Kayleigh McEnany, also was unable to explain during a press briefing what compelled her boss to make the threats. The president, who needs to keep Michigan in his column to secure a second term, at first appeared to hold firm to his Wednesday stance. "We don't want anybody to do mail-in voting," he told reporters on the White House's South Lawn before departing for, fittingly, Michigan, where he will tour a Ford facility that is producing items to fight the coronavirus. "If there's a reason for it, that's okay," he said of people who vote by mail. "We don't want to take any chances with fraud in our elections." He again did not provide a single piece of evidence showing the remote voting applications the Michigan state government mailed to over 7m residents were illegal. Governors in GOP strongholds like Utah have done the same thing. Mr Trump has been silent about those applications, however. Meantime, Mr Trump's latest "Chopper Talk" session beside Marine One ended with a rare bit of levity. The president told reporters he might travel to NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday to watch a SpaceX rocket take NASA astronauts into outer space. "I'd like to put you in the rocket," he said with a wry grin, "and get rid of you for a while." The scheduled launch, if successful, would mark two milestones: The first time US astronauts have gone to space in a private craft; and the first time any American astronaut has gone into space since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), On Thursday, said there was evidence that new COVID-19 positive cases and facility admissions were gradually declining. According to him, about 11 out of the 16 regions had not recorded new infections since the country's last update. He explained that from the last update between May 18 and May 19, 2020, a total of 173 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded, of which the Greater Accra Region accounted for 46, Central-27, Eastern-6, Ashanti-35, and Western-57, leaving the remaining regions with no new records of infections. This, he said, brought Ghana's cumulative number of COVID-19 count presently to 6,269, cases, out of which there were 31 fatalities, who were made up of 17 males and 14 females, with the Greater Accra Region alone recording 20 of the total number of deaths. Dr Kuma-Aboagye, giving an update on Ghana's COVID-19 case count and management at the Ministry of Information's midweek press briefing in Accra, stated that there were 144 more recoveries over the same period, bringing the current cumulative number to 1,898, an indication of a recovery rate of about 30.2 per cent, with only eight persons currently in critical condition. He said, Ghana did 187,929 tests from both routine surveillance, contact tracing on persons under mandatory quarantine in their first testing, and achieved 6,269 on a follow up testing of the total number, showing a positivity rate of 3.34 per cent. He said a large pool of people were currently still waiting for their second test results, which would mark their final certification of total recovery from the infection, and hoped that within the next few days the results would be released for them to be free. Dr Kuma-Aboagye said on case management, all the 16 regions had identified and set up isolation, quarantine and treatment facilities. He said there were a total of 71 treatment and isolation centres of which 50 were functional, as the other areas did not record any case. He said the largest isolation centre, which was the Pentecost Convention Centre had 251 persons there, which was a reduction from the over 450 that were recorded since the setup of the place for holding people who had tested positive to COVID-19. According to the Director-General, the number of admissions in all other isolation and quarantine centres at both regional and district levels, witnessed decreases in the past week, including; the initial total of 31 critical cases that were managed in various Intensive Care Units (ICU), where six persons with critical underlying conditions died. He said there were only eight persons still in the ICU ; four of which were at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, and two each at the Ga East Municipal Hospital and the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, but the remaining 16 persons had already been discharged. The Director-General said, notwithstanding the slight decreases in the number of new positive cases, there were occasional increases in strategic areas such as; in the Obuasi, Tema and Bibiani incidences in the past two weeks. However, the GHS has strengthened its forces to be able to identify the hotspots and contain the situation, to present possible spread of the virus. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video He said the program typically draws between 300 to 600 visitors, depending on the weather. Moran said the cemetery will be open for families who want to visit a particular grave site, and has implemented Gravefinder technology that gives families directions to a grave in the 400-acre cemetery. All they need are the lot and section number of the grave and a smart phone. I went to sleep Monday night with well-laid plans for Tuesday morning a no-no in the life of a journalist. Id scheduled a morning recording session with photographer Jake May of The Flint Journal, for our MLive Behind the Headlines podcast. We planned to discuss the life of photojournalists during the coronavirus pandemic. But I was greeted with this message when my alarm went off: Weve got a lot of flood damage up here in Sag/Bay area and would like to deploy Jake May this morning, wrote regional news manager Clark Hughes, referring to Saginaw and Bay City. Is it possible to shift the podcast discussion to later in the day? Of course it was an elemental rule in journalism is that breaking news trumps all. And sending Jake May is always a good idea. May was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of the Flint Water Crisis, and has been named the National Small Market Photographer of the Year for the past two years. The day before, hed been in Owosso, covering a rally supporting a barber who is defying Gov. Gretchen Whitmers orders to stay closed. And in the days before that, he was covering news in Flint. So when he got to where divers had to rescue a driver from a truck that had been swept away, he applied the same philosophy he uses on all assignments he waded right in. Every step you take, you have to be careful. There was a drop off, and water rolling I knew I had to get that photo to show the readers the true impact of what (the flooding) does to our everyday lives, to people, May said. That word, people, defines Mays body of work. He consistently illustrates how news events impact the lives and conditions of human beings. The coronavirus pandemic has made that challenging, to say the least. (Legendary photographer) Robert Capa said, If you cant feel their breath, youre not close enough, May said, then paused. Not right now. May and MLives excellent cadre of photojournalists statewide are doing admirable work during this crisis, documenting everything from political and social protests to businesses preparing to reopen and quiet moments of everyday life. Its not the sort of thing they can do from a home office. So, they don masks and sometimes gloves, they socially distance and put a longer lens on their cameras and then find creative ways to tell human stories. For instance, May helped lead a project in which our photographers took portraits of Michigan residents through their doors and windows, and then gathered short stories about how they are coping with life during stay at home. Its so vital to have a human connection, May said. Its how we built society. We are all doing something to better humanity, but weve never felt more alone. That, to me, is mind boggling. And the fact that we do feel that way its our job as journalists to help connect those dots, and help make sure people understand they are not alone. May has honed that principle, and his reputation to match, in the seven-plus years he has lived in Flint. The city was already beset by well-publicized problems when he got there, such as crime, economic hardship, population decline and blight. And then the water crisis hit. For a journalist, those kinds of conditions make for meaningful reporting. But for May, telling the story meant living the story. Flints my home. I wouldnt call it a second home, he said. Ive gained so much respect and trust with so many just by being present. Thats a huge thing we can do as journalists today the relationships you build are the foundation of how we can continue to tell intimate and purposeful stories in our communities. I dont know how this pandemic is going to unfold. But I am confident that MLive, with committed journalists like Jake May, will bring the human element forward in all that we do. John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions youd like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com. The health crisis has put a strain on police resources in the Grand Duchy. Minister Francois Bausch said jobs could open up for other EU nationals, following difficulty in finding new recruits. During a consultation debate on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies, Bausch raised several options for police reform, notably to tackle the issue of recruitment. The minister explained there was a chronic shortage of personnel in the police force, which has not yet been resolved and is having knock-on effects on the daily functions of the police. In particular, the coronavirus crisis has put a heavy strain on police resources, showing that recruitment must be at the top of the priority list. Organisational issues have increased in recent years, particularly in rural regions affected by the reorganisation of the territory. Members of the opposition agreed these could be resolved by employing new staff, citing concerns that there were not sufficient police officers to cover the tasks required of them. EU nationals in the Grand Ducal police? Green Party MP Stephanie Empain queried whether candidates of other nationalities could be considered, provided the knowledge of the Luxembourgish language could be maintained. This proposal could be considered if the shortage of staff is not made up. CSV MP Leon Gloden proposed a bill which could authorise European Union nationals to become members of the police, on the condition that the candidates can speak the three national languages and with the possibility of obtaining Luxembourg nationality by option, i.e. without the five-year period. This motion was adopted with 54 votes in favour, four against and two abstentions. Minister for Internal Security Francois Bausch approved of the motion, stating it could go some way to solving the recruitment issue. A recruitment plan had been developed beforehand with the union, while improvements are also underway. To relieve the pressure on police, civilians could also be hired in order to carry out administrative tasks. Video in Luxembourgish A medical team wearing protective clothing heads to the ward at the Keimyung University Daegu Dongsan Hospital, Daegu, March 23. The devoted medical community and healthcare infrastructure have been credited as some of the main reasons behind Korea's effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yonhap By Do Je-hae Korea's management of the COVID-19 pandemic has been attracting global attention. Leaders around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, among 30 others, have called President Moon Jae-in since the outbreak of the COVID-19, seeking to learn from Korea's fast and preemptive responses. One of the things that the world have been marveling at is how Korea has been able to bring down the number of infections without imposing extreme measures such as lockdowns, as in the case of Wuhan, China, the original COVID-19 hotspot. In April, Korea even managed to proceed with a general election as planned, becoming the first country to hold a nationwide election at the height of the COVID-19 spread. Civic cooperation for 'freedom for all' Experts have commonly underlined a unique combination of experience from past disasters, the cooperation of civic society and an affordable healthcare system, in addition to President Moon's leadership, as some of the main reasons for Korea's success in tackling the new global health challenge. "In responding to the pandemic, Korea sought to learn from painful experience and rely on experts. This helped prevent politicization and built trust," former U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Kathleen Stephens, who is the president and CEO of the Korea Economic Institute of America, told The Korea Times via e-mail, May 19. "Identifying hard lessons from its difficult experience with combatting the 2015 MERS outbreak, the Korean government this time quickly developed and implemented testing, and adopted technologies such as contact tracing in response to early cases of COVID-19." "Equally important, the government committed to transparency and openness with citizens, which helped both disseminate information on how the public could help contain the virus and foster a sense of civic responsibility," Stephens said. Korea's response has been highlighted particularly by a unique model of civic cooperation which places high importance on the community over individual interests. "In that moment of crisis and challenge, the Korean people made a bold decision.?We took our own individual freedoms and turned it to an even greater freedom freedom for all," President Moon said during a keynote speech at the 73rd World Health Assembly, May 18. "Rather than regarding our neighbors as dangerous spreaders of the virus or enforcing nationwide lockdown measures, we chose to protect their safety for the sake of our own safety. In order to uphold free movement and keep the economy going, the Korean people chose to wear face masks, and participate actively in social distancing. This idea of protecting our neighbors developed further to include the neighbors beyond our borders. We kept our borders open and maintained our ties of exchange while also providing diagnostic kits, face masks, and other supplies as much as we could. "The Korean people displayed the highest form of civic virtues to practice the spirit of freedom for all and voluntarily participated in quarantine efforts. This was what really enabled the three main principles of openness, transparency and democracy to flourish. The government also supported the people's efforts with swift, widespread testing and creative approaches." There is also a lot of global attention on the role of Korea's low-cost, accessible healthcare system which has been instrumental in Korea's success in managing the situation. "South Korea's existing health infrastructure, which made healthcare accessible and affordable, also bolstered the country's effective response," Stephens added. "The most important difference comes from institutional readiness," Moon Chung-in, special adviser to President Moon for foreign affairs and national security, told The Korea Times in a recent interview. "We have set up enormous institutional capacity; for example, almost universal medical insurance, extremely easy access to medical doctors, and very low-cost medical services. We could have never effectively dealt with the pandemic without such institutional arrangements." Crisis into opportunity Although the pandemic has taken lives and resulted in grave socio-economic challenges, President Moon has often stressed that he will turn this crisis into an opportunity by taking advantage of various experiences the nation has accumulated in dealing with the pandemic. President Moon Jae-in speaks during a meeting with heads of startup companies in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, May 14. Moon sees new opportunities in nurturing startups for job creation in the post-pandemic period. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 19:24:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese medical experts pose for a photo before boarding a plane at an airport in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 11, 2020. A team of 10 Chinese medical experts departed from Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, for Russia on April 11 to help with its fight against the COVID-19. (Xinhua/Xu Xu) BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia will take the Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation as an opportunity to enhance exchanges and cooperation in fields including medical and health care and disease control and prevention to make due contributions to safeguarding regional and global health security, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Thursday. Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press conference when asked to comment on Russian ambassador to China Andrey Denisov's saying Wednesday that China-Russia cooperation in combating COVID-19 once again highlights the high degree of mutual trust between the two countries and their bilateral relationship will promote the further development of bilateral cooperation in the medical field. According to Zhao, China and Russia have firmly supported each other on epidemic prevention and control, and maintained close communication and coordination since the outbreak. The two heads of state had many telephone conversations and exchanged in-depth views on the two countries' cooperation in the fight against COVID-19. Staff members transfer medical supplies at an airport in the China-Russia border city of Manzhouli in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, April 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Zou Jianpu) The two sides provided each other with medical supplies and sent medical teams for exchanges and cooperation, Zhao said. Faced with the epidemic, the two countries assisted each other in the fight against the outbreak, which becomes a new bright spot in China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, he added. This year and next year mark the China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation, and the two sides will take this as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in various fields including medical and health care and disease control and prevention, to make due contributions to safeguarding regional and global health security, Zhao said. Title: Senior Manager, Advocacy and Communications ABOUT VILLAGEREACH VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. Our vision is a world where every person has the health care needed to thrive. Our programs focus building people-centered health systems that make sure health products and services are available when and where they are needed, with a focus on developing scalable, high-impact solutions. We are driven by a passion for collaboration and partnership, as we believe strongly that collective action is the only way to achieve sustainable change. Our work improves the lives of more than 35 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. VillageReach in incorporated in Washington State and has offices in Seattle (USA), Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Mozambique. ABOUT THE POSITION Summary The Advocacy and Communications Team at VillageReach influences the ability of others to act in support of VillageReachs mission while strengthening the organizations brand. VillageReach seeks an experienced professional to support advocacy and communications in DRC, with a focus on liaising with government officials and partners on key programs. This is a dynamic role requiring a candidate who can help develop strategies, write compelling policy and advocacy materials, and work with a broad set of external and internal stakeholders.The Senior Manager, Advocacy and Communications reports to the DRC Country Director and works in close collaboration with the broader Advocacy and Communications team. Description Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time. Lead DRC advocacy and communications work and ensure that all activities contribute to the broader objectives of the organization. Lead advocacy and communications for HealthChat dissemination, timely information to the public on COVID-19 via WhatsApp. Support the deployment of remote training of health workers on COVID-19. Take the lead of advocacy and communication directions, by designing, developing, and delivering advocacy strategy and messaging, lay out the tactics, engage partners, build and strengthen relationships with relevant stakeholders and proactively take necessary action Advocate for the uptake of next-generation supply chain (NGCA) for vaccines in Mashako Plan to address last mile supply chain challenges Document the policy and financing needs along with broader political considerations required to sustain next-generation supply chains in the context of broader initiatives such as the Mashako Plan Engage Provincial Parliamentarians on sustainable health financing, with a focus on domestic resource mobilization Advise the Director, Advocacy and Communications and Country Director in the development of advocacy proposals and strategic activities to ensure that these meet the requirements of high level stakeholders, political and decision-making bodies and promote further cooperation and coordination with partners Promote VillageReach and its objectives by ensuring high visibility and understanding of NGCA at the highest political level and grassroots level Document and disseminate the implementation of a next-generation supply chain, including best practices, success stories, lessons learned and challenges Support the GFF mechanisms through the partnership with GFF CSO Coalition Promote VillageReachs evidence and experience regionally and globally in key countries to support plans and policies that lead to improved access to health at the last mile. Lead cross-organizational communications activities and processes, liaising with staff in Seattle to manage VillageReach social media channels, support employees with advocacy and communications and more. Contribute to blogs, presentations, whitepapers, grants proposals, strategy documents, and other written deliverables. Competencies: The following competencies reflect what is expected of all VillageReach employees; including examples of how one might demonstrate each of these competencies in ones role. Personal Motivation and Drive: Is self-directed in ones approach to work, but asks for help when needed; holds oneself accountable; undertakes self-development activities; seeks to build and master new skills; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities within the organization. Collaboration & Effective Communication: Establishes and maintains effective relations with coworkers, partners & stakeholders and external parties; works collaboratively with others to accomplish organizational and team goals and objectives; works actively to resolve conflicts; expresses ideas and thoughts effectively; selects and uses appropriate communication methods and maintains meaningful communication with virtual coworkers and other parties to keep them informed. Establishes and maintains effective relations with coworkers, partners & stakeholders and external parties; works collaboratively with others to accomplish organizational and team goals and objectives; works actively to resolve conflicts; expresses ideas and thoughts effectively; selects and uses appropriate communication methods and maintains meaningful communication with virtual coworkers and other parties to keep them informed. Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: Takes personal responsibility for and supports others across the organization in creating and sustaining a diverse work environment where individuals are welcomed, valued, respected and supported; personally committed to attaining cultural competency including self-awareness of ones own attitudes about culture and cross-cultural interactions; exhibits the willingness and ability to engage openly and respectfully around issues of race, colonialism, identity and culture; upholds equity in access to sharing of information, ideas, and opportunities throughout VillageReach. Takes personal responsibility for and supports others across the organization in creating and sustaining a diverse work environment where individuals are welcomed, valued, respected and supported; personally committed to attaining cultural competency including self-awareness of ones own attitudes about culture and cross-cultural interactions; exhibits the willingness and ability to engage openly and respectfully around issues of race, colonialism, identity and culture; upholds equity in access to sharing of information, ideas, and opportunities throughout VillageReach. Commitment to Excellence: Produces a high output of work, both in terms of quality and quantity; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; monitors work to ensure quality; has a personal commitment to the mission of VillageReach. Produces a high output of work, both in terms of quality and quantity; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; monitors work to ensure quality; has a personal commitment to the mission of VillageReach. Solution Orientation & Innovation: Focuses on results and desired outcomes and how to best achieve them; gets the job done; sees opportunities for creative problem-solving while staying within the parameters of good practice; sees old problems in new ways and has novel approaches to solving those problems; contributes original and/or resourceful ideas to their area of responsibility; is able to consider and articulate risks and consequences of proposed innovations and factor these into decision-making. REQUIREMENTS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Education & Experience: A minimum of 7 years experience in policy, advocacy or related field of which at least 3 years working in health or international development. Experience in the design and management of initiatives to change policy and increase visibility and political will for health and development issues. Ability to build political and financial support for health and development goals in low-resource environments with governmental and non-state organizations. Experience working collaboratively with international stakeholders and multilateral organizations such as Gavi, The Global Fund, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, World Bank, and/or bilateral aid organizations. Persuasive written and verbal communication. Open mindedness to accommodate the non-traditional mix of disciplines within VillageReach and interpersonal skills to work effectively in partnership with others in the organization and externally. Experience working with CSOs, government, the media and other stakeholders to influence change. A graduate degree in public policy, public affairs, international development, public health, or related field. Other Qualifications: Excellent written and verbal English and French communication. Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups. Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context. Ability to be self-directed, prioritize and perform multiple tasks, problem-solve, and work under pressure. Comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment. Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment. Ability to travel up to 30% (depending on governments restrictions on travels in the context of COVID-19). Supervisory Responsibilities: This position will supervise one staff member supporting programs and advocacy and communications. Environment and Physical Demands VillageReach has no private offices, employees work in a shared, open environment with task and conference rooms accessible to employees for privacy and meetings. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet. Due to the time zone differences between our Seattle office and our Country Offices and location of other global staff, DRC based staff are expected to be available for late afternoon/evening meetings up to 6pm. APPLICATION INFORMATION: This is an immediate hire and therefore resumes will be reviewed on a rolling basis until June 3, 2020. To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter to our online portal: https://www.villagereach.org/join-us/ This is a 6-month fixed-term contract and the position is based in Kinshasa, DRC. COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: VillageReach is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to workforce diversity. We believe that diverse, equitably weighted perspectives foster an organizational capacity to create novel solutions that improve health in the most underserved and hard-to-reach areas. To align our values, innovations and impact, VillageReach is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse global workforce. Compensation: VillageReach has an established compensation structure that is based on the relevant market and internally transparent. We hire people into the established range based on ones experience and education and considering internal equity. We do not inquire about salary history. On the evening of March 21, Israelis created a human chain around parts of Jerusalems Old City in an event that replaced the traditional annual Flag March for Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the 1967 unification of the city after the Six-Day War. Coronavirus restrictions also meant that a smaller-than-usual celebration was later held by the Western Wall. The Flag March or Flag Dance is a particularly sensitive event politically. Not only does it celebrate Israels sovereignty over both East and West Jerusalem, the march also crosses the Old City through the Muslim Quarter on the way to the Western Wall. The march is considered a volatile and high-risk event and involves a large number of security forces. Many of the marchers are religious teenagers and the Old Citys Muslim Quarter route has frequently been the source of tensions. Vendors in the Muslim quarter are usually told to close early, and Muslim residents are careful to stay home as the nationalist marchers pass by. Marchers have been known on occasion to shout obscenities at Arab shopkeepers. Shops have been damaged and there have been clashes between Israeli Jews and Palestinians during the marches. Over the years, left-wing associations repeatedly asked the High Court to prevent the march, which hurts the feelings of many Israeli-Arab citizens. But while the court on some occasions has order a change in the route of the march in order to minimize friction with Jerusalems Muslim residents, the event itself was always held. The Flag March became over the years a principal event for the national-religious movement. Before the march starts, Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva, considered the main bastion of religious Zionism, usually holds a large celebration. Leaders of the community and other political figures flock to this annual event. In fact, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has participated on several occasions. As in prior years, the Ir Amim organization petitioned against the march, particularly since the march this year falls shortly before the end of Ramadan. But contrary to past years, the organizers of the march also petitioned the court this year. They feared that because of restrictions caused by COVID-19, the march would be canceled. Eventually, the organizers came to an agreement with the police where 700 people (instead of the 3,000 demanded in the petition) would be allowed to form a human chain around many of the Old City gates. In addition, the police authorized a convoy of vehicles that would drive around Jerusalem and circle the Old City. Also, 450 people who registered in advance would then be authorized to gather by the Western Wall for the final celebration. Coronavirus-induced restrictions this year minimized the frictions between the marchers and Muslim residents of Jerusalem. Still, participants are hoping to go back to a much larger format next year. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman tweeted the evening of May 21, "Wishing everyone a very happy Yom Yerushalayim Jerusalem Day. Looking forward to celebrating this great day next year with large crowds and festivities. CALGARYCanadas oilfield-services sector is in for an immense amount of pain over at least the next year, thanks to low North American oil and gas exploration activity amid a worldwide glut of cheap crude, according to a report from CIBC. Drilling and well-completion companies stand to suffer the most as producers will be reluctant to reverse cuts in spending and production linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and its affect on fuel demand, the analysts warn. There is no way to sugar-coat it. The oilfield-services sector is in for an immense amount of pain over the balance of 2020 and into 2021, the report says. This will be felt across the sector, and while some subsegments will be more impacted than others (i.e. drilling/completion services lines), no one will be immune, especially with the broad-based shut-ins of existing production. On Thursday, Calgary-based STEP Energy Services Ltd. was the latest oilfield-service provider to report a series of measures to deal with sharply lower demand that began in mid-March. The measures include job cuts, wage rollbacks, parked equipment and reduced capital spending in its hydraulic fracturing and coiled tubing well-service operations in Canada and the U.S. It is also seeking relief from its lenders because it could potentially breach its debt-to-adjusted-earnings covenants within the next two quarters, triggering a possible demand for immediate repayment of all amounts due. Volatile market conditions have created uncertainty for our clients and they have responded by announcing material reductions in capital expenditures and cancelled work programs, STEP said in a statement. Natural gas prices have strengthened of late, which could support additional work later in the year; however, this is not expected to offset the decline in demand for services from oil-directed work. In a note, analyst Ian Gillies of Stifel FirstEnergy said STEPs results were in line with expectations, but the bank-covenant warning is worrying for investors. The outlook for North American hydraulic fracturing remains extremely challenging due to the material uncertainty surrounding the global economy and crude prices, he said. The authors of the CIBC report said the services-sector downturn is made worse by expectations of a prolonged trough in activity as demand for new oil and gas production is delayed by the need to draw down crude storage and as idled wells are reactivated. It said shares in the services companies it covers are down between 15 and 70 per cent since early March, some of which is justified by the cost of challenges to come, but some due to indiscriminate selling by spooked investors. Ongoing equipment retirements are expected to allow the North American services sector to eventually match capacity with demand, it said. At STEP, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell by 12 per cent to $22.8 million in the three months ended March 31, despite a 10 per cent increase in consolidated revenue to $194 million. It attributed the decrease to a $2.5-million provision for bad debt and $1.9 million in severance for unspecified workforce reductions in Canada and the United States. Despite a recent rise in U.S. benchmark oil prices to above $30 (U.S.) per barrel, STEP says it has further reduced its 2020 capital program to $15.5 million, down from $24 million previously and its initial plan of $47 million. It reported a first-quarter net loss of $52.2 million, compared with a net loss of $600,000 for the same period in 2019, mainly due to $58.8 million in non-cash impairment charges against its Canadian well-fracturing assets. Earlier this month, the PetroLMI Division of Energy Safety Canada reported more than 7,700 oil and gas sector jobs were lost in April compared with March, with 6,500 of the lost jobs from the oilfield-services sector. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has so far brought back over 83,000 residents of the UT stranded in various states via 23 special trains, three flights besides scores of buses. As per the detailed breakup, the administration has evacuated 63,109 residents stranded in various other states and UTs, through Lakhanpur besides bringing back home about 19,724 people through special trains at Jammu and Udhampur railway stations. Around 501 passengers including students have been brought back through special flights, so far. Nearly, 1,755 stranded passengers have entered through Lakhanpur from May 20-21 while 804 passengers have reached today at Jammu railway station besides about 1,873 passengers have reached Udhampur railway station from Ahmedabad and Pune in two special trains. So far, eight trains have reached Jammu with a total of 7,273 stranded passengers belonging to different districts while 12,451 passengers have reached Udhampur in 15 special trains, so far. As per the official communique, of 63,109 returnees evacuated through Lakhanpur till May 21 included 14,374 from Punjab; 19,984 from Himachal Pradesh, 21 from Andhra Pradesh, 6,196 from Delhi, 1,323 from Gujarat, 2,488 from Rajasthan, 3,684 from Haryana, 110 from Chattisgarh, 3,227 from Uttarakhand, 859 from Maharashtra, 4,014 from Uttar Pradesh, 42 from Odisha, 244 from Assam and 941 from Madhya Pradesh, 88 from Dehradun, 1038 from Chandigarh, 666 from Telangana, 92 from Karnataka, 8 from Tamil Nadu, 52 from Chennai, 258 from Bihar, 124 from West Bengal, 26 from Jharkhand, 3 from Nepal and 3,247 from other states and UTs. MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf, CEO of Hormuud, explains why, in Africas battle against COVID-19, telecoms will prove to be an essential public service We are already beginning to see Covid-19 take hold across vast swathes of Africa. This is just the beginning of something far worse. In my own country, Somalia, cases in Mogadishu are rising quickly, and the population is growing increasingly concerned. In these circumstances, information, and the ability to communicate that information accurately, has never been more important. For many in Africa, it may even be the difference between life and death. Intervention is needed now, and it needs to come from foreign governments and international institutions who want to help the organizations enabling the dissemination of information. In the end, the countries whose populations are informed will weather the storm far better than those whose who arent. They are far more likely to adhere to social distancing rules, be sceptical of gossip and hearsay and maintain the standard of hygiene required to limit the spread of the virus. As it is, Africa has not been affected as badly by the Coronavirus as other continents have. Around 22,000 people have so far been infected; in Europe, the figure stands at over one million. But rest assured the first number will rise, and if we do not have in place clear strategies for prevention and containment, the fragile health systems across the continent will be overrun. What makes our situation all the more urgent is the fact that respiratory disease is already high in Africa, and soap and clean water for hand-washing are not available to many. Mobile communication has a starring role to play in this. The ability to deliver accurate public health information to large populations as well as the ability to counter misinformationhas only been made possible by mobile networks. We rely just as much on mobile networks to allow us to track and trace the spread of the pandemic, and even the consultation process with medical professionals will rest on mobile phone communication. At Hormuud, we have taken the necessary steps to provide free public hotlines to the Ministry of Health, and created voicemail messages that can bring public health announcements to those among us who cannot read. But we do not want Africa just to survive this difficult period. We want to come out on the other side with our economy and business ecosystem intact. As countries introduce lockdowns, towns and villages will quickly run out of cash, the exchange of which would also breach social distancing rules. From then on, mobile money will become the main means of payment. We have already seen China replace cash with a digital equivalent, and its clear that if economies wish to stay healthy then enabling mobile payments is paramount. And businesses can only continue to operate through mobile networks. For market traders and taxi drivers, for instance, the maintenance of business networks through applications like WhatsApp will determine whether communities choose to self-isolate or carry on as normal. We need to stop the spread of the Corona virus, but we also need to keep people fed and money flowing through the system. Mobile networks allow for both. In Somalia we face an uncertain future. Many years of war and conflict have left our institutions and public health systems vulnerable, and while positive news of the provision of medical supplies is welcome, more is needed. That is why we must use advantages where we can find them. For Somalis, mobile connectivity is an integral part of everyday life. In fact, Somalia is one of the most connected populations on the continent, and most of the population owns a mobile. And since more than 95% of the Somali Shillings in circulation are counterfeit, the economy relies on mobile money to function. For Somalians, telecoms are already an essential public service and we are conscious of our responsibility to them as their provider. While we do not hold all the answers, we are in a unique position to understand the role that telecoms will play in this crisis and feel an obligation to let the world know. What international bodies who hope to tackle the pandemic have to recognize is how fundamental mobile connectivity will be in wider Africas battle against the Corona virus. And once they have done that, they must start thinking about how they can strengthen telecommunications infrastructure across the continentand fast. Doing so at a time like this could make all the difference. Press statement Concerned Citizensa Group 20.5. 2020 Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) continues to be in a social, economic, political and communication lockdown since August 5, 2019. The lockdown imposed by the Union government is now doubly reinforced by the coronavirus pandemic. While Kashmir has dropped off the national radar due to concerns with the pandemic, the West Asian eliteas attention is drawn to it now because of the current regimeas perceived Islamophobia. This has also led to adverse international media attention. Within the country, there has never been greater need to be sensitive to disturbing developments in the UT and the immediate needs of its residents. Many senior political leaders, including a former Chief Minister, continue to be in detention, in several cases under the draconian Public Safety Act. Meanwhile, there are attempts to incubate artificial political processes a through village and local body elections and facilitating the launch of a new political party. However, these processes have failed to fill the political vacuum. The Union government has also used the opportunity of the lockdown to implement domicile laws for the UT which should have been debated by the peopleas representatives and by the affected citizens. The media which could have promoted debate and discussion is being bullied. The administration has chosen to harass local accredited correspondents and photo-journalists, preventing them from performing their legitimate professional duties. Several have been called to police stations at odd hours to explain their reportage. Instead of using editorial and Press Council of India complaint mechanisms, the state police seems to be the preferred instrument of the administration to deal with journalists. The communication lockdown a permitting only 2G internet, premised on the assumption that faster internet speeds help terrorists is causing havoc not only in banking, trade, business and healthcare but in the field of education as well. The 2G technology cannot sustain online learning, which is a ready option being used in the rest of the country. The problem is particularly acute for students who have returned home because of the pandemic from universities and colleges in the rest of India. They cannot attend online classes and webinars or submit assignments. They may not be able to appear for online end-semester examinations which universities and colleges plan to hold soon. The governments stand before the Supreme Court that internet access is not a right militates against the apex courtas own rulings that information is a Fundamental Right under Article 19 (1) a of the Constitution. The economy is also in disarray. For a state that is heavily dependent on tourism and horticulture, the lockdown has meant that two tourist seasons have passed without any business and the marketing of fruit produce has been hampered severely. The cherry season is already on and with pears and early varieties of apple ready for harvesting soon, farmers are staring at the prospect of rotting produce for lack of proper distribution and market access. Artisans face distress and dealers in handicrafts are unable to function with piling up of stocks. No relief measures have been announced for them. Unlike in the rest of India, there has been no deferment/ staggering of bank loans in J&K. In addition, the people of J&K are overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic and the lack of healthcare infrastructure to deal with its spread. This is particularly so in Kashmir Valley, where the people infected are far larger in number compared to Jammu. The return of the Jammu and Kashmiri migrants, businessmen and students from the rest of the country and abroad who have already returned a without adequate testing and quarantine at the border entry points has generated overpowering apprehensions in the state. The Kashmir Valley alone has a an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people who have returned. Those infected could easily overwhelm the UTas meagre health facilities. Meanwhile, militancy is on the rise. More disaffected youth are joining militancy, there are also reports of increased infiltration from across the border and even those areas where militancy had subsided are on the boil. The situation is unlikely to take a positive turn in the months ahead. Under these circumstances, the Concerned Citizensa Group recommends the following: 1. Release of all political leaders. A befitting occasion for doing so would be the upcoming festival of Eid ul Fitr. 2. Do not use the lack of a legislative assembly to push through policies with long term consequences. 3. Stop the intimidation of accredited media personnel. 4. Restore 4G communication in J&K to alleviate the problems of businessmen, traders, healthcare professionals and most importantly students so that they do not lose an academic year. 5. Extend the same bank loan deferment and facilities to J&K businesses as in the rest of the country. 6. Ensure unfettered market access and adequate distribution channels for horticultural produce. 7. Announce specific financial packages for the artisans. 8. Ensure adherence to laid down health protocols to alleviate peoplesa fears about returning Kashmiris. 9. Ensure that the healthcare facilities remain ahead of the coronavirus curve in the UT. 10. Open up the political space in J&K without which militancy cannot be controlled. Yashwant Sinha Wajahat Habibullah Kapil Kak Bharat Bhushan Sushobha Barve OTTAWA Canadas domestic intelligence agency is changing how it talks about extremist threats, adopting a broader vocabulary to include violence inspired by incels, ethno-nationalists and other fringe groups. The move comes just a day after authorities laid Canadas first incel-related terrorism charge against a 17-year old accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a North York massage parlour. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service signalled Wednesday that it would move away from describing terrorism as something perpetrated by right-wing or left-wing groups, or as exclusively the tool of religious extremists like Daesh and al-Qaeda. Instead, CSIS is classifying violent extremism and terrorism by motivation religious, ideological or political. Given the diverse combination of motivations and personalized world views of recent mass-casualty attackers, the use of such terms as right-wing and left-wing is not only subjective, but inaccurate in describing the complexity of motivations of (ideological) attacks in Canada and abroad, read the agencys annual report, delivered to parliamentarians Wednesday. The new classification system is unlikely to change much in terms of CSIS operations and investigations, but it may signal a growing awareness within Canadas national security community of emerging threats. The agency specifically referenced incels or involuntary celibates an online movement of young men who have given up on finding a sexual partner, some of whom advocate violence against women. Canada has seen a number of recent violent incidents where the suspects identified as incels. The Toronto van attack driver, who killed 10 pedestrians and injured 16 others in 2018, told a Toronto police officer he hoped to spark an incel uprising. The man accused of attacking a woman and her eight-month old child with a knife in Sudbury in 2019 told police he was part of the incel movement. On Tuesday, RCMP and Toronto police charged a 17-year old with terrorist activity in relation to a fatal stabbing at Crown Spa, a massage parlour in North York. On Feb. 24, police arrived at the business and found a man and woman suffering from multiple cuts. Another woman, 24-year old Ashley Noell Arzaga, was found dead inside. The 17-year old, who cannot be named because of his age, was already facing first-degree murder and attempted murder charges. Investigators later uncovered evidence that the teen may have been inspired by incel ideology, but have not released further details. Its the first time Canadian authorities have used terrorism charges outside al-Qaida or Daesh-inspired incidents. CSISs report noted that while no single group has a monopoly on terrorist threats, Daesh and al-Qaida still represent a danger to Canada and have provided an online playbook for other extremists. Despite the loss of physical territory in Iraq and Syria, (Daesh) continues to dominate the extremist landscape in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, the report read. al-Qaida and al-Qaida-aligned groups also remain present in those regions. In Yemen, both al-Qaida and Daesh have continued to take advantage of the ongoing civil conflict to effectively use vast uncontrolled areas to expand their ranks and enhance their capabilities. The agency noted that Canadians who travel to fight for those groups and those who have returned to Canada after assisting a terrorist organization remain a serious threat to Canada. Approximately 190 Canadians have been identified as being currently abroad and engaged in terrorism-related activities not necessarily fighting, but supporting the cause and roughly half of those Canadians have travelled to Turkey, Syria and Iraq. CSIS is aware of 60 people who have returned to Canada after working with extremist groups abroad. In a statement to the Star Wednesday evening, Public Safety Minister Bill Blairs office said the terms Canadas security agencies use to describe extremists threats are important. We take very seriously threats posed by individuals who hold extremist beliefs, including male supremacy and misogyny ... (and) individuals motivated by incel ideologies, a spokesman for the minister wrote. Read more about: Police arrest Navajas, a day after President Anez orders an investigation into the shady purchase of ventilators. Bolivias health minister was arrested on suspicion of corruption related to the overpriced purchase of ventilators to fight COVID-19 before being sacked by interim President Jeanine Anez. Marcelo Navajas was detained by police in La Paz, police Colonel Ivan Rojas said on Wednesday, a day after Anez ordered an investigation into the questionable purchase. Two other health ministry officials were also arrested. Anez is facing her biggest corruption scandal in her six months in power and a fierce wave of criticism over her handling of the crisis. Bolivia bought 179 ventilators for $27,683 each from a manufacturer in Spain costing almost $5m a purchase funded by the Inter-American Development Bank. However, it later transpired that the manufacturer was offering ventilators for approximately half that price 9,500-11,000 euros each ($10,312-$11,941). Another Spanish company acted as an intermediary. Anez said on Twitter that Bolivia had already sent more than $2m to pay for the ventilators but will not pay one more cent. She said she was committed to recovering the money of Bolivians. 200228052717538 The scandal came to light at the end of last week when intensive care doctors complained that the ventilators were not suitable for Bolivian intensive care units. Anez decided to remove the health minister to avoid any interference in the work of the law, said the governments communications chief Isabel Fernandez. Bolivia has reported 4,500 COVID-19 cases and 190 deaths. On March 17, the government closed the landlocked South American countrys borders and instigated a general lockdown. The socially and politically conservative Anez took office on November 12, one day after left-wing president Evo Morales resigned following days of violent unrest. Removing tenancy protections introduced as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic will result in a "wave of homelessness", Focus Ireland has warned. Under the restrictions, evictions were banned, many mortgage holders were given payment moratoriums for up to six months by their banks, and those in homeless services were accommodated in hotels and apartments secured from the private or short-term lettings markets. Abandoning these protections will result in a new wave of people becoming homeless, the charity has warned in a letter sent to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. Focus Ireland is urging the three parties to put in place a roadmap for housing and homelessness as part of government negotiations. In the letter, Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan warns of a "wave of homelessness" if these measures are deconstructed without alternative supports being implemented. Mr Dennigan said there is "a danger of a sudden high number of evictions" due to accumulated issues, such as rent arrears or anti-social behaviour concerns, which would result in a large number of people becoming homeless if the ban on evictions is revoked. He said removing the ban on evictions needs to be announced well in advance to ensure people can try to find alternative accommodation or solutions, if required. During the pandemic, social distancing and cocooning in the homeless community has been largely achieved through the acquisition of hotel spaces and apartments, and Mr Dennigan said these people "must not suddenly lose this accommodation". Focus Ireland also notes the importance of securing the safety of the most vulnerable homeless people, including those who have had to cocoon during the pandemic, those who have physical and mental health concerns, and those who are from EU and non-EU countries and remained outside the shelter system during the pandemic. Finally, the letter argues for the Government to play a "key role" in the housing system to offset any shortfall caused by the construction shutdown and any potential economic downturn. Mr Dennigan said the removal of "holding mechanisms" will need to be managed to prevent a sudden surge in the number of people becoming homeless. He added: "In some countries, political leaders have recognised that Covid-19 can be a turning point in the fight against homelessness and have made commitments that people who are homeless who were accommodated during the health emergency will not be expected to return to the streets or hostels but will be offered homes through a ramped up Housing First programme. "In Ireland, no political leader has yet been reported setting such a vision." One of Perths most loved watering holes is up for sale following a turbulent year that saw it shut down after a sudden lease termination, then reopen with new owners, then close its doors again thanks to COVID-19. The interior of Clarences, which set the bar for the quality of food, drinks and service expected of a small bar in Perth. Clarences on Beaufort Street was a darling of the original inner-city small bar movement of the late 2000s and had a long reputation for quality bar food, an eclectic wine and cocktail list, spot-on service and innovation since opening its doors in 2009. In May last year the bar was forced to close after a shock eviction, but the bar opened its doors again in November under new ownership. At the time, the trendy Mt Lawley strip was finally showing signs of life again, with new businesses popping up after a period of retail and hospitality malaise. The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has stated that majority of those infected with coronavirus in the state are those who sell phones and accessories. Mr Umahi said this during the weekly state broadcast held at the New Government House, Centenary City in Abakaliki, the states capital, on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by his special assistant on media, Francis Nwaze, the state has so far recorded 13 cases. A breakdown of the 13 cases showed that six are from Izzi, a local government in the state. Governor Umahi explained that most of those that tested positive are telephone accessories sellers, the release said. Breakdown The statement explained further: an index case who returned from Ondo State, South-west, Nigeria, he is from Onicha LGA of Ebonyi State. The second person, from Izzi, returned from Delta State. The third case is also from Izzi who returned from Delta State. The fourth case, who is from Ohaozara LGA of Ebonyi State is said to have returned from Enugu State. Meanwhile, the 5th case, from Izzi LGA Ebonyi State returned from Imo State. In the same vein, the 6, 7, and 8 cases are a father, mother, and son, from Izzi. The governor said the 9th case returned from Oyo State. The 10th case is a native of Ezza North.The 11th case is from Izzi who came back from Delta State. The twelfth case is from Izzi who came back from Delta State. The 13th case is from Ohaozara LGA who recently returned from Lagos State. Assurances, warning The governor assured that arrangements have been made for their reintegration into the society after total recovery. Specifically, the States Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources will see how to create agriprenuerial facilities for them, the statement read. It further advised the people to take proactive measures necessary for their safety. The reason is that all the cases we have had, they dont show any symptoms of the disease at all, the governor said. The governor also announced that there may be another lockdown if the cases continue to rise. And this will be by general consensus with the general public. We have to lock down and defeat this monster called COVID-19. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria currently has 6401 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 1734 persons discharged and 192 deaths as of Tuesday night. Lagos continues to top the chart with 2755 cases, followed by Kano 842, FCT 427, Katsina 281,Borno 227, Bauchi 224, Jigawa 205, Ogun 178, Kaduna 152 , Oyo 143, Gombe- 136, Sokoto 113, Edo 119 and Zamfara 84 . Others are Kwara 65, Rivers- 53, Osun 42, Plateau 50, Kebbi and Yobe 32, Nasarawa 34, Delta 27, Niger 22, Adamawa 26, Ondo 20 and Ekiti 19. After nearly two months, indoor shoot for television shows is all set to begin in non- containment zones of Tamil Nadu with Chief Minister K Palaniswami allowing the relaxation on Thursday. Following representations from Film Employees Federation of South India and a television show producers association seeking permission to resume shoot, Palaniswami allowed it with conditions. In urban areas, the shoot should be confined to indoors that fall under non-containment zones and no more than 20 people including actors and technicians may assemble with prior permission from local authorities, an official release here said. Permission should be obtained from Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation for shoots here and from district Collectors in rest of the State. Public places may be used for shoot only in rural regions and such locations also must be situated in non- containment zones. Visitors entry is banned and the indoor and other spaces used for shoot must be disinfected before and after the filming activity and the crew should frequently wash hands using soap or hand sanitisers, the release said. Similarly, vehicles and equipment used for filming purposes must be cleaned using disinfectants. Barring actors, all others must wear mask and follow social distancing. Actors should sport mask during breaks. If anyone has flu like symptoms including cough, they must be sent for medical test immediately. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Any business that cant provide a service thats been paid for is expected or even required by law to give the money back. But somehow the Canadian airline industry thinks such norms dont apply to them. Flights have been cancelled for months, putting an end to student trips, family holidays, destination weddings, business travel, and continue to be cancelled because of COVID-19. But all the money paid for those flights is not being returned. Instead, people are generally being offered a credit for future travel, whether or not those trips can ever be recreated. Air Canada alone is holding many millions of dollars one estimate puts it at more than $2 billion of their customers money. No wonder people are signing petitions and filing lawsuits demanding refunds. When asked about it on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it an important issue to Canadians. He said he knows people want their money back, but also that Canadians still want to have an airline industry when the crisis is over. We need to make sure were getting the balance right, Trudeau said. Heres a hint: its way out of balance now. Currently, everything is stacked in favour of the airlines. Theyre holding a fortune in cash for services they either already havent provided or cant provide in the coming weeks and months as government-mandated lockdowns and travel restrictions continue. Thats not a balance; thats consumers holding the bag. Clearly many Canadians want and, indeed, need their money back. If airlines want to keep some of the cash theyre holding they should at least be prepared to offer something in return, such as a price guarantee for a future booking. The federal government is looking at what other countries and jurisdictions are doing, said Trudeau. In that case, he should know that theyre doing better than we are. Thats not to say that Canadians are the only frustrated travellers; theyre certainly not. Plenty of Americans and Europeans are also struggling to get refunds for travel bookings cancelled because of the pandemic. But at least the overseeing authorities in the U.S. and the European Union have come down on the right side of things. Theyve stood up for passenger rights and called on airlines to provide refunds if thats what consumers want. Here we get the Canadian Transportation Agency, which stated at the outset of the pandemic that its an appropriate approach for airlines to issue credit vouchers rather than refunds. Its important to consider how to strike a fair and sensible balance between passenger protection and airlines operational realities in these extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances, the agency stated then. Theres nothing fair or sensible about how airlines are treating their customers. The pandemic is a financial catastrophe for the airline industry but that doesnt mean it has the right to treat travellers like a bank, providing interest-free loans. After a lot of understandable fury from consumers, the regulator later added that people who think theyre entitled to a refund and dont want to accept a voucher ... can ask the airline for a refund. Plenty of people are doing that and getting nowhere, so thats hardly helpful. And why should it be up to thousands of individuals to fight and re-fight this battle? Governments imposed the travel restrictions and lockdowns that led to the cancellations. The transportation agency regulates the airline industry. So its up to them to come up with a solution. Instead, they seem to have stayed out of the fray and let airlines do whatever they want. That has to change. When pressed on this matter during his daily media briefing, Trudeau refused to say whether he would take steps to force the industry to provide refunds. In fact, he wouldnt even acknowledge that what is happening is unfair. It clearly is and the government shouldnt continue to stand back and do nothing. The Ukrainian delegation to the TCG in Minsk has been "substantially strengthened". Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has spoken ahead of the Berlin talks on Donbas settlement, scheduled for June 2, while the Ukrainian delegation, in an updated composition, is set to take part in another meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk. "Ukraine won't be passive in the Minsk process. We will put forward initiatives, take steps that will help move things off the ground and walk the path of a peaceful settlement and de-occupation of Donbas," said Ukrainian Kuleba, according to Obozrevatel. "We have long agreed with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas that I will make this visit. I really hope that I won't be traveling by myself but with Head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak. The main topic we'll be discussing is a peaceful settlement in Donbas and countering Russian aggression," the minister said. Read alsoRussia must comply with Minsk Agreements, German Foreign Minister reminds Lavrov He added that the composition of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG had been "substantially strengthened". "We expect a similar step from the Russian delegation," Kuleba said. The question of Crimea will also be raised in Berlin, the top diplomat noted. "First of all, in the context of the Kremlin's political prisoners, Ukrainians who are being illegally held in the occupied Crimea. Most of them are Crimean Tatars," said the foreign minister. Earlier, chief of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, noted that to the next meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group, Ukraine will invite as "representatives of Donbas" a group of internally displaced persons from Luhansk and Donetsk now living in territories controlled by Ukraine government. Many glowing tributes have been paid this week to the late Paddy Murphy, the highly regarded Wexford native who was Longford County Council Secretary for over a decade and helped move the county forward in many ways. Mr Murphy, of Beech Grove, Mullingar, Co Westmeath and late of Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, died peacefully in the tender care of the staff at the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar last Friday, May 15. In addition to his role with Longford County Council, the deceased served as Chairperson of Mullingar Credit Union for 36 years. Paddy Murphys employment and appointment as County Secretary with Longford County Council commenced on May 5, 1985 and he served in this role until his retirement on July 2, 1997. He frequently served as Deputy County Manager during his employment tenure and had in excess of forty years exemplary public service at retirement. Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon paid tribute to Mr Murphy. Paddy was highly respected and made particularly valuable contributions that helped the Council move forward in many ways. He was active and influential in many Council projects and was always ready to provide advice and perspective. Paddy was held in the highest esteem and regard by all employees and Elected Members and we are saddened to hear of his passing. Mr Mahon concluded by extending the Councils sincere sympathy to Paddys family at this sad and difficult time. Expressing sympathy, Jack Kilgallen, wrote: I have the privilege of counting Paddy Murphy among some of my most distinguished former colleagues in Longford County Council. While Longford County Librarian Mary Carleton Reynolds said she had great memories of a true gentleman. In his working life, Paddy was a strong supporter of the value of culture and the arts in all of our lives. Paddy Murphy was also a former Chairperson of Mullingar Credit Union and their offices were closed for a time on Monday morning as a mark of respect. In a tribute, Mullingar CU said they will always be grateful for Paddys leadership and service. He was involved in the CU movement in his native Wexford before he came to live in Mullingar. He joined the Board of Directors of Mullingar Credit Union in 1971 and became Chairperson in 1977, a position he held for the next 36 years, until he stepped down in 2013. He retired from the Board in 2018. Paddy oversaw extraordinary changes and improvements in the facilities and services of Mullingar Credit Union, which late last year merged with Longford CU. He moved with the times and Paddy ensured that Mullingar CU was always a progressive organisation. He steered the Credit Union through the turbulent economic times of the 1980s, early 1990s and again during the severe economic downturn of 2008 and following years with a steady hand and a clear mind. Gerry Thompson President Irish League Credit Unions posted the following tribute on RIP.ie: Having known Paddy for many years through our Midlands Chapter organisation he was in many ways the ultimate credit union volunteer who gave selflessly for decades in terms of his considerable expertise and energy not just to Mullingar credit union but also to our movement at regional and National level. In keeping with current Government guidelines, a private family funeral Mass took place on Monday in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar and Mr Murphy was laid to rest at Forgney Cemetery. Sympathy is extended to his wife Eileen (nee Hughes, Cloncullen, Ballymahon), daughters Emer (Reilly) and Oonagh, son Paul, grandchildren Jack, Katie, Conor, Muireann and Niamh, his sister Kathleen (Moran), sons-in-law Niall and Thomas, daughter-in-law Jen, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, especially Jeffrey and David and their families, neighbours and many friends. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis. NIGERIA: A 17-year-old wife accused of killing her husband as he tried to have sex with her in Bauchi has said she had no idea sex is a marital obligation, so she thought her husband was trying to defile her. Salma Hassan, a resident of Itas-Gadau, was paraded at the Bauchi Police Command on Tuesday, May 19, for stabbing her husband to death 11 days after their wedding. She told journalists that when her husband approached her for sex that night, she thought what he was doing was wrong, so she objected. However, her husband beat her and tried to force himself on her. She said she then picked a knife to scare him but mistakenly stabbed him with it. She said: "We were married. We loved each other. I never knew that sex is a marital obligation. On that fateful night when he approached me for sex, I refused him because I have never been involved in it. I thought he wanted to defile me. "He later got angry and was trying to force himself on me with slaps and beating, then I picked up a knife to scare him away but he kept coming. I didnt know when I stabbed him with the knife in his chest. I have already given my statement. I'm in great suffering. I'm in great bitterness. I dont know what will happen to me now. But I wouldnt have done what I did if I knew better." According to a Police statement, a knife was recovered when they arrested Salma for culpable homicide at her home in Itas-Gadau. On the 24/04/2020 at about 0900hrs, one Haruna Musa m of Itas-Gadau reported at Itas-Gadau Division, that one Salma Hassan f stabbed her husband, one Mohammed Mustapha on the chest. As a result, he sustained serious injury and was rushed to General hospital ItasGadau for treatment where he was certified dead. The suspect was arrested and has confessed to the crime. Exhibit recovered from the suspect was one knife, the statement reads. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The prospect of a major Canadian city scrapping its transit system, even temporarily, would have seemed preposterous three months ago. That was pre-COVID-19. Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson at least floated the idea in an interview Wednesday, telling the CBC that, I just dont have revenue to pay for it in the budget right now. He said one option on the table involved parking buses and trains for the summer. Although Iveson, who declined an interview with the Star, has since clarified on Twitter that cuts to transit would be an absolute LAST resort, also underscored that the city is facing serious financial hardships and transit is currently bleeding millions each month. Since widespread social distancing measures began two months ago, news of closures and cancellations caused by COVID-19 have become numbingly commonplace. But with cities under increasing pressure as revenue tanks, advocates worry unravelling the transit networks that stitch cities together would burden those who can afford it the least. Its hard to see the extensive bailout packages given to airlines and the oil and gas industry, and not wonder why public transit isnt receiving the same attention and concern, Danika McConnell, an organizer with Free Transit Edmonton, said in a statement. People rely on transit to get where they need to go. It is a comment on the pressure cities face that Iveson is eyeing transit at all. A young, bike-riding politician first elected mayor of Albertas capital in 2013, he has championed urban density and action on climate change. Transportation planners say Edmonton is an emerging poster child for investing in transit. Then came coronavirus. Iveson and council have already been in talks to find anything really, anything to fill the multimillion dollar hole in the citys budget, and council has already laid off staff and cut back services. And Edmonton is hardly alone in worrying about transit. Many municipalities have stopped collecting fares touching cash is too risky for drivers and ridership has plummeted, meaning revenue is basically non-existent. In Vancouver, TransLink cut service, announced 1,500 layoffs and cut executive pay last month in an attempt to staunch losses, which they estimated to be about $2.5 million per day, though they have since made a deal with the province. At the end of March, transit ridership in Toronto, the countrys busiest system, was down about 70 per cent and the TTC estimated it was losing about $18 million in fares each week. Transit has never been in this situation, where theyve seen such a rapid decline in ridership and revenues, and the challenge is beyond Edmonton all of the transit agencies around the country are really being put in a tough position, said David Cooper, the principal at Leading Mobility, a Vancouver-based consulting firm that works with public transit agencies across Canada. When there are stories of significant service cuts, even things people see as a drastic measure, at the end of the day its not because anyone wants to do this, he said. Its because theyre in trouble. Transit is part of the reason that cities, under the umbrella of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, made a public ask for more money from the federal government to help them weather the storm. Unlike other levels of government, cities arent allowed to run deficits, but are still facing new costs and plummeting revenue as things like property taxes and user fees shrink. The organization estimates that Canadian cities are losing a combined $400 million a month from lost transit ridership alone. Adding to the current urgency is the fact that as the economy begins to reopen, many people will need transit to take them to work or to begin to access services for the first time in two months, Cooper said. While he said the pandemic will likely shake up travel patterns, demand for buses and trains isnt going away. Transit will have a very big role in supporting groups that have been really detrimentally affected by this pandemic and I think thats something that governments will need to take into consideration when theyre asking for operational funds, Cooper said. Edmonton City Councillor Andrew Knack said there will be riders who are worried about taking transit again, but even the first few days of businesses being open again have shown that many people are embracing at least a semi return to normal. Still, transit will be under the microscope. If we go back to the exact same way that weve addressed safety or the exact same way that weve handled cleanliness, and I focus on those because those are probably the most tangible for a lot of riders, then I think there is a worry that you actually see fewer people on a system like Edmonton, he said. But Knack says hes choosing to look at the current challenge as an opportunity to refocus on what riders want, and in that sense, more scrutiny on things like safety and cleanliness in the wake of COVID could be a good thing. I think this can be an opportunity If we look at it through the right lens, instead of being a threat to transit going forward. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: ZIMBABWE Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) executive director Roselyn Hanzi has petitioned police commissioner general Godwin Matanga to investigate the circumstances surrounding the leaking of pictures of a female MDC official, who was part of the three who were recently allegedly abducted and tortured. In the letter dated May 19, 2020 referenced Unlawful publication/circulation of sensitive and confidential photographs of Cecilia Chimbiri by a forensic police officer and notice of intention to sue in terms of the State Liabilities Act, Hanzi said the release of the photographs invaded her clients privacy. Chimbiri, who is the MDCs Youth Assembly vice chairperson, was allegedly abducted together with Harare West MP Joanna Mamombe and party youth deputy organising secretary, Netsai Marova, soon after staging a demonstration in Warren Park, Harare. Hanzi said on May 15, while the women were in hospital, a female police officer only identified as Chief Superintendent Philip, visited them in the company of a medical doctor. The police officer reportedly asked the women to remove their clothes and took pictures of their bodies. The women complied in the belief that the photographs were to be used for investigation purposes. However, on May 18, 2020, it was brought to our attention that our clients sensitive photographs captured by Philip, are now circulating on various social media platforms. This is not only deplorable, but unbecoming, Hanzi said. She said she had confirmed with her clients that the photographs which were taken by Philip were the same images which were circulating on social media. We are extremely disappointed and concerned at this gross breach of confidentiality and severe violation of the rights to dignity and privacy of our client as enshrined in Section 51 and Section 57 of the Constitution respectively. We are also instructed to remind you, as we hereby do, that Zimbabwe is a State party to several human rights instructions that enjoin the government to ensure everyone, including victims of crimes, are afforded equal protection of the law, have their right to privacy and right to dignity, she said. She added that the dissemination of the photographs was in direct violation of the 2012 guidelines on the Protocol on Multi-Sectoral Management of Sexual Abuse and Violence in Zimbabwe, which the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is a signatory to. It is clear from the malicious publication of our clients sensitive photographs that their privacy, honour and reputation have been attacked. Our client, Cecilia Chimbiri, is a woman in Zimbabwean politics and is well-known to the general public and this will impact negatively on her standing in society, she said. She demanded a full investigation to ascertain the circumstances under which the photographs were disseminated and to take appropriate action against Philip and all those who were involved. We further advise that we will not hesitate to invoke all constitutional and legal remedies available to our client, including suing all police officers, as well as the command structure involved in the violation of our clients rights. Further be advised that we will be taking legal action against all those responsible in their individual capacities for damages, she said. The 28th Annual Bow-Tie Bash organized by the Columbia River Corvettes recently announced the groups board members decided to cancel the bash scheduled for July 11. According to the board, because of the public health situation and safety for the clubs members, volunteers, participants and merchants, they feel it necessary to cancel the event. They thank their sponsors and encourage people to support past and current sponsors of the event. The 2020 Clamshell Railroad Days Festival the 2020 Toledo Bluegrass Fest also has been canceled. Organizers of the Clamshell Railroad Days Festival, originally scheduled for July 18 and 19 at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, note in a press release they feel because of the pandemic and social distancing guidelines, they cannot provide a safe environment for their event. They also note Clamshell Railroad Days is a beloved event in Ilwaco. They celebrate the anniversary of the first run of the Ilwaco Rail and Navigation Companys narrow gauge train from Ilwaco to Nacotta that took place in 1889. They also celebrate the creative efforts of the local and visiting model railroad organizations. They look forward to hosting the Peninsula Model Railroad Club their guests, including the Mount Rainier N-scale club, the Pacific Northwest ON30 Modular club, the Cascade Z Modelers club and Dean and Donna Meads Lego train in 2021, notes the release. The Washington Bluegrass Association has canceled the Toledo Mount St. Helens Bluegrass Festival originally scheduled for Aug. 7-9 at Kemp Olson Park in Toledo. Five bands were slated to take the stage at the outdoor venue, a temporary location during the construction to replace Toledo High School, where the festival has been held since its inception in 1985. It wasnt an easy decision (to cancel) because so many visitors form out of state, including the bands themselves, circle this one on their calendar, WBA board member Bruce Baskin is quoted in a press release. No one knows in May what conditions are going to be like in August, Baskin notes in the release, So were more or less forced to do this. For one thing, even though the virus itself appears to be tapering off, it mostly affects a lot of older people who make up a large part of our concert audience so we need to consider their safety. Plus, no one knows when these types of venues will be allowed to reopen oar at what level, Baskin noted. Organizers of the festival say they had contracts with bands from Kentucky, California, Idaho and Oregon whose members needed to confirm their schedules. Food vendors, serves, sound and lighting people and more are affected. You cant undo a three-day event instantly by snapping your fingers, Baskin noted. After canceling two concerts and this festival, WBA members are focusing on the 2020-2021 season at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Canadian Pastor David Lah (L) is brought to trial at the Mayangone Township Court in Myanmar's Yangon city, May 20, 2020. Authorities in Myanmar arrested a Canadian pastor Wednesday for holding a service in violation of a ban on mass gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak, after which dozens of people became infected. David Lah, a 43-year-old minister who was born in Myanmar, held a gathering for his congregation on April 7 in Yangons Mayangone township during which he told followers that their faith in Christianity would protect them from the virus, according to video of the event. Lah later tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, as did at least 80 of his congregants. Myanmar, which has so far confirmed 193 cases and six deaths, declared a ban on mass gatherings in mid-March. On Wednesday, after spending two weeks in quarantine at the City Hotel Yangon, Lah was brought before Mayangone Township Court Judge Moe Swe where he was charged along with three others under the Natural Disaster Management Law, which carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison. The Mayangone Township Police Station has charged U David Lah aka Saw David Lah, Moe Swe told members of the media after the hearing. We have requested the court remand David Lah during the required police investigation. Today, the court decided to place him in custody at Insein Prison from May 20 to June 3. Agence France-Presse quoted a police officer, who declined to be named, as saying Lahs arrest was delayed because he was recovering from the disease. The three other people charged in connection with organizing the April gatheringChristian priest Saw Kwe Wah, Saw Regeandy, and Wai Tunare all recuperating from infection and have yet to face the court. After at least 80 people were confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 from attending services held by Lah, authorities began testing anyone who had close contact with the pastor. Among those who tested negative was Vice President Henry Van Thio, who is a Christian and had attended a meeting with Lah. A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, which handles the countrys foreign affairs, trade and development portfolios, told RFA on Wednesday that the agency is aware of the arrest and detention of a Canadian citizen in Myanmar. Canadian officials are in contact with the affected individual and are providing consular services, the spokesperson said in a statement, adding that no further information could be disclosed due to the countrys Privacy Act. Christians make up around six percent of Buddhist-majority Myanmars population. Reported by Thant Zin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. A Queensland man who carjacked a mum-of-two while brandishing a long sword and axe has been sentenced to five years in jail. Joshua Shawn Fairbrother yelled at the woman to remove her children, aged five and two, from the parked car on March 6 last year in Chermside West, north of Brisbane. Joshua Shawn Fairbrother has been jailed over this 2019 attack in Chermside West. Credit:Queensland Police Service The 25-year-old stole the vehicle during a two-day drug-fuelled crime spree. Earlier, Fairbrother broke into a Sherwood home, using a kitchen knife to threaten a couple and their two grandchildren. Days after she said yes to his proposal, actor Rana Daggubati got officially engaged to longtime girlfriend Miheeka Bajaj in a private ceremony. The Baahubali star made the happy announcement on his social media handles, alongside sharing two stunning pictures of the couple from the engagement ceremony. In the pictures, the couple is all smile as they wave at their guests. Rana looks handsome in a white shirt and a colour-coordinated dhoti, while Miheeka stuns in a multi-coloured Kanchipuram saree. "And it's official!" Rana wrote. Tamil star Sivakarthikeyan and other actors from the South Indian film industry extended their warm wishes to Rana and Miheeka. "Congratulations and best wishes dear brother," tweeted Sivakarthikeyan. "Looking lovely together bro! A big congratulations!" Telugu film star Varun Tej wrote. Rana and Miheeka, an entrepreneur and founder of Dew Drop Design Studio in Hyderabad, have known each other for years. Rana had proposed to Miheeka last week. The actor had also shared a selfie of them together on his social media handles, and gushing, "And she said yes." On the work front, Rana's upcoming movie Kaadan with Vishnu Vishal has been delayed due to the pandemic. He also made his comeback on TV with the chat show series No.1 Yaari with Rana season 3. His immediate release will be forest-based thriller Haathi Mere Saathi, which will be released in Tamil and Telugu as Kaadan and Aaranya, respectively. Directed by Prabhu Solomon, Haathi Mere Saathi has Rana playing a character inspired by environmental activist Jadav Payeng, popularly called the Forest Man of India. 'Children need milk. If there is no money, how can one buy it' IMAGE: A migrant family lodged at a camp by the Uttar Pradesh government at Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo An infant crying of thirst or maybe hunger, an exhausted boy asleep over a strolley dragged by his mother, two sisters trying in vain to shield their little brother from the scorching sun with a flimsy 'gamcha'. As India's migrant crisis continues unstoppably and lakhs walk, hitchhike and scramble for buses and trains to go home, holding on to their few belongings and dependent on charity for food, children are the most vulnerable. Many children are just wilting. The hunger and the heat, the stress and the strain of the traumatic journey to their home states are taking a terrible toll, said their parents. Sitting in an open ground in Kundli, on the Delhi-Haryana border, waiting for a bus to take her to her village in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Neha Devi wondered how to protect her seven-month-old baby. As the sun beat down mercilessly and the hours passed by with the family no closer to boarding a bus, she tried to calm little Nancy, crying incessantly in the heat. Neha, just 22 herself, tried feeding her water from a steel glass, and Nancy tried to grab the glass and thirstily took some sips. But the crying didn't stop. The young mother tried to cover her with one end of her sari, but the sun was blazing down, the temperature was over 40 degrees Celsius and there was no shade. IMAGE: Migrants, travelling from New Delhi by a train, arrive at Danapur station in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo Nothing worked. "She is troubled by the heat," Neha said. Neha's husband Harishankar, who made a living selling golgappas' in a village near the Haryana town of Sonipat on Delhi border, has been out of work since the lockdown started on March 25. With their savings drying up, they had no option but to head back. Not far from them, two sisters and their brother huddled together. They had one thin towel, gamcha', between them. IMAGE: Migrants onboard a train leave for their native places in Bihar from Dehradun. Photograph: PTI Photo Sheetal is nine, Sakshi seven and Nitin three. The two sisters used the gamcha to cover their brother and themselves, but not very successfully. The family had been waiting for a bus for 10 hours. Their parents, Rajput Singh, 35, and Sunita looked on helplessly, worried about their children and how they will endure the difficult journey to their village in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district. The future of their children is a matter of concern but there was no choice but to go back, they said. Rajput Singh was a daily wager doing odd jobs in Akbarpur Barota village in Sonipat but with no work and no money to feed his family he has to head homewards. Both Sheetal and Sakshi study in a government school in Akbarpur Barota but due to the lockdown, they are going back home. IMAGE: Migrant families from various states arrive at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai to board a train to reach their native places. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo Asked what will happen to their studies, their mother Sunita said, "We will see. We will try coming back once the situation eases." If the first wave of migration of labourers in the early days of the lockdown was mostly about men returning to their homes, the second wave is about families making the long journey. Last week, a video showing a woman in Agra dragging a wheeled bag and her son over it as she walked to her home somewhere, was circulated widely, mirroring the struggles of lakhs of migrant families. Across the expanse of the national capital and its borders, hundreds of such families can be seen waiting or walking, many of them with children. The availability of food and milk is a constant source of concern. "Elders can have dal and rice, but what about kids," said Shivshankar Yadav (27), sitting in a little patch of shade under a metro pillar in Anand Vihar on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. IMAGE: Migrant workers wait in a queue while being lodged at a camp by the Uttar Pradesh government at Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo His wife Aarti (25) and two daughters, Anshi (3) and Priyanshi (2) were with him, the two toddlers showing signs of extreme fatigue. "Children need milk. If there is no money, how can one buy it," Yadav said. He worked at a garment factory in Noida and had not been paid since the lockdown began, So, the family packed their bags and somehow made it from Noida in the hope that they could take a bus or a train to Sultanpur. Their worries were echoed by Kuldeep Kumar and Ajay Kumar, both fathers in their 20s heading home with their wives and infants to Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. IMAGE: A migrant ties a handkerchief around his child's face before boarding a train to Delhi from Jammu railway station. Photograph: PTI Photo Both had lost their jobs at the Kundli Industrial Centre and boarded a bus from Sonipat to Uttar Pradesh only to be dropped to a shelter home a few kilometres away because they couldn't manage to get seats. The shelter home, they said, has barely any facilities. "We can sustain ourselves. But will our children make it, said Kuldeep, anxious about the well-being of his 10-month-old daughter. The shelter home, he said, has no milk and only brackish water. Ajay's son is seven months. And he is concerned too. Their anxiety that finds echo in distant corners of the country. Priyanka And Nick Jonas Niharika Katoch, who met Priyanka back in 2005-06, said she managed to get an autograph from the actress as she was about to leave after a press conference. "Okay, so this was ages ago in 2005-06. I was out with family for dinner and she was there in the same hotel for a press conference for Spice (she was the brand ambassador for them at that time). She was a rising star back then but still a huge deal. I remember I heard people shouting her name and that's when I got to know that Priyanka is here. I saw her leaving the hotel after maybe finishing her press conference. She was walking towards the exit and her bodyguards were accompanying her. She was looking beautiful in a blue saree and believe me she was as tall as her bodyguards. I was a kid back then in 5th or 6th standard and I got excited, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity of meeting her specially when the star is in your city. I arranged a pen and paper to get her autograph and rushed towards her." "Till the time I reached, she was about to sit in her car. I asked her for her autograph even though there was a huge crowd and she was just about to leave. She smiled and gave me her autograph and I thanked her. I found her really sweet and humble. I came back home and pasted that paper in my autograph diary. I'll see if I can find that diary I'll add a photograph to the answer. :)" Niharika added. Priyanka On A UNICEF Tour John Davis said that meeting Priyanka was a moment to remember. He called her grounded and friendly. "Well, I met her once during an awards ceremony in Mumbai. I was representing my company as a sponsor of the show and I got an opportunity to go backstage where she was chatting with a few people. Being an ardent fan, I went up to her and introduced myself. She, being her casual self, was very grounded and friendly. I told her how big a fan I was of her work and how I followed her progress closely. She thanked me graciously for the compliment and obliged for a selfie and an autograph." He revealed that Priyanka had to rush back to her vanity van to get ready for her performance, but, "it was a pleasure meeting her and I experienced her beauty and talent, both, at close quarters. A moment to remember, forever!" Priyanka With Fans At A Festival Anubhav Nigam was lucky enough to meet the actress twice but unfortunately could not take a picture with her at first. He said, "It was wonderful the first time when I saw her at Heathrow airport. I said hello and got her autograph. The people (I think bodyguards) were not allowing me to take a picture for some reason, but it was very nice. The second time I was able to take a photo, but I cannot find it. I was at one of her movie premieres and she was there to greet everyone." Priyanka With Fans On Quantico Set Stacy Amanda Singh considers herself lucky since she had the chance to interact with Priyanka more than once. Stacy revealed Priyanka even recognized her at one of the events, she wrote, "I have met Priyanka Chopra three times. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet and interact with her on multiple levels. The first time I met Priyanka, it was in August of 2013. Priyanka had come to New York City to promote her international album and her film. Planes. I heard she was going to be at Good Morning America studios and I knew this was my chance to meet her. So I went and I was a bit late so I thought she had left, but I saw a black car pulled up and I knew it was her. I froze." "Eventually I went up to her and she politely told me that after her interview, she promised to interact with me. So I waited. She could have easily gone through the back entrance of the studio to avoid me, but she kept her promise. She came out and walked right up to me. We posed for pictures and I gave her a card. She immediately recognised my Twitter name and said, "oh so you are StacySuperDuper!" I freaked out and asked her if she knew my name. And she said, "Of course I know you Stacy!" She hugged me like twice and held my hand the entire time. After our meeting, she tagged me on Twitter and Instagram showing her gratitude. I mean who does all that for fans? Only Priyanka." Priyanka's Upcoming Projects On the work front, last seen in the Bollywood film, The Sky Is Pink, Priyanka has several projects in her kitty. She will next be seen in two Netflix projects and her most awaited collaboration with Keanu Reeves in Matrix 4. She has also signed a film with Chris Pratt and will be working with Mindy Kailing on a project. Georgina Barajas Rios, center, grieves for her mother, Maria Ruiz Olmedo, 71, on the floor at left, who died after exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. Mexican Red Cross paramedic Sergio Garcia is at right. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The coronavirus is killing so many people in Tijuana that the morgue has run out of refrigerator space for bodies. As of Tuesday, the Mexican border city had confirmed 392 deaths. On the front lines of the pandemic in Tijuana is the Mexican Red Cross. Its 13 ambulances handle the majority of emergency calls for the city of 1.8 million people. Lately that has meant as many as 40 coronavirus calls a day. Paramedic Valeria de la Torre Beaven attends to an emergency call where a patient is struggling to breathe. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Paramedic Sergio Garcia prepares an oxygen mask for a patient exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) On a Wednesday afternoon in April, paramedic Sergio Garcia pulled his emergency vehicle a red-and-white hatchback onto a dirt road in the neighborhood of Poblado Ejido Matamoros and stopped in front of a small wooden house. In the passenger seat was Dr. Alan Muro, an emergency physician at one of the city's main public hospitals and a paramedic. The men were there to assess a patient and determine whether to call an ambulance. Muro decided to go inside first. He put on gloves, an N95 mask and face visor. Federico Perez Ramirez and Valeria de la Torre Beaven work quickly to stabilize a patient who was shot in the back of the head. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tijuana was coping with a high homicide rate. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The family directed him to a small room at the end of a hallway, where 41-year-old Eduardo Molina was in bed wearing a face mask. The school bus driver had been sick for days and his symptoms a cough and trouble breathing were worsening. Muro concluded that Molina had been infected with the coronavirus and told the family there was no choice but to get him to a hospital. Garcia came inside and connected him to an oxygen tank. As they all waited for an ambulance, Molina's wife, Mary Londe Hernandez, kneeled and through tears read aloud from a small Bible. Mary Londe Hernandez, center, kneels on the floor and prays as paramedics prepare to take her husband, Eduardo Molina, 41, who has symptoms related to COVID-19, to a hospital. Molina gasped for air and said, "Don't let me go alone, don't let me go alone." (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) When the ambulance arrived, two paramedics in white protective suits went inside for Molina. Coughing and taking short breaths, he struggled as he made his way to the gurney. "Don't let me go alone, don't let me go alone," he said. Outside, Muro and Garcia removed their gloves and disinfected their hands and boots before climbing back into their car. There were more calls to answer. Paramedic Michael Zavala, 22, center, gets help from a patient's family in loading him onto a stretcher. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Sergio Garcia swings the ambulance door wide open as paramedics help transport patient Eduardo Molina. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Sergio Garcia, left, and Dr. Alan Muro wait outside a patient's home after they called for an ambulance. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Paramedics in protective suits with a COVID-19 patient. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Red Cross paramedics often work 24-hour shifts. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Ulises Rodriguez, left, supervises a decontamination and the removal of personal protective equipment after paramedics completed an emergency call. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Israel Castro plays with Kakas, a cat that lives on the Red Cross base in Tijuana. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) A couple embrace outside the waiting area of the Red Cross clinic. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Paramedics Michael Zavala, 22, left, and Ivan Mora, 33, administer care to a patient with COVID-19 symptoms. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Federico Perez Ramirez takes a break with fellow paramedics. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Gustavo Garduno always disinfects equipment used to transport patients with COVID-19 symptoms. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Dr. Francisco Tenorio, left, gives paramedics an update about a patient. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Michael Zavala, 22, a paramedic, searches a home after receiving a call about a body. No body was found. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Click here to see more photos: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/gallery/red-cross-paramedics-in-tijuana Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2020) - SKRR Exploration Inc. (TSXV: SKRR) ("SKRR" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has executed an option agreement dated May 20, 2020 (the "Agreement") with Taiga Gold Corp. (CSE: TGC) ("Taiga") whereby SKRR may earn up to a 75% interest in the Leland gold property (the "Leland Property") located 100 km east of La Ronge, northern Saskatchewan. Property highlights include numerous high-grade gold occurrences including up to 60 g/t (1.75 oz/T) gold associated with structurally-hosted quartz veins. Details of the Agreement and the Property are outlined below. In 2019 Taiga completed a three-phase geological and geophysical program at the Leland Property. Highlights from the program include: Gold mineralization grading up to 5.4 g/t Au over 0.65 m within 2.1 g/t Au over 3.22 m (channel sample) from the Irving trench along the Simon-Irving Trend. Discovery of 5 new gold-mineralized occurrences along the Simon-Irving trend grading between 113 ppb Au and 3.5g/t Au. Soil geochemical results proximal to the Leland Property showing (SMDI-2390) support samples collected in 2015 and delineate a new zone of anomalous soils to the west of the Leland Property showing and northeast of the Simon Showing (SMDI-2388) that are targets for future follow up work. Recent staking by Taiga included claims overlying the Duck Lake Occurrence (SMDI 1731) covers two quartz stockwork zones within a shear with the Main Zone traced on surface for 180m. Limited historical grab sampling returned values up to 3.2 g/t Au. Planning is currently underway for the 2020 field season. The above results were taken directly from the SMDI descriptions. Management cautions that historical results were collected and reported by past operators and have not been verified nor confirmed by a Qualified Person, but form a basis for ongoing work in the Leland Property area. Further work is required by SKRR in order to verify the historical work on the Leland Property. Leland Project History The Leland Property hosts several zones of orogenic gold mineralization with good exploration potential. Historic work in the western part of the Leland Property has identified numerous gold-bearing quartz veins with notable grades including the Leland Lake South Zone, which hosts grab samples ranging from trace values to up to 32.8 g/t Au and 8.6 g/t Au; and the Simon/Irving Lake Zone, which returned up to 60 g/t Au and 53 g/t Au from within a 2km x 600m shear zone centered along an open-ended contact between mafic volcanic and intrusive rocks. Near the new eastern limit of the property, known vein-hosted mineralization at the Sun Zone returned values ranging from trace quantities to up to 8 g/t Au. Gold-bearing shear zones at this location are proximal to mafic volcanic and intrusive rock units that also contain VMS-style base metal mineralization. None of the showing areas have been drill-tested but trenching indicates they contain structurally-controlled mineralization and are open along strike. The presence of amphibolite-grade meta-volcanic and associated meta-intrusive rocks hosting well-defined shear zones are considered positive indicators for the presence of orogenic gold deposits. The mineralization, host rocks and structural framework are similar to gold deposits in the region such as the nearby Seabee Gold Operation. Additionally, this prospective geology is considered to be underexplored for 30 km of strike length within the current Leland Property boundaries. SKRR cautions that past results or discoveries on proximate lands are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Leland Property. Leland Option Agreement Details Under the Agreement, SKRR may earn-in up to a 51% interest in the Property by making certain staged cash payments, share payments of common shares in the capital of SKRR ("Shares") to Taiga and exploration expenditures over a period as follows: (i) $30,000 in cash and 250,000 Shares upon final TSX Venture Exchange approval of the Agreement; (ii) $100,000 in exploration expenditures, $25,000 in cash, 250,000 Shares on or before December 31st, 2020; (iii), $600,000 in exploration expenditures (totalling $700,000) $165,000 in cash and 250,000 Shares on or before December 31, 2021; and (iv) $800,000 in exploration expenditures (totalling $1,500,000), $280,000 in cash (totalling $500,000 in cash) and 250,000 Shares (totalling 1,000,000 Shares) on or before December 31, 2022. Taiga will be the operator of the Property until SKRR has earned a 51% interest. SKRR may earn-in up to an additional 24% (75% total) interest in the Property by making additional exploration expenditures of $1,500,000 on the Property and issuing 500,000 Shares to Taiga on or before December 31, 2023. Upon SKRR earning an initial 51% interest in the Property, pursuant to the Agreement, SKRR and Taiga will use commercially reasonable efforts to negotiate and execute within thirty days a joint venture agreement for the purpose of jointly carrying out exploration, evaluation and development (if applicable) of the Property. The Property will be subject to a 2.0% NSR Royalty to Taiga with SKRR's option to repurchase 1.0% NSR Royalty for CAD$1.0 million, leaving Taiga with a 1% NSR Royalty. The Agreement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Advisory Board Appointment Sherman Dahl, President and CEO of SKRR is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Michael Halvorson to the SKRR Advisory Board. Mr. Dahl stated, "Both Ross McElroy (SKRR Chairman) and myself have been working with Mike for many years and are very pleased he is joining our team as an advisor. Mike told us both years ago to build up a network of people because you will need them for advice, so we are following his wise words." Mr. Halvorson is well known for a being a specialist in junior gold companies, and being "early in the cycle". Being an early investor in SKRR and recognizing the potential of the Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan is why SKRR is pleased to welcome Mike as SKRR builds its gold portfolio and works towards a discovery. Michael Halvorson Mr. Halvorson has extensive experience as a board member for natural resource companies. Notable past directorships in the mineral exploration and mining sector include Viceroy Exploration Ltd., Western Silver Inc., Novagold Resources Inc., Pediment Gold Corporation, Esperanza Resources Corp., Fission Energy Corp. and Strathmore Minerals Corporation. In addition, in the oil and gas business, he served on the boards of Gentry Resources Ltd. and Novus Energy Inc. Mr. Halvorson is currently Director and Chairman of the Board of Orezone Gold Corporation. Qualified Person The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ross McElroy P.Geol, a director of the Company and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. About SKRR Exploration Inc.: SKRR is a Canadian-based precious metal explorer with properties in Saskatchewan - one of the world's highest ranked mining jurisdictions. The primary exploration focus is on the Trans-Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan in search of world class precious metal deposits. The Trans-Hudson Orogen - although extremely well known in geological terms has been significantly under-explored in Saskatchewan. SKRR is committed to all stakeholders including shareholders, all its partners and the environment in which it operates. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Sherman Dahl President & CEO Tel: 250-558-8340 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information or statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements that address the TSX Venture Exchange approval of the option agreement, conduct exploration work on the Leland Project, other statements relating to the technical, financial and business prospects of the Company, its projects and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including the price of metals, the ability to achieve its goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, adverse weather conditions, failure to maintain all necessary government permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to maintain community acceptance (including First Nations), increase in costs, litigation, and failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, except as required by law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/56257 The government on Wednesday fixed the annual rate of return for Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY), a social security scheme for senior citizens, at 7.4 percent for 2020-21, down from 8 percent in the previous fiscal, as it extended the scheme by three years New Delhi: The government on Wednesday fixed the annual rate of return for Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY), a social security scheme for senior citizens, at 7.4 percent for 2020-21, down from 8 percent in the previous fiscal, as it extended the scheme by three years. The Union Cabinet extended the PMVVY up to 31 March, 2023 for a further period of three years beyond 31 March, 2020 and also allowed "initially an assured rate of return of 7.40 percent per annum for the year 2020-21 per annum and thereafter to be reset every year", an official release said. In Union Budget 2018-19, the government had extend the scheme up to March 2020 with an assured return of 8 percent, and also doubled the investment limit per senior citizen to Rs 15 lakh. The release further said the Cabinet also approved an annual reset of the assured rate of interest with effect from 1 April of the financial year, in line with the revised rate of returns of Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (SCSS) up to a ceiling of 7.75 percent, with a fresh appraisal of the scheme on breach of this threshold at any point. The income security scheme for senior citizens is implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). It intends to give an assured minimum pension to senior citizens (60 years and above) based on an assured return on the purchase price/subscription amount. As per the release, the government's financial liability is limited to the extent of the difference between the market return generated by LIC and the guaranteed return of 7.4 percent per annum initially for the year 2020-21, and thereafter to be reset every year in line with SCSS. The expenses on managing the scheme are capped at 0.5 percent of assets under management per annum for the first year of the scheme, and 0.3 percent per annum second year onwards for the next nine years. "As such the expected financial liability will range from an estimated expenditure of Rs 829 crore in the financial year 2023-24 to Rs 264 crore in last FY 2032-33," the release said. The average expected financial liability for subsidy reimbursement, calculated for annuity payment on an actual basis, is expected to be Rs 614 crore per year for the currency of the scheme, it added. The actual interest-gap (subsidy) would however depend upon the actual experience in terms of the number of new policies issued, the quantum of investment made by subscribers, actual returns generated and the basis of an annuity payment, the release said. The scheme was announced in Union Budget of 2017-18 and 2018-19. Pension is payable at the end of each period during the policy term of 10 years, as per monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly frequency, as chosen by the pensioner at the time of purchase. In a major move, the US Senate has given its approval to a legislation that may block some of the Chinese firms from getting listed on American stock exchanges. Opening of lockdown in Europe and the US is bringing cheer to apparel manufacturers in India as supply orders revive. Airlines have received permissions to resume domestic flight operations from May 25 in a calibrated manner in India after two months of lockdown. Read for more top stories from the world of business and economy: 1. Cyclone Amphan: Rs 10,000 crore West Bengal general insurance market stares at heavy losses In the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, the biggest hit to insurance companies would come from property or the industrial all-risk policies; the next biggest hit would be from motor and crop policies 2. Senate passes bill to delist nearly 800 Chinese firms from US stock exchanges The bill, introduced by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, seeks to delist companies not abiding by the US accounting laws 3. Hope for apparel exporters as US, Europe buyers place orders; shortage of workers continue Even as Home Ministry has relaxed lockdown rules and allowed states to decide on inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, many state governments have taken a cautious approach and are reluctant in permitting free flow of transport 4. Airlines allowed to resume flights with riders; here's all you need to know Airlines are allowed to resume about a third of their operations from Monday, with additional rules like no meals onboard, temperature checks for all passengers and full protective gear for the crew 5. Ramp-up operations, increase investment, Sitharaman tells India Inc Industry leaders flag issues such as low demand and need for policy reforms in sectors such as aviation, automotive and tourism, which have been badly hit due to the coronavirus pandemic [May 21, 2020] Reputation.com Pioneers Three New Breakthrough Products to Dramatically Improve Customer Sentiment and Drive Increased Revenue Growth REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reputation.com , provider of the first -- and only -- complete Reputation Experience Management (RXM) platform, today announced three new innovative products: Reputation Score X, a next-generation tool that combines at-a-glance performance metrics with prescriptive analytics; Feedback Anywhere, an open platform integration layer that allows users to consolidate customer feedback from disparate data sources into one dashboard; and Conversational Surveys, an SMS-based survey tool that allows customers to provide in-the-moment feedback via personal mobile devices. Through these innovations, Reputation.com bridges the gap between two traditionally siloed categories: Customer Experience (CX) and Online Reputation Management (ORM), to bring together and lead Reputation Experience Management (RXM) across the entire customer journey. Tweet this: [email protected]_com announces new innovations bridging the #CX #ORM gap to an exciting destination: introducing Reputation Experience Management #RXM: https://bit.ly/3bLp6M5 #ReputationMatters #Transform20 Based on feedback from leading enterprise brands and the customer experiences they strive to deliver, Reputation.com introduced three new products with the Future of Work in mind. Reputation Score X is the innovative evolution of Reputation Score, a benchmark metric that consolidates all feedback data to provide individual company results set against an industry score. By adding integrated data analytics to an already robust tool, users can closely manage every touchpoint across the customer journey, and act on prescriptive recommendations faster to drive customer retention and revenue growth. With Feedback Anywere, users can now benefit from an open API layer that allows external data source uploads, such as survey results, directly into the platform to create one comprehensive and actionable view of customer feedback. Finally, with the new Conversational Surveys tool, companies can survey their customers through a conversational user interface, SMS text message, and create quick and easy touchpoints to help extend their reputations reach. "Our customer experience team is thrilled to be using Reputation Score X: it provides our employees with actionable insights based on the conversations they are having with our customers," said Marc Cannon, Chief Customer Experience Officer, AutoNation. "Reputation Score X is the only true benchmark of what the customer is really thinking, and helps our employees consistently provide a better brand experience." Improve Every Customer Interaction with Reputation Score X The next-generation of Reputation Score, Reputation Score X, is an industry first and offers a singular metric that measures every touchpoint across the customer journey and provides prescriptive recommendations into areas of improvement. Reputation Score X positions a businesss score against the average industry score, so that users can see how they fare against the competition. With prescriptive recommendations, users can immediately improve every customer interaction, set and complete goals, and take steps to increase their score. Feedback Anywhere - Open Integration Platform Improves Workflow Efficiencies The Reputation.com platform leads with an intuitive user experience to deliver customer data in one powerful yet easy-to-access dashboard. With the addition of an open-access platform, Feedback Anywhere users can manage multiple data streams from all feedback channels, regardless of whether the data is structured or unstructured, to create a holistic view of the customer journey. Feedback Anywhere users can now leverage Reputation.coms best-in-class analytics engine and apply it to all feedback channels, regardless of their point of origin, to create a consolidated yet in-depth view of data and customer responses. Some of the biggest brands in the world already use Reputation Score X and Feedback Anywhere to be where their customers are, said Reputation.com CEO, Joe Fuca. From social media to reviews to surveys, we make it easy to understand and respond to customer feedback. Fill the Customer Feedback Gap with Conversational Surveys Conversational Surveys are conducted via SMS text message to help organizations reach more people, fill the gaps in survey feedback, and generate more customer reviews. With SMS message open rates of 82% , Conversational Surveys produce higher completion rates than their web-based counterparts because they facilitate a more natural interaction between a brand and its customers. Meeting customers where they are - on their smartphone - and soliciting in-the-moment feedback is an effective way to quickly close the survey loop. About Reputation.com Reputation.com pioneered the online reputation management (ORM) category and now extends its leadership position to include its award-winning Reputation Experience Management (RXM) platform that consistently delivers innovative, customer-driven solutions. The SaaS-based platform manages tens of millions of reviews and interactions across hundreds of thousands of customer touchpoints. The patented algorithms behind Reputation Score X are based on more than a decade of deep machine learning and data science expertise, providing businesses with a reliable index of brand performance that they can use to make targeted improvements. Reputation.com has over 250 integration partners, including Google, Facebook, Salesforce, J.D. Power, Amazon and Web.com, and helps businesses of all sizes across industries Get Found, Get Chosen and Get Better. To learn more, visit www.reputation.com . Media Contacts: Shelby Valdez 202.549.7234 [email protected] Brigit Valencia BOCA Communications 360.609.3775 [email protected] A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4b290a6c-00d3-4406-a674-c3cb20e056b6 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) says it has arrested four persons posing as officers of the service. The four namely; AB1 Arhen Ebenezer, Mustapha Maurris, Oscar Eshun and Stephen Zubbuy Matsi were arrested between Tuesday, May 5 and Tuesday, May 12, 2020. A statement issued and signed on behalf of the Director of Public Relations by R Omane-Agyei, Squadron Leader and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the first suspect, AB1 Arhen Ebenezer was arrested on Tuesday, May 5, by personnel from the Southern Command Headquarters of the GAF during a patrol at Katamanso in the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality. It said the suspect who was dressed in camouflage shorts and an olive-green vest, claimed to be at the Naval Base, Tema but further checks with the Eastern Naval Command for identification proved false. "He was subsequently handed over to the Tema Regional Police Command for further investigations." It said further interrogation of AB1 Arhen Ebenezer led to the arrest of one Mustapha Maurris, another imposter who also posed as a soldier at Kpone. Oscar Eshun, the third imposter, was arrested by the Naval Intelligence (NI) Operatives of the Western Naval Command (WNC) at Inchaban, a suburb of Sekondi-Takoradi, on Friday, May 8, for posing as military personnel. The statement said a search of his residence at Essikado revealed a toy pistol, two Navy vests, two combat boots, a belt, a Navy trousers and tracksuit, adding that the suspect was handed over to the Inchaban Police Command for further investigation and possible prosecution. The fourth suspect, Stephen Zubbuy Matsi, 32-year old, was also arrested by Operatives from Defence Intelligence (GHQ DI) on Tuesday, May 12, at Pokuase ACP for posing as a soldier from the First Infantry Battalion (1 Bn), Tema for possessing a Ghana Armed Forces laminated Military Identity Card bearing the identity of a relative who is a serving Airman. "Upon his arrest, the suspect confirmed that, he was not a soldier but had a picture of himself in a military camouflage and an air blue uniform (of the Ghana Air Force) saved on his mobile phone. He also had a picture of the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) and some military personnel on his phone." The statement said further checks revealed that the suspect introduced himself to his girlfriend as a soldier in 2016 and subsequently visited her on two occasions in military uniform at Akatsi in the Volta Region. "A search of his residence at Canada, a suburb of Ablekuma by the Operatives retrieved a military camouflage trousers, a military pouch, a camouflage cap, two camouflage inner vests and a camouflage hip pouch. "The suspect has been handed over to the Ghana Military Police for further action," it added. The statement urged the public who may had fallen victim to the activities of the suspects to contact the above-mentioned police stations to assist in investigations. It further entreated the public to report any person(s) found in such suspicious characters to the nearest Police and Military Installation for investigations. "GAF once again wishes to remind the public of the restriction on use of military uniforms and equipment under the National Liberation Council (NLC) Decree 177(1967)," it added. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video According to the Department of Labor, another 3 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits last week bringing the country's number of unemployment individuals up to 36 million. The first round of stimulus checks have already been deployed. With $10 million more payments to go, more are waiting for a second round of stimulus checks. The US Treasury has announced that they will no longer be issuing checks and instead, recipients will be receiving an Economic Impact Payment debit card. These benefits are helping millions of Americans power through these tough times, but let us not forget that there are approximately 10-12 million undocumented workers in the US. So, what happens to them? State of California provides a disaster relief fund Undocumented immigrants do not qualify for the federal assistance provided by the government. Last May 18, the State of California offered a new relief program, the first of its kind that supports undocumented workers. The state will provide $75 million and private groups are expected to raise another $50 million to bring up a total of $125 million disaster relief fund called the Disaster Relief Fund for California Workers. Governor Newsom said in an interview last month that undocumented workers should know that California will support everyone, including them, during this pandemic. This one time relief fund will provide $500 for each individual applicant and $1000 for each family. It is expected to benefit around 150,000 people and is on a first come first serve basis. Applicants should be over 18 and must prove job loss or that they have experienced financial difficulties due to COVID-19. On May 8th, the first day of its implementation, the state's website crashed and is still inaccessible until now. Hotlines were overwhelmed with more than one million calls received. Almost 668 residents were able to receive relief aid on the first day. The NDLON or the National Day Laborer Organizing Network has called this program by Governor Newsom as an important step to close the widening gap between immigrants and that this assistance program could mean the difference between life and death for undocumented workers in California. Newsom has emphasized that the undocumented workforce play an important role in the keeping the state afloat. These workers work mostly in the agriculture and food industry, construction, manufacturing and even healthcare making up 10% of the state's workforce. Check these out! One time relief is not enough Although immigrant advocacy groups have praised Governor Newsom for his efforts, they have stressed that a one-time payment might not be enough to help everyone. Applications for the relief fund will be accepted until June 30 but funds are expected to run out much earlier. There are around two million undocumented workers in California alone and the relief fund will only reach very few individuals and families. There is no confirmation yet if the state will provide a second batch of relief aid for undocumented workers. The state of California has been rolling out benefit programs for undocumented workers since last year. In 2019, the state provided health benefits to low income earners working in the country illegally. Amphan: Cyclone wreaks deadly havoc in India and Bangladesh May 21,2020 | Source: BBC News Cyclone Amphan has made landfall in eastern India and Bangladesh, killing at least 15 people as it lashed coastal areas with ferocious wind and rain. Trees were uprooted and homes toppled in both countries, including in the Indian city of Kolkata in West Bengal. Nearly three million people were evacuated - most of them in Bangladesh - before the severe storm hit. Coronavirus restrictions have been hampering emergency and relief efforts. Covid-19 and social-distancing measures have made mass evacuations more difficult for authorities, with shelters unable to be used to full capacity. The storm is the first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. Though its winds have now weakened, it is still classified as a very severe cyclone. "Our estimate is that some areas 10-15km from the coast could be inundated," said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the head of India's meteorological department. Amphan began hitting the Sundarbans, a mangrove area around the India-Bangladesh border home to four million people on Wednesday afternoon, before carving north and north-eastwards towards Kolkata, a historic city that was the capital of the British Raj. It was moving with winds gusting up to 185km/h (115mph). Amphan is expected to move further into Bangladesh on Thursday, and later Bhutan. Meteorologists warn there could be up to 300mm more rainfall to come, which could increase the risk of flooding and deadly mudslides. Satya Narayan Pradhan, director general of India's National Disaster Response Force, told the BBC the impact had been "fairly devastating", especially in poor areas. Although it had been hard to keep people apart during evacuations, social distancing is being enforced at cyclone shelters, along with hygiene protocols, he said. A Bangladesh Red Crescent volunteer helping villagers to evacuate became the first fatality after the boat he was in capsized in strong winds, the organisation said. Bangladesh has reported four other deaths. In India, media reported 10 fatalities, including a child in the state of Orissa (also known as Odisha), who was killed after the mud wall of his family's home collapsed. In the Sundarbans, also a rich habitat for Bengal tigers, houses "look like they have been run over by a bulldozer", a villager called Babul Mondal told the FP news agency. India and Bangladesh are using schools and other buildings as temporary shelters - but they need more space than usual in order to house people while maintaining social distancing. Police in West Bengal, which along with Orissa is expected to be the worst-hit part of India, told the BBC that people were unwilling to go to the shelters because they were afraid of contracting Covid-19. Officials in Bangladesh fear it will be the most powerful storm since Cyclone Sidr killed about 3,500 people in 2007. Most died as a result of sea water surging in. India's weather department had predicted storm surges as high as 10-16 feet (3-5 metres). The rising of sea levels in this way can send deadly walls of water barrelling far inland, devastating communities. The cyclone comes as tens of thousands of migrant workers continue to flee cities for their villages during India's lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. West Bengal and Orissa are among the Indian states seeing large numbers return. Orissa cancelled trains and some district officials asked the state government to accommodate the migrants - many of whom are walking home - elsewhere until the storm passes. Although they are not in the direct path of the storm, there are fears for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar and live in crowded camps in Bangladesh where cases of coronavirus have recently been reported. Officials said they had moved hundreds of Rohingya living on an island in the Bay of Bengal into shelters. The UN and human rights groups are also gravely worried for Rohingya refugees who they believe could be on boats in the Bay of Bengal, and possibly in the storm's path, after trying to flee to Malaysia and Thailand but being blocked by authorities in those countries from landing. BBC Theme(s): Others. A British teacher has been arrested in Cambodia after allegedly sexually assaulting two teenage girls. Matthew William Watkin, 37, from Shrewsbury, had been teaching English to children in Siem Reap province for several months before he was detained yesterday. The mother of the two girls, aged 13 and 17, complained to the police on Monday that the Brit had abused her daughters. She said that the children were relatives of Mr Watkin's wife and they were staying the night at his property. Mr Watkin allegedly told the police that he kissed the two girls goodnight and his stubble rubbed against their faces. He denied sexually assaulting them. Matthew William Watkin, 37, from Shrewsbury, had been teaching English to children in Siem Reap province for several months before he was detained yesterday for alleged abuse Officers from Cambodia's Bureau of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection have now charged Mr Watkin with sexually assaulting the girls. They have remanded Mr Watkin in custody for him to be 'sent to court for further proceedings'. The department director, Colonel Chea Heng, said: 'Matthew William Watkin, 37, with a British passport, was accused on May 18 by a mother of sexually abusing her two daughters, aged 13 and 17. 'After receiving the complaint, the case was reported to the prosecutor for a preliminary investigation. On May 20, 2020, we summoned Mr Watkin for questioning. 'He said the children were staying with him and his wife. He said that just prior to sleep he kissed their forehead and his facial hair rubbed on their faces. He said there was no sex.' Colonel Chea Heng said that after questioning Mr Watkin, the case was reported to Mr. Kert Vannareth, prosecutor of the Siem Reap Provincial Court. The Brit was then formally arrested on May 20, 2020 at 11:55 pm. The police chief added: 'The suspect is currently detained and is being sent to court for further proceedings.' An FCO spokesperson said: 'We are in touch with the local authorities following the arrest of a British national in Siem Reap, and stand ready to provide consular support.' FP Trending Astronomers at the W M Keck Observatory in Hawaii have captured the first-ever images a pair of giant planets being born around their parent star PDS 70. They achieve the feat using a novel infrared pyramid wavefront sensor, which offers adaptive optics (AO) correction in astrophysics detectors. The team of researchers published their findings in The Astronomical Journal. PDS 70 is a star located roughly 370 light-years from us, in the constellation of Centaurus. The star, which is technically classified as a K7-type pre-main sequence star, is a young star at 5.4 million years old, and also goes by 'V* V1032 Cen' and 'IRAS 14050-4109'. A report in Phys.org notes that PDS 70 is the first known multi-planetary system in which astronomers have witnessed planet formation in action. The first direct image of PDS 70b (one of the newborn planets orbiting PDS 70), was taken in 2018, the report adds. It was followed by images of the second planet PDS 70c in 2019. There was some confusion when the two protoplanets were first photographed, lead author of the study, Dr Jason Wang, told TechExplorist. "Planet embryos form from a disk of dust and gas surrounding a newborn star. This circumstellar material accretes onto the protoplanet, creating a kind of smokescreen that makes it difficult to differentiate the dusty, gaseous disk from the developing planet in an image, he added. For further clarification, the researchers developed a method to disentangle the image signals from the circumstellar disk and the protoplanets. Subsequently, they were able to take pictures of the baby planets and confirm their existence. The researchers knew the disks shape should be an asymmetrical ring around the star whereas a planet should be a single point in the image, Wang said. "So even if a planet appears to sit on top of the disk, which is the case with PDS 70c, based on our knowledge of how the disk looks throughout the whole image, we can infer how bright the disk should be at the location of the protoplanet and remove the disk signal. All thats leftover is the planets emission, he explained. Police in Vietnams capital Hanoi arrested a dissident writer and blogger on Thursday on charges of producing and distributing information opposing the government amid a deepening crackdown on freedom of expression in the one-party communist state. Pham Chi Thanh, also called Pham Thanh, was taken into custody at 8:00 a.m. by a large group of police who burst through the door of his home, his wife Nguyen Thi Nghiem told RFAs Vietnamese Service by phone. While my son was opening the door, many police came into the house, and I heard the noise and came downstairs, Nguyen said. They asked me where my husband was, and I said he was on the fifth floor watering [bonsai] trees. Then they brought my husband downstairs, and the police said they had warrants to arrest him and to search the house. After the police read out their warrants, they seized two computers, a printer, and some documents, arrested Pham, and left the house at 10:00 a.m., Nguyen said, adding that she was so weakened and overwhelmed by anxiety during the arrest that she couldnt hear clearly what Pham had been charged with. Writing later on his Facebook page, another dissident writer said however that Pham had been arrested under Article 117 of Vietnams penal code for producing, storing, and disseminating information and documents against the Vietnamese state. RFA has not been able yet to independently confirm the charge. Critical books, essays Born in 1952, Pham Thanh has written a number of books and essays critical of Vietnams communist government and leaders, including a book self-published in 2019 harshly criticizing Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Dissent is not tolerated in Vietnam, and authorities routinely use a set of vague provisions in the penal code to detain dozens of writers, bloggers, and activists calling for greater freedoms in the one-party communist state. Estimates of the number of prisoners of conscience now held in Vietnams jails vary widely. New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that authorities held 138 political prisoners as of October 2019, while Defend the Defenders has suggested that at least 240 are in detention, with 36 convicted last year alone. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Huy Le. Written in English by Richard Finney. FILE PHOTO: The Apple logo is shown atop an Apple store at a shopping mall in La Jolla, California DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), Apple's main regulator in the European Union, on Thursday said it was in contact with the company after a whistleblower called for action over a programme that listens to users' recordings. The regulator acted after Thomas Le Bonniec, a former Apple contractor, wrote to European data protection regulators on May 20 to push for investigations into these practices. "The DPC engaged with Apple on this issue when it first arose last summer and Apple has since made some changes," Graham Doyle, Deputy Commissioner at the Irish DPC, said in an emailed statement to Reuters. "However, we have followed up again with Apple following the release of this public statement and await responses," he said, in reference to the letter. "In addition, it should be noted that the European Data Protection Board is working on the production of guidance in the area of voice assistant technologies." Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Apple said last year it would quit its default practice of retaining audio recordings of the requests users make to its Siri personal assistant and limit human review of what audio it does collect to its own employees rather than contractors. Le Bonniec's letter, seen by Reuters, which was published on Thursday, said in reference to EU data protection laws: "Passing a law is not good enough: it needs to be enforced upon privacy offenders." Le Bonniec worked as a subcontractor for Apple in its Irish offices, he said in the letter. (Reporting by Graham Fahy, additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels. Editing by Jane Merriman) CHICAGO, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Steep volume and revenue declines hit U.S. hospitals hard in April, driving Operating Margins down 282% compared to the same period last year and 326% below budget, according to a new Kaufman Hall report. The damage has been swift, as April was just the first full month for hospitals battling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The median Operating Margin fell to 29% and the median Operating EBITDA Margin ended the month at 19%, down 174% compared to the same period last year and 191% below budget. These and other findings are highlighted in the May issue of Kaufman Hall's National Hospital Flash Report, which draws on data from more than 800 hospitals. "April was the worst month ever for hospital finances," said Jim Blake, managing director, Kaufman Hall. "Our nation's hospitals are in a perilous position. They are serving as the frontlines of our battle against this virus, but the pandemic is threatening their fundamental financial viability at a time when we need them most. The road to recovery will be difficult, and our healthcare system will be forever changed." April's devastating results follow a challenging March, when hospitals first saw the pandemic cause across-the-board volume declines starting mid-month. Surgery volumes have seen the most significant declines, as providers and patients delay non-urgent procedures to stem the virus' spread and reserve capacity to treat infected individuals. Operating Room Minutes fell 61% in April compared to the same period in 2019, more than triple the declines seen the month before. Discharges fell 30% year-over-year in April, and Emergency Department Visits dropped 43%. Revenue results were down across most measures, but outpatient services took the biggest hit. Outpatient Revenues fell 50% year-over-year and 51% below budget, while Inpatient Revenues declined 25% year-over-year and 30% below budget. Total Gross Revenue fell 30% compared to April 2019 and 33% below budget expectations. Expenses remained high in April relative to the much lower numbers of patients. Total Expense per Adjusted Discharge rose 59% year-over-year, while Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge was up 63% and Non-Labor Expense per Adjusted Discharge rose 58%. The losses came despite an infusion of $50 billion from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and despite aggressive cost-cutting efforts. While total expenses declined slightly, those decreases did not come close to keeping up with steep volume declines. This suggests that hospitals' efforts to reduce costs through mass furloughs, significant pay cuts for executives, and other measures have been insufficient thus far to make up for lost volumes. For more details, please see the National Hospital Flash Report. Kaufman Hall experts are available for comment; please contact Philip Anast at [email protected]. About Kaufman Hall Kaufman Hall provides a unique combination of software, management consulting and data solutions to help society's foundational institutions realize sustained success amid changing market conditions. Since 1985, Kaufman Hall has been a trusted advisor to boards and executive management teams, helping them incorporate proven methods, rigorous analytics, and industry-leading solutions into their strategic planning and financial management processes, with a focus on achieving their most challenging goals. Kaufman Hall services use a rigorous, disciplined, and structured approach that is based on the principles of corporate finance. The breadth and integration of Kaufman Hall advisory services are unparalleled, encompassing strategy; financial and capital planning; cost transformation; treasury and capital markets management; and mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and joint ventures. Kaufman Hall software includes the Axiom Software Suite, providing sophisticated, flexible performance management solutions that empower finance professionals to analyze results, model the future, and optimize organizational decision-making. Solutions for long-range planning, budgeting and forecasting, performance reporting, capital planning, and cost accounting deliver decision support, reporting, and analytics within an integrated software platform. Kaufman Hall's Clinical Analytics empower healthcare organizations with clinical benchmarks, data, and analytics to provide a higher quality of care for optimized performance and improved patient outcomes. Press Contact: Philip Anast Amendola Communications (for Kaufman Hall) Email: [email protected] Phone: 312-576-6990 SOURCE Kaufman Hall Related Links http://www.kaufmanhall.com By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank on Thursday approved a record $500 million in grants and low-interest loans to help countries in Africa and the Middle East fight swarms of desert locusts that are eating their way across vast swaths of crops and rangelands. Four of the hardest-hit countries - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda - will receive $160 million immediately, Holger Kray, a senior World Bank official, told Reuters. He said Yemen, Somalia and other affected countries could tap funds as needed. "The Horn of Africa finds itself at the epicenter of the worst locust outbreak we have seen in a generation, most probably in more than a generation," he said, noting the new coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating the crisis. Locust swarms have infested 23 countries across East Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the biggest outbreak in 70 years, the World Bank said. It threatens food supplies in East Africa where nearly 23 million people are facing food shortages. See graphic: https://graphics.reuters.com/AFRICA-LOCUSTS/0100B5GG3TJ/index.html The World Bank estimates the Horn of Africa region could suffer up to $8.5 billion in damage to crop and livestock production by year-end without broad measures to reduce locust populations and prevent their spread. Even with the measures, losses could be as high as $2.5 billion, it said. Desert locusts can travel up to 150 km (95 miles) a day, sometimes in swarms as large as 250 km (155.34 miles) across, eating their own body weight in greenery. In Kenya, the locusts are eating in one day the amount of food consumed by all Kenyans in two days, Kray said. The new World Bank program will help farmers, herders and rural households by providing fertilizer and seeds for new crops, and cash transfers to pay for food for people and livestock. It will also fund investments to strengthen surveillance and early warning systems to make the region more resilient over the medium- to longer-term, Kray said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler) A 33-year-old criminal was shot in the leg in his own home yesterday afternoon as part of a "deeply personal dispute", the Herald can reveal. Notorious thug Michael Brennan was recovering from his injuries last night at Beaumont Hospital after being shot at 2pm in the property at Cromcastle Drive, Kilmore, north Dublin. He was targeted in a downstairs room of the house by a lone gunman in what senior sources say is "more than likely a punishment attack or a warning". "Brennan is a criminal who is extremely well known to gardai but he is not suspected of being involved in the wider gangland disputes in that locality," a senior source added. Row "Instead, gardai are working on the theory that he has been involved in a row with someone who is very well known to him , but this incident was not an attempt to murder him." There have been no additional arrests following the city's latest gun attack, which is being investigated by Santry gardai. They yesterday appealed to the public for information about the gun attack. "A man in his 30s was injured in the shooting and was taken by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital where his injuries are described as non-life-threatening," a garda spokesman said. "The scene was preserved for technical examination." Brennan is the younger brother of John Paul Brennan (40), who has survived a number of attempts on his life, including when he was cornered in his girlfriend's home in Kinsealy and shot in the leg and neck in January 2009. Both brothers were previously closely linked to major drugs trafficker Paul 'Burger' Walsh (37), from Baldoyle, who made a major settlement with the Criminal Assets Bureau in October 2007. Yesterday's victim was jailed for 10 years in March 2010 for attempting to murder another man over a 200 drug debt. Drug addict Brennan was convicted by jury in December 2009, of the attempted murder of James Egan and of possession of a sawn-off shotgun. The jury had heard that he was a teenager when he went to Mr Egan's home and carried out the organised shooting on April 29, 2006. Then, in November 2010, Brennan was given a further six-year jail sentence - which he served concurrently with the 10-year term for attempted murder - for intimidating witnesses in the 2009 trial. Evidence He admitted that he intimidated a woman who was to give evidence at his trial, telling her if she took the witness stand "she will be put in another box". The criminal, who has more than 70 previous convictions, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to possession of a knife at Cromcastle Drive, Kilmore, on January 7, 2016. The court heard he had been released in May 2015 from the 10-year attempted murder sentence imposed in 2010. He was spotted by gardai chasing a group of people while armed with knives. He chased them to a parked car and appeared to be attempting to open the door or stab the car when ordered to drop the knives. The Bombay High Court on Thursday exempted advocates from wearing black coats and gowns while attending the court hearings through video conferencing. It issued a circular saying Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta has exempted lawyers appearing before it and its benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa from wearing black coat and the advocate's gown. The circular not specify any reason behind the exemption. Advocates may wear a tie or white band ensuring proper decorum before the virtual courts, it said. The circular is in consonance with a similar order passed on May 13 by the Supreme Court, which exempting lawyers there from wearing coats and long gowns during the hearings through video conferencing in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. The apex court and most of the high courts are conducting hearings in urgent matters via video conferencing since March 25, when the entire nation was put under lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Bombay High Court had earlier issued a circular saying advocates and others appearing before it via video conferencing should be dressed appropriately and maintain decorum, as is done during normal court proceedings. On May 13, Chief Justice of India S A Bobade said lawyers need not wear coats and gowns as they make it easier to "catch virus". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Executive Director of Otimah Investment Ltd, Madam Bernice Ntiri Owusu, has urged the youth to be innovative rather than rely on the government for jobs. She said there were many business opportunities that the youth could capitalise on instead of waiting for the government to offer them jobs. Madam Owusu said this when she led management and staff of the company to make a donation to the Ghana Society for the Socially Disadvantaged in Accra. Recounting her experience after school, she said: I was home for a very long time because I was waiting to get employed. One day, my mother brought up an idea of starting a cleaning company and by dint of hard work and determination, we have grown the business and can confidently boast of very reputable clientele. Just look at us now, making a donation worth about Ghc10,000. She urged the youth not to downplay any business idea no matter how small it may seem but rather invest their time and money into making sure the business succeeds. Otimah Investment Ltd now produces cleaning detergent used for its cleaning services and also for commercials purposes. My advice to the youth who have graduated from school is to take initiative. They should not wait on the government to provide them with jobs. Each and every one should start something on their own no matter how little it may be because the little things grow to become big, she reiterated. Madam Owusu further advised young people wanting to do cleaning jobs to note that cleaning done by professional cleaning companies is more thorough than the one individuals do in their home. Do not feel overused when you secure a job in a cleaning company because the type of cleaning done is more thorough than what we are used to, she said. Otimah Investments Ltd. provides cleaning and fumigation services for companies and individuals. A Tyson Foods chicken-processing plant in North Carolina that reopened following a deep clean announced almost 600 workers have now tested positive for coronavirus. The company confirmed Wednesday that 570 of its 2,244 full-time and contract employees have been infected in the Wilkesboro plant. It is likely one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the state and effects 25.4 percent of the facility's workforce. Meat processing plants have become major outbreak hotspots across the country with more than 14,000 cases among workers causing concern for the nation's food supply chain. Companies say they have increased safety measures but unions have issued a warning that the federal safety guidelines can be ignored, leaving workers at risk. A Tyson Foods chicken-processing plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, pictured above, has reported that 25.4 percent of its employees have tested positive for coronavirus Tyson Foods, pictured a plant in Springdale, Arkansas, has said that they have implemented stricter safety measures but as outbreaks in its plants worsened this week, unions voiced concerns that the new procedures do not have to be implemented putting workers at risk Tyson Foods said that the majority of the workers who tested positive in the Wilkesboro plant were not showing symptoms and if they had not been tested 'otherwise would not have been identified'. The company had tested 2,007 employees at the plant for the virus between May 6 and May 9. The other employees were tested by the the county health department or through their health care provider. 'We are working closely with local health departments to protect our team members and their families, and to help manage the spread of the virus in our communities,' said Tom Brower, Tyson's senior vice president of health and safety. The company added that those who test positive will be placed on paid leave and will not return to work until 'they have met the criteria established by both the CDC and Tyson'. Two of the three plants at the facility had already been temporarily shut down for cleaning after the outbreak in the plant was first reported in April. Tyson had announced on May 14 that it was conducting a second temporary shutdown of its Fresh Plant 2 facility which had been complete on Tuesday. Tyson Foods employees in Texas claim 300 workers tested positive for coronavirus and forklift truck driver at plant has died A forklift operator in a Tyson Food plant in Sherman, Texas, has died of coronavirus. The man in his 50s became the first person in Grayson County to die from the illness. He had been tested for coronavirus a few days before but was still awaiting results. All employees at the plant were tested last week but remain in work until they receive results. An anonymous worker told CBS that people are being asked to leave the plant and quarantine as their positive results come in. Employees at the plant say that nearly 300 workers as the plant have tested positive. Advertisement The Fresh Plant 1 facility was operating on a limited basis having reopened following cleaning. The company has temporarily closed at least seven facilities across the country for deep cleaning including three in Iowa, and one each in Indiana, Nebraska and Washington. According to Statesville.com, there have been 3,500 infected workers in those plants. Tyson Food is among the food processing companies forced to implement stricter health and safety procedures against the coronavirus as it battle to keep its plants open. The company has introduced daily clinical symptoms checks for employees and provided nurse practitioners on site and enhanced education. JBS has also introduced heightened safety measures including temperature checks and facemasks but workers fear it is not enough According to CBS News, there are now more than 14,000 coronavirus cases in at least 181 meatpacking plants across the U.S.. There have been at least 54 worker deaths. Unions have voiced concerns that the new safety measures taken do not have to be properly implemented. Extensive guidance issued last month by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that meatpacking companies erect physical barriers, enforce social distancing and install more hand-sanitizing stations, among other steps. But the guidance is not mandatory. 'It's like, "Here's what we'd like you to do. But if you don't want to do it, you don't have to",' said Mark Lauritsen, international vice president and director of the food processing and meatpacking division for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Tyson has already closed at least seven plants temporarily for deep cleaning but the outbreaks continue. An employee at a plant in Texas died as he awaited his coronavirus test results Tyson Foods confirmed Wednesday that 570 of its 2,244 full-time and contract employees have been infected in the Wilkesboro plant, pictured above. Two sections of the plant had been closed temporarily for deep cleanings after the outbreak started in April and reopened OSHA's general guidance plainly says the recommendations are advisory and 'not a standard or regulation,' and they create 'no new legal obligations'. But the guidance also says employers must follow a law known as the general duty clause, which requires companies to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards. Coronavirus outbreak hits Kraft Heinz plant in Missouri that is the sole producer of Oscar-Mayer bologna The Kraft Heinz processing plant in Kirksville, Missouri, announced on Wednesday that several workers have tested positive for coronavirus The facility is the sole plant that makes all the Oscar-Mayer bologna sold in the United States. Michael Mullen, the senior vice president of corporate affairs at Kraft Heinz, said a 'handful' of employees' were affected. They are in self-quarantine at home with full pay, he added. The plant employees about 900 people in Kirksville. Advertisement Critics say that rule is unlikely to be enforced, especially after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April aimed at keeping meat plants open. The closure of meat processing plants across the country is having a drastic effect on the nations's food supply chain. Limited closures and worker absenteeism also mean that the facilities are not able to process the same amount of produce being supplied by farmers. Amid the meat processing plant closures, there have been reports of farmers euthanizing cattle and pigs, while dairy farmers have been discarding milk supply due to distribution problems. School and restaurant closures have also directly impacted demand. Chairman of Tyson Foods John Tyson recently commented that 'the food supply chain is breaking' as he warned that 'millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain' and that 'there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed'. 'In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue,' he added. 'Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation. Millions of animals chickens, pigs and cattle will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities.' Despite this, shares in food processing companies such as Tyson and Kraft Heinz are slowly rebounding after plummeting in mid-March, even as new plant outbreaks emerge. In another Tyson Food plant in Texas, a forklift operator became the first person in Grayson County to die from coronavirus this week. This Tyson Foods plant in Sherman, Texas, also has an outbreak. All employees at the plant were tested last week but remain in work until they receive results, an employee says Employees at the plant say that nearly 300 workers at the plant have tested positive, CBS reports. The man, who was in his 50s, had been tested for coronavirus a few days before his death but was still awaiting results. He felt short of breath and drove himself to the hospital where he suffered a cardiac arrest. Every worker at the Tyson Foods Plant in Sherman had been tested last week but they all continue to work as they await the results. The company said it has begun testing the temperature of employees before allowing them inside the building. 'I mean today they were just coming basically as they were getting results in, they were coming and getting people and escorting them out of the building and telling them to go on a 2-week quarantine,' one anonymous employee told CBS. 'So basically, all they're doing is walking up to you and saying, "Hey, I need you to come with me". And they walk you to the door almost like you're being fired, which to me would be like humiliation.' Employees added that some 1,000 tests have come back negative but they are still awaiting the result of hundreds more. The company said it would not release the number of positive cases in the plant until all results are in. 'We are saddened by the loss of any Tyson team member and sympathize with their family at this difficult time. At Tyson Foods our top priority is the health and safety of our team members,' said Tyson spokesperson Derek Burelson. A new outbreak was also reported Wednesday in a Kraft Heinz plant in Missouri. The Kirksville facility is the sole plant that makes all the Oscar-Mayer bologna sold in the United States. 'A handful of Kraft Heinz employees in our Kirksville, Missouri factory have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) and are in self-quarantine at home with full pay,' Michael Mullen, the senior vice president of corporate affairs at Kraft Heinz, told the Kirksville Daily Express. 'We have taken all necessary steps to identify and notify individuals who worked closely with these employees. We have taken several proactive measures to ensure the wellbeing of our people and to help reduce the risk of virus exposure or transmission.' The plant employs around 900 people. A coronavirus outbreak was confirmed in this Kraft Heinz plant in Missouri Wednesday. The facility is the sole plant that makes all the Oscar-Mayer bologna sold in the United States The news of the outbreak came as the Missouri Chamber of Commerce asked for a law protecting businesses from lawsuits by sick workers. According to the Colombia Tribune, the chamber urged Gov. Mike Parson to take action to prevent coronavirus-related lawsuits. In a letter they said it was an 'emerging problem in Missouri'. Chamber President Daniel P. Mehan added that companies 'that are making a good faith effort and taking the necessary precautions should not face crippling COVID-19 litigation'. Despite the measures being taken, workers in processing plants remain concerned and some fear losing their paychecks if they speak out. Ryan Brown, an employee at a meatpacking plant in Nebraska told CBS that despite the new safety protocol, 'there are places where you are literally shoulder to shoulder with somebody'. One worker has already died of coronavirus in the plant and doctors have recommended it be shut down, according to CBS. Temperature checks and face masks have been enforced and workers are receiving emergency pay but they will not be paid if they get infected and need to stay at home. 'There's no real feasible way to keep us all six feet apart,' added Brown. 'When you're putting people's lives at risk, I don't think you can put a number on that.' On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a new a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at preventing interruptions at FDA-regulated food facilities, including fruit and vegetable processing. It came as the country approached peak harvesting seasons when many fruits and vegetables grown across the U.S. are sent to be frozen or canned. 'We are extremely grateful to essential workers for everything they do every day to keep our pantries, refrigerators and freezers stocked,' the FDA said in a statement. 'All of the food and agriculture sector -- whether it is regulated by the USDA or FDA -- are considered critical infrastructure, and it is vital for the public health that they continue to operate in accordance with guidelines from the CDC and OSHA regarding worker health and safety. 'As we work to get through the current challenge together, we remain committed to workers' safety, as well as ensuring the availability of foods, and that our food remains among the safest in the world.' BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday accused the Maharashtra government of being "indecisive" in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and causing the situation to worsen there, and said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is "scared" of taking initiatives to deal with the situation. Talking about Mumbai, which is the worst affected Indian city from the novel coronavirus, Fadnavis said there are no beds available for COVID-19 patients in government hospitals in the city, while half of the beds in intensive care units (ICUs) of private hospitals are lying vacant due to the government's flip flops on the matter. Private hospitals are charging Rs 30,000 from coronavirus affected patient per day for a bed, and giving these beds to those who have the capacity to pay, the former Maharashtra chief minister said. He said all this is happening despite the announcement of the state government that 80 per cent of beds in private hospitals belong to it. "Indecisiveness is the biggest problem of the Maharashtra government in dealing with COVID-19. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey is new and is scared of taking action and depends a lot on the bureaucracy," the erstwhile ally of Thackrey-led Shiv Sena, Fadnavis, said while interacting with journalists through video conference. Suggesting that state bureaucracy is running the show in the state during the COVID-19 crisis, Fadnavis, who is the leader of opposition in the state assembly, said there are "warring factions" within the bureaucracy as well, and the lack of assertiveness of political leadership is missing" to coordinate them. When asked whether Mahrashtra could remain the industrial powerhouse of the country after migrant labourers left the state in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, he said the state government didn't do much for them during the lockdown to stop them from going. "The state government has done flip-flop on the issue. It appears the state government wanted them to leave the state. Maharashtra's migrant labourers have contributed to the state's economy. Now, we have fear in our mind that when will they come. But prospects of them coming back are bleak as of now," he said. Underlining that Mahrashtra has always been a preferred destination for foreign investment in India, Fadnavis said but the state government is less proactive in starting the industry. "Lifetime opportunity for Maharashtra to attract industry moving out of China but the state government needs to be proactive," he said. On the question how long the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP coalition government will last, Fadnavis said there are already cracks within the government and it will fall on its own. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dutch Bros Coffee and its customers joined together on its annual Drink One for Dane day to raise more than $1.39 million to #endALS "There's a lot going on in the world right now, but that doesn't change the need to end ALS. Our customers and broistas really are amazing and are truly making a massive difference in the lives of so many." Dutch Bros Coffee and its customers joined together to raise $1.39 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) on the companys 14th annual Drink One For Dane day held on May 8. More than 390 shops in seven states joined together with customers to support ALS research, patient care and advocacy. "We're so grateful to everyone who went online or came out to support Drink One for Dane this year," said Travis Boersma, CEO and co-founder of Dutch Bros Coffee. "There's a lot going on in the world right now, but that doesn't change the need to end ALS. Our customers and broistas really are amazing and are truly making a massive difference in the lives of so many." In addition to a portion of proceeds donated from daily shop sales, Dutch Bros also offered an online option to give with $50,000 raised from the sale of a specialty mug and sticker package. Since 2007, Dutch Bros and its customers have raised more than $8.4 million to help support ALS patients and find a cause and cure for the disease. This is a testament to the purpose-driven, caring culture of Dutch Bros. Their commitment to unlocking a cure for ALSa devastating disease that took the life of Dutch Bros co-founder Dane Boersmais remarkable. Our longstanding partnership with Dutch Bros carries on his legacy. We have a shared mission to protect and care for ALS patients as we work to discover a cure, said Lynn OConnor Vos, president and CEO of MDA. The funds raised support the MDA, a world leader in ALS research, treatments, care and advocacy. Dutch Bros began supporting the organization after co-founder Dane Boersma was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal disease that affects the parts of the nervous system that are responsible for muscle movement. There is currently no cure for the disease. The MDA produces and distributes resources and provides support for patients and their families through a nationwide network of 150 MDA Care Centers. The MDA has partnered with Dutch Bros since the very first Drink One for Dane fundraiser in 2007. About Dutch Bros Dutch Bros Coffee is the countrys largest privately held drive-thru coffee company, with more than 380 locations and 12,000 employees in seven states. The company is headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, where it was founded in 1992 by Dane and Travis Boersma. Dutch Bros serves specialty coffee, smoothies, freezes, teas, a private-label Dutch Bros Blue Rebel energy drink and nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. Its rich, proprietary coffee blend is handcrafted from start to finish. In addition to its mission of speed, quality and service, Dutch Bros is committed to giving back to the communities it serves. Through its Dutch Bros Foundation and local franchisees, Dutch Bros donates millions of dollars each year to causes across the country. To learn more about Dutch Bros, visit http://www.dutchbros.com, like Dutch Bros Coffee on Facebook or follow @DutchBros on Twitter. About MDA For 70 years, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has been committed to transforming the lives of people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related neuromuscular diseases. We do this through innovations in science and innovations in care. As the largest source of funding for neuromuscular disease research outside of the federal government, MDA has committed more than $1 billion since our inception to accelerate the discovery of therapies and cures. Research we have supported is directly linked to life-changing therapies across multiple neuromuscular diseases. MDA's MOVR is the first and only data hub that aggregates clinical, genetic, and patient-reported data for multiple neuromuscular diseases to improve health outcomes and accelerate drug development. MDA supports the largest network of multidisciplinary clinics providing best in class care at more than 150 of the nation's top medical institutions. Our Resource Center serves the community with one-on-one specialized support, and we offer educational conferences, events, and materials for families and healthcare providers. Each year thousands of children and young adults learn vital life skills and gain independence at summer camp and through recreational programs, at no cost to families. During the COVID-19 pandemic, MDA continues to produce virtual events, programming, and advocacy to support our community when in-person events and activities are not possible. MDAs COVID-19 guidelines and virtual events are posted at mda.org/COVID19. For more information, visit mda.org. S&P predicts 5.5% decline in Ukraine's economy in 2020 11:30, 21.05.20 708 A rapid recovery is expected in the second half of 2020. The Upper Township Business Association online Round Table meeting for 11 a.m. Friday, May 22 will include guest speaker Upper Township School District Superintendent Vincent Palmieri. Superintendent Palmieri will be meeting with the UTBA Board and members with information about the status of our community schools this spring, future plans related to COVID-19, and a range of other education topics related to teachers and students in Upper Township. In addition, Palmieri will talk about how the business community can have a supportive role with our schools. RSVPs are requested through https://bit.ly/UTBAMay22RoundTable. Following his presentation, Palmieri will answer questions submitted online prior to the meeting by business attendees using the RSVP link. UTBA members and prospective members are welcome to attend the UT Business Association weekly Round Table meetings. The Zoom link will be emailed to registered attendees. [May 21, 2020] Istation approved by Alabama State Department of Education, recommended by Alabama Literacy Task force DALLAS, May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Istation , a leader in educational technology, has been vetted and approved by the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) as a valid and reliable screening, formative and diagnostic assessment program for reading and math in kindergarten through third grade. As part of the process, Alabama's Literacy Task Force conducted an additional review and recommended ISIP for early reading. Created by the Alabama Literacy Act, the task force is charged with recommending reading assessments vetted and approved by ALSDE. In addition to being approved, districts will be fully reimbursed by the state of Alabama when they use Istation because the ALSDE will fund $6.00 per pupil per subject. Therefore, early assessment funds will be allocated to LEAs at $12.00 per pupil. Supporting the Alabama Literacy Act's annual screening and reporting requirements, ISIP for early reading provides real-time formative data and frequent progress monitoring that helps inform interventions, differentiate instruction and identify students who may be at risk for reading disabilities, including dyslexia and other related disorders. "We are honored to be recommended by the Alabama State Department of Education through a rigorous vetting and approva process," said Istation's Chief Operating Officer and President, Ossa Fisher. "Istation's proven validity and reliability is driven by scientific evidence and comprehensive research, helping schools ensure powerful growth." Powered by the science of reading, Istation's assessments and instructional resources cover the National Reading Panel's "Big Five" foundational essentials: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. Schools get the support they need to improve foundational reading and growth with assessments that provide actionable and insightful data that measure these skills and many others. Istation's recently released digital oral reading fluency assessment is also included with Istation's ISIP bundle, combining over 30 years of research with more than a decade of technical development and data through a partnership with Boulder Learning, Inc. This pioneering effort in the use of speech recognition technology in education includes digital recording programming to help schools measure oral reading fluency, accuracy and more. Istation's individualized assessments can measure the progress of an entire classroom in approximately 30 minutes. The time saved allows instructors to address students who need extra attention in order to meet grade-level reading expectations. Istation has a proven track record of identifying students' hidden challenges that may have otherwise gone undetected. In this time of learning at home, Istation has made available the ability to assist students from home. This has been a huge help to districts in Alabama over the last few months as well as thousands of districts around the country. The deadline for local education agencies to request early assessment funding for Istation is Friday, May 29, 2020. For more information about ISIP for reading and math, visit info.istation.com/alabama or call Istation at 1-866-883-READ (7323). About Istation Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like, educational technology. Istation was named one of 2019's "EdTech 1000: Companies Transforming Education" by EdTech Digest, and has received numerous national educational technology awards. The Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves more than 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. Contact: Molly Bryan, 214-292-4904, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/istation-approved-by-alabama-state-department-of-education-recommended-by-alabama-literacy-task-force-301063932.html SOURCE Istation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary has welcomed new European flight safety guidelines as he again slammed proposed quarantines on airline passengers as "ineffective and unimplementable". He has urged the governments in Ireland and the UK to back down on the proposals and, instead, introduce requirements to wear face coverings on public transport as "the best and most effective way to limit the spread of Covid-19". In Ireland, face coverings are advised, but not required, on public transport and in spaces where social distancing is difficult. The remarks were issued in response to safety guidelines from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The protocols include: Implementing physical distancing of 1.5m between individuals; Wearing face masks at all times in airports and aircrafts; Enhanced hygiene measures; Minimise contact and touching of surfaces by using mobile check-in and non-contact boarding. Testing passengers in order to allow travel under "immunity passports" is not supported by the EASA and ECDC, while it only recommends the use of temperature checks for passengers if it is required under national policy as "thermal screening has many limitations and little evidence of effectiveness in detecting Covid-19 cases". Passengers who refuse to comply with preventative measures should "be refused access" to the airport and aircraft, it notes, while it also encourages airlines to implement physical distancing where possible on aircraft, but recommends families be allowed to sit together and does not recommend leaving the middle seat free in a row. It also makes no recommendation to quarantining passengers after they travel. Mr O'Leary has been outspoken on this matter, claiming the proposed 14-day quarantine would be "ineffective and unimplementable" and has "no basis in science or medicine". He welcomed the EASA and ECDC guidelines and said: "Europe's citizens can travel safely on their summer holidays wearing face masks and observing temperature protocols." The remarks come as Aer Lingus begins its new policy of requiring all staff and passengers to wear face coverings for the duration of their journey. The obligation to wear face coverings will remain in place until at least the end of August, Aer Lingus said. Aerial photo taken on May 17, 2020 shows villagers picking tea leaves at a tea plantation in Xinyuan Village of Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County in Chongqing, southwest China. [Xinhua/Wang Quanchao] BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a letter expressing warm congratulation on a series of activities marking the first International Tea Day. Xi stressed that the United Nation's decision to set up the International Tea Day showed the international community's recognition and emphasis on the value of tea, and the move is of geat significance to revitalize the tea industry and carry forward the tea culture. (Source: Xinhua) Click here to read the full article. EXCLUSIVE: The Independent Filmmaker Project on Thursday unveiled 26 feature and series projects set to participate in the indie organizations three annual yearlong IFP Filmmaker fellowship programs for first-time filmmakers: The IFP Filmmaker Labs Documentary Lab, Narrative Lab and Episodic Lab. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all will take place virtually, with the Documentary Lab now underway and running through Friday. The Episodic Lab, for series projects in development for TV and digital platforms from new creators, will run June 1-5, and the Narrative Lab, for feature films by directors currently in post-production on their debut features, is set for June 15-19. More from Deadline The Narrative Lab supports fellows through the completion, marketing, and distribution of their debut features, providing support from staff and mentorship from leading filmmakers. The Episodic Lab provides knowledge, resources and mentor support necessary in writing pitches and creating development strategies. All 2020 projects will participate in the 42nd IFP Weeks Project Forum in September. Over the years our labs have become a crucial foundation of IFPs commitment to independent storytelling, providing a platform for creatives to expand their network and further develop their process, while utilizing valuable resources along the way, IFP executive director Jeff Sharp said. We felt it was more imperative than ever to produce this years labs and continue supporting our community with the high level of guidance and mentorship for which we are known. Heres the full list of this years fellows: Story continues IFP DOCUMENTARY LAB (Through May 22) Cusp In a small Texas town, four wild-spirited teenage girls search for freedom and personal agency as they each break away from their past traumas. This raw verite portrait dives down the rarely seen rabbit hole of modern girlhood. Parker Hill (Director, DP), Isabel Bethencourt (Director, DP), Zachary Luke Kislevitz (Producer) Everything You Have Is Yours As choreographer Hadar Ahuvia deconstructs Zionism through dance, she must first confront the embodiment of the Israel/Palestine conflict within her own family. Her work cracks open when she begins to wrestle with the power structures inherent in her artistic collaboration. Tatyana Tenenbaum (Director), Colin Nusbaum (Editor) Free Chol Soo Lee A crusading journalist becomes the match that ignites a powerful movement to free a wrongly convicted man from prison. Then, idealism and reality collide. Eugene Yi (Director, Writer), Julie Ha (Director, Writer), Su Kim (Producer) Hollow Tree Three young women coming-of-age along the Mississippi River in a time of rapid climate change. Kira Akerman (Director, Writer), Chachi Hauser (Producer), Monique Walton (Producer) Not in My Mothers House Due to the sensitivity of subject matter the film description is not being released at this time. Sandra Itainen (Director, Writer, Producer, Editor, DP), Chelsi Bullard (Producer) Our Daughters Against all odds, a single white mother makes a bold move and chooses an Indian American couple as her twin daughters adoptive parents. Now eight, the twins want to meet their birth mother; Our Daughters captures what unfolds. Chithra Jeyaram (Director, Producer, Editor, DP), Nico Opper (Consulting Producer), Leah Nichols (Animator), Yuhong Pang (Assistant Editor) Silent Beauty An autobiographical exploration of filmmaker Jasmin Lopezs family history with child sexual abuse and a culture of silence. Jasmin Lopez (Director, Writer, Producer), Chelsea Hernandez (Producer), Sarah Garrahan (Editor), Bron Moyi (DP) Untitled PRC Project A portrait of Chinas economy, charting the changing nature of labor, production, and aspiration in the Peoples Republic of China. Jessica Kingdon (Director, DP, Editor), Kira Simon-Kennedy (Producer), Nathan Truesdell (Producer, DP, Editor) What We Leave Behind For the past 20 years, 89-year-old grandfather, Julian Moreno, has embarked on a monthly, 17-hour bus ride across the US-Mexico Border in order to visit his family that now lives in the U.S. Iliana Sosa (Director, Producer), Isidore Bethel (Editor) Women on the Outside An intimate portrait of family and friendship, this film follows millennial Kristal Bush as she strives to rebuild bonds broken by incarceration. Zara Katz (Director, Writer, Producer, DP), Lisa Riordan Seville (Director, Writer, Producer, DP), Kiara C. Jones (Producer, Writer) IFP EPISODIC LAB (June 1-5) Afro After a high-school altercation, a Black math whiz experiences a natural hair transformation and is recruited by an underground network of people-of-color that seeks cultural change by any means necessary. Jenn Shaw (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer) Autom Reign Dystopian sci-fi drama series set in a world where automation has radically altered society and confronted humanity with its own obsolescence. Sofian Khan (Creator), Roy Wol (Producer) First Generation Set in San Jose, California pre-social media era, we follow Jaime, a misled Vietnamese-American teen, as she bears the weight of two diverging worlds. Jeannie Nguyen (Creator, Writer) HighBread A collegiate dramedy that highlights the lives of a baker, a burnout and an international student on the brink of breakdown as they collectively break bread and cultural stereotypes over a Boston-based marijuana-bakery. Jayesh Jaidka (Creator, Producer), Daniel Blanda (Writer), Harjot Kaur (Executive Producer) Mary Mary was taken from her home by a shapeless shadow when she was a child. Now, 12 years later she finds herself out of its clutches and back into the light, but how long can she keep running? Daisy Borders (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer), Chloe Erwin (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer), Ryan Cunningham (Producer) Mexican Ghost Stories Visions haunt Tlaloc, a budding Mexican-American rapper estranged from his family, and launch him into a mystical journey through 400 years of his grandfathers ghost stories. Daniela Cortes (Creator, Writer), Suzanne Jurva (Creator, Producer), Alvaro Saar Rios (Writer) Miracle Lake A teenage girl loses touch with reality after joining a school-sponsored hypnosis program. Based on true events. Blair Waters (Creator, Writer) Red Curtain A one-hour mystery anthology series set in various cities of the former Soviet Union where history and magic, reality and superstition, art and politics mix to create mind bending modern day fables. Garin Hovannisian (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer), Alec Mouhibian (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer) Stardust Based on the real kidnapping that inspired Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita, 11-year-old Sally Horner must struggle to escape practiced criminal Frank La Salle as he forces her to travel across 1940s America for two years. Adapted from Tammy Greenwoods acclaimed novel Rust & Stardust. Matthew Kaundart (Creator, Writer), Eric Cook (Producer, Executive Producer), Gina Resnick (Producer, Executive Producer) Tenure A naive Iranian film school professor must learn how to use sex, money, and power to fight his cutthroat colleagues and win a job for life, all while chasing his fading Hollywood dreams. Ronald Eltanal (Creator, Writer), Alireza Khatami (Creator), Payman Maadi (Executive Producer) IFP NARRATIVE LAB (June 15-19) Homebody A little boy gets to live as a woman for a day when he sends his spirit into his babysitters body. Joseph Sackett (Director, Writer), Joy Jorgensen (Producer), Alan Wu (Editor) Ludi An immigrant nursing assistant stops at nothing to send money back home to Haiti, launching her into a nightlong purgatory through Miamis private care-taking world. Edson Jean (Director, Writer), Mark Pulaski (Producer), Fabiola Rodriguez (Producer) Ma Belle, My Beauty As two recently married musicians adjust to life in France, their beloved ex, who abruptly disappeared from their relationship years ago, finally visits. Marion Hill (Director, Writer, Editor, Producer), Ben Matheny (Producer), Kelsey Scult (Producer) Poser A misfit podcaster interviews artists and musicians in an effort to forge her own identity, but in doing so, loses herself even further. Noah Dixon (Director, Writer, Editor), Ori Segev (Director, Editor), Brett Reiter (Producer) Shapeless Ivy, a struggling New Orleans singer fighting to hide an eating disorder, must face her addictionand the monsters that come with itor risk losing everything. Samantha Aldana (Director), Lizzie Guitreau (Producer), Stephen Pfeil (Producer) Superior On the run Marian returns to her hometown after six years, slowly reconnecting with her identical twin sister, Vivian, until their two worlds begin to collide. Erin Vassilopoulos (Director, Co-writer), Grant Curatola (Producer), Patrick Donovan (Producer) Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On Wednesday, June 3, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Westfield Area YMCA will be collecting clothes, shoes, belts, handbags, curtains, towels, bedding, stuffed animals and small plastic toys. Those who wish to donate are asked to drop off items on the tarp in front of the Bauer Branch, 422 East Broad St. All goods will be sorted and shipped by A & E Clothing Corp. to second hand stores in the U.S., Central and South America and Haiti. Proceeds benefit the Ys financial assistance program which ensures that no one who is experiencing a bona fide financial hardship and lives or works in Westfield, Cranford, Garwood or Mountainside is turned away for inability to pay for Y programs or memberships. [May 20, 2020] Global Call Centers Industry Assessment 2020-2025 - Cloud Communications Continue to Reshape the Sector DUBLIN, May 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Call Centers - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Call Centers market worldwide is projected to grow by US$180.3 Billion, driven by a compounded growth of 6.6%. In-House, one of the segments analyzed and sized in this study, displays the potential to grow at over 6.6%. The shifting dynamics supporting this growth makes it critical for businesses in this space to keep abreast of the changing pulse of the market. Poised to reach over US$381.3 Billion by the year 2025, In-House will bring in healthy gains adding significant momentum to global growth. Representing the developed world, the United States will maintain a 7.6% growth momentum. Within Europe, which continues to remain an important element in the world economy, Germany will add over US$8.4 Billion to the region's size and clout in the next 5 to 6 years. Over US$8.4 Billion worth of projected demand in the region will come from Rest of Europe markets. In Japan, In-House will reach a market size of US$28.2 Billion by the close of the analysis period. As the world's second largest economy and the new game changer in global markets, China exhibits the potential to grow at 6.4% over the next couple of years and add approximately US$31.3 Billion in terms of addressable opportunity for the picking by aspiring businesses and their astute leaders. Presented in visually rich graphics are these and many more need-to-know quantitative data important in ensuring quality of strategy decisions, be it entry into new markets or allocation of resources within a portfolio. Several macroeconomic factors and internal market forces will shape growth and development of demand patterns in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific. All research viewpoints presented are based on validated engagements from influencers in the market, whose opinions supersede all other research methodologies. Key Topics Covered I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & REPORT SCOPE II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. MARKET OVERVIEW Impact of COVID-19 and a Looming Global Recession Call Centers: A Quick Primer Recent Market Activity Call Centers Tap Technology to Improve Operational Efficiency & Service Quality Addrssing the Evolving Customer Experience Digital Transformation - Playing an Important Role Outlook Developing Markets Drive Growth Outsourced Call Center Services Market Despite Outsourcing Wave, In-House Call Centers Continue to Remain Dominant Offshore Call Centers: The Key Growth Vertical for Developing World A Brief Sketch of Major Offshore Destinations for Call Centers Onshore Call Centers - Still in the Reckoning Wave of Re-Shoring & Nearshoring Strategies Right Shoring Gains Traction in Call Center Operations Mass Market Call Centers Outnumber B2B Call Centers Multiple Outsourced Call Centers: Order of the Day Competition Leading Players Startups Spur Innovation in Call Center Industry Spurt in Mobile Telephony: The Key Driver of Industry Transformation Seen Over the Last Two Decades Global Competitor Market Shares Call Centers Competitor Market Share Scenario Worldwide (in %): 2018 & 2029 [24]7 Inc. ( USA ) ) Alliance Data Systems, Inc. ( USA ) ) Alorica, Inc. ( USA ) ) Atento ( Luxembourg ) ) ATOS S.A. ( France ) ( ) BT Communications ( Ireland ) Limited ( Ireland ) ) Limited ( ) Capita Customer Management Limited (UK) Concentrix ( USA ) ) Convergys Corp. ( USA ) ) Entel Call Center ( Chile ) ) EXL Service Holdings, Inc. ( USA ) ) Genpact Limited ( Bermuda ) ) HCL BPO Services NI Ltd ( Ireland ) ) IBEX Global ( USA ) ) IBM Global Process Services Pvt. Ltd ( India ) ) Plusoft Informatica Ltda ( Brazil ) ) Sitel ( USA ) ) Sykes Enterprises, Inc. ( USA ) ) Tata Consultancy Services Limited ( India ) ) Teleperformance SE ( France ) ) TTEC Holdings, Inc. ( USA ) ) West Corporation ( USA ) ) Wipro Ltd ( India ) 3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS Cloud Communications Continue to Reshape Call Centers market OmniChannel Strategy Offers Holistic Support Unified Communications Simplify Customer Engagement Artificial Intelligence Enhances Call Center Productivity Industry Displays Increasing Reliance on IVR Integration of Social Media with Call Center Operations Opens New Possibilities Opportunity Indicators Sustained Increase in Importance of Self-Service Focus Grows on Improved Contact Center Analytics Integrating CRM with Big Data Analytics Brings in Significant Benefits Companies Target Multi-Skilled Employees Increase in Remote Contact Center Agents Building Meaningful Collaboration among Agents and the Way they Work Multi-Language Contact Centers - A Key Trend From Cost Centers to Profit Centers - Call Centers Go Beyond Service & Support Functions to Adopt Sales & Marketing Capabilities Virtual Agents Model Emerges as a New Profitable Approach Hosted or Virtual Call Centers on the Rise Improving 'Customer Experience' Turns into Core Area for Call Centers KPIs and Metrics Take Center Stage Call Centers Embrace IP for Better Efficiency CRM: A Shot in the Arm for Call Centers Call Center Applications Diversify to Include Mobile Apps Video Emerges as a New Channel for Call Centers Voice/Speech Based Technologies Empower Call Center Training & Operations Workforce Management Solutions to the Fore Evolving Database Technologies and Management Strategies Guide Call Centers to Reach New Avenues Customer Support & Sales Force Automation Dominate Software Applications Multi-Site Call Routing Solutions: Popular with Large Global Firms Automatic Call Distributing (ACD) Products- From Standalone to Open and Networked Systems Key Issues Growing Digital Engagement Drags Down Voice Based Customer Interactions Simplifying Complexities in Call Center Processes: A Key Area of Focus Call Centers & the Regulatory Environment 4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE III. MARKET ANALYSIS IV. COMPETITION (Total Companies Profiled: 135) For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/mr781g Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-call-centers-industry-assessment-2020-2025---cloud-communications-continue-to-reshape-the-sector-301062708.html SOURCE Research and Markets [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Prince William has warned of the impact that lockdown and being kept away from school could be having on children's mental health. In a video call to care providers, he said he was particularly concerned about the issue, despite families attempting to 'muddle' their way through. He also expressed fears about their anxiety levels as a result of the pandemic generally, as well as the loss of family members to the virus, and highlighted the long-term implications of the economic outlook for school leavers. The prince was talking to five professionals from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in a Zoom video call. Prince William has warned of the impact that lockdown and being kept away from school could be having on children's mental health In a video call to care providers, he said he was particularly concerned about the issue, despite families attempting to 'muddle' their way through. The prince was talking to five professionals from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in a Zoom video call (pictured) William said: 'I'm particularly worried as to how the young people are going to cope long term because we're all muddling through this period. 'But the long-term implications of school being missed, anxiety levels, family members sadly dying and the sort of general economic outlook do you think that will play heavily on your services and what they'll need?' Consultant psychiatrist Frances Doherty, who runs an inpatient mental health unit for teenagers, replied: 'Interestingly, some of our referral rates have gone down but I would imagine that as we're starting to come out of lockdown and people are starting to get back into the world again, [we're] starting to realise just what we've been through and we'll start to see our referral rate increase and the impact on our services. 'What I think has been really helpful is a lot of work has been done to think about how young people can care for themselves, how parents can care for them, to help them to survive and to thrive even through the pandemic. 'But I think it's the other side of it that we'll have all the challenges that you mentioned.' William also raised the challenges posed by young children he and Kate have three aged six and under. Prince Willaim said: 'I'm particularly worried as to how the young people are going to cope long term because we're all muddling through this period.' He is pictured with wife Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, and children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Cambridge Talking to child psychiatrist Dr Clare McKenna, he gave a knowing laugh when she said: 'The children I work with don't understand social distancing.' To laughs from the other five participants all women William said light-heartedly: 'That's all children isn't it? I don't think any children understand social distancing.' Dr McKenna said some of her staff had developed innovative ways to put vulnerable children at ease, for example by sticking pictures of themselves smiling on the masks or visors of their PPE. Social worker Eimear Hanna said her staff had bought big teddy bears for the children to hug as they weren't allowed to hug carers. William laughed: 'Everyone needs a hug, it's very important Eimear.' 'They do! They do Sir,' she replied. At the end of the call, the prince said: 'I would just like to say before I go that I'm hugely grateful for all you're doing and hope enough people are saying thank you and appreciate all the hard work that not only you, but all your team are doing right now. You're all making a huge difference.' Reading, PA (19601) Today Cloudy with morning snow ending, then windy and turning colder with falling temps and some afternoon clearing. A coating to 1-2" of snow expected in the morning. . Tonight Partly cloudy, windy, and very cold. Wind chills near or below zero later at night. U.S. Puts Sanctions On Iranian Minister, Top Police Officials For Violent Crackdowns By RFE/RL May 20, 2020 The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on Iran's interior minister, senior police officials, and a military commander for human rights abuses, including killing peaceful protesters. "The Iranian regime violently suppresses dissent of the Iranian people, including peaceful protests, through physical and psychological abuse," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on May 20. "The United States will continue to hold accountable Iranian officials and institutions that oppress and abuse their own people." The Treasury Department said Iran's interior minister and chairman of the National Domestic Security Council, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, has led security forces in killing hundreds of protesters over the years and in November 2019, including at least 23 minors. Seven senior members of the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) and an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) general were also put under sanctions for their role in violent crackdowns on dissent. The Treasury also alleged that the LEF operates detention centers associated with physical and psychological abuses and has led a crackdown on Afghan migrants in Iran, coercing them to fight for Iran-backed militias in Syria. The LEF is also alleged to be implicated in the torture and drowning earlier in May of Afghan nationals attempting to cross into Iran. In addition, the LEF Foundation, known as Bonyad Taavon NAJA in Iran, was put under sanctions. The foundation is engaged in economic activity in Iran's energy, construction, services, technology, and banking industries. Most of the newly sanctioned individuals are or were board directors at the foundation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the sanctions "send a message of support to the Iranian people that we will continue to support their demands for transparent and accountable governance and speak out for those who are being silenced by this regime." The sanctions bar U.S. nationals from conducting transactions with the sanctioned entities and seize their assets in the United States. They also leave foreign companies and financial institutions that conduct transactions with sanctioned entities subject themselves to sanctions. The United States has already imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran since President Donald Trump withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-puts-sanctions-iranian- minister-top-police-officials-for -violent-crackdowns/30624357.html Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Baahubali Actor Rana Daggubati is finally engaged to long-time girlfriend Miheeka Bajaj in Hyderabad. The actor himself took to his social media handles to announce the engagement. He also shared a couple of pictures of the duo from the restricted event, that took place amid the lockdown. He wrote, 'And it's official'. Here are the pictures Rana shared the picture from the ceremony wherein he is seen in a white shirt and lungi, sitting on a chair with Miheeka who wore a beautiful multi-color silk saree, traditional necklace and earings. She completed the look with a bindi. Check Out Rana Daggubati's Tweet Several celebrities including Sivakartikeyan, Varun Tej, and Saina Nehwal have wished the actor and Meehika on their big day. Recently, there were rumours on social media that the duo got engaged on Wednesday. However, Rana's father and producer Suresh Babu Daggubati had clarified that both the families have convened a formal meeting to finalize the auspicious date for the engagement and marriage. His father had also confirmed to a leading portal that Rana's wedding would take place in December. Rana Daggubati had recently surprised his fans and friends by introducing his girlfriend by sharing an adorable picture of the duo on social media. Ever since then the fans were curious to know about their engagement and wedding. Miheeka is the founder of an event management company, Dew Drop Design Studio. She has earlier worked as an intern designer in Mumbai and turned into a writer at Design Pataki. Rana Daggubati will next be seen in Virata Parvam opposite Sai Pallavi. Directed by D Suresh Babu and produced by Sudhakar Cherukuri, the film also stars Priyamani, Nandita Das, Naveen Chandra, Zareena Wahab, Eswari Rao and Sai Chand in pivotal roles. He is also a part of Tamil film Kaadan whose release has been delayed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Rana Daggubati Announces Engagement With GF Miheeka Bajaj; Netizens Start Celebration Brahmaji Trolls Rana Daggubati After He Confirms Relationship With Miheeka Bajaj!" title="Also Read: Brahmaji Trolls Rana Daggubati After He Confirms Relationship With Miheeka Bajaj!" />Also Read: Brahmaji Trolls Rana Daggubati After He Confirms Relationship With Miheeka Bajaj! The CDC has released a list of guiding principles for schools to consider whenever they begin to reopen for in-person learning amid the coronavirus pandemic. One thing quickly becomes clear when reading the document: Whether the 2020-2021 schoolyear starts virtually or not, whenever school bells ring and students burst through the front doors again, things will look drastically different, and educators will have even more obstacles to overcome. Some of the recommendations are logical, such as cleaning surfaces more, even if touching them isnt the easiest way COVID-19 spreads, and frequent handwashing. Others, however, will force school systems to make tough decisions about how they best utilize the entirety of their school buildings. Highlights from the recommendations include: --Its very likely that most, if not all states, will follow the CDC guideline that says facemasks should be worn in school settings. Face coverings may be challenging for students (especially younger students) to wear in all-day settings such as school, the CDC notes. Face coverings should be worn by staff and students (particularly older students) as feasible, and are most essential in times when physical distancing is difficult. --Cafeteria lunches could be a thing of the past. Instead, its recommended that students bring their own lunch, if possible, and if not, that they are served a boxed or otherwise prepackaged lunch that can be consumed in a classroom rather than a large group setting. --Get ready for social distancing in schools. The CDC recommends that: desks or other seating are faced six-feet apart when possible and that desks all face the same way or that only one side of a long table is used. One child per school bus seat and a row between each student is also recommended when possible. --Plastic barriers between bathroom sinks, and maybe even desks as shown in the photo of a South Korea school below, are recommended. Barriers should be installed at the teachers desks too, when possible, and also in the main offices reception area, among other places. Senior students wait for class to begin with plastic boards placed on their desks at Jeonmin High School in Daejeon, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. South Korean students began returning to schools Wednesday as their country prepares for a new normal amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Kim Jun-beom/Yonhap via AP)AP --Cohorting is recommended, meaning that similar small groups of students and staff should stay together all day, every day, when classes are in session. --Could we see specific and scheduled pickup and dropoff times for parents who bring their kids to school? That seems like a real possibility, as well, with the CDC writing: When possible, use flexible worksites (e.g., telework) and flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts) to help establish policies and practices for social distancing (maintaining distance of approximately 6 feet) between employees and others, especially if social distancing is recommended by state and local health authorities. You can read the entirety of the CDC recommendations here. It should be noted that these are not mandates, of course, and that every state will likely operate slightly differently. That said, no state has declared when all students will return to either K-12 or college campuses, but all are certainly aiming for that to happen in the fall. More coronavirus coverage: Daniel Loren Freuler, age 60, died May 1, 2020, in Ketchikan, Alaska. He was born on April 27, 1960, in Vancouver, Wash., to Fred Loren Freuler and Peggy E. (Fuller) Freuler. Dan was an amazing artist. He loved sharing his artwork with family and friends. Daniel and family moved to Ocean Park when he was nine years old. He spent all but the last 20 years on the Peninsula. In 2000, Dan moved to Ketchikan, Alaska. He at that time began to live his dream of fishing and hunting every day. His love for the outdoors was apparent to everyone around him. Dan leaves behind numerous friends that love and adored him during his time in Alaska. But truly the greatest treasure Dan ever found was being saved on Easter Sunday by our Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to his mother, Dan leaves behind eight siblings: Rick Jones of Ocean Park, Wash., Terri Hunt of Cathlamet, Wash., Cindy Delmazzo or Astoria, Oregon, Mary Henkes of Bulb Gap, Tennessee, Bill Freuler of Kelso, Wash., Linda Jordan of Cathlamet, Wash., Jerry Jones of Longview, Wash., and June Preston of Naselle, Wash. He also leaves behind a daughter, Carolann Freuler of Ketchikan, Alaska. He was preceded in death by his father, Fred L. Freuler and a sister, Debbie Thatcher. A celebration of life will be held on Aug. 1. If interested in joining us please contact Peggy Fuller at 360-751-9936 or email lindrb2011@hotmail.com. "Digger Dan" This is a story about Digger Dan, Who finally found his home in Ketchikan. The natives welcomed him to their land, They made him feel like a better man. Out in the woods they would take him, Told him it would either kill him or make him. He was so happy to hunt and fish, The truth came from a man's one wish. All day long he could whittle and draw, All the amazing things that he saw. All the memories that he shared, About the people he met that really cared. He never felt judged when he walked along; In Ketchikan his final home. Yes, Digger Dan who didn't care, When all the tourists would look and stare. He would look back and give them a grin, And tell 'em a story of places he's been. He told them about eagles and deer that he'd hunt, Watching the wolves while he smoked a blunt. He loved it when producers came to see, Digger Dan in search of history. What kind of treasures that he found When digging old dumps all around. From bottles to jars and rings and things From dolls to glass balls and jewels with bling. So much about him That people don't understand. That was part of the life Of the man, Digger Dan. When we all get together I'm sure he'll be pissed, Because of the great party For him, that he missed. Written by Dan's little sister, June Preston - Paid Obituary - Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has promised people of his state that he is doing everything humanly possible to alleviate the suffering of the people. This he said, while delivering an address when he met with religious leaders in Kano today. Governor Ganduje had as the religious leaders to reckon with the fact that the pandemic has come along with the introduction of some restrictions, which are temporary and necessary to save lives. There are a lot of difficulties that have come with measures being taken to fight the virus. But, indeed it is only through them that we can save lives and stop the spread of the virus. However, we have given windows in the lockdown to allow people attend to both economic and religious dealings on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays but with total restrictions and observance of the preventive protocols that include social distancing, use of facemasks, washing of hands and use of sanitizers, Ganduje stated. He urged Imams who have been granted permission to conduct Friday prayers and the Eid prayer to ensure that social distancing and the use of facemasks are strictly adhered to in the mosques. I call on all Imams to strictly observe spacing and social distancing in the mosques. It is not an innovation or addition to the religion but a necessity that comes along with the pandemic. We shall return to the usual methods in the aftermath of the pandemic. Ganduje called on religious leaders, Muslims and Christians alike to cooperate with the state government in the fight against COVID-19. Share this post with your Friends on The Navy has sent back to sea an aircraft carrier that was sidelined in port for two months with a coronavirus outbreak, with no assurances that the virus might not appear again. The USS Theodore Roosevelt departed Naval Base Guam on Thursday in anticipation of needed qualifying landings for pilots on the 1,093-foot ship. The Navy's top officer, Adm. Mike Gilday, asked how he could be confident that there will not be an additional outbreak aboard, asked for a different perspective. "I would ask you not to look at every covid case on every ship as a failure," Gilday responded in a phone call with several reporters. The carrier, with a crew of about 4,900 sailors, is returning to sea after the virus appeared on the ship in March and rapidly spread through the crew. The ship pulled into port in Guam at the end of the month, and more than 1,100 sailors eventually tested positive, including one who died. Gilday acknowledged that 14 sailors who previously tested negative for the virus developed flu-like symptoms after returning to the ship and have been placed in quarantine again. They Navy, he said, is still studying the incubation period for the virus, and is preparing for the possibility of dealing with covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, beyond 2020. "We're just planning for the worst, really," Gilday said. "We have to be ready to continue to operate regardless of the levels of covid." Gilday said that a few hundred sailors from the Theodore Roosevelt's crew are still in Guam recovering from the virus and that Navy officials are working to understand when those individuals are no longer contagious. Some of those sailors will rejoin the ship after the aircraft qualifications are complete in a few days, he said. Gen. David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said in the same phone call that he and other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff met on Monday with Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-diseases expert, and Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. It is difficult to predict whether the United States will be hit with another wave of coronavirus infections, he said. "There is too many unknowns, from their perspective, to accurately forecast," Berger said. "Although, clearly, we've learned a whole hell of a lot from the last three, four months, should that happen." Berger said military leaders are not talking about a "post-covid era," but looking at the issue as "a continuum, where we need to make adjustments along the way." "The military is not a work-from-home force," Berger said. "You expect us to be out there. You expect us to figure out how to do that safely, and that's what we're going to do." Farmer Unable to Sell Eggs Faced With Euthanizing Flock of 80,000 HensUntil Local Woman Steps In The content is not available due to expiration. Charitable organizations rely on donations and fundraisers to finance their causes, and the present crisis has put most of these nonprofits which embody the best of New Jersey in urgent need of a lifeline. The example we most often cite on these pages is our venerable network of food banks, which faces tens of millions in deficits because of a system-wide, 50-percent increase in demand. But that is just one example of the gargantuan need. Our state has 34,000 nonprofits employing 324,000 people, which is 10 percent of our private sector workforce, and their mission is largely about serving the community. So if theres a way to incentivize New Jerseyans to donate to these organizations, it deserves strong consideration, such as the bill that unanimously passed the Senate last week, allowing taxpayers to deduct charitable donations from their state income taxes. The bill is bipartisan, co-sponsored by Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) and the influential Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington), and it could provide a funding boost nonprofits desperately need. And though some may flinch at the potential budget hit, the benefits probably outweigh the fiscal burden. Start with this: The deduction is not offered in perpetuity, as is the case in New York, Delaware, and dozens of others states. It would be in effect only for as long as the pandemic lasts, or until Gov. Murphy declares the end of the public health emergency. Also, those who take this deduction could not give dormitory-wing money to their favorite university. It would be capped at $20,000 for joint filers and $10,000 for individuals. And the tax break could only be applied to contributions made to New Jersey-based charitable organizations, so the financial benefits stay home. Those are reasonable guardrails, though it admittedly is a tough ask in such lean times: The nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services said the state will lose between $72.8 million and $124.9 million in tax revenue in this budget cycle. There is a budget impact, but it also has an extraordinarily high benefit, Kean says. And our charitable groups deserve this boost: They tie this state together, the demands on them have never been higher, and their own needs are growing. This is neighbor helping neighbor. The sponsors point out that the money goes further this way, with nonprofits receiving $30 in donations for every dollar of revenue that the state would forgo. One example of the math: The average New Jersey charitable donor resides in the highest bracket, paying 9 percent of his income if he makes more than $500,000 annually. So if that individual gives the maximum of $10,000 to his favorite charity, he could deduct it from his taxes and it would cost the state $900. Still, that money stays in New Jersey. The beneficiaries would be our food banks, our animal shelters, our community theaters, and our local foundations. The proposal might need work on the margins, but it could be a template for what we do going forward: Nearly 40 states allow this deduction annually, and New Jersey might discover that this is something to adopt beyond the 2020 tax period. The Assembly version is in the Budget Committee, though Speaker Craig Coughlin whose admiration of nonprofits, notably food banks, is well-known has yet to weigh in. We hope he posts it soon, however, because time is critical, and this is an investment in things that make our state special. Linda Czipo, the CEO of the Center for Non-Profits, put it best: By nature, charities are the only deductions that exist for you to do something for someone else, she said. In this case, the money you put into the community is multiplied many times over on impact. And the urgency has never been greater. In times of crisis, you get a greater appreciation for nonprofits, and this is one of those times. This bill deserves a chance. Non-profits often face the greatest challenges raising the funds they need to operate when the need of vulnerable communities is greatest. Its imperative that we support their efforts by boosting donations in a way that is extremely cost efficient. https://t.co/789DePgbD8 Senator Tom Kean (@tomkean) May 14, 2020 Sign up for text message alerts from NJ.com on coronavirus in New Jersey: Tell us your coronavirus stories, whether its a news tip, a topic you want us to cover, or a personal story you want to share. If you would like updates on New Jersey-specific coronavirus news, subscribe to our Coronavirus in N.J. newsletter. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. President Nana Akufo-Addo has advised Ghanaians to find ways of living with the coronavirus pandemic insisting the signs are clear that the virus will be around for a long while. The President has therefore asked the public to strive to religiously observe the various protocols outlined by the health professionals as a sureway of protection. We are going through a very difficult time in our country that all of us are aware of. Nevertheless, it doesnt mean that our lives must come to a stop. The virus is there, but we have to find a way to live with it. Ghanas business must continue. As I have been saying, the most effective measure for us to deal with this virus is our own self-discipline, the protocols of hygiene, social distancing, not shaking hands, protecting ourselves, wearing the face masks etc. These are the short to long term solution to the proliferation of the virus, Akufo-Addo said. Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking at a meeting with the chiefs and elders of the Anlo Traditional Area of the Volta Region on Wednesday at the Jubilee House. Ghana has recorded 6,269 in case count in relation to the Covid-19 disease, after some 173 new infections, according to figures by Ghana Health Service. At least, 125 more recoveries have also been confirmed moving up the total number of recoveries to 1,898. The death toll has remained at 31 since the last two updates. Source: kasapafmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A worker places chairs at a fish restaurant ahead of its reopening in Piraeus, near Athens (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP) Greeces long-awaited tourist season will begin on June 15 with the opening of seasonal hotels, while international flights will be able to head directly to tourist destinations from July 1. In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said visitors would be subject to sample coronavirus testing and our general health protocols will be adhered to, without them, however, overshadowing our bright sun or the natural beauties of Greece. It follows announcements this week that Italy plans to open its borders to tourists from June 3, while Spain could allow the return of holidaymakers from the end of June. Mr Mitsotakis noted that Greece has managed to restrict the spread of the virus, adding: We made our country an example to follow in the handling of the health crisis. His government imposed a lockdown very early in Greeces outbreak, which has been credited with keeping the number of deaths and critically ill people at very low levels. Expand Close PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the Greek nation (Dimitris Papamitsos/Greek Prime Ministers Office via AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses the Greek nation (Dimitris Papamitsos/Greek Prime Ministers Office via AP) On Wednesday, health authorities announced one new death and 10 new confirmed coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of dead to 166 and the total number of confirmed cases to 2,850 in the country of nearly 11 million. But the lockdown has dealt a severe blow to Greeces economy, which has barely emerged from a brutal decade-long financial crisis that saw a quarter of gross domestic product wiped out. Tourism is a vital part of the economy, and authorities have been anxious to ensure the entire summer season is not lost. More than 34 million visitors travelled to Greece last year, spending 18.2 billion euros, according to central data. Let us face reality with courage: April and May was the nadir of tourism, Mr Mitsotakis said. So whatever we achieve this year will be a profit. Mr Mitsotakis also announced a reduction in consumer taxes on transport from 24pc to 13pc, which will lead to cheaper boat, plane and bus tickets during the tourist season, as well as a cut on tax on coffee, soft drinks and open-air cinema tickets. When can I travel from Ireland? Holidays from Ireland are a non-runner until the lifting of official advice against "non-essential travel" and a relaxation of restrictions confining people to within 5km, and subsequently 20km, of their homes to July 20. Quarantines, screening and health protocols all remain to be worked out before travel resumes, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it could be "months rather than weeks" before non-essential air travel returns. - Pol O Conghaile Sign up for our free travel newsletter! Like what you're reading? Subscribe to 'Travel Insider', our free travel newsletter written by award-winning Travel Editor, Pol O Conghaile. The California Wellness Foundation Donates $20,000 Grant to Support Brotherhood Crusade COVID-19 Outreach In response to Brotherhood Crusades COVID-19 Community Rapid Response Fund, The California Wellness Foundation donated a $20,000 grant to help Los Angeles community youth, young adults and families during this critical time. The funds are designed for the most under-served communities that are being adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period when schools and the Brotherhood Crusade YouthSource Center are closed, these funds will directly assist with basic living, academic and household needs and assist students until its safe to reopen the Center. Weve seen numerous examples across California about how COVID-19 is devastating communities of color, said Alex Johnson, Cal Wellness program director. Not only is the pandemic resulting in unacceptably large numbers of people infected and tragic loss of life, its also destroying minority-owned businesses and weakening nonprofits serving these communities. Brotherhood Crusade is critical to South LAs fight against the pandemic, and Cal Wellness is proud to support their efforts. Charisse Bremond Weaver, Brotherhood Crusade President and CEO said, We are grateful to The California Wellness Foundation for this grant, which will support our continued and ongoing outreach during this pandemic to the neediest, most at-risk members of our community. Their mission to protect and improve the health and wellness of the people of California by increasing access to health care, quality education, good jobs, healthy environments and safe neighborhoods is shining bright and igniting hope during these challenging times for the community and people we serve. ADVERTISEMENT The COVID-19 pandemic is a global emergency that is unprecedented in modern history. The Safer at Home mandate issued by the City of Los Angeles was effective Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. and resulted in school closings and mandatory virtual learning via home schooling. The order was extended through July 2020. According to a member from the heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in Chengdu, imprisoned pastor Wang Yi was recently transferred from Chengdu Detention Center to a prison, but the exact location has not been made clear to Wang's family. Chinese Pastor Wang Yi is one of the country's best-known Christian voices and founder of one of its largest underground churches. He was sentenced to nine-year of imprisonment for "subversion of state power and illegal business operations" according to a government statement in December 2019. Last December Wang Yi with more than 100 members of his church congregation was detained. Although most of his parishioners including his wife, Jiang Rong, were released, Mr. Wang was never re-emerged from imprisonment. His wife Jiang Rong and son Shaya Wang have been placed under surveillance since and no one knows where they live now as they are banned from contacting others. Wang's parents are allowed to see Jiang Rong and Shaya once every month under the surveillance of guards. However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, prisons in China have turned in-person visitation to virtual. Wang's mother wishes to visit her son in prison soon and live freely without the authorities' surveillance. New Delhi, May 21 : In an interview with IANS, Himanshu Bakshi, Managing Director, Danone India said that the company is working on affordable protein solutions that can help the masses, under the Protinex umbrella. Danone is also working on bringing healthier eating and drinking choices to Indian consumers. Bakshi said that the health foods category where Danone operates, is more relevant today than ever before with Immunity being key. "We are hoping that the sector will soon adjust itself to the 'new normal'," he added. Q: As per a Nielsen survey, the value growth of the FMCG sector fell to its lowest in seven quarters due to the coronavirus pandemic. What is the outlook on the sector? A: We are in the middle of a health and economic crisis with no historical parallels. It is very difficult to predict how the sector will respond. The health foods category where we operate, is more relevant today than ever before with Immunity being key. We are hoping that the sector will soon adjust itself to the "new normal". There is a renewed focus on Make in India which will boost local innovations that are affordable and relevant for Indian consumers. Over 95 per cent of our portfolio is made in India, and we continue to invest in innovations that is relevant for Indian consumers. More companies will now start to do this. Q: What are the supply chain and logistics issues being faced by companies due to the lockdown? A: The government has been very proactive in its support to Essential goods and services that have been allowed uninterrupted movement. However, topical issues like lack of transportation and availability of labour continues to pose a challenge in distribution. In addition, movement in red zones and containment zones is restricted, which is beyond anyone's control. Q: Are the relaxations made in the lockdown helping the functioning of the company and what is the status of the manufacturing plants? A: Our products are classified as 'essentials food' which was issued by Ministry of Food Processing Industries, hence we are not facing major operational challenges. Our plants have been operational, and we are ensuring proper hygiene and safety of our employees at the plant. After the initial hiccups of a couple of weeks, we are operating smoothly. Q: Given the current COVID situation, what initiatives are being taken by Danone? A: Health and Safety of our employees is our key priority. While majority of the staff are working from home, our manufacturing sites are open, and some of our Sales teams are on the field and we ensure that all employees on field or at home are safe and healthy. We are practicing social distancing, sanitation and deep cleaning of all areas as per Government guidelines and our global processes to ensure safety for all. We have initiated many virtual training, wellness sessions and regular town halls to stay connected with the teams. We are also focusing on strategic donations to contribute and support front line workers in these times of the pandemic. Q: While nutrition may be essential, purchasing power with reduced incomes will become a casualty in a pandemic? Affordability becomes an issue and then there is downtrading. Your views. A: The pandemic has reminded us of the age-old adage 'health is wealth' and nutrition plays a key role here like never before. It is an opportunity for food companies to provide affordable food offerings and innovation can play a key role here. We are working on affordable protein solutions that can help the masses, under our Protinex umbrella. We are also working on bringing healthier eating and drinking choices to Indian consumers. Q: What are Danone's initiatives on major food and health challenges? A: Protein deficiency is a major concern for India, and Danone is committed to spread awareness about the importance of Protein and its impact on overall health and wellbeing. Through a combination of marketing communication and advocacy efforts, we have managed to create properties which help in establishing importance of protein and at the same time burst myths associated with it. We also partner FSSAI on the Eat Right initiative, to support their efforts on sugar reduction and healthier food choices. (Sanjeev Sharma can be contacted at sanjeev.s@ians.in) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text ORRs of 73% and 74% with Belumosudil (KD025) 200 mg QD and 200 mg BID, Respectively Kadmon Participating in FDA's Real-Time Oncology Review Pilot Program Conference Call Today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 21, 2020 / Kadmon Holdings, Inc. (KDMN) today announced positive topline results from the primary analysis of ROCKstar (KD025-213), the pivotal trial evaluating belumosudil (KD025) in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) who have received at least two prior lines of systemic therapy. Belumosudil (KD025) achieved clinically meaningful and statistically significant Overall Response Rates (ORRs) of 73% with 200 mg once daily (QD) (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 60%, 83%; p VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. (TSX-V: REVO), (Frankfurt:IJA2) (the Company) is pleased to announce that RevoluPAY S.L has been granted the Pan-European PSD2 license by the Central Bank of Spain. Company CEO, Steve Marshall, comments: While this has been a long and arduous road, today we have been granted the PSD2 license. I believe that we have utilized the interim time wisely, building a venerable ensemble of revenue verticals which are now poised to fully capitalize upon the new unlimited processing ability granted to us via this proprietary Central Bank issued PSD2 license. I would further like to extend my gratitude to our shareholders for their sheer patience and tenacity over these past 18 months. The entire management of RevoluGROUP are appreciative of your unwavering support of the company through what seemed like an endless journey. Likewise, I would like to extend a special thank you to our corporate legal counsel Hogan Lovells and, in particular, Director Jaime Bofill. Those countless days and nights you invested alongside us to guarantee our future are greatly appreciated Jaime About the PSD2 Central Bank Issued License Several United States Tech Companies possess the coveted PSD2 license, however, RevoluGROUP became the first Canadian company to be granted the banking license via the companys Barcelona based wholly owned subsidiary RevoluPAY S.L. Under the auspices of EU Directive 2015/2366, RevoluPAY is licensed by means of the said EU Banking Directive, administered by the European Commission as a payment service provider throughout the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). Beyond the borders of the 27 EU member countries, through bilateral banking agreements or analogous licensing, RevoluPAY will now pursue the rapid penetration of the North and South American Markets, Asia and, subsequently, the rest of the world. The PSD2 directive's aim is to augment banking competition and engender participation in the payments industry from nonconventional banks, and to provide for a level playing field by harmonizing consumer protection and the rights and obligations for payment providers and users. The key objectives of the PSD2 directive are creating a more integrated payments market, making digital payments safer and more secure and protecting consumers. In preparation of the granting of its PSD2 open banking license, during 2018 and 2019, RevoluGROUP developed and launched its proprietary flagship technology RevoluPAY, the Apple and Android multinational payment app and the RevoluPAY app-linked Visa Card. Conceived entirely in-house, the RevoluPAY app features proprietary, sector specific, technology of which the resulting source code is the property of the company. RevoluPAYs built-in features include: Leisure payments, travel payments, forex, retail and hospitality payments, Remittance payments, Real Estate payments, Healthcare Payments, Egaming, Esports, pay-as-you-go phone top-ups, Utility Bill payments, alternative Lending, etc. RevoluPAY is powered by blockchain protocols, and, is squarely aimed at worldwide multi-billion dollar leisure sectors and, + $595 billion family remittance market. While awaiting the license the company processed millions of dollars in transactions during the financially capped live trials, subsequently, RevoluGROUP has demonstrated the real-world robustness of its Fintech platforms and secured its place in the disruptive banking sector of the future. From today, RevoluPAY is authorized to process unlimited transaction volumes into the future. RevoluPAY S.L Increases Paid-Up Share Capital As a consequence of the license having been granted The Company preemptively further increased the paid-up share capital of RevoluPAY S.L by 300,000 Euros (approx. C$ 463,000). Said capital is now 735,000 euros as at 14 May 2020. Links Utilized in this News Release https://revolugroup.com/psd2_bank_license/psd2/ https://revolugroup.com/psd2_bank_license/what-is-psd2/ About RevoluPAY The Companys flagship technology is the PSD2 Licensed RevoluPAY, the Apple and Android multinational payment app. Built entirely in-house, RevoluPAY features proprietary, sector specific, technology of which, the resulting source code is the property of the Company. RevoluPAYs built-in features include: Leisure payments, Travel Payments, Retail and Hospitality payments, Remittance Payments, Real Estate Payments, pay-as-you-go phone top-ups, Gift Cards & Online Credits, Utility Bill payments, etc. RevoluPAY is powered by blockchain protocols, and, is squarely aimed at the worldwide multi-billion dollar leisure sector and, + $595 billion family remittance market. RevoluPAY is operated by the European wholly owned subsidiary RevoluPAY EP S.L located in Barcelona. RevoluPAY EP S.L is a fully self-licensed European PSD2 payment institution under the auspices of EU Directive 2015/2366. RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. controls 5 wholly owned subsidiaries on 4 continents. About RevoluGROUP Canada Inc.: RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. is a multi-asset, multidivisional publicly traded Canadian company deploying advanced technologies in the; Online Travel, Vacation Resort, Mobile Apps, Money Remittance, Mobile Phone Top-Ups, EGaming, Healthcare Payments, Esports, Invoice factoring, Blockchain Systems, and Fintech app sectors. Click here to read more. For further information on RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. (TSX-V: REVO) visit the Companys website at www.RevoluGROUP.com. The Company has approximately 161,658,772 shares issued and outstanding. RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. Steve Marshall ______________________ STEVE MARSHALL CEO For further information contact: Don Mosher RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. Telephone: (604) 685-6465 Toll Free: 800-567-8181 Facsimile: 604-687-3119 Email: info@revolugroup.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. A team of research scientists from the Crops Research Institute (CSIR) have established that a supposed apple tree at Wiamoase in the Ashanti Region is a specie of fig. Social media had been awash with pictures and videos suggesting that an apple tree was bearing fruits in the said area. This generated some excitement on social media given that it has long been held that Apple trees cannot grow in climates such as Ghanas. Many other people said the development could spell an end to Ghanas importation of Apple. But the team from CSIR after visiting the area to ascertain the veracity of the tree concluded that the said tree could be Ficus sycomorus which is native to tropical Africa, South of the Sahel as well as North of the Tropic of Capricorn. Below is a statement from the CSIR on their discovery ALLEGED FRUITING OF APPLE AT WIAMOASE, ASHANTI REGION: CSIR-CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE DEBUNKS CLAIM A team of research scientists from the CSIR-Crops Research Institute visited Wiamoase, in the Sekyere-South District of the Ashanti region to ascertain the veracity of the alleged apple fruiting in the community. The team included the Agona District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Ernest Owusu Kwarteng and was led by Mr. Beloved Mensah Dzomeku, a Principal Research Scientist and lead horticulturist of the Institute. The alleged apple tree is growing on latitude 07o 03' 333'' N and longitude 001o 31'150'' W, at an altitude 432m above sea level as a shade tree in a house. On site, the team made the following observations: Morphologically, the tree has several adventitious roots emerging from the stem and branches (see photos below). The transverse and longitudinal sections of the immature fruits show several seeds within the fruit (see photo below). The peel of the fruit contains a thick whitish latex which sticks to objects and the hand and is difficult to clean. Additionally, the team used PlantSnap, a high-tech, comprehensive and accurate plant identification mobile app which is able to identify over 90 percent of all known species of plants and trees to match the leaves of the supposed plant and confirmed that indeed it was a fig tree (Ficus sp.) and not an apple tree as previously claimed. The Institute believes that the said tree could be Ficus sycomorus which is native to tropical Africa, South of the Sahel as well as North of the Tropic of Capricorn. Its fruit is a large edible fig, 23 cm in diameter, ripening from buff-green to yellow or red. They are borne in thick clusters on long branchlets or the leaf axil. Ecology of Fig Fig belongs to the family Moraceae (sometimes called Mulberry family). There are over 850 different types of fig in the world. Available literature indicates that the Fig infructescence is pollinated by symbiosis with fig wasp (Blastophaga psenes). Various reports also state that the fertilized female wasp enters the fig through the scion, which has a tiny hole in the crown (the ostiole). She crawls on the inflorescence inside the fig and pollinates some of the female flowers. She lays her eggs inside some of the flowers and dies. After weeks of development in their galls, the male wasps emerge before females through holes they produce by chewing the galls. The male wasps then fertilize the females by depositing semen in the hole in the gall. The males later return to the females and enlarge the holes to enable the females to emerge. Then some males enlarge holes in the scion, which enables females to disperse after collecting pollen from the developed male flowers. Part of the canopy Females have a short time (<48 hours) to find another fig tree with receptive scions to spread the pollen, assist the tree in reproduction, and lay their own eggs to start a new cycle. It was not surprising that having cut open the immature fruits, there was an insect in it. In 2017, the total world production of fig was 1,152,799 tonnes with the leading producing countries being Turkey (305,689tons), Egypt (177,135tons), Morocco (137,934tons), Algeria (128, 684 tons) and Iran 70,730 tonnes (FAOSTAT, 2018) ---citinewsroom A British bar worker has been found dead in her wardrobe in the Spanish party resort of Magaluf. Danielle Finlay Brookes, 24, originally from Crewe, Cheshire, was discovered on Tuesday night at her flat in an apartment block near the resort's Punta Ballena strip. Local reports said she had been discovered lifeless inside a wardrobe by a concerned neighbour who managed to get inside before calling police. Police sources said Danielle's death was not being treated as suspicious at this stage. Danielle Finlay Brookes, a British expat who had been living and working in Magaluf for a number of years, was found dead at her apartment in the Spanish party resort late Tuesday Well-wishers have already donated nearly 5,000 towards a GoFundMe appeal set up to raise money towards repatriation and funeral costs for Danielle, who had aspired to be an actress while still in the UK, and appeared as an extra in BBC's Citizen Khan in 2014. Friend Jay Burton wrote: 'Absolutely devastated to hear the news Danielle Finlay Brookes. 'You were the life of the party everywhere you were. Hope you rest in peace. Magaluf won't be the same without you.' He added in a later post: 'Sending all my love to everyone else who is struggling through this tough time. 'Being stuck indoors, with your mind doing somersaults, thinking you're not good enough, with the biggest challenge of the day being putting a smile on your face. 'Thinking no-one would care if you just didn't wake up the next day. 'Today seeing all the support from the Maga family after losing an amazing girl who cared for everyone, makes me realise how life is too short and many people actually do care. 'To all my friends and family, please check on those you haven't heard from in a while.' One of the two expats who set up the fundraising site is Meghan Tattersall, who wrote in a Facebook post: 'Your are my best friend and my angel high in the sky. I'm truly heartbroken. 'I'm so proud to be able to spend everyday with you. Fly high my princess. RIP to my girl I'm so proud of. I love you.' Local reports say she was found inside her wardrobe by a concerned neighbour who broke in then called police. Officers say her death is not being treated as suspicious (pictured, the apartment block where she lived) Danielle, who described herself on social media as a 'Queen building her own empire' had worked in Magaluf for several years. She is thought to have lived alone. She was described as a worker at the Three Lions Karaoke bar in an October 2018 post on social media. Another friend, Rob Dury, added: 'No words can describe how much all your friends and family will miss that smile. 'A beautiful young woman taken too soon. Thanks for being you. I will miss your hugs and chats.' The latest tragedy comes just less than a month after the death of another much-loved Magaluf bar worker, 33-year-old Irishman Anthony Ennis. He plunged to his death from his eighth-floor apartment in the party resort just after 5am on April 28. Anthony, believed to be from Waterville, Co Kerry, worked at the well-known Stereo Bar in Magaluf. He was described as a 'diamond of a bloke' by one friend after it emerged he had died. The results of an investigation into his death have not been made public but police are not understood to be treating the incident as a crime. Like Danielle, popular Anthony was gearing up for a much quieter season this year because of the coronavirus crisis. Brits normally make up most of the holidaymakers flocking to Magaluf and its raucous Punta Ballena party strip in the peak summer season months. But local tourism chiefs have predicted they could be outnumbered by other nationalities including Spaniards and Germans this year if a feared UK quarantine keeps them away. Crewe-based Michael Finlay Brookes thanked people for their support in an emotional message posted on social media. He said alongside footage of the tragic expat singing Fergie hit 'Big Girls Don't Cry' in happier times: 'I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everyone that helped Danielle enjoy her last few years. 'She loved Maga and everyone who drank in her bar. Thank you. Absolutely heartbroken. She will always be my baby girl.' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Thu, May 21, 2020 Twenty-two years ago, on May 21, history recorded the fall of an authoritarian leader in Indonesia. Days of nationwide riots led to the ouster of the military-backed dictator Soeharto, the countrys second president, who had held a tight grip on power for 31 years. The Reform era had finally arrived, but with a hefty price tag: thousands of people lost their lives and many women of Chinese descent had to endure the crippling effects of gang rape. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Mumbai, May 21 : Solanki Diwakar just has one regret in life. He was supposed to do a bit role in the Rishi Kapoor-starrer "Sharmaji Namkeen" during its Delhi schedule. Shoot got cancelled due to the lockdown and, now that Kapoor is no more, he will never get to share screen space with him. You understand his pain when you realise his stint as an actor is basically driven by passion more than professional demand. Solanki Diwakar is a fruitseller by profession. He has been selling fruits in Delhi for the last 10 years. While he does small roles in Bollywood movies, he sells fruits to earn a living. "I was supposed to play the role of a watermelon seller in 'Sharmaji Namkeen'. I had two or three lines of dialogue with Rishi Kapoor ji. I was even given the date for the shoot. The date was changed two or three times and then suddenly sir ji's health deteriorated and he went back to Mumbai. Unfortunately, he passed away and the shoot could not happen. I was very excited and looking forward to shooting with him. Now I will have to live with this regret that our shoot did not happen," Diwakar told IANS. He has appeared in several Bollywood movies in the past, starting with "Titli" (2014). Last year, he had small roles in the Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer "Sonchiriya" and the Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer "Dream Girl". Being extremely passionate about acting, he takes up whatever small comes his way. However, the payment from such bit roles is not enough to sustain his family of wife and two kids. So Diwakar, a resident of Delhi's Sriniwaspuri area, sells fruits off a cart in Delhi's Malviya Nagar and Lajpat Nagar areas. "Acting was always my first love. I developed a passion for acting in my growing up years while selling papad during intervals at a theatre in my hometown Achnera (in Uttar Pradesh). Today I would not sell fruits if I earned enough money acting in films -- if I got work regularly all through the year and got paid enough to sustain my family. Given a chance, I would want to act in a 1000 films, but it's my bad luck that I don't get roles frequently. So it's my majboori (compulsion) that I have to sell fruits because I have no other option," he said. Diwakar will be next be seen in the Netflix film, "The White Tiger", the shoot for which has already been completed. He has a role with negative shades in the film, which has Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra in its cast. She has been keeping herself busy during lockdown by caring for her seven horses and two newborn foals, Rainbow and Storm. And Summer Monteys-Fullam made the most of the sunny climes on Thursday as she bathed her horse in Kent. The stunning redhead, 24, who split from Paul Hollywood last year, showed off her tanned and toned figure on Instagram during the sunbathing session. Sunny days: Summer Monteys-Fullam made the most of the sunny climes on Thursday as she bathed her horse in Kent Summer's washboard abs were on display as she topped up her tan in a strapless red bandeau bikini top and denim hotpants, which she left unbuttoned. The equestrian lover worked the camera as she showed off her incredible figure from all angles while walking through the countryside. She swept her heavy fringe off her face as she got to work caring for her horses and shared a clip of herself rubbing suncream onto their noses. Sizzling display: The stunning redhead, 24, who split from Paul Hollywood last year, showed off her tanned and toned figure on Instagram during the sunbathing session Incredible figure: Summer's washboard abs were on display as she topped up her tan in a strapless red bandeau and denim hotpants, which she left unbuttoned Sunbathing session: The equestrian lover worked the camera as she showed off her incredible figure from all angles while walking through the countryside Last month, Summer made a thinly-veiled dig at her Bake Off judge ex Paul, 54, after it was reported that he has already moved his new lover into the house they shared in Kent. Summer took to Instagram stories to share a snap of the view, which she accompanied with the track Savage by Megan Thee Stallion. The lyrics appeared to be quite pointed: 'B***h, that's my trash, you the maid, so you bagged him, ah I'm a savage (yeah), Classy, bougie, ratchet (yeah); Sassy, moody, nasty (hey, hey, yeah)! 'Acting stupid, what's happening? B***h (whoa, whoa) What's happening? B***h (whoa, whoa). I'm a savage, yeah! Classy, bougie, ratchet, yeah!' The post comes after friends of Paul's revealed his new girlfriend - pub landlady Melissa Spalding, 36 - is self-isolating with him in his 1 million farmhouse, just eight months after splitting from Summer. Lots to do! The Kent beauty has been keeping herself busy during lockdown by caring for her seven horses and two newborn foals, Rainbow and Storm Sweet: Summer shared a clip of herself rubbing suncream onto their noses Case of the ex: Summer split from Paul last year after he asked her to sign a NDA Friends say she immediately accepted his invitation to relocate from the nearby Chequers pub in the village of Smarden where she lived, amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Paul bought the Grade II-listed house last year for him and Summer to live in. A friend told The Mail on Sunday: 'Paul and Melissa got together soon after his split from Summer and they are really happy together. Actually its looking like this one could very well last for Paul.' USA TODAY NETWORK Authorities believe a shooting that injured one person at a south Texas naval base on Thursday morning was terrorism-related. The suspect attempted to ram a security gate at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi with a vehicle at around 6:15 a.m., a U.S. defense official told CNN. Security guards deployed a barrier to stop the vehicle but the suspect then got out and started firing, the official said. The gunman was then neutralized by a security guard, the FBI said. One member of the naval security forces was injured but was in good condition, the U.S. Navy said. It wasnt immediately clear if the injured person was also the person who took the shooter down. FBI Senior Supervisory Agent Leah Greeves said in a Thursday afternoon briefing that the agency believed the incident was motivated by terrorism, and they were looking for a second person of interest. The base sounded the alarm with a Facebook post early Thursday, writing that an apparent shooter had been sighted near the stations north gate. The warning instructed anyone who was close to the gate to get out and away to safety as the rest of the base was ordered to go into its lockdown procedure. Shortly after the initial statement, the base confirmed in a separate Facebook post that the immediate danger appeared to be over. The statement read: Naval Security Forces at NAS Corpus Christi responded to an active shooter at approximately 6:15 a.m. this morning. The shooter has been neutralized. All gates on the installation remain closed while first responders process the scene. NCIS and local law enforcement are on scene. In a further update, the base wrote, The active shooter is neutralized, however the scene is not clear. Remain in a lockdown status. For your safety, do not move around the base unless cleared to do so. Its the second terrorism-related attack on a U.S. naval base in less than six months. In December, a gunman killed three men and injured eight others at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The shooter, Saudi Arabian aviation student Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was participating in a training exchange program with the U.S. Navy. He was killed at the scene. Story continues Prior to the shooting, hed reportedly hosted a dinner party with three other Saudi students and had watched videos of U.S. mass shootings. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the December shooting. The FBI had confirmed just three days ago that it was the first terrorist attack on American territory that had been directed by a foreign actor since 9/11. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. By PTI KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said the coronavirus coming from India is "more lethal" than those from China and Italy and blamed the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the Himalayan nation on those sneaking into the country from India, as the total number of COVID-19 cases jumped to 427 on Wednesday. Speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic in Parliament on Tuesday, Oli said it has become very difficult for Nepal to contain the spread of the deadly virus due to the flow of people from outside. "Many coronavirus infected patients have entered Nepal. The virus came from outside, as we did not have here before. We could not stop infiltration of people from outside the border," he said. Oli said that the biggest challenge facing the country today is the rising number of coronavirus cases and blamed the rising number of coronavirus cases on individuals breaking the nationwide lockdown, especially those sneaking into Nepal from India. "The coronavirus coming from India are more lethal than those from China and Italy," he said. "Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing," Oli was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. Oli's remarks came amid Nepal's border row with India after the construction of a key road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. He said the Nepal government has been following precautionary measures since early time to stop the spread of the virus. "It is the main priority of the government to make the country free from coronavirus," he said. There were reports of hundreds of people entering the country daily through different border points despite the deployment of security personnel at all major entry points along the Nepal-India border to check cross-border movement of people during the lockdown. Many of the confirmed coronavirus cases in Nepal are those who returned after attending the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area in early March. Foreign nationals, particularly from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan attended the Tablighi activities in Delhi. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Oli had instructed authorities to intensify the vigil along the country's southern border with India due to a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus patients and directed the officials to properly manage the lockdown. The nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus has been extended until June 2. The coronavirus cases in Nepal on Wednesday rose to 427 after 25 new infection cases were confirmed, the Health Ministry said. Two persons, a man and a woman, have died due to COVID-19 in the country so far. Prime Minister Oli on Tuesday asserted that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to Nepal and vowed to "reclaim" them from India through political and diplomatic efforts, as his Cabinet endorsed a new political map showing the three areas as Nepalese territory. Addressing Parliament, Oli said the territories belong to Nepal "but India has made it a disputed area by keeping its Army there." "Nepalis were blocked from going there after India stationed its Army," he said. The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. India has said that the recently-inaugurated road section in Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand lies completely within its territory. Indian Army chief Gen MM Naravane last week said that there were reasons to believe that Nepal objected to India's newly-inaugurated road linking Lipulekh Pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand at the behest of "someone else", in an apparent reference to a possible role by China on the matter. He said there was no dispute whatsoever between India and Nepal in the area and road laid was very much within the Indian side. Airlines in the country had no other option but to play ball when the government put forward the proposal to cap the fares as a condition to resume domestic flights. "The choice was either don't start operations, or accept the fares," said a senior official from a private airline. That explains the buzz in the industry after the government's decision to cap fares as airlines resume operations from May 25. Addressing the media on May 21, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri explained the fare cap, taking the Delhi-Mumbai route as an example. It is the busiest route in India, and among the top-five globally. Also Read | Delhi-Mumbai minimum air fare Rs 3,500, max Rs 10,000 COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Experts opine that this is going to be a dent for airlines. "The pre-COVID-19 fares were highly discounted. As per the existing fare list, the maximum fare for DEL-BOM is about Rs 23,000 one way. SpiceJet listed tickets at Rs 17,000, which is lesser. By capping the fare at Rs 10,000 it's going to be a big blow for the airlines," said Amit Singh, an industry veteran and Fellow of London's Royal Aeronautical Society. Also Read | Planning to take a flight? Read these important government guidelines "The fares are varied by the revenue management system to ensure that the flight generates the yield to cover expenses. If you cap the fare at Rs 10,000 and the flight is 25 percent booked, its a dead loss. Its better not to fly than make more loss," Singh added. Though Puri has clarified that the airlines don't need to keep the middle seats in flights empty - to maintain social distancing - the demand is expected to be muted given the increasing number of those reported to be infected with COVID-19. The initial flights though could be full, given the pent up demand from those who are stuck in different parts of the country. On the fare cap, a senior executive from the industry further explained why it is important not to control the rates, and how it impacts the weakest airline the most. "If intrinsic demand is muted, then the minimum fare will help in general. Maximum fare will not be that relevant. However, when demand is muted and minimum fare is higher than what it would otherwise have been, the weakest player suffers the most as it cannot use discounting as a method to steal share from competitors as well as buses and trains, or to stimulate demand. Then the demand goes to the stronger players offering that fare." He added: "That is why typically leaving fares to be determined by the market is the best method." The only relief for airlines may be that the present regulation will last till August 24, after which the government will review the situation. Will flyers gain? Ironically though, passengers, who were enjoying rock bottom fares before the virus struck, have been left wondering after looking at the fare band for the Delhi-Mumbai route. A Delhi-Mumbai ticket had gone down to Rs 2,200 one way. Nishant Pitti, CEO of EaseMyTrip.com, however believes that the customer still stands to gain. "Earlier customers had to pay up to Rs 25,000 one way for Delhi-Mumbai tickets in peak season. Now with the upper cap, they will end up paying a lower fare of approximately Rs 11,000, even for a last-minute flight. According to us, trends will shift more on last minute, or bookings for the next three days of travel." Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press Gov. Greg Abbott proceeded with allowing more Texas businesses to open this week even after the state recorded its worst day for COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Plus, Texas Democrats and Attorney General Ken Paxton are battling it out in the courts over whether you should be able to vote by mail or be required to vote in person during the coronavirus outbreak. Perry N. Halkitis, the dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said that it was impossible to know how much contact tracing has helped control the spread of the virus. But contact tracing, he noted, is one of the few tools that we actually have in the absence of a vaccine. When the first cases began to appear in Paterson in mid-March, the Board of Health added two dozen employees who had been trained in communicable disease investigation last year to join their regular team of two disease detectives. Since then, the full team, which the board calls its Covid-19 strike force, has grown to nearly 50 of the 60 board employees. Joining a dozen public health nurses are clerical staff, translators and health inspectors. The boards accountant, Bob Ardis, tallies total cases and deaths and asks the police to drop by homes where positive cases dont pick up the phone. We are almost like an extra arm of the Board of Health here, said Lt. Detective Louis Spagnola, the groups police liaison. Calls do not always go smoothly. On Saturday, Ms. Mugulusi called a 26-year-old man to let him know he had been exposed. Yeah, I know, my mom tested positive, he told her, with street noise in the background. If you are aware, then you know you should be in quarantine, Ms. Mugulusi told him. So what are you doing on the street? He hung up on her. She said the police will now visit him to see if he is staying home. On may 20, clusters of restaurant customers eagerly browsed menus and sipped espresso on Greenwich Avenue for the first time in months, while shoppers checked out the goods at the handful of boutiques and stores. READ MORE: Back in business: Reopening in Greenwich draws praise, relief Scroll to see scenes of reopening day in Greenwich. Note: Ad blocker may prevent you from scrolling all the way through. President Muhammadu Buhari A Civil Rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari for refusing to follow federal character in his appointments. The group accused the President of intentionally using people from Hausa, Fulani, and Kanuri extraction to dominate strategic positions in his government. It stressed that due to the deep-seated Northern Muslims domination of all strategic federal appointments under Buhari including the skewed appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), the next government may need to convoke a year-long National Constitutional Conference to try to mend the deeply broken fences. A statement sent to DAILY POST by HURIWAs National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko reads: The current Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has skewed all strategic appointments to favour his cronies and political affiliates in the Core Moslem North and a sprinkling of some Christian Northerners but millions of Northerners are left marginalised just like the heavily marginalised Southerners under the current administration. However the impact is felt more in the far North whereby due to a large-scale state of wars by armed hoodlums many poor individuals in places like Sokoto and Katsina States have since the last two years migrated into Niger Republic for succour and security whilst only a few Northern elites with assets offshore are the few controlling the national assets under the watch of the selective administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Last year the Daily Trust reported that Many Nigerians residing in Katsina State have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic to escape persistent attacks by kidnappers and bandits. In addition to evacuating their family members, the Nigerians are also acquiring plots and building houses in Niger Republics towns of Maradi and Dan Issa. This is even as some of them have obtained resident permits, allowing them to stay in the West African country. HURIWA blamed the unequal redistribution of national wealth for the total state of anarchy in the North. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNetX, the global health research network that revolutionizes clinical research and enables discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence (RWE) is working with the FDA Sentinel Operations Center at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute (HPHCI) to monitor priority drugs used for the care of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. HPHCI is leveraging TriNetX's de-identified COVID-19 clinical data set to support studies aimed to sequentially monitor sedatives and priority drugs used to assist with mechanical ventilation, therapies for respiratory disease, and other medications used to treat COVID-19. The purpose of these projects, which includes examining both inpatient and outpatient drug usage, is to assess changing patterns of use to support regional assessments of drug use and to evaluate the possibilities of medicine shortages. Representatives from the FDA, HPHCI and TriNetX presented preliminary findings and discussed how to best use real-world data to support COVID-19 evidence generation during the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA COVID-19 Evidence Accelerator Lab Meeting on May 14. "Rapid and interactive access to a large, growing, and frequently updated data source of COVID-19 patients is critical for monitoring drug use in these patients," said Jeffrey Brown, PhD, from the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. "TriNetX is providing the right data at the right time in a way that makes it easily available to decision makers." "We are pleased to be able to work with Harvard Pilgrim through the Sentinel program to help inform decision makers when analyzing utilization and safety of drugs," said Gadi Lachman, Chief Executive Officer at TriNetX. "We are especially happy to be able to provide near real-time, real-world data during this time of COVID-19 when the FDA is being called on to make critical decisions every day." TriNetX is a technology partner for the Sentinel System, an active surveillance system sponsored by the FDA to monitor the safety of regulated medical products using pre-existing electronic healthcare data from multiple sources. The Sentinel System is operated by HPHCI as part of the FDA's Sentinel Initiative, a long-term effort to improve the FDA's ability to identify and assess medical product safety issues. About TriNetX TriNetX is the global health research network that connects the world of drug discovery and development from pharmaceutical company to study site, and investigator to patient by sharing real-world data to make clinical and observational research easier and more efficient. TriNetX combines real time access to longitudinal clinical data with state-of-the-art analytics to optimize protocol design and feasibility, site selection, patient recruitment, and enable discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence. The TriNetX platform is HIPAA and GDPR compliant. For more information, visit TriNetX at www.trinetx.com or follow @TriNetX on Twitter. About Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine is a unique collaboration between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School. Created in 1992, it is the first appointing medical school department in the United States based in a health plan. The Institute focuses on improving health care delivery and population health through innovative research and teaching. Media Contacts TriNetX Jennifer Haas (978) 697-3921 [email protected] Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Maya Dutta-Linn [email protected] SOURCE TriNetX Related Links https://www.trinetx.com This pandemic will likely have a significant impact on the November election and on how voters across the country cast their ballots, said Obama, who did not turn on her video on the Zoom call, but used a photo of herself in a purple suit as her avatar. Already in state and local elections, weve seen voters forced to choose between protecting their health and making their voices heard. And thats absolutely not acceptable. The big thing to keep an eye on, she said, was ensuring that the health and economic crisis of the pandemic doesnt turn into a crisis of democracy, too. Nepals Land Reforms Minister Padma Aryal in a press conference on Wednesday unveiled a revised official map of the country that redrew its border with India to include disputed territories. The new map, which was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by the Nepalese Prime Minister KP Oli, showed Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani in its northwest as its own territory. India, however, rejected the map. This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India, said Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The latest development in the dispute comes almost two weeks after Defense minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a road linking Uttarakhand with Lipulekh on the border with Tibet to aid pilgrims to Mansarovar in China. While India claimed that the road runs through its sovereign territory, Nepal had raised objections over it. Incidentally, when India had issued a new map last after the division of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh, Nepal had similarly objected to India showing Kalapani as part of Uttarakhand. Whats the Dispute? Although India and Nepal have resolved almost all of their territorial disputes through diplomatic dialogue, two major disputes still stand - over small stretches of land remain. These are Kalapani in Nepals northwest and Susta to its south near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. The latest issue is related to the Kalapani region. The territory is strategically important to India as this is where India, China (Tibet) and Nepal meet and has been under Indian control since the 1962 war with China. While India claims that the territory falls in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, Nepal has maintained that it is an integral part of its Dharchula District in Sudurpaschim Pradesh. The border in Kalapani is demarcated by the Kali river or Mahakali river. Nepal considers the river as its western border with India and claims that the land falling to its East is its territory as per the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli between Nepal and British East India Company. However, both India and Nepal disagree over the origin of the river and, hence, the dispute arises. Nepal maintains that Lipu Gad, one of the tributaries of the Kali river that merges into the main river at Kalapani is, in fact, Kali river up to its source to the east of the Lipu Lekh Pass, wrote scholar Alok Kumar Gupta for the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. India, however, considers Kalapani, where all the tributaries including Lipu Gad merge, to be the point of origin of the Mahakali river. During the dialogue to resolve the dispute, India has held that map sketched in 1879 and 1928, which shows the Kalapani region as India's territory by British India should form the basis for the origin of the river as well as the demarcation of the border. On the other hand, Nepal has pressed for the maps sketched 1850 and 1856 by the British-Indian government for the same purpose. Wrapped in nationalist fervour, the dispute is a politically significant issue within Nepal and the country has time and again claimed the presence of Indian forces in the region to be an encroachment of its sovereign territory. It is in this context that Aryal called the unveiling of the new map "a historic moment of happiness for the people of Nepal". The president of the Council of Minorca, Susana Mora, has revealed that a German airline is interested in scheduling two flights a week to the island from mid-June. These would be round-trip flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Mora, who has spoken with the airline's representatives and will meet them again next week, preferred not to name the airline or the airport, which is understood to be in a region of Germany with low incidence of coronavirus infections. For the Council, this possibility of flights is something of a relief. It has been concerned that the regional government's desire for safe corridor flights from Germany would leave Minorca in a situation of "competitive inferiority", as Majorca would receive these flights. Germany is Majorca's largest foreign tourism market. For Minorca, Germany is third or fourth after the UK, Italy and France (French and German tourist numbers are, in normal circumstances, much the same). The Council has, for now, practically ruled out there being safe corridors with the UK and Italy, but French regions are a possibility. In Germany, the government has announced that its citizens will be able to travel to safe destinations from 15 June. China is on a "massive disinformation" campaign and is desperately trying to deflect the "pain and carnage" that it spread throughout the world, US President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Trump, who has expressed disappointment over China's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed that it was the "incompetence" of Beijing that led to the mass killing across the globe. "China is on a massive disinformation campaign because they are desperate to have Sleepy Joe Biden win the presidential race so they can continue to rip-off the United States, as they have done for decades, until I came along!" Trump said in a tweet on Wednesday. "Spokesman speaks stupidly on behalf of China, trying desperately to deflect the pain and carnage that their country spread throughout the world. Its disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't," he said in a series of tweets. Trump blamed China for spreading the coronavirus globally and accused it of being incompetent. "Some wacko in China just released a statement blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people. Please explain to this dope that it was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!" Trump said. China has denied covering up the extent of its coronavirus outbreak and accused the US of attempting to divert public attention by insinuating that the virus originated from a virology laboratory in Wuhan. "China was the first country to report the COVID-19 to the World Health Organisation (WHO), (and) that doesn't mean the virus originated from Wuhan... There has never been any concealment, and we'll never allow any concealment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last month. "A discerning person will understand at a glance that the purpose is to create confusion, divert public attention, and shirk their responsibility," he said. The novel coronavirus which first originated in Wuhan in December last year has claimed 328,120 lives and infected nearly 5 million people globally. The Us is the worst affected country with 93,439 deaths and over 1.5 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Meanwhile, the US Senate passed a bill boosting oversight of companies based in China and other nations that could lead to their removal from American stock exchanges. The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, proposes to increase oversight of Chinese and other foreign companies listed on American exchanges and delist and ban over-the-counter trading for firms that are out of compliance with US regulators for a period of three years. In a related development, a group of top Republican Senators led by Marco Rubio sent a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin following disturbing reports that China's state-owned and-directed enterprises were looking to exploit the economic crisis by buying US and foreign companies. As companies backed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) approach banks to identify the purchase of companies in the US and in Europe affected by the pandemic, the senators urged Mnuchin to protect against the China's and the CCP's predatory economic behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis. "We write to express our concerns related to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) efforts to exploit the economic crisis wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic to gain control of distressed companies or shirking its international responsibilities amidst a worldwide crisis. "In both Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PRC policy documents, Beijing has made no secret of its intentions to dominate strategic industrial and emerging technology sectors as well as influence standards at the expense of liberal, rules-based governance," wrote the senators. As the crisis reverberates across the globe, the PRC's predatory lending practices including the use of non-disclosure agreements for bilateral loans not only damage the fiscal situation of recipient countries but also undermine the international community's ability to respond effectively to the crisis, they said. "Without US and international pressure for accountability and transparency, those countries that are in debt to the PRC will not have the political cover or protection to open their financial books. Such countries will face the risk of default or a currency crisis, leaving the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and Western countries to clean up the PRC's mess," the senators said. During a campaign round table Katrina Pierson, Senior Advisor to the Trump 2020 Campaign, said that only the US President will defeat the coronavirus, hold China accountable for their negligence, and defend the American people from socialism. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Restaurants are pleading with customers to cut out delivery services like Seamless and Grubhub during the COVID-19 pandemic because they say the commission fees are killing their already struggling businesses. The restaurants - stretching from New York to California - are instead urging people to order directly from them so they don't have to pay the middle man. Food delivery apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Caviar and Grubhub, which also owns Seamless, can charge anywhere up to 40 percent of how much a restaurants makes from app-generated revenue. Demand for delivery apps skyrocketed when restaurants across the US were forced to close for dine-in services two months ago as part of lockdown measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19. Restaurants are pleading with customers to cut out delivery services like Seamless and Grubhub during the COVID-19 pandemic because they say the commission fees are killing their already struggling businesses But even as lockdown restrictions are eased in parts of the country, some restaurants say they may not be able to reopen at all if they keep having to pay commission to the delivery apps. The owner of the Pitas and Sticks restaurant in Brooklyn, New York has been putting notes in delivery bags saying that services like Grubhub are killing his business. John Stamos told NBC News that 90 percent of his online orders at the moment came from Grubhub. The note he gives to customers reads: 'Small businesses like us need your support in this time of crisis 'Online apps such as GRUBHUB ARE CHARGING US 30% of each order and $9 or more on orders made using phone numbers on their app or website please help save the restaurant industry by ordering directly with us.' Phat Eatery, a restaurant in Katy, Texas, revealed last month it had been able to ditch delivery apps after appealing to customers to order directly through them. Phat Eatery, a restaurant in Katy, Texas, revealed last month it had been able to ditch delivery apps after appealing to customers to order directly through them. It had pleaded with customers to order directly through them instead of the apps Mesa Pizza Company in Santa Barbara, California has put a note on its Yelp page urging people to order through their website The Park and Field restaurant in Chicago also urged customers to support them, saying their hourly and tipped employees would be delivering the food themselves They had been urging customers to order via their website to they could keep more of their staff employed and feed their families. Mesa Pizza Company in Santa Barbara, California has put a note on its Yelp page urging people to order through their website. 'HELP US survive by CALLING in your order for PICK UP. Save US 33.% & YOU 40% on food commission paid for deliveries surcharge, FREE bread sticks when ordering pick-ups instead of delivery,' a message on the site read. The Park and Field restaurant in Chicago also urged customers to support them, saying their hourly and tipped employees would be delivering the food themselves. 'Want to do something to help the restaurant industry? Our hourly and tipped employees will be delivering the food themselves. Gives them much needed hours and tips in these trying times. Eliminates the 30% fees Grubhub and doordash take,' they wrote on Instagram. A new startup called Spread, which is a commission-free platform, sends out text messages to subcribers promoting delivery and takeout options from local restaurants in New York. Pictured above are delivery drivers waiting outside New York's famous Carbone restaurant after it was forced to close amid the coronavirus pandemic The app, which is currently only operating in parts of New York City, is aiming to roll out nationwide to help support local restaurants. In an effort to help struggling restaurants, some cities have already put a cap on commissions for delivery apps. Seattle, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC have all imposed a 15 percent cap on commissions that apps can charge to deliver food and drinks. Last month, Grubhub, DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats were sued in New York for allegedly exploiting their dominance in restaurant meal deliveries to impose fees that consumers ultimately bear through higher menu prices. In a proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court, three consumers said the defendants violated US antitrust law by requiring that restaurants charge delivery customers and dine-in customers the same price, while imposing 'exorbitant' fees of 10-40 percent of revenue to process delivery orders. The consumers, all from New York, said this sticks restaurants with a 'devil's choice' of charging everyone higher prices as a condition of using the defendants' services. They said this made it harder to keep tables full even before the pandemic wiped out most dining in restaurants, at least temporarily. Amid a mostly one-sided feud over mail-in voting, Michigan's Democratic governor is pleading with Donald Trump to send federal assistance to help her state deal with serious flooding. The president drove the Wednesday news cycle after firing off a tweet about Michigan's government sending mail-in ballot applications - he initially alleged it sent actual ballots, before deleting and replacing the erroneous tweet. Though he and his top spokeswoman, attorney Kayleigh McEnany, were unable to describe any actual crime, Mr Trump claimed the mailings were "done illegally." He also threatened he might withhold federal aid dollars for the key 2020 battleground state, though he told reporters late Wednesday after he doubted such a step would be necessary. Ms McEnany was unable to explain during a press briefing what compelled her boss to make the threats. "If people mail in ballots there's a lot of illegality," Mr Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon. But he declined to offer a single piece of evidence to support his claim; voting experts have found very little fraud in US elections even though Republican officials continue making such claims as mail-in voting typically favours Democratic candidates. Mr Trump's threats did not stop Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from sending him a letter late Wednesday seeking federal disaster relief as her state faces what some experts have called a 500-year flood. "Despite our efforts, local and state resources have been insufficient to respond to the situation. The availability of equipment and personnel is further limited due to the ongoing effects and response requirements of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic," Ms Whitmer wrote to the president. She made her plea by telling Mr Trump that up to 10,000 people could be forced from their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic due to the flooding. The flooding was caused by the failure of the Edenville Dam, which came after some areas of the state, a key 2020 presidential battleground, received up to eight inches of rain, which caused waters to crest another dam. Specifically, the letter, first reported by MLive.com, requests help removing debris and some protective measures. Ms Whitmer identified mobile bridges and sandbags that the US Army Corps of Engineers might be able to provide. "Therefore, additional federal assistance is required to protect public health, safety, and property," she wrote, "and to lessen or avert the threat of more severe and persisting impacts to the community.'' Detroit, May 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DTE Energy has launched Caring in the Crisis, an awareness effort aiming to make sure Detroit-area residents who need help know how to get it during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort includes a series of public service announcements and digital messages encouraging DTE customers to contact the company to explore payment assistance and financial help options if they are experiencing a hardship due to COVID-19. It will culminate with a May 22 Day of Caring radio event on Detroit stations WJLB, WDMK and WDMK HD2. The Day of Caring programming will include messages from influential community leaders and elected officials, all encouraging Detroiters to take advantage of the help available to them. Throughout this crisis, we have had one core message to our communities, and thats were here to help you, said Angie Pizzuti, vice president and chief customer officer, DTE Energy. There are many people who have never had problems making ends meet, and now are experiencing income loss and dont know where to turn. We want to connect with them right away to deliver the help that DTE and the state have made available to them. DTE formed partnerships with local faith-based leaders, elected officials and human service agencies to create messaging for the campaign, which will be seen and heard on the participating radio stations, social media outlets and other digital channels throughout May. Guests who will be heard during the May 22 day of caring will include: Mayor Mike Duggan, City of Detroit Reverend Wendell Anthony, Fellowship Chapel Jerry Norcia, president and CEO, DTE Energy Pastor Solomon Kinloch, Triumph Church Commissioner Tremaine Phillips, Michigan Public Service Commission Dr. Darienne Hudson, CEO, The United Way Louis Piszker, CEO, Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency Eric Sabree, treasurer, Wayne County Tax Office DTE Energy has taken multiple actions to respond to customer needs during the COVID-19 crisis, with programs available by calling 800.477.4747: New Personalized Service Protection plan for any customers impacted by income loss or medical condition due to COVID-19. Based on customer circumstances, help may include additional time to pay and flexible payment options, all while protecting the customers service. State Emergency Relief (SER) financial aid which can cover energy bills, available through the State of Michigan at newmibridges.michigan.gov. DTE representatives can connect customers to local agencies who will help them apply for this aid. Extended 30-day medical hold policy to include low-income customers who are physically exposed, infected or quarantined by the COVID-19 virus (including influenza). Distribution of personal protection equipment (PPE) to 5,000 small businesses May 26 and 27 in cooperation with the public and private coalition recently created by Mayor Duggan, Detroit Means Business. This PPE starter kit will help Detroits small businesses open safely. Guidance for business customers on resources available to them through state and federal agencies via DTEs COVID-19 page for businesses. Energy efficiency guidance to customers spending more time at home, with easy, low- or no-cost steps that can immediately reduce usage and costs. More information on all DTE initiatives in response to COVID-19 can be found at dteenergy.com/covid19. Across our communities, the DTE Energy Foundation is fully activated to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The Foundation has donated 2 million respiratory masks to first responders and medical professionals. In the first month of the crisis, the Foundation supported one million meals, basic needs for 100,000 families and helped 400 small businesses with grants. The Foundation also launched a matching grant program for the Michigan Association of United Ways and Michigan Action that has resulted in nearly $1 million in public donations to-date. In addition, the Foundation is matching donations by DTE Energy employees, contractors and retirees to nonprofits across Michigan, including faith-based organizations. About DTE Energy DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include an electric company serving 2.2 million customers in Southeast Michigan and a natural gas company serving 1.3 million customers in Michigan. The DTE portfolio includes energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects; renewable natural gas; natural gas pipelines, gathering and storage; and energy marketing and trading. As an environmental leader, DTE utility operations will reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions by more than 80 percent by 2040 to produce cleaner energy while keeping it safe, reliable and affordable. DTE Electric aspires to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. DTE is committed to serving with its energy through volunteerism, education and employment initiatives, philanthropy and economic progress. Information about DTE is available at dteenergy.com, empoweringmichigan.com, twitter.com/dte_energy and facebook.com. New Orleans electricity and gas customers who have experienced financial hardships due to the coronavirus will get their bills paid for up to four months under a program the City Council announced Thursday. The program will offer a $100 bill credit per month for four months to residents who can prove they are unemployed. Entergy New Orleans, the city's utility, will be directed to pull roughly $22 million mostly from its reserves to cover the costs, the council said. Officials said the help is needed because a whopping 40% of Entergy's customers have fallen behind on their bills in the months since the pandemic began and since Entergy announced that it would suspend shut-offs for nonpayment. The utility provides electricity to more than 200,000 customers and natural gas to 110,000 customers. +2 Pause in electricity, gas shutoffs in New Orleans extended; see new details Entergy New Orleans, which had paused electricity and gas shutoffs for past-due bills until mid-May, has extended that reprieve until May 31. The economic consequences of this pandemic have created an unprecedented crisis for this community, said City Councilwoman Helena Moreno at Thursday's City Council meeting, which was held remotely via video conference. That is why I believe we need to have an unprecedented response to give a lifeline to our most impacted people. The move was detailed Thursday, but the program, dubbed City Council Cares, will be official when the council formally approves it next month, a pause that gives Entergy time to pull it together. The announcement comes as more than 80,000 New Orleans residents have filed unemployment claims with the state since March 21, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and as the city's predominant tourism industry has been hit hard by the disease. Though some programs have offered one-time relief for rent and other necessities, and Entergy has deferred payments and paused shut-offs for customers, Thursday's announcement signaled the first time in recent memory that the utility will essentially cover people's bills out of its surplus, at the council's urging. Residential customers will be eligible for a $400 bill credit that could be applied over four months if they provide proof of unemployment, such as a letter from the Louisiana Workforce Commission detailing benefits. Moreno said that the average monthly residential electricity bill is $110. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up All late fees would be waived. Eligible residents could see bill credits as soon as July. Though the particulars of the program were announced Thursday, the council plans to approve a resolution to spend the cash at its June meeting, giving Entergy time to work out its logistics. The program is not open to commercial customers, staffers said. The money could be applied to residents' outstanding balances or be used to cover future bills for those who have kept their accounts current, officials said. More than 50,000 customers could benefit, Moreno said. Amid coronavirus, Entergy to offer payment plans for electricity, gas Entergy New Orleans, which has paused electricity and gas shutoffs for past-due bills until at least mid-May, will offer payment plans for tho The program shines a spotlight on Entergy's sizable reserves, which have been accumulating for years in two "storm reserve funds," totaling $82 million. The council is pulling $15 million from one fund and combining that with a $7 million refund Entergy was ordered in 2018 to give to customers but that it hasn't distributed yet. The council also ordered Entergy on Thursday to extend its current suspension of electricity shut-offs, which was due to expire May 31, until July 1. Entergy had been suspending bills voluntarily, but the councils vote extended that suspension and made it a mandate. Moreno said the council could order the utility to do so again should circumstances warrant. Entergy did not respond to a request for comment. Bhopal, May 22 : For the eighth successive day a high number of fresh coronavirus cases continued to swamp Madhya Pradesh. Thursdays 248 cases took the state's tally to 5981. The average of positive cases through the past eight days has been 233. Indore reported 59 fresh cases onThursday taking its total to 2774 while the death toll in the district is 105. The state's toll has risen to 266. Ujjain (61),Bhopal (27), Burhanpur (12) Khandwa (22),Morena (14) and Rewa (11) were other towns with a high number of new cases. The government does acknowledge the rising trend caused by heavy movement of migrant workers. But its reactions have raised questions. On Thursday the government relaxed a ban on marriage ceremonies. But the new order restricts attendance to 50. Violations have been threatened with FIRs. With a bride testing positive during a wedding in Bhopal on wednesday 35 members had to be quarantined. There have been knee-jerk reactions galore. The initial response was reshuffling of officers in the face of a rising number of fresh infections. The Collector, 2010-batch IAS officer Tanvi Sundriyal, was replaced with another 2010-batch IAS officer Anay Dwivedi and was posted as a deputy secretary in the state secretariat. A 2012-batch IPS officer, Shiv Dayal, was replaced by another 2012-batch officer and commander of Special Armed Force's 7th battalion Vivek Singh. Dayal will be the new commander of the battalion, a Home department order said. On May 4, collector of Ujjain, Shashank Mishra, and on May 7, SP Sachin Atulkar were shifted when the city became a Covid-19 hotspot with the death rate being highest among big cities. Indore collector Lokesh Jatav was shifted and replaced with Manish Singh on March 28. Three days later, Indore police chief deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Ruchivardhan Mishra was shifted to a smaller district in the region. Indore has not witnessed any significant improvement in the spread of virus. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Ohaneze Ndigbo lamented the increasing relocation of the Almajiris to the Southeast despite the interstate travel ban put in place by the Federal Government and they have vowed to resist this relocation. The highest Igbo socio-cultural organisations, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Igbo National Council (INC) and the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) on Tuesday called for a halt to the influx of Northern youths into the southeast states. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) also kicked against the development. They accused security agencies of complicity in the free movement of the Almajirai, which they said makes a mockery of the interstate travel ban. Ohanaeze President in Anambra State, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, said it was left for the people to protect themselves since the Federal Government has failed to effectively enforce its order. Okeke-Ogene said: The Federal Government is not ready to protect us. We must take our security in our hands. No other person can do that. Were ready and we warn those without a mission in the state to find alternative abodes. This state cant contain us and them. The Igbo National Council, INC, described the relocation of the Amajirai to the Southeast as an assault on the Ndigbo, The Nation reports. INC President, Chilos Confident urged Igbo leaders to reinvigorate their vigilante outfits and initiate an identification exercise in their communities. We also enjoin the vigilante groups to commence regular combing and security of all the forests of our communities. INC will do everything possible to protect the citizens and territories of the Igbo nation-states, he said. ASATU National President Chief Alex Onukwue wondered why the Almajirai were moving to the Southeast rather than returning to their states of origin. He told reporters: On behalf of all the communities of Anambra State, we express our disgust and total disappointment with ongoing wicked efforts by some desperate citizens, who are engaged in the wicked act of shipping strange persons from Northern Nigeria to the South, Anambra State and the Southeast inclusive. We wish to warn that should this callous business of shipping strange persons continue, Almajirai or not, from the North or elsewhere to Anambra State in light of COVID-19 restrictions, the communities of Anambra State will be left with no choice than to confront the situation with all the seriousness it deserves. We can no longer take it as childs play. Whosoever that is or are behind this wickedness must refrain from doing so immediately as the communities of Anambra State can no longer fold our hands and watch on as our lives are being threatened by the mischievous inclinations of some unpatriotic citizens who can go as far as hiding human beings between animals and bags of cement or whatever and smuggle them from the Northern parts of the country down to Anambra State and the Southeast. Ohanaeze youths, in a statement by its National Deputy President, Dr Kingsly Dozie, urged the Southeast states to ensure the Almajirai return to where they came from. We will no longer tolerate the sabotage by security operatives who should man our borders and stop the influx of the Almajiris, including suspected Boko Haram extremists. We are engaging our youth vigilante groups to take charge of the borders. Enough is enough. We are warning all the security operatives to adhere strictly to the ban on interstate movement. We are now positioned to check the borders ourselves. We will not condone the sabotage from greedy and selfish security operatives and businessmen. The lives and property of our people are very important to us, Dozie said in a statement. The PFN said the free movement of the Almajirai, despite the lockdown, was a threat to efforts to curtail the spread of Coronavirus. National Vice President (Southeast) Dr Cosmas Ilechukwu said it was strange and inexcusable that these men and women are flooding into the Southeast despite the nationwide lockdown and ban on interstate travel. To this end, we are calling on the Southeast governors to work the talk by putting up stern measures to ensure the protection of the regions boundaries. The current situation should not be left unchecked as it poses grave danger to this zone, he said. The Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) expressed concern over the treatment of the Almajirai. The association, in a statement by its President and Secretary Prof Edward Alikor and Dr Petronila Tabansi, said the Almajirai were at risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission. It said reports that some of the Almajirai were rejected by their states of origin and forced to return to where they came from was condemn able. This dramatic footage shows the heart-stopping moment a family of deer had a near miss with two Typhoon fighter jets. The animals were spotted darting across the runway at a Royal Air Force air base after waiting for the perfect moment to cross while the planes were taking off. All three roe deer escaped unharmed from their close encounter with the planes - which have a staggering top speed of 1,550 mph. Aviation enthusiast James Feneley, 52, captured the moment at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, last Friday. This dramatic footage shows the heart-stopping moment a family of deer had a near miss with two Typhoon fighter jets The animals were seen earlier in the morning exploring the base. Mr Feneley said: 'I couldn't believe it when I saw them, they must have got through a fence somehow. 'They came out just as the Typhoons were taxiing out to take off. 'I think the deer came as a bit of a shock to the pilots themselves.' According to Mr Feneley, security staff were later able to help the deer out of the fenced-off base. Mr Feneley has been interested in aircraft for 40 years and started photographing planes in 1984. The animals were spotted darting across the runway at a Royal Air Force station after waiting for the perfect moment to cross. Aviation enthusiast James Feneley, 52, captured the moment at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, last Friday He said: 'I usually go to Coningsby when they are night flying which is one week every month.' RAF Coningsby was opened in 1941 and served as an RAF Bomber Command station until the early 1960s. Now it is the training station for Typhoon pilots and is one of two RAF Quick Reaction Alert Stations which protect UK airspace. It is home to two front-line, combat-ready squadrons with almost 3,000 people working on site. Editor: The year 2020 is going to go down as one of the most significant in American history. Sadly, I think it is going to go down as the year we watched our world stop. The lockdown that we are under, will it be remembered as what saved us, or what helped cause the end of so many businesses, drove those with mental health issues further away, and caused our children irreparable harm? Will we remember that 2020 turned our nursing homes for our most vulnerable citizens into isolation wards by gubernatorial decree with tragic results or will it be said it was for the greater good? Will it be for the greater good that our children lost so much of their lives, already under stress in these trying times, when their schools closed, followed by parks, camps and any form of outside recreation that wasn't strictly dictated without fear of perhaps seeing their parents cited or in some places, even arrested? One has to wonder the mental anguish being placed on kids, who can't even hang out with their friends, those who have earned the honor of graduation have lost that as well, while our leaders speak of flattening curves and set arbitrary dates that keep being moved further and further away, dashing any hopes that even the summer months may be saved. All we can do is look at our kids and say that it is for their own good, but how good is it really keeping children locked up while in some cities inmates are set free? How many businesses that are now closed will be able to come back from all this and with the massive debt we all may face, who will want to? The year 2020, the year our world and our lives stopped. David LaPell, Pottersville Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 3 A disgruntled neighbour has left an angry note in a family's letter box and called the police to complain about a boy playing the tuba. Anne-Maree Collier received an anonymous note in her letter box in Arana Hills, north of Brisbane, complaining about her son Ryan practising his musical instrument. The 15-year-old is first tuba in the Queensland youth orchestra wind ensemble and plays in four other groups at Ferny Grove high school and a local community band. Ryan normally practises at school, but due to coronavirus restrictions he has been learning his parts at home, which has irritated an anonymous neighbour. The note reads: 'I cant listen to any more of that very loud "musical" practise. I rang the police, they said talk to you first, and if that doesnt fix the problem, ring them again and they will come out.' Anne-Maree Collier received this anonymous note in her letter box in Arana Hills, north of Brisbane, complaining about her son Ryan practising the tuba Ryan is an accomplished tuba player and is first tuba in the Queensland youth orchestra wind ensemble (stock image) Ms Collier wrote a Facebook status in response to the note, highlighting the precautions Ryan takes to be courteous to the neighbourhood when playing. 'My son is 15 and home schooling,' her post reads. 'He generally does his music practise at school which is obviously not an option at the moment. 'He does not practise before 8am and of course practises inside. He wants to become a musician.' Ms Collier said her neighbourhood were appreciative of Ryan's musical talent when he played the last post in the drive way on trombone on Anzac Day. Last week a neighbour threatened to call the police while Ryan was practising at 2pm, with Ms Collier telling The Courier Mail his music isn't overly loud. 'He can be practising upstairs and Ill be downstairs with the telly on and I dont even need to turn it up,' she said. 'It is repetitive, I have to say that. Because when theyre practising, theyre not going through full songs. And hes a tuba player, so they dont very often get the melody.' Ms Collier had some choice words for the threatening neighbour in her Facebook post and endeavored to let Ryan continue to practise at home. 'I apologise that his practice is annoying you but suggest you get some earplugs because I will most definitely not tell him to stop practising,' her post continues. 'What the hell is wrong with you. Please do call the police and (hopefully) they will tell you to pull your head in also.' Acknowledging that defence manufacturing has been adversely affected due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday exhorted MSMEs to make India Atma Nirbhar' (self-reliant) in defence technology and products. Addressing MSMEs E-conclave via video conferencing, Singh termed micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) the backbone of the Indian economy that accelerate GDP growth, earn valuable foreign exchange through exports and provide employment opportunities. Asserting that keeping MSMEs strong is one of the priorities of the government, he said there are more than 8,000 MSMEs, tiered partners of many defence organisations - ordnance factories, DPSUs and service organisations. They contribute more than 20 per cent of the total production of these organisations, Singh said at the conclave jointly organised by Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Defence Production. Citing the example of the United States where the domestic defence industry developed within a short span of two years during World War-II, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said India should have its own defence industry. He urged the MSMEs to work for placing India among the top 10 nations in defence technologies. The defence minister hailed the role played by SIDM and other MSMEs in the nation's fight against global coronavirus pandemic. I am very happy to know that SIDM has accelerated the manufacturing of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) designed PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits, masks, ventilator parts in the field of defence industry by efficient coordination and channelisation," Singh was quoted as saying in a statement. "Within less than two months, we have not only met our domestic demand, but we can also think of helping neighbouring countries in the coming time," he said. Acknowledging the hardships faced by the defence industry, Singh said, The manufacturing sector has been affected the most due to lockdown and disruption in existing supply chains and the defence sector is no exception to this." "Rather, it can be said that the defence sector is more aggravated than other sectors as the only buyer of defence products is the government," he said. Singh assured that the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' campaign, inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will provide many opportunities to Indian industry and will help in restoring millions of jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for being 'vocal for local' in this direction. I would like to say that we have to have our indigenous products, i.e. 'vocal for local', but before that in our own life, 'local' has to be focal. That is, we have to adopt 'swadeshi' products in our life," he said. His comments came days after Prime Minister Modi pitched for making India self-reliant by turning the coronavirus crisis into an opportunity through sustained focus on making the Indian economy globally competitive. There is no doubt that MSMEs have a very important role in the goal of indigenous manufacturing, and in the goal of making India self-reliant, he said. Singh highlighted some of the measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman under the 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' scheme such as collateral free loan of 3 lakh crores for MSMEs - which he said will be effective in re-establishing about 45 lakh units and saving employment. Subordinate debt provision of Rs 20,000 crore has been announced for two lakh MSMEs, this will help stressed MSMEs, Singh said. Equity infusion of Rs 50,000 crore will be provided through Mother-Daughter Fund' for the purpose of benefiting the needy MSMEs, he said. A Rs 10,000 crore 'Fund of Funds' will be set up to help increase the capacity of these units and for marketing, he said. The theme of the E-conclave was Business Continuity for MSMEs in Defence & Aerospace Sector' in which more than 800 Defence MSMEs participated. Secretary (Defence Production) Raj Kumar, in his address, highlighted the measures taken to alleviate the hardships faced by the defence manufacturing industry due to COVID-19. He said the DPSUs have been asked to clear payments of MSMEs, and also announced that their production targets have not been scaled down. Citing the reforms recently announced by the Finance Minister, he said these measures will help realise the target of achieving a USD 25 billion defence production by 2025. SIDM President Jayant D Patil, former SIDM president Baba N Kalyani, Director General of CII Chandrajit Banerjee, senior civil and military officials of MoD, Ordnance Factory Board and DPSUs were also present on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) [May 21, 2020] Ease and Sun Life Partner to Improve Core Employee Benefits Experience Ease, a leading HR and benefits software solution for small businesses, insurance brokers, and insurance carriers, has partnered with Sun Life U.S. to provide brokers and HR administrators with better access to core employee benefits. "We are pleased to add our strong distribution relationships to Ease's innovative benefits platform and improve data connectivity for our brokers," said Joi Tillman, vice president of group benefits at Sun Life U.S. "We are committed to improving the digital benefits experience for employers, brokers and employees, and look forward to enabling employees and HR administrators to access Sun Life's benefits on the Ease benefits administration platform." With this connection, Sun Life will become Ease's latest EaseConnect+ partner, enabling brokers to safely and securely submit enrollment data and changes directly from Ease to Sun Life. Clients now have round-the-clock access to information and an easier, modern way of updating their benefit selections to best fit their needs. "This partnership with Sun Life is going to create a tremendous opportunity to improve the benefits experience for both brokers and the employers they serve," said David Reid, CEO of Ease. "I am excited to work with Sun Life to be a art of addressing the challenges our brokers face in this constantly evolving industry." About Sun Life Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth, and asset management solutions to individual and corporate clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2019, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1,063 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com. Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF. In the United States, Sun Life is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving more than 70,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of insurance products and services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life, dental, vision, voluntary and medical stop-loss. Sun Life and its affiliates in asset management businesses in the U.S. employ approximately 5,500 people. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com/us. About Ease Ease is an online benefits enrollment system built for insurance brokers and employers. Ease makes it simple to set up and manage benefits, onboard new hires, stay compliant, and offer employees one destination for all their human resources information. Started in 2012 in San Francisco by employee benefits veteran David Reid and web and engineering architect Courtney Guertin, Ease works with insurance brokers and small businesses to create seamless HR and benefits processes on an easy-to-use system. Ease has offices in Las Vegas, New York, Omaha and San Diego. In 2015, Ease was launched on the West Coast and is among the most widely adopted, fastest growing solutions for brokers and employers in the area, with over 65,000 employers and over 2 million employees. For more information, head to www.ease.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200521005468/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoards Dairyman. A newly opened Vytelle laboratory in Salina, Kansas, will make the companys advanced reproductive services more widely available for Midwest beef and dairy producers. Vytelle offers a revolutionary in-vitro fertilization (IVF) process that helps beef and dairy producers speed genetic progress in their herds by getting more calves from their best cows and heifers. The new Kansas lab is a key component of this process providing cattlemen greater access to Vytelles IVF services. The Kansas lab will process oocytes collected at Vytelle satellite ovum pick-up (OPU) sites in Kansas and Nebraska. At these OPU satellite sites and others throughout the country, reproductive specialists collect oocytes using a simple, hormone-free process that is easy on animals. Collected oocytes are then sent to the lab for cleaning, sorting and fertilization. IVF is an easy way to enhance the genetic value of your herd quickly, says Nancy Grathwohl Heter, Vytelle regional sales manager based in Raymond, Kansas. We are looking forward to working with Bluestem Embryo Transfer Center in Carlton, Kansas, and September Farms of Franklin, Nebraska, to provide local embryo production at a competitive price. The new lab is located at 2525 S. Ohio Street, Suite 1, Salina, Kansas, 67401. Cattlemen, dairy producers, veterinarians and all others interested in learning about Vytelles revolutionary hormone-free IVF process are invited to visit Vytelle.com for more information. An open house and tour of the Kansas lab will be scheduled at a later date. As Vytelle expands across the Midwest and globally, this laboratory space is vital to enhance our productivity and make our services more widely available to cattle producers, says Bruno Sanches, Vytelle chief operating officer. For more information on the Kansas laboratory email us at info@vytelle.com or call 1-866-689-3477. Visit Vytelle.com to find a Vytelle OPU satellite site or franchise location near your herd. About Vytelle Vytelle has additional corporate labs based in Hermiston, Oregon and Ames, Iowa to provide revolutionary reproductive technology to commercial producers through reproductive specialists and veterinarian licensees. Vytelle is committed to advancing genetics, life and business for commercial beef and dairy producers across the United States. Paul Skiadas, head of the global business division of Hyundai Capital, speaks at his office in Seoul in this file photo. / Courtesy of Hyundai Capital Auto financer supports pandemic-hit customers, dealers By Park Jae-hyuk The year 2019 was definitely meaningful for the global business of Hyundai Capital which operates in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, India, China, Australia and Singapore. The auto financer first expanded overseas in 1989 with Hyundai Auto Finance in the U.S., which later became Hyundai Capital America (HCA). Last year marked the 30th anniversary of its overseas business and its combined financial assets from operations outside of Korea for the year surpassed 50 trillion won ($40 billion), nearly double the size of its domestic assets. Such outstanding growth could be achieved through the company's differentiated strategies, according to Paul Skiadas, who is in charge of directing the global businesses of Hyundai Motor Group's financial services arms Hyundai Capital and Hyundai Card. He told The Korea Times in a recent email interview that localization, an integrated work system and a joint venture strategy have enabled his company to leapfrog into the position of a "global financial company," not just another Korean financial company doing business abroad. "Our epic growth overseas was made possible by a thorough analysis of each local market," said the Australian executive who joined Hyundai Capital in 2015. As an example of localization, he cited a "GPS product," which was launched in 2016 by Beijing Hyundai Auto Finance to offer higher credit limits to customers who agreed to install GPS trackers in their cars. "GPS functions as a tool to monitor conditions and locations of vehicles which are physical collateral for financing," he said. "Given managing credits of individuals in China is not easy due to its large population and underdeveloped credit ratings system, managing customers' credit cost a lot. At the same time, this has given customers the benefit of using cars at a reasonable cost." Regarding their joint venture strategy, Skiadas noted his company has strived for efficient and optimal business operations overseas to increase customer benefits, rather than increasing unnecessary initial costs by entering foreign markets as a standalone entity. "We're operating in three countries as joint ventures with the Spanish financial company Santander. Our Chinese entity is also a joint venture with Chinese firm Beijing Automotive Industry," he said. "We chose to enter those markets as joint ventures in order to take advantage of our partners' knowledge in the local market and hedge against risks from entering new markets." His company adopted the joint venture strategy for Hyundai Card's overseas expansion which started with the card firm's entry into the Vietnamese market last year. Hyundai Card signed a contract with Finance Company Limited for Community (FCCOM) in October 2019 to buy a 50 percent stake in the Vietnamese consumer finance firm for 49 billion won. "FCCOM, a subsidiary of medium-sized Vietnamese bank MSB, will be operated as a joint venture between us and MSB," Skiadas said. "We will transplant our advanced financial knowhow in various areas of business, including financial product development, marketing, risk management and digital financing, whereas MSB will be responsible for sales and servicing operations." Hyundai Card seeks to begin operation of the joint venture in the second half of this year, maximizing the synergy effect in the Vietnamese market through joint marketing with Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors. Responses to COVID-19 This year, however, has been challenging for Hyundai Motor Group's financial services units so far, unlike 2019. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fitch lowered the outlooks on Hyundai Capital and Hyundai Card to negative from stable, while S&P Global Ratings placed Hyundai Capital on a negative watchlist. Skiadas admitted the global automotive and auto finance industries have faced difficulties from the reduced social activities. Yet, the executive said his company has strived to find breakthroughs despite such difficulties, coming up with ways to provide support for its customers and dealers. "Although it varies from country to country and from vehicle model to vehicle model, we've allowed deferment and waiver of installment payments for up to 120 days," he said. "We've carried out another program named 'Hyundai Assurance. Job Loss Protection' with Hyundai Motor in the U.S. since March to provide customers who lost their jobs with up to a six-month waiver of installment payments for new car financing or leasing." He added that new products with lower down payments and monthly installments are being developed for the post-pandemic era. President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn upon return to the White House in Washington on May 17, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Trump to Stop Taking Hydroxychloroquine In 2 Days President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that, within one or two days, he will stop taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug whose use by the president as a precaution against COVID-19 infection has raised eyebrows. I think the regimen finishes in a day or two. I think its in two days, Trump told reporters during a meeting with the governors of Arkansas and Kansas. Trump said on May 18 that he has been taking a combination of hydroxychloroquine and zinc for about a week and a half after consulting his doctor. I think its good. Ive heard a lot of good stories. Im not going to get hurt by it. Its been around for 40 years, the president said. I think it gives you an additional level of safety, Trump said Tuesday, noting its use as a precautionary measure. The presidents taking of hydroxychloroquine has sparked criticism due to warnings that the drug can cause heart problems in some patients and on account of studies showing limited or no benefits for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus. Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, treatment with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, or both was not associated with significantly lower in-hospital mortality, a recent study published on May 11 concluded. Trumps disclosing his taking of the drug comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month issued a warning that hydroxychloroquine should not be taken outside of a hospital or clinical trial after it became aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with the virus who were treated with the malaria drug, often in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin, or Z-Pak. Trump said that besides taking hydroxychloroquine with zinc, he also took an initial dose of azithromycin. Youd be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers, before you catch it. The frontline workers, many, many are taking it, Trump said at a roundtable event Monday at the White House. Trumps assertion that front-line medical workers were taking the drug was challenged at a White House press briefing Wednesday, when a reporter asked press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to respond to a statement from the American Nurses Association, which said it has not received reports from nurses or other frontline healthcare workers utilizing hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment for COVID-19. McEnany responded by saying that Henry Ford Hospital is doing a study on this now where 3,000 frontline workers will be taking hydroxychloroquine to look at its use as a prophylactic. I believe there is [sic] a few hundred or 190 workers in Tampa General Hospital, she said, adding, So this is being used by some. She insisted no one should be taking the drug without a prescription from their doctor. In an interview Wednesday on CBN News, McEnany said Trump was prescribed the drug by the White House physician. Yes, the doctor did prescribe it for him. And he took it after having several discussions with Dr. Conley about its efficacy, McEnany told David Brody of CBN News. And he believed, Dr. Conley, that the benefits outweigh the risks for the president. And, you know hydroxychloroquine, its worth mentioning, is a drug that has been approved for at least three other conditions. Malaria is one of them as a prophylaxis [preventative measure] Lupus is another example. While Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he is not taking hydroxychloroquine, he said he would likely take it if advised by his doctor. My physician has not recommended that but I wouldnt hesitate to take the counsel of my doctor, any American should do likewise, Pence said during an interview with Fox News. I would never begrudge any American taking the advice of their physician, he added. The FDA said on May 19 that taking the drug is a matter for a doctor and patient to decide. The decision to take any drug is ultimately a decision between a patient and their doctor, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told The Hill in a statement on Tuesday. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are already FDA-approved for treating malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. A former senior Irish Army officer has claimed two serving colleagues have been completely abandoned after the Department of Defence was unable to say what progress it's making in trying to airlift them out of an increasingly volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Other nations have removed their troops from the Goma area where the two Irish officers are serving, because locals are blaming UN soldiers for the spread of Covid-19. In addition, fighting has broken out between DRC government forces and insurgents. This has led to a refugee crisis and an estimated 200,000 have fled their homes as a result. Nearly a week ago. the Department said it was considering chartering a jet to bring the male Lieutenant Colonel and female Captain back home. The Irish Examiner asked what progress had been made on chartering a plane, if diplomatic clearances had been obtained to get the two home and if an approximate date for their extraction from the DRC was available. The Department of Defence declined to answer any of the questions. In the meantime, it's understood they are among only a handful of UN personnel left in Goma, as the British, Canadians and Swedes have now withdrawn all their mission forces from that area. They are also living in a flat, not in the local UN compound, which leaves them even more vulnerable. Security sources have said they're increasingly concerned about the welfare of the two Irish officers. One's tour of duty was due to finish on March 30 and the other April 14. The Air Corps had previously offered to fly the government jet to get them out. However, the Department of Defence claimed that wasn't practical as its fuel range meant it would involve landing in seven different airports and overnighting at least twice. Dr Cathal Berry TD, a former second-in-charge of the elite Army Ranger Wing (ARW), said Ireland was too reliant on other countries to react on its behalf in similar situations. He pointed out that the Spanish and Germans had helped get Irish troops out of Mali in the past. Dr Berry said four years ago the government sold off its Gulfstream jet for a pittance and as a result the country doesn't have a jet capable of quickly extracting its soldiers or citizens from volatile areas like the DRC. There are weapons and ammunition there (with the officers). You can't take them back on a civilian (chartered) flight. There's a reason why every other European nation has military air transport. In our case it's like a farmer not having a tractor, Dr Berry said. The press service of the Political Party of Local Self-Government reports: In connection with the dissemination in some media of discrediting information about the Head of the Party Council Oleksandr Mykolayovych Kondrashov, we officially declare: Kondrashov returned to Ukraine from another business trip On March 31, 2020 in order to prepare the party for participation in the local elections. He is currently engaged in current party activities. He is not wanted, he has not been prosecuted criminally and administratively. We also ask our colleagues from the media to check the information about the party's activities with the help of the press center and other information channels of the organization. We reserve the right to go to court if its necessary. We sincerely hope that the autumn 2020 election campaign will be a competition of ideas and programs of public opinion leaders of local communities. Kondrashov Oleksandr Mykolayovych (August 12, 1974, Kyiv) is a politician, statesman, and public figure, and the current Head of the Council of the Political Party of Local Self-Government, Doctor of Science in Public Administration, Associate Professor, Honored Economist of Ukraine, state adviser of tax and customs affairs III rank. 2013 - March 16, 2014 - Head of the State Revenue Service in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, ie managed the institution during the occupation of the peninsula. However, during the beginning of the occupation, the Ministry of Revenue of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea held the Ukrainian flag on top of the building under his leadership. Married, has three children. Bexar County Sheriff's Office A 63-year-old man was arrested in connection with $9,000 worth of stolen water from the San Antonio Water System, according to an arrest affidavit. Bexar County Sheriff's deputies were called after John Lloyd Ripley was accused of removing two water meters and replacing them with flex pipes, causing the water supply to be diverted to his home, the affidavit said. Ive been able to bond with him and spend more time with him during this time, its been kind of nice to be able to do that, Johnson said. Normally Im not the one who gets to take him and pick him up from therapy, so its nice to be with him. Q: My husband, son and I were scheduled to stay in an Airbnb in New York City. In March, we had to cancel the rental because of the coronavirus pandemic. I had concerns about our health, including my asthmatic husband and 2-year-old son. Our dates fall under the Airbnb refund policy. However, Airbnb seems to be leaving our cancellation to the host, who has ignored our messages and request for a refund. Airbnb is not standing by its policy of offering a refund. We have lost $497, the first half of the payment we made when booking, and have received zero help from Airbnb. Can you help us? Jill Caruana, Waxhaw, North Carolina A: You should have received a full refund from Airbnb. Why? Because it promised one. Check out the companys extenuating circumstances policy published on its website, which covers your stay. Airbnb says for reservations made for stays between March 14 and May 31, 2020, you can cancel and receive all of your money back. It looks as if the host was trying to persuade you to keep your reservation. Thats perfectly understandable, since allowing you to cancel would have been a total loss to your host. But Airbnb should have stepped in and processed a refund as promised. Catholic, Lutheran churches to defy Minn. gathering ban by resuming services Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Minnesota Catholic Conference and the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod of Minnesota have publicly declared that they will resume in-person worship services on May 26 despite state restrictions on religious gatherings. In separate letters sent to Gov. Tim Walz, the ecclesiastical bodies said they will defy a reopening order limiting in-person worship to more than 10 people. The church bodies plan to follow social distancing guidelines and have a limited capacity for their sanctuaries since they closed them earlier in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The letter from leaders of Minnesota's north and south districts of the conservative Lutheran denomination explained that they sent correspondence to churches statewide this week telling them that they can reopen next Tuesday and hold their first in-person Sunday worship services on May 31. The denomination had previously sent the governors office protocols that were developed following state and federal social distancing guidelines in hopes that the state would include churches in its reopening plan for businesses and other entities. We were disappointed to find that instead, you allowed retail and other non-critical businesses to open, setting a plan in place for bars and restaurants to reopen while limiting churches to meetings of [10] people or fewer, the letter explains. In the absence of a timeline or any other assurances that churches will soon be able to reopen, we find that we must move forward with our religious exercise in a safe manner. In a letter signed by several bishops led by the archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Minnesota Catholic Conference told the governor on Wednesday that it is also disappointed that his May 13 order on reopening the state will prohibit worship gatherings of more than 10 people. The letter explained that the conference is permitting its parishes to resume public celebration on May 26. According to the Catholic leaders, opening on that day will give us time to be ready for the celebration of Pentecost on May 31. Parishes will be required to follow the strict protocols we have published for sanitation and social distancing and will have to limit attendance to one-third of the seating capacity of the church, the letter reads. The Catholic leaders stressed that they worked with their Lutheran colleagues to devise the sanitation plan. According to the Catholic leaders, the proposed protocols are based on the work of "national medical experts" and are consistent with the practices that have already been put in place in many dioceses throughout the United States. The Becket Fund, a religious liberty law firm that has successfully argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, put its support behind the Minnesota churches' reopening plans. In another letter sent to Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday, Becket Senior Counsel Eric Rassbach argued that Minnesota was engaging in unequal and unfair treatment of churches in comparison to how it treats secular businesses in their reopening plan. Now that you have determined that current circumstances allow the partial reopening of almost every critical and non-critical Minnesota business with appropriate safeguards, there is no valid, non-discriminatory reason to continue the blanket closure of churches, Rassbachs letter reads. To the contrary, basic equality and honest science not to mention the special solicitude afforded to religious freedom under both the federal and Minnesota constitutions require the end of this discriminatory policy and restoration of desperately needed in-person worship. As many states are in the beginning phases of their reopening plans, some churches have taken issue with what they believe to be unfair delays and restrictions on when and how they can reopen for in-person worship services. On example is in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-60-20. The California reopening order dictates that in-person worship will not be allowed until stage three. However, schools, restaurants, factories and other secular gatherings will be allowed to reopen in the second stage. Newsom's executive order garnered criticism from many congregations as well as the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department sent a letter to Newsom this week arguing that the order created an unequal treatment of faith communities. Whichever level of restrictions you adopt, these civil rights protections mandate equal treatment of persons and activities of a secular and religious nature, stated the letter from Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. Legal actions on the matter have produced mixed results. U.S. District Court Judge John W. Broomes issued an order in April on behalf of two Kansas churches that wanted to hold gatherings of more than 10 people despite a state order. Plaintiffs have made a substantial showing that development of the current restriction on religious activities shows religious activities were specifically targeted for more onerous restrictions than comparable secular activities, wrote Broomes. But earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman issued an opinion rejecting a request from churches for relief from a similar Illinois state order barring worship gatherings of 10 or more people. An injunction would risk the lives of plaintiffs congregants, as well as the lives of their family members, friends, co-workers and other members of their communities with whom they come in contact, wrote Gettleman. Their interest in communal services cannot and does not outweigh the health and safety of the public. The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to quarantine people coming from red zones at the state borders for a week before allowing them to proceed to their destinations. Hearing a PIL on the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the state with the influx of migrants, a division bench of the high court comprising Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia asked the state government Wednesday to create quarantine centres at each border point of the state and keep returnees from red zones there mandatorily for a week. Of the quarantined persons, those who have symptoms as per the guidelines of ICMR shall be tested for RT-PCR, the high court said. They should be allowed to go further only if they test negative, it said. "We are not against the arrival of the people. They have every right to come. Our only concern is that in these difficult times there must be a proper screening at the borders," the bench observed. During the hearing, the government conceded that present tests being done on the borders, are only limited to thermal screening and general clinical examination. The court observed that this was not sufficient and it can do better. The government also informed the court that more than two lakh persons are likely to return to Uttarakhand. Since the opening of the state borders, more than 90,000 people have already reached Uttarakhand. On a daily basis roughly 6,0007,000 persons are entering Uttarakhand from various border points, it said. The Court also directed that the rapid test kit be procured immediately and used for testing at entry points at the borders. ICMR has approved a testing kit, called Elisa Kit, under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, which can be made available to the state government, the court observed. Such tests have already been performed in District Pauri Garhwal of Uttarakhand. Let it be done for surveillance purposes in other districts as well, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) (Newser) The Senate on Thursday confirmed Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence, though he failed to draw the bipartisan support of his predecessors. Ratcliffe seemed unlikely to get the position when he was nominated in February, as he had already been nominated for the job last year and then withdrew after Republicans questioned his experience. But senators warmed to him as they grew concerned about upheaval in the intelligence community under President Trump and wanted a permanent, confirmed director, per the AP. The Texas Republican will replace Richard Grenell, the current acting director who has overseen a slew of personnel changes. The last Senate-confirmed director, former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, left the post last summer after clashing with Trump. story continues below Democrats allowed a quick vote on the nomination this week, dropping their usual procedural delays in a signal that they prefer Ratcliffe over Grenell. But most Democrats still opposed his nomination, making Ratcliffe the first DNI not to win broad bipartisan support since the position was first created in 2005. The vote was 49-44. Democrats said they were skeptical that Ratcliffe would be an independent leader, despite his assurances during his confirmation hearing. The Republican has been an ardent defender of the president through House impeachment and investigations into Russian interference. But he pledged to communicate to Trump the intelligence communitys findings even if he knew Trump disagreed with them. (Read more John Ratcliffe stories.) VergeSense Sensor "In the midst of a world crisis, VergeSense has quickly positioned themselves to help senior business leaders ensure safer workspaces through social distancing, while at the same time still driving productivity, engagement, and cost efficiency." - Rob Martens, president of Allegion Ventures VergeSense, the leading AI-Powered sensor provider for the workplace, today announced a $9M strategic investment led by Allegion Ventures a $50M corporate venture fund of Allegion plc. JLL Spark, Metaprop, Y Combinator, Pathbreaker Ventures, and West Ventures also participated in the latest funding round. VergeSense will use the investment to meet increased customer demand during the Coronavirus crisis and scale its analytics software platform. VergeSense has quickly emerged as a predominant provider in the burgeoning workplace sensor market since launching in 2017. Today it processes 6 million sensor reports a day for nearly 70 customers. This includes 40 FORTUNE 1000 companies, that it provides services to across 20 million sqft, 250 office buildings, and in 15 countries. These customers rely on VergeSense to power agile workplace design, enhance employee experience, optimize real estate portfolio investments, and facilitate smart cleaning. VergeSense has sold nearly 30,000 easy-to-deploy wireless and wired people-counting sensors to drive these initiatives and enable insight into the ways people use space and get work done. Today, as companies respond to COVID-19, theyre turning to new VergeSense functionalities to solve their most significant problem getting employees back into the workplace safely. New features include the VergeSense Wellness Dashboard, which provides a Social Distancing Score and daily occupancy reports so that companies can make informed, data-driven adjustments to their return to work plans. Also, VergeSense's Smart Cleaning Planner offers a real-time floor map of frequently used areas. Demand for VergeSense capabilities is creating a significant growth opportunity. VergeSense is on track to increase sales bookings by 500% quarter over quarter. Senior leaders around the world are wrestling with how to comply with social distancing guidelines and reassure their employees that it is safe to return to work. This crisis has accelerated the widespread integration of smart technology into workplaces by 5-10 years. Accurate, real-time people counting tech like ours has become a must-have, said Dan Ryan, CEO and co-founder of VergeSense. Were excited to have Allegion Ventures join our existing investors in this strategic round to help us meet the growing demand for our mission-critical solution. "The talented team of entrepreneurs at VergeSense is currently proving just how nimble they can be and how valuable and adaptable their technology is," said Rob Martens, president of Allegion Ventures. "In the midst of a world crisis, they have quickly positioned themselves to help senior business leaders ensure safer workspaces through social distancing, while at the same time still driving productivity, engagement and cost efficiency. VergeSense is on the leading edge of creating data-driven workspaces when it matters most to the global business community and their employees." VergeSenses software-as-a-service business model means customers can benefit from its new product enhancements without hardware changes. Its open API platform enables seamless integration with popular workspace management solutions, including room and visitor booking software and expanding the opportunity for touchless check-in experiences. JLL, a global leader in real estate services, has thousands of VergeSense sensors installed in its buildings around the world. VergeSense delivers better space and occupancy planning for JLL and its clients through sensor and data-driven insights, all of which translates into better employee experiences, said Reeves Davis, Executive Director at JLL Technologies. In a post-COVID world, clients are leveraging VergeSense to facilitate the return to work by making sure occupancy levels are safe, ensuring proper cleaning of highly trafficked areas, and giving employees peace of mind. Helping companies ensure a safe return to the workplace was something we never envisioned, added Ryan. However, thats the benefit of our highly adaptable sensor solution. Before the crisis, we were assisting customers with analyzing employee interactions as signs of workplace engagement. Today, that same sensor capability is helping our customers accommodate social distancing. Like the rest of the world, were hoping for a return to normalcy as quickly as possible. About VergeSense VergeSense is the leading AI-powered sensor provider for the workplace. Headquartered in San Francisco, VergeSense offers a scalable suite of technologies that enables insight into the ways people use space and get work done. Its deep learning sensors capture data beyond simple observation, while its analytics dashboard translates data into real-world recommendations for workplaces around the world. VergeSense sensors can be installed in minutes and get smarter over time. For more information visit http://www.vergesense.com. About Allegion Ventures Allegion Ventures is the corporate venture fund of Allegion. It invests in and accelerates the growth of companies with innovative technologies and products that have the potential to make security and access smarter, stronger, faster and less intrusive. For more information, please visit http://www.AllegionVentures.com. michelle goldberg Im Michelle Goldberg. ross douthat Im Ross Douthat. frank bruni Im Frank Bruni, and this is The Argument. [MUSIC PLAYING] This week, New York City is the unrivaled epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in America with a caseload and a death toll that are shockingly high. If Mayor Bill de Blasio had done more sooner to get New Yorkers to stay home, would that have slowed the spread of the virus elsewhere? Have New Yorks failures become Americas heartache? ross douthat But I think were at a point now where we can say that de Blasio and to a lesser extent, Andrew Cuomo, are two of the real villains in this mayor from jaws since. frank bruni Then, many restaurants are shuttered. And just buying food safely has become an ordeal. Were also cooking more. But how and what were making is changing. Is food culture as we knew it over? michelle goldberg In some ways, its a small thing compared to the scale of the loss that were suffering. But my life is going to be really, really different and really, really, a lot worse. frank bruni And finally, a recommendation. ross douthat My taste buds are tingling, waiting, waiting to hear. bill de blasio If youre under 50, and youre healthy, which is most New Yorkers, theres very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu. frank bruni That was New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on March 10th, just one week before the citys schools and restaurants had to be closed. He took action later than his counterparts in California. And he long downplayed the threat of the coronavirus. And now, here we are. While New York City has a population thats less than a fourth of Californias, it has recorded more than five times as many Covid-19 related deaths. As of our taping on midday Tuesday, the citys death toll was over 20,000. How different would that number be if New York City had shut down earlier? Would the people who live in New York have stopped traveling? Would that have kept people from inadvertently spreading the coronavirus as much of America starts to reopen? What can we learn from the citys mistakes? Ross, youve been a big advocate of more social distancing from the get-go. So Im guessing you have a few opinions about this. ross douthat So I think this is a good topic to talk about this week, because there have been a couple of I think pretty devastating reported pieces in the last six or seven days about how New York City and not only New York City and this encompasses Andrew Cuomos government as well. But New York City, in particular, reacted to and prepared for the coronavirus in the crucial weeks before the outbreak got out of control. And one was in The New York Times, our own newspaper. And it wrote about Mayor de Blasios relationship with Dr. Mitchell Katz, the head of New York citys public hospitals, who had basically, it seems, taken a herd immunity view of the disease early on and encouraged de Blasio to take a similar view. This is basically the view that theres very little anyone can do. And everybody is going to get the disease. And we just have to let it burn through as quickly as possible. And then the website ProPublica did a really deep dive into the contrast between how New York City and New York State handled the crucial week or two leading up to shut downs versus how cities in California statewide handled it. And, again, ProPublica framed it as a pretty damning account of the difference and how the difference made New Yorks outbreak worse. Now, there are a lot of mitigating factors and infinite uncertainties here about how climate and density and a million other things affect the spread of the disease, how different strains might affect the spread of the disease. And there are lots of things you can say in Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomos defense. But I think its useful to start out by saying just the bare facts that we have suggests that the decisions made in New York the decisions made to delay the shutting down of schools, to downplay the dangers of the virus right up until the last minute werent just catastrophic for New York City, though, they obviously were. They made the epidemic nationwide probably much worse than it needed to be. I mean, I think that weve talked a fair amount on this show about the various catastrophic failures of the Trump administration. But I think were at a point now where we can say that de Blasio and, to a lesser extent, Andrew Cuomo, are two of the real villains in the mayor from Jaws sense of this entire pandemic. And the fact that Cuomo has been good on television does not change the fact that, again, right now provisionally, as history is being written, like, de Blasio is going to go down as one of the most catastrophic mayors in New Yorks history. So Im curious what you guys think about that. frank bruni Thats a pretty big statement, Ross. Michelle, one of the most catastrophic mayors in New York citys history? michelle goldberg I think its too early to tell. I mean, I think his handling of this has been really, really bad. And I say that as someone who in the past has been a de Blasio defender. Ive always thought that the intensity of his bad press was overwrought, considering his very real accomplishments on things like, universal pre-K, free school lunches. He really has made life considerably better for a huge swath of New Yorkers, although not really the swath that was always catered to by previous mayors. But, yeah, I dont think theres any doubt that he has handled this really terribly. Disentangling where the fault lies with Cuomo and de Blasio can be a little bit tricky. I mean, theres a line in the ProPublica piece that suggests that de Blasio wanted to close down New York earlier than Andrew Cuomo did and that Andrew Cuomo thought that using language about shelter in place would scare people. So its hard to say exactly where the fault lies between the two of them. And part of the problem weve had is just that they have this really stupid and infantile feud going on that theyve been unable to put aside for the duration of this crisis. So all that said, theres an empirical question here that we dont have the answer to, which is why the outbreak is so much worse in New York and California in the same way that we dont have the answer about why the outbreak was so much worse in the area around Milan than in the area around Rome, right? Theres so many contingent factors some of which we may find out in time, some of which we will never find out. frank bruni It is interesting, though, as both of you note, that Cuomos role and actions are being reappraised, because he was really given the hero treatment by the media for a very long time. And I think a lot of that has to do with how well he communicated during all of this. And I think he was really a lesson in how eager people were during a crisis moment like this to have someone speak to them bluntly but empathetically. But even more recently, though, Cuomos actions, I think, have come under withering review. New York has had an incidence of death in nursing homes thats unrivaled nationally. And Cuomo had a policy that differed from much of the nation where he was requiring nursing homes to take in Covid-19 patients if their vital signs were normal and if they had some quarantine arrangements. That actually differed from other places. And he reversed that policy a few days ago after thousands and thousands of deaths in New Yorks nursing homes. ross douthat Yes, I mean, and I think its clear that there was an assumption early on in New York that hospitals were going to be so overwhelmed by this that you had to do various forms of triage. And the idea that less dire cases would have to michelle goldberg And wait, to be clear, some hospitals were. ross douthat Absolutely. Some hospitals were, but only temporarily and not on the scale that was expected. So you had a set of New York hospitals that were temporarily in a desperate situation. But by the time the military hospitals arrived, and by the time they built the thing at the Jacob Javits Center, there actually werent as many hospital patients as they expected. And so I mean, Im offering this in part as a partial defense of Cuomos decision-making there or what he was thinking. But in the event, he ended up with a policy that did the opposite of what you should be trying to do where since old people are the most vulnerable to this, you should be doing the maximum to protect and seclude old age homes and retirement communities. And part of what was happening while Cuomo was being hailed as a great communicator, which he was, and as a heroic figure, which I dont think he was, was that everyone assumed that New York was just like six days ahead of where every other city was going to be. And at this point, we know thats not true. And so the question then becomes, how much of a difference between what happened in New York and what didnt happen in most other U.S. cities reflects policy choices? And how much of it is contingent on vitamin D levels and subway car crowding and things that really are beyond a mayor or a governors control? michelle goldberg So the things that I feel like we dont know right now are theres some speculation that the strain of the virus that came from Europe to New York, as opposed to from China to the West Coast, was more virulent. I think that theres increasingly clear evidence that there is a weather effect on how transmissible the virus is. And so in that sense, its maybe not fair to compare New York and California because theyre just dealing with very different environmental conditions. And then nowhere else in the country has anything like the New York subway or just the daily intense crowding that a lot of New Yorkers endure. So that all said, one of the things that were learning, as we look at the mortality data from this disease, is that it doesnt really track with density. And it doesnt really track with subway use. It tracks with poverty. And so one of the things that I think its exposed is these underlying inequalities the inequalities that de Blasio was elected to address but that its obviously not done enough to protect his city from catastrophic mass death that he was supposed to protect the hardest. frank bruni As were talking about this discrepancy between New York and California between New York City and San Francisco, I just think its important to remind people that no matter what the various factors, just how incredibly stark that discrepancy is. So as we said at the top of this broadcast, more than 20,000 recorded Covid-19-related deaths in New York City, fewer than 40 in San Francisco, granted San Francisco is much smaller. But it is not that much smaller. michelle goldberg But it just doesnt have the same kind of public transportation. frank bruni Sure it does, Michelle. But were talking over 20,000 versus 36. I mean, theres got to be some leadership issue in that. And, in fact, one of the people who really stands out nationally and Id be curious for both of you to weigh in on who else stands out because we in the media are always being negative. Lets be positive. But London Breed, the very young, very freshly elected mayor of San Francisco, seems to have really exerted some great leadership here and been willing to go out on a limb and make some tough calls that in retrospect do not look punitive or overly stringent at all but look visionary. michelle goldberg I think thats absolutely right. And, I mean, I also think that part of this is just about our extreme kind of East Coast provincialness, right? I mean, because where the media is so concentrated in a couple of cities on the East Coast, it just means that Cuomo gets a lot more attention than, say, Gavin Newsom and Jay Inslee. It was really interesting when people were speculating about, oh, we wish we could replace Joe Biden that they were talking about replacing him with Andrew Cuomo when, obviously, the two governors, who have really shined in handling this, have been Gavin Newsom and Jay Inslee. ross douthat Now, I think thats absolutely right. And, I mean, some of it is literally just a time zone issue, right? Like, Cuomo gets up and gives his morning briefings smack in the middle of East Coast media everyones at their desk working time. And California is still waking up. And Gavin Newsom and Jay Inslee seem to have the epidemic under control. And people are talking about Cuomo for president. Its not just East Coast, West Coast, theres also a very easy narrative that the media falls into where the hicks dont know what theyre doing. And New York obviously does, right? So Marc Caputo, who writes for Politico, who wrote for The Miami Herald for many years, got a lot of attention for writing a piece recently basically saying, everyone said that Florida was going to be destroyed by the coronavirus and that Florida man, the incompetent beach-going drunkard, was going to be undone. And nothing like that has happened. Florida seems to be in decent shape. New York is still the center of the catastrophe. frank bruni Can I interject one more, I think, important moral of the New York versus California stories? And this just came across, I think, so vividly in the recent reporting that Ross referenced in ProPublica in The New York Times that looked back about what happened in the early days. And its the following public health is a profession. Its an area of expertise. Its a field all of its own. And public health officials in New York City this was a big strand of the reporting were ignored by Mayor Bill de Blasio. They were ignored to the point where there was practically a mutiny in the department. And when I read about California, Mayor Breed in San Francisco, Governor Newsom, they listened to public health officials. And I think I hope as a result of this pandemic, we find a new regard for the profession for the expertise of public health. ross douthat Well, I mean, I think this goes to the slight unknowability question. But I agree that we dont know if the moves to reopen that Kemp has made in Georgia and that other states have made are going to work out well over the next few months. And if they do, it may have more to do with climate and summer time than it does with any particularly brilliant vision. My concern with New York is that, in fact, theyll be an overlearning of lessons. I mean, New York has to find a way to reopen. And I think this is the challenge or the public health issue that you raise, Frank, is that clearly you need politicians to listen more to public health officials than de Blasio and Cuomo did in some way in the crucial two weeks before the disaster became apparent. At the same time, you need politicians to figure out ways to balance public health with the imperatives that you cant keep a city like New York completely on lockdown over a hot summer. You have to figure out like, what are school kids going to do? What are you going to do about the beaches all of these kind of things? So there is still a task of statesmanship beyond just listening to public health officials even if you do have to listen to the public health officials as a baseline for decision making. frank bruni What Ross just said, Michelle, makes me want to ask you, do we need when were devising policy to factor in quarantine fatigue more than we are? And Im thinking as I asked that question about the astonishing reports from New York City over the weekend of people going to get takeout beverages from bars and crowding on the sidewalk cheek by jowl and just seeming unable to remember to socially distance after all of this time in lockdown. Is policy just going to have to acknowledge and accommodate a certain limit to what people can do? michelle goldberg Well, I mean, dont you feel like you would probably do that if you were in their 20s? I mean, I think I probably would. But I also understand, like, living this way is really horrible. Youre definitely not going to be able to override as fundamental a human impulse as being near and socializing with other people. frank bruni OK, all right, lets stop there. A question for our listeners. How do you think your city or the country should begin to loosen social distancing measures? What are you eager to not have to do anymore? And what new habits from quarantine do you suspect will stick? Leave us a voicemail at 347-915-4324 or send an email to argument@nytimes.com. Next up a look at the way we eat now versus the way we ate before the pandemic changed almost everything about our lives. Well be right back. [DRUMS] If youd looked at my calendar in February, youd have seen restaurant reservations galore. At home in my cupboard, you would not have seen many cans and jars. These days, of course, its a different story. My pantry looks like Im prepping for Armageddon with canned tuna and canned soup and jars of peanut butter and pickles as far as the eye can see. Im cooking more. But its all simple comfort food. As for eating out, thats a memory so distant it almost seems a myth. Did we really once voluntarily sit in rooms crowded with talking, breathing strangers to eat food cooked by people we didnt know? And did we call that fun? More to the point, will we ever do that again? Has the trend of treating food as entertainment, rather than sustenance, come to an end? Michelle, what do you think? michelle goldberg So, yeah, I mean, going to a restaurant with my husband or with a couple of friends was to me the most transporting and relaxing and sometimes I think the only time in a week when I felt truly relaxed. And Im not sure that it will ever again be escapist in that way, right? You see people in Europe or in certain countries in East Asia going back to restaurants but with these dividers or wearing these see-through face guards. And maybe itll do that for a lark or maybe in time thatll start to seem normal. But right now, its hard to imagine that being a way to really unwind. Meanwhile, I see a lot of people when you talk about food as entertainment getting really, really into cooking and baking. Theres really accomplished professionals I know that have baking Instagram accounts now. That will never be me. Did you remember that song in Say Anything that Lili Taylor sings where it just says, like, thatll never be me over and over and over again? That comes into my head when I see people cooking and baking. frank bruni Michelle, I mean, I wanted to cry, because I think youre totally right about this vanishing romance with restaurants that wont come back for a while. And it makes me so sad because to me, restaurants and I think to a lot of Americans are so much more than a business. I mean, theyre a theater of celebration. Theyre a place where we mark and experience key moments of our lives. And all of that is contingent on a certain degree of relaxation. And as you put it so well, Michelle, will anyone ever feel that unguarded and that safe in a restaurant again? ross douthat All right, Im going to disagree with you both. I think it will come back. And I think it will come back on a timeline thats determined like all these timelines by the arc of the disease and the swiftness of getting treatments and a vaccine. But if we assume that its sometime in 2021 people are getting vaccinated for Covid, then I would guess that by the fall of 2021 or the winter of 2022, the three of us can celebrate our Emmy for The Argument live on H.B.O. by going out to a nice restaurant and michelle goldberg So I think that thats right. This is in some ways, it feels like a petty thing to complain about. But thats a long time to go without what I considered to be one of the preeminent pleasures in life and one of the things that sustained me. So, yes, maybe we will have this life again in over a year or so. But I do think that by that point, a lot of the restaurants that are around now wont have made it. Theres a restaurant in particular that I really worry about where we knew the general manager, well, where we would go whenever we wanted to go somewhere comfortable and familiar and Cheers-like in terms of knowing the staff and often knowing that we would run into people we knew at the bar. In some ways, its a small thing compared to the scale of the loss that were suffering. But my life is going to be really, really different and really a lot worse if that place doesnt frank bruni No, I think you speak for a lot of people, Michelle, because there is a place like that in a lot of peoples lives. And Ross, to your point, I can see. When I said will we ever feel the same way about restaurants again, I was being overdramatic. But I get dramatic when it comes to restaurants. ross douthat I do think that some people do seem to feel very palpably that the shadow of the virus will hang over the world even after there is a vaccine. That was what I was disputing. I think that human beings are very adaptable and that when they feel safe again, they will act pretty much as they did before if not more so and hopefully in numbers that save and revive the restaurants that are right now in dire straits. frank bruni OK, but this is bigger than restaurants. I mean, it is the case know that Americans right now are eating differently. And Id be curious for your thoughts on that. And how much of that will linger for a while. How long that shadow will last? Obviously not forever, but is this not changing our relationship a little bit to food and what we buy and what we cook? michelle goldberg Well, first of all, it depends how much you ate out before. But it also depends, I think, on where you live, because the way I used to shop before was I pretty much went to that market every day and picked up a couple things the little markets within walking distance of my house. And even when things lift, theres limits on how many people can be in the supermarket. Theres lines to get in. And that necessarily means buying less fresh produce and more stuff that can be frozen or canned or in other ways that can hold up for a week or two. ross douthat I mean, I hadnt thought of that. I mean, the main shift for us is like that in that we just had a baby. So we spent a lot of time cooking things that could be frozen before we had the baby. And its true that in a world where its harder to just run to your local store, which it probably will be for some time to come, is joy of cooking style cooking going to come back? Are people going to be making big, deep warm dishes that feed a family for days and days? Or it could be that, as you guys were both saying, like, distinctive restaurants and distinctive cafes and distinctive grocery stores struggle. And more people eat fast food than did before this started, right? Like, maybe this is actually going to be good for McDonalds dominance of the food sector. frank bruni I feel like all this stuff is getting deromanticized because of the pandemic. I mean, one of those things, for example, when I look at the way I shop, when I look at whats on the shelves and whats missing, people seem to be approaching it in a much more bluntly practical fashion. And I notice that Im a consumer because of what I used to do as a restaurant critic of a lot of food journalism. And if you read the food sections of newspapers across the country, they seem to have become bean sections. Every recipe, every discussion is more and more things you can do with beans. [LAUGHTER] I never knew legumes would have such a heyday in American life, but here we are. Lets bring this home. What was the last home-cooked meal in each of your homes? michelle goldberg Theres a thing I make a lot, which is like, a slightly fancier version of just buying store-bought sauce and pasta, which is sauteing some shrimp and zucchini and garlic and then just mixing it with pasta and arrabbiata sauce. So thats something I make all the time and made last night. I dont know if that counts as homemade. Its half homemade. ross douthat Thats homemade. Come on, thats totally homemade. Our last home-cooked meal was a chicken thighs marinated in a mixture of olive oil and apple cider vinegar and garlic grilled with asparagus and sweet potatoes. And we served it to some friends in our backyard. We sort of socially distanced our barbecue. frank bruni Two reactions to that. One, youre fancy youre fancy. [LAUGHTER] And number two, I love how in this world now, as soon as we mentioned company or friends or relatives, we have to hasten to add and we were socially distanced as if there is some god with a measuring stick whos going to come in and decide whether you did something very bad or not, whether you sinned. ross douthat Well, you know I think there is such a god, Frank if you know me. You know frank bruni I know you think ross douthat But I dont know frank bruni But would you put a tape measure in his hands or her hands or its hands or their hands? ross douthat I mean, now, youre spurring me to confession. I mean, the horrible truth is we had our friends over. And they have a little girl. And we tried to have the little girl play with our three non-baby kids without touching. And its just like, its ludicrous. Im sure that Gods tape measure was deployed. And we were judged and found wanting, as we ate our fancy, our fancy marinated grilled chicken thighs. frank bruni Oh, OK. ross douthat But Frank, come on, dont hold out on us. What was the last gourmet meal that you whipped up? frank bruni Well, you see, Im not whipping up gourmet meals. And thats part of what Im saying here. Im taking a much more practical approach. Were getting ahead of ourselves there, Ross, because I get the honors of doing the recommendation this week. And it will answer your question. So maybe we should pivot to that, huh? ross douthat My taste buds are tingling, waiting to hear. [MUSIC PLAYING] frank bruni OK, well, in the vein of us always ending the show with a recommendation and the honors apparently fault to me this week my recommendation is this salt and pepper. I have been cooking more during the pandemic. I have been cooking more simply. And Ive been trying to keep things as uncomplicated as possible in part because shopping has become, as we said before, something of an ordeal. And the less of it you can do, and the fewer items you can get, the better. And I have moved away from the dill. I have moved away from the coriander. I have moved away from the rosemary and the cumin and the turmeric and all of it. And I realized that if you just use salt and pepper in the right measures and in the right way, you can have all the seasoning you need. And, in fact, theres a beautiful simplicity to it. To answer your question, Ross, I have been roasting a lot of chicken. And if you make sure that the skin is dry and if you begin your chicken cooking process at a higher temperature then you end it, and if you salt those pieces or that whole chicken just right, you get a crackling wonderful sensation. And add a little pepper, and you are off to the races. Thats all you need. ross douthat I mean, roast chicken is just fantastic. So I wish that you could a roast chicken for us, Frank. And maybe we can do that someday in the post-pandemic future. frank bruni MBABANE The Ministry of Health has stated that with the partial lockdown, Eswatini has potentially averted 4 000 deaths from COVID-19. The figure was revealed by the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, in her responses to the House of Assembly, which were tabled on Wednesday. Nkosi had been asked by Kukhanyeni MP Malavi Sihlongonyane on the status of the country after the partial lockdown and asked if the country was winning in any way. The minister said modelling forecasts suggested that the country had averted between 70 000 to 550 000 cumulative infections. Forecasting With the partial lockdown based on figures from modelling and forecasting we have potentially averted 4 000 deaths from COVID-19, reads the ministers response. The minister further revealed that for now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasts were to the effect that at the end of July, the country would have the most infections. We are hoping that it will taper off toward the end. How quickly it tapers off will depend on whether there is treatment and a vaccine and that there is nothing that exacerbates the situation, said Nkosi. MP Sihlongonyane had further asked the minister what the countrys testing plan was as in some instances, the tests were a few and in some instances a lot. Nkosi said all contacts of a confirmed case were tested for the virus, but due to global shortages of tests and collection materials for samples, they had a case definition that had to be met for them to conduct testing for COVID-19. The minister said they would be bringing rapid tests to help them with the screening. We had about 3 000 rapid tests that we used very quickly. The screening tests will help us identify who requires testing, she said. Nkosi said the rapid tests would be targeted at specific cohorts which included factory workers, healthcare workers and others, including congested areas where cases were being reported. When asked by Madlangempisi MP Sibusiso Nxumalo on the integrity of the results, the minister said they had two types of tests as they used rapid tests for screening, which showed them if people had been recently exposed to the virus, but not if one currently had the virus. We have 99.9 per cent confidence in the PCR results which are quality assured by a WHO reference laboratory in the region, said Nkosi. Extraction Asked how many tests the biocentric platform conducted per day and why there had been delays, Nkosi said with manual extraction kits, the biocentric could run 126 tests per day while semi-automated extraction kits could run 288 tests per day. We have recently only had manual extraction kits in the country, which has resulted in the low number of tests performed per day, she said. The minister said door-to-door testing would be conducted once they had the rapid tests in the country, but it would only be done in high density areas. The minister said transition from one phase to another would be decided by Cabinet based on evidence of the national response informed by data from the Public Health Emergency Committee. Automaker Nissan India on Thursday said it has launched a new digital initiative enabling customers to book and buy vehicles online amid coronavirus pandemic New Delhi: Automaker Nissan India on Thursday said it has launched a new digital initiative enabling customers to book and buy vehicles online amid coronavirus pandemic. The company's SUV Kicks and entire Datsun range can now be booked online, Nissan India said in a statement. "We are strengthening our commitment in line with our customer-centric approach by bringing the showroom experience to customers' location through a virtual showroom with a digitally enabled car purchase journey," Nissan Motor India Managing Director Rakesh Srivastava said. Click here to follow LIVE news and updates on stock markets It allows customers to experience as well as own products with complete confidence, convenience and with zero physical contact, he added. The United States Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center rescued a stranded dolphin on Thursday in Sea Isle City after the mammal was caught on the beach in low tide. A witness walking the beach around 7 a.m. saw the dolphin stuck while the water moved out. He stayed on scene until rescue crews arrived, wetting down the dolphin after receiving instructions from the MMSC. The quick thinking of the reporting source made a lot of difference, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Krysten Kasprzyk, a watchstander with Sector Delaware Bay. They used sea water to keep the dolphin wet until help could arrive. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center worked with watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay to rescue the dolphin. The rescue crew wanted to get medical attention for the dolphin before releasing it back into the ocean, so it was transported to Atlantic City, where it was examined by a veterinarian. The dolphin was later safely reintroduced to the water. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay coordinated the rescue of stranded dolphin in Sea Isle City, N.J.,... Posted by U.S. Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic on Thursday, May 21, 2020 Dolphin rescues arent common along the Jersey Shore. The Coast Guard responds to only a handful of calls per year regarding stranded marine mammals. Dolphin specific, I would say very rarely. We dont see dolphins doing that, especially the breed of that dolphin, which is the common dolphin, said Petty Officer First Class Philip Lengyel, the Command Duty Officer for Sector Delaware Bay. Whales youll get randomly two or three a summer. Marine mammals in general, Id say probably less than 10 a year. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here. Confusion reigns in Spain over deal with Basque party to repeal labor reform The agreement between the government and EH Bildu, which was announced late last night to the surprise of other groups, was subject to a late-night rectification by the Socialist Party The approval of the fifth extension to the state of alarm by Spains Congress of Deputies yesterday ended with a political mess. After the exceptional measures were approved by the lower house of parliament, news emerged of an agreement between the coalition government led by the Socialist Party (PSOE) and junior partner Unidas Podemos and the Basque nationalist group EH Bildu to repeal a 2012 labor reform. The pro-independence party, it emerged, had secured the deal with the government in exchange for abstaining at Wednesdays key vote to push the end of the state of alarm to June 7. The text of the agreement began with a commitment by the government to overturn the 2012 legislation, which was passed by the main opposition Popular Party (PP) while it was in power, and which, among other things, gave companies in Spain more flexibility to sack employees. The Wednesday agreement specified that the government should repeal the law before the end of the extraordinary measures that are in place to combat the coronavirus crisis i.e. the state of alarm. EH Bildu EH Bildu is a radical left coalition that has courted controversy in the past for failing to condemn the violent campaign waged by Basque terrorist group ETA, which has now been disbanded. The coalition was founded in April 2011 after the Supreme Court barred a new left-wing Basque nationalist party named Sortu from taking part in elections due to its alleged links to ETA. In recent times, the leader of the main opposition Popular Party (PP), Pablo Casado, has condemned Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for negotiating with EH Bildu ahead of his investiture vote to be reinstated in office, given that he needed the support of other parties in order to retake power. Casado slammed Sanchez for legitimizing Bildu, calling them the successors to ETA, and accusing him of not defending the victims of terrorism by having talks with them. During the debate on the extension of the state of alarm on Wednesday, and before this latest controversy had emerged, Casado had already cited ETA, accusing the government of moving convicted terrorists to jails closer to the Basque Country, and once again criticizing EH Bildu for not condemning ETAs terrorist campaign. But given the controversy that the deal caused among the political opposition, hours later, at around midnight, the PSOE released an explanatory note in which it rectified what had been agreed in the first point of the deal. Instead of the complete repeal of the 2012 legislation, the PSOE and its junior partner agreed on a vague commitment to recover the labor rights taken away by the 2012 labor reform. The pledge is included in the governing pact reached by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Unidas Podemos chief Pablo Iglesias in December, ahead of the creation of their coalition government. The vote in Congress on Wednesday on the fresh extension to the state of alarm garnered the support of center-right Ciudadanos (Citizens), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the leftist Mas Pais, as well as a few smaller groups in the lower house of parliament. The coalition government does not have a working majority in Congress, and thus needs the support of other groups to pass legislation. In the case of the state of alarm, a simple majority more yes votes than no in the 350-seat chamber was required. But the fresh extension, the fifth since the emergency measures were first implemented on March 14, met with more opposition than ever in the lower house: 162 votes against and 11 abstentions. If the five lawmakers from EH Bildu had not abstained, the result would have been 177 votes in favor, 167 against and 6 abstentions thats to say, the state of alarm would have been extended with or without the deal. The text of the deal was signed by the PSOE spokesperson, Adriana Lastra, Pablo Echenique from Podemos, and Mertxe Aizpurua of EH Bildu. Lastra put her signature to the document once the vote in Congress concluded on Wednesday, with the approval of Prime Minister Sanchez. As well as labor reforms, the deal signed with EH Bildu also included a section on local administrations, giving councils greater spending powers to deal with the social effects caused by the Covid-19 crisis. The text specifies that debt levels for the Basque Country and Navarre regional governments will be established exclusively according to their respective financial situations. Conceding this point to EH Bildu, just weeks ahead of regional elections in the Basque Country, may have a negative effect on the relationship between the more mainstream Basque party PNV and the central government, in particular given the fact that this deal was not made public until after the Wednesday vote at which the government received the support of the PNV. The deal will also have repercussions on the governments relationship with Ciudadanos, which, under new leader Ines Arrimadas, has been moving closer to the coalition government in recent weeks. Indeed, Ciudadanos agreed this week to support the latest extension to the state of alarm, provided that Sanchez requested just a two-week period rather than a month. The move by Ciudadanos was also aimed at ensuring the government did not have to make concessions to the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) in exchange for their support. ERC, which is in favor of an independent Catalonia, has been pushing for a commitment from the government to reestablish talks on the future of the region that had been put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis. Ciudadanos is strongly opposed to Catalan independence, and indeed of any territorial breakup of Spain. Iglesiass comments The confusion deepened on Thursday morning, when Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias insisted during an interview with Catalunya Radio that the agreement does not speak about a partial repeal, it talks about the repeal of the labor reform. The parties can say what they want. What was signed was what was agreed. The deal between the three parties is to completely overturn the reform. But the PSOE on Thursday morning was sticking to the rectification made late last night. Transportation Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on the Onda Cero radio network that the key passage in the text had been rectified, but that the deal had not been scraped. Abalos added that there would be no need to sign a new deal, given that all that was needed was a clarification from the three parties. EH Bildu, meanwhile, stated that the PSOE had not made a rectification, but rather a terminological tweak to the document. The deal is still in place, said party spokesperson Mertxe Aizpurua, during an interview on state radio network RNE. English version by Simon Hunter. "Friends" alum Jennifer Aniston is rumored to be getting frustrated with her ex-husband, Brad Pitt because she doesn't know where she stands in his life. As Mirror UK reports, the 51-year-old actress has demanded some clarity from the "Ad Astra" actor about their relationship. Since his marriage to Angelina Jolie ended in 2016, Pitt's friendship with Aniston had rekindled early this year when they had a reunion backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. It was said that Aniston has asked Pitt's indecision about their relationship and wants to know where she stands with rumored girlfriend, Alia Shawkat, in the picture. In the last 12 months, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt have been growing closer to one another but that it's hard for the "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" actor to commit. The British tabloid has also reported that Aniston warned Pitt to "make up his mind." According to Heatworld, the reported "relationship" is becoming an annoyance for Aniston, and she wants some clarification as to where she stands. It has been reported that one day Brad Pitt gives her a lot of attention, and then the next, he is barely in touch with Aniston. The "Murder Mystery" star has reportedly reached the end of her breaking point and is said that she will not consider a relationship with her former beau until he stops being "flaky and indecisive" about his intentions with her. A source told Heatworld, "Whenever anyone asks Brad what's going on between him and Alia, he insists they're just friends." The source continued, "But there have been loads of rumors that she's been staying at his place and hanging out with him nonstop." The source further said that the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" actor has still been contacting Aniston and acts like nothing's going on between him and Shawkat. Besides that, Brad Pitt has also reportedly acted as extra flirty to Aniston and said how much he looks forward to meeting up with the blonde bombshell once the coronavirus pandemic is over. "She's been taking the calls, but she finds it maddening wondering what the hell is happening - and she's told him as much." But unfortunately, Aniston reportedly feels heartbroken and "let down by him once again." Did Brad Pitt Have a Dull Marriage Life with Jennifer Aniston? Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt separated in 2005 when Pitt moved on to Angelina Jolie. Years after their split, Pitt talked about that seemed to point at his marriage with Aniston that people have misinterpreted. In an interview with Parade in 2011, he once said that he wanted to find a movie about an exciting life at one point in his life because he wasn't living that way. He went on and referred to his previous marriage with Aniston. "But I wasn't living an interesting life myself. I think that my marriage had something to do with it. Trying to pretend the marriage was something that it wasn't." However, he corrected his statement when many fans were not happy with it. Some fans believed that he was blaming Aniston for his not-so-interesting life, while some fans think that the actress is a dull companion. "It grieves me that this was interpreted this way. the point I was trying to make is not that Jen was dull, but I was becoming dull to myself and responsible for myself." READ MORE: Nick Cordero COVID-19 News: Actor's Health is Going Downhill After News Of Recovery Last Week Actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband agreed to plead guilty to charges connected to their roles in a massive college admission scandal that rocked higher education, prosecutors said Thursday. In a deal struck with federal prosecutors in Boston, the "Full House" actress and husband Mossimo Giannulli agreed to serve time in prison for allegedly passing off their daughters as elite athletes and securing their admission to the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors in Boston said. Loughlin has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, and Giannulli is now expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud, authorities said. If a federal judge signs off on the deals, Loughlin will spend two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine, be subjected to two years of supervised release and perform 100 hours of community service, prosecutors said. In Giannullis plea agreement, he agreed to five months in prison, a $250,000 fine, two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service. Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a statement. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions." The couple was dealt a legal setback earlier this month when a judge sided with prosecutors and against defense lawyers' argument that FBI agents improperly pressured the operation's ringleader, Rick Singer, who is a cooperating witness, to get incriminating evidence against defendants. Loughlin, 55, and Giannulli, 56, will appear before Boston-based U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday to plead guilty, according to a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors. Story continues With courts shuttered due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the hearing will be conducted by video conference so the actress and designer, who live in Los Angeles, don't have to physically be in Boston, prosecutors said. Gorton is expected to set another date to impose sentencing. An attorney for the couple could not immediately be reached Thursday. The admissions scandal ensnared for more than 50 affluent parents and educators accused of using who big-dollar, backdoor methods to get children into elite colleges. Singer was paid millions of dollars to inflate student resumes by either passing them off as top- notch athletes or having their standardized test scores boosted. In college sports, coaches are often given wide latitude to get their recruited student-athletes admitted. In Loughlin's case, for example, daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Rose Giannulli were photographed working out on rowing machines, such as are used by crew athletes, prosecutors said. The daughters, who never participated in crew, were not accused of any wrongdoing. Loughlin and Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Huffman were the two biggest names caught up in the massive probe, dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" by prosecutors. After a two-month hiatus, one-third of the scheduled domestic flights would be flying from Monday after the airlines adhere to the government-prescribed limits on airfares categorised in seven bands based on flight duration, even as the Civil Aviation Minister indicated that the ministry was not in favour of quarantining passengers on short-haul flights. Unveiling a set of detailed pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight guidelines on Thursday, the civil aviation ministry advised people vulnerable like the elderly, pregnant women and passengers battling health issues to avoid air travel till the coronavirus pandemic abates. All passengers will have to provide their medical details through the Aarogya Setu app or by filling up a self-declaration form, while those residingin containment zones will not be allowed to travel, the ministry added. Noting that all stakeholders such as airlines, airports have cooperated, Puri said,"operations will start on 1/3 of the approved Summer schedule for domestic routes in a calibrated manner from 25 May 2020 and will be scaled up gradually. After domestic travel has been eased, we will address the issue of international travel depending on the evolving situation." Claiming that a lot of "fuss" was being made over quarantine of passengers on domestic flights, Puri "I don't know why we are making such a fuss on the quarantine issue. This is domestic travel. Same laws will apply here that applies when you travel by train or a bus... People who are positive will not be allowed to board the flights." "If I go to Kerala, will I be put under quarantine for 14 days? Then on my return, will I be put under quarantine again for 14 days? This is not practical," he added. He also asserted that the larger question of quarantining would have to be tackled in a "pragmatic manner". The minister said social distancing norms will not be implemented even if middle seats are kept vacant on flights. "Therefore, we have decided not to keep middle seats vacant," he said. Puri said all the air travel routes have been divided into seven bands based on the duration of flights ranging from 40 minutes to 210 minutes. The aim of the exercise is to prescribe upper and lower limits of fares and the caps on fares would be in place till August 24. Later,DGCA issued the government-decided fare limits for these bands --domestic flights with less than 40-minute duration to have lower and upper limit of Rs 2000 and Rs 6000, for 40-60 minutes Rs 2,500 and Rs 7,500, for 60-90 minutes Rs 3,000 and Rs 9,000, for 90-120 minutes Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000, for 120-150 minutes Rs 4500 and Rs 13000, for 150-180 minutes Rs 5500 and Rs 15700. Flights with duration between 180-210 mins, like ones on Delhi-Coimbatore route, to have lower and upper limit of Rs 6500 and Rs 18600, theDirectorate General of Civil Aviationsaid in its circular. While aviation consultancy, CAPA's CEO and Director for South Asia Kapil Kaul welcomed the partial and calibrated resumption of flight services, he said the limit on fares is a "bad and unfortunate decision" "This decision will hurt airlines more than helping (them)... Interfering in pricing which is most strategic to airlines is taken based on a wrong advice," he told PTI. IATA Assistant Director (Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific) Albert Tjoeng also said,"Airlines need to have the freedom to make their commercial decisions, including the pricing of airfares. Hence, we recognise and hope that this is a one-time measure as a result of COVID-19 and will be discontinued on August 24. India's Air Corporation Act was repealed in 1994, so the announcement to regulate airfares more than 2 decades later comes across as certainly a step back." India was one of the first countries to impose stringent travel restrictions, including banning all international passenger flightson March 25 as the country was put under a lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. The minister also asserted that the lockdown has been effective and that India's coronavirus-related fatality figures are one of the lowest in the world. As per the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs), all passengers will have to do web check-in as physical check-in counters at airports will not be functional. The rules include no meals on board, mandatory temperature checks for all passengers and allowing only one check-in bag for each passenger. People who were tested positive for COVID-19 will not be allowed to travel. All the passengers will have to wear masks while entering the airports and thereafter. Passengers will have to report to airports two hours before flights are scheduled to depart and they will have to strictly follow social distancing rules. The government's decision to allow domestic air travel comes days after the government relaxed norms allowing economic activities to resume in a bid to revive the economy that has been hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown. Aviation Secretary P S Kharola said 40 percent of seats in any flight would have to be sold at the mid-point of the lower and upper limits of air fares. The minister said he can't comment right now on when the flight operations would be restored completely, and added that only one-third flights will be permitted to operate from metro to non-metro cities where weekly departures are more than 100. "The passengers are expected to certify the status of their health through the Aarogya Setu app or a self-declaration form," said the ministry. Airports have been advised to earmark areas for isolation as well as to carry out COVID-19 testing of suspected passengers. According to the guidelines, the airports will have to ensure easy availability of hand sanitisers at all entry points and at various touch points. The ministry also allowed resumption of services by all food and beverages (F&B) outlets on the condition that they must follow all COVID-19 precautions. "Take-away, digital payments, self-ordering booths at F&B and retail outlets to be encouraged to prevent crowding of people," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The air quality of many urban areas across Vietnam remained good in the first half of May. Illustrative image. The concentration of fine dust PM2.5 level recorded in Hanoi in May was higher than other areas but the air quality remained at an average level measuring between 51 and 100. Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn Most metropolitan areas including Ha Noi, Ha Long (Quang Ninh Province), Viet Tri (Phu Tho Province), Nha Trang and HCM City saw air quality index (AQI) at good and moderate levels, according to the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The concentration of fine dust PM2.5 level recorded in Ha Noi was higher than other areas but the air quality was still considered at an average level measuring between 51 and 100. The concentration of fine dust PM2.5 in Hanoi slightly exceeded Vietnams standard of 50 micrograms per one cu.m of air on May 2nd, 5th and 9th. However, it was still within the permissible limit from April 11-17. As summer starts in most regions of the country, there were a lot of days with thunderstorms and wind which diffuses pollutants in the air, so the air quality of many areas have also improved. According to the VEA, the period of highest air pollution in the year from September to March has come to an end. In the coming months, the air quality of urban areas will continue to stay at fairy good levels, except for several days with special weather conditions, it said. Earlier, the VEA said air quality has improved in several cities in March and April due to social distancing measures. In January and February, the air quality in Hanoi was bad around half of the time, but that did not happen on any day in March, the administration said. It attributed the improvement to the suspension of many social and economic activities. The VEA cited that on April 17, only one out of ten monitoring stations in the city recorded AQI of more than 100 (which is considered unheathy) compared with five on May 9, after social distancing ended. VNS Vietnam launches air quality monitoring app The air quality monitoring app is user-friendly, easy to download, install and upgrade. OFALLON, ILLINOIS Because of enhanced personal safety programs and procedures, most commercial construction projects in Southern Illinois generally are progressing on schedule during the pandemic, according to Donna Richter, chief executive officer of the Southern Illinois Builders Association and the Southern Illinois Construction Advancement Program. State and federal guidelines both consider construction work as essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Florida Keys will reopen to tourists on June 1, more than two months after the island chain closed to visitors to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Checkpoints that barred visitors from coming into the Florida Keys will be removed next month and hotels and other lodging establishments, including campgrounds and vacation rentals, will also be allowed to reopen at 50% occupancy, Monroe County Emergency Management said in a statement on Sunday. These businesses must implement sanitation stations and follow the American Hotel and Lodging Associations cleaning guidelines for COVID-19, the statement said. Airport screenings and bus restrictions will also be lifted in June. The decision to reopen comes amid the low coronavirus infection rate in the Florida Keys, the Miami Herald reported. As of Sunday, Monroe County had 100 positive coronavirus cases and three deaths. If the Florida Keys experience a surge in cases after reopening in June, restrictions may be heightened and amenities may again be closed, the statement said. The move to reopen was the toughest decision Monroe County officials had to make, Monroe County Spokeswoman Kristen Livengood told the Miami Herald. The Florida Keys had been closed off to non-residents since March 22. Checkpoints at U.S. 1 and State Road 905 were set up five days later to bar visitors from coming into Monroe County. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Florida Chinas Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it had lodged solemn representations with the United States to complain about a planned U.S. sale of advanced torpedoes to Chinese-claimed Taiwan. China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news briefing in Beijing. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You should upgrade or use an You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser Before an adulatory crowd of university professors and students, Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, offered a strikingly bold message about the global coronavirus pandemic Before an adulatory crowd of university professors and students, Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, offered a strikingly bold message about the global coronavirus pandemic. Summoning images of sacrifice from Communist Party lore, he told them that the calamity was ripe with possibility for China. Great historical progress always happens after major disasters, Xi said during a recent visit to Xian Jiaotong University. Our nation was steeled and grew up through hardship and suffering. Xi, shaped by his years of adversity as a young man, has seized on the pandemic as an opportunity in disguise a chance to redeem the party after early mistakes let infections slip out of control, and to rally national pride in the face of international ire over those mistakes. And the State propaganda machine is aggressively backing him up, touting his leadership in fighting the pandemic. Now, Xi needs to turn his exhortations of resolute unity into action a theme likely to underpin the National Peoples Congress, the annual legislative meeting that opens on Friday after a months-long delay. He is pushing to restore the pre-pandemic agenda, including his signature pledge to eradicate extreme poverty by this year, while cautioning against complacency that could let a second wave of infections spread. He must do all this while the country faces a diplomatic and economic climate as daunting as any since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. If you position yourself as a great helmsman uniquely capable of leading your country, that has a lot of domestic political risk if you fail to handle the job appropriately, said Carl Minzner, a professor of Chinese law and politics at Fordham University. Thats a risk for Xi going forward. So far, Xi has largely succeeded in rewriting the narrative in China. The disarray in other countries, especially the United States, has given him a reprieve from domestic political pressure by allowing officials to highlight Chinas lower death toll, despite questions about the accuracy of the numbers. The Trump administrations withholding of funds from the World Health Organisation handed Xi a chance to appear munificent when he pledged $2 billion in assistance and promised to make any vaccine widely available. Xi has cast himself as the indispensable leader, at the ramparts to defend China against intractable threats. The shift has provoked the party cadre and by all appearances much of the public to coalesce around his leadership, whatever misgivings they may have about the bungling of the outbreak. If we had frozen time at 1 February, this would be very bad for the Chinese leadership, said Jude Blanchette, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, DC. Chinas leaders in the past have often invoked the theme of triumph over adversity, but for Xi, who turns 67 next month, the idea threads through his own biography. His father, a famous revolutionary leader, was purged and held in solitary confinement under Mao Zedong. The younger Xi was hounded as a child after his fathers disgrace and later, during the Cultural Revolution, ritually denounced by his own mother and exiled from Beijing to labour in a village for seven years. Joseph Torigian, the author of a forthcoming biography on the father, said Xis personal hardships did not erode his loyalty to the party at least outwardly. He emerged instead steeled, a word his father, Xi Zhongxun, used to describe his time in prison and that the son used when speaking at the university. This moment of challenge is what makes leaders in China great, Torigian said of Xis worldview. It is a dramatic turnaround from only months ago, when Xi faced a shaken and sceptical public. The party apparatus seemed to shudder as outrage over silencing warnings about the virus and other early mistakes spilled beyond the censors. I see not an emperor standing there exhibiting his new clothes, but a clown who stripped naked and insisted on continuing to be an emperor, a prominent real estate tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, wrote publicly in March, prompting his arrest. Xi made his first public appearance in the crisis only two days after ordering Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus outbreak began, to be locked down in late January. He presided over an unusual televised session of the countrys top political body, the Politburo Standing Committee. By then, thousands of people had been infected and scores had died. According to a lengthy account of the emergency that appeared in Peoples Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, he sombrely told the committee that he had difficulty sleeping the night before the eve of the Lunar New Year holiday. Xi also seemed to shrink, temporarily, from his usual monopoly on centre stage. He put the countrys No 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang, in charge of the governments emergency response, possibly to position himself to deflect blame if the crisis worsened. As China got the outbreak under control, the partys propaganda pivoted again toward Xi, pushing the premier into the background. Li will deliver the keynote report to the National Peoples Congress on Friday, but it will be Xi who dominates the acclamatory media coverage, likely dispensing advice to provincial leaders and delegates, and repeating policy priorities. The Peoples Daily account of the outbreak cited Li just once, taking orders from Xi to visit Wuhan. It mentioned Xis name 83 times. The piece garlanded him in tributes, describing the decision to close Wuhan as a brave personal act. Making this decision demands massive political courage, Xi said the night of 22 January, hours before the lockdown, according to the account. But when its time to act, you must act. Hesitation will only lead to chaos. There are few signs that Xi has been chastened by the failures in the beginning of the countrys fight against the disease nor by the international criticism. All along, we have acted with openness, transparency and responsibility, he told the World Health Assembly on Monday. Xi, though, has warned that China faces an increasingly uncertain world. He has often leavened his promises of a bright future with warnings against a possible economic meltdown, foreign crisis or political decay. Last month, he sounded unusually ominous. Confronted with a grim and complicated international epidemic and global economic developments, we must keep in mind how things could bottom out, he told a Politburo Standing Committee. Be mentally and practically prepared to deal with long-lasting changes in external conditions. Perhaps the greatest challenge involves the economy, which contracted for the first time since China began its remarkable transformation more than four decades ago. The rising prosperity of millions of Chinese has been a pillar of the Communist Partys legitimacy ever since. In recent weeks during visits to three provinces, Xi has sought to return the focus to the policy agenda that predated the coronavirus. He went to coastal Zhejiang and two inland provinces, Shanxi and Shaanxi. Wearing his trademark dark blue windbreaker and, when indoors, a mask, Xi has visited factories, ports, government offices and scenic spots trying to return to life while enforcing new safeguards against infection. In poorer inland villages, he has lingered over crops of wood ear fungus and chrysanthemum the kinds of commercial farming crucial to his anti-poverty drive. Your wood ear fungus here is famous, he told a clapping crowd of villagers in Shaanxi, Chinese television news showed. This is your way out of poverty and into prosperity. But even the Communist Partys polished propaganda stagecraft showing China overcoming the epidemic can reveal how life remains far from normal. Footage of his visit to Xian Jiaotong University indicated that the crowd of cheering students and professors waiting for Xi was arranged while the university remained largely closed. School hasnt restarted yet, but here you all are, Xi deadpanned, drawing scattered laughter from the crowd. Throughout his efforts to revive the economy, Xi has exhorted officials to keep a tight lid on coronavirus cases as they move to restart business. The risks of a rebound in domestic infections are ever-present, he said this month from the Communist Partys compound in Beijing. For local officials, finding the right balance between reopening and averting outbreaks can be dangerously fraught. The party chief and other officials of Shulan, a city in northeast China, were dismissed after roughly 20 new cases were reported. The new cases prompted a lockdown and restrictions in surrounding areas. The deeper implications of COVID for China is still very much unclear at this point, but potentially monumental in hindsight, said Adam Ni, the director of the China Policy Centre, a research organisation in Canberra, Australia. If Xi can survive this year unscathed, he has mapped out a triumphant march to a Communist Party congress in 2022, when he could press for another five years as Chinas top leader. Next year will bring the grandiose centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party; and in the following year China will host the Winter Olympics. Ive actually thought Xi Jinping had a fairly good run for another five years well before COVID-19, Blanchette said. That being said, COVID-19 is icing on the cake here. Steven Lee Myers and Chris Buckley c.2020 The New York Times Company STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As the United States has surpassed 1.5 million coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 93,000 deaths as of Thursday, researchers at Columbia University have found adopting lockdown measures one week earlier than when they were set in place across the country could have saved 36,000 lives by early May. Even further, if the country was placed on firmer lockdown with social distancing measures in place by March 1 about two weeks before such measures were generally taken about 83% of the countrys deaths as of May 3 could have been avoided, the study estimated. Enacting stricter lockdown measures under that scenario would have prevented approximately 54,000 deaths, the researchers models showed, at a time when the country ended up having 65,307 deaths. During the initial growth of a pandemic, infections increase exponentially. As a consequence, early intervention and fast response are critical for limiting morbidity and mortality, the researchers wrote in the preprint study, which has not yet been peer reviewed. President Donald Trump tweeted, Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on on March 9, comparing the coronavirus to the flu. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!" The first case of the coronavirus in the United States was confirmed on Jan. 21, and the first case was confirmed on Staten Island on March 9; however, reports said it was likely the virus was spreading throughout different areas of the country before it was officially reported. Still, the quicker implementation of lockdown measures, which would have been difficult amid widespread testing shortages at the time, would have especially had enormous implications for major metropolitan areas like New York City, the data showed. The study estimated that approximately 209,987 confirmed cases and 17,514 deaths would have been avoided if the aforementioned measures were taken within the New York metropolitan area, which later became the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Locally, public schools were closed across the city on March 15 and Gov. Andrew Cuomos on pause order was put in place on March 22. During their daily briefings, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo said they didnt know the extent of the spread of the virus during those initial days expressing regret for not having the information to fully make an earlier assessment, but still standing by their decisions. I wish we had known so much more in January, February, the beginning of March. I wish we had the testing that would have told us what was going on, de Blasio said to a Politico reporter on Thursday. Its very painful to think about, if we had had the testing we needed, everything we could have done differently. Or if we had known then the things we know now, what we would have been able to do for people. Its horrible. Cuomo dismissed the retroactive analysis, instead referring questions about his responses to the data he had at the time. Who should have known?, he said to reporters. Its above my paygrade as the governor of one state, but what federal agency? What international health organization? I dont know. Its not what I do; its not my responsibility. But someone has to answer that question. Researchers said the stark changes in mortality rate affected by a mere seven to 14 days in timing in regard to lockdown measures underscores the importance of stringent and swift action. These dramatic reductions of morbidity and mortality due to more timely deployment of control measures highlights the critical need for aggressive, early response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers wrote. And, with restrictions being eased across New York State and portions of the country, the same researchers warn that rapid response remains essential to avoid large-scale resurgences of infections and deaths in locations with reopening plans. The trend of decreasing cases and deaths throughout the United States, the researchers said which are due to retroactive social distancing and lockdown measures put in place conveys a false signal that the pandemic is well under control. While noting that these estimates are merely approximations, and it is impossible to know for certain the exact amount of people who would have died, they said, efforts to further raise public awareness of the ongoing high transmissibility and explosive growth potential of COVID-19 are still needed at this critical time. Our results also indicate that without sufficient broader testing and contact tracing capacity, the long lag between infection acquisition and case confirmation masks the rebound and exponential growth of COVID-19 until it is well underway. Attorney Norm Pattis will no longer represent controversial radio show host Alex Jones in a pair of multimillion-dollar lawsuits tied to the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. On Monday, Pattis filed a motion to withdraw representation of Jones, who is being sued for defamation by relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting. Pattis declined to comment on his withdrawal. The motion to withdraw from the case comes three days after Jones made headlines for describing, in a recent video, how he would eat his neighbors if he had to in order to survive because of the coronavirus panic. The cases Lafferty v. Jones and Sherlach v. Jones are scheduled to begin jury selection in November at Waterbury Superior Court. Erica Lafferty is the daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. William Sherlach was married to the schools psychologist, Mary Sherlach, who was also killed. Both are suing Jones for his claims that the shooting, which killed 20 students and six educators, was a hoax and that the victims were crisis actors working at the direction of the government statements he has since retracted. Pattis represented Jones before the Connecticut Supreme Court in late September and tried to get the lawsuit dismissed. It is unclear who will now represent Jones. Pattis has had other high-profile, controversial clients in the past. The outspoken attorney represented Fotis Dulos in the high-profile homicide case revolving around the disappearance of his estranged wife Jennifer Dulos last May. The case garnered national attention until Dulos killed himself in late January. Chris La Tronica, who also worked with Pattis in the Fotis Dulos case, also filed a motion to withdraw from the Jones case. Juan Sanchez Munoz has been named new UC Merced chancellor. (UC Merced) Juan Sanchez Munoz, president of the University of Houston Downtown, grew up hearing stories about the San Joaquin Valley from his father, who landed there from Mexico to pick grapes in the 1950s. Munoz, 53, will be heading there himself in July as the new chancellor of UC Merced. The UC Board of Regents unanimously approved his appointment Wednesday, along with an annual salary of $425,000. The Los Angeles native has deep ties to all three systems of California's higher education. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from UC Santa Barbara, his master's in Mexican American Studies from Cal State Los Angeles and his doctorate in philosophy from UCLA. He taught at Cal State Fullerton and East Los Angeles, Pacific Oaks and Whittier Colleges. His wife, Zenaida Aguirre-Munoz, who also earned degrees at UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, is an associate professor of psychological, health, and learning sciences at the University of Houston. The couple have three sons. "For us, the UC system has really altered the course of our lives and by extension the lives of our children," Munoz said in an interview. "We recognize in a very deep, personal way the transformative impact of the UC system. To return to our home state and to the UC system to contribute in some way to its future is a tremendous opportunity." Munoz' research interests the learning needs of students who are at-risk and ethnically and linguistically diverse will serve him well in his new post. UC Merced is the youngest and most diverse of the UC system's 10 campuses. Among its 8,800 students, 75% are first-generation, 64% are low-income and 58% are underrepresented minorities. The six-year graduation rate of 64% is the lowest among UC campuses, but U.S. News & World Report ranked Merced No. 2 nationally in 2018 for surpassing expected outcomes among universities with demographically similar students. The campus, which has substantially completed a $1.3-billion expansion project, incorporates intensive academic support for students in classes, summer programs and residential communities. Munoz said he hopes to build on that work with more services for social and emotional needs, graduate research opportunities and efforts to further diversify the campus. In Houston, Munoz launched the universitys largest capital campaign and led the institutions recovery efforts after Hurricane Harvey. He also presided over increases in enrollment, retention and graduation, along with new degree programs in nursing and data science. Before taking the helm at Houston, he served as vice provost for undergraduate education and student affairs and senior vice president for diversity, equity and community engagement at Texas Tech University. Munoz succeeds Dorothy Leland, who stepped down last year, and Nathan Brostrom, who served in the interim. The new chancellor said he hoped to marshal the enthusiasm among UC officials and state legislators to "really elevate this campus and make it an institution of first choice for the highest caliber students and all caliber students." Frightened! CCP Arrests Another Journalist After Live Streaming What Life Was Like in Wuhan Republican lawmakers have invoked the Global Magnitsky Act to call for sanctions against top Chinese officials on their handling of the new coronavirus. The letter was sent by Jim Banks, Dan Crenshaw, and Lance Gooden to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It calls out the officials not just for their handling of the virus, but also for human rights abuses of Chinese ethnic minorities. They state, We write to you today regarding the Chinese Communist Partys duplicitous, ineffective, and cruel response to the outbreak of COVID-19. We believe their actions violated the 2005 International Health Regulations, the human rights of their citizens, and basic principles of fairness and responsibility in international relations. And Chinese authorities have continued their coverup of the virus by arresting a fourth known citizen journalist amid the virus outbreak. The individual was allegedly detained after live streaming videos showing the situation in Wuhan during the height of the lockdown. These stories and more in this episode of Crossroads. Crossroads is an Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube. A day after severe cyclone Amphan wrecked havoc in several West Bengal districts, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the storm left at least 72 people dead and many homeless besides snapping electricity, internet connection and other communication tools in large parts of the state. Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee said: "The total number of deaths due to cyclone Amphan stands at 72 -- 57 in the districts and 15 in Kolkata. The loss is really huge. It's worse than the coronavirus pandemic." Banerjee said that most of the connectivity network across the state has gone for a toss during the six-hour-long nature's fury the region witnessed on Wednesday evening. "I have requested the Prime Minister to pay a visit to the affected areas of the state, mainly the coastal districts situated along the Bay of Bengal and its surrounding areas," she said, adding that everything has been ruined by the cyclone. Banerjee also said that she would soon visit the affected areas. "We will soon start the restoration work. There have large scale power cuts in many areas of Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas, while telephone and mobile connections are also down in many parts," Banerjee said. Cyclone Amphan crossed the West Bengal-Bangladesh coast between East Midnapore, Digha and Hatiya Islands in Bangladesh across the Sunderban region on Wednesday evening with a wind speed of 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph. The cyclonic spell also left the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport in complete disarray with a portion of it found damaged due to the severe storm and heavy rainfall. Many neighbourhoods of Kolkata and its twin district Howrah were severely waterlogged as the regions witnessed heavy rains and massive gush of wind storms that damaged the roofs of several buildings and uprooted a number of trees and electric poles. Cyclone Amphan left a huge trail of damage in Kolkata's neighbouring South and North 24 Parganas districts. Mobile and cable networks continued to remain unstable in Kolkata and Howrah even on Thursday. The Chief Minister also took to Twitter to express her feelings. "Cyclone Amphan has left a trail of devastation beyond our thoughts. While the material damage is substantial, Bengal stands united in this time of crisis. Together we will overcome this because nothing can dampen the spirit and strength of the people of Bengal," she tweeted. Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-21 14:00:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NEW DELHI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed after severe cyclonic storm Amphan crossed India, local media reported Thursday. While 12 people were killed in West Bengal, five were reportedly dead in adjacent Odisha. Meanwhile, the severe cyclonic storm Thursday morning crossed West Bengal coast and moved towards Bangladesh, India Metrological Department (IMD) said. "The super cyclonic storm -- Amphan moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 27 kmph during past six hours, further weakened into a cyclonic storm and lay centered at 5:30 a.m. (local time) today over Bangladesh near Latitude 24.7 N and Longitude 89.5 E about 270 km north-northeast of Kolkata, 150 km south of Dhubri and 110 km south-southeast of Rangpur (Bangladesh). It is very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and weaken further into a deep depression during next three hours and into a depression during subsequent six hours," the IMD said in its bulletin. The cyclonic storm triggering gusty winds up to 190 kmph and rain battered West Bengal and coastal Odisha on Wednesday evening, flattened makeshift houses, uprooted electric poles and trees. The cyclone has claimed 12 lives in West Bengal, officials and local media reports said, and the deaths were caused due to falling of trees, electric poles, failing structures and house collapses. According to officials, Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas districts and their nearby areas bore the brunt of the natural calamity. According to officials, the cyclone has claimed five lives in Odisha, and caused intense rainfall. Amphan is considered to be the most powerful cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal in over two decades, officials said, adding that the impact of Amphan was worse than the coronavirus pandemic. The Kolkata airport, which remained shut, was left flooded and many structures within damaged. Witnesses said in Kolkata city, strong winds upturned cars and felled trees and electricity poles. The streets were waterlogged at many places. The local government has evacuated half a million people from the affected areas and kept them in relief shelters. Authorities have also evacuated over 158,000 people in adjacent Odisha state that was also hit by the cyclone. Authorities have deployed 41 teams of National Disaster Response Force in West Bengal and Odisha. The severe cyclonic storm comes at a time when India is fighting COVID-19, which has affected 112,359 people in the country and killed 3,435. Enditem (Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp. reported a quarterly profit that beat analysts estimates after the Chinese smartphone maker got half its revenue from outside its home market for the first time. Chinas largest smartphone brand after Huawei Technologies Co. said adjusted net income rose 11% in the three months ended March to 2.3 billion yuan ($324 million), compared with the 2.1 billion-yuan average of estimates. Sales rose 14% to 49.7 billion yuan, powered by a 47.8% jump in overseas revenue. Xiaomi managed to grow its global shipments by 6.1% in the past quarter even as total worldwide volume shrank 11.7%, according to research firm IDC. Beijing-based Xiaomis strength in online device sales served it well during the coronavirus period, particularly in Western Europe where shipments increased by almost 80%, according to research firm Canalys. In India, the companys sales increased thanks to new budget phones released before a nationwide lockdown was declared. Revenue from Internet of Things products and online services maintained strong growth in the quarter. Xiaomi has been diversifying its major sources of revenue beyond smartphones, introducing a wide range of connected products from TVs to smartwatches. It also sells online advertising in China. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Xiaomis smartphone gross profit is poised to surge as last years brand revamp hurt margin, even as average selling prices likely tanked on lower China sales mix. Higher revenue from online games and other services such as fintech could have lessened the probable advertising sales slump. -- Anthea Lai, senior analyst Click here for the research. Xiaomi faces a difficult second quarter as Covid-19 containment efforts in key markets including India and Spain are poised to dampen sales. The different levels of lockdown measures adopted in overseas markets are expected to affect our performance in the second quarter of 2020, the company said in a statement. Story continues Geopolitical tensions are also stoking uncertainty for Xiaomis supply chain. The Trump administration has moved to prevent chipmakers using U.S. technology from supplying Huawei, and China has vowed to retaliate. Qualcomm Inc., Xiaomis most important processor provider, may be among Beijings potential targets. The U.S. chipmaker is also one of Xiaomis earliest investors and its mobile CPUs power the companys entire product line. (Updates with overseas sales from the first paragraph) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. By Mark Peterson On Saturday I was asked to serve as a judge for the May 18th commemoration student speech contest in English, for middle and high school students of Gwangju. As a judge I was not prepared for the power of the speeches that I heard. The students of Gwangju spoke of how the event, 40 years ago, has impact on their lives today. Many of them thanked their ancestors who fought and died so that they can enjoy freedom and democracy today. I was struck over and over with the memory that I have of honoring my ancestors and older generation that fought in World War II so that "we can have freedom and democracy today" parallel ideas from a younger generation in a different land. The sentiments the students expressed were powerful without being emotional. To them, 40 years ago is more than 20 years before they were born. They have no reason to remember the Gwangju Democratization Movement except that they have been taught by their parents and teachers. One student said she knew nothing about it until a few years ago when her father took her to the Memorial Park and Cemetery and she said she learned things she had had no idea of previous to that visit. One of the more noteworthy speeches started out, metaphorically: "I will tell you about my own life. I suffered child abuse, severely. It hurt and damaged me. I couldn't talk about it. Finally, when I tried to talk about it, I was told to be quiet and just deal with it, for it was my fault anyway, I was told. It has been painful for me to be alone in my suffering. My name is Gwangju." Several students, on the brighter side of the story, spoke with pride that the Gwangju Democratization Movement as of 2011 has been recognized by UNESCO's Memory of the Word Register the same honor given to Hangeul, the Joseon Royal Annals and several other milestones of Korea's history. Many of the students told the outline of the story that Park Chung-hee had been assassinated and the people, tired of the military government, were looking forward to the restoration of democracy, only to find another military government takeover by Chun Doo-hwan. Chun was blamed repeatedly for sending in the soldiers who started to club, then bayonet, then shoot the innocent citizens. Several students spoke of the "rice balls" that the women of Gwangju prepared to support the demonstrators on the front lines. They spoke of the solidarity of the citizenry, and the orderliness of the city during the time when the army was driven out. One student said there was not one report of theft, looting or any other crimes. A few students bravely said they would have liked to fight for democracy, that that is their heritage. But one candid student spoke of her aunt who lived through the time and locked herself and her family in their house and put blankets up to cover the windows so no one would think anyone was home. That student confessed that she would not have the courage to fight the way the other students claimed, that she would have hid in her room. But she admitted the bravery of the students who would fight. Several students commented on the current COVID-19 situation and said that if their ancestors had the courage to fight for democracy, then we today can fight our way through the difficulties of this pandemic. And indeed, the pandemic was present at the contest it was held online! Each student delivered their speech from their home, and we judges were remote as well I was the farthest away in America. I was thoroughly impressed with the patriotism and commitment to democracy and freedom on the part of the students. But my question is: How much is Gwangju still a divisive issue in Korea? I know some interaction I've had with friends from the Gyeongsang area in recent years is not the same as what I heard in Gwangju. Is the Gwangju Democratic Movement recognized by UNESCO but ignored or denied or refuted in other parts of Korea? Is the boy named Gwangju, who said he was abused as a child, still denied recognition as a victim of abuse? Or, here on the 40th anniversary I can't believe it's been that long; I remember it like it was yesterday is the Democratization Movement recognized by all sectors of Korea and serving as a point of patriotic fervor for everyone? Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah. Stephen Bear found himself flanked by three policemen on his doorstep on Wednesday, after seemingly getting into an argument with his girlfriend. The reality personality, 30, was heard in his own Instagram story asking the officers whether they'd be upset if their girlfriends 'f**ked someone else'. Stephen filmed the three men as they waited outside his house with him, with one seemingly guarding the front door. Trouble at home: Stephen Bear found himself flanked by three policemen on his doorstep on Wednesday, after seemingly getting into an argument with his girlfriend Sounding frantic, Stephen accused his girlfriend - whose identity is not known - of cheating on him and then coming home to him and denying it straight after. He was heard off-camera saying: 'With the boys today - how's it going chaps?' This was met by silence from the policemen, after which the Ex On The Beach star asked one of them: 'Would you be angry if your girlfriend f**ked someone else, brother?' The sheepish officer guarding the door replied: 'Not my place... I dont' have [a girlfriend].' The reality personality, 30, was heard in his own Instagram story asking the officers whether they'd be upset if their girlfriends 'f**ked someone else' Candid camera: Stephen filmed the three men as they waited outside his house with him, with one seemingly guarding the front door. Frantic Stephen accused his girlfriend - whose identity is not known - of cheating on him and then coming home to him and denying it straight after Turning the camera to one of the others, Stephen asked: 'Would you be angry mate? If your bird f**ked someone else?' The officer mumbled something in return, to which the third chimed in: 'Mate, listen, I don't know what's going on. I'm not going to start saying anything that's...' Stephen then cut in, declaring: 'She left my house last night and f**ked someone else and then came round mine afterwards and denied it and I saw all the messages!' He then turned the camera away from the officers and up to the sun in the sky adding: 'I want to be left alone!' The video then came to an end. Doorstep drama: 'Would you be angry if your girlfriend f**ked someone else, brother?' Stephen asked, to which the sheepish officer guarding the door replied - 'Not my place... I dont' have [a girlfriend]' Denied: Stephen was rumoured to be dating TOWIE's Yazmin Oukhellou, but a source close to the star asserted this was not the case, ruling her involement out of Wednesday's doorstep altercation MailOnline has approached Stephen for comment. It's not known who the woman in question is - although Stephen's allegations also suggest she not only cheated on the former Celebrity Big Brother winner but also flouted the UK's lockdown rules. The government asserts that people should not leave their own home and visit those in other households, and should remain 2m away from others at all times. If she does not live with Stephen - or the person she allegedly cheated on him with - she has flouted the rules set out to suppress the current COVID-19 pandemic. Stephen was rumoured to be dating TOWIE's Yazmin Oukhellou, but a source close to the star asserted this was not the case, ruling her involement out of Wednesday's doorstep altercation. Ex files: Stephen counts fellow reality stars Charlotte Crosby [pictured] and Georgia Harrison as his exes She's over it: Georgia experienced a volatile romance with the hunk The pair were spotted cuddling as Yazmin locked up her boutique before heading to dinner at a local Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant last month. Despite their cosy display, a source close to Yazmin told MailOnline: 'Bear and Yazmin are just friends, shes far too busy running her businesses to be dating anyone right right now.' Yazmin is currently single following her split from James Lock, who she dated on and off for two years, before splitting last year. Stephen counts fellow reality stars Charlotte Crosby and Georgia Harrison as his exes. The latter experienced a volatile romance with the hunk, with a source exclusively telling MailOnline last July that the Love Island star, 24, was locked out of the hotel room she shared with Bear as he went off with another girl in front of her. It's over: A source exclusively told MailOnline that the Love Island star, 24, was locked out of her shared hotel room with the Celebrity Big Brother winner, 29, as he went off with another girl in front of her [pictured together, left, with Theo Campbell, right] Locked out: They added that Bear then tried to lie about barricading their room, which left Georgia without medication following a monkey bite, pretending he had instead 'passed out' [Georgia's monkey bite pictured on her Instagram] The source added that he then tried to lie about barricading their room, which left Georgia without medication following a monkey bite, pretending he had instead 'passed out'. Georgia is said to be strong enough to deal with the betrayal and will never take him back, especially after he cruelly branded her a 'rump and dump' on Instagram. The source said: 'Georgia is strong enough to deal with being treated this way but she feels sorry for girls that are young and impressionable and could really be emotionally damaged by men like Bear. 'Basically Bear said he was in love with Georgia and wanted her to be his girlfriend etc. She knew it was all chat but she was having fun out there anyway. 'They were staying in a hotel together then he went off with another girl in front of her and locked her out the room. Explosive: Georgia and Bear were filmed having an explosive argument in Thailand in which the Love Island beauty was seen throwing a book at the reality star 'Two days earlier Georgia had been bitten by a monkey and needed her medication to avoid getting infections, but couldn't get in the room because of Bear. 'She asked the hotel to open the door for her but Bear had barricaded it from the inside so nobody could get in. Then the next day he tried to act like he just passed out and lied to her about it.' Georgia and Stephen were filmed having an explosive argument at the time, in which the Love Island beauty was seen throwing a book at the reality star. Explaining their blazing row, the source continued: 'The reason she threw a book at him was because she wouldn't leave him alone and kept following her around. 'Bear has hurt so many girls and s*****d off Charlotte Crosby to Georgia all the time. Georgia's friends like Nicole Bass, tried to warn her about him but she followed her heart instead. Now thankfully shell never take him back.' WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped House Democrats for now from seeing secret grand jury material from Robert Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether President Donald Trump obstructed the special counsel's work. The court, without noted dissent, agreed to a request from the Justice Department to put on hold a lower court's decision granting the House Judiciary Committee some previously undisclosed material from Mueller's probe. The action could mean that Congress will not receive the full Mueller report - without redactions of certain grand jury material - until after the November election, or perhaps not even during lawmakers' current term, which ends Jan. 3. As is customary, the short order gave no reason for granting the administration's request to stay the decision reached by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The justices set a June 1 deadline for the administration to explain why the court should accept the case for full review. If the justices do not accept the case, the lower court's ruling would go into effect and House Democrats would gain access to the additional evidence. But if the court agrees with the request, a hearing would not be scheduled until the fall absent special action. Solicitor General Noel Francisco had told the Supreme Court it should withhold the sensitive information until it could consider for itself "significant separation of powers" issues raised in the case. Despite the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Congress has no immediate need for the information, Francisco wrote in a brief to the court. "The House already has impeached the president, the Senate already has acquitted him, and neither [the committee] nor the House has provided any indication that a second impeachment is imminent," Francisco wrote. House General Counsel Douglas Letter had told the court that the withheld material "remains central to the committee's ongoing investigation into the president's conduct," adding that the committee's probe "did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial." The House went to court in July before the formal start of its impeachment proceedings involving the president's alleged effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, now the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Trump in November. A divided District Circuit found that the House was legally engaged in a judicial process that exempts Congress from secrecy rules that typically shield grand jury materials from disclosure. Mueller's report found insufficient evidence to conclude that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia, and Mueller neither exonerated nor accused Trump of obstructing justice. The Justice Department released a redacted version of Mueller's report and said it would provide congressional leaders with the full report minus the grand jury materials. It said Attorney General William Barr lacked discretion to release that information. In its 2-to-1 opinion, the District Circuit said grand jury records are court records - not Justice Department records - and have historically been released to Congress in the course of impeachment investigations involving three federal judges and two presidents. The House Judiciary Committee's "need for the grand jury materials remains unchanged. The committee has repeatedly stated that if the grand jury materials reveal new evidence of impeachable offenses, the committee may recommend new articles of impeachment," wrote Judge Judith Rogers, who was joined by Judge Thomas B. Griffith. "Courts must take care not to second-guess the manner in which the House plans to proceed with its impeachment investigation or interfere with the House's sole power of impeachment," Rogers wrote. Judge Neomi Rao dissented, saying the committee lacks legal grounds to ask the court to enforce a subpoena for the grand jury materials. Rao would have returned the case to district court to determine whether the committee can still show that its "inquiry is preliminary to an impeachment proceeding and that it has a 'particularized need' for disclosure." Francisco had told the Supreme Court that its intervention was needed because release of the grand jury material to Congress would almost surely mean either a leak or simply its release. Letter disputed that, saying Congress in the past has protected grand jury information. Francisco replied the committee is not bound by any such rules, and "may publicly disclose the grand jury materials if it wishes by a simple majority vote of the committee." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a statement Wednesday, noted that the House's right to obtain grand jury information has been upheld by the lower courts twice, and those rulings "should be permitted to proceed." "The Justice Department's continued delay is part of a pattern of the Administration hiding the truth from the public," she said. "The American people deserve the truth." The lawsuit over access to the secret grand jury evidence is one of a set of legal battles between the Democratic-led House and the Trump administration. The Supreme Court earlier this month heard arguments about Trump's attempts to block House committees, as well as a New York prosecutor, from accessing his personal tax and financial information. Decisions in those cases are expected this summer. In the pipeline at the District Circuit are disputes over a House subpoena for testimony from former White House counsel Donald McGahn and an effort to block the president's spending on his signature Southern border wall. The Association of African Universities (AAU) and Africas leading digital TV operator, StarTimes, have entered an educational partnership agreement through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The two organizations will cooperate to expand the visibility of higher education in Africa. AAU will provide educational videos for free on the StarTimes ON streaming app, enabling millions of people across the continent to improve their knowledge and skills as well as tap into the research outcomes emanating from the continents higher education institutions. The AAU, established in 1967, is the apex higher education organization in Africa and currently has a membership of 400 institutions of higher learning across all the linguistic and geographic divides of Africa. It established the AAU Television (AAU TV) to promote African scholarship and inter-university collaboration through information exchange and promotion of higher education-related issues. The Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Prof. Etienne Ehouan Ehile, said that this partnership with StarTimes comes at an opportune time when access to educational content is in high demand as most educational activities have moved online as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 and its unprecedented outcomes. Through the AAU TV, the AAU, in its capacity as the continental apex higher education agency, will promote the quality and relevance of higher education as well as showcase and strengthen the contributions of higher education to the development of the continent. AAU is open to partnering with institutions whose core mandates align with our aspirations. Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), StarTimes has launched several initiatives to support access to education for students forced to stay home. It established partnerships with local educational channels and authorities to add educational content to its platforms. It created a dedicated tab on its application offering hundreds of videos for students of all ages. And the group is planning to launch a new educational channel available for free across Africa. StarTimes Vice-President Luis Lu said: We are honored to launch this partnership with the AAU. Education is crucial, for individuals and for communities. Through our TV and OTT platform, StarTimes has a unique way to reach millions of people in Africa. We are leveraging this platform to expand access to knowledge and via AAU partnership, we will be able to air high quality content made by the best African experts. This is a milestone for StarTimes and a step forward toward ensuring equal access to all levels of education. Source: Daily Graphic Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video (TNS) Wisconsin State Justice Department crime labs were slower to process some types of evidence in 2019, providing a setback for Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who once chided his Republican predecessor for crime lab delays.A DOJ Division of Forensic Sciences report released Tuesday outlining crime lab performance showed it took longer last year to process evidence related to DNA, major crime scenes, firearms, and forensic video and image analysis, even as the total number of cases submitted to the crime labs decreased.Crime labs last year saw improvement, however, in processing evidence related to controlled substances, toxicology, trace evidence, latent prints and footwear, and marks left by tools.The Wisconsin state crime laboratories provide forensic science testing for communities around the state. During the 2018 campaign, Kaul slammed former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel for backlogs in testing of sexual assault kits, which can contain DNA evidence that is crucial to finding sexual predators or freeing the wrongly convicted.The Department of Justice in 2014 first discovered the existence of nearly 7,000 untested sexual assault kits in law enforcement and hospital custody across the state. With federal grant funding, Wisconsin under Schimel began testing those kits in 2016 and finished in late 2019, under Kaul.Schimel said the chief reasons the kits had gone untested were because law enforcement sometimes didnt believe the victims, or the crime was solved and the additional evidence wasnt needed.Despite having fewer cases to process in 2019 and two additional DNA analyst positions provided in the state budget, the crime labs under Kaul took an average of 17 days longer to process DNA evidence, which includes DNA evidence from sexual assault kits, weapons and homicides. Those wait times mean it could take longer to arrest criminals connected with major crimes.Turnaround times for DNA increased from 80 days in 2018 to 97 days in 2019. The report notes that numbers of DNA cases were higher under Schimel due to the processing of backlogged sexual assault kits.Kaul said it will take time to fully realize the results of the changes hes made at the crime lab, such as new hires. He said the crime labs are also being more judicious with which cases to take on in order to make best use of the departments resources.Kaul said the 2019 numbers also reflect a backup of some 2018 cases that needed to be processed last year because of Schimels focus on dealing with the sexual assault kit backlog. He said he also didnt get all the new positions he had asked for in the last state budget. He had asked for 19 new analysts, but Gov. Tony Evers gave him 17 in the executive state budget, and Republicans on the Legislatures finance committee revised the plan and gave him just over seven new full-time equivalent positions, including two DNA analysts and one new ballistics analyst.Kaul also pointed toward a reduction in DNA evidence taking more than 30 days to begin testing.Training new analysts can take months, but the new hires are now up to speed, Kaul said. The labs have added a new DNA extraction system that allows for more automation and faster processing, he said, and evidence submission guidelines for local police have been clarified in hopes of reducing unnecessary submissions. All those factors should lead to dramatically improved turnaround times in 2020 and 2021, he said.Were getting closer to catching up, Kaul said. Its not like flipping a switch. The 2020 and 2021 numbers is where well really see the impact (of changes).Kaul attacked Schimel on the campaign trail for being too slow to complete crime lab tests and delaying justice for victims. A review of Wisconsin crime lab operations that Florida International Universitys National Forensic Science Technology Center released in September 2018, near the end of Schimels tenure, found that the labs suffered from multiple problems, including poor morale, below-market pay and accepting too much evidence from police.Kaul released another report Wednesday detailing the labs responses to the Florida universitys review. Lab workers received a 2% raise in January and will get another 2% raise next January as part of across-the-board raises for all state employees included in the budget. Meanwhile, lab managers have implemented a pay progression scale to bring analysts salaries more in line with their private-sector counterparts. The labs chief administrator, Nicole Roehm, said during the video conference that she wants to expand the scale in the future to further encourage analysts to stay.The labs now reside in their own division, allowing them to purchase equipment and hire independently, the report said. Managers have been given more access to state Justice Department administrators so they can better relay information to analysts.Roehm said the labs have created a dedicated five-person team to respond to crime scenes, which will help reduce the need to pull analysts away from the labs to work in the field, and created a case manager position to revise submission guidelines and act as a point person in explaining to local police why submissions might be rejected. ORANGE PARK, Fla., May 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortis College in Orange Park, Florida, has expanded its career education options to offer a Practical Nursing (PN) program. The program is enrolling students now and will welcome its first cohort in July. The new PN program is an ideal complement to the existing Associate degree in Nursing (ADN) program currently offered at Orange Park. According to Dr. Sheila Burke, Vice President of Nursing for Education Affiliates, the program was designed to meet a growing need in the state. "The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the urgent need for nurses in Florida," says Burke. "The state needs more skilled, well-trained nursing professionals to provide increasingly complex care for its residents." The new Practical Nursing program offers a curriculum that prepares students to sit for the NCLEX licensure exam and pursue entry-level positions as Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). "Demand for trained healthcare professionals was rising well before the coronavirus hit," said Ben Sedrine, Campus President of Fortis College in Orange Park. "This profession continues to face shortages and we look forward to our inaugural students beginning our program in July." Over the years, the Orange Park Campus has built a successful ACEN accredited Associate of Science Nursing degree. "We did it by following our core values and being committed to Student-Focused outcomes. We intend to bring the same academic excellence and personal touch to all of our Practical Nursing students and help them reach their full potential," said Dr. Joyce Errico, Dean of Nursing of Fortis College Orange Park. Fortis College in Orange Park is part of a network of schools managed by Education Affiliates, Inc., one of the largest nursing education providers in the U.S. Collectively, St. Paul's School of Nursing, Denver College of Nursing, and Fortis Colleges & Institutes, currently educate more than 4,000 nursing students nationwide, and operate 16 nursing programs in 10 states. To learn more about the PN program at Fortis College Orange Park, call (904) 269-7086 or visit https://www.fortis.edu/campuses/florida/orange-park.html. About Fortis A leading post-secondary network of colleges and institutes that engages students in powerful learning and training experiences, Fortis delivers focused career education programs in nursing, dental, healthcare, and the skilled trades at more than 30 schools in 11 states. The Fortis network offers career-based certificate, diploma and degree-granting programs. Program offerings and accreditations vary by campus. Each Fortis campus is accredited by a nationally recognized body. Fortis is affiliated with the St. Paul's School of Nursing, Denver College of Nursing and All-State Career School. Visit www.fortis.edu for consumer disclosure information and to learn more about Fortis educational opportunities. Your Life. Powered by Learning. SOURCE Fortis College Related Links https://www.allstatecareer.edu/